The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-02-11
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL,
Pastor P-cokly2
Tabernacle.

Brooklyn, Feb 6.-The fourth and
final meeting for the consideration
of doctrinaI Surrenders necessary to
Church Federation was held today,
Brooklyn's largest auditorium, the
Academy Of Music. being crowded.
Tabernacle delivered the address as
follows:-
Having viewed during the past three
Sundays what the leading denomina-
tons would need to sacrifice in the in
tereSt Of Federation, we come today to
the final discussion of this serieS-The
Church Militant and Triumphant and
her interest in the Federation move
ment Let us endeavor to take so
broad a view Of this subject that there
will be no room for disagreement on the
part of true Christians of any denomi-
nation.
Unnecessary as it may be to explain
to this large and intelligent audience
the significance Of our topic, The
Church Militant and The Church Tri
umphant, | must think beyond the
thousands present Of the millions who
tomorrow will receive reports of this
discourse from that great channel OF
the worlds progress, the secular Press.
Hence / explain that the term Church
Militant signifies the Church in war
fare, struggling with the powers of
evil, while the Church Triumphant sig
nifes the Church victorious, glorious,
joined with her Lord, the Heavenly
Bridegroom, as his Bride and Queen
in the great MiIlennial Kingdom soon
TO bless and uplift the world of man
kind. / should further add that while
in this discussion we have considered
the various denominations of Christen-
dom and their creedS, we must today
ignore all human systems and creedS.
We must take the broad, general
ground of the Scriptures and recog-
niZe only one Church.
Nor may we make the mistake Of
saying that the one Church is one Sect.
No sect, no denomination, however
great and influential and numerous
and rich, either in sDrdid or historic
wealth, can be conceded the right to
appropriate the name! which our Lord
gave to all truly his disciples. Surely
none of us is sectar'ian enough 10 dis
pute this premise. We must learn to
recognize the Church of Christ from
the same viewpoint as does the Head
of the Church. We must learn the
force of st. Peters words to Cornelius,
''Of truth | perceive that God is no
respecter of persons: but in every ma
ton he that fea1eth him and Worketh
righteousness is accepted with him.
(Acts Y. 81, 35).
Taking, therefore, the Scriptural
view of the Church. we recognize it
as the Body of Christ of many mem-
bers, over which he is the Head. 1t
is composed of consecrated followers
of Christ irrespective of all denomina-
tional lines those who, turning from
sin, accept Jesus as their Redeemer,
through whom they have forgiveness
Of sins ard reconciliation TO the Father
those who have become disciples of
Christ, taking up their cross to follow
him ami who have received the beget-
ting of the holy Spirit. Who could
dispute that these are the Church OF
Christ? Who shall say that they must
belong to this Communion or that, or
lose their relation ship to the Head,
Christ Jesus? The apostles never re-
ferred TO Baptist Christians, Methodist
Christians, Catholic Christians, Pres
byterian Christians, etc, but merely to
these whom we have described and
whom they styled saints-"the Church
Of the living Cod, whose names are
written in heaven (Hebrews xii, %;
Timothy iii, 15A Let US keep strictly
within the lines of Gods Word and
avoid the errors. of the past. Let us
today consider this Church as the
Church Militant and prospectively the
Church Triumphs mt.
The Church Militant.
II we all agree that we have before
our minds the real Church, the Church
of the New TIE Stament, let us notice
that there is a nominal Church also
and that we are not competent to fully
determine WHICH are the real and
which are the nominal Christians ex-
tepL ny Inc tGSI WHICH our LOrU HAS
given-''by their fruits We shall know
them" VIII Re the real Church Of fully
consecrated believers, faithful to the
Lord and his Word and the principles
of righteousness, is represented by
very small number, there is nominal
Church related thereto as is q shell to
the kernel of nut. The nominal
Church includes those whose manner
or whose attendance on worship implies
Il relationship to Christ without having
gone the length of full faith-accept-
ance Of him in sacrifice, perhaps with
out having fully turned from sin even
in their hearts, and without having
made a full conservation to serve the
Lord This nominal class may be sub
divided into believers who are favor
ably disposed toward Christ and right
cousness; others who regard the
Church as merely moral club de-
signed for social and moral benefit or
influence upon the world, by counter
acting sinful Influences; still others,
bitter at heart, sinful and selfish, hay
ing no faith whatever in Jesus and no
care whatever for morality onI ys