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October 18, 1911. ] THE
she can arise and shine with the glory of the
Lord, and the Gentiles shall come to her light,
and kings to the brightness of her shining!
But she cannot shine until she awakes. ""Who is
she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as
the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an
army with banners?" Not a church full of
worldly conformity, but a transformed church,
walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the
comfort of the Holy Spirit. For the Christiau
is a pilgrim on his way to the celestial city. He
must not linger in vanity fair nor tarry on the
enchanted ground.
FOREORDINATION AS GOOD AS PREDESTINATION.
So says Prof. Hogue. This may mean, in the
defense of the revisers, either that ioreordmatiuii
is perfectly synonymous with predestination, or
that there is a shade of difference for the better,
and this determined the elimination of predestination
from the New Testament; for a
translator must select those better words, to
convey accurately the mind of the writer. Let
us try, first, foreordination as a perfect synonym
of predestination.
In answer to question 7 in the Shorter Catechism,
it is said, "The decrees of God are his
eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his
own will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath
foreordained whatsoever comes to pass." Here,
" foreordinate" cannot be synonymous with
"predestinate," because it covers "whatsoever
comes to pass." Predestination has
nothing to do with the condemnation of the
wicked. In the Confession of Faith, chapt. 11,
par. 3, we have "By the decree of God * * *
some men and angels are predestined unto everlasting
life, and others foreordained to everlasting
death." If Prof. Hogue and the revisers
are right, we are bound hand and foot,
and put into the chains of our enemies. For
they claim that the book teaches that God. for
his own glory predestined some men to everlasting
death. But here the Confession of Faith
draws a broad distinction between the two
words. Predestination has nothing to do with
creation and providence. It is confined exclusively
to the salvation of the elect. He predestinates
them to be conformed, to the image of
Christ. Rom. 8:29.
In Eph. 1:4-6. He has chosen us before the
foundation of the world "that we should be
holy and loithout blame." Having predestined
us uuto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure
of his will, to the praise of the glory of his
grace, wherein he hath made us acccepted in
the beloved." Foreordination is shown to
cover the works of creation and providence
by the very next question: How does God execute
his decrees? "In the works of creation
and providence." But in this department predestination
never enters. Its great and fundamental
powers are that of the Holy Spirit and
the blood of Christ, and plays constantly between
these two infinite agencies, and has no
need to go elsewhere or to be concerned with
other things. "When God's providence is necessary
to accomplish some good, predestination
retires, until the end is accomplished. He then
returns and begins to play again those two infinite
forces in which the eternal salvation of
infants and men is the issue.
It is evident, therefore, that no grander
work, nor means more stupendous, nor consummation
more glorious, can be conferred upon
"foreordain." For it deals with hills and val
leys, with wicked men and nature, but never
with that imperial majesty, the birthright and
inheritance of the elect. Take this illustration:
Paul says we are predestined to be conformed
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SC
to the image of Christ. No philosophy of man
ever suggested a hope so splendid and far-reaching
to our ruined race. "Beloved, now are we
the hons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be; but we know that, when he
slka.ll appear we shall be like him; for we shall
see him as he is." John 3:2.
Calvin says we are not merely conformed to
Christ, "Scd imagini CKristi." This brings
to view all the glories and powers of the atonement
by blood. In verse 2, Paul unfolds the
other idea to which we have alluded. "For
the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has
made me free from the law of sin and death."
Rom. 8:2.
The atonement by the death of Christ does
not affect our moral character, the other great
infinite force, God predestined to come in and
complete the marvels of redemption and thus
make the elect sweep through the whole circle
of God's power, benevolence, and grace.
Then why should men seek to blot out from the
literature of three hundred years a word so full
of comfort, hope and glory. "All thy works
shall praise thee, O Lord and thy saints shall
bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy
kingdom, and talk of thy power: To make
known to the sons of men his mighty acts,
and the glorious majesty of his kingdom."
Foreordination may go as far as to describe
God's predetermination to permit some men to
be born in sin, to live in sin, to die in sin, and
be punished for it, but it goes no further.
Hamburg, Ark.
SPRINKLING.
BY REV. B. P. BEDINGER.
V.
Let it be noted next that those who believe
in the Spirit's baptism as mentioned by Paul
(1 Cor. 12:13) and then believe that baptism
with water refers to Christ's burial make out
two baptisms as taught in the word of God.
The Spirit's is one, the water is the other. But
ii you make the baptism with water to mean the
symbol of the Spirit's work you agree with Paul
in Eph. 4:5?"One Lord, one faith, one baptism."
There is a tree and there is a shadow,
but no one says that it is two trees. One is the
tree, the other is the shadow. So one?the
Spirit's, is the baptism?the other is the shadow.
Paul's faith was "one baptism." Shall we
agree with Paul? Or shall we believe in the
Spirit's work (called by him baptism) and in
another baptism referring to another person
and an unimportant event connected with his
(Christ's) work? If the latter; and if whenever
you see or hear of the word baptize you
are to think of water von will n?t.nr?llv tiiinlr
less and less about the Spirit, and unless prevented
by the grace of God, as many are, will
come to believe in baptismal regeneration, as
Alexander Campbell did. His clear, logical
mind saw where the burial theory naturally
leads, and having adopted it, he took the plunge.
His Baptist brethren objected to his teachings.
"We don't believe water saves anybody."
They made it so warm for him he left the Baptist
Church and formed "societies" (as they
were called in those days), which he named
"Reformed Baptists." After uniting with the
"New Lights," under Barton W. Stone, the
word "Baptist" was dropped and they called
themselves "Reformed." Afterwards they
chose a "Bible name" and became "Disciples,"
then, "The Christian Church." This bit of
history is cited simply to show the dangerous
tendency of a theory that robs the Holy Spirit
of his seal, and necessarily belittles his work.
Coupled with the voluntary admission mentioned
before, that "not half of our folks know
there is any Holy Ghost," it makes the teaching
10TB (987) 3
ol such a doctrine a very grave responsibility.
aiai'K you, we uo not cliarge upon ine liapusis
inai "not nail 01 our ioiks know tliere is any
xxuiy Uuitet.' it was a Baptist tnat voiuntaruy
said it and gave a distinct shock More man
uint, we do not believe it. We preter to tinnk
it was an unintentional exaggeration.
W e know too many good Baptists whose *4 walk
in the ibpirit" is evidence that they are "born
oi tiie bpuit'' and we know they did not understand
they were to be "born again in the water
when baptized.". We love thein for their
holy lives and for their good work for Christ,
fetid we can easdy see how many may be misled
and all know that many have been. And
we argue that a doctrine fraught with such a
possibility cannot be true. We have before us
as we write a tract by the pastor of the church
criticized by one of its own members (in the
language quoted above), its title is "Baptism."
There is not a word in it about the
fepirit. it is immersion only, in it he says;
"it is an epitome of the gospel." "it speaks
to the eye of what Jesus did to save us?he
was buried and rose agam." is it any wonder
that many of his members "didn't know there
was any Holy Ghost*" "All they know is to
join the church and be baptized 1" This is a
legitimate argument we use here and goes to
prove that water baptism is not meant by Baul
uu me sixtn oi Romans. Ail who have been
"born of the Spirit" are "buried with (Jhriat
in baptism"?separated from the old life in
sin "to walk in newness of life." After a sermon
in exposition of this passage aimed to
show its exact meaning and refute the burial
theory of baptism, a Campbellite preacher came
lorward and takmg my hand, said: ".Let me
congratulate you on the way you have run the
Baptists out of the sixth of Romans. Y ou made
it as clear as a sunbeam that, if your interpretation
is not correct, then our doctrine of baptismal
regeneration is true." He was right.
To believe a man is "baptized into Christ"
(v. 3) by the Spirit, and then he is to be buried
in water in v. 4, makes one verse contradict
the other.
PRAYER.
By Miss Emily J. Bryant.
Prayer is a petition. It must arise from a
conscious need to one who is able to supply
that need. The term is commonly applied to
petition addressed to Deity by a needy humanity.
God alone can supply the needs of his
creatures, but God requires us to ask for what
we need, hence prayer. It is the duty of all
God's children to ask of him, the creator and
provider, the supply of our needs, and to thank
him for the same. He waits for our petitions
for physical benefits, for mental and spiritual
blessings. He sends his rain and his sunshine
upon the just and the unjust, and a large portion
of these recipients neglect to ask, or to
thank God for his mercies.
"rrayer," says Hannah Moore, "is the cry
of faith to the ear of mercy. It is not eloquence,
but earnestness; not the definition of helplessness,
but the feeling of it; not figures of speech,
but compunction of the soul.'' The broader and
deeper our experience the broader and deeper *^YjX
will be our prayers. cb?(C^\
Prayer is not only asking. It is much more _ K
than asking. This privilege of approach to the
divine majesty should not be regarded as only \j,^)
ah nppnjainn fat* a dotot*mina<1 ?*-<?> v?:
? ? ^?vw,.mou oicrc v?r ueggiiig, pQ^H'd
as if we had nothing to bring, but everything,
which a selfish nature can covet, to ask. It
is true>we cannot ask too largely when coming
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