The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-08-25

"a bIS AAsSSkg AAN 6pgESeRSb&AE bh& Af@FW
Of God, which had provided for the
salvation Of the Elect.
As o boy Of seventeen, q member OF
the Y. ID. g. A., I engaged, as did ether
members at that time, In what we call
ed Gospel preaGhsHg-not realizing the
meaning OF the word Gespel-thaS It
signifies "good ttdtngs of great JOY,
which shall be to all people" Lake the
others, I EXPORTED and threatened, pic
tured Hell, and shook my hearers over
1t. Then came sober thought. Rea-
son began to assert itself over ssIpSr-
Stttion. / inquired Of myself, Where
10 this Hell which you preach7 And
what DO you really know about TT
CouSessang my W ignorance on the
subject, I went to my teachers and
elders, and WAS amazed to find that
they knew DO more about It than my
self. / stopped preaching, and began
to think and to examine the creedS. I
found that the differences between
them were trivial; they all had the
one foundation Of Heavenly salvation
for, the sanity few, and eternal torture
for the thousands Of millions in heath
en- and In Christian lands. The more
I investigated, the more / felt sure q
great mistake had been made; that q
real God could not have such d plan;
such an arrangement as our creeds
declared. / threw them all away; and
thinking the Bible the basis for them
all, I threw it after the creeds.
soul. n unasr For God.
Having once known God as my
Heavenly Father, I could find no soul
rest without Finn. Ny soul hungered
for His love and care. / still held to
the great fact that our Universe has
an intelligent, personal Creator. His
Wisdom and Power were before me on
every starry night. Ny studies In
anatomy convinced me that I myself,
all humanity, yea, every creature, Is
fearfully and wonderfully made. The
more I studied, the more I became con
vinced that the eye could never have
come by chance, could not have been
evolved by a nature god; and 30 with
every other function Of my body-the
muscles, the nerves, and the power to
move In response to the mere thinking,
willing. I worshipped the God of Wis
dom and Power, and sought to know
more of Him, confident that I would
find Him good.
Left to the resources of my own
brain, I asked, Could others and my
self possess, as gifts Of ri Creator.
the qualities Of Justice and Love,
which we esteem the very highest,
and yet that Creator Himself be des-
titute Of these? The answer of my
mind was, Surely, as he that formed
the eye can see, He that gave hu-
mainly the qualities OF Justice and
Love, must possess these qualities in
infinite measure.
Thus l beheld with the eyes Of my
understanding the great God of the
Universe, infinite in His Wisdom, In
His Power, In His Justice, in His
Love. I ~worshiped again, rejoiced that
I could have confidence in my God,
and realize that He had made neither
the world nor u race In vain-that
He had some wise, just, loving purpose
in connection with our creation.
Intelligent Peoples Most Thoroughly
Seducad.
My next thought was, Would not a
just.and loving God be pleased to make
known His purposes to His creatures
who desired to know and do His will?
The answer Of my mind was, that !
might confidently seek Gods Message.
Thinking that I had already sufficient
ly examined the Bible, / turned my at
tention to heather religions, only to
find them less rational In some respects
than my own. Evidently the most in
telligent peoples Of the world have
been the most thoroughly seduced by
Satan and his doctrines OF demons"
into believing the most horrible things
respecting the Creator and His purpose
toward His human creatures.
Finally, I resolved on a fresh study
OF the Bible, assuring myself first that
my colored spectacles and those Of my
friends were thoroughly broken, and
my mind entirely untrammeled. Not
without standings and difficulties did
the Lord gradually lead me to clearer
and yet clearer light upon His word,
until I found that the basis of all diff
ficulty lay in u following satan's lie,
rye shall not surely die"
From that time the entire Bible
gradually became illuminated, beauti-
full, grand, harmonious! Now, beloved
hearers, it stands pre-eminent before
my mind as the Word of God. Realiz-
ing this, / use my reason freely within
the limits Of Its declarations, but never
outside of its authority.
Mankind Need to Be Eneouraged--Not
Browbeaten.
No pen can tell the peace and Joy
and blessing that a clear knowledge
of the true God has brought into my
own heart and life. st satisfies my
longings as nothing else can do" I
am seeking 10 further. There is moth
ing more to be desired-except to get
this wonderful Story more clearly be.
fore my mind and to appreciate more
and more the Divine Character, as H.
lustrated by the Divine Plan, which
God is gradually working out for the
blessing, first of the Church, and aft
erwards for the world. Can You won
der that | have sympathy for honest
s,-es-ics, who ike myseIr nave ioss
way, and sympathy, too, for the
great mass of mankind. who have
never known God!