River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-01-13

J.
spoken" 1t is wis
dom to believe
the Bible, for every writer in the
Bible is a prophet in the sense that
he speaks to us the message of God.
Any man who receives part of the
Bible because it p1eases him and re-
jects the other part because it does
not coincide with his opinion is a
fool, because the authority for that
which he rejects is as good as the au-
thority for that which he receives. To
lieve in an eternal heaven of bliss and
reject an eternal hell of torment,
while the same word in Scripture de-
scribes both, is folly.
The atheistic fool has his portrait
taken in Psalms xiv: 1; "The fool
hath said in his heart, There is no
God" This is the logical fool He is
a man who cannot or will not believe
in an intelligent cause when he sees
an intelligent result, and can imagine
design without designer, an evo-
luton without an evolver, creation
without creator.
Athanasius Kircher, the great as
tronomer, had a friend who was an
atheist This friend came one day in
10 the studio of Athanasius and, while
the astronomer was busy interested
himself in the objects about the room,
among which was a large celestial
globe of recent make. who made
this?" asked the atheist. Nobody"
replied Kircher. where did it come
from?" continued the atheist. From
nowhere" answered Kircher. What
do you mean?" asked the atheist,
abruptly. Il mean" replied the as
tronomer, that you are not willing to
believe chat this poor little globe can
make itself, while you pretend to be-
lieve that the stars and all matter
have made themselves"
Robert Hall declared that a genuine
atheist was an intellectual impossi-
bility. No man with reason can study
nature and really believe there IS no
God. But he may say: II do not
know" Then he is not a fool for lack
of sense, but because he will not
learn. There was in one of my classes
at college a genuine agnostic. He
never knew his lessons. He profes-
sor asked him many questions, 70
which he always replied: 81 do not
know" He answered but one ques-
| ton correctly during the whole term.
What was the cause of his agnostic-
ism? 1t was easily explained. He
never studied the textbook which had
| in it all the knowledge required, but
he chose to lounge about and do other
things than study.
Such is the agnostic of to-day. He
stares at the stars, peers into the
ground, looks through the microscope
at the flowers and says, 81 don't know
whether there is God or not" What
is the cause of his agnosticism? The
same precisely as with my friend at
college. He will not learn of God.
There is a textbook in heavens
university course, and in it's first SEN
tence read: I'm the beginning God"
Any man who will learn may know
that there is God, because God has
revealed himself in the Scriptures.
An agnostic, therefore, is a logical
fool, which means either fool for
the lack of sense or negligent fool,
which means fool that will not learn
though the knowledge is offered him.
But the atheist is also an experiment
tai fool: he has said in his heart, "No
God" The seat of infidelity is not in
the mind "Out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts" When a mans heart
is right, his thinking will be right.
Vicious blood in the heart will go to
the brain and every other part Of the
body, so evil in the heart will vitiate
the whole being.
A man who refuses to believe any
thing is not a greater fool than the
other man who believes in the wrong
thing. God tells us in Proverbs xviii
| 26. "He that trusteth in his own
heart is a fool" and the reason of that
assertion is plain. THE heart is
deceitful above all things and des-
perately wicked" Will you trust a
man whom you know to be a deceiver?
/ If so, you are a fool. Now, the heart
is just such a deceiver; and a man
who trusts in his heart rather than in
Gods truth has good credentials of
folly.
His picture is portrayed in 1 Samuel
XVI: 81. Saul had disobeyed God,
who had declared that he should be
no longer king, but Saul made up his
mind that the decree of God should
not be carried out. He would chase
David to the death, he would rule
Israel in spite of God; but the folly
of this course Saul himself was made
to see when he said Il have played
the fool"
So every man who fights against
God is a fool; so is every man who
thinks that by his own strength he
can recover himself from the effects
of sin and thus set aside the decree
of God. THE soul that sinneth. it
shall die" If Saul had confessed his
sin and begged forgiveness he would
have been restored; but he confessed
it only that he might be honored in
the eyes of the people; and any man
who labors for public favor while
Gods Judgment rests upon him, Saul
| himself being judge, is fool
|