Keep it before the People.
By Uriah Smith
IN a ponderous volume of twelve pamphlet pages, the “Rev. H. L. Barnaby” essays to settle the great question of the Sabbath; and some of the assertions which he summons to his aid in the effort are truly astonishing. He says:— “So much has been written and said about the seventh day of the week, that one would naturally suppose the Bible to be full of lessons about it; and yet there is not a word said in the Scriptures about the seventh day of the week.” The shallowness of this evasion is well exposed in Bro. Waggoner’s review of Baird. Because these particular words “of the week” do not occur, to deny that the week is meant, is to show one’s self ready to resort to tricks of argument of which a third rate pettifogger would be ashamed. A moment’s thought shows that the week must be intended. Thus, when God set apart the seventh day, he did not set it apart for himself, but for man for whom the Sabbath was made. And he did not set apart that first seventh day which was past, but his blessing and sanctification pertained to the seventh day for time to come. Thus, then, it was ordained that men should devote to religious uses every seventh day from that time forward. No one can fail to see that as soon as this arrangement was entered into, the week was an established fact, and followed as inevitably as day and night follow the revolution of the earth upon its axis. All coming days are at once set apart in divisions of sevens; for when the next seventh day arrived after the one upon which God rested, it was to be observed in rest. Then the count must begin again; for the next seventh day was to be kept in like manner; and that being past, a new week must begin with a new count. And so on to the end. Thus the week of necessity existed as soon as the Sabbath was instituted, and as evidently it owes its existence to that institution. And the seventh day of each of these weekly periods was the Sabbath; and when the word of God says the seventh day, without qualification, it means, and can mean, nothing else but this. “We find no command for, or example of, the observance of any day recorded in the Bible, prior to the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.” This man has been told better than this and has no excuse for such an assertion. For any man of honest mind and sincere spirit, it is enough to find plain evidence that a command was given, though the express words of the command are not recorded. And it is positively stated in the record that such command was given to Adam. This is what we want kept before the people: There was a Sabbath commandment in the world, from the lips of God himself, binding upon all his people, for more than twenty-five hundred years before Sinai. People may dispute this point as much as they please, and ministers may profess a sanctimonious ignorance of it, but there is the record in unequivocal terms. It says that in the beginning God sanctified the day. To sanctify means to set apart to a religious use. Now, will some of those who deny that there was any command for the Sabbath before the exode, tell us how this was done? How was the Sabbath set apart in the beginning to a religious use? They know that this involves a command for its observance; that the sanctification of it was a command for the keeping of it, nothing more nor less. It could not possibly have been anything else. Whoever denies this, takes upon himself the disgrace of insulting truth and common sense. Here while yet the whole race stood in their representatives, Adam and Eve, and sin had not entered the world, the Sabbath was given to man, and with the institution a command to enforce and regulate its observance, in all places through all time. Yet ministers, without trembling at their own dishonesty, or blushing at their ignorance, will deliberately affirm that there was no command for the Sabbath till it was given from Sinai. Keep it before the people. Let them become so fully informed in regard to this matter, that all attempts to use this old misrepresentation will be nullified and spoiled.
U. S. Practical Thoughts on Bible Subjects.
Is that grace which enables us to put a just estimate upon ourselves. It is just what is requisite in order that we may know our place and keep it. It enables us to obey the injunction not to think of ourselves “more highly” than we ought to think. Rom. 12:3. It opens our eyes to our own defects. It gives us a sense of our own failure to imitate the divine pattern. Without it we could not hunger and thirst after righteousness, for we should think ourselves good enough already. We learn lessons of humility with much pain; yet nothing is sweeter and more divinely peaceful than this excellent grace. The pain which we experience in taking lessons in humility is because that our nature is entirely averse to this lowly disposition. Vanity and pride fill the hearts of the sons of men. The grace of God alone can effect this wondrous change. Dying to pride is a painful process. The change, when wrought, is one of heavenly serenity and blessedness. It is our business to humble ourselves. If we leave this work to be done for us by the Lord, we shall infallibly bring upon ourselves his afflicting hand, for it is by this that he humbles the children of men. God humbles men as Gideon taught the men of Succoth, with “thorns of the wilderness and briers.” Judges 8:16. Better learn humility this way than not at all. But far better would it be to make it a business to humble our own hearts daily and continually before the Lord. We can abase ourselves or we can have the Lord abase us. The valley of humiliation is in itself the sweetest, and, what is of greater consequence, the safest part of the heavenly journey. John Bunyan tells us that in this valley our Lord, in the days of his earthly sojourn, had his country house. One thing is certain, that whoever walks in this valley will have the Saviour for his companion. This is one of the worst forms of pride. Persons under this deception suppose themselves very humble and lowly in heart. In fact, they really believe that they are far in advance of their brethren in all that renders men acceptable in the sight of God. Under this impression, people become proud of their humility. If there were one particle of honesty or frankness to sin, we should not so often fall into it. But sin deceives us. That is its very nature. The deceitfulness of sin is that which makes it so dangerous an adversary. Sin is the eldest born of Satan. He is the arch-deceiver. Deception is his business. Cheating is an art which he has carried to the highest perfection. Nothing but fraud and guile can proceed from such a source. Though the prince of darkness, he can transform himself into an angel of light. 2 Cor. 11:14. And such is his skill in beguiling men that he is able to give to pride the outward form of humility, and to make it, many times, pass for this excellent grace. This kind of humility is often manifested in acts of austerity or apparent self-denial for the purpose of attention or securing the approval of others. Sometimes it is shown in the wearing of mean and slovenly apparel, that thereby one’s humility may be declared. But all these acts of apparent humility are performed to gratify the pride of a self-righteous heart, or to receive the approval of those whose good opinion is specially desired. One test generally if not invariably distinguishes false humility from that which is genuine. One can bear reproof, the other cannot. One is grateful for correction, the other is altogether too holy to allow of any such treatment of its exalted piety. Another almost universal test is found in the fact that spurious humility seeks by word and act to draw men’s attention to itself; but that which is genuine would hide from every eye but God’s. “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness; but a faithful man, who can find?” Prov. 20:6. Reader, have you genuine or spurious humility? This becomes the Christian at all times, when in prosperity or adversity. Overmuch joy at any earthly blessing is entirely out of place. Our mountain does not stand so strong that it shall certainly continue even one day. Our griefs are not so great that we should abandon ourselves to unrestrained sorrow. Our case might be worse. This will always be true until we find ourselves—if we should be so unfortunate—among the lost. Let us restrain both joy and sorrow so far as earthly blessings and calamities are concerned, within the bounds of moderation. An eastern monarch asked one of his wise men for some saying that would moderate his joy in great prosperity, and his grief in deep affliction. The sage replied: “Remember this too shall pass away.” This is an admirable saying, but it is not equal to this one from St. Paul: “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.” Phil. 4:5. If we walk in the presence of God and of the great day of account, prosperity and adversity will alike seem small to us in the presence of eternal realities. “Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” Men cannot sow thistles and reap grain. They cannot do evil deeds and receive the reward of well doing. Every act on our part is one whereby we sow something; and everything sown shall bear its own proper fruit. Could we realize that every act of wrong doing shall be followed by its own natural consequences, and that every thing thus sown by us shall bear a plentiful harvest of evil, how circumspect should we be in walking in the fear of the Lord. What a fatal error on the part of parents to allow the young to “sow their wild oats.” Such a crop once sown needs no care in order to have it bear a plentiful harvest, and nothing is more certain than that they who sow the seed shall themselves reap the harvest in the very kind which they sow. Beware of wrong doing. You must meet it again, and with it all the evil which it has caused in the world. “If we suffer we shall also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us.” 2 Tim. 2:12. Our Lord proposes to do great things for those who are worthy to receive them. Reigning with Christ will be no less than actually sitting down with him upon his throne, and wearing a crown which his own hand shall place upon our heads. But none shall show in this exaltation who do not prove themselves worthy by enduring the proper test. Every one who reigns with Jesus shall first suffer with him. The anguish of the cross shall precede the triumph of the saved. No man who shuns the cross shall ever sit down upon our Lord’s throne of glory. He is to confess his people before the Father and the angels. But every one thus confessed has first been proved worthy of this great honor. Those who now deny Christ before men shall then be denied by him. How wise it would be in us to make the last day our ever-present companion. Then every act would be wrought in God, and all our work such as we would willingly meet in the Judgment.
J. N. A.