The Penn's Grove record., 1909-10-08

tangled; that habit grows in power;
that it is impossible to put the clock
back; that wrongdoing sticks and
clings and ones omissions and fall
ures tend to lose their negative power
and in time become stumbling blocks,
and we are in the ENHANCEMENT pro-
duced by sin, and then we hear the
message of salvation. Woe betide
the religion which then holds out
false hopes to the man. Thousands
of men are asking: What do you
preachers mean precisely by the for
g%iyeness of sin? Personally, / be-
iieye with-all my heart and soul in
the forgiveness of sin. There is a
certain process, a principle, to which
/ want to call your attention, and l
want to give that principle a certain
name, which name, l warn you, IS not
absolutely accurate, but which is
brief and approximates to accuracy.
1t is not my thought; Ihave borrowed
it. The name is this: Goods second
best" 1 believe, if we are to under
stand the doctrine Of forgiveness We
must hold this truth of Gods second
best" l will try to illustrate this
L 81 III d41s lnO O1OAC O0OaS Tia tAN
Jewish people were designed to stand
before the nations of the world as
the people of God, being obviously led
and guided by the Immediate spirit
ual control of the n true God. As
a scholar, now dead, put it, "Israelwas
to be so ~passionately devoted to God
and to be so sensitive to the divine
will that Israel was to need no human
rule or government to compel them tc
do right. They were to live in the
immediate intercourse with God
Israel had no king at the beginning,
They were under Gods care and they
were to stand before the world as al
object lesson.
That was Israel's first best. The
books of Judges and Samuel tell the
story of Israel's degeneration from
this first best. There came a time
when the people said it was absolute.
ly necessary that they should have a
king. Samuel was grieved at this de-
liberate remuneration of Gods first
best, and demonstrated. But the peo-
pie pressed him, and he prayed to
Jehovah, and when he had done so he
began to see that after all he must ac-
Quiesce. Note the bearing of this on
the meaning of forgiveness. God is
represented as acquiescing in the ac-
ton of the people, and He says, Let
them have their king"
Samuel says, The Lord will not
torsake His people for His great
names sake" God is not going to be
tickle because you are.
Thus it is shown that God is con.
sistent with Himself. God has
planned a certain plan. Smash it as
you please. You will not defeat God.
But the kings passed away. Their
existence was but a parenthesis in
IsraeTs history. The prophets re
Jnained still to hold up the idea of
divine sovereignty until John the
Baptist came and Jesus came, in
whom the prophetship and kingship
and priesthood were all realized to-
gether. You perceive that God is
faithful throughout. He never al
ters the eternal plan 'tfor His great
names sake"
Forgiveness is not a spasm with
God. 1t is not a mood which you
create in God by your appeal to Him.
Forgiveness is the perpetual condi-
ton of the divine power. If God were
a being in whom spasms of forgive-
ness could be created we would ultf-
mately not revere Him. The utterly
Rwesome thing is that there is always
forgiveness, that Thou mayest be
feared" He has never altered His
mind with regard to us for one single
moment. He has been holding out
His arms of forgiveness while we
have been throwing chance after
chance away. The hospitality Of Ged
Is open still,