Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1902-05-17

aud the light is Gods truth. As it strikes
this long prism it breaks up into seven
colors. The seven together give US the
rainbow.
First, forgiveness. Psalm 81: l-"Blessed
Is he whose transgression Is forgiven,
whose sin is covered
The word forgiven means taken on.
What wonderful Thought 1t is. Oh.
what a load OF sin we had to carry, How
it did weigh us down, How day and night
we went crying aloud, saying. "Oh,
wretched man that | am. who shall deliver
me-" Resolution never lifted 1t a particle.
Reformation only seemed 10 make 1t heav-
Ter. Then He came. and stopped down, or
whispered to us Just one sweet word.
''Forgiven!" and when we realized it the
burden was taken off. To receive all of
this we have but to yield to God. Trying
to make ourselves better only adds to the
cloud and deepens our despair.
The second color is cleansing. Psalm 81:
Purge me with hyssop. and | shall be
clean: wash me, and shall be whittier than
snow
The little bunch of hyssop carries us
back to the Passover night, when the
lamb was slain and its blood collected. 1t
was not said that one should take brush.
but a bunch of hyssop. and dip it in the
blood and sprinkle the posts of the door.
The commonest thing that grew in the
East was hyssop. 1t represents faith. One
had but to step to the door OF the cottage
and stoop down to pluck bunch OF hys-
sop. The commonest thing in all this
world is faith. We have faith in each
other, whether we express it in this word
or not; and the faith that one has in his
mother. in his father, in wife or husband.
if turned toward Jesus Christ would save
his soul. 1t is one thing to be forgiven, but
the color deepens. and the truth sweetens
Al. q Il
blood of Jesus Christ we may be made
clean. The blood of Jesus Christ His
Son cleanseth us from all sin"
The third color is justification. Ro-
mans 1: 25-"Who was delivered for our
offences. and was raised again for our jus.
LITIGATION"
One might be perfectly sure OF his for
Civencss. and know that it meant sins
taken off, and might be confident OF his
cleansing. but there is the memory of the
old life of failure which is ever to him like
Il shackle when he would run to God. JUS
iiication is sweeter BY far than anything
we hare yet learned. When Christ rose
for our Justification He stood before God
as kind OF receir. las John Robertson
mas said, and when God looks upon that
receipt lie knows the bill is paid.
Jesus paid it all All to Him owe.
Sin had left bitter stain, He washed it
white as snow"
But justification is even better to me
than this, for when one is justified before
God he actually stands as if lie never had
sinned.
The fourth color Is-sins covered by the
sea. Micah Z: l9-"He will turn again, He
will have compassion upon us; He will sub
due our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all
their sins into the depths OF the sea-"
1t Is very comforting TO know that there
in ha Sn
they can never be sounded. Our sins must
have gone as deep.
There is also another thought of COM
fort; ii body Is cast into the ocean where
the waters are not very deep. when the
storms come and the ocean Is in a fury,
the storm, as if with giant hands. takes the
dead body and casts 1t uDon the shore.
But there are depths in the sea s. great
that no storm that has ever yet swept across
the face of the deep has stirred the waters.
Thanks be unto God, our sins may be sunk
so deep in the sea that they will never be
cast up against US again. The color deep
ems and the truth grows sweeter still.
The fifth color is-sins removed. Psalm
l03: PAS far as the east is from the
west. SO lar hath He removed our trans
gressions from us
1t has been proved that the distance
from east to west could never be meas
ured. This is certainly inspiring. Blu.
there is something better for me than this
in the fifth color, for when | am told that
my sins are as far from me as the east Is
from the west | know that the east and
the west can never be brought together;
nor can the saved sinner and his pardoned
sins ever meet again.
The sixth color is Isaiah A: 22-"I have
blottcd out. As a thick cloud. thy transgres.
sions. and. as cloud. thy sins; return I'M
to Me, for have redeemed thee"
- L.
Some have tried ii with their tears, and
have lost their reason. Some have at.
tempted 1t by works of mercy, and have
given up in despair. But God can easily
do it. For sins to be b.otted out may
mean the same as for mans account to be
blotted out. / may have a bill charged
against me on the books, but ii on the OPP.
posite side is credited a sufficient sum of
money to meet the Indebtedness. it is
blotted out. But the expression must mean
more than this. 1t means that when ones
sins are blotted out by God they are as il
they never had been.
The seventh color seems the climax of
all. Ezekiel SO: l6-"None of his sins that
he hath committed shall he mentioned I'M
to him; he hath done that which is lawful
and right; he shall surely live"
We have an idea that, although our sins
have been forgiven and we may have been
justified, when the great day of Judgment
comes we may be obliged to meet them all
again. But this Is not true. Once and
for all hath He put away sin by the sac
rifice of Himself. and the sins of our lives
shall not again be mentioned to us.
WOODS COVENANT.
The bow was Gods covenant then. Now
Gods covenant is His Word, and upon
this Word we may depend. Notice the
number of times God uses the expression,
Il will, in Exodus 6: 6-S:
Wherefore. say unto the children of
Israel / am the Lord, and will bring you
out from under the burdens of the Egypt
ians, and l will rid you out of their bond
age, and will redeem you with a stretched
out arm. and with great judgments; and
will take you to Me for a people. and / will
be to YOU God; and We shall know that
am the Lord your God, which bringeth
YOU out from under the burdens of the
Egyptians. And | will bring you in unto
the land, concerning the which did swear
to give it to Abraham, to Isaac and to
Jacob; and l will give you it for an hertz
age: l am the Lord
He ever waits to fill the covenant which
He has made with Christ concerning us
If we would have the joy of salvation, we
need but two things; first, we must be-
lieve God; whatever our feelings may be,
we must believe; second. believing God,
we must act as if we believed Him The
one gives US life. The other gives US joy in
LIES possession.