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

| Presbyterian friends must feel consid
cradle embarrassment in trying to ad
| just themselves TO their changed creed
For II there are no Goii-elect Infants
/ then all infants are elect: and ii elect
| when infants. how could their predes
/ tination change with advancing years:
His sympathetic. advice To I'resbyte-
rian brethren is. that the entire creed
be recast: or. better still. that it and
all other creeds be abandoned. and the
Bible as a whole he accepted Then,
he argued. all Bible students could
come together without prejudice for
mutual assistance and nntrammeled
growth in grace along Bible lines.
While the Pastor mentioned Presby-
terians. his thought included all Chris
tians. For surely many others than
Presbyterians have been consigning
adults and infants to the number of ut
least 10000 every day. or $4,000. 900
every year. to eternal torture. if not
because non-elect. then because un-
reeenerate. or unbaptized. Surely all
intelligent people are out of accord
with such proposition. Surely all
must agree that some great mistake
has been made during the Dark Ages.
and that under the influence of that
mistake. as expressed in our creeds.
our God has been slandered. Surely
today every thinking person will con-
cede that human being planning
such atrocities would be thousand
times more devilish than any one
known in history. And surely our
great God. our Creator. could not be
worse than the worst and most de-
PRAYED of all His creatures.
On the contrary. God must of neces-
sity be the very personification of all
the graces-Justice, Wisdom. Love and
Power Evidently the God who fore
knew and determined to send these
32.000.000 human beings per year to an
eternity of torture won.d not only not
be a God AT ALL hut would be the most
terrible devil that the human mind
could conceive.
Bible Students are realizing that
great mistake has occurred. and that
the Bible teaches nothing of the kind
we had supposed More and more. as
the eyes Of their understanding open
to proper interpretations of Gods
Word. they are approaching the Di-
vine character. and the Bible as never
before
The Pastor declared that week
from now he will consider some of the
Masters dark sayings. and show how
they have been misinterpreted and
misapplied Today he must content
himself with the subject in hand. He
must discuss Gods relationship to the
heather and to infants.
He Still Sees Difficulties.
As We understand it. said the Pas
tor. our Presbyterian friends have
changed the. statement of the creed,
which formerly read. ELECT infants
dying in infancy are saved"-taking
out the word "elect,' and letting 1t
read, Infants dying in infancy are
saved" But is this true? Do our
Presbyterian friends believe this?
Come. let US reason together. Are
not the children as well as the more
matured members of Adams family
born in sin and misshapen in iniquity?
Are not all Of these by nature "chil-
dren Of wrath? Did not every men,
Der of Adams family come under his
sentence and participate in the pen
atty. or curse. of his sin-"Dying. thou
shalt die? Is not this the reason
that infants die at all? Will not all
concede that had there been no sin
there would have been no death in the
human family? Does not st. Paul dis
tinctly state this. saying. by one
mans disobedience sin entered the
world. and death as the result of sin,
and thus death passed upon all men
because all are sinners? = Romans
SIP: Psalm 51:5.
All Condemned Need Redemption.
Surely all Christian people. Presby-
terians especially, will agree with me
that the sentence of death, passed upon
Father Adam and inherited by his
race. must needs be settled. cancelled.
before any of his posterity. old or
young. could be released from the pen
atty. True, we all agree that the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the redemp-
tion-price and that He provided it more
than eighteen centuries ago. But do
we not also agree that Jesus death, of
itself. saves nobody:.tha His merit be-
comes applicable merely to US of the
Church at such time as we believe in
1t and accept it. appropriating 1t to our
selves?
Is not this the proclamation of the
Gospel Age-Believe! Believe. Do we
not remember the Bible declaration
that we are justified by faith. not by
being infantsf And do we not all
agree that faith cannot be exercised
except by more or less developed
mind? Hence all should agree that
the Scriptural proposition is. that all
infants shared in Adams sentence
of death. and have provision also In
the redemptive work of Jesus. New
ertheless. they can be saved only by
coming to a knowledge of God and of
Jesus. and ~ then exercising faith
and obedience to the extent of ability
We believe this to be an unbeatable
proposition.
II this be so then our Presbyterian
brethren overstate the matter when
they declare that all infants dying 10
infancy are saved They might very
properly say. All infants dying in In
fancy. and everybody else come under