BOTH in his bonds and in his defense and confirmation of the gospel, the faithful men of Philippi were partakers with Paul the apostle of his grace. Nor were they sympathetic partakers merely; they were active and energetic, full-hearted for Christ and for the souls of men. In our day very many consider zeal for the gospel as unnecessary. “The Almighty does not require your defense of the Bible,” it is said; “the Bible can surely defend itself.” And so it can, and so it does, and so it shall for ever. But none the less are Christian people, to whom God has entrusted the care of His Word, called by Him to its defense and confirmation. God gave His ancient oracles to the Jews, and it was the duty of that nation to preserve them. He has given the care of His gospel to the Church, and every member of the Church is responsible before God to preserve the truth in the presence of its enemies.
The Word is now assailed persistently and earnestly from year’s end to year’s end in our land. An army, composed of agnostics, sceptics, higher critics, sacerdotalists, seeks to drive out its authority from the hearts of the people, and numbers of true Christians are too polite or too timid to speak up boldly in its favor. But one brave soldier will do wonders in rallying the feeble-hearted, and we appeal to our Christian readers to be determined in spreading the foundation truths of the gospel.
Let us speak up for the old truths, the eternal truths of the divine Word. Every lover of evangelic truth should do his utmost to advance such doctrines as the sinfulness of man, the righteousness of God, the atonement of our Lord and Saviour, justification by faith, and the sanctification of the Holy Ghost; and thus, like the Philippians of old, by so doing he will be eager and active in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. We must fight for the truth, as loyal soldiers, or we are rebels against God.
We are encouraged to open a new year in our present form by the many kind messages sent by various friends. We shall “use great plainness of speech,” as becomes the solemn privilege of addressing very many readers on everlasting realities. The effort will be sustained on our own humble lines to help the great cause of the defense and confirmation of the gospel. In a mighty battle the smallest battery on the field which keeps on plying shot and shell where ordered, is doing its something for the great day, and we intend to keep forward and constant in the battle. There is no lack of material for the work of confirmation of the gospel. Babylonia and Egypt have opened up their long-buried treasures to reply by hard facts to the fanciful criticisms of the higher critics; history’s pages lie open for all—its facts should benefit the flies which flutter round the web of Rome, and which offer themselves as a prey to the spider in his den; and for every honest heart that seeks it, the Word of God pours forth its living fountains of fresh and eternal truth. Whatever those may say who coquet to Rome, and those who rejoice in the unbelief of the infidel critics, the Christian delights to acknowledge that the Word of God is to him sweeter and fresher, mightier and more wonderful, this hour, than it was on the glad first day when God the Holy Spirit made its words living and real to his soul.