The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1879-02-05
FoR THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN.
"D0 YOU BELIEVE 1T ALL7"

Such is the title Of an article which first
appeared in the columns of THE Truth, q
little monthly edited by Rev. James e..
Brookes, D. D., of st. Louis, and which has
since been circulated as tract by the Cos
pei Tract Repository Of the same place.
The substance of it may be fairly gathered
from the following extracts:
"At gospel meeting young man was deep y
convicted OF the sin OF unbelief. de could
not restrain his tears, and now and then his frame
quivered with emotion. The preacher noticed his
close of the meeting asked if be wanted to be
saved oh, yes yes, was the reply, If there is
any salvation for me- Are you an in6delT
| mo, he promptly answered. " [ have always be-
Iieved the Bible to be the Word of God or at least
have never diEbelieved it. Ny mother is Chris.
tian but l have just neglected Christ, and
now his dying groanS pierce my heart Ii was
shown him that those dying grosns were uttered
by God s dear Son who was wounded for our trans
gressious, bruised for our iniquties. &c.,. Again
he was asked, DO you believe the Bible2' Yes,
ne replied, still weeping L believe it now with a
depth of conviction | never knew before. DO
you believe 1t aH?' Yes, he answered with much
energy. L believe every word of it from the first
of Genesis to the last of Revelation. We'll, said
the minister, there is one short text wish you to
read and please read it aloud, for always love to
hear it, because it brings comfort to my own soul.
Then banding him the Bible opened at Matthew
tx 2 the young man wiped away his tears, and
slowly read, And, behold, they brought to him
man sick of the palsy, lying on bed and Jesus
seeing their faith said unto the sick OF the palsy
son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.
For moment there was silence. and then the ser.
want of Christ said, Mark, you told me little
while ago that you believe every word OF the Bible
The verse you have just read is part of the Bible,
and it il as true nov and as true for you as it was
when Jesus said to the helpless man, Be of good
cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee He is saying
the same to you; do you believe HtmF (!talics
ours He looked down with an expression of deep
thought aud anxiety upon his brow, and then sud
denly lifting his head while smile like sunlight
played over his face, he joyfully exclaimed, 1 do
believe Him, and | am the happiest man IN the
| world.
Now the question which we wish to raise
and discuss in this article, is this: Had that
"serVant of Christ any right to assure the
young man under conviction that the par
ticular verse pointed out was addressed to
him, and that it was 'uubelief for him to
doubt the application of it to himself! We
hold that be had no auch right; that. he
made use of that passage Of Scripture
which was unwarranted and dangerous; and
that the inevitable tendency of such teaching
is to lead souls into false and unscriptura
peace. The tacit assumption of the trac
seems to be that the language here used By
Christ is universal in its application tha
the gospel message to every unsaVed sinner
is, "Son, thy Sin8 be forgiven thee" Bu
tue fact is, it was a personal address 50
single individual, called forth by the peculia
circumstances and spiritual condition Of tina
individual In this respect, it is just lik
his rebuke of Peter, Get thee behind mi
Satan" or his command to the young ruler
"Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unit
the poor" No intelligent expounder o
Scripture would think of giving such sen
tences universal application to his hearers
or of assuring A or B. that they we're ad
dressed to him Individually; and We Cal
see just as little warrant for making such
use of Chrsts words to the sick of tn
palsy"
If the terms of the gospel be such as ar
. set forth in this tract, then the only thin
. necessary in order that sinner may b
3 saved is for him just to believe that he 1
o saved. Saving faith becomes nothing NOR
than simple persuasion that Christ has fol
given me, the individual sinner. To 50
, nothing Of other absurdities to which such
/ doctrine leads, it plainly makes it impOasibl
for any one to be self-deceived. If ma
Q only believes that he is forgiven, why ther
? according to this view, he is forgiven. Bu
: the Bible everywhere represents that this
matter about which men may be, and Ofte