The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1902-11-07
CHRIST'S MISSION
He Came On Earth to Save a
Religious World.
First of a Series Of Lectures Delivered
at Centenary Last Night
BY F. A. Cone.

among other things he said:
Christ did not come to make the
world religious, but to save religious
world. Men is primarily and everl ,st-
ingly religious. Religion is the most
constant and the most potent factor
in his nature. You cannot study the
history of man, nor account for his
moral and intellectual development.
without taking into account his re-
Iigious propensities. He is religious
before he became philosOphic or scien-
tiic. and becoming philosophic and
scientific be does not CT ase to be relig-
ious. 1t is puerile to say that religion
is but the outgrowlh of dreams and
visions and superstition or that it is
the creation of priests and t1e church.
Religion itself has been the Gre ator of
all its various modes of manifestation,
but it has remained constant quaint.
ty. as it is the richest soil which, If
neglected. will produce the rankest
weeds. so man has attained to his
worst aud his best estate by ceans of
his religious nature. A part of the
'tfullness of time of which Paul
speaks was the worlds conscious need
of some great, all-absorbing and all
embracing religious truth. This truth
found expression in the life and teach
ings of Jesus. and for his coming the
world seems to have been in special
preparation. When Chtist came. Rome
was the ruling nation of the world.
And Romes distinguishing character
istic among the nations of the world
was her unparalleled genius for law
and government. 1t was because of
Rome's sncc ess in unifying the nations
If the world that PLATE deemed il
necessary to write the superscrip' ion
81 which he placed on the cross both in
Roman, Greek and HebreI, that all
might resd il. In this blending OF
the nations the picture which Lew
Wallace gives of the cruc:hxion, in
which. after describing the various
nationalities which helped to make up
that vast throng that was pressing its
way toward Calvary. He says: cit
seems as though the whole world was
to be represented, and in that sense,
to be present at the cracifiixon. In
her wars and commerce Rome had es-
tablished roads to the remotest parts
of her provinces. Her ability in con-
structipg roads and maintaining order
had made sveling comparatively easy
and safe. So it was that when the
fret preachers of the gospel started
out for the evsngelizstion Of the world
they passed uuinterruptedly over these
same highways, and at sea made use
of the vessels engaged in the carrying
Of Roman trade. But with Rome
there Was strangely. let.us cay provi-
dentislly, blended another nation.
When Christ was born in Bethlehem
Of Judea, Greece with all her beauty
Of language and all her development
Of poetry and philosophy had been q
Roman province for more than q hun
dred years. Greek teachers were dis
tributed throughout the various tribu-
taries of Rome; the Greek language
was co-ext.nsive with the empire,
and Was fast becoming the language Of
the people. And ureece had blended
In her religion and her philosophy the
best thought of all the previous ages.
The Greek, like Anglo Saxon, was the
product of minRling of races One
has said. "The HELEN combined in
his person the strong elements of all
great national and tribal forces Of the
world. excepting only the Hebrew. I"
And the language of the Greeks was
especially suited to become the Ian
guage of the gospel Many of the
early Christian writers have recogniz-
cd the service which Greek philosophy
and the Greek language rendered
Christianity. And 30 it came to pass
that this, the most beautiful Ct all
languages, served its final purpose as
it gave to the world the words and
teachings of him who spake as never
man spake. And Rome worked ont
her part of the divine plan unifying
the nations. and p'eparipg the high
ways over which 1t was to be carried
to ell peoples
And as with the coming together
of these different nations, there was
no religion which was suited to be-
come q universal religion, it was The
opportune time for new dispensa-
tion This the world has in the relig-
ion of Jesus, a religion in which may
be found the best that can be discover
ed in all other religions, and all else
that WAS needed to make that best a
con plete and universal religion.
Tonight Rev. @ ne will speak on
"That the Bible. which is the litera-
ture of this movement, contains the
word of Go! to mankind.
R-v. Cone will aleo answer the fol.
lowing questions:
Did the Hebrew prophet clearly for
see and predict the coming and mis-
sion Jesus Christi
Were the other great historic relig-
ions. such as Mah' metism and Bndd-
hism. results of great providential
movements in historyf
lively FIGHT ENSIIFn