The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1910-09-02
Sermon by
CHARLES +.
RUSSELL.
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

the above text. He said In part
One OF the wonderful things about
the Bible and the Christianity founded
upon the Bibles teachings ia the fact
that II contains so much sympathy
comfort for the bereaved, the sorrow
ing. the troubled. This is not true of
any other book or any other religion
in the world And who is there that
does not at some time In life need sym
patty, need encouragement, need a
powerful and loving friend such as our
Bible assures US our God Is to all who
will accept his favor?
But our great Adversary, Satan.
seeks TO make the light appear dark
and the darkness appear light He
seeks to negative the testimonies Of
Gods Word, and, to a very great de
gree, his receptions have been success
full, as is witnessed by the creeds Of
Christendom. Practically all Of our
creeds, even though they assert that
God Is gracious, merciful, kind and
loving, contradict this description Of
him and his Plan for humanity in
monstrous terms, 6endisb in the ex-
treme The majority Of creeds tell us
Of his foreordination and pre-arrange-
ment Of whatsoever comes to pass and
that this signifies that a sanity hand
ful will gain eternal life in JOY In
heaven, and that the insanity thou
sands Of millions OF heathendom and
Christendom are equally foreordained
to spend an eternity OF torture fore
known, foreintended and provided for
before their creation. Is there com
fort In this? Is such plan God-like
or Satanic? Could any intelligent and
good being rejoice in such plan of
damnation or sincerely worship an Al
mighty God who would so misuse his
unlimited power to distress his crea-
lures, born in sin, shapen in iniquity;
In sin did their mothers conceive them|
The minority Of Christian creeds de-
clare the same results, but that they
were not designed of God. not fore
known by him, not predestinated They
tell us in other words that we have an
incompetent God. well-meaning. but
deficient in wisdom and in power. Is
there any comfort in this? Would 1t
assuage the grief and pain of those
suffering in eternal torment If they
could n assured THAT their lot was
such, not because of Divine premedita-
ton and design. but because Of Divine
incompetence? Surely there is no com
fort to be had from such view!
After all. we Protestants did not
make much of an Improvement upon
the theory held by our forefathers
against which we protested in the six
teenth century. Surely purgatorial
fortunes of a few centuries are no
worse. no less comforting than our
Protestant conceptions of an eternity
of torture for all the non-elect. Our
Catholic forefathcrS manufactured Pur-
gatory without shred of Scripture
upon which 10 base the theory. They
built it in their imaginations; they in
vented its fires and tortures. Our
Protestant forefathers, using their i'm
aginationS. gave us an eternal torment
hell-not more tangible. not more Scrip
tural than Purgatory. They did in
deed use a Scriptural term-sheol.
hades, hell-but. overlooking the fact
that these words all signify the state
Of death, the condition Of the dead.
they wrested the language and warped
1t in an unscriptural manner to signify
torture. The penalty or wage Of sin
is death" They made of ii torture
everlasting. without the slightest au-
thority OF Scripture except a misunder-
stood and misapplied parable. which.
rightly understood. teaches a totally
different lesson. The false Gospel
has surely lost its power. People are
becoming too intelligent to endure it.
AS consequence attendance at
Churches is decreasing and reverence
for God is diminishing ln6delity. call.
ed Higher Criticism, etc. is increasing.
The need of the hour is the Gospel
Of comfort. ST. Paul declares what
we all know, namely. that 1.-The whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in
pain together until now waiting for
the manifestation of the sons of
God" Here we see the necessity for
lulS SOSpel Oh Comfort. we see also
that God has provided it and that it is
coming TO the world in the end of this
Age in the dawning of the new Age.
1t will come TO the world in general
as soon as the elect Church shall have
been selected and, by the First Res
direction" power. glorified with her
Lord as his Kingdom class, as the
glorified sons OF God. whose mission
II will be TO bless all the families OF
the earth
"Father Of Mereies-God Of All Com
fort"
When ST. Paul says, knowing the
terrOrs of the Lord" be evidently re-
fers TO the fact that our Creator has
declared that the wage Of sin is
death" mot eternal tormenp; that 1.-The
soul that sinneth, II shall die" mot live
in torment; that "all the wicked will
God destroy" mot preserve in ire,:
and that only such as come into vital
relationship with the Redeemer can
have everlasting life. Knowing these
tuIn