Milford chronicle., 1909-05-21
PULPIT.
Foreordination, Pre-
destination and
Election.
Pastor Russell's Discourse
at Glasgow, Scotland.

oO-s-.-.-'-s-s-s-.-s-.-.-
then surely he could have no plan Of
salvation for them. The entire prem
ise was wrong. The death into
which they went was not eternal tor
ment but the tomb. as represented by
the Hebrew word SHeol and the Greek
word Hddes And they can have nc
release from the tomb. no return to
consciousness or pain or pleasure until
the Second Coming of the Redeemer
in the morning Of the Resurrection.
Thank God, then. for the rolling
away Of the mists Of darkness and
error which permits us to see in the
Bible that the common salvation" :"
/ Gods provision for the world. will be
a Restitution. a restoration TO human
/ perfection in the rejuvenated earth,
/ worldwide Paradisel Thank God for
/ the promises to the effect that then
} "the knowledge Of the glory Of God
shall fill the whole earth as the waters
cover the great deep" and that the
Sun Of Righteousness shall arise with
healing in his beams;" that nothing
shall hurt or destroy or injure in all
Gods holy Kingdom;" that 1.-THE way
faring man, though simple. need not
err therein" and that a broad high
way shall be there as a way Of saliva
tiOn-a much travelled way-and that
all the redeemed Of the Lord shall
be privileged to 90 up thereon out
Of sin and death conditions 10 con
ditions Of life everlasting We thank
God, too. that those who shall re-
fuse to make proper progress and
shall fan Of that common salvation
because of willful sin will not be
permitted to live endlessly I'm sin, nor
In torment, but VIII be utterly de .
stroyed In the Second Death; because
God is able to destroy both soul and
body in Gehenna, the Second Death. /
We thank God also that the elect .
Church. under Christ the Captain of .
their salvation. are promised a share
I'm that glorious work of the Redeemer,
IN blessing all the families Of the earth
in bringing to them that common (gen-
eraD salvation.
Your High Calling.
If once we dreaded to think of Gods
grace toward us in accepting US as
members Of his elect Church, because
of the opposing thought of the damna-
tion of the nOnelect. we may now cor
respondingly rejoice the more in our
privilege of election. seeing that it
means our privilege Of sharing in the
worlds uplift under the direction of
our Lord. during his Mil
Iennial reign. The Apostle speaks of
the prospect Of the elect as "our High
Calling" and again, "our heavenly
Ealing" The thought is that we are
,alled to a very high honor and won
lerfu distinction and that on a heav-
,nly plane. The Gospel Church is in
'ited to experience a change of nature '
rom human to divine, from the high
st Of the earthly natures to the high
st Of the heavenly natures far above ;
nges and principalities and powers y
nd every name that is named-'joint l
eirs with Christ" "partakers of the
Divine nature" members Of the Il
Bride. the Lambs wife, L
Truly do the Scriptures tell that not Il
lany would be able to hear, to appre- u
late, to understand, to accept this
Ugh calling. The Divine arrangement u
f the call is elective, selective. 1t u
ppeals to some and does not appeal to d
theirs. 1t has an attraction for some 1
nd not for others. W
If we had here "a box Of sawdust and u
altered through it a paper Of tacks r.
ntil the latter were quite hidden from rs
lew, surrounded and covered in the 81
lwdust, we know that we could take .
magnet and. by passing it to and "
o amongst the sawdust, the magnet J'
Ould attract to itself every tack. 1t III
light indeed exercise a still further ai
traction upon some of the sawdust, u
1t the hold would be so slight that al
e could blow it of, while the tacks ls
ould be firmly held by reason of their sn
sponsiyeness to the magnetic infu o'
zee. The box Of sawdust represents III
e world Of mankind. The tacks OF
e illustration represent a small class ne
humanity, Jealous at heart for God cu
d for righteousness. The magnet '"
presents the Gospel invitation which an
now passed up and down, hither and pr
ither throughout the civilized world, ge
d to some extent, into the heather ne
rid.
t is not the design Of the Lord to
ct, select. choose, gather all man M
Id Qhe sawdusO by the magnet; sol
rely he would now gather the true be-
lrted, represented by the specks of we
el the tacks. The Illustration might be
enlarged by supposing some other ne
ks of other metallic composition not a r
subject to the magnetic influence as ina
steel The Illustration Of these en'
uld represent mixed characters. such wO
we see about US in the world every ito
to