Earlier text: The End of Right StudyParousia and Epiphany
By W. N. Pile
By W. N. Pile, in “Herald of Life” No doctrine has been more perverted than that of the second advent. While the Scriptures teach the literal and visible return of the “same Jesus” who ascended, the passages relating to it have been applied to the Day of Pentecost, the destruction of Jerusalem, death, to the appearance of some new teacher, or doctrine, etc. And even among those who repudiate these false theories of the coming, and adhere to its literal nature, the doctrine is perverted by making two future comings when there is but one, or, as some put it, two stages of one coming—the secret and the open. Notwithstanding the caution of Christ against all secret views of His return (See Matt. 24: 26), we are told that He will first descend from heaven to “the air,” secretly, and then raise the dead and translate the living saints, who will be caught away to the “secret chambers,” there to remain with him for a time; some believing it to be for a few years and some longer. Of this secret stage of the coming, neither the waiting church nor the world is to have a moment’s warning, the saints being first apprised of it by their heavenward flight, and the world by the departure of “the missing ones.” After the pouring out of great judgments, and the conversion of great multitudes by unparalleled revivals of religion, Christ and His immortalized saints, with the angelic host, are to be manifested to the world by their visible descent in great power and glory to establish the kingdom of God upon earth. This view is said to be supported by the use of the two words parousia and epiphaneia as referring to the advent, the former applying to the secret, and the latter to the visible coming. So far as I can ascertain, there is not a trace of this two-stage view to be found in the writings of early Christians. I think it even more modern than Whitby’s theory of “the world’s conversion.” I have no doubt that it is one of the many delusions of “the last days.” Of the word parousia little need be said; it is conceded to refer to a personal coming or presence. It is used of the “coming” of Stephanus, Titus, and Paul. See 1 Cor. 16: 17; 2 Cor. 7: 6; 10: 10 (here rendered “presence”—see also Phil. 2: 12); Phil. 1: 26. Parousia is defined by Robinson, “the being or becoming present; presence; a coming advent;” by Liddell and Scott, “a being present; presence; arrival.” This word, then, so frequently used to express the “coming” of Christ, can only mean a personal coming. As little need be said of the word epiphaneia. It occurs six times in the New Testament, and is rendered “appearing” five times, and “brightness” once. Robinson defines it thus: “an appearing; appearance.” The word is used in the New Testament only with reference to the appearing of Christ. It will be seen from the foregoing that there is no more difference between parousia and epiphaneia, as applied to Christ’s coming, than between our English words “coming” and “appearing.” One states the action of the comer, by which he becomes present, while the other states, in addition to this, his appearance to those who witness it. The word parousia does not describe the coming, but simply announces it; hence its aspect must be decided by qualifying terms. It follows, therefore, that unless the parousia is somewhere described as secret, this modern idea can not be sustained. But, on the contrary, it is declared to be open and visible. The disciples came privately to Jesus on the Mount of Olives, saying, “What shall be the sign of Thy coming [parousia], and of the end of the world?” Matt. 24: 3. It seems from this that the disciples believed that the parousia was to be open, visible, and announced by a “sign.” Instead of correcting this impression, Jesus says in reply, “If they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert, go not forth: behold, He is in the secret chamber; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth unto the west, so [visible] shall the coming [parousia] of the Son of Man be.” Verses 26, 27. This was said especially to guard believers against this very idea of a secret coming. As the lightning flash is visible to all, so is Christ’s parousia to be. Again, the disciples associate in their question the “end of the world,” or age, with the parousia, but with those who believe in the secret coming the end does not come with the parousia, but with the subsequent epiphaneia. Both can not be right. Christ’s parallel also forbids the secret coming: “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming [parousia] of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the Flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and knew not until the Flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming [parousia] of the Son of Man be.” Verses 37-39. The Flood did not come unperceived upon the world; nor was the destruction of the antediluvians postponed to some manifestation after the Flood. In the very nature of things, the Flood drowned them all; even so will the parousia bring the destruction of the wicked. The parousia of Christ is admitted to bring the resurrection and translation of saints; but these events are heralded and accompanied by great physical demonstrations; therefore the parousia is not secret, but open. Christ’s resurrection was accompanied by “a great earthquake,” and the appearance of an angel who was seen not only by the women at the sepulcher, but also by the Roman “keepers,” who “became as dead men.” Matt. 28: 2-4. It is fair to infer, therefore, that the resurrection of the saints will be like that of their Lord. At the grave of Lazarus, Jesus “cried with a loud voice,” which was heard by saints and sinners present; and in response to this voice “Lazarus came forth.” All the dead whom Christ raised came in obedience to an audible voice. See Luke 7: 14; 8: 54. But we have more than type or inference for a demonstrative parousia. “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming [parousia] of the Lord, shall not prevent [go before] them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” 1 Thess. 4: 15-17. If language can convey the idea of a noisy, trumpeted, visible coming, this does. Will Christ “shout” that His voice may die away in space, and reach no human ear? or will there be an answering shout of, “This is the Lord; we have waited for Him”? Will “the voice of the Archangel” reach only angels’ ears, or will it penetrate even to the caverns of the dead? Will the “trump of God” be muffled, or will it, as on Sinai’s top, “wax louder and louder,” till the earth trembles beneath the blast? There is no secrecy here! It is open, visible, noisy; yet it is Christ’s parousia, His coming for His saints, and not a subsequent epiphaneia. But again, “For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Cor. 12: 52. And in verse 23 this is declared to be the parousia. Christ also teaches the same: “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matt. 24: 30, 31. As we have seen, this coming is thrice said to be the parousia (verses 27, 37, 39), and likened to the lightning flash. A “great sound of a trumpet,” then, is to precede the gathering of the elect; and yet these moderns tell us that these “elect” are to be the subjects of a secret rapture! All these texts imply that the parousia is also the epiphaneia; for when Christ comes, His sign, His glory, and His person are seen, and His trumpet heard. But here, again, we are not left to inference, but have the most positive testimony to the fact. “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing [epiphaneia] and His kingdom; preach the word: be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,” etc. We have already seen that the decisions concerning the quick (living) and7dead are given at the parousia, and the righteous are saved. The kingdom also, according to this passage, comes with the epiphaneia; but it also comes with the parousia; for, as we have seen, the parousia brings the resurrection, which is in response to the “last trump,” at the sounding of which “the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.” This is also “the time of the dead, that they should be judged.” Rev. 11: 15-18. Again, the commission to “preach the word,” “rebuke, exhort,” etc., does not expire until the epiphaneia; but all the preachers of God’s word are delivered at the parousia. It is certain, therefore, that they are simultaneous. Christ declared that “the wheat and tares” are to remain “together” in “the field” until “the harvest,” or “end of the age;” while this secret-rapture theory teaches that all the wheat is removed, and the tares left standing, before the end. Paul exhorts Timothy thus: “That thou keep this commandment [to follow righteousness, etc.] without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing [epiphaneia] of our Lord Jesus Christ.” It is evident from this that the saints’ probation continues until the epiphaneia, which could not be true if they are made immortal by a previous parousia. The “blessed hope,” for which we are to look, and until the consummation of which we are to “live soberly,” etc., is “the glorious [epiphaneia] appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2: 11-13. “What a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?” The hope continues until the epiphaneia. There is a crown laid up for Paul, and for “all them also that love His [Christ’s] appearing [epiphaneia].” Will they then receive it at a previous parousia?—No! The climax of the argument, however, on this point, is reached in 2 Thess. 2: 8: “And then shall that Wicked [the man of sin] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the [epiphaneia tees parousias autou] brightness of His coming.” Here both words are applied to one action, epiphaneia being rendered “brightness,” and parousia, “coming.” The idea is, that the power and glory, the lightning flash of His parousia, shall destroy the great papal hierarchy and church, when the rising church shall “rejoice over her.” Rev. 18: 20-24; 19: 1-7. This passage proves, first, that the parousia and epiphaneia are simultaneous; and, secondly, that the career of “the man of sin” ends (instead of begins) at the parousia, when the saints are delivered, and does not extend to a subsequent epiphaneia, as some of those secret-coming people believe. From all the foregoing considerations, I can but characterize this “secret coming” as one of the most glaring of errors; and it is one that has already wrought much mischief. “Let no man deceive you!” If they say, “Behold, He is in the secret chambers, believe it not!” The mighty voice, the loud-sounding trumpet, the quaking earth, the passing away of the heavens “with a great noise,” the resurrection and translation of saints, and the destruction of sinners, will all attend the parousia of the Son of God. God grant that for that soon coming day we may all be ready. A Little Parable
By Mrs. L. L. Lansing
SOMETIMES we are filled with doubts as to the possibility of God’s seeing and protecting us. Sometimes we wonder how a God of love could permit His children to go on in sin, and then when they refuse to accept of salvation and be saved, destroy them. Let us illustrate with a little parable, which will make it clearer to us. Suppose you have a child whom you dearly love, whom you are anxious to see enjoy itself and be happy. You would give your life to save it from harm or death. The night is dark, and the child is playing near a fire quite a distance from you. It is having a fine time in the light of the fire. You can see it, but the child can not see you. However, it can hear your voice from time to time, telling it of its danger. It loves the light and plays nearer and still nearer the fire. Continually your watchful eye is over it, and your warning voice calls to it. Absorbed in its own pleasure, it heeds you not. Soon it gets so near the fire that you are agonized with fear; you rush forward to save it, but you are too late. It falls into the fire and is terribly burned. Your heart is wrung with anguish; you would willingly give all to save it, but you can not. So God calls to the sinner from His dwelling-place on high. We can not see Him, but He can see us. His watchful eye is over us, and He calls us to turn from this world’s pleasures. He pleads, “Come unto Me and be saved, all ye ends of the earth.” “Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die!” He delights not in the death of any. But the sinner loves the glare and glamour of this life; he loves the things he can handle, things he can see with the natural eye; but he cares nothing for things which are spiritually discerned. He likes to stay in the light of the sparks of his own kindling. He will not heed the Saviour’s voice when He says, “All day long have I stretched out My hands to a wicked and gainsaying people.” So the poor, deluded soul rushes headlong into the flames which will surely consume him. The Saviour invites all to come and be saved from the dreadful death. “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 the water of life freely.” 1. How many good overruling spirits are there? “There is one body; and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope.” Eph. 4: 4. 2. In order to be Christ’s, what must we have? “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” Rom. 8: 9. 3. How may we obtain that Spirit? “Receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Gal. 3: 14. “Ask, and it shall be given you. . . . If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” Luke 11: 9-13. 4. What will that Spirit received do for us? “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.” Rom. 5: 5. 5. What will be the fruit borne in the life? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law.” Gal. 5: 22, 23. 6. Why is there no law against such fruits? Because “the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8: 4. 7. Who possessed the Spirit of God in its fulness? “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.” Acts 10: 38. “God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.” John 3: 34. 8. How did He regard God’s law? He said, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Ps. 40: 8. “I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15: 10. 9. How will those who have the Spirit regard God’s law? “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5: 3. “Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” John 15: 14. 10. What will thus sowing to the Spirit bring? “He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Gal. 6: 8. The Enduring Law
By F. J. Smith
“And He gave unto Moses, . . . . two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” Ex. 31: 18. “Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matt. 5:18. God spake His law from Sinai,
But man now thinks to pass it by,
To choose and form, to please his mind,
The faulty creeds of humankind. Why think to change the simplest jot
Of God’s pure law? It changeth not;
For e’en the heavens shall reveal
That law, and its perfection seal. God’s law of ten commandments shown,
Engraven by His hand on stone,
Condemns this dying world of sin
Till His eternal right comes in. Can fire or wind, or water’s rage,
Destroy or mar that stony page?
The law men neither change nor mock,
Safe on its symbol, ’during rock. Then cease from man whose fleeting breath
Betokens that his lot is death!
The heavens and earth may pass away,
But God’s great law shall stand for aye! Learning from Affliction
By Burgh
If you would not have affliction visit you twice, listen at once, and attentively, to what it teaches.—Burgh. Jehovah Our Righteousness
ONE prophet, speaking prophetically of Christ’s triumph, says: “And this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (marginal Hebrew, Jehovah-tsidkenu). Jer. 23:6. Another prophet declares of God’s people: “Their righteousness is of Me, saith Jehovah.” Isa. 54:17. And Paul the apostle affirms of Jesus our Lord, that He is of God “made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” 1 Cor. 1:30. There is no other human hope save this. Man is a sinner. “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:23. The root idea of sin is “missing the mark.” All mankind have missed the mark. They have no power in themselves to lift themselves out of themselves. They are hopelessly diseased with the bacteria of the leprosy of sin. The standard of character required by our Creator is perfect righteousness. The standard of health is every whit spiritually whole. Man falls short of the mark, and he is “desperately sick.” The leopard can not change his spots. The leper can not heal himself. Jesus Christ our Lord meets both needs. He becomes “our righteousness.” The Lord hath made our “iniquity to light on Him.” “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” Isa. 53:5. God’s mercy met man’s misery. He was made to be sin for us that we might be made righteous. In other words, if we yield all to God and accept the divinely supplied substitute, His perfect righteousness is counted in our behalf. God sees His righteousness upon us instead of our sin. His imputed righteousness covers our repented sin. Every transgressed precept is met by His perfect obedience. More than this: If the faith of the sinner be exercised, he has access to a great store of heavenly grace in Christ Jesus. Rom. 5:1, 2. God bestows upon, places within, the sinner His Spirit of life; and this gives the sinner power to crucify the sinful lusts and walk in the pathway of righteousness. Rom. 5:10; 8:11. Then the law which condemned him becomes a witness to the righteousness which God gives. Rom. 3:21-23. The soul is no longer under the law, condemned by the law; he is in harmony with the law; the law is in his heart. Rom. 6:14; Heb. 8:10. His mind is no longer carnal, at “enmity with God” and not subject to His law; the pardoned sinner declares, “O how love I Thy law! It is my meditation all the day.” Ps. 119:97. Wonderful love of God to grant such mercy to the sinner! Wonderful wisdom of God to know how to meet such an awful calamity as sin! Wonderful power of God to heal, to change, to regenerate, to recreate the sin-perverted nature of man and make him a child of God! Who would not yield himself to be transformed by such a God! Who would not enter His service for eternity! Mind Revealed Through Matter
INSTEAD of matter and mind being in antagonism, as Christian Science teaches, matter is a manifestation of the divine mind. “For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.” Rom. 1:20. According to this scripture the visible makes manifest the invisible; the things seen make understandable the things unseen. The material world is the screen on which the divine thought is portrayed; the material creation is the panorama of the mind of God. The two invisible things thus made visible are stated to be “His everlasting power and divinity.” In Rom. 1:20 the invisible things of God are said to be two; namely, power and character. We know that power is invisible. Were it not for the action of matter under the impulse of power, power would be unknown. We can not see muscular power, or spiritual power, or gravity, or electricity, or even light itself. Power is invisible. But acting upon the things seen and moving matter by its impulse, we learn something of all forces. The same is true of character. Look at a man, a stranger, and you can not read his character. But watch him for a time until the character manifests itself in outward actions, in visible conduct, and you learn something of the character. And yet you learn only so much of his character as is thus revealed in conduct; for character itself is invisible. And so invisible character is made visible by its manifested conduct within the realm of matter. And this is the principle that Christian Science, so called, has passed over in its partial and erroneous philosophy of the divine government. Repeating its incomprehensible and untrue maxim that “All is Mind,” it stumbles over the fact that mind alone must be mind isolated. Thought, the product of mind, is invisible until it affects the different forms of matter and is thus made manifest. God’s thoughts to us are infinite. For our education, for our encouragement, for our salvation, He has put His thoughts into visible forms. We have His thoughts in stone, in soil, in flower, in plant, in tree, in hill, in valley, in sky, in earth, in man, and, more clearly than elsewhere, in His word, and in the life of the Christ of that word. To picture God’s thought is one great purpose for a material creation. It is because of this that the prophet can say, “Lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these,9that bringeth out their host by number.” Isa. 40:26. The psalmist, too, affirms, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork.” There is no antagonism between matter and spirit; for matter obeys spirit. In the beginning matter obeyed the word of the Creator, and even now and always matter alone obeys Him. It is true that God has put man’s mind or spirit in a degree in control over this material body; subjected it in hope as was shown in the preceding article; and man has caused this material body, the flesh, to disobey, in a measure, the dictates of the Spirit. Just so long as God does not interfere with man’s free-will, so long will the conflict continue. Even so, we simply show that the conflict is a conflict between the will or mind of man and the will or mind of God. It is mind and not matter that involves the trouble; and in this very thing lies man’s sin and man’s responsibility. We need matter to give form, and form embodies ideas; thus invisible mind projects itself into the visible world. Only through matter does one soul or mind communicate with another soul or mind. Only thus are we able to represent our thoughts to another. Through the medium of the material world we are able to speak and write our thoughts, and mind communicates with mind. Thus we see that man needs matter by which to put his ideas into form. Form therefore is as necessary as conception; reality is as necessary as ideality. By this, one man expresses ideas in pictures; another carves and graves them on stone; many put their ideas into written form, and all except the mutes put their ideas into the form of speech. Somewhat similarly God placed His ideas in a visible creation. And this visible creation is still, with some exceptions which we will note, the embodiment of His thought. If it were not so, the psalmist could not say that “the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork.” It would be folly otherwise for the prophet to say, “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things.” It is true the earth has been cursed because of the sin and violence of man; but even so it but proves the subjection of matter to the mind of man. All matter without exception is subject to mind, some mind. But in spite of the marring of nature through the transgression of man, nature still mirrors the beneficent character of God, “being understood by the things that are made.” Rom. 1:20. Man seeks to do violence to himself and others and thus degrade creation; but partly obscured through the ravages of sin tho it is, nature still speaks of its divine Author. The visible manifests forth the invisible. Did Christ Abolish the Law?
By Rev. F. S. Schenck
It is claimed by some that the Lord Jesus Christ has abolished the Ten Commandments. On the contrary, Christ claims that He came not to destroy but to fulfil the law. The law can give no ability to keep it—that is not its province. It shows the rule of duty, awakens the conscience, holds before us God’s lofty ideal, incites all the power within us to highest action; but here its mission ends. It evokes all the power within, but confers no power from without. The same thing is true of the teaching and example of Christ. However high and noble they are, even perfect, they are limited in their effect by the capacity of the disciple. They incite, they draw out all the power within, but they give no ability to attain, they confer no power from without. Now Christ brings to us power from without, the power we need. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Christ reveals and brings to us the true nature of God, the grace we need, forgiving sin and conferring new life. The teaching and example of Christ and the law they so clearly set forth should lead us to see our sinfulness and to seek forgiveness and new life in Christ; and this new life in Christ follows His teaching and example to the complete keeping of the law. That it obeys the law not reluctantly but heartily, so much the more honors the law. The skilled carpenter loving his work does not have to be told how to hold his plane, as does the obstinate apprentice, but nevertheless he holds it according to the rule, and the more thoroly since he does not regard it a hardship but a pleasure. Christ abolish this commandment? and God no longer claim the highest place in man’s thoughts and affections?—No, never! Man may degrade himself, but God will never degrade him. Christ came bringing divine power to restore man from degradation to the high nobility of keeping this commandment. His glorious work is not to set it aside, but to re-establish it as the rule of life to all His followers.—Rev. F. S. Schenck, in “The Ten Commandments in the Nineteenth Century.” WHERE people are governed from above by a class of men in political or religious affairs, they are not affected by a sense of personal responsibility for the salvation of man as those whose salvation is individual. Among Christians of the evangelical type there is a strong sense of personal accountability to God and man, and a development of common or public sentiment which works along the same line of promoting human salvation. Each individual and the whole body feel the need of casting into the scale all possible weight of conduct, example and influence to promote the welfare of man in all respects.—The Watchman (Baptist, Boston). Seek Holiness Rather Than Consolation
SEEK holiness rather than consolation.— John Owen. God has given us in Christ an example and a demonstration of the power that He has pledged to humanity for the victory over sin. It is “the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places.” Eph. 1:19, 20. We stop the quotation at this point, but the scripture does not stop there but goes on to show how high that power exalted Christ above all power and might and dominion, everything in fact, and made Him to be the head of the church, “the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” This is the power that is pledged for the soul that trusts in God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the demonstration of what that power did for Christ in order that it might do it for all who trust in Christ. And as surely as it lifted Christ from death to place Him on the throne of God, so surely will it lift all who trust in Christ, raising them from death and dead works to a place with Christ in His throne. There is power enough, the work large enough, the victory complete enough; through a faith that works by love we make it ours, absolutely our very own. OFTENTIMES we are glad to get off some of our old, dirty clothing and put on clean and new apparel; we feel the change and it is gracious; others see the change and it is pleasing to them. So we are told in the Scriptures to “put off the old man,” and “put on the new man.” Between this old and this new there is a vaster difference than between the old and the new clothing. We are to “put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication.” And we are to “put on . . . bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, that long-suffering.” And to make the new dress look exactly right we should “above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfection.” This is the grandest adorning that any soul can possibly wear; this is the apparel selected for us by the heavenly King; this is the garment for the wedding, woven in the loom of heaven; it is the adorning specially prepared for us by the hand of God and placed by His very self upon His chosen. R. THE religion of Christ and the Bible is the religion of love and unselfishness, and that religion if embraced and lived will develop unselfish, lovely characters. Even the enemies of Christianity admit its excellences when they condemn unsanctified, inconsistent professors of Christianity. The religions outside of Christianity are religions of self. Man becomes in some way his own saviour, and hence does that which in his own mind exalts him. Self-exaltation leads naturally to envy, strife, confusion, and every evil work. But where there is one only Saviour, who for the great love which He bore even His enemies, gave His life to save them, there is love begotten in return for the One who is altogether lovely; and this love for the one central object shuts out all occasion for envy, division, and strife. When the opposite of this is seen among professed Christians, when the contention is for personal place, prominence, preeminence, and authority instead of the service of Christ, the glory of His name, and the salvation of souls, the actuating is not of Christ, but of man. It may be called “Christian,” but it is not of Christ. OUR feelings of duty and field of labor are not always the safest guide. They are more or less influenced by early education and surroundings. The apostle Paul felt that he must go to Jerusalem and the Jews. So also when Paul would preach in Asia, the Lord forbade him, and then when the apostle thought to go to Bithynia, the Spirit suffered him not. Acts 16: 7. See also Rom. 1: 13; 15: 22. God knows best. Our present dream may be our future duty; leave all with God unmurmuringly, and follow His opening Providence. God’s time is the best time; His way the best way. Catholicism and Christian Liberty
That there have been and are Roman Catholic Christians, Roman Catholic patriots, Roman Catholic lovers of liberty, we will not deny. Nay, we freely grant it. But they were not and are not Christians, patriots, and lovers of freedom because they were and are Roman Catholics, but notwithstanding their Catholicism. They had imbibed less of Roman Catholicism than of Christianity. They absorbed the light which came to them in that system instead of the darkness which there abounds. They looked to Christ instead of the man who claimed to be Christ’s vicar. In thus doing they were better Christians than Catholics. God wants stable people. The words of the wise are, “My son, fear thou Jehovah and the king; and company not with them that are given to change.” Prov. 24:21. It is exceedingly disappointing to embark in a work or enterprise with those who stay by for a little time, and when matters require real effort or look discouraging, and they see or hear of something else which seems more promising, “pick up and leave” you alone in your work. That is why Paul did not want to take John Mark with him. He had left the work at one time when he was most needed. Jesus asked concerning John the Baptist: “What went ye out into the wilderness to behold? a reed shaken by the wind?” There are many shaking-reed souls. John was not one of them. “Reuben, thou art unstable as water; thou shalt not excel.” Jacob was forced to declare of his impulsive, “given-to-change” first-born son. There are many Reubens. There are many brilliant souls in this world, in God’s work, who would win great success were it not that they are given to change. They need to let the grace of Christ crucify the irrepressible desire and do the “one thing” until they know God has called them to change. Our Part in God’s Eternal Purpose
OUR work is but a small segment in the great sphere of God’s eternal purpose. If we have eyes to see, we may read in that portion of His work which belongs to us, our name and place and the date of the present year. County Prosecutor H. T. Hunt, of Cincinnati, says that “because a man wears a clean shirt daily, lives in a fine house, with11a butler and numerous servants, and rides in an automobile, you may think he is not a criminal. That kind may be the most dangerous to society.” The fact is just as true regarding sins. Some sins are very respectable, nicely garmented, and popular; but they eat out more moral soul-fiber than many of their coarser brothers.