Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-03-01

know will bring to them hundreds of
questions difficult to answer or dodge.
Gods Love constraineth Us.
l ask you, dear readers, Were You
constrained to become children of God
and to render to the Lord the homage
and the obedience of your lives
through fear or through love? / am
not asking you whether you never
have feared; but l am asking you
what brought you to the point of con-
secrating your life to God? Surely
that was not feari l am aware. of
course, that there is a proper, cody
fear, reverence, and that the Scrip
lures declare it-''The fear Gaver-
ence) of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom" psalm cxi, 10). But this is
not the fear of eternal torment, which
tends to drive out love. How could
we love or esteem or truly worship a
God purposing the eternal torment of
his creatures from before their crea-
ton?
could give you many proofs of the
power of love over the human heart,
in contrast with the ungodly fear of
the error. God says to us In so many
words, Their fear toward me Is not
of me. but is taught by the precepts OF
men," AS an Illustration: At a Bible
Students Convention not long ago in
Ohio well-dressed gentleman in at
tendance told me of how his heart had
been touched with our presentations OF
the
Love Divine. all love excelling.'
He said, For years l have been
member of the Presbyterian Church
without being really Christian at all.
Occasionally | went on sprees; some
times l gambled and drank. ETC., etc.
Not until l received a knowledge of
the true character of God as set forth
In your Scripture Studies did my
heart ever come to the proper attitude
of surrender to the Lord. Then L was
glad to give him my little all. and
wished 1t were more" The next day,
passing from the hotel TO the audi
forum to question meeting, this gem
tleman put a slip of paper into my
hand, which / supposed was a ques-
ton, and / thrust into my coat pocket
On the platform l drew it forth as one
of the questions to be answered, and,
to my astoniShment, found it was a
check for $1,000. The man had not
been asked for one cent; but the Love
of God had captivated his heart and
nix Of r hut oP
his pocket-bOok and all. He wished to
show the Lord his appreciation of the
Love Divine, the length and breadth
and height and depth, OF which he now
comprehended, as never before.
Another case: met with a Conven-
ton of Bible Students in Chattanooga
some five years ago. A gentleman at
tended who introduced himself to me
saying that he was from Mississippi
and that he had become deeply inter-
ested in my presentations of the har-
mony of the Word of God He said
in substance: Brother Russell, l will
not attempt to tell you how wicked a
man | was before | got your literature
My dear wife here. an earnest Metho-
dist, said to me, John John. you will
surely go to hellp | replied to her,
Mary, | know it. l know it! And,
Mary, l am determined that | will de-
serve all that l get | am not going
to hell for nothing One of your tracts
came to my desk in my store. / said
that this was different from anything
l ever understood, respecting the teach
ings of the Bible. 1t seems more God
like and more rational ! sent to you
for various Bible Students Helps The
result, dear Brother Russell. is that the
Love of God has constrained me, has
conquered me, in a way that the doc
trines of devilish torments could not
influence me. Now l see the true
teaching of Gods Word. | can honor
him and worship him and take pleas
ure In laying down my life in his serv-
Ice. l have made a full conservation
OF everything. For time I sent you
$50 check every month; but Brother
Russell, that was in the nature Of con-
science-money. because the most prof
liable feature of my store trade was
the sale of liquor to the Mississippi
negroes. Those checks stopped, be-
more filed and overlooked my heart,
1t brought me to see that l must love
my neighbor as myself and do injury
to none. That is all gone now, Brother
Russell, and my whole life is devoted
10 the service of God and my fellow.
men"
Three murderers confined in the Co
lumbus, Ohio, Penitentiary had from
childhood been trained in the doc
trines of eternal torment in different
churches and yet committed murder
Those men, under Gods providence,
received some of.our Scrip
ture Studies"-and were cut to the
heart when they learned of the Love
of God, as expressed in the Divine
Plan of the Ages. To be brief: A
knowledge Of the Love of God made
such change in the hearts and lives
of those three murderers that the
prison-keepers took knowledge of them
that they had been with Jesus and
had learned Of him. By and by they
were paroled and today two of them
are preaching the Gospel of the Love
Of God, seeking to bring their fellow
men out of the condition of darkness
and sin into the glvfious sunlight of
Divine Love and Truth. Having tried
the Gospel of fear and damnation and
torture for sixteen centuries; having
seen that under this teaching there are
more blasphemy and general wicked
ness than even In the heather world,
is 1t rot due time to give the true
bread and water of life to the hungry
and thirsty ones who, for lack of it,
are searching the earth and many Of
them falling into Higher Criticism. in
fidelity and other decisions peculiar to
our day?