p. 4 | THE UNCHANGEABLE LAW by C. D. M. Williams

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 17, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 51.

THE UNCHANGEABLE LAW.

By C. D. M. Williams

(Concluded.)

PAUL declares so emphatically the doctrine of salvation only by faith, and the futility of a reliance upon the performance of righteous deeds, that some have fancied that “a Christian is free from the obligations of the moral law.” By keeping the moral law we can not earn heaven, but by breaking it we bring penalty and remorse.—S. S. Journal, p. 495.

Altho those scenes at Sinai lie far back in the world’s history, they are just as impressive and full of meaning to-day. God is the Sovereign Ruler of men. His law “shall not pass, until all is fulfilled,” in the government of the world and in the hearts of men. The Ten Commandments are a chain of truth by which soul, body, and spirit are held to the only safe anchorage. “Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man,” says the seer of Ecclesiastes. We are not whole beings, soul, body, and spirit, without this. We are broken, incomplete, ruined. The commandments are not only a chain of strength to hold us to safety, but they are a chain of beauty as well. We are told to bind them upon our fingers, tie them about our necks, wear them upon our foreheads as diamonds and pearls. It was a God of love who gave them. They are not grievous, they are for our good, that it may be well with us and our children forever. The heart is the clasp that fastens this circlet of pearls. For the first command speaks of love’s making God sole Ruler and Possessor of the heart, and the last permits not even a thought of wrong to a friend or neighbor. You have them, “word for word,” in your memory. Let them be heart for heart in your secret self.

How shall you keep them so? . . . How shall you keep the Sabbath in its true spirit, not bound by custom, nor lawless through self-will? . . . It is not possible, except in one way; for the spirit of the law is broader and deeper than the letter, and it must be kept “in spirit and in truth.” How, then, can we keep it? Let Him who gave these commandments in the clouds and thunders of Sinai, and wrote them with His own hand on tables of stone, answer. He says, I will “sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; . . . and I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them.” Love is the fulfilling of the law, and the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Hopeless, indeed, should we be without Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth; for under all circumstances, in every place, the Ten Commandments are still in force, and the judgment day is ahead. . . . Study the circumstances of the giving of the law. . . . Drill in the Ten Commandments.

I have simply quoted from those who break God’s holy day and His law every week in the year (unconsciously, perhaps), but could I have made a stronger plea for the Sabbath of the Lord our God?

Here notice a few points that it is well to “drill in.” The command was given in Eden to keep the seventh day holy to God. “That law was not abrogated.” “That Sabbath day is still a sign between God and man, and profaning this day is a breach of the whole moral law.” “The purpose of the day is a specifically religious one.” If this is so, and they keep Sunday for this day; when they make this substitution and enforce it by law, is it not enforcing their religion on the people subject to those laws? “The Christian Sabbath is a divine institution, and can be abrogated by God alone.” If this is true, have not those who have sought to change the Sabbath put themselves in the place of God? “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work,” is as mandatory as the command to rest. No one able to do a man’s work is excusable by God, if it is not done. Then how can they, after we have rested the Sabbath day according to the command of God, compel us to break another command of God by keeping a day which they, by putting themselves in the place of God, have commanded us to keep, and by the authority of their law are trying to enforce upon us? “O consistency, thou art a jewel.”

“Another argument for rest on the seventh day is given in verse 11 of Exodus 20.” Well, who is it that speaks in verse 11? Is it not God? Is He not good authority? Then why not rest the seventh day, as God commands you? “In a certain very practical sense every man’s inward, moral self, or conscience, does at least echo their [the Ten Commandments’] truth when once spoken.” Then why try to change the echo which God has placed in the very conscience of every human being? “That was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” The Spirit of God has written these things in the heart of man. What power shall change the handwriting of the Holy Spirit?

“The law was God’s testimony of the sinfulness and wickedness of the race.” Will these things stand the witness of the Testimony?

“The Ten Commandments are the solid rock of eternal truth. Blasted away by a disregard of divine authority, the very foundations of character fall, and the soul is morally wrecked.” Are we not blasting away the divine authority when we profane the holy day that divinity has made, and substitute in its place one of man-made origin?

“God who spoke them with His own voice, and wrote them with His own hand upon tables of stone in the midst of awful displays of majesty and power, made no mistake in the expression of what He wished to say.” Surely, then, those who change these words are not giving the will of God; but in the place of God’s words and will they have substituted their own. Whose will and words shall we accept?

“But must we keep the whole ten to the very letter? If we keep them in spirit, is not that enough?” I do not think we can keep them in the spirit without the letter. If this answer is correct, and it is, do those who change the letter so that it reads first day instead of seventh, keep them in spirit? The Spirit of God is to lead us into the truth, not to change the truth. Paul speaks of those “who professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man.” What kind of wisdom is it that changes the holy day of God into a man-made institution, with no sacredness attached?

“The Ten Commandments are a chain of truth by which soul, body, and spirit are held to the only safe anchorage.” How will these be held by a broken chain? Let them answer. “We are not whole beings, soul, body, and spirit, without this.” “We are broken, incomplete, ruined.” It seems to me that when any Christian denomination finds themselves in this condition, it is time for them to seek God with all their hearts. There is hope for a people when they really see that they are wrong; but do our good brothers see these things, or are they so blinded by creed that they can not see to the end? “But unto this day the veil remaineth upon the heart when Moses is read.” May the Holy Spirit open their eyes, enlighten their minds, turn their hearts to Christ, and lead them out into the glorious light and liberty of the Gospel as it is in Christ Jesus.

C. D. M. WILLIAMS.

Williams, Arizona.