Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1911-09-26

while we nave lau HOIe olhCi ca
The heathen's idols are ugly enough.
vet far less horrible than the creeu
IDOLS of civilized lands. No excuse
will longer maintain idol worship Oh
any kind.
Locking For the Truth
The great difficulty with the masses
is that, repudiating the idols, they are
lansing into agnosticisn-doubt. Ihey
know not what they believe. Ihey
are looking for the Truth. They nhu !
the leaders of the creeds still bowling
formally to the idols, but privately
regulating them. Such leaders are
unworthy of confidence and only par
tally honest. Hungry and thirsty TOT
something to satisfy the craving Oh
their hearts, the furnishing people are
turning toward pleasure. "They are
lovers Of pleasure more than lovers OF
Cod
Comparatively few any longer be-
lieve in purgatory or everlasting tor-
ment, but they believe that these doc-
trines have a Scriptural foundation
which they proportionately diseredlt,
and charge with being the source q
all their ignorance and superstition u
the past. With faith in the Bible fJne'
the masses know not where to go nor
whom to trust respecting enlighten-
ment regarding the future. They are
reaching the conclusion that every
thing is a big guess, and that they
may as we'll do their own guessing as
to pay minister to do it for them.
The situation is deplorable one.
As we have already intimated, human
ity is so constituted chat religion holds
the very highest place in his mental
organism--the seat of power and con-
troll in all the affairs of his life. With
no fixed conviction, men are drifting.
The learned are going into intidel1ty,
under the more refined name of High
er Criticism. The poor and less learn
ed are going into doubt respecting any
intelligent Creator or Supervisor. AS
a matter of fact they are saying not
only there is nc God who would tor
ment mankind eternally. but appar-
emily, There is no God who takes any
interest in humanity.
In this frame of mind Socialism ap-
peaIs to them. They propose to bring
about Paradise Restored" by the
power of Socialism. They say to them
selves. 1--WE are without a God, without
future hope, and without confidence
| in, xrio slnf n1f drink
and be merry'-let us enjoy life-let us
get all that we can of pleasure out Of
present existence, for we are hopeless
respecting a future one" Is 1t any
wonder that the Apostle foretold that,
under these conditions, the masses
would become more and more pleas
ure-mad?
Thus we account for the great la
ment that is going up from all
churches that the pews are empty, and
the collection-boxes empty, and that
the system would go down except for
the benevolent wealthy, who really do
not believe in the creed idols, but who
desire that others shall believe in them
and worship them. In a word, the
crowds which once flocked to the
churches, with their nickels and pen
MES, now make for the theatres and
crowd the hard, rough "bleachers" of
the ball grounds. They have become
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of
God, because the representations OF
God in the various creeds are too re-
pulsive, too irrational, too .devilish, to
be longer believed in or worshipped.
What the people need is a general
smashing of all the creed idols and the
unanimous return to the study of the
Bible, and to the worship Of the true
God, which the Bible sets forth.
Preachers Are In PerpIexity
No men in the world are to be more
sympathized with than the preachers.
The creed idols have been richly en-
dowed by well-meaning votaries of the
past. The interests of the clergy are
all wrapped up with the interests of
the creed idols-not only their financial
interests, but their honor. dignity,
titles. The question with the clergy
today is, How can we smash the creed
11OW Sdu VIC dSSlIOy IuCIA
without ourselves perishing with them ?
If we tell the common people plainly
what we believe, they will all leave
the creed idols. They will ask us, How
long Is it since you came to this con-
clusion? If we tell them that we have
not believed in our creeds for many
years, will they not call US hypocritical
and lose their confidence in US? And,
besides, what could we offer them in
stead?
It Is no secret that the great ma
| jority Of the educated clergy are total
unbelievers, not only in the creeds
| which they profess, but also in the
Bible-they call themselves Higher
Critics" and "Evolutionists." They
have nothing that they could teach the
| people, except their doubts, their mis-
| understandings. Having lost faith in
the creed idols, they are seeking for
| the true God, in whom the masses be-
| lieve little enough as it is. They are
bound to God and religious things by
| a very slim cord composed of three
| strands-ignorance, superstition and
natural reverence. The ignorance and
superstition will soon break, and all
that will be left will be mans natural
reverence. Now is the time for re
placing ignorance with knowledge, and
superstition with loving obedience to
( the true God.
| "A Famine In the Land"
When l was in Boston last June the
| largest opera house of that great city,
seating thirty-six hundred. was crowd
ed; four hundred more were behind
me on the platform besides those who
| stood, and l learned afterwards that
hundreds were turned away from the
| doors. The next day the editor
of a religious journal called on me-
His leading question was: Pastor
Russell how do you explain the fact
that the people of all creeds, and of the