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Signs of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 26.

The Cost of Abandoning a Wrong Course
Earlier text: The Cost of Abandoning a Wrong Course

IS IT AN OBSOLETE LAW?

By Editor

ONE wonders sometimes if the fifth commandment has been repealed for the benefit of young America. There seems to be a general understanding that in place of an age of obedient children we are living in an age of obedient parents. A remark of Mrs. Fuller, wife of the Justice of the Supreme Court, whose daughter lately saw fit to disregard her parents’ wishes by making a runaway match, is quite significant: “Mr. Fuller and I agree that we are nineteenth-century people, and can do nothing.”
The nineteenth century has accomplished many wonders, but it has not been able as yet to dispense with parents altogether. They still have their use, and their right is still conceded to maintain their children. Here their rights, in many cases, seem to end.
What is to be done about it? The evil cries for a remedy, and that right speedily. The fault is not altogether with the young. Parents must be blamed for not training their children to habits of respectful speech and obedient manner. This is too often neglected nowadays. There needs to be a more wholesome respect for Solomon’s wise saying: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.” We do not take this to be an injunction to corporal punishment alone, though it includes that, but to discipline of every kind by which the habit of respectful obedience is taught the young. The use of the literal rod may sometimes be necessary, though it has too often been abused, and the parent who cannot rule his child without habitual reliance on physical chastisement is unfit to govern anybody. But that the young should be disciplined, that habits of obedience and respect for their elders should be early formed in them, is as much the teaching of common sense as it is of Scripture. Such training is systematically neglected in many (we had nearly written most) American households.
Almost everything may be accomplished by early training, and if the youth of America no longer render due obedience to their parents, the defect must be due to defective training more than to any one cause. We do not plead for the exaggerated respect that was once exacted from children, nor for the sternness with which their natural impulses were formerly repressed, and still less for the severity with which it was once the rule to punish even slight infractions of the domestic laws. There is reason in all things. It is not necessary to be either too stern or too indulgent; we are not compelled to choose between brutal punishments and the disuse of all discipline. A golden mean is both possible and desirable, a mean marked by affectionate firmness, by indulgence of all harmless impulses, by encouragement of innocent joy, but also by repression of evil propensities, and by punishments at once certain and mild in every case of serious lapse from the strait way of obedience.—Examiner (Baptist).

THE ONENESS OF FAITH.

The National Baptist last December published an appeal for $500 to build a chapel at Hammerfest, Norway, five degrees north of the Arctic Circle. The paper containing the appeal was read by Baptist missionaries in Rangoon, Burmah. They told the story of the struggles of the band of ninety believers in Hammerfest to the pupils in the Karen, Burmese, Telugu, and Tamil English Sunday-schools in Rangoon. As a result 196 rupees, or $66.38, was cheerfully given to be sent to Hammerfest. Well may the National Baptist say: “This letter has to us a profound significance. Here is a lesson as to the unity in Christ. The disciples at the equator stretch out their hands in love to their brethren under the frozen circle. The men and women scorched and blackened by the torrid sun lay their hand in the hand of the men and women blanched by the three months of sunless night, and say, ‘Brother.’ . . . Here is a lesson of sacrifice. These poor people, living on a handful of rice, to whom an income of $50 is wealth, heavily taxed, sent the greatest help to their Arctic neighbors.”—Christian at Work.

“WATCH AND PRAY.”

By John Henry Newman

WHEN you say, “Lead us not into temptation,” you must in good earnest mean to avoid in your daily conduct those temptations from which you have already suffered. When you say, “Deliver us from evil,” you must mean to struggle against that evil in your hearts, of which you are conscious, and which you pray to have forgiven.
To watch and pray are surely in our power, and by these means we are certain of getting strength. You feel your weakness; you fear to be overcome by temptation; then keep out of the way of it. This is watching. Avoid society which is likely to mislead you; flee from the very shadow of evil; you cannot be too careful; better be a little too strict than a little too easy—it is the safer side. Abstain from reading books which are dangerous to you. Turn from bad thoughts when they arise.—J. H. Newman.

CANNOT YOU DO IT?

By New England Evangelist

A CHILD’s strength may move a large ship; one man’s effort can turn the tide in the affairs of a nation; the prayers of an old woman have shaken a whole city. What are you doing to start some good work? Have you really tried to do anything? They that go forth day by day and scatter the good seed, or water that which has been planted by others, will by and by gather the fruit. But whoso withholdeth his hand, either in preaching and giving, or in teaching and exhortation, is not doing what the Lord requires of his stewards.—New England Evangelist.

VAIN IN THEIR IMAGINATIONS.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

ROMANS 1:21.

CLOSELY connected with the lack of thankfulness which the heathen manifested, was an exaltation of self. The apostle states that "they became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things."
Forgetfulness of God, which is indicated by an unthankful spirit, is necessarily accompanied with an exalted idea of self. In the proportion that men cease to acknowledge God, they take to themselves the honor that should be given to God. Becoming vain in their imaginations, or their reasonings, their foolish heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. This is the history of all who have gone into sin, from Satan in Heaven to the last sinner on earth.
Let us trace the course. In the 28th chapter of Ezekiel there is unmistakable reference made to Satan, in the expression "King of Tyrus." To none other will the description in verses 12-15 apply. Satan and not the literal king of Tyre was the cherub that covered the throne of God. He, and not the king of Tyre, had been in Eden, the garden of God; he it was who sealed "up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty." Of him it is said, verse 17, "Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." How this was done is described by the prophet in Isaiah 14:12-14, which reads thus: "How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High."
From this we may learn that becoming vain in his imagination, because of his beauty and wisdom and majesty, he imagined that he had them by his own power, instead of being dependent upon God for them. He aspired to be equal with God, or even above God; but that was an impossibility, and since he persisted in his determination, it necessarily resulted in a total separation between him and God. Instead of being subject to God, he stood in open rebellion; and being in open rebellion against the source of light and knowledge, and goodness and mercy, he necessarily went into darkness, and ignorance, and all evil. Thus his wisdom was corrupted by reason of his brightness. By his vain imagination he separated himself from God, and lost everything.
It was in the same way that Satan caused our first parents to fall. Coming to Eve, he appealed to her pride, and attempted to make her dissatisfied with God by making it appear that she had not been treated with the consideration due so superior a being as she was. With affected surprise he asked, "Is it true that God has said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" As much as to say, "Is it possible that God would so circumscribe a being of such beauty and power?" and then in reply to Eve's statement of the prohibition that God had laid upon them, and the penalty for transgressing, he replied: "Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods [literally, like God] knowing good and evil." Virtually he said to her, "God is trying to keep you in ignorance of your wonderful capabilities. You are in reality equal with God, and all that is necessary to make you like him, is to assert your liberty, and throw off the yoke that he has placed upon you. You have in yourself the life, so that you cannot die; and therefore you are in all respects equal with God." By means of this falsehood he deceived her, and the vain imagination with which he filled her heart caused her to fall.
Just so it was with the heathen, who, when they knew God, glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations. They arrogated to themselves attributes which belonged to God alone; particularly the quality of immortality. God reveals himself to us as the living God. His great characteristic is the possession of life, and the power to create and give life; but the heathen looked at their own powers, at their intellectual activity, and could not conceive of any being in the universe greater than they were. They could not imagine that such minds as theirs could ever cease to act, and so they concluded that they had an indestructible principle within themselves. Not only that, but having adopted the idea that the soul is naturally immortal, and survives the death of the body, they logically concluded that it existed prior to the existence of the body, virtually making the soul self-existent.
This being the case, they felt no dependence upon God; for the sole claim which God has upon us is in the fact that he has created us. If we had created ourselves, and could exist without the direct power of God, we would be answerable to nobody but ourselves. Therefore, with their ideas of their immortality, it was most natural for them to conclude that they were their own judges, that they were a law unto themselves, and that the desires and impulses of their own natures were simply a manifestation of the divine Spirit within them. Then followed naturally the result: "They became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God" into the most degraded objects, and gave way to the most abominable, licentious practices. It could not be otherwise. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." "From within, out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness." Mark 7:21, 22. These things are natural to every human heart, and when men in the pride of their hearts had separated themselves from God, and had taken their own impulses as the rule of their life, it invariably followed that they should sink into sin and degradation.
As to the truthfulness of Paul's description of the heathen, in the first chapter of Romans, there can be no question. The testimony of ancient heathen writers themselves confirms it. Licentiousness of every description was not only permitted by the law, but was practiced alike by the common people and philosophers, and was even enjoined upon the people as a religious duty. The temples of the heathen were houses of debauchery. The gods which they manufactured for their worship, as Jupiter and Venus, were simply the reflection of their own evil natures; and since they thus deified the lusts of their own hearts, it was inevitable that they should sink into deeper sin.
They did not at once become fools intellectually. The ancient Greeks and Romans were highly intelligent, even while abominably licentious idolaters. It was indeed their wisdom that caused them to forget God and put themselves in his place. Yet in the course of centuries the effect of continued vice must naturally be to debase the intellect, until we find mankind degenerated even below the level of the brute, both morally and spiritually, and scarcely equal to them intellectually. Yet the word "fools" as used in Romans 1:21, 22 is used in the sense in which it is used by the psalmist when he says, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." There is no such thing, strictly speaking, as an atheist. Everyone believes in a god of some kind, and the infidel who professes to believe in no God at all, makes himself God, and worships himself.
We often hear it said that the scenes of cruelty and vice that were enacted by the heathen in their worship and in their social life are not possible in this enlightened age; but such persons forget that the civilization of Greece and Rome was fully equal to that of Europe and America, if not superior; yet the people were heathen, and most abominable was their idolatry. But like causes produce like effects. If their unthankful, vain imaginations, because of their great inventions, lifted them up so that they entirely separated themselves from God, and were left to work out the evils that were in their own natures, the same thing will occur now under the same circumstances. The possession of intellectual activity is no safeguard against immorality, when the Giver of that intellect is forgotten. The only guard against the grossest immorality is a humble acknowledgment of God. E. J. W.

THE BESTOWAL AND USE OF THE TALENTS.

By M. C. W.

IN our last we showed that the talents and pounds of Matthew 25 and Luke 19 were identical with the gifts of the Spirit. They were given at the same time, for the same purpose, by the same one, to the same persons.
These gifts, and offices which are occasioned by the gifts, are enumerated in several scriptures. In 1 Cor. 12:8-11 we read: "For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues; but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."
Similar ones are mentioned in Romans 12:6-8. We there have mentioned prophecy, ministering, teaching, exhorting, giving, ruling.
Of the offices which come through these gifts, we have in 1 Cor. 12:28: "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues." Eph. 4:11 reads: "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." And 2 Cor. 8:7 speaks of the gift of utterance.
These gifts are not all given to every man. The Spirit divides to every one severally as he will. 1 Cor. 12:11. All are not prophets or apostles, or teachers or workers of miracles. Verses 29, 30. But just as the different members are given to the body for different purposes, yet for the highest good, so God has placed these gifts in the church for the highest good of the church. Some possess many gifts, as some were given more talents, because God sees that they can use them to his glory. Paul probably possessed all these gifts. He was apostle, prophet, healer, he spoke with tongues, etc. God poured out his Spirit upon him abundantly.
It may be well to more fully consider some of these gifts and their use. "Wisdom" is that faculty which is "exercised in forming the best plans and in selecting the best means;" it means "prudence, discretion, wise management." "Knowledge," on the other hand, is the mere accumulation of facts, the perception of truth. The gift of knowledge would be the bestowal of such faculties as would acquire truth and to be able to perceive it easily. Cowper has given us an excellent view of both these qualities:—
"Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have offtimes no connection. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men; Wisdom in minds attentive to their own. Knowledge, a rude, unprofitable mass, The mere materials with which wisdom builds, Till smoothed, and squared, and fitted to its place, Does but encumber whom it seems to enrich. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more."
Both wisdom and knowledge are necessary to an apostle, or "one sent forth," which is what the word apostle means. The apostles of the church were not confined to the twelve, as Paul, Barnabas, and others are mentioned as having the same office. They were sent forth of God to herald his truth, establish his work, and take to some extent a general oversight thereof. Such have existed in every reformation in the church of Christ. How much they needed wisdom in order to lay right plans and build up the work of God.
The gift of "faith" is doubtless what all may have, though some are given it in more abundant measure. God has bestowed it upon them that they might be able to encourage their brethren in times of trial and darkness. "Gifts of healing," are understood by all. It is literally, gracious gifts of healing, given through the grace of God. "Working of miracles" is akin to the last gift, but is doubtless exercised in other fields.
"Prophecy" is to foretell the future; and is given as the eyes of the church to warn them of dangers. It is the greatest gift and office in the church except that of apostleship. 1 Cor. 12:28; 14:5. It is given for the special edification, or building up, of the church. Verses 4, 22.
"Discerning of spirits" is another very useful gift. Satan will always, if possible, introduce into the church his agents to divide and destroy the flock of God; but if this gift is present, the spirit of the evil agent will be perceived and Satan's purposes defeated. Peter discerned the spirit of Ananias (Acts 5:3), and also of Simon (Acts 8:20-23), although Philip had not.
The gift of tongues, or languages, and their interpretation were very necessary in the days of the apostles, when so many nations were to be reached and the means were so limited to obtain instruction in the different languages. This gift was especially manifest on the day of Pentecost, and Paul possessed the gift in an eminent degree. 1 Cor. 14:18.
Helps, governments, exhortation, evangelists, pastors, teachers, are other needed gifts and offices named, by which the church of God has been built up. Two others are named in Romans 12:7, 8, ministry and giving. Ministering does not mean preaching or exhorting, but serving. To minister is to serve. It is a gift which God will give to all, so that whatever other talent we may possess we may use it in service for some one. So with giving. God bestows the grace of giving upon men by placing in their hands the means to give. How many times do we see this illustrated by men who, before they became children of God, were very close and niggardly, but when they were regenerated their liberality toward God and worthy objects was unbounded.
These are the gifts which God has placed in his church for the "perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Eph. 4:12. They are for man to use unselfishly for the saints, that is, for his fellows; they are for the work of the ministry, that is, that they may better serve God by manifesting him to the world (Matt. 5:16); they are for the edifying of the body of Christ, that is, the church. The church of God is built up by the winning of precious souls to Christ, by purifying ourselves, by strengthening the faith of others; in short, by laboring as Christ labored.
The Lord will require his own with usury. Luke 19:23, Matt. 25:27. He gives us these graces not for our own pleasure, but as stewards. "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." 1 Peter 4:10. The Revised Version reads, "a gift." We learn from this text just what we learn from the parables, Rom. 12:3, and 1 Cor. 12:7-11, that everyone receives some gift. We also learn that it is placed in our hands as a trust for which we will be held responsible as stewards; that these gifts are given to be used unselfishly for the glory of Christ in the ministering to our fellowmen; and that whatever gift we possess is but a manifestation of God's grace. See also 2 Cor. 8:4, 6, 7, margin. Who would not wish to be a possessor of God's gracious gifts?
How may we become possessors of these valuable gifts? By becoming servants of Christ. The parable is emphatic here. The Lord called not simply his servants, but "his own servants," those who had consecrated themselves to his service, truly his. If we are consecrated to God, are really his, be assured he has bestowed some gift, he has given at least one talent, to use to his glory. It may be only that of ministering; but oh, the opportunities of using it! How many women there are in the church of Christ who possess this talent, yet who are burying it in the world, in fashions, in the light and trifling things that perish with the using, while by their very door live others, out of Christ, who are worried and weary of life with no hope for the life to come.
But says one of these who is burying her talent, "I have talked with them on religious things, on points of doctrine, and they have seemed offended." But, dear sister, perhaps your gift is not that of teaching; why not try ministering. Do some helpful little things, be thoughtful for opportunities, till the grace of God through you has opened their hearts, and then perhaps, God will add to the gift of ministering that of exhortation. You can then tell how precious is the religion of Christ, and your experience in ministering will make it so to you. And thus God will add to your talents if you use them in love for him and for precious souls for whom Christ died.
All this is just as true of any other gift. "There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty," Prov. 11:24. So will it be with these precious gifts of the Spirit of God. But with the gift often comes a cross to the fleshly nature, which has always before this submitted to another master than Christ. Yet the cross is for the crucifixion of the flesh and the increase of the gift. It is one of the means of entire sanctification, till the whole man is wholly sanctified. All, nearly, can do something for the support of the cause of God. All can exercise the grace of giving, which is bestowed upon every one who has means to use. But how many souls are drying up because of the refusal to be liberal toward God. Their wealth may increase, but poverty of soul is the sure result. They are burying their talent in the earth, and God will hold them responsible for their stewardship.
But some will say, "I have but one talent, and he with one talent buried it. Does not this indicate that those who have only one gift cannot improve it? that they are among those who will fail ultimately?" By no means. It is not the numbers in the parable that teach the lesson, but the bestowal of the gift and its use. That this is true, is evident from the parable of Luke 19. Each servant received but one pound, but one of them gained ten pounds, another five. And it is the privilege of every child of God to thus improve.
Note the value which God places on these gifts. He does not represent them by pence or shekels or other inferior coins, but by pounds and talents, coins of the highest value. Such are the gifts of the Spirit of God. The very lowest is of inestimable value to him who uses it rightly, but a weighty cross to him who slights divinely given opportunities.
How will the knowledge that these come from God affect the Christian? Will it lead him to exalt self? Paul tells what it ought to lead him to do. In speaking of these gifts in Rom. 12:3, he says: "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." Again, he reproves the Corinthians who were "puffed up," with these words: "Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" 1 Cor. 4:7. It seems that it was to silence such boasting that God gave the instruction of chapters 12 to 14.
How often do we see men whom the world has counted of less than ordinary ability, who have been mighty in doing work for God. They were God's "own servants;" they used the one talent till increased by Him who is able to bestow. Why limit God's power by our unbelief and lack of consecration? The possibilities of loving, active faith we cannot comprehend. May God help our readers to be "his own servants," and to so use their talents that they may hear the "well done" from our coming King. M. C. W.

THE KINGS COUNTY (N. Y.) SABBATH

By C. P. B.

ASSOCIATION AGAIN.
WE have before referred to this association, and shown from the report of the secretary its real object, but perhaps the most interesting part of the proceedings was the address of Col. Elliott F. Shepard, president of the American Sabbath Union. It is well known to all the readers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES that Mr. Crafts, field secretary of the same association, lays great stress on securing a day of rest to the workingmen, and denies that they are working in the interests of the religious observance of the day, but it seems that Mr. Shepard does not agree with his secretary. In his address he said: "The Sabbath question is to be viewed first from the divine side. . . . Now, what is the law of the Lord respecting the Sabbath day?" He then quoted the fourth commandment, and after making some statements in regard to the change of the day, he continued to argue at length for its religious observance. In this connection he denounced in strong terms the "anti-Sabbath Pope." He did not, however, explain how it comes that the Pope is "anti-Sabbath," in the sense of being opposed to Sunday-keeping. If he will examine Catholic catechisms, he will find that Sunday-keeping is enjoined upon all Catholics; that they are all expected to attend religious services on Sunday, and to spend the rest of the day in reading religious books. That they do not do so is not the fault of the Pope, and it comes with rather bad grace for Mr. Shepard to accuse that dignitary of being opposed to Sunday, when the Pope himself poses as the defender of Sunday, and when the association of which Mr. Shepard is president counts the entire Catholic population of the United States as being petitioners in favor ofthe Blair Sunday-Rest bill, which he heartily endorses.
But Mr. Shepard not only advocated laws for the religious observance of Sunday, but he went so far as to advocate the legal enforcement of the entire decalogue. He said: "Now let me illustrate for one moment as to the third commandment, 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.'" A great many of the States, he said, had passed laws against blasphemy, and that was all right. "If this principle had been observed," he remarked, "we would never have known or heard of the abominable idolatry in our country known as Mormonism. The very foundation of that religion is, that a man can take the name of God in vain. It soon becomes nothing for him to say the Lord God says through him do so-and-so."
Mr. Shepard's idea seems to be that this country should have a law forbidding any to set up the claim of being a prophet, and of saying that the Lord has authorized him to speak in any way. Of course, it is blasphemy for any man to set up a false claim of being divinely inspired. But does Mr. Shepard really think that such claims should be forbidden by law? So it seems from his words. The plan laid down in the Scriptures for determining such claims is, "To the law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
There is one feature of Mormonism with which it is certainly right that the civil law should deal, namely, polygamy. That is not merely a question of religious belief but of civil practice. It is a matter which concerns not simply a single individual who may marry more than one wife, or even the several wives which one man may have, but it goes farther than that, and it is proper that the Government should forbid it, not because it is immoral, but because it is uncivil. But to pass a law that would cause the courts to say that certain language is blasphemous, or that any man is a blasphemer because he professes to speak in the name of the Lord, would be simply to establish in this country a religious despotism.
However, Mr. Shepard is consistent in this, that he insists that man has no right to make a difference in the commandments. He says: "The keeping of the ten commandments is simply obeying God, and so, of course, when you break one commandment, you break them all. The ten commandments are like a beautiful prism that reflects the image of the Creator, and when you have broken it, the image and reflection are gone. When the spirit of disobedience has crept in and gone to work, you may break the ninth or seventh, or all the commandments together, just as you please." Mr. Shepard's idea seems to be that it is the prerogative of civil government to require man to keep the law of God, but we would like to know how he would compel men to keep the tenth commandment. It says, "Thou shalt not covet." Or even how he would enforce, by civil law, the sixth or seventh commandments as such.
True, we have laws against murder, and against adultery, but the sixth and seventh commandments are vastly more than any civil enactment can possibly be. As magnified by the Saviour, hatred is a violation of the sixth commandment, and lust is a violation of the seventh. Now if a law is going to be enforced by civil government, the man who has murder or lust in his heart must be punished just the same as though he had committed the overt act to which these feelings would naturally lead. But how is any court or jury to determine a man's feelings? They can arrive at it only in one way, namely, by forcing from the individual a confession by means of torture. It may be said that this will never be done. Probably not, but it just shows how impossible it is for men to enforce the decalogue as such. The law of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and can be administered only by Him who reads the heart. And thus again it appears that to carry out the ideas set forth by the speakers in this Kings County convention, would be to establish in this country a religious despotism.

GOD IS ALL IN ALL.

By M. C. W.

THE Lord commands all men to obey his holy law perfectly. "Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." Eccl. 12:13. See Deut. 4:2. This he has a right to do as man's Creator.
But man of himself cannot keep God's law; for (1) he is at enmity to the law of God (Rom. 8:7); and (2) even though from his heart he should try to obey the law he could not. Jer. 13:23. Rom. 7:18, 19.
And yet God is not unreasonable in his requirements. Though it is not in the power of man to do good, God has furnished the means by which man may do his will on conditions. First, God will graciously pardon all past sins, or in other words, impute to man his own perfect righteousness, through faith in Christ. Rom. 3:21-26; 4:6-8. He does this freely by his grace. To him belongs all the glory.
Further: God takes away the carnal heart, which is at enmity to his law, and gives the individual a new heart which loves God's law and can keep it. Eze. 36:26, 27. He is no longer the same individual, pursuing the things of this age—a worldly, selfish, sensual being. Old things are passed away; he has begun a new life; he is a new creature in Christ Jesus. 2 Cor. 5:17. He has been begotten of God through the word (1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18), and born of the Spirit of God. John 3:3-5. The effectual work has been all of God; to God belongs all the glory.
It may be said that man sought Christ. He did; but the Father drew him. John 6:44. The individual made the choice, a free choice; he willed to do God's will in God's way; he believed; and God wrought for him. The influence which led the man to do this was the Spirit of God. The power which wrought for him, and in him, was of God. To God belongs all the glory.
And the Lord leaves him not here. He has made the child of sin his own child. He has given him a new nature; he can and will now dwell with him by his Spirit. Rom. 8:9-11. In the warfare that follows, against the sinful flesh, it is through the Spirit that its deeds are put to death. Rom. 8:13. The individual walks in right paths, but he is led by the Spirit. Verse 14. The now child of God loves God and keeps his commandments (1 John 5:3), but love is the fruit of the Spirit which works in him. Gal. 5:22. In short, it is God's love and goodness and power which influence, lead, carry, regenerate, and work through the individual from first to last, from the bondage of corruption to the glorious liberty of the children of God consummated at the coming of Christ. Phil. 3:21. To God belongs all the glory.
And yet God in his great mercy counts these good deeds as the righteousness of his people. He will say, "Well done" to those who have labored in his strength for him. He furnishes all the goodness, all the light, all the means, all the power, and then ascribes them all to the faithful ones, because they have wholly chosen God's will, wholly submitted their own, even when submission meant suffering and crucifixion.
The righteousness they have, the righteousness they do, is God's righteousness, because wholly wrought by and through the power of God. It was God's righteousness by faith for the sins past (Rom. 3:22); it is God's righteousness by faith throughout the whole warfare, because God furnishes the strength and means on the call of faith.
This twofold truth is well expressed in the following scripture: "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, . . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Man is to work, to put forth the effort, but, after all, it is God working through him. Man, so far as having power to obey, is like the impotent man at the pool. Man can no more do God's will than the impotent man could walk. But the faith of the cripple met the Saviour's command, he put forth the effort just as though he was to do it all, and power from God came. So in the spiritual life. The individual is to put forth as much effort and will as though he was to do it all himself, and to have that faith in God as though he expected God to do it all for him.
While the Bible tells us to put away our sins (Isa. 1:16), it also graciously declares that God "will subdue our iniquities." Micah 7:19. God graciously gives to his people the credit of right doing and of overcoming. But those who have been born into the kingdom of God, who have gained victories through the grace of Christ over base passions and carnal lusts, will not boast of their righteousness; they will with grateful heart ascribe all to the grace of God, that "God may be all in all." M. C. W.
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