St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1910-08-06
JERUSALEM
BY Pastor Russell
Brooklyn, N. Y.

Comfort We. comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak We comfortably
to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her
iniquity is pardoned: for she hath re-
ceived of the Lords hand double for all
her sins. lisa. I'LL. 2
Christendom, with united voice, ad-
mits that all of the divine revelation
came to and through the Hebrew PEG.
pie. Listen to the argument Of the
Apostle Paul. What advantage then
hath the Jew? Or what profit Is there
of circumcision? Much every way;
chiefly, because that unto them were
committed the oracies Of God"-the
Divine message respecting the Divine
purposes, present and to come. The
Apostle again informs us that the en-.
tire Gospel message was briefly COM
pretended In the Creators promise to
Abraham. In thy seed shall all the
families of the earth be blessed" (Gal.
atians iii, 81.
1t was the most natural thing i'm
aginable for the Jewish nation to sup
pose that the giving to them of the
law at Mount Sinai, through the medi-
atorship of Moses, was the fulfllment
of the promise to Abraham. Never
theless they were mistaken
IsraePs mediator, and the sacrificing
priests, and the sacrifices they offered
and their Tabernacle, with its holy
and most holy, and the temple, and
all the features of the law Covenant
were types or foreshadows of the bet
ter sacrifices" higher priesthood, bet
ter mediator, and glorious blessings
of eternal forgiveness and reconcilia-
ton yet to be accomplished. Never
theless the period of Israers types
was not wasted. Not only were the
types there given, but at the same
time a special class of agents were
selected: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and
all the prophets and worthy ones of
that age, holy, consecrated to God,
and accepted as agents qualified for
the kingdom conditions. OF these the
scriptures declare, They fell asleep"
They are still asleep in the dust of
the earth, awaiting the glorious res
direction morning, and a grand share
then with Messiah in the work then
to be accomplished. In their lifetime,
they were styled the fathers, because
Messiah was fortold to be of the pos
terity of Abraham, and also "David's
Son."
But other scriptures without con-
tradict1ng these statements, show us
distinctly that "David's Son" and Alb
raham's Seed" Is to be lord and faith
er of both David and Abraham. Thus
we read. Instead of thy fathers shall
be thy children, whom thou mayest
make princes in all the earth" psalm
xiv, l6). David's son, Messiah, will
be David's father, or life-giver, when
he will raise David from the dead.
Similarly he will be the father of all
of those ancient worthless; and as
David's Lord, and Lord of lords"
it will be his pleasure to appoint
the Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and
all of the ancient worthless, and
prophets. and faithful ones glo-
rious share with himself in the
great Messianic kingdom, which he
Is about to set up for the ruling
and blessing of Israel and all the ma,
tions of the earth
Glance with me at three different
statements by the lord through the
prophets of Israel respecting Israers
double" of experience: The first, an
experience of Gods favor; the second,
an experience of equal length without
divine favor.
Turn now to Zechariah's prophecy,
and note that prophetically he takes
his standpoint at the very time when
the second part of the double" began.
His words are, Even today do de-
clare that l will render double unto
thee (Zechariah tx, 12).
Come next to our text, and note
that the prophet Isaiah stands with
us, and views the matter from the
standpoint that the double" of expe
rience has been fulfilled: Speak COM
fortably unto Jerusalem, cry unto her
that her appointed time is accom-.
plished, because she hath received at
the lords hands double 1.-TWO equal
standing that this double" reached
fulfillment in the year 1878 A. D., and
since that date we have been declar-
Ing to the best of our ability, as the |
lord granted opportunity, these COM
forting words to Israel, assuring Gods |
chosen people that their period of dis
favor has ended, and that they are
gradually returning to prosperity, that |
divine favor began with them in 1878. |
Yea, more than this, our sermons
which to some extent reflect this fea-
ture of the divine program relating to
[sraeps restoration to divine favor, are
being read to considerable extent by
Hebrews as we'll as by Christians;
their eyes are gradually opening, as
the scriptures foretell they shall do.
Israeps history as a nation began
with the death Of Jacob, when he gave
his blessing to the IL tribes The Pc
riod from that time to the death of
Jesus, according to the scriptures,
was 1845 years; and a like Pc
Rod of disfavor, measuring from the
day of Jesus rejection marks the year
1878, as the end of IsraePs disfavor-
the time when the message of comfort
should go forth. However, divine fa-
vor was only gradually taken from Is-
rael, and altogether a period of SO
years intervene between the death
of Jesus and the utter destruction of
Jerusalem. Similarly we should ex-
pect that the return of favor would
he gradual Hike neriod of "a voorc.