The author, in a book of 368 pages, takes up this great central doctrine of the gospel, and treats it in two parts. Part first,
An Atonement Consistent with Reason.
In this he shows that the doctrine of an atonement through the medium of a voluntary substitute is consistent with reason. Part second,
The Atonement as Revealed in the Bible.
In this is discussed the plan of redemption through Christ, by which every sinner who accepts Christ will be justified; sin will be turned back upon the head of its originator; the earth will be cleansed from the curse; God's righteous government will be restored over the entire universe; and all who will not become loyal subjects of that government will be destroyed.
The book presents a CRITICAL AND EXHAUSTIVE TREATISE on this interesting subject, by a thorough Bible student, and wholly from a Bible standpoint, and cannot fail to be of great value to everyone who reads it.
Third edition, bound in cloth, embossed in black, with gold title on back and front cover.
Price, postpaid, $1.00.
Address, Pacific Press Publishing Co., Oakland, Cal. Or 43 BOND ST., New York City.
Corruption in Politics
The following from the Brooklyn (N. Y.) Eagle shows to what extent the influence of political corruption and covetousness has spread, not in the slums of the city, but in the rural districts, where it is supposed the honor of the nation largely exists:—
"It will cost over $150,000 to each political party to get out the vote of its rural adherents in this State. Those buccolic suffragists will not want to be bribed to vote with their party, but they will insist in not voting at all, unless 'they are paid for their time.' The pay for their time means about $2.00 apiece. Farmers who are worth $250,000 in many cases demand this amount for voting even for their party. The fact is sickening, but those familiar with country politics know that it is true. The lowest slums of the meanest cities produce no public enemies more malign than those fly-gobbling clodhoppers of the cross roads."
Question Corner.
By Editor
"If ye will inquire, inquire ye." "But avoid foolish questions."
[From time to time we will reply under this head, if deemed advisable, to such candid inquiries as may be sent us. Correspondents wishing a reply to their questions must give their full name and address, not for publication unless they wish, but as an evidence of good faith on their part, and to give us opportunity to reply by letter if deemed best. It is always well to inclose stamp. Let the questions be short and pointed, and such as may be answered in limited space. The questions will be numbered continuously.]
150. IS SIN NATURAL?
Is sin natural? If so, where does the Bible say so? If it is natural, how did it become so?
Sin is not natural as God made nature. All that God made he pronounced "very good." Gen. 1: 31. If all things which God made had continued according to the divine law of their being, they would have worked to his glory and man's greatest good. But man, tempted by Satan, attempted to turn them to his own glory. In yielding to Satan's suggestions he perverted or transgressed God's law, and came under the dominion of sin. He yielded all to Satan, and his entire being became the servant of sin. His nature, therefore, became changed, or perverted.
He rejected the nature of God and chose the nature of sin. Therefore sin is inherent in the carnal, or fleshly man; it is natural to him, or according to his perverted nature. Rom. 7: 14; 8: 6-8; Eph. 2: 2, 3. All men by nature, that is, the perverted nature of their own, are the children of wrath.
God in Christ was manifest to restore man to the nature of God. Therefore, when man by faith in Christ renounces his ways and chooses God's ways by accepting Christ, he becomes a "partaker of the divine nature," a son of God, a new creature in Christ Jesus. 2 Peter 1: 4; John 1: 13; 2 Cor. 5: 17.
It is so in the so-called "natural world." Man had dominion over the earth (Gen. 1: 28), but when he sold himself under sin (Rom. 7: 14), he sold all that was under him, thus subjecting the lower creatures to sin, decay, and death (Rom. 8: 20); but in that glad day when man is made immortal, all perverted nature shall be restored, and "there shall be no more death."
Will you please give an explanation of the latter part of Gen. 2: 17. What was the death he was to die?
The death Adam was to die was simply death, the death of the whole man Adam. It was neither spiritual, temporal, or eternal, but simply death. If the gospel had not intervened, it would have been eternal. When the gospel did intervene, it became temporal. The very act of sinning was what is called spiritual death, or death in trespasses and sins; but the penalty was simply death, or cessation of existence.
The text reads: "And when he [Christ] had so said, he showed unto them [his disciples] his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord." We cannot see as it needs an explanation. It simply means that Jesus met with his doubting disciples, and convinced them that he was their Lord who had been crucified, by showing the marks made by the nails and spear. By this they recognized him, and were glad when they saw that it was indeed their beloved Lord. It is by some such simple evidence as this that the Lord reveals to us his blessings, which we are prone to regard as strange. After the evidence we see it as we did not before—a blessing from God.
What Protestants Are Good for—a Catholic Estimate.
Says the Rev. Father Slattery, editor of the American Ecclesiastical Review:—
"What good do Protestants do? Water, we know, will never rise above its level, neither will Protestantism. To our mind the Protestant missions joined with the English language are doing the same work for Asia and Africa and the isles of the Pacific that the Roman Empire and the Latin tongue did for the apostles. They are preparing the way, removing barriers, destroying prejudices. Their work is good by a natural goodness; even their handling of supernatural agencies, e. g., Scripture, preaching, or baptism, is more of a natural modus agendi than aught else."
That is, Protestants help in "preparing the way" for Catholics; and it looks much that way in this country. But it is only those "Protestants" who have forsaken Christ and ceased to protest that are "preparing the way" for Roman Catholicism. The true Protestant in these days is "preparing the way of the Lord."
God's Will
By Editor
God's Will.—God's will is his law. Jesus said, "I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart." Ps. 40:8. The apostle Paul said that the Jews knew God's "will" and approved the things that were "more excellent, being instructed out of his law." It therefore follows that the law is God's will. The seventh-day Sabbath, enjoined by the law, is therefore a part of the will of God. Yet we have before us in a paper an article on "The Christian Sabbath in Prophecy," which is an endeavor to prove that the law of God is not obligatory, and immediately following that is another article on the "Will of God," and that it should be done in us. Now this is what Christ died for, "that the righteousness of the law [God's will] might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:4. But in this uncertain Trumpet the former article tears down what the latter builds up. See Gal. 2:18.
IT WILL YIELD AS HAVE THE OTHERS.
By Editor
Preceding our last presidential election we had an interesting correspondence with a prominent Populist friend of the North anent certain remarks made in our paper concerning the dangers and uncertainties of politics, and the trend toward union of Church and State manifest in all parties, especially on the Sunday question. Our friend thought that there was danger to be feared in the religious direction from Republicans, Democrats, and Prohibitionists, but not from the Populists. We endeavored to show him that yielding to Sunday-law sentiment would be made a political necessity in that party as in others. Here is an evidence. Not only has Populism been preached from Bible texts in the recent past in this city, but now, evidently under the pressure of Christian Endeavor Sunday sentiment, at present active and demonstrative in politics, the People's Party Campaign Committee in this county has decided that Sunday political meetings are not a necessity, and request their workers to refrain from this in the future. This is but one step. Others will follow.
Whittier State School
Whittier State School.—One of the best public schools in the world for juvenile delinquents is probably the California Industrial School at Whittier, and to no one man is more of the success due than to Dr. Walter Lindley, the ex-superintendent, who has recently resigned the position which he held. He believed that four things were necessary in the teacher in helping the boys there besides educational qualifications, namely, neatness and care in dress, gentlemanly manners, pure language, and a kind, true, and strong heart. And these qualifications are good everywhere. May the doctor's work abide, and may the blessing of the Lord rest upon the labors of the present superintendent, Mr. John E. Coffin. The school numbers now three hundred or more.
The Father and the Son Are One
By Editor
In an otherwise very good tract we picked up in a railway station the other day, entitled "How I Found Peace at Last," is the following: "Some look to God the Father. No: look to him by and by. Jesus Christ says, 'Look unto me.'" Now no man can look to Christ without looking to the Father. Jesus said, "I and my Father are one." And he also said, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Jesus Christ was the manifestation of God to men. He said, "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works." The Father and the Son are one in the great plan of redemption.
Articles on the Love of God
By Editor
THERE are two articles bearing on the love of God in this issue to which we wish to call special attention, namely, "Consider the Moral Code," and "The Sabbath in the New Covenant." They will repay not only a careful reading, but the attention of others should be called to them. The latter is an unanswerable argument on the perpetuity of the Sabbath in the Christian dispensation.
Home Department for Boys
By Editor
THERE are some good points in our Home department for the boys this week.