The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1911-08-08

tht ulBueSJ SeISe OI lllul lcIui' anu "
erything to the contrary. being opposed
to the standards of Gods Word, must
be Unorthodox Everything depends
upon our standard. | stand for the
Bible, its teaching, its doctrines, and
therefore am orthodox. on the con
trary, Higher Critics and Evo.utiouists
and those who hold the creeds of the
Dark Ages" contradictory to the Bi-
Bile, are proportionately unorthodox-
heretical.
What Christendom needs today is a
return to the Bible, an Investigation
of its teachings and, correspondingly,
a rejection Of all human creeds, which
are admittedly more or less defective.
Let us stand fast in the liberty where
with Christ hath made us free" Let
us accept the Bible as the only stand
ard. Let us study it and understand
it to the extent of our ability. Let us
rejoice in every degree Of harmony we
all attain ia the correct understanding
of 1t. Let us fellowship as Christians
all who acknowledge its Divine au-
thenticity and who, in harmony with
its presentation, are trusting in Jesus
as their Redeemer; and who. in accept
ance Of His invitation, have forsaken
bl to be His footstep followers.
These are the real Christians, with
whatever sect or party they may have
become identified, through the supposi-
ton that they were doing the will of
God. These alone are the saints; these
alone are running In the race course;
these alone have the opportunity Of
making their "calling and election
sure" The masses known as Chris
tendon are unchristlan in every sense
Of the word. They are civilized heath.
en-, in the sense that they do not recog
nize any more than do the heather, a
personal God of glorious character,
perfect in His Wisdom. Justice, Love
and Power. They realize not His ALI
seeing Eye. And their general lives
show their lack OF this knowledge and
this faith.
More than this shall we say itO
the majority Of professed church men,
bers, SO far as we can understand their
sentiments as privately expressed and
publicly declared by the ministers of
their choice, are no more Christians
than are the Jews. They neither be.
lieve the Bible to be the Divine Rev
elation nor do they accept the Lord
Jesus Christ as the worlds Redeemer
from sin and death. OF course, there
fore, they do not profess to consecrate
their lives to sacriicially follow One
in whose redemptive work they do
not believe.
The Mystery of the Cross.
Comparatively few of the hundreds
of thousands of those who have named
the name of Christ, and who have
come under various denominational
yokes, have any knowledge of the
Mystery of the Cross of Christ, the
Mystery of the Gospel, "The Mystery
which hath been hid from ages and
generations, but now is made manifest
to his saints" (Colossians 1, 26).
Alas, the majority seem content to
have merely "name to live" and
wish merely TO be called Christians
and to wear jeweled cross 1t is but
the few of those who have tasted that
the Lord Is gracious and have felt an
earnest desire to know and to do the
Fathers will ut the cost of sclf-sacri-
flee. With the majority the intima-
tiOn that a certain course In life is the
marrow way" the way of the Cross,
10 ctf oin 70 tttr thaFt, tn m
direction; for, while they would like
to share the heavenly glories and hon
ors of the Lord, they are unwilling to
be sharers In His ignominy, sufferings
and death.
These, without relinquishing their
desire for Righteousness, are disincllned
10 go to such lengths as the Master
and the Apostles taught and exempll-
fed. Hence, they are not Interested
in the deep things" of Gods Word,
but merely In the more superficial.
In the language of the Scriptures, they
are willing to say, "We will eat our
own bread, and wear our own apparel;
only let MS be called by thy name, to
take away our repronch" isaiah iv, ~.
The fault lies largely with many OF
the clergy, who are not leading the
people to "the faith once delivered to
the saints" but away from IT,
The Scriptures most distinctly teach
that we are under the reign of the
"Prince of this world" Satan, and
that our Lord at His Second Coming
In power and great glory will bind or
restrain this strong one and overthrow
his empire, which is not of Divine au-
thorization. but built upon human
weaknesses, ignorance and superstl-
ton. We are distinctly told that Sa-
tan shall be bound for that thousand
years tthe Millenniuml that he may
deceive the people no more until the
thousand years shall be finished
Surely, then, the Lord has used the
great Adversary 10 assist In the ac-
complshing of the Divine purposes.
Satan may have supposed that he was
frustrating Gods plans, but just as
surely he was mistaken. The Divine
Word is sure which declares, MY
Word that goeth forth out of My
mouth shall not return unto Me void.
h.,t tt ,I