Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1909-11-04
PULPIT.
All Saints Day
Both He That Sanchheth and
They That Are Sancihed Are All of
One: For Which Cause He Is Not
Ashamed to Call Them Brethren"
Hebrews Ii, y.

| AoiioiiiCd W Sdu IllClu DISUHcu
Hebrews Ii, u. !:
reign Of Messiah-that it will be a
time of blessing, of uplifting mankind,
and that therein the elect saints of this
age will be privileged to cooperate
with their glorifed Redeemer in bring
ing about the uplift. the resurrection.
the restitution of all who will then
prove willing and obedient.
The term saint is not a sectarian
one. 1t occurs over one hundred times
in the Bible, mostly in the plural form,
saints" Our text speaks of a saint
ly, or sanctified class. and declares our
| Redeemer to be one of these-their
Head, their Lord. He declares that all
the sanctifed Of this Gospel Age are
| one-of one spirit and fguratively of
one Body. AS for instance, the House
of Lords is one body under a chair
another body The United States Sen
ate is another; and the House OF Rep
resentatives is another So the Church
is the Body of Christ over which he is
the Head, the Presiding Officer and
Member. But the point specially to be
noticed is that all who will belong
ultimately to this Church class which
the Lord is now calling and drawing
from amongst men will every one Of
them) be saints, every one of them be
Sanctifed.
The word ''sanctifed' signifies to be
set apart to holy usage or services. as
distinct and separate from any earthly
ambition, calling or business. Never
theless these sanctified ones are not
merely the clergy or those without
earthly responsibilities, While our
heavenly Father is a great King. the
King of the Universe, he nevertheless
has made Il plan which enables even
the humbest of his creatures to ap-
proach him through the merit of the
blood of Jesus, and by faith and obedi-
ence to the extent of his ability in
sacrifice, to become a joint-heir with
his Redeemer in the heavenly King
DOM Thus the present call is confined
to a call to sanctifcation. AS st. Paul
declares. This is the will Of God (con-
corning you. even your sanctifcation
! q Thessalonians iv. 81.
The word saint signifies "holy
one" "sanctifed one" ''set apart" or,
| taken as a whole, it signifies one set
apart to holy uSages. services. etc. We
are quite ready to admit that these are
a comparatively small number at the
| present time; as the Scriptures de-
clare. "a little f1ock;" and again, mot
many" and again, few there be that
find it,
When we say that God is now select
ing a special class to be joint heirs
with Christ and that he has deter
mined that this special class shall con-
sist exclusively of the sanctifed. let us
not be misunderstood to mean by this
that in the next age God will accept to
his favor the unsanctifed. the wicked.
The conditions during the Millennial
Age will be much easier for mankind
than are present conditions of the
Church. the elect the saints Now we
must walk by faith; then we will walk
by sight, because Satan and sin and
darkness will have passed away, and
the light of Truth will food and cover
the whole earth, SO that. as the prophet
says, 'They shall teach no more every
man his neighbOr. saying. know the
Lord; for they shall all know me, from
the least of them unto the greatest of
them, saith the Lord Jeremiah XXI
34l. The rewards for obedience to the
Divine requirements in the Millennium
will be the earthly rewards, eternal
| life or the earthly restitution plane
| The reward profered to those who
now walk the narrow way by self-sac-
rifice is a spiritual one, glory, honor
and immortality on the spirit plane.
like unto the holy angels-and higher
than this: like unto our Lord Jesus in
his gloritied state: as seen by the Apos-
tie, ''Shining above the brightness of
the sun at MONDAY" (Acts XVI, 49,.
We must guard also against the
thought that the total number of Gods
elect would be as small a number as
the calendar of the saints recognized
by some of our Christian friends might
imply We hold that none is able to
judge definitely on this subject, except
| the Master He has given US general
! intimations of the lines Of his decision,
but he has not permitted us to deter
mine the matter, saying, Judge moth
ing before the time" We are to con-
tent ourselves. therefore, with the
thought that 1.-The Lord knoweth them
! that are his" and that be will accept
no one who in any degree is disIoyal
in heart. and that he will overlook and
neglect no one who is of the proper at
titude of heart We understand, too,
that our Lord is no respector of de-
nominational lines. but that. in every
sect. he who loves God. and who ac-
cepts the merit of Christ by faith. and
who presents his body living sacri-
/ fee daily unto death in the Lord
service-all such are his disciples aud.
as stated in our text, He will notsbe
asha med to call them brethren" But
all of this. be it noted. is based, not
upon their earthly Church relationship.
but upon their sanctifcation of heart.