CONVERSATION ON THE SABBATH QUESTION.
Believer. Well, Brother —, what do you think of the Sabbath question? Is your mind settled on the subject? Unbeliever. Yes, I have looked at it some, and am satisfied that we cannot keep the Sabbath as the Jews were required to observe it. The law required them to abide in their houses on the Sabbath. B. Are you sure that God required the Jewish nation for sixteen hundred years to remain stationary in their houses through the entire Sabbath of twenty-four hours? U. It certainly reads, "Abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." B. We will now examine this point, and state a few facts. 1. The scripture you have quoted is no part of the fourth commandment, which, alone, is the great Sabbath law, [Ex. xx, 8-11,] spoken by Jehovah with an audible voice, and written by his finger on tables of stone. 2. It was spoken in direct reference to the children of Israel going out to gather manna on the Sabbath, after they had been told that on the seventh day none would be found in the field. Ex. xvi, 23-29. And it is decidedly wrong to quote this by-law, given to the Israelites under such circumstances, as the great law of the Sabbath. 3. The law that came from God through Moses required them to go out of their houses on the Sabbath. (1.) They observed all the offerings on the Sabbath that they did on the other six days, also two lambs, with a meat-offering and a drink-offering. Num. xxviii, 9, 10. (2.) They had on the Sabbath a "holy convocation" or religious assembly. Lev. xxiii, 3. To do this, they certainly could not abide in their houses. Now, we ask, Did the law which God gave to the Jews, relative to ordinances, require them to break his holy Sabbath? U. Well, I think not. It would make God the veriest tyrant in the universe, to cause Sabbath-breakers to be stoned to death, and at the same time give the Jews a system of religion that compelled them to break the Sabbath. B. Look at another fact. After the children of Israel had passed over Jordan, they went round the city of Jericho with the Ark of God seven successive days. One of these days was the Sabbath of the Lord. We say, that the act of going round Jericho on the Sabbath with the Ark, was not a violation of the Sabbath law, contained in that Ark. U. You have removed this objection; but there are others. The Jews were not allowed to gather sticks to kindle a fire on the Sabbath. Now, it is not possible to keep it as they were required to. B. Here we will first say, that the great, universal Sabbath law says nothing about gathering sticks, or kindling fires. In Num. xv, 32-37 we have the account that "while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath-day." But we are not told whether these sticks were to kindle a fire or for fence. If for fence, then to gather them on the Sabbath was a plain violation of the fourth commandment. All will admit that the Israelites had no need of fires on the Sabbath. They were directed to cook on the sixth day the manna to be eaten on the seventh. To kindle a fire on the Sabbath to wash their clothes, or cook their manna, was doing on the Sabbath the work of one of the six laboring days. They were strong and healthy. "There was not one feeble person among their tribes." Ps. cv, 37. They were in a mild climate, their food was rained down from heaven, and their clothes were miraculously preserved. For them, under such circumstances, to kindle fires on the Sabbath was not an act of mercy and necessity; but an open violation of the great Sabbath law. U. The law of the Sabbath required that the Sabbath-breaker should be stoned to death. And the same penalty should now be inflicted if the law exists. Sabbath-breakers should be stoned to death. B. To help your mind on this point, we will state some important facts as follows: 1. The fourth commandment, which is the great Sabbath law, does not mention stoning the Sabbath-breaker. 2. Temporal death was also inflicted upon the Israelites if they transgressed others of the commandments of God beside the fourth. Read Lev. xxiv, 11-16. Here the son of the Israelitish woman "blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed," and the Lord said, "Let all the congregation stone him." He broke the third commandment. And you will see, by comparing Num. xv, 32-36, with Lev. xxiv, 11-16, that he had broke the fourth commandment, and he that broke the third, shared the same fate. Is the third commandment binding? U. Certainly, the commandment, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain," is binding, with all its force. B. Should the blasphemer be put to death? U. No, I think not. Though the third commandment is binding in this dispensation, the gospel does not inflict temporal death on the blasphemer. In the Jewish dispensation there was no atonement that could reach his case, therefore he was stoned to death, and removed from Israel. But under the gospel, the atoning blood of Christ can reach his case, and wash away the sin of blasphemy. So mercy now pleads for the transgressor of the third commandment, that he may be spared, that he may repent of the sin of blasphemy and live. B. Your view of the third commandment, under both Jewish and gospel dispensations, is certainly correct, and this is just the position we take on the fourth commandment. In this respect the ministration of God's law under the gospel, far excels [2 Cor. iii] the ministration of condemnation and death, under the Jewish economy. And we may now see why the Apostle calls the gospel covenant the "better covenant." Mercy pleads for the Sabbath-breaker, that he may be spared, that he may turn, find pardon and live. 3. The third fact we wish to state, dear brother, is that temporal death never was the full and final penalty for breaking the law of God. For if it was, then he who murdered, blasphemed, or broke the Sabbath, under the Jewish economy, only had to be stoned to death, to satisfy the law. And in the judgment, his sin cannot appear against him, for the law was fully satisfied when he suffered temporal death. But the penalty for transgressing God's law was, and still is, Eternal Death. "Sin is the transgression of the law," and "the wages [penalty] of sin is death." A few months since, when traveling some distance to an appointment of a meeting of two days, we were in the vicinity of the small pox when night overtook us. We were informed at the public house that there were several from the immediate vicinity of this dreadful disease, in the chamber attending court. We chose to drive on, and seek entertainment elsewhere. Soon a kind stranger took us in. After a few questions were asked and answered, our religious faith was made known to each other. And we were not a little gratified to find that we were entertained by an Advent believer who was also a reader of the Harbinger. Our friend immediately began to raise objections to the Sabbath. "Do you believe," said he, "that the Sabbath should be observed as the Jews were required to keep it?" We do, was our reply. "But you are aware that temporal death is the penalty of Sabbath-breaking. Now, why don't you go the whole figure. And as you teach that the Sabbath law is binding, have the Sabbath-breaker stoned to death." We answered by asking questions as follows: Do you not believe that we should observe nine of the commandments as the Jews were required to keep them? "I do," was the reply. But you are aware that temporal death was inflicted upon those who violated others of the commandments beside the fourth. Now, dear sir, "why don't you," as you say, "go the whole figure," and as you teach that the third commandment is binding, have the blasphemer stoned to death?!! Our friend had nothing further to offer on this point. U. Well, I see that the doing away of the stoning system, does not affect the fourth commandment any more than it does the other nine. But does not Deut. v, 2, 3, show that the Sabbath was made for the Jews alone? "The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day." If the covenant mentioned here is the ten commandments, then the Sabbath was not made for the fathers, but only for the Jews. B. Let us see if your view of this text does not prove too much for you. Admitting that the ten commandments are this "covenant," and that the duty to keep the Sabbath was not binding on the fathers, does it not prove that the duties enforced by the other nine commandments also were not binding on the fathers? Abraham, then, could disregard the seventh day, because the covenant was not made with the fathers, and Isaac and Jacob could have other gods, bow down to graven images, take the name of the Lord in vain, their children could dishonor them, they might kill, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness and covet, for the same reason, that the covenant was not made with the fathers!!! You see that Deut. v, 2, 3 will answer the same purpose to prove that the moral duties enforced by the nine commandments were binding on none but the Jews, that it does to prove that the Sabbath was made for the Jews only. U. I see that this proves too much; for God says of Abraham, he "kept my charge, my commandments and my laws." Gen. xxvi, 5. B. Thirty days before the children of Israel saw Mount Sinai, where the covenant was made, Jehovah gave the following rebuke: "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath." This shows that God's commandments and laws, embracing the Sabbath, existed before the covenant was made in Horeb, and that Deut. v, 2, 3, proves nothing against the Sabbath. The covenant referred to was the mutual agreement between the children of Israel and the Lord, [Ex. xix,] the ten commandments [Ex. xx] being the moral conditions of the covenant. God first created all things in six days, second, rested on the seventh day, and third, "blessed the seventh day and sanctified it." It was by this third act that he made the Sabbath for man, for the man, Mark ii, 27, Adam, and all his posterity. This view is confirmed by the fact that the fourth commandment points back to Eden for the institution of the Sabbath. U. But, if the Sabbath was instituted at Creation, why is the Bible silent relative to it until the children of Israel leave Egypt? B. The entire record of about twenty-five hundred years from the Creation is contained in the first fifty-two chapters of the Bible. Only the most important events from the Creation to the deliverance from Egypt are noticed, therefore it is no marvel that we do not find the word Sabbath. But what seems really remarkable is, that at a later period, even when the Sabbath-breaker was stoned to death, we do not find the word Sabbath in the Divine Record for about four hundred years. U. But the real question after all is, Can the commandment to "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy," be found in the New Testament? If it can, I will keep it. B. You are mistaken, dear brother, as to what the real question is. It is not, Has God given the fourth commandment a second time, and placed it in the New Testament? But, the real question is, Does the New Testament abrogate and remove the Sabbath law? It is your duty to obey the fourth commandment, unless you can produce positive testimony from the New Testament that it has been abolished. U. I think there are strong grounds to infer from Rom. xiv, and Col. ii, that the Sabbath is abolished. B. What! Brother, dare you rely on inferences to sustain you in trampling on one of Jehovah's commandments? This is your real position, which is indeed a fearful one. Rom. xiv does not mention the Sabbath. But you infer that the expression "every day alike," in verse 5, embraces the seventh-day Sabbath. So we might infer from the phrase "him that eateth not," in verse 3, that a portion of the Christian Church in Paul's day lived without eating. Or from the phrase, "gather a certain rate every day," [Ex. xvi, 4,] that God commanded the Israelites to gather manna on the Sabbath, when there was none rained from heaven on that day. The Apostle's subject relates to the Jewish notions of eating, which troubled Gentile believers. And how perfectly natural that Paul is speaking107of feast days. And how very unnatural the inference that in his remarks he is mixing "meat," "drink," "herbs" and seventh-day Sabbath all together. Col. ii speaks of sabbath-days, or sabbaths. Lev. xxiii shows four Jewish sabbaths, to be celebrated at their appointed times, "Besides the Sabbaths of the Lord." See verses 27, 38.—Here the distinction between the two kinds of sabbaths is seen. Paul, in Col. ii, refers to those sabbaths which are classed with "meat," "drink," "new moon" &c, and not to the Sabbath which the Law-giver has wisely associated with nine moral precepts. Dear Brother, you have no grounds for a reasonable inference that the Sabbath is abolished; yet you dare desecrate it every week, because God has not given, in the New Testament, a second edition of the fourth commandment!! The law enforcing the Sabbath is perfectly plain. Has God removed the Sabbath, and left it to Paul to bear testimony on the point? If he has, and Paul has done his duty, you will find in some of his epistles, as plain and positive testimony that the Sabbath is abolished, as that employed in the fourth commandment enforcing it. When those who teach no-Sabbath will produce such testimony, that the first edition of the fourth commandment is abolished, then they may with propriety, ask us to renounce the Sabbath or show them a second, from the New Testament. And until they can present something better than groundless inferences that the first has been abolished, we would advise them to cease to insult the Great Law-giver by calling for a second edition of the fourth commandment. We observe the Sabbath of the Bible. You say that God has taken his Sabbath away. We call on you to prove it.—And no testimony should be allowed as proof on this point, unless it is as direct as that employed to enforce the Sabbath in the fourth commandment. The real question, then, is, Has God abrogated the fourth commandment? Those who affirm that he has, are called upon to produce direct testimony on the point. If they cannot, then let them cease to sin against God, and grieve his people, by breaking the commandments, and teaching "men so," because the fourth commandment is not given a second time in the New Testament. U. But why are nine of the commandments repeated and enforced in the gospel, and the fourth omitted, if all ten are binding? B. You are deceived in this matter. In the Harbinger for Nov. 6, is the following from the pen of J. B. Cook: "All the ten commandments are expressed, expanded and enforced in the gospel, save the fourth. The 1st, Matt. xii, 29; 2d, Matt. iv, 10; 3d, Matt. v, 33; vi, 10; 5th, Matt. xv, 4; 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th, Matt. xix, 18; 10th, Luke xii, 15." Now to show you "the slight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive" you, we will quote Mark xii, 29-31, to which J. B. C. refers as the first of the ten commandments, "expressed, expanded and enforced." "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, The Lord thy God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Now compare these two commandments with the first two of the ten, and the deception in trying to make out a case will be manifest. It is very true that Jesus expresses the first commandment; but it is the first of the two great commandments, and not the first of the ten, as represented by J. B. C. Let us look at Matt. iv, 10, which is said to be the second commandment, "expressed, expanded and enforced." In the first place, it is neither the second of the two, nor of the ten; but what Christ said to Satan!! "Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, [not in the Decalogue, however,] Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." So much for the first and second commandments. Now if it could be shown that all ten of the commandments were quoted in the gospel, excepting the fourth, would that be proof that the Sabbath was abolished? You would not dare to blaspheme God's name, or steal, if it could be proved that the third and eighth commandments were not named in the New Testament. The fact that the commandments of God are, as a whole, enforced in the New Testament, and made a test of Christian fellowship, and eternal salvation, will be sufficient, in the Judgment, to condemn those who dare break the fourth. But we will see what reference is made to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment in the New Testament, even after the "hand-writing of ordinances was nailed to the cross." "And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath-day according to the commandment," Luke xxiii, 56. Looking forward as far as the destruction of Jerusalem, at least, Christ says: "But pray ye that your flight be not in the Winter, neither on the Sabbath-day." Matt. xxiv, 20. At Corinth, Paul "reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath" for "a year and six months," seventy-eight Sabbaths in succession. Acts xviii, 4, 11. U. This was because the Apostle could get access to the Jews assembled on that day. B. You are not certain that this was his only reason for preaching on that day. How very singular that the Apostle to the Gentiles should spend seventy-eight Sabbaths under such circumstances, and to record that he held a meeting on any other day, for the space of one year and a half. At Philippi, Paul, and those with him, went out of the city on the Sabbath, by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made, (no Jews' synagogue there,) and spake to those who resorted thither. Acts xvi, 13. At Antioch the Gentiles besought Paul to preach to them the next Sabbath. And when the next Sabbath came, almost the whole city came out to hear the Apostle. Acts xiii, 42, 44. It is evident that if J. B. C. could have referred to as much testimony from the New Testament for the first and second commandments, as we have presented for the Sabbath of the fourth, he would not have been driven to take the first of the two great commandments for the first of the ten, and for the second of the ten, the words of Christ to Satan. U. Christ is our example. He broke the Sabbath in healing the sick on that day. He also excused his disciples in departing from the letter of the law, in plucking the ears of corn and eating it on the Sabbath. B. "I have kept my Father's commandments," said the Son of God. John xv, 10. His word is truth; though you virtually charge him with uttering an untruth, in saying that he broke his Father's fourth commandment. If the Sabbath has been abolished, as you think, at what point of time did the event take place? U. At the crucifixion of Christ, when the hand-writing of ordinances was nailed to the cross. B. Then you must admit that the Sabbath law was in force up to the crucifixion. U. Certainly, it was binding up to that time. This would be necessary, in order for it then to be abolished. B. Well, then, if Christ broke the Sabbath law he was a transgressor, a sinner: "for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John iii, 4, 5. But, as John says, "in him was no sin," he did not transgress the law. He did keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. The Pharisees charged the disciples with Sabbath-breaking, when they plucked the ears of corn, and ate to satisfy hunger, as they, with their Master, were on their way to the synagogue. But did Jesus say that his disciples had a right to break the Sabbath? Far from it. He referred to what David did when he was hungry, also to the word of the priests, on the Sabbath, who were "blameless;" and then declared his disciples "guiltless." David and the priests were "blameless" on no other ground than this; what they did was no violation of the law. The disciples were "guiltless" on the same ground. The Bible nowhere forbids eating on the Sabbath when hungry. When Jesus was asked, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath-days," he replied: "What man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath-day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath-days." Matt. xii, 11, 12. The word lawful, signifies "agreeable to law; conformable to law."-[Webster.] When used by our Saviour in Matt. xii, and Luke xiv, it signifies conformable to the Sabbath law.—Jesus did not give them a new Sabbath law. But he exposed the hypocrisy of those who falsely charged him with Sabbath-breaking, and declared that well-doing, that is, healing the sick, relieving dumb beasts in distress, or eating when hungry, was "lawful." The blind Pharisees, who rejected the First Advent to their own damnation, declared that those merciful acts which Christ performed on the Sabbath were "not lawful." Christ, on the other hand, pronounced such well-doing "lawful." Those who teach that Jesus departed from the letter of the Sabbath law, are on the side of the Pharisees, and their sin is worse, inasmuch as their blasphemous charge is against greater light. Christians should be on the side of Christ. Amen. It is also said that the "impotent man," to whom Christ said, "Rise, take up thy bed and walk," broke the Sabbath. This is but a repetition of the false charge made by the Jews, who were ever watching for a chance to accuse him. We reject their testimony, and choose to believe Christ. The healed impotent man walking with his bed was not for any selfish end, but for the glory of God. Such acts are not prohibited by the fourth commandment. Two of the prophets speak against bearing burdens on the Sabbath: but when their testimony is examined it will be seen that they refer to burdens of merchandise, such as "sheaves," "wine, grapes and figs." See Jer. xvii, 19-25; Neh. xiii, 15. U. But do you think that the fourth commandment does not forbid acts of mercy on the Sabbath? B. Certainly, it does not. "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work." That is, work necessary for a livelihood.—The great God has appointed six days for this object. The seventh is also appointed for man to cease from the toil of six days, and especially engage in the service of his Creator. The law that came by Moses, which required the priests to offer more sacrifices on the Sabbath than on either of the other six days, did not require the priests to violate that law uttered by Jehovah, and engraven in the tables of the covenant. Therefore the labor of the priests in presenting offerings before the Lord on the Sabbath, was not the labor prohibited by the fourth commandment, called "thy work." Again, male children born on the Sabbath were, according to the law of Moses, circumcised the following Sabbath, "the eighth day." See Lev. xii, 1-3; Luke i, 59. No reasonable person, with any knowledge of the Bible, will say that this was a violation of the Sabbath law. This view of the subject shows clearly the true import of the words "labor" and "thy work" in the fourth commandment. Six days are allotted us to attend to that work necessary to this life; but on the seventh we should rest from the toil of the six days, and engage in the service of God. Jesus and his disciples kept the Sabbath according to the commandment, otherwise they were sinners, for "sin is the transgression of the law." The Lord of the Sabbath, by precept and example, stripped from the institution the traditions which the blind Jew had thrown around it, and left the Sabbath standing on its own immutable base, the fourth commandment. When accused of Sabbath-breaking, his manner of defense was, to show that his acts were lawful—in accordance with the Sabbath law. U. But the Apostle plainly declared, [2 Cor. iii,] that the ten commandments, which were engraven in stones, were abolished? B. You have been too hasty in this assertion. The Apostle is certainly speaking of two distinct ministrations. He is contrasting the ministration of the law of God under Moses, (which was a ministration of condemnation and death,) with the ministration of the same law under the gospel, (which is the ministration of the Spirit.) It is the ministration of death that is done away, to give place to the more glorious ministration of God's law, called the ministration of the Spirit.—For a clear and full exposition of this subject, we must refer you to a work recently published by us, entitled, "A Review of the Remarks of O. R. L. Crozier, on the Institution, Design and Abolition of the Sabbath," By J. N. Andrews.—Pages 26-30. But why should all ten of the commandments be slain at the cross, even if it was necessary to abolish the fourth?—All agree that nine are good, yes, indispensable, for the gospel dispensation. Was it an oversight in the Law-giver, in placing the Sabbath in the midst of nine moral precepts?—And did he have to slay the whole ten in order to get rid of the Sabbath? But if all ten were abolished at the cross, how is it that the nine are still binding? U. Why, nine of them, all excepting the Sabbath law, were re-enacted. B. We do not see the necessity, or the propriety of God abolishing his law, and then having nine-tenths of it re-enacted. But when, and by whom was it re-enacted? U. Jehovah said of Jesus, "This is my beloved Son, hear him." Jesus re-enacted nine of the commandments for the gospel, during his ministry. B. But when did he abolish the ten? U. He nailed them all to the cross. B. But stop, Brother, here is a grand difficulty; you have nine of the commandments re-enacted before the ten were abolished!!! What will you do with this? U. Well, I see that I have been too fast. It must have been the apostles that re-enacted the nine. B. Are you not loth to admit that Christ abolished his Father's law that was spoken to Israel under circumstances of awful grandeur, and engraven in stone, and then left the apostles, men "subject to like passions as we are," to re-enact a certain portion of it? This does not look like the work of Him who has said, "I am the Lord, I change not." But admitting that the apostles did re-enact nine of the commandments, when did they do it? U. It must have been during the last three and a half years of the seventy weeks, in which they completed the work of confirming the covenant. B. Then there was three and a half years, or at least, a space of time, between the abolition of the ten commandments, and the re-enactment of the nine. A space when there was no law, consequently, no transgression, and men might blaspheme, murder, &c., and not commit sin!!! U. No, I see it will not do to have a space of time when there was no law binding; therefore, the nine commandments must have been re-enacted at the time the ten were abolished. B. Then we shall understand you, that Heaven aimed a blow that killed all ten of the commandments, and the same blow, at the same moment, brought nine of them to life again!! And all this to get rid of the Sabbath which Christ says was made for man. We will now illustrate your position by a simple figure.—Let your ten fingers and thumbs represent the ten commandments. Your fore finger on your right hand represents the Sabbath law. This finger has served you well, but now it is diseased, and past cure, and in your way while attempting to108labor. It is against you, contrary to you, and you decide to call a Surgeon and have it cut off and taken out of the way. The Surgeon comes and pronounces the finger past cure. He also tells you, that in all your future life, nine will be sufficient. You are then told to lay both of your hands upon a board prepared on the table while the Surgeon cuts off all ten of your fingers and thumbs. He then lays aside the diseased finger, and sets himself at work, joining on the other nine for your benefit in future life. Oh! What a foolish Surgeon! And with what folly does your no-Sabbath system (that all ten of the commandments had to be slain and nine re-enacted again) charge the Omniscient God!! How much better to obey the Son, of whom Jehovah said, "Hear Him." He says, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily, I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. v, 17, 18. John Wesley, in his sermons on this text, remarks as follows: " 'One jot or tittle shall in no wise pass, till heaven and earth pass;' or as it is expressed immediately after, EOS AN PANTA GENETAI, till all (or rather all things) be fulfilled, till the consummation of all things. Here is therefore no room for that poor evasion (with which some have delighted themselves greatly) that 'no part of the law was to pass away, till all the law was fulfilled;' but it has been fulfilled by Christ; and therefore now must pass, for the gospel to be established.' Not so; the word all does not mean all the law, but all things in the universe; as neither has the term fulfilled, any reference to the law, but to all things in heaven and earth." Again, let us "hear Him:" "And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Rev. xxii, 12-14. The Son of God is the speaker. He does not say, blessed are they that do my commandments; neither does he say, blessed are they that do nine of the commandments, re-enacted and "expanded" for the gospel; but the promised blessing is for those who do his [the Father's ten] commandments. Dear Brother, do not neglect to give this question a careful investigation. And as your objections are fairly and fully removed, your only safe course will be to frankly acknowledge that they are gone. In so doing, you may expect that the light of truth will break into your mind. May God bless you, may the Spirit of truth guide you, and may you, with the commandment-keepers, when the Lord comes to "give every man as his work shall be," enter in through the gates into the Holy City, and have right to the Tree of Life. Amen.