Signs of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 7. (12/19/1892)

Signs of the Times

Dec 19, 1892

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 19, 1892

Editorial.

By Editor

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable."—2 Tim. 3:16.

"Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy; for by faith ye stand." 2 Cor. 1:24.

MATTERS of religion lie wholly between man and his Maker, because they are matters with which civil government cannot in the very nature of the case deal. Religion has to do with the motive, the conscience, the heart. Government can only deal with outward acts between man and his fellow, not between man and his God.

JESUS, in speaking of the signs of his second coming, said: "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." Luke 21:25, 26. All these we see now. Just before lies the next event: "For the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Blessed are those whose loins are girded about, whose lights are burning, who are prepared to meet their Lord.

ONE precious promise given by our Lord is, "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." There is one thought right here which we wish to notice, and that is, that the truly hungry man does not stop to criticise the dishes on which his food is placed nor the person who brings it, providing ordinary cleanliness is observed. The truly thirsty man is even more eager to satisfy his needs than the hungry man. He will not ask whether the vessel be pewter, tin, or silver; whether it be china, common porcelain, or gold. He will not care whether the dispenser of the precious nectar be German, Scotch, or English. It is the water he wants, and grateful he is to the one who gave it. So those who really hunger and thirst after God's precious truth, his food and drink of righteousness, will not criticise the humble garb, the slowness of speech, nor the sometimes bad grammar or faulty pronunciation of the one who dispenses the word of life. His need is met. The truth and not the preacher will be his theme. How is it, reader?

PROFESSOR WALTHER, of Germany, has recently been making researches as to the number of German Bible translations before Luther. He has found as many as eighteen complete editions of the Bible in German and one in Dutch, and thirty-one editions of portions of the Bible. Besides these, two hundred and two manuscripts. Judging from other data, he thinks that as many as three thousand six hundred manuscripts of the Bible, or parts of the Bible, were in German. Most of these translators worked independently of each other. There was no organized movement to give the Bible to the people; it seemed rather a spontaneous impulse in many quarters. These translations did not originate with the Waldenses, neither did the Catholic Church give them to the world. "In not a single case," says Professor G. Kawerau, "can it be shown that a Roman Catholic ecclesiastic had anything to do with the printing of any one of these translations." It was not profitable for Rome to give the people the light.

DOES HE BELIEVE THE GOSPEL?

By Editor

THE teaching of Jesus Christ concerning his church was, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." John 17:16. He says again, "I am from above." John 8:23. But Joseph Cook, in Our Day, speaking of "Fraud at the Ballot Box," says of its influence upon the church:—

It has been found in the Southern States that tricking in secular elections is swiftly initiated even in church elections. When fraud dominates in the political field, it very soon obtains a controlling influence in the courts, and the poison drips from these heights of secular authority upon the bases of trade, with the result that at last civilization is diseased, so that the church obtains only unsound material with which to build a sanctuary for human hope.

According to this statement, the world, the civilization of the world, is the workshop which gives character to the materials by which the church builds. "The civilization," and back of that the courts and politicians, is responsible; and upon their failures "the church" is dependent. This may be the case with the church of Mr. Cook, but it is not with the church of Christ. His words are a clear confession, though not so designed, that the church has lost the power, the power of Christ, to rise above the world. Christ placed his church here to take just such elements as exist in the world everywhere and raise them by his power above the putridity of politics, the corruption of courts, and the tricks of trade, to the high plane of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. His power to do this is thus shown in the corrupt city of Corinth:—

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Cor. 6:9-11.

It would be a blessed good thing if some of our preachers who are consecrated to politics, and who are looking to politics for the salvation of the country, would consecrate themselves to God and the service of his gospel. But do they really believe the gospel? If they did, how could they write such words?

MR. CRAFTS ON THE SABBATH. NO. 2.

WE noticed last week some of Mr. Crafts' statements of what was and what was not concerning the seventh day in Genesis. He further says, in the Christian Statesman of November 19:—

In order to displace the Lord's day, which has the contested seat, the advocates of Saturday, on whom now rests the whole burden of proof for their proposed "change of day" from that generally accepted to their own, must prove: (1) That God's original Sabbath was a twenty-four-hour day.

In the first place let us notice the word juggling which is here presented. No Seventh-day Adventist ever endeavored "to displace the Lord's day." The only day which the WORD OF GOD recognizes as the Lord's day is the seventh-day Sabbath. See Mark 2:27; Isa. 58:13; Ex. 20:10. For the observance of the only Lord's day recognized in the Bible we are contending.

2. No Sabbath keeper is advocating "Saturday," as we showed last week. The Bible week does not know the Roman Saturday.

3. As regards "the contested seat" we have only this to say: The seat of God's law on earth is in the hearts of his people. He demands open hearts to his claims and willing service to his commandments. If one, one million, or one trillion people prefer the pagan holiday of the sun to the Sabbath of the Lord, no man or set of men has the right to compel them to do otherwise. If they have enthroned Sunday in their hearts, it will remain there till they themselves cast out the usurper. What we are contending for is that in that Book which expresses God's will to man, and which all Protestants profess to take as the rule of faith and life, Sunday has no "seat," no throne, no sacredness whatever. It is not a matter of occupancy in the so-called Christendom; it is a matter of title deeds, of legitimate documents, of the records and decisions of the last Court of Appeal.

In this "Christian" church where Sunday as a "holy" holiday was first given existence, all the errors of apostasy held "the contested seat" for hundreds of years, but the Reformation contended for the faith, not on that basis, but on the basis of God's eternal truth. On that basis we plead for the Sabbath of the Lord. We do not ask or wish that that Sabbath shall be recognized by law; we do not ask for it a general recognition by unsanctified lips, which in words would honor God, while their hearts were as far removed as sin could separate; but we do ask that Christians, those who love God, those who profess to do God's will, who profess to follow his word, and who profess to be walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ,—we do ask that these, one and all, will yield themselves to do what they profess to do, and not stand as stumbling blocks in the way of those who are anxiously, earnestly, honestly inquiring, "What is truth?" This we ask. Yes, Sunday has "the contested seat" in a corrupted and corrupting Christendom; but the Sabbath of the Lord, the Lord's day, the seventh-day Sabbath, has the title deeds of a proved-up claim from the ever-living Jehovah.

4. But Mr. Crafts says that those who have all the Bible on their side "must prove that God's original Sabbath was a twenty-four-hour day." In reply we would say that they must prove nothing of the kind. If all the proof the Bible furnished was in Gen. 2:1-3, there might be a little more reason in Mr. Crafts' demand; but we have the commandment in the Decalogue, and the threefold-miracle-marked day, from sunset to sunset, for forty years. That was the day God enjoined on man. That is the day now obligatory. Mr. Crafts continues:—

Nearly all Christian scholars make the word "day" mean a period of time in connection with each of the seven days, as it certainly does in the very next verse after those in which the seventh day is named, where the six days are all spoken of together as "the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven." Gen. 2:4. That view harmonizes both with Scripture usage and scientific facts. In that case the Sabbath of God is the period of redemption, the age of man, in which God has ceased his creative week-day work among minerals, vegetables, and animals (science so declares) and is doing nothing save works of necessity and mercy for the sustenance of his great household, except the great sabbath work of redemption. Man's imitation of God's Sabbath in this case is in miniature, as indeed it must be in every other case. In our little human week we work our six human days and rest the seventh, as God has done in his divine week. Our doctrine of the Sabbath does not require us to prove this theory; but the doctrine of the Saturday keepers requires them to disprove it beyond a doubt.

But all Christians do not so consider it. Dr. H. L. Morris, in his "Science and the Bible," or "Work Days of God," proves conclusively that the six days of Genesis 1 were natural twenty-four-hour days. And this is the obvious meaning of the record. The sun was to "rule the day." Gen. 1:14-19. The evening and the morning, a dark part and light part, composed the day. On one of these days, the seventh of the cycle, God rested. But Mr. Crafts makes that Sabbath of the Creator "the period of redemption" now going on.

But the record places the rest of the Creator in the past when the blessing was placed upon the day, and it was set apart to man's use. God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he HAD RESTED. Of course this places Mr. Crafts' theory of God's indefinite rest, now going on, against the Bible, but that is not our fault.

It is true that their doctrine of the Sabbath does not require them to prove any theory of creation, for their "sabbath" had no more to do with it than has Monday or Tuesday. To say that the Sabbath which God gave man was not the day upon which the Creator rested, which he hallowed and sanctified, is not a charge against seventh-day observers, but against the record of Inspiration, and the wisdom and justice of his law. Read the following:—

"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Gen. 2:2, 3.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath [the rest] of the Lord thy God; . . . for [because that] in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore [for which reason, the reason that God rested] the Lord blessed the Sabbath day [the rest day], and hallowed it." Ex. 20:8-11.

"This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord." Ex. 16:23.

"Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? . . . So the people rested on the seventh day." Verses 26-30.

"Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and in the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." Ex. 31:16, 17.

"And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun." Mark 16:1, 2.

We do not believe that any candid reader will study the above passages and come to any other conclusion than this, that the day which God enjoined upon man is a definite day, and the identical day in the septenary, or weekly cycle, upon which the Creator rested. If otherwise, language means nothing, and the words of God become the merest shuttlecocks for theological jugglers. Every lover of the Lord Jesus Christ, everyone who regards His reverence for the word of God, ought to cry out against such perversions of God's word as are seen in the common treatment of the Sabbath question. Which is the better, Christian friends, the illegal squatter's claim of the Sunday or the title deeds of the Lord God of Israel? "What is the chaff to the wheat?"

CHRISTMAS.

By Editor

An old couplet, in speaking of the country boor, runs somewhat on this wise:—

You may starch and may straightlace a man as you will, The scent of the stables will cling to him still.

And this is more emphatically true of the ancient pagan festival which many good souls in our day would fain make Christmas. The same profusion of flowers is now witnessed on Easter Sunday as was seen when our pagan ancestors brought them as offerings to the vernal goddess Eostre. And there is but little difference in the motives in the majority of cases now and then. It was fashionable then; it is now. Christmas is not an exception; in fact, it is a notable example of this very thing.

December 25 in pagan times was one of the great days of the old Roman Saturnalia, noted for its gluttony, drunkenness, and licentiousness. In another column we give an article from the Christian at Work of some time ago on "Christmas Feasting" in Christian lands three hundred years ago. How far removed is the picture then presented from that of the old Saturnalian orgies as revealed by the classic writers? And what is Christmas today but a day of revelry, drunkenness, and gluttonous gorging and feasting. Of course much is said and printed about the Christ child, some of which is very good, but in all Christian lands the mythical Santa Claus is mentioned ten times to the Christ child once. The gifts of the day, while many times tokens of love and results of self-denial among the poor, are based on selfishness, knowing little of the Spirit of Christ, in whose honor the day is said to be celebrated.

We do not wish to deprive one soul of any pure, wholesome enjoyment, but, as judgment-bound men and women, it is well to face the facts. The truth is that December 25 is not the day of Christ's birth, neither is that day kept by the people generally in honor of that event. It is safe to say that the day will have more heartaches, headaches, and stomachaches than it relieves.

To those who do what they can to relieve distress and bring joy to the lonely homes and wretched worse than homes on that day, or any other, we bid Godspeed; but in this work so much is sometimes paid out for ostentation and trimmings that but little good is done for the amount invested. If Christians would really remember Him who became poor that we might be made rich, let them remember the neglected, bleeding, suffering cause of Christ, in the homeless, houseless, joyless dwellings of the poor, in the rayless, sinsick heathen all around, into whose souls the light of the gospel never broke. In other words, let Christians be partakers with Christ in self-sacrifice for others, and thus carry the glad tidings of—

Glory to God in the highest, On earth peace And good will to men.

Let every day be a day in which Jesus in all his glorious work shall be remembered, and then indeed will there be joy because of his birth. Such a happy, joyous Christian life we wish all our readers.

Evangelicalism in Germany.

Professor Harnack, the learned and liberal occupant of Neander's chair at Berlin, Germany, contends in a recent publication that a new creed ought to be framed for the Evangelical Church in place of the "Apostles' Creed," as the former does not show progress, as many ministers of the Protestant Church in Germany cannot accept its teachings. Among the things taught by the Apostles' Creed to which he objects, are the following:—

That one proposition, namely, "resurrection of the dead," cannot, also, according to the principles of the Evangelical Church, be maintained in its literal meaning.

"Conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary." Here something is maintained as a fact which is not believed by many faithful Christians, and which cannot be adapted to their present faith. Here there is an actual rock of offense (Notsland) for every upright Christian who desires to use this symbol as his confession, and yet does not believe this statement.

But many other conservative evangelicals protest zealously against these opinions of Professor Harnack, and hence comes war. It will be difficult to tell in not a little time whether it is necessary for a "Christian" to believe in Christ at all or not. Truly the gospel of Christ is a "rock of offense" to those who "stumble at the word." We do not defend the "Apostles' Creed," which the apostles never saw, but it is the truth of the Scripture in that creed to which Professor Harnack and the liberals seem to object. Where is the end?

Willing Service to God

God does not demand forced service. The willing hearted, the loyal, the courageous, are what he calls for. He who serves God through fear does not serve him at all; he simply serves self, doing what he does to save himself from greater disaster. God wants willing, loyal, loving service.

THE POWER OF FAITH.

By Wm. Covert

BY ELDER WM. COVERT.

INSPIRATION says that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Heb. 11:1. The Revised Version says, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for;" margin, "The giving substance to." Faith is the appropriating element of the soul. By it truths are grasped and retained. It becomes the channel of understanding by indorsing propositions made for our information.

The child learns that A is A, not because the teacher demonstrates to him that it is, but because he believes the teacher knows, and that he will tell the truth about it. Without simple faith in the teacher, the child had better remain out of school. Just so must the one who comes to God have faith in him. For saith the Lord, "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Heb. 11:6. Of course we understand that there must be evidences by which the mind has become satisfied as to these propositions even before the first step can be taken. God gives these.

God is seen in all his works. The heavens declare his glory. Ps. 19:1-6. All things in heaven and earth sing his praise. Ps. 148:1-13. It is only the fool who hath said in heart, "There is no God." Ps. 14:1. As to his disposition to benefit all, Paul declared to a heathen congregation: "He left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." Acts 14:17. And again: "That which may be known of God is manifest in them [or unto them]; for God hath showed it unto them. For 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." Rom. 1:19, 20.

But we did not design to write of God as seen in nature. We wish to treat upon the theme of redemption. It is here that faith is especially helpful. The apostle says, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God." Heb. 11:3. We understand this proposition, not because we comprehend the process, but because we believe the testimony of God. This testimony was given that we might have knowledge of an important fact. But the testimony that God has given us concerning his Son is of the greatest consequence to us. "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." 1 John 5:9, 10.

Having received the witness of God, we shall ask for no other testimony; for nothing can be added to it. The person having the testimony which is truth itself is safe. His faith anchors him securely.

Faith is an active element, gathering the truths and appropriating the promises, while at the same time it performs the Christian responsibilities with becoming cheerfulness. "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." Gal. 5:6. Does a man have good works?—They are only the fruit which faith produces.

By faith man is admitted to God's grace; by faith he is justified; and by faith he enjoys peace with God. The apostle states these propositions in the following beautiful language: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Rom. 5:1, 2. When writing concerning Enoch, the statement is made that "without faith it is impossible to please Him." Heb. 11:6. Every step acceptable to God must be taken by faith—the first, the last, and all that intervene between the beginning and the end. God's children are born by faith. Gal. 3:26. They feed upon the living word by faith. Rom. 10:17; 1 Peter 2:2. They stand by faith. Rom. 5:2. They live by faith. Hab. 2:4; Rom. 1:17; Heb. 10:38. They walk by faith. 2 Cor. 5:7. By faith they are made righteous. With the heart man believeth unto (or into) righteousness. Man, having no righteousness of his own, and by sin having fallen so far below God's standard of righteousness that it becomes impossible for him of himself to reach it, is lifted into God's righteousness by faith. His faith becomes the medium of access into this righteousness. Through this life-giving connection God imparts more and more of himself to those who believe.

Very many heathen have entered upon a life of faith by believing the simplest elementary statements of the gospel, and from this rudimentary beginning have grown into strong men in the Lord. In fact, this statement in a measure applies to all who fight the good fight of faith. There was Rahab (Heb. 11:31), a heathen woman leading a life of sin, but she had access to God's grace through faith, and became in time a character strong in the Lord, even becoming a mother in the royal line of Israel, through whom the genealogy of Christ is traced (Matt. 1:5, Revised Version).

But faith must increase in order that there be Christian growth. "The path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Prov. 4:18. The church at Thessalonica is presented by the

apostle as a model church. The secret of their excellence is revealed in 2 Thess. 1:3, where Paul says: "We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth." If faith grew with all Christians in the same measure noted above, there would be no church trials nor back-slidings to rend the hearts of those who labor in the Master's cause. But, going from strength to strength, God's children would mount upward, scaling the heights of difficulty as the eagle soars above the mountain fastnesses.

FAITH IS VICTORY.

In 1 John 5:4 it is written: "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." At every step Christ overcame the enemy and obtained the victory. In him we overcome by faith. Our faith joins us to him in the contest, and if we remain in him through the battle, we also overcome with him. Should the Christian turn to one side, place his back to the foe, or depend on self, he breaks away from faith, and loses the victory that would be his in Christ. As certainly as the electric car stops still upon the track when the connection is severed from the living wire, so certainly will the child of God cease to advance when he severs his connection with the power of the living God by faith in Christ. His mind must be as constantly connected by faith with Christ, the living Vine, that he may bear fruit to God's glory, as the branch is connected to the parent stem, that it may produce fruit to satisfy the husbandman. John 15:1-6.

As the branch by its connection with the vine draws its life from the vine, so does the Christian by faith receive the life of Christ into himself. As the vine produces its fruit upon its branches, so Christ, the true vine, will produce the fruit of righteousness in his branches. By this life of faith Christ dwells in his people, and fulfills the righteousness of the law in them. This faith never staggers, never wavers, never doubts, never worries, never fears. In the greatness of its strength it embraces the love of God with all its majesty and its sweetness, and rests securely under the shadow of the Almighty.

Spiritualism and Hypnotism

By Editor

ALEXANDER HERMANN discourses in the current number of the Cosmopolitan on "Spiritualism and Hypnotism." Spiritualism he denounces as humbug, pure and simple, while hypnotism he regards "a strictly legitimate science, destined in the future to occupy a large share of attention from the savants of the world." He claims it is electric and natural. "The roll call of Spiritualists," he says, "is not a long one." All this sounds well, and doubtless reflects the honest opinion of the gentleman, but he does not even know what he has declared of hypnotism, and of the number of Spiritualists he is at least grossly ignorant. We do not mean professed Spiritualists, but those who hold to the essential doctrines of Spiritualists, namely, that the dead live, and that they can communicate with us. Saint worship in the Catholic Church is but a form of Spiritualism. Millions of Protestants are no better. And to our mind all these occult "sciences" which seek to shut out God and his word, because that word condemns them, are of that old deceiver, Satan. Of these delusions the prophet spake eighteen centuries ago. 2 Tim. 3:1-4.

A Live Christian

A LIVE Christian is an active Christian, a working Christian. Life demands action; it is action. Action, growth, doing, is the normal condition of life. It costs greater effort to refrain from doing than to do. What is true of the individual Christian is true of the church. On the other hand, prolonged idleness, abnormal inaction, is sure to breed disease and death in the spiritual man as in the physical.

Labor is life; 'tis the still water faileth; Idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth.

Let faith grasp the life of God in Christ Jesus; let that life work for God.

"LOOKING BACKWARD."

By Jessie Hocker

BY JESSIE HOCKER.

"Ah, yes, in that long agone trial I know The power of the Lord attended me! I can see how his great arm reached below To snatch me from that which would fatal be. But to-day I stand neath this crushing weight; I feel that his presence cannot be here, For my care and sorrow do not abate, While with every hour comes a quickening fear." But the days that wait not for joy or sigh Bore onward upon their waves the soul Whose heart gave vent to that bitter cry From the depths of the billows which round it roll, And, standing to-day far beyond the place, Looks backward and views that trying time, So clearly can see God's sustaining grace Upheld him that day by its strength sublime. Do you, friend, look back from to-day's deep grief To some epoch of life, where God has sent The balm of the Spirit's sweet relief To heal the sad heart by deep sorrow rent? Oh, look not backward to find his love! It attends you through every phase of life. Omnipotence dwells in the world above, That can cope with the wildest storms and strife.

College Place, Wash.

Continue reading: The Twenty-three Hundred Days