Brethren and Sisters, Worthy Opponent, and Kind Friends:

     I am again in the affirmative of the proposition that you heard read this morning. The gentleman said that he had noticed everything that I had said, but most everything that he noticed was something I did not say. I gave him 38 passages of Scripture. He did not pretend to notice any of them. That is the way he noticed everything I said. I will examine what he said before I attempt to make any further affirmative argument.

    Acts iv. 12: "He is the only name given among men or under heaven whereby we must be saved." I didn't say that we could be saved without Christ in any sense. He left that impression, but West did not say it. He said, yes, there is a reward in the keeping of the commandments of God. Well, if there is, what are you on the negative side of this proposition for?

     ELDER RHODES: "Blessed is the man that keepeth His commandments."

     ELDER WEST: He is already hurting again. He is talking back from his seat. He is just twisting and squirming already. It looks like those fellows could keep quiet. "Blessed is the man that keepeth His commandments." That is what I said. The man was blessed with eternal life who kept His commandments, so you had no use in the world for that.

     Then he makes a big play on the words "absolute" and "conditional," and he said that West said that predestination just meant predestination. Did West say that, or did Rhodes say that West said that?

     He asked me if I had ever been circumcised. Yes, in heart-I hope. I hope that I am a Jew. I hope that I have been circumcised in heart, and if you want to know a lot of other personal things about me, if you will keep cool and whisper them in my ear, then I might tell you something else.

     Do you keep the law of Moses? And then, "Without me, ye can do nothing." He can't do a thing in the world that is embraced in that without the Saviour; not a thing. But that is not washing your face. If it is, did a sinner have to have Christ to wash his face? Does the sinner have to have Christ to wash his face? He said washing your face is something; and therefore, they have to have Christ to wash their faces. Did the sinners have to be risen with Christ to wash their faces? I wonder if sin and wickedness are something? Do they have to have the Son of God to do sin and wickedness? I wonder if that is one of the some things in the text. Then, if a man burns and robs and steals, he has to have Christ to do it. Is that right? If he robs a bank, is that something, or is it nothing? According to your contention, he has to have Christ to rob a bank. "Without me, ye can do nothing." He makes that mean everything.

     He said, "How in the world are we active?" Are you active? Are you active in kissing your wife? Or does the Lord kiss your wife for you? Can you kiss your wife without Christ, or do you have to have Christ to kiss your wife? I know it sounds ridiculous, but he introduced it.

     He asked me if I could preach the gospel without the Lord. No. When did I say that we could preach the gospel without the Lord? My proposition says, after regeneration, and folks that have been regenerated and born of the Spirit of God are in possession of the Lord.

     I am going to quote you a little text, Romans viii. I: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." So, they cannot do a thing in the world in that sense in the spirit without Christ. We can do all the things in the text through Christ, our strength. I wonder if that is sin and wickedness. I wonder if it is.

     All right, he said if any man preached any other gospel, quoting the text, "Let him be accursed." That is right. "Can you always preach at one time as good as another?" No. I don't know whether I ever did preach or not. I just don't know. I wish I did know. I just can't do it, but I am going to say this: The reason I can't do it is because I have not applied myself as I should. I am going to prove it to you. In this text Paul told his son Timothy, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Then Paul said to that same boy: "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee." But Rhodes says that God's people are saved by the gospel. Yes, I believe that. He said that is what he hoped to do to me-save me. Will that be in time? It will? Then you believe in time salvation, don't you? Yes. He nodded his head, yes. Then, he has no reason in the world to deny the proposition. "Yes, I believe in time salvation," he said. If you believe in time salvation, where did you find that word "time" in the Bible connected with salvation? "Yes, I believe in time salvation," he said. Do you believe in it, or are you going to stick your head the other way?

     He said that those individuals who confess are born of God. Why, that is what I said. That is the argument I made. I believe that. What did he use that for?

     He asked me if I ever do wrong. Yes, I do wrong many times. I do wrong many times. I have done some wrong things that I could have helped doing. I used to steal sugar and mamma got a shillalah and taught me that I could help it. I found out I could help it.

     I am in a tight. Don't you think I am in a tight, Brother Rhodes? He nodded his head to "time salvation." That is the kind of tight I am in.

     All right, I will continue my argument on reward. Matthew x. 41: "He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward." Is "receive" a condition or is it not a condition? Tell us whether it is a condition or not. Just come clean and tell us. Don't stall and twist and squirm. Or maybe the Lord predestinated that he couldn't answer these arguments any other way than he does. God predestinated and fixed everything, so he cannot answer these arguments by supposing the other way because he cannot help it. Well, he could have if he had worked a little before this debate started. He could have helped being in the shape to where he has to ignore them altogether. "And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." First Corinthians iii. 8 to 14: "Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour." Will folks receive anything according to their labor? Would the gentleman who is taking this record receive anything without his labor? What does a child of God receive by his labor? Eternal life? No. But he receives joy and peace and happiness. And Brother Rhodes said he preaches the gospel to individuals that there might be an inward joy, peace, and happiness. That is exactly what I am talking about. "For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon." If he wasn't active, will you tell me how in the world he could take heed? Tell me what is the use of commanding to take heed if he couldn't take heed. Why command him to take heed if he couldn't take heed? I am in earnest about the thing. My friends, this is not for argument's sake. If we have not got the truth and don't preach the truth, I want to know it. I want to be converted. Here is what the Book says about it: "Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death." That doesn't mean a home in heaven, either. That has no reference to a home in heaven, but I would like to be converted from error to the truth if I have not got the truth, and I cannot do it unless you examine the texts and show me where I am wrong, and show these people where they are wrong. You are not getting anywhere by getting up here and saying, "It is not so." "But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if man build upon this foundation," It says if the man builds. Are you active in building? Are you active when you build a house? Or, are you passive in building a house? "Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be made manifest: for the dlay shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward." He is going to get something for his work. Isn't it a fact that this man that you quoted your poetry from yesterday has said there is no reward in work? Doesn't he say that in his editorials? That there is no reward in and for obedience? He has never said that? All right, we will see whether he said it or not. "If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward." Now, then, we come to Revelation xxii. 12, 14, and 17: "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Is that eternal salvation, or is that some more time salvation which you have agreed is in existence? He has already nodded his head that there is such a thing as time salvation, and he might just as well quit and go home. "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Is that the city of immortal glory? Let us see if he says it is the city of immortal glory. If he does, he has gone into the rankest kind of Arminianism. If he says it is not, his contention falls in denying this proposition. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come." Are you active in coming, or are you passive in coming? Is coming in the active or passive voice? "And let him that is athirst come." Who is that? That is the child of God after regeneration who is thirsty. That is the child of God after regeneration. Do you know how I found that out? John v. 24: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." So, that individual who hears His word and believes on Him has everlasting life. "And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'" Let him do it freely. Is he active in taking of it freely, or is he passive?

     My sixth argument is that the child of God is blessed in his deeds. James i. 22 to 29: "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." That is what he is doing to the folks. You can't do a thing on earth, he says; not a thing in the world. "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." According to the language of James, brother, you are deceiving yourself, deceiving the folks by telling them they cannot be a doer. You have been telling the folks this morning we cannot be a doer. Well, if you have Christ, you can be a doer. If you have been born of the Spirit of God, you could be a doer. If you couldn't have been a doer, the Lord wouldn't have said, by inspiration, "be a doer." "For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto man beholding his natural face in a glass." Just sitting down and looking at himself in a mirror all the time; thinking about evil all the time. You are not commanded to look at yourself in a glass, but unto Jesus who is the author of our faith; not to be sitting and looking at yourself. We have no righteousness within ourselves. I will grant you that. I believe that we have no righteousness within ourselves, but our righteousness is Christ. We cannot do righteous acts without Christ, but with Christ we can do righteous acts. Don't you see the point? "For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way; and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." He forgets the kind of fellow he was and is liable to get out on the street and begin acting ugly. If I do that, I might mention some ugly things that happened on the street that was ugly, but I am not going to do that. "But who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." Who? The child of God. That individual who has been regenerated and born again. That is the individual who is a doer of the word. That is the individual who works in the spiritual realm, in the work of righteousness; that is the individual that is blessed in his deed. Deeds are things you do. Don't tell me there is no blessing in it.

     My seventh argument is that the Scriptures teach that what we sow we shall also reap, and we shall reap in due season if we faint not. Galatians vi. 7 and 8. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption." Is a man active in sowing? You are a farmer. Do you ever sow seed? Do you sow the seed or does the Lord do the sowing for you? When you sow oats, do you reap oats, or do you reap corn from sowing oats? "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." The individual must have the Spirit before he can sow to it. That individual that sows to it is going to reap everlasting life. Not a home in heaven, but he is going to reap exactly what he sows; and that is here in this world, because God is not mocked. He is not going to reap what he sows in heaven, is he? If he is going to reap what he sows in heaven, then heaven depends upon what we sow here in this world. I don't believe that. But your joy, your peace, and your happiness as a child of God here in this world does depend upon the way you live and keep the commandments of God. "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

     My next affirmative argument is, God's people are promised to receive from the Lord if they keep His commandments. First John iii. 18 to 23. "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." Who are His little children? Those who have been born of the Spirit of God. Those after regeneration. Let us see what he is going to get for keeping that commandment. "And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God."

     (Someone hands Elder Rhodes a paper.)

     You all can go ahead and funnel him. He needs it. "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight." I want you to get that Scripture. I want you to get it. "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments." Now, get the word "because," Because we do something. "Because we keep His commandments." We get something because we keep His commandments. Who said we don't get anything because we keep His commandments? John said we do get something because we keep His commandments. Rhodes said we don't get a thing in the world for keeping His commandments. Who are you going to believe, the Lord or Rhodes? Yes, sir, we get something because we keep His commandments and do those things. I am not through with this quotation: "And do those things which are pleasing in His sight." I wonder if we are getting something because we do something that is displeasing in His sight. You said we got eternal life because Adam acted ugly. I advocate getting something because they are pretty, and I am advocating the child of God to get something just because he acts pretty. Yesterday Rhodes said we never could have got to heaven unless we acted ugly in Adam.

Time expired.