The Daily Missoulian., 1912-03-24

Pastor Russell delivered an address
In the largest auditorium In Corinth
Greece Rcv.l ,I'osdayanpes served. az
interpreter. HIS text was Cod Hath
Appointed a Day; III thc which iIc wll
Judge the World" (Acts xvii. 81. lie
said: ff tuttt.t
En- route 10 your ethyl visited Athens
As I stood upon Mars Hill and made q
short address. my mind reverted to tho
account OF St Paul's preaching there
and | have chosen some of His words
on that occasion as my text. AS ST
Paul made no impression there, 1t is
quite improbable that | made any. In
deed, the city today might well be de-
scribed In tho language OF is ccn-
turies ago. as wholly given up to idol
airy.
True. II is not today fashionable In
civilized communities to Worship i'm
ages; and yet IN another sense IL IL
still fashionable. There Is stlll a great
worship of man throughout the civil
lied world. but IN a different form
from that of old. No longer do We bow
before wooden images, but before in
ward images--the images OF our minds
our mental aspirations-with some,
wealth and fame; with others. case and
pleasure. and with still others. the
creed idols Of our forefathcrs miscr
able Misrepresentation Of tho true God.
The Day Of Judgment
st Paul on Mars hill preached Jesus
and tho rcsurrcction---Jcsns as the Re-
deemcr from the death sentence. max
Ing possible the resurrection of the
dead by satisfying the demands Of hi
vine law against the snner--thc resur-
rection as the means or agency through
which the blessing Of the SavIor's
death VIII reach Adam and all the
families of the earth. As we follow st.
Paul's thought we will surely bc blessed
by his view OF the Gospel.
Addressing the Gontiles. the apostle
explains that for a long time God
had 'winkcd' at Polytheism and image
worship. but now" he says. God
commandeth all men everywhere to re-
pent." Let us note the meaning OF
these words. How did God wink" at
sin and idolatry? And does He still
wink" at II? And why did lie change
and when did He begin to command al
mon to repent?
The answer Is that for 5000 years
dolatry prevailed ana God "wlnked"
at or took no notice OF II. He did not
wink" at the idolatcrs' dying In their
ignorance and say to the devils, Take
these poor creatures who know no bet
ter! Roast them to all eternity!" Moth
a.. Il. A..
ly imagined that and by false reasoning
convinced themselves. and twisted some
texts OF Scripture which They did not
properly understand In support Of this
theory: and then they handed 1t down
to us. to our perplexity and to the
testing Of our faith in God.
God ''winked" at idolatry and sin
for 1000 years IN the sense of not no.
ticing II, making no comment on II.
sending no reproofs leaving the heath
on in their Ignorance. The only cX-
ception 10 this was Gods dealings with
the little nation Of Israel. To the
Jews lie gave law covenant which
offered eternal life on the condition of
their thorough obedience TO the Divine
law. the measure OF n perfect mans
ply with. and hence they died the same
ms did the heather. All went to the
Bible hell-to the tomb--to sheol. to
hades. the state or condition OF death
an unconscious state, sleep"
Jesus tho Redeemer.
God vas In no haste to send the Re-
deemer; LIES years elapsed before
Jesus was born, and 80 years more be-
fore He began His ministry. Had II
been true. as some aver, that millions
for all those centuries were blindly
stumbling into eternal torture for lack
Of a Divine revelation we may be sure
that our gracious God would not have
left them without 1t. Who can think
Of a just and loving God as "winklng"
at the going of millions Of His crea
lures to eternal torture? But since they
merely zen asleep" in death. lie could
very well wink" AT the matter IN view
of His future plans, which we wiz con-
slider shortly.
The fact ~ tha, no real offer from
death could possibly bc made until the
redemption price had been provided
for the original sin under which they
were condemned to death. This is the
apostles argument, viz, that now
God commabdeth all men everywhere
10 repent" The now" implies that He
did not command men previously TO re- :
pent: and the reason why Hc did not
do so Is manifest, for all the repenting
they could do and all the righteous liv-
ing possible 10 them would not have
saved thcm--thcy would have died any
way, Hence there could have been no
message sent 10 them. for If the mes
senger had come and had said. Repent,
and live contrary to your fallen tastes
and appctltes." the people might prop
erly enough have said. why. for what
reason should we practice SELF denial