R. L. Berry

“ He began by saying that, 'if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.' Then, as if turning back to state the basis, or antecedent of his remarks, he said, 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.' In other words, there was sin to be cleansed from the hearts of sinners, and to declare there was no sin to be cleansed from, was only to deceive themselves. ”

“ The intensity of this desire for the fellowship of saints increased as Robert and Mary studied the Scriptures and beheld glimpses of the path which was being so clearly marked out from therein. They were willing to be martyrs for the truth, but how their souls did long for someone to whom they could unburden their hearts and in whom they could confide!
There is inherent in the human heart a desire for fellowship and companionship. ”

“ Baptism does not save the sinner, but it is the answer of a good conscience, as Peter 3:21 says. Baptism represents our death to sin and our resurrection to righteousness. As Paul, the great apostle says: 'Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.' The whole idea of baptism is beautifully pictured in Romans 6:3, 4, 'Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? ”

“ The Word of God is truth. 'All scripture is given by inspiration of God' (2 Tim. 3:16) . God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible are truth. If we confirm to the divine will, we are bound to be right, and elected to eternal glory in the heavens; if not, we are doomed to eternal damnation.
"But, there is no more striking fact than this, that spiritual truths require more than intellect in order to grasp and comprehend them. 'For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?' (1 Cor. 2:11) . ”

“ It is impossible for all the earth to keep the Sabbath at the same time."
"Well, I never thought of that before," said Mary, as her Adventism began to leave her about as quickly as it came.
"Now the fact is, too, Mary," said Robert, "that the Catholics did not change the Sabbath-day. They may claim to have done so and the Adventists accept the claim, it appears, but the early Christians kept the first day of the week Sunday, long before there was any Roman Catholic Church or any pope at Rome. Adventists twist history here just like they twist the Scriptures." ”

“ If Jesus built a church, and if He adds the members, and if all the members are saved, and if the Spirit puts them all into one body, and that body is the church, and if He named it, why then would it not be the right church? I do not see how anyone could be a Christian without being in this church," said Robert.
"Is not the church of God what Pastor Jones called the 'invisible church' and are not all the denominations together the visible church?" asked Mary. ”

“ I do not propose, friends, to be browbeaten by an upstart of a preacher. I tell you I have been a student of the Scriptures, and I have heard many learned ministers of the gospel preach, and I have never heard one of them state that they lived free from sin. I try to do my best every day, but, I tell you, the devil is strong, and the flesh is weak, so I often fall into grievous sins and errors. But I feel that I am a Christian, nevertheless. ”

“ It is the soul that sins. When in our intentions we purpose to sin, we are guilty of sin before God. He that searches the heart, who looks not as man looks, who sees the secret motive, he knows when the will consents to do evil. Not a theft was ever committed, except that there was a will to steal; not an act of dishonesty, except that there was a will to deceive; not a lie was ever uttered, except there was a will to lie. It is our souls that must be saved. 'Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls' (1 Peter 1:9) . ”

“ Jones, "taught holiness, and sanctification subsequent to regeneration. But we do not preach much on that subject now."
"What I am thinking about," said Robert, "is this: I am longing for a real church home, where I can feel at one with, and in fellowship with real Christians. Pastor Jones, there are so many professing Christians who are Christians only in name. I cannot fellowship them. They engage in questionable practices; they are dishonest and tricky; they use bad language; and their bent is more toward pleasure than religion. My soul really craves a church home. ”

“ On the Sabbath-day Jesus lay cold in death in the borrowed tomb while the sad and disconsolate disciples mourned the death of the Prince of Israel, their Savior. But on Sunday morning Christ arose triumphant (John 20:1) and in memory of it Christians began early to observe Sunday as a day of worship."
"Mary, you were just about to be entangled with a yoke of bondage, a yoke of man's making," said Robert. "This Sabbath doctrine of the Adventists is utterly man-made. ”

“ Invisible church! Why, was all that early church invisible, Mary? Impossible! Paul persecuted the church, it says. There was something visible to persecute, was there not? Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. Surely there was something to write to. What puzzles me, though, is where this church is today. It is plain enough that the early New Testament church was visible, and that it was organized, and had ministers and government. It had power and grace also, and it grew rapidly, and spread over much of the Roman Empire even before the death of the apostles. ”

“ It is this—Jesus brought the truth to the world, and the Holy Spirit is everywhere present to lead men into that truth. Wherever and whenever a person desires to know the truth that he may obey it, there the Spirit of God will be to enlighten and to lead. The Spirit will lead unerringly every soul who wants the truth and will submit to His leadership. He will lead the sinner to sincere and genuine repentance, the believer into true sanctification, and also into the deeper experiences of sanctification and love, and into a true Christian life. ”

“ The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Matter is not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so unlike Spirit. Man is spiritual and perfect.... Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death. The real man cannot depart from holiness, nor can God, by whom man is evolved, engender the capacity or freedom to sin' (page 475) . Can you understand that?"
"For the life of me, I can't," said Jake, but, of course Jake could not be expected to understand it, thought Kate. ”

“ Robert proved by the Scriptures that water baptism is not a saving ordinance.
"How could water baptism be a saving ordinance," said Robert, "when we know that water cannot have any effect, one way or another, upon a soul? And, if water baptism is essential to the obtaining of salvation, then two other things besides the blood of Jesus are necessary whenever a soul is saved. One is water, enough to be immersed in, according to your church doctrine, and the other is a man, or a preacher to baptize. Then, if one were out somewhere away from water and a preacher, he could not be saved. ”

“ The apostle Paul was the writer of this epistle, and he was writing to the Romans. They were a Gentile church in Rome, and Paul was writing about how Christians were to live. Now, see here friends, we are all sinners, every one of us, sinners saved by grace. Paul said in one place that he was the chief of sinners. I am a sinner, but I thank God through Jesus Christ the Lord, that Christ died for us, and some day I expect to land in the glory world. I know there are some who say that they can't sin, but I am sure I sin and they do, too. No one can live without sin in this low land of sorrow. ”

“ When he attempted to reason with them he found them unreasonably impervious to argument or logic. He finally concluded that the doctrine was based on a false claim, a misconception of Scripture.
"No wonder," he said to Mary when he got home, "that these people have gone far beyond the line of reasonableness, when one considers that law of physics which says that the reaction goes about as far as the action. The truth is, Mary, many churches have become so formal and dead that the cry of mankind is for life, freedom, spiritual power, spiritual joy, spiritual victory. ”

“ In their writings the apostles did not teach the keeping of it; so why go away back to bleak and smoking Sinai for a law to keep when Jesus offers us a new covenant? Why those Adventists are trying to prop up a law that was old, and decayed, and ready to vanish away in Paul's time."
"Did Constantine make a Sunday law, Robert?" asked Mary.
"Yes, he did. In A.D. 321, Constantine legalized the day of worship that the Christians already were using," said Robert. "The Adventists claim that Constantine changed the day, but he did not. There is no history at all to support their theory. ”

“ The pamphlet proclaimed the virtues of Christian Science to heal all kinds of mental and physical sicknesses and troubles. There is no sickness, sin or death, said the treatise. All of these things are errors of mortal mind. We are, it continued, to ignore and repudiate these errors, for God is good and everything is good; God is eternal Mind, all-embracing, and there can be no death, and sin, and sickness in God. Material things, it said, are not important, the spiritual is the important. ”

“ Robert was at the station at seven o'clock the next morning to meet the minister. He wondered just what kind of a man a church of God minister would be. When they met he found a plain, neat-looking man with a kind, strong face, ready to go to the bedside of his wife.
"Be of good cheer, Brother Davis," said the minister, "the Lord has great power. He can raise up your wife. Up at Sayersville last week a man was thrown from a train and seriously hurt, but the Lord healed him. Have faith in God." ”

“ Paul says, in the twentieth verse of this chapter, 'But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,' and in verse 17, 'For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.' And the very first verse says, 'Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.' It is true that 'all have sinned,' as verse 12 says, but Jesus came to save us from our sins. ”

“ Jesus Christ soon gathered around him chosen men, who were one with Him in heart and soul, one with Him in His grand purpose to lift a world out of sin. The story of Christ's and the apostles' lives reveals a most remarkable affinity of spirit between Christ and them. They became so much at one with Him that they gladly forsook every earthly prospect, and became willing to die for Him, even as He died for them. Jesus made a class called his "disciples," which was an inevitable result of His salvation work. They were the members of the spiritual kingdom which He founded. ”

“ His plan of rejuvenation was based on the truth that all men are of one blood, created by one God, whose children they all are by virtue of that creation. All should have equal claims upon His mercy, goodness, and love, and upon the material blessings which the earth affords. ”

“ All of these settlers brought with them the particular brands of religion in which they had been brought up. The Swedes and Germans were Lutherans, but each nationality was of a different synod and had little agreement or fellowship. The Irishmen were Roman Catholics, while the Americans were divided up among the different denominations. No sooner had these settlers built themselves homes than they started to build chapels and churches; it was a chapel if its builders rebelled at calling a building a church, and it was a church if its builders had no such scruples. ”

“ No man can save himself, for salvation is by faith, not by works. But, again, let me remind Mr. Newby that Christ has come since Solomon spoke, and surely Christ has done something for us. The other texts he quoted are easily explained. In Matt. 19:16, 17, Jesus was stating a primary truth, as all goodness comes from God, yet, he was trying to impress upon the young man that he, Jesus, was God. No man is good in and of himself. God must come in before he is good. God's people are righteous, good. John says, 'He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous' (1 John 3:7) . ”

“ The true church of Jesus Christ was lost sight of. It was spoken of as the invisible church, while the denominations were the visible churches. Men joined churches because they thought that it was the right thing to do.
"About the year 1880, or 350 years after the Augsburg Confession, A.D. 1530, a deep conviction seized a number of earnest, sanctified people that the denominational system was wrong, utterly unscriptural. They began to preach a pure Bible church of which salvation alone makes men members." ”

“ A man knows the things of a man because he is a man. Common experiences join him to his fellows, and he understands them. 'Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the spirit of God.... But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned' (1 Cor. 2:11,14) . Man then, must get in contact with God, through the Holy Spirit, if he is to know spiritual truth.
"Jesus tells just how to know the truth. ”

“ It can't be done, that is all there is to it. We cannot keep from sin. Paul said sin was ever present with him, and I know it is with me. I try to do right, but sin gets the better of me. I ask God to forgive me every time I pray. I tell you, a man simply cannot live without committing sin."
When Peter Newby sat down, Robert Davis arose again, and said:
"There is a text of scripture that says certain persons cannot cease from sin. ”