The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1913-11-18


class. Gods determination will be
manifested in the fact that the over
Corners will all be sharers in the First
or Chief Resurrection. to be priests
unto God and unto Christ and to reign
with Him on the earth.-Rev. 20:6.
"Abraham's Seed, and Heirs"
All who will be of that select King
dom class will be members of the
foretold Seed of Abraham. Jesus was
Of Abrahamic stock through His mi
raculous birth: and after He had laid
down His life scientifically and was
raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father. no more a man. but New
Creature of the Divine nature, He then
was Abraham's Seed on the spirit
plane His Church called to be of
the Kingdom class. are to be Abra
hams Seed on the same spirit plane.
We are not ignoring the fact that
Abraham has an earthly seed as well.
and that to it belong certain earthly
promises. We are merely pointing out
that the Scriptures clearly teach that
the earthly seed cannot have its share
in the work of blessing others until
first the Heavenly Seed, the Spiritual
Seed of Abraham, shall have been per-
fected in the First Resurrection God
showed the two seeds in the state
ment to Abraham. Il will multiply thy
seed as the stars Of heaven 1.-THE spirit
ual, the Church, and as the sand which
is upon the seashore" 1.-THE earthly].-
Genesis 22:1T.
St Paul tells us that this Seed of
Abraham, Jesus and the Church, spirit
begotten, are unitedly the Church.
Using a human body as an illustra-
ton, he speaks of the anointed Jesus
as the Head. and of each one of the
Church as a member of the Body Of
Christ. Thus we read. IF We be
Christ's, then are We Abraham's Seed,
and heirs according to the PROMISE
Galatians 3:16. 80 Thus we see that
st. Paul was anxious to win a mem
bership in the Body of Christ, the
Church
The Apostle, of course, was a mem
Der of the Church from the time of his
begetting of the Holy Spirit But
there are two bodies of Christ, if we
may so express the matter One is the
probationary Body of the present time;
the other the actual Body of the flu
ture. All fully consecrated believers
are members of the probationary
Church, or Body of Christ, from the
moment they receive the begetting of
the Holy Spirit. Thenceforth they are
to fight good fight, to run success
full race, that they may win the glori-
GUS position which God has invited
them to fill
st. Paul. after years of Christian life
and of growth in grace, in knowledge
and in the Spirit of the Lord, was re-
viewing his own course, with a view
to stimulating the Philippians. that
they also might profit by his expert
ences. He points out that he had con
secrated to the Lord every talent he
possessed Nor did he think that he
had done some great thing; for he
counted all that he had sacrificed as
unworthy of mention. so great was his
appreciation of the blessing which has
come to the Gospel Church 1t is the
most wonderful offer that the Great
Creator ever made: and we have every
reason to believe that there never
again will be any offer made to COM
pare with 1t.
The invitation is not merely to joint
heirship with Christ in His Messianic
Kingdom of a thousand years for the
blessing and uplifting of humanity. IL
means, oh. SO much more! The faith
full ones will be made partakers of the
Divine nature and glory. honor and
Immortality; and they shall be witt,
their Lord. Eharers In His glorification.
next to the Father through all eternity.
The Apostles Not Exceptions.
Some will say, All, yes; the narrow
way was for Jesus and the Apostles,
but not for the remainder of the
Church. God is not expecting sacri-
fees from the Church, nor does He
purpose to give them a share with
Jesus and the Apostles in the Kingdom
honors and glories.
We answer, Let us not be wiser than
God His Word declares that the
Apostles We're set forth as ensamples
to the Church: and they exhort us to
walk in the footsteps of Jesus and in
their footsteps as they followed Him.
They tell us that 1--WE are all called in
the one hope of our calling" And they
assure us that it is possible for the
poorest, and by nature the meanest, of
all who accept the Divine invitation.
to make his calling and election sure
To take any other view is to contra
dict all of the Bible; and to take the
Bible is to contradict all the creeds and
human theories, which long enough
have made the Word of God meaning
less to us all. 1t is high time that we
allow Gods Word to be heard, and
that we take His Word at its full value
The Bible Election Is Different.
well know the objection that many
have to the doctrine of Election. |
know how opposed to it | was myself
until saw how different is the Bible
Election from the Election which
Brother Calvin taught In the Bible
Election God does the nominating, and
each nominated person either makes
his calling and election sure. or fails
to do SO. The responsibility lies with
the individual favored with a knowl-
edge of Gods Truth, which knowledge
constitutes a call.
Furthermore, the Bible Election
works no injury to the non-elect.
Quite the contrary. The Election of
the Kingdom class, along the lines of
Characterization obedience to
God and self-sacrifice, is for the very
purpose of qualifying these elect ones
for the great work to which they are
called The elect Seed of Abraham is
called for the purpose of blessing all
the families of the earth.
In the light of this view of Election,
how reasonable are the Bible presenta-
tionsi And how trials. difficulties and
sacrifices-to which the Church is sub
jected-are evidently necessary for our
testing and development in the char
acter-likeness of the Lord and thus
they are a preparation for share
with Him in His future work