The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-05-14
Protestant's Views WORSE


pare with the Catholic views fore
going-how much worse? When our
forefathers thought they had found
something erroneous in the teachings
OF Papacy, when they concluded that
Purgatory was not to be found in the
Bible, they heroically determined to-
cast it out of their creeds. But alasi
When describing it they did not re-
alize that they were making bad
matter worse. They held on to the
doctrine of demons" that God had
created man SO that he could not die,
and could not be destroyed, and so,
they proceeded to interpret matters
along that line. Realizing the scrip
the sanity were fit for heaven. and re-
jecting the theory of Purgatory, they
logically consigned all except the saint
ly there after to eternal torture. Alasl
How inconsistent it. is: how strange
that we ever thought divine fore
knowledge, wisdom, justice, mercy,
love and power should have created
man to the number of thousands of
millions, with the foreknowledge and
foreintention and desire that they
should suffer an eternal torture.
Parting of the Ways.
Thus, my dear hearers, you with my
self and others of the intelligent peo-
pie of the world, find ourselves today
in most trying position: Our hearts
have repudiated the doctrine of eter-
nal torture as being un-Christ-liike, un-
worthy even of a devil. We can be-
lieve neither in a Purgatory of centu-
ries, nor in eternal torture as a conse-
quence or penalty for Adams disobedi-
ence in eating of the forbidden fruit,
nor as a penalty upon his children for
not living perfect lives when they
were born in sin and shapen in iniqui-
ty'' and prone to sin as the sparks to
fly upward" Our hearts cry out for
the living God and the true light upon
his dealings.
Under this awakening intelligence,
thousands of noble men and women
are leaving Gods book, and leaving
all of the churches to go after Theoso-
ply. Christian Science, and especially
after Evolution, with its companion
teaching of Higher Criticism-that the
Bible is thoroughly unreliable. We are
living now in a time of great falling
away from the faith; few intelligent
people any longer believe in the Bible.
Our colleges and universities-and, sad
to say, our theological seminaries-are
busy turning out Observation-Disclosures
Nor are these people wicked or immor-.
al in their unbelief; they are as we'll
meaning as ever, but have lost their
way. They reject the Bible because
they believe it to be the foundation of
the various inconsistencies in their
creeds; they are stumbling for lack of
knowledge; they cannot believe that
mans hereafter is one of centuries of
suffering. or of eternal suffering.
Seeking the Old Paths.
The Lord, through the Prophet Jere-
the old paths,'' and this is the appro-5
pirate lesson for each of us. We do
indeed. need to discard the creeds of
the past, not because they contain
nothing of truth, but because error
eomming1es in them to such a degree
as to make them perversions of truth
as a whole. We need to take off the
creedal spectacles with which we have
hitherto been studying Gods word,
and come to the Bible afreSh, to hear
its message. This coming, many of
us have been surprised as We have
found its purity and consistency and
harmony with itself. We have already
intimated the Bible view of mans
death sentence, and the Bible presen-
tation that Christ died for our redemp-
ton, and the Bible assurance that as
a consequence, in due time. 1.-The
knowledge of the glory of God shall
the Bible assurance that not merely
the living will profit by the provision
of Gods grace, but that "all that are
in their graves shall come forth" to
share in and be blessed by the IA
vorable conditions which God will by
and by inaugUrate.
The Bible declares that the penalty
for sin is being experienced by, hui
mainly at the present time-the death
penalty-and that the redemption price
of Christ's death is sufficient for the
sins of the whole world 1t declares
that on account of this redemption,
ultimately the resurrection of the dead
shall take place-"all that are in their /
graves shall hear the voice of the Son
of Man and come forth 1t is be-
cause of the divine intention that
there shall be resurrection of the
dead that the Bible everywhere, both
in the Old and New Testaments,
speaks of those who have died, both
good and bad, as being asleep" and
the promise is that ''They that sleep
in the dust of the earth shall awake"
Nor will they come forth to similar
conditions of sorrow that now sur
round US all. On the contrary, the
first resurrection is to be composed
of the holy, the sanity, and they are
to be associated with their Redeemer
as his bride and consort. to assist in
delivering and restoring mankind.
Later the imperfect, who have not had
their full trial, the great mass of man |
kind, will be brought forth, that they
may learn the ways of Righteousness. |
that they may learn to know God, and |
Jesus Christ, and in due time be up
lifted out of the conditions of sin and |
death. Then will come the time men !
toned in our text, the hereafter for |
the world. How joyful is the mes |
sage, There shall be no more death |
neither sorrow, nor crying. nor dying; /.
for the former things have passed I
away" All, how different is Gods |
proposition of a general uplift of the |
worthy and their assistance back to |
perfection-to all that was lost in |
Adam. How different is this from the |
doctrines of demons which have
perpIexed US. which have divided |
the church Of Christ into numberless
sects and parties, and which have al
most driven us from Christ ard the |
Bible.
Life, Not Immortality.
Thus we see that Gods provision in |
Christ for mankind is that each indi-
Vidual member of our race may yet If
he will, attain to everlasting life
through the merit of Christ's sacrifice
and through the operation of this king |
dom. Each may attain to all that was |
lost in Adam and redeemed at Call