Closely examine your actions, your life, your nature, and prove your spiritual condition by the Word of G.o.d. Thousands to-day are deceived and on the broad way to eternal night and woe because they never stop to reason and to carefully examine their lives and spiritual condition in what light and knowledge they have of the Scriptures. How many will read, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world; if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him," and pa.s.s on with a heart filled with the love of the world, consoling themselves that they are on their way to heaven. If they were but serious enough to examine their hearts they would feel the condemnation of G.o.d's Spirit as they read such texts, but ofttimes when they are brought to any consideration they will search for evidence to neutralize their guilt. They will again read, "Man shall give an account of every idle word," and go on talking foolishly and jesting, seeking to believe they are G.o.d's own children. And thus goes the world.

If you value your soul and hope of heaven, see to it that your life is in strict accordance with every requirement of the Scriptures. People are having idle talk, impure thoughts, evil surmising, feelings of pride, envy and hatred. They are speaking evil of their neighbors, laying up their treasures upon earth, loving the world and self, rendering evil for evil, backbiting, reveling, and professing to be traveling the narrow way that leads to eternal rest the same as if there was no Bible. Such have no examination of their lives, and should they have they use some satanic sophistry to gloss their sin. "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge?" It is he that shows out of a G.o.dly life that he is a Christian. It is he that carefully examines every act and thought and word and by Heaven's grace tolerates nothing in his life in opposition to the Word of G.o.d. Careful examination is an important factor in our spiritual prosperity. By carefully watching our life we can detect its defects and then by earnest prayer these defects can be removed and we grow up into the image of G.o.d. If you hold but little or no examination of your conduct there may be many imperfections in your ways of life displeasing to G.o.d, and yet unknown to you. You will find it beneficial to frequently seclude yourself from the busy whirl of life, and enter into profound meditation and careful examination.

We will suggest a few general questions, which may help you in your retrospection. Have my meditations been pure and acceptable to G.o.d through this day? Have I not spoken one idle word? Am I as thankful to G.o.d for blessings as I should be? Has there been any feeling of pride in my heart?

Has there been any feeling of impatience within me? Have I felt and manifested any selfishness? Have I had a due regard for the welfare and happiness of others? Have my devotions been spiritual and full of reverence? Do I love G.o.d? Am I dead to sin? Do I love secret prayer and the reading of the Bible? Do I feel as deeply as I should the sins of this lost world? Have I spent my money for self and withheld from G.o.d? All told, what have I done for Jesus? These and many other questions the Christian may ask himself to see if he is in the faith.

Backslidings.

In the chapter of "Spiritual Culture" we have included the subject of Backsliding, not that backsliding is in any sense advantageous to spiritual development, but it is our certain destiny if we do not a.s.siduously employ the means necessary to our growth in grace. By _backsliding_ is meant the gradual turning back or away from G.o.d; to apostatize. The Savior gives us warning to "watch and pray," that we "enter not into temptation." The tempter will lay in your pathway all things possible to induce you to turn away from G.o.d. He will suggest that it is not necessary to pray so much, and we do not have to keep such a strict vigil over our lives and govern and rule the whole by the Word of G.o.d. He may tell you that now since you are saved you are safe. G.o.d is able to keep you, and you have nothing now to do but to silently fold your arms and sail to heaven on "flowery beds of ease." There never was a soul created of G.o.d or recreated by his Spirit, not excepting the Savior himself, since the day Adam was made of the dust, to this present time, but what Satan has endeavored, by lies and machinations to turn him away from G.o.d. Thousands of millions have gone down the rapids of negligence and carelessness, and been lost in the whirlpool of a cold, formal religion.

Some teach that the soul once born of G.o.d can never apostatize. "Once in grace always in grace," is the manner in which they state it. We are fully persuaded that the individual who teaches such a doctrine is wholly ignorant of grace and devoid of G.o.d's enlightening Spirit. What would be the need of Christians being warned to "watch and pray, lest they enter into temptation," if there be no possibility of being overcome by it? If there is never a return to sin after regeneration, why does John say to his little children, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous"? 1 John 2:1.

The reader will not understand us to favor the teaching that Christians must of necessity occasionally commit sin and that none live a sinless life. It is impossible for man to be committing sin and at the same time be a Christian. A sinning Christian is a phenomenon never known in the kingdom of grace. The Scriptures plainly teach that when once we enter a state of grace, we should always, by living a pure, holy life, continue in the same. But the teaching that when we once enter a state of grace we always remain in that state, no matter what we do, is certainly very foreign to the Holy Scriptures and soul deluding. G.o.d spoke by the mouth of an Old Testament prophet nearly six hundred years before the coming of "grace and truth" by the Savior, saying, "When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered." Ezek. 3:20. What need be, and what can be, plainer than this text? Here iniquity and sin are used interchangeably and are perfectly synonymous. If a righteous man (one in possession of grace) commits sin his righteousness is no longer remembered. This is as much as to say he is no longer in grace, but is fallen. In the next verse this holy seer receives words from the mouth of the Almighty and gives the righteous man warning that he sin not. If he does not sin he shall live.

It is sin that brings death to the soul. Ezek. 18:4. It is sin that separates us from G.o.d. Isa. 59:2. It is sin that causes our names to be blotted out of the book of life. Ex. 32:33. It is sin that withholds good things from us. Jer. 5:25. It is sin that destroys grace. Rom. 6:1, 2.

What is sin? Sin is the transgression of G.o.d's law. 1 John 3:4. Who in all the earth has become so boldly defiant that he can in the face of clear and plain Scriptural statements testify that he is in a state of grace when he is living in known violation of some of G.o.d's commandments? His boldness will forsake him and he wither like the frail flower beneath the h.o.a.ry frost when he comes into the awful majestic presence of a righteous Creator in that great avenging day.

One of the inspired writers of the New Testament exhorts Christians to give all diligence that we add virtue to our faith, and knowledge to our virtue, and temperance to our knowledge, and to temperance patience, and to patience G.o.dliness, and to G.o.dliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. 2 Pet. 1:5-7. In the following verses he tells us if these things abound in us we shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord, and if we do these things we shall never fall. Does not this obviously imply that if we do not do them that we shall fall? Dear reader, if you are now a Christian and feel the glowing of G.o.d's pure love in your heart, if you neglect to employ the means for growth in grace that the Bible commands, that certainly you will backslide, or fall from grace. You may retain a form of worship, but you will be devoid of spirituality and your worship be unacceptable. We are commanded to "grow in grace." 2 Pet. 3:18. In the verse above we are warned against being led away by the error of the wicked and falling from our own steadfastness.

Now it is a well established fact in the very nature of things that it would be impossible to grow if there was no possibility of a decline. If there be no retrogression, there can be no progression. The beloved John from the lonely isle writes unto the church of Ephesus and tells them that G.o.d had somewhat against them because they had left their first love. He tells them to remember from whence they are fallen and repent. They once enjoyed the love of G.o.d-they were spiritual. His redeeming grace had removed the guilt of sin, but now they are fallen. He that hath an ear, let him hear.

How often the apostle Paul warns the Christian against backsliding. His motto was, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of G.o.d in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:14. In writing to the Colossians he says, "Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas," greet you. A greeting was sent from Demas by Paul to the Colossians in the year 64, A.D. In writing his letter to Philemon, A.D. 64, Paul says, "There salute thee Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus; Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborers." Ver. 23, 24. Demas was one of Paul's coworkers, and undoubtedly enjoyed the experience of salvation by grace. In writing to Timothy two years later Paul says, "For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world." 2 Tim. 4:10.

As on the other subjects of this volume many more texts and strong points of reasoning could be given to fixedly establish the New Testament teaching of the possibilities of spiritual degeneration and death, but we conclude that we have made all plain to the understanding of every candid mind. It has not been our purpose to exhaust any subject. It has not been our expectation to convince many gainsayers, but to bring light to the hearts which the Lord has prepared.

One text of Scripture used by propagators of the doctrine, "We can never fall from grace," is found in 1 John 3:9, and reads thus: "Whosoever is born of G.o.d doth not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him: and he can not sin, because he is born of G.o.d." We believe it is safe to always give the Scriptures the plainest, simplest meaning when it does not conflict with the Word of G.o.d elsewhere. We should never mystify a text, but accept it as it reads. In 1 John 2:1, the author of this epistle says, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

Certainly every reader understands John to here teach that it is possible for man to sin, or in other words, no man in this life pa.s.ses beyond the possibilities of sin. Now to understand him to say in the ninth verse of the third chapter that when we are once born of G.o.d we can not possibly sin, makes him to teach contradictory doctrines. Such we know he does not do, and since 1 John 2:1 is too plain to be misunderstood, we must look about to harmonize with it, in the most simple way, 1 John 3:9. We will quote Rotherham on this text: "No one that hath been begotten of G.o.d doeth sin, because his seed in him abideth, and he can not be sinning, because of G.o.d has he been begotten." To be begotten of G.o.d is to be pardoned or saved from sin.

The seed (the Christ-life) abides in the soul in the regenerated state.

The seeds of life are supplanted by the seeds of death when we commit sin.

No one is born of G.o.d when spiritual life has been destroyed by sin. No man can be "sinning" and be a child of G.o.d. One who has been saved may be overcome and commit sin, but when he does so he is not G.o.d's child. This text does not teach the impossibility of committing sin after we are born of G.o.d, but only the impossibility of committing sin and being a Christian.

Chapter XII. The Course Of The World.

Unmistakably there exists a wide gulf of separation between the children of G.o.d and the children of the world. Christ is the only avenue of escape from the world. The wide, open door of salvation is the exit. He who would return from the blissful sh.o.r.es of Christianity to the beggarly elements of the world can do so only on the transporting barges of Satan. As a tree is known by its fruits, so is a true follower of Christ. The fruit borne by a Christian is directly opposite in its nature to the fruit borne by the worldling. It is not the profession merely that produces the separation, but it is the manner of life. The Son of G.o.d is the great exemplar of Christianity. Just what true Christian principles did in him will in the very nature of things do for all who possess like principles.

We are forced to the conclusion that the professed follower of Christ is dest.i.tute of Christian principles when he delights himself in worldliness.

Jesus said of himself, "I am not of this world." John 8:23. He says of his followers, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." John 15:19.

Paul bears testimony to his separation from the world by the grace of G.o.d.

In Eph. 2:2, 3 he speaks of the time when he lived among those who were worldly. He says, "Wherein [in sin] in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the l.u.s.ts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind: and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." In the next two verses he testifies to the effects of saving grace: "But G.o.d, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ; by grace ye are saved." It must be made obvious to all by these texts that salvation from sin by grace saves from walking according to the course of the world.

Again the apostle gives testimony: "But G.o.d forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Gal. 6:14. How true! When man accepts Christ he is by him separated from the world. Jesus was not of the world.

He was the light of the world. The world was in darkness. Light is the opposite of darkness. Had he been of the world and like the world he would not have been a light. Christians are said to be "the light of the world,"

and are to shine as lights in the world. They are lights in the world because of the righteous principles they possess and manifest. They are like Jesus and in as direct contrast to the world as he. The Savior says, "I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world."

John 17:14-16.

It is impossible for the heart's affections to be centered upon opposing natures. For instance, it is impossible for man to admire honesty and dishonesty; to love temperance and intemperance; to enjoy peace and strife. It is equally impossible for man to both love and possess sin and righteousness. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye can not serve G.o.d and mammon." Mat. 6:24. It is impossible to love G.o.d and the world: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the l.u.s.t of the flesh, and the l.u.s.t of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world pa.s.seth away, and the l.u.s.t thereof: but he that doeth the will of G.o.d abideth forever." 1 John 2:15-17. "For do I now persuade men, or G.o.d? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." Gal. 1:10. "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with G.o.d? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of G.o.d." Jas. 4:4.

These are plain declarative texts. It is not meant by them that Christians do not love sinners and can not be friends to them. Christ loved and died for sinners. He visited them in their homes while here on earth, but never did he approve of their sinful ways. He never partic.i.p.ated with them in anything that was worldly. He was not influenced by the world into any spirit of worldly merriment. He loved the souls of men, but he did not love the world. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Heb. 7:26. Christians, like Christ, love mankind, and are friendly and treat with respect and kindness the sinner, but never partic.i.p.ate with him, nor become influenced in sinful, worldly ways. The affections of the Christian are set on things above. Col. 3:1.

Persecutions.

In the early ministry of the Savior there is an intimation that the righteous shall be persecuted. It is found in these words: "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." Mat. 5:10, 11. From whence may the righteous expect these persecutions? We learned in the preceding subject that Christians were not of the world. We learn also by the Scriptures that they are hated by the world. Jesus was hated by the world because of the light of Christian virtue and righteousness that shone through him. Those that glorify G.o.d by reflecting the righteousness of Christ to the world will be regarded with the same feeling. "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you." John 15:18. In every age of the world, from the days of Cain and Abel to the present, true Christians have been hated and persecuted by the wicked, and especially by false worshipers.

We will farther quote the language of the Savior: "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Remember the word I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me." John 15:19-21. When pretended worshipers of G.o.d are free from persecutions for Christ's sake it is because they are worshipers in form only, but in spirit they are worldly. In truth these people are usually foremost in persecuting the true children of G.o.d. Jesus was persecuted and hated by the very pretentious Pharisees and Sadducees. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." John 1:11. Those who professed to be children of Abraham sought to take the Savior's life. John 8:39, 40.

Because Jesus by a pure, holy life rebuked sin, because he in burning words of Heaven's glorious truth exposed the hypocrisy of the proud Jews, because he told them of their sins, they gnashed upon him with their teeth; they told him he had a devil; they spit upon him; they smote him; they mocked him; they placed a crown of thorns upon his brow, and were the instigators of his death.

Jesus says to his own beloved followers: "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." John 15:20. "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?"

Mat. 10:25. "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." Luke 21:17. Those who live like Jesus, those who will boldly declare the truth of the gospel, and rebuke sin and hypocrisy, they shall receive persecutions from wicked men, and cold, proud-hearted professors, as did the Savior. "Yea, and all that will live G.o.dly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Tim. 3:12.

Christians must suffer the taunts of a sinful world, but they "rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of G.o.d resteth upon you." 1 Pet. 4:13, 14. "Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets." Luke 6:22, 23.

One evening, shortly after G.o.d by his saving grace had separated us from the world and bestowed his righteousness upon us, we for Christ's sake received insults and abuse from the wicked. We turned away from our persecutors and entered the privacy of our home, when a rich glory rested in such a heavenly sweetness upon our souls that we cried out, "O G.o.d, why am I so wonderfully blessed?" The answer came: "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of G.o.d resteth upon you." "Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy." The grace and glory that was poured out upon our soul on this occasion would have made the coals and flames of martyrdom a bed of sweet repose.

Stephen as he faced death at the hands of cruel persecutors, saw the glory of G.o.d and the heavens opened and saw the Son of man for whose sake he was now stoned. Paul and Silas with their feet made fast in the stocks at midnight prayed and sang praises to G.o.d. Is it not an occasion of wonder and astonishment how the bigoted zeal of deceived and blinded, high-minded professors leads them to become the most vile persecutors of the righteous? Paul persecuted the church of G.o.d and wasted it. He thought he was doing G.o.d's service. The children of G.o.d in every age have received their persecutions from religious bigots, and so will it ever be. We rejoice to be counted worthy to suffer for Jesus' sake. We glory in the midst of tribulations. The Spirit of G.o.d and of glory rests upon the devoted Christian in affliction's furnace, and a bright, blessed hope of great eternal reward ever cheers and nerves his faltering soul. He, who, in this dark world will suffer with the Savior shall share a blissful eternity with him.

Amus.e.m.e.nts.

The affections of a Christian's heart are set on things above, and not on things on the earth. Col. 3:2. The entertainments, such as suppers, festivals, parties, concerts, regardless of what may be the ultimate object, are engaged in and enjoyed only by the worldly minded and graceless hearted. "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth."

1 Tim. 5:6. Those who find enjoyment in the amus.e.m.e.nts afforded by the world are without spiritual life. "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.... Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton." Jas. 5:1, 5. A life of pleasure here on the earth in wantonness is directly opposed to a life with Christ. "No man can serve two masters." People who partic.i.p.ate in and enjoy the socials, the suppers, the fairs, and picnics, the Christmas festivities and church entertainments of the present time have but little or no comprehension of true Christianity. They are ignorant of G.o.d's true character and the power and beauty of his holiness. Children of G.o.d are to live "soberly, righteously, and G.o.dly in this present world." t.i.tus 2:12.

Revelry is one of the fruits of the flesh, which if borne in our life, or, in other words, if we engage in, Paul tells us we shall never inherit the kingdom of G.o.d. Gal. 5:21. Peter tells us that the time of his life when he walked in sin, when he indulged in the l.u.s.ts of the flesh was sufficient to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, to walk in l.u.s.ts and engage in revelings and banquetings. Salvation saved him from such a life, and his former worldly a.s.sociates think it strange that he will not engage with them in the worldly riotousness and pleasures any longer, and because he is saved from such a course they speak evil of him. This is the substance of 1 Pet. 4:1-4. The gay scenes of a worldly life with their pleasures and mirth have no delight for the heart filled with Christian love. He who loves G.o.d has no love for worldly sports. The pleasurable society of Jesus destroys all taste for the society of the world. The Christian's walk is alone with G.o.d.

Conversation.

An individual saved by grace will experience a marked change in his language. The apostle says that in the time of his life when he walked according to the world he had his conversation in the l.u.s.ts of the flesh.

Eph. 2:2, 3. It is true the word "conversation" in this text, and many others, is by many translators rendered "conduct," which is a more correct translation. But this is made to include the words of speech. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Mat. 12:34. Where worldliness and foolishness is lodged in the heart it will be manifest in the conversation. Gay, frivolous, foolish talk, mirthful stories, and language in jest, indicate a graceless heart. Listen at the world in conversation.

Note the idle bywords, the slang phrases, the jestings, the gay, giddy, foolish expressions, the low and impure speech, which is all foreign to the kingdom of grace. Man is not to be known by his profession, but by his fruits: "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Mat. 7:20. Thus we know regardless of profession, when man's conversation is as the above, that he is dest.i.tute of G.o.d's pure love and grace.

"Be ye holy in all manner of conversation," is the command of G.o.d's holy Word as recorded in 1 Pet. 1:15. From a pure heart can only flow a pure and holy speech. "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." Eph. 4:29. Our words are to be in such gravity and sincerity, in such depth of wisdom, and so flavored with the seasoning qualities of grace as to be elevating or inspiring to a higher degree of piety the listener. "Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man." Col. 4:6. G.o.d's saving grace effects a change in the heart, and as a natural result a change in the conversation. Paul no longer walked according to the course of this world in conversation when saved by the grace of G.o.d.