The Blackfoot optimist. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1907-1918, 1911-01-05
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
A RUSSELL
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.

Utica. N. Y. Aug. 21.-Pastor Rus
sell of Brooklyn Tabernacle preached
here twice today to large audiences.
We report one Of his discourses from
the above text. He said in part
One Of the wonderful things about
the Bible and the Christianity founded
upon the Bibles teachings is the fact
that it contains SO much sympathy
comfort for the bereaved. the sorrow
ing. the troubled. This 10 not true Of
any other book or any other religion
in the world And who is there that
does not at some time in life need SYM
pathy. need encouragement. need a
powerful and loving friend such as our
Bible assures us our God is to all who
will accept his favor? m,
But our great Adversary. Satan.
seeks to make the light appear dark
and the darkness appear light. He
seeks to negative the testimonies Of
Gods Word. and. to very great de-
gree. his deceptions have been success
full. as is witnessed by the creeds OF
Christendom. Practically all of our
creeds. even though they assert that
loving. contradict this description Of
him and his Plan for humanity in
mOnstrOus terms. fendish in the ex-
treme. The majority Of creeds tell us
Of his REORGANIZATION and pre-arrange-
ment Of whatsoever comes to pass and
that this signifies that sanity hand
full will gain eternal life in Joy in
heaven. and that the insanity thou
sands of millions of heathendom and
Christendom are equally foreordained
to spend an eternity OF torture fore.
known. foreintended and provided for
before their creation. Is there COM
fort in this? Is such a plan God-like
or Satanic? Could any intelligent and
good being rejoice in such a plan of
damnation or sincerely worship an Al
mighty God who would SO misuse his
unlimited power to distress his crea-
lures. born in sin, shapen in iniquity;
in sin did their mothers conceive them ~
The minority of Christian creeds de-
clare the same results, but that they
were not designed of God. not fore.
known by him. not predestinated. They
tell us In other words that we have an
incompetent God. well-meaning. but
deficient in wisdom and in power. Is
there any comfort in this? Would it
assuage the grief and pain of those
suffering in eternal torment II they
could be assured that their lot was
such. not because of Divine premedita-
ton and design. but because of Divine
incompetence? Surely there is no com
fort to be had from such view!
After all. we Protestants did not
make much Of an improvement upon
the theory held by our forefathers
against which we protested in the six
teenth century. Surely purgatorial
fortunes of few centuries are no
worse, no less comforting than our
Protestant conceptions of an eternity
of torture for all the non-elect. Our
Catholic forefathers manufactured Pur>
.gatory without shred Of Scripture
upon which to base the theory. They
built it in their imaginations; they in
vented its fires and fortunes. Our
Protestant forefathers. using their i'm
aginations. gave us an eternal torment
hell-not more tangible. not more Scrip
tural than Purgatory. They did in
deed use a Scriptural term-sheol.
hades. hell-but. overlooking the fact
that these words all signify the state
OF death. the condition Of the dead.
they wrested the language and warped
1t in an unscriptural manner to signify
torture. The penalty or wage of sin
is death" They made of it torture
everlasting. without the slightest au-
thority Of Scripture except a misunder-
stood and misapplied parable. which.
rightly understood. teaches totally
different lesson. The false Gospel
has surely lost its power. People are
becoming too intelligent to endure il.
AS consequence attendance at
Churches is decreasing and reverence
for God is diminishing. Intideity, call
ed Higher Criticism. etc. is increasing.
The need of the hour is the Gospel
OF comfort. st. Paul declares what
we all know. namely. that 1.-The whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in
pain together until now waiting for
the manifestation of the sons of
God" Here we see the necessity for
this Gospel of comfort We see also
that God has provided it and that it is
coming TO the world in the end of this
Age. in the dawning of the new Age
1t will come to the world in general
as soon as the elect Church shall have
been selected and. by the First Res
direction" power. glorified with her
Lord as his Kingdom class. as the
glOrified sons Of God. whose mission
1t will be to bless all the families of
the earth.
"Father Of Mercies-God of All Com :
fort"
When st. Paul says. KNOWING the
terrors Of the Lord" he evidently re-
fers to the fact that our Creator has
declared that 1.-THE wage of sin is
death" mot eternal torment): that 1.-THE