Daily Republican., 1880-10-16
A Criticism ON Mr.. Kramer's Ser
men.
For tho Republican.

For tho Republican. ....
MEssRS. EDIToRs:-Your report Of Rev
George R. Kramer's sermon Of Sunday,
the 3rd, Ia very brief account Of the
discourse. Your readers who heard
him on the occasion to which your refer
will remember his position was, that
the death Of the soul was necessary in
order that there should be eternal life,
and that there was no eternal lite ext
cept through the miracle working power
Of Jesus, and without the exercise OF
this power there could b. no rssurrsc-
tion. "God was not the dsd OF the dead
but Of the living" for as in Adam all
die even so in Christ shall all be made
alive; Thou fool, that which thou
sowsst Is not quicksnsd, except 1t die;"
For the hour Is coming in which all
that are in the graves shall hear his
voice and shall come forth"
His quotations from the scriptures
were many, and all went to prove that
eternal life rested entirely In Christ,
and without the miracle. working power
Of Christ there could be no resurrec-
tion, aud until this power should be ex
ercised the soul remained dead.
l observed while listening to Bro.
Kramer that he, like many others that
| have heard, only referred to such pas.
sages as tended to prove his point.
With Q view to get at the entire evi
denoe upon this subject, l would like 10
refer Bro. Kramer, and those who heard
him, to many other passages Of scrip
ture that Bro. Kramer did not quote.
First We will give the words Of Christ
John 9Th, 5lst, "Verily, verify, I say
unto you, II Q man keep my sayings, he
shall never see death" John 9th. Gath,
"vsrily, verify, say unto you, he that
heareth my word, and bel ieveth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting lie, and
shall not come into condemnation; but
Is passed from death unto life." John
l1th, 26th, "And whosoever liveth, and
believeth in me shall never die.
Relievest thou this 7 F" John 18th,
44th, Jesus cried and said, he that be-
lieveth in me, believeth net on me, but
on him that sent me-" John 18th, 49th,
and 50th. "For / have not spoken OF
myself; but the father that sent me,
he gave me q commandment, what I
should say, and what should speak,
and know that his commandment is
life everlasting /; whatsoever l speak
therefore, even ss The father said unto
LIE, so speak" John 9th, 30th. 81
can Of mine own self do nothing, as /
hear, l judge; and my Judgment Is
Just; because / seek not mine own will,
but the will Of the Father which hath
sent me-" By a fair Interpretation Of
the foregoing expressions Of Christ. We
are lead TO belief that eternal life
Is q state dependent upon certain
conditions Christ tells us that
the Father gave him commandment
what he should say, and that he could
Of himself do nothing; 1t Is therefore
evident that 1t is the commandment OF
the Father that we observe and that by
keeping the sayings Of Christ which is
the Father r--we shall never see death.
II seems then instead Of depending
upon the miracle working power Of
Christ for o resurrection that the fact is
that II we keep the sayings Of Christ
which are the commandments Of the
Father we shall yer need a rssursc-
tion, for We shall never see death. The
proper inference drawn from all this, is
that we have something to do, AMI that
our Eternal Life depends upon our do
ing 1t. II would be well In order to
establish this point more fully.
To refer further to Christ, Matthew;
10th chapter 18th and 18th verses,
"And, behold, one came and said un-
to him, Good Master, what good thing
shall do, that may have Eternal
Life9" Sand he said unto him, why call
lest thou me good there is none good
but one, that is, God but II thou wilt
enter into life keep the command
ments." In this case this person was
to enter into life by keeping the cem-
Now II we enter into life
by keeping the commandments, we
will not have our life taken
away when we leave this earth, In or
der that we may afterwards be subject
ed to Judgment, judgment for what ?
Judgment because we had entered in
to Lie; this would be a queT state Of
things.
In the 25th chapter Of Matthew
Christ teaches by parallels. In the Bath
verse he states "rhen shall the King
SAY to them on his right hand, come,y
blessed Of my father, inherit the king
dom prepared for you from the founda-
tions Of the world" Why was this
given ? It was because OF
the perform ance Of certain good acts.
The fulfillment Of the conditions entitled
the person to an inheritance prepared
from the foundation Of the world, as the
30th verse Of the same chapter will ex'
plain. II says: "For l was an hunger
al and We gave me meat; l was thirsty
and We gave me drink; l was q stranger
and ye took me in" In the 18th chap
ter Of Mark we fnd that there was no
between the scribe
and the Savionr as to what had
o person TO the Kingdom Of
{, od. The 321 and 33d verses state
Sand the scribe said unto him, well
Master, thoa has said the truth, for
there Ia one God; and there Is none
other but he, and to love him with all
the heart, and with all the understand
inc. aud with all the soul, and with
eli the strength, and TO love his neigh.
bor as himself, is more than all burnt
offerings and sacrifices. In the next
verse. the 33d, Christ declared that
ths scribe had answered discreetly, hs
confirmed the position taken and said
hat he was not far from the Kingdom
Of God. ' !
This point is also brought out strong
,v ir tho seveptb chapter OF Matthew