Notes by the Way J . H. S.
the brethren, a good man, for I knew him, shouting and clapping, paused before the penitent man and said, "Now, my brother, do you feel any better?" The young man shook his head anc" kept up his petition. "Well," replied the old man, "this is a religion that must be felt," and paced on to and fro, leaving the seeker seeking, and the prayer praying. I knelt beside the poor fellow, who kept up his cry, and said, with my hand on his shoulder, "I am a stranger, but I am sorry for you. Do you not think Jesus is sorry? You are troubled on account of your sins, and you ought to be, but do you think you can make matters better by your crying? Will Jesus be more ready to save you tomorrow than now?" He paused and glanced at me as if to say, "What new doctrine is this?" and turned to his handkerchief but in si- lence, while I taught him that "It is not thy sighs of repentance and tears, But the Blood that atones for the soul." For it is written: "Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above); or who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring Christ up again from the dead). But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." I left him, and trust he was at "peace through believ- ing." THE "CRITICS" Sir Robert Ander- AND PROPHESY son, in the Current Watchword a n d Truth, says, "You cannot name a single British theologian of the first rank woh has thrown in his lot with these critics. I will give you another challenge. They have facile pens, and they have written freely; can you find me a single page written by any one of them to give proof that he knows anything of the inner teachings of the Bible, of the divine scheme of prophesy^—promise and prot- phecy and type—which discloses the great purpose that is in the warp and woof of the Book, leading up to the- coming of the Son of God? Can you give me a single page penned by any one-
"SEEK," "PRAY," We were explain- OR "BELIEVE"? ing the Parable of the Merchant and the Pearl. The Merchant was not the sinner hut the Saviour; the pearl was not the Saviour or His Salvation hut the sinner. The Seeker was the Sav- iour not the sinner. It was remarked that we -should not tell the sinner or inquirer to "seek" or to "pray," hut only to. "believe." A gentleman cited Isa. 55:6. But we showed this to be an exhortation to backsliding Israel, al- ready professedly Jehovah's, but now seeking after other gods; and that the sinner need not seek what is openly offered, viz., Salvation; that we would not forbid him to seek or to pray, which, if in earnest, he could not help, but that we should urge him first of all to accept. IN ILIiTJS- I said that I once over- TRATION heard a "Doctor" talking to an inquirer, a young man who the evening before had gone home professing to be converted. The doctor told him to "take Christ for his Captain, and to follow Him." We signaled the young man, my friend and I, detaining him till the doctor had gone. Now we said, "You must not take'Christ for your^Captain and fol- low Him. You did that last night, and found that you could not obey orders and were disgracing the colors, and here you are in the old place of doubt and darkness. What you should do is to take Him as your Saviour, and free from condemnation, redeemed from law, saved at His word and not for your deed, you shall have abiding confidence, and can volunteer for His service as a redeemed man. ANOTHER In an Indiana town ILLUSTRATION through which I was passing t h e y were holding a Methodist "revival" meeting. I found in the church a large audience of old-time "shouting" brethren and sisters. There were exhorters, and prayers, and shouters. You could not tell who was doing the one or the other. There were brethren pacing the plat- form behind the altar rail, making, per- haps, the principal noise. A young man knelt at the rail, his face buried in his handkerchief, and crying out, "God have mercy on me a sinner." One of
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