The kingdom of God...

Front matter

Glass.

Book..

\mJ "I

Chapter I. — Before the Beginning

Space, Duration, and God had no beginning. That there is an uncaused Cause of all other existences is an

intuition. Is God a person? Arguments Ontological,

Cosmological, Psychological, Teleological, and Moral insufficient to prove personality. Positive evidence of His personality found only in the Bible. God's interview with

Moses from the burning bush the most complete and unanswerable. Deception impossible.

Chapter II. — More about God

I. What is God? Horace Bushnell's theory.

Shocking. Scriptures attributing to God members and

faculties of man not anthropomorphisms. God is constituted of Soul and Spirit. Spirit is substance but not

matter. II. God's attributes. Classification into Natural and Moral not discriminating.- 1 suggest Necessary

and Moral. III. Names and titles of God. How was

God employed before the beginning?

Chapter II. — The Beginning.

John 1: 1. The Word was a person. The Word

was with God. How came He there? Name Word

appropriate.

Chapter IV. — Creation and Evolution

Two persons in the Godhead. The Father creates,

the Son evolves. First creative fiat. Giving existence

to matter a creative act; forming it into orbs was evolution.

-Locating orbs a great mathematical problem. The first chapter of Genesis teaches both creation and evolution.

Records of the formation of the earth and the creation

of vegetable, animal, and human life, as found in the things created and made, and in Genesis, do not disagree, when both are truthfully interpreted. Process given in detail.

Man's animal nature evolved; his spirit given by God.

These two constitute him human.

Chapter V. — Man — What? and Why?

Man consists of soul, body, and spirit. Spiritual beings consist of soul and spirit; brutes, of soul and material body;

man is allied to both. The soul is the personality. ■

The personal man lives in and uses the material body in his animal life, and the spirit body in his spiritual life. This constitutes him, and compels him to be, a Moral Agent.

Chapter VI. — Our Father. Relations of God and the human race to each other, and

the duties that grow out of these relations. The basis of

the Kingdom of God.

Chapter VII. — Moral Agency

Definition and constitution of a Moral Agent. Conditions of a moral act. Illustrated by the tree of forbidden fruit, Genesis 2: 16, 17. Some foolish questions.

Chapter VIII. — The Kingdom of God

Consists of the self-existent Jehovah, the pre-existent Son, the angels and the human race. 1. Of the existence and personality of our King see Chapter I. For His Necessary Attributes see Chapter II. He has also Moral Attributes, and is a Moral Agent. Moral attributes numerous, but all embraced in one — LOVE. Notice only

TABLE OF CONTENTS 11

Justice and Mercy. Justice renders to all their exact

deserts. Mercy delivers offenders from deserved punishment on condition of repentance. No antagonism.

Justice never inflicts extreme punishment without Mercy's

consent. Mercy never pardons until Justice joins her in

demanding it; both are attributes of Love. 2. Second in the Kingdom is the Son. A Moral Agent. Prime Minister. Moral Attributes the same as the Father's. — ■ —

Executive Deity. In nature wholly divine. Jehovah

of O. T., Christ of N. T. Wears the name of His Father.

Discrepancies reconciled. 3. Angels. ''Ministering spirits." Moral Agents. "Holy angels," "angels

that sinned." 4. Man. — The last, the highest, the noblest, the most complete, of created things. "But little

lower than God."

Chapter IX. — Nature of this Government

Moral Agency a potential factor. God claims all

men as His children. A Family Government. God is

a Father-King. Arbitrary Sovereignty, based upon Omnipotence, an error. Its laws, precepts of instruction.

Imperative to obedience, love, not fear of punishment.

Rewards and punishments. First penalties designed

to reform. When the offender becomes incorrigible the

safety and welfare of the innocent and loyal demand that he

be restrained by force. Every government has its state

prison. Hell is God's state prison. Pardon the highest function of government. The unpardonable sin.

Why our Savior was tempted. His temptations studied.

Comprehend all forms of temptations.

Chapter X. — Practical Working of God's Family Government

How have the different members of the family conducted themselves, and what have been the consequences?

The Father, perfect. The Son, perfect. Angels, some

loyal; some disloyal. How the angels came to sin.

War in heaven. Personality of the devil. Men, all in

rebellion.

Chapter XI. — The Great Rebellion. The government the most perfect; the administration

faultless; the rebellion most shocking. Consequences.

1. Filled the world with false notions of God.

2. The delusion that a self-denying, Christian life is detrimental to the highest enjoyment. 3. That we must live

Christian lives, to escape hell and go to heaven when we

die. 4. For other delusions see Isaiah 59: 2; 5: 20;

Romans 1: 21-32. 5. Most deplorable of all, his attitude

toward his Father-King. Cause of Christ's agony in the

garden. Universal sinfulness accounted for. Psychology of Conscience.

Chapter XII. — The Fatal Choice

Adam and Eve were at first innocent. The forbidden fruit, with the command, "Thou shalt not eat of it," furnished the opportunity for a choice between obedience and

disobedience, and they chose to disobey. The origin of

evil is the act of the free will in choosing to do wrong.

Temptation no excuse. Occurred first in heaven.

Every opportunity to do right is an opportunity to do wrong.

These are the only conditions under which the highest

good can be attained.

Chapter XIII. — Subduing the Rebellion

This rebellion will be conquered. Redemptive measures promised immediately after the fall. Each eon of

time marks a forward step, or several of them, in the progressive work. The first period — Adam to Noah. Men

were left to themselves to teach all coming ages what the world would come to without acquaintance with and regard

for God. The second period — Noah to Abraham. Noah

taught worship. No people ever found since who did

TABLE OF CONTENTS 13

not worship something. What is worship? The third

period — Abraham to Moses. Its lesson, Faith. How

God cultivated Abram's faith.

Chapter XIV. — Subduing the Rebellion, Continued

The Mosaic period, extending from Moses to Christ, is fraught with many lessons, all preparatory for Christ's mission. Every event, from the revelation to Moses of the

personality of God, and His name Jehovah, to the day of Pentecost, and the setting up of the kingdom of Christ, symbolic of some spiritual feature of the age in which we live.

Chapter XV. — The Christian Era

The world ready for the introduction of God's spiritual kingdom. The attitude of the Father toward His rebellious children. His method of conquering the rebellion.

Sent His Son to win them to filial loving obedience.

Chapter XVI. — The Son of God — The Son of Man. God's extraordinary purpose required extraordinary

methods. A mediator necessary, allied to both parties.

Jesus was the "begotten Son" of God, born of a human

mother, Mary, hence a divine soul in a human body.

Evidences of the credibility of this story.

Chapter XVII. — Christ's Mission

"Orthodox" theory erroneous. Why? What is

the Word of God?

Chapter XVIII. — Christ's Mission, Continued

Christ commissioned by His Father — our King — to proclaim pardon to all who would lay down their arms, and take the oath of filial loyalty to their King. Repentance

secures pardon, and the atonement (reconciliation) is complete. False theories refuted. Christ's death on the

cross, to "draw all men unto Himself," was the supreme manifestation of divine love and anxiety to save every rebellious human child of God. Christ is the Mercy-Seat,

where God and sinful men meet face to face; and through whom, as our High Priest we are "reconciled to God."

Chapter XIX. — Errors of Translation Corrected

In 1611 bigotry rendered an unprejudiced translation of passages on the atonement impossible.

Chapter XX. — Saved by the Blood

Hinted in the acceptance of Abel's offering. Utility

indicated in its shielding the families of Israel, when the

destroying angel went through Egypt. Memorialized in

the Passover. A fundamental doctrine of the Christian

religion. A thorough study of the whole process of being

saved. The blood of Christ is His divine life. The

zoosperm of the second birth. Symbolized in the Lord's

Supper.

Chapter XXI. — The Kingdom of Christ. Not strictly synonymous with the Kingdom of God

Beginning small. — Hindrances to its progress. Correct

principles prevailing. Triumph certain. — We are ambassadors. An ambassador is one of the highest commissioned officers of a government. — His duties treated at length. Conclusion.

Chapter I Before The Beginning — Space, Duration, God

SINCE there was a beginning, and since eternity has no beginning, there must have been a before-the-beginning. Jesus says, John 17 : 5, "Glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world (cosmos) was." There were existences, then, before "the beginning" mentioned in John 1:1; and "the beginning" in John 1 : 1 antedates "the beginning" in Gen. 1: 1. What were those existences? I answer, They were Space, Duration, and God.

Of space and duration little need be said except that, indisputably, they are self-existent and infinite. They simply exist, have existed, and must continue to exist. They have no life, no thought, no activity, no attributes of any kind; and the conception of their existence is intuitive. We may note, however, in passing, that space furnishes the room within which to plant the universe (the cosmos) ; and duration, the time necessary for its growth, its evolution.

The conception of God is different. Since life, thought, and efficient activity belong to Him; and since we become acquainted with no such facts by observation or experience unconnected with efficient causation, the inquiry arises instinctively, How do we know there is such a Being? In searching for an answer to this question, we are forced to the alternative of admitting that our notion that events result from efficient causes is a delusion, or of assuming, without any further evidence than the necessity of the case, that there is a self-existent, uncaused Cause, in whom this law of sequence had its origin, and who is the original and all-sufficient Cause of all things that have had a beginning. In a text-book on Logic, that stands on a shelf directly in front of me as I write, I find the following: — "Demonstration implies either an infinite series of dependent propositions or an ultimate basis. There can be no demonstration by means of an infinite series of dependent propositions; for, to prove one proposition by another, and that by another, and so on ad infinitum, would require infinite time, and is, therefore, impossible. Hence demonstration requires an ultimate basis. It must, therefore be an assumption or an intuition. It cannot be an assumption ; for then it would not be known to be true, and might be false, and demonstration would be impossible. The ultimate basis must, therefore, be an intuition, and the validity of demonstration implies the validity of intuitions." This ultimate basis of all inductive reasoning is the intuition that there is a self-existent, uncaused Cause that we call God.

What, then, or who, is God? Is it, or He, a latent, incomprehensible, intelligent energy, working spontaneously in what we call nature, or is there an intelligent Person, in whose very nature resides, without any causative intervention or agency, all the characteristics, faculties, and functions that we recognize as belonging to and constituting personality?

This is the first question to be determined in a

BEFOEE THE BEGINNING 17

treatise respecting a kingdom. If there is no personal God, there is no King; and if there is no King, there is no kingdom. No other question has ever taxed the inventive genius of master minds in search of truth as this has. It is unlike all other questions in that comparison and illustration by means of other objects are utterly excluded. "To whom will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him ?"

Five distinct and ingenious arguments have been elaborated with careful study of the facts and laws of the natural universe, based upon the well-established fact that all personal beings manifest their real self in their works. These arguments have been entitled, "Ontological," "Cosmological," "Psychological," "Teleological," and Moral. A brief statement of each of these arguments is necessary in order to show its insufficiency; and to prepare the way for what I consider the only positive, unquestionable evidence of God's personality that He has ever given to the world.

The ontological argument seems to have been elaborated by Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the latter part of the eleventh century, A. D. In the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia this argument is stated in these words : — "There is something than which nothing greater can be conceived. This something must exist in reality as well as in the intellect; for, if it exists only in the intellect, then something greater than it could be conceived." The objection to this argument, as stated in the encyclopedia referred to, "lies in comparing that which has objective existence with a conception as having mere subjective existence, and declaring the former to be greater than the latter." Perhaps that may suffice for those who can find no better. It suffices at least to show that the argument is unsatisfactory. My objection to it is this : — Whether logically valid or not, it has no weight as evidence that the "Something than which nothing greater can be conceived" is a person.

The cosmological argument is suggested by the universal law of cause and effect; and is based upon the hypothesis that no chain of successive causes and effects can be infinite. It must terminate somewhere in an uncaused cause, and that uncaused Cause is God. This argument has had the support of such authorities as Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Leibnitz, and others; but its validity has been denied by Samuel Clark, Immanuel Kant, and others equally distinguished. For my part I accept the force of the argument ; but it only assumes that the uncaused cause is a person, furnishing no positive evidence whatever of that fact. It is not sufficient. It can be evaded.

The psychological argument was first presented by Descartes, in the early part of the seventeenth century. This argument, as stated by the late President Fairchild, Professor of Theology in Oberlin Seminary, in his Elements of Theology, is this: — "We have the idea of an infinite and perfect Being. There must be an archetype corresponding to this idea." On this argument he remarks, "The argument seems to rest upon the assumption that all ideas which we necessarily have, and cannot be without, have a reality corresponding with them. Thus the idea is proof of the reality. This assumption is scarcely valid. The idea may be explained on other grounds. The idea of an infinite and perfect being is the natural correlative of ourselves as imperfect. The two ideas cannot be separated;

each implies the other. Thus the supposed axiom that every such idea implies an existence corresponding with it falls to the ground."

Without questioning the validity of this objection, I have a still stronger one. Granting that an idea of an infinite and perfect something does imply the existence of an archetype corresponding, in which may be found all the intelligence and energy manifest in the material universe, that does not necessitate the conclusion that that intelligence and that energy reside in a person, The atheistic notion that matter is eternal, that it is impossible that something should be made out of nothing, and that intelligence and energy are inherent in matter itself, remains unanswered, untouched.

The teleological argument is the oldest of them all. From the masterly order of the universe, the adaptation of means to ends, the wonderful mechanism of the entire creation, especially of the human body, by which it is fitted for its multitudinous utilities, and the evidence of useful design in every thing with which we come in contact, the conclusion is drawn that there is an intelligent designer; and that designer is God. The argument is a strong one; and has found favor with the most distinguished theologians in the world. Still it, like others, is not conclusive. Some of the facts claimed have been disputed, and many of them need explanation. Deformities, diseases, pestilences, blights, destructive tornadoes, and earthquakes, and many other evils seem quite out of harmony with the hypothesis of a benevolent personal designer. Nevertheless, the argument is true so far as it goes. It proves intelligent design, and assumes a personal designer, which does not positively follow.

If God had never given to the world more positive proof of His personality than is shown by either or all these arguments, it is at least doubtful that any finite mind, with all the facts and phenomena of matter, soul, and spirit under careful observation, would ever have conceived the idea of a personal author of the whole. Beasts, birds, insects, even vegetable life, seem to possess inherent intelligence, and give no indication of having received it from any higher source. The beaver builds her dam with the skill and ingenuity of a master mechanic. The bee constructs her honey-cell with the ingenuity and precision of a geometrician. The spider weaves her web with mathematical accuracy and perfect knowledge of the strength of the material used, and the amount of material necessary at each point of the beautiful fabric. The entire oak is anticipated and perfectly planned in the acorn. The rootlets of the pansy select from the earth, with certainty and precision that no chemist can surpass, the different materials necessary for its stem, its leaf, its flower; each atom finds its way to the place designed for it with unfailing certainty ; and where is the artist that paints, with a skill and delicacy that no human hand can equal, the peculiar artistic design of its petals? Even inanimate matter shows intelligence in the chemical combinations of all its crystalline forms, from a drop of water or a breath of air, to the mightiest orbs that hang free in open space, and pursue their inconceivable whirl and onward rush through limitless and trackless regions during ages inconceivable, without collision, and without the variation of an instant of time.

In the presence of all these facts, and myriads more of the same kind, it is just as easy for one who is so

BEFOBE THE BEGINNING 21

disposed, even with the concept of an infinite and intelligent person also in his mind, to claim that matter is eternal, and that all these evidences of an intelligent plan intelligently executed are inherent in it, as to discover in them evidences of a supreme, intelligent person, to whose "everlasting power and divinity" they should all be attributed. From all these facts and arguments, the fact of a personal, self-existent, uncaused Cause, who has created the whole, and whose infinite intelligence presides over and directs the whole, according to a complete and intelligent plan, conceived and ordained before the first creative fiat was spoken, is only an inference. But there is yet one more hypothesis to be considered.

The moral argument is based upon the facts of man's moral and spiritual nature. The soul of man "cries out for the living God." All men believe in an intelligent person superior to themselves. Prayer is universal. Even those who have deluded themselves into the belief that there is no personal God cry out for superhuman help in time of peril ; and their cry is not to the forces of nature, but to a Supreme Person, who can help if He will.

The soul of man, being endowed with life, dynamic forces, and will-power, being also conscious of defects, imperfections, and limitations in the use of these powers, must inquire, especially in the presence of such displays of superhuman forces as he often witnesses, "Is there not a supreme, personal Being, who possesses these powers in perfection, without limitation?" Hence he looks for evidences, and makes the most possible of every indication of such a person; but, so far as all these arguments go, he looks in vain. Suggestions, possibilities, even probabilities are not wanting; confirmations of belief in the existence of such a Being, if there is one, abound everywhere ; but where is the positive, unanswerable, unquestionable, satisfactory evidence that must remove every doubt — an argument against which no plausible reason can be found ? Even the moral argument is not satisfactory ; for, deep as is the conscious demand for such a Being, men often cry out for help, with all the earnestness of their imperiled souls, and cry in vain. In the midst of their crying they perish, and unbelievers continually say, "Where is thy God?"

Is there, then, no evidence that is positive and perfectly satisfying on this most vital of all questions? Has God left us to simply hope, and infer, in this condition of distressing doubt and uncertainty? It surely would not be like Him. He must, in simple justice, leave every man without excuse. But, if He has given such evidence, what is it, and where may it be found? I answer, It is found in the Word of God; and every person who finds it will be perfectly satisfied as to its positiveness and reliability. No candid inquirer for truth can find a quibble against it. It cannot be found with such certainty on every page, but it is there.

The invisible God can be known to finite minds only as He has revealed Himself, and if we will know what He has revealed concerning Himself, we must first find wherein and whereby He has made such revelation. The following are fundamental axioms that I have employed as guides in the "Studies" that are compiled in this volume.

1. In His creative works God has revealed His superhuman wisdom to plan, and power to execute, works that are incomprehensible to finite minds. We read in Romans 1 : 20, "The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity." This means that God's infinite power and wisdom — His omnipotence and omniscience — are clearly seen in the wonderful mechanism of the material universe. This is true, but nothing more.

2. In His Word God has revealed many things, of the utmost importance for us to know, that no acquaintance with the material universe could ever even suggest. The following are some of them: — His personality, His essence, His moral agency and character, His fatherhood of the human race, the constitution of man and his moral agency, His method of developing human character, the alienation of all men from the filial love and loyal obedience due Him as "Our Father" — our King, His method of reforming His alienated and rebellious children, and winning them back to filial love and loyal obedience; the rewards of righteousness and the inevitable consequences of wrong-doing, the certainty of a future existence, and the final destiny of the redeemed and of the persistently incorrigible. All these important truths are clearly revealed in the Bible; and not one of them could ever have been discovered by any possible scientific inquiry without it. Physical laws are all in perfect harmony with moral laws, for God's laws never cross one another. The music of the spheres harmonizes perfectly with the music of the soul of man and the Spirit of God; but nothing that is discernable by the physical senses can ever teach spiritual truth. Spiritual things must be spiritually discerned. The Bible is God's revelation of the spiritual facts and spiritual laws that pertain to the relations existing between Himself and His human children. This is the exact meaning of the inspiration of the Bible. He employed human scribes to write it, and the book may contain evidences of this fact, but He is its infallible Author.

Pardon this digression. It was necessary to the understanding of our argument. We were inquiring for positive evidence of the personality of God, our King. My statement was that no argument based upon the wonderful order of creation, either in the material or intellectual world, is sufficient to prove beyond reasonable doubt the personality of the Creator.

The question may be raised right here, What are the invariable and positive characteristics of personality? to which our answer is, The power to use intelligentlyspoken language, and ability to hold intelligent conversation with others, thereby revealing self-consciousness and the consciousness of persons and things outside of self. The intelligent use of the personal pronouns I, my, me, you, your, he, his, him, are also unfailing, indisputable evidences of personality.

We are now prepared to open the Book : but to what passage shall we turn ?

Of the numerous interviews recorded in the Bible, as having been held between men and God, there is one at least that took place under circumstances so extraor dinary, and of a nature so peculiar, that deception cannot be claimed; and the identity of the interlocutors is unmistakable. I refer to God's interview with Moses from the burning bush, recorded in the third and fourth chapters of Exodus. Particular and careful attention to the details of this interview will give us the evidences of the personality of God that we desire. The particulars to be noticed are the following:

1. This interview occurred in one of the most secluded, out-of-the-way localities that can be found on the face of the earth. The first verse of the third chapter reads, "Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his fatherin-law, the priest of Midian : and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, unto Horeb."

At the north end of the Red Sea two arms of the sea extend northward into the land; the one on the west side, called the Gulf of Suez, two hundred miles at the present time, but much further at that time ; the one on the east side, about one hundred miles, called the Gulf of Akaba. The triangular area lying between these gulfs is a part of Arabia Petrea (Rocky Arabia) ; and at the southern point is Horeb, "the mountain of God." The location is such that a thoroughfare of travel is impossible; and the Midianites, at that time, could have known little, if anything, about the rest of the world. Moreover, it is evident that there were no residents in that immediate neighborhood at that time, and no other human being except Moses. "He led his flock to the back of the wilderness." So far as human companionship was concerned, he was alone. No other human being was near him.

2. A green, growing bush, in the full vigor of vegetable life, stood in the midst of the plain, apart from any other bush or tree. While busily engaged in the care of his flock, suddenly, "he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed." Though in the midst of flames of fire, its branches were not consumed, nor were its delicate green leaves scorched. This was a new and astonishing phenomenon.

3. "And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." Moses was no coward, neither was he superstitious. He believed that even this extraordinary event must have a cause, and he wanted to know that cause.

4. As he was cautiously approaching the flaming bush, suddenly a voice falls upon his ear. With clear, distinct utterance his name is called: — "Moses!" — He is startled, stops, looks intently at the bush, from which the voice had manifestlv come. "What is that?" "Who called my name?" — "Moses! Moses." — "Here am I." — "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the ground on which thou standest is holy ground. I am the God thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Who can describe the awe with which he was overwhelmed ? He was standing in the personal presence of the living, ALMIGHTY GOD, in the midst of surroundings where it was impossible to be deceived. The presence of a human being was impossible. He was beyond the reach of any human voice. No man could live in a flame of fire. No person but himself knew anything about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or about the God they worshiped; and knowledge of his father or of the God he worshiped was still farther from being possible.

5. Moses had often been in the presence of the dumb gods of the Egyptians, that knew nothing, and could say nothing, but here was a God who could speak, who could use the personal pronouns I, thou, thy ; who knew his ancestors who lived four hundred years before ; and

BEFOEE THE BEGINNING 27

his father who lived four score years before. What could it all mean? "And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God."

Header, pause a moment and think. Do you not see in this wonderful event, unlike any other of which the world has a record, the divine purpose to give to the world an evidence of the personality of the living God that is in no sense an inference, an induction, nor an assumption; and that cannot be refuted? an evidence so positive and reliable that it must command the unqualified assent of every reasonable intelligent being? But this is only the beginning of the story. Let us follow the record farther.

6. When Moses had recovered somewhat from his overwhelming astonishment and awe, and was brought into a suitable attitude of mind and body — reverential, but calm and self-possessed — this strange personage made an address of considerable length, in a language perfectly understood by Moses, concerning a people with whose history he was well acquainted, showing familiarity with the past history and present condition of that people, which was impossible to any Midianite. Now note the pronouns, as well as the matter, in the following quotation : — "I have surely seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey." "Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt." Can any man evade the conviction that these words were spoken by an intelligent person? and was there a man on earth who could use such language?