Earlier text: HIS MARVELOUS WORKSTHE SIN OF LYING.
By J. O. Corliss
To acquire the name of being a common liar, is to be placed outside the pale of good society. No one trusts the word of such a person under any circumstances; indeed, the stigma of such a reputation carries with it the loss of sympathy under attending woes. To be counted a liar among men is one of the most unfortunate reputations which one can receive, because it is held to be an almost unpardonable crime against society. So intolerable is this habit that, when indulged under oath, in the courts of the country, the offender is cut off from the society he sought to misrepresent, by a term of confinement within prison walls. But if lying between man and man is so offensive when measured by an earthly standard of judgment, how great must be the offense when indulged against God, and estimated by the perfect law of heaven. Some have never seemed able to understand why Ananias and his wife were so summarily dealt with for lying, as is recorded in the fifth chapter of the book of Acts. But a brief study of the circumstances will doubtless help all to see why this was so. The story of this affair begins in the previous chapter at the thirty-first verse. It is there stated that as the apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost; they not only were able to speak the Word with boldness, but the multitude of believers renounced all personal claims to the things they possessed, and so turned their houses and lands into money, which they gave to the apostles to be used in bringing unbelievers everywhere the same heavenly blessing they themselves were enjoying. This unselfish act on the part of the people was complete evidence that they were wholly devoted to the service of God, in the establishment of His kingdom among men. It was a voluntary testimony, more eloquent than mere words, that they had given up the world for Christ. Doubtless their self-denial became the topic of many clearly expressed opinions, all more favorable than otherwise. It was plain that a power more than earthly was moving the disciples to act. Their unselfishness commended the movement to the popular mind for the time, without, however, bringing the community to yield up all, as had the believers. Desiring thus to be counted among the believers, Ananias and his wife, having sold their property, came bringing only a portion of the price, and offered it, as had others, to the apostles. This was virtually a public statement on the part of Ananias that he too, with others, being filled with the Holy Ghost, was by it led to give his all for the sacred cause of God. Inasmuch as he had deliberately withheld a portion of the price of his property, and yet had in public acted as if he were giving it all to be used by the Holy Ghost, his course was at least a pantomimic lie to the sacred mind of God. This was quickly discovered by Peter, who reprovingly questioned Ananias regarding his course. The apostle told him that his land was his own to do with as he pleased, and the money received from it was at his own disposal; but that when he voluntarily professed to give it all to the Lord in response to the call of the Holy Ghost, he had lied to that sacred Power, and so grossly sinned against and insulted Him. This was said in public, before all who stood by, because the sin had been a public one, so that the public might be led to see the terrible result of sinning against the Holy Ghost. The Lord witnessed to the words of Peter, and forcibly impressed them on all by withdrawing from Ananias the support of life. The Lord Jesus had previously said to the Jews who questioned the power by which He cast out devils: “Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” Matt. 12:32. To “speak against” Christ or the Holy Ghost is to tell an untruth about Him. They being absolutely right, to say aught against them is absolutely wrong, hence a falsehood. Ananias had, by his act, testified against the Holy Ghost. His was an unpardonable offense, and it was not therefore necessary for him to live longer in order to have time for repentance. Making promises to the Lord which one has no intention of fulfilling, is much in the same order of things. In doing this, one deliberately impugns his own truthfulness, and places himself in the position of lying against the Holy Ghost, by Whom he is supposed to be influenced in making the promise. The Bible positively warns against this course. Thus the wise man says: “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for He hath no pleasure in fools; pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldst not vow, than that thou shouldst vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error; wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands?” Eccl. 5:4-6. This scripture reveals that a vow made to God is a sacred thing, and no excuse can discharge one from the responsibility he assumes when making such a vow. To say that he committed an error in doing so, is to charge with wrong the motive power which actuated him in doing it. Did he believe himself at the time to be moved by the Holy Ghost to promise some self-sacrifice, he should be careful about throwing back the responsibility upon that Power, and so charge Him with committing an error in influencing the vow. Ananias fell into the snare of Satan, and so lost his life, and all hope of heaven. How or why his end was not quickly reported to Sapphira, his partner in the sin, can be accounted for only on the ground that those who witnessed it were so affected by the power of the Holy Ghost, by which the act was performed, that they were thus deterred from giving the information, in order to let her act on her own responsibility in the test to which her husband was brought, and failed. When she came into the place whence her husband had been taken lifeless, Peter asked her if it was true that they had received no more for their property than the amount Ananias had reported, and she said it was. Then at the rebuke of Peter, she too fell dead at the apostle’s feet, and was carried out to be laid beside her husband. So the words of Peter were sanctioned in heaven in accordance with the Saviour’s statement: “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.” Matt. 18:18. In this case, the words of Peter were as the words of God, and took effect as quickly, because the Lord’s power—the Holy Ghost—was in them. Thus great reverence for God and His truth came upon all the believers of that day. Would that the Holy Ghost were now as largely in professed believers, giving them the ability to witness to the infinite power of Jesus Christ. J. O. CORLISS. To Hide a Sin Is to Nurse a Serpent
To HIDE a sin is to nurse a serpent. SEED-TIME AND HARVEST.
By W. T. Bartlett
The first coming of our Saviour can not be understood apart from His second, and in order to know what the Scriptures teach about the second coming, it is necessary to study not merely the prophecies that foretell it, but also all that relates to the earthly life of Jesus Christ. For it is “this same Jesus” who shall come again. His first coming was the sowing of the seed. His second will be the gathering of the harvest. If we would learn what any harvest will be like, we must consider the seed, for whatsoever is sown is that which will be reaped. At the Lord’s return there will be a mighty resurrection of the sleeping saints, and the church of Christ has always been deeply interested in this mystery; but what can we know of the resurrection, except as we find it in Him who said, “I am the resurrection”? We must know the power of the resurrection before we ever attain to it. Phil. 3:10, 11. The voice of Christ is to call men from the dust of thousands of years; but only those to whom the voice has come before as a living, quickening call will hear it then, and rise from their graves. Others will be deaf to it, and remain in death another thousand years. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.” Rev. 20:6. The seed that was sown nineteen hundred years ago was a life of perfect truth, of undying hope in God. It was sown in a dry ground; but heaven supplied what earth could not, and men beheld a glory as of God’s only-begotten Child, the fairest plant that ever blossomed in this world. Truths that had seemed hard and lifeless took on new forms of beauty and blessing, as they appeared in the humble life of Jesus of Nazareth. Some hated the purity of the life; but others were won by it, and as they sought its companionship day by day, and learned to love it, God’s angels planted in their own hearts the same seed. It grew in them as it grew in their Lord, winning still others. Thus the seed was sown. Through the centuries the work has gone on, sometimes menaced by malignant persecution, sometimes endangered by crafty snares; now denounced, then counterfeited; but the apostolic succession runs on in a line of faithful souls that receive truth, deal truly with it, and hold it fast. All have come in close contact with Jesus, received His Spirit, and manifested it in their lives. The harvest is close at hand. Those who, through good report and evil report, have kept their eyes fixed upon Jesus, and beholding have been changed, will not remove their gaze when He appears in person. Some will then seek to be hidden from His face; but His people have learned that in looking to Him there is salvation (Isa. 45:22), and when they see Him as He is, they find in that look everlasting salvation from all that is unlike Him. If we would become like Him in that hour, we must learn now to see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2. What a glorious harvest it will be when the great multitude that no man can number is gathered home, and in every one is found the reproduction of the single seed that was sown so long ago in Nazareth. The first and second advents can not be separated; for they are parts of one life, and no man will ever know the glory of the kingdom who does not first tread with Christ the pathway of self-denial. In the fellowship of His sufferings is the only lively hope of a place on His throne; for if we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him. Men do not know anything about the second coming of Christ, except as they learn it by the Word made flesh. W. T. BARTLETT. THE LORD’S VINEYARD.
By G.
On two different occasions the Lord has used a parable of a vineyard in reproving His people Israel, and foretold the doom that awaited them on account of apostasy. About one hundred fifty years before the captivity in Babylon, the warning was given through the prophet Isaiah. Under the figure of a vineyard (chapter 5) he showed what had been done for Israel. The vineyard was in “a very fruitful hill;” the Lord had “fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.” The prophet applies the parable to the whole house of Israel, but emphasizes Judah, saying, “The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant.” Then He tells what is meant by looking for grapes and finding wild grapes. The explanation is, that “He looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.” Jerusalem is especially addressed, it being the holy city, the seat of the kingdom. There was the wall, and the tower (or temple); there the vine was planted, and the winepress digged. Note, the prophet does not say the choicest vines, but “vine,” singular. The Word of the Lord was planted in Jerusalem, and priests and people had extraordinary opportunity to appropriate it to their lives, and to work out the pure fruit for the refreshment of themselves and others. But through their apostasy and perversion of the Word, they brought forth the very unsavory wild grape, in which was no nutriment for themselves nor attraction for others. The Lord calls them to be judges themselves7between Him and His vineyard, and asks, “What more could have been done to My vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” Then He tells them what He will do: “I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down; and I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.” The taking away of the “hedge” was the removal of God’s protection against their enemies. When Satan referred to the protective providence that kept Job from falling, he said that God had “made a hedge about him.” Israel was always a prey to their enemies when God did not specially intervene to protect them. The second parable of the vineyard was spoken by Christ in person, to the Jews of the time when He was on earth. It was the repetition of that spoken by Isaiah: “There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country; and when the time of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.” He had done all that he could for the vineyard, and would reasonably expect an ample supply of fruit. In the former parable it is said that instead of grapes of the kind that had been planted, the vineyard brought forth wild grapes. In this instance we have a wild spirit, foreign to the spirit of the householder, and foreign to what he had reason to expect. So, being actuated by this wild spirit, the husbandmen beat the servants and killed some of them. Again other servants were sent, and these were treated likewise. The Lord desired mercy and right judgment, and did all He could to have this spirit cultivated in His vineyard by His husbandmen: “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Micah 6:8. He sent His servants to look for these fruits: “Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth.” Jer. 5:1. The earnest desire of the Lord to have His vineyard produce good fruit, and to have His husbandmen return to Him the fruit in its season, is also shown by His Word. Referring to the transgression of the priests and the people before the Babylonian captivity, the record says: “The Lord God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes [margin, “continually and carefully”] and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling place; but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” 2 Chron. 36:15, 16. The treatment that these messengers received is comprehended in the Lord’s words as He wept over Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” And the generation to which Christ was then ministering had gone so far as to bring upon themselves the blood of all the prophets, from Abel to Zachariah. See Matt. 23:34-38. Moreover, they were then plotting to kill the Son, who, as a last resort, had been sent to get the fruit from the vineyard; and in a short time afterward they actually accomplished that part of their wicked purpose. That the judgments pronounced in the former parable were just, is shown in the fact that transgression had gone on “till there was no remedy.” In the latter case, those to whom the parable was spoken passed judgment themselves, that husbandmen who would act in the manner described should be miserably destroyed. Still, when they perceived that the parable was spoken to describe their own condition, they did not repent. But the lesson of this parable did not stop there. It is still true that the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel (the spiritual seed), and He is seeking the fruit which He has a right to expect. When the Lord went away into a far country to prepare mansions for His people, He planted in His vineyard the Holy Spirit, as a permanent Comforter and Guide to truth. The fruit that He looks for and expects to receive, and of right should receive, is the fruit of the Spirit—“love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” But it is still possible to become partakers with Israel of old in the blood of the prophets by grieving the Spirit that actuated them, and by neglecting the lessons given through them for our learning. By such a course there will surely be failure to bring forth the required fruit. It is still possible for those who “have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away,” to “crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.” Heb. 6:6. The lesson of both the parables of the vineyard are for us of to-day, as well as for those to whom they were first spoken. G. There are many poor souls who are, through the suggestions of Satan, constantly troubled over the unpardonable sin, or the sin against the Holy Ghost. In various ways they have yielded to sin, joy and peace are absent from the heart, and they fear that they have crossed the line beyond which Infinite Mercy will not extend pardon. To all such tempted souls this article is addressed, in the earnest hope that God will use it to encourage and enlighten. One of the passages often quoted as referring to unpardonable sin is the following:— “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” Matt. 12:31, 32. The occasion of these words was the casting out of a demon by Jesus, and the charge of the Pharisees, that He whom they contemptuously alluded to as “this fellow,” cast out devils “by Beelzebub the prince of devils.” Jesus replied that a kingdom or house divided against itself could not stand; and if Satan cast out Satan, he was divided against himself, and his kingdom could not stand; and further, that if He by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom did their children cast them out? On the other hand,—a matter for them to decide,—if He by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then the kingdom of God had come nigh them. He was the stronger man binding the strong man Satan. He entered Satan’s citadels, the flesh and this world, given over to Satan’s worship or deceptions, a mighty conqueror through humiliation and sacrifice. There He struggled with the strong man, and bound him, before he could spoil his house and deliver those whom Satan has led captive. In this work of Christ would be manifest the power of God and the determined opposition of the enemy in a superlative degree. It was a testing time for all who heard and saw, therefore, the solemn truth: “He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad.” Verses 22–30. When the truth and power of God are so manifest, one must take sides. There is no neutral ground. The Pharisees chose the side of the accuser, and therefore set themselves against God. It was not open blasphemy on the part of those Pharisees that constituted their sin. It was not their reference to Christ as “this fellow.” It was no form of words, no definable thing of law, that constituted blasphemy against the Spirit of God. It was attributing the manifest working of the Spirit of God to the power of Satan. Mark, in relating these same words, makes this very clear (3:28–30). Jesus uttered the solemn warning, “Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.” They attributed the mighty power of God, manifest in Jesus Christ, to the working of Satan. But when God pronounces this unforgivable, it does not mean that He has changed or passed an arbitrary sentence of judgment upon the sinner. Let this great truth be fixed forever in your heart, God’s— “Mercy Endureth Forever.”
He tells us that “He delighteth in Mercy;” that He is “pleased” with “those that hope in His mercy;” that He has “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” Over and over He repeats the thought that the mercy of the Lord is “from everlasting to everlasting.” He pleadingly asks, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon,” or more literally “multiply to pardon.” God gave the very Best of heaven that the sinner might be won from his sins. He gave Himself in the life of Jesus. The great Heart of Heaven emptied itself for the hungry-souled sinners of earth. Christ bought all pardon for all sinners, paid the debt of all sin, when He gave Himself. And blessed be God, pardon full, free, all-sufficient, waits the soul who asks with all his heart. “But I have sinned against God again and again; there is no pardon for me,” says one. Is there not? Whom will you believe? God’s Word declares, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” He likewise declares, “If any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him.” O, why quibble when God wants to be gracious? “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Why, then, is the sin unforgiven?—Because the sin is unrepented, the forgiveness unasked. The unforgivable sin is the unrepentable sin; and the unrepentable sin is the sin which the heart loves. The Pharisees were unforgiven because they did not wish the forgiveness. They preferred their sin to its cleansing. Never will Infinite Mercy cease His pleading till there is no hope. That time comes when men so stifle conscience and conviction that it can never be truly awakened again. The Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, is God manifest in working. It is the medium, so to speak, through which He works. When men reject every call to duty, every plea for righteousness, they place themselves where even the Spirit of God can not reach them, where they can not hear His voice, read His language, or see His work. If these things become obvious, they are attributed to some other influence. Their souls are unreached by the Lord, because they have made themselves unreachable. God’s “mercy endureth forever.” There is no change on His part. The change is on ours. The danger is that we shall fail to give heed once too often, and the tender conscience is gone forever. “To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.” THE MEANS ACCEPTED OR REJECTED.
There is but one means that God has of regenerating and keeping men, namely, the life of the Spirit. By the Spirit the earth was brought to cosmos from chaos, the heavens were garnished with stars, the worlds peopled and repeopled, and all creation preserved. His Spirit actuated Jesus Christ; it regenerates men, and will eventually recreate the world. The way to God and immortality is by the cross of Christ; the means, the power, is by the Spirit of God. If we yield to God’s way, He will furnish the power. “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.” Rom. 5:10, R.V. Men become the elect of God “through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:2); or, as expressed by another, “through [or “in”] sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” 2 Thess. 2:13. He who wholly submits to God, however little he may know God’s requirements, and lets in the life, the Spirit of God, to cleanse and sanctify his soul, is received and saved of God; and, if he continue to walk in the light, is eternally saved. He may be in the thick gloom of pagan lands, and but one ray of light may reach his darkened soul; yet, if the soul opens to that ray, if it receives it as from God, it will as truly illuminate that soul, and lead it to the great central Sun of Righteousness as would a full blaze of Gospel truth. It is not the amount of light that saves, it is the way in which the light is received. One ray has all the potency of God in it. And, so accepted, it is life, eternal life. Too, it is not the amount of light rejected that brings darkness, despair, and death. He who rejects one ray of light from God, in that ray rejects God and His salvation; for in shutting our eyes to the one ray, we shut them to the glorious Sun. It is for this reason that the rejection of manifest truth, the rejection of the manifest working of the Spirit of God, becomes a sin unpardonable, because unrepentable. When the soil of the heart often receives the watering of God’s Spirit, and God’s blessings are used to produce thorns and thistles, rejection must sometime follow. Heb. 6:4–8. Such tread under foot the Son of God, and do despite to the Spirit of grace. Heb. 10:29. The danger is not, as we have so frequently stated, in God’s mercy failing, for that can not fail. It is not in God’s “getting mad,” and cutting us off. The danger lies with us, lies in our own hearts, in refusing to listen to God’s appeals till we can hear Him no longer. O, keep the conscience tender by confessing and putting away all sin, and by yielding to do every duty faithfully. The soul that does this can not fail. All heaven is pledged to save him, and to present him faultless before the presence of God’s glory. NO COMPROMISE WITH EVIL.
By S.
The Christian can not compromise with evil and retain his right to the Christian profession in any particular. The extent to which he compromises is the extent to which he becomes the servant of Satan; and he who is doing Satan’s work in one thing can not in anything do Christ’s work efficiently. He who does for expediency that which he knows to be wrong is giving service knowingly to the work of the adversary. Such are not serving Christ. “Ye can not serve two masters.” That is why a true Christian will not be found advocating any kind of “regulation” of any kind of evil practise or business. Regulation of the liquor traffic and the social evil has given to them a vantage, an impetus, and a claim of respectability which have increased their power for harm a hundred-fold. The only thing a Christian can do toward such evils is to shun them himself and use his utmost endeavor to influence all others to do the same. He will use every means which a Christian can use for their total suppression, but compromise with them, never; regulate them, never; suspend them a portion of the time with the understanding that they are to operate freely the rest of the time, never. Compromise is surrender. That idea is in the word, and that fact is in the deed. Compromise is the enemy’s weapon for beating down every opposition; and he has put it into the hands of thousands of the professed followers of Christ. It is advocated all along the line, and its effects are seen all along the line in surrender of principle to expediency; in cold formalism in the churches; in worldliness and theorizing on the part of the individual. The great drift is in that direction; but true Christianity is not found in the swirling current of the great drift. The Christian can not compromise with sin in any matter whatsoever. SENATOR HOAR ON SUNDAY LAWS.
SENATOR GEO. F. HOAR of Massachusetts adds to his other duties that of president of the “Sabbath Protective League of New England.” These are his views as set forth in the Defender:— Experience has convinced a majority of our people that a rest from labor of one day in seven is not only desirable, but essential for the mental and bodily health of men and women in general. A great many persons think that that day of rest ought to be devoted to a consideration of spiritual interests, of the relation of man to his Creator and the hopes of a future state, to the religious training of the young, and the religious improvement of persons of mature age. The State has the right, I think, to secure this period of rest by law. There is the same right to do it that there is to secure the quiet of the night. I do not, therefore, undertake, in advocating moderate and reasonable Sunday laws, to put any restraint upon the conscience of my neighbor or compel him to any religious observance which his own conscience does not demand of him. I do not enter into the question of whether the fourth commandment was a divine command at all, whether it was for Jews alone, or whether it relates to the seventh or the first day of the week. I concede that the legislative power in the State has no right to be discussing such questions or acting upon such reasons. But I think the State may secure for its citizens periods of rest and reasonable opportunity for worship, religious meditation, and religious instruction, which, if desired by a large enough body of citizens, may be secure from interruption by the prohibition of secular business. To the first two sentences no Bible Christian can object. But what right has the State to interfere? It does not secure the quiet of the night. In almost all cases that regulates itself. When factories, mills, or mines need to run nights, they do so. Law never interferes. If a man wishes to labor in forest or field all night, or travel with horse or wheel, no one objects, no law interferes. Drunken, noisy rowdyism is properly suppressible at all times, day or night. Senator Hoar does not propose to put any restraint upon the conscience of his neighbor which his own conscience does not demand of him. And in this he is doubtless sincere, for the senator is known to be a lover of liberty; but if he will furnish such a law, there are very many who will not be troubled about the other man’s conscience. Their own would be made the standard, and if the other man did not conform, the power of the law would be quickly invoked. No State can secure or attempt to secure a Sunday law without discussing and deciding upon the theological, religious questions involved. Every attempt of the past has been demonstrated failure. Mr. Hoar would launch the boat in the strong current of the stream, but prevent it going over the falls. He would expose the person to smallpox contagion, but prevent the disease. Out of just such seemingly harmless laws as these advocated by Senator Hoar, grew the Dark Ages with their black record of persecution. Moreover, the Christian needs no State law to secure to him a period of rest and worship. This God has already done. There is no law to prevent working men from ceasing labor on Sunday, if they desire. They may lose their place, it is true; but men who will sacrifice for principle can find and make a place elsewhere. To sum it all up, no kind of a State Sabbath law or Sunday law is needed by any man in all America. No one is made better by such laws. They have always resulted in evil, and will ever so result. It is too bad that a man of Senator Hoar’s standing should lend his influence in any degree to such unholy principles. The apostle Paul said, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” He did not mean by this that he was hypocritical or compromising in his dealings with men of various characteristics. Men often act upon this principle when they have selfish ends to attain, selfish purposes in view, as, for instance, a desire for political preferment or prestige in business. But Paul sought no such advantages. When speaking of being all things to all men, his object was to save them, not to make any merely personal gain. He adds, “This I do for the Gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.” Of course he wanted to be saved, but his first concern was the salvation of others. This is shown in his “continual sorrow of heart” for his people Israel, saying, “I could wish that myself were accursed [margin, ‘separated’] from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Paul’s idea of being “all things to all men” would bring one in deep sympathy with all, in whatever circumstances or of whatever race or class; for God Himself is no respecter of persons, and Christ died for all. It was for His enemies that Christ died, and the apostle’s bitterest foes were those very “kinsmen” for whom he was ready to make such a sacrifice. This universal sympathy for all men is expressed in the counsel to “rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.” And again in the exhortation to “look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” The heart imbued with such a spirit can give smiles to one, and mingle tears with the tears of another, with equal sincerity. G. SIMPLICITY OF GOD'S WORD.
By G.
The Bible is remarkable as a book of short, comprehensive sermons. The natural condition of man is tersely expressed in one sentence: “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12. The remedy for this condition, that is, the Gospel of salvation, is expressed in like brevity and simplicity: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. But if still further brevity be required, we have both of the foregoing statements condensed into one: “As by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” Rom. 5:18. What an amount of worry and discouragement, of study and research and extraordinary labor, might be saved if men would only believe the simple statement of God’s Word. Years and years are often spent in poring over the speculations and traditions of men, and halting betwixt opinions, that might be spent to good advantage in living and working for the Master, if men would only believe God, and accept His faithful promises. This is the point to which all who are ever saved will have to come, and the sooner they realize it the better. The Gospel of Christ “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (ch. 1:16), and the Holy Scriptures are “able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” 2 Tim. 3:15. The Lord’s injunction to all is to “search the Scriptures;” they contain the words of inspiration, words that are spirit and life. And His command to His ministers is to “preach the Word.” God has made the way very plain, but the adversary continually tries to make people believe that it is very complicated. One of his favorite schemes is to make void the law through the traditions of men. But the psalmist truly says, “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Thy law is the truth.” G. Laying Aside a Tenth for God
“Do you carefully lay aside for God a tenth of all your income, or do you lay it by for a ‘rainy day’?” IS THIS PROTESTANTISM OR ROMANISM?
In an article on “The Passing of Evangelism” in the January Bibliotheca Sacra, Dr. Thomas Chalmers clearly intimates that the great revivals are in the past, and that well-worked parishes are the coming idea. He points to Roman Catholic churches as examples of this. He says (we quote from Public Opinion): “There is no churchless Roman Catholic population in this country worth speaking of. The parochial efficiency of the Roman Church prevents it.” And therefore Protestants should imitate Rome! Not one word would we say concerning parish work. The more Christian work done in any community the better. But the mere practise of corralling congregations, and reciting catechisms, leads to hypocrisy and dead formalism. A church which has no revival power for the lost is in a desperate condition. Further, Dr. Chalmers would divide the land, parcel it out among the sects, and give to each of the great Protestant sects its denominational preserve, upon which notices could be erected, “Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted;” “Private—No Poaching Permitted.” This is what he says:— (1) There should be such an assumption of responsibility for territory that every Protestant family will find itself, with or without its consent, under the kindly, persistent watch-care of a parish minister. (2) One of the laws that should go forth through our jungle should be that no denomination shall deliberately break into the well-cared-for parish dominions of another. (3) Every church should guarantee the careful religious instruction, at some time in his life, of every child in its parish, and it should not rely upon the Sunday-school or the Christian Endeavor Society for this instruction. (4) Some systematic means should be adopted by which the parish pastor may exercise what Professor Achelis calls the function of spiritual diagnosis, that he may become in the fullest sense what his name implies—the shepherd of a flock. This is the Papacy pure and simple, without the strength or consistency of the Roman Catholic Church. (1) If the Protestant family would not consent, what then? Will force be used, if possible? (2) If some denomination has vital truth, as it should have to be worthy of existence, how can lines be laid down to limit that truth? And who shall say when a parish is well-cared-for? And as to “spiritual diagnosis,” what is that but the inquisition in embryo? And to such a state as this is Protestantism coming! But Roman Catholics and Episcopalians would not heed these rules. Upon this Dr. Chalmers remarks: “Any doctrine, for instance, like that of apostolic succession, which serves as an excuse by which one denomination frees itself from the laws which govern others, and tramples without scruples upon their rights, is a grievous practical heresy, and the denomination that holds it, is, to that extent, guilty of ecclesiastical sin.” This is a new sin in the Protestant code of morals. All these suggestions grow out of a human desire to9supplement the lack (not always known) of God’s power in the church. The remedy is to return to God’s Word.