The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1914-07-07

ton, he would reply that, according t
Scripture, God is not now dealing will
the world in general; that in order t.
bring our petitions to the Throne OF
Heavenly Grace we must get into re
lationship with God; and that there i.
only one way by which this can bt
done-consecration To emphasize his
point the speaker used the illustration
of a wedding in the time of our Lord
On such occasions it was customary
for the host to furnish all the guests
with a plain white linen garment
which was to be worn over their owl
garments. Whether the guests wor,
rich or poor raiment, the wedding gar
ment covered everything. and made
them all brethren for the time being
for they were guests of the same host
Applying his Illustration. Pastor
Russell explained that all consecrateo
Christians have accepted Gods invita-
ton to the marriage of the Lamb-tht
Son of God. But no matter how wei
we may arrange our own garments
each must put on the wedding gar
ment or else remain away from tht
feast. The moment of conservation Is
the moment of receiving the Robe OF
Christ's Righteousness. and only thos,
who continue to wear that robe viii
have entrance to the wedding. BY ma
ture mankind are sinners There /:
only one way to get rid of sins-by be
lief in the Lord Jesus Christ, and full
conservation to do the will of God
Whoever really believes that Jesus
died for his sins will act upon his be
lief by presenting his body a livins
sacrifice.
"Garments Unspotted From the World
Continuing the figure of the Wedding
Garment. the Pastor declared that thu
robe put on by the Christians who de
sired to have entrance to the Marriage
of the Lamb was white and clean, rep
resenting his full justification at the
moment of consecration-all blemisheS
Of the flesh being covered with the
merit of Christ The Scriptures tell Us
that those who ultimately enter in Il
the Marriage will be those who have
kept their garments unspotted from
the world. Since all unrighteousness
Is sin, every sin is spot upon the
robe, whether it be committed wilfully
or ignorantly. Ali faithful children of
God should use all diligence in keep
ing their garments free from blemish
This may be done by daily thinking
about the robe, and nightly asking the
Lord to remove each spot-to forgive
each failure made that day. The blood
of Jesus Christ keeps cleansing all
who ask that they be cleansed.
This is the Heavenly Fathers ar
rangement for His children He de
sires them to walk circumspectly,
watching where they tread Thus they
learn every detail in respect to their
own imperfections. No one can live
for even one day without trespassing
upon the perfect Law of God; for by
nature we are all imperfect In heart
the child of God does not sin; the New
Creature does not sin. 1t is merely
that the flesh is weak But we have
the comforting assurance of the Scrip
ture that ''if any man sin. we have an
Advocate with the Father. Jesus
Christ the Righteous" Our Lord is
there to make good with the Father for
all the Adamie weaknesses.
The Pastor then discussed two kinds
Of sin, one of which he declared to be
forgivable and the other unforgivable
If to any extent the mind consents to
the deed, to that extent the sin is will
full. Then only that portion which was
not wilful will be forgiven. Whatever
part was not forgivable is punishable.
The individual will receive stripes.
punishments. Of one sort or another.
proportionate to the degree in which
the will consented to the sin.
There Is naturally such sympathy be-
tween the flesh and the mind that some
times even the will of the New Crea-
ture permits the flesh to take it by
force, as it were This should not be;
the will is responsible. and because of
it's carelessness will receive stripes of
some kind. But so long as the indi-
yidual feels sorry as soon as the yield
ing to temptation has passed, he may
know that his will does not love sin.
Should his will ever change and pre-
fer sin, he would not be sorry after
the sin was committed.
How to Be an overcomer.
1t was then shown that every con
secrated child of God must be an over
conner in fighting the good fight of
faith, and in obedience to God must
put down everything that pertains to
sin and unrighteousness in himself.
and stand for that which is pleasing in
the sight of God. This is the test of
our loyalty to Him and to the princi-
pies of His righteous Government.
Many sins are really weaknesses of the
flesh which overcome the will momen-
tarlly. Just here the New Creature
must conquer in the fight He must
get the victory over the flesh. If we
sin, if we trespass, we must go to the
Fountain of Grace and be forgiven.
The great difficulty, the Pastor de
had some experiences of this kind, we
properly enough feel ashamed that we
have not done better This is the
time when the Christian is in danger.
He Is liable to fail to ask forgiveness
at the Throne of the Heavenly Grace;
for he feels that already he has been
forgiven perhaps many times for the
same trespass. Therefore he may try
to forget the spot, to forget the robe"
almost to forget the Lord. Gradually
a veil comes between him and God;
the Father is not so near and so dear
as once He was While He is still his
Heavenly Father. while still the erring
one trusts In Him, nevertheless there
is a lack of the fellowship of the Spir
1t. Earth-born clouds have hidden the
Fathers face
This is the experience of hundreds OF
the people of God; for they cannot be
in His presence with spots upon their
robes, and they do not resolve that
they will not live away from Him
They cannot have fellowship with the
Lord while their robes are spotted. nor
can they have proper Christian life
while absent from the Lord. The les
son on this point. the speaker declar-
ed, is that we watch and keep humble
To come to the Lord and say, 30 Lord.
another time / have failed, How
ashamed / amr is to take the right
step. Humility is one of the very
foundations upon which all other
graces must be built SO the Apostle
Peter says. Humble yourselves there
fore under the mighty hand Of God.
that He may exalt you in due time"