Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1911-06-24

- {" AhS q 81
N2A5ToRRQ5Se5 audience. Profound
impressions were
undoubtedly made. Speaking from the
text Holy. holy, holy Lord God AL
mighty, the whole earth shall be filed
with Thy glory" Revelation ". 81, the
speaker said:
Shakespeare tells of some damned
by faint pralse!" We grasp his state
ment as implying that a faint praise
is more injurious than silence. But as
we look to ourselves and the remainder
of the reputed four hundred millions
of Christendom and their united trib-
ute OF praise to the Almighty Creator
we are forced to admit that with many
He is given faint praise" while The
vast majority positively blaspheme the
Holy Name by most atrocious misrep-
reservations of the Divine character,
which they claim to be His own reve-
lation Of a demoniacal plot for the
eternal torture, in one way or another,
of the thousands Of millions brought
into existence by His power and with
out their W consent.
There may be said to be three diff
ferent theories prevalent in Christen.
dom on the subject. They all have
jealous. earnest. honest advocates.
Each cOntradicts the others. Each
claims to love God and TO seek to serve
and honor Him. Evidently. two at
least of the three are wrong. 1t is our
conviction that all three are in error.
We believe that all three of them have
fragments of the truth around which
have c%rystallized distorting. SANDER
GUS, blasphemous errors. The uphold
ers of these theories are so blinded and
bewildered that they fail to discern
that their praise and worship toward
the Creator are defled and converted
phemies by their incrustations of false
hood.
Three General Views,
All three of these views declare that
the Almighty. with full power to have
done otherwise, so created humanity
that a child nee born into the world
a never die-he must live somewhere
increasingly either In pain or in pleas
IRE. By what authority any make
these declarations we have never as
certained.
Surely 1t is a gross SANDER upon a
God of infinite Justice, Wisdom. Love
and Power TO claim that He ever en-
trusted TO poor. fallen. human par
ents the power to bring into existence
sin-blighted and sin-dlspOsed human
creatures such us we see Our race to
be, and then made the happiness of
their eternity dependent upon Il super
human resistance of the evils of their
environment and Of their depraved
constitutions! This blusphemy against
the Holy Name is common to nearly
every creed OF Christendom.
Our Catholic friends tell us that by
Divine arrangement terrible purga.
tOrtal experiences await practically
every member of our race. in the hope
that, IL rightly exercised thereby, after
centuries Of torture, m eternity Of bliss
will be gained. Is not this also a bias
phemy against the Holy Name? who
can deny it? Who would not shudder
to have such an awful crime Of evil
design charged against himself or
against his earthly parents? Who that
is begotten of the Holy Spirit is not
panied even to think of such a charge
being made against his Heavenly
Father, 1.-THE God of all grace? Surely
such a theory is blasphemous, hor-
rible.
But we have grown 50 accustomed
TO this blasphemy that 1t fails to prick
the majority to the heart as it should.
With all of our development of human
sympathy and care for the sick and
even Tor our wounded enemies on the
battlefield, and with our precautions
of modern times against criminal neg
tigence which might lead to the de-
.struction OF human life by c%onfagra.
ton with all Of our tire apparatus
and benevolent laws for the protec-
tioD Of the very humblest Of our race,
we have calmly and without protest
charged against our great Creator, and
indOrsed 1t as Il belief. either pub
ilcly or tacltly. that He would look
upon q holocaust of millions with no
Ore brigade for their relief. Is not
this blasphemy of the Holy Name?
Worse and Observation-Disclosures.
Is 1t any wonder that in early life
u childish hearts were filled with
fear rather than with love toward our
Creator and toward His Revelation,
the Bible? Is 1t any wonder that It
required all kinds of fighting with
our common sense to believe. as we
were taught we should, that God low.
tngiy predestinated that all the tami-
Dies Of earth should suffer eternally
except a sanity handful because Ee