Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1911-12-02
Pastor Russelrs Sermon

10 the Increased blessings, but to the
improper and unthankful manner In
which they have received themf
Would not philosophy alone, apart
from the Bible or religion, have warn
ed them that. even If their theories
were true, 1t would be unwise to cult-
vate them in their own minds and In
the minds Of others?
2) Let us now analyze the foregoing
complaints. Who can prove to US that
there is no living and true God-that
there is merely a god Of nature, blind
force2 Who can explain to US the
power which holds our earth In its or
bit around the sun. and which has
given us summer and winter. cold and
heat; has given US mountains and val
leys, hills and plains, in pleasing varie-
" and loaded with minerals most use
full to us and merely waiting our heaV-
en-dlrected genius to bring them forth
for the blessing Of our race, and to
make Of earth the Paradise Of God?
What philosophy can prove to US
that these things have happened by
chance and that we are wrong in ac-
ceptlng the Scrptural suggestion, "Day
unto day uttereth speech and night
unto night showeth knowledge, and
there is no place where their voice Is
not heard"-proclalming an All-Wise
and beneicent Creator? We know that
the wisdom and benehcence Of our
Creator were hidden from our mental
view by our superstitiOns and irration-
al creeds of the past, but now, as the
electric light has superseded the tallow
candle, so Gods Word today is shin
ing forth to those who have eyes to see
its beauty.
Let us not boast ourselves as pos
sessed of so much greater courage than
had some in feudal times. Let us note,
on the contrary, that the patriotism
which demanded and got the Magma
Charta" of our liberties was as noble
and courageous as any that we have
today, or more 80. Our freedom from
some Of the superstitions Of the past
is the result of the spread Of educa-
tion, and we must thank neither our
selves nor our forefathers for this
widespread education; we must thank
the Lord for 1t. 1t came upon the world
in spite of the opposition of the rich
and the Indifference Of the poor. 1t
came because Gods due time for it
had arrived.
The Scriptures fully assure us that
1t is special mark or evidence
that the New Era of Divine blessing,
prophesled in the Scriptures long ago,
is now at hand. Compare st. Peters
words (Acts Ill, 1920 with the words
of the Prophet Daniel. Daniel xii, L.
Rightly understood and appreciated
the very arguments used to oppose God
are grounds for sincere praise and
gratitude and hope for the future.
A Word to Higher Critics and Evolu-
tionists.
The law Of sin and death is referred
to in Scripture. We grant, as all
thinking people must, that the teach
ings of the creeds formulated In the
Dark Ages, respecting the torture Of
the dead, are absurd; and more than
this we hold that they are unscrlptural;
that they were conjured up under su-
perstitlOus fears, and that certain SYM
bollcal pictures of the Bible were wrest-
ed to the support of those miscOncep-
tions of the Divine character and Plan.
But does the rejection of those alb
surd theories dlsprove an intelligent
Creator and dlsprove the Bibles dec
laration that He is a God Of Love, and
that there is a rational explanation Of
the present reign of sin and death, and
a rational basis for hope for the res
direction of the dead, under the glori-
GUS reign Of Emmanuel, the Prince Of
Life, and the blessings which His
Kingdom will surely bring to every
member Of our racer
That the human family is in weak
and depraved condition, mentally, NOR
ally and physically, is beyond dis
pute; and evolutionists have not proven
the Bible in error In its explanation
that present weakness, mental, moral
and physical, is proof of degeneracy
which came to our race because Of
sin. Consanguinity between the hu-
man and the ape has not been proven,
but II It had been there would be Just
as much ground for reasoning that a
monkey is n degenerate human as for
claiming that humanity are evoluted
apes.
In opposition to this irrational theory
we note that mankind In general, even
those Of humble birth, have organs Of
the mind which they rarely use, and
which cannot, therefore, be said to be
evoluted by them; and those organs
are not the lower but the higher ones,
the nobler ones. These qualities Of
mind are present but dormant, merely
waiting to be Quickened into activity,
This fact favors the Bible view that
mankind are fallen and that few are
living up to even the best of the i'm
paired organism which they possess.
The evolutionary theory, that we
should live and die simply for the ad'
vancement Of future generations, may
prove an incentive to some, but In our
judgment these will be few. OF far
greater interest is the Bibles teaching