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L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grAce A la gAnirositi de: BibliothAque nationale du Canada Las images suivantes ont it* reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition at de la nettet* de l'exemplaire filmi. et en conformity avec tes conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimte sont filmAs en commenpant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernlAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration. soit par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmte en comT)en9ant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illi.elure. Id 3 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 >v^, THE Gospel of the Rev. B. Fay Mills Tested by Scripture, By DR. A. B. MACKAY, ('KKHCENT StREKT PREHHYTERIAN ('HURCH, MONTREAL. m m VI V PREFACE. Along with my late brother, Dr. W. P. Mackay, author of "Grace and Truth, I have always been deeply interested in evan- feliatic work, and have been able to work with evangelists from whom rother ministers stood aloof. It was, therefore, a very painful ex- perience for me to discover that the Rev. B. Fay Mills was preaching what I considered false doctrine to the crowds who came to hear h' m. Though, ^before he came, I could not commit myself to his way of work- ing, all that I had heard of him prejudiced me in his favour, and I went to nis meetings hoping to get good for myself, and to do good as I had opportunity. I was driven away by his unscriptural teaching. I did not go hurriedly. I tried to explain away his words. I tried to put the Blame on myself, for our hearts are very deceitful. I wondered if I had lost all relish for the old Oospel, when I found Mr. Mills' teach- ings so distasteful. I was reassured by a visit made to a meeting of the Salvation army, where, though the accompaniments were of a kind to me naturally obiectionable, I was refreshed and strengthened by the Gospel preached by these women. Though I understand French imperfectly, I heard more saving Gospel truth in that meeting than in all the addresses I had heard from Mr. Mills. It was a still more painful experience when I found his false teach- ing beginning to leaven my own people, and when I was compelled, therefore, to draw public attention to it. My object in doing so was not only to i>oint out the error, but also to proclaim the truth. To those who think it would have been lietter to have left this matter alone, I commend the words of the Rev. Dr. E. H. Perowne, in his admirable notes on the epistle to the Galatians. Speaking on Gal. V. 9— "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump"— ne says: "This verse, which occurs again (1 Cor. v. 6), seems to have passed into a proverb. 7%ere the apostle is condemning the toleration of a single act of open immorality in a member of the Church of Christ. It was the concession of a principle, and whether it be followed by similar acts or not, the standard of Christian morality will be lowered and a laxity of tone will g^radually pervade the spirit and degrade the prac- tice, of those who are called, ' not unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.' Here the warning is against the insidious nature of the false teachings of the Judaizing leaders. The difiFerence lietween that teaching and ' the truth of the Gospel ' may appear iuconsiderable, and the teachers themselves may be insignificant m numbers or in authority. But error, once admitted, is a virus which will gradually spread and poison the whole system of doctrine, or the whole spiritual life of the individual or of the Church." A. B. MACKAY. Since writing the above I have received the following letter from the Rev. D. H. Mac Vicar, D.B., LL.D., Principal of the Presbyterian College, Montreal. Presbttkrian C^ollkoe, Montreal, April 0th, 1894. Mt Dear Dr. Maokat,— Having learned that you arc about to publish the sermon you preached on the 25th of March last, allow me to express the hope that it may be as widely distributed and read as the views which it forcibly brings to the test of Scripture. Your position regarding the silence of Mr. Mills upon essential elements of the OospeL and the nature of certain dogmas directly propounded by him, finds endorse- ment In a timely article in the April issue of " The Presbyterian and Reformed Review," by the Rev. Dr. David R. Breed, of Chicago. Youfh very truly, D. H. Mac VICAR. 1 The Gospel of tbe Rev. B. Fay Mills Tested by Scrlptnie, By dr. a. B. MACKAY, Crescent Street Presbyterian Church, Montreal. Oal. 2 : lS.~Even Barnabas teas carried away. It must have been a strong movement which swept Barna- bas off his feet and carried him away ; and it must have also been a very plausible movement, for Barpabas was no weakling. He was a pillar of the Church — a mot earnest and devoted Christian. Sometimes, when ministers oi the Gospel begin to teach strange doctrine, people who sympathize with them say, " He can't be wrong, he is such a good man." That is a very dan- gerous way of thinking. It would be hard to introduce heresies into the Church, if the teachers of them wer6 bad men. The devil is far too cunning to go to work in that way ; he generally uses those who have many excellent qualities to do this work. Sometimes the goodness of these men may be doubtful ; at other times it is real. There can be no doubt about the goodness of Barnabas. It is testified of him (Acts xi. 24), " He was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." It was he whose splendid liberality is extolled by the Holv Ghost He sold a field and laid the price at the Apostles' feet. It was he who was sent as a deputy from the Church of Jerusalem to examine into the revival at Antioch, and to report. Therefore, he must have been a judicious, trustworthy, solid man, who had the confi- dence of the Church. Yet, this very Barnabas, this good man, full of the Holy Ghost, full of faith, so liberal, so judicious, was carried away in a wrong direction by another spiritual move- ment in that same city of Antioch. Surely it must have been a very strong and a very plausible movement. It was evidently also very popular, and the leaders of it most influential. Peter, the first 01 the Apostles, gave it his countenance and support, and we may well believe that the leading ministers of the city fell into line, and it looked as if every Christian would be roped in, such was the pressure brought to bear on them. Is it not likely that Paul must have been considered by many in Antioch a rash, conceited, meddlesome fellow ? Might 1^9! they not have said, " Who are you, to set yourself up against Peter, who received the keys of the kingdom ? and against Bar- nabas, who first brought you here to do Christian work ? You should be ashamed of yourself, creating this trouble in the Church, when we could all be so unanimous and friendly." So they may have thought and said, but Paul felt it his duty to resist Peter, and that not privately, but publicly, in the face of the whole Christian community. Do you think that this was a pleasant thing for Paul to do ? It must have been a very severe trial, especially to oppose Bar- nabas, for up to that time Barnabas had been his dearest friend. What a true, kind friend Barnabas had been to Paul — that friend in need who is a friend indeed ! It was Barnabas who first held out the hand of cordial brotherhood to Paul, and he did so when all the rest of the Church looked with suspicion on him and gave him the cold shoulder. It was Barnabas who introduced him to public Christian work. Some young people, whenever they are converted, seem to think they are fit for any kind of Christian work. If they have the baptism of the Holy Qhost, what need have they for special training ? Thus they think in their ignorance, and some older Christians who ought to know better, encourage them in their folly. Paul, the grandest Chris- tian worker that ever lived, after his thorough training under Gamaliel, after his marvellous conversion, passed seven or eight years in obscurity — stemingly laid on the shelf, — but all the time preparing for the grandest work that has ever been done in this dispensation, When Barnabas came to Antioch and found such a revival there, by a divine inspiration, he felt that Paul was just the man for the work, and so he hastened to Tarsus, got Paul, and brought him to Antioch. And how they did work together in that city ! — like very brothers. A monu- ment of their successful labours we carry to this day, for it was there that we were first called Christians. Then the Holv Qhost said. "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them/' and so they went forth together on that glorious first missionary journey from Antioch. Then afterwards they went as co-delegates to plead the cause of Chris- tian liberty at the Council of Jerusalem. Such was the previous connection between Paul and Barna- bas ; it must, therefore, have been a most painful trial for Paul to oppose Barnabas. Why did he oppose nim ? For the same reason that he opposed the false brethren at Jerusalem, that the tnifch of the Gospel might \)g maintained. Christian brother- hood is sweet, Christian hai-mony is precious, but the truth of the Qospel is more precious and more sweet than anything else to the soul that truly knows and loves the Lord Jesus. Now, in regard to this movement which Paul opposed, we are not to think that Peter and Baimabas had apostatized from Christianity and turned teachers of heresy. Theoretically they both believed with Paul, that salvation was by faith in Christ alone, but by their actions they denied this. They " did not walk uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel." There- fore, Paul said to them : " We being Jews by nature and not sin- ners of the Gentiles, yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be iustified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law ; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (Gal. ii. 15, 16), i. e., we profess to be justified by faith in Christ alone, but by acting as you do, you say that something else is needed. This was Paul's controversy with Peter and Barnabas. It may seem a very small matter, but a little leaven will leaven the whole lump. (Gal. V. 6.) Once allow that a man has tc» do something in order to be saved, and the whole body of your teaching will become a mass of corruption. This is why Luther said that Justification by Faith is the article of a standing or falling Church. He is right. Keep to that and there is a possibility of spiritual health and spiritual progress. Fall from that and you fall from grace ; you are on the down grade and go from bad to worse. Now, if the reports of Fay Mills' addresses are correct, and I think they have been very ably reported — certainly those I heard him deliver have not only been carefully reported, but also carefully pruned ; and if I rightly understand his words, as I think I do, then I say that the same error which Paul with- stood in a very incipient form at Antioch has been proclaimed publicly among us by this evangelistic specialist. In saying this I am not judging the man ; I am merely speaking of his doctrine. And 1 am not speaking of all his doc- trines. There are very many things in his teaching which I most heartily endorse, e. g., his condemnation of worldliness among Christians. And I hope the Churches and Christians will lay his words to heart ; for if when our Saviour came to Jerusalem he accused the Jews of making His Father's house a house of merchandise. He could say to some of our churches, % " Ye have made it a place of amusement." But, while the teach- ing of this evangelist is in many points true, the leaven of this fake doctrine wnl as surely permeate all his other teachings, as a little cake of Fleischmann s yeast will raiae all the dough into which it is put Therefore this is no light matter. It has to do with the most momentous question that an immortal soul can put, " What must I do to be saved ? " You know Paul's answer, clear, short, definite, sufficient, — " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Now, how does this evangelist deal with souls ? Here are some specimens : " There was a man in Sacramento who once interrupted me in a meeting with the question, ' How am I to be a Christian ? If you can tell, me, I'll bie one.' ' Wait till the close of the meeting,' I replied, for I saw he had been drinking. I went to him ana said, ' You must first give up sin.' " " In tones of confidence a method was given for getting rid of sins — Here it is — Give them up. Sin will never forsake you if you do not forsake it. Say good-bye to your sins." " God will never stop your sinning for yoa Put yourself in humble submission to God. Say, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? This is the initial step of Christianity, and the question all the way along. Make an honest, faithful effort to forsake sin." " I met a young lady in the train. I asked if she was a Christian. ' No,' was her answer, ' but if you can tell me some- thing practical, I will be.' I asked her what she ought to do, and she told me. Then I said, ' Do that.' I asked her what she should give up, and she said she would abandon what was sinful. But something was wanting. ' Are you at perfect peace with the world ? ' * No, sir,' was the curt response, ' don't ask me to forgive that person.' ' I don't, but God does.' * Then I'll never be forgiven.' And I looked afterwards into her eyes, and I saw through them a vision of a soul in hell." " It is the only simple thing in the world ; it is merely the surrender of one's will to the righteous will of God." " No two men are converted in the same way, but the door through which all must enter alike, is that of self-surrender." " That a man can be as good as he wants to be. This is the essence of the gospel. What we pay a price for that we have." " There is something we must do ourselves. There is always the stone to be removed. There is always that hellish spirit of pride. There is the spirit of envy. There is the spirit of unforgiveness. There is the unconsecrated tongue and pocket book. There is malice and uncharitableness." " There is no limit to what Qod will do to him who has done everything for God." " I have received piles of letters from people in Montreal," said Mr. Mills, " telling me that they have done this thing and that thinff, and yet they have not perfect joy in the Lord. Perhaps they have not given up the last thing. Perhaps they have not the perfect willingness that God expects of us." So he speaks, and let us consider some of the principles he enunciates, and see what Scripture teaches. 1. Give up ain. " Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil." — Jer. xiii. 23. Tell a negro to make himself white and you speak as wisely as when you tell a sinner to give up sin. In searching, for a long time, the works of the late C. H. Spurgeon, to verify a reference to him which I make further on, 1 came upon the following passage, which is so appro- priate that I cannot forbear quoting it. I felt that my bad mem- ory was no accident when I fell in with these words of that glorious Pauline evangelist, which so answer to my own expe- rience recorded further on. He is speaking on the passage, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean," and he says, " Now inasmuch as the text brings in God it is clear that this evil could not be cleansed without the divine interposition. There was no other way for the purging of the chosen ones but by the direct interposition of the Lord. Oh, but divines have fine notions now-a-days ! It appears that children are not now born in sin as they used to be. They do not want any regeneration or conver- sion, for the stock is so superior that the branches naturally bear good fruit. 1 have never read of such people in the Scriptures, but I am often told that there are such now-a-days ; at least their parents and their parsons say so. Of old it used to be ' That which is born of flesh is flesh,' and only ' that which is bom of the spirit is spirit.' That of course is very old fashioned doctrine. Well, when we have a new fashioned God I daresay we shall have new fashioned truth ; but at present truth seems to me to be as immutable as God Himself. As for myself, I know that I was born in sin, and I know that in me, 8 that M in iiiy AeMh, dwolleth no gocxl thiim. I know, alHO, that I once tried to purge and cleanse my own heart, and laboured at it, I believe, aH nonestly an any person that lived. T went about to seek a righteousness of my own, and I endeavoured to get quit of sin ; but my failure was complete. I do not advise any other person to try self-healing. It brought me to despair ; it drove me almost to the loss of reason. The more I scrubbed and cleansed the blacker I became. I washed my Hottentot self, and he was more of a Hottentot after I had bathed him than he was before. I only saw how black the black mass was when I had whitened him for the moment with my soap. Job said, ' If I wash myself with snow water and make myself never no clean, yet shalt Thou plunge me in the ditch ^nd my own clothes shall abhor me;' and it was so with me. Therefore speak I of ray own experience ; and taught by my own failure I cannot urge any man to seek cleansing by his own doings or efforts, but I urge him to accept that cleansing which God has promised in the Covenant of Grace. * * ♦ There is your sin, and there it must be eternally, unless Jehovah Himself shall blot it out. The Lord begins to save His people when as yet they have no strength, and cannot cleanse themselves." Again : " We all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have take us away." — Isa. Ixiv. 6. What .strength has the withered leaf again.st the autumn wind ? No more has the sinner against his sins. Again : " The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." — Rom. viii. 6-8. How then can he give up sin ? " 2. Do this or that. So says Mr. Mills, but what says Paul : " Now t<) hiin that wi>rketh is the reward nt)t reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, hut believeth on him that iiistifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God iniputeth righteousness without works. Saying, Blessed are the^ whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed ta the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin." Rom. iv. 4-8. 3. God will never stop your sinning. Why then do we sings' — Every virtue we possess. And every victory won, '- And every thought of holiness. Are His alone. 9 Anrl why is it written ? — " Behold, the dayH eoiiie, wiith the LoKT), that I will make a now covenant with the houHe of iHvael, and with the houHe of Judah : not according to the covenant that I made with their fatlu«rH in the day that I took them hv the hand to hrin^? them out of the land of Eirypt; which my covenant they hrake, althoiiKh I was an hiislNind untoinem. Miith the LoKl). Hut this shall Im> the covenant that I will make with the hotise of Israel ; after those days, saith the liOiti). I will put my law in their inward parta, and write it in their hearts ; and l>e their God, and thev shall Iw my ]>eople. And tlu'y shall teach no more every man his neiKnlxmr, and every man his brother, saying, know the L<>KD : for they shall all know me, from the least of then') unto the gifatest of them, saith the IjOKD, for I will forgive their inii^uity, and I will re« member their sins no more." Jer. xxxi. 314U. And again : — '• Moreover the word of the LoKU came unto me, saving. Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, tney defiled it by their own way and by their doings : their way w»ih before n»e as the uncleamiess of a removed woman. Wherefore I'poiu-ed my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it. And 1 scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the c<»untries : according to their doings I judged them. And when they entered unto the heathen, whither tney went, they profaned my holV name, when they said to them. These are the people of the Lord, nnu are gone forth out of his land. But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, 'whither they went. There- foie say unto the house of Israel, Thus said the Lord OoD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, whitrh ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye' went. And 1 will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have pi-ofaned in the midst of them ; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, stiith the Loi-d God, when I shall be s^mcti- fied in you before their eyes. For I will tiike you out from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon .you, and ye shall l)e clean : from all your flltniness, and from all y«)ur idols, will I cleanse you.- A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you : and I will tiike a .vay the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will pat my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judg- ments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. 1 will also save you from all your imcleannesses." Ezek. xxxvi. 16-2J). Such passages make it plain, that if God does not stop our sinning, we shall never stop sinning at all. There is no hope for any sinner if God does not undertake this work. Mr. Spuigeon gives an incident to show how this grand gospel truth is fitted to meet the needs of the greatest sinner. He says : — " The chaplain of a jail, a dear friend of mine, had under his charge a man most cunning and brutal. He was singularly 10 repulsive, even in comparison with other convicts. He had been renowned for his daring, and for utter absence of all feeling when committing acts of violence. I think he had been called " The King of the Garottei-s." The chaplain had spoken to him several times, but had not succeeded even in getting an answer. The man was sullenly set against all instruction. At last he expressed a desire for a certain book, but as it was not in the library the chaplain pointed to the Bible, which was placed in his cell, and said, " ])id you ever read that Book, ? " He gave no answer, but looked at the good man as if he would kill him. The question was kindly repeated, with the assurance that he would find it well worth reading. " Sir," said the convict, " You would not ask me such a question if you knew who I was. What have I to do with a book of that sort ? " He was told that his character was well known to the chaplain, and that for this very reason he recommended the Bible as a book which would suit his case. " It would do me no good," he cried, " I am past all feeling." Doubling up his fist he struck the iron door of the cell, and cried, " My breast is as hard as that iron, there is nothing in any book that will ever touch me." " Well," said the chaplain, " you want a new heart. Did you ever read the covenant of grace ? " To which the man answered sullenly by enquiring what he meant by such talk. His friend replied, " Listen to these words, * a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.'" The words struck the man with amazement, as well they might, he asked to have the passage found for him in the Bible. He read the words again and again ; and vhen the chaplain came back to him next day, the wild beast was tamed. "Oh! Sir," he said, "I never dreamed of such a promise ! I never believed it possible that God would speak in such a way as that to men If He gives me a new heart it will be a miracle of mercy ; and yet I think," he said, " He is going to work that miracle upon me, for the very hope of a new nature is beginning to touch .me as I never was touched before." That man became gentle in manner, obedient to au- thority, and childlike in spirit. Though my friend has nothing left of the sanguine hopes he once entertained of converted criminals, he vet believes that in this case no observer could have questioned the thorough nature of the work." 4. Examine the statement: Pay a price. We read in Isaiah Iv. : 1. " Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat : yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price." 11 And again, Rev. xxii. : 17. "And the Spirit and the bride say come, and he that is athirst let him come and take the water of life freely." 5. Again we are told to surrender our will, as if that were the easiest matter in the world. What do we read in Psalm ex.: 3. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power." And in Phil. xii. : 13. " Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." The invariable teaching of the Gospel is this. Salvation, eternal life, all spiritual blessings are the gift of God. "The gift of God is eternal life," Rom. vi. : 23. " The grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men," Titus ii. : 1 1. " The ju.st shall live by faith," Rev. i. : 17. Faith is the first step, the second step, the last step in the Christian life " We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed." 1 Peter i. : 3-5. 6. There is no limit to what God will do to him who does everything for God. It would be nearer the truth to say, there is no limit to what God will do to him who most deeply feels he can do nothing for God, for it is written, " He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away," Luke i. : 53. When Naaman came as a rich man who happened to be a leper he got nothing, when he felt he was a leper who happened to be a rich man, he went to Jordan and was cured. " Who hath first given to Him ? " Ro xi. : 35. 7. Think of these piles of letters. My heart aches for these seeking souls, for I know something of this misery. Pardon me if I give part of my own experience, I do not like to do so, but sometimes it is justifiable. Thirty-five years ago I verily believed that that was the gospel. I strove earnestly to give up sin, to bid g(iod-bye to sin, to surrender my will to God. What was the result ? Despair. The more 1 tried the worse I got. I asked myself, what is the use of going on like this. I must drift like a straw on the irresistible current of sin. I must go to perdition. I remember the very spot beneath a tree near Burgess's farm house in the mid links of Montrose where this feeling overwhelmed me. Often since then have I thought that dead tree was the picture of my dead soul. What brought deliverance ? When I saw that I had nothing to do, simply to believe, simply to receive Christ, the gift of God into my heart, 1^ and with Him, wisdom,, righteousness, sanctification and redemp- tion. Oh ! what a burden was rolled away. I look back on the^e thirty-five years. I see that just in the measure in which I have walked by faith in the Son of God there has been strength and peace and joy and obedience, and when I have not walked by faith, sin and only sin. Therefore I know to-day far more terribly and vividly, than then, that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. It is simply as a sinner, utterly helpless in i/iyself , to do a single thing to please God, that I must come to the Saviour every hour of every day, by faith in Him to receive forgiveness, strength and peace, and every blessing I need. I have power over sin just as I am able to make Paul's motto my own, " The life 1 now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." Therefore my sympathies are altogether with the degraded harlot on the streets of Edinburgh, who, when she heard a man preaching a gospel like what we have been hearing from Fay Mills, was heard saying to herself. " Eh man ! your line's no lang eneuch for the like o' me." Thank God there is a line long enough for the chief of sinners. Not that w^hich says, " Do this and live " but " Live and do this." In speaking lately of some errors into which men have fallen in regard to the Christian life, some making it consist of a bundle of doctrines, others a bundle of ceremonies, others a bundle of emotions, and others a bundle of philanthropic actions, I pointed out that the last is a very seductive error, and very fashionable with some who think themselves the advanced spirits of the age. With many, " Humanity is the one article of their creed. Altru- ism their highest duty." A superficial view of some of John's statements in his first epistle, where he insists on the necessity of love in deed and truth, might lead such to think that he sup- ports their position, and that to be benevolent and kind is every- thing. The love of which John speaks is to them nothing more than natural benevolence. This plausible and pleasant error harmonizes entirely with the spirit of " this tolerant age," which is never wearied of repeating, with increasing confidence, that a man's creed is of little consequence, the all-im])ortant things are his deeds ; that it is not our faith but our works ; not what we believe, but what we do, which will commend us to God. Thus it is nothing more than the modern phase of the old contention between justification by faith and justification by works. 1.1 Now, it is in reference to these things that John gives the great commandment which puts everything in its right place. After saying, " Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not we have boldness before Go