The General Epistle of James the Apostle

1 My brethren, have not the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons.

2 For if there come into your company a man with a gold ring, and in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment,

3 And ye have a respect to him that weareth the gay clothing; and say unto him, Sit thou here in a goodly place, and say unto the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool,

4 Are ye not partial in your selves, and are become Judges of evil thoughts?

5 Hearken my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, that they should be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him?

6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not the rich oppress you by tyranny, and do they not draw you before the judgment seats?

7 Do not they blaspheme the worthy Name after which ye be named?

8 But if ye fulfill the royal Law according to the Scripture, which saith, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.

9 But if ye regard the persons, ye commit sin, and are rebuked of the Law, as transgressors.

10 For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet faileth in one point, he is guilty of all.

11 For he that said, Thou shalt not commit adultery, said also, Thou shalt not kill. Now though thou doest none adultery, yet if thou killest, thou art a transgressor of the Law.

12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judgeth by the Law of liberty.

13 For there shall be condemnation merciless to him that showeth not mercy, and mercy rejoiceth against condemnation.

Cross references:

James 2:1 : Leviticus 9:15; Deuteronomy 1:17; Deuteronomy 16:29; Proverbs 24:23

Editor's thoughts:

Verses 1-4, 9; Read James 1:17. God is consistent in all His ways, he shows no favor based on wealth or appearance, there is no turning away or, as written in the abovementioned verse a shadow of turning.

Verse 8; We are reminded here of Christ speaking upon the two most important commands of God. To love God, and to love others. (Read Matthew 22:37-40 and also Matthew 7:12)

Verse 10; Read Matthew 5:17; Malachi 2:8

Verse 13; There is a soliloquy from the Merchant of Venice that I will quote for it sums up mercy so well.

" The quality of mercy is not strain'd,

It droppeth like the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:

'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown;

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

But mercy is above this sceptred sway;

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God's

When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,

Though justice be thy plea, consider this,

That, in the course of justice, none of us

Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render

The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much"

THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS IS THE BEAUTY OF CHRISTLIKENESS

by Reverend George W. Ridout

Edited & Prefaced by R.P. Woitowitz Sr.

Brethren:

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

Romans 13:14

 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Galatians 3:27

Below we read in this Sunday’s sermon on putting on the new man, (see Ephesians 4:17, 24), and becoming Christ-like. When we accept God’s plan of salvation, and Christ Jesus as our redeemer, we are now a new creation made in His image. A changed person, from one of sinful and carnal desires to one of holiness and righteousness. We may indeed stumble, and fail at times, but to be consistent in the pursuit of the aforementioned, is what we must strive to do, and become. For what profits us, that we claim to be of Christ, but still living according to the world? But to be of one mind with Him, and to emulate Him in our ways, not only finds us approved of the Father, but likewise we approve of by others.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me. Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ in the fort, Christ in the chariot seat. Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me. Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me; an ancient prayer.

Much of the Christianity of our day is disappointing because it seems to fall short of real Christlikeness. People naturally expect that we who profess Christ should become like Christ. Paul in Philippians 2:5, says: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” In other words, be Christlike. Christlikeness cannot be attained by the mere effort of morality or moral culture.

The Christlike life can only be achieved by holy men and women. There must be the inward work, first of the Spirit of the Lord in the heart; there must be the inward cleansing of the blood; there must be the stamping of the Divine image upon the heart purified by sanctifying grace. Wesley sings: “Rest for my soul I long to find; Savior of all, if mine thou art, Give me thy meek and lowly mind, And stamp thine image on my heart.” To be Christlike means a holy combination of the qualities of Righteousness and Compassion and Love. When the Spirit descended on Jesus it was in the form of a dove. The dove hath neither claw nor sting, Nor weapon for the fight, She owes her safety to her wings, Her victory to flight. Christlikeness in the believer makes him suffer long for righteousness’ sake.

When on a certain occasion Archbishop Fenelon, that holy man of France, after having experienced much trouble and persecution from his opposers, was advised by some one to take greater precautions against the artifices and evil designs of men, he made answer in the true spirit of a Christian, “moriamur in simplicitate nostra,” ‘let us die in our simplicity.’ He that is wholly in Christ, has a oneness and purity of purpose, altogether inconsistent with those tricks and subterfuges, which are so common among men. He walks in the broad day. He goes forth in the light of conscious honesty. He is willing that men and angels should read the very bottom of his heart. He has but one rule. His language is, in the ordinary affairs of life as well as in the duties of religion, ‘My Father, what wilt thou have me to do?’ — this is Christian simplicity; and happy, thrice happy is he who possesses it.”

Christlikeness will produce in us a sweet reasonableness and correct those tendencies toward self-will and arbitrariness so common to human nature. It will arrest leanings toward fanaticism. It will make us teachable, docile and considerate for others and their opinions. Dr. Steele, writing of the fanatic which is the creature of loveless light, says: “He abjures and pours contempt upon that scintillation of the eternal Logos, (this is say Human reason). This lighted torch, placed in man’s hand for his guidance in certain matters, he extinguishes in order ostensibly to exalt the candle of the Lord, the Holy Ghost, but really to lift up the lamp of his own flickering fancy. He who spurns the spirit will be left to darkness outside the narrow sphere of reason; and he who scorns reason will be left to follow the hallucinations of his heated imagination, instead of the dictates of his common sense. (Read 2 Thessalonians 2:10-13)

The fanatic degrades the word of God by claiming for himself an inspiration equal to its theopneustic utterances. The fanatic imagines he has a manifestation of God so immediate that he no longer needs the ordained means of grace. He is characterized by acts professedly prompted by the Spirit, but which are contrary to both reason and the Word of God.” (Read 2 Timothy 3:5)

[A] likeness to Jesus produces his patience and his attitude of soul when suffering and trials come. Madame Guyon has well said: “Holy souls are without impatience, but not without trouble; are above murmuring, but not above affliction. The souls of those who are thus wholly in Christ may be regarded in two points of view, or, rather, in two parts, namely, the natural appetite, propensities and affections, on the one hand, which may be called the inferior part; and the judgment, the moral sense and the will, on the other, which may be described as the superior part. As things are in the present life, those who are wholly devoted to God may suffer in the inferior part, and may be at rest in the superior. Their wills may be in harmony with the Divine will, they may be approved in their judgment and conscience, and at the same time may suffer greatly in their physical relations and in their natural sensibilities.(Read Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:3; 1 Peter 1:14-15) In this manner, Christ upon the cross, while His will remained firm in its union with the will of His heavenly Father, suffered much through His physical system; He felt the painful longing of thirst, the presence of the thorns and the agony of the spear. He was deeply afflicted also for the friends He left behind Him, and for a dying world. But in His inner and higher nature, where He felt Himself sustained by the secret voice uttered in His sanctified conscience and in His unchangeable faith, He was peaceful and happy.”

Yes, now, while I am looking at Jesus! now, He is molding me and fashioning me after His own lovely likeness! My soul is in His hands, passive as clay in the hands of the potter. Jesus is making me all glorious within! I shall be like Him! I have fixed my eyes upon Him, never more to remove them thence, and it is by looking at Him that I am to be conformed to His likeness! O! such a fullness of love and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. I seemed, indeed, “filled unutterably full of glory and of God.” As I came home, Jesus seemed walking with me, and communing with my heart by the way. When I retired to my chamber, His presence accompanied me, and His glory appeared to fill the room! For several hours, I could not sleep. My heart was in such raptures of joy, that I could not become sufficiently composed to sleep. At length exhausted nature sank into repose; but still my mind was occupied with the same glorious object. Often I would awake in ecstasies, exclaiming “Jesus! O, thou art my Saviour”, ‘my Redeemer from all sin’ — my happiness — my heaven!” I have since, enjoyed the same delightful consciousness of His presence, who is the life of all my joys, and am still enabled to keep my eyes unwaveringly fixed upon Him. I see clearly that this is the way, and the only way to abide in His love, and to have the continued victory over the world, the flesh, and Satan, to keep looking at Jesus!

Give Him your sin and take His purity. Give Him your shame and take His honor. Give Him your helplessness and take His strength. Give Him your misery and take His bliss. Give Him your death and take His life everlasting. Nothing remains but that you take His in exchange. Make haste! Now, just now, He freely offers you all, and urges all upon your instant acceptance.

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. - Matthew 11:29-30

The General Epistle of James the Apostle Chapter 1:19-27

19 Wherefore my dear brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.

20 For the wrath of man doth not accomplish the righteousness of God.

21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness, and superfluity of maliciousness, and receive with meekness the word that is grafted in you, which is able to save your souls.

22 And be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

23 For if any hear the word, and do it not, he is like unto a man, that beholdeth his natural face in a glass.

24 For when he hath considered himself, he goeth his way, and forgetteth immediately what manner of one he was.

25 But who so looketh in the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he not being a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, shall be blessed in his deed.

26 If any man among you seem religious, and refraineth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God, even the Father, is this, to visit the fatherless, and widows in their adversity, and to keep himself unspotted of the world.

Cross references:

James 1:22 : Matt. 7:21; Luke 6:47; Romans 2:13

Verses 19-20; These are needed traits to put to use during hard times.
Be very slow to anger and show wrath towards both believers and non-believers. Take your time in thinking what you wish to say, and say with all gentleness and love. To use an old saying; "put brain in gear before engaging mouth" or to use a more poetic quote attributed to A. Lincoln; " Better to be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt"

Brethren, when we speak harshly, and without thought to what we're saying, we simply do not show the righteousness of God that He has now placed within us. (Right now, I am speaking to myself.)

This as we shall see in a later verse below, encourages the worldly man, the man of sin to be no more than what Christ had once referred to as a white washed sepulcher. Pristine looking on the outside, but within filled with death and decay.

(Read Matthew 23:27)

Verses 21-25; Being doers of the word

We must at all times be the face of Christ, His proxies here on this temporal plain of existence. The world needs to see us as what God has a desire to see us be; doing the work of the Father.

If we hear only, we can be likened to those that attend church or fellowships for appearances only. We immediately return to the world of carnality, afterward. There is no profit in this for the believer, nor does it bear any good fruits for the community of Christ. Therefore friends, be active in your community, or job or wherever you might be in life. Let others, in particular, those in need of hearing the Gospel, see how God's Holy Spirit can manifest itself in you.

Verse 26: Reining in your tongue

First, as noted above, being slow to speak, and even slower to anger, that is to say, gives way to wrath, this one will be in accord with God's word. Conversely, the person that does not do so, then said person exists in a world of self-falsehoods.

Secondly, as James writes, in a later chapter, the tongue is a fiery flame, that when improperly used, can cause a conflagration of unlimited proportions. (Read Psalm 34:13; James 3:1-11)

Verse 27: Read Matthew 25:34-36, Isaiah 1:17, Romans 12:2

The General Epistle of James the Apostle Chapter 1:12-18

12 Blessed is the man, that endureth tentation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own concupiscence, and is enticed.

15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

16 Err not my dear brethren.

17 Every good giving and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be as the firstfruits of his creatures.

Cross references:

James 1:12 - Job 5:17

Editor’s thoughts:

Verse 12 - Run with endurance and patience in order that you may complete your race for the golden Crown. (Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-25; Hebrews 12:1)

Verses 13-15 - God cannot tempt anyone, for He Himself is righteous, and as such cannot be sinful. Brethren, be wary of yourselves and resist temptations, for out of these, sin is begotten. Once sin is begotten then the evil desires of the heart and mind are made manifest. Such a course leads, to death. (Read Romans 6:23)

Verse 17-18 - God's word, which is His wisdom, as with all good things is a perfect gift, and comes from above. This, as we've read previously is in line with Him liberally giving it to all that seek it. There is no partiality in it, nor is there any contradictoriness, variation, nor any questionable passages. It is plain and simple.

The General Epistle of James the Apostle Chapter 1:1-11

1 James a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve Tribes, which are scattered abroad, salutation.

2 My brethren, count it exceeding joy, when ye fall into divers tentations,

3 Knowing that the trying of your faith bringeth forth patience,

4 And let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing.

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, which giveth to all men liberally, and reproacheth no man, and it shall be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, and waver not: for he that wavereth, is like a wave of the sea, tossed of the wind, and carried away.

7 Neither let that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

10 Again, he that is rich, in that he is made low: for as the flower of the grass, shall he vanish away.

11 For as when the sun riseth with heat, then the grass withereth, and his flower falleth away, and the goodly shape of it perisheth: even so shall the rich man wither away in all his ways.

Related Scripture:

James 1:3 : Romans 5:3

James 1:6 : Matthew 7:7; Mark 11:24; Luke 11:9; John 14:13; John 16:23

James 1:10 : Isaiah 40:6; 1 Peter 2:24

Editor’s thoughts:

Verses 2-4 - Allow God to mold you in His time, for as such patience, this is to say endurance, will perfect your faith. With this being accomplished, you will not be in want of anything.

Verses 5-8 - As posted yesterday, God is not an inefficient sower of His word. In fact, quite the opposite is true. His Word, which is also His wisdom, is given liberally to all who ask of it. It is given to the highest to the lowest among us and given to us free. However, one must ask in the belief (in faith, which ties in verses 2-4), that he will receive. In other words, he should be positive of receiving. Any man that supposes then has doubts. Therefore he who doubts will be tossed about with indecision.

Verses 10-11 - Read Job 14:2

Future Punishment and the Bible

(Part Two)

by Samuel Logan Brengle (1860-1936)

Edited by R.P. Woitowitz Sr.

"But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile - Romans 2:8-9

The phrase 'for ever and ever ' is the strongest term by which the idea of eternity is expressed in the Bible. It is the phrase used to express the eternal life and glory of the righteous: 'And they shall reign for ever and ever.' Paul used these words when he prayed for the continuance of God's glory: 'To whom be glory for ever and ever.' (Galatians i. 5; see also Philippians iv. 20; 2 Timothy iv. 18; Hebrews xiii. 21.) It is also the very phrase used to assert the eternal existence of God Himself -- Who 'liveth for ever and ever.' (Revelation iv. 9, 10; x. 6; xv. 7.)

This phrase, which is used to declare the endless life and glory of the righteous and the existence of God Himself, is also used to declare the endless punishment of Satan: 'The Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.' (Revelation xx. 10.) In verse 15 we are told that the wicked are to share the punishment of the Devil himself. And Jesus, in foretelling the sentence of the wicked at the Judgment Day, declares: 'Then shall He also say to them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels '; thus showing that the wicked are to share the punishment of the Devil, which is 'for ever and ever.

Did not Jesus mean to teach endless punishment when, three times in six short verses, He warned His hearers in the most solemn manner to cut off hands and feet and pluck out eyes, rather than to go into Hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched'? (Mark ix. 43- 48.)

Is not endless punishment implied in the parable of the cruel and unforgiving servant, who, owing ten thousand talents (or one million eight hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds), with nothing with which to pay, was delivered to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due? Does not Jesus mean to teach that his debt was beyond his power to cancel; and that, since he proved wickedly unworthy of mercy and forgiveness, he was buried for ever beneath the burden and torment of his vast debt?

And this parable but pictures the moral and spiritual debt of the sinner -- illimitable and ever increasing, unless, in penitence and obedient faith, he finds release through the Blood of Christ before the final sentence of judgment is passed and the prison gates have closed upon him.

We learn from Josephus, the Jewish historian, that the Jews believed in endless punishment; and when the Son of God came into the world to teach men the truth, He did not deny and combat that belief, but spoke fearfully plain words which would confirm and strengthen it.

Well does one writer say: 'They who deny that any of the words used of future punishment in Holy Scripture express eternity, would do well to consider whether there is any way in which Almighty God could have expressed it, which they would have accepted as meaning it.'

God did not trifle when He inspired those dreadful warnings. Take heed, then, that you do not trifle when you read them, but rather fear and tremble at the Word of the Lord. For just in proportion as you, in the secret of your own heart, doubt the endless punishment of the wicked, in that proportion you will lose power to resist sin and desire to save your own soul or that of others around you.

Two powerful motives which the Holy Ghost uses to lead men to accept the Saviour and renounce all sin are the hope of everlasting blessedness and the fear of eternal woe. These motives may, in time, in the heart of a Christian be swallowed up in a higher motive of love and loyalty to God, but they always remain as a frame work. No preacher through all the ages has appealed so simply, so constantly, so powerfully, and with such even balance to these motives as did the Saviour. The whole of Matthew xxv. is an illustration of His method of appeal.

Eternity furnishes these motives. They balance each other like the two wings of a bird, the two wheels of a carriage, right and left, upper and lower, right and wrong, and this balance is never lost, but evenly held throughout the Bible from the blessing and cursing of Deuteronomy (xxx. 19) to the final fixedness of moral character as ' filthy or ' holy ' in Revelation (xxii. 11).

Deny one of them and your strength against sin is gone. You may live a life most beautiful in its outward morality, but those secret girdings of the will which in the past impelled you to resist sin unto death, will weaken, and you will find yourself making secret compromises with sin. You will lose your power to discern 'the exceeding sinfulness of sin.' You will be ensnared by Satan as 'an angel of light,' and some day you will become 'a servant of sin.'

The sinner is not alarmed by the thought that death ends all. He will say, 'Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.' It is not death he fears, but that which follows death. Nor does he care for punishment after death if he can only believe it will end sometime he will still harden himself in sin and mock God. But preach to him the faithful Word of God, until the awful fact of endless punishment, set over against the endless blessedness of God's approval and favor, pierces his guilty conscience and takes possession of his soul, and he will go mournfully all his days until he finds Jesus the Saviour.

Such has always been the effect of the doctrine when proclaimed in power and pity and love with the fire-touched lips of holy men and women. But let men in their folly imagine themselves wiser and more pitiful and just than God, and so begin to tone down this doctrine, then conviction for sin ceases, the instantaneous and powerful conversion of souls is laughed at, the supernatural element in religion is called fanaticism, the Holy Ghost is forgotten, and the work of God comes to a standstill.

But some one objects that God is not just to punish a man for ever for the sins he commits in the short period of a lifetime. And thus speaking he thinks of certain acts of sin such as lying, cheating, swearing, murder, or adultery. But it is not for these sins that men are sent to Hell. God has pardoned multitudes who were guilty of all these sins and has taken them home to Heaven.

All men are sent to Hell by the weight and pull of their self-chosen evil and discordant nature and character, because they will not repent and turn from sin to God, but choose to remain filled with unbelief, which begets pride and self-will; consequently they are out of harmony with, and are in antagonism to God and all His humble, obedient servants; they will not come to Jesus, that they may be saved from sin and receive a new heart and life. They are dead in trespasses and sins, and they refuse the Life-Giver. Jesus says: 'Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life.' Again He says: 'This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.'

If sinners would come to Christ and receive the gracious, loving life He offers, and allow Him to rule over them, God would not impute their trespasses to them but would forgive all their iniquities, and their sins would drop off as the autumn leaves from the trees in the field.

But men will not come. They refuse the Saviour; they will not hear His voice; they turn away from His words; they remain indifferent to His entreaties; they laugh or mock at His warnings; they walk in disobedience and rebellion; they trample on His holy commandments; they choose darkness instead of light; they prefer sin to holiness, their own way to God's way; they resist the Holy Spirit: they neglect and reject Christ crucified for them -- and for this they are punished.

All this stubborn resistance to God's invitations and purposes may be linked to a life of external correctness and even apparent religiousness. Not until all His judgments and warnings, His entreaties and dying love have failed to lead sinners to repentance and acceptance of the Saviour, and not until they have utterly refused the eternal blessedness of the holy, does God cease to strive with sinners and to follow them with tender mercies.

By obstinate persistence in sin men come to hate the thing that God loves, and to love the thing that God hates; thus they become as dead to God's will, to holiness, and to His plans for them, as the child destroyed by smallpox or diphtheria is dead to the hopes and plans of its mourning father and mother. And as such parents in sorrow put away the pestilence-breeding body of their dead child, so God puts sinners, in their utter spiritual corruption, away from His holy presence 'and from the glory of His power.'

How could God more fully show His estimate of sin, together with His love and pity and longing desire to save the sinner, than by dying for sinful man?

God in Christ Jesus has done that. Bless His holy name! But the sinner tramples on Christ's Blood, rejects His infinite mercy, resists His infinite love, and so hardens himself into an eternal sinner; hence he deserves eternal punishment, which will follow sin as surely as night follows day.

Is sin only a mild infirmity that we need not fear, and that will yield to gentle reproof? Was the Son of God only playing at being a Saviour when He came down and died for us? Or is sin an awful crime against God and all His creatures, that can only be remitted by the shedding of blood? Is it a crime for which men are responsible, and of which they ought to repent? Is it a crime that tends to perpetuate itself by hardening men in evil, and that culminates in eternal guilt when men finally resist the Holy Ghost, and totally and for ever turn from Jesus the Crucified, rejecting Him as their Saviour and Lord?

If sin is such a crime -- and the Bible teaches that it is -- then God, as moral Governor of the universe, having provided a perfect way, and having done all He could to persuade men to turn from sin, is under obligation, if He meets only with determined resistance, to place sinners under sentence of punishment, to oppose them and put them away for evermore from His holy presence, and from the society of holy men and angels, where they can no more breed moral and spiritual pestilence, nor disturb the moral harmony of God's government and people. And when God does so my conscience takes God's part against my sensibilities, against my own soul, and against a guilty world, and pronounces Him just and holy.

We live in a stern universe where fire will not only bless us but burn us; where water will both refresh and drown us; where gravitation will either protect or destroy us; we must not look at things sentimentally. If we love God and serve Him all things will work for our good, but if we despise or neglect Him we shall find all things working for our eternal undoing and misery. God does not send people to Hell who are fit for Heaven. The standard of fitness is made plain in the Bible, and God's tender and pitying love has provided for every sinner pardon for past sins through the death of Jesus, and purity, power, and abundant help for the present and future through the gift of the Holy Spirit; so that there will be excuse for none.

If one whom I love commits some terrible crime, violating all the righteous and gracious laws that safeguard society, and consequently is cast into prison, my sorrow -- if I myself am the right kind of a man -- will spring not from the fact that he is in prison, but rather from the fact that his character makes him unfit to be out of prison; and if he should go to Hell, my sorrow would be due, not to the fact that he was in Hell, but rather to the fact that he so neglected and despised infinite love and mercy that he was unfit for Heaven. Such a person would possibly be more unhappy in Heaven than in Hell, just as a man who has terribly inflamed eyes is more unhappy in the light of broad day than in the darkness of midnight.

Finally, for a man to say, 'I believe in Heaven, but I do not believe in Hell,' is much as though he should say, 'I believe in mountains, but not in valleys; in heights, but not in depths.'

We cannot have mountains without valleys, we cannot have heights without depths, and we cannot have moral and spiritual heights without the awful possibility of moral and spiritual depths, and the depths are always equal to the heights. The high mountains are set over against the deep seas, and so Heaven is set over against Hell. If Heaven is topless, Hell is bottomless.

Every road leads two ways. The road which leads from New York to Boston also leads from Boston to New York. A man can go either way as he chooses; so with the roadway of life. The man who chooses the things God chooses, loves the things God loves, and hates the things God hates, and who, with obedient faith, takes up his cross and follows Jesus, will go to the heights of God's holiness and happiness and Heaven; but the man who goes the other way will land in the dark, bottomless abysses of Hell. Every man chooses his own way.

Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, And the choice goes by for ever 'twixt that darkness and that light.

Joseph Cook closed his address, at the Chicago 'Parliament of Religions,' on 'The Certainties of Religion,' with these words, 'I bought a book full of the songs of aggressive evangelical religion, and I found in this little book words which may be bitter indeed when eaten, but which, when fully assimilated, will be sweet as honey. I summarize my whole scheme of religion in these words, which you may put on my tombstone Choose I must, and soon must,

Holiness or Heaven lose.

If what Heaven loves 1 hate,

Shut for me is Heaven's gate.

Endless sin means endless woe,

Into endless sin, I go,

If my soul from reason rent

Takes from sin its final bent

As the stream its channel grooves,

And within that channel moves;

So does habit's deepest tide

Groove its bed and there abide.

Light obeyed increaseth light;

Light resisted bringeth night.

Who shall give me will to choose,

If the love of light I lose?

Speed, my soul, this instant yield,

Let the light its scepter wield

While thy God prolongs His grace,

Haste thee to His holy face.

'HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE, IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT SALVATION?'

'WHATSOEVER A MAN SOWETH, THAT SHALL HE ALSO REAP.'