The Hartford republican., 1913-11-14


The Pastor said that even sanity
Christians seem but imperfectly to
grasp the New Testament teachings re-
specting membership In the Body Of
Christ Some assume that 1t Is to be
had on a basis OF favOritism. and trust
to be Of the Elect Others vaguely hope
that they belong to the right Church
and will attain whatever the Others
get. Errors Of the Dark Ages absorbed
in childhood have been responsible for
these vagaries and for our general
neglect Of proper Bible study.
Conversion Not Winning Christ.
What Is ordinarily termed conversion
Is not what st. Paul refers to as win.
ming Christ" Conversion signifies "A
turning about" 1t implies change
from a wrong course to the right one.
The wrong course Is the sinful one.
which brings injury and injustice on
others Conversion Is merely the Oper-
alton Of sane mind In turning about
from things recognized to be injurious.
Many are converted without real
knowledge OF Christ's Gospel. They
merely knew that they were going in
the wrong direction. and turned about
to take the proper course Only strong
characters can successfully pursue a
right course. and these are in the mi
nority. But whether strong or weak
characters. great aid will be expert
enced from knowledge Of Christ
work and teachings.
"Present Your Bodies"-Sacrifices
The Pastor then showed how ont
might reform his life. have knowledge
Of the future life secured by Jesus
death. and Of the fact that we reap
what we SOW. and yet not be Chris
tian. In the Bible sense RefOrmatOry
steps are necessary, however. before
anything further can be attained.
Next the speaker discussed Christian
ity from the Bible standpoint The
Scriptures assure us that a Christian
Is New Creature-nOt merely a CIV
ilized person. To such. "old things
have passed away; all things have be-
come new" Old ambitions and pros
poets. however honorable and good.
give place to new ones This is what
the Apostle had In mind in our text
What Winning Christ Means.
The Pastor then briefly outlined the
Gospel. an appreciation Of which Is
necessary to the understanding Of our
text. The Divine Plan for human re-
cOvery from sin and death God first
declared to Abraham: "In thy Seed
shall all the families Of the earth be
blessed" 3:S.
Later on. God revealed the fact that
Abraham's Seed would constitute
their uplift. When Israel. by failing
to keep the Law. failed to prove itself
the holy nation. God declared that He
would send a special Messenger Of the
Covenant. through whom the holy ma
tion would be established
At His First Advent. our Lord laid
the foundation for this work by dying
for the sin OF the whole world. Then
He began to select the Kingdom class.
This election has been the work Of the
entire Gospel Age. everything else be-
ing secondary. Soon the work will be
finished. and the overcOmers will share
In the First Resurrection-Rev. 20:6.
"Abrahan,'s Seed. and Heirs"
Next the Pastor demonstrated that
this Kingdom class will be the foretold
Seed OF Abraham. Jesus was of Alb
stock through His miraculous
birth After His resurrection He be-
came Abraham's Seed on the spirit
plane-a New Creature. His Church
are to be ON the same plane
To Abraham's earthly seed belong
certain earthly promises: but these
cannot go into effect until the Spiritual
Seed have been perfected In the First
St. Paul tells us that
this Seed Of Abraham, Jesus and the
Church. are unitedly The Christ
Using the human body as an illustra-
ton. he points out that Jesus is the
Head and the Church the Body Of
Christ. Thus We see that st. Paul was
anxious to win membership In the
Body OF Christ. not the probationary
One of the present but the actual
Body OF the future.
No wonder ST. Paul counted all he
had sacrificed as unworthy OF mention.
when contrasted with the blessings
which had cone to the Gospel Church.