August 1928
459
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
What a pity it is that so many preachers have so much to talk about that they never get-around to the study of and the proclamation of thèse vital truths of the New Testament ! I f T ru e— I t ’ s A ll T ru e “ Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing o f whom thou hast learned them." 2 Tim. 3:14. T HE articles of the Christian faith are not like the com modities in a bazaar from which one can pick and choose at pleasure and of which one can take three or four without in any way affecting one’s relation to the re mainder, or reject three or four without in any way affect ing the security of one’s hold upon those which one de cides to take. Our right to pick and choose has very strict limits. There is a right and a wrong use of reason in matters of faith. When the system as a whole has presented its creden tials to the reason and conscience and they have decided that the bearer of such credentials must be the representa tion of a divine Being, then the attempt to pick and choose among the details o f the system becomes perilous work. T o reject this or that item as being fringe and setting rather than a constituent element, may be to endanger the whole structure. Either we accept the Word o f God or we do not. It is not rational to trim, clip, pare away and twist, garble, gloss and color— in order to bring the Bible into conformity with some idea to which we have ,sub jected it. ‘.¿Ife H ow O n e T h e o s o p h is t T h in k s A COPY o f this magazine having been sent to a prom- - inent Theosophist by a relative,, the following com ment was received; “ Today the religious magazine came. I glanced through it, but I could not give it much time, I have grown away from these old ideas. This is dry stuff. It is •a decidedly, limited viewpoint. Who are these folks who presume to know what is the Word of God? That is a question which no. one can answer. The Bible, for a book of God, gives a very poor idea of the facts of life and death as contrasted with the scientific precision o f The osophy. I never got a sensible notion’ o f existence until I took up Theosophy. W e do not depend upon what a few apostles said some hundreds o f years ago. Mrs. Besant gives us actual clairvoyant studies of these things. Theoso- phists have watched dying people and described the pro cess o f withdrawing from the body. The clairvoyant fac ulty enables us to inspect the conditions o f the spiritual world, a thing which ministers cannot do. We know that angels exist, and your church people do not believe in angels. Hardly a week goes by that I do not have some instructive psychic experience which is more than the apostles ever experienced. Occultism is so rich and varied that the awakened student can find nothing in your dry husks of theology. It is kindergarten stuff. I cannot waste my time upon such things. I have grown beyond
T h e H um a n H ea rt o f D e ity NE of the great truths given in the New Testament especially for a time of apos tasy is that of the High Priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Hebrew Christians were drifting and a special message was directed to them to save them from the rising tide o f apostasy. They were reminded that they had a
“ better sacrifice” than their unbelieving brethren, and they were directed to look to heaven where they might in faith behold a glorious High Priest, Jesus the Son of God. In the light o f these facts,-they were exhorted to “ hold fast their profession” (Heb. ,4 :14 ). Is there any better mes sage for an apostate church today? How little instruction is given the church today re garding these things! Is it any marvel that Christians are pulled this way and that way-in the midst o f the raging controversies when they are left without the holding power of the exalted truth o f the Priesthood o f Christ? Who could lose courage and draw back in cowardice, if he real ized that he had instant access at the throne in heaven, who is not only omnipotent in power but has a human heart? The Priesthood of Jesus Christ, be it observed,/is based upon the perfection of His humanity. He is a per fect Mediator because He was in all points tested as we are, yet without sin, and therefore can he touched .with the feeling o f our infirmities (Heb. 4 :15 ). : Has the fact gripped your soul that Jesus not only W A S but IS man? Some imagine that He took human form only temporarily and then became a ghost being. Let the resurrection life of our Lord answer that error. He was a glorified MAN . He ascended as “ the Son o f man.” We have a Mediator, “ the man Christ Jesus." He is com ing again as “ the Son o f man.” Here is the truth o f the human heart o f deity. The Bible truth o f the present manhood of Christ should be given more emphasis. Few realize that the divine Heart is human in its sympathies. When Jesus ascended He changed His place but not His nature. Little can we estimate what it has meant to the sum o f human happiness that we have a High Priest above who is able to have fellow feeling. The earthly experience of the incarnate God has left certain effects durable in His nature—has endued the Godhead with qualifications which,, but for the incarnation, could not have existed. It is in view of this truth that the writer of Hebrews exhorts: “ Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.” The word “ boldly” means “ with freedom of speech.” The throne of Majesty becomes to us a throne of grace when we realize that God has been in our place and even now knows how we feel. . As John Buriyan put it : “ When a God of grace is upon a throne of grace and a poor sinner seeks gra^e in the name of a gracious Christ in and by the help of the Spirit of Grace, can it be other wise but such a sinner' must obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need ?” •
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