The Mena weekly star., 1916-09-21


 snow; though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool. "-Isaiah 1:1s.
 The Pastor averred that nearly all of the doctripal teachings given to mankind in the name of the Lord must be swallowed without mastcation 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 pur- 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. It is only reasonable to expect that God, having endowed man with reasoning faculties, would give us a revelation of His will and His purposes which would appeal to our reason. In mans present fallen condition, some can req 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 Bi- ble 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- cd during the centuries when they were without Gods Word. We have inherited many of these errors. We were born with our reasoning faeul- ties more or less twisted and these twists were accentuated 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 were told You must not. if you do, you will become an inadelw
 Reason DivineIysGuided a Blessing.
 The Pastor added that many who became inidels respecting the teach ings held out to them found that 1t proved a great blessing to them fin 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 a monstrous Devil. but God of Love, of Reason, with a Plan for human salvation worthy of all acceptation.
 Their own imperfect reasoning, per verted for centuries by false teach ings, would be very unreliable as a guide, would lead them astray. But reasoning according to the lnstruc tions 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 a beautiful har- mony in the Bible which is found nos where else, when Gods Word is right ly divided "-2 Timothy 3:15-l7; 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. If we go beyond the in- spired Word of God or outside of it, we shall soon be adrift on an unknown sea. We must have "Thus saith the Lord" for every item of religious truth that we receive.
 All Bible theology relates to sin how 1t entered the world, how man is to get rid of 1t, what it's effects are. how God views it, 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 core spending price for Adam and his race Because He died, our race will live again fin the resurrection.