The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-03-22

unto Thy peace but now they are ma lIom I
thine eyes" luke xix, 42).
oOO--.-.-.-.-s-.-s-.s." s."o-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s"sO
centuries. Thank God the day is near
at hand, when, at the second coming Of
Messiah, his Kingdom shall be turned
over to them. And then. as he de-
clares, they will be glad to say, "Bless-
ed is he that cometh In the name of
the Lord" The long centuries of per-
secutlon and separation from Gods
favor will have brought that people
to u humber condition Of heart, where
they will be glad to receive of Divine
grace upon Divine terms. To this
great event st. Paul refers us In Ro-
mans xl, 27-34.
Although God foreknew all that had
happened the offer of the Kingdom to
Israel was just as bona-fde, just as
genuine, as though he had not known
it. God always does his partl What
ever failure there is In any matter of
contract belongs to humanity.
If thus we have before our minds
the origin of Palm Sunday and what
1t slgnified as the climax of the test of
natural Israel in respect to Messiah,
we nre prepared TO go further and to
note that In Gods providence there is
n similar test for us Christians.
"Enen,ies For Your Sakes."
st. John emphasized particularly the
fact that the rejection of the Jewi- /
nation, because of their rejection Of
Messiah, did not apply to all the In
diylduals Of that nation. AS the
Prophet Isaiah had foretold Romans
tx, 2T-33) there was n small, faithful
section or remnant" This remnant
accepted Christ and were by him ac-
cepted anG becDme the nucleus or
foundation of Spiritual Israel cn the
Day of Pertecost. Thus we read. "He
came unto his own mation) and his
own received him not (as natlon);
but to as many as received him, to
them gave he liberty priviege) to be-
come sons of God, even to them that
believed on his name; which were be-
gotten not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God"-at Pentecost Uohn |, 11-13).
Thus so far as the spiritual part of
Gods great promise to Abraham Is
concerned It has passed from the Jew
ish nation; but there still remains for
them glorious earthly portion, to
which they will be introduced Mt our
Lords second coming. Then their
sins viii be cancelled, and as people
the Hebrews will return to Divine
! favor and will inherit the earthly fea-
lures of the promise made to their
fathers Then, through them, Gods
blessing will be extended to all ma
tions and peoples under lsrael's New
Covenant, which Will then become op-
eratlve at the hands of their great
Mediator-the Christ, the Messiah in
glory. But by that time the election
of the saints of this Gospel Age will be
complete and the Messiah In glory will
include Jesus the Head and the Church
his -joint-helrs with him in his
Kingdom joint-heirs with him In the
| spiritual features of the great Abra
hamic promise Galatians iil, 2W.
All this Is clearly stated by the
Apostle In Romans XII, 25-32. But
somehow our eyes OF understanding aa
Christians have been holden so that
until OF late, we have not seen these
lengths and breadths, these heights
and depths, of Divine Love and Wis
dom and arrangement. The fact that
we now see these things Is n corrobo
ratlye evidence that they are nigh n
hand Just so II was Mt our Lords
first advent Many things pertaining
to that time were completely bidder
until the time OF their fulhllmen
came. and then only the "Wlse Vlr
gins" were so blessed, 50 assisted
that they trimmed their lamps effec
lively and were enabled to see thcs,
beauties In the Divine Plan.
The Time OF Our Visitation.
Apparently very few of Gods peo
pie, until recently, have noted the fac
that Spiritual Israel has had parable
history TO hat of Natural Israel Few
have seen that these are dealt will
all through the Scriptures as type ant
antltype. Few have noticed that from
the death of Jacob TO the deatf o.
Jesus finds Its exact parallel OF 1,S45h
years between the death of Jesus ant
our day. Few have noticed that II
both cases there Is nominal and {
real Israel. The nominal Jewish sys
TEN was tried and all but the Israel
ties indeed" failed. Likewise will b,
the experience of Spiritual Israel. Th,
nominal Christian systems VIII b,
tried, and all Will fall except the splr
lt.bcgottcn aud faithful As only {
remnant or small number were founC
IN the proper condition Mt the frs
advent so the Scriptures clearly init
mate that only small number will
be found sufficiently sanity aud zeal
Gus and loyal to the Lord and tn,
principles of his Truth In the end o
this age, to graduate with first honors
AZ there was special period o
testing and trying at the close of TIN
Jewish Age, lasting for forty years. SO
the Scriptures clearly indicate, ther