Esoteric V10: July 1896 - Iapsop.com

1896.] Gon's REVEALED WrLL. 208
returning the answer, .. All that the Lord bath spoken we will
do." Ex. XIX. 8.
From this time forward, they and their descendants, and all
those who were added to them, were regarded as God's covenant
people. Throughout all the centuries of their history,
notwithstanding the fact that they refused to obey his voice and
keep his covenant, God still retained his covenant relation to
them, continually warning and rebuking them hy the mouth of
the prophets, and reminding them of the forgotten covenant.
In the~~e messages to his people, they are called by various
Rymbolic names, as wife, .Jerusalem, Tabernacle, Sanctuary, etc.
We find them spoken of as an adulterous woman and a harlot,
polluted and defiled in her idolatry. In Jer. III. 6, we read,
" I-l~~.~;t thou seen that w bich back-sliding Israel hath done?
She is gone up upon every high mountain and onder every
green tree, and there hath played the harlot." In II. Kings
xvn. 10, 12, we read, "And they set them up images· and
groves in every high bill, and under every green tree: • • •
fur they served idols." These words show the identity of
Israel's adultery and idolatry.
But, in this our day, when Chri11tiau people are, apparently,
worshipping God in spirit and in truth, when idolatry no longer
exiRts among them, we find that his promises to his people are
not yet fulfilled, which indicates that there is still something
wrong; for when they return to God, it is said of them, "The
ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs
and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and
gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" Isa. XXXV.
10. Also, "And I will J·ejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my
people: and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in
her, nor the voice uf crying" lsa. LXV. 19. We know of no
Church nor aoy body of people in all the earth of whom it can
be Raid that sorrow, sighing, aml weeping have passed from them.
If, then, the pt·omises of God are not realized, it shows that
no people are fulfilling the conditions required ere they can be
fully accepted as his people. Christendom claims that it bas
returned to God, that it is his people, but we see no evidence
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