Bible Standard May 1878

8/8/2019 Bible Standard May 1878

1/8

T=aE

Issued monthly by "The Bible Standard Publication Society," Lincoln.EDITED BYGeo. A. BROWN, Pastor of Mint Lane Baptist Church, Lincoln.

THE BIBr,E STANDARDsdevoted to the exposition of Biblical Truth, especially the doctrine of Conditional Immortality, the literal Re~urrection ofthe Dead, the FInal Destruction of the Wicked, the Signs of the Times, the Second Coming of Christ, and His Personal Reign on earth ..

" The Wages of Sin is Death; but the gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

No. 8. Price Id.AY, 1878.IMMORTAL-SOUL-ISM.

IF the soul is immortal, and is the real man, the responsibleacting agent, as thousands of teachers assert and teach, andat death goes to its reward without judgment, as the ministrynow claim, then why should there be a resurrection of thebody, a day of judgment, a second coming of Christ, for theannouncement of decisions, and bestowment of rewards onthe race of mankind?

With such a theology taught by thousands of Protestantteachers, by torturing and spiritizing much Scripture lan-guage, why should it b~ considered strange that such numberscome to conclude that 'all men, i.e., all souls, will be finallysaved, and therefore frame those dogmas, which appear tothem the most logical from the premise, and consistent withthe examples of departing from Bible statements offered themby such high authorities as Protestant commentators andtheologians?

If the soul is immortal, as they assume, then it cannot die,be changed, or corrupted! therefore, these more logicalmodern theorists think it bad logic to require an atonementfor what is not lost, or a life-giver for those who cannot die,or ,a resurrection of a body for a soul which has escaped that"prison," or the return of Christ to earth, if all the good goat death to heaven to dwell with Him, or a day of judgment,if all are rewarded at death.

If the doctrine is true it should be accepted, even if itsfruits appear to' us baneful; but prove to the world of man-kind that the doctrine of the Immortality of the soul is untrue,and that moment you utterly destroy Roman Catholicism,Mohammedanism, Universalism, Unitarianism, Mormonism,Shakerism, and modern Spiritualism, in all their phases, andexalt Christ tenfold. They could not survive one day longer,for this is their foundation; you would at the same timegreatly relieve the Protestant Church of much superstitionand great embarrassment, and enable. her to see that lifeeternal is found in Christ only, and immortality is a boon to

be bestowed upon the faithful followers of God at the resur-rection.The enemies of Christ and His Church seeing the presentembarrassed condition of Protestantism, are employing alltheir means to draw her from Christ by admitting her claimfor the immortality of the soul, and then offering her morelogical and reasonable conclusions arising therefrom; suchis modern spiritualism, which is rank infidelity; yet gainssuccour and strength from modern Protestant theologians,and is now rapidly re-shaping the theology, the literature,and the poetry of the Protestant Church.

This embarrassment and neutralizing effect is clearlymanifested in the fact that very many ofher members, findingno way to reconcile the conclusions to which most ofher commentators have arrived with the premise ofher theology-the assumed immortality and undying natureof the soul-have rejected those conclusions, and havearrived at other conclusions more in harmony with theassumed premise to which they adhere. But to escape openinfidelity, and give their new theories some show of con-nection with the Bible, they have been subjected to the taskof learning and applying what is called" allegorical principlesof interpretation," by which Scripture is made to teach any-thing or nothing, which ever is desired.

But we are glad to record the fact that many studious,pious, able, and faithful ministers and members of theProtestant Churches, both in this country and in America,have allowed themselves to think on this subject, and haveprayerfully and earnestly entered upon the examination otthe Sacred Oracles, and have come to the conclusion thatthey do not teach nor imply that man has immortality apartfrom an obedient faith ill the Lord Jesus Christ.

HEAR SOME OF THEIR TESTIMONY.Archdeacon Blackburn says, " The more any mall is con-.

vinced of the immortality of the soul, from the principles ofAristotle or Descartes, the less he will concern himself about


2/8

58 THE BIBLE STANDARD.the gospel account of futurity. All those fine-spun notionsof the immortaluq of the so1l, and all the artificial deductionsfrom that principle, teaching nothing but the art of blowingscholastic bubbles, which will certainly go peaceably to theirrest, without the least detriment either to sound learning orto true religion."-BlaclcbuTn's WOTks, vol. 3, p. 121.

Archbishop Whately says, in his" Revelation of a FutureLife," "To the Christian, indeed, all this doubt would beinstantly removed, if he found that the immortalitq of thesoul, as a disembodied spirit, were revealed in the word ofGod. In fact, however, no such. doctrine is revealed to us:the Christian's hope, as founded on the promises containedin the gospel, is the resurrection of the body."

Richard Watson, although he believed in the eternal beingof all souls, says," The notion that the soul is naturalb]immortal is contradicted by Scripture, which makes ourimmortality a gift, dependent on the will of the Giver."Again, he calls the doctrine of the natural. immortaliuj of thesoul an absurditu c- Watson's Institutes, vol. 2, pp. 167, 250.

Timothy Dwight, D.D., LL.D., late President of YaleCollege, U.S., in his Sermons, says, "Among Christians Iknow of but one (S. Drew) who has regarded the Immmortalitqof the 801l as susceptible of Demonstration, Should we believe,with this ingenious writer, that the soul, metaphysicallyconsidered, is so formed as naturally to be immortal, wemust still acknowledge, because it cannot be denied, thatits existence may terminate at death, or at any supposableperiod. Whatever has been created, can certainly be anni-hilated by the power which created it. The continuance ofthe soul must, therefore, depend' absolutely on the will ofGod. But that will can never be known by creatures, unlessHe is pleased to disclose it. Without revelation, therefore,the immortality of the' soul must be entirely uncertain.

BISHOPTILLOTSON,n his Sermons, printed in 1774, admits" The immortality of the soul is rather supposed or takenfor granted, than expressly revealed in the Bible."

BISHOPSNewton, Tillotson, Warburton, Hurd, and Law-all eminent men in the English Church-rejected the doc-trine of" endless misery" as unwarranted by, and repugnantto, Holy Scripture.

In this catalogue a long roll might be printed; but wehave space only to mention the following additional names:John Foster, Henry Melville, B.D., Hon. Sir James Stephen,K.C.B., Alfred Addis, B.A., Drs. Henry More, T. Burnet,Samuel Clarke, William Whiston, James Brown, and F.Leicester. The eminence of these last-named men asscholars and authors, may be ascertained, with descriptivedefinitions, by reference to any standard biographicaldictionary.

The Bible is silent on the subject of an absolute andunconditional immortality for all men."-Rev. H.H. Dobney.

"Search the Bible from beginning to end, and you will

nowhere find sinners addressed as immortal beings."-Rev.Thomas Davis.

"The doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and thname, are alike unknown to the entire Bible."-Dr, Olsliausen

"We are candidates for immortality."-PToj. Peroicne." Christianity treats man not as immortal, but as a ca

didate for immortality. "-Dr. Parker,"If there be one blessing more than another which thScriptures agree ill ascribing to Christ as its author, anfor which the believer is taught that he is wholly indebteto redemption, it is immortality."-Hev. Dr. De DUTgh.

" For evil must be done away absolutely, as certainlyit is opposed to God, at whatever cost. If the sinner wnot cease from it, then must he share its doom. Succesfully mock God in his defiance he cannot, thus divinretribution results in the annihilation of the sinner."--Richard Rothe.

"Sinful man is not by nature immortal, but mortal.immortality is to be his, it must be 'as a gift, and ninherited. It must become his by virtue of some neprovision of grace which reinstates him in the place whiche lost,-this was the Gospel of Christ. "-Rev. H. Constable

"It was just when the coming of Christ begun to be losight of that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul camto replace that of the resurrection."-John Nelson DaTb!J.

" All who are not divinely changed ana united to Jesumust perish, and therefore there remains no alternative, buto embrace the doctrine of the utter destruction of one clasand the eternal salvation of the other, 01' reject revelatioaltogether."-P1'of. J. S. Tliompson .

C. L. Ives, Professor in Yale College, U.S., confesses: "had been blinded, as I believe we all are, by the idea thaimmortality must be a necessary attribute of every soul, anso the truth had therefore lain concealed. But with tisweeping away of that error, a clearer light is shed upon thHoly Word itself, which I can now understand as it wwritten, not as it is explained by the commentators. . . .That dogma (that the soul is immortal) if you will berecognize is the original lie of our sinful world. It wafirst uttered in Eden when Satan declared to our tempteparents" Ye shall not surely die," in the same words itrepeated by Universalists of our day; and it is repeatestill, though it be unwittingly, and in other words, by everorthodox religious teacher when he proclaims, 'Ye shall livfor ever in your sins.' "

Rev. Henry Constable says: It has been often assertethat the theory of Augustine was the theory always held ithe Christian Church. We wholly deny it, the doctrine othe Apostolic Church was, on this 'question, in perfect agreement with Scripture. We see this from these Epistles oApostolic Fathers which have been preserved to our timeFrom beginning to end of them there is not one word said o


3/8

THE BIBLE STANDARD. 5that immortality of the soul which is so prominent amongthe later Fathers. Immortality is asserted by them to bepeculiar to the redeemed.

At an early period, however, doctrine on this point beganto be corrupted, and the corruption grew with rapid growth.Of all the systems of philosophy in vogue at the time, themost sublime was that of Plato. Of a part of human nature,the soul, it took a very lofty and captivating view. Itabandoned the body willingly and forever to its dust, but itascribed to the soul a life which should have no end. Thereader of Scripture knows how earnestly and frequentlyPaul warned the Church against philosophy Manyof the fathers forgot this warning of the Apostle, _and it isamong these precisely that we find the origin of error in theChristian Church upon the great doctrine of future punish-ment All of them with Tertullian adopted in thesense of Plato, Plato' s senti ment "every soul is immortal."On this point Plato took rank, not among prophets andapostles, but above all prophets and apostles. A doctrinewhich neither Old Testament nor New taught directly oriudirectly, nay, which was contrars] to a great part of theteaching of both, these Fathers brought with them into theChurch No Scripture, no matter what itslanguage, could be interpreted by them in a sense incon-sistent with Plato's theory.

The more we study the subject of the soul's immortalitythe more are we convinced of its fallacy and its utter lack ofScriptural evidence, we see men (who hold the popularview) on every hand drifting away from the Scriptures andfrom Christ, and we feel sti~red up to raise our voicesagainst a doctrine which necessarily exalts man but eclipsesour dear Saviour as the only source from which we canobtain a future life, a future immortality.

UNQUENCHABLE FIRE.MAN as a descendant of Adam is uniformly spoken of in theBible as a mortal being, and as a sinner doomed to perish,for the wages of sin is death. (Rom. vi. 23.) On the otherhand immortality or deathlessness is always spoken of asbelonging to God, or to such as on certain specified con-ditions He has declared His purpose to confer it. It is byoverlooking this truth and assuming that the Bible teaches,that all men converted or unconverted are born into theworld immortal beings, that such statements as the followingare used to support the belief of the eternal existence of thewicked in misery! "He will burn up the chaff with un-quenchable fire." Matt. iii. 12. "If thy hand offend thee,cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, thanhaving two hands to go into Gehenna, into the fire thatnever shall be quenched." Mm'le ix. 43.

The words "fire that never shall be quenched" in Mark ix.43, are the same in the Greek as the unquenchable fire in

Meat. iii. 12, and should have been similiarly rendered.Probably the reason for introducing the terms "never shall bquenched," in translating Mark's narrative was to rendethem more expressive of the idea of eternal torment, whicthe translators believed to be the final doom of impenitensinners. Suppose however we use the rendering "unquenchable fire," instead of "the fire that never shall bquenched," it will still be thought by many expressivenough of the idea, that the unsaved shall be doomed tendure the most excruciating agonies throughout unendingduration. If it could be demonstrated from the usage of thlang-uage, that the casting of a person into "unquenchablefire" necessarily implies the everlasting existence of thaperson, or that the words "unquenchable fire," are in no otheinstance applied in Scripture to objects which we know dperish, then I confess we would be shut up to accept the doctrine ofimmortal misery, with all its weight of melancholy s~dness unless it were elsewhere positively denied. If however othe other hand we find the same language applied to objectwhich we know have ceased to exist, then, surely we arbound to maintain in the absence of direct testimony to theimmortality of impenitent men, that such language by nmeans expresses or implies the idea of unending being.

The phraseology which our Lord here employs was familiato His auditors. From their childhood, wemay presume theyhad frequented the synagogue on the Sabbath, where thScriptures of the prophets were read' in their hearing;and they must often have listened to these words othe Lord by the prophet Jeremiah, "If ye will nohearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath day, and noto bear a burden, even entering in at the gates oJerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindlefire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaceof Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched. Je T . xvii. 27No sane man will assert that these palaces and gates oJerusalem are indestructible, because the fire that destroyedthem is termed" unquenchable", so far from that being thcase, the figure is justly understood to represent theicomplete destruction. Jehovah kindled the flames and nonecould extinguish them, they would continue- to burn till theirpurpose was completely effected. Destruction, not preseroation,is the idea meant to be conveyed, and why not also the samidea when the doom of the wicked is represented by thesame language? Why affirm that they are indestructiblebecause Jesus said, they shall be "burnt up like chaff inunquenchable fire"? The meaning of the words "unquench-able fire" may be further illustrated by the use whichEusebius the ecclesiastical historian, makes of them inrecording the death of those who suffered at the stake, fotheir adherence to the Christ. In his History, Book vich. 41., he gives an account of those who suffered aAlexandria, "the first of these was J ulian, a man 'afflicte


4/8

60 THE BIBLE STANDARD.

with the gout and neither able to walk nor stand, who withtwo others that came with him, were arraigned. Of thesethe one immediately denied, but the other named Chronium,suruamed Eunius and the aged Julian himself, having con-fessed the Lord were carried on camels throughout the city-a very large one as you know-and in this elevation werescourged, and finally consumed in an immense fire," (puria3besto,) the same term rendered "unquenchable fire" Matt,iii, 12 After these Epimuchius and Alexander, who con-tinued for '" long time in prison from the scourges andscrapers were also destroyed in an immense fire (puri asbest os,These faithful witnesses by being cast into "unquenchablefire" were reduced to ashes, not tormented for ever and ever,and when Jesus uses the same terms to describe the fate ofthe incorrigible sinner, how can these terms be fairly un-derstood to mean anything else? The language of Jesus nomore expresses the industructibility of sinners than doesthat of Eusebius express the deathlessness of those who furthe truth's sake were consumed at the stake. "Unquenchablefire" then, means fire that irresistibly destroys that which iscommitted to its action, Had the Saviour's words beenproperly attended to, they would never have been used as anargument for the doctrine we are combating. Would anyonewho had not previously believed such a doctrine, evenimagine that when Jesus alluding to the end of the wicked,said "He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire,"He taught His hearers that the wicked were unconsumable'iCertainly not. It is the wicked who are like the chaff, andthough the fire might never be quenched, in the most absoluteliteral sense the chaff' would be cOl?-sumed.-J esus positivelyasserts that it shall. The chaff He will bum up. What em-blemmore expressive of the complete destruction of the wicked?Dream not then, 0 impenitent sinner! that thou art an immor-tal. Unless thou yieldthee tothe loveofGod,andheartily believethe gospel of His Son, the Messiah, who loved thee and gaveHimselffor thee, perish thou must like chaff before quenchlessflame. Ponder, I beseech thee, the love warning of Jesus."God so loved the world, that He gave His only begottenSon, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, buthave everlasting life."

Not less expressive of entire destruction is the Saviour'slanguage recorded by Mark, which has been already quoted."It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than havingtwo hands to be cast into Hell, into the fire that never shallbe quenched, where the worm dieth not and the fire is notquenched." The word here translated "hell" is in the Greek"Gehenna" or valley of Hinnom, a small valley at the south-east of Jerusalem. In this valley the idolatrous Israelitescaused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch.After the captivity the place became an object of the greatestabhorrence on account of these abominations, and followingthe example of Josiah, 2 Kings xxiii. 10, they made it a

receptacle for the filth of the city, the carcasses of animalsand 'malefactors, and to prevent the deterious effects of the con-sequent putrefaction great fires were constantly kept burning;hence the valley was called" Hennom's valley of fire, orGehenna of fire." It was thus a noisesome and hidious spot.Its lurid fires constantly burning and the loathsome wormsfeeding on the corpses, was indeed a fit and expressivepicture of the most abhorrent and complete destruction.This view of the subject is confirmed by the closing sentencesof Isaiah's prophecy. Speaking of the future glory of thenation of Israel, and its capital Jerusalem, and the terribleoverthrow of the opposing Gentiles, the prophet says, "Beholdthe Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like awhirlwind to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke withflames of fire; for by fire and by His sword will the Lordplead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall bemany." chap. lxvi. 15.-16. "And it shall come to passfrom one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath toanother, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith theLord. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcassesof the men that have transgressed against Me: for theirworm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched;and they.shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. v. 23 -24.

Doubtless the scene here depicted is one of real carnage,yet the language, "their worm shall not die, neither shalltheir fire be quenched," is applied to the carcasses of deadmen. Here we have a key to the language in Mark, whichindeed is but a quotation from Isaiah, that wouldjbe familiarto the disciples of Jesus. So thinks Albert Barnes, though abeliever in the immortality of the wicked. In his notes onMark ix. 44-46, he writes: " This figure is clearly takenfrom Isaiah lxvi. 24. In describing the great prosperity othe kingdom of the Messiah, Isaiah says, that the people oGod shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the menwho have transgressed against God. Their enemies shalbe overcome. They shall be slain. The people of God shaltriumph. The figure is taken from the heaps of the deadslain in battle, and the prophet says that the number of themshall be so great that their worm-the worm feeding on thedead-shall not die, shall live as long as there are carcassesto be devoured; and that the fire which was used to burnthe bodies of the dead, shall continue long to burn, and shalnot be extinguished till they are consumed." "The wor" their" in the phrase "their worm," is used merely to keeup the image or figure. Dead bodies putrifying in thvalley would be overrun with worms, while the fire woulnot be confined to them but spread to other objects, kindledby combustibles through all the valley."

It is rather remarkable that this writer after such a correcexposition of the language, should affirm that the picturerepresents, dreadful and eternal sufferinqs. Putrid decayingcarcasses, the image of dreadful and eternal suffering! Th,


5/8

THE BIBLE STANDARD. 61rm luxuriating on a painless corpse, an image of the most

ainful anguish! The consumption of dead bodies in theevouring flame a symbol of deathless spirits, tormented byre which pains but cannot kill them! Oh, the blindingffects of heathen philosophy on the minds of those whoubmit to its teaching!The words of God in defiance of all the laws of rhetoricnd common sense, must be made to sustain the baselesseories of human imagination, and thus poor mortals con-emned to everlasting destruction inflate themselves withe vain conceit of their immortality, echoing with true filial

estness and joy, the words of the old serpent, the Devil" Ye shall not surely die." - W. Laing.

WHATACCORDING TO

IS MAN?THE SCRIPTURES.

PltELIMINARY.AN-LIKE, would ask for the Scriptures to be taken inand, and the propositions I place before the searcher, to be

ted by them. I would ask for swiftness of hearing, slow-ess to condemn, until I have ended what I have to state.

g I am to give what knowledge I may have for theenefit of others: equally as willing to benefit by the know-edge of others. The plainer the path in which we may bed of God, the better enabled we shall be to combat theemies of the truth. Consider what I say, and the Lord

ive us understanding in all things. His wisdom and know-dge must be the stability of our position, and the light ofur hearts.

PROPOSITIONS.I.AN IS DUST: BUT, THE BODYIS DUST: THEREFORE,THE

BODYIS MAN.PROOFS.

Gen. ii. 7. "And the Lord God formed man of the dustf the ground."Gen. iii. 19. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eatead, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wastou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou

eturn."Gen. xviii. 27. "And Abraham answered and said,ehold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord,

hich am but dust and ashes."Job x. 9-12. "Remember, I beseech Thee, that Thoust made me as the clay; and wilt Thou bring me intost again? Hast Thou not poured me out as milk, and

ed me like cheese? Thou hast clothed me with skinnd flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews. Thouast granted me life and favour, and Thy visitation hatheserved my spirit."Job xvii. 16. " They shall go down to the bars of the pit,

when our rest together is in the dust."

Job xxxiv. 14-15. Elihu said, "If He set His heart uponman, if He gather unto Himself his spirit and his breath;All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn againunto dust."

Eccles. iii. 20. "All go unto one place; all are of thedust, and all turn to dust again."

Eccles. xii, 6-7. "Or ever the silver "cord be loosed, 01'the golden bowl be broken, 01' the pitcher be broken at thefountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall thedust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shallreturn unto God Who gave it." (t.e. the breath or life.)

Ps. civ. 29-30. "Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled :Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to theirdust. Thou sendest forth Thy spirit, they are created; andThou renewest the face of the earth."

Pe. cxlvi. 3-4. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in theson of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth,he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughtsperish."

Ps. ciii. 14-16. "For He knowsth our frame; Heremembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are asgrass : as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For thewind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereofshall know it no more."

1 Cor. xv. 47. "The first man is of the earth, earthy."n.

THE BODYHASNOLIFE OFITSELF; NOR,IN ITSELF.PROOFS.

James ii. 26. "For as the body without the spirit [margin-breath] is dead, so faith without works is dead also."Hom, vii. 24. "0 wretched man that I am! who shalldeliver me from the body of this death? [margin-from thisbody of death] .

Ill.To THEBODYIS ATTACHEDERSONALITY;WHEREVERWESEE

THE BODYWE SEEMAN: WHEREVERWE SEE MANWE SEETHE BODY.

PROOFS.John xi. 34. "And [Jesus] said, Where have ye laid

him? They said unto Him, Lord, come and see."Ibid. 43-44. Jesus" cried with a loud voice, Lazarus,

come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound handand foot with graveclothes : and his face was bound aboutwith a napkin."

Luke xxiv. 3-6. "And they entered in, and found notthe body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as theywere much perplexed thereabout, beJ:v>ld,two men stood bythem in shining garments: And as they were afraid, andbowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them,Why seek ye the living [margin-Him that liveth] amongthe dead? He is not here, but is risen."

John xx. 2. " Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon


6/8

62 THE BIBLE STANDARD.Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saithunto them, They have taken away the Lord out of thesepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him."

Acts v. 9-10. "Behold, the feet of them which haveburied thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded upthe ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead,and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband."

IV.THE BODY IS NOT DEATHLESS. OR, MAN IS MORTAL.

PROOFS.Job iv. 17. "Shall mortal man be more just than God?"Rom. vi. 12. " Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal

body."Rom. viii. 11. "Shall also quicken your mortal bodies."1 Cor. xv. 53. "This mortal must put on immortality."2 Cor. iv. 11. "That the life also of Jesus might bemade

manifest in our mortal flesh."V .

THE BODY IS A UNITY. ITS MEMBERS OR PARTS MAKE ONEBODY. A DEFECT IN ANY OF THE MEMBERS IMPAIRS THEEFFECTIVENESS OF THE BODY.

PROOFS.Rom. xii. 4. "For as we have many members in one

body, and all members have not the same office."1 Cor. xii. 12-27. (12.)" For as the body is one, and

hathmany members, and all the members of that one body,being many, are one body: so also is Christ." (14.)" Forthe body is not one member, but many." (19.)" And, ifthey were all one member, where were the body." (26.) "Andwhether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it;or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice withit. "

VI.THE BODY BEING THE MAN: IT IS THE REDEMPTION OF THE

BODY THAT HAS TO BE EXPECTED.PROOFS.

Ram, viii. 23. "Even we ourselves groan within our-selves, waiting for the adoption, . . the redemption of ourbody."

1 Cor. xv. 44. "It is sown a natural body; it is raised aspiritual body."

Eph, v. 23. "As Christ is the Head of the Church: andHe is the Saviour of the body."

Phil. iii. 20-21. "From whence also we look for theSaviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vilebody, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body,according to the working whereby He is able even to subdueall things unto Himself."

VII.'To THE BODY OF THE CHRIST WAS ATTACHED THE KNOWLEDGE

OF HIS PERSONALITY AFTER HIS RESURRECTION.

PROOFS.Luke xxiv. 38-40. "And He [Jesus] said unto them'

Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in yourhearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I myself:handle Me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, asye see Me have. And when He had thus spoken, He shewedthem His hands and His feet."See also John xx. 27.

Acts i. 3. "To whom also He shewed Himself aliveafter His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen othem forty days."

Acts x. 40-41. "Him God raised up the third day, andshowed Him openly; Not to all the people, but unto wit-nesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat anddrink with Him after He rose from the dead."

1 John i. 1. That which was from the beginning, whichwe have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which wehave looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Wordof life."

VIII.MAN HAD BREATHED INTO HIS NOSTRILS THE BREATH OF LIFE,

OR LIVES; AND so BECAME A LIVING SOUL, OR CREA'l'URE.THE BODY BEING MAN; THE BREATH OF LIVES MADE 'l'HE BODY

OR MAN, A LIVING SOUL.PROOFS.

Gen. ii. 7. "And the Lord God formed man of. the dustof the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath oflife [original-lives]; and man became a living soul."

Job xxvii. 3. Job said, "All the while my breath is inme, and the spirit [margin-that is the breath which Godgave him] of God is in my nostrils."

JQb xxxiii. 4. Elihu said, " The Spirit of God hath mademe, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life."Isa. xlii. 5. "Thus saith God the Lord, ... He that

giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to themthat walk therein."Isa. ii. 23. Cease ye from man, whose breath IS in his

nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of? "1 COl'. xv. 45. " The first man Adam was made a living

soul."-H. Briuain, Birminqham,WESTMINSTER CONFESSION.

THERev. Davic1Marcus, of the United Presbyterian Churchof Scotlanc1, thus speaks of the Westminster Confession:"The confession misrepresents the character of God, and afalse view of the position and destiny of man naturallyfollows. The Westminster dogma of everlasting torments initself is a subversion of God's character, as revealed in Christ.Carried to its issue, it robs God of His goodness, His mercy,a~ His justice. It robs Him even of His sovereignty, givingsin a power of maintaining itself against Him for ever, and sofar leaving the devil to all eternity master of the situation."


7/8


8/8

64 THE BIBLE STANDARD.it in words of the same import,-as " Thy soul is immortal,thou canst not wholly die." Which shall we believe? Manin his natural state is a dying mortal.

We will now bring before you the doctrine of Immortalityaccording to Scripture.In Paul's letter to his son Timothy, we read thus:1. Now unto the King eternal, Immortal, invisible, the

only wise God, be honour and glory forever and ever.1 Tim. i. 17.2. "That thou keep this commandment without spot,unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,which in His times He shall show who is the blessed andonly Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, WHOONLYHA-THMMORTALITY,welling in the light which no mancan approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see;to whom be honor and power everlasting." 1 Tim. vi. 14-16.3. But is now made manifest -by the appearing of ourSaviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished (conquered)death, and hath brought life and IMMORTALITYo lightthrough the Gospel. 2 Tim. i. 10.4. "Who will render to every man according to hisdeeds; to them who by patient continuance in well doingseek for glory and honor and IMMORTALITY,ternal life."

Rom. ii. 6-7.5. "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not 3 , 1 1sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twink-ling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shallsound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and weshall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incor-ruption, and this mortal must put on IMMORTALITY.Sowhen this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, andthis mortal shall have put on IMMORTALITY,hen shall bebrought to pass the saying that is written, Death isswallowed up in victory." 1 Cor. xv. 51-54.The above is the entire testimony of the Bible on thisimportant subject, excepting the terms corruption, corrupt-

ible, incorruption, incorruptible, which are several timesused in the same relation as mortal and immortal; alwaysapplying corruptibility to man and other perishable creaturesand things in this world, while incorruptibility is alwaysapplied to God and things in the heavenly state, and tothe resurrected and changed SAINTSn the world to come.

THE SILVER OUP DESTROYED AND RESTORED.IN Dr. Brown's work on the Resurrection there is a beautifulparable from Hally.

The story is of a servant, who, receiving a silver cup fromhis master, suffers it to fall into a vessel of aquafortis, andseeing it disappear, contends in argument with a fellow-servant that its recovery is impossible, till the master comeson the scene, and infuses salt water, which precipitates thesilver from the solution, and then, by melting and hammeringthe metal, he restores it to its original shape.

With this apologue, a sceptic-one of whose great stum-bling-blocks was the resurrection-was so struck that heultimately renounced his opposition to the gospel, and becamea partaker of the Ohristian hope of immortality. Thisconverted sceptic died, trusting in his Saviour, only sixmonths after Dr. Brown was interred in the same burying-ground; and, by a coincidence altogether undesigned, he waslaid near Dr. Brown's grave-near his feet.

PUBLICATIONSBy H. CONSTABLE, M.A.,

(Late Prebendary oj Cork, Ireland).DURATION AND NA'{'URE OF FUTURE PUNISH-

MENT. 5th Edition, 340 pp. An elaborate argument touchingthe Punishment of the Unsaved. It is particularly fine in itsphilological chapters respecting the meaning of the Greek wordsused by the iuspired writers to indicate the doom of the lostPrice 3s. 6d.

HADES: or, The Intermediate State of Man. Orowu8vo. Price 3s. 6d. This work presents the Bible doctrine of ,thestate of man between death and the resurrection.

RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS-The all things spokenof by the mouths of the Holy Prophets who have been since theworld began. Price 8d.

By J. H. WHITMORE.THE DOOTRINE OF IMMORTALITY-Jewish andEarly Christian Beliefs; Arguments from Reason and Scripture;Adamie Penalty; Traduction v. Creationism; Life and Death;Intermediate State; Christian Redemption. PriceBs. 6d.

By GEORGE A. BROWN.FORGOTTEN THEMES: or, Facts for Faith. A generalsynoptical view of the subject of Life only in the Christ, and oothers pertaining. Price 1s.

By MILES GRANT.NATURE OF MAN: Is he Mortal or Immortal? Notesand Queries. Thoughts on the Soul, &c. Every principal objectionanswered. Price 1s.

GREEK AND ENGLISH LEXIOON AND OONCORD-ANCE TO THE NEW TESTAMENT, by E. W. BULLINGER,M.Aconsisting of over a thousand royal 8vo. pages. In this work, theBible student will have in his hand the learning of the Greekscholar, with the result of patient research. His studies will bmaterially assisted, many mistakes will be corrected, and manywords and passages elucidated.-Price 1 5s., cloth.

THE EASTERN QUESTION: In the Light of Scripture.Being a short examination of the Prophecies eoncerningjthe time othe end; with a Word of Warning to the Church and the World;to which is also appended, a copy of the Will of Peter the Great.Price Sixpence.

GLASGOW:of the Author, Mr. DICKSON,46, Jamaica Street.To be had of "The Bible Standard" Publication Society,

2-1, Mint-lane, Lincoln,Subscriptions for the" Bible Standard," with all communications relating to the Paper, to be addressed to the EditorNo. 2, South Park Villas, Lincoln. Subscriptions for singlCopy,1/-per annum, or1/6 post-paid; three Copiespost-frefor 3/- Special arrangements made for quantities for frecirculation.

Mint Lane Chapel, Lincoln.Services and Meetings during the Month as follows:Sunday: Morning at 10-30, Evening at 6.Monday: Prayer Meeting at 7.Wednesday: Preaching at 7.

On account of Ohapel cleaning, we shall hold our Serviceson Sundays, May 12th and 19th, at the Masonic Hall. ThChapel will be re-opened on Sunday, May 26.th.SUBJECTSor Evenings at the Masonic Hall:

May 12.-"Bible Truths, on the future destiny of the wicked."19.-" Signs of the Times, indicating the speedy comingof Christ."

Printed by CHARLES AKRILL, Silver Street, Lincoln; and published by "THE BIBLE STANDARD PUBLICATIONSOCIETY," at their Office, No. 24, Mint Lane, Lincoln.

Bible Standard May 1878

Documents

Transcript of Bible Standard May 1878