Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 30, 1858
What must I Do to be Saved?
By E. B. Saunders
This question is often asked by the honest in heart, who love life and shudder at the thoughts of death. Their disease is death, but they feel that there must be a cure in something. Ancient alchemists searched all the precious metals for a life-giving property and failed to find it. Religion seems to be the only thing that offers eternal life to its votaries, consequently we search in her temples for the boon. Christian nations seem to be nearer the prize than others. They are more enlightened in many respects than those who worship stocks and stones, consequently they are selected by the poor pilgrim as the ones among whom to search. They profess to believe the teachings of the Bible, saying, if we obey the divine teachings of this book we shall get eternal life. Come, say they, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. The sufferings and death of our Saviour are held up before him; he is told that Christ died to reconcile God to man, and that if we have faith in Jesus we shall be saved. He goes away happy, for he believes he has the faith that is necessary.
Again, another mysterious temple is entered that he may hear more of that precious doctrine; for he has been told that this book is to be explained by a learned man set apart for this purpose. He listens, eager to catch every word that promises him life, and hears that we are justified by grace; again, he goes to another Babylonish school, and learns that we are saved by faith and baptism; to another, and hears salvation by works preached; another says we are saved by the blood of Christ. Sometimes the ingredients of salvation are a little mixed, so that he soon finds over six hundred different mixtures. He turns away in disgust from this tangled mass of confusion, and as a last resort he concludes to study the Bible himself and see what God does teach him to do. Let us go with him and search the sacred pages that we may learn the way also. We wish to learn our whole duty to God and man, knowing that he promises to save us if we obey his directions.
We soon learn that to "fear God and keep his commandments" is the whole duty of man. We now rejoice; but let us be certain that these commandments will give us eternal life, so that there can be no mistake in so important a matter. "My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments; for length of days, and long life, and peace shall they add to thee." Prov. iii, 1, 2. See also Eze. xx, 11, 21, 25; Lev. xviii, 5; Deut. iv, 1; vi, 24; xi, 21; Luke x, 25-28; Rev. xxii, 14; Matt. xxv, 46; Isa. lvi, 4-6; Rom. vi, 22; Matt. xix, 17. "My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee; keep my commandments and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye." Prov. vii, 1, 2.
These precious commandments were written on the door-posts and gates of the houses of God's chosen people. Deut. vi. "Blessed are they that keep my ways. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily (where? in the place they were commanded to write them) at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors; for whoso findeth me findeth life." Prov. viii, 33-35. Obedience to these commands is called righteousness. Matt. v, 19, 20; Deut. v, 25. Righteousness is the opposite of unrighteousness. All unrighteousness is sin; [1 John v, 17;] but sin is the transgression of the law, [1 John iii, 4; Rom. vii, 7.] therefore righteousness must be obedience to that law. "In the way of righteousness is life; in the pathway thereof there is no death." Prov. xii, 28. The wages of sin is death, an eternal death; for it is the second, or last death; and as there is no promise of a resurrection from this death, it is everlasting. Rev. xxi, 8. But sin and obedience are opposites, therefore the wages of obedience is eternal life.
Thus we find that we get eternal life by obedience to God's holy law. But by Gal. iii, 21 we learn that no law can give life; i. e., to the dead; therefore we understand that the law gives us length of days, or perpetuates the life of the living, but cannot give life to the dead. But the righteous and the wicked are alike laid in the grave; why is this? We learn that by one man came death, so by one man came the resurrection of the dead. How? By Adam eating poisonous fruit, and his posterity inheriting the seeds of death. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Cor. xv, 22; Rom. v, 18; John v, 28, 29; Acts xxiv, 15. Christ is the great Lifegiver. John vi, 33. He having conquered him who had the power of death, which is the devil. Heb. ii, 14. He has obtained the keys of the grave; (the devil's prison house;) he will set the prisoners free. See Rev. i, 18; Isa. xiii, 7; xlix, 9; Ps. cvii, 10-14. Thus Christ is the one that gives life to the dead, while obedience to the law gives length of days, or eternal life. But we have all broken the law; [Rom. iii, 23;] we have all failed in some point; [Jas. ii, 8-10;] we have all sinned; [1 John i, 8;] consequently we must all die the second death unless we can produce a substitute. If a man should kill another, the law says he shall die. It demands his life. If he produces a substitute to die in his place, and the judge agrees to accept of that substitute, the guilty man is free from the claims of the law, while his friend suffers the penalty, death. The judge is not bound to accept of any but the guilty man; but if he should be gracious enough to accept of an innocent man in place of the guilty; it is an act of grace in the judge.
Our substitute is Jesus Christ. We must have faith in his life (or blood, which is the life) offered in our place. God has agreed to accept of him. This was an act of grace in him, for he was not compelled to accept the offering. But faith is necessary before Christ will plead his own life (or blood) in our behalf. If we say we have faith, what does it profit us? Our saying so does not make it so; for our hearts may deceive us. Prov. xxviii, 26; Jer. xvii, 9. But faith without works is dead. Jas. ii, 17. Why? Because by our works we manifest a living faith; actions speak louder than words; by our actions we manifest our faith. When our faith is thus manifested, Christ our High Priest remits our sins; i. e., offers to suffer the penalty of a violated law in our place. But how has he told us to manifest our faith in order to get remission of sins? "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." Acts ii, 38.
Christ acknowledges baptism as the sign of faith, and our past sins are remitted. We are then esteemed as a chaste virgin espoused to Christ, washed and cleansed from our old sins, being dead to sin, (or having crucified our old man,) we are then buried in a typical grave, and rising in a typical resurrection, we then put on the new man, Christ Jesus, or are married to another, [Rom. vi; vii, 4.] our first husband, the old man of sin, being dead, or we being dead to him. Now if we let sin work and reign in us after having been married to Christ, we thereby show that we have been married to another before the death of the old man; consequently we are adulterers and adulteresses in the sight of God. But the law is what convicts of sin, or slays the old man of sin; therefore if we, professing to be married to Christ, are found transgressing the law, we are guilty of adultery. No wonder then that James saw a people in the last days whom he called adulterers. James iv, 4.
Thus we see that we are saved, 1. By faith in the blood of Christ. 2. By the grace of God. 3. By the blood of Christ. 4. By works to manifest our faith. All of them are essential to salvation. By these means we can obtain remission of past sins, substitute Christ in our place to satisfy the demands of a violated law. Thus we accept of God's righteousness for past offences, instead of trying to establish our own righteousness. By this means we get eternal life through Christ indirectly; but all get life through him directly. The wicked not having kept the law, have no means of perpetuating that life eternally, consequently must die the second death. But the righteous will get everlasting life because Christ is the means by which they are made righteous, consequently their righteousness is imputed, not real.
Thus we see a cure has been provided for the disease, death. Christ is the Physician; let us go to him and be healed. Let us follow his prescription to the letter, or we may not recover. Do not42fear the bath of baptism, and try to evade it in the Physician's absence by wetting the crown of our heads; nor must we in the absence of our spouse commit adultery with our old man of sin, but follow the prescription of Jesus, and we will be healed of this dreadful malady. E. B. Saunders.
THE SAVIOUR'S SYMPATHY.
"For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." Heb. iv, 15.
As oft, with worn and weary feet,
We tread earth's rugged valley o'er,
The thought,—how comforting and sweet!—
Christ trod this very path before;
Our wants and weaknesses he knows,
From life's first dawning to its close,
Do sickness, feebleness, or pain,
Or sorrow in our path appear,
The recollection will remain,
More deeply did he suffer here.
His life, how truly sad and brief,
Filled up with suffering and with grief!
If Satan tempt your heart to stray,
And whisper evil things within,
So did he, in the desert way,
Assail our Lord with thoughts of sin;
When weak, and in a feeble hour,
The tempter came with all his power.
Just such as I, this earth he trod,
With every human ill but sin;
And though indeed the Son of God,
As I am now, so he has been.
My God, my Saviour, look on me,
With pity, love, and sympathy.
God's Law a Law of Liberty.
By F. Gould
We often hear it remarked by individuals that the law of ten commandments is a law of bondage, and he who strives under the gospel dispensation to be governed by that law has fallen from grace; and further, in order to enjoy the freedom and liberty of the gospel, we are now to be under the law of Christ: God's law being abolished, or having ceased at the cross. That there have been two distinct laws given, one by God, and the other by his Son Jesus Christ, by which to govern the human family, yet remains to be proved. And to demonstrate the fact before us that God's law is the only one given as a rule of faith and practice, I will cite the reader to a few texts of Scripture; for says the Prophet, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
The apostle James in speaking of the law, [chap. iv. 12,] says, "There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save, and to destroy." That God is this Lawgiver, is shown in Ps. xx; xxxi, 18; Deut. iv, 13; Deut. ix, 10; Gen. xxvi, 5.
Again, the work of Christ is to "magnify the law and make it honorable." And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 1 John ii, 1. Hence Christ steps in and establishes the law that man has broken, and carries it out in all its points. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Matt. v, 17.
God instituted the great principle of love as the foundation of his moral government, an attribute of his own character, for "God is love." We find the same principle extending through the gospel dispensation. The Lord in speaking of the commandments, says, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Deut. vi, 5; Lev. xix, 18. Here we find are the two great commandments, love to God, and man.
Now let us look into the New Testament and see what great things Christ has revealed unto us out of God's law. The question being asked by a lawyer, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two hang all the law and the prophets. Matt. xxii, 36-40. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, (one of the ten which hang on love) and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
The apostle Paul some thirty years this side of the cross taught that love was the fulfilling of the law, and then repeats part of the decalogue to explain what he meant. Rom. xiii, 8-10. He was well qualified to teach to others the law of God perfectly, being slain by it, and then brought to life; wherefore he says, The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Rom. vii, 12. John in his first epistle [chap. v, 3] seems to comprehend the whole subject, and throw light upon it. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. If then the ten commandments ceased at the cross, love ceased also, and we Gentiles are left without chart or compass, and without any hope of salvation.
Again, if by keeping God's ten moral precepts we are brought into bondage, then the testimony of holy men of old, of Christ, and the apostles, and the experience of all commandment-keepers under the last message of mercy, is not valid. Says David, So shall I keep thy law forever and ever. And I will walk at liberty; for I seek thy precepts. Ps. cxix, 44, 45. Here David goes forth with perfect freedom and liberty while he sought to keep God's precepts. I will bring a simple illustration. Suppose a man should break some of the laws of the land, and by so doing in order to answer the demands of the law, he should be put in prison or close confinement. It shows conclusively that he is brought into bondage by being a law-breaker, until the demands of the law are satisfied. But when a man keeps the laws of the land in every respect, he then runs at large, "walks at liberty," and enjoys true freedom in all the departments of life where he is called to act. It is so with those who keep the commandments of God. The law has no claims against them, they walk forth with perfect freedom, enjoying the smiles of God's countenance continually, knowing that the faithful and true Witness has said, Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Rev. xxii, 14.
He that continues to break God's law is in bondage, and will ere long suffer its penalty, which is the second death. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Eccl. viii, 11. The law of liberty is brought to view in John viii, 32; James ii, 12. And I would say in the language of Paul, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Gal. v, 1. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. James i, 25.
F. GOULD.
Brookfield, Vt.
Philosophy of the Affections.
[Bro. Smith: The following is from the pen of James B. Walker, author of the "Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation." I so love to read the "Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation," that I would like to give some extracts from it, hoping that others may also enjoy the feast. Almira C. Hudson.]
Concerning the necessity of affectionate obedience to God; and the manner of producing that obedience in the hearts of the Israelites. The following principles in relation to the affections will be recognized by consciousness as true in the experience of man. They lie at the foundation of the moral exercises of the soul, and relate to the sources and central principles of all true religion.
1. The affections of the soul move in view of certain objects, or in view of certain qualities believed to exist in those objects. The heart never loves, unless love be produced by seeing, or by believing that we see some lovely and excellent qualities in the object. When the soul believes those good qualities to be possessed by another, and especially when they are exercised towards us, the heart, like a magnetized needle, trembles with life, and turns towards its object.
2. The affections are not subject to the will; neither our own will nor any other will can directly control them. I cannot will to love a being who does not appear to me lovely, and who does not exhibit the qualities adapted to move the affections; nor can I, by command, or by any other effort of the will, cause another being to love me. The affections are not subject to command. You cannot force another to love, or respect, or even from the heart to obey. Such an attitude assumed to produce affection would invariably produce disaffection rather than love. No one (as a matter of fact) thinks the affections subject to the will, and therefore men never endeavor to obtain the affections of others solely by command, but by exhibiting such a character, and conferring such favors as they know are adapted to move the heart. An effect could as easily exist without a cause, as affection in the bosom of any human being, which was not produced by goodness or excellences seen, or believed to exist in some other being.
3. The affections, although not governed by the will, do themselves greatly influence the will. All acts of will produced entirely by pure affection for another, are disinterested. Cases of the affection influencing the will are common in the experience of every one. There is probably no one living who has not, at some time of his life, had affection for another, so that it gave more to please the object of his love than to please himself. Love for another always influences the will to act in such a way as will please the object loved. The individual loving acts in view of the desires of the loved object, and such acts are disinterested, not being done with any selfish end in view, but for the sake of another. So soon as the affections move towards an object, the will is proportionally influenced to please and benefit that object; or if a superior being, to obey his will and secure his favor.
4. All happy obedience must arise from affection. Affectionate obedience blesses the spirit which yields it, if the conscience approve the object loved and obeyed; while, on the contrary, no happiness can be experienced from obedience to any being that we do not love. To obey externally either God, or a parent, from no other than interested motives would be sin. The devil might be obeyed from the same reasons. Love must therefore constitute an essential element in all proper obedience to God.
5. When the affections of two beings are reciprocally fixed upon each other, they constitute a bond of union peculiarly strong and tender: those things that affect the one affecting the other in proportion to the strength of affection existing between them. One conforms to the will of the other, not from a sense of obligation merely, but from choice; and the constitution of the soul is such that the sweetest enjoyment of which it is capable arises from the exercise of reciprocal affection.
6. When the circumstances of an individual are such that he is exposed to constant suffering and great danger, the more afflictive his situation the more grateful love will he feel for affection and benefits received under such circumstances. If his circumstances were such that he could not relieve himself, and such that he must suffer greatly or perish; and while in this condition, if another, moved by benevolent regard for him, should come to aid and save him, his affection for his deliverer would be increased by a sense of the danger from which he was rescued.
7. It is an admitted principle that protracted and close attention always fixes the fact attended to deeply in the memory, and the longer and more intensely the mind attends to any subject, other subjects proportionably lose their power to interest. The same is true in relation to the affections: The longer and more intensely we contemplate an object in that relation which is adapted to draw out the affections, the more deeply will the impression be made upon the heart, as well as upon the memory. The most favorable circumstances possible to fix an impression deeply upon the heart and memory are, first, that there should be protracted and earnest attention, and second, that at the same time the impression is made, the emotions of the soul should be alive with excitement. Without these an impression made upon the heart and memory would be slight and easily effaced; while on the contrary, an impression made during intense attention and excited feelings, will be engraven as with a pen of steel upon the tables of the soul.
Now with these principles in mind, mark the means used to fix the attention and excite the susceptibilities of the Israelites, and while in that state of attention and excitement to draw their affections to God.
The children of Israel were suffering the most grievous bondage, which had arrived at almost an intolerable degree of cruelty and injustice. Just at this crisis, the God of their fathers appears as their deliverer, and Moses is commissioned as his prophet. When the people are convened, and their minds aroused by the hopes of deliverance, their attention is turned to two parties: one, Pharaoh their oppressor and the slayer of their first-born, and the other, the God of Abraham, who now appeared as their deliverer, espousing their cause and condescending personally to oppose himself to their oppressor. Then a scene ensues adapted in all its circumstances to make a deep impression upon their43memory and their heart. The God of Abraham seems by his judgments to have forced the oppressor to relent, and to let the people go. Now their oppressor's heart is hardened, and he renews his cruelty; but while their hopes are sinking they are again revived and strengthened, in that God continues to use means to induce Pharaoh to release the captives. Thus for a considerable length of time all the powers of excitability in their nature are aroused to activity. Towards that being who had so graciously interposed in their behalf, they felt emotions of hope, gratitude, love, and admiration. Toward their oppressor, feelings of an opposite character must have been engendered; and this state of excited suspense—the emotions vacillating between love and hatred, hope and fear—was continued until the impression became fixed deep in their souls.
Keeping in mind the fact that the more we need a benefactor, and feel that need, the stronger will be our feelings of gratitude and love for the being who interposes in our behalf—notice further, when through the interposition of the Almighty, the Israelites were delivered, and had advanced as far as the Red Sea, another appeal was made to their affections which was most thrilling, and adapted to call, by one grand interposition, all their powers of gratitude and love into immediate and full exercise. The army of Israelites lay encamped on the margin of the Red Sea, when suddenly they were surprised by the approaching host of Pharaoh. Before them was the sea, and behind them an advancing hostile army. If they went forward, they would find death in the waves; if they returned backward it would be to the swords of their pursuers. A rescue by earthly means from death or bondage more severe than they had ever borne was impossible. Just at this crisis of extremity, Jehovah appears as their deliverer. The bosom of the pathless sea is cleft by the power of God. The stricken waters recoil upon themselves on either side. The Israelites pass over in safety. The Egyptian host enter and are overwhelmed in the water.
Now, it may be affirmed without qualification that in view of the nature and circumstances of the Israelites, no combination of means, not including the self-sacrifice of the benefactor himself, could be so well adapted to elicit and absorb all the affections of the soul as this wonderful series of events. That this result was accomplished by these means, is authenticated by the history given in the Bible. When the people were thus delivered they stood upon the other side of the sea, and their affections, in answer to the call that God had made upon them, gushed forth in thanksgiving and praise. Hear the response of their hearts, and their allusion to the cause that produced that response.
"O sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider he hath thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my shield, and has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him." Ex. xv, 1, 2.
Thus was the attention of the whole nation turned to the true God. An impression of his goodness was fixed deeply in their memory, and their affections were drawn out and fastened upon the true object of worship. Now this, as was shown, was necessary before they could offer worship either honorable or acceptable to God. The end was accomplished by means adapted to the nature of the human soul, and to the circumstances of the Israelites; and by means which no being in the universe but the maker of the soul could use. The demonstration is therefore perfect, that the scripture narrative is true, and that no other narrative differing materially from this in principle could be true.
To Pray, a Glorious Thing
To PRAY, A GLORIOUS THING.—As John Foster approached the close of life, and felt his strength gradually stealing away, he remarked on his increasing weakness, and added, "But I can pray, and that is a glorious thing." Truly a glorious thing—more glorious than an atheist or pantheist can ever pretend to. To look up to an omnipotent Father, to speak to him, to love him; to stretch upward as a babe from the cradle, that he may lift his child in his everlasting arms to the resting-place of his own bosom—this is the portion of the dying Christian.
The Solemn Warning.
CHURCH of the living God! hast thou heard the voice that spoke from heaven, "Surely I come quickly?" And hast thou responded to it gladly, "Even so come, Lord Jesus." Does the promise of his return cheer thee? And is the thought of his speedy coming a most welcome hope in these days, when men's hearts are failing them for fear? Then how is this prospect operating? Is it full of quickening, animating, stimulating power? Is it kindling up your love into greater warmth? Is it increasing the intensity of your earnestness? Is it making the separation between you and the world a more decided thing? Is it imparting a deeper solemnity to your deportment, and attaching an unutterable importance to every word and action? Is it rebuking idleness, and sloth, and vanity, and frivolity, and levity, and selfishness? Has it uprooted and destroyed in you covetousness and worldliness, those two master-sins of the evil age? And has it made you liberal and generous, enlarging your heart to give—to give with no sparing hand so long as the time remaineth? Ah! brethren in Christ, we are surely far behind! Our religion is a poor, second-rate, ineffective thing! We are dreaming when we should be working; we are pleasing and indulging the flesh when we should be serving the Lord. We are indolent and yielding when we should be energetic and indomitable. We are shrinking and fastidious when we should be resolute and hardy. We sit idly in our tents, with weapons sheathed and banners folded, when we should be in the thickest of the fight; for the world's last conflict is begun, and the armies are mustering for the battle of the great day of God Almighty.
And you, ye men of the earth, whose portion is not among the things unseen, have you heard the voice that speaks to you from heaven, "Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come?" Has the warning pierced your ears and broken your mad security? How long do you count it safe to remain unreconciled? And what sort of reconciliation with God will avail you in the day when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth? And when is he to arise? Have you ascertained the time, that you sit so easy and unalarmed? The long pent-up winds are beginning to break loose; and the sudden bursts of tempest that have swept over Europe these few years past are precursors of the world's last desolating storm. At present there is a lull, but it will be brief; and behind that lull there is the more terrible tempest; and behind that tempest there is the Judge of the quick and the dead; and behind the Judge are the everlasting burnings. Has this prospect no terrors for you, and have these terrors no urgency to compel you to consider the overwhelming necessity of betaking yourselves to the provided shelter, ere another day, with all its gloomy uncertainties, shall have dawned upon you?
The warfare has now begun in our land, which will not be ended save by the arrival of the King himself. How far the assault may prevail, or how long the tide of war may flow and reflow, we do not pretend to say. Let us prepare for the worst.
And what, if behind and above all these, there be heard a shout and a trumpet more awful and unearthly than these—the announcement of the coming Judge in flaming fire? Are you ready? Are you hidden in the clefts of that rock to which no weapon, no storm, no fire can reach? He alone is safe who has reached the hiding-place; and that hiding-place stands with its unfolded gates ready to receive you now. Will you enter? Or will you remain without? Remain without, and perish in the fiery storm! "For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood, but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire." It is now, in these last days, as in the days of Noah. God's purpose of vengeance has been declared, the warning has come, and the judgment is making haste to follow. But the ark is still open, and the preacher of righteousness beckons you in.
For one hundred and twenty years Noah preached, but the unheeding world heard him not. Then he entered the ark, and, for seven days, he remained there before the deluge came, and standing at the open door of the ark he delivered God's last message of grace, entreating men to come in. It seems as if we were now in the period corresponding to these seven last days—proclaiming God's last loving message to long-resisting man! For what, then, are you waiting? Are you lingering in the hope that the Millennial day will softly steal in upon the world, and that then you will be converted with all the rest? Alas for you! Do you not know that between you and that glory there lies a region as dark as midnight, and strewed with terrors such as earth has not yet witnessed? Why, then, do you wait without? There is room enough within, and will you not go in and occupy it? There is love enough, and will you not go in and taste it? There is blessedness enough, and will you not go in and enjoy it? It will cost you nothing; and you are welcome! The Father bids you welcome; and the Son bids you welcome; and the Spirit bids you welcome; and angels bid you welcome; and with so many welcomes will you hesitate or delay—preferring death to life, shame to honor, wrath to love, the horrors of the outer darkness to the glory of that city where they need no light of the sun?"—
Christ.
UNQUESTIONABLY, the moral image of Jesus, even if regarded as nothing more than an idea, is the noblest and dearest possession of humanity: a thing surely for which a man might be willing to live or to die. For this idea is the noblest to which, in religion or in morals, the mind of man has ever attained. It is the crown and glory of the race; it is the holy place in which the moral consciousness may find refuge from the corruption of every-day life. The man who would knowingly stain or becloud this idea, would be a blasphemer against the majesty of the divinely-begotten human spirit, in its fairest and purest manifestation. Even if we were to regard the image of Jesus as an invention, we should have to confess it to be the sublimest fiction that the mind of man has ever conceived. We should have to own that as a romance, it far transcends every common experience, and that in its world-transforming power it has proved itself more mighty and more efficacious than the whole range of actual facts, of whose reality history gives us unquestionable evidence. But just because it does so transcend alike all the romance and all the reality in the world besides, it is impossible for us to regard it as a fiction; just because it is so deeply and indissolubly interwoven with the whole development of the human race, and because, more particularly, the origin of the Christian faith, in its peculiar features, would be utterly inexplicable if it be not true—we must of necessity view it as historical and real.—Dr. C. Ullman's "Sinlessness of Jesus an Evidence for Christianity."
A Wrong Conscience
A WRONG CONSCIENCE.—We never do evil so thoroughly and cordially as when we are led to it by a false principle of conscience.—Pascal.
Using God’s Blessings for God
BLESSINGS FROM GOD, MUST BE USED FOR GOD.-
As the rivers which flow from the sea, run back again into the sea, so those blessings which come from God must always be employed for God. What I have received from him in his mercy, he must have again in his glory: therefore, Lord! whatever I enjoy, let me find thee in it, and serve thee with it.
A Test
A TEST. How can I tell whether I am a real christian? He who can truly say that he seeks the favor of God above every earthly good; that he delights in his service more than in any thing else; that to obey him here, and to enjoy his presence hereafter, is the prevailing desire of his heart; that his chief sorrow is, that he loves him no more, and serves him no better—such a person needs no other evidence that his heart is changed, and his sins forgiven.