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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S Has th is learned man ever read .any of the stand ard commentaries, practically all of which suggest th e easy solution to th is apparen t contradiction? Did he never give it a little though t himself? Does on e. statem en t exclude th e other? Might not Matthew tell of the mode of Ju d a s’ attem pted suicide w ithout describ in g -th e tragic result? Suppose th e rope broke and Jud as fell in such a m anner as to bu rst th e bowels? . So we m ight proceed w ith all of th e alleged, discrepancies before us. It has been ou r experience th a t as fast as one knocks down an argum ent of th is kind th e critic will set up another. “The n atu ra l man receiveth not th e things of th e Spirit, they are foolishness unto him. N either can he know them for they are spiritually discerned.” The things th a t are no t understood are always made an excuse for not putting into practice th e things th a t are understood. Jesu s’ challenge, “ If any man will do my* will, he shall know of th e doctrine,” is to tally ignored by them . They need th e new birth. Ill— K. L. B. I ADVANCING OVER THE PRECIPICE “Salvation by Character” was the Sunday morning sermon topic of a prom in en t Congregational m inister recently. He began by saying: “I am of th e opinion, th a t our fu tu re .does no t depend upon accepting any doctrine a t all, b u t does depend upon doing o r re frain ing from doing certain things. Your salvation does no t depend upon accepting any of th e doctrines of th e Bible. The m ost im po rtan t question is ‘W h at m u st I do to .b e saved?’ and n o t / ‘W hat m u st I believe to be save(J?’ ” The b ro th er has evidently forgotten th a t when men came to Jesus asking, “W hat m ust we do?” He replied “This is th e work of God th a t ye believe on mm whom he h ath sent.” Evidently th e re is no work th a t one can do un til he has BELIEVED something. This preacher is one of those who th in k they have ad vanced beyond th e old Gospel. Get w hat th e Apostle John says of his kind: “Any one who is advanced and will n o t rem ain by th e doctrine of Christ does n o t possess God” (Moffatt’s tran slatio n of 3 Jo h n 9 ). This is a warning to those who go on beyond th e Gospel. The Gnostics of Jo h n ’s tim e called themselves “ advanced th ink ers.” There are those today who th ink th e Gospel will do nicely for th e ignorant bu t they themselves have advanced beyond it. There .is such a th ing as advancing over th e precipice. One may get to know so much th a t he deserts first principles. This is not progress, it is apostasy. It is not going forward, it is going back t a the devil’s lie. The doctrine of Christ, including, as John shows in his first epistle, the veritable hum anity of Christ, th e essential deity of Christ, and H is propitiatory work upon the cross, is th e th ing appointed of God to guide men into eternal salvation. Who can deny th a t the g reat God has placed His seal to th is doctrine? He puts a value upon it. Therefore do not trifle w ith it. Why should it not make a C h ristian ’s blood boil to see one meddling w ith th e doctrine of Christ, which is th e th ing God has used th roughou t th e centuries to pluck men out of hell on earth? They who do not rem ain by th is doctrine prove th a t they do not possess God. However one may pride him self on his advanced thinking, he is a fool if he has left the doctrine of Christ out of his calculations. INVESTIGATION INVITES INVESTMENT of
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