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>v^,

THE

Gospel of the Rev. B. Fay Mills

Tested by Scripture,

By DR. A. B. MACKAY,

('KKHCENT StREKT PREHHYTERIAN ('HURCH, MONTREAL.

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.

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,

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.

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

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."

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,

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<l, and whatsoever we ask we receive of Him,
because we keep His commandments and do the things that are
pleasing in His sight." He adds : " And this is His command-
ment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and
love one another, even as He gave us commandment." 1 John
iii. 21-23. Hence this popular talk is all wrong. They speak
contrary to the Scriptures who say that all that is required
is to do what is right, and that it does not much matter what
we believe. Not so says the apostle. In order to do what is
right, it is necessary to believe. Faith is the first step in true
obedience to God's commandments.

Notice well, that John does not say that the commandments
are Faith and Love, but the commandment. The thing God
commands is Faith and Love. Therefore, two things are plainly
taught. The Love of which John speaks is inseparable from
Faith. The Faith that is not accompanied by Love is no Faith.
The Love that is not accompanied by Faith is no Love. You
can no more separate Faith and Love and have each a living
thing acceptable to God, than you can cut a living body in two
and have each part alive. He that does not love in deed and in
truth has not Faith. He that does not believe has not Love.
We may do many things good and beneficial in themselves, the
fruit of natural kindness of heart, and these may be very plea.sing
in the sight of man — all men will praise us for them ; but we
cannot do that which is pleasing in the sight of God, except we
keep His commandments. This truth is self-evident. In our
dealings with God it will never do for us to make our own terms
with God — to compound with Him, as it were, and make our
attention to one duty an excuse for not attending to another. If
we would please Him we must do what He commands ; and
what does He command ? What is the commandment which He
puts before and above all others, which He ctmsiders of primary
importance, essential to the establishing of a right relation
between Him and us ? " This is His Commandment that we

SHOULD BELIEVE IN THE NAME OF HlS SoN JeSUS CHRIST."

Why should God lay such stress on this commandment?
Why is it so fundamental ?

because god is holy.
He desires our holiness, and He knows that only in the keeping
of this conniiandment are we sinners enabled to keep all the

other commandments, Perfect obedience, perfect love, the doing
of the things that are pleasing in God's sight, are all wrapped up
in faith. The only door of entrance into perfect obedience to all
God's commandments is the door of faith. He knows that if we
truly believe in His Son Jesus Christ, we will love one another,
and do the things that are pleasing in His sight ; therefore, this
is His great commandment. And to this correspond the words
of the Saviour. When they asked Him, " What must we do to
work the works of God ? " how did He answer ? Build a hospi-
tal, endow a charity, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter
the outcast ? Nay, but " This is the work of God, that ye believe
on Him whom He hath sent." Except we do this, nothing else
that we do can be pleasing to God ; but we can do nothing that
will please Him more than this. This is what His heart is set
upon, what he desires first of all from us, that the Son of His
love should be the object of our faith. What a word is this for
the sinner ! You feel that you are in no condition to keep God's
commandments so as to please Him. But you are just in the con-
dition to do this which will please Him greatly : " Believe in the
name of His Son Jesus Christ." He will be pleased with your
keeping of no other commandment, but He will be pleased with
your keeping of this. You may be in no circumstances to do any-
thing else that will be pleasing in His sight, but you are in the
very circumstances to do that which will please Him best. Sin-
ner, think of it. God asks of you if you will do Him this plea-
sure, to believe in the name of His Son. This is His command-
ment here and now to keep. Here is the thing pleasing in His
sight, here and now to do. Without faith it is impossible to
please Him, but faith does please Him, it pleases Him well ;
therefore, believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ.
Special stress is also laid on this commandment,

BECAUSE GOD IP LOVING.

It is His desire to bless us, to do us good. He has no plea-
sure in the death of him that dieth. It is His desire to make
us partakers of the divine nature, to lift us out of darkness into
light, out of death into life ; to make us, who are by nature the
children of wrath, in very deed the children of God. All those
blessings depend on faith in Jesus Christ. " As many as re-
ceived Him to them gave He the right to become children of
God, even to them that believe on His name."

Now, filled with a sense of our great unworthiness, we sin-
ners might say ; such an honour is too great for me ; it would be

presumption for uie to lay hold of it. But when I see that God
commands me to believe, lays upon me all the weight of divine
authority to shut me up to faith, and therefore makes my un-
belief my greatest disobedience and rebellion, all such feelings
are swept away. Surely there can be no presumption in obey-
ing the command of God. He will never find fault with me for
doing what He has laid upon me as my first great duty toward
Him. All the presumption would be in not believing. It is not
using a great liberty to believe : it is .simply keeping the com-
mandment of God. The liberty is all the other way. You use
a great liberty when you refuse to believe. Be not disobedient.
Displease not God by unbelief ; rather please Him by believing.
Oh, how loving is God ! He would shut up you and me, and all
men, to salvation in Christ by commanding us thus. If any man
is not saved, it is not because he has broken all the ten com-
mandments, but because he has broken this New Testament
commandment. Accordingly, does any, the vilest sinner out of
hell, ask, What must I do to be saved ? I have no difficulty in
answering in the words of the old hymn : —

Nothing, either great or Hinall,

Nothing, sinner, no.
Jesus did it, did it all.

Long, long ago.

When He from His lofty throne

Stooped to do and die,
Everything was fully done.

Listen to His cry —

" It is finished." Yes, indeed,

Finished, everv jot.
Sinner, this is all yoii need ;

Tell nie, is it not l-*

Till to .Tesus' work you cling

By a simple faith)
Doing is a deaelly thing —

Doing ends in death.

Cast your deadly doing down,

Down at Jesus' feet ;
Stand in Him, in Hiiu alone.

Gloriously complet ?.

But there is

ANOTHER FUNDAMENTAL ERROR

which seems to be found in Mr. Mills' teaching, and which is
really the basis of that which we have been considering. He
holds unseriptural views as to the state of man by nature. He
says, " Mothers, always reiuemV)er there is an angel in your child.

It is your business to bring the angel out. You can do it." If
this is true, why did Jesus say to Nicodemus, that most re.spect-
able and upright ruler of the Jews, " Ye must be bom again,"
yea, told him that except he was born again he could neither .see
nor enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Or, what .shall we make
of Saul of Tarsus ? Was there an angel in him, brought ont by
his father and mother. Perhaps they thought so, for he attained
to victory over all known sin, and to the fulfilment of all known
duty. " As touching the righteousness which is of the law," he
was "blameless." Phil. iii. 4-6. He cries to every one who
thinks he has anything to boast of in the strength of the flesh,
" I more." Was the angel in him brought out ? No. He was
actually "the chief of .sinners/' 1 Tim. i. 15. He who cries
" I more " when he compares himself with self-made saints, cries
" I chief " when he compares himself with ruined sinners.

Some time ago this same kind of teaching was indulged in
in this city at a gathering at which I was present. The leader
of the meeting was asking questions of the audience in regard
to the condition of man by nature, and as one of them I answered
by quoting passages of Scripture, e. g., Ps. li. : 5, " Behold [ was
shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me " ;
Eph. ii. 3, " And were by nature the children of wrath even as
others." The leader was ill pleased with my answers and sought
to pay me out at the evening meeting, when he delivered an
address, and as one of the audience my tongue was tied. In this
he caricatured my views by representing a mother holding her
baby in her arms and calling it a " little devil." I have listened
to few things in my life more shocking. Scripture teaches very
plainly that a child is neither an angel nor a dovil, but a human
being possessing a sinful nature with momentous possibilities
before it. For every infant, just because it is a member of the
human race, there is provided so great salvation, that it can be
raised far above angels and become a child of God clothed in
the very glory of the only begotten Son of God, and sitting with
Him on His throne. But there is another dark alternative ; he
may neglect that great salvation: and then, if we are to believe the
words of the Lord Jesus, he must spend eternity in the place
prepared for the devil and his angels. Hence the solemn
question, pressed with such vehemence by the Holy Ghost,
" How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation." Every
child that comes into the world has a birthright far more
wonderful than that of Esau. He may become a child of
God, for it is written, " As many as received Him, to them gave

He the rij^ht to become children of God, even to them that be-
lieve on His name." John i. 15. But, alas ! how many like Esau
despise that birthright, selling it for a mess cf pottage ; for the
whole world and all it contains is but a mess of pottage com-
pared with this birthright.

But this free gift is all of God's grace, not because there is
anything in the nature of man to commend him to God or to
merit such a wonderful blessing. What saith the Scripture as
to the state of man by nature { " That which is born of the
flesh is flesh." John iii. 6. And what is the character of the
flesh ? Paul, through the Holy Ghost, gives the answer. " In
me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." Bo. vii. 18.
Again : " The mind of the flesh is enmity against God, for it is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be ; and they
that are in the flesh cannot please God." Ro. viii. 6-8. Again :
" You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins."
Eph. ii. 1. The sinner is like Lazarus as he lay in the tomb,
and his coming forth to life depends altogether on the power and
love of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life. Jesus raised
the dead three times : the little maid wliose spirit had just fled,
as she lay upon her bed ; the young man who was being carried
out to his burial ; Lazarus, who had been dead three days, —
which was the easiest ? All equally impossible to man — all
equally possible to God. So the youngest sinner needs the same
Almighty power to (luicken him into newness of life as the
oldest reprobate, and the oldest reprobate is not beyond the
power of " God who quickens the dead and calls the things that
are not as though they were." Ro. iv. 17. Isaiah also gives us
God's own photograph of the natural heart in those words : " We
are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the
wind, have taken us away." Isa. Ixiv. 6.

Still further, Mr. Mills tells us that " In every person there
is the germ of faith which, if cultivateil, would bring forth the
highest spiritual life." These words were delivered with the
greatest emphasis and deliberation as one of the strong planks
in the speaker's theological platform. He is a Presbyterian, and
one might be inclined to put this questitm from the Shorter
Catechism to him : " How doth the Spirit apply to us the re-
demption purchased by Christ;'" "The Spirit applieth to us
the redemption purchased by Christ by working faith in us,
and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling ; " but

to the law and the testimony. [ do not know how big this
germ of faith is, but T know that Jesus says : " If ye had faith as
a grain of mustard seed ye would say unto this sycamine tree,
Be thou rooted up, and be thou planted in the sea, and it would
obey you." Luke xvii. 6. Again, in 1 Cor. xii. 8-9, we read :
" To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another
the word of knowledge by the same Spirit ; to another faith by
the same Spirit." If faith is a gift of the Spirit, how can it be
the possession of every man ? Also, in Gal v. 22, we read :
'' But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." Also Eph.
li. 8 : "By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves ; it is the gift of God." The whole thing, and all its
parts, faith included, is the gift of God. Also, Paul tells us dis-
tinctly in 2 Thess. iii. 2 : " All men have not faith." Which are
we to believe ? — the Apostle Paul or Mr. Mills ? Again, in

1 Tim. i. 14, we read : " The grace of our Lord was exceeding
abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus." Also,

2 Peter i. 1. Peter writes to the Jews of the Dispersion as " to
them that had obtained like precious faith with us." How could
they obtain that which was theirs by nature ?

As regard this whole question, how any man who accepts
the teaching of Scripture can read the opening chapters of
Romans and not acknowledge the utter sinfulness of man by
nature, I cannot understand. Yet X know that this fundamental
doctrine is denied by many, and its rejection is the source of in-
numerable errors. When a student, I saw that this was a most
important question, and therefore gave special attention to it. I
knew that my views on this subject would of necessity influence
all my other teachings ; therefore I searched the Scripture con-
cerning it, and the more I searched the more I became convinced
that lax and unscriptural views were prevailing. Accordingly,
the first sermon I ever wrote, and the first I ever preached, was
on this subject. Why ? Because I had no desire to sail under
false colours. I wished to let every one who heard me know
exactly where I stood as to this doctrine. I could never consent
to be minister to a people who did not accept heartily that teach-
ing. I have been minister of three congregations. In each of
them I preached that sermon, so that there could be no doubt as
to my views. Do you remember that sermon ? I preached it in
old Cot^ Street Church sixteen years ago, and I stand by the
truth there enunciated more firmly than ever. Do you ? Perhaps
you have forgot the sermon — perhaps you have never heard it ;

therefore I will preach it again next Lord's day evening, I
know that since I wrote that sermon over twenty-five years ago,
the doctrine it contains has become more and more unpopular.
That does not move me in the least. That does not prove that
the doctrine is false ; it only proves that the Church is drifting —
drifting from the truth — in too many of its members. Modem
theology makes a great <leal of man. The first question in the
Shorter Catechism used to be, " Man's chief end is to glorify God
and to enjoy Him for ever." Now some would make it, " God's
chief end is to glorify man and enjoy him for ever." I keep by
the old, whoever may preach the new, but these teachings are
influencing members ot this congregation. Hence it is my duty,
as one set over you in word and doctrine, to point out these errors.

The last point I dwell on is this. Fay Mills does not clearly
proclaim

THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST.

There is an uncertainty, haziness and hesitation in regard to
this which is very unsatisfactory. As a very intelligent and
earnest Christian said to me ; " He seems often to be coming up
to the point, but always evades it." Now, every true evangelist
keeps the Cross of Christ in the forefront. As we sang, " Onward,
Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the Cross of Jesus
going on before," so does he preach. What does Paul say in
Gal. iii. 1 : " O, foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly set forth crucified." What
does he cry to them ? " God forbid that I should glory save in
the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Gal. vi. 14. This is the
great power whereby souls are drawn to the Saviour, in fulfil-
ment of His own words : " I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto me." John xii. 32. But if this is the
power, it is also the offence, and there has always been a ten-
dency to escape the offence of the Cross. A man could preach,
not three times a day for three months, but three times a day for
three years, and give no offence, if he leaves out the Cross, but
alas for his gospel.

Consider some of this evangelist's strange sentences :
" Christ is no more the Saviour of the world in the measure of
His influence than the Christian is in the measure of his influ-
ence. God means to save the world through a people that are
acquainted with Him." I read : " We have beheld and bear wit-
ness that the Father hath sent the Son to be the Saviour of the
world." 1 John iv. 14. Again : " In none other is there salva-

-Wt-.--:

s?^

tion ; for neither is tliere any other name under lieaven, that is
given among men, wherein we must be saved." Acts iv. 12.

Again we are told by Mr. Mills : " Those whom God selected
He selected to suffer, to bear the sins of the world." John the
Baptist, on the contrary, says when he sees Jesus : " Behold the
Lamb of God that taketh away (margin " beareth ") the sin of
the world."

Again we are told : " Christ did not say come and be saved,
but come and be saviours, to be one with Him. We are all called
to be I'edeemers and should ask ourselves what have we done ? "
Have we not read in Isaiah, " Look unto me and be ye saved all
ends of the earth." Isa. xlv. 22. Though all who believe in
Christ are one with Him as members of His body, He alone is the
head, and not one of the members on earth is as yet a partaker
of His full salvation. We are only being saved ; we are " wait-
ing for a salvation ready to be revealed." " Our salvation is
nearer than when we believed." We have received the end of
our faith, even the salvation of our souls, but we " wait for the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Ro. viii. 23.

Again he says : " We can save souls ; we can save souls
more surely than we can raise wheat. We can save men, and we
cannot fail to save them, if we use right methods. We cannot
guarantee a harvest after all our efforts, but there can be no
failure in our saving souls, if we go right about it." What a
pity Noah did not know this secret. He preached for a hundred
and twenty years, but alas for the souls saved. Did not the Sa-
viour have to cry, " Who hath believed our report ? " John xii.
37, 38. Does not Paul say : " I planted, AppoUos watered, but
God gave the increase. So, then, neither is he who planteth any-
thing, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase."
1 Cor. iii. 6, 7

Again : " For this (the establishment of His kingdom on
earth) there has been the eternal heartache of the Father God."
This is a fine sounding phrase, but I would like to know where
that thought is found in Scripture. We read of the eternal pur-
pose of God — the purpose of Him who worketh all things after
the counsel of His will, Jbut where of the eternal heartache ? We
read in 1 John iv. 9 : " God is love. In this was the love of God
manifested in us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the
world that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not
that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be

the propitiation for our sins." God is love. Go<l the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. And wo are taught in
Scripture that these tliret; work together for our redemption
throug}» the Croas of Christ. It is written, " He that spared not
His own Son, but delivered Hiiu up for us all." Ro. viii. 30.
This is God the Father. It is written, " Who loved me antl gave
Himself for me." Gal. ii. 20. This is God the Son. It is writ-
ten, " If the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer
sanctify to the cleaasing of the flesh, how much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without blemish unto God, cleanse your consciences from dead
works to serve the living God." Heb. ix. 13, 14, This is God
the Holy Ghost. Yea here Father, Son and Holy Ghost all
united in the work of redempticm through the blood of Jesus
Christ. Hence the grand axiom of redemption, " Without shed-
ding of blood is no remission." Heb. ix. 22. Therefore, any
gospel that does not make the blood prominent is no gospel.

Now, I have here two letters, one from the leading Secular-
ist of the Dominion of Canada, Captain Adams, the other from
an earnest evangelist thousands of miles from Montreal, written
to a friend here, who gave uie permission to quote it. What
does the Secularist say ?

"I was gratified by the evidence of evolution in revival
methods shoAvn by your digniu.'d bearing and serious manner,
and by your giving more prominence to righteousness of life
than to the old sacrificial theologj'. You made love to God
more prominent than the blood of Christ, and kept hell fire out
of sight."

What does the evangelist say ? " My mind is greatly drawn
to Montreal just now, on account of the meetings which Mr. Mills
is holding, and I hope and trust that all of God's dear children
are getting a blessing in consequence of those services, and that
sinners are being converted. From the " Witness " it would
seem that a wonderful interest is being manifested in the city,
although I have been disappointed in reading the reports of his
sermons. I think I told you that Montreal is my spiritual birth-
place, and I am intensely interested in any effort which makes
for the salvation of souls there, and I sincerely hope and pray
that God is using Mr. Mills to advance His cause and to glorify
His dear Son Jesus Christ. I would certainly like to see more
in the newspaper reports of the Qospd plan of salvation — sal-
vation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ — th^

aubstitutionary work of the Lord Jcaua on the Cross at Calvary.*
Satan haten the blood and hates the doctrines of Christ crucified,
and in these last days he is doing all he can to keep the Cross in
the background. I am, although thousands of miles away, pray-
ing much for Montreal, and my prayer is that thousands may be
saved, and saints stirred up and revived."

So you see the Secularist is pleased and the Evangelist is
dissatisfied, because of the same thing. Are lK)th in error ? If
Fay Mills had given the blood due prominence, could these two
men have so written ? Read for yourselves and see how little
he makes of the blood of Jesus. In January, when teaching the
lesson on Cain and Abel to the Sunday School Teachers' Union
Class, I said : " If a preacher makes little of the blood of Christ,
have nothing to do with him." What I said in January I say in
March. I have said it for the last 25 years, and if I lived to be
as old as Methuselah I would rather that my tongue should rot
than I should .say anything different. What do we ourselves
think of the blood ? Apart from that blood there is no hope for
any of us. Apart from that blood there is no Gospel to preach.
But with the blood there is hope for the vilest. You can face
and conquer all your sins with this, " The blood of Jesus Christ
His Son cleanseth us from all sin." My late brother once told
me an incident that happened to Richard Weaver. He had been
preaching in Dublin. At his last meeting a notorious sinner was
convicted of sin. He was in great agony of soul ; he had no
hope that God could ever save him. The worn-out evangelist
felt powerless to help him, and said, " I must say good-night, for
I have to leave for Holyhead to-morrow ; but before I go I would
like you to learn two lines. They are not in the Bible, but they
are the truth of God :

" His blood can make the vilest clean ;
His blood avails for me."_

The man learned them, and they parted. Next day, as the
steamer was leaving, a man rushed tnrough the crowd on the
wharf and shouted " Richard Weaver ! " Richard Weaver held
up his hand, and then with the tears streaming down his eyes
this great sinner shouted in the hearing of all :

" His blood can make the vilest clean ;
His blood avails for me."

There I stand shoulder to shoulder with that believing
sinner ; yea, with every saved sinner on earth, no matter what

* The italics are the evangelist's.

they may havo been — the vilest of tlie vile, publicans and har-
lotH and idolaters and adulterers, and effeminate, and abusere of
themselves with mankind, and thieves, and contentious, and
drunkards and revilers, and extortioners and blasphemers, who
have been washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. I stand shoulder to
shoulder with these redeemed sinners on earth, trusting only in
the blood of Jesus, because I hope to stand shoulder to shoulder
with every redeemed sinner in Heaven, glorying in the same
blood. Look up ! look up ! Who are these which are arrayed
in white robes, and whence come they ? These are they that
come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood ot the Lamb. Hark ! What
do they sing ? They sing a new song, saying, " Worthy art
Thou ... for Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God
by Thy blood out of every kindred and tribe and people and
nation." Seeing these things, knowing these things, hoping for
these things, I am not surprised at the vehemence with which
Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, cries : " Though we or an angel
from heaven should preach unto you any gospel other than that
we preached unto you, let him be anathema."

Morton, Philliph & Co.. Pkintkks.