The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1913-06-30

ll@sIGlR RUSSELll port one of his nd
= dresses. based
upon the SavIor's words respecting the
ten cIcansed lepers: Were there not
ten ,cleansed? but where are the nine?
Only one hath returned TO give glory
to God."-Luke 17:17, IS.
Leprosy. said the Pastor. has long
been regarded as incurable. and there.
fore IS used rs an illustration Of SIN.
which is also incurabe. AS only the
Masters word could heal the lcpers. so
nothing short of Divine remedy can
cure the leprosy Of sin. Lepers In old.
en- times were obliged to separate
themselves from others. and whenever
approached were required to cry. "Un-
clean! Unclean!" Cut OF thus from
association with others. the condition
Of the poor creatures WIS far from en-
viablc. So sinners by Divine decree are
isolated. separated from the pure. the
holy. the righteous.
Though all humanity are sinners by
heredity, we must not forget that they
constitute but small proportion Of
Gods great family, amongst whom are
angels. chcrubim. seraphim. etc. who
always have fellowship with God and
with each other But while the Scrip.
lures declare Of humanity that oil are
sinners. that none are righteous. no.
not one. yet all do not appreciate their
condition. nor cry aloud. Unclcan. In.
deed. there are various degrees Of nm.
cleanncss: some are more and some
less sinful.
The two extremes Of sin are reprc.
scented in our Lords parable Of the two
men who went up to the Temple to
pray, the one publican the other n
Pharisee. The publican realized his
sin and smote his breast. saying. God
be merciful TO me n sinner" The
Pharisee. on the contrary. felt himself
so superior to the publican that lie did
not realize himself sinner Mt all: he
thanked God that he was not sinner.
Jesus declares that. because o. his nc.
acknowledgement Of sin. the publican was
more acceptable than the Pharisec.
In other words, the Creator wishes
that each one OF Adams race should
realize his mpcrfection-that lie comes
short of the Divine standard Of per
fection-short Of that standard which
God would be pleased to bless with
everlasting life. While the Bible thus
declares that all are sinners. II does
not unreasonably say that there is no
difference. What It does say Is that
the slightest degree Of sin would mean
that We are sinners. and that hence the
person with the least faint of sin upon
him would need the Savior. the De-
| livercr-would need to be cleanscd.
And. In order to realize his need OF Ms.
| slstancc. he must see his sin and cry
unto the lord. Unclean! Lord. save.
or perish.
Here again many Of us have mude
serious mistake In the study Of our
Bibles, When reading that the sinner
would perish. we forgot the meaning
Of the word perish. that 1t signifies to
die. to lose life There Is nothing In
the word perish that signifies to he
tortured to all eternity. 'The wages
Of sin Is DEATH" dcstruction-nnnihiln-
ton. II You please. And II God had
not made some provision for mans
recovery. there would be no future life
for Adam nor for any Of his race.
Death wonld indeed have been hope
less state: Just rs leprosy. whether In
small or greater degree. signifed the
presence OF hopeless disease. from
which there is no recovery.
Jesus the Good Physician.
Jcsns is the only physician who can
heal this leprosy OF sin: nothing that
tie sinner himself can do would cancel
the, sentence. God purposely so mr.
ranged aIIe matter. The Good Physi-
clan heals humanity at great cost to
Himself. As the wage. or penalty, Of
sin upon Father Adam and his race
means death, so whoever would redeem
Adam must be prepared totpay his
penalty before he could assist the sin
ner legally. justly. None OF Adams
race could serve rs redeemer. be
cause each and NIL were born In sin
and therefore rs subject to the pen
atty us Father Adam himself. Nor
could any of them be born without sin.
because the life Of the race came from
its father.
Whoever. therefore. would be the
savior of man must have life sepn-
rate and apart from that OF Alan, and
must be willing to sacrifice It on
Adams behalf.
All Of the angels had such life
separate and apart from Adams life