The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1911-02-27

CioASIaE. glsSELLy the text. 81 pray
not for The trorid,
but for those Iohom Thou hast 0irea me-
John xvii, 81. He said
When, years ago, l believed that an
eternity Of torture awaited all who do
not accept Gods "calr' OF the present
time, / had great difficulty with this
text. asked, Is 1t possible that our
Redeemer was selectlvely unjust In his
dealings with our race? Can It be
true that the Heavenly Father merely
calls and draws a predestinated few
to himself and to everlasting bliss?
Can IL be true, as our catechisms re
cite, that God and Jesus passed by"
the great mass of mankind without
drawing them, without calling them.
without giving them the hearing ear,
without opening the eyes Of their un.
derstandlng? Can 1t be that all these
blind and deaf, unsought, undrawn,
uncalled and unprayed for by the
Savior are going down to eternal tor
ment? My heart answered, No! But
my brain was confused by the errors,
the misinterpretations of the Bible,
which had received.
John Wesley's "Free Grace"
Trained In the Doctrine of Election
and Prcdestlnation l, like hosts Of 9th
ers, felt somehow that Brother Wes-
ley's teaching of Free Grace was more
noble, more God-like, than Brother
vCalvins teaching respecting Election
and Predesination.
Nevertheless, when 1 reasoned on
the subject / said, Can l think of the
omniscient God preparing a great place
of sufficient size to hold the entire hui
man family and outfitted with every
, devilish appliance for their torture,
and yet being ignorant of the condl-
! tons under which they would be born?
Can 1 think that he did not know that
we would be born in sin and shapen
in iniquity? Can l think that he did
not know Of the present reign of Sa-
tan, Sin and Death and that 1t would
last for six thousand years and inju-
riously affect our entire race?
Brother Wesley's theory of Gods
Love and good intentions--of his en-
deavor. to save everybody-seems in
consistent when contrasted with his
teaching that only sanity few reach
eternal bliss and that the thousands
OF millions must spend eternity in tor
fnre. Thus / was once confused, as
millions are still confused today, In
respect to the Divine Character as ex-
emplified in the Divine plan OF the
ages. SO far as | can see, Brother
Calvin had wise and powerful God
such as l could admire and reverence,
II he had only been kind and loving
instead OF diabolical And Brother
Wesley had a kind and loving God
such as l could admire and worship,
II he had only had the wisdom and
power OF Calvin's theory.
SO long as we have such confusion
in our minds faith and hope and love
aud trust shake upon the foundations
OF our reason. We recognize that we
know nothing Of the future of our
selves; that we are wholly dependent
upon Divine Revelation. But we can
not expect that our Creator would
give us a Revelation which TO sancti-
fed minds would appear Satanic In.
stead OF Divine. We must remember
that our Creator invites us to reason,
saying. "Come. let us reason together;
though your sins he as scarlet, they
shall be white as snow" Surely a
right understanding OF the Divine Rev
elatIon, the Bible. should be a reason
able one 10 a sanctlied mind.
Hearken to the Word OF the Lord:
Their fear toward me Is not OF me,
but is taught by the precepts Of menl
isaiah xxx, 49,
Hearken again: "As the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my meth
DDS higher than your methods and my
plans higher than your plans" isaiah
lv, 81. And so we find, my dear
friends - Gods Word IL true. His
Character is glorious. Only the mist
and smoke OF the dark ages" have
confused things for us and mystified
matters and darkened the eyes Of our
understanding
Predsstination Of the Bible.
Now as the six thousand years have
passed and we have entered upon the
Sabbatic Seventh Thousand we are
beginning to realize that 1t marks a
New Dispensation-that the night is
passed; that the dawn is upon us. The
wonderful inventions of our day along
earthly lines are in full harmony with
the clear light now shining upon Gods
Word, making its dark places bright
and it's rough places smooth and ena-
bling us to remove the stumbling
stones from the pathway of the just
which shineth more and more unto the
perfect day" ura 1.rj
Now we can see why Jesus did not
pray for the world. II was because
fhe world was not in any danger Of q
hery hell. More thanthat. 1t was be
cause Gods time for dealing with the
world had not yet come The world
however. is TO be dealt with by the
great Redeemer- After &c shall have
set up His Kingdom In. power ana
great glory; after liz shan have bound
Satan for thousand years that he
might deceive the people no more. thf
Glorious Savior Messiah, will cause