New Britain herald., 1917-10-29

of obedience to law no man living will 1 be declared righteous before Him. | Law simply brings sure knowledge 1 of sin. But now a righteousness com- 1 ing from God has been brought to 1 light apart from any law, both law and prophets bearing witness to it.
 righteousness coming from God, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ, and extends to all who believe.'
 Rom. 3:10-12, 1921, Weymouth's 1 translation.
 The Reformation.
 Under the impulsive power of this righteousness of God the infant
 church withstood persecution and turned the world upside down. God the Holy Spirit working through
 them Over against them, dogging
 their footsteps, the Jewish Sanhe- drim who delivered Jesus to be cru
 c1f1ed tried to exterminate them. But
 under their persecution they throve and increased.
 Tt was the degenerate Jewry in
 league with the world system. seeking to destroy Gods system. It was nat
 ufalism versus supernaturalism; mans way versus Gods way.
 And when Gods way could not be silenced by direct attack, Satan was ready with another scheme: he stirred up the Roman emperors to persecute the infant church. The catacombs are the record of this attempt. Blood flowed in rivers. Roman arenas drank the blood of martyrs, while savage lions tore their flesh and man. gled their poor bodies. That. too, failed; and Satan's master stroke fol- lowed: he harnessed the supernat- ural power of the church to the royal chariot of the emperor Constantine, and made Christianity the state re- ligton. Gods way and mans way be- came one; Christianity was swallowed up in the pomp and circumstance of imperial power; churchly hierarchy sprang up; 8 head was given to it, who crowned and uncrowned kings; the supernatural power went out, and Christianity became the head of the world system.
 Then followed a carnival of crime and slaughter. The descendants of the martyrs of the catacombs became the lordly and pitiless prosecutors of their own brethren. Martyrs by the million gave up their lives for al- leg1ance to Gods way. The church became the authority, instead of tho Bible. Men took the place of Christ in forgiving sin. Instead of faith in Calvary's sacrifice, as a means of sal vat1on, infants were regenerated and made Christians by the pouring of water Men went mad with power, and the heart of pity and love went out of them till blood, the blood of their own brethren, seemed the only thing that could appease their mad ness. Then came The Reformation.
 Failure of tho Reformation.
 But the Reformation failed to sep- arate Gods system from the world system. The Bible was restored; that was much. Faith in Christ alone for salvation was restored: that was much. The right of every man to worship as his conscience led him was restored: that was much. The power of the corrupt Christianity, drunk with blood 1 and worldly dominion. was partly 1 broken: that was much
 But Gods way of salvation by re- generation of the individual and re- | nance alone upon supernatural pow | CT, was not fully restored: the church l was left still harnessed to the world l system, dependent largely upon the favor of the world system; therefore courting the favor of the world sys- tenn, Or at least always open to that temptation; and never able to give a clear testimony to the supernatural way of God.
 And to make complete the effort to rob the reformation of its super natural power, Christian ethics with out regeneration were grafted upon the world system, and the church set about the task of making the world @ safe and comfortable and good place for unregenerate men to live in, and went abroad preaching the kingdom of Coda state of unregen- crate people, trying by human effort to counterfeit Christianity by stirring one another up to do good works and so bring in the kingdom. From that abortion of the Reformation the church has stumbled down through the intervening centuries, not knowing what was the matter with it. and 1t does not know today. In every crisis it stirs itself up with exhortations to be more jealous in good works; in- sists that things are improving, that men are growing better: one more long pull and strong pull and we shall land the world in the millennium! And thus 1t stunbles on into the great apostasy; thus it will continue to stumble on, dreaming it's futile dream of world peace and world righteous ness, till Christ appears to wake it from It's sleep upon the knees of the world Delilah. and in the throes of the Great Tribulation 1t will turn to Him again, and shake itself loose from the world system; but 1t will be ;v, ovf1r~ <1@ Av- menians, living in a worldly Chris tianity, when the test comes of apos- tasy or martyrdom of Christ or anti Christ, they will choose Christ and he martyred for their choice. Gods sys- to. ha ,1zorld s1ratarxa will