The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1869-07-27
Z RICHMOND, WAYNE CO., IND.

to look into in the land beyond the riv>
er. The memory of these loved ones
comes over me in the Silly hours OF
twilight, and I almost see their faces
and hear their voices as in the days gone
by. Then / take up the sigh OF the
poet:
Oh! that I were al rest like some love,
49, Whose last fond looks drew half my life away,
| 6.v Seeming to plead that either they might stay
/ With me on earth, or with them above.
| And all true christians desire the fu-
ture good Of all. When their desires
have been enlarged and sanctified by
the love Of Christ they feel like saying
"Oh tLat the world might taste and
| The riches of His grace;
| The arms of love, that compass me,
| .51 Would all mankind embrac ce." re4
But we come to the other component
of hope, expectation, which rests on ev-
idence. A man can not expect thing
unless he has evidence that it will come;
and that the expectation may be conf
dent, SO as to form hope ssure and
steadfast,' it must rest on good and suf-
| ficient evidence. This briggs me to in
quire on what evidence the expectation
of future immortal good for ourselves
| and friends rests. There can be no hope
| without expectation, and no expecta.
ton without evidence; therefore there
can be no hope without evidence; and
| to make q sure and steadfast' hope
there must be reliable evidence. On
| what evidence, then, do we base the
| christian hope of final good for all p
Paul bases it on the promise and oath
of Almighty God. Let us now examine
the whole subject, as stated by Paul in
text and context, oversees 13-20.) Paul
refers to the promise and oath made by
God to Abraham, quoting only part
of it, as his readers were familiar with
it. Let US refer to this promise as re-
peated to Abraham, Isaac and jacob
It was FIRST made to Abraham at bis
call, Gen. XII: 3.
and in thy seed shall all the families
| of the earth be blessed Repeated af-
! ter the offering of Isaac.-Gen. xxi
Is: And the angel of the Lord called
unto Abraham the second time out of
Heaven, and said: By myself have I
sworn, saith the Lord, that because
thou hast done this thing . and in thy
| seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed This promise was repeated to
Isaac, Gen. XVI: 4 'And in thy seed
shall all nations Of the earth be
blessed Repeated to Jacob, Genesis
XVIII: 4: And in thy seed shall all the
families of the earth be blessed In
speech made by Peter to the Jews, Acts
| III 20, he said :: Ye are the children
of the Prophets, and of the promise
made by God to Abraham, saying, And
in thee and thy seeds shall all kindreds
Of the earth be blessed
So then we have the promise that all
the nations, families and kindreds of the
earth shall be blessed in the seed of
Abraham, who is Christ; and this prom
ise is confirmed by the oath OF God,
swearing by Himself, as HE could
swear by no greater asrzea al5 9sa
Now this blessing promised to all,
through Christ, our Lord, cannot be
earthly blessings, cannot be confined
to this lille. If so the promise has fail
ed Nations, thousand generations,
and countless millions of individuals
passed from time before the advent OF
the seed of A braham, and since then
whole nations and generations, and
countless myriads have left this world
without having heard his name. None
of these were blessed in Christ in this
life. 21@ q s
Besides, the blessing promised was
spiritual-the saving of men from sim
turning them away from their iniquities
to righteousness. More than thous.
and years after the promise and oath to
Abraham, God speaks of them as fol.
lows, Is. XIV: %: ~ hs.s .r.:fe.f
Look unto me and be ye saved all
the ends of the earth, for am G cd, and
there is none else; have sworn by my
self, the word is gone out of my mouth
in righteousness and shall not return,
that unto me every knee shall bow, and
every tongue shall swear (declare sure
~ shall Zone, supplied by Translators,)
say in The Lord, have righteousness
and strength 2 .Tsdtes ss.s
In the same speech of Peter referred
to (Acts 8 he says to the Jews:
Unto you first, God having raised up
His SON Jesus Christ, sent him to bless
you by turning away every one of you
from his iniquities.' s9ss zsh 1ta
But it may be said the Jews refused
to believe on Christ, and SO were not
turned away from their iniquities.' ~
They certainly were not in this life