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10 (154) T H E P
by keeping your eyes upon yourself. That is
where many make the mistake and fail to see
their faults. The traveler knows he is walking
str Ufcht however dark the night may be so long
as lie has the light right ahead, but if he takes
his eves ofl" the licrht and looks at his fpet hp -will
lose his way in the darkness.
"Of his fulness have all we received," are we
then not complete?
THE CHURCH AND THE KINGDOM.
A turn which some are taking, in their depreciation
of the Chuch, is to say that they are
more concerned about "the kingdom" than
about the Church, that the former is the real
object of interest and upbuilding. This is to
disregard the practical fact that it is from the
Church that the vast majority of those who work
for the kingdom are drawn. It is to disregard
also the fact that the Church is the organized
society, and the onlv one on earth, and nossessed
of a divine constitution, for carrying on the
work of the kingdom. It is to disregard the fact
that if the Church were obliterated those who
seek the glory and advancement of the kingdom
would be utterly at sea. without eompftss, rudder.
or even a ship.
The Church, in the most rigid sense, is the
body of God's elect, the subjects of his kingdom.
In a broader sense it is the company of all those
who porfess the Christian faith, banded together,
under a divine constitution, for the practice,
maintenance, ana propagation 01 tneir taitll.
Even in this larger and looser sense, the Church
is not to be depreciated. Ilistory records her
place and power in the world. Careful study
shows that it is only where she has penetrated
and carried on her beneficent work that the
great social, moral, and spiritual conditions of
the world have come out from the lowest depths
of ignorance, indifference, and unresisted evil,
into thought and study and resistance of the
wrong. It is the Church that has set the world
to thinking and that has challenged mankind's
attention to its greatest needs and to the principles
of real life.
The kingdom embraces a wider area of thought
il At- - t- I . *
umn me unurcn, dui it is tne unurcn tnat is
appointed to secure the ends of the kingdom.
Her message deals with the fundamental principles
that make the kingdom, and it is by her
faithfulness in testimony and life that the kingdom
comes. Her appeal is to the hearts of men,
where the foundations of the kingdom lie, where
the springs of life are hidden, nor duty is to
awaken men to a sense of need of the new life.
ITer Lord is offered as the divine human Com
panion in whose fellowship the soul and all its
activities are perfected. She goes, if she be
faithful, to Ihe heart of things. The empty
beating of the air with pious phrases about
''the kingdom," while the Church, the Bride,
the Lamb's Wife, is neglected and contemned,
moves no soul and only excites contempt. It
is the same as a man's sentimentalizing over
womanhood and wifehood and the beauties of
the home while leaving the one woman whom he j
should love, and cherish, and whose life and
homo he should make the flowering out, the typo j
to h'.m, of ail his noblest conceptions, in rags (
and hunger because, forsooth, womanhood and i
wifehood are so much more exalted than a mere 1
woman or a mere wife. i
This talk of "the kingdom" especially elimi- i
nates one of the essential features of bringing i
about the kingdom. That feature is the indi- (
ridualism which the Bible presents and which 1
is accentuated by the existence and life of the 1
Church. A direct, positive faith lays hold upon \
the individual life, and the Church is the bring- <
ing together of these living units and the combination
of them to reach more units. The in- ]
RESBYTEBIAN OF THX 8G
dividual life and personal salvation are the
Church's concern. She stands for her Master
to appeal for these. She works from the one
to the whole, not from the mass to the individual,
from the heart to the life, not from the life to
i ne neart. sue ls concerned about the centre,
not about the circumference.
The truth of the matter is simply this, that
such talk of the greater' importance of "the
kingdom" than that of the Church is an attempt
to escape direct duty. Words are easier than
work. Sentiment is cheaper than sacrifice. It
is less difficult to get a reputation, such as it is,
pretty hollow and very short, on the pious
phrases of the lips than on the practical products
of the life. Those whose pretentions revolve
about "the kingdom" are a poor dependence
for the real work that helps to make that kingdom.
It is either a pious deception, a foolish
affectation, or an unintelligent gTasp of the true
meaning of the terms and of the true obligations
of the servant of God.
THE IRON PART.
We were showing a friend from a distance the
unfinished work on a skyscraper that is going
up near our office. The steel skeleton of the
building is well under way. He was much interested
and finally asked, "Wouldn't the building
be all right without the iron part7" We
answered, "No," the thing wouldn't stand long
without the iron part for that gives stability to
the walls, supports the floors and partitions and
ceilings; all the furnishings and equipment of
the great building rest on the iron part. Large
safes and vaults weighing many tons will be
lifted into the building, and will be supphrted by
the iron part. Indeed, such a building as that
l 1 ""? v -i ^ " 1 * - -
eouia nor De erected at ail, couian't rise to that
height, couldn't sustain the weight, or make its
contents secure but for the strength and proportion
and finirih that are supplied by the iron
part.
Afterward we read some meditations advocating
the propriety of eliminating the strong meat
from the diet of immature disciples and keeping
it clear out of sight of inquirers. Then we
thought of the building and of the iron part that
went up long before the walls, and was fitly
framed together before the finishings and furn
imujig* were ax an in signi. unristian raitm anci
Christian character will surely be weak and tottering
without the iron part. They can't assume
symmetry or proportion or stability without the
great truths that bind together and constitute
the massive framework of a unity that we call,
"The truth as it is in Jesus."
It is to be observed that the truths at which
men stumble and against which the carnal mind
protests, are the truths that are at the very basis
of the Christian system and that hold that sys
tem in an indestrnetable unity. They are truths
without which religious beliefs become inarticulate
and confused, if not positively inconsistent
and mutually conflicting.
What are some of these articles of faith which
are fundamental and are yet unpopulart One
is, the absolute sovereignty of God, whose ways
and prerogatives are not to he challenged. Another
is the moral ruin and spiritual apostacy of
man. Another is, redemption by the blood of
the Son of God and salvation through his merits
unu mercy aione. Anotner is the final judgment
and condemnation of the impenitent. Still
another is the absolute authority of the "Word of
Qod as contained in the Scriptures. Against
fbese truths skeptical critics are contending and
Inirling their fiery darts; and these are the
truths in the presence of which the carnal mind
if unbelievers balks and makes its protest
But are not these at the very basis of onr religion
and would not onr gospel be ntterly mnti
IU TB I February 19, 191H
lated, shorn of saving efficacy without themT It
may be that we are too prone to discover defects
in our preaching and personal testimony,
but is it not true that Ave are yielding to the
tendency to prune away the features of the gos
pel tnat are uninviting to natural perception
and taste! The charge is being very freely made
in our day from authoritative sources. We ought
to inquire whether or not religious teaching in
which unpopular truths are suppressed will
have enough left to make it worth while.
One fact which cannot be denied may at least
be stated. If we recall the periods of the past
in which the Word had free course and was
glorified they were periods in which preachers
shunned not to declare the wholp onnnsel of
God. Such were the days of the apostles and
early fathere, the period of the reformation in
Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France
and Scotland. Such was the preaching of the
Covenanters, in Scotland, and of the Nonconformists
and Puritans in their best days in England,
such has been the character of the preaching
in periods of great revival in America.
The men who have been the world's great
evangelists nave Deen those who have opened
their months boldly to make known the mystery
of the gospel. The great truths of religion,
solemn and many of them awful, at which men
are tempted to shy, have been the themes of those
great preachers. The reformers in the period of
Luther and Calvin and Knox; the Wesleys
and Whitfield, Edwards, the Tenents, and Finney,
Spurgeon and Moody, and a great company
of others preached a whole gospel. The
world has not yet come to the point where it
does not need and must not have the gospel as
nreapliAd hv Paul an/1 Viia fnllr?iv.lahmv?r?a wTin
shunned not to declare all the counsel of God.
M.
THE UNPARDONABLE SIN.
Much has been written on this subject. It is
doubtful if any thing new and original can be
said.
The subject has aroused the anxious concern,
or morbid curiosity of many; we have known
?onie very pious persons who were in bondage
tor years in their preconceived views of this
sin.
Their is a sin for which there is no forgiveness.
"A sin unto death," as John calls it. A
sin for which there is no pardon says Christ.
There is a condition into which, if we fall, "it
is impossible to renew them unto repentance."
There is a soul attitude before which there is
only "a fearful looking for of judgment and
fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries."
These solemn statements are to save ns from
carelessness in our Christian life.
This sin is called in general terms, "blasphemy
against the Iloly Ghost."
We may rest assured the unpardonable sin is
not some one particular offence. In one instance,
Christ speaks of it. as ascribing his deeds and
motives to Satan or Beelzebub. In another place
it is denying the Divinity of the Iloly Spirit.
Tn another it is "falling awfty," "crucifying the
Son of God, and putting him to an open shame."
Tn another it is "sinning wilfully."
It ia not any one sin, because we find a sinner
forgiven for every sin we may mention.
Not a wayward disobedience of parents. The
dying thief had broken his mother's heart by
such conduct.
It is not unholy lutft. For then many of the
men who became saints in God's Word would be
lost to-day. The woman that was a sinner had
lost her virtue, but she was forgiven.
Tt is not drunkenness, though no drunkard
?*?n inherit eternal lifp For th* drunkard ran