THE PROCLAMATION OF ItJOJiijjIiljn ;:*!>> ) (i : ii!j. i; :i ilillililllj! !; hlllljlllljjliililij'lli GIFT OF "It is finished: The Proclamation of Liberty and the Unpardonable Sin By ALBION F. BALLENGER AUTHOR OF " Power for Witnessing " "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." Lev. 25: 10. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and the recover- ing of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." Luke 4:18, R. V. RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA 1915 Copyright 1915 BY ALBION F. BALLENGER PREFACE If the reader would know at once what is the central thought, the all-absorbing theme, the body, soul and spirit of this book, it is summed up in the final words of our dying Lord, "It is finished." This is an effort to reveal something of the unsearchable riches of redemp- tion declared finished in these three tragic but triumphant words. For four thousand years the God of all grace labored to focus men's eyes on the facts of this finished work. Every bleeding lamb from Eden's gate to Golgotha's grave foreshadowed that momentous hour. And when that hour is passed, a new symbol the blood of the grape and the broken bread points back to that same solemn hour. That which an all-wise God has tried, in all ages, by all means, to get all men to see, must be in His mind all-important. The great apostle to the Gentiles comprehended more clearly than other men the fullness of that finished work. To his Corinthian converts he declared his working creed in this brief sentence: "I determined not to know any- thing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." With this truth came an enthusiasm which neither ship- wreck nor starving, scourging nor stoning could destroy. O for more such "chief of sinners" saved by grace, whom a backsliding Barnabas, a dissembling Simon, or a departing Demas cannot discourage; whom modern commercialism, or criticism, or creedism cannot conquer ! Though dealing with deep things, the author has striven at every step to make the path so plain that the 5 32719ft ' PREFACE feeblest wayfarer may find the way. At the same time it is hoped that the devoted student, familiar with the con- troversies of Calvinism, Universalism and Arminianism, may find in these pages some helpful thoughts. With rejoicing this book is sent forth as a companion to "Power for Witnessing," and the author prays that it may reveal to some waiting soul the gospel truth that he need wait no longer for full salvation, but may now, by faith, take this gift already given through that work of Christ of which He declared with His final breath, "It is finished." "Then doubt not thy welcome since God has declared There remaineth no more to be done; That once in the end of the world He appeared, And completed the work He begun." CONTENTS PAGE PROCLAIM LIBERTY 9 II. DELIVERANCE THROUGH DEATH ... 12 III. "LIBERTY THROUGH LIFE" 19 IV. "TELL HIM HE Is FREED" (Illustrated) . 21 V. "TELL HIM HE Is FREE" (Applied) . . 25 VI. "WE KNOW No MAN AFTER THE FLESH" . 30 VII. "MADE FREE WITHOUT MONEY" ... 37 VIII. "THE PRICE OF LIBERTY" 42 IX. "FREED FROM THE LAW" 50 X. "UNDER GRACE" 56 XL "Is CHRIST UNDER LAW TODAY? "... 60 XII. "I NEVER WAS A SLAVE" 67 XIII. "SHALL WE SIN TO SHOW WE ARE FREE?" 73 XIV. A FREEMAN'S FROCK ON A BONDMAN'S BACK (Illustrated) 78 XV. A FREEMAN'S FROCK ON A BONDMAN'S BACK (Applied) 83 XVI. MAKING FREEMEN BY FORCE .... 88 XVII. FREEDOM BY FAITH ONLY 90 CVIII. BURYING THE BONDMAN ; OR, FAITH AT WORK 95 XIX. THE UNPARDONABLE SIN . . . . . 102 XX. WHAT Is NOT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN . 105 XXI. WHAT Is THE UNPARDONABLE SIN? . .112 XXII. A GREAT DIFFICULTY SOLVED , 118 8 CONTENTS PAGE XXIII. THE UNPARDONABLE SIN AND THE SECOND DEATH 129 XXIV. "THAT HE MIGHT HIMSELF BE JUST" 135 XXV. THE PART THE LAW PLAYS IN THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 137 XXVI. LIBERTY Is NOT LICENSE .... 144 XXVII. SERVING IN NEWNESS OF LIFE . . 151 XXVIII. "DOTH NOT THE SON BEAR THE INIQ- UITY OF THE FATHER?" .... 155 XXIX. "VISITING THE INIQUITIES OF THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN" . . 159 XXX. THE PROCLAMATION OF LIBERTY IN THE NEW COVENANT 164 XXXI. THE SLAVEMASTER As MINISTER OF LIBERTY 178 XXXII. THE AMBASSADOR'S ENTHUSIASM . 187 XXXIII. How GOD OVERCOMES WHEN HE Is JUDGED . . . 190 XXXIV. PROCLAIMING LIBERTY WITHOUT A PROCLAMATION 197 XXXV. PROCLAIMING LIBERTY WITH A PROC- LAMATION 203 XXXVI. FAITHLESS FREEDMEN 208 XXXVII. THE BLESSINGS OF BONDAGE ... 211 XXXVIII. FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN .... 216 XXXIX. THE FAITHFUL FREEDMEN ... 230 XL. THE ORIGINAL PROCLAMATION, Is IT AUTHENTIC? 235 XLI. THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY . 240 XLII. FALSE WITNESSES 248 XLIII. How THE CAUSE WAS ONCE SAVED . 252 XLIV. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE .... 256 XLV. A WONDERFUL DELIVERANCE FROM SIN AND SICKNESS 259 The Proclamation of Liberty and the Unpardonable Sin " PROCLAIM LIBERTY " Among those who attended the services was a man who listened earnestly to the proclamation of liberty, but who could see nothing in it. Was he not a slave to his besetting sins? Had he not labored and struggled to be free from the tyranny of his inherited and cultivated tendencies to sin? How could it be that he was free when he was so evidently enslaved? As one after another of those who had accepted the blessed message testified to the peace and joy and victory they were experiencing in believing, he would look at them with a perplexity which seemed to say: "I can't understand it. It is all foolishness to me. How can a man be free when he is a slave?" But the joyful wit- nessing of the others impressed him that there must be something real in it not yet discovered by him. At the close of the service he came forward and said, "Won't you explain this to me privately ? " Our inter- view lasted until midnight, with no apparent success. The following evening the same request was made, with no better results. The next afternoon the Lord was sought in earnest prayer for power to make the gospel plain so that the weakest might understand. Soon the man came in and said : "I am afraid you will leave before I am delivered." With a heart yearning to help him, I replied, "You are 9 10, . : ; . . -. - "PROCLAIM LIBERTY" * v & * free. The Lord has already set you free." Out of re- spect for the messenger he did not contradict the state- ment, but his face wore an expression of pain at what seemed to be a plain contradiction of the facts. "Here is an illustration that will help you," was the answer: "On January first, 1863, the President of the United States issued an emancipation proclamation, pro- claiming liberty to all the slaves within the Southern States, then in rebellion. After that proclamation, how many slaves were there in those States ? " "None," the man replied. "But notwithstanding that proclamation, there were colored men and women who continued in slavery long after the proclamation was made. Some had kind mas- ters and did not desire to leave; but others who longed for freedom were kept in ignorance of the proclamation that had made them free. They were driven into the fields to work like beasts of burden, as if they had never been set free. Are they not freed men ? " "Yes," replied the man. "Have their former masters any right to treat them as slaves ? " "No," was the quick reply. "Have they any lawful power to treat them as slaves?" "No," came the answer with increasing confidence. "How long will the colored man continue to serve as a slave?" "Until he learns that he is not a slave," replied the man with a gleam of hope in his face. "How long will his old master continue to treat him as a beast of burden ? " "Until the colored man learns that he cannot enslave him." "The old master knows that the moment the colored "PROCLAIM LIBERTY " \ \ man learns that he is free, his unlawful control over him is ended. On what, then, does the poor man's bondage and the slave master's power rest ? " "On the ignorance of the colored man." "His ignorance of what?" "His ignorance of the fact that he has been pro- claimed free." "Then he will experience freedom the moment he be- lieves what is already proclaimed, in the proclamation, that he is free" "Yes." "And so will you. You were born a slave because you were born with a slave's nature, and through this carnal nature you have transgressed the law of God, and have thus added to your slavery. But Christ came and took your carnal nature, together with your sins, and carried all to Calvary, and was crucified and there died as your substitute. When he died as your substitute, the price was paid for your deliverance from the bondage of sin. Tor he that is dead is freed from sin.' "Here is your emancipation proclamation. You have been free all these years, in the plan of the proclamation, but you did not know it. You did not believe the procla- mation. The President of the Universe proclaimed you free long ago ; but you did not believe it, and so you have lived as Satan's slave, though proclaimed long ago to be God's free man." Without saying a word the man arose, went to his room, and kneeling, offered praise and thanksgiving to God for the freedom which had been his, but which until now he had not accepted. When he returned he was in- deed a transformed man. And when opportunity was offered in the evening service, he bore glad witness to the deliverance he had experienced through faith in the free- dom proclaimed through the cross. In order that the 12 " PROCLAIM LIBERTY " reader may get a true conception of the change wrought in this man's life on this occasion, a letter from him, received six months later, has been inserted at the close of chapter five. DELIVERANCE THROUGH DEATH During the civil war a number of drafts were made in the state of New York, and as a result of one of them a young married man was drawn. When the letter notifying him of the fact reached his home the young wife and children cried and clung to him as if the notice was a sentence of death. So many of the neighbors had gone to the front never to return, or returning only to fill a new made grave in the city cemetery, that a summons to the front seemed to the sor- rowing ones the same as a call from the angel of death. A young unmarried man living in the home watched the scene until he could endure it no longer. "John," said the young man, -"you need not go. I will go as your substitute ! Mary, stop your crying ! Chil- dren, wipe away your tears! I will go in John's place. If I am killed there will be no widow and no orphans left to mourn." It is needless to say that the hearts of the little group were filled with gratitude. But it was not many months before this saviour-substitute returned a corpse, and John and Mary and the children followed it sorrowing to the cemetery. More men were needed and another draft was or- dered, and again the young husband was drawn. Again the mother and children began to weep as before, but DELIVERANCE THROUGH DEATH 13 John soon comforted them with the assurance that he would not need to go. Taking the notice with him he went to the recruiting office and handing it to the officer, said: "The man named in that draft is dead." "But," responded the officer, "is not that your name ?'' "Yes; but I am dead." "You look very much alive." "That may be, but I am dead. I was drawn by the preceding draft, and a friend volunteered to go as my substitute and went, was killed, and his body now lies among the stricken soldiers beneath the snow in the city cemetery. Therefore, I am dead to the law of that draft by the body of my substitute who is sleeping there." "That is right," replied the officer, "You cannot kill a man but once. You are counted dead to the law through the body of your substitute." And this is the meaning of the words of Paul : "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ." Rom. 7 : 4. (R. V.) This term "made dead" is translated "put to death" in Luke 21 : 16 and 1 Pet. 3 : 18, and that is its literal meaning. As John was put to death to the law that drafted him, in the death of his substitute, so the sinner was put to death to the law when Christ was "put to death in the flesh" (1 Pet. 3: 18) as the substitute for the sinner. As a result, Paul declares : "We have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were holden ; so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." Rom. 7:6. (R. V.) Thus the death of Christ is the emancipation procla- mation that has redeemed a world from the curse of the law. I 1 o DELIVERANCE THROUGH DEATH 15 The power of Pentecost was given to men to enable them to proclaim the gospel, the good news that God has set free a world of slaves. Mark the tense, that God has set them free. A realization of this glorious truth is necessary before any soul is prepared for the power of Pentecost. No soul will ever realize this truth who does not experience the emancipating power of the cross of Calvary. The power of Pentecost is given to proclaim the good news that men are free; "to proclaim liberty to the cap- tives"; to proclaim an open door to their prison not a door to be opened. The cross of Calvary is this open door. To illustrate: If, after the President of the United States had issued his Emancipation Proclamation, which set free four millions of slaves, he had chosen you as his agent to go into the slave-holding States and publish the good news of the proclamation, what would you proclaim? Would you tell them that the President was going to set them free ? If you did, you would not be telling the truth, and the President would not choose you and furnish you with power and protection to proclaim any such message. If you faithfully published the good news of the procla- mation, you would tell the colored man that the President had set him free. It matters not how much apparent slavery you meet, in order to be loyal to your commis- sion, to the President and the proclamation, you must utterly refuse to recognize any man as a slave. Even though the colored man himself insists that he is a slave, that he was born a slave, that his father and mother are both slaves, you must be loyal to the gospel you were commissioned to preach ; you must persistently deny that the man is a slave, and as persistently tell him that he is a free man. You must show him the proclamation and tell him that by that proclamation he is now a free man 16 DELIVERANCE THROUGH DEATH regardless of his race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is such a procla- mation, only greater liberty is granted in the Gospel, and there is greater power behind its proclamation. The Apostle Paul was so enthusiastic in proclaiming this Gospel of liberty that his enemies declared he was insane. But he explains his enthusiasm thus: "For whether we are beside ourselves, it is unto God ; or whether we are of sober mind, it is unto you. For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died." 2 Cor. 5:13, 14, R. V. But what is there in this that creates enthusiasm? Everything ! It contains the truth that emancipated a world of slaves. It is sin that works death, that enslaves men. "Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin."' John 8 : 34. Consequently all were enslaved. "We have before proved both Jew and Gentile that they are all under sin." Rom. 3:9. "But the Scripture hath con- cluded all under sin." Gal. 3 : 22. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3 : 23. Because all the world had sinned, all the world must die. "For the wages of sin is death." Rom. 6: 23. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5 :12. "Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." James 1:15. From the foregoing it is plain that the Father, in send- ing His Son "to be the Saviour of the world" (1 John 4:14), sent Him to save a world of slaves, whose doom was death, and who were awaiting the day of execution. Would there not be joy in a city whose citizens were con- demned to die, and who were being marched to the place of execution, weeping and moaning in hopeless despair, if a herald should suddenly appear with pardon for all? DELIVERANCE THROUGH DEATH 17 The reason men and women are not more enthusiastic over the Gospel is because they have never realized the hopeless death from which the Gospel saves them. Consider again the world of slaves awaiting execu- tion. Instead of carrying out the death sentence and put- ting the world to death, God placed the world's transgres- sions on His Son, and His Son died in the place of the world. He gladly took the world's sins and willingly died, ''that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:17. Here is the proof that all this has been done, proof taken from the proclamation of liberty: "Who gave Himself for our sins." Gal. 1 : 4. "He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5 : 21. "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness ; by whose stripes ye are healed." 1 Peter 2:24. And now in order that all may realize that Christ bore the sins of the whole world, notice these scriptures : "He is the propitiation for our sins : and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 John 2 :2. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1 : 29. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." 1 Cor. 5 : 19. "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, . . . that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." Heb. 2 : 9. And now since God imputed the sins of the whole world to His Son, and His Son bore the sins of the whole world in His own body on the tree; and since He died as a substitute for the whole sinning world, it follows that when Christ died, the whole sinning world died. And this is what made the Apostle Paul so enthusiastic in 18 DELIVERANCE THROUGH DEATH preaching the Gospel, and this is what he meant when he said: "The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore aM died." 1 Cor. 5 : 21, R. V. Now appears the cause for the great rejoicing. Since all the world has died, aU the world is freed from sin. "For he that is dead is freed from sin." Rom. 6 : 7. Reader, does this paragraph from the emancipation proclamation make you glad? That we may appreciate this triumphant truth in greater fullness, let us go to Calvary. Who is that man staggering beneath that heavy cross ? He is the Christ, the only begotten of the Father. Little does He look like the Son of God, His face is so marred. He looks more like a sin-burdened, grief- stricken, sorrowing son of man. And this He is. He is wounded for our transgres- sions, He is bruised for our iniquities. His Father has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. And not ours only, but the iniquities of the whole world. Is He, therefore, the substitute for the whole sinning world ? Yes, God is dealing with Him not as a sinless Son, but as a substitute for a whole sinning world. Let us linger here and watch this terrible transaction. Now they have spiked Him to the cross, the whole world is being crucified. Listen : "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? " Why has God forsaken Him? Why has His Father turned His face from Him in this awful hour? Because He is cursed with the sins of an accursed world, and God cannot look with favor on the sins of the world. Darkness gathers, God seems angry. O how terrible DELIVERANCE THROUGH DEATH 19 sin must be! He is dying, the whole world is dying. Listen : "It is finished." The whole world is dead ; One died for all, therefore all died. "He that is dead is freed from sin." The whole world, having died, is freed from sin. This is the Gospel. This is the glad tidings that is proclaimed in God's Emancipation Proclamation. It is with this truth that men pass to Pentecost for power to proclaim liberty. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me ; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; ... to proclaim liberty to the captives." Isa. 61:1. Ill "LIBERTY THROUGH LIFE" Let us wait here. There is more to see. How changed everything appears. The darkness is gone. The shuddering earth is still. How brightly the sun shines. God's anger is past. Let us follow that life- less form. It is still the whole world. But is not the whole world now free? Yes, but it is a freedom found only through death. Is there a future life for the world? The Father has claimed the body of His Son! It is rescued from the enemy. It is in the hands of God's friends. God loves His lifeless Son. He is no longer regarded as the sinner; "for he that is dead is freed from sin." The punishment is past, the penalty has been paid. God loves the lifeless world. Let us watch by the tomb. 20 "LIBERTY THROUGH LIFE" The whole world is buried there. The infidels of the Roman guard keep watch. They do not know that they are standing guard at the tomb of a buried world. Yes, there is life for the world! God's messengers of life stand at the tomb. The earth trembles. The stone is rolled away the Redeemer is risen! God has given life to the whole world! "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died: and that he died for all, that they which live should not hence- forth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again." 2 Cor. 5 : 14, 15. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Cor. 15: 22. "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe we shall also live with Him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more : death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of un- righteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, a? those that are alive from the dead." Rom. 6 : 8-13. In Jesus Christ the whole world died for its sins, and then in Jesus Christ the whole world arose from the dead with a life that is freed from sin. This is the good news which the herald of the cross bears to the world. With this emancipation proclamation, he goes forth proclaim- ing liberty to all the world. And just as every herald of the President's proclamation of liberty utterly refused to recognize any man as a slave, so the herald of the Gospel must utterly refuse to recognize any man as a slave of sin. He must proclaim liberty to all men, tell all men that they are free notwithstanding their heredity or previous condition of servitude. 'TELL HIM HE IS FREED" 21 IV " TELL HIM HE IS FREED " (Illustrated) Come with me and look upon a scene which we will locate in Mississippi. A former slave, who was emanci- pated from slavery by the proclamation, has been ap- pointed to proclaim liberty to his brethren. A former slave is chosen because in announcing the gospel of lib- erty he can witness to the power of the proclamation, because the proclamation which he bears has set him free. And besides, seeing that he is free, and that he is a par- taker of the same flesh and blood as they, and was once a partaker of the same slavery, but now free, his brethren will the more easily believe his message. For his pro- tection, we will suppose that the President of the United States, the author of the proclamation, is with him. The place is a cotton plantation, and a cringing colored man lies half prostrate, his back bare and bleeding, with a powerful white man standing over him, lash in hand. President (addressing his colored herald) "Go; take the proclamation and tell that colored man he is free." Herald "On the authority of this proclamation of the President of the United States of America, I an- nounce to you that you are a free man. You are not a slave! You are a free man. That man standing over you is not your master." President "Tell him he's free. Pay no heed to his doubts, show him that you are in earnest. Let him see that you believe what you tell him. Show him the procla- mation." Herald "On the authority of this proclamation of the President of the United States which I hold in my 22 "TELL HIM HE IS FREED " hand, I declare to you that you are a free man. You are no man's slave. Arise and go free." President ."Read the proclamation to him, then bear your testimony. Tell him that you were once a slave, and that it was this same proclamation that set you free. Tell him of the freedom you now enjoy." Herald "Hear this proclamation of the President of the United States": " 'Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in the time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, ... on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, . . . do ordain and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.' "These are the words of the proclamation, and they declare that you are a free man. I bear witness that they are true. Once I was a slave. My back bears witness to many a beating, but this proclamation set me free. I am now a free man. O my brother, I bring you tidings of great joy. Believe the proclamation, believe my witness tc its power. You are a free man!" Prostrate Man "Why mock me? I am not a free man. I am this man's slave. My father is a slave and my mother is a slave, and I was born a slave. Can't you see this man with the lash ? I was born in his house. He owns me. He bought my father and mother and he says I belong to him the same as that mule at the plow." President "Pay no attention to his unbelief. Go 'TELL HIM HE IS FREED 23 -+ w'wvx' -4- + v/ i*, Emancipation Proclamation. Photo-reproduction, reduced. 24 "TELL HIM HE IS FREED" close to him. Take him by the hand. Fear not, I am with you. Tell him he is free. Show him you are free. Let him see that you are not afraid of the lash." Herald "I insist that you are a free man. This proc- lamation, which has all the power of the United States Government behind it, declares that you are a free man. And I, a freed man, once a slave, bear witness that there is power in this proclamation to set men free and to keep them free. And what is more, this man with the lash knows you are free. He knows the power of the author of this proclamation. He knows you are free, and he only fears that you will believe the proclamation and go free." Prostrate Man "But I have tried many times to get free. Over and over again have I tried to escape, only to be followed and found by those keen-scented blood- hounds. This bleeding back is the result of my last hope- less effort to be free. I had decided never to try again, to live as I was born, a slave, and die as I have lived, a beast of burden. If I believe this proclamation, if I be- lieve what you tell me, if I assert my liberty, if I arise and declare myself a free man, will you protect me, will you defend me against this man, will you save me from the hounds?" President "Tell him that all power in the army and navy is pledged to sustain that proclamation. The very existence of the government of the United States is at stake in maintaining his freedom. The government has declared him free, and it must see that he is free, when he seeks its protection, or it must fall." Herald "These are the words of the President of the United States. Arise, stand on your feet like a man. And now go to your brethren, tell them the liberty which you now enjoy." "TELL HIM HE IS FREED" 25 Reader, would it not be disloyal to the power behind the proclamation to admit for a moment that the colored man is still a slave? To admit that he is a slave is to contradict the proclamation, to question its power, and uphold the slave-master. "TELL HIM HE IS FREE" (Applied) Now let us shift the illustration to the man, who, for thirty years, has been a slave to drink. His tyrant mas- ter stands over him with the lash that has so long com- pelled submission. A snap of the finger, a crack of the whip, a command from his imperious majesty, King Al- cohol, and the unwilling man obeys. That which was created in the image of God, cringes and crawls like a soulless cur. A herald of the King of Kings comes to him carry- ing a proclamation of liberty which proclaims him free from his beastly bondage. This herald himself was once a slave. Once he, too, cringed and cowed before the tyrant king. Once he crouched at the crack of the whip but now he is free. King of Kings "Proclaim liberty to that man. Take this proclamation and tell him he is free. All he needs to do is to believe the proclamation in order to realize the freedom that is his in the proclamation." Herald "On the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings, I announce to you that you are a freed man. You are not a slave. You are a freed man. That tyrant standing over you is not your master." King of Kings "Tell him he has been set free. Pay no heed to his doubts. Show him that you are in earnest. 26 "TELL HIM HE IS FREE" Let him see that "you believe what you tell him. Show him the proclamation." Herald "On the authority of this proclamation from the King of Kings, which I hold in my hand, I declare to you that you are a freed man. You need never drink an- other drop of poison. Arise and go free." King of Kings "Read the proclamation to him and then bear your testimony. Tell him you were once a slave to the same tyrant. Tell him it was the same proclama- tion that set you free. Tell him of the freedom you now enjoy." Herjxld "These are the words of the proclamation, and they declare that you are a freed man. And I bear witness that they are true. Once I was a slave, but this proclamation set me free. Now I am a free man. O my brother, I bring you glad tidings of great joy. Believe the proclamation! Believe my testimony to its power! You are a freed man." Old Drunkard "Why mock me! I am not a free man! I am the slave to drink; my father was a slave to drink, and so was my mother, and I was born a slave. Can you not see that I am a slave ? I was born in a public house, I was born to do evil as the sparks to fly upward. I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother con- ceive me. I am the bondservant of a depraved appetite." King of Kings "Pay no attention to his unbelief. Go close to him ; take him by the hand. Fear not, I am with you. Tell him he is set free. Let him see that you are not afraid of King Alcohol." Herald "I insist that you are a freed man. This proclamation which has all the power in heaven and earth behind it, declares that you are a free man. And I, a free man, once a slave, bear witness that there is power in the proclamation to set you free and keep you free. And what is more, that tyrant knows you are set free. "TELL HIM HE IS FREE" 27 He knows the power of the author of the proclamation. He cringes before it. He knows that you are freed, and he only fears that you will believe the proclamation and experience the freedom that is already yours in the proc- lamation." Old Drunkard "But I have tried a hundred times to be free. Over and over again I have tried to escape from my slavery, only to be followed and captured by the tireless hounds of a depraved appetite. And my hopeless heart and condemned conscience is the fruit of my last failure. I had decided never to try again, to live as I was born, a slave, and to die as I have lived, a brutish man. But if I believe this proclamation, if I be- lieve what you tell me, if I assert my freedom from my lifelong enemy, if I arise and declare myself a free man, will this proclamation protect me? Will it defend me against the demon hounds of a depraved appetite? How much power is there behind that proclamation?" King of Kings "Tell him all power in heaven and in earth is behind that proclamation. Tell him I will marshall the armies of heaven to defend him and dem- onstrate the power of the proclamation. My throne is at stake in that proclamation. I have declared him a freed man and I must see that he is kept free when he accepts his freedom, or I cease to be the King of Kings." Herald "These are the words of the King of Kings. Arise! You are a freed man! for whom the Son makes free is free indeed. Now go to your house and declare what great things the Lord hath done for you." A CONFIRMING EXPERIENCE May the Lord use this letter for the encouragement of those who are seeking to liberate slaves through the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus. As far back as I can remember, I have had special 28 "TELL HIM HE IS FREE" attention paid me by God's and man's fearful enemy, Satan, who has sought to work my ruin, and how nearly he accomplished it God only knows. I was like one possessed of the devil. I cursed and swore and used the most filthy language a man was ever heard to use. Every time I came into the house I found fault with my wife, with the children, and with the food. As soon as my children heard my footsteps or my voice, the baby boy would crawl as fast as he could go and clutch his mother's skirts, out of my way ; and the other little one would be afraid to move. O that terrible time ! I would never have written this letter and shown myself up in this way if it were not to glorify my Saviour, Jesus, and help some poor slave who has given up in despair, who may think that you are tell- ing him there is deliverance, only to mock him. It is no mockery, no idle tale. It is the living truth that there is deliverance from all sin, whether inherited or cultivated, and the Deliverer is this same Jesus. Only believe in Him, only believe He has delivered you, and no power on earth can enslave you. Satan cannot crack his whip and say, "Do this or do that, you slave!" But mention the name of Jesus and he will flee. My poor wife and poor children have been beaten about time and time again. I have struggled with the wife to get hold of the boy to beat him in my fury, and have so disfigured my wife's face that she has not been able to go out. Once in the dark, after we had gone to bed, I started to beat the boy, and gave my wife a swing- ing blow which nearly broke her nose, and one Sunday I took her upstairs to throw her over the banisters from the landing, but one of my neighbors came in at the time and that stopped me. Your friends may think that I have greatly colored this testimony. I wish it were possible to write a truth- "TELL HIM HE IS FREE" 29 ful account not so bad as this, but I have not told a tithe of the wickedness I have been guilty of, and no human being will ever know only God knows. There is no sin thai man could accuse me of that I am not guilty of, but thank the Lord, "old things are passed away; behold! all things are become new." And today I am free from all those things and many more that I have not men- tioned, for "whom the Son makes free is free indeed." If anyone doubts my word as to the change in me, let him write my wife, who will be only too glad to give her testimony to the change. [A letter received from her some six months after the above was received bore un- qualified and joyful witness to the wonderful change that had been wrought in her husband as described in this letter. A. F. B.] Before closing, I thank the Lord for what he has done for me, and for the deliverance he has wrought for this poor man, once a slave to the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, but now seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, clothed in God's right- eousness and in his right mind, the mind of Christ. Now, instead of being domineered over by sin and Satan, I have dominion over them in Christ. I bless the Lord for the wonderful deliverance he has wrought, dear Brother Ballenger, through your instrumentality. I hope to spend eternity with you. May you be used of the Lord to proclaim liberty to the captives, and may you have great joy in seeing thousands of slaves assert their freedom. I am glad you submitted yourself to the Lord and were victorious over sin, for if you had not been, you could not have been able to give me the help that I so badly needed, and which if it had not come when it did, would have been, I fear, too late. You are quite at lib- erty to use this letter in helping someone else. 30 "TELL HIM HE IS FREED' 3 ANOTHER WITNESS I have a testimony to give to the keeping power of God, through Christ Jesus. Since Wednesday, October 16, 1901, I have had no desire to practice the sin which had so easily beset me for over thirty years. I can say, to the glory of God, that from that time to the present I have not had the slightest desire to partake of strong drink. Of all the Scriptures which you were favored to ex- pound, the following made the most impression: "For the death that he died, he died unto sin once; but the life that he liveth he liveth unto God. Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus." Rom. 6: 10, 11. (R. V.) The little word "in" means very much. Belief in Christ unites to Christ, and the freedom from sin which belongs to Him belongs to us. I am growing in the real- ization that God in Christ is all sufficient for all things, and at all times. We are not told to feel ourselves dead unto sin, but to reckon as God reckons. Sin is dead to Christ and should be to every believer. You may tell the vilest sinner on earth that there is deliverance in Christ the moment he believes. VI "WE KNOW NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH" The burden of this book is to reveal to the sinner his standing before God and the law as it really is from God's standpoint, for God looks upon the sinner not through the sinning and enslavement of the "first man" Adam but through the righteousness and emancipa- tion of the "last Adam" Christ. "WE KNOW NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH " 31 The Apostle Paul refused to recognize any man as a slave of sin. This is what he meant when he wrote: "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh." 2 Cor. 5 : 16. And this he wrote as the conclusion of his argu- ment proving that Christ died for the whole world, and arose from the dead for the whole world. Notice the argument again: For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died: and he died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto themselves but unto Him who for their sakes died and rose again. Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh ; even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. 2 Cor. 5:14-16. (R. V.) What is it to know a man after the flesh? To know Christ after the flesh, was to know Him burdened with the accursed human nature of a race of slaves. It is to know Him as the bearer of the sins of the world. It is to know Him "made of a woman, made under the law." It is to know Him without knowing that He died and that He arose from the dead. But in- asmuch as we know that He died and rose again, we know Him now free from the dominion of sin and death "knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He dieth, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:9-11. "Henceforth, know we no man after the flesh." What was it to know a colored man after the flesh before the proclamation of liberty? It was to know him as a slave. What is it to know a man after the flesh without knowing of the death, and resurrection of Christ ? 32 "WE KNOW NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH ' It is to know him as a hopeless slave to sin. Does not this ignore plain facts? How can you say to the old slave, on whose mind and heart the demon Drink has been forging its fetters for many years, "You are a free man," when he is so manifestly a slave? It is not denied for a moment that man, in himself considered, is a slave of sin, for "Whosoever committeth sin is a slave of sin." John 8 : 34. This is an effort to get man to see his standing in Christ, who was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification; and who, as our forerunner, entered within the veil and sat down on the right hand of God after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever. This is the standpoint from which Paul viewed the world, and it was this glorious gospel of salvation ac- complished in Christ which made of Paul the most en- thusiastic preacher of abounding grace since the great Teacher returned to His Father's throne. After the apostle said, "For the love of Christ con straineth us, because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died," he says: "Wherefore, we hence- forth know no man after the flesh." 2 Cor. 5 : 14-16. (R. V.) To know a man after the flesh is to know him born a slave of sin and death, in Adam. But to know a man as God knows him in Christ, is to know him as belonging to a new creation saved, ransomed, "reconciled to God by the death of His Son." Often have I looked upon the thousands that throng the streets of our great cities, and said to myself, "1 know no man 'after the flesh.' I know all these men and women through the reconciling blood of the cross. I know them as 'reconciled to God by the death of His Son.' And O how I wish they would listen while I "WE KNOW NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH" 33 tell them the gospel story, and beseech them, 'In Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.' " When the sinner comes to believe that he is redeemed from the curse of the law because Christ bore his curse for him on the tree when he comes to feel and act and look like a redeemed man, that feeling and acting has not changed God's feelings toward him; his faith has changed his feelings toward God. The shepherd's feelings toward the lost sheep, as he hunts through "the mountains, thunder-riven," are not changed toward the lost sheep when he finds him. His feelings of sorrow are changed into rejoicing, but his love for the sheep is not changed. Heaven's love for lost sinners is not changed when one sinner is found. Heaven's sorrow for that sinner is changed into rejoicing, but heaven's love is unchanged. "I say unto you, that even so there shall be joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine righteous persons which need no repentance." Luke 15:7. (R. V.) The father's love for his prodigal son did not change v/hen the boy left home, nor when he started to return. There was a change in the father when the boy returned, but it was a change from sorrow to rejoicing. If the father's love for his son depended on the son's commandment-keeping, then his love would have changed when the boy left home, and again when he returned. The elder son thought that parental love ought to de- pend on commandment-keeping, and hence he protested against the love shown his prodigal brother. He said to his father in his protest against the joyous music and dancing and the killing of the fatted calf at his lawless brother's return: "Lo! these many years do I serve thee; neither transgressed I at any time thy command- ment ; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might 34 "WE KNOW NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH " make merry with my friends: but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with har- lots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf." Luke 15:29. This elder brother was a stranger to love, and to the gracious gifts which that love gives to undeserving trans- gressors. He typified the poor, ignorant, loveless, grace- less, legal, self-righteous Pharisees who were going about to establish their own righteousness, and were not submitting to the righteousness of God which is the free gift of His grace to all men. And the theological de- scendants of this same elder brother will condemn as heretical the gracious truths of this book. But I would infinitely rather be a home-coming, humble, loving, ap- preciative, prodigal son than a hard-hearted, self-right- eous, legal, loveless elder brother who is blind to this glorious truth. "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but accord- ing to his own purpose and grace [unmerited favor] which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." 2 Tim. 1 : 9. The fact that the unbelieving sinner does not feel saved, or act saved, does not change the fact that the Lord "hath saved" him according to His own purpose and grace [not according to his works] which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." When the sinner shall come to believe that the Lord saved him according to His own purpose, and not ac- cording to the sinner's purpose, "according to His own grace" and "not according to our works," when the sin- ner shall come to believe that he was thus saved by the purpose of God which He purposed "in Christ Jesus before the world began" when the sinner shall believe all this, his faith does not change God's gracious atti- tude toward him, but it does change his attitude toward "WE KNOW NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH" 35 God. "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, . For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God : not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. 2 : 4-9. Objector But how can you say he is free? Answer Because the national government, speaking through the President, says he is free. Objector But the man is ignorant of the proclama- tion. Answer Yes. Objector He believes he is a slave. Answer Yes. Objector And he looks and acts like a slave. Answer Yes. Objector Then isn't he a slave? Answer But the President says he is free. Objector But how can he be a freed man when he looks and feels and acts like a slave? Answer But has the President lied ? He says by the authority of the national government that the man is free. And moreover, he commands the army and navy to recognize that the man is free. And still more, he commands the army and navy to keep the man free. Objector But I cannot see how he can be called free when he is so manifestly a slave. Answer Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation, the same national government held this man a slave, and held the man who owned him to be his lawful slave mas- ter. If the colored man escaped from his master into a so-called free state, the national government sent him back to his master. And if necessary, the whole power of the army and navy would be used to accomplish this. But now the same government not only declares him 36 "WE KNOW NO MAN AFTER THE FLESH " a free man, and his former master not his master at all, but it will now use the same army and navy to protect the man in the enjoyment of his freedom. Do you see that the standing of the man before the law of the nation is radically reversed? The same government that before accounted him a slave, and the man who owned him, his master, and used its power to keep him in slavery, now declares him a free man and pledges its power to keep him free. It matters not how much he looks like a slave, or feels like a slave, or acts like a slave, in the eyes of the power that once enslaved him he is now a free man. His ignorance, or unbelief, cannot change the fact that, whereas once the government counted him a slave and kept him in slavery, now the same government counts him a free man and pledges its power to keep him free. Notice, All that is now necessary in order for him to look and feel and act like a free man is to believe he is free, and believe the promise of the government to keep him free. No new proclamation is needed when he believes he is free. His belief that he is free does not change the government's feelings and actions toward him, but it does change his own feelings and actions to- ward the government. In like manner, the fact is, that "when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." And the gloomy fact that we did not look or feel like reconciled men, does not change the glorious fact that "when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us," when he hung on the tree. And the sad fact that the sinner still feels and looks and acts like one cursed by the law, does not change the fact that he is redeemed from the curse of the law. "MADE FREE WITHOUT MONEY" 37 VII "MADE FREE WITHOUT MONEY" The Government of the United States made no bar- gain, no covenant with its four millions of slaves before declaring them free. The slaves were not required to make any promises as to what use they would make of their liberty. They were not asked to pay the Govern- ment a penny for their freedom. They were not even asked whether they would accept their liberty if it were given them. The Government in order to declare its own right- eousness, and purge itself from the reproach of slavery and in order that the slaves might enjoy the blessings of liberty, freely, set them free without any promise or de- sire for remuneration from the freed men. Without reference to works which they had done, or works which they should do, they were proclaimed free. They were given their liberty as freely as they had been given their slavery. Not one of the four millions of slaves had ever bargained for his slavery. It was given to all free. Yes, more: it was forced upon them. By their very birth they were slaves. Not one of them was consulted as to whether he desired to be born a slave. He was brought into the world a slave without his knowl- edge or consent; he was born a slave, must live a slave, and die a slave. Consequently, the Government, in order to liberate its slaves, must give them liberty as freely as they had been given slavery. If they refuse to be free, if they prefer to continue in servitude as before, the Government will not force them to accept their freedom. But it did de- clare them free, and refused to recognize any man as a 38 "MADE FREE WITHOUT MONEY" slave or any man as a slave master, and thus threw on the freed man the responsibility of any future bondage. This illustrates the blessed gospel of liberty pro- claimed by the God of all grace, through His Son, Jesus Christ. It shows how full and free it must be to reach a race of slaves to sin. Not one member of the human family ever bargained for his birth into this world a slave of sin. It was given to the whole race as a free gift. And once given, there was no possible escape from it. No efforts of his own could free him. With his gift of a carnal nature, he could no more help sinning than the thorn tree could avoid bearing thorns. He could no more save himself from sinning than the slave could save himself from the color of his skin. And God knew that. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." Jer. 14: 23. "For we know that the law is .spiritual : but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not; for what I would, that do I not; for what I hate, that do I." "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into cap- tivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Rom. 7: 14, 15, 22, 23. A carnal nature, which cannot but sin, was given to the whole human race through Adam, the slave of sin. Having become a sinner, Adam passed on to his posterity a sinning nature whose doom is death. Consequently, when God, who loved the world even while they were sinners, undertook "to save the world," it became neces- sary for him to make the gift of righteousness and life as free to the human race as Adam's gift of carnality and death had been. This is the argument of the Apostle "MADE FREE WITHOUT MONEY" 30 Paul in the fifth chapter of Romans. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned, . . . Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, the many (R. V.) were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall the many (R. V.) be made righteous. . . . Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Rom. 5 : 12, 18, 19, 20. Seeing that sin abounded to the whole race, so grace, or the forgiveness of sin, abounded to the whole race. And just as the government of the United States did not covenant with the slaves before setting them free, so the government of the universe did not covenant or bargain with the slaves of sin before setting them free. We were not asked to make any promises ; we were not even asked whether we would accept the pardon if it were pro- claimed; we were not asked to pay for the pardon; we were forgiven without being asked to pay for the for- giveness, either by good works which we had done or good works which we would do. Surely, we did not pay for our pardon; for we were pardoned "when we were yet without strength," while we were still "ungodly," "dead in sins." "For when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly. . . . God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Much more then being now justified by His blood we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were sinners, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Rom. 5 : 6, 8, 9, 10. "And you hath He quickened, who were dead in tres- 40 "MADE FREE WITHOUT MONEY" passes and sins ; wherein in times past ye walked accord- ing to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love where- with He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved) and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God : not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. 2 : 1-9. After the Government of the United States had set free its four millions of slaves, it was then too late for them to earn their freedom by working for it, even if it had been possible, which of course it was not. It was even too late to promise to pay for their freedom by their good works which they might do after they were set free. Having been proclaimed free without any promise being made, all that is left for them to do is to accept their freedom and rejoice in it. So it is with the race of slaves known as the human race. It is impossible that salvation should be by works which we had done or should do, simply because the Lord did the work Himself without consulting the sinning world, and then after He had accomplished it, He sent heralds to tell the good news to all the world. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." Titus 3 : 5. "MADE FREE WITHOUT MONEY" 41 "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the minis- try of reconciliation ; to wit, that God was in Christ, rec- onciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their tres- passes unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5:18-21. And just as the herald of liberty to the American slaves would say, "You are made free ; accept your free- dom and be free"; so the herald of the gospel today says to the world, "You are reconciled to God; your sins were long ago placed upon the sin-bearer, and borne for you; you are free. Now be ye reconciled, and re- ceive your freedom and go free." Now God says that He did all this, first because He loved us; and second, "that in ages to come He might show [exhibit] the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus." Eph. 2 : 7. God is on trial before the whole universe. His deal- ings with sinful man are being watched, and there must not be a shadow of injustice found in any of His deal- ings with even His enemies. But not only will no in- justice appear, "the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" will be the surpassing wonder through all the ages. 42 "THE PRICE OF LIBERTY" VIII "THE PRICE OF LIBERTY" That the sinner's ignorance and folly in attempting to earn salvation may more clearly appear, note the fol- lowing : A colored man in North Carolina decides to go to Washington and pay for his freedom. With a silver dol- lar he starts on his long journey, talking to himself in a most satisfied manner, thus: "I don't propose to enjoy this freedom for nothing. I pay for what I get. I want President Lincoln to know that there is one man in North Carolina that appreciates being free; and when I have paid for my freedom, I'll be under obligations to nobody. All the rest of the colored folks in our neigh- borhood will be nothing but charity folks, dependent on the President for their liberty. But I'll be different ; I'll be one who has paid for his freedom. All the rest will be people who were given their freedom like poorhouse folks get their living from charity. I feel like a superior person already, and when I get home I'll be head and shoulders above the other brethren. And I'll never stop telling them how I bought my freedom while theirs was given to them. I expect they will make me deacon or elder, or something I deserve like that." At length he reaches the Capitol and, obtaining an interview with the President, immediately makes known his business. Uncle Works Mr. President, I've come all the way from North Carolina to pay for my freedom. I want you to know that there's one man in North Carolina that appreciates being free; and here is the pay for my free- dom. (Offers the President a dollar.) "THE PRICE OF LIBERTY " 43 President Lincoln Wait a moment, Uncle. What did you pay for being a slave? Uncle Works I didn't pay anything ; I was born that way. My father was a slave and my mother was a slave, and I was just born a slave and could not help myself. President Lincoln Yes, just as I supposed. Did you make any bargain with the government that in case it would set you free you would pay it a dollar ? Uncle Works O dear, no; I didn't know anything about it till it was all done. . President Lincoln Then, since you were not respon- sible for being made a slave, and did not promise to pay for your freedom, and since the government did not re- quire or desire that you pay for your liberty, why do you insist on paying for it? Uncle Works I insist on paying for it, Mr. Presi- dent, because I don't want to humble myself to accept it as a charity. I don't want to be under obligations to any- body. I want to be able to say I paid for my freedom. President Lincoln Then you insist on paying for it, do you? Uncle Works I certainly do. President Lincoln Then I must tell you that your dollar will not pay for it. And I want you to see that your offer to pay for it only shows how little you appre- ciate it. Can you figure, Uncle? It cost the lives, or limbs, or health of five hundred thousand able-bodied men to set you free. How many silver dollars would it take to equal in value 500,000 hus- bands and fathers, sons and brothers ? And besides these, there are 500,000 widows and or- phans, and sonless mothers, and brotherless sisters, who mourn the loss of husbands and fathers and sons and brothers. Furthermore, in order that you may get some little "THE PRICE OF LIBERTY ' 45 idea of what it cost to set you free, go to some church- yard where a widowed mother and her orphan children are kneeling around a newly made grave that holds a husband and father, and watch them weep, and hear their moans, and remember there are 500,000 widows and orphans and mothers and sisters who weep for their fallen husbands and fathers and sons and brothers. Uncle, how many silver dollars will it take to balance this mountain of human woe? And now since you in- sist upon paying the price of your freedom, down with its millions! Uncle Works O Mr. President! I can't pay it. I never thought it cost so much. I am ashamed that I ever thought of paying for it. As you talked, this dollar that looked so big to me when you began, kept getting smaller and smaller until I am so ashamed of it that I want to get it out of sight. But, Mr. President, isn't there something that a poor old colored man can do to show his appreciation of the liberty that cost so much ? Since you talked about what it cost to set me free, I believe I do really begin to ap- preciate my freedom. I will never try to pay for it. But can't I do something to show my appreciation of it? President Lincoln Yes, indeed you can. Go home, Uncle, and live like a free man. Be obedient to the laws of your State, be respectful to all your neighbors, pay your honest debts, do unto others as you would be done by, and show by your life that you appreciate your free- dom. Uncle Works I will do all that gladly, Mr. Presi- dent. President Lincoln But, Uncle, ever remember that should you keep all the laws of the land perfectly, pay all your debts, do unto others as you would be done by, all your life, it would have no part in paying for your 46 "THE PRICE OF LIBERTY " freedom ; that is already paid for, and is a free gift. Re- member that all your efforts to pay for it will only show how little you appreciate its cost. Reader, if you are ever tempted to try to pay for your salvation by good works, by law keeping, go back in mind to Gethsemane and Calvary where the debt was paid, where the millstone of a world's wickedness was carried to the cross, and cast into the sea of God's for- getfulness. Go back to Gethsemane's garden, where the mountain weight of a world's woes weighs the Redeemer to earth, and presses from His pores His precious blood. Watch while He staggers from the shadow of death to the weary watchmen who, for sorrow, are heavily sleeping. Watch, while alone He turns again and falls upon the blood-bathed earth, and in an agony of soul which no pen can picture, no tongue can tell, wills to drink to its dregs sin's bitter cup. Watch, while the angel lifts the faint- ing form, and ministers strength for the struggle that has scarce begun. Watch Him all the way from the garden to the grave. Watch the smiting and the spitting. Watch the mockery in the robing and crowning. Watch the scoffing and the scourging. Now follow the wailing, cursing crowd to Calvary's cross, and see the spiking and the bleeding, the mangling and moaning, the groaning and the weeping. Wait through the hours that lengthen like ages. Wait till the shadow of death drapes with its sable mantle the soul-piercing scene. Wait till out from the depths of the deepening darkness there comes that startling, piercing, freezing cry from the heart of the dying Redeemer, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Wait, sinner, wait for that closing, crowning cry, "It is finished." Behold the clashing clouds, the reeling I. 48 "THE PRICE OF LIBERTY" earth, the rifting rocks, the rending veil, and the burst- ing graves, and the bleeding, broken heart. Reader, "do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in "Oh, why was He there as the bearer of sin, If on Jesus thy guilt was not laid? Oh, why from His side flowed His sin-cleansing blood, If His dying thy debt has not paid? "Then doubt not thy welcome since God has declared There remaineth no more to be done; That once in the end of the world He appeared, And completed the work He begun." Is it not plain that the sinner's effort to purchase sal- vation by good works can only discredit the atoning work of Christ by which alone he has been redeemed? Is it not clear that the sinner's self-righteous efforts to earn salvation by law-keeping, can only reveal how little he appreciates the cost of salvation? But is there not something which the chief of sin- ners, saved by grace, can do to manifest that love that is born in his heart from beholding such manner of love? Oh, yes. "If ye love me, keep my commandments." "We love Him because He first loved us." "And this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous." Here is the only place and purpose of commandment- keeping. All commandment-keeping that is wrought to earn salvation is but the filthy rags of man's self-right- eousness. Were we to keep the law perfectly from now to the end of our days, it would and could have nothing to do with earning salvation. That has already been earned for us, and the only thing that we can do is to "THE PRICE OF LIBERTY" 49 accept it as a free gift of grace, and love and serve the Giver from the heart, in the Spirit, all our days. Reader, do you see it? I lived and preached many years before I saw it. Of that which we have written, this is the sum : Com- mandment-keeping has nothing to do with earning sal- vation; and yet the whole plan of salvation has for its object the transforming of a loveless, law-breaking enemy of God into a loving, law-keeping friend of God. These two divine truths, hard to understand by the ''unlearned and the unstable," form, nevertheless, the heart truth of the gospel. These two apparently con- tradictory statements are but the two halves of a har- monious whole. They are the truths for which Paul suffered the loss of all things, and for which he was per- secuted by the Gentiles, the Jews, and the Judaizing Christian church at Jerusalem. If there is one truth above another that the prince of lies hates, it is the harmonious blending of these two divine truths into one divine whole. It matters little to him which one is preached if only that one be preached as opposed to the other. If grace be preached as making 'Void the law," or if law-keeping is presented so as to "frustrate the grace of God," the father of lies is sat- isfied. All down the ages, Satan has sought and fought to separate these two great and vital truths, and keep them separate. His success is seen all along the way, but at no time more than now, when many make commandment- keeping a saving work, and salvation by grace is made by many more a lawless license to make void one or all of God's ten commandments. But, bless the Lord, there is the prophetic promise that in the face of the wrath of the dragon, these two 50 "THE PRICE OF LIBERTY" truths will be united in the lives and labors of a remnant and persecuted people, before the return of our Lord. "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12:17. "Here is the patience of the saints ; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12. IX "FREED FROM THE LAW" The Governor- General of a great English colony a man of great wealth and of benevolent disposition in- terested himself in a young man whose birth and train- ing had marked him a criminal. This young man, though not yet twenty-five years old, had committed numerous crimes, and had spent the greater part of his life in re- formatories and prisons and had come to be regarded as a confirmed criminal. He had just been sentenced to pay the death penalty for his last and worst crime. His Excellency, the Governor, decides to pay the price of the man's life and adopt him as his son with the hope of seeing him become a law-abiding citizen. With this in mind he visits the Judge who pronounced the sentence, a man of irreproachable character. Between them there had been a lifelong friendship; and, accord- ing to the parable, the following conversation passes be- tween them. Governor-General I have called, My lord, in the in- terests of the young man, John Borninsin, whom you have just sentenced to death. I have decided to pay the 'FREED FROM THE LAW 51 price* of his life and undertake his reform by adopting him into my family. I have known the young man from his childhood. He was born with a criminal nature ; his parents were criminals, and his whole training has been in the atmosphere of crime. It is my purpose to instruct him in a better life and lead him to forsake his lawless career. The Judge I appreciate Your Excellency's praise- worthy compassion for this young reprobate; but I must express my settled conviction that you are wasting both your wealth and your sympathy. It will not be a fort- night before he will have committed another crime; he was born to forfeit his life on the gallows. Governor-General But I have faith that he can be reformed. At least I am determined that he shall have a chance to know and choose the blessings of a law- abiding life. Judge But, Your Excellency, his crimes will take him from you and place him under the stern hand of the law before you have an opportunity to exert your influence upon him. It will be useless to pay the price of his life now, for the simple reason that the crimes he will com- mit will bring him back under the law almost immediately. It will be necessary for you not only to redeem him from past lawlessness, but if you are to save the man, you will have to redeem him from the results of future trans- gressions also. Governor-General I have foreseen all this and have planned for it. I clearly perceive that it would be use- less to redeem him from the law as regards the past un- *At this point the parable is not in harmony with facts, since the life of a criminal cannot now, as of old, be redeemed by money; but, for the para- ble's sake the reader is asked to overlook this discrepancy. The parable also falls far short, in representing the "new creation in Christ Jesus", but this does not affect the attitude taken by the young man, or his relation to the law", the Judge, and the Governor who stands as his substitute. 52 "FREED FROM THE. LAW less provision be made for the future. Consequently, I have decided to deposit with you to his credit my entire fortune enough to redeem him from all the transgres- sions of the law which he shall ever commit in his ignor- ance and weakness. In this way I shall be able to keep him out from under the law, and place him under grace, until he has had the privileges that grace will bring to him. With this deposit to his credit, it will be impossible for him to come under the law, even when he commits a crime. He will not be under law but under grace. His transgressions of the law will be imputed to me, and my grace imputed to him. It will, therefore, be impossible to get him under the law or in prison, so long as my deposit of grace, which is placed to his credit, is more abundant than his transgressions. And I purpose to see to it that it shall be said in this case, "Where sin abound- ed, grace did much more abound." You see, I am voluntarily putting myself under the law in order to de- liver him from under the law. Judge If I did not know of your exceptional rev- erence for the majesty of the law, I would interpret this act as being in hostility to the law, or at least as throwing discredit on the law; but, inasmuch as the present code of laws was drafted by yourself and presented to Par- liament when you were a member of that body, and en- acted into law by your earnest voice and vote, I cannot conceive of your extraordinary efforts on behalf of this unfortunate young man as being other than in perfect sympathy with the law. Governor-General My efforts on behalf of this young man are not intended to make void the law, but to establish the law. If my efforts were to make void the law, I certainly would not place my fortune at your disposal for the purpose of satisfying the just claims of the law. If I wanted to make void the law, I would work 54 'FREED FROM THE LAW" for its repeal; or easier still, I would use my pardoning power as chief executive, and pardon him whenever he is convicted of crime, and thus save my fortune. The very fact that I place my fortune at your disposal, establishes and vindicates the law as being both just and good. And besides, all my efforts for the young man are for the one purpose of making him a law-abiding citizen. My efforts are to make of him a man in whom the righteous- ness of the law shall be fulfilled. But, in order to ac- complish this, he must be delivered from the law, and kept free; otherwise, as you say, he will come under the penalty of the law, which is death ; and thereby be placed beyond the reach of grace. Judge Yes ; I see your position, and agree with you, both in purpose and plan ; but there is one difficulty which must be made clear to me before I can consent to be a party to this gracious work of yours. Suppose the young man, when he learns of the placing of your abounding deposit of grace, instead of thankfully ac- knowledging your great kindness toward him, and mak- ing use of his freedom from the law to be instructed by you to become a law-abiding citizen, on the contrary takes advantage of the fact that it is impossible to bring him under the law, and continues to transgress, simply because he is not under law but under grace, what is to be done in that case? I cannot consent to be a party to this transaction if I shall become, by so doing, a party to ministering liberty to this man if he uses that liberty as a cloak of maliciousness. I cannot minister this de- posit when I know that the man having been once en- lightened, and having tasted your heavenly gift of free- dom from the law, and the power to obey the law, wil- fully and deliberately chooses his old life of a criminal, preferring the life of a transgressor to that of a law- abiding citizen. I cannot become a party to his continued "FREED FROM THE LAW" 55 crimes, by continuing to minister liberty to him, which he deliberately uses to continue his crimes. Governor-General I most certainly do not ask you to do this. As I said before, my efforts on his behalf are not directed to save him from the law in order that he may transgress it, but to save him from the law that he may be taught to observe it faithfully. If he transgresses the law wilfully after he has come to the knowledge of the truth, as you have just stated, there will remain no part of my sacrificing deposit for him. I make no de- posit to save him from wilful, deliberate transgression; my deposit is to cover the transgressions which he has committed and those violations of the law which he will still commit in his inherited and cultivated weakness of nature, and in his ignorance of the law and lack of power to obey it, until by my teaching he has come to a knowl- edge of the blessings and privileges of a law-abiding citi- zen. But if he transgresses wilfully after all this, if he tramples upon my sacrifice for him ; if he comes to count the giving of my fortune as something given that he may continue in law-breaking ; if he thus deliberately does de- spite to the spirit of grace shown him, then there remains no deposit of grace for him. Then he must fall into the hands of the civil authority, and will be deserving of sorer punishment than if he had never known of my abounding grace. 56 "UNDER GRACE" "UNDER GRACE" By the illustration of the previous chapter, it is plain that so far as the young transgressor is concerned, the Judge's seat has become a throne of grace, and the Judge a minister of grace. To him the Judge is no longer a minister of law, but a minister of mercy and grace. The Judge is still a minister of law, but not to the young man. He ministers the law to the substitute and grace to the transgressor. If in the illustration the deposit of grace had been made on behalf of all the people within the jurisdiction of the Judge, it would have transformed the Judge from a minister of law to the people, to a minister of grace to all the people. None of the people within his jurisdic- tion could be said to be under law, but on the other hand, all would be under grace, and the Judge's seat would be- come a throne of grace. And this illustrates the blessed position in which the "whole world" is placed by "the glorious gospel of Christ." "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; . . . For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5:19, 21. Since God has not imputed to this world its trans- gressions of His law, but in His abounding grace has imputed its transgressions to His Son, it follows that in this gracious transaction He has delivered the world from under the law and placed it under grace. "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to "UNDER GRACE" 57 all men." Titus 2:11. "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, . . . that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man!' Heb. 2:9. In Romans 5 the Apostle Paul reaches the same con- clusion. He first shows that through Adam's transgres- sion sin abounded to every member of the human race. Even* one born after Adam's transgression was born a transgressor. Adam, by making himself a sinner, made the whole world sinners. A stream cannot rise higher than its source. Coming into possession of a sinful na- ture, his children were born with sinful natures, and could no more save themselves from sinning than the Ethiopian could save himself from the color of his skin. "By one man sin entered into the world." Verse 12. "Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Verse 18. "For as by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall the many (R. V.) be made righteous." Verse 19. The children of Adam did not make themselves sin- ners. I did not make myself a sinner. Adam made me a sinner, and I have sinned because I was born a sinner. My sins did not make me a sinner. Crab-apples on a crab-apple tree do not make the tree a crab-apple tree. It was a crab-apple tree years before it bore crab-apples. It bore crab-apples because it was a crab-apple tree. So your sins did not make you a sinner, but you sinned be- cause you were born a sinner. God knows that we cannot keep ourselves from sin- ning, burdened as we are with sinful natures. He does not ask us to accomplish the impossible, and He will not punish us because we did not do what He knows and says is impossible for us to do. And in making known 58 "UNDER GRACE" His law, it was not His purpose to add to our misery by making known to us the abounding sinfulness which was given to us, without our asking, by the .sinning head of the human race, but that we might come to realize what abounding sinners we are, in order that we might receive and appreciate abounding salvation. "The law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded [to all the world] grace did much more abound [to all the world] ; that as sin hath reigned unto death [over all the world], even so might grace reign [over all the world], through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 5:20, 21. Since "the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men"; since God has made a deposit of grace more abounding than the deposit of sin which Adam gave the whole race, it follows that the throne ot God is a throne of grace. All under that throne are under grace. God has not failed to minister law, but He has ministered the law to His Lamb, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, and His grace to the whole sinning world. Consequently, the whole world is under grace. "Ye are not under the law, but under grace." But is the sinner under grace ? Is not the transgressor of the law under law? Is the transgressor of the law under grace ? Reader, can you not see that it is the transgressor of the law above all others who is in need of grace? In fact, Christ did not come to bring grace to any but sinners. Only sinners were in need of grace. "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repent- ance." Sinners alone will realize their need of grace. "Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death [over all the world], even so might grace reign [over all the "UNDER GRACE" 59 world] through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." It is only through Christ that the transgressor is un- der grace. If he be viewed through the law, apart from the cross of Calvary, he is most positively under law. It is only when the sinner is seen through the sacrifice of Calvary, that he is seen to be under grace. But which view of man is the correct one? Shall he be viewed through the law, or through the cross ? It is evident that God views him through the cross, and consequently views him under grace. And would not God have His ambas- sadors view men as He views them? And now that it is plain that John, in the illustration, is under grace, and therefore not under law, is there any one in the illustration who is under law? Certainly. The governor is under law. The law, instead of being dishonored by John's re- lease from its condemnation, has been honored in that it has collected its demands to the last farthing from the most exalted personage in the state. And now, since the governor takes. John's place un- der the law, the governor is under law and not under grace. One cannot be both under law and under grace at the same time. For the Word says, "Ye are not under the law but under grace" One who is under grace cannot at the same time be under law, and one under law cannot at the same time be tinder grace. The sinner and his substitute cannot both escape the law's condemnation, neither can both be held by the law for the same offense. And now, inasmuch as Christ took the place under the law as the substitute for all the children of Adam whom Adam placed under the law by his sinning, it fol- lows that all men were thereby placed under grace. Christ was not placed under the condemnation of the 60 "UNDER GRACE " law for His own transgressions, but for the world's transgressions. Therefore, when the law collected its demands from Christ, in that very act.it released man. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, be- ing made a curse for us." When did Christ redeem us from the curse of the law ? "For it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." The law had no power over Christ unless Christ as- sumed man's guilt, and unless the law admits that this guilt is man's guilt. Therefore, when the law collected sin's penalty from Christ, it collected man's penalty, thereby recognizing that man's penalty was paid, and man released from the law, and therefore under grace. Why, then, is any man lost? Because it is possible for man, by rejecting grace, to commit sins for which Christ did not substitute, whose penalty Christ did not pay in His death, and which can only be paid in the death of the sinner himself. XI "IS CHRIST UNDER LAW TODAY?" In this connection it is important to consider the question, Is Christ under the law today? The only rea- son why He ever was under the law was because "He bore our sins" and "not ours only, but the sins of the whole world." And the only reason that He ever bore our sins was to meet their penalty in His death. The law could only follow Him to death. "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6 : 23. "He that is dead is freed from sjn. . . . Know- ing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more ; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He 14 IS CHRIST UNDER LAW TODAY?" 61 died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God." Rom. 6 : 7-10. Christ is therefore no longer under law, because He no longer bears sin, for He bore sin as far as it can be borne, that is unto death. Christ is therefore not a sin- bearer today, and has not been since He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. All the sins which He ever will bear, He has borne, and borne them into oblivion in His death. "For by one offering He hath perfected for- ever them that are sanctified." The sins which men commit today, and for which they receive pardon when they confess them, were all atoned for in the death of Christ. And the only reason they re- ceive pardon when they repent, is because Christ died under those sins once for all. If men commit sins which Christ did not bear when He bore our sins on Calvary, there can be no pardon for those sins. "For without the shedding of blood there is no remission." "The wages of sin is death," and Christ will not die again. The Apostle Paul lays the foundation for universal atonement through Christ, in the fact of universal alien- ation through Adam. This is the Divine argument of the fifth chapter of Romans. "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." Verse 12. "By the trespass of the one the many be dead." Verse 15, R. V. "By one man's offense death reigned by one." Verse 17. "By the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation." Verse 18. "By one man's disobedience the many were made sinners." Verse 19. Thus repeatedly is it stated that one man made all men sinners and brought death upon all. Therefore, no child 62 "IS CHRIST UNDER LAW TODAY?" of Adam is responsible for being made a sinner, nor for his death. "In Adam all die." This fact lays the foun- dation for universal atonement. Reader, if a man and his son were standing on a pier, and the father should push the son, who cannot swim, off into the sea, would it be an injustice if a life-saver should go down into the sea and rescue the boy and place him back on the pier ? Has the father the right to choose death by drowning for his son? Ought not the son to at least have a chance to choose for himself ? But the only way by which he can have a chance to choose is for him to be rescued by the life-saver, and placed back where he was before his father pushed him off. Adam pushed the whole world off the pier of life and innocency, into the sea of sin and death. No child of Adam had opportunity to choose for himself whether he wanted to be a sinner and die a sinner's death, before this doom was placed upon him by the choice of Adam. Note this fact carefully. Adam, by his choice, plunges all men into sin and death. It is too late for Adam's children to choose life after Adam has slain them. A dead man cannot choose life unless he be first delivered from death, and the only way by which a child of Adam could have a chance to choose life, was first to redeem him from the death into which Adam plunged him. This is the reason why the God of all grace could, and did, plan to save man before the foundation of the world. This is the reason why He did not need to con- sult the world before He gave His Son to bear the sins of the world. Adam did not consult us before he ruined us, and so God need not consult us before He redeemed us. "Who [God] hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in "IS CHRIST UNDER LA W TOD A Y? " 63 Christ Jesus before the world began." 2 Tim. 1:9. And this is the reason the promise which God made to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 22:18), was an unconditional promise. In Adam they were all cursed without condi- tions. In Jesus Christ they were all blessed without con- ditions. The Jew in his blind self -righteousness could not un- derstand this, and so tried to make law-keeping a condi- tion of God's bestowing this blessing. It was against this perversion of the gospel that Paul hurls the lightning bolts of gospel logic in the third chapter of Galatians. But do the Scriptures teach that the great Life-saver did go down into the sea of sin and death and rescue all men, and place them back on the pier of life and inno- cency before the law? Yes, this is the conclusion of Paul's argument in the fifth of Romans. "Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the righteous- ness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justi- fication of life. For as by one man's disobedience the many (R. V.) were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall the many (R. V.) be made righteous. More- over the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Rom. 5 : 18-20. But if all men have been placed back on the pier of "justification of life," does that not mean "Universal- ism"? This is a thousand miles from "Universalism" ! The pier on which Adam stood, and the world in Adam, before he threw himself and the world into the sea of sin and death, was simply the platform of life and irmocency before the law. Eternal life was on a higher platform, a gift of grace to be had by choosing. When the blessed Life-saver placed all men back on 64 "IS CHRIST UNDER LAW TODAY?" the pier of life and innocency before the law, He placed them back where Adam stood and where they stood in Adam before Adam pushed them off into sin and death All men now have a chance to choose whether they will go higher into eternal life, or lower into the second death. Thus far has the God of all grace gone in the plan of redemption without the will or co-operation of man. All men were ruined without their will or co-operation, and therefore all men could be redeemed without their will or co-operation. What ! save a man without his will ? Yes, "He is the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe." 1 Tim. 4: 10. "Who gave Himself a ransom for all." 1 Tim. 2 : 6. The first scripture tells us that He is the Saviour of men who do not believe, but He is especially the Saviour of those who do believe. There are two phases of salvation clearly brought to view in the Scriptures. First, that salvation which God wrought for man on the cross before he believed, and second, that which He works in man when he believes. The first salvation will profit us nothing without the sec- ond. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark 16 : 16. These two phases of salvation are again brought to view in Romans 5. "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Verse 8. We were sinners before He died for us, were sinners while He was dying for us, and we v/ere sinners, in ourselves considered after He died for us. Again : "While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son." Verse 10, R. V. We were enemies before we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, and while he was reconciling us by the death of His Son, and we were enemies, in our- selves considered, after we were reconciled to God by "IS CHRIST UNDER LAW TODAY?" 65 the death of His Son. Nevertheless, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. While we were still enemies to God from our standpoint, we were at the same time reconciled to God by the death of His Son, from God's standpoint. Notice how we were reconciled. It was not through our good works, not through our faith that we were reconciled to God; for this reconciliation was accom- plished without our faith; yes, even while we were ene- mies. This reconciliation was accomplished, not by our faith, but "by the death of His Son." And this reconciliation that has reconciled man before he believes, is what he believes before he is reconciled. These two phases of reconciliation are clearly presented in 2 Cor. 5. "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto him- self." Verse 19. This scripture does not say God is in Christ recon- ciling the world unto Himself, although that is just what He is doing. But that is not the phase of reconciliation taught in this scripture. This is shown by the means by which this reconciliation is accomplished. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto him- self, [how?] not imputing their trespasses unto them. . . . For He hath made [not is making] Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5 : 19-21. This reconciliation which was made by charging the world's sins to Christ, and not charging them to the world, is a reconciliation that has already been accom- plished for all the world, and is the same reconciliation referred to in Rom. 5 :10, where it is said, "We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." But there is another reconciliation spoken of in that 66 "IS CHRIST UNDER LAW TODAY?" same text (2 Cor. 5:18-21), a reconciliation that depends on the sinner's willingness to "be reconciled." "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Him- self, not imputing their trespasses unto them. . . . Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Verse 20. Here are the two reconciliations. One accomplished for man without his faith or knowledge, the other ac- complished in man when he shall hear and believe the reconciliation by which he was reconciled before he be- lieved, and while he was yet an enemy. And it is this blessed Gospel, that God has recon- ciled the world unto Himself by the death of His Son, that the true ambassador preaches to the world before he beseeches the world, "be ye reconciled to God." "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 Jno. 4: 10. "We love Him because He first loved us." Verse 19. "The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." Rom. 2 : 4. This is the divine order of true gospel preaching. "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel [the good news] to every creature." The good news of what? the good news, that while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. The good news, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. The good news, that He hath made Christ to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. The good news, that He is the Saviour of all men, espe- cially of them that believe. And not only is this the divine order of true Christian preaching, it is the divine order of true Christian living. "For this is the love of God, that we keep His com- '75* CHRIST UNDER LAW TODAY?" 67 mandments; and His commandments are not grevious." 1 Jno. 5 : 3. Any commandment-keeping that does not spring from love to God because He first loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, while we were ene- mies, even when we were dead in sins, and reconciled us to God by the death of His Son, is not commandment- keeping in the sight of God, but the filthy rags of our own self-righteousness. Commandment-keeping has noth- ing to do with earning salvation, and yet the whole object of the plan of salvation is the transforming of the lawless, loveless enemy of God into a loyal, loving, obedient friend of God. But while law-keeping has nothing to do in purchasing salvation, it does have something "to do in pointing out the one who has accepted this salvation. "Hereby we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keep- eth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 1 Jno. 2 : 3, 4. XII "I NEVER WAS A SLAVE " But has not the Apostle Paul clearly "proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin?" Rom. 3 : 9. Yes ; but this he did as a preparation for proving all to be under grace. For the proclamation of grace was only for those whose sinning has brought them under sin. If there was one man who could prove that he was never under sin, that man would thereby prove that he had no part in the pardoning grace. Note the following illustration. We will suppose that I am sent as a herald to announce to the colored people of the South, the gospel or good news that they are all 68 "/ NEVER WAS A SLAVE" freed men. I go to the market place and begin to read the Emancipation Proclamation, and soon have gathered about me a great multitude of colored people whose earnest faces show an intense interest, but who hesitate to believe the proclamation because it seems too good to believe. I am called upon to read it again, and I read the following: "Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, . . . on this first day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, ... do ordain and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated states, and parts of states, are, and henceforth shall be free; and that the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authori- ties thereof will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons." When I reach this point, the multitude, believing the truth of the proclamation, break forth in the most en- thusiastic manifestations of rejoicing. The shout is heard on every side, "I am free, I am not a slave! Praise the Lord, Brother Jones, I am free, and you are free, and Mary Ann is free, the children are free, and we are all free, free forever. Praise the Lord!" But there is one colored man who addresses me in a haughty, self-satisfied manner, thus: "Stranger, your mission does not interest me. It is doubtless all very well for those who need it. But it does not concern me, for the simple reason that I am not a slave and never was a slave." "But are you not a colored man?" "Certainly." "/ NEVER WAS A SLAVE" 69 "And are you not a native of this state?" "Yes." "And have you been set free by your master?" "No. Did I not tell you that I never was a slave." "But if you are a colored man, a native of this state, and have never been set free, you are certainly in need of this proclamation, for according to the laws of this state, which have been sustained by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, you have no rights which a white man is bound to respect." "But I insist that I am not a slave and consequently am not included in the Emancipation Proclamation, and hence am not personally interested in it." I cannot interest this man in the proclamation of lib- erty until I first convince him that he is in need of the proclamation. To do this I must lay aside for the pres- ent the proclamation, and undertake to convince him that he is a slave. I am for the time being viewing him as he insists on viewing himself, that is, outside the proc- lamation. The truth is, that he is included in the proclamation even though he denies it. But in order that this truth may become a blessing to him, he must first realize his slavery. Now, while I do not lose sight for a moment of the fact that, viewed through the proclamation he is a freed man, I begin to deal with him from his own point of view, and call his attention to the law which most pos- itively pronounces him a slave, with no more right than the common beast of burden, and also to the fact that should he attempt to escape and succeed in crossing the boundary line into a free state, the "Fugitive Slave Law" would follow him and return him to his master to suffer added punishment for his attempt to escape. At last I am able to convince him of his condition under the law, and then with a groan of despair he cries out, "O 70 "/ NEVER WAS A SLAVE" wretched slave that I am, who shall deliver me from this bondage of death ?" Then seizing my proclamation, I declare to the man with all the earnestness of my soul, "You are delivered. You are a freed man. You are not a slave. This procla- mation declares that you are a free man and all the power of the republic is pledged to protect you in the enjoyment of that freedom." Now, the man is interested in the proclamation. It now concerns him. He is glad now to know that he is included in the proclamation. He believes the proclama- tion and rejoices in his freedom. This illustration explains all the seeming contradic- tions in Paul's epistles concerning the question of "un- der law" and "not under the law." In the first part of his epistle to the Romans, he proves "all under sin," "all under law," "all the world" "guilty before God." But in doing this he is describing the whole world's con- dition outside the proclamation; their condition, were there no proclamation of pardon, and this he does in order to prepare all to appreciate and receive by faith the par- don which is already theirs in the gospel proclamation which he bears. "The Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." Gal. 3 : 22. "God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all." Rom. 11 : 32, 33. If the colored man in the illustration had realized that under the law, without the emancipation proclamation, he was a hopeless slave, it would not have been necessary to prove to him that he was under the law. The only rea- son for proving him under the law was to show him his true condition were there no proclamation. He was not proved a slave in order to contradict the plain statement in the proclamation that he is a freedman, but to show "/ NEVER WAS A SLAVE" 71 him his condition of hopeless slavery were there no emancipation proclamation. And in like manner, if all those for whom Paul's epistles were written had realized that under the law, without the gospel proclamation of pardon, which is "to all and upon all them that believe," they were hope- lessly condemned to death, it would not have been neces- sary to prove them "all under sin." And the only rea- son for proving them under the law, was to show them their true condition were there no gospel proclamation. Paul does not conclude all under sin in order to con- tradict his proclamation which declares all under pardon- ing grace, but to show them their hopeless condition were there no gracious proclamation proclaiming them par- doned. Not only does Paul not use the law to deny the free- dom found in his proclamation, but, on the other hand, he uses the law to mark men as free. Note this illustra- tion: It is December 31, 1862, the day before the President of the United States issued the famous Emancipation Proclamation. Knowing that the proclamation is to be issued on the following day, let us go into a southern city to see some of the many slaves who will be pro- claimed free on the morrow. As we stroll down the street, you say to me, 'There is a slave, there is another, and there is a third. These will be free tomorrow." "How do you know these particular persons will be included in the proclamation?" "Because they are slaves." "But how do you know they are slaves?" "Because of the color of their skin." "Then are all the people who are colored, slaves?" "Yes, all the people who are colored are slaves, and all the slaves are to be proclaimed free tomorrow." 72 "/ NEVER WAS A SLAVE" On the day after the proclamation was issued, Jan- uary 2, 1863, we are again in the same city, walking down the same street, looking at the same people. But now you say to me, "There is a freed man, 'there is another, and there is a third." "But how do you know they are freed men?" "Because they were slaves." "But how do you know they were slaves ?" "Because of the color of their skin." "Then the color of their skin is now a sign that they have been proclaimed free?" "Certainly. That which was a sign of their slavery on Wednesday, is on Friday a sign of their freedom. And those who were not included as slaves on Wednesday, are now excluded from the proclamation of freedom on Friday." And thus it is with the proclamation of the gospel. Only sinners are pardoned by the proclamation. And more : that thing which was a sign of the slavery of the sinner apart from salvation, now marks him as a partaker in the pardon of the proclamation made by the Prince of Peace. It was this truth which led Paul to exclaim, "Hence- forth know we no man after the flesh!' To know a col- ored man after the color of his flesh on Wednesday was to know him as a slave, but on Friday, this same color viewed not after the flesh, but after the proclamation, marks him a freed man. To know a man after the flesh apart from the cross, was to know him as a helpless, hope- less slave of sin. But since One died for all and hence all died, and since all are now free, "for he that is dead is freed from sin," we now know no man after the flesh. On the contrary, while the flesh was a sign of slavery, now this same sinful flesh marks the man as one who has been included in the proclamation of "/ NEVER WAS A SLAVE" 73 pardon. It is the sinner who has been proclaimed free. Let the sinners come. Whosoever will, let him come. Sinner, that sinful flesh which Satan declared separated you from the plan of salvation, is now the very evi- dence that you are included in the proclamation of par- don. Praise the Lord for His gracious proclamation! Reader, "you are not under law, but under grace." "The law entered that sin might abound, but where sin abounded grace did much more abound." The law was not given by God nor used by the Apostle Paul to con- tradict the universal proclamation of the cross, but to reveal the sinning of the sinner and drive him to the cross. XIII "SHALL WE SIN TO SHOW WE ARE FREE?" But since sin is the sign that the sinner is included in the gracious proclamation of pardon, does it not fol- low that we should continue in sin, continue to transgress the law to show that we are not under the law, but under grace? Before answering this question, I want to take this opportunity to deal in a general way with the conclusion which has always been drawn by certain inexperienced persons, from the teachings of those who preach a full gospel, that is, that they make void the law. Now it is impossible to preach the Gospel so plainly as to escape this wrong conclusion. Paul understood this. Yet he did not shun to declare the whole truth even though he knew that by declaring it, there would be those who would wrest his writings to their own de- struction as they had the other Scriptures. 74 " SHALL WE SIN TO SHOW WE ARE FREE?" If it were possible to preach the Gospel so as to avoid this conclusion on the part of some, Paul certainly would have so preached it. For no apostle preached the gospel more fully or more plainly than did he. The fact is, the path of the faithful preacher of a full Gospel runs dan- gerously close to the soul-destroying precipice, marked "Law made void by grace," "the law abolished by Christ," "law-keeping is bondage," "law-breaking is liberty." But shall we hesitate to follow the path because of its proximity to the precipice ? To fail to follow the path is tc perish without the gospel. Paul pushed on in the path, warning the people of the presence of the precipice as he passed. At one time the path seems to lead to the precipice, "Do evil that good may come"; but with a warning not to take that path, and with the declaration that those who reported that he was following that path were slandering him (Rom. 3:8), he presses on only again to come near the yawning gulf, "The law made void" ; but he hurries on with the warning statement that he is not on the path which leads to the law made void by faith, but on that path which leads to the establishing of the law. A little later his divine logic leads him so close to the danger point again that he calls out, "Shall we continue in sin [in transgression of the law] that grace may abound?" to which he quickly answers, "God for- bid." Rom. 6:1, 15, 16. Again, he is brought so close to the precipice where it is entered by the path, "The law is sin," that he is led to cry out, "Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. . . . the law is holy, just, and good. . . . For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." Rom. 7 : 7-14. But why not take a path far removed from these dan- ger points ? Because there is no other path for him who " SHALL WE SIN TO SHOW WE ARE FREE?" 75 would preach the whole gospel. And the preacher whose preaching is of such a character as not to call forth these warnings against the delusion of an abolished decalogue, is not preaching the gospel which Paul preached. Is Paul to blame ? Or, to put it more plainly : is the Holy Spirit, by whose wisdom the apostle spake and wrote, to blame because all the no-law teachers, from that day to this, base their authority for an abolished law upon the writings of the Apostle Paul? If Paul is not to blame for the false deductions which some have made from his Spirit-inspired epistles, is the teacher who follows the same path today responsible for a similar result? With this word of explanation, the writer will pro- ceed to unfold the gospel, regarding it as an evidence that he is following the same path which Paul followed when the presentation of the same precious truth makes it necessary to warn the hearer against the same old error. Since the sinning of the sinner is an evidence that he is included in the universal proclamation of pardon, does it not follow that he should continue to sin, continue to transgress the law, in order to show that he is de- livered from the law and is now under grace? Ought the colored man to continue to serve his mas- ter as a slave in order to prove that he is one of those included in the proclamation which emancipated the slaves? By no means. While the continued servitude of the colored man would show that he is one of those who had been proclaimed free, it would also show that as yet he had realized no benefits from the proclamation. The proclamation was not made merely to change the names of men from that of "slaves" to that of "freedmen," and then leave them in servitude to their old master. In like manner, while the sinning of the sinner shows 76 " SHALL WE SIN TO SHOW WE ARE FREE?" that he is one of those for whom Christ died, and one for whom the abounding grace has been proclaimed, yet his sinning shows that as yet he has .not received the benefits of abounding grace. For the grace of God was not given merely to change the names of men from "slaves of sin" to "sons of God," and then leave them to continue slaves of sin. In the fifth of Romans, Paul preaches the gospel so broadly as to prove all the world under grace, and that their abounding sin has been met by a far more abound- ing grace. But having reached this climax in his glor- ious gospel, he stops, and devotes the sixth chapter to meeting the antinomian heresy that abounding grace gives license to continue to transgress the law. "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" He then appeals to their baptism to meet this heresy. Don't you know, he continues, that those of you who were baptized, thereby showed that you were sharers in the death of Christ who died for sin- ners? And when you arose from your baptism, do you not know that you showed thereby that you shared in the new life, now free from sin, with which Christ arose from the dead? Does a dead man continue to live and act as he did before he died? It was the old man, the carnal nature, that was not subject to the law, neither indeed could be, that had to be killed because he was an incurable law-breaker; and it was the death and burial of this old man, and the birth of the new man that was celebrated by baptism. Shall we then continue the old man's law-breaking in order to emphasize our freedom in the gospel? In other words, "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" While it is true that the man who sins is still under grace, and because he is under grace, his sinning does "SHALL WE SIN TO SHOW WE ARE FREE?" 77 not bring him under law (if it did, he would perish the moment he sinned, because the wages of sin is death), it is also true that he has not yet realized the grace which he is under. The grace of God not only saves us from the penalty of our past transgressions of the law, but through grace a new life is given to save us from con- tinued law-breaking. The abounding grace of God in the death of Christ who tasted death for every man, was a decree of absolute divorce from the old carnal nature, and from all his transgressions which he had trans- gressed in us, but we were not "made dead to the law through the body of Christ," nor divorced from the carnal man, in order that we might live a single life, but that we might "be joined to another, even to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were holden, so that we serve in new- ness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter." Rom. 7:4-6. (R. V.) "Sin [law-breaking] shall not have dominion over you ; for ye are not under law but under grace. What then? shall we sin [transgress the law] because we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey, whether of sin [law-breaking] unto death or obedience [law- keeping] unto righteousness." Rom. 6:14-16. (R. V.) 78 A FREEMAN'S FROCK XIV A FREEMAN'S FROCK ON A BONDMAN'S BACK (Illustrated) Hear this parable : It is twilight, and the governor of a great American state, with his only son, his private secretary, is about to leave his office, when there is a gentle knock at the door, which when opened reveals the frail form of a widowed mother whose sorrowing face pleads piteously through a tear-stained veil. Touched by the evidence before him of the woes of widowhood, the kind-hearted governor, with that frank- ness and freedom characteristic of western life, extends his hand, and with reassuring tenderness in his tones, says: "Come in, mother, take this easy chair. And now what can I have the pleasure of doing for you?" Encouraged by this kindness, she pours forth in sub- dued sobs the petition of her agonized heart : "O give me the life of my son, my only son ; my poor sinning son. O give me the life of my boy! He is the only child of his widowed mother. O save his life from the hangman's hand, lest I go desolate, crushed, child- less into the grave !" The governor, with mingled pity and perplexity pic- tured on his face, for he now realizes that he is in the presence of the mother of a murderer who is to be hanged on the morrow, after a pai'nful pause, speaks, but with pleading tenderness : "But, mother, did not your son have a fair, impartial trial? Was he not justly convicted, and now be honest do you not yourself believe that he committed the crime for which he has been sentenced to die?" 80 A FREEMAN'S FROCK "O governor, I am not asking for justice, I am plead- ing for mercy. O give me the life of my wayward, sin- ning boy !" "But, mother, is not the law which punishes murder a good law? and must it not be enforced for the safety of the people, and for the preservation of the government? Do you want the law abolished, or what would be the same thing, to remain unenforced in order to save your son? Do you not see that if the law were abolished or ignored, only anarchy would follow? Can you not see this, mother?" "O yes, I see it, I understand it all. The law is good and ought to be and must be enforced, but he is my only son, my only child. I cannot, O I cannot return to that dreary cottage, a desolate, childless widow. O give me the life of my son, my only son !" "How, mother? Tell me how." "O it is so easy, governor. Take your pen and write a pardon for him, and stamp it with the seal of state, and I can take that bit of paper and go to the prison, and with it pass through the great iron gates, and with it I can open the door of that cell which holds my son; and with it I can save his life. O it will cost you nothing to write it, while to withhold it will cost me my all! O grant a widow's petition and pardon my son !" "Yes, mother, it is easy to write a pardon; but if I pardon all those who are convicted of crime, we might as well have no law, for the criminals would soon learn that were they detected in their crimes, were they convicted and sentenced to pay the penalty, all they would need to do would be to petition the governor and obtain par- don. Can you not see that to pardon all law-breakers would make void the law, and introduce anarchy, as surely as to abolish the law? "Yes, I can understand it all. But is there no way to ON A BONDMAN'S BACK 81 save my son, my only son ? Must he perish, and I return alone? Must I live and die childless and desolate? O my son, my son! Would God I could die for thee, my son, my son !" The mother's prayer is prayed, her strength is spent, and she now sits in silence, the silence of despair. This is as far as the parable can proceed with real life experience for a foundation. But we must carry it farther without a foundation in fact. At length the governor's son, who has been a silent listener to the pathetic pleadings of the mother, and the faultless, infallible reasoning of his father's reply, now breaks the oppressive silence with the hopeful words: "Father, I have a plan whereby you can not only save to this mother her son, but at the same time establish and magnify the law." "But how, my son?" "Write the pardon for which the mother pleads, and at the same time write an order committing me as a substitute for the son, to the same cell; and when the death watch is passed, and the hour of execution is called, I will answer to the name of the widow's son, and die in his stead. When the people hear of it, they will with one voice exclaim, 'Behold ! how the governor loved the widow's wayward son' ; and in the next breath they will cry, 'In what high esteem he holds the law ! Rather than lessen in the least its just claims on the life of the lawless, he has enforced it to the letter on the life of his only son. He saved the widow's son and magnified the law.' " It now lies with the father to decide whether he will make the sacrifice. He sees the science of State in the suggestion of his son, but the staggering price to be paid ! But he pays the price. The pardon is granted, and the criminal is free. The warrant is written and the son as 82 A FREEMAN'S FROCK a substitute stands at the cell of the pardoned sinner. Will the prisoner accept the substitute? The governor's son unbars the door and passes into the presence of the pardoned man, and places in his hand the pardon, saying as he does it : "You are my father's freed man, he has paid for your life; I am his prisoner, the price he has paid. You are his son, and I am the criminal. Your prison garb is mine, and my garments are yours. Your tarnished name is mine, and my father's honored name is yours. Take them and go free. I ,have taken your place with its pen- alty, and will pay the price on the morrow." The widow's son stands surprised and staggered. He reads the pardon. He listens in silence to the statement of his substitute ; then with grinding teeth to subdue into silence the voice of a long-lost chord in a crime-calloused heart, he says, with firmness of tone : "I thank you for the kindness you have shown me. My heart is calloused with many crimes, but I would have you know that I can still recognize so marvelous a manifestation of unselfish love. But I cannot accept it. I will answer the hangman's call myself and let this crime-stained life atone with its own blood. I cannot accept freedom on the terms you offer." "But why not? Are not the terms all you could de- sire? What more could you ask?" "O my friend, I must have more. You are asking me to place a freeman's frock on a bondman's back. If I button that coat over this brutal breast, it will not be a fortnight before I will be back to this cell, having stained the coat with fresh-wrought crimes. I must have more. If I take your father's name with my frightful nature it will be a farce, and I will but foul your father's name, and find myself before a fortnight again in fet- ters. If you could give me your heart when you give ON A BONDMAN'S BACK 83 me your coat, if you could give me your nature when you give me your name, then there would be hope. But to ask me to button that stainless coat over this stony heart, to ask me to carry an honored name above a crime-stained nature, is but to put a freeman's frock on a bondman's back. O I must have more." The governor's son is speechless. He has no answer to make to the demand of the widow's son. He can give him his coat, but he cannot give him his heart. He can give him his name, but he cannot give him his nature. Here the curtain falls, to be lifted in the next chap- ter on another scene, involving not the human law of an earthly State, but the Divine law of the universe; not the life of a widow's son, but the life of the Son of God. XV A FREEMAN'S FROCK ON A BONDMAN'S BACK (Applied) The Ruler of the Universe, the Ancient of Days, is seated upon his throne. His only begotten Son sits at His right hand. A swift-winged angel approaches with the startling message that the children of earth have sinned, transgressed the Royal Law. The wages of sin is death, and the sentence hangs heavy over the heads of the guilty world. Without questioning the foreknowledge of God, "For he knoweth the end from the beginning," let us suppose that a council was called to deal with the sinners of earth. Had there been an unwise angel at that council, he might have suggested that the sins of the children of earth be passed by without notice, since it would be too sad to think of inflicting the death penalty upon the sin- ning pair. But that counsel could not be accepted, be- 84 A FREEMAN'S FROCK cause, if followed, it would bring anarchy into the uni- verse of God. Another might have suggested that the law be abol- ished, and thus the sinner would be saved. But no; that counsel could not be followed, for if the holy law were abolished to save the sinner, it would but exalt sin and degrade righteousness. Another might have proposed that pardon be granted them and that the matter thus be passed by. But pardon without punishment would reflect on the righteousness of the law, and subtract from the seriousness of sin as surely as would the abrogation of the law. No; without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. The Son might have said, "Father, I have a plan by which to save the sinning world, and at the same time magnify the law and the Law-giver. This is the plan: Pardon the sinners and place their sins upon me. I will carry the accursed load to the Cross of Calvary. I will pay the penalty. I will die as a substitute for the sin- ning world. Then, when the whole family in heaven and earth shall hear of it, they will exclaim : 'Behold how the Father loved the sinners of earth; rather than see them perish, he placed their sins upon His only Son and sac- rificed Him as their substitute.' With the same voice they will cry, 'Behold how highly He holds the Royal Law! Rather than lessen the seriousness of sin by excusing the penalty of the law, He has executed that penalty to the last letter upon His only begotten Son. He has saved a sinning world by the sacrifice of His Son, and magnified the majesty of the law and the mercy of the Law-giver.' " O the Divine Statesmanship displayed in this plan! But O the staggering sacrifice demanded from Divinity ! It is now left with the Father to make the surpassing sacrifice. There is no hesitation, for the Father and Son are one in the origin and execution of the plan. "For ON A BONDMAN'S BACK 85 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." "God was in Christ recon- ciling the world unto Himself." John 3 : 16, and 2 Cor. 5:19. The gift is given, the Son is sent. And the Father's Son, with a free pardon for a world in one hand and an order for His own execution in the other, appears on the threshold of earth's prison house, unlocks the door and sets its captives free. "I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light to the Gentiles ; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." Isa. 42 : 6, 7. "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to pro- claim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Isa. 61 : 1, 2. "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and he entered, as his custom was, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the Prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book, and found the place where it was written, The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach good tidings tc the poor: he hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.' And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened upon him. And he be- gan to say unto them, 'Today hath this Scripture been 86 A FREEMAN'S FROCK fulfilled in your ears/ And all bear him witness, and wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of his mouth." Luke 4: 14-22. (R. V.) . The proclamation of pardon, which w r as once based upon the coming of the Christ to the Cross of Calvary, is now based upon the accomplished fact of his cruci- fixion. The Lamb of God on whom the Father by his own hands "hath laid . . . the iniquities of us all, ' bruised and bleeding beneath His burden, bears "the sins of the whole world," from the gloom and groans of the garden to the piercing cry of the cross. "It is finished." The penalty is paid, not alone in promise, but now in performance. When that thorn- pierced head bowed low on that lifeless breast, and his soul was made "an offering for sin," the penalty was paid, the pardon was proclaimed, and the prisoners freed. "For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died." 2 Cor. 5:14. (R. V.) "He that is dead is freed from sin." Rom. 6 : 7. It is with this Gospel of deliverance, this emancipation proclamation, that the risen Christ, by His Spirit, now comes to the children of men proclaiming "release to the captives," through the free pardon purchased by His blood. But He comes with more than a pardon for the past. No man can meet Him with the objection of the widow's son, no man can refuse the pardon on the ground that he must carry a freedman's name with a bondman's na- ture. God never gives to a Jacob a change of name with- out giving him at the same time a change of nature. Through His abounding grace, God in Jesus Christ has changed a sinning world from slaves of sin to sons of God. But He does not ask men to take the new label without the new life. Multitudes are doing this today ON A BONDMAN'S BACK 87 to the dishonor of God, and the denial of His deliver- ance. "In the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, . . . lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God ; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." 2 Tim. 3:1-5. They are but wearing a free- man's frock on a bondman's back. Under grace, the world is given not only pardon for past transgressions in the death of Christ, but power for the present in the life of the living Christ. "For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be sared by His life." Rom. 5:10. (R. V.) "For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6: 10. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judg- ments and do them." Eze. 36: 26, 27. "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." Rom. 8 : 2-4. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man 88 A FREEMAN'S FROCK have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His." Rom. 8:9. "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Gal. 2 : 20. From all this it is made plain that the glorious Gospel of the blessed God does not ask men to place a free- man's frock on a bondman's back; but with the new name it gives the new nature; with the new linen gar- ment the new gift of life. Any Gospel, therefore, whose salvation stops short of fulfilling or doing the righteous- ness of the law in the life of the redeemed man by means of the indwelling Christ, is not the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. The presence of the life of God means the presence of the law of God. XVI MAKING FREEMEN BY FORCE Though it has cost the Father the life of His only begotten Son to deliver man from the law which he has transgressed, and placed him under grace, yet man is left free to yield himself a servant of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. And herein lies a divine truth which exhibits one of the unalterable attributes of God, whose government is founded not on slavish fear, but on the loyalty of love. God could not force man to receive free grace without thereby enslaving him. Let me illustrate: Although the government of the United States proclaimed the freedom of its slaves and provided for the maintenance of their freedom at such terrible cost of life and treasure, it could not force a single slave to accept his freedom. It could place a mil- MAKING FREEMEN BY FORCE 89 lion men on the field of battle. It could meet the most skillful of military men and take the strongest fortifica- tions, defended by the bravest of men. It could meet the destroying Merrimac with the terrible Monitor. It could make the slave master's land a wilderness, and sweep with the besom of destruction from Atlanta to the sea, but it could not force freedom upon a single freed- man. If the freedman chose to remain in slavish servitude to his old master, the government was powerless to pre- vent it without thereby enslaving him. The government might remove the colored man to another State, but when he was released he could return to his old master. The government might then transplant him to the most distant State in the Union, but on releasing him, there was nothing to prevent his returning. Manifestly, the only way to prevent his returning to his old master, and continuing his former slavery, if he were disposed to return, would be to keep him in prison. But in that case the government would be delivering him from one form of bondage only to force him into an- other. Although the God of Heaven has paid such an in- finite price in blood and treasure to emancipate a race of slaves of Satan, yet he cannot force that freedom upon the freedman. He will have no forced service. He seeketh only such to worship Him who worship Him in spirit and in truth. He could make war on the slave- master, Satan; He could hurl the armies of Heaven against the armies of hell ; He could see His only begot- ten Son, the Prince of Peace, perish, pierced and bleed- ing, at the hands of the hosts of darkness ; He could pay this surpassing price for the purchase of man's pardon; but when all this was done, He could only plead and pray in the person of His apostles, "Be ye reconciled to God." 90 MAKING FREEMEN BY FORCE One shudders when it is realized that the punishment of the rejectors of grace will be in proportion to the price paid for their pardon. And here we have reached the unpardonable sin. XVII FREEDOM BY FAITH ONLY Notwithstanding that Christ "His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree" ; notwithstanding that the "Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" ; not- withstanding that "He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world"; notwithstanding that "God was in Christ, rec- onciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their tres- passes unto them" ; notwithstanding that "He was made sin for us who knew no sin" ; notwithstanding that "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, be- ing made a curse for us"; notwithstanding that "He tasted death for every man" ; notwithstanding that all this was done for us before we knew it ; notwithstanding that "while we were yet sinners Christ died for us," and "while (R. V.) we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son"; notwithstanding that all this has been done for us, and will never be undone, but will stand throughout eternity as an everlasting monument to God's mercy to sinful man, yet no man will profit by this unsearchable grace who does not ac- cept it by faith. It was through unbelief, and disobedience that al- ways follows unbelief, that Adam enslaved the world. And although Christ has redeemed the world from that slavery by paying the price of their redemption, death, yet He will not force this freedom upon any man. He FREEDOM BY FAITH ONLY 91 did not force Adam to believe, but left him free to be- lieve his Creator and be free, or believe the slave-master and become a bondman. So today, while God has redeemed the world from the slavery into which Adam sold it, yet He will not force this freedom upon any man. The glorious Gospel of the blessed God places every man on the same van- tage ground where Adam stood, with this advantage, that man has seen and experienced the results of sin, an experience which Adam had not experienced before the fall. To have forced Adam to believe, in the beginning, would have made of him a mere machine with no more responsibility than any other machine. And this is one reason why salvation is by faith, and not by force. If salvation were by force, then all worship of God would be forced worship. But God does not find pleasure in mechanical, formal worship. "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him." John 4: 23. But while salvation is of faith, and no part of the gift of grace will profit the sinner unless he accepts it by faith, yet it must be borne in mind that faith does not earn salvation, nor does it add a particle to the grace already given, to the work already finished, to the lib- erty already proclaimed. When a sinner believes, God does not need to lay the sinner's sins upon his Son, and send Him again to the cross to suffer; "For then must he often have suf- fered since the foundation of the world ; but now once in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Heb. 9:26.' "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God ; from henceforth ex- 92 FREEDOM BY FAITH ONLY pecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." "Now where remission of these is, there is no more sacrifice for sins." Heb. 10: T2-14, 18. No, faith does not make it necessary for God to re- peat his finished work. The faith of the sinner simply appropriates what is already given him in Christ, that which has been his all his life: yes, that which was his before he was born : yes, before the foundation of the world. This truth is illustrated by the emancipation of the American slaves. It was while they were slaves that they were emancipated. It was not because of anything they had done or would do that they were set free. They were proclaimed free without consulting them as to whether they desired to be free, or whether they would accept the freedom were it granted. And when the col- ored man believed the proclamation that had made him free, it did not make it necessary for the government to make a new proclamation to perfect his freedom. When the President had made one proclamation, he had finished making free the slaves included in that proclamation. His work from that time on was to maintain for the colored man the freedom which he had given him in that proclamation. Manifestly, if the first proclamation making the colored man free, was not true, and could not be maintained, it would be useless to issue another proclamation to make him free. A second proclamation would only be an admission that the first was a failure. And just as the faith of the colored freedman ap- propriated the freedom which was already his by the proclamation, so the redeemed sinner appropriates what is already his by the proclamation of the cross. And just as the colored man who did not believe that he was proclaimed free, lived the rest of his days a FREEDOM BY FAITH ONLY 93 freed man in bondage, so the sinner who refuses to believe the proclamation of liberty making him free through the cross of Calvary, will live the rest of his days a redeemed man in bondage. Just as the President of the United States would not revoke his proclamation in behalf of those who would not believe it, but would let the proclamation stand as a witness to the righteousness of the government, and would leave the colored man to suffer the results of his unbelief, so the God of all grace will not revoke the proclamation of freedom through forgiveness of sins in behalf of those who refuse to believe, but will leave the proclamation standing as an everlasting witness to the righteousness of God, and leave the unbelieving man to suffer the results of his unbelief. It is impossible to revoke the groans of the Garden, the agonizing cries of Calvary, and the shameful death of the Cross. Forever the fact will remain that the Son of God suffered and died for a sinning world. It will ever remain that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. For the everlasting vindication of God and His righteous judgments, it will forever remain that "while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son." This glorious truth will never be revoked, it can never be revoked without revoking the sufferings and death of the Son of God. But if the sinner refuses to accept this great salvation, it will forever remain that he refused to accept the freedom which was so freely given him. Without faith it is impossible to please God. In the light of Calvary's Cross, unbelief becomes a terrible sin. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation! The sin of refusing to take freedom so freely given is the sin for which lost man will suffer. He will not suffer 94 FREEDOM BY FAITH ONLY because in Adam he was born a sinner, nor because as a slave of the Adam nature he sinned. He will suffer be- cause he neglected to be saved; because he refused to receive a salvation which was given him at the cost of the life of the only begotten Son of God. Since unbelief is the sin which ruins the world, let us put away our unbelief. And since faith in the procla- mation of liberty pleases God, let us please Him now, and believe that He has reconciled us to Himself by the death of His Son. And just as the responsibility of maintaining the free- dom of the colored man, declared in the proclamation, rested upon the government of the United States, the author of the proclamation, provided the colored man accepted the freedom ; just so the responsibility of main- taining the freedom of the slave of sin declared in the proclamation of the Gospel, rests on the government ot God, the Author of our salvation, provided the sinner by faith accepts his salvation. It is our part to believe the proclamation and receive our freedom. It is God's part to keep us free. And, "Whom the Son makes free is free indeed." The truth of this chapter will explain a scripture which to some has been obscure. It is this: "All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have re- ceived them, and ye shall have them." Mark 11 : 24, R. V. The simple explanation is that already God "hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ." Eph. 1:3. It is the part of faith to appropriate these spiritual blessings. And the more liberally men take of these blessings the more is the God of all grace pleased. It was that we might freely take them and freely enjoy them that they were so freely given us in Christ. The writer was presenting this blessed truth in its relation to both soul and body healing, and was calling FREEDOM BY FAITH ONLY 95 upon those present to accept the gift of healing already given in Christ, when all of a sudden a lifelong sufferer, who for years had suffered from dropsical swellings and from heart-weakness, whose bowels had not performed their functions for six years without artificial aid, saw the truth and claimed by faith the healing which was already hers in Christ. Instantly she was healed, to the glory of God and her unspeakable joy. A short sketch of her life and suffering, and how she received, by faith, healing of soul and body, will be found in Chapter XLV. The writer sympathizes with those who have been led to discredit these professed healings because of so much that will not bear close investigation. But after more than eighteen months' observation of this case, the last six of which" was at close range, the healed one being for that time a member of the writer's household, he is able to give his unqualified endorsement to the state- ments concerning her healing which are here made. "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." 1 John 5 : 4. XVIII BURYING THE BONDMAN; OR, FAITH AT WORK Reader, have you believed in Christ? have you be- lieved in Him? not in the general, indefinite way which usually passes for faith but which is not faith at all. Do you really believe in Christ with a personal, clearly defined faith? Do you believe that when the Father laid on Him the iniquities of us all, He laid your iniquities on Him? Do you believe that when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, He bore your sins? 96 BURYING THE BONDMAN, Do you believe that when He tasted death for every man He tasted death for you? Do you believe that "one died for all, therefore all died," and that you were one of the "all" for whom He died? Do you believe that His death was counted your death? and when He was dead God reckoned you dead in Him? Do you believe that when the Son of God was dead, God reckoned Him free from the penalty of the sins for which He suffered? Do you believe that God reckoned you as suffering in His Son? reckoned you dead when His Son was dead? reckoned you free when His Son was free? Do you believe that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us? while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son? Do you believe that while you were a sinner Christ died for you, and while you were an enemy you were reconciled to God by the death of His Son? Do you believe that you were reconciled to God by the death of His Son long before you knew it, and while you were still His enemy? Do you believe that God waited for you to believe all this and receive your reconciliation and be reconciled? And do you believe that when your substitute was buried in Joseph's new tomb you were reckoned buried in Him? Do you believe that as "He was delivered for our offenses," so "He was raised again for our justification"? Do you believe that when He was raised from the dead, you were in Him raised from the dead? Do you believe that when the Father gave His Son the life by which He came forth from the grave, He gave that new life to you in Him ? OR FAITH AT WORK 97 Have you obeyed the command of scripture, "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God"? Have you reckoned as God has reckoned? Have you reckoned yourself dead to sin by the death of Christ, and alive unto God by the life which raised Christ, your substitute, from the dead ? Have you believed ? You answer, "Yes," and that is right. God is pleased to have you thus answer, for without faith it is impos- sible to please God. But have you given expression to your faith in all this? Christ has provided a means by which you may express your faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ for you. Have you permitted your faith to express itself in the way He has com- manded? Have you ever wondered why in the New Testament so much importance is attached to baptism? It is be- cause baptism is the Lord's appointed way by which faith ir the Gospel is acted out in the life. Faith which is not given a chance to manifest itself in action will die. And that which professes to be faith, but which refuses to act in the Lord's appointed way is not faith ; for faith with- out works is dead. Faith cannot be seen except when it appears in works. And all the faith you have must ap- pear in works, or perish. To the vain man who would show the apostle James faith without works, James an- swered, "I will show thee my faith by my works." James 2:18. It is for this reason that men are commanded to be baptized. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gos- pel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark 16:15, 16. Why is it that baptism is coupled with faith as the way of salvation? Is there any power in water to save 98 BURYING THE BONDMAN, from .sin? No, none whatever; but he who believes the Gospel must and will show that faith by the obedience of faith, which is baptism. The commandment to be bap- tized when rightly understood means that he that be- lieveth the good news that Christ died for him, was buried for him, and rose for him, and then through the death, burial and rising of baptism expresses that faith, shall be saved. There is no salvation in forms and ceremonies; no salvation in the mere act of baptism. Baptism is not essential to salvation, but in salvation. There is salvation in allowing the faith of God to work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And it is His good pleasure that when we believe that Christ was delivered for our offenses and rose again for our justification, we should show our faith in His appointed way by being buried with Him and rising again with Him to walk in newness of life. In the light of this truth the scripture found in Romans 6 is full of meaning. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized in Jesus Christ were baptized into His death ? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death ; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection." Verses 1-5. Baptism when fully understood is a simple expression of faith in the whole gospel. First of all, we are called upon to reckon ourselves dead. But why do we reckon ourselves dead ? Simply because in the light of the Gospel we see ourselves " born in sin" and therefore unfit to live. OR FAITH AT WORK 99 We therefore reckon ourselves dead because we have first come to reckon ourselves unfit to live. This is where the test comes. In this we are called upon to repudiate our carnal life, that which was born of the flesh ; and this, to the old man, is crucifying. Every instinct of the Adam nature protests against this judgment upon the old man. And it is at this point that so many fail. This path is too humbling, and they seek some other broader way. But, reader, it was because your sinful nature and your sins had made you unfit to live, that Christ your substitute was crucified for you. When He had loaded Himself with your nature and with your sins, He counted Himself unfit to live; and willingly laid down His life. And now are you going to stand in your pride at the foot of Calvary and let Him climb the hill alone? Are you going to count yourself too good to die, while He who took your nature and your sins was counted unworthy to live? No, no! Take your place in your sin-bearing Sub- stitute and let your faith follow Him up the hill. Take your place in Him when He is nailed to the cross. Reckon yourself with Him unworthy to live. Reckon yourself in Him dead indeed unto sin. And then you may reckon yourself alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Then you will be able to cry with the exultant apostle Paul, "I was [R. V.] crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." Gal. 2:20. Reader, have you reckoned yourself born in sin and therefore unworthy to live ? Have you gone further and reckoned yourself as having died when He died? If so, your next step is to reckon yourself in need of a burial. 100 BURYING THE BONDMAN, But here is the test again. Must I express my faith in this truth publicly? Must I be baptized publicly? Must I publicly repudiate my old life by the act of burial with Christ by baptism? If this thought causes you to shrink from this public repudiation of the old carnal nature, it is evident that you are still making an effort to shield your old life, whose sins crucified your blessed Lord. Stop a moment. Has your life been lived in public? You have not lived all your life in solitary confinement where no eye could see you. As certainly as your life has been lived in view of even the few, perhaps your family and a very few friends, just so certainly has your life been seen with the sinful fruits which it has borne. Are you too proud to show that you have repudiated that life as unworthy continued existence? Are you too proud to say to the world that you have accepted the blessed gift of God, the life of His Son? All this drawing back from baptism is a sure sign of a lack of appreciation of the glorious gift of God given in the death and resurrection of His Son. Suppose you were to be hanged tomorrow for some crime committed; suppose at midnight while you are pacing the floor in agony of mind, in expectation that the dawn of the morning would bring you death, a mes- senger should come to your cell with the words, "I have glad tidings for you, and you have been pardoned. All that is asked of you is that you acknowledge your crime, ac- knowledge that you are worthy of death and show by be- ing publicly baptized, that you have reckoned yourself un- worthy to live, that you admit the justice of your sen- tence of death, and that you repudiate your old life and begin a new life" ; would you begin to quibble about the conditions and ask if the baptism might not be performed in private? or if it might not be done in some way so as OR FAITH AT- WORK'- ' ioi not to get your clothing wet ? or at least if the water could not be warmed on account of the shock which the cold water would give to your nerves? If I were the bearer of the glad tidings and you would begin thus to quibble, I would be greatly disappointed, and be driven to the conclusion that you did not appre- ciate the salvation that I had brought you. In like manner all quibbling at the command of God for baptism as an expression of our faith and our accept- ance of the unspeakable grace of God in the gift of His Son, is but a sad, unmistakable sign that the quibbler utterly fails to appreciate the great salvation so freely given in the Cross of Calvary. It is an evidence that the objector is not dead to the world, not dead to sin. Herein lies another important truth. Our Saviour was not buried in order to crucify Him. He was buried because He was crucified. He was not buried to make sure that He was dead, but He was buried because His friends were sure that He was dead. People are not buried to kill them nor to make sure that they are dead ; but because they are dead, and their burial is a proof that their friends are persuaded that they are dead. Those who are buried in the likeness of Christ's death are not buried in order to crucify them or to make sure that they are dead to sin; but as an expression of their faith in the fact that they are dead. They must first reckon themselves dead and then follow their Lord in baptism. And when they are really dead to the world, to its pride, to its applause, to its opinions, there will be no hesitation about being buried with Christ in baptism. Come, dear reader, if you have not yet reckoned yourself dead to the world, do it now. Or if you have reckoned yourself dead, but have not as yet given pub- lic expression to your faith in this fact, in God's ap- pointed way, hasten to do it. You will find a great bless- 102 BURYING- THE BONDMAN, ing in this "obedience of faith." "Faith without works is dead." "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned." XIX THE UNPARDONABLE SIN Seeing then the Father "hath laid on Him [His Son] the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6), and "He is the pro- pitiation for our sins ; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2); inasmuch as He "taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), and "He hath made Him to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5 : 21), and "the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6: 23) ; and seeing that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8) ; since He by the grace of God tasted death for every man (Heb. 2:9); seeing that "while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son" (Rom. 5:10, R. V.), and "were made dead to the law through the body of Christ" (Rom. 7: 4, R. V.) ; and since "we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were holden" (Rom. 7:6, R. V.) ; "Because we thus judge that One died for all, therefore all died" (2 Cor. 5:14, R. V.) ; seeing that all this is true, how is it that sinners will be pun- ished for their sins in the "day of judgment and perdi- tion of ungodly men" ? 2 Peter 3 : 7. Has not death, the penal price of sin, been paid on behalf of the whole world, in its substitute, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world? Does God demand the payment of a debt twice, once in His Son, and again in the sinner? Can God demand a sec- ond payment of a debt from the sinner without throwing discredit on the payment of His Son? THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 103 That the sinner by his sinning incurs a debt which can be discharged only by the payment of that debt, either in the person of the sinner or his Substitute, is clearly the Bible doctrine of sin and its punishment. The word "redemption," both in the Old and the New Testament, stands for a purchasing back of that which was sold. Read the following proof texts : "Thus saith the Lord, ye have sold yourself for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money." (Isa. 52 : 3.) "The law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin." (Rom. 7:14.) "Feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood." (Acts 20:28.) "Ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Cor. 6: 20.) "Ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ." 1 Pet. 1 : 18, 19. R. V. Inasmuch then, as the price of the sinner's redemp- tion, death, has been paid by the death of Christ, wherein is the justice, to say nothing of mercy, in de- manding a second payment in the death of the sinner? Fearing to admit the truth so plainly stated in the foregoing scriptures, lest it lead to the unscriptural doc- trine of Universalism, many have been led into one or the other of the following errors concerning the atone- ment: The first error is, that Christ did not really suffer the penalty of man's transgression, but that He by His death only furnished a means whereby the sins of the redeemed were passed on to meet their real punishment in the per- son of the Mosaic, antitypical scapegoat, Satan. This view robs Christ of His glory as Redeemer, and makes Satan the real sin-bearer and redeemer of the world. 104 THE UNPARDONABLE SIN The second error into which a fear of Universalism has led others is that Christ did not die for all, but only for an elect few. This is as unscriptural as the first er- ror, and just as dishonoring to God and to His Son, ''who by the grace of God tasted death for every man." A third error is, that while Christ did pay the penalty of man's sin by His death, yet His death, it is said, leaves the sinner, in himself considered, just as guilty as though Christ had not died, and consequently as heavily in debt as though Christ had not paid the debt. This again dis- honors God by placing Him in the position of demand- ing from the sinner the payment of a debt that has al- ready been paid. We would expect such a demand from a tyrant, but not from our God whose ways are ways of righteousness, and who calls upon the children of men to recognize His righteousness. But, is a dead man guilty? The savage hacks and cuts the lifeless body of his victim as part of his pun- ishment; but all civilized nations consider that the pen- alty is paid when the transgressor is dead. There is no truth of the gospel more plainly or positively affirmed in the "word of His grace" than that the death of Christ is reckoned to be the death of the sinner. Christ did not die for His own sins, for He never sinned. Conse- quently His death was that of a Substitute for the sin- ner, and hence the sinner is reckoned as having died when his Substitute died; died in his Substitute. Note this truth in the following scriptures: "While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son." (Rom. 5 : 10. R. V.) "His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, be- ing dead to sins." (1 Pet. 2: 24.) "Ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ." Rom. 7 : 4. R. V. "We have been discharged from the law, having died THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 105 ["by the body of Christ"] to that wherein we were holden. (Rom. 7:6. R. V.) "For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died." 2 Cor. 5 : 14. R. V. Since God reckons all dead in the death of His Son, how can He demand that the sinner, who has once died for his sins in his Substitute, should die again for the same sins (for which Christ died) without thereby de- manding a second death from one who has already died. Someone will begin to inquire the way out of the seeming difficulty. Since Universalism is unscriptural, and seeing that Christ did die for all, and God will not demand the payment of the penalty twice, nor demand the death of a man already dead, why then are the wicked punished with death, as they certainly will be, according to the plainest statements of Scripture? The following chapters will explain this seeming difficulty. XX WHAT IS NOT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN The explanation of the seeming difficulty reached in the last chapter lies in the Bible truth that while Christ tasted death for "every man," He did not taste death for every sin which it is possible for a man to commit. There is a sin which is unpardonable, as will be seen from a careful study of a number of scriptures treating upon this subject. Let us see first what is not the unpardonable sin. From the writer's experience in presenting the subject of the unpardonable sin, he has learned that the listener who has a wrong conception of it, hesitates to accept the plainest scriptures for fear they may involve him in that 106 WHAT IS NOT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN terrible sin. This difficulty is quickly removed by a statement of what the unpardonable sin is not. First, sins of ignorance are not unpardonable. The Apostle Paul makes this clear in his address to the Athenians. "The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now He commandeth men that they should all every- where repent." Acts 17:30. R. V. But the only way by which God can overlook sin is in shedding of blood; "apart from shedding of blood, there is no remission." When, therefore, the apostle told the Athenians that God had overlooked their sins of ignorance, he told them in reality the good news that the penalty of those sins had been paid in the death of God's Son. Therefore, sins of ignorance are not among the sins that are unpardonable. Again, the apostle, speaking of his own sins of ig- norance in persecuting the church of Christ, says: "Though I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: howbeit I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." Since he obtained mercy because he did it "ignorantly in unbelief," it follows that if he had done it with a full knowledge of what he was doing, he would not have found mercy, for the reason that the sacrifice of Christ was not made in behalf of such sinning. All the mercy that ever will, or ever can be manifested toward sinning man was manifested at the cross. The Father then laid on His Son all the sins that will ever be pardoned, "else must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world; but now once at the end of the ages hath He been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Him- self." Heb. 9:26. R. V. Even the terrible sin of killing the Prince of Peace was pardonable because it was a sin of ignorance. This WHAT IS NOT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 107 is clear from the dying prayer of our Saviour who prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23 : 34. Thus it is clearly seen that sins of ignorance, though terrible in their wickedness, were included in the sins which were laid on the sinner's sacrifice. But if sins of ignorance onfy were placed on the Sin-bearer, there would be no hope of saving a single sinner, for where is there a son of Adam who has not done that which he knew to be sin? Sinning when one knows it to be sin is not neces- sarily unpardonable. It may be done in weakness. One may know that a certain act is wrong, and yet not know how to obtain the victory over it. This is clearly stated by the Apostle Paul in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. First, Paul declares that there was a time when he did not know sin, but afterward the commandment came and revealed to him the sin of coveting; then began the fight against his carnal nature. In this struggle, after he knew what sin is, but before he knew how to obtain deliverance from his carnal nature, he describes his ex- perience thus: "For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. . . . For the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do." Rom. 7:14, 19. This sinning is in one sense ignorance also, since the sinner, though knowing it to be sin is as yet ignorant of the way of escape from the enslaving carnal nature. But thanks be unto God who has laid on His Son, not only those sins which were committed in ignorance of their sinfulness, but those also which were committed in ignorance of the w r ay of salvation. "For while we were yet weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly. Rom. 5:6. R. V. 108 WHAT IS NOT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN Praise the Lord for the privilege given in this chap- ter (Rom. 7) of blaming the carnal nature for those sins which were committed by the carnal nature, even before we have found separation from the enslaving part- nership. The enslaving carnal nature was laid upon us by the sinning father of the race. We were not to blame for being born in slavery to a sinning nature. The Lord knows this, and He therefore permits the struggling cap- tive who has with his "mind," with the "inward man," taken sides with the holy law against the lawlessness of the "carnal mind," the Lord permits him to say even then, "But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good. So now it is no more / that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. . . . For the good which I would I do not ; but the evil which I would not, that I practice. But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me." Rom. 7:16, 17, 19,20. R. V. But while the Spirit permits the struggling captive to blame the carnal nature with the sins which are com- mitted in him at this point in his experience, yet the same Spirit calls such a man a "wretched man," and leads him to cry bitterly for deliverance from the body of death to w r hich he was enslaved by the sin of the first Adam, and with which he must perish unless by faith he accepts the deliverance which has already been purchased for him in the death of Christ. "O wretched man that I am ! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Rom. 7:24. How is it that the Spirit leads a man thus enslaved to blame the carnal mind for his sinning, and at the same time leads him to cry bitterly for deliverance from the death that awaits the man in that condition? The ex- planation lies in the fact that the Lord recognizes that it is the "law of sin and death" which is in our members WHAT IS NOT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 109 that is doing the sinning, and which was transmitted to us through Adam's transgression, and for which we are not responsible. We were born with this body of death, and we are not responsible for being thus born, nor will we be condemned to death for the sins which are com- mitted by that carnal nature while we are seeking sep- aration from it. Nevertheless, these sins are our sins, because wrought by us. Though we have repudiated them in the mind, still they are wrought in deed by our sinful nature with which we are still identified, though desirous of being separated. But praise the Lord! all these sins of ignor- ance and weakness were laid upon the Lamb of God who died for our sins. The sin which is unpardonable will be the sin of finally refusing the emancipation proclamation of separa- tion from that carnal nature. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." When we learn that there has already been given us in Christ a new life to displace the old life with which we were born, and which is making us such wretched sinners, then if we deliberately decide to retain the old carnal life and forever reject "the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus," then we are committing the un- pardonable sin. The Lord does not blame a man for be- ing born in sin, but for neglecting or rejecting the sal- vation which has been purchased for him by the death of Christ, whereby he is set free from that slavery into which he was born. Let us illustrate it : A young tradesman on receiving a legacy by his father's will found himself the junior partner in a business whose senior partner was a dis- honest dealer, and who was constantly bringing the firm into disrepute by his dishonest dealings. The young 110 WHAT IS NOT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN tradesman might justly protest to the wronged parties that he was not wilfully guilty of the firm's dishonest deeds because he could not prevent his stronger partner from committing the wrongs. The wronged parties could exonerate him personally from a deliberate inten- tion to do wrong in the matter, while still holding him re- sponsible as a member of the firm for his share of the firm's liabilities. But if, after the partnersship had been k gaily dissolved and the young man separated from the tyranny of the inherited partnership, he should then choose of his own free will to remain in the partnership, or should deliberately return to it because he chose to be enslaved rather than be free, he could no longer plead ignorance or weakness as a reason why he should not bear his share of the blame and punishment for the firm's wrongdoings. We were born into a partnership whose senior part- ner was lawless from the beginning; and we can plead as Paul did, first, that we did not know that our actions were sinful. After we have learned what sin is, but before we have learned the way of escape from the en- slaving partnership, we can plead that we were too weak to prevent the senior partner from bringing us into trans- gression of the law. The Lord has heard and will hear this plea of the captive. Moreover, He has paid our share of the firm's liability in the death of His Son, and has delivered us from future slavery by divorcing us from the dishonest partner. Now we are called upon to repudiate the dishonest deeds of this partnership into which we were born, and gladly accept the decree dissolving the partnership. If we reject this deliverance, we thereby decide in favor of the dishonest deeds of the lawless partner. In heart, we commit them again, this time as our own sins, com- mitted willingly in the full light of their sinfulness and WHAT IS NOT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN HI with full liberty to escape from them. Thus, by our own wilful transgressions, after having been delivered from our inherited slavery, we ourselves would crucify again, upon our own responsibility alone, Him who had once been crucified for our sins of ignorance and weakness which we committed as slaves to the Adam nature. Adam, by his sinning, made a world of sinners. We were not responsible for being made sinners, nevertheless it is we who have sinned. Although with the ''mind" we hated the sin, yet with our flesh we have sinned. Speak- ing of himself as a whole, Paul says, "The evil which I would not, that / do." It is not enough to say the "I" of the inward man does not sin, if the "I" which repre- sents the whole man, the whole partnership, continues to sin. We must be saved from this sinning by the death of Christ, for it is our sinning, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. But thanks be unto God who has mercifully laid upon His Son all such sins of ignorance and weakness. Let us join at this point in thanking the God of all grace for assuming our share of the responsibility for the sins committed by that enslaving partnership into which we were born. Let us thank Him also for the decree dissolving that partnership. And let us remember that the man who does the things which he hates, is, according to the word, a. "wretched man," "sold under sin," chained to a body of death from which he must accept, by faith, the deliver- ance which has been given him in Christ Jesus, or perish with that body of death. "But thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Having now seen that sins of ignorance are not in- cluded in the unpardonable sin, and also that sins which 112 WHAT IS NOT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN we commit after we have learned that they are sins, but before we have come to a knowledge of the truth of our deliverance from the sinning nature, and^ before we have rejected that good news, are not unpardonable sins ; let us now continue the study and learn what is the sin for which there is no pardon. XXI WHAT IS THE UNPARDONABLE SIN? "If any man see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and God will give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death; not concerning this do I say that he should make request. All unrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not unto death." Jno. 5:16, 17. R. V. This scripture declares that all unrighteousness is sin, but divides that "all unrighteousness" into first, "sin not unto death," and second, "sin unto death." Prayer on behalf of the first will be heard, but no hope is held out for him who has committed the second. How is it that there is a sin not unto death? "The wages of sin is death." "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission." No sin, therefore, can be re- mitted without death. How is it, then, that the wages of sin is death, and yet "there is a sin not unto death." The explanation is simple. The sinning that is not unto death to the sinner, is that which has already been unto death in the sinner's Substitute, Jesus Christ, "who died for our sins." "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." "The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all." "That He by the grace of God should to-ste death for every man." "For he that hath died, is WHAT is THE UNPARDONABLE SIN? 11.3 justified from sin." "One died for all, therefore all died." R. V. The sinning which is "unto death" is the sinning which our Saviour did not bear when He died for our sins; that sinning "which shall not be forgiven" (Matt. 12:31); for which "there remaineth no more a sacri- fice" (Heb. 10: 26) ; that sinning which did not meet its penalty in the death of Christ, and which therefore must meet its penalty in the death of the sinner himself; for the wages of sin is death. And now let us see this truth in a simple illustration. Let the following line represent all unrighteousness: "All unrighteousness is sin." "The wages of sin is death." The Holy Spirit divides all unrighteousness into two parts. That unrighteousness which is "not unto death," and that which "is unto death." "Sin not unto death | "Sin unto death" "All unrighteousness is sin." "The wages of sin is death." Now the reason why the first part of all unrighteous- ness is not unto death, is because Christ met the death penalty of that sinning in His own death; and His blood, which represents His death, covers that sinning, thus: THE CRIMSON LINE " SHALL NOT ["SIN NOT UNTO DEATH") pSW UNTO DEATH"! OF SALVATION BE FORGIVEN" Now that we have found that all unrighteousness is divided into "sin not unto death," and "sin unto death," let us apply this to the life of such a sinner. Just as certainly as the Holy Spirit divides all unrighteousness 114 WHAT IS THE UNPARDONABLE SIN? into these two divisions, so surely the same Spirit divides the unrighteous life of the sinner into these two divi- sions ; because it is only in the life of such a sinner that these two divisions of unrighteousness appear. And now let the above illustration represent the unrighteous life of a sinner whose sinning includes these two kinds of sinning. From this it is clear that there may come a time in the life of a sinner when his sinning is "unto death," when it is of no avail to ask life for him because his sinning is sinning "which shall not be forgiven," for which no sacrifice was provided in the death of Christ. Not only is there a "sin unto death," for which it is of no avail to make request, but it is a sin which it is possible for the enlightened Christian to "see." "If any man see his brother sin a sin not unto death." "There is a sin not unto death." "There is a sin unto death; not concerning this do I say that he should pray." If our spiritual discernment is not keen enough to discern between the two, this does not change the scrip- tural truth that there may come a time in the life of a sinner when it may be recognized that his sinning is unto death, when his sinning is a sinning which was not laid upon the Lamb of God and must therefore be laid upon the sinner himself. Before passing to other scriptures which bring to view the same two classes of sinning, let it be remarked that there is just as much love manifested in these warn- ing scriptures as there is in the other scriptures of truth. There is just as much love in the faithful parent's words of warning to his child as in words of commendation. The two classes of sinning brought to view in 1 Jno. 5 : 16, 17, are dealt with by our Saviour in Matt. 12:31, 32. "Wherefore, I say unto you, all manner of sin and WHAT IS THE UNPARDONABLE SIN? 115 blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men : but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven unto men." The Revised Version of Mark 3 : 29 reads thus : "But whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin." Here again we have our Saviour dividing all unright- eousness into "sin not unto death" and "sin unto death," or which is the same thing, sin which shall be forgiven and sin which shall not be forgiven. Evidently those sins which, in the words of Christ, "shall be forgiven" are those sins which He was soon to carry to the cross and meet their penalty in His death; and those sins which "shall not be forgiven," are those sins which Christ did not carry to Calvary, and did not meet their penalty in His death, and which therefore must be unto death in the death of the sinner himself. Let it be noted that wherever the unpardonable sin is brought to view it is in connection with the rejection of great gospel truth. In this case, our Saviour was reach- ing out the last hand that could be reached out for the salvation of sinners. After men fail to believe the Word, there is one more effort that can be made and that is the performing of wonderful works through the power of the Spirit of God. Christ said to the Jews, "If I do not the works of my Father, believe Me not. But if 1 do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him." Jno. 10:37, 38. It was on the occasion of the reaching out of this last hand that our Saviour gives the warning against committing the unpardonable sin. He had wrought a wonder by the Spirit of God in order to reach the un- believing Jews ; but they, having resisted the truth up to this point and finding it necessary to counteract the in- 116 WHAT IS THE UNPARDONABLE SIN? fluence of this miracle upon the people, declared that this last hand thus reached out to save them was the hand of Satan. For such a sin there was no forgiveness. Note again the two classes of sinning in the follow- ing scripture: "For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made par- takers of the Holy Ghost, and tasted the good word of God, and the power of the age to come, and then fall away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance ; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." Heb. 6 : 4-6. R. V. In this scripture the sin unto death is described as that "falling away" of the sinner after he had been en- lightened by, and experienced the power of, the gospel. Again, it will be seen that the sinning concerning which it is impossible to renew one to repentance, is a falling away from the fulness of gospel light. The whole con- text shows that it is a public apostacy from the truth of the gospel. It is not a single act of sin which might be represented by a "fall," but it is a falling away, a re- jecting of the gospel. The illustration of the fruitful and unfruitful fields which follows confirms the conclusion that it is not a single sin or fall, but a rejection of a repeated manifes- tation of God's grace represented by a summer's sun and showers. But if after the summer's shining of the Sun of righteousness and the summer's showers of His grace have warmed and watered the heart, it yet chooses to bear the thorns and thistles of the carnal heart, it is impossible to renew such a sinner to repentance, there being no other shining and no other showers. Why impossible? Simply because there is no repen- tance for such sinning. WHAT IS THE UNPARDONABLE SIN? 117 And the reason why there is no repentance is because there is no forgiveness. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to give repentance. But the Spirit will not and cannot give repentance for sinning for which there is no forgiveness. And there is no forgiveness neither can there be, for the final rejec- tion of the gospel. In the sacrifice of Christ, there was no sacrifice made for such sinning. Surely, there is repentance to be found for all those sins for which a sacrifice was provided. A sinning, there- fore, for which there is no repentance must be a sinning for which no sacrifice was provided. And the sin of falling away or a final rejecting of the gospel after one has come to know its power, is the sin for which there is no repentance and no forgiveness ; because no sacrifice could be provided for such sinning without making Christ the minister of sin. The same two classes of sinning appear in the follow- ing scripture : "If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacri- fice for sins." Heb. 10:26. In this scripture the same two classes of sinning are, first, those sins committed before the sinner comes to a knowledge of the truth (that is, before he has come to a knowledge of the fulness of the gospel, as presented in the scripture quoted from the 6th of Hebrews) ; and second, those sins which are involved in, and which fol- low, a final choosing to continue in sin. For such sin- ning this scripture declares, "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin"; and for the manifest reason that no sacrifice could be provided for such sinning. If Christ had borne the sin of finally rejecting salva- tion and the sins which followed such rejection, it would be impossible ever to bring sinning to an end. But the 118 WHAT IS THE UNPARDONABLE SIN? mission of Christ is to make an end of sin. "He that committeth sin is of the devil ; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. . . . For this purpose the Son of man was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." But it would be impossible to destroy sinning or the works of the devil, if there were an atonement made for those sins of fallen men and angels committed in re- jecting all offers of salvation. If such sinning were included in the sacrifice of Christ, wicked men and angels could take advantage of this fact to continue their deliberate, defiant campaign against God and His people throughout all eternity. No, there is no sacrifice for such sinning, nor could there be with- out making Christ the perpetuator of sin. Having now found from the scriptures that there is a sinning for which no sacrifice was provided in the death of Christ, let us in the next chapter apply this truth to the solving of the seeming difficulty which we met at the close of chapter XIX. XXII A GREAT DIFFICULTY SOLVED The religious world is divided into three divisions over this subject: First, those who teach that the death of Christ is a full and final payment of aU the sins it is possible for those to commit, for whom He died, and that it is there- fore impossible for anyone for whom He died to be lost. But inasmuch as the Scriptures plainly teach that some will be lost, it becomes necessary for these teachers to take the position that Christ did not die for those who are lost, but only for an elect few, leaving the rest of the world without any possible chance of salvation. A GREAT DIFFICULTY SOLVED 119 Those who take this position find it necessary to make a desperate effort to explain away the manifest meaning of the many scriptures which teach that Christ "died for all." Among these texts are the following: "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" ( Jno. 3 : 16) ; "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself" (2 Cor. 5 : 19) ; "That He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man" (Heb. 2:9) ; "The grace of God that bring- eth salvation hath appeared unto aH men" (Titus 2: 11) ; "For as by one man's disobedience the many (R. V.) were made sinners, so by the obedience of one, the many (R. V.) shall be made righteous" (Rom. 5: 19) ; "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." Rom. 5:21. This position may be illustrated by Fig. 1, enclosing a number of short lines representing the lives of the world of sinners. It will be noticed that this view draws the crimson line of salvation between the sinners of the world, and around a few called the "elect": leaving all the rest in hopeless ruin without a Saviour. The second division, like the first, teaches that the death of Christ was a full and final payment of all the sinning of the sinners for whom he died. And, accept- ing the testimony of Scripture that He "died for all," they come to the conclusion that all must be saved. They, in turn, make a desperate but futile effort to explain away those many scriptures which teach that many will refuse salvation and be lo^t at last. "Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat" (Matt. 7:13); "For the hour is coming in which all that are in their graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; . . . they that have done evil unto the cvl W (X A GREAT DIFFICULTY SOLVED 121 resurrection of damnation" ( Jno. 5 : 28, 29) ; "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the pres- ence of the Lord, and the glory of His power." 2 Thes. 1:9. Let this position be illustrated by Fig. 2, with the crimson line of salvation drawn around all the sinning of all the world's sinners. The third division of thought on this subject, teaches that Christ died for all, but that His death does not pay man's debt in reality, but only suspends that debt of sin over the head of the sinner, with the warning that the same debt of guilt which was borne by the sinner's Sub- stitute, Jesus, will be collected a second time from the sinner himself unless he mends his ways. But this is not the gospel. The gospel is not the an- nouncement of a suspended sentence ; but the good news that the sentence has been executed upon a willing Sub- stitute, provided by the Judge Himself: that the debt has been fully and finally collected from the only begot- ten Son of the Father. Those who argue that the gospel is only the announcement of a suspended sentence, find it necessary either to deny that Christ really suffered the penalty under which the sinner would have suffered; or to affirm that Christ's payment of the debt leaves man as heavily in debt as if it had not been paid. This position makes it necessary to explain away the plain and evident meaning of the many scriptures which teach that man's debt was transferred to Christ and be- came His debt, and that He redeemed man from that debt by paying it Himself in His own death. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Gal. 3: 13) ; "Who was de- livered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification" (Rom. 4:25) ; "Christ also hath once suf- 122 A GREAT DIFFICULTY SOLVED fered for sins, the just for the unjust" (1 Pet. 3: 18) ; "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. . . . For He hath made Him to be sin for us who "knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5 : 19-21) ; "While we were enemies we were rec- onciled to God by the death of His Son" (Rom. 5: 10. R. V.) ; "The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died" (2 Cor. 5 : 14. R. V.) ; "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness : by whose stripes ye are healed" (1 Pet. 2: 24) ; "Ye also were made dead to the law by the body of Christ" (Rom. 7:4. R. V.) ; "He that is dead is freed from sin." Rom. 6 : 7. The error of this third position cannot be illustrated like the others, but the reader is asked to decide which of the following illustrations is the better representation of the glorious gospel of the blessed God. First, a man is brought before a court charged with crime. He is convicted, and sentenced by the judge, who immediately suspends the sentence. That is, he tells the guilty man that he will not order the sentence executed upon him, but will suspend it over his head, and in case of good behavior, the sentence will remain suspended, but in case his conduct is not good the sentence will be executed upon him. Second, a man is brought before the court charged with crime. He is convicted and sentenced, but the judge immediately executes the sentence in full upon his only son, who steps forward and requests that the full penalty of the crime be transferred from the criminal to himself. Which is the better illustration of the good news which the ambassador of Christ has to announce to every creature? A GREAT DIFFICULTY SOLVED 123 No, the Gospel is not the announcement of a suspended sentence, but is the announcement of an executed sen- tence, a sentence already executed on a willing Sub- stitute. The reader may ask, If this is true, for what sin then is the finally impenitent punished ? The answer is simply, He is punished for neglecting "so great salvation"; or, having received it, for then rejecting it. FIGURE 3. 124 A GREAT DIFFICULTY SOLVED Let the illustration, Fig. 3, help to make plain the blessed truth which reveals the beautiful harmony of all the Scriptures bearing on this subject. This is intended to illustrate the fact that Christ died for all men, but not for all the sins which it is possible for sinning man to commit. Instead of drawing the crimson line of salvation between the sinners of the world, and declaring that those sinners within the line are the only ones for whom Christ died, and all the rest are left in black despair, the gospel draws the crimson line of salvation between the sinning of the world's sinners and separates those sins into first, "Sin not unto death" to the sinner because of its having already been unto death in the death of the sinner's Substitute; and second, "Sin unto death," which did not meet its death penalty in the death of Christ, and which must be met in the death of the sinner himself. This draws the line between the sins which our Saviour said "shall be forgiven" and those sins which He said "shall not be forgiven"; between those sins for which there has been a sacrifice provided, and those sins for which "there remaineth no more sacrifice" ; between those sins which are wilfully wrought by the sinner in his final rejection of salvation, and those sins which he committed before his rejection of the heavenly gift. All men begin their lives within the crimson circle. For where sin abounded grace did much more abound. But man's sinning may extend beyond the crimson circle, and include that sinning for which there is no sacrifice. In the last illustration a line representing such a sin- ner's life has been enlarged so that the two classes of sins may appear. First, the "Sin not unto death," or that sinning which has been unto death in the death of Christ, and is therefore covered by the crimson; second, that which "Is unto death," or that sinning which has not met A GREAT DIFFICULTY SOLVED 125 its penalty in the death of Christ and must therefore be met in the death of the sinner himself ; and which in the illustration is not covered by the crimson which repre- sents the death of Christ. Those lines which do not ex- tend beyond the crimson, represent the lives of those whose sinning does not extend beyond the sacrifice of Christ. Of that which we have spoken, this is the sum : Christ died for all men, but not for all sin. We have proved that, according to the Scriptures, it is possible for the sinning of the sinner to pass beyond the crimson line cov- ered by the sacrifice of Christ to that sinning for which "there remaineth no more sacrifice." We have shown that the crimson line of salvation has not been drawn between the sinners of the world, saving some independently of their choice and faith, and damn- ing the rest to hopeless despair; but that it has been drawn between the sinning of the despisers of God's grace, separating the sins of ignorance and weakness, which are "Not unto death" from the sin of final rejec- tion of salvation which is "Unto death," and must meet its penalty in the death of the rejecter of God's grace. Therefore, the Calvinist is right when he teaches that the sins for which Christ paid the penalty in His death, are paid forever and the same penalty never will be in- flicted a second time on the sinner. But he is wrong in teaching that it is impossible for the sinner for whom Christ died to commit sins not included in that sacrifice. He is also wrong in restricting the sacrifice of Christ to the few, and leaving the rest of the world in hopeless despair. He is wrong in drawing the crimson line be- tween sinners when the Scriptures draw it between the sins of the sinners. The Universalist is right when he says that the sins for which Christ paid the penalty in His death are really 126 A GREAT DIFFICULTY SOLVED paid, and the sinner cannot be called upon to pay the same penalty again without placing God in the position of demanding a double payment; once in the death of Christ and again in the death of the sinner for whom Christ died. The Universalist is right when he says that Christ died for all and not for the few. But he is wrong when he teaches that Christ died for all the sinning of men. He is right when he draws a crimson line around all men; but wrong when he draws that line around all the sinning of men. The Arminian is right when he insists that Christ died for all men, and that whosoever will may come ; and those who refuse to come are lost. But he is wrong when he teaches that the sinner is as guilty after Christ has died for his sins as if Christ had not died. For how can it be that we are as guilty as if Christ had not died? Why did He die? What caused His death? He did not die for His own sins, and it would be impossible for him to die if He did not bear sin. From whom, then, came the guilt under which He died? Did it not come from us? Since then the guilt which He bore was taken from us and laid on Him, how can it be that the same guilt remains on us, making us as guilty as if He had not borne our guilt? Surely, it is an error to teach that we are as guilty after Christ has taken our guilt upon Him and paid its penalty in His death, as we would have been if He had not died for our sins. If we are as guilty after He has borne our guilt, who will save us from this guilt that remains ? Christ will not die again. And the guilt of sin can be paid only by death ; for the wages of sin is death. If we are still guilty and Christ will not die again for this guilt, it follows that we must meet this guilt ourselves, and as it can be met only in death, it follows that we must die for this guilt. If this is true, there is no hope for our salvation. A GREAT DIFFICULTY SOLVED 127 But it is an error to teach that we are as guilty after Christ has taken our guilt, as if He had not suffered for us. The Arminian is right in opposing the doctrine that Christ died for the few only, and he is right in opposing the teaching that because Christ died for all therefore all must be saved. But he is wrong when he allows a fear of these errors to drive him to a denial of the scriptural truth that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. He should gladly admit that Christ died for all men, and that the sins which were laid on him will not be again laid on the sinner. But he should emphasize the gospel truth that the sinner in order to realize the benefits of this great salvation must accept it by faith. "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature : he that beliez'eth and is baptized shall be saved, he that be- lieveth not shall be damned." But the sinner's faith is not a faith that God is going to put his sins on His Son and send Him a sin-bearer to Calvary ; but that he has done it, and "it is finished." If the sinner never believes, and is lost at last, it will not be because God has revoked what He did for him. For how could God revoke the sufferings and death of His Son? The fact will remain throughout all eternity that God paid a world's debt in the death of His Son. But the sinner, by refusing so great salvation, makes ANOTHER DEBT, incurs another guilt, commits another sin which was not included in the sins which were laid upon Christ and the penalty of which He paid in His death. In order to escape the errors of Universalism, there is no need to teach that the sins of the world were placed on the Lamb of God conditionally, that He died con- ditionally. That is, in case man does not accept the 128 A GREAT DIFFICULTY SOLVED sacrifice, God will revoke, or take back, what He has done for the sinner. Revoke the death of Christ ! Impossible ! "He hath laid on Him the iniquities of us all" ; He* bore our sins in His own body on the tree. It is too late now to take our sins from Him. They have wrought their cruel work; they have slain the Lamb of God; they have met their penalty in His death. It is impossible to take back the cross of Calvary. "It is finished," and this fact will remain throughout eternity. "Whatsoever God doeth it shall be forever" (Eccl. 3: 14) ; "The gifts and callings of God are with- out repentance." Rom. 11:29. How could God revoke what He has done for the world? Could He deny that His Son bore our sins? Could He revoke the agony of the Garden, or the groans of the Cross? What do men mean when they tell us that His death was "conditional"? Either He bore our sins or He did not bear them. If He bore them, they are borne, and borne forever. We need not fear for a moment that this truth will lead to the unscriptural doctrines of Universalism, be- cause there will remain no guilt under which the finally impenitent are lost. Is the neglecting of "so great sal- vation" a serious matter? Is the trampling of the Son of God a sin worthy of death? Is the counting of the Blood of the Covenant whereby we have been sanctified, "an unholy thing," a sin worthy of punishment? Is do- ing despite to the Spirit of Grace, insultingly rejecting the pleadings of the Holy Spirit, a sin of sufficient mag- nitude to cause the death of such a sinner? Oh, yes! Let us not therefore let a fear of these errors lead us to a denial of the atonement, or a narrowing down of the glorious gospel of the blessed God. A GREAT DIFFICULTY SOLVED 129 "Oh, why was He there as the bearer of sin, If on Jesus thy guilt was not laid? Oh, why from His side flowed the sin-cleansing blood, If His dying thy debt has not paid?" XXIII THE UNPARDONABLE SIN AND THE SECOND DEATH "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power" (Rev. 20: 6). The term "second death" proves that there is a first death. Death is the result of sin, and inasmuch as there is a first and second death, there must be a first and second sin. What is this second sin which is pun- ished by the "second death" ? Let us illustrate the thought by the debit and credit system of ordinary bookkeeping. DR. THE WORLD IN ACCOUNT WITH GOD. CR. At Creation. By sin. Death. Through the fall of Adam the world by its sinning contracted a debt with the Government of God which could be paid by death only; for the wages of sin is death. Now if Christ had not died for the world, the world could only have balanced that debt by its own death, thus: DR. THE WORLD IN ACCOUNT WITH GOD. CR, By Sin. Death. By the World's Payment. Death. ACCOUNT CLOSED 130 THE UNPARDONABLE SIN But when Christ died for our sins, His death was entered as a credit in man's favor and the account was balanced, DR. THE WORLD IN ACCOUNT WITH GOD. CR. By Sin. Death. By Christ's Payment. Death. ACCOUNT CLOSED And thus the first death has been transformed into a sleep. "Who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." There is prom- ise of an awakening out of death. Now where there is a promise of awakening, death becomes a sleep. Consequently all, both righteous and wicked, are rep- resented as asleep. (See Dan. 12: 2; 1 Thess. 4: 13, 14.) To all is promised an awakening in the resurrection. "All that are in their graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5 : 28, 29. If there were no cross of Calvary there would be no resurrection. "If the dead rise not, then is Christ not raised" (1 Cor. 15: 16) ; "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Cor. 15 : 22. A universal resurrection is positive proof that those sins which caused the first death have been remitted in the death of Christ. If not, there could be no resurrec- tion ; for the first sinning would hold the sinner in death. "He was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification." The resurrection of Christ is the evi- dence that the debt which Christ carried to the cross and died to remit, has been remitted in His death. If, there- fore, men die the second death, it must be for a second sin. AND THE SECOND DEATH 131 It is impossible to kill a man twice, unless he has been delivered from the first death. It is impossible for the second death to have power over the sinner, unless he be redeemed from the first death through the death of Christ. Inasmuch as the second death does have power over those who were delivered from the first death by the death of Christ, it follows that the second death must be the penalty for the second sin which must be a sinning which was not remitted in the death of Christ. Seeing we have proved that there is a sinning not included in the sins laid upon Christ, it follows that the second sinning is that sin the "sin unto death/' which did not meet its death penalty in the death of Christ, and must meet it in the second death of the sin- ner himself. Let us see this in an illustration. DR. THE WORLD IN ACCOUNT WITH GOD. CR. To Sin. Death. By Christ's Payment. Death. Unpardonable, or Second Sin. Second Death. By Sinner's Payment Second Death. ACCOUNT CLOSED Thus it is clear that the second death is the penalty for the second sin, or that sin which was not met in the death of Christ. Inasmuch as He will not die again, the sinner who commits that second sin must pay the penalty in his own death. Christ did not die to redeem the sinner from the "second death." He died to redeem the world from the first sinning: that sinning which was committed while tke sinner was enslaved to the sinning nature which was 132 THE UNPARDONABLE SIN transmitted through sinful Adam to all the world, "For all have sinned." "By one man sin entered into the world" ; "By the trespass of the one the many died" ; "By one man's offence 'death reigned by'one" ; "Through the one man's disobedience the many were made sin- ners." "Ye were redeemed not with corruptible things, with silver, or with gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers, but with the precious blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Jesus." 1 Pet. 1 : 18. R. V. It was the first death which resulted from the first sin of our "First father," which Christ carried to the cross and abolished in His death. "Who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Tim. 1 : 10). By his sin at creation, Adam made the world sinners. Christ, the last Adam, at the second beginning, gathered up all the sins of the world for which Adam's sin was responsible and carried them to the cross, and abolished them in His death, and in Himself created a new race of righteous men. "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new" (2 Cor. 5: 17. R. V.) ; "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Eph. 2: 10. It would be in perfect harmony with the Word of God if a crimson line were drawn across the word "died" on all the tombstones and monuments in all the white city cemeteries of the world; and above this word were v/ritten that which in the gospel has superseded it, the words, "fallen asleep." It was the first sinning of the first sinner, passing on to his posterity, and the first death bound up in the first sin, and which passed upon all men, that was abolished on the cross. Note how this truth is told in the following scripture : AND THE SECOND DEATH 133 "For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many. . . . So then as through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to condemnation; even so through one act of righteousness the free gift came unto all men to justifi- cation of life. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedi- ence of the one the many were made righteous. And the law came in besides, that the trespass might abound ; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly." Rom. 5:15, 18-20. R. V. Thus it is made clear that the debt with which Adam burdened the whole world, has been carried to the cross, and cancelled in the death of the crucified one. The sec- ond death is the punishment for the second sin, the wilful sinning of the sinner after he has come to a "knowledge of the truth." It is the wilful sinning of the sinner after he has experienced the fulness of the power of God to save from sin, when all the saving showers and sunshine of God's salvation summer have been shed upon him in vain. It is that sinning which is represented by the thorns and briers of the neglected field, "Whose end is to be burned." Heb. 6:4-8. By the sinner's final rejection of salvation from the sinning of Adam, which sinning was handed down to him in his carnal nature, he endorses that sinning and thereby makes it his own sinning. He makes it to be the sin of his own free choice in the face of free salva- tion: the sin for which there could be no sacrifice pro- vided without forever perpetuating sin, and for which the second death is the inevitable and everlasting pun- ishment. The second death is not therefore the punishment of the first sin, the sin for which sinning Adam was pri- 134 THE UNPARDONABLE SIN marily responsible, but of the second sin, the deliberate sinning of the sinner for which he himself is wholly re- sponsible, and not Adam. For when the good news is announced to the sinner that all his sins which were the result of his enslavement to a carnal nature by the sinning of Adam, have been remitted in the sacrifice of Christ, and a way provided for his escape from that bondage, if he then decides to remain in that bondage or deliberately and finally returns to it after realizing his freedom, he can no longer blame Adam for his sinning nor for his sinful nature. For by refusing deliverance, he by his own free choice chooses that sinning and that sinful nature and becomes there- after alone responsible for his sinning. As before proved, God included all the sins resulting from the sin of Adam, which included the sinning of his posterity through the sinful nature with which he en- slaved them, in the sacrifice of His Son, and mercifully paid the terrible debt in the death of Christ. "For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that He might have mercy upon all. Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past tracing out!" Rom. 11:32,33. R. V. "There is life for a look at the crucified One, There is life at this moment for thee; Then look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved, Unto Him who was nailed to the tree. "Oh why was He there as the bearer of sin, If on Jesus thy guilt was not laid? Oh why from His side flowed the sin-cleansing blood, If His dying thy debt has not paid? "It is not thy tears of repentance or prayers, But the blood that atones for the soul; On Him, then, who shed it thou mayest at once Thy weight of iniquities roll." sti, " THAT HE MIGHT HIMSELF BE JUST" 135 XXIV "THAT HE MIGHT HIMSELF BE JUST" Before passing to a further explanation of what con- stitutes the unpardonable sin, let us notice the justice of God in paying in the death of His Son the debt of the world. The heading of this chapter is the revised version of Rom. 3 : 26, and presents the truth which is found in the original, that the gospel not only justifies man, but jus- tifies God. Though this truth has been emphasized in a. previous chapter, it should be referred to again in this connection. The Lord plainly declares that the children of Adam this takes in all are not to blame for being born sin- ners. "Through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners." No member of the human family born of Adam is responsible for being born a sinner. Not one of the victims of Adam's sin was present to raise his voice in protest against the disobedience of Adam whereby he, a child of Adam, was made a sinner. He was made a sinner before he was born, and in consequence was born a sinner. He did not even have an opportunity to choose whether he wished to be born. He was given his existence, if not by force, at least so freely as to leave him wholly irresponsible for his birth. Not only was he given a life for which he was not re- sponsible, but he received that life hopelessly mortgaged with debt, a debt which he had no part in contracting, but which he is compelled to pay, and which he can pay only by forfeiting his life in death. Is the lamb to blame for being born a hopeless cripple? Is the African infant to blame for the color of 136 " THAT HE MIGHT HIMSELF BE JUST" his skin? The shepherd would be blessed for his mercy should he end the life of the mother sheep whose lambs were always born crippled, hopeless sufferers. And we could bless our God, who is "too wise* to err, too good to be unkind," had he brought to an end the life of the sinning head of the race in viewof the fact that all the world would be born hopelessly diseased with a malady which doomed them to death. But if he permit the parents of the race to live and people the earth with slaves of sin, slaves who were made such, not by any act of their own, but by the sinning of their ancestors, how it does justify God, who thus per- mits the world to multiply, to see Him gather up all the sinning which has appeared in Adam's children as a result, and lay this terrible load upon His only Son, thereby paying the penalty of those sins as freely as they had been laid upon them by the hand of their sinning ancestor. How this does reveal God's righteousness! And all this infinite sacrifice He made that every sinner born into the world might himself have oppor- tunity to choose righteousness and life in the place of sin and death. In the light of all this, how befitting the Father of mercies to freely pay in His Son, the last Adam, the mortgage of sin and death, which, without their consent, the first Adam placed upon the whole world ! Every sinning soul born of Adam thus set free is given opportunity freely to choose between righteousness and sin, life and death. And having made such choice, no creature in heaven or earth can blame the Creator for the ruin of any son of Adam who was born a sinner as the result of God's permitting the sinning head of the race to live and people the world with a race of sinners. Having refused salvation, the sinner cannot blame either Adam or God for his ruin. IN THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 137 XXV THE PART THE LAW PLAYS IN THE UNPARDONABLE SIN "If we sin wilfully after that we have received a knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sac- rifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judg- ment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the ad- versaries." Heb. 10:26, 27. R. V. The divine definition of "sin" is found in 1 Jno. 3 : 4, and reads thus: "Whosoever committeth sin transgres- seth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law." This divine definition placed in the text at the head of the chapter would make it read: "If we transgress the law wilfully after we have received a knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins." This does not in any way conflict with the conclusion which we have reached that the unpardonable sin is a rejection of the gospel. The rejection of the cross of Calvary is the unpardonable sin; but the way the rejecter manifests that rejection is by disobedience, by continuing in sin, which is the transgression of the law. The law of God, therefore, plays a vital part in that sinning for which there was no sacrifice provided at the cross of Calvary. The plan of salvation is a plan to save men from sin, from disobedience, from transgression of that law which is described as being "holy, just and good." "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins," save them from the transgression of the law. All men are born sinners, born with the law of sin lurking in their members, born with a ''carnal mind." And that "carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is 138 THE PART THE LAW PLAYS not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.' 5 The work of the gospel is first to show the sinner that this carnal mind lives in him, and unless he shall separ- ate from it, he is doomed to perish with it. Next, it is the work of the gospel to show the way of escape which has been provided in the dieath and resurrection of Christ ; and next to persuade the sinner to accept that de- liverance. This is the plan of procedure as presented in Paul's epistle to the Romans. One cannot read the seventh and eighth chapters of Romans carefully without noticing how sin under its various titles is treated, not as a mere thing without either intelligence or individuality; but as a personality, whose "working" (v. 8, ch. 7) "reviving" (v. 9) "war- ring," enslaving (v. 2,3) with bitter enmity against God (ch. 8:6), plainly point to that malignant "spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2). In plain words, it is the devil that is behind the sinning of the carnal nature, as the following scriptures plainly show. "Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do" ( Jno. 8 : 44) ; "He that commit- teth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was mani- fested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." 1 Jno. 3 : 8. Sin is therefore simply Satan at work, "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." It is as impossible to separate disobedience of God's law from the personal working of the spirit of Satan as it is to separate true obedience to that law from the per- sonal working of the Spirit of God. But Satan does not want this fact known. He does not want the presence of his spirit in the children of disobedience to become known, lest he be cast out. On IN THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 139 the other hand, the God of all grace desires that the presence of Satan shall be made known, so that the chil dren of disobedience may be led to decide against him and obtain deliverance. It is the law of God which the Spirit of God uses to reveal the presence of the enemy in the children of disobedience. But when we say the law of God, we do not mean something separate from God. We can no more conceive of the law of God as being something separate from God than we can conceive of the law of sin and death as something separate from the spirit of Satan. The connection between God and the law of God is clearly made in the following scripture : "The car- nal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be'* (Rom. 8:7). Thus it is seen that the law of God and God are placed together on the one side, and the carnal mind on the other; and that opposition to the law of God is opposi- tion to God. Let it be repeated, that the law of God (one precept of which is, "Thou shalt not covet") is that which, ac- cording to the teaching of the Apostle Paul, the Spirit uses to discover to the child of disobedience the presence of the spirit of Satan. It is said that the devil hates holy water, but there is no scripture for the statement. There is, however, scripture in support of the truth that he hates the holy law. And when God would make known to the sinner the presence of Satan, he makes known his law, which is to Satan like the red rag to the bellowing beast, and which stirs him up to activity, and thus discloses his real presence and character to the sinner. This truth is told in the experience of Paul as related in the 7th of Romans. The connection between sin and Satan is established. Sin is the working of Satan. Let us now put this defini- 140 THE PART THE LAW PLAYS tion of sin into several passages and see how plain they become. What shall we say then, Is the law sin or the working of Satan? God forbid, nay I had not known sin or the working of Satan, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. But sin, Satan, taking occasion by the law wrought in me all manner of coveting: for without the law the working of Satan was dead. And I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, the working of Satan revived and I died. And the com- mandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For Satan, taking occasion by the command- ment, beguiled me, and by it slew me. So that the law is holy and the commandment is holy, and just and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But the working of Satan, that it might appear to be the working of Satan, by working death in me by that which is good; that through the commandment the working of Satan might become exceeding Satanic. For the law is spiritual ; but I am carnal, sold under the work- ing of Satan. When, therefore, the child of disobedience discovers by means of God's law, in the hands of the Holy Spirit, that he is harboring in his members none other than the lawless spirit of Satan, and comes to see God's holiness through the law, and the sinful lusting and the general lawlessness of Satan by the same law, he is then called upon to choose between the two masters. Upon this choice depends his destiny. If he takes sides against the holy law in favor of the carnal mind, he thereby takes sides against God in favor of Satan. When he learns that his transgressions of the law caused the death of God's only begotten Son, if he then deliberately and finally decides to continue to trans- gress the law he thereby in his heart crucifies the Son IN THE UNPARDONABLE SIX 141 of God afresh. The sins which he now commits are transgressions of the law in view of the fact that sin caused the suffering and death of the Son of God. They are a trampling of the Son of God under foot, and a counting of the blood of the covenant, Christ's blood, whereby He was sanctified, an unholy thing, and a heap- ing of insult on the Spirit of Grace. This is the sinning which "shall not be forgiven," which is "unto death/' for which no sacrifice was pro- vided in the sacrifice of Christ, and for which no sacrifice could be provided without forever perpetuating sin. As before shown, if such sacrifice had been provided for such sinning such law-breaking the devil and his angels and all the wicked men of earth could demand de- liverance from punishment while continuing to defy God and war against His kingdom. This is the unpardonable sin, a description of which appears in the following scrip- ture: "If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses : of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trod- den under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace? For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompence, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Heb. 10:26-31. A comparison is here made between two kinds of law- breaking or sinning. One is the wilful transgression of 142 THE PART THE LAW PLAYS the law in the presence of the commandment carved on stone, the other is the wilful transgression of that law in the presence of the sprinkled blood of the crucified One. In other words, that first sin was a wil'ful transgression of a righteous law. The second is not only a wilful transgression of that righteous law, but also a wilful trampling under foot of the body and blood of the Son of God. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: Yea, we establish the law" (Rom. 3: 31). Those, therefore, who use the Cross of Christ as a justification for continuing in sin continuing to transgress any part of God's holy law, the disobedience of which on the part of a sinning world caused the death of the Lamb of God, are in danger (if they are doing it in the face of light) of committing that sin for which there is no sac- rifice. "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound ? God forbid." "Shall we sin, [transgress the law], because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." If we do thus transgress the law, we will place ourselves outside the provisions of the sacrifice of Christ; because that sacrifice was not made in behalf of such transgres- sion. In the sixth chapter of Romans, from which these last scriptures were quoted, Paul introduces the "sin unto death" in his warning against perverting the grace of God into a license to continue in sin or the transgression of the law. , After showing that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, and as a result of that abounding grace, men were not under the law but under grace, he then asks, "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid." "Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?" and then tells us that IN THE UNPARDONABLE SIN 143 upon this decision depends our final destiny. If we will- ingly decide to choose sin in the face of this abounding grace, this choice will constitute the "sin unto death." "Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of "sin unto death, or of obedi- ence unto righteousness?" This scripture plainly tells what is the "sin unto death" of which John speaks, and also the sinning wil- fully or willingly, mentioned in Heb. 10 : 26. The sin unto death appears, then, a free and final decision to be and remain a sinner after one comes to a knowledge of the abounding grace of God given freely to save from sin. It is also made plain that sinning ignorantly is not the unpardonable sin. Neither is that sinning unpardon- able which is committed before one comes to a knowledge of the abounding grace of God. But that sinning is un- pardonable which involves a final rejection of the grace of God and a free choosing to continue a servant of sin. The unpardonable sin, therefore, is a sin against the gospel, a rejection of salvation through the cross of Cal- vary. It is for this reason that Adam's sin was not the un- pardonable sin. He did not sin against the gospel. The gospel had not yet been made known to him. He sinned willingly, but that does not alone constitute the unpar- donable sin. Jn order for him to commit the unpardon- able sin, he must have sinned willingly after he had come to a knowledge of the salvation provided in the death of Christ ; he must have chosen sinning in the place of sal- vation, with the knowledge that sinning caused the death of the only begotten Son of God. But it may be asked, is this the only^sin which can 144 THE LAW AND THE UNPARDONABLE SIN cause the ruin of the sinner? Must every man before he can be lost, experience the fulness of God's salvation ? No; this is not the only sin which ruins men. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation." It is not necessary for men to accept salvation and then reject it in order to be lost. If they continue to neglect salvation which is offered them, and which the Spirit impresses them that they need, this neglect will result in their ruin as surely as if they had accepted and then rejected. The man who was washed overboard by a heavy sea and has permitted the lifeline to pass by unheeded, as surely sins against his life as the man who grasped the line and then deliberately cast it from him. Doubtless many more will find themselves lost at last through neglecting to be saved than there will be who fully accepted the gospel and then rejected it because the way was too thorny, or the path too narrow and unpopu- lar. XXVI LIBERTY IS NOT LICENSE Before dismissing the subject of the unpardonable sin; let us view it from the standpoint of the illustration found in Chapter IX. But shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace ? Inasmuch as sin is defined by the' Holy Spirit ( 1 John 3:4) to be the transgression of the law, the above question dictated by the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul is equivalent to this: Shall we trans- gress the law because we are not under the law? God forbid. That we may see the wickedness of such a per- version of the Scriptures, let us return to the parable of Chapter IX. LIBERTY IS NOT LICENSE 145 On the morrow after the release of John Borninsin, he is met by one of his old comrades in crime, and ac- cording to the parable, the following conversation takes place : Tom Carnalmind "Well, John, you are a lucky chap. I thought you would surely swing this time. But what surprises me more is that the governor has actually placed his fortune at the disposal of the Judge on your behalf, so that when you go house-breaking and get caught, they can't get you into prison. What glorious liberty from the law ! I wish I were in your boots. It must seem good to be free from that troublesome law. It is that law that has made us all the trouble, and I have always known that if it were not for the law, we would enjoy glorious liberty. Now, John, if you are wise, you will use this glorious, abounding grace to gather in a pile for a rainy day." A bystander, Mr. Spiritudmind "But, John, do you understand your freedom from the law in the way Tom Carnalmind views it ? Are you going to continue in trans- gression of the law that grace may abound? Are you going to transgress the law because you are not under the law, but under grace?" John Borninsin "God forbid. I do not understand that His Excellency has deposited his fortune to my credit with the Judge to save me from the penalty of the transgression of the law, because he wants me to be a law-breaker, but that I might be saved from the results of my law-breaking, until I should become a law-abiding citizen." Mr. Spiritualmind "That is right, John. You have clearly discerned His Excellency's purpose." Tom Carnalmind "What a foolish fellow to go and put yourself under law again. Why don't you take ad- vantage of your liberty? You are not under law, but under grace," s 'I <3 LIBERTY IS NOT LICENSE 147 John Borninsin "But my freedom from the law is not a freedom to transgress the law ; but a freedom from the penalty of the transgression of the law, that I may have opportunity to learn to be obedient to the law." Tom Carnalmind "I don't see it that way. I con- sider that the object of the deposit of grace is to make void the law, so you can transgress it freely without be- ing punished; and I think you are very foolish to put yourself under law again." John Borninsin "But I understood from His Lord- ship, the Judge, that no part of the deposit of grace was for wilful transgression of the law, but only such trans- gressions as I might commit in my weakness and ignor- ance, while I was learning how to be obedient. I was told plainly that if I transgressed wilfully, that is, if I deliberately chose to be a law-breaker, after I had come to a knowledge of the purpose and power of the grace, there would remain no part of His Excellency's deposit of grace to save me from my transgressions. And as ignorant as I am, I can plainly see that this is reasonable. If the deposit of grace was for the purpose of keeping me out of prison in order that I might continue my old life of lawlessness, that would make both His Lordship and His Excellency to be friends of lawlessness." On the morrow, Mr. Spiritualmind meets John Born- insin in charge of a policeman, and the following con- versation takes place: Mr. Spiritualmind "Officer, has John transgressed again, after all that has been done to save him from the penalty of his law-breaking?" Officer "I am sorry to say, he has." Mr. Spiritualmind "How could you do it, John, after all the grace manifested for you?" John "I did not transgress wilfully. I was overcome in a moment of weakness and unwatch fulness. And I 148 LIBERTY IS NOT LICENSE am more sorry than I can express ; and it is in my heart to transgress no more." Mr. Spiritualmind "Officer, where are you taking John?" Officer "To the Judge, sir, to be punished." Mr. Spiritualmind "What are you going to do, John?" John "I am going boldly to my throne of grace. It is this same Judge who has the grace in keeping for me." Mr. Spiritualmind "The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith ; but after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. Yes, the officer of the law is only taking you where the grace is deposited." Reader, was the deposit of grace for the purpose of perpetuating lawlessness? Was the governor so in sym- pathy with law-breaking that he would sacrifice his for- tune to perpetuate it? No, no. He gave his fortune to save the man's life in order to give him an opportunity to leave off his law-breaking. If the law-breaker never becomes law-abiding, will not the sacrifice have been made in vain? If the criminal continues his career of lawless- ness to the last of his life, will not the deposit of grace have been made in vain so far as the young man is con- cerned? True, it will have revealed the graciousness of the governor, and the ingratitude of the criminal, but it will have been made in vain so far as the salvation of the lawless one is concerned. That father whose effort for the reformation of his wayward son never results in anything more than follow- ing him from place to place and paying his fines and saving him from prison and the gallows, is a sorrowful failure. If the son dies in this reprobate- condition, all the world would pronounce that father's effort to reform his son as a failure, so far as the reformation of the son LIBERTY IS NOT LICENSE 149 is concerned. It may be no fault of the father any more than a lost sinner indicates a fault on God's part, but so far as the wayward son is concerned, the grace has been manifest in vain. In like manner, if God's deposit of grace on behalf of the transgressor of His law, does no more than per- petuate the lawless life of the transgressor, it will have been made in vain so far as the lawless one is concerned. It will have served to reveal the mercy and love of God. and the ingratitude of the transgressor, but it will have been spent in vain so far as the sinner is concerned. The object of God's grace was not that we might "continue in sin, that grace may abound," but "that the righteous- ness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8 : 4. This illustration was used on one occasion, in conver- sation with a law-made-void-by-faith advocate, and the man, feeling the force of the illustration against his no- law theory, attempted to parry its force. He said : "Your illustration breaks down in one important point. Your governor is not able to give his life, like Christ, to be the life of the law-breaker." "True," was the reply. "But if he had been able to give his life, would the life that he gave have been a law- keeping Mfe, tike the governor's, or a law-breaking life such as the lawless one already had?" To this searching question the antinomian had no reply. Just as surely as the governor was a law-abiding citizen, so surely would the life which he would give to the lawless one, were he able, have been a law-keeping life. To sacrifice his fortune to save the lawless one from his transgressions of the law, and then give him a life which would continue to transgress the law, is too un- reasonable to contemplate. But it is still more unreasonable and unscriptural to 150 LIBERTY IS -NOT LICENSE believe that God would give His only Son to die on Cal- vary to save man from the results of his law-breaking, and then, when it is in His power to give him a new life, He should give him a life which would continue in transg-ression of that law. The thought is too absurd to entertain for a moment. Such a position would put the holy life of God against His holy law. It puts God in the position of sacrificing His Son to save man from the death which is his just due as the result of his transgres- sion of God's law, and then giving the man a life which v/ould continue in everlasting transgression of His law. No, no ! Just as surely as an unpardonable sin would be committed against the abounding grace of the gov- ernor if the young transgressor had determined to use the governor's deposit of grace to continue his life of law-breaking, just so surely does the sinner today com- mit the unpardonable sin when he transgresses the law of God wilfully after he has come to a knowledge of the truth concerning the purposes and power of the grace of God, and uses that grace as an opportunity to continue in transgression of the law, for he thereby tramples upon the Son of God, counts the blood of the covenant where- by he was sanctified from his law-breaking, an unholy thing, and does despite to the Spirit of grace. Heb. 10:26-29. "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid." "What then? Shall we sin [transgress the law] because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey : whether of sin [transgression of the law] unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Rom. 6:1, 15, 16. SERVING IN NEWNESS OF LIFE 151 XXVII SERVING IN NEWNESS OF LIFE An incident occurred in slavery days that beautifully illustrates salvation as the gift of God and the saved man's works as the fruit of love. The scene is a southern slave market. The auctioneer is selling a chain-gang lot of colored humanity as if they were so many head of cattle or horses or mules. Hus- band is being sold and separated from the wife, wife from the husband, children from their mothers, mothers from their children. Presently there is placed upon the auction block a giant, his finely formed features, his refined and intelli- gent face attract the attention of the crowd. The auctioneer eyes him up and down, then turns to the people and says: "Here is a fine specimen of the race. This man stands six feet four, in his bare feet; he weighs two hundred and twenty pounds, all bone, muscle and sinew. He is only twenty- four years old. What am I bid for the man ?'' Mr. Brown I bid nine hundred dollars. Auctioneer Nine hundred dollars I am bid ! Nine hundred dollars! Going at nine hundred! Gentlemen, he is worth twice the money. Mr. G. One thousand. A. One thousand is bid! One thousand dollars. Make it eleven hundred, Mr. Brown. Mr. B. Eleven hundred. Mr. G. Twelve hundred. A. That is right, gentlemen, keep it going. Here is a fine prize for the man who has the nerve to pay 152 SERVING IN NEWNESS OF LIFE the price. Twelve hundred dollars! Going at twelve hundred. Make it thirteen, Mr. Brown. Mr. B. Thirteen hundred. Mr. G. Fourteen hundred. A. Mr. Grace bids fourteen hundred! Only four- teen hundred dollars for this handsome prize! Colored Man. Gentlemen, don't waste your money on me. I am not worth fourteen cents to any man. I have worked my last hour as a slave. You may flog or starve or hang I covet death ! I want to die ! But work as a slave, I never will no, not for an hour! The calm but defiant decision pictured in his face, the firmness in his tone, the fire that flashed from his eyes stunned the auctioneer for a moment. Recovering, he said: "Gentlemen, pay no attention to his talk ; you can take all this out of him in fifteen minutes with a good black snake. Go on with your bidding, gentlemen. "Mr. Grace bids fourteen hundred dollars ! Make it fifteen, Mr. Brown! No? What, afraid of the man? Going at fourteen hundred dollars! Are you all done? Fourteen hundred dollars, once fourteen hundred dol- lars, twice third and last call sold to Mr. Grace for fourteen hundred dollars." The man steps down from the block and with Mr. Grace walks away from the crowd. Drawing his check- book from his pocket Mr. Grace begins writing a check for the price of his man. Colored Man Mr. Grace, don't you pay fourteen hun- dred dollars for me. You have bought a dead man. I will die willingly, yes, gladly, but I will never work an hour as your slave. I give you this final warning, don't pay fourteen hundred dollars for a dead man. Mr. Grace continues to write the check, and when finished, he hands it to a messenger who carries it to the SERVING IN NEWNESS OF LIFE 153 former owner. Then addressing the colored man, he said: "Sam, you are a free man. I bought you to set you free. You are not my slave, you are your own free man. I'll take those handcuffs off." The colored man was staggered and stunned by this sudden announcement. He stood speechless, startled, trembling in every limb. Recovering his speech, he said : "Mr. Grace, do you mean that you paid fourteen hun- dred dollars of your good money to set this poor man free?" "That is what I said and that is what I mean. All the time you, as my enemy, were hurling your defiance, I, as your friend, was purchasing your freedom." Colored Man O Mr. Grace, I tiove you! I'll work for you just as long as I live. Let me go home with you. I want to show you that underneath this colored breast there beats a heart that can feel and respond to love like yours. Let me go home with you. I want to work for you forever because I love you. Mr. Grace All right, Sam, come along, but remem- ber, you are not my slave nor do I want you to work to pay for your freedom ; that is the free gift of my grace to you. Colored Man Oh, I understand. I won't try to pay for it, but I will try to show how I appreciate your gift by my labor of love. Reader, do you see it? Do you see the true motive for commandment-keeping? Do you see the only place for works in the plan of salvation? This is what the Apostle Paul saw and this is what so mightily moved his heart to go to the ends of the earth crying, "By grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of SERVING IN NEWNESS OF LIFE 155 works, lest any man should boast. For we are His work- manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God foreordained that we should walk in them." Eph. 2:8-10. This is the only place for commandment-keeping in the plan of redemption, the only place in the preaching of redemption or in the redeemed man's life. "We love Him because He first loved us." "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." "This is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His com- mandments are not grievous." 1 John 4:19; John 14:15 ; 1 John 5 : 2. "He that saith I know Him and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him/' I John 2:4. XXVIII "DOTH NOT THE SON BEAR THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHER? " No, no! Praise the Lord! The glorious gospel of the blessed God answers the above question with a prompt and positive, No ! "The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying: What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel." "Yet say ye, Why ? Doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes and hath done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the 156 "DOTH NOT THE SON BEAR father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." Ezek. 18:1-3, 19,20. The Lord hath sworn by His life that the son shall not die because he was born a wicked son of a wicked father, and that the father, who received a sinful nature from his father, shall not die because he transmitted that sinful nature to his son. The son shall not die for his sins which he committed because he was born a son of a wicked father ; but for his own sins. The father shall not die for the sins which he committed as a result of receiving from his father a sinning nature, nor for the sins which he committed in the sinning life which he transmitted to his son. But have not the fathers sinned in the sinful life which they transmitted to their sons, just as the parent apple tree bears apples in the baby tree which springs from its roots? Yes. And have not sons sinned in the sinful life which they received from their fathers, just as the infant apple tree bears fruit with the life received from the parent root? Yes. And is not the wages of sin death? Yes. Why, then, do not the father and son die for this inherited sinning? Because of the cross of Calvary. This same theme is dealt with by the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah. The same fatalistic proverb was current in the time of Jeremiah; the same charge was made of injustice against God in punishing the son for the sin of the father. But, through Jeremiah, the Lord again denies the doctrine that He punishes men for the sins which they commit as slaves of a sinful nature which they inherited from their fathers. And in this denial the Lord brings us to the cross of Calvary. In fact, it is through the cross of Calvary that the Lord is able to THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHER?" 157 say that the son shall not die for the sins committed in his sinful nature inherited from a sinful father. Let us study this blessed gospel through the prophet Jeremiah. "In those days they shall say no more. The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge." Jer. 31 : 29, 30. The meaning of this proverb in the mind of the people was that the son was punished for the sins of the father. The father ate, and the son suffered the result. The father sinned, and the son died in consequence. But in saying that the son was made a sinner by the sinning father, did they not state a Bible truth? Most certainly they did. Paul states the same truth thus : "By one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners." Is it not also true that the wages of sin is death, and that therefore one man's sin brought death upon all his sons? Yes; for the same scripture says, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." Rom. 5 : 12. Consequently when they said, "The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge," or, in plain words, the fathers have sinned, and we, their sons, must suffer in consequence, they were speaking the truth // there were no cross of Calvary. But the Lord promises to stop this saying. He prom- ises to do that which shall leave no occasion for this grave charge of injustice against Him. "As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel." Here the Lord swears by His life that He will not punish the son for the sins of the father. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father." Ezek. 18 : 3, 20. But if the son does not die for the sins which he has committed in his father, with the life which he drew as 158 "DOTH NOT THE SON BEAR a shoot from the roots of his father, then some other son must die, for, "The wages of sin is death," and, "With- out shedding of blood there is no remission" of sins. Before going farther, let us stop to' emphasize the fact that, without the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world, the proverb of the people, that the son must suffer for the sins of the father, was a terrible truth. As stated before, we did not make ourselves sinners. I did not make myself a sinner. Your sins which you com- mitted did not make you a sinner. "By one man's dis- obedience, the many were made sinners." Your sinning did not make you a sinner. Reader, you sinned because you were born a sinner. The crab-apples on a crab-apple tree did not make it a crab-apple tree. It was a crab-apple tree years before any apples appeared. It was a crab-apple tree because it was born from a crab-apple seed. It bore crab-apples simply as a result of having been born of a crab-apple seed. In like manner our sinning did not make us sinners. We were sinners before we sinned. We were sinners because we were born of sinful seed, because we sprang from the root of Adam. Just as all crab-apple trees sprang from the first crab-apple seed, so all sinners sprang from the first sinful seed, sinful Adam. It was father Adam's eating that set the world's teeth on edge. It was Adam's transgression which made a world of transgressors. When Adam sinned, all the world sinned, because all the world were in the loins of Adam when Satan met him. Therefore when the people said that the son bore the iniquity of the fathers and must die for the iniquities ef the fathers, they told the truth, unless the Creator shall redeem the son from the sinning of the sinful nature inherited from the father. When, therefore, the God of all grace swore by His THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHER?" 159 life that He would not punish the son for the sinning received from the father, He was preaching the precious promises of the new covenant. It will interest the reader if he has not noted it be- fore, to observe that this scripture which we have been studying, and from which we have just drawn this blessed gospel conclusion, is but the preamble of the new cove- nant. You may not have connected these two things be- fore, but they are certainly parts of one gospel whole; for it is by the new covenant that the Lord saves the son from the penalty of the sins which he has committed in his father. It is by the new covenant that He puts His Son in the place of earth's sinning sons, and then lays on Him the iniquity of us all. It is through the new cove- nant that He gathers up all the iniquities committed by the first Adam in the lives of all His children, all the world, and puts those sins on His Lamb, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. XXIX "VISITING THE INIQUITIES OF THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN" At this point the reader may remember the statement found in the second commandment, a part of which con- stitutes the heading of this chapter, and wonder how the sworn statement of God that He would not punish the son for the sins of the father, is to be harmonized with this statement. Whether we can see the harmony or not, the harmony exists, for God cannot lie. What He says in the second commandment He will do, that He will surely do. And what He says, through Jeremiah and Ezekiel, He will not do, that He certainly will not do. 160 "VISITING THE INIQUITIES OF Let us now look carefully at the statement of God in the second commandment. It does not read, "Visiting the iniquities of the fathers that hate me upon the chil- dren unto the third and fourth generation." It does read, "Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." It is the third and fourth generation of children who hate God that are visited with the iniquities of the fathers. God does not visit the iniquities of the fathers upon anv generation of children which does not hate Him, but only on the generation of children which hate Him. But the reader may say that while this is true, still God does visit the iniquities of the fathers upon the sons who hate Him. Yes, He does; but He does not punish any son for any sin of the father which that son does not himselj commit. It is because the God-hating son him- self recommits the sin of his God-hating father, that he is punished, and for no other reason. Just as surely as God has sworn by His life, "The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father," so surely the Lord will not visit any iniquities of the fathers upon the sons, except those iniquities which the God-hating sons shall themselves re-enact, with their own chosen hateful hearts, and thus make their own personal sins. That this is true is made very clear by our Lord in pre- dicting the punishment that was to fall upon the Jews of that generation. Upon that generation He said should "come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias." Certainly this is as strong a statement as is found in the second commandment. In fact, it is the same state- ment intensified. In it the Lord Jesus says in substance that all the sins of the persecuting fathers from the days THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN" 161 of righteous Abel to the days of Zacharias were to be visited upon their children of that generation. Now that we have a statement of the Lord exactly similar to His statement in the second commandment, let us hear Him explain His second statement; for in ex- plaining the second statement He will explain the first. Remember, we said that the only iniquities of the fathers \vhich would be visited upon the sons were those iniquities of the fathers which the sons should re-enact by their own wilful sinning, and thus make them their own sins. This is the meaning which the Lord Himself gives to His terrible promise to visit all the iniquities of all the fathers upon that generation. The measure of the fathers' sins was not yet full and could not be visited upon the sons of that generation, who had not committed those sins. The measure of their fathers' sins stood waiting to be -filled. Hence the Lord said, "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers." It was the sins which the sons were yet to commit as a re- sult of their rejection of Christ that would refill the meas- ure of their fathers' sins. That this is the truth is clearly stated by our Lord, as follows : "Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers." "Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify ; and some of them shall ye scourge in your syna- gogues, and persecute them from city to city: that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barechias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily, I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation." Matt. 23 : 32-36. Notice, the Lord does not say they have committed all these sins of their fathers, but that in continuing in their fathers' work of killing the prophets they would 162 "VISITING THE INIQUITIES OF commit those sins. How would they commit them ? By continuing to do the things which their fathers did, they would thereby endorse their fathers' iniquities. And the iniquities which they endorse, in heart 'they recommit. Their future sinning, in view of the light which they had and would receive, would be so aggravated as to in- clude the sins of their fathers. Their future sinning would therefore be the filling up of the measure of their fathers, that is, a re-enacting of all those sins, making all those sins their own sins. But let it be borne in mind that these sinning chil- dren are not to be punished for the sins of their fathers which they never committed, but for those sins of their fathers which they recommitted and thereby made their own sins. It is in this sense, and in this sense alone, that the sin- ner is punished for sins which he committed in his weak- ness and ignorance, sins which were atoned for by the sacrifice of Christ. When the sinner continues in those sins after he comes to a knowledge of the truth that Christ bore them, he endorses those sins which have been thus borne, and thereby re-enacts them in heart as his own wilful sins. But bear in mind, he is not punished under the guilt of those sins whose guilt was laid upon Christ; but for the sins re-enacted after they had once been borne, after they had once crucified the Son of God. Just as the generation, to whom Christ was speaking was not punished for the sins of their fathers which they, the children, never committed, but for those sins of their fathers which they re-committed and the guilt of which they thereby incurred as their own guilt; just so the sin- ner is not punished for sins which have already met their punishment in the sinner's Substitute, but for a wilful re-enactment of those sins. THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN" 163 A person would not be held morally responsible for thefts committed while temporarily insane. But after he was delivered from that weakness of mind, if he did not repudiate those acts, but justified them by continuing in them, he would thereby endorse them, and make himself morally responsible for all his acts done in that time of weakness and ignorance. In like manner the sinner is not punished for sins committed in ignorance and weak- ness, because those sins have met their punishment in his Substitute, he is punished for a continuance in those sins after he comes to a knowledge of the truth which de- livers him from them, for by continuing in them he en- dorses them and thereby makes them his own. In like manner the unmerciful servant in the parable of Matthew 18, was turned over to the tormenters, not for his former debts, for all those debts had been for- given, but for what he did as a forgiven debtor. For in that one unmerciful act there was involved and incurred all the guilt which had been incurred by his former for- given debts. It was for this one unmerciful act that he was punished, and not for the debts which had been for- given. "Ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down [inherited] from your fathers : but with the prec- ious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the blood of Christ." 1 Pet. 1 : 18, 19. (R. V.) Christ has, therefore, redeemed us by His blood from the sins of the sinful nature "handed down," that is, in- herited, from our first father Adam. With this agree the words of the Lord through the Apostle Paul, as follows : "For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; much more shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign 164 "VISITING THE INIQUITIES OF THE FATHERS" in life through the one, even Jesus Christ. So, then, as through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to condemnation ; even so through one act of righteousness the free gift came unto all men to justification of life. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous." Rom. 5 : 17-19. (R. v.) XXX THE PROCLAMATION OF LIBERTY IN THE NEW COVENANT In the ninth and tenth chapters of Hebrews the ser- vant of the Lord contrasts that which has been accom- plished by the new covenant with that which has been accomplished by the old. His conclusions are stated thus : "Christ . . . through His own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption." "Once at the end of the ages hath He been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." "By which will [the will of God] we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." "But He, when He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. . . for by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." Heb. 9: 12, 26; and 10: 10, 14. (R. V.) Having thus witnessed to the finished work of Christ, the apostle brings forth the testimony of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to the same blessed truth in the following words : "And the Holy Ghost also beareth witness to us : for after He hath said, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord; I will put IN THE NEW COVENANT 165 my laws on their heart, and upon their mind also will I write them; then saith He, And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remis- sion of these is, there is no more offering for sin." Heb. 10:15-18. (R. V.) The new covenant is here quoted to prove that the promise of God to remit sins and to remember them no more, has been fulfilled. For just as surely as there is no more offering for sin, just so surely has the whole world obtained remission of sins in that one offering. It is by this one offering that all the sinning sons of sinful Adam have been pardoned and saved from the iniquities which they committed through the sinful eating of their sinful father Adam. But does this not lead to universalism ? No; for we have before proved that it is possible for the sons of Adam to sin wilfully, to sin on their own responsi- bility, "to crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh" ; to eat of the sour grapes themselves outside of Adam's eating; to commit iniquity on their own initiative. It is for these iniquities that the son will die. "Every one shall die for his own iniquity. Every man that eateth the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge." Thus it is plainly declared that the son must himself eat before the Lord will pronounce over him the penalty for trans- gression. "As I live, saith the Lord, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel." "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquities of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." Ezek. 18 : 20. But how can the promises of the new covenant be ac- complished as these scriptures declare, when at the death of Christ all who were still unborn were included in those 166 THE PROCLAMATION OF LIBERTY promises? Besides, how can it be that the promises of the new covenant are fulfilled when one of them promises to write the law upon the heart of all. Again, do all from the least to the greatest know the Lord ? Whether we can understand or not, makes no differ- ence, it is a fact. The facts are, the scriptures present the covenant as made, and it is best to believe it even though, we cannot understand it. But we can understand it if we but understand with whom the covenant was made. Reader, it was not made with you personally, for you were not yet born when it was ratified by the blood of Christ. It was not made with the apostles as representatives of the house of Israel and Judah, because it was sealed with the blood of the offering, before they even understood that the cove- nant required the death of the Lamb of God. Now since the new covenant is not made with us nor with any other of the sinful sons of Adam personally, with whom was it made? Let the scriptures answer. "Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added be- cause -of transgression until the seed should come to whom the promise was made" (Gal. 3:19). "Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many ; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." Gal. 3 : 16. Thus it is plainly stated that the promises of the new covenant were spoken, not to the many of the house of Israel and Judah; but to the head of the house, even Christ. It necessarily follows that since the Father spoke His promises of the new covenant to Christ as the head of the house of Israel and Judah, it must have been the Son as surety for that covenant who made the promises on behalf of man to the Father. Here lies the blessed truth. The Father made the promises of the new covenant to His Son, and the Son IN THE NEW COVENANT 167 made the promises on behalf of fallen man to the Father. Better promises ! Yes, praise the Lord ! Better promises. As much better as the promises of the sinless Son of God are better than the promises of the sinning sons of Adam. But where do we come in? "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the prom- ise." All the people of the house of Israel and the house of Judah to whom God spake the promises of the new covenant were in Christ when God spake the promises to Him. And all the people of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, who ever will speak the promises of the new covenant to God, have already spoken them to God in Christ when Christ spake them. The new covenant, therefore, is a covenant made be- tween the Father and the Son. This covenant existed in the plan of God before the foundation of the world. It did not come into existence at the time when God made it known to sinful Adam in the promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. It did not origi- nate at the time when God made it known to Abraham. Even if there had been no Abraham, all the blessings of the new covenant would have been bestowed on the world. Neither did the new covenant come into existence because there was a people known as the house of Israel and another as the house of Judah. All the promises of the new covenant would have been made if there had been no house of Israel and no house of Judah. That which called forth the promises of the new cove- nant was sinful Adam. The new covenant promises made known to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Israel, were simply a making known to them a gospel which in the purpose of God was purposed in Christ be- fore the foundation of the world. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing 168 THE PROCLAMATION OF LIBERTY in the heavenly places in Christ: Even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world." Eph. 1 : 3, 4. (Am. Standard.) This scripture plainly declares that 'God blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ before the foun- dation of the world. And since the blessings of the new covenant are all spiritual blessings, it follows that the blessed promises of the new covenant were made to us in Christ before the foundation of the world. "Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love: having foreordained us unto adop- tion as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved: in whom we have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace." Eph. 1 : 4-7. (R. V.) This scripture tells us that these spiritual blessings of the new covenant are all summed up in the one blessing of sonship which He freely bestowed on us in the be- loved. We were chosen sons of God through Christ. And this glorious grace was freely bestowed upon us in the Beloved. Hence the only way for anyone to realize the blessings of the new covenant is to be born again, to be born a son of God through Jesus Christ. Thus it is plain that every spiritual blessing, which of course is every blessing of the new covenant, was bestowed upon Christ, and upon us only as we are in Christ, only as we are born sons of God. Inasmuch as this covenant was made with Christ be- fore we were born, it follows that it was not made with us personally: that is, apart from Him "to whom the promise was made." It also follows that as the covenant was made before we were born, we can have no share in 7.V THE XEW COVENANT 169 the making of that covenant. And inasmuch as the bless- ings of the new covenant are bestowed upon us only in Christ that is, only as we are branches of the True Vine, only as we are sons of the Everlasting Father, it follows that we come into possession of the promises of the new covenant not by making the new covenant with God on our own responsibility, but by being born again, by sharing the life of Him who is the last Adam, with whom the covenant was made before we were born, even before the foundation of the world. "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29). "If children, then heirs" (Rom. 8: 17). "If a son, then an heir of God through Christ." Gal. 4:7. But if the new covenant is made, then the law must be written upon the hearts and minds of the house of Israel and the house of Judah. For this is one of the spiritual promises of the new covenant. And the law is there written. Just as the law of a tree is all written upon the seed before the tree appears, so the law was written upon the Seed of Abraham for the whole family tree of the house of Israel and house of Judah before we, the branches, appeared. "If the root be holy, so are the branches" (Rom. 11 : 16) ; "I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from Me ye can do nothing." John 15:5. (R. V.) Yes, the law was written upon the Seed, upon the Root, upon the Vine, for all branches before the branches appeared. Here is this truth plainly stated. "Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." Ps.40:7, 8. But if the new covenant has been made, then all the 170 THE PROCLAMATION OF LIBERTY house of Israel and of Judah know the Lord from the least to the greatest of them. Certainly ! All the knowl- edge of God that will ever be known was known in the Son before the foundation of the world, and was revealed in the flesh in the man of Nazareth. "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3). "Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." Matt. 1 1 : 27. This knowledge of God, like the law-written heart, is obtained by being born a branch of the Vine. The cry of the infant son, "Abba Father," is a cry of recognition that was born with him. "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts, cry- ing, Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6). This cry of recognition comes with the new birth, with the new life, comes when the spirit or life of the Son is sent forth into our hearts. The law of God and the knowledge of God are insep- arable from the life. They are both in the life of Christ and both come to us with His life. All who are in Christ know God from the least of them unto the greatest of them. The child ten months old does not need the child ten years old to give it an introduction to its mother. It is as surely acquainted with its mother as the older child. Neither does the child of God ten months old need the child ten years old to give him an introduction to his Father. It is a sad fact that in many cases the child ten months old is better acquainted with his Father than the child who dates his birth back ten, twenty, thirty, or forty years. All of the knowledge of God is hidden in the Divine Son for all, from the least to the greatest, and is to be revealed in the branches as the branches spring forth from the vine. IN THE NEW COVENANT 171 But if the new covenant has been made, then the transgressions of the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been pardoned. For the last promise of the covenant is, "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will re- member their sin no more." Yes, bless the Lord, and this has also been done. God has forgiven us all in Jesus Christ ; "in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." Eph. 1 : 7. "And you, that were sometimes alienated and ene- mies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death." Col. 1 : 21, 22. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Him- self, not imputing their trespasses unto them ; . . . For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Cor. 5:19,21. "Ye are complete in Him t ... in whom ye were (R. V.) circumcised with the circumcision made with- out hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." Col. 2: 10, 11. When Christ, who was made sin for us, and who bore our sins in His own body on the tree, was "circum- cised" on Calvary's cross, that is, when He was cut off in death, "we were circumcised," that is, cut off in Him ; when He who bore our sins in His own body, was cut off, we were reckoned cut off in Him. When He paid the penalty for our sins in His death on Calvary, we were counted as having paid the penalty of our sins in His death. Thus circumcision, which was a cutting off of a part of the body of the flesh, was a type of the crucifixion of Christ ; or the circumcising, or the "putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh." O yes! it is done! He hath forgiven our iniquities; 172 THE PROCLAMATION OF LIBERTY He hath imputed them to His Son, and hath not im- puted them to us. That this promise of the new covenant is fulfilled in Christ, is plainly stated by the Apostle Paul, who uses this promise of forgiveness of sins to sustain his posi- tion that men were separated from sin, or "sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." In the tenth of Hebrews he proves that the one of- fering of Christ did what the repeated offerings of the typical system could not do, that is, put away sin once for all. Notice his argument. Paul says: The ministers of the typical service "can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered ? Because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. . . . For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." Heb. 10:1-4. Again, "Every priest standeth daily ministering and offering ofttimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins : but this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God ; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." Vs. 11-14. Before presenting the apostle's quotation from the new covenant to sustain the point he has just made, get the point plainly before the mind. What was it that the blood of bulls and goats could not do ? It could not "take away sin." If it had taken away sin, "would they [the blood of bulls and goats] not have ceased to be offered?'' This is Paul's argument. Then when he proves that Christ has been offered once for all, does he not prove that the sins for which he has been offered are taken IN THE NEW COVENANT 173 away? This is his point. Now notice how he uses the new covenant promise of forgiveness of sins to sustain that point. "Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us : for after that He had said before, this is the covenant that 1 will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their mind will I write them ; and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." Heb. 10: 15-18. In this manner the Apostle Paul uses the new cove- nant promise of forgiveness of sins to prove that the sins for which Christ was offered were remitted when that offering was made. Just as certainly as "There is no more offering for sin" so certainly are those sins re- mitted for which that offering was made. "Then doubt not thy welcome, since God hath declared There remaineth no more to be done ; That once in the end of the world He appeared, And completed the work He begun." Yes, the Lord has written the law upon our hearts in Christ, and we realize this truth when we are born of Him. "For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." All, from the least to the greatest, have now a knowl- edge of God in Him, "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." And that knowledge is real- ized in us when by faith He is realized in us. Last but not least, we have now the forgiveness of our trespasses in Him, "in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of His grace." And this blessed gospel will be realized by the sinner the moment he believes it. When God made the new covenant with His Son and wrote His law on the fleshy tables of the heart of the 174 THE PROCLAMATION OF LIBERTY Son of Man, the last Adam, He then and there gave to the world, in Him, all the blessings of the new cove- nant. And these blessings are realized in us by our re- ceiving the life of that Son of Man, rthat is, by being born again. We were born, the first time, sons of the first Adam, and it was by that birth that we received all the curses of the covenant of death which Adam made with Satan. The wily adversary did not wait until a child was born before he made his covenant of death with Adam. If he had thus waited, he would have had to make a covenant with that son also, or that son would have been free from the fall. But he hastened to make this covenant with the head of the human race before the first child was born, well knowing that if he should be able to write the law of transgression upon the heart of the father of the human family, the root of the race, he would by that one writing inscribe the law of transgression on the heart of every child of the human family, every sprout from that root, every branch from that vine ; and the children would receive all the curses of that "covenant with death" by simply being born of that father. Reader, you were not present in person when that covenant with death was made, but you were present in your representative, you were there in the loins orf Adam when the adversary met him. When Adam sinned, you sinned in him. This sinning was made manifest in you when you were born. By your birth you inherited the curses of that covenant just as the branch inherits the nature of the vine. Satan did not need to make that covenant with any of the children of Adam ; it was al- ready made with them in Adam. All that was necessary to cause them to realize the curses of that covenant was to receive the life of Adam, that is, be born of him. In like manner, God does not make a covenant with IN THE NEW COVENANT 175 each individual son of Adam. It would be useless to try to write His spiritual law on the carnal mind, "for the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God neither in- deed can be." One of the characteristics of the carnal mind is that of "covenant-breakers." The old covenant made at Sinai is an illustration of how impossible it is for the carnal mind to keep a covenant made with God. Consequently, when God would make a covenant with the human family he made it with His Son, the last Adam. When he would write His law upon the hearts of the human race, he wrote it on the heart of the new Head and Father of the human race, the last Adam, the Son of Man. And we receive the blessings of that cove- nant by receiving His life. "As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in Him- self." "Ye must be born again" But how can it be said that the new covenant was made between the Father and the Son before the foun- dation of the world, when the prophet Jeremiah presents it as a promise to be fulfilled in the future? The plan of salvation was laid before the foundation of the world in the Council of Peace between the Father and the Son, while the Son was the Son of God, before He was made flesh, before He became by His incarnation the Son of Man. The new covenant could be promised by the Son of God, but it must be perfected by the Son of Man. It was Adam in the flesh that had promised and failed, consequently it must be another Adam in the flesh that promises and fulfills. It must be the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the Son of Man, who fulfills the promises where man has fallen. "For since by man came death [through disobedience] by man came also the res- urrection of the dead [through obedience]. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. ' 1 Cor. 15:21,22. 176 THE PROCLAMATION OF LIBERTY According to the covenant, it was "the seed of the woman" that should "bruise the serpent's head." As the 'first Adam" had stood for the first family and promised and failed, so in that same place the second Adam must stand and promise for the second family, and fulfill where the first had fallen. This He did. "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing." Rev. 5:12. This blessed truth is thus told by the Apostle Paul : 'Thou madest him [the first man] a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands ; thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. . . . But vow we see not yet all things put under him." [Why? Because he has fallen. And now instead of all things put under him we see him under all things. But keep looking at the place where "the first man" stood, and you will see the "second Man" rise. Keep watching]. "But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus [the second man] who was made a little lower than the angels [where the first man was made] for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor ; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. . . . And again, behold I and the children which God hath given me. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the IN THE NEW COVENANT 177 power of death, that is, the devil ; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Heb. 2:7-15. It was to the seed of the woman, to the seed of Abraham that God made the promises of the new cove- nant, and it was the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the Son of Alan, who must make and fulfill the promises to God on behalf of man. Consequently, it was the Son of Alan who said, "I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love." It was the seed of Abraham who said in that tragic hour of Gethsemane's gloom, with face bathed in the blood of battle, "Thy will be done!" It was the seed of the woman as surety of the covenant, He who had placed the promise "in the volume of the Book" ; who had said, "Lo ! I come to do Thy will, O God"; it was He who cried on Calvary's cross, "It is finished!" and then bowed His head and died, sealing the covenant with His blood. The writer cannot refrain from repeating that glor- ious hymn of exhortation which so beautifully and scrip- turally sets forth the completed work of Christ. "There is life for a look at the crucified One, There is life at this moment for thee; Then look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved, Unto Him who was nailed to the tree. "Look! look! look! and live! There is life for a look at the crucified One, There is life at this moment for thee. "Oh, why was He there as the bearer of sin. If on Jesus thy guilt was not laid? Oh, why from His side flowed the sin-cleansing blood, Tf His dying thy debt has not paid? 178 LIBERTY IN THE NEW COVENANT "It is not thy tears of repentance or prayers, But the blood that atones for the soul; On Him, then, who shed it thou mayest at once Thy weight of iniquities roll. "Then doubt not thy welcome, since God hath declared There remaineth no more to be done; That once, in the end of the world He appeared, And completed the work He begun." XXXI THE SLAVEMASTER AS MINISTER OF LIBERTY Would you see him who once held the spear, but now the crucifix ? Would you see the devil in his new dress ? Would you see Satan in his new surplice? Would you hear the slavemaster preach liberty? You shall see and hear him; but to go where he is we will pass by another fakir whose tricks will help us discover the deceptions of the deceiver when we come to him. This scene is located in Virginia, and the time is January 2, 1863, the day after President Lincoln issued his famous Emancipation Proclamation setting free four million slaves. A man stands in the market place in the center of a vast crowd of intensely interested colored people. He professes to be a commissioner from the President of the United States. He claims that the Fed- eral Government has delegated to him the power to make men free. He claims that he holds in his hand the bond- age or freedom of every colored man. He declares that it is in his power to enslave or set free according to his will ; and he offers to make free and keep free any man or woman who will make a payment to him and keep making payments as long as they live. H 1 180 THE SLAVEMASTER AS At this point a man steps upon the platform and un- masks the deceiver, thus : "This man is not a commissioner of the United States Government. He is a deceiver. He has no power to set men free. The freedom which he offers is a fraud. He has no power to make men free, and no power to keep them free. On the authority of the government of the United States, I, as a duly accredited commissioner, an- nounce to you that you are already free. Yesterday the President of the United States issued an Emancipatior, Proclamation, from which I read the following : " 'Now, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Comman- der-in-Chief of the United States Army and Navy, in time of actual rebellion against the authority of the gov- ernment of the United States, on this first day of Jan- uary, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, do ordain and declare that all persons held as slaves within the designated States, are, and henceforth shall be free; and that the executive govern- ment of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons/ ' "And now I, as commissioner of the United States, announce on the authority of this proclamation that you are already free, free without money and without price. Believe the proclamation and go free. Put your money again into your purses. Your freedom is given to you as freely as the air you breathe. Take it and rejoice. This man is a fraud. He is preaching for his own profit. He is persuading you to pay for that which is already yours. He is defrauding you. Pay no heed to his pre- tentions. Believe this proclamation and go free." Now we will pass on to where the prince of dark- ness, dressed as an angel of light, is proclaiming liberty. MINISTER OF LIBERTY 181 No, he is not a secularist ; do not look for him in that hall of atheism. No, he is not in that mosque ; he is not a Moslem. Did not the Apostle Paul tell us to look for him in the temple of God, in the garb of an apostle of Christ? We must look for him where professing Christians wor- ship. Here is a magnificent temple, let us enter here. What sublime singing! What beautiful paintings of sacred scenes ! Christ a babe in the manger ; Christ on the cross. Keep in mind that the prince of darkness is disguised as an angel of light, that he claims to be an apostle of Christ, and that his disguise is so perfect "as to lead astray if possible the very elect." You must not look for a clumsy deception. Listen! He is speaking. "I am the vicegerent of the Son of God on earth. I hold in my hand the weal or woe of the world. To me has been committed the treasures of the grace of God. Whomsoever I choose to make free, is free. Whomso- ever I choose to bind is bound forever. The forgiveness of sins is committed to me. Whomsoever I choose to for- give, is forgiven. Whose sins I refuse to remit is doomed to dwell forever in the flames of the damned. I hold not only the eternal destiny of the living, but I have do- minion over the dead. I hold the keys of heaven, earth, and hell. Would you be free from your many sins, ap- proach and kneel before this altar. Would you see jour loving mother who now writhes in the flames of purga- tory delivered from her unspeakable miseries? Would you, fond mother, desire to see that infant which died in your arms, and is now frying in the flames of purgatory, set free from those scorching flames? Would you soothe that pleading, piteous, voice of infant woe? Then come with the cash, and I, in the place of Jesus Christ, will offer for you on this altar, the body and 182 THE SLAV EM ASTER AS blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as an offering to appease the Father's wrath." * Do you not discern the deception? Do you not see that he is a false apostle ? Do you not s'ee that he is sell- ing for money the grace of God which is already theirs ? Do you not see that like the seller of freedom in Virginia, this man is attempting to sell to the people that which God has already given them in Christ. Now listen while the true ambassador of Christ unmasks the fraud : "This man is not the vicegerent of Christ, but the predicted Antichrist who has exalted himself to sit in the temple of God and sell for money that which God has given as a free gift to the world. God has not deposited in any mortal man the gifts of redemption. These gifts are all deposited with His Son Jesus Christ. I have in my hand a copy of the proclamation of liberty which the Father of mercies has proclaimed to the world in Jesus Christ. I will read from the proclamation: " 'By grace have ye been saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, that no man should glory.' Eph. 2:8, 9. R. V. " 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in. heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of chil- dren by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In whom we have redemption through His blood, the for- giveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace/ Eph. 1:3-7. (< 'And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself ; by MINISTER OF LIBERTY 183 Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to pre- sent you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight/ Col. 1 : 20-22. " Tor while we were yet weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: for peradventure for the good man some one would even dare to die. But God commendeth His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.' Rom. 5:6-10, R. V. " 'So then as through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to condemnation; even so through one act of righteousness the free gift came unto all men to justi- fication of life. For as through the one man's diso- bedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be made right- eous.' Rom. 5:18, 19, R. V. " 'But all things are of God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ recon- ciling the world unto Himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses, and having committed unto us the word of reconciliation. We are ambassadors therefore on be- half of Christ, as though God were entreating by us : we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be ye reconciled to God. Him who knew no sin He made to be sin on our behalf . that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.' 2 Cor. 5:18-21, R. V. 184 THE SLAVEMASTER AS " 'But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, 'and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.' Eph. 2 : 4-9. "The true apostle of Christ is not the fountain of for- giveness and freedom. He is but the herald of that free- dom whose fountain is Christ. He is not a huckster who hawks, Tetzel-like, the gift of grace for a price. He is a royal herald who announces the gift already given; and calls upon the people to accept that gift by faith and be free. The true apostle of Christ will therefore de- clare to the people that God has reconciled them to Him- self by the death of His Son. This is what I declare unto you this day ; therefore be reconciled, be free. God has not imputed your sins unto you, but has imputed them unto His Son. " 'Was Paul crucified for you ?' Was that man yon- der crucified for you ? What then is Apollos ? and what is Paul? Ministers through whom ye believed.' 1 Cor. 1:13; 3:5, R. V. "God has given to no man, and to no organization of men, a monopoly of His mercy. Just as the proclamation of liberty to the American slaves was made without money and without price, and just as the commissioner was a herald and not a hoarder of that liberty, just so the apostle of Christ today is a herald of that liberty already granted. He is not the Liberator. He does not preach himself, but Christ. He does not exalt himself, but the Saviour of men. He does not bully and brow- MINISTER OF LIBERTY 185 beat the sinner with the weapons of a self-appointed office. He beseeches and pleads with him to accept of the reconciliation wherewith he has been reconciled. "That man yonder proposes to offer the body of our Lord Jesus Christ as a sacrifice to appease the wrath of God. But God needs no appeasing. God is reconciled. God Himself gave the gift by which you were recon- ciled. 'God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' John 3:16. 'God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.' 'For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.' Rom. 5 : 8-10. "For that man to attempt to offer the body and blood of Christ on that altar is but to deny that He has been offered. It is to deny that the one offering which God Himself provided in the person of His Son, was ac- cepted. "No, There is no more offering for sin' (Heb. 10 : 18) ; Tor by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified/ Heb. 10:14. 'Nor yet that He should offer Himself often; as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others ; for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sin of many/ Heb. 9 : 25-28. " 'By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering ofttimes the same sacrifices, the which can never 186 THE SLAVEM ASTER AS MINISTER OF LIBERTY take away sins : but He, when He had offered one sacri- fice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God ; from henceforth expecting [waiting] till His enemies be made the footstool of His feet. For by. one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. . . . Now where remission of these is, there is no more offer- ing for sin.' Heb. 10: 10-18. (R. V.) "When that man professes to repeat that offering he thereby discredits the offering already made. Just as certainly as the repetition of the Mosaic sacrifices was a proof that they were powerless to put away sin, so cer- tainly does the repetition of the offering of Christ make the first offering of none effect, and is equivalent to stat- ing that the blood of Christ had no more power to put away sin than the blood of bulls and goats. "Pay no more money to that man for masses. The sacrifice has been made by Christ, and has been accepted at the mercy seat of the throne of God once for all. " 'Once for all ; oh, sinner, receive it ; Once for all ; oh, brother, believe it ; Cling to the cross, the burden will fall, Christ hath redeemed us once for all.'" Reader, do you not discern the difference between the true and the false, between the herald of liberty and the false apostle? This is, and has been, the distinction be- tween the two through all the .Christian centuries. And it is easy to see why the deceiver has drenched the earth with the blood of the martyrs. If the true apostle is be- lieved, the false will lose his living. This is the secret of the Satanic savagery with which the false apostle has fol- lowed the true through all the dark ages. THE AMBASSADOR'S ENTHUSIASM 187 XXXII THE AMBASSADOR'S ENTHUSIASM Before taking leave of the true ambassador for Christ, let us see what is the motive and mainspring of his min- istry. Since he announces freedom without money and without price, what is it that makes him so earnest, so enthusiastic? Why is it that he risks his life, yea, gives his life freely, while spurning to sell his message for money ? Let the reader call to mind the scene in chapter four of the prostrate man with bleeding back who was born a slave, and whose every attempt to gain his freedom was followed by failure, and added oppression and punish- ment. Call to mind how he heard the message of eman- cipation from a brother freedman, believed the message and the messenger, and with joy unspeakable found him- self a free man, no man's property, no man's beast of burden, no man's slave, but a freeman with a freeman's mind, a freeman's heart, a freeman's hand, free to think, free to love, free to labor, free to go and free to come. After the indescribable sensation of joy at being able to see with a freeman's eyes, speak with a freeman's lips, feel with a freeman's heart, and labor with a freeman's hand; after his face has been fanned by a freeman's breeze, and his brow kissed by a freeman's son, what, reader, would you think would be his next thought? Would it not be the unspeakable joy of bringing this glad tidings to his old father who, with white hair and stoop- ing form, is tottering beneath his burden ? Do you think he would stop to ask the value of the "living" or the 188 THE AMBASSADOR'S ENTHUSIASM weekly wage? Do you think he would wait to tell the good news until he should be honored with an official recognition by some freeman's society? No, never! With a fleetness of -foot never before known he would fly across the intervening fields, and as soon as he comes within hearing of that gray-haired father, he would shout the glad tidings, "Father, you are free! Mother is free! brothers are free! sisters are free ! I am free ! we are all free ! "Those hands are your own, father. Those feet are your own. Your heart is your own. Your mind is not master's; your mind is your own. The President of the United States has made us all free. And there is noth- ing to pay. He did it all for nothing. Believe it, father, and be free. I believed it, and see, I am free." When the old man has come to understand his ex- cited son, and to realize the full import of the glad tid- ings; when with feelings too deep for utterance he has fallen upon his knees, and with swelling heart and heav- ing breast has whispered into the ear of the Almighty a prayer of thanksgiving, what next ? When the new am- bassador has been refilled with this scene of inexpres- sible thanksgiving, he hastens to the kitchen where his old mother is finishing the last score of the four score years. and finding her feeble but faithful, he folds her in his arms, and with almost frantic joy, tells her his Gospel, while he watches her wrinkled face for the first flash of liberty's light; what then? Again refilled, he hastens away to the brothers and sisters to break the glad news, then to uncles and aunts and cousins. Does he stop there? No, he goes on until every soul on the plantation has heard the joyful news. Does he stop now? No, away he goes to the nearest plantation to tell the joyful story made new by the joy of each rejoicing freedman. THE AMBASSADOR'S ENTHUSIASM 189 It would be proper for him to receive help from the Freedman's Aid Society to pay his expenses from planta- tion to plantation, for food and for clothing, and for shelter ; but for telling the glad tidings, he wants nothing. The surpassing joy of breaking the glad news to his bur- dened, bruised, and bleeding brothers is wage enough for his willing work. Reader, why is it there is so little enthusiasm in your announcement of your freedom in Christ? Why is it you have waited for recognition from some conference or committee? Don't you believe the proclamation? Is it because you are not free? Have you found the procla- mation false? Why is it then that your efforts are so feeble and formal ? Come, brother, come, sister, search out the secret of your lack of enthusiasm. If it lies in a lack of consecra- tion, then supply that lack. Consecrate all. If it lies in a failure to forsake some sin, forsake it now. If it is because of some root of bitterness, put it away. Find the cause of failure, apply the remedy, get an experience in the joys of freedom that will make you enthusiastic to tell it to others. There are many of God's freemen still in fetters, bound because they do not know of their freedom. Believe the proclamation yourself, be free, then pro- claim it with power. God wants you as His f reedman to publish His proclamation; and there is no joy on earth which can be compared with the joy of breaking the news of liberty to a freeman in fetters. 190 HOW GOD OVERCOMES XXXIII HOW GOD OVERCOMES WHEN HE IS JUDGED ''For what if some were without faith? Shall their want of faith make of none effect the faithfulness of God? God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be jus- tified in thy words, and mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment." Rom. 3 : 3, 4. (R. V.) Thus plainly is it stated that God will come into judg- ment, and that He will prevail when He is judged. It is also stated that He will prevail because He is found to be faithful and true. Faithful and true concerning what? concerning the Gospel of His grace, of course. For it is concerning this that man has proved unfaithful. It is because of the faithfulness of God in dealing with a lost world through the Gospel, that men at last are led to cry out, "Just an< ^ true are thy ways thou King of saints." This will be voiced in the words of the great vindication mass-meeting on the glassy sea before the throne of God, when the myriad host cries with one voice, "Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." This enthusiastic vindication of God is not a verdict which is forced from the host by the arbitrary power of the King on the throne. God will take no pleasure in a vote of confidence from men who are mere machines. God could make machines which would look like men and which would with phonographic mechanism loudly speak His praise, and justify Him in all His ways, but it would be a lifeless, heartless vindication, and He will have no such worship. God seeketh only such to worship Him who worship in spirit and in truth. WHEN HE IS JUDGED 191 From this it is plain that this vindication, the unani- mous verdict of the whole host, is the hearty, spontaneous overflow of intelligent love and unfettered loyalty. There must have been, therefore, perfect freedom of thought in reaching this decision. Now we are prepared to appreciate a supposed judg- ment scene in which one of the finally condemned asks permission to speak in his own behalf, in his own de- fence. We do not believe that any man will make any such defence, but it is certain that God would grant per- mission to make it if it were asked; and for this reason the illustration is not inconsistent, and can therefore serve to illustrate an important truth of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. Let us suppose that just before the sentence of the judgment is executed on the great host of the lost, a man steps out from that host, and standing before the great white throne, speaks thus: "Before the sentence of the judgment is executed, I ask permission to speak in my own defence, and declare the reasons why I deem it unjust that I should be pun- ished. May I speak?" Permission being granted, the man speaks : "I stand here today a condemned man under sentence of everlasting destruction. I never asked to come into this world. I was born into this world without my con- sent. I did not make myself a sinner; I was born a sinner. Father Adam made me a sinner. I do not deny that I have sinned, but the sins which I have committed are sins which I committed because I was born a sinner ; and the Almighty God who sits upon the great white throne knows that I was born a sinner. He knows I am not responsible for my birth. He knows that I was born mortgaged to a carnal nature; and He knows that that carnal nature was too strong for me, and that I could 192 HOW GOD OVERCOMES not keep myself from sinning, enslaved as I was by my birth to a body of death. "And now I appeal to this great assembly; I appeal to the inhabitants of heaven and earth ! I-s it just to con- demn me to eternal destruction for sins which I com- mitted in a sinful nature which was forced upon me at my birth, which I did not ask for, a sinful nature which was transmitted to me by the fallen father of the race, a carnal nature which was my master and which I could not resist? Is it just to punish me for sins which were committed by a carnal nature which was forced upon me in my birth, and which I could no more change than the Ethiopian can change his skin or the leopard his spots? I repeat, Is it just to condemn me to destruction for sins committed in a sinning nature that was bound upon me at my birth by a sinful father, and from which I could not escape? Is it just to punish the son for the sins of the father?" When the first words of the accuser's challenge are hurled against the Most High, there falls a holy hush upon the great host of the redeemed, and in subdued si- lence, and with bated breath, but throbbing hearts, they listen to the terrible challenge. But no sooner has the accuser ceased to speak than the myriad host is seen to move toward the throne like the waves of a mighty sea, and a subdued murmur like the voice of many waters is heard, asking the supreme privilege of answering the challenge of the accusing man. It is the chief of sinners who is. chosen to answer the charges. Every one of the many millions of unfallen angels is willing to undertake to answer the challenging man; but they never were born in bondage to a crushing, carnal nature, and they cannot answer. At this solemn crisis God needs a redeemed sinner from the same tribe, nation, and tongue to vindicate His righteousness. The WHEN HE IS JUDGED 193 citizens of the unfallen worlds are willing to undertake to justify their God, but at this critical moment God needs the testimony of a fallen man, born in sin, con- ceived in iniquity, but redeemed by the gift of the grace of God, to silence the subtle charge of the accuser's chal- lenge. The chosen man, the chief of sinners, supported by the loving hearts of the myriad host, steps forward, and with a voice clear but tender, speaks thus : "I esteem it an inestimable privilege to bear witness to the justice, mercy, and wisdom of the God of all grace. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, to the witnessing words of a redeemed sinner. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. I, too, v/as born a sinner. I, too, inherited a sinful nature. I, too, came into this world without my consent, enslaved to a sinning nature. I was born and reared beside that man who has just spoken. I was born of the same blood, nursed in the same nation, taught the same tongue. I was born as he was born ; I sinned as he has sinned. "But he has not spoken all the truth. Not only was he born a sinner without his personal responsibility; but he was also redeemed from that birth without his per- sonal responsibility. "It is true that the first Adam made him a sinner; but it is also true that the last Adam redeemed him from all those sins. As by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one the manv were made righteous. "Yes, we were born in sin together; together we sinned; and together we heard the glad tidings of par- don and deliverance. My neighbor here neglected 'so great salvation.' I accepted it. He is not condemned today because he was born a sinner and sinned as a 194 HOW GOD OVERCOMES slave. All the condemnation which came upon man, upon this man, through the sinning of Adam, was placed by the Father of mercies, who sits here upon the throne, upon the head of His only begotten Son, the Lamb of God, who has taken away the sin of the world ; and He bore them in His own body on the tree. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Instead of imput- ing this man's sins unto him; instead of punishing this man for the sins which he committed with the Adam na- ture, which he inherited by his birth ; instead of imputing them to this man and punishing him, God imputed them all to His Son, and His Son suffered in his stead. I, with this man, was reconciled to God by the death of His Son; but he refused to be reconciled; he chose to be a sinner; he sinned wilfully. He sinned upon his own responsibility. He is not condemned today because Adam sinned; he is not punished because Adam trans- gressed. All the condemnation of Adam's transgression was laid upon the Lamb of God. He is not here today a lost man because Adam sinned, either in the beginning or in this man. He is here because he himself has sinned by his own choice. He sinned wilfully after he came to a knowledge of the truth ; and there is not, neither could there be, any sacrifice for wilful sinning. He has trampled upon the Son of God. He has counted the blood of the covenant whereby he was sanctified an unholy thing. He has done despite to the Spirit of grace. He has crucified for himself the Son of God the second time. Adam in the beginning, and in this man, crucified the Son of God. And the Son bore those sins in His own body on the tree; but this man has committed sins, wilful sins, out- side of the sins of Adam. He has himself chosen to be a sinner by refusing the Gospel of salvation from sin so freely bestowed upon him. He has thereby committed WHEN HE IS JUDGED 195 sins for which there was no provision made in the death of Christ. Sins by which he would condemn Christ to die again. He has trampled upon the blood already shed and by his continual, wilful sinning he has counted the blood of the covenant whereby he was sanctified from the sins of Adam, no more sacred than the common blood of ? beast that is shed at the slaughter. "My neighbor charges God with injustice in his con- demnation. He claims that God is punishing him for his birth for which he is not responsible. He claims that he is to be punished for sins committed by a carnal na- ture that was forced upon him at his birth, and which he was powerless to resist. In the name of the Father of mercies, and the God of all grace, in the name of His Son, Jesus, who tasted death for every man, I deny the charge. "This man is not punished for anything that father Adam has done. Long ago the Father swore by His life that He would not punish the son for the sins of the father. "Long ago the Lord declared through the prophet Ezekiel; 'What mean ye, that ye use this proverb con- cerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.' Ezek. 18:2-4. "When the glorious Gospel of the blessed God was proclaimed to me, if I had rejected its salvation from sin and the sinful nature which was bound upon me by my birth, that sin, and that sinful nature from that time on would have become my owi sin and my own chosen sinful nature. I could no longer have justly blamed 196 HOW GOD OVERCOMES Adam for my sins, nor for my sinful nature. By definite rejection of the deliverance whereby I had been delivered, I would thereby have definitely chosen that sin and that sinful nature as my own chosen sin, and my own chosen sinful nature ; and I could no longer have blamed Adam or God for my sinful nature, or for the sins committed by that sinful nature. If I stood in that man's position today it would be my own fault, and I could blame no one but myself. "And more than this, if I had rejected salvation from the Adam nature and from the sins of that nature, not only would I have endorsed and made my own the sins which I committed after that rejection, but in choosing sin in the place of salvation I would have endorsed those sins which the Adam nature had committed in me before that rejection, and thereby re-enacted them in mind and heart, and incurred their guilt, this time as my own chosen wilful sins. Those sins which were committed in my ignorance and weakness as a slave of the Adam nature, sins which were fully and freely borne by the Lamb of God, I would thereby have re-enacted in heart as my own, wilful sins. I could not have blamed Adam for the sins committed after I had rejected salvation; neither could I have claimed that I was punished for the sins of weakness and ignorance committed before that rejection. By my rejection of salvation from those past sins I would have justified and endorsed those sins and thereby in heart and mind re-enacted those sins as my own wilful sins. "And now I appeal to the assembled universe; I ap- peal to the loyal inhabitants of the unf alien worlds; I appeal to the redeemed out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation; I appeal to the ruined world; to the rejecters of so great salvation; to those who have trampled under foot the Son of God, and counted the WHEN HE IS JUDGED 197 blood of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified as an unholy thing, and who have done despite to the Spirit of grace; I appeal to all, fallen and unf alien, ruined and redeemed, loyal and lost, principalities and powers, sons of God, seraphim and cherubim; I appeal to all the universe to justify the government of God from every vestige of blame for the ruin of the lost. And I call upon 'every creature which is in heaven and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them/ to ascribe blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, 'unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever/ " Rev. 5:13. Indescribably grand is the scene which follows. For six thousand years the Father and Son have lived under the charge of injustice in their relation to the fallen world. But with divine forbearance and infinite love they have waited the hour when truth and righteousness should triumph. All faces are turned toward Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb, while the as- sembled universe unite with one voice, in a mighty "Amen/' saying: "Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty ; just and true are Thy ways, thou King of saints." Rev. 15:3. XXXIV PROCLAIMING LIBERTY WITHOUT A PROCLAMATION "But Thomas . . . was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my fingers into the print of the nails, and thrust my 198 PROCLAIMING LIBERTY hand into His side, I will not believe." John 20: 24, 25. The cold, calculating man of the world commends the demand of Thomas as that of a calm, careful investiga- tor. His attitude is considered ''rational" as compared with that of the man or woman who believes in Christ for salvation without that seeing and feeling which the world considers convincing evidence. But hear the Mas- ter's patient reproof of this early "rationalist." "Then said He unto Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless, but believ- ing. And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, Be- cause thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed ; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." Vs. 27-29. "But I cannot understand this," someone will say; "I cannot understand why the Lord promises a blessing on people who believe without seeing. Does the Lord want men and women to close their eyes to facts and believe what others tell them in so important a matter as the resurrection of Christ?" What was the difficulty with the demand of Thomas ? What was it the Lord wanted Thomas to believe without seeing? Did He want him to believe the testimony of the other disciples without any other evidence that Christ was risen? No indeed. Faith is not credulity, faith is founded on evidence as stable as the foundation of the universe. That the reader may see the defect in the demand of Thomas, let us suppose a possible scene as occurring after this experience of Thomas, prior to the day of Pentecost. Bear in mind the fact that Thomas was study- ing to become a herald of liberty. The evidence upon which he rests his faith in the resurrection of Christ WITHOUT A PROCLAMATION 199 must be evidence which he can use to convince others of the same truth. Here is the illustration. Thomas has gone forth to proclaim deliverance to the captives of sin through the death and resurrection of Christ. Standing in the temple with a large audience before him, he speaks thus : "Men and brethren, hearken unto me, for I bring you good tidings. I bear solemn witness unto you that Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified and died and was buried, is risen from the dead. My testimony is true. I myself saw Him, after His resurrection ; yes, more ! I put my fingers in the print of the nails in His hands: and not satisfied with this, I thrust my hand into the spear-scar in His side. I therefore testify to a risen Saviour, and call upon all men to receive my testimony and believe on Him whom God has raised from the dead. Be it known "unto you, therefore, brethren, that through this man is preached forgiveness of sins. Believe it and be free." A voice from the multitude cries : "Bring Him forth ! Let us see Him ; let us see the print of the nails in His hands ; let us thrust our hands into His side. Except we shall see the print of the nails in His hands; except we shall put our fingers into the print of the nails and thrust our hands into His side, we will not believe." But Thomas in dismay replies: "He is not here. He has ascended on high and is seated at the right hand of the Father. I cannot present Him. But why not believe, oh, ye doubters ! Why not believe my testimony ? Have I not seen Him? Have I not felt the prints of the nails with these hands? Have not these very hands felt the spear-scar in His side?" But the only response to this earnest appeal is the increasing cry of the multitude, "Bring Him forth ! Let us see Him. Let us feel the scars of the crucified man. You demanded to see the risen man and so do we. You 200 PROCLAIMING LIBERTY rest your faith on your seeing, so do we. You refused to believe ere you could feel the print of the nails, so do we." And amid the angry clamor of the multitude; "Bring Him forth ! Show us the ma'n !" Thomas hurries away, ashamed of his weakness, discouraged, defeated. Now that we see the weakness of Thomas, let us search for that which will make him strong. What was it that the Lord wanted Thomas to believe without see- ing? Was it the unsupported testimony of the other disciples ? Two other doubting disciples are on their way to Emmaus on the afternoon of the resurrection day. "And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know Him" (Luke 24: 15, 16). Why did the Lord not make Himself known? why did He not open their eyes that- they might see Him ? Because He wanted them to believe what Thomas did not believe before they saw what Thomas demanded to see. And what is that? It is that which Jesus caused them to see before their eyes were opened to see Him. And this it is: "Then said He unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory ? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. . . . And it came to pass as He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and break and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him ; and He vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?" Luke 24 : 25-27, 30-32. Reader, do you see it? Do you see what the Lord WITHOUT A PROCLAMATION 201 wanted Thomas to believe before Thomas saw Him, and what He wanted Thomas and the other disciples to feel before they felt Him ? He wanted them to see Him risen in the Scriptures, the proclamation in parchment, be- fore they saw Him risen in the flesh. He wanted them to feel the burning words "concerning Himself" "in all the Scriptures," before their hands felt the scar-marked wounds in all His body. And it was these nail-marked, spear-pierced Scriptures that the Lord asked Thomas to see before he saw their fulfilment in his nail-marked hands and spear-scarred side. He should first have seen the prints of the nails in the pages of the proclamation; afterward in the paints of the Prince of peace. Yes, Thomas ought to have believed the testimony of the other disciples when they said to him, "We have seen the Lord." He ought to have been expecting to hear these glad words. He ought to have believed the prom- ise of the prophets, the proclamation of his prophet- Lord. His faith should have answered the resurrection message of his brethren with the cry, "I believe it. I knew that the sun of this third day could never set until that seal was broken and that stone rolled from the rocky prison of my Saviour Prince, and death had de- livered back the Lord of life. Did not the prophets prom- ise it? Did not He point us to His own proclamation through these holy prophets and declare that He would fulfil them and rise again the third day? I believe He is risen. I believe your testimony. I believe you have seen Him; I believe it because the proclamation of the prophets promises it. And when it shall please Him, I, too, shall see the beaming face of my blessed Lord/' "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have be- lieved." The failure to see and feel Christ in all the proclama- tion of the Scriptures, and to produce this proclamation, 202 PROCLAIMING LIBERTY was the weakness of Thomas in the illustration given. Thomas was weak because he lacked one of the two vital witnesses in the case. His witness was powerless with- out the confirming witness, the proclamation of the prophets. There are many today whose witness is weak for the same reason. They tell of what they have seen and felt, and expect the world to believe on the ground of their seeing and feeling. But the world replies, ''We have not seen what you have seen, nor felt what you have felt. When we have seen what you have seen, and felt what you have felt, we may believe what you be- lieve." They are not "mighty in the Scriptures." They do not confirm their testimony with the witnessing proc- lamation. Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost was pow- erful and productive because he first preached Christ risen in the promises of the prophets, and then bore per- sonal witness to His resurrection in fulfillment of their proclamation. Hear him combining these two witnesses in the burning words of power with which he concludes his testimony: "He [the prophet] seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses." Acts 2:31, 32. The Spirit speaking through the proclamation of the prophets, and the Spirit speaking through the witnessing apostle, are the two witnesses of a risen Lord. And these two are one. But, blessed are they that have not seen the scars on the spike-pierced hands and the spear-pierced side, and yet have believed the nail-pierced psalm ; and the Christ-filled seer. "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet believed." The apostle of liberty is powerless without the proclamation of liberty. WITH A PROCLAMATION 203 XXXV PROCLAIMING LIBERTY WITH A PROCLAMATION "It is written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me" (John 8: 17). Even Christ, the Son of God, did not ask the people to believe His message without a confirming wit- ness. "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me ; and I know that the witness which He witnesseth of me is true" (John 5 : 31, 32) . After thus declaring to the people that He did not ask them to believe His testimony uncon- firmed, He proceeds to introduce the two witnesses upon which He rested His Messiahship and the two witnesses which He asked the world to believe for salvation. Here is the first witness : "The works which the Father hath given me to ac- complish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me." Vs. 36. And here follows the second witness: "And the Father Himself which sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape. And ye have not His word abiding in you: for whom He sent, Him ye believe not. Ye search the scriptures because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear wit- ness of me." Vs. 37, 39. (R. V.) Thus it is made plain that Christ calls upon the world to receive Him on the combined testimony of His life, 204 PROCLAIMING LIBERTY "The life was the light of men" and the promise of that life in the scriptures of the prophets. The prophets witnessed to what Christ would be and do, while the life of Christ was a witness that He was and did what the prophets said He would be and do. One witness is Christ in manuscript, the other is Christ in man. One is the promise in parchment, the other the fulfillment in flesh. A vivid picture of these two wit- nesses testifying together is presented in the following scriptures : "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book and gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, This day is this scripture ful- filled in your ears." Luke 4: 16, 21. No marvel that "the people wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth," for they heard the two witnesses testifying as one. They heard "the volume of the book" in His hand and the voice of the book in His heart. Oh, that the perfect heavenly harmony of these two witnesses might be heard on earth once more! It is in the purpose and promise of God that these two witnesses shall continue their testimony even to the WITH A PROCLAMATION 205 end of the world. But one is powerless without the other. As these two witnesses testified in the mission of the Master, so must they testify in the mission of His messengers. The voice from the holy manuscript must be heard from the holy man; and consequently before the departure of Him who came into the world to "bear witness unto the truth" "Christ Jesus who before Pon- tius Pilate witnessed a good confession" before this heaven-sent Witness returned to His Father, He pro- vided for the witnessing of His two witnesses even to the end of the world. Hear Him as He instructs them: "These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scrip- tures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day : and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations be- ginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things" (Luke 24:44-48). "Ye also shall bear witness because ye have been with me from the beginning" (John 15:27). "Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jeru- salem and in all Judaea, and Samaria, and unto the utter- most part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matt. 28: 19, 20. These scriptures plainly show that the two witnesses, the writings of the holy prophets, and the testimony of the holy apostles, were to continue their witnessing unto the end of the world. The holy prophets, promising a 206 PROCLAIMING LIBERTY sin-remitting Redeemer, were to witness with the holy apostles, testifying to the fulfillment of these promises in the risen Lord. It was the Spirit's voice witnessing through the apostles, which produced the power of Pente- cost. Let us follow these two witnesses as they appear in the post- Pentecostal period of purity and power. If we are to realize a return of apostolic power, we must rec- ognize the forces which produced that power. Notice the presence of these two witnesses in the following re- corded discourses of the apostles, Peter and Paul: "Ye denied the holy one and the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life whom God hath raised from the dead ; whereof we are witnesses. . . . Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold these days." Acts 3 : 14, 15, 24. "And we are witnesses of all things which He did, both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree ; Him God raised up the third day and showed Him openly ; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with Him after He rose from the dead. ... To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name, whosoever believeth in Him, shall receive re- mission of sins." Acts 10 : 39-43. "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him. And though they found no cause of death in Him, yet desired they Pilate that He should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a sepulchre. But God raised Him WITH A PROCLAMATION 207 from the dead: and He was seen many days of them which came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses unto the people." Acts 13 : 23-31. "Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, zvitnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses said should come: that Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people and to the Gen- tiles." Acts 26: 22, 23. When the curtain falls on the last scene in the last cf the Acts of the Apostles the audience is in the city of the Caesars, and the actors are the two witnesses, Christ in the parchments of the prophets, and Christ in the apostle, the "prisoner of the Lord," as recorded in the following scripture: "And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them con- cerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening." Acts 28 : 23. In all the powerful, productive preaching, from Peter on the day of Pentecost, to Paul a prisoner at Rome, these two witnesses the voice from the holy manuscript and the voice from the holy man; the proclamation in the volume of the book, and the proclamation in the voice of the believer, were the witnesses used by the Holy Spirit in making that period the period of greatest power in the history of Gospel preaching. To all who are earnestly and honestly seeking for Penetecostal power, the results of this research are pray- erfully presented. Does the weakness lie in the absence of the witnessing proclamation, or in the absence of the witnessing preacher? Does it lie in the absence of the witnessing manuscript or of the witnessing man? 208 FAITHLESS FREEDMEN XXXVI FAITHLESS FREEDMEN And the Lord said unto Moses at the burning bush, "Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, say- ing, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt : and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt . . . unto a land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to thy voice." Ex. 3 : 16, 18. "Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice ; for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." Ex. 4:1. "And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And He said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it be- came a serpent ; and Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand : that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And He said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, be- hold, it was turned again as his other flesh. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken FAITHLESS FREEDMEN 209 to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land ; and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land." Ex. 4:2-9. "And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel." But they did not believe what Aaron told them. This is evident from the fact that Aaron did the signs which they were com- manded to perform in case the elders did not believe. At the first promise of deliverance, these solemn elders shook their hoary heads in hopeless unbelief. But Aaron threw the rod down among them, and the living serpent doubtless caused a movement among the elders, not un- like the movement which Moses made when he saw the serpent at the first. But Aaron took the serpent by the tail, and doubtless handed the harmless rod for inspec- tion to the cautiously returning elders; and they won- dered if there was not, after all, something in what Moses and Aaron had told them. But yet they did not believe. Then the second sign was performed. At the sight of the leprous hand there is another scene. When the hand was healed, no doubt there were many expressions of wonder at the power manifested, and many believed the message of Moses; but some doubted. Then the water of the river was poured out at their feet, and became a crimson stream. At the sight of the blood they believed, for it is written that "after Aaron did the signs" the people believed. But their belief was based on "seeing." There is a believing more blessed than this. "Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that 210 FAITHLESS FREEDMEN have not seen, and yet have believed." Believed what? Believed the word of God, of course. Had not God said to Abraham, "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge : and afterward shall they come out with great substance. . . . But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again" (Gen. 15:13-16). If the elders and people had believed God's word to Abraham, they would have be- lieved the message of Moses, and would have moved out by faith without seeing the signs. "We walk by faith and not by sight." But now that they have seen the signs, they think themselves men of faith, but they are not ; they are men of sight. "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe." The trouble in basing our believing on signs is that signs change. Now, instead of signs of deliver- ance there arise signs of bondage. Instead of hurrying out of Egypt after signs, they are hustling into Egypt after stubble; and instead of signs of more freedom, there are signs of more flogging. Now, the signs of the serpent and the blood are eclipsed by the signs of the stubble and the beating; and instead of rejoicing in Moses as the agent of their deliverance, they reproach him as the agent of their destruction. The signs have changed. Better, far better than the wriggling rod or the whitening hand, is this word of God to Abraham, "In the fourth generation they shall come hither again." THE BLESSINGS OF BONDAGE 211 XXXVII THE BLESSINGS OF BONDAGE There are blessings even in bondage. It was the bondage of Egypt that prepared the Children of Israel for deliverance. It is evident that but for the bondage they suffered, they would have preferred to remain in Egypt. It is clear from Ezek. 20 : 7-9 that they had, to a large extent, accepted the gods of the Egyptians, which would go to prove that they were settling down to be- come a component part of this heathen empire. As a preparation for their deliverance from spiritual bondage, God suffered them to experience physical bond- age. Consequently it is written, "He turned their [the Egyptians] heart to hate His people, to deal subtilly with His servants." This does not say that He made their heart hateful, but that He turned their hateful heart to hate His people. And all the bondage which fol- lowed was permitted because God loved His people, and desired only their good. The Egyptians feared that the Israelites would be- come strong and turn against them in time of war, "and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. . . . And they made their lives bitter with hard bond- age, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of ser- vice in the field: all their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor" (Ex. 1: 10, 14). It will be noticed that Pharaoh's plan to keep them in bondage was Jehovah's plan to set them free. "And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river." Ex. 1 : 22. 212 THE BLESSINGS OF BONDAGE When their bondage became unbearable, then "they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of their bondage. And God heard their groaning." Of course He heard it, and it pained His heart, '"for in all their afflictions He was afflicted." There was just as much love in the dealings of God with Israel at this time when He had turned the heart of the Egyptians to hate His people, as there was later when, with shouts of victory, and banners flying, they marched out of their cruel bond- age. God loved them just as much when by bondage and beating He was driving them to groan and cry, as when He delivered them, with joy and singing, on the day of their redemption. Reader, remember this truth. It will help you some dark day. "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." The Lord was listening for Israel's groans, and when He heard them He was glad. He listened for them to cry to Him for help. And when they cried He was glad, and hastened to halt the shepherd whom He had already prepared for such a time as this. And to him He said: "I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for / know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land, and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey." Ex. 3 : 7, 8. When Moses and Aaron with signs and wonders bore the glad tidings to the groaning bondmen, the bondmen were glad. "And the people believed : and when they heard that the Lord had visited the Children of Israel, and that He had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped." But their bondage was not yet over. Their bitterest bondage was ahead of THE BLESSINGS OF BONDAGE 213 them. God had succeeded in causing them to groan un- der their burdens ; He had called forth prayer for deliv- erance and had succeeded in causing them to "right about face," and look in the direction of the promised land. But now that they were facing forward, more afflictions must follow. Why? To help to hasten them out, and to help to keep them from returning. Many a slave of sin has seen his darkest hours after he had faced toward freedom. The Lord has to be careful in His chastisements lest we be driven into the depths of despair. He would like to so afflict us in our Egypt of sin, that we will forever remember its beatings, its bondage, and its blackness, so that however hard the way to the promised land may be we will never harbor the thought of returning. So we will cry at our Red Seas, at our bitter waters, and bread- less wastes, "It were better for us to die in the wilder- ness than to return to the world." With all their bitter bondage, with all their bleeding backs, with all their buried baby boys, these faithless freedmen continually talked of the advantages of Egypt of the land of burdens and of blood. They said, "It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness" (Ex. 14: 12) ; "Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, and when we did eat bread to the full" (Ex. 16:3) ; "Let us make us a captain, and let us return into Egypt." Num. 14 : 4. With all their bondage, it is clear they were not bur- dened enough. With all their beatings, they were not bruised enough. Though greatly blessed with bitter bond- age, they were not blessed enough. They would have been more blessed with these blessings if they could have 214 THE BLESSINGS OF BONDAGE borne them. God desired to prepare men to stand in the breach when the wilderness tests should come and the praises of Egypt should be sung by the faithless freedmen. With all their groans, and with all their bit- ter cries for deliverance from their bloody bondage, where was the freedman who, remembering these bitter days, stood forth at the wilderness crisis and cried : "Who is the man who would turn this host back to the bur- dens of Egypt? Has he forgotten the tyrant taskmas- ters? Has he forgotten his fainting, stumbling steps as he hastened into the harvest field after stubble in a hope- less effort to accomplish the tyrant's task? Men of Israel, have you so soon forgotten the naked backs, beaten bloody by the tyrant's lash? Mothers of Israel, have you forgotten the baby girls saved from their brothers' fate, only to feed the frightful hells of a heathen harem? Have you forgotten the baby boys that were torn from your bosoms and fed to the cruel croco- dile gods of your tyrant masters? "Return into Egypt? Never! A thousand times, No! Better, a thousand times better, perish in this wilderness than be enslaved to the uncircumcised, and see our chil- dren driven to the harem hell and the dragon of the Nile. For shame, men of Israel! On to the promised land! It is treason against Jehovah, the God of our fathers, to talk of returning to the heathen tyrant. Turn your backs forever upon the land of the tyrant and your face to the pillar of fire." "O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath re- deemed from the hand of the enemy." Blessed is the man who can bless God for the bondage that he was made to feel when in the land of the world, the flesh, and the devil. It was bondage of this kind, experienced by Wycliffe, by Luther, by Baxter, and by THE BLESSINGS OF BONDAGE 215 Bunyan, that led them ever to bless the day of their de- liverance and scorn the temptation to return to the bitter bondage of a condemning conscience. Though not counted in the class of overcoming saints just named, the writer desires to bear witness to the blessings of bondage. I bless God for the revelation of his blessed will concerning the bitterness and bondage of the awakened conscience of a soul in sin, and per- sonally, for every dark hour, for every bitter cry of a condemning conscience. And now let the reader and the writer unite with one of deep experience in the blessings of bondage, in prais- ing our great Deliverer for both our fetters and our freedom. "O that men would praise the Lord for His good- ness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men ! For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron ; because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the Most High: therefore He brought down their heart with labor ; they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their dis- tresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. "O that men would praise the Lord for His good- ness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder. Fools because of their trans- gression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat ; and they draw near unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and He saveth them out of their 216 THE BLESSINGS OF BONDAGE distresses. He sent His word, and healed them, and de- livered them from their destructions. "O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to 'the children of men ! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing." Ps. 107:8-22. XXXVIII FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN But they do not believe these ten words. They want more signs. More signs shall they see. Then the Al- mighty God of Abraham, the Jehovah of Moses, lays bare His glorious arm and strikes ten terrible blows at the gods of Egypt and the throne of the Pharaohs ; and there were plagues of murrain, of hail, and of blood. There were plagues of lice, and plagues of locusts, and plagues of lightning. There were plagues of frogs, plagues of flies, plagues of famine. There were heavens of blackness and rivers of blood. There were plagues in the herd and plagues in the home. There was death in the hovel and death at the throne. Israel saw signs in the heavens and signs in the earth; signs in the waters and signs in the winds; signs in the darkness and signs in the dust; signs in the living and signs in the dead. They saw the haughty Pharaoh humbled, the tyrant task- master tamed. The Hebrew slaves have plenty, the mas- ters of Egypt are poor. They saw all this and thought they believed; and with banners flying and with freedom's shout, they turned their backs on the brick kilns of Egypt, and faced toward the Ganaan of their father. They think they believe, but there is no evidence of faith as yet. They have seen signs, and are walking in the light of those FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN 217 signs. "We walk by faith, not by sight." "Without faith it is impossible to please Him." Faith is the evi- dence of things not seen. When the ten signs of free- dom are out of sight, and the signs of bondage again appear, will they then fall back on the words of God's unfailing promise? "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again." Reader, let us join this company in their march to the promised rest. Let us meet their trials with them. The results of this march "are written for our admoni- tion on whom the ends of the world are come." Though we are not literally marching from literal Egypt, we are literally passing through an experience which will result in our learning the lessons of faith which they failed to learn, or falling as they fell, in the wilderness of unbe- lief. "Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." Heb. 4:11. As this great host of sightseers are moving eastward in the direction of the promised land, led by the pillar of cloud, presently their glorious guide, instead of passing the northern arm of the Red Sea, turns southward and moves down the west side of the sea, thus placing the sea between them and their promised home. Soon the mountains on the right, and the sea on the left will shut them in. This is a sign to the sightseers that somebody has blundered. Does not God know that this is not the path to the promised land? Does He not know that there is no bridge across the Red Sea? Does He not know that there is no pass through the mountains ? Does He not know that He is leading the host into a veritable trap? Yes, He knows all this. But still He moves ma- jestically along. Yet there are more signs to see. There are strange sounds both felt and heard, 218 FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN sounds not unlike the first faint rumblings of the earth- quake; and looking back they see Pharaoh's maddened host. It is the wild gallop of the cavalry of Egypt; it is the roar of Pharaoh's chariots of iron, thundering down to avenge the blight of his fields and flocks, the blast of Egypt's fame, and the blood of its first-born. The signs have changed. And now there wells up from this great host of sightseers, a maddened murmur against Moses, which, when written by the recording angel, reads thus: "Because there were not graves enough in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?" Ex. 14:11. But why did the Lord lead to this place with the impassable mountains on the right, and the impassable sea on the left, and the implacable Pharaoh behind? Be- cause He wanted them there. Because He wanted them to believe Him when the signs were against them; He wanted them to graduate from the kindergarten of sight into the first reader of faith. He wanted them to say, "We have never seen our Deliverer drive a tunnel through a mountain and make an escape for a multitude like this; but He can do it if He will, and He will if it be well; let us wait in faith. We have never seen the God of Abraham plough a path through the sea and per- mit His people to pass over on dry land, but He can do it if He will. Remember His wonders in Egypt and His word to Abraham ; stand still O Israel, believe His prom- ise and ye shall see His salvation." But instead of the shout of faith there was the murmur of unbelief. Reader, what would you and I have done if we had been there? We can tell something of what we would have done then by what we are doing now. We are warned against falling "by the same example of unbe- lief." It must be therefore that we are being tested by trials and are having an opportunity to trust God in the 220 FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN presence of impassable seas of difficulty. May we take warning by this record of Israel's fall which was written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Israel failed to learn the lessons. They failed to be- lieve God without seeing. They "provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red Sea." But, though provoked, He is patient, and the cloud moves back to meet the charg- ing chariots. The heavens grow black and the host is halted. All night there is the blackness of darkness be- fore the host of Pharaoh, and the brightness of day be- hind the host of Israel. The sinful sightseers behold this new sign of salvation, and begin again to believe. But it is the belief that is based on sight, not the faith founded on the Word. Moses stretched his rod over the sea, and all night long while Pharaoh waited to destroy, Jehovah worked with wind and wave to redeem. While the deep sea moaned destruction, And its dark waves groaned despair, His wild winds walled its waters, His frost winds froze them there. "And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left" (Ex. 14: 22). When the last man was safe on the other side; when the waves had washed Pharaoh's mighty host in a mangled mass on the rocks at their feet, then the men of Israel believed, and the recording angel wrote as the monotonous diary of the day, "And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people . . . believed the Lord." They saw and be- lieved. "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed." FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN 221 They saw the tyrant lifeless beside the silent sea, then they sang the song of Moses, the song of victory. They saw and then sang. They sang the song of Moses, but was it their song? Moses had believed before the sea was furrowed, and while the tyrant lived. He had a right to sing the song of victory now that the host was delivered and the tyrant dead. God saw the sing- ing, dancing multitude, and knew they were not men of faith. But He will give them another chance to walk by faith when they cannot see their way clear. When the song was sung and the dancing done, the cloud rose and moved on to the waters of Marah. The people were thirsty, but the waters were bitter. The Lord knew the waters were bitter, and He knew that the people were thirsty. He wanted the waters bitter, and He wanted the people thirsty. He wanted to teach them to trust His saving power before they saw His saving power. Now is the time to sing the song of Moses, now is the time to dance. One shout now is worth a multitude a few minutes later. God was hungry to hear someone express confidence in His love and care. He wanted to hear that mother whose child is crying for water, say to the little one, "Be patient a little longer; I know you are thirsty, mother is thirsty, too. God knows how thirsty we are ; He knows the waters are bitter. He brought us here to give us a chance to trust Him. We failed at the Red Sea ; we murmured where we ought to have trusted. Let us sing of His goodness, and talk of His power. Be patient, child, and presently we shall have plenty of water. Stand still and see His glory." But instead of the song of faith, there is the old mur- mur of unbelief. Again they provoked Him, but still He was patient. Only three days from the dancing! The waters are sweetened, the thirst is quenched; another sign has been seen. The people now think they believe. 222 FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN Only another failure in their fast-filling record of un- belief. He will try them again. The cloud moves on to the wilderness of Sin. There is no bread in this wilderness. God knows it. They are getting hungry, but God knows that. He wants them in the wilderness without bread. He wants them hungry. He wants to hear these hungry men, when there is no bread in sight, talk of the promise to Abraham, and of His wonders in Egypt, and His terrible works at the Red Sea. He wants to hear them say, "Stand still, O Israel, and see the salvation of your God. There is no bread in sight, it is true, neither was there any deliver- ance in Egypt, but our God delivered us; neither was there any way through the sea, but He made a path and saved us. The waters were bitter at Marah, but He sweetened the fountain. We have never seen Him spread a table in the wilderness, but He is able, and willing. Wait for Him. We have failed thus far; let us have faith now." But instead of faith, He hears this terrible, wicked wish: "Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt when we sat by the flesh-pots, and when we did eat bread to the full, for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." God rained bread from heaven, they ate and believed. But they failed, utterly failed again. They are in dan- ger of committing the unpardonable sin. If they con- tinue this course of sinning and repenting, of murmuring under trial, and repenting after the trial is taken away, they will come to the place where no new trial will help them, when they will be hopelessly lost. Not because God has lost interest in them, but because His efforts to save them only harden their hearts, only make them more daring and reckless in their murmurings. FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN 223 Again the cloud moves on and the murmurers follow. "And all the congregation of the children of Israel jour- neyed from the wilderness of Sin after their journeys according to the commandments of the Lord, and pitched ir Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink." The Lord who led them there, knew there was no water. That was the reason He led them there. He wanted them to believe He loved them so much that He would not lead them where there was no water, unless He intended to furnish them water. Here is a grand opportunity to sing the song of Moses on the waiting side of the. water. And if they will but do it, there will be joy above the cloud, and joy within the cloud, and joy beneath the cloud, and streams of water in the desert, and the cloud will lead quickly from the wilderness of wandering to the land of rest. Reader, what would you have done? You can tell what you would have done by what you are doing now. If you are murmuring now, you would have murmured then. If you are trusting Him in trials here, you would have trusted Him in trials there. Turning to look at the host in the desert, we see them abusing Moses thus: "Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our chil- dren and our cattle with thirst." In the midst of this murmuring multitude, Moses looked up to heaven and cried unto the Lord, saying, "What shall I do unto the people; they be almost ready to stone me." At every failure to have faith from the first, their hearts have grown harder. They are throwing the stones of their hearts at Moses now, and soon they will be throwing the stones of their hands unless their stony hearts are changed. But why throw stones at Moses ? Moses had not led them to this desert. He had only followed the cloud. 224 FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN Their terrible charges of murder were not against Moses, but against the Lord who had led them in the cloud. "Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord," said the patient Moses at the previous trial. It would have pleased God just as well, and probably better, if they had threatened to throw stones straight at the cloud instead of threatening to throw them at God through Moses. Reader, stop throwing stones at Moses. Throw them straight at the cloud. It is more convenient and cour- ageous, and they will be just as well received, and it may be the awful thought of stoning that patient, tender, thorn-scarred face, will soften the heart, and empty the hand of the stoning one. I want to bear witness here to the saving power of this terrible truth. I used to stone Moses. I used to murmur against man; I used to blame my brethren for my failures. I came to see that I, too, was murmuring against Moses. But with heart and hand full of stones, I came one day face to face with the Father of Moses, with the "Father of Spirits" in the facts of this chapter and heard Him say to me through His word, "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the Father chas- teneth not?" (Heb. 12:5, 7.) When I heard this the stones melted out of my heart, and fell from my hand. I must not murmur at men; I cannot murmur at God. I must murmur no more. Returning to the thirsty, threatening camp of Israel, we read: "He smote the rock that the waters gushed out." Then the people drank and were glad. Now again they think they have faith, but they are farther from FAULTFINDING FREED MEN 225 faith than ever before. They are hurrying on to hopeless unbelief. The oft-provoked but ever patient God of Israel now plans the most magnificent display of divine power and glory the world has ever seen. The people are seeking after signs. They shall see signs until they are satisfied. They shall be surfeited with signs. They shall see until they beg to see no more. They shall hear until they shall cry for the sound to cease. Moses makes known the coming glory, and the people are gay in anticipation of what to them promises to be a grand holiday with a mag- nificent display of heaven's fireworks. The day arrives, and the people with excited anticipation press hard against the ropes which bound the base of the mountain from the curious multitude. At the first display of power, the people are pleased and press the harder for a nearer view of the glory. Of all the wonders which the sightseers have ever witnessed this is the most won- derful. Fearing that this faithless, foolish people will break through the bounds and be consumed in the coming glory, the Lord waits with His wonders while Moses goes down to warn the people not to let their lust for won- ders lead them to lose their lives. When the people were sure they had seen signs enough, sure that they should never need to see any more signs as long as they lived; when they had come to the conclusion that they much preferred to believe without signs, the Lord clothed His glory with the cloudy covering. The terrible sights, the awful sounds, ceased. Then came uneventful days, just ordinary days, nothing exciting. The days lengthened into twenty, then thirty, without signs. Almost forty and nothing to see! The glory gone, the trumpet stilled, the thunder ceased, the earthquake quiet, Jehovah silent, Moses out of sight, nothing to see; only the common cloud. "Be still, and 226 FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN know that I am God." But they would not be still and believe. "Up, make us gods which shall go before us ; for as for this Moses, the man which brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not wKat has become of him." Make us gods we can see. And they made them a molten calf and sang, not the song of Moses, but the madman's melody of the molten calf. "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." Then appeared the sign of signs. The long-suffering Saviour lengthened His love and pardoned this almost un- pardonable sin of His stiff-necked people! "His mercy endureth forever." Reader, I doubt not you are tired of this record of repeated unbelief. I hope you are so tired you will stop ir in your own life. For this purpose was it written in the divine record and for this purpose is it presented here. "Let us therefore labor to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." God will make another mighty effort to save them from their unbelief. He will let them see once more. He has shown them His power in Egypt, His glory at Sinai, and now He will show them the plenty of the promised land. They are camped at Kadesh Barnea on the borders of the land of promise. The spies have re- turned, and all Israel are gathered to see the signs of its plenty, and to hear of the prospects of an easy possession. When they saw the goodly grapes, the pomegranates, and the figs, they thought they had faith ; but when they heard of the walled cities and the giants, of the Hivites and Jebusites, the Amorites, and Canaanites; when the unbelieving spies began lying about the land, they lost their courage and began to cry. "And all the congrega- tion lifted up their voice and cried, and the people wept FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN 227 that night" (Num. 14: 1). When the morning came, the climax of their cruel unbelief came. "And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt ! or would God we had died in this wilderness ! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." Num. 14 : 2-4. They had talked before of the flesh-pots of Egypt, and wished they were back in Egypt; they had even wished that they had died there, or that God had killed them in the wilderness, but they had never before deliber- ately decided to return into Egypt. Back to the bond- age ! Back to the brick kilns ! Back to the beating ! Back to the butchers of their baby boys! Moses falls on his face in agony. Caleb and Joshua plant themselves in front of the murmuring, maddened mob, and make a final effort to stem a fatal stampede back into Egypt. Hear their glorious testimony of trust ! Hear their cour- ageous cry of unfailing faith ! "And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: and they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it us ; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us : fear them not." Vs. 6-9. But the shout of faith is to be answered with a shower 228 FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN of stones. The stones of their hearts are now in their hands ; and the murmur of the heart is now the murder of the hand. The maddened mob cry, "Stone them." "All the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel" (Vs. 10, 11). The trial is ended. The final, fatal provocation has appeared. They are weighed in the balance and found wanting. They have committed the unpardonable sin. Out of the glory, God speaks to Moses these few but fearful words : "How long will this people provoke me, and how long will it be ere they believe me for all the signs which I have showed among them. I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they." And what God here said He would do in their de- struction He did perform to the letter. It is true that Moses, not knowing that they were beyond hope, and thinking another trial might save them, pleaded with God to spare them; and for his sake God forgave them, but told Moses to say unto them, "As truly as I live saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you." Aroused by the awful doom to which their maddened murmuring has driven them, they repeat again their su- perficial repentance and offer to go up against their ene- mies. But it is now too late. What they were de- termined not to do with God, they are now determined to do without Him. They will go up alone. "Then the Amelekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah" (Num. 14: 45). In the eyes of the heathen the Almighty had been defeated in battle. Baal, the god 230 FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN of the Canaanites, had beaten Jehovah the God of Jacob ! During the forty years that followed, had you listened at the campfires of the Canaanites when the warriors told their tales of battle and triumph, you would doubt- less have heard how Jehovah the God of Jacob came with His host to the wall of their inheritance, and how, led by Baal, they had given battle, beaten Jehovah, and driven Him with His host back to the wilderness. f After this disgraceful defeat, the trumpet of retreat was blown, the pillar of cloud rose from the tabernacle, paused a moment, and then moved back into the wilder- ness. Jehovah in retreat ! Baal with blazing bonfires on every high place, is jubilant because Jehovah has been beaten in battle. The cloud moves back into the wilderness where the host must, wander and wait until the faithless have fallen. Tis only a funeral train. They are marching to their graves in the desert. The faithless fathers must fall to make way for the testing of the children. XXXIX THE FAITHFUL FREEDMEN After forty years of wicked wandering in the wilder- ness the trumpet of warning is blown again. The chil- dren of the fallen fathers watch the ascending cloud as it rises in majesty above the sacred sanctuary, and then with the clarion call of the trumpet move back toward the promised land. 'Twas a glorious day in the wilderness, when the trump of God was blown, And the mighty millions of Israel's host moved on to their prom- ised home. FAULTFINDING FREEDMEN 231 At length the Jordan is reached. But it is harvest time and its waters have overflowed its banks. God has chosen the swelling of Jordan for the testing of His people. The command to go over is given, and the chil- dren of the faithless fathers fall into rank, and led by the priests who bear the ark, move in the majesty of faith to the challenging waters. What results for weal or woe for the wandering host, are to be revealed in this momen- tous moment! Will we hear that murderous murmur so often heard in the host of the faithless fathers? Will the children cry like the fathers, "Were there not graves enough in Egypt where we could be buried, without bringing us here to drown us in the Jordan?" No such cry is heard. The host moves on. The priests are near- ing the brink of the swollen river. Jericho is waiting in terror the test at the Jordan. The angels wait beside the waters. Jehovah waits. The priests are near the brink. Silence reigns; but it is broken by the tread of the priests on the bosom of the troubled waters. The river has parted ; its waters are walled. The path is dry. Israel has triumphed. Jericho trembles. There is joy in heaven. 'Twas a glorious day in the wilderness, when the trump of God was blown, And the mighty millions of Israel's host moved on to their prom- ised home; When Jehovah's cloud in its glory grand o'er the swelling Jordan stood, While the men of faith from the wilderness moved on through its parting flood. 'Twas a fearful time in the cities proud, with their ramparts high and broad, When believing millions crossed the flood through faith in Israel's God. Then the giants trembled and quaked with fear in their gilded halls of shame, When they heard that Jacob had learned to trust in Jehovah's mighty name. THE FAITHFUL FREEDMEN 233 The reproach of Egypt is rolled away. And the cloud that had retreated into the wilderness forty years before, now followed by the faithful host, hastens to redeem the long-borne defeat. Jericho is chosen to show the power of Jehovah when followed by a faithful host. "Ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shall ye do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trum- pets of rams' horns ; and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass that when they make a. long blast with the rams' horns and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the walls of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him." Josh. 6:4, 5. But will there not be time enough to shout after the walls come down. Yes, but it will be the shout of sight, of unbelief. It will be the shout of the faithless, fallen fathers. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him." Shouting before the walls fall pleases God. Doubting before and shouting after displeases Him. But who ever heard of the walls of a city being shouted down! No one. No one need to hear of it to have faith in it. It was the unheard-of things which God used to test the faith of the fathers. But suppose we shout and the walls do not come down, what will the warriors of Jericho think of us ? These were questions not asked by the chil- dren. These were the questions of the fathers whose carcasses fell in the wilderness. The marches are ended. The faithful host stand facing the frowning walls. The blast of the trumpet is heard. "And it came to pass that when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the walls fell down flat, so that the 234 THE FAITHFUL FREEDMEN people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city." Josh. 6 : 3-5, 20. The children have stood where the fathers fell. Je- hovah has conquered. Jericho has cfumbled. "We walk by faith, not by sight." "Without faith it is impossible to please Him." "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our ad- monition unto whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10: 11, 12). "Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." Heb. 4: 11. 'Twas an awful time for the faithless man who refused to leave his sin; He had failed to learn from the desert tests, and he could not enter in. But the conquering host by the pillar led moved on to Canaan's shore, And the faithless fell in the wilderness, for the sifting time was o'er. Tis an awful time for the faithless man in the church of God today, For the final sifting at last has come; he is falling by the way. But the justified in their armor bright, and with faith their bat- tle cry, Are marching today 'gainst the walls of sin, with power from on high. Tis a glorious time for the church today; for the trump again has blown, And the hosts of God by the pillar led, move on to their prom- ised home; And the Holy Ghost in the "latter rain" with his peace and jo> and power, O'er the church now falls with refreshing floods, like a glorious summer shower. THE FAITHFUL FREEDMEN 235 Chorus. The pillar of cloud is rising! Behold! what a glorious sight! It moves toward the land of promise. Awake ! O ye children f light ! The trump of God is calling the wilderness-wandering host Away from the desert sinful; "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." XL THE ORIGINAL PROCLAMATION, IS IT AUTHENTIC? "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." Rev. 12: 11. I shall never forget the hour when the truth and power of the above scripture, came to my help in the time of temptation. I was delivering a series of dis- courses in London on the blighting influence of modern Spiritualism. On the third night a number of strangers entered the hall, and seated themselves on the front seats. 1 felt, though why I could not tell, forebodings of a battle with the dragon, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan. Remembering that to be forewarned is to be forearmed, I determined, if possible, to discover the enemy. To do this I announced a most thoroughly evangelistic hymn, and we sang: "I am coming to the cross ; I am poor and weak and blind, I am counting all but loss, I shall full salvation find. "I am trusting, Lord, in Thee, Blessed Lamb of Calvary, Humbly at Thy cross I bow, Save me, Jesus, save me now." I watched to see who were for us and who for our enemies. The plan succeeded quickly in discovering sev- 236 THE ORIGINAL PROCLAMATION, eral of the enemy, and supposing that those who bowed their heads reverently on taking their seats and who sang this Gospel hymn freely, were friends, I proceeded with the discourse, meeting, as I anticipated, the determined resistance of the discovered enemy, manifested in sar- castic smiles and whispered ridicule. But the Lord by His Spirit triumphed over it all, and the meeting was drawing to a successful close, when a gentleman (whom I had taken for a friendly, evangelistic clergyman, be- cause of the reverence manifested in bowing his head in prayer on taking his seat, and because of his singing so freely the testing hymn at the opening), begged most politely permission to ask the speaker a question. This being granted, he arose and addressing the audience, said: "The speaker of the evening has made the statement that the teachings of Spiritualism destroy faith in Jesus Christ. This is a strong statement, and I ask for definite proof." I replied briefly that Spiritualists who desired to become Christians had come to me to be prayed with that they might be delivered from the blighting shadow of Spiritualism, and that Spiritualists did not believe in salvation through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. To this the questioner replied that he held in his hand the standard book of authority on Spiritualism in the Kingdom, and said he would like to read from this book what Spiritualists did really believe regarding Jesus Christ. Permission being given, he read several para- graphs containing beautiful sayings about Christ, the purity and simplicity of His life, His opposition to phari- seeism and formality, and many other good things. On hearing this the audience seemed troubled, and looked at me with expressions on their faces which said inau- IS IT AUTHENTIC? 237 dibly, but plainly, "Mr. Ballanger, Have you not made a mistake in your statements concerning Spiritualism?" Seeing their perplexity, I exhorted them to listen at- tentively to the gentleman, knowing that it would not be long before this wolf in sheep's clothing would be unmasked. When he came to a pause, I said, "But, neighbor, do Spiritualists believe in salvation through faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ?" "I have more that I desire to read," replied the gen- tleman, evading the question. Then followed more beautiful things about Christ. When he came to another stop, with unbounded confi- dence in the overcoming power of the blood of the Lamb, I asked again, "But do Spiritualists believe in salvation through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?" "I have another selection which I desire to read," he replied. His evasion of the question only whetted the appetite of the audience for his answer. Again he read, and read as if afraid to stop for fear the same piercing, overcoming, crimson question would be asked. At last he paused, and again I asked, "But do Spirit- ualists believe in salvation through the atoning blood of the Son of God?" He could evade the question no longer. After a moment's hesitation, while the crimson crept to his cheeks, with a sudden burst of rage he shed his sheep's clothing, and with the howl of a wolf, he began railing on "a God that would permit His innocent Son to die for a race of criminals." The deception was disclosed, the victory won. But it was only half won. The blood of the Lamb had conquered the gentle, meek-mannered wool-clothed deceiver ; but the bristling, fighting, bloodthirsty wolf was yet unconquered, and rising again, he returned to the IS IT AUTHENTIC? 239 charge with the ferocity of a wounded beast. This is what he growled: "I challenge the speaker to find a text in Matthew, Mark, or Luke which declares that salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ. It can be found in John, but it is not found in any of the other gospels. If it is so im- portant a doctrine as you affirm, why is it not found in the other books? I challenge you, sir, to find the text in the three books named." This was a trap, and I quickly fell into it. But I am glad now that I did, for I came out of it more than con- queror through Him that loved us. Instead of ignoring the challenge and declaring that one scripture was all- sufficient, I foolishly followed the bait, and turned and read the very scripture that the enemy was hoping I would read. Turning to the sixteenth chapter of Mark I read the 15th and 16th verses. "And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned." With the flush of certain victory on his face, and in tones of triumph, he turned to the audience and said: "This man is behind the times ; he is out of date, and he has an out-of-date, back-number Bible. I hold in my hand the up-to-date Bible. I have the Revised Version, and there is in the margin of this Bible opposite the text which he read, this note: "The two oldest Greek manu- scripts omit from Ver. 9 to the end." "And now I ask the gentleman," he continued, "which manuscript constitutes his Bible? Which translation is your authority? There is not a page of original manu- script now in existence; nor is there a copy old enough to reach within four hundred years of the times of the apostles. How do you know that you have the writings 240 THE ORIGINAL PROCLAMATION of apostles? How can you prove that your book is the Word of God?" Reader, what answer would you have given? Are you able to meet that attack? If not; you are certainly defeated in the presence of infidelity, either masked in the church, or unmasked in the world. The object of the following chapter is to make known the answer to those who do not know it, and to point the way to that place of power where the question will never be asked. XLI THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY There is an answer to the question asked by the in- fidel, and the answer, though simple, is charged with a power which no man, whether potentate or peasant, or body of men, whether sanhedrim of Solons or synagogue of Satan, will ever be able to gainsay or resist. This overcoming answer is named in the scripture at the head of this chapter. "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony." It was with this weapon that I met the second charge of the enraged adversary. I testified that I knew the book to be the Book of God because of the transforma- tion it had wrought in my life, that whereas once I was the slave of sinful habits, now I was free. Freedom had come into my life through faith in the promises recorded in the Book. The reader may have expected a more scholarly, criti- cal analysis of the comparative claims to genuineness and authenticity of the various manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments. He may have looked for an answer THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY 241 more powerful. There is no answer more powerful. It is the answer of the seeing man, born blind, to the quib- bling questions of the blind pharisees. "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see." It is the companion answer to that one at the Beautiful Gate, con- cerning which this is written : "And beholding the man which was healed standing with them they could say nothing against it." It is the sin-sick man, now healed, who answers the questions of the critics as to the genuineness of the manuscript. Xote this illustration: A man is hobbling along the street with a cane in each hand, his face the very picture of pain, stiff in every joint, sore in every muscle. A gentleman meets him with the sympathizing remark: "Good afternoon, friend. You appear to be a great sufferer. It is rheumatism, I suppose." "Yes, it is rheumatism, and I have suffered from it for twenty years. It has grown steadily worse. I am regarded as incurable by the physicians, and I'm only trying to be patient until the end comes, which I hope will be soon." "Don't despair, you can be cured," replies the sym- pathizing stranger. "I suffered with rheumatism as long as you have, and was as badly crippled. But this remedy (drawing a paper from his pocket) was recommended to me. I took the treatment and am cured. There is not a stiff joint nor sore muscle in my body, and I am en- tirely free from pain." "Do you mean to say that you had rheumatism as badly as I have, and that this remedy (taking the manu- script) cured you?" "That is just what I said, and that is what I mean, and I can bring witnesses in abundance, among them my wife and children, who will testify to the physical trans- formation which that remedy has wrought in my life." 242 THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY At this point a third man approaches, addressing the sufferer thus : "You appear to be greatly afflicted^ I judge you are suffering with rheumatism." "Yes, but I am just now intensely interested in a remedy for rheumatism which this gentleman has handed me, and which he positively affirms cured him after he had been afflicted as long and as sorely as I." "Will you kindly let me see the remedy?" says the third man. "Certainly." "This is written in Greek, is it not? I cannot read Greek; will you kindly translate it for me?" The first gentleman reads the remedy. "That's all right, that's all right," replies the third gentleman enthusiastically. "It is a perfect and perma- nent cure. I have a copy of the same remedy written in Latin (produces an old manuscript), and it was this remedy that cured me after twenty-five years of torture. And it will cost you nothing. You can have a copy of it without money and without price. It cost me nothing, and it will cost you nothing. All we ask in return is that when you are cured, you will recommend the remedy to others." At this point, a fourth man joins the group, and on learning the subject of conversation, asks to see the won- derful remedy, and is handed the Greek copy. "I cannot read Greek, I am sorry to say," says this fourth gentleman. "Let him see your Latin copy, friend," says number two, addressing the third gentleman. "Neither can I read Latin," says number four, "I have forgotten practically all I learned of the language while at college." (Third man translates the Latin copy.) "That's the remedy. That's the remedy," says the THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY 243 fourth man animatedly. "That's the cure for rheumatism ! Here is the same one, only in English (producing a printed paper). The remedy is perfectly reliable. It cured me when I was within a step of the grave; and I have known of many others whom it has cured. I was once as sorely afflicted as you, friend, and I was cured, permanently cured, by that simple remedy. I can pro- duce many witnesses from among my family and friends who will testify to the cure it has effected in me." Reader, do you not see the force of all this ? Would not the sufferer from rheumatism be foolish in the, face of all this living testimony, to begin to quibble about whether the Greek copy shown him was the original copy, or whether the others were faithful translations ? Would not the cured man before him bear testimony to the gen- uineness and authenticity of the remedy? What matters i< to him whether the copies shown him are the originals, or copies of the originals, or copies from copies of the originals; translations, or translations from translations, just so they contain the cure? The whole world is sick with sin. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." The Bible from cover to cover presents God's remedy for sin. "They shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." But the remedy was never ordained to go on its mission alone. The great commission does not read, "Send Bibles into all the world," but, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" ; "Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord"; "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me . . . unto the uttermost parts of the earth" ; "Ye are our epistles, written in our hearts, known and read of all men" ; "Ye are the light of the world" ; "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory" ; "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" ; "Let your light so shine before men 244 THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." In continuing the illustration, suppose the sufferer from rheumatism should have discovered a time-stained copy of the remedy for rheumatism among some old cast- away documents in an obscure nook in the garret. How could he be sure that the remedy was reliable? How could he tell whether it would kill or cure? As he sits in pain and reads the promised cure, in his perplexity and doubt, what is it that is needed to inspire faith in the remedy? There is needed the recommendation of a man who has been redeemed from rheumatism by the power of that remedy. This is not saying that the Spirit of God could not persuade the sin-sick man to test the treatment without a living witness. "All things are possible with God/' But God's ordained plan for the proclamation of His remedy for sin, is to put His Spirit on the living witness, and thereby qualify the cured man with power to bear testimony to the cure. The promised Pentecostal power did not fall on the manuscript, but on the man. The message of the manu- script was given by inspiration of God, and needed not the baptism of power. It was the people of the upper room, not the parchment, which needed the Pentecostal power. It is the man who carries a copy of the God- breathed remedy for sin in his hand, and a sample of its cure in his heart, whom God baptizes with power from on high, which all his "adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist." There were disputes about the manuscripts in the days of Christ's ministry; the Samaritan doctors denied the genuineness of all the Old Testament save the five books of Moses. The Sadducees questioned the authen- ticity of some of the prophets. But among all the ques- THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY 245 tions which Christ was called upon to answer, there was not one concerning the genuineness of the manuscript. And why? Because the cured man, the manuscript-made flesh, was manifest before them. And they were too busy righting the "Word made flesh" to find time to fight the Word in manuscript. So long as they could not resist the living demonstration of the power of the book, why attack the book? Why attack the prophets of the resur- rection, while the promise lives in a living Lazarus? It was Christ the life-giver, and Lazarus the living life, which the higher critics sought to kill in the days of old. What did the fishermen, Peter and John, know about the quibbles of the higher critics? They were schooled in the nibbling of the fish, but not in the quibbling of the Pharisees. When brought before the higher critics for examination, they were not questioned concerning the quibbles regarding the genuineness of the book, but con- cerning the cripple who was healed at the Beautiful Gate, the genuineness of whose healing they could not deny. And what astonished these higher critics most after their astonishment at the miracle of the healed man, was the boldness of Peter and John who knew nothing about the higher criticism, and who were, therefore, in their estima- tion, only unlearned and ignorant men. Let us read this interesting story : "Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb, was car- ried, whom they laid at the gate of the temple, which was called Beautiful, to ask. alms of them that entered into the temple. W T ho, seeing Peter and John about to gc into the temple, asked an alms. And Peter, fasten- ing his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said: Silver and gold have I 246 THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY none, but such as I have give I unto thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up; and im- mediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he, leaping up, stood and walked with them into the temple, walking and leaping, and praising God. "And all the people saw him walking and praising God. And they knew that it was he who sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's Porch, greatly wondering. "And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this: or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk: The God of Abraham, and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His son Jesus : whom ye delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of Life whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And His name, through faith in His name, hath made this man strong whom ye see and know. Yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers ; but those things which God hath showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He hath so ful- filled." Acts 3: 1-18. The boldness of Peter and John at the trial that fol- lowed was encouraged by the presence of the standing, walking, leaping, praising demonstration of the healing THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY 247 power of the Christ, promised in the manuscript of "all the prophets." Hence what we need today is the cured, converted man, the Word made flesh, to bear testimony to the genuineness of the Word made manuscript. Peter and John, and the rest of the little band, knew that they were "unlearned and ignorant men." They real- ized their need of the all-wise, all-powerful Leader and Redeemer to continue His demonstrations of the healing, converting power promised in the parchments of the prophets, in order that they might continue their bold- ness in preaching the promises of the Word. Conse- quently on returning from the threatening council, they called a prayer meeting, and this is what they prayed : "And now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto Thy servants that with all boldness they may speak Thy word, by stretching forth Thy hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of Thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness." Acts 4:29, 31. Since the genuineness and authenticity of God's rem- edy for sin, the Gospel, is demonstrated only by the cured or converted sinner, it is clear to all that the lack of the living witness, the converted man, leaves the world to doubt the genuineness of the remedy. Here lies the reason for the startling increase of infidelity in the church regarding the inspiration of the Scriptures. My own experience bears testimony to this truth. When, through failure to follow faithfully God's formula for the cure and prevention of sin, I find myself the vic- tim of the disease, the first temptation is to question the remedy. But on the other hand, when faithfully fol- lowing the treatment prescribed, I find myself spiritually well and strong, my confidence in the cure is unbounded. 248 THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY When I fail to let the remedy doctor me, I feel I must doctor the remedy. Herein lies the difficulty of today. "In the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, . . . lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God ; having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof." 2 Tim. 3 : 1-5. Thus it is seen that the last-day perils proceed not from the infidel outside of the church, but from the man inside the church who has the form of godliness but not the power. It is this man that is criticising the in- spiration of the manuscript, and the genuineness of its cure. The cured are never critics, and the critics are never cured. XLII FALSE WITNESSES Returning to the illustration of the preceding chap- ter, what impression would be made on the rheumatic sufferer, should thirty other men join the group and pro- fess to have been cured by the treatment, when their wan faces, wasted forms, and limping walk, testified that the treatment had not cured them? Would not the influence of these thirty men have a tendency to discourage the rheumatic sufferer in his hope of a cure? Are not the thirty men who claim to have taken the cure, but who are not cured, bearing witness against the remedy? What a perplexity confronts the man! Three witnesses for and thirty against the cure! If he decides to take the treat- ment, he must believe the testimony of the three and dis- credit the thirty. And what are the three to do if they FALSE WITNESSES 249 save the sufferer from rejecting the remedy? Must they not above all, convince the man that they are cured? Must not their testimony be so true and faithful, and so enthusiastic, and the evidence of a cure so apparent as to cause the sufferer to discredit the statement of the thirty who say that they have faithfully followed the remedy ? This illustrates the peril unto which the Gospel of salvation has come in our day. Once the adversary worked to destroy the Gospel by destroying those who could witness to its cure. Now he works to destroy con- fidence in the cure by means of a counterfeit cure, a cure which claims to be genuine, but which has only the form without its power. It is by means of these many false witnesses which he has sent out into the world that he is destroying faith in the saving power of the Gospel, men who profess to be Christians, cured men, but whose love of the world, love of money, love of pleasure, or love of applause, prove that their claim to be cured of all these carnal afflictions is false. Before leaving this phase of the subject, let me ask, What would you think, reader, of a man or a woman, a crippled, deformed, limping rheumatic sufferer, who would go from house to house recommending a cure for rheumatism? And what would you think of such a per- son condemning another for not receiving the remedy which he recommends with his lips, but belies with his life? Oh, how many fathers and mothers have upbraided their sons and daughters for not receiving Christ when their own limping lives bear witness that they themselves have not received Him ! How many husbands, and how many wives, condemn their unbelieving companions un- der the same sad circumstances ! How many spiritually diseased and deformed professing Christians criticise 250 FALSE WITNESSES their unbelieving neighbors and friends for not professing the Christ when they themselves are condemned by their own lives ! It is the spiritual cripples who have not faithfully submitted to the treatment, and who have not been cured, who throw doubt and discredit on God's remedy for sin. And it is from among these who have a form of godli- ness without the power who profess to be cured with- out being cured that the criticism of the cure is coming. After stating that this condition would characterize the church in the last days, the apostle-prophet, knowing that this would mean an attack on the Scriptures, follows his prediction of last- day formality with a testimony to the saving power, inspiration, and all-sufficiency of the message of the manuscript, and calls for a faithful preach- ing of that Word, in view of the fatal falling away from its faith to the fables of men. "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine ; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears FALSE WITNESSES 251 from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2 Tim. 3: 14-17; 4: 1-4. It was the Word made flesh in the Master, and the same Word made flesh in His followers, which silenced the critics in the days of Christ and His apostles. There was no chance to criticise the inspiration and integrity of the Book, so long as all the promises of the parchment were living realities in the life and labor of its apostles. What is the meaning, therefore, of the boldness and defiance of this last-day departure from, and denunciation of the old-time faith in the integrity and inspiration of the Book? The cause is well-nigh lost, from a military point of view, when the friends of the cause are beaten at the front, and the enemy has captured the base of supplies with its stores of food for the fighting men at the front and their munitions of war. The ease with which the enemy attacks the inspiration of the Book, the base of supplies for the Christian campaign, speaks loudly of the weakness of the warrior at the front. The writer boldly charges that the startling criticism of the manuscript today, is due entirely to the weakness of the professed warriors of Christ whose "form of god- liness without the power" unfits them to face the foe, and thus leaves the witnessing word to fall into the hands of the enemies of the cause of Christ. But although this is our position and this our peril, there is hope. Though the case seemed hopelessly lost to the lonely prophet, the Lord informed him of seven thousand who had not yet bowed the knee to the con- quering Baal. This is not the first time the Philistines have defeated and disarmed the host of God. 252 HOW THE CAUSE WAS ONCE SAVED XLIII HOW THE CAUSE WAS ONCE SAVED Once, when the cause was lost, and the warriors dis- armed and the nation enslaved, a single sword saved the day. Israel had sinned and lost his boldness in battle. The Philistines had conquered and carried away his weapons of war. "There was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan : but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found" (1 Sam. 13:22). Also, there was no chance of making any swords, for, "there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears. But all the Israelites went down to the Philis- tines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his ax and his mattock." Vs. 19, 20. All was quiet so long as Israel was satisfied to be slaves of the Philistines and farm for a livelihood, and keep the two swords in their scabbards. But one of the swordbearers was determined to fight for deliverance from this disgraceful slavery. "And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it" ( 1 Sam. 13:3). "And the Philistines gathered themselves to- gether to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six hundred thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude, and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Beth-aven. "When the men of Israel saw that they were in u strait (for the people were distressed) then the people HOW THE CAUSE WAS ONCE SAVED 253 did hide themselves in caves and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people (about six hundred men) followed him trembling." 1 Sam. 13 : 5-7. In some respects this is a striking representation of the situation as it stands today between the forces of the church and the world. Through departing from God the church today has practically lost to the enemy "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." There are some, like Saul, who still have their swords, but they are afraid to use them because of the presence of the great multitude of destructive Philistine critics, who have de- feated and disarmed the great majority of their sin- v;eakened. brother warriors. The church has ceased to be aggressive. Some have gone over to the enemy, some have crawled into silent seclusion, and the remainder, swordless and scared, are trembling around the sword- sheathed Saul and the sacred ark. But, though the situation today, as in the days of Saul, is desperate, it is not hopeless. The deliverance can and will be wrought now as it was wrought then. Jonathan still possessed a sword, and unlike Saul, he had faith in its cutting qualities. It made no difference to him whether his father, or any of the fathers of Israel, had faith to fight, he would go up against the enemy alone. "And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised : it may be that the Lord will work for us : for there .is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few." 1 Sam. 14 : 6. Here lies the secret of Jonathan's success. Jonathan 254 HOW THE CAUSE WAS ONCE SAVED believed in miracles. He believed in miracles, not mira- cles only in the days of Moses, but in the days of Jona- than. Only by a miracle can God save by few or by many. Here is the weak spot in the- warrior of today. He does not believe in the miraculous power behind the sword of the Spirit. If he has not yet repudiated the possibility of Moses' miracles, he has forsaken the pos- sibility of modern miracles, which is the same thing in its practical effect on the righting forces of his faith. "And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, . . . and they fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer [who doubtless had captured a sword from the enemy] slew after him. . . . And there was trem- bling in the host, in the field, and among all the people ; the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked : so it was a very great trembling." Verse 13. The trembling is now transferred from the swordless six hundred at Migron to the scattered millions at Mich- mash. "And Saul and all the people that were with him as- sembled themselves and they came to the battle. . . . Moreover, the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time, which went up with them into the camp from the country round about, even they also turned to be with the Israelites that were with Saul and Jonathan. Likewise all the men of Israel which had hid themselves in Mt. Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle. So the Lord saved Israel that day." 1 Sam. 14:20-23. In like manner will Israel be saved today. Come, reader, let us go up against these uncircumcised enemies of God's Word. I still have a sword, thank the Lord, HOW THE CAUSE WAS ONCE SAVED 255 a sword sharpened at God's great grindstone, personal experience, a sword whose keen edge has never been ground dull on the grindstone of modern criticism. Leave the swordless six hundred who tremble for the safety of the ark. God will take care of the ark. The base of supplies is safe at the rear, while we faithfully fight at the front. Up, comrades, let us go to the front ! God will defend the Book. It is not the Word made manuscript that is to meet the enemy in battle, but the Word made man. The sword of the Spirit which triumphed in Christ and again in the apostles, was the Word made flesh. It was this living witness-warrior that was baptized with fire and power at Pentecost, who conquered the critics at Jerusalem and at Athens, that transferred the fight from the Word made manuscript to the Word made man. It is this class of warriors that will rescue the Book today from the hands of the Philistine critics. And when this shall be done, then the trembling will be transferred from the camp of the saints to the camp of the critics ; then the disarmed, defeated dominie who has crawled into silent 'seclusion at the approach of the hostile host of modern critics, will crawl out of his hiding and seize a sword wrested from the enemy by some Jonathan and his armor-bearer, and join the victorious chase. Indeed, it may then be as before, that some who in their weakness have gone over to the Philistines, some who are counted in the camp of the critics, will turn to be with Jonathan and his conquering host. Now in closing this thought, let the writer introduce another paragraph from his fighting experience to con- firm that which has been written. 256 PERSONAL EXPERIENCE XLIV PERSONAL EXPERIENCE It was in the midst of a series of successful revival services that a man called upon me at my lodgings. With abundance of self-confidence he began the interview by informing me that there was positively no reality in that Gospel which I was preaching; that the whole thing, Bible and all, was a gigantic fraud. "What do you know about it?" I asked. "Were you ever a Christian?" "Oh, yes," was the confident reply. "I have been through the whole thing. I have been in the church and now I am out. And there is absolutely nothing in it." Looking the stranger straight in the eye, I said: "Friend, did you ever experience the power of the Gos- pel to save you from enslaving, besetting sins which you had struggled in vain to conquer ? Did you ever experi- ence the power of the Gospel to save you from selfishness and self-esteem, from harboring hardness in your heart for an enemy who had wronged you, from unclean thoughts and selfish ambitions ? Did you ever experience the power of God to deliver you from these fleshly lusts and keep you delivered?" This was a dangerous question, and like the Pharisees of old when they were questioned, he dreaded to answer. No wonder he was afraid. If he answered, "Yes," he was a liar, because he had said the whole thing was a fraud. If he answered "No," he was a liar, because he had said he had explored all there was to experience. He hesitated, but finally answered "No." PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 257 "Come, my brother," I continued, "you are condemn- ing that about which you know nothing. You remind me of the boy who lacked the shilling necessary to admit him to the exposition, but who, when the other boys came out, attempted to tell them what was and what was not inside. You have never been inside; how can you tell me that there is nothing in it? Come inside, experience the power of the Gospel, and then you will be able to talk more intelligently of what there is in it." Subdued and humbled, he went away. Do you see what it was that defeated him ? He came prepared to talk wisely on the mistakes of Moses and the manuscripts, on their integrity and inspiration; but before he reached the Book, he was mortally wounded by a thrust from the sword of the Spirit, "the Word made flesh," or personal experience. "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." Oh, for men who have an overcoming tes- timony to bear to the power of the Gospel to heal and to keep strong! But there are so many who have tampered with the treatment instead of faithfully following the Gospel di- rections, and who in consequence are not cured ; and what is worse, have lost confidence in the cure; and who not only are not able to bear testimony to its power, but by life and lips are witnessing against it. Faithful witness must here be borne to the sad fact that it is more difficult to bring real salvation to the gray-haired churchman who has all his life held back a part of the price, and who, in consequence, has forty years of experimental failure to fall back on, when told of the saving and keeping power of the Gospel, than it is to save the harlot and the pub- lican. It stands to reason that when a man or woman has 258 PERSONAL EXPERIENCE taken a certain remedy for a certain disease for forty years without experiencing a cure, it is hard to restore confidence in the remedy. It is tampering with the rem- edy instead of faithfully taking it, tha't leads to its re- pudiation and its fearful consequences. "Except a man forsake all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple." "Neither yield ye your members as instru- ments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Once I was drifting away with the tide, The sport of the wind and the wave; The storms of temptation were driving my bark To find 'neath the breakers a grave. "Lengthen your cable, the anchor will hold," I heard 'bove the roar of the blast; I lengthened my cable, O praise ye the Lord, My anchor is holding at last. Chorus. It holds, hallelujah, it holds, it holds! My anchor's holding fast; The Rock of the Ages unmovable stands, My anchor holds at last. It holds, hallelujah, it holds, it holds! The cable bears the shock; The waves of temptation dash harmlessly by I'm anchored to the Rock. Since I was rescued from drifting and death, I've breasted the wind and the wave; And given my life with a joy that is new, Poor, perishing sinners to save. "Lengthen your cable, the anchor will hold," I've cried to the wrecks as they passed; Some lengthened their cables, O praise ye the Lord, And anchored with me from the blast. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 259 Thousands of churchmen are drifting today, As wrecks in the storm and the cold; By drifting, my brother, you say to the lost, "The anchor of God will not hold." Lengthen your cable, the anchor will hold; The word of the Lord cannot fail; Yes, lengthen your cable, O glory to God, I'm anchored at last from the gale. Oh, who is there drifting, all helpless today, By tempest of passion or pride, A wreck rushing on to the breakers of death, Quick ! Anchor your bark by my side. Lengthen your cable, the anchor will hold, I know, for my anchor is fast; Yes, lengthen your cable, O praise ye the Lord, My anchor is holding at last. XLV A WONDERFUL DELIVERANCE FROM SIN AND SICKNESS "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth forever." "O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people." It is in response to this exhortation of the Lord to tell of His goodness, that these lines are written. My heart was in such a condition that at any moment it was liable to cease to act. My nerves were shattered, my bowels had no power to act without artificial aid. 1 went to the infirmary at Peterboro (England) and was treated for six months, but came home no better. All the while I was troubled with dropsical swellings ; sometimes my face, then my feet, legs and hands. It was thought a bath cabinet would help me, and one was pro- cured. I would sit in this from one to three hours to 260 A WONDERFUL DELIVERANCE help keep back the swelling. I would faint over and over again, but only by that means was the swelling kept down. But I seemed to have got a ray of hope regardless of out- ward appearances, and I battled on for my life. Days of weariness and suffering constitute my history, espe- cially from the age of seventeen to thirty-three. But at this time I met with an experience which brought my suf- ferings to an end and it is now eighteen months since I was delivered from the bondage of sickness. My heart burns to tell the sweet story of deliverance from sin and sickness. I was then in a little company of believers in South Wales where I had gone in search of health. A good brother came there to hold meetings for the benefit of the little company. The first night he told us of deliver- ance from sin, and declared liberty to the captives. He dwelt on the thought that when the Lord died on the cross we died with Him. When He entered "within the veil" and was seated on the right hand of God, we en- tered with Him. Continuing, he said: "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." One of the company saw the liberty and was set free that night. A new experience marked his life. I was feeling somewhat depressed, and was not ready to shout victory. The next night the minister went further and said, if we would by faith reckon ourselves dead unto sin, the Lord would care for the result. We were already free, would we not be- lieve it? The Lord desired us to believe. He said, "Sin shall not have dominion over you." It was the word of the Lord, and God's word was true. I thought, That is good, but how can I reckon that I am dead when the old nature is there warring all the time, constantly asserting itself ? Certainly I was not dead. I felt more miserable than ever before, but said nothing. FROM SIN AND SICKNESS 261 I went to bed that night feeling very unhappy, and if ever my life looked black, it did then. I saw nothing but pride, selfishness, boasting, evil thinking, evil speaking, yea, every evil thing seemed to be bottled up in my wicked heart. I felt that I knew something of the experience of the sinner in the last great day when he shall call for the rocks and mountains to hide him from the face of Him who sitteth upon the throne. I trembled, for I was under condemnation. I realized there was nothing for me to do but to fall helpless on the Lord. I could not change my- self, but in the quiet hours of the night I cried to God for deliverance, and the Lord set me free! I could now say with Hezekiah, "Behold for peace I had great bitter- ness, but now thou hast in love to my soul cast all my sins behind my back." The meetings continued for ten days. Each night some were stepping into the liberty proclaimed for them, and many gained victory over besetting sins. After reckoning myself to be dead, the next thing was to be buried with Him in baptism to arise to walk in newness of life. I was feeling very weak, and was suffering a good deal of pain, but said nothing. When I went to the water I felt for a moment like fainting ; and my heart beat heavily. But I lifted up my soul to God with, "Lord, help me ! " and it seemed as if I was carried into the water with some strong, loving arms. And I was. "Underneath are the everlasting arms." I was safe and feared noth- ing, and it is needless to say felt no ill effects, although it was in the month of January and the water was cold. Next day brought our meetings to a close. We had a service in the afternoon in the sick-room of a sister who could not attend. Only a few were present in that little study. The thought was brought out that this Gos- pel takes in the whole being, body and soul. It brings complete deliverance to every captive. I remember very 262 A WONDERFUL DELIVERANCE little that was said. I was feeling quite poorly and in much pain, but no one knew it. I feared to let any one know just how I felt lest they should hinder my going. But I remember, Brother Ballenger turned to the eighth chapter of Matthew and read, "When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils, and He cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick ; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." Those words riveted themselves in my mind. He bore my sickness! I repeated it over and over again. He bore my sicknesses. If He bore my sickness, why do I bear it? He bore my sins, why so? In order that I might not bear them. I had given Him all my sins, and could sing, "My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought My sin not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to His Cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul !" Why could I not give Him my sickness, too ? Surely He bore it in order that I might not bear it, else would it be in vain that He bore it. There and then I told the Lord to take me, body and soul, only to use me for His service. Since He bore my sins, why need I be chained down any longer ? Since He bore my sickness, why need I remain in my bondage, and why had I been bound down so many years I would venture to believe the promise, and that moment I was free! My pain ceased just at the moment I believed. After a few hours I had the use of my bowels, which I had not had for six years without artificial means. That night I went to bed with not a sign of swelling about me for the first time for FROM SIN AND SICKNESS 263 twelve years, and to this day I have never seen a sign of it. I said nothing at the time. I was tempted to say noth- ing until I should see how I came out ; but the temptation was resisted. That same evening I said a few words. My heart was too full for words, and I longed to be alone with God to pour out my soul in thanksgiving to Him for all He had done for my soul and body in one short week. I felt no excitement, but my heart was filled with peace unspeakable. The devil tempted me very much to keep silent, but I could not. I commenced to write and tell others of my deliverance. No one who has not been in affliction can enter into the feelings of a well body. No one who does not know what it is to be either tossed on a bed of pain, not knowing which way to turn, or sinking from exhaustion, wondering if the thread of life will hold out until morning, when days and weeks, months and years have been spent in such sickness, can understand it. And then for that one to realize freedom from it all! It is past telling ! To get up day after day, feeling well ; to go to bed assured of a good night's rest, is wonder- fully sweet, after so many years of weariness. But after all, freedom from the old carnal nature is sweeter. To know that God for Christ's sake has for- given all my sins and saves me from my sins, and gives me the promise that He will keep me in the hour of temp- tation, and one day will present me before the Father faultless, this exceeds it all. It is this joy that is my strength day by day. Truly the joy of the Lord is my strength. I have been tempted over and over again since that time ; the devil has brought all manner of objections to me. He has told me I am not healed, that I would find I was not. How could I expect to be healed all in a moment ; it is presumption on my part. I had better be 264 A WONDERFUL DELIVERANCE quiet lest I break down again and give people occasion to ridicule. They would only laugh at me. On one occasion the devil almost overcame me by his doubts. I had been busy all the day, and I think had walked about five miles, but felt no ill effects, no more than any ordinary person would after that walk. I went to bed feeling strong and well, but in the night I awoke just as I often used to when I was sick. I felt the same old feeling coming on, faintness and weakness, and for a moment I thought, After all, am I deceived? Is it all a myth ? When quick to my rescue came the words, "I am the Lord that healeth thee" ; "Bless the Lord O my soul, who forgiveth thine iniquities, who healeth all thy dis- eases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle"; "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint." And with, "It is writ- ten," the tempter was gone. My strength was renewed. I did not faint, I felt strong, and fell asleep. In the morn- ing I awoke happy in the victory the Lord had given me. Constantly I am tempted to be silent and not tell what God has done, but I know it is of the devil, and if I stop and listen to him I will soon be brought into doubt. "They overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." I know that to claim de- liverance from sin and sickness eighteen months ago is not enough for today. I recognize that grace for yester- day will not serve me for today. What I gather from Gad today, of grace, will not suffice for tomorrow. But O, I know by blessed experience that the same God who gave me strength yesterday is all-sufficient for today. The same God who keeps me today is well able to keep FROM SIN AND SICKNESS 265 me tomorrow; and I can say with one of old, "I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day." what a wonderful cure! I shall never weary tell- ing it. How can I weary ? "I love to tell the story, 'tis pleasant to repeat, And every time I tell it, 'tis more wonderfully sweet I love to tell the story, it did so much for me, And this is just the reason I tell it now to thee." And so the Lord has kept me day by day by simply believing His word. I am well all the time, and have been ever since. Never since the day of deliverance have I had to resort to any aid to the once almost para- lyzed bowels. Never have I fainted from exhaustion since that time. Never have I had to resort to the bath cabinet to keep back the dreaded swelling. Never has my poor weak heart troubled me in the least. Never has my back pained me as before. Previous to that I never knew freedom from pain. In short, I am well all the time. My friends who knew me in times past, and see me now, can only say, "What hath God wrought!" 1 will now lay down my pen with wonder and amaze- ment, and weep tears of joy at the readiness with which the Lord accepts me. O for power to make known the wonderful works of God ! O for the witnessing power ! I have so much to tell, and so little power to tell it. But now, just now, I claim the promise of the Father, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him." While I write and meditate on all God's dealings with me, my soul is blessed beyond measure. And without any glory to myself, I believe some one who reads this will be en- 266 A WONDERFUL DELIVERANCE couraged to ask more largely at the Lord's hands. This is all I want; this is all I ask. Nothing else do I desire in the whole earth but to bring glory to His great name, to make Him a praise in the earth. O, that it may be said in all this, "And they glorified God in me." Dear reader, will you not let the Lord be glorified in you ? O my poor sick one, again I say, Let the Lord have your sickness. Why do you bear it when the Lord is so willing to bear it all for you ? Don't you see how useless it is for you to bear it when the Lord has so gladly taken upon Himself our infirmities? In vain for Him to bear it if you bear it also. You are free indeed. The Lord bears it all for you. You need only to believe it, my brother, my sister. Give Him all your burden of sin, that evil habit. It may seem a small thing, but it is enough to separate you from God. Let it go ; accept the freedom. "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." The Lord is faithful who has promised, and He says for our encouragement, "If ye abide in me, and my \vord abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you"; "If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it"; "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us : and if we know that He heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him." My heart bubbles over day by day, not with an un- usual, worked-up excitement, but an inward joy; and I am ready to sing with the heart, "I feel like singing all the time, my tears are wiped away; For Jesus is a friend of mine, I'll serve Him every day." The price of this book, "The Proclamation of Liberty and the Unpardonable Sin," is, in cloth, $1.00; in half morocco, $1.30. BY THE SAME AUTHOR "Power for Witnessing" Contains 200 Pages and 44 Chapters "The message of the book is the Spirit's answer to the writer's heart-cries for power for Christian living and labor." The author leads the reader step by step by means of the Scriptures, through pardon for sin, victory over sin, and then to the receiving of the Holy Spirit for power to witness to others. At each step the author tells his own experience in receiving these gifts of God's grace. A practical book. Interesting and help- ful to both sinner and saint. Bound in Cloth, 75 Cents ADDRESS A. F. BALLENGER RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE,.- THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE.lgpURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH D OVERDUE. AY JUL 11 -^rot LD 21-100m-12,'43(S79Gs) '5770 C04S5fc.H040 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UBRARY