The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1910-07-28
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL.
Pastor BROOKLYN
I abonscle.

race with him on account Of Adam
Original Sin" But now. In the light O
the clearer unfolding OF Gods Word, "
are privileged to see differently. Nov
We perceive. not only that God did d
Injustice TO Adams children. but. con
trariwlse. that In this very particular
he did them a klndness-that IL was II
the interest Of humanity In general
We are aware that this statement ap
pears paradoxicaI to those who hav.
not yet gotten the proper focus upor
the Divine Plan. The key which TN
locks the difficulty Is the proper appre
citation OF the penalty imposed upon
Adam and his race.
The erroneous. unscripturai view OF
this penalty which came down TO Us
from the dark ages" teaches that God
damned father Adam. mother Eve. and
every child born TO them to an eternity
OF torture at the hands Of devils. II Is
this unscripturaI and irrational view
or the wage Of Original Sin which
caused all our difficulty. Indeed, IL i
safe TO say that no other false doc
uine held by Gods people ever drove
away from God. from the Bible and
from the fellowship Of the Church 50
many intelligent minds. Thousands of
bright. honest minds. after seeing this
teaching OF the Christian creeds formu-
lated In the dark ages. have quietly
withdrawn from them In heart, il not
outwardly. saying to themselves, Evi-
IDENTITY my reasoning faculties are of a
different kind from those OF many 9th.
erS prominent in the Church: Without
disputing the point. simply conclude
that | must think for myself and that.
ID so doing. | am forced out of sym
pathy with the majority of fellow
Christians on this basic doctrine.
Where Lies the Difficulty
The difficulty is that while the ma
Jority OF Christian people heartily re-
pudiate these misrepresentation of
God and his Word. nevertheless the
subject is not clear to them and they
rear that TO repudiate this doctrine
would be to repudiate the Bible and to
become open infidels And just here is
their mistake. The majority Of them are
not Bible students. Even amongst min
listers or the Gospel comparatively few
nave any degree of knowledge of Cod |
word. They know what they thinl |
about the Bible; what they believe thu
II teaches: what they have been toll, |
that 1t teaches; what the catechisms 81,
1t teaches; but they have never mad |
critical Investigations of the Bill
themselves to ascertain its teachin.-
Ii Is part of our endeavOr to arouse
Christian people everywher to searct
and study the Scriptures and to assi<
them with Bible study helps. Bibh
keys. etc. And. thank God, there ar,
thousands In Spiritual Israel who ar,
not bowling their knees to Baal. bu
who are anxious to know. to right,
understand. the Word of God. Classe,
In Bible study are springing up al
over the world. These have recent,
adopted the name of "Internatioua
Bible Students Association" God i
blessing them. not only with the open
ing OF their own eyes more and NOR,
widely, but also in using them to bring
others "out of darkness into his mar
velous light" q Peter ii, 81.
Vhe Scriptures speak Of famine
not for bread nor for water, but TO,
hearing of the Word of the Lord"
This famine is upon us now. Not only
are Christian people hungry and thirs-
y for the bread Of life and the water
of life, but many of the worldly are
feeling longing for something better
than the husks which they have We
10 not know that all Church members.
nor all of any one Church member
ship. are thus hungering and thirstinC
Tor Truth But we do know that every
where In all the various Churches of
Ill denominations there is q hungry
lass which cannot be satisfied to dis
misrepresent itself as in har-
nony with the creeds These Devil
Tered sheep are. of late years. finding
he green pastures and still waters of
Divine Truth and grace-near to them
In the Word of God-hidden under
he rubbish Of ignorance and supersti-
lon. mistranslation and misinterpreta-
ion.
But as for the masses of all denom-
nations: Alas, they are falling into {
lnbelief! The popular form of infidel- '
ty known as Higher Criticism has al -,
eady swallowed up more than one {
lalf Of the ministry and OF the most 7
Intelligent part of the laity. The only t
lope for any Of these is in leaving the /
han and husks of medieval misin- 8
Of Gods Word and in {
hiding its true meaning. In which is =
efreshment. strength and new life. I
1.-THE Wages of Sin Is DEATH" '
However we read our Bibles In the q
asst we read into them from the creeds q
darker time the mischievous error t
hat when the Bible declares a death u
enalty for sin it really means the re- {
erse Of his-hfe-eternaI life in eter O
al torture. Who had the right TO s
visit the inspired words in such dew =
ish fashion? Who had the right to q
id to the Word Of God and TO make b
Old Its true teaching In this manner: Il
lear the words of the Apostle. THE T
ages OF sin is death; but the gift of o
cd In eternal life through Jesus =