that mankind should be saved from destruction, freed from sin and from the slavery and tyranny of Satan, reconciled to God, and might thus enjoy the bliss of a holy and happy eternity in His presence. Having redeemed by His own blood men of every tribe and tongue and people and nation (Rev. v. 9), Christ has become to us, by the holy and unselfish life which He lived on earth, an example of pure and holy living, and has left us this example that we might follow His steps (John xiii. 15; I Pet. ii. 21).

Some men often ask us, "Could not God Most High have saved men from hell fire by the mere exercise of His Almighty Will, and have shown mercy on those whom He willed to save without any such ‘Plan of Salvation' as that which Christians say is taught in the Bible? Is it not sufficient for Him to say, ‘Be,' that every purpose of His may be accomplished?"

In reply we must first point out that the question arises from a total misunderstanding of man's nature, condition, and spiritual needs, and also from failing to comprehend the great fact that God is Holy. Sin is not only in itself contrary to and hateful to the Divine Nature, but it is also ruinous and destructive to the true, original, spiritual nature of man made in God's likeness (Gen. i. 26, 27). Hence Sin is absolutely prohibitive of the possibility of man's ever enjoying eternal happiness, until he be entirely freed from it. To refrain from casting sinners into hell fire would be easy: but in what manner can man's heart and mind, conscience and thought, be cleansed from the gnawing leprosy of sin already committed and the yearning to commit more sin? Sin is the worst form of leprosy, for it is leprosy of the spirit. Death frees a man from bodily leprosy, but it cannot free him from spiritual leprosy. Can a spiritual leper enjoy eternal life? Does not the vileness and pollution of the state of living death in which he exists render him miserable, hateful to himself and to all others, and most of all to God, who is Holy and who hates sin? The Torah of Moses

forbade a man whose body was leprous to enter into the camp of the Israelites (Lev. xiii. 45, 46) and associate with his fellows. How much less possible is it that the man whose heart and spirit are smitten with the pollution of the spiritual leprosy of sin should enter Paradise and be permitted to enjoy the meeting with his Lord, the Lord of the worlds, the Holy God! Hence it is written: "There shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie: but only they which are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Rev. xxi. 27). Even leprosy of the body cannot be healed by the leper himself, nor by any human physician. Christ healed it, and He can heal the leprosy of the spirit also. But He never healed bodily leprosy against the will of the leper, and He will not heal spiritual leprosy by force and against the sinner's will. If a man, not content with indulging in licentiousness in this lower world, is so defiled in his spirit that his highest idea of happiness in the next world is to be permitted unlimited indulgence in such vileness in Paradise to all eternity, he is a spiritual leper. Christ can heal that leprosy: none but Christ can. But Christ will not cleanse the leper against his will. Only through hearty repentance and true faith in Christ can he obtain from Him healing and cleansing. He must cry with David, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" (Ps. li. 10). To heal the leprous heart and spirit is to cleanse the thoughts and the disposition from the love of sin and to restore them to the beauty of holiness, which sin has destroyed. How is this to be done? God always works by means. The means which the Bible tells us He has chosen for this work is to reveal Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, and to manifest His love for men by bearing men's sufferings and sharing their sorrows in Christ's human nature, who died on the cross for men and through their sins, that so He might draw their¹ hearts to Him, and by so