SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7170, 8 November 1884, Page 4 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

BS , DR. GEO. y. PENTECOST, M.A.

7 "LET ME SEE THAT 1"

It was in the Chicago Tabernacle. The inquiry-rooms had been crowded all the evening. It was now shout eleven o'clock, and'most ot the workers and inquirers had gone home. A. few, however, of both classes were lingering still. I had just left a mansi straightforward German—who had given himself up to God through Jesus Christ, and was:about leaving the room, not seeing thac there was anything more for me to do, when I was approached by a young Christian, who said, "Mr. Pentecost, before you go, won't you come and speak to tbat young man?" (pointing to him). "I do not seem to be able to meet his need." "Certainly," said I, and. went over to where the young man was seated ; and, drawing a obair up to him, said, "Can I be of any help to you, my brother?" "1 don't know, 1 am sure, but if yon can give me any help, I will gratefully receive it." A few. questions developed the fact that he was a cultivated young German, the son jof a German rationalistic theologian. He had been but a short time in America. He was thoroughly conversant with the current Continental sceptical philosophies. He told me that he was fond of study, and especially philosophical study; and' gave good evidence of familiarity with tho various schools of thought, current and past. He said he had been led to think of Christianity as an ingenious mythology (having a very slender thread of historical truth in it), more er less the product of an early enthusiasm that had exalted Jesus into deity. He confessed that he had never made the New Testament a study, but had imbibed his opinions mainly from Strau«s. ; He went on to say that he had been attracted by curiosity into the Tabernaole ; and bad been amazed at the vast audiences held together week after week, without excitement, simply by the proclamation of Christian truths, and the recital of Bible stories. He admitted that he was impressed with the matter of Mr. Moody's preaching, and was convinced from bin manner that he was a sincere and honest tencher.

Finally, be determined to take up the New Testament, and carefully read it. He bad done so; and this night he had come into the inquiry-room to seek conversation with some Christian who would explain, if it were possible, some of the chief difficulties that he met with in the New Testament. He was altogether frank and candid, saying that he was free to admit that a careful reading of the New Testament revealed a purer and altogether better system of ethics than that of. any of the philosophies with whiob he was acquainted; and that the whole Book bad an air of sincerity and truth about it. But there were several insuperable difficulties in the way of his acceptance of it as a truth. I asked him to state his difficulties, which he did in about these words:—"There are three ohief claims set forth in the New Testament, upon the truth of which, it seems to roe, the whole system muet stand or fall." "What are they?" "Why, first of all, it is claimed all through the New Testament that Jetus Christ was the Son of God; i.e., God manifested in human nature —a supernatural Being. This He claimed for Himself, and even died in defence of the claim ; for, if I am not mistaken, that was the charge upon which He was put to death hy the Jews, viz., that in claiming to be the Son of God He made Himself to be equal with God, vrhioh was, under the Jewish law, blasphemy. Certainly He seems to have believed-Himself to be God; and so also did His apostles, especially John and Paul." " Well,- what is your next difficulty?" "Why, the next difficulty is that our salvation depends, not upon the uprightness of our own lives, but upon the fact of Christ's death, which is represented as a saorificial.aot—what Mr. Moody calls 'the atonement.' " " Well, what is the other difficulty?" "The' resurrection of Christ from the dead. Everything in Christianity depends npon that." "Well," said I, " now, why are these things difficulties to yon?" "Why, I cannot possibly believe that Jeans - was God. He could not be. And it ia not possible for anyone who was really dead to rise again. Such a thing never was in the world, and it could not be. And, even if it were so, 1 do not see how anyone could be saved on account of another's death, and not on account of his own uprightness." I confess that the task before me seemed very great indeed. But ho seemed guileless in his desire to know the truth; and so, with a prayer in my heart for help, I said : " Well, now, let us look at the first difficulty, the incarnation. Aβ I understand it, you are a Theist. You believe in the existence of a personal, eternal, and omnipotent God, who is the Author of the universe and of our being?" "Oh, yes 1" "Very well. Now, with that for a start-ing-point, yon cannot philosophically hold that the incarnation is an impossibility— that it could not be." A very little talk ended in his admitting the possibility of the incarnation, but denying the probability of it. And then he went on to say, with the quickness of thought and the clearest perception of the whole matter, "But I think Jesns was Himself deceived. I grant that He may have, in moments of enthusiasm,' thought Hβ was the Son of God; and that He did at times make this claim there is no donbt. But at other times He certainly made such statements as forbid us on His own testimony to believe that He was equal with God; indeed, He admits that He is an inferior being. In fact, Christ's own teati-: mony concerning Himself i» And this leads me to question the truth of the Gospels ; and so to reject Christ as the Son of God, and hence Christianity itself. For Christianity is nothing but a beautiful delusion, if Christ is not what He claims to be. Now, He says in one place, ' I and My Father are one' (John x. 30) ; and again, ' He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father' (John xiv. 9); and, as I have before said, when on trial before the high priest, He still claimed, and that in the face of certain death, that He was the Son of God (Mark xlv. 62; Matt, xxvii. 11). But He said on another occasion that His Father was greater than He (John xiv. 28). Now, He cannot be one with God, and at the same time inferior to God. And He says, ' All power is given nnto Me' (Matt, xxviii. 18). Now, that is an admission that He did not have power .Himself, but it was given to Him; and surely he that receives power is inferior to him that gives it. Now, are not these contradictions in His own testimony ? And do not they destroy the worth of it entirely ? It seems to me that, whatever of truth there may be in the historical existence of Jesus Christ, He only imagined that He was the Son of God; and that, in speaking of Himself, He spoke according to the mood He was in, sometimes believing Himeelf to be the Son of God." After hearing Him through, I turned to the paßsages he had referred to, and, having read them aloud, I said, " Let us suppose that you had been on earth when Jesus was here, and had heard Him make these contradictory (?) statements; and had asked Him, saying, ' Master, I do not quite understand you. A little while ago you said, "I and My Father are one," and, " Hβ that hath seen Me hath Been the Father;" and again you say, "My Father is greater than 1," and, " All power is given to Me." How can you be one with the Father, and yet less than the Father? And' how can you be equal with the Father, if your power is given to you and not yours independently ?' And suppose He had said in reply, 'My ohild, what if, for the purpose .of your redemption from sin and the curse of the law, I voluntarily laid aside My eternal glory, and suffered Myself to be born of a woman, and made under the law, thus limiting My being to the conditions of your nature; that I might, in that nature, offer up to God such a sacrifice for sin as would enable Him to proclaim forgiveness of eia to the whole world ? In such a ease can yon not conceive that there is no contradiction in these sayings of Mine ? For, indeed, I am one with the Father, and he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father ; but for purposes of atone" ment I have voluntarily assumed an inferior position, that I might thus take your place and. die, which I could not; do unless 1 had taken a subordinate place, yea, and your very nature. Thus I sometimes speak of Mγ eternal relation to God, and sometimes of My relation to Him as the messenger of the oovenant sent forth to redeem." He listened attentively to this, and then said, " Yen, that might be ; I can see how that might be. But" (spoaking to me) " did Chriat ever make suon an explanation? Is that the theory of Christ's subordination to the Father ?'■' In answer to this inquiry, I turned to the second ohapter of Philippiuns, and said, " Certainly this is the explanation ot it- for 'lee, Paul was trying to inculcate lessons of humility, by exhorting the Philip- |

pians to voluntarily take a subordinate place in relation to each other, tnough they might, aa a matter of fact and right, stand on an eanality; and enforced his exhortation by preference. 'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesusj who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God' (thought not His equality with God something to be contended for) : 'but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and wae made m the likeness of men : and, being found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross He' took my Bible in his hand, and read the passage over and over himself, and said " Wonderful! wonderful!" And, still holding the Book in his hand, with qurvering chin and moistened eyes, he said, ' Yes, the Son of God made Himself of no reputation for me; and took my nature, and died on the croes for me 1" And the", looking np into my face, he said, "What have 1 got to do about it?" To which I replied, "Accept Him; believe on Him; and confees Him as your Saviour. May I?" I replied, opening my Bible to Romans x. 9, " If thou shalfc confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesue, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thon shalt be saved." " Let me see that!" I handed him the Book, and he read it aloud, and then said, "I do believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead; and I do acknowledge Him as my Saviour." We dropped down together upon our knees (with a little group whioh had gathered about us), and 1 offered a brief prayer of thanksgiving to God for his conversion, and a little petition for his keeping. Thus was the young Rationalist converted. It will be seeu at a glance tbat no attempt was made to meet his objections by an exhaustive argument, but by simply presenting the Biblical statement to him, leaving the work of conviction to the Holy Spirit. As a mere argument, the statement may have been very defective; but God can take His own truth and use it more mightily than the strongest argument man can construct.

I write this little incident to suggest to honest inquirers whether they have carefully searched the Scriptures, with a sincere desire and prayer that God would show them the truth out of His own Word, before settling down into permanent, cold, and cheerless scepticism. lam deeply persuaded that if God's Word were as carefully, guilelessly read as the writings of sceptical philosophers, great and small, or the second-hand retailing of their thoughts in magazines and reviews, the major part of the prevalent scepticism of the day would vanish, as darkness does before the rising sun. And also to suggest to Christian workers that it is usually the wisest course to appeal to the Bible for the .best answer to all kinds and sorts of infidelity.

THE FOUR JUDGMENTS. It is a, very general opinion that everyone, good and bad, must appear before the great judgment throne, and that his good deeds are to be weighed in one scale and his bad deeds in another, and his fate decided accordingly. If yon come to speak to many people about their hope of salvation, you will find that is what they are looking forward to.

I now want to direct your attention to a word which I am sure every believer knows well, and which has been much blessed lately, both to the conversion of sinners and the strengthening of believers. You will find it in the sth chapter of John, and 24th verse : "He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation" (or judgment) " but is pas3ed from death unto life." Now, what is the meaning of that, "shall not come into judgment ?"

This is an important thing for believers to know. I thought for a long time, for I wai brought up with the idea that we should all be judged together before the great white throne, but 1 see it written here that they who believe "shall not come into condemnation." In the 6th of Romans I learn that I have been cruaified with Christ, and I therefore know that my sins have been judged already, "For in that Christ died He died unto sin once ;" and we are thus to reckon ourselves "to be dead indeed nnto sin." In the Bth of Komans we read " there is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus ;" for God, sending His own Son, " condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." My sins are judged and condemned already, and therefore, consequently, bo far as they are concerned, my judgment day is passed. I look back to the judgment day, instead of forward, for I was judged as a sinner on the croso of Jesus; He was wounded for my transgressions, Hβ was bruised for my iniquities, everything that was against me has been judicially settled in Him; my sin was judged in His flesh, and there is therefore now no judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus.

2. Bat this does not menn that there is no " judgment-seat" at which believers are to appear; for, ia 2 Cor. v. 10, we are told that " we must all appear before the judg-ment-seat of Christ." There is, yon see, then, a judgment-seat before which the believer mast stand. At the time of the Great Exhibition, if anyone wanted to become an exhibitor it had to be settled beforehand whether he was to be admitted as one or not; and then, after that, his goods were judged as to whether they were worthy of a gold medal, a silver medal, or of nothing at all.

We have been admitted ; we are inside the ark, and we are not to he judged as to our salvation, for that is settled for ever by Jesus' death for us and our faith in Him as our substitute, bat we are to appear before "the judgment-seat of Christ" "to receive the things done in His body, according to that he hath done, whether it be goad or bad." This is the judgment of Christians; this is the reward or lobs of works ; and all works, whether good or evil, will be brought np before the judgment-seat of Christ, and dealt with according to Hie perfect knowledge of their quality and number. Wβ shall nerer have to atand before the judgment seat of friends or relations, as many dear believers seem to think, but we shall all have to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. It is important for us to remember that each work will be tested there. "Every man's work shall then be made manifest," and, " if his work abide, he shall receive a reward ; but, if any man's work be burned, he shall suffer lose, yet he himself shall bo saved, yet so as by fire." Is it our one object now, in all we do and say, to meet the approval of the Lord Jesus on that day ? or are we busying ourselves about a number of works for which we shall then have to " suffer loss!" It should be our only object down here to do those works which shall abide; every thing else is rubbieh in the sight of God, and it will be manifestly shown to be so at the "judg-ment-seat of Christ." I came up yesterday in the train with two dear friends who were leaving their ohildren behind them at home. The father's exhortations to them were that they should all try to please him while he was away. He did not tell them to please each other, but to act so as to please him. We, too, beloved friends, are to obey our Father rather than to please the family, to please Jeaus our Lord rather than our brethren. I imagine this father having said to those children, "Now, little children, do not go near the river, for there is great, danger in doing so." After he was gone, five_ of the ohildren went down to the edge of it, but one little fellow said, " My father told me not to go near the river, and I.won't go." I can imagine the others calling him a little schismatic because he separated from them, whereas they were the schismatics, because of their separation from the directions of their father. Schism iB separation from the truth, not separation from error. When Luther separated from professing Christians of his day, they branded him as a schismatic, but he was not so in the sight of the Lord. In this day of much confusion, error, and disobedience to Chriet, let us, who are justified by the blood of the Lamb, bring everything respecting doctrine and practice to the test of the Word of God, remembering' that wo are to appear before " the judgment-ieat of Christ," and that our only aim should be to meet the approval of our adorable Lord. . ■ 3. There is also another judgment-seat spoken of in the 25th of Matthew, where the eheepare to be on the right hand, and the goats on the left. Now, I always used to think that I was to be in this judgment, but I find that when the Son of Man shall come in glory to assume His personal reign, " before Him shall be gathered all nations." Hern you see that it is the living nations who are to be then brought up before the Lord.- This is prophesied of in the 3rd of Joel:—"I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphst, and will plead with them for

My people and My heritage Israel; for there will I sit to judge all the heathens round about." It is evident that all this refers to the nations who are then living on the earth, and not the Church of God, or all who have ever lived, both small and great. 4. Bat then I found further, on reading the Word—for this was all new to me— another judgment, which is to take place after all this. After the close of the millennial reign of Christ there is to be the judgment before the great white throne; and, dear friends, they are all to be judged " according to their works." " And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God: and the books were opened; and another book was opened which is the Cook of Life ; and the dead were judged oat of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Rev. xr. 12). These are the dead. Bat there in no judgment then for the living; their names are written in the Book of Life—the blaze of glory will show that they are there—" and whosoever was not fonnd in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. I wanted to bring out these four judgments clearly : The judgment of our sins on the cross, to which we look back, instead of of forward; the judgment-seat; of Christ, where we who believe in Him sha'll appear in glorified bodies; the judgment of the living nations at His glorions appearing; and the judgment of dead souls at the end of the milennium. I dare say many know these things, but there may be some newborn aonle who may not be aware of them. May the spirit of truth guide us into all troth, and enable us to live as in the immediate presence of our Lord, and as those who shall yet stand before the judgmentseat of Christ; "For every one of us shall give account of himself unto God."—T. W.T. "THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE." "Thibb is no fear in love ;" we do not fear That human love will give the loved one pain, Or cause a pane, the shedding of one tear, Unless it be for some enduring gain. " There ie no feat in love;" and God is love!" Hi« father's heart doth throb with all our woe, But Wisdom in the perfect light abore. Looks to the prize, and not to things bilow. Hβ lores to bless us with the greatest joy Of earthly good, that will not lighter make The " eiernel weight of glorj" with alloy. And front His gold the tallest value take. Oh, if He lores us with a perfect love, Can we'not trust Him with our every care. And, dwelling in the " secret place" abore. Our Ufa be just an acquiesing prayer! This ie the " mystery" of full content; Oar heart's soft echo to His voice of love: Thus, aad thus only, can each day be spent In the calm confidence no fear can move. -J. H. S.