The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1912-11-22

- Scriptures on all
| subjects, we must handle the Word of
God honestly. We must recognize that
our Lord Jesus Is one person and the
Father another person. The oneness
between the Father and the Son Is that
declared by our Master Himself. say.
ing that He and the Father are one
In the same sense that He desires all
of His disciples to be one--in mind, In
purpose, In will. In effort tJohn xvii.
81, 23i Our Lord Jesus is Gods un-
| speakable Gift
The Scriptures declare that the Re-
| deemer took the nature OF men In or
der to redeem sinners; but that In Him
there was no sin. Only siness one
could give to God a Ransom for Adam,
and thus redeem from destruction, not
only Adam. but all his posterity. In
volved in sin and death through him.
The speaker then showed that God
set before our Lord great Joy. the
influence of which led Jesus to endure
cheerfully the bitter experiences of His
earthly life. This Joy Is intimated to
have been: IL His pleasure in doing
the Fathers will; (2) His privilege Of
bringing many sons to glory"-the
Church; ~ His pleasure and JOY in be-
ing by and by the worlds Restorer. de-
livering them from the power of Satan,
sin and death. Wherefore" St Paul
says, "God hath highly exalted Him."
far above "angels. principalities and
powers, and every name that is named" 5"
An Opposite Course From satan'a.
Pastor Russell then contrasted the
course pursued by Satan with that fol-
lowed by our Lord Meditating am
bilious designs. Satan found an oppor-
tunity In Eden. He beheld In our first
parents a new order of beings, design
ed to bring into existence race that
would fiji the earth. Satan eSsayed to
be ruler or prince over this human ere
alton; and by so doing, he not only be-
came rebel against God, but brought
sin and death into the world.
Our lord Jesus pursued an opposite
course and demonstrated His loyalty
and obedience. st Paul intimates that
although the Logos was much higher
than was Lucifer, yet He was humble.
and "meditated not usurpation% as
the Greek text declares. (Phil. H.
g. He thought not by robbery to be
equal with God. On the contrary. our
Lord willingly accepted the Divine pro-
posal that He should be humbled to the
human plane for a time. In order to
carry out the Fathers Plan.
To the Church. Jesus is Gods nm.
speakable Gift. He is indeed a Gift
to the whole world. unspeakable In
value, but He is more to the Church
than to the world. To His footstep
followers, He is the Captain OF their
Salvation" their Bridegroom. their
"Elder Brother" their great High
Priest Through Him they are priv
ileged to be the Royal Priesthood
Through the merit of the sacrifice OF
Christ, they are privileged to present
their bodies living sacrifices. holy, ac-
ceptable unto God"
The Pastor then said that Justice Is
the foundation of Gods Throne. In
the past, endeavors to harmonize JUS
tice with our great Creators dealings
with humanity have involved us In
difficulty. We we're assured by the
prominent creeds that God had know
incIy brought mankind into existence
under such conditions that the great
majority would spend eternity In tor
ture We perceived no Justice In any
sucb Arrangement. But while desfst-
ing from criticising the Creator. we
could not indurse such a course, nor
see 1t to be in harmony with the Di.
vine regulations governing ourselves
If we are to love our enemies. should
more he expected of fallen human be-
iurs than of our perfect Creatora
The Scriptures declare only the con.
secrated Church see the "lengths.
breadths. heights and depths OF the
Love OF God" which passeth Under
standing. This class alone Is In any
sense prepared to give thanks to 600
now for His unspeakable Gift Their
thanks go up. not only in words. but
also In actions, which speak louder
than words" These thanks ascend as
sweet incense to God.
BY and by, "AIl the blind eyes will
be opened and all the deaf ears will be
nnstopped." Then the whole world OF
mankind. including those awakened
from the sleep Of death during Mes
siah's reign. will be In condition to rec
opnize Gods unspeakable Gift and rem
dar thanks. When wilful evil doers
shall have been destroyed, then every
creature 10 Heaven. on earth and 10
the sea shall be heard saying, Praise,
gIory honor, dominion and might be
INTO Him that sitteth on the Throne,
ana 70 the Lamb, forever" through the
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