The philosophy of Christianity and the philosophy of government : together with the criticism of God's word, history and reason, applied to false teachers, embellished with songs and poetry ...

Preface

Reader : This little work which is presented to you for your perusal, was written, (except the songs and miscellaneous poems) in obedience to the following mandates of the Creator : ' * Cry aloud, spare not, Shew my people their transgressions. ' ' Isaiah 58:1. " Preach the word, reprove, rebuke, exhort. ' ' Second Tim. 4 :2.

I appeal from the present unjust system of government in which power is always on the side of the oppressor; and those who labor and produce everything have nothing, and those who toil not neither do they spin, dress in purple and fine linen and fare sumptuously every day, to justice in equal opportunity and the exchange of equivalents.

I appeal from billy-goatism to charity out of a pure heart.

I appeal from prostitution to monogamy in wedded love, the husband and the wife in the home. I appeal from Catholicism and Protestantism to Christianity, In a word, I appeal from tyranny, to God.

I have added here another stone to the edifice of enlightened thought. What I have said that is good treasure up in the storehouse of your heart and mind.

What I have said that is wrong forget; forgive the author and write it better yourself.

Do you ask who I am that have addressed to you this little book, which is so antagonistic to the popular teaching of the world's great men. If you do, I answer by asking at your hands this charity: That you let that subject fade from your mind. It can be of no importance to you. If St. Paul was nothing how can any of us be anything?

Of what consequence to you, fellow traveler through the dreary waste of this valley and shadow of death, could be the ephemeral phenomenon, manifested by the passing of a shadow. I am nothing, 0, nothing !

Think not of me ; but think of that great day when you and I must stand before the judgment seat of the Christ that died for us.

"I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity,' ' therefore have I spoken. Yours in faith in Jesus Christ ; love and worship to God ; and love, charity and justice to my fellow man.

David E. Hill, Hickory Top, West Virginia.

THE DEATH OF LITTLE CHARLES.

The veil of night was folding down,

The shadows fast were waning, On him the evening stars looked down,

Who in my arms lay fainting.

I saw the light of life grow dim,

I knew my child was dying; My aching heart gushed forth to him,

But all was unavailing. 2.

I struggled hard against the tide,

But it was overwhelming, I could not life for him provide

Whom Heaven's God was calling.

He turned his soft brown eyes to mine,

And bade my tears cease flowing, Then gave his soul to Christ Divine,

And took his flight to Heaven. 3.

I heard his kind heart cease to beat,

I saw his soul's departure; I saw him rest at Jesus feet,

To suffer death no more.

I saw our God his tears dry,

The Savior then embrace him, The shining host of Heaven came by

And sang a song of welcome. 4.

Ye honrs of love ye passed too soon,

And left me here in mourning, My days are sad, my nights are gloom,

I weep and cry till morning; The earth's a dreary waste to me,

Its beauties have all faded, But love's sweet ties I know shall be

In Heaven reunited.

WHY I WORSHIP GOD.

Because I cannot comprehend the infinite goodness of God ; his boundless love that gave His Son to die for me; His mercy that endures forever; His gracious heart that is more willing to give me the Holy Spirit than I am willing to give good gifts to my little children. These glorious characteristics of God are beyond the comprehension of my mind and my soul goes out to my Heavenly Father in praise and blessing and adoration and thanksgiving ; because worship is my natural attitude : I can do no less. I must either worship God or deny that there is a God; and I cannot deny Him, for He has given me his Holy Spirit and made me a new Creature in Christ Jesus, a member of Christ's body which is the church. God has made my thoughts and desires righteous, that my will, which is the product of my desires and thoughts, should always be to do right.

God has enlarged my heart that I should always be willing to grant unto my fellow being all that I desire for myself, and that I should desire for myself nothing but that which is legitimate and just. And what have I done to merit these Divine favors? Nothing but believe in Jesus Christ the Righteous, repent of my sins, and ask God in the name of Christ to give me the Holy Spirit. God and His Christ have done all, therefore I glory in the Lord and pray always. Amen.

HELL A NECESSITY.

Given, the present inhabitants of the earth and Hell is a moral necessity; for since man is to live again beyond this valley and shadow of death, there must be a separation on the grounds of the leading traits of human character; for it is impossible to believe that benevolence and righteousness shall dwell with malevolence and wickedness in the new Heaven and the new Earth.

MONOGAMY NATURAL WITH MAN.

When man's nature has not been warped, distorted, vitiated and imbruted by licentious practices, he is as naturally monogamic as he is religious. In other words, monogamy is as natural with man as it is with the dove. More, man's happiness in this world and in the world to come depends on chastity and virtue.

A chaste husband and a virtuous wife will never complain that marriage is a failure; for God has married them ; and heart is united with heart and soul with soul is blended.

If we all had the Spirit of Jesus Christ all would be chaste and virtuous, and if all were chaste and virtuous there would be no divorce.

DOXOLOGY.

Thy Spirit Lord transmit to me To lead the way of righteousness,

That I may of Thy body be,

A member of the church of Christ. Amen.

'CELESTIAL RULER, GOD OF LIGHT/

Celestial Ruler, God of light,

To whom be everlasting praise; Help us the Christian war to fight ;

Give us each day sufficient grace. 2.

Help us to trust Thy mighty arm,

And serve our God in very truth.

Be Thou our guide, shield us from harm,

Teach us to love Thee in our youth. 3.

Help us Thy mandate Lord to keep, Our every duty to fulfill; To choose our place among the meek,

And humbly do the Master's will.

Forth in the narrow golden way;

That leads to everlasting bliss ; Direct us each successive day,

To nobler acts than done in this. 5.

Then, when we've run our cycle here,

And time for us, no more shall be; Lord send the Heavenly messenger,

And take us home to dwell with Thee.

A VOICE FROM HEAVEN.

Grieve not for me, my father dear ;

Grieve not for me and break your heart; Grieve not for me, my home up here

Grieve not for me, my mother dear,

I know 'twas hard for us to part ; But mother you can come to me,

When God your weary soul sets free. 3.

Grieve not for me, my sisters dear ;

Grieve not for me, my brothers love ; If you could see my joy up here,

Your hearts would yearn to come above.

If you had all the world below,

And could that world all give to me I could not leave my Savior here,

And come down there and dwell with thee. 5.

Sisters, brothers, parents kind;

Serve the Lord with all your mind.

Through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, You are the children of our (Jod. 6.

Mother, father, watch and pray,

Walk in the straight and narrow way ; Believe on Jesus Christ the Lord,

And come and dwell with me and God. [To Jesus Christ the Kighteous, who alone can comfort the broken-hearted, this song is prayerfully dedicated by an humble believer in the Good Shepherd who careth for us all.]

THE GOLDFINCH.

And, as they flit from limb to limb, My heart went out in song to them ;

While swinging on the willow tree, What joyous lovers you must be.

Ye happy birds; how you remind me

Of my childhood's early days, When I played with little children,

The sweetest notes I ever heard,

These songs of childhood little bird ; But tears dim my aged eyes,

When to those scenes fond memory flies.

Ye soar aloft like tiny angels;

Ye nestle down like loves of earth; You have no sins to mar your gambols,

Kind innocence your noble birth: By such sports so kind to see,

Your pleasure you divide with me, And ease my broken heart awhile,

And bid my weary soul to smile.

Thanks to nature's God, who gave thee

To comfort me in my old age; I'll never chase or hurt or kill thee,

Nor have thee prisoned in a cage.

In winter blast I'll give thee feed,

And be the small bird's friend indeed. Then build your nest here by my door,

And sing and warble evermore.

"WHERE I FIRST MET MY CATHARINE."

If there exists one radiant spot, That ne'er by me shall be forgot; It is the place where first I met, My handsome, bashful little pet.

She handed me a posy rare ; Then blushing, bowed and left me there. I thanked her as she turned away, And hoped she'd call another day.

8

She smiled a welcome back to me, Then passed, in haste, across the lea ; But first she said that I should come, And see her parents kind, at home.

AN ODE TO HOPE.

Can I on thee rely?

Does there for me a lasting joy

Gleam from my Catharine's eye. 2.

Is there within that gentle breast,

Affection still for me; Is there a heart would love me best

Till life shall cease to be?

3.

Fond Hope, avaunt! if there is not,

Leave, thou, me to despair.

Cease memory, cease, the past forgot ;

Heart, cast aside thy care. 4.

Nor shall I weep, nor shall I mourn,

Still less will I repine.

I'll reap it as the fates have sown,

And hew life to the line.

A LETTER TO CATHARINE

PROPOSING MARRIAGE AND COMMENDING HER TO THE CARE OP THE LORD.

Is good or ill to be my fate ;

Must I forever, from thee part,

0, wilt thou break this trusting heart?

2.

And must I wander round the land, And weep and mourn at thy command ; In solitude e'er to repine, And never, never, call thee mine?

Or wilt thou grant, my charming one, The race of life with me to run; And with thy kindness and thy care, Dispel the fears that haunt me here?

4.

Come, let us, then, in wedlock join, "While life is in its early morn; In happiness to live together, With love to God and to each other.

5.

Now, Lord of all, so kind to me, My loved one, I commend to thee ; 0, keep her, ever, in the way, That leads to joyous, endless day.

ANARCHY AND GREED— THEIR CAUSE AND REMEDY.

Like blighting frost on nature green, The hand of Greed on man is seen; And like the leaves upon the ground, Man when crushed by Greed is found.

There is nothing clearer, to the mind of the student of truth, than the fact that in all departments of the political and religious instruction of the present day, the nonsensical vies with the false and absurd and the opinions of men are put forward in place of reason and the Word of God. Nor could there be any thing more productive of anarchy than the confusion of thought which characterizes the writings of the socalled great men of the world.

If we ask for reason, they graciously condescend to give us their opinions. If we ask for God's Word they grant us a mystery, couched in good words and fair speeches that deceive the hearts of the people ; for they serve not the Lord Christ but their own belly. These great men have never understood the Creator nor the creature, if they had, they would not contradict God and contradict one another in their teaching. From the teaching of these great men, I perceive that they are the enemies of my Savior; enemies of my brethern in Christ; enemies of my fellow laborers; enemies of my old mother ; enemies of my wife and my little children; my enemies, and the enemies of the hnman race: For these reasons I have raised my hand in the strength of the Lord, to strike them.

Upheld by the mighty arm of Jesus Christ, I will attack them with all the strength Almighty God has given me. I will hunt them down like the wild beasts of prey that they are : drive them from their every hiding place ; crush them between the upper and nether mill-stone of truth; smite them with the sword of the Spirit; parry their darts with the shield of faith; seize them in the giant grasp of justice and hurl them from their lofty seats of robbery and falsehood, and cast them out from the presence of humanity, to wander vagabonds in the earth till death shall relieve the world of this army of monsters whose moral deformity would shame the morbid instincts of a grave robber.

In the composition of the carnal minds of these great ones, the ingredient of justice is wholly wanting, therefore, when Christ comes, he will bind them hand and foot and cast them into the dreary waste of outer darkness, where their sole occupation will be weeping and gnashing of teeth and their only associates the Devil and the damned.

For, Christ tells us, that when He comes, He will send forth his angels to separate the just from the unjust; and the antagonism which exists between the teaching of these great ones and the teaching of God's Word, certainly places these teachers in the category of the unjust. And the unjust can have no part with Christ, for only the just shall live by faith.

Yes, I will turn the search light of God's Word on your sin-besotted teaching, and exhibit to the human family, the microbes of carnality which have gnawed your cankered souls into a mass of corruption that nothing but the eternal fires of Hell can purify, and they can't, for the wholly wicked associated with the entirely depraved will grow more wicked always: therefore there can be no reformation in Hell.

Realizing that my task is a great one, and that when I am known through my writings, my enemy's name will be legion, with this war cry, "Let God be true, but every man a liar, I challenge you to battle."

Eeader, with this injunction in mind, let us compare the teaching of the great ones with the teaching of God 's Word. What the great ones teach.

"To know God, to have a proper conception of God, we must study him in his attributes, a study of these makes us like God." Dr. Graham.

"To know Christ is to know His blessings." Pastor Sheldon.

What "God's Word" Teaches.

"No man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. ' ' Matt. 11 :27.

Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest (reveal) thyself unto us and not unto the world? Me and my Father will make our abode with you.

"The things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God." 1st Cor., 2:11. "Hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." 1st John 3:24. "Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God." Same, 4:7 & 8.

From the above statements we conclude that to know God we must have Christ's Spirit; and Christ dwells in you by faith and not by studying God in His attributes or knowing His blessings. Yes, bless the Lord; through faith in Jesus Christ, who was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification, we are all God's Children; and because ye are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying Abba, Father. See Gal. 3d & 4th Chaps.

"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost." Romans, 15:13.

What the great ones teach again: "We must invent innocent plays to amuse the people to keep them away from the obscene theatres and their immoral influences ; we have these desires and they must be gratified in a way that is not sinful. I will name the new play the "Spectacular." God will raise up the man to invent it." Br. Talmage.

"Bad women and whiskey have ruined many a young man." Taught by many. Hence the necessity of abolishing women and whiskey, to save these precious natures ; why not, I ask, emasculate the lecher and sew the drunkard's mouth up.

Query: How many lewd women would there be in the world, if all men were virtuous?

What Does God Teach?

"Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." Galatians, 5:16.

"As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God." Romans, 8:4.

Only those who are led by the Holy Spirit are followers of Christ ; and if you follow Christ you will never be led into an obscene theatre, a bawdy house or to drunkenness; for the fruit of the Spirit is love, temperance, etc. "To avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and every woman have her own husband. ' ' 1st Cor., 7:2.

"Marriage is honorable and the bed is undefiled; but whoremongers God will judge." (Corollary Conjugal fidelity replenishes the earth; gives peace and happiness to her children and peoples Heaven. Whoredom is the suicide of society; the Devil's vicegerent, that peoples the very lowest slums and gutters of the lowest Hell. " Excessive liberty has fostered anarchy." Leo, XIII.

God's Word: "Where envying and strife are, there is confusion (anarchy) and every evil work." James, 3:16. Whence come wars and fighting (anarchy) among you; come they not hence even of your lusts?" 4:1.

"The Pope is the head of the church/' all Catholics. God's Word: "Christ is the head of the Church." Ephesians, 5:23.

"Peter was the first pope," all Catholics. God's Word: "I, who am an elder, exhort the elders which are among you." 1st Peter, 5:1. Peter was the apostle to the Jews who are called the circumcision; and Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles who are called the uncircumsicion. See Gal. 2:8.

"Water baptism under the New Testament took the place of circumcision under the Old Testament." Catholics and protestants.

Water baptism is an outward ordinance performed on the flesh that perishes with the using. Take a sinner down to the river, pronounce a ceremony over him; put him under and take him out, and he remains the same libidinous animal that he was before, only he is wet. Minister the bread and the wine passover to the sinner, still he remains the same sinner. Take the sinner to the secret orders and let them make a Free Mason, an Odd Fellow or a Knight of Labor out of him; he is yet, the same sinner. Water baptism suffices to make people members of the Catholic and Protestant churches, but all Catholic and Protestants tell us that being members of these churches will not save men, therefore none of these churches are the church that Christ founded, for being a member of Christ's church will save us; but we cannot enter Christ's church by water baptism. We can only enter that church by the baptism of the Holy Ghost and that baptism makes us members of Christ's body, of his flesh and his bones ; and he cannot deny us, for to deny us is to deny himself. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." 1st Cor., 12:13; "and that body is the body of Christ which is the church." Col., 1:18 and 24; Eph. 1:23.

Christ further tells us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against his church; for "after that ye believed ye were sealed, (in Christ,) with the Holy Ghost." Eph. 1:13. "Therefore, grieve not the Holy Spirit whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." 4:30.

Circumcision is a seal, and Abraham received an outward mark, made with hands, as a seal of his faith: We receive our seal in the heart and in the spirit by the baptism of the Holy Ghost which is given unto us, gratuitously, by God the Father, because we have believed on his Son, Jesus Christ ; repented of our sins and asked God, in the name of Christ, to give us that Spirit.

' l Circumcision is not outward in the flesh. Circumcision is of the heart in the spirit." Bom. 2:28, 29. Water baptism is outward in the flesh and does not affect the heart in any way, but, only affects flesh and blood which cannot enter the kingdom of God, therefore water baptism is not Christ's circumcision.

"God is a spirit, and they that worship him, must worship in spirit and in truth." Jesus Christ: John, 4:24. Therefore, "We are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh." Phil., 3:3.

The baptism of the Holy Ghost is the circumcision of Christ by which we put off the old man, the lusts and passions, the Adamic nature, and put on the new man Christ, the divine nature. He that hath this Spirit hath part in the first resurrection ; for, ' ' If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (give life to) your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Romans, 8:11. "There is one body and one Spirit. One Lord, one faith, one baptism." Eph. 4:5 & 6. Is that baptism spirit or water ? Hereupon I raise this double question. What defiles and what washes? "Murders, adulteries, etc., defile a man." Jesus Christ in Matt., 15:19 & 20. What washes? "Neither adulterers, thieves, etc., shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you ; but ye are washed by the

Spirit of our God." 1st Cor., 6:10 & 11. Yes, the baptism of the Holy Ghost is what washes our hearts and minds, when they have been denied, and makes them pure again, like the mind and heart of a little child. "Why is the little child saved? Because he cannot do the things that defile a man; and the spirit, that God gave is as pure when it returns to God as it was when it came from God, and is for that reason acceptable with God. The little children are all members of the Kingdom of God and if we bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord they will remain members.

To Recapitulate.

"Who sets the members in Christ's church which is his body ? Ans. : ' ' God sets the members in the body. ' ' 1st Cor., 12:18.

By what means does God set the members in the church ? Ans. : By the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Therefore, the baptism of the Holy Ghost took the place, not only of circumcision in the flesh, but of the whole law in ordinances ; for Christ came to fulfill the law and when he had fulfilled it he abolished the law in ordinances and nailed it to the cross, and took it out of the way. See Ephesians, 1:15. Colossians, 2:14. Therefore: "Why are ye subject to ordinances. Touch not; taste not; handle not; which are all to perish with the using. Which things have a show of wisdom in will worship and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh/ ' (Same Ch.), 20, 21, 22, 23.

Why was the law abolished? Because: "The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by which we draw nigh unto God." Hebrews, 7:19. "And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Romans, 5:5. "Through Christ we have access by one Spirit unto the Father." Ephesians, 2:18. Therefore, "we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." Bomans, 7:6. "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." Ephesians, 6:18. "Eejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks ; for this is the will of God concerning you. ' ' 2nd Thes., 5:16, 17 & 18.

Why Christians are not Under the Law.

"If ye are led of the Spirit ye are not under the law." Gal. 6:18. For "the fruit of the Spirit is goodness and righteousness and truth." Eph., 5 & 9. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuff ering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Gal., 6:22, 23.

If we bear the above fruits, there is no law against us ; for there is no law forbidding us to do these things ; and if we have been baptized by the Holy Ghost we will do these things and none other, willfully. "For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good works.' ' Eph. 2:10. "He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us is God, who hath sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." 2nd Cor., 1:21, 22. "God is able to make all grace abound towards you; that ye, always having all sufficiency, in all things, may abound in every good work." 2nd Cor., 9:8. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do." Phil. 2:13.

But, What is the will? and what has it got to do with our walks in life?

Answer.

The will is the decree of the mind that an act be done, and is the direct cause of all acts for which we are responsible; but -the will itself is a product and has a cause, and that cause is the thoughts and desires; but the thoughts and desires are also products which are born of the heart and mind. As the heart and mind are, so the thoughts and desires will be; therefore, if the heart is pure and the mind is holy, the desires and thoughts will be righteous, and the will, or decree of righteous thoughts and desires, is always to do right.

To speak in a figure : The heart and mind are of the feminine gender and conceive thoughts and desires; and, if the desires and thoughts are begotten by the Holy Ghost they will be born pure and righteous ; but if the thoughts and desires are conceived of the lusts and passions, they will be born corrupt and sinful, and the will of corrupt thoughts and sinful desires is always to do wrong ; and willful wrong-doing is sin.

When the mind and heart conceive by the lusts and passions they bring forth sin ; and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. See James, 1:15 and 4:1, 2, 3 and 4. Therefore; "put ye off the old man which is corrupt after the deceitful lusts," and put on the new man by the baptism of the Holy Ghost; and "make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. ' ' This baptism is all that will ever make a saint out of a sinner; and all that I, or any one else, can do, toward imparting this baptism to you is to teach you what to do to get it. Our work is teaching the Gospel.

Yes, we minister the Spirit by preaching the Word; and he who by teaching the sinner the truth of the Gospel, has brought him to a realization of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and thus been the instrument, in the hands of God, of converting the sinner from the error of his way, has performed a greater miracle than Christ performed, when he raised one from corporal death ; for he has saved a soul from death, and hidden a multitude of sins. See James, 5:20.

What is the sinner's work and what is God's work? The sinner's work in this matter of making a saint out of himself, is faith, repentance and prayer. God's work is to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him; and

Jesus tells us that our Heavenly Father is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him than we are willing to give good gifts to out children that ask as.

What inconceivable folly then induces you to hesitate : go boldly to God 's throne of grace : weep and mourn and lament for your sins and cry to God the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, to give you the Holy Spirit, doubting nothing, but reposing the same confidence in your Heavenly Father that your little children repose in you when they come to you for good gifts, and be assured that you will receive this holy baptism; this baptism is the one thing needful, for there is nothing else that will purify a sordid heart or wash a carnal mind and make the sinner who is alienated from God by wicked works, (See Col. 2:21) again acceptable with God; for St. Paul tells us that he was made a minister of the gospel to the Gentiles, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. See Romans, 15:16.