The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-11-29

UNJUST. Dul DINlIt JuoNiNS No"H' NV
allow this. unless with the consent OF
the sufferer. Hence we read that God
set before his only.begotten Son
glorious Plan and invited his co-opera.
tiun therein. The Son ussented. left
the heavenly glory, was made flesh
and Offered himself" an acceptable
sacrifice. the Just for the UNJUST
for the redemption of Adam and his
race. The Father honOred him by
raising him from the dead to still
higher glory and honor than he had
before to ilnmortality-the divine ma
ture. Now. from his glorious station.
he is empowered to be the Mediator
between God and men-between Di-
vine Justice and fallen humanity. He
Is empowered to give the earthly
rights which he sacrifcially laid down
for Adam and his race-to so many OF
them as will accept the perfection of
human nature and its rights and priv
lleges upon terms in harmony with the
Divine Law-the remainder he will de-
stroy. annihilate las brute beasts" I'll
Peter II. IL; Acts iii. 23).
AS though all this were not suffi-
ciently wonderful; as though with all
this the Heavenly Fathers Wisdom,
Justice. Love and Power would not
be sufficiently illustrated, exempllfied,
God added another feature. Before
beginning to deal with the world as a
whole to give back to the willing and
obedient of the race human perfection
and an earthly Eden Paradise and
eternal life; before commencing this
work Of restitution (Acts lii. 19), the
Father made known to the Son anOth-
er feature of his Plan. He would give
to the Son Bride, class selected
from amongst the fallen race-called,
chosen. faithful overcomers. These,
as the Joint-Heirs of the Second
Adam, will share with him in the up
lifting of those of Adams race who
will become the children of Christ
through obedience and adoption.
The trials and testlngs of all those
who will become the Bride of Christ
must be similar to those of the Re-
deemer They must suffer with him
| u lutH WpuIu ItlSh Win ulIu. AS uG
sacrificed his earthly life and rights
and interests, so must they. He ex-
horted them. present your bodies liv~
Ing sacrifices, holy and acceptable to
God, reasonable service" Nomans
xii, II. True. there is n difference be-
tween these followers of Jesus and the
Captain of their salvation. He was
| hrpItnht int hn hnI han
undefied and separate from sinners;
hence his sacrifice is perfect one.
Those accepted as his members, as his
Bride, belong to the race Of sinners.
They were children of wrath even as
others" (Epheslans II. 81. Their ac-
ceptance as sacrifices, therefore, was
not possible except as the great Cap.
tain of their Salvation imputed to those
sacrifices sufiiciency Of the merit Of
his sacrifice to compensate for their
defects and to make their sacrifices ac-
ceptable to the Father with his and as
a part of his-they being counted In
with him as "members of his Body"
My dear friends, those of us who
have the eye of faith and The hearing
Of faith to appreciate this, the Message
of Gods Word may surely be thankful
to the last degree. What more could
our Heavenly Father do for us than he
has done-redeeming us. inviting us
to new nature, giving us the aids by
the way, and making us sharers In the
Kingdom glory of his Son? More than
this he has been blessing our friends,
our children. our parents, our neigh
bors, the heathen-all of mankind, of
one family.
Thanks Because God Is Good.
30, give thanks unto the Lord, for he
is good; for his mercy endureth for
ever!" During this Gospel Age his
mercy has been manifest to all those
who take up their cross and follow
Jesus. BY and by these will be glorl
fed by the "First Resurrection" Then
his mercy will return to natural Israel
under the New Covenant Jeremiah
XXI. 81. of which Christ and the
Church are cable Minister'S" Servants
Priests and Kings. Could all the world
discern, through the trials and tears
and sorrows and imperfections and dy
inS VI lleir pTsSeut experiences, tHe SIo
rlous outcome which God Is providing
the whole world, they would be fillet
with praise to him who loved us ant
bought us back from the penalty o
death and who ultimately will com
: plete his glorious work through Mes
, siah's Kingdom.
Have we not, as followers of tn,
, Lord, as Christians, misrepresented tn,
, facts of the case and endeavored t.
have people give thanks to God TO
unkindness injustice, lovelessness-t'
h God whose mercy never reached u
! and would never reach any but n small
: proportion of our race through tn,
knowledge of Christ; to God whos'
! mercy, even to the one-tenth of thos
| who had ever heard of him, he said
would endure only for the present lif
and even among these bring blessing
, only to mere handful of the electl
, Let us go back to the Word of Got
, and free our minds of the prejudice
OF superstition and misinterpretatiol
, handed down from the Dark Ages