Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1914-09-03

Gods Love and helping to open eyes
of understanding. long blinded by
cleeds. PHILOSOPHERS $50 called" and
misunderstanding of the Word of God.
Generosity is Godlikeness.
In declaring generosity to be Godlike-
ness, the Pastor wished his hearers not
to misunderstood him to mean that
gifts of money could purchase Divine
favor and relationship He trusted
that his views. following closely the
Scripture lines on this subject. are
widely known; namely that there is
only one way into the Fathers favor
and into His family-the way of re-
nouncement of sin and turning to right
eousness, of acceptance of Christ's re-
demptive work and of full consecTa-
ton through Him to do the Fathers
begotten ones are acknowledged in the
Bible as children of God All others
are Scripturally described to be aliens,
strangers and foreigners" from God
and His promises.
But the speaker wished all to dis
Germ that there are rnble-minded souls
who have not entered this narrow
gate" and who are not, therefore, chill
dren of God, but who, nevertheless, by
nature possess traits of Godlikeness,
Notwithstanding their share in the fall
Benevolence, generosity. charity in its
true sense, wherever found is trace
of the Godlikeness in which our first
%oI Id
people of the world in practising chart
ty are initiating one of the highest
qualities of the Divine character, and
forthwith they experience a blessing
whenever they exercise their charita-
bic instincts
AS for Christians, we find. as the
Apostle declares, that they are natu-
rally varied assortment; for they
possess, some more and some less, of
the Godlike qualities, and some more
and some less. of the depraved traits
But following their begetting of the
Holy Spirit. these become more and
more generous. benevolent, charitable
, Under the instruction and discipline
of the School of Christ, the Spirit of
Love, the Spirit of God. the Holy Spir-
1T. is more and more shed abroad In
their hearts. For them the great les
son of life is this lesson of love, chart
ty. sympathy for the Truth. for one
another and for the world
Blessed In Their Giving.
God is the great Giver, of whom the
Apostle says. Every good and per
feet gift cometh down from the Fa-
Their of Lights" The Lord Jesus
Christ eSemplified to mankind Gods
great Love. and showed that He Him
self possessed the same Spirit, the same
loving, generous, kind nature-so much
so that He laid down His life on be-
half of our sinner-race. 1t is required
of the Church that each one shall be
imbued with this same loving DISPOSE
ton as their Savior had; for ''if any
man have not the Spirit of Christ he
is none of His" That love not only
left the Heavenly glory and riches on
behalf of the sinner, but additionally
endured the Cross and its shame.
The Apostle John urges all Christs
followers that, cultivating the Masters
noble. generous, loving Spirit. they
; ought also to lay down their lives for
the brethren. They ought also to be
ready to count all things but loss and
dross. gladly to be renowned in the in
terest of the Lords Cause. With every
sacrifice. these receive more than com-
pensation of Divine favor, besides the
Of orr A..
Heavenly plane. 1920.
And now let MS think of the world
especially of those noble generous
souls who, possessing something of the
original Godlikeness. take pleasure. not
in cheating their fellow men. not in
doing everything injurious to the inter
ests of others. but frequently in con-
tributing to the relief of suffering, to
the maintenance and education of
orphans, the protection and comfort
of widows, as well as to hospitals. in
tirmaries. etc. Is there any provision
of blessing for these?
These undetermined. charitable peo
pie are being blessed by their generous
, course: for there is Law of Retri-
button continually in operation The
principle, ut is more blessed to give
than to receive" applies to them as
well us to the Church. AS these noble
!, souls daily become more loving. more
! generous, they are developing char
acters which in the future will be
helpful to them. If they do not come
into vital relationship with God
through Christ at the present time, if
they have not the hearing ear and the
responsive heart now. nevertheless the
time is coming when they will share
in the worlds blessing 1t will be a
great blessing, even though far in
ferior to that of the Church. as human
restitution is inferior to spirit perfec-
ton through the First Resurrection.
! When Messiah's Kingdom shall have
been inaugurateG and the whole world
shall enter upon its trial for life or
death everlasting. noble souls that
have exercised benevo.ence Godike-
/ ness. will be in advance of others who,
even with similar noble heritage have