The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1910-02-19

AfuNdN VI Nf
ly OF your nrighbors as you would
have Hhem speak Of your or do you
hold up their lmperfeciiuus 10 rldicule,
as you would like TO have them hold
up yoursi DO you guard your tongue
so that you speak only things you
would think proper for your neighbor
to speak respecting you, If you changed
places?
Simple Justies-Nothins More.
Do you not begin to see. dear friends,
that what God requires Of us Is much
beyond what the majority have been
renderingl Do you stand appalled, and
tell me that 1t would be impossible to
live fully up to that standard? | agree
with you And St Paul agrees, say.
ing, I'VE cannot do the things which
we would" The Scriptures again
agree and declare There is none
righteous, no, not n All have sin
ned and come short of the glory of
God"
What shall we dor Shall we say
that because we are unable to live up
to our own conceptions and stand
ards Of justice we will make no at
tempt to do so. but abandon those
standards entirelyi God forbid. We
are weak enough and imperfect enough
as it is, To ignore our best Ideals Of
justice would be to take of all the
brakes and permit the downward tend
encies of our depraved natures to go
rapidly from bad to worse-to carry us
further and further from God and the
standards Of character which he ap-
proves. We can surely be content to
do nothing less than our very best to
live up to our own Ideals and to raise
those ideals as nearly as possible to
the Divine standard.
What Would Be the User
Suppose we do our very best daily
to measure up to our highest concep-
tons Of our God-given ideals and
standards. would God accept Of this
and count us worthy of his favor and
Of eternal life? Surely not The Law
Of the Lord is perfect Justice Is
Justice, Not the hearer of a law. not
the we'll wishing. receives the reward,
but the doer. the obedient! Here. then.
we find ourselves In difficulty, With
our hearts. our minds, we approve
Gods Law and desire to be obedient
to him. but find, as st. Paul says. that
many things we wish to do we fail
to accomplish; and many Of the things
we do not wish to do we cannot avoid.
I'VE cannot do the things that we
would" We approve the excellent de
mands Of Gods Law. We disapprove
the lmperfections of our own fesh.
Like st. Paul, we cry out, 20 wretch
ed man that | am. who shall deliver
me from this dead body T'-thls body
that is imperfect through inherited
sin and weaknesses. With our minds
we serve Gods Law and approve 1t;
but with our bodies we come short.
What is our hope? How shall we be
delivered? Can we prevail upon God
to change the reasonable requirement
Of our text so that 1t shall read. What
doth God require Of me but to will
justly and do imperfectly? We can
not hope for such a change In the
Divine Law. Are we then hopeless as
respects Divine approval and eternal
life? (Romans vii, 1924
The Gift of God Is Eternal Life.
In our moment of perplexity we
hear Gods message speaking peace
through Jesus Christ our Lord" The
message Of peace is that what we
could not do for ourselves in the way
Of lifting ourselves up to Divine ap
proval God has provided shall be done
for us through our Lord Jesus Christ
Our failure to keep the Law marks Us
as unworthy of eternal life, anc
worthy Of the wages Of sln-not eter
nal torment. but death. God In mercy
concluded to offer US eternal life as q
0if~t-because Of our not actually merit
ing II under his legal requirements
Thus we read. 1.-THE wages Of sin Il
death: but the gift Of God is eterna
life through Jesus Christ our Lord
Romans vi. 23l. What we could no
obtain legally under the Divine re
quirements God proffers to US as
gift. But the gift is a conditional ont
as expressed In the words, Through
Jesus Christ our Lord" Only thOs,
who accept Jesus Christ as ''the Way
the Truth. and the Life" may havI
Gods gift Of eternal life. Hence /
will be seer that II is wholly a mistake
to suppose that the heather at homl
or abroad can get eternal life. the gif
Of God. in Ignorance OF Christ All tn
Scriptures confirm this and declare no
only that we cannot save ourselves b,
obedience 70 the terms of Gods Law
but that there Is non other name IN
der heaven given among men. whereof,
we must be saved" through faith Il
his name through faith In his blool
(Acts ". 12i.
But how Is this done Justly? anC
why does God so limit his gift OF eteI
nal life7
! Gods Law represents himself an
, cannot change. He cannot require les
than perfection To do so would be I
49, "a. a..