The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-05-21
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL,
Pastor Brooklyn
tabernacle. 5
~

whom he did fOreknOw ne also did
Dredestnate to be confo rmed to the
image of,his Son; that he might be- the
firstborn among many bl ethren"t (Ro-
mans viii, g. 29).
Coming to the land of that. sturdy
man of God, John Knox. II am remind
ed of his able contention for the doc
trine of Election-its tScripturalness
and tits demonstration of the greatness.
MAZE sty and sovereignty of the Lord
our <God. We surmise., however, that
the good mans heart must frequently
haves been sorely distressed with the
logic of his own argument; that the
eterYtll woe of nine-tenths of our race
was ,as unalterably fixed in advance
of tLeir birth as was the eternal joy
of the blessed handful pretAestinated
TO be saints and to share thej heavenly
glories-, We may well thank food, dear
friendsl that in the clearer flight now
shining5 upon the Scriptures we may
discern 1.-THE errors handed down to us
from the dark ages, without losing our
appreci stion of Divine foreknowledge
and Divine sovereignty.
While tit is true that it WOULD be diff
cult to>estimate the value of the doc
trine ofS Divine foreknowledge, taught
by Brother Knox, not only infthis ma
ton, butxalso throughout thetworld, in
culcatingta reverence for thefAlmighty.
it is also h'ue that it would besdifficult
10 estimate the amount of damage
which has resulted to Christendom and
throughout the, world from shis teach
ings respecting \the Divine treatment
of the non-elect. This serious error
has alienated the hearts of thousands
from God and drom fhis Book. Let us
look together at, the doctrines of Elec-
ton, Predestination and FGeordina-
ton, from the vScriptural standpoint,
that we may noteSheir beauties and be
drawn the nearert to the Lord and to
his Book in true reverence .and wor-
ship.
Foreknown andt Predestinated.
Our text declares that whom. God did
foreknow them he also did predestinate;
but we notice that the predestination is
stated only as respects the Church and
not in respect to others. This,fact does
not escape the attention of others, but
they have reasonedt erroneously,-that
if God foreknew ant elect Church, for
whom he predestinaTed special bless
ings and honors, thislwould imply that
the remainder of mankind non-elect
were to be tortured eternally. The
logic of this position is unsound and
it is quite unscriptural'to say, that all
of the non-elect will be consigned to an
eternity of torture at 1.-THE hands of fire.
proof demons in fuEillment of a Di-
vine predestination fixed before crea-
ton. There is no Scripture whatever
to this effect. and Brother Knox and
others were in error to the extent that
they wove into their theories matters
not Scripturalty stated.
According to the Scriptures, as well
as according to- human judgment as ex-
pressed in the laws of civilization, the
highest, the severest penalty to be en-
forced, is the death penalty. the taking
away of the life not used In harmony
with the Creators reasonable righteous
requirements. This is the Scriptural
declaration to which, for so long time,
we were blind: "The wages of sin is
DEATH" 1.-The soul that sinneth, it shall
de-" ''All the wicked will he Destroy"
"They shall perish as brute beasts
"They shall be destroyed with an ever
lasting destruction the Second Death.
Romans vi, %: Ezekiel xviii, 4; Psalm
cxlv, 20; II Peter ii, II; II Thessalo-
mans j. 8.
Thus seen the very severest results
possible to non-election would be ex-
tinction-the Second Death. But the
Scriptures clearly show that God has
gracious purposes, not for the select
only, but also for the non-elect, and that
in his due time the non-elect shall be
brought to q clearer knowledge of the
Truth and to a full opportunity of har-
mony with their Creator and through
Christ Jesus the re-attainment of all
that was lost in Adam, all that was re-
deemed by the precious sacrifice of
Christ. Thus, as the Scriptures de-
clare, there is common salvation"
dude 81 in which all of Adams chill
dren shall be privileged to have share.
There is also a special salvation,
"high calling of God in Christ, which
is referred to as 80 great salvation
which began to be (preache0 spoken
by the Lord and was confirmed unto
us by them that heard him." (Heb. ii,
81 This special or great salvation is
the one which our Lord has provided
for the Elect" while the common
salvation" is his provision for the non
elect.
Does it not seem strange that
Brother Knox and others, his coadju-
tors, in getting away from much of
the smoke of the dark ages" failed
to even think Of salvation of the
non-elect as part Of Gods providence?
Their eyes, beholding the awful and
blighting errors respecting eternal tor
ment, totally blinded them to Gods
provisions for the non-elect; for they
reasoned that if God had predestinat-
ed them to eternal torment and had
in advance of their creation prepared
great place of torture and fire-proof
devils and fuel enough for eternity,
he could have no plan of
them. The entire prem
'rong. The death into
went was not eternal tor
tomb, as represented by