The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-03

mysteries. He plants himself on Jt with power;;" accepts His teaching , Savior from sin, even suffering deat His ministry, yet He at no time att mysteries have no explanation.
 Easy To Prove
 r It was quite easy to prove that Jesus was the son of Mary; that she was in all respects as other women; {; that Jesus was as other boys and in his manhood as, other men. The logic of this simple history and of these or dinary personalities was overwhelm- ing until Jesus said to the paralyzed man. Arise and walk" until he touched the eyes of the blind; until He said. Lazarus, come forth." One word from His divine lips, one touch of His divine hand overturned the worlds logic The blind man had no explanation of the mystery but flash ing eyes and rapturous vision attested the fact of divine touch.
 The scholar, by investigating, may dig up doubts which may not be easily displaced by argument. The Chris tian by way of the closet of prayer may obtain an experience that no argu- ment can overthrow. Logic will not bring these two classes together. The first, by argument based on his concep- tion of history and law, having proven to his own satisfaction one portion of the Bible false or having set one sec tion of the Bible aside as of no author ity,~is. prepared to repudiate it all by the same process and lead others to do likewise. The other, conscious of an experience in his own soul, which con firms beyond doubt one miracle of the Scriptures, is prepared to accept the others. Not human theories and spe- culations but the miraculous experi- ence which came to Saint Paul and en- abled him to exclaim, Il, know whom have trusted" is the basis of the Chris tian's faith and the end of his argu- ment. The unexplained miracle that opened the eyes of Saint Paul, the mystery of Godliness," is not in hu- man wisdom to explain or by human logic to prove, but is an experience of the soul consequent upon the divine touch. What the world needs today is to turn from the uncertain field of human speculation, the pride of scholarship, the boast of learning and the vain pomp and worldly display. to- ward the fieldgofY spirictual experience by faith in the divine realities.
 Many Are Distressed
 Many of our people are being great |ly distressed over the disturbance and unrest throughout Christendom at this particular time concerning the doc trines of the New Testament. The theological world has divided into two schools known as the "Modernists' or "Progressives" and the "Fundamenta- lists" or "Conservatists.' The dis turbance has arisen over the mysteries of the Christian religion. The mys- jteries of the Bible are of two kinds forst,> those which would never have been known but for the revelation of the Scriptures-such as the atonement of Christ, the resurrection from the dead, the forgiveness of sins through the suffering of Christ and the eternal life. These mysteries are understood and accepted as we accept and believe the Scriptures. The other kind of mysteries are those which have been revealed to us, of which we know the existence and certainty, but cannot comprehend or explain the manner or mode of their existence, These mys- teries are the Trinity, incarnation of Christ, the union of the human and divine natures in one person, the grace of Jesus Christ and the manner of its
  ing the mystery to which Paul refers in my text.
 r The, known and the unknown, the obvious and the mysterious run side by side in every realm of research. The philosopher takes the obvious, the known and movable, admits and ac- cepts the mysteries, unknown and un- movable and proceeds in fields of science and practical life, using both the obvious and mysterious. The cleo trician takes the obvious laws of me- Nchanics and the mysterious, unknown and unknowable something which he calls electricity and lights the world. Why not be as reasonable and sensible in religion rather than allow the mys- teries and unknowable to shake our faith in obvious and known truths upon which character and destiny have been built in the past and must be built in the future? Why not accept