The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-23


nee. They give up all earthly rights
and ambitions and accept instead the
will of God, the will of Christ, the
Holy Spirit. that they may walk in
very beginning of their Christian ex-
perience all OF these members of the
Royal Priesthood, in the present life,
pass through difficulties which arise
from three different sources:
I'd The Adversary is in opposition
to them and will do them all the harm
the Lord will permit. Their protection
is the Divine promise that they will
that they will be able to bear-that
the Lord will supervise their interests
SO that with every temptation there
Will be provided a way of escape.
CD They are in a world that is dark
with sin and selfishness, superstition
and ignorance of God and out of har-
mony with his righteousness. The
world and its spirit surge about them
every day, from morning until night.
Its tides and currents seek to sweep
them away from their resolutions of
self-sacrifice and loyalty to God and
righteousness. In various ways it
holds out to them enchanting pros
poets. pleasures and riches, ease and
even though it be known that COM
paratively few who follow the worlds
beckening and allufements ever re-
ceive the fulfillment of the promises
(3) The great fight of the New Crea-
ture, his closest and most persistent
adversary. is his own flesh. The long
ingS of his depraved nature cry out
against restraints and insist that he
Is taking an unreasonable course in
that he undertakes to follow the Lord
Jesus. and thus to go in an opposite
direction from the course of the world
and at the cost of the crucifixion, the
modification of his own flesh and
his natural DFQfAr0ncRs
Thus viewed every Spirit-begetten
Christian is an object of sympathy
from the Divine standpoint, and this
should be their standpoint toward
sympathy. The world sees not. neither
does it understand nor appreciate the
exceeding great and precious promises
which lie behind the conservation of
borns." So much the more each of
these brethren, "dearly beloved"
should have sympathy for each other,
and should encourage one another,
strengthen one another. build one an
other up in the most holy faith, and,
by all means, do nothing to stumble
each other in the narrow way.
The saints" cannot fight Satan.
They can merely by their wills re-
sist him and rely upon the promises
saints" cannot conquer the world and
convert it to God-that is too Hercu-
lean a task God, as we have seen,
has provided the thousand years of
Messiah's reign for that purpose-to
conquer the world. to overthrow sin
and to uplift the willing and obedient
of humanity But the saints" must
all overcome the world in the sense
of resisting it's spirit and keeping their
hearts loyal to God, loyal to their
have made to him. The heavenly
promises with the still greater re-
wards of glories far above anything
that the world has to offer, are the
greatest aids of this resistance or the
worldly spirit.
The great work for the church is
the good fight of faith manifested In
the putting away of the filth of their
own flesh and spirit. Some by ma
ture have more filth of the flesh and
ness, more natural depravity, ETC.,
than have others. Nevertheless, the
race is not to the swift. nor the bat
tie to the strong; for the Lords ar
Royal Priesthood is that he shall be
judged according to the spirit or in
tention, and not according to the
flesh. From the time of the Chris
tian's conservation to the Lord he is
reckoned dead as a human being and
alive as spirit being. His test or
trial is not with view to seeing
whether or not he can do the i'm
possible thing of living an absolutely
perfect life in an imperfect body His
trial or test, on the contrary, is to see
to what extent his mind his will, fights
a good fight against his natural weak
nesses and frailties. There is none
righteous. no. not one" All the try
ing in the world could not prove this
Divine statement an incorrect one:
Righteousness of the will, holiness OF
heart, purity of heart, are the possibil-
tiles; for these God seeks and these he
will reward in the First Resurrec-
ton by granting perfect spirit bodies,
in full harmony with their pure hearts,
their loyal intentions and purposes.
How to Put Away Filth of the Flesh
If it is impossible for the New
Creature to perfect the flesh, what
does the apostle mean by urging the
saints to cleanse themselves from the