"Ye Have Killed the People of the Lord."
WHEN the Lord brought evil upon the house of Israel because they had departed from him and worshiped Baal, they put the blame upon Elijah, who was endeavoring to bring them back to the keeping of God's commandments. History informs us that the servants of God have sometimes suffered sore persecution on account of public calamities, the trouble being ascribed to their persistence in following Christ. And we are instructed to believe that as the perils and troubles of the last days increase in the world, they will be laid at the door of those who refuse to exalt human laws and human traditions above the commandments of God. All errors and innovations which have ever been brought into the church have had for their foundation the profession of a pious intention. Thus the Saviour said that the Jews made void the commandment of God, which required them to honor their father and their mother, under the pretense of extraordinary piety in consecrating all they had to the Lord. So the Church of Rome ignores the second commandment, because they find that the adoration of images greatly increases devotion! And so almost the entire Protestant world now regard obedience to the fourth commandment of Jehovah's law as something worthy only of reproach, while the observance of "the venerable day of the sun," as a substitute for the Sabbath of the Lord God, is considered a high type of Christianity! And, as we have said, and the prophecy plainly teaches, they who refuse "to worship the beast and his image," and hold fast to "the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus," will be persecuted as troublers of Israel. Rev. 13:11-15; 14:9-12. People who do not closely mark the "sure word of prophecy" often reject this view, solely from their inability to believe that people will act so blindly. But human nature has not changed, and it has ever repeated its errors and rebellions when the circumstances enabled it to find an excuse. In this respect it is true that "the thing that hath been, it is that which shall be." Eccl. 1:9. In the book of Numbers we find just such a case of blindness, and it contains a double lesson to us in these days: to avoid ascribing the judgments of God to those who are doing and teaching his commandments, and to respect God's instruments in carrying out his work even as we respect the work to be done. The children of Israel had accomplished full half of their allotted forty years' wandering in the desert, and had seen many of the wondrous works of God. As we read the history we are surprised that they were not so forcibly impressed with the presence of God, and of the divine mission of Moses, as to always stand in awe of the Majesty of Heaven, and always respect the teachings of one who had proved so "faithful in all his house." But let us read the lesson:— "And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods." "And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense." "But on the morrow all the congregation of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord." Num. 16:32, 35, 41. This was surely one of the most singular instances of rebellion on record. Indeed, it has sometimes seemed hard to reconcile such blindness, such mad infatuation, with the ordinary sense with which they must have been possessed, and the light they had received from the many manifestations of God's power in their behalf. And, 1. We read that the earth opened, and swallowed up a certain company who were in open rebellion. By what method of reasoning could they make Moses and Aaron answerable for this? 2. A fire came out from the Lord and consumed a company who aspired to the priesthood in direct opposition to the ordinance of God. Was this the work of Moses and Aaron? or if they thought it was, would it not then prove to them that Moses and Aaron had power over heaven and earth? that they held them under such control that they would do their bidding? How, then, dared they so soon inaugurate a new rebellion against them? Such blindness seems almost unaccountable. But the Lord said, by Samuel, "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft." 1 Sam. 15:23. We know that witchcraft has a power to so pervert men's faculties, that everything is distorted to their vision. Wrong is made to appear right, and they are blinded to the simplest and plainest reasons and facts. And such, too, is the power and tendency of rebellion. This alone appears to account for their conduct. A person bewitched feels perfectly secure in his position, and is scarcely moved by evidence of his error. So, too, with a person with rebellious tendencies. It is always selfish and unreasonable. Seldom, very seldom, does a person recover himself from the strong influence of witchcraft. And so hard is it for a person of a rebellious spirit to entirely escape from this terrible snare of the enemy, not realizing the awful danger of his position, he can hardly be persuaded to make the strong effort necessary to break away from it. The victim is like a charmed person, who thinks he is enjoying the greatest freedom and the richest pleasure, while the toils of the destroyer are closing around him.121 The New-Testament prophecies of the last days inform us that Satan will work "with all power, and signs, and lying wonders." All these are plain to be seen, easy to be identified. But who shall describe, and sufficiently warn against, that spoken of in the same text, "all deceivableness of unrighteousness." God has a great and important work to be accomplished in and for "this generation." His commandments must be restored, and thereby a people fitted for translation. Doubtless, the deceptions of the enemy are aimed against this work; but thousands fall into the snare who know not for what purpose the enemy has entrapped them. But God has always carried on every great reform through certain instrumentalities. A work necessarily requires workers; and the last are as much a part of God's plan as is the first. Some, strangely enough, seem blinded to this fact, and think they are friends to the work, while they are opposing the workers. If they are not beyond the reach of reason, they must see that their position is most unreasonable. And if their senses are so stupified that they cannot see it, it is the duty of others to take warning, and avoid the danger into which they have so heedlessly run. Through all the inspired records, we find that God has looked upon his instruments as an essential part of his plan; and rejection of them has always been counted as rejection of him. "The tree and its fruit" are always classed together; and they who love the fruit, will show it by their regard for the tree.