Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-12-03

course, which was based upon the words
OF the Psalmist-"O. give thanks unto the
Lord, for he is good. for his mercy endur-
eth forever (~cxxxyi, u. The speaker was
confident that the original institution of
Thanksgiving Day was from the best OF
motives-a reyerential acknowledgment OF
Indebtedness to the Creator. He doubted
not. either. that the day was observed
after the came manner by many earnest
Christian people. Neither would he dis
pute the appropriateness of such a day In
the future amongst truly pious people who
knew what they did and why they did It.
He believed. however, that the masses
of the people had no real appreciation
of the Day and kept 1t merely as a holi-
day without the remotest sentiment of
thankfuiness to God, He felt that such
formal and p~erfunctory thanks. devoid of
either the letter or the spirit. would be
far from acceptable to the Great Creator.
Who 10 to Be Blamed For This7
Is education In general, or Higher Crit
icism In particular, to DO blamed for this
condition of unfaith In Goo and his prov
idence-for this ~unthankful, p~erfunetory
Thanksgiving which God must despise?
Pastor Russell thought that a large share
of the responsibility lay at the door OF
the Higher Critics and Evolutionists and
the undermining OF Christian faith which
they had 80 successfully accomplished
during the past fifty years. But he saw
another cause back Of the Higher Critics,
back Of the Evoldtionists. There he
charged the real responsibility for the un-
faithfuiness to God today prevalent
throughout the world. He charged that
false doctrines. mistranslations and mis-
interpretations ofNthe Bible were respon-
sible for present conditions. The light of
education has merely shown up the in
constituencies of doctrine evolved during
the Dark Ages. The light of our day.
shining upon those false doctrines of the
past. has nauseated Christendosn and pro
duced the present unbelief amongst the
masses. and has led the more intelligent
class to seek for something more rational
along the lines OF Higher Criticism and
Evolution.
Locating the proper source of our tTou-
Bile, whatever it's character. Is a very i'm
portant matter. All intelligent people are
agreed respecting the absurdities of many
or the teachings Of the past handed down
to us by venerable and reverent fore
fathers. who were themselves deceived.
Our difficulty has been our general as
sumption that the creeds OF the past
rightly represented and interpreted the
Word of God. the Bible. Hence when we
repudiated the a~bsurdities. of our creeds
many OF US at the same time abandoned
all faith in the Bible. which we enron
eousiy supposed was the basis for those
i~rreconcilable creeds. Pastor Russell de.
clared that 1t Is now high time hat Gods
.people-yea, eli the reYerent OF human
ity-shouid take notice of the fact that
the Bible, allowed to interpret itself. one
passage throwing light upon another
hows forth the most glorious and most
reasonable Plan OF Salvation for man
kind acknowledgements grand han we
could hav asked or thought Ee de-
elared that 1t is due time. not only for
those who idolize creeds to awaken from
their superstitions and make a fresh study
of the Bible, but 1t Is high time also, he
said. that Higher Critics and Evoiufion-
lists should lay aside their prejudices and
view the Bible from its own scientific
standpoint.
Why Some Were unthankfui.
Some were ~unthankfui because their
cup was fun of adversely and misery. IN
stead of fun of happiness. Some were
unthankful because OF pinching poverty
poor crops. lost friends. Some could not
give thanks because of sickness. pain
sorrow. Some. because born in sin and
shapen in iniquity," could not give thankf
because of peryerse dispositions. prone &c
sin as sparks to fly upward. some could
not give thanks, because their poo
brains, guided by an erroneous theology
not only saw little TO hope for in the
present life. but everything TO dread tx
the hour of death and inward to all eter-
nifty. Pastor Russell thought that thi;
latter class, some of them looking for.
ward to Purgatoriai sufferinga OF cen
turtles, and others TO eternal torture
might find it very difficult TO LAY prop
erlX thankful hearts for anything con
nected with this present life. They coulc
scarcely be blamed for regretting thai
they had even been born.
Can we blame these people for lack Of
thankfulness while they have such blind
ed minds as respects the Creators Love
and Mercy and Provision for them? tbs
Pastor asked. His reply was. that oul
wonder should rather be that any reepect
still remain for the Great Creator. who's,
plans and arrangements for his creature.
have been so sadly misrepresented
Thanks Because God Ia Good.
Pastor Russell called attention TO hi.
text-that 1t declares that thanks should
be given to God because .'he is good. be-
cause his mercy endureth forever" This
he said. signifies In the Hebrew. to 1
eomplesion-so long as mercy could hav,
a proper object. He declared that Thu
AM expression was repeated in this
Psalm twenty-six times and asked, HAYS
we not, as Christians, sadly misrepre
scented the facts of the case and endeav-
E~1RAS ~ All ~ 8N<
for unkindness. injustice. lovelessness-ts
a God whose mercy never reached us anc
would never reach any but a small pro.
portion of our race through the knowl
edge OF Christ: to a God whose mercy
even to the one-tenth of those who hac
ever heard of him. he said. would sndurs
only for the present life and even 4
these bring a blessing only to a msr.
handful of the electl
Let us go back TO the Word Of God aue
! free our minds OF the preiudices Of super
etittoa sr1 neutrality-suspicious. handed so~s
from this Dark Ages. Let US see tn
glory of our God. az revealed In ths
| Bible Let Christians give thanks that
by the grace of God, their ayes and ear,
az understanding ara opening 60 a bsttsi
knowledge of him Let them give thanks
not only for redemption from fhe dealt
sentence. but also for their call to saint
ship and it's consequent suffering IN Thu
present time and its p~ronsiae~os rawars
OF glory on the spirit plane by ana hyi
Let the world gAvs thanks Ia ~uroportloE
as it Is abs to discern aea,s goodness
and merc%nSS Adams rses-that event
uziiy thr@S . channel Of fho gierlnel
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givinS@ 4h4to ali 70 attain ia
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