{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_25974/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_25974","id":"gutenberg_25974","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25974","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Salvation"],"text":"E-text prepared by Stacy Brown, David Garcia, and the Project Gutenberg\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nGOD'S PLAN WITH MEN\n\nby\n\nT. T. MARTIN, Evangelist\n\n    \"For every sentence, clause and word,\n    That's not inlaid with thee, my Lord,\n    Forgive me, God! and blot each line\n    Out of my book that is not thine.\n    But if, 'mongst all, thou find'st here one\n    Worthy thy benediction,\n    That one of all the rest shall be\n    The glory of my work and me.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew York Chicago Toronto\nFleming H. Revell Company\nLondon and Edinburgh\n\nCopyright, 1912, by\nFleming H. Revell Company\n\nNew York: 158 Fifth Avenue\nChicago: 17 N. Wabash Ave.\nToronto: 25 Richmond St., W.\nLondon: 21 Paternoster Square\nEdinburgh: 100 Princes Street\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nNot new truths, but old truths properly emphasized, is one of the\ngreat needs of our times and of all times. The object of this book is\nnot to start something new, but to specially emphasize some old truths\nand their relations to each other. The aim of the book is to help two\nclasses: those who are seeking to be saved, and those who are already\nsaved; the one, by showing simply and plainly God's way of salvation;\nthe other, by showing simply God's way of dealing with men after they\nare saved. The author hopes, moreover, that the book may be of some\nspecial help to honest sceptics. For this purpose, the Introduction is\naddressed to them; and the hope is cherished that Chapter I will aid\nin disarming prejudice against God and the Bible; for while the\nBible's teaching of degrees of punishment in Hell does not detract\nfrom the horrors of future punishment, but rather adds thereto, it\neffectually does away with the charge of the injustice of future\npunishment.\n\nThe enquirer and young convert may omit the parts marked \"For Further\nStudy\" at the close of each chapter and not lose connection. These are\nadded for Bible students who wish to go further into the subject\ntreated.\n\nAnd now, the author lays the book at the Master's feet and prays His\nblessings upon it, that it may be a blessing to those who read it.\n\nT. T. Martin.\n\nBlue Mountain, Miss.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n   I. Sin and Its Punishment--God's Justice--Degrees In Hell      17\n\n  II. Sins Not Excused, nor the Penalty Ever Remitted Without\n      Redemption                                                  32\n\n III. Jesus the Christ as Sin-bearer--God's Justice and Love      38\n\n  IV. The New Relation--The New Motive                            60\n\n   V. The Sins of God's Children--Forgiveness--Chastisements      86\n\n  VI. Rewards--Degrees in Heaven                                 101\n\n VII. How to be Saved--Repentance and Faith                      125\n\nVIII. The Meaning of \"Believe On\" or \"Believe In\" Christ         135\n\n  IX. Eternal Life the Present Possession of the Believer        158\n\n   X. Development of Character in the Redeemed                   175\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n     \"Come now and let us _reason together_, saith the Lord.\"--Isaiah.\n\n     \"If any man willeth to do his will, _he shall know_ of the\n     teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from my\n     self.\"--Jesus.\n\n     \"And ye shall seek me and find me _when ye shall search for me with\n     all your heart_.\"--Jeremiah.\n\n     \"Then _shall we know_ if we follow on to know the Lord.\"--Hosea.\n\n\nThis work is not written for sceptics; yet while preparing to write\nfor the benefit of others than sceptics, the author's heart has gone\nout toward that large class of his fellow-men who are sceptical; who,\nfrom different causes, have been led to doubt or deny the Bible's\nbeing a revelation from God; and he has yearned to say something that\nwould at least arouse the attention of this class sufficiently to\ncause them to give an earnest investigation, or re-investigation, to\nthe question. The _bare possibilities_ that there is a Hell and a\nHeaven, that the soul can never cease to exist, and that Jesus is the\nreal Saviour, are enough to cause every doubting one to give the most\nearnest consideration to any evidence bearing on these questions, and\nto undertake the most careful investigation of anything that promises\nto lead to certainty. It will be admitted by every honest disbeliever\nthat no writer has ever made it _certain_ that there is no future\nexistence; that there is no Heaven; that there is no Hell; that Jesus\nwas not the Saviour. The most that such writers have been able to\nproduce is doubts. If, now, there is _the possibility_ of reaching\n_certainty_ on the other side, surely the reader should be willing\nand anxious to undertake a calm, searching examination, or\nre-examination, of the question. If there is no Heaven or Hell, no\nfuture existence, no one will ever find it out, before or after death;\nand there would be but little, if anything, gained if one could find\nit out. But if there is a Heaven and a Hell, and Jesus is the Saviour,\nthen there is everything to be gained by finding it out and everything\nto be lost by neglecting to find it out. So important are the issues\nat stake that you, reader, should be willing to take years, if need\nbe, to make a thorough investigation of the matter; you should be\nwilling to read and study many books, and there are many that would\nhelp you; but I wish to urge you to read _two books only_, before\nreading this book. Surely your eternal destiny and the destinies of\nthose over whom you have an influence (for \"none of us liveth to\nhimself\") are enough to cause you to give earnest attention to the\nreading of three small books. The bare possibility that the reading of\nthe three books may lead to your making sure of Heaven as your eternal\nhome, is enough to prompt you to read them and to read them most\ncarefully and prayerfully. The first is \"The Wonders of Prophecy,\" by\nJohn Urquhart. The second is \"The Philosophy of the Plan of\nSalvation,\" by J. B. Walker (American Edition). Having read these two\nbooks prayerfully and carefully, then give this book a careful\nreading.\n\nBut let the reader consider God's plan for investigating. It is often\nsaid by a certain class of sceptics that the Bible is against honest\ninvestigation, that it shuts off the use of one's reason. Let the\nword of God speak for itself, \"Come now and let us _reason_ together,\nsaith the Lord.\"--Is. 1:18. The trouble with many sceptics is that\nthey are not willing to \"reason _together_,\" to reason to get with\nGod, but that they reason _against_ God and to _get away from God_.\nJesus said, \"Take heed _how_ ye hear.\" Watch your heart's attitude\nwhen you hear. The attitude of being against God will warp your\nreasoning when you hear. God's promise is plain to the earnest, honest\nseeker after God. \"And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall\nsearch for me _with all your heart_.\"--Jer. 29:13. One who is\nhalf-hearted, indifferent, prejudiced against God or against truth,\nhas no right to expect to find God or to find truth. But the promise\nis positive that the one who seeks with all the heart shall find. Let\nthe reader put God to the test. How can an earnest, honest man refuse\nto make an earnest, honest investigation?\n\nIt was against those who would not make such an investigation that\nJesus spoke, Matt. 12:42, \"The queen of the south shall rise up in the\njudgement with this generation and shall condemn it: for she came from\nthe ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold a\ngreater than Solomon is here.\" The heathen woman who went to so much\ntrouble and expense, and took so much time to make a thorough, honest\ninvestigation for the truth, will condemn those who do not make an\nearnest persevering investigation; \"And behold a greater than Solomon\nis here,\" with His promise, \"If any man willeth to do his will _he\nshall know_.\"\n\nReader, will you carelessly refuse to take the time and to go to the\ntrouble and expense of getting and reading earnestly _two books_ that\n_may_ lead you to the truth? Oh, reader, outstrip the heathen queen in\nsearch of light. Give your life-time, if need be, to an earnest\ninvestigation of this matter. Picture two men, one giving his\nlife-time to earnest, honest, searching for the truth concerning sin\nand salvation through Christ; the other, from indifference, or pride,\nor prejudice, or love of the world, or secret sin, never making an\nearnest, honest investigation; the one dying and going to Heaven; the\nother dying and going to Hell. Which shall it be in your case, reader?\nThere is absolutely no uncertainty as to the result _if only_ you will\nbe honest, and earnest and persevering in your search for the truth.\nListen to Jesus: John 7:17, \"If any man _willeth_ to do his will, he\n_shall know_ of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak\nfrom myself.\" Whether you, reader, are ignorant or learned cuts\nabsolutely no figure in this case. Jesus throws the assurance open to\n_any man_. The one condition is if he \"_willeth to do his will_.\" No\nman wills to do God's will who will not go to the extreme of earnest,\nhonest, prayerful investigation. If you do, then the veracity, the\nvery character, of Jesus is at stake. Consider, then, reader, the\nawful responsibility that rests upon you, if you do not give attention\nto a thorough, earnest, honest, prayerful investigation for the truth.\n\nAnother promise of equal certainty comes from the Old Testament: Hosea\n6:3, \"Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord.\" Many make\na slight search and cease. The promise is not to them, but to those\nwho persevere. If we use the light as we receive it, and follow it up,\n_we shall know_. Again certainty is promised. Does not God, because He\nis God, deserve such earnest consideration from you, reader? Have you\nany right to expect anything from Him if you approach Him in a\nhalf-hearted, indifferent way?\n\nThe following cases in point may encourage the reader: Two learned men\ndecided to prove that the Bible was not from God, and that Jesus\nChrist was not the Saviour; but they were in earnest and they were\nhonest. They had vast libraries at their service. They gave months to\ninvestigation. They were both convinced and accepted the Saviour and\nwrote their books in defence of the Bible, instead of against it.\n\nSecond, one of the greatest scholars of Europe, probably the greatest,\nstated in a public lecture in America, that, of the thirty leading\nsceptics of the nineteenth century, men who had written brilliant\nbooks in their young manhood against the Bible, he knew twenty-eight\nin their old age, and that every one of the twenty-eight, after mature\ninvestigation, had accepted the Lord Jesus as Saviour.\n\nAgain, in one of the prominent smaller cities of America, a club of\nsceptics, leading business and professional men, had held weekly\nmeetings for many years. They challenged any one to meet one of their\nwidely known lecturers in a public debate on Christianity and\nInfidelity. A preacher accepted the challenge. During the debate some\nof the sceptics became Christians. The president of the debate, a\nsceptic, is now an earnest follower of the Lord Jesus, having been\nconvinced and having accepted Him as Saviour. The debate was held\nyears ago. So convincing, so overwhelming, was the evidence produced\nby the defender of Christianity, that the club of sceptics has never\nheld a meeting since the debate.\n\nSimilar facts could be produced indefinitely, but these three are\nsufficient to show the most discouraged, the most hopeless sceptical\nreader, that there is at least a possibility of his yet finding the\ntruth. Is not a bare possibility, where there are so tremendously\nimportant eternal issues at stake, sufficient to cause him to at once\nbegin a thorough, prayerful, honest investigation?\n\nA reflection before closing the Introduction: one hundred years from\nnow, and you, reader, will not be among the living. Where will you be?\nGod has given you a will and the power of choice. Will you will, will\nyou choose, to make an honest, persistent investigation? Tremendous\nconsequences turn on your decision,--your own future destiny, the\ndestinies of others over whom you have an influence. Do not dally with\ndelay. Begin now an honest, earnest, painstaking, prayerful\ninvestigation. Get and read the two books suggested, and then finish\nreading this book. If this course does not settle your difficulties,\nread on, study on, pray on, and God's promise is sure, that you shall\nfind, that you \"shall know\"!\n\n_FOR FURTHER STUDY_: A brief list is here given of books that will be\nhelpful to sceptical readers: \"Why Is Christianity True?\" by E. Y.\nMullins. (One of the most learned Presbyterian theological professors\nin America, asked to give the names of six of the best books to\nconvince sceptics, replied, \"I shall not do it; I shall give\none,--'Why Is Christianity True?' by President Mullins of the Southern\nBaptist Theological Seminary; that is sufficient\"); \"The Fact of\nChrist,\" by Simpson; \"The Meaning and Message of the Cross,\" by H. C.\nMabie; \"The Resurrection of Our Lord,\" by W. Milligan; \"Many\nInfallible Proofs,\" by A. T. Pierson; \"The Cause and Cure of\nInfidelity,\" by Nelson; \"The Word and Works of God,\" by Bailey; \"The\nCharacter of Jesus,\" by Bushnell; \"Hours with a Sceptic,\" by Faunce;\n\"The Miracles of Unbelief,\" by Ballard; \"Creation,\" by Arnold Guyot;\n\"The Collapse of Evolution,\" by Townsend; \"The Problem of the Old\nTestament,\" by James Orr; \"Did Jesus Rise?\" by J. H. Brookes; \"Reasons\nfor Faith in Christianity,\" by Leavitt; \"The Gospel of John;\" \"The\nYoung Professor,\" by E. B. Hatcher; \"The Resurrection of Jesus,\" by\nJames Orr.\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nSIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT--GOD'S JUSTICE--DEGREES IN HELL\n\n     \"All have _sinned_.\"--Rom. 3:23.\n\n     \"Every transgression and disobedience received a _just_ recompense\n     of reward.\"--Heb. 2:2.\n\n     \"A _just_ God.\"--Is. 45:21.\n\n     \"It shall be _more tolerable_ for the land of Sodom in the day of\n     judgement, than for thee.\"--Matt. 11:24.\n\n\nReader, what you and I need to know concerning God's plan with the\nsinner, the lost, is not what some people think, nor what some teach,\nnor what some desire; but what God teaches. God is _just_. Fasten that\nin your mind; never lose sight of it. Over and over again is this fact\nimpressed in the Scriptures. Yet lurking in the minds of multitudes is\na vague suspicion or dread that God will be unjust in sending some to\nHell, and that He will be unjust in the way He will punish. Many who\nare thus disturbed lose sight of the fact that God is just; that\nwhatever God does in regard to the lost, one thing is certain,--_He\nwill do no injustice_. With my loved ones, with your loved ones, with\nthe most obscure, worthless creature, with the most refined, delicate\nnature, with the most cruel, debased creature that ever lived, God\nwill do no wrong. Many have turned away to infidelity, not on account\nof the Bible's complete teaching as to future punishment, but because\nthey have taken some one passage of Scripture and warped it or gotten\nfrom it a distorted idea of the Bible's teachings as to Hell; or they\nhave taken some preacher's views as to the Bible's teachings on the\nsubject. For example, here is a boy fifteen years of age, whose mother\ndied when he was an infant, whose father is a drunkard and gambler and\ninfidel, who has given the boy but little moral training; and here is\na man seventy years of age who had a noble father and mother, who gave\ntheir boy every advantage, the best of training, under the best of\ninfluences; yet he when a boy turned away from all these influences\nand spent his life in sin and debauchery, and in leading others into\nsin. These two, the unfortunate boy and the old hardened sinner, die.\nWith many the idea is that God consigns them to a common punishment in\nHell. But, reader, remember that _God is just_; and if that is\njustice, what would injustice be? They were different in light and in\nopportunity and in sins, and yet punished alike? _The Bible does not\nteach it._\n\nBut let us go back and consider this question of sin. \"All have\nsinned.\" That includes you, reader. \"To him that knoweth to do good\nand doeth it not, to him it is sin.\"--James 4:17. All have done this,\nhave failed to live up to the light they have had; hence, \"All have\nsinned.\" Two questions arise: first, ought sin to be punished? Second,\nought all sin to be punished, or only the coarser, grosser, more\noffensive sins? As to the first, ought sin to be punished? There is a\nstrong drift toward the teaching that sin ought to be punished only\nfor the purpose of reforming the sinner. Intelligent men endorse this\nteaching without realizing that it is spiritual anarchy and absolutely\nhorrible and detestable. A woman and four little children are\nmurdered in cold blood by three robbers for the purpose of robbing the\nhome. When the three are arrested, the first is found to be thoroughly\npenitent, thoroughly reformed, broken-hearted, over his horrible\ncrime. If sin should be punished only to reform the sinner, this man\nshould not be punished at all, though he murdered five people in cold\nblood; for he is already reformed. The second is such a hardened\ncriminal that he never can be reformed, and the more he is punished\nthe more hardened he will become. Then if sin is punished only to\nreform the sinner, he should not be punished at all, though guilty of\nthe murder of five people in cold blood. The third is tender-hearted\nand easily influenced, and by sending him to prison for thirty days,\nhe will be thoroughly reformed, though guilty of five cold-blooded\nmurders. On this principle of punishing sin only to reform the sinner,\nall a sinner would have to do to make sure of Heaven would be to\nbecome such a hardened sinner that he could never be reformed, and\nthen he would go to Heaven without any punishment at all.\n\nPeople need to call a halt and realize that sin ought to be punished\nbecause it is right to punish it, because it is just. But this means\nthe punishment of all sins, the sins of the refined as surely as the\nsins of the debased, the smaller sins as surely as the greater sins.\nHence the teaching of God's word, Rom. 1:18, \"The wrath of God[1] is\nrevealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of\nmen,\" But we need to keep in mind that it is discriminating wrath, and\nGod's word makes this plain, Heb. 2:2, \"Every transgression and\ndisobedience received a _just recompense of reward_.\" \"A just\nGod.\"--Is. 45:21.\n\n    [1] Many sneer at a \"God of wrath\" and say they believe in a \"God of\n    all love.\" God is love, but He is just as surely a God of wrath; and\n    were He not a God of wrath, He would not be God, but a fiend. He who\n    loves purity and chastity and has no wrath against impurity and\n    unchastity, but loves them, too, is a moral leper. He who loves the\n    defence of the poor and the helpless, but has no wrath against the\n    cold-blooded murderer, the one crushing the defenceless, but loves\n    him, too, is a fiend. Character, from God to Devil, can only be\n    told by what one loves and what one hates.\n\nNotice how clearly the Saviour teaches this same great truth, Matt.\n11:20-24, \"Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his\nmighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee,\nChorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been\ndone in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have\nrepented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, _It\nshall be more tolerable_ for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgement\nthan for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt\nbe brought down to hell: for if the mighty works which have been done\nin thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.\nBut I say unto you that _it shall be more tolerable_ for the land of\nSodom in the day of judgement, than for thee.\" Notice, \"more\ntolerable,\" difference in punishment.\n\nThe same teaching Jesus gives in Mark 12:40. \"These shall receive\n_greater condemnation_\" Jesus revealed to Pilate God's judgment of a\ndifference in sin, John 19:11, \"He that delivered me unto thee hath\nthe _greater sin_.\"\n\nAnd Paul teaches the same, Gal. 6:7, \"Whatsoever a man soweth, that\nshall he also reap,\" the reaping according to the sowing.\n\nLet the reader notice the clear teaching: the punishment of sin will\nbe graded, first, according to light and opportunity. A writer, a\ngreat scientist, held that heredity and environment largely determine\none's destiny. That is what Jesus taught. The people of Sodom were\nmore wicked than those of Capernaum; but heredity and environment were\nagainst them. The people of Capernaum had not sinned so terribly as\nthe people of Sodom, but they had more light and opportunity; they had\nbetter heredity, better environment; Jesus says that therefore the\npeople of Capernaum shall be punished more severely than the people of\nSodom. And that is right; that is just.\n\nThose to whom Jesus spoke were born under better conditions than those\nof Sodom; they grew up under more favorable surroundings; hence, they\nwere more responsible; hence, they are to receive greater punishment\nat the judgment. Apply to your own case, reader: for every added ray\nof light, for every added opportunity, there will be that much added\npunishment for your sins. And that is just; that is right. The\nopportunities that wealth brings, the light that education and culture\nbring, will but add to the punishment at the judgment. The most highly\neducated, the most refined, the most wealthy, those who have lived\nunder the most favorable influences, will suffer most at the judgment.\n\nBut punishment will be further graded by the number of the\nsins,--\"_Every_ transgression received a just recompense.\" Hence, the\nmore one sins, the greater the punishment. If one knew that he was\ngoing to Hell, corrupt human nature would say, \"Sin and enjoy while\nyou live,\" but reason and Scripture would say, \"Stop! add no more to\nthe degree of Hell.\"\n\nPunishment for sin will be further graded by the character of the sin.\n\"He that betrayed me to thee hath the greater sin.\" While a small sin\nis just as surely sin as a great sin, yet God recognizes degrees in\nsin, and as a consequence, there are degrees in the punishment of sin.\nFollowing from degrees in the punishment of sin comes inevitably the\nfact that no wrong will be done any one at the judgment; that no one\nwill be treated wrong in Hell. _He who fears only injustice and wrong,\nhas nothing to fear from the judgment or in Hell._\n\nTwo reflections for the reader:--If you have heretofore rebelled\nagainst the idea of future punishment, what can you say when now you\nsee that God will make all just allowance for surroundings and\nconditions, and will take into consideration the number and kinds of\nsins? God has a right to have laws; His laws are right; a law without\na penalty amounts to no law; the penalty, God assures us, will be\nabsolutely just. _What can you say when you stand before such a judge\nand receive such a sentence?_\n\nThe other reflection for the reader: Let not this teaching of the\nBible lead you into thinking that Hell, then, will not be so terrible\nafter all, and that you need not fear it. Instead of letting it allay\nall dread of the future, it is enough to make the blood run cold\nthrough your veins; for those who will have the most terrible\nsuffering will be the most enlightened, the most cultured.\n\nAnother thought: not some far distant, cold, harsh, unsympathetic God\nwill be the judge at the Judgment Day, but the Lord Jesus, \"touched\nwith the feeling of our infirmities,\" will be the one who will judge\nyou and condemn you and give you your just degree of punishment in\nHell. Hear Him: John 5:22, \"Neither doth the Father judge any man, but\nhe hath given all judgement to the Son.\" Peter reveals the same fact,\nActs 10:42, \"He commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify\nthat this is he who hath been ordained of God to be the judge of\nliving and dead.\" Remember, that he whom the world praises as so good,\nso just, so discriminating, so loving, so tender, will be the judge at\nthe Great Day, who will pronounce each sentence. Oh, reader, the very\nfact that the Lord Jesus will be the judge is absolute proof that no\none will be treated wrong, that no one will be punished unjustly in\nHell; and the bare possibility that He may pronounce your eternal doom\nis enough to cause you to turn to-day. \"Turn ye, turn ye, for why will\nye die?\"\n\n_FOR FURTHER STUDY_: The fear of Abraham is the fear of the human\nrace, Gen. 18:25, \"Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?\" As\nsoon as God revealed to Abraham that he was going to deal with Sodom\nand Gomorrah because of their sin, Abraham at once suspects that God\nmay do wrong in punishing sin. It has been so down the ages, that we\nsuspect that God will do wrong in punishing sin. Great denominations\nhave been formed to keep God from doing wrong in punishing sin. Men\nhave proven untrue to their denominations and turned traitors to God's\nword, because they have, Abraham-like, suspected God of wrongdoing in\nthe punishment of sin. It is not that the proof is not ample that the\nBible is God's word, _but the hatred of the human heart for the Bible\nteaching about Hell_, that has brought in so much of modern religious\nvagaries and New Theology and Higher Criticism. As Abraham presses his\nplea for God to do right, God by degrees reveals Himself as a God who\nwill do right. It must have been a marvellous revelation to Abraham.\nAnd so God's plan for the punishment of sin will be to the honest\nseeker for truth when he perceives the real teaching of God's word. As\nGod's doing right with Sodom and Gomorrah went far beyond where\nAbraham's sense of right halted; so God's doing right with sinners in\nHell will go far beyond what we would ask.\n\nBut there are other objectors to Hell. They began by pressing the\nteaching of God's mercy without any reference to His justice; and in\norder to get rid of the teaching as to Hell, which they thought\nunjust, they rejected the Scriptures as God's word; and finally ended\nin rejecting the teaching that \"Christ died for our sins\" (1 Cor.\n15:3); that He \"his own self bare our sins in his own body upon the\ntree\" (1 Peter 2:24). As a result of their fighting against God's\npunishing sin, they have become so blinded as to right principle, and\nso morally corrupt, as to be supported in pulpits, college\nprofessorships and seminary professorships by the hard-earned money of\nearnest believers in God's word, while they are undermining the faith\nof the children of their supporters.\n\nThe Heaven that such men teach is the Hell of the Bible. Rejecting\ncomplete redemption through Christ dying for our sins as our\nsubstitute, they teach salvation by character, or that one's destiny\nbeyond the grave will be according to the way he has lived here. That\nis their Heaven, but that is the Bible's Hell, exactly, absolutely.\nInfidelity, Judaism, Christian Science, Universalism, Unitarianism,\nHigher Criticism, New Theology and all who reject Christ dying for our\nsins, as our substitute, as our complete Redeemer, because of their\nhatred of God's punishing sinners in Hell, have made their Heaven to\nbe the result of their life here on earth; and as a consequence, have\nmade their Heaven the Bible's Hell; for Hell will be exactly the\nresult of the life here on earth; and, as a result, they have in\ntheory, and, alas! will have in fact, the Bible's Hell which they\nlabel Heaven, without any real Heaven at all. As an example, consider\nMr. R. G. Ingersoll's words, \"I believe in the gospel of justice, that\nwe must reap what we sow (Bible's Hell without any Heaven). I do not\nbelieve in forgiveness (Bible's Hell without any Heaven). If I rob\nSmith and God forgives me, how does that help Smith? If I cover some\npoor girl with the leprosy of some imputed crime and she withers away\nlike a blighted flower and afterward I get forgiveness, how does that\nhelp her? If there is another world, we have got to settle (admitting\nthat we do not settle in this life), and for every crime you commit\nhere (hence, the more the crimes, the more you must suffer, exactly\nthe Bible's teaching), you must answer to yourself and to the one you\ninjure. And if you have ever clothed another as with a garment of\npain, you will never be quite as happy as though you had not done that\nthing.\" \"No forgiveness; eternal, inexorable, everlasting justice,\nthat is what I believe in.\" Any Christian would be willing to take Mr.\nIngersoll's place, or the place of any one else, in Hell, if God\nvaries one pang from what Mr. Ingersoll himself calls for. But it is\nthe Bible's Hell, pure and simple, without any Heaven.\n\nBut the objector who rejects the teaching of Hell, and also Christ\ndying for our sins as our substitute, may say that he does not agree\nwith Mr. Ingersoll, as to no forgiveness; that he believes in\nforgiveness. To reject Christ's dying for our sins as our substitute,\nas our Redeemer from all iniquity, and yet, in order to avoid\nbelieving in Hell, to profess to believe in the forgiveness of sins,\nmakes one far worse than Mr. Ingersoll, a spiritual anarchist. Mr.\nIngersoll at least believed in law, but to believe in forgiveness,\nwithout substitution, without redemption through Christ, means to down\nwith law and to become an anarchist in principle. As to the justice of\nsubstitution, the reader is referred to Chapter III.\n\nConcerning the objection to the Bible's teaching of eternal punishment\nin Hell, a mistranslation has misled many, and before the correct\ntranslation, as given by the Revised Version, all objections fall to\nthe ground. The old version of Rev. 22:11 reads, \"He that is unjust\nlet him be unjust still\"; but the Revised Version gives what the\nGreek says, \"He that is unrighteous let him _do unrighteousness\nstill_!\" And that inevitably means eternal punishment. It is God's\nlast sentence on the sinner. The objector may say that it is horrible\nto let men sin beyond the grave, in Hell. Not one particle more\nhorrible is it than to let them sin in this life and continue in sin\nin this life. A reflection for the unsaved reader: what will your\nmoral character be one thousand years after you die, with no holy\nSpirit, no Bible, no Christians, no churches, to restrain you?\n\nAgain, this passage, Rev. 22:11 (R. V.), can have no meaning if the\nwicked are to be blotted out, cease to exist.\n\nAnother objection that is pressed, is that the Bible teaches a Hell of\nliteral fire, and is therefore wrong. The denominations that reject\nthe Bible's teachings as to Hell, without exception, try to force on\nthe Bible language the meaning of literal fire. Yet they do not try to\nforce on the language of the Bible concerning Hell, that it means\nliteral worm when it says \"to be cast into Hell where their worm dieth\nnot and the fire is not quenched.\" They do not try to force the\nliteral meaning on language when Jesus said, \"I am the door\"; \"I am\nthe vine\"; or the Scriptures state, \"That rock was Christ.\" One thing\nis true, that, the language being figurative, the reality must be\nterrible.\n\nMen sneer at the thought of becoming Christians from fear of Hell.\nSuch men are not honest with God, and are simply trying to browbeat\nGod on the subject of Hell. Proof: the same men will flee to safety\nfrom fear of smallpox, from fear of yellow fever, etc. Shall men be\nlooked upon as sensible when they flee to safety for their bodies, and\nbe scorned for fleeing to safety for their souls?\n\nPeople are ever asking, \"Will the heathen be lost without the gospel?\"\nLet God's word answer, Rom. 2:12, 14, \"As many as have sinned without\nthe law shall also perish without the law\"; \"For when Gentiles that\nhave not the law do by nature the things of the law, these not having\nthe law are the law unto themselves, in that they show the work of the\nlaw written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness\ntherewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else\nexcusing themselves.\" But the objector says, \"Will God condemn a man\nwhen he has no light?\" There never lived such a man. Listen to God:\nJohn 1:19, \"That was the true light that lighteth every man coming\ninto the world.\" Again, Rom. 1:20, \"The invisible things of him since\nthe creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through\nthe things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; so\nthat they are without excuse.\" But the objection is raised that they\nhave never heard of Christ, and that it is wrong for people to be\nlost, condemned, who never heard of Christ. They are not condemned for\nnot believing in Christ when they have never heard of Him; they are\ncondemned for their sins, for doing what, from their light, they knew\nwas wrong. It is not the lack of the remedy that kills, but the\ndisease. They have not as much light as others, and their punishment\nwill be accordingly. The man who dies in his sins in a Christian land\nwill be punished far, far more than the one who dies a heathen. Their\npunishments will be almost as far apart as the east is from the west.\n\nThe Scripture, \"There is no difference,\" Rom. 3:22, has often been\npressed to mean that all sinners are alike before God, or will suffer\nalike in Hell. By close attention to the passage the reader will see\nthat the expression \"there is no difference\" has reference to what\ngoes before, for it is connected by the word \"for,\" pointing back to\nwhat had just been said, that there is a \"righteousness of God through\nfaith in Jesus Christ unto all that have faith: _for_ there is no\ndifference,\" that all that have faith are equally certain of\nsalvation, \"for there is no difference.\" To join the expression,\n\"there is no difference,\" with what follows makes it clearly\ncontradict our Saviour, who said plainly that there is a\ndifference,--\"He that delivered me unto thee hath the greater\nsin,\"--there is a difference in sin, says the Saviour.\n\nThe teaching of James 2:10, \"For whosoever shall keep the whole law\nand yet offend in one point is guilty of all,\" must not be made to\ncontradict the plain teaching of the Saviour that there is a\ndifference in sinners, and different degrees in their punishment. The\nmeaning is that the law is a unit, and that he that offends in one\npoint has broken the law as a whole. A chain of ten links is as surely\nbroken when one link is broken as when all ten links are broken.\n\nIn accord with this are the words of the great American scholar,\ntheologian, teacher, preacher, Jno. A. Broadus: \"Especially notice\nLuke 12:47 f. (R. V.), 'And that servant which knew his lord's will,\nand made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten\nwith many stripes; but he that knew not, and did things worthy of\nstripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.' This teaching has been in\nmany cases grievously overlooked. Taking images literally, men have\nfound that the 'Gehenna of fire' (Matt. 5:22) will be the same place\nand the same degree of punishment for all. But the above passage and\nmany others show that there will be differences. The degrees of\npunishment must be as remote as the east is from the west. All\ninherited proclivities, 'taints of blood,' all differences of\nenvironment, every privilege and every disadvantage, will be taken\ninto account. It is the Divine Judge that will apportion punishment,\nwith perfect knowledge and perfect justice and perfect goodness. This\ngreat fact, that there will be _degrees_ in future punishment--as well\nas future rewards--ought to be more prominent in religious\ninstruction. It gives some relief in contemplating the awful fate of\nthose who perish. It might save many from going away into\nUniversalism; and others from dreaming of a 'second probation' in\neternity (comp. on 12:32); and yet others from unjustly assailing and\nrejecting, to their own ruin, the gospel of salvation.\"\n\nOn the other hand, many a sermon on Hell (and there are too few on the\nsubject), it could possibly be said the average sermon on the subject,\nis a slander on a just and holy God. The sermon is drawn largely from\nDante's Inferno or the distorted imagination of the preacher, with no\nreference to the fact that God will punish sinners differently\naccording to their light and their sins, but only justly.\n\nThe trouble is not with the Bible teaching as to Hell, but with\nmodern inadequate conceptions of the evil and guilt of sin, and with\nmany, the almost lost sense of justice, and of \"stern moral\nindignation against wrong.\" (Broadus.)\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nSINS NOT EXCUSED, NOR THE PENALTY EVER REMITTED WITHOUT REDEMPTION\n\n     \"Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no\n     wise pass away from the law.\"--Jesus.\n\n     \"Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.\"--Heb. 9:22.\n\n     \"For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to\n     you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the\n     blood that maketh atonement.\"--Lev. 17:11.\n\n     \"It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take\n     away sins.\"--Heb. 10:4.\n\n     \"Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of\n     reward.\"--Heb. 2:2.\n\n\nWhen one faces the question of his sins, and realizes that they\ndeserve just punishment, one of the first impulses is to pray and beg\nof God to be let off, to be forgiven; and, alas! much of the religious\ninstruction to the sinner is to the same effect. Jesus to Nicodemus\ngave no such instruction (John 3:14-16); Philip to the Eunuch gave no\nsuch instruction (Acts 8:29-39); Paul and Silas to the jailer gave no\nsuch instruction (Acts 16:30, 31); Peter to the household of Cornelius\ngave no such instruction (Acts 10:42, 43); the gospel of John, the one\nbook specially given to lead a sinner to be saved (John 20:30, 31),\ngives no such instruction.\n\nBut the objection is at once brought up that in the Lord's Prayer we\nare taught to pray, \"Forgive us our sins.\" That prayer begins \"Our\nFather,\" and God is not the Father of sinners (\"Ye are all the\nchildren of God by faith in Christ Jesus.\"--Gal. 3:26); and the\nprayer was given by the Saviour to disciples (Luke 11:1, 2), and not\nto sinners.\n\nBut the objection is further raised that the Bible says, \"If we\nconfess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.\"\nThat is from the first epistle of John, and was not written to\nsinners, but to believers. John says (1 John 5:13), \"These things have\nI written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even\n_unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God_.\" (R. V.) God\ncan and does forgive the believer on confession, because the believer\nis a child of God. With the sinner it is a question of law, of\njustice, of right. Hence, the Lord Jesus said, \"Till heaven and earth\npass away, one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law\"\n(Matt. 5:18). \"Every transgression and disobedience received _a just\nrecompense of reward_\" (Heb. 2:2); but there is no \"_just recompense\nof reward_\" at all, if God lets the sinner off from the just penalty\nof his sins because he prays and begs and cries to be let off, or\nbecause priests or preachers pray and beg for him to be let off. \"It\nis impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin\"\n(Heb. 10:4), because there is no \"just recompense of reward\" in such\ncases. Much less can the sins be taken away when there is no\nrecompense of reward at all in the case, but simply the praying and\nbegging of the sinner to be forgiven, to be let off, and the praying\nand begging of some priest or preacher that the sinner be forgiven,\nlet off. God has given a plain warning, \"Apart from shedding of blood\nthere is no remission.\"--Heb. 9:22. Among what are called evangelical\ndenominations it would be looked upon as worse than folly for a Jew,\na Unitarian or a Universalist, who had asked God to forgive his sins,\nor had confessed the sins, to claim that therefore he was forgiven and\nwas sure to go to Heaven. But it is just as fatal a delusion among\nothers as among Jews, Unitarians and Universalists. Every\ntransgression must have \"_a just recompense of reward_,\" however sorry\nthe sinner may be, however much he may pray and beg to be forgiven,\nlet off; however much the priest or preacher or friends may pray for\nhim to be forgiven, to be let off. A man who has violated the state\nlaw falls on his knees before the judge, confesses his sin and begs\nthe judge to forgive him, to let him off; and he calls men from the\naudience to come and help him beg. The judge replies, \"If I should\nyield to these petitions I would be a perjurer; I would trample on\nlaw. Every transgression must receive a just recompense of reward.\"\nWould that all could realize that every prayer from sinner, priest, or\npreacher, for a sinner to be forgiven, let off, is a prayer to God to\nbecome a perjurer. If sinners could realize that, after all their\nkneeling every night and confessing their sins, and praying to be\nforgiven, to be let off, every sin ever committed is still there, and\nthat \"Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission,\" they would\nthen realize their real need of a Saviour, a Redeemer.\n\nOne question for the reader: If God forgives, lets a sinner off,\nsimply because he is sorry and cries and prays and begs to be let off,\nor because the priest or preacher cries, prays and begs for him to be\nforgiven, to be let off, _why did Jesus die_?\n\n_FOR FURTHER STUDY_: The word translated forgiveness in the Bible\nmeans simply to send away, without reference to how the sin is sent\naway; but God's word states plainly that sins are forgiven, sent away,\nby Christ bearing them. \"Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the\nsin of the world.\"--John 1:29. \"Who his own self bare our sins in his\nown body on the tree.\"--1 Peter 2:24; \"Christ died for our sins.\"--1\nCor. 15:3. Concerning the justice of Christ dying for our sins, see\nthe next chapter.\n\nThe prayer of the publican in the old version, \"God be merciful to me\nthe sinner,\" Luke 18:13, has misled many. If that was really the\nprayer of the publican, how _could_ the Saviour have said, \"This man\nwent down to his house _justified_\"? The margin of the Revised Version\ngives what the Greek says, \"Be thou propitiated.\" It is the same Greek\nword that in Heb. 2:17 is translated, \"to make reconciliation for the\nsins of the people.\" President Strong of Rochester Theological\nSeminary gives the exact meaning of it when he renders it, \"Be thou\npropitiated to me the sinner by the sacrifice whose smoke was then\nascending in the presence of the publican while he prayed.\" And Jesus\nshows what the publican said when He added, \"This man went down to his\nhouse _justified_.\"\n\nIt is said that a young man ran away from his widowed mother and was\ngone for years. One stormy night sitting near the window sewing, while\nthe rain was beating against the window pane, she thought she heard a\nnoise. Looking up she saw the shaggy, bearded face of a ragged tramp\npressed against the window pane, but it faded back into the storm as\nshe looked up. Faint lines in the face aroused memory. As the needle\nwas plied the mind was busy. Again a slight noise caused her to look\nup, and again the shaggy, bearded face of the tramp faded back into\nthe storm. This time she knew that she was not mistaken. The shaggy\nbeard could not hide the lines in the face of her long-lost boy.\nThrowing up the window she cried, \"Come in, William, oh, come in.\"\nStepping to where the light fell full in his face, while the tears\ncoursed down his cheeks, he said, \"Mother, I can't come in till my sin\nhas been put out of the way.\" There was honor left in the tramp yet.\nThere ought to be honor enough in every human being not to wish to go\nto Heaven, not to try to go to Heaven, at the expense of God's\njustice. Jesus said, John 10:1, 7, \"He that entereth not by the door\ninto the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same\nis a thief and a robber.\" \"Verily, verily I say unto you, I am the\ndoor.\" Jesus says, then, that those who confess their sins, and pray\nfor forgiveness and claim it, and yet reject Him as the door, are\nthieves and robbers. God does forgive the redeemed, for they are His\nchildren (Gal. 4:4-7), on confession (1 John 1:9); but for those who\nare under the law, His word is plain, \"Apart from shedding of blood\nthere is no remission.\"--Heb. 9:22.\n\nGod's word states plainly how our sins are put away; not by, or\nbecause of, the praying and weeping and confession of the sinner, nor\nthe praying and weeping and interceding of others for the sinner, for\nGod to forgive him; \"but now once in the end of the world hath he\nappeared to put away sin by the _sacrifice of himself_.\"--Heb. 9:26.\nConcerning the justice of putting away sin in this way, see next\nchapter. On this point Walker well says, \"If the holiness of the law\nwas not maintained, that sense of guilt and danger could not be\nproduced which is necessary in order that man may have a spiritual\nSaviour.\"--_Walker, in \"The Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation.\"_\n\nAgain he says, \"When He reveals His perfect law, that law cannot, from\nthe nature of its author, allow the commission of a single\nsin.\"--_Walker, in \"The Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation.\"_\n\nFurther, he says, \"God ought not to allow one sin; if He did, the law\nwould not be holy, nor adapted to make men holy.\"--_Walker, in \"The\nPhilosophy of the Plan of Salvation.\"_\n\nEqually to the point are the words of James Denny, \"It is an immediate\ninference, then, from all that we have seen in the New Testament, that\nwhere there is no atonement there is no gospel. To preach the love of\nGod out of relation to the death of Christ, or to preach the love of\nGod in the death of Christ, but without being able to relate it to\nsin, or to preach that forgiveness of sins as the free gift of God's\nlove while the death of Christ has no special significance assigned to\nit, is not, if the New Testament is the rule and standard of\nChristianity, to preach the gospel at all.\"--_Denny, in \"The Death of\nChrist.\"_\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nJESUS THE CHRIST AS SIN-BEARER--GOD'S JUSTICE AND LOVE\n\n     \"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that\n     whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal\n     life.\"--John 3:16.\n\n     \"That he might himself be just and the justifier of him that hath\n     faith in Jesus.\"--Rom. 3:26.\n\n     \"He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our\n     iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with\n     his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we\n     have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him\n     the iniquity of us all.\"--Is. 53:5, 6.\n\n     \"Christ died for our sins.\"--1 Cor. 15:3.\n\n     \"Our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins.\"--Gal. 1:3,\n     4.\n\n     \"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree.\"--1\n     Peter 2:24.\n\n     \"Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the\n     unrighteous.\"--1 Peter 3:18.\n\n     \"Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to\n     minister and to give His life a ransom for many.\"--Matt. 20:28.\n\n     \"There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;\n     who gave himself a ransom for all.\"--1 Tim. 2:5, 6.\n\n     \"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a\n     curse for us.\"--Gal. 3:13.\n\n     \"Our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might\n     redeem us from all iniquity.\"--Titus 2:13, 14.\n\n     \"By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the\n     body of Jesus Christ once for all.\"--Heb. 10:10.\n\n     \"For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are\n     sanctified.\"--Heb. 10:14.\n\n     \"Nor yet by the blood of goats and bulls, but through his own blood\n     entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained\n     eternal redemption.\"--Heb. 9:12.\n\n     \"This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many\n     unto the remission of sins.\"--Matt. 26:28.\n\n     \"And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art thou to take the book\n     and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and didst\n     purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe and tongue and\n     people and nation.\"--Rev. 5:9.\n\n     \"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and\n     sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.\"--1 John 4:10.\n\n     \"The Son of God who loved me, and gave himself up for me.\"--Gal.\n     2:20.\n\n\nReader, God's justice and love are both shown in the Saviour dying for\nour sins. Substitution is the _only way_ of salvation when justice and\nlove are both considered. It was God's justice that made it necessary\nfor Christ to die for our sins. \"Even so _must_ the Son of man be\nlifted up,\"--John 3:14;--\"that he might himself be _just_ and the\n_justifier_ of him that hath faith in Jesus.\"--Rom. 3:26. And it was\nGod's love that let Him die for our sins, \"for God so loved the world\nthat he gave his only begotten Son.\"--John 3:16. What you, reader,\nought to desire to know, is simply God's way. The Scriptures at the\nbeginning of the chapter, if language can make anything plain, show\nclearly that the sinner's only escape from the just punishment of his\nsins lies in Jesus dying in his place to set him free from the just\npenalty due his sins; and they make it plain that this settles the\n_full_ penalty for _all sins_.\n\nBut the objection is raised and pressed with all the force of human\ningenuity and scholarship, backed by the prestige of some occupying\nthe highest positions in literary and theological institutions, that\nit is morally wrong for the innocent to suffer the penalty of the\nguilty. With a zeal deserving a better cause, many who stand high as\nprofessed Christians and teachers join hands with the rankest, most\nblatant infidels, and press this, to them, unanswerable objection to\nChrist dying for our sins as our substitute. This friendship between\ninfidelity and professed Christian teachers reminds one of another\noccasion when our Saviour was set at naught and two became friends\nwith each other that very day (Luke 23:11, 12). Let us face this\nobjection honestly and earnestly, for our eternal destiny turns on\nthis one point. _Is it morally wrong for the innocent to bear the sins\nof the guilty?_ In the first place it is _not_ morally wrong, because\nGod would not do morally wrong, and God _did_ let the innocent suffer\nthe penalty of the guilty. The language of Scripture teaching that\nJesus suffered the penalty of our sins for us is plain and simple, and\nall efforts to take from the Scripture language its simple, plain,\nnatural meaning are pitiable, and if contempt were ever justifiable,\nwould deserve the contempt of all honest men. Let the reader turn back\nand read the Scriptures at the head of this chapter and decide for\nhimself as to their obvious, intended meaning.\n\nNow, because God's word tells us plainly that God gave His only\nbegotten Son, that He might be just, and thus the justifier of him who\nbelieves in Jesus, that Christ died for our sins, that He gave Himself\nfor our sins, the just for the unjust,--it is right for the innocent\nto suffer the penalty of the guilty. To any honest, candid man, which\nis the correct way to reason? This thing is wrong; God did this thing;\ntherefore, God did wrong? or, God does right; God did let Christ, the\ninnocent, suffer and die for our sins, to _redeem_ from _all\niniquity_; therefore it is right for the innocent to suffer the\npenalty of the guilty?\n\nNor is Christ suffering as our substitute the Great Exception, as some\ntimid ones have granted. It is in line with _God's Plan with Men_; it\nis in line with the best and noblest there is in man; and the opposite\nteaching, that it is wrong to let the innocent bear the penalty of the\nguilty, is not only wrong, but horrible and the extreme of\nheartlessness. Two men passing along the street at night hear groaning\nin the gutter; striking a match, they see two men lying in the gutter\nwith their faces all gashed and bleeding. In a drunken street fight\nthey have almost killed each other. Who did the sinning? Those two men\nlying in the gutter; they deserve to suffer the penalty of their\nsinning. But these other two men join hands, pay for a physician, a\nnurse and the hospital bill. In principle that is the innocent paying\nthe penalty of the guilty. To say that this is wrong would mean to\ncondemn the community to pass by day after day and see those ghastly,\nfestering wounds, those parched lips and bloodshot eyes, and to listen\nto those dying groans. And yet in principle that is exactly what those\ndemand for this sinful, sin-injured human race, when they say that it\nis morally wrong for Jesus the Saviour to suffer the penalty of our\nsins. A son becomes a drunkard; his drunkenness and debauchery utterly\nwreck his health. Some night the father finds his drunken son down in\nthe street, a helpless invalid. The son did the sinning; he deserves\nto suffer the penalty of his sins; but the father takes him to his\nhome and cares for him and supports him. In principle that is the\ninnocent bearing the penalty of the guilty. To say that this is\nmorally wrong would be to condemn that father to pass by day after day\nand see his son suffering the just consequences of his sin, to see him\nslowly starving to death, to see him gasping in death, and not be\nallowed to come to the rescue. Yet when men object to Christ bearing\nthe penalty of the sinner's sins they are, in principle, taking that\nstand; for in principle Jesus, dying for our sins, did what the father\ndid with the son. A prominent woman in America was dying from lack of\nblood; back of it somewhere was violation of some law of God, some\nlaw of health. Her noble husband had the surgeon join their arteries,\nand every beat of his noble heart drove his well blood into the body\nof his dying wife, and he saved her life. These objectors praise that\nact; they see nothing morally wrong in it. Yet when Jesus, in\nprinciple, did the same thing for sinners in order to save them, these\nsame men, with a haughty, scornful tone, say that it is morally wrong\nfor the innocent to suffer in place of the guilty. \"Nay but, O man,\nwho art thou that repliest against God?\"--Rom. 9:20. Had the objectors\nsaid that it was wrong to _force_ the innocent to suffer the penalty\nof the guilty, that would have been true, but Jesus was not forced.\nListen to Him, John 10:17, 18, \"Therefore doth the Father love me,\nbecause I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one taketh it\naway from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down\nand I have power to take it again.\"\n\nNor is Christ dying for our sins, as taught by the Scriptures, a\nmakeshift, but, rather, a real, full _redemption, ransom_. Just as a\ncaptain can honorably, honestly be given as a ransom for a number of\nprivate soldiers in an exchange of prisoners; just as a diamond can\nredeem a debt of many dollars; just as one man is allowed to pay\nanother's debt; just as one man is allowed to pay another's fine in a\ncourtroom; so our Lord and Saviour \"gave himself for us, that he might\n_redeem_ us from _all iniquity_.\" All illustrations of Deity fall\nshort, but just as a man could ransom all the ants that crawl upon the\nearth, were they under moral law and had violated it; just as a man\ncould, on account of the vast difference in the scale of being, suffer\nin his own body all that all the ants upon earth could suffer; so\nJesus, Immanuel, God with us, redeemed us from \"all iniquity.\" It was\nnot merely the nails driven through His quivering flesh, nor the\nphysical pangs, but \"the Lord hath laid on him _the iniquity_ of us\nall.\" Hence, that awful cry, \"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken\nme?\" He was in the sinner's place, suffering the sinner's penalty for\nsin. \"He hath made him to be sin for us.\"--2 Cor. 6:21.\n\nInstead of proudly cavilling and warping and trying to avoid the\nsimple, plain meaning of God's word, should you not rather, reader,\nbow in reverence before such love, realize that it was for you, yes,\n_you_, and that through His suffering and in no other way, you may\nescape the just punishment of your sins and spend eternity in Heaven?\nThe world weeps over the story of the noble fireman who gave his life\nto rescue a little girl from a burning building, but it coldly scorns\nand proudly rejects salvation through the redemption of Jesus the\nChrist. Oh, the pride and wickedness of the human heart! Be not you,\nreader, of those who sit in the seat of the scornful, but the rather\nof those who at the last day will sing, Rev. 5:9, \"Worthy art thou to\ntake the book and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and\ndidst purchase unto God with thy blood, men of every tribe and tongue\nand people and nation.\"\n\nLet us consider carefully what it really means when we are told that\n\"Christ died _for our sins_,\"--1 Cor. 15:3, that He \"gave himself _for\nour sins_,\"--Gal. 1:4; that \"his own self bare our sins in his own\nbody upon the tree,\"--1 Peter 2:24; that \"Christ also suffered for\nsins once, the righteous for the unrighteous.\"--1 Peter 3:18. God's\nword explains it clearly: \"That he might himself be _just_ and the\n_justifier_ of him that hath faith in Jesus.\"--Rom. 3:26. \"_That he\nmight be just._\" Notice it carefully, \"_That he might be just._\" Take\nit in its full meaning, \"That he might be just.\" A question: How\n_could_ God be _just_ and _justify_ any sinner apart from the fact\nthat \"Christ died for our sins,\" that \"the Lord hath laid on him the\niniquity of us all\"? Reader, no man, however learned, will ever answer\nthat question. He may sneer; he may cavil; he may warp; he may try to\nconfuse; but he will never come out in the open and answer that\nquestion. He may say that it is morally wrong for the innocent to bear\nthe penalty of the guilty, but that objection is met and answered\nabove in this chapter.\n\nLet us face a trilemma; three, and only three plans, were possible for\nGod with man:--\n\nFirst, To have been just with man, without any love or mercy; hence,\nfor every sinner to have suffered the just penalty for his sins,\nwithout any redemption. That would have meant Hell for every\nresponsible human being, without any Heaven at all.\n\nSecond, To have been all mercy and all love and no justice. That would\nhave meant no moral laws; for why have moral laws, if there would be\nno penalty, no justice? That would have meant a premium on crime. That\nwould have meant the debased, the debauched, the immoral, the drunken,\nthe fiend, on a level with the chaste, the pure, the upright, the\ntrue. That would have meant unbridled rein to passion and lust and\nevery other evil inclination, and no penalty following. That would\nhave meant Hell in trying to get rid of Hell.\n\nThird, There was left but one other possible plan, to be just and at\nthe same time extend love to the sinners. In the nature of the case,\nreal redemption, without any makeshift, was the only way this _could_\nbe done. \"Even so _must_ the Son of man be lifted up,\"--John 3:14;\n\"that he himself might be _just_ and the _justifier_ of him that hath\nfaith in Jesus,\"--Rom. 3:26; \"God so _loved_ the world that he gave\nhis only begotten Son,\"--John 3:16; \"Herein is love, not that we loved\nGod, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be _the propitiation\nfor our sins_.\"--1 John 4:10.\n\nThis leads to another question: How can God be _just_ and _not_\njustify \"him that hath faith in Jesus\"? Again men may quibble and\nwarp, and ridicule, but no one will ever answer the question. And the\nreason why this question will never be answered leads to another\nquestion:\n\nFrom how many of his sins is the one \"that hath faith in Jesus\"\n_justified_? We have now gotten to the very centre of the whole\nproblem of salvation. Let us give it most careful consideration.\n\nIn not one of the Scriptures cited at the head of this chapter is\nthere one word that limits the number of sins for which Christ died,\nor from which the believer is justified. That of itself is sufficient\nwarrant for us to conclude that Christ died for _all_ of the sins of\nthe believer, that when He \"gave himself for our sins\" (Gal. 1:4), it\nincluded _all_ of our sins, and that the believer is justified from\n_all_ of his sins. One man promises another that he will pay his\ndebts. That of itself means all of his debts, unless the one making\nthe promise was simply juggling with words. While this of itself would\nbe sufficient, God in His word has made it positive and absolute as to\nhow many of the believer's sins were laid on Christ (\"the Lord hath\nlaid on him the iniquity of us all.\"--Is. 53:6); for how many of our\nsins Christ gave Himself (\"Who gave himself for our sins.\"--Gal. 1:4);\nfor how many of our sins Christ died (1 Cor. 15:3); from how many of\nhis sins the believer is _justified_, (\"that he might himself be\n_just_ and the _justifier_ of him that hath faith in Jesus.\"--Rom.\n3:26). In Lev. 16:21, 22, God gives us a picture, foreshadowing the\nSaviour, of laying the sins on the substitute: \"And Aaron shall lay\nboth his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him\n_all_ the iniquity of the children of Israel, and _all_ their\ntransgressions, even _all_ their sins; and he shall put them upon the\nhead of the goat and shall send him away by the hand of a man that is\nin readiness into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him\n_all_ their iniquities.\" \"Behold the Lamb of God that taketh [or\nbeareth] away the sins of the world.\"--John 1:29. _But how many_ of\nour sins? Let God's word answer: Titus 2:13, 14, \"Our Saviour Jesus\nChrist; who gave himself for us, that he might _redeem_ us from _all\niniquity_.\" Look at it again, reader; grasp its full meaning; let it\nbe impressed indelibly upon your soul: \"Our Saviour Jesus Christ; who\ngave himself for us, that he might _redeem_ us from _all_ iniquity.\"\nThen as certainly as the believer is redeemed by Him, he is redeemed\nfrom _all_ iniquity; and as certainly as he is redeemed from all\niniquity, that certainly the believer is going to Heaven, for there is\nnothing left that can cause him to be lost. Hence God, through Paul,\nhas told us \"By him every one that believeth is _justified_ from _all_\nthings.\"--Acts 13:39.\n\nIf our Saviour Jesus Christ gave Himself for us that he might _redeem_\nus from _all_ iniquity (Titus 2:13, 14), how can God be _just_ and\n_not_ justify every one that believes from _all_ things (Acts 13:39)?\nAnd if the believer is _justified_ from _all_ things (Acts 13:39), he\nis certain to go to Heaven. This is _God's plan_; this is God's will;\n\"by the which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the\nbody of Jesus Christ _once for all_.\"--Heb. 10:10. \"_For by one_\noffering he hath _perfected forever_ them that are sanctified.\"--Heb.\n10:14. \"Nor yet by the blood of goats and calves, but through his own\nblood entered in _once for all_ into the holy place, having obtained\n_eternal redemption_.\"--Heb. 9:12. Hence Jesus said, \"Verily, verily I\nsay unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent\nme hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is\npassed from death to life.\"--John 5:24.\n\nWhile thus is manifested God's justice, and the _only_ way that God\n_could_ be \"just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus\"\n(Rom. 3:26), for Jesus Himself said it (\"Even so _must_ the Son of man\nbe lifted up.\"--John 3:14); let the reader not forget that it equally\nmanifests God's love, and the Saviour's love. \"Herein is love, not\nthat we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the\npropitiation for our sins.\"--1 John 4:10. \"The Son of God who loved me\nand gave himself for me.\"--Gal. 2:20. If God's love is amazing in\nsending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10), if\nthe Saviour's love is amazing in loving us and giving Himself for us\n(Gal. 2:20), how infinitely more amazing is this love when we see that\nit has obtained _eternal redemption_ for us (Heb. 9:12); that it has\nredeemed us from _all_ iniquity (Titus 2:14), and that every one that\nbelieves is _justified_ from _all_ things (Acts 13:39)?\n\nReader, the greatest crime that is ever committed on this earth is to\nreject this \"so great salvation\" (Heb. 2:3); this redemption from all\niniquity (Titus 2:14), and to trifle with the amazing love that\nprovided a way by which He Himself might be just and the justifier of\nhim that hath faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:26). We shudder at the horrible\ncrimes reported in the daily papers, at those recorded in history; but\nfar greater, far blacker, more terrible, is the crime of a human being\nrejecting this great provision of God's love. Only intellectual pride,\nreligious prejudice, family or race ties, love of the world, or secret\nsin, can be the cause of the reader taking such a fatal step; and\nfearful will be the consequences of letting any one of these cause the\nrejection of the only salvation that God's love and justice could\nprovide. The reader cannot plead that God has not given sufficient\nproof that He has given us a revelation in His word (let the reader go\nback and read again the Introduction and the reference for further\nstudy); nor can he plead that God's word does not make the message\nplain (let the reader go back and study the Scriptures at the\nbeginning of this chapter). It is a solemn and awful step, reader, one\nnever to be retraced, to decide to reject this salvation, and to go\nout into the dark, unending future beyond the grave, unredeemed from\niniquity, with no certain hope, when God has warned you, \"Apart from\nshedding of blood there is no remission,\"--Heb. 9:22. It is an awful,\neternal crisis, when you see God's only provision for you, so\ncomplete, so perfect, so sure, and then face His warning, \"I call\nheaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set\nbefore thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore\nchoose _life_.\"\n\n_FOR FURTHER STUDY._--There are those who deny God's justice in Christ\ndying for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3), in Christ giving Himself for our\nsins (Gal. 1:4), in Christ redeeming us from all iniquity (Titus\n2:14). Expressions from the two most prominent rejecters will show the\nprincipal reasons given by all other rejecters of redemption through\nChrist:--\n\n\"Moral justice cannot take the innocent for the guilty, even if the\ninnocent would offer itself.\"--_The \"Age of Reason\" by Thomas Paine._\n\"The outrage offered to the moral justice of God, by supposing Him to\nmake the innocent suffer for the guilty.\"--_The \"Age of Reason,\" by\nThomas Paine._\n\n\"An execution is an object for gratitude; the preachers daub\nthemselves with the blood, like a troop of assassins, and pretend to\nadmire the brilliancy it gives them.\"--_The \"Age of Reason,\" by Thomas\nPaine._\n\nThe other is Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy in her \"Science and Health, with\nKey to the Scriptures\": \"One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient\nto pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires constant\nself-immolation on the sinner's part.\" Again, \"Another's suffering\ncannot lessen our own liability.\" Again, \"The time is not distant when\nthe ordinary theological views of atonement will undergo a great\nchange,--a change as radical as that which has come over popular\nopinions in regard to predestination and future punishment. Does\nerudite theology regard the crucifixion of Jesus chiefly as providing\na ready pardon for all sinners who ask for it and are willing to be\nforgiven? Does spiritualism find Jesus's death necessary only for the\npresentation, after death, of the material Jesus, as a proof that\nspirits can return to earth? Then we must differ from them both.\" It\nis not to be wondered at that she takes her stand with Thomas Paine in\nrejecting the teaching that Christ died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3),\nand that He redeemed us from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), when she says,\n\"Does divine love commit a fraud on humanity by making man inclined to\nsin and then punishing him for it?\" Again, \"In common justice we must\nadmit that God will not punish man for doing what He created man\ncapable of doing, and knew from the outset that man would do.\" Again,\n\"The destruction of sin is the divine method of pardon. Being\ndestroyed, sin needs no other pardon.\" There is one vast difference\nbetween these two who reject Jesus as our sin-bearer, our\nRedeemer,--Thomas Paine does not masquerade under the name\n\"Christian.\" Why should others who stand with him in rejecting\ncomplete redemption through Christ?\n\nCatholics by the sacrifice of the mass, the unbloody sacrifice, the\nelevation of the host, teach that the wafer is changed into the real\n\"body, blood, soul and divinity\" of Jesus Christ, and that it is then\noffered as a sacrifice. They thereby reject the complete redemption\nthrough Christ dying for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3), redeeming us from all\niniquity (Titus 2:14). They thereby deny that He \"offered one\nsacrifice for sin forever,\"--Heb. 10:12, and that \"by one offering he\nhath perfected forever them that are sanctified.\"--Heb. 10:14. Having\nrejected Him as complete Redeemer, they have no real Saviour at all.\nBut those who make salvation dependent on moral character, or baptism,\nor church membership, just as surely as the Catholics reject the\ncompleteness of the redemption.\n\nThere are some who sneer at this teaching as the \"commercial view\" of\nredemption, in the face of God's word that declares, \"ye were _bought\nwith a price,\"_--1 Cor. 6:20; \"worthy art thou to take the book and to\nopen the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and didst _purchase_ unto\nGod with thy blood men of every tribe and tongue and people and\nnation.\"--Rev. 5:9. (R. V.)\n\nConsider the testimony of three over against the two quoted against\nthis teaching of God's word:--\n\n\"I saw that if Jesus suffered in my stead, I could not suffer, too;\nand that if He bore all my sin, I had no more sin to bear. My iniquity\nmust be blotted out if Jesus bore it in my stead and suffered all its\npenalty.\"--_C. H. Spurgeon._\n\n\"If you believe on him, I tell you you cannot go to Hell; for that\nwere to make the sacrifice of Christ of none effect. It cannot be\nthat a sacrifice should be accepted and yet the soul should die for\nwhom that sacrifice had been received. If the believing soul could be\ncondemned, then why a sacrifice? Every believer can claim that the\nsacrifice was actually made for him: by faith he has laid his hands on\nit, and made it his own, and therefore he may rest assured that he can\nnever perish. The Lord would not receive this offering on our behalf\nand then condemn us to die.\"--_C. H. Spurgeon._\n\n\"The law of God was more vindicated by the death of Christ than it\nwould have been had all the transgressors been sent to Hell. For the\nSon of God to suffer for sin was a more glorious establishment of the\ngovernment of God than for the whole race to suffer.\"--_C. H.\nSpurgeon._\n\n\"It is the obvious implication of these words (the Righteous One for\nthe unrighteous ones) that the death on which such stress is laid was\nsomething to which the unrighteous were liable because of their sins,\nand that in their interest the Righteous One took it on\nHimself.\"--_Denny, in \"The Death of Christ.\"_\n\n\"This is his gospel, that a Righteous One has once for all faced and\ntaken up and in death exhausted the responsibilities of the\nunrighteous, so that they no more stand between them and\nGod.\"--_Denny, in \"The Death of Christ.\"_\n\n\"If Christ died the death in which sin had involved us, if in His\ndeath He took the responsibility of our sins upon Himself, no word is\nequal to this which falls short of what is meant by calling Him our\nsubstitute.\"_--Denny, in \"The Death of Christ.\"_\n\n\"I do not know any word that conveys the truth of this if 'vicarious'\nor 'substitutionary' does not; nor do I know any interpretation of\nChrist's death which enables us to regard it as a demonstration of\nlove to sinners, if this vicarious or substitutionary character is\ndenied. There is much preaching _about_ Christ's death which fails to\nbe a preaching _of_ Christ's death, and therefore to be in the full\nsense of the term Gospel Preaching, because it ignores this. The\nsimplest hearer feels that there is something irrational in saying\nthat the death of Christ is a great proof of love to the sinful unless\nthere is shown at the same time a rational connection between that\ndeath and the responsibilities which sin involves, and from which that\ndeath delivers. Perhaps one should beg pardon for using so simple an\nillustration, but the point is a vital one, and it is necessary to be\nclear. If I were sitting on the end of a pier on a summer day,\nenjoying the sunshine and the air, and some one came along and jumped\ninto the water and got drowned to prove his love to me, I should find\nit quite unintelligible. I might be much in need of love, but an act\nin no relation to any of my necessities could not prove it. But if I\nhad fallen over the pier and were drowning and some one sprang into\nthe water and at the cost of making my peril, or what but for him\nwould be my fate, his own, saved me from death, then I should say,\n'Greater love hath no man than this.' I should say it intelligently,\nbecause there would be an intelligible relation between the sacrifice\nwhich love made and the necessity from which it redeemed.\"--_Denny, in\n\"The Death of Christ.\"_\n\n\"Christ died for sins once for all, and the man who believes in\nChrist and in His death has his relation to God _once for all\ndetermined not by sin but by the atonement_.\"--_Denny, in \"The Death\nof Christ.\"_\n\n\"One who knew no sin had, in obedience to the Father, to take on Him\nthe responsibility, the doom, the curse, the death of the sinful.\nAnd if any one says that this was morally impossible, may we not\nask again, What is the alternative? Is it not that the sinful\nshould be left alone with their responsibility, doom, curse, and\ndeath?\"--_Denny, in \"The Death of Christ.\"_\n\n\"Redemption, it may be said, springs from love, yet love is only a\nword of which we do not know the meaning till it is interpreted for us\nby redemption.\"--_Denny, in \"The Death of Christ.\"_\n\n\"Unless we can preach a finished work of Christ in relation to sin, a\nreconciliation or peace which has been achieved independently of us at\ninfinite cost, and to which we are called in a word of ministry of\nreconciliation, we have no real gospel for sinful men at\nall.\"--_Denny, in \"The Death of Christ.\"_\n\n\"If the evangelist has not something to preach of which he can say,\n'If any man makes it his business to subvert this, let him be\nanathema,' he has no gospel at all.\"--_Denny, in \"The Death of\nChrist.\"_\n\n\"_As there is only one God, so there can be only one Gospel. If God\nhas really done something in Christ on which the salvation of the\nworld depends, and if He has made it known, then it is a Christian\nduty to be intolerant of everything which ignores, denies, or explains\nit away. The man who perverts it is the worst enemy of God and\nmen._\"--_Denny, in \"The Death of Christ.\"_\n\n\"We should remember, also, that it is not always intellectual\nsensitiveness, nor care for the moral interests involved, which sets\nthe mind to criticise statements of the Atonement. There _is_ such a\nthing as pride, the last form of which is unwillingness to become\ndebtors even to Christ for forgiveness of sins.\"--_Denny, in \"The\nDeath of Christ.\"_\n\nBut the Saviour could not have been a _Redeemer_, if He had not been\nGod manifest in the flesh, for two reasons:--\n\nFirst, if He had not been Deity, God manifest in the flesh, His dying\nfor our sins (1 Cor. 15:3) would not have been _Redemption_, but a\nmere makeshift. \"It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats\nshould take away sins.\"--Heb. 10:4. Why not? Because in that case\nthere would have been no real _redemption_, but only a makeshift.\nSecond, had the Saviour been anything other than God manifest in the\nflesh, He would have _won_ men _from_ God and alienated them from God.\nOn this point let the reader consider well the following from Walker,\nin \"The Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation\":--\"As God was the author\nof the law, and as He is the only Proper Object both of supreme love\nand obedience; and as man could not be happy in obeying the law\nwithout loving its Author, it follows that the thing now necessary, in\norder that man's affections might be fixed upon the proper object of\nlove and obedience, was, that the Supreme God should, by self-denying\nkindness, manifest spiritual mercy to those who felt their spiritual\nwants, and thus draw to Himself the love and worship of mankind. _If\nany other being should supply the need, that being would receive the\nlove_; it was therefore necessary that _God Himself_ should do it, in\norder that the affections of believers might centre upon the proper\nobject.\" \"Now, suppose Jesus Christ was not God, nor a true\nmanifestation of the Godhead in human nature, but a man, or angel,\nauthorized by God to accomplish the redemption of the human race from\nsin and misery. In doing this, it appears, from the nature of the\nthing, and from the Scriptures, that He did what was adapted to, and\nwhat does, draw the heart of every true believer, as in the case of\nthe apostles and the early Christians, to Himself as the supreme or\ngoverning object of affection. Their will is governed by the will of\nChrist; and love to Him moves their heart and hands. _Now, if it be\ntrue that Jesus Christ is not God, then He has devised and executed a\nplan by which the supreme affections of the human heart are drawn to\nHimself, and alienated from God_, the proper object of love and\nworship: and God, having authorized this plan, _He has devised means\nto make man love Christ, the creature, more than the creator_, who is\nGod over all, blessed for evermore.\n\n\"But it is said that Christ having taught and suffered by the will and\nauthority of God, we are under obligation to love God for what Christ\nhas done for us. It is answered, that this is impossible. We cannot\nlove one being for what another does or suffers on our behalf. We can\nlove no being for labors and self-denials on our behalf, but that\nbeing who valiantly labors and denies himself. It is the kindness and\nmercy exhibited in the self-denial that move the affections; and the\naffections can move to no being but the one that makes the\nself-denial, because it is the self-denial that draws out the love of\nthe heart.\n\n\"It is said, that Christ was sent by God to do His will and not His\nown; and therefore we ought to love God, as the being to whom\ngratitude and love are due for what Christ said and suffered.\n\n\"Then it is answered: If God willed that Christ, as a creature of His,\nshould come, and by His suffering and death redeem sinners, we ought\nnot to love Christ for it, because He did it as a creature in\nobedience to the commands of God, and was not self-moved nor\nmeritorious in the work; and we cannot love God for it, for the labor\nand self-denial were not borne by Him. And further: If one being, by\nan act of his authority, should cause another innocent being to\nsuffer, in order that he might be loved who had imposed the suffering,\nbut not borne it, it would render him unworthy of love. If God had\ncaused Jesus Christ, being His creature, to suffer, that He might be\nloved Himself for Christ's sufferings, while He had no connection with\nthem, instead of such an exhibition, on the part of God, producing\nlove to Him, it would procure pity for Christ and aversion towards\nGod. So that, neither God, nor Christ, nor any other being, can be\nloved for mercy extended by self-denials to the needy, unless those\nself-denials were produced by a voluntary act of mercy upon the part\nof the being who suffers them; and no being, but the one who made the\nsacrifice, could be meritorious in the case. It follows, therefore,\nincontrovertibly, that if Christ was a creature--no matter of how\nexalted worth--and not God; and if God approved of His work in saving\nsinners, _He approved of treason against His own government_; because,\nin that case, the work of Christ was adapted to draw, and did\nnecessarily draw, the affections of the human soul to Himself, as its\nSpiritual Saviour and thus alienated them from God, their rightful\nobject. And Jesus Christ Himself had the design of drawing men's\naffections to Himself in view, by His crucifixion; says He, 'And I, if\nI be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.' This He\nsaid signifying what death He should die: thus distinctly stating that\nit was the self-denials and mercy exhibited in the crucifixion that\nwould draw out the affections of the human soul, and that those\naffections would be drawn to Himself as the suffering Saviour. But\nthat God would sanction a scheme which would involve treason against\nHimself, and that Christ should participate in it, is absurd and\nimpossible, and therefore cannot be true. But if the Divine Nature was\nunited with the human in the teaching and work of Christ, if God was\nin Christ (drawing the affections of men, or) 'reconciling the world\nunto himself'--if, when Christ was lifted up, as Moses lifted up the\nserpent in the wilderness, He drew, as He said He would, the\naffections of all believers unto Himself; and then, if He ascended, as\nthe Second Person of the Trinity, into the bosom of the Eternal\nGodhead--He thereby, after He had engaged, by His work on earth, the\naffections of the human soul, bore them up to the bosom of the Father,\nfrom whence they had fallen. Thus the ruins of the Fall were rebuilt,\nand the affections of the human soul again restored to God, the\nCreator, and proper Object of Supreme love.\"\n\nFinally, let the reader give most earnest thought to the inevitable\nconclusion drawn by the same author:\n\n\"How, then, could God manifest that mercy to sinners by which love to\nHimself and to His law would be produced, while His infinite holiness\nand justice would be maintained? We answer, in no way possible, but by\nsome expedient by which His justice and mercy would both be exalted.\nIf, in the wisdom of the Godhead, such a way could be devised by which\nGod Himself could save the soul from the consequences of its\nguilt,--by which He Himself could, in some way, suffer and make\nself-denials for its good; and by His own interposition open a way for\nthe soul to recover from its lost and condemned condition, then the\nresult would follow inevitably, that every one of the human family who\nhad been led to see and feel his guilty condition before God, and who\nbelieved in God thus manifesting Himself to rescue his soul from\nspiritual death, every one thus believing would, from the necessities\nof his nature, be led to love God his Saviour; and mark, the greater\nthe self-denial and the suffering on the part of the Saviour in\nransoming the soul, the stronger would be the affection felt for\nHim.\"--_Walker, in \"The Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation.\"_\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE NEW RELATION--THE NEW MOTIVE\n\n     \"What things soever the law saith, it saith _to them who are under\n     the law_; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may\n     become guilty before God.\"--Rom. 3:19.\n\n     \"Ye are not under the law.\"--Rom. 6:14.\n\n     \"The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we\n     might be justified by faith, but _after that faith is come we are\n     no longer under a schoolmaster_. For ye are all the children of God\n     by faith in Jesus Christ.\"--Gal. 3:24-26.\n\n     \"When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son born of\n     a woman, born under the law, to redeem them that were under the\n     law, _that we might receive the adoption of sons_. And because ye\n     are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your\n     hearts, crying Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant,\n     but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.\"--Gal.\n     4:4-7.\n\n     \"Having in love predestinated us for adoption as sons through Jesus\n     Christ to himself.\"--Eph. 1:5.\n\n     \"The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if\n     one died for all, then all died; and he died for all, that they who\n     live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who\n     died for them and rose again.\"--2 Cor. 5:14, 15.\n\n     \"There was a certain creditor who had two debtors; the one owed\n     five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing\n     to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore which of\n     them will love him most?\"--Luke 7:41, 42.\n\n     \"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not\n     love, I am become as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And\n     though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries,\n     and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could\n     remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I\n     bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to\n     be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.\"--1 Cor.\n     13:1-3.\n\n\n_In God's plan with men_, His purpose in giving the law has been sadly\nmisunderstood. To the Jews the law was given on tablets of stone and\ncopied in their sacred writings; to the Gentiles the law was written\nin their hearts. The one class had more light than the other, and\ntherefore will be judged differently.\n\n\"As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and\nas many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the\nlaw.\"--Rom. 2:12. \"For when the Gentiles, who have no law, do by\nnature the things of the law, these, having no law, are a law unto\nthemselves; who show the works of the law written in their hearts,\ntheir conscience also bearing witness, and their reasonings mutually\naccusing or even excusing them.\"--Rom. 2:14. Whether Jew or Gentile,\nGod had one purpose in giving the law, \"Now we know that what things\nsoever the law saith, it saith to those who are under the law, that\n_every_ mouth may be stopped and _all the world_ be under judgement to\nGod.\" God's plan with the law includes \"every mouth,\" \"all the world,\"\nwhether the law was written in their hearts or in sacred writings; and\nHis purpose is, not that they should be saved by keeping the law, for\nthen no one would be saved, for \"all have sinned and come short of the\nglory of God,\"--Rom. 3:23; but that they might be brought under\njudgment to God, every mouth stopped, guilty, and thus be brought to\nrealize their need of a Redeemer. On this point God's word makes His\npurpose very plain: \"The Scripture hath shut up all under sin, that\nthe promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that\nbelieve. But before faith, we were confined under law, shut up unto\nthe faith about to be revealed. Wherefore the law was our tutor [or\nschoolmaster] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But\nafter that faith is come we are no longer under a tutor [or\nschoolmaster].\"--Gal. 3:23-25.\n\nGod's word is plain, that God put men under the law, not that they\nshould be saved by keeping it, but that they might be led to see their\nneed of a Saviour, one to redeem them from the curse of the law:\n\"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse\nfor us,\"--Gal 3:13; and then, having redeemed them from the curse of\nthe law, and from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), to adopt them as His own\nchildren, \"heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.\"--Rom. 8:17. So\nwonderful is the plan that it is hard for a human being to grasp it.\n_God's plan with men_ is not simply to save them, but to put them\nabove all other created beings. \"Unto which of the angels said he at\nany time, Thou art my Son?\"--Heb. 1:5. Yet, \"having in love\npredestinated us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to\nhimself,\"--Eph. 1:5 (1911 Bible), \"heirs of God and joint heirs with\nChrist,\"--Rom. 8:17, He puts us far above angels; \"for ye are all sons\nof God through faith in Christ Jesus.\"--Gal. 3:26. But men can only\ncome into this higher relation to God as sons by being redeemed from\nunder the lower relation, under the law. Hear God's word: \"When the\nfulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman,\nborn under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, _that we\nmight receive the adoption of sons_.\"--Gal. 4:4, 5. This higher\nrelation as sons of God can be attained only by men coming out from\nunder the law; and men can come out from under the law only by being\nredeemed from under the law.\n\nGod's word teaches clearly, then, that when one is redeemed, he is no\nlonger under the law. \"Ye are not under the law,\"--Rom. 6:14; \"What\nthings soever the law saith, it saith to _those who are under the\nlaw_.\"--Rom. 3:19. Then some are under the law and some are not under\nthe law; \"Wherefore the law was our tutor unto Christ that we might be\njustified by faith. But after the faith is come, _we are no longer\nunder a tutor_.\"--Gal. 3:24, 25. Pause, reader, and try to grasp the\nmeaning of this. If the believer is redeemed from all iniquity (Titus\n2:14), and is not under the law, (Rom. 6:14), then he is sure of\nHeaven; for \"sin is not reckoned when there is no law.\"--Rom. 5:13. It\nis not reckoned or imputed because it has all been reckoned or imputed\nto Christ (Is. 53:6, Titus 2:14). Why, then, serve God? Not from fear\nof the law; not from fear of Hell; but from love to Him who redeemed\nus from the curse of the law, having been made a curse for us (Gal.\n3:13).\n\nJust as clearly God's word teaches that those who are redeemed from\nthe curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), from all iniquity (Titus 2:14),\nbecome the sons of God; for that purpose \"God sent forth his Son, born\nof a woman, born under the law, to redeem them that were under the law\nthat we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons,\nGod hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts crying,\nAbba, Father.\"--Gal. 4:4-6. \"For ye are all the sons of God through\nfaith in Christ Jesus.\"--Gal. 3:26.\n\nBut there is, in _God's plan with men_, beyond this a still more\nblessed, wonderful teaching: \"Wherefore, thou art no more a servant,\nbut a son.\"--Gal. 4:7. The one who is redeemed from under the law\n(Gal. 3:13) never gets back under the law again,--\"Wherefore thou art\nno more a servant, but a son.\" That means, then, certainty of going to\nHeaven, certainty of being a son of God forever. And this new\nrelation, and this certainty of Heaven are settled for men, not when\nthey die, nor when they have united with some church, or have been\nbaptised, but the moment men repent from their sins and accept the\nSaviour as their Redeemer from all iniquity; for God's word says, \"He\nthat believeth on the son _hath_ everlasting life.\"--John 3:36; and\n\"Ye _are_ all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.\"--Gal.\n3:26.\n\nThis new relation with God gives men a new motive. Under the law,\nguilty, condemned by it, the motive was fear. But when men have been\nredeemed from under the law and adopted as sons of God, the motive of\nfear is no more the motive of life. \"Ye have not received the spirit\nof bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption,\nwhereby we cry, Abba, Father.\"\n\nThe motive of the son towards the father is not fear, but love. And\nthis love is produced by the fact that God, in love, provided this\ngreat, wonderful plan for men, \"having in love predestinated us for\nadoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself,\"--Eph. 1:5, and the\nfact that the Saviour loved us and gave Himself for us (Gal. 2:20).\nHence, Paul tells us, \"The love of Christ [not the fear of the law,\nnor the fear of Hell] constrains us; because we thus judge, that if\none died for all, then all died; and he died for all, that they who\nlive should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died\nfor them, and rose again.\" Our Saviour, the night before His\ncrucifixion, made clear that this was to be the motive in the life of\nGod's children. In instituting the Lord's supper He said, \"This is my\nblood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of\nsins.\"--Matt. 26:28; then, following this, before leaving the supper\nroom, He said, \"If ye love me, keep my commandments,\"--John 14:15,\nnot, \"if ye are afraid of the law, keep my commandments\"; not, \"if ye\nare afraid of going to Hell, keep my commandments\"; not, \"if ye wish\nto make sure of going to Heaven, keep my commandments\"; but, \"if ye\nlove me.\" But why love Him? Because \"this is my blood of the new\ncovenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins.\" That this\nlove, and that _this kind of love_ is clearly the motive power of the\nreal Christian life, notice the teaching of the Saviour in Luke 7:41,\n43, \"There was a certain creditor who had two debtors; the one owed\nfive hundred pence and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to\npay he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them\nwill love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom\nhe forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou has rightly judged.\" This\nis no mere theory, that love _ought_ to be the controlling motive, but\nit _is_ the controlling motive. And it is not a mere theory that love\n_ought_ to constrain the real Christian, the real believer, but the\nlove of Christ _does_ constrain us (2 Cor. 5:14).\n\nOne may be moral, of deep piety, and yet if the motive power of his\nlife is not this love, he is lost, not a real Christian. God's word\nmakes this plain, \"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of\nangels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a\nclanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and\nunderstand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all\nfaith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am\nnothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though\nI give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me\nnothing.\"--1 Cor. 13:1-3. Two of the mightiest preachers of all times,\nmen whose tongues were those nearest to angels in preaching, Chalmers\nand Wesley, after years of most powerful preaching, came out and\nstated that during all those years they were lost, not Christians.\nWhy? They had not been really redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14);\nthey had not been forgiven most; the motive had not been the motive of\nhim who is forgiven most,--\"Though I speak with the tongues of men and\nof angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a\nclanging cymbal.\" Why? Because eloquent, powerful preaching cannot\nredeem from iniquity, and God has said plainly, \"Apart from shedding\nof blood there is no remission.\"--Heb. 9:22. Men may write great books\nexplaining the mysteries of God's word, commentaries, Sunday-school\nlesson helps, instructions to Christians; yet if the motive power of\ntheir lives is not love based on the fact that they are forgiven most\n(Luke 7:43), redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), they are lost,\nnot real Christians,--\"though I have the gift of prophecy, and\nunderstand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all\nfaith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am\nnothing.\" Why? Because there is nothing in understanding all\nmysteries, and all knowledge, in writing commentaries and other\nhelpful books, to redeem from all iniquity. And God has said plainly,\n\"Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.\" The great\ncapitalist, the multi-millionaire, may turn philanthropist, and spend\nall his wealth in building schools, or libraries, or houses for the\npoor, or in feeding hundreds of thousands in times of widespread\ndrouth; the Catholic nun or Protestant or Baptist nurse may give her\nlife in the epidemic in nursing the sick; and the heroic fireman give\nhis life in rescuing others from the flames; yet they are all lost,\nunless the motive power of life is love, produced by the fact that\nthey are forgiven most, redeemed from all iniquity,--\"Though I bestow\nall my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,\nand have not love, it profiteth me nothing.\" Why? Because there is\nnothing in giving away money to care for the poor, nor in giving up\nlife for others, to redeem from iniquity. And God has said plainly,\n\"Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.\"--Heb. 9:22.\n\nWhen God, \"That he might be just and the justifier of him that hath\nfaith in Jesus,\"--Rom. 3:26, \"so loved the world that he gave his only\nbegotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but\nhave everlasting life,\"--John 3:16, men must not, they _must not_,\nfrom intellectual pride, religious prejudice, family or race ties, nor\nfrom any other motive, trifle with God and presume to dictate terms to\nthe Most High. Were it one poor, obscure man who presumed to do this,\nmen would say that he deserved to be left to answer for his own sins\nbefore God at last. But vast numbers, whole religious denominations\nand university titles cannot change the Most High. God does not go by\nmajorities. Earth's respectability does not pass current in Heaven.\n\"The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.\"--1 Cor. 3:19.\n\nWho is this being to whom puny men in their pride and prejudice\npresume to dictate terms as to how they may escape the just penalty\nfor their sins, as to how their sins should be taken away? \"Who hath\nmeasured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven\nwith the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure,\nand weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who\nhath directed the spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath\ntaught him? With whom took he counsel? And who instructed him, and\ntaught him in the path of judgement, and taught him knowledge, and\nshowed to him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are as a\ndrop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance;\nbehold, he taketh up the hills as a little thing.\" \"All nations before\nhim are as nothing, and they are counted by him less than nothing, and\nvanity.\" \"It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the\ninhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the\nheavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in;\nthat bringeth the princes to nothing; that maketh the judges of the\nearth as vanity.\"--Is. 40:12-15, 17, 22, 23.\n\nA professor in a great university has recently said that to the\n\"modern mind,\" untrained, as the Jews, to daily sacrifices, unused, as\nthose of ancient times, to blood-atonement,--remission of sins by\nblood,--substitution does not commend itself. If he and those who\nthink like him do not care enough as to their eternal destiny to\nstrive to become acquainted with blood-atonement, to realize their\nneed of it, and to see that God, in love, has provided it, complete\nand eternal, then there is nothing left but for them to go out into\neternity to meet the just penalty of their sins; for even then God\nwill be just to them. No one, barbarian or civilized, will ever be\ntreated unjustly by the Most High.\n\nBut it is objected that, if men are taught and believe that they have\nbeen redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), that they are not\nafter that under the law (Rom. 6:14), that they have been adopted as\nGod's sons (Gal. 4:4, 5), and that they are no more servants, but sons\n(Gal. 4:7), they will not serve God from love of Christ for dying for\nthem (2 Cor. 5:14, 15), but that they will become careless and not try\nto live Christian lives. That is true with hypocrites; they will\nprofess to believe that they are thus redeemed, saved, and will live\ncareless, worldly lives. But really redeemed men _will_ love most\n(Luke 7:43), and live better lives from love. The Saviour said, \"If a\nman love me he _will_ keep my words,\"--John 14:23; \"If God were your\nfather ye _would_ love me.\"--John 8:42. And John, writing to believers\nonly (1 John 5:13), says: \"Behold what manner of love the Father hath\nbestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such\nwe are. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.\nBeloved, now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear\nwhat we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be\nlike him, for we shall see him as he is. And _every one_ that hath\nthis hope on him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.\"--1 John\n3:1-3.\n\nThe one who is thus redeemed and adopted as a son of God not only\npurifies himself because prompted by love to the Saviour for redeeming\nhim from all iniquity, but because he is born again, and this new\nnature leads him to hate sin and to love holiness. \"Whosoever\nbelieveth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.\"--1 John 5:1.\n\"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by\nthe word of God which liveth and abideth forever.\"--1 Peter 1:23. This\nis no mere theory, no mere theological dogma. Cases innumerable\nthroughout the Christian era could be cited, where the most wicked men\nand women in a moment have been completely changed by simply being led\nto accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour, as their Redeemer from all\niniquity.\n\nIn the author's work as an evangelist he has seen the most debased,\nhopeless men and women revolutionized morally, not by gradual\nprocesses, but in a moment, by leading them to repentance and faith in\nthe Saviour as their complete Redeemer from all iniquity. And the\nmoral revolution was not temporary, but permanent. Science cannot\naccount for these moral revolutions brought about in a moment.\nInfidelity cannot account for them. God's word does account for them,\nthat they have been born again, born of God, and have been taken from\nunder the law and have been given a new relation to God and placed\nunder a new motive power. In a city a great mass-meeting for infidels\nwas widely advertised; a large audience assembled. The leader asked\nall the men in the audience who had once been down in the depths of\nsin, everything gone, hopeless, and had been led to accept the Saviour\nas their Redeemer from sin, please to arise. Between three hundred and\nfour hundred well-dressed business men and workingmen arose. The\nleader then asked all who had been down in the depths of sin,\neverything gone, hopeless, and they had then been led to believe in\ninfidelity and it had made better men of them, please to arise. One\nlone man staggered to his feet and he was drunk! Science and\ninfidelity cannot explain this difference. God's word does explain it.\nThere is no other explanation.\n\nIt may be objected that many who profess to be thus redeemed from all\niniquities, to be born again, do not continue to live better lives.\nGod's word explains every one of these cases: \"They went out from us,\nbut they were _not of us_; for if they had been of us, they would have\ncontinued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest;\nbecause not all are of us.\"--1 John 2:19.\n\nIn closing this chapter, reader, pause and consider:--are you yet\nunder the law? Have you been redeemed from the curse of the law? Have\nyou been adopted as a child of God? It is one thing to _say_ \"Our\nFather\"; it is quite a different thing to be really a child of God,\nand heir of God and joint heir with Christ.\n\nIs the motive of your life love of Christ because He has redeemed you\nfrom all iniquities? Do not be deceived by calling the motive love\nwhen really it is not love. If you have been trying to serve God,\nthinking that if you continued to serve Him, continued to try to do\nyour Christian duty, you would go to Heaven after this life, but that\nif you failed to serve Him and do your Christian duty, you would not\nbe saved, then your motive has not been love, and you are lost. If you\nhave been trying to serve God and do your Christian duty, fearing\nthat if you failed you would be lost, then your motive has not been\nlove, and you have never been redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14),\nand adopted as the child of God (Gal. 4:4, 5). Let not pride nor\nprejudice prevent your coming out from under the law and becoming\nreally a child of God. \"My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel\nis that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have\na _zeal of God_, but not _according to knowledge_. For being\n_ignorant of God's righteousness_, and _going about to establish\ntheir own righteousness_, they have not submitted themselves unto\nthe righteousness of God. For Christ is _the end of the law for\nrighteousness to every one that believeth._\"--Rom. 10:1-4. \"As many as\n_received him_, to them gave he power to become the children of God,\neven to them that believe on his name.\"--John 1:12.\n\n_FOR FURTHER STUDY_: Men are prone to mix the law and redemption\nthrough Christ. They are separate and distinct. They are two separate\nroads to Heaven. If a man keeps the law from birth to death he will go\nto Heaven without any redemption; he needs no redemption. \"Moses\ndescribeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man that\ndoeth those things shall live _by them_,\"--Rom. 10:5; not by Christ as\nthe Redeemer; he needs no redemption. \"And the law is not of faith;\nbut the man that doeth them shall live in them.\"--Gal. 3:12. There is\nno Christ in this; there is no need of Christ if a man \"doeth them,\"\nthe law. Such a man cannot trust Christ to save him; for if he has\nnever broken the law, there is nothing from which he needs to be\nredeemed. \"The soul that sinneth, _it_ shall die\"; but if one has kept\nthe law, there is no penalty, no redemption is needed. \"The doers of\nthe law _shall be justified_.\"--Rom. 2:13. But \"all have sinned and\ncome short of the glory of God,\"--Rom. 3:23; hence, there is need of\nredemption; for \"apart from shedding of blood there is no\nremission.\"--Heb. 9:22. The other road to Heaven, therefore, is that\n\"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse\nfor us.\"--Gal. 3:13. The Saviour, as well as the Apostle Paul, taught\nclearly the two roads; the first, when \"One came and said unto him,\nGood Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?\nAnd he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but\none, that is God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the\ncommandments.\"--Matt. 19:16, 17. The question was what good thing the\nenquirer should do in order to have eternal life as the result of what\nhe did. The answer was exactly what Paul taught afterwards,--\"The man\nthat doeth them, shall live in them.\"--Gal. 3:12. On the other hand,\nto the penitent woman in Simon's house the Saviour said, \"Thy faith\nhath saved thee; go in peace.\"--Luke 7:50. The trouble is that many\nmen try to make a third road to Heaven, partly by obeying the law and\npartly by redemption through Christ; or rather, they try to combine\nthe two separate and distinct ways and make them one. But this is\nfatal. \"If by grace, then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is\nno more grace. But if it is of works, then it is no more grace;\notherwise work is no more work.\"--Rom. 11:6. Jesus said, \"Come unto\nme, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you\nrest.\"--Matt. 11:28. And God's word declares plainly, \"He that hath\nentered into his rest himself also hath rested from his own works, as\nGod did from his.\"--Heb. 4:10. No one has rested, ceased, from his own\nworks who thinks that keeping the law or trying to keep the law is a\npart of the salvation through Christ as Redeemer. One _must_ cease\nfrom his own works, from looking to obeying the law to help in\nsalvation, before he _can_ be saved through Christ as Redeemer. \"To\nhim that worketh not, but believeth on him that _justifieth_ the\nungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.\"--Rom. 4:5. Hence,\nall who are trying to get to Heaven by obedience, are under the law,\nare yet unredeemed, unsaved, not real Christians. \"As many as are of\nthe works of the law [obeying the law to be saved] are under the\ncurse,\"--Gal. 3:10; they have not been really redeemed.\n\nOf this class are all those who believe and teach \"Salvation by\ncharacter,\"--they are yet under the law; they are yet under the\ncurse.--Gal. 3:10. Further, they fly in the face of the Lord Jesus,\nwho said to men who had character, \"The publicans and the harlots go\ninto the kingdom of God before you.\"--Matt. 21:31. They fail to see\nthat the Saviour takes men without character, justifies them from all\nthings (Acts 13:39), redeems them from the curse of the law (Gal.\n3:13), redeems them from all iniquities (Titus 2:14), and then\ndevelops in them a character that will stand the test of the ages;\nthat He takes a Jerry McAuley, an S. H. Hadley, a Harry Monroe, and a\nMelville Trotter and makes of them four of the most useful men of\nmodern times. They fail to see that character is formed by deeds; that\nthe character of the deed can be determined _only_ by the motive\nprompting the deed; that the controlling motive for the deed must, in\nthe sight of God, be love (1 Cor. 13:1-3); that the motive of love is\nproduced by being forgiven most (Luke 7:42, 43); that the forgiveness\ncomes from the Saviour having given Himself for our sins (Gal. 1:4),\nto redeem us from all iniquity (Titus 2:14).\n\nBecause of this failure to consider the motive back of the deed, many\nbooks on morals and ethics are absolutely pernicious. In comparing the\nmorals and ethics of Christianity with the morals and ethics of\nheathen religions, they fail to take into consideration the _motive\nback of the deed_. Two young men are trying to win a young woman in\nmarriage; their deeds, outwardly, are the same; the one is prompted by\npure, manly love for the young woman; the other has his eye on her\nfather's bank account. You drop your handkerchief as you are passing\nalong the street; a man from pure kindness picks it up and hands it to\nyou. Again you drop it, and another picks it up and hands it to you,\nbut his motive is that he may win your confidence and pick your\npocket. Four sons are equally dutiful, in outward deed, toward their\nfathers; one, that he may get all the money he wishes from his\nfather; the second, from a cold sense of duty; the third, from fear\nthat his father might kill him or disinherit him if he were not\ndutiful; the fourth, from tender love for the father. In these four,\nmany authors see no difference, or make no distinction, and yet they\nprofess to be teachers of morals and ethics! Four men, outwardly, are\nliving the same moral lives; one, hoping to get to Heaven by it; the\nsecond, from a cold sense of duty; the third, from fear of Hell; the\nfourth, from love because One died for him (2 Cor. 5:14, 15), and\nredeemed him from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), from all iniquity\n(Titus 2:14). Only the last one will ever enter Heaven; only the last\none is really a Christian, redeemed (Heb. 9:12), saved (Eph. 2:8).\n\nAs men are prone to mix law and redemption through Christ, so they are\nprone to mix law and sonship. They fail to see that redemption from\nthe curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), redemption from all iniquity (Titus\n2:14), redemption from under the law (Rom. 6:14), means to be placed\nin a higher, more sacred relationship to God. Even in nature God has\ntwo grades of existence, a lower and a higher, for some insects, even;\nthe mosquito, first in the water; then by a simple process it rises\ninto the higher kingdom; the caterpillar, a creeping worm, then the\nbutterfly. But were there no analogies in nature, God has clearly\nrevealed a higher relation for those who are redeemed from the curse\nof the law (Gal. 3:13), \"God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born\nunder the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might\nreceive the adoption of sons,\"--Gal. 4:4, 5; \"Having in love\npredestinated us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to\nhimself.\"--Eph. 1:5. Where is man in the scale of being? \"Thou hast\nmade him a little lower than the angels.\"--Ps. 8:5. But even the\nangels, who are above man in the scale of being, are not the sons of\nGod. \"Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my\nson?\"--Heb. 1:5. But to _every man_ who has been redeemed from the\ncurse of the law (Gal. 3:13), from under the law (Gal. 4:5), God says,\n\"Ye are _all_ the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.\"--Gal.\n3:26. \"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his\nSon into your hearts crying, Abba, Father.\"--Gal. 4:6. \"Ye have\nreceived the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.\"--Rom.\n8:15.\n\nMuch of the confusion concerning the higher relationship of the\nredeemed with God has been caused by teaching the redeemed and the\nunredeemed to pray what is called the Lord's Prayer. The Saviour did\nnot teach the unredeemed to pray in this manner. They cannot pray it\ntruthfully, honestly, for they are not the children of God. \"They that\nare the children of the flesh, these are not the children of\nGod.\"--Rom. 9:5. If they are not, then they cannot truthfully say \"Our\nFather,\" \"Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son\nwhom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as\nwith sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if\nye be without chastening, whereof all are partakers, then are ye\nbastards, and not sons.\"--Heb. 12:6-8. The language, \"bastards and not\nsons,\" has some meaning, but it can have no meaning if God is the\nFather of all human beings, and all have a right to say \"Our Father.\"\nIt is true, that in the Old Testament God is referred to as a Father,\nbut it is only as Father of Israel, the redeemed. \"Have we not all\none father? Hath not one God created us?\"--Mal. 2:10. But who are\nthe \"we\"? \"The burden of the word of the Lord to _Israel_ by\nMalachi,\"--Mal. 1:1;--Israel, God's redeemed people.\n\nGod's word makes it plain that what is called the Lord's Prayer was\nnot taught by the Saviour to the unsaved. \"As he was praying in a\ncertain place, when he ceased, _one of his disciples_ said unto him,\nLord, teach _us_ to pray as John also taught his disciples, and he\nsaid unto _them_ [His disciples], When ye [His disciples] pray, say,\n'Our Father.'\" How did they become disciples? \"As many as received\nhim, to them gave he power _to become_ the children of God, even to\nthem that believe on his name.\"--John 1:12. \"Ye are all the sons of\nGod by faith in Christ Jesus.\"--Gal. 3:26. Concerning this prayer the\n_Southern Baptist Sunday School Teacher_ says, \"It is a special gift\nto believers only.\" \"We cannot too earnestly insist that the Lord's\nPrayer is beyond the use of mere worldlings. They have no heart for\nit. It is the possession and badge of the disciples of Christ. It\nbelongs to those who can offer it in humble and hearty faith.\" The\n_Sunday School Teacher_, published by the American Baptist Publication\nSociety, says: \"This is a prayer that befits only Christian lips and\nwas given to the disciples only, and so it is addressed to 'Our\nFather.'\" D. L. Moody, in \"The Way Home,\" \"But who may use this\nprayer, 'Our Father which art in Heaven'? Examine the context. The\ndisciples when alone with Jesus said, 'Lord, teach us to pray,' and\nthis was the answer they got; they were taught this precious prayer:\n'In this manner pray ye: Our Father, which art in Heaven.' It was\ntaught by Jesus to His chosen disciples; then it is only for\nChristians. No man who is unconverted can or has a right to pray thus.\nChrist taught _His disciples_, not all men, not the multitude, to pray\nlike this. A man must be born again before he has any right to breathe\nthis prayer. What right has any man living in sin and in open enmity\nwith God, to lift up his voice and say, Our or My Father? It is a lie\nand nothing else for him to say this.\"\n\nThe Saviour was very explicit on this point: \"Ye do the deeds of your\nfather. Then said they to him, We are not born of fornication; we have\none Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father,\nye would love me; for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither\ncame I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech?\nEven because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the\ndevil.\"--John 8:41-44. Here are the unredeemed calling God their\nFather. If He is their Father, here was the time for the Great Teacher\nto make it plain. If He is their Father, _in any sense_, here was the\nopportunity to make it plain. The Saviour does not reply, \"Yes, He is\nyour Father in one sense, but I am speaking of another and a higher\nsense.\" His answer is plain and unequivocal.\n\nThere are those who fly in the face of the Saviour's plain teaching.\nHear two of them:--Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, in \"Science and Health,\"\n\"God is the Father of All.\" \"Man is the offspring of Spirit.\" \"Spirit\nis his primitive and ultimate source of being; God is his Father and\nLife is the law of his being.\" \"He recognized Spirit, God, as the only\ncreator, and therefore as the Father of all\"; \"demonstrating God as\nthe Father of men.\" Another makes his meaning just as plain: \"He\n[Jesus] was the son of God in like manner that every other person is;\nfor _the Creator is the father of all_.\"--_Thomas Paine, in \"The Age\nof Reason.\"_\n\nThe issue is joined between these two on the one side and the Lord\nJesus and Paul on the other, and men are lining up on one side or the\nother, and many of them will spend eternity with the ones whose\nteaching they are following _now_, with whom they are lining up; and\nthe reader may as well face the fact that many of them will not spend\neternity in the same place with the Saviour and Paul. With many the\nquestion as to whether the Saviour, when He said, \"Ye are of your\nfather the devil,\" told the truth, or was a wilful liar and deceiver,\nor a deluded fanatic and ignoramus, is merely a matter of taste, or\npreference, or opinion. It may be claimed by some that \"Ye are of your\nfather the devil,\" grates on refined ears and finer sensibilities. But\nit is more than a question whether it is pride, or religious\nprejudice, or refined sensibilities, when the sensibilities and\nfeelings are so coarse and hardened that without indignation, often\nwith complacency, they see Him who \"spake as never man spake,\" God's\n\"only begotten Son,\" branded as a liar and deceiver. Such scholarship\nand finer sensibilities and such refinement will fill their\npossessors with horror and remorse in that day when the sun shall\nbecome black as sackcloth of hair, and the full moon shall become as\nblood, and the heavens shall depart as a scroll when it is rolled\ntogether; and every mountain and island shall be moved out of their\nplaces, and the kings of the earth, and the great men and the rich men\nand the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every\nfreeman shall hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the\nmountains and say to the mountains and rocks, \"Fall on us and hide us\nfrom the face of him who sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of\nthe Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be\nable to stand?\"--Rev. 6:12-17; \"for the Father judgeth no man, but\nhath committed all judgement unto the Son, that all men should honor\nthe Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son\nhonoreth not the Father who sent him.\"--John 5:22, 23. \"And he\ncommanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he\nwho hath been ordained of God to be the judge of living and\ndead.\"--Acts 10:42.\n\nIf all men who are unredeemed would just stop and realize their real\nposition in the scale of being, and that they really have no Heavenly\nFather, and that \"as many as received him to them gave he power to\nbecome the children of God, even to them that believe on his\nname,\"--John 1:12, there would fall upon this world such a feeling of\norphanage as it has never known since the Saviour hung on the cross.\nBut in their pride or religious prejudice, or love of the world, or\nsecret sin, blinded by \"Our Father,\" they go on through life\nrepeating it, and die, never having been redeemed from the curse of\nthe law (Gal. 3:13), and adopted as God's sons (Gal. 4:4-7).\n\nTeaching the unredeemed that God is their Father, and to say \"Our\nFather\" is the incubator of religious error and the hot-bed of\ninfidelity. Many religious denominations that are fundamentally in\nerror, that really have no Redeemer, and therefore no Saviour, have as\ntheir foundation teaching that God is the Father of the human race;\nand there is scarcely an infidel but that was taught \"Our Father.\"\nTeach a person that God is his Father, that his Heavenly Father is far\nbetter than his earthly father, and then teach him that his Heavenly\nFather is going to send him to an eternal Hell, and, if he thinks, he\nis far on the road to infidelity, or he is ready for some modern\nchurch that denies that there is any Hell.\n\nIt is said that a missionary to one of the heathen lands, after\nlaboring for some time among the people, employed a learned heathen to\nhelp him translate the New Testament into the heathen language. The\nmissionary would read and the heathen would translate and write it\ndown. They finally came to the first epistle of John. One morning as\nthey began their work, having finished the second chapter, the\nmissionary read, \"Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed\nupon us.\" The heathen translated and wrote it down. The missionary\nread, \"that we should be called the children of God.\" The heathen\nbowed his head upon the table and began weeping. Gaining control of\nhis feelings, he said, \"Teacher, don't make me put it that way; I know\nour people; that is too good for us; we don't deserve it. Put it this\nway, 'That we may be allowed to kiss his feet,' That is good enough\nfor our people.\" He had listened to the story of God giving His Son\nfor us; of His life, of His teachings, of His death for our sins; and\nthe thought that, beyond this, God makes the redeemed His children,\nwas too much for him. But in enlightened, so-called Christian lands,\nmany who have never even claimed to have been born of God ridicule the\nteaching that God is the Father of the redeemed only, and they\nblatantly proclaim God to be the Father of all human beings, of the\ndrunkard, of the thief, the murderer, whereas, even the angels do not\ncall Him Father. \"Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou\nart my son?\" But when men are redeemed (Heb. 9:12), and born again of\nthe Spirit (John 3:8; 1 John 5:1), they are really God's children\n(Gal. 3:26). Then they are above angels in the scale of being, \"heirs\nof God and joint heirs with Christ\" (Rom. 8:17),--the highest, most\nexalted of all beings in the universe. Oh, that men would put their\nheels upon their pride, be redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal.\n3:13), and become God's real children (Gal. 4:4-7).\n\nBut just as many mix and confuse the teachings as to two roads to\nHeaven, and as to law and sonship, so they mix and confuse the old\nmotive of fear under the law (Rom. 8:15), and of love as sons. _The\nnew motive of love could be produced in no other way than by real\nRedemption._ Let the reader give close study to the following\nprinciples laid down in Walker's \"Philosophy of the Plan of\nSalvation\":\n\n\"1, The affections of the soul move in view of certain objects or in\nview of certain qualities believed to exist in those objects. The\naffections never move, in familiar words, the heart never loves,\nunless love be produced by seeing, or by believing that we see, some\nlovely and excellent qualities in the object. When the soul believes\nthose good qualities to be possessed by another, and especially when\nthey are exercised towards us, the affections, like a magnetized\nneedle, tremble with life, and turn towards their object.\n\n\"2, The affections are not subject to the will; neither our own will\nnor any other will can directly control them.... An effect could as\neasily exist without a cause as affection in the bosom of any human\nbeing which was not produced by goodness or excellence seen, or\nbelieved to exist, in some other being.\n\n\"3, The affections, although not governed by the will, do themselves\ngreatly influence the will. All acts of will produced entirely by pure\naffection for another are disinterested.... So soon as the affections\nmove towards an object, the will is proportionally influenced to\nplease and benefit that object, or, if a superior being, to obey his\nwill.\n\n\"4, All happy obedience must arise from affection. Affectionate\nobedience blesses the spirit which yields it, if the conscience\napprove the object loved and obeyed.\n\n\"5. When the affections of two beings are reciprocally fixed upon each\nother they constitute a band of union and sympathy peculiarly strong\nand tender,--those things that affect the one affecting the other in\nproportion to the strength of affection existing between them. One\nconforms to the will of the other, not from a sense of obligation\nmerely, but from choice; and the constitution of the soul is such that\nthe sweetest enjoyment of which it is capable rises from the exercise\nof reciprocal affections.\n\n\"6. When the circumstances of an individual are such that he is\nexposed to constant suffering and great danger, the more afflictive\nhis situation the more grateful love will he feel for affection and\nbenefits received under such circumstances. If his circumstances were\nsuch that he could not relieve himself, and such that he must suffer\ngreatly or perish, and while in this condition, if another, moved by\nbenevolent regard for him, should come to aid and save him, his\naffection for his deliverer would be increased by a sense of the\ndanger from which he was rescued.\n\n\"The greater the kindness and self-denial of a benefactor manifested\nin our behalf, the warmer and the stronger will be the affection which\nhis goodness will produce in the human heart.\"\n\nAnd this further statement by Walker will be at once accepted by all\nhonest seekers after truth:--\n\n\"Here, then, are two facts growing out of the constitution of human\nnature. First, the soul must feel its evil and lost state, as the\nprerequisite condition upon which alone it can love a deliverer;\nsecondly, the degree of kindness and self-denial in a benefactor,\ntemporal or spiritual, graduates the degree of affection and gratitude\nthat will be awakened for him.\"--_Walker, in \"The Philosophy of the\nPlan of Salvation.\"_\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nTHE SINS OF GOD'S CHILDREN--FORGIVENESS--CHASTISEMENTS\n\n     \"Our Father who art in Heaven ... forgive us our sins.\"--Luke\n     11:1-4.\n\n     \"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our\n     sins.\"--1 John 1:9.\n\n     \"Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto\n     sons. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor\n     faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the Lord loveth he\n     chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure\n     chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he\n     whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastening,\n     whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.\n     Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh who corrected us, and\n     we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection\n     under the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few\n     days chastened us as seemed right to them; but he for our profit,\n     that we might be partakers of his holiness.\"--Heb. 12:5-10.\n\n     \"Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the\n     earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant\n     shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure\n     forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children\n     forsake my law and walk not in my judgements; if they break my\n     statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their\n     transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.\n     Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him,\n     nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break,\n     nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn\n     by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.\"--Ps. 89:27-35.\n\n\nIn coming to the question of God's plan concerning the lives of men\nredeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), redeemed from all\niniquity (Titus 2:14), from under the law (Rom. 6:14), and adopted as\nGod's sons (Gal. 4:4-7), let the reader keep in mind that it is not\nconcerning the sins of unredeemed men, whether professing Christians\nor not. God's plan with the sins of unredeemed men has been shown in\nChapter I. Hence it is not a question of the sins of hypocrites, or\nother professing Christians who are not really God's children.\n\nIt has been shown in Chapter IV that when men are redeemed from the\ncurse of the law (Gal. 3:13), from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), they are\nno longer under the law; \"Ye are not under the law.\"--Rom. 6:14. God's\nword lays down a principle recognized and endorsed by all enlightened\nnations,--\"Sin is not reckoned [imputed] when there is no law.\"--Rom.\n5:13. Those who have been redeemed from under the law are adopted as\nGod's children,--\"God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under\nthe law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive\nthe adoption of sons.\"--Gal. 4:4, 5. God thenceforth deals with them\nas father with children, and not as judge with transgressors of law.\nEarthly children commit two kinds of sins against their earthly\nfathers; they sin under temptation and are penitent, and confess their\nsins and are forgiven. Second, they sin wilfully and are chastised.\nGod's children sin in like manner; they sin under temptation, are\npenitent, confess their sins and are forgiven. Second, they become\nbacksliders, sin wilfully and are chastised. Let us consider the two\nclasses of sins of God's children and _God's plan with men_ for them.\n\nOur Saviour taught His disciples, God's children, to pray \"Our Father\n... forgive us our sins,\"--Luke 11:1-4; Paul and Silas taught the\njailer, a man under the law, unredeemed, not a child of God, \"Believe\non the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.\"--Acts 16:31. John\ntaught the believers (1 John 5:13), those who were redeemed from the\ncurse of the law (Gal. 3:13), and were God's children (1 John 3:1, 2),\n\"If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our\nsins,\"--1 John 1:9; Paul taught the unredeemed, those who were\nnot God's children, \"To him that worketh not, but believeth on\nhim that _justifieth the ungodly_, his faith is counted for\nrighteousness.\"--Rom. 4:5.\n\nMany believe and teach that if any one, the unredeemed man as well as\nthe son of God, confesses his sins, God will be faithful and just to\nforgive his sins. A Mohammedan, a Jew, a Christian Scientist, a\nUnitarian, a Universalist, confess their sins,--are they forgiven? To\nthese and all others under the law, God has said, \"Apart from shedding\nof blood there is no remission.\"--Heb. 9:22. \"Till heaven and earth\npass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till\nall be fulfilled.\"--Matt. 5:18. John is writing to believers only (1\nJohn 5:13), to those who are God's children (1 John 3:1, 2), and to\n_them_ he says, \"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to\nforgive us our sins.\"--1 John 1:9. Men unredeemed, under the law, can\nnever get rid of their sins by confession. To them God has one\nmessage,--\"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even\nso _must_ the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him\nshould not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world\nthat he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him\nshould not perish, but have everlasting life.\"--John 3:14-16.\n\nThe Saviour taught the _disciples_ to pray, \"Our Father, ... forgive\nus our sins\"; but so widespread is the misconception that it applies\nto all, redeemed and unredeemed, that all over the world vast\nmultitudes of the unredeemed kneel down every night and say, \"Our\nFather, ... forgive us our sins,\" and lie down to sleep deluded with\nthe thought that they are forgiven. If they are forgiven, why was\nthere any need of Christ dying for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3)? But the\nreal child of God can pray, \"Our Father, ... forgive us our sins,\" and\nhe is really forgiven. Why the difference? With the unredeemed, those\nyet under the law (Rom. 3:19), God is dealing as judge with violators\nof law, and law knows no forgiveness. With the redeemed, those who\nhave been adopted as God's children (Gal. 4:4-7), God is dealing as\nfather with son. Let those who are redeemed, who are really God's\nchildren, realize the blessed fact that \"If we confess our sins, he is\nfaithful and just to forgive us our sins.\"--1 John 1:9.\n\nBut there is another class of sins committed by God's children, \"If\nhis children _forsake_ my law\" (Ps. 89:30), wilful sins. For these God\nchastises His children, just as an earthly father chastises his wilful\nand disobedient children. \"Ye have forgotten the exhortation which\nspeaketh unto you as unto sons, My son, despise not thou the\nchastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for\nwhom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he\nreceiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons,\nfor what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be\nwithout chastening, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards\nand not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh who\ncorrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be\nin subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for\na few days chastened us as seemed right to them; but he for our\nprofit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.\"--Heb. 12:5-10.\n\nChastisement or punishment of God's children is for correction; \"for\nour profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness\" (Heb. 12:10);\npunishment of the unredeemed is to carry out law, for justice: \"that\nhe might be _just_\" (Rom. 3:26); \"every transgression received a\n_just_ recompense of reward.\"--Heb. 2:2. The unredeemed, those under\nthe law (Rom. 3:19), are punished beyond this life, in the Day of\nJudgment,--\"verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the\nland of Sodom and Gomorrah _in the day of judgment_, than for that\ncity.\"--Matt. 10:15; God's children receive their chastisements in\nthis life,--\"If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with\nsons.\"--Heb. 12:7. Professing Christians who are not redeemed, not\nreally God's children, do not receive chastisements; hence, they are\npunished in the day of judgment with the other unredeemed. \"But if ye\nbe without chastening, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards\nand not sons.\"--Heb. 12:8.\n\nHe has observed to little purpose who has not noticed that redeemed\npeople, God's children, suffer more in this life than the unredeemed.\nGod says that His children endure chastenings and others who are not\nHis children do not. The difference can be easily seen by any one who\nwill observe closely. The Psalmist observed it and was greatly\ndisturbed by it until he understood the cause of the difference.\n\"Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.\nBut as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh\nslipped. For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of\nthe wicked. For there are no bands in their death, but their strength\nis firm. _They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they\nplagued like other men._ Therefore pride compasseth them about as a\nchain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with\nfatness, they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and\nspeak wickedly concerning oppression; they speak loftily. They set\ntheir mouths against the heavens and their tongue walketh through the\nearth. Therefore, his people return hither, and waters of a full cup\nare wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God know? And is there\nknowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper\nin the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart\nin vain and washed my hands in innocency. For _all the day long have I\nbeen plagued, and chastened every morning_. If I say, I will speak\nthus: behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.\nWhen I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; _until I went\ninto the sanctuary of God: then understood I their end_. Surely, thou\ndidst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into\ndestruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment?\nThey are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh;\nso, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. For my\nheart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I,\nand ignorant; I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless, I am\ncontinually with thee; thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou\nshalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to\nglory.\"--Ps. 73:1-24.\n\nThat chastisement in this life for wilful sins is God's plan with\nredeemed men, His real children, is clearly revealed even in the Old\nTestament. God swore by His holiness to David that this would be His\nplan with redeemed men:--\"Also, I will make him my firstborn, higher\nthan the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him forevermore,\nand my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make\nto endure forever and his throne as the days of Heaven. If his\nchildren forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break\nmy statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their\ntransgressions with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.\nNevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor\nsuffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor\nalter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my\nholiness that I will not lie unto David.\"--Ps. 89:27-35. David himself\nwas a case in point. After his terrible sin, God sent word to him by\nthe prophet Nathan, \"Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of\nthe Lord, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite\nwith the sword and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain\nhim with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword\nshall never depart from thine house.\"--2 Sam. 12:9, 10. \"And David\nsaid unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said\nunto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not\ndie.\"--2 Sam. 12:13. God has but one way of putting away sin. \"Apart\nfrom shedding of blood is no remission.\"--Heb. 9:22. \"For the life of\nthe flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar\nto make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh\nan atonement for the soul.\"--Lev. 17:11. But God does not stop there.\n\"Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the\nenemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto\nthee shall surely die.\"--1 Sam. 12:14. (Let the reader notice that\nGod, foreseeing that people would ridicule the idea of God saving\nDavid, calls it blasphemy and calls those who do it \"the enemies of\nthe Lord.\") David fasted and prayed for the child. On the seventh day\nthe child died, \"But when David saw that his servants whispered, David\nperceived that the child was dead; therefore David said unto his\nservants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. Then David\narose from the earth and washed and anointed himself, and changed his\napparel, and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped: then he\ncame to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him\nand he did eat. Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this\nthat thou hast done? Thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it\nwas alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.\nAnd he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I\nsaid, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child\nmay live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring\nhim back again? _I shall go to him._\"--2 Sam. 12:19-23. How could\nDavid be thus sure? He had God's word on which to rest, \"The life of\nthe flesh is in the blood, and I have given it upon the altar to make\natonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh atonement\nfor the soul.\"--Lev. 17:11. But because of his sin God chastened him\nas long as he lived. \"Now therefore the sword shall never depart from\nthine house.\"\n\nSolomon is another case in point. Concerning Solomon God said to\nDavid, \"I will be his father and he shall be my son. If he commit\niniquity, I will chastise him with the rod of men, and with the\nstripes of the children of men; but my mercy shall not depart away\nfrom him.\"--2 Sam. 7:14, 15.\n\nIn chastening, God uses as a rod loss of loved ones (2 Sam. 12:14;\nAmos 4:10), loss of property (Amos 4:6-9), loss of health (1 Cor.\n11:30), death (1 Cor. 11:30; Amos 4:11; Deut. 32:48-52). Consider the\ncase of Moses and Aaron: God told them to speak to the rock that it\nmight bring forth water for the children of Israel. But they wilfully\ndisobeyed, and instead of speaking to the rock, struck it in anger.\nFor this wilful sin, as a chastisement, God said to Moses, \"Get thee\nup into this mountain Abarim, unto Mt. Nebo, which is in the land of\nMoab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan,\nwhich I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: and die in\nthe mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as\nAaron thy brother died in Mt. Hor, and was gathered unto his people:\n_because ye trespassed against me_ among the children of Israel at\nthe waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin.\"--Deut.\n32:49-52. Though Moses was thus severely chastened for his wilful sin,\nhe was not lost, for he was with Elijah on the mountain at the\ntransfiguration of the Saviour (Matt. 17:1-3).\n\nThe lesson needs to be learned by God's children that as certainly as\na redeemed man sins wilfully, whether the sin be great or small, the\nchastening rod is sure to fall. \"If his children _forsake my law ...\nthen will_ I visit their transgressions with the rod and their\niniquity with stripes.\"--Ps. 89:30-32. But God does not send the\nchastening in wrath, nor in justice. \"Whom the Lord _loveth_ he\nchasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.\"--Heb. 12:6.\n\nThere are many who profess to be redeemed, to be God's children,\nprofessed Christians, church members, who sin wilfully, and God never\nsends chastisements to them; but God explains about them, \"But if ye\nbe without chastening, whereof all are partakers, then are ye\nbastards, and not sons.\"--Heb. 12:8. He does not chasten this class;\nin Hell they will receive their punishment, but it will be just. God\nwill treat no human being wrong. With some it may seem severe that God\nshould chasten and scourge His children. That is not as severe as to\nsend them to Hell for their wilful disobedience after they become His\nchildren, and that is the belief of many. There are but three plans\nthat God could have for those who have been redeemed from the curse of\nlaw (Gal. 3:13) and adopted as His children (Gal. 4:4-7), and\nafterward sin wilfully:--\n\nFirst, beyond this life punish them in the judgment (Matt. 10:15) for\ntheir sins, send them to Hell. That would mean, (1) if Christ redeemed\nthem from _all_ iniquity (Titus 2:14), that God would force the same\ndebt to be paid twice. \"Shall not the judge of all the earth do\nright?\" (2) That would mean that God would punish, by law, those who\nhave been redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), and who are\nnot under the law (Rom. 6:14), and would violate God's own principle,\n\"Sin is not reckoned [imputed] when there is no law\" (Rom. 5:13). (3)\nThat would mean a child of God, redeemed and adopted (Gal. 4:4-7), and\nborn again (1 Peter 1:23), born of the Holy Spirit (John 3:8), sent to\nHell. (4) That would mean to make the Saviour unreliable and\nuntruthful in His statements. \"Many will say unto me in that day,\nLord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have\ncast out demons? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then\nwill I profess unto them, I _never_ knew you.\"--Matt. 7:22, 23. These\nare the professing Christians at the judgment who are lost, and Jesus\nsays, \"I never knew you,\" that not one of them was ever really\nredeemed and adopted as a child of God. (5) It would mean for God to\nviolate His own oath (Ps. 89: 27-35).\n\nSecond, the second plan possible to God in dealing with those who sin\nwilfully after they have been redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14),\nfrom the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), and adopted as God's children\n(Gal. 4:4-7), would be to let them continue to sin wilfully, and\nneither punish them beyond this life, at the judgment, in Hell, nor\nchastise them in this life. That would mean for some of them to\neventually develop characters most fearfully warped by sin.\n\nThird, there is but one other possible plan left for God with redeemed\nmen, redeemed from the law and adopted as His children (Gal. 4:7), who\nsin wilfully; and that is to chasten, chastise them in this life. That\nis God's plan with the redeemed, His own children; and however severe\nthe chastening, He does it in love. In love He planned to adopt us as\nHis children. \"Having _in love_ predestinated us for the adoption as\nsons through Jesus Christ to himself.\"--Eph. 1:5 (1911 Bible), and in\nlove He chastises. \"Whom the Lord _loveth_, he chasteneth and\nscourgeth every son whom he receiveth.\"--Heb. 12:6.\n\nReader, the issue is before you: shall you remain under the law (Rom.\n3:19) to be punished justly in the judgment (Matt. 11:22-24) and to\ncontinue to sin in Hell (Rev. 22:11, R. V.), or will you accept\nredemption through Christ the Saviour from the curse of the law (Gal.\n3:13), be adopted as a child of God forever (Gal. 4:4-7), to be\nforgiven when you sin against your Father in Heaven and confess your\nsin (1 John 1:9); to be chastened when you sin wilfully (Ps.\n89:27-34), and to spend eternity in Heaven with Him who loved you and\ngave Himself for you (John 14:1-3; Gal. 2:20), free forever from sin\n(Rev. 21:24-27; Rev. 22:3)? You do not intend, reader, to be wrapped\nin a Christless shroud, to be laid away in a Christless grave, to\nspend eternity in a Christless Hell. Decide _now_.\n\n_FOR FURTHER STUDY_:--The teaching that God interposes in human\naffairs to chastise His disobedient children (Heb. 12:5-8; Ps.\n89:27-34), to chasten with the rod of the children of men (2 Sam.\n7:14, 15; 1 Cor. 11:30), will frighten, or arouse the contempt of,\n\"the modern mind\" with its self-inflated wisdom, which _just knows_\nthat \"the laws of nature are immutable laws.\" Is there a being called\n\"Nature\" who made these laws? Who revealed to \"the modern mind\" that\nthese laws were immutable? Where did \"the modern mind\" get its\nauthority (it takes for granted that it has the power) to drive God\nfrom His universe, or to make Him powerless, or inactive? Can \"the\nmodern mind\" prove absolutely that because God's law of gravitation\ncauses objects to fall toward the earth, He has no right and no power\nto make Elijah's body go up instead of down (2 Kings 2:11)? Does \"the\nmodern mind\" absolutely know that God is now inactive and must remain\ninactive? \"Dr. Mason Goode observes that worlds and systems of worlds\nare perpetually disappearing, that within the period of the last\ncentury no less than thirteen in different constellations seem to have\nperished and _ten new ones have been created_.\"--_\"Origin of the\nGlobe.\"_ If God is active out in space, who shall deny Him the right\nor the power to be active on this planet? And if active on this planet\nat all, then in the individual lives of His children? And in His word,\nbacked up by fulfilled prophecies, to prove that He _is_ dealing with\nus, He tells us that He is. Is \"the modern mind\" too scholarly, too\nself-opinionated, to consider the following words from Prof. James Orr\nin his \"The Resurrection of Jesus\" (\"the modern mind\" is very careful\nnot to attempt a thorough reply to Professor Orr's \"Problem of the\nOld Testament,\" nor his \"Resurrection of Jesus\"--for obvious reasons)?\n\"The question is not, Do natural causes operate uniformly? But _are\nnatural causes the only causes that exist or operate_? For miracle, as\nhas frequently been pointed out, is precisely the assertion of the\ninterposition of a _new_ cause; one, besides, which the theist must\nadmit to be a _vera causa_.\"\n\nIf when we become God's children, we are no longer under the law (Rom.\n6:14), we are redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), we are no more\nservants but sons (Gal. 4:7), the question arises, why pray to Our\nFather in Heaven to be forgiven? The child does not ask his father's\nforgiveness in order to be his child, but to have the disturbed\nfellowship restored. The unforgiven child is still a child, but will\nbe chastened. It is fellowship of the Heavenly Father with the child\nthat is restored by forgiveness, and is sought in forgiveness, and not\na destroyed relationship. On this point hear James Denny in his \"The\nDeath of Christ\": \"Christ died for sins once for all, and the man who\nbelieves in Christ and in His death has his relations to God once for\nall determined not by sin but by the Atonement. The sin for which a\nChristian has daily to seek forgiveness is not sin which annuls his\nacceptance with God.\"\n\nThere needs to be kept in mind, in considering that God chastens His\nchildren, the distinction that while chastenings are sufferings, all\nsufferings are not chastisements. The expression, \"whom the Lord\nloveth he chasteneth\" (Heb. 12:6), has been widely misused and sadly\nmisapplied. Because David's babe was taken from him as a chastisement\n(2 Sam. 12:14), many thoughtlessly conclude that every babe's death is\nmeant for a chastisement for the father and mother; and many apply\n\"Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth\" to all of the sorrows and\nsufferings of God's children. But there is another purpose\naccomplished by some sufferings, in \"that the trial of your faith\nbeing much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be\ntried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the\nappearing of Jesus Christ.\"--1 Peter 1:7. \"And he shall sit as a\npurifier and refiner of silver.\"--Matt. 3:3. The silver is not to\nblame for the dross; nevertheless, it needs to be burned out. A child\nstole a piece of bread; the father chastised the child for it. That\nchastening was suffering. But the same child was born a cripple. In\nstraightening the foot, the father forced many weeks of fearful\nsuffering on the child, but the suffering was not chastisement.\nChastisements are sufferings of God's children for wrongdoing to\ncorrect them; but there are sufferings that are not chastisements for\nwrongdoing, but are to take out of us defects, or to develop us.\nHence, to say to some one who is suffering from sorrow or affliction,\n\"Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,\" is often cruel and untrue.\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nREWARDS--DEGREES IN HEAVEN\n\n     \"I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.\"--John\n     10:28.--\"Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.\"--Matt. 6:20.\n\n     \"By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of\n     yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any one\n     should boast.\"--Eph. 2:8, 9.--\"Each man shall receive his own\n     reward _according to his own labor_.\"--1 Cor. 3:8.\n\n     \"Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus\n     Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver,\n     costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be made\n     manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be\n     revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what\n     sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon,\n     he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he\n     shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through\n     fire.\"--1 Cor. 3:11-15.\n\n     \"But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be\n     required of thee; then whose shall those things be, which thou hast\n     provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not\n     _rich_ toward God.\"--Luke 12:20, 21.\n\n     \"Whosoever would save his life shall lose _it_; and whosoever shall\n     lose his life for my sake shall find _it_. For what shall a man be\n     profited if he shall gain the whole world and forfeit his life, or\n     what shall a man give in exchange for his life? For the Son of man\n     shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and then\n     shall he render unto every man _according to his deeds_.\"--Matt.\n     16:25-27 (R. V.)\n\n     \"Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give each one\n     _according as his work shall be_.\"--Rev. 22:12.\n\n\nThe teaching of God's word of degrees in future punishment (\"These\nshall receive greater condemnation,\"--Mark 12:40) according to\nheredity and environment (\"It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and\nSidon at the day of judgment than for you;\" \"it shall be more\ntolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for\nthee,\"--Matt. 11:22, 24), and according to sin (\"Every transgression\nand disobedience received a just recompense of reward,\"--Heb. 2:2),\ncommends itself to the judgment, to the conscience, of every honest\nman. The companion teaching to this in God's word is that there will\nbe different degrees, or rewards, in Heaven. Just as the degree of\nman's punishment in Hell will be determined by his life here; so the\ndegree of a man's reward in Heaven will be determined by his life\nhere. The dividing line is redemption.\n\nWith many, salvation and rewards mean the same thing, but the Saviour\nmade a clear distinction. \"I give unto them eternal life, and they\nshall never perish.\"--John 10:28 (\"He that believeth on me hath\neverlasting life.\"--John 6:47);--\"Lay up for yourselves treasures in\nHeaven.\"--Matt. 6:20. Our salvation is a gift and depends upon the\nSaviour; our treasures in Heaven must be laid up by ourselves. Paul\nmakes the distinction equally clear. \"By grace have ye been saved\nthrough faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not\nof works, lest any man should boast.\"--Eph. 2:8, 9 (R. V.).--\"Each man\nshall receive his own reward according to his own labor.\"--1 Cor. 3:8.\nBut by rewards for service God's word does not mean God's blessings on\nthe faithful Christians in this life. It means rewards beyond this\nlife. Jesus said, \"When thou makest a dinner or a supper call not thy\nfriends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen nor thy rich neighbors,\nlest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when\nthou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind;\nand thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee, for thou\nshalt be recompensed _at the resurrection of the just_.\"--Luke\n14:12-14.\n\nIf \"each man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor\"\n(1 Cor. 3:8), there will, then, be different rewards or degrees in\nHeaven; for doubtless no two redeemed people ever served God in\nexactly the same degree of faithfulness. Paul makes this distinction\nclear, as well as the difference between salvation and rewards. He\nuses the illustration of building houses out of different material. He\nhas been speaking of preachers and their work, and then seems to turn\nand apply his teaching to every one, for he says, \"Let every man take\nheed how he buildeth thereupon.\"--1 Cor. 3:10. Whether he is speaking\nonly of preachers and their work, or applies it to every man; whether\nhe is speaking of building in the lives of others by what we teach or\ndo, or whether he makes a turn and applies it to every man and his\nbuilding in his own life, he draws the clear distinction between the\nfoundation on which the building rests and the building built\nthereupon, between salvation alone through Christ, and rewards for\nservice: \"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which\nis Jesus Christ. Now, if any man build upon this foundation gold,\nsilver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be\nmade manifest; for the day shall declare it; because it shall be\nrevealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort\nit is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall\nreceive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer\nloss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.\"--1 Cor.\n3:11-15. Why is he saved? Because he has been redeemed from the curse\nof the law, Christ having been made a curse for him (Gal. 3:13);\nbecause he has been redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14); because\nhe has been redeemed from under the law (Rom. 6:14); and God means His\npromise, \"Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved\" (Acts\n16:31), and he means the promise of the Saviour, \"Verily, verily I say\nunto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me\nhath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation; but is\npassed from death unto life.\"\n\nBut when the redeemed man's works shall be burned, though he himself\nshall be saved (1 Cor. 3:15), he shall suffer loss (1 Cor. 3:15), and\nthe loss shall be irreparable, eternal, and so great that no human\nbeing in this age can fully realize it. Here the old translation, the\nKing James' version, has misled us. The oft-quoted sentence, \"What is\na man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul? or\nwhat shall a man give in exchange for his soul?\" is a mistranslation.\nThe Revised Version translates it correctly: \"What shall a man be\nprofited, if he shall gain the whole world and forfeit his life, or\nwhat shall a man give in exchange for his life?\"--Matt. 16:26. By\nnoticing verse 25, and verse 27 the reader can see what the Saviour\nmeant: \"whosoever would save his life shall lose _it_,\" not his soul,\nbut his life, \"and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall\nfind _it_,\" his life not his soul; \"whosoever shall lose his life for\nmy sake,\"--men do lose their lives for His sake, but no one loses his\nsoul for the Saviour's sake. Following immediately He says, verse 26,\n\"For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world\nand forfeit his life? or what shall a man give in exchange for his\nlife?\" In verse 27 the Saviour makes plain how a man who would save\nhis life, loses it, and how the one who shall lose his life for the\nSaviour's sake shall find it,--in the rewards that he loses by trying\nto save his life, or gains by losing his life for the Saviour's sake,\n\"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his\nangels; and then shall he render unto every man according to his\ndeeds.\" What deeds? Deeds of losing his life for the Saviour's sake.\nFor all eternity he will have no reward for the life he lived here--he\nhas lost his life. Now, the Saviour says that if a man \"shall gain the\nwhole world,\" and in doing so shall \"forfeit his life,\"--shall have no\nreward in eternity as a result of his life (the principle laid down by\nPaul, whether of preachers or of all, \"if any man's work shall be\nburned he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved.\"--1 Cor.\n3:15), he has made a fearful mistake. But if the one who \"shall gain\nthe whole world\" and in doing so \"shall forfeit his life,\" shall have\nno reward for it, makes a fearful mistake, how much greater mistake\ndoes the one make who forfeits his life to have no reward throughout\neternity, in order to gain a very small part of the world, as so many\nare doing? But if the one who \"shall forfeit his life,\"--have no\nreward in eternity,--in order to gain but a very small part of the\nworld, makes such a fearful, such a great mistake, far worse is the\nbargain made by the unredeemed man who loses not only his life but\nalso loses his soul in order to gain a very small part of \"the whole\nworld\"; and yet this is what the vast majority of men are doing. We\ncannot grasp it, we cannot realize it, but Jesus says that the\nrewards (not salvation--1 Cor. 3:15) that men are losing are more than\n\"the whole world.\"\n\nAnother teaching of the Saviour along this line has been widely\nmisapplied: \"He spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a\ncertain rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought within\nhimself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to\nbestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my\nbarns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my\ngoods, and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up\nfor many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God\nsaid unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of\nthee; then whose shall those things be, which thou hast\nprovided?\"--Luke 12:16-20. At once many rush to the conclusion that he\nwas lost, that he went to Hell; and they proceed to warn men against\nlaying up treasures in this life and losing their souls. But God said,\n\"This night thy soul shall be required of thee,\" not \"this night thy\nsoul shall go to Hell.\" Let the Saviour make His own application: \"So\nis he that layeth up treasures for himself and _is not rich toward\nGod_.\"--Luke 12:21. \"If any man's work abide which he hath built\nthereupon he shall receive a reward\" (1 Cor. 3:14), he is rich toward\nGod; \"if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss\" (1 Cor.\n3:15), he is a fool; he spent a life here on earth and has no reward\nin eternity as a result of it;--\"but he himself shall be saved, yet so\nas through fire.\"--1 Cor. 3:15. (If in the passage 1 Cor. 3:11-15,\nPaul is speaking only of preachers and their work in building on the\nfoundation of Christ in the lives of others by their teaching, he yet\nshows that some whose work abides will be rewarded, and that others\nwhose work shall be burned shall suffer loss and yet shall be saved;\nso that the principle applies with all Christians). Two cases in\npoint:--\n\nA great American statesman was told by his physician that in a few\ndays he must die. That afternoon a minister called to see the dying\nstatesman and asked as to his hope beyond the grave. The dying\nstatesman replied, \"Mr. Blank, I am going to Heaven when I die.\" The\nminister asked the dying man on what he based his hope. He replied:\n\"Mr. Blank, I am ashamed to say that I am a Christian; but now that\nthe time has come, I must not deny my Saviour. When I am dead tell\nyour people that days before I died, when my mind was calm and clear,\nI gave my dying testimony that I was going to Heaven, redeemed by the\nblood of Christ.\" The minister pressed the question, why he thought he\nwas a Christian. The statesman said to the negro man who was nursing\nhim, \"Jack, go into my library and bring me my Bible.\" Turning to the\nminister he said, \"Mr. Blank, as I said to you, I am ashamed to say\nthat I am a Christian, but now that the time has come, I must not deny\nmy Saviour. Long years ago, back in the old red hills of Georgia, when\nI was a young man, one Sunday in an old country church I heard a\nBaptist preacher preach, and I understood him. He showed that God\nhonestly loves this world, that Jesus Christ, God's Son, died for our\nsins, and that He died for all of our sins; and that every one who\nwould repent and trust Christ to save him was certain to go to Heaven.\nOut there in that old country church in the red hills of Georgia I\naccepted Jesus Christ as my Redeemer and Saviour that Sunday morning,\nand trusted Him to save me. I came west and became overwhelmed in\nbusiness and politics. I have wasted my life.\" Just then the negro man\nreturned and handed the Bible to the dying statesman. He turned the\nleaves and finally stopped, and turning to the minister he said, \"Mr.\nBlank, I am ashamed to say it, but I don't know much about this book;\nbut I do know that this is God's word; and I do know that out in the\nold country church in the red hills of Georgia that Sunday morning,\nwhen I heard and understood the country preacher, I did, as a guilty,\nlost, justly condemned sinner, accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour and\nRedeemer and trust Him to save me. Listen, Mr. Blank: 'He that\nbelieveth on the Son hath everlasting life.' Mr. Blank, God says I\nhave everlasting life, and I am going to Heaven when I die.\" And\nturning, the great statesman buried his face in his pillow and sobbed\nout his grief and remorse. He did go to Heaven, \"but God said unto\nhim, Thou fool ... so is he that layeth up treasures for himself and\nis not rich toward God.\"--Luke 12:20, 21.\n\nThe second case in point:--\n\nA rich banker in the West a few weeks before Christmas sent a check\nfor three hundred and fifty dollars to his brother in the East, a poor\ncountry preacher, telling him to come and bring all of his family and\nspend Christmas with him. They had not seen each other since boyhood.\nThe preacher and family arrived Christmas eve morning. That afternoon\nin carriages the two families drove over the banker's beautiful farm\nof a thousand acres of rich land. Coming in late in the afternoon,\nthey came by the pasture and saw the beautiful herd of blooded cattle.\nAfter a sumptuous supper the banker's daughters gave them some\nsplendid music and the two families went upstairs to sleep. The two\nwhite-haired brothers, the banker and the poor country preacher,\nremained downstairs, and for hours talked of boyhood days in the old\ncountry home in the East. At last the conversation, like the fire in\nthe fireplace, had about died out. Finally the banker turned and said,\n\"Brother John, may I say something to you and you not get angry?\" Said\nthe preacher, \"Why, brother James, you can say anything you wish to me\nand I will not get angry.\" Said the banker, \"Brother John, you and I\nwere poor boys back in the old country home in the East and we agreed\nto be partners for life. One day you came to me and told me that you\nwere called to preach. I told you then that you were a fool. What a\nfool you have been! Do you remember that rich farm of a thousand acres\nyou saw this afternoon? Paid for with honest money, John. This\ncomfortable home for my old age, paid for with honest money, John. The\nfifty thousand dollars I have in the bank in the city where I am\npresident of the bank, every dollar of it honest money, John. John,\nyou could have had as much as I have. What a fool you have been! Why,\nI had to send you the three hundred and fifty dollars to bring you and\nyour family that I might see them before I die. And look at your\ndaughters; they are dressed in such a shabby way that I am ashamed for\nmy neighbors to see my children's cousins. And look at you with your\nold seedy, worn suit and your patched shoes; I am ashamed to take you\nto town day after to-morrow and introduce you to my business\nassociates. What a fool you have been! Now, John, I am not saying this\nto wound your feelings; for I love you, John. But I don't want you to\nlet any of your boys be such fools as you have been. You know you have\nbeen a fool, John.\" Then there was silence for some time. The tears\nwere trickling down the cheeks of the old country preacher. At last he\nbroke the silence, \"Brother James, may I say something to you and you\nnot get angry?\" \"Why, certainly, John, I did not say what I did to\nmake you angry, but to keep you from letting any of your boys be such\nfools as you have been, for you know you have been a fool, John.\" \"I\nknow,\" replied the old preacher, \"that it looks like I have been a\nfool from this end of the line, brother James. But, brother James, we\nare both old men and we must soon go. Don't be angry with me, brother\nJames, but what have you got up yonder?\" Again there was silence,\nwhich was suddenly broken by the banker sobbing, \"Oh, John, I am a\npauper at the judgment bar of God.\" \"So is he that layeth up treasures\nfor himself and is not rich toward God.\" They are dying all over the\nworld, men who are redeemed, going to Heaven, but paupers. \"If any\nman's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall\nbe saved, yet so as through fire,\"--1 Cor. 3:15. But far better be a\npauper, and saved without any reward, than be a rich man in Hell (Luke\n16:22, 23): for they are dying all over the world who not only lived\nfor this life, but from pride, or religious prejudice, or love of the\nworld, or secret sin, would not repent and be redeemed from the curse\nof the law (Gal. 3:13) and be saved (Acts 16:31).\n\nWith this teaching, that there are rewards in Heaven, there is another\nmost helpful teaching and blessed fact, that the poorest, most\nignorant and obscure can have just as great rewards as the richest,\nmost learned, most applauded. \"Each man shall receive his own reward\n_according to his own labor_,\"--1 Cor. 3:8, not according to what he\naccomplishes. \"Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to\ngive each one _according as his work shall be_,\"--Rev. 22:12; not\naccording as his success shall be. \"And Jesus sat over against the\ntreasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury; and\nmany that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow,\nand she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto\nhim his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That\nthis poor widow hath cast in more than all they that have cast into\nthe treasury.\"--Mark 12:41-43. The wealthy, the mighty, the renowned\nwho serve faithfully after they were redeemed from the curse of the\nlaw (Gal. 3:13), from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), shall receive their\nreward. But the poor, the weak, the obscure who serve faithfully after\nthey are redeemed shall receive equally as great rewards; and if they\nhave been more faithful, however small their sphere, they shall\nreceive even greater rewards. \"Two mites that make a farthing,\" but it\nwas all she could do; \"Verily I say unto you that this poor widow hath\ncast in more than all they that have cast into the treasury.\"--Mark\n12:42, 43. In an American city, one morning a man apparently sixty or\nseventy years of age, dressed as a plain business man, walked into the\ndining-room of one of the leading hotels and sat down to breakfast.\nSome men at the adjoining table were talking of a sad case of\nsuffering, as reported in the morning paper; a poor widow with five\nchildren was very sick, who had, since her husband's death a few years\nbefore, struggled and made a living for herself and children; but now,\nhaving been down sick for some time, everything was gone and they were\nsuffering. The stranger listened to the sad story; and, having\nfinished breakfast, he called a newsboy and bought a paper. The\naccount gave the street address of the poor widow. He went to the\nstreet address, a street of poor cottages, and, knocking at the door,\nwas led into the sick room by a child. He saw the condition of affairs\nand heard the widow's story. Sitting by the bedside, he talked in a\nfatherly, cheerful way and tried to encourage the poor widow; and\nquietly slipping something under the pillow, as he was talking, he\ntold the widow to use that as she needed it. Then taking out a little\nbook from his pocket, he wrote something and tore the paper out of the\nlittle book and slipped the paper under a book and told the widow to\nuse that when she needed it. Then calling down God's blessings upon\nthe widow and her fatherless children, he bade them good-bye. As the\ndoor closed, the widow slipped her hand under the pillow and drew out\na roll of money, to her a large sum. Then she reached for the piece of\npaper under the book on the table. There was a check for a goodly sum,\nsigned by one of America's Christian millionaires. The glow in his\nsoul as he walked away from the widow's cottage was not the only\nreward--\"thou shalt be _recompensed at the resurrection of the\njust_.\"--Luke 14:14. But the following Sunday a poor widow working in\na sweatshop to make a living for her fatherless children, listened to\nan appeal for foreign missions, to get the gospel to those who have\nnever heard, and she threw in ten cents, all she could give, \"two\nmites that make a farthing.\"--\"Verily I say unto you, That this poor\nwidow hath cast in more than all they that have cast into the\ntreasury.\"--Mark 12:42, 43. All over the world, by the multiplied\nmillions, there are graves where lie sleeping the bodies of those who,\ndown the ages, because they were redeemed, gave their lives in\nservice. They went down to their graves, their praises unsung by the\nworld. Many of them went down to their graves, never realizing that\nthere were rewards for them; simply rejoicing in their salvation\nthrough Him who loved them and gave Himself for them (Gal. 2:20).\n\n    \"The desert rose, though never seen by man;\n      Is nurtured with a care divinely good;\n    The ocean pearl, though 'neath the rolling main,\n      Is ever brilliant in the eyes of God.\n\n    \"Think not thy worth and work are all unknown\n      Because no partial pensman paint thy praise;\n    Man may not see nor care, but God will own\n      Thy worth and work; thy thoughts and deeds and ways.\"\n\nRiding along a lonely country road one Sunday afternoon, many years\nago, returning from a country church, a young preacher was talking to\nhis companion, a young man eighteen years of age, telling him of God's\nlove and of _God's plan with men_. The conversation had ended, and for\nsome minutes they had been riding along in silence, when suddenly the\nyoung man spurred his horse up to the young preacher's horse, and\nseizing the reins, stopped both horses. Dropping the reins, he threw\nboth arms around the preacher's neck, and as he began sobbing said,\n\"Oh, R----, how good God is!\" How little men consider God's goodness.\nHow good God is to have ever brought us into being! How good God is,\nthough we have all sinned against Him (Rom. 3:23), \"that he might be\njust and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus\" (Rom. 3:26),\nto have provided complete redemption for us from all iniquity (Titus\n2:14)! How good God is to have \"in love predestinated us for adoption\nas sons through Jesus Christ to himself\"!--Eph. 1:5. How good God is\nto chastise us in love (Heb. 12:5, 6) instead of punishing us in Hell\nfor our sins after we become His children (Ps. 89:27-34)! How good God\nis to place us where we will serve Him from love, and not from fear of\npunishment (2 Cor. 5:14, 15)! How good God is, in addition to our\nsalvation, to provide rewards in Heaven for the services we render\nhere (Matt. 6:20)! How good God is to provide that the poor, the\nignorant, the obscure, can have just as great rewards as the more\nfortunate ones (Mark 1:41, 42)! How good God is to say, \"if any man's\nwork shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be\nsaved, yet so as through fire\"!--1 Cor. 3:15.\n\n_FOR FURTHER STUDY_:--The objection that the teaching of rewards in\nHeaven makes Christianity too matter-of-fact is not well taken.\nPunishments or rewards last through all eternity; with the unredeemed,\nin added degrees to the punishment in Hell; with the redeemed, in\nadded rewards in Heaven. And they need to realize that with both\nclasses this applies to the smallest deeds: \"But I say unto you, That\nevery idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account\nthereof in the day of judgment.\"--Matt. 12:36. \"And whosoever shall\ngive to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only\nin the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise\nlose his reward.\"--Matt. 10:42.\n\nNeither is the objection well taken that to teach men to aim to have\nrewards in Heaven is appealing to an unworthy motive. Jesus taught it\n(Matt. 6:20), Paul taught it (1 Cor. 3:11-15), Moses endorsed it (Heb.\n11:26), and the objector himself prays for God's blessings here in\nthis life.\n\nNor is the objection well founded, that for people to aim to have\nrewards will destroy the motive of love. Rather, it adds to the motive\nof love. A father gives his son, yet not of age, a fine farm. That\narouses the boy's love. The father tells the boy that, though not of\nage, he may have the full reward of his labor on the farm, beginning\nat once. This does not destroy the motive of love. So, the Saviour,\nhaving died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3), and given us eternal life\n(John 10:28, 29), arouses our love; to give us the privilege of having\nrewards in addition to salvation (Matt. 6:20), does not destroy our\nlove, but increases it.\n\nThere is one limitation God's word makes to our deeds being rewarded:\n\"Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men to be seen of\nthem: else ye have no reward with your Father who is in Heaven. When\ntherefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the\nhypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have\nglory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward.\nBut when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy right\nhand doeth; that thine alms may be in secret; and thy Father who seeth\nin secret shall recompense thee.\"--Matt. 6:1-4. If a redeemed man does\nhis righteous deeds in order to get glory as reward here, he gets it,\nbut none in Heaven,--the wrong motive prevents his receiving rewards\nin Heaven. _God rewards according to the motive._\n\nThere seems to be one other limitation to receiving rewards in Heaven\nfor the deeds of this life: \"Whosoever therefore shall break one of\nthese least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called\nthe least in the kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach\nthem the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.\"--Matt.\n5:19. The teaching seems to be that for one to deliberately break even\nthe least commandment, while he will be saved (\"The least _in the\nkingdom of Heaven_\") yet he will have no reward (\"_The least_ in the\nkingdom of Heaven\").\n\nThere is one passage of Scripture that some have thought contradicts\nthe teaching of different rewards in Heaven: \"The kingdom of Heaven is\nlike unto a man, an householder, who went out early in the morning to\nhire laborers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the\nlaborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he\nwent out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the\nmarket place, and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard and\nwhatsoever is right I will give you, and they went their way. Again he\nwent out about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, and did likewise.\nAnd about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing\nidle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They\nsay unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye\nalso into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye\nreceive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto\nhis steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning\nfrom the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about\nthe eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first\ncame, they supposed that they should have received more, and they\nlikewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it,\nthey murmured against the goodman of the house, saying, These last\nhave wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, who\nhave borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them\nand said, Friend, I do thee no wrong; didst not thou agree with me for\na penny? Take that thine is and go thy way; _I will give unto this\nlast even as unto thee_.\"--Matt. 20:1-14. From this the conclusion is\ndrawn that there are no different rewards in Heaven; that all are\nrewarded alike. But not only does God's word elsewhere teach different\nrewards in Heaven, but the Saviour made His teaching on this point\nvery plain. In the parable of the pounds, the servant who with one\npound gained ten pounds is rewarded with authority over ten cities.\nBut the one who with one pound gained only five pounds is rewarded\nwith only five cities (Luke 19:16-19). This shows clearly a difference\nin rewards. If, now, this passage in Matthew teaches no difference in\nrewards, then we have a positive contradiction. But consider the two\nparables: the parable of the pounds is where men have the same\nopportunity, each one a pound; then they are rewarded according to\nwhat they accomplish. The parable of the vineyard is where the\nlaborers work different lengths of time; in the morning, boys and\ngirls, six, eight, ten, twelve years of age, becoming Christians and\ngoing into the vineyard; the third hour, young people, fifteen,\neighteen, twenty years of age, becoming Christians and going into the\nvineyard; the sixth hour, young men and young women, twenty-five,\nthirty, thirty-five years of age, becoming Christians and going into\nthe vineyard; the ninth hour, men and women past middle life, forty,\nforty-five, fifty years of age, becoming Christians and going into\nthe vineyard; the eleventh hour, old men and women, sixty, seventy,\neighty years of age, becoming Christians and going into the vineyard.\nBut does the Saviour mean all old men and women who become Christians\nin old age and begin working in the vineyard? No, for He limits it to\nthose in old age who can say, \"_No man hath hired us_.\" Then the\nSaviour means by the eleventh hour laborers in the parable those who\nin old age had never before had the opportunity of going into the\nvineyard; who had never before heard or understood the way to be\nsaved, and enter God's service. With these, the Saviour reserves the\nsovereign right to give them just as great rewards as though they had\nentered the vineyard \"early in the morning\"; not that those who \"have\nborne the burden and heat of the day\" shall receive less, but that\nthose who did not have the opportunity of entering the vineyard\nsooner, shall not lose because of it. Some one may think that there\nare no old men and women who do not know the way to be saved and enter\nthe vineyard. Even in professedly Christian lands there are many old\nmen and women who, because of wrong religious teaching, have never\nseen the real way to be saved; and in China and Africa there are vast\nnumbers who can say, \"No man hath hired us.\" To take a case: a mere\nchild becomes a Christian and serves in the vineyard for seventy\nyears; an old Chinaman eighty years of age hears the gospel for the\nfirst time, and becomes a Christian and works in the vineyard only one\nyear and dies. He will receive as great a reward as the one who served\nGod seventy years. Apply this principle to the redeemed who died in\nearly life: if those who entered at the eleventh hour, \"because no man\nhath hired us\" receive for one hour as much as those who have labored\nthroughout the day, then those who entered the third hour and the Lord\nof the vineyard himself took them out the fourth hour, will receive as\ngreat rewards as though they had been left to bear the burden and heat\nof the day. Blessed consolation to those who have lost loved ones who\nwere taken early in life.\n\nThree of the Saviour's parables are closely connected in their\nteaching concerning rewards: The parable of the pounds, where each\nservant has a pound and one gains ten pounds and another five; one\nreceives authority over ten cities, the other receives authority over\nfive cities, just half the reward of the other, because he was just\nhalf as faithful (Luke 19:16-19). This parable represents that class\nof men who have equal opportunity in life (each one a pound) and\nteaches that their reward will be in proportion to what they\naccomplish. The second is the parable of the vineyard, representing\nthe length of time of service when the laborers were not to blame for\nnot entering the vineyard earlier; showing that they shall not lose\nbecause they could not get into the vineyard to work earlier. The\nthird is the parable of the talents, where the one with five talents\ngained five other talents and the one with two talents gained two\nother talents, and they both received the same commendation, the same\nreward, \"I will make thee ruler over many things\" (Matt. 25:20-23);\nteaching that the one with small opportunity (two talents) if he uses\nit faithfully, will receive as great reward as the one with great\nopportunity (five talents) who uses it faithfully.\n\nA widely misunderstood passage of Scripture bearing on the subject of\nrewards is 1 Cor. 9:24-27: \"Know ye not that they that run in a race\nrun all, but only one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain.\nAnd every contestant in the games is temperate in all things. They,\nindeed, do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.\nI therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that\nbeateth the air; but I buffet my body and bring it into subjection;\nlest that by any means, after having preached to others, I myself\nshould be disapproved.\"--The 1911 Bible. The Authorized Version reads\n\"a castaway\"; the Revised Version reads \"rejected.\" Many have thought\nthat Paul was striving that he might not be a castaway (or rejected)\nfrom salvation. But notice the passage; he was striving not to be a\ncastaway (or rejected) from something that is secured as a result of\none's own efforts, \"so run that ye may obtain.\" Salvation is not\nsecured as a result of one's efforts; \"to him that _worketh not_ but\nbelieveth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for\nrighteousness.\"--Rom. 4:5. Rewards are secured as a result of one's\nown efforts; \"each man shall receive his own reward according to his\nown labor.\"--1 Cor. 3:8. Again, what Paul was striving not to be a\ncastaway (or rejected) from, is something that one receives after the\nrace is finished; but salvation comes at the beginning of the race\ncourse, \"He that believeth on the Son _hath_ everlasting life,\"--John\n3:36; \"by grace _have ye been_ saved.\"--Eph. 2:8. Rewards do come\nafter the race is finished;--\"thou shalt be recompensed _at the\nresurrection of the just_.\"--Luke 14:14. Again, in saying \"I buffet my\nbody,\" he has no reference to buffeting his body to keep it from sin,\nbut from _comforts and privileges that are not sinful_. In the entire\nchapter he has referred only to his not eating and drinking; not\nleading about a wife as well as other apostles and the brethren of the\nLord and Cephas; not being supported by those to whom he preached (1\nCor. 9:4-14); and in each case he says that he has a right to these\nthings. Was Paul buffeting his body against having a wife lest he\nshould be a castaway (or rejected) from salvation? Then only the Roman\nCatholic priests, among the preachers, will be saved. Was Paul\nbuffeting his body against being supported by those to whom he\npreached, and working with his own hands for his living, lest he\nshould be a castaway (or rejected) from salvation? Then the Roman\nCatholic priests and almost all of the Protestant and Baptists\npreachers will be lost. Will a man be a castaway (or rejected) from\nsalvation for enjoying comforts and privileges that are not sinful and\nto which he has a right? But let Paul state for himself what he means:\n\"For if I do this thing willingly _I have a reward_.\"--1 Cor. 9:17. He\nthen urges the Corinthian Christians to run in the race that they may\nreceive the prize. \"I buffet my body and bring it into subjection\n(from enjoying these sinless comforts and privileges); lest that by\nany means, after having preached (R. V. margin \"have been a herald\")\nto others (preaching or heralding to run in the race and so run as to\nobtain the prize, the reward) I myself should be disapproved\" (a\ncastaway, rejected,--from the prize, the reward). \"If any man's work\nabide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any\nman's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall\nbe saved, yet so as through fire.\"--1 Cor. 3:14, 15.\n\nBut does Paul teach that there are rewards for bodily sufferings and\nself-denials? Let him explain: \"Though I am free from all men, yet\nhave I made myself servant unto all, _that I might gain the more_.\"--1\nCor. 9:19. That, by giving up these comforts and privileges he might\nwin more people to be saved (1 Cor. 9:20-22).\n\nThere is the prize, there are rewards, for those who bring their\nbodies under from comforts and privileges that they may thereby win\nothers to be saved. With the coppers in the foreign mission envelope\nfrom an orphan newsboy was found a note written in a child's awkward\nhandwriting, \"Starved a meal to give a meal.\" He would not have been a\ncastaway from salvation had he bought and eaten his lunch that day;\nbut there will be, at the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:14), the\nprize for having brought his body into subjection that he might gain\nthe more.\n\nDuring a collection for foreign missions, a poor, ragged, one-legged\nnegro hobbled down the aisle and laid three packages of money on the\ntable: \"Dat's fur my wife; dat's fur my boy; dat's fur me.\" When the\ncollector saw the amount, he protested, saying that it was too much\nfor a poor crippled man to give. As a matter of fact, it meant weeks\nof sacrificing, sometimes with no meat on the table. As the tears\ntrickled down the black cheeks, the negro said, \"Oh, Boss, de Lord's\ncause must go on, and I may soon be dead\"; and turning he hobbled back\nto his seat. He was only a poor, ignorant, one-legged negro, but he\nran in the race, and at the resurrection of the just he will receive\nthe prize.\n\nA Christian Chinaman sold himself to some mine owners that he might go\ndown in the mines and while working lead his fellow-Chinamen to be\nsaved. He had no support from those to whom he preached, but worked\nwith his own hands. He ran in the race, and will receive the prize.\n\nIf the young Catholic priest was redeemed who turned from the comforts\nand privileges of a wife and home and gave himself for the lepers,\nthere will be the prize at the resurrection of the just.\n\nThe world says that a man is a fool to make such sacrifices; Jesus\nsaid: \"Thou fool ... so is he that layeth up treasures for himself and\nis not rich toward God.\"--Luke 12:20, 21. \"If any man's work abide\nwhich he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward. If any man's\nwork shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be\nsaved, yet so as through fire.\"--1 Cor. 3:14, 15.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nHOW TO BE SAVED--REPENTANCE AND FAITH\n\n     \"Repent ye and believe the gospel.\"--Mark 1:15.\n\n     \"Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus\n     Christ.\"--Acts 20:21.\n\n     \"And ye when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might\n     believe him.\"--Matt. 21:32.\n\n     \"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.\"--Luke 13:3.\n\n     \"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must\n     the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should\n     not perish, but have eternal life.\"--John 3:14,15.\n\n     \"Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the\n     Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved.\"--Acts 16:30, 31.\n\n\nWherever repentance and faith are mentioned in God's word without one\nexception, repentance comes before faith. There is a faith that comes\nbefore repentance; but it is pure historical faith, and does not\nresult in salvation. \"He that cometh to God must believe that he\nis,\"--Heb. 11:26; the demons believe in God's existence, that He is;\nThomas Paine believed in God's existence, that He is. But the faith\nthat results in salvation invariably comes after repentance; \"And ye\nwhen ye had seen it, repented not afterward, _that ye_ might believe\nhim.\"--Matt. 21:32. If, therefore, the faith that saves must come\nafter repentance, then those who have no saving faith after\nrepentance, have no salvation, are not really redeemed. Not only so,\nbut if saving faith must come after repentance, then those who place\nthe only faith they claim, before repentance, do not understand what\nsaving faith is.\n\nJesus preached, \"Repent ye and believe the gospel.\"--Mark 1:15. Paul\npreached \"repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus\nChrist.\"--Acts 20:21. What does \"repent\" or \"repentance\" mean?\n\nGod's word teaches that one must repent _in order to believe_. \"And ye\nwhen ye had seen it, repented not afterward, _that ye might believe\nhim_.\"--Matt. 21:32. \"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise\nperish.\"--Luke 13:3. Then whatever \"repentance\" or \"repent\" means, it\nis something that must take place before one can be saved, before he\ncan \"believe the gospel\" (Mark 1:15); before he can have \"faith toward\nour Lord Jesus Christ.\"--Acts 20:21. The Saviour gives a complete,\nperfect picture of salvation, and in that picture we can find what\nrepentance means: \"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,\neven so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in\nhim should not perish, but have eternal life.\"--John 3:14, 15. Jesus\nsays \"As,\" \"even so\"; then in the case of the serpent in the\nwilderness we have a complete, perfect picture of the way of\nsalvation. By seeing what came back there before the lifting up of the\nserpent, we can see what comes before believing in Him, or \"faith\ntoward our Lord Jesus Christ.\" Notice the incident to which the\nSaviour referred as showing the complete picture of the way of\nsalvation: \"And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red\nSea, to compass the land of Edom: And the soul of the people was much\ndiscouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and\nagainst Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in\nthe wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and\nour soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents\namong the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel\ndied. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned,\nfor we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the\nLord that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the\npeople. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and\nset it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass, that every one that is\nbitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent\nof brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a\nserpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he\nlived.\"--Num. 21:4-9. These people realized that they had sinned\nagainst God; that their sins deserved punishment; that they were\njustly condemned--\"we have sinned\";--that they were helpless, \"Pray\nunto the Lord that _he_ take away the serpents from us\"; and in their\nhelpless condition they turned from their sins and turned to God.\nThere had been, then, an entire change of mind and purpose, or they\nwould never have turned from their sins to God. When they faced the\nfact that they had sinned and were justly condemned, there resulted\nsorrow, and their sorrow led to the change of mind and purpose to turn\nfrom their sins to God. Had there been no conviction of sin, no\nrealization that they had sinned and were justly condemned, there\nwould have been no change of mind, or purpose to turn from sin to\nGod. Here, then, we have what repentance is,--a conviction of sin,\nsuch a realization of the fact that one has sinned and is justly\ncondemned that it produces such sorrow as leads to an entire change of\nmind and purpose to turn from sin and turn to God. God then provided\nthe easiest way for them, \"every one that is bitten, when he looketh\nupon it [the brazen serpent] shall live.\"--Num. 21:8. The Saviour\nsays, \"Even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever\nbelieveth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.\"--John\n3:15.\n\nNotice the case of the jailor, Acts 16:22-34. When the jailor fell\ndown before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, \"Sirs, what\nmust I do to be saved?\" (Verse 30), they did not say, \"Repent\"; they\nsaid, \"Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved.\"--Verse 31.\nBut God's word teaches plainly that we must repent in order to believe\n(Matt. 21:32; Luke 13:3). Then repentance must have already taken\nplace,--he must have already repented,--or they would have taught him\n\"repentance toward God\" as well as \"faith toward our Lord Jesus\nChrist.\"--Acts 20:21. Go back and notice the jailor's case: the night\nbefore, he had taken Paul and Silas with their backs bloody from the\nbeating they had received, and had not washed their stripes (Verse\n33), had given them no supper (Verse 34), and had thrust them into the\ninner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks. He was utterly\nhardened. The praying and singing hymns to God by Paul and Silas, the\nsudden earthquake, Paul's crying out against his committing suicide,\nhad convicted him of sin, such a conviction as had produced sorrow,\nfor he came trembling and fell down before them; and the sorrow had\nled to an entire change of mind and purpose, and he said, \"Sirs, what\nmust I do to be saved?\"--\"what,\" anything God would have me do I am\nready to do,--he had turned from his sins and had turned to God. Hence\nthey did not say \"Repent,\" for he had repented; but they said,\n\"Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved.\"--Acts 16:31.\n\nHaving seen what the Saviour meant by repentance, let us go to the\nmeaning of the word translated \"repent.\" \"This word,\" says J. P.\nBoyce, the great theologian, in his systematic theology, \"means to\nreconsider, perceive afterwards and to change one's view, mind or\npurpose, or even judgment, implying disapproval and abandonment of\npast opinions and purposes, and the adoption of others which are\ndifferent.\" B. H. Carroll, President Southwestern Baptist Theological\nSeminary: \"We may therefore give as the one invariable definition of\nNew Testament repentance that it is a change of mind.\" B. H. Carroll,\nagain, \"Repentance is a change of mind toward God concerning a course\nof sin leading rapidly down to death and eternal ruin.\" Once more from\nB. H. Carroll: \"If in one moment the soul is contrite enough to turn\nin abhorrence of sin against God from all self-help to our Lord Jesus\nChrist by faith, it is sufficient.\" John A. Broadus, the great\nAmerican scholar and teacher: \"To repent, then, as a religious term of\nthe New Testament, is to change the mind, thought or purpose as\nregards sin and the service of God--a change naturally accompanied by\ndeep sorrow for past sins, and naturally leading to a change of\noutward life.\"\n\nAs the Bible teaches that no man can be saved who has not repented\n(\"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.\"--Luke 13:3), and as\nno one has repented who has not been convicted of sin, who has not\nseen himself a guilty, justly condemned sinner, it follows that no one\nis saved, no one can be saved, who does not believe that God will and\nought to punish sin. But to those who have repented, the way to be\nsaved is simple, easy, sure: \"Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt\nbe saved.\"--Acts 16:31.\n\n_FOR FURTHER STUDY_:--There has been much misunderstanding about\nrepentance. Some men, as Moody, Harry Moorehouse, J. H. Brookes, etc.,\nhave been charged with not preaching enough repentance, simply because\nthey did not use the words \"repent\" and \"repentance\" as much as\nothers; whereas, others who use the words often, and tell touching\nincidents, are said to preach \"old-fashioned repentance.\" It is not\nthe word repentance that God requires, but the thing repentance, and a\nsinner must repent or he cannot believe (Matt. 21:32) and he will\nperish (Luke 13:3). The gospel of John is the only book of the Bible\ngiven specifically to sinners to lead them to be saved. The way of\nsalvation can be found in many of the books of the Bible, and is\ntaught in them; but the gospel of John is the only book of the Bible\ngiven for the special, specific purpose of leading a sinner to be\nsaved. \"Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his\ndisciples which are not written in this book: but these are written\nthat ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and\nthat believing ye might have life through his name.\"--John 20:30, 31.\nIn this book, given specifically to lead a sinner to be saved, the\nword \"repentance\" or \"repent\" does not occur, but the thing repentance\ndoes (John 3:14, 15).\n\nOn the difference between the thing repentance and the word\nrepentance, give attention to the words of John A. Broadus, the great\nAmerican scholar and teacher already quoted: \"Great difficulty has\nbeen found in translating this Greek word 'metanoein' into languages.\nThe Syriac version, unable to give the precise meaning, falls back\nupon 'turn,' the same word as the Hebrew. The Latin version gives\n'Exercise penitence' (poenitentiam agere). But this Latin penitence,\napparently connected by etymology with _pain_, signifies grief or\ndistress, and is rarely extended to a change of purpose, thus\ncorresponding to the Hebrew word which we render 'repent,' but _not_\ncorresponding to the terms employed in Old Testament and New Testament\nexhortations. Hence a subtle and pernicious error, pervading the whole\nsphere of Latin Christianity, by which the exhortation of the New\nTestament is understood to be an exhortation to _grief_ over sin, as\nthe primary and principal idea of the term. One step farther and\npenitence was contracted into _penance_, and associated with mediaeval\nideas unknown to the New Testament, and the English Version made by\nRomanists now represents John and Jesus and Peter as saying\n(poenitentiam agere) do penance. From a late Latin compound\n(repoenitere) comes our English word 'repent,' which inherits the\nfault of the Latin; making grief the prominent element, and change of\npurpose secondary, if expressed at all. Thus our English word\ncorresponds exactly to the second Greek word (metamelesthai), and to\nthe Hebrew word rendered repent, but sadly fails to translate the\nexhortation of the New Testament.\"\n\nRepentance is not a price that the sinner pays for salvation; neither\nis the sorrow that leads to repentance a price that he pays for\nsalvation. And repentance does not make the sinner a fit subject for\nsalvation; nor does the sorrow that leads to repentance make him a fit\nsubject for salvation. No one can see that he has violated God's just\nand holy law and is guilty, justly condemned, helpless, without its\nproducing sorrow and this sorrow will lead to repentance, to an entire\nchange of mind and purpose, to turning from sin, and, as B. H. Carroll\nexpressed it, from all self-help (\"repentance from dead works,\"--Heb.\n6:1) to God.\n\nSome are sometimes troubled as to how much sorrow there must be. There\nare different degrees of sorrow in different people, but there must be\nenough sorrow to lead to repentance, to an entire change of mind and\npurpose.\n\n\"In both the Old Testament and the New Testament exhortation the\nelement of grief for sin is left in the background, neither word\ndirectly expressing grief at all, though it must in the nature of\nthings be present.\"--_Jno. A. Broadus._\n\n\"To repent is to change your mind about sin and Christ and all the\ngood things of God. There is sorrow implied in this; but the main\npoint is the turning of the heart from sin to Christ. If there be this\nturning you have the essence of the repentance, even though no alarm\nand no despair should ever have cast their shadow upon your\nmind.\"--_C. H. Spurgeon._\n\n\"Conviction of sin is just the sinner seeing himself as he is and as\nGod has all along seen him.\"--_H. Bonar, in \"God's Way of Peace.\"_\n\n\"The object of the Holy Spirit's work in convincing of sin is to alter\nthe sinner's opinion of himself and so to reduce his estimate of his\nown character, that he shall think of himself as God does, and so\ncease to suppose it possible that he can be justified by any\nexcellence of his own. Having altered the sinner's good opinion of\nhimself, the Spirit then alters his evil opinion of God, so as to make\nhim see that the God with whom he has to deal is really the God of all\ngrace.\"--_Bonar._\n\n\"It is impossible, therefore, in the nature of things, for a sinful\nbeing to appreciate God's mercy unless he first feels His justice as\nmanifest in the holy law.\"--_Walker, in \"Philosophy of the Plan of\nSalvation.\"_\n\n\"Man cannot repent and turn from sin till he is convicted of sin in\nhimself.\"--_Walker, in \"Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation.\"_\n\n\"The more we feel the want of a benefactor, temporal or spiritual, and\nthe more we feel our inability to rescue ourselves from existing\ndifficulties and impending dangers, the more grateful love will the\nheart feel for the being who, moved by, and in despite of, personal\nsacrifices, interposes to assist and save us.\"--_Walker, in\n\"Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation.\"_\n\n\"As a feeling of want was necessary in order that the soul might love\nthe being that supplied that want, and as Jesus came to bestow\nspiritual mercies upon mankind, _how could men be brought to feel the\nwant of a spiritual Benefactor and Saviour?_\"... \"According to the\nconstitution which God has given the soul, it must feel the want of\nthe spiritual mercies before it can feel love for the giver of those\nmercies. And just in proportion as the soul feels its lost, guilty,\nand dangerous condition, in the same proportion will it exercise love\nto the being who grants spiritual favor and salvation. How then could\nthe spiritual want be produced in the souls of men in order that they\nmight love the spiritual benefactor?\"... \"The only possible way by\nwhich man could be made to hope for and appreciate spiritual mercies\nand to love a spiritual deliverer would be to produce a conviction in\nthe soul itself of its evil condition, its danger as a spiritual\nbeing, and its inability, unaided, to satisfy the requirements of a\n_spiritual law_, or to escape its just and spiritual penalty.\nIf man could be made to perceive that he was guilty and needy; that\nhis soul was under the condemnation of the holy law of the holy God,\nhe would then, necessarily, feel the need of a deliverance from\nsin and its consequences; and in this way only, could the soul of\nman be led to appreciate spiritual mercies, or love a spiritual\nbenefactor.\"--_Walker, in \"Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation.\"_\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nTHE MEANING OF \"BELIEVE ON\" OR \"BELIEVE IN\" CHRIST\n\n     \"God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son, that\n     whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal\n     life.\"--John 3:16 (R. V.).\n\n     \"This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath\n     sent.\"--John 6:27.\n\n     \"He that believeth on me shall never thirst.\"--John 6:35.\n\n     \"To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name\n     whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins.\"--Acts\n     10:43.\n\n     \"Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.\"--Acts 16:31.\n\n     \"John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto\n     the people that they should believe on him that should come after\n     him, that is, on Jesus.\"--Acts 19:4.\n\n     \"To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the\n     ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.\"--Rom. 4:5.\n\n     \"Whosoever liveth and believeth in [into] me shall never die.\n     Believest thou this?\"--John 11:26.\n\n     \"We have believed in [into] Jesus Christ, that we might be\n     justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the\n     law.\"--Gal. 2:16 (R. V.).\n\n     \"I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is\n     able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that\n     day.\"--2 Tim. 1:12 (R. V.).\n\n\nIf language can be made plain, if it can be used to express a fact\nclearly, then God's word teaches clearly, unmistakably, that the one\nwho believes on Christ is going to Heaven. One may think it to be too\ngood to be true, when he reads what God's word says along this line;\nhe may be honestly tempted to suspect that there must be many hidden,\nsuppressed conditions, which, if expressed, would make the meaning\ndifferent; or from religious prejudice, he may warp the meaning or\nbring in other conditions;--but God's word is plain.\n\n\"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that\nwhosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal\nlife.\"--John 3:16.\n\nIt does not say, whosoever believeth on him and unites with the right\nchurch, or is baptized the right way, or lives the right kind of a\nlife; it simply says, \"whosoever believeth on him\"; and then the\npromise is plain and absolute, \"should not perish.\"\n\nJesus said, \"he that believeth on me shall never thirst.\"--John 6:35.\nHe did not say, he that believeth on me and unites with the right\nchurch, or is baptized the right way, or lives the right kind of a\nlife; he said plainly, simply, \"he that believeth on me,\" and then\nadded \"shall never thirst.\"\n\nPeter to the household of Cornelius said, \"To him give all the\nprophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth on him\nshall receive remission of sins.\"--Acts 10:43. He did not say,\nwhosoever believeth on him and unites with the right church, or is\nbaptized the right way, or lives the right kind of a life; but simply,\n\"whosoever believeth on him,\" and then adds the plain promise, \"shall\nreceive remission of sins.\"\n\nWhen the jailor came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and\nbrought them out and said, \"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?\" they\nanswered, simply, plainly, \"Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt\nbe saved.\"--Acts 16:31. They did not say, believe on the Lord Jesus\nand unite with the right church, or be baptized the right way, or live\nthe right kind of a life; they said simply, \"Believe on the Lord\nJesus, and thou shalt be saved.\"\n\nWhen Paul wrote to the Romans, \"To him that worketh not, but\nbelieveth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned\nfor righteousness,\"--Rom. 4:5, he did not say, believeth on him that\njustifieth the ungodly and unites with the right church, or is\nbaptized the right way, or lives the right kind of a life; but simply,\n\"To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the\nungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.\"\n\nJesus to the grief-stricken sister of Lazarus said, \"Whosoever liveth\nand believeth in [into] me shall never die.\"--John 11:26. He did not\nsay, whosoever liveth and believeth in me and unites with the right\nchurch, or is baptized the right way, or lives the right kind of life;\nbut simply and plainly, \"whosoever liveth and believeth in me,\" and\nthen He adds His plain promise, \"shall never die.\"\n\nWhen Paul said to the Galatians, \"we have believed in [into] Jesus\nChrist, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ,\"--Gal.\n2:16, he did not say, we have believed in Jesus Christ and united with\nthe right church and been baptized the right way, that we might be\njustified by faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. Instead\nof this, he puts it in simple, plain language.\n\nIn all of these cases, these conditions could have been expressed just\nas easily by the Saviour and Peter and Paul as they are expressed by\nreligious teachers to-day. Why did not the Saviour and Peter and Paul\nexpress these conditions? There can be but one answer,--because they\nare not conditions of salvation. How could the Saviour and Peter and\nPaul have left out these conditions if they are conditions of\nsalvation?\n\nBut the question arises, if being baptized the right way and living\nthe right kind of a life are not conditions of salvation, why do these\nthings? Not from fear of Hell; God desires no service from that\nmotive. Let the Saviour tell why. When He instituted the Lord's\nsupper, He said, \"This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed\nfor many, for the remission of sins,\"--Matt. 26:28; and then before\nleaving the upper room He said to His disciples: \"if ye love me, keep\nmy commandments.\"--John 14:15. Why love Him? Love Him because He shed\nHis blood for the remission of their sins. Let Paul tell us why serve\nHim: \"The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge that\nif one died for all, then all died; and he died for all, that they who\nlive should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died\nfor them, and rose again.\"--2 Cor. 5:14, 15.\n\nNow comes the all-important question, what do these parallel\nexpressions, \"believe on Christ\" or \"believe in [into] Christ\" mean?\nMany, when they see how simple and plain is the teaching, say, \"Why,\nalmost every one believes on Christ.\" No; they believe _about_ Christ,\nbut not _on_ Christ. A wealthy man deposits a large sum of money in\nthe bank and promises to pay the debts of all the poor people who will\ntrust him to pay their debts. They all may believe him, may believe\nabout him; but only those who believe on him, depend on him, rely on\nhim to pay their debts, will have their debts paid. So Christ died\nfor all our sins (1 Cor. 15:3); He gave Himself for us that He might\nredeem us from all iniquity (Titus 2:14); but only those who _believe\non_ Him, _depend on_ Him, _rely on_ Him to save them, will ever be\nsaved. The man who is depending on Christ and his baptism or Christ\nand his church, or Christ and his good life to save him, will be lost;\nfor he is not believing on, depending on, relying on, Christ to save\nhim; but only partly on Christ and partly on something else; and\n_there is no promise in God's word that those who partly believe on\nChrist shall be saved_. The very fact that a man depends partly on\nChrist and partly on something else to save him, shows that he has\nnever believed that the Saviour \"gave himself for us that he might\nredeem us from all iniquity\" (Titus 2:13, 14); the Saviour he is\ndepending on is not the Saviour God's word reveals; and hence he has\nno Saviour at all.\n\nNotice Paul's instruction to the Romans concerning believing on\nChrist: \"To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth\nthe ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.\"--Rom. 4:5.\nConsider the simple but vital teaching of this passage: He justifieth\nthe ungodly. How? \"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation\nthrough faith in his blood ... to declare, I say, at this time his\nrighteousness, that he might be _just_ and the _justifier_ of him that\nbelieveth in Jesus\" (Rom. 3:25, 26); \"being now justified by his\nblood.\"--Rom. 5:9. And He justifies us from all sin, \"Our Saviour\nJesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from\n_all_ iniquity\" (Titus 2:13, 14); redeems us from the curse of the\nlaw (Gal. 3:13), redeems us from under the law (Rom. 6:14), and this\nmakes us God's children (Gal. 4:4-7).\n\nConsider further: He justifies _the ungodly_. If He justifies the\nungodly then all efforts to become godly _in order to be saved_, are\nworse than wasted and are in rebellion against _God's plan for men_.\n\"When we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the\n_ungodly_.\"--Rom. 5:6. \"God commendeth his own love toward us, in that\n_while we were yet sinners_, Christ died for us.\"--Rom. 5:8. \"_When we\nwere enemies_ we were reconciled to God by the death of his\nSon.\"--Rom. 5:10. Why? Because Christ justifies the ungodly. The\nSaviour did not say to Nicodemus, \"Whosoever becomes godly should not\nperish,\" but \"Whosoever believeth on him.\" Why? Because He justifies\n_the ungodly_. Paul and Silas did not say to the jailor, a hardened\nsinner, \"Become godly and thou shalt be saved\"; but \"Believe on the\nLord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.\" Why? Because He justifies _the\nungodly_. On what condition does He justify the ungodly? \"To him that\n_worketh_ not, but _believeth_ on him.\" Here is the work of the soul\nto be saved; Paul says to cease working at the task, and believe on,\ndepend on, Him--He justifies the ungodly. God gave men ten\ncommandments to keep. God's word says, \"The man that doeth them shall\nlive by them.\"--Gal. 3:12. But all men have failed to keep them; \"all\nhave sinned and come short of the glory of God.\"--Rom. 3:23. To\nillustrate: A father gives a little boy ten rows of corn to work out\nand says to him, \"Willie, if you will work out the ten rows of corn\nto-day, I will pay you five dollars; but it will take steady work all\nday.\" About nine o'clock some boys persuade Willie to play, and he\nplays with them for two hours. Now he cannot get the task done, and so\nis sure to lose the five dollars. His grown brother comes to him and\nsays, \"Willie, I saw the trouble you were getting into, and had a talk\nwith father. Father says that the work must be done or you will lose\nthe five dollars. But father agreed to let me do the work for you. Now\nif you will quit working at the task and trust me, depend on me, I\nwill see that the work is done, and that you get the five dollars.\"\nThe little brother quits working at the task, and gets out of the\nfield. He believes on, depends on, trusts, his big brother. If, now,\nthere is any failure, it will be the big brother's failure, and not\nthe little brother's. So, \"To him that worketh not, but believeth on\nhim that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for\nrighteousness.\" If, then, the sinner will quit working at the task of\nhis salvation and believe on, depend on Christ, trust the whole work\nof salvation to Him, He will \"justify the ungodly\" from \"all iniquity\"\n(Titus 2:14). If, then, there should be any failure of being saved, it\nwould be Christ's failure, for He said, \"Him that cometh unto me, I\nwill in no wise cast out.\"--John 6:37. Why, then, should the one who\nhas thus trusted Christ ever be baptized, or live a faithful, godly\nlife? Go back to the illustration: As the little brother quits working\nat the task in the field and believes on, depends on, trusts, the big\nbrother to have the task done, a man meets him and says, \"Willie,\nyour brother was good to you. But to do your work for you, that you\nmight not lose the five dollars, he left his field, and it needs work\nbadly. If I were in your place, from love to my big brother, I would\ngo and work in his field for him.\" The little brother says, \"I will do\nit, sir.\" He goes over into his big brother's field and works harder\nthan ever, not from fear of losing the five dollars, but from love to\nhis big brother. So the Saviour, after we have believed on Him,\ntrusted Him to save, justify us, says, \"If ye love me, keep my\ncommandments.\"--John 14:15. \"Go work to-day in _my_ vineyard,\"--Matt.\n21:28; not \"in _your own_.\" All the work that the redeemed, the saved,\nman does is not in his own field, to get the task done, that he may be\nsaved; but in the big brother's field, from love to the big brother\nfor having relieved him of the entire responsibility for the task.\n\nTo follow up the illustration: The big brother sees the little brother\nworking in the big brother's field and he goes to him and says,\n\"Willie, I appreciate this, for you are doing it from love to me. If\nyou were doing it from fear lest I might not keep my promise, it would\nhurt me; for that would show that you did not trust me. But you cannot\nwork for me for nothing. I will pay you fifty cents for every hour you\nwork in my field. Now, work hard and have a large reward for your\nlabor.\" So the Saviour says, \"Whosoever shall give to drink unto one\nof these little ones a cup of water only in the name of a disciple,\nverily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.\"--Matt.\n10:42. And he says, \"Lay up for yourselves treasures in\nHeaven.\"--Matt. 6:20. \"He shall reward every man according to his\nworks.\"--Matt. 16:27. The reward of fifty cents for every hour's work\ndoes not destroy the motive of love that moves the little brother; it\nonly increases the motive of love.\n\nBut do not redeemed people, God's children, sometimes become\nbacksliders? Yes. Go back to the illustration of the little brother\nand his task. As he is working from love to his big brother, in the\nbig brother's field, the bad boys follow him and tempt him, and\nprevail on him to leave the big brother's field and to mistreat the\nbig brother. The father sees it all; goes and takes the little brother\nout into the forest and reproves him for his wrong to his big brother,\nand then chastises him and sends him back to the big brother's field.\nSo, when God's redeemed, saved children backslide, do wrong wilfully,\nHe chastises them. \"My son, despise not thou the chastening of the\nLord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the Lord loveth\nhe chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.\"--Heb. 12:5,\n6. \"Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the\nearth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant\nshall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure\nforever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake\nmy law and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and\nkeep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgression with\nthe rod and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving\nkindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness\nto fail.\"--Ps. 89:27-33.\n\nReader, which field are you working in? Are you working in your own\nfield? trying to accomplish a task, now that you have sinned, you can\nnever accomplish?--Meet _all_ of God's just laws and requirements, and\ndevelop a character that will entitle you to a home in Heaven? Heed\nthe message, \"To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that\njustifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.\"\nBelieve on Him, depend on Him, to justify you from all iniquity (Titus\n2:14). The moment you do, your eternal destiny is settled, \"Verily,\nverily I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him\nthat sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into\ncondemnation, but is passed from death unto life.\"--John 5:24. Then,\nfrom love to the big brother, go into his field and work till the day\nis done.\n\nIn telling of his own salvation, Paul again makes plain what \"believe\non the Lord Jesus\" means: \"I know him whom I have believed and am\npersuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him\nagainst that day.\" Notice this declaration as to the apostle's\nsalvation: \"I know him.\" A man must \"know him\" or he cannot \"believe\non\" Christ. He can _risk_ Him without knowing Him, but he cannot\n_believe on_ Him, cannot _trust_ Him for salvation. It does not mean,\nknow Him in every respect, as to how His divine and human nature could\nbe united; as to how He could have had eternal existence; as to how\nHis resurrected body could appear and disappear, etc., but to know Him\nin His character as Saviour. In trusting money to a bank one does not\nneed to know how much German or French or English blood there is in\nthe bank officials. In trusting one's case to a physician, one does\nnot need to know the different nationalities from which he is\ndescended, but he needs to know him in his character as physician. So\nmen must know Jesus in His character as Saviour, or they cannot\nbelieve on, trust Him to save them. They must, then, know Him as the\nMessiah, the promised Saviour, the complete sin-bearer, or they cannot\nbelieve on Him. But after one knows the bank, he must commit his money\nto the bank, else the bank is not responsible for it. After one knows\nthe physician, he must commit his case to the physician, else the\nphysician is not responsible. And so Paul says, \"I am persuaded that\nhe is able to keep that which I _have committed unto him against that\nday_.\" No one, then, is redeemed, is saved, who has not committed his\nsalvation to Christ against that day. Let the reader get clearly the\nmeaning of \"commit.\" No one has committed money to the bank who yet\nholds to the money; no one has committed a package to the express\ncompany who yet holds to the package; no one has committed a letter to\nthe post-office for delivery who yet holds to the letter. So no one\nhas committed his salvation to Christ, no one is redeemed, is saved,\nwho yet holds to the work of his salvation. He must _commit_ it to\nChrist.\n\nFurther, no one has _committed_ his money to the bank who has not left\nthe entire responsibility for the money's safety to the bank, leaving\nno further responsibility whatever upon himself for the safety of the\nmoney. No one has _committed_ a package to the express company, who\nhas not left the whole responsibility for the delivery of the package\nentirely to the company, leaving no responsibility whatever upon\nhimself for its safe delivery. No one has _committed_ a letter to the\npost-office who has not left the entire responsibility for its safe\ndelivery to the government, leaving no responsibility whatever upon\nhimself for its safe delivery. Even so, no one has _committed_ his\nsalvation to Christ, no one is redeemed, is saved, who has not left\nthe entire responsibility of his salvation to Christ, leaving no\nresponsibility whatever for his salvation upon himself.\n\nBut one may have committed his money to the bank and yet not really\nhave trusted the bank, but only _risked_ the bank; one may have\ncommitted a package to the express company and yet not really have\ntrusted the express company, but only _risked_ it; one may have\ncommitted a letter to the post-office and yet not really have trusted\nthe post-office, but only _risked_ it. So, one may have committed his\nsalvation to Christ, and yet be unredeemed, unsaved, because he only\n_risked_ Christ and did not _trust_ Him. Hence Paul says, \"I know him\nwhom I have _believed_,\" _trusted, taken at His word_.\n\nOne other fact needs to be considered as to what believing on Christ\nmeans in Paul's case. He says, \"I am persuaded that he is able to keep\nthat which I have committed to him _against that day_.\" It is not a\ncommittal of one's salvation to Christ a moment at a time, nor till\none can see how he will afterwards feel; nor till one can see whether\nhe is going to be able to live a Christian life. It is to commit one's\nsalvation to Christ \"_against that day_.\" And the moment one does\nwhat Paul did, commits his salvation to Christ against that day, God's\nword says he is saved, redeemed: \"Verily, verily I say unto you, He\nthat heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath\neverlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed\nfrom death unto life.\"--John 5:24.\n\n_FOR FURTHER STUDY_:--When Paul says, \"To him that worketh not, but\nbelieveth on him that justifieth _the ungodly_, his faith is counted\nfor righteousness,\"--Rom. 4:5, he is in line with the teaching of the\nSaviour when He said, \"The publicans and the harlots go into the\nkingdom of God before you,\"--Matt. 21:31; and if the teaching of the\nSaviour and Paul on this point is true, then there is not left one\nsquare inch of ground on which the teachers of \"salvation by\ncharacter\" may stand. They are not in agreement with the Saviour and\nPaul on this point, but there is one with whom they are here in strict\nagreement; \"I hope for happiness beyond this life\"; \"I believe that\nreligious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and\nendeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy\"; \"The only true\nreligion is deism, by which I then meant and now mean the belief of\none God, and an imitation of his moral character, or the practice of\nwhat are called moral virtues; and that _it was upon this only_ (so\nfar as religion is concerned) _that I rested my hopes of happiness\nhereafter_. So say I now, and so help me God.\" These are exact\nquotations from \"The Age of Reason,\" by Thomas Paine. And those who\npreach \"salvation by character\" thus line up with Paine against the\nSaviour and Paul. They fail to see that there can be no proper\ncharacter without proper motive, and that there can, in the sight of\nGod, be no proper motive till one is redeemed, saved, and thus placed\nwhere the motive will be love, the purest motive possible to human\nbeings. And they fail to see that _God's plan with men_ is to save\nirrespective of character, and then to develop in the redeemed man the\nreal character for all eternity.\n\nGod has not two ways of salvation; He has not two ways of believing on\nChrist. What is essential to one man's salvation is essential to the\nsalvation of every man. What is \"believing on Christ\" for one man, is\nbelieving on Christ for every man. When Paul says \"I know him whom I\nhave believed, and am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I\nhave committed to him against that day,\"--2 Tim. 1:12 (R. V.), he has\ngiven the pattern of saving faith. \"I know him.\" Man _must_ know Him\nin His real character as Saviour or he cannot commit to Him against\nthat day the matter of his eternal destiny, cannot believe on Him.\nWhat are the essential things, then, that must be included in \"I know\nhim\" in His character as Saviour, in order that one can believe on\nHim, be saved by Him, be a real Christian? First, one must know Him as\nthe promised Messiah, in order to really believe on Him, to be really\na Christian. The high priest asked, \"Art thou the Christ, the Son of\nthe Blessed? And Jesus said, I am.\"--Mark 14:61, 62. The woman at the\nwell said, \"I know that Messiah cometh, who is called Christ: When he\nis come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that\nspeak unto thee, am he.\"--John 4:25, 26. As Ballard, in \"The Miracles\nof Unbelief,\" has clearly pointed out, either (1) He was the Messiah;\nor (2) He was the illegitimate son of a fallen woman and the vilest\ndeceiver the world has ever known, or (3) He was the illegitimate son\nof a fallen woman, and a poor, simple-minded ignoramus, who claimed to\nbe the Messiah and honestly thought He was, but was simply ignorant\nand deluded. Men in their intellectual pride or religious prejudice\nmay sneer and try to avoid this issue, but every honest thinking man\nwill see and confess that only these three conclusions are possible,\nthat one of the three is inevitable: and every honest man will take\none of the three positions. Voltaire said \"curse the wretch.\" He is to\nbe commended as compared with the man who tries to avoid the issue.\n\nSecond, one must know Him as complete Redeemer in order to believe on\nHim, in order to commit one's salvation to Him against that day. There\nis no middle ground. He was either no redeemer at all, or He \"gave\nhimself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity.\"--Titus\n2:14. To try to avoid the issue here is as fatal as to try to avoid\nthe issue as to His being the Messiah. To believe on, to commit one's\nsalvation to, a partial Redeemer, is to have no redeemer at all, to be\nleft unredeemed, unsaved.\n\nThird, to know Him in order to believe on Him, to commit one's\nsalvation to Him against that day, one must know Him as having been\nreally raised from the dead. _Belief in the real resurrection of the\nSaviour is essential to salvation._ For one to be heralded abroad as a\ngreat preacher and theologian who yet denies the literal, real\nresurrection of the Saviour, cannot change God's word that all such\nare yet unredeemed, lost, not real Christians. God's word is plain on\nthis point: \"If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and\n_shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead_,\nthou shalt be saved.\"--Rom. 10:9. \"If Christ hath not been raised your\nfaith is vain; _ye are yet in your sins_.\"--1 Cor. 15:17.\n\nChalmers, the great Scotch preacher, in a letter to a friend made\nplain what believing on Christ means: \"I must say that I never had so\nclose and satisfactory a view of the gospel salvation, as when I have\nbeen led to contemplate it in the light of a simple offer on the one\nside, and a simple acceptance on the other. It is just saying to one\nand all of us, There is forgiveness through the blood of My Son: Take\nit, and whoever believes the reality of the offer takes it.... We are\napt to stagger at the greatness of the unmerited offer and cannot\nattach faith to it till we have made up some title of our own. This\nleads to two mischievous consequences: It keeps alive the presumption\nof one class who will still be thinking that it is something in\nthemselves and of themselves which confers upon them a right of\nsalvation; and it confirms the melancholy of another class, who look\ninto their own hearts and their own lives, and find that they cannot\nmake out a shadow of a title to the divine favor. The error of both\nlies in their looking to themselves when they should be looking to the\nSaviour. 'Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the\nearth.'--Is. 45:22. The Son of man was so lifted up that whosoever\nbelieveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John\n3:14, 15). It is your part simply to lay hold of the proffered boon.\nYou are invited to do so; and you are entreated to do so; nay, what is\nmore, you are commanded to do so. It is true, you are unworthy, and\nwithout holiness no man can see God; but be not afraid, only believe.\nYou cannot get holiness of yourself, but Christ has undertaken to\nprovide it for you. It is one of those spiritual blessings of which He\nhas the dispensation, and which He has promised to all who believe in\nHim. God has promised that with His Son He will freely give you all\nthings (Rom. 8:32); that He will walk in you, and dwell in you (2 Cor.\n6:16); that He will purify your heart by faith (Acts 15:9); that He\nwill put His law in your mind and write it in your heart (Heb. 8:10).\nThese are the effects of your believing in Christ, and not the\nservices by which you become entitled to believe in Him. Make a clear\noutset in the business, and understand that your first step is simply\nconfiding acceptance of an offer that is most free, most frank, most\ngenerous, and most unconditional. If I were to come as an accredited\nagent from the upper sanctuary with a letter of invitation to you,\nwith your name and address on it, you would not doubt your warrant to\naccept it. Well, here is the Bible, your invitation to come to Christ.\nIt does not bear your name and address, but it says 'Whosoever,' that\ntakes you in; it says 'all,' that takes you in; it says 'if any,' that\ntakes you in. What can be surer or freer than that?\"\n\nEqually helpful are the words of Horatius Bonar in \"Words for the\nInquiring\":--\"If you object that you cannot believe, then this\nindicates that you are proceeding quite in a wrong direction. You are\nstill laboring under the idea that this believing is a work to be done\nby you, and not the acknowledgment of a work done by another. You\nwould fain do something in order to get peace, and you think that if\nyou could do this great thing 'believing,' if you could but perform\nthis great act called faith, God would at once reward you by giving\nyou peace. Thus faith is reckoned by you to be the price, in the\nsinner's hand, by which he buys peace, and not the mere holding out of\nthe hand to get a peace which has already been bought by another. So\nlong as you are attaching any meritorious importance to faith, however\nunconsciously, you are moving in a wrong direction--a direction from\nwhich no peace can come. Surely faith is not a work. On the contrary,\nit is a ceasing from work. It is not a climbing of the mountain, but a\nceasing to attempt it, and allowing Christ to carry you up in His own\narms. You seem to think that it is your act of faith that is to save\nyou, and not the object of your faith, without which your act, however\nwell performed, is nothing. Accordingly, you bethink yourself, and\nsay, 'What a mighty work is this believing--what an effort does it\nrequire on my part--how am I to perform it?' Herein you sadly err, and\nyour mistake lies chiefly here, in supposing that your peace is to\ncome from the proper performance on your part of an act of faith;\nwhereas, it is to come entirely from the proper perception of Him to\nwhom the Father is pointing your eyes, and in regard to whom He is\nsaying, 'Behold my servant whom I have chosen, look at Him, forget\neverything else--everything about yourself, your own faith, your own\nrepentance, your own feelings--and look at Him! It is in Him, not out\nof your poor act of faith, that salvation lies; and out of Him, not\nout of your own act of faith, is peace to come.' Thus mistaking the\nmeaning of faith and the way which faith saves you, you get into\nconfusion, and mistake everything else connected with your peace: you\nmistake the real nature of that very inability to believe of which you\ncomplain so sadly. For that inability does not lie, as you fancy it\ndoes, in the impossibility of your performing aright the great act of\nfaith, but of ceasing from all such self-righteous attempts to perform\nany act, or do any work whatsoever in order to your being saved. So\nthat the real truth is, that you have not yet seen such a sufficiency\nin the one great work of the Son of God upon the cross, as to lead you\nutterly to discontinue your mistaken and aimless efforts to work out\nsomething of your own.\n\n\"But perhaps you may object further, that you are not satisfied with\nyour faith. No, truly, nor are you ever likely to be. If you wait for\nthis before you take peace, you will wait till life is done. Not\nsatisfaction with your own faith, but satisfaction with Jesus and His\nwork, this is what God presses on you. You say, 'I am satisfied with\nChrist.' Are you? What more, then, do you wish? Is not satisfaction\nwith Christ enough for you, or for every sinner? Nay, and is not this\nthe truest kind of faith? To be _satisfied with Christ_, that is faith\nin Christ. To be satisfied with His blood, that is faith. What more\ncould you have? Can your faith give you something which Christ cannot?\nOr will Christ give you nothing till you can produce faith of a\ncertain kind and quality, whose excellences will entitle you to\nblessing? Do not bewilder yourself. Do not suppose that your faith is\na price, or a bribe, or a merit. Is not the very essence of real faith\njust your being satisfied with Christ? Are you really satisfied with\nHim and with what He has done? Then do not puzzle yourself about your\nfaith, but go on your way rejoicing, having thus been brought to be\nsatisfied with Him who to know is peace, and life, and salvation....\nFaith, however perfect, has of itself nothing to give you either of\npardon or of life. Its finger points you to Jesus. Its voice bids you\nlook straight to Him. Its object is to turn away from itself and from\nyourself altogether, that you may behold Him, and in beholding Him be\nsatisfied with Him and in being satisfied with Him have joy and\npeace.\"\n\nLikewise James Denny, in \"The Death of Christ,\" teaches the same\nlesson: \"It is this great Gospel which is the gospel to win\nsouls--this message of a sin-bearing, sin-expiating love which pleads\nfor acceptance, which takes the whole responsibility of the sinner,\nunconditionally, with no preliminaries, if only he abandon himself to\nit.\"\n\nA young person who felt that his time in this world was short, wrote\nto an eminent English preacher to write and tell a sinner what he must\ndo to prepare to die--what is the preparation required by God--and\nwhen he is fit to die. The preacher wrote: \"I urge you to cast\nyourself at once, in the simplest faith, upon the Lord Jesus Christ\nand you shall be saved. All your true preparation for death is\nentirely out of yourself and in the Lord Jesus. Washed in His blood,\nand clothed upon with His righteousness, you may appear before God\ndivinely, fully, freely and forever accepted. The salvation of the\nchief of sinners is all prepared, finished and complete in Christ\n(Eph. 1:6; Col. 2:10). Again I repeat, your eye of faith must now be\ndirected entirely out of and from yourself, to Jesus. Beware of\nlooking for any preparation to meet death _in yourself_. It is _all in\nChrist_. God does not accept you on the ground of a broken heart, or a\nclean heart, or a praying heart, or a believing heart. He accepts you\nwholly and entirely on the ground of the atonement of His blessed Son.\nCast yourself in child-like faith upon that atonement--'Christ dying\nfor the ungodly' (Rom. 5:6)--and you are saved! Justification is this,\na poor law-condemned, self-condemned, self-destroyed sinner, wrapping\nhimself by faith in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, which\nis unto all them that believe (Rom. 3:22). He, then, is justified and\nis prepared to die, and he only, who casts from him the garment of his\nown righteousness and runs unto this blessed city of Refuge--the Lord\nJesus--and hides himself there--exclaiming, 'There is therefore now no\ncondemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus' (Rom. 8:1). God is\nprepared to accept you in His blessed Son, and for His sake He will\ncast all your sins behind His back, and take you to glory when you\ndie. Never was Jesus known to reject a poor sinner that came to Him\nempty and with nothing to pay. God will glorify His free grace by your\nsalvation, and will therefore save you just as you are, without money\nand without price (Is. 55:1). I close with Paul's reply to the anxious\njailor, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved' (Acts\n16:31). No matter what you have been, or what you are, plunged into\nthe fountain opened for sin, and for uncleanness (Zech. 13:1), and you\nshall be clean, 'washed whiter than snow' (Ps. 51:7). Heed no\nsuggestion of Satan, or of unbelief; cast yourself at the feet of\nJesus, and if you perish, perish there! Oh, no! Perish you never will,\nfor He hath said, 'Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out'\n(John 6:37). 'Come unto me' (Matt. 11:28) is His blessed invitation;\nlet your reply be, 'Lord, I come! I come! I come! I entwine my feeble,\ntrembling arms of faith around Thy cross, around Thyself, and if I\ndie, I will die cleaving, clinging, looking unto Thee!' So act and\nbelieve and you need not fear to die. Looking at the Saviour in the\nface, you can look at death in the face, exclaiming with good old\nSimeon, 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace; for mine\neyes have seen thy salvation' (Luke 2:29). May we through rich, free\nand sovereign grace, meet in Heaven, and unite in exclaiming, 'worthy\nis the Lamb, for he was slain for us' (Rev. 5:12).\"\n\n    \"Until I saw the blood 'twas Hell my soul was fearing;\n    And dark and dreary in my eyes the future was appearing,\n    While conscience told its tale of sin\n    And caused a weight of woe within.\n\n    \"But when I saw the blood, and looked at Him who shed it,\n    My right to peace was seen at once, and I with transport read it,\n    I found myself to God brought nigh\n    And 'Victory' became my cry.\n\n    \"My joy was in the blood, the news of which had told me,\n    That spotless as the lamb of God, my Father could behold me.\n    And all my boast was in His name\n    Through whom this great salvation came.\"\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nETERNAL LIFE THE PRESENT POSSESSION OF THE BELIEVER\n\n     \"Ye are not under the law.\"--Rom. 6:14.\n\n     \"Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.\"--Gal.\n     3:26.\n\n     \"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.\"--1\n     John 5:1.\n\n     \"By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of\n     yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any one\n     should boast.\"--Eph. 2:8, 9 (1911 Bible and R. V.)\n\n     \"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.\"--John 3:36.\n\n     \"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and\n     believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not\n     come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.\"--John\n     5:24.\n\n     \"God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He\n     that hath the Son hath the life.\"--1 John 5:11, 12.\n\n\nIt is an awe-inspiring thought, a wonderful, blessed reality, that\nevery real believer on the Lord Jesus has, here and now, _eternal\nlife_, not simply the promise of it, but the eternal life itself. The\nhuman mind cannot fully take it in, that every man, the moment he is\nredeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), redeemed from all\niniquity (Titus 2:14), redeemed from under the law (Rom. 6:14), and\nadopted as a child of God (Gal. 4:4-7), has then and there\n_everlasting life_ (John 5:24), a new life that is never, never to\nend; a life that will outlast the stars; a life that he will be\nconsciously enjoying when all the stars shall have burnt out. And yet\nwhen such a life is offered as a gift (\"I give unto them eternal life,\nand they shall never perish,\"--John 10:28) many men will not repent\nand accept the gift. Religious prejudice, pride, secret sin, love of\nthe world,--for what puny trifles do men turn from the greatest of all\ngifts, the greatest of all blessings, eternal life! Reader, will you\nbe among the number who make this foolish, this fatal mistake?\n\nBut with some the greatness of this gift, and its blessed reality, are\nobscured by the teaching that the believer on Christ has not\neverlasting life _now_, but only the _promise_ of it. When God's word\ntells us that the redeemed one, the believer on Christ, is not under\nthe law (Rom. 6:14), is a child of God (Gal. 3:26), _has been_ saved\n(Eph. 2:8, 9, 1911 Bible and R. V.), not _will be_ saved, it would be\nstrange that, after all, the believer should have only a promise for\nthe beyond and no reality here and now. But God's word goes further\nand says, \"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ _is born of\nGod_.\"--1 John 5:1. _There cannot be birth without new life._ It is\nnot the old life; that would mean no birth. If, then, the new life is\nnot _eternal_ life, _what life is it_?\n\nIf language can be made to mean anything, God's word makes it plain\nthat every redeemed man, every believer on Christ, has _here and now_,\neternal life; for God's word tells us, not only that \"by grace _have\nye been saved_\" (Eph. 2:8, 9, 1911 Bible and R. V.), but it states\nplainly, \"he that believeth on the Son _hath_ everlasting life\" (John\n3:36); \"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and\nbelieveth on him that sent me, _hath_ everlasting life and shall not\ncome into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.\"--John\n5:24. That God's word does not mean that the believer on Christ has\nsimply the _promise_ of everlasting life, but that he really has the\neverlasting life, notice John 5:24, \"_Hath_ everlasting life and shall\nnot come into condemnation, but _is passed_ [here and now] from death\nunto life.\" The Revised Version (the more exact translation) makes it\nmuch stronger,--\"_hath passed_ out of death _into life_.\" What life,\nif not eternal life? Before this plain, positive statement of God's\nword, the mere promise of eternal life theory cannot stand. But the\nfact that the believer on Christ really has now eternal life, is made\nplain by other Scriptures. \"Whosoever hateth his brother is a\nmurderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life _abiding in\nhim_.\"--1 John 3:15. Here we are shown that when one \"hath eternal\nlife\" it is \"eternal life _abiding in him_\"; for there would be no\nmeaning to the language if no one has eternal life abiding in him.\nAgain, \"Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the\nSon of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth\nmy flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life.\"--John 6:53, 54.\nThe Saviour had just taught in verse 35 what eating His flesh and\ndrinking His blood meant: \"I am the bread of life; he that cometh to\nme shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never\nthirst.\" Here in verses 53, 54, the Saviour shows clearly that the\neternal life that the believer on Him \"_hath_\" is \"_in_\" you--here and\nnow.\n\nLet the unredeemed reader pause: in a moment, here and now, he can\nhave _everlasting life_ with God's assurance that he \"shall never\nperish\" (\"I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never\nperish.\"--John 10:28). It is a tremendous decision, and it may prove\nto be a fatal one, to turn away and not believe on Christ and have as\na present possession eternal life. \"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he\nthat heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, _hath\neverlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed\nfrom death unto life_.\"--John 5:24.\n\n_FOR FURTHER STUDY_:--Some who believe that the redeemed have only the\n_promise_ of eternal life, but that they have not eternal life, as a\nreal present possession, base this belief on such Scriptures as, \"In\nhope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the\nworld began\" (Titus 1:2), in connection with, \"Hope that is seen is\nnot hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we\nhope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.\"--Rom.\n8:24, 25. Their thought is, if we live \"in hope of eternal life,\" then\nwe have not really eternal life as a present possession; that we\ncannot hope for what we already have. But Jesus said positively that\nthe believer \"_hath passed out_ of death _into_ life\" (John 5:24, R.\nV.), and He contrasts the one who \"_hath_ eternal life\" with those to\nwhom He says, \"Ye have no life _in you_.\" A man can have eternal life\nhere, and at the same time hope for it beyond the grave. A man has his\nwife and children _now_, and _hopes_ to have them next year; a man\naway from wife and children has his life _now_; and yet he lives in\nhope of his life (the same life, that part of it not yet lived) with\nhis wife and children a month from now; an exile from home has his\nlife now; yet lives in hope of his life (the same life, that part of\nit not yet lived) in his native land a year from now. So, the child\nof God's, the redeemed man's, citizenship is in Heaven (Phil. 3:20);\nhe lives in hope of eternal life there; yet it is the same eternal\nlife (that part of it not lived) that he has here and now.\n\nAnother cause of stumbling at eternal life being now the actual\npossession of the redeemed man, is that many who claimed to have had\neternal life, also claim to have lost it; and if it had been actually\n_eternal_ life it could not have stopped; for then eternal would not\nbe really eternal; hence, it must have been simply the _promise_ of\neternal life that they had, and they therefore only lost the _promise_\nand not really eternal life itself. But Jesus, foreseeing this class\nof professing Christians, said that they were never really redeemed,\nnever really had eternal life: \"Many will say to me in that day, Lord,\nLord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast\nout demons? and in thy name done many wonderful works? and then will I\nprofess unto them, I never knew you,\"--Matt. 7:22, 23, not \"you were\nredeemed, you did have eternal life, but you lost it; it stopped\"; but\n\"I never knew you,\" and John teaches the same thing in 1 John 2:19,\n\"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been\nof us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they\nmight be made manifest that they all are not of us.\" (R. V.)\n\n\"There is no such thing as partly saved and partly lost; partly\njustified and partly guilty; partly alive and partly dead; partly born\nof God and partly not. There are but two states, and we must be in\neither the one or the other.\"--_Wm. Reid, in \"The Blood of Jesus.\"_\n\nTo many earnest men it seems dangerous to teach men that when they are\nredeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), and adopted as God's\nchildren (Gal. 4:3-7), they then really have as an actual possession\n_eternal_ life, and that they shall never perish, \"_hath_ everlasting\nlife, and shall not come unto condemnation,\"--John 5:24; \"I give unto\nthem _eternal_ life, and they shall never perish,\"--John 10:28; they\nthink that such a belief will be a temptation to sin; that it is\nliable to lead to presumptuous, wilful sinning. They think it much\nsafer for men to believe that they have not really the eternal life\nitself as an actual present possession, but only the promise of it;\nand that by their sinning hereafter they may forfeit that promise and\nbe lost. They think that this fear of being lost will act as a check,\na safeguard, a restraining power. To the extent that it does, it\nproduces service from the motive of fear of Hell, fear of losing\nHeaven, and not from the motive of love to Christ for having redeemed\nthem from all iniquity (Titus 2:14). But God's word on this point is\nclear: \"The love of Christ [_not_ the fear of Hell, nor the fear of\nlosing Heaven] constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one\ndied for all, then all died; and he died for all that they who live\nshould not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for\nthem, and rose again.\"--2 Cor. 5:14, 15.\n\nThe teaching that the redeemed, saved man has now eternal life and\nshall never perish, will lead to wilful, presumptuous sinning on the\npart of hypocrites, and may lead to indifference and sin on the part\nof those who honestly think they are redeemed, saved, but who really\nare not; for such are not born again (1 Peter 1:23), and have not the\nmotive power of love, because really redeemed, prompting their action.\n\nThose who think it is dangerous to teach a redeemed (1 Peter 1:18,\n19), saved (Eph. 2:8, R. V.) man, a child of God (Gal. 4:4-7), that he\nhas here and now, as an actual possession, eternal life, and shall\nnever perish (John 10:28), shall not come into condemnation (John\n5:24), lose sight of five facts in _God's plan with men_:--\n\nFirst, the redeemed man is born again, born of God, \"Whosoever\nbelieveth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.\"--1 John 5:1.\n\"Therefore if any one is in Christ he is a new creature.\"--2 Cor.\n5:17. This is not a mere theory. All down the centuries since the\nSaviour came, there have been multitudes of notable cases where\nhardened men and women, deep down in sin, have actually become new\ncreatures by being redeemed and being born again. Many are now living,\nwhose names could be given, who are widely known, who were once\nnotorious in sin, and they are now willingly and gladly wearing out\ntheir lives in God's service, and are living godly lives: and this\nchange came in their lives, not by a gradual process, but in a moment.\nGod's word says it is a new birth. There is no other explanation. But\nevery one who is redeemed is thus born of God (1 John 5:1), and this\nnew nature will lead one to hate sin, and prompt to a godly life.\n\nSecond, the redeemed man is under the new motive of love to Christ\n(\"if ye love me, keep my commandments,\"--John 14:15) to prompt him to\na faithful Christian life. On this point James Denny in \"The Death of\nChrist\" says, \"The love which is the motive of it acts immediately\nupon the sinful; gratitude exerts an irresistible constraint; His\nresponsibility means our emancipation; His death, our life; His\nbleeding wound, our healing. Whoever says, 'He bore our sins,' says\nsubstitution; and to say substitution is to say something which\ninvolves an immeasurable obligation to Christ, and _has therefore in\nit an incalculable motive power_.\" Let the reader note well, that the\npurpose of God in saving men through Christ dying of their sins (1\nCor. 15:3) is to _purify the motive power_ and _make it effective_.\n\"He died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live _unto\nthemselves_, but _unto him_.\"--2 Cor. 5:15.\n\nWhen men live in order that they may retain the promise of eternal\nlife, that they may attain eternal life hereafter, from fear lest they\nshould forfeit the promise and not attain eternal life hereafter, they\n\"live unto themselves.\" When men live because they already have as an\nactual possession, eternal life, and realize that it is eternal, they\nlive from love, and not unto themselves but \"_unto Him_.\"\n\nAnd God's plan is effective. \"The love of Christ constraineth us\" (2\nCor. 5:14), _it does constrain_. Hence, Jesus says, \"if a man love me,\n_he will_ keep my words.\"--John 14:23. Again, \"If God were your Father\n_ye would_ love me.\"--John 8:42. So important is this fact of the new\nmotive power and its effectiveness, that the reader's attention will\nnow be directed to the words of James Denny in \"The Death of Christ\"\non this subject. That the reader may the better appreciate these\nwords, his attention is first called to the estimates of Denny's great\nwork by two of the leading religious editors of the world. The\n_Pittsburg Christian Advocate_: \"To thoughtful students 'The Death of\nChrist' came as one of the most stirring books of the decade if not of\nthe generation.\" The _New York Examiner_: \"The most important\ncontribution to the all-important doctrine of the atonement since the\nappearance of Dr. Dale's epoch-making book.... Exegetically\nconsidered, it is the most important book published within the memory\nof the younger generation of preachers.\" On the death of Christ for\nour sins (1 Cor. 15:3) being the motive power in the Christian life,\nand its being effective, Denny says: \"The problem before us is to\ndiscover what it is in the death of Christ which gives it its power to\ngenerate such experience, to exercise on human hearts the constraining\ninfluence of which the apostle speaks; and this is precisely what we\ndiscover, in the inferential clause; 'so then all died.' This clause\nputs as plainly as it can be put the idea that His death was\nequivalent to the death of all; in other words, it was the death of\nall men which was died by Him.\"... \"Their relation to God is not\ndetermined now _in the very least by sin or law_: it is determined by\nChrist, the propitiation, and by faith. The position of the believer\nis not that of one trembling at the judgment seat, or of one for whom\neverything remains somehow in a condition of suspense; it is that of\none who has the assurance of a Divine love which has gone deeper than\nall his sins, and has taken on itself the _responsibility of them_,\nand _the responsibility of delivering him from them_.\"... \"Take away\nthe certainty of it and the New Testament temper expires. Joy in this\ncertainty is not presumption; on the contrary, it is joy in the Lord,\nand such joy is the Christian's strength. It is the impulse and the\nhope of sanctification; and to deprecate it, and the assurance from\nwhich it springs, is no true evangelical humility, but a failure to\nbelieve in the infinite goodness of God who in Christ removes our sins\nfrom us as far as the east is from the west, and plants our life in\nHis eternal reconciling love.\"... \"An absolute justification is needed\nto give the sinner a start. He must have the certainty of 'no\ncondemnation' of being, without reserve or drawback, right with God\nthrough God's gracious act in Christ, before he can begin to live the\nnew life.\"... \"_It is not by denying the gospel outright, from the\nvery beginning, that we are to guard against the possible abuse of\nit._\"... \"To try to take some preliminary security from the sinner's\nfuture morality before you make the gospel available for him, is not\nonly to strike at the root of assurance, it is to pay a very poor\ntribute to the power of the gospel. The truth is, morality is best\nguaranteed by Christ, and not by any precautions we can take before\nChrist gets a chance, or by any virtue that is in faith except as it\nunites the soul to Him.\"... \"If it is our death that Christ died on\nthe cross, there is in the cross the constraint of an infinite love;\nbut if it is not our death at all--if it is not our burden and doom\nthat He has taken on Himself there, then what is it to us?\"... \"He\nwho has done so tremendous a thing as to take our death to Himself has\nestablished a claim upon our life. We are not in the sphere of\nmystical union, of dying with Christ and living with Him; but in that\nof love transcendently shown, and of gratitude profoundly felt.\"...\n\"But this can only come on the foundation of the other; it is the\ndischarge from the responsibilities of sin involved in Christ's death\nand appropriated in faith, which is the motive power in the daily\nethical dying to sin.\"... \"The new life springs out of the sense of\ndebt to Christ.\"... \"It is the knowledge that we have been bought with\na price which makes us cease to be our own, and live for Him who so\ndearly bought us.\"... \"But when its certainty, completeness, and\nfreeness are so qualified or disguised that assurance becomes suspect\nand joy is quenched, the Christian religion has ceased to be.\"...\n\"This is why St. Paul is not afraid to trust the new life to its own\nresources, and why he objects equally to supplanting it by legal\nregulations afterwards, or by what are supposed to be ethical\nsecurities beforehand. It does not need them, and is bound to repel\nthem as dishonoring to Christ. To demand moral guarantees from a\nsinner before you give him the benefit of the atonement, or to impose\nlegal restrictions on him after he has yielded to its appeal, and\nreceived it through faith, is to make the atonement itself of no\neffect.\"... \"In any case, I do not hesitate to say that the sense of\ndebt to Christ is the most profound and pervasive of all emotions in\nthe New Testament, and that only a gospel which evokes this, as the\ngospel of atonement does, is true to primitive and normal\nChristianity.\"\n\nLet the reader consider two statements just here from another great\nwork, concerning the effectiveness of love as the motive power in the\nredeemed man's life (in the writer's judgment no greater work,\nexcepting the gospel of John [John 20:30, 31], has ever been written\nfor honest sceptics, than Walker's \"Philosophy of the Plan of\nSalvation\"). \"Just in proportion as the soul feels its lost, guilty\nand dangerous condition, in the same proportion will it exercise love\nto the being who grants spiritual favor and salvation.\"... \"It may be\naffirmed, without hesitancy, that it would be impossible for the human\nsoul to exercise full faith in the testimony that it was a guilty and\nneedy creature, condemned by the holy law of a holy God, and that from\nthis condition of spiritual guilt and danger Jesus Christ suffered and\ndied to accomplish its ransom,--we say, a human being could not\nexercise full faith in these truths and not love the Saviour.\"\n\nThird, those who fear that if redeemed men, God's children, are taught\nthat they have, here and now, eternal life as an actual present\npossession, and that it is eternal, it will be liable to lead them\ninto presumptuous, wilful sin, lose sight of a third fact. The\nredeemed man, the real child of God, can be tempted, can be led into\nsin, and some of them do become backsliders, but God's word teaches\nthat they will be chastised in this life. Let the reader turn back and\nread Chapter V. Two Scriptures there quoted make plain the chastening\nof God's disobedient children: \"Also I will make him my firstborn,\nhigher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him\nforevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also\nwill I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.\nIf his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments, if they\nbreak my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit\ntheir transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes.\nNevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor\nsuffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor\nalter the thing that is gone out of my lips.\"--Ps. 89:27-34. Equally\nexplicit is the New Testament: \"Ye have forgotten the exhortation\nwhich speaketh unto you as unto sons. My son, despise not thou the\nchastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for\nwhom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he\nreceiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons;\nfor what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be\nwithout chastening, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards\nand not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, who\ncorrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be\nin subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a\nfew days chastened us as seemed right to them; but he for our profit,\n_that we might be partakers of his holiness_. Now no chastening for\nthe present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless\nafterwards it _yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness_ unto\nthem that are exercised thereby.\"--Heb. 12:5-11. So that, the\ndisobedient child of God will suffer for his sins, not in Hell, but in\nthis life; and not as a just penalty for violated law, for he is not\nunder the law (\"Ye are not under the law,\"--Rom. 6:14), but as\nchastening, for correction. It is not a theory merely, for God's word\ndeclares that God's plan works--\"It yieldeth the peaceable fruit of\nrighteousness.\"\n\nFourth, those who fear that teaching redeemed men, God's children,\nthat they have, as a present possession, eternal life and not simply\nthe promise of it, and who think that the safer course is to teach\nthem that they have only the promise of eternal life and may forfeit\nit by unfaithfulness, lose sight of another fact, that the unfaithful\nredeemed one will lose his reward. Let the reader turn back and read\nChapter VI. The Scripture teaching is plain, \"If any man's work abide\nwhich he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's\nwork shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be\nsaved, yet so as through fire.\"--1 Cor. 3:14, 15. He loses his reward\nwho is unfaithful, but not his eternal life, because it is eternal,\nand because he has been redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14).\n\nFifth, those who, knowing that the redeemed man could not lose his\neternal life, if he has it as a present possession, because it is\neternal, believe that the redeemed have not really eternal life but\nonly the promise of it and may forfeit the promise by unfaithfulness,\nand that it is dangerous to teach the redeemed that they really have\neternal life because it might lead to wilful, presumptuous sin, lose\nsight of a fifth fact, that the child of God is not only redeemed\nfrom the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), redeemed from under the law\n(Rom. 6:14), adopted as a child of God because redeemed from the law\n(Gal. 4:4-7), but that being redeemed, he is redeemed _from all\niniquity_ (\"Our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he\nmight _redeem us from all iniquity_.\"--Titus 2:13, 14). How can God,\nbecause He is just, let the redeemed man, if he is redeemed _from all\niniquity_, be lost? \"A young minister was in the habit of visiting an\naged Scotch woman in his congregation who was familiarly called 'Old\nNanny.' She was bed-ridden and rapidly approaching the end of her\n'long and weary pilgrimage,' but she rested with undisturbed composure\nand full assurance of faith upon the finished work of Christ. One day\nhe said to her, 'Now, Nanny, what if, after all your confidence in the\nSaviour and your watching and waiting, God should suffer your soul to\nbe lost?' Raising herself on her elbow, and turning to him with a look\nof grief and pain, she laid her hand on the open Bible before her, and\nquietly replied, 'Ah, dearie me, is that the length you hae got yet,\nmon? God,' she continued earnestly, 'would hae the greatest loss. Poor\nNannie would lose her soul, and that would be a great loss indeed; but\nGod would lose His _honor_ and His _character_. Haven't I hung my soul\nupon His \"exceeding great and precious promise\"? and if He would break\nHis word He would make Himself a liar, _and a' the universe would rush\ninto confusion_.' This anecdote reveals the true ground of the\nbeliever's safety. It is as high as the honor of God; it is as\ntrustworthy as His character; it is as immutable as His promises; it\nis as broad as the infinite merit of His Son's atoning blood.\"--_J. H.\nBrookes, in \"The Way Made Plain.\"_\n\nIf God, \"that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth\nin Jesus\" (Rom. 3:26), set forth Jesus Christ as a propitiation\nthrough faith in his blood (Rom. 3:25), and then should let one be\nlost who had been redeemed from all iniquity (Titus 2:14), would He\nnot be as unjust in so doing as He would have been had He justified\nsinners without Christ dying for their sins (1 Cor. 15:3)?\n\nThe blessed fact that the redeemed have as a present possession, here\nand now, eternal life, and that it is eternal, makes manifest another\nfact, that the redeemed are not unconscious, virtually out of\nexistence, from death till the resurrection. The new life is eternal;\nit continues without cessation or intermission. Their bodies fall\nasleep; but their souls are still in conscious existence; it is\n_eternal life_. Paul makes this fact clear: \"Whilst present in the\nbody, we are absent from the Lord.\" \"We are confident, I say, and well\npleased rather to be absent from the body, and present with the\nLord.\"--2 Cor. 5:6, 8. The same conscious life continues; it is\neternal life. Again he makes it clear: \"I am in a strait betwixt the\ntwo, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far\nbetter: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful on your\naccount.\"--Phil. 1:23, 24. The same conscious life continues, the\neternal life. To depart and to be with Christ he says \"_is far\nbetter_.\" But even this is not the perfect state. It is the soul\nwithout the body, enjoying eternal life with Christ. But God's\nperfect being is a being of redeemed soul and redeemed body enjoying\nthe reward of its labor. The body will not be redeemed until the\nresurrection (Rom. 8:23; 1 Cor. 15:42); and the soul, though enjoying\neternal life and with Christ (Phil. 1:23) will receive no reward until\nthe resurrection,--\"Thou shalt be _recompensed at the resurrection of\nthe just_.\"--Luke 14:14.\n\nPaul further makes clear the distinction between the body sleeping and\nthe soul not sleeping, because it has eternal life and is with Christ:\n\"If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that\nsleep in Jesus _will God bring with him_.\"--1 Thess. 4:14. Their\nbodies are asleep; their souls are \"absent from the body and present\nwith the Lord\" (2 Cor. 5:8); but at the resurrection of their bodies,\nthese \"will God bring with him.\" Then, \"at the resurrection of the\njust\" (Luke 14:14) will \"each man receive his own reward according to\nhis own labor.\"--1 Cor. 3:8. Let this blessed teaching be a comfort to\nsome hearts: the redeemed loved ones who have died are \"present with\nthe Lord\" which \"is far better.\" Then it is cruel selfishness to wish\nthem back.\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nDEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTER IN THE REDEEMED\n\n     \"_The God of Jacob_ is our refuge.\"--Ps. 46:7.\n\n     \"Happy is he that hath _the God of Jacob_ for his help.\"--Ps.\n     146:5.\n\n     \"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of\n     gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found\n     unto praise, and honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus\n     Christ.\"--1 Peter 1:7.\n\n     \"Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and\n     entire, wanting nothing.\"--James 1:14.\n\n     \"And we know that _all things_ work together for good to them that\n     love God, to those who are the called according to his\n     purpose.\"--Rom. 8:28.\n\n\n\"The God of Jacob!\" Not the God of Israel. Wonderful God! Blessed\nassurance, that \"_the God of Jacob_ is our refuge,\"--the God who saves\nthe man without character, irrespective of character,--makes of\nhim,--Israel. Jacob, the supplanter, the trickster, the weak\ncharacter, the warped character, the sinner, God takes, and through\ntrials, tests, develops him and makes of him Israel,--a prince of God.\nThat is _God's plan with men_. Consider it.\n\nThere are two theories, the poles apart. The one is, salvation by\ncharacter; that by acquiring a suitable character, by developing the\nright kind of a character, man can be saved, can go to Heaven; that\none's character, if of the proper kind, entitles him to Heaven; that\nif one has lived right, he will go to Heaven. The other theory is,\nthat God by grace, pure unmerited favor, saves irrespective of\ncharacter. It is a tremendous issue. It is vital; one or the other is\nfatal. If those who hold one theory go to Heaven, all who hold to the\nother will be lost, will go to Hell. We would as well face the issue.\nThey are two widely different ways of salvation, and God has but one.\nJesus said, \"_I am the way_\" (John 14:6), not one way, _The Way_. And\nHe leaves no possible ground for misunderstanding the meaning, \"No man\ncometh unto the Father, but by me.\"--John 14:6. Either, then, He is\n_the only way_, or He was the vilest deceiver the world ever knew, or\nHe was a simple-minded, ignorant fanatic, who honestly thought Himself\n\"The Way\" when He was not.\n\nAgainst this theory of salvation by character there are four serious,\nfatal charges:--\n\nFirst, it is utterly cruel, heartless and selfish. It is cruel,\nbecause to the weakest, most needy, most helpless class, the vast body\nof men, born of vicious, debased parents, reared amidst vice and sin,\nweakened by appetite and tied by habit, it does not give one-millionth\nthe chance to be saved, to go to Heaven, that men have who were born\nof noble, godly parents, reared amidst moral, uplifting surroundings,\nand strengthened by noble aspirations and splendid training. Stand\nbefore you two young men representing these two classes, and tell them\nof life beyond this life, and of Heaven; and then tell them of\nsalvation by character. To the one it would mean a bright, hopeful\nanticipation; to the other, it would mean but taunting him with his\nhopeless condition and prodding him with despair.\n\nThe theory of salvation by character is heartless, because, wrapt in\nthe robe of its own self-righteousness, it coolly condemns to hopeless\ndespair a vast body of the human race. Go stand by the helpless,\nhopeless drunkard, and the drunken, sinful woman, and tell them of\nsalvation by character, and hear the sob of despair or see the jeering\nlook on their faces at the thought of salvation by character for such\nas they! Before a pastors' conference, the polished, brilliant, highly\neducated pastor of a wealthy, refined, intellectual congregation read\na seemingly learned paper on \"Salvation by Character.\" When he had\nfinished reading the paper, some of his fellow-pastors endorsed the\npaper and gave it high praise. Finally, the pastor of a people who had\nbeen unfortunate in life, many of whom had gone far down in sin, and\nwere fettered by habit, arose and said, \"Brother Moderator, the\nbrother has given us his wonderful paper on salvation by character. I\nwould like to ask him, what would he preach if he were the pastor of a\npeople who have no character?\" The author of the paper arose and made\nthe heartless reply, \"Brother Moderator, my brother and I have been\nraised in such different intellectual atmospheres, that I don't\nsuppose I could make it plain to my brother.\" The other replied, \"That\nis doubtless true, Brother Moderator; but the trouble is, that he can\nnever make it plain to any one else.\"\n\nIt is selfish, because those who teach this theory are generally men\nof intelligence, refinement, and are considered, and they consider\nthemselves, men of moral character. They thus provide for themselves\nby their theory, but leave a vast body of the race with a very slight\nhope or with no hope whatever.\n\nThe second charge against those who hold this theory is that by their\nown theory none will be saved. If salvation is by character, by what\nkind of character, a perfect character, or an imperfect character? If\nby a perfect character, no one has it; no one even claims it. If by an\nimperfect character, how imperfect may it be and the man yet be saved?\nWhere is the standard? If a man's character, in order to be saved by\nit, must be the best he can make it, no one has even that\ncharacter,--no one's character is the best he could have made it.\nHence, salvation by character is a chimera.\n\nThe third charge against salvation by character is, that even if a\nman's character were perfect from man's standpoint, in the sight of\nGod his character would still be corrupt. \"All our righteousnesses are\nas filthy rags.\"--Is. 64:6. Why? Because motive is the measure of the\ncharacter. \"They that are in the flesh cannot please God.\"--Rom. 8:8.\nWhy? Because they have not, and cannot have, the right motive. \"Though\nI speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am\nbecome as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the\ngift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and\nthough I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have\nnot love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the\npoor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it\nprofiteth me nothing.\"--1 Cor. 13:1-3. And no man has this love, no\nman can have this love, until he is saved by Christ dying for his\nsins (1 Cor. 15:3). \"The love of Christ constraineth us; because we\nthus judge, that if one died for all, then all died; and he died for\nall, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves,\nbut unto him who died for them, and rose again.\"--2 Cor. 5:14, 15.\n\nThe fourth serious, fatal charge against the theory of salvation by\ncharacter is that it is contrary to the teaching of the Saviour.\n\"Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and\nthe harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.\"--Matt. 21:31.\nCertain it is that the publicans and the harlots had worse characters\nthan those to whom the Saviour was speaking; the fact is therefore\nevident that Jesus taught salvation without character, irrespective of\ncharacter.\n\nLet the reader consider two cases that will show conclusively that the\nteaching of salvation by character is absolutely contrary to the\nteaching of the Saviour. \"The chief priest, mocking him, with the\nscribes and elders, said: He saved others; himself he cannot save. If\nhe is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we\nwill believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he\nwill have him; for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also that\nwere with him, cast the same in his teeth.\"--Matt. 27:41-44. Let the\nreader notice that both the thieves \"that were with him, cast the same\nin his teeth.\" Then \"one of the malefactors that were hanged railed on\nhim, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other\nanswering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou\nart in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the\ndue reward of our deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he\nsaid unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.\nAnd Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be\nwith me in Paradise.\"--Luke 23:39-43. From the time that both thieves\n\"cast the same in his teeth,\" to the time the one made his earnest\nplea, \"Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom,\" there had\nbeen no time in which this thief could have formed, developed a\ncharacter that merited salvation. Hence, when Jesus said, \"To-day\nshalt thou be with me in Paradise,\" to this thief, He branded the\nteaching of salvation by character as not from Heaven. The one who\ndoes not see from this case that the cruel, heartless, selfish\nteaching of salvation by character contradicts the Lord Jesus, will\nnever see anything contrary to his own preferences and preconceived\nopinions.\n\nThe second case is just as conclusive. As the Saviour was reclining at\nmeat in the house of Simon the Pharisee, a woman, noted as a sinner,\ncame in and stood behind him weeping. \"And he said to the woman, Thy\nfaith hath saved thee; go in peace.\"--Luke 7:50. The Saviour said the\nwoman was saved, yet she was of notorious character,--she had no\ncharacter.\n\nThat the Saviour saved irrespective of character is shown by two cases\nin the book of Acts. We have the accounts of the salvation of two men\nof opposite characters. One was \"A devout man, and one that feared\nGod with all his house, who gave much alms to the people and prayed to\nGod always,\"--Acts 10:2, a man of most excellent character. Among all\nthe unredeemed men of the earth, not one could show a better\ncharacter. If any man could be saved by character, here is the man.\nGod sends word to him, \"Send to Joppa and call for Simon, whose\nsurname is Peter, who shall tell the words whereby thou and all thy\nhouse shalt be saved.\"--Acts 11:13. Notwithstanding his noble, unusual\ncharacter, God tells him that he is unsaved. If he, with his character\nunexcelled among unredeemed men, was yet unsaved, how can any other\nunredeemed man hope for salvation by character? Peter's message to\nthis man of irreproachable character was, \"To him give all the\nprophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth on him\nshall receive remission of sins.\"--Acts 10:43. Why is it necessary for\nthis man of character to believe on Christ in order to be saved?\nBecause, though of unusual character, he had sinned, \"for all have\nsinned\" (Rom. 3:23); and sin once committed can only be atoned for by\nblood, \"apart from shedding of blood there is no remission\" (Heb.\n9:22), and there is no blood of atonement in a noble character.\n\nOver against this case is that of the Philippian jailor, a man of\nhardened character; for he took two helpless, bleeding preachers who\nhad been beaten by a mob, and \"thrust them into the inner prison, and\nmade their feet fast in the stocks\" (Acts 16:24), and left them with\ntheir backs bloody and gave them no supper. When the earthquake came\nand the doors were opened, the hardened jailor started to commit\nsuicide. Paul having called to him and prevented the suicide, the\njailor \"came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and brought\nthem out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?\"--Acts 16:30. If\never a man should be told of salvation by character, here was the\nopportunity, that he might at once begin the tremendous and all but\nhopeless task of changing, so late in life, a hardened character into\none that would enable him to merit Heaven. Instead, they said,\n\"Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.\"--Acts 16:31. How\nsimilar the answer to the instructions of Peter to Cornelius, and yet\nhow widely different the characters of the two men! Why this\nsimilarity? Because God has but one way of salvation, and that is\nirrespective of character. \"He gathereth together _the outcasts_ of\nIsrael\" (Ps. 147:2), the God of Jacob.\n\nWhile the Saviour saves without character, and irrespective of\ncharacter, God the Father does not leave them without character, but\ndevelops in them the right kind of a character. The man redeemed,\nsaved, without character, does not remain without character. \"And such\n_were_ some of you\" (1 Cor. 6:11), but they did not remain such\ncharacters,--but \"sanctified, called to be saints.\"--1 Cor. 1:2.\n_God's plan with men_, then, is to save irrespective of character, and\nthen develop in the redeemed, saved man a character that shall \"be\nfound unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus\nChrist.\"--1 Peter 1:7.\n\nThree ways in which God develops character in the redeemed are:\n\nFirst, by purifying the _motive_ of the life. Character is not formed\nby deeds, but by the motives prompting the deeds. Two men flag the\nnight express train on two railroads; the deeds are the same, but one\nflags the train that he may warn, and save the lives of the people,\nbecause a bridge has been destroyed; the other flags the train that he\nmay rob it. While the deeds are the same, the character of the deeds\nis different, and that difference is in the motive prompting the deed,\nand that motive affects, moulds the character of the one who performs\nthe deed. No deed is right in the sight of God that is not performed\nfrom the motive of love (1 Cor. 13:1-3); hence, no character can be\nright in the sight of God if the deeds that formed that character were\nnot prompted by the motive of love. All deeds performed from simply\nthe motive of duty, or from the desire to be saved, to go to Heaven\nafter this life, or from fear of Hell, are, in the sight of God,\nunworthy deeds, and the characters formed by such deeds are unworthy\ncharacters. And the Saviour defines clearly what love is: \"There was a\ncertain creditor who had two debtors; the one owed five hundred pence,\nand the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay he frankly\nforgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him\nmost? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave\nmost. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.\"--Luke 7:41-43.\nAnd John likewise defines love: \"Herein is love, not that we loved\nGod, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for\nour sins.\"--1 John 4:10. This explains why God says: \"They that are\nin the flesh cannot please God.\"--Rom. 8:8. Their motive is wrong and\nthey cannot have the right motive, because they have not been\n\"forgiven most.\" Hence all characters are wrong in the sight of God\nthat were formed by deeds whose prompting motive was a simple sense of\nduty, a desire to be saved, to go to Heaven, or from fear of Hell. And\nall who have such a character are lost, have never been redeemed, are\nnot real Christians.\n\nSecond, God develops character in the redeemed, His real children, by\nchastisements. Our earthly fathers \"verily for a few days chastened us\nas seemed right to them; but he for our profit, that we might be\npartakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth\nto be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the\npeaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised\nthereby.\"--Heb. 12:10, 11.\n\nThird, God moulds the character of the redeemed by afflictions,\nburdens, sorrows, etc. \"Our light affliction, which is but for a\nmoment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of\nglory.\"--2 Cor. 4:17. \"Let patience have its perfect work, that ye may\nbe mature and complete, lacking in nothing.\"--James 1:14.\n\nThe shallow conception of _God's plan with men_ that makes it His\nultimate purpose simply to save men, leaves the life of the redeemed\nman here on earth an unsolved riddle, often an inexplicable tragedy.\nThe heartaches, the disasters, the burdens, the afflictions, the\nsorrows,--what of all these, when God assures us that \"all things work\ntogether for good to those that love God, to those who are the called\naccording to his purpose\" (Rom. 8:28), if the ultimate purpose is\nsimply salvation? \"He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.\"\nThe silver has been mined, digged from the earth, but there is dross\nin it. The redeemed have been redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal.\n3:13); have had the spirit sent into their hearts (\"because ye are\nsons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts,\ncrying, Abba, Father,\"--Gal. 4:6); but there are defects from\nheredity, from environment. The purifying process, the development of\ncharacter, comes, not in order to be saved, but after we are saved,\nbecause we are saved.\n\nWith God as the Father of the redeemed, many of the afflictions, and\nsorrows of real Christians can be accounted for as chastisements; many\nof the severe, heavy afflictions in the lives of real Christians can\nbe accounted for in this way. \"Ye have forgotten the exhortation which\nspeaketh unto you as unto sons, My son, despise not thou the\nchastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for\nwhom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and _scourgeth every son_ whom he\nreceiveth.\"--Heb. 12:5, 6. Scourging is severe, yet God says it is for\n_every son_.\n\nBut there are many, many trials, afflictions, burdens, sorrows, which\ncannot be explained by chastisements; for chastisements are for wilful\nsins of God's children: \"If his children _forsake_ my law ... then\nwill I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with\nstripes.\"--Ps. 89:30-32. In the lives of many of the redeemed who are\nliving obedient lives there are some of the most severe trials and\nafflictions. If God is their Father and loves them, what can these\nsevere trials and afflictions mean?\n\n    \"One adequate support\n    For the calamities of mortal life\n    Exists, one only,--an assured belief\n    That the procession of our fate, however\n    Sad or disturbed, is ordered by a being\n    Of Infinite benevolence and power,\n    Whose everlasting purposes embrace\n    All accidents, converting them into good.\"\n\n    Wordsworth.\n\nGod Himself hath said it, \"All things work together for good to those\nthat love God, to those who are the called according to his\npurpose.\"--Rom. 8:28. Had God said, \"Some things,\" what confusion\nwould have come to many of God's children! What enigmas would many\nthings in the lives of many of the redeemed have been! But when God\nsaid \"All things,\" He placed a key in the hands of every redeemed man,\nevery real child of His, with which to unlock the door of every\nmystery; that every trial, every disaster, every accident, every\nburden, every humiliation, every disappointment, every affliction,\nevery sorrow,--\"All things work together for good to those that love\nGod, to those who are the called according to his purpose\";--\"that the\ntrial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that\nperisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise,\nand honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.\"--1 Peter 1:7.\n\nMuscles are developed by trials; minds are developed by trials; God's\nredeemed people are developed by trials. To murmur against one's\ntrials after being redeemed, means to murmur against being developed\nfor one's eternal destiny. To give the muscles no trials, means for\nthe body never to be developed; to give the mind no trials, means for\nthe mind never to be developed; to give the redeemed man no trials,\nmeans for his character never to be developed. Two children are born\ninto the world. The father and mother of one decide that he shall\nnever be required to do any unpleasant things; that he shall never\nhave any hardships. The father and mother of the other decide to give\ntheir child every unpleasant thing to do, every hardship and burden to\nbear, that will best develop him in body and mind. Often the redeemed\nplead with their Father in Heaven to give them only pleasant things,\nand He, the All-wise, All-powerful, in love gives them--trials.\n\nThe trials of life for the redeemed are so various. If the muscles\nhave only one trial, the body will never be fully developed. The\nmuscles need various trials. If the mind has only one trial, it will\nnever be fully developed. If the mind studies only one thing, it will\nnever be trained, developed, educated. If the soul has only one kind\nof trial, it will never be developed. \"Count it all joy, my brethren,\nwhen ye fall into manifold temptations.\"--James 1:2 (R. V. Margin,\ntrials).\n\nBut the redeemed, the children of God, often complain that their\ntrials are so hard. Easy trials do not develop. The one who takes only\nlight exercises for his muscles will never be fully developed\nphysically. The boy who works the easy examples and skips the hard\nones, will never be an educated man; he will be only a \"hewer of wood\nand drawer of water.\" It takes hard trials to develop the body\nproperly. It takes hard trials of the mind to develop it properly. It\ntakes hard trials to develop the soul properly; \"That the trial of\nyour faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,\n_though it be tried with fire_.\" He who asks for only easy trials of\nhis muscles, asks to remain undeveloped physically; he who asks for\neasy trials of his mind, asks to remain undeveloped mentally; he who\nasks, yearns, to have no hard trials spiritually, yearns to remain\nundeveloped in real character, in his spiritual nature. The hard\ntrials are the ones that develop. And the more one's muscles have been\ndeveloped, the harder should be the trials for those muscles; the more\none's mind is developed, the harder should be the trials for the mind;\nthe more the redeemed man's spiritual nature is developed, the harder\nhis trials will be.\n\nThat would be an unwise educator who, after training the pupil's mind\nup through geometry, would then put him back to studying the simple\nbranches of mathematics, instead of taking him on into higher\nmathematics. Likewise the Heavenly Father does not, after partly\ndeveloping the redeemed, His children, by hard trials, return them to\nlives of easy trials, but He leads them into yet harder trials. Take\nElijah as an example (see F. B. Meyer's \"Elijah\"). He is sent to\npronounce God's sentence against Ahab (1 Kings 17:1); he is then sent\ninto obscurity (17:2, 3); he is left dependent on the ravens for food\n(17:4-6); he sees the brook dry up, his only hope for water, for life\n(17:7); he is submitted to the humiliation of being supported by a\npoor widow (17:8, 9); God delays answering his prayer (17:17-22); God\nrequires him to expose himself to danger by showing himself to Ahab\n(18:1); he is led to face popular religious error, and in doing so is\nleft to stand alone (18:19-38); God delays answer to his prayer till\nhe prays seven times (18:42-45); he suffers the further humiliation of\nElisha being anointed prophet in his room (19:15, 16); he is taken up\nby a whirlwind to Heaven (2 Kings 2:11). A study of these trials will\nshow that they were all hard trials, and that they increased in\nseverity. God tells us that Elijah was a man subject to like passions\nas we are (James 5:17); but by trials, hardships, burdens, God\ndeveloped him into one of the noblest characters of all ages. God's\nredeemed people may expect, then, trials through their lives, and that\nthe trials shall be increasingly severe, as they advance in the\nChristian life.\n\nOften God's children are discouraged because they cannot see any\npurpose in their trials. But God assures us that there is a purpose.\nThe child cannot understand the purpose of the lessons at school, but\nthe father has the purpose. Elijah, possibly filled with apprehension,\nsitting by the drying brook Cherith, did not see any purpose, but God,\nwho makes all things work together for good to His people, had the\npurpose and accomplished it in the development of Elijah's character;\nand so, as F. B. Meyer has so aptly put it, the redeemed, sitting by\nthe drying brook of health, of property, of reputation, of family\nhappiness, may not see the purpose, but the Heavenly Father will\nwork, in His plan for each, every trial into the warp or woof of each\nlife. The Saviour said to Peter, \"What I do thou knowest not now, but\nthou shalt know hereafter.\"--John 13:7.\n\n    \"Behind our life the Weaver stands\n      And works His wondrous will;\n    We leave it all in His wise hands\n      And trust His perfect skill.\n    Should mystery enshroud His plan,\n      And our short sight be dim,\n    We will not try the whole to scan,\n      But leave each thread to Him.\"\n\nWho knows the defects, the weaknesses, of each character? Only God.\nWho knows what each character ought to be? Only God. Who knows how to\ndevelop each character properly? Only God. Who is able to so shape the\ncircumstances of each life as to properly develop each character? Only\nGod. And He has promised that He will. \"We know that all things work\ntogether for good to those who love God, to those who are the called\naccording to his purpose\" (Rom. 8:28); \"that the trial of your faith,\nbeing much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be\ntried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory at\nthe appearing of Jesus Christ.\"--1 Peter 1:7. This is _the only_\nexplanation of the many harassments of life.\n\nGod has revealed that the standard by which character is measured is\npatience, endurance. \"Let patience have its perfect work, that ye may\nbe mature and complete, lacking in nothing.\"--James 1:4. If there\nwere no harassments, no afflictions, no burdens, no sorrows, no\ndisappointments, no sufferings, there could be no patience, endurance;\nand if there were no patience, no endurance, there could be no\nmaturity and completeness of character. As to what trials are needed,\nand are best in each case, only God can decide. In our dimsightedness\nwe think that many things are mistakes in God's plans, and that He\ncannot bring good out of them; but He will. A boy was born with a\nbadly deformed foot. When he was eight years of age his father had two\nsurgeons to operate and try to straighten the foot, but they failed.\nAfter a second operation, the foot was placed in a brace which was\nworn for months. But the foot remained as badly deformed as ever. The\nsurgeons then informed the father that the foot could never be\nstraightened. The father studied the deformed foot for many days, and\nthen had a strange-looking box made with screws, felt taps and iron\nrods in different parts of it. He had the surgeons to operate again on\nthe boy's foot, cutting the muscles and tendons in different places.\nThe foot was then placed in the strange box; a screw was turned till\nthe felt tap pressed against the foot at one place, almost breaking\nthe bones; then another screw and felt tap were brought to bear on\nanother deformed part of the foot, straightening the foot and almost\nbreaking the bones in that part of the foot; then the iron rod was\nused to straighten another part. For months the boy's foot was kept in\nthat box. The suffering, day and night for months, was indescribable.\nThe child would weep for hours, the pain being all but unbearable;\nand when the father would come home the child would beg piteously for\nthe box to be taken off and to be left a cripple. The father, mingling\nhis tears with the tears of the suffering child, would turn the screws\ntighter than before, and the child would shriek in fearful agony.\nDuring those weeks and months of suffering he looked upon his father\nas being harsh and cruel and without love for him. Finally the father\nloosened all the screws and said, \"Son, stand up,\" and for the first\ntime in his life the boy stood erect. Often has that son, now a\ngray-haired man, stood over the grave of that father, long since dead,\nand bedewed the grave with his tears, and thanked God that he had a\nfather who was true enough to continue the suffering until the\nterrible deformity was corrected. The father may have turned the\nscrews one thread too much, but the Father in Heaven makes no\nmistakes, and far beyond the grave many of the redeemed will praise\nHim, when they understand, for the sufferings and afflictions and\nburdens they were led to endure here.\n\n    \"Choose for us, Lord, nor let our weak preferring\n      Cheat us of good Thou hast for us designed.\n    Choose for us, Lord; Thy wisdom is unerring,\n      And we are fools and blind.\"\n\nWith the reader this may seem mere theory; he may feel that it cannot\nexplain all the seemingly unfathomable mystery of suffering in the\nlives of many of the redeemed, the real children of God. Let the\nreader consider two things: first, that as a juror, he would not form\na judgment till all the evidence had been placed before the jury.\nGod's purpose in each case, and what God actually accomplishes in each\ncase, in the development of character,--these have not yet been placed\nbefore the jury; but, backed up by many fulfilled prophecies, by the\ncharacter of Jesus Christ, by His resurrection, by what He has\naccomplished in the world, we have God's solemn assurance that _He\nwill yet place this evidence before the jury_.\n\nSecond, let the reader remember that with God character counts more\nthan comfort. What father would prefer his son to be a brutal,\nignorant pugilist, enjoying food and drink, physical life,--to a\nuseful, noble, highly educated, refined, learned son who could \"listen\nin the orange groves of Verona to the sweet vows of Juliet, or to the\nblind bard's harp as he strikes the chords but seldom struck\nharmonious with the morning stars, or to the music of the spheres as\nthey hymn His praises around their Creator's throne\"? Far more than\nthe earthly father would choose the latter for his son, does the\nHeavenly Father value the soul and its development above that of the\nbody.\n\nCould God's redeemed people only learn that perfection of character\ncomes only through suffering, that as certain as God is true, a\nblessing will come from every sorrow, every burden, every affliction,\nevery pang, every heartache!\n\n    \"The ills we see--\n    The mystery of sorrow deep and long,\n    The dark enigmas of permitted wrong,\n    Have all one key--\n    This strange, sad world is but our Father's school;\n    All chance and change His love shall grandly overrule.\"\n\nRarely has the author been stirred, thrilled, as he was while\nlistening to an audience of a thousand colored people of the South\nsing the following hymn. Some of them had been slaves; many were poor;\nmany uneducated; some Greek scholars; some were destitute; some were\nhalf-invalids; some were aged and infirm; but few had the comforts of\nlife; all were heavy burden-bearers. White people from New York and\nTexas, from Mississippi and Kansas, were moved to tears, as that\naudience sang with such rhythm, such cadence, such pathos, such\nsweetness, such soul-power, as only they can sing:--\n\n    \"We are tossed and driven\n    On the restless sea of time,\n    Sombre skies and howling tempest\n    Oft succeed the bright sunshine.\n    In that land of perfect day\n    When the mists have rolled away,\n    We will understand it better by and by.\n\n    \"By and by when the morning comes\n    And all the saints of God are gathered home,\n    We'll tell the story, how we've overcome,\n    For we'll understand it better by and by.\n\n    \"We are often destitute\n    Of the things that life demands,\n    Want of shelter and of food\n    Thirsty hills and barren lands.\n    We are trusting in the Lord,\n    And according to His word,\n    We will understand it better by and by.\n\n    \"Trials dark on every hand,\n    And we cannot understand\n    All the ways that God would lead us\n    To the blessed promised land,\n    But He guides us with His eye\n    And we'll follow till we die,\n    For we'll understand it better by and by.\n\n    \"Temptations, hidden snares,\n    Often take us unawares,\n    And our hearts are made to bleed\n    For a thoughtless word or deed,\n    And we wonder why the test\n    When we try to do our best,\n    But we'll understand it better by and by.\"\n\nBut they are not the only ones who\n\n    \"Wonder why the test\n    When we try to do our best.\"\n\nThey are not the only ones who can say,\n\n    \"Trials dark on every hand\n    And we cannot understand,\"\n\nBut they and all the redeemed, God's real children, can say,\n\n    \"We will understand it better by and by.\"\n\nTill then they can rest upon His word, that \"the trial of your faith,\nbeing much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be\ntried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the\nappearing of Jesus Christ,\"--1 Peter 1:7; for \"we know that all things\nwork together for good to those that love God, to those who are the\ncalled according to his purpose.\"--Rom. 8:28.\n\n    \"Thou art as much His care as if beside,\n    Nor man nor angel lived in Heaven or Earth.\"\n\n_FOR FURTHER STUDY_:--Some readers may conclude, because trials come\nto the lives of the unredeemed as well as the redeemed, to those who\nare not God's children, as well as to those who are God's children,\nthat, therefore, their characters are likewise developed by trials.\nLet such readers consider two facts:--\n\nFirst, it is a creature of God being developed in one case; in the\nother, it is one who has been redeemed and adopted as a child of God\n(Gal. 4:4-7), and born of the Spirit (John 3:8), that is being\ndeveloped.\n\nSecond, the characters being developed in the two classes, while they\nmay appear to men as similar, in the sight of God are as different as\nlight and darkness are to men, as different as Heaven and Hell. Let\nit be remembered that character is dependent, not on the deed, but\n_on the motive back of the deed_ (1 Cor. 13:1-3).\n\nNo unredeemed man can have that motive, because it springs from\ncomplete redemption through Christ (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). Hence, \"they\nthat are in the flesh cannot please God.\"--Rom. 8:8. Their motive\npower is all wrong and cannot be otherwise; hence their characters,\nhowever they may be developed, are all wrong in the sight of God.\nJesus said, \"Cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter,\nthat the outside may be clean also.\"--Matt. 23:26. The child who, from\nlove, bears trials and burdens placed upon him by the father, the\nslave who, from fear of the lash, bears trials and burdens placed upon\nhim by the master, the hireling who, from desire for the wages, bears\ntrials and burdens, and the stoic who, from sheer force of will, or\nfrom a cold sense of duty, bears trials and burdens, because he\nmust,--are developing altogether different characters. Even so, the\nchild of God, redeemed and adopted, who, from love, bears the trials\nand burdens of life, the unredeemed one who, from fear of the law,\nfrom fear of Hell, bears the trials and burdens of life; the\nunredeemed one who, from what he hopes to gain thereby, a home in\nHeaven (as the hireling his wages), bears the trials and burdens of\nlife, and the unredeemed one who, from a cold sense of duty, bears the\ntrials and burdens of life, are developing widely different characters\nfor eternity. Which shall it be in your case, reader?\n\n\nPRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA\n\n\n      *      *      *      *      *      *\n\n\nRELIGIOUS EDUCATION\n\n\n\n_HOMER S. BODLEY_\n\nThe Fourth \"R\"\n\n  The Forgotten Factor in Education.                       $1.75.\n\nMr. Bodley's book is a plea for the insertion in all educational\ntextbooks of elements of instruction which give prominence to the\ngoodness of God to the end that all should honor Him, and to the\nfurtherance of the spirit of genuine altruism among men, without\nregard to sect or creed.\n\n\n_WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN_\n\nThe Menace of Darwinism\n\n  Paper Binding.                                        net, 35c.\n\nA resume of, and an extract from, \"IN HIS IMAGE,\" Mr. Bryan's\nepoch-making book against Darwinism. For use in study classes, for\ndistribution, etc.\n\n\n_E. C. KNAPP_\n\n_Gen. Secretary; Inland Empire Sunday School Association. Author of\n\"The Community Vacation Bible School,\" etc._\n\n  Side Lights on the Daily Vacation Bible School           $1.00.\n\n\"Here is a new book for those seeking light on vacation school work\nwhich we can heartily recommend. Mr. Knapp has had much experience in\nsuch work and knows how to tell what should be done. A very helpful\nhandbook for workers.\"--_Herald of Gospel Liberty._\n\n\n_J. A. CROSS_\n\n_President, First National Bank, Bruin, Pa._\n\nThe Bible Class and the Community\n\n                                                           $1.25.\n\nMr. Cross writes in terse, straightforward fashion, without waste of\nwords, discussing the most practicable methods of helping the life of\nthe community by fostering and developing character.\n\n\n_\"H. P. S.\"_\n\nThe God of Our Fathers\n\n                                                           $1.25.\n\n\"An able, clear and excellent statement of reasons for believing in\nthe existence of God. In simple language and easily read by anyone.\nShould have a wide reading.\"--_Herald and Presbyter._\n\n\n\"FUNDAMENTALS\"\n\n\n_RT. REV. WILLIAM T. MANNING, D.D., D. C. L._\n\n_Bishop of New York._\n\nPersonal Religion\n\n  What It Is and What It Means.                            $1.00.\n\nWith fine force and frankness, yet in a spirit entirely free from\ncontroversial bitterness, Bishop Manning discusses some of these\nparamount questions and their vital relation to the life of our own\ntime.\n\n\n_J. C. MASSEE, D.D._\n\n_Pastor of Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass._\n\nThe Gospel in the Ten Commandments\n\n  A Series of Sermons Delivered on Sunday Evenings by the\n  Pastor of Tremont Temple.                                $1.25.\n\n\"As an evidence of the forcefullness of these sermons, approximately\none hundred fifty people made public professions of faith in Christ\nduring the time of their delivery.\"--_Baptist Messenger._\n\n\n_CLARENCE E. MACARTNEY, D. D._\n\n_Pastor, Arch Street Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pa._\n\nTwelve Great Questions About Christ\n\n                                                  $1.50 or $1.75.\n\nDr. Macartney stands foursquare for fundamental Christian beliefs. He\nhas also a good understanding of views and opinions contrary to his\nown, and demonstrates his ability to measure and mark the trend of\nmodern criticism.\n\n\n_MARK A. MATTHEWS, D.D., LL.D._\n\n_Pastor. First Presbyterian Church, Seattle, Wash._\n\nGospel Sword-Thrusts\n\n                                                           $1.25.\n\nA book of addresses eminently characteristic of their author. Dr.\nMatthews is a national figure. Pastor of the Presbyterian Church\nhaving the largest membership in the world, he is a fearless\nprotagonist of Fundamentalist doctrine and greatly in demand at\nconventions and other gatherings.\n\n\n_EDWIN C. SWEETSER, D.D._\n\n_Pastor-Emeritus, Church of the Messiah, Philadelphia._\n\nThe Image of God\n\n  And Other Sermons.                                       $1.50.\n\nDr. Sweetser is a veteran preacher, having spent more than fifty years\nin the active ministry. Here are twenty-five sermons treating on great\nthemes--of questions which are of importance to everybody, and of\nparamount interest to the Christian believer.","title":"God's Plan with Men","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":55079}