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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Nebraska) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 1913)
e- OAiNE JUSTICE IN THEJ3ELUGE Truly Understood, the Flood Was an Act of Mercy. FREED MAN FROM SLAVERY, Pastor Ruttell't Interpretation Unlook Myataries of tHa Bible Dark State ment Made Luminou Lucifer Be oaue of Hi Rebellion Became Satan. How His Evil Example Was Per mitted to Test the Loyalty of All th Holy Angel Penalty of Sin Im poied by Divine Juttic Is Death. Dayton, Ohio, February 9. Great crowds heard Pas tor Russell today at Meiuoriiil Hull. Ho spoke twice. We report his dis course on the Del uge from the text, "The flood came, and took them all away." (Matthew fetOR, TOtiDj without notes, he " 1 ' said: I continue today my subject of a week ago at Brooklyn. I am confident that many of you keep in touch with my weekly discourses through the newspapers. Last Sunday we consid ered the physical causes whlcb led up to the Deluge, and found them every way most reasonable and In full har mony with history and geology. Today we consider the Deluge from a differ ent standpoint We will attempt to how from the Ftllilo why God permit ted the Delujro at all, and that lie was fully Justified In the arrangement w hich blotted out the human family, except eight persons righteous Noah and Ms famlly.-2 Peter 2:4 10. To begin with, we should remember that (Jod's Covenant with Adam, granting him everlasting life, was based upon the fact that he whs per fect (an Imago of his Creator), and on condition that ho would maintain this image and likeness by continued obedi ence to his Maker. When Hatan ob sessed the serpent and guided it to cat the very fruit of which our first par ents were forbidden to cat, be pro duced thereby a temptation. Mother live saw that no far from the serpent's being iwlHoned by that fruit. It was the wisest of animals. She reasoned that humanity was so far su perior to Hie brute that the increased wisdom would mako her husband and herself like gods. She thirsted for knowledge and power. Only the Divine command seemed to stand between her and the highest Meals. She partook of the fruit and rei-tmifiii'1'nlctl It to Ad.'im who was not so deceived, but who knew that death would surely follow disobedience. Nevertheless he dis obeyed, thinking that he would rather perish with his wife than spend eter nity without her. The disobedience led to expulsion from Hdcn and the beginning of the gradual execution of the sentence, "Dy lug, thou slialt die." Adam died with in the tliousiuid-yenr Day In which he ate "of the tree" nine hundred thirty years old. ills race inherited his dy ing conditions and tendencies. Thus all humanity are under the Divine curse, or sentence of death, and have been going down to the tomb, Hades, for six thousand years. Whatever, therefore, may cut short human life is no Injustice to humanity, because whatever life is enjoyed is Just so much more than It has title to. Hence the Deluge was merely a quick means of executing against the raeo the death sentence already expressed sixteen eon turles before. The Dalugo a Deliverance. When the ltlble account of the cause of the Deluge is properly comprehend ed. It Is seen that It. was indeed n bless ing In disguise. The human family had gotten Into slavery, ami would shortly have been wiped out by a new race which most peculiarly had Intrud ltd upon humanity. The Bible tells us that this new race consisted exclusive if of rwiJr. propagated through the Unman female. Wo read, "J'fie name were mighty men men of re nown"-"glants."-i ienesls 6:1-4. The fallen rne of Adam was unable lo cope with the superior mental and ihyslual strength of the intruders. Jobbed of their wives and daughters, and compelled to do the drudgery of their new masters, their lives were a burden. Not onty so, but the new race was vicious, brutal, violent, as well as Immoral. The Bible account declares, The earth was filled with violence." The general moral corruption went no far thnt we read. "Kvery imagination of tho thoughts of man's heart was BDly evil continually." What a tcrrl blc arraignment! What a mercy In the light of nil intelligent beings that such I terribly immoral, strlfoful. and en laved condition should be brought rouipletely to an end! This description la found graphically recorded in Gene lis 0:1-11, said Pastor Kussvll. Whence the Race of Giant? In the past we have not studied the Bible with sulliclent care, and there fore have not appreciated properly its wonderful, harmonious story. Tho orl jln of the Invading raco of giants is flenrly told, said Pastor Russell. 8a -tan, a glorious angelic being of a high order, named Lucifer, the Morning Star, deflected to sin, because of nmbl Ml , J tion. He had said in his heart long be fore, "I will be as the Mot High-' an independent sovereign. (Isaiah 14:12- 14.) Satan thought that he saw bis op portunity to establish a separate em pire in the earth. He thought that If he could become master of the first pair, all of their children would be his subjects. Knowing of his own undying nature, and that man was created for everlasting existence, lie counted not on death as the Divine penalty for sin. When Satan perceived his human subjects growing gradually weaker un der the curse, a new plan was formu lated. To the angels who were given permission to help and to instruct hu manity, a temptation was presented. They possessed ihe- power of mate rialization, and could appear as human, to help and Instruct humanity. The Bntanic suggestion was that they could help humanity best by begetting a new race, using the human females as moth ers for thnt race, to which they would Impart their own virility. Although this was recognized as being contrary to Divine Law, it was perceived that Satan had not been punished for his re bellion. The inference was that God was unable to punish Satan for this re bellion. Thus by refraining from pun ishing Satan, God left open the door by which all tho holy angels were ex posed to temptations to disobedience and disloyalty. Thus we may know that all the an gels of Heaven in harmony with God are loyal to tho core, because they withstood temptation-permitted for the very purpose of their testing. That this testing continued for centuries we know from the context, because the hildren of the illicit union were not babes, but men giantsand renowned at a time when manhood was rarely reached earlier than ouo century. The Dimple record of Genesis is, "The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. When the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare chil dren uuto them, the snine became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." Genesis (5:4, It was these bestial giants who filled the earth with violence, oppressing and enslaving Adam's posterity. As for them, they never had a right to exist ence, since they were born contrary to the Divine will, or Lnw. Nor can wo suppose that in any sense of the word they would be included In the redemp tive work of Jesus, who died only for Adam and his posterity. "As all in Adam die, even so nil In Christ shall be made alive, every man In his own or der" the Church in the First Itesur-rectlon.-l Corinthians 15:22. Hope For tho Antediluvians. There Is the same hope for the ante diluvians as for all the remainder of the human family the hope of the, res urrection of (lie dead. This means not merely n hope of being awakened from tho sleep of death, but a resurrection hope, a hope of Restitution, n hope of return, if they will, to the full measure of human perfection, the Image of God In the flesh. This hope as we have seen on previous occasions, rests first of all on God's gracious promise that all the families of the earth kIiiiII lm blessed in Abraham's: Seed. Secondly, It rests in the Bible assurance tlint .Je sus Is the Head, and tho Church tho members of that Spiritual Seed of Abraham, which soon, as the Elect of God, will lie completed and glorified. In the Messianic Kingdom this great "Sff.l'' will llt'iwimtillvli Hn Iiliwui li'-s foreordained. St. Paul emphas ?d this, saying. "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's Seed, and heirs accord ing to the promise" made to Abraham, "In thy Seed shall all the nations of tho earth be blessed."-Genesls 22:1S; Galatians 3:21), 10. The Fallen Angels Punished. On next lord's day we will Inquire of Cod's wonderful Book, the Bible, Just what penalty Divine Justice has Imposed upon Satan and his associated angelic rebels. I will reach all who desire through tho hundreds of news papers which publish my sermons weekly. If you are not in touch with any of these, drop me a postcard, to Washington Temple or Brooklyn Tab ernacle. I remind you now, however, thnt the Bible assures us that Noah and his family were of pure Adamic stock, in the words, "Noah was a Just man and erfoet in bis generations." Divine Patience Manifested. As we review the situation, we are amazed at the exhibition given us of Divine patience. We are reminded of St. Peter's words that God Is not will ing that any should perish. How easily He could have blotted out of existence our first parents and have created an other pair! How easily He could have hindered Satan from presenting the temptation! How easily He could have warned the angels against a tourse of disobedience, and, If neces )ary, have shown them Hli Power at any timet These incidents illustrate to us a gen eral principle of Divine Character and dealings. God wishes not to have the heavens and the earth populated with evil beings. Creating angels and men In Ills own Image and likeness, on dif ferent planes, He desires them to main tain their own station, and In loving loyalty to learn to trust Ills Wisdom, Justice, Ive and Power. Moreover, He does not wish to have nny children or servants in all Ills domain obedient merely because of fear, merely be cause of Ignorance. Jesus' words give us the key to the Heavenly Father's Character In this respect. He says, Tho Father seeketh such to worship Htm as worship Illm In spirit and in truth. John 4;2!1. God had Indeed n glorious Dominion before sin entered tho world. And He could, of course, have hindered any spread of tho disloyal ambition of Satn by destroying him, or He could nave coerced mm mm onroimtw slave. But such He desires not God most evidently has the very highest ideals in respect to His Government and all of His subjects. All His work is perfect, and He will not allow it to get away from the perfection in which He created Ills intelligent creatures. Every variation from the perfection, therefore, must be the result of dis obedience: and the unalterable Law is that the disobedient shall perish. Man's Experiences a Lesson. We may Bay, then, that God not only foreknew that the conditions under which man was created would result In temptation, in slu; but without cnusing the temptation, and without giving any excuse for the disloyalty, He deter mined to jtermlt It. Some suppose that the permission is to be everlasting, but the Scriptures assure us to the con trary. The reign of sin and death He purposed to permit for six thousand years. Then by bringing in the Mes sianic Kingdom, He purposes to abol ish sin and death, lifting to human per fection the willing and obedient and destroying In the Second Death all the unwilling and disobedient The sending of His Son was a part of God's Plun. He put the death penalty upon humanity, knowing at the time that it would require the death of an obedient Sacrifice for human redemp tion, and purposing in advance that He would provide such a Itedeemer as would willingly, gladly, become man's surety, man's Uansom-prlce. Thus the permission of evil has resulted in the manifestation of God's Ive in a man ner that otherwise would hardly have been revealed. The infliction of the death sentence for so long has. like wise, demonstrated the persistence of Divine Justice and its penalty. The recovery of the dead by a resur rection will demonstrate, as nothing clso could, the Power of God. And when the entire Plan of God shall have been outworked, and shall have been made known to angels nnd men. as a whole It will demonstrate the Wis dom of God as it never could have been known, had lie not adopted the plan He did of temporarily permitting a reign of sin and death. "Many Sons to Glory." Another thing made possible by the permission of sin has been the special call of an Fleet Church during this Gosjiel Age. The Bible declares that the Elect Church are begotten of the Spirit throughout this Age, and must be born of tho Spirit in the Resurrec tion. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God." The need of a Redeemer opened the way for the. Lo gos to leave the Heavenly nature 'and become a man. This opened the wuy for Jesus to demonstrate His love and loyalty by obedience unto death, "even unto tho death of the cross." (rhilip plans 2:8.) And this great sacrifice and the obedience constituted notn!y the Ransom-price for Adam and) his race, but also the basis on which; the Heavenly Father highly exalted His Son far above angels, principalities nnd powers, to Ills own right hand to tho Divine nature. Similarly the exaltation of the Church to be the Bride of Christ, His I Joint heir in the Kingdom, and par taker wtrn mm or the lmine mature, was made possible by the permission of sin. The Heavenly Father could Justly permit members of the fallen race, of the same disposition as Jesus, and Justified and sanctified through Him, to sacrihYially lay down their lives as members of tho Body of Christ and by thus suffering with Iliih to be accounted worthy also of reigulng with Him in glory, honor and Immortality in His Kingdom. "Hallelujah! What a Savior!" "What a God. Infinite in Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power." Is it nny wonder, In view of this work that God has outlined for Hi Son and the Church, that He should consider it necessary to give us lessons nnd tests In faith! in loyalty, in obe dlence? Is It any wonder iu view ot the work which He has for us to do foi mankind, that the Redeemer Himself was given experiences In suffering, that He might be a merciful nnd faithful High Priest in tho things of God in re lation to humanity? Tho better we understand the Bible, the more clearly we see that the re demption which God has provided through Jesus' sacrifice is to be world wide In Its effect Tho raco was not coudemned Individually, but ns a whole iu one man. Father Adam, on accounl of sin. Similarly, the race has been redeemed as a' whole by the "Mac Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a Ran som for all."-l Timothy 2:5, C. The fact that God did not deal with any of the human family except the Hebrews for four thousand years does not mean that He loved the Hebrews only, nor that the Hebrews only will ultimately receive the Divine blessing and a share In the redemytivo work. It means that during that time God dealt with the Hebrews in a special way to select from nmougst them some especially loyal characters to be shar ers la Ills future work, when He would deal with the world In genera). The fact that all this work of se lecting one class of servants from He brews, and another class from all man kind dining the Gospel Age has re quired a long time six thousand years Is no argument against God's Inten tion to bless all Adam's children ulti mately. The fact that a long time has been consumed In getting ready the in struments of Divine Mercy shows, on the contrary, the greatness and the thor wigl ness of the Divine Plan In respect to the race as a whole IOt us avail ourselves of our glorious opportunities for Bible study and for growth in knowledge, grace and love. Let us walk worthy of the light, nnd rejoice In HI in who bought us with Ills own precious blood Christ Jesus. ur Store is Always pen We leave town for a few days to attend the Retail Hardware Convention, and on our re turn will be able to make manufacturers' prices on all Builders' Hardware. All Mechanic's Tools I will give 10 per cent discount till March 15th I will make a rate on Nails at $2.60 per keg Strap Hinges 4-inch 10c per pair; 6-inch 15c per pair; 8-inch 20c per pair all with screws And all other goods in proportion. Yours for a good, square deal p. FUNERALOFTHELATE J.C. EIKEN8URY Methodist Church Crowded With Friends of Deceased to Pay Last Tribute to Him. Tlx; Methodist. fliurc.li was crowded In !iu doors yes lord ay al.l'eriiooii liy I ho host of sorrow ing friends who (fathered lo pay their last Irihulo In James Oaw fop Kikonbary, who fop so many years was a ppoininenl, resident, of this county and was sheriff hope from ISMS to i8!M), and from IS!)2 lo lN'J'i. Tho doal.li of Mr. Kikon bary came as a groat shock to h is friends here and I ho depot piat fopni was crowded willi friends of the doooasod to await I ho arrival of I In.- train I hat brought all that was mortal of Ihoir old friend back to his old homo lo his llnal rosi. ; Thf services at. I ho church wopi" in ' fhapiro of IW-v. V. L. A 1 1 I n i . pastor of ihe church, who Ppoko lipjolly hut very feelingly fpom I ho lexl, "A Man f Sorrows and Aoiuainli'd Wil h Ipiof." lie spoke nf llio lipid's llial 1 1 1 -1 into life; Imw sumo receive mope than I ho others in tin' sorrows of tho world, hut how the grief of death visits each, one in turn, and the only coin fori or in tin; hour of bit. loi'e.l, grief is Ihe man of sorrows, who will understand' tin; grief and comfort of those left behind. A tuaiiet eninposcd of Mrs. Mao Morgan, Mrs. F. 11. W'escotl, n r ' f mf minimi ti m MHmiJH ! 1! ramd PLATTSMOUTH AERIE 3 AT aturdoy i l i i 1 i i 1 i mm i i One for Best Cent's Costume, Reproscntatlve of Character One for Best Lady's Costume, Representative of Character One for Most Comical Gent's Costume One for Most Comical Lady's Costume Music by Ad tn ission No dancers without full costume admitted to m -"J the Grand March and the Awarding of Prizes. tTA costumer from Omaha will be here, and may be found on the second 1nrr nf tha Pnntpc RlnfL- nn Fphrnnrv 1fth rlnrinrt trio ttftomnnn on4 mmnUrf liUUl J I VSIAII'LJ ' l Wi' AST .a (Successor to John Bauer) E. J. Tuey and L. C. York, sang two, of tho favorite hymns of the deceased "What a Friend We Have iu Jesus" and "Son of My Soul," following; which Ihe casket was borne to its final resting place in the Horning cemetery, south of this city, whore it was laid away to await the llnal sum mons of tho Master. Tho pall-bearers wore selected from I lie friends of Mr. Kikonbary and the A. 0. U. W. lodge, of which ho was a member, and con sisted of J. P. Falter, II. X. Uovey, F. K. Schlator, Joseph Wamplor, F. II. Sieimker and A. H. Smith. Tho lloral tributes were most lavish and testified lo the deep re gard in which .Mr. Eikenbary was held by all who knew him, and as the vast concourse tiled past the casket, bidding their friend a last farewell, there were many leap dimmed eyes. A large number of friends of fho family accompanied tho re mains hope, including Sheriff lus Hyors of Lancaster county, under whom Mr. Eikenbary was serving as deputy at. the lime of his death. Tho beautiful ritual 'service-of the ''Ancient Order of . United Workmen was conducted at, the grave by Ed l'arioll. of Peru, deputy (ipand Master Workman, and I). E. Morgan of this city, I'ast Master Workman. There is no hot top medicine made fop colds than Chamber lain's Cough Uemedy. It, acts on nature's plan, relieves the lungs; o;cns the secretions, aids ex. peclnration, and restores the sys tem to a healthy condition. For sale by F. 0. Fricke & Co. THIRD ANNUAL GIVEN BY; COATES HALL c ight, Februoty 1 Oth the PJL W. A. v vM j uuiy WW ? n WI5 a PURCHASES FINE RED POL LED ANIMAL FOR HERO A. F. Nickels of near Murray has just purchased a lino thor oughbred Hed Polled bull of Mr. Dadio of Custer county and "the animal was received at his home one day last week.' The animal is a very line specimen of this variety of slock and weighs J, 150 pounds, which is some weight for an animal of this kind, and Mr. Nickels is very proud of the new addition to his herd of Hed Polls, which he has at his place, and the animal is quite valuable, as it cost $131.41) delivered at Murray. Mr. Nickels has some lino young bulls of the Hed Polled breed that, ho would like to dispose of,' and anyone wanting an animal of this kind should call on him, as the stock is of the finest, thorough bred varietv. Seed Corn for Sale. Extra good, hand-picked, yellow seed crtvn for ?ale. F. L. Rhoden, Murray, Neb. 'Phone 8-J.: How's This ? Wi nflVr Oik Hundred llnll.ns Heward'rr nnf raw of CHtnrru time eanimt tie eured liy ilull if Culurrh Lull'. I-'. J. CHENEY & CO., T..!,,r. ;. Wo. Hit' uin!TKiuiMl, liave known K. J. Clu-nry lor tht' lust l.t years, itnd hrllrvt' liim IMTfiitlj- tmnoMlili' ill nil linsiiii-ss trim-urtieij iihil lliianclnlly nlili; lo carry tnil :iny utli;ntiii.i Ilia ilc liy liln linn. , nat. hank or 'om'!F.i:i:f.. ThIiiR Olilo. Unll'n Catarrh Cnri" I taken Inli'inally. iidihg illrii-tly upon tlic hltMid and uiiiiiuix surfar-i-a of tlio syritcm. Ti'HtlinnnlHln 'iit fret1. Prici' 75 ci'iita nt txitt )'. Silil liy all DrupglidK. Take Hall's 1 auilly l'illn fur i'iiistiiatluu. NO. 565, Orchestra AimiUfi Free . the dance iloor until after U11VUIUU11 CI11V1 CVCIUII 1 ' cr1 ID 2
