Omaha daily bee., 1915-10-06

last evening was taken from John vii. l,
II any man will do His will. he sha-
know Of the doctrine, whether IL be o.
God; or whether l speak OF myself"
The speaker said:
I always have had--I have now-I hone
always may have-sympathy for any
man or woman that has difficulties. in
tellectual, spiritual OF moral. And u. by
any word or advice OF mine. I can sue
coed In sweeping the cobwebs from their
vision and cause them to see NOR.
clearly their responsibility and their &C.
countability to God, l re ysrd the wor
done more valuable than II I had aided
some man or woman, already a believer
INTO clearer conception of hts or her
obligations
The words Of my text form the chal-
lenge of Jesus to the skeptiCs. ca Hers
and doubters of His day. They said to
Him, I'VE know youl We know where
you were bornl We know your brothers
and Eistersl How do we know you are
the Son of God? How do we know you
are what you claim to be?'
Jesus said If you will do the will
of God. you will know about Mel'
A Georgia preacher of other days. on
time paraphrased this text by saving.
get IT, what any honest man would dc
that wants II, and It will not be long un
Gil you have III"
The proof of the pudding Is not in the
smelling of the bag or chewing tn ,
string, but in eating It. And vet there
are multitudes OF people trying to prove
the divinity of Christ the inspiration of
the Bible and the value of Christianity.
by smelling the bag and chewing the rag
with some old hypocrite or hypocrites in
the church. That requires no amount of
brain. no sense. very little reading and
less still of observation But II takes
something more to put the words of my
text into practice. AS long as the United
States mints stamp coin and make them
worth one hundred cents IN the dollar.
there will be found people who will coun-
terfeit them. But that does not destroy
the value of the genuine.
Jesus foretold all sof this about hypo-
cries in His prophecy about the kingdom
of heaven when He said. 1T is like a
grain of mustard seed--the smallest of
all seeds-which, when tAanted, takes
root and grows and the birds come and
build their nests and live In its branches"
That prophecy about the kingdom OF
heaven has been so literally fulfilled that
you can find anything in the average
church today from a humming bird to a
turkey buzzard!'
. Gives Illustration.
nj a town in Illinois at one time
something was said in one of the ser
mons that made a young fellow mad.
He went out storming and cursing, and
said he didn't believe in God, nor Christ,
nor the Bible. nor heaven, nor he'll. That
fellow was a Mason. He was a knight
Templar. The lodge held an allnight
SESSION, trying to convince that fellow
he was wrong. The next day friend
of mine met an officer of the lodge ard
said. II understand you had an allnight
session of the lodge last night?" Yes,
SIR" "Laboring with an erring brother2'
eyes, SIR" he said. by the way, man
can't be a Mason unless he believes in
God, can hep" mo. sir" HE can't be
a Knight Templar unless he acknowl-
edges his belief in the New Testament
and in Jesus Christ as the Son CT God,
and draws his sword in defense of the
Christian religionY' The officer replied
mo, SIR" We'll" he said, here is a
young fellow who is a knight Templar
and yet does not believe I'm any OF them.
he is a hypocrite. Did you turn him out
of the lodge?" He replied. mo. when
man trusts himself to our lodge. we con-
slider 1t our duty never to repudiate him
as long as there is any opportunity of
making anything out of him.
Now this same officer had given as his
reason for not being a Christian the fact
that there was hypocrites in the church.
And my friend replied: THAT is exactly
the position the church takes. When a
man or woman truss Them elves to the
church we consider It our duty TO hold
them and never turn them adrift as long
as there Is any chance OF convincing
them" And If there is any 10 ge "a IA )
or any other city whose aid, Endorsement
and cooperation have a right to expect
and demand. knowing the principles you
stand for, It is the Masonic lodge. And
If there IL any branch of 1t whose in
dorsement and help have a right to ask
and expect and look for. it is the knights
Templar.
Wants Discipline.
have a controversy with the church,
Catholic and Protestant; and that con-
troversy of controversies is its lax.ty In
the application of its discipline to men
and women who willfully and deliberately
break their vows and live in open sin.
One man says, 81 do not believe in the
Bible because of its Inconsistencies"
say the greatest Inconsistency Is In your
iife-not in the Bible. l bring up before
you the memory OF some evil deed. and
you Immediately begin to find fault with
the Bible. Go to a man and talk busi-
ness or politics, and he talks sense Go
to woman and talk society. club or
dress. and she talks sense. Talk religion
tC them ana they III talk mons n e. Like
an old woman in Arkansas who used TO
cheat and swear and drink. She was one
day approached by her grandson. who
said to her: Granny, don't swear" She
} replied: Mind your fool business, you