The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-02-09

| ieclare that there 10 none rgnteOuS,
10, not one. But i may say to you
that. admitting. that all men have
sinned-some In ways more peculiar
to one nationality and some TO an
Of an Atonement for sin and the fact
| that the blood Qhe sacrifice, of Jesus
Christ our lord. cleanseth us from all
! sin''--"Neither is there salvation in
any other. for there is none other
Name given uuder heaven or, amongst
men whereby we must be saved
jew or Gentle. bond or free. eau.
casian or Indinn. - 49,
| / believe. therefore. that cannot do
better than to relate to you the ',0id.
Old story of the love Of God mani.
Tested in Christ, the Redeenler: Ny
text tells that Old Story in precious
words Of life, which. had weil-nigh
been lest during the darker ages and
since: for MANY Of you may be sur
prised 10 know that the vast majority
, Of people in Christian lands have very
slight conception Of the love of God.
lhtictu. Il I'LL SUIT thnJ ~ ~ tos
the faith of many Christians. as ex-
pressed in their creeds, is more terri
bic, more God-dishonOring than arc
the beliefs of any heathen. in the
whole world. ',' e.. -. =. :
| am glad to tell you, however, that
really very few people in Christian
lands any longer believe their own
creeds. know not how much of
them are preached here. True Chris
tan people are much better than their
creeds They have sympathy for
you who live in these parts and for
residents of other ..benighted lands.
Many of them give literally. whether
wisely or not, in their desire to bene-
At the heather. p -.'.. = ...'.- - 8,
assure you that however much
their creeds assert it, these kind-heart-
ed people do not believe that the mass.
es of mankind are bound to eternal
misery because Of not having heard of
the "Only Name" They really do not
know what they believe. The smoke
Of the dark ages" still prevails to
such an extent that their eyes of IN
Outstanding cannot see 'the length
and the breadth and the height and
the depth Of the love Of God, which
passeth all understanding" They do
know. however. that, although they
are fallen from Gods image through
sin, they still have too much Of His
God-like quality of love to torture any
body, or even dumb brutes; hence they
realize that there must be some mis-:
take in the creeds which they have so
long possessed, which consign all ex-
cept the elect to eternal misery.
.s> Now Look at Our Text.
Note in our text the, terms Of
q blessing intended Of God for ey-
cry creature. Two thousand years be.
fore the angels uttered those words
God gave the same Message Of hope
and Joy. to Father Abraham. Let those
Of this audience who are Mohamme'
dams. as. we'll AS others, call to mind
the promise to which refer. It was
the promise with the oath. God, fore
knowing that the fultilment Of the
promise would be long delay made
oath to it. so that Gil who trust } In
Him might have the consolation Of
that promise. And what is. the prom
ise7 God said. to Abraham. IN thee
aud in thy seed shall all the families
ofgtha earth be blessed: ~:
.fAbrah ham was, twice glad! He re-
joicel that, the curse that had rested
upon the race would ultimately he
lifted; secondly, he rejoiced that the
blessing of. the Almighty would reach
mankind through bis posterity,s Nei-
Their Ishmael nor Isaac was the prom
ised seed-neither blessed the world.
Neither Jacob nor Esau was the prom
ised Seed Of Abraham to bless the
world, for neither of them did the
work. Neither did the nation Of Israel
succeed in blessing the world: nor did
they attain eternal life for themselves,
The Divine Purpose looked down to
Messiah and saw in Him the real Seed
of Abraham through whom eventually
Divine Power will be exercised and Di-
vine Grace be shed abroad among men.
, According to the Scriptures, the Mes
siah. the Deliverer. is composite-com:
posed Of numerous members. Each
one Of these members must be tested
and proven in respect to his loyalty to
God and to the principles Of righteous
ness before he can attain to his glo.
rious reward of the divine nature. God
has foreordained how many shall con-
stitute this Messiah company and what
shall be their Observation-Disclosures
according to which they may make
their, calling and their election sure"
They must be so loyal to God and to
the principles of His righteousness
that they will gladly sacrifice every
earthly interest, yea, life itself. 1t viii
be readily seen that there, are not very
many Of such deep devotion as this. il
the whole world. However. God. who
knows the end from the beginning, de
clares that His purposes shalt not fail
which means that He will succeed IL
=. the appointed time in finding the pre-
destinated number Of the proper faith
obedience, character. ~ ~. SIS.
j ~: Restrictions at First Only,
The primary restrictions were thai
this glorious opportunity to become
members Of the Messiah. "the Seed oi
Abraham for the blessing Of thu
world, must be first offered to tho nat
ural seed Of Abraham. Only after tht
: