p. 16 | THROUGH IGNORANCE

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 23, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 34.

"THROUGH IGNORANCE."

It was "through ignorance" of the truth that the Jews crucified Christ, Peter tells us. It is through ignorance that F. L. Oswald writes the following under the heading of "Justice":—

"The doctrine of salvation by grace had substituted favor and caprice for the rights of natural justice, and for a series of centuries the consequences of its teachings were seen in the treatment of nearly every benefactor of mankind. The prince who devoted the fruits of his conquests to the feeding of countless convent drones, let scholars starve, and loaded the discoverer of a new world with chains."

The simple fact is, Dr. Oswald does not know what the doctrine of salvation by grace is; if he did, he would know that justice has no stronger ally. The cold truth is that "the consequences" of which he speaks,—the arbitrary, ecclesiastical tyranny of the Dark Ages,—was caused by radical and absolute departure from "salvation by grace." The "convent drones," the "clerical mountebanks," the enforced "tithing," of which he writes, are all the fruit of the doctrine of salvation by works. Let Dr. Oswald study the book of Romans with a heart willing to believe and do the truth, and he will repent of his foolish charge.