The Proclamation of Liberty and the Unpardonable Sin By ALBION F. BALLENGER AUTHOR OF "Power for Witnessing" "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA 1915 B3 1915 MAIN CALIFORNIA PREFACE If the reader would know at once what is the central thought, the all-absorbing theme, the body, soul and spirit of this book, it is summed up in the final words of our dying Lord, "It is finished." This is an effort to reveal something of the unsearchable riches of redemption declared finished in these three tragic but triumphant words. For four thousand years the God of all grace labored to focus men's eyes on the facts of this finished work. Every bleeding lamb from Eden's gate to Golgotha's grave foreshadowed that momentous hour. And when that hour is passed, a new symbol-the blood of the grape and the broken bread-points back to that same solemn hour. That which an all-wise God has tried, in all ages, by all means, to get all men to see, must be in His mind all-important. The great apostle to the Gentiles comprehended more clearly than other men the fullness of that finished work. To his Corinthian converts he declared his working creed in this brief sentence: "I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." With this truth came an enthusiasm which neither shipwreck nor starving, scourging nor stoning could destroy. O for more such "chief of sinners" saved by grace, whom a backsliding Barnabas, a dissembling Simon, or a departing Demas cannot discourage; whom modern commercialism, or criticism, or creedism cannot conquer! Though dealing with deep things, the author has striven at every step to make the path so plain that the 5 327196 |