by John Thomas

“ All these make up the character of the world, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life," upon which is enstamped the seal of God's eternal reprobation. "They who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God," but "they shall die."
Such is the world of human kind-the great and impious enemy of God upon the earth. Its mind is not subject to His law neither indeed can it be. What shall we say to these things? Is the world as we behold it a finality? ”

“ Let therefore every man that would eschew the wrath which is begun and who would become an heir of the Kingdom of God, save himself from the unholy, lifeless and effete denominations of these "latter days." By remaining in them a man partakes of their evil deeds and subjects himself to their evil influences. The world of man has silenced the Word of God in their midst, and religion has degenerated into a professional commodity sold for cash according to the taste which most prevails in the soul markets of the world. ”

“ Man has a right to worship God only in the way God has Himself appointed. "In vain do ye worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." This is the judgment pronounced by the wisdom of God upon all worship which He has not instituted. He declares it to be vain worship, concerning which the apostle to the Gentiles says "Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath; let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels. ”

“ They declare the eternal power and divinity of their Creator, but they speak not of the destiny of the earth or of man upon it. If we question the mountains and hills, the plains and valleys, the rivers, seas and oceans of the earth, and demand their origin, why they were created, their rocks, their strata, their fossils or deposits afford us no response. Turn we to man and ask him "whence camest thou, and what is thy destiny, whence all the evil of thy nature, why art thou mortal, who made thee, who involved thee in this widespread ruin and calamity on every side"? ”

“ THE MYSTERY which in other ages (former ages under the law of Moses) was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel" (Eph 3:3,5-6) . Here is "the knowledge of God," in which are contained "exceeding great and precious promises," the understanding of which is able to make a man wise, and a "partaker of the divine nature." ”

“ This celestial orb, which is a world or system of itself, is styled "the earth." It is the habitation of races of animals which graze its fields, lurk in its forests, soar through its atmosphere and pass through the paths of its seas. At the head of all these is a creature like themselves, animal, sensual and mortal. He is called "man." He has replenished the earth and subdued it, and filled it with his renown. ”

“ Unintelligible mystery if the ultima ratio for all difficulties which are insoluble by the symbols of ecclesiastical communities, whose text of universal application is, that "secret things belong to God, but the things which are revealed, to us and to our children." This is true; but then those things which were secret in the days of Moses have been revealed by God to the apostles and prophets for our information. No one has any right to set up his own ignorance as the limit of that which God has revealed. ”

“ And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men" (1Cor 3:18-21) . If our contemporaries could only attain to the adoption of this great precept "let no man glory in men," they would have overleaped a barrier which as a fatal obstacle prevents myriads from understanding and obeying the Truth.
But while God lightly esteems the wisdom of the reputed wise, there is a wisdom which He invites all men to embrace. This is styled "the wisdom of God in a mystery." ”

“ What more dost thou want than perfection, and a crown of life and glory in the age to come? Search the Scriptures with the teachableness of a little child and thy labour will not be in vain. Cast away to the owls and to the bats the traditions of men and the prejudices indoctrinated into thy mind by their means; make a whole burnt offering of their creeds, confessions, catechisms and articles of religion ”

“ The protestant world, while it deludes itself with the conceit that "the Bible, the Bible alone, is the religion of protestants"-while it spends its thousands for its circulation among the nations in their native tongues-is itself hostile to the belief and practice of what it proclaims. The Bible alone is not its religion ”

“ Let us then "cease from men whose breath is in their nostrils, for wherein are they to be accounted of?" "They be blind leaders of the blind" in whom is no light, because they speak not according to the law and the testimony of God. Let us repudiate their dogmatisms; let us renounce their mysteries; and let us declare our independence of all human authority in matters of faith and practice extra the Word of God. The Scriptures are able to make us wise, which the traditions of "divines" are not. Let us then come to these Scriptures, for we have the assurance that he who seeks shall find ”

“ Ask an infant of days the history of the past, and he can as well detail it as man can answer these enquiries without a revelation from Him who is before all and to whom is known from the beginning all He intends shall come to pass. ”

“ In this way mankind infold themselves as in the mantle of their self-esteem. They repress all progress and glorify their own ignorance by detracting from things which they fear to look into, or apprehend are far above their reach.
Besides glorying in men, this unfortunate peculiarity of the human mind has developed the organisation of a system of things impiously hostile to the institutions and wisdom of Jehovah. ”

“ Revolving upon its own axis, and describing an ample circuit through the boundless fields of space, is a planet of the solar system bearing upon its surface a population of nearly a thousand millions subject to sin, disease and death. This orb of the starry heavens shines with a glory similar to that of its kindred spheres. ”

“ A thing may be unknown to such a man, but it does not therefore follow that it is either absolutely unintelligible or a secret. He may not know of it, or, if explained to him, he may not have intellect enough to comprehend it, or his prejudices or sectarian bias may darken his understanding-this by no means makes the thing unintelligible or mysterious to other people. All that such persons have a right to say is, "we do not know anything about it." ”

“ For all Scripture given by inspiration of God is also profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2Tim 3:15-17) . ”

“ If popery judges men in meats, protestantism does the same in drinks and in the sabbath; they both judge men in holy-days and movable feasts; and though protestantism repudiates the worshipping of angels, it proclaims in its fasts, preparations, concerts etc., a voluntary humility, and celebration of "saints and martyrs," renowned in legendary tales for "the pride that apes humility." Let the reader search the Scriptures from beginning to end, and he will nowhere find such systems of faith and worship as those comprehended in the papal and protestant systems. ”

“ His crimes, however, rather than his virtues, have illustrated and distinguished him with an unhappy pre-eminence above all other created things. His heart is evil, and, left to its uncontrolled impulses, he becomes licentious, merciless and more cruel than the fiercest beasts of prey. ”

“ They may confess their own ignorance and resolve to look into the matter, or not but they are presumptuously overstepping the bounds of propriety to venture to do more. This, however, is not the practice of those who have no secondary interests to subserve apart from the Truth. They only desire to know that they may believe and do ”

“ These mountains of rubbish have served the purposes of a dark and barbarous age; the word, the word of the living God alone, can meet the necessities of the times. Let the example of the noble minded Bereans be ours. They searched the Scriptures daily to see if the things taught by the apostle were worthy of belief ”