King's Business - 1919-10

895

T HE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S produced by the preaching of the Gospel, not by any particular phase, feature or doctrine of the Gospel as a hobby but the Gospel m its integrity and entirety, which is the power of God unto salvation. The truth of our Lord’s second coining is a constituent part of the Gospel and when evan­ gelists faithfully proclaim it, their labors are owned and blessed ot Lod. Let those who reject the Second Advent and denounce the doctrine as impractical and visionary, explain why it is that throughout the New Tes- tament exhortations and appeals to holy living and Christian _duty are invariably re-enforced and stressed by being associated with the Lord s return, e. g. Repentance, Acts 17:3Q-31. Ashamed of. Christ, Mark 8 :38. Comfort in sorrow, 1 Thess. 4:13-18. Not judging, 1 Cor. 4:5. Grieving the Spirit, Eph. 4:30. Sobriety, 1 Thess. 5:2-6. Forbearance and gentle­ ness, Phil. 4:5. Patience, Jas. 5:7. Mortifying the flesh, Col. 3:4-5 Sin­ cerity, Phil. 1 :l0. Abiding in Christ, 1 Jno. 2:28. Trial of faith, 1 Pet. 1-7 Rejoicing, 1 Pet. 4:13. Watching unto prayer, 1 Pet. 4:7. There is an evangelistic appeal of great cogency and power m the Scriptural doctrine of the Second Advent which no Spirit-taught evange­ list will disregard.—F. W. Farr. REFINED Rationalism and Bold Infidelity Bob Ingersoll when once asked why he no longer gave his lecture against the .'Bible, replied: “ The professors and preachers are doing that better than I possibly can and their influence is much greater than mine. While the infidel and the critic stand together as to their wrork, which is the undermining of faith, and a blocking of the way to Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour, one only has to read some of the infidel papers to learn that the infidel has far less respect for the critic than for the minister wlio sincerely preaches the Bible. The modem theory of a half-inspired Bible, to the mind of the infidel, shows that the critics are either fools or tour flushers. Many an infidel has had his mouth stopped because he could not answer the argument of a godly life; resulting from belief m the Scriptures. He. has, had to admit th a t the Bible was the only' miracle-working Book. But by a very simple line of reasoning, he can put it all-over the modern liberalist preacher. • . . . . “ The Truth Seeker” is a blatant infidel paper. We give a quotation : “Unable any longer to palm off th e ignorant, cruel and unclean sto n e s of th e Bible as the teachings of a wise and good God, th e advanced theologians h it upon a happy idea— they declared th a t th e Bible is only partially inspired. So we have thousands of clergymen today who will tell you th a t th e Bible is no t th e Word of God, b u t th a t it “ contains” th e word of God. According to th is argum ent, th e Bible th a t countless m illions have cherished as infinitely sacred, contains th e tru th s of God m ixed w ith th e falsehoods of m an in perhaps equal proportions. How much of it is th e word of God and how much the word of man, cannot be determ ined, for none can tell where God stopped w riting and where man began. It is sufficient to know th a t God-had something to say on th e sub­ ject and th a t when he ran sh o rt of inspiration, man finished th e sto ry on his own account. This doctrine of p artial inspiration has one strik ing advantage it puts an end to all au tho ritativ e teaching on th e Bible. W hat a pity th e world did no t know two thousand years ago th a t only p arts of th e Bible are. inspired and th a t nobody can tell where those p arts are. We b u t tatog er w ith our own understanding and consciences by such attem p ts a t once to hold on and let go,, to re ta in th e shadow of a belief when the substance has passed away. F a r b etter

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