The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-01-25
NE IS NOT ASHAMED
TO CALL THEM BRETHREN"

~ OVAS suu6tU 0t.6 uuNIAU
HE that Sanetifieth and they that
are Sanetified are all Of One (eharac-
teri: For which cause He Is not
ashamed to call Them erethren."-
Heb. 2:11.
Cleveland, Ohio, Jan. "a. Pastor
Russell preached here to-day in the
Htppodromo to an audience of about
i've thousand of Clevelands most in
telligent people. We report one of his
dis courses, from the above text. The
speaker said
No novel. NO plot ever brought upon
a stage can compare with the great
drama OF humanity, as outlined In the
Scriptures. "All the world s a stage"
was, perhaps, truer saying than its
author appreciated. God, the great Au-
thor of all this, has staged the Divine
drama Of the Universe; has employed
the families of earth as unwilling &C
tors In various parts of the perform
ance, and has all the angels OF heaven
for an audience, and with them that
portion of humanity which, while TAX
ing the leading part in the acting, is
also privileged to have the most init
> mate association with the great Play
wright and his entire program. These
last are Scripturally known as the
"elect,'' the little flock 1.-The saints
the brethren" The ma sses who take
part in the performance have practi-
cally no appreciation of what they are
doing, or how the great plot will event
uate in a grand finale of GLORY to God
in the Highest, peace on earth, good
will amongst men, and every voice
in heaven and in earth and every
where ascribing praise and honor and
dominion and might to him that sit
teth upon the Throne and to the Lamb
forever.
THE OPENING TRAGEDY.
The hrst act is tragedy. Our
first parents. perfect and amidst per
feet surroundings, are disobedient to
their Creator and thereby come under
the sentence OF death - Dying thou
shalt die The Carrying out OF the
sentence involves their expulsion from
Eden. their alienation from Divine ia
vor, their toiling, contention with
thorns and thistles for the mainte
nance OF life. As sin brought sorrow
more sin brought more sorrow, not
only to the dying pair. but, naturally
to all their offspring, who have inner,
tied only what the parents had to give
-blemished conditions under death
sentence. AS centuries roll by, the
higher elements of character, which
were in the image of God. become de-
PRAYED. The reign of sin soon holds
the sway. Violence fills the earth
strife, sefishness, contention. The hui
| man family scatters throughout the
earth. seeking elysian fields. but not
finding them. Degradation and death
continue their hold, while certain fall
len angels prey upon the human fam
lily and seek to entice them into evil
and would do much more OF this. II
Divinely permitted. Unwilling to re-
tain God in their minds, loving sin
and its momentary pleasures, God per
mits the sinners to take their course
and some of them go down almost tc
the level Of the brute-and some. in
deed, below that level. What a sad
sight and terrible tragedy. None ever
staged can compare to 1t, either IN
length or breadth or height or depth.
One lesson of this tragedy is 1.-The
exceeding sinfulness of sin" and the
downwardness OF it's tendency. An
other lesson is the infiexible justice
OF God and the certainty of the pen
atty he announces. There is nothing
in the penalty to suggest eternal tor
ment and we should not permit tina,
doctrine of demons to have any place
in the real drama. The truth is sad
| enough. The reign OF sin and sorrow
suffering and death. as we see then
about us, are surely an awful penalty
for the disobedieCce-the death pen
atty. which our Lord prescribes. In
this death sentence Justice is thor
o,rghly INDICATED.
MERCY ENTERS THE SCENE.
For more than Four Thousand Year;
this one lesson OF the infexio ility o.