The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1911-02-20

earth that I desire beside Thee Then
Indeed we shall ind Him. when our.
hearts pant for Him. as the hart pant
eth aftergthe water-bfceks z, &
Difficulties In; the Way Says Pastor.
e Russell. Il
Fireworks Of the Wall Street Joar.
nal respecting the need Of the oldlimc
religion are along proper lines. The
Bishop secs clearly what 1 also have
SO frequently pointed olit. namely.
that the so-called New, Theology. High!
er Criticism and Evolution theory have.
so undermined faith that 1t would be
folly to look for return OF the pl6us
earnestness Of the past. which was
built upon a living faith. even though
It was not the pure faith "oncc{ deliy-
cred unto the saintsa(Jude 81.
We. do not admit that none today
ore pious; that none are what st. Paul
styled "sanctified In Christ Jesus,
ia Corinthians s, q. We claim that
there are as honest, as upright, as
loyal children of God today as ever
lived in the world. utithey are few.
The vast majority, under the false
teaching mentioned by the Bishop.
have utterly lost the faith once de-
livered to the snints." The great ma.
jority Of professed Christians are drift,
ing. Long ago they gave up the creeds
Of the dark ages, and, believing that
the Bible ;taught the same things as
the creeds, it.also Is being abandoned
as too absurd for prescnt.dny intelli-
gence. Higher. Criticism tanother name
for infldelity and opposition to the Bi.
ble). Evolution, Christian Science.
Theosophy and Atheism have swallow
ed up the majority Of the intellecttIals
of the Churches. and the mediocre
masses are rapidly following them into
the outer darkness Of unbelief and
godlessncss. q Y, Il.
1t is impossible for mn honest man
who has lost his faith In, God. and in
the. Biblc;as the Word Of God. to take
n real heart-intcrest In prayer-mcet-
ings. in Bible study and In attempted
holy. living. He finds nothing substan-
tial for his faith to rest upon. He
scorns to be a hypocrite. Hence the
old-time religious life is not to be gen
orally expected.
Modern Reyivala Unsatisfactory.
Modern revival methods (slnngy talk.
clownish actions and a pretense that
rising to ones feet in a public assem-.
bly, means Christian reformation and
spirit.begetting) Is too foolish for think.
ing people Of the class represented by
the Editor Of the Wall Street Journal.
It is not for US to say that absolutely
nothing Is accomplished. and that all
fall away who. under excitement.
stand up to be prayed for. or to indi-
cate that they prefer to spend eternity
in bliss rather than in torture. We
do. however, mean to. say that such
persons nre bewildered. II no worse.
and q year after. we fear. nre as bad
or worse than the year before. This is
because they are not really converted
because they have no real foundation
for faith tefven them, and have no
faith to put upon such a foundation.
They are not even what st, Paul styles
Babes in Christ" q Corinthians III, ~,
for only the spIrlebegotten belong to
that class.
What Is Really Needed.
The revival really needed should not
be looked for nor expected amongst
worldly people: They have nothing of
Christianity to revive. It should begin
with Christians who have not yet lost
all their faith In God and in the Bible
These should become awakened to the
fact that spirituality and faith are at
a low cbb. Their prayers should as,
cend to God. and their Bibles should be
studied as never before. They should
make use OF present.day helps in their,
Bible study and become fcrvent and
revivified of spirit through better I'm.
derstandine. of the Scriptures. They
must see that the Bible was not prop.
erly represented III the crceds of the
past; that It IS In direct opposition to,
many OF, the doctrines OF the past
which have justly become repulsiye to
Intelligent minds.
When once they get the proper focus
on Gods Word, one passage illuminat.
ing another. their faith in God and in
the Bible will become a living one, n
moving one. and. with this spirit, faith
and works Will come Christian zeal,
fervency OF spirit In the service Of the
Lord. With these in turn will come
activities in helping one another, nc.
tivities in family worship, in Bible
classes. in prayer and testimony meet.
ings, etc. Then. as the Master said,
they will let their light shine and the
worldly willssec and be influenced by
these living epistles, known and read
of all dI Corinthians ILL., 81.
Most Important Points.
|; 1t is useless for any TO attempt TO
believe. or to attempt to teach, others
that God is great. and just, and low
ins. while at the same time tcaching
that He prepared, before the founda.
ion"of the world, an immense torture
chnmr,nr IN xvLiol,s {bn,,s,nd, g,..t,