The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-12-05

life. Asked why so few of the wealthy
attended. his Characteristic reply was
"of my Master it Is written, The con.
mon people heard him gladly" He
spoke from the following text
''The Lord, whom ye seek. shall sud.
denly come to his temple. oven the Mes
senger of the covenant, whom We delight
IN. Behold he shall come. saith Jehovah
or Hosts; but who may abide the day OF
his coming9"-Malachi iii. 1-5.
Six thousand years ago in Eden our
Maker, in justly sentencing his disc.
bedient children to death, intlmated
that ultimately the Seed of the woman
would bruise the serpent's head. This
hidden promise was the first intima-
tion Of the Divine mercy which our
gracious Creator purposed In himself
from before the foundation of the
world. Ever noble, kind and gracious
our Creator restrained his mercy for
the good of his creatures-that they
might learn to appreciate the exceed
Ing sinfulness Of sin. For the good of
the angels also, and that they might
fully know Of his justice, as well as
of his wisdom and power, God insisted
upon dealing with his creatures from
the standpoint of exact justice They
had slnned and thereby had forfeited
all claim upon the eternal life which
he had given them conditionally.
Eternal torment, as we have already
seen, did not In any sense or degree
enter into the Divine intention. His
sentence upon man, plainly stated,
was, Dying thou shalt die" not, Liv-
ing thou shalt live In torment. "The
soul that sinneth 1t shall die" Genesis
ii, II; Ezekiel xviii, A.. God intended
to exemplify in his dealings with our
race principle of Divine government
to be made operative everywhere-ulti-
mately amongst all his creatures on
the spirit plane, as well as upon the
earthly.
Long centuries after, I'm the seventh
generation of Adams children, God
spoke prophetically through one of
these, Enoch, saying. The Lord cometh
with ten thousands of his holy ones to
execute justice in the earth-to estab-
llsh Righteousness amongst men. Time
passed on, but sin prevailed and the
coming Of the Great Deliverer was still
future.
Next God spoke to Abraham, after
first he had tested his faith and loyal
ty. To him he mentioned the same
great Deliverer who would brulse the
serpent's head and who would come in
great glory with ten thousands of his
holy ones. To Abraham he gave as
surance that this One, In some way,
would be identified with his posterity,
so that he might properly be called the
Seed Of Abraham. He said, "In thy
Seed shall all the families of the earth
be blessed"
The Divine Programme was not
changed, but more explicit statements
were given respecting 1t. Thereafter
all taught of God would know TO
look for the Messianic blessing through
Abraham's Seed. Besides, the Cove
nant was afterward confirmed with an
Oath TO Abraham; later, to Isaac; later,
to Jacob That Covenant promise be-
came the basis Of Gods adoption of
the entire nation Of Israel-all Of ia
cob's children. They were heirs of the
Abrahamic Covenant-the Oath-Bound
Covenant. If so great an honor from
the Almighty God has made some Of
the Jewish people at times to appear
arrogant and proud, let us not forget
that to err is human--to forgive, Di.
vine. Perhaps If we were in their
nINN Inn
larly display themselves.
Gods Covenant Of the Law.
Israel's experiences OF tribulation and
bondage in Egypt were probably nee
essary to prepare them for Gods great
proposition-that they should keep the
Law and as a reward have life ever
lasting AS II is written, "He that
doeth these things shall live by them"
Ueviticus xviii 81. Israel greatly re-
Jolced In this manifestation of Divine
preference for them more than for all
Others Of humanity. The Law Cove
nant was mediated. The sacrifice Of
bulls and of goats made typical atone
ment for them for year, so that they
might enter Into this Covenant rela-
tionship with God. But when they at
tempted TO keep the Law they were
disappointed They failed. The Law
Of God being the full measure of per-
feet mans ability. and the Jews, like
other men, being imperfect, found that
they had undertaken an impossibiliry.
Not a Jew kept the Law perfectly.
Not a Jew. therefore. gained eternal
life during the first year. But God,
foreknowing this. had made prepare,
ton for repetition Of the Atonement |
Day every year. so that the peopls
might continue striving to attain eter
nal life. Year after year. century after
century, they failed, and discourage
ment took the place of hope. God was
teaching them great lesson respect
ilea the need OF .beflfr sgfrtfces thQllI
IVA "a eQesa& i fRafSf an sol