The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-06-18

III the DOCK Oh
Hebrews which sets forth the diff
ference between the religion of the
Jew and the religion of the Chris
tian. The writer of that book is striv-
ing to show what an improvement
Christianity is over Judaism and he
says:
Contrasting oispensations.
For ye are not come unto the
mount that might be touched, and
that burned with fire, nor unto black
ness, and darkness, and tempest And
the sound Of trumpet. and the voice
of words: which voice they that heard
entreated that the word should not be
spoken to them any more. (For they
could not endure that which was com
manded. And II so much as a beast
touch the mountain, 1t shall be stoned.
or thrust through with dart; and so
terrible was the sight, that Moses
said, l exceedingly fear and quake.)
But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and
unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an In
Vulnerable company of angels. To
the general assembly and church Of
the first-born, which are written in
heaven, and to God the judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made
perfect, and to Jesus the mediator Of
the new covenant and to the blood Of
sprinkling, that speaketh better
things than that OF Abel"
Christianity No Annex.
BY such words as these Apollos up
sets the contention of the Jewish peo-
pie that Christianity is a mere annex
of Judaism and that all the converts
from heathenism must start where
they did, from Sinai's smoking mount.
Apollos says, No! Christianity means
Zion in the place of Sinai. We have
got beyond clouds, and lightnings, and
thunderbolts, and earthquakes, and
paralyZing fear, and terrible visions
and fleeing from the presence Of the
awful cataclysm. We have come 20 a
mountain which is the JOY of the
whole earth, We are attracted, not re-
PEELED. We are wooed, not driven. We
are drawn by love, not coerced By
force. We are charmed with tender
words, not stunned with thunder
blasts. We are surrounded with an
gels, not enveloped in blackness and
tempest. We have a city, the Heav-
enly Jerusalem, not barren desert
overhung with gloomy mountains.
We have a new covenant written on
our hearts, not covenant carved on
tablets of stone, We have glorious
liberty, not a yoke of bondage. We
have divine principles, not a set of
rules. We are treated as sons of
God, not servants of the household.
We are saved by grace, not by legal
ism. We are not under the curse, but
under grace We dc not walk accord
ing to an ancient rule, but according
as He walked. We do not seek to
make Ourselves acceptable to God by
doing, we do because we have been
made acceptable to God. We are not
pleasing NJ Moses, we are following
Christ. We are not putting the law
always before our face, we are put
ting the Lord always before our face.
We do not ask, What does Moses say?
We ask, What does Christ say? We
read the commandments of Moses, by
the Interpretation which Jesus gave
them. We are not living in the year
1900 B. c., but in the year 1909 A. d.
Legal Bondage Still.
And yet the sad fact is that in spite
of the plain teaching of the Bible
there is vast amount of legal bond
age in the church to-day. Not only
Romanism but Professionalism has la
mentally gone back into the lega
bondage Of the Mosaic dispensatio1
three thousand years behind the
times. They have not only resumed
the laws of Moses, but they have
made a thousand moro and added tt
their burdens, already intolerable
The people work day and night an(
still fall far short of their duty. Ignor
ant Of the fact that Christ has for
ever superseded Moses and Aaron, tri
umphantly fulfilling the law by pay
ing all its penalty, they still stagge
along under the law dispensation, in
stead Of the grace dispensation Of tn
Redeemer The gospel Is the grea
emancipation proclamation to tn
world. In sweet and loving fellow
ship and harmony with our delivere
we are Just as free from the law a
II there were no law. Rules and res
ulations cannot exist where love is.
Law and Love Contrasted.
The model home Is not founded o
Sinai but on Zion, to grieve the paren
with disobedience hurts the child NOR
than the strap. And the teacher VIII
wins the love Of her pupils has n
use for the ferrule. The new dispeI
sation under which we live Is the dii
pensation of love.