The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1911-04-04


as well as the gray-huired. in fiery
hell. He could not do so. He must
preach a God of Love who would not
condemn His creatures to torture
at least not without some opportunl@
But handicapped by the error respect
Ing he'll poor Brother Wesley vas In
sad dilemma. fIe knew not how any
could get to the awful place without
Divine forsknowledge. And he knew
not how to harmonic such Divine
foreknowledge with Divine Love.
Why should such creatures as Divine
grace could not save from eternal tor
ture be created at all?
Noble Christian Brother. he preached
to the best of his light. Now with the
clearer light upon Gods Word. we can
see hat Brother Wesley and Brother
Calvin both contended for BlbIc truths
which they knew not how TO harmon
ize Now we see that this Gospel Age
Is the time In which God II calling and
drawing and sealing with His Spirit
and with the Truth His very elect"
the Bride of Christ, the members OF
the Body of Christ, the Royal Priest
hood. Now we can see also that the
Free Grace. which Brother Wesley
realized must be part of the Divine
Program, belongs to the coming Age.
Then all the blind eyes shall be opened.
Then all the deaf ears shall be un-
stopped. Then the knowledge Of the
Lord shall fill the whole earth as the
waters cover the great deep. Then
"whosoever will may come and take OF
the water Of life freely" Rev. xii, 10.
Tho Gospel Age Harvest.
Pastor Russell declares that the
signs of the times, In conjunction with
the prophecies of the Scriptures. clear
ly indicate to him that we are living In
the harvest time" of this Age. which
Is drawing to close-in the dawning
time of the New Dispensation, which
will soon be ushered in. He wished
his hearers to clearly distinguish be-
tween this teaching and the common
teaching represented in all of our
creeds. Our hymn books, like our
creeds, tell of the End of this Age as
| the end of hope-"the wreck of matter
and the crash of worlds" In a huge
bonfire. The Bible, on the contrary,
shows that the most blessed days OF
the worlds experiences are about to be
ushered in. The election of the Church
completed. the saints, glorided with
the Redeemer on the spirit plane. In
visible to men, will take control Of
earth's affairs. Gods Kingdom under
the whole heavens will be established.
Satan, the present spirit Prince,
| will be dethroned and deceive the ma
tions no more Cor thousand years.
The reign OF Messiah In the glory Of
| Divine power will constitute the Sun
| of Righteousness, Light and Truth
and blessing to refresh the poor,
death-stricken world. Healing will be
| I'm the beams of this Sun OF Righteous
ness-Restitution. uplifting from sin,
degradation and death. AS the reign
| of Sin and Death terminates, the
reign of Righteousness unto life ever
lasting will begin. The wonderful in
ventlons and blessings Of our day are
but the forerunners of still greater
blessings. Verify "the night is far
spent and the day Is at hand"-the
great Day Of which Jesus and the
Apostles and the Prophets continually
spoke. 1t will be do0msddv only for
oil the systems of iniquity and I'M
Righteousness.
"not Ashamed OF tho Gospel"
Have we not all felt more or less
ashamed of the unsatisfactory pres
entations OF our various creeds7 said
Pastor Russell. Is 1t not time that,
from self-respect. as well as from
ate them? Have l not presented to
you this evening the Bible message
which the angels proclaimed at the
birth OF Jesus-"Behold, we bring you
good tidlpgs OF great Joy which shall
| be unto all peopleS" Uuke II. 10. No
Gospel message reached anybody be-
fore Jesus drought life and immor-
tallty to light through His Gospel"
This great salvation began to be
spoken by our Lord" as the Apostle
declares (IIebrews II. 81. None heard
It during the first four thousand years,
and not more than onefourth of
humanity have heard 1t during the
last two thousand years, And the
message which has been proclaimed
for centuries past is certainly not
good tidings" as whole. though II
contains precious truths.
What | have expressed this evening
Is good tldings of great JOY" to the
sanity few OF the elect class noio. And
the lesser blessing OF restitution will
shortly he good tldings" to all people,
II will fulfil the Divine promise to our
first parents that "the Seed OF the
woman" shall crush out evil, "shal
brulse the Serpent's head" II will
also fulfil the promise to Abraham
bound by Gods oath-"In thee and II
thy Seed shall all the families of the
earth he blessed" II accounts foI
every text appertaining to Election, as
we'll ns to every text teaching Free
Grace II shows the Justice of God In
permitting the death penalty. II
shows the Love OF God in providing
the rpdemntiOn for all, hy "Ransom