The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-08-11
BILE. are proportionately unorthodox-

BILE. are prOpOrtiOnately unorthOdOx-
heretical.
What ChristendOm needs today is a
return to the Bible, an investiga ton
Of its teachings and, CORRESPONDENCE,
a rejection Of all human creeds, which
are admittedly more or less defective.
Let us ''stand fast in the liberty where
with Christ hath made us free" Let
us accept the Bible as the only stand
ard. Let us study it and understand
it to the extent of our ability. Let us
rejoice in every degree of harmony we
all attain in the correct understanding
Of It, Let us fellowship as Christians
all who acknowledge its Divine au-
thenticity and who, in harmony with
its presentation, are trusting i'm Jesus
as their Redeemer; and who. in accept
ance Of His invitation, have forsaken
all to be His fOotstep followers
These are the real Christians, with
whatever sect or party they may have
become identified. through the suppCsi-
ton that they were doing the will of
God. These alone are the saints: these
alone are running in the race course:
these alone have the opportunity of
making their calling and election
sure" The masses known as Chris
tendon are unchristlan in every sense
of the word. They are civilized heath
en-, in the sense that they do not recog
niZe any more than do the heather.
personal God of glorious character.
perfect in His Wisdom, Justice, Love
and Power. They realize not His All
seeing Eye. And their general lives
show their lack of this knowledge and
this faith.
More than this shall We say itD
the majority Of prOfessed church mem
bers, so far as we can understand their
sentiments as privately expressed and
publicly declared by the ministers of
their choice, are no more Christians
than are the Jews. They neither be-
lieve the Bible to be the Divine Rev
elatiOn nor do they accept the Lord
Jesus Christ as the worlds Redeemer
from sin and death. OF course. there
fore, they do not profess to consecrate
their lives to specifically follow One
in whose redemptive work they do
not believe.
The Mystery Of the Cross.
Comparatively few of the hundreds
of thousands of those who have named
the name Of Christ, and who have
come under various UNCONVENTIONAL
odd of q
Mystery of the Cross of Christ, the
Mystery of the Gospel, 1.-THE Mystery
which hath been hid from ages and
generations, but now is made manifest
to his saints" (Colossians j. 26).
Alas, the majority seem content to
have merely a name to live" and
wish merely to be called Christians
and to wear n jeweled cross 1t is but
the few of those who have tasted that
the Lord is gracious and have felt an
earnest desire to know and to do the
Fathers will at the cost Of Self"sacri-
fice. With the majority the intima-
ton that a certain course In life is the
marrow way" the way Of the Cross,
Is sufficient to turn them I'm an opposite
direction; for. while they would like
to share the heavenly glOries and hon
Ors of the Lord, they are unwilling to
be sharers In His ignominy. sufferings
and death.
These, without relinquishing their
desire for righteousness, are disinclined
TO 60 to such lengths as the Master
and the Apostles taught and eXempli-
fed Hence, they are not interested
in the "deep things" Of Gods Word,
but merely in the more superficial.
In the language of the Scriptures. they
are willing to say. 1--WE will eat our
own bread, and wear our own apparel;
only let us be called by thy name. to
take away our reprOach" isaiah iv, II.
The fault lies largely with many OF
the clergy. who are not leading the
people to ''the faith once delivered to
the saints" but away from it.
The Scriptures most distinctly teach
that we are under the reign OF the
prince of this world" Satan, and
that our Lord at His Second Coming
in power and great glory will bind or
restrain this strong one and overthrow
his empire, which is not of Divine au-
thOrization, but. built upon human
weaknesses. ignorance and superstf-
ton. We are distinctly told that Sa-
tan shall be bound for that thousand
years 1.-THE Millennium that he may
deceive the people no more until the
thousand years shall be finished.
Surely, then, the Lord has used the
great Adversary to assist In the ac-
complishing of the Divine purposes.
Satan may have supposed that he was
frustrating Gods plans, but just as
surely he was mistaken. The Divine
Word is sure which declares, my
Word that goeth forth out Of My
mouth shall not return unto Me void,
but it shall accomplish that which 1
please. and it shall prosper I'm that
whereunto i sent it."
1t is time that all who really be-
lieve in the Bible, who really believe
that Jesus left the glory OF the Fa-
Their and humbled Himself even unto
death, thus providing the redemptive
price for the Church and for the
world, should proclaim these facts
clearly positively. They should also
declare, as do the Scriptures. the Sec
ond Coming Of the Redeemer and the