p. 12 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 1, No. 2. (6/11/1874)

A Sign of the Times.

By Merritt E. Cornell

In the religious prints we see a general complaint of coldness and destitution of the Spirit and Revival influence. But if we look at the sure word of prophecy, we find it was to be so in the last days. Jesus, in his list of signs of the end of the world, says: “And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold.” Matt. xxiv : 12.

And the Apostle Paul in his nineteen characteristics of the last days, gives the following: “Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” 2 Tim. 3: 4, 5.

With these striking predictions we have only to look around to behold one of the most striking fulfillments of prophecy ever known. Indeed it is so evident that few will deny the facts, as applied to the popular religionists of the present day. Dr. Stone of San Francisco, who is called the Beecher of the Pacific coast, as reported in the New York Observer, says: “The newspaper is more feared to-day in Congressional halls and the high places of corruption and villainy, than the laws and courts, the sting of conscience and Divine wrath.” This is only another form of saying that exposure is what men dread more than the moral consequences of their crimes. The evidences are too patent to be questioned that not only public men, but multitudes of others, have no fear of God or of eternal perdition before their eyes. The moral sense seems to be sadly wanting in the public mind, and the dread sanctions of religion to be less and less powerful to restrain men. Our hope for the reformation of society, and even for the preservation of the good that remains, is in the gospel and in the Spirit of God. We need a revival of pure and undefiled religion, throughout our land and throughout the world. ‘Thy kingdom come,’ must be the earnest prayer of all who look or hope for the betterment of society.”

The religious lotteries and gambling so generally persisted in by most of the fashionable churches, after it has been condemned by Governors of States and many others in high standing, is unmistakable proof that they are indeed, “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” Every worldly device to attract the crowds and obtain money is resorted to, so all kinds of schemes and theatricals are planned, and it seems they are regarded as a grand success. The following, clipped from the San Francisco Daily Call, is a specimen:

PRESBYTERIAN FESTIVAL.

“The large Music Hall was crowded full last evening by our citizens, to witness the peculiar programme offered by the managers of the festival. The singing by the ladies and gentlemen was very fine, and the music by the San Jose Silver Band of a high order. The farce was one of the most comical affairs that has ever been attempted in San Jose. The text was the Mother Goose rhymes, each verse being represented by some of the ladies or gentlemen, with appropriate and picturesque costumes. In the character of the “Old Woman that Lived in the Shoe,” there was a little shaver dressed to resemble the “white-hat philosopher,” with a copy of the Tribune under his arm, and his letter of acceptance in his hand. This character was received with great applause, as the personation was good.”

Prof. Finney, of Oberlin College, testifies as follows.

“Spiritual apathy is almost all-pervading and is fearfully deep; so the religious press of the whole land testifies. It comes to our ears and our eyes, also through the religious prints, that extensively church members are becoming devotees of fashion—join hands with the ungodly in parties of pleasure, in dancing, in festivals, etc. But we need not expand this painful subject. Suffice it that the evidence thickens and rolls heavily upon us to show that the churches are becoming sadly degenerated. They have gone very far from the Lord and he has withdrawn himself from them.”

And this is only a specimen of many that might be cited from men in high standing; but the fact is so patent to all that we need not give more evidence. Too well do we all know there has been a moral fall, and that pride, fashion, love of money, and pleasure are the rule and not the exception in most of the churches of the day. What shall we say then? Are we not in the perils of the last days? And is not the end near? Is it not time to wake out of sleep and discern the signs of the times?

Let all take warning and watch and prepare and be ready, for in such an hour as men think not of it the Son of man cometh. There is too much at stake to be indifferent. Eternal life is to be gained or lost, and a short probation now will decide the question with us forever. To be ready we must take heed of the warnings given of the dangers and duties of the present time. The prophecies and signs are fulfilled before our eyes, and the warning is given that all may be without excuse. The sword is coming. Be wise and escape. M. E. CORNELL.

Lo, Here! Lo, There!

How forcible then, are the words of Christ when applied to the subject before us: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.” Matt. 24: 23. No one need fail to see who the men are that are crying, “Lo, here is Christ, and, Lo, he is there.” The Lord continues in verses 25, 26: “Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth; behold, he is in the secret chamber; believe it not.” Our Lord is here dwelling upon what he had just before told them. His subject is still the teachings of those who cry, “Lo, here is Christ!” “Lo, he is there!” If the Mormons say, “Behold, he is in the desert,” the injunction of our Lord is, “Go not forth.” Or, if you hear proclaimed from the popular pulpits of our time, “Behold, he is in the secret chambers,” Christ’s second coming is spiritual, at death, or at conversion, “believe it not.”

And why not receive such mystical teachings? The reason is given in the next verse: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Our Lord has not only pointed out false prophets, and warned us against their mystical teachings, but he has in contrast set before us the manner of his second coming in the plainest terms. The vivid lightning, flashing out of the distant east, and shining even to the west, lights up the whole heavens. This, probably, is the most appropriate figure that our Lord could employ to illustrate the flaming glory that will attend his second advent, when he shall come attended by all the holy angels.

The presence of only one holy angel at the new sepulchre where Christ lay in death caused the Roman guard to shake, and become as dead men. The light and glory of a single angel completely overpowered those strong sentinels. The Son of man is coming in his kingly glory, and in the glory of his Father, attended by all the holy angels. All the holy angels are coming with the Lord. Not one will be left in Heaven. The number of the angels round about the throne, as the bodyguard of the Son of God, are “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.” See Rev. 5: 11. And Paul speaks of the heavenly messengers as “an innumerable company of angels.” Heb. 12: 22. What grandeur! what dazzling brightness! when the King of kings shall come down the lighted vault of heaven, attended by all the angels of the heavenly world! Then the whole heavens will blaze with glory, and the whole earth will tremble before him.

Redemption.

The primary signification of the word redeem is “to purchase back.” Theologically, redemption means the restitution of that which was lost in the ruin of the fall. When all was lost in Adam, a complete redemption was proposed through Jesus Christ. And that we may better understand the nature, and the extent of redemption through Christ, we shall do well to first consider what was lost in Adam.

1. Innocence, and purity of character were lost in the transgression of the representatives of the race, and their offspring became the lawful prey of the author of sin. Their lost condition is expressed by the apostle in these words: “I am carnal, sold under sin.” Rom. 7:14.

2. Our first parents lost their hold on immortal life, for which they were put on probation. In obedience they would soon have developed a righteous character, been placed beyond the reach of sin, and would have secured endless life in favor with God. In disobedience they and their offspring passed under the sentence and dominion of death. “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Gen. 3:19. “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12. Death, and to return to dust, are the rule with the fallen race, while translation to Heaven, without passing under the dominion of death and the grave, as in the cases of Enoch, Elijah, and those who shall stand complete in the will of God, and be alive at the second coming of the Son of Man, are exceptions.

3. In the disgrace of the fall, the race lost position in the eyes of all the holy intelligences in the universe as the exalted sons and daughters of the Almighty, and are without power in themselves to regain it. The Eden home of our first parents was lost, the earth is groaning under the curse, and Satan holds life possession of it.

But Heaven’s great plan of redemption is as broad and as complete as the ruin of the fall has been. It proposes to redeem man from sin, from the grave to immortal life at the resurrection of the just, and from the disgrace of the fall, and place the redeemed, in the future life, on higher ground, in some respects, than that of Adam and Eve in holy Eden.

1. The plan of redemption proposes to save men from the condemnation and practice of sin in this life. The announcement of the angel to Joseph respecting the infant Redeemer was that he should “call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21. And Paul, writing to the church at Colosse respecting Christ, says: “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Col. 1:14. The first stage, then, in redemption is freedom from sin. And the accomplishment of this deliverance demands action on the part of the sinner, as verily as on the part of the Redeemer.

The great rule of moral action is the moral code. In just so many words Paul says: “I had not known sin but by the law.” Rom. 7:7. And the beloved disciple says, “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. And the apostle James speaks of the moral code as God’s great mirror into which the sinner may look and see the stains of sin upon his soul. Chap. 2:22–25. It is evident then, that before the sinner can be redeemed from sin he must have a knowledge of the extent and the sinfulness of his sins by the moral code.

The Author of this code demands repentance on the part of every transgressor, and obedience to all its holy precepts. But even this, however pungent the repentance for past transgressions, and however earnest the effort to render perfect obedience, cannot remove a single stain from the sinner without faith in the cleansing blood of the Redeemer. True repentance, which includes a knowledge of, a sorrow for, and turning from our sins, is but the first act on the part of the sinner to prepare the way for his redemption from the condemnation and the power of sin. He is then only in a condition of mind and heart to come to the great Redeemer in faith, and fall into his arms, all sinful, unworthy, and helpless.

It is here that the repenting sinner finds pardon, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, as he shows his faith in the death, burial and resurrection of the Redeemer, in being buried with him in baptism, and in seeking for that fulness of grace that there is in Christ. His life is now in joyous harmony with the exhortation of the apostle: “And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” Rom. 12:2.

And as he travels on in the Christian life, and reaches out by faith for complete deliverance from the power of Satan and redemption from the dominion of sin, he reads in the following burning words of Paul the triumphs of his own experience. “That ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.

“Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”

2. The plan of redemption in its second stage proposes to redeem the just from the grave and the dominion of death. Says Christ: “The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.” John 5:28, 29. And in Paul’s confession of faith before Felix he declared the “resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” Acts 24:15. See also 1 Cor. 15:51, 55; 1 Thess. 4:13, 18.

The moral fitness for the next life must be obtained in this. The change to immortality is not a moral change. It is simply an exchange of the corruptible body for one that will be incorruptible. This second stage in the Redeemer’s stupendous achievement of the work of man’s redemption is expressed by the apostle thus: “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” And the Redeemer will not complete his work of redemption in a manner to leave man invisible and immaterial. When redeemed, the just will stand in all the tangible perfection of Adam’s unfallen manhood, with the exceeding glory that their bodies will be fashioned like unto Christ’s glorious, resurrected body.

3. The redemption of the just from the disgrace of transgression and the fall, completes the work of the Redeemer, and places the redeemed on higher and safer ground than that on which Adam stood. And in the estimation of Jehovah, Jesus, angels, and all created intelligences in the universe, they will be regarded the same as if our first parents had not disgraced themselves and their children, in recklessly yielding to the power of appetite. The Redeemer has borne their sins and shame, and has accepted the punishment due to them, in his own sinless person. Man’s failure to form a righteous character was complete. Jesus took man’s place, stood the test, and his success in working out a righteous character in man’s behalf, is as complete as was Adam’s failure. And by a life of self-denial, self-control, and following by faith their triumphant Head, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to the just, and the redeemed lose all their shame and disgrace in their Redeemer. The redeemed will then stand complete, not only in the purity of their own robes of character, which they had washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, but they will shine with a brighter luster from the divine righteousness and eternal glory imputed to them from their adorable Redeemer.

Leadership.

Last week, we gave proof from the New Testament that Christ was the leader of his people. We also showed the relation which true ministers sustain to their Head, to one another, and to the church. The position taken was that, as Christ's ambassador, speaking in Christ's stead, the true minister must surrender his will and judgment to Christ, and that he cannot, consistently with his high position and holy calling, yield these to any other but Christ. “One is your Master even Christ, and all ye are brethren,” is a declaration too plain to be misunderstood.

But the subject must not be left here, with the truth partly expressed. The words of Christ and his apostles relative to unity and the ordained means to secure it, and proper discipline must have a qualifying bearing upon the subject, lest unsanctified men, who neither submit their will and judgment to Christ, or to church authority, assume the gospel ministry, and divide and scatter the flock of God.

The remedy, however, for this deplorable evil is found in the proper use of the simple organization, and church order set forth in the New Testament Scriptures, and in the means God has ordained for the unity and perfection of the church. That God has appointed officers, and also other means for the good order, purity, and unity of the church is abundantly proved by such texts as 1 Cor. 12:28—30; Eph. 4:11—13. And no man can show proof that these have been removed from the church by the authority that placed them there, or give any good reasons why they should be removed.

But here we wish it distinctly understood that officers were not ordained in the Christian church to order, or to command the church, and “to lord it over God's heritage.” In the case of difference of opinion that arose in some of the primitive churches relative to circumcision and the keeping of the law of Moses, recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Acts, the apostles and elders at Jerusalem acted as counselors, in a manner to give room for the Holy Ghost to act as Judge. The report of that blessed meeting at Jerusalem to settle a festering difficulty, commences on this wise: “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.” And the brethren which were from among the Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria and Celicia, “rejoiced for the consolation.” Differences settled in this way frequently seem more than settled, and generally remain settled; while those disposed of by the exercise of mere church authority are seldom really settled at all.

But when we say that the ambassador for Christ cannot yield his judgment to any but Christ, we do not mean that a young minister, or any one whose ministry has been marked with serious imperfections, and even grave mistakes, should exalt his opinion above his brethren, and turn away his ear from their entreaties and admonitions, under the plea that Christ is his leader. And, on the other hand, the minister who submits his ministry to a superior, the bishop, the president, or one in authority in the church, to be sent out and directed in his ministry, cannot in the fullest sense, be Christ's ambassador. Again we repeat the golden text: “One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.”

Between the two extremes we find the grand secret of unity and efficiency in the ministry and in the church of God. Our attention is called to this in a most solemn appeal from the venerable apostle Peter to the elders of his time. “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”

“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you, be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” 1 Pet. 5:1—6.

In painful contrast with the foregoing are those ecclesiastical conferences and assemblies of our time, where ministers distinguish themselves by a spirit of strife and debate, and in the use of language which would be regarded as ungentlemanly, not to say unchristian, in all other respectable associations.

We affirm that there is not a single apology in all the book of God for disharmony of sentiment or spirit in the church of God. The means are ample to secure the high standard of unity expressed in these words of Paul: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no division among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” 1 Cor. 1:10.

(Continued.)

The Temptation of Christ.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

CHRIST was not in as favorable a position in the desolate wilderness to endure the temptations of Satan as was Adam when he was tempted in Eden. The Son of God humbled himself and took man's nature after the race had wandered four thousand years from Eden, and from their original state of purity and uprightness. Sin had been making its terrible marks upon the race for ages; and physical, mental, and moral degeneracy prevailed throughout the human family.

When Adam was assailed by the tempter in Eden he was without the taint of sin. He stood in the strength of his perfection before God. All the organs and faculties of his being were equally developed, and harmoniously balanced.

Christ, in the wilderness of temptation, stood in Adam's place to bear the test he failed to endure. Here Christ overcame in the sinner's behalf, four thousand years after Adam turned his back upon the light of his home. Separated from the presence of God, the human family had been departing every successive generation, farther from the original purity, wisdom, and knowledge which Adam possessed in Eden. Christ bore the sins and infirmities of the race as they existed when he came to the earth to help man. In behalf of the race, with the weaknesses of fallen man upon him, he was to stand the temptations of Satan upon all points wherewith man would be assailed.

Adam was surrounded with everything his heart could wish. Every want was supplied. There was no sin, and no signs of decay in glorious Eden. Angels of God conversed freely and lovingly with the holy pair. The happy songsters carolled forth their free, joyous songs of praise to their Creator. The peaceful beasts in happy innocence played about Adam and Eve, obedient to their word. Adam was in the perfection of manhood, the noblest of the Creator's work. He was in the image of God, but a little lower than the angels.

In what contrast is the second Adam as he entered the gloomy wilderness to cope with Satan single handed. Since the fall the race had been decreasing in size and physical strength, and sinking lower in the scale of moral worth, up to the period of Christ's advent

to the earth. And in order to elevate fallen man, Christ must reach him where he was. He took human nature, and bore the infirmities and degeneracy of the race. He, who knew no sin, became sin for us. He humiliated himself to the lowest depths of human woe, that he might be qualified to reach man, and bring him up from the degradation in which sin had plunged him.

"For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."

"And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him."

"Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted."

"For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."

Satan had been at war with the government of God, since he first rebelled. His success in tempting Adam and Eve in Eden, and introducing sin into the world, had emboldened this arch foe, and he had proudly boasted to the heavenly angels, that when Christ should appear, taking man's nature, he would be weaker than himself, and he would overcome him by his power. He exulted that Adam and Eve in Eden could not resist his insinuations when he appealed to their appetite. The inhabitants of the old world he overcame in the same manner, through the indulgence of lustful appetite and corrupt passions. Through the gratification of appetite he had overthrown the Israelites. He boasted that the Son of God himself who was with Moses and Joshua was not able to resist his power, and lead the favored people of his choice to Canaan; for nearly all who left Egypt died in the wilderness. Also the meek man, Moses, he had tempted to take to himself glory which God claimed. David and Solomon, who had been especially favored of God, he had induced, through the indulgence of appetite, and passion, to incur God's displeasure. And he boasted that he could yet succeed in thwarting the purpose of God in the salvation of man through Jesus Christ.

In the wilderness of temptation Christ was without food forty days. Moses had, on especial occasions, been thus long without food. But he felt not the pangs of hunger. He was not tempted and harassed by a vile and powerful foe, as was the Son of God. He was elevated above the human. He was especially sustained by the glory of God which enshrouded him.

Satan had succeeded so well in deceiving the angels of God, and in the fall of noble Adam, that he thought that in Christ's humiliation he should be successful in overcoming him. He looked with pleased exultation, upon the result of his temptations, and the increase of sin in the continued transgression of God's law for more than four thousand years. He had worked the ruin of our first parents, and brought sin and death into the world, and had led to ruin multitudes of all ages, countries and classes. He had, by his power, controlled cities and nations until their sin provoked the wrath of God to destroy them by fire, water, earthquakes, sword, famine and pestilence. By his subtilty and untiring efforts he had controlled the appetite and excited and strengthened the passions, to so fearful a degree, that he had defaced, and almost obliterated the image of God in man. His physical and moral dignity were in so great a degree destroyed, that he bore but a faint resemblance in character, and noble perfection of form, to dignified Adam in Eden.

At the first advent of Christ, Satan had brought man down from his original, exalted purity, and had dimmed the fine gold with sin. He had transformed the man, created to be a sovereign in Eden, to a slave in the earth, groaning under the curse of sin. The halo of glory, which God had given holy Adam, covering him as a garment, departed from him after his transgression. The light of God's glory could not cover disobedience and sin. In the place of health and plenitude of blessings, poverty, sickness and suffering of every type were to be the portion of the children of Adam.

Satan had, through his seductive power, led men to vain philosophy to question and finally to disbelieve in divine revelation and the existence of God. He could look abroad upon a world of moral wretchedness, and a race exposed to the wrath of a sin-avenging God with fiendish triumph, that he had been as successful in darkening the pathway of so many, and had led them to transgress the law of God. He clothed sin with pleasing attractions to secure the ruin of many.

But his most successful scheme in deceiving man, has been to conceal his real purposes, and his true character, by representing himself as man's friend, and a benefactor of the race. He flatters men with the pleasing fable that there is no rebellious foe, no deadly enemy that they need to guard against, and that the existence of a personal Devil is all a fiction. While he thus hides his existence, he is gathering thousands under his control. He is deceiving them, as he tried to deceive Christ, that he is an angel from Heaven, doing a good work for humanity. And the masses are so blinded by sin that they cannot discern the devices of Satan, and they honor him as they would a heavenly angel, while he is working their eternal ruin.

(Continued.)

Which? What? Why!

By Dudley Marvin Canright

THE PROTESTANT ARGUMENT AGAINST THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT, COMPARED WITH THE CATHOLIC ARGUMENT AGAINST THE SECOND COMMANDMENT.

It is a well known fact that Roman Catholics the world over, do make images and likenesses of God, of Christ, and of the saints; that they put these in all their places of devotion, and that they do bow down before them, make prayers to them, and regard them with great veneration. To us Protestants it seems astonishing that they can do this with the Bible before them, which they profess to believe. Does not the Bible every where condemn images and image worship? Does not the second commandment of the decalogue especially prohibit these?

How, then, do the Catholics get over this? Very easily indeed. This is their answer: The second commandment was an old Jewish law which belonged only to that age of bondage. It was abolished on the cross, and hence is not binding upon Christians! The liberty of the gospel now allows us to use images, provided we do not do it superstitiously! Those who go back to the old law and condemn this pious custom are Judaizers and have denied Christ, and they ought to be circumcised and offer sacrifices! Mr. Bower, in his “History of the Popes,” vol. 2, pp. 157-8, thus states the Catholic argument on this point. Of the council held at Nice, in A. D., 787, the historian says:

“They closed the session with a peal of anathemas against all in general who did not salute, honor, worship, and adore the holy and venerable images, and against the Emperor Leo in particular, his son Copronymus, and the impious assembly of Judaizing bishops, convened by the latter for the destruction of images, and the exaltation of the kingdom of Satan. The fifth session, held on the 4th of October, was opened by Tarasius with a declamation, or rather invective, wherein the Iconoclasts were compared to the Jews, Samaritans, Pagans, Mahometans, Manichees, etc. When he had done they were declared by the whole assembly worse than Jews, Samaritans or Mahometans, because they destroyed images ignorantly, being strangers to Christianity.”

“When the second commandment was alleged, and other passages out of the Scripture, forbidding the worship of images, they were angry that words spoken long ago to the Jews should be applied to the Christians, as if the precepts of the decalogue were not binding with respect to the Christians, and our Saviour had come to destroy the law, and not to fulfill it.”

Again, in a note on page 195, Mr. Bower says: “But by God himself, replied the Emperor, we are expressly forbidden to make any graven images, to bow down to them, or to worship them. The Jews were forbidden, answered Theodore; but the law given to them is not binding with respect to us Christians, else why should we not be circumcised as well as the Jews? where he ignorantly confounds the ceremonial law with the decalogue. But he had, it seems, perused the acts of the second council of Nice, and read there of a learned bishop wondering at the ignorance of the Iconoclast heretics, in alleging against the Christians, words spoken so long ago to the Jews. (See p. 158.) The Emperor maintained that the law given to Moses was binding with respect to the Christians as well as the Jews, our Saviour having declared that he came not to destroy but to fulfill the law; and consequently if it was idolatry in a Jew to bow down to images and worship them, it was likewise idolatry in a Christian. In answer to this was urged by Theodore the example of our Saviour himself who had sent his picture to Abgarus, king of Edessa, (See p. 29); the example of St. Luke, (See p. 30); and many others who had painted him in the earliest times, and whose pictures were still to be seen, and still were worshipped by the faithful; the many advantages attending the use as well as the worship of images and the uninterrupted practice of the church from the times of Christ and his Apostles to the present.”

This language is so like that which we Sabbath keepers daily hear from our opponents, in their arguments against the fourth commandment, that it sounds very familiar. Because we obey the fourth commandment of God's holy law which says that the seventh day is the Sabbath, we are stigmatized as Judaizers, as being strangers to Christianity, as going back to the old law which was given only to the Jews. And it is urged that to be consistent we ought to offer sacrifices, etc. Now if these arguments are valid, against our seventh day Sabbath, then the Catholic argument against the second commandment is equally sound. But the truth is that these arguments, both Catholic and Protestant, are a bold perversion of the word of God, subverting his holy law. Alex. Campbell in his celebrated debate with Bishop Purcell, pp. 214, 215, says:

“The single fact that the four archbishops of Ireland, and the Roman Catholic college of Maynooth should have impiously dared to strike one commandment from the ten, which God wrote on two tables with his own finger, and should have changed and divided the tenth into two, speaks volumes in proof of my allegation against the Romanist rule of faith.”

“It is a poor apology for this expurgation of the decalogue, that it is not so done in the Douay Bible; for when these catechisms were introduced, and even yet in most Catholic countries, not one layman in a thousand ever read that Bible; the catechism intended for universal consumption contained all his knowledge of God's law. What myriads, then, through this fraud, must have lived and died in the belief that the second commandment was no part of God's law!”

It is clearly proved, that the pastors of the church have struck out one of God's ten words; which not only in the Old Testament, but in all revelation, are the most emphatically regarded as the synopsis of all religion and morality. They have also made a ninth commandment out of the tenth, and their ninth, in that independent position, becomes identical with the seventh commandment, and makes God use tautology in the only instrument in the universe that he wrote with his own hand! But why this annulling of the second commandment? Because it is a positive prohibition of the practice of bowing down to images, and doing them homage; a custom dearer to the Romish church than both the second and seventh commandments! It is, however, gross idolatry.

This language is none too severe. Mr. Campbell strikes at the root of the matter, when he declares that the reason why Catholics have set aside the second commandment is because they held a custom forbidden by that commandment, a custom dearer to them than the law of Jehovah. The same is true of Sunday keepers. The fourth commandment requiring the observance of the seventh day is plain enough. Its obligation upon the Christian is clear enough from the New Testament Scriptures. But Sunday keepers find themselves observing the first day of the week and violating God's Sabbath. This practice has become so dear to them, that rather than give this up and yield to the authority of Jehovah, they will invent every argument to stigmatize that law and set it aside as Jewish.

It is astonishing to see what shifts and turns the Catholics have taken to evade the force of the second commandment. Mr. Bower thus states another of their arguments:

“I know that the popish writers, to clear their church from that imputation, distinguish here between supreme and inferior worship, absolute and relative, direct and reductive; worship by itself, and worship by accident; worship of Latria, and worship of Dulia, Hyperdulia, etc. ‘The heretics,’ says Arriaga, ‘allege many passages from the Scriptures, the fathers and the councils, where it is said that God only is to be worshipped. But to all the passages that have been, or can be alleged we answer, in one word, that they are to be understood of the worship of Latria or supreme worship, which must be given to God alone; and would become idolatrous if given to any but to God.’” Vol. 2, p. 36.

What a bold heresy this is! What a manifest evasion of the direct command of God! The Lord says that we shall not worship an image. Oh, yes, reply the Catholics, we are not to worship them with supreme worship, but a secondary worship, the worship of Dulia, Hyperdulia, etc. Then here is another evasion, as stated by the historian, page 34.

“The popish writers, to evade the testimony of the fathers, thus condemning the worship, the use, and even the making of images, would have us to understand them as speaking only of the images of the heathens, or of the worship of images as practiced by the heathens, who, they say, either worshipped the images themselves as gods, or worshipped false gods through them; and were, on that account, condemned by the fathers, and deservedly condemned, as guilty of idolatry; but that, they say, does not at all effect the worship which they give to images, since they neither worship them as gods, nor worship false gods through them, but the true God, or his saints and holy angels, for on them the worship terminates that is given to their images.”

To a Protestant all these arguments are worse than none. They are simply an evasion—a perversion of the word of God. But these forcibly remind us of the shifts which are resorted to by Sunday keepers to evade the plain requirement of the fourth commandment. They argue that the Sabbath has been changed from the seventh to the first day; next, that the fourth commandment was an old Jewish law and never applied to Christians; next, that any one seventh part of time is all that the commandment requires; then, that you cannot tell when the seventh day does come any way; then again, that all days are alike. And thus they go on turning and shifting, and twisting in every shape to evade the fourth commandment, the same as the old mother of harlots has to get around the second commandment.

D. M. Canright.

Oakland, Cal. May 26.

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