The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1914-05-12


charmingly instructive Story of the BIZ
BILE In Moving Pictures was launched
last January, and it is still being ex-
hibited to large audiences, every aft
ernoon and evening, Sundays included.
When the Pastor is absent from the
city on Sundays, The Temple pulpit is
occupied in the forenoon by one Of his
able assistants.
Readers Of Pastor Russell's world
wide. syndicated sermons are familiar
with the rapid increase of productions
of the Story of the Bible in films, piano.
ramas, etc., as exhibited In his Crea-
tion Drama, it being produced now in
the principal cities Of the country.
Pastor Russelps theme this forenoon
was based upon the text: IF any man
will come after Me, let him deny him
self, take up his cross and follow Me-"
Matthew 1924.
/: God purposed from before the foun-
dation of the world, said the Pastor, to
establish a Kingdom for the blessing
of all mankind. In His infinite Wis
dom the Almighty had foreseen the en-
trance of sin and its penalty of death.
He also knew His own great Plan
whereby He would set aside this curse
of death and bring in a blessing to the
! whole human family.
This Kingdom, the Pastor explained,
is to be different from any other In
that its Monarch will be not only a
King, but also a Priest. For this rea-
son, he declared, Christ is said to be
a Priest after the Order Of Melchize
dek, who was priest upon his throne.
Christ is to be both King and Priest
at the same time. His amounting With
the Holy Spirit at Jordan was to rep
resent His induction into the place of
favor where in due time He would be
the authorized King and Priest, recog-
nized as such by the Almighty God.
The Pastor then showed that the con
dition upon which God would appoint
any one to the office of King and
Priest was this: The one accounted
worthy of this high honor must first
demonstrate his obedience to the Fa-
ther even unto death-an obedience
that would respond to any requirement
that the Father might please. When
Jesus made conservation of Himself
at Jordan, He offered Himself to meet
the conditions. AS He said of Himself
later. Il came not to do Mine own
will, but the will of My Father
The work to be done was first to
prove Himself worthy to be the great
King, the great Priest; and thus He
would be given authority to bless the
world. Secondly, this very sacrifice of
Himself, by which He would demon
strate His worthiness to be the great
Priest upon His Throne would be
Sin-offering on behalf of humanity, to
pay the Ransom-price for the world,
and thus to set aside legally and justly
the penalty which God had pronounced
against Adam and which affected all
his posterity.
The Pastor next pointed out Jesus
steps in fulflment of Gods Plan. At
the age of thirty years our Lord conse-
Grated Himself to do the Fathers will,
saying, as foretold by the Psalmist.
10. l come: in the volume of the Book
1t Is written of Me, delight to do Thy
will, o My Godr' psalm 4O:7. 81
Then for three and half years the
Master was thoroughly tested to dem
onstrate that He had really meant all
that He said when He made that con-
secration Vow unto God. When on
Calvary He cried. ut is finished" He
referred to His demonstration of loyal
" Qnd nhoHfarao no ho Eath
His fitness of laying down His life in
the Fathers service. His work as Pur-
chaser of the world. was finished.
The Gospel Call.
Continuing hts argument, the Pastor
declared that God raised Jesus from
the dead on the third day In order that
He might be Prince and Savior
(Acts $50, 3D. But although more
than eighteen centuries have passed
since then. the world is still unsaved
The speaker then showed that during
this time God has been calling a class
out of the world for a special purpose
This special call of the Gospel Age is
to the effect that as many as hear this
Message are privileged to become
upon certain conditions, members of
this special class which God is select
tng-this Body OF Christ. which is the
Church"
The Pastor then stated the terms and
condition upon which any one is eligi- |
BILE to membership in the Body of |
Christ: The Father gives the invita-
tion while the High Calling of this Age
is open. He dominates those who ac-
cept the call, but each must elect him |
self by compliance with the terms and |
conditions. The speaker explained that |
the call Is a drawing toward Coda |
desire to come near to Him. Some |
have 1t from birth, others get 1t at |
their mothers knee, others through a |
hymn, book, through hearing the |
Scriptures. etc. Whatever thus points |
to Christ as the Way to God consti- |
tutes call, an invitation.
Walking In the Narrow Way.
Those who have heard the call, con- |
tinued the Pastor, must learn that the |
first step is to turn away from sin.
Next they must learn that God has |
made provision through the death of |
His Son whereby sins may be forgiven.
To those who take these two steps the
Savior says, If any man will come
after Me, let him deny himself. take
up his cross and follow Me- The
speaker explained that to deny ones
self is to give over ones self-sufficien-
cy. ones desire to do his own will, and
to accept instead the Divine will. 1t
is just as If the person had died; he
is no longer his own. He has died TO
all earthly ambitions, hopes. aims and
desires, and receives In their stead new
hopes, aims and desires.
The Pastor next showed what it is to
take up the cross. One just starting
In the narrow way to life will not
know what his cross is to be. But
he will perceive that it is the
crossing of self-will with the Divine
Will. This will be manifest in various
ways, which may not be fully under
stood at first: but if the conservation
was genuine, every trial will sooner or
later prove to be a blessing, and the
child OF God will learn to rejoice In
what once seemed to be tribulation.
Then the Pastor explained what is
meant by following Christ. This sig
mites patient continuance in bearing
the cross. The one walking In the mar
row way must demonstrate to Divine