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PROFESSOR LOU
An interesting story
dealing with the theory of evolution
and other phases of modern teaching
as unscriptural and unscientific.
(From the original dust cover.)
By
Mary E. McDonough
CHAPTER II
Well, Professor Lou, are you preparing your
Wednesday evening lecture?" It was the Saturday afternoon following
the pleasant and profitable gathering in Louise Harper's home. Mr.
and Mrs. Harper were out of town for the week end and Louise sat
alone upon the broad piazza so absorbed in the pages of a book that
she had not heard footsteps upon the walk. Looking up with a start
she met the roguish smile of a young man apparently on his way to
the golf links beyond the orchard.
"Why Tom, you have certainly surprised me. I did not know that you
were at home. And how did you know that—that—" Louise colored as she
endeavored to finish her sentence.
"How did I know that You have become a celebrity? Why it is the
talk of the town. How could I help knowing?"
"Now Tom; you are too bad. Your college degree has not cured you
of joking, I see," replied Louise; "but what I meant to ask was
this: How did you know about our little gathering?"
"Why, I have heard nothing else discussed since I reached home.
Nell began to tell me about it before I had been home an hour, and
Sam and Sallie are constantly repeating what Lou said, and even Mr.
Marshall had to tell me what a profitable evening he had spent in
your study, and how he wished that I had been there. And they are
all counting the hours until next Wednesday evening when they expect
to receive light upon all of their knotty problems; and do you
know," he continued, "every time they tell me about it they add 'You
ought to have been there, Tom.' I doubt if they will let me escape
next Wednesday evening."
Louise was too embarrassed and perplexed to reply. To tell the
truth, Tom Atherton was the very last person in all the town whom
she would have cared to invite to the little gathering. Possessed of
a fine, alert mind, a kind generous heart and an attractive,
dominant personality, Tom Atherton was a young man who exerted an
unusually strong influence over those with whom he came in contact.
Louise was well aware of this and also his openly expressed
rationalistic views. She knew how cleverly he could bring into
ridicule some so-called 'antiquated belief' founded upon the Bible.
She realized with deep regret that he considered the written Word of
God, as a book written by men who were far behind the times
scientifically. She pictured him sitting among the little group in
the study and with a single sentence turning the tide of thought
away from the truth that she was trying to present. Oh how could she
have him there! Realizing at last that Tom was waiting for her to
speak, she answered lightly, "I am quite sure that you are equal to
finding a way of escape, Tom; but you have not yet told me when you
reached home nor how long you are to remain."
"I appeared Thursday morning just as the family were sitting down
to the breakfast table and they all jumped up and rushed to greet me
as if I had been the long lost prodigal son that Mr. Rivers is so
fond of preaching about. I cannot tell you how long I shall remain
at home; possibly all summer. My plans are not yet perfected."
"Why Tom, Nell told me that you were to be an instructor in a
select camp for boys during the summer vacation—I do not remember
its location," quickly rejoined Louise.
"Sis abounds in information; but she is not always accurate,"
replied the young man somewhat hastily. "The truth is this, Lou," he
added after a moment's pause: "I was booked for that camp, but the
directors are very religious and when they found that I could not
subscribe to all of their dogmas they simply didn't want me. They
were afraid that I would poison the minds of those precious boys; so
here I am—a reprobate and an outcast."
There was ill-concealed bitterness in the tones of his voice and
Louise hastened to change the subject. "But Tom, your father and
mother will be glad to have you at home, for you have been away so
long." Louise waited for his reply, then noting the look of
suffering upon his half-averted face, she stooped to pat Rover who
was stretched upon the piazza in the sun.
After a long pause came the rejoinder, "I may as well tell you,
Lou, that my parents are awfully cut up over my failure to qualify
for the camp position. They don't pretend to be over religious but
they are church members and they feel that I have disgraced them. Of
course, they don't say that in so many words; but I know that is the
way they feel about it," and the young man savagely swung his golf
club in the direction of a stray pebble in the neatly kept walk.
Louise knew that he loved his parents very tenderly and she also
knew that he had been their pride—almost their idol. She felt a
great throb of pity for both parents and son. What could she say?
The silence became really oppressive and at last she said simply, "I
am sorry, Tom."
"I guess you think that I need to know my Bible better, don't
you, Lou?" rejoined the young man in an attempt to recover himself.
"Don't you think that I really ought to be present Wednesday
evening?"
Louise hesitated. How could she have him present and how could
she refuse his seeming desire to attend? Did he really care to come?
Why should he want to? Tom narrowly watched her as she stood toying
with a cluster of pink ramblers upon the trellis at her side; then,
as if reading her thoughts, he slowly added, "Lou, you need not be
afraid that I will poison the mind of anyone in your little group. I
promise you that I will remain perfectly quiet. You need not be
afraid to have me present. May I come?"
Louise looked into his face and in a quick intuitive flash she
noted something that she had never seen there before. It was the
beginning of a hunger for the truth. With a frank smile she replied,
"You may come."
Gracefully, expressing his thanks, Tom Atherton turned in the
direction of the golf links and Louise was alone once more. She
tried to read but she found that she could not concentrate her
thoughts upon her book. With insistence the little gathering upon
the coming Wednesday evening pictured itself upon her mental
horizon, and as she gazed upon it, she became increasingly agitated
until, closing her book; she entered the house and going to her
room, fell upon her knees and poured out her heart in prayer. She
arose with the assurance that her Heavenly Father would care for the
little gathering and for Tom Atherton.
Promptly at half past seven o'clock upon the following Wednesday
evening, Nell and her brothers and her cousin Sallie, appeared and
were welcomed by Mrs. Harper and her daughter. Louise had confided
to her mother the events of Saturday afternoon; consequently Tom's
arrival occasioned no surprise and Mrs. Harper extended to him the
same hearty greeting that she gave the others.
A moment later Ted rushed down the walk to greet his two chums,
Ned Glover and Charlie Wilson while Mr. Marshall brought up the
rear. Mr. Harper was a bit late as he had been detained at his
office, but soon appeared with a cheery word of welcome for each.
After all were seated, Nell exclaimed, "Now, Professor Lou, we
are ready for your answers to the questions laid upon the table last
Wednesday evening."
"Wait a minute, Nell, Father has something to say before we
begin," replied Louise . Mr. Harper promptly arose. "My daughter
feels that as these questions are so weighty, so deep, we should
look to Him who created the universe and who has given us a
wonderful revelation concerning His creation, to rightly interpret
the same. Let us pray." Every head was bowed as Mr. Harper committed
the little gathering to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
At the conclusion of the prayer Louise quietly remarked, "The
questions before us tonight are these: How did the earth that God
had created so beautiful and perfect, become the wreck that we find
pictured in the second verse of Genesis? Why did God permit it to be
wrecked, and why did He let it remain in that condition thousands
and thousands of years before He reconstructed it? Mother suggested
that we think over these questions during the week and thus possibly
find the answers, or at least, the approach to them. Now let us
share the results of our thinking, but suppose we read the passage
before we begin." Bibles were passed and the first and second verses
of Genesis were carefully read and Louise followed with the
translation from the Hebrew that had proven so helpful the week
before.
"Now we are ready. How did this earth become 'without form and
void?' that is, formless and empty, or 'waste and wild?'" queried
Louise.
"God didn't wreck it," volunteered Ted, "for He never destroys
anything that He has made."
"But it couldn't have become a wreck without His knowing it,
because He knows everything," suggested Ned.
"And He could have kept it from becoming wrecked, because He is
an all-powerful Being," added Charlie.
"It seems as if He must have let some one wreck it, but I don't
see who it could be, nor why anyone should wish to do it," said
Nell.
"I think that a wicked angel did it," said Sam with the air of
one who had carefully deliberated before speaking.
"What is your reason for thinking so?" asked Mr. Harper, much
surprised at Sam's positiveness.
"Well," replied Sam, "you see God didn't do it, and there were no
human beings to do it, and animals couldn't do it, so some one of
the angels must have done it; besides it began above the earth."
"What do you mean?" inquired Mr. Harper.
"Why, you remember that Louise said last Wednesday evening she
thought the beginning of this wrecked condition was due to a
disturbance in the sun. The trouble began above the earth and
quickly affected the atmosphere and the earth became cold and
colder, and all life died and everything went to pieces," explained
Sam. "Well," he continued, "I thought about this a great deal and
then I asked Tom about it, and he said that from the scientific
standpoint Louise was right. And then I thought and thought how the
disturbance could begin up there, and as only God and the angels
were up above the earth, I felt sure that a wicked angel must have
brought about the wreck, although I don't know why he should want
to."
"Angels are good, aren't they?" inquired Charlie.
"No, not all of them," replied Louise.
"Then I think as Sam does, that a wicked angel must have done
it," said Ned.
"May I ask if the Bible throws any light upon this suggestion of
Sam's?" inquired Sallie.
"Yes, Sallie, it does," replied Louise. "Not only does it picture
this wicked angel, but it gives his name."
Sam's eyes sparkled and all looked intensely interested. "Let us
turn to the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah and read the first half of
the twelfth verse." Very rapidly were the leaves of the Bibles
turned and all read these words: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O
Lucifer, son of the morning!"
"There," cried Sam, "that is the name of the angel—Lucifer; but
who is the speaker?"
"Look at verse twenty-four," suggested Louise.
"The Lord of Hosts," reverently replied Sam.
"Before finishing this passage in Isaiah, let us turn to another
passage that tells us plainly who Lucifer was. Let us read the
fourteenth and fifteenth verses of the twenty-eighth chapter of
Ezekiel. Verse twelve shows us that God is still the speaker, and
although Lucifer is not here called by name, yet he is the being
addressed. 'Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have
set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast
walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast
perfect in all thy ways from the day that thou wast created till
iniquity was found in thee'. Now look carefully at verse sixteen and
see what God says that: Lucifer had done," said Louise.
After a careful scrutiny Sam repeated" "Thou hast sinned."
"What a remarkable passage," said Mr. Harper. "Here we see the
origin of sin in God's great universe. This is the first sinner
standing before a holy God."
"But what did he do? What was his sin?" cried Ned.
"We shall find that in the passage in Isaiah," replied Mr.
Harper.
"Yes," said Louise, "let us read the thirteenth and fourteenth
verses." With keen interest all read the following words: "Thou hast
said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation in the sides of the North: I will ascend above the
heights of the clouds: I will be like the Most High."
"I don't see anything sinful in those words," said Nell.
"Nor do I," added Charlie.
"Boys," said Mr. Harper "where is God's throne?"
"Why in heaven, I suppose," replied Ned.
"Here is a passage that tells us where it is," said Mrs. Harper.
"It is the first verse of the sixty-sixth chapter of Isaiah.
'Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my
footstool:' and there is a similar statement in the nineteenth verse
of the one hundred and third psalm; 'The Lord hath prepared His
throne in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all.'"
"That word 'heavens' would seem to indicate more than one heaven,
would it not?" asked Mr. Harper.
"Yes, Mr. Harper," replied Ned. "'Heavens' is certainly plural
rather than singular."
"Can you tell us how many heavens are mentioned in the Bible?"
continued Mr. Harper.
"I think that we read somewhere about the 'third heaven,' replied
Ted; so there must be three heavens at least."
"Here is the passage that Ted has in mind," said Mrs. Harper. "It
is the last phrase of the second verse of the twelfth chapter of
Second Corinthians. Paul speaks of 'one caught up to the third
heaven.'''
"Yes we find a plurality of heavens indicated in the Bible,"
continued Mr. Harper. "There is 'the heaven of heavens' as mentioned
in Second Chronicles, the second chapter and sixth verse, —also
called 'heaven itself' in the twenty-fourth verse of the ninth
chapter of Hebrews, —where God is said to have His throne, and where
only holy angels and holy people can abide. Beneath is the starry
heavens, that great expanse wherein revolve the millions of stars,
'the host of heaven', of which we read last week. And lower still,
is the atmospheric heaven immediately surrounding our earth. Now
there are passages in the Bible that lead us to believe that to
Lucifer had been given some oversight or dominion in connection with
the earth, and lower or atmospheric heaven, and as he remained in
dependence upon His Creator, he would be able to use his great gifts
as God designed. Then when he cries 'I will plant my throne above
the stars of God,' what does he mean? Where does he intend to place
his throne?" queried Mr. Harper.
"Oh I see," cried Sam, who had been scrutinizing the passage
while listening to Mr. Harper's explanation. "Lucifer wanted to be
equal with God. He was not satisfied to have his throne in the
lowest heaven, he wanted it in the highest heaven, where God's
throne is."
"You are quite right, Sam," replied Mr. Harper.
"I have been counting the times that he said 'I,' interrupted
Charlie. "Five times he said 'I will.' I should think that he
thought more of himself than of God."
"Alas, he did," said Mr. Harper. "When he said that he would be
like (meaning equal to) God, he meant that he would no longer be
dependent upon God, but that he, himself, would rule the universe."
"Why, he couldn't rule like God," said Ned. "Lucifer was only a
created being and he had to depend upon God. If he should be allowed
to rule the universe, it would all go to pieces."
A smile passed over the face of Louise as she quietly asked "What
if God should let him try to rule in a portion of the universe?"
"Oh I have it, I have it," cried Sam excitedly, "God let Lucifer
try to rule over that part of the universe that had been put under
his care, just to prove to him that he couldn't be independent of
God."
"Yes," added Ned, "and Lucifer made a big failure, didn't he?"
"I think that our questions are practically answered," said
Louise, smilingly. "We have found out who wrecked the earthly
creation, through his inability to sustain the same, and Sam has
helped us to see why God permitted him to do it; but do we all
clearly perceive why God let it remain in a wrecked condition so
many thousands of years before he undertook the work of
reconstruction as recorded in the remaining verses?"
There was silence for a moment, then Ned somewhat timidly
remarked, "Perhaps Lucifer wouldn't believe that he couldn't rule
like God unless he found out that he could not repair the damage
that he had done."
"That is a good answer, Ned," said Mr. Harper, "and it reminds me
of a sentence that I found in my reading a few days ago. Wait a
moment and I will read it." Quickly turning to a small book near by,
he read as follows: "'The brooding work of the Spirit indicated in
the second phrase of this passage (verse 2) reveals the patient,
watchful care of God, who waited during untold ages for the misrule
of Lucifer to become apparent to the angelic creation and to become
recorded in the geologic strata of the earth itself.'"
"Do I understand you to mean that the so-called geologic ages are
all indicated between the first and second verses of this chapter?"
asked Sallie.
"Hardly that, Miss Sallie. While the earth bears marks of this
awful cataclysm, yet not all of the geologic deposits were caused by
this misrule of Lucifer. The sin of the human race and its awful
punishment must also be taken into account. Devout geologists of the
present time are calling attention to the great changes in our earth
resulting from the Deluge, and a recent writer has said 'If the
geologist only recognized the difference between God's original
creative work and His work of reconstruction, and also the wonderful
topographical changes of the flood of Noah's time, he would be able
to satisfactorily explain many of the questions that now confront
and puzzle him.'" "Is it not a cause for deep thankfulness that some
devout scientific men are helping people to understand these
things?" said Mrs. Harper.
"Yes, mother," replied Louise, "and I have a book written by one
of these devout scientific men, that is so very helpful, I wish I
could loan it to every one of my friends and acquaintances."
"I have been thinking what an awful thing sin is," said Mr.
Marshall. "I have seen it in a new light tonight. What a picture of
that 'I will,' of Lucifer we have been considering. A ruined earth
and ages of darkness and desolation just because Lucifer chose to be
independent of God."
"Yes," responded Mr. Harper, "this is indeed a terrible object
lesson, but how little is it heeded. The entire human race has
practically said what Lucifer said and 'We have turned everyone to
his own way.' We have all put 'I' in the place of God, and 'all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God.' Sin is a willful,
deliberate resistance to the authority of God, and the result is
darkness, disorder, death."
"And God waits until we come to the end of self effort," added
Mrs. Harper, "and then He graciously brings order out of chaos by
sending into our darkened spirit that Life which is 'The Light of
men.'''
"I think I understand better than ever before what is meant by a
sinner," said Sam. "I used to think that a sinner was a person who
had committed some great crime, or was a low-down, immoral wretch,
but now I see that he can be clever, talented, exalted in position,
and yet be a great sinner."
"Yes," replied Louise, "sin is an attitude toward God. One need
not wait until he has done openly wicked things; he need but ask
himself 'What is my attitude toward God?' Of course," she added,
"this attitude will be manifested in some way sooner or later,
according to the temperament, training and environment of the
person; and those manifestations are what we commonly call sins.
They are like rootlets springing up into sight from the hidden
tap-root, sin."
"I think that I begin to see the need of a better understanding
of these subjects we have discussed tonight," said Mr. Marshall
thoughtfully. "It strikes me that the sin question is not usually
presented clearly enough to enable people to perceive the real
nature of sin and its far reaching results."
"You are quite right, Mr. Marshall," responded Mr. Harper, "and
as a result of this failure to rightly portray sin, it follows that
people treat the Work of Redemption lightly."
"Well, the Bible is a wonderful book," said Nell, breaking the
silence that had followed Mr. Harper's last remark. "It contains
everything worth knowing, doesn't it?"
"Yes," replied Mrs. Harper, "it is a book worthy of its
Author,—God; and I feel like echoing the prayer of the psalmist,
'Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy
law.'"
"Is it possible that the clock is striking nine?" exclaimed
Sallie. "Why! how quickly the evening has passed."
"I hope that we shall meet again," said Mr. Marshall, "I am
becoming deeply interested in Bible study."
"Yes indeed," cried Sam, "we ought to have another gathering,
don't you think so Tom?"
"I do indeed," replied Tom, "and we all await Professor Lou's
kind invitation."
Before Louise could reply, Mrs. Harper smilingly said, "I am sure
that Louise extends an invitation to all and we shall be very glad
to welcome you next Wednesday evening, if that meets with your
approval."
And so the little group dispersed, after Mr. Harper had led in a
short but earnest prayer.
As Tom bade Louise goodnight, he said in a low tone, "May I be
the first of your friends to borrow the book of which you spoke
tonight? I think I need it." |