Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 10, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 45.

Question Corner

By Editor

“Enquire and make search and ask diligently.”

[From time to time we will reply under this head, if deemed advisable, to such candid inquiries as may be sent us. Correspondents wishing a reply to their questions must give their full name and address, not for publication unless they wish, but as an evidence of good faith on their part, and to give us opportunity to reply by letter if deemed best. It is always well to inclose stamp. Let the questions be short and pointed, and such as may be answered in limited space. The questions will be numbered continuously.]

880. Frequency of the Lord’s Supper.

Why is the Lord’s Supper eaten only once in three months? Was it not the custom of the early church to eat it whenever they met together? F. B.

Partly for convenience’ sake, so as to secure a larger representation for a scattered church, perhaps; partly because of custom; it was begun in that way. There is no stated time or day for its celebration, that part resting wholly with the people. In the early church it was a daily matter for a while. Acts 2:46. On one occasion it was held on the evening after the Sabbath, in a farewell meeting with Paul. Acts 20:7. That there was no stated, set time for observing the ordinance is shown by the expression, “As oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup,” etc.

881. Deut. 14:23–26.

In Deut. 14:23 is the place spoken of, the temple? In the twenty-sixth verse does “whatsoever thy soul lusteth after,” include unclean meats provided they want it? Does that feast have any antitype now?

(1) When they came into the land of promise and the temple was builded, that place was the temple.

(2) “Whatsoever thy soul lusteth after,” is limited by the specific laws of the previous part of the chapter. Such general permission is limited by positive law. And, again, the soul of the true child of God would not lust after that which did not please God.

(3) That feast has no antitype now that we know of.

882. What Covenant. Deut. 5:3.

What covenant is here referred to? and who are the fathers?

The covenant made at Sinai. Ex. 19:5–8; 24:5–8. The “fathers” are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs, and so on down. The thought is that God declares that His practical truth is present truth.

883. Sinning against the Holy Ghost. J. E. H.

You misunderstood what the SIGNS has said with reference to sinning against the Holy Ghost. If any one resists the drawing of God’s love till that love can affect him no more, he certainly sins beyond forgiveness. There are many who resist God’s love, even to an alarming extent; but it appeals to them again and again, till they finally yield. But he who holds out to the last, cuts himself off from the love of God, shed abroad by the Holy Ghost. He places himself by his resistance where the Spirit can not reach him.

884. Increase of Longevity.

Can it be possible that the average human longevity has increased in the nineteenth century? [The writer incloses a clipping stating that such is the case.] J. S.

Probably in civilized countries under better hygienic surroundings. When Christ came to earth, the moral and physical status of man was about as low as it could be. If the people of nineteen hundred years ago had possessed the same knowledge as this generation relative to hygiene and sanitation, the average length of human life would probably have been in excess of what it is to-day.