The Latest of Satan's Lies.

ONE of the latest falsehoods inspired by Satan is that death in battle atones for sin.  The following statement is taken from "Manual No. 22," issued by the Church Extension Association, a Ritualistic society:
"Among the thousands who have laid down their lives on land and sea during the past terrible months, there were many who were formerly careless, if not openly irreligious.  We may believe that the willing offering of their lives in the cause of right and justice will be accepted as in itself, purification."
This new doctrine is being taught to-day from many pulpits in our land, and, we regret to say, is being largely received and believed as if it were the truth of God.  We have no hesitation in stating that it is one, if not the latest, of Satan's lies.
An eminent Christian lady who was recently sitting in a Scotch church, listening to a professed minister of the Gospel, preach that to die for one's country is to ensure an entrance to the realms of bliss, became so filled with righteous indignation that rising to her feet, she interrupted the preacher by saying that we can only enter Heaven through faith in the atoning death of the Saviour.  This may be called
A Drastic Step,
but desperate diseases demand drastic remedies.
We are all greatly burdened as we think of the vast numbers of youth who are nobly sacrificing their lives for King and country, and our hearts are further saddened when we remember that many of them are unprepared for the great change.
Does it ever occur to the apostles of this new doctrine that there are thousands of young Germans who sincerely believe they also are fighting in a righteous cause?  After all, the majority of people form their opinions of a subject from the manner in which the case is represented to them by their leaders.  You may be sure the German leaders have presented the situation to their people in their own way and from their own point of view. The result is that many Germans believe so firmly in the righteousness of their cause that they willingly lay down their lives for the Fatherland.  Now, if a British soldier dying in battle for his country ensures an entrance to Heaven, surely we cannot deny the same privilege to the German.
The subject is so vital and important, that in its consideration, human sentimentality and the changing opinions of men must be put to one side entirely.  Our appeal must be to
The Highest Tribunal.
What saith the Scriptures?  God has said: "There shall in no wise enter anything that defileth" (Rev. 21. 27).  "Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission'' (Heb. 9. 22).  God cannot grant a cheap pardon.  Sin must be atoned for.  "He can by no means clear the guilty" (Exod. 34. 7).  Every sin must be atoned for either by the sinner or by a suitable substitute.   Blessed be the Name of the Lord; He has provided the Substitute in the Person of His only begotten Son.  Our God not only demands an atonement, but He provides it.  If His righteous law claims a perfect sacrifice, His grace and mercy provide the Lamb of God without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1. 19).
In the early stages of the war, a pathetic incident occurred on one of the battlefields near the town of Blamont.  After a desperate engagement, French and German soldiers lay wounded and abandoned on the battlefield.
When dawn came, they conversed with each other while waiting for death.  A French soldier gave his water-bottle to a German officer who was crying out with thirst.  The German, who appeared to be a Christian, sipped the water from the bottle, and kissing the hand of the man who had been his enemy, and said, "There will be no more war on the other side."  The German was right, because in Heaven, there will be no sin, and consequently "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Rev. 21. 4).
JOHN GRAY, Glasgow.
"The Witness" 1916