5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

It is night, it is dark

All things are out of course. Human life is not what it ought to be, and cannot be what it ought to be, under the conditions that prevail. Who will alter those conditions? Who can give us the conditions that are needed? What are they?

We need God to take the world in charge. We need the bungling incapacities of man to be put on one side, and all power and authority vested in one government of His direct appointment - a government that cannot err, and that cannot be resisted, and that cannot be removed.

Give us such a government, and you give us the sun, at whose bright presence, darkness will soon fly away. The reign of such a government will change the life of the world in a single generation. Such a government is coming.

"God hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He hath raised him from the dead."

He spoke the truth - absolute and unmixed.

There is no light apart from him, in either individual or national relations. It is the individual bearing that most concerns us at present. What is life without him? A fevered dream- a bootless activity, having promise and incentive at its beginning, but gradually settling to a doleful vacuity at its end - a paleful gloom, as with spent power, we draw near to the grave in the clear perception that, without God, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Introduce Christ and see how changed the scene. The love of Christ constrains; the obedience of Christ subdues and ennobles; the hope of Christ brightens, and imparts an interest to life we never knew before.

We live no longer to ourselves; we yield no longer to ourselves; we surrender no longer to the gloom of a headless universe and an uncertain future. We open our hearts to God in faith and reconciliation, through Christ who died for us; we confide in his direction though unseen; we walk through the darkness in joyful trust and anticipation of the promised day when God will wipe away every tear and remove every curse.

Letting Christ dwell in our hearts by faith, our darkness is dispelled, our coldness ended, our waywardness corrected, our loves purified, our whole life cleansed and redeemed from the ultimate corruption and abortiveness of mere natural power.

He becomes our light and our life to whom we daily grow as the thriving plant before the sun, seeking more and more

"to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge," "counting all things but dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord," "in whom is filled up all the fullness of the God-head bodily."

Seasons 2.48

31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.

The Prayers of Sinners

The statement of the blind man in John ix: 31, that "God heareth not sinners," must not be taken to mean unimmersed people necessarily, or sinners in any technical or classical sense. It is evident from the statement with which it is immediately supplemented

("But we know that if any man be a doer of his will, him he heareth")

that the term "sinners" was used in the special sense of transgressors—men who live in daily disregard of the law of God.

It was a recognised maxim in Israel that

"the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord"

but "the prayer of the upright is his delight" (Prov. 15:8).

The regarded prayers of Cornelius (Acts 10:2–4) show that though such prayers do not alter a man's relation to eternal life, they receive the compassionate attention of Him who knows the attitude of every heart, and who says he "looks to" the man that is humble and trembles at His word.

Therefore, though not yet in the fulness of the light that the Gospel calls us to, as one "fully convinced (as you say) that popular belief is unscriptural," do not fear to pray on that God may reveal the matter more fully to you. It is not possible that God should be angry with such a prayer. There is no case on record in the Scriptures of a man's humble prayer "according to His will" being rejected.

Even the petition of the Canaanitish woman who acknowledged herself a dog under the table, received an encouraging response—("Oh woman, great is thy faith"—Matt. 15:28) when the presumptuous prayer of the man who thought to be heard for his much speaking produced no effect.

The Christadelphian, Dec 1898

41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

‭"‬In the apostolic age,‭ ‬the holy commandment was delivered with power descending from heaven‭; ‬but now there is no such sanction confirming a faithful teacher's exposition of the word.‭ ‬Nevertheless,‭ ‬if a sinner come to the understanding of the truth,‭ ‬the result being the same,‭ ‬he is held accountable.‭ ‬An enlightened sinner cannot evade the consequences of his illumination.‭ ‬I have known some of this class flatter themselves that they would not be called forth to judgment,‭ ‬but would perish as the beasts,‭ ‬if they did not come under law to Christ.‭ ‬Such reasoning,‭ ‬however,‭ ‬is simply‭ '‬The deceitfulness of sin.‭'"

‭—‬Anastasis.

'It is one thing to differ with Dr.‭ ‬Thomas as to the meaning of a particular passage,‭ ‬and another thing to differ with him as to a principle of divine truth.‭ ‬The question of‭ ‬what makes men responsible to the judgment of God is a question of divine truth‭; ‬the question of whether that principle is enunciated or not in a particular passage is a question of exegetical detail'.‭

'Dr.‭ ‬Thomas has taught that the ground of man's responsibility to God is the knowledge of His will.‭ ‬If this is the truth,‭ ‬then differing with Dr.‭ ‬Thomas is differing with the truth,‭ ‬which is a different thing from differing with Dr.‭ ‬Thomas's opinions on matters not plainly revealed,‭ ‬such as‭ "‬The Day of His Coming,‭" ‬or the translation or application of particular passages'.‭

‭The Christadelphian, August 1894.

Punishment for Rebels Only.

We need not concern ourselves with the individual application of responsibility in its details.‭ ‬It is not possible for us to make such an application,‭ ‬for it would require a degree of knowledge that belongs only to God.‭

We can only discern the general principles which Christ,‭ ‬as a judge,‭ ‬will apply.‭ ‬The principles are clear in character,‭ ‬though nebulous in human application.‭ ‬You truly say that God acts on definite principles.

‭ ‬It is a definite principle that where a man knows His requirements and refuses them,‭ ‬he is answerable to God for his refusal.

‭ ‬But who but God can say where this knowledge exists in sufficient degree in given cases.‭ ‬God is just,‭ ‬and will do no unrighteousness.‭ ‬Condemnation and punishment are for rebels,‭ ‬and not for incapables—from whatever cause.‭ ‬A man unable to see the truthfulness of the truth,‭ ‬and hesitating for fear of making a mistake,‭ ‬is not a rejector but a blind man,‭ ‬and therefore has no sin to answer for,‭ ‬as Jesus says‭ (‬Jno.‭ ‬9:41‭)‬.‭

Such also would be the case of a quick-seeing man who might be morally incapable of yielding to the demands of the truth.‭ ‬But we might make mistakes in these applications.‭ ‬It is best to leave them.‭ ‬It is safest to bind ourselves by the word of Christ,‭ ‬as defining those who rise to condemnation,‭ "‬He that believeth not,‭" "‬He that rejecteth,‭" ‬descriptions which the new theory reverses,‭ ‬or else does worse by saying that a different Gospel is preached to the Gentiles from the Gospel that was preached to the Jews‭; ‬or else that the moral relations of Jew and Gentile are different,‭ ‬when Paul says they are the same.‭ ‬No constructive interpretations can be right which go so directly in the face of the explicit words of revelation.

‭The Christadelphian, Oct 1894

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