The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-02-07

- 49, enough lhe lafGes
(RASI0R RUSsfLg) auditorium o + t BE-
>---------------------~A Academy Of Music
was crowded The Pastors text was
AS il was in the days Of Noah. so also
shall it he in the days of the Son OF
Man. Luke lI:26
The address opened with scathins
arraignmenr of the Higher Critics
our richly endowed colleges. he de
clared, are undermining faith in the
Bible. which means faith in personal
God. and are substituting a Scant rec
ignition of the laws of nature. devoid
OF sympathy or mercy Practically
every minister graduated during the
last twelve years has been an aenoStiC
and Il believer in human evolution
Disbelief in the Bible account Of mans
creation III Gods image. means dis
belief also in fall from that image.
disbelief in the need of redemption
and reconciliation, and disbelief in the
necessity for the Restitution to be ac-
complshed by Messiahs Kingdom
Acts 3:l9-21
Il do not question the sincerity of
the Higher Critics Experiences OF
my own along the same line forty
Years ago give me great sympathy for
them" said Pastor Russell. He insist
ed. however. that il is not honorable
for those who have abandoned the
crcedS 10 pose before the public as sup
porters OF the creeds. and To draw sal
aries and receive honorary titles for
undermining the faith OF the people,
while posing as the representatives Of
Christ and the Bible. He declared such
/ II course dishonest and dishonOrable
The DeIuse Corroborated by History.
Il would that | might lure back to
the Word of God some of the noble
minds now arrayed against it! | know
their difficulty. In their minds they
associate the unreasonable theories of
our creeds with the Bible. believing it
ness and superstition which once blind
ed us all Would that | could show
them. as | now see il, the fallacy of
this position-show them that the Bible
is in most violent conflict with the err
rors Of the past. and that il teaches
Plan so wonderful that all may be sure
that only God OF Wisdom and Love
could have devised it. and only those
moved by His Holy Spirit could have
written it,
But" quoth the Pastor, the Bible
truly says that We may see the deep
things of God only by the illumination
of the Holy Spirit, and that illumina-
ton is promised only to the sanctified.
The fearful thought impresses us that
by no means all of the professed minis
terS Of Christ are sanctified and in a
condition of heart to be guided into
knowledge of the Truth"
The speaker held that the Higher
Critics approach every Bible topic from
the standpoint of unbelief. and declar-
ed that if they would reverse their po-
sition and seek for confederation of
the Bible story, their success would be
better These critics, exploring the
ruins of Babylon. found baked clay
tablets rudeIy picturing the Ark, and
saying a few words about a general
deluge. Instead of saying that this
confirms the Bible thought. they re-
verse the proposition, and say that the
lsraelites, in captivity in Babylon.
doubtless drew their story of the Del.
uge from the Babylonian legends.
How silly to suppose that the beauti-
full. interesting and connected nara
tive Of Genesis could ever have been
drawn from few poor, miserable.
fragmentary words which the Baby.
lonians have recorded on the subject,
The Genesis account gives the geneal-
ogy of Noah in most remarkable
manner-the exact day and year and
month of his life in which the Deluge
occurred, the number Of days of rain,
how long the food prevailed. etc. etc
Before the finding of the Babylonian
tablets. the Higher Critics held that the
entire story of the Deluge was Il myth.
and that Jesus and the APOSTLES had
been deceived when they quoted Moses
in respect to it.
Geology Confirms the Mosaic Deiuee.
Pastor Russell promised that next
Sunday he would take M the moral
reasons leading up TO and justifyine
the destruction OF the human family
with the Deluge. as the matter is set
forth in the Scriptures. he might not
orally address the same persons, but
through his sermons, printed weekly in