Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-06-22
Pastor RusseII's Sermon

their robes and make them white IN
the blood Of the Lamb" These will be
honored with a place before the
Throne. while the elect" as the
Bride. will be honored with Emmanuel
IN His Thrope.
This multitude will be granted palm
branches. representing a final victory,
but they will never be granted the
crowns Of victory. which viii belong
only to the elect, wise virgin" class,
the Bride upon the Throne The Bride
class will be the Temple, composed Of
living stones; but the Great Company.
the foolish virgin" class. will not be
stones Of that Temple. but will serve
God In the Temple. AN honorable
place will thus be granted the foolish
virgins" who finally get the oil and
finally cleanse their robes In the time
Of trouble. but never will they attain
the portion Of the Bride.
In Psalm xiv we have a description
Of the Church in glory, the Wise Vir-
gin class. She is pictured as a Bride.
all glorious within and clothed in raj
ment of gold and iine needlework. The
Heavenly Bridegroom will present her
faultless before His Father, the Great
King; and then we read, "The virgins,
her companions. shall follow her; they
shall be brought into the presence Of
the King" How glad we are that in
Divine providence their weeping and
gnashlng Of teeth and sorrow and dis
appointment at losing a place in the
Bride Glass will eventually work out
for them a contriton of heart and a
demonstration OF loyalty which God
can reward with blessing upon the
Heavenly planet
Wailing In Outer Darkness.
Another text dealing with "wailiug
and gnashing Of teeth" deserves con
sideration here. 1t occurs In connec.
ton with the parable Of the Wedding
Garment. That parable pictures the
closing time Of this Age, when under
Divine blessing Gods most sanity peo.
pie will be given greater light on His
Word and be enabled thereby to more
fully appreciate the lengths. breadths,
heights and depths OF His Love and
It's wonderful providences.
These consecrated ones are repre-
sented as being gathered into a great
banquet hall. radlantly beautiful. In
It they tarry, waiting to be ushered
into the banquet proper, In an adjoin,
ing apartment The light OF these
apartments Is In the parable vivldly
contrasted with the darkness that pre-.
walls outside, which darkness repre-.
sents the condition Of the world and all
of Gods people who have not yet come
into the light Of present truth"
The parable is given specially to
show the necessity OF the wedding
garment"-that none may enter into
the marriage feast except lie acknowl.
edges and uses the wedding gar
ment" On such festival occasions In
ancient times It was customary that
all guests should be furnished by the
host with garments OF white which
would cover their own garments. ana
for the time being, as his guests, this
placed them all on the same footing.
whatever their ordinary station In life.
Thus we have pictured the Justification
which all Gods people receive as a
gift through the merit of their Re.
deemer Being justified by faith the
consecrated have not only peace with
God, but they have access to this hg
uratlve marriage supper"
The parable IL laid In the end OF this
Age and points out that at this time
an inspection Of the Church may he
expected. when the king came 10 he
beheld man who had not on wed
ding garment" The implication is that
the man had put on the wedding gar
ment, else be could not have gone In
at all; and his appearing later OH
without a wedding garment" Implies
that he had rejected the robe prOvid.
ed by his host.
Thus he represented class OF Chris
tians In this our day who, after he
lieving in the merit Of Chrlst's sacri
Gee, and accepting II as the passport
to favors and privileges, ultimately
reject II and count II common or un
important The parable shows what is
10 DO expected now. namely, that the
Great King will command that such
as Ignore the merit Of His sacrifice De
cast into outer darkness
Outer Darkness General
But let IN note carefully That the
"outer darkness" IL not something be
yond death, but that It prevails every
where, all around ns Darkness GOV
ers the earth aud gross darkness the
heathenr The only ones who nre In
the light are the Ones whom the Lord
has specially received aud specially en-
lightened and specially privileged be
carse they wear the wedding gar
ment" OF Christ's righteousness The
casting out OF the one without the
wedding garment" into "outer dark
ness" therefore would mean merely
that such one despite his struggles
and desire to remain IN the light, would
by Divine providence be- fOred into
the darkness common TO the whole
world and lose those special privileges
which he had enjoyed as one OF the
children OF the light ana heirs OF glory.
About the time that the faithful will
be ushered into the marriage the great
"time Of trouble win break upon tho