River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-12-10

! psalm 91:7.t st. Paul's exhortasion
respecting the same time of trial is.
| Take unto you the whole armor of
| God. that We may be able to withstand
in the Evil Day. and having done all.
to stand tEphesians 6:11-13.l Who
shall be able to stand? is the question.
The Measurements of Love Divine.
We are not able to tell the wonderful
measurements of Gods Love-nor can
others tell them. Indeed. as the Apos-
tie suggests. the privilege of appreciat-
ing these measurements is granted
only to the saints. and TO these in pro
| portion to their saintlinesS. Thus
babe in Christ. though beloved of the
Lord and carefully cherished. cannot
comprehend these measurements of
the Divine character. because he is
only an infantile saint.
When first he believed in the Lord.
he saw something Of Divine Love and
Mercy. which Influenced him. drew him
to the exercise of faith and the re
nouncement of sin. From the stand
point of Justification by Faith. he could
see more of the Lord and could appre-
ciate more the measurements of Divine
greatness Then. called and appreciat-
ing the call, he bowed his heart be
fore the Lord and made full surren
der TO Him in response to the invita-
ton. Il beSeech you therefore, breth
rem. by the mercies of God. that We
present your bodies living sacrifice
holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service. Rom. 12:1.
Having thus done all in his power
and having laid himself at the Lords
| feet, he received the begetting of the
| Holy Spirit, not with outward show or
demonstration. but with inward grace
and enlightenment of the eyes of his
understanding. From this new stand
point of conservation and harmony
with the Divine will. he began to see
more of the. length. more of the
breadth, more of the height, more OF
| the depth of Gods Love. If he has
lived up to his privileges faithfully, he
has been growing hourly, daily. month
| ly, yearly-growing in grace, in knoWl-
edge, in ability to see these measure
ments of the Divine character.
| Note that this is the very expression
| Of our text and context: The reception
| Of Christ into our hearts by faith
| brought, as a rule, mighty strengthen
ing by His Spirit in the inner man-to
the new nature. AS this Spirit of
| Christ dwelt, or resided, in our hearts
by faith. it tended to root us and to
ground us in His character-likeness.
| iob &C. I0 hof of HE To
| ther-Love. This experience enables
US to comprehend with all saints these
measurements of our Creators char
acter as others cannot appreciate them.
Yet, as the Apostle says. even we who
now know only in part shall. after ex
periencing the resurrection change
from earthly to Heavenly nature, see
our Lord as He is, and shall know as
we are known. How grand will be
this contamination!
"FilIed With the FuIness of God"
So in our text, which applies to the
present life, the Apostle declares that
even the saints cannot know the Love
of Christ; for it passes knowledge. He
then gives a further intimation of how
this keen appreciation of the glorious
| character of God comes to His cOnse
Grated ones-by their being filled with
all the fulness of God" This means,
not only the announcement Of sin, not
only faith in the Lord as our Redeem
err, not only conservation to Him, but
also filling with His Spirit, His mind,
His disposition. This. as already stat
/ Il Il. znTsI| OF ~ OH
nor by power. but by My Spirit, saith
the Lord"
The Spirit of the Lord is one of holi
ness-n not only of separateness from
| sin, but of opposition to it; not only
of sympathy with righteousness, but
of activity on it's behalf; not only of
putting away from our hearts every
sympathy with the unfruitful works of
darkness. but also Of the receiving OF
that spirit which condemns them by
daily life and word fifty spoken; not
only by an appreciation of the fruits
and graces of Gods Spirit-meekness
gentleness, longsufering. brotherly
kindness, love-but so great an appre-
| citation of them as more and more In
duces us to stamp these gracious char
acteristics of Divinity upon our own
thoughts, words and deeds.
Not only did the great Apostle Paul
| preach Christ and shun not to declare
the whole counsel of God, but he never
once referred to eternal torment or to
anything akin to it-and his writings
constitute more than one-half of the
New Testament Scriptures! The Sc
verest penalty that he ever declared is
that Of everlasting destruction-the
Second Death, from which there is no
hope of deliverance. Undoubtedly he
was right in this course. On the con
trary, he preached and wrote not only
about the length and breadth and
height and depth of the love Of Christ.
/ but in the context he tells us that he
prayed for the Church. that they might
be able to attain such and more of the
i Love of God Undoubtedly this is the