The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-04-11

teric results. His two topics were,
| BEYOND THE GRAVE" and
SCARLET SINS" We report the lat
ter from the text, Come now, and
let us reason together. saith the Lord:
| though your sins be as scarlet they
| shall be as white as snow."-Isa. 1:1S.
Although thoroughly loyal to the BIZ
| bic and very reverental. the Pastor
has evidently cut loose from the creeds
| they all contain kernels of Truth. but
declared that the truths are buried in
mass Of chaff, and worse. are hidden
in God-dishonoring theologies so vio-
| lently unreasonable that their best
i friends and supporters are ashamed Of
them and prefer never to think of them.
The Pastor claimed that the repul-
sivenesS of the creedal rubbish heaps
binders people from looking for the
grains of Truth which they contain.
And this is well. he said Why should
we trouble and disgust ourselves to
search for the grains which the vari
Gus creeds contain. while we have in
the Bible whole garner full of Truth.
clean and pure? He urged all Chris
| tian people to abandon their creeds and
! to come together as Bible students. in
tent only on knowing the testimony OF
Gods Word and obtaining the guild
ance of His Holy Spirit in the under
standing Of it, So doing, he declared.
all true Christians would soon be SO
united in heart and spirit that outward
forms of federation would be useless
and as absolutely ignored as in the
days of Jesus and the Apostles.
Jesus held up to ridicule and scorn
the inconsistencies of His day. If He
We're here today, He would similarly
show us many Inconsistencies in our
estimation of sin and righteousness,
the Pastor believed. Jesus ridiculed
the religious leaders of His time when
He pointed out their carefulness to
give 1.-THE of their increase. even to the
smallest of seeds, and their SNOWY re-
ligiOus performances to be seen OF men.
Our Lord declared that while SO do
ing, they practised the greatest out
uStS dSdlllcL Tie very Slllil vi Nfpu
Law of righteousness: that in mean
ways they took the bread from the
poor. the orphan, the widow. and to
divert attention from their course. they
hypocriticaly heightened their pray
ers 1t was not that praying was
wrong, or that tithing was objection
able. but that their recognition of
these showed them to he all the more
responsible in their gross violations
in ''deyouring widows houses" and
other sharp practices whereby they
took advantage of those within their
power through adversely or otherwise
This principle still operates, said
Pastor Russell. The same sins lie at
the door of many processing godlness
and holding church membership. To-
day, as in our Masters time. there is
way of keeping within the limits of
the law. way of keeping out of the
penitentiary, while at the same time
the spirit of the law is outraged and
trampled in the dust Of avaricious
money-getting. And now, as then.
these money-lovers often pose as phi
lanthropists, and hold high places of
honor and churchianity. The Pastor
spared not this class. He declared re-
ligious hypocrites the worst of sinners
I'm the sight of Heaven. OF all sins
theirs were the most scarlet in Gods
sight. he believed.
Greater and Lesser Sins.
Today wealth covers multitude of
bins. To be financially unsuccessful is
crime. on account of which many will
consider that a wife is justified in
brea king the obligation of her marriage
vow and seeking divOrce-a crime on
account of which some churches would
feel justified in rejecting the culprit as
undesirable and striking his name
from the list of members. What mat
ters it that Jesus addressed some Of
His most comforting words to the
weary and heavy-laden and unsuccess-
full? (Matthew 11:2S-30.l What mat
ters it that the Scriptures declare that
not many rich. wise. great or learned
has God called to the Heavenly inheri-
tance--but chiefly the poor of this
world rich in faith?-1 Cor. :26-29.
1t is the same amongst Catholics as
amongst Professionals. So long as the
sinner remains a member Of the
church. almost every crime can be abb