THE K I N G ' S BUS I NE S S said to himself on the way home, “ That settles that! No more hell fire for me to worry about!” But a little later on the way, “ What if there should be? That preacher was very confident hut what does he know about it after all? What if there should be a hell in the next world for such sinners as I am?” And away was gone his Russellite com fort again. So let our church authors and teachers and some preachers who follow the dy ing remnant of Unitarians reflect, what if after all Christ should prove Himself to be very God of very God? What if His views of the Old Testament certifying Moses and Daniel and even Jonah should win out as truth against beloved Ger man hypotheses? What if after all a man cannot see the kingdom of heaven nor enter into it unless he is born again as Christ declared? What, indeed, if God should once again in mighty sweep of Pentecostal revivals vindicate John’s Gospel and Paul’s theology, and John Wesley’s joyous salvation?—Eastern Methodist. m H i WHY GO TO CHURCH? Oliver Wendell Holmes was once asked why he troubled to attend a small church where the' preacher was a most ordinary man with no originality as a thinker. Dr. Holmes gave this fine re ply, “ I go because I have a little plant called Reverence, and I must needs water it once a week or it will die.” There are other and deeper reasons why we should go to a place of worship reg ularly— to confess our sins, to ask God’s pardon, to praise Him for His good ness, to encourage one another in our most holy faith. But there is also need to water the “ little plant called Rever ence,” which soon fades and dies un less we remember it at least once a week by assembling ourselves together for worship.
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(2) By Position, a. A son of God ( “ ye are sons” , Gal. 4 :6 ). The Greek Is “ uioi” . It implies formal and public recognition and in statement as inheriting sons ( “ adop tion” ), Rom. 8:16. It conveys dignity, expectation, participation, Gal. 4:6-7; 2 Cor. 1:22; Rom. 8:19, 23, 29. b. A servant. Every son is a servant. Not of law, but of love, and of mutual interest, Gal. 4:1, 2; Heb. 3:5, 6. c. A saint, 1 Cor. 1:1-3; Heb. 10:10. Note: The Spirit’s gifts are to sons and saints for service, Mark 1:10, 11; John 3:34; Rom. 12:1-21. (3) Sanctification—A— Formal. a. The Word “ to sanctify” (i. e., make holy ): “ Sanctify” has, almost exclusively, a formal sense. It is used of places, times, things or persons set apart by and for God, and expresses a formal relation to Him, not a moral quality in the thing, Exod. 35:19; 20:8-11; Ps. 2:6; 89:20. b. The Persons Sanctified. All believers are sanctified. All are saints, even “ yet carnal” Corinthians, 1 Cor. 3:1-3; 1:2, A. R. V. Note: “ To be” (1 Cor. 1:2) is not in the original; and if it is required in the translation, still the idea is not to be come saints, but to be what we are, viz., saints. These facts have importance in the “ sanctiflcationist” controversy. T. C. H. afe ate WHAT IF— ? An old reprobate farmer attended a Russellite “ comfort” meeting, where the preacher seemed fully to prove that there is no hell. The preacher loudly reproved the orthodox for teaching of hell, and distressing the people concern ing it. And the old farmer, putting hia tobacco chew now on one side of his mouth and then on the other, gleefully
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