The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1910-06-21

preached here twice today to large and
attentive audiences. We report his
discourse from the text, 81, the Lord
thy God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquities of the fathers upon the chill
dren unto the third and fourth genera
ton of them that hate me; and show
ing mercy unto thousands of them that
love me and keep my commandments"
deuteronomy v, 8. 10). A report of
the discourse follows
No one of experience can question
the fact that our text Is corroborated
| by all our experiences In life How
ever unjust some may claim it to be
that the children should inherit the
weaknesses resulting from parental
designations and violations of the Di-
| vine law, the fact remains that how
ever atheism may question the exist
ence of God or infidelity doubt the
| inspiration of his Word, no one can
| question the two facts of this text, ~.
that sin and its penalty can be inherit
ed and (2) the fact that God is merci-
| full to such as renounce sin and turn
to him and seek to walk according to
his direction. However these bless
ings upon evil doors and their children
and these blessings upon well doors
and their posterty may be termed
natural laws and laws Of heredity, it
does not alter the fact, because the Al
mighty Is the one who made these
laws of heredity
Under the delusion handed down to
Us from the dark ages"-that God
had condemned to eternal torment all
the children of Adam because of his
sin-we are all inclined properly
enough to feel rebellious against any
such matter and to assert that from
the standpoint of human reasoning
1t would be entirely unjust to torture
the posterity of Adam eternally for
his nsgression-"original sim" But
as we get the eyes of our understand
| ing opened to see what Is the real
penalty for sin, that 1t is death. ex-
tinction, and that our perfect parents.
fully Informed respecting the divine
will. were culpable, worthy of death.
and when we learn further that what
ever is enjoyed by Adams posterity
In the way of life, however disad-
vantageous the conditions, is so
much of divine leniency and mercy
and comes so much short of being
the full penalty. death. extinction
then we begin to see that life under
| any conditions and disadvantages is
still boon, better than extinction.
| In Wrath Have Mercy, Lord.
Recognizing the wrath of God as
manifested In the death penalty mot
! In an eternity of torture) we can see
that the Scriptures everywhere de,
clare that the wrath of God is resting
upon our race; that every member of
| it is subject to this very penalty which
came upon father Adam and has been
entailed upon all of his posterity.
The Almighty Creator did not wait
for us to cry out for his pity and
compassion. but from the very be-
ginning, foreknowing our fall into sin.
he had the plan arranged for our re-
demption and ultimate recovery from
| this condition of wrath. curse. death.
We are informed that our Lord Jesus
was the Lamb of God slain from the
foundation of the world-in the Divine
purpose and arrangement-though only
now being made manifest to the
Church and shortly to the world. Thus
viewed there has been no injustice
practised against our race In permit
| ting the children to share with their
| father Adam in his penalty Rather
they had esteemed 1t and do esteem II
better than the sentence itself. and
| furthermore in the Lords provtdences
| the worlds present experiences In the
| fall and later on in the recovery from
| the fall In the hands of the great Re
| deemer during the MiIlennial Age. is
to prove a lesson. schooling. in the
exceeding sinfulness of sin. which the
race as q whole will never forget and
out of which many NOW the Church.
later on the world will draw lessons
of wisdom and grace
Looking still more deeply into the
| Divine Plan as 1t is revealed in the
Lords Word for those who are his
| psalm XIV. A. we find particular
reason why it was not only advisable
but necessary that this law of heredity
should operate in our race. even though
1t brought In its train terrible list of
experiences to our race. The reason
| for this is based upon one element OF
| the Divine Observation-Disclosures very
element which at one time we sup
posed was violated by this law of
heredity. As our eyes open to the
teaching of the Scriptures we perceive
that If God had not permitted his law
Of heredity to operate but had per-
mitted each individual of the race to
come forth to perfection and to stand
an individual trial such as father Adam
was subject to. 1t would doubtless
| have meant that at least one-half Of
the race. possibly more. would have
deliberately chosen course of sin as
| father Adam chose 1t. To expect more
| than one-half to be obedient would be
unreasonable. Rather. from what we
see about US in the experiences of life.
| we would have been liable to conclude
that only a very small majority, per-
haps oDe-tenth. would have been ODE
dent to God while the remaining nine
tenths would have been disobedient.
Some might ask, Would not even
that have been better than the Divine
| arrangement as we see it operating
now, that the whole race should suf-
fer for one mans disobedience? We
answer, No! Not according to the tes-
timony of the Scriptures The Bible
shows us that while this law of retrf-
button has worked such terrible havoc
In Adam and his race for now 5000
years-while 10000, 100000 have been
born In sin and sorrow and pain and
after few years of trouble have died
In sorrow and pain, nevertheless In
Gods due time all of these shall have
more favorable opportunities of know
| ing of Gods true character and of at
tanning to full character development
In his likeness during the Millennial
Age. This means that probably more
will gain eternal life and blessing I'M
der the divine arrangement as we have
1t than we could reasonably expect
would have been saved had the Lord
not provided this law of heredity and
condemnation of all, but on ihe con-
trary had permitted each to be born
IN perfection and to stand his trial as
between loyalty to God with the re-
ward of eternal life or disobedience
punished with death. But we shall
see that it means much more than this.
Condemned In one-Redeemed by One.
A great economic law is connected
with the divine arrangement: The
condemnation of race In one mans
L IT Arnr lon,