The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1911-08-08

VI W oN's ~ - N'haN
that these great truths were being en-
phasized and that the boastful gentle
men who ignore them should have
their true measure taken, regardless of
bow many titles may follow their
names. The moderately educated as
well as the illlterate need such "A testi-
mony to come from every pulpit. And
if 1t does not soon come our civiliza-
ton will be wrecked
All Seeing Eye Not Omnipresenee.
"Thou, Cod seest me-" THE eye of
the Lord is in every place" These
Scriptures give us the proper concep-
tion of the Almighty. AS with the tele
scope, the microscope, the telephone,
etc, man can enlarge his range of
vision and hearing, so by powers still
more wonderful the Almighty is cog
infant of all the affairs of the Uni
verse. We grant that our feeble minds
are unable to comprehend so great, so
universal an Intelligence.
We cannot know in what manner the
angels. the spirit servants of God, are,
as His eyes, In every place, to take
cognizance Of our affairs. We cannot
know In what manner the electric or
lightning flash serves as a Divine mes
senger. But we can believe that a
Soul so Infinitely high above us pos
sesses powers of information as far
beyond our comprehension as the tele-
phone and wireless telegraphy and
aIn ntrsC inht hn
hension which our forefathers had OF
these things in their day. 1t is easier
to believe that so great a Being as
the One who formed man should have
all wisdom and all power than to be-
lieve Him deficient OF these. The
scriptural argument is good one:
"He that formed the eye. shall He not
see? He that formed the ear. shall He
not hearw
God In Heaven and In He'll.
The creeds handed down to us from
the dark past declare that God Is ev-
erywhere prcsent-omnipresent. This
is as unthinkable as it Is foolish and
unscrlptural. Taking advantage Of
this error of Orthodoxy" the Adver-
sary has turned many away from be
lief in personal God. He who is ev-
erywhere is nowhere. The result is
the absurd view which has taken hold
on some otherwise intelligent people,
to the effect that OOod and God are
synonomous Hence log of wood
that is good for something, that can be
made into something useful, is said to
have good in It, and, hence, to have
God in it-ditto, = piece Of iron, bed,
n chair n table The folly grows into
saying that God Is everywhere and Is
in everything. Thus faith in god
of nature and happen-so" takes the
place of fabh In the God of the Bible.
whose residence is In heaven, but
whose intelligence and power extend
throughout the Universe, in thousands
of ways of which we are only learning
through electricity, radio activity,
etc, besides angelic messengers that
can come and go like the wind.
Our text, misunderstood, is supposed
to teach Divine omnipresence, whereas
1t really teaches Divine omniscience
and Almighty power. The Lords pres
ence. as represented in His intelligence
and power, are everywhere. Nowhere
could we 20 to be beyond His reach
aud beyond His knowledge Were this
thought thoroughly impressed upon
every human mind, what "A vast diff
ference 1t would make in human con
duct from that now seen-in Wall
Street, In banks, in palaces. In novels,
in saloons, In gambling houses-every-
where. 1t IL the great lesson needed
by the whole world Everyone who
believes this should join with nature
IN attesting Divine Wisdom, Power,
Justice and Love.
But really the undermining OF faith
In the God OF the Bible has been ne
compllshcd largely by the mlsrepre'
sentation Of the Bibles teaching. Our
text. for instance, Is supposed to teach
that God IL in heaven with the sanity,
rejoicing with them and enjoying their
pleasure and that He also Is in hell
with the insanity, looking upon their
sufTerngs and t0rtures and planning
with devils for their everlasting con
tinuunce. Thinking minds are reject
Ing such nonsense. but alas, they are
rejecting the Bible. too, hence have no
foundation for II better, truer faith.
Every educated minister knows that
/ tell the Truth to the common people
when | say that the word he'll In our
text has not the slightest reference to
place OF torture, or even of conscious
ness. Indeed this Is true of every oc-
currence of the word he'll from Gene
sis to Malachi In every instance the
translation IL from the same Hebrew
word, sheol, which signifies thG DrdrG,
tho tomb, and Is thus most frequently
translated.
| urge upon all ministers Of educa-
ton TO Join with me In explaining 20
the public the true meaning of the He
brew word shc0i and the Greek word
hldeS Whatever may have been their
thought Of eXpedlency In the past they
should see that the mistaken views of
the meaning Of these words are I'M
derminius the faith of Christendom
The Psalmist really said, IF as,