THE CROWNING ACT OF CREATION.
By E. Hilliard
THE crowning act of God’s infinite love in creation is made manifest in the institution of the Sabbath. The Sabbath keeps fresh in the minds of men His creative and redemptive power. He has commanded us to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. . . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.” One can not meditate at any length upon infinite power, as shown in the created objects around him, without being reminded of the tender care of his heavenly Father in providing so bountifully for all his needs. One day in seven is none too much to be devoted to His worship; it is none too often for those who love the Lord, to meet and express their gratitude in songs of heavenly praise, blend their petitions, and encourage one another by telling of God’s wonderful love, of which they have been the recipients during the week. The seventh day has been sanctified and set apart by the Creator, and should be strictly observed as He has commanded. The violation of the Sabbath causes men to forget God, and dims their mental vision respecting a knowledge of His creative power and infinite love. He whose heart has been touched with heavenly love, hails the Sabbath with delight. Its sacred hours that come laden with spiritual blessings, remind him that he is a creature of the Creator. In his secret worship and public devotion, he is drawn nearer to his God. Praise the Lord for the peaceful day of holy rest! If men would view God as He is—a God of love—they would not be so ready to charge Him with injustice because He has permitted some things which they, in their short-sightedness, condemn. Many are puzzled, and can not understand why God has permitted sin to exist. Some pronounce its existence in our world unwise and cruel. They do not see that the ultimate design is to afford an object-lesson for all God’s intelligent creatures. Adam and Eve were responsible for yielding to Satan; for they were faithfully warned of their foe, and of the terrible results if they yielded. It was love that warned them; it was love that permitted them to make their choice after being warned. But why permit sin to be visited upon the posterity of Adam? The answer is, Because God is love. He loves the creatures He has brought into existence, and desires to teach them the awful results of sin. To do this He has made this world, in which He has laid the great plan of salvation, the lesson-book of the universe. The angels of heaven and the inhabitants of other worlds behold the fearful consequences of sin. They have seen man, in a rage of anger, take the life of his fellow-man; they have beheld men, made in the image of God, inflict upon their fellow-men, whose only offense was a difference of belief and practise in matters of religion, the most slow and cruel torture that human genius was capable of inventing. Besides these cruel, satanic acts, they have witnessed sickness, poverty, starvation, and death with all of their attendant evils. All this has produced an intense hatred against sin, and has built up a barrier against another rebellion in heaven. All who are successful in overcoming through Christ, and are transferred to the better world, will have passed through an experience that will destroy all desire for its repetition. Thus by permitting sin to exist and show its results, God’s universe will forever be placed on a safe basis. The Effects of Sin Felt in Heaven.
Sin has not only caused sorrow and suffering on earth among men; but it separated Christ from God. Christ took upon Himself the guilt and shame of sin. This brought Him into the world where sin exists, to live a life of self-denial and suffering, and to perish on the cross. God looked down from heaven on His bleeding Son, and His heart of infinite love suffered with Him. Angels wept. Thus sin introduced tears into heaven. Reader, think you that God was so unwise as not to know, in permitting sin to exist, that it would separate His only-begotten Son from Him, and cause Him to pass through such intense suffering?—No; it was infinite wisdom and unmeasured love that permitted man to make his choice between good and evil in Eden, and then God freely gave His only Son to redeem him from the effects of the fearful choice which he had made. This blessed Saviour has risen from the dead, and He offers pardon to every penitent, guilty soul. He watches for a response to this offer with a more tender compassion than that which moves the heart of an earthly mother to forgive her wayward, suffering son. He cries after the wanderer, “Return unto Me, and I will return unto you.” Mal. 3:7. Tonga, Friendly Islands, S. Pacific Ocean.