Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 260, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1913 — RESCUED FROM THE CURSE OF GOD [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RESCUED FROM THE CURSE OF GOD

Sod’s Curse Not What We Supposed, Says Pastor Russell. The Rescue Differs Also—The Curse We Imagined—The Curse Mentioned In the Bible—A Just Penalty—Not a Devilish One —It Could Not Be Worse—The Limit of God’s Law. Jssus the Rescuer—The Preparation Is Ample—The Results Sure—As Foretold In the Bible.

Brooklyn, N. Y„ Oct. 26. —We report one of Pastor Russell's sermons of today from the text, “There shall be no more curse.” —Revelation 22:3. The Pastor declared that we are emerging from a horrible delusion; that the shackles of superstition are breaking from our

minds. Our forefathers, taught that to doubt the creeds was to be damned, feared to think for themselves. Satan helped, not only to make our creeds, but to manacle us to them by direful threats. Well may we praise God for the dawning light of the New Day. Freedom to think transcends all physical liberties, said the Pastor. ’’The liberty wherewith Christ makes free” is God’s great boon to man. In proportion as it has been received there is joy; otherwise discontent, palrf. God’s curse, according to the creeds, consigns all mankind to eternal torture, except as any should be so fortunate as to hear of the Savior and be favorably environed for saintship. In irrational drend we questioned not the authority of those who made the creeds. It was asserted that the creeds were a condensed statement of Bible teaching, prepared by very holy and learned men; and that for any to attempt to understand the Bible without the aid of the especially ordained and apostolic bishops would be dangerous. But education has become general Contradiction amongst the. apostolic bishops has demonstrated that they are fallible—that none of them were Inspired, as were the twelve “Apostles of the Lamb.”

Back to the Bible. The Pastor asserted that Satan, perceiving the tendency to return to the Bible, has Invaded our institutions of learning. Having captured nearly all the professors, he has poisoned their minds with Higher Criticism and Evolution. By this master stroke he has accomplished in these last thirty years ten thousand times more than Voltaire and Ingersoll ever hoped. Nevertheless, the Divine arrangement will not be frustrated, although worldly wisdom has captured the worldly-wise, as foretold. (Isaiah 29:14.) Liberty of mind has brought opportunity for Scripture study without creed spectacles. And light from God's Word is going forth to the ends of the earth as never before. The Curse of God. The Pastor then demonstrated from the Scriptures that God’s curse is not eternal torture, from which only a handful would be rescued by the Savior; but that “the wages of sin is death." Capital punishment with the Almighty is precisely what it is with His most intelligent creatures. Under the heavy curse of death our race has gone down for six thousand years. Our mental, moral and physical powers have grown weaker until now the average length of life is only thir-ty-six years; whereas Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years. All of life’s experiences demonstrate that the curse is severe, although just If fallen, imperfect men realize that cruelty is unjust and Improper, and that death should be the capital punishment of crime, can our great Creator be less merciful? To punish creatures depraved from birth with everlasting torture, because they had not mastered their inborn evil tendencies, would be a worse crime than theirs. To any judicial mind it must t»e evident that God could not Justly punish His creatures with any severer punishment than annihilation. The Pastor asserted £hat his text contradicts eternal torment theories, and mentioned a similar contradiction in Hosea 13:14, where the Lord declares that Sheol shall be destroyed. Th* Context Wesley’s Favorite. Pastor Russell then contrasted thV teachings of Wesley and Calvin. Wesley’s loving heart rebelled against the thought that the non-elect should have been predestined to eternal torment. He felt it an aspersion against the Divine character. The blessed declaration. “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” appealed strongly to Wesley. He trusted that the time would come when the Church would conquer the world with the Gospel Message, when our context would be fulfilled. I We perceive now that both Calvin I and Wesley were right. Only the Elect are to be saved during this Gospel Age, but eventually Free Grace will prevail. The connecting links are furnished in the Scripture telling us that before Messiah’s Kingdom can be established, the Church must be glorified. The Election of the Church ended. Free Grace will begin.