RELIGIOUS INVENTIONS by Albert Stone

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 8, 1872

RELIGIOUS INVENTIONS.

By Albert Stone

BY ELD. ALBERT STONE.

Text, Eccl. 7:29: “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”

Webster’s definition of the word upright, is, “Perpendicular to the plane of the horizon, erect; just, honest.”

Such was the original position of man both physically and morally. His superiority to animals is indicated by the erect posture of his body, as well as by his moral endowments.

In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him.” The law of God was written in his heart, and though mostly obliterated by the fall, a portion dimly remains; so that “the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” Rom. 1:20, 21.

The gospel plan is to re-write the law of God in man’s heart, in order to bring him back to his original state. But he does not like the idea of dependence on his Maker, and chooses to depend on his own inventions to better his condition.

We shall briefly notice some of the inventions that man has sought out. The unsanctified use of this propensity commenced early in man’s history. It always has one object, and that is to avoid submission to the Lord. And this it tries to accomplish in one of three ways.

1. To add to God’s plan, or,

2. Take something from it, or,

3. To substitute some plan entirely new.

Thus Adam and Eve in paradise thought to improve their condition by appropriating to their use a forbidden object. “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Gen. 3:6.

Through the deception of the serpent upon her mind, Eve thought to better their state, to please the sight of the eyes, to gratify the appetite, and increase their stock of wisdom. Dissatisfied with the great and good things God had given them, even free access to the fruit of the tree of life, and all the trees of the garden with the exception of one; uninterrupted communion with their Creator, and free converse with the angels, and the dominion of the world, were not enough to satisfy them. They must have some additional privileges to complete their enjoyment.

As though they could do better for themselves than their Creator could do for them, they must add an important item to consummate their happiness, they must place one gem in their crown as the fruit of their own invention, they must have some hand in fixing their happy state. But they found to their cost that God’s way was best; and in their foolish attempts to mend it, they had brought ruin on the whole of their inheritance, and incurred the displeasure of their Creator.

After the flood, in the days of Noah, when men had multiplied somewhat upon the earth, and not liking to retain God in their thoughts, much less to be governed in their conduct by the principles of the law of God, they conceived the plan of evading the judgments of God, in case of another flood, by building a tower so high that the top of it should reach to heaven, that they might escape thither and be safe from the impending storm.

The strong faith of the men of that time in the success of such an enterprise, is evinced in the spirit of sacrifice and union of effort put forth in the construction of the tower and city of Babel. But their work was frustrated and the people scattered by the wonderful interposition of divine power. Their language was confounded, and they could not go on with the work.

But there was as much common sense with the men of that generation in regard to that enterprise, and as much prospect of success, as in various enterprises of a later date, invented ostensibly for some religious end, but really to adapt religion to the carnal mind, to harmonize it with the love and practice of the world, to sap the foundation of moral principle, and turn the truth of God into a lie.

If religionists would be as earnest to sustain and practice moral principle as they are, in many cases, to evade it, if they would sacrifice half as much for truth as they do for error, if they would avoid sin as they do holiness, if they would labor for the soul as they do for the body, if they would yield to be led by the Spirit of God as they do to be led by the spirit of the world; in short, if they would do as much for the God that created them, and the Saviour that redeemed them, as they do for sin and Satan that would destroy them, then would their professed hopes of salvation be more in accordance with reason and the word of God.

The truth is, too many professors of this degenerate age are not half converted. They are more afraid of doing too much than too little. They study more to know how little they can do and be saved, than they do to do the whole will of God. The hopes of many professors are mere labels. God is not for them, but against them. They cry, Lord, Lord, but do not the things he commands them. To such, the Lord will say, “Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity;” “I never knew you.”

3. But there is another class of religious inventors described in Ex. 32. Just as the Hebrew people had obtained deliverance from their bondage in Egypt, and had witnessed the most wonderful displays of the power and majesty of God in their deliverance and the destruction of their enemies, and had come as far as the wilderness of Mt. Sinai, and Moses was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of the law and deliver them to the people; under these circumstances the people relapsed into the grossest idolatry, by inventing and worshiping a golden calf.

“They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.” Ps. 106:19, 20.

This is another divinely recorded attempt of the people of God to make improvements in religion by their inventions. And here are certainly some of the ingredients of true worship. Here is devotion, zeal, and the spirit of sacrifice. Both men and women contributed of their golden jewelry to this enterprise.

And for our part we are unable to see why this whole affair, which occurred in the camp of Israel at the foot of Sinai’s Mount, where the great God, in most terrible grandeur, was giving his law to man, is not as befitting as some more modern inventions of the people of God that have occurred at the foot of Mount Calvary, where our Lord was crucified. The gospel dispensation has not been lacking in attempted inventions and improvements in its doctrines, ordinances, and laws, by its professed friends.

4. Naaman, the captain of the host of the king of Assyria, is another case in point illustrating this propensity in man. He was a man of standing and character in the Assyrian court; but he was grievously afflicted with leprosy. When he appeared before the door of the house of Elisha the man of God, with his horses and his chariot and his rich presents of silver and gold, to be healed of his disease, he expected and hoped for some pompous display, some popular demonstration, that would be in keeping with his high standing in the king’s court.

But when he found nothing in the demeanor of the prophet, or in the means to be used for the cure of his disease, to feed his vanity or foster the pride of his heart, he was greatly offended, and went away in a rage; not, however, till he had invented and proposed for his cure a plan more congenial with the feelings of his proud heart.

Thus many are willing to receive the Lord’s benefits, provided he would bestow them in a manner which they might dictate, so as not to mar their pride, or interfere in any way with their worldly interests and enjoyments. But if they are required to deny self, reform their life, and be governed in their actions by the rules of pure morality, they will at once manifest a preference for an easier way, and one more congenial with the carnal and depraved mind, and are ready to invent some addition to, or diminution from, the straight testimony of the word of God, so as to divest their religion of all vitality and moral principle. That which many regard as Bible religion, and trust in for salvation, is well compared to a carcass, bereft of heart and bowels, without life or vital principle. Sinners out of the church, and in the church, will have their own way till converted.

The means of conversion are found in the law of God. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” Ps. 19:7. The means of salvation are found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

4. The doctrine of the conversion of the world is another invention of man. It is impossible for the world to be converted, because,

1st. There is nothing in the programme of Christ’s work, as laid down in the Scriptures, that favors such a view.

2d. There are doctrines taught in the Bible that cannot be harmonized with the world’s conversion.

The great tribulation of the church from persecuting and belligerent powers, as taught by our Lord and his apostles, is to continue through the entire gospel dispensation, so that all the saved, during the gospel dispensation, are described as those who have come up through great tribulation and made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 7:9–14. See also Ps. 2:8, 9; Dan. 7:21, 22.

Daniel Whitby, who lived less than two centuries ago, was the first that taught the doctrine of the world’s conversion. It was alike unknown to the apostles, and to the dark ages of papal rule. It was reserved for the last days, to be used in opposition to the Bible doctrine of the second advent of Christ.

Satan well knew when it would do the greatest harm to the cause of God and the salvation of souls, and has accordingly reserved it to help carry out his great plan of deceiving and ensnaring the world.

6. Another doctrine, nearly related to the above, is that of the spiritual coming and spiritual reign of Christ on the earth during a thousand years.

I will not stop here to argue this point further than to present the testimony of two of the heavenly angels that waited on Christ at his ascension. “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11.

These false theories of the conversion of the world, temporal millennium, and spiritual reign of Christ, are doubtless honestly believed by many, not because they are true, but because they are pleasant to the unsanctified mind. They are the cry of peace and safety, and sign of sudden destruction. 1 Thess. 5:3.

7. The theory of man’s natural immortality is another invention which man has sought out. God made man upright, but not immortal. This rich gift God has always held in reserve, to bestow upon the faithful at the resurrection. God only hath it. Jesus Christ has brought it to light through the gospel; and it is now presented as an object to be sought, and thus obtained. “God only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto.” “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” “Who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life.” 1 Tim. 6:16; 2 Tim. 1:10; Rom. 2:6, 7.

This fundamental error in Christian doctrine was concocted in the schools of heathen philosophy, seized upon by the church, dressed in religious costume, by drawing around it an array of false interpolation of Scripture, and thus made the pillar and ground, not of the truth, but of modern spiritualism, the most fatal and widespread delusion that ever eclipsed the moral atmosphere, or hurled the race of man by wholesale into the vortex of irrecoverable ruin.

8. The ordinance of baptism has not been permitted to escape the polluting touch of man’s inventive proclivities. Baptism is designed to follow conversion. In a beautiful figure, it sets forth a dying unto sin and a resurrection to holiness. It sets forth also the believer’s conformity to Christ, by being “buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Rom. 6:4–6.

But other modes than the Bible mode of immersion, and other subjects than those pointed out in Scripture, have been brought in by the inventions of men. “God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” And by every one of these inventions mankind commit sin and dishonor God.

9. Another invention is the substitution of the first day of the week for the Sabbath of the Lord. The Sabbath was instituted in Eden and given to man while yet in innocence, for a most important and useful purpose. Its design is to memorialize the Creator in the work of the creation of the world, and thus perpetuate the knowledge and worship of the true God.

The Sabbath is a fundamental truth. It is one of the pillars on which the government of God rests. “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Ps. 11:3. The Sabbath underlies everything valuable to man in the work of creation and redemption. It is the link in the chain of truth through which the knowledge of God is perpetuated to man.

The change of the Sabbath to any other than the seventh day of the week, virtually involves a transfer of the worship of the true God to the power that has wrought the change. “To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.” Rom. 6:16. Thus saith the Lord, “Walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and hallow my Sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.”

Had the Sabbath been permitted to occupy its proper place, idolatry had never overrun the world and caused the name of God to be forgotten and rejected by a majority of mankind in all ages, as has been the case.

But who changed the Sabbath? If the above views are correct, the change of the Sabbath has been effected by some person or government that has sought exaltation, that has been vitally opposed to the government of God, that has by fraud usurped the throne and worship of God. Inspiration points to the “man of sin” as doing this very work. “And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” “For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” Dan. 7:25; 2 Thess. 2:3, 4.

Thus the man of sin has thought to change the law of God, especially that part that relates to the Sabbath. He has put the first day of the week in place of the seventh; or, in other words, he has erased the name of God from his law, and inserted his own; or still in other language, he has blotted out the sign of God, and placed instead the sign of the man of sin, which are, respectively, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and the Sunday of the man of sin.

This fraudulent action and blasphemy of the man of sin is accepted by Protestant Christians and churches, with few exceptions, throughout the world. Thus the Scripture is fulfilled.

1. The man of sin opposes and exalts himself above God.

2. Thinks to change times and laws.

3. The saints are given into his hand.

4. He sits in the temple of God, and shows that he is God.

5. By solemn, weekly acts of voluntary worship, his claims, and blasphemous pretensions are acknowledged, as well by Protestants as Papists.

How forcibly does the language of the prophet apply here: “Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Jer. 2:11–13.

Dear friends and brethren who observe the first day of the week, are these conclusions legitimate? Are these things so? Remember that while God has winked at the times of ignorance in the past, he now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.

Will God accept acts of worship offered to another, though sincerely offered? Will God accept the majority because they are many? Will he reject the few because they are few, though they may stand in the truth?

Do not pass lightly over this subject. Angels are interested, God is interested. He will not regard the dishonor done to his name as a light thing. The truth is interested; and will you not stand up for it? Salvation is pending, and will you think lightly of it?