The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1910-03-04
THE RKFoRMERs UNDER 1HE ADMIN
IsTRAr1oN OF THE SPUZT.

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THE RKFoRMERs UNpER rHE ADMIN
IsTRAr1oN OF THE SPuzT-
Guide ron into an The truth. - Abade vat
you forever-Jno. IA: Dc. rs: I3.
The mission of the Holy Is 4
stimulate the memory to guide tn
disciples of Jesus into the Who'll
truth and to abide in the bosom Q
1.-THE Church. forever as a refresh
ment, guide, advocate and com
forter.
Il The work of inspiration advanced
so far in the first age of Christianit,
that spiritual body Of believer
was created in Christ. with Chris
as the living head of the new or
ganization and with the Holy
Spirit as the indwelling guest. Th'
truth was committed to writing II
a series of books known as the Ne.
Testament.
| Things went we'll with the new
church for many a year. Christ
Il was without a visible rival as tie
/ head of the church. Rome pursued
the church from without with
| harassing treatment. but Christ
welded the sword of the Spirit
from within. The simplicities OF
the gospel fulfilled all the require
ments of sinners and satisfied the
spiritual necessities of the saints
who were striving after the higher
levels of life.
In time came lapse. Caesarism
| had invaded the church. when Pa
gan Rome fell she bequeatbed to a
bishop sitting in the midst of her
ruins the proud titles won by her
sword. This magnified bishop, the
Pontifex Maxiums. became the
visible head of the church. The
spirit of prelacy, traditionalism,
ceremonialism, asceticism, mo-
MYSTICISM, sacerdotalism and sacra-
mentalism took the place of the
single ideals of the life of Christ.
Ceremonies and rites were multi
piled. The Bible was lost. Clouds
of superstition extinguished the
star of hope. The Gospel ship was
adrift upon an ocean of ecclesiasti-
cism without chart or compass. In
dulgences to sin were sold. Works
of superogation were practiced
that constituted reserve store of
merit from which the church could
draw to dispense to those whose
service was defective. By degrees
penance was extended to every
sin. An absolute Monarchy was es-
tablished in the bosom of the
church where once Christ was
magnihed in company OF brethren.
The Bible could not remain a
lost book, nor could the star OF
hope always remain unseen. The
age Of Professionalism was in the
mind of the Spirit. The Chris
tianity of the first century was on
its way to the Church. The sue
cessors of the apostles were equip
ping themselves for the revival oil
| Christianity. The work on the
plans of the Cologne Cathedral was
begun in 1850, but war and politi-
cal changes brought about a lapse
and left il unfinished. For several
centuries the book of drawings was
lost. Then under new circum-
stances the plans were found and in
1880 the work was resumed and
carried forward to a completion
1.-The resumption of the work on the
walls of the Cathedral represents
the beginning of Professionalism
which proceeded along four cardinal
| lines of development.
| Old legends tell us that when the
rising sun shone upon the statue
of Memnon. the figure uttered tune
full sounds. The Holy Spirit shons
upon the face of an apostolic sue
cessor by the name of Luther anC
the hero proclaimed again salvation
by grace as it was preached by
Paul. All those Scriptures bearing
upon the question of justification o.
the soul by a simple faith thai
trusts the promises of God anG
seeks to express itself in obedience
to the will of God. found their way
by the Holy Spirit through Luther
into the consciousness of Christen-
dom. Luther fonnd the Bible and
the work was resumed on the tenn
pie of God.
The sunshine of the Spirit smots
the brow of Calvin, another apos-
tolic successor. and this imperial
genius read in the ears of Christen.
dom that wonderful array Of
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