Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-03-18
Pastor RusselTs Sermon

ham, Isaac, Jacob and all the holy
Prophets perfected, the earthly repre-
sentatives of the Heavenly Kingdom.
Gradually the Paradlsaic condition
shall fll the whole earth. The wilder
ness shall blossom us the rose, the soil
tary places shall be glad, and streams
shall break forth in the deserts, as we
read In Isaiah 49,
The morally lame shall learn to walk
In the paths of righteousness. Yea,
they shall leap for joy us they come
to a knowledge of the grace and good
ness of God. The worlds eyes Of un
derstanding shall be opened and their
deaf ears shall be unstopped. that they
may see and hear the Goodness, the
Mercy, the Justice and the Love Of our
God. "The willing and obedient shall
eat the good Of the land" but evil
doers shall be cut Off in the Second
Death. Gradually the boundaries will
be spread abroad until they will in
clude the whole earth. Gradually the
number enjoying Paradise will in
crease until. in the end Of the Mlllen-
mum. the entire race Of Adam shall
experience the privilege OF Gods Love
and Mercy through Christ
st. Paul. like St John the ReveIator,
was caught up to Paradise in vision,
and saw the glorious things Of the fu-
ture Age, which he was not permitted
to explain to us, because the due time
had not yet come. Neither was st.
John the Revelator permitted to re-
veal fully the particulars Of the Para
disc condition. He could merely give
us a few symbollcal hints or sugges-
tlons respecting the glories Of Para
disc restored.
Redemption Through Christ.
We have already noticed that Para
disc was lost through disobedience to
the Heavenly command. Life, Eden
bliss, Divine favor and fellowship.
were all lost to Adam and to us, his
children, under the death sentence.
There was no hope for any of us more
than for the brute beast; for while the
latter was born to die, man, created
with possibilities Of life eternal, was
sentenced to the loss Of all. Indeed.
under the demornlzlng influences Of
sin and death, we find many Of the
human family more degraded than the
brute creation and apparently less
worthy Of Divine favor. But God,
rich In Mercy In the great Love where
with He loves us, has provided for
mankind recovery from sin and
DEATH while He has made no provision
for the future life Of the brute creation.
Gods provision for mans recovery
from the sentence Of death Is the story
Of the Gross Of Christ" Because a
man had sinned, the Redeemer must
be Man. Because the penalty was
human death, a Perfect Man must die
Tor the sinners release from the death
sentence, to upllft the willing out Of
sin and death conditlons-up. up. up
to fellowship with God and eternal
life, Because the race Of Adam In
herlted naturally his mental, moral
and physical defects, therefore none
Of his posterity was worthy of eternal
life, But in the Divine arrangement,
as Adam involved all Of his children
and their Paradise home In the wreck
Of sin and death, so redemption has
been effected through Christ
The great work of Messiah will.
therefore, be the restoration Of the
world to all that was lost In Eden and
redeemed at Calvary. The work of
Restitution, st. Peter tells us, has been
spoken Of "by the mouth Of all Gods
holy Prophets since the world began"
and will be accomplished by Messiah
ut His Second Coming. lActs 3;21l
But the Divine Plan changes not Sin
Is still abhorrent to God and will nj.
ways be So and the Divine sentence is
that no sinner shall have eternal life,
Hence the otrer OF Divine grace is
merely TO all who may have heart
desire for Divine assistance, resurrec-
ton, restoration, uplifting out Of sin
and death conditions to perfect condi-
tIons These things will be accom-.
pllshed only In those who aro willing
and obedlent Only such shall eat the
good Of the land"-the fruits OF Para.
disc. lsniah 1880; Acts 1923.
Furthermore, II IL the Divine ar.
rangement for mankind, and just
one, that every good and noble deed In
the present life works measure OF
character-development which win bs
usslstful In the future life. enabling
the faithful the sooner TO mount up
TO full perfection OF earthly life. Cor.
respondlngly, every wllful ain. every
violation OF conscience and principle,
works a dehlement aud impairment OF
manhood, which likewise win have lis
effect upon the future life In the din
Guilty Of rising out OF degradation to
the heights OF human perfection, Dl
vine approval and everlasting life, II
all mankind could appreciate theSV
facts, what an influence II would have
In restraining aud governing self and
In developing self control and true
manhoodl.-Gaatlnns 0;7.
The Divine Program,
Does some Que inquire why He whC
redeemed Adam, his Eden home, ant
all his race, aud who proposes a restor
alton OF all, has not begun this Restl
tuition work during the eighteen hun
dred years since the sacrifice OF Him
selt2 The Scriptures answer that dur
Ing the interim another feature OF tn,
! nlvino prorrnm IA h,,inty rnpriod nut