We might have sufficed ourselves in the preceding argument by simply quoting the conclusions above, as they may be found in almost every scientific work which touches the subject of the human soul. We shall take space for only a few quotations from one recent work, “The Destiny of Man,” by John Fiske. In chapter xvi, under the caption, “The Question as to a Future Life,” he says:—
It is not likely that we shall ever succeed in making the immortality of the soul a matter of scientific demonstration, for we lack the requisite data. It must ever remain an affair of religion. In the domain of cerebral physiology the question might be debated forever without a result. During the present life, altho thought and feeling [these words show that he identifies mind and soul] are always manifested in connection with a peculiar form of matter, yet by no possibility can thought and feeling be in any sense the products of matter.
But cerebral physiology says nothing about another life. During the present life we know soul only in its association with body, and therefore can not discover disembodied soul without dying ourselves. [And whether we can then or not remains to be proved.] This fact must always prevent belief in the soul’s survival.
No comment is needed; an immortal soul from the standpoint of physical science is purely and confessedly a guess or assumption. Tho not a product of matter, so far as can be determined, it is never found separate from matter; and can not therefore be affirmed to survive the conditions under which it is manifested, namely, life of the body.
We now wish to answer Scripturally the argument of the above-mentioned scientific work.
The object of the book is to make the presumption of immortality appear reasonable from the view-point of the dignity and importance of man as the supreme end God had in mind as the consummation of His creative energy working through eons of evolution. We quote:—
The creation and the perfecting of man is the goal toward which nature’s work has all the while been tending. It enlarges ten-fold the significance of human life, places it upon a loftier eminence than poets or prophets have imagined, and makes it seem more than ever the chief object of that creative activity which is manifested in the physical universe.—Page 25.
After going over his argument in the body of the book, he sums up in the last chapter:—
The question, then, is reduced to this: Are man’s highest spiritual qualities, into the production of which all this creative energy has gone, to disappear with the rest? Has all this work been done for nothing? Is it all ephemeral, all a bubble that bursts, a vision that fades? Are we to regard the Creator’s work as like that of a child, who builds houses out of blocks, just for the pleasure of knocking them down? For aught that science can tell us, it may be so; but I can see no good reason for believing any such thing. On such a view the riddle of the universe becomes a riddle without a meaning. Why, then, are we any more called upon to throw away our belief in the permanence of the spiritual element in man than we are called upon to throw away our belief in the constancy of nature?
Now the more thoroughly we comprehend that process of evolution by which things have come to be what they are, the more we are likely to feel that to deny the everlasting persistence of the spiritual element in man is to rob the whole process of its meaning. It goes far toward putting us to permanent intellectual confusion. For my own part, I believe in the immortality of the soul.
A Socrates or a Plato might perhaps be more worthy of our honor for arriving at a conclusion of this kind, guided, as they were, only by natural reason, without the light of revelation, and prompted by the universally instinctive desire for life, than they would be for adopting the idea of annihilation. But the person who prefers these uncertain speculations to a divine revelation—the evidence of the superhuman and divine character of which is infinitely stronger and worthier of belief than the inferences of Mr. Darwin—such a person is little more justifiable than one who, in spite of the testimony of navigators to the rotundity of the earth, judging of the course of nature from the way it seems to him, persists in believing that the earth is flat, and that the sun travels around it. One book like “Daniel and Revelation,” by U. Smith, showing the exact fulfilment of the prophecies of these books, comprehending, as they do, the greatest events in almost the half of human history,—one such book, to say nothing of the multitudinous other evidences of inspiration, places on human reason an obligation to accept the Bible, compared with which the evidences for evolution are not to be mentioned.
Error of the Book.
The error of Mr. Fiske’s book lies in the fact, from the Scriptural standpoint, that he has not properly conceived the purpose of God.
We will admit most cheerfully that man is the object of the whole creation, by whatever process it came into existence and was perfected; for thus saith the Scriptures: “For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited.” Isa. 45:18. Here the certainty of the eternal purpose as well as the purpose itself is plainly asserted. God’s aim in creating this sphere was that man might dwell here. So far we stand on common ground. But just at this point comes in a qualification of the divine intention which our author has not included in his argument. What kind of man did the Creator design should make earth his home? The answer to this query is found in the character of the man He first placed here—“God hath made man upright” (Eccl. 7:29), “very good” (Gen. 1:31),—and the precaution He took to preserve him in that state by warning him not to commit sin. It is evident, therefore, that a race of righteous beings—not spirits, be it remembered—was the divine ideal.
Now God has said that this purpose shall be carried out, for “He created it not in vain.” Why the “eternal persistence” of the incorporeal souls of wicked men is a physical or logical necessity consequent on the Creator’s aim to populate the earth with holy beings, is a dilemma not provided for by any evidence in our author or elsewhere.
John Brown tells me that he came all the way from Maine to start a fruit orchard in California. He bought his ground, planted his trees, and irrigated his soil at great expense and pains; but blight, scale, and borers attacked several trees, and they became very poor. After spraying and cultivating these bad trees for several years, to see whether they would yield good fruit, and finding them a failure, he cut them down to make room for better, and burned them root and branch. Why should the Almighty be bound to preserve wickedness in “everlasting persistence,” by a law that would not bind a mere man to save sour apples?
If all men, good or bad, were created immortal, the evil would of necessity continue as long as the righteous; but whether man is naturally immortal or not is the very point in discussion. To assume it, is to beg the question.
There is some misunderstanding as to the meaning of the term immortal. A word is needed on this. Immortal may signify one of two states; (a) life which can not possibly end, and (b) life which need not end. That the first is not the Biblical sense is evident from the fact that God Himself, to all intents and purposes, died in Jesus Christ upon the cross. I am well aware that Romanist theologians will be ready to hurl anathemas and the Athanasian creed at this affirmation; but since through Romanism the doctrine of natural immortality was brought into the creeds of Christendom, so also may we expect that from the same source will come the arguments to support it. None the less, that Christ was the very God is stated in Hebrews 1:8: “But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.” And that this was the Being who died upon the cross is shown by Acts 20:28: “Feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.” From this there is no escape. So when the Scripture states that “God only hath immortality,” it can not mean that He could by no possibility lay this condition aside, so far, at least, as to pass through the experience which we call death. No one will claim, however, that there was5any law (except the law of love—glory be to God!) in His divine Being which made death a necessity. Christ died voluntarily—not necessarily. Hence the Biblical idea of immortality is, not necessarily subject to death.
This explains the case of Adam before his fall. By partaking of the tree of life he could have perpetuated life, yes, even a sinful life; but that he became mortal, or, as we may say, was placed under conditions where he was of necessity mortal, is proved by the fact that he was shut away from the tree of life. For saith the Word: “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Gen. 3:22-24.
The other fact which proved Adam mortal was that he died—the same being that might have lived forever.
It is evident, therefore (referring again to the argument of Mr. Fiske), that God has a method of eliminating from His purpose all men who fail to attain the character of those intended for habitation in the new earth, and that method is death. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Amen and amen! The “restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21)—the earth to its glorious condition before the curse fell upon it; man to the tree of life in the midst of this Paradise of God—has been His purpose since the world began. This will be accomplished, not by the “eternal persistence” of disembodied spirits, but by the resurrection of the dead, the purification of the earth by fire, and the new creation. 1 Thess. 4:16; 2 Peter 3:10-13; Rev. 21:1-8. But even in that beatified state immortality will not be inherent in man, but dependent upon his relation to his surroundings, upon partaking of the virtues of the tree of life, and especially upon character. To this conclusion we are led by Rev. 22:2 and Isa. 65:17, 22. “And on either side of the river [in the New Jerusalem] was there the tree of life, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. . . . As the days of a tree [the tree of life] are the days of My people.” At that time “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
[The next article in this series is “The Physical Phenomena of Spiritism.”]
An Allegory
By Geo. E. Price
HESPERIA, OR THE LAND OF THE WEST.—NO. 3.
An Allegory.
(Concluded.)*
Now on the second day of the eighth month, certain young men of the sons of the prophets were reading out of the Great Book of the law. And they found the place where it was written that from the tenth day of the seventh month onward should be days of fasting and prayer and supplication; for on that day was the Great King to begin to examine into the affairs of His kingdom, to examine even the names of the subjects of His kingdom, that He might know who had been faithful to Him.
Then were they mightily afraid, and they whispered one to another, “What do we here? Behold, this decree of the King is going forth, and the people know not of it? Shall we let their blood come upon our heads, and be guilty? Let us go even to all the people, and show them the words of this law.”
So they arose, even every one of them, even that same night, and tarried not, but spake every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor, saying, “Behold, the Great King is coming! for He hath appointed a day in which He will judge His people, and that day began even on the tenth day of the seventh month, and we knew it not. Shall not our souls be guilty if we tell you not all these things?”
Also they said, “Moreover, see ye not how the old laws commanded the Seventh Day to be kept holy, and that on that day we should worship the Great King, which is even the day on which He was anointed King over us? But behold, we have all been regarding the First Day, which Prince Diabolus hath appointed. Shall we be regarded as faithful subjects when He examines our cases, if we depart in any way from His written law, or give allegiance at all to this usurper and impostor, even Prince Diabolus? I tell you, nay; but unless we repent, we shall all miserably perish in that day when He shall come to execute judgment upon these rebels, and to take possession of His kingdom.”
So from that day forward the sons of the prophets, even as many as loved the old laws, began to remember the Great King on the day which He had appointed. And they began also to proclaim this message to the people, saying “The hour of His judgment is come. Let us worship Him and obey His laws. But if any man obey the law of Prince Diabolus, or give heed to the law of John Ambitus regarding the day that he hath devised in his own heart, the same shall be declared a rebel against the Great King, and shall be punished without mercy as he deserves, when the Prince Imperial shall come to execute the sentence of the judgment.”
So there arose a great contention among the people concerning these things. For some said, “This is the message of the Great King. Let us take heed to ourselves and obey.” Others said, “Nay, verily; hath the Great King sent a message by you, and hath not at all revealed it to Eleazar Capito and the priests that are with him? Behold, they be the ones to show us the law; and whatsoever they command us, that will we observe and do. But as for you, if ye observe not the laws of the land, the name of the Great King will avail you but little, when ye are brought before the officers of John Ambitus and of his priest Eleazar Capito.”
Thus spake the people. Nor stopped they at wrath; for they even took many of the sons of the prophets and cast them into prisons and into dungeons, and made them work in chain-gangs under taskmasters: and they made them to endure every indignity and torment. Yet even so could they not compel them to honor the day that had been appointed by the law of the land.
Then did Eleazar and his priests take counsel together, and they also counseled with the priests of Diabolus, concerning what should be done with these people who were thus with a high hand defying all the power of the land. And they said, “These men ought not to live any longer; for they be traitors against society, and enemies of all law and order. But we can not take them in Hesperia alone, but we must take them wherever they be found, even throughout the whole world, and at one hour, so there shall not be left so much as one of them alive to breathe; for then only shall we have peace.”
Moreover they said, “The gods are even angry with us because we have let them live thus long. Surely it is for their evil deeds that the land is smitten with pestilence, and earthquakes, and the destruction, and this fierce heat. Let us be strong, and deal with them as they deserve. When we begin, let us also make an end.”
So the officers and priests of Hesperia, and the governors and priests of Prince Diabolus, issued one decree to all the people of the earth, that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month they should destroy, and kill, and cause to perish, all those who refused to conform to the laws of the land concerning the holy day that had been appointed to be observed, even the venerable First Day of the week. So the people of the whole earth settled their minds against the thirteenth day of the twelfth month.
Now the sons of the prophets had fled to the wilderness, and to the forests, and to the rocks of the mountains, even with their little ones. And their enemies pursued after them to take them; for they said, “Why should we wait till the set day? Let us take them even now.” But their swords were as broken straws, for the Great King had sent help to His people. But He said unto them, “Wait yet a little longer. Let them see what they can do.” So His people waited patiently, trusting in His word.
Now on the evening of the twelfth day, all the people of the land were gathered together to hunt out the sons of the prophets and to execute the decree. But as they drew nigh with their lanterns, and torches, and weapons, behold, a bright light shone in the heavens, but they still pressed on. Then a great and terrible earthquake shook the hills and tore asunder the foundations of the mountains. And the sons of the prophets lifted up their eyes and saw the increasing brightness of the light of their returning King. Then their voices arose in songs of praise and victory. But their enemies were astonished and began to tremble, for they saw that their day was come. Yet could they not flee from His face who sat upon the throne. But they cried to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
Even so; come, Lord Jesus; come quickly.
GEO. E. PRICE.
Travaille, N. B., Canada.
CHARACTER WRITTEN IN THE FACE.
We say that our thoughts are not known by our fellows; but that is not as true as we deem it when we say or think this to be the case. The tenor of our thoughts is being written in the expression of our faces day by day. Love, purity, communion with God in our inner selves, will give our faces a look that shows the direction of our desires and being. Selfishness, ill-nature, impure desire, unworthy motives, indulged in in secret, will steadily transform the finest lines of the face. We should be surprised if we knew how much we show of ourselves to our fellows in the daily walk of life. The only way of having a face that speaks well of the Spirit’s course is to have the Spirit pursue a course that writes a good record on the face.—Sunday-school Times.
Learning Truths and Unlearning Errors
By Spurgeon
It is easier to learn new truths than to unlearn old errors.—Spurgeon.
CHRIST’S GLORIOUS COMING.
If there is any doctrine plainly taught in the Scriptures of truth, it is that of Christ’s second coming. It is of equal importance with His first advent. The following concerning that noted event is clearly and explicitly set forth:—
9. When He comes, the righteous dead will be raised, and the saints will be clothed with immortality. 1 Thess. 4:13–17; 1 Cor. 15:51–55.
10. At His coming the wicked will perish in the brightness of His glory, and the good will receive their reward. 2 Thess. 1:7–9; Matt. 16:27.
11. Then shall culminate the hope of the church of all the ages, “the blessed hope.” Titus 2:14; Isa. 25:9; Job 19:25, et. al.
12. Signs will precede that coming that all may know when it is near; and yet no one shall know the day or the hour. To these signs the church of God will give heed, tho the wicked will be in darkness because of their sin. Luke 21:25–27; Matt. 24:29–35; 1 Thess. 5:1–6.
The above enumerations could be augmented and the citations be multiplied greatly; but these we believe are sufficient to arouse in every mind that possesses an interest in these things (and who does not?) a desire to study further.
Notwithstanding these plain, obvious instructions concerning so precious an event, one so pregnant in import of all that concerns the Christian, it is little understood by many Christians, and lightly regarded by nearly all. What would we think of the affections and feelings of a bride who would be indifferent at the delay of the bridegroom when all things were ready? We could but conclude that her love was indeed small.
Yet it is not wholly lack of affection that is responsible for the attitude of believers. The importance of the second advent of our Lord in His great plan of redemption has made it the subject of especial7attack by Satan. He has sent his agents into the church to pervert the doctrine. He has brought obloquy and reproach upon it and the Bible by the numerous time-settings that foolish men have made contrary to express Scripture statement. He has made one of the most blessed things of the Bible the butt of jest and quip and joke and gibe. And worse than all these, he has brought division and confusion into the ranks of Adventists over the significance of words which declare or describe the event. These words, having reference to the one great event, are made to mean different things; and we are taught that there is to be (or already is) a “secret rapture” of the saints, by which some—the first-fruits—are made immortal, and at which time Christ appears only to those so changed. After that He will come again with these immortal ones, and rule over the wicked. We have not space to give in full the erroneous views; the truth will be taught when it is shown that the words in question apply to one and the same event. Three of these words are—
“parousia,” “apokalupsis,” “epiphaneia.”
1. Parousia (pronounced par-oo-see’ah) is translated in the common version by the words “coming” and “presence.” By referring to these it will be seen that the word means, as defined, “personal presence.” It is rendered “coming” twenty-one times, and “presence” twice. Instances of its use may be seen in the following: Matt. 24:3, 27; 1 Cor. 16:17; 2 Cor. 7:6; 1 Thess. 4:15; 2 Thess. 2:8; 1 John 2:28; 2 Cor. 10:10. Its meaning is personal, bodily presence.
2. Apokalupsis (pronounced ap-ok-al’oo-psis) means “disclosure,” “revelation,” and is rendered, “appearing,” “coming,” “lighten,” “manifestation,” “be revealed,” “revelation.” It is the title in Greek of the last book of the Bible. It occurs eighteen times in the original. Following are instances of its use: Rom. 2:5; Gal. 1:12; Rev. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:7; 1 Peter 1:7; 4:13; 1 Cor. 1:7. The word simply means disclosure, or revelation, of that to which it is applied.
3. Epiphaneia (pronounced ep-if’an-i-ah) is defined to be a “manifestation,” “forthshining.” It occurs in the original six times, and is rendered “appearing,” “brightness.” See 2 Thess. 2:8; 1 Tim. 6:14; 2 Tim. 1:10; 4:1, 8; Titus 2:13.
All these terms, when referring to the future coming of our Lord, have reference to the same event. The first, parousia, means His personal presence. Once the Son of God walked among men in human form, a brother to humanity. He was visible. Men talked with Him, felt Him, looked upon Him, distinguished Him from others, knew Him by His personal appearance. He went away bodily. He is coming again as He went away, the very “same Jesus” with whom the twelve were associated, who stilled the waves, healed the sick, raised the dead, and spoke such words of cheer and comfort and counsel as man had never heard before. He is coming again. His own personal presence will be manifest among men. He will come in all the glory of a king, attended by ten thousand times ten thousand angels, with mighty shout and soundings of heavenly trumpets which will reverberate throughout the universe. “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God.” This is His parousia, the approach of His personal presence.
Then will the Son of God be revealed. He was not revealed when here upon the earth. He came for the one sole purpose to declare, to reveal, the Father, and so save men. He Himself was not revealed. “No man knoweth the Son but the Father.” When He went from the earth to return to heaven, He left His people, His church, “His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all,” to reveal Him; but poor and imperfect has been the revelation. Not till He appears will men see Him and know Him as He is. Not as a poor mortal will He come, not as a babe in Bethlehem’s manger, but as the King of glory who has the right to reign.
“There is a King of glory,
Ere long on earth to rise,
Sung in prophetic story,
Descending from the skies;
The Babe of Bethlehem, ’tis He;
It is the Man of Calvary,—
Not crowned with thorns and gory,
But crowned with glory now!
Not crowned with thorns to-day,
Not mocked and led away;
But crowned with everlasting glory now.”
Then will Christ be seen as He is, unveiled, in all the wonderful glory of His blessed character.
And that coming, that disclosure, will be His epiphany, the glorious outshining of the excellences within. In that glory His people will rejoice. He will be “glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe.” His life is their life; His glory is their glory. But to those who have chosen selfishness, sin, and Satan, that glory will be overpowering in its brightness, and they will utterly consume with the spirit of His mouth, and be destroyed literally by “the forthshining [epiphaneia] of His presence [parousia].” 2 Thess. 2:8. His glorious presence will but manifest the outshining of His divinity, the revelation of His character.
“CHRIST IS RISEN.”
Some Questions and Answers.
IN song and sermon this blessed truth will be often repeated on this so-called “Easter Sunday.” By solo, duet, quartets single and double, full choirs, and occasionally whole congregations, will be proclaimed, “Christ is risen.” Cathedrals, churches, and chapels, altar, choir, and nave, will be embellished with flowers in honor of the event.
“Are you not glad?”
Surely we are glad that Christ and His resurrection are preached, and that there is left at least one day in the year when the masses will hear it proclaimed.
“But the resurrection of Christ was only on one day of the year, and why should more than one day be set apart for that purpose? Is not one day sufficient?”
But we have not said that even one day should be set apart for this purpose. Where in His Word do we find a record that God set apart any day? The mere act of rising from the dead was not spread over a whole day; it took only a minute or so of time. Why should a day be set apart to commemorate the event?
“But was not the resurrection of Christ a great event? Was it not vital to Christianity? If so, why not set apart a day to celebrate so great a miracle?”
Yes, the resurrection was a great and vital event to Christianity; but the setting apart of a day to celebrate in honor of that event is not the thing that God wants done. Consider these reasons:—
1. Surely the All-wise God knew what was best for His cause and children. Whenever He thought an event needed a day, He has given it. Creative power demanded the Sabbath, and God gave it forever. The passover demanded a day till “Christ our Passover” was slain for us, and God gave it. The atonement demanded a day, and it was set apart. If our Lord’s birth, crucifixion, resurrection, or ascension needed a day, would not Infinite Wisdom have given it? Could He not justly say, as to Israel of old when they multiplied of their own will observances, “When ye come to appear before Me, who hath required this at your hand?” Isa. 1:12.
2. The setting apart of a day which God has not required, which is in no particular sense fitting to the event, brings honor to the day rather than to the event designed to be commemorated. It becomes a fashion, a form, to be followed, rather than a part of true worship. This has always been the case in all works of supererogation.
3. It is bound to hide from partaker and beholder any memorial which God has Himself given by which the event is to be kept in remembrance. And He has given us an ordinance, pregnant in meaning and instruction, by which Christ’s resurrection is to be kept before His people and the world. Here are three basic facts of the Gospel: “For I delivered unto you first of all, . . . how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” 1 Cor. 15:3, 4. In commemoration of Christ’s death, He has given us the Lord’s supper “till He come.” 1 Cor. 11:23–26. Including this and the resurrection, He has given us baptism, with all its glorious, uplifting, constant meaning. Thus we read:—
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Rom. 6:1–6.
Baptism is immersion. The burial represents death to sin; the bringing forth from the watery, symbolic grave, a new life. It is not the mere act of baptism, by which the believer puts on Christ (Gal. 3:27), or is married to Christ (Rom. 7:4) before the world, that is the memorial of Christ’s resurrection, an evidence to the world that “Christ is risen indeed.” If it were only the dead form, this, too, were but a hollow mockery. No; it is the life for which baptism stands.
Christ Jesus rose from the dead simply and solely because He was righteous; “it was not possible that He should be holden of it.” Acts 2:24. Death is “the wages of sin.” Rom. 6:23. “Sin, when it is full-grown, bringeth forth death.” James 1:15, R.V. But Jesus Christ had no sin, except that which He voluntarily bore for others, and for which He voluntarily laid down His life. “In Him was no sin.” He gave up all for others, and received God’s life in all its fullness. The resurrection of Jesus was, therefore, proof that He was God’s Son. He was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” Rom. 1:4.
And, therefore, in brief, when a man is willing to yield his carnal heart to crucifixion, to renounce the world, to place his life upon the cross of Christ, to count it crucified with Christ, and to accept in the place of all this the blessed life of Jesus Christ, that man from his baptism is a living memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As expressed by the apostle Paul, who passed through this experience: “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Gal. 2:20.
This is the witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ which God has demanded in all the past and is demanding of the church to-day. He wants living memorials, men and women living above vice, above bad, degrading habits, above dishonesty, scheming, and self-serving, above cold, formal selfishness and hypocrisy, above politics in religion, in short, above sin,—living a new existence by “the power of an endless life,” by “the power of His resurrection.” Heb. 7:16; Phil. 3:10. Such lives are needed now to prove that Christianity is more than a dead form, and Christ’s resurrection more than a tradition. The “Easter” celebration hides from the minds and hearts of men this great and mighty truth of the new life, connecting each and every soul of a truly baptized church with the Source of life.
Reader, whoever you are, Christian brother or sister, by whatever name called, let the human forms go, but receive Christ and His life, and so every hour, every day of every year, say to all that “Christ is risen indeed.” God has not set apart days to commemorate His resurrection power, but reborn men and women; are you one of them?
"AGREE WITH THINE ADVERSARY."
In the Sermon on the Mount, the Saviour said to the people, “Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” Matt. 5:25, 26.
Sometimes the question is raised, Who is meant by “the adversary” in this text? The adversary of God’s people is the devil (1 Peter 5:8), but Jesus was talking to “the multitude,” and even the disciples were as yet unconverted. Moreover, Christ would not have advised any class of men to agree with the devil. All the lessons He ever taught were spiritual, so He was not merely giving advice as to the wisest procedure in a common lawsuit; He was drawing a spiritual lesson from that which they already knew of legal contests. The Roman law which Christ used as an illustration is thus expounded by Joseph Evans Sagebeer, Ph.D., in the N. Y. Examiner:—
One of the earliest actions known to the Roman law was the personal action employed to recover a private penalty, which consisted in the defendant’s forfeiture to the plaintiff of double, triple, or quadruple the amount of the damages actually sustained. The action was not necessarily for debt, but might be for violation of contract or for any other wrong. If the plaintiff’s claim was just, the judge did not adjudge the defendant to pay money, but he pronounced an interlocutory judgment commanding the defendant to perform the object of the plaintiff’s claim. The suit had now been moved, “litem motam,” the defendant was “in the way with the plaintiff.” If he obeyed the interlocutory judgment of the magistrate, special damages were not demandable; if he refused to obey, the plaintiff was permitted to estimate his own damages, and if the ground of action was fraud or deceit, the defendant was also adjudged infamous. If the plaintiff’s claim was just, therefore, it was evidently wise to agree with him “quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him;” that is, before the suit was brought to its final judgment. This action at law is one of the earliest forms of action, and it was in force in Palestine at the time our Lord used it to illustrate His sermon.
Christ is the Adversary of those who disobey God, and who are the enemies of His people. Ex. 23: 20-22; Num. 23:21, 22. His counsel to the unconverted multitude assumed that they were sinners, and therefore already under condemnation of death. But the plan of salvation put them “in the way with Him”—a position in which it was possible for them to make favorable terms with Him by agreeing with Him. His purpose was to free them from condemnation entirely, if they would agree to His terms: “He that believeth in Me, tho He were dead, yet shall he live.” But those who will not agree with the Adversary of sin and sinners (the enemies of God) must inevitably suffer the full penalty of the law; and “the wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. While the Gospel lamp holds out to burn, there is opportunity to agree with Him who holds the destiny of every one in His hand. But “the time is short,” and the golden opportunity is fast passing away. “Agree with thine Adversary quickly.”
NOT CHRISTIAN UNION.
“Church federation” is one of the delusions of the last days. It is being palmed off on credulous people for Christian union. It is an outgrowth of the erroneous idea that there are denominational “branches” in the church of Christ. But Christ is not divided (1 Cor. 1:13). “For whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?” Ch. 3:3. Christ says, “I am the vine, ye are the branches;” that is, ye individual disciples, not ye various divisions. Now the Lord has individual branches in the various sects, but the sects as such are not branches. “Church federation” never means anything more than united effort to do something that will not affect the divisions themselves. Not one of them would enter a federation that would tend to obliterate its own denominational lines. All the objects of federation have in view the furtherance of some human scheme, some human law. Whoever heard of a church federation on the basis of the law of God? Such a basis would preclude the federation idea altogether, and bring the individual branches into harmony with the “commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” This could not be federation at all; it would be a union of individual branches, and there would be nothing left for confederation, in the ordinary use of that term. The idea of church federation, as popularly advocated, is an endorsement of all the divisions federated, an endorsement of the spirit of doctrinal division in the church. It implies that Christ is divided; for they recognize each other as Christian, and yet agree to be divided in the matter of doctrine. Hence, in the light of Paul’s reasoning, they are “carnal, and walk as men.”
