Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-02-10

VA enough. The largest
i(RAST0R RUSSELD auditorium Of the
- Academy Of Music
was crowded The Pastors text was,
"As 1t was in the days Of Noah, so also
shall It be in the days Of the Son Of
Man."-Luke 1926,
The address opened with n scathing
arraignment of the Higher Critics.
Our richly endowed colleges, he de-
clared are undermining faith in the
Bible, which means faith in personal
God, and are substituting n scant rec
ogntion of the laws Of nature, devoid
Of sympathy or mercy. Practically
every minister graduated during the
last twelve years has been an agnostlc
and believer In human evolution.
Disbelief in the Bible account of mans
creation in Gods image, means dis
belief also in fall from that image,
disbelief in the need of redemption
and reconciliation, and disbelief in the
necessity for the Restitution to be ac.
compllshed by Messlah's Kingdom
Acts 3:l0-21,
81 do not question the sincerity of
the Higher Critics. Experiences of
my own along the same line forty
years ago give me great sympathy for
them" said Pastor Russell He insist
ed however, that II Is not honorable
for those who have abandoned the
creeds to pose before the public as sup.
porters Of the creeds, and to draw sal.
aries and receive honorary titles for
undermining the faith Of the people,
while posing as the representatives Of
Christ and the Bible He declared such
a course dishonest and dlshonorable.
The Deluse corroborated by History.
81 would that might lure back to
the Word of God some Of the noble
minds now arrayed against III know
their difficulty In their minds they
associate the unreasonable theories Of
our creeds with the Bible believing It
to be the foundation for the gross dark
ness and superstition which once blind.
ed us all. Would that | could show
them as ! now see 1t, the fallacy Of
this posltlon-show them that the Bible
is In most violent conflict with the er-
rors Of the past, and that II teaches
from Genesis to Revelation Divine
Plan 80 wonderful that all may be sure
that only God Of Wisdom and Love
could have devised It, and only those
moved by His Holy Spirit could have
written IT,"
But" quoth the Pastor, "the Bible
truly says that we may see the deep
things OF God only by the illumination
OF the Holy Spirit, aud that illumina.
ton is promised only to the sanctined
The fearful thought impresses us that
10y no means all Of the proressed minis
ters Of Christ are sanctned and In
condition OF heart to be guided into a
knowledge Of the Truth"
The speaker held that the Higher
Critics approach every Bible topic from !
the standpoint Of unbelcf, and declar.
cd that II they would reverse their po.
sltlon and seek for corrobomtlon Of
the Bible story, their success would he
better These critics. exploring the
ruins Of Babylon, found baked clay
tablets rudcly plclurlng the Ark, and |
saying few words about general |
deluge. Instead Of saying that this
confirms the Bible thought, they re.
verse the proposition, aud say that the
lsrnclitcs IN captivity In Babylon,
doubtless drew their story Of the Del.
uge from the Babylonlan legends.
How silly TO suppose that the beoutl. |
full interesting and connected nara.
tive Of Genesis could ever have been !
drawn from few poor, miserable,
words which the Baby. |
lonlans have recorded on the subject
The Genesis account gives the geneal-
0gy OF Noah I'm most remarkable |
exact day and year and |
month Of HIS life In which the Dcluge |
occurred, the number Of days Of rain,
how long the food prevailed, etc., etc,
Before the finding Of the BabyloniOn
tablets, the Higher Critics held that the
entire story Of the Dcluge was a myth,
nnd that Jesus and the Apostles had
been deceived when they quoted Moses
In respect to II.
Geology Confirms the Mosaic Deluso,
Pastor Russell promised that next
Sunday he would take up the moral
reasons leading up to and justifying
the destruction Of the human family
with the Deluge, an the matter Is set
forth in the Scriptures lie might not
orally address the snmo persons, but !
through his sermons, printed weekly In