THE TRUE CHURCH-THE REAL SACRIFICE-THE GENUINE WORSHIPPER.

Delivered at Recent Commencement of Livingstone College byBISHOP J.W. HOOD, D.D., LL. D.Text.--"And there was given unto me a reel like unto a rod, saying: Rise up and measure the temple of God, and the alter, and they that worship therein." Rev. xi

In the book of Revelation the beloved disciple has recorded for our instruction a variety of symbols representing the future, as it appeared to him in visions upon the Isle of Patmos.

To understand the prophetic visions, which begin with the fourth chapter, it is necessary to have in mind the whole plan of the book. The events concerning the kingdom of God on earth, which were future, at the time that John saw them, are symbolized in the form of a most beautiful, interesting and instructive panorama. Generally the representations of a series of events are presented in the order in which they were to transpire; but not always, for sometimes it was necessary to follow a certain series of connected events down to a point of time, far beyond others which transpired earlier. The symbols of earlier events are seen later, because they are presented in several parts, each of which covers a part of the same period. Besides this we have sometimes an episode in which we see pictures of events which extend to ages beyond the regular order.

The beginning of each of the several parts of the prophetic descriptions is marked by an opening.

1. At the fourth chapter and first verse, a door was opened in heaven. 2. At the nineteenth verse of the eleventh chapter, the temple of God was opened in heaven. 3. At the fifth verse of the fifteenth chapter, the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened. 4. At the eleventh verse of nineteenth chapter, heaven itself was opened.

Under each of these openings, a series of events on a particular line is symbolized. These mark the four lines of prophetic representations. Sometimes these lives run parallel, so that pictures seen in the second part referred to events which 00022were to transpire earlier than some others referred to by symbols in the first part, and so on.

Under the first--the opening of a door in heaven. John beheld a symbol of the Divine Majesty, seated upon a glorious throne and surrounded by representations of the church militant and the church triumphant.

He that sat on the throne had in his hand a sealed book. At the breaking of the first seal, there appeared a rider upon a white horse, with a bow in his hand, a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer. This, we understand, is a symbol of the Redeemer's triumph. He goes forth upon the white horse, the gospel. With his bow of truth, from which arrows find their way into the hearts of sinners, and sticking fast, they produce conviction, repentance and saving faith. The crown is the symbol of his authority and power to conquer the world and bring it back to his Father's jurisdiction.

This is the starting point of the prophetic symbols. All subsequent representations are symbols of events which lead to the accomplishment of Jehovah's purpose to make the kingdoms of this world the kingdom of our God and his Christ. Three other horses follow at the breaking of subsequent seals; but the riders are not crowned, from which we may learn that they are subordinates, under the authority, and subject to the will, and purpose of the crowned rider upon the white horse. They go forth as ministers of his will, to accomplish his purpose. The red horse, with the sword in the hand of his rider, indicative of war and blood-shed; the black horse with the balances in the hand of his rider, signifying pestilence and famine, and the pale horse of death, are all under the control of him who goeth forth upon the white horse.

At the breaking of the fifth seal, the souls of the martyrs were seen under the altar, and they were lamenting the delay of God's judgments upon their persecutors. "Saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not avenge our blood upon them that dwell on the earth." They were bid to wait until their enemies had filled up the cup of their iniquity, by slaying more of their fellow servants. We may learn from this that the ten persecutions were not then complete, and may easily calculate at about what period in the world's history this scene is laid.

At the breaking of the sixth seal, there was an earth-quake and other fearful indications of coming wrath. And filled with consternation, the kings of the earth, and the princess, and chief captains, and the rich and strong men, and the bond and free, hid themselves in the caves and rocks of the mountains, and cried 00033to the rocks and mountains, saying, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb."

Four angels were commanded to hold the winds to keep back the storm of wrath until the servants of God were sealed. A hundred and forty and four thousand were sealed. This I suppose is a figurative representation of the church on earth. They can be counted, the exact number of them can be computed.

After this sealing of the servants of God on earth, John beheld, and lo, a multitude which no man could number, stood before the throne of God, and with the elders and the living creatures ascribed salvation to God and the Lamb. This is one of the episodes of which there are several in this book, and in which the regular course of events is interrupted, and the scene is transferred from the turmoils of earth to the joys of heaven.

Traveling through this vale of tears, the saints on earth might become discouraged, were it not for these glimpses of the better land which are frequently presented to our view in this book.

At the breaking of the seventh seal there was silence for the space of a half hour. It will be remembered that the angels were commanded to hold the winds; that is, hold back the storm of wrath which the martyrs had invoked upon their persecutors, until the servants of God were sealed. This having been accomplished, it was natural to expect that the storm of wrath would be delayed no longer, that the angels would turn loose the winds and that the hovering judgments would soon break forth in all their fury. Hence the silence in heaven. Just as an audience assembled to witness a grand panoramic display, are hushed to silence when the master of ceremonies announces that the most important part of the play is about to take place, so the hosts of heaven stood in silence, awaiting the display of divine vengeance upon the enemies of his kingdom on earth.

Seven angels with trumpets are seen preparing to sound. Four of them announced the four successive blows, delivered upon the heathen Roman empire by the northern barbarians, by which it was totally overthrown in the west. These northern invaders followed each other, each leaving the empire weaker, until it tottered to its final fall.

You have only to look into the history of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon, to see that the hail and fire mingled with blood, which were cast upon the earth at the sounding of the first angel, were symbols of the ruin 00044wrought by Alaric king of the Goths. Genseric king of the Vandals followed, like a burning mountain cast into the sea.

Attilla, king of the Huns, like the star called wormwood, which fell upon the rivers of water and made them bitter, that is, fell upon those maritime nations which supported the Roman empire. And finally Odoacer, king of the Heruli, finished the destruction of the empire in the west.

At the sounding of the sixth trumpet the bottomless pit was opened and the locust came forth to hurt men. By this we understand the rise of Mahomet and the countless multitude of Arabs who followed him. At the sound of the sixth trumpet four destroying angels were loosed. By this we understand the Turkish invasion. By these the Roman authority in the east was overthrown, Constantinople was captured, and remains in their possession until this day.

The period of their supreme authority, however, was limited by prophetic measurement to about four hundred years, which shows that this first series of symbols under the sixth trumpet brings us down in the world's history, to about the close of the fourteenth century.

The next series is that with which our text is connected. It must, therefore, in the natural order of events, belong to the period of the Reformation. Not only the order, but also the symbols found in the tenth and eleventh chapters, show that they pertain to something very different from that signified by the preceding descriptions. In the tenth chapter John tells us of the angel who came down from heaven with a little book open, which he was commanded to take and eat up, that he might prophesy again before many nations. Then follows our text.

Now if we stop to consider the fact that it was by the discovery of a copy of the New Testament, hid away upon a shelf, that Luther was induced to denounce the superstitions and abominable practices of the church of Rome, and also that it was the publication and study of the Bible that produced the reformation, we shall not have much difficulty in understanding what was meant by the little book open in the angel's hand. It was evidently a symbol of the restoration of the Bible to the congregation.

The command to eat it up, signified that it should henceforth be studied. The declaration that he should prophesy again, signified that preaching should be renewed in the church. In the church of Rome, before the reformation, preaching had almost been discarded. They had priests to offer sacrifices instead of preachers to declare the truth as it is in Jesus. Not 00055only had the Bible and pulpit been discarded, but Bible doctrines had been perverted, so that the simplicity of the plan of salvation was unknown.

So deep was the ignorance respecting genuine Christianity, that it was necessary for the reformers to go to the root of the matter, and investigate the whole subject, and find out what constitutes the church, what the acceptable sacrifice and what constitutes genuine membership. This necessary investigation is symbolized by our text.

John was commanded to measure the temple, the altar and the worshipers. By the temple we understand the church, God's earthly habitation, the place where his honor dwelleth.

What is the church? was one of the first questions which engaged the attention of the reformers. They had been so long accustomed to acknowledging the prerogatives of the Pope and the church of Rome, that only a voice from heaven could have induced them to question the authority of that aged and respected institution.

Luther says that he was so drenched in papal dogmas that he would have been ready to murder any person who should have uttered a word against the authority of the Pope. He said, "If I have braved the Pope as I now do, I would have expected the earth to open and swallow me up, as it did Kora and Abiram."

It will thus be seen how the claims of the church of Rome were then regarded. But when Luther came to measure the temple as commanded in our text, or in other words, when he came to measure the claims of the Roman Catholic Church, by the rod of divine truth; when justice was laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet, he discovered that so far from being the only true church, it had more the resemblance of the anti-Christ, the great apostacy, the cage of unclean birds, the mother of harlots, the abomination of the earth. He came fully to believe that it was of this communion that the warning voice of the Holy Ghost speaks, saying, "Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her iniquity." The command was also given to "measure the altar." The sacrifice was laid on the altar.

The question to be considered is, what is the acceptable sacrifice for sins? What is the atonement? The Roman Catholic Church proclaimed the Lord's Supper as the real and acceptable sacrifice for sins, and that the bread and wine were changed into the real body and blood of Christ, and that every time the Mass was celebrated, a real sacrifice was made. We repeat that instead of preachers to proclaim the gospel of our Lord 00066Jesus Christ, they had priests to administer at the altar. Instead of teaching the people to seek salvation in the merits of a crucified Savior, they taught them to make intercession to the saints by bowing to their images. Instead of teaching justification by faith, they taught dependence upon the merits of good works, hence the command to measure the alter.

In our text John was also commanded to measure the worshipers. That is, he was to find what constituted genuine membership. The doctrine of baptismal regeneration had been established in the church of Rome for many ages. It was held that all that was necessary to constitute genuine membership, was baptism and confirmation.

We need hardly state that one of the most important fruits of the reformation was the revival of the doctrine of the necessity of a change of heart, by the regenerating power of the Holy Ghost, which is spoken of by the Savior as a new birth, or being "born again."

When the high claims of the Papal church were brought to the law and the testimony, the evidence was against them. The Reformers found that it was not the true church, that its altar was not according to the measure of God's altar, and that the major part of its attendents were not the true worshipers.

The questions involved, however, were not so clearly stated nor so fully settled as to preclude the necessity of further investigation. The command to rise and measure is still in force. It is still necessary to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.

There is still a good deal of frivolity and formality in which the power of God is lacking. There are still those who say, "Lord, Lord!" but do not the things which God commands.

The text suggests the importance of investigation.1. As to what constitutes the church called in the text the temple of God?2. As to what constitutes the acceptable sacrifice for sins, and3. As to what constitutes genuine membership.

What constitutes the church? In one respect the true church includes the saints of all ages. This is the invisible church, the Mount Zion, the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the innumerable multitude, the general assembly, the church of the first born, which are written in heaven. "Part of this host have crossed the flood,And part are crossing now."

The militant, or visible church, is composed of all on the 00077face of the earth who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world and have accepted him as their own Savior. They are found in every christian denomination--I have no authority to assert that they are found elsewhere. Even among the most enlightened and well ordered christian churches, all is not gold that shines--there is much chaff among the best wheat. We have not yet learned how to raise good christian wheat without chaff.

After the fall, God in mercy promised deliverance through the seed of the woman--the Messiah. The foundation of the church rested upon that promise, and without it there could have been no church nor hope for sinful man.

Whatever benefits mankind have received, or ever will receive through the church, were included in that first promise made to man.

Solomon, in his songs, gives us a fourfold picture of the church--symbolizing four different periods or dispensations of the one institution formed for the salvation of men, as follows:

"Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners."

The church in the patriarchal age, looked forth as the morning. There was an appearance of coming day. But this was a disappointment. The day did not come, the sun failed to rise and even the ray of morning light which first appeared, finally died away, and there was for a time nearly total darkness. That period close with the visible church in the darkness of Egyptian bondage.

But out of this darkness came the moonlight of the Jewish economy. During this period the condition of the church was changeable as the moon. Sometimes it displayed a glorious and brilliant light like the full moon. So it appeared when it enjoyed the fullness of Divine favor, and was guided by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

At other times it waned away to a mere crescent, as when the ark was captured by the Philistines, and during the seventy years of captivity in Babylon. This moonlight period, however, indicated the existence of the sun, and that he was shining somewhere, for without the sun there could be no moonlight. And without Christ the sun of righteousness, there could have been no spiritual light in the Jewish economy.

When the ceremonials of that system were no longer acceptable, the sun of righteousness arose with healing in his wings, and brought in the brighter, and better light of the Gospel day, "Clear as the sun."

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This, according to the picture drawn by Solomon, is to be followed by a period in which the church is to glorious "as an army with banners."

It is, however, the same institution, through all its dispensations; whether appearing as a beam of morning light, or as the silvery rays of the queen of night, or as the golden beams of the noon day sun, or as the splendidly mingled colors of the victorious banners of an army on dress-parade.

God's original promise was in the nature of a covenant, including on his part, the grace which he designed to bestow upon sinful man, through the sacrifice of his only begotten Son; and on our part, the faith love and obedience due, for his incomprehensible benevolence.

All who accepted the terms of this covenant, no matter of what race or nation, were acknowledged as members of the visible church.

When wickedness had greatly increased and the nations had generally become idolators, God was pleased to restrict, to a large degree, his acknowledged, visible church to the seed of Abraham. With Abraham, he renewed his covenant, and commanded him to walk before God in uprightness and perfectness of heart. God constituted him the father of all who believed.

And we are told that Abraham believed God, and that his faith was counted unto him for righteousness. Since his time the foundation of the church has rested upon the original covenant, as renewed with him, and upon the work of redemption accomplished according to the covenant.

Those, therefore, who enter into this covenant, associated with others, constitute the church, in part. The coming of Christ did not change the foundation upon which the church rested. The Jewish and Christian church is the same institution. The token of the covenant was changed from circumcision to baptism, but the covenant was not changed.

The outward state and condition of the church was changed by the coming of the Christ, and the types and shadows, which pointed to him came to an end, as no longer needed.

You do not need the sign-board which points the way to the city, after you have reached it. The sign-board is very useful, while on your journey, but not when your journey is ended. So the types were useful before the coming of Christ, but since he has come we do not need them.

The Jews enjoyed special privileges in their separation from other nations, that they might give birth to the Messiah; but at his coming these privileges ceased, and they can no longer 00099claim the blessings belonging to Abraham's children, except by embracing Abraham's faith.

John the Baptist announced this fact at Jordan. "Think not," said he, "to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you that God is able of these stones, to raise up children unto Abraham."

New church ordinances were established, suitable to the new state of things, and the new degree of light and grace, bestowed upon the church. Some of the old branches were broken off, and others grafted, but all were united in the old olive tree; and the Gentiles were thus permitted to become the children of Abraham by embracing Abraham's faith.

The plea of the Jews is that the true church is with them, because they are the children of Abraham. The answer of Paul, (himself a Jew,) was, that their privileges were of a special nature, for a special purpose, and an appointed period; and that the coming of Christ accomplished the purpose and ended the period, and that henceforth the church of God, unto whom all the promised blessings belong are those, and those only, who are the children of Abraham by faith--who have obtained an interest in the covenant by believing as he did.

There are two extremes of opinions among Christian professors, as to what constitutes the church. It is claimed by the Roman Catholics, that the church of God on earth is a visible unity, and that the Pope is its divinely appointed, visible head. The other extreme is that held by the independents, that the universal church is composed of congregational churches, each perfect in itself and entirely independent of others.

The claim of the church of Rome, is not only erroneous in doctrine, but bad in practice, as the history of that organization has fully demonstrated. It is contradicted by the teaching of Christ, and by both the teaching and practices of the apostles.

Jesus informed the woman at the well, that Jerusalem had been the one divinely appointed place of worship, and that the Jews alone had been in possession of the divine oracles. But he said, "Believe me the hour cometh, and now is, that neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem, shall ye worship, but they that worship the Father, shall worship him in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him." This indicates that the established church has no more authority than any other, well regulated body of believers.

Paul, who was not one to the original apostles, went forth without consulting them, and planted churches so extensively that he could say, "I labored more abundantly than they all." 001010And each of the apostle's went his own way and planted churches, and in providing for their future government, they ordained ministers who were sometimes called Bishops, sometimes Pastors and sometimes Presbytets. The Pope was no part of their arrangement, and the only unity of which they speak is the spiritual unity of the whole church in Christ, the invisible head, by faith, and the unity produced by brotherly love, and the peaceful effort to build up the kingdom of Christ.

Paul says: "Endeavor to keep the unity of spirit in the bonds of peace."

It was not a visible, bodily union, but a spiritual unity, that the apostles taught and labored for. The independents have a better claim than papacy, for Jesus said, "Wherever two or three are assembled together in my name, touching and agreeing upon the one thing needful, there am I in the midst of them."

In this declaration of the Master, certainly the right of any well regulated body of believers, to worship God is fully recognized. Organization and combination, however, are essential to success, and experience has taught us that the christian bodies, which are the best organized and at the same time free from unreasonable arrogance, are in the best shape to advance the Redeemer's kingdom and are really doing the most for the Master.

We repeat that, the church in its universal aspect, is composed of all who believe in Christ Jesus, and labor to maintain the unity of the spirit. "United by the Savior's grace,The same in mind and heart,Nor joy, nor grief, nor time, nor space,Nor life, nor death can part."

The second instruction in the text is to measure the "altar." By this we understand that we are to inquire as to what is the acceptable sacrifice for sins.

The necessity for this investigation at the period which was in the prophet's eye, at the time he wrote the text, arose out of the abuse of what was originally intended as means of discipline.

In the early ages very severe penalties were inflicted upon offenders. They were sometimes forbidden to partake of the Lord's Supper, or to enjoy any other church privilege. General rules were adopted, but so great is the variety in human dispositions, that you cannot treat all offenders alike. Some are stubborn and persistent in their misconduct. Others are more ready to yield to the corrective efforts of the church.

The Bishops were, therefore, authorized to remit the punishment in such cases as the interest of good government and 001111the salvation of souls seemed to warrant. Every such favor was called an indulgence or pardon.

When the Bishops had enjoyed this privilege for several centuries and had began to abuse it, the Pope discovered that in his hands it would be a powerful instrument for the promotion of his ambition, and the satisfying of his avarice.

In the eleventh century he took to himself the sole prerogative of granting indulgences. Instead of confining them to the ordinary purpose of discipline in the church, he extended them to the remission of punishment in the world to come; and these indulgences were sold in the most shameful manner to persons who practiced the grossest sins.

To give some sort of ground for this shameful traffic, it was asserted that the superabundance of the merits of Christ and his faithful servants, formed a fund, of which the Pope was the sole manager, and that he could at his pleasure, dispense these merits as a means of procuring pardon from God.

It was against this traffic from which the Pope received large sums, that Luther made his first great effort. Luther and his contemporaries appealed to the Bible. In it we see how God can be just and yet the justifier of the ungodly. That is how the sinner can go unpunished without impairing the authority of God's righteous government.

God, for the honor of his throne, and for the maintenance of order in the universe, must punish the guilty. He hates sin in its smallest appearance and cannot behold it with any degree of allowance. But to temper justice with mercy, he holds out hope to the penitent. Without hope the guilty would sink in despair--devils are without hope and can only grow harder.

God, in mercy, softens the sinner's heart by a display of his loving kindness in the gift of his only begotten Son, to die, the just for the unjust.

In view of this display of Divine compassion, Elihu, in the book of Job, exclaims, "Then he is gracious, and saith: Deliver him from going down into the pit, for I have found a ransom for him." God alone could find a ransom for sinning man. "The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth from all sin." Neither is there salvation in any other. "No bleeding bird, nor bleeding beast,Nor hysop branch, nor sprinkling priest,Nor running brook, nor flood, nor sea,Can wash this dismal stain away."

Jesus, by the sacrifice of himself, once offered, atoned for human guilt. As the spotless Lamb of God.

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"His blood atoned for all our raceAnd sprinkles now the throne of grace."

How hateful in God's sight must that blasphemy be, which traffics in indulgences and offers remission of sins for stipulated amounts of silver or gold.

Thirdly, we are to measure the worshipers. In other words we are to discover what constitutes genuine membership in the church of God.

Not baptism alone, though that is a part of the requisite. It is a very great mistake to make light of baptism. Baptism is the seal of the covenant, under the christian dispensation, as much as circumcision was the seal under the preceding dispensation. The convert from heathenism to christianity is as much in duty bound to be baptized, as was the proselyte to be circumcised. And the Christian is as much obliged to have his infant baptized as was the believing Jew to have his infant circumcised.

I have no time to waste in discussing the mode of baptism. The man who thinks that dipping is a better way of representing God's promise to pour out his spirit upon all flesh, than to pour the water, is entirely at liberty to follow his own faith. And the same is true of the man who thinks that dipping is a better way of representing God's promise to sprinkle all nations, than the sprinkling with clean water. Clean water, applied in any form, is a symbol of cleansing; a symbol of that divine influence which the apostle calls the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.

The baptism of water, therefore, no matter how performed, is a symbol of the inward cleansing, and a seal of the christian covenant, and should not be neglected. God himself has appointed this seal, who dare say that it is a non-essential seal or sign.

Be it remembered that John saw the hundred and forty and four thousand, representing all the saints on earth sealed in their foreheads. So also did Ezekiel see the one clothed in white, (which is the attire of the priest) with a writer's ink horn, going through Jerusalem, setting a mark on the foreheads of the righteous. Yet it is not enough to have the mark sealed, or outward sign. We must also have the thing signified. "The inward, pure baptizing grace."

The communion is also essential to the true membership. The Lord's Supper is an institution of his own appointment. "That doleful night before his death,The lamb, for sinner slain,Did almost with his dying breath,This solemn feast ordain."

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We cannot expect continued Divine favor if we neglect his means of grace. And yet the bread and the wine in the eucharist, like the water in the baptism, are only symbols. The bread is the symbol of the body, and the wine is a symbol of the blood of Jesus.

"He (Jesus the Christ), is the bread of life, of which if any man eat, shall never die."

"His blood is the well of salvation, which springs up in the renewed heart unto everlasting life."

"This is the fountain opened in the house of King David, for sin and all uncleanness." "My Savior's pierced side, Pours out a double flood; By water we are purified, And pardoned by the blood."

The true worshiper neglects neither the outward signs nor the inward work of God in the soul. John, in his first epistle possibly, with his mind fixed upon our text, announces the measure of a true worshiper, as he took it by Divine command. His epistles are supposed to have been among his last writings, and were probably written after the time of his apocalyptic vision.

In his first epistle he most fully describes the true worshiper, and I think we are justified in concluding that he did it in accordance with the direction in our text, to "arise and measure the temple of God, the altar and they that worship therein." He not only designates the temple and the altar, but also gives us the true character of the worshipers.

First he tells that whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.

Not, whosoever believeth in the Pope, or the church of Rome, or any other particular church, or form of church government. Not whosoever believeth in any particular mode of baptism, or manner of receiving the Lord's Supper, or the apostolic succession, or the Apostle's, or Nicean Creed, or the Westminster Confession, or the thirty nine articles, or the love feast, or the class meeting. But "whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." The trust of the true worshiper, according to John's measure, is in Jesus the Christ. "On Christ the solid rock we stand,All other ground is sinking sand."

But secondly, he tells us that "We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren."

This measure is taken for our own special benefit. If we can retain hatred in our hearts, we may know that we are not 001514right. "He that says he loves God and hates his brother is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

The religion of Jesus Christ is summed up in the one word "love." Love toward God, and the brethern, tells the whole story. Jesus displayed his love in his voluntary abdication of his throne in glory, his humble advent and suffering in the flesh and in his ignominious death upon the shameful cross. "Here's love and grief beyond degree,The Lord of glory dies for man.""With pitying eyes, the prince of peaceBeheld our helpless grief;He saw, and O! amazing grace,He flew to our relief."

By our love for mortals whether good or bad, we may measure our true religious character. If we are hateful, and envious, and spiteful, we may know that the root of the matter of the true worshiper is not in us.

But, thirdly, John tells us that, If we know that he is righteous, we know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. We have no right to disregard this test, no matter where we see it, whether on our own ranks or any body else's. No matter how much a man may differ with us in opinion, if he does right he is evidently born of God. For if Christ alone righteous, there can be none righteous outside of him. Hence, if a man has righteousness, he must have gotten if from him. In other words must be begotten of him. This seems so clear that it needs only to be stated.

The man who doeth righteousness, filleth the measure of the true worshiper as John took it, whether he follows us or not.

Fourthly John tells us that "whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin." He cannot sin because he is born of God.

This does not mean that he can do wrong--do that which God forbids and not sin; but it means that the grace of God in him will keep him from doing wrong. The man in whose heart God's work is perfect, is delivered from the power of sin. That is, he has the power given him to overcome sin, and so long as he uses that God-given power, he overcomes sin.

Paul prayed three times to have the thorn taken out of his flesh. But God would not grant that because he wanted to do a better thing for him. Hence, he said, "My grace is sufficient." I will do better by thee than to take away the thorn. I will give thee grace to overcome it. I want to make of thee not merely a ransomed slave, but a triumphant victor. I will put my work in thy soul and let thee work out thy own salvation.

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Hence, John tells us fifthly that, whosoever is begotten of God, overcometh the world. I repeat the true worshiper as John measured him is a victor, "he overcometh the world." He is armed with all the Christian graces to fight sin of every kind. He is armed from head to foot, with the complete armor "The perfect panoply," the helmet of salvation for your a piece, the breast plate of righteousness, the shield of faith, to quench the darts of the devil; the girdle of truth, and with his feet shod with the Gospel which brings peace, he takes the sword of the spirit and stands. Don't run, neither from nor after your enemy, but stand on your way, stand by the truth, stand by the truth, stand up for Jesus, stand in your lot, and be found there when Christ cometh to make up his jewels.

Sixth, and lastly, John tells us that whosoever is begotten of God keepeth himself. In this we are reminded that we are surrounded by enemies, like a soldier passing through an enemies country, and we must keep our armour about us, and a watch set at every gate. Our great enemy is untiring and ceaseless in his assaults. He uses the world and the flesh as his main weapons, especially the flesh.

When Paul learned that the thorn would not be taken out of his flesh, while he lived, that he was obliged to fight it down to death, he summoned all the powers of grace which God had put within him and exclaimed: "I run not uncertainly, I fight not as one that beateth the air, but this I do, I keep my body, and bring it under subjection, lest after I, having preached to others, myself become a cast away."

Like Paul, every true worshiper needs to keep himself unspotted from the world, untarnished by sin, undaunted by the devil. With this end in view, he sings: My soul be on thy guard,Ten thousand foes arise,The hosts sin are pressing hard,To draw thee from the skies.O watch, and fight, and pray,The battle ne'er give o'er,Renew it boldly every day,And help divine implore.Ne'er think the victory won,Nor lay thine armor down,The work of faith will not be done,Till thou obtain the crown.Then persevere till deathShall bring thee to thy God,He'll take thee at thy parting breath,To his divine abode."

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God grant us grace to realize that the true church is composed of all who believe in Christ Jesus to the saving of their souls; that the true altar or sacrifice is the one oblation, once offered, a sacrifice for human guilt, and that the true worshipper are those only, who love the Lord with all their hearts, and their neighbors, as themselves.

I would say to the classes before me, that your lives will be useful, or otherwise, in accordance with the degree to which you are governed by these important truths.

You should be broad gauged Christians, avoiding the two extremes of bigotry and free thought, that you may be Christian men and women according to the true measure. Then when life's labors are ended you will receive that happy plaudit. "Come ye blessed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."