The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-03-15

lGAsI0R egssELg) hath appointed a
Day in the which
He will Judge the world" (Acts xvii.
81 He said:
Enroute to your city, visited Ath-
ems. AS stood upon Mars Hill and
made short address, my mind revert
ed to the account Of Saint Paufs
preaching there, and I have chosen
some Of His words on that occasion us
my text. AS St. Paul made no impress
sion there it is quite improbable that
made any. Indeed. the city today
might we'll be described in the Ian
guage Of eighteen centuries ago, as
wholly given up to idolatry.
True. it is not today fashionable in
civilized communities to worship i'm
ages; and yet in another sense 1t Is
still fashionable. There is still great
worship of man throughout the civil
lied world, but in a different form
from that of old. No longer do we bow
before wooden images. but before in
ward images-the images Of our minds.
our mental aspirations-with some.
wealth and fame; with others, ease
and pleasure, and with still others, the
creed idols Of our forefathers, misera-
BILE Misrepresentation Of the true God
The Day Of Judgment.
Saint Paul on Mars Hill preached
Jesus and the reSurrection-JesuS as
the Redeemer from the death sentence.
making possible the resurrection of the
dead by satisfying the demands of Di-
vine Law against the sinner-the resur-
rcction as the means or agency through
which the blessing of the Saviors
death will reach Adam and all the
families of the earth. AS we follow
Saint Paurs thought we will surely be
blessed by his view of the Gospel.
Addressing the Gentiles, the Apos-
tie explains that for a long time God
had ''winked" at Polytheism and image
worship. "but now" he says, God
commander all men everywhere to re-
pent" Let us note the meaning OF
these words. How did God wink" at
sin and idolatry? And does He still
wink" at it? And why did He change
and when did He begin to command all
men to repent? ...-. ...-...
The answer Is that for four thousand
years ido!atry prevailed and God
"winked' at or took no notice of 1t.
He did not wink" at the idolaters' dy-
ing in their ignorance and say to the
devils, "Take these poor creatures who
know no better! Roast them to all
eternityw Nothing of the kind. Our
forefathers merely imagined that and
by false reasoning convinced them
selves. and twisted some texts OF
Scripture which they did not properly
understand in support of this theory;
and then they handed it down to us to
our perplexity and to the testing OF
our faith in God. .-.
God "winked" at idolatry and sin
for four thousand years in the sense
Of not noticing it. making no comment
on it, sending no reproofs, leaving the
heather in their ignorance. The only
exception to this was Gods dealings
with the little nation Of Israel. To the
offered eternal life on the condition of
their thorough obedience to the Divine
law, the measure Of perfect mans
ability, which they were unable to COM
ply with; and hence they died the same
as did the heather. All went to the
Bible hell-to the tomb-to sheol. to
hQdes, the state or condition of death
an unconscious state. a sleep"
Jesus the Redeemer.
| God was in no haste to send the Re-
deemer: Alps years elapsed before
Jesus was born, and thirty years more
before He began His ministry. Had
/ 1t been true. as some aver. that NH
/ lions, for all those centuries were blind
~ stumbling into eternal torture for
| lack Of q Divine revelation. we may be
sure that our gracious God would not
have left them without it. Who can
| think of q just and loving God as
lcinEing at the going of millions Of His
creatures to eternal torture? But since
they merely "fell asleep" in death. He
/ could very we'll wink" at the matter
IN view of His future plans, which we
will consider shortly.
! The fact is that no real offer from
death could possibly be made until the
Redemption price had been provided
! for the original sin under which they
were condemned to death. This is the
Apostles argument, viz, that "noio God
commandeth all men everywhere to re-
pent." The nou implies that He did
not command men previously to re-
pent: and the reason why He did not
90 SO Is manifest. for all the repentirg
they could do and all the righteous
| living possible to them would not have
saved them-they would have died any
way. Hence there could have been no
message sent to them. for If the mes
senger had come and had said. Re