Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-06-21
Madiaastbt hee 5abbath.
CONDUCTED BIZ
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
COrlginalI
II. THESSALONIANS 9: 10, II.

"FOr this cause, God shall send them strong de-
lusion that they should believe lie that they
"He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved" is frequently regarded as the
only proclamation which the minister OF
the gospel is commanded to make. This is
a great mistake. Every minister OF the
Lord Jesus Christ is duty bound to announce
to the human family, indiscriminately, that
"whosoever believeth not shall be damned y
This language may sound harsh in the ears
of those accustomed to nothing but the siren
strains of carnal ease, but it is the truth as
revealed in the Bible. When ministers OF
the gospel stand up, in the pulpit and enter
tain their hearers wi thslearned andburnish.
ed orations on the beauty of virtue and the
deformity of vice they are wasting their
time. Not only so, but they are dealing
treacherously with the souls of men. Jesus
Christ and his inspired apostles never did
such preaching. They preached the truth,
and nothing but the truth. The fundamen;;
tai doctrines of Revelations were stated and
then came the conclusion, "he that believ-
eth shall be saved, and he that believeth not
shall be damned." This is plain. Every
one can understand this language. There
is no ambiguity in it. 1t cannot be con-
strued so as to mean something else or moth
ING. 4! S S.Ast {S%ss. ~ III
The language contained in the passage,
which stands at the head of this article Is
very similar to that contained in Mark 16
16, and to several other passages in both
the Old and New Testaments.
The occasion of Paul's sending to the
church at Thessalonica, a second epistle,
was mainly the fact that the Christians at
that place had been disturbed by the an
nouncement that "the day of Christi or
the last day was soon to arrive: The
apostle besought them "by the coming OF
ing together unto him." that they would
not. believe any such report, no matter from
what source it might proceed. He then
goes on to show them, that before the last
day comes great apostacy will take place.
This apostacy is minutely described, and
the source from which it issues, plainly
stated. Its leading characteristic, is that it
is "after the working Of Satan." 1t is anti
Christian in all it's features.
( The sin of those who participate in this
apostasy consists in not receiving the love OF
the truth. Verse 10y. The punishment
which God shall inflict upon them, is he
i"shall send them strong delusion, that they
should believe q lie; that they all might be
damned who believe not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness." (Verses
IL and 12). Conybeare and HOWsOn trans
late the passage as follows: "For this cause
God will send upon them an inward work
ing of delusion, making them give their
faith to lies, that all should be condemned
who have refused their faith to the truth, and
have taken pleasure in unrighteousness.' u
This is more literal than the authorized YER
sion and conveys the same idea. The only
apparent difference in the meaning is that
kri Mosi is in the authorized version trans.
lated "be damned" while Conybeaur and
Howson translate it ttbeejudged.n The
meaning is, however, the same for although
it is possible that an individual may be
Judged and not condemned, still the judg-
ment of the wicked by God iscondemnation
The plain meaning of the Apostles Ian
guage is that those persons who refuse to re.
ceiVe the truth, but give their faith to lie OF
who believe lies will be, by God, given up
to strong delusion or to an inward working
of wandering that they may believe lie
that they may be damned. There is some
thing in the language which is startling
We cannot twist or turn the words SO as tc
make them mean a thing Of little impor'
tance The sin of the persons spoken of is
rejecting or refusing to believe the truth
The punishment is strong delusion and the
final result damnation. Who are these per.
sons to what nation do they belong, are
natural inquiries ProtestantS are ready tC
reply, the wicked one spoken ~Of~by,r the
Apostle is the Pope of Rome and the man
of sin is the Papal church. On the other
hand the Roman Catholics reply, the Pro.
testants are the great apoStates. Unless we
greatly mistake the Apostles meaning the
individuals upon whom God sends this
strong delusion or inward working of delu-
sion are neither Catholic or Protestants as
such, but are both Catholics and Protestants
who reject the truth. No single country
can be charged with containing them all
They are in every land and in every Chris
tan denomination. They form a part OF
the population of every city, of every town
of every hamlet and of. every neighborhood
in which the gospel is preached or the Bible
read. They are confined to no class in So
ciety but form component part of all class
es. Some of them are poor, others are rich
some are unknown to fame, while the names
of others are national household words
some are obscure members of the church
while others are ministers of the gospel
Their sin is they receive not the truth and
their punishment is strong delusion. Truth
as used by the Apostle is confined to the
word of God as contained in the Bible. The
teaching of the Apostle is the very opposite
of the theory held by not few of those who
claim to be Christians. No individual, will
have to travel far to find some one who
holds that, it makess:no sort of difference
what we believe, provided only we are sin
cere.
There is class of individuals in the
church who discard all doctrines. With
them it is matter of no importance what
we believe or whether we believe anything.
In the estimation of this class of the human
family, truth is nothing and sincerity every
thing. The Bible is not, by them, adopted
as rule of faith and practice. In fact, there
is prevailing tendency in many, to ignore
the Bible in everything. Nothing is at
tempted to be done in the way that God in
his word directs. A scheme of redemption
is adopted which is agreeable to human
wisdom and the question is not asked,
"what does the Bible teach"
It is sad to think that even in the church,
and by ministers of the gospel, an effort
is making at the present time to make the
Bible only nominally the rule of action.
The result is that men Of learning, not only
believe lies, but they are devoting all the
energies of their being to the propagation
of lies. The truths of the Bible are distort-
ed and doctrines of which nothing is said in
the Scriptures, are formulated and insisted
upon as of more Importance than the funda-
mental principles Of the Christian religion.
1t is an easy thing to formulate a creed that
is simply a lie. Still it may be sincerely
adopted. Men as sincerely believe what
is false as they do what is true.
- - - y - - : - - - -
FEED THE FLOCK. We shall be forgiven
great many sins in the matter of pastoral
visitation if the peoples souls are really fed
on the Sabbath day; but fed they must be,
and nothing else will make up for it. The
failures Of most ministers who drift down
the stream may be traced to inefficiency in
the pulpit. The chief business of captain