This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1920 edition. Excerpt: ... The Proper Use Of This Doctrine. 2 Cor. 13, 5: Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Believers only belong to the invisible Church, the una sancta. The outward semblance of being a Christian does not suffice; the mere external membership in the Church of the pure doctrine cannot deceive God. Our chief concern must be to be and remain members of the invisible Church. And. to this end we ought frequently to examine ourselves. "Examine yourselves"; "prove your own selves," so St. Paul exhorts the Corinthian Christians. The repetition of the same thought shows how dangerous self-deception is. What is the examination to reveal to them' "Whether ye be in the faith." How can they tell? "If Jesus Christ is in you"--you are in the faith, says the context, v. 5b. True faith is not a matter of the intellect and the mouth, but a heavenly gift, by which man is united with Christ, and his heart becomes a habitation of Christ. Christ dwells in man when he has the Spirit of Christ, as the apostle elsewhere says: "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His." But whosoever has the Spirit of Christ loves Christ, hates sin, and follows after sanctification.--Let us take heed to be and remain members of the invisible Church. John 8, 31.32: // ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make yon free. Christ had discoursed on Himself as being the Light of the world. His words had made a deep impression on many of His opponents, the Jews, so much so that they believed on Him. "Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on Him: // ye continue in My Word, then truly"--alethos, emphatically put at the head of the phrase--"My disciples ye are." His true...
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