THURSDAY, October 4, 1838. Attended the funeral of one of Brother
Christian Niswander's sons. His age was thirteen years and one month.
MONDAY, October 8. Attended the funeral of another one of Christian
Niswander's children to-day. Age, nine years, nine months and
twenty-one days.
SUNDAY, October 14. I attended the funeral of Susanna, daughter of
Brother Christian Niswander, to-day. She was fifteen years and nearly
seven months old. This is the third child that this deeply bereaved
family have been called to part with in the brief space of ten days.
Gladly would we pour into their bleeding bosoms the oil of consolation.
We weep with them that weep. Our tears mingle with theirs. We lead the
way with them to the throne of grace. Our Father on high, pity them,
and do for them exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think.
Help them to feel that their dear children are not dead; that their
deathless spirits have soared above all sickness, sorrow, pain and
death. Thus we pray, and thus we try to comfort. But our feeble,
tender, sympathizing natures sink under the load of grief; and the eye
of faith but feebly catches the rays of hope that beam from the pages
of Heavenly Truth. Verily, here we see through a glass darkly.
_Sermon by Elder Daniel Garber._
_Preached at Arnold's Meetinghouse,
Sunday, October 28._
This sermon was delivered in the course of a visit brethren Kline and
Garber were making among the churches and Brethren in Hampshire
County, West Virginia. They left home October 25, and returned October
31, by way of Moorefield and the South Fork in Pendleton County, West
Virginia.
TEXT.--Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and
walk in love.--Eph. 5:1, 2.
Some one has said of this letter to the Ephesians that it is the whole
Gospel in a nutshell. This may be true; but I must confess for myself
that in some parts the shell is so very hard, that in my efforts to
crack it the broken fragments, under the hammer of investigation, fly
out of sight, with the kernel still sticking in them. It may be that
Peter had some of these hard shells in mind when he said: "Our beloved
brother Paul hath written many things hard to be understood; which
they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they also do the other
scriptures, unto their own destruction." The Lord forbid that I should
thus do with any of the Scriptures.
I am delighted to say, in full view of all this, that there is not
much danger of the honest seeker for truth being misled by anything
Brother Paul has left on record. If there is any danger at all of this
kind, I think it is to be found in giving what he says on election and
predestination a wrong interpretation. I have been frequently asked
how I interpret his strikingly bold utterances on this subject, and
how I reconcile them with my belief in the absolute freedom of the
human will.
In the first place, I unhesitatingly profess my belief in the absolute
freedom of man's will. How else could man comply with the injunction
given in the text: "Walk in love?" If he has no will of his own, why
give him a command? This freedom of man's will is a logical necessity.
Reason demands it. Now, let us look at this a little. If man is not
free to choose between good and evil; between right and wrong; between
truth and falsity; wherein lies the reasonableness of instructing him?
of exhorting him to do what is right, and to shun what is wrong? of
commanding him to do good, with promises of reward for his obedience,
and threatenings of judgment and fiery indignation as the sure
penalties of his disobedience and sin?
Some admit the freedom of man's will to do evil, but not to do good.
But do you not see that if this be true man's will is only half
free--free to act in one direction, but not in another? On this
assumption, where is the reasonableness of giving him admonitions,
invitations and entreaties to do good, when he has not the power
within him to comply?
You may answer by quoting the Lord's words: "_Without me ye can do
nothing_." I fully believe these words of our Lord. But if you apply
them specifically to the will, they prove that men can do neither good
nor evil without the Lord. This you may not admit; but I believe it is
just what our Lord meant. All life is from him as God. All beings, the
evil as well as the good, "live and move in him." I believe that our
Lord is, every hour and every moment of every man's life, seeking to
turn the heart, the WILL of the man from evil to good, from darkness
to light, and from the power of Satan to himself. "He causeth his sun
to rise on the evil and the good; and sendeth his rain on the just and
on the unjust."
The light and heat of the sun, as well as the falling of the rain, are
beautiful emblems of the life-giving love of our heavenly Father. He
freely imparts the power to every one who hears the words of gospel
grace, to love and obey him if he will; to turn from his sins, and
walk in newness of life. It is the goodness of God that leads men to
repentance; and repentance is neither more nor less, and nothing else
than a change of one's love or _will_ from evil to good; from the
love of self and the world to God supremely.
Thus briefly have I sought to prepare your minds for a few remarks I
propose making on the doctrine of election.
Election simply means _a choosing_. It is an undeniable fact that our
Lord Jesus Christ elects, chooses, accepts every one that truly
repents or turns his heart from evil to good. "_Him that cometh unto
me_," says he, "_I will in no wise cast out_." "_He that believeth and
is baptized_, SHALL BE SAVED." "WHOSOEVER WILL, _let him take of the
water of life freely_." TRUTH is the broad platform on which the
_elect_ of God forever stand; and LOVE is the golden chain that first
drew and forever binds them there.