The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-10
7 u d A IS NJ
THE FINAL
UNIVERSAL RELIGION

the world; wonderful in his origin. wonder
full in his history and still more wonderful
in his unfinished mission and the condi-
tons that are leading thereto. More than
1000 vars ago a Mesopotamian sheik
who had in his early manhood already,
through inheritance or otherwise. become
the leader OF men, heard the voice OF God
commanding him TO leave his country and
his kindred and his fathers house and TO
60 into strange land which his posterity
should Inherit though he himself should
remain only a nomad in IL all his days; and
that his seed should become a great people
through whom all the families of the world
would he blessed. He obeyed. and became
a homeless wanderer all his days, dying at
an old age with the least possible visible
Indication of the fulillment of the promise
which rad influenced him all his days. yet
he died believing God and His faith was
counted to him for righteousness.
It war nearly 500 years later that few
thousand men, women and children, with
focks and herds. crossed the Jordan from
the east to take possession of this land.
They foand 1t in the possession of numerous
idolatroas and warlike tribes. which had
60 be sabjugated or destroyed, while they
ignorant Of the arts of statecraft. More
than 400 OF the 500 intervening years be-
tween she promise and this beginning of
the fuiillment had been spent in slavery
to the most cultured people of the period
as a schooling for the responsibilities OF
their national life; and this had been fol-
lowed by a postgraduate course of forty
years in the wilderness: but In all these
years Abraham and his children had been
conspicuous witnesses for the one true
God. whether they were homeless sojourn-
ers. a. were the patriarchs. or abject
slaves IN Egypt. or wanderers In the will
derness and all the time maintaining their
racial distinction.
The srbjugation Of the tribes In possession
was the work Of many years, but notw1th-
standing the fearful odds against them
they succeeded, mot by their own strength,
neither by their own arm, but by Gods
right hand and the light of His countenance
because He had favor unto them" Later
their kingdom extended much beyond the
original confines Of Canaan. For 1.500 years
they maintained a national identity. while
many more powerful nations fourished for
awhile then disappeared forever. But their
history was alterations of success and
failure, OF captivity and independence. Oft
en- q majority became idolaters and wor-
shipped strange gods, but there remained
always remnant who were true to the
God OF Abraham, and sooner or later some
Elijah s,r Nehemiah would call them back
to the saith of their fathers.
Beginning with Moses, II not with Jacob,
there followed succession Of phophesies
which pointed to coming character with
a great mission. Moses called him proph-
ct like lInto himself, yet so superior in au-
fhority that His word was to De heard and
obeyed- Through the ages some of these
prophesses were uttered by kings and some
by captives and some by men whose only
calling was to teach the people the way
OF life. and the prophecy was often tinged
by the conditions and environments of the
prophet He was called the Wonderful,
the Counselor, the Mighty God. the Man
Of Sorrows, the Prince of Peace, the Sun
OF righteousness, Rod out OF the Stem of
Jesse. Root out Of Dry Ground, the Son
OF David and the Messiah In none of their
nacionae reverses did they ever lose sight
OF this promise. Some Of the prophecies
were so blended with contemporaneous
events and definitely fixed IN time that
there came a period in which they all
seemed TO converge and there was a general
expectation that the Hope OF Israel was
about to appear. But that period was one
of sheir, greatest national humiliations, and
II is net strange that they expected one
who, wo1ld deliver the nation from the yoke
Of their oppresosrs and restore their king
den to Its former glory; hence. when they
saw humble carpenter with no following
but few unlearned fishermen. proclaiming
q new evangel. accompanied with severe
criticisms upon the rulers of the Jews, it
Is not t. be wondered at that they rejected
Him. aid that the wonderful works that
He wrought should count for nothing. Such
q man could not be the Messiah they were
expecting.
Il wiz help US in this study to mark what
He claimed for himself. He said: ct am
not come to annul the law. but to complete
IT. More than once He taught that the
law as given by Moses was not ideal, but
was originally adapted to their then con-
dftion, because Of the hardness Of their
hearts. and Paul alludes to the same
thought when he speaks Of time Of ignor-
ance at which God winked. The Sermon
on the Mount. which sounded the keynote
TO the new dispensation. is Christian
commandment, Love one another" ap-
plying Il to concrete conditions, and by so
much aSrogating the law which, because of
the hardness of their hearts, their low
moral development at the time ii was Civ
en-. had demanded an eye for an eye and
q tooth for tooth The model prayer diff
xers from the prayer of any devout Jew
only u such a recognition of the new COM
mandment, that Ii recognizes in God a
tender. loving Father. and breathes the
aggressive spirit Of love in praying for the
universal coming of the kingdom. 1t is
Judaism vitalized by love. Thenceforth
The law was not to consist In "shalt nots"
only. but in deeds which should be
prompted by loving neighbor so that there
would be no thought of committing a
wrong against him.
Not only did the Christ not annul the law
or any part OF Ii. except as this new COM
mandment superseded portions OF II, but He
strictly observed every requirement OF it.
In other words, He was born a Jew, He
lived Jew and died a Jew. and He en-
Joined upon His disciples the duty of OBJ
serving and doing whatever the authorities