Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1911-09-30

godliness but de-
nying the power thereof. From such
turn away" I'll Timothy iii. 4, 81
lie said:-
Our text could scarcely apply better
tO present-day conditions II st. Paul
had written the words this very day.
Tie world seems to be going pleasure
mad. Very evidently we are In the
"perilous times" mentioned in the con-
text 1t is proper that we investigate
this tendency toward pleasure and
fOrmality as respects religion. What
ls the cause Of this condition. 1t Is
not because mankind have naturally
more desire for pleasure than for God.
On the contrary, Phrenology shows us
that the very highest organs Of the
human mind are those which relate to
spirituality and reverence. Under nor
NAL conditions, therefore. all mankind
might reasonably be expected to have
their chief pleasure in spiritual things,
In harmony with a proper reverence
for their Creator and His will.
What has changed this natural con-
dition. and turned the hearts of men
away from reverence for God and spir-
itual things to more sensuous pleas
ures. with merely an outward form
Of plety? The answer is that mans
reverence for his Creator and for spir-
ltual things has been taken advantage
Of by Satan. God has been pictured to
mems minds as All-Powerful and dev-
lllsh. These false doctrines. st. Paul
declares, are doctrines Of demons"
Il Timothy ". II. These misconcep-
lions. formulated into multitudinous
creeds, became their idols. Each idol
creed contained little nucleus Of
truth, around which monstrous errors
were aggregated. For long time we
blindly and stupidity worshiped our
creed-idols. lighting for ourselves and
against others. Contributing our mon
ey to the point of sacrifice and self
denial. we built costly temples, each
party for his own idol.
We were kept so busly engaged In
thus lighting and working and build
Ing, that we did not stop to carefully
notice the horrible outlines of these
idols. nor to consider their blasphe-
nous misrepresentation of the true
God Of Justice, Wisdom, Love, Power.
The Day Dawn Is Upon Us
The Apostle says, "They that sleep
sleep In the night and they that are
drunken are drunken I'm the night"
Many thus have been asleep and have
dreamed terrible things respecting the
future which our Heavenly Father has
ordained for His creatures. Various
hnllucinatlons and nightmares have
afflicted us. Many have been drunk
en- with the wine of false doctrines,
mentioned In the Apocalypse. which
tells us that this drunkenness" or stu.
pefactlon OF error has extended to all
nations Of Chrlstendom (Rev. xviii, -.
We may well thank God that "the
night ~ far spent and the day Is at
hand" "The sun of righteousness
shall rise with healing In His beams"
(Malachl ". ~ The result will be the
complete scattering of darkness, SUI
perstitlon and error, which for so long
has more or less beclouded the minds
Of many of us to the true character
of our God aud the true teachings Of
His Word, II Is because we are in
the dawnlng of the New Day that we
are beginning to see MS never before,
the horrible features OF our creed idols
The majority of Christians have not
yet discovered the real character of
the Almighty. They are in Il transl.
ton state, They no longer worship
their idols as formerly, yet they still
worship them, We can direct them
to worship the true God, but the idols
so monstrously misrepresent tho God
Of all Grace that the worship Is neces
sOrlly faint and half-heared; or as
the Apostle declares, II is merely "a
form of godllncsS" without the power,
the force, the strength which should
accompany the worship Of the true
God, rightly understood and properly
reyerenced
A Revulsion Of Sentiment
The dawning Of the light OF the New
Day Of Messiah begins to waken us
from the nightmares OF the Dark Ages.
We have begun To doubt our creed
holS, Many have ceased their wor.
ship altogether Many others respect
them merely as fetshes Of the past.
Some Ore afraid that Il the masses
cease to worship the idols all rever.
eNce for holy things will pass away
and the world will lapse into heathen.
ish darkness. We should remember,
on the contrary, that we have been In