The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-06-24

heartily agree III the SCTlptuTdI prop
osition hat 1.-THE world by wisdom
knows not Cod We are not there
fore to study along the lines of world
ly wisdom. but along the lines of that
wisdom hat cometh from above
along the lines of the inspired Scrip
lures. We must study! Whoever will
not study will not know. 1.-The secret
Of the Lord is with them that rever-
ence Him." And ~reverencing him
means the giving of our best thoughts
and talents to the study of his Word.
that we may "know the things freely
given to us of God" q Corinthians Ii.
12).
We should note further as Bible stu
proved of men. but to have the Divine
approval. This will bring to us. as it
did to the Master and his apostles. the
disapprobation Of the worldly-wise and
nominally religious. 1t was the Chief
Priests and Scribes and Pharisees. and
not the common people of the Jews. nor
the Roman soldiers. who were guilty
of the crucifiXion of our Lord. And
we must expect similar conditions. be-
cause. as the Apostle says. LAS he was
so are we in this world" The class
who called the Master Beelzebub is the
same class which will oppose his foot
step followers.
God permits all this with wise and
loving foreintention. Nothing connect
ed with the opposing forces is in any
sense of the word interfering with his
great Program. He set apart with Di-
vine wisdom this Gospel Age of nearly
nineteen centuries for the sole purpose
of selecting from the world 1.-The
Church of the firstborns'-the antityp-
zeal Priests and Levites. The restric-
ton Of his message. the d%arkening of
counsel. the clashing Of creeds. the op.
position of the world. the flesh and the
Devil. are all wisely permitted with
the foreintention on Gods part that
thus all through the Age the way of
the cross-in the footsteps of Jesus
should be a marrow way" so that
comparatively few finding it would
care to walk in it.
1t is those few. that little fock''
jealous for God. for his Word. for
Righteousness. that he is now marking
out as the prospective joint heirs with
Jesus In his glorious Kingdom. which
is to bless the world with full opportu-
mites for earthly salvation-"restitu.
ton" The trials of the faith. the pa
tience. the love. the devotion of this
little flock" are all designed and not
accidental. Satan and his hosts may
think to thwart the Divine Plan and
may mislead and use humanity as their
tools. but it shall yet be seen that all
of the Divine purposes shall be ac-
complished. The Word that has gone
forth u of Jehovah's mouth shall
prosper in the thing whereto he
sent It.
st. Paul declared of earthly Israel.
that they enjoyed much advantage
every way. because to them were COM
mitted the oracles of God" So now.
dear friends. it seems to me that you
and | and all sincere Christians the
world around enjoy much advantage
every way. Looking to the past we
find great excuse for our dear forefa-
theirs who, with sincerity of heart, so
misunderstood the Divine Word and
so misintorpreted the spirit of the
Master that they burned one another
at the stale. We should not think so
h 81 pch ~ thnn, for thic thnt,ph
they lived today under the greater adj
vantages which we possess. We
should sympathiZe with them. We
should consider them as blinded by
the great Adversary as was Saul Of
TarsuS. when he. as 4 member of the
~Sanhedrin. authorized the stoning Of
st. Stephen. We should think of them
sympathetically-as st. Peter spoke Of
the Jews who crucitied the Lord. He
said. Il wot. brethren. that in iguo-
rance We did 1t. as did also your ruiz
ers." SO also we should kindly. low
ingly cast a mantle of benevolenee
owe similar conduct on the part of
John Calvin and others of our forefa-
theirs. But as we would not go to the
Jewish rulers. nor to Saul of TarSus
for religious instruction. neither should
we go to Brother Calvin or others of
our forefathers who were blinded. as
he was. respecting the true character
of God and the true Spirit of his
Word.
Only within the past century have
the masses of Gods people been able
even to read the Bible. IL they had pos
sessed it. And only within the same
time have they had the Bible to read.
Our great hindrance has been that
with Bibles in our hands and with
ability to use them. we looked for in
struction to our well-meaning fathers
instead of going to Gods Word itself.
Now by Gods grace the eyes of our
understanding are opened. The won
derful Bibles of our day with their
marginal references. their concord
ances. etc. and other assistances In
Bible study are bringing us in touch
with the whole message Of Gods
Word. Now one passage of Scripture
throws light upon another and thus
with increasing brightness the Word
OF the Lord as q lamp gives light upon
the pathway Ct his Church
REPUBLICANS OF MINNESOTA