St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-08-23
Sermon by the "Highway and BY
way" Preacher in Which He Utters
Some Plain Truths on u Popular
But FalIaciOus DOctrine.
copyright, 1902, by A. N. Kellogg News
paper Coz

due to any change in purpose or desire
of God towards the people of the world,
for He is the same yesterday, to-day
and forever, but it is owing to the
prodigality of the human race, which,
beginning in the garden of Eden with
Adam, departed from the Fathers
house, and is no longer worthy to be
called the son of God. Since the will
of man was set up against the perfect
and righteous will of God, and every
man has sought his own way, he has
been in the far country feeding on the
husks of the perishable things OF the
world, while the Father sits in his
house eternal in the Heavens await
ing the return of the prodigal, whom
He longs to receive back into the low
ing relationship of son.
Paul, at Athens, on the summit OF
Mars hill, from whence he could look
out over the city given to idolatry and
every form of cultured godlessness
and lustful wickedness, takes the
thought of one of their own poets who
had written: For we are also His
offspring" and declares that he had
spoken an eternal truth. The doctrine
| of the universal Fatherhood of God
so popular to-day thus dates back to
early Greek culture and refinement If
not to a still earlier date, and people
resting in the ease of their own con-
ceptions of who and what God was
needed to be stirred up by the declara-
ton that God "now commandeth all
men everywhere to repent" Into the
far country has gone this message
| from the Fathers House. He waits in
patience and love. but while the sor
remains away, spending his substance
| in riotous living, he has no place in the
Fathers House, nor has he any right
| to call Him Father. Has not the
Father given him all "the portion of
goods that falleth to- him? He has
no further claim upon Him. By direct
choice he has become stranger and
foreigner, and it is only through the
matchless grace and mercy Of the
Father that the way back to the
| Fathers House has not been closed
forever.
The Fatherhood of God is universal
in the sense that 1--WE are His Off
spring." and that as Father He longs
and waits for the return of His way
ward and self-seeking children. The
Fatherhood of God is limited in the
sense that only those who repent and
return to the Fathers House by the
way which He has provided are priv
LEGGED to call Him Father and have a
right to place again in the family
circle. Man may reason and speculate
all he pleases, and lull to sleep the con-
science by high and Understanding
sentiments and subtle sophistries, he
may drag down to human levels Gods
love and Gods righteousness and make
himself believe that he is a son of God
and entitled to place in the Fathers
House, but when he comes to the end
of himself he will find that he is still
in the far country, and that the father
of his thought and reason was God
head "graven by art and mans device"
Satan hoodwinked Adam into believing
that he could erect for himself god,
knowing good and evil, and the father
of liars has been at it ever since. He
doesn't care how beautifully you talk
of the love and Fatherhood Of God, or
how you denounce him (the deviD, if
you only do not come to yourself. re-
pent and return to the Fathers
House.
And if, while the world is talking of
the universal Fatl1rhood of God, it has
no atom of truth on which to base it's
claim, Gods Word comes, and with its
message of light proves the universal
Fatherhood of God by the universal
plan of salvation which it offers. The
testimony of Gods Word does not seek
to rob the world of Father, but gives
to the world Father, if it will only
accept Him on Gods reasona BILE terms.
For this is faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sin
ners." The fact that the world so siren
uously argues its sonship relation to
God and Gods Fatherhood relat to
the world proves how much it really
longs for and needs the true Fathers
love and care. And Gods Word, and
this feeble message which we seek to
deliver in the name of our "Father
which art in Heaven" only longs to I'M
mask the worlds false notion of the
Fatherhood of God, which would leave
it at last naked and undone in the pres
ence of the righteous Judge, and give
it loving and forgiving Heavenly
oh
while che is yet great way off, and,
rushing out to meet him, writes with
the finger Of His love dipped in the
blood of His only begotten Son, His
full and free forgiveness, and. hushing
his pleading to be taken back as
servant, He reinstates him in his lost
position, and makes him a son indeed.
The Mark of Sonship.-"Fora Is many
as are led by the Spirit of God, they are
the sons of God" Here is the distin-
gushing mark, the livery by which we
may identify those who have right
to turn their faces upward and cry:
abba, Father" And on the other
hand, the sons of men as distinguished
from the sons Of God wear the livery
of this world and are ruled by the
spirit of man which is in him." In
the second chapter of I Corinthians
Paul develops this thought fully and
shows that "the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God;
for they are foolishness unto him;
neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned." Fail
are to recognize this important truth
is the fruitful source of error and false
doctrine. It disqualifes man as judge
of Gods thoughts and Gods ways, and