The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-05-21

There are two reasons which have
led up to the neglect Of 'the doctrines
of Christ'-the teachings of the Bible.
These two reasons fully explain why
so many are telling new believers,
Never mind the doctrines of Christ,
but go out and convert somebody.
The first of these reasons is the er-
roneous thought which gained ascend
ency during the Dark Ages. namely.
that from Pentecost until the second
coming of Jesus is the time allotted by
the Heavenly Father for the worlds
conversion. and that this is the com
mission which He gives to His peo-
pie, and If the world be not converted
the responsibility for their eternal tor
ture will fall upon His people
All of this is mistake Not word
of Scripture tells that the Church was
commissioned to convert the world be
fore the second coming of the Lord
Quite to the contrary. the Scriptures
show that at the Lords second com
ing the world will be unconverted
The Apocalypse particularly tells US
that when the Lord ut His second com
ing shall establish His Kingdom. the
nations will be angry and Divine wrath
will come upon them. thereby intro
ducing the great time Of trouble"
with which this Age is to end, accord
ing to the prophetic Word
These testimonies do not signify that
holiness will perish, nor that all Of the
Lords people will be unfaithful. but
they do signify that the world in gen
eral will not be the Lords people, they
will still be enemies. Gentiles. uncon-
verted. Nor are we urging that the
Church has nothing whatever to do
with the world. Quite to the contra
ry; while she has not been given the
mission Of converting the world in the
present Age-while that work remains
for her to do in the coming Age in
connection with the Lord and His
Observation-Disclosures she was com
missioned to do work of toitnessin0
In the present Age.
The Church's witness was to be the
telling Of the Message Of Gods grace
to those having an ear to hear, al
though they be but few. Secondarily,
she was to witness to the world by
her faithfulness to the principles of
righteousness. and thus to show forth
the praises Of Him who called her tout
Of darkness into His marvellous light"
But this witnessing was not in order
to the converting of the world, but in
order to gather out of the world the
number necessary to complete the Di-
vinely foreordained elect Bride of
Christ
The Second Reason.
As the first error was in respect to
the worlds conversion to the Lord, the
second error was in respect to tohGt
acoald happen to the toorld If they were
not converted to the Lord When the
erroneous idea gained credence that
everyone who does not accept the in
vitation and become a member of the
Bride of Christ is to be eternally tor
mented, can we wonder that it led
many good people to frenzy of error
respecting what should be done to
save their families and neighbors and
the heather millions Hom supposed
eternity of torture?
1t was because of this supposed ur-
gency that those coming to a belief in
Jesus were exhorted not to stop to feed.
and to grow strong in the Lord and to
aft1 10 InIk 10 hf red iNr1o
frenzy Of zeal to bring others to the
Lord. This frenzy in turn led to most
unreasonable teachings and practices
which we are only now gradually get
ting rid Of as we realize that great
mistake was made
How strange that we did not stop to
think Of the absurdity Of our position
and how it misrepresented the Heav-
emily Father in a most detes able light!
How strange that any klould ever
think that when the Heavenly Father
sent out the call to those who have
the hearing ear, to jolnt-heirship with
Jesus Christ their Lord, He would
consign to eternal torment any who
would decline to accept the admittedly
stringent rules and conditions appertain-
ing n this "call'-the narrow way
Of tIB footsteps of Jesus-self- denial,
etc.l
Well do the Scriptures assure us that
the saints ''wrestle not with flesh and
blood merely" but rather with wick
ed spirits in high positions" of infiu-
ence. Ephesians vi, 12l Well does
the Apostle tell us that it is the God
of this Age who hath blinded the
minds Of those who believe not QI
Corinthians iv, A. Well can We see
how he put light for darkness and
darkness for light during the Dark
Ages.
Another Lesson We May Learn.
We must not leave our text without
calling to memory most wonderfully
instructive lesson concerning the prop
er way to reprove and rebuke our
brethren when the same is surely nee
essary So far as the record shows, the
three inquiries which our Lord made
Of st. Peter respecting his love for Him
were the only rebukes ever given him
as an Offset, or punishment for his
shameful Denial of the Master on the
night in which He was betrayed.
Had many of us been in the Masters
place we would have felt that it was
necessary to make st. Peter very hum
bly, apologize before we would have
anything further to do with him. We
would have been inclined to speak OF
his weakness. of his ingratitude, Of
how he knew better, etc. etc. Our
sense of justice would in many in
stances have entirely overshadowed
our sense of mercy and sympathy
But not 50 with the Master. He knew
the loyalty of st. Peters heart. He
knew that he had already gone out
and wept bitterly over the matter
He knew what a sense Of shame
would he upon him and how much
courage it would mean for him to
think at all of meeting the Master
whom he had denied.
Surely it was on account of this
sympathy for St Peter and this appre-
citation of the tendency he would have
to become entirely discouraged that led
our Lord to mention st. Peter first
amongst the Apostles on the morning
Of His resurrection. saying to Mary, to
whom He first appeared, go and tell
Ny disciples. and Peter"-don't let Pc
ter think that he is an outcast. Let
him know that think of him and love
him and sympathize with him and
have forgiven him, because l know he