The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-07-05

bHA2LQk NQo2ELg port Il OF MS ao-
dresses, based
upon the Savior's words respecting the
ten cleansed 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 as an illustration Of sin,
which Is also incurable. AS only the
Masters word could heal the lepers, SO
nothing short Of a 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, I'm
clean! Unclean!' Cut off thus from
association with others. the condition
Of the poor creatures was far from en-
viable. 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 q small proportion of
Gods great family, amongst whom are
angels, %cherubim, seraphim, etc, who
always have fellowship with God and
with each other. But while the Scrip
lures declare of humanity that all are
sinners. that none are righteous, no,
not one, yet all do not appreciate their
condition, nor cry aloud, Unclean! In
deed, there are various degrees Of I'M
otnQ nnlac. rnmn arc moro OnH Soma
less sinful.
The two extremes of sin are repre-
scented in our Lords parable of the two
men who went up to the Temple to
pray, the n a publican the other a
Pharisee. The publican realized his
sin and smote his breast, saying. God
be merciful to me a sinner!' The
Pharisee, on the contrary. felt himself
so superior to the publican that be did
not realize himself q sinner at all: he
thanked God that he was not q sinner.
Jesus declares that. because of his &C
acknowledgement of sin, the publican was
more acceptable than the Pharisee.
In other words, the Creator wishes
that each one of Adams race should
realize his imperfection-that he 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. it does
pot unreasonably say that there is no
difference. What it does say Is that
the slightest degree of sin would mean
chat we are sinners, and that hence the
person with the least faint Of sin upon
him would need the Savior, the De-
liverer-would need to be cleansed.
And, in order to realize his need Of as
s~istance, he must see his sin and cry
unto the Lord, Unclean! Lord. save.
or I perish!
7 Here again many Of US have made a
serious mistake in the study Of our
Bibles. When reading that the sinner
would perish. we forgot the meaning
OF the word perish, that it signifies to
die, to lose life. There is nothing In
the word perish that signifies to be
tortured to all eternity. 1.-THE wages
OF sin Is DEATH" destruction-annihlla-
ton, II you please. And if God had
not made some provision for mans
recovery, there would be no future life
for Adam nor for any of his race.
Death would indeed have been a hope
less state: just as leprosy, whether in
a small or greater degree. signified the
presence of a hopeless disease, from
( which there is no recovery.
Jesus the Good Physician.
Jesus is the only physician who can
neal this leprosy of sin; nothing that
the sinner himself can do would cancel
the sentence. God purposely SO ar
ranged the matter. The Good Physi-
clan heals humanity at a 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 to pay his
penalty before he could assist the sin
ner legally. justly. None Of Adams
rae could serve as a redeemer, be-
cause each and all were born in sin
and therefore as subject to the pen
atty lis Father Adam himself. Nor
could any of them be born without sin.
because the life of the a came from
its father.
Whoever, therefore, would be the
savior OF man must have a life sepa.
rate and apart from that of Adam, and
must be willing to sacrifice II on
Adams behalf.
AL OF the angels had such a life
ri .nwa&4 $500 !. - a.o - q ~ yas@ n RmH