Old wine in new bottles

Front matter

M5a iStW- BOTTLES ;t

3..A. Mclaughlin

Chap... , Copyright No..

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Nature i

II. Requirements 13

Chapter I. Nature

*' Partakers of the divine nature." — 2 Pet. i, 4.

Nearly everybody has a definition of the Christian. There are almost as many of these definitions as there are individuals. These definitions are often contradictory to each other, hence they cannot all be true. After nineteen centuries of Christianity, there are more conflicting notions of the nature of the Christian life than ever before.

With such a divergence in the definitions, how shall we know that we ourselves are right ? The answer often given is, '' Go to the Bible." To be sure ; but most of those who contradict each other base their claims upon the Bible. Our inquiry, then, must lead us farther than the mere quotation of Bible verses. Who is qualified to know just what the Word of God teaches.^ One person has one interpretation, and another has another. Who has the true interpretation .^

There are two simple rules which must guide us in our interpretation of the Bible : — -

2 OLD WIXE IN NEW BOTTLES.

1. He ivJio would understand the Seripticre niicst himself be spiritual, or lie zvill fail to get hold of spiritual truth, ''The natural man receiveth not the thino:s of the Spirit, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned." No person, therefore, is competent to be a religious teacher, and hold up before the people the portrait of a Christian, except he has ceased to be a merely natural man, and has become a spiritual man. This will cut off a great many current notions concerning the Christian.

2. Tlie doctrine of a Cliristian life that is gemtine will be proved by its frnits in the individual man a7id iii society.

For the present we take up the first proposition only. The carnal mind has so beclouded the human reason, that when man undertakes to reason on spiritual matters he is bewildered.

The scholarly Nicodemus knew nothing of the new birth. Jesus said to him, '' Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things .-^ "

At another time Jesus thanked his Father that he had '' hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes."

It does not follow that, because a man is intellectual, therefore he understands spiritual things sufficiently to give the Bible definition of a Christian. We believe the Lord inspires spiritual readers of the Bible to understand it, as truly as he inspired holy men to write it. Many a child on the mount of experience has seen farther along the way to heaven than philosophers who stood at the base. We do not believe it difficult for one who desires to flee the wrath to come,

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to lay aside his bosom sins, to deny self and take up his cross, to arrive at the true Bible definition of a Christian. Many current definitions have seemed to be simply excuses to keep on in sin. The sinful heart of man sends forth its noxious vapors, that becloud the human reason in its search for spiritual light. Hence the need of revelation.

I. A CJiristiaii is more than an inhabitant of CJiris tendon i.

Geographers have divided the world into four classes, — Christian, Jewish, Mohammedan, and Pagan. All Turks are Mohammedans ; all Americans are Christians. But being born in a Christian land does not make us Christians. A Christian cannot be created by geography, but by God alone. Many an American is a heathen. And many a man in so-called heathendom is a true Christian. This geographical method of making Christians has puzzled honest heathen, and has been a hindrance to the kingdom of Christ. The opium-trade, forced upon China by so-called Christian England, and the rum-trafific, brought to Africa by so-called Christian America, have become great hindrances to Christianity as taught by Christ. Much of the so-called Christianity of to-day is civilized paganism, which sends its barbarism to foreign lands to injure its weaker brethren. A Christianity which can be proved and located only by the map is spurious.

II. A Christian is more than a chtirehman,

God has blessed organized effort in advancing his kingdom. There has been no permanent prosperity except as the truth has been promoted by organization. Th's has been the divine method. Because God has

SO oraained, some have fallen into the error of worshipping the church, just as the Israelites worshipped the brazen serpent, because God had made it a means of making his blessing available. Because the church has been a means of grace, some have relied on the means instead of the grace. Some worship the cross more than the Jesus who died on it. They have had their eyes on the channel more than the water of life that came through the channel. But men may have their names on the church-roll who have not their names in the book of life. The chief members of the church of Jesus' time were the children of the devil. People are being deceived right at this point to-day. After a time they get to ground their salvation on their church relations, and then they go a step farther, and are unable to see how any one else can be a real Christian who does not belong to their sect. But Jesus said, ** Other sheep have I that are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." A man may belong to the church like the Pharisees, and like Judas and Dives, and yet make his bed in hell.

III. A Christian is not made by ordinances. Some have insisted that the ordinance of baptism saved men. Such people ground their religion upoi^, the fact that they have been baptized. Water baptism is the sign of inward baptizing grace. But as people get formal, they substitute the sign for that which it represents. As soon might a man expect to obtain nourishment from the sign ''Groceries" over a store instead of the food which the sign represented, as to put the water-sign in place of that repentance and faith

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which are the Bible conditions of salvation. Water-baptism is not the forerunner nor prerequisite of the Christian life. Baptism is the sequence, and not the condition, of Christian life. It is the outward profession that God has washed away our sins. Simon Magus was baptized with water ; but it did not extract from his soul *' the gall of bitterness," nor break '' the bonds of iniquity" that enthralled him. He was baptized in the most approved manner, and yet Peter declared '' thy heart is not right in the sight of God." On the other hand, the thief on the cross went to heaven without water-baptism at all. To baptize a man to v^hom God has not given a new nature is simply to exchange a dry sinner for a wet one.

IV. A Christiaii is not simply a person who accepts CI iris t as a guide.

It is one thing to have a good guide. It is quite another thing to have the strength and ability to follow him. Many an Alpine traveller has procured the services of a guide whom he has not had the strength to follow, or the nerve to imitate, as the guide trod the edge of the precipice, or swung himself out over the yawning abyss thousands of feet in depth.

No human being has been able to safely go by the snares and pitfalls of sin as Jesus did, except as he has had the divine power in his soul to assist him. The example of Christ was not given to make us Christians, but for us to follow after we have become Christians. Only the man who has already become a Christian has become empowered to be like Jesus.

V. To merely lead a moral life is not to be a Christian. Many a man who makes no pretensions to a Christian life lives as good a life naturally as a professing Christian. So that to be a Christian is not only to lead a moral life, but something besides that. We can have morality without religion, but we cannot have true religion without morality. We do not move the hands of a clock in order to make it perform its required work ; but we wind up the spring, and properly adjust the parts, and then the hands go right because the inside is right. A corpse might, perhaps, be galvanized so as to perform movements similar to those of life. But these movements would not give life. If there be life and health, there will be the activities of life and health. Hence the absurdity of the sentiment we sometimes hear, '' I am trying to be a Christian." In such human striving there is no more prospect of success than for a corpse to try to be a live man. Only God can make a Christian by impartation of divine life. No man ever became a negro or a Caucasian by trying. He must be born so. Apple-trees are not apple-trees because they bear apples, but they bear apples because they are apple-trees. *^ Men do not gather grapes from thorns, nor figs from thistles." Men are not Christians because they do right. But they do right because they arc Christians.

VI. To be a Christian is more than to be religioiis. Some think they are Christians because they are religious. A man cannot be a decent heathen without being religious. The Pharisees were exceedingly religious, but were not Christians at all. Many people confound religion and salvation. But there is a vast difference between the two. Some are so busied in the performance of the externals of Christianity as to

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fail to get into its inner spiritual sanetuary. They are so busy polishing the shell that they never open it to get the kernel. They grasp the husks, and let the eorn slip through their fingers. They spend a great deal of time on the forms to whieh they are in bondage. The worst of all bondage is religious bondage. Like a horse in a treadmill, they go the weary round, fearful lest they may leave something undone. To them religion is like an insurance policy for the future ; but the assessments are very exacting now, and there is a fear lest they be unable to keep them paid up. The yoke of mere religion is hard. But the yoke of Jesus Christ is easy. The religion of many seems to consist in keeping their denomination alive and supporting the minister. They have joined the church without being joined to the Lord. They have religion, but not salvation.

VI L To be a Cliristian is more than to assent to the creed of Christianity*

Mere intellectual faith can never save. The devils in hell are a great deal more orthodox in their creed than some people who want to be considered Christians. Men of different schools of thought argue and contend, and seek to convert one another to their system of thought, or interpretation of the Bible, who never have felt the power of true Christianity. Others seek to convert infidels to their faith, who themselves know nothing more of the power of Christ experimentally than the infidel whose views they seek to change. Others contend against the attacks of science upon the Bible who are experimentally as Christless as the scientists themselves. A man may be a Christian in creed and an atheist in his heart.

VIII. Natural generation cannot make ns Christians, A certain class of people have much to say about the ^^ Fatherhood of God," and that we are all the dear children of God. This is misleading. Man lost the image of God — spiritual life — when he fell. Paul says to the Ephesians that '' by nature we were the children of wrath, even as others." Man is '' dead in trespasses and sins " by nature. When Adam sinned he died. Spiritual life left him. Our Universalist friends prate much about the title in the Lord's Prayer — ^^ Our Father." But they forget that it was given to those who were already disciples, saved through the ministry of John the Baptist. We are told by Paul that to be saved is to be '' translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son." This being true, natural birth can never make us Christians. ^^The first man is of the earth, earthy;" and so will be his descendants, partaking of his nature. '' The second man is the Lord from heaven ; " and his '' seed," — Christians, — which he should *^ see and be satisfied," partake of his nature — the heavenly. Jesus forever settled this question, and pointed out the distinction to Nicodemus, when he said '' that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Therefore the command is binding upon every son and daughter of Adam. ^^Ye must be born again." '' Which zvere born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Thus forever crumbles the corner-stone of Universalism.

2. Having treated the definition of the Christian negatively, we now turn to the positive side of the defi-

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nition. A Cliristian is a person zvlio has become a partaker of tlie divine nature. Some years ago a religious newspaper contained a symposium on this question : '' What is a Christian ? " Nearly every one who answered defined a Christian by what he does. Scarcely a writer gave a definition of the nature of a Christian. It will be seen at once that this is a very unsatisfactory as well as inexact and unscientific method. It defines nothing. If we were to define a horse as an animal that eats and walks, it would be considered, not only childish, but a waste of words that defined nothing. Natural history divides all creation into different kingdoms, genera, species, etc., and defines each according to the family or order to which it belongs.

In precisely the same way must we define a Christian. He belongs to the spiritual kingdom of God's creation." He is '' a new creation." He is a member of the family of God, a "partaker of the divine nature," ''a child of God," '' an heir of God," a brother of Jesus Christ, "of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." His " citizenship is in heaven;" just now he is passing through a world to which he does not belong. The difference between him and the world about him is that he has been " translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son." In his heart is "shed abroad the love of God." He "who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our hearts, to reveal the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Jesus Christ was the first Christian. We are to be like him in spirit. The followers of Satan are like their master. They have the same spirit. The followers of Jesus have the same spirit as he — the lO OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES.

Holy Spirit. '' If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his."

Matthew Arnold says that religion is but morality touched with emotion. When he said that, he no doubt described the religion of many; but his definition shows that he has had no experience in the Christian religion, for that is a life — the life of God in the soul. It is a supernatural life, nozv possessed. '' He that believeth on the Son liatli everlasting life."

Those who define religion as simply in the doing instead of the being, assert that this is not only mysterious, but a superstition. They sneer at exhibitions of emotion or activity that spring from religious life. Paul, however, who had this experience, declares that it is '' the mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you."

Festus said Paul was beside himself. And so do inexperienced men still declare when it is insisted that a true Christian is one who has become a partaker of the nature of Christ.

The fallacy of such sentiments as '^ Live your religion " is at once manifest as a superfluous precept ; for we cannot help living all we have, and we cannot live any more life than we have. But many are endeavoring to live more than they have, and are having a painful, discouraging time of it. Another absurd sentiment is, that *' we have all the religion we live for," which means nothing. Just as truly might it be said that a sick man has all the life he lives for, which is really to say nothing. We have all the salvation we trust God for, but not all the religion we live for, because we do not become alive by living for life. This is an empty repeti-

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tion of words, but it expresses the mystified ideas of many religionists of to-day. They are striving, trying, evolving, endeavoring to fix up the old carnal nature; seeking by evolution, growth, development, etc., to ^'get religion." One minute of faith will bring spiritual life which amounts to more than ten thousand years of ecclesiastical rites and human works and striving.

In the first part of this chapter we referred to the test of doctrine as given by Jesus, '' By their fruits shall ye know them." This is the infallible test of the definition of a Christian. Our definition of the Christian given above must be scriptural, and it must bear the test of its fruitage as seen in society or it is not genuine. Tlie doctrine of spiritual life in mmi as essential to being a real Christian has proved itself true in history by itsfricits. The Wesleyan Reformation by its fruits forever settled the question of the spiritual nature of a Christian.

Under contrary teaching, such as baptismal regeneration, salvation by works, ordinances, etc., the church had lost its hold upon society. The more men preached salvation by works, the more society degenerated from good works, until anarchy seemed almost to reign, and it seemed as if England was about to be ruined by the rising tide of wickedness. At this juncture John and Charles Wesley were raised up to preach a spiritual religion that warmed and purified the heart, turned men from sin, and made them ^^partakers of the divine nature.'' This purified society, and saved England from destruction. And those churches who to-day are turning men from their sins, reforming the erring, and lifting up the fallen, are essentially preaching the same divine Christ as one who sheds abroad his love in the heart.

Tlicse arc facts. No otlicr doctrine of the nature of tJie Christian life has ever borne the fruitage of the Wesley an doctrine and intcrpi^etation of tlie Christian life.

In accepting this definition of a Christian, we believe it correct because the fruitage is in harmony with the plain teachings of Jesus ; namely, that true religion begins in the heart and works outwardly, while all false systems have begun on the outside, and have attempted in vain to work their way into men's hearts. To test an ism or doctrinal system of religion, notice where it J begins. If it begins in ceremonies, rites, and outward performances, it begins in the wrong place, and does not make Christians according to the teachings of Jesus Christ. His religion begins in the heart. If it does not begin there, then the unsaved world has as good a religion as the church ; for they can perform the externals as well as the best people.

REQUIREMENTS. I3

Chapter II. Requirements

" Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."

Acts xx. 21.

What are the requirements in order to the obtainment of spiritual life, — to become a Christian ? who are candidates for the reception of this life of God in the soul .^ how shall we make our ''calling and election sure " .'^ Those who are not sound in their definition of a Christian are usually as far out of the way in their views of the necessary conditions of becoming a Christian. This is quite natural ; for when one has a v/rong place in view, he takes the wrong path.

No man can become a Christian without taking the two steps required by Jesus Christ. Sin is the same to-day as in the days of Jesus; and the conditions to becoming a Christian, and thus escaping the curse of sin, have never changed. This book is written to show the points at which men have switched off, and failed to come up to the original requirements as given by Jesus Christ. He laid down most rigid terms for those who would become Christians. What would he say, if on earth to-day, at the modern methods of getting men into the church, who never pretend to forsake their sins, and even assert that we cannot be kept from committing sin ? The two plain, simple steps to a Christian life are Repentance and Faith,

I. Repentance,

We shall define it negatively. There are certain accompaniments to repentance that are sometimes mistaken for it.

1. Repentance is not mere sorrow for sm. — Sorrow to a greater or less degree accompanies repentance. There are men in the penitentiary sorry that they committed the crime that sent them there. But many of them are not penitent, and return to their old life. Pharaoh was sorry at the plagues sent upon him. But he was not a penitent. The prodigal might have wept his life away ; but, had he remained among the harlots and swine, he would not have been a penitent. Although sorrow accompanies repentance, yet people are sometimes sorry for sin who do not exercise repentance toward God.

2. Repentance is more than a change of mind. — The word repentance is sometimes used, to be sure, in the sense of a change of mind ; but evangelical repentance means more than that. A certain man was sceptical. He had refused to admit the claims of Christ because of a certain objection. He was taken very ill ; and the attending physician told him that he had better prepare at once to meet his God, as he could not recover. His reply was, that he did not believe in the religion of Christ ; at the same time he stated his lifelong objection. The physician, possessed of superior knowledge of the same subject, in a short time cleared away his objection. He did it so thoroughly that the sick man was compelled to acknowledge it. But when urged to repent and accept Christ, he refused, saying '' I have made a mistake." He changed his views, but did not requiremi:nts. 15

repent of his sins. Change of views or belief is not repentance.

3. Ackiiowledgine7it of our sins is not repentance. — Many love to confess their sins in a certain way, who object to having any one else so regard them. They think it a mark of humility. We knew of a woman whose reputation was unsavory, who said in a religious meeting that she sinned every day ; but, apparently thinking of what was being said of her, she exclaimed, *' But if any one says anything against my character, it is a dastardly lie." Pharaoh said after every one of the ten plagues, '' I have sinned ; " but he never repented. King Saul and Balaam said the same thing, but it did not result in repentance. Many people seem to think that to acknowledge sin gives a kind of license to continue in it. We sometimes hear it said, ^' I know it is not right, but I shall do it."

4. Repentajice is the abandomnent of sin. — The Bible command is, "" Let the wicked forsake his way ; " ^' Cease to do evil ; " '' Break off your sins by righteousness " — not taper them off, but stop at once. Hence there is no such thing as a gradual repentance. There is no such thing in true repentance as leaving off one sin at a time. Some have defined repentance as turning about. But it is more. It is going to God after we have turned about. This is repentance toward God, of which Paul speaks. It is the prodigal returning home. Repentance is accompanied by sorrow for the past, — regret that we have ever sinned. This regret is so keen that the subject is anxious to make the past as near right as possible. So it leads to restitution where we have it in our power to restore, or make right where we have inl6 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES.

jured God or man. This is the reason that repentance is so distasteful to many. It means a great deal. It would beggar some people. But better be Lazarus, a beggar here, than the rich man in hell. It leads to confession when we have injured the feelings or character of others. A great many people have been serious in religion up to this point; and here they stuck fast, and lost their opportunity to obtain eternal life. God cannot be ^nocked or bribed. Men mnst repent or be damned. It means, therefore, more to be a Christian than simply to be sorry, or to be baptized, or to join the church. There are many who have done these things who never forsook sin. John the Baptist commanded the churchmen of his day to " Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." What many call repentance is like a walk through a barren orchard ; there is a great rustle of the leaves, but on looking up there is no fruit to be seen.

Mark begins his Gospel thus : '^ The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." He then goes on to tell us what that beginning is, ^' John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Repentance is the beginning, and without it water-baptism amounts to nothing. Without an absolute abandonment of sin, baptism is blasphemy. The devil is just as fit a subject for baptism as the man who does not forsake sin. Some sects baptize any one who will say, '' I believe Jesus is the Christ." If this is the prerequisite to baptism, then the devils were fit subjects, for they confessed Christ.

Is this the doctrine now being preached in the

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churches ? We see many urged to sign cards, hold up the hand, join the church, etc. But do we often hear a seeking sinner faithfully instructed to renounce all his sins, to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, to restore what he has taken by fraud, to set right the slander his tongue has been engaged in ? Zaccheus restored fourfold. '' If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die '' (^Ezek. xxxiii, 15). This always has been, is, and always will be, the condition of becoming a Christian. God is not mocked ; and anything less than this, be it ever so popular, produces only a bastard Christianity, which will make its bed in hell.

II. Faith.

St. James tells us that the nature of saving faith was misunderstood in the time of the apostles. It is quite possible, then, that it may not be understood by every one now, living nineteen centuries after the apostles. Saving faith, like repentance, has its counterfeits, because it is the work of the devil to prevent the Christian life if possible.

I . Saving faith is more than intellectual assent to tncth. — Men may be perfectly orthodox in their creed, and yet fail to become. Christians, because saving faith is an exercise of the heart rather than of the head. To be sure, an intellectual faith is implied in saving faith, for no one will exercise a faith of heart in that which he believes does not exist. But one may have simply an intellectual faith, and remain a devil. The devils are more orthodox in their beliefs than many preachers. There is a class of people who pronounce fit for bapl8 OLD WINE IN NEW BOTTLES.

tism those who confess with their mouths that they believe Jesus is the Christ. This would also make the devils fit subjects for baptism ; for they confessed, " Thou art the Christ." But Jesus did not invite or command them to be baptized. '' Thou believest there is one God ; thou doest well : the devils also believe, and tremble." It is possible to have the head all right and the heart all wrong.

2. Saving faith is the reception of Jesus Christ by the affections and will, — This is what Paul means when he says, ^' With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." The Bible gives two definitions of faith. It defines it to be *'the substance of things hoped for." That is, the confident anticipation of things hoped for. This is passive faith. It also defines it actively thus, ** As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." Faith actively receives Jesus Christ to be our ''prophet, priest, and king;" receives him in the sense of taking all the responsibility that comes from receiving him ; receives him as the only way of salvation ; receives him as the only way, and thus forsakes every other way of salvation ; receives him as the only hope, which, if it go down, we go down with it. Faith is the risking of our all for time and eternity on him. It cries, —