The Ten Commandments and the Gospel
By Editor
THE gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. Rom. 1:16. Salvation has reference to sin, for Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15), and that is why he was called Jesus, which means Saviour. Matt. 1:21. If it were not for sin there would be no need of the gospel; therefore wherever and whenever God authorizes the preaching of the gospel, it must be that there is sin. What is sin? "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. What law? The law which says, "Thou shalt not covet." Rom. 7:7. And what law is that? The ten commandments, which God spoke with his own voice from Mount Sinai, and wrote on two tables of stone. See Ex. 20:3-17; Deut. 10:4. Then since the gospel is preached only where there is sin, and sin is the transgression of the ten commandments, it must be that wherever and whenever the gospel is preached, the ten commandments must be in existence as the rule of life. And how extensively and how long is the gospel to be preached? "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24:14. What is the "end" here spoken of? The end of the world. See Matt. 24:3. Then just so surely as the Bible is the word of God, the ten commandments must be of binding obligation at least until the coming of Christ, and the end of the world. Whoever denies this, denies the gospel. Let anyone gainsay this reasoning and conclusion who can. LAST week we promised that we would speak further concerning the Chicago anarchists, and the sympathy that was shown them. It is well known by all who have given the daily papers even a cursory examination, that sympathy almost without stint was lavished upon the anarchists while they were under sentence of death. Now many people see in this nothing alarming: but we say that it indicates a moral condition that will eventually be disastrous to this country. Those men were red-handed murderers; they had caused the death of seven men, and the severe injury of many more. It was not their fault that they did not kill hundreds, for the bombs were thrown into a promiscuous crowd. These men, who were actually guilty of killing seven men, and constructively guilty of killing hundreds, received attention from thousands, while their victims and their families were passed by with scarcely a thought. Why? Because there is a widespread sympathy with lawlessness. Let the most commonplace man commit a heinous offense, and straightway he becomes a hero; and the worse his offense, the more attention he will receive. It is claimed that this country is in no danger whatever from anarchists. The newspapers are congratulating themselves and the people that anarchy is now stamped out of this country. Not by any means. Anarchy is simply a lack of law; the spirit of anarchy is the spirit of lawlessness; sympathy with lawlessness is sympathy with anarchy; and sympathy for a lawless person in his lawless acts is sympathy with lawlessness. We say that the widespread sympathy that was aroused for those men who were willing to slay hundreds in order to overturn law and order, shows that in "free America" there is a disregard for the sacredness of the law, and that is the spirit of anarchy.