PEOPLE'S
Sermon by
CHARLES T.
RUSSELL,
Pastor Brooklyn
Tabernacle.
Ooo coO
CM)
Ooo
Sunday, July lO.-rastor Russell of
Brooklyn Tabernacle, New York,
preached today from the above text.
Be wild in I'urt:
In order to uh a telescope to ad
vantage we need first to obtain a
proper focus on the object to be ex
amined. And no It la with the Divine
Plan and Iurpose. Looking at it with
the eye of faltb through the Telescope
of God 'a Word, adjustment of the fo
cus in necessary. Thin focusing of the
Word, Christian jicople In the past
fcave very generally overlooked. As n
result the Divine I'lnn has a blurred
and Indistinct appearance to our night.
The various word-picture, symbols,
tyi1, allegories and plain statements
of the Scripture without this focusing
together, make a very unsatisfactory
and noudcM-rlpt matter of the Cospel
of Christ, one that is unsatisfactory to
everybody, one that the learned of our
day have repudiated entlrely-nn am
biguous collation that is a source of
vexation to millions of Cod's conse
crated people. The dlMeulty is that
the Telescope was tampered with dur
ing the dark ops and the proper fo
cus was lost. Since then Christian
Ieople have feared to readjust It. They
lave gloried in the fact that they never
changed the focus. However, they
nave overlooked the fact that Rome one
-lse did change it for them long ago
and that the unsatisfactory view we
bav gotten Is the result of this and
1 entirely out of accord with the clear
and beautiful vision of Cod's Crace
and Truth and Mercy nnd Love and
Wisdom nnd Power as seen by the
Apostles In the early Church.
International Bible Students' Association.
Home of us, dear friends, instead of
throwing away the Telescope of the
Word of (Sod. are taking pleasure In
cleaning the lenses of the dust
the dark aces and adjusting the focus
by a careful endeavor to speak where
the Word of (iod speaks nnd to be
Silent where it is silent, nnd to briu
aa tho Apostle suggests, our every
thought Into captivity to the will of
God In Christ ns outlined In the P.ible,
The result, we all eau testify, Is not
only comforting, but happlfylng; not
only enlightening, but refreshing.
Truly, as the Apostle suggests, we
bave come to "Times of Refreshing
from the presence of the I:ord." And
all this, we perceive, is exactly what
tho Scriptures foretold, namely, that n
falling nway and darkening of the un
derstanding would follow the death of
the Apostles, but that In the end of
the age the darkness would begin to
acatter before the oncoming light of
the Sun of righteousness, In the morn
ing of the New Dispensation of Mes
blah's reign,
lu accord with all this, note the fac
that for centuries we have been over
looking certain Scriptures while ac
cepting others. We accepted the Apos
tie's statement In our text respect in
the reconciliation of the Church, but
we overlooked entirely other Script un
Which speak of a still different recon
ciliation "(iod through Christ recon
ciling the world unto himself (II Co
rinthians v, I'.ii. We should have noted
the difference between the Church nnd
the world In this and many oilier pas
pages of Scripture. We should have
remembered the Lord's words. "Ye are
not of the world, even as I am not of
the world." We should have seen that
the salvation and reconciling of the
Church Is one thing and the salvation
and reconciling of the world Is quite
another thing; that these aye two dif
ferent anlvut Ions the tlrst to heaven
ly. Hplrltual conditions nnd Jolnt-helr-isblp
with Christ In his Kingdom; the
other to an earthly Inheritance, to
earthly perfection and life everlasting
and an Kden that is to be world-wide
Paradise restored, (iod'a footstool
made glorious.
""Cod's Purposes to Da Accomplished.
Nevertheless nothing has been lost.
Xo feature of the Divine Plan bus
ieen thwarted, for these two salva
tions do not progress at the same time.
I)uring this Gospel Age none r.re
saved, nor desirous to be saved, except
those "druwu of the rather," "called
of God." These have been privileged
to approach God through tho Sou,
whose name Is "the only nnme given
tinder heaven or amongst meu whereby
we must bo saved" (Acts Iv. 12). Only
those who take up their cross and fol
low the I.amb through evil report and
irooci report, faithful unto death, can
now be spirit-begotten; In the resur
reetlon, these will le Hplrlt-lxirn, mom
bers of the Bride of Christ, the Lamb's
Wife and Jnlut-hclr with him In his
Kingdom. It duja not matter to tho
remainder of mankind that they have
been allowed to remain In Ignorance
of the great fact thut God is utsHit to
pour out upon humanity a great bless
Ing; about to pour out his holy Spirit
O(on all classes; about to establish Um
Kingdom of his dear Son for which we
pray, "Thy Kingdom come;" about to
crause tho knowledge of tho Lord to fill
the wbolo earth; about to give to every
on and daughter of Adam one full
fair, righteous opitortunlty to come to
PUL
1 D
i
BE YE
RECONCILED
TO GOD"
Tcxl. "You that were sometime
lif nated. and enemies in your mind by
wicked wo:k$, yet now hath he rec
onciled" (Colossians i, 2 1 ).
OOO " '
knowledge of the Truth that they
may be saved.
If the knowledge of God's grace has
proven to be a grand, glorious, inRplr
iDg message to the sanctified in Christ
Jesus, the Church of this Gospel Age,
ailed to the heavenly calling, will not
the message of reconciliation to the
world, In due time, likewise bring to
the world comfort, Joy, blessing as
they shall be invited to the earthly
jrtion to full restitution to human
icrfectlon to all that was lost I by
Adam and that Is to be recovered by
the sacrifice of Jesus. No wonder the
Script urea assure us that the night of
weeping is nearly over and the morn
ing of Joy already dawning! No won
der the Aiostle declares that "the
whole creation groanetu and travaileth
In pain together," and that they are
waiting for the manifestation of the
sons of God" (Rom. rill, 22, 19).
The work of this Gospel Age baa
been the calling, the testing, the prov-
ing, the fitting, the polishing of these
sons of God for the glorious heavenly
state to which they have been called.
The Apostle urges that however hum
ble the position of God's saints in the
present life, "We know that when he
shall appear we shall be like him, for
we shall see him ns he is." When he
shall appear In his glory we also shall
appear w ith him. When he shall reign
as the King of kings and Lord of
ords, when to him every knee shall
iow nnd every tongue confess, the
lect Church, his Itrlcle, will be with
him In his Throne, sharers of his glory
and participants In his work the work
of blessing and uplifting the world-
reconciling the world to God.
Calvin and Knox Weslsy and Whit
field.
Calvin, Knox and others of the re
formers, we may then see, were quite
right in their Insistence that none at
the present time are In a reconciled
condition toward God except the com
parntlvely few of our race the saints.
These turn from sin to righteousness,
turn from disobedience to faith nnd
consecration, nnd lu and through the
merit of the Redeemer are acceptable
as probationary members of the elect
Church. If faithful they will shortly,
lu the "first resurrection," constitute
the Church of glory, the -Bride, the
Lamb's Wife nnd Joint! Ieir.
ltrothera Wesley, Whitfield nnd oth
ers were also right In their proposition
that (iod was not content with electing
merely a saintly handful, but surely
loved the whole world and would sure
ly give to every member of the race a
full opportunity .to come to u knowl
edge of Christ and to seek a share in
tho merit of his sacrifice for sins and
an opportunity for life everlasting.
Those dear brethren contended ear
nestly will) each other over their differ
ences, the one upholding the docirino
of Election, the other' contending for
the doctrine of Free Grace. Now we
see that both were right! Now we see
that the election belongs to this Gospel
Age and to the High Calling to the di
vine mi Hire and that In an age follow
ing this Tree Grace toward all of the
race of Adam will prevail. "The
knowledge of the Lord shall fill the
whole earth;" "every knee shall bow
nd every tongue confess." Then those
who, under the rule nnd assistance nnd
Uplifting IntluenecB of the "elect" will
come Into harmony with the lHvlne
,aw, will be blessed with full recoil-
Illation to (iod nnd eternal life on the
human plane In Paradise restored
while the Intelligently perverse, In
stead of being everlastingly tortured,
ns we bad supposed, will, os the Apos
tle says, be punished with everlasting
destruction (II Thessnloulans 1, tl).
"Hallelujah, What a Savior!"
From this viewpoint the glory of our
Itedoenior nnd the glory of our heaven
ly Father are multiplied a million
times. Our Ucdeemer not only Is to be
tho Savior of the "little flock," his
Church, his Bride, on the spirit plane
of glory, but additionally, through the
agency of his Millennial Kingdom, ho
Is to bo the Savior of the world. He
"tasted death for eixry man," as tho
Scriptures declare, nnd, ns they ex
press it, "He shall see of the trnvnll of
his soul and Ik? satisfied (Isaiah 1 III.
11). Who could stipiMwc that the Savior
would le satisfied with the result of
hla labor if only about one In a million,
as members of his Church, reach the
heavenly glory -hind?
Who In our day could for a moment
believe the suggestion of Brother Jona
than Edwards, the great New Englnnd
preacher, who declared that the Lord
and his saints would, together, look
over the battlements of heaven aWhelr
neighbors and friends nnd children suf
feting an eternity of uutellable torture
at the hands of demons, and turn
around nnd praise God tho louder on
this behalf? Poor Ilrother Edwards
had, we believe, but a small concep
tion of Divine Justice and Mvlne Love,
And his difficulty was that he did not
see what Is trow so distinct and clear
to Bible students, namely, that the HI
trie Hell to which all humnulty goes Is
not a place of torture nor of conscious
imkh at all but the grave, ahool, hades,
the tcdiih.
Instead ct Christ and the saints
irulslng God beonuso of the tortures
ef the poor groaulng creation, the D1-'
vine program chines resplendently,
showing us that the uetieemer ana ms
Chur. b will for a thousand years te
engaged in a missionary work of the
subllniest and most gigantic character
a work not only for a living remnant
of the race, but one which will in
clude In its blessing all the thousands
of millions of humanity under the Di-
Tine sentence. "The wages of sin Is
death." Truly the Scripture declare,
As the heavens are higher tliun the
earth, so are God's ways higher than
man's ways and God's plans loftier
than man's conceptions.
Notice next the context. St. Tsui.
after mentioning Christ as the Head
of the Body, the Church, who is the
first-begotten, the first-born from the
dead, that in all things he might bave
the pre-eminence, adds, "tor It pleased
the Father that in him should all ful
ness dwell," and that (after) having
made peace through the blood of his
cross by blra to reconcile all things
unto himself both the things in earth
and things in beaTen" (Colossians I,
18-20). The Apostle Indicate? the great
scope of Christ's work as It shall be
eventually when finished. He is ap
pointed of tho Father to establish peace
and righteousness throughout the Lnl
Terse. But be has not yet accom
plished all of this. He has only begun.
He has died for the sins or the world,
as well as for the sins of the Church.
But he has not yet offered to Justice
tho satisfaction for the world's sins:
He first appears before God as the
great Advocate for the elect Church,
"called" of God in advance to be "the
Bride, the Lamb's Wife." Note how
the Apostle expresses this thought In
our text, Terse 21.
The Church First Reconciled.
"And you, that were sometime
alienated, and enemies in your mind
by wicked works, yet now hath he
reconciled in the body of his flesh
through death, to present you holy and
unblamable and unreprovable in his
(the Father's) sight, if ye continue in
the faith," etc.
Who are these and why are they
reconciled In advance of the remainder
of the world brought In advance into
fellowship with the Father by tho lie
deemer as his Bride? These were by
nature "children of wrath even ns
others." By nature they were alien
ated and enemies in their mind by
wicked works. They were unlike tho
ltedeemer, who was "holy, harmless
and uudcfllcd nnd separate-from sin
ners." Why then did God's grace
specially come1 to tills class to us who
are of the Church of Christ, "accepted
in the Beloved" one? What did we do
or could we do to contribute to this
favor of God bestowed upon us? The
Apostle assures us further along the
snme line, that the elect Church by
nature was not superior to the world
from which it was selected. He de
clares that it contains not many great,
not many learned, not many rich, but
chiefly the poor of this world, rich in
faith, many 'of them Ignoble ns re
spects birth and nnturnl advantages of
heredllty. The difference between
these and others was, first, that they
had "an ear to hear" the Divine mes
sage. Sometimes this hearing ear
came to them through sorrow and trib
ulation. In their weariness and heavl
ness they heard the Master's voice,
"Come unto me, nil ye that labor and
nre heavy-laden and I will give you
rest" (Matthew xl, 2. They heard
this voice, w hile some ot their neigh
bors more favorably situated heard it
not. But a still further olesslng cume
to them ns they responded nnd drew
near to the Lord by faith and prayer.
Desiring to come nearer and nearer
they strove to put away all fllthlncss
of the flesh sin in Its every form the
while realizing that they could not
deanso themselves. Then It was that
the Master Informed them of the terms
upon which they might Join his Church
"The Body of Christ which is the
Church." They must make full con
secration of themselves to God and to
righteousness, even unto death, They
must do this with n full understanding
thnt it would take them out of touch
with tho world nnd the spirit of the
world, while bringing them into closer
relationship with tho Father nnd with
tho Son. They were assured thnt if
they thus presented their little all to
God In the Redeemer's mime nnd
merit, this great Redeemer would
serve them as their Advocate with tho
Father nnd Impute to them a sufil-
lency of the merit of his sacrifice to
make good the deficiencies of their
flesh. Thus only could the Father ac
cept their sacrifice of tho enrthly na
ture and all of Its rights and beget
them with his holy Spirit to Joint
holrslilp wi!JS their ltedeemer In all the
glorles"rind honors nnd blessed services
for tho world lu his Kingdom of Glory
which is to be set up ns soon as this
Gospel Age shall have finished its work
of gathering out or the world the elect
Let It not be forgotten In this con
nectlon thnt when the world shall be
reconciled to (iod In tho future, the
blessings of that reconciliation will
come to the.in while still Ir. their fallen
state, to assist them to thp recovery of
all that was lost lu Adam. Hence our
Influence even with the worldly should
be to encourage them towards as high
standards of righteousness as possl
ble, knowing thnt whatever they niny
attain In the present life will bo that
much of nn advantage to them in the
future life, aisl thnt iu proportion t
their degradation will be their dlfftrul
tie In connection with their rcntltu
Uon to perfection. So then godliness
la profitable, not only for tho life that
now Is, but a too for that which is to
corner not only for (ho anJota who hope
to be of the "little flock" and associ
ated with Christ In his Kingdom, but
aim for the wwrld of mankind, whose
hope Is to Ie Messed under that reiga
ef liglktoouHiicss aud Its uplifting In-
( floences.
EH Oil
EITaiDBMT
Democrats of County to Hold
Primaries Friday July 15th.
An unfortunate tangle took place
this afternoon at the Democratic con
vention which resulted In that body
adjourning to meet on next Saturday
afternoon at 2 o'clock in the council
chamber. The trouble arose over the
fact that the country precincts were
very poorly represented owing to the
notice not having been received by
them In time to hold their primaries.
The country precincts which were
represented were Plattsmotuh, West
Rock Bluffs, East Rock Bluffs, Cen
ter and Eight Mile Grove had a very
strong representation in the conven
tion but its delegates did not care to
Insist upon a convention being held
and preferred to have the country
precincts represented. Those pre
cincts which failed to hold primaries
are to hold them on next Friday ev
ening, July 5th.
The meeting was called to order
by Dr. J. S. Livingston, chairman of
the county central committee and
Secretary Earl Travis read the call.
Charles Grimes thereupon made a
motion that before a temporary or
ganization was made, the convention
adjourn until neyt Saturday, July 15,
at 2 o'clock p. m., and that the
country precincts which had not pri
maries hold the same on next Friday,
July 15, the chairman and secretary
to noitfy the several precincts by let
ter of the action so that they might
be represented. 'This motion prevail
ed unanimously and the convention
on motion of W. K. Fox adjourned
to Saturday, July 16th, at 2 o'clock
p. m.
.The short notice for the primaries
was the cause given by many for the
non-attendance from the country and
undoubtedly it bad a controlling in
fluence. The desire was to give the
country precincts representation on
the state delegation but to secure
men who would attend the meeting at
Grand Island on the 26th. There
were a number from Plattsmouth
who were willing to attend but those
from the country did not seem so
anxious to go. It is probable the at
tendance next Saturday will be much
larger' than this time.
All precincts which have not held
primaries and they are all in the
county except Plattsmouth city, West
Rock Bluffs, Plattsmouth, East Rock
Bluffs, Center and Eight Mile Grove
will hold primaries on Friday, July
loth.
H 1 I H 1 1 I H- H i M" i I mill l i l H I r I III 1111111 1-1-H-I I I l
nr
ti
nn a
U
Jl
n
House Furniture and Undertaking I
Carpets, Rugs, LinolenmsmEtc. Etc.
IGII
, South Sixth Street, - - - Plattsmouth, Neb.
l l l l l Mill U Mill Mill I I I I I 1 I I I I 1 I H I 1 I Htm
Commonwealth Insurance Co.
So much has been said In refer
ence to the Commonwealth Life In
surance company and as there are
numerous, stockholders in this city
and vicinity, we publish the follow
ing from the Auditor of State Barton
in reply to a letter that our fellow-
citizen, T. T. Wilkinson addressed to
him, inquiring about the condition
of the company. The letter will ex
plain itself:
Lincoln, Neb., July 6, '10
T. T. Wilkinson,
Plattsmouth, Nebraska.
Dear Sir: '.
Replying to your favor will state I
cannot positively state as to your in
vestment in the Commonwealth Life.
The company has not as yet asked
for a charter and only about eigh
teen per cent of the funds have been
used for expenses. This is not an
abnormal or phenomenal condition.
I anticipate you will not suffer any
great loss unless the company con
cludes to liquidate; if they conclude
to liquidate you would get back $.80
on each $1.00 you paid in. Do not
get excited over this matter and give
your stock away for It ha3 a value
represented by dollars and cents and
the state of Nebraska is going to
see that the stockholders are treated
fairly. Very respectfully,
Chas. P. Barton,
Auditorf Public Accounts.
vestigation of the feelings of the peo
ple asserts that it has found them to
be nearly unanimously for Sunday
base ball. It has been tried and baa
been found to be what the people
want. The games have been quiet
and orderly and those living In the
immediate neighborhood of the park:
have made no complaint. The petition
seems to have been actuated by ul
terior motives other than a conscien
cious desire for the public good and
calculated to stir up another noisome
and disgusting mess in the city. Sun
day base ball suits the men who have
to toll during the week and It should,
be continued. The better class of
people of the city seem to have in
variably turned it down right and left
when presented them for signature
and they did right.
Departs for Milwaukee.
Gus Olson of the Olson Photo Ma
chine company, departed this morn
ing for an extended trip to Milwau
kee, Wis., where he will exhibit his
machine before the National Photo
graphic association. He takes along
two models of the machine which
will be put to work for the benefit
of the curious members of the or
ganization and any doubting Thom
ases who may happen to be present.
The machine wil make Itself known
and appreciated and doubtless the
trip to that city will be productive
of many orders for the company and
much business.
Misses Helen Chapman and Ruth
Johnson were passengers to Lincoln
this afternoon where they will spend
Sunday with friends. Miss Chapman
will return home tomorrow evening
while Miss Johnson will remain for.
a week's visit with relatives.
Meddlesome Matters Turn Up.
The Journal learns with regret that
a petition is being circulated in the
city by A. W. Atwood asking the
county attorney to file complaints
against the members of the Platts
mouth Base Ball team. This action Is
offensive to ninety-nine per cent of
the people of the city who have been
much interested in the games which
the team has been playing and there
is considerable question of the,good
faith of those whose names appear
upon it. The Journal in a careful in
"Oust 'Emm Out" SaJe
t vtfi V Kv
of Spring suits, begin
ning July 9th.
The new goods for Fall are already
beginning to arrive; and that means
that we ought to clean up our Spring
and Summer stocks. . That's the reason
we're going to give you an extra induce
ment; an ipducement that will make it
worth while to buy even if you've al
ready bought. You'll never have more
than enough of our kind of clothes.
They're bargains at the regular prices
the value is in them. That makes a re
duced price all the more attractive on
such clothes it's like finding money.
Sale prices
$10, $14 and $18
We'll show you today or any other day
that you'll come in, and we won't urge
you to buy.
Copyright Hart Scbaftncr It Man
The Nome of
Hart, Schafjner & Marx Clothes '
Manhattan Shirts Stetson Hats
Visits Former Home.
Alfred Anderson, Sr., a resident of
this city fifteen years ago, but now
at Oak Park, 111., arrived in this city
from Omaha last evening for a short
visit with friends. Mr. Anderson was
called to Omaha by the sudden death
of a brother and took advantage of
the nearness to his old home and
came down to renew old acquaint
ances. Mr. Anderson noticed several
changes in the way of Improvement
since his departure. He expects to re
turn to his home this evening.
f
