Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1916 — GLORYING IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GLORYING IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST

1 Corinthians 1:18; 2.-2.—July SO. The Cross of Christ No Longer Preached—Redemption Doctrine Falling Before Evolution Theory The Two Theories Antagonistic—Few Under the Banner of the Cross With Jesgs and the Apostles. ’ “Far he it from me to alary, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”—Galatians 6:14. NONE can dispute that the preaching of the Cross of Christ is dying out Those who still preach it give the impression that at most it means renouncement of sin and the incidental self-denials. Rare Indeed would it be to find a minister in our day preaching the necessity for the Cross of Christ —the necessity for Jesus’ death as the Ransom-price for the sins of the world. Some would say that they have become Christian Scientists, and no longer believe that there is such iP thing as sin or as death; and that hence they could not believe that Jesus died for sins. Others would answer that they have gotten too wise to believe any longer that in the Divine Plan

Jesus’ death was necessary for huma n redemption and reconciliation to the 1 Father. Their view is that the Apostles and Jesus, in setting forth the Cross, were laboring under the delusion of the darker time, which present-day education shatters

under a brighter light. Still others would say that they have become Evolutionists and Higher Critics, that they have adopted the opposite theory to the Bible—the Evolution theory. From the standpoint of Evolution there could be no justice, no propriety of any kind, in a Ransom-sacrifice by a Redeemer. According to the Evolution theory, man is merely developing, and is not yet perfect, not yet ready for trial along perfect lines, but is merely merging from a brute to an intelligent creature. Evolutionists would claim that without any redemption or any interference whatever upon God’s part the process of Evolution will continue until by and by there will be a family of mankind that will reach an aristocracy of wisdom, efficiency and power which will enable them to live everlastingly by their own wits. Small comfort is there 4n this for Evolutionists of today or of the past. If they boast of their children, of the future’ and of the everlasting life to which these children will gradually evolve, they admit that personally they have nothing beyond the tomb; that any future life on their part will be representatively in their children. .As for their parentage, some of them do seem to boast of their ancestry, after all—that they were monkeys, frogs and, earliest of all, simply protoplasm. Significance of the Cross. These theories are the products of human wisdom, and indicate a misunderstanding and neglect of God’s Word. How beautiful is the Cross of Christ as compared with any other! It assures us that God made man in His own image and likeness; and that man’s fall from that perfection to his present condition of demoralization came as a result of disobedience to Divine Law and of the enforcement of the Divine penalty—“ Dying, die.” (Genesis 2:17, margin.) For six thousand years our race has been dying—physically, mentally and morally. With all the experiences of the past and all the education of the present, nobody has hope that our race can be lifted up out of its present unsatisfactory condition back to perfection. All we can do is to combat the|evil in ourselves, combat disease, combat death, and help others along the same lines. But meantime, from the very beginning God had planned the blessings of

the Gross had planned that In due time He would send forth Ilis Son, who would die for human sin, “the Just for the unjust,” and thus open up the way for man's return to Divine favor an cl everlasting life. (1 Corinthians 15:21-23.) For four thousand

years the world waited for the redemption accomplished at Calvary. For nearly two thousand years the results of that redemption have been confined to a special class, under a special call to be the Bride of Christ—“the Church of the First-borns, written in Heaven." (Hebrews 12:23.) The Scriptures assure us that this selected company is to lie associated with Jesus in the great Kingdom of God, which the Bibl* shows is to roll away the curse from mankind and, instead, bring back favor. The Kingdom cannot come until the Royal Family is ready to take the Throne. Jesus, indeed, has long been ready; but in harmony with the Father’s Plan He has waited and has been doing a work in the preparation of the Church, who are to be His Joint-heirs in the Kingdom. Then for a thousand years the Restitution privileges will be open to the whole world of mankind. It will then be no longer necessary to preach; for all will know the Lord, and unto Him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. (Jer. 31:34; Phillppians 2:9-11.) All this will come as a result of the Cross.

The Cross Under Foot.

The Cross Overhead.