The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1912-02-05


other, It is ours 20 point ont tue nooa
of an Atonemcnt for sin and the fact
that "thc blood 0he sacrltcel Of Jesus
Christ our Lord, cleanseth MS from all
sin"-"Nelther Is there salvation In
my other, for there Is none other
Name given under heaven or amongst
men whereby we must be saved
jew or Gentle. boud or free, Cau-
casan or Indian.
believe, therefore. that | cannot do
better than TO relate to you the "Old.
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 in Christian lands have very
slight conception of the love of God.
Indeed, am sorry that it Is true, but
the faith of many Christians. as ex-
pressed in their crceds, 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 | 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-
fit the heather.
assure you that however much
their creeds assert IT, these kind-heart-
ed 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 of un-
derstanding 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-like 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 "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
and 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. IL was
the promise with the oath Cod fore
knowing that the fulhlment of the
promise would he long delayed, made
oath to It., so that all who trust in
Him might have the consolation Of
that promise And what is the prom
ise? God said TO Abraham, "ln 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. Nei-
ther lshmael nor Isaac was the prom
ised seed-nelther 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 and 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 Deliverer is composite-com
posed of numerous members. Each
one Of these members must be tested
and proven in respect to his loyalty.to
God and TO the principles of righteous
ness before he can attain to his glo-
rlous reward of the divine nature God
mas foreordained how many shall con,
sttute this Messiah company and what
shall be their character-qualitcatl
according TO which they may make
their calling and their election sure"
They must be so loyal to God and to
the principles OF His righteousness
that they will gladly sacrifice every
earthly interest, yea, life itself 1t will
be readily seen that there are not very
many of such deep devotion as this, in
the whole world However God. who
knows the end from the beginning, de
clares that Ills purposes shall not fail
which means that He will succeed in
the appointed time IN finding the pre-
destlnated number Of the proper faith,
obedience. character.
Restrictions at First Only.
The primary restrictions were that
this glorious opportunity to become
members OF the Messiah, "the Seed Of
Abraham" for the blessing of the
world, must be first offered to the naC-