by John Thomas

“ It is an egregious contradiction to confess with the same breath that we love God and are yet afraid of Him! Was Adam afraid of God so long as he continued obedient? As soon, however, as he sinned, fear seized upon him, and he fled from the sound of His voice, and hid himself. ”

“ All the Most High requires of men is just to believe what He has done, what He teaches, and what He promises: to obey the law of faith; to take care of the poor of His flock, and keep themselves unspotted from the world. This is pure and undefiled religion. ”

“ When persons make their meeting houses to echo with clamorous prayers, such as may often be heard among some who profess the religion of Christ -- shouting, I say, like the priests of Baal, as though God were "talking, or pursuing, or on a journey, or peradventure sleeping, and needed to be awaked". -- such persons evince that they are "scheue dregez", vessels of wrath, who comprehend not the genius of the truth; and not "scheue eleouz", vessels of mercy, whose thoughts are in harmony with the divine law. ”

“ Being ignorant of God's knowledge they ran into the most absurd speculations. They thought that immortality was a sort of ghost inside of a man that went to the fields of Elysium when death dissolved its union with the body. ”

“ It is perfectly absurd to imagine that men who are revelling in all the luxuries, conveniences, and comforts of life; enjoying the honour, glory, and friendship of the world, as do the ecclesiastics of antichristendom in their several ranks, orders, and degrees; to suppose, I say, that such can inherit the Kingdom of God with Jesus, and that "cloud of witnesses", of whom Paul says "the world was not worthy", is preposterous. ”

“ The earth would at length have become crowded with undying generations of sensual and devilish men; who, if any virtue should survive, would afflict it a hundredfold. For this awful consummation there would have been no remedy but to break up the fountains of the abyss, and cast them down under chains of intense darkness, after the example of the terrene angels who sinned under a previous constitution of the globe. ”

“ Nothing is left to conjecture. Man may corrupt the Way of the Lord; but he cannot improve it and as surely as he attempts to adapt it to circumstances, he converts it into "the Way which leadeth to destruction", which is both broad and easy to walk in, being in perfect harmony with the lusts and thinking of the flesh.
The things of the Way of Life constitute RELIGION. As a word, it is derived from the Latin religio, from religare, which signifies to bind again; hence, religion is the act of binding again, or that which heals a breach previously existing between two parties. ”

“ Religion being the divine remedy for sin, it is evident that when the sin of the world is taken away, religion will be abolished. So long as sin exists in the earth, so long will there be separation between God and men; for it is sin, and that only, which interrupts man's fellowship with God and His angels, as it obtained before the fall. When sin is eradicated from the world there will be no more death; for death and sin are boon companions; as it is written, "The wages of sin is death". The abolition of death presupposes the extinction of sin in the flesh ”

“ Immortality, then, and the way to it, are things about which man must have remained for ever ignorant, so long as their discovery depended upon the thinking of the flesh. In other words, they are matters purely of divine testimony; and as faith is the belief of testimony, men can have no faith in them beyond what is stated in the written word of God. ”

“ Such glory, or brightness, so beautifully represented by Ezekiel and John, will clothe the saints, as well as the Lord Jesus, when they shall appear in the kingdom of God: as it is written "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." ”

“ It is the duty and privilege of every one in his own sphere to endeavour to turn men to righteousness; for there is no distinction of "clergy" and "laity" in the family of God.
In the days of the apostles, things were very different to what they are now. There were many congregations, or churches, but they were all one flock, or "denomination", and men endowed with spiritual gifts were their rulers. ”

“ A good conscience is characterized by a full assurance of faith and hope, founded upon an understanding of the gospel of the kingdom in the name of Jesus, and an obedience to it. The obedience of faith gives the subject "the answer of a good conscience" 5. A seared conscience has no compunctions. It is that condition of thinking flesh which results from the absence of all divine knowledge, and habitual sin. It is incurable. 6. Religion is a system of faith and practice. 7. The faith of religion embraces what God has done, what He promises to do, and what He teaches in His word ”

“ Man will then be no longer subject to evil, His race will have passed through its 7,000 years of probation; and all of its individuals, who have been the faithful subjects of God's religion, will become the incorruptible and perpetual inhabitants of the earth, emancipated from every curse; God will then dwell in men by His Spirit as He now fills the Lord Jesus Christ. All distinction of church and world, saints and sinners, righteous and wicked, shall cease for ever ”

“ If the death of a transgressor would have sufficed, then, Adam and Eve might have been put to death at once, and raised to life again. But this was not according to the divine wisdom. The great principle to be compassed was the condemnation of sin in sinful flesh, innocent of actual transgression. This principle necessitated the manifestation of one, who should be born of a woman, but not of the will of man. Such a one would be the Seed of the Woman, made of her substance, with Him for his Father who by His overshadowing spirit should cause her to conceive. ”

“ Hence the world is full of modes of worship as diversified as the thoughts of sinful flesh. The notions that men may invent religious services; and that the divine displeasure can be appeased by human contrivances are fallacies which are characteristic of false religion wherever they are found. Men have no right to invent religions, or modes of worship. Even reason dictates this when the question is viewed as a breach between friends. When a misunderstanding occurs between such, the initiatory of a reconciliation of right appertains to the party offended ”

“ The case is exactly the reverse of the pulpit theory. This represents the world as reconciled, while God is unreconciled and hard to be persuaded. Hence, the world is full of religions, all of which have been invented, and continue to be observed for the purpose of appeasing His wrath, and disposing Him to peace. He is represented by pulpit orators as in a rage; as ready to launch mankind into the flames of hell, and only prevented from hurling His thunderbolts at them by Christ seizing Him by His arm, as it were, and pointing to his wounds! ”

“ God stands in no such attitude to the world, nor Christ to Him. The Lord Jesus is not contending with the Father upon any such principle. There is no antagonism between them. They agree in one; and what God conceived is committed to the Son to execute. The world is not reconciled to God; nor has it the least disposition for reconciliation upon any other principles than it has itself decreed. ”

“ Behold, to obey is better than a sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." (1 Sam 15:22,23) A great principle is set forth in these words. It is that which can alone place men in harmony with the religion of God. Without it a man may indeed know the truth; but he must believe and do if he would inherit the kingdom which has been preparing from the foundation of the world.
Religion is of two kind -- that, namely, which is invented by the thinking of sinful flesh ”

“ He is already reconciled to the world, which He has always loved; although it acts the part of, and therefore is, the enemy of God. "He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," (John 3:16) The fact of a divine religion being instituted is proof of the love He bears the human race. He seeks to appease men by His goodness, which invites them to repentance. His love is manifested in all that He has done for the world. ”

“ Better stand alone for the Kingdom of God's sake, than be numbered with the multitude in the day of Christ, who will be denied permission to "eat of the tree of life and live for ever".
When man was expelled from Paradise, the Lord God, apprehending some new act of presumption, placed a guard over the tree of lives. This tree, it will be remembered, was planted in the midst of the garden. Now, when Adam was driven out, "the Lord placed at the east of the garden of Eden, CHERUBIM, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life". ”

“ It works by "fear, which hath torment", and debases the soul; so that were it not for its fears, it would be honest and confess that it cared neither for God nor for His religion. But there is no fear in love; for perfect love casteth out fear. The world of professors, therefore, deceives itself in supposing that it loves God. "He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:17,18) It loves Him not, for its conscience is defiled. "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Its "doubts and fears" demonstrate its consciousness of sin uncovered ”

“ Has He not shown the absurdity of their speculations about "souls", "immortality", and "the nature of the gods"?
They had no idea of immortality being conferred only upon men who might be accounted worthy of a certain kingdom. This was a doctrine which the flesh, with all its thinking, and with all its logic, had no conception of. It never thought of the kingdom of God and the name of a particular personage, as the channel through which immortality was to flow. ”

“ They poured out abundantly the blood of victims; and, from the tradition of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac in obedience to the divine mandate, the Carthaginians, who migrated from Palestine, probably concluded that the most acceptable offering for sin was that of human life. Be this as it may, the principle that "without the shedding of blood there is no remission", which is an axiom of God's truth, took deep root among all the descendants of the sons of Noah. Their system was a corruption of God's Way. They were without faith, and erred, not knowing "His thoughts". ”

“ Their sins will have been covered upon the same principle -- by the raiment of righteousness derived from the sacrifice, by faith in whose blood they had been cleansed.
There is no true religion without faith; nor any true faith without the belief of the truth. Now, although a scriptural faith is the scarcest thing among men, it is exceedingly simple, and by no means difficult to acquire, when it is sought for aright. Paul gives the best definition of faith extant. ”

“ The elementary doctrinal principles of religion are few and simple and no other reason can be given for them than that God wills them. They may be thus stated 1. No sinner can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, that he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. ”

“ The pulpit orators of this age are either greatly deceived, or, if their eyes be open, most egregiously impose upon the credulity of the public, in pretending to be Christ's ambassadors to the world. Why, they are the world's allies ; the friends and supporters of the institutions of Satan's kingdom; whose subjects pay them their wages on condition of preaching such doctrine as suits them! Talk of being ministers and ambassadors of Jesus Christ, how perverted must their own minds be to imagine it ”

“ The carnal mind, by reflecting upon its own consciousness, may be "of opinion" that what it terms "I myself" is immaterial because it thinks, and "therefore immortal"; but beyond that it can never go. Opinion implies doubt; for if a matter be beyond doubt, it is no longer opinion, but faith or knowledge. ”

“ I would, however, so far anticipate another part of this work as to say here, that the finality of creation, providence, and redemption is, man upon earth, glorious, honourable, and immortal, in a state of unmingled good. It was because God loved man, and out of mercy to him, that He drove him out of the garden. ”

“ But for the fear of what may be hereafter, professors would be as lawless as the antediluvian giants; and thus, by the ecclesiastical antagonism of society being destroyed, the earth would be filled with violence as before the flood. Superstition is useful in maintaining order until the period shall arrive to supersede it by "wisdom and knowledge", which will be the stability of the times pertaining to the kingdom of God. ”

“ It is worth something. A religion of terror, so long as it is believed, is useful as a system of ecclesiastical police; which, associated with the civil and military forces, assists materially in keeping the world in awe. ”

“ Hence, in the breach between God and man, it is God's prerogative alone to prescribe; and all that men have liberty to do is to accept, or reject, the conditions of amity and peace.
This view of the case precludes entirely the idea of appeasing the wrath of God by human ingenuity. God needs not to be appeased by man ”