"For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls." Leviticus 17:11

All the trend of religious scholarship in recent years is away from the Bible and in line with the Evolution theory. The Bible sets forth that the first man was created perfect, in the image and likeness of his Creator, and that when on trial for life or death everlasting he was disobedient, and came under the sentence of death; and that all trouble, all sin and sorrow, pain and death for the past six thousand years, is the penalty, the result, of that fall from obedience and harmony with God. The Bible teaches the necessity for an Atonement for sin, and this lesson was shown in the typical sacrifices of bullocks and goats, which Israelites for centuries commemorated, especially upon their Atonement Day, at the beginning of each year.

Evolution claims that man started as a cousin to the monkey, and that instead of falling into sin and death, an evolution process has been bringing him up, up, up to his present high elevation. This theory, having no place for sin or a fall, finds, of course, no place or need for a recovery, through a Redeemer, a Savior. The two theories are absolutely opposed. Whoever believes the Darwinian theory cannot, logically, be a Christian. Whoever is a Christian cannot, logically, hold to the [HGL50] Darwin theory. And yet the pulpits of Christendom are well stocked with Higher Critics and Evolutionists, and all of our colleges and theological seminaries are graduating others, all antagonistic to the Bible and its presentations. For years the fight has been conducted on the quiet. The unbelievers hold the best and most influential pulpits and professorships in Christendom, and insidiously, craftily, undermine the faith of those who are paying them their salaries.

It is time that the battle between truth and error should come out into the open, because the majority of those who are being misled do not realize the situation until their faith is entirely undermined – until their minds are so entrenched in error that the verities of God's Word, including the words of Jesus and the Apostles, have passed with them into the list of absurdities, amongst these, the stories of Jonah and the whale, Noah and the flood, etc., endorsed by Jesus and the Apostles.

Today every college, every theological seminary throughout the whole civilized world is teaching what is known as Higher Criticism of the Bible – though the proper name for it would be higher infidelity – infidelity amongst the high ones of all Christendom. These Higher Critics are doing the same work exactly that Thomas Paine and Robert Ingersoll did, only they are carrying on their work on a higher plane – appealing not to the gross and the vile, but to the refined, intelligent and truth seeking. As a result their influence is a thousand fold more injurious. Those to whom Paine and Ingersoll appealed were very rarely Christians at all; hence they destroyed very little faith – they merely made the unbelief more rank and foul.

But these Higher Critic infidels of his "evil day" are making use of all the vast machinery of Christendom in all denominations, especially through theological seminaries, to undermine and overthrow the faith of all who have named the name of Christ, great and small, rich and poor, cultured and ignorant. It is being done systematically, too, craftily, deceitfully, in a manner that the masses of the people would scarcely credit. It is safe to say that fully four out of five who graduate from theological seminaries of all denominations are Higher Critic infidels, who are instructed that their main business is to promote morality amongst the people, especially to build up Churchianity, particularly their own denomination, and to gradually, stealthily, craftily wean the people away from the faith of the Bible to their higher critical dogmas. And they are succeeding most wonderfully. A "pestilence" is the only figure of speech which readily fits to this pernicious influence.

said the Lord, and in harmony with this we find that in the Lord's providence these Higher Critics are gradually more and more telling on themselves, and many of the true Christians, as the Apostle explains, are merely "babes in Christ," unable to use the strong meat of the Word, and capable only of enjoying or using the "milk of the Word," incapable of assimilating the strong meat. Hence the open declarations of these wolves in sheep's clothing, who masquerade as sheep, are not taken seriously. If the sheep are startled by the words, they are soothed again by the thought, "This is our kind of minister, polished in manner and well educated, and he surely would not lead us astray, he surely would not deceive us. If he had ceased to believe the Bible and become an infidel he surely would have left the pulpit." Poor innocents.

Our text refers to blood-atonement for sin. The Law Covenant required the death of a bullock and a goat, but the repetition of these sacrifices every year indicated that no cancellation was effected thereby – merely a typical covering of sin for a year. The Law required an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a man's life for a man's life, which implies that a perfect man must of necessity die in order to be a Redeemer of Adam and the race which shared his condemnation. The bullock of the sin-offering, therefore, was merely a type of a better sacrifice. The true sacrifice was provided in the death of the Man Christ Jesus. He was a man and yet not a sinful man, because, although born of a woman, His life was from above. Had He received His life from an earthly father, He would have been a blemished, imperfect, sinful man, and as such could not have paid the ransom-price for another.

As in the type the blood of the bullock was used to make a typical atonement, so in the antitype the blood of Jesus is efficacious to make atonement for the sins of the whole world. In the type an earthly priest offered the blood in an earthly tabernacle; in the antitype, He who became the Sin-Offering, begotten of the Holy Spirit, at the time of His consecration, was therefore recognized as the great Antitypical High Priest. After His resurrection He ascended on high, "to appear in the presence of God for us" – for the Church first; and when the Church shall be completed, He will appear for the world. Then as the great Mediator of that New Covenant (Jer. 31:31), He will for a thousand years reign as King of the earth, the Antitype of Melchisedec – a Priest upon His throne – a Royal Priest, possessed of necessary power to put down sin and to uplift humanity.

The paradise lost when Adam sinned was a miniature one. It is to be restored and to be world-wide in extent. "God will make his earthly footstool glorious." – "He has promised to make his footstool glorious" – "he formed it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited." Isa. 60:13; 66:1; 45:18

As the earthly Eden it will be inhabited by its master, man; the restored earth would be naught without its master restored. And this is the Divine provision, that as by a man came death, sin, sorrow, pain, trouble, "by a Man also came the resurrection of the dead," the uplifting of Adam's race, mentally, morally, physically, to human perfection, happiness and everlasting life. Earth's blessing will be for all except two classes: (1) Those who love sin and hate righteousness, after having [HGL51] been brought to a full knowledge of both good and evil, will have no further Divine favor, but will die the Second Death. (2) The others who will not get human perfection will be a spiritual class, a saintly class whom God is now selecting from among mankind to be His co-laborers with Christ in the uplifting and restoration of humanity.

Unquestionably the Almighty could have arranged a plan for dealing with humanity differently – He could have put a different penalty upon Father Adam. The present arrangement was made so as to display (1) Divine Justice, (2) Divine Love, (3) Divine Power, (4) Divine Wisdom. Man's fall and degradation under the death sentence witnessed to men and to angels the downward tendency of sin and Divine Justice in man's condemnation. Divine Love is manifested in the work of redemption. Divine Power will be manifested, during the reign of Messiah, in the uplifting of humanity from sin and death – the resurrection of the dead. Divine Wisdom will finally be seen by all when the great work of reconciliation and regeneration shall have been effected.

We have always known that in a very important sense the life of every creature is in the blood, as our text declares. But we are continually finding that the Bible contains such a superhuman wisdom that many of its statements grow in importance as our knowledge increases. Our text is no exception to this rule. The latest findings of science are to the effect that life and nature are more particularly represented in the blood than in any other manner.

If the theory of Evolution seemed supported by Mr. Darwin's careful inter-breeding of his pigeons, we are not to forget the difficulty he encountered in maintaining his fancy breeds. The complete tendency appeared to be to turn back to the original stock. We are now informed that this is a rule, a law of nature, which applies both to animal and vegetable life. We are informed that all such breedings return to their original species in the third or fourth generation. It is even pointed out now that diseases of the blood proceed no further than the third or fourth generation, and this most fortunately, otherwise the physical health of humanity might be much more impaired than it is.

Is not this a direct corroboration of that Bible statement which some of us once thought so ungracious – God's declaration that He would "visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation?" (Exod. 20:5) It now appears that, instead of being a mark of Divine disfavor, it is a mark of Divine mercy that hereditary taint in the blood is limited to the third or fourth generation.

A celebrated physician and scientist, Dr. William Hanna Thompson, promulgating this theory, said: –

"Professor George HF Nuttall, of the University of Cambridge, took up the subject and has so extended its application, that a single drop of blood from any animal suffices, not only to show by its own peculiar chemical reaction what animal it comes from, but how nearly related an animal is by blood to other animals. It begins, therefore, to look as if the whole classification of zoology might have to be rearranged according to these blood tests. Thus a drop of blood from a walrus shows no relation to a drop of whale's blood, or the blood of any other cetacean, such as seals, or porpoises, which, like the walrus, are mammals that have taken to the sea."

We may be sure that those who hold fast to the teachings of the Bible will come out on the right side of the argument in the long run. The endeavor of worldly-wise men to get away from God's Book has led many of them to extremes of thought and of statement, which some day will be fully rectified to their shame. The Bible foretells this, saying, "The wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." (Isa. 29:14). St. Paul refers to science, falsely so-called, which will ultimately be proven wrong.

For nearly six thousand years the reign of sin and death has prevailed. It is nearly two thousand years since the Redeemer came to give His life as man's redemption price, yet still the reign of sin and death continues. It is not because the blood of Christ was insufficient to satisfy the claims of Justice for the sins of the world, but because, before the merit of Christ could be given to Adam and his race, it must have a previous use. That use has been in progress for the past eighteen centuries, during which it has been the basis of the Church's justification by faith.

In our text the word SOUL is a synonym for PERSON or BEING Father Adam was a human soul, a human being, so also his children. He alone, however, had a standing before Justice. He alone was perfect, he alone was on trial, and through his disobedience and fall his children are involved. Jesus was, originally, a spirit being, personality or soul, the LOGOS He became a partaker of flesh and blood; He was not, previously, a HUMAN soul, hence it was that it was necessary for Him to lay aside the glory of His higher nature or order of being, and become a human soul, "that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for every man." (Heb. 2:9). He gave his blood, his LIFE, a Ransom for all, and thus we see the fulfillment of our text, the exhibition of Divine favor and love, with the resultant blessing to the world during Messiah's reign, and the exaltation of the Church, which must precede.