1872 51 Our judgments prove our own state as much and more than that of which we judge. They may be just, or on just; they may be just and not charitable, or the true righteousness of God and zeal for Him in contrast with false charity.
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1872 106 Psalm 14 and Isaiah 59, which the Apostle Paul quotes as proofs of sin in the Jews, both end with deliverance in Jerusalem by power. In Romans 3 the sin is met by present justification through the blood of Jesus. What a testimony to the difference between Christianity and the future kingdom of Jehovah!
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Baptism. 1873 240 The paper from Heckmondwike is merely a reproduction of the Campbellite heresy, which confounds water-baptism (important in its place) with the baptism of the Spirit, and even with justification by faith. Of course the writer overlooks the difference between an institution which applies according to the Lord's intention initiatorily with a moral point which is always binding. But the paper is too unintelligent and excitable in its extravagant vehemence to injure any but the writer or such as are already far astray. Not even the simplest will be misled, if they look to the Lord and bow to His word. Exaggeration defeats itself; especially when it makes a form vital, to the ruin of all who so err.
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1873 271 From Cape Breton Island were sent two numbers of a British serial, peculiar enough in this that they reproduce extracts from a pamphlet on Church Discipline, which the author, living in New Zealand, has himself retracted. It was no wonder; for just think of anyone committing the mistake of fancying, because there is no article in the Greek, that the correct (!) rendering of 1 Corinthians 12:27 is, "Now ye are a body of Christ." A little more knowledge would have guarded against this, but as usual, what is unfounded takes with partisans. The Editor of the little magazine speaks of "many expressions of thankfulness." It is well that all such should weigh the fact that God has taught not a few in New Zealand the error of this tract, without one word of external criticism or comment. Indeed, the whole reasoning is unsound and the tendency unholy.
Fragments.
1873 272 Compare Deuteronomy 31:25, and Acts 20:17, 29, etc. The analogy is very remarkable.
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There is the age of the law, and the age to come, that is, the age of the Messiah. The Jews believed there would be much more grace in the last, and in a sense they were right. (At present, all is in suspense as to the ages: we are heavenly.) Those who blasphemed against the Spirit, even under the Messiah, should not be pardoned. They owned that Christ cast out demons; they owned the acts of power; thus they sinned with deliberate knowledge. If they had said that it was imposture, there might have been pardon for them.
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What is it hinders Christians from obeying? At bottom, the world.
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Can you lose your salvation? Yes, if it depended on me.
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There is no true sanctification for me, if I am not perfectly sure of my salvation.
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You will never find a heretic who is a sincere man. A heretic is a man who teaches an error as an affair of sect. If two parties are made in the church without quitting it, there is schism, as we see generally at Corinth. Heresy in scripture is a party without.
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The flesh may be bold or fearful, and may be both in the same man. Moses killed the Egyptian; and later he says, "I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue."
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2 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 4:10. The apostle held himself as morally dead. Hence, when death presented itself, he was more than conqueror. It could only bring him to Christ.
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2 Corinthians 4:11. When Paul passed through sufferings destined to break down the flesh, he endured sufferings for Christ. In a sense it is perfection. With us alas! discipline often mixes with it.
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2 Corinthians 4:12. Death wrought in Paul in such a sort that the flesh did not stir. He was so truly dead that Christ only lived in him. That left the life of Jesus on Paul's part to act with regard to the Corinthians.
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Up to the end of Romans 4 justification goes no farther than remission. There are in this epistle four things which justify: God, grace, blood, and faith; but up to that the positive side of justification is still wanting.
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Romans 5:19. The proof of righteousness is that, on the accomplishment of His work, God has exalted Christ to His right hand. Christ has done the thing in which righteousness is accomplished.