Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-01-18

keenest attenfion.
(RAsI0R RussELD We report his dis
course ON ''The
Power OF the viii
IN the Shaping of Life's Destinics.'' His
text was from Joshua Nxiv. l5-"Choose
ye ms day whom Ne viii serve
lIe human Will. he pointed out. 3 the
most wonderful power known To man be
cause 1t has to do with the development
una use of every power in nature. The
feet. the hands, the tongue, are all serv-
ants of the Will. and all declare and Illus
lrate the mastery of mind over matter.
In our day the human Will. although
sui ambitious and avaricious. mas takea
n higher plane for its exercise. IN the con-
uuerinS of mountains and valleys; in the
casting up of highways and piercing of
tunnels; in the erection of bridges and
the masterpieces of mechanical enginery
which traverse the land and the sea with
almost incredible speed. How noble is
the human will when thus employed in
the interest of humanity.
The Willis Greatest Achievement.
But, said the pastor. the most wonder
full achievement of the will is seen in self
control. The Scriptures say truly. Great
er is he that ruletl his own will than he
that captures a city (Prov. xvi, 80 The
most wonderful Illustrations of the will
thus exercised he believes are to be found
IN the cases of Jesus and Ills footStep
followers. "He who was rich. for our
sakes became poor on Cor. viii. 80 His
will was exercised, not along selfish lines,
but In carrying out the great Divine Pro-
gram of human redemption. by the ex-
ercisc of His will He surrendered His
glorious condition for the human estate
and then delivered up Himself. as the
Man Christ Jesus, to the doing of the
Divine VIII. even until death, that thus
by the grace of God lie might taste
death for every man" deb. ii, % The
motive behind hat strong will was not
%selfishness but love.
Compliments the Japanese.
When ] note the gentleness and kind
ness and courtesy of Japanese life i'm gem
eral, / am astonished and wonder little
that the ordinary Christian message has
not appealed more to your hearts and dis
placed Slinto worship, for which i UNDER
stand You have 100000 figures, temples.
Sympathetically putting myself in the
place of the Japanese, L fancy you saying,
Snail we exchange our simple, esthetic
g~entleness and kindness of spirit for the
rudeness and sometimes agg of the
soldiers and sailors and the domineering
headinessio of the upper classes who come
to us.
l must apologize and explain that while
the masses of Europe and America call
themselves Christians they really neither
understand nor practice the teachings of
Jesus. The essence of His teaching is.
Love out of a pure heart" q Tim. i, S: [
Pet. i. 22>-the putting away of anger.
malice, hatred, envy and strife and the
putting on of the fruits and graces of
the Holy Spirlt-meekneSs. gentleness. ma
thence, Ions suffering, brotherly Kindness
love.
But. sympathetically. again / hear Won
say, the missionaries who nave expounded
Christianity to us for years lave told us
that our parents and ancestors whom we
reverently worship are despised by your
Christian God, and are damned to an
eternity OF torture because they did not
know Jesus and become His followers.
They tell us, additionally, that we arc
bound for that place of eternal horror
and torture unless we repudiate the re-
GEion OF our birth which has made us SO
happy and contented. Can you wonder
that we resent such teachings, that the
vast majority Of us hate Christianity and
merely tolerate 1t to avoid war? Can
you wonder that we prefer Buddhism and
shintoism.. and that our Shinto temples
increase the more rapidly because of an
tagonism to Christianity?
Heathsn Ancestry Not Roastinu.
Alas, my dear hearers, Christianity, with
very precious truths at its foundation.
seriously lost its way long centuries ago
and wandered far from the inspired teach
ings of the bible. This 10 the explanation
Of the numerous sects and parties of
Christendom and the different doctrines
none OF which / am here to defend-none
Of which are defensive indeed. either
from the standpoint OF reason or the bible.
The bible does not teach, as once you
supposed, that eternal torment was the
penalty for our first parents disobedience
In the eating OF the forbidden fruit. On
tho CnnfSn rv n tooChoo thot s<Ao -
OF sin Is DEATH and that this death wage
has been the experience Of our entire race
for now 5000 years. 1t teaches that all
OF our imperfectiOns. mental, moral and
physical, are q part of this dying process.
1t teaches that In Gods due time this
curse or sentence OF death will be lifted,
that ignorance and sin will be abolished.
that our loving Creator will then wipe
away all tears, and that sorrow and
signing shall fee away.
1t teaches that the whole earth shall be-
come Paradise Restored, worldwide. 1t
teaches that Satan will be bound. that
every evil influence will be restrained, and
that the light of the knowledge Of the
glory Of God will flood the earth and
bring to all peoples q knowledge Of tho
Truth-a knowledge Of the Love OF God,
which passeth all understanding. It
teaches that those who, when fully i'm
formed. shall prefer sin. will be utterly,
completely and ev~erlastingly destroyed in
the Second Death"
So then, my friends. II from Shintoism
you AVE learned to he esthetic in your
tastes. kind n gentle in your manner
and loyal to the backbone 10 what you
conceive to Be your duty. these lessons
learned will be to you . great advantage
in that future time OF blessing under Mes
eiah's Kingdom. On the other hand.
whoever has cultivated q contrary shirt