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| || THE WATCHMAN
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY TIE
SOUTHERN PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
Single Copy. 5 Cents
S. N. HASKELL } Asspciate
E. J. BURNHAM J Editors
Price, $1.00 per Year
G. I. BUTLER
L. A. SMITH } Editors
ENTERED AT THE POST OFFICE AT NASHVILLE, TENN.
AS SECOND CLASS MATTER, APRIL 12, 1506.
Nashville, Tennessee, Aug. 13, 1907.
CHRIST OUR ALL
HRIST made all worlds, and all things
in all worlds. “All things were made
by him, and without him was not any-
thing made that was made.” John 1:
3. What a mighty Christ we believers have!
He knows all about us. As he said, not a
sparrow falls to the ground without his Fath-
er’s notice, and the very hairs of our head are
all numbered. ‘Though this is said of God
the Father, we cannot suppose that “He in
whom all fulness dwells” comes short of sim-
ilar knowledge.
Christ is the source of all genuine happiness.
Tt is impossible to conceive of heaven without
realizing that it is the abode of joy, bliss, com-
fort, and everything lovely. When we con-
sider that God gave to Christ “all power”
“in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18);
that is, that he is associated with the Father,
and is authorized to exercise all the power
the Father himself uses, he becomes to us the
source of all happiness, joy, comfort, and
blessedness.
Let me state here a great law to the truth of
which there is no exception: No one in earth
or heaven can bestow upon others that of
which he himself is not possessed. No one
can bestow happiness upon others when he
does not have it himself. This is the reason
that there is no real joy in the things of
this world. Satan himself cannot make peo-
ple really happy. Can we suppose for an in-
stant that Satan is a happy being? Can he
who was once in heaven, very near the throne
of God; who, loving self supremely, became
puffed up with his beauty; who was cast out
of heaven, and became so filled with hatred
that he caused the death of the Son of God —
can he be a happy being? — Impossible.
None of Satan’s followers, imitating in one
way or another his conduct, can be happy
either. The covetous man is not happy. How
many examples do we have of rich men, with
everything they need so far as this world is
concerned, becoming so wretched that they
commit suicide. It doubted
whether the rich men are as happy as men of
Is the mere pleas-
The
may well be
far less fortune, as a rule.
ure-lover really happy? — Far from it.
principle he lives for can never bring happi-
The true child of God, with whom re-
ness.
THE WATCHMAN
sides the “peace of God, which passeth all un-
derstanding,” is the only really happy man.
“The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich,
and he addeth no sorrow with it.” ‘There is
genuine happiness.
The writer well remembers the time, in
younger days, when he diligently chased the
butterfly of worldly pleasure. The result was
sadness and sorrow of heart, bitterness and
anguish. The horror of living without hope
and without God in the world, has never in-
clined me to go back to this poor world for a
joyful experience. I can only think of it with
the deepest dread. Clinging to Christ, and
looking to him for joy and comfort, is a
thousand times to be preferred. He will never
fail those who put their whole trust in him.
O, the happy experiences that true Chris-
How precious the love of
Love,
tians and in him.
Christ, “that passeth all knowledge!”
joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, hope, living
faith that buoys up the heart in every sorrow,
bearing us gently above the greatest trials,
sustaining us in every affliction, even lighting
our pathway in the darkest hours of adversity
— yea, through the valley and shadow of death
— these all come from the hand of a loving
Saviour, who has promised, “I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee.” Some of us old pil-
grims have found out the worth of this blessed
divine support. '
Ah, God lives and reigns. He is not grow-
ing any weaker as the years roll by. He is
almighty, the great and blessed God. He has
the very strength that we need. He knows
our every weakness. He is the Christ that was
with the three worthies in the fiery furnace
as “the form of the fourth.” He sustained
martyrs without number at the burning stake.
He carries the lambs in his arms. He lives
and reigns to-day. And, best of all, he is soon
coming again in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him, to take his poor afflicted
people to the pearly mansions which he has
been preparing for eighteen centuries. Then
our sorrows will be over, and eternal happi-
ness will reign in every heart. We long to
see that blessed day, and the dear forms of
those we love shining in immortal beauty for-
evermore. O my brethren and sisters, let us
look up and believe in Christ; not merely as
the one who died on Calvary’s mountain, but
as a living Saviour to-day, ready to help in
every time of need, ready to lift our souls out
of the slough of despond, and plant our feet
on the eternal Rock. He is waiting to be gra-
cious to-day.
The only trouble, dear friends, one and all,
is, Will vou, do you, take Christ as your all?
That is the only question. Do you cast your
helpless soul upon him? Do you take him as
your substitute, your leader, your Saviour, your
guide in all things, and his word as your con-
stant counselor? Do you give up the world
for him, and ever listen to the still small voice
of his Spirit? This is the only condition on
which he will come in and reign in your heart.
Wait not, O put not off making this full con-
secration. G. 1 B.
TEACHING RELIGION
HE underlying principle of Protestant-
ism is expressed in the phrase, “The
Bible, and the Bible only.” This is
the same as saying, The word of God,
and not the word of man; and this means,
God, not man, the teacher of religion.
The evil change which came over the Chris-
tian church in the early centuries, and which
marked the development of the papacy, was
wholly the result of substituting the word of
man for the word of God in religious teaching,
putting a human teacher in the place of the
divine. When the Reformation arose, this
process was reversed, and the people were
taken back to the word of God as the only au-
thority and guide in the religious life.
The teaching of religion, that is, of Chris-
tianity, requires, on the part of the learner, an
attitude of faith, and on God’s part, the agency
of the Holy Spirit. This at once severs re-
ligion from the province of state education,
since the state can neither compel the exercise
of faith nor exercise any control whatever over
the divine agency through which God impresses
his truth upon human minds.
Christianity cannot be taught as other sci-
ences are, because it is so far superior to all
other sciences that only a divine text-book and
divine agencies will suffice for the purpose.
The science of Christianity touches the heart
and character as well as the intellect, and de-
termines destiny as well as the character of
this present life. It has to do with the rights
of God as well as the welfare of man. The
teaching of this highest and broadest of sci-
ences is the most important of all teaching,
and he who imparts such instruction is the
greatest of teachers. Jesus Christ was the
greatest teacher the world ever knew.
The text-book of Christianity is the word
of God, and this text-book must be most rig-
idly followed. The “original” thinker and
investigator in this branch of teaching is a dis-
astrous failure. No man is authorized to teach
anything on his own authority or the author-
ity of other men. None of the truths of
Christianity have been produced or evolved
by men. The part of the human teacher is
simply to hold forth “the word of life” which
God has given to the world. The most suc-
cessful preacher, from a Christian standpoint,
is he who can best call attention to the word
of God and most vividly impress that word
upon the minds of his hearers.
Because of the nature of the Christian re-
ligion, true Protestants oppose attempts to
teach it in the secular schools, knowing that
such attempts can only result in damage to
the pupils and to the cause of Christian truth.
Roman Catholics, on the other hand, favor re-
ligious teaching by the state, because their re-
ligion, being the product of tradition, the word
of man, and human authority, and having lost
the divine from its make-up, is entirely adapted
The
state can teach the Catholic religion or any
to human agencies for its propagation.
false religion-—it cannot teach the religion
of Christ. L. A. S.