The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1910-09-16
PEOPLES
Sermon BY
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL
Pastor BROOKLYN
I abernacle.


preached today in the Academy OF Mu.
sic, our largest Auditorium. the Tab.
crnacle" being OF insufficient capacity.
He had II very attentive hearing.
There were many Hebrews in tie
large audience. He said in part
Coming events cast their shadows
about us. A great change in the af
fairs of men is indicated and acknowl.
edged by all thoughtful. intelligent
people. The worlds pace during the
past fifty years astonishes everybody.
New conditions meet us on every hand
The majority of books written half n
century ago along scientific lines are
considered rubbish today. Rules and
customs and theories of the past sup
posed to be immovable and absolute
are abandoned as worthless--in chem
istry, In manufactures. in art in
finance and commerce. All these
changes nCCrSSitate u new view of So
Clul COHulllolS anu u re-eAuInluullOn OF
the relationship Of religion and the
Bible to man and his conditions. as
seen from the present viewpoint. The
business and social world have been
compelled to keep pace with the steps
of progress. some Of them gladly and
some of them reluctantly. But reli-
gioniSts have been placed in most
awkward position. Religion ind NOR
al sense constitute the backbone and
fiber of the best progress in civiiZa.
ton. The perpleXity of religious
thought. and its manifest inability to
Is working II serious disadvantage to
all disposed to look to the Almighty
for guidance in life's affairs.
The increase in worldly wisdom. the
improved human conditions. the ad-
vancemCnt along scientific lines in ma
terial prosperity have turned many of
the worlds brightest intelects away
from God and from the Bible. Many
| of these. still processing Christianity
in an outward. formal mapIer have
| really abandoned it in favor of a theo-
ry of 'civilization." They have wan.
dered from the Divine Revelation. the
Bible. into paths of speculation-their
own and other mems They have cogi-'
tated that the reverse of the Bible
statements is the Truth-that instead
Of man falling from the image of God
into sin and death. he is rising from n
brute or monkey plane upward. grad
| ually, to Divine heights. Instead of
looking for great Deliverer. Messiah.
Savior. Life-Giiver they are hoping to
be let alone by any outside influence.
that certain fancied laws of Evolution
might help them upward and onward
to glory. honor and immortality.
The result is that religious thought
today everywhere and in all denomina-
lions is chaotic. The whole Of Chris
tendon has practically become Agnos-
| tic-admtting that they do not know
the Truth nor how to adjust their rea-
Soning faculties to present consecra-
| ton. They are In an expectant atti-
tude-seeking light. Nevertheless many
fear the light lest it shall make mani
fest cherished errors or selfish hopes
and ambitions which must be abandon
ed. But they are still pretending to
know many things which we and they
| know that they do not know. But
daily the strain becomes more intense.
| Gradually everybody is recognizing
that there Is a great crisis along every
line-that the people are awakening
and thinking anS will no longer re-
ceive their errors.
Converting the World to God.
Fifty years ago Christian people, full
of faith in the Bible which they seri
ously misunderstood and read with
sectarian spectacles Of various colors,
were fully agreed that God had given
| his Church the commission to convert
| the whole world and to establish Mes
siah's Kingdom. when the nations
would learn war no more. but beat
their swords into plOwshares and their
spears into pruning hooks. Jealous
Christian people urged that the hea-
then were going down to a hell Of
eternal torment at the rate of ninety
thousand every twenty-four hours
|
their earthly interests for the assist
ance OF the heathen--to prevent that
awful catastrophe, to help thwart the
very program of God which some
other Christian people Of an earlier
day had declared was predestinated
and foreordained as unaterable. Good
was certainly attempted. We trust
that some good was accomplished. We
know that some harm was done. in
that falacious conceptions Of the char
acter and plan Of the Creator were
promulgated amongst the heather,
which have hardened and embittered
some OF them.
But by and by practical people
sought for statistics. and now know
that there are twice as many heathens
IN the world as there were a century
ago. OF course. there are unthinking
and unstatistical people who refuse
knowledge and who are today claim
ing with a Commendable zeal. but a
reprehensibIe ignorance, that large con