Catholic Admissions and Teaching Concerning Persecution — Her Own Authorities Only Are Quoted — Literal Fulfillment of the Prophetic Word
By JEAN VUILLEUMIER
This is the second of three articles by Elder Vuilleumier on the papacy as presented in the prophecy of Daniel 8 and 9. Last week he showed how the papacy fulfilled the prophecy by setting aside the Bible and endeavouring to place tradition and the decrees and teachings of the church in its stead. This week he shows how the persecutions by the papal power fulfil the predictions of the prophet. Next week his article will show that the papal claims that fallible men possess the infallible attributes of Almighty God are also a fulfilment of prophecy. In presenting these articles, there is no disposition to be at war with the papal power. We believe that Catholics as well as Protestants should study these great prophecies. A power that will openly defend persecution is certainly not following in the footsteps of Christ. Editor.
The prophecy says, in the second place, that the horn “shall destroy (or ‘corrupt,’ margin) wonderfully;” that he “shall destroy the mighty ones and the holy people” (Hebrew, “the people of the saints”), “and in their security shall he destroy many.” Dan. 8:24, 25.
Only too literally, alas, has this prediction been fulfilled in the history of the papacy! And O, what sad chapters in the history of Roman error have we to disclose in order to show the veracity of these words of God! But it must be done, and done unflinchingly, so that God’s word may be vindicated, and His children duly warned. And in order to leave no shadow of doubt in any mind, we shall quote exclusively from Catholic authorities, who will tell us that the Catholic Church claims to have a right to persecute, and confess that she has persecuted, giving the facts from her history.
“THE CHURCH HAS PERSECUTED”
A noted Catholic organ, the Western Watchman, published in St. Louis, in its issue of December 24, 1908, contained the following unequivocal admission:
“The church has persecuted. Only a tyro in church history will deny that. The Apologists in the days of Roman imperial domination inveighed against persecution, and with Tertullian declared that ‘it was no part of religion to persecute religion.’ But after the days of Constantine, and under the reign of that first Christian emperor, the attitude of Christians underwent a change, and persecution of pagans took place in many places in the empire. One hundred fifty years after Constantine, the Donatists were persecuted, and sometimes put to death. Against these extreme measures, St. Augustine raised his voice; but he was willing that they should be despoiled of their churches and of their goods. Protestants were persecuted in France and Spain with the full approval of the church authorities. We have always defended the persecutions of the Huguenots, and the Spanish Inquisition.”
The “Catholic Encyclopedia” tells us, on the strength of the papal bull Ad Extirpanda, published in 1252, that “the civil authorities were enjoined by the popes, under pain of excommunication, to execute the legal sentences that condemned impenitent heretics to the stake.”—Volume 8, page 34.
EMPERORS OBEYED THE POPES
The same encyclopedia shows how well the early Christian emperors obeyed the popes in this respect. We quote quite fully. Every word here has weight.
“When Constantine had taken upon himself the office of lay bishop, episcopus externus, and put the secular arm at the service of the church, the laws against heretics became more and more rigorous. From Constantine to Theodosius and Valentinian III (313–424) various penal laws were enacted by the Christian emperors against heretics, as being guilty of crime against the state. In both the Theodosian and Justinian codes they were styled infamous persons; all intercourse was forbidden to be held with them; they were deprived of all offices of profit and dignity in the civil administration, while all burdensome offices, both of the camp, and of the curia, were imposed upon them; they were disqualified from disposing of their own estates by will, or of accepting estates bequeathed to them by others; they were denied the right of giving or receiving donations, of contracting, buying and selling; pecuniary fines were imposed upon them; they were often proscribed and banished, and in many cases scourged before being sent into exile. In some particularly aggravated cases, sentence of death was pronounced upon heretics, though seldom executed in the time of the Christian emperors of Rome.
“Theodosius is said to be the first who pronounced heresy a capital crime; this law was passed in 382 against the Encratites, the Saccophori, the Hydroparastatae, and the Manicheans. Heretical teachers were forbidden to propagate their doctrines publicly or privately; to hold public disputations; to ordain bishops, presbyters, or any other clergy; to hold religious meetings; to build conventicles or to avail themselves of money bequeathed to them for that purpose. Slaves were allowed to inform against their heretical masters and to purchase their freedom by coming over to the church. The children of heretical parents were denied their patrimony and inheritance unless they returned to the Catholic Church. The books of heretics were ordered to be burned. Vide ‘Codex Theodosianus,’ lib. XVI, tit. 5, ‘De Haeretic.’—‘Catholic Encyclopedia,’ volume 7, page 230.”
THE POPES WERE THE INSTIGATORS
Remember that all this barbarity, although credited to the emperors, was committed at the instigation of the popes. And what was required of the emperors, and so faithfully performed by them, was also taught to their successors, the barbarian kings, and equally well carried out by them through the long night of the Middle Ages, the noonday of papal absolutism. As to the moral character and the teaching of the people whom the hierarchy sought to suppress, we will leave it to their persecutors to inform us. We read as follows from the same Catholic standard work, in an article on the Waldenses, who were especially noticeable in the twelfth century:
THE WALDENSIAN REACTION
“The organization of the Waldenses was a reaction against the great splendor and outward display existing in the medieval church; it was a practical protest against the worldly lives of some contemporary churchmen. Amid such ecclesiastical conditions, the Waldenses made the profession of extreme poverty a prominent feature in their own lives, and emphasized by their practice the need of the much neglected task of preaching. . . . Among the doctrinal errors which they propagated was the denial of purgatory, and of indulgences, and prayers for the dead. They denounced all lying as a grievous sin, refused to take oaths, and considered the shedding of human blood unlawful.”
To any unbiased mind, it will appear evident that these so-called “heretics” were no more nor less than the “little flock” whom God was using to maintain the light of the true gospel. The same article tells how this light spread:
“The preaching of Waldes [the founder of the Waldenses] and his disciples obtained immediate success not only in France, but in Italy and Spain. The church sought to avert by persuasion the danger of numerous defections. As early as 1191 a religious conference was held between Catholics and Waldenses at a place which has not been recorded; it was followed by a second held at Pamiers in 1207. The latter meeting brought about the return to the church of Duran of Huesca and several other Waldenses. With the authorization of Innocent III, they organized themselves into the special religious order of the poor Catholics for the conversion of the Waldenses. This purpose was only attained in a very small degree; but force soon checked the heretical movement. In 1192, Bishop Otto of Toul ordered all Waldenses to be put in chains and be delivered up to the episcopal tribunal. Two years later, King Alphonso II of Aragon banished them from his dominions and forbade any one to furnish them with shelter or food. These provisions were renewed by Pedro II at the council of Gerona (1197), and death by burning was decreed against the heretics.”
A CRUSADE OF EXTERMINATION
The “Historical Atlas of Universal History,” published in French by two Catholic scholars, J. Baquol and J. H. Schnitzler (Strasburg, 1873), gives the following details on the crusade of extermination directed against the Waldenses. Concerning502maps 80 and 83 of volume 2, we read that “Pierre de Bruys, enemy of the mass, and condemned by the council of Toulouse (1119), was burned alive at Saint-Gilles in 1147; his disciple Henry, a monk who threw off the cowl, was condemned in 1148 to perpetual imprisonment. . . .
“Three princes were regarded as the supporters of the sect condemned by the church; and as their submission did not seem complete enough, a crusade was preached against them and their states in the name of the pope, by the monks of Citeaux in 1208 and the following years. These were Raymond VI, count of Toulouse; Raymond-Roger II, viscount of Béziers, of Carcassonne and Albi; and Raymond-Roger I, count of Foix. This crusade, the first result of which was the sack of Béziers and that of Carcassonne, was repeated in 1215, 1219, and 1226. This bloody war lasted more than 20 years; it was terminated by the entire defeat of the South [of France], the extirpation of the so-called heretical belief, the destruction of the Provencal nationality, with the special civilization which had developed it.”
“SLAY ALL”
On the next map, this work gives details of the sack of Béziers, where 20,000 persons were massacred or burned to death. It was on this occasion, July 22, 1209, that Abbot Arnold, being asked how the heretics were to be distinguished from the faithful, made the incredible reply: “Slay all [Catholics and heretics]; God will know His own.” Some authors place the number of victims as high as 30,000 and even 60,000.
Two hundred seventy-five years later, we find the Waldenses again multiplying on both sides of the Alps, thanks to a period of peace and the protection of King Louis XI. But, says the “Catholic Encyclopedia,” “this period of peace was followed in 1488 by a crusade summoned by [Pope] Innocent VIII against the Waldenses.” As the encyclopedia gives no details on the crusade, we will supply the following information from impartial history. Innocent published two bulls against “these people apparently pious and holy,” as he called them. In these proclamations, he called upon all to join the crusade; and as inducements, he offered the release from all ecclesiastical taxes and all oaths, the free possession of ill-acquired property, and the remission of sins, while they received unlimited permission to kill, plunder, and ruin. Imagine the scenes of destruction of which the peaceful Vaudois valley became the theater. Their temples and houses were burned, and their fields turned into wilderness.
VIOLENCE RESORTED TO
After another period of peace, as recorded in the encyclopedia, “in 1656 violence was again fruitlessly resorted to. Later in the same century [1686, 1699], some of them, under stress of renewed persecution, emigrated to Switzerland and Germany.”
While the “Catholic Encyclopedia” tells the truth, it does not tell all the truth. Let us hear some details on the “violence” of 1655 from the pen of an eyewitness, Pastor Jean Léger, who was at the time moderator of the Vaudois churches. His description of what follows was signed by many witnesses, and their signatures were certified by a notary.
On Palm Sunday, April 18, 1655, under the command of Marquis de Pianesse, an army of soldiers and Capuchin monks suddenly invaded the valleys. The scenes that followed the assault are thus described by Pastor Léger: “Here the father had seen his children torn in two by hands or swords. There the mother had seen her daughter forced or massacred in her presence. The daughter had witnessed the mutilation of the living body of her father; the brother had seen the persecutors fill the mouth of his brother with powder and set fire to it, tearing his head into shreds; pregnant women had seen their own bodies opened and the fruit taken out alive. What more shall I say, my God! The pen falls from my hands. Corpses scattered or planted on poles; children’s limbs cast in the middle of the street; brains plastered against the rocks; human trunks found without arms or legs, half scalped or with the eyes torn from the head and the nails from the feet; others tied to trees, with the chest emptied of heart or lungs; here bodies of women more mutilated still; there the ground seemed to utter the moans of unfortunate victims buried alive: everywhere mourning, dread, desolation, and death.”—“General History of the Vaudois Churches,” by Jean Léger, volume 2.
Fourteen thousand persons who had escaped the massacre were put into jail. One year later, when they were set at liberty, thanks to the intervention of European powers, they had been so reduced by hardships, barbarous treatment, and disease, that there were only three thousand left, and they had to seek refuge in the neighboring countries, in the middle of winter.
Let this suffice! Can anyone reading these lines doubt that he has been witnessing the fulfilment of what God called, so many centuries ago, “the transgression which maketh desolate”? And can any one doubt that the history of the papacy furnishes strong evidence that it is the very power that was to “destroy wonderfully,” in their security, many of “the holy people,” of “the people of the saints”?
Foreordination in the Eternal Purpose of God
By George W. Reaser
Character the Basis of That Which Is Foreordained—The Waiting, Groaning Creation—The Eternal Home-Coming
By GEORGE W. REASER
This is one of several articles prepared by Elder Reaser on the general theme of the eternal purpose of God. In this issue, he considers the subject of foreordination as related to the eternal purpose. Editor.
Some are perplexed over the Bible doctrine of foreordination. In the light of God’s eternal purpose, the foreordination of members of the human family, before the foundation of the world, was simply the decision beforehand of the characters, rather than the individuals, that would make the whole family of earth complete, symmetrical, perfect, in righteousness and love, when the eternal purpose is carried to completion. All who, through grace, develop such characters as will perfectly fit into the divine conception, were “chosen in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world,” and were thus ordained to eternal life.
Any person found, at the close of his probation, possessed of a carnal nature, cannot fit into the purpose; for disobedience, theft, adultery, murder, and the like, would completely spoil the plan. Righteousness in Christ Jesus will alone make the design perfect. Gal. 5: 18-21.
THE FULLNESS OF THE GENTILES
Space will not permit extended reference to the fact that the one-time people of God,—the Jews,—having failed as a nation, the Gentiles were grafted in to make the good olive tree,—the figure of the eventually redeemed family of earth,—complete. Thus “the fullness of the Gentiles” will finally result in the replenishing of the earth, notwithstanding the failure of the chosen people. Rom. 11: 17; Eph. 3: 1-11.
THE FAMILY RECORD OF THE LAST ADAM
A work is even now going on in heaven that constitutes the completion of the list of those who, by character development, will fit into God’s purpose for our world. The list, or world-family record, of the godly line, as noted in previous articles, is entitled “the Lamb’s book of life.” This record, completed, will contain the perfect number of names—and these names all indicative of character—that Jehovah had in mind when He gave the commission to the first pair in Eden, “Multiply, and replenish the earth.” A suggestion of the fact that He had a definite number in mind, is found in the loving admonition, “Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Rev. 3: 11. Only the godly line by the new birth, are registered in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The ungodly shall not be written with the living in the New Jerusalem.
THE WAITING, GROANING CREATION
Paul describes the condition of the universe while waiting for the completion of God’s eternal purpose, in these words: “The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God,”—the replenishing of the earth with sons of God by the preaching of the everlasting gospel. “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” Rom. 8: 19, 22.
The plan completed means the restoration of the earth to its Edenic beauty. When the commission was given, man was in a sinless and deathless state, associated with God and angels, and having access to the tree of life. Genesis 1 and 2. When the purpose is completed, the tabernacle of God will be with men, and He will dwell with them. Revelation 21.
To the original work of creation, as pertaining to our world, God devoted six days, and then found delight in the work accomplished. It would seem that the work of recreation, or the replenishing of the earth by the gospel of Christ, might be completed in about six thousand years, to be followed by a millennium of rest in heaven, in which Jehovah will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in His people.
THE ETERNAL HOME GATHERING
Of this home gathering it is written for the encouragement of the wayworn pilgrims: “Fear not; for I am with thee; I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Keep not back; bring My sons from far, and My daughters from the ends of the earth; even every one that is called by My name: for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.” “For the Lord shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and He will make her wilderness like Eden; and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.” “For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of503hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall He be called.” Isa. 43: 5-7; 51: 4, 5.
Happily and appropriately is given the part of the “welcome home” to the members of the human family who by character development will compose the complete number designed in the mind of Jehovah to replenish the earth, a welcome to be extended by the “Seed of the woman,” who redeemed the failure of Adam and Eve, and who will carry the eternal purpose to completion. It reads, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matt. 25: 34.
CONCLUSION
Genesis, chapters one and three, shows the eternal purpose of Jehovah in divine commission and prophetic promise. The last two chapters of the Bible show that purpose completed, with all of the agencies set in operation by Satan to defeat it gone down in eternal ruin; and God’s dwelling place with men, all tears forever wiped away, and “the last enemy,” death, destroyed, the dispensation of the fullness of times past, the gathering together in one of all things in the heavens and on the earth accomplished, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Great Progress of To-Day Foretold
By E. W. Catlin
The Prophet Sees Knowledge Increasing and Men Running To and Fro—He Specifies the Time When It Shall Be
By E. W. CATLIN
“Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Dan. 12: 4. This is a divine forecast of events to be in the time of the end. Therefore we may look for these events to take place in a very conspicuous manner as signs of the approaching end of all things.
The psalmist declared that the word of the Lord was settled in heaven forever. His word will not fail. Isaiah said that earth’s beautiful carpet of green grass should wither and die—and it does; also that the beautiful flowers made to comfort and cheer the heart of man would fade—and they do. But the word of our God shall stand forever. His word will not fail in the earth. The apostle found God’s word surer than the things he saw and handled.
RUNNING TO AND FRO TO-DAY
Because knowledge has increased just before the end, men are able to “run to and fro” on land and sea to a degree never experienced before. We observe a marvelous increase of knowledge if we consider the frail ships that carried Jesus to and fro on Galilee and the crude vessels given Columbus for an eventful ocean voyage, and compare them with the modern submarine, which, when submerged, can glide through the water for five hundred miles before coming to the surface for air.
The mode of travel by land has changed from the camel, with his slow, weary tread, to the motor cycle hurrying along the way with such wonderful speed; from the old stagecoach to the lightning express train teeming with humanity; and from the automobile to the airship. Truly men are racing to and fro in the earth just before the end. Think of Boaz with his company of gleaners in the harvest field wielding the little sickle; of the muzzled ox on the threshing floor, and the human hand winnowing the grain; then of the cradle, the reaper, the self-binder; and compare with the machine delivering the golden grain all sacked for the mill, because knowledge has increased in the time of the end.
THE OLD SCRIBE AND THE MODERN PRESS
The scribe of former days, writing for weeks to finish a scroll, with the cylinder printing press of our time, receiving its paper from the great roll, and dropping the dailies, all printed and folded, faster than one man can receive them, tells of the rapid increase of knowledge which should cause men to prepare for the end.
The human messenger of the past, traveling for days to deliver his message, is in striking contrast to the man sitting in his office reading the wireless account of a floundering ship in mid-ocean while it is sinking. This change of experience has come because of the increase of knowledge during our time, “the time of the end.”
Acquainting the Heathen with God
By George F. Enoch
Successful Methods of Teaching Christianity to Non-Christians—All Have Some Light and Knowledge of God—Correct Doctrine Essential
By GEORGE F. ENOCH
The author of this article on acquainting the heathen with the true God has himself spent many years among the people of India, and he therefore speaks from a personal experience.
EDITOR.
One who gives religious instruction in Christian lands rarely begins with fundamental principles. There is a foundation already laid by centuries of common knowledge imbibed in many ways from childhood up. The one taught also usually believes the Bible to be the word of God, and accepts its statements as final authority.
But in non-Christian lands, those to whom we go have no conception of these fundamental principles, and do not accept the Bible as authority. On the contrary, their minds are warped by error, by wrong conception of God, and specious, subtle perversions of truth; and they regard as sacred, books which are mere human productions, crowded with absurdities. I wish to suggest a few principles that we follow in meeting such non-Christians.
MUST STUDY YOUR MAN
The first essential is to know the one you teach. Each case must be studied separately. What is his conception of God, and of the universe, and of sin and righteousness? Unless you know this, and begin your instruction where his knowledge leaves off, it will be unintelligible to him.
EVERY MAN HAS LIGHT
Now as he does not believe the Bible, where are we to begin? In Rom. 2: 14, 15, we are told that those who have not the written law, show the law written in their hearts. This text is universal. God has not left Himself without witness, in any heart. He is that “true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” John 1: 9.
Those who imagine the heathen to be without witness, and hence evolve a theory of a second chance, are mere theorizers, who have never come in actual contact with the heathen, and whose theory is but a monument of their ignorance. The God who gives life and breath to all, has appointed that those to whom He has given this life, “should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him.” Acts 17: 26, 27. “No man,” whether in enlightened lands or in heathen, “hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” John 1: 18.
This Son is then the manifestation of the Father. He puts the light in the human heart; and by the help of His Spirit, we are to begin with this light, however dim it may be, and from that text lead the soul out into the fuller light. For each individual, the foundation of all knowledge is personal experience. God has seen to it that each soul has some experience with Him. There we must begin to give our instruction.
THE COMMON LANGUAGE OF NATURE
Another textbook for us is the great book of nature. Here also we can begin, and find a language and a revelation which even the most benighted heathen can understand. David sets this thought forth in beautiful language in the nineteenth psalm. Paul’s comment on this psalm in Romans 10, applying it directly to the heathen who have not the written word of God, proves clearly that they have the word of God in nature.
In Rom. 1: 19-32, he points out that the low state to which the heathen have sunk, is not due to the fact that they have no revelation of God, and cannot know Him; for “the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead.” But that darkness is due to the fact that they do not give God glory, and do not desire to retain Him in their knowledge.
The book of Acts and the epistles of Paul will be especially helpful to us in the examination of this subject. In Paul’s instruction to the heathen of Lystra, we have a practical illustration of the principle. He first directed them to the wonderful works of God, leading them from nature up to nature’s God. He exhorted them to turn from idols—“vanities”—“unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: who . . . left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” Acts 14: 15-17.
The book of nature is therefore our second textbook. Our knowledge of the Bible enables us to teach this book of nature correctly; and we will be able eventually to lead those who do not know the Bible to believe in and accept as authority the Book of books.
CORRECT KNOWLEDGE OF DOCTRINE OF GOD ESSENTIAL
In teaching the heathen, we must begin with the doctrine of God. There are really no atheists in the world. A belief in God is universal. But the non-Christian has a perverted idea of God; and until he is set right, and his mental conception clarified, absolutely no progress can be made. If successful here, results are sure to follow. “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” John 17: 3.
The first principle to emphasize in such teaching is the supremacy of God’s governance. He transcends all creation, and rules over all. There is an infinite distance between the highest created intelligence and the Creator. The fundamental error of both pantheism and polytheism is the identifying of the creature with the Creator. For example, the heathen world worship the sun as god. They recognize that it is the source of504that energy on which both the animal and the vegetable kingdom depend for life. Therefore they ascribe to it personality, give it a name, and worship it. We must teach them, right here, that God transcends every created thing. We can compare the sun to the lamp they have lighted and brought into the room. They and the lamp are not identical. Likewise the sun is but the great lamp which God has lighted to give light to this immense world-room in which we live. We must therefore worship the One who lighted the lamp, and not the lamp itself.
THEY MUST SEE THE WORK OF CREATION
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Next we must make simple and clear the work of creation. There was no preexistent matter from which God made all things. “Things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” God calls “those things which be not as though they were,” and then they come into existence. Heb. 11: 3; Rom. 4: 17. In Neh. 9: 6 we have clearly enunciated the chasm which separates the created, phenomenal world from the divine Creator, the worshiper from the Worshiped. This distinction is fundamental. We say to the heathen, by way of illustration: If you put a carpenter in an empty room, and give him neither tools nor material, and tell him that he cannot come out until he has made some great work, he will be in despair. That illustrates the difference between God and man. His activity is from one great center. Then He is universally present, the foundation of all existence, the ultimate source of all energy. Man works by adding external to external; but God, as in the seed, works from centers planted within, evolving that which is to be.
GOD A PERSON
The third point to emphasize is the personality of God. In the Bible, God reveals Himself by the name, I AM,—I, personality; AM, essential being. See Ex. 3: 14; John 8: 58. Indian pantheism, on the contrary, teaches that God is impersonal, a great abstraction, without qualities of any kind. “He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?” Ps. 94: 9. Pantheism denies not only the personality of God, but also man’s freedom and responsibility, and the reality of either sin or redemption.
In contrast with this, how beautiful is the teaching we bring! God is the great, loving Personality, cognizant of us, and of our joys and sorrows; One who speaks to us, hears us, commands us, and in whose society we shall rest forever.
A fourth point to emphasize is the doctrine of the Trinity. We must insist on the unity of the Godhead. The Bible clearly states that “the Lord our God is one Lord.” Deut. 6: 4. There are not three Gods. We are here led into a field that transcends human knowledge; but we must still explore its borders, because the heathen will be Christian only in name if he brings his old conception of God with him, and does not get some notion of this truth.
Our space permits us to give this subject but passing notice here. There are three Persons in the Godhead. As to Their mutual, internal relations we can know nothing. How They can be three Persons and yet but one, is above reason, but not against it. But in Their relations with the external universe we are on surer ground.
God the Father is the Unknowable One, who dwells in the light, whom no man has seen at any time, or can see. He is the true God after whom the pantheist gropes.
God the Son is the personal Jehovah, the Revealer of the Father, the eternal stream flowing from the eternal fountain, the Creator and Preserver of all things.
God the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Godhead, not bound to one place, as is a personality of humanity, is the eternal procession from both Father and Son. John 15: 26; 20: 22; Phil. 1: 19. He is the Communicator of all life, wherever manifested, the Author of all beauty and truth and purity, a well of water springing up within us to eternal life, the means by which God is immanent in His universe.
Here again we realize the great truth after which pantheism and polytheism are both groping. Monotheistic teaching, as we find it in deism and Mohammedanism strives after this same truth, only to arrive at a lonely God, who is dependent on His creation for knowledge and love. You cannot have love without both a lover and one loved, or knowledge without both a knower and the thing known. In contrast with all these vague, unsatisfactory guesses about God, we find that the Bible conception of the Trinity is the only perfect conception of Him known to man, fulfilling all the demands of philosophy, in harmony with every known scientific principle, and satisfying the ardent longings of every human heart.
TEACHING A COMPLETE GOD
The last principle I will emphasize is the necessity of teaching all the attributes of God. The heathen conceive of God as omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, but they have no conception of His holiness and love. Here is our strong argument, by which we can come close to their hearts. Now we can lead them to a personal experience that will give them confidence in the Bible, the one Book, incomparably superior to every other book, not having within it one discordant note, a mirror of human life where they can read their own inner experiences, and where the deepest longings and aspirations of their hearts will be satisfied.
