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RICH RD LIND

2

700 GLENW~Y AVE

ClNClNNATI 4 OHIO

The

·Fundamentals

Testimony

Volume XI

Compliments of

Two Christian Laymen



fUCH~RD UNOAMOOO

2

700 GLENWAY AVE,

;tNCINN A TI , , OHfO

The Fundamentals

Testimony to the Truth

Volume XI

Compliments of

Two Christian Laymen

TESTIMONY PUBLISHING COMPANY

Not Inc .)

808 North La Salle Street

Chicago, Ill., U.S . A.



f

.

''To the Law and to the Testimony

Isaiah 8:20



FOREWOR

There has been 1nuch unavoidable delay in connection with

the issue of this volume · of THE FUNDAMENTALS, olume

XI. This was occasioned by the very serious illness of the

former Executive Secretary of THE FUNDAMENTALS om

mittee. This illness lasted for n1any months, only terminat

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thought wise to put the work in other hands lest he should be

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1

es in the lives of others

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before Him the work of

THE

FuNDAMENTALSnnd of the

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It was the original plan of the Two Laymen who gave the

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THE FuNDAMENTALSnssued: so there remains but one vol

ume to

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issued. Prayer is desired that wisdom may be given

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wide desire is manifested that THE FUNDAMEN

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(See Publishers' Notice, Page 127.)



CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I.

THE BIBLICAL CONCEPTION OF SIN. . . • • • • . • • • • . .

By Rev. Thon1as Whitelaw, M. A., D. D.,

Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland.

II.

AT-ONE-MENT BY PROPITIATION. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

23

. By Dyson Hague,

Vicar of the Church of the Epiphany,

Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

III.

THE GRACE OF Goo. • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • . . • • • • • • • • •

43

By Rev. C. I Scofield, D. D.,

Editor Scofreld Reference Bible.

IV. FULFILLED PROPHECY A POTENT ARGUMENT FOR

THE BIBLE . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

By Arno C. Gaebelein,

Editor Ou r Hope, New York City.

V. THE COMING OF CHRIST.. • . • • • • • • • • • . . • . • • • • • • • 87

By Prof. Charles R. Erdman, D. D.,

Princeton Theological Seminary,

Princeton, New Jersey.

VI. Is

RoMANISM CHRISTIANITY?.. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

100

By T. W. Medhurst,

Glasgow, Scotland.

VII. ROME, THE ANTAGONIST OF THE NATION •••••••• 113

By Rev. J M. Foster,

Boston, Massachusetts.



•

•

•

VOLUME XI

CHAP TER I

·THE , BIB

1

LICAL ,

1

CONCEPTION .OF SIN

BY REV. THOMAS WHI ·TELAW, M.

A.,

D. D.,

KILMARNOCK, A YRS HIRE, SCOT LAND

•

•

Holy Scripture undertakes no demonstration of the reality

of sin. In all its stat

1

ements concerning sin, sin is

pres11pposed

as

a

fact which can

neither

be

1

controv

1

erted nor denied,

neith

1

er challenged ,no

1

r obscured. It is true that some reasoners, ,

throt1.gh false philosophy and materialistic science, refuse to

admit the . exi ,stence of sin,

bt1t

their endeavors to explain it

a,way by

their r

1

espectiv

1

e

theories

isl

suffi

1

c·i

1

ent

proof

that sin

is no

figtt1

ent

of

the imagination

bu·t

a solid reality. Oth

1

ers

who are not thinker .s may sink so far , beneath the p·ower of

sin as to Jo,se all sense of its actuality, their moral an

1

d

spiritual

natures

b1con1ing

so harden

1

d

1

and fossilize.d

a.s

to be past

f

ee ling, ·

in

which case conviction of sin is no more po

1

ssibl

1

e,

or at least so deteriorated and unimp1·essible

th.at

on1y a t ·r,e-

mend ,ous

ttpheaval within their souls,, occasioned perhaps by

sev·ere affliction, but br ,ought about by the inw.ard operation

of the Spirit

of

God, will

br ,eak

up the hard

crust

of

moral

numbness and religious torpot· in which their spirits are en-

cas,ed~ .A th.ird

classl ,of

persons, by

simp]y

declining

to think

about sin, may come in course of tim ·e to· conclud .e that whether

sin be a

reality ,

or no·t, it does n,ot

stand

in

any relation

to

them and

d

oes not concern them in which case once more

they are merel ,y deceiving themselves. The truth is that

it



8

The undamentals

is extremely doubtful whether any intelligent person whose

moral intuitions have not been con1pletely destroyed and whose

mental perceptions have not been largely blunted by indulg-

ence in wickedness, can successfully persuad e himself, at least

permanently, that sin is a myth, an illusion of the mind, a

creature of the imagination, and not a grim reality. Most

men know that sin is in themselves a fact of consciousness they

cannot deny, and in others a fact of observation they cannot

overlook. As Chesterton expresses it, the fact of sin any one

may see in the street: the Bible assumes that any man will

discover it who looks into his own heart.

Accordingly the Bible devotes its efforts to imparting to

mankind reliable knowledge about the nature and universality,

the origin and culpability, but also and especially about the

removableness of sin; and to set forth these in succession will

be the object of the present paper.

I

THE NATURE OF SIN

It scarcely requires stating that modern ideas about sin

receive no countenance from Scripture, which never speaks

about sin as good in the making,'' as the shadow cast by

man's immaturity, as a necessity determined by heredity

and environment, as a stage in the upward development of

a finite being, as a taint adhering to man's corporeal frame,

as a physical disease, a mental infirmity, a constitutional

weakness, and least of all as a figment of the imperfectly

enlightened, or theologically perverted, imagination, but always

as the free act of an intelligent, moral and responsible being

asserting himself against the will of his Maker, the supreme

Ruler of the universe. That will the Bible takes for granted

every person may learn, either from the law written on his

own heart (Rom.

1: 15);

or from the revelation furnished

by

God to mankind, first to the Hebrew Church in the Old

Testament Scriptures, and afterwards to the Christian Church

and through it to the whole world in the N:ew Testament



The

Biblical

Conception

of Sin

Gospels and Epistles. Hence, sin is usually described in the

Sacred Volume by terms that indicate with perfect clearness

its relation to the Divine will or law, and leaves no uncertainty

as to its essential character.

In the Old Testament (Ex. 34: 5, 6; Psa. 32: 1, 2) three

words are used to supply a full definition of sin. ( 1) Trans

gression (pesha'h) or a falling away from God and therefore

a violation of His commandments; with which exposition

John agrees when he says that sin is a transgression of the

law (1 John 3: 4), and Paul when he writes (Rom. 4: 15),

Where no law is, there is no transgression. (2) Sin

( chataah) or a missing of the mark, a coming short of one's

duty, a failure to do what one ought, for which reason the term

is fittingly applied to sins of omission; with which again John

agrees when he states ( 1 John S: 17) that all unrighteousness

[ or defect in righteousness] is sin, or Paul when he affirms

(Rom. 3: 23), that all have sinned and

co1ne short

of the glory

of God, and Christ when He charges the Scribes and Pharisees

with leaving undone the things they ought to have done

(Matt. 23: 23; Luke 11: 42). (3) ''Iniquity ('avon) or a turn

ing aside from the straight path, curving like an arro~,_ hence

perversity, depravity and inequality-a conception which finds

an echo in the words of a later psalmist ( 78: 5) who com

plained that Israel had turned aside from Jehovah like a

deceitful bow, ·and in those of the prophet Isaiah (53: 6) who

confessed that all we like sheep have gone astray, and have

turned every one unto his own way, and in those of his

countryman Hosea (7: 16) who lamented that Israel like a

deceitful bow had returned, but not to t~e Most High. The

words employed in the New Testament to designate sin are

not much,

if

at all, different in meaning-hamartia a failure,

Ia.11·a false step, a blunder; and anomia or lawlessness. Hence

the Biblical conception of sin may be fairly summed up in the

words of the Westminster Confession: Sin is any want of

conformity unto or transgression of the law of God; or in



10

The Fundamentals

those of Melancthon: Pecatum recte definitur >avop la seu

discrepantia a lege Dei, h. e. defectus naturae et actionum pug

nans cum Iege Dei.

II. THE UNI VERSALITY OF SIN

According to the Bible, sin is not a quality or condition of

soul that has reveal ed itself only in exceptional individuals

like notorious offenders-prodigals, profligates, criminals, and

vicious persons generally ; or in exceptional circumstances, as

for instance in the early ages of man's existence on the earth,

or a1nong half developed races, or in lands where the arts and

sciences are unknown, or in civilized co1nmunities where the

local environment is prejudicial to morality; but different from

this sin is a quality or condition of soul which exists in every

child of woman born, and not merely at isolated times but

at all times, and at every stage

of

his career, though not always

manifesting itself in the same forms of thought, feeling, word

and action in every individual or even in the same individual.

It has affected extensively the whole race of man in every

age from the beginning of the world downward, in every land

beneath the sun, in every race into which mankind has been

divided, in every situation in which the individual has found

himself placed; and

int ensively

in every individual in every

department and faculty of his nature, from the circumference

to the center, or from the center to the circumference of his

~ing. .

Scripture utt ers no uncertain sound on the world-embrac

ing character of moral corruption, saying in the pre-diluvian

age of the world that all flesh had corrupted its way upon

the earth ( Gen. 6:

12 ;

in David's generation, that all man

kind had gone aside and becon1e filthy, so that there was

none that did good, no, not one ( Psa.

14:

3) ; in Isaiah's time,

that all we like sheep had gone astray .and turned every one

to his own way ( 53: 6) ; in the opening of the Chri stian era .,

that all had sinned and come short of the glory of God (R om.



The Biblical Concept ion of Sin

11

3: 23) ; and genera lly Solomon's verdict holds poods of every

day, There is no man that sinneth not ( 1 Kings 8: 46) , not

even the best of men who have been born again by the Spirit

and the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, renewed in

their 1ninds and created anew in Christ Jesus. Even of these

one writer says: If we say we have no sin, we deceive our

selves, and the truth is not in us (

1 ]

ohn

1:

8) ; while another

counsels Christians to mortify the deeds of the body, and to

put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceit

ful lusts of the flesh (Rom. 7: 13; Col. 3: 5-10); and a third

asserts that in many th ings we all offend (James 3: 2). How

true this is may be learned from the fact that Scripture

mention s only one person in whom there was no sin, viz.,

]

esus of Nazareth, who not only challenged His contempo

raries ( in particular His enemies) to convict Him of sin, but

of whom those who knew Him most intimately (Hi s disciples)

testified that He did no sin, neither was guile found in His

mouth ( 1 Pet. 2:

22;

1 ]ohn 3 : 5). Of this exception of

course the ex.nlanation was and is that He was God manifest

in thie flesh ( 1 Tim. 3: 16) . But besides Him not a single

person figures on the page of Holy Writ of whom

it

is said

or indeed could have been said that he was sinless. Neither

Enoch nor Noah in the ante-diluvian age; neithe r Abraham

nor Isaac in patriarchal times; neither ·Moses nor Aaron in

the years of the Israelitish wanderings; neither David nor

Jonathan in the days of the undi vided monarchy; neither Peter

nor

]

ohn, neither Barnabas nor Pau l, in the Apostolic age,

could have claimed such a distinction and these were some

of the best men that have ever appeared on thi s planet.

Nor is it merely extensively that the reign of sin over the

human family is univers al, but intensively as well. It is not

a 1nalady which has affected only one part of n1an's complex

constitution: every part thereof has felt its baleful influence.

It has darkened his under stand ing and made him unable, with

out supernatu ral illumination, to apprehend and appreciate



12

The undame ntals

spiritual things. The natural man receiv 'eth not the things

of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because they

are spiritua lly discerned ( 1 Cor. 2 : 14) ; and again, The

Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds, having the under

standing darkened, being alienated from the life of God through

the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their

hearts (Eph. 4: 17, 18). It defiles the heart, so that

'if

left

to itself, it becotnes deceitful above all things and desperate ly

wicked (Jer. 17 : 9), so full of evil (Eccl. 9: 3) and only

evil continually ( Gen. 6: S), that out of it proceed evil

thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications and such like

( Matt. 15: 19), thus proving it to be a veritable cage of un

clean birds. It paralyzes the will,

i

not wholly, at least par

tially, in every case, so that even regenerated souls have often

to complain like Paul that when they would do good evil is

pre sent with them, that they are carnal sold under sin, that

what they would they do not, and wha t they hate th ey do,

that in their flesh, i. e., their sin-polluted natures, dwelleth no

good thing, and that while to will is present with them, how to

perform that which is good they know not (Rom.

7:

14-25).

It dulls the conscience, that vicegerent of God in the soul,

renders it less quick to detect the approach of evil, less prompt

to sound a warning against it and sometimes so dead as to

be past feeling about it (Eph. 4: 19). In short there is not

a faculty of the soul that is not injured by it. Sin when it

is finished bringeth forth death (James 1:5).

III. THE

ORIGIN OF SIN

How a pure being, possessed of those intellectual capacities

and moral intuitions which were needful to make him ju stly

responsible to Divine law, could and did lapse from his primi

tive innocence and fall into sin is one of those dark problems

which philosophers and theologians have vainly endeavored

to solve. No more reliable explanation of sin's entrance into

the universe in general and into this world in particular has



•

•

•

T he B ibli cal Con.ception of Sin

13

ever

bee11

given than that which is

fu ·rnished

by Scripture . .

According to

,Scriptt1re

sin fi.rst made ·its appearance in

the angelic

race,

though nothing

more

is

recorded

than the

simp le fact that th,e angels sinned (2 Pet. 2: 4) and kept not

their first estate ( or principality) but left their own ( or

proper) habitation (Jude 6), their motive or

reason £or do,ing

so ,b

11

eing p,a,ssed

o,ver in

silence. Tl1e obv·,ou,s deduction

is

that

the sin of tl1es,, fa llen s.pirits was a free act on their par ·t,

dictated

b y

dissatis ,fac ,tion

with

the place

wl1i,ch

had

been

as

signed to the1n in the hierarchy of heaven and

by

ambition to

secure for

tl1emselves

a loftier station than that

in

which they

h,ad b

1

een ,placed ,. Yet this does not ans,wer the question h.ow

such ,dissatisfaction ,an,d ambition could arise in

be,ings

that

must be presumed to have ,

been

created sinless. And inas

much as external influence in the shape of tempt ,ation from

·witho ·ttt, by int elligences other than themselves, is by the suppo

siti,o,n

1

excluded, it does, n,ot

appea ·r

that

0

1

ther a,nswer

is

possible

than

that

in

t he

cre:ati

1

011 0

1

f

a

finite personality

en,dowed

with

freedom of will, there is necessarily invo

1

lved the possibility of

making a wrong, in the sense of a sin£ul, choice. ·

In the c,ase of man, however, sin s

,entran ,ce

into the world

. r

1

eceives a so,m

1

ewhat

different

,explanation

fro ,m the

sacred ,

writers. With

One

accord they ascribe the

sin£

ul actions,

words, feelings and thoughts of each individual to his own

deliberate free choice, so that he is thereby with perfect

ju ,stice held

res,ponsible

for his deviation from the path of

moral

re.ctit ·u

1

de; but some ~

f

the inspired

penmen

m:a,ke it

clear

that

the entra11ce, 0

1

£ sin into this

wo,r]d

was , effected

through the

disobedience

of the first man who stood and acted

as the representative and

surety

of his

whole natural

posterity

(Rom. S:

12 ,

and that the first man s fall was brought about

by temptation

from

without, by

the

seductive influence of

Satan, the lord of the fall en sp·irits already men ,tioned, the

prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now

worketh

in the child ren o

£

disobedience (

Gen. 2 :

1-6 ; John ;44 ; 2 Cor,



14 The undamentals

11 : 3;

Eph.

2: 2).

Whatever view may be taken of the origin

and authorship, literary form and documen ,tary source of the

Genesis story of tr1e fall ( on these points this paper does not

enter) its teaching unmi stakably is, to this effect: That the first

man's lapse from a state of innocence entailed disastrous con

sequences upon himself and his descendants. Upon himself

it

wrought immediate disturbanc ·e of his whole nature (a s

already explained), implanting in it the seeds of degeneration,

bodily, mental, moral and spiritual, filling him with fear of

his Maker, laying upon his conscience a burden of guilt, dark

ening his perceptions of right and wrong, ( as was seen in his

unmanly attempt to excuse him self by blaming his wife,) and

interrupting the hitherto peaceful relations which had sub

sisted between himself and the Author of his being. Upon

his descendants

it

opened the floodgates of corruption by

which their natures even from birth feII beneath the power

of evil, as was soon witnessed in the dark tragedy of fratricide

with which the tale of human history began, and in the rapid

spread of violence through the pre-diluvian world.

This is what theologians call the doctrine of Original

Sin,

y

which they mean that the results of Adam's sin, both

legal and moral, have been transmitted to Adam's posterity,

so that now each individual comes into the world, not like

his first father, in a state of moral equilibrium- born good,

as Lord Palmerston of England used to say, or in the words

of Pelagius- born without virtue· and without vice, but capable

of both ( capaces utriusque rei, non pleni nascimur, et sine

virtute ita et sine vitio procreamur), but as the inheritor of a

nature that has been disempowered by sin.

That this doctrine, though frequently opposed, has a basis

in science and philosophy, as well as in Scripture, is becoming

every day more apparent. The scientific law of heredity by

which not only physical but mental and moral characteristics

are transn1itted from parent to child seems to justify the

Scripture statemen t, that by one man's disobedience sin en-



The iblical Conception of Sin 15

tered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed

upon all men, because that all have sinned (Rom. 5: 12). The

following words of the late· Pr incipal Fairbairn in his monu

mental work, The Philosophy of Religio~ (p. 165), go to

support the Scriptural position: Man is to God a whole, a

colossal individual, whose days are centurie s, whose organs

are races, whose being as corporate endures immortal amid

the im1nortality (mortality?) of its constituent units.

Hence there must be a Divine judgment of the race as a

race, as well ,as of the individual as an individual. But in

any case, whether confirmed or contradicted by modern

thought, the doctrine of Scripture shines like a sunbeam, that

man is conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity (Psa. 51: 5),

that children are estranged from the wo1nb and go astray

(Psa. 58: 3 , that all are by nature children of wrath (Eph.

2:

3 ,

that the imagination of man's heart is evil from his

youth (Gen. 8: 21), and that everyone requires to have a

new heart created in him (Psa.

51: 10),

since that which is

born of the flesh is flesh (John 3 : 6), and no man can

bring a clean thing out of an unclean (Job 15: 14). If these

passages do not show that the Bible teaches the doctrine of

original, or transmitted and inherited, sin, it is difficult to

see in what clearer or more emphatic language the doctrine

could have been taught. The truth of the doctrine may be

challenged by those who repudiate the authority of Scripture;

that it is a doctrine of Scripture can hardly be denied.

IV. THE CULPABILITY OF SIN

By

this is meant not merely the blameworthiness of sin

as an act, inexcusable on the part of its perpetrator, who,

being such a personality as he is, endowed with such faculties

as are his, placed under a law so good and holy, just and

spiritual, simple and easy as that prescribed by God, and having

such motives and inducements to keep it as were offered to

him-to the first man and also to his posterity,-ought never



•

•

16 The Fundan rentals

-

to have committed it; nor only the heinous11ess

of

it, as an act

done against light and love bestowe ,d upon the doer of it t

and in flagrant opposition to the holiness

a11d

maje sty

of ·

tl1e

Lawgiver so

tl1at

H,e,. tl1.e Lawgiver ·, cannot b·ut regard it with

abh ,orrence as an act a.bominable . in His sight, and rep

1

el from

His lpresence as well as extrude from His favor the individual

who has

become

chargeable with it;

but

over and abov~ these

representations of s.in which are all Scriptural, by the culpa

bility of sin is intended its exposure

to

the pen.alty affixed by

Divine ju stice to

transgres ,sion.

·That a penalt .Y was affixed by Go,d in the first instance

when man was cr,eate

1

d, the E.den narrative in

1

Gene.sis declares:

The . Lord God ,c.ommande.d the man, saying, Of every

tree

of the garden thou maye .st freely e:at, but o,f the tree of t_he

knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in

the day t hou ea test thereof thou shalt surely die (Gen. 2 : 16) ;

and that this penalty still overhangs the impenitent is not

only distinctly implied in o,ur Saviour s language, that apart

from His redeeming work the world, i. e., ,every individual

ther ·ein, ·was in d,anger .of perishing .and was indee·d already

condemned (Jo

1

hn 3 : 16-18.); but

it

is expressly de.clare,d

by

•

John who sa,ys, that the wrath of

God

abideth on the unbe-

liever

(3:

16),

and

by

Paul

who

asserts

that

the

wages

of

sin is. death ) (Rom. 6:

23).

With

1

out

entering on

the vexed

question

as

to

how far

Adam .s p,osterit .Y are legally responsible for Adam s sin, in

the s

1

ense ·that apart f ro1n

their

own transgre ssions they would

be a.djudged t

1

0 .s,piritual and e.te,r·n.a.l death ., it is manifest that

S.cripture incl.udes in th.e just punishm ,ent of sin more than

the

death

of

the

body.

That this does form

p.art

·Of

s

in s

penalty can hardly be disputed by a careful reader of the

Bible; but equally that that penalty in.eludes what theologians

call spiritual and ete·mal death, Scripture unmistakably im

pliesi When i·t affirms that men are naturally dead in

trespasses and in sins, it obviously purposes to convey the

•



The iblical Conception of Sin

17

idea that until the soul is quickened by Divine grace

it

is

incapable, not of thinking upon the subject of religion, or

reading the Word of God, 01 . of p1·aying, or of exercising

faith, but of doing anything spiritually good or religiously

saving, of securing their legal justification before a Holy God ,

or

of

bringing

,about

their

S1piritual regen ,er,at.ion.

Whe11

Sc.rip

tu~e

furth er

ass

1

er ·ts th ,a.t the

un ·believer

sha ll not s,ee life

(J ,ohn

3 : 36), and that the wicked shall go away into everlasting

punishment (Matt. 25: 46),

it

assuredly does not suggest that

on entering the other world the unsaved on eartl1 will have

another o,pportu ,nity of accepting

s.alvation (

Se,c

1

ond Probation),

or tl1a.t extinction of being will b

1

e their lot ( Annihilati .on), or

that

all

mankind

will

eventually attain salvation

(Universal

ism). ( On these three modern sub

1

stitutes for the doctrine o·f

future punishment

see next

secti ,on.)

Meanwhile

it suffices

to

observe

·that

the

wor ,ds

just quoted seem

to

tea ,cl1

that

the

pe.nalty

of sin continues beyond the g1.ve. Grantin .g that

the

words

of Christ

about

th ,e.

worm that

n

1

ev·er

dies, and

the

fire that shall not be quenched are figurative, they unquestion~

ably signify that the figures stand for so

1

me terrible c,alamity,--

on the one hand,

lo,ss

of happiness, separation from th

1

e

source

of 1ife ,

excl .usion

from . bl.esse

1

dness, and, ,on the

other, I

lacc.ess

of

misery,

s·tt·ffering, wretchedness, woe, which will be r

1

ea·lized

by the ·wicked as the due rewa1·d of their impenitent and

dis

obedient lives, and which no revolving years will relieve.

The

pendulum of th

1

e great clock of eternit .Y, as.

it

swings through

the ages, will se,em to b

1

e ever

,saying .:

He that is, unjust,

let

•

him be unjust still, and lie that is filthy, let him be filthy

still; l1e that is righteous, let him be

righteous st ill, and

he

that is holy, let him be holy stil l.

•

•

Heinous and culpab le as sin is, it is not left in Scripture



18

The undamentals

loathsome character in God's sight, and in all the heaviness

of its guilt before the law, without hope of remedy for either;

but in a cheering and comforting light

t

is set forth as an

offence that may be forgiven ·and a defilement that will or

may be ultimately cleansed.

As for the pardonableness of sin, that indeed constitutes

the pith and marrow of the Good News for the publication

of which the Bible was written. From the first page in

Genesis to the last in Revelation an undertone, swelling out

as the end approaches into clear and joyous accents of love

and mercy, proclaiming that the God of h·eaven, while Himself

holy and ju st, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and

unable to clear the guilty, is nevertheless merciful and gracious,

long-suffering and slow to wrath, abundant in goodness and

truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, trans

gression and sin (Ex. 34 : 6) ; announcing that He has made

full provision for harmonizing the claims of mercy and justice

in His own character by laying help upon One that is mighty,

(Psa. 89: 19), even His only begotten and well-beloved Son,

upon whom He had laid the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53: 6),

that He might once for all, as the Lamb of God, take away

the sins of the world (John 1: 29), intimating that the whole

work necessary for enabling sinful men to be forgiven has

been accomplished by Christ's death and resurrection, and

that now God is in Him reconciling the world unto Himself,

not imputing unto men their trespasses (2 Cor. 5: 19), invit

ing men everywhere to repent and be converted, that their sins

may be blotted out (Acts 3: 19); telling men that nothing

more is required of them in order to be freely and

fully

justified

from all their transgressions than faith in the propitiation of

the cross (Rom. 3: 25); and declaring that nothing will shut

a sinner out from forgiveness except refusal to believe in the

great redemption and accept the freely offe.red forgiveness~

though that will, since it is written that he who believeth not

on the Son of God

shall not see life (John 3: 36).



•

Tli e Biblical Co1iceptio1 of Sin

19

Th e ulti1nate rernoval of sin from the souls of the believing

and pard oned is left by Scriptu re in no uncertainty . It was

for etold in the name

given to the Saviour

at

His

bi rt h: ''Th ou

shalt call His n,ame Je sus, because He shall save H is people

fro

1

m [''out of,' ' n,ot ''in ''] thei ·r sins. It was, impli e

1

d in tl~e,

object

cont emplated

by

H is incarnation: ''He was manifested

to take awa y our sins.''

It

is declared to,have been the purpose

of His death upon the cross: ''He gave

Himself

for us, that

He

might

redeem us from all

iniquity

and purify

unto

Himself

a

pecttliar people 2ealous of ,good

works ..t It

is

held

up

before the Christian as l1is

final desti11y

''to be conformed to ·

th ,e. image · of His [

Go1d''s] Son,''

to b

1

e p ,resented ''

fattltles s

befo re

the presence of His

glory

with exceeding joy,'' and

to be a dw ,eller in the heavenly city ''into which there can

enter ·nothi ng tha t defileth.'' ·

Whether s,in will

be

t1ltimat

1

ely

exti1·pated

if not

from

the

universe, . then

from the

family

of man, . is

a different ques

tion,

upon wl1ich the pronouncement

of Scripture

is thought

by s,ome t,o be less explicit. Its complete and perman ,ent re

moval from the race is considered by certain interp

1

reters to

be. taught i·n Scripture. That texts can be cited which seem

to lend . suppo

1

rt to the theori

1

es of Annihilation, Second Pro- .

hation,

and

Univer ,sal Sal ·v,ation

ne,ed

n,ot

be

denied;

but

a

c.los.e

examinatio ,11

of 'the pas sages in que stio,n 'Will

s'how

'tl1at

the support derived from them is exceedingly precariou s.

Tl1at those

who depart

this

life

in impenitence

and

unbelief

will be

annilnlated

either at

death or

after

the

resurrect ion is

deemed a

legitim ate deduc tion from

the

use of the word

death:

as th,e

puni ,sh,men t

of sin.

But as '' .app]i ,e

1

d.

to man

death

d.oes

not nece ssa,ri]y mean extinction of being.'' Bi.sh,op Butler Jong

ago

1

drew attention to the fact that various organs

of

the b,ody

· might be removed without extinguishing the indwelling spirit, .

and argued that it was at least probable that the immaterial

part of man would n

1

ot

be

des,troyed

though th

1

e entire material

frame

were reduc ed

to dust; and

only

recently Sir

Oliver



2

The undamentals



•

21

students of the Bib

1

le are aware that both statements can be

explained in

sucl1 a

way

las,

to r

1

11der

them useless

as

a basis

for

the doctrine of

a second probation. In judging concern -

ing

this,

therefore, depend ence must be placed

on texts

which

admit of

no

dubiety as to their meaning. Such

texts are

Matt.

12: 32: ''Whosoever speaketh a word against tl1e Holy Ghost

it

shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that

which

is

to

come'' no seco11d

chance in this case.

Matt.

25: 48: ''The se shall go away into everlasting pt1nishment,

but the righteous into , life eternal.'' Not much hope here

1

0

1

£ the ulti1nate

des't'r,uctio11of ,sin thro

1

t1gh a ,Se

1

cond pro ,bation.

Every attempt to find room for

th

1

e idea shatters itself on the

unchallengeable £act

tl1at tl1e

words

''ever lasting'' ' and ''eternal''

are the same in Greek (aio11,ion and indicate that the pttn-

ishment of the wicked and the blessedness of the righteous are

of equal duration. 2

Cor.

1

6: 2:

' 'Be ,hold, no w is

the

d,ay

of

sa,lvation''

noit

h

1

ereaf

ter

in

a

ft1ture state of

existe ,11ce,

h Ut ·

here in this world.

Nor

is it me,r,ely

'that

the doc·tr,ine o,f a

second probation is dev

1

oid of

st1pport

fro

1

m Scripture, but, ,

· contrary to a11 experience, it takes for ,granted that every

unsav ,ed soul would accept the second off er of salvatio

1

n, which

is ~ore than any one can certainly affirm; and, if all did not,

,s,rn wottld sti ll re ,mai :n. It m ,ay be argtt e,d tha t all would accept

hecat1sr1, of tl1e: fuller ligl1t the,y would tl1e,n have , as t,o the

paramo

1

unt impo r tance .of sa lvation, ,or b

1

ecause of the

stronge1·

influe ·nces that

wil,1

then be

brought

to b,ear upon them; but on

this hypothesis a reflection

would almost

seem

to

be

cast

on

God for not having done all He ·might have done

to

save

1nen

whil ,e they lived, a reflection good men will be slow

to

mal{e.

The third

the ory

£or 'bani .shing sin from th ,e human

family

if

not from the univer se is that of

Universalism, by

which is

signified

that thr ,ough

reformatory dis,cit)line here ,after

the

souls,

of all will be brought into subjection to Je sus Christ. That

the

universal headship of Christ is

taught

in Scripture is true:

Paul declares that all

things

will yet be subdued

unto

Christ



22

The

undamentals

,

•

1 Cor:.15: 28)

and that

it

was God s purpose in the fulness

of the times to gather all things into one in Christ (Eph .

. 1: 10).

:But these statements

do

not necessarily demanc1 the

inference that all will surrender in willing subjection to Christ

Subject to Him must every power and authority be, human

and angelic, hostile and friendly, believing and unbelieving .

•

He must reign till all His enemies have been placed .beneath

His feet - not taken to His lieart, received into His love and

employed in His service. This does not look like universal

salvation and the complete extinction of moral evil or sin in ·

th.e 1=1niverse. Solemn and sad as the thougl1t is that sin

should remain, if not in many, yet in some of God s creatures,

it

is the teaching of Scripture. In the resurrection at the last

day, it is written, All who are

in

their graves sliall come

foith, they th:at ihave done good unto the resurrection of lij~;

and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damna

tion, or judgment (R. V.) (John 5: 29) .

.I

dark and insoluble mystery was the coming of sin into

•

God s universe at the first: as dark a mystery is its remaining

in a race that was from eternity the object of God s love and

. in time was ~edeemed by the blood of God s Son, and gµ.ciously

acted on by God s Spirit: . Happily we are not requi1ed to

understand all mysteries : we can leave this one confidently in

the Divine

Father s hand.

,

•

I

•

•

•

•

I

•

•

•

•

•



CHAP TER II

AT-ON E-MENT BY PROPITIATION

BY DYSON HAGUE ,

VICAR OF THE CHU RCH OF T HE EPIPHA N Y, TORONT O, CANAD A ;

PROFESSOR OF LIT U RGI CS, W YCLI FFE COLLEGE, TORONT0 ;

CANON OF ST. PAUL S CATHEDRAL, LONDON, ONT., 1908·1912

The importance of the subject is obvious. The Atonement

is Christianity in epitome. It is the heart of Chri stianity as

a system ;

it

is the distingui shing mark of the Chri stian religion.

For Chri stianity is more than

a

revelation; it is more than

an

ethic. Chris tianity is uniquely

a

religion of redemption. At

the out set we take the ground that no one can clearly appre

hend this great theme who is not prepared to take Scripture

as it stand s, and to treat it as the final and authoritative source

o Christian knowledge, and the test of every theological

theory. Any statement of the atonement, to satisfy completely

the truly intelligent Chri stian, must not ant agonize any of

the BibHcal viewpoints. And further; to approach fairly the

subject, one must receive with

a

certain degree of reservation

the somewhat exaggerated representations of what some

modern writers conceive to be the views of orthodoxy. We

cannot deduce Scriptural views of the atonement from non

Biblical conceptions of the Person of Christ; and the ideas

that Christ died because God was insulted and must puni sh

somebody,

or

that the atonement was the propitiation of an

angry Monarch-God who let off the rogue while He tortured

the innocent, and such like ·travesties of the ·truth, are simply

the misrepresentations of that revamped Socinianism, which is

so widely leavening the theology of many o the outstanding

thought-leaders

o

today in German, British, and American

theology.



-

24

The undamentals

..

The subject will be dealt with from four viewpoints:

the

Scrip

1

tural, the Historical, the

Evangelicc>-Ecclesiastical,

the

Practical.

•

I. THE ATONEMENT FROM THE SCRIPTURAL VIEWPOINT

THE OLD TESTAMENT WITNESS

I

As we study the Old Testament we are struck with the

fact

that in the

01 d

Testament

system, without an

atoning

sacrifice there could be no access for sinful men into the pres

ence of the Holy

God.

The heart

and

center

of the Divinely

revealed religious

system

of God s ancient people

was

that

without a

propitiatory sacrifice

there

could be

no

acceptable

approach to God. There must be acceptance before there is

w0rship; there must be

ato11ement

before there is acceptance.

Tlii ,s atonement consisted in, t;he shedding of blood, The

blood-shedding was the effusion of life; for tlie life

of

the

flesh is in

the

blood a

dictulll

which

tl1e

modern

science of

physiology abun ,dantly

confirms (Lev.

17 :ll-14).

The

blood ·

shed

was the

blood ·of a victim which was

to

be ceremonially

blemishl~ss (Ex. 12 :5; 1 Pet. 1 :19); and

the

victim that was

slain was a vicarious or substitutionary representative of the

worshipper (Eev. 1 :4; 3 :2, 8, 13;

4 :4,

15, 24, 29; 16

:21,

etc.).

The death of the victim was an

acknowledgment

of the guilt

of sin, and

its exponent.

In one word: the whole system was designe,d to te·ach the

holiness

and

righteousness of God, the sinfulness

of

men, and

the

guilt

of sin; and,

above all,

to

show

that it

was

God s

will

that

f

otgiveness should be secured,

not on account

of

any

works of the sinner or anything tl1at he could do, any act of

repentance or exhibition of

penitence, ·

or

pe:11£

rmance

of ex

piatory

o~ restitutionary woEks, but solely:

on ·

account

of

the

undeserved grace oi God

througli

the death of

a victim guilty

of no offence against the Divine law,

whose

shed blood repre



At One M ent by Propitiation

25

''Lux Mu·ndi,''

p.

237. The idea, in

p.

232, that sacrifice is

,essential.l.y th,e

exp

1

·r·ession

1

0£ ·unfallen

love,I

is

sug,ges·tive,,

bu't

it would perhaps be

better to use the word

''also''

instea

1

d of

·'e ssentially.'' See als,o, the extremely suggestive treatment in

Gibson's

''Mosaic

Era,"

of

the Ritual ,of the Altar, p. 146.) It

is

·0

1

bvious that th ,e who ,le sys.tern was tr la.nsi·tory

and

im,perf ect,

as the eighth

chapter

of

Hebrews s,hows.

Not

because

it

was revolting as

tl1e

moder ·n mind objects, fo,r God intended

them thereby to,],earn how revolting sin was and .how deserving

of death; but ·becattse in.

i·ts,

·essenc·e

·it

was typica ·l,

.and

pro-

phetical, and intended to fa1niliarize God's people with the

great idea of atonement, and at the sa1ne time to prepare

for the sublime revelati

1

on of Him who was to come, the

desp ·ise,d and rej e

1

cted of men Who was , to

be .smi·tten o f

God

and afflicted,

Wl10

was to be wounded for our

tra nsgressions

and bruised

for

o,ur

iniquities, Whose soul was

to be

made

an o·ff'e.ring for · sin (Isa. 53 :5,

8,

10, 12).

•

THE

NEW TESTA IENT WITNESS

When we come to

the Ne1JJTestament

we are struck with

three things :

First

The unique prominence given to the death of

Christ in t11e four

Gospels. This

is unpara11eled.

It

is with-

out an,alogy, no,t onl

1

y in Scri .pture, but in hi,story, th

1

e m

1

ost

cu1·ious thing about it being

that

ther .e was no prece

1

dent

for

it in the

Old

Testament (Dale,

''Atonement,'' p. 51) .

No

particular value or benefit is

attach

1

ed to the d.e.ath of

anyb

1

ody

in the

0

1

ld Testament;

nor is there the

remotest trac

1

e

of

a.n y-

body's death having

an

expiatory

or

humanizing

or

regenera-

tive effect. There were plenty of martyrs and national heroes

in Hebrew history, and many of them were stoned and sawn

asund

1

er, were

tortu ·r·ed

and

sl,ain

wit 'h

·the

s·word Ibut

no Jewish

writer attributes any

ethical or

regenerat ive importance to

•



I

Second It is evident t-o the impartial reader of the New

Testament that the death of Chris ,t was the

object

of His in

carnati .on,. Hi ,s

crucifix :ion was

the

m.ain

pur .port of

His

coming.

Whi .le

His

glo,r·ious

life

·was

and

is th,e

inspiration

of

humanity,

after all, His

death

was the

reason

of I-Iis life. ·

His mission was mainly to di.e. Beyond thinking of death as

th·e te.rminus o.r th e inevit .ab

1

le cl:imax of

.l.if·e,.

the avera ,ge ma ,n

rarely allude .s to or thinks of

death. In ,all

biogr ,aphy it is

accepted as

the

inevitable. But with Chri st, His death

was

the

purpose f

o·r

which He

came down from

heaven: For this

cause

c.ame

I

to tl1is

hottr (John 12 :27).

Fron1

th

1

e

1

0

1

uts ,et of

His career · it

was

the overshadowin ,g event. It was ,distinctly

foreseen.

It

was

voluntarily unde rgone,

and, in Mark 10

:45,

He says: The Son of Man ca.me to give H .is life a rans iom for

many.

We a1·e not in

the , ha.b

1

it

of paying

ransoms, and

th·e

metaphor

nowadays

is

unfamiliar. But, to

the

Jew,

ranso ,m

was an everyday custon1. It was what was given in exchange

f

1

or the

life ,of the

first-born. It

was the price

wl1,ch every

man paid . f or his, life. , It was

the

underlying thought o,f ·the

Mosaic and proph ,etical writings (Lev.

25

:25, 48; Num. 18 :15;

Psa. 49:7;

Isa.

35:10;

51:11; 43:14;

Ex.

13:13; 30:12 ·, 16;

34 :20; Hos. 13 ::1,4; etc.,, etc·.); and so,. whe·n Christ made the

statement,

it

was a co

1

ncept which would be immediately

grasped.

He came

to

give His

life a

ransom,

that

through the

shedding of His blood we might receive re.demption, .or eman-

1ip,at.i.on, both

from

the

gttilt

and f

r,om

the power of

so·n,. (

T he

mo ,dernists ,

endeavor

to

evacuate this saying of

Christ

1

0£ all ·

meaning.

The

text, unfortunately for them, is

stubborn,

but

the

German

mind is never a,t

a

l.oss

for

a theo

1

ry;

so

it

is

asserted

that

they

are

indica ·tions that . Peter

1

has

been Paulin .-,

ized, so reluc ·tant is the rationalizer

to take Scripture

as it

stands, an.d to accept Christ s words in their obvious meaning,

whe ·n they oppos ,e his theological aver .sions.)

Thirrd . Tl1e object o,f .th.e death of Christ w,as the forgive

ness of sins. The final cause of His n1anifestation was re-

•



•

A t One M ent

y

Propitiation

•

27

mission. It would be .impossible to summarize all th

1

e teach

ing of the . New · Testament on this sub

ject. (The studen ·t is

referred to Crawford, who gives 160

p,ages

to the texts

in

the New Testament, and Dale's ''Summary,'' pp. 443-458.)

It is el

1

ear, though, that, to our Saviour's tl1ought, His

croiss and passion was not th

1

e. in

1

cidental con .sequence of His

opposition to the degraded religious standards of His

day,

and that He ,did no·t di

e as a martyr because death was pref

erable to apostasy. His death was the ·means w·hereby men

shou.d obtain ,f·orgivene,ss of

sins and

1

eternal

life (John 3 :14,

16; Matt. 26 :28). The consentient testimony of the New

Testament writers,

both

in

the Acts

an

d

in the

Epistles, is that

Christ died no accidental death, but suffered acc.or·ding to the

will of Go·d, His own volition, and the

predictions

of

the

pr ·op

1

l1ets,

and that Ris i

d.elath

was

substitu ·tio.aary, saicrific.ial,

atoning,

reconciling

and redeeming

(John 10 :18; Acts 2

:23;

Rom. 3 :25; 5, 6,19; 1 Cor. :15:3; 2 Cor. 5 :15, 19, 21; Heb

1

•

9 :14, 2

6, etc., etc .. ). In proof,

it

will be s·ufficient to take the

i·nspir ,ed testimony ,of the three outstanding writers

St. Peter •.

St ..John, and St. Paul.

ST. PETER'S . WITNESS ,

•

To St. Peter's mind, the death of Jesus was

the

central fact

· of revelation and the mys·tery, ,as

W

1

ell as tl1e.cli.max, of the In·

carnati ,on. Tl1e shedding of His b

lood was sacrificial;

it

was

c-0venanting; it was s.in-covering;

it

was redeeming; it was

1

ransoming; it was the blood o~ the Immaculate Lamb, which

em.ancipates from sin ( 1 P'et .. 1 :2, 11, 18, 19). In all his post

Pentecostal deliverances he magnifies t·he

1

cruci:fixion

as a rev

1

e- ·

lati

1

on of the eno

1

rmity of human sin , never as a revelation

of the infinitude of the D'ivine love ( Dale, p. 11S) . His d

1

eath

was not merely an example; it was substittttionary. It was

th ,e dea,th of the sin-b,earer. ''Christ also suffered fo.r

tJ1s,''

'He

bare our sins,'' meaning that He ·took their penalty and their

conse .quence (L .ev. 5 ::17; 24 ;1,5; Num. 9':13; 14~32, 34; Ezek .

•



•

•

28

18 :1 9, 2

1

0). His

dea,th was, tl1e

sttb

1

stitutionary, , t11e

vicarious

work of the innocent on behalf of, in the place of, and in

stead of, tl1e guilty (1 Pet. 3:1

1

8). (It is sur

1

ely an

evide11ce

of the bias of modernism to interp ,ret this as bea rin g them

in s,ympathy

1nerelym)

ST. JOHN S WI TNESS

I

According to St.

John,

the death of the Lord

J

.sus Christ

was propitiatory, st1bstitutionary, purificatory.

It

was th e

·

Hilasmos

the objective ground for the remission of our sins ..

Th ,e narro ·w and superfici .a.l treatment -of moder nis1n,1whic lri,

if

it

does not deny the

J

ohannine authorship of the fourth

G-ospel an,d the Revelatio

1

n, at least insinuates that . the death of

Christ has no parallel place in the writings of St.

J

oh·n to

that

which it has

in

the w1~itings

of S,t , Pe ter and St.

Paul, ,

and the

other

New Testa1nen t

au

th.ors,

is

,entir ,ely

contr,a

dicted by the plain statements of the Word itself.

The

glory

1

0 f the

wo

1

rld

to

,come is th,e sacrifice ·

d

L.am·b.,

The glory of heaven is

not

th e ri s·en or ascended Lord, but

the Lamb tl1at was slaughtered (:Rev. S:6- 12; .7 ::10; 21 :.23,

etc.) .

The

foremost figure in

the .

J

hannine Gospel is t11e

Lamb

of

God which taketh

aw,ay

the sin of

the

world,

who

lifts

t·h,e

sin ,-burden by

expi,at :ing

it . as

the

Sin -Be.arer. The

center of the Johannine ,evangel is no,t the teaching Christ, b ut

the uplifte .d. Christ, whose death i.s to draw as a magn.et tl1e

hearts of ma ·nkind, and

wl1ose

life

as

the Goo,d Shep

1

herd

is

laid down for the sheep. (John 12 :32; 10 :ll- ·15).

No one who

fa.ir·ly

f,ac,es the text . could

de.ny th ,at

the ob

jective ground for the forgiveness of sins ,

in

the mind

of

St . . ohn ,, is

the death

of

Cl1rist,

and that tlte

mos t fund ,a

mental conception of sacrifice ,an.d expia tio·11is found in tl1.e

writings of him

who

wrote

by

the Spirit of

God,

He is

t he prop·it·i.ation of ot1r si·ns, an

1

d not for

ou1·s on·ty , (I John

•

2: 2). Her eby perceive

we

tl1e love

of

God because He laid



•

•

•

29

down His life f ior us'' ' ( 1 J ,hn 3 : 1.6)·. '''I-Ierein .is love, etc ,.

(1 John : 10).

Tl1e pr ,opitiatory character of the blood, the substitutionary

cha1·acter of tl1e

atone1nent, and,

ab,ove

all, the

expiating

char

acter of the work of Christ on Calvary., clearly are most in

dubitably set forth in the th reef oldness of the histo ,ric, didactic,

a·nd pro

1

ph

1

etic writings ,of St . J l1n.

T ... PAUL S WITNESS

St.

Paul ,became, in the provin

1

ce of God, the construc-

tive genius of Christi .anity. His place in history, through tl1e

Spirit, was th .a.t of th

1

e eluci

1

da.tor of the sal.i.int facts , of

Christianity, and especially of that one great subject which

Christ left

i11

a

measu1·e

unexplained His own death

,(S

1

talker's ''St . Paul, p. 13). That great subjec 't, its cause, its

meaning,

its

result,

became

the

very

fltndamentum of

his Gos

pel. It was

t,he

comn1en ,cement, cente ,r,

a,nd

consummatio ,n

of his

theo10

gy. I t was the elemental truth ,o,f· his creed ..

He b

1

,e,gan with it. It pervaded his life. He gloried in it to the

•

l,a,st. The sin11er i.s dead, ens ,lav

1

e,d, guilty, and 110peless,, Withou,t

the atoning death of Jesus Chri st~ But Christ died for him, in

his stead, became a curse f

1

or l1im, became sin fo,r him, gave

\

-

Himself fo1· him, ,vas

a11

Offering

a11d

a Sacrifice to God for

him, redeem ,ed him, ju stified him, saved

l1im

from wrath, pur

chas ,ed ,him by His bloo,d,. rec ,onciled

him, by

His death~ et

1

c.

To talk of Paul using the language l1e did ,as an accommo

dation to Jewish prejudices, r to humor the

adh

1

erents of

. a current

tl1e0Iogy,

is

not

,0

1

nly,

as,

D

1

a·1e

says,

.an insult to

·the

understanding

of

the

founders

of

tl1e

J ewish faith, it

is

an insult to t·h,e und ersta11ding of any man with sense today.

Christ's , death was a death

for ·

sin; C'h·rist ,

died f,or ,our sins;

that is, on behalf of, instead of, our sins. There was some

thing in sin t11at made His dea th , a Divine ne.cessity~ His

death was a propitiatory, substitutionary, sacrificial, vicarious

d·eath. Its

ob.iect

was

to

annul ,sin; to propitiate Divine jus-

•



•

-

•

•

At-One~Ment y Propitiation

31

Christ' .s death upon the cross, both ,as a substitute ·and as

the federal representative of humanity, voluntary, altruistic,

vi,c,ario ·us,

si111ess,

s,acrific .i.al, purposed

not

accidental,

from

the standpoint of humanity unconscio .nably brutal, but from

the standpoint of love indescr ibably glorious, n

1

ot

only

satis

fied all the demands of the Divine

rigl1teousness, but off~red

the m,ost

powerful

ince·nt ive to

r,epe:ntance ., morality, and

se]f

sacrifice. The Scriptur

1

e in its complete .ne.ss thu .s sets

f

0

1

rth

the substance of the two great

theo

1

ries,

the moral and the

vicarious, and we find in the

rotundity or

allness

of the

Scr .ip·tural pres .entment no mere partia

1

l or .antagonistic seg

men ,t,s of

trttth,

but tl1e

comp

1

leteness

of

the

spirit ual,

moral,

altruistic and atoning

aspects

of

the

de,ath

of Chr ·ist. (

H

1

odge

on the ''Atone ment,

pp.

292-320, and Workman,

''At-one-ment

and Reconciliation with God,'' may in ,different ways

b.e taken

as representative of a one-sided way of treating a great sub

je ,ct.

The

Socinian

view th,at Christ's d

1

eath

was

m,a,inly,,

if

not exclusively, to pr ,oduce a

reconciling

influen

1

ce upon th

1

e,

heart of

mankin ,d,

which Workman espouses, is as

narrow, if

not narrower, and .as partial as Hodge's advoc ,acy of the

theory

t·ha.t

Christ

die

1

d

for

·the elect 0

1

nly) .

II. ·T·HE

HIS ,TORICAL .

· We will discuss , this aspect of the subject in four brief

sections : The Primitive, the Medireval, the Ref ormati

1

onal, the

Mo,dern. ·

THE PRIMITIVE

CHU 'RCH

WIT

1

NESS

With

regard

to the writers and writings

of

the primitive

church in the Ante-Nicene and the Post-Nicene era, it may

be said,

broadly

speaking, that the atonement is presented

by

them as a fact,

with

its

saving

and regenerative effects. The ·

consciousness of the primitive church did not seem to be

a1iv-eo the necessity of the formation of any particular theory

of the atonement. It follows the Apostle's Creed, which makes

•

•



32

The Fundamentals

no refe1·ence whatever to the miraculous Words 'or marvel- ·

lous works of J

s:t1s,

but significa:ntly passes by th

1

e1n all to

focus the con£ession of the

Church

upoJn the great

pur ·pose

and achievement ,of the Incarnation ; His suffer ing as the

Lamb slain from the fo

1

undation 0

1

£ the world. As regar ,ds the

wri ·ters of the post-aposto lic age, Clement of Rome, Origen,

land

Athana .sius, may be

ref

err ,ed

t.o as

outs ·tanding

exp

1

0 ne1iJ.ts

of tl1e Chu r·ch's thougl1t in the first four

1

centuries. Of the

fir·st a.11dthird

it

may

be said

that

they ·

simply

an1plifie.d the

language of the New Testament. There is no trace of the

attitude , of the moderni .st, wi·th its brilliant attempts t

1

0 e:x

plain away the obvious. Their doctrine of the atonement is

entirely free, as has b,een said, from the incrusting difficulties

of spuriou s exp lanation. There were no attempts at phil

osophy or sop,hist ry, though, as was to be expected, there was

more or less of the emb .roidery of

tl1e

oriental imagina tion,

and

a plethora of me taph or . (Justin Mar tyr, Chrysostom, and

Augustine, may be mentioned also here.) .

Origen, following pos sibly Irenreus, is accredited with the

theory that the atonement was a ran som paid to Satan. This

was the theory of Gregory of Nyssa, Leo Magnus, and Gregory

the Great. I·t was a, we·ird theory ·, involving s,ome .stra11g,e con

clusions, and evoked the antagonism of Gregory N azianzen

and

J

01hn

of

Damascus.

THE MEDIEVAL , VIEW

As we pass into the medi reval period (broadly speaki ng,

from

500 o

1500 A. D.), w,e find that, with ,one or two excep

tions, the ransom-paid-to-the -devil hypothesis held sway.

It

w8.s not a thinking era, and the imprisonment of the Bible

mea.nt the re·ign.of .ign.or ,anc·e.

In the eleventh century, Anselm appeared. He was an

Italian by b,irth, a N onnan by trainin .g, and Archbishop of

Canterbury by office. Anselm s ur Deus Homo is probably

the greatest wo,rk on the atonement tha t h.as ever been written .



•

•

At-One-M ent by Propitiatio·n

33

•

The work is great because it contains great conceptions of

God, and great . concep

1

tio ,ns of sin. Sin is not

t

1

0 render to

God

His

due, and the sinner is bound to, pay back the honor

of which

l1e

has robbed God. It

is

a debt

we are

obliged

to

pay, and failing to ,do it, we must die. As sin is debt, the~e

are

only

two

,vays

in which man can be

ri.ght ,ed

with. Go,d;

either

by

incurring no debt,

or

by p,aying the debt. But this,

man cannot do, and herein comes the glo1·yof the · Gospel o,f

the

atone1nent, securing

at

once

the

honor

of

God and

the

salva-

. tion of the sinners. No one ought

to make satisfaction for the

•

sin of n1an ,except ma11, and no on

1

e cia i mal<,e satisfaction ex-

c.ep·t ,God Hims ,elf. H·e who .mak

1

es the satisfaction ·for

h·un1an

sin must, therefo1·e, be

111a11

and God; and so · in wondrous

love, the God-Man

of

His own accord offered to the

Father

what He cottld not have b,een compelled

to .

l

1

ose~ and paid for

OUr sins wl1at He did n,ot

o \re

for Himself.

The Anselmi ,c concep ,tions of ·God, of si.n,

of tn,an,

and of

the s.oul at' e so transcende11t tha ·t

they

are altogether ·to

1

0

•

strong and too high for tl1is age. His theory seems fantastic,

his reasoning preposterous to the modern mind. Yet, after

all, Anselm ha .s never been surp ,assed. His min

1

d was filled

With

·the

au.gus,t

greatnes ,, o ·f Go

1

d, the just penalty

of

sin, th

1

e

itnpossib ,ility.

of human atonement; and the atoning work of

Christ, because of the Person who did the deed, outweighed

the sins of all

mankind,

and bound 1nankind

to

the

suffering

Son

of

God by bonds of love that eternity will not sever.

Anselm swayed his own and .h.as swayed every succ

1

eeding

a,ge. Th

1

e co11nter theories [ ,of Abelard and Duns ,Scotus

( Moberly, p. 372; Dale, p . 285), in

which

the modern mind

is much niore interested, and with which it is much more

sympathetic, may be regarded as the foregleams of modern

Unitarian .ism. . ·

THE

REFORMATION

ER.A

..

· · en

we

pass l to

tl1e

Ref ,ormation

e1·a,

we

find that the

Pauline-Aug1.1stinian ·presentment of the st1bject is almost uni-



•

-

34

The Fundanienta ls

versa].

The

reformers, Lutheran

and

Calvinistic,

were

pr,ac.,..

tically agreed in representing th

1

e death of Christ as

1

an aton

ing death. Both the Lut heran and the Reformed systems of

theology alike, the

latt ,er.,

of course, i,nc,l.uding all the Anglican

reformers, held the forensic i.dea of tl1e death of Christ, which

is so obviously manifest in the Pauline, Petrine, and

Jol1annine

pres

1

entments of the truth. ·

Tu ,rretin, I the most distin ,guished writer on the subje ,ct of

t,he

1

atonement of th

1

e Reformation ,era; Mastri

1

cht,

a half c

1

en

tury l,ater,

and

Hugo Grotius, the antagonist of

S,ocinitt,s (

whose

Def ensio fidei Catholicae

de

satisfactione Christi

appeared in

1617) ; all of them, with various divergences, held the sacri

ficial, re ·presentative ,, vicarious the :ory of atonement (Dale,

pp. 290-297 ; Hodge, Sy,s, Th,eol. II., 573-575).

THE

NINETEENTH CENTURY

As we pass into

the modern

worl ·d

0

1

£

theology, three out

standing names in the nineteent h century

may

be . selected as

t he ,representatives of the so-called orth

1

odox, ,and thr

1

ee as

representatives of

the

broader school of theology. The works

of Crawford of Edinburgh, of Dale of Bi1·mingham, and of

Denney

of

Glasgow, are

probably

the finest

expositions

of the

subject from the Scriptural and spiri tual standpoint.

A]l

of

them

try to set forth

the

doctrine of the atonement in the

language of the

New

Testament, and according

to

the

mind of

the inspired writers ,,

and

take tl1eir stand

upon the

vicarious,

sub stitutio nary character of the atonement, Professor

A.

A.

Hodge s

work is

also most able and most scholarly. It is the

strongest

thing ever written on the subject from the Calvin

istic standpoint. Bushnell, the , American ; Jowett, the An gli-

1an; and McLeod

Campbell, th ,e S1ot

1

hman ; may

be

taken as

rep,resentatives of the

b,roader

school. All of them are

inclined

to sel

1

ect

a number of the

texts

which unque ,stion ,ably favor

their theory, and to minimize almost to the point of explain



•

•

New, which emphasize the gravity of the guilt of sin and the

necessity of sacrifice as the objective ground of its fo,rgiveness.

They all of them incline to

represent

the

sufferings

of Christ

as sympathetic, rather than

vicario ,us;

an·d, with

the

Sweden

borgians, ,

make

th ,e

atonement to consist not

in

what Christ

did or offere d by dying in our stead, so muc h as what He

accornplis ,hed

fo,r

us in His reconciling love.

The

atonement

was the Incarnation.

That

was the revelation of God s love;

and the

sufferings

of

Chr ·ist

were not a

substitute £,or

the

penalty of sin, ,but Chri st s ,expiatory-penitential confession

of the sins of humanity.

McLeod Campbell, who

is followed

by

Moberly, held the tl1eory that the repentance of Christ, or

the penitence

of

Christ,

had

in

it

atoning

worth, and was

the

proper expi ,ation of sin (Moberly, 129, 401; The Atonement

in Modern Religio us Thought, p. 75; Clow, 160; Stalker,

135).

(This

theory, by

the

way,

is

becoming very

popular

:nowadays.)

In one Wor·d; th ,e ob,j ect of the death

of Christ

was the

production of a moral impression, the subduement of a re

volted

world-l1eart

by the exhibition of dying love. This is

practically als,o the Ritschlia ·n view, which, after all, ·is a

re-statement of the old Socinian theory, of the ,distrust-remov-

• r

tng and confidence-re-establishing effect of the cross.

Frederick Maurice and Robertson of Brighton ( the noblest

spirit of

tl1em

all) may also be ref er red to as leaders in tl1is

the broader school (Crawford, 303, 348). They were followed

by such Church writers as Farrar, Moberly, Freemantle, and

by

Cave, Adeney, Hor.ton,

R.

J

Ca1npbell,

in the Old Country,

and in the

United States

by

Lyman Abbott,

Washington

Glad

den, Munger, and a host of others.

MOD,ERNISM

When we come to tl1e

most

daring 0£ the present day

theories

with

regard to the atonement, as set forth, for in



6 The undamentals

ism, The Atonement, by Three Chicago Professors of

Theology, we are startled with the advance. A very broad

space of rationalism intervenes between the broad school

of today and the broad school of half a century ago. The

present day liberal theology may be traced to two streams of

influence:

First. The influence of German rationalism, pre-eminently

the Ritschlian theology, and the critical theories of Well

hausen, Kuenen and their school.

Second. The widespread acceptance of the theory of evolu

tion.

To the first may be traced the free and easy way of the

modernists of dealing with the Scriptures; and to the second,

the revolutionized attitude of theologians with regard to sin,

its source, its penalty, and its atonement. Albrecht Ritschl,

Professor of Theology at Gottingen, whose magnum opus,

Justification and Reconciliation, was published in 1870, is

par excellence, the ruling influence of continental theology.

What Germany thought yesterday, America and Scotland

think today, and England will think tomorrow. It i~ an

epigram that has more than a grain of truth in it. The

Germanic way of accepting or rejecting what it pleases of

the Bible, and opposing its knowledge to the authority of the

apostles, is becoming more and more the custom of the lead

ing theologians of the three ruling nations of today, British,

American, and German. If a text is inconvenient, modernism

disputes it; if a passage is antagonistic, it dismisses it as

Pauline or Petrine, not Christian.

Suppose a Christian of the old days was to enter for the

first time the class room of one of the extremer modernist pro

fessors, addressing a representative body of theologians from

Germany, Britain, or the United States. He would be amazed

to hear the rankest Socinianism taught. The question the pro

fessor would propose would not be the vicarious or the moral

theory of the sacrifice of Christ, but did Christ really die, and



At One M

ent y Propitiation

37

was there any need of the atoning death? He would state, in

the coolest possible manner, that the supposition of God's dis

pleasure or wrath at sin is an archaic concept; that sin

is

not

guilt as traditional theology conceives, nor does it need any

propitiation, and that there is no need of salvation, for there

never was a fall. ( A God who thinks of poor, hard -worked

people as miserable sinners, who must account themselves for

tunate to be forgiven for Christ's sake, says one of the

fore

most British modernists,

is

no God

at all. The

theologian

may call Him a God of love, but in practice He is spiteful

and silly )

The

doctrine of evolution has washed out of the

Bible the existence of such a man as Adam, and biology has

taught that death is not due to sin. He would then probably

hear the professor going on to show that nobody nowadays

thinks of sin as Paul did; that it is impossible for the man

of today, familiarized with the doctrine of evolution and the

researches of Biblical scholarship, to think of sin as a debt

that is due to God; that the God of the Bible is, after all,

only the God of traditional theology. In one word,

he

would

hear that what this age not only demands, but requires, is a

recon struc ted Bible, a re-interpreted Biblical theology, and a

presentment of apostolic conceptions in accordance with the

modern mind.

But a theology which begins with accepting or rejecting

according to its caprice such sections of the Word of God as

it pleases, and substituting its own fancies for the New Testa

ment conceptions of sin, of guilt, of wrath, and death, and the

idea of puni shment, naturally tend s to the climax of ~epudiat

ing the Deity of our Saviour and the teaching of His in

spired apostles A Pelagian hamartology invariably leads

to a Socinian Christology; and a Socinian Christology in

variably goes hand in hand with a rationalistic soteriology.

If there is no objective Deity, there can be no sin. If man is

God, there can be no

guilt; ·and

if

there was no fall, and if it

is the rise, not the fall of man with which the study of



•

•

..

38

The ·undamentals

history

makes us acquainted, there is, of course, no need £or

redemption ;

and if

there

is no

need for redemption,

there

I

. could, of

course,

be no

ransom,

or

Redeemer,

and

an

atone-

ment is theologically and phil ,osophi

1

cally

absurd. If there

is no spe·cial creation, and 1nan is a mere evo,lution from

some frog , ,or hors ,e or

anthropoid, why,,

of

course,

there can

be

n10

talk

1

0£

atonem

1

ent., If th,e·re is no,

storm

a.nd nobody

is drowning, why on

earth

should anyone launch a

lifeboat

1

.If the wages of

sin is not

deat,h, what

evangel is,

th

1

ere in the

death of Ch.ris t for sin. ,and

sinners?

Aft .er reading, with every attempt to

be

sympathe :tic, the

work ,s of the mo·dern theo

1

logi,cal thought leaders in Great

Britain and the United Sta .tes, , we,seriously c.onclu ,de

that

mod

ernism

is

in es,sence tl1e sophism of

which Pa .ul

speaks in

1

Cor. 1: 19-22;

Rom. 1 :

2.2; Col. 2: 8,

and 1 Tim. 6: 20.,

•

III. . THE EVANGELICO-ECCLESIASTICAL

THE

CONSENSUS

OF· ALL

THE

CHURCHES

When we turn to this

subject

as set forth in the standards

of the

representatives of

the leading

Protestant churches,

it

is refreshing to find what substantial

unity

there is among

them. In

all th ,e

Creeds and Cl1ur·ch

Confessions th ·e

death 10£

Christ is set fo,rth as the central fact o,f Christianity ·; for it

ought

to be

reme mbered

that

the

Reforn1ed Churches accepted

equally

with

the Roman

Church

the historic plat£ orm 0£ the

three great

creeds, and that

in

a]l

these

creeds that subject

stand ,s

p

1

re ,-emi nent.

In the Apostles

Creed, for instance,

there is not the slightest mention of Christ s glorious example

as a

man, or

of

the

works

and words

of

His

ma:rvelous

life.

All is passed over, in order

that

the faith of the Church in

all ages may at o,nce be focused upon His sufferings and His

d,eath. And a.s to the various do,ctrin .,l s,tandard .,,, a reference

to

the Articles 1of t.he Church of England, or

th,e Wes ,tminster

C.onfession of Faith, or the Methodis ,t, or Baptist formularies

of belief, at once shows that

the atonement

is treated as one



•

At-One-M en t by Propitiati on

39

•

of

the fundamentals of the faith. It may be stated in language

that a modern theologian finds difficult to accept and would

gladly explain away; but it is unquestionably asserted to be no

ll'lerie at-one-ment in the Ritschlian sense, but a r,eal vicarious

offering; a redemptive death; a reconciling death; a s.in-bearing

death; a sacrificial death for

the

guilt and sins of men.

His

death was, the death of the Divine Victim. It was a satis

faction for man's guilt. It propitiated God. It satisfied the

justice

of

the

Father.

The

modern

mind

sees

only

one side

to reconciliation. It looks at truth from only one standpo ,int.

It fails to take into account the fact of the wrath of God, and

. that 1 John 2: l, and Rom. 3: 25 teach that Christ's death does

something that can

only

b,e expr ,essed

as ,,,·propitiating.''

·The

hlodern theory ignores one side of the truth, and .antagonizes

the two , complementary sides, and is, there£ ore, not to be

trusted.

Tl1e Church standar ,ds

simply

set forth,

of

cour.se,

in

necelssaril .y imperfect language, the truth as it is, in th

1

e Scrip

tures of God. Perhaps no finer ,summary

of their teaching

could be found than the language of the Anglican communion

service: ''Jesus Christ, God's

on ·ty

Son, suffered death upon

the cross for our redemption, and made there,

by

His one

oblati ,on of Hims ,elf on

1

ce 0

ff ered, a ft1l], , perf e

1

c·t, and sufficient

sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins

of

the whole

world.''

· IV. THE PRACTICAL

•

THE POWER OF HIS DEATH

We finally consider the atonement in its actual power.

As we glance

thr ·ough th

1

~

vistas of

hist

1

ory

we

se

1

e it

exempli~

fied in innumerable lives. Pau ·t, Augustin

1

e, Francis of Assisi,

Luther, Latimer, with a myriad myriad of the sinful, strug

gling, weary, de ,spondent, ,and sin-s ,i

ck sons of men, laden with

the sin-weight, haunted . with the guilt-fear, struggling with

the: sin-,force ,, tormente ,d. with t'he s,in-pain, have fo·und in Him

who died their peac,e. ''TI1e atonement, said the great scien-



•

. 40

•

Th e· Fundamentals

tist, Sir David Brewster, ''Oh, it is everything to met It

meets

my

reason, it satisfies my conscience, it fills

my

l1eart."

( See also

that

fine

passage

in Drummond, the

''Ideal

Li£

e,''

p. 187. ) . . .

Or, take our hymns. We want 110 better th

1

eolo,gy and no,

better religion than are set f,orth in the se hymns, says a great

the,ol·Qgian (Hodge, Syst.

The ,oli, ii: :

591),

whi ,cl1 voice

the

triumph, and the confidence, and the gratitude, and the loyalty

of the

soul,

such as .:

•

''Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let

me hide mys

1

elf in Thee."

''My faitl1 looks up to Thee,

Th

1

ou Lamb

of

Calvary.''

''Wh .en I survey the

wondrous , cross,

On which the Princ ,e of ' glory died.''

•

•

Or take the preacher's power. It must be built upon

real ,ity as real as life itself; on what the Son of God has

1

done

for him. One of the greatest 0£ the nineteenth century

preachers said, ''Looking

back upon

all the chequered

way,

I

have to say that the only pr

1

eaching that has done me good

i,s the preaching of a S.aviour who bore my sins in His ovvn

bod,y

on the

tree,

an,d

the

only preacl1ing by which Go.d has

enabled me to do good to others is the preaching in which I

have hel

1

d up my SaviOUt,, not as a, sublim

1

e example, ,b

1

Ut as

the

Lamb

of

God

that

t.a'ketl1

away

the

s,ins of

t'he

world ''

And the work of Christ did not end with His death upon the

cross. As the risen and as,cended One, He co,ntinu .es it.

· The

Crucified

is

still

drawing

souls

to

Himself. ·

He is

still

applying His healin ,g blood to

the

wounded

conscience..

We

do n,ot preach a Christ w·ho wa .s alive , and is dead ; we preach



•

•

At One Ment y Propitiation

41

·of the Incarnation merely; it

is

the perpetuation

of the

cruci

fixion that is the vital nerve of Christianity.

But ortho

1

doxy

must

not be dissevered from

orthopraxy.

Maclaren,

of Manchester, tells us, in one of his

charming

Volu,tne,s, tha ,t, he on,ce heard of a man who was of a

very

shady

cl1aractet, but was sottnd on the atonement. But what

on earth is the

good

of being sound on the a tonement if the

~t

1

onem ,ent

does not

make

you

sound? ' An y one who

reads .his,

1

New

Testament

or

understands

the

essence

of

apostolic Chris

tianity mus ,t ·understand that a mere

th

1

eo1Aletic ccep tanc ,e of

the atonement,

unaccompanied by

a penetration of the life

and

character of the

p

1

ri nciples of Jesus Christ, is of no value

Wh,atever. The at,onement is n,ot a

mere £0:rmula f'or assent ,;

t

it is ,a life principle for

realization.

In that we

agree

with

Gold win

Smi,th.

But is

it

n,o, a f a

1

ct that, wl1ereve1 he

atone -

•

tnent

i,s

truly

receiv -ed,

it

gener ,ates

love

to

Go,d,

and

love

to

lllan;

evokes

a

hatred and horror

of

sin;

and offers

not

only

the

higl1e,st

incentiv

1

e to self-sacr .ifice, but the most po,verful

dynamic for the life ,of righteousness?

To the s,oul tl1at beholds 'the Lamb · of God, an

1

d finds peace

through the bloo ,d of the cr

1

0,ss, there comes a sense of j oyous

relief, a

consciousness

of

deep satisfaction, ,

that is

n,ewness

of life.

Yes, a Christianity that is merely a

syste ,m

of morals, and

the best on1,y

1

0£ natural religions, is not worth preserving. A

Christianity witho ,ut a Chr ,ist Divi11e,an atonement

vicari

1

ous,

and a Bible

inspired, will nev,er carry power.

A

devitalized

G,ospel, a diluted

G,ospe1,

an,

attenuated G

1

ospeI, Wi)l c

oncei ,ve

no

splendid

program,

inspi re no

splendid

effort.

It

riever

did produc ,e a m,artyr; it never will. It never

inspired

a re

fo1·mer,

and

it

never will. The

two

religious

po

1

verties ,

of

the day, a lost sense of sin, and a lost sense of God, are

simply the

result of this

attenuated

Socinianism th at is

be

coming

so prevalent. No minister of

Christ

has any righ t to

smooth off the corners , of the cro .ss. At the same

time, a ·

•



•

42

The undamentals

Chri .stiani.ty that is merel ,y ,orthodoxy, or an orthodoxy clasped

in the dead hand of a moribLtnd Christianity, is, one of the

gr·eatest of curses. A Chur

1

ch

that

is only th

1

e custodian

1

0f

the

great t ·radition of

th ·e

pas t, ,and not the expression

of a for 1e-

ful spiritual lif ·e; a Cl1ristian who. is simply conserving a tr1-

diti1nal creed, and

not

exemplifying the life of the living

Go,d, is a cumberer of the

ground.

A dead Church can never

be the ·e·xpon

1

ent

of ·tl1e

living

God, and a

dead Church ·mman

can

never be,·the

exponent

of a

living

1

Churc .h, for the

tes·t

of every

religious,

po.Ji

i

cal or educational

system, after all,

as Ami el

says,

is t·he·man it fo rms

1

(A ,miel, p@27). · .

(The

chief

works

on

the atonement which have been

·re-

f

er .red to, are the follo

1

wing: Ho

1

dge, Dale,, Denney, Crawford.

Stalker, Van Dyke, Moberly, Clow, Simpson,. Sabatier, Chanri-

pion, ·

Armour,

Workman, Cunningham,

Van

Oosterzee,

Ritschl, I

and Anselm.) ,

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

t



•

Cl IAPTER III

THE GRACE

1

0F GOD

BY REV. C. ~1. SCOFIE LD., D. D.,

EDITOR SCOFIELD REFERENCE BIBL .E

1

Grace is an English wo,rd used in the New T estan1ent to

1

tran .sl.ate th .e Gree ·k wor

1

d,,

Chari s

whi

1

ch means

f ,av ,or,

1

with ...

out reco.n1p,ense or equi ·valent. If there is

any

compensator ,y

act or pay1nent, however sllight or inadequate, it is n

1

0 more

grace Charis~

When used to deno

1

te

a

certain attitude or act of God to

ward man

it

is therefore of the very es.sence

of the

matter

that human m

1

eri ·t or deserving is utt ,erly excluded. In grace

Go,d aets ou·t from

Him ,self,

towar ,d th,os:e ·who)

h.aye

dese·rved.,

not His fav

1

or, but His wrath. In the structure of the Epistle

to the Romans grace does not enter, could no·t

enter,

till a

Whole race, without one single excep ·tion, stands guilty and

speechless before God.

C,on,demned

by

cre,ation, ,

the

si,lent

testimony of

the

universe ,

,(.R.om• 1: 18, 20) ; by wilfu l ignoran ,ce, the loss, of a knowl

edge 0

1

f Go

1

d once unive :rsal (Ron1. 1: 2

1

1) ;,by senseless idolatry

(Rom. 1 : 22, 23) ; by a manner of life worse than bestia l

(Rom. 1: 24, 27) ; by

godless

pride an ,d

cruelty

(Rom. 1: 28,

32) ; by p

1

hilosopl1ical moralizings which had no fruit in life

(Rom. 2: 1,

4); by consciences

which ca,n.

only

accuse

or

se:ek

to

excus

1

e but never jttstify {Ro:m. ,2:

5,

16) ; and

fina:l]y

by the very law in which those who have the law boas .t ( Ron1.

2: 17; 3: 20), every mouth is stopped, and all the world be

comes guilty before God. ·

In an absolute sense, the end of al] flesh js come. Every

thing has been t-ried. Inno

1

cence, as of ·two unf at·len creatures

•



44

The Fundamentals

in

an Eden

of beauty;

conscience,

that is,

the

knowledge 0£

good and evil

with

responsibility to do good and eschew

evil

;

promises, with the help of

God available

through

prayer; law,

tried

011

a great scale,. and through centuries of forbearance,

supplemented by the .

mighty ethical

minis

1

try

of t.he

prophets,

without eVteronce presenting a human being righteous before

,God

(Rom. 3:

19 ;, Ga.I. 3,: 10; Heb . .7: 19; Rom. ,3:

10,

·1s;

8 : 3,. 4) ; this is the Biblical picture. And it is against this

dark background

that

grace shines out .

•

•

DEFINITION

•

The New Testament definiti ,ons of grace are botl1

i·nclusive

and e.xclusiv

1

e,

Tl1ey t.el.1us

what grace

is but they

are careful

also

to

tell us

what

grace is

not.

The two great cen.tral

defini-

tions fallow :

T .hat in the . ages to come He might show the

e:x:ceeding

riches of His

gr ·ace

in His

kindness

towar

1

d us through Christ

.

Jesus

(Eph. 2 :: 7) ..

This is . he inclusive., or affirmative, side; the negative

aspect, wha ·t gi~ace is not follows: ·

For by gr ,ace a.re

ye

sav ·ed

through f,aith ;

and

th.at.

not

of

yourselves: it is

the

gift

of God: not of work ·s, lest

any man

should boas t (E .p·h. 2: 8, 9) ..

The Jew . who is under

the

law when grace

co,mes,

is

und .er

its curse ( Gal. 3 : 10) ; an,d ·the Gentiles ar ,e iwithout Christ,

be.ing a.liens from

the

commonwealth ,o·f .Is ,ra .el, and strang ,ers

from the covenants of

promis ,e,

having

no

hope,

and

w·ithout

God in the world ,{Eph. 2:

12).

And to this race God comes to show the exceeding riches

of His GRACE

in His

kindness

towar ·d

US,

through

CHRIST .JESUS.

The other great

definition

of grace is: But after

t·hat

th ,e kindne .ss and love of · ·God our

Saviour

towa ·rd

man ap-

•



46

TJie Fundamenta ,ls

kills (Rom. 7: 9, 11) ; grace makes

alive

(,John 10: 10). Law

shuts every moutl1 be£ore God; grace opens e,very mouth to

praise Him.

Law puts a

great

and

guilty distance between

man and God (Ex. 20: 18, 19); grace makes guilty man nigh

to God (Eph. 2: 13) . Law says., ''An eye for an eye, and a

tooth for a tooth'' (Ex. 21 : 24) ; grace says, ''Resist not evil;

but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right ch

1

eek, turn

to

him the other also'' (Matt.

5:

39). Laws says, ''Hate thine

enemy;''

grace,

' 'Love your

enemies, bless them that

despite-

fully use

you.''

Law says, do and live (Luke 10; 26, 28) ;,

g·race, believe a·nd live (John S: 24). Law ne'.ver had a mi.s-

sionary; grace is to

be

preached to eve:ry ,creature. Law

utterly condemns the best man (Phil. 3: 4, 9); grace freely

justifi

1

es the wors t (Luk~ 23: 24; Rom .. 5: 5 ;, 1 Tim. 1 :.15·; 1

Co

1

r. 6: 9, 11). Law is ,a sy,st·em of pro ha ti.on ; grace, of favor.

Law stones

an

adulteress

1

(Deut . .

22: 21.); grace says,.

'' .Ne.ith,er

do I eond ,emn thee''(John 8: 1, 11). Unrde:r .l1w the s·h.eeprdies

for the

shepl1erd ;

under grace the sheph .erd dies

f'or

the sheep

, John

10: 11).. ·

The relation

to each other o·f these diverse p1·inciple·s, Iaw

.and grace, troubled the apostolic

1

c·hurch.

The first controver ·sy

conc,erned

the

ceremonial l.aw. It was

the

contention of the

legali ,sts that converts from among the Gentiles could. not b·e

saved unless , circumcised ''after

the manner

of Mo·ses'' (Acts

15: 1). This demand was enlarged when the ''apostles and

elders'' had come together at

J

rusale~ to settle that con-

trov ,ersy (Acts 15: ·5, 6). The demand then made put in issue

not circ11i11cisionmerely, or the ceremonial law, but the who·le

Mosaic syste111. ''That it was need£ul

t

1

0 circumcise them,

and

to command

them to

ke,ep

the law

of Moses

(Acts 15: 6).

The decision of the council, , as

''it

seemed good to the Holy

Ghost,'' negatived both demands, and the new law of love

was

1

invoked that Gentile converts sho,u1d abstain from things

especially ,offensive to Jewish believers (Acts 15 : 28, 29

1

) •



47

•

But the confusion of thes .e t,vo diverse principles did not

end with

tl1e

decision of the counci l. The controversy

con

tinued, and six years later the Holy Spirit, by the Apostle

Paul,

launched against the legalistic teachers from Jerusalem

the crushin ,g

th,und .erbolt

of the Epistl

1

e to the

church ies

in

Galatia.

In this great letter every phase of the question of the

respective spheres of law and of grace comes up for discussion

and

final,

authoritative

1

d.ec:

sion.

T·he .A.p

1

ostle

ha

1

d.called

tl1

e Galatians

into

the

gr ce

of

Christ

( Gal. l : 6). Now grace means unmerited, unreeompensed

favor. It is essential to get this clear. Add never so slight an

admixture of law-works, as circumcision, or law effort, as

of obedience to ·Commandments, and ''grace is n,o mor ,e grace''

1

(Rom.

11:

6). So

absolutely

is

this true,

that

grace cannot

ev

1

en begin with us until t'he law

ha sl re:d·uced

us to spe

1

echless

guilt

1

(Ro :m. 3 ·: 19) .. So long as.th 'er

1

e.is the .slightest ·question of

Utter guilt, utte~ helplessness,

there

is no plac

1

e for

grace ,.

If

I

am not, indeed, quite so

good

as I ought to

be, but yet quite

t

1

00

good for hell, I am not an object for the grace of God,

but for the illuminating and convicting and death-dealing work

of

Hi.s

law.

1

The I.aw is ''just'

1

'

(Rom.

7: 12), and

theref ·ore hea ·rtily

app ·rove ·s g . n.ess, and unsparingly condemns badness; but,

save Jesus of Nazareth, the law never saw a tnan righteO·US

through obedience. Grace, on the contrary, is not looking for

good m

1

en whom

it

may approve, for

it

is n.ot grace, but mere

justice, I

to

approve

goodness, but

it

is looking

for

co·ndem.ned,

T

guilty,

sp

1

e

1

echles.s. and helpl less men

whom it may

.save thro -u,gh

faith, sanctify ,and glorify.

Into grace, then, Paul had called the Galatians. What

(1:

6)

1

was his controvers .y

with

them? Just this:

they

were

''removed'' from the

gr ce

of

Christ

into ''another gospel,

1

•



•

•

•

•

•

48

The

Fundamentals ,

· Tl1er

1

e cottld not be, anotl1er go ,spel. Change, modify,

the

grace of Cl1rist by the , small~st ,degree, and you no longer

have

a gospel.

A go ,spel is .glad

tidings ;

and

th ·e

law

is

not

glad

ti

1

ding ,s. What things soev,er the law sai ,th ,

it

saith to

them ,

who

ar ·e

under th.,

law;

tha .t e.very

mouth

may

b,e stopped,

and all the

wor ld

be

1

Come guilty before Go,d

.(Rom. 3: 19),

and surely that is no go,od ne,vs. Th ,e law, then, has but one

languag ,e,; it pronounces all tl1e World g,ood , bad, and

go ,ody-good

guilty . . .

But you say: What ·is a simple child of God, who knows

n,o ·theol

1

ogy, to do? Just tl1is: to rem ,ember that any so

call1d

gospel which

is not

p11reuna .,dulterated grac ,e is, ano the,r

.. gospel. If

it

p

1

roposes., under whatever specious

guise, to

win favor of God by works, or go

1

odness, or character,, or

anyth ing ,else which man can do, it is Sl)Urious.

That

is the

un,f

ailing

test. ·

But

it

is more than spurious,

it

is accurse .d or r,ather the

preachers of

it

are ( Gal. 1 :

8, 9).

It is not man who says

that, but the Spirit of God

who

says

it

by His apo

1

stle. Tl1is

i ls un spe ,akably solemn. Not . the deni ,al o f th,e Go,spel even, is

so awfully seriou s as t·o pervert the Gospel. Oh, that Go.d

may

give

His peopl ,e in

tl1is.

day

p,ower

to discr ,i1ninate,

to

distinguish thi .ngs which differ • . Alas, ,

it

i,s disc ,ernm

1

ent

w.l1ich

seems s,o painfully wanting.

If a preacher is ·cultured, gentle, earnest, intellectual, and

broadly tolerant, the

sheep of

God

run after

him.

He, of ·

cour se, s p eaksl beaut .ifu] ly about

1

Christ, and uses th

1

e old.

words redemption, the

cros ,s,

even

sacrifice and

atoneme11t -

but what is his Gospe,l ' That is ·the crt1cial ques ·tio,n. Is-

salvation., perfe

1

c t,

e·n,tire, eter :nal, justifi ,c,atio,n,

san

1

c tification.,

glory, the alone work

Of

Christ, , and

the

fre ,e gift of God . to

faith alone? Or does he say: (Dr. Abbott) Character is

sa·lvation, even though he

may

add that Christ h

1

elps to

fo,rm the ch,aracter?



The race of od

49

THE THREE ERRORS

In the Epistle to the Galatians the Holy· Spirit through

Paul meets and answers the thr ee great errors into which in

different degrees, theological systems · have fallen.

The course of this demonstration is like the resistless

lnarch of an armed host. Nothing can stand before it. The

reasonings of ancient and modern legalists are scattered like

the

chaff of the summer threshing floor.

We have, most of us, been reared and now live und er the

influence of Galatianism. Protestant theology, alas, is for the

tnost part, thoroughly Galatianized, in that neither law nor

&'raceare given their distinct and separated places, as in the

counsels of God, but are mingled together in one incoherent

system. The law is no longer, as in the Divine intent,

a

tninistration of death (2 Cor. 3: 7), of cursing ( Gal. 3: 10),

of

conviction (Rom.

3: 19),

because we are taught that we

tnust try to keep

it,

and that by Divine help we may. Nor, on

the

other hand, does grace bring us blessed deliverance from

the

dominion of sin, for we are kept under the law as

a

rule

of life despite the plain declaration, Sin shall not have do

lllinion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under

g'race (Rom. 6: 14).

THE FIRST ERROR

The Spirit first meets the contention that justification is

Partly by law-works and partly by faith through grace (Gal.

: 5 to 3 : 24) .

The steps are :

1.

Even the

Jews,

who are not like the Gentiles, hopeless,

:'and ,without God in the world (Eph. 2: 12), but already

1n covenant relations with God, even they, knowing that a

lllan is not ju stified by the works of the law, but by the faith

of Je sus Christ ·( Gal. 2: 15, 16), have believed; for by

the

works of the law shall no flesh be justified.



•

so

Tl1e Fundan 1 e1itats

2. The law has executed its sentence upon the believer

(Gal. 2: 19)1; deatl1 has freed him. Identified with Christ s

death by faith, he, in the reckoning

of God, ,died

with Christ

( Rom. 6 : 3-10 ;

7

: 4) .

3. But righteousness

is by

faith, not by law ( Gal. 2: 21).

4. The Holy

Spirit

is given to

faitl1,

not law-works (

Gal.

3: 1-9).

5. As

many

as are of the

works of

the law are und er

. the

curse and

the

reason

is

given: Cursed

is every

one

that conti1iueth not in all tliir1 gs wl1ich are written in the

book of the law to do th ·em ( Gal. 3 : 10) . The law, then,

cannot help , but

can

only do its great

and

necessary work

of

condemnation (Rom. 3: 19, 20; 2 Cor. 3:

7

9; Gal. 3: 19;

James z·

10) ..

•

Elsewhere

(Rom.

5: 1-5) the Spirit, by the

same Apostle,

su1ns up the results of justification by faith with every sem~

blance of human merit carefully excluded. Grace, through

faitl1 in

Jesus Christ, has brought the believer into peace with

God

a

standing in grace and

assured

hope of glory. Tribu-

lation can but serve to develop in him new graces. The very

love that saved him through grace now fills his heart; the

Holy

Spirit

is

given

him,

and

he

joys in God

And all

by

grace, through faith

I

THE

SECOND ERROR

The Spirit next meets and refutes the second great

error

concerning the relations of law and grace the notion tl1at the

believer,

though assuredly ju stified

by faith through grace

wholly without law-works, is, after justification, put under

law as a rule

of

life. ·

Thi ,s is the

current

form

of the Galatian

error. From

Luther down, Protestantism has consistently held to justifica

tion by faith through grace. Most inconsistently Protestant

theology has held to th

1

e s.econd form of Galatianism .



The Grace of God

51

An entire section of the Epistle to the Romans, and two

chapters of Galatians are devoted to the refutation of thi s

error, and to the setting forth of the true rule of the believer's

life. Romans 6, 7, 8, and Galatians

4:

and 5, set forth the

new Gospel of the believer's standing in grace.

Rom. 6: 14 states the new principle: "For sin shall not

have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but

und .er grace." The Apostle is not here speaking of the justi

fication of a sinner, but of the deliverance of a saint from the

dominion of indwelling sin.

In Galatians, after showing that the law had been to the

Jew like the pedagogue in a Greek or Roman household, a

ruler of children in their nonage ( Gal.

3:

23, 24) the Apostle

says explicitly ( ver. 25), "But after that faith has come, we are

no longer under a schoolmaster" (pedagogue).

No evasion is possible here. The pedagogue

is

the law

( 3: 24) ; (aith justifies; but the faith which justifies also ends

the rule of the pedagogue. Modern theology says that a_ter

justification we are under the pedagogue. Here is a clear

issue, an absolute contradiction between the Word o God and

theology. Which do you side with?

Equally futile is the timorous gloss that this whole pro

found discussion in Romans and Galatians relates to the

ceremonial law. No Gentile could observe the ceremonial law.

Even the Jews, since the destruction of the temple, A. D.

70

have not found it possible to keep the ceremonial law except

in a few particulars

of

diet. It

is

not the ceremonial law which

says, "Thou shalt not covet" (

comp

Rom. 7: 7-9).

The believer is separated by death and resurrection from

1' osaism (Rom.

6: 3-15; 7: 1-6;

Gal.

4: 19-31). The

fact

remains immutable that to God he is, as to the law, an ex

ecuted criminal. Justice has been completely vindicated, and

it is no longer possible even to bring an accusa tion again st

him (Rom. 8: 33, 34).



52

The undamenta ls

It is not possible to know Gospel liberty, or Gospel holi

ness, until this great fundamental truth is clearly, bravely

grasped. One may be a Christian and a worthy and useful

man, and be still under bondag e to the law, but one can never

have deliverance from the dominion of sin, nor know the

true blessedness and rest of the Gospel and remain under

the law. Therefore, once more, note that it is death which

has broken the connection between the believer and the law.

The law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth

(Rom. 7: 1). But now we are delivered from the law, that

being dead wherein we were held (Rom.

7:

6). Nothing

can be clearer.

But I hasten to add that there is a mere carnal and fleshly

way of looking at our deliverance from the law, which is

most unscriptural, and I am persuaded, most dishonoring

to God. It consists in rejoicing in a supposed deliverance

from the principle of Divine authority over the life-a de

liverance into mere self-will and lawlessnes s.

The true ground of rejoicing is quite other than this. The

truth is, a Christian may get on after a sort under law as a

rule of life. Not apprehending that the law is anything more

than an ideal, he feels a kind of pious complacency in con

senting unto the law that it is good, and more or less languidly

hoping that in the future he may succeed better in keeping

it than in the past. So treated, the law is wholly robbed of

its terror. Like a sword carefully fastened in its scabbard,

the law no longer cuts into the conscience. It is forgotten

that the law offers absolutely but two alternatives-exact

obedience, always, in all things, or a curse. There is no third

voice. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things

which are written in the book of the law to do them (Gal.

3: 10; James 2: 10). The law has but one voice: What

things soever the law saith,

t saith to them who are under the

law; that every mouth may be stoppe d and all the world may



The race of od

53

become guilty before God" (Ro1n. 3: 19). The law, in other

words, never says: "Try to do better next time."

f

thi

the antinomian legalist seems entirely unaware.

THE TRUE CHRISTIAN LIFE

And now we are ready to turn from the negative to the

positive side to the secret of a holy and victorious walk unde r

grace.

We shaU find the principle and the power of that walk

defined in Galatians 5: 16-24.

The principle of the walk is

briefly stated :

"Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of

the flesh"

(S:

16).

The Spirit

is

shown

in

Galatians in a threefold way. First,

He is received by the hearing of fa~th . (

3: 2).

When the

Galatians believed they received the Spirit. To what end?

The Iegalists make little of the Spirit. Though they talk

much of "power" in connection with the Spirit, it is power

for service which chiefly occupies them. Of His sovereign

rights, of His blessed enabling in the inner life, there is

scant apprehension. But it is precisely there that the Biblical

e1nphasis falls. In Romans, for example, the Spirit

is

not

even mentioned until we have a justified sinner trying to keep

the

law, utterly defeated in that attempt by the flesh, the

"law in his members," and crying out, not for help but for

deliverance

(

Rom. 7:

15-24).

Then the Spirit is brought in

with, Oh, what marvelous results "The law of the Spirit

of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin

and death" (Rom.

8: 2).

Not the Apostle's effort under

the law, nor even the Spirit 's help in that effort, but the

might of the indwelling Spirit alone, breaks the power of

ind welling sin ( Gal. S: 16-18) .

You ask, and necessarily

at

this point , what is it to walk

in the Spirit? The answer is in Gal. S: 18: "If ye be Jed of



•

•

•

•

,

The Fundamentals

the Spirit. But how els ,e may we be Ie,d of Him save

by

yiel

1

dedness to His sway?

There is a wond ,erful sensitiveness in the ble,ssed Spirit's

love@ He will not act in

and

ove1·

our lives by

way of

aln1ighti

ness, forcing us into conformity. That is

why ''yield''

is

tl1

1

e

g·reat wo,rd of Romans

6, where it

is express ,ly

said

that

we

a't e

not

under

the law,

but

under grace.

The res,ults of walking

in the

Spirit ,are ,twofol

1

d,

negative

and positive. Walking

in the

Spirit

we

shall not

fulfill

the

Justis ·of the

fle,sh (

1

Gal.

5:

16). Th

1

e ''flesh'' here is the ex,act

equivalent of ''sin'' in Roman s 6: 14, ''Sin shall not have,

dominion

over

yo·u.'' ·

And the reas .on is immediately given ( 5 : 17). The Spirit

and the

flesh are cont1~ary,

and the Spirit is

greater

and

rnighti ,er

than the flesh. De1iverance comes, not 'by self-effort

under the law that is Romans 7 but by the omnipotent

,Sp

1

irit, who Himself is contrary to the flesh ( Gal. 6 :,7 , and

who

brings

the

yielded

believer into the experience

of

Romans 8. (

•

•

•

,

•

•

•



•

CHAPTER IV

•

FULFILLED

PROP 'HE ,CY A POTENT ARGUMENT

FOR THE BIBLE

BY ARNO C. GAEBELEIN,

EDITOR o ,UR HOPE.,'" NEW YORK CITY.

''Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your

strong reasons, saith the

King

of Jacob. Let

them

bring

them forth, and show us what shall happen; let them show

the former things, what they be, that we may consider tl1em,

and know the latter end o,f them, or declare us things to con1e.

Show the thihgs that are to come hereafter, that we may know,

that

ye

are gods'' ( Isa . 41 : 21-23). ''I declare the end from

the beginning, and . from ancient times the things that are not

Yet done, saying, My counsel sha ll stand, and I wi11do all my

pleasure'' ( Isa. 46 : 10) .

This

is

Jehovah's

challenge to the idol-gods of Babylon to

Pre,dict future events.

He

alone can do that. T 'he

Lor 'd

can

declare the end

from

the beginning, and

make

lroown thing s

that are not yet done. The dumb idols of the heathen know

no hing

concerning

the future. They cannot tiredict what is

going to happen. And man himself is powerless to know

f utur ,e events an ,d cannot find out things to come.

Jehovah, who has made this challenge and declaration, has

also fully demonstrated His power to do so. He has done it in

:religious

character,

called

''sacred books.'' Not one

of

them

contains any predictions concerning the future. If the authors

would

have thereby furnished the strongest evidence of their

d~eptions.

The

Bib,le

is

the on y book

in

the world

which con



•

•

•

•

\

56

T.he

Fund a1nental.s

book could be, and none other is, a book of prophecy. These

predicti

1

ons are declared to be the utterances of Jehovah ; they

show that the Bib

1

le is a s.upernatural book, the revelation

of God .

PROP 'HECY NEGLECTED AND DE.NIED

In view of this fact it is dep·lo,rable that the professing

Church of today almost

completely

ignores and neglects the

study of prophecy, a neglect which has for one

of

its

·results

the loss

of

one o·f

the

most powe .r·fuI

weapons

agains ,t

infidelity.

The denial of the Bible as the inspired ·word of Go

1

d has

.

become widespread.

If prophecy were intelligently studied such a denial could

not

flourish

as

it

does, for the

f ulfille,d

predictions

of

the Bible

give the clearest and most conclusive evidence that th ,e

Bible

is the rev

1

elatio.n

of

God.

T6

this must be a.dded the fact that

the destructive Bi'ble

cri.tici.sm,

which goes

b·y

the name of

''Higher Criticism, ,denies the

po,ssibi lity of prophecy.

The

whole reasoning method of this school, which has become so

popular throughout Cl1ristendom, may be reduc .ed to the fol

lowing:

Prophecy

is .an impossibility ; th

1

er

1

e

is no

,such

thing

as

f

0

1

retelli .ng future events ... Ther

1

efore a boo,k Which contains

predictions of · things

to come, ·which

were

later

fulfill ,ed,

must .

hav ,e been written after the events .

whi

1

ch are

predict ·ed

in the

book. The methods followed by the critics, the attacks made

by

th

1

em upon

the

authenticity of the

different

books of the

Bible, I

especially

upon

those which

co

1

ntain the

most

startling

propheci ies ( .I.saiah and Daniel), w

1

canno,t follow at th isl time.

They deny

everything which the

J w··ish Synago ,gue

and

the

Cl1ristian

·Church a]ways believed to be prophecy, a

super -

.

natural unfolding of future events.

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Th.e pro ·p,h,ecies of the Bi.b

1

le must be first of all d·ivided

1

into three c·Jas.ses. 1. Propheci ,es which h.ave found already ·

-



their

f

ulfil'lment. 2. Prophecies which ar ·e now

i·ri

p~ocess of

f·ulfilJment. Many predictions w·rit ·t

1

en several thousand

year ·s

ago are ·now b,eing acco·m·plished before our eyes. We men

tion those which re·tate to the national and spiritual condition

•

of t'he Jewish people and the predictio ,ns concerning the moral

and r,eligious

condition of the present

age.

3.

Pr

1

ophecies

which are still unfulfilled. We have ·reference to those which

predict the second, glorious and visible coming of our

Lord,

the re-gathering of Is ·rae ,l and their ·restor ·ation to the · land of

p,romise, judgments which will fall upon the ·nations of the

earth, the establishment of the Kingdom, the

conve·r'sion

of

the world, universal peace and righteousness, the

,d

1

el·iverance

of groaning creation,

an ,d otl1er·s.

These great prophecies of future tl1ings are often

~obbed

of the .r literal and solemn meaning by a pr ·ocess of s.pirituali

zation. The visions of

the

proph ,ets co

1

,;icerning

Israe ·t

and

Jerusalem, . and the glories , to come in a future age, are almost

g·enerally

explained

as

having

their fulfillment in

the Church

during the pre ·sent age.

H,owever,I

our obj 'ect is

no't

to follow

the unfulfilled prophecies, but prophecies fulfilled and in

·process of · fulfillment. At the c·tose of our treat ·ise we · shall

point

0

1

ut briefly that in the light of fulfilled p

1

ropheci

1

es,

tl1e

literal

f'ulfi11ment

of'

prophecies still future is perfectly assured.

FULFILLED · PR

1

0PHECY A VAST THEME

Ful ·fil.led

prophecy

i.s a vast

theme

of much

importanc re.

It is.equal y inspiring ·and interesting. Vol urn es could be ,vrit

ten to show how hundrecl ,s of Pivine predictions ,vritten in the

Bible have

passed

into hi.story.

What

God

a.nnounced

through

His

ch

1

os,en

ins.trume .nts , has come to pass. History

is

bearing

witn ·ess to the fact that the ev

1

ents which triln spired among

nations were pre-written . in the Bible, eyen as prophecy is

nothing less

than

history

written in.

advance. As much as

space pe1~mits we s,hall call

1

attention to th

1

e fulfilled proph ,ecies

rel.ating to the

person of Christ; to

the ,

Jewi~h .Pe~ple; and .

•



•

58

The Fundamen ta ls

to a number of natio ,ns, Whose his.tory, who ,se rise and down

fall, are divinely predicted in the Bible. Furthermore, we

shall mention

the

gre:at proph

1

etic unfol

1

dings as

gi·ven in the

Book of Daniel, and ho,w many of these predictions have al

rea.dy

found a most interes ·ting

f

ulfillm .ent.

I

•

MESSIANI

1

C PR0

1

PHECIES AND THEIR FULFILLMENT

The

Old

Testament contains a most

wond ·erful

cl1ain 0£

prophe ,cies

conc

1

erning the person,

·th ,e

1

] f

e and

work

of

o;ur

Lord. . As H

1

e is the center of the whole rev ,elation of God, the

On ie upo :n whom , all rests, ,

we

turn

first

of

all. to

a few of the

· prophecies which speak of Him. This also is very necessary.

Tl1e destructive criticism has gone so far as

1

to

state , tha.t

ther

1

e

are no predictions at all conc,erning Christ in the Old Testa

,ment. Such a denial

lea,ds

to and is linked with the denial of

Christ Hims

1

elf,

especially

the d

1

enial of

His

Deity and

His

work on the

crosis.

I

To

f ollow

the large

number of prophecies

con

1

cerning

the

coming of Ch,rist into the world and

the

w,ork

He was

to

accomplish we cannot

attemp .t

in

these

pages.

We point

out

briefly in a general way what must be

fa-n1iliar

to most Chris

tians who

S1ar

1

ch the

Sc,riptures.

Christ

is

first announce ·d

in

Gen. 3: 15 to be the seed of the woman, and therefore a human

being. In

G

1

en.

9

:26-27

the

supremacy

of

She·m is predict

1

ed.

The full revelation of Jel1ov,ah God

is connected with Shem

and in due time a so,n of Shem, Abraham,

received

the

promise ,

that the

predicted seed

was to come from

him. ( Gen. 12: 8 . )

Messiah was

to co

1

me from

the

seed

of Abraham. ,

Then

the

fact

was revealed

that

He

was to

come from

Is .aac and not from Ishmael, , from . Jacob and not from E,sau.

But Jacob had twelve sons . The Divine prediction pointed to

Judah and

later

to the

hous

1

e·

,of

Dav ·id

o:f

the

tribe

of

Judah

from which

the

Messi.ah should spring . When we come to

·th.~

prop ,hecies. of Is,aiah we leam that

His

m,othet

is

to be, a



•

Immanuel, God with us. Clearly the prop h

1

etic Word in Isaiah

states that the Me·ssiah would be a child born and a Son given

with

the

nan1es,

Wonderful,

Counsellor,

Mighty

God,

the

Everlasting Father, the Prince of Pe ,ace ( Isa. 9 : 6) . The

promised Messiah is to be the seed

1

0£ a woman, of the seed ·

of Abraham,

of·

David, born of a

virg ,in,.

He is

to

be Im-

.

manttel,

the S,on

given, God manifested in

th.i

flesh •

•

This promised Messiah,

the

Son

of David, J

should appea1·

(,acc.ording

to Isa.

11 : 1) after

the

house

of David

had

been

strip ,ped of its royal dignity and glory. And what more could

we say of the prophecies which speak

1

0£ His life, His poverty,

t:he w·orks He was t .0

1

do, Hi ,s rej ection b

1

y

His own people,

thre

Jews. In that matchless chapter in Isaiah, t he fif,ty-third, the

rejection of Christ by His own natio ,n is predicted. In another

cl1apt·er a

still more start ling

prophecy is

recorded : Then I

said,

I

have

labored in vain, I have spent

my

strength for

nau ,ght

and

in vain. Tl1is

i,s Messi .ah sl

lament ·on acco ,unt

of

His rej e

1

ction. Then fo]l ,ows the answer : which contains a

most striking pr ,ophecy : It is a light thing that Thou sho uldes ,t

be My servant to raise up the tribes of J cob

1

and to restore

the preserved o,f Is.rael : I also will give Thee for a light to

the Gentiles, that Thou m.ayest b

1

e My ,salvation unto the ends

of

th·e

e,arth ( Isa. 49: S, 6). Her

1

e

th,e

revelation is given that

He w,ould not

alone ·be rej:ected

by His

1

own nati

1

0 tt,

h ut

tl1at

He w.ould also bring salvation to the Gentiles. Wh ,at human

m·in,d could have ever inve nted such a program I

Tl1e

prom

ised Messiah of Israel, the longed-for One, is predicted to be

rej ·e

1

cted by His own people and tht1s becomes the Saviour· of

the d

1

espis

ed Gentiles. His

suff e·rin,gs

a,nd

His d

1

eath

are

eve·n

more

minutely predicte ,d.

In the Book of Psalms the ·sufferings l of Christ, the deep

agony of I-Iis soul, the exp,ressions of His sorrow and His grief,

are pre-written by the Spirit of God. We mention only ·on.e

Ps lalm,

the twenty- second. His death by crucifixion

is

prophe-

.

sied. , Yet deat h by crucifixi ,on wa1 in Dav·i

1

d

1

.s ti.me an un-

..



•

60

•

The Fu idamentals

known mod ·e: .of d,eath. Cruel Rome ·invented

that horrible

form of ,death. The ,cry of the

for ,saken

On,e is predicted

in

· the

very

words which

,came

from the li.ps

of our S,aviour o·ut

of the darkness which enshrouded the cross. So are also

predicted the words of mockery by those who looked on; the

p.iercing o,f His

han ,ds

and

feet; , the parting

of the garments

*

.

an ,d

tl1e casting

of the lots. In

the fifty-third chapt ,er o ·f

Is.aiah,

the

purpose of I-Iis

death

is

so bles.se.dly predict ,edi H ,e

was. to die the

subs ,titute of sinners. .

There

we

find

al,so

His

burial and His resurrection predicted. All this was recorded

7t00

years

before

our Lord

was

born.

In

the

Psalms we find

the prophecy that the r,ejected One would

occupy

a

place

at

the r·ight 11and o.f Go,d ( Psalm 110 : 1) . H,e· was to Ieav·e the

earth. D·avid ,s Son . and David .s. Lord was . to have

,a

pla ,ce in

the highe .st glory, ev

1

en at the right ha.nd of God, to

1

wait there

till His enemies are

made

His footstool.

It

is

indeed

a won-

derful chain of prophecies concerning Christ. We

could

give

a very few

of these

pr ·edictions,

How they .all

were

long ago

literally

fulfilled

in t·l1e

coming, in the

life,,

in

the d

1

eath,

in

the

resurrec .tion

and

ascen ,sion 0

1

£

our

ad,or,able Lord., all t:ru,e

•

believers kn

1

ow.

TI-IE .JEWISH PEOPLE

When Frederick the Great,

King

of

Prussia,

asked

the

cour ·t chaplain for an argument that the Bible is an inspired

•

_b,ook,

he answe ·red, Your

Majesty, ·the Jews. It was well

___.

sai ,d.,, To th ,e Je,vs wer ,e committed tl1e o,racles of ,God. (Rom~

3: 2.) Tl1ese oracle ·s of God, the Holy Scriptures, the Law

and the Prop ,hets,

are

filled with a large number of

predictions

relating to

their own

history. Their unbelief, the rejection of

the Messia ·h, the

r,esults ,of

that rejection, their dispersion

into

·tl1e corners of

the

earth, so tha ·t

they would be

scatfe :re ,d

among

a.11 the nation .s, the persecution .s and

sorr ,ow.s they

were

to

suffer, th ,e curses which

were

to come

upon th,em., their

mir,acu

lous preservation as a

nation, the .ir

future

great tribul .ation and



•

final restoration all tl1ese and much mor ·e were over and over

announced by their own prophets. All the different epochs of

the

1

remarl<:able

history

of

Israel

were predicted Jong

before

they were reached. Tl1eir sojou rn in E.gypt and servitude, as

well.as the dur ,ation of that period ., was anno·unce·d

to

A.braham.

The Babylonian

1

captivity

1

0£ 7 years .and the return of a

remnant to occupy the land once more was announced by

the pre-exile

prophets, who also predicted

a far greater and

long .er exile, ,their present world-wide dispers ,ion and a return

wl1ich up to 1914 has n

1

ot yet come. Of the deep

1

est ·interest

· an .d

the greates ,t

imp,orta ·nce in connection witl1

the

predi

1

c

tions of th

1

e retur ·n

f

r·om Babylon is the naming of the gr

1

eat

Persian king through wl1om the return w.as to be .a,chieve

1

d.

This great prophecy is found in tl1e Book of Isaiah : That

saith of

Cyrus,

He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My

pleasure

:

even

saying of

Jerusalem, She

sl1all

be built; and

of the temple, Thy foundati

1

on shall . be laid.. Thu .s sai·th

J·eho

1

vah to His anointed, to Cyru .s, who-.e ri.ght :hand I h.ave

holden, to . subdu ,e n .ations bef o,re him; and I will loose tl1e

loins of kings, to open the doors bef ·ore him, and the gates shall

not be shut ( Isa . 44: 28; 45 : 1). This prediction was mad·e

about 200 years b,ef ore Cyrus was born. A caref ut study of

the part of Is .aiah where thes .e words

are

found will show

. that they are linked with the ch.allenge of Jehovah

at1·d

the

1

de,c·taration that .He knows. th

1

e end fro ,m the beg ·inning; ·the

passages we have already quoted. In naming an unborn ki·ng

•

•

a11d sho.wing what his work would be, J ehovah demonstrates

that He

knows

the

future. The great Jewish historian,

Josephu .s,

informs

us that

when

Cyrus

found his name

in the

B

1

001,

of Isaiah, writte .n about 200 y·ears before, an

earnest

d

1

esire · laid hold upon hin1 to fu]fill wh .at was written. The

beginning of the Book of Ezra gives the pr ,oc.lamati ,on of

Cyrus

c

1

oncerning the t emple.

When

the

Prophet Isaiah received the message which con

tained the name of the Pe1~sian king, he wrote it down faith-



•

•

•

•

•

•

Fulfilled Pr,oph,ecy. a P ,otent Argument for the Bible 63

still. Here are ar.gun1ents for the Divine, the supernatural

origin of this

book

wl1ich no

infidel has

ever

been

able, to

ans,wer ;,nor

will th

1

ere

ever

be.

found an

,answer ,

-

.

It would take many pages to follow the different predic-

tions

and

show

their

literal fulfillment

in

the

nation

which

•

turned

a,vay from

Jehovah

and

dis,obeyed His W ,ord.

Apar ·t from su

1

ch general

pr ,edictions

a,s are found in verses

64-66 an ,d fulfilled in

the dispersion

of

Israel,

there are

othe1·s

which are

mor ie

minute. 'The

Roman power, which

was

us~d

to bre .ak

the

Jews, is clearly pred ..cted b1y

Moses ,,.

a11d that in

a

time when no such power exi st

1

e

1

d. Read verses 49-50: ''The

Lord shall bring a

nation against

thee f'rom far,

from

the end

of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth, a nation, whose lan

guage thou .shalt not understand.''

Tl1e

eagle was· tl1e

standard

of th.e Roman armies ; the Jews understood many oriental lan

gu,ages, but were

ignorant

0

1

£

Latin.

''Which

shall

not

r

1

egard

·the person of the old, nor sh

1

,w favo1·

to the

y1oung,.''' Ro me

killed the 0

1

ld people and t·1e c:hildr ·e,n. ''And he shall besie,ge

tl1ee in all thy gates, t1ntil thy high and fenced walls con1e

down,

wl1erein tl1ou

tr ,ustedst, throughout all

thy

land'' (

verse

52). Fulfilled in tl1e siege and overthrow of Jerusalem by

the Roman

'legions.

''The tender

and

delicate

woman

among

y,ou, which wou ld not adventure

to

set the sole

of her

f,oot upon

the ground fo,r delicateness

a11d t

1

en,derness,

sha,]l eat . her chil

dren, fo·r w.an.t ,o,f all tl1ings i'n the s,iege .and ,straitness wh

1

ere

wi,th

thin

1

e enemy

sha'll dist :res~ thee in thy

ga,te,s'' (

54-5,7).

Fulfilled in the dreadful ,sieges of Jerusa .lem,, perhaps

the

most

•

terrible events in the history of blood and tears of this poor

earth.

Every

verse, beginning

with

the

fifteen

th,

to the

end

of this chapt ,er has found its oft repeated fulfillment . It does

not surprise us that th ,e

1

enemy hates this book,

wl1ich

bears such

a

testimony, and

would have

it

cla.ss,ed with

legends ,.

•

Of much

inte,res,t

,is, the last verse

1

0£

this,

great proph,etic

chapter. '' And

Jehovah wi1·1 br·ing

thee

into Egypt

again wit'h

ships,

by

the way whereof I said unto ·thee, Thou slia1t ,see

it

•



64

The

Fundan ientals

no more again;

and

there ye shall sell

you1·selves

unto your

en~mies fo

1

r bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy

. you.

When

Je1·usalem

was , des,troyed by

tl1e

Ro1na ns ,

all

w ho did not di,e in the ,awful ,calamity were . sent to the mines

of ,Egypt, where the: slaves were co,11stantly kept at work with-

out being permitted t.o rest o,r

sileep til l tl1,ey, s,uc.cumbed. .T.he

whip of Egypt fell o,,nce mor

1

e upo

1

n them .and

they suff ·ere

1

d

the

most t

1

errible agonies . Others were sold as slaves. Ac-

cording

to Joseph .us,,

about 100,000

1

were made

slaves so

th .at

the markets were glutted and the word fulfilled , No man sh.all .

buy you.

THEIR DISPERSION AND

PRESERVATION

When Balaam

beheld the camp

of

Israel he

uttered a

prophecy

which is still being fulfilled. Lo, the peo

1

pl

1

e

shall

dwell

alone

and

shall

not b

1

e rec koned among ·the

nations

(Num. 2·3: 9

1

.

1

God had sep

1

arated the

nation

and

given t,o

•

them a

land.

And ·t his peculia ·r people, livi.ng

in one O·f the

smallest co·untries of the earth, has been S

1

cattere ,d throughout

the wo,rld,

has become

a

wanderer, without

a ho,me, without a

land. Like

Cain

they

wander

from nation to nation. Though

without a land they are still a nation. Other

nations

have

pas sed away; the Jewish nati ,on has been pres ,erved. They are

among all the nations and yet not reckoned amo·ng the nations

1

, •

All

this is written

beforehan ,d in

the Bible. And

you

will I

scatter amo .ng the nation .s,

and

I will draw

out .

the sword after

you :

and

your ]and

shall

be a desolation and your cities

shall

be a w,aste (:Lev.

26:

3

3).

And

Jehovah ,will

.scatt

1

er you .

amon ,g the

people,

and y

1

e

shall be

lef .t

f ew i.n num ·ber among

the nations, whither

Jehovah

shall l

1

ead

you away j

(Deut.

4: 27).

And Je l1ovah· will sca tter you among all peoples,

f r

1

om the one end of the e,arth even unto the otl1er end of the

earth; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which thou hast

not known, thou nor thy fathers, even wood and stone. And

•



Fulfilled

Prophecy

a Potent rgument for the Bible 65

be no rest for the sole of thy foot; but Jehovah will give thee

there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul.

And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt

fear night and day, and shalt have no assurance of thy life.

In the morning thou shalt say, Would it were even and at

even thou shalt say, Would it were morning for the fear

of thy heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine

eyes, which thou shalt see" (Deut. 28: 64-67). "And yet for

all that, when tl).ey be in the land of their enemies, I will not

reject them, neither will I abhor them,

to

destroy them utterly,

and to break My covenant with them ; for I am Jehovah their

God" (Lev. 26: 44). In many other passages the Spirit of

God predicts their miraculous preservation.

"Massacred by thousand s, yet springing up again from their

undying stock, the J ews appear at all times and in all regions.

Their perpetuity, their national immortality, is at once the

most curious problem to the political inquirer; to the religious

man a subject of profound and awful admiration."* Herder

called the Jews "the enigma of history". What human mind

could have ever for eseen that this peculiar people, dwelling , in

a peculiar land, was to be scattered among all nations, suffer

there as no other nation ever suffered, and yet be kept and

thus marked out still as the covenant people of a God, who se

gifts and callings are without repentance. Here indeed is an

argu1nent for the Word of God which no infidel can answer.

Jehovah has predicted the history of His earthly people.

''Though I n1ake a full end of an ·nations whither I have scat

tered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee" (J er. 30: 11).

THE LAND AND THE CITY

Palestine, the God-given home of Israel, the land which

once flowed with milk and honey, has become barren and

desolate. Jerusalem, once a great city, the hallowed city of

*Milman : "History of the Jews."



•

66

T

ie F

utid amentals

David, is

tro ·dd,en

down

by

the

Gentil ,es.

All this is more

than once

predicted

in the

Wo

1

rd of

Prophecy. ''I will

make

•

thee a wilderness, and citi~s.

whi ,ch

are n

ot

inhabited.

And I will

prepare

1

des.troyers 1aga ·inst the ,e,

1

very one

W"th

his wea ·po,ns ;

and

they

shall cut d·own thy choice ce.dar .s, a.nd cast them into

the

fire.

And many nations

shall

pass by

this

city, a11-d

hey

shall say every man to his

neighbor, .

Where£ ore has the

Lord

do,ne thus unto this great . city '? Then they shall answer ·, ·Be

cause they have forsaken the

covenant

of the

Lord tl1eir God,

and worshipped other gods and served

them'' (Jer.

22

7-9).

''And the generation to ,come, yo

1

ur children that sl1all rise up

after you, and the

foreigner tl1at

shall co1ne fr ,om a

far

land

shall ,say·, w·hen t.hey shall . see the plague ·s of that land .. .. .

even all the nations sha·11 say, Wl1eref ore l1ath Jehovah done

thus unto this land, what meaneth the heat of this great anger?''

(Deut.

29:

22-25.)

Thus , it h.a.s come to pa .ss. Their I.and is being visited by

Gentiles from all over the wor ·l.1 who behold the desolations.

Many

other passages could

be

added to the above passages

which p1·ophesied the very condition of the promised land and

tl1e city of Jerusalem which are fou .nd there now, and which

have exist ,ed fo ,r :nearly

two

th

ousand years.

The national rejecti ,on of Israel and the fulfillment of the

threatened curses have come to pass, and the land in its

barre ·n

condition

witnesses

to

it..

Even

tl1e

duration of all this is

in

1

dic.ated in th.e prophetic Word. There is. a striking passa .ge

in Hosea I ''I will go and return to My place, till they ac

kPo'ivledge their offence and seek My face; in their affliction

they

will seek

Me

early. Come, let

us

return unto

the

Lord;

for He hath torn, and He will heal us ; He hath smitten and He

will bind us up. After two days will He revive us ; in the

third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight''

(Hos. 5: 15----6: 2). According to

this

prophecy Jehovah is to

be in their midst and is to ·return to His place. It refers to

the ma·nif

estation

of

the Lord

Jesus

Christ among

H ·is

people .



Fulfilled Prophecy a Potent

Argument for

tfte Bible 7

They rejected Him; :He returned to His place. They are to

acknowledge their offence.

Elsewhere in the Word predictions are found which speak

of a future ·national repentance of Israel when the remnant

of that nation will confes s the blood-guiltiness which is upon

them. According to this word in Hosea, they are going to have

affliction, and when that great affliction comes they will seek

His face, and confess their sins, and express th eir trust in

Jehovah. They · acknowledge that for two days they were

torn and smitten by the jud gments of the Lord, afflicted, as

predicted by their own prophets . A third day is coming when

all will be changed. These days are prophetic days. Several

ancient Jewish expositors mention the fact that these days

stand each for a thousand years. The two days of affliction

and dispersion would therefore stand for two thousand years,

and they are almost expired. The third day would mean th e

day of the Lord, the thousand years of the kingdom to come.

Nor must we forget that our Lord Jesus Christ, too, pre

dicted the great dispersion of the nation, the fall of

J

erusalern,

and that Gentiles were to rule over that city, till the times of

the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Lu ke 21 : 10-24.)

NO GOVERNMENT, NO SACRI F ICE, NO HOLY PLACE

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without

a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice , and

without an image, and without an ephod, and without tera

phim ( Hos. 3 : 4). No further comment is needed on this

striking prediction. Their political and religious condition for

1900 years corresponds to every word given throu gh Hosea

the prophet.

PROPHECIES ABOUT OTHER NATIO N S

Besides the many predictions concerning the people Israel,

- the prophets have much to say about the nations with whom

Israel came in touch and whose history i bound up with the



68

The undamentals

history of the chosen people of God. Babylonia, Assyria,

Egypt, Ammon, Moab, Tyre, Sidon, Idumea, and others are

mentioned in the Proph\:tic Word. Their ultimate fate was

predicted by Jehovah long before their downfall and overthrow

occurr ed. The Prophet Ezekiel was entrusted with many of

the solemn messages announcing the judgment of these nations.

The reader will find these predictions in chapters 25-37. The

predictions concerning Arnmon, Moab; Edom and the Philis

tines are recorded in the twenty-fifth chapter. Tyrus and its

fall is the subject of chapters 26 to 28 : 19. A prophecy about

Sidon is found in the concluding verses of the twenty -eighth

chapter. The prophecies concerning the judgment and degra

dation of Egypt are given at greater length in chapters 29 and

30. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum

and Habakkuk, all contain prophecies concerning differen t na

tions foretelling what should happen to them. A mass of

evidence can be produced to show that all these predictions

came true. Many of them seemed to fail, but after centuries

had passed, their literal fulfillment, even to the minutest detail,

had become history.

We must confine ourselves to a very few of these predic

tions and their fulfillment. The siege and capture of the pow

erful and extremely wealthy city of Tyrus by Nebuchadnezzar,

king of Babylon, is predicted in Ezek. 26: 7-11. It came literally

to pass. One of the proofs is to be found in a contract tablet

in the British Museum dated at Tyrus in the fortieth year of

the king. The overthrow predicted by Ezekiel had come to

pass. The walls were broken down and the city was ruined.

The noise of the song ceased and the sound of the harps was

no more heard. But not all that Ezekiel predicted had been

fulfilled by the Babylonian conqueror . The Divine predic

tion states, ''They shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy

dust in the midst of the water (verse 12). Nebuchadnezzar

had not done this. History acquaints us with the fact that

the Tyrians, before the destruction of the city had come, had



-

....

. -

-

- --

.

-

.

-

..

•

Fulfilled

Prophecy

a

Po tent Argument

for

the Bible

69

rremoved

their

treasures

to an

island about half

a

mi.le f1um

the shore. About 250 years later Alexand er came

against

the

island city. The ruins of Tyre which Nebuchadnezzar had left

standing were used by Alexander. He

1

constructed

ot1t

of the1n

With great ingenuity and perseverance a dam from the main

la11d o,

the rock city in the sea. Thus

literally it

Was fulfilled, ·

They shal l lay thy

stones and thy timber and thy dust in the

midst of

the

water.' '

The

sentence pronounced upon

that

proud city, fo

1

r so 'Jong the

powerful

mistress of the sea, '

1

'Thou

shalt be built no more,''

has

been

fully

carried

o,ut.

Of still greater interest

are

the prophecies which foretell

the doom of Egypt. Ezekie l and Nahum me11tion the Egyp

tian city No. (Ezek. 30: 14-16,; Nah. 3: 8.) No is Thebes

and was the

an.ri,ent

cap

1

ita l o,f

E ,gypt. Th ,e

E ,gyptian

nam,e

is

No-Amon. It had a hundred gates, as we learn from Homer,

and

was a

city

of marvelous beauty. It was surrounded

by

Walls

twenty-£

o,ur feet thick, an.id ha.d a

circumference of

one

tnile and thr ee quarters. The Lord

announced

through Ezekie l

that

this great

city

sl1ot1d be rent

asunder · and that its vast

Populati on should be

Cttt

off. Five hundred y·ears Irater ' Pt 16-

lerny

Laltyrus , the grandfather of Cleopatra,

after besieging

the

city several years razed to the ground the previously ruine d

city. Every

word given tl1rough

Ezekiel had come true.

One

cot1ld

fill

m,any pag ,es showin ,g

tl1

e

lit eral fulfillm .ent ,of EzekieJ' ,s,

great predictions relating to Egypt. The decline and degrada

tion predicted has come true.

The

rivers and canals

of

Egypt

have.

dried up. The

land

has become desolate. The

immense

fisheries which yielded

sucl1

a great

income

to

the

rulers of

Egypt are no longer in existence. Ezek. 30:

7

has

found a

literal fulfillment. Egypt is a land of ruins and wasted cities.

l11e instruments

whom

God ttsed in accomplishing this were

strang ·ers (E zek. 30: 12) like Cambyses,

Amroo

Ochus and

others. ·

~T·I1ere

shall be

no more

a

prince o·f the land ·of

Egypt'' (Ezek. 3,0: 13). This too

ha s

been literally fulfilled.

\



Fulfilled Prophecy a Potent rgument f~r the Bible 71

Babylonia and Assyria, once the granaries of Asia, the

garden spots of that continent, enjoying a great civilization,

are

now in desolation and mostly unproductive deserts. The

predictions of Isaiah and Jeremiah have been fulfilled. Th e

judgn1ents predicted

to

co1ne upon Babylon were

also

fulfilled

long ago.*

THE BOOK OF DANIEL

The Book of .Daniel, however, supplies the most startling

evidences of fulfilled prophecy. No other book has been so

11luch attacked as this great book. For about two thousand

Years wicked men, heathen philosophers, and infidels have tried

to break down its authority. It has proven to be the anvil

upon which the critics' hammers have been broken to pieces.

The Book of Daniel has survived all attacks. It has been

denied that Daniel wrote the book during the Babylonian cap

tivity. The critics claim that it was written during the time

of the Maccabees. Kuen en, W ellhausen, Canon Farrar, Driv

er and others but repeat the statements of the assailant 0£

Christianity of the third century, the heathen Porphyry, wno

contended that the Book of Daniel was a forgery. Such is

the company in which the higher critics are found. The Book

of Daniel has been completely vindicated. The prophet wrote

the book and its magni~cent prophecies in Babylon. All doubt

as to that has been forever removed, and men who still repeat

the infidel oppositions against the book, oppositions of a past

*"How utterly improbable it must have sounded to the contem

Poraries of Isaiah and Jeremiaht that the great Babylon.

this

oldest

llletropo]is of the world, founded by Nimrod, planned to be a city on

the Euphrates much larger than Paris of today, surrounded by walls

four hundred feet high, on the top of which four chariots, each drawn

by four horses, could be driven side by side; in the center a large,

lllagnificent park

an

hour's walk in circumference, watered by ma

chinery; in it the king's twelve palaces, surrounding the great temple

of the sun-god with its six hundred-foot tower and its gigantic golden

statue-should be converted into a heap of ruins in the midst of a

desert Who today would have any faith in a similar prophecy _agailtst

Berlin or

London or

Paris or New York?'' (Prof.

Beuex.)



7

The Fundamentals

generation, must be branded as ignorant, or considered the will

ful enemies of the Bible.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR S GREAT DREAM

The great dream of Nebuchadnezzar is recorded in the

second chapter of the Book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar who

had been constituted by Jehovah a great monarch over the

earth Jer. 27: 5-9) desired to kno,v the future. All his

astrologers and soothsayers, his magicians and mediums, could

.not do that. Their predictions left him still in doubt (Dan.

2: 29). God gave him then a dream which contained a most

remarkable revelation. The great man-iinage the king beheld

is the symbol of the great world empires which were to follow

the Babylonian empire. The image had a head of gold; the

chest and arms were of silver; the trunk and the thighs were

of brass; the two legs of iron, and the two feet were composed

of iron mixed

with

clay. The Lord made known through the

prophet the meaning of this dream .

Nebuchadnezzar and the empire over which he ruled is

symbolized by the golden head. An inferior kingdom was

to come after the Babylonian Empire; its symbol is silver.

This kingdom was to be followed by a third kingdom of brass

to bear rule over all the earth. The fourth kingdom was to

be strong as iron and was to subdue all things. Exactly three

great world powers came after the Babylonian Empire, the

Medo-Persian, the Graeco-Macedonian and the Roman. In

teresting it is to learn, from the different metals of which the

image was composed, the process of deterioration which was

to characterize the successive monarchies. The fourth empire,

the Roman world power, is seen in its historic ·division, in

dicated by the two legs. The empire consisted of two parts,

the Ea st and West Roman sections. Then - the division of

the Empire into kingdoms in which iron (monarchical form

of government) and the clay ( the rule of the people) should

be present is also predicted. How all this has come to pass is



too well known to need

any

furt her demons.tration ,. These

e.mpires have come and gone and the ter ·ritory of the

old

Roman Empire presents . today the very condition as pre

dicted

in

N

eb·uchadnezzar s

dream.

Monarchies and republics

are in existence upon that territory, The final division into

ten kingdoms has ·not yet been ac·complisl1ed. The unfulfilled

portion of this dream we do n·ot fallow · here. The .

reader may

·find tl1is exp

1

lained

in the author s , exp

1

osition of Daniel ..

DANIEL S , GREAT VISION OF TH E WORLD POWERS

•

In the .seventh chapt ,er D.aniel relates his first gre .at vision.

The four beasts he saw rising out of the sea, the type of

na·tions, are

symb,olical o,f the s.ame wo,rld power .s. The lion

wit.h ea.gle s win.gs .is Babyloni ,a.

J

eremi,ah also pictured

Nebuchadnezzar as a lion. Th ,e lion has come

up

from his

thicket and

the

destroyer of the Gentiles is

on

his way (Jer.

4: 7). Ezekie ·1speaks of him as a ,great eagle.. (Ezek · 17: 3 .

The Medo-Persian Empire is seen as a ·bear rai sed up on one

side and having three ribs i11 its mouth. l he one side appeared

stronger because this second world ,empire had P,ersia £Qr its

stronger e]eme,nt. The thr ,ee rib,s the bear holds as, prey

predict the conquests o,f that empire. Medo~Persia conque .red

ex.actly three :great provinces ., Susian .a, Lydia and Asia Minor.

The leopard with four wings and four heads is th ,e picture

of

the

Graeco-Mac ,edonian Empire. The four wings denote

its swiftness and rapid advance so abundantly fulfilled in

the

conquests

of Alexander the Great. The four heads

of

the leopard predict the partition of this empire into the king

doms of Syria, Egypt, Maced ,onia and Asia Minor · The

f

ourt ·h beas.t, the

g·r,eat

nonde script, with

its

t,en horns, and

the little horn, still to c,ome, is the Ro

1

ma·n Empire. These

are wonder£ ul thing ·s. Be it remembered t.h.at the prophet re

ceived the vislion when th.,

Babylonian

Empire still

existed .~

He .re also the character

of

the .se empires

typified by

ferocious

beasts is revealed, . Th

1

e great nations of Christ ,en,dom which



Fulfilled Prophecy a Pot ent Argum ent for the Bible 75

when the he-goat had waxed very great, the great horn was

brok en. This predicted the early and sudden death of Alex

ander the Great. He died after a reign of

12

years and eight

months, after a career of drunkenne ss and debauchery in 323

B. C. He died when he was but 32 years old. Then four

notable ones sprang up in the place of the broken horn. This

too has been fulfilled, for the en1pire of Alexander was divided

into four parts. Four of the great generals of Alexander made

the division, p.amely, Cassander, Ly simachus, Seleucus and

Ptolemy. The four great divisions were Syria, Egypt, Mace

donia, and Asia Minor.

ANTIOCHU S EPIPHANES

In verses

1 9

to 24 of the eighth chapter of Daniel the coin

ing of a wicked leader, to spring out of one of the divisions

of the Macedonian E1npire and the vile work he was to do,

is predicted. He was to work great havoc in the pleasant land,

that is, Israel's land.

History does not leave us in doubt about the identity of

this wicked king. He is the eighth king of the Seleucid

dynasty , who took the Syrian throne and is known by the

name of Antiochus Epiphanes, and bore also the name of

Epimanes,

i. e., the Madman. He was the tyrant and op

pressor of the Jews. His wicked deeds of oppression, blas

phemy and sacri lege are fully described in the Book of the

Maccabees. Long be£ore he ever appeared Daniel saw him

and his wicked work in his vision.

And all this has been fu lfilled in Antiochus Epiphanes.

·When he had conquered

J

erusa len1 he sacrificed a sow upon

the altar of burnt offerings and sprinkled its broth over the

entire building . He corrupted the youths of Jerusalem by

introducing lewd practices; the feast of tabernacles he changed

into the feast of Bacchus. He auctioned off the high-priest

hood. All kinds of infan1ies were perpetrated

by

him and the

most awful obscenity permitted and encouraged.

All

true



l

76

Tlie Fundame ntals

worship was for bidden, and idol worship introduced, especially

that of

Jupiter Olympus.

The

whole city

and land was

dev-

- --

as

tat e

d a-nd some 100,000 pious Jews were massac1

4

ed. Such

has been the remarkable ft1lfillment of this pr ,ophecy.

Even the duration of this

ti111e

of trouble was revealed; and

2,300 days are 1nenti-oned . These 2,300 days , cover about , the

period of time dLting ·which Antiocl1us Epi phanes did his wick- ,

ed deeds .

T11e

,chronology

of

these 2,300

1

days

is

interesting~

Judas Maccab ,aeus cleansed (lit, justified) the sanctuary from

the abominatio n about December

25, 165

B. C. Antio ,cht1s died

a miserab ,le death two years

later .

Going back 2,30 0 days fro1n

the tim ,e Judas

the

Maccabean cleansed the defiled temple,

brings us to 171 B. C. when

we

find

the record

of Antiochus .

inte r£erence

with

the Jews.

Menelaus

had

bribed Antiochus

to malce him

l1igh

priest, r

1

olJbed.

the temple

,and

instituted

tl1e

mttrder · of

the higl1

priest

O .nias

III. ·The

most wicked dee

1

d.s,

in the

defileme11t

o,f the templ

1

e wer

1

e perpet .rated by

tl1e leadin,g

ge,ner ,a.1 of Ant ·io

1

cl1us, Apol1oni us, in the

year

168 B. C. We

believe these 2,300 days ar

1

e therefore literal days and have

found their .Jiteral ft1.lfillme,nt in tl1e dreadf ul days of tl1is

wicked king from the North. There is no other meaning

attached to these days and the foolish speculations that these

day s are years, etc., lack Scriptural foundation altogether .

THE GREATEST OF ALL

T he greatest prophe

1

cy in the Book of Daniel is contained

in the ninth chapter, the prophecy concerning the 70 weeks,

transrriitted from heaven throug h Gabriel. (Dan. 9: 24-27.)

To

many

readers

of

the

Book of Daniel

it is

not

quite clear

Ylhat the expression seventy weeks mea.ns, and when it is

stated that each week rep resents a period o.f seven years , many

Christians do no·t know why such is the case. A brief word of

explanation

may

ther ,efore be in order. The literal transla

tion of the term seventy weeks is seventy sevens. Now



•

Fulfilled Prophecy a Potent Argume1:it for the ibl ·ej 77

it may mean ''years.'' What then is m

1

eant h er

1

e,. seventy ti1nes

.sev,en days or s

1

eventy ti·mes seven years? It is e·vident that

tl1e ''sevens ·' mea .n

year

weel<s,

seven

years to each pro phetic

week. Dani

1

el was

1

0,ccu.pied

in reading the books

a11

1

d in prayer

with the seventy years of the B.abylonian captivity. And now

Gabriel is going to, reveal to ·11imson1ething' which w·ill take

pla

1

ce in ''seventy seve·ns;' '' which means

S

1

eventy times seven

years. The pro

1

of that such ·is the:

1

case

is furnished by

the

f ulfi.11ment of tl1e

p

1

rophe ,cy its,elf.

First we notice in the prophecy that these 70 year-weeks are

divided in three parts. Seven times seven (49 years) are

to go by till the commanded rebuilding and restoration of

Jerusalem should be .acco·mplished. In

tl1e

twentieth yea.r of

Artaxerxes tl1e command was given to rebuil ,d Jerusale1n. It

was in the ,year 445 B.

1

C., ex,a

1

ctly 4.9 y,ears , af te:r the wall of

Jerusalem and th

1

e

city had been rebuilt , Then 62 weeks

are given as the time when Messiah sh,ould be cut off .and have

notI1ing. This

gives

us 434 years (62 times

7'). Here is

a

pre ,diction conce·rning the death of Ch1·is.

Has

it been ful

fillred? Chronolo -gy s.110ws that exactly 483 yea.rs after Arta·

xerxes gave the comma11d to restore

Jerusalem (

445 B. C.) ,

434 years after the city had been restor ,ed, the d,eath of our

Lord Jesus Cl1rist took place.

To ·be more exact, on the day o,n which 0

1

Ur Lord Jesus

Ch·rist entered Jerusa1em for the last time, tl1e DUn1ber of

yea·rs announced by G,abriel expired and the Lo·rd w,as crucifi

1

ed

that week.

The

proof

of it

is

p·erf ect.

But there is more to be sa.id. As a result of the

1

cutting

o,ff

of

M

1

essiah

something

else is

p,rophesied. ''

And the people

0

1

f

the prince that shall come shall destroy the

city·

and the

sanctuary.'' ' The prince that is to c,ome (and is yet to come)

is the little horn of Da·n. 7 He aris .es

0

1

ut o,£ the Rom.an

Empire. The people of the . prince that sh.all come are there

£

or

1

e the Roman peopl,e. They have fulfille

1

d this prophecy

by

d

1

estroying the temp .le and



•

•

•

78

The ·

Fundamen.tal s

THE WAR.S

1

0F ·

THE P T

1

0L .EMIES

AND

.SELEUCIDAE

'

Th .e g.reater

part

of

·the eleventh

chaptet,.

in

D.aniel . has

been historically fulfi.11ed. It is an int

1

eresting st.t1dy. [So [ac

curate are tI1e predicti ,on.s

1

th at the ,enemies[ of · ·tl1e Bi ble have

trie

1

d their very

bes·t

to,

show tl1at D~niel d:i.d

not

w·rite the se,

pr

1

0p

1

he

1

cies s,everal ht1ndred y

1

ear ,s b,efore . they oc

1

curred ,. But

tl1ey have failed in

th.,ir

misera ·bte

[atte :mpts.

w ·e place

the

Sta ·rtling evidence befor

1

e our re.ader ·,

.

PR0

1

PHECY

GIVEN B.

C.

,534

And now will I s h,ew thee

the

tr ,uth. Behold, ther ·e s:hall st:a.nd

u.P

yet three kings in Per ·sia; and

•

the f

ou.r·th

shall b

1

e f a.r r·ich

1

er

th.an

thiey a.II : a·n

1

d by h i.s[ stren ,gth

·through his riches he

shat.I

stir up

all [against . ·the

realm

of Grecia. ·

(Ve .rse· Z)

'

And a m.ighty k·ing· s.hal.l

stan.d

·up,

th~t

shall rule with gre at

do

1

-

n1,in.ion,

and do

a.cco,tding to

1

his

will~ (Verse 3.)

And when be ,Srha.11stand up,

his kingdom .

s,hall be

·broken, a·nd

s·ha,Il be divided toward the ·four

·winds of h.eav en ; and .

not

to his

po,st

1

erity,

·nor ac.cording to h·is do

n1inion

which he ruled :

for

his

1

kingdom

s h.ail

be

pluc .ked

up

even

f

1

or other .s besides those . (Vers ·e

4.)

~•And the kin ,g of

t.he

South

shall be strong, and one of h·is·

FULFILLM ENT

•

See Ez:ra

4.

5-24. T he thr ee

ki:ngs were : Ahasuerus, Artaxer

x·c and D

1

arius,

.lcnown in

l1isto17

as Camb

1

ys,es,, Ps,

eudo

Smerd,is, .and

Daritts Hy,staspis1

(n .ot D ·ari .us the

M

1

ede:).

T·he

fourth

one

wa [s

Xerxes,

who·, as

:hi.st,ory

tells

us,

was immensely

rich,,

The ,

in.vasion

o ·f Gre ece t

1

ook

p

1

lace

in

·400Bi c~

The su,ccess,ors o,f Xerx

1

es ar e

n.ot menti

1

on,ed.

The

mighty

king

in

t:his

verse is the

notable

hor .n.

seen by Dani

1

el

on the

he-goat

i:n

chapt ,er

B

Alexander

the

Grea~

33.5

n. c. ·

.

B

1

•

C. 323. AJex,ande:r died

young.

Th.e no,tab

1

1e horn w·a . ·broken. I-Iis

ki11gdom was divided into

1

f 1ou,r

parts (four ,1Yin,ds )

1

a,fter the

bat

tle of lpsus 301 B c.

Hi.s

poster ity

did n.o·t re,ceive t·he

ki.ng ,dom, bu t

his four generals, Ptol

1

emy, Ly

sima1hus, . Se·Jeu.cu:s, Nicato

1

r and

Cass.ander. N o,t one

of f

these divi

s,ions reached ta the glory of

Alex ,a·nder s dom :nion.

Asia and

Gr·e

1

ec

1

e: are noit fol

Jowed but Syria a11dEgypt bec ome

•



•

•

Fulfilled Prophecy a Potent rgument for the Bible 79

princes ; and he shall be stron ,g

above him, and have dominion:

his,

domi11ion shall

hie a gre ,a·t do~

minio11.'' (Verse

5.)

•

•

•

•

,

''A11d

in the

end

of years they

s.hall

j

1

oin

thems ,elves togeth .er ;.

for the king's daughter of the

South sha ll come to th ,e K·ing of

the

North to

mak ,e an

agreement;

but she shall not

reta ·i11

he power

of

the arm .; neither shall he stand,

· nor his arm : but she shall be given

up,

and

they that broug 'ht her,

,and

he that begat her, and he that

strengthened h

1

er

in thes .e

t·imes,. '

(Verse 6,)

•

''But out of a

branch of

her

roots s·hall one

stand

up in his

e,state, which

,sha,11

com.e

with an

arn1y,

a11d

shalJ enter into the

fo,rtress

1

of the King of the North ,

and shall deal against them; and

shall prevai ·t.'' ( V,ers,e 7.)

FULFILL ,ME iT

prominent, be,caus

1

e th

1

e King of the

North from

Syria,

and the King

o,f the Sou .th, Egypt,. were

to

com

1

e

in touch with the

J

ew,s.

The

holy

land became involved with both .

The King of · the South was Ptol

emy Lagt1s. One of his princes

was .Seleu .cu ,s

Ni

1

cator.

He

estab

Jished a great do

1

minion,

which ex

ten1ed to

the

Indus.

Here is another ,gap. T 'his1vers ,e

takes us to 250

B. c. T·he two who

make an alliance are the Kings of

the

North (

Syr ·ian d·ivisio ,n

of

the

Grecian Empire) and of the S0.utl1

(Egypt). . This alliance

was 1 ef

f

e,cted by

the

marriage of

tbe

daughter o··

the

King of

the South,

the Egyptian Princess

Berenice.

daughter of Ptolemy II , to An

tiocl1us

Theos, t:he King

of th

1

e

North. Th

1

e agreement was that

Antiochus ha

1

d to div

1

orce his wife

and make

any

1

chi 1d of Ber ,enice

his heir in

the

kingdom. The

agreement ended in calamity ~

When Ptolemy died Anti ,ochus

Theos in 247 cal 'led 'back his for

mer wife.

Berenice

and

her

youn .g son were poisoned and the

:first wif ,e's son,

1

Callinicus,

was

put on the thr

1

one as

Seleucus

II.

The one out

of her

roots

(Bere

ni,ce,. who had

been

m·ur ,dered ·)

was her ,own brother,

Pt ,olemy

Euerge t ,es, who avenged her

deathe

He conquered

Syria. He

dea .lt

against Seleucus II, King of the

N

0

1

rth, a·nd sl

1

ew the wife of An-

•

•

•

•



•

I

•

•

•

•

80

The Fundamentals

,

,PR,O:PHE

1

CY Gl,VEN B . C . 534

•

And s.hall also car ·ry

captives

into

Egypt

their gods,

witl1 ·their

princes, and

with

th

1

eir

preci ,ous

vessels of silver and gold; and he

shall continue more years than

the King of

the

North. (Ver se

8.)

So the King of the South shall

come into

his ki11gdom,

and shall

ret ,urn

into

his own land.

(Verse

9.)

Littr ,al

trans,lat·ion)

:

and the

s.ame

[King

0

1

£

the

North] shall

•

come into the real .m of the Kin .g

of tl1e Sot1th, b

1

ut shall return in·to

hi ,s own land.;

•

But

his sons shall be stirre

1

d

up, and shall assemb

1

le a

multitude

of great forces; and one

shall

·cer

tainly

come. and overflow, and

pass

through :

then shall he re

turn, and be stirred up, even to

his , f

ortress.t, ,

(Verse 10.)

•

•

And the King ,of

the

South

shall be moved with choler ·, and

shall come forth and fight with

him,

1

even with the Kin,g

,of

t·be,

N 0

1

rth :

and

h

1

e

sha Il set forth

:a.

grea ·t, multitude

b1ut,

the multit ·ude

sha ,11 be

,gi·ven

into

his.

hand.

(Verse 11~

..

FULFIL LMENT

t·io,chus T heos,

Who

·had Bere :nice

poison ·ed,.

1-1,e·

seized the

f

or,tre ,s,s,

the ,

por ·t o,f An ·tio ,ch •

Ptol ·em.y

Euergetes ·

did

exactly

as predicted. . rie

returned

with

4,,000 talents of g,old and 40,000

talents of silv ,er and 2,.500 idols

and idolatr ·ous vessels.

Many

o,f

these Cambyses had

taken

to Per-

•

Sta.

In 240

B. c.

Seleucus Callinicus

the King of

the North invaded

Egypt. He had

to return def eat.ed.

His fle

1

et

peri .she

1

d in a

storm.

l

•

Th e sons of Seleucus Cailinicus

were Seleucus III and

Antiochus

the

Great.

Seleucus (

Cer,aun,os ),

III began

war against

Egyptian

Provin ,ces in Asia Minor.

He

wa ·S

unsuccessful.

The other , son An ...

tioch invaded Egyp ,t and

passed

throu gh because

Ptolemy

Philo

pat er did not

oppose

him. In 218

B. C~

Antiochus continued his war

fare

and

took the

fortress

Gaza.

In 217

B.

C .

Ptolemy arous ,ed

him ·self and

fought An ,tio ,chtts the

Great w·ith an i1nmense ar

1

my.

He

d,ef·eated Antiochus~ Tl1e multi

tu 1de wa ,s given

into the h,ands

of

Pt :o1emy

Philopater.



FMlfilled Prophecy a Potent Argument for the Bible

81

PROPHECY GIVEN B. C. 534

"And when he hath taken away

the multitude, his heart shall be

lifted up ;

and he shall cast

down many ten thousands : but he

shall not be strengthened by it."

(Verse

12.)

Literal:

"And the multitude

shall rise up and his courage in

crease.")

"For the King of the North

shall return, and shall set forth

a multitude greater than the for

mer, and shall certainly come

after certain years with a great

army and with much riches '

(Verse

13.)

"And

in

those times there shall

many stand up against the King

cf the South: also the robbers of

thy people shall exalt themselves

to establish the vision; but they

shall £au.• (Vcrse 14.)

"So the King of the North sha11

come, and cast up a mount, and

take the most fenced cities: and

the arms of the South shall not

...,ithstand, neither his chosen peo

ple, neither shall there be any

strength to withstand." (Verse

15.)

"But he that cometh against him

shall do according to his own

will,

and

none shall stand before

him : and he shall stand in the

FULFILLMENT

The people of Egypt rose up

and the weakling Ptolemy became

courageous. His victory is again

referred to.

It

was won at

Ra

phia. He might have pressed his

victory. But he did not make use

of it but gave himself up to a li

centious life. Thus "he waa not

strengthened by it."

About 14 years later, 203 B. c.,

Antiochus assembled a great army,

greater than the army which was

defeated at Raphia, and turned

against Egypt. Ptolemy Philo

pater had died and left an infant

son Ptolemy Epiphanes.

Antioch us had for hia ally

Philip, King of Macedon. Also

in Egypt many rebels stood up.

And then there were, as

we read

in Josephus, wicked Jews, who

helped Antiochus. These "robbers

of thy people" ~stablished the

v1s1on. They helped along the

very things which had been pre

dicted, as to trials for them.

AH this was fulfilled in the

severe struggles,

which followed.

The invasion of the gloT'ious

land by Antiochus followed. He

subjected the whole land unto

himself. He also was well dia-



•

82

The undamentaJsr

PROPHECY GIVEN B.

C.

534

glorious land, whic h

s·hall be consumedli

by

his hand

(Verse 16.)

He shall also, S·et his £ace to

ent ,er

with

the strength of

his

whp1e

kingdom, .and

an

agreemem1t

shall be made with h·im ; ·th ·tts sihal l

he do an.d

he

shall give him the

d.aughter o,£ wo,m.en, corrupting

her: but s·he

shall

not

stand

on

his side, neither be for him.

(Verse 17.)

•

After this shall he

turn

his

face

u11to

th ,e· isl est an,d shall tak ,e

many: but a prince [lit era lly :

1

C.ap-

. tain]

f

1or h·is own be.hal f sl1all

cause the reproach offered by him

to cease; without his own reproach

he shall cause it to turn upon

him. (Verse 18.)

· Then

he

s

1

hall tum his £ace

tow .ard ·the fort of h.is. own land:

but

he .shall stumble and fa ]I, and

not be ·f ,ound.. ( Verse 19.)

Then shal1 stand up in his

estate a

raiser ·

o·f

ta .xes

in

the

glory of the kingdom : but within

few days he shall be destro yed,

neith

1

er in anger, nor in battl ·e.

(Verse 20.)

FULFILLMEN T

posed towards the Jews because

they

sided

with

Antiochus

the

Great agains ,t Pto ,lemy Epiphanes.

This brings u·s, to the y

1

ears 198-

195 B.

c.

Antiochus aim ,ed t ,o get

f ull · possessi

1

on of E,gypt. A·n.

agreem

1

ent was made .

In

this

treaty

b1tween

Antioch ·us

and

P tolemy Epip .hanes, Cleop~tr ·a.,

daugl1ter of Antiochus was es

poused to Ptolemy. Why

is

Cleopatra called daughter of

women ? Because she was very

young and was under the ·care of

her mother and

grand ·moth ,er·.

The

treaty failed •

A

f e·w

years , later

.Anti .0

1

chus

conqu ,ere

1

d isles On the c,oast of

Asia Minor . .

The captain predicte ,d is Scipio

Asiaticus. A11tiochus had re

pro .ached the Romans by his a,cts

and he was defeated. Tl1is defeat

took place at Magnesia 190 B. c.

Antioc ·hus returns

to his

own

land. He

1

a.rne to a mi,S1erable end

trying · to p lunde :r the temple

1

0£

Belus in Elymais .

This is Seleuc11s Philop ,a.ter

ei, c.

187-176. He was known

as,

a,

raiser of tax

1

es. He had an evil

reputation with the Jews because

he was such an exactor among

them~ His tax-collector Heliodo-

- -

rus poisoned him an·d

so

he

was

slain neither in ang,er, llor in

-ttl - ,,

a_ e



•

Fi,l .filled

P1--ophey a

Poten ,t Argitment

1

r the Bibl e

83

•


'' And in his estate shall stand

up a vile person, to

whom

they

s.halI not give the honor of the

ki.ngdom : but h

1

e

shalt come in

peaceably, and obtain the kingdom

by

flatteries. ·(Verse

21.)

''An ,d with

th,e

arms of

,a fl,ood

sha ll they be o,verflown from be

fore h·im, and s·r1all ·be

b1@ken ;

yea, .also the prince of the c

1

ov,e

nant. '1 (Verse 22.)

''And .after the ,

lea,gue:

made

w.ith him he shall work d.eceit

fully :

for he shall come up, and

shall become strong wi·th a smal l

p,eo,ple. ' {

Verse

23.)

. ''I-Ie shall

ente ·r

p

11

eaceabty

1

ev

1

en

upon th

1

e f,att ,est places o·f the p1~ov

in,ce; and he shall do

tl1at

which

his fathers

have not

don .e, nor

his

father's father; he s,hall scatter

among them

the

prey, and spoil,

,and riches; yea, and he

shal1

fore

cast

his devices against

t 'he str ·ong

ho]ds, even

f

1

or

a tim

1

e.t'

(Ver .se

24.)

''And he sha11 stir up his power

and his co,urage agains .t the King

of

the

South with

a

great

.army ;

and the

King

of

the South shall

be stirr

1

ed up, tio IJattle witl1 ,a v,ery

grea t ,and mighty army; but l1e

shall ·not stand: for they shall

foreca st devices

agai11st him.'''

•

FULF ILLME NT

This vile person is none other

than Antiocl1us

Epiphanes.

H ·e

had 110 c·laim o·n royal dignities ,

bei11g only a. youn .ger Ison of

Antio chus the Great. H ,e seized

royal

hono1·s by

tri

1

ckery and with

fla·t·terie :s.. He i.s

th

1

e little

l1or·n

of chapter

8.

H ,e was : suc

1

ces,,1,ul in def ea·ting

his enemies ,. The prince of the

covenant may mean his nephew

Ptolemy Philo1netor ·. He also van

quished

Philom ,eto,r' ,s

generals.

He feigned

frien ,dsh.ip

to

young

Ptole ·my but

w1orked deceit£

ully.

To allay suspicion he came a.gainst

Egypt with

a

s,ma1·1 f'orce

bu.t took

Egypt

as far as Mempl1is

He took possession of the fertile

places in Egypt under the pretense

o,f peac ,e.. 1-Ie

took Pelu ,sium

and

laid seige to the

fortified places

N

aucratis

and

Alexandria.

This King of the ·South is Pto 'l

emy Physcon, who

was.

made king

af·ter Philometo r had falien into

the hands of

A11tiochus.

He had

a gr ,eat army but did n,ot succeed, .

beca.use

treason

had broken ,out

in

his own camp,

•

I



•

The unda ·mentals

PROPIIECY GIVEN B. C. 5-34

· ''Yea. they that feed of the por

tion of his meat

shall destro

1

y him,

and his army shall ovet·flow : and

n1any

shall f

a11 d

1

0,.vn slain.''

(Verse 26~)

1

''And bot·h these kings'

hea .rts

sh.all be to do mis ,chief, an

1

d

they

shall speak lies at one table ;

but

it

1hall

not

prosper : for

yet the

end shall be at the time appointed~';

(Verse 'O.)

''The• shaft he return into

his

land

with.

great

riches;

and his

hea .rt

shall

be a.gainst the holy

covena.n·t ; and. h.e sha.11 ,do ex

p1o,:ts, and return . to his own land.

(Verse~

•

•

''At

die

time appointed he sllall

return, and come toward the

South ;

but it

shall not be

as

the

f ortner, or as the latter.'~ (Vers ·e

29~)

''For the ship,s of Chittim shall

1

eome ag ·ainst h.im; the ref ore he

s11all be grieved, and return, and

have indign .ation against

the

holy

covenant : so shall he do ; he shall

even return,

and

have

intelligence

with

them that for

sake

the

holy

coTenant.,. (Verse 30.)

FULFILLM EKT

Additional actions

of Antiochus ,

and warfaret in whicll he was

successful, follo,ved.

I

The two kings ar ·e

Ant :ioch.us

Epip~1anes .and his associate Philo

metor . They

·made

an

alliance

against

Ptolemy Euergetes II,

.alse ,

called Physcon. But they spoke

lies against

each

other

and

did n

1

ot

succeed in

their

plans.

In 168 B. c. he returned from

his expedition and had great rich

es.

Then

he marched through

Jud

1

ea.

and did his

,awfu ·t

deeds. A

repo ,rt had

1

co1ne to · his

1

ears

that

t .he Jewish pe

1

ople had .rep

1

orted

him dead. In the fi·rs·t a·nd sec

1

on·d

book o·f th ,e M.accabees we read of

his atrocitie .s. Then he retire ,d to

Antioch .

He

ma.de

still

another

attempt

against the South. However, he

had not

the former

success.

The .ships of Chitti111 ar

1

e t 'he

Roman ·fleet~ When wit :hin

a

few

miles of Alex .andri la

he

heard

that

sl1ips

had arrived. He went to

salute them. ·They delivere

1

d to

'1i1n the letters of tl1e sen .ate, in

which he vras commanded . on pain

of the displeasure of the Roman

people, to put an

end to

the war

against his nephews. Antiochus

·said, ''he would go and cottsult his



Fulfilled

P1Yophecy

a Potent Arguni ent for the Bible 85


And arms shall stand on his

Part and they shall pollute the

sanctuary of strength, and shall

take

away

the

daily

sacrifice,

and

they shall place the abomination

that makeda desolate. ( Verse

31.)

And suc:h as

do

wicked}y

•gainst the co-Yenant shall he cor ~

rupt by flatteries : but the people

that do know their God shalJ be

strong, and do exploits.

And they that understand

arnong the people shall instruct

FULFILLMENT

friends;'' on which Popilius, one

of the legates, took his staff, and

instantly drew a circle round An

tiochus on the sand, where he

stood; and commanded him not to

pass that circle, till he

had

given

a definite answer. As a grieved

and defeated man he r eturned and.

then he fell upon Judea once

more to commit additional wick

edness. Apostate J ews sided witlt

him.

This brings us to the dimax

of the horrors under Antiochus

Epiphanes. The previous record

of

it

is contained in chapter 8. He

sent Apollonius with over

20,000

men to destroy Jerusalem. Multi

tudes were slain, and women and

children led away as captives. He

issued a command that all people

mu~t conform to the idolatry o

Greece. A wicked Grecian was

sent to enforce the word of An

tiochus . All sacrifices ceased and

the God-given ceremonials of

Judaism came to an end. The

temple was polluted by the sacri

fices of swine's flesh. The temple

was dedicated to Jupiter Olym

pius. Thus the prediction w as ful

filled.

These verses describe the con

dition among the Jewish people .

There were two classes. Those

who did wickedly against the

covenant, the apostate, and those

who knew God, a faithful rem

nant. The apostates &ided with



86

The Funda nentals


many : yet they shall fall

by

the

sword, and

by

flame,

by

captivity,

and

by

spoil, many days.

Now when

they shall

fall,

th ey

shall be holpen with a littl e help:

but many shall cleave to them

with flatteries. (Verses 32--34.)

FULFILLMENT

the enemy, and the people who

knew God were strong. This has

reference to the noble Maccabees.

There was also suffering and per

secution.

MANY MORE FULFILLED PROPHEC IES

Many other fulfi1led prophecies 1night be quoted. In the

last chapter of Daniel an interesting prediction is made con

cerning the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and

knowledge shall be increased. Sir Isaac Newton, the dis

coverer of the law of gravitation, wrote on Daniel and ex

pressed his belief that · some day people would travel at the

rate

o

fifty miles an hour. The French infidel Voltaire many

years later laughed at Newton's statement and held it up to

ridicule. The .time of the end is here and the prophecy of

Dan. 12: 4 has come true.

In the New Testament are also written prophecies which

are now in process of fulfillment. 1 Tim. 4: 1, 2; 2 Tim.

3: 1-5; 4: 1-3; 2 Pet. 2; Jude's Epistle, and other Scriptures

predict the present day apostasy.

UNFULFILLED PROPHECY

As stated before, there are many unf ulfilled prophecies

in

the Bible.

The

literal fulfillment of prophecies in the past

vouches for the literal fulfilltnent of every prophecy in the

Word of God. Some of them were uttered several thousand

years ago. The world still waits for their fulfillment. May

we remember that God does not need to be in a hurry.

He

kn9ws indeed the end from the beginning. He takes His

time in accomplishing His eternal purposes. And may we,

His people, who know and love His Word, not neglect proph,

ecy, for the Prophetic Word is the lamp which shineth in

a

dark ,place.



88

The Fundatnentals

dwells within, and empowers for service and suffering and

growth in grace; but this is to be held in harmony with the

other blessed truth that Christ will some day literally appear

again in bodily form, and we shall see Him and shall then

be like

Him, when we see Him as He is.

Nor yet did that special manifestation of the Holy, Spirit

at Pentecost fulfill the promise of Christ's return. Subse-

quent . to Pentecost, Peter urged the Jews to repent in order

that Jesus, whom for a time the heavens had received, might

be sent back again; he wrote his epistles of comfort based

upon the hope of a returning Lord, while Paul and the other

inspired Apostles, long after Pentecost, emphasized the coming

of Christ as the highest incentive for life and service.

According to the interpretation of others, Christ

is said

to co1ne in various

providential events of history

as notably

in the destruction of Jerusalem. This tragedy

of

history is

supposed by many to fulfill the prophecies spoken by Christ

in

His

great discourse on the Mount of Olives, recorded in

Matthew

24,

and Mark

13,

and Luke

21.

When one com-

bines these predictions, it becomes evident that the capture of

the holy city by Titus was a real but only a partial fulfillment

of the words of Christ. As in the case of so many Old Testa-

ment prophecies, the nearer event furnished the colors in

which were depicted scenes and occurrences which belonged

to a distant future, and in this case to the end of the age.

When Jerusalem £ell, the people of God were not delivered

nor the enemies

of

God punished, nor did the sign

of

the

Son

of

Man appear

in

the heavens,

as

was predicte.d of the

time when He comes again; and long after the fall of the city,

John wrote

in

Gospel

and in

Apocalypse

of the coming

of

the King.

Nor is the coming of Christ to be confused with

death.

It

is true that this dark messenger ushers us into an experience

which is, for the believer, one of great blessedness; to depart

is to be with Christ, which is very far better, to

be

absent



•

The Coming ,of Christ

89

I

from the body'' is '''to be ,at home with the

Lord;',

but death is

fo ,r us inseparable , from pain ,a.od· loss and sorrow and tears

and anguish ; and even

tl1ose

who are now with their Lord, in

helavenly joy, are

waiting

for

thei ,r

bodies of gl,ory

and for

the

rewards and reu:nio.ns wh,ich will be theirs at the ,app

1

e1rin,g

of

Christ.

More marvelous than the scenes at Pentecos lt,

more start-

ling than the fall of J r·usal,et,n, more blessed th ,an the in

1

dweil-

ing of the

Sp,irit

or

th ,e departure

to be with

the Lord, will

be

the literal, visible, bodily, return of Christ. No event may

s,eem less pro

1

bab

1

le to unaid

1

ed human reas ,on; no event is more

certain in the light of inspired S,criptu .re. ''This sam,e

J

s,us

which is t.aken up from yo u into heaven shall s·o come it& like

manner

as y e have se

1

en Him go int ,o heaven.'' ' ''Behold, He

cometh

with cl,ouds ;

and every ey

e shiall sele Him

(

A.cts

1 :

11 ;

Rev. 1: 7).

II. HIS C·OMING, GLORIOUS

This coming of Christ is to be glorioies, n.ot only in its ,at-

tend .ant circumstances, but also in its effects upon the

C~urch

and the world.

Our

Lord predicte

1

d tl1at He would

ret .arn

''in

His

own

glory,

and

th,e glory of His

Father ., and

of the

holy

angels''

(Luke

9: 26).

He

will

then be r

1

evea]ed

in His

Divine majesty. 0 'nce during His e:arthly ministry, on t·he

moun,t of tra .nsfigura .tion, the ·r·e was giv

1

en

t

1

0

His followers a

glimpse of the royal s,plendor He had for a time laid aside, and

in which He

will

again appear. ·

As on the

gr ,eat

day of

a'toneme,nt

the·

high· priest p

1

t1t

off

his usual robes

''for glory

and for

beattty''

and

appeared

in

spotless

white

when

he offered the sacrifices for

sin

and went

into tl1e holy place to inter

1

cede for t'he wai·ting people, so 0

1

ur

Grea ·t High Priest I.aid as ·ide the ro

1

b

1

es of His , imperial majesty .

when stooping from heaven He as sumed His garb of sinless

flesh,, and offered Himse 'lf as the perfect sacrifice and entered

int,o the

holy

p1aces

not made with hands

t

1

0

appea .,

in

the

•



•

9()1

T lie Fundanie itals

presence of God for us; but as the high priest again assumed

his garments of

scarlet

and blue and purple

and

gold when h.e

. came forth to complete his worl{ in th

1

e presence of the people,

so

1

Christ, when He

returns

to bless, and

to 1~eceive

he h·oma.ge

of tl1,e wo

1

·t ld,will be ma11if st

i11

His D·ivine g'lo·t Y. ( He b.. 9: 24-

2·8. ), As He appeared

·to

Isaiah

in his,

vision, to the

disciples

on the

ho-1y

mou nt, to Saul on his

-vvay

1

0

Damascus, to J ho

on Patmos, so will the Son of Man appear when, as He prom

ise1d,

He

is seen

''sitting

at

the

right

hand

of

Power, and

coming on the clouds of heaven'' (Matt. 26:

64).

Nothing

could be more natural than

st1ch

a trittmphant return 0

1

£.

the

risen, ascended Lo

1

rd. Wl1at a pathetic picture Christ wottld

present in the

histo1~

of the race, if, after all His claims and

promises, the ,orld

shou ld

see Him, 1ast of all, hanging on

a

cross as a malefactor, or laid lifeless in a tom.bl ''H ,e was

despised and reject

1

ed of men;'' ' but He is to r

1

eturn again

''with

p

1

0,ver

and great .g·1or ,y, attended by

tl1ousa·nds

of

tl1e

h·eavenly

hos,t. As

the Epi .stl

1

e

to tl1e

Hebrews S

tril<i11gly a.ys :

''Whe ·n

He again bringeth in the first born into the inhabited earth He

saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him'' (Heb. 1: 6).

''Tho u art

cotnin,g,,

0

my

Saviour,

Thou art co

1

ming, 0

1

my

King,.

I'n Thy ·beauty

a·tt

resp

1

le·ndent ;.

In Thy g·lory

all

trans .,cendent ;:

Well may we rejoice and si11g:

Coming i11

the

opening

East

Herald brigl1tn,ess slowly swells.;

,Co,mi·ng

0

my

glorious .

P1~iest,

H

1

ear we not Thy · go:lde11bells.,,,

•

•

•

Then

Christ will reign in glory over all

the world.

It

is

true

that

now ''all

po·wer'' has been given to Him ''in heaven

and on earth, .'' but th .at power has not been fully manifest;



The Coming of Christ

91

on the right hand of God, but He is henceforth expecting

till His enemies be made the footstool of His feet. He is

now reigning, seated on His Father's thron e ; but this world

is still in reality a revolted province, and Christ is yet to sit

upon His own throne; then before Him every knee will bow,

and every tongue confess that He is Lord (Heb. 10: 12, 13;

Phil. 2: 10, 11).

These expressions need not be interpreted with such crass

literalness a~ to sugges t that Christ will rule visibly in some

one earthly locality, establishing in Jerusalem an oriental

court; but they at least mean that the coming of Christ will

be followed by the universal reign of Christ. When the Son

of

Man shall come in His glory, and all the angels with Him,

then shall He sit on the throne of His glory (Matt.

25: 31).

I-Ie will determine who may enter and who must be excluded

from His kingdom. He will then say: Come ye blessed

of

My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the

foundation of the world. Then will be fulfilled His predic

tion: Not every one that saith unt o Me, Lord, Lord, shall

enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will

of My Father who is in heaven. Many u

ill

say to }.,fe 'in that

day, Lord, Lord, and then will I profess unto

them, never knew you, depart from Me, ye that work in

iquity (Matt. 7: 21-23). He will be the supreme Judge, but

He will also

be

manife st as the unive rsal Ruler in His per

fected kingdom. Then the voices will be heard procl aiming:

The kingdom of the world · is become the kingdom of our

Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever

(Rev. 11: 15).

In this glory of Christ His followers are to share.

The

res 1,1,rrectionof

the dead will take place when He returns:

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made

alive. But each in }:ii own order: Christ the first fruit s ;

then they that are Christ's at 1-Iis coming. The

body

of the

believer is thus to be raised in glory. It is sown in corrup-



92

The Fundamentals

tion ; it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dishonor; it is

raised in glq_ry. As to how the spirits now with Christ are

to be united with their resurrection bodies, the Bible is abso

lutely silent; but we know that this will be at the coming of

the Lord. (

1

Cor.

15: 22, 23, 42, 43.)

Then, too, the bodies of living believers will be glorip.ed,

and made deathless and imn1ortal like the body of their Divine

Lord. ''For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait

for a

Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew

the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the

body of His glory ( Phil. 3: 20, 21). Sometimes it is care

lessly said that nothing is so sure as death ; one thing is

more sure; it is this: some Christians will never die. One

generation of believers will be living when Christ returns, and

they will be translated, without the experience of death. What

is mortal will be swallowed up of life. They never will be

unclothed,'' but ''clothed upon with the glory of immortality.

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we

shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,

at the last trump ; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead

shall be raised incorruptible, and

we

shall be changed (

1

Cor.

15: 51, 52; 2 Cor. S: 4).

Then, also, will be the blessed

reunion in glory

of the risen

and the transfigured followers of Christ. ''For this we say

unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that

are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede

them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself shall de

scend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the arch

angel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall

rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together

with them be caught up in the douds to meet the Lord in the

air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord'' ( 1 Thess. 4:

13-18).

Som ,e from earth, from glory some,

Severed only 'Till He Come. '



•

•

The

Coming of C}irist

93

•

Tl1e time of

the

return of

the :1tt0rd will be,

furthermore,

tl1e time of

the

rewcvrdof His servants. ·The Son

of

Man is

likened

to

a nob

1

le1nan

who has gone

,,·into

a far country to

receive for himself a kingd

1

om, and to return.'

1

H

1

e has en

trttsted various

talents to

his serva11ts

with

the command to use

t]1em.wisely, until his return. When he has ''con1e back again,

l1aving received 'the kingdo1n,

then

he ''m ,aketh a recko

1

ning

with them.'' It is popttlarly said, and in a sense it is true, that

when our loved one s

go

to

be

with Ch·rist

''they

have gone to

the ·ir re ,wai ·d''; but m

1

or

1

e ,strictly · speal{ing, the . full reward of

the blessed awaits the coming of Christ. Whatever may be

tneant

by

being '''set over many things,'' or having ''authority

over ten cities,

the

complete r .ecompense of th ,e ·faithf

111

is

''at the

resttrrection

of the

just.

(Matt. 25: 14-23; Luke 19:

11-27·; Luke

14:

14.)

That the real c·oronati on

day

,of t·he ·Christian is

not

at .

death

but at ''the

appearing of Christ'' was

st rikingly

suggested

by

Paul when, realizing that

he

was to

die before the

Lord

returned, he gave to Timothy his

triump ·ha11t

f·arewell: ''I

have fought th

1

e good fight, I

have

finished the cours .e,,

I

have

kept the faith: hence£orth there is 1aid up

for

me

the

crown

of righteousness,

which

the

L

1

o·rd tl1e

r·ighteous

.Judge

sha]l

give to .me

at that day

:

and 'llO ·t to me

only, bnt

also to

all

them that have loved

His appearing

(2 Tim. 4:

7, 8). So

Peter encourages pas ,tor ,s to , ·be faitl1ful, by the familiar prom-

ise: '

1

'And when th

1

e

chief S

1

hepr1erd

shall

be ftlll1tifested,

ye

shall receive the crown of glory

tl1at

fadeth not away''

1

(

1

P'eter 5: 1-4').

In large

1neasure this reward will cons.ist

in

' being

cha ,nge

1

d into

a

m ,0

1

ral likeness to Chri st. This

is

far

tnore marvelous than the tran sfigura tion of our

bodies,

but no

less

real. ''B

1

eloved,

now are we

the

cl1ildre11

1

f · , and

it

is not yet

made

manif ,est 'What

we

sl1all he~ We

know

that if

He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him; for we

shall

see Him even as He is'' ( 1 John 3 : 1-3). The reward which

•

awaits

tl1e

fol .lowers of Christ further includes t.he fulfillment

•

•

f



94

The Fundanien tals

of the blessed prophecies which declare the saints are

o reign

with Chri st. Know ye not that the saints shall jud ge the

earth Know ye not that we shall judge angels?

If we endure we shall also reign with Him . I appoint ttnto

you a kingdon1 and ye shall sit on thrones jud ging

the twelve tribes of Israel. ( 1 Cor . 6: 2, 3; 2 Tim. ? 12 ;

Luke 22: 30.) vVhatever may be denoted by promises so full

of wonder and mystery, they do not mean that the saints are

to rule on earth in

the flesh.

Believers will previously have

been raised in glory, tran sfigured, translated. As co-regents

with their Lord they may be privileged to perform blessed

ministries for the world, but they nevertheless will belong to

His immortal and heavenly kingdom. They are like the

angels of God being the children of the resurrec

tion (Luke 20: 35, 36).

Such a rule of Christ and His people must secure unpar al

leled blessedness for the world. The end of the world does

not 111ean,n prophecy, the end of the earth and the destruction

of its inhabitants; but the end of the present age, which is to

be followed by an age of glory.

The present evil age is

predicted to close amid scenes of fiery judgment upon the

enemies of God, and with portents and convulsions which will

affect the very earth itself; but the results will be what is

figuratively described as the new heavens and the new earth

wherein dwelleth righteousness. Nature itself will become

more beautiful and joyous. ''The whole creation which is

groaning and travailing in pain tog ether until now will be

delivered from the bondage of corruption unto the liberty of

the glory of

the children of God (Rom. 8: 21 ). In spite of

the sin and failures of man, we are not to look for the destruc

tion of this globe, but for an era when the true full life of

humanity will be realized, when all shall know the Lord from

the least unto the greatest, when all art and science and social

institution s shall be Christian, when nation shall not lift up

sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more



The

Coming of

Christ

95

(Isa. 2: 1-4). , Such an age, of which poets have sung and

philosophers have dreamed, such an era as psalmists, and

prophets, and apostles have promised, will dawn at the coming

of the King. Inspired by such a hope the waiting Church has

learned to sing:

Come, Lord, and tarry not;

Bring the long looked for day;

0,

why these years

of

waiting here,

These ages

of

delay?

Come, and make all things new;

Build up this ruined earth;

Restore our faded Paradise,

Creation's second birth.

Come, and begin Thy reign

f

everlasting peace;

Come, take the kingdom to Thyself,

Great King of righteousness.

III. IMMINENT

The Bible further describes the coming of Christ as

imtni-

nent

It is an event which may occur in any lifetime. What

ever difficulties the fact involves, there is no doubt that a11 he

inspired writers and their fellow Christians believed that Christ

might return in their generation~ This has been the normal

attitude

of

the Church ever since. Paul describes believers as

men who have turned to God from idols and who wait for

His Son from heaven. Christians are further described as

those that wait for Him, and as those that love His appear

ing. They are everywhere in the New Testament exhorted

to

watch, and to be ready for the return of their Lord.

I-Iis coming is their constant encouragement .and inspiration

and hope. (

1

Thess.

4: 10; 2

Peter

4: 8;

Matt.

24: 42;

Mark

13: 35,

7; Luke

21 :

6; Phil. 4: 5.)



96

The Fundamentals

However imminent does not n1ean immediate.n , Con

fusion of these ideas has led some writers to assert that Paul

and the early Christians were mistaken in their views as to the

Lord's return. But, when Pau l used such a phrase as we

that arc alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, he

meant simply to identify himself with his fellow Christians,

and to suggest that, if he lived until Christ came, their blessed

experience would also be his. He could not have said, ye

that are alive and remain; that would have indicated that

Paul was to die first. This he did not then know. He be

lieved that the Lord niight return in his life time; he never

asserted that He would.

Imminence as related to -our Lord's return indicates

uncertainty

as to time, but possibility of nearness. Take ye

heed, watch, for ye know not when the time is (Mark 13: 33).

Such statements rebuke those who have brought the doctrine ·

into disrepute by announcing dates for the end of the world,

and by setting times for the con1ing of Christ. So, too, they

suggest caution to those who assert that the age is now draw

ing to its close; it

·m y

be, but of this there is no certainty.

These Scriptural exhortations to watch seem to contradict, also,

those who teach that a Millennium, a thou sand years or a

protracted period of righteousness, must intervene between

the present time and the advent of Christ.

Those who hold this last view are commonly called Post

Millennialists to distinguish them from Pre-Millennialists,

who hold that the return of Christ will precede and usher in

such an age of universal blessedness.

The great objection to the Pre-Millennial position is the

apparent prediction of 2 Peter

3,

that at the coming~£ Christ,

in the day of the Lord, the earth will be destroyed; there

could then be no place for a millennium. The difficulty in the

Post-Millennial theory is the repeated description of this pres

ent age as one of mingled good and evil, in which iniquity, as

well righteousness, continues to develop uninterruptedly;



The Coming of Christ

97

there is thus no tinz.efor a millennium before the Lord returns.

As to the passage from Peter, it is obviously no more sub

versive of one of these theories than of the other. No one can

possibly review the picture, which the Apostle draws in his

two epistles, of the apostasy and skepticism and godlessness

already prevailing and surely deepening as the day of the

Lord draws near, and find any place for a previous millen

nium before that day. The predictions of fiery judgments

and consequent . new heavens and new earth must be read

in connection with Isaiah 65 and 66, from which Peter is

quoting. It will then be seen that these expressions are in-so.

far figurative that the earth still continues with its life, its

nations, its progress, after these judgments are over. Terrific

convulsions, and governmental, social and cosmic changes, only

introduce a new and better age. So, too,

the day of the Lord

is a familiar phrase, and as we read Zech. 14 we see that while,

in that day, the Lord comes amidst appalling portents, His

coming and the day itself are followed by a scene of great

blessedness on this same earth; the Nile is still flowing in its

course and the nations are going up to Jerusalem to worship.

(Note also that in 2 Pet. 3: 10 the most ancient manuscripts do

not read burned up but discovered. )

There are other positive statements of Scripture which in

timate that

the

millenniurn follows the coming of Christ.

According to Daniel, it is after the Son of Man comes with

the clouds of heaven that He is given dominion and glory and

a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve

Him, and the kingdom and the dominion and the

greatness of the kingdom

under the whole heaven,

are given

to the people of the saints of the Most High ; and

all dominions shall serve and obey Him (Dan.

7: 13, 14, 27).

According to the Psalms, the appearing of the Lord, in flaming

fire upon His adversaries,

prepares the way £or the establish

ment of His gloriou s kingdom, as He comes to rule the world

with righteousness and the peoples with equity ( Psa. 96, 97



98 The Fundamentals

98, etc.). According to Paul (2 Thess. 1 and 2) the advent

described by Daniel is not to an earth which is enjoying mil

lennial peace, but it is in flaming fire to destroy an existing

Man of Sin whose career is the culmination of the lawles .s

ness already manifest and to continue until the personal com

ing of Christ. According to our Lord Himself His retur~ is to

bring the regeneration, not the destruction of the world

(Matt.

19: 28;

Luke

22: 28-30).

But this rule of blessedness

is preceded by judgments that come as

a

snare on all the

earth (Luke 21: 29-36). According to Peter, seasons of re-·

freshing and the restitution of all things, not annihilation

of the globe, will come with the return of Christ ( Acts 3: 19-

21). According to John, the coming of Christ (Rev. 19)

precedes the millennium. (Rev.

20.)

However great the divergence of views among students o

prophecy may seem to be, and in spite of the many varieties

of

opinion among the representatives of the two schools which

have been mentioned

in

passing, the points of agreement are

far more important The main difference is as to the order,

rather than as to the reality of events.

The great body of believers are united in expecting both

an

age of glory and a personal return of Christ. As to many

related events they differ; but as to the one great precedent

condition of that coming age or that promised return of the

Lord there is absolute harmony of conviction: the Gospel

must first be preached to all nations (Matt.

24: 14).

The

Church must continue to make disciples of all the nations

even unto the end of the age (Matt.

28: 19,

20).

This is therefore a time, not for unkind ly criticism of fellow

Christians, but for friendly conference; not for disputing over

divergent views, but for united action; not for dogmatic as

sertion of prophetic programs, but for the humble acknowledg

ment that we know in part; not for idle dreaming, but for

the immediate task of evangelizing a lost world.



•

CHAPTER VI

IS ROMANI SM CHRISTIANITY?

nY ·T. W . MEDHURST,

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

I am aware that, if I undertake to prove that Ro nanism is

not Christianity

I must expec t to be· called bigoted, harsh.

uncharitable . Never theless I an1 not daunted; for I believe

that on a right unders tandin g of thi s subject depends the sal

vation of millions.

One reason why Pope ry has of late gained so much power

in Great Britain and Ireland, and is gaining power still, is that

many Pro te stant s look on it now as a form of true Chri s .

tianity; and think that, on that account, notwithstanding great

errors, it ought to be treat ed very tend erly. Many suppose

that at the time of the Reformation, it was reformed, and

tha t it is now much nearer the tru th than it was before that

time. It is still, however, the same; and,

i

examined, will

be found to be so differe nt from, and so hostile to, real Chris ..

tia nity, that it is not, in fact, Chri stianity at all.

Christianity, as revealed in the Sacred Writings, is salva

tion by Chri st. It sets Him before us as at once a perfect man,

the everla sting God, the God-man Mediator; who, by appoint

ment of the Father, became a Substitute for all who were

given Him. It teaches that by Him God's justice was magni

fied, and His mercy made manife st; that, for all who tru st in

Him, ·He fulfilled the law, and brought in a complete right eous-

ness; and that by this alone they can be justified before God.

It teache s that His death was a perfect sacrifice, and made

full satisfaction and atonement for their sins, so that God lays

no sin to their charge, but gives them a free and full pardon;

that He has ascended to the right hand of God, and ha s sent



Is R 01nanism Christianity?

101

down the Holy Spirit to be His only Vica.r and Representa

tive on earth; that He is the only Mediator between the

righteous God and sinful man; that it is by the Holy Spirit

alone that we are convinced of sin, and led to trust in Jesus;

that all who tru st in Him, and obey Him with the obedience

of faith and love, are saved, and, being saved, are made

''kings and priests unto God, and have eternal life in Him.

This is Christianity, the Christianity which the Apostles

preached. But . side by side with the Apo stles, Satan went

forth also, and preached what Paul calls another gospel.

Paul did not 1nean that it was called another gospel; but that

as Satan beguiled Eve through his subtlety ( 2 Cor. : 3),

so some, while professing to teach the Gospel, were turning

men away from the simplicity that is in Christ; and by

doing so, did, in fact, teach another gospel. Paul, speak

ing of those who were thus deceived, said, I marvel that

ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the

grace of Christ unto another gospel which is iot onother;

but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gos

pel of Christ. He means that there can be but one Gospel,

though something else may be called the gospel; and he

says of those who had thus ververted the Gospel of Christ :

If any one preach any other gospel unto you let

him be accursed (Gal. 1: 6-9). He calls those who

did so false apostles, deceitful workers, trans£ arming them

selves into the apostles of Christ-; and he adds, no marvel;

for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be trans

formed as the ministers of ri~hteousness; whose end shall

be according to their works (2 Cor. 11: 13-15).

Let us consider well the meaning of these passages of

Scripture. Paul says that there cannot be another Gospel;

the conclusion, therefore, is evident, that these teachers were

not teachers of Christianity , but of a Satanic delusion .



102

The Fundamentals

I

submit that the teaching of Rome is at least as different

from that of the Sacred Writing s as that which Paul calls

another gospel; and that, therefore , his words authorize

us to say that Romanism is not Chri stianity.

FIRST, Christianity consists of what Christ has taught,

and commanded in Scripture . But Romanism does not ·even

profess to be founded on Scripture only: ·it claims a right to

depart from what is contained in it-a right to ad d 'to

Scripture what is handed down

by tradition ;

and both to

depart from and add to Scripture by making

new decrees.

It forbids the cup to the people, for instance , in what it calls

the mass, and yet admits that it was not forbidden to them

at th~ beginning of the Christian religion ( Council of

Trent, Session 21, chap. 2). It says that councils and the

pope have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to make

decrees by which, in reality, the doctrines delivered by Chri st

are entirely annulled.

To show how exten sively this has been

done, let the reader endeavor to trace the full effect of what

Rome teaches as to bapti smal regeneration, transubstantiation,

justification by means of sacraments and deeds done by us,

the invocation of saints-things which are entirely opposed

to the teaching of Christ.

The canons of the Council of Trent, which sat at in

tervals from 1545 to 1563, may be called the Bible of Ro

manism. They were translated into English, as late as 1848,

by a Roman Catholic pri est, t1nder the sanction of Dr.

Wiseman. The Council tells us that one end for which it

was called was the extirpation of here sies.'' What, then,

according to it, is

the standard of truth?

It tells us that

Rome receives

The Sacred Scriptures

and

uThe Unwritten

Traditions preserved in continuous succession in

the Catholi c Churc h, with equal affection of piety and rever-

ence ( Session 4) ; ·also that ''no one may dare to interpr et

the Sacred Scriptures in a manner contrary to that Chur ch ;



•

Is Romanism Cl1ristianity?

103

,

whose i,t is to 1·udge respecting ,the true sense and inter-

pretation

of

the

Sacred

Scriptures; nor

may ~ny

one inter•

pre ·t tl1em in a

manner

contrary

to the

unanimous

consent

o.f

,the fat he·rs )

(

S

ession 4) .

•

Christ commands us to prove al,l things ( 1 Thess. 5: 21) ;

to search the S,criptures , (Jo l1n 5: 39); t,o ascertain for our- ~

selves, as ·the Bereans did,

whether

what we, hear agre es wit11

wl1at we 1·ead in,

Script u(e ( Acts .17 : 11 ) . He

cotnman

ds

us

to

hold fast th~ form

of

sound

words, uttered b,y Himself

and His Apostles (2

Tim.

1: 13) ;

to

conte11dearnestly for the

faitl1

dielive ,red once

/

1

or

all

t.o the s,aints

(Jude 3).

But

Rome says, .Le ·t n·o one dare to do so 1,et all

C,hristian

princes

. . .

cause

[men]

to

observe)· our

decrees

(S

ession 16) ,,

no

1

r

permit

the·m

.to ,be

violated by

here

tic.r

1

(

S

ession 25) . The Ro ,manist mus ·t not dar ·e to have an

•

,opinion of his

own .; his mind must

exist in

the

st.ate of utter

prostr .ation and bondage; he mu st not attempt to under stand

the Scriptur ,e himself. And ·if others .attempt it if

the.y

d.are to , re ,ceive th

1

e teachi ng and d

1

0 the will of ·Christ, instead

of receiving fictio ,ns and obeying commands of m

1

en, whi .ch

wholly

subver ·t and destroy the truth and will of J ,esus, Rome

command ., the

civil

rule :r

to · restrain

them ;

and, by

the

use

of fine.s,

imprisonment,

an,d

death,

to

co.mpel

them,

if

possible,

to reno,unce what God requires theni to maintain and follow,

even unto dea·th.

Thre Bib,l.e~ the whole Bi ible, n

otliing but

tlie

.Bible,

is the

standard

and

th ,e

rule

of

1

Christianity.

To know its

meaning

for

ourselves, to receive its teacl1ing· to

rely

on its

promises,

to

trust in its Redeemer, t.o ob

1

ey Him fr

1

om delight ·of love,

a,nd to refuse to .follow other tea

1

ching, i.s Christianity itself.

But

Roma11ism

denies all this ; and there£ ore, Roman ism is

not

Christia11ity.

SECOND .LY: Ch:rist c,om·manded us to sho,,v

1nee.kn1ss

towards

thos ,e

ivho oppose

s (

2 Tim, 2 : 2 5) . He says,

Lov e y ,our eneniies, bless those W ho citrse yo t} do good



104

The Fundamentals

to those who hate you, and pray for those who use you

despitefully and persecute you (Matt. 5: 44).

But Romanism teaches men to

hate,

and,

i

they are able,

to persecute to the death all those who w ll not receive it.

Its deeds have been diabolical and murderous. It is

drunken with the blood of the saints. It has inscribed on

the page of history warnings which appeal to the reason

and the feelings of all generations. Such a warning i

what is told of the 24th of August,

1572.

On that day the

Protestants of Paris were devoted to slaughter by members

of the Papal Church. For the one offence of being Protestants,

thousands were slain. The streets of Paris ran with blood ;

everywhere cries and groans, were mingled with the clangor

of bells, the clash of arms, and the oaths of murderers. The

king, Charles IX, stood, it is said, at a window, and, every

now and then, fired on the fugitives. Every form of guilt,

cruelty, and suffering, made that fearful night hideous and

appalling. Never, in any city, which has professedly been

brought under the influence of Christianity, was there such

a revelling in blood and crime. You may say, Why do you

recall the atrocities of a tin1e so remote ?'' l ·answer, Because

this deed received the sanction of the Church of Rome as a

meritorious demonstration of fidelity to Romish precepts and

doctrines. When the tidings of this wholesale murder were

received in Rome, the cannon of St. Angelo were fired,

the city was illuminated and Pope Gregory XIII and his

cardinals went in procession to all the churches, and offered

thanksgivings at the shrine of every saint. The Cardinal

of Lorraine, in a letter to Charles IX, full of admiration and

applause of the bloody deed, said, That which you have

achieved was so infinitely above my hopes, that I should have

never dared to contemplate it; nevertheless, I have always

believed that the deeds of your Majesty would aug1nent the

glory of God, and tend to imn1ortalize your name.



Is R omanism C hri.stianity?

lOS.

_Some say that Rome has ceased to persecute. But this

is not the fact; either as to her acts, or rules of action. She

asserts that she is

uncha -nged,

unchangeable;

that she

is

in

fallible, and cannot alter, except so far as necessity, or plans

for the future, may r~quire; and facts are of ten occurring

which prove that persecution is still approved by her. Rome

has little power now; her persecuting spirit is kept

in

abeyance

for a time; but it is still there. When it is free from restraint,

it knows no way of dealing with difference .of opinion but

by the rack, the stake, the thumbscrew, the iron

boot,

the

assassin's dagger, or a wholesale massacre. Let all who value

their liberty, all who love the truth as it is in Jesus have no

fellowship with such deeds of darkness, nor with those

who work them. Let us show that we have no sympathy

with such a cruel spirit; and that we love the names and

memory of the noble arn1y of martyrs of the Reformation;

of those who sealed their faith with their blood; of those

who died to release their country and their posterity from

the bondage of Rome.

I agl ee with Dr. Samuel Waldegrave, when he says that,

The Convocation of the English clergy did wisely, when, in

the days of Elizabeth, they enacted that every parish church

in the land should be furnished with a copy of Foxe's Book

of Martyrs; and that it would be well if a copy of it were

in every house, yea, in every hand; for Rome is laboring,

with redoubled effort, for the subjugation of Britain, and the

people have forgotten that she is a siren who enchants but

to destroy.

TH.IRDLY:

As to

the sacrifice of Christ,

Christianity

teaches that He was offered once for all, to bear the sins

of many (Heb. 9: 28) ; that those . who are sanctified by

His sacrifice are so by the offering of the body of Jesus

Christ once for all ( 10: 10) ; that by one offering He has

perfected forever those who are sanctified, or made holy



106

The F undani entals

( 10: 14) : the se passages declare that the sacrifice o~ Chri st

was offered once for all never to be repeat ed. But Rome

declares that Chri st is sacrificed anew, every time that the

Lord 's supp er, which she calls the mass/' is celebrated; and

that tho se who adri.1inister it are sacrificing priests.

The Council of . Trent ( Session 22) says, Forasmuch , as

in thi s Divine sacrifice, which is celebrated in the mass, that

same Christ is contained, and immolated in an unbloody

manner, who once offered I-Iimself in a bloody manner, on the

altar of the cross, the holy synod teaches that

this sacrifice

is tritly propitiatory and that, by means therof this is,

effected-that we obtain mercy and find grace in seasonable

aid, if we draw nigh unto God, contrite and penitent, with a

sincere heart and upright faith, with fear and reverence.

For the Lord, appeased by the obla.tion thereof and granting

the grace and gift of penitence, forgives even heinous crimes

and sins. For the victim is one and the same the same now

offering by the ministry of priests who then offered Himself

on the cross, the manner alone of offering being different.

The synod commands the use of lights, incense, and the

traditional vestments; also that the priests mix water with

the wine.

In chapter

9,

canon

1,

the synod says, If any one say

that in the mass a true and proper sacrifice

is

not offered to

God; or, that to be offered is nothing else but that Christ is

given us to eat; let him be anathema.

In canon

3, it decreed that, · If any one say that the

sacrifice of the mass is only a sacrifice of praise and thanks

giving; or that it is a bare commemoration of the sacrifice

consummat ed on the cross but not a propitiatory sacrifice;

or,

that it profits him only who. receives; and that it ought not to

be offered for the living and the dead for sins pains satisfac-

tions and other necessities; let him be anathema.

The Chri st of Romanism is one who is sacrificed again

and again for the remission of the sins both of the living



Is Roman ism Christianity?

107

and the dead; for tho se alive, and for those in purgatory.

Is this the Chris t of Christianity?

In canon 1 of its 13th Session, the synod says, "If any

one deny that, in the sacrament of the n1ost holy Eucharist,

are contained truly, really and substantially

the body and

blood, together with the soul and divini ty of our Lord Jesus

Christ, and consequently the whole Chr ist, but say that He is

only therein as in a sign, or in figure, or virtue; let him be

anathema."

The Christ of the Bible, and of Christian ity, is in heaven

"at the right hand of God," where "He ever lives to make

intercession for those who come to God through Him" (Rom.

8: 34; Col. 3 : 1 ; Heb.

7

: 25) ; nor will He come in bodily

form to earth again until He comes the second time, without

sin, unto salvation, to be admired in all those who believe

(Heb. 9: 28; 2 Thess. 1: 10). But the Chri st of Romanism

is upon the altars of Rome; He is said to be brought there

by the magic spell of her priests, and to be there in the form

and shape of a

wafer. What a fearful blasphemy The priest

pronounces certain words, gives the solen1n consecration, . and

then elevates the wafer. Taste it-it is wafer; touch it-it

is wafer; look at it-it is wafer; smell it-it is wafer; analyze

it-it is wafer; but the priest affirms, the Coun cil of Trent

affirms, Romanism affirms, the poor victims of delusion af-firm,

as they bow down before it,

''This is our Chris t-our God "

Here is the climax of this superstition-it exhibits for the

person of Christ a morsel of bread: Is that morsel of bread

the Chri st of th e Bible? Is that system which declares it to

be so, Chri stianity?

FOURTHLY: Christianity is in direct opposition to Ro

manism as to the mode of a sinn er's justification before God.

What sa,y the Scriptures? "By deeds of law shall no flesh

living be justified before God" (Rom. 3: 20). "Therefore

we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without deeds

of law" (3: 28). "Even David describes the blessedness of



Is R omanism Christianity?

109

of grace,

e ternaJ

life, etc. "let him be a'nathema"

( canon 32). Thus Romanism anathematizes the preaching

of

true Christianity

I will mention but one more proof that Romanism is not

Christianity, though there are many others which might be

given.

FIFTHLY: Christianity says "there is one Mediator be

tween God

and men,

the man Christ Jesus (1

Tim. 2: 5),

who is at th~ right hand of the Father (Eph. 1 : 20), where

He "ever lives to make intercession" for us (Heb. 7: 25).

Chri stianity says that there is but one Mediator; that we can .

not draw near to God except through Jesus.

What says Romani sm? I quote from

"a

book of devo-

tion for every day in the month of May," published by Papal

authority. "Great is the need you have of Mary in order to

be saved Are you innocent? Still your innocence is, how ..

ever, under great danger. How many, more innocent than

you, have fallen into sin, and been damned? Are you penti

tent? Still your ·perseverance is very uncertain. Are you

sinners? Oh, what need you have of Mary to convert you

Ah, if there were no Mary, perhaps you would be lost How

ever, by the devotion of this month, you may obtain her

patronage, and your own salvation. Is it possible that a mother

so tender can help hearing a Son so devout? For a rosary,

for a fast, she has sometimes conferred signal graces upon

the greatest of sinners. Think, then, what she will do for

you

for a whole month dedicated to her service l"

Here you see that Mary is everything; that Jesus Christ

is nothing. Romanism teaches also that it is right to ask the

intercession of all departed saints ( Session 25). How dread

ful is it that sinners are thus kept back from Jesus, and are

prevented from reaching God through Him.

Popery is emphatically anti-Christian: it is the adversary

of Christ in all the offices which He sustains. It is the enemy

of His prophetic office; for

it

chains up that Bible which He



110

The Fundamentals

inspired. It is the enemy of I-Iis priestly office; for, by the

mass it denies the efficacy of that sacrifice which He offered

once for all on Calvary. It is the enemy of I-Iis kin ly office;

for it tears the crown from His head to set it on that of the

Pope.

Can that be truly called Christianity, then, which is the

reverse of it? Can that be

fitly

treated as Christianity which

hates it, denounces it, and tries to destroy it? Can that be

Christianity which forbids liberty

of

conscience, and the right

of private judgment? Which commands the Bible to be

burned? Which teaches the worship of saints and angels?

Which makes the Virgin Mary command God? Which calls

her the Mother of God, and the Queen of Heaven? Which

sets aside the mediation of Christ, and puts others in His

place? Which makes salvation depend on confession to man,

and this is a confessional so filthy that Satan himself might

well be ashamed of it? Can that be Christianity which con

demns the way of salvation through faith, as a damnable

heresy? Can that be Christianity which, by the bulls of its

Popes, and decrees of its councils, requires both princes and

people to persecute Christians? Which actually swears its

bi~hops and archbishops to persecute them with all their might?

Can that be Christianity which has set up, and still maintains,

the Inquisition? That which has been so cruel, so blood

thirsty, that the number slain by it of the servants of Christ,

in about 1,200 years, is estimated at fifty millions, giving an

average of 40,000 a year for that l?ng period? No, it cannot

be 1 With a voice of thunder, let Protestants answer, Not

To aid such a system is to fight against God. He demands

that we resi st the devil (James 4: 7), and have no fellowship

with ''works of darkness (Eph. 5:

11).

No peace with

Rome, n1ust be on our lips, and be in our lives. No peace

with Rome/' whether wearing her scarlet undi sguised, or using

the c;l9akof c:\Protestant name.



Is R omanism Christianity ?

The voice from heaven (Rev. 18: 4) : Co1ne out of ,her,

·My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye

receive not of her plagues, is proof that there may be true

Christians in the Roman body; but it is pro 0f also that even

while in it, they are not of it; and that they will strive to

escape from it, so as not to share in .its .sins.

We are informed by God that this systeni is the work of

Satan; that his ministers are transformed as the ministers

of righteousness, whose end shall be according .to their works

(2 Cor.

11:

15); that it is he who turns men away from

the simplicity which is in Christ ( 11: 3) ; that it is he who.

is the author of that mystery of iniquity which was at work

even while the Apostles were still living, and which was to

be further revealed, and to remain, till it should be consumed

by Christ, and destroyed by the brightness of His coming;

a system which is according to the working of Satan, with

all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all de

ceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because

they received not the love of the truth that they might be

saved (2 Thess. 2: 7-10).

May those who love God, and yet have some connection

with this system, listen to the command, ''Come out of her,

My

people.'' May we in no degree partake of her sins: may

we renounce, with a holy loathing, all her symbols; throw off,

with righteous indignation, all allegiance to her corruptions.

May we have nothing of Romanism in our doctrines, but

contend earnestly for the pure faith of the Gospel of Jesus.

May we have nothing of Romanism in our discipline. May

we be subject, in all matters of religious faith and practice,

to

the Word of God,

and to that alone. May we have nothing

of Romanism in our services, in our buildings, in our forms,

in our

attire.

Because Israel burned incense to the brazen

serpent which Moses had made, Hezekiah broke

t

in pieces.

(2 Kings 18: 4.) For the like reason, let us cease to use, on



, 112

The Fundamentals

person or building, that form of the cross which the Romanist

treats with superstitious regard. Come out of

her.

Ye who seek salvation, go to Jesus.

Him has God. exalted

to be a Prince and a Saviour. He is able to save to the utter

most those who come to God by Him.

The Father

is ready

with out-stretched arms to clasp the penitent prodigal in .His

embrace. The Son is ready to .give a free, full, complete for

giveness to every red eemed sinner, and to justify all who

come unto God by

Him.

The

Holy Spirit

is ready

to

sanc

tify, renew, instruct, and help all who call upon Him.

The

assembly of saved sinners on earth is ready to welcome you to

partake of its fellowship and

o

its joys. Angels are ready

with harps attuned, and fingers upon the chords, to give you

a triumphant welcome, and

to

rejoice over you with joy.

Come just as you are; come at once.

Him

that cometh to

Me/' says Christ, I wi,ll in no wise cast out

(John 6:37).

I



•

CHAPTER VII

•

ROME,

THE

ANTAGONIST OF

THE

NATION

BY REV.

J ..

M. FOSTER, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

The

Roman Catholic Church, both

in

Scriptures and in

Christian history, figures as a

politico-ecclesiastical

system,

the essential

and

deadly fo,e of

civil and religious

liberty, the

hoary-headed

antagonist of both

Church and

State.

John

Milton

said: ''Popery is

a

double

thing

to

deal

with,

and

claims a two-fold power, ecclesiastical and political, both

usurped,

and one

supporting

the other. Let

us

consider

a

few un ·deniable

facts.

I. ROME JS THE NATION S ANTAGONIST BE-

CAUSE IT IS

A

C ORRUPT AND CORRUPTIN

1

G SYS

TEM OF FALSEHOOD AND IDOLATRY THAT POL-

LUTES OUR LAND.

Ca.rdinal

Manning s.aid: ''The

C1th

1

lic Church

is

either

the masterpiece of· Satan or the kingdom of

tl1e

Son of God''

(''Lectures

on the

Fo ur-fol d Sovereignty of God, London,

1871,

page 171).

Unquestionably,

it is

not the

latter. Car

dinal Newman declared: ''Either

the Church

of Rom ,e

is

the

·11ouse of ·

God

or the

house of

Satan;

there

is

no middle

gr ·ot1nd

between

them'' ( Ess ,ays,

11,

pa,ge :116).

We

sol-

emnly

affirm. that she

is not the former. The Chu1·ch

of Rome

is Satan's cou·nterfeit of the true Church

·0

1

f

Christ. The

heatl1en sacrificed to devils, not to

God. As Israe1

took their

idols from the nations about them, Rome Papal took her

_dolatry

from

Rome

Pagan5

When the ''barbari .an

hordes''

f ro

1

m the Nort ·h ove,r-ran the Ro·m.an E1npi.re and di.srnem

bered

it,

the Bishop of

Rome sent

missionaries among them,

•



114

The Fundamentals

temples and priests and rites were incorporated with th e Chris

tian Church, and Ro1ne became baptized heathenism. Th ey

feared the Lord and served graven images. The Bishop of

Rome naturally had great influence among them. At hjs sugges

tion the lost unity of the We s ern Emp ire was restored in recog

nizing him as the official ecclesiastical head. The Greek ,Em

peror at Constantinople, Phocas, desired to strengthen his

authority in the west and invoked the aid of the Roman

. bishop. Boniface III saw his opportunity and made a deal.

If the Byzantium Emperor would acknowledge him as uni

versal bishop, he would accede. Phocas recognized Boniface

III in 606 A. D. The pagans wor shipped the Caesars.

Roman Catholics pay Divine honors to · the pope. They

ascribe to him the names, titles, attributes, words and works

of God. The name of God and His works have been as

cribed to the pope by their theologians, canonists, councils and

the popes themselves. By the authority of canon law the

pontiff is styled the Almighty's vicegerent. This is treason.

The second commandment for bids worshipping of God by

images, and yet Rome Papal has introduced the image worship

of Pagan Rome, only changing the names . The Virgin Mary

is substituted for Venus. The image of Christ takes the

place of Jupiter. The idols of the pagan temples were not

so numerous as the idols of the Romish cathedrals today.

Pope Pius IV called the Council of Trent, which issued its

creed in 1564. This creed of Pius IV, together with the

decree of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, pro

mulgated in

1854,

and that of the pope's infallibility, issued

in

1870, mark the doctrinal status of Rome today. Let us

note a few facts in regard to this.

1. Rome restricts the use of the Bible The fourth rule

of the congregation of the Index of Prohibited Books , ap

proved by Pius IV and still in force, runs as follows: Since

it is manife st by experience that if the Holy Bible in the

vulgar tongue be suffered to be read everywhere without dis-



•

•

•

Rome} tlie Antagonist of the Nation

115

tinction, more evil than go,od

arises,

let the judgment of the

bishop or

inquisitor be

abide

1

d by i11

this ,

·respect,

so

tl1at,I

af 'ter consultin g with the

paris ,11

priest or the con£essor, they

ma y grant p r111iss.on

to read

tra .ns.lations

of

tl1e

Scriptures,

n1ad.e

by

Catholic

writers, to tl1ose

whom they understand

to

be

able to receive no harm,

but an i11crease

of faith and piety

from such read ing (which faculty let them have in writing).

Bt1t

whosoever shall presume to

read these

Bibles, or

ha.v·e

them

in possessi~n without such faculty,

sha ll

not

be

capable

of receiving

absolutio11, of

tl1eir sins, unles s

tl1ey l1ave

first

giv ,en up

1

thei1§

Bibles to

the orclina1~y'''

Tl1is pr ,ohibi:tio

1

n

has

been.

f

o11owed up h

1

y

later d·eclar .ations. .

Pope

Leo XII, in an

E11cyclical dated May 3,

1824, addressed the Latin

bishop9

thus : ''We

also,

venerable brother s, in

conformity

with our

apostoli

1

c

duty,

exhort

y.ou to turn

away

your

fl,ocks

from

these

poiso ious

pastit .es [

.

1

e.,

ve1·nacular

Bibles].

Reprove ,,

entreat, be instant in season and out

1

of season, that the faitl1-

f

u] committ ·ed to

you (

adhe :r·ing

strictly

to

the

rules of

the

'Congrega tion of the Index') be persuaded that

if

the Sacred

S

1

criptures

be ev

1

erywhere .

indiscri1ni11ateiy· publis.he

1

d,

n10 :e ·

evil than

advantage ,vill

arise

thence, becaus .e

of

the rashness

of men .'' And the way of the laity

to

the reading

of

the

Holy

Scri1)tures is

further

b1ocked by the

second article

in

the creed

of Pius IV: '

1

' do admit the Hol,y

Scrip itures in

the

.sa.me

sense tl1at Holy Mother Church hath held and do·th hold,

wh

1

os.le

bu sin

1

ess. it is to judge the

true

sense

and

interpr ·etation

0

1

f. them .

N 01 .

will I ever r·eceive ,o,r interp1"et thetp. except

acco1·ding

to

the

unaninious consent of tl1e

Fathe rs.''

As

the

''Ho ly

Mother

Cl1urch'' publishes

no

commenta1·ies on

the

Holy

Scriptures, nor

''autl 1orized

interpretatio .n' ' Of Holy

W

1~it;

a11d as '' ·the

un.animot1

1

s

cons·ent

of

the .

Fathers .' is

im~

possible, they having co1111nentedfreely, each according to

l1is

abili ·ty, tl1e way

1

of

tl1e

laicy

to, the Wo·rd

1

0£

1

God is

1

clos

ed.

The difference

between Pr ,otestantism and Romanism

is, the

Bib,le is, an

open

book to,

tl1e

one and a seal ,ed

b,0

1

ok to the

•



116

The

Funda1nentals

other. The Reformed Churches have translated the whole

Bible into

517

languages and dialects-all the great trunk

languages spoken by three-fourths of the world's inhabitants

-and published 300,000,000 copies. The Roman Church

keeps the Bible locked up in the Latin tongue. It is true the

Douay Bible was published, the New Testan1ent in 1582

at

Rheims, and the Old Testament at Douay in

1609.

This is

Ro1ne's English Bible. But the people are forbidden to read

it. A distinguished French Romanist, Henri Lasserre, struck

with the fact that the children of the church knew the Divine

Book only in fragments, without logical or chronological or

der, brought out a translation of the four Gospels, for which

he obtained the sanction of the Archbishop of Paris and of the

Pope. The result was an immediate sale of 100,000 copies,

so eager were the French Romanists for this novel work. But

the Index shortly interfered. The Pope's express sanction

was withdrawn, the printing and the sale peremptorily stopped,

under the pretext that some passages were translated inaccu

rately. The f ragn1ents in Latin were pref erred as

safer

than the whole in a language everyone could understand.

Rome has made only two tran slations, and those not spon

taneously, but because the inquirers

insisted

upon their pos

session. These two are for Uganda and for Japan. The

large number of Protestants compelled the Roman mission

aries to accede to the demands of their own inquirers and con

verts that they should possess the wonder£ ul Book which

their fellow-countrymen were reading.

2. Rome accepts the Apocrypha of the Old Testanient

The Apocrypha came this way. The larger part of the Jews

never returned from the Babylonian captivity, but were dis

persed in many countries. They had the Old Testament

Hebrew Scriptures. They also had other writings, produced

after Malachi, but not of equal authority. About B. C. 280,

Ptolomy; the King of Egypt, invited Hebrew rabbi to come to

Egypt and translate the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek. The



R ,ome, the Antagonist iof the N

ati,on

117

other Jewi sh writings

were

translated also,

and .

used by the

Alexandrian Jews of the dispe ·rsio:n, altl1ough they

1

did not

.l1old

them

as p.art

o,f

the

Old Testament. In

cours

1

e of '

time

the Latin language superseded the Gree ·k in ·the \\r ,est, and

in their ignorance of Hebr ·e r,

Lati .n

tran sla·tio·11s wer .e

m.ade~

11ot f r

1

0·m

the 0

1

riginal

Heb1·e f.lfli

but from the

1

Gr,eek v

1

ersion.

a11d the

Apoc1yp

1

ha was traaslat

1

ed

'~th it. M

1

os.t o·f th

1

e Cl1ris1

tian

fathers

had

no

knowledge of Heb1·ew, and read tl1e Scrip ,

tur 1s in

Greek and Latin.

They dis.tinguished the Bib l

1

e from

tl1e Ap

1

ocrypha( writings ,

So

did Jer

1

ome, in his Latin

Vitl ·

ga·te, 4

1

04 A. D·. translated from Hebrew ,and Chalde

1

e, .So

di

1

d P hi1o

and Mel .ito·.

A.. D. 160,

and the J

ewi.sh

T.a.lmt1d

of

the fifth century, a11d th

1

e ,great R

1

oman Cardinal Cajetan

-

.

( 1S18) and th ,e le.a1·ned R,on1an Catl1o·tic Ar ·cl1bis'1op Xime:ne,s,

to whom we

owe

the famous Complutensian Polyglot ( 151,7),

and Jo sephus

(who lived about

the tim.e

of

Cl1rist) .,

Augus

ti·ne differe

1

d

from

Jero ·me

a,s. to the

a.uthori ·ty

of

the

Ap

1

oc-

·ryph ,a,

b,ut

At1gustin ,e did

no,t

know Hebr ·ew

and hi,s

testimo

1

ny

is valuel ,esis,. Bu·t n .0

1

t one

of

the thir ·ty b

1

ishops

in ·the Counc ,il

of ·Trent coul

1

d rea ,d H

1

ebrew, and only a few · k'new t'he Gr'e

1

ek .

And yet th lat utterly incompetent · C,ouncil decree ·d th

1

e A po

1

c ..

rypl1a to be a p

1

art of qod's H ·oly Word, and. to be ac,cept.e·d

un ·der pa ·in of

anathema,

3.

.Rome acc,ept.s, tradition as

1

of ,eq·ital authority with t·he

Scriptur,e.s. The Coun ,cil

of Trent (Session

IV) : ''Se

1

eing

clearly that

thi.s

(saving) ·truth .a~d

(mor ·a]), dis .ciplin

1

e are

contained in the writt ,en boo

1

ks

and

the wr ·i.tten t·radi ·t:ions

re

ceived by the Apostles from the mo

1

ut ·h

of · Christ Hi :1nself or

from ·the

Apostles themselves, the

Ho1.Y

1

Ghost dictating , h.ave·

come

1

down

1

even unto

us,

trans1nitt

1

ed, as it.

were,

from hand

to hand ;'' and again: '

1

'Every sort of do

1

ctrin

1

e which is to be

1

de'livered to the f,aithful is contained i.n the Word of God, .

which is divide ,d into

Scrip

1

ture and tr ladition.'' But su

1

ch

-stupendous assertio ·ns re

1

qu·ire clear evid .ence.

Where

is '''tra

dit io·n''

found '?

Has Rom

1

e rec ,or

1

ded and registe ·red it?

•



Ronie the Antagonist of the Nation

119

substantially the body and blood, together with the soul and

divinity, of our Lord Je sus Christ." This doctrine, as the

Engl ish Archbishop recently described

it,

"depends upon the

acceptance of a metaphysical definition exp ressed in terms of

mediaeval philosophy." The philosophy is that of Ari stotle,

who attempts to draw a distinction between "substance" and

"accidents"-substance being the inner reality in which the

qualities or accidents, the taste, smell, form, color, etc., inhere.

But this contradicts the testimony of our senses. It is un

reasonable and entirely unscriptural.

6.

Rome

sacrifices the mass.

By sacrifice they mean "an

act o.£ external worship in which God is honored as the prin

ciple and end of man and all things, by the oblation of a

visible creature, by submitting

it

to an appropriate transfor

mation by a duly qualified minister" ( Cath. Die., page 813).

This is its comment upon the Eucharistic sacrifices: '' All that

is included in the idea of sacrifice is found in the Eucharist.

There is the oblation of a sensible thing, viz., of the body

and blood of Christ under the appearance of bread and wine."

"There is the mystical destruction of Christ the victim, for

Christ presents Himself on the altar as in a state of death ,

through the mystical separation between His body and blood."

"In this sacrifice of thanksgiving we offer God the most ex

cellent gift He has bestowed upon us, viz., the 'Son in whom

He is w~ll pleased.' '' Is not this awful presumption? Their

Eucharistic sacrifice they hold to

.be

"one with that of the

cross; on the cross and altar we have the same victim and

the same priest." Pope Pius V said: "Protestants have no

sacrifice because the Reformation abolished the mass." But

the old answer of Bishop Jew el is as true as ever: "Indeed the

mass is abolished through the gracious working of God. . . .

They did tell us that in their mass they were able to offer

Chri st, the Son of God, unto God His Father for our sins. Oh,

blasphemous speech, and most injurious to the glorious work

of our redemption Such kind of sacrifice we have not. Christ



120

The Fundamentals

Himself is our High Priest . . . by whom we are sanctified,

even by the offering of Christ once made, who took away our

sins and fastened them upon the cross. . . . This is our sacri-

fice, this is our propitiation and sacrifice for the whole world.

How, then, saith Pope Pius, we have no sacrifice?

7 Rome denies the cup to the laity

The Council · of

Trent pronounces two anathemas as to this. One will suffice.

If anyone saith that the Ho ly Catholic Church was not in-

duced by just cause and reasons to communicate under the

species of bread only, laymen, and also clerics, when not con se-

crating, let him be anathema'' ( Session XXI; canon 1, 20).

This is unscriptural. Our Lord instituted the feast in the use

of both bread and wine. Down to the fifteenth century both

elen1ents were used. Denying the cup to the laity was the cul-

mination of many previous errors, such as confounding the

sign . and the thing signified, the propitiating sacrifice of the

mass, the priesthood of ministers and the stupendous miracle

of converting bread and wine into the real flesh and blood of

Christ.

8. Rome traffics

in

masses The priests claim to remove

souls from purgatory for a certain number of masses, each hav-

ing a certain price. Not long ago Queen Christina of Spain left

money for 5,000 masses to be said for herself and

5,000

for her

husband. As no priest could offer the mass more than once a

day, they had to be let out to country priests. More recently,

the Abbe Brugidon endeavored to raise money toward building

a church in Rome by receiving payment for masses to be said

when the church was completed . There is much doubt as to

whether the church will ever be built, but

260,000

n1asses have

been already paid for. A number beyond the power of the Abbe

ever to accompli sh. Such stupendous frauds will shock the

moral sense of the Christian world and awaken the Church to

a recognition of the mystery of iniquity in the Church of

Rome.



Rome, the Antagonist of the Nation 2

II. ROME IS THE NATION S ANTAGONIST BE-

CAUSE IT IS A POLITICAL SYSTEM OF FOREIGN

DESPOTISM.

Rome Pagan persecuted the Christians. Ro1ne Pagan be-

came Rome Christian under Constantine and ceased perse-

cuting. Ron1e nominally Christian became Ro1ne Papal and

persecuted more severely than before. The pope controlled

the kingd oms <;>fEurope for twelve centuries. How did he

gain this power? After the pope became universal bishop he

longed to be free from the Byzantine yoke and wield civil

power himself . His opportunity came at last to realize his

ambition. Here it is. Clovis the Great entered Gaul and

destroyed the Roman army in the battle of Soissons in 486.

He then established the French monarchy and became the first

of the dynasty of Merovingian kings. The Merovingian dy-

nasty continued two hundred and fifty years, when it was

superseded by the Carlovingian dynasty. The change came

thus: Childeric III was the last of the Merovingian kings, a

weak, incapable prince. Charles Martel was the Mayor ·

o

the Palace, which placed him next to, but not on, the throne.

The Saracens invaded France and threatened European civili-

zation. Charles Martel conquered them in a seven days' battle

between Tours and Poitiers in 732, and saved Europe £rom

the scourge of Mohammedanism. The government of France

was henceforth practically in his hands. His son and suc-

cessor, Pepin, wished to remove Childeric III and establish

hin1self on the throne of France, but he must have a legal

permit. He appealed to the pope at Rome for such authority.

The pope's opportunity had come. He offered to do as Pepin

desired, providing Pepin would free the Holy See from the

domination of Byzantiu1n. So Pepin led his army across the

Alps and conquered the provinces, entered Rome, · made

Stephen III a free Prince . The pope becaine the king of kings

in 755. He girded on two swords , one on each side, emblems of



122

The undamentals

temporal and spiritual power. And the pope crowned Pepin

King of France. Now, the pope desired to revive the old

Roman Empire. In

800

Charlemagne, the son and succ,essor

of Pepin, was invited to Rome and crowned by Pope Leo III

as Emperor of the Romans. In return for this Charle1nagne

decreed that one-tenth of all incomes must be given to the

church on the severest pains of forfeiture. But the pope must

have grounds for such assumptions of power. And so the

false decretals of Isadore, which are now universally con

sidered to have been bold and unblushing forgeries, were pro

mulgated between 847 and 853. And about 858 the Donation

of Constantine, which is now acknowledged by Romanists to

be spurio us, was made to do service . These were requisitioned

by Pope Nicholas I

The system grew as Innocent III placed

the iron crown upon the head of Otho I in 962, as the King

of the Holy Roman En1pire of the Germans ; as Hildebrand

enforced celibacy upon his English clergy in

1073;

as Adrian

IV granted Ireland to King Henry II in 1156; and as Boniface

VIII issued his famous Bull, Unum Sanctum, in

1303,

which

was quoted by Pope Pius IX in his Encyclical of

1864,

and is

good canon law today. Here are its contents: 1. It is neces

sary to salvation that every man should submit to the pope.

2. This is a necessary consequence of the dogma of papal

supremacy. 3. It condemns the assertion by the state of any

power over church property. 4. The temporal power of Chris

tian princes does not exempt them from obedience to the head

of the church. 5. The material sword is drawn for the church,

the spiritual by the church. 6. The material sword must co

operate with the spiritual and assist it.

7

The secular power

should be guided by the spiritual as the higher. 8 The

spiritual has the pre-eminence over the material. 9. The

temporal power is subordinate to the ecclesiastical as to the

higher. 10. The temporal power, if it is not good, is judged

by the spiritual.

11.

To the ecclesiastical authority [ that is,

to the pope and his hierarchy] the words of the prophet Jere-



•

•

•

Rom ,e,

t/1e

Antagonist of tlie Nati on

123

•

miah

app .ly:

'Lo, I have set thee this

day

over the nations and

over the king·do1ns,, to roo

1

t up and pull do,,vn and to wast ·e a11d

to destroy; and

to

build

an

1

d

to

plant.'

12.

Wl1en

the temporal

power g

1

oes ,astray

it

i.s judge ,d by tl1,e

spir itual.

1.3.. For ob

taining eternal happiness ,, ,each one is

1·equired

to s·ubmit to

the pope. , 14. The supremacy

of

the

pope ev,en in temporal

th,ings

is

to be

e.nforced.

15. The

pope recogi1izes

human

authorities l in their proper

plac

1

e,

till they lift their will

ag,ainst

God.." .

The Holy Roman Empire reach

1

ed its climax in 1164 when

Hadrian IV trod on the nec.k of Fred

1

erick

of

B,ar ·baross .a, and

went out of commission in

1806,

wl1en

Napoleon Bonapa rte

compelled

Josepl1

II to abdicate. Wl1e11

Vict ,or

Immanue ·l II

entered Ron1e in 1870

and

ma .de

the.

Quirin ,al th

1

e capital of

United Italy, the pope calle-d himself ''t .he Prisoner of · the

Vati

1

can'' and

issu ,ed

one o,f

·the . most

shockin .g excom1nunica

tions against the conqueror: ''By the a.ttthority of the Al

mighty

God, the Father, Son and Ho ly

Gl1ost;

and of the

holy canons ,and

of

the un ,defiled

Virgin

Mary,

mother a 1d

nurse of our Saviour,

an,d

of the celestia ·1

v.irtues,

angels,

arch-

. angels, thr

1

ones, dominions,

pow ,ers,

cherubim

and

seraphim;

and of all the holy patriarchs and propl 1ets, and o-f the apost .les

an

1

d

1

evangelists,

and

of the holy

innoc ents,

who, in

the si.ght

of the Holy Lamb, are found wortl1y to sing ·the new song; and

of the

holy

marty rs and

holy conf ·,ssors,

and of the

11.oly

ir

gins

and

of the

saints, tog ether with all ·the hol·y ,and elect

of

God; we exco

1

rnmunicate an

1

d anath

1

ematize l1i1n,and

f

ram the

tl1reshold

1

0£

the holy church of God Al·1nighty ·we

sequester

him,

that he n1ay be tormented

in

eternal

ex ,cruciating suffer

in,gs,

togeth

1

er

with

D,athan and

Abiram

an

1

d

tl1ose

who

say

to

the Lord God, 'Depart f r

1

om us, we d

1

esire

not1e 0

1

f Thy wa.ys '

And as fire

is quench

1

ed

by

water,

so, let th

1

e

ligl1t o,f him be

p

1

ut

out £01,.ever more. May

F'ather,

Son and

Holy Ghost

cur ,se

_ .hi'm.. May he be damned wherever l1e n1ay be; whether in the

hou se .or in th

1

e field, ,vheth .er in the

higl1way

or i11 the byway,

•



•

124

T he Fu .nda1nentals

whether in tl1e wood or wate1~, a11d wl1ether in the church.

May the Vi rgin Mary, St. Michael, St . John, St. Peter, St.

Paul, th

1

e choir

of

the holy virgins, curse him. May

l1e

be

cursed in living ,and dying, in eating and drinking, in fas ting

a·nd thirs ·ting, , in slun1be :ring and sleeping, in

watcl1ing ,

and

w,a,lking, in

standing

0

1

r sitti11g, in

lying

do wn o·r'walkin ,g, a11d i11,

blood-letti ·11g~ May he be

,cursed

i11

his

brain ; may he be

curs ,ed in all his faculties; may he be cttrsed inwardly a11dout

wardly; may h

1

e be cursed in his

hai1-;

may he be

cu1·sed

in the

,crown of his l1ead; i11

l1is

te1nples, in his forehead and his ears;

in his eyeb ·rows, in his, cl1eeks in his jaw- ·bones, in his nos tr ils;

in his foreteeth and his g,1·i11ders. in his lips and in his 'thr ·oat ;:

in l1is shoulders and in his wrists ,;

in 11is

arms, 'his hands , an

1

d

his fingers. May he be dan1ned in his moutl1, in his breast, in

his . heart and in all the viscera of his body . May he be damned

in his

vei11s

and in his

groin

and in

his tl1ighs,

in h.is hips;

i11

h.is kn,ees; in his legs, feet ,a·nd toe-n

1

ails. May he be curs ,ed in

a,J: the

join ·ts

and artict1la.tio

1

ns

o,f'

his b

1

ody. From th,e top

of

his l1ead to the ,sole of his foot

may

tl1ere be no soundness in

him. May the Son of the living God, with all the glory of

His majesty, curse him; and may heaven with all the po,wers

that mov

1

e therein ris,e up against him, curse him, and datnn

him

I

Am,en.

So

let it b

1

e.

Amen.''

But whil

1

e the pope was. pouring

ottt

the , via·ts. of

h,is

w·rat11,

the Pru ,ssian ar ·my was s,ve

1

epin,g the

French

at

Sed ,an

,a:nd

Napoleon III surrendered and the German Empire became a

firm ttnion. The pope ex-communicated the German prelates

who refu sed t

1

0 accept tl1e dogm,a of the pope's inf .allibility.

They ,r,efused to vacate their p,ar,ishes an.d the Ultramontanes l

.attempted to f.orce th

1

em, ot1t. The Germ ,a11s 'n,terf 'er ,ed and the

iron Chance ·1lor,,

Bis1mar

1

k, dec

1

lared in tl1e Par1iame·nt,, ''\¥ e

are not go,ing to Canossa, eit .her physically or spiritua lly," and

on July 4, 1872, the Gern1an Reichstag passed a law exp ·elling

the Jesuits from the Empir ·e. France has later followed in

separating Church and , State and banishing th

1

e monastic

•

•



•

•

Rome the A.nitagonist of

tlie Nation

125

order ·s. ISp,ain l1as followed th

1

e same example

and

P

1

ortu .g,al, is

doing likewise. Bu t Great Britain and the United S.tates per

sist

in

flirting

with the

great

wl10

re

of

tl1e Tiber ,.

T 'he

coron

ation oath of Kin ,g George V was modifie ,d and

''Home

Rule'' '

is. vote

1

d to Irelan .cl to please

the Va

ti can.

In

th

1

e United

States

they

have

11,000,000'

and

control 1,500,000

votes of the city

g·overnn1ents of Boston, New Yo .rk,

Chi.,ago

1

and 0

1

thers

and

have ninety-five per cent

1

0f

th ,e municipal offices filled b·y Rome.

The

pr ,es.s

of

tl1e count1·y

is censore ·d by

Roman

Jesuits ,. Tl1e

government at W .ashington went to

1

Can

1

ossa ,1vhen

tl1e

Presi

dent

sent .Judge

Taft to

Rome to consult

the pope

about the

f ria1·s in the Ph ilipp.ine.s, the 0

1

nly ,diffe1·ence b

11

eing,

Henry IV

w

1

e.nt in a coarse sackcloth an

1

d

bat·'ef,oot

in the s11ow,

standi .ng

at the ga·te three days, while Taft went in a s,wallow-tailed

cQat a,nd white vest and

,sl1oes

on his f,ee·t, and was r,eceived at

once. But he bargained

to

pay

-tl1e

p

1

ope

$7.,500,000

for

clain1s

not worth $1,000,000 in the

Islands;

tl1en

$406,000 f'or

dan1-

ages t

1

0 chi1rch

property

in quelling a

rebellion

p·rov

1

oked

and

foste ·re,d

by

the

f riar ,s ·themselv·es.

Tl1e solid Roma11 vote .

i ,

a menace in our n,ational electi

1

ons. The

Ro ,man hie1·arcl1y

owns $3

1

00,000 ,000 in Ameri

1

ca. They have a par ,och i,al school

s·yste1n

and clan1orously deman .d a. slhare in the public S·chool

fund.

Their

policy is

tl1e

refi.nen1ent

of duplicit ,y.

Th,ey

joh1

the Jews, infidels and skeptics

in dr ·iving the Bi'hle fron1

our .

pu ,blic schools, on the grou .nd

that

t ·he

Stat

1

e is only a se

1

cular

corporation and has no right to teach morals and

religion ..

Then

they ·

tu ·rn with hypocritica l

distr

1

es.s and exclaim :

''Tl1e

pt1blic

s,cl100ls

are

godless, their education

is dange ·r'Otts

be-

1ause

secular and

an

education ,¥itho ·ut

·mora ls and religion is

incomplete and

viciou .s :

we have built and

equipped

ou1·

parochial schools that our

children

may have

an

education

in

,~l1ich

morals

and

reli.gion

have thei1· prop

1

er place

and

duie

sl1ar,e of

attention;

therefore we demand

as a matter

of

f ai1·

ness that

the

public

school funds . be

sl1ar ·ed with

its

to

lighten

tl1is b,urd .en ,vh .ich ,ve. are forced to carry." ' But the answer

•



126

The undamentals

which the organic people should return is: This is a Chri s-

tian State; the public school system is its agency for build -

ing up a Christian citizenship; morals and religion, so far as

they are essential for discharging the functions of Christian

citizen ship, shall be taught in our public schools; and the

school funds shall not be divided. While Cardinal Gibbons

can have Pres ident Taft and his cabinet, the Judges of the

Supreme Court, Senators and Representatives attending mass

in the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Washington, the great

political parties bidding for the solid Roman vote in national

elections, and our national policy in the Philippines dictated by

the Vatican, Rome may reasonably expect to capture our pub-

lic schools through the Philippine educational policy. But our

blessed Lord is upon the throne and His cause shall prevail.



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C.

A.

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TH E

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the fundamentals: volume 11

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