THE DUTY OF COMING OUT FROM THE SECTS The first principle which must regulate a man in every relation and circumstance of life may be expressed thus: find out what is right to be done, and leave the difficulties attending upon the doing of it to take care of themselves. When a man has committed himself to the truth, there is no haziness about duty in the case. Personal dissociation from the apostacy, in all its branches, is the first step devolving upon him. He cannot please God and remain in fellowship with a system which is a negation of His truth in every particular. If he elects to listen to the invitation to become a servant of Christ, that he may be heir of the glory He has purchased with His own blood, he must accept the responsibility attached to this position of privilege. He must "come out" from associations of every kind that are inimical to the interests of the truth. He must "have no fellowship" with any whose workings or influence are detrimental to the work of Christ. It becomes sin to him to say "God speed" in any shape or form to men who (unwittingly or not) are enemies of the great gospel that Christ has committed to the hands of all His servants, as a charge to be faithfully kept and defended. Hence he must give up "old associations"; he must leave the churches and chapels, for there is no greater hindrance to the truth than those refuges of a pretended gospel, and no bitterer enemies to the gospel of Christ than those who preach therein for hire and those who are zealously affected by their means. To do this will often land a man in difficulty; he must sometimes stand alone. Never mind; bravely accept the alternative. Perhaps you will not always be alone. Your courage may embolden others. God may give you good company when He has proved you; but, whether or not, be faithful. Wash your hands of all complicity with a system of fables. If need be, stand as a solitary witness to the promises of God, and you will have a sweet recompense in the reward written above, against the time when "God will judge the secrets of men by Christ Jesus." The present generation will follow its predecessors to the tomb. Our wisdom is to choose that which will not be taken away. VOL. II AUGUST, 1911 No. 23 The Faith A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE EXPOSITION OF THE FAITH ONCE FOR ALL DELIVERED TO THE SAINTS NOTE.-If you receive this magazine regularly and have not personally subscribed for same, please read it carefully, as it is paid for and sent by a sincere friend and wellwisher. If you desire further information concerning the important truths dealt with herein, the publisher, on request, will be pleased to supply name and address of nearest known person or community with whom you may communicate. EDITED BY JOHN W. LEA AND A. H. ZILMER Terms of Subscription: United States and Canada: 50 cents per annum, postpaid. Great Britain and Other Countries: Two shillings per annum. (Reduction for quantities, see inside of cover) Published by JOHN W. LEA, 1636 N. Redfield St., Philadelphia, Pa., U. S. A. Entered as second-class matter January 7, 1911, at the postoffice at SPECIAL NOTICES General Expenses-Received, P., $1.25. Library Fund-Previously acknowledged, 8 cents; since received, P., $1.25; N. K., $5; total, $6.33. Applied as follows: To library renewals, $5; in hand $1.33. RENEWALS When this issue reaches our foreign subscribers it will be time for renewal of subscriptions to THE FAITH for Vol. III, which commences with the October number. The circulation of Vol. II has been just about the same as of Vol. I; we are desirous that the circulation of Vol. III shall be about three hundred per month more if possible. It is necessary to print at least 1,500 in order to sell at 50 cents a year, and we are anxious that the subscription list shall reach that number. Up to the present it has fallen about three hundred short of that number, and the difference between subscriptions and cost of production and distribution has been met by voluntary contributions that have been generously made to General Expenses, and acknowledged from time to time. It has been suggested that we should increase the price slightly, but we do not wish to do that, because some might then be debarred from subscribing. We would suggest to those who are able and willing to pay a higher price, that in addition to their own copy they should have one or more copies addressed to friends in whose knowledge of the truth they are interested. A number of our subscribers now send one or more copies to friends or to libraries, and if each subscriber who now takes only one copy would subscribe for one additional, the extra circulation would be at once made up. The cost of two copies is $1 a year (or 4 shillings); 12 copies, $5 (or £1). BOUND VOLUMES We bound up nearly 60 copies of Vol. I and the price was 60 cents, postpaid. We have heard from several who had them that they were very glad they did. It makes a very nice book. We propose to bind up a number of Vol. II, and the price will be 60 cents, postpaid. Orders for these should be sent at once as the quantity will be limited When Jacob had deceived his father Isaac in the matter of the venison which he had prepared for him and had obtained the blessing which his father had intended for Esau, and when Esau was so enraged at Jacob's action as to vow that after the days of mourning for his father were ended he would slay him, Isaac and Rebekah sent Jacob to Padan-Aram to the house of Bethuel, his mother's father, in order to avoid Esau's anger. In the way Jacob rested after sunset at a place named Luz, and because it was night he made his bed upon the ground with a pillow of stones. He dreamed that he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and upon the ladder the angels of God ascending and descending. The covenant which God had made with Abraham, the grandfather of Jacob, and with Isaac, Jacob's father, was renewed to Jacob in the vision, and God promised that He would be with him in the way. When Jacob awoke he said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not," and he set up the stone that had formed his pillow to be a monument of God's covenant with him and a pledge that he himself would be mindful of all the benefits which God would bestow upon him; and he called the place Beth-El, "the house of God." About eight hundred years later the descendants of Jacob had multiplied and become a great nation. They were established in the land of Canaan through the blessings of their God. They had been made a kingdom at their own request, and had three kings, Saul, David, and Solomon. At Solomon's death the people were discontented with his son Rehoboam and ten tribes out of twelve revolted and formed a separate kingdom with Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, for their king. Jeroboam was very ambitious and did all he could to exalt himself, and to this end caused the section of the people that were with him to forsake the temple worship at Jerusalem, on the plea that it was too far for them to journey, and set up two golden calves, one at Beth-El and the other at Dan, dedicating them with the words, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." What an irony of circumstances! The place Jacob had named Beth-El, "the house of God," had become the house of the golden calf, an emblem of the pride, iniquity, and sacrilege of man. The day is coming when all the inventions which man has sought out for the glorification of his own person and might, and for the increase of his own honor shall be humbled by the God whom the majority of mankind scorn and honor not. Ere long the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the deep, and there shall no more be need for man to say to his fellow-man, "Know the Lord," for all shall know Him, from the least to the greatest, and all the earth shall forever in very deed be Beth-El, "the house of God." JOHN W. LEA DOES IT MATTER WHAT WE BELIEVE? BY A. H. ZILMER It is understood that the foregoing question relates to our salvation. The reason why it receives consideration in these pages is because it is claimed by many well-meaning persons that it makes no difference what we hold as a matter of belief; that as long as we are sincere in our belief, one faith is as good as another as a means of salvation. Many are perplexed and in doubt on account of the confused state of "Christendom," and seeing no way to harmonize the conflicting views that are held and taught in the religious world, and either not having the disposition to investigate for themselves as to where the truth is, or else no one to guide them, they take what seems to them the easiest way out of the difficulty and say, "It matters not what we believe, so long as we are sincere.” |