The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1910-06-20

HIGHER Crlddsn. 70 Evo|uilon~ usn-
derIne farther and Farther daily lr9H
the saith once de.irered 20 Toe saints
Jude SD. We fault them no mcfe
than we fault ourselves. As a whole
we have been ir0fknep ifho need 70
tie Ashamed. We have dishQnofed God
through misunderstanding and uiisrep-
his Word and bis charaeter.
NE have driven atfay from God and
the Bible some Of tie most intelli gent
of our fellows b reason the con-
ttndiet1fy nonseiise Of our rteetls
The apostle urges. study 70 show
thyseif approved unto Cod We are
not 70 suppose. therefore, that tie,
highest OF all science, that which per-
taIns to the Divine purpose and the.
Divine plan, can be acquired without
StadD. We are not in this claiming
that study alone would bring the de-
sired results Of proper knoTledge. We
heartily agree In the scriptural prop
osItion that the world vy wisdom
knows not God.n We are not there
fore to study along the lines Of world
" wisdom, but along the lines Of that
wisdom that cometh from aboyes---ss
along the lines Of the inspired Scrip.
lures. We must studyl Whoever will
not study will not know. eThe secret
Of the Lord Is with them that reyer-
ence Him. And reyerenclns him
means the giving Of our best thoughts
and talents to the study Of his Word,
that we may know the things freely
given to us Of God" q Corinthians Il,
12).
We should note further as Bible stu
dents that we must not study to be ap-
proved of men, but to have the Divine
approval. This win bring to us. as it
did to the Master and his apostles, the
disapprobation Of the worldly4wfse and
hominally religious! 1t was the Chief
Priests and Scribes and Pharlsees, and
not the common people Of Che Jews. nor
the Roman soldiers, who we're guilty
Of the eruclaxion Of our Lord. And
we must expect similar conditions, be-
cause, as the Apostle says, "As he was
so are we in this world" The class
who called the Master Beelzebub is the
same cInss which will oppose his foot.
step followers.
God permits all this with wise md
loving foreIntention. Nothing eonneet-
ed with the opposing forces Is in any
sense of the word interfering with his
great Program. he set apart with Di-
vine wisdom this Gospel Age of nearly
nineteen centuries for the sole purpose
of selecting from the world the
Church Of the frstborns"- the antityp-
ical Priests and Levites. The restric-
ton Of his message, the darkening Of
counsel, the clashing of creeds, the OPP
position Of the world, the flesh and the
Devil, are all wisely permitted with.
the foreintention on Gods part that
thus all through the Age the way OF
the ,cross-ln the footsteps Of Jesus
should be marrow way" SO TINT
comparatively few finding It would
care to walk in it.
1t is those few, that little flock"
Jealous for God, for his Word. fol
righteousness, that he is now marking
out rs the prospective iolntheirs with
Jesus in his glorious Kingdom, which.
Is 20 bless the world with full opportu-
mites for earthly salvation" restitu-
ton." The trials of the faith, the pa
tience. the love, the devotion of this
elfttIe flock" are all designed and moi
accidental. Satan and his hosts may
think to thwart the Divine Plan and
may mislead and use humanity as their
tools, but It shall yet be seen that-all
Of the Divine purposes shall be ac-
compllshed The Word that has gone
forth out of Jehovah's mouth shall
prosper in the thing whereto he
sent 1t.
st. Paul declared of earthly Israel,
that they enjoyed "much advantage
every way, because to them were COM
mitted the oracIes of God" So apow,
dear friends, 1t seems to me that you
and / and all sincere Christians the
world around enjoy much advantage
every way. Looking to the past we
find great excuse for our dear forefa-
Tiers who, with sincerity Of heart, so
misunderstood the Divine Word and
SO mlsinterpreted the spirit Of the
Master that they burned one another
at the stake. We should not think so.
harshly Of them for this-as though
they lived today under the greater adj
vantages which we possess. We
should sympathlze with them. We
should consider them as blinded by
the great Adversary as was Saul Of
Tarsus, when he. as a member of the
Sanhedrln, authorized the stoning of
81. stephen. We should think Of them
sympathetically-as st, Peter spoke Of
the Jews who crucitied the Lord. BE
said, n wot, brethren, TINT in ignc-
rance We did It, as did also your rul-
ers." So also we should kindly, low
ingly cast mantle Of beneyolence
over similar conduct on the part of
John Calvin and others Of our forefa-
tbers But as we would not 20 to the