fared sumptuously every day, for when Abraham told him to remember, it was only that in his lifetime he had received good things. There is positively no other charge brought against him. Another lesson is, that the only requirement for a place in Abraham's bosom is that one be a beggar and full of sores. That he was laid at the rich man's gate where the dogs licked his sores and where he desired to be fed from the crumbs that fell from Dives' table, cannot be made to prove anything against the rich man, for it is not said that he had him removed, which being a rich man, he could have done, but that he may have allowed him the crumbs or "left overs," and which many of us regard as a very worthy act, if we are the donors of the crumbs. No doubt there are other lessons. Possibly our Catholic friends get their idea of praying to the saints from Dives' prayer to Abraham. But when Jesus said, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead, it satisfies me that no preaching of hell fire, damnation, etc., can be so efficacious as that "God so loved the world (of sinners as well as the righteous) that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life," and to make His assertion clear and plain it is reiterated twice in succession (John 3:15 and 16).

There is no darkness in light and no cruelty in love. That a doctor sometimes inflicts pain to set a limb is not cruelty; that Jesus healed the woman "whom Satan hath bound," and that he said to the unfortunate man "sin no more

lest a worse thing come upon thee" as a consequence, proves that when I put my finger in the fire, I have no right to say that God punished me, but as a free moral agent He lets me be tried or tested as Job was. "The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life.”

X.

THE BIBLE AND THE CREEDS.

The teaching of the creeds has become so inseparably connected with that of the Bible that for one to criticise the former is to be called in question as if "tampering with the Bible" itself.

When Jesus said that "ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition” which was the creeds of those times, it would seem that we would all be more careful, that we may not be like the Sadduces, who thought to trip Jesus himself, who said to them: "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures." But some of the creeds have had to be revised so much that the term orthodox or "established opinion" has become the more popular word, and considering the hundreds of churches we have it is marvelous how nearly orthodoxy does conform to "the law and the testimony" but being the work and interpretation of men it is too much to expect the tradition, creeds, or orthodox doctrines to be infallible, which we do claim to be absolutely true of the original scriptures. And I want to say, once for all, that in no instance have I in any article I have written, knowingly, said one word that can be made to "wrest the Scriptures," and I challenge any capable critic to deny this statement. But being only a frail human being, if "the enemy" has succeeded in making me anywhere contradict

myself or the original Scriptures, and any one will point it out to me, I shall gladly "confess my sin" and thank him in a spirit of Christian love.

A fact, perhaps overlooked by many, is that nowhere in his writings does Paul mention the word hell, but that of all the writers of the Bible he is the only one to use the words immortality, and immortal, first in Rom. 2:6-7: "Who will render to every man according to his deeds to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life" (I Cor. 15:53-54). "For the corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.' So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written "Death is swallowed up in victory." (I Tim. 1:17.) "Now unto the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God be honor and glory forever and ever, Amen." (I Tim. 6:12-16.) "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things and before Jesus Christ, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in His times He shall show who is the only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting,

Amen." (II Tim. 8:10.) "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor of me His prisoner; but be thou partakers of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God, who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, Who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light, through the Gospel." By a careful reading it will be seen that the words immortal when spoken concerning unregenerate man is always in the future tense and of God only as having it now.