NO. 10
OCTOBER, 1913
VOL. IV
FIFTY CENTS A. YEAR
MOTTO: “I the Lord do keep it. I will water it every moment lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.”—Is. 27:3 THE KING’S BUSINESS R. A. TORREY, Editor J. H. SAMMIS, T. C. HORTON, J. H. HUNTER, Associate Editors Entered as Second-Class matter November 17, 1910, at the postofflce at Los Angeles, California, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Organ of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles [Inc.] Auditorium Building, Cor. Fifth and Olive, Los Angeles, California.
DIRECTORS.
Lyman Stewart, President. T. C.- Horton, Superintendent.
Rev. A. B. Prichard, Vice-President.
J. M. Irvine, Secretary-Treasurer.
R. A. Torrey, Dean Giles Kellogg. Robert Watchorn. William Thorn.
H. A. Getz. E. A: K. Hackett. S. I. Merrill.
DOCTRINAL STATEMENT. We hold to the Historic Faith of the Church as expressed in the Common Creed of Evangelical Christendom and including: The Trinity of the Godhead. The Deity 6f the Christ. The Maintenance of Good Works. . The Second Coming of Christ. The Immortality of the Soul. The Resurrection of the Body.
The Personality of the Holy Ghost. The Supernatural and Plenary au thority of the Holy Scriptures. The Unity in Diversity of the Church, which is the Body and Bride of Christ. The Substitutionary Atonement. The Necessity of the New Birth.
The Life Everlasting of Believers. The Endless Punishment of the Im penitent. The Reality and Personality of Satan.
OUR WORK.
Purnose r^^ie Institute trains, free of r u i p s c cog^j accredited men and women, in the knowledge and use of the Bible. Departmeats cept Saturdays and Sundays. (2) Extension work. Classes and con ferences held in neighboring cities and towns. (3) Evangelistic. Meetings conducted by our evangelists.
(4) Spanish Mission. Meetings every night. (5) Shop Work. Regular services in shops and factories. (6) Jewish Evangelism. Personal work among the Hebrews. (7) Bible Women. House-to-house and neighborhood classes. (8) Oil Fields. A mission to men on the oil fields. (9) Books and Tracts. Sale and dis tribution of selected books and tracts.
The K ing’s Business Voi. 4 OCTOBER, 19X3 No. 10 Table of Contents. Editorials: A Periodical that is Untrue to Its Platform and Its Pledges^-Did Jesus Bear Our Penalty?.............. . 451 "Tests for the Supernatural. D. M. Panton............... ............. 453 “The Souls that Believe” (Poem). J. Gambold................. 457 ' The Church and Foreign Missions. Prqbendary F o x . ; . . . . 458 Grains of Wheat. Jennie M. Day ............................................ 460 True Stories of Conversion: John Wanamaker’s Account of His Conversion—Dr. Valpy’s Verse........... .............. .. 461 A Modern Paul Triumphant. J. H. Sammis......................... 464 Studies in the Gospel According to John (continued). R. A. To rrey ......................................................................... 465 The International Sunday School Lessons. J. H. S............ 472 The Heart of the Lesson. T. C. Horton............................... 480 Junior Endeavor Topics. J. K. H. S .................................... . 482 II Timothy, 2-15 (Song) D. B. Tow ne r............................. 484 At Home and Abroad................... ............................................ 485 Hints and Helps..........................................................................• 489 Questions and Answers. R. A. Torrey..................................... 493 Bible Institute of Los Angeles: Notes—Announcemen ts.... 494 SUBSCRIPTION RATES . . . FIFTY CENTS A YEAR Published by the Bible In s t itu te of Los A nge les Auditorium Building, Cor. Fifth & Olive Sts.
DOCTOR T OR R E Y SAYS Every Christian Should Own These B E S T BOOKS Known as the Montrose Library No. 1—HOW TO BRING MEN TO CHRIST (121 pages), by Dr. R. A. Torrey. A book regarded for years as a standard work on dealing with individuals of all classes. No. 2—THE DIVINE UNITY OF THE SCRIPTURES (304 pages), by Dr. Adolph Saphir. It is a great religious classic. No 3—CHRIST AND THE SCRIPTURES (142 pages), by Dr. Adolph Saphir. A companion work to Dr. Saphir’s “The Divine Unity of the Scriptures.” No. 4—THE HIDDEN LIFE (291 pages), by Dr. Adolph Saphir. One of the most helpful books in English literature. No. 5—THE WONDERS OF PROPHECY (231 pages), by John Urquhart. A val uable introduction to the study of pro phecy. No. 6—THE LORD FROM HEAVEN I (134 pages), by Sir Robert Anderson, K. C. B., LL. D. A great contribution to current discussions on the Diety of Jesus Christ.
No. 7—THE GOSPEL AND ITS • MINISTRY (183 pages), by Sir Robert Anderson, K. C. B., LL. D. This is a standard work on the fundamental truths of Christ ianity. No. 8—A DOUBTER’S DOUBTS ABOUT SCIENCE AND RELIGION (144 pages), by Sir Robert Anderson, K. C. B., LL. D. This book discusses- the divine origin of the Bible, evolution, and kindred themes. No. 9—THE GROWING CHURCH (130 pages), by Rev. Cleland B. Mc Afee, D.D. A study of the Epistle to the Ephesians by a most gifted minister in; the Presbyterian Church.. No. 10—THE HIGHER CRITICISM AND; THE NEW THEOLOGY (250 pages), Edited by Dr. R. A. Tor rey. A book containing contributions' from most gifted, scholarly, and evan gelical men in England and America. No. 11—“SATAN” (163 pages), by Lewis S. Chafer. This is the most thorough biblical study on Satan with which we are acquainted.
THEY A R E T H E VERY C H O I C E S T O F ALL CH R IS T IAN L ITE RA T U R E This Set of 11 Books paper bound now only costs y o u : (111 If ordered by mail include 32c extra for postage 'Hr A «4»%? Address all orders to AUDITORIUM BUILDING Cor. 5th and Olive Sts., LOS ANGELES, CALIF. S .n d and get a set of these BEST BOOKS and when you know how govt! they v e A ( r e n t e W a n t e d if you think you can soil them to others, write us for ARents’ Terms. /» ¿ C u l S l j uU lC U .
The King’s Business
Voi. 4
(^OCTOBER, 1913
No. 10
A Periodical that is Untrue to Its Platform and Its Pledges I N March of thd present year appeared the first number of “The Constructive Q u a r t e r l y The name was timely and attractive. If“ would seem as if there were great need of a quarterly that should prove in actual fact to be constructive. The platform of this quarterly as announced in the Introduction to this first number had a cheering sound. It read “The QUAR TERLY. invites the free, living and deliberate statement of actual, operative belief. Twq conditions are imposed: First, that the Faith and Work and Thought of each Communion shall be presented in its absolute integrity in cluding and not avoiding differences | and second, that no attack with polemical animus shall be made upon others.” And now comes the first amazing fact: in this very number in which this program is announced, by far the longest article in it is “an attack with polemical animus” upon The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, and other Bible Institutes which are specifically named, and upon such theological seminaries as Princeton, Xenia and the Baptist Seminary at Louisville (which the writer .evidently hardly dared to specifically name lest The Seminary over which he presides himself should suffer by a comparison of scholarly ability, and of numbers, and so his whole argument not only lose all force but become absolutely ludicrous in the eyes of all persons who know the facts in lie case). But this is not all: not only is this article manifestly and opei^ polemical, and thus in direct and flagrant violation of the pledges made by the “Editor,” it also abounds in mean insinuation, gross misrepresentation, and an almost incredible discourtesy toward those with whom the writer differs. It is marked by the spirit and tone of a type of theological controversy that' is happily largely a matter of the past. We will give but a single illustration. The writer, “Shailer Mathews, A. M., D. D., Dean of the Divinity School, The University of Chicago,” says: “The theological thinking, if such it may be called, of the various Bible Institutes which have grown up in Chicago, New York, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and other cities is frankly opposed to anything like critical thought. . . . This literalism carried to extremes, has given rise to such movements as that of Dr. Dowie, the ‘Holy Rollers/ the ‘Millennial Dawn,’ ‘the Church of the Nazarenes,’ and various Pre-millenarian groups, many of which tend towards, even if they do not practice, faith healing.” These words need no comment. Any intelligent and fair minded person who is .at all conversant with the matters in question can at once see for himself how untrue these words are in their statement, and how mean they are in their implications. They will also notice their covert and gratuitous insult to all Pre-millenarians. We will not stop to discuss at this time the question of Premillenarianism or Postmillenarianism; but, whether Premil- lenarianism be true or not, every one who has studied this subject knows that many of the ripest scholars in America, England, Scotland, Germany and other lands are avowed Premillenarians. It would seem as if no one who has
452
THE KING’S BUSINESS any pretensions to Biblical scholarship, and any familiarity with the views and exegetical methods of some of the groups named, could have written the words that Dr. Shailer Mathews has here written except in a veritable frenzy of theological ire and bitterness. He evidently did not stop to find out what were the exegetical methods employed by the various groups mentioned but simply piled up such names as occurred to him as he thought had a bad smell. It is not our purpose at this time to enter into a general criticism of Dr. Shailer Mathews article. Wc may do that at some future time, if it seems worth while/ The second amazing fact about The Constructive Quarterly (in view of its published platform and avowed purpose) is, that when R,ev. Dr. James M. Gray, Dean of the Moody Bible Institute, wrote a courteous, calm, temperate, but convincing statement of the other side, the editor of The Constructive Quarterly refused to print it on the ground that it was “polemical.” It is evident that The Constructive Quarterly has not the slightest intention of living up to its program or pledges, and furthermore that anything, no matter how polemical, unfair and untrue may find a place in the pages of The Con structive Quarterly, provided only it is directed against the conservative posi tion, but that nothing can hope for fair treatment provided it'is conservative and able. We do not regret that Dr. Gray’s article was refused for we have reason for believing that it will be published through a channel that wifi assure for it a far wider reading than it could ever have hoped for through the medium of the so-called “Constructive” Quarterly. Did Christ Bear Our Penalty? A FRIEND asks a word on Evman Abbott’s “Letter” in The Outlook, of May 24,^which denies that Christ’s death was penal, and that the Bible teaches remission of penalty or punishment,” and deliverance from “the wrath of an angry God.” Doctor Abbott’s opinion on literature arid current conditions is good but on mysteries of redemption—worthless. His repeated “I do not believe,” “I cannot believe,” need not affect us. The Bible is a plain man s book, of no private interpretation.” He may trust his version as attested by the combined scholarship of the day; “to the law and to the testi- moriy!” “The phrase,” the doctor says, “ ‘remission of penalty or punishment’ never occurs.” True literally, but false exegetically. “Sin” (John 1 -29), “wages” (Rom. 6:23), “curse” (Gal. 3:13), “chastisement” (Isa. 53:5), mean penalty, nothing less; and may be so translated. To “bear sin” is to bear its punishment. One little word cancels both our doctor’s denials: “Being now justified by his blood,.we shall be saved from wrath through him” (Rom. 5:9). To justify by blood can be but to exact the death penalty either of the culprit or his substitute. The Bible is saturated with terms of law all meaningless outside the courts. To justify is a judicial, not paternal, act. This is the age-long “faith of the Church,” and it is in the highest degree improbable that she should be in error, after 19 centuries of controversial scrutiny of Scripture, on so vital a point, waiting the judgment of the editor of The Outlook. Our judicial intuitions must be derived from Him who made us in his image, and, since the stream cannot rise above its source, God must be the righteous Judge of the moral order and cannot indulge His paternal pity by waiving the just sentence ' and penalty of His broken law, but will even by Christ, visit “punishment” with Concluded on page 498
Tests for the Supernatural By D. M. PANTON N orwich,"England
T HE CHURCH to-day is con fronted with an inrush of the supernatural. Tremendous spir itual movements are rising in every part of the world: at any moment the individual disciple may be confronted by the miraculous. Consequently it is impossible to avoid a grave dilem ma. If we assume that all that is su perhuman is Divine, or at least good, we' risk falling into the embrace of Antichrist (2 Thess. 2 :9) : if, on the other hand, we dismiss the supernat ural as necessarily evil, we risk con demning as Satanic true miracles of God, if such should occur. Involved as we are, whether we will or no, in the last conflicts between Heaven and Hell, the discovery of a criterion that will discriminate Divine from Satanic miracle becomes obviously of supreme importance. Moreover, history has demonstrated the peril. Probably no child of God has ever harboured -a seducing spirit without having first submitted it to some test; yet the wayside of history is strewn with the wreckage of super natural seduction. Again and again disciples have vainly relied upon that which is no test —their standing, their holiness, their experience, their invo cations of the Blood, etc.—instead of on the only God-given criterion, the applied Word of God. Spirit after spirit has slipped past the imagined tests put by those whom they have subdued with the most monstrous claims. This was the downfall of the Montanist. “I am neither an angel nor an ambassador,” , said the spirit which deceived Montanus, the found er of Montanism, “but I the Lord God the Father am present.” This was; the downfall of the Irvingite. “Noth ing can discriminate,” said Edward Irving, “between spirits, but the hon
est and good heart, which discerneth between good and evil.” “No one,” says Mr. Baxter, an Irvingite prophet, after being delivered from the delu sion, “ever tried the spirit in me.” This was the downfall of the Spirit ualist. To Mr. Stainton Moses, an ex-clergyman, his' familiars, with whom he consorted for over thirty years, said: “We have preached to you a nobler gospel, revealing a di viner God than you had previously conceived;” and Dr. Monck, a fambus- medium, was once a Baptist- minister on whom a spirit fell in supernatural power while he was preaching. This was the downfall of the Mormons. “I am Jesus Christ,” said the spirit who wrote the Book of Mormon, “even the Father and the Son.” This was the downfall of the Prince of the Agape- mbne, once an ardent and devoted evangelical clergyman. He asserted at last, under the direction of his con trolling spirit whom he mistook for the Holy Ghost: “In me you see Christ in the flesh; by me, and in me, God has redeemed all flesh from death.” It has also been the down fall of the City Temple. “I pray to my wife,” said Dr. Parker—uncon sciously laying the foundations of the Gnostic apostasy 'of his- successor— “every day. I never come to the work without asking her to come with me.”* Still graver is Mr. R. J. Camp bell’s startling confession. “I am con scious of someone’s presence in the mysterious' unseen at this moment. Who is it? I have always believed it to be Jesus; it is no vague abstraction, but a definite, living, personal being. I .work under his orders. Am I wrong (in supposing it Jesus) ? If so, I have been deluded into doing a good many things which otherwise •Review of Reviews, Jaj},, 1902.
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I would never have attempted. Some one is directing' me from the spirit world; if not Jesus, who is it? To me it is a thing incredible, impossible of acceptance, it should be anyone else.”* No slavery more awful can be imagined than the acceptance of an evil spirit as God: no peril, perhaps, is more to be dreaded (Matt. 24:24) in the last days: and probably no child of God has ever harboured a seduc ing spirit without submitting it to tests; but they were his own tests and not God’s. Nor do we find ourselves possessed of any infallible discriminating power within us. One fact alone is suffi cient to disprove decisively any in herent power of discernment in a dis ciple. Among the nine miraculous gifts of -the Holy Ghost appears the gift of “discernment of spirits” (1 Cor. 12:10): that is to say, even the miraculously gifted of the apostolic church could not infallibly discrim inate one spirit from another unless possessed of this special gift. Much less can we, devoid, as we are, of mir acle and inspiration. In direct, in spired safeguards of Scripture (if such there be) can be our only possi ble safety; and to doubt, or disregard, or deny such Divine safeguards, once discovered, while resting on our own powers to unmask man’s most subtle foe, is to fling away the sword and to fight with the scabbard. Now it is true that there are two general tests, both doctrinal (Gal. 1:8; 2 John 7), and a third that in volves both preed and life (Matt. 7: 15-20) : these tests, applied at leisure, are often sufficient to unmask a de mon. But a sudden encounter with a spirit requires a more immediate and decisive test, and this is supremely supplied in 1 John 4:l-3.f Here is ♦Christian Commonwealth, Nov. 30, 1910. îT hese te sts have superseded those given through the Law (Deut. 13:1-3) and the
our final safeguard. (I append some obvious inferences in brackets). Beloved [who alone are qualified to put the test (Duke 10:19], be lieve not every spirit [for faith in a spirit can be deadly], but prove the spirits [for a spirit either from Heaven or Hell may manifest him self at any moment] whether they áre of God : because many false prophets [men really inspired, but by demons, i. e., mediums] are gone out into the world. Hereby [as a God-given criterion] know ye the Spirit of God [therefore the other “spirits” named are also personal beings] : every spirit [who is to be directly addressed, to the ignoring of the prophet (Acts 16:18)] which confesseth [in response to the chal lenge] that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh [ a test never before given, and therefore not operative earlier] is of God : and every spirit which confesseth not 1 Jesus [silence or ■shuffling is as fatal as denial] is not of God.* The importance of this inspired test • it is impossible to exaggerate. The Word of God here makes itself re sponsible' for the result: if evasion or deception by demons be possible, not only will a spirit’s answer prove to be no criterion, but the whole pass age is rendered misleading and un- Prophets (Jer. 28:9). The tests in the Gos pels and G alatians are peculiarly valuable where evil spirits are suspected, and yet there are no supernatural m anifestations. ♦It is tru e th a t demons confessed in His lifetime th a t our Lord w as the Holy One of God. B ut (1) this w as not in answer to test, whereas God now commands the putting of a direct challenge to each com m unicating spirit; (2) it occurred before these tests had been given to th e Church, and thereforé presum ably before a prohibi tion Of evasion had been laid upon the unseen .world; and (3) w hether through policy or compulsion, it is a fact of expe rience th a t unclean spirits thus unerringly reveal them selves since oür Lord’s resur- reçtippt
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true. It is an infallible criterion. But several conditions, implied in the con text, need to be most carefully ob served. (1) Scripture affords no ground, so far as I am, aware, for sup posing the test to be efficacious in un converted hands. The test, like the invocation of our Lord’s name (Mark 9:39), is not a magical spell which anyone may use (Acts 19:13- 16), but a solemn charge entrusted to fhe people of God to safeguard the flock of God. (2) It is a test for the spirit, not the prophet: therefore it is never to be applied unless the mir aculous is obviously present: and the spirit must be compelled to answer —■[ not the prophet. We are dealing with a subtle and unscrupulous fo«. (3) The spontaneous doctrinal system of a spirit '(as in Acts 16:17) is no cri terion; a seducing spirit can be as orthodox in general profession as a human hypocrite: only a confession in response to this direct challenge can elicit his reahorigin. John does.not say^—Believe all spirits, as though the supernatural were always Divine: nor —Believe no spirit, as though miracu lous Communications from God are now impossible; but—“Believe not every spirit,” for a spirit, either good or bad, may manifest himself at any moment. Moreover, the test is found to work. Supernatural tongues broke ou t , eighty years ago, in a clergyman’s family in Gloucestershire; a superhu man utterance, through a child of seven, ruled the house as with the voice of God. Suspicion, at last arose in the clergyman’s mind, and the curate suggested to the rector the application of the test. “Try not the spirits!” the boy immediately cried, “try not the spirits!” Solemnly the spirit, whose protest was wisely dis regarded, was asked if Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, and as prompt ly denied it; and on the clergyman silencing it, the spirit departed, and
never returned. Another concrete case may b.e given. Some years ago, in Norwich, a young man informed a godly man known to. me that in a Spiritualistic seance he had got into communication with his grandmother. “Your grandmother, whom I knew so well, was a lovely character and a holy woman,” the old man answered; “my counsel is that you go back and ask her, Did Jesus Christ come in the flesh ?” A few days after the young man, unutterably horrified, returned, saying: “The spirit’s immediate answer was ‘No,’ followed by a tor rent of blasphemy; it is a spirit from hell!” I may add my own experience. Some twenty years ago, in conjunc tion with one now an Anglican canon, and another a China Inland missionary, several undergraduates applied the test in my own rooms at Cambridge. “Are you willing,” the spirit was asked, when it had become certain that a spirit was present, “to communicate with us on the incarna tion of Jesus Christ ?” An emphatic “Yes” was the reply. “Did Jesus Christ come in the flesh?” . The re sponse was a still more emphatic “No!” The thrill of that awful dis covery will never leave my memory. Thus a babe in Christ can no more be deceived by an honest application of the tests than the maturest saint; because the revealing power is lodged, not in the degree of sanctification of the inquirer, but in the infallibility of the Word: “beloved”—of whatever age, or maturity, or circumstance— “prove the spirits.” The second supreme test for the su pernatural appears on the threshold of Paul’s treatise on miraculous gifts,: a test, not for the controlling spirit, but for a man so controlled. (I ap pend some obvious inferences in brackets.) “Now concerning spiritual gifts [or, the inspired*], brethren, I ♦“Most modern critics decide in favor of the sense, ‘inspired men.' "—Godett Verge
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would not have you ignorant [for such ignorance is dangerous]. Ye know that when ye were Gentiles ye were led away- [seduced by demoniac frenzies and deceits*] unto those dumb idols [to- which demons ever lead], howsoever [for pythonic in spirations take manifold shapes] ye might be led. Wherefore I give you [as a special revelation] to under stand [in order to discriminate un erringly between the God-gifted and the Satan-gifted] that no man speak ing in the Spirit of God [that is, no inspired man] saith, Jesus is anathe ma; and no man [that is, none in spired] can say, Jesus [not ‘Christ’ only]-] is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit’’ (1 Cor. 12:1-3). No gift is more easily mimicked by Satan, or has been more mimicked throughout the ages, than this the most elementary gift of all (1 Cor. 14:19)—Tongues. Neander’s de scription covers much supernatural utterance of an evil kind: “The voice they uttered was awful in its range, in its tones, in its modulations, in its startling, penetrating, almost appal ling power; the words they spoke were exalted, intense, passionate* full of mystic significance; the language 3 also decides it: moreover, “the tests given will not apply to every case of spiritual gift, some of which were gifts of action, as healing; but only to gifts of inspired" word." —Govett. ♦“Chased by a scourge of all evil demons.” —Justin. t “Paul says here Jesus, and not Christ. H is concern -is w ith the historical person who lived on earth under the name of Jesus. It is w ith Him th a t all true in spiration is bound up: it is from Him th a t all carnal or diabolical inspiration turns away. The Ophite Gnostics used to ask those who entered their churches to curse Jesus.”— Goctet. The absence of the -‘Lord” before “Jesus,” so conspicuous a m ark in the Tongues literature, and (I believe) in variable in their “inspired” utterances, is most significant. “The One who has used me”—so runs the letter of one “tongue- gifted” known to me—“I consciously and
they used was not their ordinary and familiar tongue, but other languages, as some overpowering and uncon scious impulse of the moment might direct; and among these strange sounds there were some which none could interpret, and which rang on the air ljke the voice of barbarous languages.” Only when the utter ance is thus obviously supernatural can the test be rightly, or successfully, applied. The test is unmistakable and de cisive. The organs of utterahce, in an inspired man, have passed partial ly* out of his control into that of the controlling spirit: no man, therefore —for this is God’s revelation —so long as’a supernatural power is upon him, controlling his organs of utter ance, can say, “Jesus is accursed,” if it be a good spirit; nor can he say, “Jesus is Lord,” if it be an evil spirit. The test is immediate and conclusive. But a practical problem!, exceedingly important, remains. What shall „we do if the supernatural comes to us in a form which cannot be so tested ? as in some “tongue,” which may be; care ful never to respond in our own lan guage? A heart devoted to the Word of God can have but one answer. No willingly responding to his usage, revealed to me Jesus; and glory be to Jesus! as I think of Jesus now, the Son of God wha came in the flesh, the Spirit speaks loudly w ithin me in the tongue, praising Jesus, Son of God, who came in the flesh” (Jan. 2, 1912). H ere is a person w riting under the power of a spirit; yet, though our Lord is frequently referred to, It is never as Lord. ♦But partially only: th a t is, while the Holy Ghost was responsible for the con tents, the prophet was responsible for the occasion and duration of his utterance; for “the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets” (1 Cor. 14:32). One prophet was to stop, and could, if a sudden revela tion was given to another (1 Cor. 14:30): an impossibility of checking the utterance is alw ays a symptom of Satanic inspiration. 3ee Mrs. Penn-L ew is’ W ar on the Saints: London, 1912.
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ing else than a machination, a malign spell, of the Prince of Darkness. “We state-the grave fact,” says a collective utterance of German pastors (1908), “that in the late [Tongues’] move ment in Cassel and other places, well- known Christians.have got a gift of prophecy and tongues that was not from the Holy Ghost. We must say that we missed in a highly deplorable measure the trying of the spirits, as the Word of God orders ; and we con fess this deficiency as guilt and blame falling on us, as on wide spheres of the Christian Church.” Out of this solitary neglect, culpable and inex plicable, have sprung Montanism, the Camisards, Irvingism, Spiritualism, and the modern Tongues’ Movement: OUT OF IT ALSO IS TO SPRING THE g r ea t A p o s t a s y . “The Spirit saith expressly that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits” (1 Tim. 4:1). “Beloved, pr ov e t h e s p ir it s ” (1 John 4:1) : “despise not prophesyings; pr ov e a l l T h in g s ” (1 Thess. 5:19).
C h r is t ia n h a s a n y r ig h t t o h a r b o u r THE SUPERNATURAL, OR A SPIRIT FROM, ANOTHER WORLD, UNLESS AND UNTIL IT HAS SOLEMNLY AND SUCCESS FULLY PASSED THESE TESTS OF GOD. The Holy Ghost gave the tests; He therefore Will not resent their reverent application; that they should be ap plied is His own command: when He comes—or a good spirit or angel suf fered by Him—He will point to His own tests: therefore a spirit which evades them is from the Pit. An un tested spirit must be shunned and banned at all costs. “It is of the last importance,” in the words of Mr. G. H. Pember, “that the full meaning of this declaration (1 Cor. 12:1-3) should be understood by the believers of our days. For again demoniacal manifestations are multiplying among us, and that with a subtlety, sufficient to deceive any one who neglects to apply the pre scribed tests.” The failure, or obsti nate refusal, to use the tests, care fully and solemnly, can itself be noth
“The Souls that Believe” Q » J. GAMBOLD.
The souls that believe In paradise live; And me’ in that number will Jesus receive; My soul, don’t delay, He' calls thee away; Rise, follow thy Saviour and bless the glad day. No mortal doth know What he can bestow, What light, strength and comfort; go, follow him, go. Perhaps, with the aim To honor His name, I may do some service, poor dust tho’ I am. And when I ’m to die, Receive me, I’ll cry, For Jesus hath lov’d me, I cannot tell why.
The Church and Foreign Missions By REV. H. E. FOX, M.A. Prebendary of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Late Honorable Secretary of the Church Missionary Society F o r e ig n m is s io n s is a sub ject on which the Church still needs a large amount of teach
sheep,” as well as the “sheep of the house of Israel.” All souls are His, and therefore, when we are true dis ciples of the Ford Jesps Christ, and of the same mind with Him, it will be our desire, our burning desire, our passionate zeal, that these. “other sheep” should hear His voice and be brought to God through Him. What is the great object? That His Church going into all the world to preach the Gospel everywhere, every human being should have at least an opoprtunity of knowing that He is the Saviour, and that His Church requires from these people so evangelized a public confession of Him as their Ford in baptism, and that they should be found to obey Him in all the things that He has left for us as our duty. The Church’s business is to preach and teach neither more nor less, but only that which Christ has commanded us to do. ' That is the great object. The last message of the Ford’s is surely the first busi ness of the Church. Next, the result. And this, again, I am afraid, is forgotten. Very often I hear that text quoted by preachers: “Fo, I am with you.” Christ has, may I say very reverently, conditioned His presence with His people on obedience to His command. “Go ye . . . . and lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the age.” H ot V can we wonder at the weakness and failure we see everywhere? Thank God for the blessing He has given. The more I think of the blessing God has vouchsafed, the more I am amazed at His patience with and love towards His rebellious people. But think what the Church might have done with the Ford present among
ing. There are a great many believ ing people, I know, real Christians, who regard Missions as a sort of sep arate department, if I may call it, of Christian service. They can be just as ■ good Christians when taking no particular interest in Foreign Mis sions as those whose hearts are set upon it. I think all will agree with me- that this is a profound mistake. It was not the attitude of the Church which the Ford Jesus left, which was baptized at Pentecost, and went every where preaching the Word, an'd it ig nores completely the whole principle of what, for want of a better word, we still call “Foreign Missions.” Never let us forget that there is no -such thing as Foreign Missions in the sight of Jesus Christ. As He looks down upon this world we are all one. Just think for a mbment about the cost, and the object, and the result in the Ford’s own parting message to His Church. Why are there such things as Foreign Missions ? Why should there- be any? In the closing verses of St. Matthew 28 we read, “All authority has been given to. Me.” Christ, therefore, is the supreme Ruler in all things—for He has the pre-eminence in all things—God’s will is not being done. Surely that must be a burden upon Christians—and it ought to break our hearts if we only thought of it properly—that there are masses of people, not merely indi viduals, all over the world, including many in our own land, who do not recognize the supremacy of Jesus Christ. There we start. Christ claims all souls as His own, the “other
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them. If all believing Christians had done the will of Christ and manifest- .ly had the Lord with them, what would the world have been to-day! There is where we miss it. Do we show people that the Lord is with us, that wherever we go there is a Super human and Divine power working through us, and able to do what the world cannot understand, and what the world very likely do not want done? In the edition of the Greek Testa ment published by the British and Foreign Bible Society there is a re markable passage, not printed as part of the Gospel of St. Mark, for I think the evidence is not sufficient to justify its being actually a part of that Gos pel, but it is a very early addition to the Gospel, perhaps almost about the Ajpostles’ time. ' We only take it as an evidence of the opinion of the early Church of that day. I will read you the words I refer to : “After these things, Jesus Himself, from the rising to the setting of the sun, sent forth through themT—that is, through the Apostles—“the holy and incor ruptible preaching of eternal salva tion.” It is a fine passage, though it may be only human composition, but it shows that the Church of that day understood its business. “Jesus Him self sent forth through them the holy and incorruptible preaching of eternal salvation.” If the Church at home got a grip of that thought, what might we not yet do? If a little handful on the day of Pentecost, in the upper room, “turned the world upside down”—unlettered some of them, ig norant, with no political power, with no social influence—if they “turned the world upside down,” what might not we do? If we were bent with all our energies upon these things, as men of the world are bent upon their ob jects; if we prayed and strove for the disestablishment of Satan’s kingdom and the disendowment of the world’s
powers; if we thought of ensuring the salvation of men more and more; and if our great idea of home rule was the rule of Jesus Christ in every home where He is not known—oh, what might not a small handful of Chris tians do? Just imagine, if all Chris tians were “alive,” what might not God do, even before His coming that miay be very near, to arouse the world to its true position? May I suggest three subjects for prayer at this time? Pray that all Christians may have a fuller sense of the living Lord. Dr. Dale was once suddenly startled with this thought, which came into his mind and changed the whole current of his ministry: “Jesus Christ is alive to-day.” Let the whole Church get a grip of that thought, that He is an omnipotent Lord to-day, seated at the right hand of God, looking at every soul, able to direct everything on.this earth. Let us pray, then, that the Church may know more of her living Lord. Then pray that there may be a fuller conception—-I am afraid it is at the present time a somewhat declin ing conception—of the living Word. In that magnificent opening of the Epistle to the Hebrews, you will re member that when the writer passes almost imperceptibly from the living Word, Jesus Christ, to the written Word, he calls the written Word the living Word as well (Hebrews 4:12). And as evidence of its vitality he speaks of it as criticising (so is the Greek) the very “thoughts and in tents of the heart.” In the only case in which “critic” is used in the New Testament, it refers not to man crit icizing the Word, but the Word criticizing man. It is we who reverse the order, 1as thought the culprit should correct his judge, and so we go wrong. Pray, then, for a fuller conception in the Church of the live Word, that wonderful Word which, into whatever language it is trans-
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lated, loses none of its power. That livings Word of God, which is now translated into about four hundred languages, is converting men, en lightening souls, comforting the sad, awaking the dead, healing the sick. Once more, I would suggest earnest prayer that the Church may know what it is to have “living” messengers. It is no use men and women going out to the mission field if they are not alive in Christ Jesus. “Because I live,” said Christ, “ye shall live also,” and it is only when we are in constant and close touch with Him that our life is sustained. We want, therefore, to pray more A HEAVY air makes a heavy ear Christians are trustees of the Gospel. God Urges but He never coerces; He woos, b u t He n ev e r forces. Ignorance of spiritual realities is due not to man’s inefficiency but to his unregenerate nature. The real test of a sermon is what it makes you say, what it makes you be lieve, what it makes you do. God is Good Will, but our wills may stand in the way of His Bless ing us as He wishes. Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs, but never believe your doubts nor doubt your beliefs. . Most of us are worse than we seem to be. It would be impossible to tell the truth about sin and its awfulness in the sight of God. God’s restraint is as deep and as great as His being and His power. He never breaks down or breaks through the human will. He re spects our individuality.
for a fuller reception of the living Lord in the Church; for a vision of Christ as our ruling, mighty King, to whom all authority has been given; and we want to know more of the power of the Word in our experience in dealing with souls. Those who have to carry that Word must be “live” men and women, full of the Holy Ghost. Let us pray that this may come more and more in our Mis sionary Societies and throughout the whole Church. The troubles and anxieties and sorrows which meet us in a great deal of our Christian work would all pass away if we got these three facts impressed upon the Chris tian conscience of England. Let us never think that we can for mulate divisions that are big enough to cover the bigness of Christ. The Word of God is not a Dead Sea in the man of God, but a living fountain that cannot be suppressed. It is safer to pray to Christ than to the Virgin Mary. Mary at one time lost the Christ for three days, and how do we know that it won’t take her three days to find Him now ? Revelation is the illumination of the mind by the Spirit of God. In spiration is the guidance of the Holy Spirit in writing down the revela tion, or in writing a compilation of records. “The power that worketh in us” is the power of Jesus Christ’s life. It. is not a mere figure of speech. As truly as my life shows the character that is behind it, so truly is the life of Jesus Christ in every one who knows Jesus Christ. In the impar- tation of life, Jesus Christ gives spiritual understanding.
Grains of Wheat Picked Up at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles By JENNIE M. DAY
True Stories of Conversion Doctor Valpy’s Verse
S OME years ago an esteemed cor respondent called our attention to incidents related in the biog raphy of Dr. William Marsh respect ing the well-known verse of Dr. Valpy: In peace let me resign my breath, And thy salvation see! My sins deserve eternal death—• But Jesus died for me! The biography (which was written by Dr. Marsh’s daughter, our friend Miss Marsh, the author of “Memorials of Captain Hedley Vicars”) records that Dr. Marsh received the verse from Dr. Valpy, and after reciting it in a Bible-reading at Lord Roden’s seat, Tollymore Bark, he was asked by Lord Roden to write out the lines for him. This was done, and Lord Roden fastened the paper over the mantel-piece in his study. Some time after, General Taylor, a survivor of Waterloo, when visiting Lord Roden, was greatly impressed by the verse. He was a man who pre ferred to avoid all discussion of re ligion; but he was converted through the verse, frequently quoted it, and died with the words upon his lips. In after years Lord Roden told the story at the house of a neighbor. A young relative of the family, a Crim ean officer, was a listener; and al though at the time he turned careless ly away, the words proved to be God’s message to his soul, and some months after, when on his deathbed, he sent for Lord Roden and acknowledged the fact, at the same time repeating the familiar lines. Towards the end of his fruitful life, Dr. Marsh was visited for the last time by an old friend, Mr. Fuller Mait land- In the course of a conversation designed to lead his friend to the Sa viour, Dr. Marsh quoted Dr. Valpy?s
verse. Mr. Maitland saw its force and said: “I must learn that.” Dr. Marsh accordingly wrote the words down for him, and as he received the paper Mr. Maitland said: “I shall keep it near my heart,” where it was found after his death. The above striking facts were set forth in The Christian for April 10, 1902. We are interested to note that in an article in last week’s Record, Canon Dyson Hague, of London, Ont., after reciting the chief points of the story, adds the following sequel:— “1 was telling this story in my ser mon in St. Paul’s, Halifax, but as I began to tell it I noticed that an old gentleman, a representative of one of the oldest families in Nova Scotia, who was sitting in a pew not far from the pulpit, just in front of me, was being overcome with an extraordinary emotion. As I went on telling the story, there was no doubt that it had in some way seized upon the very soul of the listener. And when at last I came to the part about the Crimean officer, I thought that the old gentle man would have almost cried out in the church, so deeply was he affected. The sermon ended with the story. Af ter the singing of the hymn I went into the vestry. I had scarcely got there when a knock was heard at the door, and the old gentleman, with emotion still evident, came and said: ‘Where did you get that story?’ Then, with tears streaming from his eyes, he told me his story. Years ago, when he was a young man, careless and indifferent in matters of religion, he sauntered one day in his walk into an old church yard near Wolfyille, Nova Scotia; and seeing a fallen gravestone, he turned it over in pure curiosity, and there he read at the foot engraved in the stone, a verse of four lines that took such' hold upon him, and so clearly explain-
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ed to him the way of salvation, that they were the means of his conversion. And from that day, nearly fifty years before, he had, by God’s grace, as a result of those four lines, led a conse crated life for Christ. The lines, he said, Were':— In peace let me resign my breath, And Thy salvation see! My sins deserve eternal death— But Jesus died for me! “ ‘You can imagine,’ said he, ‘my amazement, as well as my delight, when I heard you tell the story about the lines. You brought back to me the wonderful way in which God was pleased to save my soul.’ “It was not long after that I was sent for to visit this old gentleman in a sickness which gradually grew more serious. One of the last things he did before he died was to take my hand affectionately and ask me, as his clergyman, to do him a favor, and that was, that at his funeral and over his coffin I would tell the story of the lines, in the hope that the prayer of a dying man might be answered, and that they might be a blessing to many souls more. Soon afterward he died, and at his funeral I told the story of the stanza that had transformed so many lives. : “I ended by saying that it was the “The secret of the wonderful power that resides in these lines cannot be told. It may be that they were writ ten in prayer and watered by tears of love. I only know that when I told this story in a. vacation service in one of the charming hotels in the White Mountains, New Hampshire, last sum mer, an American gentleman, a promi nent New Yorker, was so deeply im pressed that he said, after hearing the words: ‘I have rarely heard any thing that made such an impression upon me. Never in my life before have I so clearly grasped the way of salvation through faith in the Cruci fied.’ May they become the confes sion of faith of all who hear and all who read!” The Hon. John Wanamaker’s Account of How He was Converted A T AN afternoon meeting during the Torrey-Alexander campaign in Philadelphia, Mr. Alexander wish .of the dear old man on his dy ing bed that the words, which would be distributed as his last,memorial to all present, might become a blessing to their souls. And as each one passed from the house of mourning he re ceived a card, elegantly printed in pur ple, with the name and age and burial date of that old saint of God, and on the other side the never-to-be-forgot- ten words:—I In peace let me resign my breath, And Thy salvation see! My. sins deserve eternal death— But Jesus died for me!
was at a prayer meeting there one night, where there were perhaps 200 persons. There was no Alexander there to sing; I tell you, there’s only one, bless him!” At this point Mr. Wanamaker put his arm around the gospel singer, saying, “We are always putting our arms around you.” “It was a quiet, old-fashioned meet ing,” continued Mr. Wanamaker. “There was a handsome old man of
called upon the Hon. John Wanama ker to tell how he was converted. In response Mr. Wanamaker gave the following graphic description of how he was led to accept Christ: “I Was a country boy who had come into the,city, A salesman asked me if I wouldn’t go to his church, I
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about 75 years of age who got up and in the gravest way said that he was just waiting for God to take him; that he had lived his life; that God had been good to him; and it all summed up in the statement that re ligion was a good thing to die by. I sat away back, and I had always a great fashion of talking to myself; and I said: ‘Well, old man, you can’t touch me; you have lived your life; you haven’t any sympathy with a big boy; it has passed over my head.’ “Soon after a younger fellow got up, he was perhaps '35, and he said: ‘You have heard an old man tell you that religion is good to die by; I want to tell you that it’s good to live by. I have just begun the Christian life. Two years ago I was converted; I had just begun business, and I had a pre judice against religion. They told me that a man had to have a face a yard long, and couldn’t smile, or do any thing that would make him happy. You see, I was deceived about that. I am a great deal happier since I be came a Christian, because it settles things.’ He said: . ‘I am a better business man; a great load has rolled off my heart, and I can give myself more to my work.’ “I listened to him, and I said to myself: ‘There you are. You want to be a business man, and he tells you how you can be a better business man. He tells you that religion is good to live by. Another man tells you it’s good to die by.1 “I waited in that meeting till every body went out except the janitor and the old minister, and as he came down the aisle he met a, country boy coming up, and I was the chap. I simply said to him: ‘I have settled tonight to give my heart to God.’ And he reached but his hand-—dear old John Chambers—and he said: ‘God bless you, my son! You will never regret it,’ That was the whole business. I
didn’t wait to get 'some feeling. I accepted the fact that I was a sinner and that there was a Savior for sin ners, and I came to Him simply on the proposition that the gift of God is eternal life.” " Dr. Bonar on Conversion Now the marvellous thing in con version is, that while all is supernat ural (being the entire work of the Holy Ghost), all is also natural. You are perhaps expecting some miracu lous illapse of heavenly power and brightness into the soul; something apart from Divine truth and from the working of man’s powers of mind. You have been expecting faith to de scend like an angel from heaven into your soul, and hope to be lighted up like a new star in your firmament. It is not so. Whilst the Spirit’s work is above nature, it is not against nature. He displaces no faculty; He disturbs no mental process; He does violence to no part of our moral framework; He creates no new organs of thought or feeling. His office is to set “all to rights” within you; ,so that you never feel so calm, so true, so real, so perfectly natural, so much yourself, as when He has taken possession of you in every part, and filled your whole man with heavenly joy. Never do you feel so perfectly free —less con strained and less mechanical—in every faculty as when He has “brought every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” God lays a little on us every day, And never, I believe, on all the way Will burdens bear so deep, Or pathways lie so threatening and so steep, But we can go, if by God’s power We only boar the burden of the hour, —George Kliogle.
A Modern Paul Triumphant By J. H.
SAMMIS Dr. Meyer’s satisfaction and tri umph at the end of his conflict was that of a true apostle and soldier of Jesus Christ, identical with those of his most Christian kinsman, Paul, who said: “ For the which cause I also .suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have com mitted to him against that day. . . . I have fought a good fight, I have fin ished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Tim. 1:12, 4:6-8). Glorying in Christ (Suggested by the trium phant testim ony of Iic y . Louis Myer, D. J).. who fell asleep in Jesus his Messiah a t Monrovia, California, July 11, 1913.) “I am not sorry that I bore the cross, My kinsman's curses and the Gentile’s frown; That what was gain to me I counted loss And at the feet of Jesus laid it down. Could I be sorry to fare forth with Him “Without the camp,” where He to spare us all, With lips love-fevered pressed the death- cup’s brim Till' drained of all its hemlock and its gall.* No; I’m not sorry that I’ve kept the faith, And followed fully through the thickening strife; ■ ’ I know whom I have trusted unto death, Whose hand holds forth to me a crown of life.' j— „ Oh; L have gloried in the cross of Christ, Welcomed the scourge of scorning with a kiss; And would, had I a thousand lives, sufficed With this glad moment of expectant bliss. See Note—page 499
REV. LOUIS M E Y ER , D. I N The Missionary Review for Sep tember occurs a biographical sketch of the Rev. Louis Meyer, D. D., by Mrs. T. C. Rounds, editor of The Jewish Bra. The words of eminent believers at the approach of death are often full of interest and encouragement. To those of a Chris tian Jew, who has long and faithfully borne testimony to his people that he has found, in Jesus, the Messiah, there is an added emphasis, a wider appli cation, and a more triumphant ring, since he has known and overcome, with the common trials of believers, the peculiar and bitter persecutions of his race. Mrs. Rounds writes that Dr. Meyer, “about two weeks- before his death, said feebly to his friend, Mr. Lyman Stewart, ‘I have never been sorry for the cross I have borne in the perser cutions of my people.’ And that, again, “a few days before his death he said something in Latin. When asked what he meant he smiled and replied: ‘Tell M rs.----- the battle is over, the victory is won.’ ”
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