The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-04-18

/ IL l&.
Address delivered BY the Hon.
Brotherhood Bible Class Of the e shi
recently.
Within the last several months.
evangeHst!c services have been held
IN a number OF West Virginia cities.
While in conversation with a gentle
man OF one Of those communities
with reference to the services that
had been neld there, he said that the
.discouTses Of the evangelist, which he,
had heard, were very fine, but that
the evangelist began his discourses
right where the questioner or inquir-.
er or the skeptic leaves off; that he
assumed the existence OF a Supreme
tally OF the soul and that he assum-
ed the divinity Of Jesus Christ.
# Well. why not assume those things?
Is it necessary to argue and ser
monte that there is great super
natural power-a God over all Is
1T possible that any intelligent man
or woman honestly believes that this
great world OF ours just happened as
it is by the haphazard coming togeth-5
er of the elements that constitute the
entirety. or that the universe, with
all its incomprehensible immensely,
It's splendor. its clock like workings.
its planets and worlds, sun. moons
and stars. swinging in space with
proper relations always maintained
with an exactian that is beyond hu-
man conception, came into existence
without plan, purpose or design That
all those things are without architect
or builder? That the great store
houses of nature just CHANGED to be
as they are? That the mysterious
termination of seed and plant life and
the birth and creation of animal H1e
come from no more than a self leay-
ened mass of inert cells. atoms and
protoplasm?
Great God Reigns.
It is but a feeble comparison to
say that it would be much more rea-
sonable to suggest that all the tim
bers, stone and innumera;ble other
matrials which are to be found in the
most beautiful architectural creations
Of man just happened to come togeth-
er in the proper shape and forms. at
the right time and place, and that they
themselves assumed their proper po-
completeness and perfection without
the aid of architect or artisan We
must declare that a great God reigns:
and he who denies the supremacy OF
God discounts his own intelligence
and presumes on the intelligence of
his fellows.
Fl Is it necessary that an evangelist
or minister should dwell in argumenta
ton. theology and philosophy to chrys-
ta!ize our belief in the immortality of
the spirit Of man? We can't prove it
of course, in the manner that we are.
accustomed to establish temporal mat
tiers by proof, but every factEof human
existence points Enthusiastically to the
conclusion that there is and must. be
a future existence. Lite is progress
slve series. Upon each stratum there
is based a hi CHER order Is it rea SON
able to believe that the progression
stops unceremonio1lslF,w with the moral
existence OF man? Shall the progress
sion stop when the founda tion is
barely laid for something truly noble
and close akin to God? Must we be-,
l'eve that all OF the intricate plan OF.
life exists for the creation OF a mere
animal whose days are short and full
of trouble? If so. then the result ac-s
complished is a piccaune in compar
1lson with. the cost and sacrifice re-
3quired to produce the so-calIed fin
ished product.
Another consid eration. We find that
animals lower in the scale than man
With, an unexplanable something,
which, for the want Of better term,
we are pleased to call instinct It is.
to be observed that those instincts
are unerring and true. We also find.
that from the dawn OF history there
has been in mankind, In most all 5peo-
Pies. civilized and savage, an unex-
planable something that we may call.
a yearnlng for, and usually rs be-.
lief in. a future state. If that inner
sent concept OF humanity be without
foundation. then. while the instincts,
OF the beasts are true the 5noblest In
Estinct of the noblest animal IS vain
and false.
Thou wilt not leave Us In the dust;
Thou madest man, he knows not why.
He thinks he was not made to dies
And Thout hast madest him; Thou are.
just
Again. must the Christian worker
stop to argue in support OF the di-
.vinity Of Jesus Christ before he calls
upon men. to Srenent OF their Sins?
Secular History Accepted.
Intelligent men accept and rely up
on the secular history OF two thousand:
years and more ago. We read of
Greece and Rome, Carthage and
Babylon and question not the anthem
ITCHY of the narratives OF the master.
historians Of those ancient times. The
sacred writings Of scripture come with
at least email dignity and ;i1a va a.,1Io IA
right to credence and belief. Unless
q man questions all history and re-
fuses to believe anything that has
been written about the long ago. he.
must, as an historical fact. admit that
8thetna nj esusE Chris t. lived as aman
among men. His life proved him to-
be the purest, and the noblest char
acter and the best teacher the world.
has ever seen. F1e spoke as never
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