Daily Republican., 1889-01-11

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"rha Divine Purpose in PFedestinatiop. :
Having shown in our previous article
the fact OF predestination, in Christ
Jesus and his bride, We shall now pro.
coed to show the divine object and pur-
pose for which thay are, and were pre-
deslina,ed. But We must keep In mind
the eternal purpose Of God, which he
purposed In Christ Jesus before the world
began" Or, before the adam made of
dust, and made to TILL the ground, !" had
an existence as q ''llving SOUL" 'sThe
second Adam, is quickening spirit"
And made so by the conjunction oil "the
only hegotten Son of Cod 10 Spirit, and
the Son OF Joseph and Mary in the flesh. /"
This was Gods declared purpose, as "the
end from the beginning" 80 that four
thousand years had elapsed from the
declaration Of his purpose, until "tbe
man In the Image alter tho likeness OF
God" was manifested. This dcelar red
purpose, being In "Christ aud Jesus"
and "Christ being before all things In the
bosom OF the Father, and one with the
Father, having glory with the Father be-
| fore tue world was, WAS the one ad-
dressed by the Father, when he laid "let
us make man In our image and alter our
likeness" ct etc. Remember, IL was
man, who Yves to DO SO made, aud the
pre- existent Christ N Spirit as 1.-THE only
| bogotten Son of God"-"God Is Spirit. u
wac the divinely appointed agent To ac-
complish his Father's will In bringing
the prnccstiuatrd Jcsas, with his biide
into living vital, spiritual union with
himself, even as he was one with the
Father. This, was "the body which the
Father had prepared him." These he
/ n hKet tANRt. 1t..au IL a.
Father had given him todon This twas
The mystery which none of the Sons of
men knew"
This was ''the secret from the f.unda-
ton Of the world" Aud, as 1t was only
revealed to this predt stinattd body and
bride of Christ, the only interested parties
at the time, II has remained secret mys-
terry to the world ever since their transia-
ton from the world into the heavenlies
with Christ. He took them away bodily,
''as thief IN the night" he stole them
away ulobserved by any one. Hence,
the deep spiritual gbilicance Of the Ian
guage addressed 10 them only falls on
ears of clay row. Better confess our ig-
norauce at once, than stand and expose
our weaknsss and insbilityto settle any
existing dogmatic theory involving that
which Is spiritual," God has already the
neue,es OF the new creation" These
did "all come In the unity of the faith,
unto the knowledge of the Son of GOD,
unto ,rfect man, unto the measure OF
the stature Ct the iuilnets OF Christ. Z"
This compact body, in its divine unity,
is "the be ginning OF the new creation Of
God" "lhe image of the invisible God /,
the fret born of every creature" 1he
first Adam never was born, he was made
OF dust OF the earth, earthly. "Not spirit
tual" In any sense. But every member
in the body Of the perfect Christ "was
born, not OF blood, nor of the will OF Il g
fesh, nor Of the viii of man, but of God !"
As as there has been none SO horn since
What can this blind, dark, unbelisying
are know about that which is spiriiualt
just nothing at all, unless indeed 1t be
by special revelation from God. Norman,
then, can fail to sec the blind absurdity OF
claiming u spiritual birth In this blind,
gentle age. This is, above all hers, the
one thing lacking. Whtre this one spirit
is there must be unity. There can be no
srhlsm. The new birth Is the new Crea-
ton.
We may speak iluently, and write volu
minously on Spiritual subjects, but what
do we know about II? In this direction,
"knowled. e Is powrr.' ,, "For II Ia not
which spest eth IN you" Who can say
this to-day? And echo, answers whoq
No, brethern, God has no purpose out Of
Christ Jesus. And Christ Jes S, can only
do the work, and will of his Father
"fhe Father" is still, 'sgreater than all. 1"
And, as "God only, hath Immortality, I"
|. G. life IN Himse T, so hath he given to
the Son, and his bride, to have life In
himself as unit. These being the be-
ginning of the NEW creation or ''regener-
ation," and none others born as they
were since their translation, By what
process, can you imagine that men are now
born Of Gld? Christ took his ride away
into the beavenlies. ITO the intent
that now unto the municipalities and pow
ers In the hsayeplies, might be ku wn by
the church the manifold wisdom OF God. y
When they return, as they most assured
ly will, they will do even greater works
than Christ did at his frst advent; God
works in perfect order, DO b AZ TO time,
and events. We can neither hasten or
retaId the execution OF Ills purposes. His
ways are not our ways, nor HIS though s
our thoughts. II we fail to see pur
pose accomplished 10 the p edestinated,
called, justiiled, sanctitied, glorined and
translated body, as the first fruits unto
God and the Lamb, as the mystery q, d
power of "God iAeness. Where shall
we expect or hope to fnditi What does
the inspired Paul mean when he ga d,
For the earnest expectation Of the crea-
ton, waiteth for tho mauifestati OF the
Sons OF God?" Who, and where are
these Sons OF God, for whose manifesto
ton, creation waits with earnest expecta-
tlonf Paul is speaking AZ one of these
Sons OF God. And knew full well the
blind coalition of the creation, and
groaned within himself, Tor the redemp-
ton OF the body, oil which he himself was
member.
Now, 1t ought TO be known to every
Bible student that Christ said of this
body, aye are my witnesses, ''Ye are
the light of the world; ye are ths salt OF
the earth" Areihey now witnessing for
him to the world, or which of the dark
discordant denominations are they now
shedding their light upon, or through?
Do not forget that they did not choose
Christ, but he chose them. Because, 'he
knew what was In man. Only those
whom the Father had given him could
come TO him." All others were excluded
from this high calling OF the Bride at
that period, Have they commenced
their diVine!y appointed mission aud
work OF multiplying and replenishlng
the earth and subduing it?" or is evil as
rampant as ever9 Has God lost his cou-
troll over mani II SO, how, or when, does
he propose to regain it? Has He any
agency more potent and effective than
Christ Jesus, and his present translated
Bridef Suppose we leave for while the
ol dcorditlonAl covenant made at Sinai,
which the Jews were just as Incapable OF
keeping MS Adam was TO keep the law