The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-07-25
Sermon BY
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL,
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.


July "a Once we considered most un.
hind, unjust, the Bible declaration that
our Creator condemned all of Adams
race with him on account of Adams
"0riginal Sin" But now, In the light Of
the clearer unfolding OF Gods Word. we
are privileged to see differently. Now
we perceive, not only that God did no
Injustice to Adams children, but, con-
trariwise, that in this very particular,
be did them kindness--that II was in
the interest of humanity in general.
We are aware that this statement ap-
pears psradoxicul to those who have
not yet gotten the proper focus upon
the Divine Plan. The key which un-
locks the difficulty is the proper appre-
ciation of the penalty imposed upon
Adam and his race.
The erroneous, unscriptural 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. IL Is
this unscriptural and irrational view
Of the wage of Original Sin which
caused all our difficulty. Indeed, 1t is
safe TO say that no other false doc
urine held by Gods people ever drove
away from God. from the Bible and
from the fellowship of the Church so
many intelligent minds. Thousands of
bright. honest minds. after seeing this
teaching of the Christian creeds forrnu-
lated In the dark ages. have quietly
withdrawn from them In heart, IL not
outwardly, saying to themselves, Evi-
IDENTIFY my reasoning faculties are of a
different kind from those Of many 9th
erp prominent In the Church: Without
disputlng the point, simply conclude
that must think for myself and that,
In 80 doing, | am forced out of sym
pathy with the majority Of fellow
Christians on this basic doctrine.
Where Lies tho DiffiouIty7
The difficulty is that while the ma
jority Of Christian people heartily re-
pudiate these misrepresentation of
GOO and his Word, nevertheless the
subject Is not clear to them and they
fear 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 Of the Gospel comparatively few
have any degree Of knowledge of Gods
Word. They know what. they think
about the Bible; what they believe that
ID teaches; what they have been told
that It teaches; what the catechisms say
It teaches: but they have never made
critical Investigations Of the Bible
themselves to ascertain It's teachings.
IL is n part of our endeavor TO arouse
Christian people everywhere to search
and study the Scriptures and to assist
them with Bible study helps, Bible
keys, etc. And, thank God, there are
thousands In Spiritual Israel who are
not bowling their knees to Baal. but
who are anxious 10 know, to rightly
understand, the Word of God. Glasses
In Bible study are springing up all
over the world. These have recently
adopted the name OF international
Bible Students Association" God Is
blessing them, not only with the open
ing Of their own eyes more and more
widely, but also In using them to bring
others "out of darkness into his mar
velous light" Il Peter II, 81.
The Scriptures speak of famine.
not for bread nor for water, but for
hearing of the Word Of the Lord"
This famine is upon US now. Not only
are Christian people hungry and thirs-
ty for the bread of life and the water
Of life, but many Of the worldly are
feeling a longing for something better
than the husks which they have, We
do not know that all Church members,
nor all Of any one Church member
ship, are thus hungering and thirstlng
for Truth. But we do know that every
where In all the various Churches OF
all denomina ations there is hungry
class which cannot be satisfied to dis
honestly misrepresent itself as In har-
mony with the creeds. These bewil-
dered sheep are. of late years, finding
the. green pastures and still waters Of
! Divine Truth and grace-near to them
lin the Word of God-hidden under
the rubbish of ignorance and supersti-
tion. mistranslation and mislnterpreta-
tion.
But as for the masses of all denom-
nations. Alas, they are falling into
unbelief! The popular form of in6del-
ity known as Higher Criticism has al
ready swallowed up more than one
/. half of the ministry and Of the most
intelligent part of the laity. The only
hope for any of these is in leaving the
char and hhsks OF medieval misin'
terpretatious 6f Gods Word and In
finding its true meaning. In which Is
!. refreshment, strength. and new life.
!, "Ths Wages Of Sin is Death"
However we read our Bibles 10 the
I, past we read into them from the creeds
Of darker time the mischieyous error
Z that when the Bible declares death
penalty for sin It really means the re
: verse OF this-Iite-o eternal r1fe in eter
nal torture. Who had the right to
twist the inspired words in such a dev
7 ilish fashion? Who had the right tc