The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-11-13

The bud may have Il bi,tcr taste,
But sweet will be the flower"
II we stand beside greac sculptor
with his freshly chosen block Of mar
bic, we may at first feel shocked to
note the apparent roughncss and care
lessncss with which he smites off large
pieces Of the stone, as though bent on
its destruction. But let patience have
her perfect work. and gradually we
will see that the sculptor has not been
careless or indifferent in respect to
single blow.
All the while that he seemed SO
reckless he was working according to
the ideal before his own mind. With
his minds eye he saw his ideal in the
stone. and blow afier blow. chip after
chip merely revealed to our eyes what
lie had purposcd I'm himself from the
beginning of his work Not until his
work was finished could we compre-
hend fully the ideal Is not this prn-
ciple still more true Of our Creator?
lie tells us that lie is working all
things according TO the counsel Of His
own WILL" which He purposed in Him
self "beforc the world was" OEphe-
slams /, Il; iii, 10. ~
The great Master Workman of the
Universe will eventually show botli TO
angels and men all the various attri-
butes Of His perfectiOn-His Wisdom.
Justice, Power ami Love Meantime.
"None of the wicked shall under
stand" but I'm the End OF this Age the
wise will Increasingly understand His
purposes, hidden from all except His
saints, OF whom it is written. "Thc
secret of the Lord IS with them that
reverence Him." "IIc will show you
things to come Psalm XIV, IA; John
xvi 13.
Now Apply the Principle.
Let us apply this principle to the
work of our great Creator. Let us
see how far it has already progressed.
In what state OF development is the
Divine Plan today? what will be re-
quired to complete It and to manifest
Divine Wisdom. Justice. Love ana
Power? Only by a careful eXamlna-
tion Of the Great Architects revealed
plan can We judge at all Of the degree
to which His purposes have already
attained perfection.
The wreck and blight of human in
tercsts resulting from Father Adams
disobedience progressed for twenty
five hundred years before the first step
was taken in the Divine Program on
mans behalf. That first step was
merely the making Of rough outline
drawing with various crude illustra-
tions which merely limited at one or
another of the Creators glorious pur-
poses. This rough outlining was done
during the sixteen hundred years we
call the Jewish Age.
Israel as nation pictured all the
world of mankind who will ultimately
come into fellowship with God. Their
one tribe OF Levi typincd the House
hold Of Faith, "thc Church Of the
First-born' of this Gospel Age.
through whom all blessings will come
70 the remainder The select Levitcs,
the priests, typlled the Royal Priest
hood Of the better Mediator. The
sacrifices by which that Covenant was
established. and that people brought
into harmony with God, typihed the
better sacrifices of Christ, which began
with our Lord and have continued in
His faithful followers who present
their bodies living sacrifices, wholly
and acceptable TO God through Him.
Romans xii, ~
Israel's Jubilee year typilied the
great Times OF Jubilation soon to
come. "the blessing Of all the families
OF the oarth"-the "rimes of Restitu-
ton OF all things" TO be inaugurated
at the second coming OF Christ and
the establishment of His Kingdom.
Manlfestly only those who could I'M
derstand those roughly sketched draw
ings could comprehend TO any degree
the great Divine Plan Of the Ages.
With this Gospel Age God began n
great work which ia yet far from fin
forth fully 10 mankind in general His
Justice, Wisdom, Power or Love. The
work Of this Age, according to the
Scriptures. Is the selection of both the
Church, which is THE Bride, the
Lambs Wife," and "the virgins. her
companions, who follow her" psalm
xiv. S-1SJ
The Bible declares that Jesus, the
Redeemer. having finished His sacri-
fice passed into glory-beyond the veil
to the right hand Of Divine Majesty.
1t declares also that when this Age
shall be completed all the faithful fol-
lowers of Jesus will pass to Him be-
lond the veil and share His glory and
fns Kingdom and Immortality on the
heavenly plane But how few there
are who see this much Of the Divine
Plan; and If they cannot see this much
how could they be expected to see slill
further into the future Developments
Of the Divine Program?
AS the sentence Of death came as
the result of one transgression. but in
volved the race, so one sacrifice for
sin, by the imam Christ Jesus" was
sufficient TO be n Ransom-Price for the
sins Of the whole world-a mans life
for mans life. Thus as condemna-
tion came through one man unto
death, so justification is provided
through this other man unto eyerlast-
Inc life -Rofnapg Y Ie 12