The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-01-18


Of eternal life. He therein saw the
mutual pleasure of the Creator and
the creature, and with a peaceful pa
thence He resolved to wait for the
glorious c0nsumation.
AS the Plan developed and time
rolled On, the free moral agency of
His creatures, misused by some, was
enabling them to develop evil charac-
tiers. By this means discord was in
troduced into His family-"the fam
lily (of Cod in Heaven and earth"-
all His creatures, angels and men; and
the family was divided, some holding
to righteous and some choosing to do
evil. But such contingency was
one of the foreseen necessities of the
far-reaching Plan, the glorious out
come Of which, was, in the Divine
judgment, worth the cost of all the
trouble ard loss which He foresaw.
What dreadful thing is a family
discord. How prodigal son or a
hayward daughter often brings the
gray hairs Of the human parent down
with sorrow to the grave! All, the
Heavenly Father knows something of
such sorrow; for He saw Satan, one
of his own sons lisa. 14:12), an angel
Of light, fall as lightning from Heav-
en- luke 1913. For six thousand
years, at least, the son has been in
open, defiant rebellion against God,
and most actively and viciously en-
citing further rebellion and wicked
ness. He saw many of the angels
leave their first estate dude g. and
become the allies Of Satan, and then
He saw also the whole human race
fall into sin. Did ever any human pa
rent find such a conspiracy-so viru-
lent and hateful-spring up in his
family? Surely not!
Then God found it necessary to
perform the unpleasant duties of dis
cipline. In His Justice He must dis
own the disloyal sons and deal with
them as enemies. Though all the
while His Fatherly love was prepar-
ing to bless the deceived and fallen
ones when the purposes of redemption
should restore the repentant to His
favor, Love must be yelled, while only
stern, relentless Justice could be man
lfested. This has been no happifying
duty, nor has the attitude of the sim
ner been pleasing to Him. Consider
the love against which these recre-
ants sinned. Though from God COM
eth every good and perfect gift, His
favors have been despised, His love
spurned, His righteous authority con-
spired against and detied, His charac-
ter maligned, misrepresentad. made
to appear adious, hateful, unrighteous
and even despicable. Yet through is
all the peace of God continues, and
for six thousand years He has en-
dured this contradiction of sinners
against Himself. And still, . Won
drous grace! His love abounds; and
it is written that He so loved the
world, even while they were yet sim
ten Son to die for them; and that
ners, that He gave His Only egot-
through Him judgment (triaD is al
so to be extended to those angels that
fell, with the exception of Satan, the
leader and instigatoro + the whole
conspiracy--the father of lies.-Johr
1915; Cor. 6:3; Jude 6; Heb. 2:14;
Rev. 20: 1914.
Gods Peace Compatible With
4
Sorrow.
This gift of Diaine Lovb VAS an
other indication of the cost to oul
Heavenly Father of His great anc
Marvellous Plan. Not only did He be.
hold the fall into sin of a large pro.
portiono His family, but their re.
covery cost the sacrifice of the dear.
est treasure OF His heart, and the sub.
lection of this beloved One to the most
abject humiliation, ignominy, suffer.
ing and death. Again the illustration
of parents love assists US in com.
pretending the cost of this manifesto.
ton of Jehovah's Love. With what
tender yearning emotions of Low,
must He have made this sacrifice Of
His beloved Son, in whom He was vel
pleased! In addition to all the grac.
very dawn of the being of the Logos
was now added the future grace Of
full submission to the Divine will, ev
en- when the pathway pointed out was
one of humiliation and pain.
All, did the Father let Him go OF
that errand of mercy without thu
slightest sensation Of sorrowful emo,
ton? Had He no appreciation of the
pangs of a fathers love when the ar.
rows of death pierced the heart o.
His beloved Son? When our deal
Lord said, "My soul is exceeding sor
rowful, even unto DEATH" and again
Father, if it possible, let this cur
pass from me: nevertheless, not a.
| will, but as Thou wilt" did it toucf
no sympathetic chord in the heart o.
the Eternal? Yea, verify; the un
fergned love of the Father sympathet
ically shared the Lords SORROW
Matt. 26:38, 80.
The principle taught in the Divin,
Word, that true love weeps will
those that weep and rejoice with thos'
who rejoice, is one which is also ex
emplified in the Divine character. Thu
immortal Jehovah could not Himsel
die for us, His Divine nature beini
proof against death. And even
He could have died, there would hav,
been no higher power to raise Hin
out of death. Thus all creation
would have been left forever withou
a Governor, and only disaster an
ruin could have ensued. Bus Go
could and did sacrifice at great cos