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

ieClar6 tIat there IL none rlSntcUuS
no, not enc. But i may say to yor
that. admitting. that all men have
sinned--some In ways more peculiar
TO one nationality and some TO an
other, it is ours to point cut the neeG
Of an Atonement for sin and the fact
that the blood ithe sacrifice, of Jesus
Christ our lord. cleanseth us from al
sin"--''Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none othel
Name given uuder heaven or, amongst
men whereby we must be. saved
jew or Gentle. bond or free. eau
casian or 1ndinn ~.
I believe. therefore. that cannot &c
better than to relate to you the ''9id
Old story of the love Of God mani
Tested in Christ, the Redeencr Ny
text tells that Old Story in precious
words Of life, which had weil-nigil
been lost during the darker ages and
since: for MANY of you may be sur
prised to know that the vast ajority
Of people in Christian lands have very
slight conception OF the love Of God
Indeed, am sorry that it is true, but
the faith of many Christians. as ex'
pressed in their creeds, is more terri.
bic, more God-dishonOring than are
the beliefs of any heathen. in the
whole world. t>' =. -, .>r :,
j.. I am glad to tell you, however, that
really very few people in Christian
lands any longer believe their own
creeds. I know not how much OF
them are preached here. True Chris
tian 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. -E'. = s,s'-, - :"
I 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.
49,. Now Look At Our Text.
Note in : our !: text the, terms Of
. 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. well as others. call to mind
the promise to which / refer It was
the promise with the oath God, fore
knowing, that the '.fulhlment OF the
promise would be long delayed, made
oath to it. so that all who trust In
Him might hare the consolation Of
that promise. :. And what, is the prom
ise7 God said. TO Abraham. '1n, thee
aud in. thy seed shall all the families
ofxtha earth be blessed.;,,, + -;
Abraham :. Was: twice glad! He re-
joicel that, the curse that had rested
upon. the race would ultimately be
lifted; secondly, he rejoiced that the
blessing of, the Almighty would reach
mankind through his posterity.t Nei-
Their Ishmael nor Isaac was the prom
ised seed-neither blessed the world,
Neither. Jacob nor Esau was the prom.
Used 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 i'm 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 will
be readily seen that there are not very
many of. such deep devotion as this. in
the whole world. However, God. who
knows the end from the beginning, de-
clares that His purposes shall not fail,
which means that. He viii succeed in
the appointed time in finding the pre-
destinated number Of the proper faith.
obedience, character. rs s~
Restrictions at First Only,
The primary restrictions were that
this glorious opportunity to become
members of the Messiah. ''the Seed of
Abraham for the blessing of the
world, must be first offered to tho nat
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