The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-11
NEED OF TRUTH.
1t Underlies th;s Hope of the Chris
tian Religion


Rev. j. F. Stout, d. D., preached at
First MI church yesterday morning
on GitsTfle Sin of ignorance" taking for
his text Luke xiii, 81: 'sThen said
Jesus: Father, forgive them for they
know not. what they do" He said, in
part: st- ef,'.
These words were spoken by Jesus
While hanging on the cross. After be-
friending the people, they Joined with
His enemies and tcompassed His mur-
der. f.Q -l@ ''>
There are three things mentioned in
the text in reference to the people who
thronged about the cross, their deeds,
their ignorance and their forgiveness
What they did was amazing. They
were guilty of barbarous cruelty, flag
rant injustice, base ingratitude and
self ruin in that they combined to
bring to the cross their only true friend,
who had come to them moved with
compassion on account of their condi-
ton that He might save them. The
prayer Of Jesus considering such deeds
committed against 9dight and in spite
OF all they might have known is an
eternal pnayerJi since ignorance is a
constant sin. eTfee second fact Of the
text is ignorance, Ythe greatest foe of
the race save enev 1t is a curse to
faith, and hope, and an ally Of oppres-
sion. 1t has exiled Elijahs, silenced
Jcels, imprisoned deremiahs, thrown
Daniels to the Hoilsg beheaded John the
I. Baptists, slain Peters and Pauls, burn
ed the innocent6or witches, trampled on
the rights of 5slen, and crucified the
Son Of God, while it filled the air with
its h0arse clamor Sfor the robber Ba-
rabbas. 1t must be cast out before
Christ can abide within or truth sway
the conscience. Jesus is the truth
His philosophy sef human life is so all
inclusive that 1t easily adopts the
truths that exist .jn ALL and is not
changed thereby. II
The third part of the text is for
giveness, but this is only half the cure
of ignorance There must be likewise
teaching for where He once babe His
disciples to preach;s He bade them often
to teach. There must be foundation
Of knowledge, to which preaching must
appeal, or on which it must build
In Gods threefold revelation nature
occupies the first place. The Bible is
the second strand. The third is the
revelation of God in the heart of man,
in the religious conscience of the race
Gods expression of Himself in man
This is thoroughly worthy Of trust
The gospel is a direct appeal to the in
dividual consciousness. In some
senses the Bible. itself is the result of
the religious consciousness of the He
brew race; it is their findings during
all the years in which they We're COM
ing more and more to know God. The
same work is still going on and God is
getting more readily into the human
heart and life year by year. This
revelation. too, is in entire harmony
with all others, since the truth Is one,
and a knowledge of God in the inner
life can but help in a real apprehen-
sion of the truth.
The work Of education Is on us to-
day as certainly as, any other. All
men who love God should as far as pos
sible come to know all the truth which
is fairly Within our reach, and the
church must deyeloplteachers who shall
everywhere notbonly be an inspiration
to the people, but shall lead them to
become the most intelligent Christians.
To this end it,sis necessary to foster
all the institutions whose province 1T is
to teach and for ourselves to follow on
to know the truth.