Earlier text: LESSONS FROM THE FIRST CHAPTER OF REVELATIONDOING THINGS ON SUNDAY.
By A Little One
Why do I travel on Sunday? Do I not claim to be a Christian?—Yes, by the love and mercy of God, even only by His grace. Do I believe the Bible?—With all my heart, and life, my all. The question of the grave is dependent for its answer upon the teaching and blessed promises of the Bible. For outside of the Bible we know nothing of the resurrection of the dead. But does not the Bible teach that it is wrong for pleasure or otherwise to travel or work on Sunday?—No; nowhere, from Genesis to Revelation is any such teaching to be found. O, but does it not say, “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 of the Lord thy God”? Yes, indeed, friends, it says just that, and in speaking of the same day in the New Testament it says, “The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28), and in Matthew we read, “But pray ye that your flight be not . . . on the Sabbath day.” That event was to occur seventy years after Christ’s time. “The Sabbath was made [not is or will be made or changed] for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27. Indeed I do believe the Bible. Do you? “Was the Sabbath not changed from the seventh to the first day?” Let me ask when? where? by whom? The first has no answer from God’s Word, which alone is our authority. The second has no answer from the Bible. So also the third is without reply from the Scriptures. That is, nowhere are we told that Divinity made the change. That there are three or more historical statements concerning events which took place on the first day of the week is true—one of which is Acts 20:7, in which we have described a meeting which occurred on the first day of the week, which is Sunday—but it distinctly states that it was the first day of the week. Had it said, “which is the Sabbath,” that would have settled it beyond question. But it is nowhere found. That Christ arose, and appeared on the first day of the week, is plainly stated. That the disciples and women carrying spices for the body of Him whom they loved, went to the sepulcher on the first day and found it empty, is also true. Praise the Lord that they did find it empty. But the record shows that they had kept the previous day as the Sabbath. See Luke 23:56. Another oft-quoted passage is one giving the business transaction ordered or suggested by Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 16:2), in which he gave this instruction to them: “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” Surely that needs no explanation or elucidation, even to those who would like to make Sunday (the first day of the week) the Sabbath.5And that work was done at home, and not at church. So your reason for keeping the first day is as a memorial of Christ’s resurrection in which you show your love to him? He says, “If ye love me, keep My commandments;” and, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” John 15:14. “Why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Luke 6:46. “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.” John 7:16. You think it is right to keep the first day in remembrance of that greatest and most wonderful event? It certainly is right to remember and honor Him, but in His time and in the way Christ Himself gave. He left a memorial, even the ordinance of baptism. Rom. 6:4, 5. We can in no wise honor Him nor show our love to Him more truly than by obediently doing what God has commanded us to do, and following in our Master’s footsteps. 1 Sam. 15:22, 23; Eccl. 12:13, 14; Rev. 14:12. Moses did His way instead of God’s, when he smote the rock,—perhaps he thought the occasion merited the departure. What was the result of his deviation?—He was never permitted to set foot in the long-desired Canaan. “Who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counselor?” Rom. 11:34. “Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct Him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.” Job 40:2. For to change God’s way, plan, or law, is certainly reproving Him for failure to do the best according to your judgment. “Wilt thou also disannul My judgment? wilt thou condemn Me, that thou mayest be righteous?” Job 40:8. Is it your own way or God’s holy will you desire to do? Can you do more and better than Jesus did? “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God.” Heb. 10:9. Walk in His meek and holy footsteps. “I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12. “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7. A LITTLE ONE. MUSINGS
By Eliza Verder Dow
Did you ever study deeply the ways God has chosen to reveal Himself to man? Have you seen His revelation? Moses and Elijah and the disciples saw it on the barren mountain. You may see expressions of the thoughts of God all around you in the mountains, the trees, the flowers and grasses, and on the great, deep, ever-rolling sea. But, that spiritual, that diviner, that holy of holies, where have you seen this revelation? Go to some home where a hundred adversities have fallen and enter the little room in which the form of a human being is seen lying upon a humble bed. Approach the couch; a white face is turned toward you, and a thin, white hand is reached out to you. O, the light of that countenance and the glory in those tender eyes as a feeble voice says, “O God bless you for coming to me, for I am longing to tell some one of the blessedness of the Master.” That is to see the supernatural! That is to see God's revelation and reflection in a human life. Will you, reader, try to show to all with whom you associate, that you have seen the Master; that you have knowledge of the “flames in the bush;” that you have heard “the voice of Horeb;” that you are one with the risen Christ, and that you are longing to tell of the blessed Master's goodness? WITH A SHOUT.
By H. A. St. John
The walls of Jericho went down with a shout. The hosts of Israel went up with a shout, and took the city. That was a shout that meant something; it was a shout of triumph; for God told the people to shout. When God puts the shout into a person, or a people, it is no empty sound, but a genuine exclamation of praise to God for a great victory achieved, or about to be achieved. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt followed by a vast multitude of people, the Lord said to them by the Spirit of prophecy long before, and by His Spirit at the time, “Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh unto thee.” Does the reader say that was not a triumph, but a signal defeat, for Christ was not made King then, but crucified by His bitterest enemies? Very true. He was crucified, but His crucifixion was His real coronation. When Jesus on the cross cried with a loud voice, “It is finished,” it was the grandest shout of triumph ever heard in the universe of God since the time when all the sons of God shouted for joy, when the same Jesus announced that “the foundations of the earth” were laid. The disciples did not understand the matter. If they had, instead of being disappointed, they would have been shouting happy when Jesus triumphed over the powers of darkness on Calvary’s cross. Satan understood the significance of the triumphant death of Christ far better than the disciples; for he well knew that it sealed the doom of his principles, his kingdom, and himself. When Jesus cried, “It is finished,” shouts of joy went through all Heaven and all the unfallen worlds of God’s creation. Not many days after the victory of the cross, Jesus went up to Heaven with a shout. That meant victory over death forever, for Himself, and finally, a like victory over the same last enemy of man for all His true disciples. By Jesus’ victory then achieved, the same glorious and eternal victory over all foes was assured to all His true followers. And when Jesus comes to earth the second time, when the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, it will be “with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God.” The time will then have come when the Lord of glory will unlock the prison-house of death, loose His prisoners homeward, forever break the bands of mortality and death, change the vile bodies of His children, and fashion them like unto His own glorious body. He then beholds “the travail of His soul,” victors over every foe, to ever dwell in His presence, to behold and show His glory eternally. ’Tis no wonder, then, that He comes “with a shout.” Reader, will you shout then? Will you join in that everlasting song of triumph? Jesus triumphed, that you might triumph with Him. H. A. St. JOHN. How They Became Convinced
[Believing it would be of interest to our readers, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has asked Sabbath-keeping ministers and evangelical workers to tell in a few words the scripture or scriptures, the truths and principles, which constrained them to accept the unpopular truth of the seventh-day Sabbath. These testimonies must not exceed 500 words. Let us hear from all.] I was educated as a minister for the Protestant Episcopal Church, and for several years so served. Nearly every Sunday the Ten Commandments were read in connection with the service in the church, and after each commandment we chanted this petition: “Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.” Many a time I have sent that petition, from the bottom of my heart, to the throne of God, as it was my sincere desire to keep all the commandments of God. But I remember that many a time when we read the Fourth Commandment: “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 of the Lord thy God,” etc., I was puzzled. I thought that, if God changed the Sabbath, why did He not tell us that plainly in the Bible? But these puzzled thoughts were quieted by the assurance that the apostles, who knew the mind of Christ, changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day to commemorate the resurrection of Christ; that the change was made gradually by the apostles and their immediate followers; and that a record of the change is found in church history. I studied church history three years, but never found the record of the Sabbath change. At last we met Brother Castberg, who indeed showed us from church history when the change was made. Church history shows plainly the fact that the change was made (not by the apostles or their immediate followers) in the fourth century, when the church had married the world. History tells us plainly that at that time the church, losing the Holy Spirit power, and seeking help from the State, allowed the change to be made in order to compromise with the heathen. Brother Castberg then showed us from the Bible that Christ and His apostles kept the seventh day as Sabbath; that the Lord changed not; and from much Scripture evidence that He will not alter the thing that is gone out of His lips; that Christ says that “the Sabbath was made for man.” I am a man—hence the Sabbath was made for me. These and many other evidences convinced me thoroughly that the seventh day is the Sabbath. I learned also that nearly all the promises of God, both in the Old and New Testament, were conditioned on doing the will of God, and keeping His commandments. My wife and I saw the truth, and obeyed at once. We have come to know our Bible better, we have received more Holy Ghost power, and are enjoying a double blessing by keeping all the commandments of God. JOHN J. WESTRUP. IS REWARD AT DEATH?
By Loyd J. Caldwell
If so, since the body is left behind, then these things are true also:— - The body need never be raised.
- There need be no great judgment day.
- Nor a great future reward or punishment.
- Christ’s first coming was needless to those then dead.
- Christ’s second coming is needless to those now dead.
- Our bodies must be needless even now.
And this last is just the “claim” of Christian Science. The whole idea of matter anywhere or any time is denied. And the logic is just this: If the world to come is wholly or practically immaterial, then this world that is, is immaterial also. If the soul needs no matter hereafter, neither does it here. In a few changes of thought and theory to come, we shall have Buddhistic re-incarnation in full flower in popular theology. Arvada, Colo. LOYD J. CALDWELL. “CONQUER your foe by force, and you will increase his enmity; conquer by love, and you will reap no after sorrow.” MAN, through Satanic instigation, has devised many schemes for salvation without conversion through faith in Jesus Christ; he has invented many devices for gaining an entrance to the kingdom of heaven without a change of heart. But they are all in vain. None of them can annul the divine fiat, “Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.” “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” John 3:3, 5. There are two reasons for this decree: (1) The individual saved on any other terms would be just such an one as he is here, and therefore would not be benefited. He would not have eternal life; for he would still be a sinner, and “the wages of sin is death.” Sin “bringeth forth death.” (2) The salvation of unrepentant men would make the kingdom of God just such a place as the kingdom of men now is. There would be a repetition of the same sinful, violent conditions as are experienced here now. The situation would be as expressed by the prophet Isaiah: “Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.” Ch. 26:10. This principle has been demonstrated in heaven, where sin originated in the jealousy and defalcation of Lucifer, right in presence of the throne of God. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” Ch. 14:12. Of the same one, under the symbol of the King of Tyrus, Ezekiel says: “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” Ch. 28:14, 15. Thus is shown the fact that the highest moral surroundings in the universe will not make one righteous who harbors iniquity in his heart. Sometimes people imagine that if they could just have a residence or a position amid such and such surroundings or influences, they would be immune from temptation, and would thus be enabled to avoid contamination with sin. But it has been demonstrated over and over that “the carnal mind is enmity against God;” therefore “it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be,” in any situation. “Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” James 1:14. Surroundings do not convert people, nor fit them for the kingdom of heaven. Moreover the opportunity of good surroundings, if not improved, only adds force to the condemnation which already rests on every unconverted individual. There is but one way open to peace with God, and a righteous life, and a home in the everlasting kingdom, and that way is through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 4:12; Rom. 5:1, 2. No matter where or how situated, except ye be born of the Spirit, ye can not enter the kingdom of heaven. And no matter where or how situated, the Spirit of God is available, and the grace of God is sufficient to keep you from falling, if the mind be stayed on God. Isa. 26:3; 2 Cor. 12:9; Jude 24, 25. WHEN Jesus was in the wilderness of temptation, physically weak by fasting, alone, and apparently without a friend in all the universe, Satan came to Him with advice. He told the “Man of Sorrows” how to supply His lack of food. “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread,” said the adviser. This would be a quick means of supplying a pressing need, and entirely within the power of the suffering One—if He was the Son of God. Again, if He was the Son of God, the promised Messiah, He ought to be demonstrating that fact to the world. His pitiable plight in the wilderness forty days after His mission had been publicly announced by John the Baptist, might indicate that the announcement was a mistake, or that Jesus did not know how to make His position felt and appreciated by the people. So His new adviser suggested a way to make a decided impression. If He would jump from one of the high pinnacles of the temple, and light down among the people unhurt, they would be convinced. Failing in these devices, the adversary made the seemingly deserted One a most extraordinary offer. Showing Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, he said, “All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.” But perishable kingdoms and their fading glory had no attraction for the Son of God, who, notwithstanding His forlorn appearance and apparent helplessness in the wilderness, was even then establishing a kingdom destined to destroy and supersede them all, and to stand forever. He knew that the offer was utterly worthless of itself, besides being a device to wean Him away from an invaluable inheritance. But, notwithstanding the worthlessness of the things offered to Christ as a bribe for His allegiance, and notwithstanding the Saviour’s prompt and decisive rejection of it, the same tempting bait is still being held out to the world in contrast with the Gospel of the kingdom of Christ. And the deplorable feature of the situation is that so many, even of the professed disciples of Christ, are being allured by the glamour of the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. There are so many who will compromise truth for the sake of even a subordinate position in the kingdoms of the world; there are so many who seek such positions that they may wield even a modicum of power over their fellow-men. But Christ declined even the dominion of them all. He spurned the position offered to Him by the adversary. Shall not His disciples follow His example? It is not only so of the political positions of the world, but also of all that pertains to the world. The man who made a business of indulging every feature of worldly pleasure and worldly gain, has declared that it is all “vanity and vexation of spirit.” See Ecclesiastes 2. But the possession of even the kingdoms of this world—all of them, and the glory of them—is a worthless gift, so considered by Him who knows all about them, and will soon destroy them. Yet that is all that the enemy of Christ has to offer. To allow even all of this world to sway one from the prospect of an everlasting inheritance is the extreme of folly. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” The Life a Schoolroom
By S.
True teaching is true living—the living that God approves. School opens with the first flush of accountable action in the morning of life, when the soul raises its windows to look around and out upon its environments; and such school closes only when the influence of that life has been lost in the clouds of night. Our school is larger than many of us have been led to think. We are teaching more individuals in that school than we may be willing to give account for in the day of judgment. We teach as we live and what we live. The apt pupil looks through the veneer of our words and takes us for what we are and do, rather than for what we say. We may wish it otherwise, but we can not change the fact. For this reason the words of many who attempt oral teaching have in them no converting power, and the pupils drift out into the world to be swallowed in “the strangle of the stream.” We do but a small part of our teaching with our organs of speech. The tongue is a swift racer; but it is a tardy teacher when pitted against the real life and character of the one who uses it. We can not live one thing and teach another. There was once an artist so skilful in the use of a pencil that he could draw a lion with one hand and a deer with the other at the same time. But if in our lives we are drawing lions, we can not paint a deer with our words. We shall make a fearful failure of it if we try. The ones whom we thus attempt to teach will suffer in their own souls for our useless, thoughtless, harmful vivisection and experimentation. The Saviour’s query, “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” gives an inspired exposition of the same idea; and He further says: “Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” We can not raise wheat from thistle-down, nor corn from mustard seed. We can not expect a harvest of souls if there is mildew in the heart of the seed we sow. The lamp whose wick is too short to touch the oil will never light the benighted wanderer home. He whose prayers do not take hold of the throne of the Infinite need not expect to guide lost souls through the wilderness of sin. On the other hand, raindrops are bound to show the seven primary colors when the sun’s rays fall upon them. That is just as true of the obscure, dew-tipped blade of grass as of the mighty, cloud-fringing rainbow hanging in the sky. It is true in nature—it is true in life. You do not have to sit in the clouds in order that God may reveal His glory in you. Even so the true Christian, tho living in seeming obscurity, is bound to teach Christ in his acts as well as in his words. He can not help doing so as long as he remains a Christian. When we cease to live Christ, then we lose connection with the Teacher of all true teachers. Then we begin to look for grapes on the thorn bush, and for figs among the thistle-down. This is contrary to nature; and all oral teaching that is out of harmony with the life of the teacher is an attempt to do that very7thing, and is out of harmony with both nature and the Author of nature. Why is it that so many who have had supposedly Christian instruction have become worldlings, and the shuttles of their lives are being manipulated by Satan to weave webs of sin? In too many cases the life of the teacher gave the lie direct to his oral instructions. His pupils were reading the word, “untrue, untrue,” between the words that fell from his lips. This teaching life we live is a terribly responsible one. But if unreserved consecration and submission is given to God, if the heart is right, God will look after the result. If we would teach the love of God, we must have it in our hearts. If we would teach Christ, we must cherish His indwelling presence. If we would teach what salvation is, we must ourselves know what it is. If we would lead the souls of others to ruin, we have only to attempt to teach with our lips what our hearts do not contain and our lives do not express. Then our pupils would look upon the fall of man as a fable, upon Christ as a myth, and upon the plan of redemption as a clever scheme of the superstitious; whereas, if the life itself has showed a personal experience in the things of God, the deeds and the words in harmony, and both testifying for God, that life-teaching will be a power for God, and souls will be the harvest. Such living is the most important business in the world; for it has the very message of God in it and the power of God permeating it, and that can not fail. THE eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” Thus spoke the seer of God to king Asa of Judah, who in his fancied extremity turned from his God to Syria. He put the seer in prison, but he did not destroy the truth. It is a solemn truth to the hypocrite, to the dissimulator. Men often, nearly always, under some circumstances try to act better than their heart. In thus doing, they often deceive men, but never God. Man looketh on the outward appearance; the Lord looketh on the heart, and discerns the inward motives, the springs of action. He knows whether the outwardly good act was prompted to deceive or win some coveted prize, or whether it was the fruit borne by a heart yielded to God. It is a blessed, comforting thought to the true man who makes what seems to him such slow progress and does such poor work for God. He knows that the will is his to do, that the heart responds to God’s love, and the Master knows. He will cleave to the Infinite One, who is strong in his behalf. It is the time of trial which tests, trials where great moral principles are involved. When God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah petulantly refused, and sought to run away from God. Yet he did not deny Him; and when the ship is imperiled on his account, he comes forward nobly, acknowledges his fault, and tells the shipmen to cast him overboard. To him it meant certain death, and he met it bravely; but God knew that after all Jonah’s heart was true, and He showed Himself strong on behalf of the petulant prophet. It is good for the Christian to know that God knows the heart. Sometimes we meet impatient men, nervous men, dyspeptic men, passionate men. They profess to be Christians, and God seems to use them. But we wonder if they really are. But some great test comes into the life, and they meet it faithful to God, and our self-complacent, self-conceited heart sinks in shame at our littleness of soul, at our assumption in judging. God knew that the heart was perfect all the time; but the training was not yet complete. Remembering this will help us to see the reason of God’s dealing with Abraham, David, and others. Abraham’s concubinage was sin. David failed often. Yet deep down below all the mistakes were the hearts true to God in every test; tho involving sacrifices dearer than life. It is “throughout the whole earth” that God searches. Not only among His own professed people, but out in the great, dark heathen world God searches to find the men of single, true-heartedness. They may be ignorant of many things, but if the heart is yielded to the highest conception of God, the Master will lead on to glorious and eternal light and victory. 1. Where is God's Word current and established? “Forever, O Jehovah, Thy Word is settled in heaven.” Ps. 119:89. 2. What is the nature of this Word? “The words of Jehovah are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, purified seven times.” Ps. 12:6. 3. How was this Word given to men? “Men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:21. “The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, and His Word was upon my tongue.” 2 Sam. 23:2. 4. How does God regard His Word? “Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name.” Ps. 138:2. 5. What is that Word to the believer? “The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life.” John 6:63. 6. What change is wrought in us by this Word? “Having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the Word of God, which liveth and abideth.” 1 Peter 1:23. 7. How is this life to be maintained? “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matt. 4:4. 8. What will feeding on that Word accomplish? “Long for the spiritual milk [of the Word] . . . that ye may grow thereby unto salvation.” 1 Peter 2:2. 9. What will the Word thus used be to us? “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light.” Prov. 6:23. 10. What will it make our path of life? “The path of the righteous is as the dawning light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Prov. 4:18. THE OTHER SIDE IS THE WRONG SIDE.
By Editor
A GENTLEMAN in Glenwood Springs, Col., writes us that he has read the SIGNS, and especially notes the department, “How They Became Convinced,” and says: “I don’t suppose that you would publish the other side if you were paid for it.” And then to let us know what he means by the other side, he continues:— However to show you that there is another side I will quote you a passage or two, and dare you to publish them. You see I have none too good an opinion of your honesty. Rom. 14:5, 6: “One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it.” And so on to the end of the chapter. Again:— Col. 2:16: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath.” Yours truly, THOS. KENDRICK. P. S. If you do publish this please send me a copy. 1. After all Mr. Kendrick does seem to think that we will dare to publish these scriptures. 2. There has not been a year since this paper was published, in all probability, that these texts have not been printed one or more times. 3. We knew them well before we knew the blessedness of the Sabbath; and turned and twisted them every way we honestly could to see if there was not in them a release from seventh-day observance. But God was better than our fears. We did not then know the beauty of God’s consistent truth (Ps. 138:2; John 17:17), the inviolability of His holy law (Ps. 111:7, 8; Luke 16:17), the power of His creation and redemption for which the Sabbath is a memorial and a sign (Ex. 20:8–11; Eze. 20:12), and the blessedness there is of keeping God’s commandments in Christ Jesus (1 John 5:3; Rev. 22:14). 4. There is, therefore, no other side to the Sabbath question but the wrong side. Does Mr. Kendrick wish to stand on that side? 5. The texts cited are not against other texts. Truth is not set against truth. Rom. 14:5, 6 is not against Ex. 20:8–11, neither is Col. 2:16. God is one and eternal. God’s law is one and eternal. 6. On account of sin God has given object lessons to teach men how evil sin is, how it may be put away, and how they may be saved from it through the only Saviour, Jesus Christ. In order properly to regulate these object lessons—the sacrifices, offerings, types and shadows which pointed to Christ—God gave rules and laws and commandments. These were not against His great law of character, but they were distinct from it in nature. They often seem to twine about it as the vine the oak. The vine may be planted for a purpose and time; its life may be naturally limited to a few years. While it lives, it may seem a part of the oak; but when it dies, the oak lives on. So with the laws and commandments concerning sacrifices; they were only for a time, standing in meats and drinks, in divers washings and carnal ordinances, till Christ came. Then type met antitype; then shadow met substance; then prophecy was lost in fact. 7. Now as to the texts in question:— (a.) Rom. 14:5, 6. The church in Rome was composed of persons made up of both Jew and Gentile by birth. Those who were converted from the Gentiles broke from all vain ceremonialism. The weak ones who came from the Jews still observed the yearly feasts and fasts, such as the Passover, etc., the seven yearly feasts which God gave “beside the Sabbaths of the Lord.” See Leviticus 23, and note verse 38. Differences would naturally arise, and that part of the apostle’s letter found in the 14th chapter was given for a twofold purpose, not to teach men that days were binding or not binding, but that every one should put on the Lord Jesus Christ, as every one must give an account to God before His judgment seat, and that they should “not therefore judge one another any more.” It is to God we must live or die. No service is acceptable to God unless he who renders it is “persuaded in his own mind.” (b.) Col. 2:16. If Mr. Kendrick had quoted the whole text it would have explained itself. It is parallel to that in Romans. Christ had received the brethren in Colosse, and they were made “complete in Him.” “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” There is nothing shadowy about the seventh-day Sabbath. It was before sin entered. It exists even in the new earth state. Isa. 66:22, 23. Note the yearly sabbath days in the ceremonial year (Lev. 23:7, 21, 24, 25, 32); but when Christ came all these were met in Him. But the great worship day of God, speaking of His infinite power to create, His eternal love to redeem, abides forever. What the SIGNS desires are the reasons which lead men to obey God, to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, not those things by which they would fain escape solemn duty. We are sure if any man will analyze in the light of God his motives, he will find the sole reason for disobeying God in Rom. 8:7. He will find the motive power of obedience in Gal. 5:6; 1 John 5:3. Now we would not for anything compel, or seek to compel Mr. Kendrick to obey God or follow Christ; for this is beyond the power of men to do. We invite him to taste and see that the Lord is good; but to do this he must be fully persuaded in his own mind. No other service is acceptable to God. Will some one explain Eze. 8:15-18 and all of the ninth chapter, and give light to one who is after the knowledge of God? M. J. McN. The prophecy is too long for a detailed exposition in this department; yet we believe we can help our querist. (1) The record in both chapters is the story of a vision of the prophet regarding the sins of Israel, and especially those sins which were done in secret. Note the image of jealousy in the temple; the idols and abominable worship; the women weeping for Tammuz, the Grecian Adonis, worshiped with lascivious rites; and worse than all, the worship of the sun, the most abominable of all heathen worship. The temple of Jehovah was entered from the east, and those who worshiped therein worshiped toward the ark and mercy-seat, worshiping toward the west. Hence those who worshiped the sun in the morning, the special time of sun-worship, turned their faces toward the east and their backs upon Jehovah. The very outward act was characteristic of the nature of the worship. It was all in evil, that Jehovah's worship was not. The chief mark of that worship was the Sun-day, dedicated to its worship. The sign of the worship of God's people between Him and them was His Sabbath. Ex. 31:17; Eze. 20:12, 20. That stood as a mark of their loyalty to Jehovah. The ninth chapter of Ezekiel is the record of a representation of the judgment of God upon those who were not loyal. The whole record is a type of similar conditions in the last days. Compare with Rev. 7:1-4. 1315.—Order of the Ordinances.
In the celebration of the ordinances, which did Jesus do first—wash the disciples' feet or institute the Lord's supper? J. M. How could Pharaoh let Israel go if God was hindering him? D. A. But Pharaoh did let Israel go. Now if he could do it at last, he certainly could have done it at first. Only by withdrawing His Spirit does God harden any one's heart; and he does not withdraw His Spirit until men reject Him. It was God's desire that Pharaoh, like Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus, should be converted. The Lord brought that king to the throne that His power might be manifest and the glory of His name spread abroad. And if the king had yielded to God this would have been the case. God would have used Egypt mightily, even as He did Babylon and Persia. Every request that Moses made of the king was reasonable (Ex. 4:23; 5:1; 8:1, etc.); and the plagues brought upon Egypt were to show Pharaoh and his people that the gods in which they trusted were nothing. Note also that it was not till all hope was gone that God “hardened Pharaoh's heart” by withdrawing His Spirit. In Ex. 4:21 the Lord declares there will a time come that He will harden the king's heart, but this does not take place till all hope is past. Ex. 9:12. Previous to that (Ex. 7:13, 22), “Pharaoh's heart was strong” (Ex. 8:15, 32); “he made heavy his heart” (Ex. 8:19); “Pharaoh's heart was made strong” (Ex. 9:7; “was made heavy” (stubborn). (See A. R. V. and margin.) But when even the magicians could not stand before Moses, and the king was still stubborn against the Spirit of God, God withdrew His Spirit, and thus fulfilled what He had said. Ex. 9:12.