By Dudley Marvin Canright
WHO, or what is it that teaches us? There are “heaps of teachers” now-a-days, teaching numerous things, a few of which are good but the majority are very bad; hence it is all important that we know who our teacher is. Paul said to Timothy, “From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise;” and all Scripture is profitable for instruction. 2 Tim. iii, 15-17. These were the Old Testament Scriptures, as doubtless the New Testament was not written when Timothy was “a child,” hence Paul thought that the Old Testament was able to make a man “wise” and to give him “instruction.” But then of course he must have been mistaken for many of our “eminent divines” tell us that we have nothing to do with the Old Testament as it is done away, laws, prophets, and all. Consequently whoever goes to that for “instruction” or obeys any of its laws is “fallen from grace.” Then away with thee thou “old dead teacher” thou “yoke of bondage” we will not hear thee; though we must confess that our hearts sometimes secretly covet the “river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God (Ps. xlvi, 4), and a possession of the new earth” where “the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.” Isa. xxxv, 1. But we remember that thou didst require hard things of thy servants, even that they should keep the law of God, and this we do not want to do. We prefer a master who will free us from this intolerable burden and allow us to do according to our own wills. But stop; perhaps it is not the “old dead master” that proposes to teach us. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us, &c. Then it is the “grace of God” that speaks to us. Surely we will listen with all deference to such a teacher as we are “under grace and not under the law.” What then does it say to us? Teaching us that denying ungodliness [Ungodliness, Disregard of God and his commands, Web.] and wordly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously [Righteously, according to righteousness. By turning to Ps. cxix, 172, we may learn what righteousness is: “All thy commandments are righteousness.” Then God's commandments are righteousness are they? Yes. Well what are his commandments? “And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire, . . . and he declared unto you the covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” Deut. iv, 12, 13. Is it possible that the “grace of God” teaches us to observe those hated ten commandments, and worst of all the old Jewish Sabbath which is imbosomed right in their center! True, it is an appalling fact that I know not how to avoid unless God has altered his word or abolished his law, or righteousness. But I remember that he has said, “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.” Ps. lxxxix, 34. And again, “My salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.” Isa. li, 6. Then we are shut up to the conclusion that the “grace of God” agrees with Paul in referring us back to the Old Testament Scriptures for our rule of righteousness which we have seen is the moral law or ten commandments,] and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.” Then does grace also teach us to look for the appearing of Jesus. It seems so certainly. Why, then, do those who boast so much of grace, revile those who are obeying this injunction? I was so unspeakably happy the other day as to learn why it had become unnecessary and foolish to look for the second, personal appearing of Christ. Talking with a young man, a zealous Methodist, I asked him why it was that ministers said no more about the prophecies, the signs of the times, the coming of the Lord, and the like. He could not tell; but his uncle was a presiding elder and of course would know. So he asked his uncle; and when we met again, said he could give a reason. Reader, what do you suppose it was? It seems as though it ought to be a very good one to justify us in disregarding and virtually making a nullity of a great portion of God's word. His reason was this: “The soul is immortal and goes to Heaven or hell at death; therefore it is no odds to us when Jesus does come, or whether he comes at all or not.” This, then, is the reason why so little is said about the coming of Jesus. People have learned that the righteous go immediately to Heaven and the wicked to hell at death; hence it is, to say the least, entirely useless to talk so much about the Lord's coming! It amounts to but little any way only to raise our dead bodies; and even that will be unnecessary as we shall be just as happy without it. What a pity it is that Paul, John, Peter, and the other inspired writers were not acquainted with this important fact! How many useless exhortations about the coming of Jesus it would have saved them. If Paul had been writing for the “orthodox” of the present day, I think that the passage under consideration would have read something like this: For the grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying the law of God and the necessity of good works, we should live according to the dictates of the Spirit, our own feelings, and the customs of the times in this present world, not looking for that foolish hope and the doubtful appearing of Jesus Christ, but earnestly longing for our blessed friend and glorious deliverer—death. How much more familiar and orthodox that sounds! But alas! this is not the only portion of scripture that needs correcting. How can this be accomplished? There is only one way that I can see, by which this may be brought about viz.: Get a new revelation which speaks more in accordance with our ideas of these subjects. But how can we obtain this much-to-be desired revelation? I will tell you; Go to the ball room and select the worst coquette on the floor; or to the billiard saloon and pick out the most desperate blasphemer that rolls the ball; or to the gutter and take from thence the most degraded sot; with either of these, go into a secluded room, extinguish the lamp exclude every ray of light, and then the desired revelation will be forthcoming immediately. Here you will learn in the most unequivocal terms that the soul is immortal, that death is a friend rather than an enemy, and that the coming of Jesus and the resurrection of the body are mere fables. Perhaps you are not yet prepared to receive such a revelation, and think you never will be. But, when those who believe that these things are so, find how little the Bible is in their favor, they will necessarily seek unto those who do teach them. This supposition is supported by the fact that multitudes are daily departing from the faith and giving heed to these “new revelations” through Spiritualism. May the Lord help us to awake to these things and examine the foundation of our hopes before he comes to sweep away the refuge of lies. Isa. xxviii, 15, 17.