The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1911-07-25

ODpOSiuOu W tue true 0uu anu bhS III
BILE, which is the revelation of His Wis
dom, Justice, Love aud Power.
The Bible freely tells us that many
features of the Divine plan are now
hidden in mystery, but the last book
of the Bible. which prophetically pic
lures the future. assures us that in
Gods due time "The mystery shall be
finished. which He hath declared to
His servants. the prophets" (Revela-
ton x. n. The same book assures us
that I'm Gods due time, when the mys-
terry is cleared. "All nations shall come
and worship before Thee, for Thy
righteous acts have been made mani
fest" Revelation XIV, A.. We are now
living in the time when the mystery"
Is ending and the righteous dealings
Of God, from the scriptural standpoint
may be clearly seen.
But these revelations are not meant
for the world in general now. but
merely for "the elect" the "sanctifed
In Christ Jesus" "To you it is given
to know the mysteries;" to outsiders
lHtSt tilluHN dit bDONtu III
and dark sayings (Matthew xiii, H. 49,
But not until the elect shall be glorl-
fed and the Messianic Kingdom es-
tabl.shed will the mystery" be made
fully known to the world and every
knee bow and every tongue confess.
Hence, only those of a contrlte heart
may now see, now understand, the real
character OF God, His real purposes to-
ward man, etc. Thus our Lord de-
clares, "rhis is life eternal that they
should know Thee, the only true God.
and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast
sent" John xvii, 81.
In darker day than ours the theory,
ito doubt is to be damned" held such
power over many that they dared not
use their reason. And thus certain
reverence for God was maintained In
many homes-a reverence, however,
which surely would not be as highly
appreciated by the Creator nor have
as deep an influence upon the creature
as would a faith moved by love and
an Intelligent appreciation Of the Di-
vine character, based upon an under
standing of the Divine Plan of the
Ages.
An inundation Of unbeIief.
In our day the shackles of ignorance
and superstition are breaking Men,
women and children are beginning to
think for themselves. They no longer
believe the fairy tales of other days;
the dreadful h0bgoblins and night
mares of the Dark Ages respecting
purgatOry and eternal torture are
doubted by all, and by the great mass
totally disbelieved. What have they
now to attach them to the Almighty
since they have never been taught the
love OF GOd--the lengths and breadths
and heights and depths passing all hu.
man understanding? This is the
worlds great need-to know God as
He really Is, Father, Friend, n God
Of love! And to thus know Him the
people need to be taught how serious
ly they were onslaught In the past
along the lines Of hell and purgatory.
How could they ever truly love and
worship a God Of injustice and of hate
One inferior to themselves-One who
knew, foreOrdained and prepared for
their torture, before they were born
They must see that these things, taught
by the creeds OF the Dark Ages, are
wholly at variance with the Bible, else
they will never come back TO the Bi-
BILE nor be able to see Its teachings in
their true light They must be taught
that the sin and death. sorrow and
trouble nll around us are the wage OF
penalty OF father Adams disobedience
They must learn that God proposes Il
blessing and uplifting which will be
az world wide Ms IN the curse. They
must learn that the foundation for this
work was effected by the death Of
Jesus, the Just for the unjust. They
must learn that God is now selecting
II saintly class TO be associates will
the Redeemer In the work OF upliftinl
and blessing Adam and his race; anC
that each will be held responsible ant
receive stripes In proportion to hi
knowledge and wilfuI dlsobedlence
and that the perslstently rebellious vii
he destroyed like natural brut'
beasts" Ia the Second Death.
~ Have Lost My God"
Not long since, In conversation will
young lady, she said with great con
Germ, IL fear that have lost my
/ God" AZ Il child OF religious parent!
she had had helpful influences In he
home, but In school she had come IL
contact with the general spirit o
sleptlcism, which instead of repudiat
ing the Bible, MS did lngersol, Pain
and Voltairc, merely smiles at any ref
erence to Divine revelation, fair,
In God and respect FOR His will
These teachers are MS honest, we be
lleve. ns were lngersoll. Paine an,
Voltaire; nor can we deny that the.
have the same right to their dlsbelie
thnt we clnlm for our belief, We ear
however, say with all sincerity tina
It is great pity that the learned me
of Christendom are nearly all infldelS
In the sense Of not believing in th
Bible as Divine revelation.
Many of them even deny that ther
IL personal God and ascribe every
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