The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-08-29
Pastor RuSselps Sermon

IHelT way, anu sympathy, LOO, IoI tHc
great mass of mankind, who have
never known God!
Perhaps can appreciate better than
some others of the Lords people what.
it means to be without God and with
out hope in the world"-how lonesome,
how solitary the way, how aimless the
wandering, how bitter the disappoint-
ments that find no soaee in hope OF a
better day. | am persuaded that man
kind need more to be instructed and
encouraged than to be browbeaten,
threatened. alarmed. At any rate. the
decreasing church attendance in spite
of operate music and sensational
topics, proves that tue masses of the
people refuse longer to be scared into
the Heavenward road by threats of
eternal torment
And do not all Christian ministers to
some extent discern this! Is not this
the reason some of thun give for dis
continuing to preach the creeds of a
darker time? Is not this the reason
that, in defiance of the creeds, and in
contradiction thereof, every funeral
service is a washing affair to
make out that the deceased is saint
and gone to Heaven. even If his life
has been discreditable, and he has
never made even profession of Chris
tianity? Such hypocrisies-holding one
standard and preaching another-are
bringing Christianity into reproach.
Fraud is the word which in the con-
ception of many fits their own for
malism and that of others. They recog-
nize the Apostolic picture of our times,
Having form Of goodness, but de-
nying its power."-2 Timothy 3:5.
r.. The Love of Our Text. >.
The entire Bible tells us of Gods
Love and Sympathy. Only few texts
twisted, mistranslated, or interpolated
during the Dark Ages, even seemingly
contradict the great statement that
God is Love-the very essence and en-
bodiment of this grandest of all ele-
ments of character. Our text Is one OF
these loving tributes to the Heavenly
Fathers mercy and grace. 1t Is one,
therefore, which especially appeals to
the worldly, the unmindful Christian
and the repentant sinner-"God so low
ed the world that He gave His Only
Begotten Son, that whatsoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life"
Yet see how we have twisted this
good Word of God to make out of it
something evil. We seized upon the
word perish. knowing well that 1t signi-
fies to destroy, to annihilate, to render
lifeless. Satan persuaded us that such
penalty would not sufficiently terrify.
and not rapidly enough fill the rolls
of church membership. He induced
our forefathers, through the doc
trines of <demons." to say that perish
here means the reverse of what 1t
means in ordinary conversation-tha it
means to go to endless woe, to be met
by fire-proof devils. and be confined
to all eternity in horrible sufferings.
Well did Satan succeed in deceiving
us until we did not even think of ques-
tioning his lies and absurdities.
If any one suggested that perish
Dl0dIS W uCSltOt, ILC WYNN
stir up persecution, and brand such a
| one hereto. If the hereto asked
how any one could be tortured forever
| in fire and pot be consumed, he was
| denounced as both q fool and knave
for not approaching the fact that God
could inject life into the poor sufferer
| for the millions upon millions of years
of eternity. "
How foolish we were! How stupid
| not to see the origin Of such nonsense
not to perceive the simplicity of
| Gods Word that the penalty upon sim
! ners was to perish-not to see that
/ God sent His Son to redeem man from
his perishing condition, and to open up
for Adam and all his race way to life
everlasting life!
Quite true, this life can come only
through the Life-giver, the Redeemer.
/ Quite true, none can receive 1t in igno-
| rance, and comparatively few see with
the eyes of their understanding or hear
with the ears of their understanding
the Message Of grace in the present
time. But Gods provision through
| Christ is resurrection for the dead
not only the just, who now by faith
are justified, but also the unjust, who
are still aliens, foreigners, strangers
| from God.
"The Gospel of the Kingdom"
Thus it is that by Divine arrange
ment none can now understand the
Divine Plan for human salvation from
/ perishing, except as they come to un-
! derstand respecting the Kingdom-that
| God has promised that the Redeemer,
! who purchased the world by His sacri-
?, fee, shall become the worlds Great
High Priest, Prophet, and King. and for
thousand years grant to Adam and
his family the blessed opportunity OF
knowing and accepting the Divine
terms whereby they may be saved
| from perishing, from death-whereby
they may be fully resurrected, raised
/ up, out of present sin and death condi'
tions to the fulness of life attainable
at the end of Messiahs Reign.
1t is only incidental to this great
| Plan of the worlds salvation that the
Church is now called in advance tf
walk by faith in the footsteps of the
Redeemer and to become His Bride
and Joint-heir in the Heavenly King
] dom. The great work of Christ Is fol
| the world, the blessing of all the fam
lilies of the earth, by the resurrection
work of the thousand years of His
MeSsianic Kingdom