Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1882-12-09

L /
ears" in my lnvestix e alton OF the tes.i-
noDy touching this hatter. l could
,ot close my eyes against the startling
las t,esn worshipsd among mon ever
,ince He came, Was born at the time. at
he place. OF the lineage. under the cir
ID the death, OF which, ons and all, the
Old Tsstanenti scriptures had m,de
minute. mentlou hundreds Of Yesrs
before He came. With these and other
Lestimonissl' before mo. + could not
otGod had inspired the. record. 1nd 4
would hs glad il Mr hlGsrsoll yppld
Lell me. l! he has examinel the matter.
how he accounts tor the precise tuldli.
ment Of prophecies 20 minu,e.iis Ii ne
vail tell me- while he speaks ] will
listen. 7! se1u;7 rsulsHi Hfa f7a 1
FALLAcY OF INGzRsoLL. az
The testimonies of nature had con- |
vincsd methat there is q personslG God.
and that He is infinite in wisdom and |
in power, and that He had created me, |
and that l was constantly dependent
upon Him, aud ttat my eternal desti-
ny was in His hands. The Old Tests- !
meut scriptures had convinced me
that He had given . moral law to
men. And new turned with . most
intense Interest to The New Testa-
ment that might ascertain from 1t. |
as His last utterxuces, what l should
do in order 10 come into that precise
attitude which He desired of me.
began with Matthew. There 10 " here
Mr.. lngersOll says he began. To my
surprise he asserts that there is nothing
in Matthew which teaches salvation
otherwise than by kind Offices to-
ward our fellow men. lie says:
"Tnere il not one " ord about be-
lieving anything" He says: "The
first thing l find about salvation 10 in
the fifth chapter" MIR. Iugersoii
could not have read il carefully. gs ul-
Iu the fret chapter we are told that
Christ, was. to BE- called Jesus
or Savior, because He would
save HIS people from their
sins" 1 then read on that i
might ascertain how He would save
his people from their sins. In the
second chapter met with the words:
''Repent ye.tor the kingdom of heaven
10 at hand" aud again in the same
chapter, Ills fan 10 in his hand, aud
He will thoroughly purge His floor
aud gather His wheat into the garner;
but He will burn up the chatf with
unQuenchable fire." In these first aud
second chapters l observed then that
there was set forth = saivation from
unquenchable hre, and that it was to
come by repentance, aiid through
kS> -
(. ON their SINS" MIR. Ingersou says
thereis not one word in Matthew in
regard to salvation by believing any
thing. simply a gospel Of good deeds
and charities. He overlooked many
passages. For example, he. might
have seen in the tenth chapter these
words: "Whosoever, therefore, shall
confess Me before men. him will I
confess also before Ny Father which
is in heaven. Blu, ,whusoevsr shall
deny Mo before men, iim will also
deny before My Father which is In
heaven" thus learned that il 1
would be saved l must conisss Him
that came to save His people from
their sins. l Understood then, and l
understand now, that au honest aud
sincere confession OF Christ implies
i.i,h in Him, or believing in Him. aud
for this lie says Hs will own mau
in heaven. Mr.. Ingersoll 10 mistaken
in supposinG that there IL no saliva.
ton by faith mentioned in Matthew.
Let me say just here, the practical
purpose Of Chrisps ministry. A. re-
corded in tie four gospels, was to
convince meu that lie had come into
the world as their savior. that His OBJ
| iect was to lead them to God the
Father, aud that the only way in
| which they could be saved was to &C.
kuowledgeHim in this character and
to follow Him. This 10 1he one idea
that ru "a through Matthew. The
book Of Matthew is . record Of His
miracles, that we're performed mainly
for the purpose of proving His hesv.
only m ssiOn, " hereupOn men were Ia
receive Hin 40 q divine savior. 1t IL
in this view he says: ''WhOsoevcl
shall coufess me before men, him will
| confess before my Father which il
in heaven; aud whosoever shall deny
me before men, him will deny before
my Father which is III heavsn.' III
this same view he says iu NJ ,rk. Ii
chapter: "Whesoever, therefore
|
words in this aduitsrous generation,
of him shall the Son Of Man be ashatn.
ed when he cometh into the glory Of
the Father with the holy angels"
The csntral ldsa running all through
tho four gospels is just that they who
would confess Christ aud follow HIN
should be saved, aud that they whs
would not should be lost. In the 10th
chapter Of Luke this same fact 10 de-
clared. just rs it had been by Matthew y
aud Mark: ''He that heareth you,
heareth Ne; and he that depiseth you
despiseth Me; and he that despissth
Me iespiseth Him that sent Me-" The
thought that runs like thread
through Matthe " Marx. Luke audi ohr
10 that they who sny of Christ. 1--WE
will not have this Man To reign ovel
US" shall be destroy ed aud that tht
grand purpose Of all the mirsculOui
works he did ss recorded in The Artl
three OF ;hose gospels was to demon
strats His divine authority and con.
sequent reign over men. As read
the gospel of John and the epistles in
order that might understand d how il
was that he who was called Jesus " nj
to save his people, saw page aftel
page plainly setting forth tho doc
,rine Of salvation through faith in
Christ. In the first chapter OF J"hn
saw this language: "As many as
receive Him. to them gave lie power
TO become the Sons Of God. even ic
them that believe OH His name"
understood then, and l understand
now, that TO be saved Is to become :,
child of God. The way TO become
child of God, according to tn. testi
mony OF John, is to receive Christ
Agsin l observed in the third ,aptel
OF john" "Jesus answered aud sale
un'o him (Nicodemus), verify. verify
| say unto thee, except q man be born
J again he cannot see the Kingdom o.
God" Tho passage taught me tha,
by the power Of Gods spirit | mus
receive a new birth if would bt
saved. Except a man be born o.
water aud Of the Spirit he cannot
; enter into the Kingdom of God. And
again | read in the same chapter. IA.
; Moses lifted up the serpent in tn,
wilderness, SO must the Son of Maj
be lifted up, that " hosoever believeti
} in Him should not perish, but hav,
eternal lite" Aud. again: "He ,ha
oeheveth on Alu is uot condemned