<< Back |
Chosen no: R-452 a, from: 1883 Year. |
Change lang
| |
Christ Shall Make Us Free.
GALATIANS
5:1.
If any class of men in the world are free, it
ought to be the Christian.
But that which is freedom to one, is bondage to
another, as men are bound, some to one thing, and some to another. Is there a
remedy for this evil, and what is the cause? We are what we are by education,
being governed to a greater or less degree by our surroundings; imbibing both
truth and error with equal zeal, according to the faith reposed by us in our
guides and teachers. And while in many instances these divers opinions may not
be of vital importance, it is a question of truth and error, and where two
differ, one must be wrong, and sometimes both; we are not accountable for
having imbibed errors from our teachers, but we are accountable for rejecting a
truth when it is properly presented.
Dear reader, to what age, or class of men, or
code of tenets, have you obligated yourself in your religious or irreligious
opinions? Wisdom did not die with any particular age or class of men. To-day we
have the same Bible, and with it, revisions by the ablest scholars. It is not
only our privilege, but absolute duty, to read it; not "as through a glass
darkly," where all seems mystical and uncertain, but by the light of the
noon-day sun, which is free as the blessed Word itself. No longer is the Bible
chained as Luther found it; no longer should our conscience or affections be
chained to any creed, written or unwritten. Who is our master? To whom are we
bound? Is freedom, then, a myth, a mockery? Can we, with an open Bible before
us, shift our religious responsibilities upon our would-be teacher, and sit
dreaming under the sound of his monotonous discourse, just as a man will buy a
through ticket and take passage on a train for a strange country, consigning
himself wholely to the care of the conductor? Is this freedom? Is it
"fighting the good fight of faith?" Is this you? Wake up.--Investigator.
W.T. R-452a : page 2 -1883r