THE WORKS OF  H.M. CURRY

THE SON OF MAN LIFTED UP.

SEED.

THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN.

THE CITY WITHOUT A TEMPLE.

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE SCRIPTURES.

A PERSONAL LETTER.

ABLE TO STAND, BUT LIABLE TO FALL.

DEATH IN ADAM - LIFE IN CHRIST.

PERSONALITY OF MAN.

THE WILL OF MAN:

ITS SUPPOSED FREEDOM IN       OBTAINING SALVATION.

FATALISM.

THE NEW BIRTH.

A LETTER.

VISIT IN TEXAS: 1901.

THE HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY.

SCIENCE AND PREDESTINATION.

A DREAM-TOUR THROUGH THE ARMINIAN HEAVEN.

COMPARISON OF CHRISTIAN AND HEATHEN CIVILIZATIONS.

THE WORKS OF

H.M. CURRY

THE SON OF MAN LIFTED UP.

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 5:14,15

DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN CHRIST: - Ever since my acquaintance with the SIGNS I have felt a desire to write some word of comfort or encouragement to the dear saints that are scattered abroad. The above Scripture is one that gives me great comfort when my sins press heavily upon me; when the serpent {the seed of sin in my flesh} inflicts his painful and would be fatal wounds. Bitten and dying, Jesus my Saviour is lifted up to me, and I look and live. I have been especially impressed to write something from this Scripture, since hearing it so often quoted and misapplied by the Arminians.

We read that as Israel journeyed from Mount Hor, to compass the land of Edom, the Lord sent fiery serpents among them, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. To meet this emergency, the Lord commanded Moses to make a serpent and put it upon a pole. And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass he was healed. This serpent was a type of Christ, for he is the reality of all the types, the substance of all the shadows, the fulfillment of all prophecy, and the way, the truth and the life. But does it not appear strange that a serpent, the very essence of iniquity, the ideal of an uncleanness, should be taken as a type of our dear Redeemer, the immaculate Son of God, who was always holy and separate from sinners? Adored be his precious name, he was made sin for us. God predestinated him to be sin for his chosen, before sin was permitted to enter the world. He goes before his church in all things; inasmuch as he was predestinated to be sin for us, we must fall in Adam. Joseph, a type of Christ was sent into Egypt before Israel, the type of the church; and as Joseph was sent before, Israel must follow. There is no frustrating the purpose and grace of our God. So we see this type is very suggestive of the great humiliation of the Redeemer in becoming sin for us, in being made in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemning sin in the flesh.

“Even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” The serpent was lifted up in the camp of Israel, after they left Egypt. It was not lifted up in Egypt, and a general proclamation made to all who would to look and come out. Nor is Christ lifted up in the world, as the Arminians do vainly preach, that every one who will may look to him and come out of Egypt, or bondage in sin; but he is lifted up in the camp of Israel, {the church,} that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. Remember that Israel was not bitten by the serpents until they came out of Egypt. So we are never troubled nor feel our sins until we are born again. We feel no need of Christ until our omnipotent God, with a high hand and outstretched arm, brings us out of Egypt. Then we realize our condition; we find ourselves in the midst of a wilderness, bitten by the fiery serpents, and having no skill or remedy in ourselves to heal the deadly venom of the sting. This flying fiery serpent is the seed of sin in the flesh; for the Scripture says, “Out of the serpent’s root shall come a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.” This root and its fruit is in us by nature, but we never taste its bitterness until born again, and the Spirit or seed of eternal life is manifested in us, and through this perfect life we realize the exceeding sinfulness of sin.

When grieved and tormented with the burden of our sins, with no power to deliver ourselves, how often do we desire, as Israel did, to go back into Egypt, where we received none of these plagues. As it is written, “But we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread.” Jeremiah 42.14. Thus it is with the poor, wretched sinner when called by grace. How often would we go back to our condition of carnal security. But strive as we may, we never can get back. God has commenced the work, and he will perform it. Whither shall we fly from his presence? If we take the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the earth, he is there. If we make our bed in hell, behold, he is there. There in no possible way of escape from the call of our God. This I know by experience; for if ever I was made a Christian, it was directly against the will of the flesh; and if I could have driven the Spirit from me, I would have done so, for it was indeed mortifying to my carnality. But thanks be to his adorable name, what he does is perfect, and must stand forever. When he by his own finger writes his law in the heart, neither the will of the flesh nor the combined powers of hell can ever erase it.

It is when in this condition that Jesus is lifted up to us. “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” He is our life, our hope, our way, our all in all. In all our troubles, in all our sorrows, he is lifted up to us, and we look to him by the faith of the Son of God, as our Mediator, our Prophet, Priest and King. He is making intercession for us at the right hand of God. O may we trust our all to him. He undertook our redemption, and he accomplished it. All the blood-bought seed, who were loved of God before the foundation of the world, shall be gathered and saved by Christ, notwithstanding all our troubles, all our conflicts, and all our adversaries; for Jesus Christ is lifted up to save them, and what can hinder it?

Yours in hope of eternal life,

H. M. CURRY.

Newfoundland, Ky., April 3, 1883.

SEED.

Seed is that from which anything springs; original; first cause. It also signifies descendants, generation, race. Everything comes from the seed. Everything’s seed is in itself, and everything brings forth after its kind. In the creation God commanded the earth to bring forth grass, {all flesh is as grass,} the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind. He also commanded the waters to bring forth the moving creature which hath life. And the waters brought forth abundantly, the living creatures after their kind. He also said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind; and it was so.”

Thus we see that at the command of God everything brings forth after his kind. How beautifully true do all things remain to the law of creation! In what exact harmony do they fulfill the command of the great God, in multiplying and bringing forth after his kind! God created Adam, and in him was given the seed of natural life, the source and origin of all mankind. In him they had their life, their name, and their identification. In him also were created all the passions and propensities of nature. And he was commanded to be fruitful and multiply. So the human race today are only Adam multiplied. But by Adam sin entered the world, and death by sin. How did sin originate? It came from the seed. For lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin. Hence lust is the seed of sin. Now, when Eve was beguiled, before she could conceive lust, {according to the law of conception,} there must be in her nature a similar seed, otherwise she would have proved barren, and no sin would have been brought forth.

But it was God’s purpose that sin should enter the world, and death by sin. He never would have said to Adam, “Thou shalt surely die,” except the seed of sin and death had been in him. God created all seed, the seed of sin and evil not excepted. How else could he be the Creator of heaven and earth and all that in them is? He forms the light and creates darkness; he makes peace and creates evil. Isa.45:7. These things are according to his purpose. How else could all things work together for good? - Rom.8:28. How else could he be God, and beside him none else? The seed of sin brought forth the transgression according to God’s purpose, both of grace and creation. It was according to his purpose of grace, because Christ stood as a lamb slain. It was according to his purpose of creation, for “there was not a man to till the ground.” Since “by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, and so death {or separation} passed upon all men, for that all have sinned;” {Rom.5:12,} we must forever remain in that condition, without salvation by grace. For the man {Adam, and his seed in him} was driven from the garden of Eden to prevent him from putting forth his hand and taking of the tree of life, and eating, and living forever. “Being alienated from the life of God,} {Eph.4:18,} “without Christ,” “having no hope, and without God in the world.” Eph.2:12. Every imagination of the thoughts of our hearts is only evil continually. Gen.6:5. All our thoughts, all our desires, all our emotions, imaginations, unbelief, and all the works of the flesh, {see Galatians 5:19,} spring from the seed of sin, and are necessarily wicked. We are born of the flesh, and are flesh. John 3:6. And “they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Rom.8:8. Neither can flesh and blood inherit the kingdom of God. I Cor.15:50. We are a corrupt tree, that cannot bring forth good fruit, {Matt.7:18,} and are by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Eph.2:3. We are indeed a seed of evil doers. Isa.1:4. But God, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. Eph.2:4,5.

Here we see a manifestation of salvation. This salvation and all things that accompany it must come from the seed. The kingdom of God is like a seed. “The seed of a woman” {Gen.3:15} brings forth salvation. Christ is the seed of eternal life, and from him all our salvation springs and flows. As our natural life with its attendant evils was given us in Adam, so our eternal life and all its spiritual blessings were given us in Christ. As we are brought into manifestation, children of the flesh by a fleshly birth, originating from the seed of the flesh, so we are manifested as the sons of God by a birth of the Spirit, or of the seed of Christ. So that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. It is this seed, or spiritual life, that brings forth repentance. It also brings forth faith, without which it is impossible to please God. It is the tree of life, which brings forth all the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Gal.5:22,23. It is the good tree, which cannot bring forth evil fruit. Matt.7:18.

Salvation not only springs from a seed, but is only for a seed. The promises are only to a seed. “Unto Abraham and his seed were the promises made.” Gal.3:16. “Unto thy seed will I give this land.” Gen.12:7. “All the land that thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.” Gen.13:15. The promise was made to Abraham and his seed, and embraces all the offspring of that seed as children of the promise. “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.” Gal.4:28. “For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.” And the covenant of this promise made to this seed cannot be disannulled by the law; for the Scripture says, “the covenant, that was confirmed before God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.” Gal.3:17. So the promise is sure to all the seed. Rom.4:16. This promise secures the blessing of the same seed. “Surely blessing I will bless thee.” Heb.6:14. “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Gen.22:18. “All that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.” Isa.61:9. Neither is this seed to labor in vain, nor bring forth trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. Isa.65:23. Not only is this seed blessed, but it is chosen; for the blessings came according to the choice. For God hath blessed us according as he hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Eph.1:3,4. “Ye are a chosen generation,” or seed.

If further proof is wanted of the choice of the seed, it may be found in this, “And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed.” Deut.4:37. Also, “Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers, to love them, and he chose their seed.” This choice is to salvation, and is from the beginning; for “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation.” II Thess.2:13. Not only is the seed blessed and chosen, but it is redeemed. “Fear not, O Jacob; I have redeemed thee.” “When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed.” “He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.” Isa.53:10,11. This brings us to unconditional election, because it was made in the seed before the foundation of the world. And to particular redemption, because he hath redeemed us out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. Rev.5:9. Now that the seed is chosen and redeemed, it must be gathered. “I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west.” Isaiah 43:5. God gathers his children, because he redeemed them. This gathering is limited by the redemption; and as all men are not gathered, all cannot be redeemed.

God’s covenant is also established with this seed. “I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” Gen.17:7. And this is the covenant that is established with them, “I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people; and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.” Heb.8:10,11. This seed is redeemed, gathered, and brought into the bond of the covenant; but it must be blessed with all spiritual blessings. Our Saviour said to his disciples, “Seek, and ye shall find.” This seeking of God is by the same seed. “I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain.” Isa.45:19. It is this seed that seeks and finds, that knocks and it is opened unto them. It is this seed that seeks the Lord with all the heart, and that while he may be found. Seeking is one of the spiritual blessings with which this seed was blessed in Christ. The pouring out of the Spirit is to be upon this seed. “I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.” Isa.44:3. So the pouring out of the Spirit upon the day of Pentecost was the fulfillment of God’s word to this seed. So also at the house of Cornelius. This seed also has God’s words in its mouth. “My words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever.” Isa.59:21. This is his covenant with them. God is also served by this seed. “A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.” Psalm 22:30. This seed shall also be justified in the Lord, for it is written, “In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified.” Isa.45:25. This, then, is the seed that is freely justified by Christ from all things from which it could not be justified by the law of Moses. This is the seed that is washed, sanctified and justified in the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. I Cor.6:11.

Now, through this seed we can look back from justification to our calling. “For whom he did predestinate, them he also called.” We can look forward to the glorifying. “For whom he justified, them he also glorified.” And to the final resurrection and adoption of all the seed, for adoption is the end of predestination.

Thus it is clear that the children of God and all their blessings come from a seed, and that seed is Christ. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”

Yours in hope.

H. M. CURRY.

Newfoundland, Ky., Aug.15, 1883.

THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN.

“These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” Acts 17:6

These words were spoken of Paul and Silas after having preached three sabbath days in the synagogue at Thessalonica. Paul’s preaching was exceeding troublesome. Acts 16:20. The doctrine of Christ when proclaimed by his chosen ministers is always offensive to the world and its different sects of carnal worshipers. It turns Arminianism upside down. As long as a man’s preaching leaves the world right side up, we know that he has not preached the gospel of Christ. A gospel without a stumbling-block is a gospel without Christ. Those whose preaching does not turn the world upside down, have never been turned upside down themselves; and those who have not been turned upside down, have never been called by grace; for a call by grace always turns a man upside down. It had this effect on Paul.

The religion of Jesus Christ is contrary to nature. Christ was put to death on a cross. Arminianism teaches that God is the Father of all mankind, and as such deals with all men as his children. They even came face to face with the Lord Jesus with this pernicious doctrine, saying, “We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.” John 8:41. But the Saviour silenced their presumptuous blasphemy with the cutting rebuke, “If God were your father, ye would love me.” “Ye are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” John 8:44.

This same generation of Satan are in the world today, under a cloak of carnal religion, denying that they are born of fornication, and claiming one father, even God. And nothing is more tormenting to them than to point to their true parentage, as did the Saviour. These same teachers of the world hold forth a Saviour who has left the shining courts of his Father’s glory, and came to this low ground of sin and sorrow, suffered and died the ignominious death of the cross, to do men’s wills; for they say he will save them if they will. But the word of eternal truth turns this upside down, and hurls it back into the bottomless pit of human lies, and declares that he came down from heaven, not even to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him. John 6:38. Our Saviour was no Arminian; for he came not to do his own will. Neither are his brethren Arminians. For in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren.

These same soothsayers teach that Christ, as an offering for sin, is made to man, and man is moved and coaxed by the Spirit and bride to accept him. They call themselves the bride, and exhort their hearers not to resist the Spirit, for fear it may take its everlasting flight. But the inspired record turns this upside down, and discovers Satan under it, the father of lies, and lets us know that Jesus through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, and by that one offering hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Offerings for sin are made to God, and to God alone. Christ as an offering for sin is not made to us. They also teach that Christ is held forth in what they call “the general tender of the gospel,” and that we must believe in him in order to be saved, and that we believe according to our own free will. But the inspired Scripture, that fatal touchstone of the world’s religion, meets this doctrine of infidelity, and turns it upside down; declaring that we “believe according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead.” Eph.1:19,20.

When men came to Christ wanting to work the works of God, he told them, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” John 6:28,29. They say, We believe according to our own free will. Christ says, We believe according to the workings of the mighty power of God. They say, It is man’s work to believe. Christ says, It is the work of God. Which is right? These same “towerbuilders” teach that all men can come to Christ; but the Saviour said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” John 7:44. Here they give the Saviour the lie, and yet pretend to love and obey him. They further teach that it is God’s will to have all men come to Christ and be saved, and that it is God’s purpose and pleasure to save them if they will but come; “If they will only fall in with the overtures of mercy, and be saved upon the easy and equitable terms of the gospel, before it is finally and everlastingly too late.” But the Saviour turns this upside down, and reveals their refuge of lies, and tells us that all that the Father giveth him shall come to him. Never can one that God has given to Christ stay away. God will make them come. Christ says, “Ye will not come unto me;” and, “No man can come.” Men will not come, cannot come. And “will not” and “cannot” is a double not, which nothing but the finger of God can untie. With men these things are impossible; but with God all things are possible.

These same “waymakers” teach a broad and easy way which all men can find, because they claim to clearly point it out; and that all men can and may walk therein. They would like to prove that our Saviour lied when he said, “Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it.” I do not dispute their claim to the “broad way,” but only deny that it leads to life. For, “broad is the way that leads to death, and many there be that go in thereat.” These same “encompassers” of sea and land must have a universal religion. Their prayer is that the world may be converted to Christ. They are of the world, and pray for the world. But the Saviour was not of the world, and declared that he prayed not for the world. John 17:9. Their prayers are not modeled after Christ’s, but after “vain repetitions of the heathen,” which Christ commands his disciples not to use. How long have their joint petitions gone up for “every house to become a house of prayer, and every heart a fit temple for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit?” Has this prayer ever been answered? If it should be, could the Scriptures be fulfilled? The fact that this is not answered is evidence that it was never promised, and the asking is proved to be amiss.

Again, these learned Rabbis of modern theology teach that “men are not the sheep of Christ because they believe not.” But Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, whose own the sheep are, turns this upside down, and exposes their learned ignorance of the true God and his grace, and says, “Ye believe not because ye are not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:26. Men believe because they are the sheep of Christ; not to make them sheep. In the same way which they call “proclaiming life and salvation,” they teach that as many as believe, are ordained to eternal life. But the eternal record destroys this refuge of lies, and reveals the glorious truth of God’s predestinating grace, and says, “As many as were ordained to eternal life, believed.” Acts 13:48. If you wish to arrive at the truth, always reverse Arminianism. Again, these will-worshiping idolaters claim that by their teaching, accompanied by the persuasive influence of the Spirit, men are brought to a knowledge of the truth, and then can be saved by laying hold of offered mercy. But the Scriptures turn this upside down, and tell us that God will have men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.  I Tim.2:4. The Scriptures teach, first, saved, and then a knowledge of the truth. Men teach, first, a knowledge of the truth, and then a probable salvation. They have Sunday Schools, Tract Societies, money systems, and a hundred other inventions unauthorized by the word of God, to forward this work of teaching what they call the religion of Jesus Christ. But the Scriptures turn this upside down, and show it to be the commandments and traditions of men. “They shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” Heb.8:11. “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me.” John 6:45. This is the teaching that brings men to Christ. It brings all who are taught. Christ says, “Every one that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me.” There is no failure here. When a poor sinner is taught of the Lord; when Christ, the true light, is revealed in him, he denies himself, and learns to touch not, taste not, handle not, the commandments and traditions of men, because with him they all perish with the using.

Again, these “Doctors of Divinity” teach that all men are called by the gospel and the Spirit, and can be saved if they will only yield to the influence of the Spirit, and obey what they call the gospel, and keep the commandments. But our Saviour has stopped their mouths again; for he declares that the world cannot receive the Spirit, which he sends to comfort his children. John 14:17. The apostle says, “Who hath saved us, and called us.” II Tim.1:9. Hence we are saved before we are called. If not, why does the word say so? “Sanctified by God the Father, preserved {or saved} in Jesus Christ, and called.” Jude 1. But the salvation that men preach is after the call. Then it is plain that their call and salvation are not the call and salvation of our God. Their call is not only before their salvation, but it is immensely broader; for they say that all men are called, and but few saved. But the call of our God is not so. The promise is to all that are called. “For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off; even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Acts 2:39. This promise is to “as many,” not to all. Again, “Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” I Cor.1:26. Somebody is left out of this call. But why do we reason? For hath not the apostle said, “Whom he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate;” “and whom he did predestinate, them he also called?” Rom.7:29,30. Here we see that the call of our God is limited by his predestination, coupled with his eternal foreknowledge.

Thus we see that their doctrine of infidelity is turned upside down by God’s own words, and the foundation thereof discovered to be human ingenuity and craftiness, speculation being the chief corner-stone. These same atheistic teachers preach that God begins the work in all men, but carries it on in but few, and that thousands who are awakened and moved by the Spirit, die in their sins, and sink into the torment of an ever burning hell. This is mighty poor grace, and a very unsuccessful and sadly disappointed Spirit; but we feel sure that it is neither the grace nor the Spirit of our God; for we are assured in his word that his grace “reigns through righteousness unto everlasting life.” Rom.5:21. It reigns through righteousness; does not fail through weakness. And when our God begins a good work in a creature, he “performs it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Phil.1:6. And what our God doeth shall stand forever; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. Eccl.3:14. Thus, through the inspired Scriptures every phase of the doctrines of men is turned upside down, and their falsehoods brought to light.

These same master builders of the high places of Molech preach a faith that is the fruit of the creature, and man must exercise it. But Paul preached a faith that God is the author and finisher of; a faith that exercises the creature; that works by love and purifies the heart; a faith that is the gift of God; a faith that moved Noah to prepare an ark; a faith that threw down the walls of Jericho; a faith which translated Enoch; a faith which subdued kingdoms, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, works righteousness, and overcomes the world. This is not a faith that is the fruit of the creature, and exercised by man; but it is that faith by which we understand the world was framed; the faith of the Son of God.

These same evil men and seducers wax worse and worse, {II Tim.3:13,} and preach a birth of a spirit which can be produced or prevented by man; a birth without a begetting, without a travail, and brings forth something that can be annihilated, or cease to exist, by the disobedience of the creature, and regain the condition occupied before birth. They call this “being born of God.” Now, this is not only contradicted by the word of truth, but there is not a syllable of common sense or reason in it. There are laws of birth, and without these a birth is impossible. First, the existence of life or seed in the parent; second, a begetting; and third, travail, or bringing to light and manifestation the being whose life had its existence in the parent. And this being can never pass back into that state again. The Scriptures inform us that we are born of God. How can this be, except our life was in God, and of the same nature as God? Before this birth of the Spirit, there must be a begetting; and James informs us that God of his own will begat us. James 1:18. And if begotten of the Spirit, we are bound to be born. For God says, “Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?” Isa.66:9.

These same gainsayers of Korah preach that in infancy we are all the children of God; but when we cross the line of accountability, if we do good God will still love us; and if we disobey, he will hate us, and we will cease to be his children, and become the children of the wicked one. This line of accountability, of which they preach so much, I can never understand, as there is no such thing intimated in the Scriptures of divine truth. But the word of God turns this upside down, and discloses ignorance, superstition and human imagination, as its foundation. These words of eternal truth forever settle the question with all lovers of the truth. “The children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger; as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” Rom.9:11-13. If this Scripture read in this way, The children being both born, and having crossed the line of accountability, one did good and another evil, that salvation by works might stand, it was said unto her, Jacob I love, but Esau I hate; then the Scriptures would not have to be revised to meet the demands of the present age; neither would the Arminian clergy have to dodge the word, as they do. But our God does not have to wait for the birth of the creature, to fix his choice; but his sovereign, electing love fixes on the object before its birth, before it does good or evil, even before it is in a capacity for doing good or evil. The eternal choice of our God was made not only before the birth of the objects embraced therein, but was made in Christ before the foundation of the world, and sealed by his immutable decree of predestination; and the foundation thereof standeth sure, having this seal, “The Lord knoweth them that are his.”

Dear kindred in Christ, it is in much weakness that I have tried to notice a few of the most prominent points in which the doctrine of our Saviour turns the world upside down. If all the points of difference were noticed and compared, I suppose the world itself would not contain the books that should be written. I am young and ignorant, but I hope that the grace which bringeth salvation hath appeared unto me, and through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus my Saviour, I hope to stand accepted in the Beloved, with all the redeemed family.

Yours in hope,

H. M. Curry.

Newfoundland, Ky., Jan.15, 1884.

THE CITY WITHOUT A TEMPLE.

“And I saw no temple therein.” Rev.21:22.

We have read this morning from the inspired record a striking description of the city of God; the city of which we have heard, and read, and sing from our earliest childhood; but we have heard that it was far away above the skies; we have sung that it is among the stars; we have read in popular religious fiction that it is the place where good people go when they die. All these notions are no better than the various fabrications of heaven, and are foreign to the true location and nature of the city as the sensual paradise of Mahomet, or the happy hunting grounds of the American Indian. Our eyes have been so long blinded by tradition that we scarcely see the plainest facts of Bible truth; our ears have been so completely stuffed with fables from our early youth that we are deaf to the plain declarations of the inspired record; and our understanding is so darkened by material affections that it is indeed difficult for us to conceive the most prominent principles of the doctrine of Christ. May the God of all grace enlighten our eyes, unstop our ears and open our understanding this morning, that we may hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

First, let us have a proper understanding of the location of this city. It is not in heaven, for John saw it coming down from God out of heaven. It is declared to be the tabernacle of God with men; God dwelling with men, and not men gone above the sky to dwell with God. This city then is in the world, though not of the world; it is the present abode and inheritance of the saints, and not something they come in possession of at the close of their mortal pilgrimage. It is the new Jerusalem, arrayed in the splendor of the covenant of grace, revealed in living contrast with the old Jerusalem, clothed in the blackness of legal servitude. It is the gospel church revealed in the perfection of her living worship, contrasted with all humanly devised and conditional systems of religion.

The jeweled walls, sparkling, gleaming and glittering with all manner of precious stones; the new earth upon which it stands stretching away in all the beauty of its virgin landscape; the new heaven spread above like a tent of righteousness; the pure, peaceful, gladdening river; the tree of life in the midst of its street of gold, each furnishes a theme for a thousand volumes; but more significant to me than all these this morning, is the absence of the temple: “I saw no temple there.”

What a novel sight to a Jew was a city without a temple! And what would a modern Arminian think of a city without a church? The religious prosperity, the state of morals, the degree of intelligence, and even the social and business advantages of a village, town, or city, are all estimated by the number and height of its steeples; and if a community could be found without a church, the unfortunate inhabitants would be stigmatized as heathens, notwithstanding they may have attained to a high standard of morals, intelligence, piety and virtue. But the gospel church, walking in the Spirit, is the perfection of society; and the perfect society is revealed from heaven under the similitude of a city without a temple, or, in modern parlance, a city without a church.

The absence of the temple suggests, first the complete removal of the law of Moses. The temple was a symbol of the law, and an almost necessary attendant of all law worship. Jerusalem was the pride of the Jews; and the glory of Jerusalem was the temple. The carnal Jews were less boastful of their temple privileges as a mark of special distinction, than of their fleshly relation to Abraham. They saw nothing in the goodly stones of the temple but the gratification of their own pride; they saw nothing in the streaming blood and quivering of the evening sacrifice, but the things which Moses commanded; they beheld nothing more in the gorgeous trappings and imposing ceremonies of the high priest, than the pomp and splendor of an earthly priesthood. But to the remnant according to the election of grace “who were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God,” the temple with all its service spoke a different language. They looked beyond the matchless pile of stones, to that temple that was to be thrown down and in three days raised up again; they saw beyond the blood that daily drenched the Jewish alters, the blood of the everlasting covenant that was to be shed for the remission of the sins of the many; they recognized in their high priest the type of him who should “offer himself without spot to God, and by that one offering perfect them forever;” they heard in the tinkling of the golden bells upon the high priest’s garment the joyful sound of the gospel of their salvation.

They groaned under the bondage of temple service, and waited and longed for “the consolation of Israel.” There was no hope for the flesh in the deeds of the law, and no rest for the spirit in the earthly Jerusalem. But God had provided some better things for them, and in the fullness of time the new Jerusalem was revealed from heaven, arrayed in bridal splendor, enshrouded in gospel glory, clothed in vestments of peace, with gates wide open to receive all those predestinated to enter its walls of salvation, its towers of refuge and palaces of peace.

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, spiritual Israel was redeemed from the law of Moses, having become dead to it by the body of Christ, and by him were led out of bondage, and brought with singing unto Zion, which is the new Jerusalem. They saw from afar the heavenly city. Joyous welcome greeted them, written above the gates in letters of gold, “Come, ye blessed of my Father.” “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.” They gladly entered, and, to their increased delight, they find no temple therein. No more sacrifices, no more burnt offerings, no more Sabbath keeping, no more observance of new moons, feasts and holy days. Even the sun and moon which mark times and seasons, days and months, are obliterated from the sky. No Easter celebration, no Christmas frolics. Every vestige of the law removed, and no temple to bring these buried things to remembrance. The justified inhabitants find themselves possessing what angels have desired to look into, and what the prophets of their fathers had searched diligently concerning.

The absence of the temple signifies the perfect deliverance of the elect Gentiles from every species of vain philosophy and esteemed and cherished idolatry. The Gentile Christians were under equally a galling bondage as were the Jews, although they owed no allegiance to the law of Moses. They were under the law of sin and death, and were by nature alienated from the life of God through their ignorance, and were brought into bondage by the lusts of the flesh and the wiles of their priestcraft. The temple is not only a symbol of the law of Moses, but is a universal attendant of every form of Gentile idolatry. Stupendous temples adorned the cities of Egypt five thousand years ago. These temples were the homes of Egypt’s gods; sources of revenue to Egyptian priests, and the oppressors, enslavers and robbers of Egypt’s people. Marble shrines of exquisite beauty brightened the cities of ancient Greece; massive temples of costliest design contributed to the imposing grandeur of the once mighty Rome; and gorgeous temples of gold, of fabulous wealth, dazzled the eyes of Spanish robbers in the far away mountain recesses of Mexico and Peru. The gigantic remains found in every quarter of the earth proclaim in tongues of crumbling stone, the universal reign of temple service over the benighted sons of men. The reign of grace has broken the reign of sin, and the Gentiles have seen the salvation of God. Grace searched the dark places of heathen idolatry, and brought forth to the light of the glorious gospel of the hidden objects of electing love.

Many of the saints at Ephesus had served in the bondage, in the temple of Diana; many of the “washed, justified and sanctified” ones of the Corinthian church had been gathered from the temples of Olympian Zeus, which adorned and burdened that opulent city; and many of the called saints of Rome had been led out of the temples of Jupiter. When Paul declared to the Athenians of Mars Hill that God dwelleth not in temples made with hands, some who worshiped at the altar of the unknown god clave unto him and believed. All the inhabitants of this city, whether Jew or Greek, bond or free, have learned that God dwelleth not in temples made with hands, but that he is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit. They have found to the joy of their hearts, that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. The truly spiritually minded seek no temple, but God himself. In him they live and move and have their being, and in this gracious environment they enjoy all the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

The absence of the temple signifies the breaking down of the “middle wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles.” The Jewish temple was the great objective distinction between the Jews and all other nations, and stood as an outward evidence of God’s favor to the Jews and rejection of the Gentiles. But, as an outward evidence that God is not a respecter of persons, and that the Gentiles are “brought nigh by the blood of Christ” and reconciled in the same body with the Jews, the temple of Jerusalem was utterly destroyed, completely thrown down, so that “not even one stone remained” upon another, as Christ had said before it was done. In addition to this outward evidence, the new Jerusalem was revealed to the eye of faith with no temple in it, so that the believing Jew can no more be offended by bringing Gentiles into the temple. The grounds of dispute concerning Jewish prerogatives have been completely removed from the church under the gospel dispensation, and now representatives of every nation dwell together in unity in this spiritual commonwealth, each esteeming others better than himself, all hearts having been purified by faith which works by love. All have God for their Father, having been born again; all washed in the same blood, and all possessing one life, living together in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace.

The absence of the temple signifies the absence of priestcraft. There is but one city in which priestcraft is not to be found, and that is the city of God. Priests have sought to rule the world; and are still seeking. A priesthood is a necessary element of all formulated religions, whether Jewish, Mohammedan, Catholic or Protestant. The priesthood of all will-worshipping idolaters has always pretended to stand between the people and their gods, and that in some way or another they are instrumental in bringing about reconciliation between offending men and offended gods. This important element is common to all carnal religious systems; it is found alike in heathen, Catholic and Protestant, and is plain evidence of the common origin and common interest of all religious enterprises. The Catholic priest assumes to forgive sins for a stipulated sum, and pray souls out purgatory for wages. The different Protestant hirelings will not exactly promise to do this, but they are equally cunning, and as little to be trusted. They hold out that men cannot be saved unless they hear them preach, and believe them; and some even go so far in their blasphemous presumption as to say that the heathen cannot be saved, neither can God justly damn them, until they preach to them. They array themselves in hypocritical robes of false christs, and profess to be commissioned to evangelize the world and bring it to Christ. They even ascribe the salvation of their children to their incantations, to penny tracts and religious fiction. They have invented hundreds of schemes and tricks to delude the people, and meeting in conventions from year to year to devise new fables, to send out their agents with new demands for money.

The absence of the temple implies the absence of all these workers of darkness and propagators of iniquity. The inhabitants of this city have been delivered from the base deception of both Catholic and Protestant priesthoods. They have learned that there is but one mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus. They are themselves a royal priesthood in Christ, prepared by grace to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. In this new creation they worship God in the spirit, and have no confidence in the flesh. They have no need of a candle, or the light of the sun or moon, all of which are emblems of worldly wisdom, as claimed by the carnal priesthoods; but the Lord God giveth them light, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Carnal worshippers seek a temple, but the spiritually minded seek no temple but God himself; the carnal worshipper delights in rites and ceremonies, but the spiritual seeks the secrecy of his closet; the carnal worshipper seeks the intercession of priests, but the spiritual is satisfied with no intercession outside of the unutterable groanings of the Spirit himself.

The absence of the temple signifies the absence of all fraud, deceit and violence. All the great temples of the world, from Thebes to Athens, from Athens to heathen Rome, from heathen Rome to Catholic Rome, from Catholic Rome to Protestant London, have been intimately connected with the blackest crimes of history; they have been the cradles of superstition, folly and vice, the nurseries of the antichrist in every phase and form, the despots of hypocrisy, the resorts of religious deceivers and oppressors; the sepulchers of liberty, prison house of saints, and the high seats of spiritual wickedness. The absence of the temple from the city of God is evidence that all the works of the flesh are unknown either to Jew or Greek in pure spiritual worship. This city is redeemed from all iniquity, and in this spiritual city, the true gospel church, no guile is found. The deeds of the body are mortified, and the fruit of the Spirit abounds. The inhabitants are blessed with good and upright hearts and are in possession of charity which thinketh no ill of his neighbor.

The contrast was no greater between this city and old Jerusalem, than between this city and the communities of carnal religionists now. This is an age of extravagant temple worship. The chief ambition of the different sects is to surpass each other in temple building. Religious societies in every place from the country cross-roads to the metropolis of the nation, render themselves a pest to their neighborhood and a disgrace to the name of Christianity, in going beyond their means to gratify the foolish, wicked, antichristian pride in erecting fine places of worship. The huge piles of stone and stained glass, thrown together in all the fantastic forms of heathen architecture that adorn our towns and cities, are regarded with quite as much reverence and admiration by their benighted votaries, as the temples of any of the ancient heathen nations.

This city is the whole election of grace, as they in one body worship the Father in spirit, as they stand holy and without blame before him in love. God himself dwells in them and with them, and he is their temple, and they are his.

The glory of the city is seen only by faith; the carnal senses of the saints themselves have never seen it. But the time shall come when still more grace shall be brought to them. The city shall be unveiled until all shall see it plainly and all earthly cities with all their temples and idolatry shall be finally and forever overthrown, and the city of God shall stand a living, enduring, eternal monument to the love, mercy and power of God, and the victory of Christ over all enemies.

H. M. Curry.

May 14, 1893.

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE SCRIPTURES.

I suppose that every one who professes to believe the Bible at all, looks for the fulfillment of the prophecies. To what quarter then are we to look for this fulfillment? How can those who deny predestination, either in part or in whole, ever expect the exact, timely and certain fulfillment of any or all of the prophecies of the divine oracles? God has declared the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. Part at least of this declaration he has made known unto us by the mouths of his prophets as recorded in the holy Scriptures. The events thus foretold must certainly have been foreordained or predestinated, and therefore must be fulfilled, each in its time and season. The Saviour said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass, until all be fulfilled.”

When God says a thing shall come to pass, does he mean that he will bring it to pass? When he says a thing shall be done, does he not pledge his word for its performance? Were the prophecies of the Scriptures uttered upon any other authority than the authority of God’s decree? Do they rest upon any vicissitude of time for their fulfillment that God’s decrees do not embrace? Would mere foreknowledge, or bare permission warrant or even justify the expression, “It shall come to pass;” or the expression “shall,” in any sense of the word? In this part of the country people read and notice Hick’s weather forecasts. When such changes come as have been prophesied, they will say, “Hicks hit it this time;” when the forecasts fail, they say, “Hicks missed it this time.” Are we to look upon God’s prophesies in this way? Are we to say, when we see the Scriptures fulfilled in this thing, God hit it this time; or when we fail to see them fulfilled in that thing, God missed it this time.

Are we to treat his prophecies as mere prognostications? One would say, O no, God knew all these things would come to pass, and so he was kind enough and thoughtful enough to tell us of them beforehand. This is a very puerile makeshift, a very fallacious and deceptive subterfuge, and involves the one accepting it in a difficulty far more serious and ungodly than he supposes the one to be which he is trying to evade, to wit, God’s decree of predestination; for if God knew that an event would transpire, that event is inevitable; that is, it cannot fail to come to pass exactly as foreknown. If inevitable, then it has been determined, and if determined, who determined it? If God did not, who did? The difficulty that I meet here, is an absolutely determined future, and with no determining power outside of God, and independent of him. This is fatalism, and the one accepting such a theory is a fatalist in the fullest sense of that word. So here he is plunged into the very thing which he flattered himself that he was avoiding. In endeavoring to shun an imaginary Scylla, he has fallen into a real Charybdis.

How often do we come upon the expression in the New Testament, “This was done that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.” When Herod sent forth and killed the little children in Bethlehem and all the coasts thereof, it was said then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “in Ramah there was a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted because they are not.” Suppose Herod had not sent forth and killed the little children, then the words of Jeremiah would not have been fulfilled; if his word should fail in one thing, what confidence would his prophecies be entitled to in anything? But it is not Jeremiah’s word which is at stake here, it is God’s word that must be fulfilled. Herod’s persecution also caused the flight into Egypt, and this was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son.” On the return from Egypt, notwithstanding Joseph had been warned of God to take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel, he through unbelief, fearing Archeiaus, turned aside and dwelt in Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” Here not only the wicked persecution by Herod, but also the unbelief of Joseph alike fulfilled the Scriptures.

When the time arrived that Jesus should be betrayed into the hands of wicked men, the betrayer was at hand, not as one who accidentally turned up in time of the emergency, but one who had been foretold by prophecy. David had given a pen picture of him hundreds of years before. It had also been said by Christ that one of the twelve should betray him. Not only was the man marked out by prophecy who should do this, but it had also been foretold how much the traitor should receive for his work; and also what should be finally done with the money. The son of man truly went as it was written of him. He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, and when Herod and Pilate and the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together against him, they were gathered to do whatsoever God’s hand and God’s counsel determined before to be done. Acts 4:27,28.

When the Saviour was crucified, he was put to death between two thieves. This was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled which said, “he was numbered with the transgressors.” Suppose there had been no thieves or transgressors, how then could the Scriptures have been fulfilled? It was the custom to break the legs of those who were put to death by crucifixion, but on this occasion they broke the legs of the thieves, but did not break the legs of Christ. This was done that the Scriptures might be fulfilled which said, “Not a bone of him shall be broken.” This prophecy was fulfilled in its reference to the literal body of Christ, but it still remains in force in its relation to his spiritual body, and must be fulfilled to the utmost in this also. So this prophecy warrants the eternal security of all the redeemed family, for we are members of his body and of his flesh and of his bones; so not a bone of him shall indeed be broken. Instead of breaking his legs according to the custom and the request of the Jews, they pierced his side with a spear. This was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled. “They shall look upon him whom they pierced.” When in his last agony he said, “I thirst,” they in their fiendish cruelty, gave him vinegar to drink. This was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “they gave me vinegar to drink.” And after all, when they came to dispose of his raiment, they gambled for that, in order to fulfill the Scripture, “they parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture did they cast lots.” In the most exact way, the Scriptures were fulfilled in the life and death of Christ, so that it may well be said, “He died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”

Men are saved to fulfill the Scriptures. “Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion,” is a prophecy that must be fulfilled; but for it to be fulfilled, the redeemed of the Lord must return and come to Zion. This prophecy cannot be satisfied as long as one for whom Christ died, is away from Zion. “All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me,” saith the Son. The righteousness, wisdom, power and grace of God are all engaged to fulfill these words, therefore there is no power or contingency that can ever interfere with the timely and triumphant victory of all the election of grace over every enemy. On the day of Pentecost, when that great number of people cried out, “Men and brethren what shall we do?” was exemplified in the fulfillment of prophecy. A great number of these men were Jews, those who only a few days before had crucified the Son of God with wicked hands; they had spit upon him, had called him Beelzebub, the prince of devils; and to express their resolution never to repent, they said, “Let his blood to upon us and our children.” But their obduracy could not holdout. God’s prophecy must be fulfilled. The redeemed of the Lord must return and come to Zion. When Abel offered unto the Lord a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, this prophecy lay at the root of the matter. In the days of Seth, when men began to call upon the name of the Lord, the words of the prophet, “Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion,” was being fulfilled in them. One might say that this prophecy had not been written in the days of Seth. It had not been written upon parchment, but it had been written in the book of God’s decrees, and experienced in the hearts and consciences of men. All the prophesies of Jehovah are from eternity, and are yea and amen in Christ. Every poor pilgrim, whose anxious heart and weary footsteps seek that city whose builder and maker is God, is upheld, forwarded and guided on his journey by the immutable decree that the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion; and through the certain fulfillment of God’s word, he shall reach the holy city and rest forever in her sacred palaces.

Men are lost to fulfill the Scriptures. Is this a hard saying? Can you not hear it? I am not responsible for the saying, however hard it may appear to be. The Saviour said to the Father in speaking of the twelve, “All of them have I kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.” John 16:12. Had Judas not been lost, the Scriptures would have been broken. The thoughtless and presumptuous man would say, If Judas had to do what he did, he would have been exempt from crime; he would have had no sin. Upon what ground would he have been without sin? What law would exempt him? According to whose judgment would he be innocent? State the law and name the judge, and if it be the law of God and God himself be the judge, then I will agree that the conclusion is the correct one. Jesus, who is himself the embodiment of all law, and the judge both of the living and dead, said with regard to this matter in reply to Pilate, “Thou couldst have no power at all against me except it were given thee from above; therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.” Instead of the judgment of Christ in this matter concurring with the judgment of men, that under such circumstances a man would be without sin, he declared that for this very reason, he had the greater sin. Here is a question of responsibility for some of the champions of that cause to settle. And here is another one: Christ said to the Jews, “Behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes; and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of righteous Zacharias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.” Matt.23:34,35. The Saviour here declares that these men should fill up the measures of their fathers. He also designates the crimes that they should commit in order to do this, not only generic crime but specific crimes; and the end to be answered thereby was that upon them might come all the righteous blood that had been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel to the blood of their most recent victim.

Now upon what principle of justice and judgment could four thousand years of crime be required at the hand of one generation? Let some of the champions of free agency solve this problem from their favorite standpoint of accountability. I have been accused of denying human responsibility, but in this as in many other things, I have been willfully misrepresented. I have only denied that the atonement of Christ left any responsibility upon his people; and further, I have denied the foolish, imaginary, sentimental and ungrounded conclusion that predestination relieves men of accountability and acquits them of crime upon principles of equity and justice, and that therefore in order to be accountable, a man must be what men are pleased to call a free agent. I have here referred to these things to show that in the fulfillment of God’s decrees according to his word, a deeper principle of justice is involved, than human standards set forth, or human pleaders comprehended.

Again it is said of some in the divine record, that they were before of old ordained to this condemnation. Now if they were before of old ordained to condemnation, when the condemnation came, did it not come in fulfillment of a decree? Who made the decree? Some would say that God made it, but he made it upon conditions. This they think necessary in order that the character of God stand above reproach in the judgment of men. They admit that the decree of election unto life is unconditional, but that the ordination of condemnation is conditional, and that the subjects of this decree are endowed with a free agency whereby they are permitted to work out their condemnation. This notion involves a monstrous absurdity, and that absurdity is this; That God has denied to man the freedom and ability to righteousness whereby we must be saved, but that he has endowed man with that freedom and ability whereby he may and can work out a sure and foreknown condemnation. And this is resorted to in the vain imagination that the character of God is thus vindicated from the charge of unrighteousness, and be justified in his ways to man. Peter in speaking of certain ones, says they were appointed to disobedience and stumbling. I Peter 2:8. Now if they were appointed to disobedience, must they not fulfill the appointment? This they must do, even though God sends them strong delusions to accomplish it. II Thess. 2:11.

Many are ready to exclaim now, If this be true, who is to be blamed? This is an old question, and I will give an old and authoritative answer. I will first state the question in its ancient form: “Thou wilt say unto me then, Why doth he yet find fault; for who hath resisted his will?” Reader, do you recognize your question? If you have never seen it before, read the ninth chapter of Romans, and you will find it. I will now give the ancient, time honored answer: “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?” Do you recognize the answer? If not, read the ninth chapter of Romans and you will find it. This is not your question; this is not a question of this age only. This question was asked two thousand years ago. Neither is this my answer. This is God's answer, and I am satisfied with it. This question comprehends everything that the cavilers of all ages have urged against the doctrine of God’s sovereign decrees. Is not the answer of inspiration plain and decisive? If the solution of this problem is to be found in exceptions to God’s decrees, and in making excuses for him, would he not have put a very different answer in the mouth of his inspired apostle? Is not this the place above all places for such an excuse to be given? Is not this question sprung here for the express purpose of giving a decisive and unequivocal answer? Is not such an answer given? Shall we receive it as final and decisive, as coming from God himself, or shall we seek another, which, although necessarily false, is more pleasing to our pride and presumption, and more acceptable to ignorance and unbelief?

The unbelief of the Jews fulfilled the Scriptures. It is recorded by John that, although he had done many miracles, yet they believed not on him, that the saying of Esaias, the prophet, might be fulfilled: “Lord, who hath believed our report; and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Therefore they could not believe, because Esaias said again, “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, that I might heal them.” John 12:37-40. Here it is expressly stated that the reason they could not believe, was that Esaias had foretold their blindness and hardness, and further that this blindness and hardness of heart was given from God. The object of this blindness and hardening was to prevent them from being converted that he might heal them. This language seems to imply that there might have been a possibility of their believing and being converted, had not God’s decree intercepted and cut them off.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, said Christ, but my word shall not pass away until all be fulfilled. Whatever the divine record says shall be, must be. The same authority that says, “The redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion,” has also said, “The wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand.” The same book that says, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me,” has also said, “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.” The same God that opened Lydia’s heart, that she attended to the things spoken by Paul, hardened Pharaoh’s heart that he would not let the people go. The same God that works in his people both to will and to do of his good pleasure, has also put it in the hearts of wicked rulers to fulfill his will, and to agree and give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God be fulfilled. Rev.17:17.

When Paul was arraigned by the Jews for preaching what was to them an obnoxious and destructive doctrine, his defense was that he had preached nothing but what Moses and the prophets said should come. If I am censured for what I have herein written, I have but one defense to make, and that is, I have only written what Moses and the prophets and Christ and the apostles have said should be.

H. M. Curry.

Jan.15, 1900.

A PERSONAL LETTER.

Elder J. K. Womack:

Oct.12,1899.

My Dear Brother;

I have just read your letter in the Signs of the Times, and it made me glad indeed. In these days of apostasy from the truth on the part of many who have recently professed to hold it, admonishes me that perilous times have come. It is not every one who says, “Lord, Lord,” that shall enter into the kingdom, but he that doeth the will of the Father, so it is not every one that pretends to preach, that is called of God, as was Aaron. There are many false preachers among us, men who have called themselves, and for a show pretend to preach grace, when inwardly they know nothing about it at all. It is a fine point, my brother, to discern a false minister from a true one; Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, then it is no wonder if his ministers be transformed as ministers of righteousness.

Experience is the only thing that can bring God’s children to a knowledge of the truth; experience of the deep things of God. When God leads us into deep soul troubles, and we expend all our strength to no avail, then he comes and delivers us, and makes us know that he is God, and beside him there is no other. It was in the belly of hell that Jonah learned the fruitlessness of human effort, and through his deliverance from this hopeless grave he learned that salvation is of the Lord. This deliverance is what men would call time salvation, and which they now ascribe to works; but Jonah, the man who experienced it, ascribes it to the Lord without reserve. These men who preach time salvation, as they call it, by works, have never yet experienced deliverance from the belly of hell; a whale has never swallowed them, consequently they are not qualified to declare that salvation is of the Lord.

I have never yet been guilty of preaching salvation through any other than the Lord Jesus Christ, either for time or for eternity. I cannot preach the law, for the very things I have not, are the things the law demands, and the things I must have, the law cannot give. I trust I have become dead to the law by the body of Christ, I am crucified with Christ, yet nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Yours in love of truth and righteousness.

H. M. Curry.

ABLE TO STAND, BUT LIABLE TO FALL.

The Proposition that Adam was able to stand but liable to fall, came first to my ears from Methodists and New School Baptists. The expression sounded puerile and illogical to me then, and sounds so yet. To me the phrase is meaningless; but grant it a meaning, and it arrays itself against the whole tenor of Bible Truth, and all facts of human experience, as exemplified in the universal history of the human race.

Such sayings and phrases as this became current through lack of thoughtful investigation. I invite the reader’s attention to the following discussion of this trite expression; and if, after impartially considering this matter, he should still be of the opinion that “Adam was able to stand, but liable to fall,” his position will be more clearly defined in his own mind, and perhaps entitled to more credit from those of contrary belief.

Let us now proceed to consider some of the a priori arguments. First, God had a purpose in man on the earth. When faith beholds the works of God in creation it sees nothing in vain; the domestic beast of burden, the ravenous beast of prey, the wholesome grape, the deadly upas, the useful iron, the seducing gold, the wholesome food, and the destructive poison, all answer some useful end, some wise purpose, some intelligent design of the mind that created them. Shall we confess this, and then say that man, the climax of the natural creation, was created without a purpose or design, either for time or eternity by the God of all wisdom? Did God create man, and turn him loose in the world to ruin himself and all his posterity, to thwart God’s will and destroy all his pleasure?

The first purpose of God in placing man upon the earth was that he should multiply and replenish it. God made the earth not in vain; he made it to be inhabited. If Adam was able to stand, he was able to defeat God’s purpose in this; for had he stood, there is no ground to believe that the earth would ever have been inhabited; for, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24. These words of Jesus set forth a universal fact in nature, a deep and comprehensive truth. The same truth may be stated in these words: Without death there is no reproduction. In the vegetable world seed must die before they germinate and reproduce their kind. The same principle, although not so plainly exhibited, extends into the animal world. The animal organism embodies both animal and vegetable life mysteriously combined, and the power of reproduction, growth and repair lies in the vegetable life. The multiplication of the human race did not begin until death passed upon the man; so from this it is seen that if Adam was able to stand, he was able to render the creation of the world in vain.

But grant that the multiplication would have gone on without the fall, what would have been done with the people who would have come into the world by this time? The garden of Eden would have been full to overflowing against this time. There would have been a continually increasing stream of humanity pouring into the world, and none going out. What would be done with them? Upon what would they subsist? Where would they stay? What would be their occupation?

Again, suppose Adam had stood, then each of his posterity would have been subjected to the same probation. Each one able to stand, but liable to fall.

Some, doubtless would have succumbed to this liability to fall, and would have fallen, while some would have demonstrated their ability to stand, by standing. The human race would then be divided by death, some dying, and some living here forever. What a state of confusion this would be. Instead of the wisdom of the Creator being exemplified in the harmony of his creation, it would be impeached by this monstrous, unnatural, impossible discord.

It was doubtless God’s purpose that the earth’s resources should be developed, as exemplified in the various lines of human industry, enterprise and progress. The one essential element of human character upon which all industrial enterprise depends is the love of money. This is declared in the Scriptures to be the root of all evil. This root of all evil, then, is the prime impetus in all human progress, advancement and improvement. Without it new countries never would have been discovered, explored and settled; cities would never have been built; civilization would never have developed; the arts and sciences would have remained unknown; there would be no such thing as social or political society, no commerce, no trade, no improvements, no progress, no luxuries, no conveniences; in fact men would all be savages. The fall of Adam enters into the very foundation of all the essential elements of the qualification of men to inhabit the earth. All the lust of the eye and pride of life are essentially necessary to building up human society, either social, political or religious.

Again, the world in its present condition is either as God intended it should be, or it is not. If it is not as God intended, then God’s intention has gotten from under his control. There are only three positions to be taken with regard to the first man: God either purposed that he should fall, or purposed that he should not fall, or else had no purpose at all in the matter. If he purposed that he should not fall, but remain sinless forever, then the earth is peopled with an entirely different race of beings from what God intended; everything has gone contrary to God’s purpose. If one man could reverse the purpose of God, and change the whole world, both for time and eternity, of what account is God’s purpose? Where is any ground of hope of salvation either for time or eternity through the purpose of the same God? Where are our obligations to call him God, or worship him as such?

Where is his right to call himself God, and claim our confidence, reverence and praise? To say that God purposed him to stand, but that man fell, is to plunge into the darkest, blankest, most hopeless fatalism. If we say that God had no purpose one way or the other, then what do we mean by talking of God’s purpose? If we say that God purposed the fall, then there is no conflict between God’s purpose and the existing state of affairs. We can then look upon the word purpose as meaning something; and when we talk of God being a God of purpose our speech harmonizes; and when we speak of his purpose of grace we can do so with just reverence and holy confidence.

Again, God purposed that man should be removed from the earth by death.

“Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” One may say these words were spoken after man sinned. True enough; but did they come into the mind of God after man sinned? This is the utterance of a decree; but is the decree no older than its utterance? If God did not intend in the creation that man should return to dust, why did he create him from dust? Why did he not make him of some other material? But the very fact that He made him of dust shows that the decree, “Unto dust shalt thou return,” was in the mind of the Creator when He made him. “It is appointed unto men once to die.” Heb.9:27. Death, then is an appointment. Who made the appointment? God made it. Has God any appointments now that he did not have from eternity?

Let us now turn to God’s purpose of grace in Christ. All the provisions of grace for the salvation of the people were made in Christ before the foundation of the world. If Adam had stood, what would have become of the purpose of grace? When we say he was able to stand, we say that he was able to defeat God’s purpose in Christ. It is declared in the Scriptures that Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world. Foreordained to what? To die. To die for whom? For men who might not need it, for a man who was able to stand? If Christ was foreordained to die, and Adam was the figure of Christ, is it not plain that Adam was included in the same decree of death? When Christ died, he was delivered to death by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God; not by the provisional counsel, as a remedy provided to meet an emergency; not by his permissive counsel, as one permitted to be slain for the sins of others. There is no mention in the Scriptures of a Permissive Counsel, but Determinate Counsel. Then, if Adam was included in God’s counsel at all, he was in his determinate counsel. The creation of Adam was in God’s counsel, for He said, “Let us make man.” God’s dealings with the man after he was made were in his counsel, for He placed him in a certain environment, with certain restrictions upon his liberties.

One may say that God knew that Adam would fall, and provided the remedy before the calamity came. To admit God’s foreknowledge of the event is to yield the point that he was made to stand, for how was he able to stand if God knew that he would fall? The proposition is incompatible with foreknowledge. It is argued by some that God knew that he would, but he did not fall by God’s decree. By whose decree did he fall? If God foreknew the man would fall, the event was certain, inevitable and could in no wise fail to come to pass. Now, what made the event certain? What rendered it inevitable? What brought it to pass? One says that God’s foreknowledge of an event does not necessitate its coming to pass. If God’s knowledge does not, what does? “Who is he that bringeth to pass when the Lord commands it not? Lam.3:37. Either God’s decree makes the event certain, as foreknown, or it is purely a matter of total necessity.

If Adam was able to stand, how long was he able to stand, against what was he able to stand, and wherein consisted his ability to stand? Was he able to stand forever? Was he able to stand under all circumstances? If we answer yes to these questions, then his ability to stand consisted in his infinite perfection, for nothing short of infinite perfection could stand forever under all circumstances. If he was infinitely perfect, to enable him thus to stand, wherein lay his ability to fall? Ability to stand and liability to fall cannot exist at the same time in the same creature; for where liability to fall sets in, absolute ability to stand ends. Ability to stand, in this expression, must be absolute or it cannot be considered, for if it is not absolute it must be relative, and relative ability to stand is entirely swallowed up in liability to fall.

Let us now pass to the posteiori arguments. The fall itself is evidence that the man could not stand. Had he not fallen he would thereby have demonstrated his ability to stand; but he fell, and consequently he demonstrated his inability to stand.

The transmission of his sin to his posterity is conclusive argument against his ability to stand. The total, inherent, hereditary depravity of the human race is essentially and inseparably connected with this subject. Cavil as we may about predestination in Adam’s case, it shows itself in all his progeny. They are all born sinners, grow up sinners, and die sinners, without exception or remedy. What then has fixed the universal, unalterable, irrevocable reign of sin and death? Is it fixed by God, or does it come by fate? Is it the provision of infinite wisdom, or is it through the lucky intervention of some work of chance? Did God, either in ignorance or knowingly, leave the issue of life and death of unborn millions to the uncertain will of one man? If God did not know the consequence when he created man, then he is ignorant and stupid, and is no God. If he knew the consequence, and yet created the man, and gave him power to ruin his unborn progeny in sin, death and eternal destruction, knowing certainly that he would do it, is he not a strange kind of God? Is not such a course more like that of a madman than like that of an all-wise God? Which is the greater display of wisdom, righteousness, justice and judgment; for God to leave the issues of life and death of an unborn world to the caprices of one man’s will, or to fix all by his own infinite will and wisdom?

Which would faith choose as a source of consolation, that the well being of a world was left to one man, and he ruined it, or that God held the issues in his own eternal grasp?

The great stumbling stone in the way of most minds is the trite, meaningless expression that this would make God the author of sin. But is it not taught in the Scriptures that God visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children?

Where is there any human code of practice or standard of justice but what would pronounce that unjust, wicked and cruel? Visit the iniquities of the fathers upon the children of the third and fourth generations. Punish the child for the crime of its grandfather, a crime committed before the child was born, or even before its parents were born. If we are going to impeach God by human standards we must impeach him here, and declare him wicked, unjust and cruel; and renounce his name, and abandon his worship. But again, Jesus said that the blood of all prophets, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, that perished between the temple and the altar, shall be required of this generation. Where is the justice, from a human standpoint, in requiring all the righteous blood that had been shed for four thousand years, of that generation? Such destruction as had not been since the world began was sent upon that generation of men, women and helpless children, and God did it. Then, upon this point of God being unjust if he does so and so, let the words of inspiration stop every mouth, and silence every tongue.

The law in its nature, design and effect enters into this discussion. Many minds are misled by their wrong notion of the law. The law was not given for men to keep. It entered that the offense might abound. They say that God would not have commanded Adam not to eat if he intended that he should eat. How do they know what God would have done? By what or by whom do they judge? How could man transgress without a commandment? It required the commandment to answer the purpose. It is argued that God’s decreeing the fall of Adam would destroy man’s accountability. Would it be and worse, from their own standards of judging, to hold Adam responsible for what he was purposed to do, than to hold a babe born in the nineteenth century responsible for Adam’s transgression by fixing upon it the sin committed by another six thousand years before it was born? The doctrine of hereditary total depravity will not harmonize with the proposition that Adam was able to stand.

Lastly, I shall call in the testimony of Christian experience. Can a Christian live without sin? We regard those persons who hold and teach that a man can live without sin as deluded, fanatical heretics. If the Christian, who is born of God, washed in the blood of Christ, justified, sanctified, and led by the Spirit of God, cannot live without sin, how can the natural man live without sin? Adam in his creation was a natural man, of the earth, earthy. He had natural capacities, fleshly qualifications, propensities and desires; then how could this man in nature be expected to do what the most gifted saint cannot do?

H.M. Curry, 1895.

DEATH IN ADAM - LIFE IN CHRIST.

Dear Brother Beebe: - A brother Parker, in Indiana, wrote me some time ago for my views upon the text, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” I Cor.15:22. I neglected replying with his request until now. I send a discourse delivered upon that subject in the Old School Baptist chapel in Lebanon, Ohio, on the second Sunday in May, 1894, which you may publish if you think proper.

My mind seems to rest upon this portion of the inspired word; and I shall endeavor, as God may give me ability, to speak words of comfort to the broken-hearted, a word in season to him that is weary, and point out springs of water to them that are thirsty, and rivers of milk and honey to them that are hungry. May the children all have ears this morning to hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

This passage of the written word has been relied upon by false teachers to prove their vain imaginings and unholy speculations concerning the salvation of men. The Arminian ignorantly resorts to this quotation to hide the grossness of his schemes and give some face to his free-will absurdities; but when his Universalist brother puts in his claim for it, to bolster up his plan, the Arminian is forced to yield the ground to his more logical claimant, who, as the strong man armed, keeps his goods in peace until a stronger than he comes. This occurs when one who is skilled in the word of righteousness, whose understanding has been opened to understand the Scriptures, takes it in the light of the testimony of the Spirit, and presents it in its true relation to all other Scripture, to the faith, experience and knowledge of those who have been taught of God. It is then clearly seen that it is stolen goods in the hands of all those teaching a conditional system of salvation, and will not fit their scheme.

“As in Adam all die.” I shall first briefly discuss the word all, for upon this word mainly rests the perversion of this text, as well as that of many other portions of the Scriptures. This little word has been made to shoulder very weighty responsibilities. Many an elaborate discourse, many a zealous sermon, many a stirring exhortation, has been delivered solely at its expense. We have often heard men who have more zeal than knowledge, whose fanaticism outweighs their thoughts, and with whom logic is at a discount, and airy conclusions at a premium, in their bursts of enthusiasm and blind rage against the truth, assert in the most self conceited triumph that, a-l-l never spells part. They consider this a knock-down argument against unconditional, personal election, that fundamental principle of all Bible truth. They deem this foolish, meaningless assertion sufficient proof against the doctrine of particular redemption, special calling and final preservation, and hold it as an elenchus of the doctrine of offered mercy, offered love and offered salvation; but such puerile, empty, sweeping assertions can never be taken as argument by a mind that is accustomed in the least to think on these things. A-l-l does frequently and almost without exception spell part. All men in Ohio are but a part of the men in the United States; all the men in the United States are but a part of the population of the American continent; all christians are only a part of the people of the world. It is clearly seen that while this word always means all of something, it invariably means at the same time, a part of something. I have thus briefly spoken of the word all in a general way; let us now make the application to it in this test.

“As in Adam all die.” In regard to the all that die in Adam, there are but two positions possible: First, that all the human family die in him; and second, that all the saints of God die in him. So far as the fact of dying in Adam is concerned, the first proposition is true – all the human family die in him; and if the first be true, then the second is necessarily true, for the saints are a part of the family of Adam, and what is true of the whole, is true of every part of the whole. Now, to arrive at the truth of what is taught here, it remains only to determine which of these positions is embraced in the text. The Apostle has under consideration here, the resurrection of the just, and their final deliverance from this bondage of death. He is treating of the resurrection of the saints in their order. He modifies the expression, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,” in the next sentence by saying, “Every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” Here he stops short. Not a word is said about any one except Christ and them that are his. This clearly sets a limit to the word all. As all that are Christ’s die in Adam, so all that are Christ’s shall be made alive in Him. But suppose that all does mean all the human family, which is true as a fact, but not necessarily true from this text; this argues nothing for the Arminian or Universalist, as there is none made alive in Christ but them that are his. As in Adam, all that are in Adam die, even so in Christ, shall all who are in him be made alive. Even then if the first all does mean the whole human family, there is nothing in the wording of the text which teaches that the same all who die in Adam, are made alive in Christ. This must be proved, if it can be, from some other source.

The death of the saints in Adam, is their inheritance from him. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death hath passed upon all men, for all have sinned. The dissolution of this mortality is only the consummation of that death which hath already passed upon us. We are not simply under the sentence of death, waiting the execution, but death itself hath already passed upon us in reality. There is no power of will, no moral reform, no religious conjuring, no medical skill, that can deliver us from this death. Death reigns absolute, so far as his subjects are concerned; and his dominion is a broad one. The whole human family, the lower animals and vegetable kingdom, are territories where none disputes his sway or disturb his reign. There is no one so noble as to escape the common lot, none so ignoble as to be slighted, none so rich as to buy a reprieve, none so poor as not to be worth the taking; but all are swept away struggling, shuddering, resisting, pleading, by the merciless hand of death.

“The glories of our mortal state,

Are shadows, not substantial things.

There is no armor against Death;

He lays his icy hand on kings.

Sceptre and crown,

Must tumble down,

And in the dust be equal made,

With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

Some men with swords may reap the field,

And plant fresh laurels where they kill;

But their strong nerves at length must yield,

They tame one another still.

Early or late,

They stoop to fate,

And must give up their murmuring breath,

When they, pale captives, creep to death.

The garlands wither on your brow;

Then boast no more your mighty deeds,

Upon Death’s purple altar now,

See how the victor-victim bleeds!

All heads must come,

To the cold tomb;

Only the actions of Christ the just,

Smell sweet and blossom from the dust.”

Death seems to be a necessity both in nature and in grace. Not that God was under necessity to so arrange, but that it seemed good in his sight to have it so. Its all pervading, irrestable, irrepressible reign throughout all countries, all ages and all departments of nature is enough to start the question in the thoughtful mind. Does not death serve some great economy in God’s universe? Is it a mere interloper that God would not have here? Is it not a provision of his own wisdom for carrying out his own design in creation?

Death is a necessity in the vegetable kingdom; for “except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24. This is a specific statement, setting forth the principle of reproduction in the vegetable world. Everything that lives is an evidence that something died. The giant oak, adorning the majestic forest, is a living monument that marks an acorn’s grave; and the inscription read in every leaf and written in every bough is, “An acorn died.” Every speck of grass that gems the lawn, every flower that brightens and perfumes the garden, every crimson laden tree of the orchard, proclaims that something died.

The holy Apostle, in treating upon the resurrection of the dead, brought to his argument this universal fact of nature. “That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die.” The Saviour, in speaking of the necessity of his own death, and the glory that should follow, used the same fact as an illustration in the words, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.” Death precedes quickening in the vegetable kingdom, and is essential to it. This same mysterious principle in a deeper and more hidden manner extends into the animal kingdom, and even reaches the kingdom of grace. The Saviour opened the door and gave us a glimpse of this mysterious chamber when he said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.” He applied the universal principle of reproduction in the vegetable kingdom to himself. He here gives us to understand that the process of reproduction exemplified in plant life was in some way wrapped up in him; and the principles of his death and our redemption by his blood are in some way illustrated by the death and quickening of a grain of wheat. Now this same saying may with propriety and truthfulness be transferred to Adam, for he is the figure of Christ. Except Adam had died, he would have abided alone, and the world would never have been peopled through him. Adam begat no children until death passed upon him in the sentence, “Dying thou shalt die.” This is strange indeed; but what is not strange when properly thought upon? Its being strange is no evidence against its truthfulness. Truth is always stranger than fiction sure enough. The process cannot be explained, the reason cannot be given, yet it is true. We are warranted in carrying this fact into the animal kingdom by a strictly scientific basis. The principle of reproduction, growth and repair, is found alone in vegetable life; it does not belong to the order of animal life. The difference between the tree and the animal is not that the animal does not possess vegetable life, but that the tree does not possess animal life.

The order of vegetable life endows the animal with the power of reproduction. When a bone is broken, it is the power of vegetable life that causes it to knit together again; and the same principle heals the wound that is made in the flesh or muscles of the body, and causes the hair to grow again when cut or plucked out, and the finger nails to grow again when trimmed. Animal life endows its possessor with the power of locomotion and instinct; but without vegetable life, there would be no reproduction growth and repair. Then, so far as the reproduction of his kind is concerned, it is found alone in the order of vegetable life, which is mysteriously combined with animal life, to make up an animal organism, or a human personality. Hence the same principle of death and quickening which is essential to plant reproduction lies deeply hidden in the fact and process of all animal procreation; hence it was necessary that Adam should die. It should be noticed again that death is not simply the dissolution of this mortality, but that this dissolution is but the consummation of that death which has been at work in our members from the time of our birth.

Now, the saints of God in their mortal state, in their natural personality, were created in the earthly Adam; and when death passed upon him, it passed upon them. They are the production of a body of death; consequently they must die. This death, with all its attendant circumstances, its prodigious economy in all nature, cannot possibly be the accident of a day, the result of the mistake of free-will, or anything of that kind. This would be the blindest fatalism, the sternest doctrine of chance. Death plays too stupendous a part in all the affairs of this world, both in the physical and moral spheres, and shines too bright in the everlasting covenant, to be a mere interloper in God’s universe. Faith looks upon it as a provision of infinite wisdom, a gracious providence, ordained by the Creator to fulfill his own eternal purpose, both in providence and in grace. The whole process of Christian experience is a struggle between life and death, sin and holiness, corruption and incorruption; and the whole summing up of christian hope is that we shall one day be delivered from this bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

“Even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” The all referred to here, are clearly they that are Christ’s, the whole election of grace. The resurrection of the saints as here brought to view, is in Christ. This resurrection is but the triumphant consummation of something long gone before. It is the harvest of grace, sown in Christ before the foundation of the world. It is “the divine far-off event to which the whole creation moves.” Death in Adam, and life in Christ is the fundamental idea of the New Testament Scriptures, the golden text of the gospel of grace, the master key to christian experience. In treating upon the same theme, the same inspired writer has recorded, As by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Men are made righteous by the obedience of Christ, upon exactly the same conditions upon which they were made sinners by the disobedience of Adam.

Adam’s sin and disobedience reached us by virtue of our vital relationship to him. Upon no other condition could we possibly have been made sinners by his disobedience. If we had not been in him, virtually in him, of the same life with him, then this disobedience would not, could not, have reached us at all. Upon exactly the same condition the obedience of Jesus reaches his people and makes them righteousness. When the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, he took upon Himself the seed of Abraham, the election of grace. They were made members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones in his incarnation, by virtue of the grace and life that were given them in Him, according as they were chosen in him before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and without blame before God in love. He was the ark of God’s covenant; and when he struggled with temptations; when he suffered for sins; when he died upon the cross, when he descended into Hell, they were safely housed in him, and brought safely through it all. They paid tithes in him, became dead to the law by his body, reconciled to God by Him. By virtue of this oneness of life, this vital relation to him, his perfect obedience, his suffering and triumphant resurrection, are all accounted unto them, and reaches them most effectually, and shall make them all righteous.

As to the certainty of the saints all being made alive, is just as certain as their death in Adam. Who can question the certainty of death? Is it not this certainty that strikes terror to the heart of all living? Are there any conditions between us and death upon which death can be brought or stayed? There is no way of escape. According to the inspired record of eternal truth, there is no reason to doubt the certainty of life in Christ. Inasmuch as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. The one is just as certain as the other. Jesus himself said, “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”

It is not the will of our heavenly Father that any of these little ones who fall asleep in Christ shall perish. All our sins have been put away by Him, and he has redeemed us unto God by his blood. By the one offering he hath perfected us forever. We are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God; and when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory. He hath loved us with an everlasting love; He hath chosen us to salvation; He hath appointed us to glory; He hath ordained us to eternal life; He hath predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son; He hath laid down his life for us; we are reconciled to God by his blood; we are washed, sanctified, justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Our destiny is indissolubly linked with the destiny of Jesus. How can this incomprehensible work of grace fail? Faith embraces it all, and rests in this finished work of our Redeemer, and looks forward with joy and gladness to the final consummation of it all. The resurrection of the dead is the crowning result of the work of Christ and God’s purpose of salvation. Then shall be brought to pass the saying, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?” “I will redeem them from death, I will ransom them from the power of the grave.” Death will be swallowed up in victory.

May God give us grace to trust him, and to walk humbly before him, and in patience and hope await the great day of our final, eternal deliverance.

H. M. Curry.

PERSONALITY OF MAN.

The question, “What is man?” is the stumbling-stone in all systems of human philosophy, and is no nearer answered today than in the days of the psalmist, who recorded it upon the pages of inspiration. Notwithstanding the many volumes that have been written by all the different schools of philosophy, man still remains,

“Chaos of thought, and passion all confused,

Still by himself abased or disabused;

Sole judge of earth in endless ruin hurled,

The glory, jest and riddle of the world.”

The origin of man, his nature and destiny, are problems which have engaged the human mind for centuries, and which still remain as unsettled, so far as philosophy is concerned, as in the beginning. Two leading schools of philosophy have been and are still engaged in the discussion, one denying man’s personality and the other affirming it. Many profound thinkers have written extensively upon both sides of the question, each working out his own preconceived notions along his favorite line of thought, and finally arriving at that conclusion which best satisfies his own position upon religious and scientific questions. It is astonishing to what extent prejudice, tradition and legend shape men’s politics, religion and philosophy.

“We are the same that our fathers have been,

We see the same things that our fathers have seen,

We drink the same stream and view the same sun,

And run the same race that our fathers have run.”

The personality of man is the battleground between skepticism and modern Christianity. The philosopher whose religious tastes, temperament and predilections lead him to deny nominal Christianity and embrace materialism, deism or atheism, shapes his philosophy accordingly, and endeavors to prove that man is not a personality, because if this one point be established his victory is gained, so far as philosophy is concerned; while upon the other hand, he who is led either by tradition, persuasion or legend to embrace nominal Christianity, engages to prove that man is a personality, because the nature and capabilities of man form the foundation of all modern religious theories. In order that the prevalent theory of conditional destiny may have some face to it, some foundation for reasonableness or plausibility, certain qualifications must be ascribed to man to constitute him a personality, capable of accepting, applying and carrying into effect the provisions which men assume that God has made for their salvation.

The materialistic school of philosophy, reasoning from the preconceived falsehood that there is no God, has labored to prove that man himself is not a personality; and upon the other hand, the so-called christian philosopher, in love with the idol tradition of conditional salvation, based upon man’s free agency, invents a philosophy which makes man a kind of demi-god, by ascribing to him a mind, spirit or soul that is spiritual in the same sense that God is spiritual – a principle of immortality, a spark of divinity, as they often call it. They assume that in order for man to be a personality he must be endowed with the ability to know God, and to choose between right and wrong, and to exercise all the functions of an essential free moral agent; and that without this dual nature and these qualifications he cannot be a personality.

Now, that man is endowed with reason, and possesses a knowledge of himself and his environment that the brute creation does not possess, every one must admit. It does not require a philosophy to establish this fact. But that to constitute him a personality requires that he possess a spark of divinity, a principle of immortality, a spiritual mind, of the essence as God himself, everyone who has the slightest respect for the New Testament psychology must emphatically deny. The great mistake that philosophers have all fallen into is this, that in order for man to be a rational, ethical personality, distinct from the brute creation and pre-eminent over it, God must impart to him in his natural creation the spiritual, immortal nature of God himself, and that without this God-element there can be no distinction between man and beast. The qualifications of man that distinguish him from the irrational animal creation, and constitute him a personality, are products of creative power; and all products of creative power, or all created existences, are essentially different in essence or substance from the essence or substance of the creator.

“Of God above or man below,

What can we reason but from what we know?

Of man what see we but his station here,

From which to reason or to which refer?”

In man’s creation he was of the earth, earthy. In this creation he is capacitated to live on the substance of the earth, to love, understand and enjoy the things of this world, but separated in all his nature, in all his powers of body and mind, from the spiritual world. The law of continuity furnishes an a priori argument for the position we are attempting to establish of the most convincing kind, of such a kind indeed as seems to be final. If nature be a harmony, man in all his relations, physical, mental and moral, necessarily falls within its circle. It is altogether unlikely that man should have a spiritual nature violently separated in all its conditions of growth, in its essence and substance, from his earthly nature. It is difficult to conceive that the natural man should be guided by one set of principles, and these at a certain point give place to another set of principles altogether new and unrelated. Nature has never taught us to expect such a contradiction. Man cannot in the nature of thought, in the nature of language, be separated into two such incoherent halves.

The Bible account of man’s creation is, “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” The unity of man as a living organism, as a natural personality, is most forcibly set forth here. The prevalent philosophical idea of man’s personality is that God breathed into man an immortal soul, something ab extra to the man physical, and that this soul is the embodiment of the man’s reasoning, knowing, intelligence, and is in substance of the same divine essence of God himself; and that without this germ of divinity man could not be a personality. Nothing can be farther from the true nature of man’s personality as revealed in the history of nations, in the history of men, and in the everyday life of each individual. When facts contradict philosophy we must give credence to facts. Besides, the one brief statement of the Bible condemns the idea conclusively: “God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” He did not breathe a living soul into the man, but man became a living soul. Man and soul mean the same thing in this place.

It is true that the Bible was not written for a text book on psychology, yet no more beautiful system of philosophy can anywhere be found than that recorded by inspiration. It is consistent with itself, and is nowhere contradicted by existing facts. That fundamental principle of the christian religion laid down by Christ himself, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,” is the embodiment of principles of philosophy which locate man in nature, and fix, define and bound his personality. The explanatory clause, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,” shows conclusively that man is the product of a fleshly birth; and all his powers, both mental and physical, are derived from the same source, and all belong to the same environment. The term flesh does not mean the literal flesh of the human body, but means man as a whole, as an individual, a personality; and if this personality ever sees the kingdom of God, is ever made a partaker of the divine nature, of immortality, it must be born again.

The present ‘christian’ philosophy of man’s personality sets up the most serious enemy that Christianity has to deal with at the present day. Of the multitudes who profess the Christian religion at the present time, how many have clear in their minds the cardinal distinction made by Christ between born of the flesh and born of the Spirit? By how many nominal christian philosophers is not this fundamental postulate persistently ignored? A thousand modern pulpits are preaching every seventh day a philosophy of personality that not only contradicts this cardinal principle of the teaching of Christ, but renders the necessity of the new birth entirely useless.

The principle of psychology laid down by Paul is, “The carnal mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” The carnal mind here means that mind which constitutes man a person; and this mind is so far from being a spiritual essence, a spark of divinity, that it is enmity against God, not even subject to his law, neither indeed can be. The same apostle, in pursuing the same line of thought, says, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” By natural man here is meant that personality which is born of the flesh, and is flesh, and which has no capacity for the things of the Spirit. He cannot know them. This is not a dogma of theology, but a necessity of science; and science accepts the situation. If philosophers would or could acquaint themselves with the meaning of the scriptural terms flesh and Spirit, they would free themselves from many blunders, and enter a new field of philosophic thought. The terms flesh and Spirit are no less scientific terms; they are strictly physiological in their import, and lie at the bottom of a biology which the scientists have hitherto entirely overlooked. The most complete, definite, real antithesis known to human thought is expressed by these terms. They are used to express two orders of life so completely separated from each other that nothing but the word “death” can express the non-relation of the lower to the higher. Man, with all his powers of soul, body and spirit, lies within the order denominated flesh. His personality belongs here in toto. As the bird in its attempts to quit the earth and soar into the sky is beaten back by the unseen wires that fix its bounds, so the powers of man cannot extend beyond their environment, but in their endeavors to enter the spiritual world, even through the subtle medium of thought, are held back by an unseen but fixed boundary which they cannot pass. The agnostic's assertion that he knows nothing of the spiritual world is true, however much the nominal christian may dispute it. He really does not know. The statement that the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, is final, as a statement of scientific truth.

Can the philosophy that makes the mind or soul or spirit of man homogeneous with God be true without destroying in toto the statements of Paul and Christ? It may be urged that Paul was not inspired, that Christ was not the Son of God. Should we admit this to be true, yet who among men is entitled to more respect as authority in philosophy, and where is the system of philosophy that is more rigorously demonstrated in men, as exhibited in their everyday life? The personality of man is not denied in the New Testament philosophy, but established. It contradicts other systems, that is all; and it does not contradict them by mere dogmatical assertions, but upon the most tangible scientific basis.

Man as a created intelligence stands above the creatures within his environment; he thinks, reasons, wills, loves, hates, mourns, rejoices, and is conscious of himself as distinct and separate from the things around him; he is conscious of his own individuality. These conditions and objects of consciousness are essential elements of personality, and prove that man is a person, but in every particular finite, in every particular natural as opposed to spiritual, mortal as opposed to immortality. There is nothing in man’s personality that is immortal, in the Bible sense of that term. I do not mean that man shall not live again or that there is no future existence for him. Endless existence is not immortality. The Bible declares that God alone has immortality, and I am unwilling to ascribe to man what God alone is said to possess. Man thinks, but his thoughts are vain, unfruitful, and always fallible. This proves that his mind is vain and fallible, and hence cannot be of the essence of God. He reasons, but his reasoning is uncertain, and often reaches wrong conclusions. He wills, but his willing is mutable, feeble, and upon all hands subject to defeat. He loves, but his love is often misplaced, embraces evil and wicked things; men love darkness. He hates, but he hates the good, even hates God himself. These facts, as exhibited throughout all history, are insurmountable barriers to our accepted philosophy of personality.

Man is a child of earth, thoroughly identified with the earth in all his manifestations; and whether his correspondence with earth can be broken and his personality preserved, is a question which philosophy can never solve. The fact that man is a personality cannot help us here. The heart, ignorant of what lies beyond, wraps itself in the vainest imaginations, the basest traditions, and the most ridiculous legends, and struggles to light his own darkness and penetrate the darkness beyond by the feeble lamp of philosophy. Around the mysterious region of the Hereafter, Superstition has cast her sable mantle.

Philosophers endeavor to prove by the personality of man that there is a personal God. Their argument is that a finite personality must necessarily be the product of an infinite personality, or a personal God; but the comprehension of God as a person, as the true God, as the I Am, as Jehovah, is not the product of a philosophy, but must come through the revelation of faith. This revelation lifts us out of the miry clay of an uncertain philosophy, and places our feet upon a rock. It gives us a mind, a heart, an understanding, that cannot be accounted for upon any principles of human science. It lifts the veil of fear and superstition from the heart, and answers in the affirmative the question, “If a man die shall he live again?” The revelation of faith also solves the problem of the preservation of man’s personality in the dissolution of his correspondence with this earth.

The duration of man’s personality is determined by the author of it. It is not necessarily endless within its own attributes. Not only is the duration of man’s personality fixed by the will of God, but the condition or state of its existence is determined by the same eternal will. God’s personality, from the very nature of it, is essentially self-existent, eternal, immutable, immortal; but man’s personality is not so essentially. A created personality can be limited as to duration, can have any given nature or condition that may be determined by its creator. From our own instinctive fears and longings we may infer that our personality may exist in a future state, but the only ground for assurance of this is the revelation given by God through Jesus Christ; and this revelation is not given to all men, for many of the wisest philosophers endeavor to reason away man’s personality here and his existence hereafter. In the midst of an uncertain philosophy upon the one hand, and unbelief upon the other, it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when Christ shall appear we shall be like him.

H. M. CURRY.

THE WILL OF MAN:

ITS SUPPOSED FREEDOM IN       OBTAINING SALVATION.

Brother Shipman, of Arkansas, has asked me to give my views on the above mentioned theme. In compliance with his request I submit to him and all the readers of the Signs of the Times a brief and hurried discussion of the subject. Volumes have been written upon the nature, tendencies and capacities of the human will by the different schools of philosophy and theology, beginning in the early history of Christianity. That the will is free, and is the decisive power in morality, salvation and damnation, seems to be the favorite system of all nominal christian moralists, philosophers, and all work-mongrel, Arminian, will-worshiping churches. Free-will forms today the chief god of nineteenth century thought and theology, and still sits as of old, in the temple exalted above all that is called God, and showing itself that it is God.

The discussion of the will belongs properly to the domain of psychology, but I shall know nothing in this article but the Bible and christian experience. My motto is that where fact contradicts philosophy, to take fact and let philosophy go. Where Christ contradicts theology, take Christ and let theology go. If the will were such an important factor in man’s salvation, Christ certainly would have emphasized that fact, the apostles would have dwelt more pointedly upon it, and the whole volume of inspired truth would have been given upon entirely different principles, for entirely different purposes, and would necessarily be made up of entirely different contents.

The first condition found in the human will that disqualifies it for the important functions claimed for it that I shall notice, is its weakness, its uncertainty, its utter fallibility. The Saviour said there was a man who had two sons; and he said to them, Go work in my vineyard. One said he would go, but did not; the other said he would not to, but afterward repented and went. Why do you suppose this incident is recorded in the scriptures? To fill up space, to finish out a page? It is written for our instruction, and serves not to teach us which of the two boys did the will of the father, but gives us a practical example of the uncertainty of the will. One said he would not, but he did; the other said he would, but did not. How constantly do we find this uncertainty of will exemplified in ourselves and those around us. We say today, I will do a certain thing tomorrow; but when tomorrow comes we are out of the notion entirely, and perhaps doing the very opposite. We say we will not do a thing; but perhaps before an hour has elapsed we are fully in the will to do the very thing which we had but a short time ago averred that we would not do. Is it not true then that the will cannot be depended upon for the most trivial things of everyday life? Then how much less can it be depended upon for the incomparably weightier issues of eternity? The world is full of failures in everyday life, resulting from this feebleness of will. How many men and women fail of success in providing comfortable homes in this world from this uncertainty of the will. Then how infinitely farther short must they fall of laying up treasure in heaven through will power. How unreasonable to suppose that God has left the issues of eternity upon the feeble, fickle, uncertain, incompetent will of man. This uncertainty and incompetency of the will is not only a matter of worldly experience, but it is most constantly, powerfully and painfully present in the everyday life of the saints themselves. Has not Paul recorded concerning himself that the good which he would he did not, and the evil which he would not that he did? Is this the language of a man endowed with free-will, and preaching the doctrine of free-will? This is the common experience of all saints. If the christian cannot depend upon the strength, certainly and freedom of his will for his daily conduct, is it reasonable that the sinner who is dead, can bring himself from that state into life and light by his will power?

“The carnal mind is enmity against God.” Rom.8:7. The will is an attribute of the mind. They stand in the logical relation to each other of container and thing contained. Then, if the mind is enmity against God, the will is necessarily enmity against God. Is it reasonable to suppose that God has placed himself, his Christ, his grace and salvation, at the disposal of that which is enmity to him? If this were so, would not all they who know the sinfulness of sin and the weakness of the flesh cry out in hopeless despair, Who then can be saved? Christ called attention to the practical working out of this enmity when he said to the Jews, “Ye will not come unto me.” Arminians, in their ignorance of the Scripture and the power of God, frequently quote these very words to prove that coming to Christ is left with the will of the creature, when in fact the words prove the very opposite. It is the will that keeps them away, because it is enmity against him. This enmity shows a practical demonstration of itself in the choice of the people when Pilate offered to release a prisoner, in compliance with Jewish custom at the feast of the Passover. He put before them two celebrated personages, Christ and Barabbas; the one, the meek and lowly Lamb of God, the Saviour of sinners, the other a notorious thief, robber and murderer. When Pilate said, “Which of these men shall I release unto you,” with one accord they chose a thief and a robber, and condemned the holy and just One. They were well acquainted with the character of both these persons as men. They knew the innocence of the one and the guilt of the other; but enmity against God made the choice. Such is always the choice of the carnal mind. It seems to me that this incident, properly presented, would be enough to stop the mouth of any one proclaiming that salvation depends upon the freedom of the will in choosing Christ. Here was a fair test, a demonstrative trial, and a convincing result. When the Arminian’s favorite theory is brought to the test it will invariably result in this way – a thief chosen, Christ rejected.

Again, ignorance of God, and of right and wrong, of good and evil, is most conclusive evidence against the doctrine of free-will and salvation through its choice. A man cannot choose that of which he has no knowledge. Before a man can choose God he must know God; before he can choose Christ he must know him as Christ; because intelligence is essential to the validity of a choice. But men in nature do not know God; they are totally ignorant of Christ. A fundamental principle of Bible doctrine is that the world by wisdom knows not God. Not only is this fact asserted by the Scriptures, but it is strikingly exemplified in the history of our race. Did men know Christ when he was in the world? When he asked his disciples; “Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am, what was the answer? “Some say John the Baptist; some Elias; some Jeremias, or some of the old prophets risen from the dead.” All of them wrong. Their highest conception of him was no more than that of a risen prophet, a man who had come up out of the grave, instead of one who had come down from heaven. Every incident in his life, from the cradle to the skies, is concurring testimony that men did not know him. Even his own disciples, they of his own choice, knew him only as he would reveal himself unto them, both before and after his resurrection. He declared himself that “no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; and no man knoweth the Father, but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” God and Christ are known only by and to each other. They dwell mutually in the secrecy of their own glorious, eternal and invisible personality; and no man {there is no exception to this} knows either except through their mutual revelation.

Then it is of the utmost folly to talk of men having power to choose, and their destiny depending upon the exercise of that power. But the boast of this ignorant, idolatrous, blasphemous age is that men are wiser now than ever before; and although they might have been somewhat ignorant two thousand years ago, that matters are quite different now. The man who would take this subterfuge from plain declarations of Bible truth, and the universal exemplification of the same in the conduct of men, is to be pitied for his ignorance, and his cause is to suffer in the estimation of all sensible men for lack of argument. Did not the Jews have an acknowledged advantage over all other men in respect to these things? To them the law was given, to them were committed the oracles of God, and through them as concerning the flesh Christ came. They searched the Scriptures continually, and studied them most diligently. They received the most rigid and thorough religious instruction and training; and when Christ came they in ignorance rejected, persecuted and killed him. If the Jews, who were his own kindred, and among whom he did his wonderful works, in whose streets he taught, and who had been instructed out of the law and the prophets concerning him, did not know him, how much less shall all other nations be expected to know him. If men knew him not when he was here in the flesh, and all nature witnessing and acknowledging his power, how much less shall they know him now when he has ascended into the heavens. Man’s ignorance of God, and his conduct towards the man Christ Jesus, prove that salvation is not through the choice of the human will.

The doctrine of free moral agency, as it is called, is universally based upon the idea of man’s knowledge of right and wrong, of his qualification to choose between good and evil. This doctrine necessarily gave origin to the old cunningly devised fable of the line of accountability which is founded in ignorance and superstition, and requires very little investigation of the proper kind to explode it. If our future destiny depends upon the choice of the will, it necessarily depends upon our knowledge of right and wrong; and if our destiny depends upon our knowledge of right and wrong, this knowledge must be so infallible that there can be no possibility of making a mistake. But does man possess this absolute knowledge of good and evil? If it can be shown that he does, then the doctrine of free-will may stand, so far as this argument is concerned; but if it can be shown that he does not, then the doctrine of free-will must fall with it. The first field for investigation in this matter is ourselves. Have we that knowledge? Have you that knowledge? As for myself I must frankly confess that I have never yet arrived at that place where I always know right from wrong. Perhaps in many things, in the traditional sense, I know right from wrong; but where is my absolute knowledge of good from evil? Where is yours? How often do we perplex ourselves every day over matters continually coming before us in which we are at a loss to know the right things to do? Frequently, not being able to decide by our own deliberations, we seek counsel of friends and advisors, and after all find that we have done the wrong thing at last. This is an indisputable fact in the everyday experience of every man. Every christian has found in his own experience that the commandment which he thought was unto life was unto death. Is not the whole religious world, who are engaged in teaching the way to heaven, divided among themselves as to what is the way? Did not the builders in ancient times disallow the stone that became the head of the corner? I will give one example before leaving this part of the discussion. The Apostle Paul, or more properly Saul of Tarsus, who had all possible advantages in ethical culture and religious training, after his call declared that when he was persecuting the saints, compelling them to blaspheme, delivering them to death, wasting the church of God, he went not against his own conscience, and that he truthfully thought that he was doing God’s service. Many others have lived and labored and died under the same delusive ignorance. What need we further witness that men in nature do not know good from evil? The saints themselves only knew as led by the Spirit of God. With the false idea of man’s knowledge of right and wrong must fall the favorite air-castle of free moral agency.

The whole process of salvation is directly opposed to the doctrine of free-will. The doctrine of election, which lies at the foundation of all salvation, is in direct antagonism to free-will; so much so that in order to establish the latter the former must be emphatically denied. That the purpose of God according to election might stand, it was said of Jacob and Esau, “The elder shall serve the younger.” Is not this opposed to the will of the creature? Would free-will lead the elder to serve the younger? But this is so in order that the purpose of God according to election might stand. Then it is true that free-will and God’s purpose according to election cannot stand together. Which must fall? Furthermore, if salvation were through the will of the creature, where is the necessity of the election of grace? All believers in the doctrine of free moral agency are led necessarily into a flat denial of election, and, in fact, every other principle of the doctrine of God our Saviour.

What had the will of man to do in bringing Christ into the world? Did men make a contract with God that if he would send Christ to die they would accept the sacrifice? Did Christ come into the world to do men’s wills? But he says that he came not even to do his own will, but the will of him that sent him; “and this is the will of him that sent me,” continued Christ, “that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day.” Christ himself was not a free moral agent; he did not come upon that principle. He came not to do his own will; he came as one sent of the Father, bound by the everlasting covenant to execute the will of the eternal Jehovah.

The Saviour said, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Is there any harmony between this expression and the doctrine of free-will? Does not the one essentially down the other? Does not the fact that this birth is a necessity prove most conclusively that all the powers and capacity of the natural man are wholly inadequate to bring him to God? Does it not absolutely cut off every shadow of possibility of salvation through the combined powers of men, angels and devils? A christian is a child of promise; just as much a child of promise as Isaac was. “We, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.” Gal.4:28. A child of promise is a child that was to be; a child especially promised, which could not come into existence upon natural principles. Isaac was by promise. He was not born after the flesh; his birth was absolutely impossible from that source. So then the christian comes by promise, by the promise of the Father, and is born of the Spirit, because the flesh cannot produce him. If a man should preach that Isaac was born after his own will, or even through the procreative powers of his parents, men would at once reject it as false. A man would be at once apprehended as insane if he were to preach that any man is born after his own will. It is just as unreasonable to preach that men are born again after their own will, or even through means of any kind. That man who has not been born again has no more existence as a christian than the generations who are yet unborn have as citizens of this world. It is just as impossible and unreasonable for a man to come into the kingdom of God through the power of his own will, as for a man who shall be born a hundred or a thousand years hence to determine where, when and under what circumstances he will be born, or whether he will be born at all or not.

The doctrine of free-will is contradicted by every principle of salvation as taught in the Bible and exemplified in the experience of them that are saved. It is contradicted by many direct quotations of Scripture. “It is not of him that willeth.” Rom. 9:16. “Not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man.” John 1:15. Salvation is always ascribed to the will of God. There is a willingness that accompanies the experience of the saints, but it is given them of God, the fruit of his Spirit, God himself working in them both to will and to do his own good pleasure.

H. M. Curry.

FATALISM.

From my earliest acquaintance with the Old School Baptists I have heard all the Arminian tribes calling them Fatalists, and the doctrine preached by them Fatalism. When an enemy of the truth desires to bring odium upon the doctrine of Predestination, and to calumniate maliciously those who believe in salvation by grace, the choicest word that his vocabulary can afford him is Fatalism. I find of late that some of our brethren have caught this favorite Ashdod word, and wield it with as much enthusiasm, skill and self-satisfaction as the most hot-headed Arminian in his rashest, bitterest and most malicious invectives against the truth. I have never been in favor of striving about words, but I cannot allow this use of the term Fatalism to go unnoticed any longer.

There are no two words in our language more directly opposite in their meaning than Predestination and Fatalism. The one is the strongest antithesis to the other. The most astonishing thing to me is that classical scholars, or even men of general intelligence, would weaken their claim to reputation as scholars and men of intelligence by confounding the meaning of these terms. I shall, for the benefit of the candid reader, endeavor to inquire into the origin, nature and import of the doctrine of Fatalism, and leave each one to draw his own conclusions as to the fairness or the correctness of the use of this term as a calumniation of the doctrine of Providence or Predestination.

Fatalism as a doctrine, system of philosophy, or religious belief, originated among those nations of antiquity that knew not God; hence it is of purely heathen origin. The idea of fate must have been evolved in the following manner. Observing men of all nations, and especially the shrewd, intellectual, ever watchful Greeks and Romans, discovered in the vicissitudes of every day life, both of individuals and of nations, things of great import transpire over which kings and sages had no control. They saw plagues, pestilence and famine consume and waste men, as winter cold blights, withers and scatters the leaves of the summer forest; they saw storms and earthquakes do their work of wholesale destruction, sweeping away men as grasshoppers, and swallowing up cities as ant hills; they saw the weak perish before the strong, as the morning mists melt away before the advancing sun; they saw the overthrow of kingdoms, the downfall of nations, the laying waste of empires. Against all such things they found themselves utterly powerless, and in their helplessness were swept away in the bosom of destruction. In the midst of distress they resorted to their temples, they sacrificed to their gods, they invoked their patron deities, but all in vain; no help came, no deliverance from their dire distresses. Under such circumstances it was perfectly natural for men to conclude that there are either no gods, or that the gods themselves had no power to help and protect them. Some came to the conclusion that there are no gods, and that all events come upon men inevitably by a blind destiny. This is original Fatalism. Others who could not give up their traditional deities, and the charms of a delusive worship, were driven to the conclusion that there is a power above the gods, to which the gods themselves are subject. This is the secondary phase of original Fatalism. This view was held by many prominent men, among whom was Cicero, who defined fate as the power that the gods themselves are subject to. This last phase of the doctrine of fate developed until finally an imaginary trinity was invented, called by the Latins, Parcae, and by the Greeks, Moirae. This trinity was composed of three women, called by the English reader the Fates, whose names were Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, and who controlled the destinies of gods and men after the most irregular, vindictive and capricious manner. Shrines were consecrated to them and temples built in their honor in many parts of Greece and Italy. The worship and doctrine of this imaginary female trinity was called Fatalism. Fatalism in its various ramifications formed the prominent feature of all ancient literature except that of the Jews. So clear was this people of the idea of fate that there is no word in the Hebrew corresponding to the fortune or Parcae of the Latin and the Moirae of the Greek. The reason of this is that Moses and the prophets taught them that one supreme God ruled this universe.

In Sophocles and some others of this time the term fate became synonymous with the word chance. At first glance it seems that these two words are directly opposite in meaning; but a little reflection will make it plain that chance and blind destiny are about the same thing after all.

It will now be seen that Fatalism is first the belief that all things come inevitably upon the human race by blind destiny, with no God to send, direct or avert them. Second, the belief that there is a power above the gods to which they themselves are subject. And third, that all things come by pure chance. Now, who ever saw any one purporting to be an Old Baptist who believed any of the foregoing phases of doctrine? Who ever saw an Old Baptist who believed there is no God, and that all things come by a blind and necessary destiny; that all events are fortuitous or by chance? Who ever saw a Baptist who believed there is a power above the gods, and that Clotho spins the thread of life, Lachesis determines the length, and Atropos with her inevitable shears cuts the thread? Then how silly, foolish and impertinent is this cry of Fatalism in Baptist pulpits and periodicals.

Now, if any one will consider the difference between events coming to pass that God Himself cannot hinder, but on the contrary is bound to permit, suffer or endure, and events coming to pass as He Himself has ordained by His own determinate counsel, such a one can see the difference between Fatalism and Predestination; he can see how ignorant a man must be of the meaning of his own language when he calls a Predestinarian a Fatalist. Strange as it may seem, those very Arminians who are most vociferous in charging Old Baptists with Fatalism are really Fatalists themselves. It is true that they do not think so, but they think that the ground of this charge is far from them; but upon a very slight analysis of their doctrine it will appear most clearly that the sin justly lies at their door. One sentence from their daily teaching will establish the truth of this assertion. Do they not persistently proclaim that men go to hell against the will of God? that God desires all men to be saved and has done all He can to save them, and yet men go to hell? that Christ made a full and complete atonement for the sins of all the world, and yet men go to perdition? If all this be true what takes men to hell but fate? Is there not some power that God Himself is subject to? I once heard Bishop Wilson, of Baltimore, say that when the will of man makes its choice, that God Himself cannot change it. Bishop Wilson may very justly and correctly be called a Fatalist upon the authority of his own expression. Numerous quotations might be given from representative Arminians of all ages, as well as from the populace, to show the likeness of their doctrine to ancient Fatalism.

Again the Arminian rejects the decree of election on the ground of the certainty of the result decreed, and at the same time admits the foreknowledge of God. Is not the result as certain by foreknowledge as by the decree? There is nothing gained by denying the decree and substituting for it the divine foreknowledge. This denial involves the objector in a greater difficulty than that which he sought to escape, and which he imagined was chargeable upon predestination alone. By rejecting the decree, and admitting the foreknowledge of God, he has shut himself up to the dread alternative of blank Fatalism, which rules God out of the empire of human history, including even the divine redemption. The question which now arises for all Arminians and partial Predestinarians to answer is, as the whole future is known to God, and therefore certain, therefore determined, by whom or by what has it been determined and rendered certain? The objector has ruled God out, let him bring forth his substitute. He has now dethroned the eternal Jehovah, will he leave the throne of the universe vacant, or whom will he place upon it? He here places himself in a dilemma from which he cannot escape. He has on the one hand a vacant throne, and on the other an absolutely certain future. He has to account for a determined future, while his principles will not allow him to admit an intelligent personal determiner. Here it can be easily seen that outside of God’s decrees as the determining cause, all must be attributed to the soulless, passionless, unintelligent idol, Fate.

It is not so much the Arminian that I desire to deal with in this article, as those of our own brethren who, when they wish to dispute the doctrine of predestination, call it Fatalism. It has just been shown that Predestination and Fatalism are terms of directly opposite meaning, and it may now be positively asserted that Predestination is the only thing that can rule Fatalism out of the universe. Wherever Predestination stops fate steps in. There is no place between to be occupied by any other species of events. History is full of instances where the fortune of dynasties, the downfall of nations, the course of empire, depended upon what seemed to be the most trivial matters, mere trifles, which came without the agency of the leading spirits, or even in defiance of their wills. Oliver Cromwell was about to emigrate to this country, when the departure of the ship in which he was expected to sail was hindered. He remained and assumed the leading part in affairs at home. Had he not remained, Charles the First might have retained his head, and Blake certainly would not have laid the foundation of the maritime supremacy in England. The treaty of Utrecht, which materially affected the social and political life of great nations, was occasioned by a quarrel between the Duchess of Marlborough and Queen Anne over a pair of gloves. The difference between one color and another in the livery of horses begat two most inveterate factions in the Roman Empire, the Prosini and the Veneti, which never suspended their hostilities until they ruined that unhappy government.

The negotiations with the Pope for dissolving Henry the Eighth’s marriage, which brought on the “Reformation” in England, are said to have been interrupted by the Earl of Wiltshire’s little dog biting the Pope’s toe as he held it out to be kissed by that ambassador. The Tory ministry, which gave a new shape to all Europe, was brought in by the Duchess of Marlborough spilling a pail of water upon Mrs. Masham’s gown. Mohammed, when flying from his enemies, took refuge in a cave, which his pursuers would have entered had they not seen a spiders web over the entrance; but on seeing this they concluded that there was no one within, and passed on. Thus a spider’s web changed the history of the world. The turning point at Waterloo, one of the great decisive battles of the world, resulted from the singular circumstances that prevented the arrival of General Grouchy. The well-planned attack of the Barbarians upon Rome was averted by the cackling of a goose. A series of most trivial events ended in the overthrow of Antony. Louis the Sixth cut his hair and shaved his beard to obey the order of his Bishop. Eleanor his wife found him very ridiculous in this condition, and avenged herself as she thought proper, and Louis obtained a divorce. She then married Count Anjou, who afterward became Henry the Second of England, and thus gave rise to those wars that afterward ravaged France for three hundred years, and cost the French three hundred thousand men. Was the prevention of Cromwell’s departure from England a mere fortuitous event, or was it the intervention of an active, working, ruling providence? Did blind destiny spread the spider’s web upon Mohammed’s cave, or was it provided by God, who works all things after the counsel of His own will? Was the biting of the Pope’s toe by the little dog a mere caprice of the Fates, or was it one of all the things that work together for good to them that love God? We must here strike the balance between Fatalism and Predestination. If nothing is predestinated, then all things are by fate. If all things are predestinated, then there is no such thing as fate. If some things are predestinated, and others not, then the government of this universe is divided between God and the Fates. The man who does not believe in predestination at all is in reality a Fatalist. Let him deny it as he may, and reason as he will, there is no other subterfuge for him. The dilemma has but two horns, and one of them he must take. Then just in the proportion that a man divides the affairs of this world between Predestination and that which is not Predestination, just in that proportion that man is a Fatalist. This article is not intended for a defense of the doctrine of Predestination, but is merely meant to submit to the reader a fair presentation of Fatalism, and to show the difference between it and Predestination, and to point out the inconsistency and confusion of those who confound the one with the other. Those of us who insist upon a limited Predestination, and who call our brethren who place no limit upon Gods decrees, Fatalists, are really much nearer the borders of Fatalism than our brethren whom we thus inconsistently stigmatize.

Again, if the term fate by modern usage means unalterable destiny, all Predestinarians, whether contending for limited or unlimited decrees, are alike Fatalists; for they all believe in the fixed destiny of the human race. Then why should the pot call the kettle black?

A minister passed through the churches of my care, railing against Fatalism, as he called it; but many of the brethren could not tell what he was driving at. They had heard Methodists talk that way, but thought rather strange of a Baptist to speak so. At one place his argument was that a certain man who was a member of a church believing the Predestination of all things, was caught in very disorderly conduct, wicked, outbreaking conduct; and when brought before the church in discipline, he put them all to silence by gently reminding them that it was all predestinated, and he could not help it; and they could not exclude him for something that, according to their own doctrine, he could not help.

Now, this is very poor argument against Predestination; but I suppose that in the absence of better it is often used. In the first place, I do not believe such a circumstance ever occurred, but that this is a lie concocted by some Arminian three hundred years ago, to bring odium upon the doctrine of grace. In the second place, if such really did occur, the man did not love the doctrine he professed; it was not the doctrine of his heart, but was mere tradition; perhaps not so much as tradition with him. Instead of exposing the doctrine and the church, he exposed his own vile hypocrisy and insincerity in the truth he professed. This is about as pertinent argument against Predestination as the old saying, “If God has ordained me to salvation, I will take my fill of sin, and be saved anyhow,” is pertinent as argument against unconditional election. The terms are off the same piece.

Where does Predestination cease to be a wholesome gospel doctrine, and become a baneful Fatalism? Where is there any well defined line setting forth the limits of one and the beginnings of the other? What proportion of the affairs of this world can a man believe is predestinated, and not be a Fatalist? If predestination of all things is Fatalism, is not predestination of some things some Fatalism? If the whole of anything is poisonous, is not any part of the same thing poisonous? Is it true that a quarter of lamb is wholesome food when only a quarter is taken, but becomes putrid carcass when all the body is taken? Those that call Old School Baptists Fatalists, in order to be consistent with their principles, should call Christ a Fatalist, for He said, “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” Matthew 6:27. Or when He also said, “Not a sparrow falls to the ground without your heavenly Father.” Paul subjects himself to their odium by testifying that he will have mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth. Romans 9. Peter is also guilty of a like offense against their zeal for God’s honor when he said, Herod, and Pilate and the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together against Christ to do whatsoever God’s hand and God’s counsel determined before to be done. Acts 4. Also when he declared that those who stumbled at the stumbling-stone being disobedient, were appointed to it. I Peter 2:8. James places himself in the same company when he said, “For ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and to this, or that.” Jude identifies himself with the same kind of Fatalists by saying, “There are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation.” Jeremiah must also be classed among them, for he said, “I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Solomon belongs to the same company, for he has declared that, “That which is to be hath already been, that which hath been is now, and God requireth the past.” Upon the same ground these objectors must stigmatize all the divine writers as Fatalists, and call the Bible itself a book of fate. The charge of Fatalism against Predestinarians is no new thing. The Pelagians were loud against Augustine in this charge, the Arminians against Calvin, and all manner of workmongers against men who held the truth in every age.

H. M. Curry.

THE NEW BIRTH.

When Jesus said, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,” He gave a name to a hitherto nameless fact. The doctrine of the new birth, as announced by Christ and developed in the New Testament Scriptures, was a novel doctrine at that age of the world, and remains a novelty yet. The fact of the new birth, as exemplified in the experience of God’s people, is as old and as universal as man himself; but the doctrine had never been named before. The new birth is not stated in the Old Testament, although the effects of it are clearly manifest in the experience of patriarchs, prophets, priests and kings, and many in the humbler walks of life, among both Jews and Gentiles. It is not mentioned in any religious writings, either Jewish or Pagan, before the New Testament. The ancient epics of India, the ethical codes of China, the complicated systems of Egypt, the fanciful philosophy and poetry of Greece, the gorgeous ceremonials and mystic rituals of ancient Mexico and Peru, are all silent upon this doctrine. It came from the lips of Jesus, a novelty, an original doctrine, a new name for a hitherto nameless truth, a golden key to unlock the rich mines of Christian experience so long closed by human ignorance, so completely covered by ceremonials, and so deeply buried in tradition, a lamp by which the wonderful works of God in the children of men was to be more clearly understood, the exceeding greatness of His power to usward more fully known, and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints more fully beheld.

The novelty of the doctrine is one of the clearest proofs of the divinity of the great Teacher who was the first to announce it. The most gifted prophet, the most highly favored priest, the great law-giver, Moses, nor even the favorite Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, had never been blessed to discover this truth or honored with the commission to announce it to men. Thus the novelty of the doctrine gives weight and prominence to its import.

“Ye must be born again” is the initial statement of the doctrine of Christ, and constitutes the fundamental difference between Christianity and all religions. Take away the necessity of the new birth and Christianity will take its place on the common plane of all other religions, and will be robbed of that which alone entitles it to the distinction of divinity, and will be degraded to a mere system of ethics, a naked code of morals, or to empty, meaningless and vain ceremonials. The fundamental idea in all other religions is man’s ability to reform himself into newness of life, based upon the alike false idea of the universal fatherhood of God. The last of these, the universal fatherhood of God, gave birth to the World’s Congress of Religions in Chicago; and the first, man’s ability to save himself, formed the basis of every system presented, whether by Buddhist, or Brahmin, Mohammedan or Mormon, Catholic or Protestant. Hence all of them are loud in their cry for reformation; and the only difference to be found among them is the name and manner in which the end is to be reached.

The superficial notion of religion is deeply fastened upon all men; but it seems that modern Protestantism has a double portion of it. The Jews, in the time of Christ, were extremely zealous for vain traditions, empty formality and hypocritical appearance. They thought that making wine and eating with unwashed hands polluted and defiled a man. But the Saviour condemned their foolish tradition by the simple axiom, “It is not that which goeth into a man that defileth him, but that which cometh out.” Matt. 15:11. It is from the heart that evil thoughts, thefts, murders, and all other wickedness, proceed. Evil thoughts are not in the wine a man drinks. Bad conduct does not come from the food taken with unwashed hands. A man steals because he is a thief; a man kills because he is a murderer, or lies because he is a liar. The theft is in the heart before the hand is put forth to steal; the murder is in the heart before the hand is stained with blood; the lie is in the heart before it rises to the tongue or is coined by the lips. The tree bears fruit after its kind. Cultivating the tree can never change the kind of fruit; the only effect of cultivation are seen in the quality and quantity of the fruit. Can a thorn tree ever be made to produce grapes, or a thistle to bring forth figs?

Men are carried away with the notion that through religious instruction, training and favorable opportunities, children or men are made Christians; that men enter the kingdom of God through teaching and moral suasion. Agrippa had this idea when he said to Paul, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian,” and Nicodemus betrayed the same weakness when he said to Christ, “We know that thou art a man sent from God.” But the answer of Jesus covered the whole ground when He said, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This is as much as to say, “Why, Nicodemus, this is not a mere matter of teaching; there is something vastly deeper; a man must be born again.” A man does not have to be born again in order to be religious; he may be infatuated with religion, and be a zealous devotee to creed and ritual; he may be taught to observe most rigidly forms and ceremonies, and to subject himself to the strictest discipline; to mutilate his body and deprive himself of all earthly comforts; to yield perpetual obedience to priestcraft; to pray three times a day and give tithes of all he possesses; take up the sword in defense of his religion, or lay down his life in testimony of his zeal; but except he be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. A man must be born again in order to receive Christ, or embrace His doctrine in truth and reality. The import of the doctrine leads us to consider its necessity.

“Ye must be born again” is not a mere dogma of theology, but a necessity, arising from deep fundamental, basic principles of biology; hence we shall first consider the biological necessity. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” John 3:6. The term flesh here is generic, and is used in the Scriptures to designate man as a whole, and comprehends him with all his attributes, all his powers, parts and capacities, including body, soul, and spirit in their mysterious combination in constituting human personality. It is equivalent to saying, “That which is born of man is man.” Men by nature are dead in trespasses and sins. Eph. 2:1. This death is not merely a moral or ethical condition, but a condition extending far beyond the moral or ethical sphere. It is a biological condition. Take this illustration: Science divides this world into two great kingdoms, the organic and inorganic, or in equivalent terms, the dead and the living. The stone belongs to the inorganic or dead kingdom, the plant to the organic or living kingdom. The difference between the stone and the plant is a biological difference. Again, the organic kingdom manifests different orders of life; animal and vegetable life.

The difference between the animal and the tree is a biological difference. They belong to different orders of life. Now, just as the animal life is of a higher order than vegetable life, so Christ’s life is of a higher order than Adamic or natural life. And just as the tree, although alive in its own order, is dead to the presence and voice of the birds that sing among its branches, so is man, although alive to all within his environment, dead to the things of the Spirit of God. This truth, although most persistently disputed, most vehemently opposed and wickedly ridiculed by professors of Christianity, is legibly and indelibly written in the stones and in the trees, in the earth and in the sky, and in the experiences of millions of human hearts. Man, then, is cut off from the kingdom of God by the deep, mysterious, impassible gulf that separates the nonliving from the living, the organic from the inorganic, the natural from the spiritual. As man enters this world by birth, just so he enters the kingdom of God by birth; and as his birth into the world was contingent upon things entirely outside of himself, so his birth into the kingdom of God is contingent upon things entirely outside of himself.

This birth is “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:13. Except a man be born he cannot see the world, is a fact which none can deny, and which none would ever think of denying. But how few of all who have read it acquiesce so readily in the conclusive truth of its analogous expression, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

We turn now from the biological to the experimental necessity of this birth. Children may be most carefully trained from their youth in the name of Christ and in the precepts of the Scripture and religious observances, but except they be born again they have no more knowledge of Christ than if they had never heard His name.

This birth is the beginning of the Christian experience, and all that is ever seen, felt, heard, and known of grace in this world, or glory in the world to come, is but the development of the life imparted in this birth. All knowledge of Christ is vital or experimental knowledge; this includes all knowledge of the need of Christ. I once thought that the time when a child of grace received his hope and experienced deliverance was when he was born again; but I have come to a different conclusion. Who can remember when he was born naturally? Let the mind run back to childhood, to our earliest recollections, even to the very borders of infancy; but our birth was prior to that. All things fade from our memory, and we are lost in a sea of oblivion, and still the time of our birth is not reached. We grew into the domain of memory, passing through a long stage of which we know nothing at all. Think back over your experience; you came to many Ebenezers, to many milestones and memorable places; you approach the time when hope came to you, a helpless sinner; but the birth was before this. You pass on to the time when you first realized that you were a sinner indeed; but the birth was before this, and this was only the result of it. How long before you felt the first movements of soul, I cannot tell, but life was before this. Those who place their birth upon conditions to be complied with by those receiving it, have never seen the necessity of it. If a man can repent of his sins and believe in Jesus before he is born again, then the Scriptures are not true. This notion of religion puts the cart before the horse, puts the fruit before the tree, the effect before the cause. Without this birth sin would never be hated and holiness would never be loved, poverty of spirit would never be felt, and the riches of Christ would never be prized; none would ever hunger and thirst after righteousness, and the bread which came down from heaven would never be desired; the fountain of living water would never be sought, there would be none to love the truth, and faith would not be found on the earth; the wilderness would never blossom as the rose, and the parched ground would never become a pool; the name of God would be but an empty sound, and His existence a mere matter of speculation, and all worship would be but dry formality and empty mockery.

The person affected by the new birth is the Adamic sinner. This needs no argument, for there is no other personality on earth, and personalities in heaven do not need it. The immediate effects makes up what is called “Christian experience,” and belong to time; the ultimate effect is to awake in the likeness of Christ, and is realized in the resurrection.

The effects are evidences to us that we have been born again. Let us now examine ourselves, and prove ourselves, and see whether we are indeed what we profess to be, or only graceless hypocrites, carnal professors, who have never known the love of Christ or the power of His resurrection. The most momentous question ever propounded to an exercised heart is, Have I been born again? And when we begin to examine ourselves, the evidence that the carnal mind seeks is not found within us; but we are full of things that our traditional notions of religion record against us. The carnal mind is not eligible to sit as judge or to testify as witness in the trial of a christian, because it is enmity against God, and cannot be subject to his law.

One of the best evidences that any one has ever had that he is born again is that he is personally concerned about his own case. The man who thinks that salvation is by works is never concerned about the new birth; but the heart upon which the import and necessity of being born again have been impressed is bound to be very personally concerned in the matter; but the import and necessity of the birth are only communicated through the birth itself. Let us begin the examination with a question. Do you know that you are a Christian? Every exercised heart answers at once, I do not know that I am a Christian. Do you know that you are a sinner? O yes, I know that I am a sinner. Do you know that you are saved? O no, I do not know that I am saved. Do you know how a sinner is saved? O yes; a sinner is saved only by grace. How did you find that out? Everybody does not know that. If you experimentally know that salvation is by grace, rest assured that you are saved, for that knowledge comes only by experience. None of the princes of this world know that. Human wisdom has never made that discovery. Those who have this knowledge are in possession of that “hidden wisdom which God before the world ordained to our glory.”

The knowledge of sin is one of the brightest evidences that you will ever have that you have passed from death unto life. Permanent, incorrigible, inherent sinfulness has always been acknowledged by holy men. David said, “I am a worm, and no man.” Psa.22:6. Isaiah confessed that he was a man of unclean lips, and Paul exclaimed, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Rom.7:24. There was a time in the experience of many of us, perhaps, when we thought that we would never know sin or sorrow again, but that we would live in the comfortable peace of that sweet deliverance all the rest of our days. But when we began to feel again the power of sin in our members, we sank into a sea of doubts and fears, and disappointment bordering on despair. We thought that one who is born again is free from the motions of sin; and when we found that sin still remained in us, we concluded that we were still in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity. But we have learned many lessons since that time, and are still learning. We have learned that in the flesh we are ignorant, sinful creatures, no better now than at the first dawn of our hope. I think these lines of Newton express the experience of us all:

“I asked the Lord that I might grow,

In faith and love and every grace;

Might more of His salvation know,

And seek more earnestly His face.

I hoped that in some favored hour,

At once He’d answer my request,

And by His love’s constraining power,

Subdue my sins and give me rest.

Instead of this He made me feel,

The hidden evil of my heart,

And let the angry powers of hell,

Assault my soul in every part.

Yea, more, with his own hand he seemed,

Intent to aggravate my woe,

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,

Blasted my gourds and laid me low.

Lord why is this? I trembling cried;

Wilt Thou pursue Thy worm to death?

‘Tis in the way, the Lord replied,

I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ,

From self and pride to set thee free,

And break thy schemes of earthly joy

That thou may’st seek thine all in Me.”

Men in nature have most strenuously assailed the doctrine of total, innate, inherent depravity, and have long devised and proclaimed their lying, deceptive and seductive argument against it; but God will make His own people know the truthfulness of it by a daily experience of their own sinfulness. A vital knowledge of sin puts to flight every traditional theory of human ability or Adamic purity, and fastens upon the conscience a pungent conviction that man is a sinner from the cradle to the grave, with no part or capacity reserved. It is not the Christian’s burden that he only sins by word and deed, but his thoughts are unclean, and above all he discovers lurking like a serpent in the deep recesses of his heart the love of sinful things. This almost drives him to despair, and makes him hate his own life, and trust nothing but the blood and righteousness of the adorable Redeemer.

How prone we are to take comfort in the thoughts of our own hearts, or the state of our own feelings, and to look within ourselves for something good to build our hope upon. How often do we say, “O! if I could only see myself as I desire to see myself, I would have some hope that I am a Christian.” If you could always see yourself just as you would like to be, would you ever deny yourself? And if you should never deny yourself could you ever be the disciple of Jesus? Did He not say, “If any man will be my disciple let him deny himself?” When Jesus said, “Let him deny himself,” denial of self must follow. God said, “Let there be light,” and light was. He also said, “Let the earth bring forth,” and it was so. Have you not yet been able to translate those feelings of unworthiness that fill your soul, and stand like an impassable wall, an immovable mountain, between you and your ideal christian character that your own imagination conjures up and places before you? They are translated into this sentence, “Let him deny himself.” This is the first qualification to follow Christ.

The tempter comes with another plea that we are not the children of God. This plea is our weakness. How often do we consider this suggestion of the tempter and put it on file as evidence against ourselves? Christ put the tempter to flight by quoting what is written; so allow me to bring the same weapon to our defense; it is written, “Except ye be converted and become as a little child ye shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven.” Mark 18:3. What did the Saviour mean by this expression? I have heard preachers say, in my early exercise of mind, that little children are innocent, pure and sinless, and that we must get like them or we can never be saved. I thought this was true, and set about most diligently to attain unto this child-like purity of character, but failed – utterly failed – failed as completely as Hermes in his search for the philosopher’s stone, or Ponce de Leon for the fountain of youth. The more I tried it, the more helpless it seemed to grow, and yet I thought it must be so. O! What absurd things will men not undertake in the name of religion. If all the absurdities that have been taught and practiced in the name of religion could be collected and placed before men’s eyes, the exhibit would shock the world, and would doubtless surpass in quantity and quality all other follies, caprices and wickedness that the world has ever known! Suppose for one moment that little children do receive the kingdom of heaven upon the grounds of their purity of character, and we must become as they, where is hope to be found for any who have grown out of infantile purity? How can a man ever be a child again? We might repeat the question of Nicodemus, “How can a man be born when he is old. Can he  enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Suppose a man could be born when he is old, would he not come forth again in the likeness of his parents?

A man might be made a child again ten thousand times, if such a thing were possible, and still he would never be raised above the nature and likeness of his parents. A corruptible seed can never bring forth an incorrupt object. So if a man should be born again of the same father and mother, would he not come forth the same natural man, and grow up the same blind, alienated, wicked sinner? It is not only necessary to have another birth, but a birth proceeding from an entirely difference source, a birth from above, from an incorruptible seed, a birth of water and the Spirit, of that water which is above the firmament. The Saviour did not mean that the little child is sinless, and we must become such. Sinless persons would have no need of Christ, and He has no blood for them. What is the characteristic of the little child that forms the basis of the Saviour’s teaching here? It is the helplessness, the weakness of the child, its inability to provide for itself. The child is not only unable to provide for itself, but unable to minister to itself what others may provide for it. Food and drink and raiment might be abundantly provided and placed in the closest proximity to the child, and if left to itself, it would be none the better off. It would perish as certainly and as speedily as it would if nothing had been provided. The man or woman who has experienced this helplessness in a spiritual sense has become as a little child, or, in other words, has been born again; and the very weakness which he so much deplores and from which he would daily fly, is the sure and abiding evidence that God is his Father.

Our blindness is often urged as an evidence against us, but God says He will “bring the blind by a way they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known.” Isa.42:16. God leads His people as those who are blind, and cannot find their own way. If your travels have been in entirely different ways from what you yourself marked out, if you experience daily the opposite of your own planning, if you are led as one blind in unknown ways, then you are led of the Lord; and “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Rom. 8:14.

Belief in Jesus is an effect of the new birth, and consequently an evidence of it. “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” I John 5:1. What a comprehensive, decisive and conclusive statement! This birth raises men to a knowledge of Christ, and imparts to them the evidence that He is the Christ. The doctrine that men have the capacity to believe in Him as a condition of salvation is as fabulous, as illusive and as foreign to the Gospel of the grace of God as the grotesque mythologies of the ancient Northmen, the fanciful poetry of the ancient Greeks, or the nonsensical nursery rhymes of Mother Goose. Belief is NOT a volition of the will. We do not have to revert to dusty libraries of philosophy to prove this statement, but to our own minds. Each man knows more about himself than the wisest philosopher knows about him. Belief is a condition of mind produced by evidence; it is an effect, and evidence is the cause. Every day we hear reports that we do not want to believe, and seek in every direction a refuge from the conviction of the truth of the report. Every power of the mind is aroused against it; but facts come, evidence conquers, and we reluctantly, unwillingly sink into a belief on the very thing we tried so hard not to believe. Upon the other hand, how often have we exerted every power of will to believe a certain thing to be true; but notwithstanding our ardent desire and willing efforts we at last had to yield to lack of evidence or to contrary evidence, and believe against our will to the contrary. Believing in Jesus is brought about by the new birth. It is only by the Holy Ghost that any man can knowingly say that Jesus is the Christ; and the man who believes in the only begotten Son may rest assured that he is born of God. “He that hath the Son hath life.” It is he that hath the Son that believes on Him.

Faith, which is the substance of the Christian’s hope, is the evidence upon which we believe; and this faith is born of God, is the fruit of the Spirit, and is found alone in the man who has been born again. Believing in Jesus, repentance and faith are new covenant blessings themselves, instead of being conditions of blessings, and are the fruit of the new birth instead of conditions upon which it is brought about.

The ultimate effect of the new birth is to awake in the likeness of Christ. This birth constitutes the man who receives it as a son of God, and consequently an heir of God, and guarantees to him a resurrection in the likeness of Christ, and consequently an eternal and enduring satisfaction. The development of Christ’s character is a process begun, carried on and consummated by the inherent, sovereign, unfailing working of Christ-life in the soul. It is an evolution, but a grander evolution than ever Darwin dreamed of; not the process that transforms a monkey into a man as he advocated, but an evolution that conforms a wretched, wicked, hopeless, helpless sinner into the image of Jesus the immaculate Son of God. This process is first the blade, then the stalk, and after that the full corn in the ear. The blade and the stalk may appear here, but the full corn in the ear must appear hereafter. Inasmuch as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

This birth originates from above, and is directed alone by sovereign, unconditional election. It comes by virtue of life given us in Christ before the foundation of the world; according as the saints were chosen in Him in the ages eternal. We could never be born from above without a life above. This heavenly, eternal, incorruptible Christ-life is implanted in the subjects of God’s electing grace, by the sovereign, irresistible, unconditional working of the Holy Spirit. It is implanted in God’s own time, whether it be in the babe upon its mother’s breast, as was the case with David, {Psa.22:9} or from its very birth, as with John the Baptist, {Luke 1:44} or in the declining days of old age and decrepitude, as may be the case with many; but whether in the babe upon its mother’s breast, or in the man in the prime of life, or in old age upon the verge of the grave, the issues are all the same, and alike certain in results. All who receive it shall awake in the likeness of Christ.

H. M. Curry.

A LETTER.

Pleasant Plains, ILL., July 16, 1898.

Mrs. Fannie Jenkins: – My Dear Sister. Your very kind letter came to hand duly. Allow me to thank you most sincerely for affording me such pleasure. You and brother Jenkins, together with others in your country, have been on my mind so often. I have lived a good part of my time in the spirit with you all down there, both in your joys and sorrows, and still feel joined in soul to the faithful in Christ, in your community. Your report of the languishing condition of Zion, pains me, but when I remember that it was said of Jesus, “He shall see of the travel of his soul, and shall be satisfied,” then I am satisfied. Christ is undoubtedly satisfied with the condition of things in his kingdom; if not, would he not make the necessary changes required to bring about the satisfactory condition of affairs? Has he not all power, both in heaven and in earth? All things are yours, with the holy word of God, and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

“What more can he say,

Than to you he hath said,

Ye who unto Jesus,

For refuge have filed?”

“All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” God has ordained that the faith of his people be tried; he has also ordained those very things that are to try it. In the days of Elijah, they digged down the altars and killed the prophets, and so they do now. This discouraged Elijah, and so it discourages us. But is God discouraged at it? Nay, verily. He has reared an altar that none can dig down. This altar is in the heart, an altar of his own raising, and at which he alone presides; an altar which is his own peculiar care, and which wicked hands can never touch. He has also anointed a prophet which none can kill. Jesus, the risen Saviour, is that prophet. He is far above all principality and power, and every name that is named, and he has said, “As I live, ye shall live also.” Elijah was discouraged, but what did God say to him? “I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” O yes, the election of grace. It is the election of grace that saves the church, that saves the individual, that raises the despairing, and cheers the desolate. Elijah, although a prophet of God, was ignorant of God’s way of doing things, ignorant of the true condition of things around him. He thought that he was left alone, but he was in the midst of God’s reserve. So, my dear sister, you in your loneliness and deep concern for Zion, may be in the midst of God’s reserve, a hidden number, whom God has reserved to himself. In the days of the apostles there were those who said they were Jews, who were not, but did lie. So it is now, for there is nothing new; that which hath been is now, says the inspired record. May God reconcile us to his will, and subdue us unto himself.

Give my love to brother Jenkins, and say to him that he has a half interest in this poor letter, and a warm place in the writer’s heart. Remember me to all the faithful ones. Tell them I am still a stranger in this world, trying as God gives the ability to proclaim salvation by sovereign grace. Write again to me.

Yours to serve in the gospel of Christ,

H. M. Curry.

VISIT IN TEXAS: 1901.

Early last spring my mind became strangely impressed to visit Texas, but it was not until the middle of June that the way was opened for me to go. On my way I stopped some weeks in the western portions of the state of Kentucky and Tennessee. It is in this region that the contentions over predestination and conditionalism have recently divided the Baptists. My appointments were made among those churches that remained in the ancient faith and order, refusing to follow the cunningly devised fables of certain men. I had heard and read many hard things of these people, but my visit among them disclosed the following facts: Their ministers seem to be humble, God-fearing men, walking in meekness in the commandments of Jesus. They are not boasters, not heady, not high minded, but on the contrary they are grave, sober minded men, meek and lowly in heart, speaking the truth in love. As far as I was enabled to observe, they rule well their own house, and have a good report of them that are without. The members also bear the scriptural marks of the church of God. The women are modest, grave and sedate, chaste, keepers at home, and the men provide for their households honestly in the sight of all men. They all seem to be of one mind, living in peace, and striving together for the faith of the gospel. I felt while among them that I was indeed with the Lord’s portion.

This remnant that is left is not as much in the minority as some people would make believe. A brother in Texas who attended the Fulton Convention went out to one of Elder Perkins’ churches on Saturday, and that brother says there were more Baptists at Elder Perkins’ Conference meeting on Saturday than there were at the National Convention.

From Tennessee I went to Arkansas. I visited four or five churches in that state, and found them walking in the faith and order of the gospel.

My first appointment in Texas was at Big Spring Church, in the eastern part of the state. This is a large church, with a pastor who believes and loves the truth. My second appointment was at Mt. Vernon. Several hundred people met me here, the church has a membership of one hundred and thirty, and has the pastoral care of Elder H. B. Jones. There was a schism in this church a few years ago, about twenty members declared against the doctrine of Predestination and all those that believe it. These were hopelessly in the minority, so they were excluded from the church. The leaders of them have about all united with the Missionary Baptists. There is no ground between Predestinarian Baptists and Arminianism for a new denomination, or a compromising body to stand.

From Mt. Vernon I pursued my journey on toward central Texas, filling appointments by the way. Everywhere I was greeted by good congregations, frequently very large ones; of whole-soul lovers of the truth. I attended the New Harmony Association, in central Texas. The place selected to hold this about forty miles from Brownwood. My party reached the place on Thursday evening, after an all-day drive from Brownwood. We found several hundred people there pitching their camps. On account of the sparse population here, it is the custom of all to camp on the grounds during these meetings. Indeed, these people seem to be just as much at home on the road or in camp as they are in their own houses. After selecting our places and striking camp, we partook heartily of a well relished supper in true camp style, and then assembled under the arbor and listened to a wholesome gospel sermon. Service being ended, all repaired to their beds, for all were weary, many having driven one hundred and fifty miles, and had been on the road four or five days. Our slumbers were soon disturbed by the howling of wolves about the camp; not wolves in sheep’s clothing, but real wolves, wolves in their own dress without any attempt at disguise; they were attracted not by the scent of religious lucre, but by the scent of the beef that had been butchered for the occasion. New comers were arriving all night and all through the forenoon of the next day. Aged women sixty, seventy, and even eighty years of age, had driven long distances, having been on the road many days, and had camped by the wayside at night, to reach this meeting, many aged men had done likewise, many of them who were readers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES had long known me, but had never expected to see me. These aged pilgrims took me by the hand, and with tears in their eyes and thankfulness in their hearts, welcomed me in the name of the Lord. As I was received by these godly people, I thought of Abraham, the friend of God, of old Anna serving God night and day, of Simeon waiting for the consolation of Israel, of Lydia, whose heart the Lord had opened, of Phebe, the servant of the church, and of many others of the cloud of witnesses with which we are compassed.

The meeting was formally opened on Friday morning by the Introductory Sermon. The sermon was preached by Elder Wood, a godly man who is fervent in the Spirit. In his discourse he said that he could not preach conditional time salvation, because it falls short of his case. The preaching on Friday was acceptable, and the day was spent in the fear and service of the Lord. After the service on Friday night, a number came forward and related the Lord’s dealings with them, and were heartily received into the fellowship of the saints. Saturday afternoon was the time set for the baptism. At the time appointed a large crowd repaired to the beautiful Colorado River nearby, to witness the ordinance. As the people were gathering there in that wilderness place, a panorama of Bible scenes passed before me. John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and baptizing in Jordan, Christ, the Lamb of God, coming to be baptized, the Christ coming up out of the water, the heavens opening and the Spirit descending upon Him. But instead of John on this occasion, it was some of his faithful brethren perpetuating the same ancient doctrine and order; instead of Christ coming to be baptized, it was a company of His humble followers, his little children, whom He had given grace and faith to follow Him. Instead of imaginary scenes of two thousand years ago, it was a real occurrence before mine own eyes. I know that heaven must have been opened in the heart and consciences of those baptized, for I could see heaven in their faces, and felt it in my own unworthy heart. So Saturday passed away with much to praise God for.

Sunday came, which proved to be the last and great day of the feast. Elder J. C. Sikes was appointed to speak on Sunday morning. This man has suffered more persecution for the truth’s sake than any other in Texas. He and I camped together during the meeting. All Saturday night he was pressed in spirit, and he wrestled with the Lord in prayers and strong supplications. If ever I prayed for another in all my life, I prayed for this poor man, who had by this time become a precious brother to me. Sunday morning as all were seated under the arbor while Brother Sikes was pleading with the Lord in prayer, and my whole being was engaged for him that the Lord would open a door of utterances to him, that he might preach the wonderful works of God, I felt in my heart that the Lord had liberated him to speak the gospel that day. I felt his liberation as plainly as I ever felt anything in my life. I waited in joyful expectation for him to speak. I felt the sermon coming before a word was spoken, as one feels the grateful rain approaching before even a drop has fallen. My feelings were not disappointed. The Lord filled Brother Sikes with the everlasting gospel. It came not only in gentle showers but in torrents, carrying all with it. The windows of heaven were opened, and the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and everything seemed to me to be flooded with the glorious gospel of the Son of God. Few times if ever in my life have I been blessed with a more glorious hearing. It was a time that will long be remembered with me. May God preserve and sustain this dear minister of his gospel, and may God’s people love and minister to him for the truth’s sake. I feel that all that I have is his, because he ministered unto me most wonderfully spiritual things.

After Elder Sikes, Elder Harris, an aged and beloved man, spoke. He spoke fervently of the love of God, and spoke the truth in love and meekness. His words were lovely and profitable to me. I met many ministers whose names I have not mentioned, but with whom I feel a union of soul. May God bless them all, and lead them in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

There were sharp contentions in some localities in Texas over Conditional Time Salvation, but the great majority of Baptists there will not accept that theory. Resolutions are being passed in some localities against the doctrines of Salvation wholly by Grace. Novices and strikers are risen up against the ancient order and doctrine of the church, who speak evil of the way of truth, but as the test comes these men are disappointed sorely to find themselves in the minority, when they naturally expected and coveted the majority.

My tour in Texas is fraught with many sweet remembrances, because it was attended by so many mercies. God gave me favor in the eyes of his people there, and their fellowship and many kindnesses strengthened and encouraged me.

H. M. Curry.

THE HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY.

The Lord rules in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

To the greater number of readers, history presents nothing more than a series of disjointed events, having no connection with each other, no dependence upon each other and no relation to each other. But to the truly thoughtful mind the history of this world presents itself as a unit, as one grand whole, as a series of events mutually dependent and interdependent upon each other. The mind which views history in this its true nature, is driven to one of two ways of accounting for it; either come by an inexorable chain of inevitability, or they come as directed by the hand of God of the whole earth.

The atheist who cannot see the hand of God will ascribe all to an inevitable necessity, but he whose eyes are enlightened by faith can see the hand of God ruling not only in heaven, but in earth as well; he can see the answer to the prayer taught by the Son of God; “Thy will be done in earth as it is done in heaven.” He who has not seen predestination in history, has not seen the philosophy of history; he who has not seen predestination in his own life, has not seen the secret springs of his being. Predestination is the soul of history. God is in history. All history is but the exponent of Providence.

John saw in the hand of him that sat upon the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals. He was permitted to witness the opening of these seals, and has left upon record the things that he saw. When the first seal was opened, a white horse appeared, and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth conquering and to conquer. This was undoubtedly a view of Christ in his risen power and eternal authority; Christ going forth in the execution of the divine will both in heaven and in earth.

But when the second seal was opened, a similar yet very different symbol appeared. And when he had opened the second seal there went out another horse that was red; and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another; and there was given unto him a great sword. A horse, in the Scriptures, is the emblem of power and of battle; red is a symbol of war, carnage and bloodshed. The history of this world is the history of wars. Horrible as war is, it is the most potent factor of civilization and progress; reformations have never accomplished much in the world; they are good as far as they go, but they have never hurried the race onward; it takes revolutions to do this. As the terrible earthquakes, prodigious upheavals, the great subsidences, the alternate sway of scorching heat and frigid cold, all constituted God’s process of fitting this earth for the habitation of man, so wars are ordained the great process of regulating human society and of forwarding civilization. Every event that has put the world forward by a great stride, has been an event of war.

But where did the red horse and his ominous rider come from? They came out of the book that was held in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne; they came from the same place from which the white horse and his rider came – from the book of God’s decrees. And power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. Who gave him this power? Who else but the God of the whole earth? Did not the Son say, “All power is given unto me both in heaven and in earth?” Does not God’s word declare that there is no power but of God? Is not God, the God of battles?

Let us now turn to history, let us go into the great decisive contests and find God there. Begin with Marathon; in the year 490 B.C. A handful of Greek patriots met hordes of Persian invaders upon the plain of Marathon; a determined struggle ensued; the Persians were repulsed, the Greeks were victorious. By this Greek victory the long spell of invincibility was forever broken, and the intellectual treasures of Athens, the growth of free principles, and the enlightenment of what was then the western world, were saved. If the influence exerted on the world by Greece can be estimated, then the results of the battle of Marathon may be measured. Where the destinies of nations are at stake, can any who believe in God say he is not there? The influence of this victory of the Greeks, over two thousand years ago, is inseparably connected with the condition of our nation today.

The defeat of Athens before Syracuse was a decisive blow; this was a contest between Athens and the western colonies. Athens was defeated; had Syracuse been defeated, the energy of Athens would have found a field in the west for the next century, and Rome would not have conquered Carthage; and Greek, not Latin, would have been the essential element in the language of Spain, Italy and France; and the laws of Athens, and not of Rome, would now have been the foundation of the laws of the civilized world. Is it not clearly evident here that the Lord rules in the kingdoms of men, and gives to whom he will?

Now go to the battle of Arbela, which occurred in 331 B.C. This decisive encounter so far reaching in its results, was between the Greeks under Alexander the Great, and the Persians under Darius. By Alexander’s victory at Arbela, Greek customs, the Greek language and Greek civilization were established in all western and southwestern Asia, and northern Africa, to exist nearly a thousand years, and to endure in their effects forever. This planted the Greek language in Judea and Palestine, and thus it became the language of the New Testament. So the results of this battle are far reaching, not only in political affairs, but in the affairs of the church of Christ, and are as real and present as if the battle occurred but half a century ago. Alexander was the hammer in the hand of God to break in pieces the great Persian Empire.

The battle of Metaurus was conspicuous in directing the course of empires, and deciding the destinies of nations. Two hundred and seven years before Christ, the Romans and Carthaginians engaged in this decisive contest. This battle decided the great question whether the Semitic family of nations, which includes the Arabs, Jews, Phoenicians and Carthaginians, should rule the world, or whether the Germanic family, which includes the Greeks, Romans, Germans, and those from whom the English speaking people have descended, should continue their course. The results of the Roman victory stand in the present condition of nations, and shall continue to enlarge and exist while the world shall stand.

The battle of Chalons deserves mention here. This encounter came to pass in 451 A.D., between the Romans and their allies, and the dreaded Huns under Attila, their king, who was called the scourge of God. Roman arms were victorious, and Attila was defeated in his plans to establish a dynasty upon the ruins of the Roman Empire. All Europe was thus freed from the devastating ravages of the destructive Huns. The mind that can see the first letter of the alphabet of God’s providence can see the finger of God in this, as he rules in the kingdom of men.

The battle of Tours has left its imprint upon the world’s history for all time to come. Here in 732 A.D., a small body of troops under Charles Martell, encountered and put to rout a great body of invading Mohammedans. The mussulmans were beaten back in this their last attempt to conquer Europe, thus rendering it possible for the development and progress of European civilization to go on, not uninterruptedly, but in its ultimate career.

By the great battle of Blenheim, in 1704, the almost universal dominion of France and Spain was broken by the armies of England and Austria. If this had not occurred, the destinies of nations would have been altogether different. Europe, instead of being a variety of independent states, where mutual hostilities keep courage alive, and national rivalry stimulates talent, would have been sunk into the slumber attendant upon universal dominion. The Roman Catholic power would have been re-established in England, the Anglo Saxon race would have been arrested in its career, and the condition of the United States would be much like that of Mexico and the rest of Spanish America. But God ordered that the power of France and Spain should be broken, and the battle of Blenheim fulfilled the decree. At the battle of Pultowa, in 1709, the power of Sweden, which at that time was very great, was forever broken, and the ascendancy of Russia established until she now stands a giant among the nations. This battle is no less important for what it broke down than for what it established. Many more examples might be cited, but these are sufficient.

What more is needed to show those who believe in God how his predestination is exemplified in the history of nations; to show that in the great battles and revolutions in this world that God’s purpose is accomplished; that the red horse and his rider came from the book of God’s decrees; and that the power possessed by these, is the power which God has given for the accomplishment of his own purposes.

“See the mystic weaver sitting,

High in heaven, his loom below;

Up and down the treadles go;

Takes for web the world’s dark ages,

Takes for woof the kings and sages,

Takes the nobles and their pages,

Takes all stations and all stages.

Thrones are bobbins in his shuttle,

Armies make them scud and scuttle,

Web into the woof must flow;

Up and down the nations go,

At the weaver’s will they go.”

We should not look at the battles cited above as isolated events, but each has its place in the great war, and is inseparably connected with other great conflicts.

The opening of the second seal, revealing the red horse and his rider, is a prophecy in symbol of what the Saviour prophesied in word as recorded in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, when he said, “For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.” When the Son of God uttered this prophecy he was not predicting something that might come to pass, or something likely to come; he was not even foretelling what he saw coming into the world, but on the contrary he was declaring the immutable decree of the Father. When God says a thing shall be, his word has gone forth as a pledge that he will bring it to pass. The word shall in the text, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me,” no more expresses a decree than the word shall expresses a decree in the text, “For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.”

Although every land and every age have been invaded by the red horse and his rider, and war has been the chief business of men, there are other fields of activity in which the providence of God is clearly traceable. When the third seal was opened a black horse appeared, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. This was a symbol of famine; great scarcity is signified by the balances. The seven years’ famine in Egypt was done by God. Gen. 41:28-32. These are the words of Scripture, “What God is about to do, he showeth unto Pharaoh, and for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice, it is because the thing is established with God, and God wilt shortly bring it to pass.” One would say famines are the result of physical causes; so they are; this fact only broadens the field of providence. What controls physical causes? Natural laws. Who established natural laws? God. Who executes natural laws? God. Of what force would natural laws be without the perpetual execution of them? Who ever knew a law of any kind to enforce itself?

At the opening of the fourth seal, the pale horse and his rider came forth. The name of the rider was Death, and Hell followed with him. Power was given unto them to kill with the sword, and with hunger and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. This is a symbol of pestilence, which usually follows in the wake of famine. Pestilence has done its part in human history, and dark and woeful are its footsteps. The pale horse and his ominous rider must run their course, because they proceed from the book held in the right hand of him who sits upon the throne. The Saviour himself said in the wonderful prophecy recorded in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, There shall be pestilences. So the Scriptures undoubtedly teach that pestilences are controlled, directed and administered by God.

In his history of epidemics in Britain, Dr. Creighton designates as the two greatest pestilences in all history, the great plague in the reign of Justinian in 543, and the Black death in 1347. Both of these had a worldwide sweep, from country to country, and from generation to generation, changing the face of the world through the vast destruction of population which they effected. The first of these brought to an end the old civilization, and the second terminated the dark ages of Europe, and opened the way for modern civilization and progress. Who can tell how many evils were swept away by these prodigious marches of death, and how many obstacles to human progress were removed, and in how many ways they answered Cod’s purposes?

When the fifth seal was opened there was revealed the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus. This presents to us the awful picture of Christian martyrdom. The Saviour told his disciples, “They shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you.”

In this company of souls under the altar, was righteous Abel, prophets of God slain in every age, the little children slain by the decree of Herod, Stephen, and countless others. This company received daily additions; Peter was crucified, Paul was beheaded, and all the other apostles with one exception, died at the hand of wicked persecutors. But did they thus perish without God’s decree? No, in no wise.

Listen to the answer given to those under the altar, when they in their impatience cried for vengeance. It was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow servants and their brethren that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. From this record we see that they had brethren that should be killed as they were, and that this had to be fulfilled. As Christ was delivered to death by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, so all of his brethren that have been put to death by wicked hands have been delivered by the same determinate counsel. Christ said to Pilate, “Thou couldst have no power at all against me if it were not given thee from above.” It may be said as truthfully of his brethren, that wicked men can have no power at all against them except it were given them from above.

Wonderful, awful and appalling were the scenes presented at the successive opening of the remaining seals. Whatever these awe-inspiring imageries are intended to symbolize, they are undoubtedly events which were to transpire in this world. They constitute an amazing vitascope of universal history. The rise and fall of nations, religious and political revolutions, civil and international wars, terrific convulsions of nature, events of every genus and every species are here presented in the boldest, most impressive and most convincing imagery and symbols.

The one thing that I would impress upon the mind of the reader is, that these things all proceeded from the book held in God’s right hand, and which was opened by Jesus himself. One would say, that would make God the author of sin. With such an one I will not stop to argue, for one who would seek to evade the doctrine of God’s predestination by resorting to such subterfuge as that old threadbare fallacy, is joined to some idol, and for my part I shall let him alone, at least for the present.

“Glorious wonder, what a weaving,

To the dull beyond believing;

Such no fabled ages know.

Only faith can see the mystery,

How long the aisles of history,

Where the feet of sages go,

Loveliest to the fairest eyes,

Grand the mystic tappet lies.

‘Tis believed by all believing,

That the great God himself is weaving,

Bringing out the world’s dark mystery;

In the light of faith and history;

And as web and woof diminish,

Comes the grand and glorious finish,

When begin the golden ages,

Long foretold by seers and sages.”

“Oh the depth both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out.”

H. M. Curry.

SCIENCE AND PREDESTINATION.

It is the prevailing opinion that the doctrine of predestination is held only by the ignorant class of men, and that the mere elements of an education are sufficient to free one from the influence of such a baleful, absurd and unreasonable doctrine. If there is any just ground for this opinion, it can be shown that scientific truth is incompatible with the doctrine of decree, and also that no well educated person has ever believed the doctrine of predestination.

It is a well known axiom of logic that all truth harmonizes; now if it can be shown that scientific truth harmonizes with the doctrine of decree, then it must be conceded from the standpoint of science, that the doctrine of decree is true. It can not only be shown that science and decree are in perfect harmony, but it can be shown that decree is at the foundation of science, and that without decree, science could not exist.

If two times five were ten today, but might have been eight yesterday, might be twelve tomorrow, how could there be any possibility of the science of arithmetic? But two times five are ten today, two times five were ten yesterday, and two times five will be ten forever. It is this very fixedness of the relation of numbers that renders the science of arithmetic a possibility. This fixedness argues decree. So then it appears that arithmetic, the most common and elementary of all the sciences, is based upon decree, and that without decree it could not exist.

The elementary theorems of algebra; such as, the square of the sum of two quantities is equal to the square of the first plus twice the product of the first by the second, plus the square of the second; and the difference of the same powers of two quantities is always divisible by the difference of the quantities. The Binominal theorem, with its wonderful possibilities and applications, together with all the other data which form the science of algebra, are fixed and unchangeable. These things were also true before the science of algebra was evolved, they were true before there was a human mind to discover and state them.

The sum of all angles of a triangle is equal to two right angles, is an elementary proposition of geometry. How long has this proposition been true? When has it ever undergone a change? When will it ever change? It was true before Euclid, before Pythagoras, before Greece, Rome, Egypt or Babylon, before Adam, before the world. The six ratios of trigonometrical functionism which lie at the bottom of the science of trigonometry, are forever and unchangeably true. All the principles that go to make up the sciences of analytics and calculus, are no exception to the rule. So then in the ream of mathematics, from the most fundamental operation of arithmetic, to the most abstruse problem in the differential calculus, all depends upon the permanent fixedness of principles, and this fixedness is the result of decree.

Leaving the abstract domain of mathematics, and coming into the more concrete natural sciences, the same fixedness of principles confronts us. What seems to be more at random than a falling body? Yet a falling body is so completely under the control of law, that although its velocity changes with every instant of time, if its time of falling be known, its velocity for any second may be computed. If the distance fallen be known, the time of falling may be readily found. The laws of falling bodies might be stated here, but space does not justify it. The swinging of the pendulum, that lazily swings to and fro in the old clock on the wall, is most accurately regulated by law. If this were not so, how could it be utilized to regulate the motion of the clock? The laws of the pendulum are such, that if the length of the pendulum is known, the time of the vibration may be found, and vice versa.

The freezing and boiling points are marked on the thermometer; if water should freeze at one temperature today and another tomorrow, this could not be done. If water should boil at one degree of heat today and at another tomorrow, how completely would the common industries of life be thrown into utter confusion. Experiment has revealed the laws of freezing and boiling of liquids, also the fusing and solidifying points of metals. Each liquid has its respective boiling and freezing points, and these points remain constant under the same pressure.

The production, velocity, reflection, loudness and pitch of sound, are all controlled by law. If this were not so, there could be no science of music, either vocal or instrumental. The pitch of a tone of the violin or piano depends upon the length, diameter, tension, and the density of the material of the string. The pitch varies inversely as the length of the string; it varies inversely as the diameter; it varies directly as the square root of the tension, and inversely as the density of the material composing the string. These are the laws governing sound produced by the vibration of a string. The tones of an organ are produced by a vibrating current of air, and are controlled by laws similar to those governing sound produced by the vibrating string. Many more laws dominating in the realm of sound might be given, but these are sufficient to show that in every sound, from the murmur of the summer breeze to the roar of the terrific hurricane; from the pattering of a rain drop to the booming of the ocean billows; from the scream of the hawk to the song of the nightingale; from the solo voice to the full chorus or the great orchestra, law transmits, modulates and governs all.

Recent discoveries have ascertained that electricity, that most subtle, mysterious and wonderful of all nature’s forces, is controlled by law in all its operations. A number of these laws have been started, and may be found in any recent treatise on electricity.

Nowhere in the operations of nature is God’s power and presence so strikingly exemplified in little things as in chemical action. The law of definite weight, which lies at the foundation of the science of chemistry, is one of the most wonderful of all the laws of nature. The law stated is as follows: “When two elements unite with each other they always unite in a fixed definite ratio by weight.” As an illustration of this law, iron and sulphur unite to form iron-sulfide in this reaction twenty-one ounces of iron will always unite with just twelve ounces of sulphur. If we should try to make twenty-two ounces of iron unite with twelve ounces of sulphur, we would have one ounce of iron left; and if we were to try to make thirteen ounces of sulphur unite with twenty-one ounces of iron, we would have one ounce of sulphur left free. In the union of hydrogen and oxygen to form water, one atom of oxygen always invariably selects two atoms of hydrogen; this is not only true in the union of hydrogen and oxygen, but the same law holds true in all chemical combinations; each element has its displacing power; that is, one of its atoms always selects a certain number of atoms of the element with which it unites. Here we see law controlling the very atoms of matter and regulating with unerring accuracy chemical affinity and all chemical reaction. The law of conservation of matter exemplifies the truth of the scriptures which says that, “What the Lord does shall be forever, nothing can be put to it, and nothing can be taken from it.” This law stated is as follows: “The sum of the weights of the substances before the change is exactly equal to the sum of the weights of the new substances after the change.” This proves that in chemical changes, although new substances are formed, no matter has been created, and none has been destroyed. Is it not true indeed that God hath set his ordinances in the earth, that his decrees do not only govern the planets in their orbits, but places the atoms in a chemical compound? Where could there be a science of botany, or of zoology, if everything did not bring forth after its kind? The fundamental principle of both these sciences is found in the law that everything brings forth after its kind; this law was established from the beginning, and continues universally true. Even if the Darwinian theory of the origin of species should be true, this law would neither be contradicted nor violated thereby. All those lines of demarcation which divide the animal and vegetable kingdoms into sub-kingdoms, orders, genera and species, remain permanent, and these could not remain so without law. The data for these sciences depend upon law, and law depends upon decree.

When David said, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork,” he spoke the very glory and embodiment of the science of astronomy. The chief glory of this science is the law of universal gravitation: “Every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that varies directly as the product of the mass, and inversely as he square of the distance between them.” This great law not only lies at the bottom of the science of astronomy, but it upholds, balances and sustains the universe. It is by this law that God hung the earth upon nothing; this law is the word of God’s power by which he upholds all his universe; this law is “the bands of Orion that cannot be loosed, and the sweet influence of the Pleiades that cannot be stayed.” Job 38:31. This law first broke up the chaotic mass of nebula that once filled the space now occupied by the solar system, and molded it into sun, moons and planets. This law gathered fragments into worlds, worlds into systems, and systems into a universe. It guides the huge planet that sweeps through the regions of space, and balances the mote that floats in the sunbeam; it suspends the water dust that composes the clouds in mid air, and chains the mighty ocean to his destined bed. Then what is this permanent, powerful, instantaneous, universal law, but the presence, power and decree of the Almighty God, the Creator, upholder and disposer of this universe?

Kepler’s laws of planetary motion might be mentioned in connection with the science of astronomy, as further exemplifying God’s decrees in the heavens, but it appears entirely unnecessary to do so; enough has been cited to convince the pious that science is in harmony with decree, that it depends upon decree, and that without decree science could not exist. Now where is the disputer of this world? Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? The man who has not seen predestination in science, has not seen the soul of science. The man who would charge the belief of predestination to ignorance, is himself ignorant both of the knowledge of God and in those things of nature wherein he professes to be learned.

Someone may say that it is true that law reigns in those things which have been referred to, but man is an intelligence, and is not subject to such mechanical laws. To this objection I answer, first, that logic and psychology are recognized sciences, not natural sciences, but called mental sciences; sciences of mind, and not of matter. Since fixed and uniform operations as established by natural law, must furnish data for natural science, fixed operations established by law, must furnish data for mental sciences. Second, that the Scripture ascribes the operations of the mind to law. Does not the inspired writer say, “I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind?” Rom.7:23. Here he speaks of the law of the mind and the law in his members; so that to deny that the mind and emotions of the human constitution are operated by law, is to deny the written word of God; also to ignore those conscious mental phenomena which every man is subject to.

To the above objections I would answer in the third place, that the wickedness and depravity of the human constitution are as universal, permanent and perpetual, as any of the laws or operations of nature. Where is there a single exception? Where was there ever a single exception in the development of the human family? Induction is one of the chief methods of scientific investigation and reasoning; it is the process of reasoning from particular examples to general laws. Most of the theorems of mathematics have been discovered and proved by the method of induction. The principle of reasoning is, that if a certain thing is found to hold good in a number of cases, it is assumed that it will hold good for the next case, and then that it will hold good for any case. Thus a general truth is discovered and proved from particular examples. Try the method of induction in the case of the depravity of the human family. It can be shown by example that this man is a sinner, and that man is a sinner, and that the third man, and the fourth man, and the fifth man each is a sinner, and then it is a truth exemplified among all people in all places and at all times, that all men are and have been sinners. There can be found no exception; then the general truth may be announced upon the authority of logical induction, that universal depravity is true; and no theorem in mathematics, and no recognized law in natural science has ever been discovered and proved by a more valid process of reasoning. The scientist would not hesitate to announce a law upon the result of such an investigation as this. Then, from a scientific standpoint, there must be a law governing, not only the physical reproduction, but the moral nature of man.

The man who attributes the natural depravity of the human family to the transgression of the first man, aside from decree, is a fatalist, and holds a position that science condemns. Men who hold that God created the first man holy, and that he fell either apart from the purpose of God, or contrary to that purpose, and that as a result of that haphazard fall, his posterity is necessarily sinners, have not seen very far either into the biblical or the scientific side of the subject. Is not the hand of God as directly employed in the formation of the child from the embryo to the birth as it was in the formation of the first man from the dust of the earth? Does he not form the child today as strictly according to his will as he formed the first man? Does he not form every germ of life that comes into existence today, whether it be a plant, animal or man? Does he not develop into an individual every germ that reaches that state, no matter what kind of life it be? Is not his hand as actively and as particularly engaged in the formation of the chick in the shell as in the formation of men or angels? How else could he be the Creator, upholder and disposer of all things?

Although science bears witness to the doctrine of predestination, yet it can never reveal God; it honors God and proclaims his glory, but it is the man who hath an ear to hear that receives its testimony. Science proclaims the reign of law throughout the universe, and law proclaims decree. The voice of science joins the voice of inspiration in the sublime proclamation that, “all his works praise him.”

Only a few of the laws of the different sciences have been cited; time would fail me to tell of all of them. Nowhere are we encompassed with a greater cloud of witnesses to the reign of law, than in the sciences. I do not know whether there is any spiritual comfort in what I have written or not, but I do confess that I like to see the doctrine that is dear to my heart established even by natural evidences.

H. M. Curry.

A DREAM-TOUR THROUGH THE ARMINIAN HEAVEN.

After several hours conversation with an Arminian upon the subject of salvation and heaven, I fell into a deep musing, my fancy took possession of me and flew away, and ere I was aware I was set down within the golden gates of the “Land of the Blessed.” No sooner did my imagination realize my whereabouts, than I set about to explore the long sought country.

One of the first things that attracted my attention was a great throng of little children playing with the angels along the brink of a beautiful river. I immediately turned toward the happy company, and as I approached them they gathered about me in joyful groups. I asked them from whence they came, and who brought them there. One of them, assuming the role of spokesman for the others, answered: “O, sir, we were all born in a world far below this, where all who are born must one day die. We were fortunate enough to die while we were yet in a state of innocent purity; before we grew up and became contaminated with sin. As soon as we were dead we were carried away by the holy angels to this bright, beautiful world. Here we shall never die, but shall live on and on forever. Do you not think, sir, that we were blessed indeed, to die in infancy, and so escape all the evils of a wicked world, and all the uncertain issues of a sinful life?” When the child had finished his story, I asked: “Is there not one here who is called Jesus, whom all those that enter this place adore, and love, and praise?” “I have heard,” responded the child, “that there is such a person somewhere here, but we have never seen him yet. You know we do not have to praise him, for he did not bring us here. I have heard that those who were sinners love and praise him, but we were not sinners, you know.” These words began to fill me with strange forebodings; a feeling of dissatisfaction entered my heart. I turned and went away. I had not gone far when I saw a great procession in motion; the company was composed of half-grown children and young people. They were all in a great glee, displaying banners, and singing to the clang of several different kinds of instruments, “The Sunday School Army is Marching.” The procession was coming toward me, so I stepped aside to let them pass. I stood and gazed and wondered. At last I beckoned one who seemed to be of more than ordinary rank among them, and began to inquire concerning the passing crowd. “That,” said he, in reply, “is the Sunday school army celebrating the triumphs of the Sunday school on earth. All those in the procession were saved through the Sunday school. They say that if there had never been a Sunday school on earth, they would never have been in heaven. Their teachers there taught them to be good, so when they died God had to let them come here, because they had been good, you see.” When the lad ceased speaking, his eyes still sparkling with enthusiasm over the triumphs of the Sunday school, I asked, “Is there not a person called Jesus, whom men praise for all the blessings of this place?” “O, yes sir,” he answered, “there is such a person here somewhere, but he is not entitled to much praise from us; they say he did die once on earth, but that would never have saved us if we had not been good, and we would not have been good if we had not gone to Sunday school. So look at it as you may, sir, it was the Sunday school that saved us. So we do not praise him, we praise the bridge that carried us over.” The procession had by this time passed far into the distance, the fluttering banners had almost disappeared from view, and the last echo of the words, “The Sunday School Army is Marching,” was dying in the breeze.

The feelings of dissatisfaction which came over me after my interview with the infants had increased continually, until now they were grown into an intolerable burden. I now turned to my right and ascended a little hill. Upon reaching the summit, I discovered hidden away in a secluded place a curious little temple, such as the traveler is likely to come upon in the country districts of India. Within the temple a number of people were kneeling before two shrines, all kindled with the most ardent and self-sacrificing devotion. Upon inquiry I found that one of the shrines contained simply a small American coin, and the other a few leaflets of paper; these constituted the supreme object of the worshipers’ praise. I stood for awhile in sore amazement; my heart wasted away under a deadening thrill of hopes blighted. Idolatry and idolaters in heaven! In my madness of despair I touched one of the company and asked him who they were, where they came from, and the meaning of their strange devotion. All this time the worshipers were kneeling around both shrines, some kissing the coin, others pressing the little leaves of paper to their bosoms, and all muttering vows and chanting their wild, weird hymns of praise. In reply to my inquiry the man said, “We are Hindoos, and have lately arrived from India. Some of us worship at the ‘shrine of the coin,’ because we are sure that if it had not been for American money we would never had been here. We have preserved here in this shrine the first coin ever contributed toward saving men from torment; the very identical penny, sir. Those whom you saw caressing the little bits of paper at the other altar were cherishing the instruments which brought them here. These bits of paper, held so sacred by them, are called by the English speaking people, tracts. They were furnished by the American Tract Society. Those who taught us in India told us that we would praise God through Christ when we should live here, but then they said that without the money and the bits of paper we never would have heard of this place, and consequently we never could have come here. Our motto in the world from whence we came, sir, was: ‘Honor to whom honor is due,’ and we have had no cause to change it since coming here, so we built a temple upon this hill, as it was our custom in India, and yield ourselves to the undivided honor and praise of the power that saved us.”

I slowly descended the hill on the opposite side from where I had ascended. I at length found myself in the midst of a most charming, luxuriant valley. The place was filled with the music of flowing waters, the smell of ripening fruits, and the fragrance of blooming flowers. My feelings were soothed and quieted by the sweetness of the place. I unconsciously dropped into a reverie, which was soon broken by coming suddenly upon a small, select group of men and women. They carried an air of culture and refinement, and seemed to be keeping aloof from the general throng of inhabitants. Their swell appearance and aristocratic behavior awakened within me a curiosity to hear their story. I approached them very respectfully, and after a polite apology for my intrusion I made bold to ask them who they were, and how they gained admission there. One of their company volunteered to unfold the following short but suggestive account of their good fortune: “Before we came here,” said he, “we lived in the world. There we belonged to the ‘elite’ to the ‘upper four hundred.’ We are about the first of our station in life that ever came here. For a long time all the preachers on earth were base, ignorant, illiterate men. Their clothes were course, their manners uncultured and rude, and their language awkward and unpolished, and indeed, sir, they were altogether such as were repulsive to well bred ladies and gentlemen. They could obtain no entrance into refined society; they could have no influence with the rich and noble and the wise. In consequence of this fatal deficiency in the ministry, very few people, if any at all, were saved from among the upper class. But by and by, some good men set about to remedy this lamentable defect, to remove this deplorable impediment, to roll away this disastrous stumbling-stone. They raised money and endowed colleges and theological seminaries, wherein men might obtain a polite ministerial education, and thus be qualified to stand before cultured society. Through this means ministers soon gained abundant entrance into the most refined circles, and began at once to wield an influence over the highest walks of life. In this way the door of good works was opened to us, so you plainly see that it was through the enterprise of these good, farseeing men, that we were started on the way to this place.” When he finished speaking I said, “But what about the man Christ Jesus? Pray tell me something about him. He is the object of my search here, but he appears to be but little known, or altogether a stranger.” “O yes, sir,” he answered, “we heard of him before we came here, but we have not seen him since our arrival; indeed we have had no particular desire to see him, for he is of very little concern to us. We would much rather see some of the good men through whose instrumentality we were brought here, that we might express our sincere thanks and lasting obligations to them; for we are certain that to them belongs the honor of our salvation. The man Christ Jesus of whom you speak made nothing certain. He finished nothing. He went away and left the whole matter in the hands of a few ignorant, base, despised people. His whole scheme would have proven a failure if others had not taken it up and made something of it.” Here he closed his speech, and I, feeling no affinity for such company, wandered onward.

I next came upon a great company composed of people of all nations. They were full of zeal and enthusiasm. I at once recognized that it was the missionary harvest from the foreign fields. Foremost in the throngs were the Burmese, displaying banners with Judson’s name emblazoned in flaming colors. After these came Hawaiians, Hindoos, Fijians, Persians, Japanese, with now and then a straggling Chinaman; none of the last named however had died in America. High over all floated a prodigious flag bearing the inscription, written in all languages, “Long live the American Board of Foreign Missions.” Upon inquiry I found that this company embraced all who had ever reached heaven from heathen lands, except the small number worshipping in the little temple on top of the hill, before referred to. I also found out from an old resident that their arrival there is of quite recent date, not a single arrival dating further back than the beginning of mission work. Before this human machinery was put in operation, the countless number of men and women dying in heathen lands, all sank down into irretrievable destruction. There was no remedy for them. No preacher, consequently no salvation; no priest, consequently no Christ. I once more inquired concerning Jesus the Saviour of sinners. They only laughed, and said he was entitled to no praise from them, for he had done no more for them than he had for their ancestors and brethren who were now perishing in the perdition of the ungodly. They protested that they owed their salvation alone to the mission work, in carrying salvation within their reach, and their own good judgment in appropriating it to their own advantage; they said that Christ alone had benefited them nothing.

After hearing this I stood for some time sick at heart. I was here a lonely wanderer. O how I longed to return to earth again. There I had the fellowship and communion of saints; here I was a wretched outcast; no fellow, no companions, none to join with me in ascribing praise to God; even the Saviour himself could not be found there. Dante’s inferno, even to the seventh circle, would have been more desirable to me. I once more endeavored to press forward, whither I knew not, and cared not, for I was now an aimless wanderer, a tramp in heaven; but I was soon confronted by another procession. The participants this time wore blue ribbons in their button-holes and temperance badges upon the lapels of their coats. A tall man headed the procession carrying a large flag inscribed to the W.C.T.U. of America. I soon discovered that it was the ransomed of the temperance societies holding high carnival to their great benefactors. Temperance lecturers, total abstinence societies, and prohibitionist workers of every description were there with samples of their work, in the persons of reformed drunkards whom they had saved from destruction. I watched my opportunity, and seeking out one of their chief men, I asked, “Is Jesus of Nazareth in your procession?” The answer came prompt and decisive, “He is not here.” I ventured a little further and asked again, “What think ye of him, if peradventure you know him?” The man responded, “He is not much respected by our societies. When he was in the world he was considered by our ancient brethren as a wine-bibber and a glutton. He even went so far as to attend a wedding among the lower class of people, and when the wine was exhausted and the guests all drunk he made them a new supply of the vile stuff, right in the face of all respectable people who were laboring to suppress the manufacture, sale and use of the dreadful poison; and one of his chief apostles recommended the use of wine. So you see there is not much agreement between us and him, either in heaven or on earth, consequently we are found very seldom, if ever, in each other’s company. Many whom you see here were saved by temperance workers from drunkards’ graves and drunkards’ hell which would have been their certain doom, had not the temperance cause superseded the work and teaching of him you inquire for.”

I had now seen enough of the place to desire no more of it, and was ready to sink in utter despair. In my endeavor to escape one thing another would confront me; finally I came into an open court of the most elaborate and gorgeous fashion. This was called the “Court of Honor,” or “Place of Degrees.” Here men were ranked according to the amount of good done by them, or the character which they had built. Some were on high seats, and some were on low ones, and some had no seat of honor at all. Some wore crowns gemmed with stars, some wore crowns without stars, and some had no crowns at all. Those on the highest seats had the most, the largest and the brightest stars in their crowns, and wore long, rich robes, of which they were exceedingly proud. Those on high seats looked with scorn upon all those below them, and those less preferred looked in envy upon those above them. I forgot my own discontent for a short time to muse upon the discontent manifested in the scene before me. I wondered if contentment, such as heaven should bring, was even an occasional guest in their hearts. Everything appeared to be exactly after the fashion of the earth, only upon a much more elaborate scale. The same love of glory and distinction, the same boasting over inferiors, the same envy against superiors, the same principle of self-aggrandizement; in fact, everything that goes to make up the distinctions, strife and dissensions among men on earth, every principle that begets and nourishes religious fraud, dissembling and knavery, was ripe and luxuriant there. All the imperfections and base deceptions of earth had ripened in the skies. The whole place was as completely given to idolatry as Athens of old, which stirred the spirit within the holy apostle. Then came the dreadful thought of spending eternity there. It was more than I could bear; my agony of heart and last struggles of despair aroused me, and I once more rejoice that it was only a dream, a dreadful illusion, but a true picture of the heaven that the religionists of this world are making.

H. M. Curry.

COMPARISON OF CHRISTIAN AND HEATHEN CIVILIZATIONS.

{The following lecture was delivered March 10th, 1898, in University Hall, Lebanon, Ohio, before the assembled students and faculty of all the departments of the University, by Elder H. M. Curry.}

In casting about for a subject for this occasion I hit upon the one announced to you from the Chair. I have chosen this theme for two or three reasons. In the first place it embodies many facts that are useful to mention; and in the second place, I have an idea in my mind which I can best get out along this line of discussion.

Do not be scared at the word Heathen; that is not such a bad word; it does not mean cannibal; it simply means in this connection those great nations of antiquity that reached the zenith of glory before the advent of Christ, or before it became fashionable to call everything Christian. Neither would I have you to attach undue importance to the word Christian; that does not mean anything now. In this connection it simply means those great warlike nations that have sprung up within the christian era, and profess the Christian religion.

The only medium of comparison between the civilizations of different periods or nations is what the people have thought, said and done. This is exemplified in their language, literature and works of art. There is no higher criterion by which to try the universal greatness of a people than their language. The facilities for the expression of thought are an unerring index to the character of the thought itself. Language was undoubtedly brought to the greatest perfection by the Greeks, several centuries before Christ. No people ever had so beautiful or refined a language, or spoke it with so much purity and grace. The Greek sentence was agitated throughout its length and depth by the stress of expression. The whole paragraph trembled from end to end when the thrill of life awoke in any of its parts. This language with its multitudinous endings all in harmonious accord lay like a beautiful meadow of stately grass swaying and waving in the breezes of thought. The thrill of joy, the message of defiance, the moan of the disconsolate, the palm of battle, the shout of victory, every emotion, every mood that the mind of man in his most vigorous estate is capable of experiencing, swept in rolling billows over the pulsating bosom of this beautiful speech. The Roman or Latin language was less beautiful, perhaps, than the Greek, but in many respects it was one of the most precise, expressive and artistic languages that ever graced the lips or stirred the heart of man. Where language was brought to such matchless perfection, there the very highest type of civilization must have existed.

The literature of a people forms a highway into the very heart of their mental and moral culture, their aesthetic tastes and religious notions is an exponent of every element and fact of their civilization. The literature of the Greeks and Romans, as to originality, literary merit, and influence on the world, surpasses that of all the so-called Christian nations; and as to moral elements, it is equal to that of any modern people. When we read the exquisite wit and keen satire of Horace, the stately and highly finished hexameters of Virgil, or the fiery, impetuous effusions of Homer, we are not conscious of the vast flood of years that rolls between us and our author. He identifies himself so closely with our own times that we forget we are reading what a Heathen wrote two thousand years ago. On comparing the Iliad of Homer, and the Aeneid of Virgil, the two great Heathen epics, with Dante’s Inferno, and Milton’s Paradise Lost, the two great Christian epics, we find that the Heathen writers excelled the Christian authors in everything but heathenism itself. Dante’s Inferno, as everyone knows, embodies all the so-called Christian learning up to the thirteenth century, and is more essentially heathen in every respect than the works of Virgil from which it is largely borrowed. Milton’s Paradise Lost, which has been esteemed by the Protestants nearly as sacred as the Bible itself, bears the stamp of Heathenism upon its forehead. It opens with the customary invocation to the Heavenly Muse, the Heathen goddess of poetry, and then proceeds to turn the angels into soldiers, to make heaven a battlefield and the hatching place and nursery of devils, to put Christ in uniform, and make God a militia general.

Some of the most wonderful literary productions are of the greatest antiquity. While Isaiah was a little lad, roaming the olive-crowned hills of old Judea, receiving instruction in the Jewish Law from Israel’s Rabbis, Homer was playing in boyish glee under the sunny skies of Greece, finding tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and beauty in everything; and as Isaiah the prophet proclaimed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem his heaven-born warnings, denunciations and gospel promises, in all the grandeur, imagery and vigor of Hebrew poetry, Homer was delighting the ear, swelling the heart and molding the character of aesthetic Greeks by the recital of his impetuous Iliad. Although this poem is of so ancient date, it has never been equaled in the history of literature. It has wielded a broader, more varied and perpetual influence over the human race than all other books ever written. It inspired the heart of the Greek to all that was beautiful in thought, noble in character and patriotic in deed. It incited the ambition of Alexander to conquer the world. It has shaped the literature and refined the tastes of all literary nations, and it rules England today through the statesmanship of Gladstone, and through English rule influences the whole civilized world.

The literature of the ancients was generally of a high order, and their refined and cultured tastes did not furnish a highway for such foolish, trashy, worthless productions as flood the Christian nations. The current modern literature is entitled to any other name than that of Christian. It is a flood of infidelity, a deluge of skepticism, a gulf stream of rubbish, with here and there a volume of truth drifted aside in some out of way eddy. From the standpoint of literature the Heathen nations surpassed the Christian civilization.

In oratory, the noblest, most exalted and sublime accomplishment that ever adorned an individual or blessed a nation, the Heathen Greeks and Romans stand unrivaled. At the head of that magnetic company who have swayed the world by eloquence stands Demosthenes, a Heathen master of diction, fountain of eloquence, king of orators. His oration on the crown is universally and justly acknowledged the most brilliant contest of oratory that the world has ever known. Cicero’s orations are still studied as matchless models in diction, logic, eloquence and power. For simplicity, dignity, grandeur, intellectual and moral force, the great Heathen orators of Athens and Rome are altogether without a parallel in the history of eloquence.

In statesmanship the Greeks and Romans have never been surpassed. From their wisdom and experience all Christian nations have drawn instruction. Many of these Heathen statesmen were men of the purest motives, the broadest experience and the profoundest wisdom. The English Constitution and English Law were derived from the Roman Codes and Constitution. Blackstone was not a lawgiver, but a commentator on law which had come down from the remotest antiquity. Solon and Lycurgus, so far as is known, were lawmakers, and to them the nations are more indebted for common and civil law than to Moses, Israel’s lawgiver.

The ancient philosophers still hold sway in the world of thought. Aristotle, Socrates and Plato, will never die. In the most eminent seats of modern learning the principles of philosophy laid down by them have never been displaced.

Architecture, the most necessary and useful of all arts, was brought to the greatest perfection by the remote Heathen nations. Before Moses wrote the Pentateuch, or the smoke ascended from Jewish altars, the pyramids, the sphinx, the wonderful temples of Thebes, the walls and palaces of Nineveh, had been built, exemplifying taste and skill in architecture, and a knowledge of mechanics far in advance of anything known at the present day. The marble wilderness of Athens eclipses the world in examples of architectural beauty, symmetry and grace. The Parthenon is universally acknowledged to have been the most perfect specimen of architecture that has ever adorned this earth. It has long been the wonder, admiration and delight of poets, travelers and artists of all nations.

If the history of Greece had never been written, the Parthenon alone would testify to the superior greatness of that people. What a civilization that must have been that found a man to decree, an architect to design, a sculptor to adorn, statuaries to execute, workmen to carve, and a people to pay for and maintain such an edifice.

In sculpture and painting the Greeks stand unrivaled. Their models have fixed the standard of taste for all nations. The statues of Palos Athena and Olympian Zeus, executed in ivory and gold by Phidias, for massiveness, expensiveness, majestic expression and every element of grace and beauty, are unsurpassed in the history of art. Painting, in all that is essential or beautiful, was brought to the greatest perfection several centuries before Christ; by Polygustus, Appollodorus, Zeuxis and Parrhasius.

In domestic life the Romans displayed every indication of a superior civilization. Their extravagance in ornaments, dress, sumptuous living and magnificent furniture excelled all modern nations. The palaces of Nero glittered with gold and jewels; perfumes and flowers showered from ivory ceilings. The halls of the nobles were hung with cloth of gold enriched with precious stones. They rode in gilded chariots. They bathed in marble baths. They slept on beds of down upon bedsteads of silver. They dined from gold plate upon tables of Delian bronze and pure gold. They drank from crystal cups. They wore embroidered robes adorned with jewels and precious stones. They decorated their houses with carpets from Babylon, onyx cups from Bithynia, bronzes from Corinth, and statues from Athens. Although this incredible luxury was an evil to society, yet it is an evidence of their matchless civilization.

A tree is known by its fruit. Such beautiful, expressive and adequate language; such acute, refined and sensitive wit; such noble, endearing and marvelous achievements in literature; such pure, true and self-sacrificing patriotism; such unwavering, invincible and incontestable courage; such ardent, devoted and exquisite love of the beautiful; such masterly, skillful and unequaled genius in sculpture; such massive, beautiful and sublime works of architecture; such keen, subtle and exhaustive philosophy; such wise, unselfish and profound statesmanship; such dignified, brilliant and overwhelming oratory, as has been exemplified in the ancient Heathen nations, is the most conclusive evidence of a civilization, in many respects superior to anything known at the present time or that we can ever hope to see again.

This civilization was evolved without a Bible, without a church, or any of the religious machinery at work in the world today. This is conclusive evidence against that foolish, traditional, superstitious notion extant that the Bible is the only civilizer, and the only way from barbarism to civilized life is through the medium of the Christian church.

It may be objected that the Christian civilization surpasses that of the Heathen in morals, virtue and forbearance. The objection is more easily made than sustained. England is a fair example of so-called Christian civilization. She is, perhaps, the greatest commercial and political power in the world at the present time, the greatest literary light of modern nations. Is she a model of Christian virtue? She has extended her dominion over the isles of the sea, in the name of Christianity. She has forced opium upon China and rum upon Africa in the name of gospel missions. She has planted her flag and standing armies in India in the name of the gospel of peace. She has starved Catholic Ireland for centuries in the spirit of Protestantism. England received her laws and Constitution from the Roman empire, her principles of freedom and independence, what little she has, from the ancient German barbarians, her indefatigable tact and perseverance from Anglo-Saxon ancestors, and her bigotry, intolerance and avarice from her religion. England taxes beggary to support royalty, and grinds the face of the poor to support a religious aristocracy. She has wielded the sword in the name of the cross, and lighted the fagots with the tapers from her altars. I do not thus mention England because she is a sinner above all nations, but because she is a fair example of so-called Christian civilization.

The Christian nations have excelled the Heathen nations in the arts of war. They have invented the revolver, the rifle and the bomb-shell. They have expended millions in constructing the most terrible and deadly engines of destruction. They are today educating, training and drilling five million men in the arts of wholesale slaughter. The world is covered with forts to protect Christians from other Christians and the seas are covered with iron monsters, built and engineered by Christians, to blow Christian brains out. Every Christian nation is groaning under a vast debt incurred in waging war with other Christian nations, or in evangelizing Heathens with sword and ball.

The religion of the Heathen was milder, more humane and tolerant than that of the Christian nations. It is true the Heathens sometimes offered human sacrifice; but that was mild indeed when compared with the Inquisition of Catholicism and the persecutions of Protestantism.

The victims for Heathen sacrifice were generally selected from the prisoners of war, while the martyrs of the Christian nations were the most earnest, devoted, liberty-loving characters among them. The Heathen nations have sacrificed their thousands, but the Christian nations have martyred their tens of thousands.

The greatest enemy that modern civilization has had to contend with is nominal Christianity. From the time it was taken out of the slums and placed upon the throne by the wickedest emperor Rome ever had, until the present time, it has tried by every contrivance to rule the world. It has proved to be the most grievous tax a nation has ever been burdened with; a tax not only upon the purse, but upon every energy of a nation; a tax too often levied upon the conscience and exacted in blood. When the spirit of freedom and progress refuses to acknowledge its authority, it cunningly adapts itself to every whim and caprice of society, and is ready to write its name upon every enterprise.

The accepted religion of the Christian nations is eclectic. Its philosophy is the old Greek anthropology, which was introduced into the catechetical school of Alexandria in the third century, and which has formed the basis of all theological seminary instruction ever since. The two principal church festivals of both Catholic and Protestant communions {I speak of Christmas and Easter Sunday,} were both derived directly from the ancient Heathen nations of northern Europe; and the modern Santa Klaus imposed upon the credulity of the Sunday School infants is a hobgoblin from the same source. A specially educated and salaried priesthood is an institution of the ancient Egyptians, older than Moses himself, and has been perpetuated through the intervening Heathen nations, and finally incorporated into the eclectic system of nominal Christianity. I would not have you think for one moment that I would deride in the least true Christianity. This I could not do; but I desire to state most emphatically that true Christianity is not national. It was never intended to be so. Christianity is not a former of states. That religion that seeks to ally itself with every species of worldly power, to monopolize all our educational institutions, and to manufacture all public opinion, is not the religion of Christ.

The careful analysis of the two civilizations, called Christian and Heathen, shows that the same elements enter into both, and the same facts are attendant upon both, and so far as their nature is concerned they are essentially the same. There does not exist that fundamental, basal distinction that would warrant upon a scientific basis the classification that the qualifying words Christian and Heathen would imply. Civilization is in no way dependent upon Christianity or the Bible. It is through the perversion of these institutions to that end that the name of Christianity and the Bible have been prostituted, and modern morals corrupted, and civilization cursed. In this is exemplified the truth of the proverb that, “The perversion of the best things often leads to the worst.” The present civilization bears more of the marks of Athens than Jerusalem, of the Greek Academic than the church, of Plato than of Christ.

H. M. Curry.

THIS ENDS THE WRITINGS

OF H.M. CURRY.

Table of Contents

THE WORKS OF  H.M. CURRY

THE SON OF MAN LIFTED UP.

SEED.

THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN.

THE CITY WITHOUT A TEMPLE.

THE FULFILLMENT OF THE SCRIPTURES.

A PERSONAL LETTER.

ABLE TO STAND, BUT LIABLE TO FALL.

DEATH IN ADAM - LIFE IN CHRIST.

PERSONALITY OF MAN.

THE WILL OF MAN:

ITS SUPPOSED FREEDOM IN       OBTAINING SALVATION.

FATALISM.

THE NEW BIRTH.

A LETTER.

VISIT IN TEXAS: 1901.

THE HAND OF GOD IN HISTORY.

SCIENCE AND PREDESTINATION.

A DREAM-TOUR THROUGH THE ARMINIAN HEAVEN.

COMPARISON OF CHRISTIAN AND HEATHEN CIVILIZATIONS.