The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-09-10
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL,
Pa stor Brooklyn
tabernacle.


-s-'"s"s~'-s-'"s-s-s-s-s-s .s-s-s-s-s-sOoo
The Great Teacher said Of the lilies
of the plain, "They toll ,aot, neither do
they spin; and yet I.say unto you, that
even Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed.like one of'these'' (Matthew vi,
%. 29). Similarly we believe that in
heaven the angels are free from toll
Divine power exercised in their inter
est makes toll unnecessary. He who
created the angels and made the lilies
is the same God by whose omnipotent
power we human beings came into ex-
istence. We are surrounded by condi-
lions which call for labor, toll and
sweat of face, as indicated in our text
Why are these things so? Why is man
less favored by his Creator than the
angels and the lilies? The answer to
this query is found in Gods great
Book, the Bible. AS Bible Students
the majority Of us know, Of course,
the answer to this query. And yet it
may prove beneficial to us.to examine
the question afresh.
1 remind you that the words Of our
text are Gods comment upon the con-
ditions which now obtain and which
were made necessary by mans DISC
bedience and the terms of his SEN
tence. AS originally created the con-
ditions Of sweat Of face and battling
with thorns and insects too numerous
to mention were not necessary and
were not imposed upon mankind. On
the contrary, Adam was placed in
Paradise, in the Garden Of Eden,
whose every prospect was beautiful.
Its trees were fruitful, yielding vari-
ETY. and an abundance Of life-giving
fruit for the maintenance Of the king of
earth and his queen, mother Eve. The
responsibilities Of the situation were
merely to dress, or keep, the garden
to pluck its fruits and to prune the
waste foliage to Adams pleasement.
Every necessity was provided as sure
ly as in the case Of the angels and the
lilies. The great change which thrust
our first parents from Paradise is the
result Of "Original n"-disobedience
to God.
The basis Of the fall may be said to
have been the temptation Of the SER
pent, but otherwise, too, we may say
that it was the loss Of faith in God on
the part of Mother Eve. Had she prop
erly continued in faith and trust, the
Tempter's suggestions Of disobedience
would have been promptly rejected.
His suggestion that the great Creator
had been prompted by selfish motives
lar kind Of tree should have been
promptly recognized as SANDER. And
the further suggestion that the God Of
all Grace and Truth lied to them and
distorted the facts when he warned
that disobedience would result in
death-this Misrepresentation should
have been Indignantly resented. But,
alas! Mother Eve had not yet reached
that degree Of character development;
she succumbed to the temptation,
crude as it was. Her desire for knowl-
elge ensnared her. A lesson to us in
this connection is that any knowledge
which may come to us as Bible Stu
dents, or come to others along any
lines out of accord with the Divine tes-
timOny, would be costly knowledge in
deed
1.-THE Wage of Sin Is Death"
The result of the disobedience might
have been the shifting Of our first par
ents by thunderbolt, but, with gra-
cious purposes, God permitted them to
have what they undoubtedly preferred
death by dying process of CEN
turtles. This gave Adam and his pos
terity contact with sin and it's pen
atty. The Divine object in SO doing is
Scripturally declared to be that all
mankind might learn of the exceeding
sinfulness of sin," it's undesirability
and the sureness Of its penalty-death.
Had it not been for Gods intention by
and by to send the Redeemer and to
pay mans death penalty, and thus to
make possible his reclamation from
death conditions by recreation proc
esses, our race might better have been
instantly smitten to oblivion in our
first parents; and the Twenty Thou
sand Millions of Adams children might
better have remained unborn. How
ever, the Bible clearly reveals that "as
by man (Adam) came death, even SO
by a man also Jesus comes the resur-
rection of the dead. For as all in
Adam die, even so all in Christ shall
be made alive, every man in his own
ORDER Il Corinthians XIV, 21-23).
The purpose of the Lord, clearly ex-
pressed, is that mankind in general
shall have the blessed opportunity Of
sharing in the blessings Of the Millen-
NAL Kingdom-the uplifting blessings,
the restitution blessings, the resurrec-
ton blessings st. Peter speaks Of
those Millennial years Of blessing as
''times Of restitution Of ali things,
which God hath spoken by the mouth
OF all his holy prophets since the world
began" (Acts iii, 2D. Very clearly
we discern Gods wise purpose to be
that as mankind through Adam are
being made acquainted with sin, ca
lamities, death, SO in due time all shall
be made acquainted with righteous
ness, Truth and the boon Of life eter-
nal in harmony with their Creator. In
that restitution time," by the contrast
of the rewards of righteousness with