Nevada County picayune., 1889-05-15
RELIGIOUS COLUMN.
Edited by GEO. A. GARDNER.
Religion.

teited that high spiritual life with which their Creator had endowed them, and hence were driven out of the Garden. and no longer allowed access to the Tree of Life. lest they should reach forth their hands and eat and live forever. But God gra- cously provided a way by which they might recover the lost treasure, and still be more abundantly blessed than they were under the Covenant of Works. According to the terms of the first Covenant, or the Gov enant of Works, it was, Do thls, and thou shalt live ;-Disobey thls, and thou shalt die. But under the second Covenant, or the Covenant of Grace, the command is, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, or thou shalt receive eternal life. It will be observed that the penalty Of disobedicnce was death, under both Covenants and the rewards of obe- dience were the perpetuation of life in the first. and the restoration of life in the second.
 It is remarkable that by the of fense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justiti- cation; and. as we were all made subject to death by Adams trans gression involuntarily, even so we shall be made subjects of the resur-
 rection involuntarily, by the obedi- ence and righteousness of the second Adam. the Lord Jesus Christ from
 Heaven. The Apostle Paul, in the
 5th chapter of Romans, contrasts the effects of the fall with the effects of the atonement, in most logical and impressive manner. But, 1t must not be forgotten that the ultimate and highest benefits of the atoncment are only promised to them who be- lieve. All who wilfully disbelieve. or reject it, after the resurrection
 become the subjects of the second death, or the death of both soul and body. The first death is the result of Adam transgression; the second, winch is final and irremediable, Is the result of actual and ineXcusable transgression on the part of it's un- fortunate victims. Eternal life is the unspeakable gift of the Gospel, and is conditioned upon faith ill a crucified and risen Savior.
 Religion is the acceptance of this eternal life upon the terms of the Gospel He who, under the power of the divine spirit, accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior, is born Of the Spirit, and becomes new crcat- ure in Christ Jesus. He receives the gift of q new and higher life. by vir- tue of which he is enabled to cruelty
 the flesh with it's affections and lustS,
 and to keep himself unspottcd from the world He becomes a peculiar pcrson-hc is citizen of Heaven, an heir of God, and joint heir with Christ Jesus. No wonder that Christians are called the salt of the earth. and the light of the world. They bear about in their bodies the glory of the heavenly shekinah, and it giveth light to all that are round about. The lamp of the Christian Is filled with heavenly oil, and is lit by the great central Luminary of the universe. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the eXcelency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
 How simple and yet how grand Is the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ so simple that the way-faring man, though q fool, shall not err therein so grand that the profoundest philos- opher shall not be able to scale its heights, or fathom it's unSearchable mysteries. Life is it's mysterious. undefnable substance; love it's great central principle; Heaven its home, and eternity it's lifetime, The 18th chapter of lst Corinthians is an eX- cellent description of religion under the name of charity or love, St. James said that ''pure and undeliled religion before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and wid ows, and comfort them in their af hiction. and to keep himself un- spotted from the world; or. in other words, to do good, and maintain your purity of heart amid all the contaminations of the world.
 The foundation of all true rclig- ion is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ