The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1911-02-14


listened with intense interest. so that
pin-drop could have been heard.
The speaker said
For some weeks our city will be in
the throes of Revival of Religion"
Hundreds of ministers have placed
themselves and their congregations
under the leadership Of the Rev. DR..
Chapman and Mr.. Alexander, the ia
nous singer, for the purpose of reviv-
ing religion; for the purpose of rescu-
| ing human souls from eternal torment,
as the proposition is generally under
stood. Business men have subscribed
large sums Of money for this noble
work of rescue, reasoning that il thou
sands of dollars are spent in freight
ing apparatus for the protection of hui
man life for a few years, the services
of Messrs. Chapman and Alexander
will be cheap if they carry away TWEEN
| ty-ive thousand dollars for q months
work, provided the results show a
| goodly number rescued from eternal
torment.
J We sympathize with some of these
| lI0 anu OPC0-LdAOC0 UuCA-
ness men who give their money for
80 laudable an object. Yet we can
not think that many, nay not even
majority, of those who contributed
this sum have done so conscientious
ly. We cannot think that one-half of
them believe in the teaching of eternal
torture, nor can we think that more
than one-tenth of them believe that
practical conversion Is signifed by a
response to an invitation which i'm
plies a preference for heavenly bliss
rather than for eternal anguish. How
ever, it is for those who pay the mon
ey to exercise their own consciences In
this matter, and it is none of our busI-
ness what they decide.
We sympathize also with the hun
dreds of Pastors Of this city who have
joined in this movement, which they
hope will increase their congregations
4 and church revenues, but these Pas
tors know in reality that the Bible
does not teach eternal torment, and
they have discarded the Bible anyway
In favor of Higher Critcal-Infdelity
Theirs is an unhappy and stultified
position.
We sympathize still more with the
poor people whose education along
spiritual lines is almost wholly neg
lected, and who live in constant fear
Of the God who loves them and in
dreadful misunderstanding of the BIZ
BILE, which he has given them. Be-
tween the imperfectness Of the trans
lation and the coloring of prejudice
and the twist Of misunderstanding of
some parallels and symbols they are
helpless in the presence Of educated
men who teach theoretically what they
do not themselves believe. Alasl poor
common peopleF' that you should be
betrayed By those in whom you re-
pose confidence and whom you unwit-
tingly pay for keeping you In the dark
by taking from you the key of knowl-
edge. Truly, my people perish for
lack of knowledge" (Hosea iv, 81.
! sympathizes Still More With God.
But still more we sympathize with
God, whose name is dishonored, whose
Justice, Mercy, Wisdom, Love and
Power are traduced, nay, yilified. We
say to ourself, How wonderful the
patience of God, which for centuries
has endured blasphemous misrepre-
sensations of his good character and
Divine Plan of the Agesl Well does
he tell us that as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so his plans and
methods In respect to our salvation
are higher than ours-not lower. Well
does he tell us that human fear to-
ward him is taught by the precepts Of
men, not according to his Word Qsa-
iah xxx, 49,. We can see reasons
why the Lord has kept silence toward
the heather, but we are perplexed that
judgments have 80 long delayed to
come upon those who, knowing bet
ter, still SANDER the great and holy
name and misrepresent the Divine pur-
poses
What would a chief shepherd do to
an under-shepherd found misleading
the sheep, guiding them into poison
GUS pastures? We believe that he
would take the sheep from them, even
though he allowed them still to shep-
herd the goats. And it is quite our
thought that such Judgment impends
over Christendom and that all shep-
herds, false to their trust, will be dis
missed ANONYMOUSLY, and that very
sooni
Some urge that we should do evil
In order to obtain good results; that
we should misrepresent the Divine
character In order to get people to join
the Church is it urged that some
may, as a result of this evangelistic
movement, lead more orderly and
decent life hereafter as citizens, and
that we should be willing to join In
traducing our Creator, In order to OBJ
tain this result? We answer, No, 8
thousand times, MOI In our judgment
the perversions of the Truth, the dis
honoring of our Maker, the instilline
Of misconceptions into the minds Of
the people, is an awful cost to pay
even II the results should be hundred
times as great as promised Well did
Jesus say, Eye compass sea and land
to make one proselyte and when he Il
gained, you make him two-fold more q
child Of destruction than yourselves
(Matthew xiii, 15). The conversions
achieved by Misrepresentation of God
instil a poison into the heart difficult
to eradicate, tmpervious to the Truth.
1t grieves me to be obliged conscien
dously thus to characterize a move
ment which has, at least, an outward
appearance Of godliness. 1t will at
tract to me the venom of those whose
hypocrisies / criticize 1t is not the
money that they will collect that
grieves me, for those who give it hon
estly, thinking thus to serve the Lord
viii surely be blessed by him. 1t is
the hypocrisy Of the thing, the misrep
resentation of their own belief and un
belief and the Islander against the holy
name of the Creator and the further
bamboozling and throwing Of dust into
the eyes Of the common people-this
awakens, and should awaken, right
eous indignation. And the more 9th.
ers do not speak, the more 1 must
speak in denunciation and in warning
to the people to search the Scriptures
and become undeceived.
Hear<en Now to Our Text.
The teachings of all of the creeds
Of the Dark Ages which have come
down to us, although they contain
many good things, are SO befogged
with Misrepresentation Of God as to
be a stencil to our nostrils and men
ace to our spiritual health. They pic
ture to us a God either reckless and
careless Of the future interests Of his
human creatures, or else as powerless
to aid any but the few. They picture