| |
I am here to tell you that God is love and that all mankind are His children and the object of His bounty and care. Not even the vilest sinner is beyond the boundaries of His care and love.
He is not a God, who needs propitiation or sacrifice, but calls to all His children to come unto Him and partake freely of the great feast of Love which he has prepared for them and enjoy the happiness which His presence gives.
So my friend, do not for a moment think that the doors of mercy or the entrance into the delights of His heavenly home is closed by the death of the body, for I tell you that the death of the body is a mere entrance into a higher life with increased opportunities. But notwithstanding what I say, the soul that seeks to obtain this Love while on earth has a great advantage in time over the one that waits until his spirit leaves the body before seeking for the Father's love. The best time for mortals to aspire to attaining this GREAT GIFT is the now, and no time is so propitious. God's love is for the mortal even if he has the passions and appetites which the flesh encumbers him with, and when a mortal fights against the temptations which these burdens impose, and overcomes, he, when he enters the spirit world, is stronger and more able to progress, than when he puts off the great attempt until he becomes purely spirit.
So, while there is no such condition as probation terminated when the mortal enters the spirit world, yet the probation on earth is the accepted time to seek the Great Prize.
I know I am writing like some of your camp meeting preachers, but what I say is a truth nevertheless, and happy is the mortal who realizes this fact and acts in accordance.
Jesus is working among mortals now as He did when on earth, and although they cannot see His physical form or hear His voice of love in tones of benediction and pleading, yet the influence of His love is felt and the persuasion of His spirit voice is heard in the hearts of men.
He is still the Saviour of men as He was on earth, and His mission will not cease until the closing of the Celestial Kingdom, and sin and error shall be eradicated from earth and from the spirit world. He will be the Triumphor and Conqueror over sin and everything that tends to pervert man from that which is good and righteous.
Man, having only his natural love, will be freed from all inharmony and live as brothers and friends in peace and happiness. And spirits having the Divine Love, become as angels of God, and live forever in the bliss of the Celestial Heavens.
So I urge upon all men to seek the Divine Love of the Father and live in His presence forever.
I must stop now, but before I go let me say, that I am working with the Master in the great cause that will make men who seek this Love, one with the Father.
So I will say as your brother in Christ, Good-night.
JOHN GARNER.
I was a Christian preacher of England in the time of the Reformation.Vol. I, p. 359
