The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-08-16
MANkATo FREE PRESS

us to be HIS intentions toward our race
True. all acknowledged the hope that
a sanity few would attain an eternal
weight of glory on the heavenly plane,
but all the remainder except the sanity
ones, the Elect. were consigned either
to terrible purgatorial fire or to an
eternal holocaust of torture. What
blasphemies against our God, the God
of Grace. we thus unwittingly. unde.
siringly entertained!
The effect of these teachings in all
parts of the world. in every religion,
has been to convert mans natural
quality Of reverence for his Creator
into terrible fear. and this fear has
more and more separated us from God
and the Bible.
Mankind and the Church.
We are now coming to understand
more fully the Bible doctrine of cleo
ton and we see it to be not unjust
and cruel as it once appeared, but
beautiful and blessed. for both elect
and nOn-elect. The Divine Plan was,
and still is. universal PLAZA Plan
granting universal opportunity to
Adam and to all his race for reeOv-
cry from the penalty of sin-for re-
covery from sin and death to all that
Father Adam had in the beginning
and which he lost through disobedi-
ence and which Jesus redeemed for
him and his race at Calvary, and
which all the willing and obedient
may have back again at the hands of
the Redeemer, If they will, during the
period of His Messianic reign.
This is the Restitution which st.
Peter tells us God spoke through the
mouth Of all the holy Prophets since
the world began" And the blessing
will not be merely restitutionary, but
indeed all the experiences of the pres
ent time with sin and sorrow, pain
and death will be blessed. helpful les
sons for the future-guards against
any repetition of the scenes of DISC
bedience against the Divine regula-
tons made for mans comfort, happi-
ness and everlasting joy.
deemer at Calvary was merely a pre-
paratory one. His death provided the
Ransom-price for Father Adam, and
hence for all Adams race who share
his condemnation. The work of Di.
vine grace which has progressed since
Jesus death and resurrection is also
a preparatory work. During this pc
riod of more than eighteen centuries
God has been gathering out of the
world a special class, willing to pass
through specially severe trials and test.
ings of faith and obedience, under the
inspiration of certain exceeding great
and precious promises" QI Peter /, A.
of share with Jesus in the divine ma.
ture and glory, honor and Immortality
This selecting work began with nat
ural Israel, and has extended now
gradually the world around, gathering
from every nation samples and repre-
sentatives, but all sanity; all In heart,
at least. copies of Gods dear Son, the
Redeemer. With the dawning of the
Seventh Great Day-the Day Of Christ
this work Of electing Or selecting
a special class of saints to constitute
His Bride and joint-heirs in the King
dom will be complete. Then will be-
gin the salvation of the world-the
reclamation or Restitution of the world
from sin and death conditions, made
possible by the great redemptive work
Of Calvary. -r
... "Glory In tho Highest"
From what we have seen of the Di-
vine provision for mans recovery we
grasp the force of the prophetic dec
laration following the question Of our
text-"What is man, that Thou art
mindful of him-the son Of man, that
Thou visitest him?" When we think
Of the greatness Of our God, and the
littleness of ourselves, even in our
best estate, and especially when we
think that we are all sinners, we are
amazed that our great Creator was
mindful of us-mindful Of preparing a
great Plan of Salvation-willing to pro-
vide for our redemption, and making
preparation for the Kingdom which is
to bless the race! Can we doubt that
He who has so loved the world while
they were yet sinners will bring His
Plan to glorious contamination
Can we doubt that He will do all that
He has promised, exceedingly abun-
dainty more than we could have asked
or thought ?-Ephesians iii, 20.
Do not understand me to say that
the Bible teaches a universal saliva
ton Of our race to life eternal. No,
that would be unreasonable. That
would imply Divine coercion of the
human will, and such coercion
would be contrary to the teachings of
the Scriptures-that man is created in
Gods image and likeness. An essen
tial feature of the Divine likeness in
man is the freedom of his will; his
body may be coerced or enslaved or
what not, but the human will is in
domitable, like that of his Creator.
1t is evidently not the Divine inten-
ton to destroy the human will. but to
educate ito allow it to develop as a
will, along the lines of experience, so
that it may be voluntarily submitted
| to the Divine will because Of apprecia-
ton of the wisdom of all the Divine
arrangements. regulations, laws, etc.
The Divine proposition, therefore. is
that nc oil rnonkiud sha rod nv haradi-