Untitled article by L. D. Santee

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, July 16, 1867

THE LORD’S HIGH WAY.

By L. D. Santee

AN ESSAY, BY L. D. SANTEE.

“Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.” Isa. lvii, 14.

WHILE endeavoring to hold up the great truths of the present, and to instruct the people in the faith once delivered to the saints, we often meet those who are ready to condemn everything that is not in accordance with popular theology; and when God in his goodness brings to light a truth that has long been buried beneath the traditions of the Man of Sin, they will cry vehemently, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

Ever since the first waves of the Reformation began to roll through the land, opposers have been numerous. As light began to dawn on the sacred pages, and prophecies began to be understood as they neared their fulfillment, many would persistently close their eyes and ears, rejecting portions of the divine revelation as the very blackness of darkness. Let the great apostle to the Gentiles read the final doom of such: “But unto them that do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil.” Rom. ii, 8, 9.

There is not power enough in the universe to resist the onward march of truth. God declares by the prophet Isaiah in the 62nd chapter and 6th verse, “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night.” There is a highway to be cast up for the people. Verse 10. Saith God, “Gather out the stones.” The path of duty must be made plain. We are living in the last days, near the close of probation and the end of time. The Lord is soon coming. Satan is working with all power, and signs, and lying wonders. 2 Thess. ii, 9. If possible he will deceive the very elect. Matt. xxiv, 24. God, for the protection of his little flock, has sent out watchmen in the spirit and power of Elias and he gives them this solemn charge: “When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die because thou hast not given him warning; he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not and he doth not sin, he shall surely live because he is warned; also, thou hast delivered thy soul.” Eze. iii, 18–21.

And God’s watchmen with the assistance of his Holy Spirit are lifting a standard for the people. The glorious light of truth is arising from the rubbish of ages. It is like a city set upon a hill which cannot be hid. As perils thicken upon the earth, and there is distress of nations and perplexity, God manifests his love for his children by giving them special admonition on whom the ends of the world are come. Knowledge is being increased. Light is being disseminated as we approach the closing chapter of earth’s history.

But let us consider the first portion of our text. The command to cast up would imply that the highway prepared by God for the people to walk on has been trodden down. Let us for a moment look at this part of our subject. First, What is the way to be prepared for the people? and second, how is it to be cast up? We shall lay down the proposition that the way here spoken of is the duty of man as set forth in the ten commandments; and having laid down this proposition, we shall try scripturally to sustain it. We conclude that the way that David (a man after God’s own heart), and other holy men, desired to walk in, was the true way, and the way to be prepared for the people. We will now examine some passages to find what that way was. Prov. viii, 20: I lead in the way of righteousness; also Ps. xxiii, 3: He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness. Again, chap. v, 8: Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness. What is righteousness? All thy commandments are righteousness. Ps. cxix, 172.

We next notice Ps. xxv, 5: Lead me in thy truth? What is truth? Again let David answer, Thy law is the truth. Ps. cxix, 142. From the testimonies that we have examined, we conclude that the way to be prepared is the commandments of God. We shall adduce one more text upon this point. Ps. cxix, 1: Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord; also verse 32 of the same chapter: I will run the way of thy commandments.

Let us now consider how the way is to be cast up. Is it to be made better? That would be impossible; for it is perfect. Ps. xix, 7. Is it to be made more durable? Christ declares that it is easier for Heaven and earth to pass than for one tittle of the law to fail. How then is it to be cast up? Simply thus: It is to be presented before the people in all its purity and spirituality. The people in this age must know the will of God, * being instructed out of the law, even as the early Christians of the apostolic church. Rom. ii, 18. During the long period of the papal supremacy, the Pope in his inordinate rage against God, his worshipers, and his law, persecuted the saints with an unsparing hand, and trampled under foot the requirements of the Most High. He changed portions of God’s law and nullified other portions, until the way prepared by God for the people was terribly broken down. Truly the Papacy has magnified itself even to the Prince of the host, as predicted by the prophet Daniel, or as Paul declared in his second letter to the Thessalonians, has shown itself to be the Man of Sin, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth itself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he [the Pope] as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

When we consider the second part of our text, we will examine this quotation more thoroughly. Every one must see the necessity of preparing the way for the people. Look with me around upon the religious world at large. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint, when we behold the wickedness perpetrated by the professed followers of the lowly Nazarene. Truly, judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth.

On the second division of our subject, we inquire, first, What is the stumbling-block? and secondly, How is it to be removed? We have already shown that the way to be prepared for the people is the law of God. If in examining the requirements of that law, we find any portion disregarded by the religious world at large, then, surely, that is the part to be cast up; and if we find Christians teaching anything as a part of the law of God for which he has given them no warrant, and for which they have no authority in the Scriptures of divine truth, then we must decide that they have placed a stumbling-block in the way of the people, by making the traditions of men of equal weight with the commandments of God. What is the chaff to the wheat, saith the Lord? Let us examine separately each precept of the law, and see if any command is made void, or any traditions added. First. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. All Christian nations agree in teaching this commandment.

Second. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in Heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them, &c. Nearly all denominations agree in condemning the idolator or the worshiper of graven images.

Third. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, &c. No one, unless it be the Universalist, will pretend that the blasphemer will escape punishment. Thus far, the way that God has marked out for us to walk in is very plain, and the wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein.

Fourth. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work, &c. Do those professing godliness keep this commandment? Where can you find those that rest the Sabbath day according to the commandment? Where can you find those who are following in the footsteps of Jesus? who are keeping all the commandments? Christ is Lord of the Sabbath; and can we honor him while disregarding his holy day? Alas for poor, fallen humanity, when the church disregards the voice of her Lord! Well may the ministers weep between the porch and the altar, and cry, Spare thy people, O Lord.

Christ ever taught the perpetuity of his Father’s law. The fourth precept of that law declares that the seventh day is the Sabbath. It has never been abrogated, but stands immutable, imbosomed in the midst of the decalogue; yet, to-day, the great body of the professed church are violating the fourth commandment, and in its stead are offering to God a sacrifice that he has never required, the observance of Sunday. Such would do well to heed the solemn declaration of the prophet: “To obey is better than sacrifice.” 1 Sam. xv, 22. May the Lord hasten the time when there shall be a rending of hearts and not of garments; and may he speedily lead out into the truth the honest in heart.

I believe that if Christ were here upon the earth, he would address the same language to the professed Christians of to-day that he addressed to his chosen people anciently. Said he, “Ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.” Again, verse 9, “In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.” Said Christ to his disciples, Matt. v, 20, “Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” Why? Because the scribes and Pharisees violated the fifth commandment. Matt. xv, 3–6. Jesus plainly declares that whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be of no esteem in the reign of Heaven. Campbell. Matt. v, 19.

In the face of these plain declarations, can those expect to escape punishment who violate the fourth? I think not. I do not propose advancing arguments upon the perpetuity of the Sabbath, as time and space forbid. For full information upon this point, see J. N. Andrews’ History of the Sabbath, published at the Office of the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald.

We need not examine the remaining six commandments, as all agree that they are binding upon the human family. Let us turn our attention once more to the stumbling-block. Listen to the words of the Lord by the prophet Malachi: “But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law.” The question is often asked, Why is the first day so universally kept, if God has not commanded its observance? I answer, It was brought about by the authority of the Roman Catholic church. For about 1260 years they bore rule over a large portion of the earth, and the nations governed by them were required to keep holy the Sunday. In proof of this statement, we adduce the testimony of Dr. Chambers. He says it was Constantine the Great who first made a law for the observance of Sunday, and who, according to Eusebius, appointed that it should be regularly celebrated throughout the Roman empire. He adds, By Constantine’s laws made in 321, it was decreed that for the future the Sunday should be kept a day of rest in all cities and towns; but he allowed the country people to follow their work. In 538 the Council of Orleans prohibited this country labor. Encyc. Art. Sunday. Constantine published in the same year two edicts, the first of which enjoined the solemn observance of Sunday, &c. Gibbon’s Rome, chap. 20.

We might bring forward a vast amount of evidence; but it is unnecessary. We have quoted enough to sustain our assertion that the Roman Catholic church instituted the observance of Sunday. How exactly has the vision of Daniel been fulfilled, when, speaking of the Papacy, he declares that it should think to change times and laws?

We again notice 2 Thess. ii, 4, where Paul in speaking of the Man of Sin says that he opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped. He has exalted himself above the Most High by claiming for himself the prerogative of changing the divine laws. In the latter part of the verse he is said to sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. This he has done, first, by styling himself the Most Holy Lord God, the Pope, and second, by taking upon himself the authority of God. God is a law-giver. James iv, 12. The Pope has enacted his laws claiming to be divine, among others the observance of Sunday.

Lastly, How is the stumbling-block to be removed? The answer is obvious: By teaching all the commandments of God; by refusing to receive the tradition that has so long usurped the place of the fourth commandment. The angel that bears the last message of mercy to man sees a company keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Rev. xiv, 12.

If any wish to observe the first day of the week, of course they can do so. For my part, with the promise of eternal life before me, I dare not risk my soul’s salvation in transgressing God’s holy law, and offering a substitute that God has not asked at my hands. May the Lord help us to keep all his commandments, to have the seal of God, to escape the evils coming upon the earth, and finally to stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion. Amen.