Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 143, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 June 1913 — THE MOST PRECIOUS TEXT IN THE BIBLE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE MOST PRECIOUS TEXT IN THE BIBLE

How Differentlylt Reads From What Wt Once Supposed! Says Pastor Russell. Unintentionally Wo Road Errors Into Our Bibles —Our Eyes Wore Dimmed by “Dark Agee" Smoke—The Fog Lifts—God’s Glory Bogins to Appear. The Bible Shines—lts Truth la the Balm of Gilead—Poor Discouraged Humanity Needs Just Suoh a God Shortly He Will Wipe Away All Tears.

Pasadena, Oal., June IS- Pastor Russell spoke here this afternoon and evening. His evening sermon we report His text was, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting

life.” (John 3:16.) He said: This text by .some has been styled “the most precious text in the Bible.” To read it is to be filled with the thought of the sin which has marred God’s fair creation. Then comes the reviving announcement of mercy, through the Son of God, our Savior, through a work which He alone could accomplish for us, a race of sinners condemned to death.

Forcefully the Pastor pointed out that, once Christian people, even Bible students, misunderstood this text, and read It as though it said that God so loved the world as to keep them from perishing, in order that the elect feiw might look over the battlements of Heaven and see the non-elect writhing in torture-unable to perish—forced to live, that by their sufferings they might entertain the more fortunate, who were guaranteed bliss to the full.

What right did we ever have, said the Pastor, thus to put Into the mouth of our Savior, as our creeds have done, words which He never uttered—words which are very untrue—indeed, a blasphemy against our Maker! Light Shines Through the Fog.

We are not faulting our forefathers, said the Pastor. Had we been In their places, we would have been as confused as they, and we might have indulged in heretic-burning, etc. And had they lived in our wonderful day of great light, knowledge, education, Bibles, etc., doubtless they would have had as noble ideas as ourselves respecting the proprieties of Christian and Divine conduct, and Love and Justice. The Bible tells us that Satan and his fallen angels are responsible for those terrible “doctrines of demons,” which have given thinking people such horror and driven so many away from God into unbelief. Let us rejoice in the light of this better Day. Let us become Bible students in the highest sense of the term. Never before has there been such an opportunity for knowing the real teaching of God’s Book. We have Bibles, concordances, helps, and general education which permits us to study these. Our forefathers labored against lack of education, time, Bibles and good artificial light. Surely the wonders of our day indicate that the New Day Is upon us, that the sunlight of Messiah’s Kingdom will soon break forth through every cloud! What the Word "Perish" Moans.

When we think of it, the word “perish” contains not the remotest suggestion of fire or torture. In our ignorance we read that meaning into this and similar texts. Look critically at our text It corroborates the account in Genesis 3, as explained by St Paul in Romans 5:12-18. By one man’s disobedience sin entered the world, and death as a result of sin, and so death passed upon all men, because all are sinners—by heredity. This death penalty has been carrying our race to the tomb for six thousand years. The Scriptural declaration is that all these would have perished—would have had no future existence any more than the brute—had it not been for God’s compassion, “The great Love wherewith He loved us while we were yet sinners.”—Ephesians 2:4, 5. Other Scriptures tell us that the death of Jesus was a Ransom-price, or price corresponding to the penalty upon Adam and his race. By providing an equivalent price for the sin-pen-alty against Adam, God can be just 11 releasing us from the death penalty. Ail Saved From Perishing. The simple proposition of the Bible Is that as Adam and all of his race legally perished, so they have all been legally redeemed from that perished condition—Jesus' death being the Sat-isfaction-price. Because of this redemption the Bible assures us there is to be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust. The Bible further assures us that the resurrection of mankind must wait until the completion of the Church of Christ Then the Second Coming of Christ will be in order, that He may exalt His Church with Himself as the reigning Power, the Spiritual Seed es Abraham, which God fans promised shall be exalted to glory for the very purpose of blessing all the families of the earth—the non-elect—ln the glorious Messianic Kingdom.