Predictions of Apostasy—Their Fulfilment—The Test of Doctrine—The Sealing of the Covenant.
WE have seen in past papers that Jesus and the apostles did not change the Sabbath; that the early Christians, whether converted from the Jews or the Gentiles, observed the creation Sabbath, and understood that it spoke, too, of redeeming power. The observance of the first day among Christians in the first century was an unknown thing. To those Christians, as to the Jews for centuries past, it was the heathen sun festival, a monument to the world's departure from the worship of the true God, the Creator, a day to be used by them only as an ordinary working day.
The Predictions.
Now we wish to inquire what change could have come over the church to cause it to bring the pagan sun festival into the place of the Sabbath of the Lord. Of this change Peter speaks prophetically when he says, "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies." 2 Peter 2:1.
To the elders of the church at Ephesus Paul eloquently said: "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears." Acts 20:26-31.
His charge to Timothy manifests the same anxiety born of prophetic insight into the future: "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2 Tim. 4:1-4.
To the church at Thessalonica, where the idea had obtained that the great day of the Lord was immediately to appear, Paul said: "Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. . . . For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming." 2 Thess. 2:3-8.
Nothing could be plainer or more explicit than these predictions. The simple beauty of early Christianity is to be corrupted; lies are to take the place of truth, calling themselves Christian doctrine. The spirit of self-exaltation is to take the place of the spirit of Christian humility, till in the temple, the church of Christ, one shall sit who shall oppose his will to God's will, and demand obedience to himself instead, thus exalting himself above God, and professing to show himself as God.
The Fulfilment.
Now we are to turn to history to learn if these sad predictions were really fulfilled. Mr. Dowling, in his "History of Romanism," bears the following testimony:—
There is scarcely anything which strikes the mind of the careful student of ecclesiastical history with more surprise than the comparatively early period at which many of the corruptions of Christianity which are embodied in the Romish system took their rise.—Book 2, chapter 1, sec. 1.
Writing of the second century, the historian Mosheim says:—
Among the Greeks and people of the East nothing was held more sacred than what was called the mysteries. This circumstance led the Christians, in order to impart dignity to their religion, to say that they also had similar mysteries, and they not only applied the terms used in the pagan mysteries to the Christian institutions, but they gradually introduced also the rites which were designated by those terms. A large part, therefore, of the Christian observances and institutions even in this century had the aspect of pagan mysteries.—Century 2, part 2, chapter 4, par. 5.
It was of these mysteries Paul spoke when he said, "It is a shame even to speak of the things that are done of them in secret." But this fact did not deter those progressive (?) Christians who were seeking to impart dignity to that which is of itself the most gloriously dignified thing in the universe, from adopting these mystic rites. It was in this century that the New Platonic school of philosophy was formed, in Alexandria, Egypt. Alexandria was then the center of Christian (?) culture and education.
These New Platonists openly taught and practised the combination of all forms of paganism with Christianity. This was called a broad philosophy; and Mosheim informs us that it soon took the place of almost all other forms of philosophy, and that it rapidly spread over the whole Christian world. It was the direct disregard of the divine warning: "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him." Col. 2:8-10. Milner says:—
The true doctrine of justification by faith, and the true practical use of a crucified Saviour for a troubled conscience, were scarce to be seen at this time. . . . The simplicity of the Gospel was corrupted; pompous rites and ceremonies were introduced.—McClintock & Strong's Cyclopedia.
An enormous train of superstitions was gradually substituted for true religion and genuine piety.—Mosheim.
Of this "falling away" of Christianity the historian Buckle speaks thus:—
The superstitions of [pagan] Europe, instead of being diminished, were only turned into a fresh channel. The new religion [Christianity] was corrupted by the old follies. The adoration of idols was succeeded by the adoration of saints; the worship of the virgin was substituted for the worship of Cybele; pagan ceremonies were established in Christian churches; not only the mummeries of idolatry but likewise its doctrines were quickly added, and were incorporated and worked into the spirit of the new religion, until, after the lapse of a few generations, Christianity exhibited so grotesque and hideous a form, that its best features were lost, and the lineaments of its early loveliness altogether destroyed. After some centuries were passed, Christianity slowly emerged from these corruptions, many of which, however, even the most civilized countries have not yet been able to throw off.—Buckle's History of Civilization, vol. 1, page 288.
What a wonderful picture is all this of the fulfilment of the prophetic predictions with which this article begins! The writer hopes that each reader will ask himself, in passing, What are the pagan doctrines and practises brought in by this apostasy, which "even the most civilized countries have not yet been able to throw off"? Perhaps the next quotation may help him to decide. Draper well says: "There is solemnity in the truthful accusation which Faustus makes to Augustine: 'You have substituted your agape for the sacrifices of the pagans; for their idols, your martyrs, whom you serve with the very same honors. You appease the shades of the dead with wine and feasts; you celebrate the solemn festivals of the Gentiles, their calends and their solstices; and as to their manners, those you have retained without any alteration. Nothing distinguishes you from the pagans except that you hold your assemblies apart from them.'"—Draper's Intellectual Development of Europe, vol. 1, page 310.
The most ancient and one of the most solemn festivals of the Gentiles was the weekly sun festival, or Sunday. This to the week was what the calends and solstices were to the year. All were connected with the worship of the sun. The plain statement of this accusation is that the Christians had adopted all these, and Augustine could not reply. The ancient church father was dumb before his pagan accuser. Why did he not repudiate the charge?—Because even then the Christians had begun to show honor to Sunday and Easter and Christmas, which were precisely the festivals and calends and solstices to which Faustus referred.
Of the incoming tide of paganism which corrupted the church the Italian historian Gavazzi speaks thus:—
A pagan flood flowing into the church carried with it its customs, practises, and idols.—Gavazzi's Lectures, page 290.
It was this pagan flood, and not the pentecostal shower of the Spirit, which swept Sunday observance into the Christian church. This is evident from the source from which it came—it is the sun festival of all paganism, the "wild solar holiday of all pagan times," the mark of apostasy from the worship of the Creator to the worship of the created. It is also evident from the time when the change was made. The New Testament pentecostal record is silent of any such change of the Sabbath. The church, when it went into this apostasy, was keeping the ancient Sabbath which Christ had created. That same church was not showing any religious honor to Sunday. The apostasy and not Christianity wrought this change, and the most enlightened nations have not yet thrown it off.5
The character of this apostasy, and the fact that it began so early in the Christian era, make forcible the words of Mr. Dowling:—
The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants. Nor is it of any account in the estimation of a genuine Protestant how early a doctrine originated, if it is not found in the Bible. . . . He who receives a single doctrine from the mere authority of tradition . . . by so doing steps down from the Protestant rock, passes over the line which separates Protestantism from popery, and can give no reason why he should not receive all the earlier doctrines and ceremonies of Romanism.—History of Romanism, book 5, chapter 1.
The Sealed Covenant—the Test.
As to the observance of Sunday by Christians the Bible is silent, but it did foretell this apostasy which we have seen brought it in. But the Lord, foreknowing that this apostasy would come, and that, as Paul said, this mystery of iniquity was already working, not only foretold it, but gave a test by which to exclude all its doctrines and practises that might seek to claim honors from Christians.
Christ was in the world to confirm the new, the everlasting covenant. Dan. 9:27. Of this covenant, or testament (for the words are the same in the original text), Paul speaks: "For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead; otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood." Heb. 9:16-18.
It is plainly taught here that the everlasting covenant was sealed, or confirmed, by the blood of Christ. It is true that in Christian experience the confirmation of that covenant is an individual thing, wrought personally for each soul, when he receives Christ given life for himself, and Jesus becomes thus to him a personal Saviour. But what is wrought for the individual experience, when each soul receives Christ's death by faith, was wrought for the world when Christ died on Calvary. The covenant was then confirmed, and Paul says, "Tho it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto." Gal. 3:15.
This test was given to cut off and disown all the bastard children of the apostasy which God knew was to come. Any practise which has the right to be called Christian has that right because it was taught by the Lord during His life, and sealed into the covenant by His death. For this reason He taught baptism while He lived; and for this same reason, on the last night before His betrayal and arrest, He instituted the ordinances of His church. At Christ's death the sacrifices which had revealed the Gospel and prefigured this tragedy on Calvary, gave place to this larger sacrifice, which was to better teach what they had taught. But that change was final. There was to be no other transition period, no other passing from the old to the new in the Christian church. All the changes were made beforehand and sealed by His blood. Sunday can not stand this test. It came, as we shall show in the next paper, several hundred years too late. But even had it originated as early as those who observe it claim, had the Christians observed it for the first time on the night after the resurrection, it would still have been three days too late to be anything but a forgery on the covenant.
The last book of the Bible is utterly silent of any Christian observance of the first day of the week, and that book closes with this solemn warning: "I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifies these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." G. E. FIFIELD.
POWER FOR WITNESSING.
By A. F. Ballenger
Whence Comes the Power?—What Have You to Tell? Power Misused—Power over Sin.
"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
Reader, have you received this power for witnessing? If not, are you seeking this power? Have you sought, but sought in vain? Are you really anxious to receive the Holy Ghost and thereby become a powerful witness for Christ?
What do you know that you are so anxious to receive power to tell? A witness tells only what he knows. Do you become impatient when sorely tempted? If so, do you want power to tell this "to the uttermost parts of the earth"? Are you proud, or envious, or jealous, or selfish, or ambitious, or quarrelsome, or faultfinding? Are you given to evil surmising or evil speaking? Do you love the world? Do you love worldly pleasures? Are you a slave to appetite or lust? Do you think unclean thoughts? Do you love this world's goods? Are you covetous? Are you given to jesting or foolish talking? Are you headstrong or self-willed? Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation from all these things. Do you know Him as such? If not, what have you to tell that you are so anxious that God should give you witnessing power, or power to tell?
Don't you think you have power enough already to publish your weaknesses to the world? If the Lord should give you the power of the Holy Ghost for witnessing, while you know so little of His power to save, you would become a powerful witness against Him. Power would bring you into prominence. And just in proportion as you were brought into prominence, just in that proportion would that enslaving, besetting sin of yours be brought into prominence; and just in that same proportion would you become a powerful false witness, bearing testimony against Christ and His promise "to save to the uttermost."
The Lord gave Solomon great power when he was humble; and Solomon became a witness for God unto the uttermost parts of the earth. "And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart." 1 Kings 10:24. But when Solomon sinned, all the earth heard of his sin, and he became the most powerful witness in "all the earth" against the Lord. There were many other idolaters in Israel in the time of Solomon, but their power for evil did not compare with that of Solomon. Should the Lord baptize you with power from on high while your character was weak at any point, it would simply result in advertising that weakness to the world.
First, Fullness of Victory.
Therefore it is plain that no one can share in the "latter rain," or the power of the Holy Ghost for witnessing, until he knows in his own life the victory over every besetting sin. Fullness of victory, then fullness of witnessing power. Something to tell, then power to tell it.
The Holy Ghost came upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost, not to persuade them to put away their self-seeking and their differences—this the Spirit had already accomplished in them. Peter did not spend the Pentecostal morning in confessing his denial of Christ, his lying, and his profanity. This work of repentance the Spirit had already accomplished in Peter. The very first thing that Peter did after the witnessing power came upon him, was to begin witnessing of what he already knew of the power of God.
"Well," says some one, "if these are the qualifications necessary for receiving the Holy Ghost, I am afraid it will be a long time before I receive the witnessing power. I have been struggling for years to overcome my besetting sins, and if I get on no faster in the future, it will be years before I receive that power, if I ever do. But you can get on faster. You have been trying to gain the victory by the long-time process of evolution. Give up the theory of evolution and accept the Bible doctrine of creation. "He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." Let Him speak to you, and have it done, and done so it will stand fast. Once Christ spoke to a man and said, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee." He did not say, Taper off by the process of evolution through a long series of years, lest a worse thing come upon thee, but, "Sin no more." He speaks these same words to you, and He wants you to believe His Word, and thereby be miraculously delivered from your sinning. Did you think it was necessary for you to taper off, or sin a little in order to keep you from becoming exalted? Did you think you would have to fall into that same old sin occasionally in order that you might receive the grace of forgiveness? "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Rom. 6:1, 2. "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you." Verses 11-14.6Reader, stop right here and ask God in faith to break the dominion of sin over you. You can get the victory over every sin of which the Spirit has convinced you, in just the time it takes you to believe that God tells the truth where He says that sin shall not have dominion over you. "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Mark 11:24.
Hasten and get the victory. Hasten and get something to tell, and then you can ask God for power to tell it—for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. A. F. BALLENGER.
OUR FLEETING LIFE.
Say, is there aught that can convey
An image of life's transient stay?
'Tis a hand-breath; 'tis a tale;
'Tis a vessel under sail;
'Tis a courtier's straining steed;
'Tis a shuttle in its speed;
'Tis an eagle in its way,
Darting down upon its prey;
'Tis an arrow in its flight,
Mocking the pursuing sight;
'Tis a vapor in the air;
'Tis a whirlwind rushing there;
'Tis a short-lived, fading flower;
'Tis a rainbow or a shower;
'Tis a momentary ray,
Shining on a winter's day;
'Tis a torrent's rapid stream;
'Tis a shadow; 'tis a dream;
'Tis the closing watch of night,
Dying at the rising light;
'Tis a landscape vainly gay,
Painted upon crumbling clay;
'Tis a lamp that wastes its fires;
'Tis a flame that quick expires;
'Tis a bubble; 'tis a sigh.
Be prepared, O man, to die!"
—Anon.
SIGNS OF EVENING-TIME.
By Rev. John Robertson
[By Rev. John Robertson, of Glasgow, in Prophetic News.]
"BUT it shall come to pass, that at evening-time it shall be light." Zech. 14:7.
Do you think that it is about evening-time? Do you think that the day is about closing? I do. There are certain surroundings and characteristics of the evening-tide hour that we can easily discern. I noticed from the Ayrshire coast that as the sun sank in the west the hills of Arran seemed to shoot high up into the sky, and I said, "It is evening; for the sun is low and the hills high." For eighteen hundred years and more the sun of God's mercy has been circling in the firmament; but it is getting low, and there are interruptions on the landscape telling that it is about evening-time. There are great sins that are becoming accentuated on the earth by the very clustering together in the cities, and they are obscuring the Sun of Righteousness. I believe that the devil is as much in the conception of the city as God is, if not more. God gave the earth unto the children of men, but we have contracted the surface, and man's greed has driven, and commercial exigencies have driven, the human race into the clustering cities, that are developing iniquities enough to bring another bath of eternal fire. When you lay fagot to fagot, you get a great fire; and when you add unregenerate human heart to unregenerate human heart, iniquity is developed, and you get great depravity. Look at the social sin. It is getting so gigantic in its awfulness as to make us, at any moment as we look up into the blue, expect to see the jagged lightning flash of God's judgment. It is getting worse every year, worse as men cluster into the cities, and the luxury of self-indulgence awakens passions, and hell upon earth has begun.
Then there is drunkenness, that great peak. The temperance party has very largely given up the notion of success. We are downhearted; we are less far on to-day than ten years ago. The political parties—what do you get from them? They are discussing the eternal nuisance of this temperance thing that is always being tagged on, and that makes us lose votes, and lose the election. Ay, and the drink bill gets larger, and larger, and larger, and drunkenness increases by leaps and bounds. That is the fact. The vested interests in the drink traffic, the ever-ramifying interests of this awful octopus and vampire of civilization, have brought sudden darkness on this earth. The great hill of drunkenness says, "It is evening-time with the world." Then there is
That Greed-Developed Grind,
that mill of the world where flesh and blood and muscle are ground in an unholy competition. "Let us have unskilled labor at starvation wages," is its cry, "and when the exigencies of the poisonous manufacture make jaws rot, and teeth fall out, and men prematurely old, let them go, and let us get fresh hands." Greed sways the human race. Ay, this colossal commercial greed, this greed diabolical! It is evening-time when man's hand shall be against his brother; it is evening-time when the sodden dirks of human hatred will be plunged into a brother's breast. Ah, it is evening-time!
One characteristic about evening-time is that it gets chill, and you put on an extra coat, or, if a lady, you throw a shawl over your shoulders. It is chilly because the sun is low. Is not that a characteristic of the present time in the church? Has not the love of many waxed cold? Is it not the Laodicean age? Is there not an awful fear of enthusiasm and warmth? Why, by the pessimistic, unbelieving philosophy that is sapping religious society to-day, all belief in God and His righteousness, His honor, integrity, and love, is considered philosophical insanity. "We are not sure about anything to-day," is the cry. "What is the use of getting excited? Black is white, and white is black. . . . Ay, it is getting miserably cold, and the time is come of which the Lord said: 'I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth.' . . . Sleep betokens the evening. 'And at midnight they all slumbered and slept.'" The Christian church is asleep. There is no stirring up for a revival, no missionary fervor. The wail of missions all over the world is the great difficulty experienced in arousing more than a passing interest. Talk about the world getting better and becoming converted! Look at the state of matters. Look at the non-church-going in this Glasgow, and how careless we are about it. The majority of the inhabitants of this city will never put their feet within the doors of a house of God. Look at London, the center of the world, with a population of five million. Do you know how many of these five million turn their backs on God and His Christ, and refuse to enter any place of worship? Three million five hundred thousand. On the island of Manhattan, in New York, a census was taken on an area containing a population of nearly two million, and how many church-goers were there amongst them? —Eighty-five thousand only of all that vast population passed a church door that day. It is considered by statisticians that in America, where Christianity has some of its most devoted adherents, only ten per cent. of the inhabitants of the cities have the slightest regard to the claims of the Lord Jesus. Yet you will sleep on, and say that things are improving. I tell you, brethren, that it is growing dark, dark in this world; it is getting chill; it is getting about time to go into the house, and some have gone in already. . . . An Indian says, "Whenever the shadow is longer than the hunter, let him pitch his tent; evening has come." Why, there is more of shadow than of substance to-day. There is an increase of the form of religion, but a denying of the substance of it. The ritualism of to-day is the lengthening of the shadows, and the decreasing of the substance, and is evidence that it is evening-time. So with rationalism. These bats are all about us now; and an old-fashioned disciple of Jesus Christ can hardly walk without their flapping in his face; and very few have the courage to fling their bonnets at them. Ah, you let them flutter about, and Scotland pays men salaries who are supposed to be doing evangelical work, but are doing exactly the opposite, with a dishonesty that, if it were done in the army, would demand the shooting of the traitors! Ah, beloved, there are men who are traitors to the inspiration of the Book of God; there are men who are traitors to the atonement of the Son, who have turned their backs on their oath, and are now propounding damnable heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them! . . .
This unbelief is a strange thing in Scotland. Is there any hope? Have we anything to say about the evening-time in the land of the covenant? I have! It shall be light. Glory to God! I believe that before the Lord comes a sudden light is to break out. It is to break out through the proclamation of the Word of God. "The entrance of Thy Word giveth light."
Preacher, Be Faithful to the Word.
Fling from you all human gymnastics and men's methods, and be gladly, sweetly peaceful and content. If you just get the Word inserted into the heart, the Spirit will do the rest. . . . "Arise, shine, for thy light is come." "At evening-time it shall be light." The light breaketh, the light of His coming. I think star after star is blazing out as the Lord comes. It is evening-time, and the lamp of God will need to be lit. It is dark upon earth, and it is getting darker; it is chill upon earth, and it is getting chillier. I am looking out for the sudden glow in the heavens that will herald the coming of the Son of God.
Trim your lamps, and be ready for that midnight cry, for at evening-time it shall be light. Have you lit up? Brother, in the darkness have you lit up? Is your heart aglow with love to Jesus? Have you lit up, and are you ready to go forth to meet the Bridegroom? Prepare to meet God by accepting His Son as your Saviour. O, be ready when the Lord cometh! It is evening-time, but it shall be light. Amen.
GOD'S ETERNAL PURPOSE.
By J. B. Blosser
LET us go back to the time when only the eternal Father and His divine Son were in existence. That there was such a time is made plain in the following scripture: "Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature; for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." Col. 1:15-17. How far back in the eternal ages this was, has not been revealed. It is one of the "secret things" which "belong unto the Lord our God." But there are some things which have been kept secret since that time, which have been revealed unto us in the Gospel. These are the things which "belong unto us and to our children forever." Deut. 29:29.
The Father and His Son are in perfect accord. Divine love flows forth from hearts which are nothing but love, and "love worketh no ill." They were therefore in perfect accord with God's law, the foundation of His throne, the shining forth of His character.
God's great heart of love must have beings upon which He can bestow His love and blessings; which could share His happiness, and in turn show forth His character in loving service and praise to the glory of their Creator. He is "the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." Col. 2:19. His great heart of love could only be satisfied with a service that would spring from hearts overflowing with gratitude and love, from intelligent creatures who could understand the character of their Creator. This being true, only voluntary service would be acceptable.
But what if any should choose not to serve Him, should choose to violate that law which was a reflection of His character of love, and rebel against His government, manifesting hatred, strife, and every evil work? Eternal death would be preferable to eternal sin and sorrow. Divine Wisdom and Love alone could7devise a plan to save them from eternal ruin. To unconditionally pardon the transgressor, without the law being fulfilled, would be to set it aside, which would be to bring ruin upon all; therefore this must not be done. Infinite Love could not consent to let them perish without exhausting every means within the universe to draw them to Himself again. They must be given another chance. A demonstration of the Creator's love must be made that will forever settle the question of His character. And in order that He might be just, and at the same time justify the ungodly, one must die for the transgressor whose life would be equal to that of the Creator; then those who might choose to come to Him could be restored to the holy, happy condition they had forfeited.
Thank God, the plan was devised to meet this terrible emergency. The Lord revealed these ancient counsels to the apostle Paul, and he bears the following testimony: "If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward; how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets, by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel; whereof I was made a minister, ; ; that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ; to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Eph. 3:2-11.
Thus we see that God's "eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord," is "that the Gentiles ["aliens from the commonwealth of Israel," Eph. 2:12] should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel." "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love;" "having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself; that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him; in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will; that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ." Eph. 1:3, 4, 9-12. "Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints; to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Col. 1:26, 27.
Nor was this amazing sacrifice made without the consent of His Son, for that would be to coerce His will. "Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2:14. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son." It was a mutual giving, the unfolding of the self-sacrificing character of Deity, for thus it is written, "And the counsel of peace shall be between them both." And so we find that all has been done that God needs to do for our salvation, and that this salvation existed in "the purpose" of God from the beginning.
Dear reader, did you ever stop to think what this manifestation of love for you was for? "Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" Rom. 2:4. Hast thou, my brother, by thy indifference been despising the "riches of His goodness"? Do so no longer. The Saviour's loving words are, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." John 12:32. Your own will, dear reader, is the only thing that can prevent your being drawn to Him. Will you not choose to serve Him who has manifested such wisdom and love for you in purchasing everlasting life and happiness for you with His own life? All spiritual blessings are yours: only accept of them, rejoice in them, and yield yourself unto Him, to be "purified from all iniquity." Do not try to make yourself any better, but come to Him just as you are, and receive by faith of His fulness, which was provided for you in the "council of peace" back in the eternal ages "before the world began," but has been "manifest in these last times for you." 1 Peter 1:20. He who has provided such a wonderful salvation will receive you gladly. Do not wait to understand all of His ways before casting yourself into His arms of love. He has demonstrated that even in His "secret councils." He is preparing good things for you. And after He has done so much for us, "how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" Heb. 2:3. Then let no one say that his case is hopeless, that he can not be a Christian. Christ "tasted death for every man," and "He is rich unto all that call upon Him." Then "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."
THE GOSPEL OF HEALING.
By H. T. Whitney
IN establishing the purest religion known to man, Christ gave divine sanction to healing, and coupled it so closely with the promulgation of the principles of Christianity that its use was only second to the proclamation of the Gospel. This high position and intimate relation with the founding of the Christian religion was practically lost sight of after the days of the apostles, and did not again come into prominence until near the middle period of modern missions. That such a potent agency, and evidently intended to be the handmaid of religion, should have been discontinued so early in the Christian era, is difficult to account for, unless it be attributed to a less degree of faith on the part of the followers of Christ.
As to the right, expediency, and sanction of medical work in connection with the propagation of Christianity, there need, therefore, be no question, as it has been made abundantly clear by the example and command of its Founder. The numerous references to healing, in the New Testament, show that Christ's reputation, while on earth, was enhanced quite as much through healing as in any other way. While the value of medical work in modern missions is abundantly proved and highly extolled, the arguments for medical missions are usually based upon their utility rather than as being really included in the divine command to go and disciple all nations.
—Dr. H. T. Whitney, Toochou, China.
THE GREAT NEED.
By Donald Sage Mackay, D.D.
You have been praying for the conversion of a friend for years, wondering why God has not answered your prayers, and perhaps God hopes that you will be the instrument to convert the friend—that you will do the kind of work of love and patience and tenderness, believing your own prayers, and the answer will be given. Some of you have been praying for deliverance from a besetting sin. Some of you here say you want to be Christians; you have been praying that God would make you a Christian. Your prayers, my friend, are already answered; your salvation is knocking at the door of your heart, and continues knocking, and all that is needed is that you will step out upon the promise that your prayers invoked, and God will give you grace. What we need is the girding of our wills upon our sleeve and the incoming of Christ in a complete surrender.
Ah, friends, I think what we need in these days is to learn the punctuation of prayer! What do I mean? I mean that so many of us put after the amens to our prayers a period—a full stop. "Amen," and that is the end. What we should put is a comma, and the next clause will record the answer to your prayer in the measure you are faithful. You remember how that was seen in the life of Nehemiah, and his persistent effort. . . . When building the wall of Jerusalem, and his enemies conspired to undo his work, he said, "I prayed to God, and set a watch day and night." That is the true punctuation of prayer—the "and" with the effort linked to divine grace. When we have learned that secret in personal life and in church life, we shall have mighty trophies of grace.
The Way of Life
“The way of life is a narrow way; but it is always wide enough for two to walk abreast, the pilgrim soul and its ministering Saviour.”