The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-07-11


ple. Considerable fresh interest In
Christianity has been aroused. Peoples
In those lands who had begun to doubt
everything religious have begun to
take courage. and to think and study
their Bibles If the missionaries could
but catch the same spirit. what bless
ed opportunity would be theirs! But
alas. not many of them are so inclined,
Very generally they seem to be bitter
hostile. slanderous. doing everything In
| their power to oppose the light. even
as Jesus declared that the darkness
has always hated the light. because
| the light makes manifest. or shows up
| the darkness-John 3:19-21.
How to Know God.
Jesus said, This is life eternal, that
they might know Thee. the only true
God. and Jesus Christ. whom Thou
hast sent" He knew we could not
come into personal touch with the AL
mighty. He knew that we could learn
respecting Him only through the Bible.
as He said. .'Sanctify them through
Thy Truth, Thy Word is Truth
There is difference between knowing
about God and knowing God. The be-
ginning of faith is to believe that there
is a great Supreme Creator. 1t is an,
other step to learn that He is wise and
powerful. as indicated in the great Uni
| verse that He has made. and in our
| human organization with its wonderful
powers for thought and action. Truly
There is God
| All Nature speaks"
At first it may occur to some that
! knowledge of God simply means to
| come to know that there is a God. and
| that He has provided Savior, His
| Only Begotten Son. our Lord Jesus
| Christ. But the knowledge of God
j means far more than this. To the adj
vanced and developing Christian 1t sig
| nifies an intimate acquaintance with
! the Father and with the Soma knowl-
| edge of 1.-The mind Of Christ" which Is
| a full and clear representation OF the
| Fathers mind.
] We grow in this knowledge by the
| study of the Word of God. by discern
ing through that Word the principles
which govern the Divine conduct-as
| to how Divine Wisdom. Justice. Love
and Power operate These are pro
| gressive studies. Something may be
learned along this line on the very
| first day of our Christian experience:
but the end of the first year should
| show considerable progress in the
| knowledge of the Divine mind: and so
| to the end of the Christians course.
| 1t is only as we realize something of
| the greatness and the perfection Of
| the Divine character that we are prop
| erly able to estimate our own littleness
and imperfection. Only as we see the
| beauties Of His gracious CHI racter can
we become intimately acquainted with
God, with His graces and virtues.
Then we come to investigate the
more subtitle qualities of the Divine
Being. His Justice and Love. Who can
imagine real God who is devoid of
Justice. devoid of Love? SO surely as
1t is true that no human being could
be really great without the qualities
| of justice and love. so. surely is 1t
true that there could be no real and
| great God without the same qualities
Wisdom and Power without Justice
and Love would picture to us demon.
and not God.
But what can we know respecting
Gods Justice and Love? We answer
that there are two ways of ascertain
ing: The first way is to wait and see
| t. nj 70
be ultimately carried out If it is
true of humanity that "by their fruits
We shall know Them the same must
be true of the Almighty-by His fruits,
His workmanship. finally completed
He may be known to be either good or
bad, just or unjust, loving or vicious.
The other way of knowing the Di
vine character. in advance of the fin
ished work of God. would be along the
lines of faith: and faith. in order to be
intelligent. must have some basis OIL
foundation. The Bible is Gods Mes
sage. to those who have the ears anC
eyes of faith. In it He tells US in adj
vance what he purposes to do: and
from what we thus hear we must de
termine whether He is just. loving and
good. or whether worse than ourselves
If the creed idols which we have beer
worshiping truly represent God, ther
the consummation of His Plan will be-
awful in the extreme-enough to make
all creation shudder. 1t would NEAR
thousands of millions in everlasting
torture without the slightest hope o.
any glory coming to God. or of any
good coming to the sufferers or to any
body else. The only purpose to bt
served by such torture would be tn,
satisfaction of deviish disposition tt
witness the torture Of others. Is tha
creed idol which we have worshiped
real picture Of the God of the Bible
We know that it is not
The God of the Bible on the contrary
declares that He has permitted the
Reign of Sin and Death, which is en-
tirely just He tells us that from
among the sinners He will first gathe
out sanity handful to be associates
with their Savior and to participat,
with Him as members of His cabinet
or Kingdom. for the administration o
the worlds affairs. to lift humanity vi
out of sin and degradation and dealt
back to human perfection. and ulti
mately to destroy all of those who pre-
fer sin when they shall be brought t
full appreciation of it.
The outcome of this Divine Plan @
the Bible shows us reclaimed hu
, mn uifv in n world vida IIdan hIarco,