The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1913-09-02


Adversary was assisted by his corps
of fallen angels, as st. Paul again
declares that some give heed to seduc-
Ing spirits and doctrines of demons
Timothy Al.
We owe it TO ourselves, to our fam
flies and to the world In general tc
utterly destroy these blasphemous mis-
representations Of Gods Character and
Plan. Since our eyes are gradually
opening to see the real situation, how
can we be otherwise than indignant
and jealous for the honor OF our God
and for the influence Of His Truth
amongst our fellowmen.
The Pastors Personal Experience.
/ speak from experience. Not that
have had the experience Of being an
alien, stranger from God, but have
had the experience of losing my God
The child of believing parents, and In
doctrtnated along Calvinishc lines to
believe that only the Elect, a handful,
would ever reach glory, and that all
the remaining non-elect would reach
a perdltion of torment, / was accus-
toned TO thinking of myself as one
of the Elect, and approaching the Love
of God, which had provided for the
salvation of the Elect
AS a boy of seventeen, a member of
the Y NJ. c. A.. engaged, as did other
members at that time, In what we call
ed Gospel preaching realizing the
meaning of the word Gospel-that 1t
signifies good tidings of great JOY,
which shall be to all people" Like the
others, / exhorted and threatened, pic
tured He'll, and shook my hearers over
it. Then came sober thought. Rea-
son began to assert itself over super
stition. l inquired of myself, Where
Is this He'll which you preachf And
what do you really know about It'll
Confessing my own ignorance on the
subject, l went to my teachers and
elders, and was amazed to find that
| they knew no more about 1t than my
self l stopped preaching, and began
to think and to examine the creeds.
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
l investigated, the more / felt sure a
| great mistake had been made; that a
real God could not have such a plan;
such an arrangement as our creeds
declared. l threw them all away; and
| thinking the Bible the basis for them
| all, threw 1t after the creeds.
Soul Hunger For God.
Having once known God as my
Heavenly Father, could find no soul
for His love and care. l 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. My studies In
| anatomy convinced me that | myself,
all humanity, yea, every creature, is
fearfully and wonderfully made. The
more studied, the more became con-
| vinced that the eye could never have
| come by chance, could not have been
evolved by nature god; and so with
every other function of my body-the
muscles, the nerves, and the power to
move in response to the mere thinking,
willing. l worshipped the God Of Wis
dom and Power. and sought to know
more Of Him, confident that / would
| find Him good.
! Left to the resources of my own
brain, l asked, Could others and my
self possess, as gifts Of our 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 hui
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. l worshiped again, rejoieed that
| could have confidence in my God
| and realize that He had made neither
the world nor our race in vain-that
He had some wise, just, loving purpose
in connection with our creation.
Intelligent Peoples Most thorough,
Seduced.
My next thought was, Would not q
| just and loving God be pleased to make
| known His purposes to His creatures
who desired to know and do His Wilt
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, / 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. No
without stumblings and difficulties die
the Lord gradually lead me to clearer
and yet clearer light upon His word
until l found that the basis of all diff
fculty lay In our following Satan's lie
"Ye 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 It's declarations, but never
outside Of It's authority
Mankind Need t. Be E,courased-No
BroWbeaten.
No pen can tell the peace and jol
and blessing that a clear knowledg
of the true God has brought into m,
own heart and life. at satisfies m,
longings as nothing else can do"
am seeking no further. There is moth
ing more to be desired-except to ge
this wonderful Story more clearly be
fore my mind and to appreciate NOR,
and more the Divine Character, as Il
Illustrated by the Divine Plan. whicl
God is gradually working out for tn
blessing, first of the Church, and aft
erwards for the world. Can you wen
der that / have sympathy for homes
skeptics, who like myself have lost
their way, and sympathy, too, for the
great mass Of mankind, who have
| never known God!
Perhaps can appreciate better than
some others of the Lords people what
It means to be without God and with
out hope in the world"-how lonesome,