The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1909-10-09
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL.
Pastor BROOKLYN
Tabernacle.

Brooklyn Tabernacle, preached today
on the above text, He said
Looking about US in the world We
find abundant confederation for the
Scriptural declaration that instead Of
the Divine blessing resting upon the
earth there is a curse" or a blight
upon it. Accordingly st, Paul wrote,
The whole creation groaneth and
ravaileth In pain together" In the
context he declares the relief from
this grooming condltion-out Of the
bondage of corruption into the liberty,
favor and blessing TO follow. He in
dicates that this blessed 'change" will
come through the manifestation Of
the sons of God" and intimates also
that these sons Of God are now being
called" and will shortly be "glorided'
and thus be empowered to do the work
of blessing for the groaning creation,
relieving them Of the burden of sin and
death.
Still the question arises, Why should
humanity be so differently circum
stanced from the angels? Why should
not holiness and purity and freedom
from sorrows and pain and death pre-
vail on earth as well as in heaven?
Why should the great Creator so diff
ferently condition one branch Of his
creation from the other? True, the
Lords prayer tells US that we may
expect ultimately that Divine power
will intervene and succor humanity.
The declaration, 'Thy Kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as 1t is done
in heaven" is more than a prayer;
because uttered by our Lord it is also
a prophecy OF what will ultimately OBJ
tain. But the question is, Why should
it be necessary for US to pray and to
wait to subdue sin and to lift man
kind out Of evil conditions? Why
should not Gods will have been done
On earth all along, as it is done in
heaven? Why have sin and death
been permitted to "reign," as the
Scriptures declare?
Try Word Is Truth.
The Bible alone our query
1t explains that originally our race
was created perfect, in the image OF
God, %sinless, holy, pure, happy. Man:
Eden home was Paradise. the GardeI
Of God. But all that bliss was LOST
through disobedience to the Divine
command. When the death sentence
came upon father Adam he lost fell
lowship with bis Creator, his Elder
home, his perpetual life and, instead
of the Divine provision, was sentenced
to earn his bread by the sweat Of hi:
face, battling with thorns. thistles and
insects. The Bible does not pretend
to say that the conditions as we have
them today are perfect nor that they
are satisfactory to God, nor that they
should be satisfactory to us. The ex
IRENE opposite of the home In Eden
the drouth, cyclone, tempest and food
belong to the unfit condition of the
earth and are intended by the Lord t
serve as part of mans condemnation
Through sickness. disease, sorrow
pain, dying, the ace will be brough
eventually to death-to destruction
Thank God he has overruled that fea
ture Of the sentence so that death Il
US need not mean destruction. Thu.
II is written, Thou turnest man t
destruction; and sayest. Return. y
children of men" psalm &c, 81.
The turning Of man to destruction
was six thousand years ago and, al
though the blessing Of restitution wa
declared from the very first by all til
holy prophets, nevertheless the retur-
was not made actually possible unit.
the Redeemer came and laid down hi
life as the ransom price for the sin
Of the whole world. A long while di
God wait before sending the Redeemel
More than four thousand years passed
and for a long period he has waite
since then before efecting a deliver
ance Of humanity from sin and deaf
nearly nineteen centuries. This d.
liberate slowness on the part Of th
Almighty in looking after the huma
family and its rescue from sin an
death can be understood from only on
standpoint-the Bible standpoint. Th
Bible, contrary to our creeds form
lated In the dark ages, teaches this
the penalty for sin is not a futuI
torment, but a present experience wit
sin and death under the sentenc
Dying thou shalt die" In othC
words our present accused or col
demned, unfavorable condition as
race IS Gods just penalty against I
as sinners.
We are a race Of convicts, and I'll
conditions Of nature are Divlnely a
ranged with Il view to speeding us o.
ward to the tOmb-to the fulfllment
our curse" or sentence-death. ]
other words all the mental unbalanC
and distress, including insanity, IL
becllity and cross Temper, are elemen
Of death-the results Of death workiI
In us as a race; likewise our moral d
Fiction. We were "born in sin al
shapen in ~lniquity; in sin did our mot
ers conceive us" Phrenology, as We
as physiology. shows clearly these fact
The mlsshapen heads indicate the u
balance IN which we were born, al