The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1913-08-26

Father, of whom are all things; addi-
tionaliy. TO us there is one Lord Tor
M:tsterl. Jesus Christ. by whom are all
things. and we by Him? The Apos-
tie here not only shows the relation
ship between the Father and Son, but
he ignores and thus disowns entirely
the Holy Spirit as another God. Clear
ly and plainly enough he sets forth
time and again that the Holy Spirit is
the spirit, will, mind, power, disposi-
ton, etc, in fullest conformity to that
of the Father There is no mystery
about the matter. none whatever.
1.-THE Alpha and the Omega"
Our Lord Jesus declared Himself to
be the Alpha and the Omega Of the
Divine direct creation. Revelation
1:8) He was its Beginning and its
End, according to John 1:1-5. Our Re
deemer, known before He became a
man as the Logos, was the Beginning
of the Divine creation and the End of
1t in that, ever after the creation of
the Logos, Jehovah operated in and
through Him in respect to all the stu
pendous works of creation. His name,
the Logos, indicates all this; it signi-
les the Divine Message, or Messenger,
the One through whom Jehovah's ut
terances and DEGREES went forth.
So we read in the Greek, In the be-
ginning was the Logos. and the Logos
was with the God, and the Logos was
god. The same was In the beginning
with the God. By Him were all things
made that were made, and without
Him was not one thing made. And
the Logos was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory as
the glory of the Only Begotten of the
Father, full of grace and Truth"
Constantine the Trinity Maker.
The Roman Emperor Constantine
saw a vision-probably when wide
awake-a vision of greater prosperity
for himself and his Empire, by rec
ognition of Christianity as the religion
which had previously been recognized.
For that moment certain portion of
the Church Of Christ had long labored.
Abandoning the thought of the Second
Coming of Jesus to establish His King
dom, they desired marriage, or union,
with earthly empire, thus to be set as
queen upon the throne of earthly
dominion and honor.
Constantine's influence in Church af-
fairs became great. He proposed the
calling of council of all the bishops.
numbering about one thousand. He
wanted to know why these apostolic
bishops. all inspired with the same
Spirit of God, taught so differently.
He offered to pay the expenses Of all
the bishops to the Council at Nice; but
the majority fearing that the Emperor
would be under the control of the Ro-
man bishop mot yet claiming to be
pope). declined to attend.
Only 384 came But even they were
unable to agree, the great point of dis
pute being the one we are discussing
Many held to the Bible teaching that
Jehovah is the One Supreme God; that
the Lord Jesus Christ was His Son
and honored Agent in all His creative
work: and that He, having manifested
faith and loyalty to the Father to the
extent of leaving the Heavenly glory.
becoming a man and dying. the Just
for the unjust, had been exalted by
the Father to His own right hand of
majesty and power.
But the mystification thought OF
trinity had gained hold on some Of
the bishops, amongst others the Bishop
Of Rome. The questions at issue were
argued for months With all his pow
erful influence. the Bishop Of Rome
could not bring the majority of the
Council to acknowledge the doctrine
Of the trinity. Thereupon Constantine
decided the matter; and the Nicene
Creed. backed by the Emperors au-
thority and power, was declared to be
the Christian faith. and anything con
trary to 1t, heresy.
Yet be it remembered that only
about 0ne-third of the bishops were
present at the Council; and that they
could not be coerced into substituting
mystery for the Word of God. until
the Emperor lent his influence. His
decree was that Christian doctrine as
thus defined in the Nicene Greed
should have the prestige of the sup
port of the Emperor and of all his
subordinate officers throughout the
Roman Empire. All believing contrary
to this creed would be heretics, aud
be considered In opposition to the EN-
peror, and such had the privilege of
leaving the Empire Thus was the
mystery Of trinity enshrined by
heather emperor, not baptized-not
even sprinkled.
The history of the persecution of all
who would not worship the trinitarjan
mystery would fill volumes. One sad
Illustration Is familiar to all-the burn
ing of Servetus, by good Brother Cal
wins signature to the death warrant.
Is 1t any wonder that with such con-
ditions prevailing for centuries, the
Bible ignored and the creeds worship
ed. the true teachings of the Bible on
many subjects were completely lost
sight of? Is it any wonder that, wren
In the sixteenth century God began to
bring the Bible back to the attention
of the world, it was burned by The
bishops in front of st. Paul's Cafhe-
dral in London? Is it any wonder that
the Presbyterians Of that time were
prosecuted for studying it. and could
meet only in secret?
Is it any wonder that the men who
began afresh to study the Bible, but
who had their minds tinctured with
the creeds of centuries, were consider
ably handicapped? Is it any wonder if
some of their conceptions Of correct
Bible Interpretation were rude and
crude? Have not our various Protes-
tant denominations marked fresh en-
deavors to get nearer to the light?
Now as we are in the dawning of the
New Dispensation, and God is lifting
the veil of ignorance In general, is it
any wonder that we can see the true
teachings of the Bible more clearly
than did our forefathers? Surely it is
what we might expect, as well as what
the Bible distinctly declares: "rhe
mystery of God shall be finished
which He has kept secret from the
foundation of the world
The Difficulty at Present.
1t seems sad indeed that now, in the
dawning of the New Era, and Its
clearer light on the Bible as well
as upon all things, so few Chris
tan people should be prepared to
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