Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-06-21
Pastor Russells Sermon

lieve In a God 80 unjust, so unmerci-
full, so wicked that He would torment
them and their forefathers through all
eternity because they did not believe
on Jesus, when they had not so much
as heard Of Him. They said that their
gods were not so unjust; for they for
bade men to torture even dumb brutes
They preferred to hold on to the rea-
sonable gods of their fathers rather
than to believe in the unjust one
preached by the missionaries.
Can we blame them? asked the Pas
tor. On the contrary. he admitted that
in the past himself and other Chris
tians had seriously mlsinterpreted the
Bible. He urged his hearers to study
the Bible itself and to ignore the un.
reasonable teachings which are driving
men away from the Bible and the God
which It presents.
Pastor Russell found that the heath.
en- do not really worship the idols, but
through the idols seek to worship an
unseen deity. At first he wondered
that they could bow before such hide
GUS, awkard. yicious-looking images
Then the thought came to him, that
these poor heather had formulated
their gods of clay. stone. bronze etc,
but that we Christians had formulated
ours differently-instead Of using ma
terial substances we merely construct
ed ideals and described them, and that
from this viewpoint, the creedal pic
lures of the God of Love are farther
astray than the images Of stone, wood,
etc.
Import Of the Text. ,
Look critically at our text. Exercise
the gray matter Of your brains. What
does 1t really say? 1t corroborates the
account in Genesis 2. as explained by
st. Paul in Romans 5:12.1S. BY one
mans disobedience sin entered into
the world and death as the result Of
sin, and death passed upon all men,
because all men are sinners-by herdi-
ty. This death penalty has been car
rying down our race to the tomb for
six thousand years. The present death
rate is about ninety thousand per day.
The declaration of the Bible Is that
these all would have perished-wOuld
have had no more future existence than
a brute-had 1t not been for Gods com
passionate mercy, "The great Love
with which He loved us" while we
were yet sinners. .-Ephesians "a, 5.
Our text comes in here, and assures
us that this salvation Of mankind from
perishing comes only through Gods
Love and Mercy, operating through our
Lord Jesus Christ. We ask, What did
our Lord Jesus do for the race? The
Bible promptly answers, "Christ died
for our sins according to the Scrip
tures"; "Jesus Christ by the grace Of
God tasted death for every man; "He
poured out His soul unto death; he
made "Hls soul an offering for ii
Corinthians 1873; Hebrews 30; Isaiah
53:10, II.
Let us note carefully that as periShing
does not mean eternal torture, 80 the
Redemption price which Jesus gave is
not eternal torture nor purgatorial suf-
fering, but-dedth Christ died for the
ungodly." Other Scriptures tell us that
the death Of Jesus was Ransom
price, or price corresponding to the
penalty that was upon Father Adam
and inherited by his race. The Bible
thus explains that God, by providing
an equivalent price for the sin-penalty
against Adam can be just in releasing
US from the death penalty.
All Saved From Perishins.
The simple proposition Of the Bible
Is that as Adam and all Of his race
legally perlshed, so they have all been
legally redeemed from that perished
condition-the death Of Jesus being the
Satisfaction price. 1t is because OF
this redemption that the Bible assures
us that there is to be "a resurrection
of the dead, both of the just and the
unjust" because all were redeemed
redeemed from the perished condition
Hence the Bible lays great stress
upon the resurrection OF the dead, and
further, It assures us that the resurrec
tion Of mankind must wait until the
completion Of the Church. Then the
Second Coming Of Christ will be II
order that He may exalt His Churcl
with Himself as the relgnlng Power
the Spiritual Seed Of Abraham, whlct
God for four thousand years has prom
lsed shall he exalted to glory for the
very purpose Of blessing all the fam
HES OF the earth--the non.elect.
"Them That Sleep In Jesus,r
Surely no Bible student worthy o.
the name has overlooked the fact tha
the Bible everywhere speaks of IN,
dead as asleep nowhere does II tel
about their being In Heavenly glor!
or purgatorlal suffering, or In hell O
torment Neglect OF the Word Of Coo
has confused our poor, imperfect judg
ments We lost our way in the fog
Of the Dark Ages, conjured up by Sa
tan In support OF his lie, "Ye shall no
surely de-" and In contradiction OF tn
Lords Word, "'rhe soul that slnneth 1
shall dle."-Ezeklel 1874, 20.
Now we remember that Jesus plain
ly said mo man hath ascendcd up b
Heaven" Now we remember that mel