King's Business - 1918-04

-THE READER—Stick stamp here, hand the magazine to a postman, and it will be sent to the American soldiers. No address. ■

VOL. IX No. 4 =1111 ------ ------ ilr—nil-------= 7 fi 1 f^:=s— il v-— Business APRIL, 1918

“ Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own bloocL” — R ev. 1 :5

Published once a month by the BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. U. S. A.

EASTER NUMBER

BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES (INCORPORATED)/ LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U. S. A.

Free Training School for Christian Workers

DIRECTORS

R. Ä. Torrey, vice=president. Leon^V. Shaw, treasurer. William Evans. , J. O. Smith

Lyman Stewart, president. J. M. Irvine, secretary. T. C. Horton, superintendent. H^A. Getz

Nathan Newby

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 of the Christ. The Maintenance of Good Works. - The Second Coming of Christ. The Immortality of the Spirit. The Resurrection of the Body.

The Personality of the Holy Ghost. The Supernatural and Plenary au thority of the Holy Scripture.»./ The Unity in Diversity of the Church, the Body and Bride of Christ, v 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.

SCOPE OF THE WORK

(7 ) Bible :■/Women.^ House-to-house visitation 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. (10) Harbor Work. For seamen at Los Angeles harbor. (11) The Biola Club. Daily noon meetings for men in the down-town district, with free reading-room privi leges. (12*) Print Shop. For printing Testa ments, books, tracts, etc. A complete establishment, profits going to free dis tribution of religious literature.

Thimnso • 4 "The Institute train*, ,free j| " of cost, accredited men and women, in the knowledge and use of the Bible. n , . ( l ) The Institute Departments: - classes held daily exception Saturdays arid Sundays. . (2 ) Extension' work. Classes and conferences 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.

M O T TO : “I the Lord do keep it, I will water it every moment lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.*'—Isa. 2 7 :3 Published by BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES, Incorporated Entered as Second-Class Matter November 17, 1910, at the postoffice at Los Angeles, Cal., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Copyright by R. A. Torrey, D. D., and Bible Institute of Los Angeles, for the year 1918 VOL. IX APRIL, 1918 No. 4 CONTENTS Editorial: Resurrection Day— Post-Millennialism’s Cry of Despair— Unprincipled Methods of Post-Millennialists — The Desperation of the Evolutionists— Catholic Cun ning— The King’ s Business Appreciated— The Prosti- tution of German Scholarship.......................................... 275 Deity of Jesus Christ. By Dr. R. A. Torrey.............................-281 Easter Morn. Poem. By James Archer.................................... 285 The Perfect Ideal of Life. By Dr. G. Campbell Morgan........ 286 Nan Yoh. By Dr. F. A. Keller.................................. ................. 291 Through the Bible with Dr. Evans...................................... ..... *294 Evangelistic Department. By Bible Institute Workers.......... 298 Homiletical Helps. By William Evans...................................... 305 Puzzling Passages and Problems. By R. A. Torrey............... 308 “ Irish Evangelist” at Shamokin................................................. 310 Salvation Talks. By Keith L. Brooks........................................ 31 1 Far Horizon ............................................................................. . 31 2 According to Thy Faith. W. H. Nowack............................. 314 International Sunday School Lessons. By Institute Specialists 3 15 Daily Devotional Studies ft* the New Testament for Indi vidual Meditation and Family Worship. By R. A. Torrey ....... ,......... .............................................................. 345 Only One Dollar a Year SUBSCRIPTION PRICE—In the United States and its Possessions and Mexico, and points in the Centred American Postal Union, $1 per year. In all other foreign countries, including Canada $1.24 (5s. 2d.). Single copies, 10 cents. Receipts sent on request. See expiration date on the wrapper. BIBLE INSTITUTE OF LOS ANGELES 536-558 SOUTH HOPE STREET LOS ANGELES, CAL.

OPEN THE BOOK

E VERY Young Man and every young Woman whose life is consecrated to the Master’s service, should be able to Open the Scriptures to others. Here is A FREE DAY SCHOOL and A FREE NIGHT SCHOOL at your service. At a trifling cost, the same results may be attained through the C O R R E S P O N D E N C E SCHOOL

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Information cheerfully given Bible Institute of Los Angeles LOS ANGELES, CAL., U. S. A.

R. A. TORREY, D. D., Editor T. C. HORTON, J. H. HUNTER, W ILLIAM EVANS, D. D., Associate Editors A. M. ROW, Managing Editor

APRIL, 1918________________________No. 4

Voi. 9

E D I T O R I A L

R e su r re c t ion d a y .

Though this is the April number of T h e K in g ' s B u s in e s s , and Easter this year comes on March 31st, nevertheless this number will reach most of our subscribers before Easter Sunday, as the magazine is published a month in advance, so we are giving prominence in our Sermon Outlines and in other features of the magazine to the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, is the pre-eminently Christian festival of the year. We do not know the exact date of our Lord’s birth, and there is no conclusive reason for supposing He was born at Christmas time, but we know the exact day of His resurrection from the dead. We know that it was the first day of the week following the Vernal Equinox, which this year comes March 31st. We presume most of our readers know that the reason why Easter comes on different dates in different years is because the Jews observed a lunar year and not a solar year, and the Passover week was determined by the full moon, the Passover lamb being kept until the 14th day of the first month and then slain (Ex. 12:6), and the full moon of the first monfh in the Jewish year was the full moon following the Vernal Equinox.- So we know the exact,day of our Lord’s resurrection, and in celebrating Easter Sunday we are celebra ting the very day on which our Lord arose from the dead, not merely the day of the week, but the day of the lunar year. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead was the central fact in the testimony and'preaching of the Apostles. When it became necessary to choose a new Apostle to take the place of Judas Iscariot he was chosen to be a witness with the other eleven, of the resurrection of Christ (Acts 1 :22). Peter’s ser mon on the Day of Pentecost centers in the Resurrection of Christ from the dead. He first proves the fact of His Resurrection and then witnesses to that fact, and then draws his definite conclusions from that fact. In every one of his recorded sermons he rang the changes on the Resurrection of Christ from the dead. The Apostle Paul did the same in all his sermons, and Paul explicitly tells us that there is but one thing that a man needs to believe in order to be saved, and that is that God raised Jesus from the dead (Rom. 10:9). Of course, believing this carries with it believing everything else that is fundamental and vital. One cannot logically believe in the fact of Christ’s resurrection without believing in His Deity. In accepting Christianity one does not accept a mere theological system that men have thought out, he accepts facts that are scientifi cally demonstrated. The “ Gospel” is not theory, but facts; not man’s opinion, but God’s facts* Gospel means' good news, and the good news is simply the news of two great facts: first, that “ Christ died for our sins according to the

276 THE KING’S BUSINESS Scriptures,” second, that He “ rose again the third day” (1 Cor. 15 :l-4 ). Given those two facts, which are absolutely and immovably established facts of his tory, the whole Christian system of faith and doctrine naturally and necessarily follows. A tract has been recently written by Prof., Shailer Matthews and pub lished by the American Institute of Sacred Literature, entitled, “Will Jesus Come Again.’fl This tract is so full of mis-statements, puerilities and absurd logic that it is really a cry of despair. It shows how strongly the post-millen- nialists feel that something must be said to stem the tide of premillennial truth, and how absolutely impossible it is to get anything that is really scriptural to say. •The tract will do much good, for any person of fair intelligence who will read it will see how impossible it is for the post-millennialists to answer the scriptural arguments of the premillennialists. They will feel at once that such a weak defense amounts to a confession of defeat, and they will see how impos sible it is to hold post-millennial views without discrediting the teaching of the inspired Apostles, and even of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Prof. Matthews shrewdly avoids speaking of the teaching of Christ or the Apostles, but con stantly refers to what “ the early Christians believed.” He speaks very sneer- ingly of what “ the early Christians believed.” He does not dare to speak of it as what our Lord Jesus and the inspired Apostles taught, though there is no mistaking that that is what he is sneering at. We welcome the tract. It will set many people to thinking on this great question, and it will certainly prove a boomerang to the post-millennialists. We expect later to enter into a thorough criticism and exposure of the fallacies,' follies and falsehoods of this tract, either in the pages of T h e K in g ’ s B u s in e s s or in tract form. The post-millenarians are evidently greatly disturbed over the rapid increase of, those who, are accepting the biblical doctrine of the personal, pre millennial return of our Lord. This is indicated by many things, as for example, Dr. Shailer Matthews’ tract, “Will Christ Come Again,” and by articles that have appeared from other post-millennialists in various magazines and pamph lets, but Prof. Shirley Jackson Case, of the Divinity School of the University o f Chicago, caps the climax. The University Press has just issued his book, “ Millennial Hope.” Dr, Case in his bitter opposition to pre-millennialism says, in an interview reported in the Chicago Daily News of January 21st: “ Two thousand dollars a week is being spent to spread the doctrine (i. e., the doctrine of pre-millennalism). Where the money comes from is unknown, but there is a strong suspicion that it emanates from German sources. In my belief the fund, would be a profitable field for government investigation. My object in writing the book was to enlighten the American people, for if the belief spreads many would not be able to see the need of fighting for democ racy. That the doctrine of the premillenarians has many supporters is cer tain, as the divinity school gets many communications each week from pastors all over the country asking how to combat the idea.” rjOST-MILLENNIALISM’S CRY OF DESPAIR. T TNPRINCIPLED METHODS OF POST-MILLENNIALISTS.

THE KING’S BUSINESS 277 Prof. Case evidently sees that he cannot answer the premillenarians from the Bible, therefore he resorts to the contemptible scheme of arousing prejudice against them by accusing them of a lack of patriotism. It is a resort to the old methods of the Salem witchcraft persecutors that are now so universally despised. In the days of the Salem witchcraft excitement, when any unprin cipled person wished to put out of the way those whom they opposed theologic ally, or against whom they had grudges, they would simply accuse them of witchcraft, knowing that there would be no fair trial, and that awful penalties would be visited upon them. Unprincipled theologians today are pursuing prac tically the same course in trying to down their antagonists by stirring up sus picion of their patriotism. We know of one case in which a faithful brother was arrested and put in jail because .of preaching the return of our Lord. The accusation brought against him was that of treason, or disloyalty to the Presi dent. O f course, as soon as the National Government heard of it they ordered his discharge from jail.. Prof. Case is pursuing exactly the same method; though he has not carried it quite so far. That any man who makes any pre tensions to scholarship should pursue this method of theological controversy is almost incredible, but here we have the facts. A prominent pastor in Los Angeles pursued much the same method, announcing in a very prominent way in the Los Angeles papers that he would speak one Sunday night on the ques tion: “ Is It Patriotic to Believe, etc.,” and the point in question was, was it patriotic to believe in the premillennial doctrine, though he did not phrase it just that way. One must be conscious of having a very weak cause if he resorts to such methods of controversy. There are many post-millenarians whom we hold in the highest regard, and they would be among the first to condemn such methods as these, but we regret to say these methods are being followed, not only by the University of Chicago, but by others as well. Prof. Case is quite right when he says that “ the doctrine of the premillenarians-has many sup porters.” It has indeed. Among its supporters it has many of the leading commentators and theologians on both sides of the water. It has the support of three of the recent Moderators of the General Assembly of the. Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, of a recent Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church, of many of the leading Baptist ministers of the country, of pretty much all the best known evangelists, and a very large proportion of those ministers who are doing an aggressive soul-win ning work in their pastorates. It has, however, the bitter opposition of. a great share of those theologians who have accepted those views of destructive criti cism which unquestionably are of German origin, the views fathered by Welhausen, Graf, and others of that school. While the charge that the money for premillennial propaganda “ emanates from German sources” is ridiculous, the charge that the destructive criticism that rules in Chicago University “ emanates from German^ sources” is undeniable. Everybody knows, who has studied the question, that the school of biblical criticism that centers at Chicago University, to which both Prof. Shailer Matthews and Prof. Shirley Jackson Case belong, is simply an echo of German destructive criticism. We do not think on this account that the teachers in Chicago University should be prose cuted as being traitors, or that the Government would find this “a profitable field for Government investigation.”

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rpHE DESPERATION OF THE EVOLUTIONISTS. , The evolutionists have had one argument after another upon which they have depended to support their cause taken away from them. The argument upon which they originally depended so largely from the chronological order of the fossils in the different strata of rocks, went by the board, for it was found that all the facts discovered pointed to a succession of species, not by almost imperceptible gradations, but by great leaps and bounds, and it was nec essary to give up a theory of evolution by minute variations for a theory of evo lution by great jumps, which, of course, was not evolution at all. Then great dependence was put upon the embryological argument. At first there seemed to be a good deal of force in this, but upon careful investigation this argument fell down completely. The evolutionists have been driven from pillar to post. The straits to which they have been driven are illustrated in Dr. F. Wood Jones’ book, “ Arboreal Man.” At great length he attempts to prove that man got his brains, or his special brain formation, from the fact that his anthropoid ances tors lived in trees. His most conclusive proof of this appears to be that there is a baby only thirty days old who can hang by its hands for a minute at a time, showing conclusively to his mind, that the remote ancestors of this baby must have lived in trees and hung by their hands from trees. It is said that this abil ity of the child will decrease as the child grows older, and that this points to the old time arboreal life of the race, when the infant clung to a mother who had to keep her hands free for tree climbing. To any unwarped mind that will seem like a pretty small premise for a pretty large conclusion, and only a theory that is driven to desperation would make use of such an argument. The writer attempts to show that the evolution of the various higher mental abilities of man can be connected with the arboreal life of our Simian ancestors, and he even attempts to show that we can find in this arboreal life of our alleged ances tors the origin of man’s “higher ideals of conduct.” To a man that is really sane the Bible explanation appears far more rational. A great deal of praise from certain quarters has been bestowed upon the Y. M. C. A. for their broadness of view in permitting Roman Catholics to use their huts for their services. The Roman Catholics, as might be expected by any one who was familiar with their methods in the past, have taken a very unfair advantage of this generosity on the part of the Y. M. C. A., and in “ The Monitor,” a well known Roman Catholic periodical, they say: . “ Ten masses are said every Sunday in the Y. M. C. A. and K. of C. build ings (the Y. M. C. A. permit the use of their building). The buildings are over filled at each mass. The men kneel in the aisle, on the door-steps, and even out side on the ground. Protestants marvel at this. They can’t understand it. A lasting impression is being made on them. One of the chaplains told us of a wealthy man who gave up his business in order to take up the Y. M. C. A. work in the camp. For several Sundays he had watched these great gatherings of Catholics at the masses. One Sunday he came to the priest and said: ‘Father, every Sunday you have thousands at the mass, while we get only a handful at our service. Every Sunday you have the same thing; you never change and the buildings won’t hold the men. We change; we bring in new speakers, men C a t h o l ic cunn ing .

THE KING’ S BUSINESS 279 o f national reputation; we do everything to attract the men, without avail. Father, how' do you do it? Why do they come to the mass?’ ” , It is very easy to see the cunning of the Roman Catholic writer in all this. O f course, the statement that he puts into the mouth of this alleged wealthy Christian is not true. The Y. M. C. A. is finding no difficulty in filling the buildings at the Protestant services where the gospel is preached. We know by personal observation that the buildings are filled to overflowing, and that there are hundreds of genuine converts. The Roman Catholic writer goes on to explain it all as he sees it, by shying: “ A little reflection will give the cause. Run back over the pathway of time till you come to the sixteenth century; there you will find the beginning of the cause of their complaint. The revolters of the sixteenth century overthrew authority—not an authority set up by man—but the authority established by Jesus Christ, the Living Voice, which speaks through his Church, and which is none other than the Holy Catholic Church in communion with the See of Rome. . . . The rejecting of this Divine Authority established by Jesus Christ and exercised by his Church has led to chaos.” O f course, what this writer says about the Roman Catholic crowds as com pared with Y. M. C. A. gatherings might be true at Camp Dix, of which he writes, for Cardinal Gibbons is quoted as saying that more than half the enlisted men there were Catholics. Whether this statement of Cardinal Gibbons is true or not we do not know. It certainly is not true of many camps of the country. We have recently received a letter from' England in which the writer expresses his appreciation of T h e K in g ’ s B u s in e s s in a very practical way. He says: “ I enclose request for renewal of your magazine T h e K in g ’ s B u s i n e s s . The December issue was sent to me, but I have not yet received the January number, and I simply cannot afford to miss one. It is a wonderful tonic in these days of latitudinarianism. One hears some strange teaching and interpretations (or rather perversions) of scriptures in these days, and the pity o f it is that 80 per cent of church members are unable to discern between truth and error. I have come to the conclusion that if the doctrines of the Evangeli cal Faith, or in other words the truths of the Bible are to be preserved and handed down to the next generation, it will have to depend (humanly speak ing) on the comparatively few Christians in all our congregationswho are will ing to take upon themselves the obloquy of ‘Contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints.’ “ The thing one has to guard against is lest one should become bitter in these degenerate and almost apostate days. Yet, thank God, there is grace suf ficient to keep sweet and radiant through it all. “ I Send you my check for five pounds sterling, which after taking out pay ment of my annual magazine subscription, please use in your work in any way you think fit.” n r he KING’S BUSINESS APPRECIATED. .

rpHE PROSTITUTION OF GERMAN SCHOLARSHIP.

We had occasion in a recent number to show the appalling depths of moral blindness to which German scholarship, even theological scholarship, had descended in the days preceding the war and since the war began. Another

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THE KING’S BUSINESS startling illustration has occurred in an utterance of Prof. Wilhelm Ostwald, a prominent German theologian and a Nobel-prize man. This utterance is found in an article by Prof. Ostwald in the Stockholm Dagen, in which he says: “ In our country (Germany) God the Father is reserved for the personal use of the Emperor. In one instance He was mentioned in a report of the General Staff, but it is to be noted that He has not appeared there a second time.” Some might consider this utterance as being ironical, but it is said in all seriousness. The Chicago Post has called attention to the fact that the Kaiser is forever calling upon God and never appeals to Jesus Christ. It says: “ The larger conception of the God of mercy and love, of Jesus Christ, with his kindness and fairness and gentleness—these conceptions have no place in the kind of thing that the Prussian junker has labeled his theory of life.” The Kaiser and other leaders of German thought have for years now been seeking to gain the favor of the Mohammedans, and judging by their conduct, the God of whom they talk so much in their favorite utterance, “ Gott mit uns,” is not the God and Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but the Allah of Mohammed. The Chicago Tribune calls attention to the fact that “ early in the war a German pastor declared that Germany ought to reject the New Testa ment and cling mightily to the Old Testament. Away with the gentle Naza- rene! Give us instead the God of Battles!” It is a well known fact that lead ing German philosophers have spoken contemptuously of the God of Chris tianity, and said that Germany needed a war-God—the God of the ancient Norseman, Thor— instead of the God who was revealed in the Bible, and above all in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. A prominent German literary man, Philippi, wrote: “We think only of war. We execute God Almighty’s will, and the edicts of his justice we will fulfil in vengeance upon the ungodly. God calls us to murderous battles, even rf worlds should thereby fall to ruin. Like gardens of roses, our wounds blossom at the gates of heaven.” O f course, this is Mohammedanism pure and simple. Pastor Vorwerk’s “ Battle Prayer” is well known: “ Thou who dwellest in thy Heaven above, cherubim, seraphim, and Zeppelins; thou who art enthroned as a God of thun der in the midst of lightning from the clouds and lightning from sword and cannon, send thunder, lightning, hail, and tempest hurtling upon our enemy and hurl him down to dark burial-pits.” ' RESURRECTION R e s u r r e c t i o n ! Paean golden Of the harbingers of spring, Key-note of the anthem olden,- Nature’s tribute to her King. Love and life shall reign eternal, Death shall die, and tears be brief. Peace for battle, joy for weeping, Calvary’s cross', then Easter dawn ;

Tearful sowing, joyous reaping, Death—then Resurrection morn! H a r r ie t J u l ia E v a n s .

Resurrection! signet vernal, Graved on bud, on bloom, on leaf;

B y D r . R . A . J o r r e y ©2 B i b le I n s t it u t e ©2 IL®§ A n g e le s

And the most fundamental question con cerning the person o f Christ is, is Jesus Christ really God? Not merely is He Divine, but is He actually God? When I was a boy, to say you believed in the Divinity of Christ, meant that you "believed in the real Deity o f Christ, that you believed that Jesus was actually a Divine person, that He was God. It no longer means that. The Devil is wise, shrewd, subtle, and he knows that the most effectual way to instill error into the minds o f the inexpert and unwary is to use old and precious words and put a new meaning into them. So when his messengers masquerading as “ministers of righteousness” seek to lead, if possible, the elect astray, they use the old precious words but with an entirely new and entirely dif ferent and entirely false meaning. They talk about the Divinity o f Christ, hut they do not mean at all what intelligent Chris tians in former days meant by it. Just so

“ Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, say ing, What think ye o f Christ? whose son is He?”—Matt. 22:41, 42. The question that our Lord Jesus here puts to the Pharisees is the most fundamental question concerning Christian thought and faith that can be put to anybody in any age. Jesus Christ Him self is the center o f Christianity, so the most fundamental questions o f faith are those that concern the person o f Christ. If a man really holds to right views concern ing .the person o f Jesus Christ he will sooner or later get right views on every other question. I f he holds a wrong view concerning the person o f our Lord Jesus Christ, he is pretty sure to go wrong on everything else sooner or later. What think ye o f Christ? That is the great central question, that is the vital question.

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they talk o f the atonement, but they do not mean at all by the atonement the substitu tionary death of Jesus Christ in our place, by which eternal life; is secured for us. And oftentimes when they talk about Christ they do not mean at all our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the actual historic Jesus of the four gospels, they mean an ideal Christ, or a Christ principle. So our subject this morning is not the Divinity of Christ, but the Deity o f Christ, and our question is not is Jesus Christ Divine, but is Jesus Christ God? Was that person who was born at Bethlehem nineteen hundred and twenty- one years ago, and who lived thirty-three o r ' thirty-four years here upon earth as recorded in the four gospels o f Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, who was crucified on Calvary’s cross, who rose from the dead the third day, and was exalted from earth to heaven, to the right hand o f the Father, was He God manifested in the flesh, was He God embodied in a human being? Was He and is He a being worthy of our abso lute faith, and supreme love, and our unhes itating obedience, and our whole-hearted worship, just as God the Father is worthy o f our absolute faith and supreme love and unhesitating obedience and our whole hearted worship? Should all men honor Jesus., Christ even as they honor God the Father (John 5;23). Not merely is He an example that we can wisely follow, or a Master whom we can wisely serve, but is He a God Whom we can rightly worship? I presume that most o f us do believe that He tyas God manifested in the flesh, and that He is God today at the right hand o f the Father, but why do you believe so? Are you so intelligent in your faith, and therefore so well grounded in your faith that no glib talker or reasoner, no Unitar ian or Russellite or Christian Scientist or Theosophist, or other errorist can confuse you and upset you and lead you astray? It is important that we be thoroughly sound in our faith at this point, and thoroughly well-informed, wherever else we may be in ignorance or error, for we are distinctly told in John 20:31 that “ These are writ

ten, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son o f God; and that believing, ye may have life in His name.” It is evi dent from these words o f the inspired Apostle John that- this question is not merely a matter of theoretical opinion, that it is a matter that concerns our salvation. It is to confirm and instruct you in your blessed faith, your saving faith in Jesus Christ as a Divine person, that I speak this morning. When I studied the subject o f the Divinity o f Christ in the theological seminary I got the impression that there were a few texts in the Bible that con clusively proved that He was Divine. Years later I found that there were not merely a few proof texts that proved this, but that the Bible in many ways and in countless passages clearly taught that Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh. Indeed I found that the Doctrine o f the Deity o f Jesus Christ formed the very warp and w oof o f the Bible. I. Divine Names. The first line o f proof o f the absolute Deity o f our Lord Jesus is that many names and titles clearly implying Deity are used of Jesus Christ in the Bible, some of them over and over again, the total, number o f passages reaching far into the hundreds . O f course, this morning I can only give you a few illustrations. Turn with me first o f all to Rev. 1 :17, “AND WHEN I SAW HIM, I FELL A T HIS FEET A S ONE DEAD. AND HE LAID H IS RIGHT HAND UPON ME SAYING, FEAR NO T ; I AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST.” The text shows clearly that our Lord Jesus was the speaker, and here our Lord Jesus distinctly calls Himself “the First and the Last.” Now this beyond 3. Question is a Divine name, for in -Isa. 44:6 we read, “ THUS SAYETH JEHO VAH, THE KING OF ISRAEL, AN D HIS REDEEMER, JEHOVAH OF H O S T S : I AM THE FIRST, AND I AM THE LA S T ; AND BESIDES MR THERE IS NO GOD.” In Rev. 22:12, 13, our Lord Jesus says that He is the Alpha.

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and Omega. His words are, “ BEHOLD, I COME QU ICKLY ; AND MY RE WARD IS W ITH ME, TO RENDER TO EACH MAN ACCORDING AS HIS WORK IS. I AM ALPHA AN ti OMEGA, TH E FIRST AND THE LAST, THE BEGINNING AND THE END.” Now in this same book in the first chapter and the eighth verse the Lord God declares that He is the Alpha and the Omega. His words are, “I AM THE ALPHA , AND THE OMEGA, SAITH THE LORD GOD, WH ICH IS AND WH ICH WAS AND WH ICH IS TO COME, THE AL M IGHTY .” In 1 Cor. 2 :8, the Apostle Paul speaks o f our crucified Lord Jesus as “the Lord o f glory.” His exact words are, “WH ICH NONE OF THE PRINCES OF TH IS WORLD KNEW : FOR HAD THEY KNOWN IT, THEY WOULD NOT HAVE CRUCIFIED THE LORD OF GLORY.” There can be no question that “the Lord o f glory” is Jehovah God, for we read in Ps. 24:8-10, “WHO IS TH IS KING OF GLORY? JEHOVAH STRONG AND MIGHTY, JEHOVAH M IGHTY IN BATTLE. LIFT UP YOUR , HEADS, O YE GATES ; YEA LIFT THEM UP, YE EVERLASTING DOORS, AND THE KING OF GLORY W ILL COME IN. WHO IS THE KING OF GLORY? JEHOVAH OF HOSTS, HE IS THE KING OF GLORY.” And we are told in the passage already referred to that our crucified Lord Jesus was the King o f Glory, therefore He must be Jehovah. In John 20:28 Thomas addressed the Lord Jesus as his Lord and his God, “ AND THOMAS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, MY LORD AND MY GOD.” Unitarians have endeavored to get around the force o f this utterance of Thomas’s by saying that Thomas was excited and that he was not addressing the Lord Jesus, but was saying “my Lord and my God” as an ejaculation o f astonishment, just in the way that profane people some times use these exclamations today, but this interpretation is impossible, and shows to what desperate straits the Unitarians are

driven; for Jesus Himself commended Thomas for seeing it and saying it. Our Lord Jesus’ words immediately following those o f Thomas are, “ BECAUSE THOU HAST SEEN ME, THOU HAST BE LIEVED : BLESSED ARE THEY THAT HAVE NOT SEEN, AND YET HAVE BELIEVED” (John 20:29). In the cor rect translation o f Titus 2:13, the trans lation given in the English revision, not in the American Standard Revision, our Lord Jesus is spoken o f as, “ our gr'eat God and Saviour Jesus Christ.” In Rom. 9 :5, Paul tells us that “ CHRIST IS OVER ALL, GOD BLESSED FOREVER:” The Unitarians have ■made desperate efforts to overcome the force o f these words, but the only fair translation and interpreta tion o f the words that Paul wrote in Greek are the translation and interpretation found in both our Authorized and Revised Ver sions. There can be no honest doubt to one who goes to the Bible to find out what it actually teaches, and not to read his own thought into it, that Jesus is spoken o f by various names and titles that beyond a ques tion imply Deity, and that He in so many words is called God. In Heb. 1 :8 it is said in so many words, o f the. Son, “BUT UNTO THE SON HE SAITH , THY THRONE, O GOD, IS FOR EVER AND EVER ; A SCEPTRE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS THE SCEPTRE OF TH Y KINGDOM.” If we should go no further it is evidently the clear and often repeated teaching of. the Bible that Jesus Christ was really God. II. Divine Attributes. But there is a second line o f proof that Jesus Christ was God, a proof equally con vincing, and that is, all the jive distinctively Divine attributes are ascribed to JeSus Christ, and "all the fulness of the God head” is said to dwell in Him. There are five distinctively Divine attributes, that is five attributes that God alone possesses. These are Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Eternity, and Immutability. Each one o f these distinctively Divine attributes are ascribed to Jesus Christ. First

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in Bethlehem. In Micah 5 :2 we read, “ BUT THOU, BETHLEHEM, EPHRATAH , THOUGH THOU BE LITTLE AMONG THE THOUSANDS OF JUDAH? Y E T OUT OF THEE SHALL HE COME FORTH UNTO ME TH AT IS TO BE RULER IN ISRAEL ; WHOSE GOINGS FORTH HAVE BEEN FROM OF OLD, FfiOM EVERLASTINQ.” And in Isa. 9 :6 we are told o f the child that is to be born, “ FOR UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN, UNTO US A SON IS G IVEN ; AND THE GOVERNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS SHOULDER ; AND H IS NAME SHALL BE CALLED WONDER FUL, COUNSELLOR, THE M IGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER , THE PRINCE OF PEACE.” And in Heb. 13:8 we are told that “JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME YESTERDAY , AND TODAY, AND FOR EVER.” ' His immutability is also taught in the passage just quoted from Hebrews, and in the first chapter o f the same book, the twelfth verse we are told that while even the heavens cjiange, the Lord Jesus does not change. The exact words are,, “THEY SHALL PERISH, BUT THOU REM A INEST : THEY ALL SHALL W A X OLD AS DOTH A GARMENT ; AND AS A MANTLE SHALT THOU ROLL THEM UP, AS A GARMENT, AND THEY SHALL BE CHANGED : BUT THOU ART THE SAME. AND THY YEARS SHALL NOT FAIL.”'- So we see that each one o f the five distinctively Divine attributes were ascribed to our Lord Jesus Christ. And in Col. 2:9 we are told in so many words, “ IN HIM DWELLETH ALL THE FULNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY (I. E. IN A BODILY FORM ).” Here again we might rest our case, for what has been said under this head, even if taken alone, clearly proves the absolute Deity o f our Lord Jesus Christ. It shows that He possessed every perfection o f nature and character that God the Father possesses.

o f all, omnipotence is ascribed to Jesus Christ. Not only are we taught that Jesus had power over diseases and death and winds and sea and demons, that they were all subject to His word, and that He is far above all principality, and power, and might) and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in the world to come (Eph. 1:20-23), but in Heb. 1 :3 it is said in so many words that He ‘‘UPHOLDS ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER.” Omnis cience is also ascribed to Him. W e are taught in the Bible; that Jesus knew men’s lives even their secret history (John 4:16, 19), that He knew the secret thoughts of men, knew all men, knew what was in man (Mark 2 :8 ; Luke 5:22; John 2:24, 25) which knowledge we are distinctly told in 2 Chron. 6:30 and Jer. 17:9, 10, God only possesses, but we are told in so many words in John 16:30 that Jesus knew “all things,” and in Col. 2 :3 we are told that in Him “are hid all the treasures of wis dom and knowledge.” Omnipresence is also ascribed to Him. We are told in Matt. 18:20 that where two or three-are gathered together in His name, that He is in the midst o f them, and in Matt. 28:20 that wherever His obedient disciples should go He would be with them, even unto the end o f the age, and in John 14:20 and 2 Cor. 13:5 we are told that He dwells in each believer, in all the millions o f believers scattered over the earth. In Eph. 1 :23 we are told in so many words that He “filleth all in all." Eternity is also ascribed to Him. W e are told in John 1 :1 that “ in the begin ning was the Word, and the W ord was with God, and the W ord was God.” In John 8 :S7 Jesus Himself said, “ VERILY, VER ILY, I 'SAY UNTO YOU, BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS, I AM .” Note that the Lord Jesus did not merely say that “before Abraham was I was,” but that “before Abraham was, I am ,” thus declaring Him self to be the eternal “I am ,” Even in the Old Testament, we have a declaration o f the eternity o f the Christ who was to be born

(To be Continued)

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EÜ.HTEH M O U

IS Easter Morn! I see it breaking O ’er the ruddy hilltops fa r ! Fast the sun’s light now is waking; Vanish every twinkling star; , Ushering in the glorious morning O f that day when Jesus rose, With its brightest rays adorning Scenes of earth, to end our woes. The work “ is finished!” He is risen! Death’s cerements He casts aside! No longer is'the grave His prison— In Him it oped its portals wide 1 “ It is finished!” Winds proclaiming In anguish that His work is done! What joy should fill our souls, in naming Our Saviour Christ God’s only Son.

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Then join in anthems every nation,

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Throughout the bounds of space andtime.

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Let all, of every rank and station,

Raise loud their songs in every clime.

Christ has risen! See Him bringing

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Immortality to light!

Then let our anthems all be ringing,

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For Peace has come! Oh, joyous sight!

Yes, “ Peace on Earth, Good W ill to Men!” Oh, let the angels’ anthem ring, While human choirs respond “ amen” To the song the angels sing. Oh, the joy—the burning rapture— That doth our human bosoms fill! Let earth and every mortal creature

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It echo and re-echo still!

J a m e s A r c h e r .

“ Oakwood,” M iss., 1894.

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B y D t ° G. Campbell Morgm i Text. —Jesus therefore said, When ye have lifted up the son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and tha,t I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me; he hath not left me alone; for I do allways the things that are pleasing to him. As he spake these things, many believed on him.—John viii. 28-30.

“ He that sent me is with me ; my Father hath not left me alone.” The perfect ideal for my life, then, is that I live always in the realm of the things that please God; and the secret by which I may do so is here unfolded-—by living in perpetual, unbroken communion with God : communion with which I do not permit any thing to interfere. Then it shall be possible for me to pass into the high realm o f actual realization. It is important that we should remind ourselves in a few sentences that the Lord has indeed stated the highest possible ideal for human life in these words : “The things that please him.” Oh, the godlessness o f men ! The godlessness that is to be found on every hand! The godlessness of, thé men and women that are called by the name o f God ! How tragic, how sad, how awful it is ! because godlessness is always not merely an act o f rebellion against God, but a falling short in our own lives o f their highest and most glorious possibili ties.

HE Master, you will see, in this verse lays before us three things. First o f all, He gives us the perfect ideal o f human life in a short phrase, and that comes at the end, “the things

that please him.” Those are the things that create perfect human life,' living in the realm o f which man realizes perfectly all the possibilities of his wondrous being— “ the things that please him.” So I say, in this phrase, the Master reveals to us the perfect ideal o f our lives. Then, in the second place, the Master lays claim—one o f the most stupendous claims that He ever made—that He utterly, absolutely, realizes that ideal. He says, “ I do always the things that please him.” And then, thirdly, we have the revelation o f the secret by which He has been able to realize the ideal, to make the abstract concrete, to bring down the fair vision o f divine purpose to the level o f actual human life and experience, and the secret is declared in the opening w ords:

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HIS LIFE Here-is my life. Now, the highest realm for me is the realm where all my. thoughts, and all my deeds, and all my methods, and everything in my life please God. That is the highest realm, because God only knows that I am ; only perfectly understands the possibilities o f my nature, and all the great reaches o f my being. You remember those lines that Tennyson sang—very beautifully, I always think: “ Flower in the crannied wall, I pluck you out o f the crannies— Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, Little Flower—but if I could understand What you art, root and all, and all in all, I should know what God and man is.” Beautiful confession! Absolutely true. I hold that flower in my hand, and I look at it, flower and leaves and stem and root. I can botanize it, and then I tear it to pieces —that is what the botanist mostly does— and you put some part o f it there, and some part o f it there, and some part o f it there. There is the root, there the stem, and there are the leaves, and there is everything, but where is the flower?- Gone. How did it go ? When did it go ? Why, when you Ruthlessly tore it to bits. But how did you destroy it? You interfered with the prin ciple that made it what it was—you inter fered with the principle of life. What is life? No man can tell you. “ If I could but know what you are, little flower, root and all, and all in all,” I would know what life is, what God is, what man is. I can not. Now, if you lift that little parable of the flower into the highest realm of animal life, and speak of yourself—we don’t know our selves ; down in my nature there are reaches that I have not fathomed yet. They are coming up every day. What a blest thing it is to have the Master at hand, to hand them over to Him as they come up, and say, “ Lord, here is another piece o f Thy territory; govern it; I don’t know anything about it.” But there is the business. I don’t know myself, but God knows me, understands all the complex relationships

of my life, knows how matter affects mind, and physical and mental and spiritual are blended in one in the high ideal o f humanity. Oh, remember, man is the crowning and most glorious work o f God o f which we know anything as yet. And God only knows man. DOING THINGS But here is a Man that stands amid His enemies, and He looks out upon His ene mies, and He says, “ I do the things that please him”—not “I teach them,” not “ I dream them,” not “I have seen them in a fair vision,” but “I do them.” There never was a bigger claim from the lips o f the Master than that : “I do always thé things that please- him.” You would not thank me to insult your Christian experience, upon whatever level you live it, by attempting to define that statement of Christ. History has vindi cated it. We believe it with all our hearts -f-that He always did the things that pleased God. But I have got on to a level that I can touch now. The great ideal has come from the air to the earth. The fair vision has become concrete in a Man. Now, I want to See that Man; and if I see that Man I shall see in Him a revelation o f what, God’s purpose is for men, and I shall see, therefore, a revelation o f what the highest possibility o f life is. Now this a tempting theme. It is a temptation to begin to con trast Him with popular ideals o f life. I want to see Him; I want, if I can, to catch the notes o f the music that make up the perfect harmony which was the dropping o f a song out o f God’s heaven upon man’s earth, that man might catch the key-note o f it and make music in his own life. What are the things in this Man’s life? He says: “I have realized the ideal—I do.” There are four -things that I want to say about Him, four notes in the music of his life. A MUCH-ABUSED WORD First, spirituality. That is one o f the words that needs redeeming from abuse. He was the embodiment o f the spiritu?'

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see no beauty in the flowers and hear no music in the song o f the birds; if the life which you pass into when you consent to the crucifixion of self does not open to you the very gates o f God, and make the sing ing of the birds and the blossoming of the flowers infinitely more beautiful, you have never seen Jesus yet. TJIE PURE IN HEART What was His spirituality? The spirit uality o f Jesus Christ was a concrete reali zation of a great truth which He laid down in His own beatitudes. What was that? “ Blest are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Now, the trouble is we have been lifting all the good things o f God and put ting them in heaven. And I don’t wonder that you sing: “My willing soul would stay In such a frame as this, And sit and sing itself away To everlasting bliss.” i No wonder you want to sing yourself away to everlasting bliss, because every thing that is worth having you have put up there. But Jesus said: “Blest are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’’ If you are pure you will see Him everywhere— in the flower that blooms, in the march o f history, in the sorrows o f men, above the darkness o f the darkest cloud.; and you will know that God is in the field when He is most invisible. Secondly, subjection. The next note in the music o f His life is His absolute sub jection to God. You can very often tell the great philosophies which are governing human lives by the little catchwords that slip off men’s tongues: “Well, I thank God I am my own master.” That is your trouble, man. It is because you are your own mas ter that you are in danger of'hell. A man says: “ Can’t I do as I like with my own ?” You have got no “own” to do what you like with. It is because men have forgot ten the covenant o f God, the kingship of God, that we have all the wreckage and ruin that blights this poor earth o f ours. Here is the Man who never forgot it.

ideal in life. He was spiritual in the high, true, full, broad, blest sense o f that word. ~It may be well for a moment to note what spirituality did not mean in the life o f Jesus Christ. It did not mean asceti cism. During all the years of His ministry, during all the years o f His teaching, you never find a single instance in which Jesus Christ made a whip of cords to scourge Himself. And all that business of scouring oneself—an attempt to elevate the spirit by the ruin o f the actual flesh—is absolutely opposed to His view o f life. Jesus Christ did not deny Himself. The fact of His life was this—that He touched everything familiarly. He went to the widow. He took up the children and held them in His arms, and looked into their eyes till heaven wag poured in as1He looked. He didn’t go and get behind walls somewhere. He didn’t get away and say:~ “ Now, if I am going to' get pure I shall do it by shutting men out.” You) remember what the Pharisees said of Him once. They said: “ This man reeeiveth sinners.” You know how they said it.’ They meant to say: “We did hope that we should .make something out o f this new man, but we are quite dis appointed. He receives sinners.” And what did they.mean ? They meant what you have so often said: “You cant touch pitch without being defiled.” But this Man sat down with the publican and He didn’t take on any defilement from the publican. On the other hand, He gave the publican His purity in 'the • life o f Jesus "Christ. Things worked the other way. He was the great negative of God to the very law o f evil that you have—evil contami nates good’. If you will put on a plate one apple that is getting bad among, twelve dthers that are pure, the bad one will influ ence the others. Christ came to drive back every force joi disease and every force of evil by this strong purity of His own per son, and He said: “ I will go among the bad and make them good.” That was what He was doing the whole way through. So His spirituality was not asceticism. And if you are going to t>e so spiritual that you

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