They Will Not Endure

They Will Not Endure Sound Doctrine

by Gilbert Beebe

Signs of the Times- October 1, 1856

[The following article by Old School Baptist preacher regarding the apostasy he saw in his day. Although we are in substantial agreement with Elder Beebe we would not limited it to those he applies it to. He was dealing with a specific area of declension in his day and was primarily concerned with that specific problem. Since we believe that that particular area of departure is the reason for many today denying fundamental truths we deem this article to be of vast importance today.]

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2Tim 4:3-4
The apostle Paul, and all the apostles, were inspired by the Holy Ghost, and thereby duly qualified to give such instructions to Timothy, and to all other gospel ministers and gospel saints, as they were then, or ever should be in need of. Without the immediate inspiration of God, they could not have predicted the things which should come to pass in subsequent ages, both in reference to the church of God, and the development of the man of sin. In reference to the manifestation of that wicked spirit which was to be developed, Paul had already informed Timothy in the first epistle, (4:13), that the Spirit had spoken expressly on that subject, saying, "Expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils"; and the Spirit had with equal clearness expressly spoken of the lies they should tell, the hypocrisy they should practice, what should be the state of their consciences, what heresies they should utter, and what restrictions they should lay upon the church. Now, in closing this second and last epistle, when he was ready to be offered, and the time of his departure was at hand, in his valedictory charge, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead, repeats to him the admonition to "preach the Word," and that constantly; and the admonition is enforced by reminding him of what the Spirit had expressly said, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine- The time specified, is the time which God had appointed, until which time the man of Sin could not be manifested. "And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way: and then, [at that time] shall that wicked be revealed," The time is expressly declared by the Spirit, as the last time. All the powers of darkness could not anticipate the time which God had determined on for the fulfillment of these important events, nor could all the efforts, devices, good works or bad works, of saints or sinners, postpone that development one hour or one moment beyond the appointed time.
Some very conscientious and good brethren have seemed afraid to admit that God has set the bounds of wickedness of men and of devils, so that they have no power to change them; but we would ask such brethren whether the Spirit would speak to us of things which it would be wrong for us to believe? Would the Spirit tell us expressly, things which we ought not to know? Has not the Spirit told us expressly that wicked shall be revealed in his time, and that God withholdeth it until its time, and has pledged his word that it shall in its time be revealed? Read the Scriptures on this subject, and then ask yourselves, Could the beast with seven heads and ten horns, have risen up out of the sea before the great red dragon had been manifested? Or could the second beast have preceded the first? Or could the image of the beast have anticipated any of its predecessors? If they could not, it was because God had ordered things as they came to pass, Even so, likewise the apostasy predicted in our text, has its time fixed. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine." But who are they that will not endure sound doctrine? Some have supposed that this could not mean Christians, and that it must mean the world or antichrist. But when, we ask, has the world or antichrist ever endured sound doctrine? Did the world, the Jews or pagans, endure the sound doctrine set forth by Christ and his apostles, in their days? Did the carnal Israelites endure the sound doctrine that was reported to them by the prophets? Which of them did they not slay? The truth has, in all times since sin entered the world, been opposed by the world, and by all unconverted men. We cannot therefore suppose that the Spirit spake thus expressly of a time when nothing unusual was to be revealed. These non-endurers of sound doctrine are marked as apostates, thus, "Some shall depart from the faith." We do not understand that these apostates are the children of God, born of the Spirit, or that they ever possessed the vital principles of faith in their hearts. But we do contend that they are those who have professed the faith of the gospel, and have been held in the fellowship of the church of God, otherwise they could not depart from what they never professed to hold. Christ has said, "Every plant that my Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." And again, "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away." Thus signifying that all who enter not in by the door into the sheepfold, or church, are thieves and robbers, and all who come in without his grace, shall he cast out without his favor. These things began to develop in the apostolic age, and John speaks of some who went out from us, that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us. So in those events which are traced in the revelations made to John on Patmos, there were times signified in which the world rushed into the church nominally, but they could not endure the sound doctrine of the gospel, for they had neither ears to hear, nor hearts to understand or love it. Whatever direct allusion our text has to the times of the apocalyptic beasts, or false prophet, we feel justified by the words "last times" in the context, in applying the prophecy to the present time, including the last forty or fifty years, We do not feel. sufficiently liberal to apply this subject to the various Protestant or Catholic denominations, *by which the church of God has been surrounded in ages past, for we do not believe they, or any of them, ever did, or ever could, depart from the faith of the gospel, for they never, any of them, strictly speaking, held it, and they could not depart from what they never professed to hold.
*We speak of the as denominations; Christ has but one church on the earth. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism." Eph.4:4-5. We freely admit and fully believe that as there have been many nominally connected with the church of Christ, who were not children of God, not born of God, not taught by his Spirit, so there have been many of God's children nominally connected with the various branches of antichrist, but so long as they remain there, they are living in disobedience to their Lord and Master; and, by that order of discipline which he has established in his church, we cannot extend our fellowship to them, as long as they continue to rank and file with the enemies. "What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."-2 Cor. vi. 17, 18.
Within the space of the last half century, the prophecy of our text has been manifestly realized in the Baptist Church, which, as a church, is the only organization that has ever stood on the foundation of the apostles. Many in this last time have departed from the faith, and in their apostasy have demonstrated that they could not endure sound doctrine. Those who are now denominated New School, or Missionary Baptists, or at least those churches who took that ground at the time of the division, once professed to hold the faith which we now hold. The same articles substantially, which were held by us before the separation, are held by us now, but these prominent sentiments which have distinguished the church of Christ from the apostles' days, and which they professed to hold once in common with us, they have now departed from, and do now wantonly repudiate them. They are, therefore, very manifestly embraced in the prediction of the text, as having departed from the faith. We challenge the world to point us to a single church or congregation of them who can at this day endure the sound doctrine which in all former ages characterized the Baptists, from the time of John Neither Old School-Baptists nor New School Baptists, will deny -either of the following propositions namely: first, that we were once all included in one religious denomination, and all professed the same faith and order. Second, that we are now very widely apart, that we do not all hold the same faith and order, and therefore one party or the other, or both, have departed from the faith which we all once professed to hold.
Now, as it is not very likely that either party will admit that they have so departed, but as each charges the other with having departed from the faith, we have but one alternative for the settlement of our respective claims-to the word and to the testimony. What does the Spirit expressly say, by the mouth of the inspired Paul, shall be the distinguishing marks or characteristics of those who in the last times will not endure sound doctrine? And with which party are these marks and characteristics found? Will any sane man who has any knowledge of the Old School Baptists, say that we have, since the division, after our own lusts, heaped to ourselves teachers? Will the New School Baptists themselves so charge us? So far from it, they have continually thrown it in our teeth, that instead of having heaps of teachers, that we have but very few, and they have been predicting that in a few years we shall have none. Some of them have exultingly said they expected to live to see the last of the Old School preachers buried. If, then, we have no such heaps of teachers, it cannot be that we are the party who are advertised in the holy Scriptures as having heaped to ourselves teachers.
Again, who will charge that the Old School Baptists have itching ears, leading them to lust after heaps of teachers, and evincing such lusts and such itching, by running after all the new doctrines and institutions of the age? Is it not proverbial that the Old School Baptists are behind the age? That they are an anti-effort, unprogressive people, and more than five hundred years behind the improvements of the age in which we live?
Once more! Will any one say that what preachers we have, have been raised up by any effort of ours? That we have number of our minister? Do our teachers or ministers, show so much of the wisdom and polish of this world, as to give any just grounds to suspect that they have been called, qualified or brought into the work the agency of men? No rational man who has any knowledge of us believes any such thing. The marks, therefore, which are to identify and distinguish the class of apostates in our text, cannot apply to the Old School Baptists. Nor can it be said in truth, of Old School Baptists, that they are turned away from the truth, turned unto fables. We have been constantly charged with obstinancy, for so pertinaciously adhering to the Scriptures, as our only standard and rule of faith and practice. Our refusal to depart from the Bible as our standard of morality and religion, and to unite in the various schemes of the age for reforming society' reclaiming drunkards, converting sinners, and evangelizing the world, has brought down on us such epithets as Hardshells, Iron Jackets, and a profusion of titles indicative of anything but a readiness to turn away from what we hold to be the truth, and of being allured by fables. Flatteries and frowns alike have failed to draw the Old School Baptists from the Bible as their standard, We could mention cases where flattering titles of presidents, vicepresidents and directorships in popular, humanly devised religious societies, and lucrative missionary appointments, have been tendered, as a bait to draw some of our number from their steadfastness in the faith, and other instances could be particularized where proscription, reproach and calumny, have also been employed for the same purpose, but all in vain. How then can any of the marks which divine revelation has fixed on the apostates, described in our text, apply to the Old School Baptists?
As these marks cannot be found on the Old School Baptists, they cannot be the people who have departed from the faith, or who cannot endure sound doctrine. We will now proceed to show that the New School or Missionary Baptists have them all as plainly stamped on them as was the mark which was set on Cain, and as indelibly written as were the words, "Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother of Harlots," &c., on the forehead of the woman that John saw sitting upon the scarlet-colored beast (Rev.17:5.)
The Mission Baptists who have gone out from us, have very clearly demonstrated that they cannot endure sound doctrine, not only by going out from us, on account of our holding sound doctrine, but also by heaping to themselves teachers. Their ears have itched for such doctrines as would make them popular in the eyes of the world, and give them a place and respectability with the worldly religionists of the age. This appears from their pleading the necessity of Theological schools, colleges and universities, for training young men for the ministry, because other religious denominations around them have such worldly institutions for that purpose, and lest they should thereby draw all the learned, wealthy, and influential, into their societies. This itching for popularity has shown a lack of confidence in God to raise up suitable teachers for them, or a sufficient supply to compete successfully with other denominations. The instruction of the King of Zion to his disciples, is, to pray the Lord of the harvest to supply laborers for the gospel ministry, but their own lusts have dictated to them to heap teachers to themselves, in defiance of the command of Christ, and in contempt of his authority. They not only prepare for themselves a number corresponding to their congregations, but they heap them, so that they have quantities of them for transportation to foreign lands, and an abundant surplus to be employed as itinerant beggars, colporters, &c., at home. Thus they not only crowd out from their pulpits all such as would offend their delicate itching ears, with sound doctrine, but have troops of them to send forth, like the frogs of Egypt, into all the land, to come up into our houses, our kneading-troughs, and our ovens. Is this picture overdrawn? Are there not hundreds of this heap now, and at all times, lounging about the cities and large towns, waiting for a call, and begging their way along, because they are too lazy to work for an honest living? Will any New School or Missionary Baptist deny that such is the case?
Who can deny that the New Order of Baptists raise up, call, educate and qualify their own teachers? For what other purpose do they organize their State Education Societies, build their colleges, and establish their Theological schools? Their white cravated mendicants are constantly abroad in every neighborhood, soliciting funds and their petitions are spread out before every State legislature, asking for State patronage, to aid them in their work.
Another mark of their apostasy is found upon them: They have turned away their ears from the truth, and are turned unto fables. In no part of the religious world can any be found who are more deadly set against the truth, or who manifest a greater hostility to the very doctrine which they themselves once professed to hold, than do the New Order of Baptists, who are commonly call the New School, or Mission Baptists. Their ears are turned away, and instead of listening to sound doctrine, they are turned to fables.
Webster thus defines the term fable: "l. A feigned story or tale, intended to instruct or amuse; a fictitious narration intended to enforce some useful truth or precept. 2. Fiction in general. 3. An idle story; vicious or vulgar fictions. 4. The plot or connected series of events in an epic or dramatic poem. 5. Falsehood; a softer term for a lie."
Are the New School Baptists turned to fables, as thus defined? Read their publications and the tracts which they have turned to, which they approve, and which they circulate. Read their "Dairyman's Daughter." Their "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and a thousand more of their fabulous stories which have been manufactured to order, and then decide whether these fictitious stories are the sound doctrine of the Bible, or fables.
But, not only in the tracts which they publish and circulate, but in the general ministry of the teachers which they have heaped to themselves, a system of fiction, instead of reality prevails. The sovereignty of God, and the exclusive work of the Spirit, in the quickening and regeneration of men, is denounced, and the power, ability and will of the creature, is extolled. Salvation is by them ascribed to the will and works of men, and the heaven-taught truth of God, that salvation is alone of God by grace, through faith, and that not of the creature, but the gift of God, is by them rejected, and the fictitious doctrine of men, that salvation is effected by the use of means, instrumentalities, and that the gospel, or something else, is the means, and their heaps of teachers are the instruments of saving souls from hell, and of advancing them to heaven is preached instead thereof. They have turned away from the truth of the gospel, to the fiction and fables of the schools, from-the eternal realities which are taught by the word and Spirit of the true and living God, to the vain, delusive, fabulous fictions of their own vain imaginations, and to a teaching for doctrine, the commandments of men.
In conclusion of this long article, in which we have, as we believe, fully proved that all the marks of apostasy given in our text, are legibly written on those who have gone out from the Old School Baptists, and that none of them can be found upon the old apostolic order of Baptists which remain on the old Bible grounds, we would urge upon our brethren the solemn truth, that we have nothing wherein to boast over those who are turned unto fables. God has, as we hope, made us to differ, and all that we have, we have received of him. Let us then rejoice, not that others have fallen, but rather that our names are written in heaven. And let him that standeth take heed lest he fall. May we trust alone in him who is able to keep us from falling, and to give us an inheritance among them that are sanctified.

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL A

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL AND TO WHOM IS IT ADDRESSED?
By Gilbert Beebe
From Signs of the Times -February 15, 1869.

There is, and long has been, much controversy between legalists and the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, not only as to what the gospel is, but also in regard to whom it is or should be addressed. If all the parties engaged in the controversy could understand the scriptural signification of the word, those who are now zealously contending for a universal application of it to all mankind indiscriminately, would desire rather to restrict than to extend its application, as they have ever exerted themselves to suppress its publication. What they call gospel differs very widely from what Christ and the holy apostles proclaimed in the primitive days of the gospel church. Our Redeemer encountered the same class of zealous fanatics, who compassed sea and land to disseminate their false gospel, but a perversion of the gospel of Christ; and exposing and denouncing their hypocrisy charged them with teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men. The voluntary religious institutions originated and enjoined by men without any divine authority from God are now very widely taught and greedily received by graceless men, and such teaching is by them dignified with the name of gospel. Their preachers may entertain conflicting opinions in regard to what is contained in the Scriptures, for the doctrine of the Bible and the laws and institutions of Christ are regarded by them as minor points, while opposite sects can freely unite in opposing the doctrine of Christ, and in the propagation of any or all of the inventions of men. They can and do, with much seeming cordiality, take each other by the hand, and with wonderful reciprocity compliment each other as "truly evangelical," while in truth there are but two points in which they are really agreed among themselves; the one is that salvation is attainable by works, and the other is in denouncing the Old Primitive order of Baptists. As to precisely what works will secure salvation, and by what mode of warfare they should fight the Old Baptists, they may differ widely without interruption of fellowship. What they call gospel may be obtained in any quantity from the schools of men, in which every man is engaged in teaching his brother and neighbor, saying, "Know the Lord." From Infant and Sabbath Schools, and Bible Classes, as well as from Theological Seminaries; from books and tracts, and various other sources, they can procure all of that kind of delusion which they call gospel in indefinite quantities. We would by no means misrepresent them; but we have failed to understand their language, if what they call gospel is not with them an article of commerce. Do they not propose to send it to the heathen; to Burma, Hindostan, and to all the distant islands where they can find a profitable market? They gravely tell us, in a business way, what amount of capital must be invested, what number of men and amount of money, how many ships and seamen must be employed, and how long it will take to supply the world.
What of their falsely called gospel they retain for home consumption, if we may judge from ruling prices, ought to be superior to what they ship to foreign markets, as those who retail it from their pulpits at home frequently amass large sums by this traffic.
To make their false gospel salable, they must, of course, adapt it to the taste of all. Those who have no ears to hear what the Spirit saith to the churches, have no difficulty in hearing the doctrines of men; hence there is a great cry about preaching to sinners. Their doctrine is precisely what unconverted sinners can feast upon; for instead of being told that they are condemned already and the wrath of God abideth on them, they are told that they are probationers, free agents, and have ability to move by their prayers the power that moves the world. Instead of being told that "No man can come to the Father but by Christ," and that "No man can come to Christ except the Father draw him," they are told that they can do a great deal for the Lord. And this is profanely called preaching the gospel to sinners. While with an air of affected superiority, they charge the Old order of Baptists, that we do not preach the gospel to sinners, while they themselves do not preach a word of gospel to saints or sinners. It is not gospel to utter falsehood in the name of the Lord; there is no gospel in telling men what they can and must do, or be damned. To call on dead sinners to repent and believe the gospel implies ability in them to do so, whereas the gospel proclaims that Christ is exalted to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. It is as exclusively the work of our exalted Savior to give repentance as it is to forgive sins, and the dead sinner can no more do the one than the other. True repentance which is unto life and needeth not to be repented of, must proceed from life. If the repentance be spiritual it proceeds from a spiritual source, and must be preceded by the quickening Spirit of God. The sorrow of the world worketh death; but godly sorrow worketh repentance unto life; and to be godly, in distinction from the sorrow of the world, it must come from God, it must be given by the exalted Prince and Savior. Faith is also the gift of God, Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of it, if it be genuine; for it is not the faith of the creature, but it is the faith of the Son of God, and without it no man can please God. Paul says, It is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. To preach the opposite to what the inspired Scriptures teach, is not preaching the gospel to saints, nor to sinners.
But we propose to show how the Scriptures define the word gospel. Compare Isaiah 61:1, with Luke 4:18, and you will see that what is by the prophet called good tidings, is by our Lord rendered gospel, and to prevent any caviling, the good tidings in the prophecy, and the gospel in its fulfillment, are defined to mean, good tidings to the meek - "to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn. To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." Observe who these meek, poor, broken-hearted, prisoners are, and what gospel is preached to them. The Spirit of the Lord God qualifies those on whom it is poured, to follow the blessed Savior in preaching good tidings, or gospel, to the meek; not to the proud, haughty, and self-righteous. It proclaims liberty, not to free agents who were never in bondage, who have all the religion they live for, and could have as much more if they pleased to work for it. The poor broken hearted, helpless prisoner hails with joy the tidings that proclaims his release from prison. But how could the same tidings be joyful, or gospel, to those who are not poor, nor captive, nor broken hearted, nor meek? When Jesus said to the poor dying thief, "This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise," we cannot doubt it was good tidings to him. But would the same words, if spoken to his murderers who were reviling him, been appreciated as gospel tidings? The gospel is discriminating; it finds out the "humbled sinner in whose breast a thousand thoughts revolve." You who complain of the Old Baptists, that we do not preach the gospel to sinners, would you have us, if we meet a band of robbers, pirates or murderers, say to them, in gospel terms, "Fear not, little flock; it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom?" Or to a company of Atheists, "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Jesus?" If this is not what they mean by preaching the gospel to sinners, how far short of this do they come, when they address the most blessed and sacred assurances which Christ gave to the meek, the poor in spirit, the pure in heart, the peace makers, and the persecuted saints, to unconverted sinners, as an inducement to them to "get religion," saying to them, Seek, and ye shall find; Knock, and it shall be opened unto you; Ask, and it shall be given to you? Not one of these gracious promises were ever addressed by our Lord or any minister of his to any but to quickened subjects of his saving grace. Instead then of preaching the gospel to saints or sinners, they pervert the gospel, in attempting to give the children's bread unto dogs, in direct defiance of the special command of Jesus Christ, who positively forbid that that which is holy should be given to the dogs. By their artful misapplication of the Scriptures, they are charged by an apostle with "turning the truth of God into a lie," by making the Scriptures seem to say what they do not say; and so by handling the word of God deceitfully, they not only lead the blind into the ditch, but frequently perplex and worry many of the unsuspecting honest hearted enquirers after truth. We have at this moment a case before us that is in point. An esteemed and dear friend who has long been held in captivity among the New School Baptists, has recently withdrawn from their communion, writes us that there is still one point of difference in which she cannot yet feel satisfied that the Old order of Baptists are right, and that is the point which we are now discussing; namely, that our pastors confine their addresses to the churches, or in other words, do not preach the gospel to sinners, and she refers us to the parable of the king's son as favoring her position, or as being in the way of her accepting the views supposed to be held by us.
Without digression from the theme of this article, we will examine the objection to what is supposed to be our views, and the bearing of the parable upon the subject.
First, we will correct a misapprehension of the position and practice of the ministers of our order. While we believe and preach the gospel, as Christ and his apostles did, wherever a door is open for that purpose, openly addressing our preaching to every one within the sound of our voice, the gospel which we preach discriminates between the living and the dead. It is a savor of life unto life, to those who are quickened by the Holy Ghost, and a savor of death unto death, to them that perish. It is "to the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." And if our preaching is not a savor of death unto death to the ungodly, and a stumbling block to the Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks, and if it be not a savor of life to the quickened, and if it be not to them that are called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, then it is not apostolic preaching. Who ever knew an Old School Baptist to refuse to preach the gospel to any but saints? We cannot search the hearts or try the reins of those to whom we preach; but the word which we preach makes the discrimination; for it is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight; but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Hebrews 4:12,13. The gospel which we preach is good tidings to the meek; but if any part of our audience are not meek, it is not gospel, or good tidings to them. All who have an ear to hear, are more than welcome to hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. But if any have not hearing ears, the preachers cannot supply them; for the hearing ear and understanding heart are of the Lord. The Son of God alone has power to cause the dead to hear his voice and live; for the words which he speaks to them, they are spirit, and they are life. Therefore his sheep hear his voice, and he knows them, and they follow him; for he gives to them eternal life, and they shall never perish. He, and he alone has power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father has given him. All this the Old Baptists preach to every creature. But we do not give the children's bread to any but the children, nor do we give what belongs to the dogs to the children.
But let us examine the parable of the marriage of the king's son. Matthew 22:1-14. Unto whom, and for what purpose was it spoken by our Lord, and why spoken in parable? The context will show that it was addressed to the Jews, including the Pharisees, who were so much enraged on hearing it, that they went and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. See verse 15. As whatsoever God speaks is certain to secure the object for which it is spoken, see Isaiah 55:11. What was accomplished by this parable shows conclusively for what purpose it was spoken. And the reason why he spake to all but his saints in parables, is given in his own words to his disciples, in Luke 8:10. "And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?" Alluding to the parable of a sower, "And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand." We must reject Christ's own explanation of his reason for using parables, or admit that this parable was spoken expressly to discriminate between his disciples to whom was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and all others from whom that gift was withheld, and by the inscrutable purpose of God all but the disciples, in seeing should not see, and hearing should not understand. Instead of his parables being used to elucidate, illustrate, and make the mysteries of the kingdom of God clear and plain to the understanding of the ungodly, they were designed to make them the more obscure, that they might be a stumbling block to the Jews, and folly to the Greeks. "Therefore Jesus rejoiced in spirit, when he said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight." Perhaps our esteemed friend will perceive that neither this nor any other parable, correctly understood, will sustain the position taken, that the address of the ministers of Christ should be indiscriminate. The same gospel preaching which elucidates the mysteries to the saints on whom the heavenly gift is bestowed, involves them in parabolic obscurity to all but such. Still the question may return, What does the parable mean? We have already shown that it was intended like all the parables to baffle the wisdom of the scribes, pharisees and work mongers of that and of all subsequent ages, and bring down their lofty imagination, humble the pride of man, and cause that none should glory, only in the Lord. It was nevertheless full of wholesome instruction to those to whom it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom. The kingdom of God, which in this parable or similitude is compared to a king who made a marriage for his son, embraces Christ and his people in both the legal and then prospective dispensations. The marriage of the king's son represents the public espousal, and marriage of Christ and his bride, the church, which was then about to be consummated, according to prophecy. The oxen and fatlings, representing all the sacrifices under the law, had been killed, and the Bridegroom had come to redeem his bride from under the law, that she might be identified with him in his resurrection from the dead. The marriage festivities, or feast, was now about to be spread, in the opening of the gospel dispensation. The Jews, as a nation or people, had been notified and bidden to the marriage by the prophets, and they had professed to be anxiously awaiting the coming of the Bridegroom and announcement of the feast. "The law and the prophets were until John." John the Baptist had announced the advent of Christ as the Bridegroom, saying, "He that hath the bride, is the Bridegroom; but the friend of the Bridegroom rejoiceth because of the Bridegroom's voice: thus my joy is fulfilled." John's mission was to make ready a people prepared of the Lord. Seventy servants had been sent to announce to the commonwealth of Israel that the feast was prepared; but they were not ready to leave Judaism, nor had they any disposition to embrace Christianity. These servants had been forbidden to go with this proclamation to any but those Jews which had been bidden by the prophets. "Go ye not in the way of the Gentiles," nor into any city, even of the Samaritans were they not to enter, but to go exclusively to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. "But they made light of it." He came to his own, and his own received him not. He grew up among them as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground; he hath no form, nor comeliness; and when they saw him there was no beauty or attraction for them to desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53:1-3. Again other servants, the apostles, were sent out, with the same charge to go only to the Jews which were bidden; but they made no serious matter of it; and they slew the servants. This was literally true of the disciples and apostles which were sent with this message to the Jews; they not only rejected their message, but put the messengers to death. All this preceded the wrath which was brought upon the Jewish nation, when nationally they were destroyed, and Jerusalem and other cities were terribly destroyed.
Then said the king to his servants, or ministers: The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden, the carnal Israelites, were not worthy. The law could make nothing perfect. Their legal self-righteousness was but filthy rags, and would not answer for a wedding garment. They with all their filthy rags, or legal works, were now utterly rejected, and the decree of the king is published, that none of them which were bidden, or to whom the prophets had been sent, should taste of the supper, the gospel feast. And now the servants are sent forth to the Gentiles, who had not been bidden to the feast as were the Jews. Comparing the version of Luke 16 of this same parable with that of Matthew, we perceive that when those who were whole had declined the feast, the servants were instructed to gather from the streets and lanes of Jerusalem, or Israel, the poor, the maimed, the halt and the blind; quite a different description of guests; yet the very description to whom the gospel is good tidings; and of this description there were gathered by the apostles from the secluded lanes and streets of Israel all the original constituent members of the gospel organization. And the apostles reported to their Lord, saying, "It is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room." Poor, helpless, halt and blind sinners who felt their poverty, and had no works or merits of their own to plead, were gathered to the gospel feast; but those of that character called from the Jews did not exhaust the provisions of grace, and the gospel proclamation is by divine command extended to the high-way and hedges of the Gentile world. "Go ye," the ministers of the everlasting gospel, who had received a "Go ye" from their King, "and as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage." Certainly not as many of the self-righteous work-mongers, but as many as they should find of the character already gathered into the marriage, of the poor, lame, broken hearted, helpless and guilt-stricken; bid them welcome, in the name of the King to the marriage. But none others should partake of the feast, as we see how he fared who came in not having on the wedding garment. The broad phylacteries of self-righteous pharisees would not do; the guest must be clothed with garments of salvation, as sinners saved by grace alone, and covered with the robe of Christ's own righteousness, that is the wedding dress; and a profession of religion without it will avail nothing. All who come in without God's grace will be thrust out without his favor.
Again, permit us to ask, What is there in this parable that can be justly construed to favor an indiscriminate address of the gospel ministry to all mankind?
The work of the gospel ministry is very clearly and fully stated in the words of our risen Savior to the apostles immediately before he ascended to heaven. "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." This is a most vitally important introduction to their commission. If there are any sinners who have power to resist his will, or to secure their own salvation, or to prevent their own salvation, then all power in earth is not in him. If ministers have power to save souls, to quicken dead sinners, or to prevent their quickening and salvation, then there is power besides what is vested in him. Or if Theological Schools have power to prepare men for the gospel ministry, or Mission Boards have power to commission men to preach, then that power is not exclusively found in him. The fact is not only in itself important, but it is also important that all who are called by him to the work should know it; for it is upon this very therefore that they are commanded to go. Go ye therefore, or from this consideration. It does not allow the alternative, to them to tarry at home, and send somebody else. "Go ye therefore." And what? "Teach all nations." He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, having all power in both worlds, has a right to send them over every state, territory, and division of the universe; and no king, potentate or ruler of the earth has any legitimate right to forbid, or throw impediments in their way. All nations. The command of Christ is no longer restricted to the Jews; now the middle wall of partition is taken down, and the messengers of Christ are commanded to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. For God has a people in every tribe and nation, and his gospel shall search and find them out, and call them out; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. That is as was understood and practiced by the apostles, baptizing all who gladly receive the word, and who believe with all their heart on the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus by baptism adding them manifestively to the apostles, and to the apostolic church. "Teaching them." They need instruction, and Christ has by his supreme authority authorized this manner of instruction, by and through the diversified gifts which he has received for and given to them. But what are they to teach them? Not the arts and sciences of this world; for in the knowledge of them the ministers of Christ are generally quite limited themselves. But the orders of the King are very plain and definite. "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." No new lessons that Jesus has not commanded the apostles. No progression beyond the commands of Christ. Nothing that he has commanded may be omitted. Nothing that he has not commanded may be added. If any man shall add to the words of the book of this prophecy, or instruction, God shall add to him the plagues written in this book; and if any man shall take from the words of his instructions, he shall be expelled from the church of God, the communion of the saints, and from the privileges of the Holy City, New Jerusalem. But, "Blessed and happy are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs."
We have been the more particular in showing what the gospel is, by whom, and to whom Christ has commanded it be preached, that not only our friend, but all who read may see that very much of what passes currently for gospel at our day, is but the teaching for doctrines the commandments and institutions of men, instead of the all things whatsoever Christ commanded his apostles to teach. In conclusion of this extended article we wish to add a few words in regard to the object and utility of the gospel ministry. The apostle, who is commanded to teach us, defines it thus: "Feed the flock of God, which he has purchased with his own blood." Jesus commanded Peter, saying, Feed my sheep, and feed my lambs. None but the flock of God can feed upon the gospel; none but they can live on every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The beloved disciple and inspired apostle John says, "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world; therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God; he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." I John 4:4-6. Finally, as the sun in the heavens can only be seen in its own light, so the light and glory of the everlasting gospel can only be discerned in its own divine radiance. Until God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shines in our hearts, we cannot comprehend the light of the knowledge of the glory of God shining in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Please direct your comments to Ken Hurst

Evangelical Preachin

Evangelical Preaching
Arthur W. Pink

The question which is before us for consideration and (attempted) elucidation really concerns the preacher's efforts to "win souls" (Prov. 11:30), and as to how far the Word warrants him going towards the realization of his longings to see sinners converted under his ministry. And here, it seems to the writer, there are two extremes to be guarded against. On the one hand, we believe those preachers come short of discharging their duties who rest content with simply setting forth in an abstract and impersonal way what are termed "the Doctrines of Grace'. To say, "I have faithfully declared all the counsel of God and now I must leave results with him", sounds very pious, but it leaves the way open for several serious questions. It is perfectly true that "results" rest entirely with God, for he alone "giveth the increase' (1 Cor. 3:7). But, have we declared all the counsel of God when we have fully expounded the "five points" of Calvinism? We think not. The preacher is something more than a human gramophone, mechanically repeating a scriptural formula.
Of the forerunner of Christ it is said that he was "A burning and a shining light" (John 5:3). He was "the voice of one crying in the wilderness". No correct but cold formalist was he. Of our Saviour it is recorded that he wept over Jerusalem because her children would not come to him. No heartless fatalist was he. The great apostle to the Gentiles wrote, "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Cor. 5:11). Do you do this, brother preacher? Query: Were Paul on earth today saying, "We persuade men" would his orthodoxy be suspected? Again; he announced, "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray (plead) you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:20). Do these methods characterize our evangelical ministrations? Surely we all have need to pray earnestly for more devotion to Christ, more love for souls, more fervour and power in preaching the gospel.

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The Call Of Abraham

Gen. XV. 1. After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

“The word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision; Christ the essential Word appeared unto Abram in a human form, visible to him, and with an articulate voice spake unto him: saying, fear not, Abram; calling him by his name, to encourage him and dissipate his fears: I am thy shield; to protect him against all enemies, as Christ is the shield of His people against all their enemies, sin, Satan, and the world, which being held up by the hand of faith, called therefore the shield of faith, is a security against them: and thy exceeding great reward; he himself would be his reward, which is a great one, an exceeding great one, as Christ is to his people, in person, offices of grace, all being theirs, and he in all to them; all the blessings of grace and glory come along with him, and he being their portion here and hereafter, to all eternity; for since he is all things, all are theirs, all things appertaining to life and godliness, and eternal life itself.”

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The Call Of Abraham

Gen XIV. “This chapter gives an account of a war that was waged, and a battle fought, between four kings on one side, and five on the other, and of the occasion and issue of it; who were the first kings, and this the first battle the Scriptures speak of, verses 1-11. Lot and his goods being taken and carried off with those of Sodom, by the conqueror, Abram hearing of it armed his men and pursued after them, and overtook and overthrew them, and rescued lot and his goods with others and returned, verses 12-16; he was met by the king of Sodom, and Salem, who congratulated him on his victory, verses 17, 18,19.” “Abram had the land of Canaan by promise, and now conquest of it over the invaders of it; Melchizidek, sensible of his right unto it, brings forth the best fruits of it, and tenders them to him. In this Melchizidek was a type of Christ, who comforts and refreshes his hungry and weary people with himself, the bread of life, and with the wine of his love, as well as his name and title agree with him, who is a righteous King, and Prince of Peace, Jer xx Ill. 5:lsa. lx. 6: .and he was the priest of the most high God; a priest as well as a king; and in this he was a type of Christ in his kingly and priestly offices, who is both King and Priest, Zeck. VI. 13. Melchizidek was a priest of the true and living God, who is above all gods, dwells in the highest heaven, and Is the Most High over all the earth; by him he was called to this office, Invested with it and ministered to him in It.” To Be Continued

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The Call Of Abraham

Gen. XIII. “This chapter gives an account of the return of Abram from Egypt to the land of Canaan, and to the same place in it he had been before, verses 1-4; and of a strife between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot, and the occasion of it, verses 5, 6, 7; which was composed by the prudent proposal of Abram, verses 8, 9; upon which they parted; Abram continued in Canaan, and Lot chose the plain of Jordan, and dwelt in Sodom, a place infamous for wickedness, verses 10- 13; after which the Lord renewed to Abram the grant of the land of Canaan, to him and his seed. Verses 14-17; and then he removed to the plain of Mamre in Hebron, and there set up the worship of God.”

Gen. XIII. 14. And the Lord said unto Abram. after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:

Gen. XIII. 15. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.

“Not only so much of it as his eye could reach, but all of it, as far as it went, and which way soever he looked; and this he gave him to sojourn in now where he pleased. and for his posterity to dwell in hereafter; he gave him the title new, and to them the possession of it for future times: and to thy seed forever: the meaning is, that he gave it to his posterity, to be enjoyed by them until the Messiah came, when a new world would begin; and which Abram in person shall enjoy, with all his spiritual seed, after the resurrection, when that part of the earth will be renewed, as well as the rest; and when particularly Christ will make his appearance and residence, Matt. XXII. 32. This may be typical of the heavenly Canaan given to Abram and all his spiritual seed, and which shall be enjoyed by them forevermore.”

Gen. XIII. 16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

“An hyperbolical expression, denoting the great multitude of Abram’s posterity, as they were in the days of Solomon, and as they will be in the latter day; especially as this may respect all the spiritual seed of Abram, Jews and Gentiles, as they will be in the spiritual reign of Christ, Hos. 1.10, 11; so if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy, seed be numbered. Numb. XXIII. 10.”

Gen. XIII. 17 Arise, walk through the land, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

Gen. XIII. 18. Then Abram removed his tent, and came, and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.
To Be Continued

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THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

Gen. XII. 1. Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and.from thy father’s house, unto a land I will show thee.

“In Ur of the Chaldee, before he came and dwelt in Chevron, as seems from Acts VII. 2; and the Lord said unto Abram; after the death of Terah, and indeed it is highly probable there were two appearances of God to Abram, and that the same words, or very nearly the same, were spoken to him each time, first in Ur of the Chaldees, and then in Haran: Get thee out of thy country; the land of Chaldees and the city of Ur, which was in it, or out of Mesopotamia, which when taken in a large sense were both Ur and Haran; this country was now become idolatrous. Though it was first inhabited and peopled by the posterity of Shem in the time of Arphaxad, yet these in process of time, degenerated from the true religion and fell into idolatry. The same, Maimonides call Zabaeans, in whose faith and religion they say Abram was brought up; they asserted that there was no other God, but the sun, moon and stars; and these Zabaeans, as he relates, from their books and annals, say of Abram themselves, that he was educated in Cuthia and descended from the common people; and assented that, besides the Sun there was another Creator; to whom they objected, and disputes arose among them on this subject; now Abram, being convinced of idolatry, is called out from those people, and to have no fellowship with them; literally, in the Hebrew text, go thee out of thy country; quit all society with such an idolatrous and superstitious people: and from thy kindred; as Nahor his brother, and his family, who are not mentioned, and seems to be left behind when Terah, Abram, Lot and Sarai, came out of Ur, of the Chaldees, though it looks as if afterwards Nahor did follow them to Haran, or PadanAram, where he continued, and therefore is called his city; Gen. XXIV. 10; XXV. 20; XXVIII. 2,5, 10; XXIX. 4, 5; so with great propriety Abram might be called the second time to leave his kindred as well his country; it is certain, Haran, or Padan-Aram, as well as Ur of the Chaldees, is called by himself his country and Nahor and his family and his kindred, Gen; XXIV. 4: and from thy father’s house; or family, which better agrees with the second call at Haran, than the first at Ur, for upon the first call Terah and his family came along with Abram. Terah dying at Haran his family went no further, but continued there with Nahor; only Abram and Lot, upon the second call, went from thence as the following history makes it appear; Abram left as he was bid, his father’s house and family, to go as follows: unto a land I will show you; meaning the land of Canaan, though not mentioned, and seems to be omitted for the trial of Abram’s faith; hence the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, XX. 8, observes that he obeyed, not knowing whither he went; and yet it is said, that he and Terah came out of Ur of the Chaldees; Gen. Xl. 31; and when he and Lot, when first from Haran, the same is said of them, v, 5; it is probable the case was this: there was no mention made at first, what land he was to go to, and when he prepared for the journey, he knew not where he was to go, but afterwards it was revealed to him, that Canaan was the land, and therefore set out in order to go thither; and still though he might know the place by name where he was to go, he might not know the way to it, nor what sort of country it was; therefore God promised to show him the way, and give him a view of it, how large it was, that he might see what sort of country it was, and how large it was that he would give his posterity. This call of Abram is an emblem of the call of men by the grace of God, out of the world, and from among the men of it, and to renounce the things of it, and not to be conformed unto it, and to leave their own people and father’s house and follow him whithersoever he directs them.” To Be contimued

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THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

Gen. XII. 2. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name, great; and thou shalt be a blessing.

“And I will make of thee a great nation; in a literal sense, as the people of the Jews were that descended from him, and in a spiritual sense, believers in all ages and of all nations, that walk in the steps of the faith of Abram, who are his children, and are blessed with him: and I will bless thee; not only with temporal blessings, but principal with spiritual ones, since Abram in person had no share of the land of Canaan; even with the adoption of children, and friendship with God; with justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ, which blessedness came upon him when uncircumcised with a large measure of faith and every other grace; with sanctification of the Spirit, and with meekness for it: and make thy name great; as it was among the Jews his descendants, who boast of having Abram for their father; and among the several nations of the world; his name is famous in profane history; and is in high esteem with the Mahometans to this day; and especially his name is great and famous and his memory precious among all who have obtained like precious faith with him in every age and every nation: and thou shalt be a blessing; to all that knew him and conversed with him, they received spiritual light and knowledge by his instructions and all who read and heard of his faith and piety, should be encouraged by his example.” To Be contimued

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THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

Gen. Xl. 3. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thy seed shall all families of the earth be blessed.

“All men of all nations, and of all ages, that speak well of him, commend him for His faith and holiness, and tread in his steps; these are blessed with faithful Abraham, Gal. iii. 7,9. And curse him that curseth thee; here is a change of numbers, before the plural, here the singular, denoting, it may be, that many would bless him, and but few would curse him, and that every individual person that did curse him should be cursed; this regards future as well as present times, in every age and of every nation, and disapproves of, or rejects and reproaches Abram’s God, his faith, his religion and his people. And in the shall all the families of the earth be blessed: That is, in his seed, as in Gen. xxii. 18, and which is interpreted of Christ, Act. iii. 25; Gal. iii 8, 16; meaning not every individual of all the families and nations of the earth; but that as many as believed in Christ of all nations are blessed in Him; and whoever are blessed are blessed in him only, and that they are blessed for his sake with all scriptural blessings. Eph. 1: 3 - such as redemption, justification, remission of sins, sanctification, adoption and eternal life.”

Gen XII: 4 - So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

Gen. XII. 5. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. To Be contimued

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THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

Gen. XII. 6. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

Gen. XII. 7. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land; and there build me an altar unto the Lord; who appeared unto him.

And the Lord appeared unto Abram; perhaps in human form, so it was the Son of God; for whenever there was any visible appearance of a divine Person, under the former dispensation it seems to be always of the essential Word, that was to be incarnate; and who spake with an audible voice; and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land; the whole of it, inhabited by Canaanites and others; and it was for this end chiefly that Abram was called out of Chaldea into Canaan, to be shown the land, and have the grant of it for his posterity: and there build he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him: byway of gratitude and thankfulness for his kind and gracious appearance, and for the gift of the land of Canaan of his offspring, for on this altar he no doubt sacrificed in a way of thanksgiving, and as Noah did when he came out of the ark.”

Gen. Xl. 8. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Haron the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.

Gen. Xl. 9. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. To Be contimued

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THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

Gen. XI. 10. And there was a famine in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.

“The land of Canaan, which was a very fruitful country, abounding with all kind of provisions usually, but now there was a scarcity of all; which was for the sins of the inhabitants and for the trial of Abram’s faith, who was brought out of his own country, where was bread enough and to spare, into one in which there was a famine; and this might be a temptation to Abram to return from whence he came, and to despise the country that was given him: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; not to dwell there, only till the famine was over, and rightly is he said to go down to Egypt, since that lay lower than the land of Canaan; and his going only to sojourn, with an intention to return again to Canaan, which shows the strength of his faith in the promise. For the famine was grievous in the land; in the land of Canaan, and perhaps no where else; God ordering It so in his wise providence, that there should be plenty of food In one land, when there was scarcity in another; that countries may be helpful to one another.”

Gen. XII. 11. And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold, I now know that thou art a fair woman to look upon.

Gen. XII. 12. Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife; and they will kill me, but they will Save thee alive. To Be contimued

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THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

Gen. XII. 13. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee.

“Which though it was not putting a direct lie into her mouth, she being his sister in some sense, as appears from Gen. xx. 12, yet; it was done to conceal truth, and deceive the Egyptians; and tended to endanger his wife’s chastity, as well as showed great timourousness in him, and distrust of the divine care and protection of them, and upon the whole it must be criminal in him, and shows that the best of men are liable to sin, and the strongest believer to fall, and, and that a saint may fail in the exercise of that grace for which he is most eminent as Abram was for his faith, and yet fell into unbelief, and through that into other sins.”

Gen. Xl. 115. The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

Gen. XII. 17. And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, because of Sarai Abram’s wife.

“Perhaps with the same sort of plagues, he plagued Abimelech and his servants with on a like account, Gen. XX. 17, 18. The Jews say they were smitten with ulcers; not only Pharaoh was plagued but they of his house also, his courtiers and servants, who were accessary to the bringing of Sarai into his house; all this was, because of Sarai Abram’s wife; or upon the word of Sarai as it may be literally rendered.”

Gen. XII. 18. And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, what is this that thou hast done unto me? Why didst thou net tell me she was thy wife?

Gen. XII. 19. Why sadist thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her and go thy way. To be Continued

NOT BY SUCCESSION

NOT BY SUCCESSION BUT
BY WHO ARE CALLED

Since the apostles of the Lamb have finished their course with us in the flesh, no history of the church of God should be allowed to lure us from the doctrine which they taught, the judgments they recorded, the ordinances they have enjoined; nothing is to be added nor aught diminished from the perfect standard of faith and order they established, which is confirmed by all the valid authority of earth and heaven. What they have bound on earth is bound in heaven, and what they have loosed on earth is loosed in heaven. The question with us now is not or should not be: What was believed or practiced in the church one hundred or a thousand years ago, but rather, what was the faith which was once delivered to the saints? We are not now to ask: Are our ministers by succession of ordination, through the dark ages of papal abominations – traceable to the apostles? But rather let it be asked: Are they such men as the Holy Ghost commanded the church to separate to the work whereunto He had called them?

- Gilbert Beebe, 1800-1881

A GREAT DECEPTION

A GREAT DECEPTION
Arthur W. Pink

One of the most popular beliefs of the day is that God loves everybody, and the very fact that it is so popular with all classes ought to be enough to arouse the suspicions of those who are subject to the Word of Truth. God's love towards all His creatures is the favorite tenet of Universalists, Unitarians, Theosophists, Christian Scientists, Spiritualists, Russellites, etc. . . . So widely has this dogma been proclaimed, and so comforting it is to the heart which is at enmity with God, we have little hope of convincing many of their error.
To tell the Christ-rejecter that God loves him is to cauterize his conscience as well as to afford him a sense of security in his sins. The fact is, the love of God is a truth for the saints only, and to present it to the enemies of God is to take the children's bread and to cast it to the dogs.
    

Dear Mr Phillips I r

Dear Mr. Phillips, I recently emailed Tom Adams with a question about your critique of "missionism" and he recommended that I contact you directly. Could you briefly explain what you mean by missionism and what alternative you are proposing for the advance of the Gospel.Many thanks,

Dear Friend,
  I thank you for your inquiry, and will try to answer you as best I can. It seems obvious to me,(yet maybe not to you) that the question itself indicates how vastly far apart our thinking on this subject is, and therefore the more difficult to answer adequately for you. So to preface my remarks, I quickly prefix this statement: I, and a very small number of churches, still believe as all Baptists' articles of faith state, that "We believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God and the ONLY RULE of both FAITH and PRACTICE." As you can imagine, that greatly LIMITS both our doctrinal beliefs as well as what we do to what we literally find in the New Testament. Hence, we must be greatly at odds with modern "Christianity," which changes as a chameleon from decade to decade, with each denomination attempting to out-do the other in the art of proselytizing. They are, in sociologically terms, "dynamic societies, and “while we remain rather” static societies"; they are "open" societies, while we are "closed" societies. The New Testament binds a true believer to historical Christianity, while innovative Christianity frees its members from Biblical and moral restraints. Having prefaced that, I now answer your question as carefully as I can.
  We object to the whole framework of missionism, not merely some aspects of it. It is a very subtle system. Look at its development. First introduced among Baptists by Andrew Fuller, who introduced the theory that Christ death was "sufficient for all mankind, but efficient for the elect only," among Particular Baptists in England, it rapidly developed after 1782. He recruited William Carey, a "General Baptist" to volunteer as a "missionary to India." Carey had no faith that God would care for him, and extracted a promise from Fuller that Fuller would "hold the rope" for him, using the analogy of "going down into a dark pit." Fuller quickly tired of "holding the rope", and decided to get others and a more permanent body to hold the rope. He instituted the first "Missionary Society" among Particular Baptists to support a "General Baptist" to India. This young zealous General Baptist was also a socialist, which movement was just beginning among liberal Rationalists in Europe. Carey organized the first "missionary" station in India, and was the organizer of the first communist society in India.
  In America, the Philadelphia Association resisted the movement at first, but within a decade the association's leadership had embraced it. In 1813, it transformed itself into the first nation-wide "Mission" society among Particular or Regular Baptists in North America. Between 1813 and 1820, it steadily grew, not without our opposition. In 1820 it called upon Baptists churches to form State Baptist Conventions, which it then controlled loosely. It had Baptist associations busy forming State Missionary Conventions; and at the same time it organized State Missionary Baptist Conventions itself, as well as organized Missionary Baptist Associations within the bounds of non-missionary associations. (Both types of these Missionary organizations still exist together, some side-by-side.) It introduced Sunday Schools, beginning in 1820 (Raikes, a friend of Fuller, organized the first in Kittering, England in 1780); Modern entertainment, with choirs, instrumental music, soloists, and revival enthusiastics rapidly grew. Today, the system enslaves its hired ministers in such a financial bondage that only God can deliver them from it. Large numbers of ministers know the truth of the gospel, but dare not preach it. Also, today, large numbers do know the truth and do dare to preach it, and invariably they are expelled from the system to protect itself from the truth. Within the past three years here in my own county, five Southern Baptist "Calvinists" have been run off by the Director of Missions, whose job it is to see that everything runs according to plan - smoothly.
  As strict Bible believers, we still believe that we should propagate the truth exactly as we find that pattern in the New Testament. We find no super church; no mission societies; no Sunday Schools as nurseries for the "church," no carnal entertainment to draw crowds; nor the host of offices designed to "get them coming and keep them busy." The New Testament Church is much simpler than what we see today in missionism's productions.
  In the New Testament, "they that were scattered abroad WENT every where preaching the Word." (Acts 8:4) The commission given to the apostles, and which ministers ever since have claimed to themselves, is to "GO YE into all nations." Matthew 28: 18, it is noteworthy that they did NOT understand that commission to say "SEND YE". As they traveled, and as they "ordained them elders in every church," they "prayed with fasting, and they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed." Acts 14:22-23.
  As they ministered to the Lord, and "fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabus and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." Acts 13:3. God Himself directed the preaching of the gospel; not the churches, associations, nor mission societies.
  To illustrate the above, when Paul and Barnabas would go into Asia, "they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia." When they "attempted to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not." When the Lord would have them go into Macedonia, He showed Paul a man there praying that he should go there, "we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to go preach the gospel unto them." That is a far cry from what we see being done by evangelistic enterprises today. If, and I say, IF, the gospel saves souls, it is high time those who think so, ought to be preaching it. But it is evident, that they dare not do so for their fear of persecution or loss of livelihood. Most do not know what the gospel is; but a few do, and these are fearful to open their mouths boldly in public. So the people of God starve while they feed their own bellies as hireling shepherds.
  The Philadelphia Minutes from 1707 - 1807 is now back in print. I highly recommend you buy it. You will find them repeatedly praying and fasting that God would send an "effusion of His Spirit" and revival among their bounds. You will find them expressly rejoicing when words came to them of a Spirit revival in various parts of the country, and praying for the same visitation among them. Why? Because they believe salvation was wholly "of the Lord." But after they embraced Fullerism, the prayers and fastings ceased. In fact, the actual doctrine of Holy Spirit regeneration was replaced by "gospel regeneration," and moved from a God-centered religion to a man-centered religion. Today, they do not depend on God to save sinners, nor believe that He has. They believe that to be their job, and that they have the ability to do it. We fully take issue with them on every inch of their departure, from doctrine to practice, and from precept to concept. We still travel crisscross this great nation as we always have, and while I'm now 70 years old, monthly, my itinerancy is about 550 miles from east to west of my home; and annually, from 700 miles north to the Gulf of Mexico, and wherever God in His providence cast my lot. And I'm hired by no man! I have no "rope-holding society because I have no faith that God will sustain me" for He has all His ministers throughout all the ages of the gospel. It has worked successfully for 2,000 years, and certainly is no novelty of the past 200!
  Again, the word of God is the only rule of our faith and our practice. What it teaches, we hope to be found faithfully complying; wherein it is silent, we have no reason to presume. It is with a good conscience and purity of heart that we serve Him, and "go every where preaching the Word." May God graciously bless you, my dear enquirer, to see the truth as it is in Christ; reject anything I've written not based upon a "thus saith the Lord," and receive all I've written in a good spirit with which I've attempted to write. Yours in Him, stanleyp@mississippi.
     I presume you would not care if I send this to some others for their edification also? Thanks.          

SOUL

Does man have a soul, or is man a soul? This is a valid question because there are some that believe that man does not have a soul, but that man is a soul. What does the Bible say about this question? The Bible must be the final authority for our belief about this, in fact, those who say that man does not have a soul use the Bible to prove their point. The problem with their system is that they do not use the entire Bible, but use certain parts to try to establish their belief. They use none of the scriptures that teach that man has a soul. The purpose of this article is to prove by the Bible that, MAN IS A SOUL, and that, MAN HAS A SOUL.

MAN IS A SOUL

Genesis 2:7, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Act 2:41, “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”

Acts 2:43, “And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.”

Romans 13:1, “LET every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.”

1Corinthians 15:45, “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”

James 5:20, “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”

1Peter 3:20, “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”

MAN HAS A SOUL

Genesis 35:18, “And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.”

Matthew 10:28, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Matthew 26:38, “Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.”

Luke 1:46-47, “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

Luke 2:35, “(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

John 12:27, “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.”

Acts 2:27, “Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”

1Thessalonians 5:23, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

3John 2, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

There can be no doubt; the scriptures show us that not only is man a soul (a conscious being), but that man has a soul as well. According to 1Thessalonians 5:23 man is made up of spirit, body, and soul.

W. R. Daniels Jr.

When God Looks Upon

When God Looks Upon Mankind What does He See?

Introduction: When we deal with God and His Gospel, the first point is to understand what His Word teaches about our standing before Him. When God looks upon man, in the present condition, since the sin and fall of Adam and Eve, what does He see? This question does not concern itself with what men or women see when they look, but what does God see when He looks. What God sees when He looks is called in the science of theology, TOTAL DEPRAVITY and TOTALLY INABILITY. Yes, we believe so and this is what we now want to show.

Definition of Terms: What do we mean by the terms TOTAL DEPRAVITY? These terms teach us that the total, complete and entire human being, in mind, body and soul, is SINFUL before God. This does not mean that man is as sinful as he can be, for God restricts and restrains men even in their sins, Psa. 76:10. But, the meaning is that the entire man, in every part, is sinful before a Holy and Righteous God, and as such, man cannot stand before God directly and without help in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The term is INABILITY. This means all human beings are unable, from birth, by their human nature, to do anything to produce their salvation or to place themselves in a right and saving position before God. Man, by nature, before and without the direct rebirth from God, is unable to help himself or unable to do anything that God will receive. He cannot earn his salvation nor seek after God or find Jesus Christ in a SAVING WAY.

Yes, man is very religious and has invented many steps and ways to try to avoid this awful fact and cover it up, but still does the Bible teach this doctrine? We must deal with man as he is seen by God, for God is the one which Whom we must have to do in the final and complete end. We must find out what God sees when He looks down from heaven to see if there be any that understand and that do seek after Him in their natural condition. Let us ponder these two Bible verses as we study this subject further:

The Foolish shall not stand in thy sight, thou hatest all workers of iniquity, Psalms 5:5.

I would note that He hates the workers, not simply their wicked works. In addition, note,

God judges the righteousness, and is angry with the wicked every day. Psalms 7:11.

The Total, Complete Human Being is Sinful

First, the Total Person Is a Sinner. He is such by nature, in deeds as well as in every important part of his being. As we list the following essential parts of man from the Scriptures, you will be able to see why we say TOTAL sinner. We mean, in all his human nature and parts (I don’t mean physical organs, though they too are contaminated by the sin curse and have death in them).

1) The HEART, “The heart is deceitful ABOVE ALL THINGS, and desperately wicked: who can know it.” Jeremiah 17:9.
2) The HEART is the source of all evil, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murderers, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies.” Matthew 15:19.
3) The UNDERSTANDING is darkened, “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart,” Eph. 4:18.
4) The CONSCIENCE of man is also just as evil, “But unto that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” Titus 1:15.
5) The MIND of man is also just as evil, “But unto them that defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” Titus 1:15.
6) The Spirit of man is dead before God, “And you (the saints), hath he quickened (made alive) who were dead in trespass and sins.” Ephesians 2:1, note here, Paul is not talking about physical death, which comes because of sin, but spiritual death which has already come because of sin.
7) The Will is also so depraved and sinful that no man is willing to come to Christ on his own, “And ye will not come to me that ye might have life.” John 5:40. When some one does come, it is only because God has so worked in that person so that person can both will and do of God’s good pleasure. The end being, they can work out their salvation, with fear and trembling, Phil. 2:11-13. Also, note that while salvation is promised to whosoever will, and to him who comes, how does a sinner possess the will to believe and the will to come to Christ? Is it by His own human nature or because God has worked in it him to respond and believe or come to Christ?
8) Human beings are LED BY THE DEVIL BEFORE THEIR SALVATION, “That they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” 2 Tim. 2:26.
9) Man walks according to the DEVIL AND HIS COURSE. “In times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince (devil) or the power of the air, the spirit (devil) that worketh in the children of disobedience.” Ephesians 2:2.
10) Man’s will is not the power in his own salvation, but God works through his will. Salvation is the result of God’s will working though man’s will, “who were born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:13.

Secondly, The Total Person Is a Sinner From Birth and By Nature, not by the act of human reproduction, but due to the sinful human nature itself which died unto God and became sinful when Adam sinned, Romans 5, Genesis 3 and I Tim. 2. This is a spiritual death, which resulted also in physical death. For an example of the way the Bible uses death in this way, not physical, but spiritual see I Tim. 5:5,6.

1) Human Beings are SINFUL FROM BIRTH, “Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Psalms 51:5. King David was about the last of many children born unto his father and mother, and he did not mean out of wedlock. It is not the act of reproduction here considered, but the state of being into which human beings are born.
2) This even starts from the WOMB, “The wicked are estranged from the WOMB, they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies, “ Psa. 58:3.
3) Human beings have this as their nature, a sinful nature, “Among whom also we all had our manner of live, in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Ephesians 2:3.

Thirdly, the TOTAL HUMAN BEING is unable and unwilling to come to Christ for salvation on His own. No person will seek after Christ before God works on his will, mind and heart to do so. We are not saying that all persons are without religion and even without a form of Christianity, but true Christianity is a supernatural and revealed religion, not a natural religion. What we are dealing is, are those spiritual acts of salvation which men accomplish. How do they do these acts of repenting and believing? That is the issue.

1) Due to pride, sinners will not seek after God, but they will seek after what they can do or invent in the ways of religious steps, acts or worship . . .”The wicked, though the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God, God is not in all his thoughts.” Psa. 10:4.
2) Sinners will NOT SEEK AFTER GOD on their own, “There is none that understands, there is none that seek after God,” Romans 3:11.
3) Sinners will not come to Christ on their own, “Ye will not come to me that ye might have life . . .” John 5:40.
4) Sinners must be drawn to Christ, “No man can come to me, except the Father who haw sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44.
5) God must give sinners the ability to come to Christ, “Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.” John 6:65.

Conclusion: The very first thing in salvation is that God must show a person that he is a sinner, that he cannot help himself, that he is without hope and without God and Christ in this world. This we call the sentence of death within us. This is given to us so that we will not trust in ourselves, but in the Living God who has both raised up the dead and will raise us also.

God, and He alone must bring you to a deep personal sense and awareness of your sins and His condemnation of your sins. If this has not happened, then there is no salvation in our life, there may be religion, but not salvation, Ephesians 2:11-16. You must know by experience what God sees when He looks at you. You must know by experience that without Christ you are nothing. If these things are lacking and never happen to you, then you will die and go into eternal damnation. If you do not know you are a sinner, take your place as a sinner before God, and confess your sins, then you will perish in the fires of never-ending damnation. Only God can bring you to this. You cannot, because you are a sinner. God alone saves sinners by the operation of His own will and grace, though the total and complete saving works of Jesus Christ.

For by Grace are you saved, though faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, least any man should boast, Ephesians 2:8-10. Why? We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind have taken us away. Isaiah 64:6.

Do you realize that you are a poor sinner, realize it and know it by deep personal inward awareness and sensitivity? Do you have a great and terrible sense of your sins before God? Do you know and feel your need of Christ as a Savior? Do you desire to come to Christ and do you desire to confess your sins before God? Then look to Christ and His death, burial and resurrection on your behalf. Here are some words of comfort for such as know they are sinners:

Come now and let us reason together, saith the LORD; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Isa. 1:18;

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heaven laden, and I will give you rest. This is what Jesus said to feeling and knowing sinners in Matthew 11:28.

Experimental Religio

Experimental Religion

But experimental religion cannot be taught or learned as the sciences, or as every description of religion can. "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned."
The religion of Jesus is not a science; but purely a revelation. Flesh and blood did not reveal it to Peter. Paul knew nothing of it but by revelation. "When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." God has hidden these things effectually from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes. It is indeed a distinguishing provision for the New Testament saints that they shall no more teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother to know the Lord. The knowledge of Lord is eternal life. " For this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.", Men may with quite as much propriety undertake to give eternal life to dead sinners, as to give them a knowledge of the true God, and of Jesus Christ; for the one equivalent to the other.
On the whole, a religious education, a constrained, or even voluntary form of godliness may exist where there is no vital relationship to God; where the power and experience of the religion of God is unknown; and what an awful state must that be, where the form of godliness is possessed and the power thereof is denied.
Before we close these remarks, we will observe for the encouragement of some of the trembling lambs of the Redeemer's flock, that the experience of vital religion in the heart is not always attended with an unfaltering and clear evidence of such is the case. We have thought there are no people on earth so exceedingly jealous of the evidences, of their own personal interest in the religion of Jesus, as the children of God are. The reason is obvious; they both see and feel the corruptions of their own natures. Grace has made them sensitive and that which would occasion no pain to a hypocrite, is felt and mourned by an heir of heaven. None can know the experience of vital religion, who does not feel the opposing corruptions of their fleshly nature.
No Christian escapes these trials of their faith. No graceless hypocrite ever experienced these trials.

The very people who

Odd

Odd....The very people who protest against the death penalty are pro-abortion which is murder of an innocent.
The very people who campaign for all to be vegetarians and to spare the animals that we have for food; are pro-abortion or pro-choice which no matter which way you say it; it is murder.
The very people, who ask for mercy for criminals which have repeatedly committed crimes against society; are pro-abortion, or pro-choice, which both equal murder.

Debra Hurst

Be anxious for nothi

"Be anxious for nothing"

Arthur W. Pink

Philippians 4:6

Worrying is as definitely forbidden as theft. This needs to be carefully pondered and definitely realized by us, so that we do not excuse it as an innocent "infirmity." The more we are convicted of the sinfulness of anxiety, the sooner are we likely to perceive that it is most dishonoring to God, and "strive against" it (Heb. 12:4). But how are we to "strive against" it?
First, by begging the Holy Spirit to grant us a deeper conviction of its enormity. Second, by making it a subject of special and earnest prayer, that we may be delivered from this evil. Third, by watching its beginning, and as soon as we are conscious of harassment of mind, as soon as we detect the unbelieving thought, lift up our heart to God and ask Him for deliverance from it.
The best antidote for anxiety is frequent meditation upon God’s goodness, power and sufficiency. When the saint can confidently realize "The Lord is My Shepherd," he must draw the conclusion, "I shall not want!" Immediately following our exhortation is, "but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God." Nothing is too big and nothing is too little to spread before and cast upon the Lord. The "with thanksgiving" is most important, yet it is the point at which we most fail. It means that before we receive God’s answer, we thank Him for the same: it is the confidence of the child expecting his Father to be gracious.
"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought (anxious concern) for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:25,33)

1729 Goat Yard Decla

1729 Goat Yard Declaration of Faith

A Declaration of the Faith and Practice of the Church of Christ at Horsely-down,
under the Pastoral Care of Mr. John Gill, &c.

Having been enabled, through divine grace, to give up ourselves to the Lord, and likewise to one another by the will of God; we account it a duty incumbent upon us to make a declaration of our faith and practice, to the honour of Christ, and the glory of his name; knowing, that as with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, so with the mouth confession is made unto salvation--our declaration is as follows:





I. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the word of God, and the only rule of faith and practice.

II. We believe that there is but one only living and true God; that there are three Persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, who are equal in nature, power, and glory; and that the Son and the Holy Ghost are as truly and as properly God as the Father.

III. We believe that, before the world began, God did elect a certain number of men unto everlasting salvation, whom he did predestinate to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, of his own free grace, and according to the good pleasure of his will: and that, in pursuance of this gracious design, he did contrive and make a covenant of grace and peace with his Son Jesus Christ, on the behalf of those persons, wherein a Saviour was appointed, and all spiritual blessings provided for them; as also that their persons, with all their grace and glory, were put into the hands of Christ, and made his care and charge.

IV. We believe that God created the first man, Adam, after his own image, and in his likeness; an upright, holy, and innocent creature, capable of serving and glorifying him; but, he sinning, all his posterity sinned in him, and came short of the glory of God: the guilt of whose sin is imputed, and a corrupt nature derived, to all his offspring, descending from him by ordinary and natural generation: that they are by their first birth carnal and unclean, averse to all that is good, uncapable of doing any and prone to every sin; and are also by nature children of wrath, and under a sentence of condemnation, and so are subject not only to a corporal death, and involved in a moral one, commonly called spiritual, but are also liable to an eternal death, as considered in the first Adam, fallen and sinners; from all which there is no deliverance but by Christ, the second Adam.

V. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, being set up from everlasting as the Mediator of the new covenant, and he, having engaged to be the surety of his people, did, in the fulness of time, really assume human nature, and not before, neither in whole nor in part; his human soul, being a creature, existed not from eternity, but was created and formed in his body by him that forms the spirit of man within him, when that was conceived in the womb of the virgin; and so his human nature consists of a true body and a reasonable soul; both which, together, and at once, the Son of God assumed into union with his divine Person, when made of a woman, and not before; in which nature he really suffered and died as their substitute, in their room and stead, whereby he made all that satisfaction for their sins, which the law and justice of God could require, as well as made way for all those blessings, which are needful for them both for time and eternity.

VI. We believe that that eternal redemption which Christ has obtained, by the shedding of his blood, is special and particular, that is to say, that it was only intentionally designed for the elect of God, and sheep of Christ, who only share the special and peculiar blessings of it.

VII. We believe that the justification of God's elect is only by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, without the consideration of any works of righteousness done by them; and that the full and free pardon of all their sins and transgressions, past, present, and to come, is only through the blood of Christ, according to the riches of his grace.

VIII. We believe that the work of regeneration, conversion, sanctification, and faith, is not an act of man's free will and power, but of the mighty, efficacious, and irresistible grace of God.

IX. We believe that all those who are chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and sanctified by the Spirit, shall certainly and finally persevere, so that not one of them shall ever perish, but shall have everlasting life.

X. We believe that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust; and that Christ will come a second time to judge both quick and dead, when he will take vengeance on the wicked, and introduce his own people into his kingdom and glory, where they shall be for ever with him.

XI. We believe that Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of Christ, to be continued until his second coming; and that the former is absolutely requisite to the latter; that is to say, that those only are to be admitted into the communion of the church, and to participate of all ordinances in it, who upon profession of their faith, have been baptized by immersion, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

XII. We also believe that singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, vocally, is an ordinance of the Gospel to be performed by believers; but that as to time, place, and manner, every one ought to be left to their liberty in using it.

Now all, and each of these doctrines and ordinances, we look upon ourselves under the greatest obligations to embrace, maintain, and defend; believing it to be our duty to stand fast, in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the Gospel.

And whereas we are very sensible, that our conversation, both in the world and in the church, ought to be as becometh the Gospel of Christ, we judge it our incumbent duty to walk in wisdom towards them that are without, to exercise a conscience void of offence towards God and men, by living soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.

And as to our regards to each other, in our church-communion, we esteem it our duty to walk with each other in all humility and brotherly love: to watch over each other's conversation; to stir up one another to love and good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as we have opportunity, to worship God according to his revealed will; and, when the case requires, to warn, rebuke, and admonish one another, according to the rules of the Gospel.

Moreover, we think ourselves obliged to sympathize with each other, in all conditions, both inward and outward, which God, in his providence, may bring us into; as also to bear with one another's weaknesses, failings, and infirmities, and particularly to pray for one another, and that the Gospel and the ordinances thereof might be blessed to the edification and comfort of each other's souls, and for the gathering in of others to Christ, besides those who are already gathered--all which duties we desire to be found in the performance of, through the gracious assistance of the Holy Spirit, whilst we both admire and adore the grace which has given us a place and a name in God's house, better than that of sons and daughters.