Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-02-10

Is my duty as minister OF Christ 70
declare that there Is none righteous,
no. not one. But may say to you
that. admitting that all men have
slnned-some lD ways more peculiar
to one nationality and some to an
other, It Is ours to point out the need
Of an Atonement for sin and the faet
that tho blood (tbe sacrihce) OF Jesus
Christ our Lord, cIeanseth us from all
sIn"--"Nelther Is there salvation ID
any other, for there is none other
Name given under heaven or amongst
men whereby we must be saved
Jew or Gentle, bond or free. Cau'
caslan or Indian.
/ believe, therefore. that cannot 40
better than TO relate to you the "Ola'
old story Of the love OF God mani
tested IN Christ, the Redeemer. My
text tells that Old Story In precious
words Of life, which had well.nigh
been lost during the darker ages and
since: for many Of you may be sur
prised to know that the vast majority
OF people ID Christian lands have very
slight conception Of the love Of God
Indeed, ] am sorry that It ls true, but
the faith Of many Christians, as ex-
pressed In their creeds, Is more terri
Bile. more God-dishonorlng than are
the beliefs OF any heathen In the
whole world.
/ am glad to tell you, however, that
really very few people In Christian
lands any longer believe their own
creeds. know not how much OF
them are preached here. True Chris
tIan people are much better than their
creeds. They have sympathy for
you who live In these parts and for
residents of other benIghted lands
Many OF them give literally, whether
wisely or not, in their desire to bene-
at tho heather.
I assure you that however much
their creeds assert It, these kind-heart
cd people do not believe that the mass
es Of mankind are bound to eternal
misery because Of not having heard Of
the "Only Name" They really do not
know what they believe. The smoke
OF the dark ages" stlll prevails to
such an extent that their eyes Of un-
derstandlng cannot see "the length
and the breadth and the height and
the depth Of the love OF God, which
passeth all understanding" They do
know however, that, although they
are fallen from Gods image through
sin, they still have too much Of His
God.llke quality Of love to torture any
body, or even dumb brutes; hence they
realize that there must be some mis-
take In the creeds which they have so
long possessed, which consign all ex-
cept othe elect" to eternal misery.
Now Look at Our Text.
Note in our text the terms Of
A blessing intended Of God for ev-
cry creature. Two thousand years be'
fore the angels uttered those words
God gave the same Message Of hope
and 10y to Father Abraham. Let those
Of this audience who are Mohamme'
dams, 40 well as others, call to mind
the promise to which refer. II was
the promise with the oath. God, fore
knowing that the ful6lment Of the
promise would be long delayed, made
oath to Il, 80 that all who trust In
Him might have the consolation Of
that promise. And what Is the prom
isef God said to Abraham, "ln thee
and In thy seed shall ali the families
OF the earth be blessed"
Abraham was twice gladl He re-
jolced that the curse that had rested
upon the race would ultimately be
lifted; secondly, he rejoiced that tho
blessing Of the Almighty would reach
mankind through his posterity. Nei'
ther Ishmhel nor Isaac was the prom.
ised aeed-nelther blessed the world
Neither Jacob nor Esau was the prom
lsed Seed Of Abraham TO bless tho
world, for neither Of them did the
work Neither did the nation OF Israel
succeed IN blessing the world nor did
they attain eternal life for Themselves.
Tho Divine Purpose looked down to
Messiah and saw In Him the real Seed
OF Abraham through whom eventually
Divine Power will be exercised and Dl'
vine Grace be shed abroad among men.
According TO tho Scriptures, tho Mes
slab, the Dclyerer, IL composlte-com'
posed Of numerous members. Each
one OF these members must be tested
ana proven IN respect to his loyalty to
God aud to the principles Of righteous
ness before he can attain to his glo'
rlous reward OF the divine nature, Gcd
has foNordained how many shall con
stltuto this Messiah company and what
shall be their chamcterquallhcauons,
according to Which they may make
their calling aud their election sure"
They must bo s0 loyal TO God aud to
the principles OF His righteousness
that they win gladly sacrifice every
earthly interest, yea, llfe itself 1t viii
be readily seen that there are not very
many OF such deep devotion as this, In
tho whole world. However, God, who
knows the end from the beginning, de-
clarcl that Ills purposes shall not fail,
which means that He win succeed IN
the appointed time In finding the pre-
destlnated number OF the proper faith,
obedience, character,
Restrictions Al First Only
The primary restrictions were that
this glorious opportunity 20 become
members of the Messiah, "the Seed Of
Abraham" tor the blessing OF the
world. must hc arst offered to the nat
ural seed Of Abraham, Only after the
worthy OF these had been gathered
could this great privilege be extended
to others But mark you well-the %.
/ lOelion OF this gneclal class does NOT