The Washington herald., 1918-02-04


blood he entered in once into the
holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. For if the blood
of bulls and of goats. and the ashes
of an heifer sprinkling the unclean.
sanctiheth to the purifying Of the
flesh"
Paul argued il God were satisfied
with the Mosaic law and when they
shed its blood, IL he was satisfied
with that for an atonement, for sin,
IL the blood Of bulls and goats and
the ashes of an heifer sanctified the
purifying OF the flesh, how much
more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal spirit offers
Himself without spot to God. Purge
your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God.
That's a lesson instead of a text,
tSr my sermon tonight is topical,
instead of textual, and the subject
is, "The Atonement OF Jesus Christ. "
that central doctrine of Christian
religion. More battles logical and
illogical and theological and non,
sensical and idiotic have been
fought over the Atonement than all
other doctrines in the Christian re-
ligion.
Reads the Bible.
Now and then. when some man
reads the Bible and gets a little ink
ling Of the truth he runs out and
builds a church and starts another
denomination by and by through
which to propagate his idea. By the
thirteenth amendment he has a right
10 do that. but he doesn't stop there,
he makes war upon all other denomi-
nations that do not interpret or be-
lieYe as he does. But I can count on
the fingers Of my two hands all the
denominations that hold up the bleed
ing form of Jesus Christ as Gods ul-
timatum for sin, so with one sweep
Of the sword 1 have eliminated 80 per
cent of them today and thrown them
ON the ecclesiastical scrap heap where
they belong.
The atonement is the state or quail
tty or the plan perfected whereby a
sinner might be made one again with
God. A sinner has no standing with
God. A sinner is an alien. he is in his
attitude toward God what en- alien is
Ia his attitude. An alien can claim
none Of the protection of this govern
ment. he is not a citizen A sinner
Is not "a citizen Of heaven, he is an
with that sinner until he returns
) Through faith in the shed blood of
Jesus Christ. then he can claim all the
protection and friendship of heaven.
An alien cannot claim the protection
OF this government until that man be-
comes naturalized. then he can stand
between the stars and Stripes for the
same protection that is accorded you
and ms.
So a sinner is an alien and he must
come. And so the atonement is the
state or quality or the plan perfect
ed whereby a sinner might be made
one again with God. as We have laws
whereby an alien can become an
American citizen. entitled to our laws
and protection.
shall surely Die.
So I have sometimes Imagined that
when God said, For in the day thou
eatest thereof. thou shalt surely die"
the reason think. is the fact that
they had never seen any one die.
They had never seen a man or wom-
an from whom the breath of life had
gone, therefore imagine they might
have thought it separation. For. the
Bible says. Your sins have separated
between you and your God" Let a
man violate the laws and the viola
ion OF that law separates him, puts
him in jail Sin separates him from
God and he can't return only through
Jesus Christ. But no sooner did they
lind themselves sinners and naked,
Than they made garments Of the TO-
liage of the tree with which to hide
It and from that day 20 this, when
ever a man finds himself exposed to
the wrath of a just and righteous
God. he has sought and is seeking
through philosophy and culture and
education, through science and all her
postulates. goven into her frail plans,
70 justify himself, but God looked
down through their fig leaves, through
their map-made garments, God looks
through your philosophy and science
and culture.
1 say it is the rule of life that the
Innocent suffer with and for and even
more than the guilty.
Look at that young wife. She prays
and waits and longs and hopes until
the small hours of the morning, wait
ing for the coming footsteps Of him
whose name she bears. whose image
IS woven into the fibers of her heart,
who swOre to love, honor, cherish and
obey as long as the sky was blue, and
when at last he comes into her pres
snce stamped with the foul stencil of
his unTaithfulness and his sin, look
at her eyes go bIoodshot, look at her
lips become ashen. look at her cheeks
become anaemic, look at her form tot
ter and reel
Oh. Hear Me!
Who suffers the most, that innocent.
4 yuf bp hac
10 the man she swore to honor at the
wedding or that infamous. God-for-
saken, white-livered, weasel-eyed.
black-hearted, rapacious, mandacious
buffoOn? Who suffers the most, the
innocent or the guilty?
Oh, hear me! You only have to be
unfortunate enough to be yoked up
to God-forsaken, triple extract Of
he'll like that to know who suffers the
most, the innocent or the guilty. 1
have your sympathy right now. 1t
is the rule in life that the innocent
suffer with and far more than the
guilty and il you repudiate Jesus
Christ because He was innocent suf-
fering for the guilty, God have mercy
on you.
We Sureease.
So II Is the plan of all pIans that
j see eXemplified every day that the
innocent suffer with and far more
4 than the guilty. From the fall of
man in the garden of Eden until
now / see no possible cease from
sorrow until the coming of Jesus
Christ, IL has been and is the rule
that the innocent suffer for the
guilty, so don't you charge the plan
OF salvation with being a piece of
foolishness on Gods part unless you