Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-06-12
&eadiua fut the Sabbath,
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
CALL OF THE GENTILES.

lorgina
CALL OF THE GENTILES.
"Many shall come from the east and west,
and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac,
and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven but the
children of the kingdom shall be cast out into
outer darkness Matthew, S:11, 12
On his way from the mountain to Caperna-
UNI, our Saviour was met by leper who cried
out, ''Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me
clean" Jesus said, ~ will be thou cleans
Immediately the poor.le was cured. Jesus
sent him to the priest with instructions to Of
fer up the gift which Moses commanded.
After entering Capernaum, Roman centu-
rion sent some of the elders of the Jews, Luke,
7:3) to Jesus with a request that he would
90 to his quarters for the purpose of healing
a servant, who was dangerously ILL., The ell
ders of the Jews were lavish in their praises
of this centurion. It would seem that this
Roman officer was one of those generous men
who wins the love and esteem Of all with
whom they come in contact.
Jesus set out with the elders Of the Jews for
the quarters of the Roman officer. When the
Saviour, in company with the elders of the
Jews, had nearly reached the point of destina-
ton, the centurion sent some of his friends to
announce to the Saviour that he was not wor-
thy that the Saviour should come under his
roof He also declared that the actual pres
ence of the Saviour was not necessary in OF
der to effect the cure of his servant. >"
said the centurion, 'sam a man having SOL
diers under me,'' and all that 1 have to do in
order to accomplish any legitimate purpose, is
to command some of my soldiers to do what l
want done. Such being the case, the centu-
rion argued that all that Jesus had to do in
order to cure the palsied servant, was to COM
mand him to be healed. Jesus said to those
present, that he had not found so great faith
in Israel. 1t was this marvellous faith of the
centurion that led Jesus to make the declara-
tion contained in the passage quoted at the
head of this article. .-.
The faith Of the centurion is remarkable,
from the fact that he was Roman, or at least
not Jew, and, consequently, had not enjoyed
the privileges of the Jews. 1t is clear that
this Roman centurion believed that Jesus
could work miracle and thus heal his SER
vant It would seem that the centurion had
that faith which savingly unites the soul to
Jesus Christ. Be this as it may, the faith OF
this centurion in Jesus was stronger than that
which had been exhibited by any Of the Jews.
To those accompanying him on the occasion,
Jesus said, "many shall come from the east
and the west, and sit down with Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heay-
en-; but the children of the kingdom shall be
cast out" .a.- sr- --sxt
The expression, least and west," is equiva-
lent to our expression from the rising to the
setting of the. sun. The full expression oc-
ours in Luke, 13 20, and is "from the east
and from the west and from the north and
from the south."j From north to south means
the same as our expression from pole to pole
The meaning is, that many shall come from
all quarters Of the globe and sit down with
the patriarchs in the kingdom of heaven. In
other words, that the Gentiles from all quar-
ters of the habitable world, would come into
the kingdom of heaven. sss
The only thing necessary in order to clear
understanding Of the passage is, what is
meant by the expression "kingdom of heaven. :"
1t was addressed to Jews, elders of the Jews,
and they readily grasped it's import. 1t will
be manifest, on a moments reflection, that by
s'kingdom of heaven,' in this connection, we
cannot understand the Home Of the Just. It
is clear that the words ''kingdom of heaven" :"
do not mean heaven, or that place of endless
bliss which the ransomed of the Lord shall
inhabit when they depart from this world, to
live with Jesus If this were the case, then
the introduction of some into heaven would
be followed by thrusting others out. Neither
is the s'kingdom of heaven" fgurative ex-
preston, to denote that many, from all quar-
ters of the globe, shall come to Jesus by the
exercise of a true and living faith in him, for
then we would he forced to conclude that
those that are now exercising faith in Christ,
would be cast off.
The expression, ''Kingdomo Of Heaven, was
one which every Jew readily understood, and
as they understood it, so must we understand
it. 1t is the same as the "Congregation Of the
Lord" Boththese expressions mean the iden-
tically same thing as the New Testament ex-
preston, "Church of God" The language of
the New Testament is borrowed from the Old,
consequently, correct knowledge of the Old
Testament mode of expression is necessary
that we may understand the New Testament.
We are justifable in thus paraphrasing the
language in Matthew, s: :11th and 12th Many
of the nations of the earth shall enter the
church of which Abraham and his son Isaac,
and grandson Jacob, were members; but the
descendants of Abraham, with whom the
Church was first organized shall be cast out.
On account of the Abrahamic Covenant, all
the seed of the patriarch, through the line of
Isaac, was member of the 'Kingdom of
Heaven or of the Church previous to the in
carnation Of the Son of God. The covenant
made with Abraham was tWo-fOld. 1t en-
braced the natural descendants of Abraham,
aud it embraced all Of every nation under
heaven who possessed the faith of Abraham.
It was national covenant, and it was an &C.
clesiastical covenant. Abraham was the faith
er of the Jews. Hence, the Jews could say,
''We have Abraham to our father, " and claim
the privileges of the Abrahamic Covenant.
Abraham was, by the covenant, to be 1.-THE faith
er of many nations,' that is, of all that be-
lieve. This is what Paul means when he says,
eff ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's
seed and heirs according to the promise"
Gal 3 30 The Apostle, in speaking of the
Gentiles, says they were "a wild olive" and
the Jews were the ''good olive" Rom. II :24.
The Apostle can, in this, have no reference to
the natural moral state of either, the Jews or
Gentiles. Both were sinners. 1t is clear that
the reference is to the fact that the Jews were
in the Church and the Gentiles were not In
other words, the Jews were in the Kingdom
of Heaven and the Gentiles were not. Such
was the condition of things during what is
commonly called the "Old Testament" dispen-
sation. When Christ came God manifest in
the flesh, he came to his own people, according
to the fesE-to the Jews-and the Jews receiv-
ed him not. The Jews were thrust out of the
''Kingdom of Heaven" that is, out of the
Church, and the Gentiles from the east, and
from the west, and from the north, and from
the south, were taken into the Church. The
Churcll-the Kingdom of Heaven-remains
the same The children of him with whom