The Cairo bulletin., 1912-02-06

casian or indian,
l believe, therefore. that cannot do
better than to relate to you the odd,
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.nlgh
been lost during the darker ages and
since. for many OF you may be sur
prlsed to know that the vast majority
Of people In Christian lands have very
slight conception of the love Of God
Indeed, ! am sorry that 1t Is true, but
the faith OF many Christians, as ex
pressed in their creeds. Is more terri.
BILE, more God.dishonoring than are
the beliefs of any heather in the
whole world
| am glad to tell you, however. that
really very few people In Christian
lands any longer believe their own
creeds. l know not how much of
them are preached here. True Chris
tlan people are much better than their
ereeds. 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 the heather.
! assure you that however much
their creeds assert It. these kindheart.
ell people do not believe that the mass.
es Of mankind are bound 10 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 still prevails to
such an extent that. their eyes " I'm
Gerstanding cannot see the length
and the breadth and the height and
the depth OF the love of God which
nasseth an understanding, They do
know. however that although they
are fallen from Gods image through
sin. they still have too much OF His
God.like quality Of love to torture any
body. or even dumb blutes; hence they
realize t,mts there must be some mis-
take In thetreeds which they have so
loHg possessed. which consign all ex
cept "the 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
aud joy to Father Abraham. Let those
OF this audience who are Mohamme-
dams as well as others, call to mind
the promise to which refer. 1t was
the promise with the oath. God. fore.
knowing that the futilment Of the
promise would be long delayed. made
oath to 1t. SO that all who trust In
Him might have the consolation OF
that promise And what is the prom-
Use? God said to Abraham. In thee
and in thy seed shall all the families
Of the earth be blessed
Abraham was twice glad. He re
joiced that the curse that had rested
upon the race would ultimately be
lifted; secondly, he rejoiced that the
blessing Of the Almighty would reach
mankind through his posterity Mel
Their Ishmael nor Isaac was the prom
ised seed-neither blessed the world
Neither Jacob nor Esau was the prom
Used Seed OF Abraham to bless the
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.
The Divine Purpose looked down to
Messiah aud saw In Him the real Seed
of Abraham through whom eventually
Divine Power will be exercised and Di-
vine Grace be shed abroad among men.
According to the Scriptures, the Mes
siah. the Deliyerer, is composite--com-
posed of numerous members. Each
one Of these members must be tested
and proven In respect to his loyalty 10
God and to the principles OF righteous,
ness before he can attain TO his glo.
Mous reward Of the divine nature. God
has foreordained how many shall con
stitute this Messiah company and what
shall be their charac qualifications.
according to which they may, make
their calling and their election sure
They must be so loyal to God aud to
the principles of His righteousness
that they will gladly sacrifice every
earthly interest, yea, life itself. II viii
be readily seen that there are not yery
many Of such deep devotion as this, In
the whole world, However. God, who
knows the end from the beginning de-
cIares that His purposes shall not fall.
which means that lie will succeed IN
the appointed time ID GudhG the pre-
destinated number Of tho proper faith.
obedience, character
Restrictions at First Only.
The primary restrictions were that
this glorious opportunity to become
members Of Ehe Messiah, the Seed Of
Abraham" FOR the blessing of the
world, must be first 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 mink you well--the Sc
lection OF this SPECIAL class doesf not
involve the "non.elect" In eternal tor.
ment, nor In any disaster. On the con-
trary. the gathering Of the ELECT"
should be regarded as an assurance on
Gods mart OF the fulfIment of His