Gospel Herald, 1860-12-08

              Devoted to Ottrisiianity, Morality, the Interests of Sa>)batli School-s, Social ImproirGnient, Teiaperanc.fi, Eaiication, antl (general Np-ws.
BEHOLD,    I   BEING   YOU   GOOD   TIDIIMGS   OP   GREAT   JOY  .
ON   EAETH   PEACE,   GOOD   WILL   TOWASD   MBN.'
VOL. 17.
DA-YTON, 0., SATURDAY, DEC. S, 1860
NO. 31.
ORIGINAL POETRY.
Written for the Gospel Herald,
The Angel's Mission.
BY I.On. BOYLK.
The morning dawrned brightly, the sun ehono out
fair, The sweet little songsters had filled  tho  mild
air, With muaio   ta   gladden  a,nd cheer   tho first
hours, Of a balmy spring  morning of dcw-drcps and
flowers; The sweet little bjookietwent murmuring along. And buttercups nodded well pleased with the
song. Yes, morning was lovely, with birds and sweet
flowers, .
In soft, Bhining  garments  and dew-sparkling
bowers; •*.
For surely, our Bad earth should lookBSight and
^^^' ''\    1^
When an angel has como from its  lovffihome
Of its soft radiant beauty, no poet caj^J^l,
All beaming wilh brightness it souglit tti-diirk cell.
Yes, sought a lone prison,   where a   prisoner slept,
Through ifon-barred windows, so soflly it crept.
It whispered kind words to a prisoner there.
As prostrate in tears, he breathed a low prayer; "lie thought of hia  mother—of a  now  broken heart,
And cried,  "hear me, Warden, Oh,   let inc de¬ part!
"My mother, though absent, is still dear to rae.
Oh, Father in Heaven, ray prayer is to thee,
Let her clasp me once more, to her warm, loving, breast,
Whore in childhood  I  oft times found comfort and rest;
And the thought of bright  future, awakened a smile,
As  she pushed back my locks, and kissed her ' dear child.
"Bnt her future I've shadowed, and   ne'er can restore,
The hopes fondly cherished, yet lost evermore.
Oh, Father forgive me, the hopes I have crush¬ ed; ' Evtry sigh, every munnur, bo patiently hush¬ ed l"—
The prisoner found  pardon—yea,   mercy from Heaven,
Tlie doors opened widely, and freedom was giv¬ en.
Then he sought his fond mother, her lone heart to cheer,
And banish each sorrow, each agonized tear.
He found her, alas 1 when life almost had fled,
Few and short were her breathings, until she was dead;
But ore death.had bound her poor heart-broken
form. And called her to leave   earth's tempest and
storm, She could say to her child,  "to thee pardon ia
given, Farewell, my dear hoy, strive to  meet me in
, Heaven; Bright  angels are  round roe, and bid me now
come, My Father ia waiting, to •welcome me home." She turned to the Angel till radiant with joy, "'lis thou, blessed being,  that saved my dear
boy." Oh I haste thee, bright Angel, on thy mission of
love,
Go gather new treasures, for mansions above. And seek the lone hearted, wherever they dwell. There brighten fresh hopes, in memory's dark
cell. Then spread thy light pinions—thy mission is
done; Fly, fly, sweetly  home—"thy guerdon is wou." Stewarisuille, Ind., ISfiO.
ORIGINALITIES.
WriUm for Ihe Oospel Hmild.
The love of God in the gift of a Savior-
BY M. GUSTIN.
"God 80 loved tho world, that ho gave his only begotten son, that who¬ soever believeth in him sKonld not per¬ ish, hut hiivo everlasting life."—John 3:16.
Thegreat plan of human redemp¬ tion originated in love. The infinite compassion of Jehovah was moved by tho lost and suffering condition of man, and His love led Him to provide .Sal¬ vation for him. The love of God to man was notparchased by tho death of Christ, as we sre sornotimes taught. It lies back of the mission of Christ, and wiiH tlio moving cause of his ail- vent into our world. This ia the view tluit tho Apostle took of it, and he has expressed this sentiment in tho most beautiful, but simple language. The text clearly affirms that tho origin of tho plan of salvation was the love of God ; that that love was of the high est degree—leading him to the gift of bis only begotten Syn ; and thai it was of.the widest extent—embracing tho world.
Wo shall endeavor to consider thcst points in their order. I do not sup poso tbat it will be new to 3'oa. . have no truths, and perhaps no illus trations, wliieh ;,-iu have not often con templated bi ¦ ¦. I present asystem, however, on v, .jich, whether it be to you new or old, your eternal welfare depends; and which your liighest in terest, and your hopes of immortal felicity, call iijion you to embrace and love.
I. The first proposition is, the great plan of human redemption originated in the love of God. "God so loved tl world, that ho giive his only begotten Son." "In this was manifosteil the love of Got-l toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we" might live, Ihrough him. Heroin is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved u.s, and sent bis Son to be a propitiation for our sins."—1 John, 4 :'8-10. Hence, it is plain, that tho atonement is not the cause, but.tbo effect, of God's love.— Christ did not die that God migJit love man; but ho died b'ecaiise he loved man. And it was because ho loved us that he devised the plan of redemp¬ tion ; because ho loved us that he Sent his Son to die for us. There is a class of theologians who teach that God was originally a stern, and inexorable being; that bo was unmerciful and in¬ disposed to pardon ; that he was severe in his exactions and by nature deaf to the cry of the suffering and the peni¬ tent; that one, more mild and compas¬ sionate than ho was, consented to be¬ come incarnate and to die, in order, as ono groat object, to make GoJ kind, forgiving and merciful; that whatever
inclination to mercy there may now be in the character of God, it ia tho re¬ sult of purchase; that ho is disposed to bestow only bo much pardon as is bought; that towards a part of the human family, as the result of that purchase, he is now kind and mild, and that toward the unhappy remainder the original sternness of bis character is unmitigated. The idea is, that God is now a different being from what he waa before tho atonement waa made, and that he hi's been made merciful and forgiving by, that great sacrifice which was olfered upon the ero,«B.
Now, in opposition to these views, my text teaches that God was original¬ ly disposed to show mercy. His be¬ nevolence in the plan of redemption lies back of the gift of a Savior, and prompted to it. It wtis love on the part of tho Infinite Jehovah tluit led him to give his only begotten Son to die, no less than love on tho part of the Son to come—and tho one was no more purchased than the other. Tbe gift of the Savior was, Ihoreforo. just the expression of that love ; and the magnitude of the gift was thorneasure of the original love and benevolence of our Heavenly Father.
The atonement does not change God, or malce him a different Being from what; he was. Ho is no more benevo¬ lent, no tnore disposed to show mercy now, than he was before tho sufferings and death of Christ. God cannot change; Ho is immutable; the same yesterday, to-d.ay, and forever. He cannot be a different being from what he always has been. He cannot be bought over to mercy by blood. He never has been a stern and inexorable Being, and then made mild and for¬ giving by the death of His Son. Wo do not believe that any change could be produced in His character, by tho plan of salvation; we lielieve that Ho is no tnore merciful now than Ho 'was from all eternity ; ami that He was no more stern tban Ho is now, and al¬ ways will be. The finally impenitent have no more reason to hope for ex¬ emption from desei'Ved wrath now than they had beforo theraisaiori of the Son of God. Tho doctrine of the unchango- ableness of God, is the d.-.ctrine of the Biblo, and the foundation of all our hopes ; nor could the affairs of tho uni¬ verse move on oi^e moment in safety, unless it was exactly true, that with God, there is "no variableness or shad¬ ow of turning."
Again—wo suppose that God was originally so benevolent, and ao dis¬ posed to pardon the guilty, that in or¬ der to do it he -was willing to stoop lo any sacrifice, except that of truth and justice, even tbe ignominy and death of His own Son. The -world was in¬ deed full of sinner.s and sufferers. Man fell and plunged himself into ruin.— He was lost without any means of de¬ liverance, God was moved with infi¬ nite compassion ; He yiitied man in his lost and suffering condition ; Ho loved him though fallen ; He was so full of mercy and love that He gave up the darling of his bosom to suffer and die for our redemption. ¦ "God so lovcdthe world that ho gave his only begotten Son," etc. And this gift was the ex¬ pression of His original love and mor-
God did not give up his Son because
there was a claim on him ; He did not give up his Son that Ho might, in some mysterious way, bomademerciful; but Ho gave his Son because He loved the world, and as the expression of his original and eternal benevolence. A : father has a beloved son. He embarks on the ocean in jmrsuit of Commerce, aud falls into tiie hands of an Algerino , pirate. He is chained and driven to the slave market, sold ami conveyed over burning sands, as a slave, and pines in hopeless bondage, Tho news of this reaches the oars of tho father. What will be his feelings? Will the sufl'orings of that son make a change ] in his character ? If required, he wouid gather up his silver and his gold, and leave friend.* and home, and make his way over seas and oceans, that he might find out and ransom tho captive. .But would he bo a different being now from what ho was? Has a cliange been cft'eeted in the character of the father by the captivity of that son ? No I Those sutfcrings have merely called out the original tender¬ ness of his bosom, and developed what he was. lie so loved that child Ihathe was willing to make almost any sacri¬ fice ; he was willing lo forsake his own homo, and undergo tho perils of tho ocean, in order to save hini.
A country is invaded, A father lays is hands on the heatl of his only son, and sends liim Ibrih with his blessings to tho field of strife and death. Does that invasion, that pi^ril, make tho fa¬ ther love his country ? transform an enemy of its institutions into afriend? No I He so loved his country that to save it ho was willing to part -with his only sou, if need bo, that he should pour out his blood like water, in its defence. So the .Father of Mercies looked on inon.
So bo loved the world ; so ho pitied the race; so he desired its wolfarCj that to Save us, he was willing to givo up his well beloved Son to die. And such a death I What are all the cruel¬ lies of a victim; what, all the pri¬ vations of. tho camp ; and tho suffer¬ ings of the field of battle, wlien coni- ptirod to those endured by the Son of God. They stand alone. Never has there been torture so keen; pain so bit¬ ter and ignominy sogroatas the Savior of tlic worM cnikired. "(ilod so lovod ,the world," etc.
[to be continued,]
At the age of se'vcnty-five, one must of course, think frequently of dctttb. But this thought never gives me the. least uneasiness—I am bo fully con¬ vinced that the soul is indesii-uotible, and that its activity will continue through eternity. It is like the sun, whicVi seems, to Our earthly eyes, to sot in night, but is, in reality, gone to diffuse its light elsewhere. Even while sinking it remains the same sun,
"Do you see that stick, sir ?" said a very stupid acquaintance to Sidney Smith, "this sti^^k has been all round the world, sir." "Intlecd," said the remorseless Sidney, "and yet it is only & stick." Tho story is venerable but permanent.
Virtue alone is honor, glory, woaltli and bappinesS,