1 ' E C O N V E 
 
 H | Q 
 
 1 
 
 , AT IONS 
 
PERSONAL PROPERTY 
 OF 
 
 A. C. WILLARD 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 ILLINOIS LIBRARY 
 AT URBANA-GHAMPAIGN 
 BOOKSTACKS 
 
THE CONVERT 
 
 AND HIS 
 
 RELATIONS 
 
 BY 
 
 L. W. Munhall, M.A., D.D. 
 
 (EVANGELIST) 
 
 Author of “ Furnishing for Workers,” “ Lord’s Return and Kindred Truth,” 
 “ Highest Critics vs. Higher Critics,” Anti-Higher Criticism,” Etc. 
 
 With an Introduction by 
 
 BISHOP WILLARD F. MALLALIEU 
 
 NEW YORK : EATON & MAINS 
 CINCINNATI : JENNINGS & PYE 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1901, by 
 
 L. W. M UNHALL, 
 
 the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
m.m 
 
 Mqasc. 
 
 no I 
 
 This Volume is Dedicated to 
 My Most Highly Esteemed Friend and Brother 
 William J. Erdman, D.D., 
 
 By whom i have been instructed in many of the 
 
 DEEP THINGS OF GOD. 
 
 L. W. MUNHALL. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2018 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/converthisrelatiOOmunh 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 In my evangelistic work, I have again and again 
 wished for a book that succinctly, yet comprehensively 
 and clearly, gave the teaching of the Word of God con¬ 
 cerning the relations into which the convert had come, 
 that could be put into his hands for careful study. I 
 have believed that such a book would be of inestimable 
 value in helping the convert to comprehend and under¬ 
 stand the significance of his repentance, faith, and con¬ 
 fession of Jesus as Saviour and Lord; and in estab¬ 
 lishing him in all his ways. I sought for such a book, 
 and, failing to find it, resolved to attempt the task of 
 writing it myself. This volume is the result. I have 
 endeavored to make it scriptural; and have, therefore, 
 used the very language of the Bible as much as possible. 
 I send it upon its mission of love, with the prayer that 
 God may make it a means of untold good in settling 
 and confirming many in “the faith which was once for 
 all delivered unto the saints.” 
 
 L. W. Munhall. 
 
 Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa., January, 1901. 
 

CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction.. 9 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. The Convert. I3 
 
 II. His Relations to Christ. 15 
 
 III. His Relations to Christ (Continued)...._ 20 
 
 IV. His Relations to Christ (Continued) . 27 
 
 V. His Relations to Christ (Continued),. 44 
 
 VI. His Relations to the Holy Spirit. 55 
 
 VII. His Relations to the Holy Spirit (Cont.). 62 
 VIII. His Relations to the Holy Spirit (Cont.). 73 
 
 IX. His Relation to the Church. 90 
 
 X. His Relation to the Bible. 107 
 
 XI. His Relation to the World . 138 
 
 XII. His Relation to the World (Continued).... 150 
 
 XIII. His Relation to the Work. 175 
 
 XIV. His Relation to the Future. 182 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It is a great and precious thing to be a convert. 
 
 The convert is no longer an alien from the common¬ 
 wealth of Israel, a stranger from the covenants of 
 promise, having no hope, and without God in the 
 world; he is no more a stranger and foreigner, but a 
 fellow-citizen with the saints, and of the household of 
 God, and is built upon the foundation of the apostles 
 and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
 corner stone. The convert has changed his relations. 
 
 Converts need care, encouragement, and instruction. 
 For lack of these'many who run well for a season 
 never finish the course; they faint and fall out by the 
 way. For lack of these each year tens of thousands, 
 who without doubt are soundly converted, wander in 
 darkness, fall into temptation, are entrapped in the 
 snares of the devil, and in due time return to the mire 
 of sin. It is high time that we had more books, small, 
 plain, simple, sympathetic, and scriptural, that might 
 be placed in the hands of our young converts. It 
 must never be forgotten that from the helpless and 
 hopeless condition involved in the wreck and ruin of 
 the Fall to the possible thrones of eternity the human 
 soul needs the continuous, gracious, divine, omnipo¬ 
 tent help of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Every 
 true convert sustains very blessed, special, and per¬ 
 sonal relations to each person of the adorable Trinity. 
 
 All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, 
 or, in other words, there is no human soul sufficiently 
 intelligent to be responsible that has not sinned against 
 the holy and righteous Governor of the universe. This 
 consensus of human opinion appears to be fully sus¬ 
 tained by widespread and long-continued observation. 
 
 There are certain well-defined and almost invariable 
 
IO 
 
 IN TROD UC TION. 
 
 experiences through which every soul must pass in 
 order to come to the condition of a convert. First 
 of all enlightenment of the mind must take place. 
 Without light, without responsibility. Light comes to 
 every responsible soul through the agency of the Holy 
 Spirit. “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is ex¬ 
 pedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, 
 the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, 
 I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he 
 will reprove (convince, convict) the world (the indi¬ 
 vidual) of sin, and of righteousness, and of judg¬ 
 ment.” The Holy Spirit not only enlightens, but he 
 also causes the sinner to see and feel his guilt and 
 peril, and then he invites, persuades, and draws the 
 sinner to the right way. Thus the soul comes into 
 personal relations with the Holy Spirit. 
 
 But all this would be of no avail without the re¬ 
 demptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. No man, 
 however enlightened and drawn, can save himself. 
 No angel, not all angels combined, could save a single 
 human soul. When there was no eye to pity and no 
 arm to save Jesus the Incarnate God tasted death for 
 every man; he satisfied the claims of a just and holy 
 law; he made it possible to save the sinner without 
 destroying the moral government of the universe. 
 
 “He left his Father’s throne above, 
 
 So free, so infinite his grace! 
 
 Emptied himself of all but love, 
 
 And bled for Adam’s helpless race; 
 
 ’Tis mercy all, immense and free, 
 
 For, O my God, it found out me!” 
 
 Tt is an unspeakably glorious truth that all souls have 
 been redeemed by the sufferings and death of Jesus. 
 
 “His blood atoned for all our race, 
 
 And sprinkles now the throne of grace.” 
 
 Hence every son and daughter of Adam, and so every 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 11 
 
 convert, holds the relation to Jesus of a redeemed soul. 
 But God the Father sends forth the Spirit to do his 
 work on human minds and hearts and he gives his Son 
 as the supreme sacrifice of infinite love, “That who¬ 
 soever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life.’' 
 
 All this may be true and yet the soul may perish in 
 its sins, and be lost forever. There is something to be 
 done by the sinner before he can experience converting 
 grace. First of all he must repent of his sins. This 
 involves regret, sorrow, and shame in view of the fact 
 that God’s holy law has been broken and his love and 
 mercy have been spurned. But repentance involves 
 the exercise of the will, that supreme, Divine quality in 
 man. The sinner by the help of God determines, wills 
 that he will break off his sins by righteousness, and 
 his iniquities by turning unto God. With or without 
 feeling he settles in his own soul the question and 
 bows in love and loyalty, and records his solemn vow 
 that from henceforth he will walk in all the ways of 
 God. When this is done it is his right to claim the 
 fulfillment of the Divine promise, and venturing all 
 into the hands of Jesus for time and eternity, he is 
 accepted in the name of the beloved. Now he is a 
 penitent, believing soul. Now, again he is a pardoned, 
 justified, and regenerated soul. This is a new and 
 threefold relation into which the convert comes, for he 
 is now a convert indeed, and it would be well if these 
 three relations could be clearly defined in all discus¬ 
 sions of the experimental spiritual life. True they are 
 coetaneous, but they are not identical. They always 
 go together. They are each and all essential to con¬ 
 version. In this way the sinner becomes a convert 
 and the convert becomes, or is, a son of God. To the 
 reality of this in due time the Holy Spirit will bear 
 witness. “For the Spirit Himself beareth witness with 
 our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 children then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with 
 Christ." This is a new and blessed relationship to the 
 Holy Spirit. It comes to every faithful, waiting soul. 
 It may be the manifestation, or witness, will vary 
 greatly in different cases, but the Divine promise will 
 be fulfilled to all who hold on with steadfast faith. 
 Under these circumstances much land yet lies before 
 the convert which he should with restless desire seek 
 to possess. There is the fullness of the blessing of 
 the Gospel, holiness, entire sanctification, heart purity, 
 the uttermost salvation. Every convert ought to 
 understand that the most abundant provision has been 
 made to deliver him from the guilt, the pollution, and 
 the power of sin; that his nature can be cleansed so 
 that inbred sin shall not have dominion over him; 
 that his spiritual foes can all be cast out of his being, 
 and kept on the outside of the citadel of man-soul; that 
 he can be cleansed from all sin; that his whole being 
 can be permeated and utterly filled with love; that he 
 can be made perfect in love in this life; that he can 
 walk with God, have fellowship with Jesus Christ, and 
 be filled with the Holy Spirit. All these developments 
 of experience imply and involve the unfolding of new 
 and blessed and exalted relationships with the Triune 
 God. And all this is possible to the convert in this 
 life. But beyond the present is the resurrection, the 
 coronation, the glorification of all God’s saints—of all 
 faithful converts. “Beloved, now are we the sons of 
 God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but 
 we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like 
 him ; for we shall see him as he is.” And then we 
 shall go on and on forever, from glory to glory, every 
 passing cycle of eternity developing new possibilities 
 of relationship to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. May 
 the reading of this book help all who con its pages to 
 come to the realization of the uttermost possibilities 
 of redemption's most wonderful plan. 
 
THE CONVERT AND HIS 
 
 RELATIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Convert* 
 
 “ Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not 
 enter into the kingdom of heaven.”—Matt. 18 : 3. 
 
 What was he? He was “by nature” a child “of 
 wrath, even as the rest” (Eph. 2:3) ; an enemy of God 
 “by wicked works” (Col. 1:21); condemned by the 
 law (John 3: 18, 19) ; under sentence to eternal death 
 (Ezek. 18:4, 20; Rom. 6:23) ; and utterly unable to 
 make himself righteous (Isa. 64:6), satisfy the law’s 
 demands (Jer. 13:23), or save himself from eternal 
 ruin (Rom. 7: 24). 
 
 What is he? A child “of God by faith in Christ 
 Jesus” (Gal. 3: 26) ; at “peace with God through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5: 1) ; no longer under con¬ 
 demnation (Rom. 8:1); no longer in danger of the 
 “second death” (Rev. 2:11); and is declared to be 
 righteous before God through faith in Christ, who “is 
 the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that 
 believeth” (Rom. 10:4); a sinner saved by grace 
 (Eph. 2 : 8, 9). 
 
 How did he become a convert? Through the 
 
 preaching of the Word of God he was made to under- 
 
 13 
 
14 
 
 THE CONVERT. 
 
 stand his guilty condition, utter ruin, and awful, im¬ 
 minent peril; and by the Holy Spirit was convicted “of 
 sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” This con¬ 
 viction produced sorrow for sin and anxiety for help 
 and safety, which led to a resolve to turn from his sin¬ 
 ful ways unto the Lord; in which resolve was repent¬ 
 ance (metanoia) , a change of mind. Acting upon that 
 resolve, he turned and committed himself “unto the 
 Lord” to “trust also in him” for present and eternal 
 salvation. And this is conversion (epistrepho ), to 
 turn about or upon (Acts 3: 19). 
 
AS GOD. 
 
 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Convert's Relations to Christ. 
 
 As God. 
 
 “ For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, be¬ 
 cause he not only brake the sabbath, but also called God his own Father, 
 making himself equal with God.”—John 5 :18. 
 
 The question concerning the Deity of Jesus is of 
 supreme importance. If He be not one with the Fa¬ 
 ther in essence, majesty, authority, and creative energy, 
 then is the Christian religion little or no better than 
 some other religions, and mankind is without hope. 
 
 The arguments in proof of His Deity are numerous 
 and convincing. Of course, in a single brief chapter 
 it will not be possible to give all, or to elaborate those 
 that are given. But here are enough to satisfy a can¬ 
 did, unprejudiced, and devout inquirer after the truth 
 in the matter. 
 
 First. There are one hundred and fifty-one definite 
 and explicit predictions in the Old Testament concern¬ 
 ing Jesus, His birth, His life, His ministries, His death 
 and resurrection, all of which were minutely fulfilled 
 according to the historic statements of the New Testa¬ 
 ment. 
 
 Second. He claimed to be one with the Father. 
 Hear Him: “I and the Father are one” (John 10: 30) ; 
 ‘'Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8: 58) ; “He that 
 hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). 
 (Read John 8: 13-59 and 14:6-31.) 
 
 Third. He assumed Divine prerogatives. Hear 
 
i6 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST 
 
 Him: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth 
 me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the 
 light of life" (John 8: 12); “I am the bread of life: he 
 that cometh to me shall not hunger' (John 6:35); 
 “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give 
 him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give 
 him shall become in him a well of water springing up 
 unto eternal life" (John 4: 14) ; “I am the door: by 
 me if any man enter in,he shall be saved" (John 10:9); 
 and “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one 
 cometh unto the Father but by me” (John 14:6). If 
 He were only a man such assumptions would make 
 Him a blasphemer and the most presumptuous person 
 that ever lived, and far from being even a good man, 
 proper teacher, or exampler. 
 
 Fourth. He made good all He claimed for Him¬ 
 self, and verified these claims by the miracles He 
 wrought. These miracles were not performed in secret 
 or under cover of darkness, as in the case of the false 
 teachers who claim to have performed miracles, and 
 were not limited to a few diseases of a nervous char¬ 
 acter. He stilled the raging tempest, calmed the trou¬ 
 bled sea, and raised the dead to life; and demonstrated 
 in many other ways, in the sight of the people, that 
 He was possessed of Almighty powers. 
 
 Fifth. The testimony of the Holy Spirit, by the 
 writers of the New Testament, is very explicit and em¬ 
 phatic on this matter. Take this, for instance: “Who 
 is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all 
 creation; for by him were all things created that are 
 in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, 
 
as con. 
 
 17 
 
 whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principal¬ 
 ities, or powers: all things were created by him, and 
 for him: and he is before all things, and by him all 
 things consist” (Col. 1:15-17; see also John 1:1-4; 
 Heb. 1:1-4). 
 
 Sixth. I once heard a prominent Unitarian min¬ 
 ister say this: “It is impossible to prove by the Bible 
 that Jesus is Deity as the orthodox people claim, ex¬ 
 cept by the testimony of John, which testimony we 
 impeach since it was not given until he was in his 
 dotage.” That the reader may see how utterly untrue 
 is this statement, I submit the following: 
 
 “And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted 
 to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself ” (Luke 24: 27). 
 
 Prediction. Fulfillment. 
 
 Deut. 18: 15. 
 Psa. 132 :11. 
 Isa. 9 : 6. 
 
 Jer. 33 :14, 15. 
 Ezek. 34 : 23. 
 Dan. 2; 44. 
 Zech. 9 : 9. 
 
 Acts 3:22, 24. 
 Acts 2: 29-36. 
 Luke 2: io, 11. 
 Gal. 4: 4, 5. 
 Heb. 13 : 20. 
 Luke 1: 32, 33. 
 Matt. 21:5-9. 
 
 Consider also some additional testimonies: 
 
 First. 
 
 Of Simeon, - 
 
 Luke 2:25-32. 
 
 Second. 
 
 Of Anna, - - 
 
 Luke 2: 38. 
 
 Third. 
 
 Of John the Baptist, - 
 
 Mark 1: 1-8. 
 
 Fourth. 
 
 Of the Angels, 
 
 Luke 1: 30-35; 2 : 8-11. 
 
 Fifth. 
 
 Of the Holy Ghost, - 
 
 Matt. 3 : 16. 
 
 Sixth. 
 
 Of the Father, 
 
 Matt. 3:17. 
 
 Seventh. 
 
 By Himself, 
 
 Mark 14 : 61, 62. 
 
 Eighth. 
 
 Of Demons, - 
 
 Mark 1: 23, 24 ; 3: 11; 
 
 Ninth. 
 
 Of Death, - 
 
 Luke 7 :14, 15 ; Mark 
 27:52, 53 - 
 
 Tenth. 
 
 Of Nature, - 
 
 Matt. 27 : 45, 51 : Mark 
 
 Eleventh. 
 
 Of the Centurion. - 
 
 Mark 15 : 36-39. 
 
 Twelfth. 
 
 Of Peter, 
 
 Matt. 16 : 16 ; Acts 8 : 8 
 
 Thirteenth. 
 
 Of Paul, - 
 
 Acts 9: 20 : Rom. 1: 1, t 
 
 5:7. 
 
 Seventh. The crowning argument as to His Deity 
 
 is His resurrection from the dead. Here it is in a sin- 
 2 
 
i8 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST. 
 
 gle sentence: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to 
 be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which 
 he promised afore by his prophets in the holy scrip¬ 
 tures, concerning his Son, who was born of the seed 
 of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be 
 the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of 
 holiness, by the resurrection of the dead” (Rom. i: 1-4). 
 
 King David predicted it in Psalm 16:8-10. Peter 
 on the Day of Pentecost declared that this predic¬ 
 tion had been fulfilled; for, after quoting it, he said: 
 “This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are wit¬ 
 nesses” (Acts 2:29-32). Jesus Himself predicted it. 
 (See John 2:19, 21.) Paul said: “For I delivered 
 unto you first of all that which I also received, how 
 that Christ died for our sins according to the scrip¬ 
 tures ; and that he was buried; and that he hath been 
 raised on the third day according to the scriptures; 
 and that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; 
 then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at 
 once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but 
 some are fallen asleep; then he appeared to James; 
 then to all the apostles; and last of all, as unto one 
 born out of due time, he appeared to me also” (1 Cor. 
 15: 3 - 8 )- 
 
 The Lord appeared to His disciples thirteen times 
 after His resurrection. He was seen by Mary Mag¬ 
 dalene, Peter, John, the two on the way to Emmaus, 
 the ten apostles, the eleven, James, the five hundred 
 at once, the seven by the sea of Galilee, the disciples 
 on the mount of ascension, and by Stephen, Paul, and 
 John. 
 
AS GOD. 
 
 19 
 
 The authorities on evidence are uniformly agreed 
 that no fact of history is more clearly proven. Bab¬ 
 bage (Bridgewater Treatises, ix) shows by mathe¬ 
 matical calculation that the concurrent unbiased testi¬ 
 mony of only twenty-five men, who tell the truth ten 
 times as often as they lie, in matters of sufficient conse¬ 
 quence to make them careful, is enough to outweigh 
 antecedent probability of a billion to one against the 
 event to which they testify. Now then, here are more 
 than five hundred men, only one of whom was ever 
 known to lie, and he only on one occasion, who give 
 most explicit and positive testimony to the most im¬ 
 portant event of all history, and their testimony agrees 
 in every particular. Mathematically it is a demonstra¬ 
 tion. 
 
 Since Jesus is God, it is the convert’s glorious priv¬ 
 ilege to worship Him, and his exalted duty to serve 
 Him. He should cultivate the worshipful spirit by 
 meditating much upon the attributes of God—His 
 omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience; and ac¬ 
 quire the glad, whole-hearted willingness in service 
 that should ever characterize the servants of the Lord, 
 by thinking much upon the love, mercy, and infinite 
 benevolence of God. “For verily the Son of man came 
 not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to 
 give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). 
 
20 
 
 HIS DELATION TO CHRIST. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Convert's Relations to Christ*—( Continued ♦) 
 
 As Redeemer. 
 
 “ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse 
 for us : for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”— 
 Gal. 3 : 13. 
 
 God’s "‘law is holy, and the commandment holy, and 
 just, and good” (Rom. 7: 12). God’s laws are inexor¬ 
 able in their demands, and justice knows no element of 
 mercy. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 
 reap” (Gal. 6:7). “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 
 6:23). “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek. 
 18:4). 
 
 God’s Word declares, “All have sinned and come 
 short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). “For 
 there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, 
 and sinneth not” (Eccl. 7:20). And, “If we say that 
 we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word 
 is not in us” (1 John 1:10). (See also Gen. 6:5; 
 Psa. 14: 1-3; Rom. 3:9-19; and Eph. 4: 17-19.) 
 
 It is also unalterably and solemnly true that man 
 cannot satisfy the demands of the laws he has violated, 
 and is therefore involved in hopeless ruin. (See Jer. 
 13:23; Mic. 6:5, 6; Phil. 3:3-11; Rom. 7:24; Psa. 
 49: 7-9; etc.) 
 
 Because of these three sublime and awful facts, i. c. f 
 the holy and inexorable character of God’s laws, that 
 “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3: 10), 
 and man’s utter helplessness, a Redeemer was an abso- 
 
AS REDEEMER. 
 
 21 
 
 lute necessity to the sinner for peace, justification, and 
 heaven. 
 
 With the committing of the first sin came a promise 
 of a Redeemer—“The seed of the woman shall bruise 
 the serpent’s head”—not the seed of the man: had it 
 been, it would have been incapable and insufficient. 
 “The angel answered and said unto her, The Holy 
 Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the 
 Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also that 
 which is to be born shall be called holy, the Son of 
 God” (Luke 1:35). All along the line of predictive 
 prophecy the promise of a Redeemer was reiterated 
 again and again. The bleeding victims, smoking altars, 
 multitudinous offerings, and magnificent ritual of the 
 old economy illustrated this great predicted truth, and 
 enforced, continually, the same wonderful and glorious 
 lesson. It was further emphasized by the organic law 
 by which the chosen people were governed—of serv¬ 
 ants (Lev. 25:49, 54), of lands (Lev. 25:27), of 
 names (Deut. 25:59), and of beasts (Exod. 13: 13). 
 In yet other ways God kept before the minds of this 
 people the sublime truth of redemption, until, “When 
 the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son, born 
 of a woman, born under the law, to redeem them that 
 were under the law, that we might receive the adoption 
 of sons ”(Gal. 4:4, 5). 
 
 The Mode of Redemption. 
 
 Death is everywhere in the Bible declared to be a pen¬ 
 alty of sin. We have seen that the law is inexorable in 
 its demands. The law imperatively demands life for its 
 
22 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST 
 
 infraction. God tells us, “The life of the flesh is in 
 the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar, 
 to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the 
 blood that maketh an atonement by reason of the life 
 (Lev. 17: n) ; “And almost all things are by the law 
 purged with blood: and without shedding of blood 
 is no remission'’ (Heb. 9:22). In accordance with 
 this law Jesus the Christ shed His blood—gave “His 
 life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). “In whom 
 we have redemption through his blood” (Eph. 1:7 
 and Col. 1: 14). “Ye know that ye were not redeemed 
 with corruptible things as silver and gold . . . but 
 with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb with¬ 
 out blemish and without spot”(i Pet. 1: 18, 19). “And 
 they sung a new song, saying, Thou are worthy to take 
 the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast 
 slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out 
 of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” 
 (Rev. 5:9). Therefore, when it is said, “And the 
 Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 
 53: 6) ; “Who his own self bare our sins in his body 
 upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might 
 live unto righteousness: by whose stripes we are 
 healed” (1 Pet. 2: 24) ; “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. 5:21); and, 
 “Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for 
 the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; be¬ 
 ing put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the 
 Spirit” (1 Pet. 3: 18) ; it is to be understood that the 
 repentant, believing sinner may go free—“Being justi- 
 
AS REDEEMER. 
 
 23 
 
 fied freely by his grace through the redemption that is 
 in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a propitia¬ 
 tion, through faith, by his blood, to show his righteous¬ 
 ness, because of the passing over of the sins done afore¬ 
 time, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I 
 say, of his righteousness at this present season: that 
 he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that 
 hath faith in Jesus. Where then is the glorying? It is 
 excluded. By what manner of law? of works? Nay: 
 but by the law of faith. We reckon therefore that a 
 man is justified by faith apart from the works of the 
 law” (Rom. 3:24-28). 
 
 Notice seven things true of this redemption: 
 
 It was timely. 
 
 “But when the fullness of time was come, God sent 
 forth his Son born of a woman, born under the law, to 
 redeem them that were under the law, that we might 
 receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:4, 5). 
 
 It is satisfactory. 
 
 “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness 
 to every one that believeth” (Rom. 10:4). 
 
 Every demand of every law, the repentant, believing 
 sinner has violated, is as certainly and completely met, 
 judicially, in the redemption “through the blood of 
 his cross” (Col. 1:20), as though that sinner died 
 eternally, as die he must if he refuses to avail himself 
 of the benefits of the passion of our Lord (Acts 4: 12). 
 
 It is perfect. 
 
 “But Christ being come an high priest of good things 
 to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not 
 
24 
 
 HIS RE LA TION TO CHRIST 
 
 made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 
 neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his 
 own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, hav¬ 
 ing obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb. 9: 
 11, 12). 
 
 The “gifts and sacrifices” of the former times, “could 
 not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining 
 to the conscience/' for the simple reason that the of¬ 
 ferings were inadequate to the demands of the law, be¬ 
 ing only types and figures, and offered by men. But 
 the offering Jesus made of Himself is like everything 
 God has made, absolutely perfect. 
 
 It is personal. 
 
 “For 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). 
 
 When God “laid upon him the iniquities of us all” 
 He had each individual soul of man in mind; and Jesus 
 as certainly bore the individual sinner’s sins “in his 
 own body on the tree”-as that He loved all and died for 
 all. He would have done what He did had there been 
 but one sinner on earth; and it would have been quite 
 as necessary that He should, as that He did die for all. 
 
 It is universal. 
 
 “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than 
 the angels because of the suffering of death, crowned 
 with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God 
 should taste death for every man” (Heb. 2: 9). 
 
 Redemption and salvation are oftentimes con¬ 
 founded. They do not signify the same thing. They 
 
AS REDEEMER. 
 
 25 
 
 are as widely removed from each other as life and 
 death. All men are redeemed, in the sense that atone¬ 
 ment has been provided for all, since Jesus died for 
 all, but all are not saved, since all will not repent and 
 believe. Jesus said, “Ye will not come to me that 
 ye may have life."' “Repentance toward God, and faith 
 toward our Lord Jesus Christ’ 1 (Acts 20:21), are reck¬ 
 oned as certainly elements in the procuring cause of 
 our salvation, as the redemption accomplished by the 
 merciful Saviour. 
 
 It is finished. 
 
 “For Christ is not entered into a holy place made 
 with hands, like in pattern to the true, but into heaven 
 itself, now to appear before the face of God for us; 
 nor yet that he should offer himself often; as the high 
 priest entereth into the holy place year by year with 
 blood not his own; else must he often have suffered 
 since the foundation of the world: but now once in the 
 end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away 
 sin by the sacrifice of himself ' (Heb. 9: 24-26). 
 
 While on earth “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is 
 to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his 
 work” (John 4:34). “When Jesus therefore had re¬ 
 ceived the vinegar, he said, It is finished, and he bowed 
 his head, and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30). And 
 so there is naught for the sinner to do to propitiate 
 God, for since Jesus bowed his head upon Golgotha's 
 cross “He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for 
 ours only, but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2). 
 
 It is eternal. 
 
 “But through his own blood, entered in once for all 
 
26 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST 
 
 into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemp¬ 
 tion" (Heb. 9: 12). It is called “eternal redemption’’ 
 because its benefits are eternal. “And grieve not the 
 Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day 
 of redemption" (Eph. 4:30). A time yet future. 
 “Which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the re¬ 
 demption of God’s own possession” (Eph. 1:14). 
 “And not only so, but ourselves also, which have the 
 firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within 
 ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the re¬ 
 demption of our body" (Rom. 8:23). For “The dead 
 shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” 
 (1 Cor. 15:52). We have the sure promises of God 
 to this effect, and the “earnest of the Spirit,” and “Two 
 immutable things, in which it is impossible for God 
 to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have 
 fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us; 
 which we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both 
 sure and steadfast and entering into that which is with¬ 
 in the veil; whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for 
 us.” 
 
 Now then, what is the relation of the convert to 
 Jesus the Redeemer? Why, he is to ever remember 
 that Jesus has “purchased him with his own blood” 
 (Acts 20:28) ; and, knowing “Ye are not your own, 
 for ye were bought with a price,” in utter and irre¬ 
 versible abandonment to Jesus, recognize God’s pro¬ 
 prietary right in him, and do his very best to “glorify 
 God” in his body (1 Cor. 7:20, R. V.). 
 
AS SAVIOUR. 
 
 27 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Convert's Relations to Christ*—( Continued .) 
 
 As Saviour. 
 
 “ Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come 
 unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”— 
 Heb. 7 :25. 
 
 There is salvation, and salvation, and salvation. 
 Therefore when speaking of salvation we should be 
 careful to explain of what salvation we are speaking. 
 
 First. Present salvation. This includes justifi¬ 
 cation and the new birth. Justification is a judicial act 
 on the part of Almighty God, by which He passes over 
 the believer’s sins and reckons them as though they 
 never were, casting them into the blissful oblivion of 
 His forgetfulness, because Jesus became, through His 
 redeeming work, “the end of the law for righteousness 
 to every one that believeth” (Rom. 10:4); and 
 though the law demands the sinner’s life, yet is it 
 possible for God to “be just, and the justifier of him 
 which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3 : 26). 
 
 John Wesley once said: “Justification implies a con¬ 
 viction that God was in Christ reconciling the world 
 unto Himself—a sure confidence and trust that Jesus 
 loved me and gave Himself for me; and, at what time 
 soever the sinner thus believes, be it in his early child¬ 
 hood, in the strength of his years; or when he is old 
 and hoary-headed, God, for the sake of His Son, par- 
 doneth and absolveth him who had in him till then no 
 good thing.” 
 
2 8 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST. 
 
 The new birth is the result of the Spirit's work in 
 the believer, whereby he is made “partaker of the di¬ 
 vine nature” (2 Pet. 1: 4) ; so that he becomes “a new 
 creature: the old things are passed away: behold, they 
 are become new” (2 Cor. 5: 17) ; saved “by the wash¬ 
 ing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, 
 which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ 
 our Saviour: that, being justified by his grace, we 
 should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal 
 life” (Titus 3:5-7). 
 
 Richard Watson once said: “Regeneration is that 
 mighty change in man wrought by the Holy Spirit, by 
 which the dominion which sin has over him in his 
 natural state, and which he deplores and struggles 
 against in his present state, is broken and abolished; 
 so that, with full choice of will and the energy of right 
 affections, he serves God freely, and runs in the way 
 of His commandments.” 
 
 While these works are distinct, they are simultane¬ 
 ous. No one ever was justified who was not at the 
 same time “born again," as no one ever was “born 
 again" who was not at the same time justified. There¬ 
 fore is the convert saved. For, “By him all that be- 
 lieve are justified” (Acts 13:39); “Therefore being 
 justified by faith” (Rom. 5:1); and, “Whosoever be- 
 lieveth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God” 
 (1 John 5:1); and, “You hath he quickened who were 
 dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1); “For by 
 grace have ye been saved through faith” (Eph. 
 2:8); and, “P»v which also ye are saved” (1 Cor. 
 15:2)—saved from the guilt of sin in justification, 
 
AS SAVIOUR . 
 
 29 
 
 and from spiritual death in the regeneration and new 
 birth. 
 
 Second. Progressive salvation. “And the Lord 
 added to them day by day those that were being saved” 
 (Acts 2:47) i “For we are a sweet savor of Christ 
 unto God in them that are being saved’’ (2 Cor. 2: 15). 
 Saved moment by moment from the domination of sin 
 that it should not “reign in your mortal body that ye 
 should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Rom. 6: 12-14) ; 
 “Through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the 
 truth” (2 Thess. 2: 13). 
 
 Third. Final salvation. “But he that endureth 
 to the end, the same shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22). 
 Salvation from death, the grave, and hell, into the in¬ 
 comparable glories of the heavenly life. 
 
 Therefore, when we speak of present salvation we 
 are not talking of sanctification or glorification, but of 
 justification and regeneration and the new birth. The 
 convert is justified and born of God. He has the sure 
 word of promise that God’s “grace is sufficient” for 
 every day and trial and all holy living. (See Jude 24.) 
 He also is assured of final salvation “If so be ye con¬ 
 tinue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not 
 moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Col. 1: 23) ; 
 and is exhorted to “Fight the good fight of faith, lay 
 hold on eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:2). But it is all 
 through Jesus as Saviour. “And in none other is 
 there salvation: for neither is there any other name 
 under heaven, that is given among men, whereby we 
 must be saved” (Acts 4: 12). 
 
 But it is all of faith. We are saved by faith (Acts 
 
30 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST 
 
 16: 31). We live by faith (Rom. 1: 17). “We walk 
 by faith” (2 Cor. 5:7). We stand by faith (2 Cor. 
 1: 24). We overcome by faith (1 John 5: 4, 5). "But 
 if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleas¬ 
 ure in him. But we are not of them who draw back 
 into perdition: but of them that believe, to the saving 
 of the soul” (Heb. 10: 38, 39). Faith in Jesus as Sav¬ 
 iour divine; who redeemed us by His precious blood; 
 and "able to save to the uttermost them that draw near 
 unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make in¬ 
 tercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). 
 
 Since there is no sufficient reason for doubting that 
 the convert is justified and born again, the only ques¬ 
 tion that can be properly raised is with regard to his 
 faith: is it the right sort ? Let us look into this matter 
 a little, for it is of transcendent importance. 
 
 First. How believe? 
 
 "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness” 
 (Rom. 10:4). Heart belief is more than an intel¬ 
 lectual assent of the mind to what we believe upon cred¬ 
 ible testimony to be historically true. It is abandoning 
 one’s self utterly to the object and exercise of faith. 
 If one says, "I believe in Jesus Christ as Deity; that 
 He loved me and gave Himself for me,” and is unwill¬ 
 ing to forsake all known sins and sinful ways uncom¬ 
 promisingly, his faith is only of the head; it is "vain,” 
 he is yet in his sins (1 Cor. 15: 14-17). God says, 
 "Let him that stole steal no more” (Eph. 4:28) ; and, 
 "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous 
 man his thoughts” (Isa. 55:7). It is not thinkable 
 
AS SAVIOUR, 
 
 3 i 
 
 that one can be a Christian and love sin and sinful ways. 
 Therefore, if one believes on Jesus as Saviour, with 
 the heart, sin will become hideous and heinous, and he 
 will loathe it and desire deliverance from its guilt and 
 pollution as well as domination and ultimate conse¬ 
 quence. And if such is not his feeling toward and 
 thought of sin he may thereby know his faith is not 
 of the heart. God does not require one to abandon 
 sin and sinful ways in order to be saved, or else salva¬ 
 tion would not be for those bound by appetite and pas¬ 
 sion ; but he requires the sinner to be willing to do so; 
 and he is either willing or unwilling. Repentance lies 
 in the willingness to do so. As long as he remains 
 unwilling it is impossible for him to believe aright. 
 As soon as he is willing believing becomes at once both 
 natural and easy; and, afterward, by God's grace, which 
 “is sufficient," he can break away from his sinful ways, 
 as before he possibly could not. “If any man willeth 
 to do his will, he shall know of the teaching" (John 
 7:17). 
 
 Also, if one claims to believe on Jesus as Saviour 
 and Lord, and refuses immediate and absolute obedi¬ 
 ence, his faith is “vain," he is yet in his sins. It is 
 not thinkable that one can be a Christian and hesitate 
 or refuse to obey God. So surely as one believes on 
 Jesus with the heart will he gladly run in the way of 
 His commandments to do them (John 15:14; Rom. 
 6:16; James 1:22; etc.). God does not require the 
 sinner unsaved to obey Him in order to be saved, for 
 then salvation would be of works, and we know it is 
 not (see Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16; etc.) ; but He does 
 
32 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST. 
 
 require that he shall be willing—and every man is 
 willing or unwilling; and then after he is saved, obedi¬ 
 ence becomes a law of his life, and he can obey God 
 easily and acceptably. He is not saved because he is 
 obedient; but is obedient because he is saved. Con¬ 
 version lies in submission, or willingness to obey. “To 
 obey is better than sacrifice, and to harken than the 
 fat of rams" (i Sam. 15:22). 
 
 Second. Whom believe? 
 
 “And by him (Jesus) all that believe are justified" 
 (Acts 13: 39). Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto 
 you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” 
 (John 6: 47). Believeth on “Him/' on “Me,” the Son 
 of Mary, the Son of God; “Who was delivered for our 
 offenses, and was raised again for our justification 
 (Rom. 4: 25) ; Who is “alive for evermore," and hath 
 “the keys of death and of Hades” (Rev. 1: 18) ; and to 
 whom “all power is given ... in heaven and earth” 
 (Matt. 28:18). We are not required to believe in 
 any theory of redemption, or of the Redeemer; but 
 in Him as Redeemer, Saviour, and Lord; to believe 
 “the record that God gave of his Son" (1 John 5: 
 10-12), that He “put away sin by the sacrifice of him¬ 
 self" (Heb. 9:26). When the sinner unsaved is will¬ 
 ing to forsake all known sins, and willing to submit 
 himself whole-hearted and irreversibly to God to obey 
 Him, as best he can, thus believes on Jesus the Christ, 
 he does what God requires of him for justification and 
 the new birth. 
 
 Satan is very adroit. He hinders in every way pos- 
 
AS SAVIOUR . 
 
 33 
 
 sible. He will suggest to the inquirer that he is not 
 sincere; that he is not sorry enough; that he has little 
 or no feeling of regret or remorse; and has not wept 
 over his sins; and therefore there is no salvation for 
 him. Self-considered there is absolutely no merit in 
 regret, sorrow, and remorse for sins. If the sinner’s 
 life were a fountain of tears and he could weep it 
 away, it would not atone for his sins or cleanse from 
 their defilement. It is most natural for one to have a 
 sense of sorrow and regret for his offenses when the 
 Holy Spirit convicts of sin, and his eyes are opened to 
 see himself as God sees him; but these things manifest 
 themselves, or not at all, according to the temperament, 
 systemic condition, and education of the person. But 
 they are not required of anyone in order that they may 
 be justified and “born again.” Rome teaches penance; 
 but not the Word of God. But, it may be asked, Does 
 not the Bible speak of a “godly sorrow that worketh 
 repentance unto salvation?” (2 Cor. 7: 10.) 
 
 This is the repentance of the Christian who has com¬ 
 mitted sin. The knowledge of it produces sorrow for 
 it and leads him to repent of it and ask for forgiveness, 
 as illustrated in King David’s case in the fifty-first 
 Psalm. How can an ungodly man have a godly sor¬ 
 row? I say again, It is most natural for one to have 
 a sense of sorrow and regret when convinced of his 
 sins; but, I insist upon it that God nowhere requires it 
 of him in order that he may be justified from his sins 
 and “born again.” If these things were required of the 
 seeker, these questions would be raised at once; and 
 
 they would have to be answered as Rome answers 
 3 
 
34 
 
 HIS DELATION TO CHRIST. 
 
 them: What degree of regret is necessary ? How in¬ 
 tense must be my sorrow? How many tears will I 
 have to shed? For how long a time must I mourn and 
 lament my follies and shortcomings? It is just here 
 Satan leads many into the castle of despair. As long 
 as their minds are occupied with their feelings they are 
 not thinking of what Christ did for them in redemption, 
 and what He will do for them as Advocate before the 
 Father’s presence if they “commit” their “ways unto 
 the Lord” to “trust also in him, and he shall bring it to 
 pass” (Psa. 37:5). There is merit only in what Jesus 
 did in shedding His blood; and He alone can save. 
 Therefore the seeker should look away from himself 
 to Jesus, and believe on Him. His sins are heinous and 
 awful. Much of his life has been wasted, as is true of 
 every hour lived unreconciled to God. His peril has 
 been great; so that, when he sees himself as God sees 
 him, he cannot well help having a sense of sorrow and 
 regret. I often wonder why it is not more intense and 
 does not manifest itself more often and enthusiastic¬ 
 ally. But, no matter how intense is his sorrow and re¬ 
 gret, there is no merit in it all; and at the last he must 
 look away from self, and all that is true of and possible 
 to self, to the living, merciful, all-sufficient Saviour of 
 men, the man Christ Jesus. 
 
 Satan also gets a great many seekers into the “slough 
 of despond’’ over their prayers. He suggests that they 
 do not pray enough; that their prayers are not sin¬ 
 cere and earnest enough; or, they lack expression and 
 fervor. Of course, as long as one is occupied with these 
 matters he cannot believe aright. His thoughts are 
 
AS SAVIOUR. 
 
 35 
 
 turned in the wrong direction, and he is making con¬ 
 ditions that God never imposes, and merit of that which 
 possesses none. Now then, it is altogether natural that 
 when the sinner clearly understands his condition, peril, 
 and need he should give expression to his desires in the 
 form of prayer; but it is not required of him in order 
 that he may be justified and "born again/' Never once 
 in the Word of God is he taught to pray for these 
 things. They invariably come of believing. 
 
 It may be asked, Does not the Bible say, “Whosoever 
 shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved ?” 
 Yes, it does; and it immediately adds, “How then 
 shall they call on him in whom they have not believed ?” 
 (Rom. io: 13, 14.) 
 
 It is also asked, How about the publican’s prayer, 
 “God be merciful to me a sinner?” (Luke 18:13.) 
 The word here rendered “merciful” is hilaskomai, and 
 is akin to the words hilasmos and hilasterion, which 
 are rendered “propitiation” in 1 John 2:2 and 4: 10, 
 and Rom. 3: 25. What the publican really said was 
 this: “God be propitiated to me the sinner.” Since 
 Jesus, who was sent “to be the propitiation for our 
 sins,” “cried with a loud voice, . . . and gave up the 
 ghost,” “He is the propitiation for our sins; and not 
 for ours only, but also for the whole world” (1 John 
 2:2) ; and it is therefore unnecessary for anyone to 
 repeat the publican’s prayer. He was not justified be¬ 
 cause of his prayer, but through his faith. That he 
 prayed is no sufficient reason why the sinner unsaved 
 should now pray, especially since justification and the 
 new birth invariably come of believing. 
 
HIS DELATION TO CHRIST. 
 
 As for the prodigal? I make answer, he was just 
 as certainly the son of his father while in the “far coun¬ 
 try,” as when under the parental roof; but when in the 
 “far country” he was a very bad son. “He came to him¬ 
 self,” and like a sensible son he resolved to return home, 
 and acting upon the resolve he started. “But while he 
 was yet afar off, his father saw him, and was moved 
 with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and 
 kissed him,” even before the son had a chance to con¬ 
 fess his sins and ask forgiveness. The prodigal repre¬ 
 sents the backslidden Christian, the child of God who 
 has gone wrong and gotten out of communion with 
 his Heavenly Father. He is required to confess his sins 
 and ask forgiveness; and is assured if he does, and for¬ 
 sakes them, that he “shall have mercy.” (See i John 
 1:9; Psa. 32:5; and Prov. 28:13.) There is jus¬ 
 tification for the sinner unsaved; there is forgiveness 
 for the child of God, the “sinner saved by grace.” 
 The child of God who commits sin is required to con¬ 
 fess it to his Heavenly Father, and ask forgiveness. 
 The sinner unsaved is required to do nothing of the 
 sort, but to repent and believe. 
 
 God requires of the sinner unsaved, immediate, un¬ 
 conditional, and irreversible surrender; and when he 
 thus yields, and then believes “the record that God gave 
 of his Son,” God's Word for it, he is justified (Acts 
 T 3 : 39), and “born again” (1 John 5:1); even though 
 he has uttered never a word of prayer. We do not have 
 to pray in order to believe; we have to believe in order 
 to pray. Since there is merit only in Jesus as Re¬ 
 deemer, as long as the sinner is occupied with thoughts 
 
AS SAVIOUR. 
 
 37 
 
 about prayer and praying he is not thinking and believ¬ 
 ing on Christ. He must look away from himself and 
 all things possible to him, to “Him” and believe on 
 “Me,” for He alone can save. 
 
 Satan likewise often gets the inquiring soul con¬ 
 fused and into a tangle over his faith, or about be¬ 
 lieving. He will suggest,“Your faith is not of the right 
 sort; it is not strong enough; it is not in proper rela¬ 
 tions to the subject or object.” Well, of course, if his 
 mind and thoughts are taken up with such things, 
 he is not believing on “Him,” on “Me;" and, as long 
 as he remains in that frame of mind, he is unsaved. 
 
 “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word 
 of God” (Rom. io: 17). Is there any room for doubt¬ 
 ing what the Word of God says concerning “the re¬ 
 demption there is in Christ Jesus?” or God’s promises 
 to save those who repent and believe? His Word is 
 true, and “He is faithful that promised.” “Forever, O 
 Lord, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psa. 119:89). 
 “Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my word shall 
 not pass away” (Mark 13: 31). “But the word of the 
 Lord abideth forever” (1 Pet. 1:25). 
 
 Why then should anyone doubt Him? If we believe 
 His words, we can doubt whomsoever and whatever 
 we please; it will make no difference. So let us not 
 be confused. We are required to believe on Him. And 
 yet it is not our faith that saves us. It is Jesus who 
 saves us. It is by or through faith, it is true; but He 
 is the Saviour. The coupling that connects the train 
 to the engine does not haul the train: the engine does 
 that. But all the engines on earth could not haul a 
 
38 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST. 
 
 train unless it was coupled to them. Faith is the coup¬ 
 ling. By it we apprehend Him in whom, by His 
 passion and death, we also were apprehended; and He 
 saves us. So never mind your faith. “If I have all 
 faith, so that I could move mountains, and have not 
 charity (Christ), I am nothing” (i Cor. 13:2). 
 
 Third. What believe? 
 
 Believe you are justified and “born again,” because 
 God’s Word declares you are, if you have believed on 
 Jesus with the heart. “And by him every one that be- 
 lieveth is justified” (Acts 13:39); and, “Whosoever 
 believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” 
 (1 John 5:1). Having believed on Jesus with the 
 heart, you know you are “born again,” by his words 
 of assurance to that effect. “These things have I writ¬ 
 ten unto you, that you may know that ye have eternal 
 life, even unto you that believe on the name of the 
 Son of God” (1 John 5: 13). We are not anywhere 
 in the Bible told that we are to know in any other way 
 that we have eternal life. We are here explicitly in¬ 
 formed that certain things are written whereby we are 
 to know “that ye have eternal life.” If you believe on 
 Jesus with the heart you are justified and born again, 
 whether you believe it or not. God’s Word is not un¬ 
 true because you refuse to believe it. “He that believ¬ 
 eth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth 
 not the record God gave of his Son. And this is the 
 record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this 
 life is in his Son” (1 John 5 : 10, 11). As long as you 
 refuse to believe the word of assurance that you are 
 
AS SAVIOUR . 
 
 39 
 
 justified and “born again,” because you have believed 
 on Jesus with the heart, you will have unrest and be 
 unhappy; but, so soon as you believe these words of as¬ 
 surance will it be otherwise with you, for “joy and 
 peace” come of believing (Rom. 15:13). I am not 
 justified and “born again’ 1 because I have “joy and 
 peace;” but I am justified and "born again” because I 
 believe on Jesus with my heart; and I do not know 
 I am justified and “born again” because I have “joy 
 and peace;” but because God’s Word informs and as¬ 
 sures me that it is so. I have believed on Jesus with 
 my heart, and I have “joy and peace” in believing 
 this. 
 
 In St. Joseph, Mo., into an inquiry meeting one 
 night came a young lady, desiring to be saved. I 
 asked her if she was willing to forsake all known sins. 
 She answered, “I am.” I asked, “Are you willing to 
 obey God as best you can?” She responded, “Alto¬ 
 gether so!” I asked, “Do you believe Jesus loved you 
 and died for you?” “Without a doubt!” was her re¬ 
 ply. And you then accept Him to be your Saviour, to 
 trust Him for present and eternal salvation?” She said, 
 “With all my heart!” I then read John 6:47 t 0 her: 
 “ 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on 
 me hath everlasting life. 7 Do you have everlasting 
 life?” “No,” she replied. “But Jesus says you have, 
 since you have believed on Him.” “But I have not,” 
 she said. “Well then, if what you say is true, He has 
 lied.” I prayed with her, that the Holy Spirit would 
 teach and help her, and then left her. She left the 
 meeting with a very heavy heart. The next night she 
 
40 
 
 HIS DELATION TO CHRIST. 
 
 was again in the inquiry room, and I went carefully over 
 the same ground with her, with the same results. The 
 same thing happened the third, fourth, and fifth nights, 
 and her condition was pitiable. The sixth night she 
 went home well-nigh bereft of her reason, so great was 
 her anxiety and distress. The seventh night she en¬ 
 tered the inquiry room, her face luminous with smiles. 
 I think she was as happy a soul as I ever saw. As soon 
 as she could reach me she extended her hand and said, 
 “Mr. Munhall, I want to say to you, God does not lie!” 
 I said, “I am glad you have come to believe it, even 
 though it has taken you an entire week to do so.” All 
 her distress came of her not believing the Saviour's 
 words of assurance that she had everlasting life be¬ 
 cause she believed on Him. She as certainly had ever¬ 
 lasting life the first as the seventh night—God's Word 
 for it; but she refused to believe it, and thus made God 
 a liar (i John 5: 10). How could she have “joy and 
 peace" putting such dishonor upon the Saviour? When 
 she believed the word of assurance she at once found 
 joy and peace. She did not have everlasting life be¬ 
 cause she believed she had, but because she believed on 
 Jesus with her heart; and having believed on Jesus 
 with her heart, she knew she had everlasting life, 
 because He said so— “Hath everlasting life”—and be¬ 
 lieving this she had “joy and peace.” 
 
 In connection with this matter Satan does some of 
 his most effective work. He piously suggests (Satan 
 himself is transformed “into an angel of light,” 2 Cor. 
 ti : 14) that you cannot be justified and “born again,” 
 because you do not feel it, or, that you do not feel like 
 
AS SAVIOUR. 
 
 4i 
 
 some one said they felt when they were saved. And 
 thus many are led to doubt the word of assurance and 
 become confused and wretched. The word "feeling” 
 occurs only twice in the Bible: once we are told that 
 Jesus is “touched with a feeling of our infirmities” 
 (Heb. 4: 15), and in Eph. 4: 19 mention is made of 
 certain abominable people who were “past feeling.” 
 Scripturally, feeling is, therefore, neither a condition 
 to, nor element in the procuring cause of, present sal¬ 
 vation ; and has nothing to do with our knowing we are 
 justified and “born again.” That information is given 
 in God’s Word, as we have before shown; and the 
 Holy Spirit as Teacher, sent to guide us unto all the 
 truth, and take the things of Christ and show them 
 unto us (John 16: 13, 14), helps us to receive and un¬ 
 derstand what is written on the subject. We are not 
 justified and “born again” because we feel good, but 
 because we believe on Jesus Christ with the heart. We 
 do not know we are justified and “born again” by our 
 feelings, but by what God says about it in His Word, 
 which information causes us to feel good—and yet not 
 always. 
 
 The man who trusts his feelings for evidence of his 
 salvation must of necessity have a fluctuating and un¬ 
 satisfactory experience. Our feelings are influenced 
 and determined by many things. Most of men are af¬ 
 fected in their feelings by barometrical conditions. 
 When the barometer is 31.10, they are exhilarated and 
 cheerful. One is not likely to have the “blues” or com¬ 
 mit suicide when the barometer is above 30. When 
 the barometer is 29.20 most of people’s feelings are 
 
42 
 
 HIS ABLATION TO CHRIST. 
 
 depressed and they become measurably morose, de¬ 
 spondent, and suspicious. Now then, if one is saved 
 because they feel good, they would only be saved when 
 the barometer was above 30.80. 
 
 The feelings of most men are affected by their busi¬ 
 ness circumstances. If one is successful in his business 
 enterprises he is sure to feel good. If he fails he is 
 certain to feel otherwise. So then, if one is saved only 
 when he feels good, there is no salvation for him in 
 days of adversity. 
 
 A man with an unimpaired digestion, and vigorous, 
 robust health, would always be saved, if men are saved 
 when they feel good; and those that are broken and 
 shattered in health, and never, under any circum¬ 
 stances, can feel good, would be utterly without hope. 
 
 We are not saved because we feel good, but feel 
 good because we are saved; yet we do not always feel 
 good, but we are always saved, if we have believed on 
 Jesus Christ with our hearts, and are trusting Him 
 with unwavering confidence and unquestioning faith. 
 
 Some years ago, while conducting an evangelistic 
 campaign in a far Western city, I was, one morning, 
 while in my room at the hotel, suffering most excruciat¬ 
 ingly from facial neuralgia. It seemed as though 
 some one had driven a three-cornered file into the 
 ganglion on the left side of my face, and every half 
 minute would turn it around. Lancinating pains were 
 shooting through me like lightning flashes. Great drops 
 of cold perspiration stood out all over my face, and it 
 was impossible for me to take a long breath. Just 
 while I was suffering most there was a knock at my 
 
AS SAVIOUR. 
 
 43 
 
 door. Upon opening it I was confronted by a friend 
 and brother, one of those exuberant, soulful saints, 
 always full of good feeling and cheer. As we shook 
 hands he said, “Good morning, Brother Munhall, do 
 you feel you are saved this morning?” I responded, 
 “No! I feel like a pirate! but I know I am saved, in 
 spite of the neuralgia, the world, the flesh, and the 
 devil!” 
 
44 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Convert's Relations to Christ*—( Continued ♦ ) 
 
 As High Priest, Advocate, Lord, Brother, Friend, 
 
 Shepherd, and King. 
 
 First. PIigh Priest. 
 
 “Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his 
 brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things 
 pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”— 
 Heb. 2:17. 
 
 As Redeemer, Jesus made a sacrifice of Himself for 
 our sins (Heb. 9:26). As High Priest He presented 
 His blood unto the Father (Heb. 9:11, 12). The 
 blood of the “peace offering’’ did not speak in the sin¬ 
 ner’s behalf prevailingly until it was sprinkled upon the 
 altar (Lev. 3: 2). It was there God met the sinner for 
 reconciliation. Therefore, Jesus as High Priest “en¬ 
 tered into heaven itself, now to appear before the face 
 of God for us” (Heb. 9:24). And He “hath an un¬ 
 changeable priesthood” (Heb. 7: 24). As the Aaronic 
 high priest bore the names of the children of Israel in 
 the breastplate, and wore it upon his heart (Exod. 28: 
 29), even so Jesus our High Priest, who was “made 
 like unto his brethren,” “in all points tempted like as 
 we are” (Heb. 4: 15), and made “perfect through suf¬ 
 ferings” (Heb. 2:10), “that he might be a merciful 
 and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,” 
 is “touched with a feeling of our infirmities,” and 
 
AS ADVOCATE. 
 
 45 
 
 so bears the repentent believing sinner upon His 
 heart. He is not as an image in the tribune, cold, 
 unpitying and unsympathetic. “He loved us and 
 gave himself for us,” and will love us “unto the end.” 
 Why should we not be drawn to Him? Why should 
 we not confide in Him? “Let us therefore come 
 boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain 
 mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 
 4:15,16). 
 
 Second. Advocate. 
 
 “ If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ 
 the righteous.”—1 John 2 :1. 
 
 If one had a case in law he would select a competent 
 attorney, in whom he had confidence, and give his case 
 into his hands, in the hope that it might be successfully 
 and satisfactorily conducted. Satan is accusing the 
 “brethren . . . before our God day and night” (Rev. 
 12: 10). (See also Zech. 3: 1 and Eph. 6: 12, R. V.) 
 An accuser’s place is in court. An advocate’s place is 
 also in court. His business is to meet the accusations 
 brought against his client. Jesus, as our Advocate, is 
 before the Father's presence meeting Satan’s accusa¬ 
 tions. If we, as reconciled to the Father “through the 
 blood of his cross,” commit sin, Satan at once brings 
 accusation against us; and Jesus, our Advocate, pleads 
 the prevailing efficacy of His shed blood in our behalf, 
 and for His sake the Father forgives. Therefore, if we 
 have committed our way unto the Lord, to trust also 
 in Him that He may bring it to pass (Psa. 37* 5)> we 
 can say with entire confidence, “I know him whom I 
 
46 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST. 
 
 have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to 
 guard that which I have committed unto him against 
 that day" (i Tim. i: 12). Our Advocate can never 
 lose a case: the Father hearest Him always (John 
 11:42). 
 
 It should never be forgotten that the believer who has 
 committed sin is required to confess it (Psa. 32:5) 
 and forsake it (Prov. 28: 13), as a condition to for¬ 
 giveness. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and 
 righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from 
 all unrighteousness’’ (1 John 1:9). Since the con¬ 
 verse of a proposition is as true as that which is af¬ 
 firmed, if we do not confess and forsake our sins, He 
 will not forgive, since His advocacy is promised on 
 that condition. 
 
 Third. Lord. 
 
 *' For tc this end Christ died, and lived again, that he might be Lord 
 of both the dead and the living ”—Rom. 14 : 9. 
 
 Jesus, as Lord, asserted His omnipotent power while 
 on earth many, many times, in the wonderful life He 
 lived. How marvelously He made things seen and un¬ 
 seen minister to the needs of the needv about Him ! Did 
 they need healing? His word and touch wrought in¬ 
 stant cure. Were they hungry? At once the few 
 loaves and fishes became more than enough for the 
 thousands that followed Him. Were they affrighted be¬ 
 cause of the howling tempest and angry sea? At one 
 word from Him there was a great calm. This same 
 Almighty One is our Lord! Why should we fear? 
 ‘‘Even the winds and the sea obey him.” Why should 
 
AS LORD. 
 
 47 
 
 we be troubled? “My God shall supply all your need, 
 according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 
 4: 19). Why should we falter or doubt? “We know 
 that all things work together for good to them that 
 love God” (Rom. 8:28). 
 
 But better still, He is Lord of “the dead,” as of the 
 living. He grappled with death, and conquering him 
 arose from the grave, having “brought life and incor¬ 
 ruption to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1: 10). 
 He said, “I am the first and the last, and the Living 
 one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for ever¬ 
 more, and I have the keys of death and of Hades”(Rev. 
 1: 17, 18) ; therefore the convert can exultingly say, 
 “O death, where is thy victory ? O death, where is thy 
 sting?” (1 Cor. 15: 55.) When Jesus was upon the 
 earth no one ever died in his presence; and whenever 
 he came into the presence of those who were dead 
 they immediately came back to life and went about their 
 usual business. No wonder, therefore, when “The 
 Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 
 with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of 
 God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we 
 that are alive, that are left, shall together with them 
 be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: 
 and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4: 
 16, 17). He is thus, to the very last, “Lord of both the 
 dead and the living.” “Whether we live, we live unto 
 the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord: 
 whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s” 
 (Rom. 14:8). “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is 
 thy name in all the earth” (Psa. 8:9). 
 
4 8 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST 
 
 Fourth. Brother. 
 
 “ For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, he 
 is my brother.”—Matt. 12 : 50. 
 
 Jesus is, in the Scriptures, again and again declared 
 to be “the Son of God.” Believers are also again and 
 again declared to be “sons of God.” “For ye are all 
 sons of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.” There¬ 
 fore, all that Jesus is heir to, the convert is also heir to. 
 How intimate and endearing is this relation! and with 
 what confidence should we go to Him in all the hours 
 of our need! The convert should also ever remember 
 that his “Elder Brother” is always present with him, 
 and cultivate the habit of communing with Him. 
 
 Fifth. Friend. 
 
 “ Henceforth I call you not servants ; for the servant knoweth not what 
 his lord doeth : but I have called you friends; for all things that I have 
 heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”—John 15 : 15. 
 
 The natural law makes brothers after the flesh de¬ 
 voted to each other. But, “There is a friend that 
 sticketh closer than a brother” (Prov. 18:24); “A 
 friend of publicans and sinners” (Matt. 11: 19). 
 
 Our brother after the flesh may want to help us in a 
 time of need, but not have the means to do so. “But 
 my God shall supply all your need, according to his 
 riches in glory, by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4: 19). 
 
 Our brother in the flesh may be minded and able to 
 help us, but continents and seas may separate. Our 
 God is not gone on a long journey. “Am I a God at 
 hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off?” (Jer. 
 23:23.) 
 
 Our brother in the flesh may not want to help us 
 even when we are in need; he may be at variance with 
 
AS FRIEND AND SHEPHERD. 
 
 49 
 
 us. But, “The Lord thy God, he it is that doth go 
 with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” 
 (Dent. 31:6). 
 
 Our natural brother may not sympathize with us in 
 time of trouble. But our Elder Brother is “touched 
 with the feeling of our infirmities.” 
 
 Our earthly brother cannot go with 11s “through the 
 valley of the shadow of death.” Our Friend, the Lord 
 of life and glory, can, and will, if we trust Him (Psa. 
 
 23:4)- 
 
 Our brother in the flesh is powerless to deliver us 
 from the king of terrors. But He that is for us has 
 conquered death and the grave and hast “the keys of 
 death and of Hades. 
 
 Our natural brother cannot justify and cleanse us 
 from sins, and present us “faultless before the pres¬ 
 ence of his glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24), Our 
 unfailing Friend can, and will, if we are true to Him. 
 
 That which we as servants may not know, as friends, 
 we may and will know. “The secret of the Lord is 
 with them that fear him” (Psa. 25:14); and, as 
 friends, the Lord will reveal the deep things of God 
 unto ns. If we are faithful as servants, and prove our¬ 
 selves thereby to be deserving of confidence, He will be 
 our true and unfailing friend. “Ye are my friends, if 
 ye do the things I command you” (John 15: 14). 
 
 Sixth. Shepherd. 
 
 “ The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie 
 down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He re- 
 storeth my soul : he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his 
 name’s sake.”—Psa. 23 :1-3. 
 
 A sheep is the dumbest and most defenseless of an- 
 4 
 
5o 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST. 
 
 imals. God again and again likens the sinner to a 
 sheep. If left to himself he knows not what to do for 
 salvation, or where to go for safety; and is wholly 
 unable to defend himself against his fierce, tireless, and 
 unpitying adversary—the devil. “All we, like sheep, 
 have gone astray’’ (Isa. 53:6) ; and “Your adversary 
 the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking 
 whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). If left to him¬ 
 self the sinner must perish. 
 
 Hence Jesus, as the Shepherd, “came to seek and to 
 save that which was lost" (Luke 19: 10). 
 
 He is the Smitten Shepherd (Zech. 13:7). “I 
 lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10: 14). 
 
 He is the Good Shepherd (John 10: 11). He “giv- 
 eth his life for the sheep.” 
 
 He is the Great Shepherd (Heb. 13:20). “To 
 him the porter openeth" (John 10:3). 
 
 He is the Chief Shepherd (i Pet. 5:4). “All that 
 came before me are thieves and robbers” (John 10:8). 
 
 He is My Shepherd (Psa. 23:1). Therefore I 
 commit all to Him and will gladly follow where He 
 leads. 
 
 A sheep has two marks or characteristics. Jesus said, 
 “He goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: 
 for they know his voice" (John 10:4). “The sheep 
 Follow him”— Foot Mark. The closer we follow 
 Him, the easier it is to follow, and the less likely we 
 are to wander; and the more certain shall we be known 
 as His sheep. The sheep “know His Voice” — Ear 
 Mark. The more His voice is in our ear, the less will 
 we care for the music of this world; and the more cer- 
 
AS KING. 
 
 5i 
 
 tain will we be guided in safety into “green pastures” 
 and “beside the still waters.” 
 
 Seventh. King. 
 
 “ Our Lord Jesus Christ: which in his times he shall show, who is the 
 blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.”— 
 1 Tim. 6 :14, 15. 
 
 As Son of God, Jesus is by right heir to the throne 
 of the universe. “But of the Son he saith, Thy throne, 
 O God, is forever and ever” (Heb. i: 8). As Son of 
 David, He is heir to David's throne. Concerning 
 David’s throne God’s covenant with David declares, 
 “I will stablish the throne of his kingdom forever” 
 (2 Sam. 7: 13.) Concerning Jesus's relations with Da¬ 
 vid's throne it is said, “For unto us a child is born, unto 
 us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his 
 shoulders; and his name shall be called Wonderful, 
 Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, 
 The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his govern¬ 
 ment and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne 
 of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to 
 establish it with judgment and with justice,from hence¬ 
 forth even forever” (Isa. 9:6, 7). In the annuncia¬ 
 tion it was said to Mary, “And behold, thou shalt con¬ 
 ceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt 
 call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be 
 called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God 
 shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and 
 he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of 
 nis kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:31-33). 
 “Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? 
 Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this 
 
52 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST. 
 
 end was I born, and for this cause came I into the 
 world, that I should bear witness unto the truth” (John 
 18: 37). On the “Day of Pentecost/' Peter,speaking by 
 the Ploly Ghost, said: “Men and brethren, let me freely 
 speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both 
 dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this 
 day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that 
 God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit 
 of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up 
 Christ to sit on his throne; he, 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' 1 
 (Acts 2:29-32). When poor blinded and misguided 
 Israel rejected Jesus, He said :“0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
 which killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are 
 sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy 
 children together, even as a hen gathereth her own 
 brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, 
 your house is left unto you desolate: and I say unto 
 you, Ye shall not see me, until ye shall say, Blessed is 
 he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Luke 13: 
 
 34 , 35 )- 
 
 Jesus said, “All authority hath been given unto me 
 in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28: 18). “But now we 
 see not yet all things subjected to him’ 1 (Heb. 2:8). 
 “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to 
 be a Prince” (Acts 5:31). He is a Prince and has 
 kingly rights, and “shall have dominion also from sea 
 to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth” 
 (Psa. 72:8). The kingly rights of Jesus are denied 
 
AS KING. 
 
 53 
 
 and His authority disregarded by a vast majority of 
 the human family. Satan is “the god of this world” 
 and rules in the hearts and lives of “the children of dis¬ 
 obedience.” But it will not always be so. After the 
 opening of the seventh seal, and the seven trumpets 
 and seven thunders have sounded, a time yet future, 
 “there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, 
 The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of 
 our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign forever 
 and ever. . . . saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord 
 God, the Almighty, which art and which wast; because 
 thou hast taken thy great power, and didst reign” (Rev. 
 n : 15-17). '‘Then the moon shall be confounded, and 
 the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign 
 in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem” (Isa. 24: 23). "And 
 I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and 
 he that sat thereon, called Faithful and True; and in 
 righteousness he doth judge and make war. And his 
 eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head are many 
 diadems; and he hath a name written, which no one 
 knoweth but he himself. And he is arrayed in a gar¬ 
 ment sprinkled with blood: and his name is called The 
 Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven 
 followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, 
 white and pure. And out of his mouth proceedeth a 
 sharp sword, that it should smite the nations: and he 
 shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the 
 winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty 
 God. And he hath on his garment and on his thigh a 
 name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords” 
 (Rev. 19:11-16). Though despised and rejected by 
 
54 
 
 HIS RELATION TO CHRIST . 
 
 the many, He will one clay assert His regal rights, and 
 no one will then dare dispute the sway of His imperial 
 scepter. Then we who have been with Him in humilia¬ 
 tion shall reign with Him in the glory. “If we endure, 
 we shall also reign with him” (2 Tim. 2: 10). “And 
 Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye that 
 have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of 
 man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit 
 upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Is¬ 
 rael” (Matt. 19: 28). “He that overcometh, I will give 
 to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also 
 overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne” 
 (Rev. 3:21). “And they sing a new song, saying, 
 Worthy art thou to take the book, and to open the seals 
 thereof; for thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto 
 God with thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, 
 and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto 
 God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the 
 earth” (Rev. 5:9, 10). “And there shall be night no 
 more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of 
 sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: and they 
 shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 22: 5). 
 
 The convert should in this connection read carefully 
 Luke 19: 12-27. And yet while here in this life and 
 age, he should never forget that Jesus is even now 
 King of saints; and yield to Him the homage of His 
 supreme love, and the uncompromising devotion of 
 His life. “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give 
 thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2: 10). 
 
HIS RELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 55 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Convert's Relations to the Holy Spirit. 
 
 “ He shall glorify me : for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it 
 unto you.”—John 16 :14. 
 
 The Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Son 
 in essence and all the attributes belonging to the God¬ 
 head He is the executive of the Godhead. We see 
 this in all the works of God from creation to the culmi¬ 
 nation of the kingdom. He is the only person of the 
 Godhead upon earth. God the Father is upon the throne 
 in the midst of the heavens. God the Son is at the 
 right hand of the Father as Advocate and High Priest, 
 ‘‘Whom the heaven must receive until the times of res¬ 
 toration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth 
 of his holy prophets which have been since the world 
 began” (Acts 3:21); meanwhile, since the Day of 
 Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has been upon earth, to 
 “convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteous¬ 
 ness, and of judgment” (John 16:8) ; to accomplish 
 the regeneration and new birth for all repenting and 
 believing souls; to dwell in believers and direct in all 
 the work of God’s people, to the glory of God the Fa¬ 
 ther. This is the dispensation of the Spirit. 
 
 Jesus was subject unto the Holy Spirit in all things, 
 that He might “fulfill all righteousness.” “In all things 
 it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, 
 that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in 
 things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the 
 
56 HIS RELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT 
 
 sins of the people” (Heb. 2: 17). Notice what a strik¬ 
 ing analogy there is between the relations of the Holy 
 Spirit to the perfect human nature of Jesus and his re¬ 
 lations to those who are “made partakers of the divine 
 nature.” 
 
 Jesus, as man, born of the Spirit: Matt. 1: 18, 20; 
 Luke 1: 35. 
 
 Converts born of the Spirit: John 3: 5, 6, 8; Titus 
 
 3 : 5 - 7 * 
 
 Jesus anointed with the Spirit: John 1:32, 33; 
 Acts 10: 38. 
 
 Converts anointed with the Spirit: 1 John 2: 20, 27. 
 Jesus sealed by the Spirit: John 6: 27. 
 
 Converts sealed by the Spirit: Eph 1:13; 2 Cor. 
 1:22; 5:5. 
 
 Jesus led by the Spirit: Matt. 4: 1. 
 
 Converts led by the Spirit: Rom. 8:4, 14; Gal. 5: 
 16-18. 
 
 Jesus acted by the Spirit: Matt. 12:28; Luke 4: 14, 
 18; John 3:24; Acts 1: 2. 
 
 Converts to act by the Spirit: John 7:38, 39; Acts 
 1:8; Rom. 8: 26. 
 
 Jesus justified in the Spirit: 1 Tim. 3: 16. 
 
 Converts justified in the Spirit: 1 Cor. 6:11. 
 
 Jesus ofifered Himself by the Spirit: Heb. 9: 14. 
 Converts offer themselves by the Spirit: Rom. 15 • 16. 
 Jesus was raised by the Spirit: Rom. 8:11; 1 Pet. 
 3: 18. 
 
 Converts to be raised by the Spirit: Rom. 8:11; John 
 6:63. 
 
 The Spirit abode upon Jesus: John 1:32. 
 
AS CON VICTOR, 
 
 57 
 
 The Spirit abides upon Converts: i Pet. 4: 14. 
 
 Seeing thus, how completely the convert is identified 
 with Jesus in the Spirit, it remains for him to “walk in 
 the Spirit, and . . . not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” 
 
 First. As Convictor. 
 
 “ Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart.”—Acts 
 2 :. 37 ‘ 
 
 Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, “When he is come, 
 he will convict the world in respect of sin, and of right¬ 
 eousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8). He will con¬ 
 vict unchristian people of sin—one particular sin. He 
 Himself tells us what sin it is—“of sin, because they be¬ 
 lieve not on me;” a sin that no one, if left to himself, 
 will ever admit is a sin, though it makes God a liar 
 (1 John 5: 10), and is, in essence, the root of all sins. 
 The man who commits murder needs not the Holy 
 Spirit to convict him that it is a sin: he knows it. He 
 who steals knows it is a sin, without the Holy Spirit’s 
 enlightenment. The man who gets drunk and cruelly 
 beats his wife and children knows that his conduct is 
 sinful, without the Holy Spirit’s help. But the sin of 
 rejecting Jesus as Saviour and Lord; of disbelieving 
 “the record God gave of his Son,” though the most 
 heinous of all sins, will never be so understood and be¬ 
 lieved unless the Holy Spirit shall “convict of sin . . . 
 because they believed not on me.” Jesus was “man¬ 
 ifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” 
 (Heb. 9: 26). Having, therefore, dealt judicially with 
 our sins, “nailing” them “to his cross,” there is nothing 
 against the unsaved man, “the bond written in ordi- 
 
58 HIS RELA TION TO THE HOT Y SPIRIT 
 
 nances" having been “blotted out” (Col. 2: 14). All of 
 this was accomplished for us at infinite cost. God sub¬ 
 jected His royal Son to such contempt and ignominy, 
 such revilings and sufferings, as were never visited 
 upon any soul of man. And it was all because He loved 
 us, and that we “should not perish, but have everlast¬ 
 ing life." Now then, when the unsaved man refuses 
 to believe all this and submit himself to the authority 
 of heaven, as every unchristian soul who has ever heard 
 the Gospel message does, he commits the one sin of 
 which the Holy Spirit is sent to convict the world. 
 Jesus said, “He that believeth not is condemned al¬ 
 ready, because he hath not believed in the name of the 
 only begotten Son of God" (John 3: 18). Unbelief 
 is therefore the condemning sin. For though Jesus 
 “Bore our sins in his body upon the tree/’ yet is it 
 necessary that we should repent and believe in order 
 that we may have the benefits of redemption. If we 
 refuse to believe, “God shall take away his part from 
 the tree of life, and out of the holy city, and from the 
 things written in this book” (Rev. 22: 19). That is to 
 say, if we refuse to believe, all that God has purchased 
 for us “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” 
 is made void and we must perish in our sins; and the 
 wrath of God shall be visited upon us, not because of 
 our sins, but because of the one greatest of all sins— 
 unbelief. “He that believeth not the Son shall not see 
 life: but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 
 3:36). God loves the vilest sinner. The proof is 
 found in the gift of His Son; but when the sinner re¬ 
 jects His Son, this, and this alone, kindles the wrath of 
 
AS CONVICTOR. 
 
 59 
 
 God against that sinner. But man can never realize 
 how vile and great a sin is unbelief without the Holy 
 Spirit’s help. And He will convict all unchristian souls, 
 who are sincerely desirous of knowing the truth, and 
 will abandon themselves immediately, unconditionally* 
 and irreversibly to its requirements. 
 
 He will also convict the world “of righteousness, be¬ 
 cause I go to the Father/* “The law is holy, and the 
 commandment holy, and righteous, and good” (Rom. 
 7: 12). Therefore nothing short of exact conformity 
 to the law, and absolute obedience to the command¬ 
 ments, can satisfy the demands of justice, since justice, 
 of necessity, must be inexorable in her demands. Jesus 
 is the only one who perfectly obeyed, or kept the whole 
 law. “For Christ is the end of the law unto righteous¬ 
 ness to every one that believeth” (Rom. 10:4). The 
 proof of this is given in His return unto the Father. 
 He said, “I glorified thee on the earth, having accom¬ 
 plished the work which thou hast given me to do.” 
 
 He will likewise convict the world “of judgment, be¬ 
 cause the prince of this world hath been judged.” 
 Not of “judgment to come,” but of judgment already 
 accomplished. Satan is “prince of this world.” He 
 is a usurper. He “now worketh in the children of dis¬ 
 obedience.” He has no right to rule in the life of any¬ 
 one. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, 
 having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3: 13) ; and thus 
 we “are bought with a price: glorify God therefore in 
 your body” (1 Cor. 7:20). Satan is waiting the day 
 of his doom, having been judged and sentenced by the 
 Judge Eternal. Why then should any man suffer him 
 
6 o HIS RELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 to rule in his life? or even, for one moment, to ac¬ 
 knowledge his claims? Jesus alone has authority; and 
 men everywhere should recognize it, and submit them¬ 
 selves to Him, as rightful ruler. 
 
 It belongs to the office of the Holy Spirit to con¬ 
 vince the world “of sin, of righteousness, and of 
 judgment;” and He will surely perform this work for 
 all who will be taught of Him. 
 
 Second. As Regenerator ! 
 
 “ The washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”— 
 Titus 3 :5. 
 
 It also belongs to his office to accomplish the regen¬ 
 eration and new birth in the case of all who will repent 
 and believe. Jesus said, “Except a man be born anew, 
 he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). “But 
 as many as received him, to them gave he the right to 
 become children of God, even to them that believed on 
 his name: which were born, not of blood (that is, by 
 the law of natural descent), nor of the will of the 
 flesh (that is, by human device), nor of the will of man 
 (that is, by human desire), but of God” (John 1: 12, 
 13). Jesus Christ can be believed and received in no 
 other way than through the word of truth by the Holy 
 Spirit. Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken 
 unto you are spirit, and are life” (John 6:63). The 
 words of life contain the germs of the new nature; and 
 if they are received into the mind and heart bv a re- 
 penting and believing soul, one who believes them with 
 unquestioning faith, and submits, whole-hearted and 
 irreversibly to their authority, just as good seed planted 
 in good soil, under the influence of rain and sunshine, 
 
AS REGENERATOR. 
 
 61 
 
 will germinate and spring up to reproduce itself; just 
 so, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, will the 
 words of life germinate and issue in the new birth, 
 and that believer pass out of death into life, saved 
 '‘through the washing of regeneration and renewing of 
 the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3: 5). It is of God—“Of his 
 own will he brought us forth by the word of truth” 
 (James 1: 18) ; we having “received with meekness the 
 implanted word, which is able to save your souls” 
 (James 1:21) ; “having been begotten again, not of 
 corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word 
 of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (1 Pet. 1: 
 23). We may not formulate the law of the Spirit’s 
 operations, since God’s ways and thoughts are as much 
 above man’s as the heavens are higher than the earth 
 (Isa. 55:89); so then, when Nicodemus asked the 
 Saviour, “How can a man be born when he is old?” 
 Jesus made answer, “The Spirit (to pneuma) breatheth 
 where he will and thou hearest his voice, but canst 
 not tell whence he cometh, nor whither he goeth: thus 
 it is with every one that is born of the Spirit” (to 
 pneuma) (John 3:8). 
 
 Having thus briefly considered the work of the Holy 
 Spirit in conviction, and the regeneration and new 
 birth, let us next examine into His work with and for 
 the child of God, and the convert’s relations to Him. 
 
62 HIS RELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Convert's Relations to the Holy Spirit. 
 
 — {Continued .) 
 
 Third. As Witnesser. 
 
 “And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into 
 our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”—Gal. 4:6. 
 
 “Because ye are sons.” Not in order that ye may 
 become sons, nor yet that ye may know ye are sons; 
 “For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ 
 Jesus ,, (Gal. 3:26). “Ye are sons,” because ye have 
 believed on Jesus Christ with the heart; and ye know 
 “ye are sons" because God's Word says so, over and 
 over again; and this is how we know it: “These things 
 have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye 
 have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the 
 name of the Son of God” (1 John 5: 13). A witness 
 is for confirmation. Therefore, “Because ye are sons, 
 God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, 
 crying, Abba, Father.” 
 
 There are those who teach, You are not to believe 
 you are sons until you feel it. This is wholly unscrip- 
 tural and tantamount to saying, Do not believe what 
 God says about it. Such teaching, if accepted, will 
 surely lead into the mazes of uncertainty, the cherish¬ 
 ing of false hopes, and to despair. That our feel¬ 
 ings are affected by the operations of the Holy Spirit 
 in witnessing is doubtless true; but our feelings 
 are influenced by so very many things that they 
 are wholly unreliable as authority in this matter, and 
 
AS WJTNESSER. 
 
 6 3 
 
 so capricious as to be not even a trustworthy 
 monitor. 
 
 Let us now turn to God’s Word and find what it 
 teaches concerning this matter. Jesus said, “Howbeit 
 when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide 
 you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from him¬ 
 self; but what things soever he shall hear, these shall 
 he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that 
 are to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall take of 
 mine, and shall declare it unto you. All things whatso¬ 
 ever the Father hath are mine, therefore said I, that 
 he taketh of mine, and shall declare it unto you” (John 
 16:13-15). Jesus alone is the Saviour—the “utter¬ 
 most” Saviour. The Holy Spirit will speak from 
 Him, guiding into all the truths and revealing Him in 
 all His glorious offices as Saviour to the “willing and 
 obedient” soul. Not, however, apart from what the 
 Word tells us of Him; for by the Word alone do we 
 have this information. But it is not in “words which 
 man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teach- 
 eth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Now 
 the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit 
 of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he 
 cannot know them, because they are spiritually 
 judged” (1 Cor. 2: 13, 14). Therefore is it written, 
 “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God 
 is greater: for the witness of God is this, that he hath 
 borne witness concerning his Son. He that believeth 
 on the Son of God hath the witness in him: he that 
 believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he 
 hath not believed in the witness that God hath borne 
 
64 HIS DELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 concerning his Son. And the witness is this, that God 
 gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 
 He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not 
 the Son of God hath not the life. These things have 
 I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have 
 eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of 
 the Son of God’’ (i John 5:9-13). 
 
 But it may be asked, How is one to know when the 
 Spirit witnesses to the fact of sonship? In Gal. 5: 
 22, 23, we are told, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, 
 joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith¬ 
 fulness, meekness, temperance;” and elsewhere, pa¬ 
 tience, virtue—which is courage—and knowledge : 
 twelve fruits spoken of as “fruit.” “By their fruits 
 ye shall know them.” It is the proper, and therefore 
 safe, way to “Try your own selves, whether ye be in 
 the faith” (2 Cor. 13:5). Let us see: 
 
 First. Love. Before you were a son of God, you 
 did not love God; you did not love His Word; you 
 did not love His people; but you loved the ways of 
 unrighteousness. Now you love God; you love His 
 Word; you love His people; and you know it if you do. 
 For while we may not formulate the law of the opera¬ 
 tion of love, yet do we know we love, if we do. There¬ 
 fore, if we love God and the things of God, we know 
 the Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are the 
 children of God, for “the love of God hath been shed 
 abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost which 
 was given unto us” (Rom. 5:5). 
 
 Second. Joy. Before you were “born again” you 
 knew nothing of joy. You found a certain kind and 
 
AS WITNESSER. 
 
 65 
 
 amount of pleasure in many things, but no joy. Your 
 soul was unsatisfied with the things of time and sense; 
 for since it is created in God’s image, nothing but God 
 can satisfy all its deep thirst, and hunger, and yearn¬ 
 ing. ‘‘The Lord is my portion, saith my soul” (Lam. 
 3:24) ; and “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with 
 thy likeness” (Psa. 17: 15). You came to understand 
 these statements somewhat, when you “passed out of 
 death into life”—awakening from spiritual death into 
 the likeness of Christ; “For the kingdom of God 
 is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and 
 peace and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 14: 17) ; for 
 “the God of hope” had filled “you with all joy and 
 peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the 
 power of the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 15: 13). By the joy 
 of your soul you know the Spirit witnesseth to the 
 fact of sonship. 
 
 Third. Peace. Once you were an enemy of God 
 by wicked works. You learned that Jesus had “made 
 peace through the blood of his cross. . . . And you, 
 being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind 
 in your evil works, yet now hath he reconciled in the 
 body of his flesh through death, to present you holy 
 and without blemish and unreprovable before him” 
 (Col. 1:20-22); and you laid down the weapons of 
 your unequal strife, and surrendered at discretion, to 
 be made conformable to the revealed will of God, and 
 you have since had “peace with God through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ.” The war is over and your “fellowship 
 is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” 
 
 And it is all through the Spirit. If you have “the 
 
 5 
 
66 HIS RELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT 
 
 peace of God, which passeth all understanding,” you 
 certainly know you have the “witness of the Spirit/’ 
 
 Fourth. Long-suffering. ‘‘Love suffereth long, 
 and is kind.” It is the grace of forbearance. Some 
 one does you a gross wrong. You have no desire to be 
 revenged, to return “evil for evil.” It was not always 
 so. According to the law of the natural man you 
 w'ould quickly resent the w T rong, and pay the one who 
 wronged you back with interest, many fold, kind for 
 kind. Something must have taken place in your life. 
 You have a wholly different spirit and mind from what 
 you once had. The change has indeed been radical. 
 Who but the Holy Spirit could work such a change? 
 It is proof of His witnessing. 
 
 Fifth. Kindness. You may find, also, even a 
 higher form of “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
 Jesus” operating in your life. It manifests itself in the 
 grace or fruit of kindness, wherein you can “love your 
 enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them 
 that curse you,” and “pray for them that despitefully 
 use you” (Luke 6: 27, 28). This is wholly unnatural, 
 and is the very highest form and most heavenly aspect 
 of the Christ life. If it manifests itself in vour life it 
 is a demonstration of the glorious fact that the “Holy 
 Spirit witnesses to our spirit that we are the children 
 of God.” 
 
 Sixth. Goodness. “For I know that in me, that 
 is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7: 18). 
 Jesus said, “One there is who is good.” Because of 
 this, doubtless, Paul said, “And have no confidence in 
 the flesh” (Phil. 3:3). Jesus w r ent about doing good. 
 
AS WITNESSER. 
 
 6 7 
 
 His great, loving heart was continually burdened be¬ 
 cause of the sorrows and sufferings He saw on every 
 hand while among men; and He gave Himself cease¬ 
 lessly to the work of relieving them. Have we the 
 same spirit? Are we bearing like burdens and doing- 
 like work? If so, it is because of the Spirit’s witness¬ 
 ing. 
 
 Seventh. Faith signifies faithfulness. Faith is 
 not faith if we believe to-day and disbelieve or even 
 doubt to-morrow. Faith is the confidence of things 
 hoped for, the demonstration of things not seen. Faith 
 is the very highest form of knowledge. At its root is 
 faithfulness. ‘‘Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing 
 by the word of God.” “Jesus therefore said, ... If 
 ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples” 
 (John 8:31). Of course, there goes with this the fact 
 of fidelity to every trust and duty, since “faith without 
 works is dead” (James 2: 20). Therefore, if you find 
 you have an unquestioning faith in God, and are ask¬ 
 ing, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” and are 
 doing your best to “glorify God in your body,” you 
 may be sure you have “the witness of the Spirit.” 
 
 Eighth. Meekness. “He will beautify the meek 
 with salvation” (Psa. 149:4). “The meek shall eat 
 and be satisfied” (Psa. 22:26). “The meek will he 
 guide in judgment” (Psa. 25:9). “The meek shall 
 inherit the earth.” “The meek shall ... be glad” (Psa. 
 69:32). “The Lord lifteth up the meek” (Psa. 147: 
 6). “The meek shall increase their joy” (Tsa. 29: 19). 
 “The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is 
 in the sight of God of great price” (1 Pet. 3:4). Be- 
 
68 HIS RELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 fore you were a believer you may have been irascible, 
 ruled by a hot temper. Now you rule it, and instead 
 have “a meek and quiet spirit.' 1 Without doubt it is 
 the work of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Ninth. Temperance is a fruit of the Spirit. Its 
 meaning is not limited to abstinence from the use of 
 intoxicating liquors. One may be intemperate in what 
 he eats, in what she wears, in what they say. The 
 temperance mentioned here is that self-restraint and 
 control that ever characterized the life of our Saviour, 
 by which the whole life is dominated by the law of the 
 Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. 11 Is your life thus or¬ 
 dered? If so, then it must be because the Holy Spirit 
 is bearing witness. 
 
 Tenth. Patience. Before you became a Chris¬ 
 tian the burdens, sorrows, conflicts, and trials of life 
 vexed and worried you, and caused you to murmur 
 and complain at your hard lot in life. How is it now? 
 Have you learned that God “doeth all things well? 11 
 that “All things work together for good to them that 
 love God, to them who are the called according to his 
 purpose?” (Rom. 8: 28), that “Whom the Lord loveth 
 he ehasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he re- 
 ceiveth. It is for chastening that ye endure; God 
 dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is there 
 whom his father ehasteneth not? But if ye are with¬ 
 out chastening whereof all have been made partakers, 
 then are ye bastards, and not sons” (Heb. 12:6-8). 
 Are you bearing the burdens laid upon you, without 
 complaint? Are you patiently enduring the trials and 
 conflicts of life as “a good soldier of Jesus Christ,” and 
 
AS WITNESSED 
 
 69 
 
 unmurmuringly the sorrows and sufferings of your 
 lot? Well, “Let patience have its perfect work, that ye 
 may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing” (James 
 1:4). Patience is a fruit of the Spirit. 
 
 Eleventh. Virtue —or courage—is also a fruit 
 of the Spirit. Before you became a “son of God 
 through faith in Christ Jesus” you were morally a 
 coward. You were fearful to meet a minister of the 
 Gospel, lest he would speak to you about your soul’s 
 salvation. In times of revival you would absent your¬ 
 self from the meetings if you thought anyone was at 
 all likely to speak to you on the subject of the Chris¬ 
 tian religion. And when at last you resolved to take 
 a stand for Christ you remember how your heart went 
 faster and you trembled as with palsy. The fear of 
 man terrorized you. Has that all gone? Are you a 
 good brave soldier of Jesus Christ? No fear of man 
 any more? Ready to do your part for the Master, 
 willingly and gladly? Well, since “perfect love casteth 
 out fear” (1 John 4: 18), you must have been “made 
 perfect in love.” What stronger proof could be given 
 that the Spirit witnesses to the fact of your sonship? 
 
 Twelfth. Knowledge. Before you were a Chris¬ 
 tian, “being ignorant of God’s righteousness, you went 
 about to establish your own righteousness,” as the 
 Pharisee of old (Rom. 10:3). But you were con¬ 
 vinced “of sin and of righteousness and of judgment” 
 (John 16:8). You came to know that in you, that is, 
 in your flesh, dwelleth no good thing (Rom. 7: 18) ; 
 that Jesus had become “the end of the law unto right¬ 
 eousness to every one that believeth” (Rom. 10:4). 
 
70 HIS RELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 The Word of God was opened to you. You came 
 thereby to know the meaning of the words, ‘‘Faith 
 cometh of hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” 
 (Rom. 10:17); and to understand how it is that 
 “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the prov¬ 
 ing of things not seen” (Heb. 11: 1). You believed 
 on the Lord Jesus “with the heart unto righteousness, 
 and with the mouth made confession unto salvation” 
 (Rom. 10:8-10); and now you can truthfully and 
 with confidence say, “I know whom I have believed, 
 and am persuaded that he is able to guard that which 
 I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Tim. 
 1:12). 
 
 And so it is that “By their fruits ye shall know 
 them“For if these things are yours and abound, 
 they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the 
 knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:8). 
 
 Fourth. As Sealer. 
 
 “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto 
 the day of redemption.”—Eph. 4 : 30. 
 
 Sealing is that which makes a document genuine. 
 One may possess a government bill, printed upon gen¬ 
 uine government paper, and signed by the proper of¬ 
 ficials; but, until the little red seal of the United States 
 Government is stamped upon it, its value is only that 
 of waste paper. As soon as it receives the impress of 
 that seal it is worth the amount in kind of coin indi¬ 
 cated upon it. One may call himself a Christian, may 
 belong to an orthodox church and pass for a Chris¬ 
 tian among men, and yet in fact not be one, and be re¬ 
 jected at the bar of God’s judgment. “If any man 
 
AS EARNEST. 
 
 7 1 
 
 have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his” (Rom. 
 8:9). Therefore, the question, “Did ye receive the 
 Holy Ghost when ye believed?” (Acts 19.2,) is one 
 of great and far-reaching importance. 
 
 Fifth. As Earnest. 
 
 “In whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit 
 of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance,” etc.—Eph. i : 13, 14. 
 
 In law earnest money is first payment—that which 
 binds the contract. That is, if I agree with a man to 
 give him a certain sum for a certain piece of property, 
 and then pay him ten dollars of the amount, that binds 
 the bargain; the property is then mine in law. The 
 ten dollars in such a case is called earnest money. To 
 every one who “conimits” himself “unto the Lord,” to 
 '‘trust also in him,” God has promised to “bring it to 
 pass” (Psa. 37:5). He has promised to “guard that 
 which” is “committed unto him against that day” 
 (2 Tim. 1 : 12). He has entered into covenant with the 
 believer to give him victory over death, the grave, and 
 hell (1 Cor. 15: 51-57; Rev. 20: 11-15; 7: 13-17), and 
 bring him at last into possession of the heavenly inher¬ 
 itance. (See John 14:1-3.) The gift of the Holy 
 Ghost binds the agreement. And also “By two im¬ 
 mutable things, in which it is impossible for God to 
 lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have 
 fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us; 
 which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope 
 both sure and steadfast and entering into that which 
 is within the veil; whither as a forerunner Jesus en¬ 
 tered for us, having become a high priest forever after 
 the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 6: 18-20). 
 
72 HIS RELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT 
 
 Sixth. As Teacher. 
 
 “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall 
 teach you all things.”—John 14 126. 
 
 Even though we have the Word of God, which con¬ 
 tains all we need to know of God's will concerning us 
 and the responsibilities under which we rest to Him 
 and our fellow-men, and study the same carefully, crit¬ 
 ically, and with utmost diligence, yet is it a sealed 
 book unless the Holy Spirit teaches us. “For the letter 
 killeth, but the Spirit giveth life'’ (2 Cor. 3:6). 
 “The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things 
 of God. For who among men knoweth the things 
 of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in 
 him? even so the things of God none knoweth, 
 save the Spirit of God. But we received, not 
 the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of 
 God; that we might know the things that are free¬ 
 ly given to us of God. Which things also we speak, 
 not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which 
 the Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with 
 spiritual. Now the natural man receiveth not the 
 things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness 
 unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are 
 spiritually judged" (1 Cor. 2: 10-14). Jesus said, 
 “He shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you," 
 and “guide into all truth." It is also said in 1 John 
 2:27, “The anointing which ye received of him abid- 
 eth in you, and ye need not that any teach you; but as 
 his anointing teacheth you concerning all things, and 
 is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, ye 
 abide in him." 
 
AS SANCTIFIER. 
 
 73 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Convert’s Relations to the Holy Spirit. 
 
 — ( Continued .) 
 
 Seventh. As Sanctifier. 
 
 “ This is the will of God even, your sanctification.”—i Thess. 4 : 3. 
 
 To begin with, let us note two things: First. Sanc¬ 
 tification is enjoined upon believers: '‘Like as he 
 which called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy 
 in all manner of living; because it is written, Ye shall 
 be holy; for I am holy” (1 Pet 1:15, 16). Therefore 
 it is not optional with us; believers are under obliga¬ 
 tions to be holy: God commands it. To refuse is to 
 disobey Him; and that is sin. As believers we must 
 conform to the plainly revealed will of God. And 
 "This is the will of God, even your sanctification 
 Second. We cannot be used of God unless we are 
 sanctified. "If a man therefore purge himself from 
 these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, meet 
 for the Master's use, prepared unto every good work” 
 (2 Tim. 2:21). In Exod. 29:44 we are told, "I will 
 sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the 
 altar: I will sanctify both Aaron and his sons, to min¬ 
 ister to me in the priests" office.” In John 17: 19 Je¬ 
 sus said, "And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that 
 they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” Now 
 then, since the tabernacle and the altar could not be 
 used of God unsanctified, and Aaron and his sons 
 were not fit "to minister ... in the priests’ office” un¬ 
 til sanctified, and the Master Himself deemed it neces- 
 
74 HIS DELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 sary to be sanctified that He might “fulfill all right¬ 
 eousness/’ surely we have no sufficient grounds for be¬ 
 lieving that God can or will use us if we refuse to be 
 sanctified, especially since it is His will that we should 
 be. Doubtless God can and does overrule in an unsanc¬ 
 tified life in the interests of His Church and people ; 
 but I am equally certain that He does not rule in such 
 a life. He does not use an unsanctified instrument. 
 
 Since there is much ignorance among believers as 
 to what is the real meaning of sanctification, and not 
 a little prejudice against it, it will be doubtless well 
 for us to define ourselves that we may be understood. 
 First, then: Primarily and fundamentally sanctify 
 means to separate, to set apart. In the Old Testament 
 the Hebrew word Quadcsh is almost invariably ren¬ 
 dered into three English words, viz., “holy,” “con¬ 
 secrate/' and “sanctify," which words are therefore 
 very properly used interchangeably. The same is true 
 in the New Testament save as to the word “conse¬ 
 crate,” the Greek words Hagios and Hagiazo being 
 rendered “holy” and “sanctify" and meaning to sepa¬ 
 rate, to set apart. Therefore, we understand that 
 “sanctify" means to separate, to set apart. A number 
 of the epistles are addressed “to the saints,” etc. The 
 word “saint" is from the Latin word sanctos, which 
 means one set apart or separated. The believer who 
 is wholly given up to God to be conformed unto His 
 revealed will is sanctified, is holy, is a saint. 
 
 There is a secondary aspect of the case. It has tc do 
 with the moral state of the believer. The late Profess¬ 
 or A. A. Hodge, of Princeton, once said, “If the will 
 
AS SANCTIFIED. 
 
 75 
 
 as to the moral state is conformed to the law of God, 
 
 then the man will be without sin.” In justification we 
 
 are delivered from the guilt of sin. In regeneration 
 
 we are delivered from the pollution and defilement of 
 
 sin—“a new creature: the old things are passed away; 
 
 behold, they are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). In 
 
 sanctification we are delivered from the domination of 
 
 sin, that it should not "reign in your mortal body, that 
 
 * 
 
 ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Rom. 6: 12). 
 
 Another thing that should be clearly understood is 
 this: The believer's judicial standing before God is one 
 thing, and his moral state among men quite another. 
 Unless this is properly understood and recognized, 
 confusion and trouble will surely follow, and the be¬ 
 liever will, in all probability, become a legalist, toward 
 which we are all naturally inclined. "The law is holy, 
 and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.” 
 The law requires absolute obedience. No man ever 
 kept the whole law absolutely. Jesus, however, be¬ 
 cause of His perfect obedience, "is the end of the law 
 unto righteousness to every one that believeth” (Rom. 
 10:4). The whole case is thus clearly stated in Rom. 
 3: 19-29: “Now we know that what things soever the 
 law saith, it speaketh to them that are under the law; 
 that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world 
 may be brought under the judgment of God: because 
 by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in 
 his sight: for through the law cometh the knowledge 
 of sin. But now apart from the law a righteousness 
 of God hath been manifested, being witnessed bv the 
 law and the prophets; even the righteousness through 
 
76 HIS RE LA TION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that 
 believe; for there is no distinction; for all have 
 sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being jus¬ 
 tified freely by his grace through the redemption that 
 is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth to be a pro¬ 
 pitiation, through faith, by his blood, to show his right¬ 
 eousness, because of the passing over of the sins done 
 aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, 
 I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that 
 he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that 
 hath faith in Jesus. Where then is the glorying? It 
 is excluded. Bv what manner of law? of works? 
 Nay: but by the law of faith. We reckon therefore 
 that a man is justified by faith apart from the works 
 of the law." When God justifies the believer he be¬ 
 comes as guiltless as though he had never sinned. 
 Therefore, judicially, he may very properly say, ‘‘As 
 he (Jesus) is, even so are we in this world” (i John 
 4: 17). It is all put to Jesus's account, and thus the 
 believer becomes as guiltless before God as the merci¬ 
 ful Saviour. Praise His glorious name! we are pre¬ 
 sented “perfect in Christ Jesus:” . . . “holy and un¬ 
 blamable (without spot) and unreprovable (without 
 charge) in his sight" (Col. 1: 28, 22) ; “set before the 
 presence of his glory without blemish in exceeding 
 joy” (Jude 24). “Who shall lay anything to the 
 charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth; who 
 is he that shall condemn? It is Christ Jesus that died, 
 vea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at 
 the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession 
 for us” (Rom. 8:33, 34). 
 
AS SANCTIFIED. 
 
 77 
 
 The believer's moral state is quite another thing. 
 Morally he is necessarily imperfect. John Wesley once 
 said: “I believe there is no such perfection in this life 
 as excludes these involuntary transgressions which I 
 apprehend to be naturally consequent on the ignorance 
 and mistakes inseparable from mortality. And these 
 mistakes will frequently occasion something wrong in 
 our temper, words, and actions. For want of better 
 bodily organs, they must at times think, speak, and 
 act wrong. Therefore 'sinless perfection' is a phrase 
 I never use, lest I should seem to contradict myself. 
 I believe a person filled with the love of God is still 
 liable to involuntary transgressions.'’ The holiest of 
 men, as certainly as they know themselves and the 
 teaching of the Word of God, and are honest, will ad¬ 
 mit that, as to the moral state, they are imperfect and 
 fail to measure up to all the requirements of God's 
 holy law. But with all our ignorance, weakness, and 
 imperfections, if we sincerely believe and trust Him, 
 are we presented "before the presence of His glory 
 without blemish in exceeding joy." "We are not under 
 law, but under grace. What then ? Shall we sin, because 
 we are not under law, but under grace? God forbid’’ 
 (Rom.6: 14,15). The divine injunction is: "Even so 
 reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive 
 unto God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign 
 in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts 
 thereof: neither present your members unto sin as in¬ 
 struments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves 
 unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members 
 as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin 
 
78 HIS RE LA TION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 shall not have dominion over you” (Rom. 6: 11-14). 
 Now then “in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of 
 the truth” believers are delivered from the domination 
 of sin and enabled to “adorn the doctrine of God our 
 Saviour in all things;” to live “holily and righteously 
 and unblamably” toward them that believe. God's 
 “grace is sufficient.” He requires nothing of us that is 
 unreasonable and impossible. Therefore all He would 
 have us be we may be, and are under solemn obliga¬ 
 tions to be. Let us then abandon ourselves utterly to 
 Him, and irreversibly. If we do, and stand by it, even 
 though we are imperfect and come short of all He 
 requires of us, and are “unprofitable servants,” yet is 
 our judicial standing before Him absolutely perfect; 
 and we can trust and rejoice “what time we are 
 afraid.” 
 
 But some one asks, “But if we sin, then what?” 
 “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, 
 Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation 
 for our sins” (1 John 2: 12) ; and, “If we confess our 
 sins,he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, 
 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 
 1:9); and, “He that covereth his sins shall not pros¬ 
 per; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall 
 have mercy” (Prov. 28: 13). But it is again asked, 
 “But suppose the believer will not uncover, confess, 
 and forsake his sins, then what?” I make reply, Fie 
 will do so as surely as he is really and truly a child of 
 God; or, if this be not so, he will lose communion and 
 fellowship with his Heavenly Father; and, if he per¬ 
 sists in his sins, he will be cast away and perish. (See 
 
AS SANCTIFIER. 
 
 79 
 
 Ezek. 18:24; John 15:2; Rom. 11:21, 22; Col. 1: 
 21-23; Heb. 6:4-6; and 10:26-30.) 
 
 If a believer commits sin, as soon as he is conscious 
 of it sorrow will fill his heart; and that sorrow will 
 lead to repentance, confession, belief, and forgiveness. 
 If he has no sorrow for his sin it is conclusive proof 
 that he is not a child of God at all. 
 
 And so it is that to the believer there is imputed “a 
 righteousness’ 1 not his own, on the sole ground of 
 which he becomes righteous and is justified before 
 God.* When he is sanctified grace is imparted for 
 right living and service, and he glorifies God in his 
 body, which grace comes in answer to the prayer of 
 faith. 
 
 The Manner of Sanctification. 
 
 First. It is God who sanctifies: “And the God of 
 peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your 
 spirit and soul and body be preserved active, without 
 blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” 
 (1 Thess. 5 : 23). 
 
 Second. It is in Christ: “But of him are ve in 
 
 * 
 
 Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from 
 God, and righteousness and sanctification,” etc. 
 
 * I have heard some advocates of sanctification ridicule the doctrine of imputed 
 righteousness until the cold chills ran over me and I was led to think they” counted 
 the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified (?) an unholy thing.” The 
 doctrines of grace are all systematically presented in the Epistle to the Romans, 
 The key word to the epistle is “ righteousness.” The epistle forms an archway 
 across the chasm that separates the sinner from God, across which both Jew and 
 Gentile may safely pass. The keystone to the arch is the fourth chapter. In 
 this chapter the word logizomai occurs thirteen times. Thrice it is rendered 
 “ counted,” five times “ reckoned,” and six times “ imputed.” Remove that word 
 from the chapter and the keystone drops from the arch and the archway collapses ; 
 for if there is not imputed to the sinner “ a righteousness” wholly apart from his 
 own, he can never cross the chasm—he must perish. 
 
So HIS RELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 (i Cor. i : 30). The grace of God in sanctification is 
 a blessing in the heart and life. To call it a ‘‘second 
 blessing/' however, is misleading, or apt to be so. We 
 are never taught in the Bible to seek after a second 
 blessing; indeed, we are even never taught to seek 
 after sanctification. We are, however, taught to seek 
 after the Blesser, the Sanctifier, and the Father will 
 “with him freely give us all things.” 
 
 Whenever I was absent from home for any consid¬ 
 erable time, as in my work I often am, and was about 
 to return, I would cast about to see what I could take 
 to my children that would please them. When one of 
 them was four or five years old, she would watch for 
 me, knowing the time I was expected to arrive. See¬ 
 ing me coming, she would run to meet me, and jump¬ 
 ing into my arms would give me a hug and kiss and 
 then right away ask, “What did you bring me?” this 
 troubled me a little, for it seemed as though she 
 thought more of what I brought her than of me. So 
 one day when she thus met me and asked, “What did 
 you bring me?” I replied, “Only myself this time.” 
 Her countenance fell; but, after looking into my eyes 
 a few moments, she understood it all, and giving me 
 an extra hug and kiss said, “Well, anyhow, Father 
 Munhall, I think a heap more of you than anything 
 you ever brought me.” Never mind about the bless¬ 
 ing and joy of His gifts. He is far “fairer than the 
 children of men,” and will be “all and in all” to us if 
 we abandon ourselves utterly to Him. 
 
 Third. It is of the Spirit. “God chose you from 
 the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the 
 
AS SANCTIFIER. 
 
 Si 
 
 Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2: 13). “Be¬ 
 ing sanctified by the Holy Ghost” (Rom. 15:16). 
 The temple of Solomon was not sanctified until the 
 “cloud of glory filled it.” Even so when the believer 
 is “filled with the Spirit” is he also sanctified, “For 
 we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, 
 I will dwell in them” (2 Cor. 6: 16). “Know ye not 
 that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of 
 God dwelleth in you?”(i Cor. 3: 16). “What! Know 
 ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost 
 which is in you, which ye have from God?” (1 Cor. 
 6: 19.) 
 
 Fourth. It is in and through the truth: “Sanctify 
 them in the truth: thy word is truth” (John 17: 17). 
 “Sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” 
 Believers are commanded to “Believe not every spirit, 
 but prove the spirits.” Like the Bereans, “Examining 
 the Scriptures daily, whether these things are so;” 
 proving “all things; hold fast that which is good.” 
 “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the 
 truth” (2 Cor. 13:8). “To the law and to the testi¬ 
 mony: if they speak not according to this word, it 
 is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20). If 
 one thinks he has the experience or blessing of sanc¬ 
 tification let him never trust it, but bring it to the test 
 of the Scriptures; and, if it is in agreement with their 
 plain statements, rejoice and give God the glory. If 
 there is not correspondence abandon the experience or 
 theory of it; for in such a case it is of Satan. “For 
 there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and 
 
 shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead 
 6 
 
82 HIS DELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 astray, if possible, even the elect’' (Matt. 24: 24). Do 
 this, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall 
 make you free” (John 8:32). 
 
 Fifth. It is by faith: “This only would I learn 
 from you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the 
 law, or by the hearing of faith ? Are ye so foolish ? 
 having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the 
 flesh? Did ye suffer so many things in vain? if it be 
 in vain. He therefore that supplieth to you the Spirit, 
 and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the 
 works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?’’ (Gal. 3: 
 3-5.) Like everything that is of grace, it is by faith. 
 Now then, what is required of the believer? and how 
 shall he go about it ? 
 
 In 2 Sam. 8:11 it is said: “Which also King David 
 did dedicate unto the Lord.” The word here rendered 
 “dedicate,” is Quadesh —“sanctify.” Reference is 
 here made to the fact that King David gave the “ves¬ 
 sels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass” 
 that Joram brought him a gift from Toi, his father, to¬ 
 gether “with the silver and gold that he had dedicated 
 of all nations which he subdued,” unto the Lord, to 
 be used in ornamenting and beautifying the temple 
 that his son Solomon was to build. 
 
 In Lev. 27: 28 we are told, “Notwithstanding, no 
 devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the Lord 
 of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the 
 field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: 
 every devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord.” 
 
 In Gal. 2:20 we read, “I have been crucified with 
 Christ.” In 2 Cor. 5:14 it is said, “That one died 
 
AS SANCTIFIER. 
 
 83 
 
 for all, therefore all died. 1 ’ Rom. 6:6 reads as fol¬ 
 lows: “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified 
 with him.” That is to say, the sinner was put to death 
 in the person of Jesus Christ, who “by the grace of 
 God” tasted “death for every man” (Heb. 2:9). 
 
 Now then, the believer who responds to the exhorta¬ 
 tion of Rom. 12: I, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, 
 by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living 
 sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God; which is your rea¬ 
 sonable service,” “dedicating” himself unto God, that 
 he may be “devoted” to such uses and services as the 
 Master may appoint him to, and looking unto the 
 uplifted Christ, by faith, reckons himself “to be 
 dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through 
 Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:11); that is, aban¬ 
 doning himself utterly to God, accepts with unques¬ 
 tioning faith as true the statements of the sacred 
 scriptures that he was put to death judicially in the 
 person of the one who was “offered for our offenses” 
 —that believer is sanctified; and so long as he abides 
 trustfully and unwaveringly in that attitude and faith 
 will remain sanctified.* 
 
 Results of Sanctification. 
 
 First. Separation. “Wherefore come out from 
 among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord” 
 
 * Read the seventh and eighth chapters of Romans. While reading remember 
 that the first thirteen verses of the seventh chapter are descriptive of an unre¬ 
 newed man, and the rest of the chapter describes a Christian trying to live under 
 the law. Get away from both of these experiences—condemnation and legalism. 
 Get into the eighth chapter; but even then do not forget that the law of God is 
 opposed to the law of sin and death ; opposed to the “law in my members,” and 
 “ the law of my mind ;” and all opposed to “ the law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
 Jesus” (verses 6-8); and rejoice evermore in the Spirit, glorying “ in Christ Jesus, 
 and have no confidence in the flesh.”—Phil. 2 • 3. 
 
84 HIS DELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 (2 Cor. 6: 17). The sanctified man will disassociate 
 himself from the world’s companionships, and disen¬ 
 tangle himself from the affairs of the enemies of his 
 Lord and Master, following the example of his Mas¬ 
 ter, who was “holy, guileless, undefiled, separate from 
 sinners" (Heb. 7:26). 
 
 Second. Love of the world gone. '‘Love not the 
 world, neither the things that are in the world. If 
 any man love the world, the love of the Father is not 
 in him” (1 John 2: 15). Being sanctified, "the love 
 of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through 
 the Holy Ghost which was given unto us” (Rom. 5:5); 
 and having "set your mind on the things that are 
 above, and not on the things that are upon the earth” 
 (Col. 3:2), "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the 
 eyes, and the vainglory of life” no longer dominate us. 
 
 Third. A forgiving spirit. "Tender-hearted, 
 forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ for¬ 
 gave you” (Eph. 4:32). It is not thinkable that a 
 sanctified person can cherish a bitter, resentful, and un¬ 
 forgiving spirit. When sanctified souls think seri¬ 
 ously and honestly, if but for a moment, upon what 
 God has forgiven them, it becomes impossible for 
 them to entertain an unforgiving spirit toward those 
 who may have wronged them. 
 
 Fourth. Pureness of speech. "Not filthiness, 
 nor foolish talking, or jesting, which are not befitting” 
 (Eph. 5:4). It is not thinkable that a sanctified man 
 can have a filthy tongue—an unclean speech. His 
 words will be chaste, as becometh an imitator of 
 Christ. 
 
AS SANCTIFIER. 
 
 85 
 
 Fifth. Cleanliness of body. “Beloved, let us 
 cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh” (2 Cor. 
 7:1). Doubtless the body is included in the Sarx. 
 Our bodies are temples for the Holy Ghost. We are 
 commanded to present them a living sacrifice unto 
 God; and to glorify God in our bodies (1 Cor. 6: 20) ; 
 and our bodies are to be redeemed from the grave and 
 corruption (Rom. 8:23 and 1 Cor. 15:54). In view 
 of these sublime truths we are under solemn obliga¬ 
 tions to in every way possible take the very best care 
 of them. 
 
 Sixth. Weights laid aside. “Let us lay aside 
 every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset 
 us” (Heb. 12:1). What is here called weight is 
 differentiated from sin. It hinders us from running 
 “with patience the race that is set before us.” I believe 
 an intolerant, censorious hedgehoggish spirit is a 
 weight if not a sin. I think I have met some persons 
 who were earnest advocates of holiness who, unless 
 you saw everything just as they saw it, would con¬ 
 demn and misrepresent you as though you were an en¬ 
 emy of righteousness. Such spirit will hinder anyone's 
 progress in the right direction, and is the cause of 
 much of the opposition to sanctification to be found 
 in the Churches to-day. A sanctified man is certainly 
 and necessarily a gentleman in the truest and highest 
 sense, and will be kindly and charitably disposed 
 toward all men. 
 
 Seventh. Zeal for souls. “Make you perfect 
 in every good thing to do his will” (Heb. 13:21). 
 “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but 
 
86 HIS ABLATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” 
 (Matt. 20:28). A sanctified person has the mind 
 “which was also in Christ Jesus;” and therefore more 
 than all personal, selfish desires and interests will they 
 be zealously affected for the good of others. They 
 will find their greatest joy as “workers together with 
 him.” 
 
 A word of caution and counsel. Some have thought 
 that when they come into this experience there will 
 be an end of all trouble and conflict. They have heard 
 so many remarkable testimonies as to the unruffled 
 calm of the sanctified soul, and its thrilling joy and 
 abiding peace, and been deceived thereby, or misled. 
 Of course, the one wholly given up to God can, no 
 matter what his trials, conflicts, and sufferings, say 
 with Paul, “I have learned in whatsoever state I am, 
 therein to be content" (Phil. 4:11); can rise serenely 
 and securely above them all, rejoicing always. But it 
 is still true that “All that would live godly in Christ 
 Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3: 12). They 
 will be misunderstood and misjudged; and this is 
 never pleasant. Their loyalty to Jesus will be a con¬ 
 demnation far stronger than words, of the disloyalty 
 of those in the Church who “have a name to live and 
 are dead;” and to quiet the voice of their own trou¬ 
 bled conscience they will question the motives and con¬ 
 demn the zeal of those who are really sanctified to the 
 Master. But the Master was subjected to far worse 
 mistreatment, immeasurably, than any of us will ever 
 be called upon to suffer for Him. He said, “The serv¬ 
 ant is not above his Lord” and, “Blessed are ye when 
 
AS SANCTIFIER . 
 
 87 
 
 men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and shall 
 say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my 
 sake.” And we have the assurance of God’s Word 
 that “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him” 
 (2 Tim. 2: 12) ; and, “If so be that we suffer with him, 
 that we may be also glorified together” (Rom. 8: 17). 
 So then, here and hereafter, we shall have inestimable 
 compensation for fidelity to our Lord and Master. 
 
 When the children of Israel were at Kadesh-barnea, 
 on the borders of the land of promise, they heard that 
 there were giants in the land. They took counsel of 
 their fears, and sent out spies to see if it was so. Faith 
 does neither. When the spies returned they brought 
 back some of the big grapes and said: “We came unto 
 the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it flow- 
 eth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 
 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the 
 land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and 
 moreover we saw the children of Anak there. . . . 
 And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and 
 so we were in their sight” (Num. 13:27-33). “And 
 Caleb . . . said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; 
 for we are well able to overcome it.” But the majority 
 vote—ten to two—prevailed ; and poor, unbelieving 
 Israel turned away from their promised inheritance, 
 and for thirty and eight years they wandered, and the 
 last man of them that came out of Egypt of age, save 
 three—Moses, Joshua, and Caleb—left his bones to 
 bleach in the shifting sands of the desert. Poor, blind, 
 unbelieving Israel! To-day, in the Church, many are 
 unbelieving and of a fearful mind, and linger on the 
 
88 HIS RELATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT 
 
 borderland or wander in the desert, when the land 
 flowing with milk and honey is near at hand and they 
 are abundantly able to possess it. 
 
 Moses was succeeded as leader of the Lord's people 
 by Joshua, who led them through the Jordan into the 
 land of promise. They had scarce entered the land 
 when they were confronted by enemies strongly in¬ 
 trenched at Jericho, but God gave the city into their 
 hands. They met with discomfiture at Ai, because of 
 Achan’s sin. It was put away, and none of their en¬ 
 emies could withstand them. But it was a long suc¬ 
 cession of battles, until their enemies were well-nigh 
 all driven out of the land. The children of Judah 
 gathered at Gilgal unto Joshua. Caleb was with them. 
 Though eighty-five years old, yet was he “as strong” 
 as the day Moses sent him with the other spies through 
 the land, forty-five years before. His faith and courage 
 were as great as when he had said, “Let us go up at 
 once and possess it; for we are well able to overcome 
 it.” Faith is always ready and glad to be tested. 
 Therefore it is not to be wondered at that the old hero 
 said, “Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof 
 the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that 
 day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities 
 were great and fenced: if so be the Lord will be with 
 me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord 
 said” (Josh. 14: 12). Joshua gave his partner a bless¬ 
 ing, and Caleb moved away southward. The giants 
 heard of his coming and precipitately fled, and Caleb 
 had cities he did not have to build; and he moved right 
 in and went to housekeeping, and had vineyards that 
 
AS SANCTIFIES?. 
 
 89 
 
 he did not plant, and all the big grapes he could eat 
 right to hand. And so the giants and big grapes are 
 always found together in our experiences. If there 
 are no conflicts, there are no victories. Where God 
 would have us go, we can go: what He would have 
 us do, we may, in His name and strength, do. 
 
 The sanctified life is not a life of ease and self- 
 gratulation. Sacrifice, service, and conflict are preem¬ 
 inently characteristic of it. But this is evermore 
 conspicuously true of such a life, that God’s grace is 
 sufficient for every demand upon it; and in unques¬ 
 tioning obedience faith finds its grandest victories and 
 the heart experiences its intensest joys. 
 
 It is the convert’s privilege and business to abandon 
 himself utterly to the Holy Spirit, that he may have 
 all His help as Witnesser, Sealer, Earnest, Teacher, 
 and Sanctifier, that thus God may accomplish all His 
 purposes in grace in him, for him, and by him. 
 
 Note. —There is a sense in which all believers are sanctified. In Heb. 12 : 14 
 we are told, “ Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without 
 which no man can see the Lord.*’ If a man were to die immediately he has been 
 regenerated and justified, he would doubtless 11 depart and be with Christ ”—would 
 “ see the Lord.’* It is not thinkable that it would be otherwise. The basis of 
 sanctification is laid in regeneration, and therefore in a sense all who are*' born 
 of God ” are sanctified. Therefore the work of the Spirit in the new birth should 
 never be lost sight of or minimized ; nor should we hesitate to “ press on unto 
 perfection. ’* 
 
90 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE CHURCH . 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Convert's Relation to the Church* 
 
 Wiiat is the Church? 
 
 “Upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell shall 
 not prevail against it.”—Matt. 16 : 18. 
 
 It is the body of Christ. “And gave him to be head 
 over all things to the church, which is his body” (Eph. 
 1:22, 23). “And he is the head of the body, the 
 church,... for his body's sake, which is the church” 
 (Col. 1:18, 24). All believers are members of that 
 body. “Know ye not that your bodies are members of 
 Christ?” (1 Cor. 6:15.) “For as the body is one, 
 and hath many members, and all the members of 
 the body, being many, are one body; so also is 
 Christ. For in one spirit were we all baptized into 
 one body. . . . Now ye are the body of Christ, and 
 severally members thereof" (1 Cor. 12:12, 13, 27). 
 “Because we are members of his body . . . This mys¬ 
 tery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of 
 the church” (Eph. 5:30, 32). Therefore believers 
 are of the Church, being one in and with Christ, even 
 as a man and his wife are one. Such is the teaching 
 of the Scriptures. 
 
 We are told in Acts 7: 38, “This is he that was in 
 the church (congregation) in the wilderness.” The 
 word here rendered “church” is ekklesia , and means, 
 That which is called out. In Exod. 33: 16 it is said, 
 “For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy 
 people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that 
 
WHAT IS THE CHURCHf 
 
 9i 
 
 thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and 
 thy people, from all the people that are upon the face 
 of the earth.'’ That is, the Hebrew people were cho¬ 
 sen of God to be His own peculiar treasure—His bride 
 (see Isa. 54:5; Jer. 3:14, 20), called out and sep¬ 
 arated from the nations, and distinguished from them 
 by His manifested presence among them. All of this 
 —and more—was based upon the Abrahamic covenant, 
 which is a covenant of grace as well as a covenant of 
 glory. When Jesus ^came unto his own (the Hebrew 
 people), and they that were his own received him not. 
 But as many as received him, to them gave he the right 
 to become children of God, even to them that believed 
 on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of 
 the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” 
 (John 1: 11-13). And thus the rejection of Jesus as 
 Messiah by the Hebrews has turned to our account 
 who are Gentiles” for “by their fall (trespass) salva¬ 
 tion is come unto the Gentiles” (Rom. 11: 11) ; “As he 
 saith also in Hosea, I will call that my people, which 
 was not my people; and her beloved, which was not be¬ 
 loved. And it shall be, that in the place where it was 
 said unto them, Ye are not my people, there shall they 
 be called sons of the living God” (Rom. 9:25, 26). 
 Therefore we see that at this time, this dispensation of 
 the Spirit, God is calling a people that were no people, 
 “the poor and maimed and halt and lame,” from “the 
 streets and lanes of the city, . . . the highways and 
 hedges” (Luke 14:21-23), from among the nations— 
 the Gentiles—that His purposes in grace maybeaceom- 
 plished. Concerning those who respond to the king’s 
 
92 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE CHURCH. 
 
 invitation, Paul said, “I espoused you to one husband, 
 that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ” 
 (2 Cor. 11:2). When Jesus—the Bridegroom—re¬ 
 turns it will be to receive this company as His bride, 
 that the espousals may be confirmed and the marriage 
 celebrated (see Matt. 25:1-12), for this company is 
 called “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” Then the Church 
 will be “looking forth as the morning, fair as the moon, 
 clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners" 
 (Sol. Song 6: 10). 
 
 This caused no little trouble in the early Church, as 
 we learn from Acts, the fifteenth chapter. But James 
 stated the case correctly when he said, “God did visit 
 the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his 
 name.” This is the Church— ckklesia —that which is 
 called out; and this company is separated from the 
 “world that lieth in the evil one,” unto Him who is 
 “holy, guileless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” In 
 2 Cor. 6: 14-18 it is thus stated: “Be not unequally 
 yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have 
 righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath 
 light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ 
 with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an 
 unbeliever? And what agreement hath a temple of 
 God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; 
 even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in 
 them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my 
 people. Wherefore, come ye out from among them, 
 and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no un¬ 
 clean thing; and I will receive you, and will be to 
 you a Father, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, 
 
WHAT IS THE CHURCHf 
 
 93 
 
 saith the Lord Almighty.” The mystery is thus joined. 
 The Church is, therefore, not merely a human organ¬ 
 ization. Jesus Christ is the body, and believers are the 
 members. He is “head over all things to the church, 
 which is his body” (Eph. 1:22), and they “are com¬ 
 plete in him.” 
 
 But the Church is also an organization, humanly 
 speaking, for in the Bible we find an organization with 
 officers, ordinances, assemblies, and ceremonies; and 
 it is the exact counterpart of the “church in the wilder¬ 
 ness;” which had compact organization, priests and 
 rulers, and “ordinances of divine service, and its sanc¬ 
 tuary,” etc., etc. The “middle wall of partition”— 
 that divided between Jew and Gentile—being abol¬ 
 ished, “ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but 
 ve are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the house- 
 hold of God, being built upon the foundation of the 
 apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the 
 chief corner stone” (Eph. 2:19, 20). The Great 
 Head of the Church “called his disciples: and he chose 
 from them twelve, whom he named apostles” (Luke 
 6: 13). We see this company of apostles and disciples 
 gathered into one place, as Jesus had directed (Luke 
 24: 49). And when the day of Pentecost was now 
 come, they were all together in one place. And sud¬ 
 denly there came from heaven a sound as of a rushing 
 of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they 
 were sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues 
 parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each 
 of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, 
 and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit 
 
94 
 
 HIS DELATION TO THE CHURCH . 
 
 gave them utterance” (Acts 2: 1-4). And God mar¬ 
 velously wrought by them! ‘‘They then that received 
 nis (Peter's) word were baptized: and there were 
 added unto them in that day about three thousand 
 souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ 
 teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and 
 the prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and 
 many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 
 And all that believed were together, and had all things 
 common; and they sold their possessions and goods, 
 and parted them to all, according as any man had 
 need. And day by day, continuing steadfastly with 
 one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, 
 they did take their food with gladness and singleness 
 of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the 
 people. And the Lord added to them day by day 
 those that were being saved'’ (Acts 2 : 41-47). 
 
 Churches were organized wherever the Word was 
 preached and converts made, bishops (episkopos, over¬ 
 seers, superintendents), elders ( presbuteros, aged 
 persons) and deacons ( diakonos , ministrants) were 
 everywhere appointed to rule, direct, and minister in 
 things temporal and spiritual. Also, while Jesus “gave 
 some to be apostles," He likewise gave some to be 
 “prophets (New Testament prophets) ; and some, 
 evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers, for the 
 perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, 
 unto the building up of the body of Christ”—the 
 Church (Eph. 4: II, 12). 
 
 Thus we see that the Church is “the body of Christ 
 that believers are members of “the body of Christ 
 
WHAT IS THE CHURCH? 
 
 95 
 
 and that these members are organized into societies 
 with divinely appointed rulers and ministrants, which 
 order and condition shall be perpetuated until “the 
 marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath 
 made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7). 
 
 What is the Church’s mission? 
 
 Jesus commanded the eleven, and through them the 
 Church for this age, to “Go ye therefore, and make 
 disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the 
 name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 
 Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatso¬ 
 ever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway, 
 even unto the end of the world” (age) (Matt. 28: 
 19, 20). We understand by this commission that the 
 supreme mission of the Church is twofold, i. e., to 
 first make disciples—converts—and then instruct them 
 to observe all things Jesus commands. Note in the 
 second chapter of Acts how literally and closely this 
 instruction was followed, and the results. As a result 
 of Peter’s sermon "they were pricked in their heart, 
 and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Breth¬ 
 ren, what shall we do? And Peter said unto them, 
 Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the 
 name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; 
 and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. . . . 
 They then that received his word were baptized: and 
 there were added unto them in that dav about three 
 thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the 
 apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of 
 bread and the prayers” (verses 37, 38, 41, 42). This 
 order is everywhere seen in the recorded history of the 
 
96 HIS RELATION TO THE CHURCH . 
 
 work of the early Church; and whenever and wherever 
 the Church has adhered to this divinely indicated 
 order, she has made conquests and been prospered; as 
 whenever and wherever she has departed from this 
 order she has failed to make conquests and languished. 
 
 The prophet Ezekiel saw “waters issue out from 
 under the threshold of the house” (chap. 47:1-12), 
 that became “a river that could not be passed over/' 
 sustaining much life and causing the contiguous plain 
 to throb with life and laugh under the abundance of 
 perpetual fruitage. Just so the Church is the channel 
 through which the “waters of life" are to flow forth 
 to make “the wilderness and the solitary place to be 
 glad for them; and the desert . . . rejoice, and blossom 
 as the rose" (Isa. 35: 1). All its officers, orders, mem¬ 
 bers, and machinery are to be chiefly employed in keep¬ 
 ing the channel open and directing the life-giving 
 floods to the desolate and waste places of earth. In 
 a word, the chief business of the Church is to evan¬ 
 gelize the world. Her mission is one of conquest. 
 But she is at the same time to care for those who 
 bow to the sway of her imperial standard, that they 
 may become intelligent, loyal, and well-disciplined 
 subjects of the King Eternal—“To walk worthily of 
 the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good 
 work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 
 strengthened with all power, according to the might 
 of his glory, unto all patience and long-suffering with 
 joy; giving thanks unto the Father, who made us 
 meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints 
 in light” (Col. 1: 10-12). 
 
WHAT IS THE CHURCH? 
 
 97 
 
 What are the Church’s benefits? 
 
 The Church of God has an open door for all who 
 have “repentance toward God, and faith toward our 
 Lord Jesus Christ;” and manifold and blessed minis¬ 
 tries for all who enter her communion. Among these 
 ministries are: 
 
 First. Nourishment. The Bible teaches us that 
 the convert is a “babe” (i Pet. 2:1, 2; Heb. 5: 13), 
 is a “lamb” (John 21: 15), spiritually; and, as such, 
 needs nourishment. Jesus commanded Peter to “feed 
 my lambs” and to “Feed my sheep;” and to the elders 
 of the Church He gave command, “Feed the flock of 
 God which is among you.” This shepherding and nur¬ 
 turing are indispensable to the convert’s spiritual 
 growth. Paul, writing to the Corinthian church, said: 
 “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto 
 spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ. 
 I fed you with milk, not with meat, for ye were not 
 able to bear it” (1 Cor. 3: 1, 2). And in Heb. 5: 12- 
 14, he says: “For when by reason of the time ye ought 
 to be teachers, ye have need again that some one 
 teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the 
 oracles of God; and are become such as have need of 
 milk, and not of solid food. For every one that par- 
 taketh of milk is without experience of the word of 
 righteousness; for he is a babe. But solid food is for 
 full grown men, even those who by reason of use have 
 their senses exercised to discern good and evil.” 
 
 Second. Strengthening. In some mysterious 
 way the believer receives spiritual strength through the 
 
 Lord’s Supper, which is an ordinance of the Church. 
 
 7 
 
9 8 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE CHURCH. 
 
 Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except 
 ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his 
 blood, ye have not life in yourselves. He that eat- 
 eth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; 
 and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh 
 is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He 
 that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in 
 me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and 
 I live because of the Father; so he that eateth me, he 
 also shall live because of me" (John 6: 53-57). “And 
 as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and 
 brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat; this 
 is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had 
 given thanks, he gave it to them; and they all drank 
 of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the 
 new testament, which is shed for many" (Mark 14: 
 
 22- 24). Paul in his first letter to the church at Cor¬ 
 inth said: “For I received of the Lord that which also 
 I delivered unto you, how that the Lord Jesus in the 
 night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when 
 he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my 
 body which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. 
 In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This 
 cup is the new testament (covenant) in my blood: this 
 do, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For 
 as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye 
 .proclaim the Lord’s death till he come’ 1 (1 Cor. 11: 
 
 23- 26). When the sinner unsaved believes on Jesus 
 with the heart he receives eternal life; for Jesus said, 
 “He that believeth hath eternal life" (John 6:47). 
 But this life is perpetuated as it is received—by faith; 
 
WHAT IS THE CHURCH? 
 
 99 
 
 for it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith” 
 (Gal. 3: 11), even as he stands and walks by faith. 
 (See 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:7.) Indeed, the very root idea 
 of faith is faithfulness. In partaking of the eucharist 
 we think on what Jesus did for us in dying for us; and 
 what we shall be when ITe “shall appear a second time, 
 apart from sin, unto salvation” (Heb. 9:28) ; for we 
 are told that ”as often as ye eat this bread, and drink 
 the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come 
 and, believing it all, we receive more and more of His 
 life, and are strengthened thereby for the trials, work, 
 and conflicts of life. Paul prayed, “That the God of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give 
 unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the 
 knowledge of him; having the eyes of your heart en¬ 
 lightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his 
 calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance 
 in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of his 
 power to us-ward who believe, according to that work¬ 
 ing of the strength of his might which he wrought in 
 Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made 
 him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, 
 far above all rule, and authority, and power, and do¬ 
 minion, and every name that is named, not only in this 
 world, but also in that which is to come, and he put 
 all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to 
 be head over all things to the church, which is his 
 body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 
 
 1: I/-23). 
 
 Third. Fellowship. We are gregarious beings. 
 “No man liveth unto himself.” This is one reason 
 
IOO 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE CHURCH . 
 
 why God’s ancient people were gathered into the “con¬ 
 gregation of the wilderness,” and why the Church it¬ 
 self was organized. Even when the Master sent out 
 His disciples He gave direction that they should go 
 by twos. 
 
 It is fundamentally and gloriously true that “our 
 fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus 
 Christ.” Jesus said, “If a man love me, he will keep 
 my word; and my Father will love him, and we will 
 come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 
 14:23). Hence John says, “If we walk in the light, 
 as he is in the light, we (the believer and the triune 
 God) have fellowship one with another, and the blood 
 of Jesus his Son cleanseth from all sin” (1 John 1:7). 
 
 But as believers are one in Him, and members of 
 His body, we find the first converts “continued stead¬ 
 fastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship;” that 
 Paul and Barnabas received from the church at Jeru¬ 
 salem “the right hands of fellowship” (Gal. 2:9); 
 and Paul had occasion to thank God for the fellowship 
 of the church at Philippi. (See Phil. 1: 3-5.) 
 
 What the apostles needed, and that for which they 
 gave thanks to God, must of necessity be of advantage 
 and value to the convert. 
 
 Fourth. Sympathy. I am quite sure we all de¬ 
 sire sympathy in hours of loneliness, sorrow, and trial. 
 At some time in everv human life there will come a 
 
 j 
 
 longing for an ear into which we can tell the story of 
 our struggle and grief. Of course, the ears of our 
 Elder Brother are always open to our cry. But we 
 need human as well as Divine sympathy; and we find 
 
WHAT IS THE CHURCH? 
 
 IOI 
 
 it in the Church. “But God tempered the body to¬ 
 gether, giving more abundant honor to that part which 
 lacked; that there should be no schism in the body; 
 but that the members should have the same care one 
 for another. And whether one member suffereth, all 
 the members suffer with it; or one member is honored, 
 all the members rejoice with it. Now, ye are the body 
 of Christ, and severally members thereof’ (i Cor. 
 12: 24-27). There is no human sympathy comparable 
 to true Christian sympathy. 
 
 Fifth. Watchcare. Paul said, “And the peace 
 of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard 
 your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 
 4:7) ; and Jude said, “Now unto him that is able to 
 guard you from stumbling, and to set you before the 
 presence of his glory without blemish in exceeding 
 joy” (verse 24). While this is all blessedly true, it is 
 also true that God uses a humane instrument for the 
 accomplishing of His purposes in grace. In Heb. 13: 
 17 we are told to “Obey them that have the rule over 
 you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of 
 your souls, as they that shall give account.” “Paul 
 said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our 
 brethren in every city where we have preached the 
 word of the Lord, and see how they do” (Acts 15 : 36). 
 And mark his intense anxiety for the welfare and ad¬ 
 vancement of his brethren when he said, “Beside those 
 things that are without, that which cometh upon me 
 daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and 
 I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?” 
 (2 Cor. 11:28, 29.) Is it not an easy matter to un- 
 
102 
 
 HIS DELATION TO THE CHURCH. 
 
 derstand that such faithful shepherding and watch- 
 care is of inestimable value to a beginner in the Chris¬ 
 tian life? 
 
 Sixth. Benevolence. There is no benevolent 
 organization at all equal, for practical uses, to the 
 Church of God. The whole genius and life of Chris¬ 
 tianity is permeated with the spirit of disinterested 
 benevolence: “For ye know the grace of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your 
 sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty 
 might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). His earthly min¬ 
 istry was almost wholly to the poor: “The common 
 people heard him gladly,” and “The poor have the 
 gospel preached to them.”. In His parting counsel to 
 His disciples He said, “Ye have the poor always with 
 you; but me ye have not always” (Matt. 26:11). 
 Therefore we are not surprised at the much thought, 
 time, and service given by the early Church to the care 
 of the poor among them. Paul said, “It hath been the 
 good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a 
 certain contribution for the poor among the saints that 
 are at Jerusalem” (Rom. 15:26). He also says in 
 Gal. 2: 10, “Only they would that we should remem¬ 
 ber the poor; which very thing I was also zealous to 
 do.” That early Church was the best organized char¬ 
 ity the world has ever seen. The convert has no need 
 of joining other societies to secure him against suffer¬ 
 ings incidental to poverty. The Church is designed 
 to meet this very possibility. 
 
 Seventh. Opportunity for service. It is just as 
 true in spiritual matters as in other things that “Satan 
 
WHAT IS THE CHURCH? 
 
 io 3 
 
 finds mischief still for idle hands to do.” Paul says, 
 “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for 
 good works, which God afore prepared that we should 
 walk in them” (Eph. 2: 10) ; therefore are we told to 
 “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 
 for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to 
 work, for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2: 12, 13) ; and, 
 “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, delud¬ 
 ing your own selves” (James 1:22). The Church is 
 not a club for the promotion of the worldly ambitions 
 of its members, but a busy workshop, where every 
 member is expected to be employed and always about 
 his Master's business. There is no room for hangers- 
 on or drones. “If any will not work, neither let him 
 eat” (2 Thess. 3: 10), is the rule laid down for the 
 members. The convert can never know the thrill of 
 abundant life unless he exercises himself unto godli¬ 
 ness (1 Tim. 4: 6-8). Working for the Master is also 
 as necessary to his spiritual growth as spiritual food. 
 In the Church he will find organized activities that 
 embrace a wide range of glorious ministries, and invite 
 an almost numberless variety of gifts; there is work 
 for all. The dignity and honor of service of the Mas¬ 
 ter here among men can never be overstated. The 
 highest archangel that serves before the dazzling pres¬ 
 ence of Jehovah would quickly wing his flight to earth 
 
 N. 
 
 and take the humblest place of service to which any of 
 us is called, were he permitted to do so. But no such 
 honor can be his. Would that we could appreciate 
 our “high calling of God in Christ Jesus!” 
 
 It will possibly be urged by some who read these 
 
104 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE CHURCH . 
 
 pages that I have presented an ideal Church. I have 
 presented the New Testament Church. While it is 
 doubtless true that many societies do not come up to 
 the Bible standard, I certainly know some that do. Of 
 course, there are many Churches that have departed 
 from the Bible standard, as there are, without doubt, 
 some that were never organized on that basis; and 
 have also departed from “the faith which was once for 
 all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3) ; “Howbeit the 
 firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, The 
 Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Tim. 2: 19). 
 
 It is urged by some that we ought not to unite with 
 a Church that is not up to the Bible standard. But the 
 Bible forbids us “forsaking the assembling of ourselves 
 together, as the custom of some is” (Heb. 10:25). 
 They also urge that it is clearly our duty to withdraw 
 from any Church in which things are tolerated that 
 are not for the honor and glory of God; and where 
 individual members are conformed to the world's fads 
 and fashions. But such a course is most surely unwise. 
 Since we have seen clearly that the Church is of Di¬ 
 vine appointment, and that its manifold ministries are 
 indispensable to the believer’s spiritual welfare and 
 growth, as well as for the salvation of the lost, surely 
 we owe the Church something. In all conscience we 
 should do our utmost to make it better. Therefore, 
 the suggestions that we stand aloof or withdraw from 
 membership in the Church because it is dishonored by 
 unfaithful members, or is not operating along Bible 
 lines, come from Satan and should not be entertained 
 for one moment. 
 
WHAT IS THE CHURCH? 
 
 105 
 
 Satan will suggest delay—that the convert ought to 
 wait for a season, to see if he really is saved, or can 
 stand up to what he has professed. It is too important 
 a matter to be precipitate about: go slow! To heed 
 Satan's suggestions is always unwise. The convert 
 will never need the ministries of the Church, so much 
 as in the beginning of his Christian life. In the early 
 time, when those who heard believed, they were 
 straightway baptized into the apostles’ fellowship. 
 No delay here; and there ought to be none now. 
 
 When the convert believed on Jesus unto salva¬ 
 tion he consented to obey God. God commands the be¬ 
 liever to be baptized. (See Matt. 28: 19; Mark 16: 
 16; Acts 2: 38, etc.) Baptism is the doorway into the 
 organized Church. Therefore, so surely as the convert 
 was willing to obey God—did believe on Jesus with 
 the heart—will he take his place in the Church. 
 
 Satan will also suggest that one can live a Christian 
 life just as easily and well outside as inside the 
 Church. If this were true, then God made a mistake 
 in instituting the Church and appointing its ordinances 
 and ministrations. But God never made a mistake, 
 and Satan never told the truth. 
 
 Satan will also sometimes suggest to the convert 
 that he go around among the Churches to see which 
 one he likes best. The chances are if he starts on that 
 kind of a pilgrimage he will soon become a floater. 
 Once in San Jose, California, I asked a man, “To what 
 Church do you belong?” He replied, “I belong to all 
 of them.” I then said, “You’re a dead-beat!” He de¬ 
 manded an explanation. I said: “If everybody did as 
 
106 HIS DELATION TO THE CHURCH . 
 
 you there would be no church. Somebody has to stand 
 by the stuff, support the organization, and pay the 
 bills; and you are just dead-beating your church priv¬ 
 ileges and advantages/' I dealt with him so faithfully 
 that he promised me he would, as soon as possible, 
 take his place in the church and meet his responsibil¬ 
 ities in the matter, as an honest man should, even as 
 God requires of believers. 
 
HIS RELATION TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 107 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Convert's Relation to the Bible* 
 
 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doc¬ 
 trine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness : that the 
 man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”— 
 2 Tim. 3 : 16, 17. 
 
 The Bible is from God, and tells us of God, the 
 
 things we need, as accountable beings, to know, and 
 that cannot in any other way be ascertained. The 
 
 Psalmist said, “The heavens declare the glory of God: 
 and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto 
 day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth 
 knowledge/’ Dante, centuries later, borrowed from 
 these inspired words when he wrote, “The universe is 
 the expression of God, infinitely communicated and 
 ever undiminished; a mirror in which is reflected the 
 wisdom, the power, and the love of the great Creator.” 
 The silent stars, the towering mountain, the surging 
 sea, the rushing river—the things of nature that we 
 see, that are about us and above us—these all tell us 
 of an infinite God, wise, benevolent, and all-powerful; 
 but they are utterly voiceless as to mercy and grace. 
 When one talks about “going through nature up to 
 nature’s God” they are talking supreme nonsense. “For 
 our God is a consuming fire.” “Grace and truth came 
 by Jesus Christ.” “God having of old time spoken 
 unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions 
 and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days 
 spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of 
 all things, through whom also he made the worlds; who 
 
io8 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE BIBLE, 
 
 being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image 
 of his substance, and upholding all things by the word 
 of his power,” etc., etc. (Heb. 1:1-4). We under¬ 
 stand, therefore, that God made known—manifested— 
 his mercy and grace through Jesus Christ, who said, 
 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one 
 cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Consequently 
 all we know of God as a merciful and gracious Being 
 is what is seen of Him in Jesus Christ. All we know 
 of Jesus Christ is what we find in the Bible concerning 
 Him. When men talk of Jesus Christ being authority 
 in matters of truth and conduct, and yet deny the au¬ 
 thority and infallibility of the Bible, they are talking 
 nonsense; for it is impossible to have or know an au¬ 
 thoritative Teacher through an unauthoritative and 
 untrustworthy record. Jesus said, “This is life eternal, 
 that they should know thee the only true God, and him 
 whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ” (John 17: 
 3). “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, 
 the proving of things not seen.” That is, faith is the 
 very highest form of knowledge; and “Faith com¬ 
 eth of hearing, and hearing by the word of God” 
 (Rom. 10: 17). All we need to know of God as Fa¬ 
 ther and Judge we may know, and should know, that 
 as accountable beings we may be able to answer at the 
 judgment seat of Christ with joy, and not with grief; 
 and while here, be “ready always to give answer to 
 every man that asketh you a reason concerning the 
 hope that is in you” (1 Pet. 3: 15). We are informed 
 that “The holy scriptures . . . are able to make thee 
 wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ 
 
HOW STUDY THE BIBLE? 
 
 109 
 
 Jesus” (2 Tim. 3: 15) ; and counseled to “Give dili¬ 
 gence to present thyself approved unto God, a work¬ 
 man that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing 
 the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2: 15). Because of all 
 this the convert should at once apply himself indus¬ 
 triously to the study of the Word of God. 
 
 How STUDY THE BlBLE? 
 
 Concerning this important matter I venture to make 
 the following suggestions: 
 
 First. He should have a Bible of his own, a good 
 reference Bible, of suitable size and make, for both 
 study and use, a book that will last him all his life— 
 his book, with which he will soon become familiar; a 
 thing of itself that is very important. He will not 
 study some other person’s Bible. He will make little 
 headway if he has to change from one book to another, 
 of different type, page, and size. He may want to 
 mark and make notes as he studies: hence he should 
 have a Bible of his own. 
 
 Second. Prayerfully. God says, “For my 
 thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways 
 my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher 
 than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, 
 and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55: 8, 9). 
 And, “It is written, Things which eye saw not, and ear 
 heard not, and which entered not into the heart of man, 
 whatsoever things God prepared for them that love 
 him. But unto us God revealed them through the Spir¬ 
 it : for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep 
 things of God. For who among men knoweth the 
 
I IO 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE BIBLE, 
 
 things of a man save the spirit of the man, which is in 
 him ? even so the things of God none knoweth, save the 
 Spirit of God. But we received, not the spirit of the 
 world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might 
 know the things that are freely given to us by God. 
 Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s 
 wisdom teacheth, but which the spirit teacheth; com¬ 
 paring spiritual things with spiritual. Now the nat¬ 
 ural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: 
 for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know 
 them, because they are spiritually judged” (i Cor. 2: 
 9-14). The words and thoughts of the Bible are 
 wholly different from the words and thoughts of other 
 books. The words of the Bible contain the germs of 
 eternal life. Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken 
 unto you are spirit, and are life" (John 6:63). “Be¬ 
 gotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorrupt¬ 
 ible, through the word of God, that liveth and abideth" 
 (1 Pet. 1:23). “Brought us forth by the word of 
 truth . . . the implanted word, which is able to save 
 your souls" (James 1: 18, 21). These things can be 
 truthfully said of no other book. Therefore, the Bible, 
 to be understood, must be studied differently from 
 other books. The most learned man can, unhelped by 
 the great Teacher, know absolutely nothing of the real 
 mind and thought of God as given in the Bible. “The 
 letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life" (2 Cor. 3:6). 
 Therefore did Jesus say, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit 
 of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: 
 for he shall not speak from himself; but what things 
 soever he shall hear, these shall he speak: and he 
 
HOW STUDY THE BIBLE? 
 
 hi 
 
 shall declare unto you the things that are to come. 
 He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, 
 and shall declare it unto you” (John 16: 13, 14). 
 “No man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy 
 Ghost” (1 Cor. 12:3). By all this it is seen that we 
 are absolutely dependent upon the Holy Spirit for 
 a knowledge of what the Bible really teaches. He must 
 illuminate the sacred page; He must quicken the mind 
 and stimulate the thought; He must reveal the one 
 Person of whom the written Word everywhere speaks 
 —the Living Word; which “became flesh and dwelt 
 among us,” in whom “was life; and the life was the 
 light of men.” Therefore we must prayerfully seek 
 the Spirit's help, and with docility of spirit and sub¬ 
 missiveness of will bow ourselves with unquestioning 
 faith to His guidance and instruction. 
 
 Third. Systematically. It is not possible for one 
 to master the contents of any book except by systematic 
 study. Since this is true of other books, it is certainly 
 much more true of the Book of Books. Occasional, 
 haphazard reading will not suffice: there must be thor¬ 
 ough, systematic work. When a chapter or para¬ 
 graph has been read it is always a good thing to ask 
 one's self, What did I get out of it? If nothing, then 
 read it again, until the sense and meaning are obvious, 
 and then search through the Book for all that is said 
 upon the subject. In no other way can one know ac¬ 
 curately and well what the Bible teaches. 
 
 Fourth. As a Book. I know that, chronologic¬ 
 ally, there are misarrangements of the books compos¬ 
 ing the Bible: but this is not of vital importance; 
 
112 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE BIBLE, 
 
 though we ought to understand the situation as far 
 as we can. According to what I judge to be the best 
 information we now have upon the subject, the case 
 stands about this: Job is the oldest writing, but the 
 date is uncertain. Genesis and Exodus, 1491 B. C., 
 Leviticus, 1490; Deuteronomy and Numbers, 1451; 
 Joshua, 1427, Judges, 1406; Ruth, 1312; First Samuel, 
 1055 ; Second Samuel, 1018; First Chronicles, 1015; 
 Psalms—of these 75 are expressly assigned to David, 
 and a large majority of the rest are clearly his, even 
 without a title; one to Moses, one to Solomon, 12 to 
 Asaph, 11 for the “Sons of Korah,” one to Heman, 
 one to Ethan, 15 Pilgrim Songs, 11 Hallelujah Psalms, 
 or 12 if we include the great “Mercy Psalm51 are 
 anonymous; 34 have no title or superscription—the 
 “Orphan Psalms." These “Orphan Psalms” the Tal¬ 
 mud, Hilary, Jerome, and others assign to the author 
 named immediately preceding. The fancy of the Sep- 
 tuagint Version that they are to be distributed to Jer¬ 
 emiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, and Zechariah has no histor¬ 
 ical foundation. Far more likely, they are parts of 
 systems of Psalms whose authors’ names are given. 
 Therefore we may speak of the Psalms as belonging 
 somewhere between 1015 and 1055 B. C. Song of 
 Solomon, 1013; First Kings, i-xi, 1004; Second Chron¬ 
 icles, i-xi, 1004; Proverbs, 1000; Ecclesiastes, 975; 
 First Kings, xii, etc., 897; Jonah, 862; Joel, 800; Amos, 
 787; Micah, 750; Hosea, 740; Nahum, 713; Isaiah, 
 698; Zephaniah, 630; Habakkuk, 626; Second Chron¬ 
 icles, x, etc., 623; Second Kings, 590; Jeremiah and 
 Lamentations, 588; Obadiah, 587; Ezekiel, 574; Dan- 
 
HOW STUDY THE BIBLE? 113 
 
 iel, 534; Haggai and Zechariah, 520; Esther, 509; 
 Ezra, 457; Nehemiah, 434; and Malachi, 397. Gala¬ 
 tians, spring of 53 A. D.; First Thessalonians in the 
 early summer and Second Thessalonians in the autumn 
 of the same year; First Corinthians, 57; Second Corin¬ 
 thians, late in the year 57; Romans, 58; James, 61; 
 Ephesians, Colossians, * and Philemon, 62; Second 
 Peter, 62; Matthew wrote his Aramaic gospel in the 
 same year; Philippians, 63; First Peter, Acts, and 
 Mark, 64; First Timothy and Titus, 65; Second Tim¬ 
 othy, 66; Mark's gospel was issued in 67; Jude and 
 Luke, 75; Hebrews, 80; Greek Matthew, 85; Gospel 
 and Epistles of John, 80-90; Revelation, 95. 
 
 The convert should begin at the first and read right 
 through to the last, as he would any other book, fol¬ 
 lowing the thread of the narrative. He should do this 
 conscientiously once every year. 
 
 Fifth. By books. Each of the 66 books compos¬ 
 ing the Bible is, in a certain sense, complete in itself; 
 but, like the separate pieces composing a mosaic, each 
 needs to be studied in its relations to the others in 
 order to see the beauty there is in the whole; and when 
 in their proper place they compose one beautiful whole 
 —a complete book. Each book has one, sometimes 
 two, and occasionally three general thoughts, which, 
 if one can get hold of, when reading will serve as a 
 key to unlock its treasures. The following suggestions 
 may help the reader: 
 
 Genesis —Man created; a Saviour promised; man in bond¬ 
 age. 
 
 Exodus —Redemption. 
 
 Leviticus —Worshiping. 
 
 8 
 
HIS RELATION TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 114 
 
 Numbers —Wandering. 
 
 Deuteronomy —Consecration. 
 
 Joshua—W arfare and victory. 
 
 Judges —Failure. 
 
 Ruth —Hospitality. 
 
 First and Second Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles 
 —Types of the kingdom. 
 
 Ezra —Restoration. 
 
 Nehemiah —Watchfulness and diligence. 
 
 Esther —God’s ways not our ways. 
 
 Job —Death of self. 
 
 Psalms —Life hid with Christ in God. 
 
 Proverbs —Receiving wisdom. 
 
 Ecclesiastes —Man trying world and unsatisfied. 
 
 Song of Solomon —Christ all-satisfying. 
 
 Isaiah —The Redeemer in humiliation and glory. 
 
 Jeremiah —Judgment on the redeemed. 
 
 Lamentations —Chastenings on the redeemed. 
 
 Ezekiel —The old and new dispensation. 
 
 Daniel —The coming Redeemer—King of kings. 
 
 Hosea — Call to the backslider to return. 
 
 Joel —Redemption for all. 
 
 Amos —Judgment and restoration. 
 
 Obadiah —Judgment on enemies. 
 
 Jonah —God’s grace to the Gentiles. 
 
 Micah —Same as Isaiah. 
 
 Nahum —Appendix to Jonah. 
 
 Habakkuk —Woes on the evil. 
 
 Zephaniah —Chastisement. 
 
 Haggai —Repentance. 
 
 Zechariah —Preparation for the coming Christ. 
 
 Malachi —The Messenger. 
 
 Matthew —Fulfiller of prophecy. (Written for the He¬ 
 brews.) 
 
 Mark— Servant—works. (Written for Gentile converts.) 
 Luke —Son of man in humiliation. (Written for the Gentile 
 world.) 
 
 John —Faith. (Written to answer all questionings with 
 
 reference to Christ’s presence on earth.) 
 
 Acts —The power of the Gospel. 
 
HOW STUDY THE BIBLE? 
 
 115 
 
 Romans —Doctrines of redemption systematized. 
 
 First and Second Corinthians —Church fellowship. 
 
 Galatians —Liberty. 
 
 Ephesians —Heavenly walk. 
 
 Philippians —Christ perfecting his work in us. 
 
 Colossian s—Union with Christ. 
 
 First Thessalonians —Second coming of Christ. 
 
 Second Thessalonians —Day of the Lord. 
 
 First and Second Timothy —Instruction to ministers. 
 
 Titus —Qualifications and advice to ministers. 
 
 Philemon —Brotherly joy among ministers. 
 
 Hebrews —Better things. 
 
 James —Faith manifested. 
 
 First and Second Peter —Precious things. 
 
 First John— Assurance. 
 
 Second John —Warning against false doctrines. 
 
 Third John —Hospitality. Same as Ruth. 
 
 Jude— Warnings against the apostasy of the last days. 
 
 Revelation —Chapter I.—Jesus looking into the state of the 
 churches. 
 
 Chapters II and III.—In prophetic outline, the history of the 
 churches. 
 
 Chapters IV and V.—The real church in heaven. 
 
 Chapters VI to XVIII.—The outpouring of successive 
 judgments upon the earth, growing sharper and sharper, but 
 only hardening men in iniquity until the evil heads up in the 
 antichrist and a monstrous system of corruption. 
 
 Chapter XIX.—The marriage supper of the Lamb and his 
 descent with the saints to inflict personal vengeance upon anti¬ 
 christ and his armies. 
 
 Chapter XX.—The millennial kingdom, during which Satan 
 is bound, and the final judgment of the great white throne. 
 
 Chapters XXI and XXII.—Eternal glory. 
 
 Try, conscientiously, to master the salient thought 
 or teaching of each book. By this method one can 
 more easily and nearly get the scope of the entire 
 volume. 
 
 Every principle of ethical truth known to the world 
 
HIS RELATION TO THE BIBLE . 
 
 116 
 
 to-day can be found in the earliest books composing 
 the Bible, i. c. y Job and the Pentateuch—the five books 
 of Moses. The subsequent books are, ethically speak¬ 
 ing, a development and unfolding of what in these ear¬ 
 liest books is found in germ form. Everything in the 
 Law, the prophets, and the Psalms points and moves 
 with undeviating accuracy to Jesus Christ in His hu¬ 
 miliation and in His glory—as Redeemer and King. 
 He said to the Jews, who were the custodians of the 
 sacred writings, “Ye search the Scriptures; because 
 ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these 
 are they that testify of me; and ye will not come to 
 me, that ye may have life” (John 5:39, 40). “And 
 beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he 
 interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things 
 concerning himself” (Luke 24: 27). The New Testa¬ 
 ment books certify to the fulfillment of the predictive 
 prophecies concerning Jesus; make plain what must be 
 the influence and results of His finished work for this 
 Gospel dispensation, and His ultimate triumphs, “For 
 he must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under 
 his feet;“ and “His dominion shall be from sea to sea, 
 and from the river even to the ends of the earth.” 
 
 The last book of the Bible is a summation of the 
 sixty-five that go before. Just as a good lawyer, after 
 making his argument, at the last sums it all up in the 
 fewest, briefest statements, just so do we find the 
 ultimate object of the whole Bible stated concisely and 
 yet comprehensively in the book of Revelation. The 
 late Professor Delitzsch said, “The Apocalypse repre¬ 
 sents the Old Testament cscliata in their future tern- 
 
HOW STUDY THE BIBLE? 
 
 ii 7 
 
 poral succession and order. It is, in this respect, the 
 key to the prophetic Word.'” Dr. Kliefoth said, “The 
 Apocalypse actually brings nothing more concerning 
 the last things than what is elsewhere found in the 
 other Scriptures of the prophets, our Lord’s words, 
 and the utterances of the apostles.” 
 
 Sixth. By Characters. Every prominent indi¬ 
 vidual mentioned in the Scriptures is illustrative of 
 some distinctive truth. For instance, Abraham stands 
 for faith. One can never know what is the real mean¬ 
 ing of faith as taught in the Bible, unless he gets well 
 acquainted with the old patriarch. In his life we find 
 the theory in practical operation. Moses stands for 
 meekness; Job, for patience; Peter, for zeal; John, 
 for love; etc., etc. Beside this many important truths 
 are practically demonstrated by these personages. 
 
 Seventh. Doctrinally. Great moral principles 
 are taught in the Bible. Whether they belong to the 
 Law or the Gospel, they are all related to Jesus; they 
 have to do with Him; they lead to Him; they reveal 
 Him. Indeed, so true is this that it can be truly said 
 we cannot know Him at all excepting as He is dis¬ 
 closed through the doctrines of the Bible. Hence we 
 are told that “All scripture is given by inspiration of 
 God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for cor¬ 
 rection, for instruction in righteousness: that the man 
 of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all 
 good works” (2 Tim. 3: 16, 17). Paul in his last mes¬ 
 sage to his son in the Gospel solemnly charged him 
 to “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of sea¬ 
 son ; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering 
 
ii 8 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 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 from the 
 truth” (2 Tim. 4:2-4). 
 
 It is a good plan to take the doctrines the churches 
 hold to be fundamental, one by one, and with a con¬ 
 cordance find all the Bible has to say upon the sub¬ 
 ject, and read it carefully. For instance, take the sub¬ 
 ject of redemption. Find out what the Book has to 
 say on the matter. By this means one can soon know 
 what is the teaching of the Scriptures on that subject. 
 It is an admirable way to become indoctrinated in fun¬ 
 damental truth. And one following this suggestion 
 will be agreeably surprised how soon he will become 
 familiar with the deep things of God. Doubt, skepti¬ 
 cism, and unrest are distinguishing characteristics of 
 these degenerate days. God’s infallible remedy and 
 preventive is the teaching of His Holy Word—the 
 doctrines of grace. 
 
 Eighth. Historically. The Bible is every way 
 the best ancient history in the world, but it has to do 
 almost wholly with one people—the Hebrews. All 
 other peoples referred to in this record are mentioned 
 only incidentally. Of course, there is a brief history 
 given of creation, and of the descendants of Adam un¬ 
 til Abraham, and of the world; but this is but an 
 inconsiderable portion of the record, the bulk of which 
 has to do with God’s chosen, peculiar people. So that 
 it may be said the Bible is a history of the Hebrew 
 people. The most advanced learning and acutest in- 
 
HOW STUDY THE BIBLE? 
 
 119 
 
 genuity skepticism can command has failed utterly to 
 prove demonstratively one single error against the 
 historicalness of the record. Professor A. H. Sayce, 
 of Oxford University, acknowledged and everywhere 
 recognized to be the foremost archaeologist, has re¬ 
 cently said, “The circumstance that the most uncom¬ 
 promising opponents of the higher criticism are to be 
 found in the foremost ranks of the students of Assyr¬ 
 ian and Egyptian antiquities is strikingly significant.” 
 These antiquarians have done a wonderful work. It 
 seems that almost every turn of their spades brings 
 to light some fresh proof of the historical trustworthi¬ 
 ness of the inspired record. 
 
 Professor Fritz Hommel, of Munich, who, after Pro¬ 
 fessor Sayce, is recognized as the ablest living archae¬ 
 ologist, and more than Professor Sayce a scholar 
 and critic, has recently said, with regard to the deci¬ 
 pherments made of the Tel-el-Amarna tablets; “They 
 brush aside the cobweb theories of the so-called higher 
 critics of the Pentateuch, and place us in a position 
 from which no future attack of skeptical criticism can 
 hope to dislodge us. The theory of higher criticism 
 must collapse inevitably and irretrievably, and the cir¬ 
 cumstance that the critics still persist in holding their 
 views against indisputable evidence to the contrary 
 we can only regard as additional proof of the hopeless 
 bankruptcy of their theories.” 
 
 Every student of the Bible should read the contem¬ 
 poraneous histories of the peoples and lands of which 
 it treats. The following books will be found to be 
 wonderfully interesting and helpful: 'Assyria, Its 
 
120 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE BIBLE, 
 
 Princes; Priests , and People; The Races of the Old 
 Testament; The Hittites; Fresh Light from the An¬ 
 cient Monuments; The Ancient Empires of the East; 
 Patriarchal Palestine; and The Higher Criticism and 
 the Monuments —all by Professor A. H. Sayce, of 
 Oxford University, England; also, The Ancient He¬ 
 brew Tradition, by Professor Fritz Hommel, of Uni¬ 
 versity of Munich ; and The Primitive Hebrew Records 
 in the Light of Modern Research, by W. St. Ched 
 Boscawen. 
 
 Ninth. Chronologically. In looking over the 
 landscape of the past one may see certain prominent 
 features that rise like mountains from the plain, which, 
 if rightly understood, will serve as guideboards upon 
 an unknown road, to direct us in our study. Almost 
 exactly halfway between Adam and Christ stands 
 Abraham, God's covenant with him marking the half¬ 
 way point. Halfway between Abraham and Adam 
 stands Noah, while halfway between Abraham and 
 Christ stands King David. Or, the period of the Old 
 Testament may be divided thus: The Patriarchs, 2,000 
 years; the Judges, 1,000 years, including the period 
 of bondage in Egypt; the Kings, 1,000 years, includ¬ 
 ing the captivities and dispersion. Or, it may be 
 marked thus: The age of paradise by the fall; the ante¬ 
 diluvian age by the flood; the postdiluvian age by 
 Babel; the Israelitish age by the Babylonian captivity; 
 the postcaptivity age by the rejection of Messiah; and 
 the Christian age, in which we now are, by the second 
 coming of Christ. With these prominent features un¬ 
 derstood, it becomes comparatively easy to make our 
 
HOW STUDY THE BIBLEf 
 
 121 
 
 way; at any rate, we will by this means be greatly 
 helped in our study of the far-away past. 
 
 Tenth. Geographically. Every Christian should 
 be as familiar with the geography of Bible lands as 
 with that of his own country or town. The importance 
 of this is far greater than one is wont to think. Let 
 me give an illustration of what I mean. There lived 
 in Capernaum a certain nobleman, whose son was sick 
 unto death. The nobleman, of course, had a father’s 
 solicitude for his son’s recovery; and hearing that Je¬ 
 sus was at Cana he went there “and besought him 
 that he would come down, and heal his son: for he 
 was at the point of death. Then said Jesus unto him, 
 Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. 
 The nobleman said unto him, Sir, come down ere my 
 child die. Jesus said unto him, Go thy way: thy son 
 liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus 
 had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as 
 he was now going down, his servants met him, and 
 told him, saying, Thy son liveth. Then inquired he 
 of them the hour when he began to amend. And they 
 said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever 
 left him. So the father knew that it was at the same 
 hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liv¬ 
 eth” (John 4:47-53). If that nobleman had had the 
 kind of faith the average believer has, as soon as Jesus 
 told him, “Thy son liveth,” he would have hurried 
 right home to see if it was even so; but he had a better 
 faith than that, for he evidently believed what Jesus 
 had said, and dismissing his anxiety, remained at Cana 
 until next day waiting upon the ministry of Jesus, 
 
122 
 
 HIS DELATION TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 confident that it was well with his son. For, had he 
 started for home at the seventh hour, he would have 
 reached there before the closing of the day. This 
 knowledge of the case we get by simply knowing the 
 distance between Cana and Capernaum, and thus gain 
 a view of that nobleman's faith that we could not 
 otherwise have. 
 
 When I was a young man, acting upon a resolve I 
 made to become acquainted with the geography of 
 Bible lands, I devoted one hour a week, for thirteen 
 weeks, to the study of the subject, and since then when 
 reading my Bible I seldom or never have to get a 
 map to look up things—I have it all in my mind's 
 eye; just as when I am reading of anything that has 
 occurred in Philadelphia I do not have to get a map of 
 the city—I am familiar with the location, boundaries, 
 and plan of the city, and it is all before me as I read. 
 
 Eleventh. Meditatively. In these days of hurry, 
 rush, and worry there is need, more than ever, of our 
 taking time to calmly and thoughtfully consider eter¬ 
 nal verities. The Psalmist said, “O how love I thy 
 law! it is my meditation all the day." That is how he 
 came to love it: he meditated upon it. The upright 
 man finds “his delight in the law of the Lord: and in 
 his law doth he meditate day and night" (Psa. 1:2). 
 The word might be rendered “ruminate." It signifies 
 just what is meant by a cow chewing her cud. Take a 
 verse, a paragraph, an incident, or a simple sentence, 
 and, turning it over and over in your thought, ponder 
 upon it all day long and during the nighttime too; 
 and the more you do it, the more will you love it and 
 
HOW STUDY THE BIBLE? 
 
 123 
 
 delight yourself in it. If we never meditate upon the 
 truths of God's Word, the Bible will always be a dull, 
 uninteresting book to us. The convert should re¬ 
 solve to have a little time in each day, if not more than 
 ten minutes, when he will meditate upon these things, 
 and then conscientiously follow out the resolve. The 
 busiest of us can do it, and the busier we are the 
 greater the need of our doing it. 
 
 Twelfth. Reverently. The Bible is God’s third 
 best gift to man: Jesus, the first and best: the Holy 
 Spirit, second best; and the Bible, third best. We 
 could know nothing of the first and second Persons 
 of the Triune God but for the Bible; therefore it con¬ 
 tains that which is most precious to us. Hence it 
 was that Job said, “I have esteemed the words of his 
 mouth more than my necessary food.” While we 
 should alwavs reverence the Bible, of course it should 
 not be worshiped as a fetich. Of course, no one ever 
 does this, yet the critics charge this upon those who 
 believe the Bible is God’s Word. He who says, “The 
 Bible is no better than a mass book for stopping a 
 bullet, and not so good as holy water for putting out a 
 fire,” says what some people may call a clever saying, 
 but I characterize it as very irreverent, and have no 
 hesitation in saying he ought to be ashamed of himself 
 to thus speak of God’s Holy Word. 
 
 Thirteenth. Affectionately. As already point¬ 
 ed out, the Psalmist loved God’s law because he med¬ 
 itated upon it. I know not how otherwise we can ever 
 have a genuine affection for the Bible. It is filled with 
 treasures of wisdom and knowledge. When we come 
 
124 
 
 HIS RELATION 70 THE BIBLE. 
 
 to gather these treasures, and contemplate their incom¬ 
 parable beauty, and form some approximate estimate 
 of their priceless value, then, and not until then, will 
 we be enamored and really love the Word of truth. 
 Let us cherish and cultivate an affectionate regard for 
 the sacred volume. 
 
 Fourteenth. Daily. “Now these were more noble 
 than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the 
 word with all readiness of mind, and examined the 
 scriptures daily, whether these things were so. There¬ 
 fore many of them believed” (Acts 17: 11, 12). The 
 man who studies the Bible daily is continually re¬ 
 freshed. If all the members of any church could be 
 induced to do this, that church would be in a per¬ 
 petual revival. We need daily food for our bodies. 
 Our spiritual natures need nourishment quite as cer¬ 
 tainly and much. There is no food for the spiritual 
 man save the Word of God. It is milk for babes and 
 bread and meat for those of riper years. Neglect to 
 study the Bible, and spiritual leanness is inevitable. 
 No matter how busy, you take time to feed the body. 
 Is the spiritual nature of so much less account that you 
 cannot find or take time to feed it ? 
 
 Fifteenth. Conscientiously. Since we cannot 
 grow in grace, or become, in any large sense, efficient 
 in the Master’s service if we neglect the study of the 
 Bible, it becomes our bounden duty to give ourselves 
 conscientiously to this matter, especially since it is 
 said, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a 
 workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly 
 dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2: 15). 
 
HOW STUDY THE BIBLE? 
 
 125 
 
 Sixteenth. Persistently. There are so very 
 many demands upon our time and thought that one 
 must be conscientious in this matter or he will not be 
 persistent; and he must be persistent or he will not 
 make any headway. There are so very many things 
 that have to be done every day that study of the Bible, 
 which does not seem to be urgent, can and will be 
 thrust aside unless we persistently adhere to our resolve 
 —and it is one that ought to be taken by every be¬ 
 liever—to give some time during each day to the study 
 of the Word. 
 
 Seventeenth. Comparatively. That is, compare 
 Scripture with Scripture. There is no commentary 
 so good. There is not a difficult passage but what will 
 be made plain to the prayerful and conscientious stu¬ 
 dent by other passages, if he will but search it out. 
 Beware of those so-called helps to Bible study, that are 
 being pushed into the young peoples’ societies and 
 Sunday schools everywhere, that are permeated with 
 the opinions of so-called scholars, such as is issued by 
 the American Institute of Sacred Literature. “There 
 is death in the pot.” 
 
 Eighteenth. Socially. This is a day of clubs. 
 They are organized for well-nigh everything imagin¬ 
 able. Why not organize a Bible club? I know it 
 would be a good move. Let it be composed of say 
 fourteen members. Let them meet once a week, for 
 an hour, from house to house. With that number of 
 members you can usually count upon ten being pres¬ 
 ent. Let things be conducted somewhat after this 
 fashion: It was announced a week before that Repent- 
 
126 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 ance was the subject for consideration at the next 
 meeting. During the intervening time each member 
 has made an effort to read everything in the Bible on 
 that subject. With the help of a good concordance 
 that would not be much of a task. When the club 
 meets, the members all sit about a table, each with a 
 copy of the Bible and a notebook and pencil. A copy 
 of Cruden's Concordance should be at hand, and also 
 of Young's Analytical Concordance. The person at 
 the head of the table directs affairs. Prayer is offered 
 to God for guidance and instruction. Then the leader 
 tells what one thing he found in the Bible on the sub¬ 
 ject, and no more than one. It will be in order for 
 anyone to make a suggestion or ask questions pertinent 
 to the subject at any time. The leader's business is 
 not to teach, but to hold the conversation to the subject 
 under consideration. Then the person seated to the 
 left of the leader tells what one thing he found in the 
 Bible on repentance, and so on until each person pres¬ 
 ent has told what one thing they have found on the 
 subject. By holding each person present to one thing, 
 each one will have a chance to contribute, for none can 
 exhaust the subject. In this way, within the hour, 
 all, or well-nigh all, the salient points on the subject 
 will be brought out. At the close of the hour the per¬ 
 son seated immediately to the right of the leader an¬ 
 nounces the subject for the next meeting, as he is to 
 be the leader. At the next meeting he sits at the head 
 of the table—each person occupying the seat just to 
 the left of the one he occupied at the previous meeting. 
 This movement to be continued, and thus each member 
 
HOW STUDY THE BIBLE? 
 
 127 
 
 will lead in turn. After the study hour refreshments 
 can be served if convenient and best, but in any event 
 a half hour can be spent in social conversation. Any¬ 
 one is at liberty to organize such a club, if he can. 
 If composed of women only it should meet of an after¬ 
 noon. If of men only, or of both men and women, it 
 should meet at night. 
 
 It may be well for me at this point to mention a few 
 things that bear upon the subject of Bible study. I 
 will give four: 
 
 The First relates to the character of the Word of 
 God, concerning which two things can be said, viz.: 
 It is all-powerful and all-sufficient to accomplish that 
 for which it was given. In Jer. 23:29 it is said, “Is 
 not my word like as a fire ? saith the Lord; and like a 
 hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces ?” And in 
 Heb. 4: 12 it is said, “The word of God is living, and 
 active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and 
 piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both 
 joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts 
 and intents of the heart,” Three similies here used 
 to indicate the power of the word over thought, will, 
 and conscience, i. e ., “hammer,” to break; “fire,” to 
 melt and fuse, and “sharper than any two-edged 
 sword,” to divide soul and spirit and to discern the 
 thoughts and intents of the heart. 
 
 More than twenty years ago, while assisting Mr. 
 D. L. Moody in the Hippodrome meetings in New 
 York city, I was present with a large and distinguished 
 party of ministers and laymen in the home of a prom¬ 
 inent and wealthy gentleman on Madison Square. 
 
128 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 After dinner we went into the gentleman's library. 
 The subject of conversation was plain preaching. Our 
 host told of a minister who years before was pastor 
 of their church, who had the faculty of making every¬ 
 one in his audience, who was not living aright, think 
 he was personal. He said that one Sunday morning a 
 man arose in the audience and, shaking his fist at the 
 preacher, said, ‘Til hold you, sir, to a personal account¬ 
 ability for exposing me in this fashion before this 
 audience!" Mr. Moody, who was of the company, then 
 related this incident: “As I came out of the inquiry 
 room at the close of the meeting one night in the great 
 depot, in Philadelphia, a man approached me and said, 
 ‘Mr. Moody, why did you speak of me as you did be¬ 
 fore that audience to-night?' I said, T do not know 
 you, sir, never saw you, and how could I single you 
 out in an audience of fourteen thousand persons.’ He 
 replied, ‘I know how it is—my wife has been posting 
 you, and I'll make it red-hot for her when I get 
 home.’ ” 
 
 The late Charles Haddon Spurgeon was wonderfully 
 skillful in wielding the sword of the Spirit. To this 
 fact more than any other one thing, as I think it, did 
 he owe his extraordinary success. He preached one 
 Saturday night on the text, “Be sure your sin will find 
 you out." In the elucidation of his text he was led to 
 say: “Perhaps there is a man in this assembly who 
 keeps a shoe shop; and yesterday he sold a pair of 
 shoes for seven and six, when they were really worth 
 but seven. Be sure, sir, your sin will find you out.” 
 Now there was a man in the audience of whom that 
 
HOW STUDY THE BIBLE? 
 
 129 
 
 was exactly true. He became greatly troubled over it, 
 wondering how Mr. Spurgeon came to know it. He 
 did not sleep that night. The next day Mr. Spurgeon 
 preached in the same place upon the same text. In 
 his sermon he said: “Perhaps there is a man in this 
 audience who keeps a shoe shop, which he has left 
 open on this the Sabbath day, in charge of his little 
 daughter, while, troubled in conscience, he has come 
 here and gone up into the top gallery, and is in a rear 
 seat behind a pillar out of sight of the preacher. 'The 
 wicked flee when no man pursues.’ Be sure your sin 
 will find you out!” And the man was in the top gal¬ 
 lery, in a rear pew behind a post. Upon hearing Mr. 
 Spurgeon say what he did he rolled over the back of 
 the seat, ran down the steps, two at a jump, at the peril 
 of his neck, and up the street to his shop. Calling his 
 daughter out, he locked the door, and taking her with 
 him, went back to the meeting, and before it closed re¬ 
 pented and believed. There is nothing but the Bible 
 that can reveal a man to himself as God sees him—that 
 can reach the conscience and, with authority that may 
 not be disputed, command immediate, unconditional, 
 and irreversible surrender. Coleridge was right when 
 he said, “The Bible finds me at greater depths of my 
 being than any other book.” 
 
 The Bible is also all-sufficient to accomplish that for 
 
 which it was given, i. e., God’s purposes in grace. In 
 
 the closing words of the Bible it is said, “If any man 
 
 shall add unto them (the words of the prophecy of this 
 
 book), God shall add unto him the plagues which are 
 
 written in this book” (Rev. 22: 18). Of course, prima- 
 9 
 
130 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE BIBLE . 
 
 rily the book referred to is Revelation; but, as it is 
 a summation of all the other books, the Bible is really 
 meant. In Luke 16:31 it is said, “If they hear not 
 Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, 
 if one rise from the dead/’ Therefore the Scriptures 
 are wholly sufficient for all purposes and ends to which 
 they were appointed. If we would have this fact over 
 in mind, when studying and using them, what a lot of 
 anxiety and worry would we be saved from, and how 
 much happier and stronger we would be! 
 
 The Second has to do with our personal relations 
 to it. Where should we have the Bible? 
 
 First. In our hands. That is, we ought to have 
 a copy of the Book, or some portion of it, that we can 
 carry about with us. Two sufficient reasons for this 
 are these: First, having it with you, in odd moments— 
 and they are to be found in the busiest life—one can 
 gather a great deal of knowledge of it; and, second, 
 be able to use It when necessary. It is the only weapon 
 given the Christian soldier with which to fight. A 
 soldier ought not to be on the firing line without a 
 weapon. Every soldier should be on the firing line. 
 
 Second. In our hearts. “These words, which I 
 command thee this day, shall be in thine heart' 1 
 (Deut. 6:6). Two reasons for having them there: 
 First, if there they will save us—“Receive with meek¬ 
 ness the engrafted word, which is able to save your 
 souls.” “With the heart man believeth unto righteous¬ 
 ness. ” Second, it will keep us from sinning. The 
 Psalmist said, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, 
 that I might not sin against thee.” 
 
HOW STUDY THE BIBLE? 
 
 131 
 
 Third. In our mouths. The Lord said unto 
 Joshua, ‘‘This book of the law shall not depart out of 
 thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and 
 night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all 
 that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy 
 way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good suc¬ 
 cess” (Josh. 1:8). That is, Joshua’s prosperity and 
 success depended upon the Word of God being in his 
 mouth. Just so is it with Christians. The Word of 
 truth is given us for soul growth and prosperity, and 
 is the only instrument with which success can be 
 achieved. A sword rusted in the scabbard is of no 
 value in time of battle. Hence “the sword of the 
 Spirit” should be in our mouths. Mental philosophers 
 are agreed that nothing is ever absolutely lost that is 
 once lodged into the mind. But for want of proper 
 mental discipline it may be unserviceable in emergency. 
 All of my readers have, without doubt, read and heard 
 read the Bible through and through, again and again. 
 But how few there are who have so put it into their 
 mind that it is in their mouths, to be told out freely, 
 discriminatingly, and effectively! 
 
 The Third has to do with the relations the two 
 Testaments bear to each other. The critics have cast 
 so much discredit upon the Old Testament that some 
 have been led to neglect its study. This is a very 
 great mistake, for one can never understand the New 
 Testament unless he begins its study in the Old. He 
 must go back among the types and symbols; among 
 the bleeding victims and smoking altars; among the 
 patriarchs, lawgivers, and prophets, and come along 
 
132 
 
 HIS RE LA TION TO THE BIBLE, 
 
 with them in their progress through the ages to Cal¬ 
 vary, if we would know aright what the New Testa¬ 
 ment teaches about the bleeding Victim who hung 
 thereon; for the Old teaches the very same lesson as 
 the New. 
 
 A critic, professing to be a Christian, once asked me, 
 “Do you believe those Old Testament stories?” I said, 
 “Yes!” “All of them?” I replied, “Yes!” “Even the 
 one about Jonah and the fish?” I answered, “Yes!” 
 He then said, “I am surprised! for I thought no intel¬ 
 ligent person any longer believed that.” I then asked 
 him, “Do vou not believe the Old Testament?” He an- 
 swered, “Very little of it: certainly not that fish story.” 
 “And you call yourself a Christian?” “Yes!” “Well, 
 what do you believe?” He made reply, “O, I believe 
 the New Testament and the teachings of Christ.” I 
 said to him, “No, sir, you do not; for if you did you 
 would believe that ‘fish story;’ for in Matthew 12:40 
 —and that is in the New Testament—it is declared 
 that Jesus said, 'For as Jonah was three days and three 
 nights in the belly of the sea monster; so shall the Son 
 of man be three days and three nights in the heart of 
 the earth.’ Therefore, no one can truthfully say, T 
 believe the New Testament and the teaching of Jesus,’ 
 and yet disbelieve that 'fish story.’ ” And what is 
 true in this instance is also true of almost every other 
 Old Testament story or fact. God seems to have an¬ 
 ticipated every objection that the critics and skeptics 
 would raise against the Old Testament record, and 
 made it impossible for them to truthfully say, “I be¬ 
 lieve the New Testament record and the teachings of 
 
HOW STUDY THE BIBLE? 
 
 133 
 
 Jesus/’ the while they discredit the Old Testament 
 record. Consider a few additional conspicuous ex¬ 
 amples: Creation of man, Matt. 19:4-6; tempta¬ 
 tion of Eve, 2 Cor. 11:3; Noah and the flood, 
 Matt. 24:37; translation of Enoch, Heb. 11:5; 
 destruction of Sodom, Luke 17:26; Abraham as an 
 historical personage, John 8:39, 40; birth of Isaac, 
 Heb. 11: 11; crossing the Red Sea, Heb. 11:29; giv- 
 ing the manna, John 6:31; Balaam’s ass speaking, 
 2 Pet. 2:15; Moses’ serpent, John 3:14; and Elijah 
 shutting up and opening heaven, James 5:17. Augus¬ 
 tine stated it correctly when he said, “Novum Testa - 
 mentum in Vetera latet , Vetus in Novo patet ”—that is 
 to say, The New lies hidden in the Old, and the Old 
 is unfolded in the New. They together constitute one 
 harmonious whole; and what “God has joined together 
 let no man part asunder.” Therefore never neglect 
 the study of the Old Testament. 
 
 The Fourth has to do with some incidental things 
 by way of exhortation. First, “As newborn babes de¬ 
 sire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow 
 thereby” (1 Pet. 2:2). “Being born ... of the in¬ 
 corruptible . . . word of God which liveth and abideth 
 forever,” it is the business of the pastor to feed such 
 with “the sincere milk of the word.” Paul in writing 
 to the Corinthians referring to their babyhood days 
 said: “I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were 
 not able to bear it.” Something must be radically 
 wrong with a believer if he is not soon able to feed 
 himself. He has a Bible. The Holy Spirit, the Great 
 Teacher, is sent to guide us into all truth. Do not be 
 
134 
 
 HIS DELATION TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 a baby always. Learn to feed yourself. The secret of 
 the success of the Reformation, humanly speaking, lay 
 not so much in the ringing war cry of justification by 
 faith as in the fact that Luther unchained the Bible and 
 gave it to the common people. It is safe in their keep¬ 
 ing. Heresies never originated with the lay membership 
 of the Church. All heresies that have disturbed the 
 peace of the Church and crippled it have been promul¬ 
 gated by the clergy. The Church is a bigger thing than 
 its ministers. To its custody has been committed the 
 Bible; and since the “gates of hell shall not prevail 
 against" the Church, why, of course, “the word of the 
 Lord endureth forever." No one ever learned her¬ 
 esies from the Bible, but from “blind leaders of the 
 blind." So, instead of believing what anyone shall 
 say about the Bible, under the guidance of the Holy 
 Spirit “examine the Scriptures daily, whether these 
 things are so.” “Prove all things (by the Scriptures) : 
 hold fast that which is good." “For we can do noth¬ 
 ing against the truth, but for the truth.” If only the 
 private members of the Church would study their 
 Bibles the promulgators of heretical things would soon 
 be called to an account, and their occupation would 
 soon be gone. The importance, therefore, of personal 
 Bible study cannot be overstated, since the believer's 
 own spiritual growth, as well as the peace and pros¬ 
 perity of the Church, are conditioned upon it. 
 
 Second. “And thou shalt teach them diligently 
 to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sit- 
 test in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, 
 and when thou best down, and when thou risest up" 
 
HO IV STUDY THE BIBLE? 
 
 135 
 
 (Deut. 6:7). How seldom is the Word of God a sub¬ 
 ject of conversation in the domestic circle! In how 
 few homes is the Word of God diligently taught the 
 children by the father. The family is an older institu¬ 
 tion than the Church. By divine command the head of 
 the household is the priest. If father neglects his God- 
 appointed duties here, by no possible means can the 
 Church or Sunday school make it up. The chief rea¬ 
 son why the children of Church members are in these 
 days so difficult to reach and win to Christ is, that 
 there is so little home instruction in the Bible. Fa¬ 
 ther has not the time, or thinks he has not. It may be 
 he is afraid to attempt it for fear of exposing his ig¬ 
 norance. And so the children are not instructed as 
 they should be. But this is not the worst of it. If 
 father and mother really believed the Bible they would 
 study it more and talk about it occasionally. Because 
 of this the children are led to think that the Bible is 
 not what Christians claim it is; all of which makes 
 the preacher’s and teacher’s task the more difficult. 
 Let us study the Book so well that our minds shall be¬ 
 come saturated with its very words, and our hearts 
 become so overflowing full of them that we will want 
 to talk of them—that we cannot help talking of them. 
 
 Third. These are “perilous times/' The attacks 
 made upon the integrity and authority of the Bible in 
 former times were by men outside the church and 
 known as the enemies of Jesus Christ. Now the same 
 things are urged against the Word of God by men in 
 orthodox pulpits, in the editorial chairs of Church 
 papers and the class rooms of the Church’s educational 
 
136 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE BIBLE. 
 
 institutions. Many of the very men who are supposed 
 to be set for the defense of the Bible are its worst en¬ 
 emies and showing the most zeal for its destruction. 
 That is, the Bible's most aggressive enemies are no 
 longer outside, but inside the citadel. There is abso¬ 
 lutely nothing new urged against the old Book. Every 
 objection urged against the integrity of the Bible by 
 the modern critic can be found in the writings of Vol¬ 
 taire and Paine. It is the same old fight, though the 
 plan of the battle has changed, owing to the fact that 
 there are traitors in the camp. But every bit of trust¬ 
 worthy information bearing on the subject, possessed 
 by the Church at the present time, that was unknown 
 fifty years ago, is in favor of the traditional views. 
 There is no occasion for alarm, for “the word of the 
 Lord endureth forever;" but there is abundant need of 
 alertness and courage. We are warned that “There 
 shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in de¬ 
 structive heresies, denying even the Master that bought 
 them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And 
 many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of 
 whom the truth shall be evil spoken of’(2 Pet. 2:1,2). 
 Paul said, “I know that after my departure grievous 
 wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock; 
 and from among your own selves shall men arise, 
 speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after 
 them. Wherefore watch ye !’’ (Acts 20: 29-31.) Be¬ 
 lievers were exhorted to “be no longer children, tossed 
 to and fro and carried about with every wind of doc¬ 
 trine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the 
 wiles of error" (Eph. 4: 14) ; and to “contend earnestly 
 
THE BIBLE INFALLIBLE. 
 
 137 
 
 for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the 
 saints” (Jude 3) ; and also, to “reprove them sharply, 
 that they may be sound in the faith'’ (Titus 1: 13). 
 These exhortations should be heeded by believers in 
 these days. They never were so timely as now. May 
 God help us to be uncompromisingly loyal to our 
 standard! 
 
 Fourth. Always remember that the Bible is the 
 only infallible rule of faith and action. The things of 
 time and sense are constantly changing. Men's views 
 are changing ever; creeds and beliefs are changing. 
 The disquietude and unrest of the times are born of 
 the agnosticism and uncertainties that are so widely 
 prevalent. The more science and learning advance, 
 the more general become doubt and skepticism as to 
 the supernatural, and concerning eternal verities. The 
 man who believes the Bible is the Word of God can be 
 calm and confident in all times and under all circum¬ 
 stances, because he can say with the Psalmist, “For¬ 
 ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven;” and, 
 making it “the man of his counsel” and “the guide of 
 his steps,” can be supremely serene, no matter how 
 furiously the storm may rage, the while he journeys 
 onward. It is therefore of the utmost importance that 
 the convert should become acquainted and familiar 
 with the Bible as soon as possible. Amen ! and Amen! 
 
138 HIS RELATION TO THE WORLD. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Convert's Relation to the World* 
 
 “ We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil 
 one.”—i John 5 : 19. 
 
 We understand by the term “world” that it signi¬ 
 fies the mind, desires, and ambitions belonging the 
 natural man as he stands related to this earthly life. 
 In 1 John 2:15-17 it is said, “Love not the world, 
 neither the things that are in the world. If any 
 man love the world, the love of the Father is not 
 in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of 
 the flesh (those things we lust after according to the 
 laws of our carnal natures), and the lust of the eyes 
 (desires for wealth and earthly honors), and the vain¬ 
 glory of life (my home is the finest in the city, or is 
 furnished more tastefully and elegantly; my horse is 
 the fastest on the driveway; or my bonnet was the 
 most stylish at church on Easter morning), is not 
 of the Father, but is of the world. And the world 
 passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth 
 the will of God abideth forever.” Christ and Satan 
 are arrayed against each other in a contest to the 
 finish. Righteousness and sin can never be harmo¬ 
 nized. The Church and the world are as antipodal as 
 the poles. There is no middle ground where a man 
 can be neither saint nor sinner, or can be a “child of 
 God“ one day and a “child of the devil” the next. 
 Jesus said, “No man can serve two masters; for either 
 
UNEQUAL YOKING. 
 
 139 
 
 he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will 
 hold to one, and despise the other;” and, “He that 
 is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth 
 not with me scattereth.” Paul puts the whole case 
 thus: “Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for 
 what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or 
 what communion hath light with darkness? and what 
 concord hath Christ with Belial ? or what portion hath 
 a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement 
 hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple 
 of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in 
 them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and 
 they shall be my people. Wherefore come ye out from 
 among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and 
 touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you, and 
 will be to you a Father, and ye shall be my sons and 
 daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:14- 
 18). This is the old law of separation referred to by 
 Moses in Exod. 33:16, promulgated to the Church, 
 and thereby made binding upon the conscience and 
 lives of believers. 
 
 I believe that a Christian man who is married to an 
 unchristian woman is unequally yoked with an un¬ 
 believer. In the old law this was expressly forbidden; 
 and whenever the Jew transgressed that law, by mar¬ 
 rying among the surrounding nations, he got into 
 bondage and lapsed into idolatry. But if a Christian 
 man is married to an unbelieving wife, the Lord gives 
 commandment, “that the husband leave not his wife 
 and then Paul adds, “But to the rest say I, not the 
 Lord: If any brother hath an unbelieving wife, and she 
 
140 
 
 HIS ABLATION TO THE WORLD . 
 
 is content to dwell with him, let him not leave her 
 . . . and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the broth¬ 
 er : else were your children unclean; but now are they 
 holy” (i Cor. 7: 10-14). But we are not at liberty to 
 break the law because of what Paul says in the case, 
 or even because of any special, gracious dispensation 
 granted by the merciful Lord. 
 
 I believe that a Christian man who is in partnership 
 with unchristian men in any business or enterprise, 
 and his partners own the controlling interest in that 
 business or enterprise, is “unequally yoked with unbe¬ 
 lievers.” Suppose, for instance, they are engaged in 
 publishing a newspaper. It is a legitimate business, 
 and it is quite right for a Christian man to engage in 
 it, but his partners decide to issue a Sunday edition, 
 which is a violation of the law of God and the laws of 
 almost every State in the Union; and he becomes 
 thereby particeps criminis to whatever of criminality 
 attaches to such violation of the laws of God and the 
 land. As a Christian man he has been compromised 
 before the world. He has no moral right to allow 
 such a thing to be possible; as he certainly has no 
 right to be engaged in any business undertakings, or 
 have any financial investments upon which he cannot 
 ask the blessing of God. 
 
 I believe that a Christian who dances, plays cards, 
 and goes to the theater is “unequally yoked with unbe¬ 
 lievers." As I intend to discuss the question of world¬ 
 ly amusements, somewhat at length, in the next chap¬ 
 ter, I will not dwell upon the matter now and here. 
 
 I believe a man may become “unequally yoked with 
 
CONVERT UNCOMPROMISING. 
 
 141 
 
 unbelievers/’ by becoming a member of any one of the 
 world’s clubs or secret societies. Let me give a case. 
 I was once a member of a certain world-wide, popular, 
 and influential order. One night in a meeting of the 
 lodge, the question of how we should celebrate the 
 approaching anniversary of the lodge was considered. 
 It was moved that we have a banquet, with champagne, 
 and conclude with a dance. 1 objected, urging as my 
 reasons for doing so, that objects, for the promotion 
 of which the order was instituted, were not furthered 
 by such business; and, being a Christian, I could have 
 no part whatever in the thing proposed. They disre¬ 
 garded my protests and voted to have the champagne 
 and dance. Immediately I arose and said, “Loyalty 
 to God and my Church compels me as a Christian man 
 to say, I will not allow any man or set of men to com¬ 
 promise me before the world. Will you, therefore, 
 please erase my name from your rolls?” I then im¬ 
 mediately left the room never to return. These socie¬ 
 ties may have a very noble and worthy object; but 
 there is danger of a Christian, who is a member, being 
 compromised before the world. Hence the need of 
 caution. I will also say no Christian man has a moral 
 right to give to these societies time, money, and thought 
 needed by the Church. Also, there is not one single 
 worthy object of any or all of these societies that can¬ 
 not be better promoted by the Church, if it follows the 
 instructions given in the New Testament. The Church 
 is the best social and benevolent organization on earth. 
 
 But it may and will possibly be urged by some that 
 if we separate ourselves from all these things we will 
 
142 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE WORLD . 
 
 become ascetic. But this does not at all follow. Of 
 course, if we are loyal to Jesus Christ we will be mis¬ 
 understood. He was misunderstood and misrepre¬ 
 sented, and He said, “If they have called the master 
 of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call 
 them of his household.” “The mind of the flesh is 
 enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of 
 God, neither indeed can it be.” Hence unchristian per¬ 
 sons are said to be “alienated and enemies in your 
 (their) mind in your (their) evil works’’ (Col. 1 \ 2 1). 
 Therefore is it said, “Ye adulteresses, know ye not 
 that the friendship of the world is enmity with 
 God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of 
 the world maketh himself an enemy of God” (James 
 4:4). It is thus seen that we have no option in 
 the matter. Jesus was “separate from sinners.” 
 We must follow and obey him, no matter what 
 the world says or thinks—must be right at any cost; 
 “For we have not here an abiding city, but we 
 seek after the city which is to come:” we are “so¬ 
 journers and pilgrims”—“strangers and pilgrims on 
 the earth,” for “our citizenship is in heaven.” The 
 world demands as a condition of companionship and 
 patronage that the believer shall conform to its rules 
 and customs. This the believer can never do without 
 dishonoring God and jeopardizing his deathless inter¬ 
 ests. There should be no temporizing or compromis¬ 
 ing. We must “go forth unto him without the camp, 
 bearing his reproach,” if we would have “the liberty 
 wherewith Christ hath made us free,” and win “the 
 crown of glory;” for it is written, “If we endure, we 
 
THE GREATEST MAN, 
 
 M 3 
 
 shall also reign with him" (2 Tim. 2: 12) ; “If so be 
 that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified 
 with him" (Rom. 8: 17). 
 
 The greatest man, humanly speaking, the world ever 
 saw, was ‘'Moses the man of God." Of course he had 
 all the elements of greatness: so also many other men; 
 but none ever attained to the distinction of Moses. 
 The real secret of his greatness was that he was a 
 man of God—God’s man. He was a striking illustra¬ 
 tion of the teaching of the Master, when He said, 
 “He that loseth his life for my sake shall find it;" for 
 he chose "rather to be evil entreated with the people 
 of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 
 accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than 
 the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recom¬ 
 pense of reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fear¬ 
 ing the wrath of the king: for he endured as seeing 
 him who is invisible” (Heb. xi: 25-27). 
 
 When God saw the affliction of His chosen people 
 He resolved to deliver them. He acquainted Moses 
 with His purpose and made known to him His plans. 
 "And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told 
 Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my 
 people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the 
 wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that 
 I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not 
 the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. And they said, 
 The God of the Hebrews hath met us: let us go, we 
 pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sac¬ 
 rifice unto the Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with 
 pestilence, or with the sword. And the king of Egypt 
 
144 
 
 HIS ABLATION TO THE WORLD . 
 
 said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, 
 let the people from their works? get you unto your 
 burdens" (Exod. 5: 1-4). In order to bring Pharaoh 
 to terms God sent the plagues of frogs and of flies 
 upon the land; and in the great distress consequent 
 “Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, 
 Go ye sacrifice to your God in the land. And Moses 
 said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the 
 abominations of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: 
 lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyp¬ 
 tians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? 
 We will go three days’ journey into the wilderness, 
 and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he shall command 
 us. And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may 
 sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only 
 ye shall not go very far away”(Exod. 8: 25-28). That 
 is, Pharaoh was willing they should sacrifice to their 
 God in the land; or was even willing they should go a 
 
 little way into the desert to do this thing, if only the 
 
 * 
 
 plagues could thereby be stayed; for he knew well 
 enough that if they stopped short of doing what God 
 commanded, they would soon be back. But Moses in¬ 
 sisted that they must do exactly as God had com¬ 
 manded. The king being as yet unwilling to grant 
 this, these servants of Jehovah were dismissed from 
 his presence. Alas, how many there are who though 
 desiring to be the Lord’s are yet unwilling to be 
 wholly His; and in order to quiet their troubled con¬ 
 sciences’ sacrifice in the land, or go not very far away. 
 These people are soon back in the house of bondage. 
 
 God then sent the plagues of murrain of beasts, and 
 
LOYALTY TO GOD . 
 
 145 
 
 hail, thunder, and fire upon Egypt, “And Pharaoh’s 
 servants said unto him. How long shall this man 
 (Moses) be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they 
 may serve the Lord their God. . . . And Moses said, 
 We will go with our young and with our old, with our 
 sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with 
 our herds will we go: for we must hold a feast unto 
 the Lord” (Exod. 10:7, 9). Pharaoh and his serv¬ 
 ants knew that if they left their children in the house of 
 bondage, though they should go the three days’ jour¬ 
 ney into the desert, yet before many days they would 
 be back. More than once have I known parents to 
 give themselves wholly unto the Lord, but not their 
 children; going the three days’ journey themselves, 
 but leaving their children in the house of bondage; and 
 not long afterward the parents were again “making 
 bricks without straw.” 
 
 I have two dear friends—friends of many years; 
 cultured, wealthy, elegant people. They gave them¬ 
 selves entirely to the Lord. They had two daughters. 
 They grew to be beautiful young women. The mother 
 thought they must move in what is called—by the world 
 —“first society” (of course the world’s first society is 
 not first society. The first society is the society of 
 Jesus). If they did that, they must do as the world’s 
 first society does; and the dancing master was brought 
 into that home, and those young women were fitted 
 for moving among the world’s follies, fads, and fash¬ 
 ions—put there by their mother, when they should 
 have been reared for God and heaven. I at one time, 
 
 nearly a score of years ago, conducted an evangelistic 
 
 10 
 
146 HIS DELATION TO THE WOE LB. 
 
 campaign in the very church with which those parents 
 were connected. One night, while preaching, I noticed 
 their two daughters in the audience. They wept freely 
 during the sermon. In the second meeting I went to 
 them, I had knowrn them from their babyhood. I 
 asked, “Young ladies, will you not take Jesus to be 
 your Saviour and Lord!” The tears ran fast over 
 their cheeks. Addressing one of them by name, I 
 again asked, “Will you not?” She bit her lip until the 
 blood fairly started, and brushing her tears aside, she 
 said, “No! we should have to leave society if we did, 
 and we cannot do that.’' They went out from that 
 meeting rejecting Jesus and refusing the life eternal; 
 and to this day, so far as I know, are wedded to the 
 world. If at last they are lost, their dear mother is 
 responsible for it. Instead of remembering that those 
 daughters belonged to God—were children of the cov¬ 
 enant (Acts 2:39), and were therefore entrusted to 
 her to rear them for God and heaven, she reared them 
 for the world, and placed them, herself, in the most 
 unchristlike company that can anywhere be found— 
 the world's fashionable society. Five years after the 
 meeting in which those young women thus turned their 
 backs on the merciful Saviour, I read, in a daily news¬ 
 paper published in the city where they reside, an ac¬ 
 count of a “Great Military Ball,” given in one of the 
 armories of the city, the night before; and among the 
 nearly half a thousand distinguished patrons and 
 patronesses whose names were published were the 
 names of these parents: they themselves were again in 
 the “house of bondage.” 
 
COURAGE OF CONVICTIONS . 
 
 H 7 
 
 Pharaoh's heart being still unrelenting, God sent the 
 plagues of locusts and darkness. “And Pharaoh called 
 unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord; only let 
 your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little 
 ones also go with you. And Moses said . . . Our 
 cattle also shall go with us: there shall not an hoof be 
 left behind!” (Exod. 10: 24, 26.) The situation is ex¬ 
 ceedingly dramatic. Pharaoh was an absolute monarch. 
 Were he to say so, the heads of these heroic brothers 
 would instantly roll at their feet. Were he to give 
 the word Moses would have been exalted to the 
 position of second in authority in the kingdom, as a 
 former Hebrew slave had been, by another Pharaoh. 
 Along comes Mr. Expedient, who is evermore trim¬ 
 ming and afraid to call his soul his own, and I hear 
 him say, “Now, Moses, it is a wonder that Pharaoh 
 has not had your head off before this: you have crossed 
 and blocked him so often. It is quite remarkable that 
 he has made any concession to you at all. Now that he 
 concedes to you everything save that you leave your 
 flocks and your herds, and they are hardly worth tak¬ 
 ing with you, for you are nothing but slaves and as 
 poor as poverty, why not yield this point? he will re¬ 
 ward you and you will lose nothing; but if you persist 
 in your unyielding course he will have your head 
 taken off. Now, don't be dogmatic! be reasonable!” 
 But Moses knew what God had commanded. Pie had 
 conscience and the courage of his conviction; and hav¬ 
 ing God on his side, he had no cause for fear. What 
 wonder then he said the most magnificent thing that 
 ever fell from human lips: “There shall not an hoof be 
 
148 HIS DELATION TO THE WORLD . 
 
 left behind !” No wonder he stands out upon the pages 
 of history so conspicuously. 
 
 One day I stood upon the summit of the Cheops 
 pyramid, the largest of the Ghizeh group. From that 
 lookout I counted fifty-six other pyramids. It is 
 pretty certain that these pyramids are monuments to 
 the kings of Egypt. But what kings? Who were 
 they? The Egyptologists can give us but little light 
 or information concerning them. While thinking upon 
 the matter I heard our Bedouin guide call to one of the 
 camel boys, “Moses! Moses!” And I said, “Who was 
 Moses? Once a slave in this very land; who did not 
 fear the wrath of the king, in doing what God com¬ 
 manded, and would not by a hair’s breadth deviate 
 from the course of duty. He identified himself with 
 God’s oppressed, despised, and poverty-stricken peo¬ 
 ple; going out into the wilderness to wander all his 
 days, when he might have enjoyed the pleasures and 
 splendors of the most glorious earthly court, because 
 God commanded it. No pyramid was ever built to 
 perpetuate his name and memory! His praises were 
 never chanted along the corridors of stately temples. 
 But he lives! even while the great Pharaoh whom, in 
 the name of the living God, he defied, is forgotten. It 
 is always wise and safe to implicitly and uncompro¬ 
 misingly obey God.” 
 
 Pharaoh knew well enough that if the Hebrews left 
 their flocks and herds, even though they were few and 
 of little worth, they would be soon returning, as indeed 
 they would. Just so with the believer who rents his 
 property for a saloon or other base purpose; or makes 
 
NO COMPROMISE. 
 
 149 
 
 investments upon which he cannot ask the blessing of 
 God; he will soon be back in the house of bondage; it 
 is inevitable. God demands of us whole-hearted and 
 irreversible surrender. Anything less is dishonorable 
 on our part, since He gave Himself without reserve 
 to the work of ransoming us, and is fraught with peril 
 to us. There can be no real peace or liberty for any 
 man who compromises. The leanness and weakness 
 everywhere apparent in the churches to-day is largely 
 chargeable to temporizing. Fear of the world’s opin¬ 
 ions ; of being considered peculiar. Courting the 
 world’s favors and lusting after its pleasures, honors, 
 and wealth; and bondage is inevitable. I like the 
 spirit of the man who, when about to be baptized in a 
 creek, out in the country, said, as the pastor and he 
 stood at the edge of the water, and the pastor asked 
 him, “Have you anything in your pocket that will get 
 wet ?” “I have a pocketbook, but I want that baptized 
 too!” 
 
 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies 
 of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, 
 acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 
 And be not fashioned according to this world: but be 
 ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye 
 may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect 
 will of God” (Rom. 12 : 1,2). Amen! and Amen!! 
 
HIS RELATION TO THE WORLD . 
 
 150 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The Convert's Relation to the World*—( Continued ♦) 
 
 “And be not fashioned according to this world.”—Rom. 12: 2. 
 
 The subject of pastimes and amusements demands 
 careful consideration. There probably never was a 
 time when dancing, card playing, and theater going 
 were so generally indulged in as now. The world, 
 with brazen effrontery, has intruded itself into the 
 Church of God and defiled her very altars; and im¬ 
 peratively demands of the children of God conformity 
 to her customs and laws as a condition to her favors 
 
 and patronage. Alas! that so many in the Church 
 
 $ 
 
 have not the courage to resist these demands. Doubt¬ 
 less some yield to these demands because of ignorance 
 of what God requires of them, having never prayerfully 
 studied the Bible to ascertain what is the law of the 
 Christian's conduct. 
 
 No man stands more uncompromisingly for the 
 rights of the individual conscience than I. No man or 
 company of men shall ever be allowed to stand between 
 God and myself as regards the law of conduct. I am 
 answerable to God alone for what I do and how I live. 
 If I wish to indulge myself in worldly amusements 
 and pastimes, I will do so, and it is nobody's business 
 but my own. What I here insist upon as my inalien¬ 
 able right I most respectfully concede to every other 
 person. But as Christians we are not laws unto our¬ 
 selves: we are under obedience to “the law of the 
 
RULE OF CONDUCT . 
 
 151 
 
 Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” The Bible must be the 
 law of our conscience, of our conduct, and of our life. 
 If we deny this, we certainly have sufficient grounds 
 for doubting if we are Christians at all. It is not 
 thinkable that a man can be a Christian and knowingly, 
 deliberately, and persistently disregard the rules plainly 
 stated in the Bible for the conduct and life of a dis¬ 
 ciple. Therefore, in discussing the question, May a 
 Christian indulge in these things ? my one effort shall 
 be to point out what the Word of God teaches; and 
 then the matter will be submitted to the individual 
 reader to decide whether he (or she) will square 
 his life by God's rule, or be a rule unto himself, re¬ 
 membering that he is accountable to God and not to 
 men. 
 
 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man 
 would come after me, let him deny himself, and take 
 up his cross, and follow me” (Matt. 16:24). 
 
 A religion that costs a man nothing is not worth 
 having. I fear that is the kind many church members 
 have nowadays; a religion of selfishness and ease; a 
 religion in which there is no denial of self or cross¬ 
 bearing; living just the same kind of life they lived 
 before they professed faith in Jesus as Saviour and 
 Lord; and in no essential particular different from 
 that of their unchristian friends. Jesus said, “Who¬ 
 soever doth not bear his own cross, and come after 
 me, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:27). He also 
 said, “If any man would come after me, let him deny 
 himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” 
 (Luke 9:23). Reader, what has your religious pro- 
 
152 HIS DELATION TO THE WORLD . 
 
 fession cost you? What have you ever denied your¬ 
 self for the Master? What crosses have you taken 
 up daily for Him who bore the Cross for us? What 
 sacrifices have you ever made for Him who was “made 
 a curse for us? for it is written, Cursed is every one 
 that hangeth on a tree” (Gal. 3: 13). If none, then 
 according to the Master’s own words you are not His 
 disciple; even though you are a member of a church, 
 having been baptized, and occasionally partake of the 
 Lord's Supper and call yourself a Christian. None of 
 these things, though right enough in themselves, can 
 make us right before God. 
 
 What shall the disciple deny himself? I make an¬ 
 swer, First. Indulgence in anything sinful, per se. 
 “Let him that stole steal no more.” “Let the wicked 
 forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his 
 thoughts.” It is unthinkable that a man can continue 
 in known and willful sin and yet be a disciple of the 
 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I am quite sure this 
 goes with the saying. 
 
 But, it may be asked, In what ways, if at all, are 
 dancing, card playing, and theater going sinful? A 
 young woman once said to me, “I am a Christian and 
 am very fond of dancing. If you can show me any 
 place in the Bible where it says, Thou shall not dance, 
 I will at once give it up; because, being a Christian, 
 I must implicitly obey the Word of God.” I said to 
 her I cannot find you a single passage where it says, 
 Thou shall not dance; but you must not conclude on 
 that account that it is right to do so. I cannot find in 
 the Bible a command Thou shalt not set fire to vour 
 
CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS. 
 
 153 
 
 neighbor's house. Would it be right therefore to do 
 it ? Indeed it would be a sin to do it, as certainly as a 
 violation of any of the explicit commands in the dec¬ 
 alogue. There are certain great underlying principles, 
 that rest alike upon Sinai and Calvary that belong to 
 the ethics of Christianity as certainly as the Ten Com¬ 
 mandments, and are therefore binding upon the con¬ 
 science and life of the believer. 
 
 But what say the Scriptures? Jesus said, “No man 
 can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, 
 and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and de¬ 
 spise the other." Also He said, “He that is not with 
 me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me 
 scattereth" (Matt. 12:30). The Saviour thus places 
 a line of division between those who are His disciples 
 and those who are not. We are either for Him or 
 against Him. There is no middle ground where one 
 can live and love the ways and things of the world, 
 and yet be His disciple. In I John 2:15 it is said, 
 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the 
 world. If any man love the world, the love of the 
 Father is not in him." The believer is under as much 
 obligation to recognize and obey this law as any par¬ 
 ticular and specific commandment of God. Let us 
 throw the light of God's Word upon this law that we 
 may see what it means. 
 
 In Rom. 12: 2, it is said, “And be not fashioned ac¬ 
 cording to this world." For myself, I believe that 
 dancing, card playing, and theater going are in part 
 of the fashion of this world. If this be so, then to fol¬ 
 low this fashion is to violate the command, “Be not 
 
154 
 
 HIS DELATION TO THE WORLD. 
 
 fashioned/’ etc., and that constitutes sin as certainly 
 as the violation of any other command of God. 
 
 In 2 Cor. 6: 14 it is said, “Be not unequally yoked 
 with unbelievers.” If we allow ourselves to be un¬ 
 equally yoked with unbelievers we commit sin as cer¬ 
 tainly as if we steal or lie. We are under solemn ob¬ 
 ligations to keep all God’s commandments. I believe 
 that we violate this command when we indulge in 
 dancing, card playing, and theater going, with unchris¬ 
 tian people. Let me explain why I think thus. God 
 lays down the rule of our conduct in these words, 
 “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye 
 do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31); “And 
 whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the 
 Father through him” (Col. 3: 17). If one can dance, 
 play cards, or go to the theater, “in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus,” for “the glory of God,” and “give thanks 
 to God the Father through him” (Jesus), it would be 
 entirely right to do so. But if not it would be a sin to 
 do so. I am sure these things cannot be done in that 
 way. Let us test the matter. Let me suppose that I 
 am the only Christian present at a dancing party. 
 The dance is about to begin, when I speak up in the 
 hearing of all present and say, “Mr. Floor Manager, 
 please wait a few moments; you know I am a Chris¬ 
 tian, and the Bible, which is the rule of the Christian’s 
 conduct, says, ‘Whatsoever ye do, do all for the glory 
 of God ... in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving 
 thanks to God the Father.” Now then, as I am going 
 to engage in this dance ‘in the name of the Lord Jesus,’ 
 
MUST GLORIFY GOD . 
 
 155 
 
 and for the glory of God, let us return thanks unto 
 God the Father for it.’’ Would such a thing be in place ? 
 Not at all. And why not? Because the dance is not 
 for the glory of God, and cannot be indulged in “in 
 the name of the Lord Jesus.” Or, let me suppose I am 
 present at a card party and am the only Christian 
 there. We are going to have a game of whist. It is 
 my deal, and after shuffling the cards, I say, “Friends, 
 the Bible is my rule of faith and action; and it says, 
 ‘Whatsoever ye do, do all for the glory of God . . . 
 in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto 
 God the Father through him;’ and now, as I am 
 going to play this game for the glory of God, and in 
 the name of the Lord Jesus, let us bow our heads in 
 prayer, while I return thanks unto God the Father, be¬ 
 fore I deal the cards/' I think to do such a thing would 
 throw a chill upon the game. And why should it, if 
 the game is for the glory of God ? Once again: sup¬ 
 pose a Christian young woman has accepted the invita¬ 
 tion of an unchristian young man to accompany him 
 to the theater. At the appointed hour he calls. The 
 young woman meets him in the reception room and 
 directly says to him, “I am quite ready to go with 
 you save for one thing; you know I am a Christian. 
 God’s Word is the law of mv conduct and life, and it 
 says, ‘Whatsoever ye do, do all for the glory of God, 
 . . . in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto 
 God the Father through him;’ and as I am going with 
 you to the theater for the glory of God, and in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus, will you excuse me for a few 
 moments while I retire to my closet of prayer and re- 
 
156 HIS RELATION TO THE WORLD . 
 
 turn thanks unto God the Father, and then I will be 
 ready to accompany you.” I think the young man 
 would be somewhat surprised. But why? Simply 
 because these pastimes are not for the glory of God, 
 and cannot be indulged in in the name of the Lord Je¬ 
 sus. Is it not very clear that we are unequally yoked 
 with unbelievers when we mingle with them in these 
 things ? 
 
 This is further indicated by the fact that dancing, 
 card-playing, and theater-going church members sel¬ 
 dom, if ever, speak with their unchristian friends with 
 whom they associate in these games and amusements 
 about their soul’s salvation. And yet, as children of 
 God, they are under solemn obligations to do so. 
 Why do they not do so? Because of unequal yoking. 
 They may do their utmost to persuade themselves that 
 indulgence in these things is not sinful; and strive 
 to quiet their troubled consciences by arguing that it 
 is not their duty or business to speak to their friends 
 concerning their soul’s salvation; but the fact remains 
 that by no possibility can it be made to appear that one 
 can glorify God by joining unchristian people in these 
 pastimes and pleasures. 
 
 God says, “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 
 14:23). For myself I have no doubt about dancing, 
 card playing, and theater going being something else 
 than of the faith spoken of here. They certainly are 
 not of faith—the faith that what is done is for the 
 glory of God. If this be true, to do these things is to 
 commit sin. 
 
 In Eph. 5:11 it is said, “And have no fellowship 
 
VILENESS OF THEATER. 
 
 *57 
 
 with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even 
 reprove them.” I am very sure that these things are 
 of the unfruitful works of darkness. Without doubt 
 thousands have been led to ruin through the dance. 
 Who that knows anything about it can doubt it? It 
 must therefore belong to the unfruitful works of dark¬ 
 ness. There is not a saloon, brothel, or den of infamy 
 in which the cards are not found. They are associ¬ 
 ated with that which is vile, sinful, and degrading. If 
 there were no other reason why I should have nothing 
 to do with them, these things would be quite sufficient. 
 Think of the characters blasted, fortunes ruined, and 
 murders and suicides committed over cards! and 
 tell me, do not they belong to the unfruitful works of 
 darkness? And the theater! Dumas, who wrote “Ca¬ 
 mille” and other indecent plays, once said,“You do well 
 to keep your daughters away from the theater; for, 
 when we write plays we appeal to the passions.” If 
 the theater is not a fit place for the daughter to at¬ 
 tend, and he said so, and certainly knew, it is surely 
 not a fit place for the son. Edwin Booth once said, 
 “As long as every gimcrack that comes along may 
 put upon the stage what he pleases, you do well to 
 keep your daughters away from the theater.” Mary 
 Anderson, the greatest actress of this generation, when 
 at the very pinnacle of histrionic fame, and receiving 
 two thousand five hundred dollars a night, quit the 
 stage forever and said, “It was the happiest act and day 
 of my life.” McCready once said, “I would not allow 
 a daughter of mine to associate with theatrical people.” 
 
 “Under the auspices of the Knights of Columbus Dr. 
 
158 HIS RELATION TO THE WORLD. 
 
 Adams lectured upon ‘The Theater' last night to an 
 audience that filled the opera house. Prefacing his re¬ 
 marks concerning Shakespeare's productions with a 
 description of theaters and stage methods of Shakes¬ 
 peare's time, he followed it with his caustic scoring of 
 problem plays: Tt was in the Empire Theater in New 
 York. Five or six hundred girls and young women of 
 the cream of the social world witnessed the play. On 
 the stage a man, a roue, talked to a woman. Both 
 flicked ashes from their cigarettes. The man shot an 
 epigram at the woman; the woman flashed back. They 
 interchanged epigrams, and other characters appeared. 
 Their conversation was in epigrams, bright, witty, keen, 
 and—hellish, devilish, and bestial. I want to say that 
 in that theater I heard under the gloss of polished lan¬ 
 guage and expressive gesture the exposition of lust 
 and vice; the girls listened with glistening eyes and 
 bated breath. I stood in the foyer, and they trooped by 
 me. Their glances were expressive of a newborn 
 knowledge, the hellish knowledge that wrecks homes 
 and destroys peace. Should I approach your wife and 
 by innuendo express to her what is said in “Zaza" and 
 “The Second Mrs. Tanqueray," you w r ould kick me as 
 you would a cur. If I in the suggestive language of 
 those plays approached your fiancee, my life might 
 pay the forfeit. Yet you take your wife and your 
 daughter, and you pay coin, good coin, to have them 
 witness the animal passion of men and women laid 
 bare in all its brutality. I say to you, the woman 
 who witnesses one of these plays is no longer pure 
 in mind; she has been tainted by the searing iron 
 
SELF INDULGENCE . 
 
 *59 
 
 of immorality, although she has but heard and 
 seen/ ”— Bay City {Mich.) Tribune, Jan. jr, 1901. 
 
 Nine tenths of the plays put upon the modern stage 
 are indecent, and the billboards will prove it. Three 
 fourths of theatrical people, in my judgment, are im¬ 
 moral. They swear, drink, gamble, care nothing for 
 the Church of God and other sacred things, and will 
 play on the Sabbath day when permitted as quickly as 
 upon any other. Without any doubt the modern thea¬ 
 ter belongs to the unfruitful works of darkness. We 
 are, therefore, having “fellowship with the unfruitful 
 works of darkness,” if we patronize these things, and 
 thus violate the command of God not to do so; and 
 we are not reproving them as commanded, if we 
 indulge ourselves in them; and thus again we violate 
 a command of God, and thus commit sin. 
 
 By these Scriptures (and there are many more along 
 the same line) it is plain, as I think, that dancing, card 
 playing, and theater going are sinful per se. 
 
 What shall the disciple deny himself? I make an¬ 
 swer, Second. Indulgence in all things sinful in their 
 tendency. God says, “And abstain from the very ap¬ 
 pearance of evil.” A Christian will not live to see how 
 close he can live to sin without sinning; sin will be to 
 him hideous, heinous, and repulsive. He will loathe 
 it and shun it as one would a vile communicable 
 disease. If he has not this thought and feeling con¬ 
 cerning sin, he certainly has sufficient grounds for con¬ 
 cluding that he is in a very low spiritual condition, or 
 more likely not a Christian at all. 
 
 For myself, I am very sure that dancing, card play- 
 
j6o 
 
 HIS RELA TION TO THE WORLD . 
 
 ing, and theater going have a tendency toward that 
 which is sinful. I give the following reasons for this 
 conviction, viz.; First. One cannot maintain spirit- 
 ual-mindedness and indulge in these things. I have 
 never known a spiritual-minded person who indulged 
 in these pastimes. Second. The people who indulge 
 in these amusements do not support their own church 
 prayer meeting. They may occasionally attend, though 
 very rarely, but they contribute nothing more than their 
 presence to the interest of the occasion. This is in¬ 
 variably the rule. Third. The dancing, card-playing, 
 theater-going church members have, uniformly, a man¬ 
 ifest unconcern for the salvation of the lost; and can¬ 
 not be depended upon for any assistance to reach such 
 and bring them to a knowledge of the truth as it is in 
 Jesus, in any effort that the Church may make with 
 that object in view. Fourth. The sons and daugh¬ 
 ters of such church members are the most difficult 
 people to win to the Saviour to be found. Fifth. 
 The Churches that observe the Lenten season abstain 
 from indulgence in these pastimes. And why? Be¬ 
 cause, so they think, as Christians approach the time 
 of the year when our Lord was crucified they should 
 give themselves to meditation and prayer, and these 
 things prevent such moods and exercises, thus ac¬ 
 knowledging that such indulgence is unspiritualizing. 
 Sixth. Some of our cities have enacted ordinances 
 forbidding public balls, merely as a police measure; 
 believing as they do that they promote crime and law- 
 nessness, and some Roman Catholic Bishops have for¬ 
 bidden their members attending public balls and en- 
 
EVIL OF DANCING . 
 
 161 
 
 gaging in the modern round dance under pain of de¬ 
 nying them the sacraments of the church. Seventh. 
 Some years ago the police commissioners of New 
 York city directed the chief of police to ascertain 
 what were the causes leading the many thousands of 
 fallen women in that city to their present lives of 
 shame. The chief of police pushed this investiga¬ 
 tion as far as possible; and in his report to the 
 commissioners made the following statement: “I 
 believe that nine tenths of the fallen women in New 
 York city, who had moral and Christian parents, came 
 to their present lives of shame through the modern 
 round dance.” There can be no doubt as to the ten¬ 
 dency of indulgence in these things being toward that 
 which is unspiritual and sinful. If we refuse to avoid 
 the appearance of evil we commit sin. That which 
 tends toward evil must in some sense and degree par¬ 
 take of the nature of evil, and should therefore be 
 avoided. We are also commanded to “lay aside every 
 weight” as well as “the sin which doth so easily beset 
 us” (Heb. 12: 2). Here are some things called weights, 
 as distinguished from sins, that hinder the Christian 
 from running the race set before us. Whether dancing, 
 card playing, and theater going are referred to in this 
 passage does not matter. We do certainly know they 
 are weights that handicap the Christian so that he 
 cannot run as he should. If he refuses to lay aside 
 any weight he thereby disobeys that command of God 
 and thus commits sin per se. 
 
 What shall the disciple deny himself? I make an¬ 
 swer, Third. Indulgence in all things that will mar or 
 11 
 
162 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE WORLD . 
 
 destroy his influence for good. It is most certainly 
 true that unchristian people everywhere believe that 
 Christians should not dance, play cards, or go to the 
 theater. The Christian that fails to respect this con¬ 
 viction will soon discover that he has no influence over 
 his unsaved kindred and friends to win them to the 
 merciful Saviour. Here, without doubt, is where the 
 real reason is to be found as to why the Church is 
 having so little success in bringing the perishing to 
 Jesus. We may say the world is crooked and perverse. 
 But we cannot truthfully say they are not right in such 
 view of the case. But Christians are exhorted to “be 
 blameless and harmless, children of God without blem¬ 
 ish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, 
 among whom ye are seen as lights in the world, hold¬ 
 ing forth the word of life” (Phil 2:15, 16). We may 
 not insult Almighty God, as did the first murderer, 
 by asking, “Am I my brother's keeper?” We are our 
 brother's keeper. We may not escape our responsibil¬ 
 ity by propounding such a question; for we are most 
 surely accountable to God for the influence we exert 
 over the thoughts and lives of the unsaved all about 
 us. Paul said, “It is good not to eat flesh, nor to 
 drink wine, nor to do anything whereby thy brother 
 stumbleth” (Rom. 14: 21) ; and, “Take heed lest by 
 any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling- 
 block to the weak. For if a man see thee which hast 
 knowledge sitting at meat in an idol's temple, will not 
 his conscience, if he is weak, be emboldened to eat 
 things sacrificed to idols? For through thy knowledge 
 he that is weak perisheth, the brother for whose sake 
 
MY BROTHER'S KEEPER . 
 
 163 
 
 Christ died. And thus, sinning against the brethren, 
 and wounding their conscience when it is weak, ye sin 
 against Christ. Wherefore, if meat maketh my brother 
 to stumble, I will eat no flesh for evermore, that I 
 make not my brother to stumble” (1 Cor. 8:9-13). 
 Ordinarily the eating of meat was both right and neces¬ 
 sary to Paul; but remembering how he was under ob¬ 
 ligations to God to keep the weak ones from stumbling; 
 and how if by doing that which ordinarily would of it¬ 
 self be right he should cause him to stumble or wound 
 his weak conscience, he would be sinning against 
 Christ, he said, “I will eat no flesh for evermore.” 
 Therefore, because of this law, should Christians not 
 dance, play cards, or attend the theater, since unchris¬ 
 tian people everywhere insist that such things are in¬ 
 consistent with the profession the disciple has made. 
 Some years ago I was conducting an evangelistic cam¬ 
 paign in the city of Charleston, S. C. My host took 
 me one morning to a cotton compress and to the 
 docks. We met an old sea captain, to whom I was in¬ 
 troduced. As we were coming away my host said, 
 '‘That is a queer old sea dog. He has been sailing be¬ 
 tween this port and Liverpool for more than eight 
 years. Whenever he is here over Sunday he is sure 
 to go to one of our churches, both morning and night, 
 for he is an ardent admirer of the rector and very fond 
 of his preaching. He arrived in this port on Tuesday 
 of last week. Saturday night he went to the Acad¬ 
 emy of Music to see the play. Directly after he took 
 his seat he recognized the rector on the other side of 
 the dress circle. He rubbed his eyes and looked again 
 
164 HIS RELATION TO THE WORLD . 
 
 to make sure there could be no mistake, and when he 
 was certain it was the rector, he took his hat and left 
 the house, mad as fury, and has been cursing the 
 rector ever since. He says, ‘I would not go to hear 
 him preach again to save his life.’ ” This rector was 
 doubtless unconscious of having done anything wrong 
 or sinful; but he lost his influence over the old sea 
 captain as certainly as though he had been drunk or 
 committed murder. 
 
 I never was so much humiliated as under the fol¬ 
 lowing circumstances. Nearly thirty years ago, while 
 a resident of Indianapolis, I was well acquainted with 
 a bright, though very wild, young man, whose father 
 was wealthy and of commanding influence. I talked 
 with this young man many times about his soul’s need 
 and peril. More than once he was so much moved by 
 my words as to tremble and weep. He always thanked 
 me for my interest in and solicitude for him. We had 
 some friends visiting us who had been abroad for 
 nearly four years. Joseph Jefferson was at that time 
 playing '‘Rip Van Winkle’’ in our Academy of Music. 
 I knew the play for I had seen Jefferson play it several 
 times in my theater-going days. Our friends had never 
 seen it. They expressed a desire to go. Out of polite¬ 
 ness I accompanied them. I enjoyed the company and 
 the play. I returned home without any sense of wrong¬ 
 doing and that night slept the sleep of the just. Next 
 morning as I was going to my office (for it was before 
 I had entered the ministry) I met my young friend; 
 and as had been my custom since I knew him, I stopped 
 and shook hands with him; and while our hands were 
 
LOST IN INFLUENCE. 
 
 165 
 
 clasped I asked, "Ed, when are you going to begin 
 the Christian life?” A scowl was upon his face in an 
 instant, and jerking his hand from mine he said, “Mr. 
 Munhall, I want you never to speak to me upon this 
 subject again.” In astonishment I asked, "My dear 
 fellow, what do you mean?” He replied, "I saw you at 
 the theater last night, and I do not want you ever again 
 to speak to me about my soul.” And I never did. 
 My influence over him for good was as completely de¬ 
 stroyed as though he had seen me drunk in the gutter. 
 Some years afterward, I decided to go out to the 
 Rocky Mountains to preach to the miners. His father, 
 hearing of it, called to see me, and said, "Ed is out 
 where you are going, I think, though we have not 
 heard from him in two years; will you not try to 
 find him and give him a father’s message?” Of course 
 I promised him I would. While in the mountains, I 
 one day found him in a mining camp, in a low-down 
 groggery, sitting upon the head of a whisky barrel. I 
 gave him his father’s message and talked with him for 
 a full hour, but I said never a word to him concerning 
 his soul. 
 
 I was conducting some evangelistic meetings in a 
 certain city. One evening in the after meeting I was 
 called to the rear part of the audience to speak with a 
 young woman. I found her in great distress over her 
 soul’s needs. She had recently been graduated from 
 Vassar College. Her parents were wealthy, cultivated 
 people. The young woman had expressed a desire to 
 see me. I asked her right away what was her trouble? 
 Brushing the tears from her cheeks, she asked, "Mr. 
 
HIS DELATION TO THE WORLD . 
 
 166 
 
 Munhall, if I become a Christian will I have to stop 
 dancing?” I said, “I will answer your question by 
 asking you several. Do you believe there is any harm 
 in dancing ?” “None whatever,” she replied. “Well, 
 then,” I asked, “why do you ask me, ‘Will I have to 
 stop it ?’ Of course you will not have to stop it if there 
 is no harm in it; but your question would indicate that 
 after all you thought that there was harm in it.” I 
 then asked, “Does your minister dance?” “O no!” 
 she replied. “If he did would you have confidence in 
 him?” She quickly answered, “I would never go to 
 hear him preach." But I urged, “If there is no harm 
 in dancing, why should not the minister do it? Has 
 he not the same right to dance as the private member ? 
 Certainly he has. If it is right for the member it is 
 right for the minister. If it is wrong for the minister, 
 and you have confessed that it is, it is wrong for the 
 member.’' She said, “I had never thought of that.” 
 I then asked, “Did you ever know a spiritually minded 
 man, one who would do personal work in a meeting 
 of this sort that danced?” She answered, “There is 
 a gentleman who is doing personal work in these meet¬ 
 ings who dances." I said, “I had never known a case 
 of the kind;” and then asked her if she had any objec¬ 
 tions to naming the man. She said, “No!" and gave 
 me his name. I said to her,“Last evening there were 
 two of your lady friends here, and under conviction 
 of sin. This gentleman spoke with them. One of 
 them said to him, ‘Will we have to give up dancing?’ 
 He replied,‘No; that's old fogy. I am a Christian and I 
 dance.’ The two young gentlemen who escorted those 
 
PASTIMES AND AMUSEMENTS. 
 
 16 7 
 
 young women to the church were unchristian. They 
 heard what was said, for they occupied the pew imme¬ 
 diately behind them; and at once they arose and went 
 back near the doorway, where the pastor of the gentle¬ 
 man stood, and one of them told him what they 
 had heard, and then said, ‘Mr. Preacher, if that is 
 the kind of religion you have in your church, that’s 
 the kind we have in the big church, and we prefer to 
 stay where we are.' ”* 
 
 At once she said, “I will give it up!” “Give it up!” 
 I said; “give up the dance for the salvation of 
 your precious soul, for Christ, for heaven and an un¬ 
 fading crown! I should think you would, quickly 
 and gladly enough!” Soon she was rejoicing in 
 “the love of God which passeth knowledge.” The next 
 evening, meeting her, I asked, “Do you want to 
 dance ?” She replied, “O, no! I hate the very thought 
 of it.” 
 
 No one under conviction desires a dancing, card¬ 
 playing, and theater-going professor to tell them what 
 they must do to be saved; and most certainly no one 
 on their dying bed wants such an one to minister to 
 them the consolations of the Bible. And since we are 
 accountable to God for the kind of influence we exert 
 over our fellow-men, and our influence for good is 
 
 * Some two years afterward I occupied the pulpit of that very church, and 
 told this incident without telling where it happened or mentioning names. That 
 gentleman was present in the audience. At the close of the service he approached 
 me and asked, “ Did you mean me ? ” I responded, 11 Verily, thou art the man.” 
 He then said, “If that is the kind of influence I have been exerting over the young 
 men of this community, here’s my hand, and promise that I have danced my last 
 step, shuffled my last cards, and gone to my last theater, circus, and minstrel enter¬ 
 tainment.” The next day I met his pastor, and when we shook hands he said, 
 “ I am much obliged to you; you made an elder for our church last night.” 
 
168 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE WORLD. 
 
 most certainly destroyed if we indulge in such things, 
 it is clearly sinful to do so. 
 
 How shall the disciple follow Jesus? I make an¬ 
 swer, First. In sacrifice. “Christ . . . gave himself 
 
 up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God" (Eph. 
 5:2). Disciples are besought “to present your bodies 
 
 a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is 
 your reasonable service” (Rom. 12: 1). And what can 
 be more reasonable than our making a sacrifice of any 
 and everything required of us in order to glorify Him 
 who went to the cross, with its suffering, curse, and 
 shame for us? O, shame ! thrice shame! upon us if we 
 hesitate for one moment to abandon ourselves utterly 
 and irreversibly to Him. In this connection it is well 
 to remember His words. “Jesus said, Verily I say 
 unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or 
 brethren, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, 
 or lands, for my sake, and for the gospel’s sake, but 
 he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, 
 and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, 
 and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come 
 eternal life” (Mark 10:29, 30). So all sacrifice for 
 Him has an abundant compensation. One hundredfold 
 is ten thousand per cent. Who will say it is not a 
 good investment? 
 
 How shall the disciple follow Him ? I make answer, 
 Second. In service. “For verily the Son of man 
 came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and 
 to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). 
 
 The disciple is not a convert because he serves; he 
 serves because he is a convert. He is not saved simply 
 
PASTIMES AND AMUSEMENTS. 
 
 169 
 
 and only that he may escape hell and gain heaven. 
 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus 
 for good works, which God afore prepared that we 
 should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). The crowning 
 glory of Christ is this—He “came not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for 
 many.” The most exalted honor God can put upon a 
 man is to associate him with Himself in service (John 
 12:26; 2 Cor. 6:1). We never can fully realize and 
 appreciate the privilege and dignity of serving our 
 Master and Lord. The highest archangel that serves 
 before the dazzling presence of Jehovah would gladly 
 leave his place of service and quickly wing his flight 
 to earth, and take the humblest place in which any 
 child of God is appointed to serve; but no such dignity 
 and honor can be his. 
 
 How SHALL WE SERVE? 
 
 First. With newness of the Spirit, and not 
 in oldness of the letter” (Rom. J: 6). It is not a legal 
 service, laborious and slavish, but a service of love, 
 gladsome and joyous. 
 
 Second. With humility. “Serving the Lord 
 with all lowliness of mind” (Acts 20: 19). The Mas¬ 
 ter said, “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him 
 be your servant” (Matt. 20:27). In washing the dis¬ 
 ciples’ feet He gave us a beautiful and striking ex¬ 
 ample. (See John 13:4-17.) 
 
 Third. By love. “Through love be servants one 
 to another” (Gal. 5:13). When “the love of God 
 hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy 
 
170 
 
 HIS ABLATION TO THE WORLD. 
 
 Ghost which was given unto us’’ (Rom. 5:5), it be¬ 
 comes both natural and easy to serve one another. 
 
 Fourth. Fearlessly. “Might serve him without 
 fear’’ (Luke 1:74). Why should we fear what man 
 shall say or do when we are conscientiously and faith¬ 
 fully serving our Master and Lord? “Fear hath 
 torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” 
 (1 John 4: 18). 
 
 Fifth. From the heart. “Doing the will of God 
 from the heart'’ (Eph. 6:6), that is, conscientiously; 
 “Not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers.’' 
 
 Sixth. Acceptably. “Let us have grace, whereby 
 we may serve God acceptably with reverence and god¬ 
 ly fear*’ (Heb. 12:28). 
 
 Seventh. Faithfully. “Be thou faithful unto 
 death, and I will give thee the crown of life” (Rev. 2: 
 10). For such the Master will say, “Well done, good 
 and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few 
 things, I will set thee over many things: enter thou 
 into the joy of thy lord” (Matt. 25: 23). 
 
 The convert should carefully avoid being: 
 
 First. A disobedient servant (Luke 12:47). 
 
 Second. An “unprofitable servant'’ (Matt. 25: 
 
 30). 
 
 Third. A “slothful servant” (Matt. 25:26). 
 
 Fourth. A man-pleasing servant (Gal. 1: 10). 
 
 Fifth. An “evil servant” (Matt. 24:48). 
 
 Sixth. A “wicked servant” (Luke 19:22). 
 
 The honor that shall at last be put upon the “good 
 and faithful servants” will be immeasurably beyond 
 any that earth can bestow, for the Master “shall gird 
 
PASTIMES AND AMUSEMENTS, 171 
 
 himself, and make them sit down to meat, and shall 
 come and serve them’' (Luke 12:37). 
 
 How shall the disciple follow Jesus? I make answer, 
 Third. In sorrow. “He was despised, and rejected 
 of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” 
 He trod the via doloroso for us, and there are sorrow¬ 
 ful ways for us to tread. Life is not a joke. There 
 are dark days and stormy hours for every life. There 
 are oppressed and broken-hearted ones all about us. 
 The world is full of woe and ruin. Life, therefore, is 
 altogether too serious to be dealt with lightly or 
 treated in a trifling manner. Jesus does not ask us 
 to walk where His holy feet have not trodden: 
 
 “As oft with worn and bleeding feet 
 We tread life’s rugged pathway o’er; 
 
 The thought, how comforting and sweet! 
 
 He trod this very path before! 
 
 And all our wants and wishes knows, 
 
 From life’s first dawning to its close.’’ 
 
 We certainly will never go to the dance, if we follow 
 Him. The thought of Him engaging in a modern 
 round dance, or even being a patron of one, is almost 
 sacrilegious. To think of Him playing cards is enough 
 to send cold chills over us. We certainly know He 
 would not attend upon anything of the kind. So we 
 cannot follow Him to the card table. Does anyone for 
 a moment think that if Jesus were again among men 
 that He would patronize the theater? We certainly 
 know He would not. The theater is wholly repug¬ 
 nant to the Christ mind and nature. If, then, we are 
 His followers, we will not patronize or frequent such 
 places. 
 
HIS ABLATION TO THE WORLD . 
 
 172 
 
 I know there are those who after reading these pages 
 will be led to think that happiness and gladness are 
 all gone if we become followers of Jesus; for how can 
 it be otherwise, they will reason, if we must give up 
 all these things and carry a cross daily? No one ever 
 made a greater mistake than to think thus. One can 
 never know real happiness and joy until he becomes a 
 true follower of Jesus. Our cross is found in our un¬ 
 willingness to be and do just as He willeth. The up¬ 
 right piece of the cross may stand for God's will, the 
 arms may represent our human will. When our wills 
 are at cross purposes with God's will, there is a cross; 
 but when our wills are parallel with His, one with 
 His, the cross disappears. “The god of this world 
 hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the 
 light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the 
 image of God, should not dawn upon them” (2 Cor. 
 4:4). 
 
 Why should we be always wanting a frolicsome time 
 of it? Why should pastimes and pleasures have so 
 large a place in our thoughts as they do? It is surely 
 a bad indication, that our minds so seldom grasp the 
 heroic and serious, and we want so much to be amused 
 and entertained. 
 
 “I do not ask, O Lord, that life should be a pleasant road; 
 
 I do not ask that Thou shouldst take from me aught of its load; 
 I do not ask that flowers should always spring beneath my 
 feet; 
 
 For well I know the poison and the sting of things too sweet. 
 For one thing only, Lord, dear Lord! I plead, lead me aright! 
 Though strength should falter and though heart should bleed, 
 through peace to light. 
 
PASTIMES AND AMUSEMENTS. 
 
 173 
 
 “I do not ask that Thou shouldst shed full radiance here; 
 
 Give but a ray of light, that I may tread without a fear. 
 
 1 do not ask my cross to understand, my way to see; 
 
 Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand and follow Thee. 
 
 Joy is like restless day, but peace divine, like quiet night; 
 
 Lead me, O Lord, till perfect day shall shine full on my sight!” 
 
 I once read of a heathen prince who was dying. He 
 had somewhere heard the story of the cross. He bade 
 his servants make one, giving them the dimensions. 
 When their task was finished they brought it to the 
 prince. At his command they lay him upon it. When 
 with outstretched arms his body rested wholly upon 
 it he said, “It lifts me up! It lifts me! It lifts—” 
 and it had lifted him to the heavenlies. And just so, 
 if we bear our cross gladly, instead of it being a great 
 burden that shall bear us to the earth so that we shall 
 never more know joy and gladness, we shall find that 
 it will lift us from sin to righteousness; from condem¬ 
 nation to justification; from spiritual death to eternal 
 life; from the low, selfish, sordid, sensual things of 
 time and sense to the pure, unselfish things of God; 
 it will lift us from hell to heaven. O, for uncom¬ 
 promising surrender to be made conformable to the 
 will of God in all things! Then joy unalloyed, and 
 happiness such as the world never had and never can 
 give, will be ours. 
 
 One Dozen and One Facts Concerning Dancing, 
 Card Playing, and Theater Going. 
 
 It is a fact that the three leading worldly amusements are 
 card playing, dancing, and theater going. 
 
 It is a fact that the Bible demands that Christians shall be 
 separated from the world. (See Matt. 6: 24; John x7: 15, 16; 
 
 2 Cor. 6 : 14-18; James 4:4;! John 2: 15-17, etc., etc.) 
 
174 
 
 HIS DELATION TO THE WORLD. 
 
 It is a fact that not a single evangelical denomination ap¬ 
 proves of these amusements; and many of them have formally 
 declared against them. 
 
 It is a fact that unchristian people, when brought under 
 conviction for sin, invariably believe that these amusements 
 should be renounced. 
 
 It is a fact that persons desiring to become Christians never 
 want a dancing, card-playing, theater-going professor’s assist¬ 
 ance in learning how. 
 
 It is a fact that the worldly minded members of any church 
 contribute little or nothing to the spiritual forces and work of 
 their church. 
 
 It is a fact that any church sanctioning these amusements is 
 spiritually inert. 
 
 It is a fact that unchristian people have little or no respect 
 for the religious professions of church members who indulge 
 in these amusements. 
 
 It is a fact that the persons most difficult to win to Jesus 
 Christ are the children of church members who approve of 
 these pastimes. 
 
 It is a fact that indulgence in these amusements has led 
 multitudes to disgrace and ruin. 
 
 It is a fact that no one, in the dying hour, wants one who 
 loves these things to pray with them or speak to them of the 
 life to come. 
 
 It is a fact that church members given to these pastimes 
 have little knowledge of the Bible and are seldom found in 
 their church prayer meetings. 
 
 It is a fact that if you are a Christian, and indulge yourself 
 at all in these worldly pleasures, and, for the honor and glory 
 of our glorious Saviour and Lord, will at once and forever 
 renounce them, you will have His sweet approval, the approval 
 of your own conscience, and such joy as the world cannot 
 give (Matt. 19:29). 
 
 “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, 
 saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will 
 receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be 
 my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 
 6: 17, 18). 
 
 An early friend of Dr. Josiah G. Holland’s father said, when 
 dying, “Over cards I have murdered time and lost my soul.” 
 
WHY SHOULD THE CONVERT WORK ? 175 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Converts Relation to the Work* 
 
 “ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, 
 which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.”—Eph. 2 ; 10. 
 
 Activity is the law of life, of spiritual as of phys¬ 
 ical. Life and inertia are absolutely incompatible. 
 '‘Show me thy faith apart from thy works (a thing 
 impossible) and I by my works will show thee my 
 faith” (which is the only way faith can be manifested). 
 Faith is a vital principle, bringing the one exercising 
 it whole hearted "to the obedience of Christ.” Because 
 of this it is written, "Be ye doers of the word, and not 
 hearers only, deluding your own selves”(James 1: 22). 
 And "the Word was made flesh.” Therefore be ye 
 doers of Christ, or literally, be ye imitators of Christ. 
 Think how the Master gave Himself ceaselessly in 
 manifold ministries of good to all with whom He came 
 in contact, and ever remember that He said, "Not 
 every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter 
 into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the 
 will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). 
 
 Why should one be a doer of Christ? 
 
 First. Because it is according to "the law of the 
 Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” I do not have life be¬ 
 cause I am a doer of Christ but I am a doer of Christ 
 because I have life. I once read of a man who under¬ 
 took to determine what is the power exerted by the 
 heart of a healthy, full-grown man; and he concluded 
 
176 
 
 HIS RE LA TION TO THE WORK. 
 
 that it was equal to lifting one hundred thousand 
 pounds one foot from the earth. The blood in going 
 into the head passes through the carotid artery and in 
 its backward flow through the jugular vein. Now 
 imagine the flow of blood backward is obstructed so 
 that the full force of the heart's energy is brought to 
 bear upon the under side of one’s head; the probability 
 is it would blow it sky high. Just so, when God puts 
 His life and power and love into a human soul, there 
 must be an outflowing, an outgoing, or we will lose 
 our spiritual heads, so to speak. 
 
 Second. In order that we may have spiritual health 
 and growth. Activity is as necessary to spiritual tone 
 and development as to physical. A man may partake 
 of proper food, in sufficient quantities at the right 
 times, but if he fails to take proper exercise he will 
 become plethoric, dyspeptic, and gouty. Just so in the 
 spiritual life. The man who goes much to meetings 
 and spends not a little time in studying his Bible, and 
 yet does not give himself up to service as “God work- 
 eth in him both to will and to work, for his good pleas¬ 
 ure,'’ that man will soon become odd, crankish, and 
 censorious. We should be symmetrically developed 
 and rightly balanced disciples. 
 
 Third. In order that we may enjoy ourselves. The 
 earnest, active Christian, who is about his Master’s 
 business, is without doubt the happy one. With the 
 Psalmist he can say, “I delight to do thy will, O my 
 God !" The world, with its pastimes and pleasures, has 
 no enticement for him. He has found the real source 
 of happiness and the fountain of joy; and the world's 
 
HO W SHOULD THE CONVERT WORK? 1 77 
 
 amusements are not at all to his liking since he knows 
 by sweet experience of that which is incomparably 
 better. 
 
 How should one be a doer of Christ ? 
 
 First. Intelligently, (a) He should study hu¬ 
 man nature, and keep posted as to what is going on in 
 the world. We need to know how and when to ap¬ 
 proach those whom we want to win to the Saviour. 
 We want to be able to take advantage of all conditions 
 and circumstances that can be used to accomplish our 
 ends. (&) He should know how to use his Bible. His 
 motto should be, “Give diligence to present thyself 
 approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to 
 be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth”(2 Tim. 
 2 : 15). There never was a time when the need of hav¬ 
 ing intelligent workers in the Church was so great as 
 now. 
 
 Second. Faithfully. “It is required in stewards 
 that a man be found faithfuland believers are all 
 “stewards of the manifold grace of God/’ The weakest, 
 the humblest, the most uninfluential, as the world es¬ 
 timates such things, can be faithful. And all such 
 meet with the Divine approval, and shall at the last hear 
 from the lips of the Lord, “Well done, good and faith¬ 
 ful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, 
 I will set thee over many things: enter thou into the 
 joy of thy lord” (Matt. 25: 21). 
 
 Third. Conscientiously. While we are to “ren¬ 
 der unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” we are 
 likewise to “render unto God the things that are 
 
 God’s.” The man who will remain away from the 
 12 
 
178 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE WORK. 
 
 Sunday services and the church prayer meeting be¬ 
 cause of the weather, but will not stay away from the 
 office, store, or shop though the weather be much 
 worse, has not a good conscience. The believer is 
 under obligations to show the same sort and degree of 
 conscientiousness in the service of God as of self. 
 “Will a man rob God? yet ye rob me. But ye say, 
 Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offer¬ 
 ings.” A young man once said to me: ‘‘ When God 
 converted me I promised Him definitely two things, 
 viz., that He should have one tenth of my income; and 
 that I would never miss the mid-week prayer meeting 
 of my church, unless providentially hindered from at¬ 
 tending. I would as soon think of using my employer's 
 money as to touch a penny of that one tenth; and I have 
 not missed a single church prayer meeting, although 
 I have been a member for sixteen years." What would 
 be the result if every church member had this degree 
 of conscientiousness? Why, it is easy enough to see 
 that the coffers of the church would never be empty 
 and no interest crippled for lack of funds, and no end 
 of work undertaken that should be done; and the 
 prayer meetings would fill the largest rooms in every 
 church, and the Church universal would throb cease¬ 
 lessly with intensest spiritual life. Has any disciple 
 a right to be less conscientious than the above-men¬ 
 tioned young man? I am sure we rob God if we 
 are. Let us be as honest in our dealing with God as 
 with our fellow-men. Anything less is dishonorable. 
 
 Where should one be a doer of Christ? 
 
 First. In the family, at home. Every man ought to 
 
WHERE SHOULD THE CONVERT WORK? 179 
 
 build over against his own house. If there are any 
 members of the household unsaved, every reasonable 
 effort should be persistently made to win them to 
 Jesus for the life eternal. 
 
 Second. In business. By treating employees in a 
 Christlike manner, and otherwise commending to them 
 the doctrines of God the Saviour. By inviting them to 
 attend church and encouraging them to do so. Also 
 by using any means that may be wisely employed to 
 lead them to the Saviour. 
 
 Third. In the church. The church is, or should be, 
 a workshop—a place where there is something for 
 every member to do—and every member should quickly 
 find out what that something is, and then do it with his 
 might, and keep at it unweariedly. There are some 
 things every member can do. He can attend the reg¬ 
 ular services of the church. He can take his place in 
 the Sunday school, as scholar or teacher. He can be 
 cordial to strangers who come to church and ask them 
 to come again. He can invite his neighbors and ac¬ 
 quaintances to attend his church. He can go after the 
 wandering ones and do the same for them. He can 
 attend the social-religious meetings of the church and 
 give a word of testimony or lead in prayer occasionally 
 —or as often as is wise. He can be on hand to help 
 in special evangelistic meetings and do whatever is 
 possible to make them successful. He can give of his 
 money as the Lord has prospered him. In the mission. 
 In the young people’s society. There is work enough, 
 and one need not look far to find it, if only they have 
 the heart to do it. 
 
i So 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE WORK . 
 
 Fourth. “If you want a field of labor you can find 
 it anywhere.” Like the atmosphere in which we live, 
 the work that we as Christians should do crowds us 
 on every side. Men, women, and children are per¬ 
 ishing in sin all about us, and the needy, suffering, and 
 sorrowing are reaching out their hands to us as they 
 did to the merciful Saviour while He walked among 
 men. 
 
 When shall one be a doer of Christ? 
 
 First. Not in the past, for that has irrecoverably 
 gone. Some years ago I conducted an evangelistic 
 campaign in Rochester, N. Y. We were holding our 
 afternoon meetings in the Brick Presbyterian Church, 
 of which the late Dr. Shaw was then the honored 
 pastor. At the close of the meeting one day I met a 
 woman closely veiled in the vestibule. As I ap¬ 
 proached she threw back her veil and disclosed a very 
 sorrowful face. Addressing me, she asked, “May I 
 speak with you a few moments?” I said, “Certainly!" 
 We stepped aside and she said, “I had a friend. The 
 dearest of my life. She had been an invalid for nearly 
 twenty years. She never was a Christian. Many, 
 many times I have been prompted to speak to her 
 concerning the welfare of her soul, but for some un¬ 
 explainable reason I never did. Last evening I spent 
 an hour with her, and no one was present to disturb 
 our sweet communion. Again and again I was moved, 
 doubtless by the Spirit of God, to speak to her about 
 her soul’s salvation; but I did not. I bade her good 
 night and went to my own rest only to learn upon 
 awaking this morning that my friend was dead. O, 
 
WHEN SHOULD THE CONVERT WORK . 181 
 
 sir, it may be she is lost, forever lost!” The tears 
 came fast as she added, “I would give this whole world, 
 were it mine, if I could call back the opportunity of 
 last night!” But she could not. The good that we 
 might have done yesterday, but did not, must remain 
 for evermore undone, since no one can do our work 
 and the past has irrevocably gone. 
 
 Second. It may not be in the future. God gives 
 us but one moment at a time. Our resolves to do 
 better to-morrow are insincere, or unwise and foolish. 
 God says, “Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou 
 knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Our lives 
 are brief at the longest; but they are quite long enough 
 to accomplish all God would have us do; but there is 
 no time to spare. The past with its many unimproved 
 opportunities has forever fled and the future may not 
 be ours. 
 
 Third. It must be in the living present if at all. 
 Jesus said, “We must work the works of him that sent 
 me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man 
 can work” (John 9: 4). The present duty, the present 
 work, the work that is just at hand; that is what 
 should command our thought, time, and energy. Our 
 constant inquiry should be, “Lord, what wilt thou 
 have me to do?” And His answer evermore comes to 
 us, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
 might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowl¬ 
 edge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest” 
 (Eccles. 9: 10). 
 
182 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE FUTURE, 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Convert's Relation to the Future* 
 
 “ It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”—i Cor. 4 : 2. 
 
 “ Fear not, little flock ; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you 
 the kingdom.”—Luke 12: 32. 
 
 “ Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.”— 
 Rev. 2 : 10. 
 
 God has stamped His creation with an intelligent 
 purpose. As we look about us it does not appear to 
 be so. The world's present turmoil and strife seem 
 to prove it to be otherwise. Nevertheless, it is so; and 
 we are sure that, notwithstanding earth’s conflicts and 
 confusion, God will most surely accomplish His sov¬ 
 ereign and gracious purposes concerning the sons of 
 men. If one goes into a carpet mill and stands on 
 the wrong side of the loom, he will see nothing but 
 confusion of threads, yarns, and colors. If he passes 
 to the other side, he will see harmony of design and 
 colors. Here we stand on the wrong side of God’s 
 loom; “We see in a mirror darkly;” but we see! 
 “having the eyes of our heart enlightened;” and we 
 “know in part,” but we know! “that ye may know what 
 is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory, 
 of his inheritance in the saints.” God is driving the 
 shuttle! By and by we will pass to the other side 
 and then we shall see “face to face and know even 
 as also we have been known.” 
 
 While it is true that “my thoughts are not your 
 thoughts, neither are your wavs my ways, saith the 
 
WHAT THE CONVERT SHOULD KNOW . 183 
 
 Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 
 so are my ways higher than your ways, and my 
 thoughts than your thoughts/’ there are yet some 
 things that God has been pleased to reveal in His Holy 
 Word that we can, and therefore should, know. Let 
 me call attention to some of them. First. God’s “law 
 is holy, and the commandment holy, and right¬ 
 eous, and good” (Rom. 7:12). Second. “Surely 
 there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth 
 good, and sinneth not*’ (Eccles. 7:20). “If we say 
 that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his 
 word is not in us” (1 John 1: 10). Third. The law 
 is inexorable in its demands. “Be not deceived; God is 
 not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall 
 he also reap” (Gal. 6:7). Fourth. Every man is a free 
 moral agent and God recognizes and respects his right 
 of choice. “This is good and acceptable in the sight 
 of God our Saviour; who willeth that all men should 
 be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth” 
 (1 Tim. 2:4). “I call heaven and earth to witness 
 against you this day, that I have set before thee life 
 and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose 
 life, that thou mayest live” (Deut. 30: 19). “He that 
 will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22: 
 17). “And ye will not come to me, that ye may have 
 life” (John 5:40). Fifth. Since God is sovereign, 
 
 and man a free moral agent, “We shall all stand before 
 the judgment seat of God. For it is written, As I live, 
 
 saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow (willingly 
 or unwillingly), and every tongue shall confess to 
 God. So then each one of us shall give account of 
 
184 HIS RELATION TO THE FUTURE. 
 
 himself to God" (Rom. 14:10-12). Sixth. There 
 is a day coming when the wrongs of earth shall be 
 righted: when “every valley shall be exalted, and ev¬ 
 ery mountain and hill shall be made low: and the 
 crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places 
 plain; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and 
 all flesh shall see it together’’ (Isa. 40: 4). God "‘hath 
 appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world 
 (the inhabited earth) in righteousness by the man 
 whom he hath ordained” (Acts 17:31). 
 
 Concerning this last thing, it is well for us to con¬ 
 sider and explain some matters. First. The convert 
 who is faithful unto death shall never come into judg¬ 
 ment for his sins, for the sufficient reason that Jesus 
 “put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9: 
 26) ; being “delivered up for our trespasses” (Rom. 
 4: 25; “suffered (many ancient authorities read died) 
 for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that 
 he might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3: 18) ; “Having 
 made peace through the blood of his cross” (Col. 
 1:20). Therefore, “Christ is the end of the law unto 
 righteousness to every one that believeth” (Rom. 
 10:4); “Being justified freely by his grace through 
 the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set 
 forth to be a propitiation, through faith, by his blood, 
 to show his righteousness, because of the passing over 
 of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; 
 for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this 
 present season: that he might himself be just, and the 
 justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus. Where then 
 is the glorying? It is excluded. By what manner of 
 
THE CONVERT'S JUDGMENT FOR WORKS. 185 
 
 law ? of works ? Nay: but by a law of faith” (Rom. 3 : 
 24-27). “There is therefore now no condemnation 
 to them that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the 
 spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the 
 law of sin and death” (Rom. 8: 1, 2). And Jesus said, 
 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my 
 word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath eternal 
 life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed 
 out of death into life” (John 5:24). It is not think¬ 
 able that after “the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities 
 of us all,” “Who his own self bare our sins in his body 
 upon the tree,” that He would so dishonor this fin¬ 
 ished work of His royal Son as to bring any repent¬ 
 ant, believing soul into judgment for that for which he 
 had already been judged in the person of Jesus. 
 
 Second. There is a future judgment for the con¬ 
 vert for his works, which will take place at the second 
 coming of Christ. In 2 Cor. 5: 10, it is said, “For we 
 must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of 
 Christ; that each one may receive the things done in 
 the body, according to what he hath done, whether it 
 be good or bad.” Believers are the “we” spoken of 
 here. This pronoun occurs twenty-six times in this 
 chapter and in each instance has reference to believers; 
 those who “walk by faith, not by sight;” who “groan, 
 longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which 
 is from heaven.” In 1 Cor. 3: 11-15 the case is thus 
 stated: “For other foundation can no man lav than 
 
 j 
 
 that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if any 
 man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly 
 stones, wood, hay, stubble; each man’s work shall be 
 
186 HIS DELATION TO THE FUTURE. 
 
 made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because 
 it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each 
 man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work shall 
 abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a re¬ 
 ward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall 
 suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as 
 through fire.” Our good works, as Christians, are 
 here likened to gold, silver, and costly stones. They 
 will stand the test, and for them we shall receive a re¬ 
 ward. The works that are not good works, done with¬ 
 out an eye single to God’s glory, not undertaken at 
 His dictation or prosecuted in His fear, are likened to 
 wood, hay, and stubble. These shall be burned and 
 the doer “shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be 
 saved; yet so as through fire.” It is thus seen that it 
 is not a judgment for salvation, but of works; that the 
 subject is saved notwithstanding his bad works, which 
 are all burned, doubtless to his shame and confusion. 
 What a bonfire there will be on that day! How careful 
 we ought to be to make sure that our works will meet 
 the Divine approval, and stand the test of God’s fiery 
 judgment! 
 
 Third. The convert should always live with this 
 judgment in view, and order his life accordingly. The 
 Judge Himself puts the case thus: “Let your loins be 
 girded about, and your lamps burning; and be ye your¬ 
 selves like unto men looking for their lord, when he 
 shall return from the marriage feast; that, when he 
 eometh and knocketh, they may straightway open unto 
 him. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when 
 he eometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, 
 
THE CONVERT TO BE WATCHFUL . 
 
 187 
 
 that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to 
 meat, and shall come and serve them. And if 
 he shall come in the second watch, and if in the 
 third, and find them so, blessed are those servants. 
 But know this, that if the master of the house had 
 known in what hour the thief was coming, he 
 would have watched, and not have left his house 
 to be broken through. Be ye also ready: for in an 
 hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh” 
 (Luke 12: 35-40). 
 
 John Calvin well and truly said, ' Woe to our stupid¬ 
 ity which exercises so much power over us that we 
 never seriously think about the coming of Christ, to 
 which we ought to give our whole attention.” 
 
 John Wesley stated the case in this fashion: “I 
 grant, supposing thy Lord should delay His coming, 
 it were meet and right to wait for His appearing, in 
 doing, so far as thou hast power, whatsoever He hath 
 commanded thee. But there is no necessity for making 
 such a supposition. How knowest thou that He will 
 delay ? Perhaps He will appear as the Dayspring from 
 on high before the morning light. O, do not set Him 
 a time; expect Him every hour! Now He is nigh, 
 even at the door.” 
 
 The convert can contemplate all these things with 
 complacency and anticipate them with joy; for he 
 knows that "the firm foundation of God standeth, 
 having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are 
 his” (2 Tim. 2: 19) ; and can say with the spirit of 
 final and complete victory, "I know whom I have be¬ 
 lieved, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard 
 
188 HIS DELATION TO THE FUTURE, 
 
 that which I have committed unto him against that 
 day” (2 Tim. 1: 12). 
 
 Another thing (the Seventh) the convert can and 
 should know is this: The conflict of the ages, the war 
 between Jesus and Satan, will continue until the end of 
 the age. There will be no compromise. It is a fight 
 to the finish. But our King will triumph gloriously. 
 Never forget it! But it will be war until the end. 
 Dr. Chalmers was once lecturing before his students 
 on eschatology when a message called him suddenly 
 from the room. As he was leaving he said, “Of one 
 thing, young gentlemen, you may be sure; the dispen¬ 
 sation of the Spirit will wind up with a smash!” So 
 the Bible in Dan. 2:34, 35 teaches, “Thou sawest 
 till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote 
 the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, 
 and break them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, 
 the brass, the silver, and the gold broken in pieces to¬ 
 gether, and became like the chaff of the summer 
 threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that 
 no place was found for them: and the stone that smote 
 the image became a great mountain, and it filled the 
 whole earth.” Thus it is seen here and everywhere 
 through the Bible that the kingdom is ushered in by 
 violent judgments, but it will prevail. Jesus said, “I 
 came not to send peace, but a sword.” As long as 
 Satan is loose the conflict will rage. But at the last 
 Jesus will assert His regal rights and then shall be 
 fulfilled this prediction: “And out of his mouth pro- 
 ceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite 
 the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: 
 
HE SHOULD NOT BE DECEIVED . 
 
 189 
 
 and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the 
 wrath of Almighty God” (Rev. 19: 15). 
 
 The convert should not be deceived by the much 
 talk that is being indulged in just now about twentieth 
 century things. They say the world has made such 
 marvelous progress that it has outgrown the Bible and 
 the religion of the fathers, and man does not any more 
 need regeneration; and a so-called twentieth century 
 religion has been invented, that eliminates all that is 
 distasteful to the natural man from the religion of 
 the Bible, making it all sweetness and light; and 
 through sociological clubs and rules heavenly condi¬ 
 tions are to be brought about before the century ends. 
 It all seems very lovely and ministers to the pride of 
 man; but it is of the devil. Twentieth century sin will 
 be just like the sin of the past centuries, excepting 
 that it will be more intense; “But evil men and im¬ 
 postors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and be¬ 
 ing deceived” (2 Tim. 3: 13). The fires of hell will 
 burn just as fiercely in the twentieth century as ever, 
 for Jesus declared those fires are “eternal” and “un¬ 
 quenchable.” Twentieth century sinners, if saved at 
 all, must be saved in the same old way, “Through 
 repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord 
 Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). “And in none other is 
 there salvation: for neither is there any other name 
 under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we 
 must be saved” (Acts 4: 12). Sociological rules, hu¬ 
 manitarian enterprises, and ethical and esthetic cul¬ 
 ture are all well enough in their way; but that they 
 will bring in the millennium is as baseless an expec- 
 
190 
 
 HIS RELA TION TO THE FUTURE . 
 
 tation as man could possibly cherish. In spite of all 
 kind-hearted and well-meaning men can possibly do 
 (and every man is under obligations to God to do his 
 utmost to make the world better), there will be heart¬ 
 ache in the twentieth century, and on until the end of 
 the age; and war, and famine, and pestilence, and 
 earthquake, and sea roaring, and men’s hearts failing 
 them for fear. “But know this, that in the last days 
 grievous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of 
 self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, dis¬ 
 obedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without nat¬ 
 ural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-con¬ 
 trol, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, 
 puffed up, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; 
 holding a form of godliness, but having denied the 
 power thereof” (1 Tim. 3: 1-5). Bishop Wescott has 
 called attention to the fact that eight of the things men¬ 
 tioned in this list of the things that will be character¬ 
 istic of the last days of this age are identical in the 
 Greek with eight things mentioned in the first chapter 
 of Romans as characteristic of the antediluvians. 
 
 The apostle Paul thus states the case: “For I reckon 
 that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy 
 to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed 
 to usward. For the earnest expectation of the creation 
 waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For the 
 creation was subject to vanity, not of its own will, but 
 by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the cre¬ 
 ation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of 
 corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children 
 of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth 
 
WARS AND TUMULTS . 
 
 191 
 
 and travaileth in pain together until now. And not 
 only so, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits 
 of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, 
 waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of 
 our body. For by hope were we saved; but hope 
 that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which 
 he seeth? But if we hope for that which we see not, 
 then do we with patience wait for it” (Rom. 8: 18-25). 
 The curse will not be removed until Jesus shall return 
 and cut the work short in righteousness. Not until 
 then shall men '‘beat their swords into plowshares, 
 and their spears into pruning-hooks;” and "nation shall 
 not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they 
 learn war any more” (Isa. 2:4). 
 
 Representatives of the leading nations recently gath¬ 
 ered at The Hague, and in "The House in the Woods” 
 they resolved that there should be no more war; and 
 immediately the nations they represented increased 
 the fighting strength of their armies and ordered ad¬ 
 ditional war ships and armaments; and before the 
 commissioners had reached their homes the thunder of 
 warring guns was heard in China, South Africa, and 
 the Philippines. Jesus said, "And ye shall hear of 
 wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled; 
 for these things must needs come to pass; but the end 
 is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and 
 kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines 
 and earthquakes in divers places. But all these things 
 are the beginning of travail. . . . But immediately, 
 after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be 
 darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and 
 
192 
 
 HIS DELATION TO THE FUTURE . 
 
 the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the 
 heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign 
 of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the 
 tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son 
 of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and 
 great glory. And he shall send forth his angels with 
 a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather to¬ 
 gether his elect from the four winds, from one end of 
 heaven to the other" (Matt. 24:6-8, 29-31). 
 
 So we learn from the sacred Book that to the very 
 last the curse shall remain upon nature, and that there 
 
 shall be sin, war, pestilence, famine, sorrow, heart- 
 
 • 
 
 ache, and death. But when Jesus comes, the righteous 
 dead shall be raised and the living righteous changed 
 (1 Thess. 4: 16, 17), and then judged for their works 
 (Matt. 25:13-30); Satan be disposed of (Rev. 20: 
 1-3, 10) ; the nations that reject Him judged (Matt. 
 25 : 31-46), and also the wicked dead (Rev. 20: 11-15) ; 
 the cosmic changes will take place (Mark 13: 24, 25) ; 
 and then, and not until then, will it be true, '‘There 
 shall be no curse any more” (Rev. 22:3). Then shall 
 be fulfilled these words spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 
 ‘‘And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the 
 leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and 
 the young lion and the fading together; and a little 
 child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall 
 feed; and their young ones shall lie down together: 
 and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suck¬ 
 ing child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the 
 weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. 
 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy moun- 
 
THE CONVERT NOTHING TO FEAR. 
 
 193 
 
 tain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of 
 the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11: 6-9). 
 
 Meanwhile, no matter what betides, trusting the cov¬ 
 enant, keeping God, the convert can say with the 
 Psalmist of old, “God is our refuge and strength, a 
 very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not 
 fear, though the earth do change, and though the 
 mountains be moved in the heart of the seas; though 
 the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the 
 mountains shake with the swelling thereof” (Psa. 
 46:1-3). 
 
 Here is a little picture of the situation: “And 
 straightway he constrained his disciples to enter into 
 the boat, and to go before him unto the other side to 
 Bethsaida, while he himself sendeth the multitude 
 away. And after he had taken leave of them, he de¬ 
 parted into the mountain to pray. And when even 
 was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and 
 he alone on the land. And seeing them distressed in 
 rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them, about 
 the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, 
 walking on the sea: and he would have passed by 
 them: but they, when they saw him walking on the sea, 
 supposed that it was an apparition, and cried out: for 
 they all saw him, and were troubled. But he straight¬ 
 way spake with them, and saith unto them, Be of good 
 cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And he went up unto 
 them into the boat; and the wind ceased” (Mark 6: 
 
 45 - 50 - 
 
 The disciples toiling in the night and storm upon 
 
 the unfriendly sea very truly represents the Church 
 
 13 
 
194 
 
 HIS DELATION TO THE FUTURE ,, 
 
 in this world and time. The Master had gone away 
 from them, and He is now absent from His waiting 
 Church. But He was not unmindful of them. How 
 could He be? Nor is He now. In the darkest hour, 
 when the storm was fiercest, He appeared to them. 
 And so will it be to His own in this age. They were 
 watching for Him; and so should all His disciples. 
 And when He came to them the wind ceased. And 
 when He again comes there will be an end to toil, and 
 no more storm and night. O, praises to Him for this 
 “blessed hope!” 
 
 It remains for the convert, the while he trusts Jesus, 
 to keep that which he has committed unto Him against 
 that day, with unquestioning faith, to Watch, and 
 Work, and Pray. And he may be “confident of this 
 very thing, that he which began a good work in you 
 will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 
 1:6). Amen! 
 
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UNIVERSITY OP ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
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