The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-05-02
Sermon by
CHARLES +.
RUSSELL,
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

His address was delivered under the
auspices of the INTERNATIONAL
BIBLE STUDENTS ASSOCIATION.
A profound impression was evidently
made, and Bible study surely received
. considerable impetus. Many inclined
to scoff at religion and the Bible, as
interpreted in the past, said reverent-
ly. III this be the Gospel of Christ
It is worthy Of all acceptation." The
speaker said:
We, dear friends, are living in day
In which the leading minds Of the
world are rejecting the Bible and its
message In all the great colleges Of
the world; yea, in the theological
seminaries also, the Bible Is classed
as antique. Professed faith in the
Bible. as the inspired Word Of God,
today calls forth sneers Of ridicule and
the comment that such believers are
''unlearned." But, my hearers, / am
before you today to contend that 1t is
not the Gospel Of Christ that Is be-
ing rejected by the intelligence of the
world, but another Gospel that came
not from Christ, neither from the Apos
ties, aeither is 1t taught In the Bible
am here to claim, and to endeavor to
prove that the Bible is eminently log
zeal, thoroughly reasonable, and that
the message 1t bears to those who have
"ears to hear" is the most wonderful
message that could possibly be pre-
sented to human heads and hearts.
We are not here to claim new rev.
elation, making void the Word of God
through Jesus and the Apostles; we
are not here to twist and turn their
words to make them appear to mean
what they do not say. We are here
to show that the Bible taken In Its
simplicity, and allowed to interpret It.
self, is the most wonderful book In the
world, and that the Divine Plan of Sal
walton therein set forth Is soul-satisfy-
ing and, as the Scriptures declare. suf-
fcient, "that the man Of God may be
thoroughly furnished unto every good
word and work"
Theories Of the Ozark Ages"
We are not here, my friends, to set
forth any sectarian views of the Scrip
lures, nor to advocate new theology.
BY no means we have already too
many theologies; we have already too
many sects or divisions Of Christ! We
want no more! Christendom is awak-
ening to the fact that the various con-
| ficting creeds cast discredit on the Bi-
ple. The creeds Of Chrlstendom uni
versally discredit each other by their
interpretations, and universally they
discredit the Bible, which would be
surely a most ridiculous book, II II
taught all the various conflicting dog
| mas.
However, / should not be misunder-
stood as making an attack upon any
creed, OF upon the adherents OF any
creed. Rather, suggest that we may
well look with sympathy upon all the
various cIeeds and sects. realizing that
Gods people have been In Babylonish
Did not the Apostle tell that great
falling awny would come? QI Thessa-
lonians II, 3.) Should we then be sur
prised IL we find his words have come
true, that for fifteen hundred years the
Church of Christ has been deeply en-
tangled with errors and superstitlons,
which make void the Gospel or Christ
Let us not then stop to find fault with
our forefathers. and to upbraid them;
let us rather, SO far as possible. as
sumo their honesty. their sincerity.
Let us take the Bible standpoint. and
realize that the difficulty has been the
| power of our Adversary. the Devil,
and that he has deluded and ensnared,
not only the heathen world, but to q
considerable extent Chrlstendom.
| Mark st. 'Paul's words. "The god >of
| this world hath blinded the minds OF
| them which believe not, lest the glo-
rious light of Divine goodness should
shine into their hearts" I'll Corinthians
iv, A.. The ntimation is that our great
| Adversary, Satan. Is interested In de-
ceiving mankind. respecting the glo-
rious character of our God, and his
wonderful Plan of Salvation through
Christ Satan uses as his tools the
very best of humanity that he can
bring under his control. and nothing Is
more evident than that he has com
pletely deluded the heather world
with what the Apostle terms, doc
trines Of devils" Not only so. but
to the extent that he was able to dc
so, he has evidently worked mischief
with the various reformatlons and
creeds of Christehdom. Thank GOD
that he did not gain entire control OF
any of thes Thank God that there
Is a center Or nucleus of truth In eacf
Of these creeds. and around that ker
mel Of truth. terminating power may
be felt In every denomination. but th'
Adversary has wrapped these creedi
with layer after layer of mistransla
tion and misinterpretation.
In the light Of our day, many arr
able to discern more clearly than dit
our forefathers, the monstrous AM
God -dishonoring fallacies Of the creeds
and. aroused TO disgust, they have re
jected the irrational dogmas; but the,
have frequently rejected also the cen
tral truth. which that dogma, to Ger