Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-07
HIS PRESENCE IN THE ASSEMBLY.

HIS PRESENCE IN THE ASSEMBLY.
Now, beloved and honored fathers and
brethren, we are all here present before God
this day to hear all things that are commanded
| us Of God, and il VIC dwell on His presence in
the assembly, it is not for the sake Of discours-
| ing upon 1t or OF specializing about 1t. but Of
realizing it. and that in this, our first meeting.
Therefore. now, let heart in heart be DELHI
| erately lifted up, lifted up unto the Lord one
by one; let each soul for itse in an act of faith
intense with purpose say: My Lord and my
God, Thou who for me vast crucifed, and for
me was raised up from the dead, Thou art here
in the midst Of us. What am Thou knowest;
and how unworthy I am to look up unto Thee
But Thou speakest peace. Pronounce Thou
upon my sinful soul Thy word Of peace, yea,
the perfect peace Of God. Tell me once, tell
me again my peace is made. Breathe Thou, O
Lord Christ, upon me! Bid me receive the
Holy Ghost, and as the Father sent Thee to live
and suffer that the world through Thee might
to be Eved, SO since Thy grace is exceeding
abundant send ME among my fellow sinners to
do and to suffer for the salvation OF the world.
When sin entered into the world our first
parents, even before they received sentence
for themselves, had heard the promise of a
seed Of the woman which should overcome the
EVIL one, that promise being contained in the
terms OF the curse pronounced upon the SER
pent The hope thus kindled always kept its
eyes turned toward the promised seed. When
greater definiteness WAS to be given to that
hope by its being attached to one particular
lineage the lesson was taught that not ordi-
nary human causes nor the natural course of
things were to bring the promised seed apart
from a direct lnterposition of God. 70 credit
the hope set before him that in seed OF his
all the families Of the earth should be blessed,
Abraham faith needed to triumph over all
lmprobabilities. His own body being as good
as dead, and that Of Sarah likewise, against
deadness here and deadness there, LIE had to
set only the word Of Him who could not lie.
The Child of Promise. then, appeared as the
type OF race divinely born, u race in which
each OF the sons would be one, not born Of the
Will OF the flesh OF Of the will Of man, but of
God.
When the expectation of the promised land
was TO be yet further defined by being attached
70 narrower lineage, within that Of Abraham.
namely, to the family of David, both of its
spiritual import and the worldwide range of
It's Dement'S were plainly set forth. II David's
seed was to be established forever IL was for
this end: "All the ends of the world shall
remember and turn to the Lord. A
seed shall serve Him. and they shall come and
declare dis righteousness to people that shall
De porn. This people that was to be born,
and whose distinguishing mark was to be that
tney would serve the promised seed, was to be
accounted to Him for generation; for other
generations would He have none. These, and
only these, were to be reckoned as His Off
spring. deriving their life from Him, bearing
his image, and as sons who had been made free
ny the Son, holding titles to draw wealth out OF
tHe treasure room Of His Fathers house, and to
abide In that house forever. Coming from all
the ends OF the world, these sons divinely born,
THIS generation Of Christ, were to be many
many as the dew Of the morning, as the stars in
the SKY FOR multitude, as the sand by the sea-
shore innumerable.
This holy seed was described at large BY
the prophets: 1t was to be the stay OF Zion in
the time OF dissolution. "As a tiel tree, as an
oak whose substance is in them when they
cast their leaves. SO shall the holy seed be the
substance thereof"
Born OF the spirit apd multiplied BY the out
pouring of the spirit, this seed was to have in
crease In long lines Of extending growth. 81
wil pour out my spirit upon thy seed and my
blessing upon thine offspring, and they shall
spring up as among the grass" Rapidly and
IN multitude, not, however, short lived as grass,
put though OF swift growth, stable ''as willows
by the water courses"
This holy seed on the one hand would make
their boast In their Heavenly Father no matter
what name they might previously have in
voked: One will say am the Lords, another
Will called himself by the name OF Jacob and
another will subscribe with his hand to the
Lord and surname himself by the name of
Israel Yes, by that name would they have
called themselves, as would we here this day,
for who Of us is there who would not rather
lose the name OF his Fathers house than that
sacred name Of Christian by which we are
called! THE glory of children is their
father's," and the degree in which this is the
case in any other instance is as naught COM
pared with his right to rejoice even with q ioy
fui! OF glory in whose soul the voice Of the
Holy Spirit raises the cry, Abba, Father. But
II thus the holy seed would glory. in their
diyine parent the Lord himself is pleased to
acknowledge them before His enemies eye
are" He says, my Witnesses" and again,
Behold l create Jerusalem rejoicing and he :
people a joy, and will rejoice in Jerusalem
and Joy in my people," And again, This
people have 1 formed for myself; they shall
show forth my praise"
''THE MINISTER'S OF Our GOD"
Rejoiced over by the Lord they would be rec
ogpized by men, "Ye shall be named the priests
of the Lord, men shall call you the ministers
Of our God" land their seed shall be known
among the Gentiles, and their offspring among
the people; all that see them shall acknowledge
them that they are the seed that the Lord hath
blessed" When the Son of God vas mani
tested among US He became the prototype and
exemplar of the holy seed. In the Old -Testa-
ment the Lord made His own nature the stand
We holy, for l am holy" So in the New Testa-
ment to us the Lord Jesus Christ is the standard
and the exemplar, that We should walk in His
steps. for HE that saith he abideth in Him
OuBnt nimSeil SO 70 walk even as he walked"
Kindred OF nature manifested in kindred action
and honored with formal recognition is set
forth even in terms more tender and winning
HE that sanctifeth and they that are sancti-
fed are all of one, for which cause He ia not
ashamed to call them brethren" Here mark
the ground, the oneness OF nature and the
fact OF sanctifcation. Not on other ground.
be that ground what 1t may, will He cali them
brethren. They will not win for themselves a
title to kindred with Him by quoting their
Methodist parentage or a sanity lineage in anv
other church. No more shall we thus gain His
recognition than did the Jews by Quoting 70
Him their descent from Abraham, The fact
that they were the children Of the first Adam
was testified to by their manifest fall with him
in sin, and SO must their rising again in the
| second Adam be testified to BY their mani
testify walking with him in newness Of life.
II the Jew was not allowed to claim to be
the child Of Abraham unless he did the works
of Abraham, and was terribly told that, working
evil works, he was the child of his father, the
devil, most assuredly neither we nor our chill
dren, nor our children children, will ever be
| recognized if. naming the name Of Christ, VIC
do not depart from iniquity. Other grounds of
claim to kindred with Him are continually nut
! by the tempter into our mouths, but let us saw
in faithfulness one to another, be the church to
which you belong what it may; be the good
cause you support the best in the world; be the
| line Of Gods servants in your own family
bright and blessed; be the life of your pastor
or that Of your fellow members ever 90 sanity;
| if you yourself. instead Of being child of the
kingdom, are in works child of the wicked