Sowing the Seed

The Gospel Ships..

Policemen's Testimonies

By Pearl Fisher..

On the Bay of Cadiz

WHEN

DOUBT OR DOGMATISM?

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HEN the history of our time comes to be written it will certainly not be described as an of faith. age Opinions on many subjects are common enough, convictions are exceedingly rare. Consequently there is little steadfastness and less consistency. In politics or science, however much we may deplore changes, they can often be defended by the plea of fuller or more accurate information. When the human mind has to formulate a creed from such materials as it can itself furnish, it is in most cases impossible to reach a certainty which thereafter can refuse to be questioned. At best the belief is cherished only so long as it is able to give a reasonable account of itself.

It is evident, however, that truth divinely revealed commands alike the intellect, the conscience, and the heart. If there be such a revelation, it judges all men, and is judged of none. Yet, singularly enough, there are many who formally admit the inspiration of Scripture, and, nevertheless, continue to refuse the acknowledgment of its authoritative decisions. They write and speak as if the statements contained in the Bible do not close controversy, and they even venture to propose other solutions of the problems which it professes once for all to have solved. Although the declarations of Scripture are clear and complete, doubt and uncertainty are asserted to be reasonable; or it is argued that dogmatism, which is only another name for certainty, is unworthy, if not unfair. Surely when God has spoken, and we apprehend the meaning of His words, our conviction of the truth contained in His statements cannot be too strong. Let us hold with a loose hand all the knowledge we gain by our own gropings; our grasp of the information conveyed by Heaven to earth cannot be too firm nor can our hold be too tenacious. We know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done

away." This rule may, we think, be fairly applied in determining the relative importance of earthly and heavenly knowledge. No one would venture for a moment to contradict God. Yet this is really what we do when we question, or refuse to receive, any revelation which He has been pleased to make. Our action in so doing is both injurious to ourselves and insulting to Him.

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FAITH OR Feebleness?

N the preface to the fourth edition of his invaluable book on The Gospel and its Ministry, just published, Dr. Anderson writes on this subject with unusual terseness and firmness. He says, and says truly. "In these days men have left off faith. The spirit of "the martyrs is not in them. Opinions have taken the "place of convictions; and the result is a liberality "which is the offspring not of humility and love, but "of indifference and doubt. Opinions are our own, and "should not be too firmly held. Truth is Divine, and "is worth living for and dying for . . . . God has "given us a revelation, and while doubt still lingers "round innumerable questions on which we crave knowledge, Divine certainty is our privilege in respect "of all things that pertain to life and godliness.' Christianity has not to do with opinions. "It is founded on established facts and Divine truth; "and faith based thereon is the heritage of the Church. "Her martyrs knew the power of faith. The truth "they died for was not 'the general sense of Scripture "corrected in the light of reason and conscience,' and "thus reduced to the pulp-like consistency of modern "theology. In the solitude of the dungeon, or amidst "the agonies of the rack, they calmly rested on the "Word of God, and even when assured that all others "had recanted they could stand firmly against both "the world and the Church. Faith, which makes the "unseen a present reality, brought all heaven into "their hearts, and refusing to accept deliverance, they "braved death in every form.

"We are not called upon to wear the martyr's "crown, but it is ours to share the martyr's faith. We "can have no toleration for the veiled scepticism "which is passing for Christianity to-day.. Agnosticism "is Greek for ignorance, and ignorance is both shame"ful and sinful in presence of a Divine revelation. "The Christian is not ignorant; neither is he in "doubt. We do not think this or that; we KNOW. "We know that the Son of God is come.' 'We know "that He was manifested to take away our sins.' "We know that we have passed from death "unto life,' 'We know that if our earthly house

"were dissolved we have a building of God, eternal in "the heavens.' 'We know that when He shall "appear we shall be like Him.' 'We know that He "is able to keep that which we have committed to "Him against that day."

If speech of this sort were more common among Christian men the cause of truth would be better served. By all means let us be extremely modest, and even speak with bated breath when we venture to advance theories or expound opinions of our own; but when we speak the truth of God all such modesty is mockery, and hesitancy of speech is an insult to Him whose message we bear. Where there is uncertainty there is reason for cautiousness, and dogmatism is offensive. When God Himself endorses the facts and commands our faith there is no excuse for feebleness, and the force of our conviction should find utterance in the fearless firmness of our confession.

The tentative timidity with which many preachers handle the strongest sayings of God is disgraceful and demoralizing. They encourage doubt, even if they do not teach it. They seem often to be threading their way through a fog from which they never hope to emerge. If their own minds are thus enclouded and helpless, they should give place to others who are able to move with a free step in the clear air of Heaven. If from choice they choose to live among the swamps and fens, there is no excuse for their petulant and persistent endeavours to drag all their hearers into the same gloomy region. Teachers of truth ought to live on the serene heights, and to allure their scholars there by the bright visions of truth they behold and declare. Faith gives fibre to human hearts, while uncertainty degenerates them by atrophy and doubt paralyzes them.

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FROUDE'S "OCEANA."

E have read with much interest Mr. J. A. Froude's keen and far-sighted observations of Greater Britain." We have followed him to the Cape, to Australia, and to New Zealand, and we have relished greatly his suggestive comments on men and things. We confess, however, to some surprise at a certain undertone of respect for reality in religion, which persists in making itself audible throughout Oceana. Mr. Froude is not generally credited with any strong theological belief, yet, apparently, he values it in others, and has a somewhat pronounced contempt for anything approaching affectation or uncertainty. He writes thus of a church to which he went on a certain Sunday during his stay in Melbourne: "It was a church of the most modern "English type, ornamental, ritualistic, chorister "boys in surplices corresponding to the home pattern. ". . . . an intoned liturgy, and a somewhat ambitious 66 sermon on the English race and its destinies. We "were to regard ourselves as the salt of the earth"as a nation chosen above all the rest to represent "the spirit of Christ. It was good to tell us to exhibit

"Christ's spirit, but was flattering our vanity the "best way to bring us to it? There was once a "sternness in the English character, a hatred of "insincerities and halfsincerities, a contempt for "humbug of all sorts and degrees. Where is it now? "Extinct? or only sleeping, and by and by to "awake?"

We fear, if these questions were honestly answered, the extinction of this ancient sternness would have to be admitted so far as the Anglican priesthood are concerned. There is a self-complacency and assumption among the foolish priestlings who ape Rome, which is what medical writers call pathognomic. In plainer language, the modern ecclesiastical disease has this character of self-conceit singularly peculiar to itself and distinguishing it broadly from others. We met a very good example of it in a little manual of Church history, where the writer, when he came to narrate the events of the sixteenth century, naïvely said, "At this time the Church of Rome seceded from the Church of England." It would not be easy to excel the magnificence of such conceit as this!

On another occasion Mr. Froude, speaking of the guests he met at a dinner party in the neighbourhood of Sydney, says: "The person whom I liked best "was Lady Allen's father, a beautiful old clergyman "of eighty-two, who told me that he had read all my "books, that he disapproved deeply of much that he "had found in them, but that he had formed notwithstanding a sort of regard for the writer. He "followed me into the hall when we went away, and gave me his blessing. Few gifts have ever been "bestowed on me in this world which I have valued "more."

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Of no man whom he met during his wanderings does Mr. Froude speak more highly than of Sir George Grey. He writes: "Twenty-five years ago he was "governor at the Cape, and is, I believe, the only "person that ever held that trying position who won "the hearts of all classes there-English, Dutch, "and coloured equally. 'Send us back Sir George "Grey,' was the cry of the whole of them when I was "there. Send us back Sir George Grey. He under"stands us. He will set us right.'"

Concerning this ex-governor of New Zealand, whom the Maoris call their "white father," Mr. Froude writes: "A simple but genuine evangelical piety "controlled the issues of all his speculations. He "believes absolutely in Providence; he has a fixed con"viction that the Lord of all the earth will do right."

Perhaps, however, another extract, which we ven. ture to give from Oceana is more suggestive still. During the voyage from New Zealand to the Sandwich Islands Mr. Froude listened to a sermon from "a young Dissenter of metaphysical tendencies," who, being over-ambitious, he tells us, blundered into an ancient heresy. Commenting on this, Mr. Froude makes these shrewd and significant reflections:Everyone nowadays goes in for amateur philosophy

"Oh for one hour of blind old Dandolo," I some"times am inclined to cry. Oh for the hard voice of "the uncompromising Genevan, who knew, at least, "that lies were not truth, and that if taken into the "soul they worked like poison there. The Genevans "are extinct as the dodo, and the moa. Tolerance means at bottom that no one knows anything "about the matter, and that one opinion is as good "as another. Is there nothing which can be surely "known? Is it true, for instance, that on the track "of all evil deeds there follow avenging hell "hounds from which there is no escape'? If such "hounds there be, it is dangerous to leave their "existence an open question for fools to doubt about. "One opinion on that subject is clearly not so good as "another, and we may recollect, to our advantage, "how wise men have thought about it in other "days."

It is high time preachers of the Gospel were taking heed to their ways, when an historian, who is not recognised as a severe theological critic, rates them so sharply. Either there is a system of theological truth taught in the Bible, or there is not. If there be such a system, theologians had better discover it, and stand by it; if there be none, there is no further use for theologians.

Our modern Rationalists, who are doing their best to discredit Scripture, do not seem to know that they are sawing off the branch on which they are perched. For so soon as they induce congregations to believe that the Bible they profess to expound is not an inspired revelation, present interest in it must inevitably cease, and at no distant date congregations will refuse to assemble for the purpose of studying a volume which then shall be thought to have no more than a common human authority.

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BY FRANK H. WHITE.

Word.

HERE is one Scripture impressed very much on my mind. It is that word addressed by the Apostle Paul to his son in the faith, "I suffer trouble, as an evil-doer, even unto bonds; but the Word of God is not bound." And another Scripture is, "The Scripture cannot be broken."

Thus there are two things which cannot happen to the Word of God. It cannot be broken, and it cannot be bound. The Lord Jesus Christ says it cannot be broken, the Apostle Paul says it cannot be bound. Paul himself was bound, the Word of God was not. It can neither be broken nor bound. It is both firm and free. As Chrysostom says, "The teacher was bound, and the Word flew abroad; he inhabited his prison, and the Word ran all over the world." Men can burn the Book of God, but they cannot bind the Word itself. Rome has burned the Scriptures over and over again, and that but very recently, and is prepared to do so again, whenever and wherever she has the power. In proof of this let me refer you to an extract, which appears this week in a Christian paper, from a Roman Catholic periodical, entitled La Bandera Catolica ("The Catholic Banner"), printed in Barcelona, and bearing the date of July 29th, 1883. It refers to the burning of a large number of Gospels by order of the Government in Barcelona. This is what it says, "Thank God we have turned towards the times when heretical doctrines were persecuted as they should be, and when those who propagated them were punished with exemplary punishment. Catholic Barcelona, the country of St. Eudalia, and of blessed Oriol, had the very great pleasure of witnessing an Auto da Fe' in the last part of this nineteenth century, on the 25th inst., the festival of the Apostle James, as in the Custom House yard of this city one of the most glorious traditions of the Catholic religion was carried out by the burning of Protestant books, destined to pervert the tender hearts of our children, There is but a step between this event which we now record and the setting up of the Holy Inquisition,..... What we now want is the goodwill and united efforts of pure and true Catholics, ... The re-establishment of the Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition must soon take place. Its reign will be more glorious and fruitful in results than in the past, and the number of those who will be called to suffer under it will far exceed the number of the past...... Our Catholic heart overflows with enthusiasm, and the immense joy which we experience as we begin to reap the fruit of our present campaign exceeds all imagination. What a day of pleasure will that be for us when we see Freemasons, Spiritualists, Freethinkers, and anti-clericals writhing in the flames of the Inquisition!" Then follow some horrible statistics of those who have suffered under "the holy tribunal" from the year 1481 to 1808, when this venerable institution was abolished. According to their own showing, no less than thirtyfive thousand five hundred and thirty-four men and women were burned to death "under the ministry of forty-five holy" (diabolical) "inquisitor-generals."

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Rome burns the Bible as she fain would burn those who love and read it: Rome cherishes unchanged and unmitigated enmity towards the truth and Word of God,

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Yet the Word of God is not bound. It may be bruised, sorely wounded even in the house of its friends, but who can bind it? Rome burns it, others build over it. It can be built over with the commandments of men, bedaubed with vile corruptions, but it cannot be broken or bound. Why not? Because it has certain characteristics which make this impossible. Some of these I will mention.

1. Consider its DIVINITY. It is the Word of God. God Himself is its sole Author. It bears on its every page the stamp of inspiration. This is its true glory. In this it is distinguished from all other books, even the very best. Such at the best are but the words of man. What are all other books to this Book? "What is the chaff to the wheat?" saith the Lord.

"There are many books," says old John Newton, "which are like halfpence, a great quantity goes to a small amount; there are silver books and there are a very few golden books; but I have one Book worth them all, called the Bible."

It is not enough to say the Bible is inspired-many admit that; while behind all their talk they mean nothing. This Book is inspired not merely as Milton, Shakespeare, and Homer were, but in a sense beyond and apart from them all. It is inspired as no other book is, inspired-every word of it as well as every truth it contains-by God Himself. And this it is gives the true Divinity to the Word of God. I believe, that is to say, in the plenary inspiration of the Word of God. I was reading the other day these noble words of Bishop Ryle :

"I feel no hesitation in avowing that I believe in the plenary inspiration of every word of the original text of Holy Scripture. I hold, not only that the Bible contains the Word of God, but that every jot of it was written or brought together by Divine inspiration, and is the Word of God." In all its fulness it is to be received and held. The writers of the Sacred Book were not only inspired as to the matter, but also as to the choice of words they used. Oh, let us hold fast at all costs to the verbal inspiration, the Divinity of the Scriptures!

2. And this Divinity involves INFALLIBILITY, i.e., freedom from error. We are liable to err, we may err greatly in our interpretations of it, but the Word itself cannot err. "The law of the Lord is perfect," as are His works. Can we find any flaw in the works of God? Can we improve upon the sun, or the moon, or the stars? Yet has He magnified His Word above all His name.

3. Further, this Divinity and Infallibility involve CERTAINTY. It is a sure Word. The sayings of this Book are faithful; nay, are true and righteous altogether. His Word is truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The Scriptures cannot be broken.

ever.

4. Still further, there is involved PURITY. The commandments of the Lord are pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for Human tradition, however ancient, is a muddy stream at the best. The Word of God may be likened to that river that went out from Eden "to water the garden" or, rather, like that other river, the river of the water of life, "bright as crystal," that proceedeth out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. "Thy Word is very pure; therefore Thy servant loveth it."

5. Another characteristic is its INFINITY. The Word of God is exhaustless. "The more," says Bishop Jewel, " you lave it forth the fresher it runs. It is the fire of God's glory; the more you blow it the

clearer it burneth. It is the corn of the Lord's field, the more you grind it the more it yieldeth. It is the bread of God; the more it is broken and given forth the more there remaineth." Other books soon have their day, but not so the Bible. It endureth. Of very thousand books that are published, 650 are forgotten by the end of the year, and only fifty survive seven years of publicity. But the Word of the Lord endureth for ever.

6. The last characteristic I would mention is FINALITY. The Canon is closed. The Book is complete. No addition; no alteration; no erasure. "It is written." God has no afterthoughts. He is not a man. What He has written, He has written. "Concerning Thy testimonies, I have known of old, Thou hast founded them for ever." There is a solemn warning in the end of this Book against those who would add to or take from its words. Yet men dare to do even this. What will not vain man dare to do, if they will wilfully tamper with the very Word of God? When the Church of Rome could no longer keep back the Scriptures from the people, she, with her usual cunning, gave them an altered Bible, which, indeed, is no Bible at all. How inexpressibly sad that good men should be a party in any way to its distribution!

One word more and I have done. This blessed Book, which can neither be broken nor bound, we have. God Himself has put it into our hands: what shall we do with it? While Rome hates it and the world at large holds it in contempt, let us honour it. After preaching in Boston a few months since, the pastor of the church remarked at the close, "Brother White, you are like all English men and Scotchmen, you hug the Word." Even so, this would we do more and more. Dear friends, let us "hug the Word' closer and closer. It warms and comforts our hearts. Let us not, however, forget our responsibility to hold it forth, and to help forward by our prayers, our money, and our lifelong endeavours, its world-wide circulation. Amen and Amen.

Remarkable" Answers to Prayer.

BY EMILY HUNTINGTON MILLER.

IN N one of our American contemporaries just to hand we find the following striking, though homely, setting of an important truth-too apt to be forgotten. We believe our readers will be interested in its reproduction in our pages:

The deacon had been reading aloud an article on " Remarkable Answers to Prayer," and now he paused, laid the book carefully on his knee, and took out his big bandanna to polish the spectacles that had somehow become blurred before he finished that last narration.

"I declare, Hitty, it does seem like getting back to the days of miracles to read of such wonderful answers to prayer coming to folks."

"Yes," said Aunt Hitty, slowly, "but I was thinking, after all, it wasn't the answers that were remarkable so much as the prayers."

Well, I don' know; most of the prayers ain't specified, but them that be 'pear to be just simple, plain sort of askin'."

"That's just it, Daniel; plain asking has gone out of fashion, and that's the main reason why it seems so remarkable to us when people ask for anything and get it. Why, the Lord Jesus Himself set us the example of comparing our Heavenly Father to ourselves, and trying to find out how we would act toward our children if we were in His place-onl He warned us to make allowance for our being evil; I suppose that means cross, and selfish, and unreasonable, as we all are sometimes. Now, I leave it to you, Daniel, to say

MAY 6, 1888.

what you'd think if you should read such things as this in the paper:Remarkable instance of a father's generosity. Judge Whitaker yesterday received a letter from his daughter, informing him that she and her family were in great distress owing to the recent floods in Missouri, and asking for money to relieve their immediate wants. The father sent the money at once, with assurances of his love. This remarkable case is attested by credible witnesses.'

"Or how would this sound?'

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Remarkable response to a son's appeal. The young son of Senator Dart having been taken ill on the Continent, and being entirely out of funds, and among strangers, drew upon his father by telegraph, as he had been previously instructed to do in case of any emergency. Wonderful as it may seem, his father honoured the draft at once to its full amount.'

The Deacon chuckled a little in a protesting fashion, as if afraid to fully commit himself to a laugh, lest it might not be quite compatible with proper reverence.

66 Well, well, Hitty, that does sound sort of ridiculous, but You see, it I don' know as we can expect to bring spiritooal things down to a level with business transactions. makes a difference that we none of us have any claim on the Lord; it's all free grace on His part, whether He gives us anything; we don't deserve the least of all His mercies.

"Doesn't seem to me, Daniel, it's a question of deserving; it's a question of what the Lord has promised, and whether He's going to keep His word. There are the promises, and I don't see how they could be any broader or any more positive. Why, just let me read you some."

Aunt Hitty took up the Bible, that opened of its own accord to John, and read:

"If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it.' 'Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name He will Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may give it you.'

be full.""

to.

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When we

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Seeing with One Eye.

MONG my friends and acquaintances there is a missionary At for his skill and tact in dealing with individual cases. one time a Christian master of a large carpenter's shop sought his services in behalf of his foreman.

"He is profane, a scoffer, and a sceptic," he said. "I cannot do anything with him, and I cannot get along without him, he is such an excellent workman."

The missionary promised to see what he could do. Frequently he visited the shop, speaking to one and another of the journeymen, but sedulously avoiding the foreman, until his curiosity was thoroughly aroused. At last the opporSeeing the foreman squinting tunity waited for came. along a board to see if it was straight, the skill and tact of the missionary seized upon the occasion. Stepping up to the workman, he said, "Now is it not strange that a man with two good eyes can see better with one?"

With a hearty laugh, the foreman answered, "Well, I never thought of that, but it is true sometimes."

Yes, it is true; and that reminds me of a verse in the Bible, 'If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light; but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.' I guess you had better think of that;' and the missionary left him.

However, the wedge was in, the workman's respect was As he said afterwards, won, and his mind set to thinking. he could never run his eye along a board without the words coming to mind, and an inquiry as to their meaning. Slowly and patiently the missionary followed up his advantage, until at last the heart yielded, and the scoffer became a humble but zealous follower of Christ. The last I heard of him, some years ago, he was a faithful steward in a church and superintendent of the Sunday school.

Good News from Marseilles.-New and excellent premises have just been secured, on a four year's lease, on the quay, for the work amongst sailors of all nationalities, under the direction of our brother, Mr. C. F. Faithfull. He is at present in England with the view of enlisting the practical sympathy of the friends of sailors in raising the sum of six hundred pounds. A considerable part of this is required immediately for rent and necessary alterations of removal to the new premises. All communications may be addressed to our care, Editor Word and Work, 48, Paternoster Row, E.C.

Southsea Conference.-Owing to illness, Mr. Thwaites has been obliged to give up Newport, Isle of Wight, Conference this year. He urges his friends to unite in the Southsea Conference to be held May 18th, 19th, and 20th. In his letter, Rev. F. Baldey, St. Simon's, Southsea, says: Our subjects will be The "Life, the Walk, and the Victory of Faith." Tuesday, May 18th, "The Life of Faith, a Manifestation of the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ." Wednesday, May 19th, "The Walk of Faith, a Manifestation of the Walk (disposition, character, service) of the Lord Jesus Christ." Thursday, May 20th, "The Victory of Faith, A Manifestation of the Victory of the Lord Jesus Christ." My design in proposing these subject is that which the Rev. W. Romaine proposed to himself when he prepared his treatise on the Life of Faith, viz. :-" to display the glory and all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to encourage weak believers to glorify Him more, by depending and living more upon His allsufficiency."