East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-10-23
PRESBYTERIAN
SUNDAY SERMON
Of. J. Mines Minister


into God, and only after His spiritual
sap has rushed through the trunk of
the soul can the tree of life yield its
varied fruits of Righteousness. Life
comes only from life's source Spon-
taneous genera ,ior is an exploded
humoug, both in the physical and in
the spiritual world Hence. all NOR
atty which does not fructify into re-
hgion is spurious. Every princelv
type of manhood. every exhauIted civ
ilization attest this truth: IAN nv
springs are in Thee"
But our generation has apparently
overlooked this fact, and continually
manltests tendency to rule out God.
IL trusts in systems and policies and
changing administrations and pruden-
tai utllltarianism. When social in
equality and political corruption stul-
titles progress, either in municipality
or state, they cry for a new system or
a new administration. When the IL
quor traffic becomes unruly and in
'oleraole' they advocate some new
method or device of regulation. All
ihls makeshift of mans wisdom, to
my thinking is puerile and silly. Our
worthy editor in his Saturday edition
tells us that our saloons can proceed
in their legitimate business in a legiti-
mate manner and that few would de-
sire any change of legislation upon
the subject. Aside from tho corrac-
uon thai their traffic, which is the
source of So per cent Of the world,
misery and crime is neither a busi-
ness nor leg innate, the statement is
IN Keeping with New Testament
teachings. Personally I am growing
!es5 enthusiastic for prohibition or
local option" or any other "regula-
tloh as system. Change of mere
device only scratches the surface of
the question. All wrong-graft COR
iuPtloh' and crime-demands a
chahge of heart. You can never leg
islate sin'ou of the world We nave
oeen trying it now for a. generation.
and with the following results: The
marriage law is more questioned than
ever before in history: the Sabbath
uay Is all but gone; reverence for
parents, Bible and God almost extinct
IN the lives of our boys and girls: the
New Testament and its TEACHINGS
'hroWh out of our schools and out of
our homes: sacred things in general
using their halo; suicide on an alarm
ing increase; in fact, a general ALL
around moral slump. In the davs
When we went to church, read our
Bibles, and reverenCed sacred things
We had higher moral tone. WHY
because We relied upon spiritual re-
sources. We put our trust i'm God
and not in the devices of men.
All my springs are in Thee" Back
TO your Bibles and to your knees, and
regardless of who is president. we
snail have the golden age. Do not
trust your own strength The arm of
flesh will fail you. 1t demands the
spiritual dynamics of God to make a
man or nation good. The binding
power of desire, the sophistry of
ae!l4shness, the madness of lust the
deIlance of se.f-will, the irrationality
OF temper, the illusions of wanton
fancy, the ins.stence of immediate
saln and pleasure-only the puisant
forces Of Deity can master. subdue
and control these wicked potencies of
the lower world. The little daisy of
the field owes its Shape to the action
non, its life to infinite electric forces
It's color to millions of vibrations of
ether, and its growth to the energies
OF the gigantic orb p hundred million
miles away. And in the force, which
can renew a right spirit within me"
must be no less infinite If some men
appear to have a nigh type of man.
mood without reading the bible at
tending church, or acknowledging
God, they are like the .'vegetabIe
robbers We read about in our Bot
anles. They draw life from some
other root while assuming 20 flourish
III their own strength. Jesus has Gre
ated an environment salubrious tn
the growth of manhood whether we
acknowledge Him or not He is the
Suoiiihe source of all nobility of char
actef. When we have Jesus. we have
al there Is; and we must say of every
new cult or teaching or doctrine; if
II agrees with Jesus it is mere repe-
tIlon and plagiarism to formulate IT
under any other name or to ascribe
It's authorship to any other person.
"nlle, II 1t differs from Jesus If is
antagonistic to my deepest experience.
ana / Will not hear it, II know in
Whom l have believed" "He that
hath the Son hath life" 81 am the
| true vine" and that is the totalty of
our spiritual and moral resources.
All my springs are in Thee" This
is true in reference to the individual
and also in the larger sphere of ma
tons In the sixteenth century two
great streams of influence flowed
from the heart of Europe. One from
that incarnation of intellectually and
learning, Erasmus; the other from
that spiritual genius, Luther. The
one drew his sustenance from erudi-
ton and culture; the other from the
Word and Spirit Of God. The one
became an affuent of Roman Cathol-
icism and emptied into the civilization
OF Italy, Spain, Austria and France:
the other poured into Holland, Eng
iahd. Germany and America. by
their fruits ye shall know them. u
Thus history speaks in unmlstakabIe
terms
Two centuries later. two other
movements. connected with two other
names, relate the same story: Vol
taire and Wesley, the philosopher and
the. evangelist. What did Voltaire dc
kfor France He led it into a river
!, Of blood and perhaps the most ter.