Bible Readings for the Home Circle Part 135

3. When tempted to fall down and wors.h.i.+p Satan, what Scripture command did Christ cite in justification of His refusal to do this?

"Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, _Thou shalt wors.h.i.+p the Lord thy G.o.d, and Him only shalt thou serve_."

Matt. 4:10. See Deut. 6:13; 10:20.

4. To whom alone, then, is each one accountable in religious things?

"So then every one of us shall give account of himself _to G.o.d_." Rom.

14:12.

NOTE.-With this agree the words of Was.h.i.+ngton: "Every man who conducts himself as a good citizen, is accountable alone to G.o.d for his religious faith, and should be protected in wors.h.i.+ping G.o.d according to the dictates of his own conscience."-_Reply to Virginia Baptists, in 1789._

5. What do those do, therefore, who make men accountable to them in religious affairs?

They put themselves in the place of G.o.d. See 2 Thess. 2:3, 4.

6. Why, in religious matters, did Christ say men should not be called masters?

"Neither be ye called masters: _for one is your Master, even Christ_."

Matt. 23:10.

NOTE.-Every one, therefore, who acts as master in Christ's church, or lords it over G.o.d's heritage (1 Peter 5:3), puts himself in the place of Christ.

7. To whom, then, as servants, are we responsible in matters of faith and wors.h.i.+p?

"Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? _to his own master he standeth or falleth_." Rom. 14:4.

8. Whose servants are we not to be?

"Ye are bought with a price; _be not ye the servants of men_." 1 Cor.

7:23.

NOTE.-"Satan's methods ever tend to one end,-to make men the slaves of men," and thus separate them from G.o.d, destroy faith in G.o.d, and so expose men to temptation and sin. Christ's work is to set men free, to renew faith, and to lead to willing and loyal obedience to G.o.d. Says Luther: "It is contrary to the will of G.o.d that man should be subject to man in that which pertains to eternal life. Subjection in _spirituals_ is a real wors.h.i.+p, and should be rendered only to the Creator."-_D'Aubigne's __"__History of the Reformation,__"__ edited by M. Laird Simons, book 7, chap.

11._

9. Where must all finally appear to render up their account?

"For we must all appear _before the judgment-seat of Christ_; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." 2 Cor. 5:10.

NOTE.-Inasmuch, then, as religion is an individual matter, and each individual must give account of himself to G.o.d, it follows that there should be no human constraint nor compulsion in religious affairs.

Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone; Dare to have a purpose firm, Dare to make it known.

P. P. BLISS.

Union Of Church And State

[Ill.u.s.tration.]

Paul And Silas In Prison. "These men, being Jews, ... teach customs, which are not lawful for us ... to observe, being Romans." Acts 16:20, 21.

1. What was already at work in the church in Paul's day?

"For _the mystery of iniquity_ doth already work." 2 Thess. 2:7.

2. What cla.s.s of men did he say would arise in the church?

"For I know this, that after my departing shall _grievous wolves_ enter in among you, not sparing the flock. _Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them._" Acts 20:29, 30.

3. Through what experience was the church to pa.s.s, and what was to develop in the church, before Christ's second coming?

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for _that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed_, the son of perdition." 2 Thess. 2:3.

4. In what was shown the first tangible evidence of this "falling away"

from the truth of G.o.d?

The adoption of heathen rites and customs in the church.

NOTE.-"The bishops augmented the number of religious rites in the Christian wors.h.i.+p, by way of accommodation to the infirmities and prejudices, both of Jews and heathen, in order to facilitate their conversion to Christianity.... For this purpose, they gave the name of _mysteries_ to the inst.i.tutions of the gospel, and decorated particularly the holy sacrament with that solemn t.i.tle.

They used in that sacred inst.i.tution, as also in that of baptism, several of the terms employed in the heathen mysteries, and proceeded so far, at length, as even to adopt some of the rites and of the ceremonies of which those renowned mysteries consisted."-_Mosheim's __"__Ecclesiastical History__"__ (Maclaine's translation), cent. 2, part 2, chap. 4, pars. 2-5._

5. How early was this tendency manifested?

"This imitation began in the eastern provinces; but, after the time of Adrian [emperor 117-138 A.D.], who first introduced the mysteries among the Latins, it was followed by the Christians who dwelt in the western parts of the empire."-_Id._, par. 5.

6. What has been one great characteristic of the Papacy?

A union of church and state, or the religious power dominating the civil power to further its ends.

7. When was the union of church and state formed from which the Papacy grew?

During the reign of Constantine, 313-337 A.D.