fli flit Mtotyknt * 1^* PRINCETON, N. J. ^J Presented by rr£/5\Ae/n\ VzaWoo. BT 77 .P6 Plumer, William S. 1802- 1880. Truths for the people TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE: OR, SEVERAL POINTS IN THEOLOGY PLAINLY STATED, FOR BEGINNERS. > BY WILLIAM S. PLUMER, D. D. AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK IV. COPYRIGHT, AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 1875. I Ml/ ~^L~S ^~h ■*- CHAPTER I. Theology -- page 7 CHAPTER II. Reason and Revelation - r 4 CHAPTER III. Divine Truth Excellent, though often Mysterious 20 CHAPTER IV. Short Explanations of Some Terms 26 CHAPTER V. The Word of God - 3 2 CHAPTER VI. Names and Titles of God - 39 CHAPTER VII. The Attributes of God 45 4 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. Divine Attributes — Continued - 52 CHAPTER IX. Divine Attributes — Continued 59 CHAPTER X. The Trinity - 66 CHAPTER XL Creation — 72 CHAPTER XII. Providence - - - -- 7& CHAPTER XI II. Man a Sinner- - -- 84 CHAPTER XIV. Though man is a Sinner, yet he may be Saved 90 CHAPTER XV Christ the Son of God and the Son of Man -- 96 CHAPTER XVI. Christ the Mediator 103 CHAPTER XVII. Christ a Prophet, Priest, and King 109 CHAPTER XVIII The Glory of Christ in his Offices - 1*5 CONTENTS. 5 CHAPTER XIX. Men must accept Christ and believe the Gospel 121 CHAPTER XX. Repentance - - — ■ 128 CHAPTER XXI. A Change of Heart - 135 CHAPTER XXII Justification 143 CHAPTER XXIII Sanctification -- - 150 CHAPTER XXIV. Prayer - - 157 CHAPTER XXV. God's Law 164 CHAPTER XX VL God's Law— Second Table 172 CHAPTER XXVII A Profession of Religion--- - 179 CHAPTER XXVIII How Saints are kept - - 1S6 CHAPTER XXIX. Death 193 1* 6 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXX. The Resurrection -- -- - 200 CHAPTER XXXI. The Judgment 207 CHAPTER XXXII. Heaven 2I 4 CHAPTER XXXIII. Hell 221 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER I. THEOLOGY. I. The word theology means a discourse con- cerning God. It is not found in the Scriptures. We have there "the word of God," "good doc- trine," "sound doctrine," "form of doctrine," "doc- trine of God," "doctrine of Christ," "form of sound words," "the Scriptures," and such like phrases. Theology is divinity, as a theologian is a divine. Theology treats of the being and perfections of God, of his relations to us, his purposes towards us, his promises made to us, his will concerning us, and the right way of pleasing him. II. We cannot learn theology from other sources than those which God himself opens to our minds. These are the volume of nature and the volume of revelation. The volume of nature is made up of all God's works. What we learn 8 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. from it is called Natural Theology. In studying God's works we make use of our reason and of all true science, searching out all that we may know. Natural Theology is the foundation of all true religion. David says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." Psa. 19: 1-4. Paul says, "That which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." Rom. 1:19, 20. The Psalmist says, " The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein." Psa. 111:2. Many parts of Scripture say a great deal about Gods works of creation and providence. III. The other volume from which we learn theology is the Bible. This is the very word of God. 1 Thess. 2:13. It is the word of the living God, that abideth for ever. 1 Pet. 1:23. In this volume God makes himself known to us in a new THEOLOGY. 9 and special manner for our salvation. It draws out at length many of the lessons of natural the- ology, and tells us very clearly many things which nature taught us but dimly. Its peculiar glory is that it teaches the way of salvation to sinners. What we thus learn is called Revealed Theology. IV. The knowledge of God possessed by an- gels and by the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven, is very different in degree from that possessed by even good and able men on earth. Here all men are liable to err, and all men do err. No man on earth is without some wrong view, or some ignorance, which mars his knowledge. This is no reason for sloth or discouragement ; but it is a good reason why we should be humble and care- ful and teachable, and pray for light and divine guidance. It is far different in heaven. There they do always behold the face of God. Matt. 18: 10. They do not hope for anything, for they already possess all good. Rom. 8 : 24. " Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face : now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known." 1 Cor. 13:12. Knowledge without any mixture of error belongs only to the heavenly state. Yet a great part of the knowledge which the inhabitants of heaven have concerns the very things which good men are learning in this io TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. world. Those above know perfectly what we know in parcels only. V. Natural theology teaches enough to make us guilty for not loving and obeying God. It condemns us, but it cannot save us. It leaves us without excuse, but it also leaves us without hope. Rom. i : 20. It oives us clear information that o there is something wrong in us, but it does not tell us how things may be put right. Natural conscience convinces of sin, and human misery shows that we have displeased God. But nowhere among the works of God do we read of mercy to the lost or pardon to the guilty. " When the Gen- tiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves : which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their con- science also bearing witness, and their thoughts meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." Rom. 2 : 14, 15. God never leaves himself with- out witness, in that he does good, and gives us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Acts 14: 17. Men ought to know, and if their hearts were not blind they would know, that God made the world and all things therein, and that he is Lord of heaven and earth, and that they should seek the Lord, for THEOLOGY. n in him they live and move and have their being. Acts 17 : 24-28. VI. Revealed theology takes for granted and confirms all the truths taught by God's works. The volume of revelation never contradicts the volume of nature. He who speaks to us by his works is as surely the God of truth as he who speaks to us in Holy Scripture. God can neither deny nor contradict himself. Even Balaam's the- ology went so far as to admit that God cannot lie. Numb. 23: 19. The divine sincerity is proclaimed in all worlds and by all God does. If man had never sinned, nature would have taught him enough to make him an acceptable worshipper. But now that he has lost the favor and fellowship of God, and knows not where to turn, there is need of a guide from heaven — a new lesson both as to the matter and manner of serving God. The light of nature does not avail to salvation. The wisest of the heathen have declared their belief in the need of a great teacher with new light from heaven. VII. This want is supplied by Jesus Christ, his prophets, and his apostles. He said, " My doc- trine is not mine, but his that sent me." John 7: 16. The prophets were moved to write by the spirit of Christ. 1 Pet. 1 : 11, 12. Indeed, all the 12 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. holy men who wrote the Scriptures spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Pet. 1:21; 2 Tim. 3: 16. In Scripture are the best lessons of heavenly wisdom. The word of God is very plain. But the human mind is very weak, and sadly darkened. So that "the natural man re- ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor. 2: 14. Yet "the law of the Lord is per- fect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." Psa. 19; 7. The Scripture was given that the man of God (the minister of Christ) might be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work. 2 Tim. 3: 17. If any man would be a good minister of Christ, let him "hold fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doc- trine both to exhort and to convince the gainsay- ers." Tit. 1 : 9. The word of God is wholly un- erring. Its authority is perfect. No flaw has ever yet been discovered in it. It leads the soul back to God, whom we have wickedly forsaken. VIII. The end of all God has done and spo- ken is his own glory. " The Lord hath made all things for himself; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." Prov. 16:4. " Thou art worthy, O THEOLOGY. 13 Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Rev. 4:11. But the peculiar excellence of God's word is that it is suit- ed to lead men to salvation. " These things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." John 20: 31. God's word is savingly applied to his people, that they should show forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvel- lous light. 1 Pet. 2 : 9- i 4 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER II. REASON AND REVELATION. I. If man could not reason he would be no better than a brute. When he will not reason he is no better than a fool. He who gave us souls gave us our reason. We are guilty when we refuse rightly to use all our powers of mind. The stronger our faculties are the better, if direct- ed to a right end. The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master's crib; let us know the God that keeps and feeds us always. Brutes have in- stincts ; men have reason. Let them think often, earnestly, wisely. II. We may have a deep sense of our wants; but we are not fit to tell God in what he should instruct us. Nor can we judge of truths of which we are wholly ignorant. But by using our reason aright we may learn whether God has indeed spo- ken to us in the Bible. In the same way we may, by his blessing, learn what his word means. Yet men are not saved by their wit nor by their logic. Some seem inclined to put reason in the place of the Almighty, and worship it. They speak great swelling words of vanity. They say that they REASON AND RE VELA Tl ON. 1 5 have too good an opinion of God to believe that he will do such and such things; when he has often said he will do them, and when he is doing them every day. The human mind is very weak. It is liable to many prejudices. He who would find truth must love truth. Candor is always called for. He who would find truth must search for it as for hid treasure. III. Reason cannot believe an absurdity. No contradiction is a truth. Men sometimes say that they believe things absurd, but they are mistaken. No lie is of the truth. It has not its nature nor its marks. If we knew all about it, we should see how absurd it is. A thing may be very strange, and yet it may be true. "Wonder is broken knowledge." God never wonders, because his knowledge is infinitely perfect. IV. For a long time men sought to know God by reason alone, but they utterly failed. For ages the world by wisdom attempted to know God, but it- knew him not. 1 Cor. 1:21. The more com- pletely men were left without divine teaching, the orosser was their ignorance. A revelation there- fore was clearly necessary. In lands where the word of God was not, the more the arts and sci- ences have been cultivated, the more have false gods been multiplied. The Chinese know many 1 6 TRUTHS TOR THE TEOPLE. useful and ornamental arts, and have much litera- ture, yet they have gods by the million. The more ancient Rome extended her conquests, the more gods did she worship in the Pantheon. The Athenians worshipped all the gods they knew, and then to be sure they omitted none, they erect- ed an altar to the unknown god. Acts 17:23. Left to itself, reason will but grope its way to the judgment through the thickest darkness. " What- ever the lisfht of nature could do for man before o reason was depraved, it is evident it has done little for man since." V. Why should it be thought incredible that He who made man should speak to him? The heathen tell us that their gods wrap themselves up in the mantle of their dignity, and retire from human affairs. But while the true God is in the heavens, he is also upon earth. To the teachable the volume of nature is constantly telling its se- crets. Why may not He that knows all things, tell us something about himself, and the right way of pleasing him? He knows all things; why should not he tell us those things which greatly concern both his honor and our welfare ? " He that planted the ear, shall he not hear ? He that formed the eye, shall lie not see ? He that teach- eth man knowledge, shall not he know?" Psalm REASON AND RE VELA TION 1 7 94:9, 10. It is perverseness to deny that God can make known his mind if he chooses to do it. He who knows all things can teach us whatever it is important for us to know. VI. A revelation, not accompanied with suffi- cient evidences of its being from God, would avail us nothing. If it were unfriendly to truth, justice, honor, kindness, or piety, we might know that it did not come from God. If it contained false- hoods or contradictions ; if it rested on the mere assertion of some man who said God had spoken to him; if it were accompanied with no power over the human heart and conscience ; if its doc- trines were unworthy of even a good man; if it were accompanied with no signs, or wonders, such as God only can give ; if its aim was not holiness ; if those who walked most according to its spirit and precepts were vile and bad men ; in short, if it promoted ungodliness and malignity, we could not regard it as a communication from a good God. So, if the men who testified of the life, character, doctrines, and miracles of Jesus Christ, had been greedy of filthy lucre, anxious for human applause, or earnest in seeking for sensual gratifi- cations, and by their stories had succeeded in these base plans, we could not have credited what they told us. But none of them ever accumulated 2* 1 8 TRUTHS FOR THE TEOPLE. wealth. Instead of pleasure, they had torture. Instead of honor or applause, they were esteemed the offscouring of all things. They were account- ed as sheep for the slaughter all the day long- They were always delivered unto death. Yet they never swerved from their testimony, but they con- stantly affirmed the truth of all they had spoken. Every kind of appropriate evidence accompanies the revelation which God has given us. VII. When we open the Bible we find its statements calm, sober, reasonable; its doctrines searching and humbling to the pride of man ; its precepts pure, just, and comprehensive ; its prom- ises plain and well suited to cheer the heart of good men ; its threatening^ awful, and suited to deter the vicious from their courses; in short, it says nothing hurtful to man or unworthy of God ; but it greatly encourages good men in their right ways, and God is by it more honored than by all other books ever written. The only people who cheerfully submit all to God, are those who firmly believe the Bible. VIII. This book has authority over the human mind and conscience. Such is its power, that when two noted and ingenious infidels of former days undertook to read it through in order to find faults in it, they were both converted, and both REASON AND RE VELA TION 1 9 wrote in its favor. Its words are life and spirit. In a day of God's power they entirely transformed three thousand of Christ's murderers into his adoring worshippers. It still converts, purines, and comforts the hearts of all who truly receive it. IX. This word of God is intended for all. Even infidels, who know it and reject it, shall be judged by it. So said Christ, who will judge the world: " He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him ; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." John 12:48. By searching the Scriptures David was made wiser than his ene- mies. He had more understanding than all his teachers. He understood more than the ancients. Psa. 119:98-100. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear all that God says. He that hath eyes to read, let him read all God's word. To a great mass of people, some of them enemies and opposers, Jesus said, " Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me." John 5 : 39. It is a sad error in any church to discourage the read- ing and study of God's word by the people. Such take away the key of knowledge. Luke 11:52. God's word is a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path. Psa. 119: 105. 2o TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER III. DIVINE TRUTH EXCELLENT, THOUGH OFTEN MYSTERIOUS, I. Truth is in its very nature excellent. Reli- gious truth has the highest excellence. As mind is above matter, as eternity is more lasting than time, as heaven is better than earth, as God is greater than his works; so religious truth excels all other truth. The fear and knowledge of God are the beginning of wisdom. He, who has them, has light and understanding. " Divinity is the haven and Sabbath of all man's contemplations." The subjects, of which it treats, surpass all others in worth and practical usefulness. It opens to us the glorious fountain of all being, and of all bless- edness. It tells us whence all creatures come. It gives the true theory of human nature. It teaches man correct views of himself, and of the moral government under which he lives. It settles the doctrine of an endless life beyond the bounds of time. Its truths make word > Psa. 1 38 : 2 ; worship, 1 Kings, 5:5; Psa. 76:1; and sometimes for God himself, Prov. 18:10. The true design of a name is to make known to us better than we before knew the nature of him who is spoken of. II. A title has much the same design as a name, and it is sometimes used interchangeably 4 o TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. with it. But, strictly speaking, the title arises from the office, rank, or dignity of one to whom it is given. III. The names of God are many, as Lord, God, the Almighty, the Most High. Very often an epithet is attached to the name of God, as the great God, God only wise. In like manner the titles of God are many, as Father, Master, Shep- herd, King, Governor, High Tower, Man of War, Refuge, Portion, Reward, etc. Here also epithets are sometimes attached, as " The King, eternal, immortal, invisible," " Good Shepherd," etc. IV. In the Old Testament the most common name for the Supreme Being in the Hebrew is Jehovah ; in the English commonly rendered Lord, and printed in small capitals. The Jews think the true pronunciation of this word is lost, and so when they come to it they either make a solemn pause or in its place use the Hebrew word for God. But this is superstition. Numb. 6:24-27. The word Jehovah teaches Gods self-existence, independence, eternity, and unchangeableness. He has life in himself. He depends on no one for anything. He inhabits eternity. He is the same for ever and ever. One could almost wish that wherever this word occurs it were given us en- tire — Jehovah. Many works have been written on this word. They do not edify the common NAMES AND TITLES OE GOD. 41 people. The word Jah, Psa. 68 : 4, is a poetic abbreviation of the word Jehovah. Another name of the same import is found in Exod. 3:14, and is rendered I am that I am. The name Jehovah is incommunicable. It is never fitly given to any creature. Isa. 42 : 8 ; Hos. 12:5. V. In the Old Testament the next most com- mon name for the Almighty is rendered God. It is found in the first verse of Genesis. Some think it chiefly refers to God as Creator. It is com- monly found in the plural number. This name expresses the excellence of God's nature and authority. It is not incommunicable, for in Psa. 82 : 6 it is applied to magistrates, and in Psa. 97: 7 to angels. Compare Heb. 1 : 6. VI. There is another word applied to God, sometimes rendered Lord, as in Psa. no: 1; but then it is not printed in capitals. It means Mas- ter or Owner. There are several other names given to God in the Old Testament, but it is per- haps not necessary now to explain them. VII. In the New Testament we have the word Lord as one of the names of God. It is there often used as the translation of the w r ord Jehovah. Rom. 10:13. The Greek word from which it comes expresses dominion, right of possession, right of property, authority, excellence. 4* 42 TRUTHS I OR THE PEOPLE. VIII. The word rendered God in the New Testament probably comes from a word which means to build: "He that built all things is God." Some, however, give to the word a much more extended signification. IX. No language has a better word for the name of the Supreme Being than the English. God is an abbreviation of the word good, which was formerly written with but three letters. This name is beautifully expressive of correct ideas of Jeho- vah. Jesus said, " There is none good but one, that is God." The meaning is, there is none inde- pendently, originally, and infinitely good but one. God is good so as no one else is. This name expresses with great force the harmony and love- liness of the divine character : " God is love." X. Sometimes two or more names of Jehovah are joined together, as the Lord God, Lord God Almighty. And that we may know historically what sort of a being God is, he is spoken of as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, the Lord God of Elijah. So also God is called the Father of spir- its, the Father of mercies, the God of peace, the God of all comfort, the God of love, etc. XI. While we ought carefully to avoid all superstition respecting the names and titles of NAMES AND TITLES OF GOD. 43 God, and ought to employ them whenever truth and edification require, we ought on the other hand carefully to guard against all profane and irreverent use of divine names and titles. As to any man that which he most highly esteems is for a god, so his idols and his appetites are called gods. 1 Cor. 8:5; Phil. 3: 19. Even the devil is called the 2fod of this world. 2 Cor. 4 : 4. XII. It ought not to hinder us from studying the character of God to find that we cannot per- fectly comprehend his nature or his ways. That fact ought to make us modest, humble, and rever- ential. God does indeed dwell in light inaccessi- ble. No man has seen him, or can see him and live. And yet he has graciously revealed himself to us in many ways. To the question, " What is God ?" the best answer I have ever seen is, " God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." We know God by his names, titles, word, and works of creation and providence. We best know him as he is revealed to us by his Son. Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22; John 14:9. XIII. When we say that God is a spirit, we speak justly. Our Saviour did the same. John 4 : 24. We thereby intend to remove from our conceptions of him all idea of his having a body. 4 4 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. He cannot have a material nature, else he would be visible somewhere. But the Scripture says he is invisible, i Tim. 1:17. If he had a material nature, and we knew what it was, we might law- fully make some likeness or image of him at least in our minds. But he expressly assigns as a rea- son why we shall not make any likeness of him, that we never saw any similitude of him. Deut. 4- 12, 15, 16. XIV. When we say that God is a Spirit, we assert that he is a substance, not material indeed, but still possessing properties and attributes ; not imaginary, but real; not dead, but living; having beyond all other spirits understanding, will, and power. If there is anything real and living, God is. He is often and fitly styled the living God. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 45 CHAPTER VII. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. I. All God's attributes are perfections; and all God's perfections are immutable, without bound, eternal, consistent with each other, and essential to his glorious character. Without any one of them he would not be God, nor could we adore him. II. Many attempts have been made to classify the attributes of God; nor would it be safe to assert that these have been of no service. Some have spoken of them as positive and negative; others as absolute and relative ; others as natural and moral ; and still others as communicable and incommunicable. Perhaps the latter of these has been as helpful as any other ; but none of them completely covers the whole case. When we look at a rainbow we see a variety of colors, yet blend- ed into one bow. So is the character of God one perfect whole, though he has 'various attributes. We cannot exactly define the limits of one color in the rainbow, and tell where it blends with an- other. In like manner there is a blending of one divine perfection with another, yet the whole is 4 6 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. one infinitely beautiful and perfect character. There is nothing in excess ; there is nothing want- ing. We do not separate the rays of the bow, though we distinguish between them. Neither do we separate, but merely distinguish between the attributes of God. In the Bible the place given to the divine attributes is very large. The subject is vastly important. It ought to fill a large space in all our religious teachings and thoughts. Yet we cannot go beyond what we are taught from above. We know not God except as he reveals himself in his word and in his works. III. In forming our ideas of God's character we ascribe to him all that we esteem perfection, and refuse to ascribe to him anything that we esteem an imperfection. So that if we should learn of any excellence of which we are now igno- rant, we should at once,, if piously disposed, say that God had it. It is hardly possible for any one to value too highly the knowledge of God's perfec- tions. The best way of studying the subject is by comparing Scripture with Scripture. Beware of one error sometimes committed in studying God's character: never imagine that one of his perfections is in conflict with another. His justice perfectly agrees with his mercy. IV. In teaching us the nature of God the THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 47 Scriptures often use two figures of speech. One is where they employ the parts of the human body to represent to us the acts or attributes of God. As men see with their eyes, so to teach us God's omniscience the Scriptures speak of the eyes of the Lord. And as men hear with their ears, so God's gracious attention to our prayers is spoken of as his ears being open. Sometimes we have both these figures in the same verse : " The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry." Psa. 34 : 1 5 ; 1 Pet. 3:12; 2 Chron. 6 : 40. Oftener perhaps they are spoken of separately : " The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." Prpv. 15:3. Compare Amos 9:8. " Lord, hear my voice : let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication." Psa. 130:2. Compare Psa. 10: 17. In like manner we often read of the face of God, the hand of God, and the arm of the Lord. Isa. 51:9; Psa. 34 : 1 6 ; 1 Pet. 3:12; Deut. 5:15; Acts 3: 17. In like manner the earth is called God's footstool, as if he trod upon it ; and the sea is the path for his footsteps. Isa. 66 : 1 ; Acts 7:49; Psa. yy: 19. The other figure of speech is where the feelings of the human heart are used to teach us the mind or nature of God. Thus the Most High is said to be pleased or displeased. 4 8 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. i Kings 3:10; Isa. 53:10; Gen. 38:10; Psa. 60: 1. So God is said to be wearied with the tire- some iniquity of men, Isa. 43 : 24; Mai. 2:17; and to be angered with men's sins, Psa. 106: 32. But none of these things need perplex any one. We have such forms of speech employed in pity to our weakness. They are intended to give us some idea of the nature of God, who has neither pas- sions nor bodily parts, and yet surely acts in a way pointed out by these figures. V. These attributes certainly belong to God: self-existence, independence, eternity, immutabil- ity, infinity, spirituality, simplicity, majesty, omnip- otence, omnipresence, omniscience, wisdom, truth, faithfulness, benevolence, holiness, justice, glory, happiness or blessedness, greatness, incomparable- ness, unsearchableness, and unit) 7 . In studying the divine character, it is very safe to follow the Scriptures and admit such distinctions as are made in his holy word. VI. The self-existence of God is his having life in himself. John 5 : 26. God owes not his existence to any other. He would exist if there were no other being in the universe. We live and move and have our being in God ; but he lives and acts and has his being in himself. He is never strengthened or weakened in his existence THE ATTRIBUTES OE GOD. 49 by others. There is no greater mystery than God's self-existence. He is deathless, immortal. 1 Tim. 1:17. VII. Of course he is independent. Were he not self-existent he would be dependent. He who holds his life by the will or power of another is in the highest degree dependent. But he who has his life without and beyond the will of others must be God, and must be independent in all his perfec- tions. He is far above his highest creatures. Of course creatures can lay God under no obligations. And it is both folly and wickedness to claim for ourselves or to ascribe to any creature indepen- dence of God. God often asserts his own inde- pendence, and devout men love to know that he is wholly beyond want or the help of man. Job 15:15; Psa. 50:9-12; Isa. 40:13, 14; Rom. VIII. God is also eternal. A deaf mute beau- tifully said, " Eternity is the lifetime of God." And a great prophet more beautifully says of him, "He inhabiteth eternity." Isa. 57:15. In his sublime psalm Moses says, " Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou haclst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God." Psa. 90: 2. So in like manner the Morasthite says, " His goings forth Truths for tha People £) 50 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. have been from of old, from everlasting." Micah 5 : 2. God's existence is not measured by minutes, hours, days, years, or centuries. With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. God's eternity is matter of worship, not of curiosity. " An eternity past puz- zles all human comprehension." No less incom- prehensible is an eternity to come. IX. God is immutable in his nature, attributes, and purposes. Infinitude does not create a greater gulf between man and his Maker than does immu- tability. With the Most High is " no variableness neither shadow of turning." Jas. i : 17. All things else change, because they are finite or created. Not so with God. Psa. 102 : 26; Heb. 1:12. It is a great mercy to good men that they can change for the better; but it is a joy to them that the Most High changes not. 2 Cor. 3:18. The wicked often pervert this doctrine to the worst purposes, even to the restraining of prayer, but that is their folly and their sin. Every change in character is for the better or the worse. If God could change for the better, that would show that his character is not now perfect. If he could change for the worse, we could not adore an im- perfect being. "I am the Lord; I change not.' Mai. 3 : 6. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. s , X. God is also infinite. Both Gods unchange- ableness and infinitude relate to all his perfections and to his very being. In every sense God is unlimited. No wise being could limit himself, and none could limit the Almighty but himself, 'it is as clear as day that he who made all things must be boundless. The Scriptures expressly declare that in several of his perfections he is infinite. Psa. 16:2; 147:5; Isa. 6:2-6; Job 4:17, 18; Rom. 1: 20; Heb. 11:3. 52 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER VIII, DIVINE A TTRIBUTES —CONTINUED. I. God is a Spirit. We read of the Spirit of God in the second verse of Scripture, and often afterwards; but this refers to the third person of the Trinity. God's spirituality is implied in all the Old Testament Scriptures. But our Lord says expressly, " God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John 4 : 24. While God's will is the rule of worship, his nature is the foundation of worship. When we say God is a Spirit, we reject all gross conceptions of him as possessed of bodily parts, or personally connected with matter. It is be- cause God is a Spirit that he is unchangeable, for matter is always changing. For the same reason he is the " uncorruptible God," as Paul calls him, Rom. 1:23. For the same cause he is "invisible." Rom. 1 : 20; 1 Tim. 1: 17; Heb. 11 : 27. Fie is alike imperceptible to all our senses. " No man hath seen God at any time." 1 John 4:12. The perfection of the character of God is essentially connected with his spirituality. God is not only a Spirit, but he is uncreated spirit. This is the THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. S3 great difference between God on the one side and angels and men on the other; so that the differ- ence between him and them must for ever be immeasurable. He is the Father of our spirits. Heb. 12:9. We are his offspring. Acts 17 : 28. But God is a Spirit existing for ever, uncaused, uncreated. No wonder God forbids men to wor- ship him by images. Exod. 20:4, 5. Augustine says, " Let not the worship of men's works be a religion unto us. For the workmen themselves that make such things are better; whom yet we ought not to worship." II. Because of the divine spirituality we must believe in the divine simplicity. God is an un- compounded essence. His attributes are all essen- tial. They all inhere in his infinite excellence. His nature is not complex, though his attributes are distinct. Not only is there no deceit, no sub- tilty in the divine mind, but everything is un- mixed, uncompounded in his being and nature. III. With God also is terrible majesty, une- qualled grandeur. An ancient king of Egypt rode in a chariot drawn by four conquered kings. But Jehovah " rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old." Psa. 68 : ^ " Behold, the Lord rideth on a swift cloud." Isa, 19: 1. There are two passages of Scripture which evidently 5* 54 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. describe the same august scene. The first is 2 Sam. 22 : 8-18; the other is Psa. 18:7-17. No good man can read either of these passages with- out being impressed with the awful majesty of God. There is another extended portion of Scrip- ture on the same subject which has been thought by some to be the sublimest part of the oracles of God. It is found in Hab. 3:3-16. Read it. " Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty." 1 Chron. 29: ji. "The voice of the Lord is full of majesty." Psa. 29:4. IV. God is omnipotent. The power of God is sufficient to effect whatever he is determined to do. This is called his ordinate power. It also could do whatever involves not a contradiction. This is called his absolute power. His ordinate power produced and sustains heaven and earth. By it he has wrought all his pleasure in all places of his dominion. By his absolute power he could have made more worlds and more orders of beings than he has made, if he had seen fit to do so. None can think of greater power than that by which something is made out of nothing. Yet out of nothing God has made all things. Nor do • any of his works cost him labor. He said, " Let there be light; and there was light." Gen. 1:3. THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 55 " He spake, and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast." Psa. 33:9. He upholdeth all things by the word of his power. Heb. 1 : 3. "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth on nothing." Job 26 : 7. " He bindeth up the water in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not rent under them." Job 26 : 8. " The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof." Job 26: n. "He taketh up the isles as a very little thing." Isa. 40 : 1 5. " He weigh- eth the mountains in scales and the hills in a bal- ance." Isa. 40: 12. Lo, these are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him ! The thunder of his power who can understand? The stability of the universe depends upon the power of God. If any say that God cannot make a thing to be and not to be, at the same time and in the same sense, and thence argue that his power is limited, .the answer is, that we ascribe to God nothing but perfection. Absurdities are far from him. It was a great revelation which God made to the patriarch, " I am the Almighty God." Gen. 17:1. V. God is everywhere present. He fills im- mensity. He isa spirit, and cannot be divided; yet he is always present in every place with the whole of his being and nature. No limits can 56 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. bound him. A good part of the one hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm is taken up in celebrating God's omnipresence. See especially verses 5-10. Nowhere does the Psalmist use more beautiful imagery than here. The sun is distant from the earth ninety-two millions of miles, and yet ninety- two millions of times ninety-two millions of miles beyond the sun in every direction God is as much present as in our earth. VI. God is also omniscient. His knowledge is infinite in kind and extent. It is wholly unde- rived. Job 21:22. There is no succession in God's knowledge. It is eternal. He knows all things past, present, and future ; all things that ever have been, are, or ever shall be. All actual existences are before his mind. " Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." Acts 15:18. " His understanding is infi- nite." Psa. 147:5. "Neither is there any crea- ture that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Heb. 4: 13. "Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no cover- ing." Job 26:6. To him the gates of death have been opened, and he hath seen the doors of the shadow of death. Job 38: 17. In heaven, earth, and hell, nothing is hid from his all-seeing THE ATTRIBUTES OE GOD. s7 eye. God knows the hearts of all his creatures. Psa. 17:3; 139: 1-5. How this omniscience trou- bles the wicked many have felt and declared. The darkness hideth not from God, but the night shi- neth as the clay; the darkness and the light are both alike to him. Psa. 139 : 12. God also knows all things which ever could have been, could now be, or could hereafter be on any conceivable supposition. His intelligence embraces all plans, all truths, all systems. " Such knowledge is too wonderful for me ; it is high, I cannot attain unto it." Psa. 139:6. Ignorance is a great imperfection. God can neither learn nor forget anything. VII. Of course God is infinitely wise. He orders all things to a right end, even his own glory. In every part of creation his wisdom shines forth. " By wisdom he made the heavens." Psa. 136: 5. "O Lord, how manifold are thy works; in wisdom hast thou made them all." Psa. 104: 24. Creation has sometimes been criticised. The result has been the folly of fools. Every muscle, fibre, joint, gland, vein, and artery of an animal frame is well fitted to the use for which it was intended. The blindness of men concernine the displays of God's wisdom is one of the firmest proofs of a sottish depravity. "The wisdom of 58 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. this world is foolishness with God; for it is writ- ten, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." i Cor. 3: 19, 20. Never did folly show itself more clearly than when Pharaoh said to his great men, " Come, let us deal wisely." The masterpiece of divine wis- dom is the plan of redemption, where "mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other." It is wiser for us to cry, " Oh, the depth," etc., Rom. 11:33, tnan to sa Y> " We are the men ; wisdom will die with us." THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 59 CHAPTER IX. DIVINE ATTRIBUTES— CONTINUED. I. Jehovah is a God of truth. As he cannot die, so he cannot lie. He is infinitely removed from everything like insincerity or deception. God tempts no man, mocks no man, deceives no man. All his calls and offers and statements are sincere. "It is impossible for God to lie." Heb. 6:18. The truth of God is the basis of all our reasonings n natural religion. Admit that God will favor a lie, and miracles prove nothing in favor of any teaching. All that he has said is true. God's truth relates to all that he has spoken. II. The divine faithfulness, strictly speaking, relates to the divine promises, though in Scripture faithfulness and truth are sometimes used inter- changeably. Whatever God has engaged to do, he will certainly perform. " The Lord is not slack concerning his promise." 2 Pet. 3:9. " Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth." Isa. 25: 1. His faithfulness reaches unto the clouds, yea, unto all generations. Psa. 36:5; 119:90. The hopes of the pious neither have nor need any firmer rock on which to rest than that found in 60 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. the absolute certainty that God will make good all his engagements. III. Jehovah is a God of infinite benevolence. His good-will has no parallel. The terms used to express this divine perfection are such as love, pity, goodness, kindness, mercy, patience, forbear- ance, and long-suffering. That was a great reve- lation of himself which God made to Moses : " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long- suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." Exod. 34 : 6. Because God is pure he has delight in all his holy crea- tures ; but because he is kind he pities the dis- tressed, is patient towards the rebellious, offers grace and life to the guilty, and is good to all. In any other being benevolence would be exhausted by the perversity and ingratitude of men. " It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed." Lam. 3:22. All creation is but the overflowing of his love. Jehovah is infinitely removed from all malice, ill-will, or evil intention. In creation, providence, and grace, are many and amazing wonders of love. The whole story of the divine kindness will never be told, though saints and angels will be telling it for ever. THE ATTRIBUTES OE GOD. 61 IV. God is holy. In his nature is infinite rec- titude. It is for ever impossible that he should ever think or do any wrong, or approve of wrong thoughts or acts in others. He is glorious in holi- ness. He is so pure that the heavens are not clean in his sight. Job 15; 15. Every creature is such that but for God's care and support he might commit moral wrong. To say the same of God would be blasphemy. Men's views concern- ing God's holiness generally decide their whole system of religious doctrine. He who thinks lightly of the purity of his Maker thinks lightly of sin, and so has wrong views of all evangelical doc- trine. Jehovah himself calls sin a horrible thing and an abominable thing. Jer. 5 : 30 ; 44 : 4; Hos. 6 : to. All good men admire God's holiness. The worship of heaven is not a little directed to this divine attribute. Isa. 6: 1-5. God's purity is the rule and the motive of our purity. Lev. 1 1 : 44 ; 19: 2; 20: 7; Amos 3:351 Pet. 1:15. V. From the holiness of God necessarily flows his justice. Because God is just, he gives to all according to their deeds, whether they be good or evil. To do otherwise would be contrary to spot- less purity. "That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked; and that the righteous should be as the wicked, G 62 TRUTHS TOR THE TEOPLE. that be far from thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Gen. 18: 25. Because God is just he cannot clear the guilty. His justice is inflexible. It surrenders nothing, compromises nothing, connives at nothing. It never fails. Nothing could prevail with God to infringe upon the demands of justice. This is clearly proven by the death of Christ. The blessed Saviour was always and perfectly holy; yet when by his own choice he stood in the place of sinners, and bore the curse of the law in their stead, justice turned not aside its flaming sword. The awful language of the Bible is : " God spared not his own Son." It is for a joy to all good men that righteousness and judgment are the habitation of God's throne. Psa. 97:2. Justice is an amiable perfection in God. The wrath, anger, indignation, vengeance, fury, and hot displeasure of God are nothing but his justice manifested against sin. VI. God is also glorious. Sometimes glory is taken in the sense of splendor or lustre. In this sense it differs little from majesty. At least it implies great grandeur. How glorious in this sense God is was wonderfully shown at Mount Sinai. So terrible was the sight that even Moses exceedingly feared and quaked. Heb. 12:21. The pillar of cloud and of fire was a display of this THE ATTRIBUTES OE GOD. 63 brightness. The Lord is the "God of glory." The face of Moses in the mount with God con- tracted such brightness from the beams of the divine splendor around him, that when he came down the light of his face was painful to others to look upon. The glory of the Redeemer covered the eyes of Saul of Tarsus as with scales for days. There is a remarkable passage of Scripture found in Exod. 33:18-23. Let the reader turn to it. Sometimes the word glory means honor or renown. In this sense also God is glorious. Exod. 15:6; Psa. 66: 2; 145 : 5. VII. God is also infinitely happy. His bless- edness is without bound and underived. He has all and infinite resources in himself. No man can be profitable to him. Job 22:2, 3. He is the blessed or happy God. 1 Tim. 1 : 11. God can- not be unhappy. The divine blessedness flows from God's infinite perfections. VIII. God is great. He is great in his being and in all his perfections. " O Lord my God, thou art very great!" Psa. 104:1. "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised ; and his great- ness is unsearchable." Psa. 145 : 3. " Praise him according to his excellent greatness." Psa. 150 : 2. There is no absolutely little sin, because He against whom we sin is infinitely great. 6 4 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. IX. God is incomparable. In his being, per- fections, works, and ways there is none like God. See Exod. 8 : i o ; 15:11; Psa. 86:8; 89:6; Isa. 40 : 1 8 ; 46 : 9. To worship God by images or pictures is very offensive to him ; first, because he forbids it; second, because it degrades him. See Acts 17 : 29. X. God is unsearchable. He dwells in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see. 1 Tim. 6:16. " His pavilion round about him are dark waters and thick clouds of the skies." Psa. 18: 11. "Canst thou by searching find out G„od ? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven, what canst thou do ? deeper than hell, what canst thou know? The measure thereof is loneer than the earth and broader than the sea." Job 11: 7-9. Even in heaven they sing, " Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almigh- ty." Rev. 15:3. The unsearchableness of God is not cause of grief, but is matter of joy to all right-minded beings. XI. God is one. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord." Deut. 6:4. " There is but one God ;" " There is none other God but one ;" " God is one ;" " There is one God." 1 Cor. 8:5, 6; Gal. 3 : 20 ; 1 Tim. 2: 5. There are not THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 65 three Gods, nor two Gods, but one God. God is one in the highest possible sense. All the gods of the heathen are vanities. We cannot define the unity of God, because unity is a simple idea. When we say that God is one, we assert that he is not two or more ; but we do not mean to say that he does not exist in three persons, for that would con- tradict the Scriptures. 66 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER X. THE TRINITY. I. The word trinity is not found in the Bible, but the doctrine of the trinity is there. The word trinity means the unity of three ; that is, the unity of the three divine persons. II. The word person, when used on this sub- ject, does not mean a separate individual, but a distinct subsistence. It denotes a distinction in the divine Being, real, but inexplicable. The doc- trine of the trinity has had many enemies. The Arians contended that the Son of God was totally and essentially distinct from the Father; and so in nature and dignity inferior to the Father. They also taught that the Holy Ghost was not God, but was created by the power of Jesus Christ. The Sabellians denied that there was more than one per- son in the Godhead, and said that the Son and the Spirit were mere virtues or functions of divinity. The Socinians taught that Christ was a mere man, and that the Holy Ghost was not a distinct sub- sistence. The Unitarians confine the glory and attributes of divinity to the Father. They do not THE TRINITY. 67 allow Christ or the Holy Spirit to be truly divine. Still, the doctrine of the trinity has been held and is now held by the great body of Christians. III. The persons of the Trinity are clearly distinguished in the Scriptures as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Matt. 28: 19; elsewhere as the Lord Jesus Christ, God, and the Holy Ghost, 2 Cor. 13: 14. The first person of the Godhead is spoken of as one God, the Father, of whom are all things. The second is spoken of as one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. 1 Cor. 8 : 6. The third is spoken of as the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, the Comforter sent to con- vince men of sin, of righteousness, and of judg- ment. IV. The Father is- neither begotten, nor does he proceed from the Son or the Spirit. The Son is begotten of the Father, the only-begotten of the Father. John 1 :i4; 3: 16. The Spirit is not begotten, but proceeds from the Father, is the Spirit of the Father, and is the Spirit of the Son, and is of the Son, and is sent by the Son. John 15:26; Rom. 8:9, 14; 1 Pet. 1 : 1 1. But the words Father and Son, beget and begotten, are not to be overstrained. They are merely the fit- test words to convey to our dull minds some just 68 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. idea of the relation existing between the first and second persons of the Godhead. V. No one denies the divinity of the Father. No one ought to deny the true and supreme divin- ity of the Son. Of him the Scripture says, "This is the true God and eternal life." i John 5: 20. He " is over all, God blessed for ever." Rom. 9:5. " As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." John 5 ; 26. Thomas worshipped him, calling him "my Lord and my God." John 20:28. The world was made by the Son. Col. 1:16. It shall be destroyed by the Son. Heb 1:12. All men shall be judged by the Son. John 5 : 22, 27. Stephen, dying, prayed to him. Acts 7:59. The very highest worship of heaven is offered to him. Rev. 5 ; 12, 13. So also the Spirit of God is truly God. In Acts 5 : 3, 4, the Holy Ghost is express- ly called God. The Spirit perfectly knows God, and so is God. 1 Cor. 2: 10, 11. He is joined with the Father and the Son in the form of bap- tism, and in the apostolic benediction. Matt. 28 : 19; 2 Cor. 13 : 14. VI. This doctrine is never to be so taught as to lead men to suppose that there are three Gods. We do not deny the unity of God. We glory in it. Nor do we hold that God is three in the same THE TRINITY. 69 sense in which he is one, for that would be a con- tradiction. But he is one in being, in nature, in essence ; and three in personality or subsistence. So that when we speak of the Father, we say he, his, him ; and when the Father speaks of himself, he says I, mine, me; and when we speak to him, we say thou, thine, thee. The same form of speech is also found in regard to the Son and the Spirit. When John baptized our Lord, all three persons of the Trinity were present ; " Lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him ; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Matt. 3: 16, 17. So we find all three persons of the Godhead spoken of in John 14:26: "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to - your remem- brance whatsoever I have said unto you." VII. As all three persons of the Godhead con- curred in man's creation, so do they all concur in man's redemption. The Father gave the only- begotten Son. John 3: 16. The Son laid down his life for his sheep. John 10:17, 18. The Spirit reproves the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, and guides God's people into all 7 o TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. truth. John i6;8, 13. There is a wonderful and unspeakable communion of nature, attributes, and glory in the persons of the Godhead. Christ says of the Spirit: " He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you." John 16: 14, 15. It is the will of God that "all men should honor the Son as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him." John 5:23. Now if men refuse to honor the Son, and worship only the Father, or if they honor the Son not as the Son of God, but merely as a creature, they do displease him who sent his Son into the world. We must worship the trin- ity in unity, and unity in trinity. The doctrine here maintained relates therefore to the object of religious worship. The orthodox hold that we are to worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. All others worship God not as he is re- vealed in the Bible, but according to their own ideas. " This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." John 17:3. It is a remarkable fact, that men who hold the supreme divinity of Christ never deny the divinity of the Spirit. THE TRINITY. 7 x VIII. We have hints of this doctrine of the trinity in the oldest writings of Scripture. In the first verse of Genesis the word rendered God is in the plural form. So in Job 35 ; 10, the word Ma- ker in the Hebrew is plural. So in Eccles. 12:1, the word Creator is in the plural. So in Isa. 54 ; 5, the words Maker and Husband are both in the plural. So in Mai. 1 : 6, the word Master is in the plural. Not only are nouns but pronouns found in the plural. In Gen. 1:26 we read; "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." See also Gen. 3:22. Many things like these are found in the Old Testament. Whatever arguments prove the divinity and personality of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, prove the doctrine of the trinity. For if each of these is a person, and each of them is divine, there is no more doubt of the trinity. 72 TRUTHS TOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER XI. CRT A TION. I. " Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Heb. 11:3. This passage of Scripture settles these points: 1. The universe was made — the worlds were framed ; 2. This was done by the fiat of the Almighty — the word of God. Compare Psa. 33:6. 3. The world was not made out of pre-existent materials — the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear; 4. We know all these things by faith. A fair inference from all this is that we are bound to own and to worship God as the Author of creation — the Maker of all things. II. The progress of science, either truly or falsely so called, has given us no better insight into the origin of the universe than that afforded by the first chapter in the Bible. On the first day of creation God said, " Let there be light, and there was light." The same day God divided the light from the darkness. On the second clay of creation God spread out the expanse or firmament CREATION. 73 dividing the waters that flow on the earth from the waters which are held in the clouds and the atmosphere. On the third day he separated the waters of the earth from the dry land and pro- duced all kinds of grass, herbs, and trees having seed and fruit. On the fourth day he arranged the lights in the heavens and appointed them for signs and seasons, for days and years. On the fifth day God created all manner of fishes, and living creatures in the sea, and all creatures that fly in the open air and all fowls. On the sixth day God created creeping or prowling animals, beasts, and cattle. On the same day also he created man, male and female. One of the most remarkable statements respecting creation is that so often repeated, that when God reviewed his work, he declares that it was good— very good. III. Many idle and unprofitable questions can easily be raised respecting the creation, as well as some learned questions, which, if not wholly idle, are yet too deep for those for whom this work is written. IV. If any ask, How is it possible that some- thing could have been created out of nothing? the answer is that it could not but by the almighty power of God. There our faith must rest. Far- ther we cannot go. Farther we need not go. Truths for the People. 74 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. Omnipotence can effect anything that is not absurd. V. We have no reason to suppose that there has been any change in the laws of nature since the creation was finished. Heavy substances have always fallen to the ground, water has always sought its own level, ascent has always been more difficult than descent, fire has always burned, and water has always put out fire ever since the world began, except when the laws of nature have been miraculously suspended. VI. The historic account of the creation is given in the first chapter of Genesis. We have a poetic account of the same wonderful event in the one hundred and fourth Psalm. In other parts of Scripture are found many short statements re- specting the same work. All of these take for granted the correctness of the historic account given by Moses. VII. The illustration of the divine perfections found in the work of creation is very instructive. The power, wisdom and goodness thus brought to view are truly admirable. In studying the divine attributes several of these passages have been already considered. Others can easily be found. The dispositions of men, as to piety or impiety, are often discovered by their sentiments respecting CREATION, 75 creation. David was wonderfully stirred up by his thoughts concerning the heavens. A poet has said: . " An undevout astronomer is mad. Yet so brutish are some men in their knowledge that even astronomy and anatomy make them prate like fools. In the height of his bodily sufferings the pious Halyburton said, " I bless God that ever I was born." On the other hand the vain and giddy Voltaire, in the midst of the flatteries of kings and courtiers, said, " I wish I had never been born." Vile indeed is the heart, and dark indeed are the prospects of him who cannot give thanks for his own creation. VIII. In the whole work of creation God was both sovereign and free. He might have made more worlds, and more orders of beings, he might have created the world sooner or later, if he had so chosen. He acted according to the counsel of his own will. Whatever he has done has been the dictate of his own will and wisdom. IX. All creation was for the divine glory, and to the divine praise. " " Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things." Rom. 1 1 : 36. " Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Rev. 4:11. X. The Scriptures use creation as a proof and 7 6 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. illustration of the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Thus spake the devout son of Hachaliah: "Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshipped! thee." Neh. 9 : 6. Compare Is. 45 : 7. Many parallel texts are easily found proving the divinity of the Father. John and Paul both estab- lish the divinity of the Son of God by the work of creation. "All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made;" "By him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invis- ible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him ;" " By him God made the worlds." John 1:3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2. The Scriptures as clearly ascribe creation to the Spirit. Thus spake Moses : " The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters;" " By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens." Gen. 1:2; Job 26:13. Thus in the creative power and skill of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, we find a blessed foundation for all the worship and adoration which we offer to the triune God. CREATION. 77 XI. Inspired writers and devout men alike unite in giving great prominence to the goodness of God manifested in creation. Not a creature nor organ of life has yet been found containing proofs of malignity in its Author. Surely this world was made by a benevolent Being, and should furnish songs of praises to its Creator. XII. The unity of design found in creation well illustrates the unity of God. Surely he who made the eye, made the light. Surely he who made the ear, made the air by whose vibrations sound is carried. Surely he who made the water made the tribes of creatures that live in it. There is one God. There is no need of more than one God. There is but one God. He is Lord of all. XIII. So far as we know, God has at no time made but two races of rational and accountable beings — angels and men. Angels were made before men, for they sang when this world was made. All the sons of God shouted for joy. Job 38 : 7. Both angels and men are immortal. Man is lower than the angels. Psa. 8 : 5. Both races were made to glorify God. Some angels are greater than others. Eph. 1:21; 3:10. Some angels and all mere men become sinners. The lost angels are lost for ever. Matt. 25:41 ; 2 Pet. 2:4. 7* 73 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER XII. PROVIDENCE. I. Providence is the care of God over his creatures. God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions. II. To deny providence is as truly atheistic as to deny God's existence. One who neither sees, nor hears, nor knows, nor cares, nor helps, nor saves, is no God at all. No right-minded man could worship such a being. III. Both the Old and New Testaments de- clare with great frequency God's providence over the world. In the hand of the Lord is "the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all man- kind." " In him we live, and move, and have our being." "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Job 12:10; Acts 17:28; Rev. 19:6. Pious men of all ages have been very much agreed on the general doctrine of providence. They have felt that the world may as well be without a God as to have one who controls it not. IV. God's providence -partakes of his own excellent nature. Because he is supreme and holy PROVIDENCE. 79 and just and good and wise and kind and almighty, his government is irresistible, kind, wise, good, just, holy, and over all. Nothing escapes the divine notice. Living creatures invisible to the naked eye as well as the great sea monsters alike evince his presence and his power. He never slumbers nor sleeps. He calls the stars by their names. That which is to us chance is to him matter of exact arrangement. Eccles. 9; 11 ; Prov. 16: 33. He makes the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder of wrath he restrains. Psa. 76: 10. His providence is not extemporaneous and con- ducted by a plan formed from day to day, but by a plan fixed and settled according to a holy, wise, and eternal purpose. Eph. 1 ; 1 1 ; 3 ; 1 1 ; 2 Tim. 1 ; 9. God does not change his plan : " My coun- sel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." Isa. 46 : 10. V. Very remarkable is the long-suffering of God's providence. For their sins God might justly and instantly cut men down ; but his long- suffering prevails, and the guilty are spared so as to have time for repentance. VI. The Scriptures forewarn us that God's doings will often confound us : " Thy judgments are a great deep." " Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are 80 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. not known." Psa. 36:6; 77:19. God saves or he destroys, by few or by many, by the strong or by the weak, by friend or by foe. He is on the right hand, but we perceive him not. None are more surprised than wicked men when God brings their conduct to its natural end. Nor does he £ive account of any of his doings. Often he does not even give us notice when he is about to effect his greatest wonders. He hangs the earth upon noth- ing. He often seems to hang the destiny of empires upon a thing of naught. Both his means and his instruments are commonly such as man would reject. God sees order where we see but confusion, and light where we see but darkness. He has as perfect control over invisible agents as he has over things seen by men. " His kingdom ruleth over all." Many think it vastly strange that God takes the poor from the dunghill and sets them among princes, and pours contempt on birth and blood, on prowess and on princes. VII. There is something very wonderful in God's care of good men. They often speak of it here. They will oftener speak of it hereafter. " The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and He delighteth in his way." Psa. 37: 23. There is a wonderful connection between the prayers of saints and the providence of God. For PROVIDENCE. 8 1 thousands of years one good man after another has repeated the words of the Psalmist as applica- ble to himself : " This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his trou- bles." Psa. 34: 6. It does not at all diminish the wonder of God's care of his people that he pro- tects them without the interposition of miracles. VIII. All the argument brought against prov- idence from the apparent confusion in human affairs is easily enough answered. In this world nothing is finished, nothing is perfected. Let men wait till they see Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, and the rich sinner beyond the reach of hope, and they will not doubt that there is a God that judgeth in the earth. IX. In one respect providence is a continual exhibition of creative energy. " Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created : and thou renew- est the face of the earth." Psa. 104: 30. Every man on earth is as truly the creature of God as was Adam in the garden of Eden. X. It seems strange that any should limit, or wish to limit the control of God over free agents. The Scriptures clearly show that God as much governs the free acts of malignant men as he does material causes. It is true that both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people 82 TRUTHS FOR THE TEOTZE. of Israel, were gathered together; but it was for to do whatsoever Gods hand and God's counsel determined before to be done. Acts 4:27, 28. No power had they against Jesus except as the Almighty lengthened their chain. John 19:11. " Our God is in the heavens : he hath done what- soever he hath pleased." Psa. 115:3. None can stay his hand. Dan. 4: 35. XI. Sometimes our minds dwell on great affairs and the vastness of the universe until we almost doubt whether the Most High cares for little things. But when we take the microscope and look at the vast numbers of little creatures too small to be perceived by the naked eye, we find his wisdom, power, and goodness to them as man- ifest as towards creatures of the greatest size and beauty. And when we look at the Scriptures the same doctrine is abundantly taught : " Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." Matt. 10:29-31. Some have said that the care of so many things, great and small, could not be expected of God. They forget that to create and neglect would be indeed a blot on the divine character, and that it is no labor to PR O VIDE NCR. 8 3 the Almighty to take infinite care of his creatures. " The Lord is good to all ; and his tender mercies are over all his works. The eyes of all wait upon thee ; and thou givest them their meat in due sea- son. Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing." Psa. 145:9, 15, 16. XII. This doctrine of providence cuts up by the roots the spirit of self-sufficiency and vain- boasting. " What hast thou that thou hast not received ?" " Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." " It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 1 Cor. 4:7; Jas. 1:17; Phil. 2:13. XIII. In the church below and in the church above, the doctrine of providence fills pious hearts with joy and pious mouths with praise. " Of him, and through him, and to him, are all things : to whom be glory for ever. Amen." " Alleluiah : For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Rom. 11 : 36; Rev. 19:6. 8 4 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER XIII. MAN A SINNER. I. Man is a creature of God. Reason proves this; Scripture asserts it. Gen. 1:27; 5:1; Eccles; 12 : 1, 7; Mai. 2 : 10 ; Zech. 12:1. These passages claim that God is not only the framer of our bodies, but the Father of our spirits. We are entirely the creatures of God. II. God made man pure in knowledge, right- eousness, and true holiness. Col. 3:10; Eph. 4 : 24. " Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." Eccles. 7 : 29. God made man in his own image, after his own likeness. Gen. 1 : 26, 27; 5:1. The image of God and the likeness of God mean the same thing. They both denote a similitude. This likeness is either natural or moral. The natural image of God consists in intelligence. The moral image of God consists in holiness. Man has lost God's moral image, but retains somewhat of his natural image. Gen. 9 : 6. III. All men of whatever color or habit are of one race, and had a common origin. " God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell MAN A SINNER. 85 on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." Acts 17: 26. Compare Gen. 3 : 20 ; 9: 19; Rom. 5 : 12, 19; 1 Cor. 15: 22. IV. In creating our first parents, God made our father Adam before he made our mother Eve. This is noticed in the Scriptures as worthy of attention and instructive. 1 Cor. 1 1 : 8, 9 ; 1 Tim. 2 : 13, 14. The woman was last made, but she was the first to sin. V. It seems to be God's plan to subject all the rational beings he has made to a trial or probation. Thus the angels were tried, and some of them fell. Thus man was tried, and he fell. His trial was very fair. It was as slight as it could be to be a test at all. It was simply abstaining from one kind of fruit in the garden. Of the rest he might eat. Gen. 2: 16, 17. How long man stood before he fell we do not know, and it is idle to inquire. By his fall man became liable to all penal evil, for that is the meaning of the word death when used on this subject. An immediate effect of man's sin was his expulsion from Paradise. But he was not driven out in a hopeless manner. He was allowed to carry with him two very important institutions, marriage and the Sabbath-day. He also had a gospel promise made him, " The seed 8 86 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. of the woman shall bruise the serpents head." Gen. 3:15. VI. The effects of the fall on the posterity of our first parents are just the same as on Adam and Eve. The earth still brings forth thorns and thistles. In the sweat of man's face he still eats his bread, and finally returns to the dust. Gen. 3 : 18, 19. The sorrow of woman is just the same as that which came upon Eve. Gen. 3:16. VII. All men come into the world in a state of guilt, or exposure to wrath. Indeed the Bible says in so many words that we are " by nature the children of wrath even as others." Eph. 2 : 3. It says, " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men." It further says, that "through the offence of one many be dead." " The judgment was by one to condemnation." " By one man's offence death reigned by one." " By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation." " By one man's disobedience many were made sin- ners." Rom. 5:12, 15-19. Language can hardly be clearer or less liable to mistake. VIII. Another effect of the fall was the de- pravity of man's nature. So that there is none righteous, no, not one. Rom. 3:10. Bitterly does David bewail his own native depravity : " Be- MAN A SINNER. 87 hold, I was shapen in iniquity ; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Psa. 51:5. Compare Job 14:4; John 3:6; Gen. 6:5. On the universal depravity of the race the Bible speaks but one lan- guage. In Rom. 1 : 19-32, Paul proves the Gen- tiles to be sinners. In Rom. 2 : 11-29, he proves that the Jews are sinners; and in Rom. 3 : 10-23, he proves that the whole race of man is apostate from God. He relies on the prophets of the Old Testament. He might have quoted many more than he did. IX. In his natural state man is full of spiritual darkness. The very light that is in him is dark- ness. Matt. 6:23. " The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor. 2:14. In order to salvation, man as much needs divine instruction as he does pardon or renewal; and it is great grace in' God to promise to teach all his children. Isa. 54 : 13. X. By nature man is in a state of misery; and yet he knows not that he is wretched, and misera- ble, and poor, and blind, and naked, and has need of all things. Rev. 3:17. All the sinful passions are in their nature tormenting. A guilty con- science is the worst scourge ever felt. Speaking 88 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. of the wicked, God says, " Destruction and misery are in their ways." Even if a man's conscience is seared as with a hot iron, there is no telling when his tumults will be terrific. It was so with Bel- shazzar. Dan. 5:9. It was so with Herod. Matt. 14:2. XI. By nature man is helpless. He cannot atone for a single sin. The redemption of the soul is precious. Psa. 49 : 8. It costs too much to be redeemed with silver and gold, with tears or human sacrifices, or with any corruptible things. It can be redeemed alone with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and with- out spot. 1 Pet. 1:19. Nor can man turn him- self to God by any power that is within him. We are expressly said to be " without strength," and to be " the servants of sin." Rom. 5 : 6 ; 6 : 1 7. " The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, nei- ther indeed can be." By nature we are polluted in our blood. Ezek. 16:6. " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3 : 3. The dead cannot raise themselves, and men are dead in trespasses and sins. Eph. 2:1. XII. The whole nature of man is affected by sin. The understanding is darkened ; the will is corrupt ; the conscience is defiled ; the memory is polluted; the imagination is depraved; the throat MAN A SINNER. 89 is an open sepulchre ; the tongue is deceitful ; the poison of asps is under the lips ; the mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; the feet are swift to shed blood ; the eyes are full of adultery ; the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Men yield their members servants to uncleanness. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint. See Isa. 1:6; Rom. 3 : 10-18 ; 6:19. XIII. The very names given to sin should awaken in us uneasiness and alarm. Sin means a missing of the mark. It is transgression. It is want of conformity to law. It is iniquity. It is unrighteousness. It is evil. It is wrong. It is hateful to God. It deserves all the evil threat- ened against it or brought upon it. It has digged every grave. It fills hell with groans. XIV. Sin when finished brings forth death. Because Satan was a seducer he was a murderer. John 8 : 44. It is possible to sin beyond forgive- ness. Matt. 12 : 32. !* 9-o TRUTHS FOR THE TEOPLE. CHAPTER XIV. THOUGH MAX IS A SINNER, YET HE MAY BE SA FED. I. We have seen that man is by nature ruined. The Bible says he is lost. Matt. 15:24; Luke 19:10; 2 Cor. 4:3. Men are sinners, wicked, ungodly, unrighteous, corrupt, deceitful, vile, un- grateful. The Bible calls them dross, Psa. 1 19:119; reprobate silver, that is, silver rejected after trial, Jer. 6 : 30 ; they are given over to a reprobate mind, Rom. 1 :28; they are the children of the wicked one, and his lusts will they do, John 8 : 44; they are the slaves of iniquity, Rom. 6 : 20; they are in error, Jas. 5 : 20; in darkness, 1 John 2:11; they are out of the way, Rom. 3:12; Heb. 5 : 2. II. Lost as men are, they may yet be saved. There is a way of life, a door of hope, a scheme of mercy, a plan of salvation. Jesus came into the world on the very errand of saving the lost. Matt. 18: 11. Christ was anointed and set apart to pro- claim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. God's device of mercy for rescuing the lost is set forth by vari- ous terms. Of these perhaps none is more fit MAN MA Y BE SA VED. 9 l than that of a covenant, commonly called the cov- enant of grace. When Jeremiah foretold gospel times, he said : " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah : not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord : but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts ; and will be their God, and they shall be my peo- ple. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the^Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord : for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Jer. 31 : 3 I— 34- This way of presenting the plan of salvation is adopted by Paul also. Heb. 10 : 16, 17. III. The scheme for saving sinners is wholly from God. He devised it; he executed it; he applies it. So the Scriptures teach: "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord." " The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord." " He is the God of our 9 2 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. salvation." " He that is our God is the God of salvation." He says, " Mine own arm brought salvation." " Salvation is of the Lord." Psa. 3:8; 37 '■ 39; 6 5 : 55 68: ! 9> 20; Isa. 63: 5; Jonah 2 : 9. Very careful is God to let us know that there was nothing in us to merit his esteem : " I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." Isa. 43: 25. Compare Isa. 48:9. Again, "Thus saith the Lord God ; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake. . . . Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you." Ezek. 36: 22, 32. IV. All this love and pity are wholly unde- served. No man has any claim on the score of his own deservings for any good things. On this point the Bible is very clear. It says : " God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ; (by grace ye are saved ;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus : that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved, through faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man MAN MA Y BE SA FED 93 should boast." Eph. 2 : 4-9. It is the grace of God that bringeth salvation. The whole plan is " to the praise of the glory of his grace." Eph. 1 : 6. Salvation is no debt due to any man. Rom. 4:4, 16. Neither is it possible for a creature to have a good standing before God, partly on the ground of personal merit, and partly on the ground of undeserved kindness. The two schemes are en- tirely inconsistent. So Paul taught : " If by grace, then is it no more of works ; otherwise grace is no more grace ; but if it be of works, then is it no more grace ; otherwise work is no more work." Rom. 11:6. V. All this grace is in Christ, and in none else. God has given him "for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles ; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house." Isa. 42 : 6, 7. Nor has he given any other to the same end and purpose. A great prophet says, " Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee : he is just, and hav- ing salvation ; lowly, and riding upon an ass." Zech. 9 : 9. He hath raised up a horn of salva- tion for us, in the house of his servant David: as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which 94 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. have been since the world began." Luke i : 69, 70. " Neither is there salvation in any other : for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4: 12. Jesus himself says, "I am the Door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." " I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life : no man cometh unto the Father but by me." John 10 : 9 ; 14 : 6. VI. This plan of salvation meets all the de- mands of law and justice. He who is at the head of it is the Lord our Righteousness. Jer. 23:6. So that every one who truly believes on Jesus Christ " shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." Psa. 24 : 5. Christ is the end of the law for right- eousness to every one that believeth. God " hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5:21. VII. Some deliverances otherwise great are but temporary ; but the salvation secured to be- lievers is endless and boundless. " Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation : ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end." Isa 45:17. VIII. Another excellence of this whole scheme MAN MA Y BE SA VFD. 95 is that it is freely, urgently, and indiscriminately offered to men, and pressed upon their considera- tion. All true ministers of the gospel are clothed with salvation. 2 Chron. 6:41; Psa. 132:16. The true heralds of the gospel scheme are de- scribed in the most beautiful language of inspired poetry. Isa. 52 : 7-9. All sorts of men are called to embrace the gospel. Isa. 55 : 1-9. IX. Surely men ought to rejoice in such mercy as is offered in the gospel. Psa. 35:9; 116:13; Isa. 25:9. The hope of this salvation is a very important part of the panoply of God. It is the helmet of the Christian soldier. Eph. 6:17; 1 Thess. 5 : 8. X. The danger of despising this glorious scheme, this plan of salvation, must be exceedingly great. The error of the Israelites who perished in the wilderness was, that they forsook God and lightly esteemed the Rock of their salvation. Deut. 32:15. Daniel says, " Salvation is far from the wicked ; for they seek not thy statutes." Psa. 1 19- 1 55- " He that believeth on the Son of God is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God." John 3: 18. 96 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER XV. CHRIST THE SON OF GOD AND THE SON OF MAN. I. Christianity take its name from its author, the Lord Jesus Christ. A human frame without head o»r heart would not be more monstrous or useless than a system of religion designed for sin- ners without a Christ — an anointed Saviour. A "Christless Christianity' is an absurdity. To every man, therefore, these are solemn questions: " What think ye of Christ ? whose son is he ?" Matt. 22 : 42. II. Christ is both the Son of God and the Son of Man. This statement is not contradictory, for he is both God and man. He is the Son of God as to his divine nature, and the Son of Man as to his human nature. As the Son of God, he was in the bosom of the Father, John 1: 18; he was in heaven, John 3: 13; he is with all worshipping assemblies, Matt. 18: 20; he was before all things Col. 1:17. As the Son of Man, be was born, Matt. 2:1; he increased in stature and wisdom, Luke 2:52; he was sorrowful, Matt. 26:37; he died, Matt. 27:50; and rose again, Matt. 28:7. No good man denies that this union of Christ's CHRIST SON OF GOD AND SON OF MAN. 97 natures is a great mystery; but then it is a mys- tery to be gloried in : " Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in [by] the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." 1 Tim. 3: 16. III. Christ is often called the Son, the Son of the Blessed, the Son of the Highest, the Son of God. He is called God's own Son, Rom. 8:32; God's dear Son, Col. 1 : 13; God's one Son, his well-beloved, Mark 12:6; his beloved Son, Matt. 3:17; 17:5; Mark 1:11; 9:7; Luke 3:22; 9:35; 2 Pet. 1:17. It would be easy to fill many pages with texts in which he is called the Son of God. By his miraculous birth he is proven to be the Son of God, Luke 1:35; by his resurrection he is powerfully declared to be the Son of God, Rom. 1:4; he is shown to be the Son of God by his glorious exaltation, Heb. 1 : 3-5. He existed as the Son of God before he' was born on earth, for " God sent forth his Son." Gal. 4:4. He did not become God's Son by being sent ; but being God's Son, he was sent. IV. Christ is God's Son in the highest possi- ble sense. Adam was God's son, because he was made by God without having any parents accord- ing to the flesh. Luke 3 : 38. Pious men are Truths for the Peoule. Q 9 8 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. God's sons by a gracious adoption, i John 3:1. Holy angels arc God's sons, because they have no parents of their own nature. But Jesus Christ is God's Son, because God is his Father that begat him. Psa. 2:7; Heb. 1:5; 5:5. No less than five times is Christ declared to be the only begot- te7i Son of God. John 1 : 14, 18; 3: 16, 18; 1 John 4 : 9. God is the Father of Christ in a sense in which he is the Father of none else. No mere creature has life in himself as the Son of God has life in himself. John 5 : 26. Nor does any creature know the Father as the Son knows him, nor does any know the Son but the Father. Luke 10:22. So that Christ's sonship is and should be confessed to be incomprehensible and ineffable. V. At least one gospel and one epistle were written for the very purpose of convincing men that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. John 20 : 31 ; 1 John 5:13. A belief in Christ's sonship with God is an element in saving faith. 1 John 5:5. If a man denies the Son, he dishonors him and his Father also : " Whoso denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father." 1 John 2:23. VI. The greatest and most happy effects flow from Christ being the Son of God, and from our belief of that truth. As Son he was manifested CHRIST SON OF GOD AND SON OF MAN. 99 to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3 : 8. The greatness of Christ's priesthood consisted very much in his being the Son of God. Heb. 4: 14; 7 : 28. So glorious is the Son that he counted it not robbery to be equal with God. Phil. 2:6. He declared it was right and a duty to honor the Son as we honor the Father. John 5:23. VII. But Christ is not only the true God and eternal life, 1 John 5 : 20, he is also truly the Son of Man. The Creator and the creature are united in the one person of Christ. Simeon saw and handled the infant of days, who was also the Father of eternity. " He is not only perfect God, but perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting." Christ as God sought and formed a union with human nature. Christ's human na- ture had no personal subsistence by itself. His divine nature continues divine. His human nature cannot cease to be human. VIII. In man's constitution there is a soul and a body. In Christ's constitution there are two natures. These are not changed the one into the other; nor are they confounded, nor are they mixed, but remain distinct. And yet there is but one person of the Mediator. The condescension of the Son of God in becoming the Son of Man was indeed wonderful. The Scriptures celebrate ioo TRUTHS FOP THE PEOPLE. it: "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he be- came poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." 2 Cor. 8 : 9. IX. Christ's manner of taking human nature was miraculous. Prophecy required this : " Be- hold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isa. 7: 14. The very first gospel promise ever made declared that the Redeemer should be " the Seed of the woman." Gen. 3:15. Christ had no father according to the flesh. He was the Seed of Abraham and the Seed of David in this sense, that his mother was de- scended from those ancient worthies. This is all that is there taught. X. Of Christ's being a man there is no doubt. The prophet Daniel styled him the Son of Man. Dan. 7:13. The New'Testament often calls him a man. More than sixty times does he call him- self the Son of Man. He had all the innocent infirmities of a man. He wept; he was hungry; he was sorrowful; he rejoiced; he was weary; he died. If Jesus Christ did not prove himself to be truly a man, having both a soul and a body, no one ever proved himself to be a man. XI. There is no more important truth than this, that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This CHRIST SON OF GOD AND SON OF MAN 101 truth makes glad millions of hearts in heaven and in earth. Upon it hang all the good hopes of man for eternal life. Christ becoming incarnate made sure to mortals the work of salvation. He is mighty to save ; he is able to save ; he is willing to save. XII. Let no one be offended at this great mystery. Simeon spoke by the Spirit the simple truth when he said : " This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel ; and for a sign which shall be spoken against, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." Luke 2 : 34. Unto them which believe he is precious; but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the cor- ner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence. 1 Pet. 2 : 7, 8. As men regard and treat the Son of God, who is also the Son of Man, the Christ of God, so are they saved or lost. If they believe not in him, they shall die in their sins. John 8 : 24. The aversion of the natural man to the person and work of Jesus Christ is dreadful. John 5 : 40 ; 6 : 44. Nothing is more foolish, yet nothing is more perverse or stubborn than unbelief. It is the master sin. It is the great damning sin of all who perish in a gospel land. XIII. This God-man, Christ Jesus, shall judge 9* io2 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. the world. At his tribunal we must all stand. Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10. The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son. John 5:22, 27. In the sublime account Christ has given of the last day, the only Judge named is the Son of Man in his glory, called more than once the King. Matt. 25 : 31-46. He who is truly wise will make friends with the Judge before that great and terri- ble day. CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 103 CHAPTER XVI. CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. I. No one can read the Scriptures without see- ing that great prominence is given to Christ Jesus in the plan of salvation. He is there said to be the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Author and Finisher of faith. He is the Bishop of souls, the Fountain of living waters, the Head of the church, the bright and morning Star, the Rose of Sharon, the chiefest among ten thou- sand, and altogether lovely. Paul was so taken with' him that he "determined not to know any- thing among you, [the Corinthians,] save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 1 Cor. 2 ; 2. II. To the Old Testament church he was known by such names and titles as the Angel of the Covenant, the Angel of the Lord, Wonderful, Counsellor, the righteous Branch, the Messiah or Anointed. He is also there called the Mighty God, and the Lord of Hosts. Isa. 6 ; 3 ; 9 : 6. In the New Testament his personal name is Jesus, or Saviour. Matt. 1:21; Luke 2:21. His official name is Christ, or Anointed. He is also called io 4 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. Emmanuel, or God with us. He is often called God and Lord. III. A mediator is one that comes in between parties who are at variance, in order to reconcile them. Where there is no variance there can be no mediation. "A mediator is not the mediator of one ; but God is one." Gal. 3 ; 20. If there are no parties there can be no mediator. A medi- ator differs from an advocate, because the latter, strictly speaking, looks to the interest of one alone, while the former has a regard to both. Christ is called the Mediator of the new covenant, the Me- diator of a better covenant, and the Mediator of the New Testament. Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 1 2 : 24. In the Old Testament a mediator is called a days- man. IV. It is right and fit, perhaps it is necessary, that a mediator should be the equal of both par- ties. Jesus Christ has this fitness for his work. He can lay his hand both upon God and sinners. He knows God's will and God's rights. He knows man's sins and man's wants. He will not betray either party. It is no robbery for him to claim equality with God. Phil. 2 : 6. V. Strifes and controversies are of three kinds : 1. Such as arise merely from mistakes; 2. Such as result from wrong on both sides ; 3. Such as come CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 105 from wrong on one side only. Man's controversy with God is of the last class. Man alone is to blame. Man alone has done wrong. The Lords ways are equal. It is man's ways that are not equal. Compare JEzek. 18:25, 29; 33: 17, 20. VI. Jesus Christ is the sole Mediator of the new covenant. So says Paul : " There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." 1 Tim. 2 : 5, 6. If it is wicked to believe in two or more Gods, it is no less wicked to believe in two or more Mediators. Moses is once called a mediator. Gal. 3:19- Tne history of the event there referred to shows that the meaning is simply this, that he was a messen- ger to make known God's will to Israel, and to make known the desires of the people to God. The passage refers to the giving of the law, when the display of the divine majesty was so terrible that Israel said to Moses, " Speak thou with us, and we will hear ; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.' 1 Exod. 20 : 19. In mediation between God and sinners, so as to secure salvation, there is no Mediator but Christ. Acts 4:12; 1 Cor. 3:11. VII. The great end of Christ's mediation is the salvation of his people. So said the angel that announced his birth: "Thou shalt call his 106 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins." Matt. 1:21. "Christ is the head of church; and he is the Saviour of the body." Eph. 5:23. As a Mediator he is no respecter of per- sons. Birth, blood, riches, honors, color, national- ity, are nothing with him. He utterly disregards all distinctions made by art or by man's device. " There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female ; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Gal. 3 ; 28. " In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision ; but faith which worketh by love." Gal. 5 : 6. VIII. The necessity for a mediator is found in the holiness and justice of God, and in the fears, guilt, and miseries of man. God is so holy that he cannot look upon iniquity. Hab. 1:13. And how can man, left to himself, be just with God ? Job 9:2. No two things are more contrary to each other than the vileness of man and the purity of God. IX. To the office of Mediator Jesus Christ was chosen by his Father. Isa. 42 : 1 ; 1 Pet. 2 : 4. Nor was any other ever chosen by God to the same work. He was no intruder into his office. His Father repeatedly declared himself well pleased in Christ and with his undertaking. His raising CHRIST THE MEDIATOR. 107 him from the dead and exalting him at his own right hand, was the highest possible proof that in Christ he was well pleased. God greatly honored Moses when he buried. him in a secret place; but he never set Moses at his right hand. X. It is a great thing to live under Christ's mediation. Through him we have wonderful discoveries of the character and glory of God. Through him heavenly influences are sent down to draw us to God. Never were there so glorious proposals made to creatures as are found in the offers of life and salvation. To those who accept the mediation of Jesus Christ, the very richest blessings are given. Thus says Paul to believers: " All things are yours ; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas^ or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come ; all are yours ; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." 1 Cor. 3:21-23. " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. 3:17,^- " We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis- solved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 2 Cor. 5 ; 1. "I will receive you, and will be a Father ioS TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. unto you, and ye shall be my sens and daugh- ters, saith the Lord Almighty." 2 Cor. 6:17, 18. All these countless blessings are made sure to him who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as all his hope and all his salvation. Eternity itself will not exhaust the unsearchable riches of Christ made sure to believers. XI. It is a solemn thing to live under the gos- pel. No man can despise the mediation of Jesus Christ without incurring the greatest guilt, and exposing himself to the greatest peril. " For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward ; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation! which at the first be- gan to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him ; God also bear- ing them witness both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will." Heb. 2 : 2-4. There is nothing more sinful or dangerous than treading under foot the Son of God, treating his blood as an unholy thing, and doing despite to the Spirit of grace. Heb. 10:28, 29. CHRIST PR OPHET, PRIEST, AND KING. i 09 CHAPTER XVII. CHRIST A PROPHET, PRIEST, A AH KING. I. The office work of Christ is commonly ex- pressed by three titles, Prophet, Priest, King. This distinction of*his work is not a human in- vention. It is made in the word of God. It helps us in forming clear ideas of the greatness of his salvation. In no other one mentioned in Scrip- ture are all these offices found united. The high priests of Israel were both priests and prophets. David was both a king and a prophet. Melchiz- edec was both a king and a priest. But Christ is Prophet, Priest, and King. II. Of old he was spoken of as a prophet. Moses said, " The Lord thy God will raise up "unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me ; unto him ye shall heark- en." And the Lord said : " I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethen, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, etc. Deut. 18 : 15, 18. Jesus was a " prophet mighty in deed and word, before God, and all the people.'" Luke 24 : 19. He was eminently fitted to be a counsellor. Isa. 9:6. He was the "one Shep- 10 no TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. herd" of the great prophet by the river Chebar. Ezek. 34:23. It was his Spirit that taught the Old Testament church. 1 Pet. 1:11. It is he who also teaches the Christian church, sending his ministers to that end. Eph. 4:8-13. When he came he spoke with authority : " I say unto you ;" " I say unto thee." He was the Author of grace and truth. John 1:17. It is he that opens the heart so that men attend to the things of salvation. Acts 16:14. He teaches effect- ually. III. Christ is also a Priest, a great High Priest. He is made a priest by an oath, the oath of his Father. Psa. 110:4. To this office he was di- vinely called. " No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest ; but He that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day have I begotten thee." Heb. 5:4,5. Great exaltation was predicted of Christ as a Priest : " He shall build the temple of the Lord ; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne : and he shall be a Priest upon his throne." Zech. 6:13. For this great office Christ was wonderfully qualified : " Such a High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and CHRIST PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING. 1 1 1 made higher than the heavens; who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins, and then for the people's; for this he did once when he offered up himself." Heb. 7 :26, 27. IV. Under the law the high priest w r as required to offer sacrifices, to intercede, and to bless. So our High Priest by once offering himself has ren- dered for ever unnecessary any other sacrifice for his people. " Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many." Heb. 9:28. " 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. His third work as priest is to bless his redeemed. This he will do in due time, for " unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salva- tion." Heb. 9:28. He has told us the very w T ords he will use on that august occasion : " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre- pared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. 25 : 34. V. " This man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath build- ed the house hath more honor than the house." Heb. 3 : 3. Upon this great exaltation of our High Priest is based the warning : " Take heed, breth- I 12 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. ren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of un- belief, in departing from the living God." Heb. 3:12. VI. Christ is also a King. A great King, Kinor of kings and Lord of lords. This is the name written on his vesture and on his thigh. Rev. 19:16. By the prophet David the Lord said, " I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion." Psa. 2 : 6. When the wise men came from the East to Jerusalem, they said, "Where is he that was born King of the Jews ?" Matt. 2 : 2. He is also called a King, fairer than the children of men, with grace poured into his lips, and his throne is said to be for ever and ever. Psa. 45: 1, 2, 6. In Solomon's Song he is also called a King. Cant. 1 : 4. One prophet within the space of a few verses calls him both Lord and Priest. Psa. 1 10: 1-4. VII. Such a Saviour was demanded by our sad necessities. Our ignorance called for a great teacher. It was very gracious in God to promise, " All thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children." Isa. 54:13. Our guilt called for just such a glorious sacrifice as that of Calvary. " By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." Heb. 10:14. So we also needed a blessed king CHRIST PR OPHE T, PR /PS 2] AND KING. 1 1 3 who should be able to subdue our corruptions. His people are willing in the day of his power, in the beauties of holiness. Psa. 110:3. Under him is fulfilled the promise to the church : " In right- eousness shalt thou be established : thou shalt be far from oppression ; for thou shalt not fear : and from terror ; for it shall not come near thee." Isa. 54: 14. VIII. Sometimes all the work of the Mediator is expressed under a single figure, that of a Shep- herd. Psa. 23: 1-4; John 10: 1-18. Sometimes his whole work is expressed in a single verse, as where it is said that Christ Jesus is of God " made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." 1 Cor. 1 ; 30. IX. Though we distinguish between the offi- ces of Christ, they are never separated. He is always Prophet, always Priest, and always King, and will be so for ever. So say the Scriptures: " The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters." Rev. 7:17. There is the prophetic office of Christ executed to his people long after their conflicts on earth are ended. " Thou art a Priest for ever," says the oath of God in Psalm no 14. And Paul says that he is a Priest, " after the power of an endless life," and " that 10* 1 1 4 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. this man, because he continueth ever, hath an un- changeable priesthood." Heb. 7:16, 24. Nor is there the least change in his character and pur- poses. His resurrection and ascension to heaven made a creat change in his state : so that he can no longer be spit upon, nor crowned with thorns, nor crucified, nor buried. But in his nature and character he is still " Jesus Christ the same yes- terday, and to-day, and for ever." Heb. 13:8. His kingly office is alike perpetual: " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever : a sceptre of right- eousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity ; there- fore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And, thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the works of thy hands : they shall perish ; but thou remainest : and they all shall wax old as doth a garment ; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed ; but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail." Heb. 1 :8-i2. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. THE GLORY OF CHRIST. 1 1 5 CHAPTER XVIII. THE GLORY OF CHRIST IN HIS OFFICES. Having spoken of the offices of Christ as Medi- ator, let us consider his glory therein: I. His glory as a Prophet. He spoke with authority, and not as the scribes. He spoke with such power that the very men sent to arrest him were disarmed. When asked how this was, all they could answer was, " Never man spake like this man." John 7 : 46. Those who heard him felt that the Searcher of hearts was speaking to them. As he himself was truth, all he said was true, and he was its author. He was also the sub- stance of truth. He made known to us the true nature of God. He said, " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." John 14: 9. Nor did any one else ever so reveal the true nature of God : " Neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." Matt. 11 127. The reason why that which was spoken by the prophets was good and pure, was because they spake by the Spirit of Christ. 1 Pet. 1 mi. " The words of the Lord are pure words : as silver tried in a furnace of earth, puri- n6 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. fled seven times." Psa. 12:6. As he that builds a house has more honor than the house, so Christ is more glorious than the greatest prophet, who was a mere man. Heb. 3:3. As a prophet Christ has great power. He savingly impresses his lessons by the "exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power." Eph. 1:19. As he said to Lazarus, Come forth, and the dead obeyed him ; so he says to the soul sunk in igno- rance and dead in trespasses and sins, and it hears the voice of the Son of God and lives. John 5:25. As the great teacher of his church Christ transmits to others power to teach the same bless- ed truths with authority; and in his name greater things are done than were done by him in person. John 14: 12. There is also glorious fulness and completeness in the teachings of Christ. He keeps back nothing that is profitable for us. He calls us friends, and treats us as such : " All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." John 15:15. Christ has always been the Light of the world ; and his light is the life of men. John 1 : 4-9. To him gave all the prophets witness. His glory shone out illustriously in his first miracle. John 2:11. As a prophet Christ taught us by his example also. John 13 : 15. His THE GL OR } T OF CHRIST. 1 1 7 example was faultless. It showed us what he meant by his words. It proved that he enjoined nothing that could not be done. In all dispensa- tions the power of Christ's truth has been made resistless by the Holy Ghost. II. Let us dwell a little on Christ's glory as a Priest. None so great ever filled that office before or since the Mediator held it. His person was most glorious, being truly divine. Never was such a sacrifice made as that made on Calvary. His whole person made the offering. None deny that he died on the cross. But prophecy required that his soul should be made an offering for sin, and have bitter travail. Isa. 53 : 10, 11. His soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, even before he was brought into the judgment-hall. Matt. 26 : 38. The reason was, he was treading the wine-press of his Father's wrath alone. None was so faultless as he. Heb. 7:26, 27. He magni- fied the law and made it honorable, as prophecy said he should. Isa. 42:21. His entire human nature was offered upon the altar of his divine na- ture, and thus his sacrifice was very glorious. It was a ransom — a full ransom-price for those whom he would redeem. Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45; 1 Tim. 2 : 6. He glorified his Father so as no one else ever honored God. The union of his na- nS TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. tures was so close that what he did and suffered in his human nature is spoken of as if it had been done and suffered in his divine nature. Acts 20 : 28. We fitly speak of him as a divine suf- ferer, though we do not mean that his divinity suffered, but only that the Divine Redeemer suf- fered in his human nature. The effect of such a priestly offering we should expect to be great on those who believe in it ; and so it i$. " Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins ; and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Mo- ses." Acts 13 : 38, 39. The beloved disciple says, " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1 : 7. Other sacrifices never made perfect the worshipper as pertaining to the conscience. Heb. 9 : 9. All that the offerings made under the law of Moses did, was to purify » the flesh — to make men ceremonially fit worship- pers. " How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God ? And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testa- ment, that by means of death, for the redemption THE GLORY OF CHRIST. 1 1 9 of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." Heb. 9 : 14, 15. It is by his spotless life and amazing death that believers have the righteousness of God without the law; even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe. They are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Rom. 3 : 21-24. III. Let us view Christ's glory as King. He deserves all his royal honors. Isa. 52:13; 53:12- 49 : 4. On this point Paul is very clear. He says of Christ, that "being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Where- fore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name ; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil. 2 : 6-1 1. Christ's kingly 120 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. power is vast. On his head are many crowns. Rev. 19: 12. Long ago his Father gave him the heathen for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. Psa. 2:8. " He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." Psa. 72:8. Christ's kingdom is the more glorious because it is spiritual, and not carnal. He said to Pilate, " My kingdom is not of this world." John 18:36. Nor shall this kingdom ever fade away. " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." Psa. 45 : 6- " I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever." 2 Sam. 7:13. "And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." Luke 1 : 33. So glorious is Zion's King, that he makes all his people kings and priests unto God. Rev. 1:6. As head of the church he alone is King. 1 Cor. 8:6: Eph. 1:22; 4:5. He shall never be superseded, but abideth ever over the house of God; Heb. 10: 21 and is heir of all things. Heb. 1 : 2-4. MAN MUST A CCEPT CHRIST. 1 2 1 CHAPTER. XIX. MEN MUST ACCEPT CHRIST AND RELIEVE THE GOSPEL. I. Every reader of the Bible will admit that the Scriptures say a great deal about believing. The faith which the Lord demands is wrought in the soul by the Holy Ghost. It believes whatever God has spoken. Saving faith chiefly regards Christ as the author of eternal life. It is as fatal to deny the Son as it is to deny the Father, i John 2:23. II. The necessity of faith is taught in all the Scriptures. Against no sin does the word of God speak in stronger terms of condemnation than against the sin of unbelief. " The Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me for all the signs which I have showed among them ?" Numb. 14: 11. "A fire was kindled against Ja- cob, and anger also came against Israel; because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation." Psa. 78: 21, 22. To his captious ene- mies our Lord said, " John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: Trutlm for the People. 1 "J 122 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not after- ward, that ye might believe him." Matt. 21 : 32. " This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." John 3: 19. III. Very urgently does the Scripture require men to believe. " The Lord said unto Moses, Lo I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever." Exod. 19:9. So Jehoshaphat said, " Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusa- lem ; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established." 2 Chron. 20 : 20. " Ye are my wit- nesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he." Isa. 43 : 10. Many like phrases have we, such as, " Have faith in God;" " Put on the breastplate of faith ;" " Follow faith," etc. IV. Indeed, no greater question can be asked than this, " Dost thou believe on the Son of God ?" John 9: 35. Happy is he that can answer in the affirmative, "Lord, I believe." John 9:38. For " without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God, must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Heb. 11:6. MAN MUST ACCEPT CHRIST. [23 V. So clearly does the human conscience per- ceive that on proper evidence men ought to be- lieve, that Christ's bitterest enemies did not pretend that they were under no obligation to believe, but pleaded that they lacked evidence. Even when he was hanging on the cross, they said : " If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him." Matt. 27:42. Compare Mark 15:32. If he had come down from the cross, the sins of men would not have been atoned. But he did a greater thing. He laid down his life, and thus put away sin, and then burst the bars of death, rising from the grave. Did they then believe him ? No. They gave large money to men to say that his disciples stole him away. The human conscience concurs with the Saviour in teaching that it is only fools who are slow of heart to believe. Luke 24 : 25. VI. The obligation to believe is announced throughout the Scriptures. " After John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." Mark 1 : 14, 15. Indeed, in so many words the beloved disciple says : " This is his commandment : That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus t24 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. Christ, and love one another." i John 3:23. When men said to Jesus, " What shall we do, that we miffht work the works of God ? he answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." John 6 : 28, 29. VII. The common form of making a profes- sion of Christianity seems to have been a declara- tion of faith in Christ. Thus Peter: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Matt. 16: 16. Thus Martha: "Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world." John 11 : 27. Thus the Ethio- pian: "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Acts 8:37. VIII. True saving faith is the gift of God, and is wrought in the soul by the Holy Ghost. The disciples of Achaia, who helped Aquila and Pris- cilla so much, " had believed through grace." Acts 18:27. In Gal. 5:22 faith is expressly said to be " the fruit of the Spirit." To the Philippians Paul says : " Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake." Phil. 1 : 29. And when Peter made that blessed confession of Christ above cited, " Je- sus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not MAN MUST A CCEPT CHRIST. 1 2 5 revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Matt. 16; 17. IX. Everywhere in Scripture faith is spoken of as essential to salvation: " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark 16: 16. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts 16:31. "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 1 Cor. 1:21. " We which have believed do enter into rest." Heb. 4:3. " We are of them that believe to the saving of the soul." Heb. 10:39. X. The Scriptures were written to beget faith in Christ, and a hearty belief of the gospel.. John 20:31; 1 John 5:13. If, on the evidence and aids given us, we fail to believe, the whole plan of the gospel is, as to us, in vain. XI. God has taken great care and used proper means to beget in men lively faith in Christ, the sum and author of the gospel. To this end he permitted Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, to die, and caused him to rise again that they might believe that God had sent his Son. John 1 1 : 42. To the same end the treachery of Judas was both permit- ted and predicted, that the disciples might believe that Jesus was the Christ. John 13:19- Tne 11* 126 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. Lord foretold his own death and resurrection to the same end. John 14 : 29. He also often called on men to have faith in him : " Ye believe in God, believe also in me." " Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me." John 14: 1, 11. In the same connection he says that faith in him is the great cure for heart trouble. He prays for the unity of his people to the end that men may be convinced of his divine nature and mission. XII. True, firm faith has great efficacy in securing answers to prayer. Mark 11 124; John 14 : 14. XIII. To all who truly believe, the Lord Jesus is very dear. 1 Pet. 2 : 7. XIV. Real, lively faith is very important to preachers who would intrepidly do their duty. " We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spo- ken ; we also believe, and therefore speak." 2 Cor. 4: 13. Without this faith, a preacher is a poor, useless creature — a reed shaken with the wind. XV. The hinderances to faith are all found in the depravity of the human heart, and in its fool- ish love of honor, wealth, or sinful pleasure. John 5:44; 1 John 2 : 15; 5:5. XVI. True faith is very pleasing to God : " The Father himself loveth you, because ye have MAN MUST A CCEPT CHRIST. 1 2 7 loved me, and have believed that I came out from God." John 16 : 27. Compare John 20 : 29. XVII. The most blessed effects accompany faith, such as adoption into God's family, John 1:12; justification, Acts 1 3 : 39 ; Rom. 3 : 2 1-26 ; Gal. 3 : 6, and many places; and life, eternal life, Rom. 10 : 10; John 3 : 16, 36 ; 5 : 24; 6 : 40. XVIII. Not to believe is fatal to all good pros- pects for eternal happiness. John 3:18; Mark 16:16; 1 John 5 : 10. XIX. Prayer for faith, for more faith, is a duty. Mark 9 : 24 ; Luke 17:5. 123 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER XX. REPENTANCE. I. In their very nature faith and repentance are closely united. One never exists without the other. " They shall look upon me whom they have pierced" — there is faith; "and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son" — there is repentance. Zech. 12:10. Jesus in his preaching united these things : " Repent ye, and believe the gospel." Mark 1:15. So did his apostles. See Acts 20: 21. In the Scriptures both faith and repentance are required to salva- tion. Matt. 3:2; Acts 16:31. Repentance es- sentially belongs to the religion of sinners. With- out it there is no true piety on earth. Luke i3-3>5- II. Many good writers call both faith and re- pentance conditions of salvation. They do not mean that there is any merit in either of these graces. They do not deserve Gods favor. They are in no sense the price we pay for life and mercy. But without them we would not be saved; we could not please God. If the beggar would be nourished by the bread offered him, he must take REPENTANCE. 1 2 9 it and eat it. If a title to an estate is offered to one, and he refuses to accept it, it is not his in fact or in law. The thirsty soul must not only know that there is water, but he must drink it, or his thirst will rage on. III. True repentance is not a transient act of the mind, nor a temporary emotion. It is a glorious habit of the soul. It implies a fixed principle in the renewed mind. It is the hypocrite and self- deceiver who repent and sin, and sin and repent. Genuine repentance produces a permanent change in men's characters. IV. In Scripture much is said of repentance. It is mentioned in that very ancient poem, the book of Job. There are as many as seven peni- tential Psalms, viz., the 6th, 32d, 38th, 51st, i02d, 130th, and 143d. Indeed, some have thought that the 25th, 69th, and 86th, were also penitential Psalms. It is very much spoken of by the proph- ets, by Christ, by the evangelists and apostles. V. When repentance is genuine, it is always the work of God's Spirit, and comes to us through the mediation of Christ, who is placed on the hill of Zion a Prince and a Saviour to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins. Acts 5:31. When the Gentiles repented, it was by God's mercy and grace. Acts 11 : 18. The weeping prophet says, 130 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. " Turn thou me, and I shall be turned : for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented ; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh." Jer. 31:18, 19. In his repentance David felt so keenly his dependence on divine grace, that he cried very earnestly, " Take not thy Holy Spirit from me." Psa. 51:11. On that occasion his first expression of hope was this : " In the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom." That is the best and last hope of any sinner, that he shall ever do better than he has done. VI. Two kinds of repentance are often spoken of, legal and evangelical. In legal repentance the motives are chiefly drawn from the law and the consequences of sin. In evangelical repentance, they are drawn from the gospel and the nature of sin. The latter would turn from sin, if there were no hell ; the former would sin on, if there was no fear of wrath. The goodness of God leads the latter to repentance; but the former despises the riches of His goodness, and forbearance, and long- suffering. Rom. 2 : 4. VII. True repentance embraces these things: 1. A knowledge of sin. When Nathan convinced David of his sin, he cried for mercy. Men will not repent of sins of which they think themselves REPENTANCE. 1 3 1 innocent. 2. Humility, deep and genuine abase- ment of soul before God. The penitent says : " Behold, I am vile ; what shall I answer thee ?" " O God, thou knowest my foolishness." Job 40 14; Psa. 69 : 5. True penitents " know every man the plague of his own heart." 1 Kings 8 : 38. 3. Sin- cere and hearty confession of sin. " He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Prov. 28 : 13. "I said, I will confess my transgres- sions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the ini- quity of my sin." Psa. 32:5. Compare Psa. 51:3; Jer. 3:13; 1 John 1:9. 4. Shame belongs to genuine repentance. So said David : " Mine ini- quities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up." Psa. 40 : 12. So Ezra : " O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee." Ezra 9:6. Compare Ezek. 36:31, 32. Nor does the pious blush cease when pardon comes. Far from it. Ezek. 16:63. 5. With shame is joined sorrow, ingenuous grief for sin. " Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of." 2 Cor. 7:9, 10. To these are added, 6. Self-loathing, self-abhorrence. Job 42 : 6 ; Ezek. 6:9; 20 : 43. Of course one thus exercised also has 7. Hatred of sin, sin in every form. Psa. 66:18; 97:10; 119:104, 128. All 1 32 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. these exercises are accompanied with 8. Love of holiness — a delight in the law of God after the inner man. Rom. 7: 22; Psa. 119 : 140. Such a great change leads to 9. An amendment of life, a thorough reformation, works meet for repentance. Matt. 3:8. "HI have done iniquity, I will do no more." Job 34 : 32. VIII. Such repentance has rich and abundant promises made to it in all the Scriptures. It is called repentance unto life, because it ends in eternal happiness. Acts 11 : 18. It is more than once connected with the remission of sins. Mark 1:4; Acts 3:19. " He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not, he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man." Job 33:27-29. "Wash you, make you clean ; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil ; learn to do well ; seek judgment, relieve the op- pressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow-; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 1 : 16-18. " Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabit- REPENTANCE. 133 eth eternity, whose name is Holy ; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isa. 57:15. Indeed, the Scriptures de- clare that God is never better pleased with any- thing he sees upon earth than he is with godly sorrow for sin. " Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it : thou delightest not in burnt offer- ing. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit : a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Psa. 51:16, 17. In our Lords great sermon on the mount the first thing he said was : " Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The next thing he said was like it : " Blessed are they that mourn : for they shall be comforted." Matt. 5 : 3, 4. IX. Men cannot be in too much earnest in seeking repentance. Very tenderly does God call them to this work : " Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts : and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." And lest any should doubt the divine readiness to forgive so flagrant sins, the Lord shows why we may expect remission, adding: " For my thoughts are not as your thoughts, nei- 12 134 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. ther 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 : 7-9. " Truly God is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repent- ance." 2 Pet. 3 : 9. X. Very few men intend or expect to live and die without repentance. The very thought of such an end would make them shudder. Why will they defer repentance ! Death is approaching. The Spirit is striving. Christ is inviting. Hell threat- ens. The gates of heaven are open. " Behold, now is the accepted time ; behold, now is the day of salvation." A CHANGE OF HEART. 135 CHAPTER XXI. A CHANGE OF HEART. I. Faith and Repentance are proofs and prop- erties of a new nature. This is also true of hope, love, joy, peace, patience, forbearance, temperance, meekness, gentleness, goodness, courage, and all the Christian graces. But Faith and Repentance occupy so prominent a place in the beginning and in the whole history of the Christian life, that it was deemed proper to give to each of them a dis- tinct consideration. But this was done the better to open the way for the consideration of a change of heart. II. It is clear from many parts of God 's word that in the divine plan of mercy a change of heart is required in order to salvation. It is called by various names, but, when fairly considered, they all lead us to the same conclusions respecting its nature and necessity. Let us consider some of the forms of speech used in Scripture to instruct us on this great subject. III. Sometimes the great change we must un- dergo in order to salvation is expressed by God's pouring his Spirit upon us, putting his Spirit with. 136 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. in us, thus anointing us to God, and thus ma- king us temples of God. Read and compare lsa. 44:3-5; Ezek. 36:27; Joel 2:28; 1 Cor. 3:16, 17 ; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16. When this change takes place, it is as when at the dedication of the tem- ple " the glory of the Lord filled the house." 1 Kings 8:11. That clay it became a temple, and must be treated as a holy place. If we regard the indwelling of God's Spirit as in a person, then that person was the Lord's, and should fearlessly and openly profess his love and fear of God. IV. As sin consists very much in want of con- formity to law, or in lawlessness towards God, so the change of heart is sometimes well represented by " writing the law of God on the heart," so as to give to men a love for God's holy precepts, and giving them a heart to remember and practise all it requires : " After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts ; and will be their God, and they shall be my people," Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10; 10:16. People thus wrought upon love to keep the com- mandments. Their aims and desires are holy. V. The very core of depravity is hardness of heart, a dreadful lack of right sensibility. So the change of heart required of men is sometimes ex- pressed by giving them true and proper tender- A CHANGE OF HEART. 137 ness swaying their whole nature : " I will give them one heart, [not a heart and a heart as the Hebrew is for a divided heart,] and I will put a new spirit within you ; and I will take the stony [or unfeeling] heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh." Ezek. 1 1: 19. Compare Ezek. 36 : 26, 27. Jer. 32 : 39, 40, etc. VI. Often do the Scriptures compare the need- ful change of heart to circumcision. " Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff- necked." Deut. 10: 16. One of the promises is : "The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." Deut. 30:6. Compare Jer. 4:4. Now the use of circumcision was chief- ly'to teach us the spiritual truth that we must be changed in heart ; " For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly ; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh : but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; whose praise is not of men, but of God." Rom. 2 ; 28, 29 ; compare 1 Cor. 7:19; Phil. 3:3. VII. Sometimes the needful change of heart is in Scripture spoken of as a transformation. u Be ve transformed by the renewing of your J 12* 138 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. mind." Rom. 12:2. The word rendered trans- formed is in 2 Cor. 3:18 rendered changed — " changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." In Matt. 17:2, Mark 9 : 2, it is rendered transfigured. It expresses a thorough change. One of the Lexicons quotes a remarkable sentence from Seneca : " I see that I must not only be amended, but transfigured." The whole man must be changed. VIII. Sometimes the great change is spoken of as a renewal. " Be renewed in the spirit of your mind ;" ye " have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him." Eph. 4:23; Col. 3:10. Elsewhere Paul speaks expressly of " the renewing of the Holy Ghost," Tit. 3:5. Every one knows what it is to renovate, to take away all that is defective or wrong, and replace it with that which is sound and strong, thus making the thing as good as new. IX. At least once the great change is spoken of as a translation : " Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." Col. 1:13. The verb used conveys the idea of removal from one coun- try and settlement into another. Elijah was car- ried from earth, and thenceforward his home was in heaven. He was translated. Heb. 11:5. The A CHANGE QF HEART. 139 verbs in the two cases are not the same in the Greek ; but they both may be fairly rendered trans- lated. In the great change issuing in salvation God thoroughly changes both man's state and man's heart, and brings him into the kingdom and under the government of the Son of his love. There is no change greater than this. X. Again, this change of heart is styled a call- ing. All converted persons are called to be saints. Rom. 1 : 7 ; 1 Cor. 1 : 2, 24. This calling is both holy and saving. 2 Tim. 1:9. It is heavenly. Heb. 3:1. It is from heaven. It is excellent. It is a call to heavenly bliss. It is unto God's eternal glory by Jesus Christ. 1 Pet. 5:10. See also 1 Thess. 2:12; 4:7. This saving calling is effectual. It changes the heart and life just as it did those of Saul of Tarsus. When Christ calls and gives grace to obey the call, heaven is secure. XI. Sometimes a change of heart is spoken of as a creation, or new creation. Thus David prayed : " Create in me a clean heart, O God ; and renew a right spirit within me." Psa. 51 : 10. It is essential to salvation, for "in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor un- circumcision, but a new creature," or a new crea- tion. Gal. 6: 15. All real Christians are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good i 4 o TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. works ; and the new man is created in righteous- ness and holiness. Eph. 2: 10; 4:24. This cre- ation makes men new creatures indeed. It is marvellous to all ; to none more than to him who is the subject of it. XII. Sometimes the New Testament speaks of a change of heart as a passing from death unto life, or a resurrection from the dead. 1 John 3:14; Eph. 2 : 6. Jesus Christ used this form of speech in the boldest manner : " As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them ; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God : and they that hear shall live." John 5 :2I > 2 5- XIII. Another name for a change of heart is the new birth, regeneration, or being born again. Our Lord declares it necessary to salvation, and says we should not wonder at his urging it. John 3 : 3-7. It is certain that men will never believe on the name of Jesus, if they are not born of God. John 1 : 12, 13; 1 John 5:1. The washing of re- generation is the sure method adopted by the mercy of God to save us. Titus 3:5. In this great change much honor is put upon the word of God as the instrument. 1 Pet. 1 : 23. Who- A CHANGE OF HEART. 141 ever is truly born of God has learned to despise the wealth, the honors, and the pleasures of the world as a portion, i John 5 : 4. Such a one hates sin and loves holiness. 1 John 5: 18. He longs after conformity to God. He never makes a trade of sin. XIV. All these modes of representing a change of heart show : 1. That it is a great change — a change so great that every fit form of speech is used to mag- nify it. It is a change celebrated in heaven itself. Luke 15:7. It is the setting up of God's king- dom in a human soul, that shall live and exult for ever. Passing from earth to heaven is not a greater change in one's state, than is a passing from death to life in one's heart and character. 2. A saving change of heart is internal. It is in the inmost soul. It is a writing of the law on the heart. It is not any outward reformation, nor submission to baptism. Simon Magus was bap- tized, but he was in the bond of iniquity and in the gall of bitterness still. Acts 8:23. 3. It is not a partial change, but it is thorough and universal : " Old things are passed away ; be- hold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. 5:17. It changes men's aims, and hopes, and fears, and views, and lives. 142 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. 4. It is a change above nature. It is by the Holy Ghost, by the power of God, even " the ex- ceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power." Eph. 1 : 19. 5. It is a vital and essential change. With- out it there is no salvation. Men may be saved without money, without friends, without honor, but not without the new birth. John 3: 3, 5. JUSTIFICATION. 143 CHAPTER XXII. JUSTIFICA TION. I. However much men are divided on the doc- trine of justification, they generally seem united in their views of its importance. The Scriptures say much on the subject. It is the leading doc- trine of the Epistle to the Romans, and of the Epis- tle to the Galatians. It is brought forward in the book of Genesis, in the Psalms, and in the last chapter of the Bible. II. All men are just or unjust. All are saints or sinners; all are godly or ungodly; all are the children of God or the children of the wicked one ; all are justified or condemned. All are now in favor with God, or they are out of his favor. III. I have never seen a better definition than this : " Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners, in which he pardoneth all their sin, accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight ; not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone." This is true and clear. 144 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. IV. No man is by nature justified. We are all by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Eph. 2:3. " There is none righteous, no not one." Rom. 3 : 10. The law speaks as it does, " that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Rom. 3,19. So sad is our case, that "we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags ; and we all do fade as a leaf ; and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away." Isa. 64 : 6. Such is the uniform testimony of God's word. V. Justification is the opposite of condemna- tion. Throughout the Scriptures these are spoken of as opposite states. Deut. 25 : 1 ; Job 9 : 20 ; Prov. 17:15; Matt. 12 : 37; Rom. 5:18. What- ever condemnation is, justification is the opposite; and every man is in one or other of these states. VI. As no man is justified by nature, so no man is justified by his own works. If any shall do all that is commanded them, they are still bound to say, " We are unprofitable servants : we have done that which was our duty to do." Luke 17:10. No man can do more than his duty, and so the exact performance of present duty cannot cover past sins. The Scripture is clear : " By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his JUSTIFICATION. 145 sio-ht." " A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ." " No man is justified by the law in the sight of God." Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16; 3:11. Angels never sinned. They are justified by law. Until man sinned he was justified by law. This way does not now suit us : " Cursed is every one that con- tinued not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." Gal. 3:10. VII. God alone justifies. None else can do it. None has power to do it. It is one of God's highest rights. It is his peculiar privilege. He is the Justifier. Rom 3 : 26. It is God that justifi- ed!. Rom. 8:33. God is Judge of all the earth. When he condemns, men are lost. When he jus- tifies, none can condemn. VIII. Man's justification is all of grace, unde- served kindness, unmerited mercy. "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Rom. 5:6. " God commend- eth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8. " When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." Rom. 5:10. Paul says expressly that God " justifieth the ungodly." Rom. 4 : 5. That is, in justifying a sinner, the Lord looks on him as in himself lost, guilty, undone. 1'i'iitlis for the People. J.O i 4 6 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. No other scheme would suit us sinners, or be to us good news. IX. An essential part of justification is the pardon of sin — all sin, original, actual, sin of omis- sion, sin of commission, open sin, secret sin. Par- don and forgiveness are the same thing. By Jesus Christ "all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." Acts 13:39. In God's Word much is said of the pardon of sin, such as casting it into the sea, casting it behind the back, blotting it out, burying it, washing it away, forgetting it, covering it, not imputing it, taking it away, etc. When pardon comes at all it is complete : " There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Rom. 8:1. The grace shown in the pardon of men's sins is without a parallel. X. Those who are pardoned are also accepted in the Beloved. Eph. 1 : 6. These two things are never separated, though we distinguish between them. The great prophet who foretold the finish- ing of transgression, making an end of sins, and making reconciliation for iniquity, also speaks of brin^ino: in everlasting riohteousness. Dan. 9 : 24. It was a chief desire of Paul that he might "win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own JUSTIFICA TION. 1 47 righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ." Phil. 3 : 8, 9. One of the prophetic names of Christ was, the Lord our Righteousness, Jer. 23:6. "By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Rom. 5:19. Christ is "of God made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemp- tion." 1 Cor. 1 : 30. God "hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5 :2i. XI. Thus the justification of the believing sin- ner is complete. Very many times remission is said to be by his blood. Zech. 9:11; Matt. 26:28; Rom. 5 : 9 ; Eph. 1:7; 2:13; Heb, 9: 12, 14, 22; 10:19, 20. Very often we are said to be accepted by the righteousness, the obedience of another. These two things are often happily united in Scrip- ture. Paul says, " Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God im- puteth righteousness without works, saying, Bless- ed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Rom. 4: 6-8. This justification is complete and irrevocable, and is followed by salvation. Rom. 8 : 32-39. Christ's righteousness is imputed, counted, reckoned to his 148 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. people for their justification before God. Rom. 3 : 21, 22; 4: 3-6, 8-1 1. XII. We are made partakers of salvation, and are justified by the righteousness of Christ through faith ; even " the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe." Rom. 3:22. Compare Rom. 4: 14, 16, 18, 24; 5: 1. XIII. The greatness of God's mercy in the justification of sinners is beyond all man's powers of estimation. It will be a theme of thanksgiving in the ages of eternity. It is celebrated in heaven itself. Rev. 5: 9-14. XIV. The wisest thing any sinner can do is to accept from the heart God's Son, and God's way of saving man. " For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Rom. 10:4. And "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. 3:11. Oh that all would believe ! XV. If these things are so, some may ask, "Wherefore then serveth the law?" Gal. 3:19. The answers are clear: 1, By the law is the knowl- edge of sin. Rom. 3 : 20. 2. Justified men need a rule to direct their steps. 3. The law is in many cases useful in restraining men's corrup- tions. 4. Right views of the law show us our ill JUSTIFICATION. j 49 desert, and so lead us to behave meekly and hum- bly under afflictions. 5. God has so arranged the plan of salvation that a loving obedience to the precepts of the law meets with divine acceptance and a gracious reward. " We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully." 1 Tim. 1 : 8. 13* 15c TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER XXIII. SANCTIFICA TION. I. Justification and sanctification are often joined in Scripture, and always united in fact. The proofs are ample. " Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." Psa. 32:1,2. Compare Rom. 8:1; 2 Tim. 1:9; 1 Thess. 4:7; Titus 2 : 14, and especially Phil. 3 : 8-12. He who hopes for sanctification without justification, and he who hopes for the latter with- out the former, are trying to put asunder what God hath joined together. Both are sadly de- ceived. II. Sanctification widely differs from justifica- tion. In justification sin is pardoned ; in sanctifi cation sin is subdued. In justification grace se- cures acceptance; in sanctification grace gives strength to resist temptation, and victory over the world. In justification we are freed from wrath, and are regarded and treated as righteous; in sanc- tification we are freed from the reigning power of sin. Justification is an act; sanctification is a SANCTIFICATION. 151 work. Justification is an act done in heaven ; sanctification is a work done in us. Justification gives a title to eternal happiness ; sanctification gives us meetness for the joys and services of heaven. Justification changes our state; sanctifi- cation changes our character. Justification is per- fect at once in all cases ; sanctification ordinarily is imperfect at first — a little leaven cast into three measures of meal. Sanctification proves justifi- cation ; but justification cannot prove sanctifica- tion. III. Sanctification differs from regeneration as the ripe or ripening corn differs from the tender blade at first put forth ; as the fruit-bearing tree differs from the little scion; as the strong man differs from the new-born babe. Regeneration is the beginning of sanctification ; sanctification is the completion of regeneration. In regeneration the seed is sown ; in sanctification the harvest comes on. Young converts, except that they have a real change of heart, seem often to differ but little from men of the world. 1 Cor. 3:1-3. IV. Very kindly has God promised that his people shall grow and advance in holiness : " Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Right- eousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow r up as calves of the stall." 1 52 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE, Mai. 4 : 2. Ample provision is made to this end by the bestowment of the Holy Ghost: "Fear not, O Jacob, my servant ; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my bless- ing upon thine offspring : and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water- courses." Isa. 44 : 2-4. V. It is a duty to advance in holiness : " This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication : that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor." 1 Thess, 4 : 3, 4. " Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Pet. 3:18. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Heb. 12 : 14. VI. Like creation and providence, sanctifica- tion is a work of the Godhead : " I am the Lord which sanctify you." " I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good : but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." Lev. 20: 8 ; Jer. 32 : 40. In Jude t, believers are said to be "sanctified by God the Father." In 1 Cor, 1 : 30, it is said " Christ Jesus of God is SANCTIFICATION. 153 made unto us sanctification." Compare Eph. 5:26, 27. In 2 Thess. 2:13, Paul says, God " hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit." Compare Eph. 1:4; Matt. 3:11. VII. In this work God's children concur : " We are laborers together with God." " Having there- fore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filth iness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." 1 Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor. 7:1. This concurrence of God's people consists mainly in these things: 1. They consent to the law that it is good. 2. They greatly desire increase of holiness. 3. They pray and labor for it. 4. They deeply mourn and humble them- selves when they have it not. VIII. This sanctification is in the whole na- ture. Inspired writers use all the words necessary to teach this doctrine. Paul says : " The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thess. 5:23. Compare Ezek. 36: 25-27; Eph. 4: 22-32. IX. The great means of promoting the sancti- fication of believers is the gospel, sometimes called the grace of God, because it is a great fruit of his j 54 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. undeserved kindness, as in Titus 2:11, 12: "For the erace of God that brin^eth salvation hath ap- peared to all men, teaching us that denying ungod- liness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." Compare Eph. 5 : 26 ; Phil. 1:6; Heb. 12:10. X. The sanctification of believers is in this life imperfect. The best of men are men at the best. " There is no man that sinneth not." " There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." 1 Kings 8 : 46 ; Eccles. 7 : 20. Com- pare 1 Cor. 9: 27; 13:9, 10. So that "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Gal. 5:17. XL Because of these things we naturally ex- pect a warfare in the Christian life. Christian experience fulfils this expectation. In Romans 7: 14-25, the apostle Paul gives us the details of such a conflict in his own case. Some indeed have said that he did not refer to himself at all. But more than twenty times he says he did mean himself, using the words /, mine, me. Some say that he refers to himself in an unconverted state. But he says he refers to himself at the time of writing. All the verbs are in the present tense, as SANCTIFICATION. I55 am, do, allow, find, etc. Besides, no unconverted man ever "consents unto the law that it is good " nor " delights in the law of God after the inward man." Clearly the passage refers to Paul after his conversion. XII. Growth in grace is properly evidenced by increase of good works. " Every good tree bring- eth forth good fruit." " We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Matt. 7:17; Eph. 2 : 10. Compare Phil. 4:8. XIII. There is one class of evidences of growth in holiness much insisted on in the Scriptures. It consists of what are commonly called the passive virtues, such as meekness, humility, gentleness, forbearance, forgiveness, self-denial, etc. The greater attainments Paul made, the humbler he was. Some time after his conversion he speaks of himself as "unworthy to be called an apostle." Still later he says he was " less than the least of all saints." He enters heaven with the cry, " I am the chief of sinners." XIV. The longer men live, and the more they live to the honor of their Master, the brighter shall be their crown in heaven. " They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firma- 156 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. ment ; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever." Dan. 12:3. Com- pare Isa. 43 : 21 ; Matt. 5:12; Col. 3 : 24 ; 1 Cor. 15:41. XV. Therefore let every man live wholly unto God. " Behold, I come quickly : hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." Rev. 3:11 PRAYER. 157 CHAPTER XXIV. PR A YER. I. Atheism never worships. In practice mod- ern deism is atheistic. But there is no form of religion without prayer, and surely there is no sal- vation to those who restrain prayer. Our wants as creatures, and our necessities as sinners, can be supplied by Him who is infinite. Prayer is a duty taught by natural religion. II. In Scripture prayer is mentioned about five hundred times. It is spoken of in the first book of the Bible, Gen. 4:26; and in the last chapter of the sacred volume, Rev. 22 : 20. To speak of a prayerless Christian is as absurd as to talk of a living man who never breathes. As soon as Saul of Tarsus met with a change of heart, it was said, " Behold, he prayeth." Acts 9:11. III. Quite a variety of words and phrases are used in Scripture to express the act of praying, such as bowing down to God, serving him, calling upon his name, seeking him, entreating him, be- seeching him, inquiring of him, and, in one case, commanding him. In a single verse Paul speaks of supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks. 1 Tim. 2:1. 14 ir8 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. j IV. By nature we are poor creatures. We are ot sufficient as of ourselves to think anything good, or right, or holy. 2 Cor. 3:5. Nor can we of ourselves ever offer a right prayer : " Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities : for we know not what we should pray for as we ought : but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groan- ing which cannot be uttered. And he that search- eth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." Rom. 8 : 26, 27. So that all prayer truly pleasing to God, is indited by the Holy Ghost, who is freely given by God to all who sincerely ask for so great a blessing. Luke 11 : 1 3. V. According to Scripture there is no one pos- ture, and no particular set of gestures, attitudes, or intonations, requisite to acceptance in praying. David sat and prayed. 1 Chron. 17:16. Com- pare Exod. 17: 12. The publican stood and pray- ed. Luke 18:13. Daniel kneeled and prayed. Dan. 6:10. Jonah lay in the whale's belly and prayed. Jonah 2:1. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall as he lay in his bed, and prayed. Isa. 38 : 2. Our Lord prostrated himself with his face to the ground, and prayed. Matt. 26 : 39. Very often the ancients prayed with their hands and PRAYER, I59 eyes directed to heaven. So Moses lifted his hands till from weariness he could hold them up no more, till Aaron and Hur stood and held them up. Exod. 17:11, 12. Compare Psa. 141:2. But the publican lifted not up even his eyes to heaven, yet he was accepted. Our whole beha- vior should suit the occasion, and should express reverence, trust, and humility. VI. Nor does the power of prayer depend upon the words used. The Pharisee used many words and was rejected. The publican used few words and was justified. Luke 18 : 10-14. Hannah mur- mured or whispered her good prayer. 1 Sam. 1 : 1 3-1 7. When prayer is social or public, it should be in words understood by all who unite in the service. 1 Cor. 14 : 14-17. VII. Neither is the place nor the direction of the face towards anyplace of the least importance. The temple was once a very fit place of prayer. Isa. 56:7. Compare 1 Kings 8:29, 30; Dan. 6 : 10. But prophecy required that all this should pass away : " For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles ; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts." Mai. 1:11. 1 6 o TR UTHS FOR THE PE OPLE. Accordingly, when Christ came, he said to the woman of Samaria : " Believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father." John 4:21. The Lord looketh on the heart, not on the place where we are, when we call upon his name. VIII. For whom shall we pray? Not for the dead. 2 Sam. 12:15-23; Luke 16-25, 26; Rev. 14: 13. Again, living men may treat with such scorn and blasphemy sacred things, and especially the person and work of the Holy Ghost, that though they may be living and known to us, we shall not feel obliged or able to pray for such despisers. Compare 1 John 5:16; Mark 3:29. With these exceptions we are to pray for all men: for kino-s and rulers, 1 Tim. 2:1,2; for enemies, Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:27, 35; for unkind friends, who have wronged us, Job 42: 10; for the sick, Jas. 5 : 14-16 ; for the church, Psa. 122:6; for the afflicted, Psa. 50:15; Jas. 5:13; for mens souls and bodies, 3 John 2 ; for preachers of the gos- pel, 1 Thess. 5 : 25; for the wicked that they per- ish not, Jer. 31 17; in short, for all sorts of men. 1 Tim. 2:1. Bad men are in perishing need of help and mercy. Good men are in the midst of trials and enemies, and require help from God. We should pray for ourselves. Psa. 90: 17. PRAYER. 161 IX. We should pray often. Jesus spake two parables to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Luke n : 5-9 ; 18: 1-8. The Scriptures call on us to " continue instant in prayer." Rom. 12:12; to " pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, Eph. 6: 18; yea, to " pray without ceasing," 1 Thess. 5:17. X. It is required in all worship, in prayer par- ticularly, that it be intelligent. It is sad when it may be truly charged upon us, " Ye worship ye know not what." John 4: 22. In malice it is de- sirable that all be children, but in understanding let all be men. 1 Cor. 14 : 20. " What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also : I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also." 1 Cor. 14:15. XI. It is very important that all our worship should be offered in innocence and benevolence. It is shocking for men to come around the throne of grace with malice in their hearts and with stains upon their hands. That was a good resolution of David: " I will wash my hands in innocency : so will I compass thine altar, O Lord!" Psa. 26:6. And Paul says, " I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. 1 Tim. 2 : 8. And Peter exhorts us 14* 162 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. to " lay aside all malice, and all guile, and hypoc- risies, and envies, and all evil speakings." i Pet. 2 : i. Compare Matt. 5 : 23, 24 ; 6 : 14, 15. XII. All prayer that God is bound to answer must be offered in faith. Without faith it is im- possible to please God. Heb. 11:6; Jas. 1 : 6, 7. XIII. All acceptable prayer must be fervent and earnest. " The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." Jas. 5 : 16-18. XIV. In all prayer we must submit to the ulti- mate will of God. In this our divine Lord set us an example, which we should never forget. " O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me : nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." " O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done." Matt. 26 :39, 42. XV. With prayer the Scriptures often unite alms-giving. To Cornelius the Lord said in a vis- ion, " Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God." Acts 10:4. It was Je- PRAYER. ^3 sus who said, " It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20 : 35. He also said, " Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth." Luke 12 : 33. XVI. To prayer it is often proper to unite fasting. David says : " I humbled myself with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom." Psa. 35:13.. Daniel followed this ex- ample. Dan. 9 ; 3. Compare 1 Cor. 7 : 5. XVII. Both Christ and his apostles unite watching and prayer. In vain do we pray unless we watch. " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." Matt. 26:41; compare Mark ^3^33\ 14:38; Eph. 6:18; Col. 4:2. XVIII. Such prayer as the Scriptures require is wondrously efficacious. Psa. 50:15; Matt. 7:7, 8. There is no mightier influence exerted by creatures than that found in prayer. The his- tory of human salvation is a history of the power of prayer. It is God's memorial in every gener- ation, THAT HE HEARETH PRAYER. 1 64 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER XXV, GOD'S LA W. I. God is a Father, and teaches us to call him so. Mai. i : 6 ; Matt. 6 : 9. But he is also a Judge, Gen. 18:25; 2 Tim. 4:85 a Ruler, Mic. 5:2; Zech. 6:13; a Governor, Psa. 22 ; 28; Matt. 2:6; a King, Psa. 5:2; 10:16; a Lawgiver, Jas. 4:12; Deut. 6 : 24. One of the highest preroga- tives of government is the power of making laws. II. If God makes laws for his rational crea- tures, they are bound to study them, and learn what they mean. This is implied in nearly every verse of the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm. Compare Deut. 6 : 6-9. No duty can be clearer. Men are as surely bound to obey them. Deut. 13:4; Jer. 26:13; 42:6; Acts 5:29; Heb. 5 : 9. III. The law of God, as given from Mount Sinai, was in ten precepts, and is hence called the Decalogue, or the ten words, as the Hebrew ex- presses it. These ten precepts are statutes, ordi- nances, commandments. They claim and possess the highest authority. They are not given as advice, but as laws — laws of binding force. The GOD'S LA IV. 165 same ten precepts were repeated just before Israel entered Canaan. IV. The law of God is by our Saviour given in a briefer form. When one asked him, "Which is the great commandment in the law ?" Jesus an- swered him : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great com- mandment. And the second is like unto it : Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the proph- ets." Matt. 22 : 36-40. Compare Mark 12 : 28-31. V. The apostle Paul gives even yet a more, brief summary of the law of God : "All the law is fulfilled in one word, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Gal. 5:14. Again : " Love worketh no ill to his neighbor ; therefore love is the fulfill- ing of the law." Rom. 13: 10. While it is true that love is the essential element demanded by both tables of the law, it is right to say that the subject on which Paul is speaking in both of the places cited, is our duty to our neighbor. VI. A careful examination and comparison of Exod. 23 : 20, 21 ; Acts 7 : 30-38 ; and Heb. 12 :25, 26, will show that in a very important sense the Son of God was the author of the moral law, was present when it was given, and has ex- 1 66 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. pressed displeasure when it was broken. Christ is dishonored when men keep not the law. VII. The law has its binding force from the glorious character of the Lawgiver, and from his relations to his creatures. He is glorious in holi- ness. He is wonderful in working. He is Crea- tor, Preserver, and Redeemer. The law also binds from its own excellence. It is spiritual, Rom. 7:14; it is perfect, Psa. 19:8; it is holy, just, and good, Rom. 7:12; it is unchangeable, Deut. 452; Isa. 5 : 20; 2 Tim. 3:16. It is of course eternal. It is so declared to be by Jesus Christ. Matt. 5:17-19. One great object of the sermon on the mount, was to rescue this law from false glosses. VIII. This law was not only spoken by the mouth of God, but it was twice written by his finger. Deut. 4 : 33 ; 5:4, 22; Exod. 32:15, 16; 34 : 1 ; Deut. 10 : 4, 5. IX. This law was at first on two tables of stone ; and it is yet fitly spoken of as in two ta- bles. The first of these consists of the first four precepts, directly relating to our duty to God. The second consists of six precepts, defining our duty to man. X. The first commandment is, " Thou shalt have no other gods before me." This clearly re- GOD'S LAW. jQj quires us to know God, i Chron. 28:9; and to confess him, Deut. 26:17; to own him and to honor him, Psa. 95 : 6, 7 ; to meditate upon his character, Psa. 63 : 6 ; to choose him, Josh. 24 : 22 ; to love and fear him, Deut. 6:5; to trust, Exod. 14 : 31; Isa. 26 : 4; hope, Psa. 130 : 7, and delight m him, Psa. 37:4; to worship him in the way he appoints, Phil. 4 : 6 ; to study to please him, 1 Thess. 4:1; to be humble before him, and sorry when we offend him, Mic. 6:8; Jer. 31:18. It also for- bids us to think, live, or act like atheists, Jer. 2 : 27, 28; Psa. 81:11; to withhold from him any- thing that is his due, Isa. 43 : 22, 23 ; to be igno- rant or forgetful of him, Jer. 4:22; to have mean or vile thoughts concerning him, Acts 17 : 23, 29 ; to hate him, Rom. 1 : 30 ; to distrust him, Heb. 3:12; to be vain or proud in his presence, Rom. 1 : 30 ; to tempt him, Matt. 4:7; to restrain prayer before. him, Job 15:4; or to trust in ourselves or in any creature for effectual help or succor, Jer. 2: 13. XI. The second commandment is, " Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth : thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them ; for I the Lord thy God iCS TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth gen- eration of them that hate me ; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments." This law clearly requires that we should observe and keep pure all God's wor- ship, Deut. 32 146; Matt. 28; 20; we should pray and give thanks in the name of Christ, John 14:13; we should read, study, hear, and obey God's word, John 5 ; 39 ; Jas. 1:21, 22 ; observe the ordinances of his house, Matt. 28 : 19 ; vow, and pay our vows, Psa. 66: 13; and oppose all false worship, Micah 6:16; 1 Kings 12:33. It forbids worship not commanded by God, Deut. 4 : 15-19 ; Acts 17 : 29; the making or using any image or likeness to repre- sent God, or to aid in worship, Rom. 1 121-25. It forbids all superstition, all sacrilege, all con- tempt and hindering of God's worship, Acts 17:22; Col. 2 : 21-23. There is an awful reason given for keeping this command : " For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me : and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments." XII. The third commandment is: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in GOD'S LAW. 169 vain : for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." This commandment requires us in thought, speech, and act, holily and reverently to use God's names, Matt. 6 : 9, titles, Psa. 68:4, attributes, Deut. 28:58, ordinances, Eccles. 5:1, word, Psa. 19:7, works and worship, Psa. 138:2, such as prayer, praise, vows, oaths, and lots, 1 Cor. 10:31; Phil. 1 : 27. It requires us to do all to the glory of God. 1 Pet. 2:12. And it forbids us to indulge in vain, profane, or superstitious use of anything pertaining to God. Acts 17:23; Jer. 7:4. It forbids blasphemy, Ex-od. 5:2, perjury, Zech. 5 : 4, profane oaths, Matt. 5 : 34-37, rash or wicked vows, Acts 23 : 12, 14, bitter cursings, Rom. 12:14, murmurings against God, Rom. 9: 14-20, jesting with sacred things, Eph. 5 : 4, idle questions, 1 Tim. 6:4, 5, the use of charms, Deut. 18 : 10-14, hating of holy things, 2 Tim. 3:5, hypocrisy, Matt. 23 : 14, or in any way diminishing the fear of God in ourselves or others, Mark 8 : 38. The reason given is, " The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." XIII. The fourth commandment is : " Remem- ber the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work : but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God : Truths for the People. LiS i 7 o TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day : wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it." This precept requires us to keep holy all the time God has set apart for his service, expressly one whole day in seven. Gen. 2:3; 1 Cor. 16 : 1, 2. We are then to rest from all such works and em- ployments as are on other days lawful, Exod. 16:25-29; Jer. 17:21, 22; and spend those .sa- cred hours in such thoughts, reading, hearing, praying, praising, and conversation, as are suited to glorify God. Isa. 58 : 13, 14. It is a great sin to be weary of the Sabbath-day, or to be idle on that day, or to engage in needless works, words, and thoughts about worldly matters. Luke 23 : 54-56. This command is most reasonable. Exod. 23 : 12. God gives us six days ; he claims but the seventh part of our time. He has set us an exam- ple in resting the seventh day from all his works. This commandment is very solemnly enacted, be- ginning with the word " Remember." According to his promise, he greatly blesses those who keep holy the Sabbath. Isa. 56 : 2-7. According to GOD'S LAW. 171 his threatening, he sorely chastises those who pro- fane that sacred day. Jer. 17 : 27. " A Sabbath well spent Brings a week of content, And health for the toils of the morrow; But a Sabbath profaned, Whate'er may be gained, Is a sure forerunner of sorrow." 172 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER XXVI. GOD'S LA W— SECOND TABLE. I. We have already considered the first table of the law, which states our duty to God. We come now to consider the second table of the law, which regards our duty to man. The sum of it is, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." We as much need grace rightly to keep the sec- ond table as the first. II. The fifth commandment is, " Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." In the spirit of this law a father and a mother point not only to our parents according to the flesh, but to all who have authority over us, or are our superiors. We ought in heart, speech and act to honor and reverence our superiors, Prov. 16:31; pray for them, 1 Tim. 2 : 1-3 ; cheer- fully obey their lawful commands and good coun- sels, Eph. 6:1-7; be true and faithful to them, defend them, Tit. 2:9, 10; Rom. 13:6, 7; love them, and, as far as possible, hide their faults, Gen. 9:23. This commmand forbids us to envy our superiors, Numb. 11:28, 29; to despise them, GOD'S LAW— SECOND TABLE. 173 Isa. 3:5; to rebel against just authority, Exod. 21:15; to curse or mock them, Deut. 21 : 18-21 ; or try to put them to shame, Prov. 19:26. All this implies that parents and other superiors should love and pray for those under them, Eph. 6:4; should instruct and counsel them, Deut. 6:6, 7 ; defend them, Rom. 13:3; commend them, Esth. 6:3; and, when necessary, chastise them, Prov.. 29 : 15 ; but never to be bitter against them, Eph. 6:4. This precept also shows the sin of envying the gifts or grieving at the prosperity of ■ our equals. The promise added to this command- ment is, " That thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Com- pare Deut. 5:16; 1 Kings 8:25; Eph. 6:2, 3. It is a lovely sight to see a whole family or socie- ty ruled by the law of love. III. The sixth commandment is, "Thou shaft not kill." This requires a careful study and a lawful endeavor to preserve human life. 1 Sam. 19:4, 5. It therefore requires us to subdue all malignant passions, Psa. 37:8, 11; Prov. 22 : 24, 26 ; Eph. 4 : 26; and to be very careful in the use of food, drink, medicine, rest, and recreation, so as not to shorten life. Prov. 17:22; 23:20, 29, 30. It requires us to banish hatred, 1 John 3:15; 4:20, malice, envy, 1 Peter 2:1, unjust jealousy, Cant. 15* 174 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. 8 : 6, needless disquietude, unholy anger, Jas. 4 M ; Prov. 27:4; and to cherish love, pity, and kindness in our hearts, words and acts, 1 Cor. 1 3 : 4-7 ; to forgive injuries, Matt. 6:14; 15; Rom. 1 2 : 1 9, 20 ; and to help and defend the innocent, Prov. 24 11; 31 : 8, 9; Matt. 25:35, 36. It forbids the needless, careless, unjust or cruel wasting of human life, irritating words, Prov. 12:18; 15 : 1 ; injustice, Exod. 22 : 2, quarrelling, striking, Isa. 3:15, wound- ing or insulting men, Prov. 28:17, so as to dis- tress their spirits, or to tempt them to deeds of violence. IV. The seventh commandment is, " Thou shalt not commit adultery." This requires purity in the mind, in the heart, in words, looks, and acts. It requires us to be chaste in body, 1 Thess. 4 : 4, 5 ; to avoid unchaste sights and unchaste company. Job 31 : 1 ; Prov. 5 : 3-10. It says nothing against lawful wedlock. "Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefined." Heb. 13:4. Our Saviour was present at a marriage. It forbids adultery, fornication, rape, incest, sodomy, all unclean thoughts and affections, all wantonness in looks, dress, or behavior. 1 Cor. 7:2; Tit. 2:4, 5 ; Matt. 5:28; Jer. 5:7; 1 Cor. 5:9; 1 Tim. 2:9. It allows no man to have more than one wife, and no woman to have more than one husband. Wc GOD'S LAW— SECOND TABLE. 175 should avoid everything that begets in us or in others any want of purity or temperance. Eph. 5 : 3, 4. Husbands ought to love their wives very tenderly, and very strongly, even as Christ loved the church. Eph. 5 : 29, 33. And wives should reverence their husbands and love them. Eph. 5 : 33 ; Titus 2 14, 5. V. The eighth commandment is, " Thou shalt not steal." This clearly requires truth, justice, fairness, honor, and fidelity in trades and bargains between man and man. Psa. 15 : 2, 4. We should give to every man, and every body of men their dues. Rom. 13:7. It requires contentment with our own lot. 1 Tim. 6:8. It enjoins kindness to the poor and needy. Deut. 15:7, 8, 10; 1 Tim. 6:17, 18. Every one ought to have some proper business, and be industrious in it. Rom. 12:11; Eph. 4:28. It is our duty to care for those de- pendent on us, particularly poor and aged rela- tives or neighbors. 1 Tim. 5 : 8. This precept forbids all stealing, all robbery, all cheating, false weights and measures, all oppression, extortion, usury, vexatious law-suits, covetousness, love of the world. 1 John 2:15, 16. It is wicked to waste our worldly goods, and it is wicked to hoard them up, or to receive stolen goods. Prov. 29; 24 ; Psa. 50 : 18 ; James 5:4; Eccl. 4 : 8. 176 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. VI. The ninth commandment is, " Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." A neighbor is any one to whom we can do good or harm, whether he lives near us or not. Luke 10:30-37. This commandment requires us to think, feel, speak and act truly, Psa. 15:2, and sin- cerely, 2 Chron. 19:9, towards all our fellow-men. We should love and rejoice in their good name, 3 John 4, in their gifts and graces, Rom. 1 : 8. We should defend the innocent. Psa. 82 : 3. We should take sides with the slandered. Psa. 15:3; Prov. 25:23. We should keep our word and study and practise all things that are true, honest, lovely, and of good report. Phil. 4 : 8, The sins against this commandment are many and heinous : such as telling lies, giving false evidence, Luke 3 : 14; Prov. 19 : 5 ; asking other people to do so, calling evil good, and good evil, Isa. 5:20; forgery, back-biting, Psa. 15:3; Rom. 1:30; detracting, tale-bearing, whispering, Rom. 1:29; scoffing, Prov. 21:9; railing, 1 Tim. 6:4; reviling, 1 Cor. 6:10; flattering, Prov. 20:19; boasting, Prov. 20: 14; or encouraging others to do these things. We may not take sides with the rich or poor when we pass judgment. We must not "respect per- sons." We must not be glad when men do wrong or when they suffer wrong. Read James 2 : 1-18. GOD'S LAW—SECOND TABLE. 177 VII. The tenth commandment is, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." Surely this re- quires contentment with our own lot, Heb. 13:5, and pleasure at the good success of our neighbor, Rom. 12:15. Surely it forbids all discontent, all envy, James 3:14, 16, all ill-will towards others, as well- as all vain-glory, Gal. 5 : 26, and all the pride of life, Prov. 8:13; 11:2. VIII. We should keep all these precepts. "Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments." Psa. 119:6; Compare 1 Cor. 7:19. In no other way can we prove our love to Christ. John 14:23. Nor is there any substitute for an honest, simple, earnest keeping of the law of God. Deut. 10 : 12, 13 ; 28:58,59; Micah 6 : 6-8. IX. The motives urged upon us for keeping God's commandments are, 1, it is our duty; 2, his commands are not grievous ; 3, we are under ob- ligations of Gratitude ; 4, God is worthy of all hon- or, and the highest honor we can give him is to obey him and imitate him. X. A right study of the law shows us that we are all sinners. " There is no man that sinneth 178 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. not;" " There is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not ;" " Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin ?" " If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." i Kings 8 : 46 ; Eccl. 7 : 20 ; Prov. 20 : 9 ; 1 John 1 : 8. XL It is a glorious truth that for the purposes of righteousness — complete justification — we are delivered from the law. Rom. 7 : 6. We are not under the law, but under grace. Rom. 6:14. The way of access to heaven by personal deservings is for ever closed against sinners. But thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift, Jesus Christ. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 6:23. A PROFESSION OF RELIGION. 179 CHAPTER XXVII. A PROFESSION OF RELIGION I. The same word in the Greek Testament is translated both Confession and Profession. Both these words mean an avowal, an open declaration. To confess Christ is to avow friendship for him when it is considered dangerous to do so. To profess Christ is to avow the truth of his gospel and yield obedience to his precepts, whether men are pleased or displeased- Timothy " professed a good profession before many witnesses." " Christ Jesus before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good con- fession. 1 Tim. 6 : 12, 13. In the Greek we have the same word in both verses. II. A profession of religion may be made in words. Thus the Ethiopian said, " I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Acts 8 : 37. Or it may be made by deeds, as when Joseph of Ari- mathea begged the body of Jesus, and took it, and laid it in a new sepulchre. John 19 : 38-42. So Onesiphorus by noble acts professed his belief in Christianity, when he was not ashamed of Pauls chain, but diligently sought him, found him, and ministered to him. 2 Tim. 1 : 16-18. Paul tells t8o TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. us of some, who " profess that they know God : but in works they deny him." The best profes- sion is when both by words and deeds we own our Master and show our love to his cause. " All real Christians are professors, but all professors are not real Christians." Custom, conscience, education, vanity, novelty, lead many to a heartless profession. Study the case of Saul, John, Herod, the stony- ground hearers, and the foolish virgins. III. A good profession is, i. Intelligent. A man must know whereof he affirms, and have a reason of the hope that is in him. 2. It must be sincere. Hypocrisy spoils everything. An insin- cere profession of love is very odious to any right- minded man. It must be infinitely odious to God. 3. It must be humble, not proud, not like those who, professing themselves wise, become fools. 4. It must be stable, not like that of some, who went back and walked no more with Him. John 6 : 66. " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Rev. 2:10. Nor is this all. 5. A good profession must be made from love to Christ and his cause. It must flow from grati- tude. 6. It must contain an unreserved surrender of soul and body, time and talents, to God. We must keep back no part of the price. We must give him all. 7. Such a profession is necessary; A PROFESSION OF RELIGION. 1S1 for " with the heart man believeth unto righteous- ness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom. 10 : 10. IV. That it is a binding duty to profess Christ, and avow our love to him and his cause, is certain, i. No man lights a candle, and puts it under a bushel, but on a candlestick ; and it sfiveth li^ht unto all that are in the house. Let your light shine. Matt. 5 : 15, 16. 2. If we have found out a blessed secret, " the secret of the Lord," we ought to let others know what God has done for our souls. Psa. 66:16. The four leprous men, who found such abundance in the Syrian camp, rightly judged that they ought not to keep silence, when their brethren were perishing so near them. They w r ere afraid some mischief would come upon them, and they were right. 2 Kings 7 : 9. More- over, 3, Christ loved us openly, and why should we attempt to put him off with secret love ? He gave his back to the smiters, and his cheek to them that plucked off the hair: he hid not his face from shame and spitting. Isa. 50 : 6. Why should we study to avoid persecution by declining shame and reproach for Christ? 4. If all men should decline to profess love to Christ, he would soon have no known friends upon earth, and his church would become extinct. In the days of 1C, 1 32 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. Elijah there were a hundred prophets, but they were hid away in a cave, and could do nothing publicly for God. And there were seven thousand men which had not bowed the knee to Baal ; but, poor things, they were driven into silence. The power of their example was lost, except on a few who secretly knew their worth. 5. Then we have the command of God: "Come out from among them and be ye separate, 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. We are bound to hold forth the word of life, Phil. 2:16, and to hold fast our profession. Heb. 4:14. V. The reasons why men do not profess love to Christ, and so espouse his cause, are such as these: 1. Some have no love to him; and they know that a profession of attachment to his cause would be sheer hypocrisy. And so it would. They have candor enough to say so, but they have not conscience enough to quit their sins and turn to God, and then make a true profession of love to him. 2. Some are restrained because they wish to indulge themselves in some course of conduct not consistent with a good profession. Herod was greatly affected with John's preaching, but there was one sin he would not give up. 3. Others do A P£OFESSIOA r OF RELIGION. 183 not profess love to Christ because in their case it would make them unpopular, or bring upon them some reproach ; and they have no courage at all. 4. Yet others do not avow love to Christ because a profession of his name involves a confession of his divinity; and they claim to have doubts on that subject. But why should they doubt ? " Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ ?" " Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God : and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." " Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwell- eth in him, and he in God." 1 John 2:22; 4 : 2, 3, 15. " Many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist." 2 John 7. It is only ungodly men who deny the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 4.- 5. Some men, who have a work of grace begun in their hearts, have yet too weak faith to come out openly on the Lord's side. But where the heart is substantially right, there will surely be an in- crease of courage and an open avowal of love for Christ. See John 19:38-42. Those cases of Joseph and Nicodemus are very different from those mentioned in John 12:42, 43. The latter 1 84 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. did not truly love the Lord. They were also very different from that man and woman mentioned in John 9:22. These were mere evasive triflers. But we must profess our love to Christ, however perilous it may seem to be. Christ commended the church in Philadelphia, which with its little strength still kept his word. Rev. 3 : 8. VI. Well may saints be steadfast and intrepid in adhering to Christ Jesus because he is the High Priest of our profession. Heb. 3:1. " Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wa- vering: for he is faithful that promised." Heb. 10:23. We do not need, and we cannot have better support or encouragement than is thus given us through Jesus Christ. VII. Let us also think of the exceedingly glo- rious reward laid up for those who sincerely and steadily avow their love to Christ's person and cause. It is expressed in such terms as these: " Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heav- en." Matt. 10: 32 ; Luke 12:8. "He that over- cometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels." Rev. 3 : 5. Compare Heb. 2:ii; 1 1 : 16. A PROFESSION OF RELIGION. 185 VIII. But oh, the dreadful doom of those who are ashamed of Christ: "Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." Matt. 10:33; com- pare Mark 8:38; Luke 12:9. "If we suffer, [with him] we shall also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us." 2 Tim. 2:12. Could words of greater terror be spoken ! To be denied by Christ at the last interview with him and his saints, and to be cast out for ever from the light of life, oh, horror of horrors ! lo* 1 86 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER XVIII. HOW SAINTS ARE KEPT. I. It cannot be denied that God's people have many enemies, and are surrounded with terrible dangers. There is the world, with its enchant- ments, riches, pleasures, and honors. Now " all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of "the Father, but is of the world." i John 2:16. Then there is the flesh — the natural corruption that is in man. " The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh : and these are contra- ry the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Gal. 5:17. Then there is the great adversary, the devil, who, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Pet. 5:8. II. No marvel, therefore, that self-deceivers, whose hearts have never been really changed, should often give up their profession. The Scrip- tures tell us of such people, and warn us to expect apostasies. The longest-lived apostle explains their case : " They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they HOW THE SAINTS ARE KEPT. 1S7 would no doubt have continued with us : but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." 1 John 2: 19. Divine truth made no impression at all on the "wayside" hearers. Satan " immediately took away the word that was sown in their hearts." The stony-ground hearers were different. A pleasant impression was made on them, but they " had no root in themselves, and so endured but for a time." Still another class was impressed, but the " cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word." Mark 4:i5-i9. III. A good man once said : " If through God's mercy I shall reach heaven, three things will great- ly surprise me : 1. I shall find some there of whose salvation on earth I had no hope. 2. I shall meet many there of whose salvation on earth I had many fears. 3. The greatest wonder of all will be to find myself there." Every good man regards himself as a miracle of grace. Even real saints are at first but babes in Christ. Matt. 11:25; 1 Peter 2 : 2. The best men on earth confess their own weakness. 2 Cor. 12 : 10. Their safety very much consists in knowing their own weak- ness. So that all of us might despair of coming off conquerors. 188 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. IV. Were it not for God's plan and gracious purpose so clearly revealed in the Scripture, all men might despair. But he has said : " The moun- tains shall depart, and the hills be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." Isa. 54:10. " I have loved thee with an everlasting love;" " I will not turn away from them, to do them good ; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." Jer. 31:3; 32:40. " This is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I shall lose nothing, but shall raise it up again at the last day." John 6:39; compare John 17:12; Rom. 8:29, 30. V. God has set his hand to this work, and he is of one mind, and who can turn him ? Job 23 : 13. He never begins a work and gives it up because of difficulties. Paul was " confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Phil. 1 : 6. VI. The saints are kept because God is their keeper. " How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God ! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings." " The Lord HOW THE SAINTS ARE KEPT. 1S9 loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints ; they are preserved for ever." Psa. 36 : 7 ; 37: 28 ; com- pare John 17:11; Phil. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1 : 5. VII. Jesus says: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me : and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all ; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." John 10: 27-30. Christ and his Father are not divided in keeping the saints. When Paul was in great distress, did not Jesus say to him : " My grace is sufficient for thee : for my strength is made per- fect in weakness ?" Did not our Lord purchase his people at a great price, and shall he fail ? " Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conver- sation received by tradition from your fathers ; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." 1 Pet. 1 : 18, 19 But Christ has not only bought his people ; he also intercedes for them, and him the Father heareth always. John 1 1 : 42. " Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat ; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." Luke 22:31, 32. No wonder Pe- 190 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. ter was brought to repentance under the power of such prayer. Compare John 17 : 1-24. Jesus "is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make inter- cession for them." Heb. 7:25. VIII. God's word teaches that the Holy Ghost does keep and sustain Christ's people. He abides with them for ever. John 14:17. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Rom. 8:16. Surely the Holy Ghost will not allow his witness to be falsified. All the saints are strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man. Eph. 3:16. And so they are warned not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby they are sealed unto the day of redemption. Eph. 4 : 30. IX. Some of the passages already cited prove that saints are kept by the might, the strength of Jehovah. Other Scriptures speak the same lan- guage. Of the weak brother, Paul says : " He shall be holden up : for God is able to make him stand." Rom. 14:4. Of the good man, David says : " Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down : for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand." Psa. 37:24. And Peter says, that saints " are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." 1 Pet. 1:5; compare Eph. 3:16. HOW THE SAINTS ARE KEPT 191 X. In the preservation of the saints the word of God has its use, and does its part. " Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." John 15:3. " Thy word is very pure." Psa. 1 19 : 140. " Sanctify them through thy truth : thy word is truth." John 17:17. XI. God also keeps his people by stirring up their hearts to " put on the whole armor of God, that they may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Eph. 6: 11. He commands us to keep ourselves pure, 1 Tim. 5:22; and to resist the devil," with the promise, "he will flee from you." James 4: 7. XII. In preserving his saints the Lord makes much use of the gospel ministry, and so he com- mands : " Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief." Heb. 13:17. XIII. To the same end he employs the afflic- tions of his people. " He chastens us for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." Heb. 12:10. Compare 1 Pet. 1 : 6, 7. XIV. It is by and through faith that God's people have their stability. " Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the 192 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. \ ictory that overcometh the world, even our faith." i John 5:4, 5. Compare Psa. 125:1, 2; 1 Peter 1:5- XV. The blessed conclusion to which all these Scripture truths lead us, is abounding tri- umph in God through Jesus Christ. Find and read Rom. 8 : 35-39. DEATH. 193 CHAPTER XXIX. DEA TH. I. We all must die. That is certain. The thing is fixed. " It is appointed unto men once to die." Heb. 9: 27. None but fools deny this. II. Death to men comes by sin. It is the fruit of transgression. A part of the sentence passed upon man for eating the forbidden fruit was, " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. 3:19. The same is taught by Paul; "Death entered by sin." " By one man's offence death reigned by one." " The wages of sin is death." Rom. 5:12, 17 ; 6 : 23. III. No wonder then that death among men is often so painful, either to undergo or to behold. Brute animals die, sometimes in apparently great agony ; but even then there is no sign of the great distress often attending the death of men. IV. Nor can any one tell at what moment he must die, nor by what means he shall die. It may be with long and painful warning; or it may be without the least notice. V. The corruption of the body which soon follows death is very distressing. Even the most Truths for the People. X| 94 TRUTHS FOR THE FEOPLE. loving friend wishes his dead buried out of his sight. Gen. 23 : 4. We cannot divest ourselves of interest in the changes which our bodies un- dergo. It makes us sad that they must become loathsome. VI. We often spend time in thoughts upon the means used for removing men from the world. But God often strikes with death when we can see no means whatever. He has the keys of death and the grave. " Thou turnest man to destruc- tion." Psa. 90 : 3. VII. Death for ever ends the day of grace. " There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest." Eccles. 9: 10. To those who die in sin mercy is never again offered. If men persist in wickedness till they leave this world, they will never have another call to light and life. VIII. Good men do not really die as the wicked. To them death has no sting. 1 Cor. 15:56. The good man is taken away from the evil to come. Isa. 57:1. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace." " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." Psa. 37 : 37 : Rev. 14 : 13. IX. Seeing God is not angry with his people, why does he allow his children to die ? He did DEATH. I95 not allow Enoch and Elijah to die: but every other good man has died or shall die. We may not know all the reasons why God allows his peo- ple to taste of death. But if all wicked men died, and all the righteous were taken to heaven without seeing death, there would be a great deal of dis- tress in this world ; for it would be known in this life who was saved and who was lost. Besides, it is very right that, as their Lord entered the grave and rose again, so his people should die^also. Their death is blessed. They sleep in Jesus, i Thess. 4:14. It is enough that the disciple be as his Lord. X. Death is not an everlasting sleep. The soul cannot sleep. " God is not the God of the dead but of the living." Matt. 22:32. When Lazarus died he was carried by the angels to Abra- ham's bosom. God has promised eternal life— a conscious, happy existence— to all who love his Son and keep his commandments. At death the spirits of just men are made perfect. Heb. 12 : 23. All Christ's people shall be like him, for they shall see him as he is. 1 John 3 : 2. Nor are the wick- ed without sense or thought after death. The rich man awaked in hell, being in torments. Luke 16 : 23. At death the wicked pass into the pit of woe. Their doom is awful. Read Isa. 14:9-20. tq', TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. ? XI. Many have expressed great wonder that the mass of men, even in Christian countries, think so little about dying. Even some of the heathen seem to have thought a great deal on the subject. Xerxes wept in reviewing his great army, when he remembered that in a hundred years not a man of them would be living. Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, required a servant to awake him every morning by crying at his chamber, " Philip, remember thou art mortal. Philip, remember thou art mortal. Philip, remem- thou art mortal." The more light one has respect- ing the immediate consequences of death on the soul, the less is he disposed to think of the matter at all, unless he is prepared or preparing to meet God. XII. Mere familiarity with the subject of death makes no man wiser or better. It is well known that public executioners and soldiers, who often witness death in its worst forms, are but little affected by it. XIII. There is also a strong and a strange delusion in many minds respecting one's own mortality. "All men think all men mortal but themselves." Very firm health often strengthens this foolish impression. Some men have such an even tenor DEATH. t 97 to their lives that they vainly think it shall always be so. God has spared them a long time, and they say he will never call them to an account. " Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Eccles. 8: ii. It is a great weakness in men to think that because all is calm now, there will never be a storm. They have good days now; but let them remember that the night cometh when no man can work. John 9:4. It is not wisdom, it is fool-hardiness to cry, " To-morrow shall be as this day, and more abundant." XIV. The thoughts of men as to what con- stitutes full preparation for death are very various. Some seem to think a few words of mournful prayer, when one is about to breathe his last, will be ample preparation. Others rely on their alms- giving. Many others intend to repent and change their course of life. A few, who are taught from heaven, believe that the whole heart must be changed, and the whole nature renewed in this world. Dying will not convert an enemy of God into a friend of God. It is not the bitterness but the holy nature of our repentance that will prove it to be saving. Lost men and lost angels weep and howl for vexation of spirit ; but they sin on. 17* i 9 S TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. XV. No one can be fit to die who does not hate every false way, who does not turn from all sin, and lay fast hold on the merits of the Redeemer. Out of Christ God is a consuming fire. There is mercy for the chief of sinners who believes in Jesus. But there is no salvation for the proud, the self-righteous, the covetous, the envious, the malignant, the thief, the liar, or even for the de- cently moral man, to whom Jesus Christ is as a root out of a dry ground, without form or come- liness. To all who renounce themselves, their works and worth and will, and accept salvation as it is freely offered in Jesus Christ, eternal life is certain. XVI. One of the wonders in the plan of salva- tion is that by death Jesus Christ destroyed him that had the power of death. His death gave hope beyond death. It showed us the path of life — a life so blessed and so lasting, that it is one of the names given by inspired men to the immor- tal bliss which the Redeemed shall enjoy in the bosom of God for ever. XVII. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, i Cor. 15 : 26. He has tyrannized over the world for a long time, and his power will be more or less felt till death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire. Thenceforth he shall have DEATH. j 9() no power even to mar the bliss of the saints Mighty is the power and wondrous is the grace of him who can destroy the tyrant who for centu- ries lias gone forth conquering and prostrating before him one generation after another. Blessed be God for Jesus Christ. 200 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER XXX. THE RESURRECTION. I. The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is purely a doctrine of revelation. It is learned from the Bible, not from nature. Those thought- ful heathen, who expressed a hope that the soul was immortal, never taught that the body would live again. II. The great mass of infidels in every age have hated this doctrine, reviled it, and ridiculed it. When Paul preached it at Athens "some mocked." Acts 17: 32. In the days of our Sav- iour, the Sadducees, in their pride and folly, did the same thing. They framed absurd arguments against it, and insisted upon them as though they were true and unanswerable. III. This doctrine has always been precious to the people of God, nor will they ever give it up. It is taiiQ-ht in the Old Testament, in the sermons of Jesus Christ, and in the writings of his apos- tles. It is found in the Creed of every evangelical church that is or ever has been upon earth. If God's word teaches it, it is true. THE RESURRECTION. 201 IV. When we say that Christ will raise tiie dead, we do not mean that he will create new bodies for his people, but that he will "chancre our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working, where- by he is able to subdue all things unto himself." Phil. 3:21. He will raise up the same body, the same material frame, with which the soul was for- merly united. Paul expressly says that the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, shall also quicken our " mortal bodies." Rom. 8:11. V. Against the doctrine of the resurrection there has never been urged any objection, which was of any considerable force. It involves no ab- surdities. God has infinite knowledge, so that he ever knows how the same body that lies in the grave may be raised. And he has all power, so that at his bidding the necessary energy shall go forth to raise the dead. So that with Paul we may boldly say : " Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?" Acts 26:8. With God nothing; is impossible. Luke 1 : 37. From him nothing is hid. Matt. 10:26: Heb. 4:13; Job 26 : 6. VI. This doctrine has been the stay of God's people in all ages. The reason why Abraham was so upheld in offering Isaac was, that he " account- 202 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. cd that God was able to raise him up even from the dead." Heb. 11:19. In the midst of his great trials Job said : " I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me." Job. 19 : 25-27. VII. Later writers of the Old Testament teach the same doctrine. Thus says the evangelical prophet : " Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust : for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." Isa. 26 : 19. Compare Hos. 13: 14. Still later the prophet Daniel says : " Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Dan. 12:2. VIII. Our Lord Jesus Christ often spoke of the " resurrection ;" " the resurrection of the just ;" " the resurrection of life ;" " the resurrection of damnation ;" " the children of the resurrection," who cannot " die any more." Matt. 22 : 30; Luke 14:14: 20 : 36 ; John 5 : 29. IX. Christ's apostles taught the same doctrine. THE RESURRECTION. 203 They "preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead." Acts 4:2; 1 7 ; 18, 32 ; 24 : 21. X. The Old Testament tells us of three, who were raised from the dead — the child of the widow of Sarepta, the Shunammite's child, and the man whose body was put into the sepulchre of Elisha. Our Lord Jesus raised from the dead the daughter of Jairus, the young man of Nain, and Lazarus. And after Christ's resurrection many saints arose and showed themselves alive. Matt. 27 : 52, 53. XI. The fullest discussion of the resurrection found in Scripture, is in the fifteenth chapter of first Corinthians. It is too long to be here insert- ed. The reader will please turn to it and read it. This great discussion clears up many difficulties. A few remarks are offered for the right under- standing of this chapter. 1. The key to the whole passage is found in the fact that Paul is writing to believers, and is mainly treating of the resurrection of the just. He is comforting believers, not warn- ing sinners. 2. The doctrine of the resurrection must be held and taught. It is essential. With- out it preaching is idle, and faith is vain. Verses 14, 17. 3. The resurrection of Christ and that of his people are so connected, that he who denies the one subverts the other. Because Christ rose his people must rise. Verses 12, 13. 4. This 2o 4 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. doctrine is very consolatory to the suffering peo. pie of God. Verses 19, 20. It always has been so. 5. Christ's work for his people would clearly be imperfect, if he did not raise them from the dead. Verses 21, 22. 6. Hard questions con- cerning the resurrection are foolish, and have not even the merit of being new. Verses 35, 36. They all proceed from ignorance. 7. Nature tells us of many things quite as far beyond explanation as the resurrection of the dead, such as the growth of grain. Verses 36-38. Yet who denies the facts in the case of the wheat ? and why should we deny the facts in the resurrection ? 8. It does not at all impair the doctrine of the resurrection that the body we shall then have will be very dif- ferent from the body we now have. Verse 39-41. That is just what the Christian hopes for. 9. Some of the pious dead shall be raised in more glory than others. Verses 41, 42. One of the old prophets taught the very same thing. Dan. 12:3. 10. The resurrection body shall be fashioned by the Holy Ghost, and so shall be a spiritual body. Verse 44; compare Rom. 8:11. 11. On the sub- ject of the change effected 'by the resurrection, it is idle for us to indulge in conjecture. We can get no light on the subject beyond what is given in the Scripture. Verses 42-54. Wisdom will be THE RESURRECTION. 205 content with what God there teaches us. 12. Be- cause the change wrought in the resurrection will be very glorious, therefore the saints greatly desire it as the day of their triumph. Verses 54, 55. Else- where Paul says, they are " waiting for the adop- tion, to wit, the redemption of the body." Rom. 8:23. 13. This whole chapter in Paul's writings shows us how easy it is to fall into foolish mistakes and dangerous errors. Other Scriptures warn us directly on the subject. It is not easy to shun profane and vain babblings; for they naturally in- crease unto ungodliness. The errors of such eat like a cancer. 2 Tim. 2:16-18. 14. Paul's first inference from this doctrine is both logical and pleasing : " Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Verse 57. 15. Another inference from the doctrine is no less fair or pleasing to the pious. It is this : " There- fore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmove- able, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Verse 58. XII. If these things are so, then it follows : 1. We ought not to mourn as those without hope for our friends who have died in the Lord. They sleep in Jesus. And if they so sleep, they do well. 2. If we are Christ's, our own flesh shall 18 2o6 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. rest in hope. Death cannot harm us. 3. Let us lay fast hold of this doctrine, as Paul did. Hear him : " I have hope toward God, which they them- selves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a con- science void of offence toward God and toward men." Acts 24: 15, 16. THE JUDGMENT. z°*} CHAPTER XXXI. THE JUDGMENT. I. The doctrine of the judgment is very old. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, foretold it as clearly as any later prophet : " Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Jude 14, 15. II. David speaks of the judgment in Psa. 1 : 5. But Asaph gives a full and clear account of it in the fiftieth Psalm. There he speaks of the gran- deur of the event, of the Judge, of the persons to be judged, of the principles on which the judg- ment shall be conducted, and of the results of such judgment. III. Our blessed Lord is still more clear and minute in the account he gives us of this great event in Matt. 25 : 31-46 : "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all na- 2o8 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. tions : and he shall separate them one from anoth- er, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats : and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world : for I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in : naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, and fed thee ? or thirsty, and gave thee drink ? when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee ? or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee ? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels : For I was a hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in : naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and THE JUDGMENT. 209 ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment : but the right- eous into life eternal." In this passage these things are notable : 1. Men have seen Christ in his shame and suffer- ing. In the judgment they shall see him in his glory. Ver. 31. 2. On that day he shall be attend- ed by all the holy angels. Ver. 31. 3. Christ shall sit as a judge upon a throne. Once he stood, a poor, abused prisoner, at the bar of a weak crea- ture, Pontius Pilate. It is very different now. Ver. 31. Compare John 5:22; Acts 17:31. 4. There never was such an assemblage of men as shall take place at the judgment. It shall consist of all nations. Ver. 32. Compare Rom. 14: 10; 2 Cor. 5:10. 5. The last day will be a day of great and final separations. The sheep and goats will no longer herd together. Ver. 32, 33. 6. In the trial of saints, great prominence will be given to their deeds of love to Christ and his people. Ver. 35, 36. 7. It will then appear that real kind- 18* 210 TRUTHS TOR THE PEOPLE. ness to Christ's poor was as much esteemed by the Lord as if it had been shown to him in person. Ver. 40. 8. There is no more just ground of con- demnation than want of love to Christ. Ver. 42, 43. Compare 1 Cor. 16:22. 9. When his people suffer, Christ makes common cause with them. Their insults are his insults. Ver. 45. 10. The last day shall surprise all the saints. Ver. 37-39. It will no less surprise the wicked. Ver. 44. The righteous know that they deserve nothing good, and when great blessings come, they freely admit they are not worthy of them. On the other hand, the wicked, in their self-righteousness, think they deserve well at the hand of their Maker. We often hear them say as much. 11. The saints will be well off at last. Nothing can harm them. All good things are theirs. Ver. 34. 1 2. Woe to the wicked; it shall be ill with him. He shall depart accursed. Ver. 41. 13. The consequences of the judgment, both to saints and sinners, shall be last- ing, most lasting, everlasting. Ver. 46. Compare Dan. 12:2. IV. One event of history is, and is declared to be, a figure of the last judgment. It is the de- struction of Jerusalem by the Romans, when there was great tribulation, such as never was before, nor since, nor ever shall be to the end of the world. If THE JUDGMENT. 211 one would know something of the horrors of the last day, let him read Matthew 7 24 and Josephus' account of the destruction of the holy city. V. The time of the judgment will be the end of the world, immediately following the resurrec- tion. Matt. 1 3 : 39. The last transaction ever witnessed by earth will be the doom of the wicked. VI. Some have asked, How long will the judgment last ? It is called a day, the day, that day, the great day, the last day ; but the term day does not necessarily fix a definite period of time. In speaking of God's long-suffering towards sin- ners, Peter says, " One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 2 Pet. 3 : 8. From this some have inferred that the judgment will last a thousand years. But the words hardly warrant such an inference. It is enough for us to know that the judgment will not end till God's justice is fully displayed, and till he has brought forth the righteousness of his people as the light and their judgment as the noonday. VII. The matters judged of in the last day will be: 1. Men's thoughts. "The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord." Prov. 15 : 26. " The thought of foolishness is sin." Prov. 24 : 9. Then indeed shall the thoughts of many hearts be revealed. Wicked thoughts are 2i2 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. Christ's great enemies. They ought to be exposed. There is nothing hid that shall not be known. Matt. 10:26; Mark 4:22; Luke 8:17; 12:2. 2. Men will be judged for their words, good and bad. The Bible is explicit : " By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." Matt. 12:37. Yea, "every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." Matt. 12: 36. 3. Men shall be judged by and for their acts, both open and secret. " Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment : and some men they follow after. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand: and they that are otherwise cannot be hid." 1 Tim. 5:24, 25. It must be so. It cannot be otherwise: for "all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Heb. 4:13. God "will render to every man according to his deeds." Rom. 2 : 6. This has always been the doctrine of God's prophets. Compare Psa. 28 : 4; Isa. 59: 18. If men receive the fruit of their own doings they have none to blame but themselves. VIII. On the last day "the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth' also and the works that ire therein shall be burned up." 2 Pet. THE JUDGMENT. 213 3:10. God shall fold up the heavens as a vesture, and they shall be changed. Heb. 1 ; 12. No more place shall be found for any of the magnifi- cent structures or cities of earth. Rev. 20 : 1 1. IX. " Seeing that all these things shall be dis- solved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dis- solved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?" 2 Pet. 3 : 11,12. Oh that we all may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. 2i4 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. CHAPTER XXXII. HE A VEN. I. No man on earth knows much of heaven. Every living man is of the earth, earthy. None of us have ever seen any world but this. We are slow to believe spiritual truths relating to things that must be done on earth ; much more are we dull of understanding in regard to the world of glory. So Jesus said : " If I have told you of earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things ?" John 3: 12. II. And yet there is much intercourse between heaven and earth. But it is chiefly kept up by the angels. The ladder on which Jacob saw the angels of God ascending and descending has never been taken away, though we see it not. Gen. 28: 12. Jesus said no man hath ascended up to heaven. John 3:13. He thus taught us that no man then on earth had been to that bright world, and brought back a report of what he had seen and heard. III. After Christ said these things Lazarus spent about four clays in heaven, and came back to this world. But we have not any account of HE A VEN. 2 1 5 what he learned by his short abode there. Paul had many visions of the heavenly world ; but what he tells us is chiefly negative : " I heard unspeak- able words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter." 2 Cor. 12:1-7. When Paul says it was not lawful, he means that it was contrary to the divine will, that it was not edifying, or that he could not bring his mind to speak of heavenly things in any terms known to men. John also had many visions of glory; yet he too seems at a loss for words to give us an adequate idea of heaven. IV. The Hebrews spoke of three heavens : 1. The atmospheric heavens — so we read of the fowls of heaven. 2. The firmament through which the stars pass — and so we read of the stars of heaven, or host of heaven. 3. The holy heaven, where God shows his glory to his children. This they called the third heaven, or the heaven of heavens, or simply heaven, or the heavens. Heav- enly glory is spoken of as a crown, a crown of life, a crown of righteousness, an incorruptible crown, a crown of glory that fadeth not away. It is also called life, eternal life, everlasting life, a rest, glory, honor, immortality, a house not made with hands, our Father's house, the new heavens, the New Jerusalem, a heavenly country, a better country, 216 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. etc. Of this blessed abode God's word tells us the following things: V. Heaven is a place. Jesus says so: "I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:2. It must be a place; for there are the glorified bodies of Enoch, of Elijah, and of our Lord Jesus Christ. VI. Heaven is a very large place. The lar- gest walled city of antiquity was fifteen miles square. But this great city is said to be fifteen hundred miles square. Rev. 21:16. We may regard this as figurative language, but the lesson is that heaven is not a little retired place in some remote corner of the universe. It is the largest city ever built, the greatest country ever heard of. VII. Heaven is a fixed place. It "hath foun- dations, and its builder and maker is God." Heb. 11:10. The mountains shall melt, the sea be burnt up, the heavens pass away with a great noise, but heaven is as stable as the throne of God. VIII. Negatively we know a good deal of heaven. " There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie;" "there shall be no more curse;" "there shall be no night there;" "without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremon- gers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and ma- keth a lie." Rev. 21 : 27; 22 : 3, 5, 15. The Lord HEAVEN. 217 of hosts will wipe away tears from off all faces, and for ever take away the rebuke of his people ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain. Isa. 25 : 8; Rev. 7:17; 21:4. And there shall be no more sea. Rev. 21:1. That is, there will be no longer any risk or difficulty in the saints having intercourse with each other; or there will be no more swelling troubles, rising tumults, which are often compared to raging waves of the sea. IX. Great and good refreshments are there provided for the saints. There is the fountain of the water of life freely given to him that is athirst. Rev. 21:6. "He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month : and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Rev. 22:1,2. X. Then the society of the holy city is the very best. It is made up of the nations of them that are saved. Rev. 21 : 24. Not a choice spirit of earth shall fail to be there. " It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." Matt. 18:14. To these Truths for the People. 19 2iS TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. shall be joined the "elect angels," i Tim. 5 : 21, cherubim, seraphim, principalities, powers, all our elder brethren who kept their first estate. XL In heaven great advances shall be made in knowledge. How could it be otherwise ? " Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face : now I know in part ; but then shall I know even as also I am known." 1 Cor. 13: 12. XII. The church shall then be very glorious. " The King's daughter is all glorious within : her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework : the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the King's palace." Psa. 45:13-15. Compare Eph. 5 : 25-27. All this well suits what John saw — the church prepared as a bride adorned for her husband — the Lamb's wife. Rev. 21:2, 9. XIII. All Scripture represents the final state of the church as lovely and admirable. " The building of the wall of the city was of jasper : and the city was of pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones." Much more is said to the same effect. See Rev. 21 : 18-21. HE A FEN. 2I9 XIV. Nothing can excel the blessed fellowship of the redeemed with God in glory. Even here it is very precious, i John i : 3. But there the " tab- ernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God him- self shall be with them and be their God." "And I saw no temple therein : for the Lord God Al- mighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." Rev. XV. Many Scriptures show that the Lord Jesus Christ is a very prominent object in heaven. He is the source of light and life and joy in that blessed world. There is a world of meaning: in that one phrase, " The Lamb is the light thereof." Rev. 21 : 23. Compare John 14 : 3; 17 : 24; Phil. 1:23; 1 John 3:2; 1 Pet. 2:7. Without the presence of the glorified person of our Lord and Saviour no place would be heaven. XVI. Nor are God's children bold intruders into this heavenly bliss. They are welcome guests. They are not there in despite of truth and justice. They "have right to the tree of life," and so "enter in through the gates into the city." Rev. 22 : 14. Compare John 1:12; 1 John 1:9; Rom. 10 : 4 ; Eph. 2 : 19, 21. XVII. Let every one ask himself the questions: " Am I a Christian ? Am I fit for heaven ? If I 2 2o TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. were to die to-day, would I go to Jesus ?" If you are Christ's, you are living unto righteousness. Has he brought you unto God? Has he changed your heart ? Has he redeemed you from all ini- quity, and purified you unto himself as one of his peculiar people, zealous of good works? Tit. 2 : 14. "If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his." Rom. 8:9. " If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die : but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live : for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Rom. 8:13, 14. All others are vain pretenders. HELL. 221 -CHAPTER XXXIII. HELL. I. A belief in hell is not confined to Chris- tians. All nations, who have held to an existence beyond this life, have believed that there was a place of torment for the wicked. How the heathen came to hold this doctrine may be disputed. But Christians learned it from the Old and New Tes- taments, where it is very clearly taught. II. Hell is a place. It is so called—" this place of torment." Luke 16:28. It must be a place, for it is to be the abode of the wicked after their bodies shall be raised. Matt. 5:29, 30; 10:28; Luke 12 : 5. Yet we know not where this place is. It would do us no good to know that. Wild and bold assertions have been made as to the local- ity of hell, but some one says : " We must here confess our ignorance, and shall be much better employed in studying how we may avoid this place of horror, than in laboring to discover where it is." III. All the names given to this doleful place and to the sufferings there endured, are suited to nil us with dreadful apprehensions. It is called a prison. 1 Pet. 3:19; Rev. 20:7. There shall 19« 222 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. be confined all incorrigible criminals. It is called a pit — the bottomless pit. Rev. 20:3. Those who fall into it rise no more, but sink still lower for ever and ever. It is called outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matt. 8:12. It is called the blackness of darkness, Jude, 13, where no ray of light or hope ever enters. It is the darkness outside. It is called the second death, which is explained as being the lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone, and for ever tosses on its angry billows the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars. Rev. 21:8. It is called the place of torment. Luke 16:28. This cannot mean any- thing that can comfort, or calm, or quiet the soul. Perhaps there is not a more awful word in any language than our English word torment, unless it is its plural, torments, found in Luke 16 :23. IV. All the punishments inflicted on the wick. ed will be righteous. One of the most dreadful elements of their miseries will be their perfect justness. If the wicked could truly say that they had been unfairly dealt with, this would take away something, yea, much of the poignancy of their anguish. But because God is " a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he," Deut. 32:4; HELL. 223 therefore all pleas of injustice will for ever be set aside. Sin is an evil of such magnitude as to de- serve all that God has ever threatened against it, or shall ever inflict upon it. V. Yet the Scriptures freely admit that there will be different degrees of punishment among the wicked. To those who heard his words and sinned still, Christ said, " It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon and the land of Sodom at the day of judgment, than for you." Matt. 11 :22, 24. The same doctrine is taught in Rom. 2:12; Heb. 10: 28, 29. VI. The punishment of those who die in their sins shall be everlasting. So teaches the Old Tes- tament : " Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Dan. 12:2. So teaches the New Testament. The Lord of Life and glory says of the wicked : " These shall go away into everlasting punishment ; but the rio-hteous into life eternal." Matt. 25 : 46. In both these verses we have the same word to express un- ending duration in the case of the righteous and of the wicked. If they do not prove that the pun- ishment of sinners shall be eternal, they do not prove that the happiness of the righteous shall be everlasting. Thus we would take away all mean- 224 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. ing from the word of God. By Paul God declares that the wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. 2 Thess. 1 : 9. Of certain reckless men Judas (not Iscariot) says that they are "wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever." Jude 13. Of others John says, " they shall be tormented day and night for ever." Rev. 20: 10. That these terms and phrases declare the punishment of the wicked to be unending, is very clear. Dwight says, " The phrase commonly rendered for ever and ever, is found in the New Testament eighteen times. In fifteen instances it is applied to the glory, perfec- tion, government, and praise of God. In one case (Rev. 22 : 5) it is said of the righteous in the future world, ' they shall reign for ever and ever.' " In the other two instances it is applied to the suffer- ings of wicked men, and once of wicked men as associated in misery with devils. Rev. 19:3; 20: 10. VII. The same doctrine is taught by fair and legitimate inference. Of Judas Iscariot our Lord said, " It had been good for that man if he had never been born." Matt. 26:24; Mark 14:21. Now if Judas merely suffered remorse here, and a temporary punishment in the next life, and yet HELL. 225 at last attains to everlasting life in glory, it was good for him that he had been born. In this case it is certain that unending misery has followed transgression. VIII. Nor is this all. Our Saviour declared that the sin " against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damna- tion," and "that it shall not be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come." Matt. 12 : 32 ; Mark 3 : 29 ; Luke 12:10. Language could not be clearer. If a sin has no forgiveness, the sinner is for ever under condemnation, and of course must be liable to endless punishment. IX. Speaking of the doom of the wicked, our Lord declared that in their misery, " their worm shall not die, nor their fire be quenched." Mark 9:44, 46, 48. Is not this both clear and terrible? X. Nor is this all. The Scriptures say : " Be- hold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6 : 2. But if the doc- trine of Restorationists is true, this is no more the accepted time and the day of salvation, than some hundreds or thousands of years hence will be. XI. When Jesus Christ was upon earth he said, " The night cometh when no man can work." John 9:4. But if we are to believe the doctrines of some modern errorists, there is a great deal of 226 TRUTHS FOR THE PEOPLE. work done in the grave; yea, some men do all their work after the night has come. Many other Scriptures might be quoted to the same effect. XII. Some men say God is too good to send them to hell for ever. But a God who is too good to do such a thing, is certainly too good to say that he would do it. And he has often said he will do it. Dare any say he is a false wit- ness ? Others in like manner declare their con- fidence in the divine mercy — the very mercy which they slight and abuse. Have they forgotten the awful words of the evangelical prophet ? " He that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor." Isa. 27: 11. Or have they forgotten the no less awful words of the apostle? "He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy." Jas. 2: 13. CONCLUSION. 227 CONCLUSION. 1. Let all men beware of the leaven of false doctrine. To old and young, to wise and simple, its approaches are cunning. The enemies of the truth are full of guile. They boast. They flatter. They cozen. They have no mercy. 2. Sin is a dreadful thing. No wise man makes light of it. Its fruits are bitterness and death. If men would avoid eternal wailings, let them cease to do evil, and learn to clo well. 3. How glorious is the work of Christ. He saves from sin. He saves from wrath. He saves from an eternal hell. 4. What a mercy it is to be allowed to live in a gospel land, to hear the gospel call, and to know that hearty prayer will be heard. Soon it will be different, when once the Master of the house shall have risen up and shut to the door. Luke 13:23-28. 5. No prospects are so dark or dismal as those of impenitent men. Oh that they were wise!