The Sunday Oregonian., September 20, 1914, SECTION FIVE, Page 8, Image 60

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FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL HAS INTEREST IN
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CITIZENS OF CHRIST KINGDOM ARE SUBJECT OF
Establishment in World Is Yet to Come, and Entrance Must be . By irth From Above, Says Dr. W. B. Hinson.
BY WALTER B. HINSON. D. D..
fieoond session in series on "The Second
Coming; of Christ."
"The Children of God." Matt. TtS.
WE studied last Sunday morning
the kingdom of God. Concern-
ing- that kingdom men think
as loosely as they think In regard
to the fatherhood of Gad. A great
preacher told us some time ago the
discovery of the present age was
the fatherhood of God, and the uni
versality of men's sonship. Well, if the
age did discover that, the age discov
ered something that 1b omitted from
the Word of God. For God is not the
Father of all men, universally, alike.
On the contrary, Jesus when upon the
earth, looked upon some people and
said, "Ye are the children of the devil."
And we are told in John 1:12, "To as
many as received him, to them gave
lie power to become the sons of God.
And John in his Epistle draws a sharp
distinction between the children of
God and the children of the devil.
Ho this sort of universal sonship is not
founded on the Word of God. And
men are Just as hazy in regard to the
kingdom of God as to the fatherhood
of God.
We are told over, and over, and over
that the kingdom of God is established
In tha world, and that Christ Jesus
rules over all. It does not look much
like it. We are told again and again
that the kingdom and the church are
synononymous, and that the Bible de
clares they are not.
Kingdom to Be Establiohed.
The church of God was established on
the Pentecostal, day long ago, and the
kingdom of God has yet to be estab
lished in the world. There are various
doors of admission into the church.
There is only one way to get Into the
kingdom, and that is by the birth from
above. The rhurrh will nna a-txrav
when the kingdom is established, and
we enter into that glorious city of
which John says. "I saw no temple
therein." O let" us try and be clear
on these great truths, for if there is
anything this age wants, it is clean
cut certitude in religious thought and
religious expression.
But how are we to enter this king
dom of which .we heard last Lord's
Day? I trust there is equal earnest
ness In your heart as in 'mine while
we ponder this great personal question.
How am I to enter this kingdom? It
was a windy night in old Jerusalem.
and the man of influence and wealth
had sought communion with the Naia
- rene. And they sat and talked into the
night, and the wind ever sighed and
roared about the building in which
they were seated. And to Nicodemus
Jesus said. "You must be born from
above, if you would enter the kingdom
01 tioa. jorn rrom abover won
derlngly questioned Nicodemus, "Can a
man be born twicer' And Jesus said
"Unless you are born of the Spirit of
God. you have no part In the heavenly
Kingdom. .
Is it any wonder the Pharisee mar
veled: for have not men been stumbling
over that thing ever since, until todav
there is a great church on earth that
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takes a child and drops water on its
brow, and teaches that child In after
years to say, "Wherein I was made an
inheritor of the kingdom of Heaven."
And we are being told how. by a pro
cess of religion of evolution, ja. man
can at last lift himself up Into the
kingdom of God. But instead of a
man lifting himself up, it is the king
dom of heaven that has got to stoop
down. You know for your children
have puzzled you with their questions
concerning it there are varied king
doms in this world of ours. There is
the mineral kingdom, and the vege
table kingdom, and me animal king
dom. Now suppose a particle of iron
has an aspiration for the vegetable
kingdom. Can it lift itself up into that
vegetable kingdom?. No. But the
rootlet of the vegetable will dip down
and touch that particle of Iron and
receive it in itself, and so lift the min
eral up into the vegetable. And sup
pose again that vegetable has a strong
desire to get into the animal kingdom.
Can It evolve itself Into it? Never.
But the animal kingdom may dip down
again, and absorb in itself this vege
table kingdom, and so lift it up.
Sirs, there is a. spiritual kingdom up
above this kingdom into which we by
nature were born and brought. But
never can we by any effort of our own
lift ourselves up into that kingdom,
for it is not of the will of the flesh nor
of the will of man, but of the will of
God that we become subjects of this
heavenly kingdom. And therefore it
was essential that God and his Son
should come down and become bone of
our bone and flesh of our flesh and lift
us up where the glorious possibilities
connected with being subjects of the
heavenly kingdom might be brought
nigh unto us.
Spontaneous Generation Unfonnd.
You know they have . long been
searching in the realm of science for a
proof of . spontaneous generation into
life. But they have been seeking alto
gether in vain. And even so, by no
process of ingenuity can the human
ever attain unto the spiritual," unless
the spiritual in its condescension stoops
down and lilts up unto ltseii that which
is natural.
Do you recall that marvelous sentence
in James, "Of his own will he begat
us. with the word of truth." When
first I looked at that sentence with
understanding eyes I went mute with
wonder. Not - that the language is
with difficulty understood, but that the
language, being understood, is so awful
in its suggestiveness. God of his own
will begat us through the word; so that
here we who were dead in trespasses
and sins were begottten by the word
of his power out of the kingdom of
death into the kingdom of life. O, this
is very unlike "Hold up your hand, and
you are saved, sign a card and you are
converted."
My friends, regeneration is the un
dergoing of that which the apostle
James speaks of In so few words, but
words of such tremendous importance,
"Of his own will he begat us through
the word." And the apostla Peter fas
tens his mind on that same fact aa he
1 says, "We are partakers of the divine
TIIE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 20, 1914.
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nature." And-just as I am a partaker
of the nature of my father and of my
mother ty natural generation, so I be
come the possessor of the same quality
of life that God has, by virtue of. my
spiritual generation, and ,1 am a par
taker of the divine nature. And we
possess, if we have been born again
into the lively hope of the gospel, the
same quality of llfev that Christ has.
For in his letter to the Ephesians Faul
ts so bold that he says this: We are
members of his body, of his flesh and
of his bones." t
Now we talk about the condescension
of Jesus Christ in becoming bone of
our bone and flesh of our flesh; but
what shall we say about the astounding
glory that comes to us from being
made members of his body? And so the
relationship between the Christian and
Christ becomes' intimate as the rela
tionship between my hand and myself.
How then do I become a member of
t"he kingdom of God? By being born
from above! Oh, if there is one charac
teristic of the twentieth century that
stands out above all others, it is the
decadence of belief in the supernatural.
For I talk with men almost every week
of my life and they say the Bible Is but
mythical in its narration of an inter
fering supernatural power. And from
that extreme clear down to the other
where a man says "Do you think a
whale swallowed a man? Do you think
an ass Bpoke? Do you think God made
walls of sea water? Do you think that
God halted the sun and the moon?" you
find the evidence that faith in the su
pernatural has declined. And there
is the same decadence of faith in the
supernatural of the future as of the
past. .
Dead Believers to Rise.
Has it ever dawned on you as an
actual reality that some day the hea
vens will split and the Christ will come
and the bodies of dead believers will
arise and we who remain and are alive,
lfwe love the xord. shall be caught up
to meet them in the air? How many of
us believe that some day this old order
of things that 'has obtained for millen
nium after' millennium shell suddenly
be thus wonderfully changed? Thus
belief in the supernatural of the past
has declined.
Now, I know that a revival of the
consciousness of the supernatural In the
present would enable us to grip again
the supernatural of the past and lay
firmer hold on. the supernatural of the
future. For what are you if you are
saved but a. walking evidence of the
power of the supernatural? Right here
and now the hymn is true that says:
"I'm a Miracle of Grace." Then how
can I have any doubt about the super
natural, when I am the living argument
for the presence of the supernatural?
Ah, what V4e need to hold us fast to the
living truth of God is a real experience
of the regenerating power of God, For
I have found this true, without any
exception that I never. spoke to a back
slider but that he admitted to me that
he never had this experimental con
sciousness of being born again by the
spirit of God. '
You can drift into the church on a
rising tide of emotion. And you can
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when the rising tide ebbs drift out
of the church again. But I have yet
to see a man who was begotten by
God and regenerated by the spirit of
God wander away from his standing in
Jesus Christ. And . I am inclined to think
our emphasis upon backsliding has
been wrongly placed. Perhaps there is
not after all any true backsliding, when
you get to the fundamental truth of
my present thought; that a man is
never a subject of the kingdom of God
until he has been born of the holy
ghost. '
One other truth.' What will be my
characteristics if I am a subject of
that heavenly kingdom? WelL largely
I have already answered that question.
But Jesus Christ narrows it down when
he says: "His servants ye are whom
ye obey." A man at the Chautauqua
put a strange question the other- day.
He said: "Do these senses apprehend
God?" But you know a few minutes
before I had pinched the leaf of a . sweet
briar bush which grew there in the
park, and so I said: "My friend, your
question is a very peculiar one; but I
rather think through the sense of smell
this morning, I came into a wider ap
prehension and a better appreciation of
my heavenly father, as I inhaled the
sweetness of the eglantine's rare per
fume." Faculties Are Glorious.
Did these senses obey God last wek?
For the apostle is very bold to say:
"Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink,
or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory
of God." Did you eat your breakfast
to the glory of God? Did you drink
whatever liquid refreshment you had to
the glory of God? Tou have -been en
dowed with such glorious faculties. Do
you use them for his glory? Did your
tongue last week evidence that you be
longed to -Chris? Did you think for
Christ last week? Did you speak for
Christ last week? Did my imagina
tion run riot among the things of the
kingdom of God last week? Did your
Judgment do its calculating work for
the kingdom of God last week?
And what about your emotions? Did
your heart move out toward Jesus last
week, even as It moved toward some
beloved earthly object? ' You lived for
your children last week. : But did you
live for Jesus? You helped your old
mother last week. Did you contribute
to the kingdom, of God? You passion
ately pressed a photograph to your lips
last week. - Did you have any such
feelings when you thought of the king
dom of God?
Letter Is Impressive.
I burled a man from this altar a few
weeks ago. '-1 trust I am violating no
confidence. And I was told the most
sacred thing I ever heard, by the wife
of that man. On the morning after his
death she took his letters that he wrote
almost before I was born and read them
over, and I learned one sentence from
one of those letters which I shall never
forget. And I could understand how
as balm to her; as fragrance about
which beautiful associations clustered;
how as very bread from heaven these
letters must have been to that woman.
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Have I ever such feeling for the word
of God? "O Wendell," they said to
Wendell Phillips, at the close of one of
his mighty talks, "You cannot go home
tonight. It is 12 miles, a rough road,
a dark night and stinging cold." And
with a smile he said, "I must go, be
cause at the end of the 12 miles is Ann
Phillips." Have you any such regard
as that for the coming of the kingdom?
You know Jesus said, "Behold, I come
quickly." And the beloved disciple said,
"Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly."
Is that our feeling? Did your emo
tions evidence the fact that you were
servants of God last week?
Perhaps Paul would help us to put
this more plainly before ourselves. He
said, "The fruit of the spirit is love,
Joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temper
ance." Did these graces characterize
us last week? You know I had an
instructor in school once, a wonderful
Christian; and he was out fishing with
a man on the English coast. And when
the fisherman came in one evening, he
said, "For God's sake, keep that man
out of my boat tomorrow. If I have a
second day with him I shall become a
Christian, too." You know Lord Ches
terfield stayed with Fenelon, of France,
for one night. And he has written down
the statement that, "If he had stayed
any longer he would surely have be
lieved the man's creed, because of his
beautiful life that he lived."
Peter Glvea Suggestion. '
And you know Peter gives us an
other suggestive hint along this line as
he says, "Add to your faith, virtue,
knowledge, patience, godliness, brother
ly kindness, charity." Did we add these
things to our faith last week? Do these
things characterize you, and give evi
dence that you are subjects of the
Heavenly Kingdom? A friend yester
day told me about owning a great cat
tle ranch. Arid he described the brand
ing of the cattle. Don't you know
Jesus Christ took hold of Paul and
l$Ien Fight On
Stomachs
Napoleon so said. A man
with a weak stomach is
t pretty sure to be a poor
or fighter.
almost imDOssible for anyone, man
if di creation is poor, to succeed in
socially or to enjoy life. In tablet
Dr. Pierce's
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helps them to digest the food that makes the good,
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This vegetable remedy, to a great extent, puts
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PHOTOGRAPHS
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branded him! Yes. he branded him!
And my friend said the brand - was
registered! And Christ's brand is
registered up yonder. And you know
Paul stood up one day and said, "From
henceforth lej no man trouble me, for
I bear in my body the brand of the Lord
Jesus, the stigmata, the distinguishing
sign that I belong to God."
Oh! there are some saints the devil
is slow to tempt. For the selfsame
reason that there are women the worst
libertine would- never leer at on a pub
lic street. And for the same reason
that there are some men so morally
strong, no one would believe it possible
for them to lie, or do a dirty deed, or be
underhanded in their methods. These
are the people bearing the brand of
Christ; and the world says it is no
good to touch them, and the devil says
it is no good to talk to them. Be
cause they are wearing the brand of
Jesus.
Separate Role Harder.
"Come out from among them and be
separate." You won't? Then you will
never get the latter part of that sen
tence Imbedded in your experience.
"Come out; and I will be a father to
you, and ye shall be my sons and my
daughters." I firmly believe it is get
ting harder with every passing year to
come out and be separate. The world
and the church have been flirting so
long that they are almost engaged
now. "I will reward you by being your
father, and ye shall be my sons and
my daughters." It won't make you
popular: nor contribute to your wealth,
but rather keep ' you poor. It won't
make . you liked, my friend, by the
world, but it will cause you to be loved
by God. I question if you will ever get
to be Mayor of Portland by these meth
ods, but you will be a prince of the
royal family. I don't think the news
papers will say much about you, but in
heaven they will mention you with a
great deal of favor and delight. Ah,
Their
Itis difficult
or woman.
business or
or liquid form
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SERMON
are you subjects of the Kingdom? Are
you a subject of the Kingdom, and a
son of the King?
GERMANS VISIT WRIGHT
Military Representatives Inspect
Aviation Training School.
DAYTON. O.. Sept. 14. Military repre
sentatives of the German government
visited the Wright Aviation Training
School and testing ground here and
held a consultation with Orville Wright
for the purpose, it is said, of purchasing
planes for military operations in Eu
rope. Orville Wright is silent on the pur
pose of the Germans visit, neither con
firming nor denying the report that a
contract with the Kaiser's government
was discussed.
What has become of that old nuis
ance known as blue Monday?
SKIM OF BEHUTT IS JOT FOREVER
Dr. T. FELIX GOURAUD'S
ORIENTAL CREAM
OR MAGICAL BEAUTIFIER
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... iui .i .an. r 1 III"
pies. Freckles.
Moth Pstches.Rssh
i and Skin Diseases,
and every blemish
on beauty, and de
firs detection. It
has stood the test of
66 years, and is so
harmless we taste
it to be sure it is
properly made. Ac
cept no counterfeit
of similar name.
Xr. Z A. Sayre said to a lady of the hautton
a patient): "As you ladies will use them. I rr
commend'6ours.d'sCres'as the least harmful
of all the skin preparations." At drusvists
and Department Stores.
FerlT. Hopkins & Son, Preps, 37 Grut Jones SUI.TX.
Tightens Her Skin
Loses Her Wrinkles
"I want to tell you how easily I got
rid of my wrinkles," writes Luella
Marsh. "While in London a friend,
much envied because of her youthful
looks, gave me a formula for a home
made preparation which has the effect
of Instantly tightening the skin, thus
smoothing out wrinkles and furrows.
"The principal ingredient is powdered
saxolite. which can be had at drug
stores here. An ounce of saxolite is
dissolved in a half pint witch hazel.
After bathing my face in this but once
the transformation was so marvelous I
looked years younger. Even the deep
crow's feet were affected, and the an
noying creases about my neck. It
seems difficult to believe anything
could produce such results. Several to
whom I recommended the recipe have
been similarly helped, one an elderly
lady whose cheeks had become quite
baggy." Social Mirror. Adv,
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