Monroe City Democrat. (Monroe City, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1913-07-10

lUa0IGk X SELLJJ sell spoke today.
He took for his
text the words. The Father of mer-
cies. and th4 God of all comfort
2 Corinthians %.
The Pastor stated that when in In
dia. China and Japan last year he was
impressed with the intelligence of
many amongst those peoples. He WIS.,
tied their temples to ascertain the sta
tus of the worshipers. Many seemed
sincere, absolutely unmindful of any
thing except their own worship. He
made inquiry as to whether the idol
was regarded as the god, or merely
as n reminder Of their god. He was
assured that the idol was known to
be metal, stone, ETC., and was used in
much the same way that Catholics use
the crucifix-not as worshiping the
image, but merely to assist in fixing
reverence and the spirit of worship.
Our Greed Idols Worse.
Pastor Russell said that at first he
felt disposed to chide the heather for
the hideous features which they give
their idols. But little reflection
brought him shame and confusion. He
perceived that the creeds of Christen-
dom are idols, set before our mental
eyes, with exactly the same hideous
features as the tangible idol before
the natural eyes of the heather. Each
creed shows a slightly different image
of God, but all picture Him as most
atrociOuS character. more htdeous by
far than are the idols of heathendom
How could anybody make an idol
that would speak such horrible things
as all of our creeds portray by descrip-
ton? What artist could picture a God
celebrating upon the creation of the
human family with provocative pow
ers, and before beginning His work
planning and arranging n great place
called He'll (and some say another call
ed Purgatory), creating tire-proof dew
ils to man these, laying up fuel to last
throughout eternity, and then starting
humanity, with the forelnowledge
that thousands of millions would spend
eternity in those horror chambers?
No heather was ever capable of such
imagination. and hence none ever pic
tured such God, either In clay, met
ais, stone or with pen. 1t remained
for the most cultured and civilized
peoples, who had most enjoyed Gods
favors, to misrepresent Him most, and
then to carry those misrepresentation
to the heather.
The Heathen Know It, Too.
boro indAaI
few, said the Pastor, but their number
is small; so also their intelligence, The
more intelligent are agnOstic. Chris
tianity has led them to doubt their
own religions, but has given. them
nothing instead.
When some high caste natives learn
ed that the Pastors preaching differed
from that of the missionaries. they
sent committee asking him to remain
longer and assuring him of audiences
of the higher caste natives. They eX-
planned that they could not receive the
white mans religion because 1t pictnr-
ed God so terrible and so unjust as
to be repugnant to their minds. Their
own religion taught them to be kind,
even to dumb brutes.
The Pastor felt obliged to apologize
for all Christendom. He explained that
certain parallels and symbolic pas
sages have been misunderstood; and
while we had the best intentions, Sa-
tan has kept Christendom In darkness,
and led us to picture In our creeds
God who was unjust, unloving, and
using His Power contrary to every
principle of righteousness.
He told them. further, that the dawn
Of the New Age is upon us, the thou,
sand years of Christ's Reign. Gods
faithful people are gradually coming
to better understanding of the Bi-
BILE. He urged them to cling to the BIZ
BILE, and assured them that he was
endeavoring to arrange so that they
may get better understanding OF
what the Bible really teaches.