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Clark, William Crawford,
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The Christian faith
\
THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
A HANDBOOK
OF CHRISTIAN TEACHING
BY {
W. C. CLARK, D.D.
^Help me to tell what I believe."
BOSTON
SHERMAN, FRENCH & COMPANY
1915
COPYHIOHT, 1914
ShERMAK, FeEKCH &' COMPAKY
TO
THE PEOPLE WHOM I HAVE SERVED
IN THE PASTORATES OF
PASS CHRISTIAN. MISSISSIPPI
GREENSBORO AND NEWBERNE. ALABAMA
SHELBYVILLE. TENNESSEE
AUGUSTA AND SHARON. KENTUCKY
LIVINGSTON AND BOLIOEE, ALABAMA
WOODLAWN. ALABAMA
AND TO
MY DEVOTED WIFE
WHO HAS SHARED WITH ME
THE SACRIFICES AND THE
REWARDS OF THIS SERVICE
INTRODUCTION
It is a pleasure and a compliment to introduce
this book to the public.
The themes are the most momentous over which
a human being ever held aAvful and anxious debate
with himself.
The author, by nature, by culture, by experi-
ence, by sympathy, is splendidly competent to
handle them, and has handled them in a competent
and satisfying way.
His aim is popular theology, an answer to the
appeal of the earnest Christian, " Help me to tell
what I believe." He does it ; he does it thor-
oughly. He sweeps the whole gamut of the Chris-
tian faith — in language that is simple, in terms
that are everyday.
It starts no questions, it airs no doubts, it pa-
rades no speculations ; it takes the reader into the
sanctuary of Holy Scripture, and holds his ear
to the mouth of God as he speaks in his Word.
It has been a long time since anything so sound
and loyal has come from the press. As old as the
Gospel, these views are about to have the interest
— and preciousness — of antiques.
When David was besieged in the cave of Adul-
INTRODUCTION
lam, and his native Bethlehem was in the hands
of the Philistines, he cried out, " O that one would
give me drink of the water of the well of Bethle-
hem, which is by the gate ! " Three of his mighty
men brought him water from the well of his father,
from the well of his childhood, — but he poured
it out as a libation unto the Lord.
Beset by Philistine critics and speculators and
reconstructionists, here is drink from the well of
our fathers — the faith of our childhood — so
cool, so refreshing, so delicious, so biblical !
R. A. Webb.
Presbyterian Theological Seminary of Kentucky,
Louisville, Kentucky.
PREFACE
" Help me to tell what I believe" was the ear-
nest appeal of an intelligent young Christian to
a pastor. It is believed that there are many oth-
ers of this class, who would like to read a clear-
cut statement of the Christian faith.
There are not a few thoughtful men who would
really like to know what Christians of the evan-
gelical branches of the Church hold and teach.
There are others who are prejudiced against
Christianity because they have been misinformed
as to its teachings. These misconceptions might
be removed by the reading of such a volume.
There are " seekers after the truth " in foreign
lands, who would welcome a clear statement of the
truth held and taught by those who would lead
them to embrace Christianity.
There are Christian teachers and workers who
need a brief outline of the evidences and doctrines
of Christianity for use in instructing others in
the knowledge of the truth.
There are many excellent works on Theology,
but they are too large, too expensive and too tech-
nical. There is a felt need for a work that covers
the ground and yet is of moderate size and cost,
PREFACE
and written in a style easily understood by those
not familiar with the temis used in the more
learned treatises on such subjects. The attempt
has been made to prepare such a volume in the
hope that it may be used by the Great Head of
the Church, both at home and abroad, for the
glory of His name, for the salvation of souls and
for the comfort and confirmation of the children
of God in their faith. It is a book by a pastor
for the people.
Material has been prepared for a companion
volume on " The Church : Its Government, Wor-
sliip, Sacraments and Work," which may be issued
later should this prove acceptable to the reading
public.
W. C. Clark.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I Our Hope 1
II The Bible from God . ... 11
III The Books We Have are the Bible,
AND They Only are the Bible . 28
IV The Bible the Rule of Faith and
Practice 46
V God, His Existence and Attributes 57
VI Creation 72
VII Angels 83
VIII Providence 94
IX Sin 106
X The Law 118
XI God's Plan of Rescue .... 130
XII The Person of Christ — His Hu-
manity and Divinity .... 138
XIII The Atonement 140
XIV Salvation Applied 163
XV The Change of Heart .... 172
XVI Evidences of a Change of Heart 184
XVII Repentance 1D3
XVIII Faith 203
XIX What is a Christian? . . . .215
CHAPTER PAGE
XX The Method of Justification . . 225
XXI Membership in the Family of God 234
XXII Sanctification 245
XXIII Good Works 258
XXIV Assurance 268
XXV Perseverance 277
XXVI Death 286
XXVII The Resurrection 299
XXVIII The General Judgment . . . 309
XXIX Heaven 322
XXX Hell 332
THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
CHAPTER I
OUR HOPE
The age in which we live is one in which the
most sacred beliefs are called in question. It is
an age, too, in which there are many earnest
searchers after the truth. It is important, there-
fore, on the one hand, to be able to answer the
objections of such as seek to overthrow our faith,
and, on the other hand, to be prepared to guide
and instruct such as are really seeking the truth.
We must be " ready always to give an answer to
every man that asketh a reason for the hope that
is in us."
It will prove of great service to the believer to
keep constantly in mind that Christianity is based
upon facts that are capable of being made evident
to the mind open to the reception of the truth.
The existence of God, the birth of Christ, His
death and resurrection, are specimens of the great
facts upon which our holy religion rests. The
evidences of these facts are sufficient to satisfy
every reasonable demand. The work of grace in
the heart is no less a fact than the provision of
salvation through the death and resurrection of
Christ, hence every Christian should be able, not
only to give an outline of the evidences of Chris-
2 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
tianity, but also the evidences of his own conver-
sion ; not only to show that Christianity is from
God, but that he has accepted Christ as his only
hope of salvation.
It is also a fact that God has made a revelation
of His will to sinners, teaching them " what
they are to believe concerning Him and what
duty He requires of them." This revelation
is clear, full and sufficient. Nothing needs to be
added to it and nothing should be subtracted from
it. The Christian should know and be able to
state the evidences upon which this revelation is
received as from God. He should be acquainted
with the contents of this revelation, for here are
to be found all of the doctrines he is to believe, the
worship he should practice and the fonu of gov-
ernment under which he should live in the Church,
He should seek this knowledge and be ready to
give a reason for the faith and hope in his own
mind and heart. He should be able to state all
of the essential teachings of Christianity and to
give to friend and foe the grounds upon which
he accepts Christianity^ and its teachings. He
should be glad to tell others of the blessed hope
set before him in the gospel and received into his
own soul. It is true that one may be a Christian
without being able to give a clear and connected
statement of the Christian faith. He may be a
child of God without being able to make plain to
others how and when he became such. He may be
like the little Scotch girl who, when being exam-
OUR HOPE 3
ined by her pastor for admission to the Lord's
table, could not state her views quite clearly — so
that the elders were about to delay her admission
till better instructed. But as she was turning to
go from their presence she said, with tears in her
eyes, " I canna' talk much for Jesus, but I love
Him well enough to die for Him," and so gained a
place at His table. There may be many others
among the followers of Christ who are not able to
make a clear and satisfactory statement of their
faith. Still it is the duty and privilege of every
Christian to be able to give some reason for the
hope that is in him. While it may not be essen-
tial to his salvation to be able to give a clear out-
line of all of these subjects, it is essential to his
comfort, protection and usefulness in the Chris-
tian life. For your own satisfaction you should
possess this knowledge and be able to communicate
it to others. You ought to be able to tell others
" how this hope arose, what it contains and on
what it is based." As a matter of intelligence a
man should know why he is a Christian ; why he
believes the Bible to be a revelation from God and
why he believes he has accepted Christ as his
Savior; why he believes in a certain system of
doctrine, of government and worship. What
would be thought of a citizen who could give no
intelligent account of the teaching of the consti-
tution of his country nor of the reasons why he
loved his country.'' What would be thought of
a member of a political party who could not give
4 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
an outline of his party's platform nor the reasons
why he preferred the principles of that party to
those held by the opposite party? What should
be thought of the Christian who can give no ac-
count of the constitution of the great Christian
commonwealth of which he is a member nor of the
reasons for his devotion to the spiritual govern-
ment to which he claims allegiance? What should
be thought of the member of a particular church
who cannot tell a stranger what doctrines it holds,
what form of government it exercises and what
form of worship it observes? You would un-
doubtedly expect the citizen to know something of
the constitution of his country, the politician to
be informed as to the principles of his party, and
the Christian as to the teachings of Christ and
the member of a given branch of the Church to
know what interpretation his church puts upon
the leading teachings of God's Word. As a mat-
ter of information, then, every Christian should
post himself on such important subjects. He
should be able to give an outline of the evidences
of Christianity, an outline of the plan of salva-
tion, the evidences of a change of heart, and to
state clearly the doctrines, the government and the
worship of the church of which he is a member.
As a means of comfort and strength one needs
to be well established in the faith. The apostle
James compares the double minded man to " a
wave of the sea driven of the wind and tossed,"
and declares him to be " unstable in all of his
OUR HOPE 5
ways." Such a man can neither be strong nor
comfortable in his religious life any more than
the vacillating man in any other department of
life. How can he have peace and comfort con-
cerning his hope unless he have confidence that it
rests upon the Rock of Ages.'' How can he be
strong to resist the influence of error unless he be
well grounded in the faith ? How can he be strong
to ward off the assaults of Satan unless he know
how to wield the sword of the Spirit.'^ How can
he be strong to do the work of the Christian un-
less he be strong in the Lord and in the power
of His might? As you would have comfort and
strength in your Christian life, study the Word of
God that you may " grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ."
Still further, you should be able to give a reason
for the hope that is in you to correct the many
misrepresentations that are made concerning the
Bible, concerning Christianity and concerning
that form of Christianity which you hold to be
that which is taught in the Word of God. As in
the days of the Apostles, so now, this way is
" everywhere spoken against." The Bible is mis-
represented as teaching doctrines to which God
hath never given His approval. An intelligent
lawyer once raised the objection to the Bible that
it taught that God would punish all men equally.
When asked to cite the passage he could not, of
course, do so, for it is written " God shall render
unto every man according to his deeds."
6 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Christianity is misrepresented as lending en-
couragement to sin by teaching that no man who
trusts in Christ shall ever be condemned, whereas
Paul, who so clearly set forth the doctrine of
justification by faith, rejects this conclusion with
abhorrence and shows that the love of Christ, the
strongest motive, constraineth the believer not to
live unto himself but unto Christ who died for him.
Each denomination of Christians has been mis-
represented. There are many persons who will
not take the trouble to examine the " standards of
faith " of other churches, but form their opinions
from some partial or prejudiced statement as to
what such churches hold, and then repeat these
statements as true. For example, the Baptist
church has been accused of teaching that " bap-
tism saves " ; the Methodist church of being " like
the Catholic " ; the Presbyterian church of deny-
ing the " free agency of man " ; and the Episcopal
church of holding to " baptismal regeneration."
Even so great and good a man as John Wesley is
reported to have said in one of his sermons that
" Calvinism was worthy of the Devil for its au-
thor." To this Dr. Dabney replied, " If Calvin-
ism were what Wesley represented it to be, it
would be worthy of the Devil for its author ; but
being what it is, it is the very embodiment of God's
truth drawn from His own Word." A distin-
guished judge once said to a minister,
" I like your church, but I do not see how it can
hold that horrible doctrine of ' total depravity.' "
OUR HOPE 7
" What do you understand by total depravity,
Judge?"
" Why, that every man is as bad as he can be."
" Neither do I believe that," said the minister ;
" but that is not what we mean by total depravity.
We mean that every man is * wholly defiled, in
all the faculties and parts of soul and body,' that
his mind is darkened by sin, his heart hardened,
his will perverted and the image of God lost —
that ' the heart of man is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked ' — that men are ' dead in
trespasses and sins.' The love of God no longer
dwells in the heart of man, but enmity is there.
In all of his soul he has gone away from God and
fallen into such a state of sin that nothing but
the power of God can restore to his soul the lost
likeness of God."
" I believe that," said the judge,
" Then we are at one on that point," replied the
minister.
To whatever Christian church you belong, you
should give such study and attention to the Word
of God, to the teachings of Christianity and to the
interpretation of the system given by your own
church, that you may be able to correct such mis-
representations. You should have clear and dis-
tinct views of the truth yourself, that you may be
able to discover and correct any errors and mis-
representations made by others. Unless you have
such knowledge, you are not only at the mercy of
those by whom your faith is assailed, but you are
8 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
not able to make a proper defense of the Bible,
nor of Christianity, nor of your own faith, as re-
ceived from those who have handed it down to you.
For the benefit of others you should know the
grounds on which the Christian faith is received,
the evidences on which you depend for your inter-
est in that hope, and the doctrines, the government
and worship taught in the Bible.
Since Christ's ascension it is largely through
His people that He reveals to men the way of life.
It is true that this book is the only infallible rule
of faith and practice and that herein the way of
life is clearly revealed. But men are slow to study
and slower to receive the teaching of this Word.
Hence God hath ordained that His truth shall be
brought into contact with other minds and hearts
through tlie word and testimony of those who have
already felt its power and known its preciousness.
" Ye are my witnesses." " Ye are living epistles
known and read of all men." " Ye are the light
of the world." That is, you may be the means of
instructing, guiding and enlightening others by
your word and example. If you know the plan
of salvation you can tell others. If you know the
teaching of Christ you can instruct others. If
you can give a reason for the hope that is in you,
you may be the means of leading others to in-
dulge such a hope. If you neglect to secure such
knowledge you may become guilty of your broth-
er's blood. A young man was fatally injured in
a great manufacturing plant. He knew he must
OUR HOPE 9
soon pass into eternity and called upon his com-
panions to tell him the way of life and pray for
him. Not one felt competent to instruct him.
He went to the bar of God untaught by some who
claimed to be the children of God. You ought to
learn to tell men how to be saved. " If any of you
do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him
know that he which converteth a sinner from the
error of his way shall save a soul from death and
shall hide a multitude of sins."
As a means of promoting Christian tunity you
should study the teaching of God's Word as to
what doctrines should be held. Heretofore the
people of God have spent much time in discussing
the points upon which they differ. It is time they
were considering the truths upon which they agree.
You would be surprised to find upon how many
doctrines we are at one. We all take the Word of
God to be the source of our belief. We all be-
lieve in the Trinity. We all believe in the divinity
of Christ. We all receive the personality and di-
vinity of the Holy Spirit. We all repeat the
Apostles' Creed together. We all admit the fall
of man and believe in the redemption purchased by
Christ. We all claim the same Father, trust the
same Savior and hope to be made holy through the
same Holy Spirit. We belong to the same army,
follow the same Captain, contend against the same
enemies, love the same cause and seek the same
heaven. The more you study the Bible and the
better you know and love Christ, the more will you
10 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
discover and rejoice in the unity of the Church
of God which gathers into its fold all who love
and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Then for the glory of God and for the honor of
religion you should be ready to defend His truth,
testify to His grace and teach the doctrines, wor-
ship and government of His Church. The teach-
ing of His Word, the testifying to the power of
His grace and the shining of His grace in your
hearts and lives will be the means of declaring His
glory and of extending His kingdom.
CHAPTER II
THE BIBLE FROM GOD
The Bible is the source from which the Christian
derives the light that guides his feet, the water
that refreshes his spirit, and the food that nour-
ishes his soul on his pilgrimage from earth to
heaven. It is the chart by which alone he can
guide his frail bark over the rough sea of life and
anchor safely in the haven of heaven. Without
such a chart he must inevitably make shipwreck
on the rocks and reefs along the shore of time.
With the Bible and with the Savior whom it re-
veals he has life and salvation. Without these he
is without God and without hope in the world.
No wonder, therefore, that the Christian clings to
the Bible with all of the tenacity with which the
shipwrecked mariner clings to his life boat.
For his own information, for the instruction of
others, for the best interests of the Church and for
the glory of God, every man ought to know and
be able to state the reasons upon which he accepts
this book as a revelation from God.
It is with the hope of helping you in your efforts
to secure such knowledge that a brief outline of
these evidences is now given. Having shown you
11
12 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
the importance of being able " to give an answer
to him that asketh you a reason of the hope that
is in you," some of the grounds upon which the
Bible is believed to be the inspired revelation of
the divine will are now furnished.
The fact that many of the greatest and best
men in many lands and for long ages have accepted
this book as from God, through men who spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost, may be taken
as a presumptive evidence of its divine origin. It
was received as inspired, read publicly in the
churches in the age immediately succeeding its de-
livery and has been so received from that day to
this. There must have been something about the
book and the evidences in its favor which im-
pressed their minds and hearts with its supernat-
ural character. The fact that the Church uni-
versal, in all of its branches and divisions, accepts
this book as a divine revelation shows that it is
regarded as entitled to a place in the hearts of men
given to no merely human production. This fact
at least shows that according to the verdict of the
Church universal this is God's Word, the only
infallible rule of faith and practice.
Among the more positive grounds of belief that
this is the Word of God is the fact that miracles
have been wrought in attestation of the claims to
inspiration on the pai-t of those who wrote it. A
miracle is an act wrought by the power of God, in
the presence of witnesses, to establish the claims
of those who profess to reveal His will. It is
THE BIBLE FROIM GOD 13
something beyond the power of man or angels to
do. It is something which can be wrought only by
the power of God, and which, when wrought in
order to attest the claims of one speaking for God,
puts it beyond all reasonable doubt that such per-
sons are what they claim — teachers sent from
God. For example, when Moses was sent to lead
the children of Israel out of the land of bondage,
he expressed a fear that the people would not be-
lieve that God had sent him. It was then that
God gave him permission to use His name and to
work miracles that the people miglit be led to be-
lieve that he was sent of God and that he spake in
His name and wrought by His power. You re-
member how his rod was turned into a snake, his
hand made leprous and the water which he took
from the river and poured upon the dry land was
turned into blood according to the promise of
God. '"If they will not believe also these two
signs, neither hearken to thine voice, that thou
shalt take the Avater of the river and pour it upon
the dry land, and the water which thou takest out
of the river, shall become blood upon the dry
land." When Moses pled that he was not elo-
quent, but that he was slow of speech, God bade
him go and promised to " be with his mouth
and teach him what he should say." God was
to guide him in what he should say and then
confirm his claim to be speaking for God by the
miracles which should be wrought. Then you
are familiar with that wonderful series of mira-
14 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
cles by which Pharaoh and his people and the
children of Israel were at last all convinced that
God was speaking through Moses. You recall
the ten plagues culminating in the death of the
first born in every home where the blood was not
found upon the lintel and the door post. You
remember the passage through the Red Sea on
dry ground, the manna from heaven, the water
from the flinty rock that followed them in the
way.
These miracles must have been wrought or
the children of Israel would never have left the
land of bondage. Their enemies would not
have permitted it and they would not have un-
dertaken it. Dr. Scott has well said,
" The narratives of these miracles may be
clearly shown to have been published very soon
after the time and at the places at which they
are said to have been wrought in the most con-
spicuous manner and before a very great multi-
tude of enemies as well as friends. They con-
stituted a public challenge to every man to con-
tradict or disprove them, if he could, yet this
public challenge never called forth a single in-
dividual to deny that they were really per-
formed. Surely Moses could never have per-
suaded the whole nation that they had witnessed
the plagues of Egypt, that their first born had
been spared, their enemies destroyed, that they
had passed through the sea dry shod and had
been fed forty years in the wilderness had none
THE BIBLE FROM GOD 15
of these events ever taken place. And if that
generation could not have been thus imposed
upon, then surely the next generation could not
have been persuaded that their fathers had seen
and experienced such wonderful things, when they
had never before heard a word about them."
The truth is it requires gi'eater credulity to
believe that the exodus could have been effected
without these miracles than with them. The
Passover is still observed among the Jews and is
a living monument to the belief of that people that
God did spare their first born on the night on
which the destroying angel slew the first bom in
every family that had not, by faith, sprinkled the
blood upon the lintel and the door post.
The miracles of the New Testament are no less
striking nor any less authentic. The healing of
the leper, the restoration of sight to the man born
blind, the raising of Lazarus and the resurrection
of Jesus Christ are all vouched for by witnesses
whose testimony would be received in any of the
courts of our land. So strong is the testimony
in favor of the resurrection of Christ that Ran-
dolph Tucker, a distinguished teacher of law at
Washington and Lee University, said that he had
never won a lawsuit with one tenth of the evidence
that was to be found in favor of the resurrection of
Christ. It has been well asked, " When could the
belief in the resurrection of Christ and in the
miracles wrought by Him and His apostles have
been obtruded on mankind if they had never hap-
16 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
pened? " Surely not in the age in which they were
witnessed by hundreds and thousands who were
publicly challenged to deny them. If not then,
when could they have been begun to be believed?
It is far easier to admit the miracles as the origin
and explanation of Christianity than to account
for it in any other way. The sacrament of the
Lord's Supper and the observance of the first day
of the week are two living monumental evidences
pointing back to the death and resurrection of
Christ. If such events had never taken place men
could never have been persuaded to keep these or-
dinances in commemoration of them any more than
the Jews could have been led to keep the Passover
in memory of God's mercy in sparing their first
born had He never shown them that kindness ; or
than that we as a people could have been induced
to celebrate the birthday of George Washington
had no such man ever been born. Deny the mira-
cles of the Bible and you must refuse to believe in
human testimony and cease to accept the plainest
statements of history. If, then, those who spoke
and wrote the words of this book claimed to be in-
spired and God wrought miracles by them in at-
testation of their claims, then they must have been
from God and must have spoken the words He put
into their mouths and penned the thoughts He
breathed into their minds. We know they were
teachers sent of God for no man could do the mira-
cles which they did except God were with him.
Another strong proof of the inspiration of the
THE BIBLE FROM GOD 17
Bible may be drawn from the prophecies it con-
tains.
A prophet is, literally, one who speaks for God.
But since God knows the future as well as the
past and since His kingdom has always had to
do with the future quite as much as with the past,
we find in the words of those who have spoken
for God many predictions of events which no hu-
man sagacity could have foreseen. Only God can
know the future. Hence if there be found in this
revelation predictions concerning future events,
made hundreds of years prior to the events, which
afterward came to pass in exact accordance with
the prediction, then we may fairly conclude that
it was God who foresaw and foretold such events
through the instrumentality of men whom He had
inspired to reveal His will. If we can find one
such prophecy made and fulfilled we can conclude
that God revealed Himself through such prophet,
and if through one then through all of those who
foretold such events. The number and variety of
such prophecies is so great that it will be impos-
sible to present them all. You will find them dis-
cussed in such books as Newton and Keith on
" Prophecy " and Alexander on the " Evidences of
Christianity," to which we are largely indebted for
the facts which are now to be presented.
Recall the prophecies concerning the Jewish
people. God threatened to bring against them " a
nation from afar, as swift as the eagle flyeth, a
nation whose tongue they should not understand."
18 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
This was fulfilled when the Chaldeans and after-
wards when the Romans came against them. The
Romans were from afar, the rapidity of their con-
quests resembled the eagle's flight in pursuit of
its prey, the standard of their army was an eagle
and their language was unknown to the Jews.
Their cities were to be taken and their walls to
be thrown down. This was fulfilled when Nebu-
chadnezzar took Jerusalem, burned the temple and
took down the walls of the city. (II Kings
25:10.) Famine was to accompany and follow
such invasions. This was fulfilled in more in-
stances than one. It was fulfilled in the siege of
Samaria by the king of Syria when two women
agreed to give up their children to be eaten.
(II Kings 6:28, 29.) It was fulfilled when the
Chaldeans came against Jerusalem and it was ful-
filled when the Romans besieged the same city, on
which occasion Josephus informs us that a noble
woman killed and ate a part of her own child and
hid the remainder for future meals.
Great numbers of the Jews were to be slain and
the remnant scattered among all nations. It is
estimated that in the siege of Jerusalem by Titus
110,000 persons perished by fire and famine and
sword. We know that the ten tribes were car-
ried away from their own land by the king of
Assyria, that the two tribes were afterwards taken
to Babylon and that subsequently the Romans
took away their place and nation and that from
THE BIBLE FROM GOD 19
that day to this they have been scattered among
all nations and in almost all lands.
They were, nevertheless, to be kept separate
and distinct from all people and so it has come to
pass. Everywhere you go you find Jews and
everywhere you find them they are separate and
distinct, notwithstanding all of the persecution to
which they have been exposed and by which they
have been sorely tempted to merge their identity
by intermarrying with people of other races. If
you could pour a pitcher of clear spring water
into one of our interior water courses and follow
its course down the river to the Gulf and across
the Atlantic, and see that while it moved among
all Avaters it mingled with none but preserved its
identity, it would not be so wonderful as the fact
that the Jewish people, dispersed from Judea, have
been scattered among all nations and yet have
mingled with none, but have been kept separate
and distinct so that you can still recognize them
as members of the race of God's chosen people.
No wonder, when it was asked that a short argu-
ment for inspiration be given the answer came
back, " The Jew." He is a living fulfillment of
prophecy and a most striking evidence that " holy
men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost."
There are some striking predictions concerning
great cities mentioned in the Bible. Nineveh, the
capital of Assyria, was to be utterly destroyed
20 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
" by flood and fire." It was distinctly foretold
that " the Lord will make an utter end of the place
thereof." Lucian, who was born on the banks of
the river Euphrates, testifies that there was, in his
day, no vestige of it left and that no one could
tell where it was once situated. A later traveler
declares that no brick nor stone nor other build-
ing material was visible there. It has only been
by the aid of pick and shovel that even the site of
the once great and beautiful city has been dis-
covered, and the remains found beneath the ground
only make stronger the proof that the city was
destroyed according to the word of the Lord.
The destruction of Babylon was an exact ful-
fillment of the prophecies against it. God called
C^^rus by name two hundred years before he was
born and afterwards put it into his heart to go
up against the city to take and destroy it. You
recall the circumstances of its capture. While
the king, his captains and lords were engaged in
revelry, Cyrus turned the course of the river into a
lake and gained entrance by the river bed and
captured and destroyed the city, according to the
prophecy of Jeremiah, Chapter 51. "I will dry
up thy rivers ; a snare was laid for Babylon. It
was taken and it Avas not aware." Its destruction
was to be complete. " No man was to dwell
there," neither would " the Arabian pitch his tent
there, neither should the shepherds make their
folds there." " Wild beasts of the desert were to
dwell there, doleful creatures and owls." A re-
THE BIBLE FROM GOD 21
cent traveler writes, " Our path lay through a
great mass of ruined heaps on the site of shrunken
Babylon. I am perfectly incapable of conveying
an adequate idea of the dreary, lonely nakedness
that appeared before us." (Porter.) " Silence
profound as the grave reigns throughout the ruins.
It is impossible to behold the scene and not be re-
minded how exactly the predictions of Isaiah and
Jeremiah have been fulfilled." (Keppel.) "Noth-
ing would induce the Arabs to pitch their tents
and remain all night near the principal mound, as
they have a superstitious belief that evil spirits
dwell there." (Mignan.) We are told that the
place is full of doleful creatures and stagnant
pools, and that there are there dens of wild beasts
and that owls, hyenas, jackals and lions make
their habitations there, fulfilling in minute detail
the word of prophecy.
The predictions concerning the fall of Jerusalem
were equally minute and just as literally fulfilled.
See Matthew 24., Mark 13, Luke 17. These
prophecies were made by Christ and are an evi-
dence at once of the inspiration of the Bible and
of the divinity of Him who made them. They in-
clude a great number and variety of prophecies
concerning the holy city, all of which have been
fulfilled. Its temple was to be destroyed, its walls
thrown down and its inhabitants to suffer such
tribulation as was not from the beginning of the
world. History shows that under Titus the tem-
ple was burned, the walls thrown down and the
22 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
very foundations of the temple were dug up In
the search for treasure and the place leveled and
plowed over as a field. The slain were more than
100,000 and the captives nearly as many. Jo-
sephus tells us that " the calamity of the people,
from the creation of the world, if they be compared
with the sufferings of the Jews, will be found to be
far surpassed by them." Titus himself acknowl-
edged that it was due to the anger of God that
the people had been overcome. It was God who
drew out the Jews from their fortifications ; for
what could the hands or engines of men do against
such towers as these.'' He refused to be crowned
in honor of the victory, declaring that he was not
the author of this achievement but that the anger
of God against the Jews was what put the victory
in his hands.
The prophecies concerning Christ Himself are
wonderful in their minuteness and fulfillment.
The tribe, the house, the family, the time, the
place and the manner of His birth are all indicated
and were all fulfilled. His place of residence. His
forerunner, His life, His character, His miracles.
His words, His sufferings, His being pierced, His
betrayal for thirty pieces of silver, the casting of
lots for His garment, the offering of vinegar, the
escape from having His bones broken, His death
with the wicked and His burial with the rich —
these and many other details were foretold and
came to pass according to the letter. No one can
collate all of the passages which relate to the com-
THE BIBLE FROM GOD 23
ing Messiah, remember that they were all spoken
hundreds of years before the events took place and
that they were sealed up in the Hebrew language
which became a dead language and was translated
into the Greek 280 years before Christ, and read
the testimony of the four evangelists as to their
fulfillment without feeling the force of the argu-
ment from prophecy. The contrast between all
predictions of mere men and those spoken by God
through men are marked. One of the wisest men
in our Southland said that if our recent war be-
tween the states should result as it did the city
of New Orleans, instead of being a great commer-
cial city, would be deserted and its wharves would
become a place for the fishermen to spread their
nets. So far from turning out that way, more
cotton and grain have been marketed in that city
and more commerce has been done there since the
war than before. Thus we can draw the contrast
between God's certain and man's uncertain knowl-
edge concerning the future. Miracles are an evi-
dence of divine power and prophecies of divine
knowledge. The two combined go to show that
only the All-powerful and the All-wise could have
enabled men to do the works and speak and write
the words ascribed to the authors of the books of
the Bible.
The book itself proclaims its divine origin.
When we remember that it is made up of sixty-
six books, composed by about forty authors, ex-
tending from Moses to John, a period of fifteen
24 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
hundred years, and that throughout the entire vol-
ume there is manifest a unity of purpose, a
harmony of teaching and statement, an elevation
of moral and spiritual teaching superior to all
other systems, we must look higher than the wis-
dom of man for its origin. When we find here so
accurately described the sins and wants of man
and see presented a plan of salvation so well
suited to meet and relieve all of these wants and
pardon and cleanse away all of these sins, we can
scarcely resist the conclusion that this book is
from God. Every effect must have an adequate
cause. The Bible is an effect, bearing the impress
of infinite wisdom, holiness, goodness and truth.
It must, therefore, have come from God. Good
men could not and bad men would not have writ-
ten it unaided and hence the conclusion that it
must be from God, as claimed by those who were
the instruments through whom God gave it. If
this can be said of the book, what must be said of
Him whom the book reveals .'^ How shall we ac-
count for the person and character of Jesus
Christ.'' His historic existence is now generally
admitted. Better deny the existence of C.nesar or
Napoleon than to question the fact of Christ's
birth and life. Now how can you account for His
wonderful character except that " He was in the
beginning with God" and that ^^ He xvas God''!
His character is portrayed by the four evangelists.
They tell us of His power and wisdom and good-
ness. They relate what He said, what He did
THE BIBLE FROM GOD 25
and what impression He made upon the minds
and hearts of the men of His day. They tell us
how they were astonished at His teaching, how
they marvelled at His miracles, how they said,
" He hath done all things well," " He spake as
never man spake." " He was holy, harmless, un-
defiled and separate from sinners." They wrote
from four diflPerent standpoints and yet they agree
in presenting to us " a perfectly consistent char-
acter in every trait of thought, feeling, word and
action." They must have known Him Avell and
they must have been guided by wisdom from on
high while they wrote of Him. No other such
character was ever held up for the love and ad-
miration of men. He was perfect and complete
and combined in Himself all of the virtues of a
perfect man and all of the attributes of the infinite
God.
Four such men as Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John could never have originated such a character
as that of Jesus Christ. He must have existed in
that day and if He existed He must have been
both human and divine. It is a profound observa-
tion of Hugh Miller that " no dramatist can draw
taller men than himself." Even Rousseau con-
fessed that " the conception and execution of such
a character as that of Jesus Christ would be a
greater miracle than its existence." It is easier
to believe in the existence and divinity of Christ
than to believe that four unlearned men could have
conceived and drawn such a character by their
26 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
own skill had He never existed. He must have
been the divine being He claimed to be. He was
too wise to be deceived and too good to deceive.
He was and is " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today and forever, the chiefest among ten thou-
sand and the one altogether lovely," worthy of the
love and confidence of all who look to Him for sal-
vation from sin. This book must be divine in its
origin because it reveals such a God, such a Sav-
ior and such a salvation.
The effects of this revelation upon the lives of
men are such as to indicate its heavenly origin.
" By their fruits ye shall know them," was the
rule our Savior gave by which to judge of the
character of teachers. The same rule may be ap-
plied to the system of truth presented in the Bible.
Wherever it has been received as the rule of faith
and practice its beneficial effects have been mani-
fest. In the individual it purifies, refines and en-
nobles. It reforms, transfonns and renews, and
makes the man who receives it a nobler and better
man in all of the relations of life. It blesses and
brightens the home. It elevates both man and
woman. In the community it promotes intelli-
gence, thrift and morality. In the world and
among nations it leads to the highest form of
civilization. In the Church and through its in-
strumentality it spreads the gospel of good cheer
and hope and courage. It refines, ennobles and
promotes righteousness, peace and good will
among men. Like leaven it spreads and like the
THE BIBLE FROM GOD 27
mustard seed it grows, and like a good tree bears
good fruit wherever it is planted. In the early
ages of the Church, notwithstanding the opposi-
tion with which it met, it spread so rapidly that it
soon made itself felt in all parts of the Roman
empire.
In our day it is rapidly securing its right to be
heard and accepted in all lands of the earth. It
is evincing its power more and more to become a
light to lighten the Gentiles and it is yet to be-
come the glory of the people Israel. It bears
fruits of peace and purity, joy and salvation wher-
ever it grows and its leaves are for the healing of
the nations. Its effects are so beneficial that it
must be from God, the Father of all mercies, and
the God of all love. The Church universal ac-
cepts it as from God. The miracles wrought by
those who wrote it and the prophecies made by
those who revealed it join to proclaim its heavenly
source. The book itself and the Christ whom it
reveals testify to the fact that it is of God. The
fruits of its teaching in the lives of men and com-
munities, of peoples and nations are such as to at-
test its divine origin.
" This is the judge that ends the strife
Where wit and wisdom fail;
My guide to everlasting life
Through all this gloomy vale."
v
CHAPTER III
THE BOOKS WE HAVE ARE THE BIBLE,
AND THEY ONLY ARE THE BIBLE
I was once asked, by a young man, to indicate
the reasons why certain books are held by the
Church to be entitled to a place in the Bible and
why certain other books are denied such a place
— why we accept certain books as inspired and
reject others as not inspired? The general an-
swer to this question is that there is sufficient evi-
dence in favor of the one class and not enough in
behalf of the other class. This will become plain
as we review the testimony for the books generally
accepted as inspired and the evidence against
those which have been denied a place in the Bible.
When God was pleased to reveal His will to
man He took great pains to have that revelation
kept whole and uncorrupted. He selected the
people Israel to be the guardians of that revela-
tion under the former dispensation and the Church
of Jesus Christ under the present dispensation.
It is mentioned as one of the special honors and
privileges of the people of Israel that " to them
the oracles of God were committed." We are in-
formed in Deuteronomy 31 : 25, 26, that when
28
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 29
Moses gave the law " He commanded the Levites,
which bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord,
saying, Take this book of the law and put it in
the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord
your God that it may be there for a witness
against thee." The ark was a chest in which the
law, Aaron's rod and the manna were kept.
(Hebrews 9:4.) This ark was placed in the Holy
of holies, the most sacred place of the tabernacle,
and afterwards of the temple, into which only the
high priest might enter. Josephus, a learned
Jewish historian, who lived in the age of the apos-
tle Paul, informs us that every tribe was furnished
with a copy of the law. Each priest and Letite
was provided with a copy to guide him in the
public worship. Then, since the book contained
the law of the land, the king, when kings arose,
had a copy to guide him in the administration of
the affairs of state. Hence we read in II Kings,
22:9-11, this direction, "He shall write him a
copy of the law in a book, out of that which is
before the priests and Levites." Thus it appears
that the chosen people, the priests and Levites
and the king kept guard over the precious revela-
tion God had given to man. The writings of
Joshua were added to the law and deposited in
the ark of the covenant with the law, and each
prophet who spake in the name of the Lord
wrought a sign to attest his claim to be a messen-
ger from God and delivered his message that it,
too, might be placed in the ark along with those
30 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
which had already been placed there for a witness
against the people, as well as a guide to them so
long as they desired to be guided by Jehovah.
Thus book after book was added until the pro-
phetic gift ceased with Malachi, to be renewed
with the great prophet whom he predicted should
come to prepare the way of the Lord. The uni-
form tradition among the Jews is that Ezra, the
scribe and an inspired man, collected the sacred
books thus prepared that they might be preserved
for future generations. United with him in this
work were the members of the Great Sjmagogue,
some of whom were prophets and had prepared
some of these books, and who made copies to be
circulated among the people. This collection of
books was accepted as the rule of faith and prac-
tice and was read in the synagogues every Sabbath
day throughout the land of Palestine till the com-
ing of Christ. Long before that time the Hebrew
had ceased to be generally spoken and all of these
books had been translated into Greek, as may be
seen in the Septuagint version made 280 B. C.
and to be found in the libraries of this day. It
is true some other books have been added to that
by human hands but, at the proper place, they will
be shown to have no right to be thus associated
with God's Word. It is beyond all dispute that
we have in the Hebrew Bibles of today just the
books, no more and no less, that were received,
read and translated nearly three hundred years
before Christ.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 31
Now since we have already considered the ques-
tion of the inspiration of the Bible, the question
which we should ask and answer is this : " Are
the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament en-
titled to a place in the Bible? " and the further
question : " Are these the only books that have a
right to such place there? "
These two questions will be treated together for
the reason that most of the reasons that go to
establish the right of the one class to a place in
the rule of faith and practice will disprove the
right of the other class, the Apocryphal books, to
a place in the Canon. Dr, Alexander tells us
that the word canon is derived from a Greek word
which literally signifies a rule and that it is so
used in the New Testament, where Paul writes to
the Christians at Philippi, Chapter 3 : 16, " Let
us walk by the same rule." As the inspired books
are the authoritative rule to regulate our faith
and practice, the Early Fathers gave them this
name: all such books were called Canonical.
Irenaeus speaks of the Holy Scriptures as " the
Canon of the Truth." Clement of Alexandria
calls them " the True Evangelical Canon," and
Eusebius names them " the Ecclesiastical Canon."
Athanasius speaks of three kinds of books, " 1.
The Canonical. 2. Such as may be read. 3.
The Apocryphal." The word Apocryphal signi-
fies hidden, obscure, without authority. It is em-
ployed to designate such writings as do not pos-
sess sufficient evidence to entitle them to a place
32 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
in the Canon. The Council of Laodicea, A. D.
363, ordered that none but Canonical books be
read in the churches and enumerated the books of
the Old Testament as we have them. But the
Council of Trent, in the sixteenth century, A. D.
1546, included the six Apocryphal books in its
Catalogue and since that date in all editions of
the Bible prepared and published by the Church
of Rome these books are included and they regard
all copies of the Bible imperfect and mutilated
which do not contain these books : viz, Tobit, Ju-
dith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, and the
two books of Maccabees. Protestants do not in-
clude these books in the Bible and their Bible so-
cieties do not publish them. Hence it becomes
a matter of interest to determine what books
ought to be included in the Canon and what should
be excluded from it.
Let us now review the evidence for and against
these two classes of books, the Canonical and the
Apocryphal.
It is worthy of note that all of the books of
the Old Testament which we admit were included
in the Hebrew Bible as it existed when Christ
came, and that none of the Apocryphal books
were so included. Up to that time no claim had
been set up that these latter books should be a
part of the Bible. The Canon of the Old Testa-
ment had been closed five hundred years before
Christ and yet these books had never been in-
cluded in the Bible. They were evidently written
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 33
at a later date. Jerome, a learned man who
translated the Old Testament from the Hebrew
into Latin, did not recognize the right of these
books to be in the Canon as is plain from this
language : " This prologue of the Scriptures
can serve as a fortified approach to all of the
books which we translate from Hebrew into Latin ;
so that we know that whatever is beyond these
must be put in the Apocrypha. Therefore the
Book of Wisdom, which is commonly entitled the
Wisdom of Solomon, the Book of Jesus the son
of Sirach, Judith, Tobias and Pastor, are not
in the Canon. We omit the Book of Baruch
which does not exist and is not read among the
Hebrews." In his preface to Daniel he says this
book " among the Hebrews has neither the story
of Susannah, nor the Hymn of the Three Youths,
nor the fables of Bel and the Dragon." In an-
other place he says, " The songs of the Apocry-
pha ought to be sung by dead heretics rather than
by living ecclesiastics." (" His. Bks. of Bible,"
Stowe, pp. 544 and 580.)
The authors of the Canonical books claim in-
spiration while the authors of the Apocryphal
books do not, except in the case of the author of
Wisdom. It is attributed to Solomon, but that
pretension is plainly refuted by the facts that it
has quotations from Isaiah and Jeremiah who
lived long after the days of Solomon and by the
fact that the people of Israel are represented
as being in subjection to their enemies, whereas
34 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
it is known that in the reign of Solomon the Jews
enjoyed peace and great prosperity. The men
who were really inspired uniformly claim to speak
for God and by His aid. For example, Moses
informs us that God promised to " be with his
mouth and teach him what he should say " when
He sent him to speak unto His people and unto
Pharaoh, king of Egypt. The prophets use the
formula, " Thus saith the Lord," when they de-
liver their message. They do not claim to speak
in their own name nor by their own wisdom, but
in the name and by the authority of God. On
the contrary, the authors of the Apocryphal
books speak of themselves and betray their weak-
ness and ignorance. The author of Ecclesiasti-
cus entreats his readers to pardon the errors he
may have committed and concludes with these
words, which are utterly unworthy of inspiration,
" If I have done well it is that which I desired,
but if slenderly and meanly it is that which I
could attain unto." Home, p. 627.
The contents of the two classes of writings in-
dicate their origins. The Canonical books are
the very embodiment of the highest truth con-
cerning God and man and salvation ; whereas the
Apocryphal books abound in ridiculous and in-
credible stories. They are inconsistent with them-
selves, and at variance with the teachings of the
Bible. " The absurd story of Tobit, of the driv-
ing away of the devil by the smoke of the liver of
a certain kind of fish and the healing of the blind
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 35
with its gall " could not have been given by in-
spiration of God.
Christ and His apostles sanction and quote the
books of the Hebrew Scriptures but do not so
sanction the Apocryphal books. The Jews divided
the books of the Bible into three parts : The Law,
The Prophets, and The Psalms. In Luke 24 : 44,
Christ is represented as saying, " These are the
words which I spake unto you while I was yet
with you, that all things must he fulfilled which
were written in the Law of Moses and in the
Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. Then
opened He their understandings that they might
understand the Scriptures." He bids them
" search the Scriptures," condemns them for " not
knowing the Scriptures " and declares that the
Scriptures " cannot be broken." He proves His
teachings from the Scriptures and says repeatedly
that such and such thing came to pass " that the
Scripture might be fulfilled." Now the Scriptures
which He quoted, which He read in the syna-
gogues, from which He preached and approved
of as from God Avas the Hebrew Scriptures which
the Jews of that day used and which we possess
to this day. His apostles were equally ready to
quote and approve the Hebrew Scriptures. Paul
declared that " all Scripture is given by inspira-
tion of God," and Peter said, " Prophecy came not
in the old time by the will of man but holy men
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
Other New Testament writers are equally em-
S6 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
phatic in their endorsement of the Old Testament
Scriptures. They all approve of and quote from
the inspired books but never sanction the Apocry-
pha.
When we compare the Hebrew Bibles which we
have and from which our Bible is translated, with
those in the hands of the Jews, we find that they
are identical, book for book and line for line, no
more and no less. There is perfect agreement
between the Protestant and the Jew as to the Ca-
nonical books of the Old Testament. As Dr.
Alexander well observed, " When we remember the
differences that have existed between the two on
religious beliefs we can see how the two have been
mutually safeguards of the inspired books, to
preserve them from alteration by one party or the
other. We claim a place in the Canon for no
book which they do not acknowledge to be in-
spired and they bring no accusation against us
for having mutilated the sacred volume by ab-
stracting from it any book or chapter."
These inspired books were received by the Early
Church and the Apocryphal books were not so re-
ceived for more than four hundred years and
never admitted into the Canon till the Council of
Trent in the sixteenth century.
The books of the Old Testament which we have
were given through inspired men to the Jews, by
whom they were kept till the coming of Christ.
He endorsed them and taught them to His apos-
tles, who in turn taught them and commended
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 37
them to others as the Word of God " able to make
them wise unto salvation." Here is the meeting
point of Jew and Gentile, Both receive the Old
Testament as the Word of God. Hear the testi-
mony of each. Josephus, the Jewish historian,
gives this remarkable testimony : " We have only
two and twenty books which are to be believed as
of divine authority, of which five are the books of
Moses. From the death of Moses to the reign of
Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, king of Persia,
the prophets have written thirteen books. The
remaining four books contain hymns to God, and
instruction of life for the use of men." In this
enumeration the Jews reckon the twelve minor
prophets as one book, the Book of Ruth as an ad-
dition to Judges and Lamentation as an append-
age to Jeremiah, thus reducing our number thirty-
nine to their twenty-two, just the number of the
letters in their alphabet. Turn now to the testi-
mony of one of the early Christian writers
Mileto, of Sardis, probably lived less than a hun-
dred years after Josephus, went to Palestine for
the express purpose of satisfying himself as to
the Canon of the Old Testament and thus gives
the result of his investigation : " I went to the
East, and coming to the very place where these
things were preached and transacted, I have ac-
curately learned the books of the Old Testament.
The names are the following," giving a list of the
very books we have except that he seems to in-
clude Esther in Ezra by whom some supposed it
38 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
to have been written. Origen, A. D. 230, who
spent much time in Palestine, and who was a fine
Hebrew scholar, mentions all of our books with-
out exception and gives none of the Apocryphal
books. The two councils of Laodicea and Car-
thage, A. D. 363 and 397, bear the same testi-
mony. The uniform testimony of the Christian
Church for four hundred years of its purest pe-
riod is in favor of the inspired books which are
contained in the Old Testament as we have it,
and opposed to the admission of the books called
Apocryphal books. From all of the catalogues
made by individuals and councils in the early ages
these books are excluded. By the best of the
fathers they are disowned, and by the earliest
councils they are forbidden a hearing in the
churches. They were not allowed to be read then
even " for example of life and instruction in man-
ners," as was afterwards allowed, by which prac-
tice they gradually gained a subordinate place in
the darker days of the Church. The books which
are contained in the Hebrew Bible, whose authors
claimed inspiration and sustained that claim by
signs and miracles, the books whose contents are
so worthy of a divine origin, the books sanctioned
by Christ and His apostles and received by the
Early Church and certified to us by the words of
witnesses of that day, by catalogues of individuals
and councils, by versions and translations, these
and these alone are the books which we believe to
be entitled to a place in the inspired Word of God.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 39
The line of reasoning by which the Canonicity
of the books of the New Testament is established
is very similar to that by which it has been sought
to show that the books contained in the Old Tes-
tament have a right to be there. In addition to
the evidences of the inspiration of these books as
given in the former chapter the following outline
embraces the principal evidences of their claim
to a place in the Canon as well as the main reasons
why other books are not entitled to a place there.
The twenty-seven books are now in the New Tes-
tament, are now admitted as a part of the Canon
and no others have ever been so admitted. Their
presence must be accounted for and the absence
of others explained. The former won a place
there by the character and qualifications of their
authors. They were men of God who came to re-
veal His will. As they wrought their miracles by
His power so they revealed truth through His
wisdom and under the influence of His Spirit.
Their messages were received as the messages of
God to man and were, by unanimous consent,
given a place in the Canon. Other books failed
to win such a place because they did not pre-
sent sufficient evidence.
The authors of the books of the New Testa-
ment, like those of the Old, uniformly claim to be
speaking for God. Both Paul and Peter speak of
themselves as apostles of Jesus Christ. An apos-
tle is one who had seen Christ, one who had the
power of working miracles and one inspired to
40 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
reveal God's will. Luke says (Acts 1 : 1, 2, 4, 8),
" The former treatise have I made, O Theophelus,
of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until
the day in which He was taken up, after that He
through the Holy Ghost, had given commandment
unto the apostles whom He had chosen." He tells
us what that command was in the fourth verse
and in the eighth verse says, " Ye shall receive
power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in
Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and
unto the uttermost parts of the earth." In the
second chapter he tells how " they were all filled
with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with
other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance"
No such claim was either made or verified by any
of those who wrote the obscure books which might
be candidates for admission into the Canon.
The substance and form of the contents of the
New Testament are such as to confirm the claim
of the authors. No one who reads the New Tes-
tament can fail to be impressed with the sublimity
of its moral and spiritual teachings, and no one
who reads the Apocryphal gospels and epistles
can refuse to admit that they are in many respects
puerile, and in all respects far inferior to the writ-
ings of the apostles and evangelists.
The people who early heard and read what these
men of God wrote and said, and who witnessed
the miracles they wrought were many of them con-
vinced that they were from God, and gave their
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 41
testimony in their behalf. The Early Church
received the Gospels, the Acts and the Epistles
as a revelation of God's will. They and those
who followed them in the course of time read them
in their churches, appealed to them in their dis-
cussions, enrolled them in their catalogues along
with the Canonical books of the Old Testament
and endorsed them in their councils and treated no
other books after the same manner. Christ and
His apostles gave their sanction to this part of
the Bible equally with the other part. God had
said of Christ, " This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased ; hear ye Him." When Christ
entered upon His work He said (John 12:49),
" The Father which sent me. He gave me a com-
mandment what I should say and what I should
speak." To the unbelieving Jews He said (John
5 : 46-47), " Had ye believed Moses ye would have
believed me for he wrote of me. But if ye be-
lieve not his writings how can ye believe my
words .f* " He promised guidance to His apostles
on four different occasions according to the words
in Matthew 10:19, 20, "But when they deliver
you up take no thought how or w^hat ye shall
speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour
what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak,
but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in
you." He gave them power to work miracles that
men might believe their claim to teach in God's
name. Five out of the eight New Testament
writers were apostles, Matthew, Peter, James,
42 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
John and Jude, who could thus attest their teach-
ings. Luke was an intimate companion of Paul
and Mark of Peter. Luke 10:7 is quoted as
Scripture by Paul in I Timothy 5: 18, " The la-
borer is worthy of his hire." Papias, Justin,
Irenaeus and Origen all speak of Mark's gospel
as received and as having been dictated and sanc-
tioned by Peter. (See also Hebrew 1: 1, I John
4:1, II Peter 3:15, 16.) Thus Christ and His
apostles teach us that the words they spake are
entitled to a place in the rule of faith equally Avith
the words of Moses and the Prophets.
The general agreement of the Christian Church
from the days of Christ to the present, in the re-
ception of all of the books of the New Testament,
furnishes a strong evidence in favor of their right
to a place in the Bible. Each book or message
or letter was examined on its own merits by the
Early Church and admitted to a place among its
sacred writings.
These books were publicly read in the churches
so that they could easily have been challenged
had they not been genuine. Paul directs that his
epistle to the Colossians be read in the church of
Laodicea and that the Colossians read that from
Laodicea. Justin Martyr and Tertullian both
bear witness to the fact that at their meetings on
the first day of the week they " read the Prophets
and the Scriptures."
The books of the New Testament are constantly
appealed to and quoted by the early Christian
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 43
Fathers in discussing any point of faith or in in-
culcating any line of duty. They evidently re-
garded them of supreme authority in all matters
of faith and practice. They admitted these and
only these to a place in the Canon of the New
Testament.
Catalogues of these books were formed, from a
very early day, both by individuals and councils
that others might see and know what books they
regarded as inspired. Such lists were made by
Origen, Jerome, Eusebius and others and by the
councils of Laodicea and Carthage. These cor-
respond with the lists of the books in our Bibles.
Out of thirteen such lists seven agree perfectly
with our Canon and several others differ only in
the omission of the book of Revelation because it
had fallen into some discredit on account of the
use made of it by the " Millenarians," but the
sober thought of the Church has continued to
credit the full inspiration of this beautiful book
by the apostle John. It would extend this subject
too far to take up the evidences as to each sepa-
rate book. You will find such treatment in Alex-
ander, Home or Angus. These books and these
alone are supported in their claim to inspiration
by miracles wrought and testified to by credible
witnesses, by prophecies made and fulfilled to the
letter, by the character, harmony and holiness of
their teaching, by the character of the Christ and
by the influence exerted upon the individual, the
home, the nation and the world.
44 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
No books but these can present such claims to
a place in the Bible as may be seen in such facts
as these: viz, they have had their place from the
time of the apostle John, who outlived the other
apostles and doubtless gave his attention and
guidance in the settlement of the New Testament
Canon ; their authors, conscious that they spake
under the influence of the Spirit, claimed to be
from God and wrought miracles to attest that
claim ; that Christ and His inspired apostles put
these teachings on precisely the same basis of in-
spiration as the Old Testament; that the Early
Church and the Church universal has received
these books and only these as having a right to a
place in the Canon of the New Testament, and
has handed down to us lists, versions and exposi-
tions of these books of eternal life. Other books
may be good in their place, but when it comes to
a direct, authoritative communication from God
to man, as to duty and salvation, we must turn
to the books of this Bible, whose authors " spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." If this
book be inspired and the books it contains have a
right to a place there, with what reverence we
should receive and with what diligence and earnest-
ness we should read and study its holy pages !
" Holy Bible, book divine,
Precious treasure, thou art mine ;
Mine to tell me whence I came,
Mine to teach me what I am;
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE 45
" Mine to chide me when I rove,
Mine to show a Savior's love;
Mine art thou, to guide my feet,
Mine, to judge, condemn, acquit;
" Mine, to comfort in distress.
If the Holy Spirit bless;
Mine, to show by living faith,
Man can triumph over death;
" Mine to tell of joys to come.
And the rebel sinner's doom:
Holy Bible, book divine.
Precious treasure, thou art mine."
CHAPTER IV
THE BIBLE THE RULE OF FAITH
AND PRACTICE
To everyone who claims allegiance to God and
who accepts the Bible as the inspired revelation
of His will there can be but one supreme rule of
faith and practice. That rule is the Word of
God. This lesson needs to be enforced no less
now than in the day when the prophet Isaiah
wrote, " To the Law and the Testimony ; if they
speak not according to this Word, it is because
there is no light in them." The prediction had
been made that the time would come when the peo-
ple of God would be tempted to turn away from
the testimony of the Lord and look for wisdom
and guidance from those who sought after " fa-
miliar spirits " ; when they should no longer look
to God alone for guidance and direction but should
seek other means of gaining a knowledge of truth
and duty. Hence God warns them against this
temptation and enforces upon them a strict rule
as to the use of His Law as their guide in truth
and duty. If they should be invited by their
neighbors to seek after wizards and familiar spir-
its they were to answer, " Should not a people
46
OUR RULE 47
seek after their God? " Had they not sworn alle-
giance to Jehovah? Were they not enjoying
blessings at His hands? Had He not guided them
wisely and well thus far? Would it not be folly
to turn away from Him to serve other gods or to
consult those who pretended to communicate with
the Devil, and with other wicked spirits? Should
they speak in behalf of the living to the dead?
On the contrary, should they not hear the voice of
the Lord their God as He commanded them to ap-
ply to the " Law and Testimony " for a knowledge
of His revealed will? If any teachers should come
unto them not speaking according to this Word,
they might be sure there was no light in them, that
they had not been taught of God, that they were
still in the darkness of ignorance and sin. To fol-
low such teachers would lead them away from God,
the source of life and light, into darkness and
death. To the " Law and Testimony " of God,
then, they were to resort as being the true and
only rule of faith and practice. In opposition to
all other methods of arriving at a knowledge of
what should be received as true, God commands
the people to apply to His Word as the only law-
ful source of spiritual knowledge and as the sole
and sufficient rule of faith and practice.
At that time the law and other portions of God's
revealed Word had been given to the people and
that was declared to be the only legitimate rule
by which they should decide what was right and
true. To the revelation which was in the posses-
48 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
sion of the Church at that period God was pleased
to add much more both in the Old and the New
Testaments. He fully endorsed as true and Ca-
nonical all that had been placed in the Bible up
to the time when He came on earth in human form.
He then inspired men to write down His own
words and to make still further revelations of His
will. All of these writings were, in His provi-
dence, placed together and, from the earliest days
of Christianity, have been received as parts of
God's revealed will. If it was then a law of God's
spiritual kingdom that no one should go out-
side of this divine rezrclation in order to learn
what to believe and practice, it is still the law
of that kingdom. God has made a clear and
sufficient revelation of His will to man and re-
quires him to find in that alone what he should
believe concerning God and what duty God re-
quires of him. This is a most important position
for every church and for every individual that
would do that which is acceptable in the sight of
the Lord God of heaven. To every church and
for every individual the Bible should be the sole
and sufficient rule of faith and practice. And yet,
plain and obvious as this teaching seems to be,
it has frequently been overlooked. There is in the
human heart a constant tendency to turn away
from God and follow that which is human and sin-
ful. Man is prone to set up his opinion as a guide
rather than to submit himself to the will and au-
thority of God as made known in His Word.
OUR RULE 49
Even the Church has not been free from the power
and influence of this tendency. At certain periods
of her history she has seemed to forget this direc-
tion, and has assumed to herself the authority to
decree rites, enforce rules and lay down terms of
membership not authorized in the Word of God.
The early ministers of the gospel, ordained by
Christ Himself, were scarcely in their graves be-
fore men arose and taught for doctrines the com-
mandments of men. Men arose who lorded it over
the consciences of their fellowmen and soon re-
duced the free Church of God to a spiritual des-
potism, and made merchandise of the most holy
privileges and offices of the Church. By failing
to adhere to the rule God had given, the Church
sold herself to the state and elevated Constantinc
the Great to the chief place in the Church as well
as in the state. The consequence was that, while
the Church was no longer persecuted and enjoyed
an outward appearance of prosperity, she was
shorn of her spiritual power and grew more and
more corrupt, until in the Dark Ages she almost
forfeited her right to be called the Church of
Christ. This she did sometimes by allowing the
state to rule and control her affairs and at other
times by seeking to manage the affairs of the state.
In both ways she violated the constitution which
gave her a right to exist and forgot the declara-
tion of the great Head of the Church when He
said, " My kingdom is not of this world."
During all of this long and dreary time of dark-
60 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
ness there were many who always refused to bow
the knee to Baal and who, in the face of the most
bitter persecution, witnessed for Christ and for
His truth, and who sought earnestly to pre-
serv^e His Church pure and unmixed with the af-
fairs of the state. There is good evidence for be-
lieving that there never was a time when there
were not men who were willing to lay down their
lives for Christ and for the word of His truth, that
even in the darkest days of the Dark Ages there
were in the valleys of the Piedmont and in the
hills of Scotland and in parts of Ireland many
who never did submit to the degenerate rule of the
times, but maintained the doctrines and govern-
ment of the New Testament pure and unadulter-
ated. We find examples of such persons in the
Waldensian Church, whose representative said in
the Presbyterian Council, a few years ago, that
they were not " ^^formed " because they had never
been " (f^formed " ; in the Culdee Church with its
representative form of church government, and in
that church in Ireland that had a bishop for each
of its 365 churches. Still it must be admitted
that the vast majority of those who at that time
claimed to be Christ's representatives on the earth
gave to the world a very deformed picture of the
life and teaching of Him who was " meek and
lowly in spirit " and " holy, harmless and undefiled
and separate from sinners." The reason why
they were so far astray was that they had for-
saken the word of His truth and substituted in its
OUR RULE 51
stead the traditions and opinions of men. They
left the light of God's truth and sought to regu-
late the kingdom of Christ according to the princi-
ples and maxims of the world. They neglected to
hear and heed the divine command, " To the Law
and Testimony."
It was not till Luther and Calvin and others of
that day came to listen to this command and to
believe that this book was intended of God for
the people as well as for the priests, that there was
brought about the much needed reformation in
the Church. Then it was that the departures of
the Church from the rule of faith were brought to
light under the bright shining of the truth of God
as it beamed forth from the pages of His Holy
Word. It was then that first one evil and then
another were banished from the Church until at last
it was thought that she was comparatively free from
the commandments of men, but subsequent events
showed that the state was unwilling to give up her
part in the management of the Church, and the
Church was unwilling to be released entirely from
the state and to conform herself fully to the Word
of God, without any regard to the traditions of
man. Against both Church and state there arose
men who claimed that the state had no right to
interfere with religion, and that each man should
be permitted to take the Bible as the sole and suf-
ficient rule of faith and practice, and that he had
also the right to raad and study that book and
decide for himself in the fear of God what it
62 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
taught him to beheve, to do, and to hope. In
other words, that the Bible was the only infallible
rule of faith and practice and that each individual
had the right of private judgment as to what it
taught and liberty to believe and live according
to that teaching. This is the position of the
Protestant Church. Luther translated and gave
the Bible to the people. Calvin said, " We must
come to the Word. If we deviate from it, though
we run with celerity, we will be out of course and
will not reach the goal. The way to the divine
countenance and favor is a labyrinth, so that un-
less we are guided by the line of the Word we can-
not approach unto God." And Bishop Chilling-
worth said, " The Bible is the religion of Protes-
tants." The Westminster Assembly in its Con-
fession of Faith said : " The whole counsel of
God, concerning all things necessary for His own
glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either
expressly set down in Scripture or may by good
and necessary consequences be deduced from
Scripture ; unto which nothing at any time is to
be added." " And the authority of the Scriptures,
for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, de-
pendeth not upon the testimony of any man or
church, but wholly upon God the author thereof;
and therefore it is to be received because it is the
Word of God." And, " The supreme judge, by
which all controversies of religion are to be de-
cided . . . can be none other but the Holi/ Spirit
speaking in the Scripture." This position is in
OUR RULE 53
exact harmony with the teaching of the Bible it-
self. It claims to lead men to God and to eternal
life. It claims to be given by inspiration of God
and to be " able to make thee wise unto salvation."
(II Timothy 3: 15.) This claim the experience of
hundreds and thousands of God's people confirm.
They were in darkness and sorrow. They came to
this revelation of the will of God for their salva-
tion and found light and comfort and salvation.
The Bible contains all that needs to be known
for the salvation of our souls and the regulation
of our lives. Here we may learn the doctrines
of grace, the government of the Church and the
worship of the sanctuary. Hence God expects
His Church and each member of it to learn from
the Bible what he is to believe concerning Him and
what duty He requires of him.
There is no other such book as the Bible. No
other book can compare with it in the character
of its teaching, the purity and harmony of its
purpose or in effect upon life and character. No
other is sustained by such an array of evidence
for inspiration. Its success in winning a place
of power and influence over the hearts and lives
of men, the miracles wrought to attest the claims
to inspiration of those who wrote it, its prophecies
made and fulfilled, and the suitableness to our
needs of the salvation which it offers, and the
Christ whom it makes known, all attest it to be a
revelation from the living and true God. As,
therefore, we would listen to our King, we should
54 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
heed the teaching of His Word. It is the divine
constitution of His Church. It is the statute
book of His spiritual commonwealth. It is the
Guide-book of travelers from time to eternity. It
is the sole and sufficient rule and revelation of
God's will.
It follows that every thing contrary to this holy
Word is sinful and wrong. Sin is lawlessness.
Anything that does not come up to the require-
ments of the law is sin and anything that goes
beyond what the law allows is sin. This law re-
quires truth in the heart and love to God and man
to their fullest degree and, therefore, any want
of conformity unto this law in thought, or feeling,
or motive, or word, or deed is sin. This law for-
bids all crimes against man and all offenses against
God and, therefore, all transgression of His law is
sin.
It follows also that " nothing besides " or in
addition to this Word can be made a law by the
Church to bind the conscience. God alone is the
Lawgiver and He is to be the final Judge of the
quick and the dead. His law is perfect and suf-
ficient for the regulation of the affairs of His
kingdom and for the guidance of His subjects.
The Church is not appointed to make laws. It
must keep, and teach and interpret the law^, but is
not allowed to add anything to it nor to take any-
thing away from it. It may press home the teach-
ings of the law upon the conscience and enforce
the law by the means which God has ordained.
OUR RULE 55
But the Church may not make rules and regula-
tions not authorized in the Bible, nor may she de-
cree rites and ceremonies not taught there.
The Church must teach and spread the doctrines
she finds revealed in this Word but may add no
others. She may set up the government taught
by Christ and His apostles but should attempt no
other. She should teach and keep the sacraments
taught in the Word, but has no authority to
change these nor to add others. She should ex-
pound the terms of church membership given by
Christ and His apostles, but should require no
more and no less. She should insist, according to
the Bible, that men in their moral conduct should
deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and that they
should live soberly, righteously and godly in this
present evil world " and that they should love the
Lord their God with all of their hearts, with all of
their minds, with all of their souls, and with all
of their strength, and their neighbors as them-
selves " — this much, no more and no less. She
should insist upon the worship of God as author-
ized in the Bible but not other^vise. In short, since
the Bible is a perfect and complete rule of faith
and practice, men should study it diligently and
seek to conform their belief and practice to its
teachings as to doctrine, government, worship,
sacraments and life. Thus will they be saved
from rationalism which would come with its pre-
conceived opinions and seek to make the teachings
of God conform to their views, from ritualism
56 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
which would cover over the simple worship of the
gospel with forms and ceremonies, and from will
worship which would attempt to please God by
offering sacrifices and worship which He hath not
required nor approved. Thus will men be induced
to read and study the Bible that they may know
the truth which God hath revealed for their salva-
tion and spiritual benefit. Thus will they learn
the way of life and have awakened in their hearts
a desire to spread the knoAvledge of divine truth.
If, then, you have learned any important truth or
dut}', you are under obligation to communicate it
to others. If, then, you have learned to know the
way of life, teach it to others. If you understand
the plan of salvation, try to make it plain to those
who do not know it. If you have received the
news of salvation, tell it to others till all know the
v/ay, till every knee shall bow and every tongue
confess that Christ is Lord to the glory of the
Father — till the kingdoms of this world become
the kingdoms of our Lord and of His anointed.
i
CHAPTER V
GOD, HIS EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES
The existence of God lies at the foundation of
all true religion and the knowledge of God is es-
sential to all acceptable worship. If there were
no God there would be no religion, and if there
were no knowledge of God there could be no true
worship. Not ignorance but intelligence is the
mother of devotion. The better we know God the
more we will love and the better we will serve Him.
" This is life eternal that they might know thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent."
It is true that our knowledge of God cannot
be full and complete, yet it may be sufficient.
While we cannot comprehend God we may appre-
hend Him. We can know that He exists and that
He is wise and powerful and good and that " He
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
That there is one infinite and eternal First
Cause, Creator and Maker of all things is plain
to all whose minds are not blinded and whose
hearts are not hardened by sin. Only the fool
hath said in his heart there is no God, and even
he hath said this not for lack of evidence but for
57
58 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
lack of willingness to acknowledge that there is
one to whom he must at last give account. The
evidences which unite with the Bible in teaching
the existence of God are many and strong. Each
leads up to God and all combine to prepare the
mind to accept readily the plain and direct teach-
ing of the Word.
The very fact that the mind of man has con-
ceived and continued along the ages to entertain
the idea of God is a presumptive evidence in favor
of the existence of God. Unless such an ideal ex-
ists, how are we to explain the rise of such an
idea.'* Man could not think of God unless there
were a God to think about. Again, it is a law of
the mind that every effect must have an adequate
cause. When we behold ourselves, the earth, the
heavens and the sea, we conclude that all of these
effects must have had a cause, and as no human
power can create the smallest plant or flower it
must have been an Omnipotent Being who caused
all of the wonderful effects of heaven and earth
and sea to come into existence. These things
could not have come by chance. They could not
have just happened. They must have sprung
from the creative mind and power of the infinite
God. Only God could create and preserve all the
number and variety of effects which we behold
around us. As it is written, " Every house is
built by some one. But He that built all things is
God." " The heavens declare the glory of God
and the firmament showeth forth His handy work.
GOD 69
Day unto day and night unto night showeth
knowledge of Him."
On every side we see unmistakable evidences of
design. Thus we are taught not only that there
is a God, but that He is wise and powerful and
good. Behold evidences of such design and wis-
dom in the structure of each plant and animal,
each night and day, each season of the year
and in the adaptation of all things to the welfare
and happiness of man. See how He has adapted
the light to the eye, the air to the lungs, food to
the body, truth to the mind, love to the heart,
authority to the will and law to the conscience.
Wherever there is design there must be a designer
— wherever there is law there must be a lawgiver.
The constitution of our own moral nature is
such as to lead us to infer the moral character of
God. It is true that our souls have been per-
verted by sin. Still the soul retains enough of its
original nature to indicate that it came from God.
On examination we find that pleasure follows upon
the performance of actions which are virtuous, and
that pain accompanies the doing of that which we
know to be wrong. We are thus reminded that
the Being by whom we were made ordained that
virtue should be rewarded and vice punished. He
must, therefore, be just and upright who ordained
this law.
We find that there is within every soul a faculty
which not only distinguishes between the right and
the wrong, but causes certain forebodings lest the
60 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
evil which we have done shall bring upon us not
only present pain but future punishment, and that
the good which we do not only gives pleasure in
the present but meets the approval of the highest
good. We are thus reminded to reverence Him by
whom we were made and to stand in awe of Him
as of an upright judge.
Then when we reflect that both human society
and civil government frown upon that which is
wrong and approve that which is right, we are led
to believe that God, by whom these were ordained,
will surely punish the evil and reward the good.
" Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right.'' "
" Yes," our conscience replies, " ' He will render
unto every man according to his deeds and He will
by no means clear the guilty,' but ' will bring every-
thing into judgment.' " " God shall bring every
work into judgment, with every secret thing,
whether it be good or whether it be evil." (Ec-
clesiastes 12: 14.)
The fact that these ideas of God and of right
and wrong are universal — that no nation, tribe
or people has ever been found where there was not
some idea of God and retribution — plainly shows
that God not only exists, but that He has so re-
vealed Himself that men are without excuse if they
do not worship and serve Him as their Lord and
their God. " Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God hath shewed
it unto them. For the invisible things of Him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen.
GOD 61
being understood by the things that are made,
even His eternal power and Godhead ; so that they
are without excuse." (Romans 1:19, 20.)
This conclusion is verified by the plain and ex-
plicit teachings of the Bible. " For there is one
God; and there is none other but He." (Mark
12:32.) "In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1.) "All
things were made by Him and without Him was not
anything made that was made." (John 1:3.)
" He that cometh to God must believe that He is
and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6.)
From the Bible we learn that while there is but
one only living and true God — one in divine es-
sence and one in divine plan and purpose — that
this one infinite Being exists in a threefold mani-
festation or personality, the Father, the Son and
the Holy Ghost. There are two sets of passages
which reveal at once the unity and the diversity
in the Godhead. If in the single soul of man there
be discovered three distinct modes of conscious-
ness, the power to think, the power to feel and the
power to will, and yet the unity of the soul is not
destroyed, we should not be surprised to find that
in the Godhead there is but one divine essence and
yet three manifestations of that essence in the
persons we call the Father, the Son and the Holy
Ghost.
Turn to the Word of God and hear both the
unity and the diversity of the Godhead taught.
62 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
" The Lord our God is one God." (Mark 12 : 29.)
" Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
(Exodus 20: 3.) " Who hath declared this from
the ancient time? Who hath told it from that
time.'' Have not I the Lord.'' And there is no
God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there
is none beside me." (Isaiah 45 : 21, 22.) "land
my father are one." The perfect harmony in na-
ture, in revelation, in providence and in the plan
of redemption indicates that there is but one in-
finite Cause, Creator, Preserver and Ruler over all
things in heaven and in earth.
There are other passages which teach with equal
definiteness that this one divine essence manifests
itself in three different modes. These modes or
manifestations are called persons, not in the sense
that they are separate and independent individuals,
but that each has a name, a relation and a prop-
erty peculiar to itself, and that each has the
power of intelligent thought, will and action. To
each the personal pronouns, I, thou, and he, are
applied and to each the names, attributes, works
and worship of God are ascribed. Each is a per-
son and yet each is of the same divine essence
united in the Godhead as one God. This has been
illustrated in this way:
" Light is one substance with three properties, the
actinic, luminiferous and calorific. The properties of
light are distinct but they can not be separated from
each other. Where the one is the others are. The
actinic can neither be seen nor felt. The calorific can
GOD 68
not be seen but may be felt. The luminiferous is
both seen and felt, and is the revelation and expres-
sion of the other two. Light is one and yet three.
Light is three and yet one.
" Holy Scripture says: ' God is Light.' God is
one substance yet three persons — Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. The personalities are distinct but they
can not be separated from each other. Where the
one is the others are. Where the Father is the Son
and Spirit are. Where the Son is the Father and
Spirit are. Where the Spirit is the Father and Son
are. The Father can neither be seen nor felt. The
Spirit can not be seen but may be felt. The Son
may be both seen and felt and is the revelation and
expression of the other two. What an absurdity to
reject any two of the properties and call the remain-
ing one light! What an absurdity to reject any two
of the persons and call the remaining one God. God
is one and yet three, God is three and yet one."
The names given to these modes of divine essence
are, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
The peculiar property of the Father is that the
Father begets, the Son is begotten and the Spirit
proceeds, or paternity, filiation and procession.
" These properties distinguish the persons of the
Trinity so that we can speak of one without, at
the same time, speaking of another."
In function, while it is always God acting, the
Father is represented as sending and the Son as
coming and the Spirit as proceeding. The Father
provides the plan of redemption, the Son executes
and the Holy Spirit applies it to the hearts and
64 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
lives of men. The Father sends the Son. The
Father and the Son send the Spirit and the Spirit
proceeds from both. While, therefore, each is
equally divine and each partakes equally of the di-
vine essence, yet each has His peculiar name, prop-
erty and function and each manifests the divine es-
sence in the discharge of certain acts separate and
distinct from those of the others. For example
the Father says of the Son, " This is my beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye Him."
The Son says, " My meat and my drink is to do
the will of my Father," and referring to the Holy
Spirit He says, " I will send you another comforter
that he may abide with you forever," and " He
shall guide you into all truth." Hence when the
apostles were sent forth they were to recognize
this distinction in the Trinity by baptizing " in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost," and in pronouncing the benediction
they were to say, " The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God and the communion of the
Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen." (II Corinthi-
ans 13: 14.) That there are mysteries connected
with this subject is freely admitted, for God is a
mystery and life is a mystery and man is a mystery
and we are surrounded by mysteries. While it is
above reason it is not contrary/ to reason that
there should be variety in unity and unity in va-
riety in the Godhead, when we behold such unity
and variety in nature, in man and in everything
which God has made. Let us ever continue to bow
GOD 65
reverently before God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit, one God in substance,
one in purpose and one in glory, power and holi-
ness.
The attributes of God are those qualities or
properties which constitute Him the Being that
He is. If any one of them were lacking He would
not be God. All of these combined and all inher-
ing in the divine essence go to make up our ideal
of the great Being whom we love and serve as " a
spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His
being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness
and truth." According to this definition, which is
based on the Bible, God is a spirit and has not a
body like men. He is expressly called a spirit by
the Savior in His interview with the woman of
Samaria : " God is a spirit and they that worship
Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
(John 4:23.) He is called the Father of our
spirits and the Framer of our bodies and we are
taught that man was made, originally, in the like-
ness of God. That likeness was not a bodily but
a spiritual likeness. The soul of man was en-
dowed by its Creator with the power of thought,
feeling and will, and was made like God in knowl-
edge, righteousness and true holiness, with domin-
ion over the creature which God had made upon
the earth. If our spirits be capable of thought,
feeling and will in a finite degree the spirit of
God must be capable of thinking, feeling and will-
ing in an infinite degree. We know that we do
66 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
think and feel and will and infer with confidence
that the God who made us possesses like powers —
that He is a spirit and has all of the properties of
a personal agent. God is a spirit. He is a per-
sonal spirit and while one in divine essence, He ex-
ists in a threefold personality. It is further evi-
dent that He is infinite, for to have created all
things out of nothing required infinite wisdom and
power. To give life to a single plant is far be-
yond the power of the greatest and wisest philoso-
pher on earth. How much more then would in-
finite power be required to bring into existence and
to sustain, when made, the world in which we live
and the system of which it is but a small member?
God is infinite, without limits or boundaries in His
being and in His attributes. He fills all space
with His immensity, so that He is in every place be-
holding the good and the evil. He is both omni-
present and omniscient. It was such a view of
God which so impressed the Psalmist when he
wrote : " Whither shall I go from thy spirit or
whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I as-
cend up into heaven thou art there; if I make my
bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the
wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea ; even there shall thy hand lead
me and thy right hand uphold me." (Psalm
139:7.)
God is likewise eternal. There never was a
time in the eteraity past when God did not exist
and there will never be a time in the eternity fu-
GOD 67
ture when God shall cease to exist. " From ever-
lasting to everlasting thou art God."
He is unchangeable. This follows from His
perfection. If he were imperfect he would have
to change his plans either because he could not
foresee what would arise or because he could not
provide for that which had arisen. But being
infinite, He knows beforehand everything that can
possibly happen and is able to meet and over-
come each and every difficulty or enemy. " I am
Jehovah ; I change not ; therefore ye sons of Ja-
cob are not consumed." He is " the same yester-
day, today and forever."
He is infinite in His wisdom. He not only
knows all things but He knows how to use the best
means for the accomplishment of the wisest ends
and purposes. His wisdom was displayed in His
works of creation, providence and redemption.
It required infinite wisdom to make all things
that are in the heavens above, in the earth be-
neath and in the waters under the earth; it re-
quired infinite wisdom to preserve and govern all
creatures in all of their ways ; but it required the
greatest wisdom to devise and bring to completion
that plan by which lost sinners could be rescued
and saved from the guilt and power and pollution
of sin and be brought back into the family of God
and made heirs of the inheritance of the saints in
light.
He is infinite in His power. This power was
made known in His creation of all things out of
68 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
nothing by the word of His power. To bring
something out of nothing seems incredible to
man, but God spake and worlds sprang into ex-
istence and sun and moon and stars took their
places in the firmament of heaven and have, ever
since, been kept there and made to move in per-
fect harmony in the orbits to which God assigned
them, forever singing as they shine, " The hand
that made us is divine."
To govern the material and spiritual universe
requires the infinite power of God ; and to meet
and overcome all of the spiritual foes of God and
man demands the infinite power of Jehovah.
Hence He who undertook our redemption had to
be able to say, " All poAver in heaven and on earth
is in my hands."
He is infinite in His holiness. No stain of sin
is on His spotless character. He is " holy, harm-
less, undefiled and separate from sinners and made
higher than the heavens." Before His face the
holy angels of Heaven veil their faces and cry,
" Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of Hosts — the
whole earth is full of thy glory."
He is perfectly just. He holds the balances
with a perfectly even hand. As the eternal judge
of the quick and the dead He will surely do right.
He will b}^ no means clear the guilty but will " ren-
der unto every man according to his deeds."
He is infinitely good. His goodness is that
disposition of His nature which prompts Him to
bestow well-being upon all of His creatures so
GOD 69
far as He can do so without violating His law
and doing violence to His other attributes. It
includes His mercy, which is goodness exercised
toward the guilty and sinful and unworthy. His
goodness was shown in creating man in His own
image and in surrounding Him with so many
things to administer to his comfort and pleasure.
It was shown in sparing the sinner after he dis-
owned his God and so forfeited all right to His
Love and favor. It was shown in the blessings
which were scattered along the way of life. It
was shown in the gift of His Son to be a savior
of the lost sinner. It was shown in the rich pro-
vision of grace by which the sinner is saved from
the guilt and power and pollution of sin, and it is
shown in the beauty, happiness, holiness and se-
curity of the home into which He hath promised
to bring all who put their trust in Him.
He is infinite in His truth. Because of His
fidelity we can trust the senses with which He has
endowed us. We can expect the regular return
of the seasons. We can depend upon the coming
of night and day and may confidently believe that
the world will never again be destroyed by flood.
We can expect Him always in the future, as al-
ways in the past, to be true to His covenant prom-
ise. It was because of His faithfulness to His
covenant that the sons of Jacob were not con-
sumed when they sinned against Him. It was
because of His fidelity to His covenant of grace
that all men were not lost when they despised the
70 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
covenant for their salvation through Jesus Christ,
the gift of the Father's love. It is because of His
faithfulness that we have not all been cut off for
our sins and inconsistencies. So that the God
whom we worship " is a spirit, infinite, eternal and
unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holi-
ness, goodness and truth."
This infinite God sustains certain intimate re-
lations to us out of which spring certain impor-
tant duties which we owe to Him. He is our
Maker. He created us. He made the body of
our forefather out of the dust of the ground and
breathed into him the breath of life, so that he
became a living soul, and each descendant since
that time has come into being under a law which
God ordained.
He is our Preserver. It is by His sustaining
power that we live each day and each hour, for
" in Him we live and move and have our being."
He is our Redeemer. We were guilty and lost
but He loved us and sent His Son to save us.
And the Son gave Himself for us that He might
bring us back to God and heaven.
He is to be our Judge. " God hath appointed
a day in the which He will judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom He hath or-
dained." " For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ that every one may re-
ceive the things done in the body, according to
that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
(II Corinthians 5: 10.)
GOD 71
Pie is our Advocate. He has undertaken to
plead our cause in the judgment of the great day.
He will plead not what we are or have done, but
His own perfect obedience, His own suffering and
death and His own perfect righteousness.
He is our King. He is infinitely worthy. He
is all-powerful and He must reign till all enemies
be put under His feet.
Out of these relations spring important duties
which we owe to God. If He made, preserves and
redeems us, we should reverence, love, worship and
serve Him. " Ye eixe not your own. Ye are
bought with a price — wherefore glorify Him in
your bodies and spirits which are His." If He is
to be our Judge we should prepare for the ac-
count which we must render at His bar. If, in
Jesus Christ, he offers to be our Advocate we
should place our cause in His hands that He may
plead for us in that great day. If He be our
King we should be loyal to Him and do all we can
to extend the borders of His kingdom. If He be
our God we should give Him the love of our
hearts, the praise of our lips, the worship of our
souls and the service of our lives.
CHAPTER VI
CREATION
Men, in all ages, have sought to know the origin
of the universe. Some have concluded that it is
eternal; others that it came by chance, and still
others that it was evolved under the operation
of natural law. That which men have thus vainly
guessed God has clearly revealed in His Word.
The Bible is the only book that gives a satisfac-
tory account of the origin of the world and of the
human race.
The first verse of Genesis teaches us more on
this subject than all other books. It tells us who
the Creator is, what He created, when He created
and how.
Who? " God created." It was Jehovah, the
infinitely wise and powerful and good, who created
all things. They had not always existed, they
did not come by chance and they were not evolved
by natural law, but they were created and made
by the power of God. The word, bara, here
translated create, is the strongest word the He-
brews had for expressing the idea of an immediate
creation out of nothing. It is true that later it
was used in a secondary sense of " to form " out
72
CREATION 73
of preexisting material, but it is also true that
when they would express the idea of making some-
thing out of nothing, this is the word in their
language most appropriate for such expression.
If the idea could not be conveyed by this word,
then there was no other by which the thought
could be expressed. It is plain that the word
is here used to express the idea of an absolute
creation of something out of nothing, because no
mention had been made of preexisting material,
because it is declared that " in the beginning,"
that is, originally, when things began to be, God
created them, and because in the subsequent verses,
when the inspired writer comes to describe the
process by which God formed the material which
He had created into beings and objects of beauty,
he uses the word, asah, which uniformly means to
form or fashion that which had already been cre-
ated. Having informed us, in the first verse, how
the material heavens and earth came into exist-
ence by the creative fiat of the Almighty, the
writer proceeds to inform us how the matter thus
made was brought into forms of beauty and use
by the skill and power of God, the Maker of all
things. As Dr. Dick has well said, " The mani-
fest design here is to inform us by what steps God
brought the rude mass of material into that beau-
tiful assemblage of parts which excites the won-
der and admiration of every beholder." The
original production of matter out of nothing is
set forth first, and then the bringing of that mat-
74. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
ter into proper form is revealed to us. There are
other passages which confirm this interpretation
and throw light upon it. In the 17th of John
and 5th verse, Christ refers to the glory which He
had with the Father " before the world was," and
of a love wherewith the Father loved Him " before
the foundation of the world." Then in the elev-
enth chapter of Hebrews and third verse we read,
" Through faith we understand that the worlds
were framed by the word of God; so that things
which are seen were not made of things which do
appear." Here we are expressly taught that God
used no material in His original creation, that He
did not make the things which are now seen out
of things which were apparent, but that He made
the heavens and the earth out of nothing.
What God made? In answer to this question
it is elsewhere written, " All things were made by
Him and without Him was not anything made
which was made." (John 1:3.) Here in Gene-
sis it is said, " God created the heavens and the
earth." These two expressions were intended to
represent to men all things, or at least all of the
material out of which all things were subsequently
made. " The earth " which was to be the habita-
tion of man God made, and the heavens which
were stretched above the earth God made also.
All things that man could see upon the face of the
earth or behold in the heavens above came directly
from God the Creator. The material He created
directly and immediately by the word of His
CREATION 75
power. Then He fashioned this material into
such forms of beauty and order as seemed to Him
wisest and best.
In the heavens He placed the clouds and the sky
and above these the sun, moon and stars.
In the air He made to fly every bird and winged
fowl. In the sea He made and placed fish and
everything, both small and great, that swims in
the water.
On the land He made the grass, the herb, the
flower and the trees. In the forests and in the
fields He made the beasts and the creeping things,
both small and great. Having provided for man
a home of beauty and delight, and having created
all things to serve his wants and to please his
tastes, He made man in His own image and after
His own likeness and gave him dominion over all
else He had made on the earth.
Thus God proceeded in regular and beautiful
order in His work. He first created the material
and then on the first day of His bringing order
out of confusion and chaos, He made the light.
On the second day He made the firmament, includ-
ing the atmosphere and the clouds. On the third
day He divided the sea from the land and caused
the grass and herbs and trees to grow.
On the fourth day He made the sun and moon
and stars. On the fifth day He made the fish
of the sea and the fowl of the air.
On the sixth day He made the cattle, and creep-
ing things and beasts of the forests. Then, last
76 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
of all, He made man, the last and highest work of
His creation.
Then, having completed His work, God rested
on the seventh day from all the work which He
had done, " wherefore the Lord blessed the Sab-
bath day and hallowed it." The time when this
creation took place was " in the beginning," that
is, at the very commencement of time. Not from
eternity did matter exist, but was created in the
beginning of time. It was then that God made the
heavens and the earth. As to when that was no
man can tell with any degree of certainty, for
man was not then made and God has not revealed
the time. The period between the time when God
made the material and the time when He fashioned
it for a habitation of man may have been a very
long or only a short one, for " one day with the
Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years
are as one day." (II Peter 3:8.)
As to the time since man was created the Bible
does not speak with definiteness. The best inter-
preters, comparing Scripture with Scripture, place
that time at about six thousand years ago. The
fact that credible history does not reach back of
that period would seem to indicate that it was not
before that time. " The silence of history with
respect to any event prior to that time seems to
teach that the race did not exist before the time
indicated by the Mosaic record. If the world and
the human race had existed for millions of years
before that, how does it happen that not a hint
CREATION 77
has come down to us of the innumerable former
generations? How is it that civilization can be
traced back only to a period which is but as yes-
terday, if the earth and its inhabitants had no be-
ginning? The want of all records of a higher
date, the recent origin of nations and the late
invention of arts all concur to show that only a
few thousand years have passed since our race
came into existence." The poet Lucretius uses
this argument for the recent rise of the human
race : " Why, beyond the Theban war and the
sack of Troy, were there not other poets to cele-
brate other deeds."
Why does history begin with facts and events
of comparatively recent date if the race has lived
and wrought for so many thousand of years longer
than is understood from the Bible? The recent
discoveries in the East all tend to confirm the
teaching of the Bible concerning the age of na-
tions and of the earth in its present form.
When we raise the question as to How the
heavens and the earth were created the answer is
threefold: By the word of His power, out of
nothing and very good. He did not have to do
as man must when he makes anything, use material
already furnished, but He spake the word and
called things into existence by the word of His
power. He created out of nothing the material
and then formed it into the shapes and objects He
had planned. Each thing that He made corre-
sponded exactly to the thought that lay in His
78 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
mind, so that " God saw every thing that He had
made, and behold it was very good." Everything
was made according to plan and for a specific pur-
pose, so that when made it was good and useful
in its place and order. He made things that were
beautiful and things that were useful. He gave
to each a nature and a capacity suited to the pur-
pose for which it was made. He had a thought
for each and every thing which He made. When
He made the members of the mineral kingdom He
gave them solid substance and beautiful and regu-
lar form. To the members of the vegetable king-
dom He gave not only substance and form but, in
addition, the mysterious principle of life, show-
ing that He had a thought concerning this de-
partment of His creation which He did not have
concerning that which was lower. To the animals
He gave substance and form and life and in addi-
tion instinct. To man, who was to be His repre-
sentative on earth, He gave not only substance
and form and life and instinct but an immortal
soul, capable of knowing and loving His great and
holy character and of doing His holy will. He
made man in His own image and after His own
likeness, with a spirit like His own, with mind to
know the truth, with heart to love the good, with
conscience to approve the right and with will to
obey his God. He made him like Himself, in
knowledge, righteousness and true holiness, with
dominion over all of the creatures of His hand.
He made him a personal, rational free agent with
CREATION 79
power to choose and do good or evil. He sur-
rounded him with everything best suited to pro-
mote his welfare and happiness. He placed him
in a beautiful garden to dress and keep it. He
gave him a companion of his own flesh and blood
that she might be as near and dear to him as his
own person. He gave him light to please the eye
and guide him in the way, air for his lungs, food
for his body, truth for his mind, love for his heart,
authority for his will and law for his conscience,
and then crowned him as king and ruler over the
fish of the sea, the birds of the air and the beasts
of the field and gave him the earth for his inherit-
ance so long as he remained true and loyal to his
Maker. Moreover, God agreed with man, upon
condition of perfect obedience for a limited time
to confirm him in a state of holiness and to give
to him and to all of his posterity the blessings of
life eternal, but warned him that if he disobeyed
he would secure for himself and for all of his de-
scendants death eternal. Surely man thus en-
dowed, thus surrounded and thus forewarned, must
have felt that he and his condition were " very
good." As he looked up into the heavens he could
exclaim, " The heavens declare the glory of God
and the firmament sheweth forth His handy work.
Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto
night sheweth knowledge " ; and as he meditated
upon God's mindfulness of him could say, " How
precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God. How
great is the sum of them. They cannot be reck-
80 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
oned up in order before thee. If I would declare
and speak of them they are more than can be
numbered."
What practical lessons can we learn from this
great fundamental teaching of God concerning
creation ?
First, a lesson of the infinite wisdom and power
of the God whom we worship. His plan was
formed from all eternity. He began to reveal
that plan when He began His work of creation.
Everything He made revealed some thought that
lay in His great mind. To form such a plan be-
spoke His infinite wisdom, but to carry it out in
the creation of the heavens and the earth made
known more clearly His power and skill as the
great Architect. That man who can form a wise
plan evinces his wisdom, but he who not only
makes a wise plan but puts it into execution shows
yet more clearly his wisdom. God has made known
His wisdom and power not only in the plan of crea-
tion but in the wonderful skill with which He hath
put that plan into execution. The wisest philoso-
pher and the mightiest king on earth could not,
with their combined wisdom and wealth and power,
make a single plant or flower, but our God has
created the heavens and the earth and has filled
them with thousands of stars and millions of trees
and shrubs and flowers. Nothing but infinite wis-
dom and power could have built the universe,
created its countless inhabitants and provided for
their wants.
CREATION 81
Let us learn, next, a lesson of the infinite good-
ness of God. This goodness manifests itself in
constitutions with which He has endowed His crea-
tures and the provision He has made for their
wants. As the Psalmist meditated upon this sub-
ject he said, " He openeth His hand and satisfieth
the desire of every living thing. He giveth them
their meat in season," and Christ taught that the
heavenly Father " notes the fall of the sparrow
and heareth the young ravens when they cry."
Of man it is said that He careth for him and in-
vites him to cast his burden on Him and promises
to sustain him and He pledges to guide him even
unto death and afterward to receive him into
glory. The earth is full of the goodness of the
Lord. " Like as a father pitieth his children so
the Lord pitieth them that fear Him."
Let us learn also a lesson of dependence on
God. If He gave us life and all of its blessings
He can withdraw these at any time. We are in-
debted to Him for life and health and home and
kindred and friends and neighbors and for all of
the blessings of this life and for all of the hopes of
the life to come. Let us never forget, then, that
we are creatures of His hand, dependent upon
Him for life and for every blessing of life. Let
us learn a lesson of gratitude. If He has given
us being and surrounded us with so many bless-
ings it is our duty to feel and express our grati-
tude to Him, the author of all good. His good-
ness should call forth our love and bind us to Him
82 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
in loyal, loving service. We should say with
David, " What shall I render unto the Lord for
all of His benefits to me? I will take the cup of
salvation and call upon the name of the Lord."
Let us give Him the gratitude of our hearts, the
praise of our lips and the service of our lives.
CHAPTER VII
ANGELS
There are many reasons why we should feel a
deep interest in angels.
They were created by the same God who made
us; they were present and rejoiced when man was
created ; they announced the birth of our Savior
and they are made glad by the repentance of each
sinner. Some of them, like ourselves, have fallen
under the influence of sin and some of them have
been confirmed in holiness, as some of us hope to
be. Good angels are the messengers of God, sent
forth to seek the salvation of men ; while bad an-
gels are messengers of Satan, sent forth to seek
the ruin of men. At the last holy angels will come
to conduct the redeemed to the world of light
and then join with them in the worship and service
of the Lord God who made them both. Sinful
angels will then come to lead the lost down to the
realms of darkness and then join with them in
their suffering and cursing and anguish. Our
weal and woe are so involved in that of the angels
that we should desire to know all we can of them.
Who, then, are the angels? What their na-
ture.? their number? their classes? their employ-
ments and their destiny ?
83
84 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
The word from which the term angel comes
means a messenger, whether from God or man,
whether human or spiritual. In this study it
stands for a spiritual messenger from the other
world. As there were Sadducees of old who denied
the existence of angels so, in modern times, there
are rationalists who tell us there are no angels.
But both reason and revelation teach us to believe
that there are spiritual beings in a grade higher
than man. Below man we find a gradation of liv-
ing beings extending from man down to the very
lowest form of life. So we might, reasonably, ex-
pect to find rising above man a series of living
creatures, reaching up to God, the supreme Being,
the Creator and Maker of all things. The Bible
is clear in its teaching concerning a class of beings
above man and yet below God. These are spirit-
ual, immaterial beings whom He calls angels be-
cause He uses them as His messengers in the revela-
tion of His will and in the execution of His pur-
poses. It was with reference to these that He
spake when He said, " Thou madest him a little
lower than the angels," and " unto the angels hath
He not put in subjection the world to come,
whereof we speak." Among these angels there
seem to be grades or orders, as indicated in the ex-
pressions, " thrones, dominions, principalities and
powers." We read also of cherubim, seraphim
and of angels and the arch-angel, " the chief of
the princes of the angels." We are not told the
ground nor the nature of these distinctions of the
ANGELS 85
one class from the other, but the use of such terms
plainly indicates that there is a gradation in rank
among the angels. We are taught, however, that
whatever be the rank of angelic beings, however
high or low, they were all created by the same Al-
mighty power. " For by Him were all things
created that are in heaven and that are in earth,"
(Colossians 1 : 16) and, " All things were made by
Him and without Him was not any thing made
that was made." (John 1:13.) And because
they were created and owe their love and adora-
tion to their infinite King and Creator, " when
He bringeth His first begotten into the world He
saith. Let all of the angels of God worship Him."
As to when the angels were created we are not
informed except that, since they are represented
as being present and rejoicing at the creation of
man, they must have been created some time be-
fore man.
Angels are spiritual beings, having no material
bodies, but being pure spirits like God^ the supreme
Spirit, according to the Scripture, " Who maketh
His angels spirits." (Hebrews 1:7.)
They are real persons. All of the traits of
personality are ascribed to them. They are sent,
they come, they go, they speak, they desire, they
know, they love, they rejoice, they worship, they
adore and they serve.
They are intelligent. They must be intelligent
in order to deliver His messages and execute His
will when sent to instruct, guide, protect and de-
86 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
liver His people from the malice of their enemies.
The woman of Tokoa gave expression to the He-
brew view of the superior knowledge of angels when
she said, " My lord is wise according to the wis-
dom of an angel, knowing all things that are on
earth." While their knowledge can never equal
that of God, they are doubtless far more intelli-
gent than the wisest of men. They are more
highly endowed ; they are holy so that their minds
are unclouded by sin ; they dwell with God and can
constantly learn from Him lessons of knowledge
and wisdom. They have long enjoyed these privi-
leges so that their accumulated store of learning
must be far superior to that of man. As com-
pared with angels, the wisest man is but a child
in understanding. They possess great power and
are exceedingly quick and active in their move-
ments. They pass from place to place with the
rapidity of light. When Daniel was praying at
eventide God commanded His angel Gabriel to go
down and speak to him. The angel went from
heaven to Daniel and touched and spake to him
while he was still at his evening devotions. In
one night the angel of God destroyed 185,000 of
the hosts of Assyrians. By the strength of an
angel the stone was rolled from the Savior's tomb
and by an angel Peter was delivered from prison.
Hence they are called " mighty angels " and are
said to excel in strength. (Matthew 6:53;
Psalms 103:20.)
They are holy. As they came from the hand
ANGELS 87
of God they must have been perfectly holy be-
cause He, their Maker, is holy. Hence they are
expressly called holy and the manner in which
they obey the holy will of God in heaven is held
up to us as an example and we are taught by the
Savior to pray that God's " will may be done on
earth as it is in heaven." And angels are repre-
sented as saying in humble, adoring worship,
" Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of Hosts ; the whole
earth is full of thy glory."
They are immortal, for our immortality is set
forth by comparison with theirs when the Savior
says, " Neither can they die any more for they
are like to the angels." (Luke 20:30.)
They are happy. This follows from the fact
that they are holy, for only sin can cause sorrow.
They have nothing to regret for the past and noth-
ing to fear for the future. They dwell in an
abode of happiness. They enjoy the favor of God
and have the high privilege of His worship and
service.
The number of the angels is great beyond hu-
man enumeration. The Psalmist (68: 17) speaks
of " thousands of angels." A " multitude " of
the heavenly hosts appeared to the shepherds when
the Savior was bom. Christ asserted His power
to summon " twelve legions " of angels to His as-
sistance when in danger at the hands of His ene-
mies. John, in the isle of Patmos, heard the
voices of " many angels, even ten thousand times
ten thousand and thousands of thousands," and
88 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews writes of
" an innumerable company of angels." (Hebrews
12:22.) Milton seems, therefore, to have good
ground for saying:
" Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth
Unseen, both while we wake and while we sleep."
As to the employment of good angels, we are
taught that they worship and serve God. They
sing His praise before His throne in heaven and
they are sent forth on missions of love and mercy
and of wrath and justice, according to the will of
their sovereign Lord and King. They are a
" flame of fire " to the enemies of God but " minis-
ters of salvation " to them who would come back
to God and know and enjoy His presence and
favor.
They reveal the will of God. The law was given
" under the ministration of angels," the Savior's
birth was announced by an angel and the revela-
tion which was given to John in Patmos was " sent
and signified to him by His angel."
They suggest good thoughts and feelings to the
people of God. The wicked angels are represented
as " working in the minds of the children of dis-
obedience " ; so also may the good angels suggest
that which is noble and good and pure to the minds
and hearts of the children of obedience.
They protect and defend the children of God.
" He shall give His angels charge over thee," and
" The angel of the Lord encampeth round about
ANGELS 89
them that fear Him." (Psalms 91:10 and 34 : 7. )
They guide, comfort and strengthen believers.
The angel guided the Church in the wilderness,
strengthened Jesus in the garden, stood by Paul
in the storm at sea and comforted the hearts of
the women at the sepulcher. So now do they min-
ister to those who are heirs of salvation. If the
Church, and Jesus and Paul and the women of
Christ's day needed and received the guiding,
strengthening and encouraging ministrations of
these heavenly messengers, God's children of this
day need and may expect to receive their help as
they journey from earth to heaven. As they bore
the spirit of Lazarus to the mansions of rest in
heaven, so will they conduct " the spirits of just
men made perfect in holiness " to their home in
heaven.
While all angels were originally holy and good,
yet certain of them, having been left to the free-
dom of their own wills, fell into sin. They banded
together against the God of heaven and thus lost
their holiness and their abode in the holy and
happy home in heaven and were thrust out into
the outer darkness to pay the penalty of their sin.
There they are said to be " reserved in chains of
darkness unto the judgment." (II Peter 2:4.)
How a holy angel, with no outside tempter,
could fall into sin no man can know, but of the
fact there can be no doubt to the reverent student
of the Word of God. We are expressly told that
some of them " kept not their first estate." ( Jude
90 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
5-6.) That estate was one of holiness and when
they left that they entered into one of sin and
misery. " The angels which kept not their first
estate, but left their own habitation, He hath re-
served in everlasting chains under darkness unto
the judgment of the great day."
What the particular sin was into which the an-
gels first fell we do not know unless we have a hint
as to its nature in that passage in I Timothy 3 : 6,
in which it is written, " Not a novice lest being
lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation
of the devil." Some have concluded from this
that pride was what led to the condemnation of
the devil. That he was lifted up with pride be-
cause of his greatness and glory, his exalted rank
and position of prominence among his fellow an-
gels. That dwelling upon this and thinking of
his eminence, his knowledge and his power, he be-
came vain in his estimate of himself and ceased
to be sufficiently humble in the sight of God who
made him and so dared to oppose his Maker.
However this may be, we know, upon the testi-
mony of God, that he and many of his companions
sinned against God and lost their holiness and
their home in heaven.
They were still creatures of God's hand but
they had lost His image. They were still spirit-
ual beings but had ceased to be holy spirits.
They still possessed great intelligence and
strength but they no longer used these in the
service of God but of Satan, their chief and leader.
ANGELS 91
They were still immortal, but theirs was now an
immortality of sinfulness and of misery and not
one of holiness and happiness. The great, radical
change wrought by their fall was in their moral
natures. From being holy they became unholy.
From being loyal and loving subjects of Jehovah
they became traitors against His cause and rebels
against His authority. From having the guid-
ance and blessing of His Spirit they became des-
titute of His presence and blessing. Instead of
continuing in the service of God their King they
now enlisted in the service of the wicked angel
who had led them astray. Thenceforth they be-
came members of the kingdom of darkness and
did everything in their power against the kingdom
of light.
Not only did they manifest their enmity against
God and His kingdom, but they began an inces-
sant war against man. Their leader deceived Eve
and drew Adam away from his loyalty to God and
sought to lead the whole race down to the regions
of the lost. He still " goeth about as a roaring
lion seeking whom he may devour." His demons
are equally active in their efforts to work the ruin
of man. Such is their activity and power that
the inspired writer says, " We wrestle not against
flesh and blood but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places." (Ephesians 6:1.) Bad angels, under
the name of Satan and his demons, have power
9« THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
to injure the body. The devil destroyed Job's
property and afflicted his body with a loathsome
disease. Demons entered the bodies of men, in
the Savior's time, and usurped authority over both
body and mind. So might they do today if God
should permit.
But the greatest evil Satan and his allies can
do to man is to tempt him to sin. He knows that
" when sin is finished it bringeth forth death,"
and hence he seeks to lead men into sin that he
may secure their spiritual and everlasting death.
He is a murderer and nothing short of the death
of his victim will satisfy him. He tempted Eve.
He tempted Job and David and Solomon. He
tempted Jesus Himself. He tempted Peter to
deny his Lord and sought to have him that he
might destroy him, but the Savior prayed for him
that his faith might not fail. If he tempted all
of these he will tempt you and me. If he sought
their ruin he will seek ours. The destiny of the
angels who remained faithful to God is everlast-
ing life, for God expressly teaches that they shall
" die no more." They have been confirmed in
holiness and shall be kept by the power of God
forever and ever. The evil angels for their wilful
and daring sins have been assigned their place in
" the everlasting chains under darkness unto the
judgment of the great day."
How grateful should we be for the ministration
of good angels ! They protect us in danger,
strengthen us in weakness, guard us in tempta-
ANGELS 93
tion, comfort us in sorrow, support us in death
and welcome us to heaven.
How we should be on our guard against evil
angels! They may injure our bodies, derange
our minds and ruin our souls. They may tempt
us to sin and lead us down to death.
Let us seek the help and protection of Him who
hath vanquished Satan and all of his hosts and
pledged and promised us victory over all of our
spiritual foes.
• CHAPTER VIII
PROVIDENCE
The care and control which God exercises over
the universe is called His providence. The word,
providence, is from a root that means to see be-
fore, then to know before and thence to provide
beforehand. Thus we speak of a provident man
— a man who sees before what is needed and se-
cures it. So God, in an infinite and perfect man-
ner, sees beforehand and provides that which is
necessary for the execution of all of His holy
will. Providence indeed is but the unfolding and
outworking in time of His eternal purpose and
plan. It includes both the preservation and the
government of all that He hath created.
Granted His power to create all things, it follows
as a matter of course that He is able to preserve
and control every creature of His hand. Still, as
His providence has been denied by some and not
so fully recognized as it should be by others, it
will be well to review some of the evidences of that
providence over our world.
His perfections are such as to qualify Him for
keeping and directing everything which He hath
made.
94
PROVroENCE 95
His infinite knowledge enables Him to under-
stand the nature and know the wants of every
creature from the smallest to the greatest. His
infinite power and resources are such as to enable
Him to uphold all things and to meet and sup-
ply the want of each and every living thing which
He hath made. His boundless wisdom qualifies
Him to make the best possible use of that which
His knowledge reveals and that which His power
supplies. No emergency can possibly arise for
which His wisdom and power are not equal. He
can and will do all of His holy will concerning
each and every created being. Then His good-
ness will prompt Him to bestow well-being and
happiness upon all of His creatures so far as He
can do so Avithout disregard to His other glorious
attributes, and His justice will insure a righteous
and holy rule over all who are subject to His au-
thority.
How unreasonable to suppose that such a being
would exert His powers to bring into existence a
countless throng of living beings and then forsake
them and cease to preserve and govern them ! It
would be to forsake the work of His own hands.
It would be for a father to cease to care for his
own children.
The helplessness of all created things is such as
to demand and require the sustaining power of
some great and good being such as the God re-
vealed to us in nature and in the Bible. If God
did not, by His mighty power and wisdom, sustain
96 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
and direct the movement of the heavenly bodies
endless confusion and certain destruction would
be the inevitable result. " The heavens declare
the glory of God and the firmament showeth forth
His handiwork."
If God did not send the early and the latter
rain upon the earth, all vegetation would wither
and die and men and beasts would die for lack of
food. " He causeth the grass to grow for the
cattle, and herb for the service of man ; that He
may bring forth food out of the earth. These all
wait upon thee ; that thou mayest give them their
meat in due season." (Psalms 104 : 14, 27.) " He
openeth His hand and satisfieth the desire of every
living thing." (Psalms 145:16.) Man, though
created superior to all earthly beings, is still de-
pendent upon God his Maker. How ignorant of
his own highest good is the wisest man ! Even
Solomon confessed that he was but as a little child
and prayed to God for wisdom and guidance.
How weak is man in the face of the enemies
which surround him! He cannot keep himself
alive nor can he walk in the way that leadeth unto
eternal life except as aided and guided by divine
wisdom and power. Then, too, he is guilty and
condemned under a just and holy law and cannot
keep that law nor pay the penalty due to sin with-
out giving up all hope of heaven. He is lost and
cannot save himself. He needs God to keep and
guide and save him. Now if, on the one hand,
God be able to keep and govern all His creatures,
PROVroENCE 97
and they all need such preservation and control,
what more natural than that God should extend
such help to them?
The beautiful order which we observe in nature
is an evidence of an overruling providence. The
student of nature not only traces evidences of de-
sign in the original constitution of the heavens
and the earth but also in their continued exist-
ence. The regular rotation of the earth upon its
axis, giving us day and night; the revolution of
the earth around the sun, giving us the change of
seasons ; the return of seed time and harvest ; the
production of seed after his kind ; the preservation
of the proper proportion of the sexes ; the preser-
vation and increase of the race and the spread of
mankind over the earth — these and many other
facts are clear evidences of the presence and power
of God in the government of the world and its in-
habitants. If it be said that all these things are
the result of law, the answer is that these very
laws are the best evidences of the Lawgiver.
They are just His regular Avays of doing things.
Back of these laws and over these events standeth
God, preserving and governing all creatures in all
of their ways.
The moral nature of man demands such a provi-
dence. Men always and everywhere have such a
sense of the presence of God and of their accounta-
bility to Him that they show plainly that they
hold and believe that God is not afar off, but that
He is near them, that He is their Ruler and their
98 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Judge and that to Him they must at last render an
account of all of the deeds done in the body.
Their consciences accuse them or excuse them,
according as they do or fail to do that which is
right. If they will but listen to the voice of con-
science they may hear the voice of God speaking
to them of right and wrong, of justice and retri-
bution. Their fears, their prayers, their sacri-
fices and their offerings all show that they have a
sense of the presence and authority of God over
their lives and conduct. How is this to be ac-
counted for except upon the superstition that God
hath revealed the fact of His rule to them and that
He actually exercises over them such a providence
as His character and their needs would lead us to
expect ?
If there should remain any doubt as to the
providence of God over all things, that doubt will
be dissipated by the Word of God from the minds
of all those who receive this Word as a revelation
from God. Listen to the emphatic language of
the prophet Daniel (4:35), "He doeth according
to His will in the army of heaven, and among the
inhabitants of the earth ; and none can stay His
hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou ? "
Read the words of the 139th Psalm, 1-10: "O
Lord thou hast searched me and known me. Thou
knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou
understandeth my thought afar off. Thou com-
passeth my path and my lying down and art ac-
quainted with all my ways. For there is not a
PROVIDENCE 99
word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest
it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and be-
fore, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowl-
edge is too wonderful for me ; it is high, I cannot
attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy
spirit.? for whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there ; if I
make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I
take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the ut-
termost parts of the sea : Even there shall thy
hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me."
Listen to Paul as he says, " In Him we live and
move and have our being." (Acts 17: 28.) Hear
the Savior Himself teach that not a sparrow fall-
eth to the ground Avithout the knowledge of His
Father and that the very hairs of our heads are all
numbered. Reflect how we are taught that the
most uncertain things of this world are within the
knowledge and under the control of God, as : The
dice when the lot is cast, for it is written, " The
lot is cast in the lap ; but the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord." (Proverbs 16: 33) ; the
way of man, while left with perfect freedom to do
as he pleases — " the steps of the good man are
ordered by the Lord." (Psalms 37 : 23) ; the
ways of wicked men are overruled for the glory of
God and for the welfare of His cause, as in the
case of the brethren of Joseph when they sold him
into bondage, intending it for evil, but God over-
ruled it for good ; and in the case of Judas when he
sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, intending
100 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
it for evil, but God brought out of it the greatest
good, " Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken
and with wicked hands have crucified and slain.
Whom God hath raised from the dead " (Acts
2: 23) and " Him hath God exalted to be a prince
and a savior, for to give repentance unto Israel
and forgiveness of sins." (Acts 5:31.)
The properties of that providence which God
exercises over the world correspond to the attri-
butes of His own perfect nature.
It is perfectly holy. As God is holy so must
be all of the outworkings of His holy plan.
Though He permits He does not endorse the evil
acts of man, nor is He in any sense responsible for
them. He made man upright and surrounded him
with the most favorable circumstances and then
left him to the freedom of his own will. It is man
who hath sought out many inventions. It is man
who hath turned his back on God his Maker and
gone off into the ways of sin and death. It is
man who hath made alliance with sin and with
Satan. God expressly disclaims all responsi-
bility for man's sin and man is conscious of the
fact that when he sins he does so of his o^vn ac-
cord, freely and without any constraint or com-
pulsion from God. Hence it is written : " Let
no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of
God : for God cannot be tempted with evil neither
tempteth He any man ; But every man is tempted,
when he is drawn away of his own lust, and en-
PROVIDENCE 101
ticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth
forth sin : and sin when it is finished bringeth forth
death." (James 1: 13-15.)
This providence is a wise exercise of power and
holiness, justice, goodness and mercy. This wis-
dom is shown in nature by the wonderful provision
for the wants of all creatures. The necessities of
every creature, from the smallest insect to the
largest animal, from the dumb brute to the being
created in the image of God, are all provided for
with unstinted bounty. God opens His hand and
supplieth the wants of every living thing. It is
shown in the history of the rise and fall of nations
and peoples. All those nations which set them-
selves in opposition to the kingdom of Christ have
been broken and brought to desolation in the past
and such must be the fate of all who oppose the
reign of King Immanuel in the future.
It is shown in the preservation of the Jewish
people and in the spread of Christianity. It is
shown in the plan of redeeming love and in the
manner in which men are called into the kingdom
of God.
This providence is not only wise and holy but
it is powerful. Witness that power as it was dis-
played in the deliverance of the children of Israel
from the land of bondage, in their passage through
the sea, in their being fed in the wilderness and in
their being brought at last into the land of prom-
ise.
Witness that power as it was displayed in the
102 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
rise and spread of Christianity in the early ages
when the combined forces of the world sought to
stamp it out, when through ten bloody persecu-
tions the blood of the martyrs became the seed of
the Church, and when they that were scattered
abroad by persecution went everywhere preaching
the gospel.
Witness that power as displayed in the Reform-
ation of the sixteenth century when under the
preaching of a few men such a great revolution
was brought about both in church and state.
Witness that power as revealed in the marvel-
ous success of modern missions among the nations
of the earth. And witness that power in the
gospel wherever it is preached and received and
see how it becomes " the power of God unto salva-
tion unto every one that believeth."
It is universal in its sway. It is His most holy,
wise and powerful preserving and governing all of
His creatures in all of their ways. It is not only
a general but a special providence which God exer-
cises over His creatures. No creature, however
small, gets beyond the providence of God. None,
however great, is beyond His control. None, how-
ever good, ceases to need His help and none, how-
ever wicked, can escape His power. " Surely the
wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of
wrath shalt thou restrain." (Psalms 76:10.)
As to the manner in which God exercises His provi-
dence over the world we know little. Of the fact
there can be no doubt, but as to how that fact is
PROVIDENCE 103
made real we cannot fully know. God expressly
says, " What I do thou knowest not now but thou
shalt know hereafter." Of two things we may be
perfectly certain. First, that God will exercise
His providence in such a way as not to do violence
to His own nature and attributes. He will not
tarnish His holy name by becoming in the slight-
est degree responsible for man's sin. He will not
act unwisely. He will show no sign of weakness.
He will do no injustice. He will exempt none from
the sway of His power. He will in all things and
at all times be true to Himself.
Next, He Avill exercise His providence in such a
way as not to violate the nature of the creature.
He will deal with the material world in accordance
with the laws with which He endowed that part of
His creation. He will deal with the animal king-
dom in perfect harmony with the laws which He
hath ordained for the members of that kingdom
and He will treat man in accordance with the laws
which He hath imbedded in His very nature. He
will never forget that man has a mind to receive
the truth, a heart to love the good and a will to
regulate his conduct, a conscience to respond to
the call of duty and a soul free from all external
compulsion. God will never violate the nature of
man, though He may enlighten his mind, renew his
heart, strengthen his will, awaken his conscience
and change the dispositions of his soul. In doing
so God will not only not destroy the free agency
of man, but will the rather establish it by deliver-
104 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
ing him from the blindness and hardness of sin and
by releasing his soul from bondage to sin and Satan
and translating man into the glorious light and
liberty of the sons of God. To restore to man's
soul the divine likeness and to beget within his soul
right and holy dispositions and thus insure right
choosing and holy living, so far from taking away
from man anything of his original nature, is but
the restoring to man that which he has lost
through yielding to sin and to the suggestions of
Satan.
There are many important lessons to be learned
from the study of God's providence. It will re-
mind us of our dependence upon God. If He
sustains us in life each moment we live; if we live
just as long and no longer than He decides; if we
must look to Him for all of our blessings, if we
are accountable unto Him for all of our actions
and indebted to Him for all of our mercies, then
how great Is God and how weak and dependent are
we!
How secure are we if God be our God to watch
over, guide, guard and protect us. " If God be
for us who can be against us?" We shall be
" kept by the power of God through faith unto sal-
vation ready to be revealed at the last day."
How sure and certain the ultimate triumph of
the cause of right ! Though the wrong may seem
to hold sway for a time, and though many fall in
the contest for the supremacy of the right, let all
who put their trust in God rest assured that at last
PROVIDENCE 105
the victory shall be to the cause of righteousness
because it is the cause of God. He will overturn
and overturn till He whose right it is to reign shall
reign King of kings and Lord of lords. Let us
hear His voice speaking unto us and saying, " Be
of good courage, I have overcome the world."
" Fear not little flock, it is your Father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom."
CHAPTER IX
SIN
Dr. Plumer once said, " Tell me what you think
of sin and I will tell you what you think of God,
Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Law, the Gospel and
of every necessary truth of religion."
Our view of sin will certainly influence and de-
termine our view of the holiness of God, the maj-
esty of His law and the value of His salvation. If
we have low and unscriptural views of sin we will
have correspondingly low and imperfect views of
the character of God, the perfection of the law
and the necessity of redemption. He who thinks
lightly of his sin will treat the Savior and His
salvation lightly. " He who sees no sin in himself
will feel no need of a Savior." On the other hand
if we have correct and scriptural ideas of sin we
are likely to have correct ideas as to God, His law
and its penalty and of pardon and deliverance
from sin through the provision of the Gospel.
There are not wanting evidences that in our day
many have no adequate idea of the nature and evil
of sin. The plain and explicit command of God is
set aside in the interest of recreation and business.
The day of God is spent in worldly amusements
106
SIN 107
and employments. His worship is neglected, his
name profaned and his law violated. There is an
absence of that deep contribution for sin which
characterized those who sought an interest in sal-
vation in former days. There was a time when
men, under conviction for sin, gave signs of the
deepest distress. They wept and prayed and con-
fessed and cried mightily unto God for pardon.
That day has to a great extent passed away.
Many now come into the Church with scarcely a
sign of sorrow for sin. In rationalistic circles and
among some who claim to worship God there is a
disposition to discard altogether the thought that
we inherit guilt and a sinful nature from Adam.
Then there is a lack of that humbling and abid-
ing sense of sin that once constituted a feature of
the experience of those who sought to walk in the
footsteps of Him who was " holy, harmless, unde-
filed and separate from sinners." Some Chris-
tians, overlooking the true nature of sin as that
which colors and influences the thoughts, the de-
sires and motives of the soul, claim that they are
no longer sinful in the sight of the pure and holy
God of heaven.
How very important, therefore, to turn to the
Word of God and learn afresh the true nature and
influence of sin. There we learn that " by one
man sin entered into the world and death by sin
and so death passed upon all men for that all have
sinned." What, then, is the true nature of sin.?
The Hebrew word for sin denotes a missing of the
108 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
mark. The figure is taken from the practice of
shooting at a mark. Instead of striking the cen-
tre the arrow goes to the right or left, above or
below. It misses the mark. God has placed be-
fore man a high ideal of right and of destiny, but
he misses that ideal by sinning against God. The
Greek word which best describes sin is made up of
two parts, alpha privative, which placed before a
word changes it so as to express a negative instead
of a positive meaning. It is placed before the
word for law and in this combination the word
means not according to law — unlawful, lawless-
ness — everything not in harmony with the law is
sin. This thought is carried out in the defini-
tion with which some of you are familiar : " Sin is
any want of conformity unto or transgression of
the law of God." The want of conformity is " not
being or doing what God requires." Transgres-
sion is doing what God forbids. Sin is all discon-
formity or nonconformity to the law of God. It
includes all sins of omission as well as all acts of
transgression. It embraces all wrong thoughts
and feelings and desires as well as all wrong words
and deeds. It includes the states of the heart and
dispositions of the soul not according to the law
of God as well as all of those outward actions not
in harmony with that perfect standard of right.
It includes the loss of the image of God in which
man was originally created. As he came from the
hand of God man reflected the divine image in
knowledge, righteousness and true holiness. By
SIN 109
sin that image was lost, so that the mind became
darkened, the righteousness perverted and the holi-
ness lost. Nor is this all, for there was not only
loss of original righteousness but the corruption of
the whole nature. We are born not only destitute
of the image of God, but in the image of sinful man.
As a tiger begets a tiger and a wolf a wolf, so a
sinner begets a son in his own sinful likeness. The
deformity of sin extends to every power and fac-
ulty of the soul. The mind is darkened, the heart
is depraved and the will perverted. Then, too,
there is the guilt of sin resting upon us from our
birth, by which we are under obligation to be pun-
ished. We are " by nature children of wrath even
as others." We come unto the world not only sin-
ful but condemned.
Then from the evil within there flows out in our
daily lives all of the acutal transgressions of which
we become guilty. The bitter fountain sends forth
bitter water. The bad tree bears evil fruit. Sin
then includes the loss of God's holy image, the in-
heritance of a sinful nature, the guilt of sin and all
of the actual transgressions of our lives. Hence
the heart of man is said to be " deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked." When Job got a
vision of the holy God and then turned his gaze
upon his own sinful heart he said, " I abhor myself
and repent in dust and ashes." When David
searched his heart and reviewed his life he said,
" Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did
my mother conceive me," and prayed to God, " Cre-
110 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
ate in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right
spirit within me." Thus must we all feel and pray
when we examine ourselves in the light of the Word
and Spirit of God. Every man must say, " I have
sinned," and everyone should pray, " God be merci-
ful to me a sinner."
Such is the lost, the helpless and the sinful con-
dition of man — his iniin total and complete. By
this we do not mean that man is as bad as he might
be, because he is growing worse and worse every
day. Nor do we mean that all men are equally
bad because everyone can perceive degrees of sin in
different men and the Bible teaches us that workers
of iniquity " wax worse and worse." What we
mean is that sin, in all men who have not been
brought under the influence of grace, extends to the
entire being and alienates the affections entirely
from God, so that " the carnal mind is enmity
against God ; for it is not subject to the law of God
neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:7.) As the
deadly loathsome, incurable leprosy taints the
blood, and pervades and defiles every part and
member of the body, so docs sin affect and deprave
every part of the soul of man. A small portion of
poison thrown into a vessel of water poisons all
of the water, though poison can be added till the
entire body of water be poisoned to a greater de-
gree. So sin in the soul of man reaches and af-
fects every faculty of the mind and every disposi-
tion of the heart and every movement of the will
but as sin increases the darkness of the mind be-
SIN 111
comes more dense, the hardness of the heart more
obdurate and the perversion of the will more com-
plete. Man is represented as blind, in bondage,
helpless, and as dead in trespasses and sins. God
alone can raise him up, God alone can give the
help that is needed. He alone can break the fet-
ters of sin and He alone can open the blind eyes.
Man, apart from God, is lost in sin totally, com-
pletely, entirely lost. " Sin when it is finished
bringeth forth death."
We are taught that it Avas through one man that
sin entered into the world. That man was Adam,
who stood as our natural and federal head and
represented our interests with God. To him was
given a splendid opportunity to secure for himself
and for all of his posterity a glorious and happy
inheritance. He was a mature man with all the
faculties necessary to constitute him a free, intelli-
gent, moral and responsible agent — with power to
obey or disobey the wise and holy commands of
God his Father. He was placed in a holy and
happy home, blessed with a holy companion, and
surrounded with an abundance of all that could
please the eye, gratify the taste and engage the
thoughts of his mind, the affections of his heart
and the energies of his will. Only one slight pro-
hibition was placed upon him to test his love and
loyalty. " Of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die ! " He was
fully informed of the responsibility resting upon
112 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
him and of the consequences of both obedience and
disobedience. He was taught that whatever moral
and legal status he should secure for himself he
would secure for all of his posterity. If he obeyed
he would be confirmed in holiness and innocence
forever, and each and every one of his descendants
would share with him all of the blessings and bene-
fits of such confirmation. Like him they would be
kept holy and happy to all eternity. Like him
they would be permitted to dwell in the presence
of God and so be secure against all of their ene-
mies. By a short period of loving, loyal obedience
he could secure for himself and for them a title to
eternal life with all of its privileges and blessings.
If he disobeyed he was to become guilty and de-
praved, sinful and condemned — and so would all
they who were to descend from him. By one short,
sinful act of disobedience he would bring upon him-
self and upon all of his descendants all of the evils
included in the term death. " In the day thou eat-
est thereof thou shalt surely die " was God's word
of warning to Adam. " Ye shall not surely die "
Avas the word of Satan.
Eve, who had listened to the word of the tempter,
gave to Adam of the fruit and, not deceived, but
recreant to the high trust of his own and a race's
eternal welfare he did eat of the forbidden fruit.
In doing so he distrusted, disobeyed and dishon-
ored God and thus brought himself and all man-
kind into an estate of sin and misery. He became
guilty and sinful and so all of his children became
SIN 113
guilty and sinful. Thus " by one man sin entered
into the world and death passed upon all men."
He stood as the head and representative of all
mankind. He represented their cause. He held
in his keeping their destiny. Just as they would
all have been partakers of the blessings of eternal
life had he maintained his innocence and loyalty, so
now that he failed they became heirs of all the
miseries of spiritual and eternal death. All men
are involved in the ruin wrought by one man.
They all inherit his nature and so share his guilt
and condemnation. He begat sons and daughters
in his own image and hence they all receive and suf-
fer the penalty due to his sin and to theirs. Turn-
ing to the Word of God we find the most explicit
teaching as to the universal inheritance of sin on
the part of all the sons and daughters of Adam.
In I Kings 8 : 46, " There is no man that sinneth
not." Psalms 143: 2, " There is not a just man on
the earth." I John, 1:8. " If we say we have
no sin we deceive ourselves." I John 5:19.
" The whole world lieth in iniquity." Romans,
2 : 23, " For all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God." All persons, Jews, Gentiles —
all ages, young and old — always and everywhere
men sin and men die.
The evil of sin may be measured by the dig-
nity of the God against whom it is committed, by
the ruin it brings upon man, by the evil it communi-
cates to others and by the punishment God inflicts
upon those who commit it and upon Him who un-
114 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
dertook to pay its penalty in the sinner's stead.
This penalty is here said to be death. " By one
man sin entered into the world and death by sin
and so death passed upon all men for that all have
sinned." " The wages of sin is death." " Sin
when it is finished bringeth forth death." Death is
one of those comprehensive words that include sev-
eral important elements. It means the loss of the
grace of God from the soul, by which alone it is
preserved in harmony with God. So long as that
grace was there there was spiritual life and com-
munion with God. They were at one in their
views and purposes. They walked and talked to-
gether, face to face, as man talks to his friend.
But when grace was displaced by sin the soul lost
its spiritual life. When grace was thrown out and
sin was let in there entered sorrow and remorse.
Discord reigned where once harmony had dwelt.
Man became alienated from God, the source of
life and light. It was in this sense that man suf-
fered death, according to the threat of God in the
day that he ate of the forbidden fruit. He ceased
from that time to enjoy the presence and favor of
God and became the object of His displeasure.
Though God still pitied him and loved him with the
love of compassion, He was bound by His holy
nature to regard and treat him as a condemned
sinner. He pronounced a curse upon him and
drove him forth from the happy home in which He
had placed him. Thus deprived of the grace of
God and no longer enjoying His presence and help
SIN 115
and favor, man sank down into spiritual insensi-
bility — he became dead in trespasses and sins.
As a corpse is insensible of the light that shines
upon it, so man in sin did not receive and use the
spiritual light that shone upon him from heaven.
" The light shineth in darkness and the darkness
comprehendeth it not." As the dead man cares
not for the feast that is spread out before him, so
the sinner has no taste for the gospel feast spread
out before him. Though the invitation goes forth,
" Come, for all things are now ready," they " all
with one consent began to make excuse." As the
dead man has no power to raise himself up from
physical death, so the sinner has no power to
quicken himself into spiritual life.
Another element of the penalty was a separa-
tion of the soul from the body, or physical death,
including all of the suffering, pain and disease lead-
ing to and terminating in death of the body. All
pain and sickness and sighing and death come from
sin. Still another element of this death penalty is
the separation of the sinner from the presence and
favor of God forever. Though God has provided
a means by which death can be conquered and man
may be restored to spiritual and eternal life, many
persistently reject this provision and so pass out
into eternal death — ithe final separation from
the presence and favor of God. This element will
only be known when the final word of the Judge is
spoken, " Depart from me ye cursed into everlast-
ing fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
116 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Then " these shall go away into the outer dark-
ness where there shall be weeping and wailing and
gnashing of teeth." Then shall be suffered the
second death — the eternal death — threatened
against sin. What are to be all of the elements
and degrees of this suffering no man can fully
know, any more than he can know all of the de-
grees of joy and happiness which shall be enjoyed
by the heirs of everlasting life when they shall be
welcomed into heaven. There will be the loss of
holiness and happiness, the loss of heaven and'
eternal life. There will be remorse for unimproved
opportunities and unaccepted offers of mercy.
There will be separation from friends and kin-
dred and from all that is high and holy and good.
There will be the removal of all restraints of virtue
and home and law and gospel. There will be the
presence of all that is sinful and evil and deprav-
ing. There will be the company of the lost of men
and of the devil and his angels. There will be
the taunts and jeers and scoffs and curses of con-
demned men and angels. There will be the inflic-
tion of all the positive pains and penalties included
in the curse described as the second death. Sin
when it is finished bringeth forth death — sin that
might have been avoided — that might have been
escaped — that separates from God and heaven
and happiness and that shuts up in hell the lost
with the Devil and all of his demons forever and
forever. I beseech you to turn away from the sin
that leads to such a doom and flee for refuge to
SIN 117
lay hold upon the hope set before you in the gospel.
" Let the wicked forsake his way and the unright-
eous man his thoughts and let him return unto the
Lord and He will have mercy upon him and unto
our God for He will abundantly pardon."
CHAPTER X
THE LAW
Since we owe to God love and obedience we may
reasonably expect from Him a law to direct us in
our efforts to serve Him. That law He has given
in the Ten Commandments. These lay down the
great fundamental principles by which our lives
are to be regulated. They set forth the general
duties which we owe to God and man. The Savior
summed up the whole law in love to God and man.
The duties which we owe to God are taught in the
Commandments of the first table, and the duties
which we owe to man are set forth in the Com-
mandments of the second table. In order to ascer-
tain the true meaning of the several precepts of
the decalogue certain rules have been agreed upon
by the best interpreters of the law. The first of
these rules is that:
1. It is to be borne in mind that the law is spirit-
ual, applying not only to the outward conduct of
the life, but to the thoughts of the mind and the
desires of the heart. Paul alludes to this rule of
interpretation when he says " We know that the
law is spiritual.'^ " I had not known lust, except
the law had said, ' Thou shalt not covet.' (Ro-
118
THE LAW 119
mans 7:7, 14.) It was according to this princi-
ple that Christ taught that he who was angry with
his brother without cause was guilty of murder and
that the seventh commandment could be violated
by the sinful desires of the heart as well as by
overt acts.
2. A second rule of interpretation is that an af-
firmative precept includes a negative and a nega-
tive includes an affirmative. For example, the
command which enjoins a good prohibits the op-
posite evil and the precept which forbids a given
evil enjoins the contrary good. When God bids us
honor our parents He thereby forbids our dishonor-
ing them. When He says, " Thou shalt not kill,"
He teaches us to use all lawful means to preserve
life.
3. In the precepts of the moral law one sin of a
given class stands for the entire class; so that
when one sin is forbidden, all similar sins are con-
demned. Thus when it is written, " Thou shalt not
steal," all actions which tend to deprive others of
that which of right belongs to them, are condemned
as wrong. All cheating, defrauding and robbing,
by whatever means accomplished, are forbidden by
the one precept, " Thou shalt not steal."
4. The cause must be regarded as included in the
effect, the genus in the species and the correlative
in the relative. When stealing is forbidden, its
cause, covetousness, is condemned. Under the pro-
hibition of murder, cherished anger is included.
Under taking the name of God in vain, all lack of
120 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
reverence of God, His name, His works. His Word
and His worship, is included. When the duties of
children are enjoined upon them, parents are
taught to be worthy of the honor implied in the
discharge of such duties to them.
5. Duties to God should take precedence of du-
ties to man and moral precepts should outrank
positive commands. " We ought to obey God
rather than man," and " I will have mercy and not
sacrifice." That is, though the sacrifice was en-
joined by positive precept, it was not to interfere
with the exercise of mercy.
By a careful and prayerful application of these
rules we may arrive at a correct knowledge of the
meaning of the law, and knowing its meaning we
are bound to seek to regulate our actions accord-
ing to its precepts.
1. The 'first commandinent teaches us to wor-
ship God alone. We are to allow no other being
or object to gain that place in our heart's affec-
tion which belongs of right to Him. We are to
recognize in Him one worthy of our highest love
and adoration. We must give to Him the first and
best place in our hearts, and own and acknowledge
Him to be our Lord and our God, — the being to
whom we look for the supply of all of our wants
and for protection from all evil. We are to see in
Him the highest good and the supreme authority
and to own Him as " our all-comprehending Good
and our all-disposing Lord." To him we are to
render thanksgiving and praise for all that He is
THE LAW 121
and for all that He hath done. To Him we must
confess our sins, and from Him hope for pardon
and acceptance through His Son. To Him we
must look for guidance in perplexity, strength in
weakness, pardon in guilt, salvation from sin and
introduction into the blessings of holiness and the
joys of Heaven. He is so wise and powerful and
just and good that He is worthy of all of the af-
fections of our hearts and all of the adoration of
our souls. " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God
and Him only shalt thou serve."
2. The second commandment teaches us to wor-
ship God directly and thus to shun idolatry.
" God is a spirit and they who worship Him must
worship Him in spirit and in truth, for He seeketh
such to worship Him." He saw that if men were
permitted to worship Him through images, their
minds would be turned away from Him and that
they would gradually learn to worship the wood
and stone idols to which they had been accustomed
to bow with such reverence. His own chosen peo-
ple often fell into this sin and many since their day
have bowed before idols in worship rather than be-
fore the Lord God who made them. Hence the
plain and positive command, " Thou shalt not
make unto thee any graven image or any likeness
of anything that is in heaven above or that is in
the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them,
nor serve them ; for I, the Lord thy God, am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers
im THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
upon the children unto the third and fourth gen-
erations of them that hate Me, and showing mercy
unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My
commandments."
3. The third commandment teaches us how to
"worship God. It teaches us to worship Him with
reverence and Godly fear. It teaches us to rev-
erence God's name, His word and His work. We
must become so impressed with the holiness and
majesty of God that we will not use lightly His
name, nor treat with contempt His Word, nor
profane His house, nor undervalue His works.
His name stands for all that He is, and hence to
take His name in vain is to dishonor His person.
His Word is a revelation of His will and character.
Hence to treat it with contempt is to ignore the
majesty and glory of God. His works are the
outward expressions of the thoughts of His mind.
To treat these lightly is to refuse to consider seri-
ously the beautiful expressions of supreme knowl-
edge and wisdom. " Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not
hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."
4. The fourth commandment teaches us to " re-
member the Sabbath day to keep it holy." God
richly deserves one seventh of our time as an ac-
knowledgment of His gift to us of all time. And
we need the Sabbath as a day of rest and medita-
tion and worship and spiritual service. Unless we
have a regular, stated time for the study of His
Word, for the worship of His great and holy be-
THE LAW 123
ing and for seeking the spiritual welfare of our-
selves and others we will be apt to neglect these
duties altogether. The man who does not wor-
ship God in His sanctuary regularly on the Sab-
bath is in danger of ceasing to worship Him alto-
gether. The man who does not cultivate his re-
ligious nature by setting apart the time of the
Sabbath day for meditation, prayer, public wor-
ship and deeds of kindness and charity to his fel-
lowmen, is in danger of allowing that part of his
being to go uncultivated. " Remember the Sab-
bath day to keep it holy."
5. Of all of the duties which we owe to man
those which we owe to our fathers and mothers
come first. Hence the next commandment is :
" Honor thy father and thy mother that thy
days may be long in the land which the Lord thy
God giveth thee." Our parents are God's repre-
sentatives in the home. They receive us from God
and have laid upon them the duty of training us
for God and for the welfare of our fellowmen.
The father is the prophet of God to teach the truth
in His name. He is a priest, that he may lead the
worship and devotion of his children before God.
And he is the king that he may require at their
hands all of that which God teaches in His Word.
Just in proportion as parents recognize and ful-
fill the obligations that thus rest upon them to
train their children for God, will it be the duty of
the children to render unto them honor and obe-
dience in the Lord. " Children obey your parents
124 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
in all things, for this is acceptable unto God."
Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days
may be long in the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee."
6. Next we are to regard and treat life as a
sacred gift from God. He gives to each man the
precious boon and none but He, or His appointed
agents, may take it away. It is the condition of
all earthly enjoyment and the opportunity of serv-
ice for God and man, and of preparation for the
life to come. Hence you have no right to rob man
of his life. You cannot restore it if you take it
away, neither can you escape the curse which God
hath pronounced against those who shed man's
blood. " Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man
shall his blood be shed."
7. The seventh commandment is aimed against
the violation of the marriage covenant. This capi-
tal sin is selected as the representative of all lesser
sins of the same kind. It is the worst of its class,
because it undermines the foundation of the home,
destroys all pure affection between the husband and
wife, overwhelms the innocent party with a spirit
of jealousy and revenge, and the guilty party with
shame and despair. It robs the children of a true
father or mother and brings upon all of the parties
a bereavement worse than death. Along with this
sin all kindred crimes are condemned and their op-
posite virtues commended. Our standards teach
that " this commandment requlreth the preserva-
tion of our own and our neighbor's chastity, in
THE LAW 125
heart, speech and behavior," and " forbiddeth all
unchaste thoughts, words and actions." They
teach the little children " to be pure in heart, lan-
guage, and conduct." The Savior authorized this
interpretation, when He branded as violators of
this command those who should be guilty of im-
pure thoughts. Hear and obey the voice of God
as He says, " Thou shalt not commit adultery."
8. The eighth commandment is intended to warn
men against the attempt to roh others of that
which belongs to them, and so to guard men in the
possession of their property. It throws around
one's possessions a wall of defence through which
no one may break without incurring the displeas-
ure of God as well as the anger of man. It teaches
us to be honest and industrious. It requireth the
promotion of our own and our neighbors' worthy
prosperity and forbiddeth every thing that can or
may hinder such prosperity. All plans and
schemes for cheating, defrauding and robbing are
condemned., All tricks of trade, such as defect in
weights and measures, and all misrepresentation,
extortion and deception are forbidden, and men are
taught to do unto others as they would have others
do unto them, under similar circumstances. This
is a lesson which needs to be taught and learned in
our day, when business men tell us that it is actu-
ally easier to make money than it is to keep it
safely against the greed and dishonesty of the
many who would take it from its lawful owners.
9. The ninth commandment teaches us to tell the
126 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
truth, and to guard with care our own good name
and that of our neighbor. It binds upon us, as
witnesses, to tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth. It teaches us, in business
and social life, to speak the truth in heart and
word and action. It forbids whatever is false and
everything that is prejudicial to the truth or in-
jurious to our own good name or that of our
neighbor.
10. The tenth commandment is aimed against
covetousness and teaches us to be content with our
lot and to maintain a right and charitable frame of
mind toward our neighbor and all that is his. It
forbids discontent, envy and grief at the good for-
tune of our neighbor, and all inordinate and un-
lawful desire to get by unfair means that which
does not belong to us. It shows that God requires
us to refrain from sinful desires as well as from
sinful actions. " Thou shalt not covet." That is,
thou shalt not want more than legally belongs to
you, nor more than you can lawfully acquire.
Just so, all of the commands of God lay hold upon
the heart and conscience of man: and He teaches
us in His Word that He " requireth truth in the
inward parts " and that " love is the fulfilling of
the law."
From his exposition of the law, it will be seen
that, though the law can never be a means of salva-
tion, it is still in force and has many valuable
uses. It is a great mistake to suppose, as some
THE LAW irt
have held, that the coming of Christ abrogated the
moral law or that it is of no further service. On
the contrary He expressly taught that He came
" not to destroy but to fulfill the law," and that
" one jot or tittle should in no wise pass from the
law till all be fulfilled." As to the uses of the
law:
It reveals the character of God. It makes
known the view that God takes of the duties which
man owes alike to Himself and to man, and thus
teaches how just and holy and wise and good is
the Author of the law.
It convinces of sin and thus leads us to look
out of ourselves to Christ for salvation. Paul
says he had not known sin but that the law had
said, " Thou shalt not covet " ; that he was alive
without the law, but that when the law came, sin
revived and he died. That is, he thought himself
good and righteous until he examined the law, but
that then he saw that he was sinful and lost.
Thus the law became a school-master to lead him to
Christ.
It serves as a means of sanctification by re-
vealing the wrong and holding up the right. It is
the very expression of God's truth but truth is the
instrument which the Holy Spirit uses for man's
growth in grace and holiness. " Sanctify them
through thy truth ; thy word is truth," was the
prayer of the Savior in behalf of His people. By
the blessing of the Spirit upon the truth and upon
128 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
the heart of the believer, he " is enabled to die
more and more unto sin and to live more and more
unto righteousness."
The law rcill serve as a means of restraining
the wicked from sin. When men read and hear the
law and consider the penalties which will fall upon
those who break its precepts, they will, to a large
extent, be deterred from sin. Some may still defy
the law, but many will stand in awe and seek to
avoid overt acts of disobedience. The law is still
the rule hy which the Christian man must regulate
his life.
Christ declared that it became Him to fulfill
all righteousness, so should His followers feel that
they should seek to keep every precept of the law
so far as possible.
Then it is hy the law that men are to he
judged at the last day. The law as applied to the
thoughts and feelings, the Avords and deeds of men,
will reveal to them and to others the sins of which
they have been guilty. When the books are opened
and men are judged according to the things which
are written in the books," the book of the law will
be one of those books, and men will be made to see
that their sins deserve whatever punishment the
Judge of all of the earth shall decide ought to be
inflicted, so that " Every mouth will be stopped and
all of the world will become guilty before God."
" Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh
living be justified, for by the law is the knowledge
of sin." (Romans 3: 19, 20.)
THE LAW 129
Only they who look to Christ and trust in Him
alone for salvation may hope to stand pardoned
and accepted before the bar of God at the judg-
ment of the great day. Christ kept the law per-
fectly and paid its precepts fully so that all
who are found in Him shall be openly owned and
acquitted in that day of reckoning. " Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."
(Acts 16:31.)
CHAPTER XI
GOD'S PLAN OF RESCUE
A wise man always has a plan and a purpose con-
cerning any work he would do. The architect
forms a plan of the house before he begins to build.
The farmer has a plan before he plants his crop ;
and the general makes his plan of campaign before
he begins the battle. So God, in whose image man
was made, has a plan and purpose in all that He
does. Sometimes man finds that his plan was not
wise or that he is not able to carry out his plan
and hence must change or give it up, but God's
plans arc always wise and He has poAver and re-
sources such that He can always carry them out.
His plan was so comprehensive that it embraced
from eternity all that He proposed to do through-
out all time. " Known unto God are all of His
works from the beginning." (Acts 15:18.)
" Our God is in the heavens : He hath done whatso-
ever He pleased." (Psalms 115:3.)
He had a plan concerning creation and carried
it out so successfully that He pronounced it to be
" very good," and all who investigate its constitu-
tion and nature discover countless evidences of
wisdom and design.
130
GOD'S PLAN OF RESCUE 131
He had a plan of the providence He would exer-
cise over all His creatures, and He has carried out
in the past and is still carrying out that plan with-
out in any wise destroying their free agency and
yet in such a way as to bring to pass with unerring
certainty all of His wise and holy will, so that it
may be written, " He doeth according to His pleas-
ure in the armies of heaven and among the inhabi-
tants of the earth." And, " in Him we live and
move and have our beings."
As in creation and providence, so it is in re-
demption God hath a definite plan. He purposed,
from all eternity, to save a great multitude which
no man can number, to be gathered out of every
nation and kindred and tribe and people. In
covenant with His Son, He said, " Ask of me
and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheri-
tance and the uttermost parts of the earth for
thy possession." And of His Son He wrote, " He
shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied ;
and by His knowledge shall My righteous servant
justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities."
Concerning this covenant Christ said, " All that
the Father hath given Me shall come to Me, and
Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast
out." To His people He will at last say, " Come,
ye blessed of my Father ; inherit the kingdom pre-
pared for you from the foundation of the world."
The work of calling, guiding and saving His peo-
ple will all be His, so that they must all say, " Who
hath saved us not according to our works,
132 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
but according to His own purpose and grace in
Christ Jesus, before the world began." (Ephe-
sians 1:4, 5.) The plan and purpose of salva-
tion was present and formed in the divine Mind
before the world began, but was not to be made
known till needed by fallen man. According to
this plan, God was to give His Son to remove
all legal obstacles to man's salvation and the
Holy Ghost to remove all moral and spirit-
ual deficiencies. In a previous chapter we saw
that Adam, as our natural and federal head, stood
as our representative and was given to understand
that whatever moral and legal status he might se-
cure by his conduct for himself he would also se-
cure for all those whom he represented. If for
a time he continued holy and innocent, he and they
would be confirmed in that condition and so secure
the blessings of life eternal. But if he became sin-
ful and guilty, so would they. The destiny of all
of his posterity was linked with his. When God
would recover man from his fallen condition. He
sends Christ to secure for all those whom He repre-
sented the status which He was to maintain before
God. As He was innocent, so should all whom
He represented become by virtue of His life and
death on their behalf; and as He was holy so, by
His Spirit, should they become holy. As He was
to gain the victory over death and Hell, so should
they. As he was to enter into the heavenly in-
heritance, so should they. As He was heir of
God, they, by union with Him, were to be heirs of
GOD'S PLAN OF RESCUE 133
God and joint heirs with Him to the heavenly in-
heritance. It was in accordance with this plan
that Paul could write concerning God's work for
himself and others, " Who hath saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works,
but according to His own purpose and grace in
Christ Jesus before the world began."
In effecting this salvation, God was carrying out
His purpose formed in Christ before the world be-
gan. God foresaw all that would come upon man
through the sin of his first representative, and de-
termined to prevent defeat by the appointment of a
second representative who would be faithful to the
trust committed to Him and secure the salvation
of all who put their trust in Him. This salvation
to be wrought out by Christ would provide for the
adjustment of all the legal difficulties in the way
and at the same time for the removal of all of the
moral evils in the way of salvation through the
work of the Spirit whom He would send forth to
apply the redemption to man's heart.
With the outlines of this plan you are already
familiar. You know how, " God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso-
ever believeth on Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life." You know what Christ did to
rescue guilty and condemned sinners from the curse
of the law and to bring them into a condition of
pardon and acceptance with God. He was born
under the law, and did and suffered in our stead
all that God required of us. He rendered a per-
134 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
feet obedience and paid fully the penalty due to
man's sin, and offered to him the benefit of His obe-
dience and death, " He became obedient unto
death even the death of the cross." He gave Him-
self for us that He might redeem us from all in-
iquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works." Hence it is written,
" Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the
law, being made a curse for us ; for it is written
' cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.' "
Christ not only saved His people from the con-
demnation due to them on account of their sins,
but restored them to His love and favor. It is
not only written, " There is, therefore, now no
more condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus," but also that " We are accepted in the be-
loved." All of the claims of truth, holiness and
justice are so met that the man who accepts Christ
as his Savior is welcomed back into the love and
confidence of God. the Father. Not only so, but
the man who accepts Christ is brought into the
family of God and made an heir of all the blessings
of the household of faith. " To as many as re-
ceived Him, to them gave He power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on His
name." " We are all children of God through
faith in Jesus Christ."
If we become children of God through Christ,
then we are sure of all of the privileges and bless-
ing and honors which are to come to the children
of God. The care of a tender Heavenly Father
GOD'S PLAN OF RESCUE 135
shall be thrown around them, the love of God will
rest upon them, all of their sins shall be pardoned
and they shall be received into the number and
have a right to all of the privileges of the children
of God. " Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be
called the children of God." Thus by the work of
Christ the legal difficulties are met and removed,
and man is restored to the love and favor of God.
Then, too, God sends the Holy Spirit into the
heart to call it away from sin and to enlighten it
in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. " Beloved now
are we the sons of God and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be, but we know that when
He shall appear, we shall be like Him." " We
all beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord,
shall be changed by the same Spirit into the same
image." And at last " We shall be satisfied when
we awake in His likeness." The power and do-
minion of sin shall be overcome, its pollution
cleansed away and its very being at last removed
from the soul. Thus by the work of Christ he is
brought back into right relations to God and by
the work of the Holy Spirit he is renewed in the
image of God. God the Father drew the plan,
Christ the Son wrought it out and the Holy Spirit
applies the salvation in such a way as to restore
to man's soul the image of His Heavenly Father.
This salvation will be still further extended and
brought to completion when by the almighty power
of God the body of the believer shall be raised
136 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
from the dead, reunited to the soul freed from all
sin, and welcomed into all of the blessings and
privileges of eternal life in the kingdom of God in
heaven.
We have now learned, as to this plan for recov-
ering man from the ruin wrought by sin, that it
is a plan " according to the purpose of God " ;
that this plan was determined upon from all eter-
nity, to be executed in the fulness of time ; that it
was not according to our works that salvation
was earned or bought, but that it was bestoAved
upon us through the free and sovereign grace of
God ; that it is a salvation in or through Christ
Jesus — that is, through what He did and suffered
to redeem us back to God ; and that it was revealed
and made manifest by the appearing of our Lord
Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and
brought life and immortality to light. This is the
good news brought to us by the revelation of the
love of God in Christ Jesus. This is God's plan
of mercy and salvation for lost sinners. It is His
method of restoring His lost children to His house-
hold.
Let us rejoice in the purpose of God's mercy to
bestow upon us salvation through the gift of His
Son to be our Redeemer. Had it not been for this
provision, we must have gone down into the dark-
ness of spiritual death without God and without
hope. With a knowledge of this plan we may
mount up to the light of spiritual life in " the
presence of God where there is fulness of joy, and
GOD'S PLAN OF RESCUE 137
to His right hand where there are pleasures for-
evermore." Let us seek to be conformed to the
purpose of Him who hath called us to such a holy
calling and to such a heavenly destiny. Let us
" adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all
things." Let us " let our light so shine before
men that they may see our good works and glorify
our Father which is in Heaven." If we have
never yet learned this plan and never accepted
the Savior it reveals, let us at once seek this knowl-
edge and own and acknowledge this Savior. Let
us bow to His sceptre, acknowledge His right
to our love and worship, and receive and rest upon
Him alone for salvation as He is offered to us in
the gospel. Then will He save us by His grace
and bring us at last to dwell with Him in glory.
CHAPTER XII
THE PERSON OF CHRIST — HIS
HUJVIANITY AND DIVINITY
Christ is the centre of tlie Christian system,
and He is the Word by which God reveals Himself
to man. The gospel is the good news of what
Christ has done for the salvation of lost sinners.
He is the foundation on which rests the believer's
hope of eternal life. He is the light to shine upon
the way in which the sinner must walk in order
to reach the celestial city. He is the way from
earth to heaven. He is the truth to make us wise
unto salvation, and He is the life by which we can
escape spiritual and eternal death. He is the
" author and the finisher of our faith." He is the
prophet to reveal to us the will of God for our
salvation. He is the priest to make the sacrifice
to atone for our sins, and He it is who is to pray
in our behalf at the throne of God in heaven. He
is the king who alone can subdue and conquer our
spiritual enemies and give us the complete victory
over them in the end. He is the Son of God, the
Son of man and the Savior of sinners. He is both
human and divine.
That He was human few have denied. All who
138
THE PERSON OF CHRIST 139
receive the Bible as an inspired revelation from
God must admit that it repeatedly sets forth the
humanity of Christ. He had a real human body
and a true and reasonable human soul ; and the
human and the divine were united in the one per-
son of Christ. He was born, He grew, He hun-
gered. He thirsted, He grew weary. He ate, He
slept and He was refreshed. He lived and walked
and talked. He rejoiced and wept. He was
persecuted, He suffered, sorrowed, was crucified,
died and was buried. Thus we see that the New
Testament is full of references to His humanity.
He was very man, bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. He was " a man of sorrows and ac-
quainted with grief," and was " tempted in all
points as we are, yet without sin." The Bible is
equally clear in its teaching concerning His di-
vinity. The passages on this subject have been
gathered together under several classes. It will
be sufficient to give only the stronger and plainer
of these, leaving the others to be sought out by
each individual.
There are passages which speak of Christ as
being in existence long before He was born in
Bethlehem. In this class belong all of those pas-
sages which speak of the appearance of " the an-
gel of the covenant " to the patriarchs before the
birth of Christ. Under the Old Testament dis-
pensation there appeared to Hagar, to Abraham
and to Jacob and to Moses a being called " the an-
gel," " the angel of the covenant," who received
140 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
divine homage, was called by divine names and
wrought divine works. To him Hagar prayed.
He heard her prayer and promised to make of her
descendants " a great nation." To Abraham he
revealed himself as Jehovah, gave him command-
ment to sacrifice his son Isaac, and, when Abra-
ham's faith failed not, prevented the sacrifice, say-
ing, " Thou hast not withheld from Me thy son."
(Genesis 22: 13.) And he called the name of the
place " Jehovah- jireh," " Jehovah will provide."
Now the prophets Isaiah and Malachi foretold
that there would come a forerunner of this angel
and that he would himself " come suddenly into the
temple " to assert his power and authority.
When John the Baptist came he claimed that he
was that forerunner and so had fulfilled that part
of the prophecy, and that Christ would soon come
and fulfill the other part of it. This Christ did by
entering His own temple and there asserting His
authority and exerting His power. Jesus, then,
was the angel of the covenant and under that form
had appeared to the fathers to comfort and guide
them and teach them the way of life. He existed
and manifested Himself to Israel two thousand
years before He was born in Bethlehem. This
could be asserted of no mere man. But there are
passages which carry His existence far back of
the patriarchs. He Himself declared " Before
Abraham was, I am." (John 8:58.) The Jews
had said to Him : " Thou art not yet fifty years
old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" "Wast
THE PERSON OF CHRIST 141
thou a contemporary with Abraham?" "Yea,"
said Christ, " before Abraham was, I am." " I
was already in existence before Abraham's day,
before Abraham was born." But stronger, if
possible, than this is the passage in the first chap-
ter of John, verses one and two : " In the begin-
ning was the Word and the Word was with God
and the Word was God." In the very beginning
of creation, before anything was made, even then
was Christ in existence, dwelling with His Father
in the glory which He had with Him before the
world was. This accords with the statement in
the eighth chapter (verse 23) of Proverbs, " I
was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,
ere ever the earth was." Thus the Scriptures
trace the existence of Christ back into eternity
and lead us to think of Him as eternal and divine
like His Father.
The next step is to see that the names of God
are given to Christ. In the first chapter of the
Gospel of John the " Word " plainly refers to
Christ. A word spoken reveals the thought that
before lay concealed in the mind. So Christ came
forth to reveal the thought of God concerning our
salvation, and hence is called the " Logos," the
Word. Now of this Word it is said, " In the be-
ginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God and the Word was God." Then, to put it
beyond all doubt that reference was had to Christ,
it is said in the same context, " The Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His
142 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth." (Verse 14.)
" The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom
of the Father, He hath declared Him." (Verse
18.) In the ninth chapter of Romans Paul uses
this striking language: "And of whom" (re-
ferring to the Jewish nation) " Christ came, who
is God over all, and blessed forever. Amen."
(Verse 5.) This passage alone should put beyond
all doubt the fact that the Bible calls Christ God
in the highest and most exclusive sense. He is
represented as expressly addressed as God.
" Unto the Son He saith, ' Thy throne, God, is
forever and ever.'" (Hebrews 1:8.) The
apostle Thomas, who had ample opportunity to
know Him and who was inspired to reveal His
will, fell before Him saying: " My Lord and my
God " ; and so have all true disciples who have
learned from the Word of God that Christ is rep-
resented as being coeternal with God the Father
and as entitled to the same names that apply to
Him.
Not only the names but the attributes of God
are ascribed to Christ. Eternity is attributed to
Him. He " was in the beginning with God " be-
fore anything was made, and He had enjoyed
glory with the Father " before the world was."
(John 1:2 and 17:5.) Of Him as a ruler the
prophet says, " Thou, Bethlehem, Ephrata, . . .
out of thee shall come forth unto me, tluit is to
be a Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have
THE PERSON OF CHRIST 143
been ever of old, from everlasting." (Micah
5:2.) And Christ says, "I am Alpha and
Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and
the Last."
Omnipresence. He promised to be with His
people wherever they assembled for prayer or for
worship and to His ministers that He Avould be
with them " alway unto the end of the ages."
(Matthew 28:20.)
Omniscience. He claims to have a knowledge
of God the Father as complete and perfect as the
Father has of Him. " No man knoweth the Son
but the Father; neither knoweth any man the
Father save the Son, and He to whomsoever the
Son will reveal Him." (Matthew 11 : 27.) " He
knew all men, and needed not that any should tes-
tify of man, for He knew what was in man." (John
2: 23.) He could read at a glance every secret of
every heart — could see the sin there, the strug-
gle, the desire, the temptation, the sorrow and the
burden. This was necessary to qualify Him to
be the Teacher and the Priest and Savior of men.
He must know the needs of the soul before He can
supply those needs. He must know the sickness
before He can apply the remedy.
Immutability. " Jesus Christ, the same yester-
day, today and forever." (Hebrews 12:8 and
1:10.)
Omnipotence. In the description given of
Christ in the Epistle to the Hebrews we have this
language : " Who, being the brightness of the
144 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Father's glory and the express image of His per-
son, and upholding all things by the word of His
power, when He had by Himself purged our sins,
sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
high." (Hebrews 1:3.) Christ claimed equal
honor and power with the Father. He said, as
He sent forth His disciples to the mighty task of
preaching the gospel to all of the world, " All
power is given unto Me in Heaven and earth."
(Matthew 28:18.) He hath the keys of death
and hell. He can open and no man can shut,
and He can shut and no man can open. He is
destined to reign till every knee shall bow and
every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. Divine works are ascribed
to Christ. He is represented as creating all
things. " All things were made by Him and with-
out Him was not any thing made that was made.
(John 1:3.) "He was in the world and the
world was made by Him." (John 1 : 10.) " For
by Him were all things created that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers ; all things were created by Him and for
Him and by Him all things consist." (Colos-
sians 1:16-17.) No language could have been
selected that would have expressed more clearly
and more emphatically the thought that Christ
made all things both in heaven and on earth. He
not only created all things, but He " upholds all
things by the word of His power," and " by Him
THE PERSON OF CHRIST 145
all things consist." He has the power to preserve
and uphold that which He hath made. The won-
derful miracles which He wrought were an evidence
of His power. He could heal the sickness which
no earthly physician could cure. He could speak
the word and the leper was made clean and whole.
He could open the blind eyes, unstop the deaf ears,
give speech to the dumb and raise the dead. He
had power not merely to save the body from the
power of demons, disease and death, but to save
the soul from guilt and sin and spiritual death.
" Because I live, ye shall live also." " He that
believeth on Me hath everlasting life and I will
raise him up at the last day." He had power
over death and demons and the devil. He is at
last to judge the quick and the dead and to cast
the arch enemy of God and man, and all who ally
themselves with him, into the prison house of the
lost to be punished forever and ever.
Then, too, religious worship is to be given to
the Son as well as to the Father. God warns men
against idolatry and against the worship of men
or angels : " Thou shalt have no other gods be-
fore me." " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God and Him only shalt thou serve." But he ex-
pressly teaches both men and angels to worship
His Son. " When He bringeth in the first begot-
ten into the world. He saith, ' And let all the an-
gels of God worship Him.'" (Hebrews 1:6.)
Christ claimed this as His right : " The Father
. . . hath committed all judgment unto the Son;
146 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
that all men should honor the Son even as they
honor the Father." (John 5:23-24.) The
honor which is given the Father must be given by
men to the Son. If they sing the praises of God
the Father, they must sing the praises of the Son.
If they bow before the throne to worship the
Father, they must bow there to worship the Son
also. If they pray to the Father, they must
pray to the Son. If they love and trust and serve
the Father, they must love and trust and serve the
Son. His name is " above every name that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father." (Philippi-
ans 2: 10, 11.)
The early Christians worshipped Christ. They
became known as they who called upon His name.
Stephen died the death of a martyr, " calling upon
God and saying, ' Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' "
God's people in all ages, and in all lands where
the gospel has been preached, have always wor-
shipped Christ in prayer and song, and the re-
deemed in Heaven are represented as saying,
" Thou art worthy to take the book and to open
the seals thereof, for Thou Avast slain and hast
redeemed us to our God by thy blood, out of every
kindred and tongue and people and nation ; and
hast made us unto our God kings and priests :
and we shall reign upon the earth." (Revelations
5:9.) Surely, then, there can be no doubt but
that God intended that we should regard and treat
THE PERSON OF CHRIST 147
Christ as divine as well as human, and that we
should give to Him the highest place in the
thought of our minds, the affections of our hearts
and the service of our lives. He should be to us
" the chiefest among ten thousand and the one al-
together lovely."
In the light of this study it may be well said:
" It is impossible to explain the life, character
and works of Christ unless we accept the account
of His nature and origin given to us in the Word
of God." It requires the Christ of the gospel to
explain the history which has taken place in the
ages past. It requires the Christ of the gospel
to satisfy the needs of the souls of men in the
present ; and it will require the Christ of the gos-
pel to meet the demands of the hearts and lives of
men in the future ; and it will require the Christ
revealed in the gospel to call forth the love and
adoration, the worship and service of the redeemed
throughout all eternity.
On what a sure and solid foundation is built
the hope of the man who hath put his trust in
Christ, the Rock of Ages ! How safe the be-
liever who hath committed his soul to the keeping
of this divine Savior ! " Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or dis-
tress, or persecution or famine or nakedness, or
peril or sword? . . . Nay, in all of these things
we are more than conquerors through Him that
loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death
nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers,
148 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
nor things present nor things to come, nor height
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8: 35-39.)
Have you trusted in this wise and mighty, ten-
der and faithful Savior.? If not, do so at once.
His character deserves your trust and love, your
worship and service. You need His guidance and
help in life. You will need His supporting grace
in the hour of death ; and you will need Him to
plead your cause when you stand before God at
the judgment of the great day.
CHAPTER XIII
THE ATONEMENT
So long as man remained holy, there was har-
mony between God and him. But when sin entered
the soul of man, enmity sprang up there so that
he was no longer subject to the law of God as a
willing, loyal subject, but said, in heart and con-
duct, that he would not have God to rule over him.
On the other hand, God, who had hitherto
looked with favor and approval upon man and had
" talked to him face to face as friend talks to
friend," now began to manifest towards him His
righteous indignation and to inflict upon him the
threatened punishment. Man lost communion
with God, and God pronounced upon him the curse
of a broken law. He drove him forth from His
presence and placed there the flaming sword, the
emblem of His justice and wrath. Yet God still
loved man with the love of pity and compassion,
and provided a way by which sin could be pardoned
and man be received back into His love and favor.
That plan by which this was to be accomplished
is called the atonement. It points to the work
of Christ by which all of the legal obstacles to
man's redemption are removed. It is the founda-
149
150 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
tion of all practical piety and the basis of the
Christian's hope of pardon and acceptance with
God. It is, therefore, important that every one
should have clear and distinct views as to the mean-
ing of the atonement. The Hebrew word denotes
" to cover over " and then to forgive, to propiti-
ate. The idea seems to be " to cover over an of-
fense from the eye of offended justice by means
of sufficient satisfaction, or the averting of the
dreadful legal consequences of sin by means of the
interposition of Christ in the sinner's behalf."
As the Destroying Angel, when he saw the blood
applied to the lintel and the door post of the house
of the Israelite passed over that house, so when
the blood of the Lamb of God has been applied
to the soul of man he will be safe from the sword
of God's justice. The Greek term means " recon-
ciliation, the removal of some hindrance to concord
and fellowship." The English word denotes the
act of reconciling or uniting parties at variance
— the setting them at one — at-one-ment. When
Moses saw two brethren quarreling, he acted the
part of a peacemaker, a mediator and is said to
have " set them at one." So Christ has become a
mediator between God and the sinner, and by what
He has done and suffered has brought about a
reconciliation between God and man, has restored
them to a state of oneness and harmony. It is,
therefore, God's plan for restoring harmony be-
tween Himself and man. It is the reconciliation
brought about between God and man by the obe-
THE ATONEMENT 151
dience, suffering and death of Christ in the sin-
ner's stead. It is the result of the satisfaction
rendered by Christ to the law by all He did and
suffered in man's stead. He obeyed the law per-
fectly and paid the penalty fully, so that it is writ-
ten, " There is, therefore, now no more condemna-
tion to them that are in Christ Jesus." Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us." " We are reconciled to God
by the death of His Son. And not only so, but
we joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom we have now received the atonemment."
The necessity of such a work on the part of
Christ in order to effect reconciliation between God
and man has been called in question by at least
two classes. There are some who not only deny
that an atonement was made, but also that it was
necessary. They hold that God could and does
pardon sin without any satisfaction to His law
and justice. They ignore all other attributes
that they may magnify His goodness and mercy,
and claim that He is too merciful to punish sin-
ners, and that He will, out of mere mercy, with-
out any reference to law or justice, pardon and
forgive the sinner. Others distinguish between
absolute and hypothetical necessity (by the latter
they mean that which flows from the decree or plan
of God), and admit that God, having determined
to pardon man by the plan of the substitution of
Christ, He must do so, but that otherwise it would
not be necessary. They admit a fitness in not
152 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
allowing those who have transgressed the law to
go unpunished without some suitable notice of such
transgression and that it is an impressive way of
calling attention to the evil of sin to have it pun-
ished in the person of another when remitted to
the guilty party ; but still they deny that this was
really necessary and claim that the same result
might have been secured in some other way, with-
out such satisfaction — that it was not absolutely
necessary to man's salvation, but only because
God adopted that way. The Scriptural view is
that in order to secure man's salvation it was ab-
solutely necessary that such satisfaction be made,
that God has not and could not consistently re-
ceive man back into His favor without some atone-
ment — without some satisfaction being rendered
to His law and justice. The position is that God
being what He is, it is morally impossible that He
should receive men into His love and favor at the
expense of His attributes, which require and
threaten that sin must and will be punished.
Every just and adequate conception of God must
include the attributes of truth and holiness and
justice. He must keep His word, or we could
not trust Him. He must be holy, or we could
not revere Him nor hope to be saved from sin by
Him. He must be just, or else there will be no
such thing as punishments and rewards, and all
incentive to the pursuit of the right will be gone.
Now if we grant these attributes to God, He must
punish sin because He has threatened to do so.
THE ATONEMENT 153
" In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die." " The wages of sin is death." " The soul
that sinneth it shall die." He must punish sin
because He is holy. Being perfectly pure and
holy in Himself, He cannot approve of sin in
others. He must hate and oppose it. That op-
position He has expressed in His law, which threat-
ens a curse upon all those who continue not in all
things that are written in the book of the law to
do them. If He were to remit this punishment
and receive the sinner back into communion with
Himself without any punishment, it could be
charged that He was conniving at sin and teaching
men to regard it as a light thing that would not
shut them out from God and heaven. If He in-
flicted the penalty directly upon man, then man
must give up all hope of heaven, for it would re-
quire all eternity in which to pay the penalty of
everlasting death. The only hope, then, for man
is that some one of infinite dignity may agree to
suffer the penalty in his stead — to do and suffer
all that justice and holiness require of him ; that
some provision be made by which he may be
cleansed from sin, for it is written, " Without holi-
ness no man shall see the Lord." This provision
is found only in the " blood of Jesus Christ, which
cleanseth from all sin."
Again, if God be just. He must render unto
every man according to his due. But that which
is due to sin is death — spiritual and eternal
death. Sin is directed against the infinite God
154 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
and is therefore worthy of punishment of an in-
finite character. This the sinner cannot pay ex-
cept as he continues forever and forever under the
curse and condemnation of the law. Hence the
necessity of the provision of God's mercy as re-
vealed in the death of His Son in behalf of guilty
and lost sinners. " He gave Himself for us that
He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify
unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good
works."
So long as God remains true and holy and just,
it will still be necessary for man to be received
back into His love and favor only through the
atonement of Christ. The law of God is such that
there can be escape in no other way. It requires
perfect and constant obedience in every thought
and feeling and word and action, and pronounces
a curse upon all who fail to render such obedience.
All who confess that they have not so obeyed the
law must confess that they are under its condem-
nation until they accept the righteousness of
Christ. He obeyed the law perfectly and paid
the penalty completely and reckoned it to man's
account. When accepted by faith, man is justi-
fied from all those things from which he could not
be justified by the law of Moses. The sanction
attached to the law of God is such that sin could
not be allowed to go unpunished. Every one
knows that a law without sanctions and penalties
is of no value. If the state of Alabama were to
publish a law and fail in every case to inflict a
THE ATONEMENT 155
penalty for its violation, it would be but a short
time till the law would be worth no more than that
much state advice. So God's law without its
sanctions and penalties would be of little value.
These must be paid either by the sinner or by his
substitute, " Without the shedding of blood
there is no remission." The very nature of sin is
such that its commission puts the man who com-
mits it out of right relations to the law. It is a
violation of the law and brings upon the sinner the
penalty, and he can never get back into harmony
with the law till that penalty be paid. If he un-
dertakes to pay it in his own person he will be
held forever liable, for " by the deeds of the law
shall no flesh living be justified." Only as some
one who owes no obedience nor penalty to the law
agrees to make the payment for him can he hope
for pardon and acceptance with God.
The death of Christ declares plainly the neces-
sity of such atonement. God would never have re-
quired the suffering and death of Christ in order
to man's salvation had there been no necessity for
it, and Christ would never have undergone the hu-
miliation, suffering and death of the cross had
there been no need for it. It was to accomplish a
great purpose that could not be accomplished in
any other way that God allowed His well beloved
Son to " die, the just for the unjust." That pur-
pose He declares was " to bring us unto God."
We are brought nigh by the blood of the covenant
because there is none other name under heaven
156 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
given among men whereby we must be saved. When
the Savior drew near to the two disciples on their
way to Emmaus and found them disappointed and
in sorrow that Christ had been taken from them
by death and their hopes of a grand earthly king-
dom Avere gone, He rebuked them for their slow-
ness to understand the teachings of their own
Scriptures, and added, " Ought not Christ to have
suffered these things and to enter into his glory? "
When the inspired writer would set forth the
priesthood of Christ, he writes, " It is of necessity
that this man have somewhat also to offer."
(Hebrews 8:3.) " For if the blood of bulls and
goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the
unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh,
how much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience to serve the
living God.?" (Hebrews 9:13-14..) "And as
it is appointed unto men once to die, but after
this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many." (Hebrews 9: 27.) Here,
then, we have the explicit testimony of God as to
the necessity of Christ's offering in our behalf.
The fact that Christ did so offer Himself is as-
serted over and over again, so that all who receive
and accept the plain teaching of the Word of God
must admit that God teaches that as a matter of
fact Christ has done and suffered in our behalf all
that is necessary in order to our redemption. For
example, it is said that " He gave Himself for us
THE ATONEMENT 157
that He might redeem us from all iniquity." It
is said He " suffered for our sins, the just for the
unjust." (I Peter 3: 18.) Again " He bore our
sins in His own body on the tree." (I Peter
2:24.) "He was delivered for our offences."
(Romans 4 : 25.) And in Romans 5 : 10 it is writ-
ten : " When we were enemies we were reconciled
to God by the death of His Son." This is God's
own explanation of the suffering and death of
Christ, His Son. It was to atone for sin and to
bring man back into right relations to God and
His law. It was to pardon, redeem and save unto
the uttermost all that come unto God through
Him.
The perfection and value of this plan of recon-
ciliation may be seen by considering the dignity
and glory of the person and character of Christ.
He combined in Himself all of the high and noble
qualities of a perfect man and all of the glorious
perfections of the infinite God. He was gentle
and kind and good. He was brave and bold and
strong. He was faithful and sincere and true.
He had all of the wisdom and power and holiness,
justice, goodness, and truth, of God. He was the
brightness of the Father's glory and the express
image of his person. He was human so that He
could suffer, and divine so that He might give
dignity and value to the offering which He laid
upon God's altar that He might satisfy divine
justice and reconcile us to God. He was the
chiefest among ten thousand and the one alto-
158 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
gether lovely. His offering, therefore, was such
as was acceptable to God. It was perfect and
complete. Then, too, the exactness with which
He fulfilled every requirement of justice, holiness
and truth made it of great value in the sight of
God. From the time when He gave back the re-
sponse, " Lo, I come ; in the volume of the book
it is written of me, ' I delight to do thy will, O
God,' " until that hour when He cried, on the
cross, " It is finished," He sought ever to do His
Father's will and to accomplish the redemption of
His people. He obeyed the law perfectly and paid
the penalty fully. He not only gave dignity and
value to a great sacrifice, but wrought out a great
and perfect righteousness for guilty and lost sin-
ners. McChaine says :
" There is something infinitely grand and glori-
ous about the righteousness of Christ. When the
waters of the flood were upon the earth they cov-
ered the deepest valley and the highest mountain.
Looking down from above, not one of them could
be seen, but only the vast expanse of water re-
flecting the rays of the sun. So the righteousness
of Christ covers over the deepest depth of our sins
and the highest mountain top of our iniquity.
Looking down from above not one of them can be
seen, but only the vast expanse of the Savior's
righteousness, reflecting the glory of the great Sun
of Righteousness."
The perfection of the atonement is further
shown by the approval given by the Father. In
THE ATONEMENT 159
the beginning of His earthly career God said of
Him, " This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased. Hear ye Him." Thrice was this ap-
probation given, and then, when His work was
complete, He was received back into glory, thus
giving assurance that He had done and suffered
and accomplished all that was expected of Him.
The extent of the atonement is in keeping with
its perfection. It accomplishes all God intended
it should accomplish. There is a sense in which it
is of service to all of the world. It reveals to
all of the world the love of God. It exhibits an
atonement sufficient for all who will accept it. It
is to be offered to all of the world as the only
remedy for sin. Even when rejected, it is to be of
service to all of the world in causing it to be spared
till a sincere offer of salvation be made to every
creature. " This gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all of the world for a witness unto all
nations ; and then shall the end come." (Matthew
24:14.)
It is to be made efficient to all those given to
Christ in the great covenant of grace. " Ask of
me and I will give thee the heathen for thine in-
heritance and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possessions," was the promise of the
Father. " Father, the hour is come ; glorify Thy
Son, that Thy Son may also glorify Thee. As
Thou hast given Him power over all flesh that He
might give eternal life to as many as Thou hast
given Him," is the prayer of the Savior ; and " All
160 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
that the Father hath given Me shall come to Me,"
is His assurance. The number of those thus
given may no man know, but we have the best of
evidence that it will be very great — even a great
multitude which no man can number, gathered out
of every nation and kindred and tribe and people.
When all of God's people of the past and present,
when the children saved through Christ's atone-
ment, and the multitudes of the time in the future
when " a nation shall be born in a day " shall all
be gathered home to glory, the number of those
saved may far outnumber those that are lost.
And yet all will not be saved, for it is a notori-
ous fact that though the gospel feast be spread
before the world and the invitation be given in all
sincerity and earnestness, " Come, for all things
are now ready," they all " with one consent begin
to make excuse " — that many will not repent and
will not believe and will not be saved. This is a
sad fact that stares us in the face and forbids the
belief that all will be saved. With this conclusion
agree the words of Christ ; " Not every one that
saith unto me, ' Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of
my Father which is in heaven. Many will say
unto me in that day : ' Lord, have we not prophe-
sied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils,
and in thy name done many wonderful works ? '
Then will I profess unto them, ' I never knew you ;
depart from me, ye that work iniquity.' "
(Matthew 7:22-23.) "Whosoever, therefore,
THE ATONEMENT 161
shall deny me before men, him will I also deny be-
fore my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew
10:32.) In that final day of separation He
tells us He will say to those on His right hand,
" Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world," while to those on the left hand He
will say, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into ever-
lasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
" And these shall go away into everlasting punish-
ment ; but the righteous into life eternal." Not-
withstanding the infinite value and perfection of
the atonement, some shall be lost and some saved.
The atonement is followed by many striking
results.
It reveals in brightest light the love of God for
lost sinners. It teaches us that " God so loved
the world that He gave His only begotten Son
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish
but have everlasting life."
It reminds us of the awful evil of sin. It tells
us that in order that sin might be pardoned and
the sinner saved, God's own Son must leave heaven,
become incarnate, suffer, sorrow and die in the
sinner's place, and rise again for his justification.
It reveals the means by which the way could be
opened for God to exercise His mercy towards
lost sinners without violating His justice, staining
his holiness or disregarding His truth. Here
" mercy and truth meet together and righteous-
ness and peace kiss each other." It furnishes the
162 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
subject of the new song which the redeemed shall
sing in glory : " Thou art worthy to take the
book and open the seals thereof, for thou wast
slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood
out of every kindred and tongue and people, and
hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and
we shall reign on the earth." To the individual
shall come many joys and privileges. The love of
God, pardon and acceptance, justification, salva-
tion, joy and peace here and eternal happiness
hereafter. " Eye hath not seen nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man the
things which God hath prepared for them that love
Him."
CHAPTER XIV
SALVATION APPLIED
Though God the Father hath drawn a perfect
plan of redemption, and though Christ hath made
an infinite atonement and wrought out a perfect
and complete righteousness, and though that
righteousness hath been clearly revealed and ear-
nestly offered to man in the gospel as the only
ground of pardon and acceptance with God, yet
such is the sinful insensibility of the human heart
that man will not accept it. The gospel feast
hath been spread by the love of God and the invi-
tation sent forth, " Come, for all things are now
ready," yet " they all with one consent begin to
make excuse." Not one would come to be a guest
did not God do more than provide the feast. Did
not God add the inward, effectual call of the
Spirit, every member of our fallen race would find
some excuse to stay away. In his sinful state
man has no taste for the feast of good things the
gospel provides. He does not see the suitable-
ness of the salvation to his needs. Indeed, he does
not feel deeply his need and does not see his dan-
ger as he should, and therefore does not seek ref-
uge and satisfaction in the redemption purchased
163
164 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
by Christ. " Ye are not willing to come unto Me
that ye might have life," was the charge the Sav-
ior brought against the men of His day, and the
same charge may be justly brought against the
men of this day. " The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can
he know them for they are spiritually discerned."
(I Corinthians 2:14.) Hence if men are to be
saved, God must, by the influence of His Spirit,
draw them unto Himself and call them into His
kingdom. He must " make them willing in the
day of His power." He must " make them par-
takers of the redemption purchased by Christ by
the effectual application of it to them by His
Holy Spirit." This is the Spirit's part in the
economy of redemption. The Father plans, the
Son executes and the Spirit applies. The Father
provides in His plan for the removal of all diffi-
culties in the way of man's salvation and for the
bestowal of all its blessings and privileges. The
Son removes the legal obstacles and the Spirit the
moral hindrances to salvation, and together the
three persons of the Trinity invest man with all
of the riches of grace here and glory hereafter.
In effecting His part of the Avork, the Holy
Spirit docs for man several distinct and necessary
things. First of all. He convinces man of his sin
and miser?/. In his natural condition man has no
adequate conception of the nature and evil of sin.
He is blind to his faults and insensible to his dan-
ger. He is like a man walking in darkness, not
SALVATION APPLIED 165
knowing whither he goeth. He is like a man be-
numbed with cold, becoming more and more in-
sensible as he draws near to death. He is de-
scribed in the language used concerning the Lao-
diceans, each of whom is represented as saying,
" I am rich and increased in goods and have need of
nothing," and knows not that he " is wretched and
miserable and poor and blind and naked." When
the Holy Spirit enlightens the mind and applies
the truth, He leads the sinner to see sin in its
true colors and to weigh aright its terrible conse-
quences. He sees it in all of its deformity and
destructiveness. He sees that it aims its blows
against God Himself, that it brings upon man suf-
fering and sorrow and pain and death, and that it
required the death and suffering of Christ that
man might be delivered from its guilt and punish-
ment. He sees not only that sin is a great evil,
but that he is personally a sinner. Before Paul
was brought under conviction, he was proud and
self-righteous, but when the Spirit revealed to him
the meaning of the law, he tells us that " sin re-
vived and he died," — that is, he saw his sinfulness
and felt that he was under the condemnation to
death. Job tells us that when he was enabled to
see the holiness of God in contrast to his own sinful-
ness, he " abhorred himself and repented in sack-
cloth and ashes." David declared that " his sin
was ever before him " ; and the publican cried out
in shame and anguish, " God be merciful unto me a
sinner." Thus it is that every man feels when he
166 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
is brought under conviction for his sin. He ac-
knowledges that he is sinful. He is filled with
shame and sorrow for his sin, and acknowledges
that he is justly condemned for his sin, and longs
for pardon and for deliverance from its power and
pollution.
Another thing which the Holy Spirit does for
the sinner is to enlighten his mind in the knowledge
of Christ. As sin prevents man from seeing the
evil and danger of sin, so it blinds him to the
beauty and value of Christ as a Savior. As it
keeps him from feeling the presence and fatal in-
fluence of the moral leprosy of his soul, so it pre-
vents him from feeling the need of treatment at
the hands of the great physician. Not seeing his
danger from sin, he does not seek deliverance from
its power. He is blind to all the worth and
worthiness of Christ the Savior. " There is no
form nor comeliness in Him that he should desire
him." He hides, as it were, " his face from him."
He neglects to listen to His call and walks on in
his blindness and sin. But when God, by His
Spirit, enlightens him in the knowledge of Jesus
Christ, he sees Him to be the very Savior he needs
that He can teach him all that is necessary to
salvation, that He did and suff^ered all that was
demanded to atone for his sin and to reconcile him
to God and that He can protect and shield him
against every enemy and deliver him from every
danger ; that He is " the chiefest among ten thou-
sand and the one altogether lovely," that He is
SALVATION APPLIED 167
able and willing " to save unto the uttermost all
that come unto God by Him."
Then, too, the Spirit renews the mil of man,
and thus enables Him to accept the salvation which
God's love hath provided. Such is the terrible
influence of sin upon the soul that it not only
blinds man as to the evil that threatens his life and
prevents him from seeing and appreciating the
offered means of deliverance, but it indisposes him
for the acceptance of the Savior. It keeps him
from being able and willing to accept Christ.
Hence the necessity of a radical change in the
dispositions of man's heart. Hence the necessity
of a change of his will. By the will as here used
we mean, as Doctor Dabney has well said, " not
the specific power of volution, but that which the
Reformers and our Standards mean — the whole
faculty of active desire and purpose " — the seat
of man's moral dispositions and affections. It is
here that depravity has its chief seat. While the
whole soul is depraved by sin, yet the place where
its power is most influential is in the underlying
dispositions of the soul, because these give tone
and direction to the action of the entire being. If
sin gives character and color to these dispositions,
it will influence and control the whole character
and life of the man. The tiger is born with the
tiger nature, and this determines all the acts of
its life; so man is born with a sinful nature which
influences all the thoughts and feelings and words
and conduct of his life. The bad tree bears bad
168 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
fruit. The bitter fountain sends forth bitter
water with infallible certainty. So will man's
heart bear fruits of sin and send forth streams of
iniquity till healed and changed by the power of
divine grace. Though man could see the full evil
of sin and the power of Christ to pardon and save,
yet such is his helplessness, apart from the help of
God, that he could not and would not accept the
offer of deliverance. He is like the man at the
pool of Bethesda, sick and helpless in sight of the
healing waters but unable to step down into them
in order to be healed. It requires the voice of
Christ, accompanied by the influence of the Spirit,
to enable him to rise, take up his bed, and walk.
He is like the man with the withered hand, utterly
unable of himself to stretch it forth till Christ
speaks the word and gives the ability. He is like
the leprous man, utterly unable to heal himself,
and so must stand before the Great Physician and
say in humble reliance upon His power, " Lord, if
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." When
Christ speaks and when Christ sends the Spirit of
healing, then, and only then, can the leprosy of
the soul be healed. Then, and only then, can the
will be renewed and the underlying dispositions of
the soul be so changed that the sinner will be in-
clined and enabled to accept Christ and bring
forth fruits meet for repentance. This work the
Holy Spirit does for man the sinner. He renews
his will, changes his heart and imparts to him a
a new nature, the characteristic feature of which
SALVATION APPLIED 169
is holiness. " As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name which are born
not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the
will of man, but of God." (John 1 : 13.) " For
it is God that worketh in you both to will and to
do His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13.)
" Not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to His mercy He saved us,
by the washing of regeneration and renexving of
the Holy Ghost." (Titus 3:5.)
The next blessing the Holy Spirit bestows upon
the sinner is to persuade and enable him to em-
brace Jesus Christ as He is freely offered to him
in the gospel. Having revealed to him the evil
of sin, pointed him to the Savior and so revealed
His will as to incline him to seek the blessing of
salvation, He further persuades and enables him
to receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation
as He is offered to Him in the gospel. While he
halts between two opinions, hesitating to trust
the Savior, the Spirit persuades him no longer to
delay. He causes him to hear and believe the
declaration, " Behold, now is the accepted time,
now is the day of salvation." Hearing and be-
lieving this, under the enabling power of the Holy
Spirit, he decides no longer to slight the offered
mercy. Though having no strength in himself,
he looks for help from Him who hath called him
into His kingdom and receives the power to be-
lieve. He is persuaded and enabled to embrace
170 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Jesus Christ as His Savior from sin, from its
power and pollution, from its guilt and condemna-
tion, from its stain and presence in the soul. He
is thus enabled to look forward to the time when
he shall be free from all sin and be satisfied by
awaking with the likeness of his Lord and Re-
deemer. He accepts Him as his prophet that he
may be taught and guided in all of his ignorance,
as his priest that he may receive the benefit of
the sacrifice He laid on the altar of God to atone
for sin, and of His prayers and intercession which
are offered before the Father's throne in heaven,
and as a king that he may have the privilege of
membership in His kingdom and be protected and
defended against all the enemies of his soul.
Thus the Spirit enables him to receive Christ and
so secure an interest in all the privileges and the
blessings of redemption.
This work of the Spirit in introducing us into
the possession of the blessings of salvation is of
such a nature that only a divine agent could ac-
complish it. He alone can work in us that deep
and thorough conviction of sin which is necessary
to lead us to hate and turn from it unto God.
He alone can open the blind eyes to enable them
to see and appreciate the salvation of God. He
alone can change the heart and renew the will.
And He only can sweetly persuade and enable us
to take Christ to be our Savior from sin. Hence
this work is compared to a " creation," to a
" resurrection from the dead " and to a " quicken-
SALVATION APPLIED 171
ing into newness of life." " It is the Spirit that
quickeneth." " You hath He quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins, . . . and raised you
up and made you to sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus." " ' Not by might nor by
power, but by My Spirit,' saith the Lord." Let
us therefore pray earnestly unto God that this
saving change may be wrought in our own hearts
and in the hearts of others. Let us each pray
with David, " Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me." He has en-
couraged us thus to pray by saying, " If ye, being
evil, know how to give good things unto your
children, how much more shall your Father which
is in heaven give His Holy Spirit to them that
ask Him." Then when our prayers are answered
and we are become members of His kingdom
through His gracious call, let us walk worthy of
God. Let us " adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior in all things " and " walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith we are called." " As He who
hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all man-
ner of conversation," for it is written, " Be ye
holy, for I am holy."
CHAPTER XV
THE CHANGE OF HEART
When we ask the question, " How may we be-
come qualified for membership in the kingdom of
God?", the Savior gives us the same answer he
gave Nicodemus : " Ye must be born again,"
that is, a change must be wrought in your soul
that you may be introduced Into a new world of
spiritual existence just as the birth of a child Is
necessary that it may enter upon its physical and
mental existence in this world. You can no more
enter into and enjoy spiritual life without this
change than a child can enjoy the experiences of
the natural life without being born. " The new
birth is a spiritual life, without which you can
no more live the heavenly life than we could an
earthly life without being born into this world."
The dispositions of your soul must be so changed
that you will prefer holiness to sin and God to
the world. A new spiritual life must be Implanted
in the soul which shall give tone and direction to
all of the faculties, exercises and actions of the
soul. There must be imparted to your soul a new
nature, the distinguishing feature of which Is holi-
ness, just as the distinguishing feature of your old
172
THE CHANGE OF HEART 173
nature was sin. You must be " created anew in
Christ Jesus," " raised up from death in trespasses
and sins " and " made alive in Christ Jesus."
God must " create in you a clean heart and renew
within you, a right spirit." This is a super-
natural work, wrought instantaneously, inter-
nally, thoroughly and completely. " If any man
be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature : old things
are passed aAvay ; behold all things are become
new." (II Corinthians 5:17.)
This change is necessary for all classes and con-
ditions of sinners, for the moralist as well as for
the open and avowed transgressor. Human na-
ture is very much the same everywhere and always.
The moral image of God has been lost by all and
must be restored to man before he can know and
enjoy God and heaven. That act of God by which
He brings about this change in man's moral na-
ture which restores to him the divine image is
called regeneration or the new birth. This is the
change which our Savior declares must take place
before a single soul can enter the kingdom of God
and enjoy its spiritual privileges and blessings.
The character and dispositions of man's soul
are such that there must he a change before man
can be brought into peace and harmony with God
and into the enjoyment of the blessings of His
kingdom. The description given in the Word of
God of the character of man's mind and heart is
in language which is familiar to you all. It is
written : " The carnal mind is enmity against
174 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
God; for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:7.) "The
heart of man is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked; who can know it." (Jeremiah
17:9.) "There is not a just man upon earth
that doeth good and sinneth not." (Ecclesiastes
7:20.) This enmity must be slain and subdued
before man can be brought into friendship and
communion with God. The heart must be
cleansed before it will love and serve God. The
tastes, dispositions and desires that lead him
away from God and into sin must be revolu-
tionized and substituted by tastes and desires for
that which is holy and good. The way of sin is
the way of death. Before man can have spiritual
and eternal life he must be delivered from spirit-
ual death and translated into the glorious light
and liberty of the sons of God. His eyes must be
opened that he may see the beauty of holiness.
His heart must be changed that he may be led to
love God and his will must be renewed that he may
be enabled to serve Him. His entire moral na-
ture must be changed that he may come into fel-
lowship with Him who is " holy, harmless, un-
defiled and separate from sinners."
The character of God is such as to require
this change on man's nature before he can be re-
admitted to the divine presence and favor.
While man is sinful, God is perfectly holy and
places before man His holy character as " the
model into the likeness of which man is to be
THE CHANGE OF HEART 175
fashioned before he can be admitted to the privi-
leges of His kingdom. " Without holiness no
man shall see the Lord." " As He which hath
called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation." (I Peter 1:15.) "Can two
walk together except they be agreed?" (Amos
3:3.) " ' Wherefore come out from among them
and be ye separate,' saith the Lord, * and I will
receive you. And I will be a father unto you
and ye shall be My sons and daughters ' saith the
Lord almighty." (II Corinthians 6:17-18.)
It is true that God hath promised to pardon
and forgive sinners, but this must be done in such
a way as not to disregard His own holiness, His
justice and His truth. Sinners must come plead-
ing the merit, the suffering and the obedience of
Christ; they must come confessing their sins and
they must come hating and forsaking their in-
iquities. " He that believeth on the Son hath
life." " If we confess our sins. He is faithful and
just to forgive our sins." " Let the wicked for-
sake his way and the unrighteous man his
thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and
he will have mercy upon him, and unto our God
for He will abundantly pardon." But the sinner
will never thus return and confess and forsake
his sins until his heart be changed. His sinful
dispositions will certainly lead him away from
God and into sin. Hence to win man back to
Himself God must change the heart of the sin-
ner. He must make him " willing in the day of
176 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
His power." He must break for him the fetters
of sin and draw him with the cords of love that
he may run after him and be saved." Hence
the wisdom of David in his sinfulness and weak-
ness in crying unto God, " Create in me a clean
heart and renew Avithin me a right spirit, God."
Until such a change is wrought upon the nature
of man, he cannot enjoy the spiritual blessings
God holds out for his acceptance both in this life
and in that which is to come.
There are two classes of people under the gos-
pel dispensation — those who enjoy the worship
and service of God and those who do not. That
which draws the line which separates these two
classes is the presence or absence of the grace of
God in their hearts. If they have been born into
the family of God by the power of His Holy Spirit
they are " glad when we say unto them, ' Let us
go up into the house of God.' " They find pleas-
ure and delight in the worship and service of
God. They like to sing the songs of Zion. They
like to read and hear the Word of God. They
like to listen to the gospel of Christ. They like
to bow before the throne of God in prayer.
They love the Word of God, the house of God,
the people of God and the sei-vice of God. They
have been made the children of God and so have
t]ie spirit of children and the spirit of God
whereby they cry " Abba," Father. The other
class are those in whom this change has not yet
THE CHANGE OF HEART 177
been wrought. They are at enmity with God.
They have no taste for His worship and service.
They do not love His house, nor His word, nor
His people, nor His worship nor His service.
" They mind earthly things." They seek most
earnestly the pleasures, the possessions and the
honors of this world. They show little interest
in the extension and building of the kingdom of
God. They do not seek earnestly to lay up for
themselves treasure in heaven. They have not
the mind and spirit of Christ, who spent His
life doing good and in seeking to lead others into
the possession of the blessings of the kingdom of
God. Such persons do not have a real relish for
spiritual blessings and employments. They do
not seek as their associates the people of God,
and do not resort to the house of God as a place
where their hearts can find comfort and joy and
gladness.
Now if such persons cannot find comfort and
joy in the service of God here, how can they hope
to do so in heaven? There everything is holy,
the King, His subjects, their service and employ-
ments, their worship and adoration. The song of
the holy angels of heaven is, " Holy, holy is the
Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of His
glory." The redeemed are represented as say-
ing, " Glory and honor and power and dominion
unto Him that sitteth upon the throne," because
He " hath redeemed " them from their sins in His
178 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
own blood. It would be impossible for the unholy
to enter with their hearts into the praises and em-
ployments of heaven.
We have seen that in order to really enjoy the
ordinances of God's house and to take a delight in
the duties of the Christian life, man must have his
heart so changed as that he will have a relish for
them. Men may, indeed, find an intellectual pleas-
ure in listening to God's truth. Their tastes may
be pleased and their emotions aroused in listening
to the singing of His praise and they may even
have their interest awakened in the outward pros-
perity of the Church ; but until hearts have been
taught the love of God, they cannot find real
pleasure in the service and worship of God. It
is love for God and holiness which renders the
duties of the Christian delightful and joyful. It
was when his heart had been touched with love
and gratitude to God that David said, " I love
the Lord because He hath heard my voice and
my supplication. Because He hath inclined His
ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as
long as I live." (Psalm 116:1.) It was when
his heart was attuned to the praise of God by
manifestations of love that the worshipper of old
said, " I was glad when they said unto me ' Let us
go up into the house of the Lord.' I had rather
be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to
dwell in the tents of wickedness." (Psalm
84:10.) It was love that moved Paul to work
so earnestly, pray so fervently, and make such
THE CHANGE OF HEART 179
great sacrifices in order to spread the gospel far
and near in his day. And it is love that has
prompted all of God's people since Paul's day to
work and worship, to preach and pray, to serve
and make sacrifices that the kingdom of God
might come and that His will might be done on
earth as it is in heaven. Now if this new love and
life in the soul be necessary to delight in the serv-
ice of God on earth, much more will it be neces-
sary for the duties and pleasures of heaven.
There all of the duties in which they engage and
all of the pleasures in which they are to partici-
pate are to be perfectly hol3^ Unless, therefore,
they possess the inward holy disposition, they
cannot enter with delight upon the duties and
pleasures of heaven. Should men with hearts at
enmity with God and yet in love with sin be
permitted to enter heaven and stand before the
God of holiness, they could not find joy and
happiness there. They would be in the immedi-
ate presence of a God who could see at a glance
all of the moral deformity of their souls, and see-
ing, could but condemn. They would stand face
to face with God, the Judge of the quick and the
dead, and must dread the pronouncing of their
doom. Like our first parents, when they sinned
and when God called them to account, they would
seek to hide themselves from God. Or like the
wicked at the judgment of the great day, they
would call upon the rocks and the mountains to
fall upon them and hide them from the wrath of
180 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
the Lamb and from the face of Him that sitteth
upon the throne. Till man's sinful heart be
changed, there can be no peace and happiness for
him in the presence of the God of holiness and
justice and truth. Till man's soul be renewed,
he can neither enjoy the spiritual blessings of this
life nor of that which is to come.
If it should be thought that if only a man could
escape the penalty of sin, he would be willing to
go to heaven with heart unchanged, and tolerate
the holy worship and service which he could not
enjoy, even that hope is shut out by the plain
and emphatic declarations of the Word of God.
It is written : " Except a man be born again he
cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3.)
It is written : " To be carnally minded is death."
(Romans 6:6.) It is written " There shall in no
wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither
whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie:
but they which are written in the Lamb's book of
life." (Revelations 21:27.) It is written:
" Follow holiness — without which no man shall
see the Lord." (Hebrews 12:14.) Could lan-
guage be plainer, stronger or more positive and
explicit.'' God, who alone has the right to lay
down the terms and qualifications for membership
in His kingdom, has declared over and over again
that man's heart must be changed and his nature
renewed before he can enter His kingdom. All
who fail to seek and secure this change through
the only plan God has ever revealed must not be
THE CHANGE OF HEART 181
surprised if at last they find the door of mercy
shut in their face, for God plainly and faithfully
warned them of the danger and lovingly invited
them to the pardon and cleansing provided in the
gospel. " How shall we escape if we neglect so
great salvation? "
The agent of this great change is the Holy
Spirit. " It is the Spirit that quickeneth."
(John 3:5.,) "Which were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God." (John 1 : 13.) " Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of re-
generation and renewing of the Holy Ghost ;
which He shed upon us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Savior." (Titus 3: 5.) The same al-
mighty Spirit by which our spirits were created,
recreates them in righteousness and true holiness.
He it is who restores to our souls the image of
God. He it is through whose power we are bom
into the family of God. The instrument which
He uses in bringing about this change is the truth
as contained in the Word of God. " The sword
of the Spirit which is the Word of God."
(Ephesians 6: 17.) " Being bom, not of the cor-
ruptible seed, but of the incorruptible, by the
Word of God which liveth and abideth forever."
(I Peter 1 : 23.) This word is suited to the mind
and heart and will of man so that when it is
brought in contact with the soul and energized
and blessed by the Spirit, it enlightens the mind,
18a THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
purifies the heart and transforms the will. This,
then, is the instrument which the Spirit uses in
effecting that mighty change in the nature of
man by which he passes from death unto life and
by which his moral likeness to God is restored.
Let us, then, recognize the necessity for this
change in the soul in order to qualify it for mem-
bership in the kingdom of God. Let us acknowl-
edge our dependence upon God's Spirit to work
this change. Let each one pray like David,
" Create in me a clean heart and renew within me
a right spirit, O God." Let each pray like blind
Bartemus, " Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy
upon me." Or like Peter, " Lord, save us ; we
perish." (Matthew 8 : 25. )
It is sometimes said that if you convince men
that they cannot save themselves, they will fold
their hands in despair and give up all hope and
effort for salvation, but this is not true to nature.
Let a man in a burning building feel that there is
yet a way of escape by some stairway through
which he can reach a place of safety, and he will
not seek outside aid, but will continue to collect
his valuables and depend upon his own efforts
for escape. But you let him know that the very
last stairway has been burned away and he will
cry for outside assistance, " Help ! Help ! Save
me, or I perish ! "
Let us learn to use the means and trust to
God's blessing. The means are principally two
— reading and hearing the Word, and prayer.
THE CHANGE OF HEART 183
Read the Word and hear the Word and study the
Word that you may learn the will of God: and
then pray, earnestly, pcrseveringly and believ-
ingly for the power and influence of the Holy
Ghost. Plead the promise, " If ye, then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts to your chil-
dren, how much more shall your heavenly Father
give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him."
(Luke 11:13.) This essential change in your
moral nature wrought by the power of the Holy
Spirit can be had for the asking. Pray, then,
earnestly and importunately until Christ be
formed in you, the hope of glory.
CHAPTER XVI
EVIDENCES OF A CHANGE OF HEART
While it is important to know that God hath
given to us a divine revelation, it is no less im-
portant that we be sure that we have accepted
that revelation as the rule of our lives. While it
should rejoice our hearts to know that a plan of
salvation has been made known, it should prove
a source of greater joy to be sure that we have
been made partakers of its privileges and bless-
ings. While we should rejoice in the fact that
Christ came into the world to seek and save the
lost, yet we may be permitted to rejoice with a
greater degree of joy that Christ hath become
our personal Lord and Redeemer, that we have
received and rested on Christ alone for salvation
as offered to us in the gospel. Such an assur-
ance is within the reach of each believer. For
this purpose the apostle John declares he wrote
unto them that believe on His name, " that ye may
know that ye have eternal life." (John 5: 13.)
Having considered the evidence in favor of
Christianity as revealed in the Bible, we are now
to pass in review the evidence of our acceptance
of Christ and the truth revealed through Him.
184
EVIDENCES OF A CHANGE 185
We are to seek to answer such questions as these :
How may we know that we are Christians?
How may we be sure that we have passed from
death unto life, that we have become the children
of God and heirs with Christ of the privileges
and blessings of the redeemed?
The importance of this question cannot be over-
estimated. It is a question of the foundation of
our hopes of eternal life. It is a question of
the way from earth to heaven. It is a question of
the only ark of safety for our souls. It is a
question of our title to the inheritance that is
incorruptible, undefiled and that fadeth not away.
It is a question of our pardon and acceptance
with God ; of our adoption into His family and
of our renewal by the Holy Spirit, and of our
hope of dwelling with Him in heaven. If men
are careful to examine the foundations on which
they build, the roads which they travel, the vessels
in which they embark and the titles to their
earthly possessions, then surely we should exercise
more than ordinary care to make sure that our
hopes rest on the Rock of Ages, that our feet
are walking in the way to heaven, that we are
in the ark of safety and that we have clear and
undisputed titles to the heavenly inheritance.
The Bible teaches us that we may come to pos-
sess a comfortable assurance that we are members
of the household of faith and that, through Christ,
we have life eternal. In this Book are laid down
certain tests by which each professing Christian
186 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
may ascertain whether he be in the faith, and
determine whether he has a well grounded hope
of being found among the redeemed at the final
day of trial.
What, then, are the evidences of our being in
a state of grace? How may we know that God
hath begun in us the good work which He is
pledged to carry on till the day of Jesus Christ?
This may be decided hy the souVs new viem of
sm. Before conversion a man has low views of
sin and is disposed to flatter himself that he is not
so wicked in God's sight as others. He over-
looks, conceals, and underrates his sin. He finds
real delight in some of his sins and has little
thought of giving them up, at least for the pres-
ent. He seeks to excuse them and to find grounds
of justification for them. But when he comes to
know God and to view sin as God regards it, like
Job he " abhors himself and repents in dust and
ashes." He comes then to see sin in its true col-
ors. He sees it in all of its hideousness and de-
formity, in all of its baseness and vileness. He
learns to hate it not only because it brings the
penalty of death upon those who commit it, but
also because it offends God and degrades man.
Such is his sense of the vileness of sin that he
hates it and grieves over it and turns away from
it unto God. He regards it very much as a man
would regard a poisonous serpent that has bitten
him. He hates and dreads it and turns to the
great Physician who alone can heal him. He
EVIDENCES OF A CHANGE 187
looks to the cross and sees that it required the
death and suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ to
atone for it and that only through the mercy of
God in Christ can it be pardoned and cleansed
away. Hence he turns from sin back to the very
God against whom the sin was committed, looking
for pardon and acceptance through the merit of
Christ, the Savior of sinners. Like Peter, he
weeps bitterly over his sin and turns back to Jesus
the Savior from sin. Like the prodigal, he comes
to himself and says, " I will arise and go to my
father and say, ' Father I have sinned against
Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy
to be called thy son.' " He exercises the grace
of repentance which sprang up in his heart under
the influence of the Spirit which Christ hath sent
into his heart. Such repentance is not the exer-
cise of an unregenerate heart, but is an evidence
that a divine power hath been working there.
" Him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Sav-
ior, to give repentance unto Israel." If we are
conscious that we sorrow for our sins, that we hate
and abhor them, and that we forsake them and
turn from them unto God, we have evidence that
we are Christians. Our soul's view of sin has un-
dergone such a change that it could have been
wrought in our hearts only by divine agency.
The current of our feelings has been so changed
that it flows in a direction just the opposite from
that in which it once flowed. We have come to
hate what we once loved and to love that which
188 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
we once hated. We have passed from death unto
life. We have been created anew in Christ Jesus.
" Old things have passed away and all things
have become new."
We may also judge as to our spiritual state
by the souVs view of Christ. While the mind of
the unconverted man may become convinced of
the truth of Christ and Christianity^ it will not
see and accept Christ as a Savior from sin. The
prophet Isaiah gives the true account of the esti-
mate put upon Christ by the natural man when
he writes, " He hath no form nor comeliness ; and
when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we
should desire Him. He is despised and rejected
of men " — and " we hid, as it were, our faces
from Him." But when we have exercised living
faith, Christ appears to us in a far different light.
" Unto you that believe He is precious." By the
eye of faith we are enabled to see the beauty and
perfection of Christ's character and to estimate
aright the value of His work in our behalf. We
can then see how He combined in His person all
of the perfections of God and all of the virtues
of un fallen man. We see in Him infinite power
to protect us against all of our enemies, infinite
wisdom to guide us in all of our perplexities, in-
finite mercy to forgive all of our sins, and in-
finite faithfulness and tenderness blended with
human sympathy and love to enable Him to sym-
pathize with us and to prompt Him to bear pa-
tiently with us in all of our weakness and infirmity.
EVIDENCES OF A CHANGE 189
We see in Him the very Prophet we need to teach
us the way to heaven, the very Priest we need to
atone for our sins and to plead our cause in the
courts of heaven, and the very King we need to
rescue us from the dominion of sin and Satan, and
to translate us into the light and liberty of the
sons of God. Faith sees in Christ the very Savior
needed to rescue from guilt and sin and everlast-
ing death, and so receives and rests on Him alone
for salvation as He is offered in the gospel. " By
grace are ye saved, through faith ; and that not of
yourselves ; it is the gift of God." When, there-
fore, we are conscious that we do trust in Christ
alone for salvation, we may be sure that God hath
given us this faith and enabled us to see Christ
as a suitable Savior and to put our trust in Him
as the only Savior whom God hath provided. If
we have put our trust in Him, we have the assur-
ance of God that we are possessors of eternal life.
" He that believeth on me hath everlasting life
and I will raise him up at the last day."
Again, our changed feelings as to God and to
His People, His Word, His House, and His Wor-
ship will serve as a test of our spiritual state.
Whereas there was once enmity in the carnal mind
and heart against God, there is now in the heart of
the child of God a true and genuine love for Him.
If we love God, then we are united to Him in the
bonds of covenant grace. " He that dwelleth in
love dwelleth in God and God in him " and " Every
one that loveth is bom of God.'' (I John 4: 16,
190 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
and I John 4:7.) If, then, there be any true
and genuine love in our hearts for God we may
rest assured that it was begotten there by the
power of God. " We love Him because He first
loved us." Then if we love God, we will love His
people; and if we love His people, we have an addi-
tional evidence that we are His children, for it is
written : " By this we know that we have passed
from death unto life, because we love the breth-
ren." (I John 3:14.) To this we shall be
prompted by the Spirit. We shall see the image
of God in others and love them for His sake, and
we shall recognize them as God's children and so
feel drawn to them as members of the same spirit-
ual household. If we love God, we will love His
Word. It is a revelation of His will and charac-
ter. It tells us of His love in the gift of His Son,
of the plan of salvation, of the home He is pre-
paring for His people. Those who love God will
likewise love His House. It is here that God meets
Avith His people and bestows upon them rich bless-
ings of His grace. It is here that they meet and
hold communion with His people and it is here that
they worship before His holy throne in prayer
and praise and thanksgiving. It is here they
study His Word and receive His sacraments, the
seals of His covenant, and it is here that they
bring their offerings for the extension of the glori-
ous kingdom of which they are members.
The fruits of the Spirit in our lives and char-
EVIDENCES OF A CHANGE 191
acters is still another evidence of the presence of
spiritual life in our hearts. As we know the char-
acter of the tree by the kind of finiit it bears, so
may we know the character of the man. The kind
of fruit which the Christian should bear is clearly
indicated in the Word. " The fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, good-
ness, faith, temperance, meekness. Against such
there is no law." " If these be in you and abound,
they make you to be that ye shall not be barren
and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ." (II Peter 1:8.) To know Jesus Christ
is to have eternal life.
To crown all other evidences of a renewed heart
will be given the witness of the Spirit. God no
longer speaks in audible tones to teach us truth
and duty, but by His Spirit, through His Word
and through our faculties. He enlightens, purifies
and heals. He sheds abroad in our hearts His
love and imparts to us a filial spirit whereby we
cry " Abba," Father. We own God as our Father
and He claims us as His dear children.
If we find that we are Christians, let us rejoice
and be glad and seek more and more to walk
worthy of Him who was holy, harmless, undefiled
and separate from sinners, and who " went about
doing good."
If we find that we have no hope in Jesus, let us
seek and find Him before it be too late. He is the
only " way " that leads to God, the only " truth "
192 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
that makes wise unto salvation, and the only
" life " that giveth eternal life. " Seek the Lord
while He may be found, call upon Him while He is
near."
CHAPTER XVII
REPENTANCE
Before the gospel was clearly revealed to the
world, God bore patiently with the sins of men and
in a certain sense overlooked their transgressions.
But when the gospel had been published and pro-
claimed, He commanded all men everywhere to re-
pent and turn to Him as the only being worthy
of worship. " The times of this ignorance God
winked at ; but now commandeth all men every-
where to repent." This command comes to us with
all of the force with which it came to those to
whom Paul preached at Athens.
To obey this command it is necessary that we
understand its full meaning. The literal meaning
of the word here translated " repentance " is a
change of mind with special reference to sin. It
is the result of the enlightening, renewing influence
of the Holy Spirit upon the soul. It is God's pre-
cious gift to man through His Son Jesus Christ
whom He hath exalted " to give repentance unto
man and forgiveness of sins." It has been well
defined to be " a saving grace whereby a sinner
out of a true sense of his sin and an apprehension
of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus doth, with
193
194 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God
with full purpose of and endeavor after new obe-
dience." (C. Q. 87.)
With this definition in mind you will note that
the change of mind involved in repentance mani-
fests itself in a true sense of sin felt by the soul.
In his natural, unrenewed condition, man has not
that impression of the nature and enormity of sin
that he should have. He regards it altogether too
lightly. He thinks and speaks of it lightly. He
acts as though it were a trivial matter and commits
it with little reference to the account which he must
at last render unto God for its commission. He
sometimes shows his folly by making a mock of sin
and by committing it with reckless disregard as to
its consequences. If he be occasionally disturbed
and alarmed by the warnings of conscience, this
is not because he hates sin, but because he dreads
its penalty. As one of the older writers puts it:
" It is not sin but hell he hates." But when the
Holy Spirit enlightens his understanding and re-
news his nature, man comes to look upon sin from
a different standpoint. He then sees it in its real
deformity and terrible hideousness. He comes to
feel it to be an evil and bitter thing to sin against
God. He sees how it defies the authority of God,
violates His holy law and abuses His love and
mercy as revealed in Christ Jesus. He has a new
and a true sense of sin because he has been so en-
lightened as to be able to see and estimate the
character and influence of sin. Such a view would
REPENTANCE 195
lead him to despair but for the fact that he has
been brought to an apprehension of the mercy of
God in Christ Jesus. You may see the contrast
between the effect of sin in one who has never
caught a view of the mercy of God in Christ and
the effect on one who hath seen this vision, in the
cases of Judas and Peter. Judas had a deep sense
of the guilt and danger of sin without a glimpse
of the infinite mercy of God, and so keen Avere the
stings of remorse that he sought refuge in the grave
of a suicide. He went and hung himself and went
to his own place. Peter, on the other hand, had
both a deep sense of sin and a clear view of the
mercy of God, and therefore his heart was over-
whelmed with sorrow and yet melted to tenderness
and moved to tinist. Hence he went out and wept
bitterly ; but when Christ sought to arouse his faith
and love by that searching question, " Simon, son
of Jonas, lovest thou Me.'* " he responded in hum-
ble faith and confession : " Lord, Thou knowest
all things ; Thou knowest that I love Thee." So
must every penitent sinner feel when he remembers
his sinfulness and unworthiness — he must weep
bitterly. So must everyone act who remembers the
mercy of God in Christ Jesus — he must confess
his unworthiness but still trust in Christ as the
only hope of lost sinners.
Another evidence of the change involved in re-
pentance will be grief for sin. Though the sinner
may have the clearest view of the mercy of God
and the surest ground of pardon and acceptance
196 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
through the merit of Christ, yet he will still grieve
over the fact that he has sinned against the good-
ness and mercy of a tender heavenly Father and
helped to cause the suffering and sorrow of the
Savior. Just as a child will sorrow for the wrong
he has done to a kind father or mother, even
though assured that the offense has been forgiven
and the punishment remitted, so the child of God
will grieve over his sins, though they have been
pardoned and he assured of his acceptance before
God. This was the experience of David. Though
God had forgiven him and restored to him His
Spirit, yet he says : " My sin is ever before me."
" Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation and
uphold me with Thy free Spirit." He could not
forget his sin though it had been pardoned, and
could not have that joy he had once known though
he knew that God had been reconciled unto him.
So the thought of the sins which he had committed
will be a source of sorrow to every true penitent,
however clear he may be able to read his title to
mansions in the sky.
Along with this grief for sin there will be a true
and genuine hatred of sin. The man who has been
bitten by a serpent hates it because it injected
poison into his system ; so the man who has been
stained and polluted by the presence of sin will
hate that sin with all of his soul. Paul was no
stranger to the war that was being carried on
within his soul between the forces of good and evil,
between the old and the new man, between the
REPENTANCE 197
principles of sin and holiness. In his distress by
reason of this conflict he cried out : " O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? " Then he looks to Christ and by
faith sees the victory and exclaims : " I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Not only will the penitent be filled with grief
and hatred of sin, but these will lead him to turn
from his sin to God. He will hear and obey the
voice of God as He says, " Let the wicked forsake
his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and
let him return unto the Lord and He will have
mercy upon him, and unto our God for He will
abundantly pardon." He will turn from his worst
enemy to his best friend, from sin to holiness, from
Satan to God. Like the prodigal he will say : " I
will arise and go to my father and say unto him,
' I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and
am no more worthy to be called thy son,' " and
like the prodigal he will arise and come to his
Father and make the confession he had promised
he would make.
Such will be the purpose of his heart and such
the endeavor of his will that the result will be a
" new obedience," new in motive, new in its rule
and new in degree — the obedience of a new heart
earnestly seeking to serve and glorify its Lord
and Redeemer. Heretofore the fear of punishment
may have restrained from sin, now the love of
Christ constrains the heart of the penitent not to
live unto himself but unto Christ who died and rose
198 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
again for his justification. " The goodness of God
leads him to repentance." Such repentance will
bear fruit in the daily life, leading men not only
away from that which is evil, but towards that
which is holy and just and good. Such repentance
God will bestow upon all who confess their sins and
look for mercy through Jesus Christ.
As God stands ready to grant this grace, so
should man be ready to' exercise it in his daily life.
This he should do because God commands it. His
right to issue such a command none can gainsay.
He has this right by creation, for it was by His
wisdom and power that all men were made.
" Have we not all one Father, hath not one God
created us.'' " Yea, " He is the father of our spir-
its and the framer of our bodies." He has this
right by preservation, for " in Him we live and
move and have our being." He has this right by
redemption, for He alone hath the power and wis-
dom to form a plan by which we can be pardoned
and saved, and He only has the right to deter-
mine the terms on which sinners may be received
back into His favor ; and He hath declared that
except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. He
has the right because He only can give the power
and the grace to enable man to obey the command.
It would have been mockery for anyone save the
divine Savior to have commanded the man with the
withered hand to stretch it forth, but since along
with His command there could and did go forth
the power enabling the man to obey, it was a com-
REPENTANCE 199
mand of love and mercy which restored the man's
hand whole like the other. So will it be with the
command to repent. God will give the ability
and willingness to repent, and the sinner will be
restored to his Father's home and have given unto
him a right and title to the blessings which he had
forfeited by his sin. Hence it is that God sends
out this royal proclamation to men everywhere to
repent and turn to God for salvation.
Another reason why you should turn back to
God in true repentance is found in the fact that
sin leads to ruin. It leads away from God, the
source of all good. It leads away from light and
holiness into darkness and spiritual death. " Sin,
when it is finished, bringeth forth death." Who
can measure all of the meaning wrapped up in that
terrible word death? It means separation from
the love and favor of God, which we call spiritual
death. It means separation of the soul from the
body, which we call physical death. It means final
and eternal separation from the love and favor of
God, which we call eternal death. It means the
infliction of all of the penalty due to sin — all of
the sorrow and remorse and suffering which shall
be known in the other world, which we call the sec-
ond death. It is towards all of this evil the soul is
tending when it is going in the way of sin. As,
therefore, a man loves his own soul, he should turn
from his evil ways that he may live.
On the other hand, repentance leads to salvation
and to all of the blessings which are included in
200 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
that tenii. It leads to Him who will pardon and
forgive all of his sins. It will lead to Him who
can cleanse him from his sins. It leads into the
family of God and into the possession of all of the
rights and privileges of the children of the King
of Kings and Lord of Lords. It leads in the way
of peace and joy and happiness. It leads safely
through the valley of the shadow of death up to
" the presence of God, where there is fulness of
joy, and to His right hand, where there are pleas-
ures forevermore."
Then, again, the welfare of others should cause
you to repent. Sin cannot be confined in its effects
and influence to the person who commits it. Like
an inherited disease its taint is transmitted from
father to son, and like a contagious disease it
spreads to those who come in contact with it. The
man, therefore, who continues to commit sin does
so not only in opposition to his own best interests,
but in disregard to the welfare of his children and
neighbors. No one but God can reckon the far-
reaching influence of a single sin. Who, then, but
God can measure the sum of all of the evil influ-
ences set in operation by a life of sin in the
world.'* "Stand in awe and sin not." "Fools
make a mock at sin." As you would shield your
children and neighbors from the contagion of sin,
hate it, avoid it. Turn from it unto God.
Gratitude, too, should prompt you to look unto
God for salvation from sin. God, at a great cost,
has provided for you a great redemption. Infinite
REPENTANCE 201
love hath spread for you the great gospel feast
and the invitation hath been sent to you, bidding
you come and enjoy its privileges and blessings.
Will you not accept that invitation? A way of es-
cape from sin and all of its evils has been effected
by the love and sacrifices of the Savior. Will
you not escape by that way? To fail to do so
would be to become guilty of base ingratitude to
the God of all mercy and to the Savior of lost sin-
ners.
The longer you delay repentance, the more diffi-
cult will be your return to God. The farther
away you go from God and holiness, the longer
the way back. The longer you indulge in sin,
the stronger becomes the habit of sin and the
weaker to resist its power you become. The
longer you live out of Christ, the greater the dan-
ger that you will never flee for refuge to lay hold
upon the hope set before you in the gospel. The
longer you trifle with the offers of mercy and
with the wooings of the Spirit, the greater the
danger that you may reach the limit of God's
forbearance and die in your sins without God and
without hope. " How shall we escape if we neg-
lect so great salvation? "
Then remember that we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ to render an account
of the deeds done in the body. " God hath ap-
pointed a day in the which He will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom He hath or-
dained." Then an account must be given, not
202 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
only of every secret thing whether it be good or
evil, but also of all of the opportunities we have
had and slighted, of all of the invitations we have
rejected, of all of the warnings we have disre-
garded and of all of the good influences we have
resisted. Then must we answer for all of our fail-
ures to do the good we might have done and for
all of the evil influences we have wielded over oth-
ers. They will meet us there and serve as wit-
nesses against us in that final day of trial. Who
then Avill be our friend and advocate unless we
repent of our sins and turn to Christ for salva-
tion.'' Repent now and believe the gospel before
it is too late !
CHAPTER XVIII
FAITH
The question which springs up in the mind of
everyone who becomes interested in his spiritual
welfare is this: How can I enter into the enjoy-
ment of the blessings of salvation? How can I
secure the pardon of my sins and enjoy the love
and favor of God? How can I be delivered from
the power and pollution of sin and have restored
to my soul the image of God? How can I secure
a title to heaven and to all of its blessings and
joys, its honors and rewards? Since Christ has
come to be the savior of sinners and since I am a
sinner, how may I obtain an interest in His re-
demption? " What must I do to be saved? "
This is the question of all others most impor-
tant to the penitent soul. This is a question
which the wisest philosophers of earth have never
been able to answer; a question for an answer to
which the angels of heaven made diligent inquiry ;
a question that involves in its solution the destiny
of the entire race of man ; a question that required
the wisdom of the Godhead to solve. The answer
was given when Christ said, in answer to the ques-
tion, " Who will go and whom shall we send? "
203
204. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
" Lo, I come ; in the volume of the book it is writ-
ten of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O God. "
The answer was given when the angel announced
the birth of one who should save His people from
their sins : " Behold I bring you good tidings of
great joy which shall be unto all people; for unto
you is born this day in the city of David a Savior
which is Christ the Lord." The answer was given
more directly when Paul said to the jailer: " Be-
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ and Thou shalt
be saved." If we can understand this answer,
then we shall have clear and correct views as to
the way of life and the plan of salvation. This
answer implies that, by reason of his sin, man is
lost — is condemned and defiled by sin and liable
to all of the penalty involved in the threat of
death to those who disobeyed the command of God.
It implies that Christ and Christ alone is able
and willing to deliver man from that condition of
sin and misery, and bring him into a state of
pardon and acceptance before God. And it fur-
ther implies that, in order to this rescue and in
order to the enjoyment of the blessings of salva-
tion, faith must be exercised on the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is to this last statement that attention
is to be mainly directed in this chapter.
That man is sinful and lost and that Christ is
a Savior able and willing to save from sin has al-
ready been shown. It has been shown that these
statements are taught most clearly in the Word
of God and that they are pretty generally ac-
FAITH 205
cepted as true among men. It is true that men
do not have that deep sense of the greatness and
guilt of sin which they should have and that they
have not that high estimate of the worth and
Avorthiness of Christ and of the absolute necessity
of His work that they should. Still most men
in Christian lands do admit that they are sin-
ners and that they need a Savior and that Christ
is the very Savior they need. But many of these
are not ready to receive and act upon the third
truth implied in this answer to the question,
"What must I do to be saved.''" viz. that faith
must be exercised before sin can be escaped and
the blessings of salvation enjoyed.
To know that you are lost and that Christ is a
Savior will not profit unless He be accepted and
tnjsted as a Savior able and willing to pardon
and cleanse and save by virtue of what He did
and suffered in the sinner's stead. You must
" believe on the Lord Jesus Christ " in order to
be saved.
What, then, is it to have faith or to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ.'' The word faith, in its
most general sense, has been defined as " assent to
truth upon the presentation of appropriate evi-
dence." For example, let it be stated that a bat-
tle took place at a certain time and place. At
first the report may not be credited, but let suffi-
cient and appropriate evidence be furnished —
let a courier come from the field of battle bearing
a dispatch from the commanding general stating
206 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
that the battle had been fought, and let the char-
acter of the witness be reliable — and the news
will be received as true because sufficient and ap-
propriate evidence has been presented. Faith is
reposed in, assent is given to, the statement be-
cause it is accompanied with convincing evidence.
It is evident that this faith in its effect and in-
fluence will vary according to the evidence pre-
sented and according to the nature of that about
which the testimony is given. If the truth at-
tested be some fact or law in the physical world,
while we may give our full assent to its truth, it
will not move our moral nature. We may be led
to believe, on good and sufficient evidence, that all
bodies gravitate toward the centre of the earth
and feel no emotion of joy or sorrow. But let it
be certified to us that an innocent child hath been
beaten or murdered, and at once every right-think-
ing man will feel that gross wrong hath been
done and that the criminal should be punished.
Our moral nature is here brought into active ex-
ercise. If the witness be reliable and the evidence
clear and positive, then our conviction of the
thing asserted will be complete. In the realm of
religion it is God — speaking in His Word —
whom you are to believe touching all that He
teaches you concerning your ruin in Adam and
your salvation through Christ. Some, indeed,
have supposed that faith is only rational assent
to the truth of the Bible, founded upon appropri-
ate evidence. They view through the testimony
FAITH 207
of others the miracles which were wrought in at-
testation of the claims of those who came to re-
veal the will of God, and conclude that the Book
must be from God. They study the wonderful
predictions recorded in the Bible and their re-
markable fulfillment recorded in history, and see
how perfect and complete is the fulfillment, and
confess that this Book could not have been the
product of human ingenuity. They study the
Book itself and find how consistent it is in all of
its parts, how accurate in all of its statements of
the history and customs of the people mentioned,
and how sublime its moral teachings, and how
completely it describes the sins and the needs of
the human soul and sets forth the provision God
hath revealed for meeting and relieving these
needs, and thence conclude that its writers were
correct in holding that they " spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost " — that God spake
through them to man. Upon these and other evi-
dences they receive the Bible as true and as from
God. This they call faith. And it is historical
faith, but it is not saving faith. Hundreds of
persons have believed all of this and yet remained
" in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of in-
iquity." The devils are said to " believe and
tremble." They doubtless believe with the intel-
lect every truth God hath revealed to them, and
yet they hate God and do all in their power
against His kingdom and against Christ, His
anointed Son. There must be more than a mere
J208 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
intellectual assent to the truth revealed in the
Bible. There must be an affectionate receiving
of Christ as He is revealed to us in the gospel.
The entire soul believes and trusts in Him as the
Savior of sinners. The mind sees Him to be the
truth ; the heart fastens its affections on Him as
one worthy of its love and confidence ; and the
will trusts in His person and work for salvation.
Hence faith has been well defined as " a saving
grace whereby we receive and rest upon Christ
alone for salvation as He is offered to us in the
gospel." The soul receives Christ as a Savior and
rests upon His word and work alone for salvation.
It depends upon His suffering, obedience, death
and resurrection as its only hope of pardon and
acceptance before God. It is the soul's receiving
Christ and looking for salvation only for the sake
of what Christ is and has done for its salvation.
It has been well said that such faith is the " hinge
on which our salvation turns, that it is the eye
that looks to Christ, the foot that goes to Him
and the Hand that receives Him." Faith is made
up of two elements — confidence and trust. We
must be thoroughly convinced that Christ is every
way worthy of our confidence — that He is both
able and willing to pardon and save; that He
loved us and gave Himself for us ; that He suf-
fered and died, the just for the unjust, that He
might bring us to God ; that He did and suffered
all that God required in order to our salvation ;
and that He gained the victory over all of our
FAITH 209
spiritual enemies ; that He rose from the grave
and that He ascended to heaven, there to inter-
cede in our behalf; that for His sake God will
freely and fully pardon and save all who accept
Him as their Savior; that if we thus receive and
depend upon Him for salvation, God will save us.
This describes the first element of faith — your
confidence that He can and will do all He promises
in order to your salvation.
But we are not only to believe that Christ will
save us if we accept Him ; we must actually receive
and trust Him for salvation. We must exercise
our faith in Him by trusting in Him for salva-
tion. You might know a man of such integrity
of character and such skill in business that you
would be willing to place in his care and keeping
your most valuable worldly possession — your
gold and silver, your name and children ; that
would be one element of your faith in such a man.
Then you might have occasion to exercise that
faith by actually entrusting to his keeping such
possessions. So we must not only believe that
Christ is able and willing to save us, but we must
actually receive and rest upon Him alone for sal-
vation as He is oflTered to us in the gospel. There
we find Him offered to us as a prophet to show
us the way of life. We must humbly consent to
be led and taught and guided by Him. He is
presented to us as the only priest who can lay
upon God's altar a sacrifice sufl^cient to atone for
our sins and to plead our cause before His Father
210 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
in heaven. We must confess to Him our sins and
ask Him to plead in our behalf the merit of His
own suffering and death. He is revealed to us as
our King to command and to protect us. We
must submit to His authority and place ourselves
under His care and keeping, and tinist in Him
to give us the final victory over all of our spirit-
ual enemies and to bring us at last into His king-
dom of glory in heaven. He is made known to us
for the purpose of saving us from the guilt and
power and pollution of sin. We must take Him
to be our Savior that He may work this salvation
for and in us so that at last we may be satisfied
when we awake with His likeness.
Christ, then, is the direct object of our faith,
and salvation from sin the great blessing which
we are to receive through Him. It is true we are
to receive and confide in the entire revelation
which God hath made in His Word, but the more
immediate and specific object of our faith is the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is only through Him that
salvation comes to sinners, for it is written,
" Other foundation can no man lay than that
which is laid, which is Christ Jesus." And " No
man cometh unto the Father but by Me." " He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:
and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see
life; but the wrath of God abideth upon him."
(John 3: 36.) " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved."
The result of believing on Christ will be salva-
FAITH 211
tion in Its broadest, richest and fullest meaning.
We can never know the full value of salvation ex-
cept as we are made to see and feel the evil and
danger of sin. It was by sin that we lost com-
munion with God. While man bore God's like-
ness there was perfect harmony between God and
man, but when he sinned he sought to hide himself
from God and God banished him from His pres-
ence that he might be made to feel the evil of
having departed from the living God, the source of
all good and happiness. Through the salvation
brought by Christ we who were afar off, " with-
out God and without hope in the world," are
made nigh by the blood of the everlasting cov-
enant. We who were strangers are made fellow-
citizens in the kingdom of God. We who were
thirsty are led back to the fountains of living wa-
ters that flow from the throne of God. We who
had wandered from the fold are sought and found
by the good Shepherd and brought back to the
fold. We who had been alienated from God by
sin are rescued and restored to communion with
Him through Jesus Christ our Lord. Not only
did man lose communion with God but his heart
became defiled by sin ; his mind was henceforth
blinded to the beauty of holiness, and his will per-
verted Into habits of sin and wickedness. With-
out divine aid he can never hope to bear the image
of God which was lost in the fall. It was to ac-
complish man's deliverance from sin and his res-
toration to holiness that Christ came. " This Is
212 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sin-
ners." " Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for He
shall save His people from their sins." Salvation
restores holiness to the soul of man and thus
brings him back into harmony with God. The
evils which accompany man in his sinful condition
are manifold. The wrath of God abides upon
him. The guilt of sin goes with him wherever he
goes. The death of sin seizes upon his body and
soul, manifesting itself in physical pain and sick-
ness and death and in mental suffering — care,
sorrow and remorse. And all of these are but
forerunners of evils far worse which are to over-
take him in the world to come. From all of these
Christ comes to rescue man by breaking the fet-
ters of sin, by destroying the works of the devil
and by translating man into the glorious light
and liberty of the sons of God.
From the loss of communion with God, from
His wrath and curse, from the guilt and power and
pollution of sin, from its terrible effects upon
body, mind and soul, both in this world and in that
which is to come, we may all find deliverance if we
will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only
so, but through Him we shall be brought into all
of the privileges and blessings of the redeemed in
heaven. How reasonable, then, the command,
" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved ! " He is infinitely worthy of your trust.
He has all of those qualities which should com-
FAITH 213
mend Him to your love and confidence. He has
all knowledge, so that He knows perfectly all of
your needs, all of your sins and of your enemies,
all of your temptations. He has infinite power
and resources, so that He can do all that needs
to be done in order to your salvation. He has
infinite love and compassion, prompting Him to
give to you just that which you need to bring you
back to God and heaven. He is divine so that
He can represent your cause within the court of
heaven. He is human so that He can sympathize
with you in all of your trials and sorrows and
temptations. He has already atoned for your
sins, conquered your enemies and entered within
the holy of holies to plead your cause before His
Father's throne. He invites your confidence and
trust, and He deserves your trust and love and
obedience.
Then, too, you need just such a Friend and
Savior. In your ignorance you need His guid-
ance, in your weakness you need His help, in your
guilt you need His mercy, and in your lost condi-
tion you need His salvation.
If you would not only be saved, but be the
means of saving your children, your friends and
your neighbors, you must take Christ to be your
Savior. You cannot hope to lead others to love
and trust the Savior unless you are willing to love
and trust Him yourself. Like Andrew, you must
first find and trust Jesus yourself and then may
you hope to lead others to Jesus.
214 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Then if you do not trust in Christ, there is left
absolutely no other foundation on which you may
rest your hope of salvation. " There is none
other name, under heaven, given among men
whereby we must be saved, neither is there salva-
tion in any other." As, therefore, you would es-
cape the doom of the lost, as you would be the
means of saving others from spiritual and eternal
death, as you would have the wants and longings
of your own soul met and supplied, and as you
would find some one worthy of your love and con-
fidence, look to the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in
Him alone for salvation. " Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."
CHAPTER XIX
WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN?
In order to be a Christian, and especially to be
an efficient Christian, it is important to have a
clear and distinct knowledge of what it is to be a
Christian.
In general terms, a Christian is one who ac-
cepts the teaching of Christ, trusts in the person
of Christ, imbibes the spirit of Christ, partakes of
His grace, and seeks to obey His commands and
imitate His example.
It is not wise nor necessary to wait until you
understand all that Christ taught before becoming
a Christian, but it is essential that you have a
knowledge of the plan by which Christ saves from
sin. You must understand that you were guilty
and condemned and lost by reason of your sin,
but that Christ, in love and compassion, took your
place under the law and did and suffered all that
was required of you, and that for the sake of His
work, suffering, death and resurrection, all of
your sins may be pardoned and you may be re-
ceived back into the love and favor of God, be
cleansed from sin and be brought at last into all
of the blessings and privileges of Heaven. This
215
216 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
much must be understood by everyone who hopes
to be saved. He must at least understand that he
is a sinner and that Christ is a Savior from sin.
Then, in order to get the benefit of Christ's
work, it is necessary that a man accept Christ as
His Savior, that he receive and rest upon Him
alone for salvation as He is offered in the gospel.
Then, too, he must catch the spirit of Christ, and
experience something of the grace of Christ in
his soul. Then it will be his earnest desire and
effort to do the will of Christ and to imitate His
example. This obedience and this imitation will
not be perfect, but they will be real and sincere.
His nature having been renewed by the power of the
Holy Spirit, he will seek to walk in newness of life
and to do those things which are pleasing in the
sight of Him whom his soul loves and adores.
Hence, growing out of this definition, we may dis-
cover certain specific elements which go to make
up every genuine Christian. For one thing, he
will come to have a real sense of sin and such an
appreciation of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus
that he will hate and forsake his sins and flee to
God for mercy and pardon. God's direction to
those who would receive His mercy is, " Let the
wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man
his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord and
He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for
He will abundantly pardon." The message of
John the Baptist was, " Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand " ; and this was the message
WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN? 217
of Christ Himself: "Except ye repent, ye shall
all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3.) The sinner
must come to Him with such sorrow for sin and
such a vision of God's mercy as will both prompt
and encourage him to turn away from his sins and
seek pardon and acceptance at the hands of the
God of all mercy and grace. The man who does
not thus repent of his sins and look to God for
mercy has not yet taken the first step in the Chris-
tian life.
Again, the Christian is one who trusts in Christ
alone for salvation. He has found out that he
can never earn salvation by anything which he
can do, that he can never atone for his sins which
have been committed in the past, nor ever keep the
law perfectly in the future, and that therefore he
must look outside of himself to some one higher and
holier and more perfect than himself for salvation.
When almost in despair lest he may never find a
way of escape, Christ is revealed to him in the
gospel as one both able and willing to do for him
that which he could not do for himself. He sees
that Christ has obeyed the law perfectly, that He
has paid its penalty fully, and that pardon is of-
fered to him through His merit. He reads and
believes such passages as these : " He died, the
just for the unjust, that He might bring us to
God " ; " He that believeth on Me hath everlasting
life " ; " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved." He believes these assurances, he
trusts in Christ, to whom they direct him, and
218 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
finds peace and pardon and salvation. . . . He
gladly rests his all on the word and promise and
work and person of Christ the Savior of sinners.
His change of view as to sin and Christ is the
direct result of the work of the Holy Spirit.
" To as many as received Him, to them gave He
power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name which are born not of
blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of
man, but of God." (John 1:12-13.) It is by
the Spirit of God that the sinner is born again,
quickened and raised up and made to sit in heav-
enly places in Christ Jesus. His mind is en-
lightened, his heart changed, his will renewed and
his whole soul so renovated that henceforth he has
a new nature, the distinctive feature of which is
holiness, not perfect but prevalent.
The soul, thus renewed, will have something of
the spirit of Christ because the grace of Christ
has been imparted unto it and the love of Christ
shed abroad in it under the power and influence
of the Holy Spirit. Thus he will be influenced
and constrained not to live unto himself but unto
Christ who died and rose again for his justifica-
tion. Hence he will earnestly strive to obey every
known command of Christ, his new Lord and Mas-
ter, and will seek to imitate the example of Him
who came to rescue him from sin and death.
It has been objected that it is unreasonable to
expect man to imitate the example of Him who
was " holy, harmless and undefiled and separate
WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN? 219
from sinners and made higher than the heavens."
Of course it is not required of the Christian that
he imitate the example of Christ perfectly, nor
that he imitate those divine acts by which Christ
was distinguished as divine. Man cannot be ex-
pected to exercise divine power nor take to himself
divine prerogatives. He is not required nor ex-
pected to perform miracles nor to pardon sins.
But he can imitate those human traits and actions
which rendered Jesus so beautiful in His character
and so lovely in His life. Even these actions
cannot be imitated perfectly by imperfect, sinful
man, but they may be imitated sincerely though
imperfectly. The little child can copy the writ-
ing of the teacher, though his effort be far short
of a perfect imitation. We may follow in the
footsteps of Jesus, though we follow afar off.
In this sense we may imitate all of those merely
human traits and actions which were revealed to
us in the life and character of Christ. As Christ
loved God and man, so may each of His followers
cultivate in his heart love to God, who so loved
him as to give His only Son to suffer and die for
him, and to his fellowmen who are bound to him by
common hopes and needs and salvation. As
Christ was gentle and kind and tender and good in
His feelings and conduct towards the poor and
sinful and needy, so should they be who claim to
have caught His spirit and who seek to extend the
blessings of His gospel to others. As Christ
forgave His enemies and prayed for those who did
220 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Him Avrong, so may His disciples learn to do ac-
cording to His plain and positive command,
" Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you and pray for them
that despitefully use you and persecute you that
you may be the children of your Father which is
in heaven ; for He maketh His sun to rise on the
evil and on the good, and sendeth his rain on the
just and on the unjust." As Christ was honest
and honorable and upright in all the relations of
life, so should be all those who seek to walk in
His footsteps. As Christ was accustomed to wor-
ship and pray and serve, so should each of His
disciples seek to do.
There are many and strong reasons why we
should become Christians. God commands it.
When He brought His Son into the world He said
to men, " This is My beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased. Hear ye him." He commands and
enjoins upon us each and every element that en-
ters into the Christian character. He bids us
forsake sin and put on the Lord Jesus. He
teaches us that we must have the spirit of Christ
and receive His grace into our hearts. He di-
rects us to obey His commands and imitate His
example. This duty is laid upon our hearts and
consciences by the highest authority. To re-
ceive and rest upon Christ for salvation, to obey
His commands and to imitate His example is to
comply with the will of our God. To refuse to
become a Christian is to reject the highest author-
WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN? 221
ity, refuse the gift of God's love, and disobey
His most positive command. As we would be
loyal and obedient unto God we must accept His
Son and seek salvation through His merit.
We should accept salvation through Christ be-
cause there is no other way. If there were several
mediators and several plans of salvation equally
good, we might reject one and take another; but
when God has clearly revealed to us that there is
but one mediator and but one way of life, we ought
to accept promptly Christ as our Savior and sal-
vation through Him as our way to life eternal.
It is expressly declared in the Word of God that
" other foundation can no man lay than that
which is laid, which is Jesus Christ " ; that " no
man cometh unto the Father but by Me " ; and
that " neither is there salvation in any other : for
there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved." (Acta
4:12.)
By becoming Christians we can best serve our
fellowmen. The spirit of Christianity is such
that it has done more to bless and regenerate the
world than all other systems. It holds up to man
a higher standard and ideal, and prompts him to
put forth the most earnest efforts to improve and
develop himself that thus he may become the
most efficient workman in the service of God and
his fellowmen. It binds upon him the duty of
seeking the highest good of his neighbor, and
holds out to him the highest and richest rewards
222 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
for his service, both in this life and in that which
is to come. It teaches him to be " diligent in busi-
ness, fen^ent in spirit, serving the Lord." The
moment a man submits to the authority of the
Lord, He sends him forth into the vineyard to
work. He teaches him to do " good unto all men
as he has opportunity." He sends him forth to
fight the battles of the right against the wrong.
He bids him " go home and tell what great things
the Lord hath done for thee and how He hath
had mercy on thy soul." He commissions him to
" go into all the world and preach the gospel to
every creature."
To become a Christian one becomes an heir of
God, " to an inheritance incorruptible, undefilcd
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
you who are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the
last day." Who can measure the value of such an
inheritance? Who can measure the riches and
honors of such a kingdom.'* To be a child of God
is to have the protection of God thrown round
you, to have His guidance. His love and His help
in every time of need. Who can tell the glory,
the honor and iiinnortality and eternal life laid
up for those who put their trust in Him.'*
" Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which
God hath prepared for them that love Him."
We know not what Ave ^hall be, " but we know
that when He appeareth we shall be like Him for
WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN? 223
we shall see Him as He is." We feel assured that
whatever He may prepare for His people will be
worthy of His own glorious nature, suited to the
wants of His people and sufficient to keep them
from all spiritual want. " They shall hunger no
more, neither shall they thirst any more, for the
Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed
them and shall lead them unto fountains of living
water ; and God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes."
By becoming Christians we can best glorify
God. We are taught that " he that honoreth the
Son honoreth the Father," and that by letting
our Christian light shine we " glorify our Father
which is in heaven." In proportion as we obey
the command of Christ, seek the salvation of our
souls and the spiritual welfare of our fellowmen,
will we show forth the praises of Him who hath
called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Each believer becomes a monument to the wisdom
and power and goodness of God. Each act of
service rendered to God or man serves to illus-
trate the grace of God and displays His good-
ness, love and mercy. While we cannot add any-
thing to the essential glory of God and while we
cannot make any brighter the brightness of the
glor}' of His Son, we can at least let that glory
shine into our hearts and through our lives and
thus increase the size of the circle in which the
rays of His declarative glory shine, and the num-
ber of those who shall behold and admire that
224 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
glory. Thus we shall best illustrate the power
and goodness and glory of God in our own lives,
and best win others who shall show forth His
praise. As, therefore, you would be true to your-
self, to your fellowmen and to your God, become
a Christian without further delay. Enlist in His
service and work for the advancement of His
cause. If you are already a Christian, become an
earnest, consecrated follower of Christ that j'ou
may secure the highest good for your own soul,
best promote the welfare of your fellowmen and
the glory of the Lord God of your salvation.
CHAPTER XX
THE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION
The friends of Job assumed that the only ex-
planation of his afflictions was that he had been
guilty of some great sin. Bildad, among others,
took this position and asserted that Job had talked
too much and had claimed too much as to his
relation to God and as to his service to God. To
this charge Job made no reply. Then Bildad still
further asserted that God would not " pervert
justice nor cast off the perfect man." To this
position Job assents, but raises the question as
to where such a man could be found, and the fur-
ther question, following the failure to find such a
man, as to how should sinful man be just with
God. No more important question could be pro-
posed. It is a question of pardon and acceptance
before God. It is a question of deliverance from
the penalty of sin and of restoration to the favor
of God. It is a question of acquittal before the
bar of God's justice. It is a question of salvation.
It is a question of the possession of a title to the
heavenly inheritance and so of our right and title
to all of the privileges and blessings of heaven.-
What, then, is it to be just with God.? What
225
226 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
is justification? It is the opposite of condemna-
tion. To be condemned is to be declared guilty.
It is to be declared liable to the penalty of the
law. It is the assertion by proper authority that
because the law has been violated the offender
must be punished according to the provision of
the law. To be justified, then, would be to be de-
clared not guilty. It is to be declared not liable
to the penalty of the law. It is the assertion by
proper authority that because the demands of the
law have been satisfied the sinner who accepts that
satisfaction shall not be punished. ■ It includes
all this and more, for it provides not only that the
sinner shall not be punished, but shall be par-
doned and received back into the favor of God.
In language with which most of you are familiar,
" justification is an act of God's free grace,
wherein He pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth
us as righteous in His sight, only for the right-
eousness of Christ imputed to us, and received
by faith alone." It would be interesting to dwell
upon each element of this definition, noting that it
is an act of God alone, that it springs from His
free and sovereign grace, that it covers the for-
giveness of all of our sins, that it restores us to a
position of righteousness and favor before God,
and that this blessing is bestowed upon us only
for the sake of what the Savior did on our behalf.
It is probably more important to dwell upon this
last element of the definition than any of the
others, both because it relates to the very
METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION 227
foundation of our salvation and because it has
been so misrepresented and misunderstood by
those who would teach men what is the real ground
of their pardon and acceptance with God.
Some have found this ground in the general
mercy of God apart from the atonement of
Christ. While it is readily admitted that to find
the source of our salvation we must go back to
the love of God, it should not be overlooked that
it is to that love expressed through the channel of
the death of God's beloved Son in the sinner's
room and stead. " In this was manifested the
love of God toward us, because that God
sent His only begotten Son into the world, that
we might live through Him."-^(I John 4?: 9.)
The idea that God would exercise that mercy
towards guilty and sinful man without any satis-
faction to the law overlooks the fact that God
has other attributes which must be maintained
just as carefully as mercy. His holiness, which
impels Him to punish sin by forever barring it
from His presence, must be kept unspotted. His
justice, which prompts Him to render unto every
man according to his deeds, must be kept untar-
nished ; and His truth, which renders it certain
that He will do all that He promises or threatens,
must not be broken. ;" Without holiness no man
shall see the Lord.** ^' Shall not the Judge of all
of the earth do right.? " " My covenant will I not
break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my
lips." (Psalms 89:34.) He threatened to pun-
228 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
ish sin with death, and with death He hath and
will punish sin. To fail to do so would be to vio-
late His truth and holiness and justice. Hence
you cannot look for pardon and acceptance merely
from the general mercy of God.
Others have sought a ground of justification in
good works which man can do. They hold that
the evil which man has done may be counterbal-
anced by the good deeds which he may subse-
quently render before God. This class is repre-
sented by the young man who came to Christ, ask-
ing Him, " Good master, what good thing shall I
do that I may have eternal life ? " and who, when
referred to the commandments, claimed to have
kept them all from his youth up. The Savior
pointed out to him the fatal defect in his obedi-
ence when he revealed to him his unwillingness
to give up his worldly possessions for the sake of
the kingdom of heaven. The trouble with this
theory is that the good deeds presented do not
come up to the requirements of the law. This
is God's law. It is perfect like its Author. It
requires perfect obedience in every thought and
feeling and word and deed at every moment of life.
Only such obedience can win the favor of God and
secure the salvation of the soul. But no ' mere
man ever hath or can present such obedience. All
come short in some respects. " There is not a
just man on earth that doeth good and sinneth
not." But if he sin, his obedience is not perfect
and hence cannot stand the test of the law. No
METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION 229
man has ever done the best he could, and if he did
the best he could, it would not be good enough to
meet the demands of the law. Besides, " God re-
quireth that which is past." Suppose a man
could begin today and live a perfect life till the
day of his death. Would that settle the claims of
the law for the past? (^ Suppose you were in debt
to a merchant one hundred dollars for goods
bought in the past, and that you were to propose
to settle your account by paying cash for all pur-
chases made from this day on till the end.
Would such a proposition be accepted? Would
not the merchant answer, " What about your old
account? How do you propose to settle that?"
So " God requireth that which is past." How will
you settle the old disobedience by your proposed
future obedience? This God declares to be im-
possible for " by the deeds of the law shall no
flesh living be justified, for by the law is the knowl-
edge of sin." ) The law was never intended to
atone for sin. It warns against sin. It reveals
sin and threatens sin with the merited punish-
ment, but makes no provision for the pardon of
sin. (The carpenter's square does not make the
crooked timber straight, ) It only makes plain the
uneven places. So it is with the law. j It shows
the extent of our deviation from the , obedience
which God requires.
Still others have thought to commend them-
selves to God and secure pardon at His hands
by penance and sorrow. By performing some
230 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
painful work imposed by the Church and by deep
sorrow and mortification of the flesh they hope to
satisfy justice for sins committed after baptism.
Such a means of satisfaction finds no authority
in the Word of God. It dishonors the atonement
of Christ and offers the discharge of one duty as
a satisfaction for the neglect of another. The
infliction of pain on the body can never atone for
the sin of the soul which uses the body as its in-
strument of sin. Sorrow, so far from being a
satisfaction for sin, is an acknowledgment of sin.
Why be sorry if you have not sinned.'' Sorrow
may lead one to go out and hang himself and thus
become guilty of self-murder. Neither sorrow
nor bodily pain can ever satisfy the law of God
for the sin of the soul. They are only forms of
works ; they are confession of sin and they are
the eff'orts of sinful men and must, therefore, fall
short of satisfaction to God's holy and perfect law.
Some, taking faith from its position as the in-
strumental cause of salvation, have assigned to it
the merit of the meritorious cause. Instead of
viewing it as the hand by which the blessings of
pardon and salvation are received, they claim for
it a purchasing power by which it secures for those
who exercise it the pardon and favor of God.
The fatal objection to this theory is that faith is
represented as the gift of God and as the means
by which, rather than the cause on account of
which, we secure salvation. " By grace ye are
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves ;
METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION 231
■ y' ■
it is the gift of God." If it be the gift of God, it
cannot be that which purchaseth salvation from
God. Faith does not earn salvation; it simply
accepts the redemption which Christ purchased
and bestowed upon man as a free gift. " The au-
thor and finisher of our faith " is God and not
ourselves.
Some have supposed that man shall be restored
to the favor of God by long and severe punish-
ment in the other world. Such persons forget
that punishment does not purify. It may serve to
vindicate justice and to deter men from sin, but
it has no power either to secure pardon or to
cleanse the heart. On the contrary, it frequently
has the effect of hardening the heart and arousing
a spirit of revenge. Then, too, death has no
power to change the moral character of the sin-
ner. If he dies in his sin, he will go into eternity
with a sinful nature. He will thus go beyond
all the restraining influences of home and church
and state and the Spirit. If his life here, under
circumstances so favorable to holiness, failed to
incline him to turn to God and live, what hope
can there be that amid the unhallowed influences
of the world of lost spirits he will bring forth
fruits meet for repentance? What hope that the
sorrow and suffering which he shall experience
there will tend to soften and purify his heart or
appease the wrath of God? There he will not
only be beyond the bounds of all the good influ-
ences which were thrown around him in this world,
232 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
but amid the most degrading influences of the
abode of the lost from among angels and men.
There Satan, the arch enemy of God and man, has
his habitation and exercises his rule and dominion.
There thousands of his demons stand ready to do
his bidding. And there many wicked men " with-
out God and without hope " are bound to exert
an influence far from favorable to repentance and
faith and obedience. So far from hoping that
men may there cease from sinning, the probability
is that they will sink deeper and deeper into" sin.
They dwell in the very home of sin, and are sur-
rounded with its most determined advocates. As
long as they sin they must be punished. This
punishment is not to be a limited one, but, accord-
ing to the teaching of the only Savior whom God
hath revealed, " eternal " and " everlasting." So
that the door of mercy is forever closed there and
between that lone world of despair and the heaven
to which they refused to go, " there is a great
gulf fixed so that they who would pass from hence
cannot, neither can they pass to us that would
come from thence." (Luke 16: 26.)^
What, then, is the true and only ground upon
which the penitent sinner can base a hope of being
pardoned and received back into the favor of
God.'' The only Scriptural answer is that it is
the righteousness of Christ. It was this that
gave Paul confidence in the power of this gospel
as he went to preach it in the great and wicked
city of Rome. He said : " I am not ashamed of
METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION 233
the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth ; for
therein is revealed the righteousness of Christ."
That righteousness is made up of all that Christ
did and suffered in our stead. It consists of His
perfect obedience to the precepts of the law, and
His suffering and sorrow and death in behalf of
sinners. Hence it is written : " Christ is the end
of the law of righteousness to everyone that be-
lieveth." " Christ hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us." " He
died, the just for the unjust, that He might bring
us to God." Hence He is called " our righteous-
ness," and hence Paul prayed that he might be
" found in Him, not having mine own righteous-
ness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith." (Philippians 3:9.)
If, then, this be the only righteousness through
which our sins can be pardoned and we stand ac-
quitted before the bar of God, we should all seek
promptly and seek earnestly a part in it. This
is the only foundation on which we can build with
confidence for eternity. This is the only wed-
ding garment in which we can enter the palace of
the King and be guests at the marriage supper
of the Lamb. None who have been called into the
kingdom should boast, for their salvation is all
of grace and hence they should ascribe all the
glory and honor of their redemption unto Him
who loved them and gave Himself for them.
CHAPTER XXI
MEMBERSHIP IN THE FAMILY OF GOD
Of all of the disciples of Jesus, the apostle John
seems to have had the best opportunity and the
most intense desire to learn the love of God as re-
vealed in Christ, the Son. From that day on
which he heard the message, " Behold the Lamb of
God which taketh away the sin of the world,"
until the day of his death he followed Jesus that
he might know His character, enjoy His love and
do His will. Early in life he became one of the
twelve friends of Jesus who enjoyed the rare privi-
lege of being under the personal instruction of the
Master for three years, of witnessing His works
of power, hearing His words of wisdom and then
of being sent forth to preach His gospel. Within
this band of friends John and two others were
permitted to be drawn closer to the Savior than
the other disciples. These three alone were with
Him on the Mount of Transfiguration to witness
His glory there; they alone were with Him in the
Garden to see His agony there ; and they alone
were allowed to be with Him when He entered the
chamber of death and raised the daughter of Jai-
rus. Then closer than the other two was John
234
THE FAMILY OF GOD 235
drawn so that he was known as " that disciple
whom Jesus loved." He leaned upon Jesus' bosom
at the Last Supper; to him the Savior told the
awful secret of who should betray Him ; and to
him the Savior commended His mother as He hung
upon the cross. And John outlived all of the
other apostles, so that he had a longer period in
which to know and experience that love. Who,
then, so well qualified to testify as to the love of
God in Christ Jesus .f^
And what is his testimony ? Hear it in his own
words. " Herein is love, not that we loved God
but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a
propitiation for our sins." " Behold what man-
ner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that
we should be called the sons of God." That
which excited the wonder and admiration of the
apostle of love was that God should make provi-
sion to bring guilty and lost sinners into His
family through the gift of His own Son. Men
may be called sons of God as they are creatures
of His power. He is their Father and they are
His children. " Are we not all children of one
Father? Hath not one God created us.'' " In
this sense, too, the angels are spoken of as the
sons of God. " Where wast thou when I laid the
foundation of the earth, when all of the sons of
God shouted for joy.'' "
Individuals and even nations are called the sons
of God because of special privileges bestowed upon
them. For example, when God sent Moses to lead
236 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
the children of Israel out of the land of bondage,
He directed him to say to Pharaoh : " Israel is
my son, even my first born." (Exodus 4: 22.)
Then men are called the sons of God, the chil-
dren of God, when God adopts them into His
family. " When the fulness of time was come,
God sent forth His Son . . . that we might re-
ceive the adoption of sons." (Galatians 4:4.)
" Ye are all children of God by faith in Christ."
The act by which one person receives another into
the room of a child and gives to him all of the
rights and privileges of a son is adoption. This
custom seems to have been practiced among many
nations. Among the Egyptians Moses was
adopted into the family of Pharaoh's daughter
and became her son. Among the Jews, Esther
was adopted into the family of Mordecai and be-
came his daughter. Among the Romans the act
of adoption was made a matter of public concern
and record. A man intending to adopt a child
was required to draw up a paper setting forth
his reasons and secure the consent or approval of
the proper officer. When this was secured, a bill
was introduced into the Assembly to make the
adoption valid. Then the intended father ap-
peared before the proper authority and said to
the child : " Art thou willing to become my son.'' "
And the child, or some one speaking for him, an-
swered: "I am willing." Thus the relation was
established, the child entered the new family, se-
THE FAMILY OF GOD 237
cured the name, became subject to the authority
and was made an heir of the father. It is with
reference to this custom that the sacred writers
speak when they would illustrate the act by which
God receives believers into His family and gives
to them spiritual rights and privileges. " It is an
act of God's free grace whereby we are received
into the number and have a right to all of the
privileges of the sons of God." It flows from
God's love and is according to His gracious pur-
pose.
" But it may be asked if we become the born sons
of God by regeneration, or the new birth, where
is the consistency of our being made the adopted
sons of God ? Where is the propriety of a father
adopting his own child ? Well, the answer is plain
and easy: Regeneration gives us the nature of
a child; adoption gives us the rights of a child.
We must remember that as sinners we lost both
our filial spirit and our filial standing — both the
heart and the status of a child. We need the res-
toration of both. Now regeneration gives us the
nature, the spirit, the temper, the disposition, the
heart of a child, while adoption gives us the rights,
the privileges, the legal standing of a child. If
an earthly father had cast off and disinherited a
bad-hearted child, then the restoration of that
child would require that two things be done; —
(1) that his heart be changed, and (2) that the
decree of disinheritance be annulled and a decree
238 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
of inheritance be entered in his favor. For the
sinner, regeneration docs the one, and adoption
does the other." (Dr. R. A. Webb.)
Concerning the wonderful love of God in ad-
mitting sinful men into this relation, John writes:
" Behold what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God." He seems to feel unable to ex-
press fully his wonder and gratitude at such a
manifestation of love and calls upon us to behold
and admire it. Just as when the angel, who was
sent to announce the birth of the Savior, thought
upon the love of God shown in that event, and
said, " Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great
joy, for unto you is born this day in the city of
David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord," so
when John meditated upon the love of God in
elevating men into His family, he exclaimed, " Be-
hold (mark with attention) what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should
be called the sons of God." Just as when Christ
stilled the tempest the disciples were astonished
and said, " What manner of man is this that even
the Avinds and the sea obey Him," so when John
contemplated the action of God in adopting him-
self and others into His family, he said, " What
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us!"
The magnitude of God's love in receiving us
into His family may be seen by considering the
THE FAMILY OF GOD 239
dignity and glory of Him who adopts us. The
value of adoption depends upon the character and
position of the person adopting. To be adopted
into the family of a wise philosopher is a greater
privilege than to be received into the family of an
ignorant man. To be adopted by a king would
be esteemed a greater privilege than to be a mem-
ber of the family of an humble subject. To be
given a place in the family of an upright judge
would certainly be better for a child than to be
made a member of the family of a condemned
criminal. If it be an honor to be a member of
the household of a wise man, what must be the esti-
mate put upon the honor of membership in the
family of the God who gave to that man all of
his wisdom.^ If it be an honor to be the child of
an earthly king, what an honor it must be to
claim membership in the family of the King of
Kings and Lord of Lords ! If it be a privilege
to be related to an earthly judge, what a privilege
to be related to the Judge of all of the earth !
It is God, your Maker, all Avise, all powerful, and
perfect in justice, goodness and truth, who adopts
sinful man into His family. And this He does
not as men do — because of need of companion-
ship — for already He enjoyed the society of the
Trinity and of thousands of holy angels, and it
needed but His creative word to bring thousands
of other beings into' existence. It was for our
good and for His glory that He chose to bring
240 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
into His family members of our fallen race. " Be-
hold what manner of love the Father hath be-
stowed."
The dignity of the Being through whom we are
adopted serves to magnify the love that led the
Father to receive us into His family. It is
through the Son that we receive membership in
the family of God. " To as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on His name."
This Son was " the brightness of the Father's
glory and the express image of His person." He
possessed all of the wisdom of God, all of the power
of God and all of the goodness of God, " He
thought it no robbery to be equal with God."
Yet, that man might share a place in the family
of God, He " made Himself of no reputation and
took upon Himself the form of a servant and was
made in the likeness of men ; and being found in
fashion as a man. He humbled Himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
(Philippians 2:6-8.) "God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso-
ever believeth on Him should not perish but have
everlasting life."
The humble and low estate from which we are
adopted still further increases the wonder of God's
love in receiving us into His family. This high
honor was not bestowed upon an angel, but upon
man, " made a little lower than the angels." It
was bestowed upon man, not as he reflected the
THE FAMILY OF GOD 241
divine image, but upon fallen man — when the
crown had fallen from his head and when the im-
age had faded from his soul. Sin had invaded the
soul of man and had darkened the mind, hardened
the heart, perverted the will and depraved his en-
tire moral nature. Yet God stooped to adopt
sinful and lost men into His family and to make
them " meet to become partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light."
The high dignity, honor and privileges bestowed
upon those who are thus adopted should increase
our estimate and appreciation of the love of God
who provides them. When men adopt children
into their families, they give them their names ;
so, when God adopts us into His family, He calls
us by His name. He claims us as sons and daugh-
ters in His household. But He not only calls us
by His name ; He imparts to us His nature. In
this respect He goes far beyond men. They may
give their name to children, but cannot impart to
them a new nature, so that they know not but
that some evil disposition, inherited from their
fathers, may in after years develop, and bring
sadness and disappointment where hope and joy
and satisfaction were expected. When God
adopts into .His family, He imparts to the person
adopted a new nature. " To as many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons
of God, even to them which believe on His name,
which are bom not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." They
242 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
are bom of God and so partake of His nature.
That likeness may at first be very faint, and may
be obscured by indwelling sin, but it will grow
more and more distinct until it shall be complete
and the child of God shall be satisfied by awaking
with His likeness. " Beloved, now are we sons of
God, and it doth not appear what we shall be ; but
we know that when He appeareth, we shall be like
Him, for we shall see Him as He is."
When men adopt children into their families,
they give to them all of the rights and privileges
of children bom in the home. Has such a child
a right to expect the love of the father? Then
have we, who have been received into the family
of God, a right to enjoy the love of a tender heav-
enly Father. " Like as a father pitieth his chil-
dren, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him."
" Behold, what manner of love the Father hath be-
stowed upon us that we should be called the sons
of God." Has the child the right to look to the
earthly father for guidance and instruction? So
have we the right to look to God for guidance and
instruction. He says : " I will guide thee and
teach thee in the way in which thou shalt go."
" If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who
giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and
it shall be given him." Has the child a right to
expect of the father protection in the hour of
danger? So has the child of God a right to look
to his heavenly Father in every time of trial and
temptation for protection against the enemie? of
THE FAMILY OF GOD 243
his soul. " If God be for us, who can be against
us ? " " No temptation shall overtake you above
that ye are able to bear, but with every tempta-
tion I will provide also a way of escape that ye
may be able to bear it."
No one can tell fully all of the privileges and
blessings of a child in the home of a good father;
so no one can ascribe adequately the joys and
privileges of the children of God. " Eye hath not
seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things that God hath prepared
for them that love Him." " The Lord will give
grace and glory ; no good thing will He withhold
from them that walk uprightly." " All things
shall work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to His purpose."
Then, too, the adopted child becomes the heir
of his father; so the children of God are "heirs
of God and joint heir of Christ." The character
of the inheritance to which we are heirs beautifully
and strikingly illustrates the love of the Father
who provided it. It is free from all suffering and
sorrow and sin and death. It is replete with all
joy and happiness and holiness and life. It is to
be shared with angels of all ranks, and the re-
deemed of all ages and from all lands. It is to be
with Christ in the New Jerusalem. It is to be
" incorruptible, undefiled and fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed at the last day." What a glo-
^44 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
rious hope ! What a blessed destiny ! What won-
drous love ! If we have been received into the fam-
ily of God let us prize the exalted privilege, be
grateful for the love of God who bestowed it, and
seek daily to live and walk worthy of our Father.
If we are still spiritual orphans, let us seek admis-
sion to the family of God through faith in Christ
the Savior, that we may share the blessings and
privileges of the sons of God.
CHAPTER XXII
SANCTIFICATION
God begins the work of restoring His image to
the soul in the new birth, continues it in the work
of sanctification and completes it when He wel-
comes the believer into glory. " Grace is glory
begun, glory is grace completed." " He which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it
until the day of Jesus Christ." The work which
God accomplishes upon the soul from the moment
when He renews the heart till the time when He
completes the work of cleansing is called sanctifi-
cation.
The leading thought convej^ed by this word is
that of separation. Sometimes it is the separa-
tion of persons or things from a common to a
particular purpose, as when God says, " I will
prepare or sanctify destroyers against you."
(Jeremiah 22: 7.) Sometimes it denotes the sepa-
ration of persons or things from a secular to a
sacred use. Thus the temple, the priests, the le-
vites and the sacrifices were all set apart for use
in the service of God. In this sense God set apart
His own Son to the great work of redemption ; and
Christ is said to have sanctified Himself for His
245
M6 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
people in that He devoted Himself to the work of
their salvation. Then, too, God is said to sane*
tify Himself when He declares or shows the holi-
ness and glory of His character in contrast to
that of all other things. We are said to sanc-
tify God in our hearts when we regard and treat
Him with that reverence and awe which are due
unto His high and holy character. Under the
ceremonial law people were sanctified or cleansed
from defilement by complying with the require-
ments of the levitical law. Under the moral law
persons are said to be sanctified when they are
cleansed from the moral defilement of sin by the
wonderful provisions of the gospel. The idea in
both of these cases is that of separation, or cleans-
ing from that which these laws respectively for-
bid. Under one the man who became ceremoni-
ally unclean by toucliing the leper or the dead
was required to submit himself to a process of
purification before he could enter the congregation
or engage in the service of the sanctuary. The
other law requires that he who has become defiled
with sin must be cleansed from its pollution before
he can enter heaven and enjoy the blessings and
privileges of the upper sanctuary. It is in this
last sense that believers are said to be cleansed
and sanctified that they may be " made meet for
the inheritance of the saints in light." It denotes
that work by which sinners are cleansed more
and more from sin and brought more and more
into likeness of their Lord and Redeemer until at
SANCTIFICATION 847
last they shall be satisfied by awaking with His
likeness. " Sanctification is the work of God's
free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole
man after the image of God and are enabled more
and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteous-
ness." " This is the will of God, even your sanc-
tification." (I Thessalonians 4:3.)
The agent of sanctification is the Holy Ghost.
It must be accomplished according to the divine
will and by divine power. It is a work of such im-
portance and magnitude that it could never be
accomplished by human power. No power but
that of the almighty Spirit by whom we were made
can restore to our souls the image of God lost
through sin. The Father wills the result. The
Son by His life and death and resurrection meets
the demands of justice, atones for sin, and removes
all of the legal obstacles to man's redemption, and
then the Holy Spirit is sent of the Father and the
Son to work the moral change in man's nature,
to qualify him for receiving and enjoying the
blessings of salvation. Hence this work is as-
cribed to the Spirit. He begins, He carries on
and He completes the work of cleansing man from
sin. " It is the Spirit that quickeneth." (John
6:63.) "Not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to His mrecy He
saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and re-
newing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us
abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Savior."
(Titus 3:3-6.) " God hath, from the beginning,
248 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of
the Spirit and belief of the truth." (II Thessa-
lonians 2:13.) In regeneration the Spirit re-
stores spiritual life and implants holy dispositions,
and in sanctification He carries on the work of
enlightening, renewing, cleansing and purifying
until death, when He removes the last stain of
sin and thus prepares the soul for the holy en-
joyments, employments and associations of
heaven.
This work of the Spirit extends to the " whole
man." As sin defiled every faculty of man's soul,
darkening the mind, depraving the heart, pervert-
ing the will, and robbing man of his moral like-
ness to God, so nnist the renewing influence of the
Holy Spirit be felt in every power and capacity
of man's nature. The mind must be enlightened,
the dispositions of the heart changed, the will re-
newed and the image of God restored. The body,
under the influence of a sinful and unchanged soul,
is frequently used for unholy purposes, but when
the soul which inhabits and controls the body
has been renewed, the body must thenceforth be-
come an instrument only for holy ends and pur-
poses, and thus the blessings of the cleansing ex-
tend to the body as well as the soul, and hence
the prayer of Paul for his fellow Christians : " I
pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body,
be preserved blameless unto the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ."
This work of God's Holy Spirit might be
SANCTIFICATION 249
wrought at once in the moment of regeneration,
but as a matter of fact both the Bible and Chris-
tian experience seem clearly to teach that it is a
gradual, progressive work, not ordinarily com-
pleted until the hour of death. When God justi-
fies, He does so by one instantaneous act in the
court of heaven, pardoning all of our sins and
accepting us as righteous in His sight only for
the righteousness of Christ reckoned to our ac-
count and received by faith on our part. It is
an act by which we are at once delivered from a
state of guilt and condemnation and transferred
into one of pardon and acceptance before God.
So when God regenerates a soul, He does at once,
by an immediate act of His Holy Spirit, impart
to it the principle of spiritual life. The soul,
dead in trespasses and sins one moment, is made
alive in Christ Jesus the next moment. This act
is wrought in the soul, and brings about a radical
change in the character and disposition so that at
once the soul begins to love the things which it
once hated and to hate the things which it once
loved. It ceases to be at enmity with God and
becomes a lover of that which is holy and right
and good. But when God begins the work of mak-
ing us holy He does not at once complete the
work, but by a gradual process He works the
cleansing necessary to prepare us for heaven.
Having begun a good work in us. He will carry it
on till the day of Jesus Christ ; but this He will
do by enabling us more and more to die unto sin
250 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
and live unto righteousness. Hence such expres-
sions as these : " Grow in grace and in the knowl-
edge of the Lord Jesus Christ " ; " Add to your
faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to
knowledge temperance, and to temperance godli-
ness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to
brotherly kindness charity." (II Peter 1:5-7.)
If we were made perfect in holiness at once, there
would be no room for growth and increase in the
Christian virtues. Besides, it is expressly said
in the first chapter of I John : " If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us." Paul, with all of his wonderful
attainments in the divine life, said : " Brethren,
I count not myself to have apprehended : but this
one thing I do, forgetting those things which are
behind, and reaching forth unto those things
which are before: I press forward to the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14.) One person
may grow more rapidly than another, and the
same person may grow more rapidly at one time
than at another, but all true believers must pass
from the condition of being babes in Christ to that
lof being strong in the Lord and in the power of
His might by a process of gradual growth. " As
new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the
word that ye may grow thereby." It is as much
a law in the spiritual life that men should grow
in grace as it is a law in the physical world that
SANCTIFICATION 251
plants and animals reach their maturity by
growth. " So is the kingdom of God, as if a man
should cast seed into the ground . . . and the
seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not
how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of her-
self; first the blade, then the ear, after that the
full corn in the ear." (Mark 4:26-28.) The
seed is cast into the ground. The early and the
latter rains fall. The seed germinates, springs
up, grows in height and strength, blooms and
yields fruit for the use of man, who in the harvest
time gathers the fruit into his storehouse for serv-
ice in the future. So the principle of spiritual
life, implanted by the Spirit in the heart of man,
and watered by the showers of God's grace,
springs up, grows, develops in strength, and yields
fruit in the garden of the Lord until the harvest
time when the Lord will send forth the angels to
gather the fruit into His gamers. As leaven
gradually assimilates and transforms the entire
lump of flour, so the grace of God in the heart of
man gradually brings the whole character and
disposition of the soul under its power and influ-
ence. As the child grows and develops in passing
from childhood to manhood, so the child of God
grows in grace and knowledge as he passes from
childhood up to the measure of the stature of a
perfect man in Christ Jesus. This work must be
carried on and on until at last every power and
faculty of mind and heart and will shall have been
252 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
brought under the complete control of the divine
Will and until the soul shall reflect the image of
God perfectly.
As to the manner in which this change is
wrought by the Spirit we do not fully understand,
but of the fact there can be no reasonable doubt.
It is a fact that the principle of physical life hath
been given to the plants of the earth, and that this
principle, placed in material substance, grows and
develops, we know not how, and yet we receive and
act upon the fact at every step of life. Shall we
not, then, receive the teaching of God's Word that
the principle of spiritual life imparted by divine
grace to the soul of man can and does grow and
assimilate to itself that in which it is placed until
the God likeness be evident to all who have eyes
with which to see.'' Is it not an admitted fact
that God made our souls and gave us the power
to think and love and choose .f* Can not the same
almighty Power rectify and renew our souls when
they have become impaired by sin? The man who
can make a watch, can repair that watch. The God
who can make a soul in His own image, can restore
that image when it has been marred by sin. It
was good philosophy as well as good theology
which led David to go to His God and pray:
" Create within me a clean heart, God, and re-
new a right spirit within me. Take not thy Holy
Spirit from me, but uphold me with thy free
Spirit." He felt sure that the same almighty
Being who had created all souls could heal and
SANCTIFICATION 253
cleanse a soul that had become defiled with sin.
It matters little to us how the change is wrought
if only such a change restores us to the likeness
of our Lord and Redeemer.
We are assured that when this change is begun
in our hearts, it will be carried on to completion.
This might be expected from the fact that God
is the author of the change. The will of Him who
doeth all things according to His own pleasure
is our sanctification. The gift and sacrifice of
His own Son was " that He might redeem us from
all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar
people zealous of good works." His prayer,
based upon that sacrifice, was, " Sanctify them
through Thy truth ; Thy Word is truth " ; and the
very purpose for which the Holy Spirit takes up
His abode in the heart of the believer is that He
may cleanse, enlighten, purify, and save from sin.
The power of God is infinite. His purposes must
be accomplished and His promises be fulfilled. God
will surely do all of His holy will. His will con-
cerning His people is that they shall be " sancti-
fied," and His promise to them is that they shall
be made like to Christ His Son. " Beloved, now
are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be ; but we know that when He shall
appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him
as He is." Then " We all with open face, be-
holding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are
changed into the same image, from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (II Corinthi-
264 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
ans 3:18.) Such is the change to be wrought
upon everyone who Is brought into the family of
God.
By justification, through Christ, he secures a
title to membership in God's family ; by regenera-
tion he is born into that family ; and by sanctifi-
cation he is brought into likeness to His heavenly
Father. The model after which this work shall be
wrought is the character of Him who was holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.
The agent by whom it is accomplished is the Holy
Ghost and the instrument wielded by the Holy
Ghost in effecting this change is the truth of God
as revealed in His Word. The Word is expressly
called " the sword of the Spirit." Christ prays :
" Sanctify them through Thy truth ; Thy Word
is truth." In all ordinary cases the truth must
reach the heart before the Spirit works the change.
In the case of those who die before their minds
are sufficiently developed to apprehend the truth,
we hold that God does, for Christ's sake, cleanse
them from sin by the power of His Holy Spirit.
But in the case of adults the truth of God is the
invariable instrument by which the Holy Spirit
slays the carnal enmity of the human heart and
enlightens it in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
The truth must be present and the Spirit must
use it before the enmity of the heart will be over-
come and the eyes of the understanding will be
opened, the heart changed and the soul cleansed.
SANCTIFICATION 255
" God hath chosen us unto salvation through the
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth." Hence the importance of bringing the
truth into contact with the mind and heart of the
Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit may bless it to
our conversion and growth in grace and knowledge.
It is to the Spirit what the sword is to the soldier.
It is to the soul what light is to the eye. It is to the
believer what the sun is to the plant. It is to the
soul what bread is to the body. The Word, as
energized by the Holy Spirit, convicts of sin, en-
lightens the understanding, leads in the way of
holiness and causes the child of God to grow in
grace and in fitness for service here and for hap-
piness hereafter.
Put a high value, then, upon the Word of God.
Study its holy teachings and pray unto God to
open the eyes of your understanding that you may
be able to " behold wondrous things out of His
law." Ask Him to teach you the gospel that the
Word reveals that it may be made to you the
power of God unto salvation. Find in the Bible
teaching concerning the progress of sanctification
a test of your Christian experience. If you are
a Christian, the will of God is that you grow in
grace and that you be enabled more and more to
die unto sin and live unto righteousness. If this
change is being wrought in your heart, there must
be some progress. The live tree will grow and
develop rapidly or slowly according to the soil
256 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
and surroundings ; so the Christian made alive in
Christ will grow and develop in holiness according
to the use he makes of the means of grace which
God liath appointed and according to the com-
pany with which he is surrounded. A Christian
may be hindered in his growth and may even seem,
in seasons of coldness and indifference, to go
backward, just as a tree may show little signs of
life and growth in the cold and storms of winter.
But, as in the springtime the tree will give evi-
dence of life and growth, even so will the believer,
under the influence of God's grace and the use of
the means, give forth signs of the life and growth
that mark his spiritual development. As surely
as the principle of spiritual life has been im-
planted within your soul by the power of the Holy
Spirit, so surely will it manifest its presence and
power by your growth in the divine life.
Let each believer test his own life. Do you see
more clearly and hate more intensely the sins that
separated you from God? Do you see more
clearly and love more ardently the holiness with-
out which no man shall see the Lord.'' Has the
power of sin over you been weakened.'* Have your
habits of holiness been strengthened.'' Does your
love for Christ, His cause. His service and His
people increase? If you can return satisfactory
answers to such questions, you have reason to be-
lieve that the work of grace has been begun in
your heart and that it will be carried on to com-
pletion. To that end pray more earnestly for the
SANCTIFICATION 257
presence, influence and power of the Holy Spirit
by whom alone you may hope to be delivered from
the power and pollution of sin, and transformed
into the likeness of God.
CHAPTER XXIII
GOOD WORKS
In the mind of the apostle Paul there was no
conflict between faith and works. He who taught
so clearly and so earnestly that men are justified
and saved only through faith, insisted with equal
zeal and clearness that faith must manifest itself
in outward conduct and behavior. He who pro-
claimed so fervently the message of God, " This
is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation,
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sin-
ners," delivered also, with equal fervor, this mes-
sage of God, " This is a faithful saying and these
things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they
which have believed in God might be careful to
maintain good works. These are good and profit-
able unto men." (Titus 3:8.) God intends,
then, that emphasis be put upon both of these
great truths, that we are saved through faith in
the person and work of Christ, but by such a
faith as manifests its genuineness by leading those
who possess it to seek earnestly to imitate the
example of Him " who went about doing good."
We are to believe in order to be saved, and we are
to do good because we are saved. The impor-
25S
GOOD WORKS 259
tance of care in the maintaining of good works
can scarcely be overestimated.
By good works we are to understand such works
as are done by one whose heart has been changed,
by a real child of God. The virtues and good
deeds of those who have not learned to know
Christ and whose hearts have not been changed,
have their place and their value among men, but
are not to be ranked as belonging to the same class
with those wrought by a soul that has been re-
newed by the Spirit of God, and wrought under
the influence of His love. The works of all oth-
ers, however valuable, lack the essential quality
which entitles them to be called good, viz. — the
love of God, Good works are such as are author-
ized and in harmony with the Word of God.
They must be done not only out of love to Him,
but in accordance with His will. Concerning all
other works God asks, " Who hath required this
at your hands? " In vain do they worship Me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of
men." (Matthew 15:9.) Good works must also
spring from good motives, such as the love of God
and a desire to promote His glory and to comply
with His will. " Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily
as unto the Lord and not unto men." Works,
then, which spring from a renewed heart, which
are in harmony with the divine law and which are
prompted by the love of God, cannot fail to be
pleasing in His sight. These and only these are
good works in the Bible sense.
260 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
It is important that we weigh well the duty of
doing such works. They will furnish, for our own
satisfaction, an evidence of the change of our
hearts. No question should be deemed of greater
importance to us than that relating to our stand-
ing before God. Are we His friends or His ene-
mies.'' Are we members of His kingdom or are
we aliens.'' Are we His children or are we chil-
dren of the wicked one.'' Two facts are clearly
taught in the Word. One is that " the carnal
mind is enmity to God, not subject to the law of
God." The other is that when the heart under-
goes the great change necessary to bring it into
the family of God, it will love God and seek to do
those things which are pleasing unto Him. " We
love Him because He first loved us." And if we
love Him, we will keep His commandments and His
commandments will not be grievous unto us. If
our faith " works by love, purifies the heart and
overcomes the world," then the wondrous change
has been wrought there by the Spirit of God. We
have been born into the family of God and so have
passed from death unto life. As the life of the
natural body manifests its presence by outward
movement, so does the presence of spiritual life
in the soul make its presence known by outward
spiritual, holy living. Or as the fruit reveals the
character of the tree, so the deeds of the life give
evidence of the state of the heart. " By their
fruits ye shall know them."
By maintaining good works you will best com-
GOOD WORKS 261
mend the cause of Christ to your fellowmen. If
Christianity causes all who accept it to lead better
and purer lives and to abound in good works,
others will be able to see and appreciate its char-
acter and value as being the source of so much
good. Just as men value the tree that bears good
fruit, so will they prize that which prompts and
enables men to bring forth such peaceable fruits
of righteousness in their lives. The graces of
faith, hope and charity are invisible to the human
eye until they become incarnate and manifest
themselves in the daily life of some good man or
woman. It was when Christ went about doing
good that men came to know the love and com-
passion that dwelt in His heart. In this way,
also, may His followers commend His cause to
their fellowmen. Such good works will prove of
great service to others. " These things are good
and profitable unto men." That is, they will con-
fer real and lasting benefit upon them. Their
wants will be relieved, their hearts will be com-
forted, their footsteps will be directed, their bur-
dens lightened and their lives and homes be made
brighter. By good works orphans are fed and
clothed and taught and trained and made happy
and useful men and women. By good works the
widow is comforted in her affliction and defended
in her helplessness. By good deeds the sick are
healed, the hungry are fed, the destitute are
clothed, the ignorant instructed and the wayward
are reclaimed.
262 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
The forms of good deeds are as varied as the
needs and misfortunes of the human race. Not
only these outward and worldly blessings by the
hands of those doing good, but the higher and
more lasting spiritual blessings are often conveyed
to men through the office of good deeds. The law
of love not only requires that we do good to all
men as we have opportunity, but that we seek
to bring to them the highest good within our
ability. Now God has seen wise to put within the
hands of men the ability, under His blessing, of
being the means of introducing others into the
possession of the highest spiritual blessings.
This is well expressed in the fifth chapter of
James. " Brethren, if any of you do err from the
truth and one convert him ; let him know that he
which converteth a sinner from the error of his
way shall save a soul from death and shall hide
a multitude of sins." You can be the means of
turning a sinner from the ways of sin, you can
be the means of saving him from all of the evils
wrapped up in the idea of spiritual and eternal
death. You can be the means of leading him to
the Savior and into all of the blessings of salva-
tion. You can show him the way of pardon and
cleansing and grace and glory and honor and im-
mortality and eternal life. You can show him
how to escape the dark abode of the lost and
direct him in the way that leadeth unto " God's
right hand where there is fulness of joy, and to
GOOD WORKS 263
His right hand where there are pleasures forever-
more."
The faithful maintenance of good works will
meet with a gracious and a glorious reward in
heaven. The Savior Himself taught, " Whosoever
shall give to drink unto one of these little ones
a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple,
verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his
reward." (Matthew 10:42.) And with special
reference to the leading of men into the highest
spiritual blessings it is written, " They that be
wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ;
and they that turn many unto righteousness as
the stars forever and ever." (Daniel 12:3.)
From the smallest to the largest, every blessing
which we may be the means of securing for our
fellow men shall meet with the approval of our
heavenly Father and receive at His hand its re-
ward in heaven. This will be a reward of grace
and not of merit. We shall not be rewarded on
account of our works, but according to our works.
The sole and sufficient ground of our salvation, of
our pardon and acceptance before God, must al-
ways be the merit of what Christ did and suffered
in our stead. " Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus."
But it has pleased God, after that we are saved
through grace, to bestow upon all who seek to
do good to others some testimonial of His appre-
ciation of that which has been done. Not the
264 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
smallest act of Christian kindness and courtesy
will escape His attention, nor fail of His reward.
But in making this distribution of rewards He
teaches us that He will be guided by the law of
due proportion. That is, He will reward every
man according to the good he hath wrought since
he was saved. To the servant who had gained,
with one pound, ten pounds, He said : " Well
done, thou good servant : because thou hast been
faithful over a very little, have thou authority
over ten cities." To the servant who had gained
five pounds, He said : " Be thou also over five
cities." (Luke 19: 17 and 19.) It may be that
by doing this good with their Lord's pounds, each
became developed in capacity for enjoying just
so much of the bliss and glory of heaven. All
will be happy there, but all will not be prepared
to take in and enjoy the same amount or degree
of happiness. As Matthew Henry quaintly puts
it : " All cups will be full alike, but all cups will
not be large alike." Some by spiritual exercise
in doing good will have developed a larger capa-
city for seeing and enjoying the glory of heaven.
All cups of happiness will be full to overflowing,
but each will be large or small according to the
effort put forth after the call came to enter the
kingdom and go work in the vineyard.
Still further, God will be glorified by the good
works of His people. Of course nothing can ever
be added to the essential glory of God, because
from all eternity He has been infinite in glory and
GOOD WORKS 265
in all of His matchless attributes. What is meant
is that by good works men can show forth the
praise and glory of their God. They can magnify
their God and make Him to be seen to be holy
and merciful and good and kind in the grace which
He hath bestowed upon them and caused to shine
out through their lives to enable others to see the
beauty of His salvation and the glory and power
of His work of grace in their hearts and on their
lives. Hence the directions of His Word:
" Shew forth the praises of Him who hath called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
" Let your light so shine before men that they
may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven." Men cannot see God, but
they may see His glory reflected in His works,
whether those works be the hills and mountains
or the lives and conduct of those who are His
workmanship in Christ Jesus. These all shine in
the reflected light of the great Sun of righteous-
ness. As the moon catches up the glory of the
sun, when that is beyond our vision, and reflects
back its glory upon earth, so believers receive into
their souls something of His glory and let it shine
out through their lives that " men may see their
good works and glorify their Father which is in
heaven." (Matthew 5:16.) Believers can at
least spread abroad the rays of light and glory
which fall upon them from their Sun. They can
thus widen and enlarge the circle in which the rays
of God's declarative glory shine.
266 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
It is worth our effort and care, then, to make
honest and earnest effort to maintain good works
before our fellowmen. If by good works we can
give to our own hearts a comfortable assurance
that we are God's children ; if we can thus com-
mend the cause of Him whom we love so well ; if
we can benefit our fellowmen and glorify our God
by doing good in the world ; then surely we should
strive with all of our hearts to do all the good
we can while the days are going by. As we would
be true to ourselves, true to the cause of Christ,
true to our fellowmen and true to our God, let us
be careful to maintain good works.
Let us not fail to consider the result of the
neglect to show such kindnesses as are described
under the expression " good works." If you will
turn to the close of the twenty-fifth chapter of
Matthew you will find that Christ, who is to be
our final Judge, has forewarned us that the failure
to have done these little acts of kindness and
mercy toward the poor and the needy will be
enough to shut one out of heaven and to shut him
up in the prison house of the lost. The Savior
does not represent men as failing of an interest
in the kingdom of heaven merely because they have
been guilty of great and heinous transgressions,
but even for their failures to do the kindnesses
they might have done to His representatives on
the earth. " Then shall He say also to them on
the left hand, ' Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
GOOD WORKS 267
angels ; for I was an hungered and ye gave me no
meat ; I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink ; I
was a stranger and ye took me not in ; naked and
ye clothed me not ; sick and in prison and ye vis-
ited me not.' Then shall they also answer Him,
saying, ' Lord when saw we thee an hungered, or
athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and did not minister unto Thee? ' Then
shall He answer them, saying, ' Verily I say unto
you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least
of these, ye did it not to Me.' And these shall
go away into everlasting punishment : but the
righteous into life eternal." (Matthew 25 : 41-45.)
CHAPTER XXIV
ASSURANCE
Is it possible to know that we are Christians
and to be sure that we are heirs of eternal life?
Extreme answers have been given to this question.
Some contend that it is impossible to decide this
question till we awake in the eternal world. Ac-
cording to this view, we must walk in spiritual
darkness during our entire earthly pilgrimage.
" It would be presumptuous to claim a title to
the heavenly inheritance." They admit the su-
perior value of spiritual blessings and they cannot
deny the fidelity of Him who hath promised eternal
life to them that believe on Him. Still they fear
to claim any degree of certainty as to their en-
trance into the promised inheritance. They hope
that they will at last know that blessedness, but
they hesitate to claim that they know it. On the
other hand, there are those who not only claim
to know as to their Christian hope, but insist that
everyone who has been born into the kingdom of
God must be fully assured of that fact. They
make assurance an essential element of faith.
They reject utterly the idea that one may be a
Christian without knowing that he is a child of
God and an heir of heaven.
268
ASSURANCE 269
The truth probably lies between these extremes.
The Bible clearly teaches that everyone who be-
lieves on the Son of God hath everlasting life. It
teaches that it is the privilege of every child of
God to come to a comfortable degree of assurance
that he is in a state of grace and that he shall be
kept by the power of God through faith unto sal-
vation ready to be revealed at the last day. But
one may be a Christian without having sufficient
evidence to put it beyond all doubt that he has
passed from death unto life. The apostle John,
addressing those whom he recognized as fellow
Christians, uses language which plainly implies
that some of them had not yet attained this assur-
ance, but that it was within their reach and that
he had written to them to aid them in arriving at
that happy stage of Christian experience.
" These things have I written unto you that be-
lieve on the name of the Son of God ; that ye may
know that ye have eternal life.''' (I John 5: 13.)
They had believed on the Son of God, and there-
fore were saved. They were real, true Christians,
and yet they had not that degree of assurance
which John knew they might have, and hence he
wrote to them that he might help them to attain
unto that assurance. It was their privilege to
know that they were Christians and that they
were already in possession of the beginnings of a
life which should last to all eternity. Hence he
wrote to them and called their attention to the
tests and means by which they might cease to
270 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
have doubt on so important a matter. These
same things should prove of service to Christians
of all ages and of all lands in enabling them to
know that they have eternal life. By things writ-
ten in this Word and by effects of grace upon the
heart, by the Word, and by the Spirit, all may
know when they are in a state of grace and when
they are heirs of the blessings of eternal life.
That such an assurance is attainable is evident
from the fact that we are commanded to seek it.
When God issues a command it is our duty to
obey. If we seek to obey, we may expect that along
with the command will come the strength to obey.
The man with the withered hand had no power in
himself to stretch forth his hand, but Christ gave
the command, and along with the command the
ability to obey. The command was to the man a
pledge that in obeying the blessing of renewed
health would come to him — that the Savior would
not mock his infirmity, but would bestow upon him
the ability to obey. Hence when he sought to
obey, he found the strength to obey. He
stretched forth his hand whole as the other.
So a command from God is frequently a pledge
from God of a blessing He is about to bestow.
When we find God directing His people to seek to
know their spiritual state before Him, we may
expect Him to crown the effort with success.
Listen to Him as He bids you, " Examine your-
selves whether ye be in the faith." (II Corinthi-
ans 13: 5.) " Give diligence to make your calling
ASSURANCE 271
and election sure." (II Peter 1:10.) Examine
and prove yourselves by the application of the
Scriptural tests, that you may know that you have
been called of the Spirit and that you have ac-
cepted that call and so are in a state of grace,
that you are in the faith and that you are assured
of your calling and election of God, " chosen in
Him unto salvation." In other words, God had
expressly laid upon you the duty of seeking to
know that you are numbered among His people
and that you are heirs of eternal life. God would
not hold up for your acceptance such blessings
and privileges unless it were His will to bestow
them in answer to earnest prayer and seeking.
" Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to
you." Then shall we know if we follow on to
know the Lord." (Amos 6:3.) If you will seek
to know God and to hold communion with
Him, you will learn to know Him better and bet-
ter, and you will receive fuller and fuller mani-
festations of His presence and blessing until there
will spring up within your heart that filial spirit
whereby you will be able to say, " Abba," Father.
The fact that God has given in His Word tests
by which you may try your spiritual condition
before Him is an evidence that you may find out
whether you are in the faith. One of these tests
is love to God. He describes the natural, unre-
newed mind as enmity to God and as not subject
to His law. If, therefore, love for God has sprung
up in the heart, it must be because that heart has
272 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
been changed. Hence it is written, " Everyone
that loveth is born of God," and " We love Him
because He first loved us." If there be love in
your heart for God, you have passed from death
unto life, you are a child of God and an heir of
heaven.
Love to our fellow Christians is another test of
our being in a state of grace. It is written, " We
know that we have passed from death unto life
because we love the brethren." (I John 3:14.)
As children of the same family are bound to each
other by ties of natural affection, so children of
God are bound to each other by spiritual ties,
strong and tender. They love each other accord-
ing as they recognize in each other the image of
their heavenly Father. They are bound to each
other as those who have been redeemed by the
same Savior, as those contending against the same
spiritual enemies, as those enlisted in the same
great cause, journeying towards the same heav-
enly home, and loving and serving the same great
King. " By this shall all men know that ye are
my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
(John 13:35.)
Still another test by which we may decide
whether we are time disciples of Christ is love for
the Word of God. This Word is a revelation of
the will and character of God. If we love God,
we will love His Word. If we love His people,
we will love the messages which He sends to them.
If we love His Son, we will love the Word which
ASSURANCE 273
testifies of that Son. Here are treasured up the
precious promises which God hath given to His
people. Here is revealed to them Christ who is
the Way, the Truth and the Life. Here are set
forth the privileges and duties of the children of
God, and here are described the blessings which
are in store for them in heaven. Here are re-
corded the letters from the heavenly Father to
His children. No wonder, then, that love of
God's Word has ever been a mark of the children
of God. The inspired Psalmist sings the praises
of the Word of God and declares his love for it
in glowing terms. " The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of
the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes ; the fear
of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judg-
ments of the Lord are true and righteous alto-
gether. More to be desired are they than gold,
yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey
and the honey comb."
Love for the ordinances of God's house will like-
wise be felt by every true child of God. David
said : " I was glad when they said to me, ' Let
us go up unto the house of the Lord.' I would
rather be a door keeper in the house of my God
than to dwell in the tents of the wicked." It is
here that God has promised His special presence
and blessing. It is here He meets with His people
and pours out richly His blessings. It is here
His Word is read and explained. It is here His
praise is sung. It is here we bow before His
274. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
throne in prayer. It Is here — in the sacraments
— that Christ and the benefits of the new cove-
nant are represented, sealed and applied to be-
lievers. It is here they hold communion with God
and with each other. If you love the ordinances
of God's house, you have an evidence that you are
under the influence of the love of the God whom
you worship in His sanctuary.
The fruits of the Spirit will evince the life of
God in the soul. These are given as " love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance." (Galatians 5:22.)
These do not spring up in the human heart spon-
taneously. Their presence is an evidence of spir-
itual life and grace. The good seed has fallen
into the heart, and God's Spirit has blessed it and
caused it to yield spiritual fruit. The presence
of this fruit is the proof and evidence of the new
life that is there.
Men may judge of their spiritual state by the
general tenor of their lives. Not only are there
fruits of the Spirit in the heart, but in the daily
life of every true believer. The rule laid down by
the Savior was this : " By their fruits shall ye
know them." " Ye are my disciples if ye do what-
soever I command you." Faith in the soul
" works by love, purifies the heart and overcomes
the world." While no merely human life is per-
fect, yet every human life into which has been in-
troduced the principle of grace will manifest the
presence of that grace by outward conduct. Men
ASSURANCE 275
will take knowledge of such as give evidence of the
presence of grace in the heart by their outward
lives, that they have been with the Lord. They
will know that they have walked with Jesus till
they have caught His spirit and learned to strive
day by day to imitate His example.
Then, too, the Holy Spirit will bear witness with
our spirits that we are the cliildren of God.
There will be such an influence exerted by the
Spirit over our hearts that there will spring up
there a filial spirit — a spirit similar to that which
a child feels toward his own father — so that we
can look up with love and faith in God and claim
and call Him our Father. " The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirits that we are chil-
dren of God." " If children, then heirs ; heirs of
God, and joint-heirs of Christ," " to that inherit-
ance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth
not away, reserA'cd in heaven " for all them that
love Him.
There are numerous Scriptural examples of
those who came to enjoy this full assurance as to
their acceptance with God. David said, " I shall
behold Thy face in righteousness." Job said, " I
know that my Redeemer liveth." Paul said, " I
know in whom I have believed and am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I have com-
mitted unto Him against that day." And John
wrote, " These things have I written unto you
that believe on the Son of God that ye may know
that ye have eternal life."
276 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
When we are directed to seek this assurance,
when tests are laid down by which we may decide
whether we be in the faith, and when examples are
set before us for our imitation in seeking and find-
ing this blessing, there is left no reasonable ground
for doubt as to whether this assurance can be at-
tained. Such assurance is certainly desirable for
our comfort and usefulness. We should wish to
be sure that we are on the way to heaven. We
should be sure that we have trusted in the only
foundation that will stand in the day of storm.
We should be sure that Christ is our friend and
that He will be our advocate in the final day of
trial. We should all desire to read our titles
clear to mansions in the sky. If desirable and
attainable, then it should be sought earnestly and
perseveringly. Why should we go mourning all
of our days when we might be rejoicing in the
Lord continually.^ Why should we not rejoice
and be glad if we have the assurance that we are
the children of the heavenly King.'' If we have
not such an assurance, should we not seek it with
all earnestness and zeal.'' We should seek for it as
the lost man seeks for the way, as the condemned
man for pardon, as the sick man for health, and
as the poor man seeks wealth. We should seek it
before all earthly blessings and privileges. " Seek
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,"
and all else needful shall be added,
CHAPTER XXV
PERSEVERANCE
If it be important to know that you are a child
of God, it is no less important to be sure that you
will continue to be a member of the family of God
until you come into possession of the inheritance
He hath promised to His children. If it be es-
sential to your joy and comfort to know that you
have begun the journey that leadeth unto life eter-
nal, it is no less necessary that you have a good
assurance that you shall, at last, arrive in the
celestial city. There are some who hold that you
can never know whether you will reach heaven un-
til you are there, and who hurl anathemas at those
who deny that God's children may be lost on the
way. God's Word must decide here, as elsewhere,
as to the truth on this subject. It seems clearly
to teach that " they who have been really called
into the kingdom and regenerated by the Spirit
can neither totally nor finally fall away from the
state of grace ; but shall certainly persevere
therein to the end and be eternally saved."
(Question 79, L. C.) This does not mean that
real Christians may not fall into sin and become
guilty of backsliding, for the mournful examples
277
278 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
from David to Peter and from Peter to this day,
clearly prove that Christians may and do thus sin.
Nor does it mean that some who unite with the
Church do not go back to sin and the world and
are finally lost, for we are expressly taught that
there are those who go out from among God's peo-
ple because they are not of them, and who go like
Judas to their own place because like him they
were devils from the beginning. What is meant
is that real Christians, those in whose hearts God
hath begun the work of grace, though they may
become guilty of sins and inconsistencies, yet they
will never totally and finally apostatize and be
lost, but that they will turn from their sins and,
like David and Peter, have the work of grace car-
ried on in their hearts till they come at last into
the full enjoyment of the blessings of heaven.
What are the Scriptural evidences of this
precious truth.'* The purpose of God on this sub-
ject is so clear and definite that it is difficult to
understand how there can be any doubt on this
subject in the minds of those who believe the
Bible. Christ says, " My sheep hear My voice
and I know them and they follow Me, and I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never perish,
neither shall any pluck them out of my hand."
(John 10 : 27-29.) " And this is the Father's will
that hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given
Me I shall lose nothing, but should raise it up at
the last day." (John 6:39-40.) "All that the
Father hath given Me shall come to Me ; and him
PERSEVERANCE 279
that Cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out."
(John 6:37.) Could language be stronger,
clearer or more explicit? It is the will of the
Father that all the Father hath given the Son
shall come to Him, and of the Son that " him that
Cometh unto Him He would in no wise cast out,"
and of the Father and Son that of all that vast
number given to Him and coming to Him, He
should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the
last day. " And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to the
called according to His purpose." (Romans
8:28.) This is the revelation of the will of God
concerning those given to Christ, those coming to
Christ and those called according to His purpose.
Unless, therefore, God's purpose should fail, all
true Christians must be brought at last into His
kingdom of glory.
The change wrought in man's character is so
thorough that we might expect it to be permanent.
So complete and radical is this change that it is
compared to a new birth, a creation, a resurrec-
tion. " Except a man be bom again, he cannot
see the kingdom of heaven." " You hath He
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins,
and hath raised you up and made you to sit to-
gether in heavenly places." When God exercises on
man's behalf power that can be expressed only by
comparing it to that wrought in creation, birth
and resurrection, the presumption is that He will
accomplish and bring to completion that which He
280 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
hath undertaken. Until his nature hath under-
gone that radical change by which man is begot-
ten in the likeness of God, he cannot be recog-
nized as a child of God. But when this change
has once been wrought by the divine Spirit, then
man is brought into the spiritual family of God
and made an heir of God. " As many as re-
ceived Him, to them gave He power to become the
sons of God, which were born, not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God." Unless man be created anew by some
supernatural power, he can never see and enjoy
the blessings of the kingdom of God. But when
he is so recreated in Christ Jesus, he has given
unto him a nature which will qualify him for en-
trance into that kingdom of holiness.
Unless man be raised up from his death in sin,
he must forever remain under its power ; but when,
by the grace of a divine Savior, the power of
spiritual death hath been broken, man can walk in
newness of life and come at last to enjoy fulness
of life in heaven. The gospel provides for just
such a resurrection and just such a creation. In
the second chapter of Ephesians it is written :
" God, who is rich in mercy for His great love
wherewith He hath loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ, and hath raised us up together that in the
ages to come He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace in His kindness to us through Jesus
Christ." When a man is introduced into the
PERSEVERANCE 281
kingdom of God by a new birth, a new creation
and a resurrection from the dead, the change must
be so mighty and so radical that there will be
good ground to believe that it will be permanent
— that Christ is formed in him the hope of glory.
" He that hath begun a good work in you will
carry it on until the day of Jesus Christ." The
agent who works this change is so mighty and so
wise and so good that we may rest assured that
He will bring to completion that which He hath
undertaken. He is none other than the divine
Spirit. He is the almighty Being who brooded
over the waters when our world was a chaos and
brought order out of confusion. He is that al-
mighty Being by whose power all souls were
created. He is that all-powerful Being by whom
Christ was raised from the dead. He it is who
has undertaken this great work in behalf of each
believer, and none are so strong and malignant
as to be able to thwart His plan and purpose.
The atonement of Christ was so perfect and
complete that all who trust in Christ will surely
be owned and acquitted in the final day of trial.
As they were fully and freely pardoned and ac-
cepted when they first came to Christ, confessing
their sins and pleading His merit, so in the day
of judgment, when He, as their advocate, pleads
their cause, confessing their sin and pointing to
His suffering and death in their behalf, they will
be openly owned and acquitted and welcomed into
all of the privileges and honors of the kingdom
282 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
of God. When the King's own Son pleads, the
King will surely hear and answer the pleading.
It was He who placed Himself in man's stead, to
do and suffer all that the law and justice of God
required. He obeyed that law perfectly. He
paid its penalty fully. He encountered and con-
quered all of the enemies to man's salvation. He
overcame guilt and sin and Satan and death.
" If when we were enemies we were reconciled to
God through the death of His Son, much more,
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
He passed through death, and ever lives to make
intercession for us at His Father's right hand
and " Him the Father heareth always ! " As our
great high priest He laid the offering upon the
altar when He gave Himself for us ; and as our
great high priest He hath entered within the veil,
there to plead our cause. Who can doubt the
result of His intercession. He is thoroughly ac-
quainted with the will of the Father. He knows
perfectly all of the guilt and sin of man. He has
a perfect acquaintance with all of the require-
ments of the law. These He has already met
fully and completely, and as an evidence of this
has been released from the death He was paying
in man's behalf and has been welcomed back to
His place of honor and power at His Father's
right hand in heaven. From that lofty throne
He points to all He did and suffered for man,
and asks of the Father in these words : " Father,
PERSEVERANCE 283
I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be
with Me where I am, that they may behold My
glory which I had with Thee from the beginning,
for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the
world." In order to this, he prays that they
may be kept from the evil, that they may be sancti-
fied through the truth, that they may be made
one, and that then they may be brought to Him-
self in glory. The hope of persevering in grace
is based not upon the fickle, sinful and imperfect
heart of man, but upon the unchangeable purpose
of God the Father, upon the mighty change
wrought upon the dispositions of the soul by God
the Spirit, and upon the perfect and infinite
atonement and ever-prevalent intercession of God
the Son. God the Father, God the Son and God
the Holy Ghost unite their infinite wisdom and
goodness with their almighty power in the work
of bringing many redeemed sinners unto glory.
Who shall thwart that purpose.? Who shall keep
out of heaven the soul whom God calls, renews,
guides, keeps, and saves from sin and death and
hell ? " What shall we say to those things ? If
God be for us, who can be against us.'' He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up
for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely
give us all things. Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect.'' It is God that justi-
fieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ
that died; yea, rather that is risen again, who is
284 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress
or persecution, or famine or nakedness or peril
or sword? Nay, in all of these things we are
more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:31-39.)
What a comfort should this teaching be to the
hearts of all of God's children ! Amid all of the
trials and sorrows and temptations of this life,
the Christian may confidently look for deliverance
and victory. In the storms of life he can hear
the voice of that Savior who stilled the tempest
saying unto him, " Be not afraid ; it is I."
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy Com-
eth in the morning." " Be of good cheer ; I have
overcome the world." " Be thou faithful unto
death and I will give thee a crown of life."
What a cause of thanksgiving and praise to
the God of our salvation ! We were sinful and
helpless and lost. He loved us and sent His son
to seek and save the lost. The Son loved us and
" gave Himself for us that He might redeem us
from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a pecu-
liar people zealous of good works." Out of love
to God we should praise Him and serve Him all
PERSEVERANCE 285
of the days of our lives. The love of Christ
should constrain us not to live unto ourselves, but
unto Christ who died for us and rose again, and
who " ever liveth to make intercession " for us.
CHAPTER XXVI
DEATH
There are many things about death we cannot
know till we pass through it. But there are some
things concerning it that are clearly taught in
the Word of God. One of the things about
death which is taught, alike by experience and the
Bible, is that we must die. Each of us may say
with Job, " I know that Thou wilt bring me to
death and to the house appointed for all living."
The death referred to by Job is the separation
of the soul from the body, which we call physical
death. It is the cessation or suspension of the
union that has existed between the spirit and the
body. It is the death that brings us to the
grave, " the house appointed for all living." It
should be a matter of interest to everyone to en-
quire, " What does the Bible teach us in regard to
death.'' " For one thing, the Scriptures remind
us frequently that death is an event which must
come to all. " It is appointed unto men to die."
" It is the house appointed for all living." The
appointment is made for men in general, for the
entire race, for men always and every where.
The house appointed is " for all living." The
286
DEATH 28T
appointment is of God, and hence none can escape
it except as He may will, for who can resist His
power? It is true that in the past two or three
were translated that they should not see death,
and that God has promised to change the bodies
of the saints which remain on earth at the coming
of the Savior, that they may be made like the
glorified body of Christ, but apart from these
exceptions we have no reason to expect that a
single member of our entire race shall escape
death.
Death — like Him who appointed it — is " no
respecter of persons." It comes alike to all
classes and conditions of men. It takes the infant
from the mother's arms. It cuts down the strong
young man and the fair young maiden. It calls
the middle-aged man from the activities of busi-
ness life and from the care of his family. It per-
mits the aged man to lay down his long borne
burden and rest with his fathers in the grave.
All classes — the young and the old, the weak and
the strong, the wise and the unwise, the rich and
the poor, the prepared and the unprepared, the
believer and the unbeliever — must at last answer
the summons that calls them to the pale realms of
death. All must leave the things of this world
and come at last to " the house appointed for all
living."
Another teaching of the Bible is that death is
the result of sin. Had there been no sin, there
would have been no death. But for sin, there
288 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
would have been no sickness, nor suffering, nor
pain, nor separation of soul and body in the
agonies of physical death. Death does not come
to man by any arbitrary appointment of God,
but as a judgment for sin. Man by sinning
brings upon himself the penalty of his own dis-
obedience. The Judge declares him to be guilty
of death because of his sin. " By one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so
death passed upon all men for that all have
sinned." (Romans 5: 12.) The law was broken,
and the penalty has fallen on man because he
disregarded the warning, " In the day thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die." Our great
representative was clearly taught that the legal
and moral status which he, by his obedience or
disobedience, should secure for himself, he would
likewise secure for all of his posterity. If he
should obey, he would be confirmed in holiness,
and he and they should continue to enjoy the
blessings of God's children to all eternity ; but
that if he disobeyed, he should forfeit all right
and title to the favor of God and bring himself
and his descendants into sin and misery. He
chose the way of sin and so must suffer its pen-
alty. Did he bring himself under the penalty by
his sin and disobedience.'' So did he bring his
children. Did he lose from his soul the image of
God.!* So did he bring it to pass that not one of
all of his descendants should be born in the image
pf God, but that they should all come into the
DEATH 289
world with his sinful likeness. Did he become a
child of wrath through sin? So did they, for
" we are all children of wrath." Did he become
subject to all of the evils of this life, to death it-
self and all of the pains of hell forever? So did
they. Sin, then, it is that hath wrought the ruin
of man. Sin brings death and all of our woes.
" Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
" The wages of sin is death."
Even God's people are required to go up to the
privileges of the redeemed through the gateway
of death. It is true that Christ hath purchased
for them deliverance from the curse of the law,
and a title to life eternal, yet, according to the
terms of the covenant, believers are required to
pass through death to the life eternal. God
might have translated them at once to heaven,
but for wise reasons He does not do this, but re-
quires them to pass through a greatly modified
death — a death from which the sting of sin hath
been extracted, a death which has been changed
from a curse into a means of chastisement and a
death which has been robbed largely of its terrors
by the fact that Christ gained the victory over it
and sanctified it for the service of those who put
their trust in Him by making it a means of grace
to them while here and a means of entrance into
glory when they are called away from here. Still
it is true that even God's children would have
never known death had they never known sin.
They must follow Him who tasted death for them
290 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
through the grave up to the glory which He hath
in store for them.
Again, we are clearly taught that the soul of
man will continue to live in a conscious, active
state, after the separation from the body. Many
of the greatest minds of the past have regarded
even the rational arguments for the immortality
of the soul sufficient to beget a very strong prob-
ability of the soul's continued existence after
death. The Bible testimony on this subject
makes it certain to all who receive its authority
that man's soul will survive the shock of death,
and live and know beyond the grave. The people
of all races and lands and times have believed in
the immortality of the soul, and there must, there-
fore, be some solid foundation upon which so uni-
versal a hope must rest. God either taught their
ancestors this great truth and they handed it
down, or else he bestows upon each soul the power
to entertain this hope.
Philosophers teach that not a particle of mat-
ter can be destroyed. You can change its form
and the combination of its elements, but you can-
not cause them to cease to exist. You can burn
a stick of wood, but if you could gather up all of
the smoke and water and ash that came from it
you would find that nothing had been destroyed
but the combination of particles. How much
more, then, have we the right to infer the inde-
structibility of the spiritual part of man, which
is one and indivisible.
DEATH 291
The soul has powers and capacities capable of
indefinite development and improvement, and
should have a sphere and opportunity for such
development. As a profound thinker once said,
" God has ordained that all things shall fulfill the
ends for which they exist." Now two ends for
which man exists are that he may develop to their
highest degree all of his powers and faculties, and
that he should glorify the God who made him.
Life is too short and circumscribed to fulfill these
ends satisfactorily, and hence there must be some
future state in which the work begun here may be
completed. If you see a man planting a great
number of fruit trees close together in a small
place, you conclude from your knowledge of the
nature of the trees that they arc to be trans-
planted to a larger place where they shall have
opportunity to grow and develop and bear fruit.
The soul of man is the scion, in the nursery here
on earth, which is to be transplanted to the gar-
den of God in the eternal world, that there it may
have time and opportunity to grow and develop
and bear fruit to the glory of God who made it.
Conscience points forward to a time and a Per-
son before whom an account must be rendered of
all the deeds done in the body. Horace, the poet,
said that " fear made the gods," but one wiser
than Horace said, " But who made fear? " Why
should man fear the result of his conduct in the
future if there be no future.'' And why fear if
there be no law and no Judge and no day of reck-
292 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
oning? Surely these premonitions are the voice
of God, whispering in our souls and prophesying
the future day of retribution, when we shall be re-
quired to give an account of the deeds done in the
body.
Then, too, the unequal distribution of rewards
and punishments in this world leads us to expect
another world in which all of the inequalities of
justice shall be made even. " Shall not the Judge
of all the earth do right ? " Would it be right
to let the Avicked go unpunished forever.? Would
it be right for the innocent to continue to suffer
and the robber and the murderer to escape the
punishment due his sin.'* It must be that at some
time in the future all men must stand before the
judgment seat of God, that they may receive at
His hands according to their deeds. Justice de-
mands what conscience tells men he should fear.
When we turn to the Bible, the light is clear
and distinct. Job, who lived long before the
Light of the world came in human form, said:
" I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He
shall stand at the latter day on the earth ; and
though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh I shall see God ; whom I shall see
for myself, and mine eyes shall see, and not an-
other." Later on, Christ brought life and im-
mortality to light, and declared in plain terms,
and emphatic as plain, when He was about to
leave this world by the gateway of death, " I go
to prepare a place for you, and if I go and pre-
DEATH 293
pare a place for you, I will come again, that where
I am, there may ye be also." " Because I live, ye
shall live also." " He that believeth on Me hath
everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last
day." Taught by the inspiration of God, Paul
wrote, " If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus
from the dead dwell in you. He that raised up
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mor-
tal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you."
(Romans 8:11.) In the closing verses of the
twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew Christ represents
the wicked as going away into " everlasting pun-
ishment," and the righteous into " life eternal."
The souls, both of the righteous and of the un-
righteous, are there represented as continuing in
conscious existence throughout all eternity.
We are authorized to believe that the souls of
believers are at death made perfect in holiness and
that they do then pass immediately into glory.
It is written, " Without holiness no man shall see
the Lord," and it is said that " nothing that defil-
eth or maketh unclean shall enter therein." God
would not receive the unholy into companionship
with Himself, and they would not be prepared to
enjoy the blessings of the holy abode of God.
And yet the Savior promised to the penitent thief
that that very day he should be with Him in Para-
dise. Paul said, " To be away from the body is
to be at home with the Lord." And the apostle
John wrote, " I heard a voice from heaven say,
' Write, " Blessed are the dead which die in the
294 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Lord from henceforth that they may rest from
their labor ; and their works do follow them." ' "
And when he saw the multitude of the redeemed
in heaven and asked, " Who are these and whence
came they? " the answer came back, " These are
they that have come out of great tribulation and
have washed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb." Evidently, therefore, to
prepare His people for the new sphere into which
they are represented as being introduced at the
moment of death, they are made perfectly holy
and then welcomed into Paradise, the third or
highest heaven. Thus shall they be satisfied when
they awake with His likeness and are called into
His presence with exceeding great joy.
On the other hand, the souls of the wicked pass
at once to the prison house of Satan and his
angels. Christ warned men that if they would
not believe on Him, they should die in their sins
and go into the outer darkness where there should
be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. He
says expressly that Judas, who was a devil from
the beginning, " went to his own place " ; and of
all the finally impenitent He says, " These shall go
away into everlasting punishment." In that dark
abode they are in full possession of all of their
faculties. He bids the rich man to remember that
he in his lifetime had his good things while Laz-
ai-us had evil things, but that now he was tor-
mented while Lazarus was comforted.
Still further, the Bible teaches us that this sep-
DEATH 295
aration between the righteous and the wicked is
the result of the character and conduct of men in
this life. It is a great law in the spiritual world
that " whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap." *' He that soweth to the flesh shall of the
flesh reap corruption; and he that soweth to the
spirit shall of the Spirit reap life eternal." In
the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew Christ points
out the two classes into which men divide them-
selves — the wise and the foolish virgins ; they
who improved their talents and they who improved
them not; they who ministered to His representa-
tives and they who neglected to do so. Then He
adds those fearful words, " These shall go away
into everlasting punishment ; but the righteous
into life eternal." According to the sides they
espoused, and according to their faith or lack of
faith as shown by their lives, should be their des-
tiny.
This allotment to everlasting death and to life
eternal is to take place immediately after death
and is to be fixed, final and eternal. It was " this
day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." It was
" from henceforth " that the righteous were to be
blessed. To die is to be with Christ for the right-
eous. To go to their own place will be the end
of all who, like Judas, betray the Master or re-
fuse to put their trust in Him as the only Savior
from sin. " I said, therefore, unto you, ' Ye shall
die in your sins.' For if ye believe not on Me,
ye shall die in your sins." To die in one's sins is
296 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
to sink into the abode of the sinful and the lost.
To all such as reject finally the offer of the Sav-
ior to redeem them, He says, " Whither I go ye
cannot come." To them He says as to Dives,
" Besides all this, between us and you there is a
great gulf fixed so that they which would pass
from hence to you cannot. Neither can they pass
to us that would come from thence." (Luke
16: 26.) That is a fearful verdict the Lord sends
back from heaven concerning the estate of men in
the hour of death and judgment. " He that is
unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is
filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is right-
eous, let him be righteous still; and he that is
holy, let him be holy still." (Revelations 22: 11.)
They will then have reached a period in their
moral history when their destiny shall be fixed
and unalterable. They will sink or ascend ac-
cording to the characters they have acquired.
They will gravitate toward their own place — to
a home in heaven or to a prison house in hell.
Trust not to a promise of future repentance
nor to a second probation. Christ said concern-
ing those who demanded signs and visions in His
day, " If they believe not Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded though one rose
from the dead." So it may be said concerning
those who demand a chance beyond the grave, if
they will not believe the gospel and trust in Christ
now, neither will they believe and repent then.
DEATH 297
Now the gospel invites them to all of the bless-
ings of salvation. Now the " Spirit and the
bride say ' Come.' And let him that heareth say
* Come.' And let him that is athirst come. And
whosoever will, let him take of the water of life
freely." There no gospel will be proclaimed.
There the Spirit will cease to strive with man, and
there no Christian friend can give the invitation.
" Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now
is the day of salvation."
Prepare during this day for the night of death
and for the awful realities of eternity. Do you
ask how this preparation can be made and in
what it consists.'* Repent of your sins and turn
unto the Lord and He will have mercy on you and
abundantly pardon you. " Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." He will
clothe you with the robe of His perfect righteous-
ness so that you may be a welcomed guest at the
marriage feast. By careful, prayerful, earnest,
consecrated living, seek constantly to show forth
the praises of Him who hath called you out of
darkness into light. Keep your lamp trimmed
and burning, and the oil of His grace in your
heart, that you may be ready when your Lord
Cometh that you may meet Him in joy and that
He may say to you and to the thousands who love
and serve Him, " Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world." Thus will you be
298 THE JCHRISTIAN FAITH
ready to say with Job, " I know that Thou wilt
bring me to death and to the house appointed for
all living," and with David, " Thou wilt guide me
with Thy counsel and afterwards receive me into
glory."
CHAPTER XXVII
THE RESURRECTION
When we stand on the shores of time and see
our friends pass out into eternity through the
gateway of death, the Bible is the only book that
can give us any comfort and consolation concern-
ing their state and condition. It alone gives us
clear and definite knowledge concerning the im-
mortality of the soul, and it alone teaches us to
expect a bodily resurrection. Christ brought life
and immortality to light. He proclaimed Him-
self to be the " Resurrection and the Life," and
promised to raise up all those who put their trust
in Him. " He that believeth on me hath ever-
lasting life, and I will raise him up at the last
day."
The heathen nations had almost no idea of the
resurrection of the body. The Egyptians held
that, if they could preserve the body, the spirit
might come again and reinhabit its old home; but
if the body should crumble to dust, the spirit must
either wander on and on forever or enter the body
of some lower animal and find there a home in
which it would live and suffer. The resurrection
is altogether a revelation from God. It is a
299
300 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
precious revelation to a believer because he is
authorized by it to hope for the resurrection of
his own body and the resurrection of the bodies
of his friends and kindred. He may then see
again the loved forms of friends who went away,
trusting in the Lord years ago. Hence the com-
fort which the apostle points out concerning those
who die believing in the Lord. " I would not have
you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which
have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, even so them also which sleep in
Jesus will God bring with Him." Hence, also, the
words of Jesus, " Marvel not at this ; for the hour
is coming in the which all that are in their graves
shall hear His voice and shall come forth ; they
that have done good unto the resurrection of life;
and they which have done evil unto the resurrec-
tion of condemnation." (John 5:28-29.)
We should seek to understand the teaching of
the Word concerning the resurrection of the dead.
It is plain that we are taught in the Bible that the
very same bodies from which our souls are sep-
arated at death will be raised again from the dead.
This does not mean that every particle of matter
that now constitutes these bodies shall be included
in the resurrection, but only such a part of the
body, whether particle or germ, as shall be neces-
sary to constitute them the same bodies in a true
and literal sense. No one has ever yet been able
to define very clearly bodily identity, and yet of
THE RESURRECTION 301
the fact of such identity there can be no doubt.
It certainly cannot consist in the continued asso-
ciation and relation of all of the particles of the
body, for these are constantly changing, being
lost and renewed in the wear and growth of the
body. We are told by physicians that the par-
ticles of our bodies change every few years, that
a man at twenty-one has not a particle of matter
in his body that made up that body when he was
born, and yet no one has a doubt but that his
identity has been maintained during all of these
years. He is conscious that his material home,
his body, with its limbs and members, has con-
tinued to be associated with and related to his
soul, and that while there have been many changes
in the body, yet it has remained substantially the
same. So, though our bodies should be greatly
changed in the passage through death, there will
be a real sense in which they will be recognized as
the very same bodies our souls inhabited before
death. The same almighty God who first formed
the body of man is certainly capable of reforming
it in such a way as to maintain its identity and
yet so change it as to fit it for the new sphere in
which it is to live after the morning of the resur-
rection. Hence the language used with reference
to the resurrected body plainly identifies it with
the body in which we now live and have our being.
" It " — the body — " is sown in weakness."
" It " — the same body — " is raised in power."
Christ would not be the redeemer of our bodies
302 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
unless He redeemed from sin and death the very
bodies which have been marked and marred by sin.
Christ's resurrection is a type of ours, for it is
called " the earnest " of ours. As His was lit-
eral, and as His very body was raised from the
dead and was seen and recognized by His friends,
so will our very bodies be raised and be seen and
known by those who knew us before death.
Hence we are expressly taught that our bodies are
to be raised up and " are to be made like unto
Christ's glorious body."
The change which takes place in the body thus
raised to life will be such as to prepare it for the
abode of the soul cleansed from all sin, and for
the new surroundings into which it is to be intro-
duced. The model after which the bodies of be-
lievers are to be fashioned will be the glorified
body of Christ. That, though the same was
greatly changed so that it was not at once recog-
nized, being noticed carefully, was seen to be the
very body of the Savior. When Mary came to
the tomb seeking for Jesus, the record shows that
when she had looked into the scpulcher and found
that his body Avas not there, she turned back and
saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was
Jesus till He called her by name. " Jesus said
unto her, ' Mary ' ; she saith unto Him ' Rabboni
— Master.' " The familiar voice, the gracious
manner, revealed to her the Lord, her Friend and
Savior. The two disciples on their way to Em-
maus were joined by Jesus who talked to them
THE RESURRECTION 303
and asked them questions, but they did not at
first recognize Him. But when He sat down to
eat with them, He was made known to them " in
the breaking of bread." There was something in
His manner and bearing, in His voice and gesture,
which revealed Him through the change that had
come over Him. Christ's transfiguration was a
prophecy of what His body should be when raised
from the dead. At that time, " His face did
shine as the sun and His raiment was white as the
light " ; so in the resurrection day Christ's body
shall be glorious and the bodies of all of His peo-
ple shall be like His in glory and beauty. His
body was so glorified that it was not easily and
immediately recognized by those who had known
Him, and yet so alike that it was seen to be the
same when the first surprise was over and when
opportunity was given to examine its features ; so
will it be when we meet the redeemed whom we
have known on earth. They may be as superior
in body as the diamond is to the charcoal, and so
may not be recognized at a glance, but they will
be so the same that we shall know them by some
appearance or trait or feature which they bore
when upon earth. At the Laymen's Convention
in Birmingham I met a classmate whom I knew
and loved in College but whom I had not seen since
we were boys. At first I did not know him, so
great was the change which had come over him,
and yet when I looked more carefully I saw in his
eyes and form and bearing much to reveal him as
304 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
the same friend I had known so well in the past.
" It is sown in dishonor ; it is raised in glory."
It dies with the marks of sin upon it; it rises with
the image of holiness upon it. The gloom of sin
rested upon the countenance here ; the glory of
holiness will crown it there. As we have borne
the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the
image of the heavenly. The resurrection body is
to be " incorruptible." In its natural state it
was liable to dissolution and death, but in its
spiritual condition it shall be no longer liable to
the power of death. " There shall be no more
death," for " it is sown in corruption ; it is raised
in incorruption."
The resurrection body shall be vigorous and
full of strength. Here the body is weak and liable
to grow weary. Here it is frail and not immune
from sickness. There the weary are at rest.
There " the inhabitant shall no more say * I am
sick.' " There fresh and immortal vigor shall
mark the bodies of the redeemed, for it is written,
" It is sown in weakness ; it is raised in power."
Still further, it shall be " spiritual." Here it
is an animal body, moved and largely influenced
by animal feelings and instincts, and these largely
controlled and directed by a sinful nature " so
that when we would do good, evil is present with
us." There it will be a spiritual body, a body
spiritualized, a body occupied and actuated by
the spirit of man under the guidance and influ-
ence of the Spirit of God. Even here the body
THE RESURRECTION 305
of the believer is spoken of as " the temple of the
Holy Ghost," but sin still dwells in that temple
and mars its beauty and introduces discord into
its worship; but after death the Holy Spirit will
assume full sway and control of His temple and
every thought and feeling and desire of the soul
shall be under the perfect and sweet influence of
the Spirit of God.
Concerning the condition of the bodies of the
wicked after death little is said in the Word of
God. Since they refused to accept God's pro-
vision for cleansing their souls and glorifying
their bodies, they must be left under the degrad-
ing, deforming influence of sin. They must
" awake to shame and everlasting contempt."
They must be given up to the evil influences of
sin and Satan. They must " go away into ever-
lasting punishment prepared for the devil and his
angels." Having rejected Christ and made alle-
giance with Satan, they must share his fate.
The Scriptural reasons which have led to a firm
belief in the resurrection of the dead are many and
strong. Such a resurrection is necessary to the
complete victory of Christ over sin and Satan.
Satan led man into sin and sin brought upon man
death — death bodily, death spiritual, death
eternal. Christ undertook to rescue and deliver
man from sin and death and Satan. He under-
took this work for the whole man, for the body as
well as for the soul. He must, therefore, defeat
Satan, destroy his work and redeem both soul and
306 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
body from the power and dominion of sin and
from the pains of death. Hence it was that He
engaged in the contest with Satan and defeated
him. Hence it was He cast out demons. Hence
it was that " He died, the just for the unjust, that
He might bring us unto God." Hence it was He
went down into the grave and burst the bands of
death and ascended to glory, " leading captivity
captive and receiving gifts for men." Hence He
came " that through death He might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is the devil, and
deliver them who through fear of death were all
of their lifetime subject to bondage." (Hebrews
2:14-15.)
Such a resurrection is necessary to complete
the salvation of man. To save the soul is impor-
tant and will be glorious, but man's redemption
can never be complete, nor Christ's work finished,
till the bodies of all them that put their trust in
Him shall have been rescued from the grave,
raised up and made like to His own glorious resur-
rection body.
Justice demands that the bodies of the wicked
be raised up that they may receive " according to
the things done in the body " ; and that the bodies
of the redeemed be raised up that they may re-
ceive in the body the rewards purchased for them
by the sufferings which Christ endured in His
own body upon the cross. Christ's own resurrec-
tion is given as a token and a pledge of the resur-
THE RESURRECTION 307
rection of all them that put their trust in Him.
" Riecause I live, ye shall live also." " If the
Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, He that raised Christ from the dead
shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His
spirit that dwelleth in j^ou." (Romans 8: 11.)
Then we have the express statements of the
Word of God to confirm our hope and strengthen
our faith. Some of these have just been quoted,
and others are so familiar that they will readily
occur to your minds. Christ declared Himself to
be the " Resurrection and the Life," and said
expressly, " This is the will of Him that sent Me,
that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on Him, may have everlasting life ; and I will raise
him up at the last day." (John 6:40.) "So
when this corraptible shall have put on incor-
ruption, and this mortal shall have put on im-
mortality, then shall be brought to pass the say-
ing that is written, ' Death is swallowed up in
victory.' " " Thanks be unto God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
What a comfort to God's people, both concerning
their own resurrection and concerning that of
their friends and kindred who have departed to be
with Christ ! They shall meet and know them
after the resurrection day. With them they shall
walk and talk and worship and serve the Re-
deemer forever and forever.
With what zeal and earnestness should all seek
308 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
to have a part in the resurrection of the just?
" Set your house in order." Seek an interest in
Him who is " the Resurrection and the Life," and
who hath promised to raise up everyone who puts
his trust in him.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE GENERAL JUDGMENT
There was once a man arraigned before the
Court of the Inquisition. He was told that it
would be best for him to make a full and unre-
served confession of all he had said and done. He
began, but when he heard the sound of a pen run-
ning rapidly over paper behind a curtain that
hung near, he became silent, for he knew that his
words were being taken down that they might be
used against him in the future. With far greater
fairness and justice God forewarns us that a
record is being made of our thoughts and words
and deeds, and that we must face that record at
the judgment of the great day, for " God hath
appointed a day in which He will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom He hath or-
dained."
The day. There is, then, to be a day of judg-
ment. Some have wondered why there should be
a general judgment when it is clearly the teach-
ing of the Bible that each man's destiny is prac-
tically decided when he dies — that then he goes
at once to the place to which his sins doom him
or to the place to which the Savior has purchased
309
310 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
for him a title. Such a judgment would not be
necessary for God, for He knows from the begin-
ning all of the sins of the lost and all of those
claimed by Christ as the purchase of His suffer-
ing and death. He will deal with perfect justice
in all of the sentences which He passes, whether at
death or in the final day of judgment.
While we may not be able to know all of the
reasons why such a judgment is necessary, there
are some good reasons that must occur to every
thoughtful student of the Word and of human life.
The expectation of such a day will stimulate men
to live in a proper manner and to prepare for the
account which they must at last render before
God. If men know that all of their thoughts and
Avords and deeds will one day be made known to
those for whom he hath the highest regard, how
careful will he be that these thoughts and feelings
and words and deeds be of such a character that
he will not be ashamed of them. He will strive to
think pure thoughts, to speak true words and to
do kind acts.
Such a judgment will also furnish an oppor-
tunity to reveal to men the ultimate fruits of their
sins, and so reveal to them the perfect justice of
God in their punishment or the greatness of His
mercy in their pardon. No one is able to measure
the full extent of the evil influence of even one sin
when it is first committed. Here is a man who
speaks a profane or an impure word in the pres-
ence of a child. There is the double evil influence
THE GENERAL JUDGMENT 311
on the soul of the speaker and upon the soul of
the child. These he cannot fully measure. But
this is only the beginning. That child grows up
with his character influenced and colored by that
word he heard. It found a congenial soil in his
sinful heart and will bear fruit in his life. He
will repeat that or a similar word to others, and
they to others, and thus that one wrong word
may go on spreading its baneful influence long
after the first and second speakers are dead and
gone. Down to the end of time the evil fruit will
be borne, and it can never be known till the end
of time how great and how evil that fruitage will
be. And so with each and every sin which a man
commits during all the days of his life. In the
light of eternity men shall see and understand far
better than at death how great and how far reach-
ing has been the ruin wrought by their sins and
hence how just is God in the punishment He will
inflict upon all of those out of Christ and how
infinite the mercy of God in the gift of His Son
to save from such sin. Thus will the general
judgment silence the mouths of all cavilers and
magnify the glory of Grod in the punishment of
sinners and in the salvation of the righteous. It
is clear, whether we can understand all of the
reasons or not, that the Scriptures teach that
there will be such a general judgment, both of
the just and of the unjust. In Ecclesiastes it is
written, " God shall bring every work into judg-
ment, with every secret thing, whether it be good
312 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
or evil." (12:14.) In Acts 17:31 is recorded
the passage already quoted : " God hath ap-
pointed a day in which He will judge the world
in righteousness by that Man whom He hath or-
dained." Christ, in speaking of that day in the
Gospel of Matthew, says, " When the Son of man
shall come in His glory, and all of the holy angels
with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of
His glory; and before Him shall be gathered all
nations." (Matthew 25:31, 32.) The apostle
Paul says, " For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ." (II Corinthians
5:10.) And John, the beloved, writes: "I saw
the dead, small and great, stand before God : and
the books were opened : and another book was
opened, which is the book of life: and the dead
were judged out of those things which were writ-
ten in the books, according to their works. And
the sea gave up the dead that were in it ; and
death and hell delivered up the dead which were in
them: and they were judged, every man accord-
ing to their works." (Revelations 20:12-13.)
There will then be this great and terrible day of
the Lord when He shall try the hearts of all men.
That will be a great day because of the character
of the judge, because of the vast multitudes to be
tried, because of the revelations which shall be
made and because of the sentence passed. It will
mark the end of time, and the final doom of man.
It will be a day of separations, a day of sorrow
and despair, and yet a day of triumph and joy.
THE GENERAL JUDGMENT 313
The great day of judgment is coming at the time
fixed and appointed by the Judge of all of the
earth.
The Judge will be the Lord Jesus Christ. God
the Father hath appointed the day, but will give
to His Son the honor of sitting as Judge. He is
called " the Son of man " and " the Man ordained
of God." In the gospel of John this remarkable
language is used by Christ : " For the Father
judgcth no man, but hath committed all judgment
unto the Son." (John 5:21-22.) It is becom-
ing that Christ should have this honor. His at-
tributes are such as to qualify Him for the office,
and the work He hath done for the glory of His
Father and for the salvation of man is such as to
entitle Him to this public recognition before all
the moral and spintual world. His knowledge
will enable Him to see and understand all of the
sins and needs of those whom He is to judge. His
holiness and justice are such that He will deal
fairly and without any compromise with sin. His
power is such that none can escape the awful reali-
ties of that day. And yet His mercy is such that
He will deal kindly and tenderly in so far as this
can be done without violence to the law and jus-
tice of Heaven.
He gave up heaven and endured the sorrows of
earth, the contradiction of sinners and the suf-
fering of death to maintain the honor of God and
secure the salvation of man. " Wherefore God
hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name
314. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
that is above every name, that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue con-
fess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the
Father." (Philippians 2 : 9-11.) It is becoming
that He should be the Judge as a reward for all
He had done and suffered in order to reestablish
the kingdom of righteousness and truth among
men. Then, too, it is especially fitting that our
mediator should be our judge. To stand before
Jehovah in His naked spiritual being might so fill
our hearts with terror and awe as to drive us away
in dismay. But when we see the Judge, clothed
in human form, and recognize Him as the very
Savior who loved us and died and rose for us, we
can the better stand before the judgment seat in
that day. We shall be able to feel that He will
represent our cause, and that through Him we
shall be delivered from the wrath to come.
What a contrast there will be between His posi-
tion at that day and the position He occupied
when upon earth ! Then He was in humility ; now
in glory. Then He was a prisoner before an
earthly tribunal; now He sits to judge the quick
and the dead. Then He was despised and re-
jected of men; now He is owned and confessed by
a great multitude which no man can number.
Then He was attended by a few humble followers ;
now all of the holy angels of heaven attend Him,
while all of the redeemed of earth and all of the
wicked men of earth and wicked angels of heaven
stand before Him to receive at His hands the sen-
THE GENERAL JUDGMENT 315
tence either of pardon and acceptance or of con-
demnation and death.
The persons to be judged then are all men and
all the fallen angels who are said to be " reserved
in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the
great day." The quick and the dead are to be
there. " Before Him shall be gathered all na-
tions." " The dead, small and great, shall stand
before Him." " Marvel not at this, for the hour is
coming in the which all that are in their graves
shall come forth, they that have done good unto the
resurrection of life and they that have done evil
unto the resurrection of damnation," — all of all
races and kindreds and tribes and people ; all of all
lands and countries ; all of every rank and age
and condition ; all of all generations ; not merely
the fifteen hundred millions that now live, but all
of the thousands of generations that have lived;
all who have died on sea or land ; all who have died
in war and in peace ; all who have been cut down
by pestilence or famine or sword. The old and
the young, the rich and the poor, the wise and
the unwise, the prepared and the unprepared,
the wicked and the righteous — all — all —
every one of our race — shall be there.
This judgment, while universal, will also be
particular and individual. " So, then, everyone
of us shall give account of himself unto God."
No man can answer for another in that day ex-
cept as Christ answers for His people. The
father cannot answer for the son, nor the son for
316 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
the father. The husband cannot answer for the
wife, nor the wife for the husband. Friend can-
not answer for friend, nor neighbor for neighbor.
" Every one of us must give account of himself to
God."
Of what shall we be judged.? Of every thought
of our 77nnds, of every feeling of our hearts, of
every word of our mouths and every deed of our
lives. This is a great teaching of God's Word,
corresponding with the wonderful teaching of
conscience. That which conscience whispered,
the Word loudly proclaims. That which man se-
cretly feared, the Word plainly declares. " God
shall bring every work into judgment with every
secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be
evil."
The thoughts and intents of our hearts are the
sources from which spring our actions, for " as
a man thinketh, so is he ! " God sees these as the
germs from which grow our actions. The botan-
ist by his glass and by his knowledge can see in
the seed the entire plant, root, stalk, leaf and
branch ; so does God see the full action in the
thought of the mind and in the desire of the heart.
For the words we speak, yea, for " every idle word
shall we account in the day of judgment." Words
have power and influence, and words once spoken
have wings that carry them so fast and so far
that we can never overtake them nor ever recall
them. For every idle word, for every unkind
word, for every untrue word and for every im-
THE GENERAL JUDGMENT 317
pure word we shall have to give an account in the
day of judgment. For all the deeds done in the
body must men give account in that final day of
trial. " By their fruits ye shall know them."
The good tree bringeth forth good fruit and the
evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit, and we judge
the tree by the fruit. So must man expect to be
judged at the last day. For the deed itself, for
its influence upon the person and for its influence
upon others ; for all of its evil in its committal and
for all the evil influence it may work down to the
end of time, must we answer.
For neglected opportunities and for omitted
duties we must make answer at the bar of God.
How many the golden opportunities that come to
us along the way of life, and how many of them are
neglected ! And how great the sorrow and re-
morse which these neglected opportunities bring
to the hearts of men. You have probably heard
the incident related of John Randolph of Roan-
oke when he came to die. He is said to have
asked some one to write for him on a card the
word " remorse." When that was done he bade
him write it again. When that was done he re-
quested him to write it a third time. When that
wish was complied with he took the card in his
thin, trembling fingers and said aloud, " Remorse !
Remorse ! Remorse ! " — sorrow for unimproved,
neglected opportunities. He was a man of won-
derful intellect and had enjoyed unusual advan-
tages and might have wielded untold influence for
818 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
good, but he felt that he had failed to seize and
improve them and therefore sorrow and remorse
filled his heart and made bitter his last moments
on earth. You will recall the test which our Sav-
ior represents Himself as applying at the judg-
ment day. " Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of
the least of these, my brethren, ye did it not unto
Me." The failure to feed the hungry, give drink
to the thirsty, to entertain the stranger, clothe
the naked and visit the sick and imprisoned was
an evidence that they did not have love in their
hearts to God and man, and so He must deny
them entrance into a kingdom which required trust
of Christ and love to God and man as the quali-
fications for admission. This was a test that
could be applied alike by the rich and the poor.
Those who have very little of this world's goods
can divide their bread with the poor, give a cup
of cold water to a fellow disciple for the sake of
Him who, though He was rich yet, for our sakes
became poor that we, through His poverty, might
become rich. Even the poor can visit the sick
and the prisoner, and share his shelter with his
felloAv traveller to the bar of God. It was the
virgins who took no oil, the man who did no trad-
ing with his talent, and the persons who did no
act of kindness to the poor and needy who were
to be condemned as lost at the last great day;
and it was the virgins who took oil in their lamps,
the men who improved their talents, and the per-
sons who ministered to the poor and needy in
THE GENERAL JUDGMENT 319
Christ's name, who were welcomed into the rest
that remaineth to the people of God.
The rule by which they shall be judged is the
will of God as made known to man. " The books "
which contain this will shall be opened. In human
courts there are statute books containing the law
which are opened and read for the guidance of the
judge and jury. So God's law will be appealed
to to justify all of His decisions. The book of
conscience will be opened. God hath written His
law upon the hearts and consciences of man so
that they can be appealed to to show cause why
sentence should be passed upon those who have
violated the dictates of this inward law. The
soul's judgment as to the moral character of its
own actions will support the judgment of God
Himself, for conscience is the voice of God, dis-
tinguishing between the right and the wrong and
pointing forward to the final judgment of God
to be passed upon the moral action of man. The
book of the revealed law will be opened and by its
teaching shall all who have heard it be tried. The
thought and feelings and conduct of such men
shall be laid along side the ten commandments,
and by these shall the works of such men be tried.
The Book of the gospel shall be opened and by it
shall be tried all who have ever heard its joyful
sound. The neglect or refusal of God's plan of
salvation shall shut up all way of escape to men
who have been guilty of such sin and folly.
There shall be zvitnesses to testify against men
320 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
— their own consciences, the persons whom they
have wronged and led into sin. Satan, who
brought them by the ways of death and darkness,
shall then arise with fiendish delight to testify that
they have sinned in this way and in that, to this
extent and to that. But whatever may be for-
gotten by conscience, by your fellow men, or even
by Satan, shall be clearly brought to light when
the book of God's remembrance shall be opened,
for " God shall bring every work into judgment,
with every secret thing, whether it be good or
whether it be evil." In human courts the " record
of a cause " is frequently sent up from a lower to
a higher court. That record contains all of the
facts and evidence. These are all laid before the
court that the cause may be tried according to
the law and evidence. So before the bar of God
will be presented all of the evidence of the sin of
man and he will be judged " out of the things
which were written in the books according to his
works." Then another book shall be opened,
'• which is the book of life." In that book are
recorded the names of all who were given to Christ
as a reward of His suffering and death — all who
have been born of the Spirit ; all who have re-
ceived and rested upon Christ alone for salvation
as He was offered to them in the gospel. If any
are found whose names are not in the book of life,
they are condemned; but all whose names are
written there are welcomed into the kingdom pre-
pared for them from the foundation of the world.
THE GENERAL JUDGMENT 321
This, then, will be the result of the judgment.
To the one class it will bring the message of wel-
come into the blessings of the redeemed in heaven.
To the other a sentence of " Depart from Me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil
and his angels." Let sinners tremble in view of
the judgment day, for " it is a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God " and to go
away from the Savior into " the outer darkness
where there shall be weeping and wailing and
gnashing of teeth." Repent and turn to the Lord
and " He will have mercy upon you, and unto
our God, and He will abundantly pardon you."
Let the righteous stand in awe and sin not.
Let them trust in Christ, their advocate, and He
will plead their cause and secure their pardon and
acquittal. " Who is he that condemneth .'' It is
Christ that died ; yea, rather that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also
maketh intercession for us." (Romans 8:34.)
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or a sword .^^ . . .
Nay, in all of these things we are more than con-
querors through Him that loved us. For I am
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord."
CHAPTER XXIX
HEAVEN
If you were about to leave your present home
and move to a new country you would feel a deep
interest in the character of that country. Its
climate, its products, its people, its laws and
customs, its government and ruler would all be
subjects of the deepest interest to you. Your
interest in heaven, the place to which you expect,
before long to go, should be none the less real and
deep. Since the Bible is the only source of in-
formation we have concerning heaven, we should
seek diligently to learn all it has to tell us about
heaven.
It is clearly revealed to us that heaven is a
real place. The Savior said, " I go to prepare a
jjloce for you and if I go and prepare a place for
you I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am there ye may be also." (John
14:2, 3.)
The place is where Christ, with human body
and soul, dwells. It is the home into which all
of His people are to be gathered at last. It is
" the better country " which the faithful of
all ages have sought. It is " the land of
322
HEAVEN 323
promise " which we hope to reach when we
pass over the river of death. It is the " in-
heritance " of the saints in light. It is the
" paradise " of God, and the " kingdom " where is
His throne and His glory. It is the dwelling
place of God and holy angels and of all the re-
deemed of earth. Into this blessed abode He
promises at last to welcome all of His people of
all lands and all ages when He shall say to them :
" Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king-
dom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world."
Heaven is a place of life and conscious activity.
It is a great mistake to suppose that death ends
in an eternal sleep, or that heaven is a place of
rest in the sense of ease, inactivity and laziness.
The soul with all of its active powers and faculties
passes into eternity without losing these. If
death does not destroy the soul, then it does not
impair the faculties of the soul, nor interfere with
their activities. The mind must think, the heart
must love, the will must act and the memory still
recall the events that have passed away. Indeed,
it is probable that the powers of the soul will be
more active there than here. Here the weakness
and weariness of the body hinder and interfere
with the vigorous activity of the soul, but there it
will be in a state where health and vigor will dis-
tinguish every inhabitant, for there shall be no
more sickness nor pain. The blessings of heaven
are all summed up in the expression " eternal life,"
324 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
but life implies activity, growth and development,
and eternal life involves endless activity. Hence
we find that the redeemed are represented as
" praising God," " serving God," and as resting
not day or night. Their rest is not that of ease
and inactivity but of employment in which there
is no weariness, but variety, congeniality, and
absence of hindrances and interruptions. Love
ever impels them in the constant and delightful
service which they render unto Him who loved
them and gave Himself for them.
Heaven is a holy place. It is written that
" without holiness no man shall see the Lord."
" Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
God." It is said, " Nothing that defileth or mak-
eth unclean shall enter therein," and it is promised
to the believer that he shall be satisfied when he
awakes with the likeness of his Lord, and the
blood-bought throng in heaven are described as
those " who have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb."
Heaven is a place of perfect harmony. There
the prayer of Christ will be fully answered, " That
they may be one as we are one." All causes of
discord and division between God and man will
have been banished and all will be united in the
bonds of a perfect and endless union with Christ
as the Head and His people as His body. They
will all bear His likeness; all have His mind, and
all seek His glory. Love will prompt them to
engage heartily and unitedly in the service of Him
HEAVEN 325
whom they have taken to be their All-comprehend-
ing Good and before whom they all bow as before
their All-disposing Lord.
Heaven is described as a place beautiful beyond
all pomer of thought or description. It is said
to be a city " whose foundations are garnished
with all manner of precious stones, whose gates
are pearl, whose streets are of pure gold, through
which flows the river of life, on whose banks grow
the tree of life ; and in the midst of this city is the
throne of God, and the glory of God is the light
of it." This wonderful combination of the most
beautiful objects of which we have any knowledge
is presented to our minds to give us a glimpse of
the beauty and grandeur and glory of the home
which God is preparing for all them that look to
Him for salvation. The spirit of this language
is caught and expressed in that beautiful Scottish
hymn, " The Palace of the King." The author
names over the most beautiful things of earth, its
mountains and hills, rivers and lakes, its fields and
plains, its flowers and trees, and then declares that
all of these, for beauty, do not touch the Palace
of the King; then running over other beautiful
things in nature, the sun and moon and stars, says
" If these be so beautiful what must be the beauty
of the Palace of the King.'* " No mind can con-
ceive and no language describe the " things which
God hath prepared for them that love Him."
Heaven is a place of supreme happiness. All
causes of sorrow are absent. Sickness is a con-
326 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
stant source of sorrow and care in our earthly
homes, but " the inhabitant of that land shall no
more say, ' I am sick,' " Death is the king of
terrors and he knocks at every door and brings
sorrow into every earthly abode, but there " there
shall be no more death, for they shall die no more,
but shall be as the angels of God."
The greatest source of sorrow is sin. It is the
source of every sorrow and sigh, every sickness
and every death in every time and every land.
But in heaven there shall be no sin. The inhabit-
ants of that land shall be renewed in the likeness
of their Lord and Redeemer who is " holy, harm-
less, undefiled and separate from sinners." There
too they shall be forever exempt from the fear and
the reality of eternal death, for Christ hath
pledged to all who put their trust in Him eternal
life with all of its blessings and rewards. This
will insure not only the absence of all sources of
sorrow but also all things which are necessary to
the highest and purest forms of joy. Holiness
of character will constitute one of the chief ele-
ments of the happiness of heaven. To bear the
image of God and to be conscious of no thought,
no feeling, no desire which is out of harmony with
the holy character of God will be a source of never
ending joy and delight.
The employments of heaven will be congenial
and pleasant. We know not what these will be
but we are warranted in believing that they will
be worthy of the God who directs them, and suited
HEAVEN 327
to the redeemed characters of those who are to
engage in them. We are sure that for minds made
in the image of God there will be spread out for
study and contemplation the boundless fields
of truth; that for hearts thrilled with love and
gratitude there will be revealed infinite objects
and causes of love and affection ; and that for
wills brought under willing obedience to the will
of God there will be abundant opportunities of
loving, loyal service. We are expressly told that
there " His servants shall serve Him," and we are
taught that they praise Him day and night.
There will be there an abundant supply of every-
thing which can satisfy and please the tastes of
those who have hungered and thirsted after right-
eousness, for they shall be filled. " And they shall
hunger no more neither thirst any more, for the
Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed
them, and God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes."
There we shall meet and know the friends and
kindred who have gone before and with them re-
view the wonders of God's works of creation —
providence and redemption.
There we shall see the beauty and glory of
God, and love and serve Him with all of our hearts.
There we shall be under the hallowed influence of
the Holy Spirit by whom we shall have been made
meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, and
there we shall see Him face to face, who loved us
and gave Himself for us that He might redeem us
328 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
from all iniquity and present us faultless before
His Father with exceeding great joy.
To crown all, heaven will be tJie eternal home
of all of the redeemed. However beautiful and
happy might be a home, it would not be suited to
the full and final happiness of immortal souls un-
less it were permanent and abiding. There are
many beautiful homes on earth and much of hap-
piness in them, but they soon pass away or else
those who dwell in them pass from them. Even
a holy home would not be sufficient. Our first
parents had not only a beautiful home but a per-
fectly happy home, but it was not safe against
the attacks of Satan, the enemy of God and man.
He entered that home and by cunning and deceit
led them to listen to his false promises, turn their
backs on God and walk away leading down to suf-
fering, sorrow, pain and death. But the home
which God hath prepared for His redeemed chil-
dren is to be safe against every enemy of God and
man. It is written, " They which enter into this
city shall go no more out forever." They shall
reign with Him " forever and ever." There they
are to enjoy " life eternal." As long as God
lives they shall live. As long as His throne stands
they shall be protected by His power and crowned
and blessed with His love and mercy.
In answer to the question which springs up in
every mind as he bids adieu to his friends and kin-
dred when they die, or as he anticipates his own
departure, when do believers go to heaven.'' the
HEAVEN 329
Bible is clear and explicit. The Savior said to
the penitent thief, " This day shalt thou be with
me in paradise." Paradise means a pleasure gar-
den. It is used to describe the place of happiness
in the garden of Eden and it is used to set forth
the final abode of happiness into which man is to
be introduced at death. It is one of the terms
used to describe heaven. Paul says in the twelfth
chapter of Second Corinthians, fourth verse, that
he was caught up into paradise. In the same
context, second verse, he says that he was caught
up into " the third heaven." Among the Jews
this was regarded as the highest heaven. They
called the region of the clouds the first heaven.
They called the sky, where the sun and moon
and stars are, the second heaven and then they
called the place where God has His throne
the third or highest heaven. When, therefore,
Paul, evidently referring to the same time and
experience, says he was caught up into paradise
or the third heaven, he thereby identifies the two
names as standing for one and the same place.
So the apostle John identifies the names of the
future abode of the redeemed. In the second
chapter of the book of Revelation he writes :
" To him that overcometh I will give to eat of the
tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of
God." Then in the last chapter of the same book
he speaks of the river of life proceeding from be-
neath the throne of God in heaven and of the tree
of life growing on the side of the river of life
330 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
there. Evidently to eat of the tree of life which
is in the midst of the paradise of God is to eat of
that tree of life which is upon the bank of the river
of life which flows from beneath the throne of God
in heaven.
To be assured by the Savior that upon the very
day of his death the believer should be with Him
in paradise was to be assured that he should be
with Him in heaven. So likewise Paul teaches
when he says, " To be absent from the body is to
be present with the Lord." To change the home
of the soul from the mortal body to take up an
abode with Christ is to go to the very heaven
which hath received Him till the restitution of all
things. (Acts 2:21.) Hence it is written, "I
heard a voice from Heaven saying, Write: Blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord from hence-
forth " — from the very moment of their death
they are pronounced " blessed," happy, and hence
the assurance of the apostle, " We know that if
our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved
we have a building of God, an house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens." (II. Corin-
thians 5:1.) The very moment, therefore, the
believer leaves the body his soul goes to God who
gave it — goes to the abode of bliss in the highest
— the holy, the happy, the eternal home in heaven.
What a comfort should this truth be to us con-
cerning our friends and kindred who have fallen
asleep in Jesus. We should not think of them as
wandering alone in the shades of the eternal world.
HEAVEN 331
nor as suffering penal punishment in purgatorial
fire, nor as detained in some intermediate state
short of heaven, but as being conducted at once
into the mansions of rest in our Father's house in
heaven.
What a comfort in view of our own departure
in the hour when our souls shall be called to
leave the home in the body to go to the home
where dwelleth our Lord and all of His redeemed
people. How earnestly should all seek a title to
this heavenly inheritance. How diligently should
all make preparation for going to the celestial
home. And how earnestly should all seek to lead
their friends and kindred to walk in the straight
and narrow way that leadeth unto life eternal.
CHAPTER XXX
HELL
The warnings of Christ are not to be inter-
preted as the threats of a stem and cruel tyrant,
but as the counsels of a wise and tender Savior.
The faithful father warns his son against a course
of vice and intemperance that he may be saved
from their terrible consequences. The tender
mother warns her child to keep out of the fire that
it may avoid the burning. So Christ warns men
against sin and hell that they may escape the
evils they involve. The man of the life-saving
service who gives a timely warning to the vessel
about to make shipwreck on rock or reef is re-
garded as a friend and benefactor; so should
Christ be regarded who hath so faithfully and so
plainly forewarned us against the danger and
punishment of sin. It was the same Savior who
wept over Jerusalem who foretold the terrible
doom that awaited that city. It was the Savior
who suffered and died that lost sinners might be
saved who gave the most solemn and positive warn-
ings as to the final and awful penalty that is to
fall upon those who refuse the offers of love and
mercy.
339
HELL 333
It is a false charity that would conceal from
men the fatal result of a course of sin and unbe-
lief. No option is left to the messenger of God
concerning the delivery of the message. He is
to hear the message at God's mouth and warn the
wicked from Him. To disobey is to incur the dis-
pleasure of God and to prove recreant to the
highest interests of man. You will understand,
then, that it is under a sense of duty to God and
man that there is here presented the scriptural
teaching concerning the final loss and punishment
of all of those who continue in a course of sin
and rejection of God's plan of redemption till the
day of salvation is past and gone forever. For all
such the Savior teaches that there is a place of
terrible punishment.
The Savior represents Himself as saying to the
wicked, at the day of judgment, "Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for
the devil and his angels," and as a result of their
sin and condemnation they are to " go away into
everlasting punishment." Just as there is a place
of happiness and reward into which the redeemed
are to be welcomed, so there is a place of suffer-
ing and punishment into which those who refuse
to be saved are to go because of their course of
sin and disobedience. That place is called, in
plain English, Hell. In the original the specific
word used by the Savior is Gehenna. This word
signified formerly the valley of Hinnon which was
just outside the wall to the south of Jerusalem.
334 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
It was here that the worship of Moloch was estab-
lished. It was here that the idolatrous people
burned their infants in sacrifice to the fire god
Moloch. Later this place became the dumping
place for the filth and rubbish of the city. Here
also were burnt the bodies of dead animals and of
malefactors. To consume the accumulation of
trash and rubbish and filth it was set on fire and
kept burning constantly to prevent sickness and
epidemics in the city. By a figure of speech the
place came to designate the place of final and per-
petual punishment with all of its pollution and
suffering. It is said to be used twelve times in
the New Testament to designate the place of final
punishment. Josephus says (Book 18, § 3, An-
tiquities) that the teachers of his day — A. D. 37-
100 — held that the wicked were consigned to a
place of imprisonment to be punished with eternal
vengeance. Christ addressed the common people
and knew how they would understand His words,
when He spoke of Gehenna, of fire, everlasting fire,
everlasting punishment.
The pain from burning is said to be the most
acute and intense known to the human frame, and
hence by the use of this figure of speech Christ
intended to convey the idea of the excruciating
nature of the suffering of the lost. They are
bidden to depart into " everlasting fire," and are
said to go away into " everlasting punishment," so
that these must be one and the same thing. So
also in the ninth chapter of Mark the Savior gives
HELL 335
a sixfold warning against the terrible end of those
who cling to their sins. " If thy right hand of-
fend thee cut it off and cast it from thee ; it is
better for thee to enter into life maimed than
having two hands to go into hell, where the worm
dieth not and the fire is not quenched." (Mark
9: 43-48.)There is, then, a place of punishment
for the wicked in the other world. It is said that,
when Judas had committed suicide, " he went to
his own place," (Acts 1:25) and it is written,
" The wicked shall be turned into hell and all of
the nations that forget God." (Psalm 9:17.)
There the fallen angels are said to be " reserved
in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the
great day." There are to be gathered all who
persistently and finally reject the offer of salva-
tion, continue in sin and thus ally themselves
with Satan against the Lord God of heaA'en and
earth. There is a prison house of suffering for
the lost just as surely as there is a home of happi-
ness for the saved.
In that abode of darkness and sin there is, on
the part of the lost, the most intense conscious ac-
tivity and suffering. All who go there must carry
with them just those attributes, traits and char-
acteristics which marked them here. They have
rejected the only agency by which their hearts
could be changed and hence, as they had lived in
sin, even so must they die in their sins and pass
into eternity with their sinful characters. Mind
and memory, heart and will and conscience will
336 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
all be fearfully alive to the past and the present.
In the light of eternity the mind will probably be
able to see more clearly, the memory recall more
readily and the conscience accuse more severely
than ever before. Things long forgotten will be
brought to mind. Things Avhich had been lightly
regarded will now be seen to have a very impor-
tant part in deciding destiny, and sins that had
been disregarded will now cry aloud for their just
punishment. The passage from one home to an-
other does not change the character of the soul.
The sphere of the soul's activity is changed but
not the soul. The rich man was bade to remember
that in this life he had had his good things and
Lazarus evil things, but that now Lazarus was
comforted while he was tormented, showing that
the power of memory still remained. Then it is
written concerning the moral condition of those
who come to the end of this world's probation,
"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and
he which is filthy let him be filthy still ; and he
that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and
he that is holy let him be holy still." (Revela-
tions 22 : 11.) The moral character becomes fixed
at death, but still it is fcarfullj^ active. " They
have no rest day nor night who worship the beast."
Hell is to be the most sinful place in all of the
universe. We call this a sinful world, and so it
is but there is good here as well as evil. The
good and the bad are mixed. The wheat and the
tares grow together here. This is the great bat-
HELL 337
tie ground between the good and the evil. God
has a people who, while they are in the world, are
not of the world. These He is calling and train-
ing for glory. This world, then, has much of
good in it. It is far from being as bad as it could
be. But hell is the seat of the power of sin and
Satan. There he and his demons have been grow-
ing in wickedness for thousands of years. There
have been gathering the wicked of all ages and all
lands. There they wax worse and worse, for there
all of the restraints of church and society, of
grace and religion are removed. There all influ-
ences for evil are in full sway. If the way to the
home of the lost be broad and easy the way down-
ward in that dark abode must be one that can be
traveled at a fearful rate of speed. There all
ranks and grades and degrees of wickedness com-
bine to sink each other to lower and yet lower
depths of sin and iniquity. There is reached the
outer darkness of degradation as well as of woe.
While heaven is a place of perfect harmony,
hell is a place of terrible discord. Its inhabitants
will be at enmity with God, for it is because of
such enmity that they are there, and they hate
and curse Him for the punishment and disgrace
that hath fallen upon them. They will be at
enmity with Satan, for they will discover then, if
not before, that it was by his cunning and malice
that they were led in the way that ended in death
and despair. They will be at enmity to each
other, — hateful, and hating each other. With
368 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
such feelings of hate against God and Satan and
each other, and with every temptation to feel and
express that hatred, they will be plunged into con-
fusion worse confounded.
While heaven is a place of exquisite beauty and
glory, hell is a place of gloom and darkness and
deformity. In it is the " outer darkness." In it
the prisoners are reserved in " chains of dark-
ness," and unto them is reserved " the mist of
darkness." Its inhabitants are the "children of
darkness," and its king is " the prince of dark-
ness." Moral and physical deformity go hand in
hand, in many instances, here and there they shall
be wedded in eternal wedlock.
While heaven is a place replete with the highest
and purest forms of happiness, hell is a place of
awful suffering and misery. There will be there
an absence of all good. Even the good things of
this life must all be left behind. All moral and
spiritual good will be gone. All of the blessings
of salvation will be lost. No proclamation of par-
don will be heard there, but the awful words will
ring out, " He that is unjust, let him be unjust
still: and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still."
There no provision of cleansing — there no glad-
ness and joy — there no grace nor glory — there
no honor nor happiness nor life eternal.
There will be the presence of sin and its evil
fruits, — sin itself with all of its defiling influ-
ence, the guilt and obligation to be punished, the
terrible conviction and remorse for sin, together
HELL 339
with the ever present and fearful apprehension of
punishment for sin.
The society of the lost demons and men must
add to the horror of the sufferings of those who
are there. To be in wicked Sodom vexed the soul
of Lot. To be in the abode of those worse than
ever lived in Sodom must add to the torture of
some who may go down from respectable homes,
but homes where God was not honored nor His
Son worshipped. To be in the presence of those
led hither by their example and influence must in-
crease the anguish of the guilty, even as the body
of the victim brings terror to the murderer.
Then the infliction of whatever punishment may
be due to sin as described under the expressions
" the second death," " eternal fire," and " ever-
lasting punishment." These expressions suggest
that which casts the deepest pall of darkness and
gloom over the awful doom of those who reject
Christ and persist in their course of sin until the
end comes to this day of mercy and salvation.
Their punishment shall be eternal. Men raise no
objection to eternal life and eternal happiness, but
against eternal condemnation and everlasting pun-
ishment there has ever been the most persistent op-
position. It would be pleasant to hope that all
would at last repent and believe and be saved, but
we find no such hope sustained by reason or taught
in the Word of God. We see how, in this life, the
longer men delay taking upon themselves the obli-
gations of Christianity the less apt they are to do
340 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
so. We see how character becomes fixed and crys-
tallized into the good or the bad, and that when so
fixed in the wrong direction nothing but the al-
mighty power of God can reverse and change it.
We see how men become hardened and embittered
against God when He permits the penalties of their
own sins to fall upon them. We see, when men
form bad habits and bad associations, how small
the probability is that they will break off from
these and go in the opposite direction. But here
under the dispensation of grace and spiritual in-
fluences even this great change may and does some-
times occur-
But suppose a man rejects the gospel during
the whole dispensation of the preached gospel in
this world ; suppose he allows his habits to become
fixed in sin, that he associates by preference with
the enemies of God, that he continues in sin dur-
ing all of his life, that he rejects God's last offer
of grace in this life, dies in his sins and goes into
eternity unchanged ; what hope is there that he
will ever repent and believe? If he did not yield
under such favorable influences when his con-
science was yet unseared by sin, what hope can
reason suggest that he will repent in another
world .'^ If with all of the sweet and potent influ-
ences of home and church and the gospel and the
Spirit of God, he did not choose the good part,
why should it be thought that he will do so with-
out these good influences in the land of the Devil
HELL 341
and demons and the wicked of all classes and all
lands ?
But we are not left to the conclusions of human
reason on a point so important. The whole drift
of the Word of God is against the supposition
that a man will accept in eternity the gospel
which he rejected in time. There are several
classes of passages which forbid the idea of repent-
ance and salvation beyond the grave. For ex-
ample, we find catalogues or lists of such as shall
not inherit the kingdom of liewven. Paul gives
us one list in the sixth chapter of first Corinthians,
" Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not in-
herit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived;
neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunk-
ards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God." He gives a similar list in
the fifth chapter of Galatians, nineteenth verse,
concluding with the warning, " They which do
such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
John, the disciple of love, says, " The fearful and
unbelieving, and abominable and murderers, and
whoremongers and sorcerers shall have their part
in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death." If it be said that
this refers only to those guilty of the most flagrant
sins, then we must not overlook those passages
which pronounce the penalty upon all who know
342 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
not God and obey not His gospel. " The Lord
Jesus Christ shall be revealed from heaven with
His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking venge-
ance on them that know not God, and ohey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." (II Thessa-
lonians 1:7-9.) All who refuse to accept Christ
as their Savior shall be denied an entrance into
heaven. " He that believeth not the Son shall not
see life but the wrath of God abideth on Him."
All who seek too late or in the wrong way shall
fail to enter into the abode of the righteous for
Christ hath said, " Many shall seek to enter in and
shall not be able."
It is time that if, in this life, men repent and
turn to God in humble faith they shall be pardoned
and saved, but no such hope is held out to them
for the world to come. On the contrary, the es-
tate of sin and suff'ering into which they enter at
death is represented in God's Word as having no
end. Of the wicked there it is said, " The smoke
of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever,
and they have no rest day nor night." (Revela-
tions 14:11.) "And if thy hand offend thee"
— that is, a sin as near and dear as a right hand
— " cut it off ; it is better for thee to enter into
life maimed, than having two hands to be cast into
hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched " —
where " he will burn up the chaff with unquench-
able fire." (Mark 9:43 and Matthew 3:12.)
The Savior not only declares negatively that
this suffering and punishment shall not end, but
HELL 343
positively that it shall be eternal. " Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for
the devil and his angels," and " these shall go
away into everlasting punishment." (Matthew
25 : 41, 46.) So Jude and so Peter and Paul and
Daniel teach. The wicked are compared to wan-
dering stars " to whom is reserved the blackness
of darkness forever," (Jude v, 13) or as Peter
expresses it, " To whom the mist of darkness is
reserved forever" (II Peter 2:17), and Daniel
writes, " Many of them that sleep in the dust of
the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and
some to shame and everlasting death." (Daniel
12:2.)
The word in these passages, translated ever-
lasting or eternal, is composed of two Greek words
meaning always (aei, and on) " always " and
" being " — being always. It is true that this
word is sometimes used to describe the lifetime of
something which is not absolutely eternal, as, for
example, " the eternal hills," but it is also em-
ployed to qualify the endless existence of God,
the eternal duration of the reign of Christ and
the continued happiness of the redeemed. It
seems to be used to denote a period of existence
that shall continue as long as the nature of the
object described continues to exist. The hills
shall continue to stand so long as the earth of
which they are a part shall continue. God is
eternal in the sense that He is without beginning
of days or end of years. The redeemed shall
3U THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
enjoy the bliss of heaven so long as their souls live
and the wicked shall endure the sufferings of the
lost so long as their souls exist. Precisely the
same adjective is used to measure the length of
the misery of the lost that is employed to tell the
length of the happiness of the redeemed. The
condemnation of the wicked is said to be " eter-
nal," their fire is everlasting, their punishment is
eternal, the smoke of their torment ascendeth up
" forever," and of them it is said, " Who shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord and from the glory of His
power." (II Thessalonians 1:9.)
How could God more clearly and more plainly
have warned men that the fruit and result of their
sins persistently clung to would be eternal ban-
ishment from His holy presence, and eternal
confinement and suffering in the prison house of
the lost.'' The only escape from this conclusion
would be either annihilation or restoration through
some future probation and repentance. But
man's nature agrees with the Word of God that
the soul is immortal and in the entire Word of
God there is not a promise held out of repentance
and salvation of those who harden their hearts
and reject the offers of God's mercy all of the
period of this life. On the contrary, all of God's
promises and offers of salvation are for this
present time. " Behold, now is the accepted time ;
behold, now is the day of salvation." " How shall
we escape if we neglect so great salvation.'* "
HELL 345
This is an emphatic way of asserting that there
will be found no way of escape. All hope of a
future chance seems to be shut out by the words
of Hebrews 10:26, 27: "For if we sin wilfully
after that we have received the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and
fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversa-
ries." When a man passes into eternity his doom
is fixed and irrevocable. Between heaven and
Hell a great gulf is fixed so that they which would
pass from the one to the other cannot. (Luke
16:26.) Then he that is unjust will be unjust
still, and he which is filthy will be filthy still ; he
that is righteous will be righteous still, and he
that is holy will be holy still. Probation will then
have ended, character have been fixed and destiny
determined for all eternity.
Three leading objections have been urged
against hell. One is that too much has been made
of physical punishment and literal fire. The an-
swer to this is, that the leading churches and best
interpreters of the Bible agree in holding that the
chief punishment will consist in the remorse of
conscience for sins committed and opportunities
lost, and in whatever direct punishment God shall
permit to fall upon men who have destroyed them-
selves by their sins. The body will suffer as the
companion of the soul, just as it has shared the
sorrows and joys of the soul in this life. Since
the eternal fire is said to have been prepared for
346 THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
the Devil and his angels which have no bodies, it
is held to be most probable that fire is here used
only as a figure of the most acute and intense
pain and suffering.
It is objected that according to the popular
view of hell the great majority of people will be
lost. This grows out of ignorance or misrepre-
sentation, for the best authorities hold that when
you count the children dying in infancy, the re-
deemed of the past and present and of the future,
and when a nation shall be born in a day, the num-
ber ultimately saved will be far greater than the
number lost, that they will constitute " a great
multitude, which no man could number, of all
nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues."
(Revelations 7:9.)
It has been objected that to punish men eter-
nally would not be fair and equal. But besides
the fact that the condemned are not the best
judges of their own causes, none of us can measure
the demerit and the far reaching influence upon
the individual and upon others of a single sin.
God, the Judge of all the earth, will surely do
right. Then, too, it must be remembered that
when a man sins he opens the way for other sins,
and that thenceforth he will lead a sinful life and,
unless renewed and saved while here, will continue
to sin forever and ever and, therefore, deserve to
suffer forever and ever, for " without holiness no
man shall see the Lord."
It is a mistake to suppose that God will punish
HELL 347
all men equally. He teaches exactly the opposite.
" The servant who knew his Lord's will and did it
not shall be beaten with many stripes." It shall
be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the
day of judgment than for Capernaum whose in-
habitants heard and yet rejected the Son of God.
God has expressly said that He " will render unto
every man according to his deeds." He will shut
out from heaven all who continue in sin and finally
reject the only Savior from sin, but of those thus
shut out there will be all kinds and degrees of
sinners who have enjoyed all kinds and degrees of
light and knowledge and opportunities. It will
be the office of Christ, the Judge of the quick and
the dead, to mete out with even-handed justice the
punishment due to each and to all. And such will
be the fairness with which this is done that every
mouth will be stopped and speechless in view of
the fact that not one of all of the lost can charge
God with injustice. The curse which will rest
upon them will be the curse of sin which they
brought upon themselves and from which they re-
fused to be delivered by the compassionate Savior
who came to seek and to save that which was lost.
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