The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-03-03

- - tivcdiscourses from
Gas IaRS IlgeeLL the text Il pray
not for Inc ,corid,
! but for those ichOm Thou hast giceR me-
| (Johu xvii, 81. He said
When, years ago, / believed that an
eternity of torture awaited all who do
/ not accept Gods ''calf' of the present
time, / had great difficulty with this
text asked, Is it possible that our
Rcdccmer was selectively unjust in his
dealings with our race? Can il be
true that the Heavenly Father merely
calls and draws predestinaied few
to himself and to everlasting bliss?
| Can il be true, as our catechisms re
cite. that God and Jesus passed by"
! the great mass of mankind without
drawing them, without calling them,
without giving them the hearing ear,
without opening the eyes of their un-
derstandng? Can it be that all these
blind and deaf, unsought. undrawn,
uncalled and unprayed for by the
/ Savior are going down to eternal tor
ment? My heart answered, No! But
my brain was confused by the errors,
the neutrality-suspicious. Of the Bible,
which ! had received
! John Wesley's Free Grace"
! Trained in the Doctrine of Election
and Predestna ton |, like hosts of 9TH
ers. felt somehow that Brother Wes-
! ley's teaching of Free Grace was more
noble, more God-like, than Brother
Calyin's teaching respecting Election
and Predestiua ton.
! Nevertheless. when i reasoned on
/ the subject | said, Can I think of the
omnisciept God preparing great place
Of sufficient size to hold the entire hui
man family and QUILTED with every
! devilish appliance for their torture,
and yet being ignorant Of the cOndi-
! tons under which they would be born?
Can l think that he did not know that
we would be born i'm sin aud shapen
, in iniquity? Can L think that he did
not know Of the present reign Of Sa-
| tan, Sin and Death and that it would
! last for six thousand years and inju-
riously affect our entire race?
Brother Wesley's theory of Gods
Love and good intentions--of his en-
! deayor to save everybody-seems in
consistent when contrasted with his
/ teaching that only sanity few reach
! eternal bliss and that the thousands
Of millions must spend eternity in tor
! ture. Thus | was once confused, as
millions are still confused today, in
respect to the Divine Character as ex-
emplifjed in the Divine plan Of the
ages. So far as l can see, Brother
Calvin had a wise and powerful God
such as could admire and reverence.
if he had only been kind and loving
| instead Of diabolical. And Brother
/ Wesley had kind and loving God
such as / could admire and worship,
if he had only had the wisdom and
! power of Calvin's theory.
So long as we have such confusion
| in our minds faith and hope and love
and trust shake upon the foundations
Of our reason. We recognize that we
! know nothing Of the future Of our
! selves: that we are wholly dependent
upon Divine Revelation. But we can
not expect that our Creator would
give us Revelation which to sancti-
fed minds would appear Satanic in
stead of Divine We must remember
/ that our Creator invites us to reason,
| saying, Come, let us reason together:
4 though your sins be as scarlet. they
| shall be white as snow" Surely a
right understanding of the Divine Rev
citation, the Bible. should be q reason
able one to a sanctifed mind.
Hearken to the Word Of the Lord
/ Their fear toward me is not OF me,
but is taught by the precepts of men
isaiah xxx, 49,
! Hearken again: "As the heavens are
/ higher than the earth, so are my meth.
DDS higher than your methods and my
plans higher than your plans" isaiah
! ". 81. And so we find, my dear
! friends - Gods Word is true. His
Character is glorious. Only the mist
and smoke Of the dark ages have
confused things for us and mystified
matters and darkened the eyes of our
! UNDERSTANDABLE
Predestination of the Bible.
Now as the six thousand years have
| passed and we have entered upon the
Sabbatic Seventh Thousand we are
beginning to realize that it marks Il
New Dispensation-that the night is
4 passed: that the dawn is upon us. The
wonderful inventions Of our day along
4 earthly lines are in full harmony with
i the clear light now shining upon God S
! Word making its dark places bright
and its rough places smooth and ena-
4 bling us TO remove the stumbling
stones from the pathway Of the just
which shineth more and more unto the
perfect day"
! Now we can see why Jesus did not
pray for the world 1t was because
the world was not in any danger of q
fiery hell More than that, it was be.
cause Gods time for dealing with the
world had not vet come. The world
however. is to be dealt with by the
/ oil