Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-08-17
Pastor RusselEs Sermon

ture, similarly said to me, Truly man
In his original perfection must have
been created in the Image Of his Crea-
tor. My visits to Rome impressed upon
me the fact that although the work
Of death has progressed In our race,
nevertheless, In a measure the decay
Of the masses has by Divine provi-
dence found compensation; for al
though we have no Michael Angeles
today we have legions who are inspir-
ed by his example, and who have
copied him with wonderful success, so
that today our treasures of art are
not only multltudinous but grand be-
yond those Of any previous day.
The great st. Peters at Rome is IT.
self a treasury of art such as never be-
fore was known in the world, besides
which all the great capitals Of Europe
abound with art galleries which Illus
trate the power Of the human mind
and the skin of the human hand in the
appreciation and execution Of the beau
tiful. And in this connection 1 must
not forget the similar treasures Of my
home land, America.
Utilities Of Our Day.
But, my dear friends, you and l are
living in specially utilitarian Age,
and for one am glad Of It. The skill
of humanity has during the last cen
tury been turned into a new channel,
which is making for us a new world.
Instead Of the narrow streets and lanes
of century ago, we have broad as
phalt avenues and boulevards; Instead
Of ordinary houses Of century ago,
our cities are replete with handsome
and commodious residences that In
comparison are palaces. Beautiful,
graceful bridges span our great rivers
and serve to consolidate our interests.
Wonderful tunnels pierce our noun
talns and facilitate the movement Of
luxurious railway coaches. Palatial
steamers with regularity connect port
to port.
Often Of late have found myself ad-
mirlng some Of our grand hotels and
palatlal capltols and engineering feats
Of bridge work and tunnels, saying to
myself the while, What is man? And
then / reflect, If man in his fallen con
ditlon has learned gradually to accom-
pllsh so much. what may we reason
ably expect would have been the ulti
mate capacity Of perfect man had sin
not entered into the world, and had the
experience of centuries been accumu'
lating in many brains! BY now how
wonderful being Father Adam might
have been!
Times Of Restitution.
Then my mind reverted to the great
Creator and the Message He has given
us in His wonderful Book, the Bible.
| remembered the inspired Message OF
consolation. that God looked down In
pity on us as a race in our fallen CON
dltion and that He planned even before
our fall for our recovery as a race from
the curse. from sin, from death. !
hearkened to st. Peters words Of en-
couragement respecting the glorious
blessings to be ushered in by the great
Redeemer when at His second advent
He shall take unto Himself His great
power and begin His Messlanic reign
for the blessing, recovery and uplift OF
our race. will remind you of His
words, although you are familiar with
them. He said, "Times of refreshing
shall come from the presence Of the
Lord, and He shall send Jesus Christ,
who before was preached unto you,
whom the heavens must retain until
the Times Of Restitution Of all things
which God hath promised by the mouth
of all His holy Prophets since the world
began" ,"-Acts Ill, 1921.
All. God is better than all our fears
During the Dark Ages a terrible night
mare became associated with the glo'
rlous Gospel of Gods love and mercy
revealed by Jesus and the Apostles
Under that nightmare we lost sight Of
all the glorious promises Of the Bible
and lost our confidence In God because
of the terrible propositions declared tC
us to be His intentions toward our race
True, all acknowledged the hope that
sanity few would attain an eterna
weight Of glory on the heavenly plane
but all the remainder except the sanity
ones, the Elect, were consigned ethel
to a terrible purgatOrlal FIRE or to al
eternal holocaust Of torture. Whal
bIasphemies against our God, the Goo
of Grace, we thus unwittingly. unde
siringly entertained
The effect Of these teachings in al
parts of the world, in every religion
has been to convert mans natdra
quality Of reverence for his Creator
into a terrible fear, and this fear has
more and more separated US from Goo
and the Bible.
Mankind and the Church.
We are now coming to understand
more fully the Bible doctrine of elec
ton and we see It to be not unjus
and cruel as 1t once appeared, bu
beautiful and blessed, for both cleo
and non-elect. The Divine Plan was
and still is. q universal Plan-a PlaI
granting universal opportunity t
Adam and to all his race for a recov
cry from the penalty Of sin-for a re
covery from sin and death to all tina
Father Adam had in the beginninl
and which be lost through disobedl
ence. and which Jesus redeemed TO
l. Ta1r