The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-11-22
THE DEMoUKAILU sANNNl

worthy OnpA. ii|N WI .H fN. = WIiI -
ter into the loys ui thclr Lurn. t nis
Second Coming. The marriage Of the
Lamb shall come. for his wife will
have made herself rendy (Rev. Xix. Z,
Then the worlds salvation viii lc
due 10 begin The Times of Rpsttu
! tion will lr the thousand years or Mes
slah's spiritual reign ~ King Of kings
and Lord of lords Fleshly Israel. we
are assured will then he rest ed 10
Divine favor and become the special
and active agents Of the Messianlc
Kingdom IN the distribution of the hi.
vine favors to nll the families Of the
earth. In the end all the incorrlgibly
wicked, who love iniuuity rather than
righteousness, will be destroyed.
Thus as the Apostle declares. the
sacrifice Of Jesus constitutes satls-
faction for our sins Uhe Churchs slns)
and not for ours only. but also for the
sins Of the whole world Il John Ii, y.
Nonsensieai, Spurious Context.
Let us briefly notice another absurd.
ity In the addition to Gods Word found
In the last twelve verses of st. Marks
Gospel, fraudulently added and not
found in any of the oldest Greek MSS.
Notice the statement, "These signs
shall follow them that believe: In my
name shall they cast, out devils: they
shall speak with new tongues. They
shall take up serpents: and II they
drink any deadly thing. II shall not
hurt them. They shall lay hands on the
sick and they sLall recover" oversees
II. lS). The majority Of Christian min
listers and their congregations seem not
to be troubled by the fact that they do
not have these evidences of their rela-
tionship to the Lord. and they do not
attempt to heal the sick. TO speak with
tongues. and would not dare to drink
any poisonous thing. But there are
certain conscientious people, the very
greatly perplexed by these words be-
cause they know that they are not true
In their experience. With them, there
fore. it Is q matter of feeling doubtful
about their own salvation, or n ques-
ton as to the reliability of the Bible
as Il whole. They ueed to have the re-
lief which we now seek TO give them.
They need to know that these are not
inspired words. but poisonous and in
furious additions made during the Dark
Ages They may. consequently, look
elsewhere In the Scriptures and find
the proper assurances of their relation
ship with God being demonstrated by
the fruits of the holy Spirit in their
lives and in their "meekness.
gentleness. patience. long-sufering,
brotherly kindness. love"
Miracles In the Early Church.
This spurious passage Of our text is
used by many ministers who know. or
ought to know, of its falsity. But they
have certain theory In their minds
to the effect that the miracles and un-
known tongues of the early Church
were lost by reason Of unfaithfulness
to God. and that Christians today
should seek for their recovery. Not
having any Scriptures to support their
claim they use this Interpolation and
allow their hearers and readers to be-
lieve 1t to be the inspired message. To
port of buman theory! The first prin
ciple of preaching should be to preach
the Truth. the whole Truth and moth
ing but the Truth. Every theory which
requires bolstering up by spurious pas
sages should be abandoned. ard pW bt
abandoned by those who are honest
truth-seekers, "Bereans."
Our Lord performed miracles. Sc
did his Apostles. And so did those oi
the early Church upon whom the
Apostles laid their hands. But M
others have this gift. Consequently
, when the Apostles We're dead an(
; when all those upon whom they hat
laid hands of blessing were dead. thes,
miracles In the Church were at al
end. We all see the propriety of this
. Miracles were appropriate at the be
ginning for the establishment of tn,
, Church and. for a time. were necessar,
for their encouragement. In thei
early meetings they had no source o
information aside from the Apostles
whom they rarely saw or heard. The.
, had no Blbles-no copies of the GOspe
nor of the Epistles. They needed tn,
very arrangement which God provid
ed-tongues and interpretations o
! tongues. etc. to draw them together an,
. TO instruct them until, in due time, tn
> canon of Scripture would be completed
: that. through II. the man of God nigh
be thoroughly furnished unto eyer!
> good word and work QI Tim. ILL., 18, III
BY the time the Apostles died tn,
Church had become established, hat
: regular meetings, pastors and teach
r ers, the Gospels and Epistles, an(
some of them had begun to develop
L the fruits Of the Spirit. Thus the earl.
, Church naturally outgrew the tongues
D and miracles and entered large
t sphere, just as n child loses its sy'ad
= ding clothes in favor of more suitable
, attire. For Gods people today to de
Y sire to go back to speaking witt
t tongues. ETC.. such as was practised
t and very profitably, in the earl.
i Church. would be like an adult persoi
4 desiring to be dressed and treated n
4 a babe. 1t is our understanding tina
u IL x.ylN ,,,.lyt BON