UNDER the above heading, Mrs. May Mabette Anderson enters a striking and truthful arraignment of this growing delusion, in Christian Work. After “studying the question with keen and abiding interest,” and giving due credit to the “attractive” features of the New Thought theories, she says:—
“Yet hearken. It teaches a heaven to be won without the atoning blood. A Christ—but not the Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary. The way to the heart of God, and of restoration to His favor and image through the sacrificial death of the ‘Son of Man,’ is wholly ignored.
“In other words, the deep significance of the atonement is left out of this lovely structure. It is an imposing, inspiring, and beautiful edifice, yet it is built on sand, and not on the abiding Rock. No hint that ‘ye must be born again’ is found engraven on its walls. It appeals to the ‘I AM! I CAN!’ in man’s perverted nature. It exalts the merely human, and, if adhered to, will lift its votaries to the highest point of excellence possible to the unregenerate heart.
“It is a clever counterfeit of the real edifice. The true building—as clearly outlined in the Word of God—is built on the Rock Christ Jesus, whose life and mighty power permeate and fill and enfold each ‘living stone’ placed on this eternal Foundation.
“The counterfeit of this majestic edifice has been planned, and is being reared in its lordly proportions and proud position, by what truly appears to be an ‘angel of light,’ and of wondrous beauty as well as of beneficent heart. Yet it embodies and accentuates the peril of the present hour, namely, the minimizing and dethronement of Christ, as a sacrificial offering for sin, from the popular religion of the day.
“Nor is this all. In one of the most widely-read books which has appeared under the protecting wing of ‘New Thought,’ the reader is urged to open his heart and being to hosts of beautiful spiritual beings that inhabit the ether all about us. We are told that they await to indwell each earnest soul that bids them enter, and will lift the recipient of their favors into a higher spiritual plane than would otherwise be possible of attainment.
“Spiritism, you see, in a fresh and lovely garb; so very lovely that even ministers of the Gospel are publicly placing their seal of approval on the teaching.
“If one will carefully study the Word of God, and note the solemn warnings given against all commerce with ‘familiar spirits,’ ‘necromancy,’ ‘sorcery,’ etc., a shudder will reach the innermost depths of the heart of one whose eyes are opened to see how these deadly forces—on which God’s lasting anathema rests—are, under modern and captivating names, being pressed on the attention and acceptance of devout and earnest souls.
“There are many in our midst entitled to our confidence and respect who, in the midst of other absorbing duties, have given but a hasty glance into this fascinating cult. They have seen its beauties, but failed to make the searching examination needful to disclose and lay bare its dangers. Hence this word of protest.”
CLXII
By George Seeley
At the age of eighteen years I was baptized, and united with the Baptist Church, in St. John, N. B. My dear father, who was a member of the Episcopal Church, of England, thought my action was a great disgrace to the family. I began preaching the Gospel the spring following, and was ordained when twenty years old. I occupied pastorates in different places for forty years, and the Lord blessed my labors in the conversion of souls. Yet I never once thought I was wrong in the matter of the Bible Sabbath.
One day a young man, who was selling a book entitled “Bible Readings,” came to my home. He appeared to be a nice young man, and in a kindly spirit he asked me why I kept Sunday as the Sabbath. I answered that I kept it in honor of the Lord’s resurrection. He asked me if I would like to have a book on the subject to study, and I replied that I would, and asked who was the author. He said he could send me one by Dr. A. H. Lewis, which he thought was among the best for me just then. The book came in due time, and was read with profound interest. It was some five or six years after this that I became a Sabbath-keeper, and my wife soon came with me. After some hard experiences, I came into full life and liberty of the truth, and thanks to the precious Lord and Master, I am happy in it. I
“Would not exchange my blest estate
For all the world calls good and great.”
GEORGE SEELEY.
WHAT IS OUR HOPE?
By C. H. Spurgeon
It strikes the thoughtful observer that the coming of the Lord Jesus is far more the hope of the church than any remedial processes, or evolutions, or progresses among mankind. Under some aspects, the world grows better, but in the deepest and most solemn sense, evil men and seducers wax worse and worse. Increasingly do we see the weakness of the flesh, and the need of a divine interposition. It is ours to plod on as if all depended upon us; but it is still more ours to look up and believe that our redemption draweth nigh, and that, not from our endeavors, but from the appearing of the Son of God. His day will blaze with His own glory; He alone shall be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe. “The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.” O, that it would soon dawn! In hopeful expectation we look no more upon the flying scud, and the boiling waters, but fix our eye upon the Pole Star which abideth and shineth forever.—C. H. Spurgeon.
AN ANCIENT INSCRIPTION.
In the ancient Cathedral of Luebeck, in Germany, there is an old slab with the following inscription:—
“Thus speaketh Christ, our Lord, to us,
Ye call Me Master, and obey Me not;
Ye call Me Light, and see Me not;
Ye call Me Way, and walk Me not;
Ye call Me Life, and desire Me not;
Ye call Me Wise, and follow Me not;
Ye call Me Fair, and love Me not;
Ye call Me Rich, and ask Me not;
Ye call Me Eternal, and seek Me not;
Ye call Me Gracious, and trust me not;
Ye call Me Noble, and serve Me not;
Ye call Me Mighty, and honor Me not;
Ye call Me Just, and fear Me not;
If I condemn you, blame Me not.”
—Selected.
THE PATIENT, GENEROUS TEACHER.
WHAT a patient teacher is our God! How He bears with our sins and infirmities and idiosyncrasies of character! How pitiful He is in our stupidity! How generous He is, sometimes it seems almost to prodigality, in expenditures for our education!
God's object lessons are stronger than any words. Take, for instance, the case of Abraham. God called him from Ur of the Chaldees to make him the father of a nation through whom could be revealed to the world the Gospel of Christ. He was called to leave country and kindred and father's house; yet he took with him to Haran his father Terah and his nephew Lot, men worldly in disposition, if not actually idolatrous. God waited in patience, and then, after the death of Abraham's father, He called him again to the land of Canaan. Abraham went forth in faith, but he still clung to Lot.
The Lord tells him that his seed shall be numerous, and that all the earth shall be blessed in His seed. Abraham concludes that the promise must be fulfilled through his faithful servant Eleazar. The Lord corrects him in this, and tells him again that it is his own seed, his own flesh and blood, that must be his heir.
But Abraham can not see how this could be. Sarah was barren, and some way must be devised by which Jehovah could fulfil His promise. And therefore Hagar, the Egyptian bondmaid, was taken to wife. What a costly thing it was! What years of trouble and bickering and jealousy and heartache that mistake cost Abraham and his family!
But after a while the old patriarch learns the lesson, and believes God's promise. Separation from Lot takes place, his barren wife brings forth the child of promise, and the lesson of faith is once more rehearsed in the offering of the son, Abraham's only son, Isaac.
Yet through it all how patient was the great Teacher!
How all these lessons were repeated over and over again in the experience of Jacob. At what tuition of time and trouble before the hard-handed son of toil learned the lesson by the brook of Jabbok, and God named him Israel.
Forty years Moses went to school in Egypt, and thought himself ready to deliver Israel; but God sees necessary to give His servant a forty years' post-graduate course in the wilderness. In that school Moses learns his own littleness and God's greatness, and the Master can use him.
There must have been times during that forty years' sojourn in Midian, following the flock of Jethro, that Moses felt that it was all in vain, and that all of his early hopes of a free Israel, all the promises taught him by his mother, were fanciful dreams. But, when the lesson was learned, God showed him by the burning yet unconsumed bush that none of this experience was lost. Israel may have suffered in the furnace fires; they were only consuming the dross. The people were weary of slavery; Moses was where he could be used of God.
Sometimes in these modern days we think ourselves sufficient for our work. We scheme and plan as did Abraham and Jacob to help God to carry out His promises; we metaphorically kill an Egyptian if necessary in order to bring liberation to our brethren; yet in all cases we are hindering instead of helping God's work.
God suffers men to occupy positions of trust who are not fitted for the trust. They may think they are. They may boast of the great things they have done and are doing. And yet God's work may be suffering from their administration. But the Great Teacher wants to use them, and will use them if they will learn the lesson. His people may need the lesson that salvation comes not from man. And so years of waiting and suffering ensue, because men are slow to learn lessons. Self-sufficiency shuts out God. Planning, scheming, devising, shut out God. Looking to men shuts out God, and hides from us Christ Jesus our Lord.
There are many parents who are using years of precious time, and paying out from $100 to $10,000 for the education of a son or a daughter. Some of these parents count the seemingly-unappreciated education very costly, as they think it is hardly worth the while.
This conclusion may be true, yet it is not the less the duty of the parent to educate his child the best he can, and so fit that child to be a better burden-bearer, a more useful citizen.
But how utterly insignificant is the price which mortals pay compared with what God is giving in the education of His children. He has told us frankly what He wishes us each to be, and what He would have us do. He presents before us great possibilities. He points to the great heights to be attained, the tremendous breadth of vision opened before us, the strength which He will give to enable us to win the goal, and be and do all that He asks.
But O, how little we appreciate the advantages His love has placed within our reach! How we hide them from us with the ephemeral things of this life! How we slight our Teacher!
What mighty lessons He is endeavoring to teach us! What elimination of evil traits He wishes us to learn! What mighty elements of strength He would develop and create within! To what heights of sublimity, of goodness and love would He lead us! What broad sweeps of heavenly vision would He open before our eyes!
Let God teach; receive His instruction. Let Christ Jesus be our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption.
A DOUBLE PROMISE TO THE OVERCOMER.
“To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” Rev. 2:17.
Evidently this is not a promise reserved till the overcomer shall have finally triumphed over all obstacles, and received the seal of God’s approval for eternity. Rather it is indicative of the Lord’s care for the individual who is, day by day, in the faith of Christ, overcoming the temptations and besetments of life. It shows a close personal relationship between the individual child of God and the Saviour of men. It is a complete refutation of the modern theory of salvation of men by groups, either great or small. Every individual disciple has a case in the heavenly court, which he has entrusted to the divine Advocate, and there are features of that case known only to the client himself and his Advocate. “When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” This is why “every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12), Jesus Christ being the only intermediary.
Manna was the food that God sent down from heaven to sustain His pilgrim children as they journeyed from Egypt to Canaan. The source of supply was hidden from them, but it came to them fresh every morning. A portion of this manna was placed in a pot, and laid up in the most holy apartment of the sanctuary, as a memorial of God’s providing care. As Christ now occupies the heavenly sanctuary, and there receives the prayers of His struggling disciples on earth, He responds with daily supplies of such spiritual food as they individually need. It is hidden from all who do not have the faith to seek for it, or the mind to receive and assimilate it. The child of faith will endure, “as seeing Him who is invisible.”
“A white stone” is a figure representing an ancient custom of giving some small token of friendship to an intimate friend as a memento. It might be an object of devotion, something of imaginary value in a superstitious way; but, though small, it would be that which the giver highly prized, and was in turn prized by the recipient. Peculiar and sometimes valuable stones were given, which were supposed to possess extraordinary value as charms to ward off evil, and bring good fortune. They sometimes bore the names of the chosen friends. So the Lord uses this figure to illustrate something of real value that He will pass to the individual who is overcoming obstacles through faith in Him.
The new name represents the character that the recipient is forming by overcoming his peculiar trials and imperfections. No one knows the meaning of the name but he who has had the experience. The power to overcome individual faults is a gift that no one understands save the individual himself; for none but he knows all that had to be overcome. It is this knowledge of individual conditions and individual needs, and His absolute impartiality of love irrespective of persons, that enables Christ to “save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.”
HOW TO BE HAPPY.
1. “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thess. 5:18. “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Eph. 5:20. “Give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people.” Ps. 105:1. A spirit of thanksgiving is always a spirit of happiness.
2. “Rejoice evermore.” 1 Thess. 5:16. “Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice.” Phil. 4:4. Examples: When certain disciples were beaten by command of Jewish authorities, “they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” Acts 5:40, 41. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says, “I am filled with comfort; I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.” 2 Cor. 7:4. Sources of joyfulness: “The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.” Ps. 19:8. “Glory ye in His holy name; let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.” Ps. 105:3. A spirit of rejoicing is always a happy spirit.
3. Be patient. “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:2–4. “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” Heb. 10:36. A truly patient life is a happy life.7
“Above all things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” Col. 3:14, 15. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” Heb. 12:14. “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matt. 7:1, 2; Rom. 2:1. “Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he allowed.” Rom. 14:22.
5. Special conditions of happiness are noted in the following scriptures: “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth; therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty.” Job 5:17. “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.” Prov. 3:13. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do His commandments.” Ps. 111:10. “He that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.” Prov. 14:21; James 1:27. “Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.” Prov. 16:20. There is no reasonable excuse for an unhappy life.
THE PERFECT STANDARD.
In David's time the standard of perfection was the law of God. Speaking by inspiration of the Spirit, he testifies: “The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.” Ps. 19:7. “Blessed are they that are perfect in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.” Ps. 119:1. In Paul's day the law was “holy, and just, and good.” Rom. 7:12. David said, “Let Thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live; for Thy law is my delight.” Ps. 119:77. “I have longed for Thy salvation, O Lord; and Thy law is my delight.” Verse 174. Paul said, “I delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man.” Rom. 7:22. These representatives of the two dispensations are in accord with each other, and in accord with the life and character of Christ. Speaking by the Spirit of prophecy through David before His advent, He testified, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Ps. 40:8. Later He passes the counsel on to his disciples: “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15:10. Again, concerning the law of God, Jesus says, “This do, and thou shalt live.” See Luke 10:25-28. Thus agree the three witnesses—David, of the old dispensation; Paul, of the new; and Christ, who stands for all time. The sinner, the transgressor of the law, is justified by faith, and brought into a condition of peace with God and harmony with the law which he formerly transgressed (Rom. 3:24-26, 31; 5:1, 2), and the perfect law continues to be the perfect standard of righteousness. “Let my tongue sing of Thy Word; for all Thy commandments are righteousness.” Ps. 119:172. “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Rev. 22:14.
A SIGNIFICANT DEMAND.
Some Americans who have visited the Vatican recently have refused to worship the pope by kneeling when he appeared. But hereafter no one will be permitted to attend the audiences given by the pope unless they promise beforehand that they will kneel when he comes forth. Not only must they kneel, but they must kiss his hand as well. Evidently there are still some Americans who will not sacrifice principle in order to satisfy the hunger of a pseudo-theocratic system for the adoration, homage, worship, of its chief. But that system would subjugate that principle as it has subjugated or sought to subjugate every other principle of human liberty. Admittance will be denied to every person who chooses to refrain from bowing in veneration before the self-styled vicar of Christ, tho that person be arrayed never so gorgeously in the habiliments of royalty, bedecked with the rarest rubies and pearls and diamonds. It is their right so to choose; but that system can brook no such liberty of choice.
In this matter how different is that system in spirit from the principles that actuated the life and composed the character of Christ. When men would have taken Him and made Him King, He put away the gaudy bauble, and fled from them. He would accept no kingship save that over a kingdom of willing hearts. The Papacy demands that even the unbeliever and the unwilling shall worship him who sits upon its throne. But that is the principle which the Word of God declares would be found ruling that system. That is the system which was to exalt itself “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.” 2 Thess. 2:4.
One of the duties that we owe to God is to worship Him; but here is a power that is to be found putting itself even above God. It will, then, demand worship. This the Papacy has been doing for centuries, is doing now, and will continue to do till her end, divinely decreed, shall come. According to prophecy there will come a time when all the world will worship that power save those only whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Rev. 13:3-8.
It is against the demands of that very power that the Third Angel’s Message is warning the world to-day. The time is fast approaching when there will be but two classes upon the earth; a great multitude who “worship the beast and his image,” and a small company who “fear God, and give glory to Him,” and who “worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Rev. 14:7. Against that very demand of the Papacy that same message declares: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.” Verses 9 and 10.
It will be a fearful thing to be found on the wrong side of that question. No man can afford to turn a deaf ear to that warning. There is a culmination there beyond which no act of man’s can save him. It is finished then, and every man and woman upon the earth will have decided where they are going to spend eternity. It will be a fearful thing to fall, unrepentant and unforgiven, into the hands of the living God. But it is not necessary that any person in the world should be in that condition. God is yearning to save men. But He can not save, and give immortality to, any human being, who chooses to worship a power in opposition to Him and His government—a power that has sought to usurp His place and secure for itself the worship of the world.
It is not a difficult matter, however, to know whether you are worshiping the wrong power. Those who are on the right side have these words said of them: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12. It is impossible, for those who are doing that to be worshiping “the beast and his image.” On the other hand, it is impossible for those who “worship the beast and his image” to “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” All the world will do one thing or the other, and, in consequence, will receive either the wrath of God or the reward of God. Our attitude toward the commandments and the faith is the determining factor. The demand of the papal power for worship will become more and more insistent. He who would stand with God through eternity, must stand against that dangerous tide now, and from now on, in all the strength of Christian fortitude, keeping “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
A DEVICE OF THE ADVERSARY.
The judgment alone will reveal how much infidelity has been caused by the unscriptural doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and its monstrous concomitant, the everlasting torment of those who do not believe in Christ. The learned Herbert Spencer, while not giving this as a cause of infidelity, does refer to it as a confirmatory element. The strange thing is that learned men, who insist on delving into scientific, or commercial, or political subjects to find truth for themselves, will take so much for granted in matters of religion. In a matter that concerns their eternal welfare, they will not question that some current doctrine is scriptural, while on mere temporal subjects they insist upon satisfying themselves through personal research.
In order to see even a hint of inherent immortality in the Scriptures, one must have imbibed the idea from some other source before reading the Bible at all. With that doctrine inculcated in the mind, and taking it for granted that the Scriptures teach it, some certain Scripture expressions may be construed to support it. But when plain Scripture declarations, rather than pre-conceived opinion, are taken as the basis of study, and the more obscure texts interpreted by these, the student need not be led astray. The Scriptures speak of man as naturally mortal (Job 4:17; 14:7-12; 17:13; Acts 2:29-35; Rom. 6:12; 8:11; 2 Cor. 4:11; 5:4); but never as immortal, excepting as a result of faith in Christ, and that as a gift bestowed through a resurrection or translation at the coming of the Lord. Job 14:13-15; 19:25-27; 1 Cor. 15:50-54; 2 Tim. 4:7, 8.
The Scriptures plainly teach us that the King of kings and Lord of lords “only hath immortality.” 1 Tim. 6:16. That “the wages of sin is death,” as stated by Paul in Rom. 6:23, is emphasized by the psalmist in Ps. 37:9-11, 20. The apostle John had a view of conditions when the plan of salvation shall have been finished, and he testifies: “Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Rev. 5:13.
God created all things for His pleasure (Ch. 4:11); and He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Eze. 18:23, 32; 33:11). Therefore He would not be likely to keep before Him eternally that in which He has no pleasure, and which could only be a source of horror to all His creatures. Our God is a God of love, and “His mercy endureth forever.” There is nothing vindictive in His character. The death of the wicked is the result of their wickedness and unbelief, and it is a mercy to them, and to all the universe that they are blotted out of existence. Their extinction will be as complete as the burning of stubble or chaff, and no power will be able to put out the destroying fire until it has utterly consumed them. Mal. 4:1, 2; Matt. 3:12; Luke 3:17. The eternal torment doctrine is a libel on God’s Word, and an unwarranted slur upon His character. It is a device of the adversary to turn men away from the truth.
Question Corner
1518.—Conscience a Guide.
Is the conscience a safe guide? L. D. W.
No; it is not a guide at all. If it is good, it is that which the Guide uses in part to direct us. The Lord declares, “I will guide thee.” “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,” writes the psalmist. Conscience is like a watch—good when it is regulated and kept regulated by standard time. The Regulator Standard is God’s law; the Regulator, His Spirit. Without these, conscience is worse than worthless, it becomes “an evil conscience,” a “seared conscience.” Conscience alone has been responsible for many awful crimes and sins.
Please explain Matt. 12:40, in reference to Christ’s being buried three days and three nights, literal time, as given in the Bible. It does not seem to correspond. Friday night till Sunday morning is not three days and three nights.
Matt. 12:40 reads as follows: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
In the first place, the term “three days and three nights” is not, according to Bible usage, an exact term, meaning just seventy-two hours. It means, in common Bible usage, three days, when two of those days may be only parts of days. See the use of such expressions in Judges 14:12, 15, 17, 18; Esther 4:16; 5:1. See, also, the use of this very period of our Lord’s sufferings, expressed sometimes as “the third day,” “in three days,” “after three days.” Matt. 16:21; Mark 9:31; Luke 9:22; Mark 8:31, etc. Yet we are told in Luke, at the very close of the day on which Jesus rose, “to-day is the third day since these things were done.” Luke 24:21. Therefore, three days do not necessarily mean seventy-two hours, but is a common expression denoting a period reaching into three days.
2. We are not told that Jonah was in the whale seventy-two hours; but as he was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights (only parts of three days, probably), so shall the Son of Man, etc.
3. Jesus does not say three days and three nights in the grave. The expression, “the heart of the earth,” may mean in the hands of the powers of earth. When Jesus was betrayed, He was given up to the authorities of earth. It was then He said, “This is your hour, and the power of darkness.” The three days included His betrayal, His scourging, His crucifixion, His burial, including nearly all of the sixth day of the week, the whole of the seventh, and a part of the first. Why try to make the expressions of Scripture mean more than the Bible makes them mean?
The whole context shows that the text has application to a time when very few are humble and contrite, and tremble at the word of the Lord. God regards these with special favor. Those who do not so regard God and His Word lose all sense of proportion morally. The beast is exalted to man. “He that killeth an ox is as he that slayeth a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb [a clean beast], as he that breaketh a dog’s neck.” A meal offering to God is the same as swine’s blood, the offering of incense is like blessing an idol. In other words, what God says is nothing. Apostate man puts no difference between the unclean and the clean. “Yea,” the Lord says, “they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.”
1521.—Rom. 11:25, 32.—To W. H. S. and others: See Bible Students’ Library, No. 165, “Fulness of Jew and Gentile,” price one cent.
We are in receipt of a letter simply giving Rom. 14:5; 1 Cor. 5:5; 1 Thess. 5:20. What explanation is desired? The texts are all good.
CIVILIZATION AND CHRISTIANITY.
By Mrs. E. P. Naylor
BY MRS. E. P. NAYLOR.
The question, “Are we civilized and Christianized?” was asked by a writer anent the murder of the young pugilist, referred to last week in these columns. There is a confused idea in the minds of many as to what Christianity really is, what the acceptance of Christianity involves, and the manner in which the work of Christianizing the world should be conducted.
The accepted definition of civilize is “to polish; to reclaim from barbarism.” Man’s natural tendency is to look out for self, and, unrestrained, it makes a barbarian of him. So he must be held in bonds and compelled to respect the rights of others, and this is accomplished by civil laws. By their success in this work the pace of a nation’s civilization is measured. It decides what is due from man to man.
Christianity is the religion of Jesus Christ. It is a spiritual digest, and was designed to teach man to control himself by the aid of the Holy Spirit in his relations to God and to man. Civil law binds man under penalty to act civilly toward his neighbor; but it has no power to compel love for that neighbor, or to compel true worship toward God either according to his own or another man’s ideas or conceptions of God’s requirements in the case; because this is a matter of choice, so ordered by God. “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve,” is the word of God.
Paul, that great teacher of Christianity, says, “We persuade men;” and Christ said: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” He yearned for this love and confidence that He might protect and save them from evil and destruction; but they would not hear the call. Tho they killed the prophets and stoned them that were sent unto them with the message of salvation, there is no hint of compulsion in the matter of accepting the “good tidings.”
Many who know the power of the Spirit to regenerate the soul, and who have experienced the love and peace of God, feel that if the civil law would take hold of the matter, the world would soon be Christianized. The Saviour says, No. “Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” Civil government restrains men from wrong-doing, while Christianity governs through love. The affections and the will can not be ordered from without. “If it were the province of the law to prescribe man’s duty to God, it could decree one set of opinions to-day and another to-morrow, as has been done in the past by kings, queens, and popes, making of belief a heap of confusion,” says Roger Williams. Luther said: “Subjection in spirituals is real worship, and should be rendered to God alone.” “The love of Christ constraineth us,” was the key-note of Paul’s wonderful career as a Christian; and shall not we who desire the world’s conversion “spend and be spent” in that effort through this power alone? Leave Cæsar to his legitimate work, and let us yoke up with Christ, work for and with Him, and so “share in His glory and enter into His joy.”
