The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-07-07

Truly, that will be glorious epoch,
when to the great Deliverer every
knee shnll bow and every tongue CEN
fess, to the glory Of God" 1t will be
grand, indeed. to witness during the
thousand years of Christ's reign tho
gradual liberation Of the slaves of Sin
and Death-their gradual attainment
of full mastery over their weaknesses
and imperfections by the assistance of
the great Emancipator. Many of these
poor slaves went down TO the tomb in
fearful anticipation of future of eter-
nal torment. How glad they will be
when they awake from the sleep Of
death, realizing it as only momentary
Interim! They will be advised of the
fact-that the Redemption price has
been paid by Jesus and that, there
fore, he is fully qualified and empow-
cred to set them free in every sense OF
the word-not only from the coRdemnG-
ton of death, but also from the actual
blight Of death-the mental, moral and
physical weaknesses, which are ele-
ments of the death sentence.
True, the Scriptures intimate that all
will not appreciate the privilege of
emancipation from the dominion of Sin
and Death 1t is not for us to specu-
late as to the number who win ulti-
mately be set free. 1t is sufficient for
us to know that all will be brought to
full opportunity of attaining or re-
jecting the emancipation privileges.
All will be free in the sense that none
will die the Second Death, except by
his own wilful, deliberate sympathy
with sin and rejection of the righteous
and liberal terms of the Great Liberator.
Not Only They but Ourselves.
Pursuing the subject. the Apostle
marks the Church of this Gospel Age
as separate and distinct from the
world He shows that those who re-
ceive the begetting of the holy Spirit
now, are already children of God, and
already enjoying full freedom, full lib
Grafton from the condemnation of Sin
and Death. He says, And not only
they (the groaning creation, the world),
but ourselves also the spirit-begotten
Church of this age), which have the
first fruits of the Spirit, even we our
:" selves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the reden,p-
ton (deliverance) Of our Body"-"the
Body of Christ, which Is the Church"
Verse %; Corinthians xii, 20.
The Apostle is here pointing out that
while the world is groaniug under its
share of the Adamic condemnation, be-
levers in Christ also groan-though in
different manner. The world groanS
and travails, waiting for the ChMrch's
: manifestation-"the manifestation Of
the Sons of God" The Church groans,
not outwardly, but inwardly, while
waiting for something different. The
world is waiting for the manifesto
, ton of the Sons of God, because Now
, are we the Sons OF Cod q John iii,
p. Our salvation will come, therefore,
! before this manifestation of the Sons
, of God, which will bring release to the
world The elect Church is toaiti,i1
! for the adoption. the deliverance of the
, Body in the First Resurrection Our
. Heavenly Father has already granted
, US the spirit of adoption whereby we
= can cry, abba. Father" but our adop-
/ ton is not yet accomplished, COM
) pleted. We are already set free in our
minds from the Law of Sin and Death,
but will not be entirely free until our
q adoption shall be completed by our
, resurrection change The adoption OF
, the Church by the Father viii be her
full entrance into the liberty of the
Sons of God, her full entrance into per-
, lection, changed in Il moment, in the
, twinkling of an eye" q Cor XIV, J2).
, The Apostle continues the same
. thought. pointing out that the saliva
ton of the Church at the present time
is not her actual or complete salvation,
but Representation or a faith-salva-
ton. He points out that what we hope
for is to be brought unto us at the
revelation of our Lord and Savior Je-
sus Christ. at his second advent He
points out that, in the meantime, II
, we have this hope as an anchor to our
, souls, it will lead us to be patient in
waiting for the glorious things of the
Divine arrangement. 1t will lead us
to wait patiently for the Lords time
7 for our own blessing and further op-
5 portunity for service in bestowing
Gods blessings upon the world. We
5 are TO wait for our delverance. with
I patience. and in this we shall be exer-
= cising and developing one of the
/ Sraces of the holy Spirit necessary for
| our perfecting. 1t is not sufficient
that we learn to lore liberty; we must
! learn full submission to the Divine will
= and to receive our liberty, in kind and
2 in time, according to the good pleas
{ ure of the Father.
t The expression. 1.-THE redemption OF
our Body" does not refer to the Lords
people. individually, for each of us
: will have q separate body in the resur-
t rection. The Apostles thought is that
t of the Scriptures In general. namely,
that there is one Body, which is the
2 Church; and that, so far as our COM
} plete adoption by the Father is con-
. cerned, this must be done in unison;
= he will not receive the Church sepa-
. rately, member by member, bat alto
gether. at the close of this age Then
: so many as shall have fought the good
2 fight of faith and finished their course.
1 so many as shall be found worthy Il
| place with our Lord in his throne will
= be Changed in the "I'irst Rcsurrec-
. tim frhpSp will ln DrnSaDtc1 tnrat n.