difficulties which beset them, and from their bearing on the truth of the atonement. But Christianity sweeps away all these errors. The God of Sinai has not repented of His thunders, but He has fully revealed Himself in Christ. And the wonder of the reve lation is not punishment but pardon. The great mystery of the Gospel is how God can be just and yet the Justifier of sinful men. And the Scrip tures which reveal that mystery make it clear as light that this is possible only through redemption: “not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitia tion for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Re demption is only and altogether by the death of Christ. “ For God so loved the world, that He gave His only be gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). To bring in limitations here is to limit God. The Cross of Christ In the wisdom of God the full revelation of “ eternal judgment” and the doom of the lost, awaited the supreme manifestation of divine grace and love in the Gospel of Christ; and when these awful themes are separated from the Gospel, truth is presented in such a false perspective that it seems to savor of error. For not even the divine law and the pen alties of disobedience will enable us to realize aright the gravity and hein ousness of sin. This we can learn only at the Cross of Christ. Our estimate of sin will be proportionate to our appreciation of the cost of our re demption. Not “ silver and gold” — human standards of value are useless here — but “ the precious blood of Christ.” Seemingly more unbelievable than the wildest superstitions of hu man cults is the Gospel of our salva tion. That He who was “ Son of God” in all which that title signifies — God manifest in the flesh; for “ all things were made by Him, and with out Him was not anything made that was made” — came down to earth, and having lived in rejection and contempt, died a death of shame, and that in virtue of His death He is the propitiation for the world. (1 John 2:2, R.V.) Here, and only here, can we know the true character and depths of hu man sin, and here alone can we know, so far as the finite mind can ever know it, the wonders of a divine love "that passes knowledge. And the benefit is to “ whosoever believeth.” It was by unbelief that man first turned away from God; how fitting, then, it is that our return to Him should be by faith.
And if the sinner’s sufferings can expiate his sin, the most that can be said for the death of Christ is that it opened a short and easy way to the same goal that could be reached by a tedious and painful journey. But fur ther, unless the sinner is to be made righteous and holy before he enters hell — and in that case, why not let him enter heaven at once? — he will continue unceasingly to sin; and as every fresh sin will involve a fresh penalty, his punishment can never end. False Argument Every treatise in support of these THE END COMETH The time-piece ticking through the night. The sand fast slipping through the glass. Proclaim to every thoughtful mind The end of things must come to pass. The present age draws to its close; This life with every cherished plan Must prove, ere long, whate'er our hopes That earthly life is but a span. Cleave not to passing earthly joys; Have faith in God, and wait His Day, Earth is not all — believe it, soul! "Eternity is drawing nigh." Flee to the precious, cleansing Fount; Our Saviour's life-blood shed for all; And, as the moments hurry by, Upon that Friend of sinners call. Loud ticks the clock! swift flows the sand! Soon shall the midnight cry be heard, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh, now!" So long foretold in God's sure Word. — Alice Maude Carvell heresies relies on the argument that the words in our English Version, which connote endless duration, rep resent words in the original text which have no significance. But this argument is exploded by the fact that the critic would be compelled to use these very words if he were set the task of translating our version into Greek. For that language has no other terminology to express the thought. And yet it is by trading on ad captandum arguments of this kind, and by the prejudices which are na turally excited by partial or exag gerated statements of truth, that these heresies win their way. Attention is thus diverted from the insuperable
VERBAL INSPIRATION "The Book contains, not is, God's Word," they say; "Men thought His thoughts; He did not speak, but they; The concept, or the substance, is divine. But reason must assay the ore we mine." That can't be true which one's disposed to doubt. The word is human, so he rules it out; He has a notion, say, respecting sin. The thought's divine, and so he reads it in. Thus with his scissors, and his pot of paste. Each suits a revelation to his taste; Amends the Sacred Text, and writes instead What God Almighty would or should have said; Explores the depths of the Unfathomed Mind, And naught beyond his plummet's reach can find. Then tenders us, what time his task is done His Jack-o-Lantern for our glorious Sun. Not so the Scripture: "God spake all these words— Words which the Spirit teacheth"— words— words— words. Prediction, precept, history and song, "Thy word," (not thought), said one, "was in my tongue." Till tunes are played with neither note nor horn; Till souls of men are without bodies born; "A wordless thought" shall be a thoughtless word A fool's conceit to contradict his Lord. Our Holy Writings are inbreathed of God, The word, the letter, the tittle and the yod. He taught the prophet, and impelled his pen. From "In beginning" to the last "Amen!" And woe to him whose vain presumptuous thought Shall add thereto, or dare diminish ought. by J. H. Sammis First Editor of THE KING'S BUSINESS
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MARCH, 1964
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