TRUE CHRISTIAN.TRUE CHURCH.TRUE TEACHINGS
ALBERT TORBET
1917 RARV OF RELIGIOUS THOUGiJT
EB 14 1918
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TRUE CHRISTIAN, TRUE CHURCH, TRUE TEACHINGS
SEVEN MESSAGES
BY^
ALBERT TORBET
ARTIetVeRITAnI
BOSTON: THE GORHAM PRESS
TORONTO: THE COPP CLARK CO., LIMITED
Copyright, 1917, by Albert Torbet
All Rights Reserved
MADE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A,
PREFACE
The chapters of this little book deal with questions which perplex some people; and if they seem theoretical, let it be remembered that ideas are the only real rulers: and Jesus said, "The truth shall make you free."
It is intended as a small contribution toward helping the world to see that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I The True Christian 9
II The True Church i6
III The Parable of the Father's Love 25
IV Godh'ness Profitable 33
V The Unruly Boy and His Father 41
V"I Sense vs. Nonsense 47
VII The Great Memorial Supper 57
True Christian, True Church,
True Teachings
I
The True Christian
"Except one be born of luater and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven/' (John 3:5)-
HUNDREDS of thousands of sermons have been preached from this text — very far from its simple truth many of them have been. Some congregations have been told that unless they be baptized by immersion into WATER they could not GO to heaven at death.
In his book The Faith of Our Fathers, James Cardinal Gibbons says, ''Baptism, which washes away original sin, is as essential for the infant as for the full grown man, in order to attain the kingdom of heaven." Again he says, "The church declares that unbaptized infants ARE excluded from the kingdom of heaven." Again he says, "If your child is deprived of heaven by being deprived of baptism, God does it no wrong." (Ps. 310 and 312, 67th Edition).
According to this a marvelous power works in connec- tion with a few drops of water accompanied by a few ceremonial words! It washes away original sin, and without this ceremony infants are deprived of heaven! This beats the sorcerers of Ephesus, the en-
9
lO True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
chanters of Egypt, and the fakers of India sixteen to one. This enslaving of the minds of mothers begins at the beginning while the child is a babe. Think of the hun- dreds OF MILLIONS of babcs that without any fault of their own have been "deprived of heaven" by being deprived of baptism! To me this seems both monstrously unchristian and silly in a degree unworthy of man- hood.
How opposed to such words are the teachings of Jesus Christ who said, "Except ye turn and become as little CHILDREN, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 18:3). "Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me; for to such be- longeth the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 19:14).
Many of the erroneous misinterpretations of the words of Jesus have been made because of misunderstanding what he meant by the kingdom of heaven and the king- dom OF GOD of which he spoke scores of times, the king- dom teachings being among his chief themes of discourses and conversations.
His forerunner John Baptist came heralding the good news that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt. 3:2). And being well versed in their Jewish scriptures, the people no doubt understood him to proclaim that the prophesy of Daniel 2 144 was about to be fulfilled which says, "In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed." Other prophets had spoke similarly. Early in his ministry Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt. 4:17).
And to aid them to understand more about the king-
Scveji Messages II
DOM which he came to establish upon earth he said, "The KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKENED UNTO a man that sowed good seed in his field." (Matt. 13:24). "The kingdom OF heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed." (Matt. 13:31). "The KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is like unto leaven." (Matt. 13:33). "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in the field." (Matt. 13:44). "The KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is like unto a net that was cast into the sea." (Matt. 13:47). "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king who made a marriage feast for his son." (Matt. 22 :2). And he compared it to many other things in his parables; but anyone ought to be able to see that he did not mean that heaven is like these things.
If he be not binded by prejudice even the most super- ficial reader can see that by the phrases kingdom of HEAVEN and kingdom of god he did not mean heaven, but that he meant something that really was at hand or ABOUT TO BE SET UP here on the earth.
Simply to have been born of Abraham's seed made one a citizen of God's ancient but earthly kingdom of the Jews which at this time had been overthrown by the Romans. But to become a citizen of the kingdom or SPIRITUAL EMPIRE which Christ came to establish upon EARTH and in the hearts of men one must repent of his evil ways and reform his unclean life; and the out- ward sign of this citizenship was water baptism, which of itself was not intended to do one any good, but it kept the idea of cleanness and purity of heart and life always before the people as essential in the require- ments of God.
12 True Christian^ True Church, True Teachings
The enlightened followers of Christ understood this in its application to themselves, and if they had their children baptized it was not to secure their salvation in the event of their death, but it was simply the sign of the covenant they made with God that they would bring them up in the clean and white life of Christianity instead of in the careless and immoral life like the heathen about them.
Even this outward reformation of life indicated by water baptism could not cause one to see or enter into THE KINGDOM which Christ came to establish, but he must be "born anew" and enlightened by the Spirit of God.
The population of Christ's spiritual kingdom or empire residing in all parts of the world are all twice born people — born of the flesh into the common life of man, and born of the Spirit of God into a new and higher life of fellow- ship with God and his people such as was especially man- ifested on the day of Pentecost and in the primitive church. (Acts 2).
There can be no admission into this spiritual life of union with Christ and his people by any material cere- mony, but all must be born anew into a spiritual life of fitness for such fellowship; for as the apostle says, "In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body." ( I Cor. 12:13).
The apostle Peter speaking of this and of the way to gain this glorious new life says, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently: having been begotten again (Born Again — Douay and A. V.), not of corruptible seed, but of in- corruptible, THROUGH THE WORD OF GOD, which liveth
Seven Messages 13
and abideth." (i Peter 1:22-23). The living word of God preached or read is the common means used by the Spirit of God to awaken people from the death in sin and give them the new life (new birth) without which they cannot see or enter into the kingdom of heaven or the fellowship with Christ and his people, any more than a horse can enter the realm of the botanist or of the artist and enjoy the beauties of the flower garden or of the art museum, (i Cor. 2:14). And how hard it is for the rich people to rise above sordid selfishness and enter this loving fellowship with God and man, and so see and be in the kingdom of heaven! (Mark 10:17-31).
Have you not been surprised that Jesus is not reported ever to have spoken to any one except to Nicodemus about the necessity of the "New Birth," and that none of the gospel writers except John records even this one instance? On many occasions and to many persons, however, he spoke of the same thing but in \try different language by which it is made most certain that he did not mean water baptism but reformation of life and illumina- tion of the soul.
For instance, the "new birth" or changed nature which met Christ's approval and admitted him into the kingdom of heaven was experienced by Zacchaeus who "stood, and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wrongfully ex- acted ought of any man, I restore fourfold. And Jesus said unto him. Today ^ is salvation come to this
house, forasmuch as he also is a son of ABRAHAM."
(Luke 19:8-9). The "new birth" was experienced by the five times married woman who was living with a man
14 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
not her husband, and who talked with Jesus at the well near Sychar, and she hurried away to the village and wit- nessed for Jesus in such a way as to lead to a great work of evangelizing. (John 4:39-42). This same experience of a changed inner and outward life (new birth) came to the sinful woman whose tears of penitence fell upon Jesus' feet, and to whom he said, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." (Luke 7 137-50).
Such as these have the baptism of repentance of which water is the emblem, and they have an insight into the things of the Spiritual life which is the fruit of the bap- tism of the Spirit ; and of such Paul wrote, that they had
BEEN DELIVERED OUT OF THE POWER OF DARKNESS, and
had been translated (carried across) into the kingdom OF CHRIST. (Col. I :i3).
Everyone who believes the gospel message of God's love for sinful man (John 3:16), and who turns from all outward and inward uncleanness and sin, should of course confess Christ (Matt. 10:32-33) and be baptized (Matt. 28 :i9) , thus taking his place among Christ's people. (Acts 2:37-41).
The kingdom of god came with power on the day of Pentecost (Mark 9:1) when three thousand were en- lightened by the preaching of the Spirit-filled church, and they received the new life (new birth), and they gave their allegiance to Jesus as the once crucified but now risen and exalted Prince and Saviour, thus becoming cit- izens of the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN which began to be established on earth. (Acts 5:31).
Except one be thus born anew he cannot see or enter into this glorious kingdom of God on earth, and he has
Seven Messages 15
no promise of going to the paradise of God after death.
Can anyone fail to see that if he becomes a citizen of the kingdom of God on earth, he is a child of God and there- fore an heir to the blessedness of heaven? (John 17:24, Rom. 8:17).
It is vastly important that our children be instructed by teachers who have the "key of knowledge" (Luke 11 : 52), and who can lead them into the delightful and profit- able realms of literature, history, art, science, and phi- losophy ; but the one thing of supreme and of eternal im- portance is that they be instructed by some one who has the keys of gospel truth and that they be born of the Spirit and receive the divinely imparted life so they can SEE and ENTER INTO the kingdom of heaven now, and thus be heirs "to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven" for those who are kept by the power of God through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ( i Peter i :4-5).
II
The True Church
"Other sheep I have^ which are not of this fold (Greek- aules) : them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and they shall become one flock (Greek-poimne) , one shepherd/^ (John io:i6).
T N the scriptures God is frequently spoken of as the -■-Shepherd of Israel, and one of the most beautiful Psalms describes the blessedness of the one who has Je- hovah for his shepherd. When Jesus spoke the words of the text in his address to the Jews practically all the world was in gross darkness, and they were following blind guides who misled them. Whatever religion they had did not benefit them much in the way of helping them to better thinking or better living, but it filled their minds with foolish and fearsome fancies which made them easy victims of pagan priests who fooled them in order to fleece them. All pretenders who had come among the Jews claiming to be the promised Messiah were thieves and robbers ; and all former leaders in all lands were imperfect and inadequate guides: but Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd:" and he represented himself as knowing his sheep by name intimately, and being ready to lay down his life for them.
His love reached beyond the fold of Abraham's pos- terity or Israel and embraced all the remainder of man-
i6
Seven Messages 17
kind who were dispersed and without a shepherd. He would become the leader or shepherd of all races of men, but they must first be brought to a knowledge of him be- fore they would follow him. The Jews thought they were sufficiently blessed and safe because they were in the Jewish national fold while all the other peoples of the world were without fold or shepherd ; but Jesus said to some of them who were not personally true people, **Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep." (V. 26). Being in a sheep-fold would not change a goat into a sheep, as being in a wheat-field would not change wild oats into wheat ; and no more will being in the Jewish race or be- longing to some church organization calling itself the true church or fold of Christ prove that one is a Christian, or one of Christ's flock. Judas was in the Jewish fold and he was among Christ's flock, but he was not safe on that account.
In the original Greek there is nothing said about Christ bringing all his sheep into one fold; but he is to LEAD all his people who are in all nations, and they will become one flock with himself as their one shepherd. "My sheep hear my voice, and i know them, and THEY follow ME: and I give unto them eternal life." (V. 27). The thought of Christ is not that all his people shall be gathered into one organization but that they shall all HEAR HIS word so as to know his will, and then trustfully follow him which is the whole of true Chris- tianity. It is not being in a true fold but being truly HIS HEARING AND FOLLOWING FLOCK which is Supremely important.
People lacking in liberality of mind and being ac-
1 8 True Christiaji, True Church, True Teachings
customed to be told that theirs is the old and original CHURCH WHICH CHRIST FOUNDED, find it easy to repeat this conceit like parrots without giving it any careful in- vestigation. They are not consciously in need of each for himself seeking the truth by dilligent study of the words of Christ and of his inspired apostles to see what they really did teach, since they are satisfied they have all the truth they need. Think carefully and you must conclude that as all branches of a tree have their origin in the roots, and as all branches of the tree are equally connected with the roots; so all of his flock which FOLLOW HIM, no matter how they may be organized under human leaders, or whether they are organized at all under human leaders, are Christ's true church which has always continued in the world since that Pente- costal birth-day or establishing of the church. (Acts 2).
Suppose four boys have only one apple, and they cut it into FOUR PIECES, each boy taking one piece ; how absurd it would be for any one of the boys to contend that his PIECE is the ORIGINAL APPLE and that all the other PIECES were cut ofif from his piece, and that therefore they are not really apple at all ! Every piece of the apple goes back historically to the bud, the blossom, the sap in the limb, and to the root from which they all alike grew and to which they are all equally related.
Now about four hundred years ago, for reasons which it is not necessary to recite here, the Christian church (Church Apple) in the greater part of Europe separated into four parts. The millions of Chris- tians in Abyssinia, Syria, Armenia and Russia had already for centuries been not organically connected with the
Seven Messages 19
European church organization which was largely Ro- man or under the rule of the Pope. These four parts of the European church organization with all the church edifices which went with them were the Lutheran, the Presbyterian, the Anglican, and the Roman. In gen- eral terms it may be said that Germany and Scandinavia were Lutherans, the Netherlands and Scotland were Pres- byterian, England was Anglican, while Ireland and South- ern Europe were Roman.
How in truth and in reason is it possible for an in- telligent man to claim that any one part of this sepa- rated and in some things disagreeing flock or company of people professing to follow Christ is the old and original church which Christ founded, and that all others are not truly church at all? That is as ab- surd as for one boy to claim that his piece of the apple is the only one that is apple at all. And no part of the church can reasonably call itself the catholic (universal) church; for in so far as it is Lutheran, roman, An- glican, or PRESBYTERIAN it is LIMITED, and NOT CATH- OLIC.
At one time practically the whole of Europe was po- litically ORGANIZED as part of the wide-spreading Roman Empire; but later the various divisions of territory were organized into separate nations distinct from the central government in Rome. Would any one say that they had no legitimate government and must forever remain a part of the Roman Empire which no longer had any existence as such? And if this division of civil government be proper, there were more legitimate reasons for the flock or church of Christ separating into different sections or
20 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
ORGANIZATIONS, and this without any loss of historic con- nection with the original company of believers at Jerusa- lem. Similarity of teaching and life constitutes the only true succession. All parts of the church or flock of Christ are equally old in the sense that all have an equal right to claim that they have a continuous and vital connection with Christ and the primitive Christians; but the church composed of living people is at no time more than a few years old.
Every individual man has an equally historic connection with Adam according to the old record, no matter in what part of the world he may live ; and every true follower of Christ is one of his flock regardless of what organi- zation he may belong to or whether he belong to any organization at all. Lawyers do not think it necessary to be able to trace a direct line of succession from Moses the great lawgiver before they can be legitimate prac- titioners, and there is no more reason for desiring to trace a direct historical succession in the ministry or in the church organization.
Keep in mind always that only those who hear the
VOICE or word of CHRIST AND TRUSTFULLY FOLLOW
HIM are part of his flock at all, and that all such people are a part of his flock or of the true church. There always ought to be in our minds also a clear distinction between the church and the church organization. There was a great number of people in the world before there was any government or any need of government; and in like manner there were thousands of Christian peo- ple in the flock of Christ at Pentecost who constituted the whole church before they were organized into any
Seven Messages 21
form of church government; and the church would exist still even though all of the church organizations were disbanded or ceased to be.
France was France when it was organized into an Empire, and it was none the less France when organized into a kingdom, and none the less is it still France now that it is organized into a republic. The people are the really important thing about France or any other countr>' ; and in the same way the Spirit-taught people or real Christians are the flock of Christ or his church whether they are organized or not organized at all as was largely the fact with the church in its earliest years. And is it not very far better that there be a variety of organiza- tions somewhat analogus to our political parties, each to supplement the defects and to watch the errors of the others, and having liberty of expression; rather than to have one great monarchical and religio-political trust or combination which might become unbearably oppressive and considerably corrupt, as was the fact in the church at the time when the great protesting organizations were formed?
All thinking people know that government both civil and church, like most other human institutions, is a de- velopment or evolution from less or more perfect in- stitutions of an earlier date. In civil life there was first the family management or government, then the tribal, then the tribes combined into petty kingdoms, later these kingdoms might form a combination into empires; and finally when the people become sufficiently liberty-loving, intelligent, and righteous so as to be fit for self-govern- ment, sometimes they organize into republics. In the
22 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
times of superstitious ignorance, the people really believed that the usurping kings had certain divine rights among which was the right of succession or handing on the crown from father to son ; but while some intelligent peo- ples still permit such succession, they do it as a matter of expediency, and not as a matter of necessity or of any special divine right of the royal family.
And in the church, even though we should admit that by shutting our eyes to the historic facts, it could be shown that Christ appointed Peter as the head of the church to be its emperor or pontiff, to send out his provincial subordinates, and to have rule over all Chris- tians, and by right of his office to decide (Ex cathedra and infallibly) all questions of christian doctrine; it would still be pure assumption that some one must fall heir to all this powder and position by so-called apostolic succes- sion which is a churchly aping of royal succession in civil government. All readers of true history know that church government underwent stages of evolution from the simple common brotherhood and advisory counsel where each had only such power as his experience, and personal worth, and intelligence gave him influence (Acts 15:1-34 and 11:1-18) ; and on through the stage of comparatively unorganized missionary activity when the christians modeled their management of aifairs after the Jewish synagogue management; on through the centuries of pagan persecutions till the church became popular un- der the patronage of Emperor Constantine: and after this it was easy for the scheming leaders at Rome to as- sume some such preeminence in church matters as the civil rulers there exercised in civil matters; and this
Seven Messages 23
modeling after the civil government increased more and more till the days of Gregor>' seventh (Hildebrand 1020-1085) when this pope gained the supremacy over the kings. This was the climax of papal assumption, as it was also the death knell of liberty till the intrepid leaders Luther and Calvin restored liberty.
No particular form of government is obligatory upon the church, although the representative form had its origin among the Jews by Divine suggestion; but chris- tians are free to associate or organize themselves together for helpfulness and for evangelizing enterprises in any way which seems to them desirable at any time and place. The method best at one time and place might not be best at another time and place; and no cast iron method is demanded ; but the best way always and everywhere is the way which best preserves liberty and secures the interests of the flock of Christ.
All usurpations and conceits hinder the delightful, free, and brotherly fellowship among the flock such as was so noticeable in the Pentecostal church. (Acts 2:43- 47). All assumption of lordship over the flock is unAmerican because undemocratic, and it is unchris- tian because opposed to the plain commands of Christ who said, ''One is your Master, and all ye are brethren." (Matt. 23:8). "Neither be ye called masters; for one is your Master, even Christ." (Matt. 23 :io). "J^^^»s call- ed them unto him, and said, Ye know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Not so shall it be among YOU : but whosoever would become great among you shall be your servant; and whosoever would be first among
24 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
you shall be your servant (bondservant)." (Matt. 20:
25-27).
The inspired picture or description of that glorious church at Pentecost is providentially preserved to us as a constant reminder that every church should have the essential features of that church, all enfolded in a heavenly fellowship by the Holy Spirit abiding in them each, and all enthused with a loving desire to tell to others the joy of the new life which they received from God. (Acts 2:40-42). If every church were thus truly and fully what it should be the "other sheep" for whom Christ lived, and died, and intercedes would speedily be brought into the blessedness of the christian flock under the one
SHEPHERD, CHRIST. AnY AND ALL CHURCH ORGANIZA- TIONS are valuable only in so far as they are useful in leading people to become real followers of christ.
Ill
The Parable of the Father's Love Parable of the Fathers Love. (Luke 15:11-32).
THIS has been miscalled the parable of the Prodigal Son, but it is the parable of the Father's Love ; the younger son being described only incidentally and in order to make vivid the solicitous attitude of the father toward his once wayward but now penitent son.
"Now all the publicans and sinners were drawing near unto him to hear him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying. This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." (Vs. 2-3).
In rebuke of these faultfinders Christ held up this parable before them as a mirror in order that they might see themselves to be as ugly and as repulsive as the elder brother of this story, and that they might see that in sympathetically and forgivingly receiving such publicans and sinners he was correctly representing the loving and redeeming attitude of God yearning over those who had been lost among the deceptive allurements of the world. In our comparatively democratic society, created by two thousand years of gospel influence, we can scarcely im- agine the self-righteous aloofness of the Pharisee or his disdain for the social outcasts who eagerly listened to Jesus.
"A certain man had two sons : and the younger of them 25
26 True Christian^ True Church, True Teachings
said to his father, Father, give me the portion of thy substance that falleth to me." (v. ii). How selfish and heartless this youth who had been spoiled by over indulgent parents! He wants to wear his father's shoes before he is done with them. He would watch for his father's death so he could get his property about as a flock of buzzards used to circle above a herd of bison roaming the plains so as to feed upon any weak ones which might fall. This young man is frankly sick of the careful ways of the old home and he is eager to get out into the big world where he fancies success and notoriety await him; and to all words of advice and caution as he leaves home he confidently says, "You watch me:" but ere long he will become disillusioned, and then he will be desperately home- sick and humbled.
He is like young Samson gambling with the Philistines, and like these latter the sporting associates of this youth would put out his very eyes to get his money and they would make him a slave to grind at the mill for their amusement and profit; even as the same class in modern times would flatter a youth in order to fleece him in the gaming and gambling haunts till they bring him down from social position to the level of a ruined cuspidor cleaner. Yet a silly youth thinks such companions are his friends! O the deceitfulness of sin! It promises pleasure, and it does indeed allow you to nibble at the bait till the cruel trap springs.
It did not take this young man long to get away from the comforts and the safety of the old home and into a far country; and while his father's money lasted he had plenty of swift companions to share it with him. They
Seven Messages 27
were just such a dangerous and worthless set as loiter around gaming and gambling places in our towns where our pleasure-mad and unthinking young men absorb false and ruinous ideas and ideals, and so lose their prospects for success in life. Like an uncomprehending child this youth fancied there was no bottom to his pocketbook and no limit to the amount of money which can be drawn from the bank. But no matter how much has been pro- vided by parental frugality, the young fool and his money are soon parted. "Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than for him." "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." (Prov. 26:12 and 29:1).
While this youth fancied he was having a good time sowing wild oats, he was preparing a larger harvest of them than he knew of and one which he must reap in humili- ation and bitterness. How strange that such people can- not see that their morning sun of good opportunities will not last the whole of life's long day! Suddenly distress- ingly hard times came upon the country and his easy money was all gone. He had chased the butterfly of pleasure, if nothing worse, till he had heedlessly fallen over the unseen precipice into the valley of poverty; and in chagrin, he took a job feeding swine in order to keep from starving: and none of his old pals cared to see his false pride and pretenses exposed. How many bright youths with splendid opportunities for success have, like Esau, bartered all away for a mess of pottage in the shape of some momentary enjoyment, or indulgence. And when the golden days of youth have gone by as swiftly a weaver's
28 Tfue Christian, True Church, True Teachings .
shuttle, they have waked up to the fact that they have played the fool by neglecting God's councils. What a mercy that we have this divinely given parable so we can learn from the mistakes of others who have vainly tried the paths of folly, and so avoid them ourselves !
When this young man waked up to the situation he eaid to himself, "How many hired servants of my father's ^ave bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say •unto him. Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in Jthy sight; I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants." Plow many poor fellows might appropriately sing:
"I've wandered far away from God, Now I'm coming home; The paths of sin too long I've trod. Lord, I'm coming home.
I've wasted many precious years, Now I'm coming home; I now repent with bitter tears, Lord, I'm coming home."
"But while he was yet afar off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight: I am no more worthy to be called thy son." But before he could finish what he had planned to say about being made as a hired servant his father cried to one of the servants,
Seven Messages 29
"Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him ; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." Oh yes, God sees the poor sinner while he is yet afar off, and He runs to our rescue before we see Him; and He is more glad to welcome us than we are to be welcomed. This prematurely ageing father had cherished a fond hope that his son would re- turn, and he was watching for him ; and since the mother is not mentioned, it is likely that she had gone disappointed and broken-hearted to her grave, and was now in heaven sharing the joy of the angels over this repenting sinner.
How perfectly this returning son represented the crowds of publicans and sinners who gathered to hear Jesus preach the glad news of God's forgiving love! And be- hold in the father's joyous welcome and bountiful treat- ment of his unworthy but penitent son the very heart of God opened to our view !
"There's a wideness in God's mercy Like the wideness of the sea; There's a kindness in his justice Which is more than liberty."
What a slander upon God to teach that some other person is more compassionate and loving than He is and that we need some human mediator between us and our triune God !
Some years ago a young man left his home in the east and came to a western city where he fell in with evil as-
30 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
sociates, and finally died of alcoholic excess. When his body lay in the morgue I stood by the mother who came for it as with grief inexpressible she caressed the cold form, lovingly stroking his forehead, and recalling the sweet memories of his happy childhood, and contrasting them with her present despair and the haunting fact of his ruined life and hopeless death. No wonder Jesus al- ways spoke of God as Father; for in the parental love we see something of God who "So loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."
Here is in brief a true story of a young man from a christian home of culture and love who was employed in a western city. Evil associates influenced him into certain wrong ways, and he was ashamed to face his parents who had given him most favorable advantages; and he decided to go to Canada and join a battalion which was about to be sent to the European front. After two days of his absence his employers sent a messenger to the parental home to ask if they knew where their son was; and not knowing whether he had met with foul play or whether he had gone without leaving any word as to his where- abouts, the anxious parents at once made use of the mails and of the long distance telephone to inquire of friends both east and west. More than words can tell the par- ental hearts were distressed like as was Jacob's in the Bible story when Joseph was missing; and the father, kissing the praying and hoping mother good-bye, hastened to the western city hoping to find some trace of their son. Following one slight clue and the guiding hand of God, the father decided to go to the international border, and
Seven Messages 31
there in a terrific blizzzard which froze many people, he searched for his son ; but finding no trace of him, he hurried on to an interior city some hundreds of miles; and there as the clock was striking the small hours of the night he found his son in a battalion which was soon to be ordered to the European trenches. The necessary effort was made to get him discharged, and father and son hastened home to gladden the heart of the distressed mother; and all thought of the great trouble and ex- pense was as nothing if only the son was safe.
This but faintly illustrates the solicitude of God our heavenly Father who sent his beloved Son Jesus Christ into this cold world to redeem sinful men, and who has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation; and the church should be seeking everywhere, and everyway, and always to persuade the wandering ones to come home to God. Jesus said in his prayer, **As thou didst send me into the world, even so sent I them into the world." (John 17:18). Our mission is to carry forward the work of reconciliation which Jesus began, till all men hear the cry, *'We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." (2 Cor. 5:20). Instead of being like the phari- sees and scribes who complained because Jesus was seek- ing to save the lost ones, we should have his same zeal to reclaim the erring sinners; for they are the prodigals who need our help and persuasion to return to the ways of reverence toward God and of righteousness toward men.
O sinner, however far you have wandered, and how- ever long you have continued in waywardness, this hour reflect upon your folly, and heed God's entreaty to come
32 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
back to him. A boundless welcome awaits you. This is your highest privilege, and to avail yourself of it will secure to you new joys and hopes. Let every wanderer say, "I will arise and go to my Father.'' Delay not lest ye die.
IV
Godliness Profitable
''Godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is and of that which is to come." (i Tim. 4:8).
'' I "" OSES and the prophets of God's ancient people -■- spoke to them chiefly of •matters pertaining to the life on earth and to the affairs around them rather than about things remote from their lives. Our text says, "Godliness is Profitable for all beings, having promise of the life which now is and of that which is to come." What is so widely profitable should be pleasurable to prudent people, and yet too many people have sought pleasure and enjo^'ment in ungodliness.
Let us be sure that we get the apostle's idea. What is godliness? Perhaps another question might give us a valuable hint. What is manliness? The Centur}- Dic- tionary^ defines it as "character and conduct worthy of a man." Then one would conclude that godliness uould be character and conduct worthy of God ; and the same dictionary defines it as "Conformity to the will and law of God." In John 1:18 we read, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." Christ is the manifestation, expression, exhibition, or embodiment of God in man, so that Jesus could say truly, "He that
33
34 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
hath seen me hath seen the Father." (John 14:9). Therefore to be godly is to be Christlike, and this is to be pure in emotions and in conduct, to be truthful and sin- cere, to be reverent toward God our Father and kind and loving toward our brother man, to love truth and right- eousness, and to seek to impart to men the saving knowl- edge of God and of his redeeming purposes and love.
The apostle says that such godliness is profitable for this world and for the next; but while all would admit that it is profitable for the life to come, some would seem to question its profitableness for all things in this present life. It ought to be easy to see that ungodliness is disastrously unprofitable, for it is demonstrated before our eyes at all times. For instance, aggressive war is ungodli- ness; and the war across the sea has directly caused the death of enough people so that if they were laid side by side, allowing two feet to each one, they would make a row of corpses 2,272 miles long; and if they were corded up like wood 22 deep, it would be 100 miles long, and the end is not yet. Does it need any argument to show that this is an ungodly and an unprofitable use to make of the strongest young men of the warring nations? And add to this the destruction of the labor of centuries, the piling up of billions of debt for children's children to pay, the blinding and crippling of millions, the forcing of widows' tears and orphans' cries, and the entailing of disease upon hapless millions of the inoffensive ; and surely it will seem to be the climax of all that is monstrously unprofitable.
Drunkenness is one form of ungodliness, and though the traffic which causes drunkenness be less spectacular in its methods than is war, it is scarcely less harmful; for it
Sevefi Messages 35
works its wreckage by day and by night through the cen- turies. This form of ungodliness and unmanliness is economically, socially, and morally unprofitable; and wise people should abolish it from the land : for it does us far more injury than any foreign foe could ever do; and against these many people and statesmen are quick to make preparation. Selfish greed is ungodliness, and it causes all the strife between employer and employees ; and surely this is disastrously unprofitable to everybody.
Social vice and all impurity is the worst form of un- godliness, and nothing can be more unprofitable in every way ; for it leads to the hospital, to the insane asylum, and to the grave with impetuous swiftness; and what eternal horrors hang around such beds of anguish and such hopeless deaths!
This was the chief cause of the decline and fall of all ancient nations, and their final destruction was none the less complete although it might be less spectacular than that of Sodom. Sensual vice was rampant in all ancient pagan nations as it is today in all godless communities, sapping the verility of manhood and perverting the do- mestic instincts of womanhood, and it takes away the am- bition for moral excellence and causes an abnormal dis- taste for noble character and an aversion for the chris- tian life of purity.
How strange that in each generation a host of men and women should go down as moral weaklings in this whirl- pool of moral filth, suffering indescribable anguish of heart on the downward slide and often leprous loathe- someness of body. Thomas Hood's poem, "The Bridge of Sighs" describes the despair which drives to suicide so
36 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
many of those who travel the ungodly way till they reap the unprofitable harvest from their wild oats which they have sown with reckless wilfulness. Those who give any excuse for a double standard in virtuous character and conduct think chiefly of the greater calamity which falls upon woman than upon man for the same sinful dis- obedience to God's holy laws which are as a railing around a precipice to prevent our falling to destruction; but the SINFULNESS of sin is alike to both even if the greater calamity falls upon woman ; and a masculine moral leper has no standing before the holy God and he should have none among decent men.
All sin is first a crime against God our Maker, and against our fellow men, and then it is a calamity upon ourselves; and we should hate sin more than we fear its calamitous consequences. Our luxurious times with fa- cilities for rapid travel and our lax ideas about God's holy laws have caused this sin to be too common ; and the Mormon polygamy with its numerous wives all at the same time is hardly worse than the common tandem poly- gamy made easy by the divorce court. Marriage among respectable people should be entered into with pure and unselfish affection between pure young people, and it should be consummated by a public ceremony which recognizes God and our high relationship to Him and to society. More sense in contracting marriage would make unnecessary most of the shame of seeking its annul- ment by the civil courts. Do we not see the necessity for more safeguarding of our young people by producing a purer moral atmosphere in which they can live after wholesome examples, and can we not combine to exert
Seven Messages 37
a more effective influence in the direction of higher chris- tian standards?
The criminals which trouble society and those who shame us by their lapses from right ways have seldom en- joyed the blessedness of sitting witli their parents in the sanctifying atmosphere of the church assemblies where all righteousness is extolled and all wickedness is dis- couraged ; and there is not one criminal in a hundred who has ever seriously studied the Holy Scriptures. Fre- quenting places where men resort to engage in disre- putable ways and where vile and profane language is common is to be discouraged ; for the apostle well says, "Evil companionships corrupt good morals." (i Cor. 15:33). And the Holy Scriptures give this wise council, "enter not into the path of the wicked, and walk not in the way of evil men. Avoid it ; pass not by it ; turn FROM it, and pass on." P^ollowing such wise advice would have saved many lives, and it would have saved thousands from moral ruin, and it would lead many to successful lives who otherwise will be down-and-outs or paupers. Sin gets thousands into trouble but it never comes to their rescue when they have to collect the calamitous wages for their evil works; and while ungodly ways promise pleasure and profit, they pay in counterfeit coin which is chagrin- ingly disappointing to those who will not learn by the mistakes of others and scarcely by their own.
But behold the profitableness and large dividends of godliness! It is profitable to health of body and of mind, profitable to reputation, profitable economically, profitable socially, and as the apostle says it is profitable for all things. It costs more to prosecute and care for one
38 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
criminal than it does to support the agencies which seek to culture, refine, morally educate, and christianize many children in the Sunday School and kindred organizations which useful people maintain. Parents and all patriots should heartily encourage all such efforts by word and by example. A judge in Indiana some years ago was the first to try the experiment of sentencing offenders to attend church regularly for some months; and it would not be an unwise policy for all judges and all other friends of society to set a becoming example by taking their own medicine regularly. A Bible studying people have never been a bad people, nor have their children been criminals; and the class of people who by neglect or by word discourage such things are not the best citizens.
The statistician Dugdale of New York has traced the posterity of a Mr. Jukes who was a drunken pioneer of that state, and out of 1,200 of his descendants the ma- jority have been paupers, thieves, harlots, insane, de- fectives or other delinquents ; and it is estimated that that family has cost the state for prosecutions, maintenance and othei-wise about $1,300,000.00 since that ungodly ancestor settled in that empire state. (Encyclopedia Bri- tanica, Vol. 8, Page 615 gives account of the family). That vast sum wrung from the public treasury to meet the bills contracted on account of that one ungodly man and his ungodly posterity would have supported a good many schools and christianizing agencies, and this would have been more profitable.
If children are not won to the christian life a con- siderable proportion of them will bring sorrow to their parents, shame upon themselves, and financial burdens
Seven Messages 39
vipcjii socictN' ; aiul no othfr plc;i should he necessary for more and hetter home training, and more chaperoning of young people to save them from exposure to evil in- fluences. But above all things remember that it is very difficult to bring up children in the way they should go unless you happen to be going that way yourself. A genuine revival of godliness would practically abolish war with its unutterable woes, it would do away with the liquor business with its accompanying curse, it would mightily stimulate all lines of beneficial business, it would inspire our youth with high ambitions to excel in useful living, it would make us rise above degrading vice as the eagle soars aloft over sickly swamps, it would greatly lessen the expense of government by eliminating all fraud, it would in many ways ease the path of life, it would cheer the hour of death, and in the apostle's language it would be "profitable for all things."
In the long race of life how certainly will the godly young person surpass the ungodly young person of equal natural ability and advantages. We are all familiar with the story of the obscure young woman without money who became a consecrated christian, and by her devotion to all good causes came to be known as America's uncrowned queen, and who after a life of unequaled influence for sobriety and cleanliness in our nation, Frances E. Willard was the first woman to have a place in the Hall of Fame in Washington.
But how can the ungodly become godly and thus begin the profitable life and reach the promised rest which re- maineth to the people of God? The Scriptures answer, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous
40 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah and he will have mercy upon him ; and to our God, for He w^ill abundantly pardon." (Isa. 55:7). *'Come now, let us reason together, saith Jehovah; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." (Isa. 1:18). "Come out from among them, and by ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be to you a Father and ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor. 6:17-18). Bless the Lord who is our Almighty Helper to be and to do what we ought to be and to do. "Him that Cometh to me I will in no wise cast out;" are the cheering words of Christ. (Jno. 6:37). The vilest and lowest may come ; for the five-times-married harlot was welcomed; and the crucified thief found pardon. (Jno. 4:18). "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and right- eous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all un- righteousness." (i John 1:9). "Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city." (Rev. 22:14).
Thus we see that godliness is profitable to the in- dividual and to society; profitable to mind, body, and pocketbook; profitable during life and at death; profitable for all things in time and in eternity. Let no one fail to possess this supremely good and profitable thing.
V
The Unruly Boy and His Father.
"There are many unruly men." (Titus i:io).
A LTHOUGH there is no place in the Bible where ^ ^the words unruly boys are used, there are several cases of young men whose heredity was not good and who were not well trained, and as a consequence they were lacking in self-control and they were unruly as to the wise regulations of society. The sons of Eli and David's son Absolem are conspicuous examples. Considering some of the family relations of David it is no wonder that some of his sons were unruly and wicked.
John Ruskin wrote, "Every day I am more sure of the mistake made by good people universally in trj^ing to pull fallen people up instead of keeping the yet safe ones from tumbling after them; and in always spending their pains on the worst instead of on the best material." As it is more easy and more profitable to train colts than it is to BREAK OLD HORSES of bad tricks, so it is more easy and more profitable to form right characters in children than it is to REFORM those who have become morally deformed. The last words of the Old Testament are, "He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." And surely there is need for more parental attention being given to the children
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42 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
of our day. When in addition to providing them with proper food, clothes, schools and recreation, fathers and mothers have their children occupy the family pew with them at public worship and religious instruction, and when they lovingly and prayerfully oversee them every- where, nobody else w^ill have much trouble with them ; for they will know too much to be unruly. But to neglect such parental example and oversight is a very great and inexcusable wrong to childhood, and it puts a needless burden upon the christian workers in the Sunday School and elsewhere, and it is likely to give the civil government trouble with them in all of the complex relations of society where they mingle from childhood to age.
A few years ago at a party composed of ladies and gentlemen among whom I had a place, part of the enter- tainment was making pencil pictures which illustrated the titles of books, and then having others guess the books by looking at those sketches. One woman who had six sons who she was anxious should grow up free from the tobacco habit in spite of the wrong example of her hus- band, drew a sketch of a man making long strides through a forest in the deep snow, smoking a cigar as he went; and after him was following a big boy who was trying hard to step in his father's tracks, and he too was smok- ing a cigar in imitation of his father. It was easy to guess Dr. Sheldon's book "In His Steps," so well illus- trated. A boy's GOLDEN RULE is not the one his mother and the teacher try to impress upon his mind, but rather one which he puts into practice rather than into words, "All things which i see my father do, that is what I WANT TO DO." That is why the man's use of tobacco
Seven Messages 43
is not a tiling of doubtful propriety but of undoubted IMPROPRIETY, as we may see from the following words of men worthy of attention.
Edison said, "I employ no person who smokes cigarettes. The acrolein in them has a violent action on the nerve centers, producing degeneration of the cells of the brain, which is quite rapid among boys." Luther Burbank said, "No boy living would commence the use of cigarettes if he knew what a useless, soulless, worthless thing it would make of him." The famous ball-player Ty Cobb said, "Too much cannot be said against the evils of cigarette smoking. No boy who hopes to be successful in any line can afford to contract a habit that is so destructive of his physical and moral development." Judge Lindsay said, "One of the very w^orst habits of boyhood is the cigarette habit. This has long been recognized by all judges of the courts who deal with young criminals. The cigarette habit not only gets a grip upon them in boyhood but it invites all other demons of habit to come in and add to the degeneration that the cigarette began." It is well said that the cigarette adds to the nervous troubles of a boy, subtracts from his energ}', multiplies his aches, divides his mental powers, takes interest from his work, and discounts his prospects of success. Professor Moran of Michigan University says, "During my experience, covering nearly the third of a centun , I have yet to dis- cover, among the thousands of young men whom I have had in my classes, a single instance where a young man who became a slave to the cigarette habit in his early years has ever been able to develop into more than a third or a fourth rate stenographer. If this be true in the develop-
44 True Christian, True Ghurch, True Teachings
ment of short-hand ability, it undoubtedly is true in every other kind of work where steady nerves, clear minds, and physical skill are required." These things account for the fact that the Cadillac Motor Car Co. posted around their plant, "We will not hire anyone whom we know to be addicted to the cigarette habit." The Marshall Field Co. said, "It has been our policy not to engage boys who make a practice of smoking cigarettes, as we believe it to be detrimental to their development." The John Wana- maker Co. and many others do practically the same thing, and all agree that "the cigarette lowers the morals, stunts the body, weakens and vitiates the mind, stains the char- acter as surely as it does the fingers, and leads to other evil habits." Henry Ford is undoubtedly the most famous man of afifairs who has determined to do all he reasonably can to stamp out the use of what he calls "the little white slaver," and in his great automobile plant they are pro- hibited altogether.
With these facts confronting us, what is the obvious duty of every christian man, and what is the manifest duty of fathers? The home is the most numerous and the greatest school on earth, the mother should be the most influential teacher on earth, and the father should be the best example on earth. A company of men were discuss- ing the sweeping gains for prohibition in the country, and one of them remarked that he occasionally took a glass, but that he had a son growing up and that he must be- come an abstainer for an example to his son. Oh man, you are always an example for good or evil to your own or to some one's son; and he whose Name we bare said, "Whosoever shall cause to stumble one of these little ones
Seven Messages 45
which believe in me, it were better for him that a mill- stone were hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea." The poet wrote,
" 'Twas a sheep, not a lamb, that wandered away
In the parable Jesus told,
A grown up sheep that had gone astray
From the ninety and nine in the fold. And for the sheep should we earnestly look, And as earnestly pray; Because there is danger, if they go wrong, They will lead the young lambs away.
For the lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Wherever the sheep may stray;
If the sheep go wrong, it will not be long,
Till the lambs are as wrong as they. And so with the sheep we earnestly plead. For the sake of the lambs today ; For if the lambs are lost, what a terrible cost, Some sheep will have to pay."
There is great need these days for a revival of fathers taking their proper places in the home and in the church, and by precept and by example assisting the mother and the christian workers to lead the boys and young men aright. Most of the people in the church are women we admit, but this does not cause a humiliating blush like the admission that most of the people in the penitentiaries and prisons are men. Manly men ought to come for- ward and patriotically help to make the church all it should be in many-sided helpfulness. Were the twelve
46 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
apostles women or men? And was it to women onl.v or even chiefly that Jesus said, "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations?" (Matt. 28:19). The only w^ay to rid the world of the unruly boys and of the other people who cause trouble, is to lead them to Jesus Christ who will help them to become the best kind of citizens in all the varied relations to their fellows. The unjust Judge who FEARED NOT GOD did not REGARD the rights of men and women (Luke 18:4) ; and it is very certain that unless the youth of our land are in the home and in the processes of church and school education trained to reverence God the future of our land will be cursed with a generation of people who will disregard the rights and interests of their fellows. Being a christian is just simply being right with God and with man in all our relations with each other; and this is the old commandment to love God with all the heart, mind, and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself. There should be a big brother and a good father movement every^vhere.
Note. — The quotations on cigarette smoking are taken, by special permission and courtesy from Mr. Henry Ford's book "The Case Against the Little White Slaver."
VI
Sense vs. Nonsense
"By thy ivords thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be eondenined." (Matt. 12:37).
IN presenting some of the words of the book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" we will quote from the 224th edition, and you can pass judgment upon the authoress and upon her ideas. Some people will con- sider her the greatest of women and her book as contain- ing the most blessed truths, while others will consider her an arch deceiver and her ideas as the climax of most obvious absurdities which is miscalled "Christian Science," since it is clearly both wholly unscientific and plainly un- christian.
In Mrs. Mary Baker Glover Patterson Edd> 's book page 453 we read, "A christian scientist requires my work on Science and Health for his text book, and so do all his students and patients. Why? First, because it is the voice of Truth to this age, and contains the whole of Christian Science, or the science of healing through mind." So it is reasonable for us to accept or to reject christian science according to whether we find the words of the book to be sense or nonsense : and it ought not to be difficult for a sane person to make decision rather promptly.
On page seven we read what she says are the funda- mental and "selfevident iM(*p:)sitions which will agree in
47
48 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
statement and proof even if read backward." i. *'God, Spirit, being all, nothing is matter." 2. ''Life, God, Omnipotent good, deny death, evil, sin, disease." She teaches that God is all that really exists and that what we call material th'mgs are only reflections of God who is the only reality. On page 19 she says, "Man beholds himself God's reflection, even as man sees his face in the glass." "Man seems to himself substance, but man is IMAGE." Page 197. Of course if Mrs. Eddy's idea on which her teachings are founded be correct, then all other teachings founded on the idea of the reality of the physical world and man as things or beings other than God are such stuff as dreams are made of. But if the first state- ment of the Bible be correct, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," and if the material world and man are real existences and are not God, then Mrs. Eddy has given us a dreamland philosophy which is contradicted by the common sense of all men and by the testimony of physical sensation which is our only medium of contact with the world around us.
Of course there can be no agreement between the two ways of contradictory thinking; and the adherents of each must of necessity look upon the others as you look upon men walking in their sleep. The ordinary human being lives and speaks in harmony with the ordinary way of thinking about God, the universe and man; and in the practical affairs of life Mrs. Eddy spoke and acted as other people do but utterly out of harmony with the teachings of her book.
One way to test the truthfulness of ideas is to try to i?ut them into practice, and so we will open Mrs. Eddy's
Seven Messages 49
book to page No. 383 where we read, "If exposure to a draught of air while in a state of perspiration, is followed by chills, dry cough, influenza, congestive symptoms in the lungs, or hints of inflammatory rheumatism, your mind remedy is safe and sure. If you are a christian scientist, such symptoms will not follow from exposure. . . . This is an established fact in science which all the
EVIDENCE BEFORE SENSES CAN NEVER OVERRULE." On
page 385 she says, "While mortals declare that certain states of the atmosphere produce catarrh, fever, rheuma- tism, or consumption, those effects will follow, not be- cause of the climate, but on account of the belief." That surely is interesting in cold climates where people have supposed that exposure, insufficient clothing, poor houses, and scarcity of expensive fuel were dangerous to health. On page 116 she says, "Colds, coughs, and contagion are engendered solely by mortal belief."
Slum-dwellers in oriental cities where the decimating plagues have originated should sit up and take notice of what she says on page 381, "If half the attention given to hygiene were given to the study of christian science and its elevation of thought, this alone would usher in the millenium. Bathing and rubbing to alter the secretions or to remove unhealthy exhalations from tlie cuticle, re- ceive a useful rebuke from christian healing. . . . He who is ignorant of what is termed hygienic law is more receptive to spiritual power than the devotee to this SUPPOSED law." On page 388 she says, "The less we know or think about hygiene the less we are disposed to sickness. Recollect, it is not the body but mortal mind which reports food as undigested." On page 387 she
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says, "The fact is food does not affect the real existence of man, but it would be foolish to venture beyond our present understanding, foolish to stop eating until we gain more goodness." On page 384 she says, "You say or think because you have partaken of salt fish that you must be thirsty; and you are thirsty accordingly: while the opposite belief would produce the opposite result." If this be true, is it not possible that a poor workman might avoid embarrassment from high prices by eating snow and thinking he had been fed on the fat of the land?
On page 51 she says, "Mortal mind confers the only power a drug can ever have," and she says on page 70, "If a dose of poison is swallowed through mistake and the patient dies, even though physician and patient are expecting favorable results, does belief cause this death? Even so, and as directly as if the poison had been taken intentionally. In such cases a few persons believe the poison swallowed by the patient to be harm- less, but the vast majority of mankind though they know nothing of this particular case and of this special person, believe the arsenic to be poisonous, for it has been set down as a poison by mortal mind. The conse- quence is that the result is controlled by the major- ity of opinions outside, not by the infinitesimal minor- ity of OPINIONS in the sick chamber." Now if this ht true, no doubt when a majority of people have chris- tian science opinions, the bite of dogs affected with the hydrophobia, and the bite of rattle snakes will be harm- less; and Paris green, rat poison, and insect powder will fatten vermin, flies, and potato bugs. Then strychniae
Seven Messages 51
will make as good a beverage as coffee, nitric or carbolic acid will be good bathing fluids, and all drugs will be harmless !
What easy disposition she makes of boils, burns, and accidents which afliict other people ! On page 46 she says, "You say a boil is painful, but that is impossible for matter without mind is not painful. The boil simply manifests your belief in pain, through inflamation and swelling, and you call this belief a boil. Now admin- ister mentally to your patient a high attenuation of truth on the subject, and it will soon cure the boil." I have known christian scientists to suffer with felons, and whoever has had such things will know how to think of the above words. On page 54 she says, "You say I have burned my finger. This is an exact statement, more ex- act than you suppose, for mortal mind and not matter burns it. Holy inspiration has created states of mind which are able to nullify the action of the flames. . .
. while an opposite state of mind might produce spon- taneous combustion." On page 396 she says, "When an accident happens you think or exclaim, I am hurt ! Your thought is more powerful than your words, more pow- erful than the accident itself to make the injury real. Now reverse the process. Declare you are not hurt, and understand the reason why, and you will find the ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your disbelief in physics." If this were true it would help out considerably when a battleship is blown up, when there is an an explosion in a coal mine, when a twenty mile gun bombards a fort, when a skyscraper col- lapses, when a Titanic strikes an iceberg, when an over-
52 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
crowded boat is burned or sinks, when two fast trains come together head on, or when an earthquake shakes down a city; but if there is no truth in it, what about christian science, the whole of which is contained in this book? To declare you are not hurt when you are hurt is to prove yourself a falsifier or insane.
On page 384 she says, ** Unremitting toil, deprivation, exposure, and all untoward conditions, if without sin, can be RELIEVED without SUFFERING. If you sprain the mus- cles or wound the flesh, 5^our remedy is at hand. Mind decides whether or not the flesh shall be discolored, pain- ful, swollen and inflamed." On page 392 she says, "Have no fear that matter can ache, swell, and be in- flamed from a law of any kind when it is self-evident that matter can have no pain or inflamation." How care- ful all her life was Mrs. Eddy to let the other fellow have the unremitting toil and exposure to injury! What can an exposed and poorly paid workman think of such talk from one who never worked but who accumulated mil- lions from the toil of others who worked and suffered? On page 114 she says, "You would not say that a wheel is fatigued, and yet the body is just as material as the wheel. If it were not for what the human mind says of the body, the body would never be weary any more than the in- animate wheel. An understanding of this great fact rests you more than hours of repose." Yet Mrs. Ed- dy had more than her share of repose, and such talk from a rich woman who feels no more sympathy for the toil- ers than she does for wheels in the shops, makes all sensible people tired.
On page 298 she makes an admission which ought to
Seven Messages 53
condemn the whole fabric of her obvious absurdities, "The physical senses and christian science have ever BEEN ANTAGOXiSTic, and they will so continue till the testimony of the physical senses yields to christian sci- ence." Has God given us our five senses to deceive us? Imagine how we could get along without seeing, hear- ing, SMELLING, TASTING, FEELING; and she admits that these God-given senses are opposed to the teachings of christian science. On page 47 she says some things about contagious disease, "We have smallpox because others have it, but mortal mind and not matter contains and carries the infection." Think of such insane non- sense in the face of the facts of typhoid, diphtheria, measles, infantile paralysis, yellow fever, bubonic plague, and smallpox which the microscope has brought to the knowledge of all reading people! But no absurdities are too glaring for her assertion or too much out of harmony with the facts of life to prevent her from affirming them, as we see on page 95 where she says, "Not because of muscular exercise, but by reason of the blacksmith's faith in muscle his arm becomes stronger. The hammer is not increased in size by exercise because mortal mind
IS NOT WILLING THAT RESULT ON THE HAMMER." But
what sane person thinks that if mortal mind should will that the hammer increase in size, it would, because of that, increase?
Could ignorance and folly reach a climax worse than we find on page 374? "Palsy is a belief that matter attacks mortals, and paralyzes the body, making certain portions of it motionless. Destroy the belief, show mortal mind that muscles have no power to be lost,
54 True Christia?i, True Church, True Teachings
for mind is supreme, and you will cure the palsy." On page 389 we read, "When the first symptoms of disease appear, dispute the testimony of the senses by di- vine science." On page 423 she says, "If the lungs are disappearing, this is but one of the beliefs of mortal mind. Mortal man will be less mortal when he learns that LUNGS NEVER SUSTAINED existence." But most people need lungs yet, and such talk ought to deceive no one. On page 407 she gives some pointers to surgeons, "A dislocation of the tarsal joint would produce insanity as perceptible as that produced by congestion of the brain, were it not that mortal mind thinks this joint less in- timately connected with the mind than is the brain." Under the head of obstetrics on page 459 she says, "When this new^ birth takes places the christian science infant is born of the Spirit and can cause the mother no more suffering." What monstrous untruth!
But it is when she talks of things connected with the Bible that she shows the grossest ignorance and most abandoned untruthfulness. In John 11:14-39 and 44 we read, "Jesus therefore said unto them plainly, Lazarus IS DEAD. . . . Martha the sister of him that was DEAD, saith unto him. Lord, by this time the body de- CAYETH, for he hath been dead four davs. . . . Jesus cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. He that was DEAD came forth, bound hand and foot with grave- clothes."
Four times it says plainly that Lazarus was dead; but Mrs. Eddy on page 241 says, "Jesus restored Lazarus by the understanding that he had never died, not by an admission that his body had died and then lived again.
Seven Messages 55
When you can awaken yourself and others out of the BELIEF THAT ALL MUST uiK, yoii can then exercise Jesus' spiritual power to rhprouuce thi-: pri:si:xce of those who THOUGHT THKY HAD Dii-D." On page 349 she says, "His disciples Bi':LinvKD Jesus dhad while he was hidden in tlie Sepulchre, whereas he was alive, demonstrating within the narrow tomb the power of spirit to destroy human sense." On page 351 she says, "Jesus' students saw him after his cruciiixion, and learned that he had NOT DIED." But Jesus himself said, "1 am the first and the last, and the Living One ; and I was dead, and be- hold, 1 am alive for evermore." ( R. V. Rev. i :i8).
Mrs. Eddy flagrantly insults all human sense, she is antagonistic to all real science as all people of learning know, and she does not scruple to contradict jesus. She uses scientific words with unscientific meanings and she distorts Scripture from all semblance of its meaning; and her teachings are not only unbiblical but they are manifestly antichristian in many places. Her book is a disorderly jumble of untruth with some things that are true and which intelligent people have long known ; but that it has had such a phenomenal sale and is by many reversed like the Bible is a sad commentary upon the rational powers of its adherents. The sale of it has given a mint of wealth, and a bank account is no dreamy un- reality to her followers.
The fact that many good people have been deceived into accepting this mist of darkness is no more wonderful than that many equally as good people have accepted the Mor- mon system which is a sort of moral cancer-planter in our nation. Most people who call themselves christian
56 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
scientists have embraced it simply because they have been led to believe that it is a good system of healing disease, and they have no knowledge of its unphilosophical and unscientific errors. Everybody would be most happy if they could do the works of healing which they claim, even as we are elated over the marvelous achievements of mod- ern surgery. We would not persecute them for their gullibility any more than we would throw stones at a blind man off of the path, nor would we follow one any more than the other.
Once in disapproval of an evil or ignorant jury Lincoln said that there is one thing that God cannot understand, and that is how the minds of some jurymen operate. I confess that I am unable to understand how any one who has a rational faculty to operate can let it get side- tracked to this most insane fad of modern times, and which is so clearly both unchristian and unscientific.
VII
The Great Memorial Supper
Ex. 1 2th Chapter
JESUS and his twelve apostles formed a family group about the table as they kept the passover. The origin of this annual feast is told in the Scriptures thus, "In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. (V. 3). And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side posts and on the lintel, upon the houses where they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall eat it. (Vs. 7, 8). And thus shall they eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand ; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is Jehovah's passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and I will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt will I execute judgment: i am Jehovah. And the blood sliall be to you for a token upon the houses where \e are: and when 1 see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall be no plague upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah: throughout your generations shall ye keep it a feast by an ordinance for- ever. (Vs. II -1 4). And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you. What mean ye by this
57
58 True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
service? that ye shall say, it is the sacrifice of Je- hovah's PASSOVER, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses." (Ex. 12:26-27).
For 1,400 years they had kept this feast in remem- brance of what God did for their ancestors when he de- livered them from Egyptian bondage; but Jesus in- structed the apostles that thereafter his followers should keep a feast in remembrance of himself as the true paschal Lamb of God who delivers from the bondage of sin as well as from its guilt and defilement. At this last passover which Jesus observed with his disciples shortly before his crucifixion, instead of saying the customary words which pointed backward to the deliverance from Egypt, he said some new words which pointed forward to the greater deliverance which he was to give to his believing people.
Luke 22:14-20, and Matt. 26:26-29, and Mark 14:22- 25, all give substantially the same account of the institu- tion of the Lord's Supper at this last passover supper im- mediately before his death. "And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the apostles with him. And he said unto them, with desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: for I say unto you, I shall not eat it, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he received a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves : for I say unto you, I shall not drink from henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he break it, and gave to them, saying. This is
SevcJi Messages 59
MY body which is j^iven for you: this do in ri:mi:.mrranci: of ME. And the cup in like manner after supper, sayinp:, This cup IS THE NEW Covenant in xMV blood, even that which is poured out for you." "And as they were eat- ing, Jesus took BREAD, and blessed, and break it: and he gave to the disciples, and said. Take, eat; this is My body. And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying. Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I shall not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until that day when 1 drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." Paul gives substantially the same account in i Cor. 1 1 :23-26. These are the only places where the Lord's Supper is men- tioned ; and it is significant that in no place is the word WINE used in connection with this rite of the church, but the word "cup" or "fruit of the vine" is used in every case. And right-thinking people understand that it is very unseemly to use intoxicating wine in this holy me- morial of our Lord who represents all that is beneficial to man, whereas such wine is by enlightened men looked upon as a symbol of misery, impurity, corruption and death.
The OLD covenant which God made with the believing and obedient people in Egvpt was sealed in the blood of the slain passover lamb; but the new covenant which God makes with his believing and obedient people is sealed in the blood of the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, even his who gave himself for us. the just for the unjust. The Jew kept the feast in remembrance of the passover the blood of which was the token to the
6o True Christian, True Church, True Teachings
death angel not to slay the first-born in the houses where they had proclaimed their faith and obedience by sprink- ling the blood of the lamb as ordered ; but the greater re- demption through the blood, or atoning life and death of Jesus Christ was to have as its memorial the Lord's Supper: and so Jesus said, "This do in remembrance of ME." The Jew alone was specially interested in the deliverance from Egypt and in its memorial; but all the world through all the centuries is specially interested in the work of Christ and in the memorial which he in- stituted to be kept by his friends till he shall come in tri- umph as King of kings.
Misunderstanding the meaning of Christ has led the imaginations of erring men into grossly strange doctrines which would have seemed repulsively blasphemus to the apostles of Jesus. For instance, James Cardinal Gib- bons in his book, The Faith of Our Fathers, on page 356 says, "The sacrifice of the mass is the consecration of the bread and wine into the body and blood of CHRIST, and the oblation (offering) of this body and BLOOD to God, by the ministry of the priest!" And on page 365 he says, "If the wounds of the martyrs plead so eloquently for us, how much more eloquent is the blood OF JESUS SHED DAILY upon our altars?"
Contrast this gross teaching with the truth taught by the inspired writer in the Holy Scriptures, "We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all," or once for final. (Heb. 10:10). Because his work was never completed the Jewish priest stood offering daily the same kind of sacrifices which could never take away sin; but when Jesus had offered one
Seven Messages 6i
SACRIFICE for sins forever, or for final, or for allsuf- FiciENT, he SAT DOWN on the right hand of God. "For by ONE OFFERING he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." (Heb. 10:11-14). The Jewish priest STOOD in an attitude of repetition of his offerings daily which at best was but a type of the work of Christ whose work was finished or completed by one offering of himself, after which he sat down at the right hand of God as our Prince and Saviour. (Acts 2:33).
This idea of Christ's once giving himself for us being allsufficient and therefore need no repetition, and can have no repetition, is made very plain in the old rituals of the communion service, such as the following: "Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose once offering up of himself, by himself, upon the cross, once for all, we commemorate before Thee ; we beseech thee to accept this our spiritual oblation (of- fering) of all possible praise for the same." Or this, "Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of Thy tender mercy didst give thine only son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who made THERE by his oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satis- faction for the sins of the whole world ; and didst insti- tute, and in his hoh gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of his precious death until his coming again."
This sacred Supper is an abiding memorial of Christ our Saviour; and a vivid illustration of our dependence upon him as the bread of life for our spiritual sus- tenance; and an opportunity for his people to confess him
62 True Christian, True Ciiurch, True Teachings
upon whose atoning merit we depend for salvation; and a common acknowledgment of our brotherhood with all who sincerely partake of this memorial of their Master; and an occasion to renew our profession of allegiance to him as our Lord, once crucified but now risen and ex- alted, and who shall come again in glorious triumph as King of kings.
Some people have been honestly confused because Jesus is reported as saying, "This is my body" and "This is my blood ;" but such use of language was common among the Jews, and it is not uncommon among all people. For instance, in Genesis 41 :26-27 we read, "The seven kine ARE seven years ; and the seven good ears are seven years." Although everybody knows that Joseph went on to explain that these seven lean kine and the seven blasted ears w^hich Pharaoh saw in his dream symbolized seven years of famine which were about to come. They were not seven years of famine but they represented them in this vivid pictorial way, just as the elements of the Holy Supper represent Christ.
And in Daniel 7:17 we read, "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth ;" but it is manifest that in his vision the four beasts symbolized four kings. You might say, "This is my birth-day," when you mean that it is the anni- versary of your birth-day; or you might point to the stars and stripes and say, "This is what makes us free and secure," when you mean that the flag is the EMBLEM of our government which is a free republic. The flag is only colored cloth, but as an emblem it has a glorious significance. The common sense of all men
<:>cv('n Messages Oj
whose God-given sight and taste do not deceive them declares that the bread and the wine of the Lord's Supper are always and only bread and wine ; but they are ex- pressive EMBLEMS of the broken bod> and of the shed blood of Christ wliose teachings, example, and mediation with God, combine to mean inexpressibl\ great benefits to the world. When the Jew explained to his children, "It is the sacrifice of Jehovah's passover," lie meant that it is the MEMORIAL of that passover; and just so when Jesus said. "This is my bod\ ," we understand him to mean that it was an emblem of that body, and that we should do this as a memorlal of him.
You remember that in 2 Samuel 23rd chapter (in Douay it is 2 Kings) there is an account of three brave soldiers rushing through the hosts of the Philistines and bringing David a drink of refreshing water from the well in Bethlehem. But in the 17th verse it says that when they handed it to him he was so surprised that they would have dared to undertake such an hazard and so grateful for their devotion to him, that he said, "Shall 1 drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?" This water was not the blood of those loyal soldiers, but it represented great sacrifice of per- sonal safety and ease on the part of those braves; and it was so precious to him that he would not drink it, but "poured it out unto Jehovah" as a thank offering.
Just so the bread and the wine of the Lord's Supper vividly remind us of all the hazard, pain, trials, and sac- rifice of our Saviour — and of all the benefits he is to us — more than food and drink. In Ex. 8:19 we read that when the Magicians of Egypt saw how Moses surpassed
64 True Christian, True Church, True Teach
ings
them in wonders, they said, ''this is the finger of god;" but everyone knows that they did not mean literally that the finger of god was there. They meant that God was working on the side of the Israelites. Even if the literal body of Christ were present in the Roman mass, who would want to eat of it? That idea is a crude fiction of the dark ages when the church was more pagan than christian.
In his discourse on the day following his miraculous feeding of the thousands, Jesus said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven;" but he could not have meant that his body came down from heaven. (John 6:41). And to make it impossible that any one should get that idea he said again, "It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life." (John 6:63).
BELIEVING CHRIST, COMING TO HIM, and EATING HIM
all mean the same thing; for they all alike secure salva- tion, as we see from his words, "He that eateth me, he also shall live because of me." (John 6:57). "Him that COMETH TO ME, I will in no wise cast out." (John 6:37)- "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that be- LiEVETH hath eternal life." (John 6:47). Thus we see that the mind and spirit of man need feeding as well as the body; and this suggests the meaning of the w^ords of the old ritual of communion "Feed on him by faith in thine heart."
Probably you have heard some one say, "I just feed on music," or, "I simply live on music;" and such an one will become cultured in that art. Another may say, "I. have been feeding on the biographies of renowned mis-
Seven iMessayes 65
sionaries or other christian worthies;" and such an one will be inspired with zeal for some form of christian service. Another may say, "I simply devour the writ- ings and speeches of patriotic statesmen;" and such an one will be fired with devotion to his country's ideals and welfare. If you fehd upon temperance literature and enjoy it, you will certainly never become a debauchee.
And just so, and no more miraculously, if you come to Jesus as the Supreme Teacher; and if you accept him as the divine Savior; and if you feed your mind upon his words; and if you surrender your will to him as your rightful Lord; and if you pray to him as your living Friend; you will find in him all needed spiritual sup- plies: and you will have the life which is eternal in qual- ity— the only life which is worthy of being everlasting. Jesus said in his prayer, "This is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only true God, and him whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ." (John 17:3).
At this Holy Supper it is proper that we do not forget our sins, and we might appropriately sing,
"Was it for crimes that I have done He groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity, grace unknown. And love beyond degree.
Well might the sun in darkness hide,
And shut His glories in, When Christ, the mighty Maker died
For man the creature sin.
66 True Christian, True Churchy True Teachinffs
Thus might I hide my blushing face,
While his dear cross appears, Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears."
But this is not a memorial of our sins, else it were a very sad occasion; but it is a memorial of our savior who has loved us in spite of our sins, and who has washed us white through his most precious sacrifice of himself for us: and therefore we can sit at this feast with joy unspeakable. Of the unnumbered multitude which John saw in the Revelations it was said, "These are they that came out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Rev. 7:14).
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