VOL. V.
APRIL, 1914 . „
No 4
FIFTY CENTS A YEAR
MOTTO: “I the Lord do keep it. I will water it every moment lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.”—Isa. 27:3. THE KING’S BUSINESS R. A. TOBEEY, Editor ,J, h . SÀMMIS, T. C. HORTON, J. H. HUNTEB, Associate Editors Entered as Second-Class m atter November 17, 191(1, at the postoffice at Los Angeles, California, under the Act ,of March 3, 1879. Organ of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Inc. Auditorium Building, Cor. F ifth and Olive, Los Angeles, California.
DIRECTORS
Eev. A. B. Prichard, V ice-President. J. M. Irvine, T reasu rer. E. A. Torrey, Dean.
Lyman Stew art, President. W illiam Thorn, S ecretary. T, C. Horton, Superintendent. E. A. K. H ackett. . S. I. Merrill.
Giles Kellogg. H. A. Getz. .
DOCTRINAL STATEMENT We hold to the H istoric F aith of the Church as expressed in the Common Creed of Evangelical Christendom and including: The T rin ity of the Godhead. The D eity of the Christ. The M aintenance of Good Works. The Second Coming of Christ. The Im lnortality of th e Spirit. The Resurrection of the Body.
The Personality of the Holy Ghost. The Supernatural and P lenary au th o rity of the Holy Scriptures. The U nity in D iversity of the Church, which is the Body and Bride of; Christ. The Substitutionary Atonement. The Necessity of the New B irth. p _ . The In stitu te trains, free of r Ui p 0 S B(*ost, accredited men and women, in the knowledge and use of the Bible. (1) The I n s t i t u t e Department Classes held daily ex- cejpt Saturdays and Sundays. (2) Extension work. Classes and con ferences held in neighboring cities and towns. (3) Evangelistic. Meetings conducted by our evangelists. (4) S panish' Mission. Meetings every night.
The L ife Everlasting of Believers. The Endless Punishment of the Im penitent. The R eality and Personality of Satan.
OUR WORK
(5) Shop Work. Regular services in shops and factories. (6) Jewish Evangelism. Personal work among the Hebrews. (7) Bible Women. House-to-house visitation and neighborhood classes. (8) Oil Fields. A mission to men on the oil fields. (9) Books and Tracts. Sale and dis tribution of selected books and tracts. (10) , H arbo r W ork. For seam en in Los Angeles harbor.
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APRIL, 1914
No. 4
Millenarianism Misrepresented A P rophetic C onference , an echo of that just closed at Chicago, takes place* in Los Angeles too late for report in this issue of the K ing ’ s B usiness . It gives occasion to correct some popular misapprehen sions. While but one item of discussion in the consideration of prophecy, the second, or premiflennial coming (we shall use also the Greek term “Chiliasm”) of Christ is necessarily prominent and likely to seem conspicuous in the popular eye. The antagonism of many eminent, learned and also good and useful men to this most prominent and precious truth of revelation is such that they seldom miss a chance to give a fling at it. The marvel is not so much their misrepresentations, as that they venture at all to criticise what they are so e§rçgïoüsly ignorant of,—for we cannot think they would maliciously mis represent. Our refutations have Been made again and again ; the writings and labors of representative millenarians are open to all; but prejudice is inveterate and our post-millennial brethren “are of the same opinion still” and persist in their unfounded animadversions. On the principal items charged we would say that millenarianism is N ot responsible ' for “the Lost Tribe hypothesis.” This is no more pecu liar to millenarians than Kidd’s lost treasure is to antiquarians. Some hold to it, some do hot. T he “S axon -I srael E rror ” is held only by an individual here and there, and ^our critics’ school, which reads into text and history what suits its fancy, is responsible for them. Since it identifies Israel and the gentile Church, why not those Israel and a gentile nation ? T he “ year F or a day ” theory has been advocated by men the whole Church has delighted to honor, but it is no essential part of Chiliasm and as a fundamental principle is repudiated by the best Chiliastic scholarship, granting that it may have some secondary application. “T he number of THE B east .” It is alleged that Chiliasts busy them selves about this; but it is written, “Here is wisdom, let him that hath under standing count the number of the beast” (Rev. 13:18). This seems to be a sufficient warrant for men of. “understanding.” Yet Chiliasm is not entangled with any scheme of individual application of bestial arithmetic. ‘F ixing dates .” The Independent renews this slander, charging it on the projectors of the recent Chicago Conference, not one of whom coun tenances it for a moment, though they honor any man who, with the prophets, searches to approximate what, or what manner of time, the Spirit which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and THE glory that should F ollow , which searching anti-millenarians thus discredit.
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THE KING’S BUSINESS N ot a “F ad .” A Chicago paper classifies Chiliasm as a “fad.” By the dictionary a fad is “a passing fancy.” In the British Encyclopedia under Millennium’ that prince of patristic scholars Harnac says, “Millenarianism appears so early that it might almost be regarded as an essential part of Christianity. , . In former times it was associated almost inseparably with the gospel.” Indisputably—it is not a F ad , no passing fancy persists a score of centuries. T he P urpose of missionary work is not “to give God am excuse to damn the world as soon as the gospel is preached to all nations.” What premillenarian says that it is ? God needs no excuse to damn. We teach that Christ comes not to damn but to save the world, and a cardinal distinc tion between us and our detractors is that the latter do teach that He comes to sweep it with the besom of destruction. No Chiliast believes that, he would cease to be such prima facias, but he is pre - eminently missionary . I t is scandalous to couple Chiliasm with Beeman, Schweinfurth, Mor- monism, Russellism, Doweism, Eddyism. It would be as reasonable to. charge marriage with polygamy; Christianity with “Christian Science” ; or to reject every tenet of the faith because each has been travestied. In sober earnest the responsibility for those heresies rests with our opponents. Millenarians are advocates of a whole B ible , opposed to “natural selection” as applied to Scripture. But for the “Spiritualizers” even Mrs. Eddy would not have dreamed of a “Key to the Scriptures.” . . “T h e V iew of prophecy on which this system is founded is now known to be false,” says one writer. He speaks for that- false criticism that has said, “Prediction does not predict.” He betrays a man who does not know that there is a world of scholarship outside his range, and in this he is with his assertive colleagues. The millenarian holds that Prediction predicts; the Bible contains prediction; what was predicted to pass came to pass as pre dicted ; what is predicted to come to pass will come to pass as predicted. This system is not “now known to be false,” it never can be false, it is, and it must be, and ever will be the system of all sound expounders of the prophetic Word. A “ S pectacular K ingdom ” is ascribed to the pre-millenial consumma tion. Here, perhaps, is a matter of taste. Some prefer Beethoven, others Wagner. But the Bible description is somewhat spectacular (Rev. 19:11, 20:3). Dr. G. Dana Boardman, special lecturer at the University of Pennsyl vania, said, “His second coming will be to glorification. It is among the infinite pro prieties of the future, that the earth whereon he once trod in defeat arid shame shall be the earth whereon he will tread in conquest and glory. . And so, when he does return, it will be in unspeakable power and pomp, efful gent in all celestial emblazonry, radiant in his Father’s glory and his own, sitting at the right hand of power, riding on the clouds of heaven, escorted by ten thousand times ten thousand chariots, and all the holy, shining ones of God.” “J ewish missions .” We are charged with specializing in Jewish mis sions, and confess to it. We do keep company with the Haldanes, Judson, Chalmers, Duff, McCheyne, and the Bonars. But, again, this is not peculiar to Chiliasm. John Hall, Howard Crosby, Cuyler, etc., etc., were no mille'n-
THE KING’S BUSINESS 185 arians, but, with hundreds like them, enthusiasts in Jewish evangelism. Dr. J. H. Barrows, of “The Parliament of Religions’’ fame, said, at the Chicago Christian-Jewish conference, “The Christian Church expects the national conversion of the Jews to Christianity, Zechariah says, ‘They shall be as though the Lord had not cast them off, for I am the Lord thy God.’ We believe that Christ shall come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. We believe that Christianity needs Judaism, that is, it needs the mighty reinforcement ■ that shall come from Israel and hasten the consummation of all things. Did mot ,Paul say, ‘If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?’ ” T he same W riter continues : “It is time to tell them (these milieu^ arians) kindly but plainly.” Phew 1that the little man who wrote that should tell the exegetical scholarship of Christendom ranged (exegetically, at least) •on the side of Chiliasm) “Kindly but plainly!’” (See Dr. Torrey’s “R eturn oe the L ord J esus ,” especially a list of Chiliasts, in the Supplement, by the writer. ) And what will our critic teH us so “Kindly but plainly ” ? “That the pope is not Antichrist.” Good, we knew it. “Rome is not the Scarlet Woman.” So;- But it is pretty generally agreed she is a “Mother of harlots,” and our friend must look to it that he becomes hot a pastor of one of them. Again, that “the letters to the Seven churches do not contain, nor pretend to contain a scheme of history foretold.” Dr.' A. A. Hodge, of Princeton, of world-wide fame, said of a certain scholar and his great work, “There is, probably, no man in America better qualified for it than himself.” That brilliant critical intellect referred to said, “What John did was to sketch our present age, in the seven Asiatic epistles, coming down to our time.” That is told “plainly” enough! N ot “ progressive .” Our Chicago pastor wonders why we cannot find enough incentive in the thought a “progressive triumph . . . if they (i. e., we) could grasp it.” We answer, Because we cannot grasp a will o’ the wisp. A triumph of which 20 centuries of “progress” has brought no sign; of which, till two centuries ago, the Church never dreamed; against the hope of which the Word from the beginning, specially warns; and which the high est anti-Chiliastic exegetes themselves repudiate (Milligan, for instance in his work on Revelation.) We could not exhaust the list of scholarship that repudiates that, progress, But we are able “to grasp” the triumph of “ the C oming P rinc E.” And we are in the very best of company in so doing: “The majority of exegetes, both in learning, number, and research, adopt the pre-millenial view, following the plain, and undeniable sense of the Sacred text.”— Dean Alford. “Almost every believing Christian in Germany holds this view.”— The almost peerless Franz Delitzsh. “It has got in our days an incomparably more thorough and exegetical foundation and establishment than ever before.”— Kliefoth, none more com petent to speak on that point. “This doctrine of the Millennium, spread so widely in the first three centuries, which has constantly reappeared .at different epochs, is supported by more ancient and formal texts than many doctrines now universally ac cepted.”— Renan, of the French Forty. “When pre-millenarians are found in such company, it does, indeed, seem to be a touch of the heroic in anyone to call in question their scholarship pr knowledge of God’s Word.”— Nathaniel West.'
A Question as to Witnesses’" By PRESIDENT BLANCHARD, Wheaton College
H UMAN KNOWLEDGE is de rived from various sources. We become acquainted with the ex ternal, material world through the senses. We learn of the external im material world through language and by other sign sources. That is to say., I know a tree because I see it. 1 know what a man thinks or feels by what he says or by the- way he looks. We learn of distant material and im material beings and facts through tes timony ; e. g., I know that Caesar crossed the Rubicon because reliable historians tell me that he did, and I know a little about his feelings as he plunged into the stream by what he himself said. I know the mosque of St. Sophia to be in Constantinople because I have seen it, but I know the mosque of Omar to be in Jerusa lem because persons whom I trust have said that it is there. Careless thinkers imagine that the testimony of the senses is more valuable than the testimony of witnesses, but those who have thought the matter through with even a small degree of thorough ness, understand that testimony of wit nesses may be and often is more re liable than testimony of sight or hear ing. We know the world within us through consciousness; not by the senses, not by testimony, but by the direct action of the soul. I know when I am glad or sad, when I love or hate, when I pity or am indignant. I do not have this knowledge by way of the senses. I do not see or hear or touch or smell or taste any of these great intellectual or emotional facts, but I know them. I know them as well as if I could apprehend them by the senses. In fact, these knowledges ♦From The Bible Champion, organ of The Bible League of North America.
are more reliable than sense knowl edges. I know also through direct, rational activity. I do not think or guess or suppose that a part is less than the whole, or that the whole is equal to the sum of all its parts. I know these facts. I know them beyond all ques tion. I know them immediately. All rational beings know them as well as I. The very supposition of the con trary is an absurdity; but I do not know thus by the senses, or by testi mony, or by consciousness alone. To be sure consciousness underlies and is a condition of all knowledges, but it is not the cause of the rational intui tions. If some wise man, some higher critic, for example, should suggest to me that, while events occurring in this world must have causes, in Jupi ter or Saturn the case is quite differ ent; that there events are uncaused; I might be kindly disposed toward this wise man, I might try to believe him, but it would be impossible, and at the end of my effort, just as at the beginning, I should know, not guess or think or suppose, but know that events anywhere in the universe of God are caused events, that without a force in operation, no change can take place. I have not dwelt on the sources of knowledge because I suppose my read ers to be ignorant of them. I have not enumerated all the sources of knowledge; e. g., reasoning is as valid a source of knowledge as Reason, though it gives us a totally different series of facts, but I called attention to this subject because so many per sons write and speak as if they had never thought upon it. It is needful not only that we know, but that we think, recall, recognize, if we are to speak or write helpfully. So I close this section
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bad man as you do the testimony of one whom you know to be virtuous, a man of integrity. You may believe a statement that the evil person makes, but you will not have the same feel ing about it if you know the witness’ evil character, as you will if you know the witness to be worthy. Often times the property interests of men, some times even the lives of men depend solely upon the character of the wit ness. The competence of the witness is a very different qualification, but it is equally real, though less important. You do not trust the testimony of a man ignorant of the subject on which he speaks, even if he is a good man, as you do the testimony of a man thoroughly informed, even should he be less worthy. There may be cases where character will overcome incom petence, but this is not the rule. A person who wishes to be trusted in any given field is bound to inform himself. No man has a right to ask to be be lieved unless he will establish a char acter and acquire a body of informa tion which will enable sane people to believe what he says. It is obvious that the number of wit nesses has also a bearing on the belief of testimony. If many good witnesses testify to a certain state of fact, and one or two equally good witnesses tes tify to the contrary state of fact, you are driven by the constitution of your mind to believe the larger number. If the smaller number should be more fit, the larger number may be over ruled in your thinking, but the case being as first supposed, the witnesses being equal in character and equal in competence, you must believe the larger number. The distance in time and place of witnesses also has a bearing on human belief. If equally good witnesses, equal in number and in competence, testify in one way and an equal num-
of my topic by urging that all persons who wish to think accurately and help fully, give a little attention to the sources of human knowledge. It will always be impossible to tell what ac tion Congress has taken on a given case through taste or sight. We shall have to have testimony; that is to say, we must learn, if we are not personally present, from those who were present or who have become informed. We shall never be able to know what a given landscape is through conscious ness alone, since perception must be called into action. We shall never be able to arrive at the knowledge of in finity in space, time, or cause through the senses, through consciousness, through testimony or through reason ing. The reason will give us infinity directly or we shall never attain it at all. The Value of Testimony Passing from the general subject which we have thus imperfectly and hastily dealt with to the topic of testi mony as a source of knowledge, we have narrowed our field and may, therefore, see more in detail. What is it which makes you believe one witness while you doubt a second and disbelieve a third? Why is it that some facts received upon testimony you believe as firmly as you believe in your own existence, while other al leged facts intimated by testimony do not influence you at all? Your mind simply drops them out. You consider them valueless. It is evident that this introduces us to the question, “Upon what does the value of testimony de pend?” and I remark first it depends upon The Character of the Witness You do not believe the testimony of a man whom you know to be a
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termined by their religious' faith. I. have not time to go into this subject now. I refer any one who doubts to the history and the geography of the world. I have no thought that any fairly intelligent person will doubt this fundamental proposition if he will study these two sources. I shall as sume that this proposition-is admitted, that the religion of a nation deter mines all its other interests, that the nation which has a true religious faith will prosper, while a nation which has an evil religious faith will decay and die. This brings us to the foundation of the Christian religion. What is it? Some of those who desire to be ac cepted as authorities on this question in our time are accustomed to say that the Christian religion does not depend upon a book, but depends upon a person. In this erroneous statement there is a sufficient percentage of truth to make it acceptable to persons who do not think carefully, but those who do so think see at once that if the person is revealed by the book; and if we have no authentic and com plete information regarding him which is otherwise derived, then the Chris tian religion does depend upon a book: It seems very strange that any person who has any title whatever to the name of scholar should ever have fail ed to see this great fact, should ever have been willing to sneak as some do respecting this matter, but the truth is obvious and does not require argu ment to one who is competent to form an opinion. We do not know a single fact respecting the life, work, and teaching of Jesus Christ which we do not derive from the Bible. Why then should any man say that the Chris tian religion depends upon Jesus Christ and not upon a book? Of course, ultimate dependence is upon God. He alone can reveal Himself in His true character, and He has done
ber of equally good witnesses equally competent testify in another way, you will necessarily, from the constitution of your mind, believe those who are nearest to the events in place and time ; e. g., if twenty Hebrew scholars who lived in the first century believe that Isaiah is the author of the prophL ecy which bears his name, and twenty equally competent, equally worthy scholars of the nineteenth or twenti eth century do not believe that he wrote the prophecy : which bears his name, you will be compelled, from the constitution of your mind, to believe the scholars who were of the first cen tury to have been correct, and the scholars of the nineteenth to be mis taken. It is obvious that if the He brew scholars of the first century were more competent witnesses than those of the nineteenth, if they drank in as a matter of birth the language which the nineteenth century scholars learned slowly and necessarily imper fectly, if manners and customs which the first century students knew through life long observation while the nineteenth century scholars know them by such testimony as they can get, you have here a difference in com petence as well as a difference in time, and of course, any rational being will be forced to accept the testimony of the first century as against the testi mony of the nineteenth. What Are We to Believe About the Bible? I do not need to speak of the funda mental character of this question. I think I could prove to the satisfac tion of any honest man fairly intelli gent that the religion of a man or a nation is the determining factor in the life of that man or nation. I think it is easy to show that the industrial, commercial, intellectual, social, politi cal institutions of any people are de
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personal witnesses to the teaching of the Old Testament. Any person who can read English or German or French or Latin or Greek or any other tongue of the civilized world can easily ascer tain what Jesus Christ and His disci-. pies thought about the Old Tes tament. The New Testament is the work of the personal disciples and followers of Jesus Christ. Of course, they become not simply auth ors, but witnesses. They do not write from a literary point of view, but as religious leaders and teachersj and in general they sacrificed their property interests, their reputations, their liber ties, even their lives in confirmation of the testimony which they gave. If we believe what these men said, we shall accept the Bible in its historic sense. If we look upon the Bible as some of the so-called scholars of our times represent, we shall have a totally different opinion concerning it. His torically it will have no value for us. The historic view is absolutely nega tived by these alleged scholars. His torically the first five books of the Bi ble are assigned to Moses. All the witnesses of the nation and of the time when it was beginning its great Work ascribed it to him. After hun dreds of years, men of alien race, of alien tongues, of inferior acquaintance with the language, manners, customs, social, political, industrial, religious in stitutions of the Hebrew race, under take to negative the testimony of the cloud of witnesses who were by place and time and education best qualified to give an opinion. Both in General and in Detail This statement is true both in gen eral and in detail. The Bible in its various' portions is discarded as a whole, and the particular doctrines which it teaches are by these same men called in question; e. g., take the birth
this in this book. What we know of Him, we know through this book, and it is idle far beyond the limit of ab surdity to talk about the Christian church, the Christian faith as derived from any other source. The Bible a Unit It is equally absurd to speak of the Bible as made up of a large number 01 books of differing value, some of which may be rejected while others are retained. A thoughtful student sees, as he goes forward in Bible study, that while it is made up of parts as other organic beings are, these parts are all related, and each has its im portant place in the completed work. Sin; a plan of salvation; the working out of that plan; the end of the plan; this is the plan. A sinless pair in a sinless world; a sinful pair with sin ful descendants working out the shames and miseries which have fol lowed, which do follow, which will follow sin; a Saviour prophesied; a people separated; a Saviour present; a church begun; the rage of the world; the rage of Satan; the bush burning, but not consumed; the Saviour come again for the glorification of His •church, for the destruction of His ene mies, the throne of His father David; the universal empire of the righteous king among his majestical people; this is the Bible. Now, the question is, how shall we think of this book? This question is to be determined by the testimony of witnesses and by the testimony of work. What people say of it, what we see it do; these are the questions which must be answered in order to .get a rational judgment respecting this matter. Jesus Christ and Sir Oliver Lodge Jesus Christ and His disciples are
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of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Bible declares .that He was. in a peculiar sense the Son of God, that He did not have a human father. This statement was accepted for centuries by all peo ple who professed to believe the Bible. Now men are accepting salaries for teaching the Bible who instruct their, students that this fundamental state ment is doubtful or untrue. Take the fact of I lis resurrection. This also was distinctly affirmed by many wit nesses, The church was builded upon this in large measure. Wherever the disciples went they preached Jesus and the. resurrection from the dead. Now men who wish to be considered schol ars and who profess to teach the Bible are informing us that this statement is doubtful or untrue:; Some say they do not believe it. Others say it is, not so, Both classes of men contradict the testimony pf millions of believers through hundreds of years. Take the Question of the immortality of the soul. The .Bible clearly teaches it. Jesus told men that it was better to suffer the loss of all earthly good than to have soul and body destroyed in hell. These alleged scholars now tell us that there is no hell, and some of them go forward to say that the very exist ence of the soul is to be doubted or denied. Gross materialism is a legiti mate inference from the doubts and doctrines which they have been teach ing, Jesus or Sir Oliver Lodge Recently the distinguished scientist whose name I twice coupled with the name of our blessed Lord gave an ad dress before a learned society in Great Britain. It is a beautiful piece of writing, thoughtful and candid and earnest throughout. Toward the close of this address he takes up the ques tion of the immortality of the soul from the standpoint of science and not
at all on the authority of the Bible. He declares that it is impossible to. deny the independent spiritual exist ence of man with the natural infer ence that this independent spiritual ex istence lives after the body has fallen: away. A great shout of approbation goes up from-the world. “Now we can believe in the immortality of the soul. Sir Oliver Lodge says that we may.” . “We could not believe on the testimony of Jesus Christ.” “We could not believe on the testimony of H is: disciples.” “We could not believe bn the testimony of the Bible.” “ Sir Oliver Lodge is a great man.” “He has studied the thing- through.” “He proves to us scientifically that we can believe in the immortality of the soul, in the spiritual existence of mankind therefore, we will believe.” This tragic episode in the life of the church would be less serious but for one fact. The devil knows very well that if the immortality of the soul is not to be believed on the authority of Jesus Christ and His disciples, on the authority of the Bible, in a word, but is to be believed because a certain man has scientifically determinated it, then it will be perfectly possible for him to keep mankind busy doubting and finally believing until they have largely dropped into hell. I do not object to books written to prove the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. At' the same time, I have never read such a book, and I do not care to read such a book. I have never read Dr. Orr on this subject, not because I think I should dissent from any of his arguments or conclusions, but because that whole question is settled for me by the word of God. I do not believe that any person who rejects the testi mony of Scripture will be particularly heloed by the testimony of Dr. Orr. I believe that persons who, on the au thority of Jesus Christ and His prophets and apostles, have accepted
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that doctrine, will find their faith con firmed and will ¡greatly enjoy what Dr. Orr or any other intelligent scholar will write on.that subject, but I do not wish to be shut up on such a question as that to the testimony of any man living in the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. If all the men who live in the nineteenth or twenti eth centuries should contradict the tes timony of Jesus Christ, His prophets and apostles, I would not believe them. I do not consider them competent wit nesses. I do not understand the bra zen impudence of men who desire to be considered competent witnesses against Jesus Christ and His apostles. I am weary with the whole set of men who call themselves scholars, who re ject the only competent witnesses there are and who set up for themselves or for others a series of dogmas which have no foundation except in their Own foolish and incompetent thinking. : I believe that any person who un derstands the laws of evidence and will give attention to them will ac cept the Bible as the word of God. I 'do not see how other people are to be helped very:much in any way. “To the law and to the testimony; if men do not speak according to this word, "it is because there is no light in them.” —Wheaton College, Illinois. Luke’s Witness for the Virgin Birth By SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY T HE beautifully told story of Luke i., ii.,¡is an episode of family his- 1 tory of the most private charac
little touches, indicating so delicately and so skilfully what authority he had to depend on in the beginning of his narrative. This is specially clear when we remember the declaration made by the author in his preface, that he had investigated, from their origin the facts which he is going to narrate. After such a preface, and with all the indi cations in the narrative, it is plain that the historian either believed his State ments to be based on the authority of the Virgin Mary herself, or has’ delib erately tried to create a false impres sion that such was the case. Is it a rational supposition, is it psychologi cally possible, that any man who was impressed with the sacredness of the subject which he is treating should in tentionally found his narrative upon such a falsehood as thisWould be?'. . . We can then argue with perfect confi dence that Luke did not take the nar rative of the birth and childhood of Christ from mete current talk and gen eral belief: he had it in a form for which Marv herself was in hjs the re sponsible authority. -
ter. The facts could be known only to a small number of persons. If Luke had the slightest trace of historical in stinct, he must have satisfied himself that the narrative which he gives rest ed on the evidence of one of the few persons to •whom the facts could be known. It is not in keeping with the ancient -style that he should formally state his authority; but he does not. leave it doubtful whose authority he believed himself to have. “His mother kept all these Sayings hid in her heart ;” “Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in heart.” These two Sentences would be sufficient. The his torian who wrote like that believed that he had the authority of Mary her self’; . .. .- No one who judges on the ordinary cartons of criticism which govern the interpretation of ancient literature, can doubt that it is through design, and not by accident, that there occur in 1thfe opening of Luke’s History all these
The Incarnation: III.—The Cross* By REV. A. C. DIXON, D.D. W E COME this morning to the third of the series of studies on the Incarnation. Today we en
And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit; and having said thus, He gave up ttie ghost.” Three Scriptures serve as the key- texts of our study. The first is in the 23rd chapter of Luke, verses 33-35: “They crucified Him . . . and the peo ple stood beholding.” The second is in 1 Corinthians 11:2: “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” The third is in Galatians 6:14: “God for bid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The tragedy of the crucifixion is one thing: the deeper meaning of the Cross is quite another. In its tragedy it is repulsive; in its deeper meaning it is the most attractive thing in all •God’s universe. We may learn some thing from the tragedy. As we stand under the Cross, and listen and look, we may love and live. As we listen we really hear the voice of the Cross speaking toward God, what the Cross has to say to Heaven. It is the voice of prayer: “Father, forgive them; for they know" not what they do.” The Cross of Christ is a prayer to Heaven for the forgiveness of a lost world, even for those who killed Him. If we bear any unforgiving spirit toward anybody, let us bring it into the light and heat of this prayer of our Master | and never refuse to forgive until some body treats us worse than they treated Jesus, if we would be like Him. As we listen, we hear again the voice of promise, “Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.” The'only door to Paradise, here and hereafter, is the
ter the Holy of Holies of our Christian faith. We will read from the 23rd chapter of the Gospel of Luke, begin ning with the 33rd verse: “And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the malefac tors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them: for they know not what they do. And they parted His raiment, and cast lots. And the people stood beholding. And the rul ers also with them derided Him, say ing, He saved others; let Him save Himself, if He he Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming to Him and of fering Him vinegar, and saying, If Thou be the King of the Jews, save Thyself. And a superscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, This is the King of the Jews. And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on Him, saying, If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the reward for our deeds: but this man ha*b done nothing amiss. And He said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. And Tesus said unto Him, verily I s- unto thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise. And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. •An address delivered a t the Montrose Bible Conference, August, 1914.
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Cross of Christ. I have met people who ignored the Cross, to whom it was an offense, and they mocked at the “religion of the shambles” ; but I haye yet to meet one such who has deep peace and joy of soul. Paradise enters into us, and we into Paradise through the Cross of our Lord Tesus Christ. And as we listen we hear the voice of physical need, “I thirst.” The Cross of Christ is the appeal to God for the body as well as the soul. There is redemption of the body, and every need of the body, its hunger, its thirst, its- infirmity, finds expression, so to speak, Godward, through Christ on the Cross. Again, as we listen we hear the voice of the soul’s deepest need, “My God! My God! why hast Thou for saken Me?” That is death-separation from God; that is Hell—“Depart from Me.” And He “tasted death for every man.” That little word “Why?” is a dan gerous word to use when we are in the furnace and on the Cross, to ask God the reason for things. It often makes us stumble; but if you will fol low the example of the Master, you will always be safe. “My God! Why?” Cling to God while you ask the question, and sooner or later it will be answered. The mistake is that “Why?” should sometimes make us turn our faces away from God in the times of our crucifixion. Then we hear the voices of human love, “Woman, behold thy son! Be hold thy mother! Through the Cross of Christ, about all there is in mother hood, and fatherhood, and childhood, and wifehood, has come to. us. You do not find the home really where the Cross has not touched. Dean Farrar points out the fact that in all the class ic literature of the ancients there is not a reference to the joys of childhood, iust because they had no joys; they
were chattels and slaves. And there is no reference to the joy of wifehood; and an ingrate is the man who may thank God for home and all that means, and not accept Jesus Christ on the Cross, Then, as you listen, you hear the voice of victory, “It is finished.” The work of atonement is done. “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit," the note of victorv still. And it is right there where the death of the Christian, the physical death of the Christian, begins. He does not have to say, “Why hast Thou forsaken me?” That is death, but Jesus died for him, and he can look up and say, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.” The dying of the Chris tian is just the commending of the spirit, redeemed by the blood of Christ, into the hands of the Father. We might look about the Cross and learn something. “The people stood beholding,” some of the religious— priests—wagging their heads and mocking. Those who wag their heads and mock still at the Cross of Jesus are sometimes the most religious. There was a group of women with just enough religion to make them miserable. They had come along. After faith had failed, their love holds out and it brings them near the Cross. Oh, friend, it is better to have enough faith and love to make you miser able than to have none at all; and if you will keep near the Cross, in it you are near the Lord. I love to look at the sturdy Roman centurion, as strong a man, perhaps, as Roman civilization produced. He has a duty to perform; he has the papers in his pocket, and as an officer he must perform that duty. He is in tellectually convinced. “Surely this is a righteous man,” and bye-and-bye, “This is the son of a god.” But he keeps right on with the Crucifixion. I know men of clear intellect, who are
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intellectually convinced of the Deity of Christ, but they keep right on with the Crucifixion.. They do not join with those that worship and praise. As we look above the Cross at that inscription, we learn something. It is in Greek, and Latin and Hebrew, the language of culture, the language of power, and the language of religion. “The place for learning is not above the Cross,” says an old Puritan, “but at the foot.” It is got into the wrong place. Yet it teaches a great lesson, that what the culture of the Greek needs, and what the sturdy Roman needs, and what the religious Hebrew needs, is the Cross of Jesus Christ. What your culture needs, if you have any, and what your religion needs, is the cleansing power of the precious blood. On the way to Damascus Paul had a vision of the glorified Christ, his first view of Him. But He never gloried in the glorified. He came back in the light of the glorified to the crucified, and said, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross.” When Leonardo da Vinci had fin ished his great painting of the Last Supper, he took a friend with him to criticise it, and as the friend looked at it he said, “The most beautiful thing in your picture is the cup.” The art ist just took his brush and wiped out the cup. He said, “Nothing in my picture shall attract more attention than the face of my Master.” And that was the religion of the Apostle Paul. “Nothing in my preaching, in m'v character, in my mission, if I can help it, shall attract more, attention than the Cross of Christ. God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross.” It is the Glory of the Cross that we ask the Holy Spirit to help us talk about now for a few minutes. We can put it, as far as it can be put, in one
word, “sacrificial.” In Christ and the Cross there is the glory of Sacrificial Love Love sometimes just enjoys itself, and it may not be sinful under certain circumstances. That is the tendency of human love, the first t.endency, it may be; but love enjoying itself is not glory. It is love giving itself in sac rifice for others that has about it the halo of glory. When you behold Christ on the Cross you have seen God. God has power, God has wis dom, “God is love.” If you would have a clear vision of God in the glory of His love, you must see Him in Jesus Christ on the Cross. He is more glorious there, even than in the power of the resurrection, important as-that is; but the resurrection is just the stamp of heaven’s authority upon the gold of God’s love, that makes it coin current between earth and heaven. You know I have been interested, as I have read the Scriptures lately, in noticing how God takes it for granted that He loves us. He just expects us to read it between the lines every where, and see it when He does not mention it. I decided to preach a se ries of sermons on that little text, “God is love.” Well, I said, “I will take Genesis, and unfold the love of God in Genesis.” What was my as tonishment to find that Genesis has not a declaration of God’s love in it! The word “love” occurs thirteen times, but there is no reference to God’s love. There is retribution, there is right eousness, there is power, there is jus tice, declared, but God seems to take it for granted that we know that He loves us. “Well.” I said, “I must get my first sermon from Exodus.” It is not in Exodus ! If it is, I wish you would drop me a postcard and give me the place! “Then,” I said, “we will have a good time in Leviticus.” It is not in Leviticus! There is no
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declaration of God’s love in Leviticus. “To be sure it is in Numbers!” It is not in Numbers. In Deuteronomy there is an unfolding of God’s love almost as in the Book of John. It comes like a flash of light from the heaven. “Well,” I said, “I will make up for lost time when I reach the New Testament. I will preach a sermon on the love of God as declared in the "Gospel of Matthew.” I read it through without finding it. There is no declaration of God’s love in the Gospel of Matthew. You know it; He does not have to tell you. Every thing in it whispers love, without His mentioning it, and all the more em phatically. “Well,” I said, “my ser mon must be on Mark.” It is not in Mark! “Well, then I must go to Luke.” There is only one incidental reference in Luke, “Judgment and the love of God” (ch. 40:42), just inci dentally. If it overwhelms you, as it did me, it will bring you to tears—the first declaration, not intimation, and not inference, but the first declaration of God’s love in the New Testament, is John 3:16, a sun-burst upon mid night, a revelation at one stroke of God Himself. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begot ten Son.” Then we have the glory of Sacrificial Light “I am the light of the world.” Light tends to display itself, of course, but the glory of light is in its sacrifice. These beautiful mountains are sacri ficed light. The sun gives off its light as upon an altar, and the light is taken up into leaf, and flower, and grass, and forest. If the sun should' cease to be sacrificial, there would be no more light, and no more beauty, and no more fertility. And, “if the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness.” What is light? How did we get
it anyhow ? Geologists tell us that during the carboniferous era the great forests took in the sunlight and wove it into the fibre of branch, and trunk, and roots of the trees. Then there came convulsions, and these forests were buried out of sight, and the coal beds were formed, imprisoned light. We dig out the coal, and we put it through a process of combustion, and "the fire lets the light loose that the forests took in from the sun. That is the way the Lord Jesus becomes light, not by the Sermon on the Mount, but by Calvary, by the process of combus tion on the altar, ablaze for us. Then He turns round and says, ‘Ye are the light of the world,” I made a little sermon once, taking that text, on Christians as reflectors of light, and it was a cold sermon! Reflection is a cold process. You cannot raise a crop by moonlight; you must have it warm from the sun. It does not say, “Ye are reflectors of light” ; it says, “Ye are the light of the world.” How do we become ligljt? “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.” We take in from the Sun of righteousness the rays of light, as the forest took it in from the sun in the heavens; and then, by a process of combustion, by the sacrificial spirit on God’s altar, we are light as Jesus was light, and that is the glory of the Christian’s life. Then we have the glory of Sacrificial Truth “I am the Truth.” Truth carried a sword; truth has to fight. The Lord said in a sense He sent a sword. “My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” The world gives peace by compromise or surrender, as Napoleon got it at Wat erloo. The Lord Jesus Christ gives peace by victory, as Wellington got it
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at Waterloo. “My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth.” When a man wants a drink of whisky, the world says,, “Get peace by going into the public house and taking it” ; but Christ says, “Get peace by conquer ing your thirst.” “Not as the world giveth.” Yet the glory of Christian ity is not in the sword. It is Truth on the altar, Truth aglow with sacrifice, Truth that is willing to die, Truth that ' refuses to defend itself, while it dies for the untruthful. We have also the glory of Sacrificial Power Power exerts itself, and it ought at times. We must admire the omnipo tent power of God, as we see it work ing in so many ways. But power ex erting itself is not glorious, compared with power withholding itsejf. “Think- est thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give Me twelve legions of angels?” But if He had prayeM, the glory of Christ had been eclipsed. Oh, the power that held back while love worked; oh, the power that refused to exert itself while Jesus Christ went to the Cross in weakness for the salva tion of the weak! We have again, the glory of Sacrificial Holiness Now holiness is apt'to cultivate itself, and none too much! It is well to cul tivate it, in public and in private. Use every means possible for the promo tion of holiness. But I submit that even holiness cultivating itself is not as glorious as holiness sacrificing itself on the altar for God, holiness giving itself in loving sacrifice for the salva tion of others. If vou will turn to a Scripture,' you will have that suggest ed. “Being justified freely by His gtace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteous ness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His right eousness; that He might be just, and the justifier of Him that believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:24-26), The Cross of Christ is the declaration o f the’ righteousness of God. Join that with the other text, “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were vet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5 :8t. The Cross of Christ is the com* mendation of His love, and the decla ration of His righteousness; and Jesus Christ died because God is righteous as well as loving. That brings us to the glory qf Sacrificial Mercy Mercy is a species of injustice, of uri-> righteousness. The moment a judge begins to be merciful, he ceases to be just; and the moment he begins to be just, he ceases to be merciful. I re peat, mercy is a species' of injustice; and no man can be just and merciful unless justice has somehow been sat isfied. There is an official justice. The Governor of Massachusetts is permit ted to set free a prisoner from the state prison on Thanksgiving Day every year. Governor Guild went down and selected the wickedest man he could find and set him free, because there were some extenuating circumstances. It was an act of mercy, but certainly not of justice. Judge Kerr, of North Carolina, sat on the bench, and heard the case of a thief who had. stolen. He recog nized that thief as a man whom he had known in boyhood. They had eone to the village school together; they had played on the green together, fished and hunted together. After the case was tried, and the majp was found
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manLpale and emaciated, hanging on the arms of the nurses,.was more beautiful than before—not vigorous life showing itself in strength, but sac rificial life giving itself for others. That is the beauty of patriotic life, philanthropic life, Christian life, that gives itself for others. I would like to paint it if I could, and put it on my study wall. . Two little girls in a Western state, overtaken in a blizzard and blinded, lost their way. Father and mother looked for them all day and all night, and next evening at four o’clock they were found, frozen to death. The eld er child, about eleven years of age, had taken off her outer coat and wrapped it round her little sister, and then had taken off the undercoat and wrapped it round her, and .then put her arms round her and tried to’keep her warm, forgetful of herself. Oh, the beauty of it; first, the repulsion of it, and then the beauty of it. And Jesus Christ on the Cross is the most beautiful picture in the most repulsive frame that this world ever saw. In its tragedy it is repulsive; in its deeper meaning it is attractive. That brings us to light on three or four Scriptures. We can just barely mention them. “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.” There is the magnetism of Sacrificial Love, and Light, and Truth and Holiness, and all the attributes of God and per fect man. “I, if I be lifted up, will draw,” draw for forgiveness, draw for cleansing, draw for transformation. There is something in one, when he begins to feel himself guilty, that draws Him toward the One that can pardon. There is something in one who feels himself defiled that draws him toward the Fountain that can cleanse. There is something in one who feels himself weak, that draws him towards protecting power. “I, if I be lifted up, will draw.”
guilty, Judge Kerr pronounced sent ence upon him. He was either to go to prison or pay a fine. 1 think it was of 20 pounds. When the sentence had been pronounced, Judge Kerr looked into his face and said, ‘'My friend, you may not recognize me, but I recognize you. I am John Kerr that played with you on the village green, and I am go ing to pay your fine for you.” He took out his check and wrote the amount, 20 pounds, and let his friend go free, and the man went out wiping his eyes, with a broken heart. Judge Kerr was just, and yet the justifier of that man by keeping the law. He could be merciful because he was just. Tf God begins to be merciful without the satisfaction of his justice, He loses the throne of His righteousness. The glory of the Cross is that there is Sac rificial Mercy linked with justice, so that it can be “just, and the justifier of him that believeth.” Then there is the glory of Sacrificial Life and Beauty Stand with me at the door of the hos pital in Brooklyn, New' York. There comes a workingman in his Sunday clothes, red-cheeked, vigorous, athlet ic. With a quick step he enters the hospital, to spend a day with his only boy, sick in the hospital. You admire that man’s vigor, the beauty of his life. After three or four hours you see him come out of the hospital, .supported on each side by a nurse. He looks as pale, almost, as if he were dead. Why ? The doctor said, “There is just one thing that can cure your boy, and that is fresh blood in his veins. If you are willing to give some of the blood out of your healthy body, I will assure you that the boy will get well.” That rugged workingman bared his arm, and said, “Take it all, if need be, that the boy may go home to his mother !” He gave up thè blood of his body for the life of his child. I say that that
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