Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-02-03
Pastor RusseIl's Sermon

-ulyft nDAAfHiI 1AhNAAHb-
Another theory held by equally good
Christian people denies that there Is
any election" in respect to the mat
ter. and denies that any particular
amount Of water Is necessary, although
Il does recommend a little. This creed
or theory declares Gods love for the
heathen, but says that He made faith
in Jesus sacrl6cial death a condition
Of salvation and that the responsible
ity for the heathen's not knowing, and
consequently their going to eternal tor
ment, rests with Christians them
selves. They say that God did His
part In providing the Savior and that
the carrying Of this knowledge is who'll
" dependent upon Christians. One
would think that with this view few
Christians would be able to sleep a
single night after once asserting to
such responsibility and realizing how
little they have done or have been able
10 Do to meet the responsibility.
Some dear people holding the views
last mentioned have started a men
and Religion Forward Movement"
They propose TO use about two mil.
lion dollars in starting the movement
and thereby to collect fund Of thirty
million dollars (six million pounds).
Dear peoplel How l love them for
their zeal, even though 1t be as the
Apostle said, mot according to knowl-
edgep'-Romans K, 2.
II they could stand in Singapore's
streets and journey with US little the
eyes Of their understanding would be
opened. They would begin to figure
out that the sum they expect to spend
In converting the world would be lit
tie over half a penny per SOUL They
must indeed think the heathens cheap
when they reflect that the estimates ON
the work Of the Rev. Billy Sunday a
year after his meetings show a cost
OF about six hundred dollars per soul,
with doubts entertained respecting
the saintship Of even these. The Unit
cd States Government statistics and
the British Government statistics show
that a century ago the numbers Of
heather were six hundred millions
and that today the number is double
that, namely, twelve hundred millions,
A Better Hope Found.
whichever Of the foregoing views
might seem to us less Objectionable
than the others, surely none Of them
could satisfy our heads or our hearts,
Surely the good men Of the past who
wrote these creeds In the light of the
tallow candle, II writing them today
in the light Of the arc lamp, would
amend them considerably, or else leave
them unwritten and merely say, We
know not the fate Of the heathen.
Some, repudlatlng the creeds Of the
past as no longer tenable fault the
Bible with being the basis for those
creods and throw It away with the
creeds. These are becoming Agnos.
ties, Higher Critics, Eyolutionists,
splntlsts, etc, And because Of their
worldly wisdom aud social standing
these Higher Critics are rapidly under
mining an faith In the Bible as an in.
spred Message from God to His peo-
pie. They are adrlft, some sailing In
one direction and some In another
they have lost their Chart Of the Ages
and the great Compass Of Divine Truth
IN the depths OF the sea Of human wis.
dom, which, from the Divine stand.
point, Is declared TO bo foollshness.
Let us not take their course.
Let US, ON the contrary, declare that
the difficulty with the creeds OF tho
past has been that they divided up the
Word Of God amongst them, and that
each creed has certain amount Of
gold as well as large accumulation Of
dross. II would be too serious an un.
dertaklng for fnites to put all the
ereeds into crucible and separate the
gold from the dross. Besides, all the
sectarlan preJudices OF our natures
would contend against us In such n
procedure, Let us take the easier, the
simpler method, TO which all Christian
people should be willing to accede,
namely' to wholly cast aside our
creeds and so back to the Word Of
God-to the Blble-tO the utterances
" Jesus ana His Apostles and Proph.
cts Thus doing many will find to
their surprise that, while the creeds
have gathered precious jewels OF
Truth from the Bible, they have given
these false sctiia0s by which they mis-.
represent the Truth which they profess
TO illuminate.
st. paurs declaration Is that the
Word OF Godis sufficient that the man
Of God may be fully furnished. al
Timothy NJ, 40 His further sugges-
tlon ls that we rightly divide the
Word OF Truth" and that ~ Is able to
make us wise unto salvation Let US
follow this course and allow Gods
Word to be Us own Interpreter allow
one passage to throw light upon an.
other aud thus let US reject none n
the Divine testimony, but, bringing the
whole together, and therein the wis
dom Of God, tho Justice Of God. the
Love Of God, che Power OF God unto
salvation, 10 every oue that belleveth--
70 Jew and Gentle,
An Mankind te,Bs Blessed.
81 Peter by birth a jew, understood
that the promise made to Abraham
chat hls posterity should bless the
woFld-meant that the Jewish nation
should have this hnnor. He did, In.
deed know that IN an tho centuries
from Moses 70 Christ the Jew was not
accepted TO the honorable position nor
giyen the privilege ot Messing the
world lie realized that this was be.