INTRODUCTION

One of the clearest expounders of the Scriptures in my acquaintance
is the author of this book, who honors me in asking that I write
these few lines of introduction. His experience is full of interest.
I have listened night after night with profit to his sermons, and he
has dug his way in the most painstaking fashion out of the darkness
of unfaith into the beauty and strength of faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ.

There is no institution like the church of God, for it is founded
upon the divine Sonship of Jesus, and his Holy Spirit has given to it
divine life, so that Isaiah's prophecy lights up the pathway of
victory, when it is said: "He will not fail nor be discouraged, till
he have set justice in the earth, and the isles shall wait for his
law." Its right to advance has been disputed, and, at times in its
long history, it appears to have stood timidly doubting its power and
right to soul conquest, but this has only been apparent, for every
century has brought with it a greater courage, so that in this day
believers in Jesus are speaking in the language of every nation on
the earth, and hosts of these are as ready to lay down their lives
for their faith in Jesus as did Stephen and James and Paul and that
host of martyrs whose willing sacrifices gave strength and solidarity
to the early church.

The ordinances have naturally suffered at the hands of every
invasion, and, in consequence, some of the most devout have not been