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

has had his idol Of wood and stone
while we have had more ethereal ones.
The heathen's idols are ugly enough.
vet far less horrible than the creed
idols Of civilized lands. No excuse
will longer maintain idol worship of
any kind.
Looking For the Truth
The great difficulty with the masses
is that. repudiating the idols. they are
lapsing into agnosticism-doubt. They
know not what they believe. They
are looking for the Truth. They find
the leaders Of the creeds still bowling
formally to the idols. but privately
repudiating them. Such leaders are
unworthy Of confidence and only par
TALLY honest. Hungry and thirsty for
something to satisfy the craving Of
their hearts, the furnishing people are
turning toward pleasure. They are
lovers of pleasure more than lovers of
God"
Comparatively few any longer be-
lieve in purgatory or everlasting tor
ment, but they believe that these doc
trines have Scriptural foundation.
which they proportionately discredit.
and charge with being the source Of
all their ignorance and superstition in
the past. With faith in the Bible gone.
the masses know not where to go nor
whom to trust respecting enlightcn-
ment regarding the future. They are
reaching the conclusion that every
thing is big guess. and that they
may as well do their own guessing as
to pay a minister to do it for them.
The situation is deplorable one.
As we have already intimated. human
ity is so constituted that religion holds
the very highest place in his mental
organism-the seat of power and con-
troll in all the affairs of his life. With
no fixed conviction. men are drifting.
The learned are going into intidelity.
under the more refined name Of High
err Criticism. The poor and less learn
ed are going into doubt respecting any
intelligent Creator or Supervisor. As
a matter of fact they are saying not
only there is no God who would tor
ment mankind eternally. but appar-
emily, There is no God who takes any
interest in humanity.
In this frame Of mind Socialism ap-
peals to them. They propose to bring
about Paradise Restored" by the
power Of Socialism. They say to them
selves, "We are without God, without
a future hope. and without confidence
in our former views, let us eat. drink
and be merry'-let us enjoy life-let us
get all that we can of pleasure out Of
present existence. for we are hopeless
respecting a future one" Is it any
wonder that the Apostle foretold that,
under these conditions. the masses
would become more and more pleas
ure-mad?
Thus we account for the great la
ment that is going up from all
churches that the pews are empty. and
the collection-boxes empty, and that
the system would go down except for
the benevolent wealthy. who really do
not believe in the creed idols. but who
desire that others shall believe i'm them
and worship them. In word. the
crowds which once 1Ocked to the
churches. with their nickels and pen
MES, now make for the theatres and
crowd the hard. rough "bleachers" of
the ball grounds. They have become
lovers Of pleasure rather than lovers Of
God, because the representations of
Nnd in, hn rint1S f.pooAe,
pulsive. too irrational, too devilish. to
be longer believed in or worshipped.
What the people need is n general
smashing Of all the creed idols and the
unanimous return to the study of the
Bible. and to the worship of the true
God, which the Bible sets forth.
Preachers Are In Perplexity
No men in the world are to be more
sympathize with than the preachers.
The creed idols have been richly en-
dowed by well-meaning votaries of the
past. The interests of the clergy are
all wrapped up with the interests of
the creed idols-not only their financial
interests, but their honor. dignity,
titles. The question with the clergy
today is. How can we smash the creed
idols? How can we destroy them
without ourselves perishing with them?
If we tell the common people plainly
what we believe, they will all leave
the creed idols. They will ask us. How
long is it since you came to this con-
clusion? If we tell them that we have
not believed i'm our creeds for many
years. will they not call us hypocritical
and lose their confidence in us? And,
besides. what could we offer them in
stead?
1t is no secret that the great ma
jority of the educated clergy are total
unbelievers. not only in the creeds
which they profess, but also in the
Bible-they call themselves Higher
Critics and "Evoutionists" They
have nothing that they could teach the
people. except their doubts, their mis-
understandings. Having lost faith in
the creed idols, they are seeking for
the true God. in whom the masses be-
lieve little enough as it is. They are
bound to God and religious things by
a very slim cord composed Of three
acknowledgements. superstition and
natural reverence. The ignorance and
superstition will soon break, and all
that will be left will be mans natural
reverence. Now is the time for re.
placing ignorance with knowledge, and