1885 Watch Tower - A2Z.org
1885 Watch Tower - A2Z.org 1885 Watch Tower - A2Z.org
was effected, and a resolution unanimously adopted by a risingvote, asserting the right of the congregation to control its owntemporal affairs, and demanding that Father Leyden either accept astipulated salary, or withdraw from the pastorate. The case isattracting unusual attention.R800 : page 4====================IS FAITH IN CHRIST ESSENTIAL?--FAITH OR WORKS?THE OPINIONS OF EMINENT PRESBYTERIAN ANDMETHODIST THEOLOGIANS AS TO THE FATE OF THEHEBREW PHILANTHROPIST, SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE,DECEASED.The death of the eminent Jewish philanthropist has raised aquestion among some of the religious journals concerning hisfuture. All agree that he was a godly man as well as benevolent.Nor were his kind deeds done solely to his own people. His heartwas large enough to sympathize with all classes of his fellow-menin need. And many Christians shared in his bounty. Moreover, hedied like a man at peace with God. The Christian Register(Unitarian) refers to this case in this way: "Judging the tree by itsfruits, how few professed Christians might dare to compare theirlife with his! Yet, according to the doctrine which still holds themind of Christendom in bondage and darkness, this great, pure,faithful soul was fatally self-deceived, and has passed to endlesssorrow. When will so-called believers dare to interpret all narrowerScriptures in the light of Peter's great discovery-- that 'he thatfeareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him'?"R800 : page 5In the Independent, of September 17th, A.A. Hodge, D.D., for thePresbyterian Church, and Daniel Curry, D.D., for the Methodists,endeavor to free their respective systems from the narrow viewwhich would exclude such a man from salvation. Dr. Hodgeconcedes that while participation in the benefits of Christ'sredemption is "generally conditioned upon personal recognition andconfession" of Christ, and while this is essential wheneverintellectually possible, it "is not absolutely essential, as is proved inthe case of infants and of idiots. On like grounds of principle, itmight hold true in the case of some exceptionally enlightenedheathen. The charitable formula of 'invincible ignorance,' used andgreatly abused by Romanists, rests ultimately upon a true principle,and has always been practically, more or less, recognized byorthodox Christians." He then goes on to argue for a favorablejudgment in Sir Moses Montefiore's case because, either throughintellectual bias, or through national Jewish prejudice, the trueChrist was never apprehended by him, only a distorted image, and
therefore never consciously rejected. "Or, very probably, loving andembracing the real Jesus in his heart, his intellectual bias andnational and social position may have so modified his expression ofChristian faith, as to render it unrecognizable to us."Dr. Hodge's principles here are wide enough to embrace many othercases than that of this pious Jew. His article is a gratifying instanceof a growth of a "wider hope" even among theological circles whereit has been put under the severest ban. Certainly there is growthhere away from the severe statements of the WestminsterConfession, upon which the Christian Register seems to have basedits cavil. For instance, it affirms (p. 212), "They who have neverheard the gospel, know not Jesus Christ, and believe not in him,cannot be saved, be they never so diligent to frame their livesaccording to the light of Nature, or the laws of that religion whichthey profess; neither is there salvation in any other but in Christalone, who is the Saviour only of his body, the Church."It is difficult to make the above concession of Dr. Hodge, in respectto "some exceptionally enlightened heathen," accord with thestatement just quoted. This proves that even he is progressing atsome points beyond the "Standards." It is certain that, with the largeChristian heart we know him to possess, he must seek reliefsomewhere.In our view, however, this relief is found in a more consistent waythan by a strained interpretation of the standards. It is better toconfess that there are some lines of Scripture truth bearing uponthis point which they do not include. It would be more consistentfor Dr. Hodge to hold that, while the salvation of the elect proceedswithin the narrow limits which the Calvinistic system has traced outfrom Scripture, provision is made for other and wider operations ofgrace, of which they are the chosen instruments, outside these limitsand beyond this present age. The purpose of the choice of theChurch of the first-born is that they may be kings and priests untoGod in carrying out his gracious purposes towards the later born.The enigma of the future of pious Jews and heathens would not beso hard to solve on this principle. Better than the opening wide thedoor into the church, by such accommodating expositions of theterms of admission, is that view which regards it as a body of calledand chosen and faithful ones, who enter only by the door and walkin the strait and narrow way of the cross, thus offering themselvesin sacrifice, not merely to secure their own salvation, but as ameans of blessing for others,-- baptized even for the dead.Whatever hope we may have for others, outside the Church, mustbe sought in the wide promises of God that in this chosen seed allthe families of the earth are to be blessed.There is still another principle bearing upon this subject which hasbeen too much overlooked, and which needs now to be brought outof Scripture with fresh force and urged upon the attention of theChurch and of all men. And that is that the one ultimate standard ofadmission to blessedness in the future, is character. The saints of
- Page 389 and 390: have been the smallest; and during
- Page 391 and 392: alarmed and are holding meetings to
- Page 393 and 394: ONE MEDIATOR.There is "one mediator
- Page 395 and 396: itterness and wrath and anger... be
- Page 397 and 398: How clearly the Scriptures guard us
- Page 399 and 400: cancel the penalty of the violated
- Page 401 and 402: lood," by "better sacrifices" than
- Page 403 and 404: Virgin Mary, say they, would not ta
- Page 405 and 406: eceive the message of redemption an
- Page 407 and 408: since heard and accepted have had t
- Page 409 and 410: As our Redeemer he bought us. His s
- Page 411 and 412: R792 : page 7But that their covenan
- Page 413 and 414: truly while all were under "the cur
- Page 415 and 416: the re-engrafting of the original b
- Page 417 and 418: R794 : page 8====================H.
- Page 419 and 420: would have been the same (i.e. perf
- Page 421 and 422: R795 : page 1VOL. VII.PITTSBURGH, P
- Page 423 and 424: Christ our Lord. (2 Cor. 4:6.) Pulp
- Page 425 and 426: The doctrine, in accord with both r
- Page 427 and 428: "Who would write a bulky treatise a
- Page 429 and 430: Scripture, which from their astound
- Page 431 and 432: It is small, but it is empty,And th
- Page 433 and 434: Christ? It implies first that our W
- Page 435 and 436: the blind and impotent in Judea, an
- Page 437 and 438: manner. The earnestness of the serv
- Page 439: While the offered prayer is to God
- Page 443 and 444: distinctly states that men who have
- Page 445 and 446: will be estimated both by God and m
- Page 447 and 448: to give a "Gospel address" on Sunda
- Page 449 and 450: denunciation is uttered in Matt. 21
- Page 451 and 452: under favor, yet it is our privileg
- Page 453 and 454: held that the wicked would be cut o
- Page 455 and 456: me to think of restoring, and in do
- Page 457 and 458: the wrongs done. In your case you m
- Page 459 and 460: Jesus fulfilled its requirements an
- Page 461 and 462: R806 : page 1VOL. VII.PITTSBURGH, P
- Page 463 and 464: unto God," workmen needing not to b
- Page 465 and 466: He saw that he could no longer spri
- Page 467 and 468: has had to be done by letter so far
- Page 469 and 470: page 2Topeka, Kansas, Nov. 2, 1885.
- Page 471 and 472: How then doth David in spirit [i.e.
- Page 473 and 474: sit thou, etc." It is well that we
- Page 475 and 476: annihilated --as to need another Fa
- Page 477 and 478: according to his own purpose and gr
- Page 479 and 480: unto them, is found only in one sec
- Page 481 and 482: to death. Abraham, the recipient of
- Page 483 and 484: unite with Catholics, or try to, it
- Page 485 and 486: The Church of Rome has taken advant
- Page 487 and 488: never be built in to the glorious s
- Page 489 and 490: that Jesus declared, Few there be t
was effected, and a resolution unanimously adopted by a risingvote, asserting the right of the congregation to control its owntemporal affairs, and demanding that Father Leyden either accept astipulated salary, or withdraw from the pastorate. The case isattracting unusual attention.R800 : page 4====================IS FAITH IN CHRIST ESSENTIAL?--FAITH OR WORKS?THE OPINIONS OF EMINENT PRESBYTERIAN ANDMETHODIST THEOLOGIANS AS TO THE FATE OF THEHEBREW PHILANTHROPIST, SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE,DECEASED.The death of the eminent Jewish philanthropist has raised aquestion among some of the religious journals concerning hisfuture. All agree that he was a godly man as well as benevolent.Nor were his kind deeds done solely to his own people. His heartwas large enough to sympathize with all classes of his fellow-menin need. And many Christians shared in his bounty. Moreover, hedied like a man at peace with God. The Christian Register(Unitarian) refers to this case in this way: "Judging the tree by itsfruits, how few professed Christians might dare to compare theirlife with his! Yet, according to the doctrine which still holds themind of Christendom in bondage and darkness, this great, pure,faithful soul was fatally self-deceived, and has passed to endlesssorrow. When will so-called believers dare to interpret all narrowerScriptures in the light of Peter's great discovery-- that 'he thatfeareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him'?"R800 : page 5In the Independent, of September 17th, A.A. Hodge, D.D., for thePresbyterian Church, and Daniel Curry, D.D., for the Methodists,endeavor to free their respective systems from the narrow viewwhich would exclude such a man from salvation. Dr. Hodgeconcedes that while participation in the benefits of Christ'sredemption is "generally conditioned upon personal recognition andconfession" of Christ, and while this is essential wheneverintellectually possible, it "is not absolutely essential, as is proved inthe case of infants and of idiots. On like grounds of principle, itmight hold true in the case of some exceptionally enlightenedheathen. The charitable formula of 'invincible ignorance,' used andgreatly abused by Romanists, rests ultimately upon a true principle,and has always been practically, more or less, recognized byorthodox Christians." He then goes on to argue for a favorablejudgment in Sir Moses Montefiore's case because, either throughintellectual bias, or through national Jewish prejudice, the trueChrist was never apprehended by him, only a distorted image, and
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