Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1885-07-05

Yea my friend, this Il most true; but do
not make the mistake to suppose that IN
diving for You, He died instead Of you. The
soul that sinneth, il shall die" SEzek.
xyiii:4.) "The son shall not bear the IN
EQUITY Of the father, neither shall the father
bear the iniquity Of the son: the righteous
ness of the righteous shall De upon mn,
and the wickedness of the wicked snah DC
upon him" (Ezek. xviii:20.l Read AL
this eighteenth chapter Of Ezekiel and re,
member that it is the directly spoken word
of the God who "changeth not" and with
whom is no y~ariableness, neither shadow OF
turning"
.Christ died for you'll But howf Not to
tske away the Just punishment of your SINS.
No one could do that. Punishment follows
sin rs surely as fire burns. Every sin makes
an inevitable marx upon the character, as
burn will surely scar the skin. Sin carries
It's own punishment in the change 1t makes
in the nature Of the man; and only as TINS
nature is transformed by a new life can the
results of sin be efaced. There is a fiction
that The death Of Christ on the cross was q
part Of a pre- arrange plan OF salvation, de
yised between the three persons OF the
Godbead after mans fall; Christ offering
himself to the Father as q substitute for man,
and receiving in his person all the punish
ment due to mans sin. Happily this IS
fiction, or how could we regard a God who
entertained such vengeful feelings towards
bis frail creatures, that nothing short OF the
slaughter Of his own Son could appease MS
wrath? Aud then, what an idea Of divine
~iusticel The sinner appears f~aultless before
the searching gaze of the Almighty who
knows all the while the very utmost OF his
yileness God Is not Knocked!
Brethren, this is q most fearful misleading
of Gods truth, and carries its OWN reiuta,
ton. Christ is God, Gin whom dwelleth AL
the fulluess of the GodheAd bodily" (Col.
ii:9.) "He is the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the ending, who is. and who
was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
(Rev. i;S.) There can be only u Almighty:
The Father dwells il Christ as the soul OF
man in the body; and such q compact as
we are considering is impossible where there
is no separation OF persons.
How, then, did Christ die for us? Slim
self took our infrmities and bare our sick
ness" Matt, vii!l7); not BY taking on
himself tho consequences of our follies, but
BY helping US to overcome our spiritual foes,
and BY healing our spiritual diseases. II we
come to Him, wbo viii In no wise cast US
out, He will give US power to tread on ser
penis and scorpions, and over all the power
of the enemy" luke x:l9.) By his
death on the cross, and much more by his
life, He conquered for US the direfal foes
who had we'll nigh enthralled the whole hu.
man race, and opened for US "a new and
living way" Christ died tor us that we
might have the power to live a higher and
| holier life.
1t is a mistake to suppose that the death
of Christ was in any sense to restore man to
| the favor of God. God is all merciful, and
does not need to be reconciled to his crea
lures. Il was MAI who had gone sstray
aid needed to be brought back within the
rarge of divine blessing. Your ~iniquities
have separated between you aud your God"
elsa. lix:2.) God was in Christ %reconciling
the world unto himself" Oh. Cor. v:l9.)
The humanity which our Lord assumed in
this world was the medium of this reconcile
alton, and thus Christ became a Mediator
between God and man. Through this hy-
mainly Christ is ever .ssitisEgs- 70 impart
every blessing: .ket us pray that his Holy
Spirit dwell in us, that we may work
tner"S.sss of righteousness, for it is He that
"worketh in us both to will and to do of his
good pleasure" Phil. ii:l3.)