The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1912-05-23

rested the weight OF the Gospel Message.
It was easy enough to prove that Jesus
had died, but to an increduious world it
was difficult to prove that He had risen
from the dead; and whoever could not be-
lieve that great fact could not believe the
other great facts which stand or fall with
1t.
Fol- instance: The apostle presented
that Jesus had left the heavenly glsry and
had become a Man, for the purpose of
meeting the demands of the Divine Law
against Adam and his race, involved by
him. He could show the reasonableness
of this logic. He has proven that as the
whole world was condemned to death
through Father Adams disobedience 1t
was absolutely necessary for In untainted
life to be sacrificed In order to meet the
penalty and to secure the release of the
condemned race. 2 &, 49, ....
But all these claims fell lightly upon
some or his hearers, who claimed hat 1t
was much more easy to believe that
Jesus never died at all, but merely trans
muted, than to believe that He died for
our sins and rose again for our justifica-
ton; hence the apostles frequent refer
ence to Christ's resurrection and his in
sistence upon It as absolutely necessary to
Christian faith. ... ..
Last Of an He Mas Seen BY Me-"
Prosecuting his argument, the apostle
marshalled the whole chain OF witnesses
except the women who first saw the Lord
on the morning of His resurrection. He
says, He was seen Of Cephas (Peter):
then by the remainder OF the ~: then OF
above 800 brethren at once; later. He was
seen Of James, then of all the apostles"
when He assembled. Then comes the text:
Last OF all, He was seen of me, also"
There is something pathetic in this ref
erence to his own glimpse of Jesus. It
called up the period of his own bigoted
persecution OF the church. 1t reminded
him of his own responsibility in coanec-
ton with the death of st. Stephen, and Of
the madness Which he had manifested in
pursuing Christians even to Damascus,
haling them to prison. Again, he saw the
great, binding light frsn heaven, above
the brightness of the MONDAY sun, his
fall to the earth, and heard the voice
speaking to him, saying, saul, Saul, why
~persecutest thou M e?''--Acts TX, 10; XVI,
1918.
The objection which all Jews had to
Jesus, and what they considered absolute
proof that He was not the Messiah, was
His apparent inability to accomplish the
things foretold by the prophets. They
said, 1t Is foolish to think of a man with
out an army and without wealth claiming
to be a king. It Is still more foolish for
Him to claim that He is the Messiahic
King, who is to be above all kings, and
before whom every knee shall bow and
every tongue confess.
To them 1t seemed that when He was
crueifed a demonstration had been given
that He was not the Messiah. Was not
the Messiah to live forever, and was He
not to reign Successfully as King OF
kings and Lord of Iords2 Must 1t not,
therefore. be true that any man whom the
Jews or the Romans could cruelty, could
put to death, must have been an impos-
ter? They considered the matter proven
to a demonstration.
The honesty of Saul of Tarsus led him
to be just as honest after he got his eyes
Of understanding open as he had been
previously with them closed. The situa-
ton changed Immediately, in his mind;
instead OF a human Savior and Messiah
and an earthly King, God had prepared a
Heavenly One, partaker OF the divine ma
ture, glorious, Ear above angels, princi-
palities Ind powers.
ID Crown Him Lord Of All.
/ to think that, as / was once blind
ed to many Of the precious truths Of Gods
Word, so 1t Is with many theirs whose
eyes Of understanding have not yet
opened. I like to think of st. Paul's ex-
periences. his sincerity, ever to hatred
and persecution, and then his loyalty,
even to stripes and imprisonment and
death. I like to think of him as exempli-
+. - AAA0 R01oA0A1 . A&A BIZ Ac19 Va gAO oppS0-
ers of the Truth.
I like to hope that all they will need
to bring them into line with Gods ar
rangements and to make them loyal SER
wants of righteousness will be the great
Light which will shine forth resplendently
very soon, when the due time shall como
for Messiah to take to Himself His great
power and ~reign-when His elect Bride
shall have been completed and glorifed
with Him. / like to remember the words
Of the Lord through the Prophet respect
ing that glorious Epoch: ''Then shall the
eyes Of the blind be opened and the ears
OF the deaf be unstopped; then shall the
lame man leap as an hart and the tongue
OF the dumb sing"
Al, yes! Now we can sec that the little
opening of the eyes n u~nstopping OF the
ears and healing OF the lame accomplished
at our Lords first advent merely fore
Swallowed His coming glory and much
greater work. Now we can see q reason
why so many of His mighty works were
done on the Sabbath da~ys-because the
were all prophetic, as the Sabbath DAYS
themselves were prophecies of the great
T~housand-Year Sabbath OF Messiah's glo-
rious reign, during which all of humanity
who will may enter into His rest-rest
from sin and from Satan and from every
thing that would hinder them frsm a full
return to the Heavenly Fathers love and
favor. ~
One Born Before the Time.
Many have remarked at the popularity
of st. PauIs statement that he saw the
Lord as one prematurely born. But, II at
first the statement was dark and puzzl.ng,
now 1t Is luminous and enlightening. His
thought is this: The time for giving ocu-
lar demonstrations of the Lords resur-
rection had gone by; the next manifesto
ton of Him was to be to His saints, and
after that to the world. Thus we read:
w shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is"-made like Him by our res
direction change from the human condi-
tons to the spirit conditions.
Strictly speaking, then, the experiences
of saul Of Tarsus were out OF the ordi-
nary. No one else than he, not even the
sanity, were to see the Lord before their
resurrection change, in the end OF this
Age. When. therefore, he saw Jesus, he
saw Him before the time-more than Is
centuries before the time. Moreover, he
saw Him as one born before the time-as
one resurrected before the time. We are
to nave in mind the Scriptural use of this
word born-that the Church must all be
begotten OF the Holy Spirit in order to ex-
pstienoa the resurrection birth -