God's Plan with Men

cob is our ref

h the God of Jacob fo

hat perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto prais

rk, that ye may be perfect and en

good to them that love God, to those who are

hout character, irrespective of character,-makes of him,-Israel. Jacob, the supplanter, the trickster, the weak character, the warped character,

grace, pure unmerited favor, saves irrespective of character. It is a tremendous issue. It is vital; one or the other is fatal. If those who hold one theory go to Heaven, all who hold to the other will be lost, will go to Hell. We would as well face the issue. They are two widely different ways of salvation, and God has but one. Jesus said, "I am

tion by character there are

millionth the chance to be saved, to go to Heaven, that men have who were born of noble, godly parents, reared amidst moral, uplifting surroundings, and strengthened by noble aspirations and splendid training. Stand before you two young men representing these two cl

iant, highly educated pastor of a wealthy, refined, intellectual congregation read a seemingly learned paper on "Salvation by Character." When he had finished reading the paper, some of his fellow-pastors endorsed the paper and gave it high praise. Finally, the pastor of a people who had been unfortunate in life, many of whom had gone far down in sin, and were fettered by habit, arose and said, "Brother Moderator, the brother has given us his wonderful paper on salva

are considered, and they consider themselves, men of moral character. They thus provide for themselv

character? If by a perfect character, no one has it; no one even claims it. If by an imperfect character, how imperfect may it be and the man yet be saved? Where is the standard? If a man's chara

ugh I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not

y I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you."-Matt. 21:31. Certain it is that the publicans and the harlots had wor

e with him, cast the same in his teeth." Then "one of the malefactors that were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise."-Luke 23:39-43. From the time that both thieves "cast the same

an, noted as a sinner, came in and stood behind him weeping. "And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go

man. God sends word to him, "Send to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall tell the words whereby thou and all thy house shalt be saved."-Acts 11:13. Notwithstanding his noble, unusual character, God tells him that he is unsaved. If he, with his character unexcelled among unredeemed men, was yet unsaved, how can any other unredeemed man hope for salvation by character? Peter's message to this man of irreproachable character was, "To him give all

Paul having called to him and prevented the suicide, the jailor "came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"-Acts 16:30. If ever a man should be told of salvation by character, here was the opportunity, that he might at once begin the tremendous and all but hopeless task of changing, so late in life, a hardened character into one that would e

without character, does not remain without character. "And such were some of you" (1 Cor. 6:11), but they did not remain such characters,-but "sanctified, called to be saints."-1 Cor. 1:2. God's plan with

od develops character

ght in the sight of God if the deeds that formed that character were not prompted by the motive of love. All deeds performed from simply the motive of duty, or from the desire to be saved, to go to Heaven after this life, or from fear of Hell, are, in the sight of God, unworthy deeds, and the characters formed by such deeds are unworthy characters. And the Saviour defines clearly what love is: "There was a certain creditor who had two debtors; the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most. And he

seemed right to them; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyou

n, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."-2 Cor. 4:17

for good to those that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28), if the ultimate purpose is simply salvation? "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." The silver has been mined, digged from the earth, but there is dross in it. The redeemed have been redeemed from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13);

of real Christians can be accounted for in this way. "Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto sons, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor f

s children forsake my law ... then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes."-Ps. 89:30-32. In the lives of many of the redeemed who a

equate

amities of

only,-an a

ession of our

bed, is order

benevolenc

asting purp

converting th

dsw

een! But when God said "All things," He placed a key in the hands of every redeemed man, every real child of His, with which to unlock the door of every mystery; that every trial, every disaster, every accident, every burden, every humiliation, every disappointment, every affliction, every sorrow,-"All things w

nd no trials, means for the mind never to be developed; to give the redeemed man no trials, means for his character never to be developed. Two children are born into the world. The father and mother of one decide that he shall never be required to do any unpleasant things; that he shall never have any hardships. The

If the mind has only one trial, it will never be fully developed. If the mind studies only one thing, it will never be trained, developed, educated. If the soul

kes hard trials of the mind to develop it properly. It takes hard trials to develop the soul properly; "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire." He who asks for only easy trials of his muscles, asks to remain undeveloped physically; he who asks for easy trials of his mind, asks to remain undeveloped mentally; he who asks, yearns, to have

rity (17:2, 3); he is left dependent on the ravens for food (17:4-6); he sees the brook dry up, his only hope for water, for life (17:7); he is submitted to the humiliation of being supported by a poor widow (17:8, 9); God delays answering his prayer (17:17-22); God requires him to expose himself to danger by showing himself to Ahab (18:1); he is led to face popular religious error, and in doing so is left to stand alone (18:19-38); God delays answer to his prayer till he prays seven times (18:42-45); he suffers the further humiliation of Elis

he drying brook Cherith, did not see any purpose, but God, who makes all things work together for good to His people, had the purpose and accomplished it in the development of Elijah's character; and so, as F. B. Meyer has so aptly put it, the redeemed, sitting by the drying brook of he

life the W

His wond

all in His

His perf

ery enshrou

hort sigh

try the wh

each threa

roperly develop each character? Only God. And He has promised that He will. "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28); "that the trial of your faith

en informed the father that the foot could never be straightened. The father studied the deformed foot for many days, and then had a strange-looking box made with screws, felt taps and iron rods in different parts of it. He had the surgeons to operate again on the boy's foot, cutting the muscles and tendons in different places. The foot was then placed in the strange box; a screw was turned till the felt tap pressed against the foot at one place, almost breaking the bones; then another screw and felt tap were brought to bear on another deformed part of the foot, straightening the foot and almost breaking the bones in that part of the foot; then the iron rod was used to straighten another part. For months the boy's foot was kept in that box. The suffering, day and night for months, was indescribable. The child would weep for hours, the pain being all but unbearable; and when the father would come home the child would beg piteously for the box to be t

Lord, nor let ou

od Thou hast f

Lord; Thy wis

e fools a

t as a juror, he would not form a judgment till all the evidence had been placed before the jury. God's purpose in each case, and what God actually accomplishes in each case, in the development of character,-these have not yet been placed b

d, refined, learned son who could "listen in the orange groves of Verona to the sweet vows of Juliet, or to the blind bard's harp as he strikes the chords but seldom struck harmonious with the morning stars, or to the music

ly through suffering, that as certain as God is true, a blessing will come f

ills

of sorrow de

gmas of perm

all o

world is but our

nge His love shall

oor; many uneducated; some Greek scholars; some were destitute; some were half-invalids; some were aged and infirm; but few had the comforts of life; all were heavy burden-bearers. White people f

tossed a

stless se

es and how

d the brig

and of pe

ists have

stand it bett

when the mo

ints of God ar

e story, how

erstand it be

often

ngs that l

helter an

lls and ba

usting in

rding to

stand it bett

ark on ev

annot un

s that God

essed pro

ides us w

follow t

erstand it be

ons, hidd

ake us

arts are m

ghtless wo

onder wh

ry to do

rstand it bett

e not the o

r why

ry to do

the only ones

dark on

annot un

redeemed, God's rea

rstand it bet

it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,"-1 Peter 1:7; for "we kno

much His care

gel lived in H

ll as the redeemed, to those who are not God's children, as well as to those who are God's children, t

her, it is one who has been redeemed and adopted as a child of God (G

sight of God are as different as light and darkness are to men, as different as Heaven and Hell. Let it be

m love, bears trials and burdens placed upon him by the father, the slave who, from fear of the lash, bears trials and burdens placed upon him by the master, the hireling who, from desire for the wages, bears trials and burdens, and the stoic who, from sheer force of will, or from a cold sense of duty, bears trials and burdens, because he must,-are developing altogether different characters. Even so, the child of God, redeemed and adopted, who, from love, bears t

E UNITED STAT

OUS ED

S. B

Four

en Factor i

.7

uction which give prominence to the goodness of God to the end that all should honor Him, and t

JENNIN

ace of

r Bi

, 3

Mr. Bryan's epoch-making book against Darwinism.

C.

School Association. Author of "The

the Daily Vacat

.0

rtily recommend. Mr. Knapp has had much experience in such work and knows how to tel

A.

st National Ba

lass and th

.2

te of words, discussing the most practicable methods of helping

P.

of Our

.2

ng in the existence of God. In simple language and easily read

DAME

AM T. MANNING,

of Ne

nal R

s and Wha

.0

ntroversial bitterness, Bishop Manning discusses some of these param

MASSEE

mont Temple,

in the Ten

ed on Sunday Evenings by th

.2

ately one hundred fifty people made public professions of faith

E. MACART

Street Presby

delph

t Questions

or $

also a good understanding of views and opinions contrary to his own, and d

ATTHEWS,

esbyterian Churc

Sword

.2

Pastor of the Presbyterian Church having the largest membership in the world, he is a fearless

. SWEET

Church of the Mes

mage

her Se

.5

ministry. Here are twenty-five sermons treating on great themes-of questions which