Forgotten Truths BY SIR ROBERT ANDERSON Appendix

<p>Forgotten Truths</p> <p>By Sir Robert Anderson</p> <p>Preface</p> <p>THE early demand for a new edition of "Forgotten Truths" gives proof that truths which have been let slip by so many are still cherished by not a few.</p> <p>The only adverse criticism the book has evoked is that which was anticipated in the closing pages of Chap. 12.</p> <p>In the early years of my Christian life I was greatly perplexed and distressed by the supposed position that the plain and simple words of such Scriptures as John 3:16, 1 John 2:2, 1 Timothy 2:6 were not true, save in a cryptic sense understood only by the initiated. For, I was told, the overshadowing truth of Divine sovereignty in election barred our taking them literally. But half a century ago a friend of those days - the late Dr. Horatius Bonar - delivered me from this strangely prevalent error. He taught me that truths may seem to us irreconcilable only because our finite minds cannot understand the Infinite; and we must never allow our faulty apprehension of the eternal counsels of God to hinder unquestioning faith in the words of Holy Scripture.</p> <p>Nor was this a plausible effort to evade the special difficulty raised by a misuse of the great truth of election; for a kindred mystery permeates our whole existence. We are conscious of possessing a free and independent will which enables us to turn hither and thither as we please, and to do good or evil. Were it otherwise, indeed, the Divine judgment of the sinner would be unjust. And yet, when we review the consequences of our conduct, we recognize the hand of God. True it is that we think of Him only when the consequences are serious; but, as the Lord explicitly taught, His sovereignty declares itself even in the fall of a sparrow.</p> <p>All this has its counterpart in relation to the promise of the Coming. The believer and the infidel are agreed that in Apostolic times the saints were taught to regard the Lord’s return as a hope that might be realized during their lifetime. But now we are asked to acknowledge