Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1912-11-28

! lyn Is here. We re-
port one Of his ad.
dresses from the
text, Thanks be
unto God for Els
M unspeakable. Gift"
III Corinthians
|S sssS A ss$I tx, Is.
S@ The Pastor said
ssss ssssA that in order to
llPASTOR RUSSELDl appreciate the
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. lJohn xvii,
q, 49, 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 a sinless one
could give to God 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: (D His pleasure in doing
the Fathers will; (2) His privilege of
bringing many SONS to glery"-the
Church; 81 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, municipalities and
powers, and every name that is named"
An Opposite Course From satan's.
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 new order Of beings, design
ed to bring into existence 4 race that
would fill the earth. Satan essayed to
be ruler or prince over this human Gre
alton; and by so doing, he not onlyqbe-
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 usurpadon," as
the Greek text declares. Phil. Ii,
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 time, in order to
carry out the Fathers Plan.
To the Church, Jesus is Gods un-
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 Cod"
The Pastor then said that Justice il
| tho fnrpHofSnr ~ N~5,s vrh...> -
the past, endeavSTs to harmonic JUS
tice with our great Creators dealings
with humanity have involved us in
! difficulty. We were assured by the
prominent creeds that God had know
ingly brought mankind into existence
under such conditions that the great
majority would spend eternity In tor.
ture. We perceived no Justice in any
such arrangement. But while desist-
ing from criticising the Creator. we
could not indorse such course, nor
see 1t to be in harmony with the Di-
vine regulations governing ourselves.
II we are to love our enemies, should
more be expected of fallen human be.
ings than of our perfect Creator?
\ The Scriptures declare only the con-
secrated Church see the Lengths,
breadths. heights and depths of the
Love Of Cod" which passeth under
standing. This class alone is in any
sense prepared to give thanks to God
now for His unspeakable Gift. Their
hanks 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, "All the blind eyes will
be opened and all the deaf ears will be
unstopped." 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
ognize Gods unspeakable Gift and rem
der thanks. When wilful evil doors
shall have been destroyed, then every
creature In Heaven. on earth and in
the sea shall be heard saying Praise,
glory, honor, dominion and might be
unfO Him fhof Sittpth IN tho Tph,ooo