The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-09-29

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lSfASlSlk kOo9Illlj having form of
godliness but de-
nying the power thereof. From such
turn away" Gil Timothy iii. 4, 81
He said
Our text could scarcely apply better
to present-day conditions il st. Paul
had written the words this very day.
The world seems to be going pleasure
mad. Very evidently we are in the
''perilous times mentioned in the con-
text. 1t is proper that we investigate
this tendency toward pleasure and
fOrmality as respects religion. What
is the cause Of this condition? 1t is
not because mankind have naturally
more desire for pleasure than for God.
On the contrary, Phrenology shows us
that the very highest organs Of the
human mind are those which relate to
spirituality and reverence Under nor
NAL conditions. therefore. all mankind
might reasonably be expected to have
their chief pleasure i'm spiritual things,
in harmony with proper reverence
for their Creator and His will.
What has changed this natural con-
dition, and turned the hearts of men
away from reverence for God and spir-
itual things to more sensuous pleas
ures, with merely an outward form
Of piety? The answer is that mans
reverence for his Creator and for spir-
itual things has been taken advantage
of by Satan. God has been pictured to
mems minds as All-Powerful and dew
ilish. These false doctrines. ST. Paul
declares, are doctrines of demons"
Il Timothy iv. II. These misconcep-
tons. formulated into multitudinous
creeds. became their idols. Each idol
creed contained little nucleus Of
truth. around which monstrous errors
were aggregated. For a long time we
blindIy and stupidity worshiped our
reed-idols. fighting for ourselves and
against others. Contributing our mon
ey to the point of sacrifice and self
denial, we built costly temples. each
party for his own idol.
We were kept so busily engaged in
thus fighting and working and build.
ing. that we did not stop TO carefully
notice the horrible outlines Of these
idols, nor to consider their blasphe-
nous misrepresentation of the true
God of Justice Wisdom. Love. Power
The Day Dawn Is Upon Us
The Apostle says. They that steep.
sleep in the night and they that are
drunken are drunken in the night"
Many thus have been asleep and have
future which our Heavenly Father has
ordained for His creatures. Various
hallucinations and nightmares have
afflicted us. Many have been drunk
en- with the wine of false doctrines.
mentioned in the Apocalypse. which
tells us that this drunkenness or stu
pefaction of error has extended to all
nations of Christendom (Rev. xviii. B..
We may well thank God that 1.-THE
night is far spent and the day Is at
hand" "The Sun Of righteousness
shall rise with healing in His beams"
(Malachi iv. q. The result will be the
complete scattering of darkness. SUI
perstition and error. which for so long
has more or less beclouded the minds
OF many of us to the true character
of our God and the true teachings of
His Word. 1t is because we are in
are beginning TO see. as never before,
tie horrible features of our creed idols.
The majority of Christians have not
yet discovered the real character Of
the Almighty. They are in transit
ton state. They no longer worship
their idols as formerly. yet they still
worship them. We can direct them
to worship the true God, but the idols
so monstrously msrepresent the God
of all Grace that the worship is neces.
sarily faint aud half-hearted; or. as
the Apostle declares. it is merely "a
form of godliness," without the power.
the force. the strength which should
accompany the worship. of the true
God, rightly understood and properly
reverenced.
A RevuIsion of Sentiment
The dawning Of the light Of the New
Day of Messiah begins to waken US
from the nightmares of the Dark Ages.
We have begun to doubt our creed
idols. Many have ceased their wor-
ship altogether. Many others respect
them merely as fetishes Of the past
Some are afraid that if the masses
cease to worship the idols all rever
ence for holy things will pass away
and the world will lapse into heather
ssh darkness. We should remember
on the contrary. that we have been In