T HE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S had cast aside certain Psalms as untrust worthy. Some who were disturbed went to Dr. Torrey about the matter, and the following was his reply: ■ “I met Prof. George Adam Smith per sonally, and had a personal talk with him on this very question. Professor Smith was in Northfield, and, by invitation, 1 met him at Mr. Moody’s house. “ ‘Professor Smith,’ I said, ‘you teach that the 110th Psalm is not Messianic, and that it was not written by David; that it refers to a brother of Jonathan Macca beus, and is not by David at all, but by some unknown man, of that period. If that be true, one of two things must also be true—it is certain, either that Jesus Christ knew it was not by David, and did not refer to Himself, in which case, in building an argument for His Divinity upon it, He deliberately pulled the wool over the eyes of those to whom He spoke, or else He did not know it, in which case He built an argument for His Divinity upon a mistake. In either case, what are you going to do with the Divinity of Christ?’ “ ‘I do not build my faith in His Divin ity on the 110th Psalm,’ he replied. “ ‘Neither do I,’ I said, ‘but, having found out that He is Divine, I must main tain that He knows what He is talking about when He built an argument for His Divinity on this 110th Psalm.’
1144 surely very far from the thought of annihilation. The necessary conclusion is that “ de struction” means in no sense annihila tion, but (1) the ruin of a person or an object so that they can no longer be used for the purpose for which they were intended; hence (2) deprivation of natural life, (3) deprivation of spiritual life, “ dead in sins,” (4) in respect to those who persistently continue in sin, conscious and unending punishment. The word translated “ destroy” (Rom. 6:6; 1 Cor. 6:13; 15:26; 2 Thess. 2:8; Heb. 2:14) means to render idle, unem ployed, inactive, inoperative. It means, not to put out of existence, but to put out of business. It is also translated “ make without effect” (Rom. 3 :3), “make of none effect” (Rom. 4:14; Gal. 3 :17 ),. “ become of none effect” (Gal. 5 :4 ), “ come to nought” (1 Cor. 2 :6), ,-*‘was to be done away” (2 Cor. 3 :7), “ fail,” “ vanish away” (1 Cor. 13:8), “ cease” (Gal. 5:11), “ make void” (Rom. 3:31), “ cumber” (Lk. 13:7), "loose,” “ deliver” (Rom. 7:2, 6), “ do away” (1 Cor. 13:10; 2 Cor. 3:11, 14), “ put away” (1 Cor. 13:11), “ put down” (1 Cor. 15:24), “ abolish” (2 Cor. 3:13; Epb, 2:15; .2 Tim. 1:10), “ bring to nought” (1 Cor. 1:28). *•“ B S n •■ ite M A BAD DILEMMA Liberal thinkers are quite frequently telling us in the present day that certain Old Testament stories are not at all es sential, and that Christians are not to worry if some of these have been proven scientifically impossible. We are ex horted to be satisfied with the teachings of Christ. Now the strange thing is that many of the very Old Test'ament events that are under fire, are acknowledged by Christ as true history. Thus Christ is placed, in the position of being subject to , the popular ignorance, in which, case a question mark is placed before the au thority of Christ. Some years ago George Adam Smith
“Professor Smith undermined faith in the historicity of the story of Abraham and other Old Testament stories, and yet, gentlemen, he went into the pulpit on the Sunday morning before the conversation I referred to at Northfield Church, and preached on Gideon without breathing a suspicion that it was not history. You, gentlemen, may call that,‘Reverent High er Criticism’ ; I call it dishonesty. I do not care whether it is George Adam Smith, or who it is—it is dishonesty.” The Book of Acts records a period of thirty-three years, just the length of Christ’s life. ARE YOU AIDING ENEMIES OF THE TRUTH?
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