Graham guardian., 1916-09-22

they shall be as wooL"-Isaiah lis.
The Pastor averred that nearly all
Of the doctrinal teachings given to
mankind in the name Of the Lord must
be swallowed without mastication or
not at all; for they are too unreasOn-
able to be received by any logical mind.
On the contrary. Gods Word appeals
to mans reason: and every feature OF
the Divine Plan, when understood. Is
thoroughly reasonable and worthy Of
our great Creator. When God invites
His people to reason with Him, He
means that we are to search the Bible
to find therein the explanation Of mans
present condition. to find Gods rur-
poses concerning man. and to exercise
our minds In regard to these.
The speaker reminded his hearers that
while the lower animals can reason to
very limited degree, yet man alone
Of all the animal creation has the abil-
ity to reason upon high plane. He
alone possesses moral faculties, and
can reason with his Creator through
that Creators revealed Word. II Is
only reasonable to expect that God.
having endowed man with reasoning
faculties, would give us revelation
Of His will and His purposes which
would appeal to our reason. In mans
present fallen condition, some can rea-
son better than can others. Neverthe-
less. God still appeals to mans power
TO reason, as shown by our text.
For the past few centuries the Lords
people have been gradually emerging
from the Dark Ages. For twelve hun
dred years before the Reformation
they had been practically without BIZ
BILE study. Then the Bible came back
into the hands Of Gods people. and
they began to study again. But their
brains were more or less confused
with the errors Of the creeds formulat
ed during the centuries when they
were without Gods Word. We have
inherited many Of these errors. We
were born with our reasoning facul-
ties more or less twisted. and these
twists were accentnated by our teach
ings at home, In the Sunday School
and In the pulpit. We imbibed them
in our reading. When we wished to
reason. we We're told, you must not;
If you do, you will become an infidel!"
Reason Divinely, Guided q Blessing.
The Pastor added that many who
became infdels respecting the teach
ings held out to them found that 1t
proved a great blessing to them In
that it led them to study the Scrip
lures for themselves. There they
learned what the real character Of
God is-that He Is not monstrous
Devil, but q God Of Love, Of Reason,
with Plan for human salvation
Of all acceptation.
Their own imperfect reasoning, per-
verted for centuries by false teach
imgs, would be very unreliable as
guide. would lead them astray. But
reasoning according to the instruc-
tons Of Gods Word clarifies the mind,
and leads the earnest searcher after
Truth into the light of God as 1t
shines from the face Of our Lord and
Redeemer There Is beautiful har.
mony I'm the Bible which is found no.
where else, when Gods Word Is right.
ly divided Timothy 3:15-17; 2:15.
AS long as we reason within the
lines OF Divine Revelation we are safe.
No human being knows anything of
mans origin and destiny save as he
Is instructed by the Lord. No matter
how much any man may boast of his
knowledge and wisdom, he knows
nothing about these important sub
jects except as 1t Is revealed from
Heaven. II we so beyond the In.
spired Word Of God or outside of 1t,
we shall soon be adrift on an unknown
sea. We must have a "Thus saith the
Lord" for every item OF religious truth
that we receive.
All Bible theology relates to sill
how 1t entered the world, how man
Is to get rid of II, what its effects are,
how God views 1t, how we should
view 1t, what means God will use to
lift mankind out Of their present deg,
radiation up to human perfection and
everlasting life. This Is the sum total
Of Bible theology. God created man
perfect, "a little lower than the an.
gels" This perfect man sinned, and
brought death upon all his unborn pos,
terity. Our Lord Jesus died a CORE.
sponding-price for Adam and his race
Because He died. our race will i've
again In the resurrection.