The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1912-03-13

Day in the which
He will Judge the world" (Acts xvii,
31) He said:
Enroute to your city, I visited Ath-
ems. AS I stood upon Mars Hill and
made q short address, my mind revert
ed to the account OF Saint Paufs
preaching there, and l have chosen
some of His words ON that occasion as
my text. As ST. Paul made no impress
sion there it is quite improbable that
made any. Indeed, the city today
might well be described in the Ian
guage of eighteen centuries ago, as
wholly given up to Riolatry.
True, 1t is not to-day fashionable in
civilized communities to worship inn
ages; and yet in another sense 1t Is
still fashionable. There b still a great
worship of man throughout the civil
tied 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 some,
wealth and fame; with others, ease
and pleasure, and with still others, the
creed idols of our forefafhers, misera-
BILE MISREPRESENTATION of the true God
The Day of Judgment.
Saint Paul on Mars Hill preached
Jesus and the res1rrection-Jesus rs
the Redeemer from the death sentence,
making possible the resurrection of the
dead by satisfying the demands Of Di-
vine Law against the sinner-the resur-
rection as the means or agency through
which the blessing OF the Savior's
death will reach Adam and all the
families of the earth. AS we follow
Saint Pauls thought we will surely be
blessed by his view of the Gospel.
Addressing the Gentiles, the Apos-
tie explains that for long time God
had "winlzed" at Polytheism and image
worship, hut 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 ana idolatry? And does He stin
''wink" at it? And why did He change
and when did BE begin to commend all
men to repent?
The answer is that for four thousand
years idolatry prevailed and God
@'winked' at or took no notice of it.
= HE did not wink at the idolaters dy-
ing in their ignorance and say TO the
devils, Take these poor creatures who
know no betteI'l Roast them to all
eternity" Nothing of the kind. Our
forefathers merely imagined that and
by false reasoning convinced them
selves, and twisted some texts of
Scripture which they Ola not properly
understand In support of this theory;
and then they handed it down to us to
our perplexity and to the testing OF
our faith III God
God "winked" at idolatry and sin
for four thousand years in the sense
of not noticing it, making no comment
on it, sending no reproofs, leaving the
heather in their ignorance. The only
exception TO this WAS Gods dealings
with the little nation of Israel. TO the
Jews He gave a Law Covenant which
offered eternal life on the CONDITION OF
their thorough obedience to the Divine
law, the measure Of n perfect man s
GbiGitp, which they were unable to com
ply with; and hence they died the same
as did the heather. All went to the
Bible hell--to the tomb-to sheol, to
hddes, the state or condition of death
an unconscious state, ''sleep."
Jasus the Redeep1er
God was in no haste TO send the Re
deemer: 412S years elapsed before
Jesus was born, and thirty years more
before He began His ministry. Had
it been true, as some aver, that mil
lions, for all those centuries were blind
" stumbling into eternal torture fol
lack of a Divine revelation, we may be
sure that our gracious God would not
have left them without it. Who car
think of just and loving God as
1CinkiRq' at the going of millions of His
creatures to eternal torture? But since
they merely fell asleep" in death, He
could very well wink" at the matter
in view of Ills future plans, which we
will consider shortly.
The fact is that no real offer from
death could possibly be 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 'Hoto Goo
commanded all men everywhere to re
pent" The nor implies that He did
not command men previously to re
nent. and fho reaeNn wnv He did moi