The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-07-19

Jesus and thus to 50 IN an Opposite
direction from the course OF the world
and at the cost Of the cruciiXion. the
modification, Of his own flesh and
his natural preferences.
Thus viewed every Splritbcgotten
Christian. is an object Of sympathy
from the Divine standpoint. and this
should be their standpoint toward
each other. But the world has no
sympathy. The world sees not, neither
does it understand nor appreciate the
exceeding great and precious prom
ises which lie behind the consecratlOn
of the saints" "thc Church of the
frstborns." SO much the more, each
of these brethren. dearly beloved"
should have sympathy for each other.
and should encourage one another,
strengthen one another, build one an
other up in the most holy faith. and,
by all means, do nothing TO stumble
each other in the narrow way.
The saints" cannot fight Satan.
They can merely by their wills re-
StSt him and rely upon the promises
Of grace to help and to protect. The
saints" cannot conquer the world and
convert 1t to God-that is too Hercu-
lean task. God, as we have seen,
has provided the thousand years of
| Messiah's reign for that purpose-to
conquer the world, to overthrow sin
and to uplift the willing and obedient
Of humanity. But the saints" must
all overcome the world in the sense
of resisting its spirit and keeping their
hearts loyal to God, loyal to their
Covenant of conservation which they
have made to him. The heavenly
promises with the still greater re-
wards of glorles far above anything
that the world has to offer, are the
greatest aids in this resistance of the
worldly spirit
The great work for the Church Is
the good fight of faith manifested in
the putting away of the filth of their
own flesh and spirit. Some by ma
ture have more filth of the flesh and
spirit, more meanness, more selfish
ness, more natural depravity, etc,
than have others. Nevertheless, the
race is not TO the swift, nor the bat
tie to the strong for the Lords ar
rangement with each member of the
Royal Priesthood is that he shall be
judged according to the spirit or in
tention, and not according to the
flesh. From the time of the Chris
tian's conservation to the Lord he is
reckoned dead as a human being and
alive as spirit being. His test
or trial Is not with a view to seeing
whether or not he can do the i'm
possible thing of living an absolutely
perfect life in an imperfect body. His
trial or test, on the contrary. is to see
to what extent his mind. his will,
fights n good fight against his natural
weaknesses and frailties. "There Is
none righteous, no. not one" All the
trDing In the world could not prove
this Divine statement an incorrect
one. Righteousness of the will. holi-
ness of heart, purity of heart, are the
possibilities: for these God seeks and
these he will reward in the First
Resurrection" by granting perfect spir.
1t bodies, In full harmony with their
pure hearts. their loyal intentions ard
purposes
How to Put Away Filth of the Flesh.
If 1t Is impossible for the New Cr!a-
ture to perfect the flesh. what does
the Apostle mean by urging the saints
to cleanse themselves from the filth
of the flesh? He means that we should
not, as New Creatures, be discouru ged
and say that, because we cannot hope
to attain perfection in the flesh. there.
fore we will make no endeavors In
that direction. He wishes us to un.
derstand that it is the Lords will that
we fight against the weaknesses of the
flesh with two-fold purpose:
q That we may gradually cleanse
ourselves-gradually become more and
more what the Lord would have us be
and what we should like to be our.
selves.
C2) Additionally, this fight against sin
In the flesh will make us stronger and
stronger as New Creatures, In the spir.
1t of our minds. 1t Is this firmness
this determination, this posltiyeness OF
the New Creature against sin and TO,
fWHttUHSHtSS lHuL GOu ueSlfeS. InOSt
who develop 1t are called "overcom
ers," and all of their experiences In
these trials and battlings against the
world. the flesh and the Adversary
are designed to make them strong IL
the Lord ana In the power of his
might" Their experiences are so or
dered aud directed ms to lead them tC
more and more of faith In God ant
: obedience to him. In order to be ac
ceptablc, they must reach the plac,
where thry love righteousness ant
hate iniqulty-in equity,
Christian FiIthiness of Spirit.
The word spirit In the Bible and II
ordinary language is used In variety
,, of senses. In our text 1t does not sig
nifty that the saints, as spirit beings
are filthy and need cleansing. Quit,
to the contrary, the New Creature, he
,, gotten OF the spirit, is holy, pure. Bu
as the New Creature must use th,
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