food and g l a d n e s s ;" Acts. 14:17; Psa. 104:5-32. (3) BY HIS WORD. a. In- spired— (a) Its Prediction, Isa. 46:9, 10; 45:21; 43:8-12; Act 3:16. (b) Its Effects, Heb. 4:12; Psa. 119:11, 130, 50, 103. (c) Its Revelations —The, account of creation, which agrees with modern discovery, b. Incarnate —the testimony of Jesus, Him- self attested by (a) His apostles, Jno. 1:14; His friends, Jno. 3:2; His enemies,
Luke 20:21; thé demons, Mrk. 1:24; His character, I Pet. 2:22; His deeds, Jno. 14:11; His resurrection, Rom. 1:4. Since God exists we should: (1) Revere Him, Ecc. 12:13; Psa. 89:7; (2) Obey Him, Act. 5:29; (3) Serve Him, Josh. 24:14, 24; (4) Please Him, Heb. 11:6; Rev. 3:11; (5) Love Him, Mat. 22:37; I Jn. 4:19; (6) Glorify Him, Mat. 6:33; I Cor. 10:31.
Knterrogation fl oints* Y friend says that the Church is Christ's army, and should array herself against all the evils of the world, AS he right? The Church is nowhere called an army, nor does she seem to
white slaver,' and their abominable worldli- ness, to God and to temporal welfare. For the Church to take up the roll of reformer is to depart from her calling in the error and fostering the error that the world is or can be made better, or saved by rpform and in bulk, and not only by individual regeneration. Her business is to s b ow t he hopelessness of the situation; the futility of the wisdom, the reforms, thé" material and social betterments of the world, to save it, or a man of it, or a shred of its wealth and glory, but to stretch out the hand of evangelism to whosoever will lay hold of it. "Some say that the world cannot be made better, but my pastor says thai: We can make it better and sweeter while pass- ing through it. Is he not right? The pas- tor, no doubt, means that we, by kindaess, cheerfulness, and sympathetic counsel, should make life brighter and better for others. He is right, but not happy in put- ting it. "The world" in the New Testa- ment sense, is "This present evil age" (Gal. 1:4) and will be such to its last generation, and its last moment. Satan is the prince and god of it (Jno. 16:11), and his spirit pervades and actuates it, and > no essential betterment can come to it. It may improve socially and materi- ally, locally ' and temporarily, but the smouldering fires of sin and lust will burst forth from time to time until the " d a y of w r a t h " (Rev. 6:7). Meanwhile we shall do all the good we can to all the people we can; and make life's burdens lighter for them; we may leave a pleasant, Christian odor behind us-—but make " t h e world better and sweeter! "—You might as well talk of making the devil better by smiling on him or a certain quadruped sweeter by stroking his fur. We are " p a s s i n g" through the world, in it, not of it (Jno. 17:J.4). We
be regarded as a military body. Yet the believer is called " a soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Tim. 2:3) and "goeth a war- fare' ' (1 Cor. 9:7); to ' 'fight the good fight of faith (1 Tim. 6:12); armed cap a pie (Eph. 6:11-18); not, however, for aggressive but for defensive warfare; to "resist the devil"- (Jas. 4:7); not to pursue him; she dare not invite his • attacks. She is to stand like a rock against the stormings of hell; and" is not an on- and overflowing flood to quench its fires. She is not to "destroy the works of the devil;" that is reserved for Him who "Shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" (Rom. 16:20). Her fight is in the world; against the world; not for., it. She is neither Saint Patrick to drive out its vipers; nor Saint George to slay its dragons. She is a Voice calling in its Wilderness; a Light shining in its darkness, that the "called" (Rom. 8:30) may find the way. to their Refuge. She is, indeed, "the salt of the Earth," but the Earth, now preserved for the sake of the elect, is to be purified and changed, which the world (the aion, age; or the cosmos, order); is not. As members of the commonwealth, not as of the churches, believers may join their neighbors to eliminate eivil evils and social viees. How a Christian can do other than help every "good word and work" we do not see. But we must not misrepresent the mission of the Church, nor the f a ct that from a spiritual viewpoint the respectable man and his respectable worldliness are as obnoxious to God, and as dangerous to spiritual welfare, as the saloonkeeper, the
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