Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-03-08
DOCTRINES OF CHRIST VS.. DOCTRINES

SS9S N
DOCTRINES OF CHRIST VS.. DOCTRINES
OF MEN
whosoever will do the will of my father
which is in heaven shall know Of my doctrine.
Ye do make void the law of God through your
traditions---the traditions Of the ancients Jonn'
TIT: Mark. lis; Peter, lis.
BROOKLYN TABERNACLE, March S.-Pastor
Russell preached twice here today HIS as
course on inferno" was delivered In BrookIyn
largest auditorium of the Academy OF Music,
which was overcrowded. Ii was estimated In
advance that this subject would draw larger
crowd than the tabernacle would accommodate
The other meetings Of the day were heId IN
the tabernacle. We report Pastor Russen's
discourses from the text foregoing, as follows:
II is difficult TO please everybody. The DUTY
of a Christian minister Is to seek cmerIy 70
please the Lord. LET the words of my mouth
and the meditations Of my heart, be accept
able in thy sight, o Lord my strength ana my
friends seem 70 he annored because we preach
the doctrines OF Christ. In substance, their
sentiment is Brother Russell, do you not know
that in the fashionable topics Of our day doc
trnes" are tabooed by the great ministers OF
all denominationsr
Instead. you perceive from the newspaper
announcements. it is now quite the thing 10
discuss political scientific and sociological
doctrines You should give the public lectures
on subjects like these: Social Democracy; Rapid
Transit In Brooklyn, from the text, Many
BOYS brigade; the Best Novel of the Year;
The Narrow Way Of the Bicycle Rider; VIII
the Comet Sweep the Earth With its Tail? Can
Football Survive? etc; or belaoor the trusts
for soaring prices of food Such topics as these,
Brother RUSSELL interest the Christian people
in our day. And the public constitute the
principal congregations when we lift our larg-
est collections. The only people who VIII be
interested I'm the doctrines" you are preaching
are the old fogy. out-of-date folks, and you
will find the majority OF them poor In this
worlds riches For PHYS sake stop teaching
f1ho NJ
enough in the days Of Jesus and Paul and Cal
win and Luther and Wesley. but the people are
not accustomed to them nowadays.
I have no fault TO find with my Christian
brethren in the ministry of the various demon
ina lions. 1t is not TO me. but to the Lord
that they must give an account or their stew
ardship-of their grand opportunities for de-
claring the gospel of Christ. To their own
Master they must stand or fall. II is not for
me to forbid them because they follow not
with us. 1t is for each one who stands as an
ambassador of Christ and of God to follow his
own convictions faithfully. Besides i am as
sured that many Of them are loyal to the core.
1t is my understanding that. as minister
of the gospel should take for my guide In
this matter the instructions of my ordination.
Like st. Paul my ordination to preach the
gospel was from the Lord. must preach the
message which l believe he has given me. Il
Timothy. 2: ~ AS his ambassador / must
preach the word. following the example Of the
lord and the apostles As they avoided poll
tics, so must 1. As they preached the doc
trines'' of Christ so must whether man bear
or forbear to hear. Here remember st. Pauls
words to Timothy. preach the Word with
all long-suffering and doctrine, for the time
will come when they will not endure sound
doctrine:' but after their own preferences they
shall gather teachers to themselves: having
itching ears, they shall turn away their ears
from the truth and shall be turned unto fables"
Timothy, 4:2-4.
THERE is REASON
There must be n reason why Christian preach
ers and their hearers have abandoned the study
Of ha ssdnafripaa n 1RrfE NJ forfh nv he
Apostles and Prophets. Is ii not because they
longer believe these doctrines? Is 1t not
true that the college and seminary professors
have led the majority OF the ministers away
into unbelief In the Bible and that these min
listers are gradually leading their eonfiding
flocks into other pastures green" than those
which the great Shepherd and his appointed
mouth-piece the Apostles, approved? Is not the
higher criticism infidelity of the college grad
ually penetrating even into the Sunday school
lessons and even into the high schools Of our
MISUNDERSTANDING all faith In Gods book
but what led to this departure from the word
of God?-into higher criticism, infidelity and
into the evolution theory. which makes void the
word OF God; and into Christian science, which
puts a premium on faIsehood and into theos-
ophy and and spiritualism, the doctrines OF the
fallen angels-demonism? How comes 1t that all
the unscriptural theories now flourish, where
az only a century ago Gods word was respect
ed and its doctrines" studied by Chris
tian people OF various and conflicting creeds7
The answer is that with the increasing light
fallacious. irrational. by all who use their
thinking apparatus. The leaders In the various
churches discovered this In advance Of their
flocks. They promptly and reverently set
their creeds a high shelf where the people
might not particularly notice their flaws, but
might continue their reverence for them, until
gradually their attention should be drawn aside
and their hone and faith transplanted to ev-
olutionary soil or theosophistic and spiritual
istic child's play.
With the decline of Christian doctrine. includ-
ing heart union with Christ and an understand
ing OF its terms and conditions, churchianfty
came in to take the place of Christianity. To
day the pride Of all denominations centers, not
in their doctrines. but in their institutions. The
the doctrines Of Metbodsm. Calvinism, etc.
but to hold fast to the system. They are no
longer encouraged IN think of their system as
being the only one. outside of which there would
be no salvation but they are encouraged 10
cultivate q partisan spirit which takes pride in
their organization. its wealth, the value or It's
church property. the largeness OF its collec-
tions the grandeur Of its music, the wisdom.
learning and ability of its preachers. ana the
fashion and wealth of its constituency.
1t Is not our wish to offer a single unktnd
or uubrotberly criticism 1t is our duty ana
privilege, however. to point out that the creed
doctrines Of the various denominations now Set
ON the shelf as too frail and imperfect to stand
handling and Investigation ore not and never
we're the doctrines of Christ and the apostles.
II is our duty and pleasure to show forth &c
Christian people to the extent Of ability
that the teachings Of the Bible, the doctrines