West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1902-01-09


The twelve Apostles were the only or.
dained authorities for teaching and doctrines;
they had no successors. They declared the
whole counsel Of God, Acts so,s7. They
are the twelve stars in the crown of the
early Church, Rev Ia,I, aud the twelve
foundations of the wall of the Imperial CITY
--the perfect government that shall ..make
all things new" Rev. sI,I4.
The Greek word, ''Aster," star, is no,
applied to any Of the faithful execp, the
Apostles but Il is used with reference to
those who depart from the tru,h--ihc
Ransom hasis--and aspire To- be considered
authorities in the same sense as the Apostles,
"False Apostles" "waudering Stars" IN
the armament of the Ecclesiastical Heaven
IL is not uncommon for public teachers To-
refer to the bloody sacrifices of Israel as
barbagic. rhey no longer see in them the
toreshadowing OF shelter sacrifices for sin -
The "Nioon" tlaw covensn) is turned TO
blood. The Ransom Center of the Gospel
Sun is obseured and the "Stars" withdraw
their light, Joel S:IS The teaching Of the
Apostleslfade from view and the masses
fall an easy prey to the doctrine of Evolu.
tion The Ecclesiastical Heavens are
shaken and its "slars" arc falling to the
plane of the natural man, to moral aud
p 'liteal reform questions, or to any of the
methods for attracting attention to their
light. They can scarcely find suitable
text from the writings of the ordained au-
thorities. for whom our Lord prayed.
"Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy
word is truth, John I7I7 The New Tes,s
men, Scriptures were not then written, hence
the word Of Truth, |. G., the whole counsel
of God, must be the Old Testament Scripture.
and our text has its place in that wonderful
revelation in answer to the grea, question Of
the ages "what is Truth ?"
Paul was the great Apostle of the un.
circumcision tall people excep, the nation of
lsraell-see Gal. I;I aud a,7S. TO this
Apostle we turn for light upon our text
Ills concise reasoning requires our live at.
tention. Every word has deep meaning,
Eph. as 10. lie reasons ''No man hath
assembled into Heaven" John 5iI3 So
then he to whom our text refers must have
first descended, and, as there was a purpose
IN His descending. lie must descend 'lo the
lower parts Of the earth, down lower than
angels, Heb 2io, down 10 where the cap.
tives are, into the tomb. Here Is the Ransom
basis Of all hope. The Apostles statements
are very compfeh cnsive. They allud- To
the most amazing transactions The descent
and It's purpose its meaning, and iis necessity.
The descent was voluntary "for the Joy
set before Him" "No man hath taken my
life, lay IL down myself" The men that
apprehended Him in tho Garden "wcnt
backward and fell to the ground, " John 1870.
This power was exeued hat the Apo,ies
might escape. Twelve legons Of angels
watched for His signal should lie ask their
help, Matt 26:53. Yet The descen, was
fearful, beyond the power Of words lo tell
The great crisis had come The fate Of the
world. and Of call ihings" were in the
balances. The diresi agony was in the cup
pressed by ,he "serpent" TO our Lords lips in
that evil hour. Had every feature Of the
great Sacrifice been perfect The shadow
Of doubt brought tic blood through the
pores with the sweat falling down in great
drops TO the ground Many men have
faced death without iremor, but no other
being ever looked into the black abyss Of
utter eKlincton--un. benumbed by sin. yet
knowing that his fate depended upon a
"Rubicon" passed that could not he re.
traced. But the Sacrifice was perfect in
every joi, and Jehovah would not suffer Ills
Holy One TO be so crushed but sent fIis
angel to Ills relief, and from that point our
Lord finished The offering, calm, cool and
confident amid all the exciting scenes Of the
tragedy to the end Let Creation rejoice,
the face 0avor) Of God shines out of the
darkness, that men may know thy way. ard
thy salvation among ell nations Nations
will rejoice and sing for jog when Thou
judgesl the people righieously and guidcsi
the nations Of the earth The earth Ohat
drank the blood) will yield her increase,
Psa. 81. Our Lord Is yict'r Hc led Cap
tivity Captive lie ssccndcd for above all
Heavens powers. He rcpurchascd the
forfeited gift The Apostle says lie ~.
oendcd up fsr above az Heavens that he
might 6ll all things How condensed the
expressions yet Whist part Of Gods Coun
sells are left OUT aud how much IL yet 10
be done The Old Testament forctold
and foreshadowed the coming perfect
time, e Cor. is.fo) yet more were found
able nor worth. neither could authority be
given to any until the fulflment Of the
prophecy of our text. When our Lord
ascended then Hc received the gifts for
men all that was lost IN Eden. but perfect
gifts imply also perfect conditions recip.
rents II Is great work 10 lifi the fallen
race. FIRST out OF tho Captive condition
death and then up long way up. 10
perfection Of being and ability 10 enjoy
and rightly estimate Gods gifts and here
some one will ask. why The delay We
snswcr: There has been no delay.
Neither has there been check or hind
rance. The gifts began immediately snd
In the proper place and order Although
Gods power has been suspended with
regard 10 the government OF the earth
except an ogerrnie in the cause Of nis
purpose. Yet this serpent rule will be
pasi bcnifcsnt lesson. ss we'll ~ sHording
,be oopoffng .es .es bio own wise counstls
n Jehovah had not pcrritcd bic rod 81 30
to be usurped whefe would be iessoa 'I
experience. which has been not Tor msns
lnicrs,s only. but Tor all intsiligcuces h
vas necessary The race could NOT hsvc
been redeemed and it must therefore have
been destroyed There is no way oui OF
this. Tie who Ignores the Ransom at once
reoouncos ali interest in Creation 10