Signs of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 16. (4/17/1884)

Signs of the Times

Apr 17, 1884

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 17, 1884

General Articles.

By Ellen G. White

Important Duties in Home Life.

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

THE people of God are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. They should study the life of Christ, and his example and teaching should affect their life and character. They honor him by manifesting the fruits of the Spirit in their every-day life. If the doors of the house and heart are opened to Jesus, if he is welcomed as an honored guest, he will work for the family. The sweet influence of his presence will pervade the home, and check all impatience and selfishness. But many professed Christians drive Christ from their homes by an impatient, fretful spirit. Sometimes when fatigued by labor or oppressed with care, parents do not maintain a calm spirit, but manifest a lack of forbearance that displeases God, and brings a cloud over the family. Parents, when you feel fretful, you should not commit so great a sin as to poison the whole family with this dangerous irritability. At such times, set a double watch over yourselves, and resolve that none but pleasant, cheerful words shall escape your lips. By thus exercising self-control, you will grow stronger. Your nervous system will not be so sensitive.

The mother can and should do much toward controlling her nerves and mind when depressed; even when she is sick, she can, if she only schools herself, be pleasant and cheerful, and can bear more noise than she would ever have thought possible. She should not make her children feel her infirmities, and cloud their young, sensitive minds by her depression of spirits, making them feel that the mother's room is the most dismal place in the world. The mind and nerves gain tone and strength by the exercise of the will. The power of the will in many cases will prove a potent soother of the nerves. Jesus knows our infirmities, and has himself shared our experience in all things but in sin; therefore he has prepared for us a path suited to our strength and capacity.

Sometimes everything seems to go wrong in the family circle. There is fretfulness all around, and all seem very miserable and unhappy. The parents lay the blame upon their poor children, and think them very disobedient and unruly, the worst children in the world, when the cause of the disturbance is in themselves. God requires them to exercise self-control. They should realize that when they yield to impatience and fretfulness, they cause others to suffer. Those around them are affected by the spirit they manifest, and if they in their turn act out the same spirit, the evil is increased.

Instead of pleasantly asking their children to do what they wish done, parents often order them in a scolding tone, and at the same time administer a censure or a reproach which the children have not merited. Parents, this course pursued toward your children destroys their cheerfulness and their ambition to please you. They do your bidding, not from love, but because they dare not do otherwise. Their heart is not in the matter. It is drudgery instead of a pleasure, and this often leads them to forget to follow out all your directions, which increases your irritation; and makes it still worse for the children. The fault-finding is repeated, their bad conduct is arrayed before them in glowing colors, until they become discouraged, and are not particular whether they please or not. A spirit of "I don't care" seizes them; and they seek that pleasure and enjoyment away from home, away from their parents, which they do not find at home. They mingle with street company, and are soon as bad as the worst.

Upon whom rests this great sin? If home had been made attractive, if the parents had manifested affection for their children, if they had wisely sought innocent enjoyment for them, and taught them the lesson of cheerful obedience, they would have touched an answering chord in their young hearts, and willing feet and hands and hearts would have carried out their wishes. By speaking kindly to their children, and praising them when they try to do right, parents may encourage their efforts, make them very happy, and throw around the family circle a charm which will chase away every dark shadow, and bring cheerful sunlight in. Mutual kindness and forbearance will make home a paradise, and attract holy angels into the family circle; but they will flee from a house where there are unpleasant words, fretfulness, and strife. Unkindness, complaining, and anger shut Jesus from the dwelling.

Some parents fail to give their children a religious education, and also neglect their school education. Neither should be neglected. Children's minds will be active; and if they are not engaged in physical labor, or occupied with study, they will be exposed to evil influences. It is a sin for parents to allow their children to grow up in ignorance. They should supply them with useful and interesting books, and should teach them to have hours for labor and hours for study and reading. Parents should aim to elevate the minds of their children, and to improve their mental faculties. The mind left to itself, uncultivated, is generally low, sensual, and corrupt. Satan improves his opportunity, and educates idle minds.

Parents should faithfully instruct their children, not leaving them to gather up their education as best they can. They should not be suffered to learn good and evil indiscriminately, with the idea that at some future time the good will predominate, and the evil lose its influence. The evil will increase faster than the good. It is possible that the evil may be eradicated after many years; but who will venture this? Time is short. It is easier and much safer to sow clean and good seed in the hearts of your children, than to pluck up the weeds afterward. Parents should redouble their efforts for the salvation of their children. The reason why the youth of the present age are not more religiously inclined is that their education is defective. In the present state of things in society, it is no easy task for parents to restrain their children, and instruct them according to the Bible rule of right. When they would train their children in harmony with the precepts of the word of God, and, like Abraham of old, command their households after them, the children think their parents overcareful and unnecessarily exacting.

It is not the exercise of true love toward children that permits in them the indulgence of passion, or allows disobedience of parental authority to go unpunished. "Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined." Both parents should co-operate in the training, government, and education of their children. With firmness, not in a harsh manner, but with determined purpose, both should let their children know that they must obey. The father should not be like a child, moved merely by impulse. He is bound to his family by sacred, holy ties. He is the lawmaker, illustrating in his own manly bearing the sterner virtues,—energy, integrity, honesty, and industry. He is in one sense the priest of the household, laying upon the altar of God the morning and evening sacrifice, while the wife and children unite in prayer and praise. In such a household Jesus will love to tarry.

We can have the salvation of God in our families, but we must believe for it, live for it, and have a continual, abiding faith and trust in God. We must subdue a hasty temper, and control our words; and in so doing we shall gain great victories. Unless we control our words and temper, we are slaves to Satan. All jangling, and unpleasant, impatient, fretful words are an offering presented to his Satanic majesty. And it is a costly offering, more costly than any sacrifice we can make for God; for it destroys the peace and happiness of whole families, destroys health, and is eventually the cause of forfeiting an eternal life of happiness. The restraint which God's word imposes upon us is for our own interest. It increases the happiness of our families, and of all around us. It refines our taste, sanctifies our judgment, and brings peace of mind, and in the end, everlasting life. Under this holy restraint we shall increase in grace and humility, and it will become easy to speak right. The natural, passionate temper will be held in subjection. An indwelling Saviour

will strengthen us every hour. Ministering angels will linger in our dwellings, and with joy carry Heavenward the tidings of our advance in the divine life, and the recording angel will make a cheerful, happy record.

AT JESUS' FEET.

Oh, Son of man! Oh, Son of God! Whose precious feet the wine-press trod, I faint beneath the tempter's power, Be with me in the midnight hour! I know not how thy love can see Aught lovable or good in me. But thou art Christ, the crucified, And I believe "the Love that died!"

I know not by what charm divine Thou comfortest this heart of mine, But well I know that on thy breast My wearied spirit findeth rest. And so, toilworn, heartsick, and sore, I come to thee, when toil is o'er, And from thy Christ-love, pure and deep, Thou "givest thy beloved sleep."

Oh, Son of man! Oh, Son of God! Whose sacred feet life's ways have trod, Let all my life an offering be Of loving service wrought for thee! And if I sleep in some lone grave, This prayer of thee in faith I crave,— When angels sing thy glorious sway, And earth abashed doth melt away, Let the first whisper of thy name Make my dry ashes glow again! —Sel.

The Lost-Time Objection to the Sabbath.

By Editor

THERE is scarcely another subject in the Bible which is made so plain as that of the Sabbath,—the day of the Creator's rest, which he sanctified for man's observance. Nothing concerning it is left uncertain or obscure. Every declaration of the Scriptures on that subject, whether it regards the day selected, the work commemorated, the sanctifying or setting apart for observance, the commandment, or the honor which God bestowed upon it, all is unmistakable in its import, if we walk by the old Protestant rule: “The Bible, and the Bible alone.”

Notwithstanding it is made so plain in the Scriptures, there is no subject which is more controverted at the present time than that of the Sabbath; and, no matter what phase the controversy may assume, the real ground of contention is the day. Most people are willing to accept the Sabbath as an institution, if they can reserve to themselves the privilege of choosing the day. But that privilege is all that the most obdurately self-willed and rebellious could ask, because the day is the sum and substance of the institution. This is most clearly stated by Mr. Morton, in his “Vindication of the True Sabbath,” thus:—

“The only object, direct or indirect, of this commandment, is ‘the day.’ What are we commanded to remember? ‘The day.’ What are we required to keep holy? ‘The day.’ What did the Lord bless and hallow? ‘The day.’ In what are we forbidden to work? In ‘the day.’” This is strictly true; and therefore he who controls “the day” fully controls the institution, and really controls or gives direction to the commandment. And if an individual, or a people, a legislature, or all the world, assume to fix “the day” to be observed as the Sabbath, they make themselves judges, and not doers, of the law; a position not to be desired in the sight of the Lord. James 4:11.

But it often happens that people become convinced that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and they say they would keep it if they only knew which day it was. They seem to think that the day was somehow lost, that times and seasons have been so changed that no one can certainly tell which is the seventh day of the week. Before we give Bible facts bearing on this subject, we will present a few points which are well worthy of our consideration.

1. This query as to the identity of the day is never known to arise in a community while people are left undisturbed in the observance of Sunday. Everybody seems to be satisfied that Sunday is the first day of the week—the very day of the resurrection of Christ. The writer of these lines once talked over six hours with a minister who argued strenuously from the Scriptures that we ought to keep the first day of the week as “the Christian Sabbath.” But after every text on that subject had been thoroughly examined, and he saw that they did not contain the proof which he had supposed they contained, he turned abruptly and inquired, “How do you know which is the seventh day?” While contending for the first day not a doubt entered his mind; when he could not maintain the first day, he could not tell one day from another!

2. All scientific, chronological, and legal records regard Sunday as the first day of the week, and therefore, Saturday as the seventh day. All astronomical calculations recognize it as such. All the laws of the nations recognize it, and most of them make a legal holiday of Sunday under the name of “the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday.” See law of New York, and others. Some go farther and make its observance obligatory as a sacred day, under the same title.

3. Sunday is a name applied to the first day of the week in all histories, cyclopedias, and lexicons, the title of Sabbath, or name of Saturday, being uniformly given to the seventh day.

4. Sunday is called the first day of the week in all the standards and all the authorities of all the churches. There is not an exception to this statement.

5. Sunday was the name given to the first day of the week (dies solis, day of the sun) by the heathen before it was recognized as a day of observance by Christians. See Webster, and many other authorities.

6. All nations and all people, wherever a week of seven days is known, call Saturday the seventh day and Sunday the first day of the week. There is no exception on the whole earth.

7. And when doubts have been raised by interested or prejudiced persons, the very ablest men in the scientific and the theological world have vindicated the integrity of the common computation. For instance, Bishop Haven, in a work on the ten commandments, says there is no reason to be given why our seventh day of the week is not the original Sabbath day. And so must every one say who considers the nature and bearing of the facts we have stated.

8. To show the weakness of the objection, we once asked an intelligent member of the Baptist Church, who presented the query, to consider the matter carefully and tell us where he thought the day might have been changed, or how he thought it could have been changed. After consideration he confessed that he could not tell either! He could not imagine how it could have been done, or if done where or when it was done, for nobody knew anything about it.

9. As nobody knows that time has been lost, as there is no record or tradition of the change or loss of the reckoning of the days of the week, we say it is utterly impossible that such a loss should be sustained, or such a change made, and yet the whole world know nothing of it, and all remain in perfect agreement as to the beginning and ending of the week. For consider:—

a. If one member of a family forgets the day of the week, the others correct him. There may have been cases where a whole family forgot the day, but we never heard of such an instance.

b. If a whole family forgot the day their neighbors would certainly detect the error, when it came to their knowledge. We cannot even imagine the possibility of several families or a whole community losing the day, and the same day at the same time, and continue ignorant of their loss.

c. But, not only a community, but a whole State, a whole nation must lose a day at the same time, and ever remain ignorant of it.

d. And not only one nation, but every nation must drop out a day exactly at the same time, and none of them ever learn that they had made a mistake.

e. Moreover, every community and family and all scattered individuals of every nation on the earth must lose a day at the same time, and all remain ignorant of the loss.

f. To do this, all the inhabitants of the earth must have slept two nights and one entire day, all waking up the second day after they retired to rest, and all thinking it was only the next day after they retired! In this manner only could it be possible.

g. And, in that case, all the watchers with the sick, and all the mariners on the waters, must in like manner have slept, so that no “log” or reckoning could detect the mistake which had been made. Reader, do you believe a loss of a day or the change of the reckoning of the days of the week is possible, and nobody know anything about it? We can readily imagine how the recorded miracle in the days of Joshua could take place, but here is a miracle too great for our comprehension. And if a miracle, it was performed with no other object than to hide from man the sanctified Sabbath of the Creator!

And now if any one is willing to keep the seventh day if he knows which it is, will not all acknowledge that it is safe, with such an enormous preponderance of testimony, to keep the Saturday as the seventh day? Can any one conscientiously overlook such overwhelming evidence, and choose the side for which even a supposition is not reasonably admissible?

Now let us examine the Bible record and see what it teaches. For convenience we will consider the history of the world divided into three periods: 1. From creation to Moses. 2. From Moses to Christ. 3. From Christ to the present time.

1. When the Sabbath was made there was but one computation of time in the history of the world; that was the week of seven days. No other origin of the week can be given than that given in the first two chapters of Genesis. It was the week as counted by Jehovah, for man had then existed only a fraction of a week. The Sabbath was not counted as the seventh day of the month, or the seventh day of the year. It was not a day of rest coming every thirtieth day, or every three hundred and sixty-fifth day, but every seventh day. It stood related as to time only to the six days which preceded it. And these had no days preceding them. They date from “the beginning.”

And it was not man's Sabbath, man's rest, because it did not commemorate man's work. It was the Sabbath of the Lord God. He rested upon that day “from all his work which God created and made.” It was founded on the work and the choice of God alone.

“And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.” This word bless signifies to praise or exalt as well as to prosper. It indicates the delight which God took in his work and its memorial (Comp. Ex. 31:17), and the honor which he bestowed upon it. To sanctify means “to set apart to a sacred use.” God separated it from the other days, reserving it for himself, to his glory, not to be used by man for his work, as were the other six. Of course he could not have sanctified it or set it apart, separated it from the other days, guarded it from desecration by common use, without giving Adam definite information as to how he was to regard it, how he should and how he should not use it. Comp. Ex. 19:12, 23, etc.

Genesis is a book of history, not of law. It gives valuable information concerning law and obligation, but only historically. That book shows that time was reckoned by weeks in the days of the patriarchs. Notice a few instances.

Just before the flood, God said to Noah, “For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth.” Gen. 7:4. Of Noah, it is said: “And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark.” Gen. 8:10. And again, “And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove.” Verse 12. Laban said to Jacob: “Fulfill her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week.” Gen. 29:27, 28. These quotations, and more that might be made, show that the week, composed of seven days, was known and observed by the patriarchs both before and after the flood. Hence, it is strong proof that they had the Sabbath, and observed it. Of the antiquity of the week and the Sabbath among all nations, Gilfillan, in his large book on “The Sabbath,” published by the American Tract Society, says:—

“Let it suffice, however, in a matter on which there is so general an agreement, to

present the words of four eminent authors: ‘The septenary arrangement of the days,’ says Scaliger, ‘was in use among the orientals from the remotest antiquity.’ ‘We have reason to believe,’ observes President De Goguet, ‘that the institution of that short period of seven days, called a week, was the first step taken by mankind in dividing and measuring their time. We find, from time immemorial, the use of this period among all nations, without any variation in the form of it. The Israelites, Assyrians, Egyptians, Indians, Arabians, and, in a word, all the nations of the East, have in all ages made use of a week, consisting of seven days. We find the same custom among the ancient Romans, Gauls, Britons, Germans, the nations of the North, and of America.’ According to Laplace, ‘the week is perhaps the most ancient and incontestable monument of human knowledge.’ It would appear that the Chinese, who have now no Sabbath, at one time honored the seventh day of the week.”—Pages 364, 365.

The only error in the above is ascribing this measurement of time to man. It was appointed directly by the Creator.

All these ancient nations, being descendants of Noah and his sons, must have received the Sabbath by tradition from them. That the Sabbath would not be lost from Adam to Abraham is manifest when we consider that Adam lived and conversed with Methuselah for 243 years; Methuselah lived cotemporary with Shem about 100 years; and Shem lived 148 years after Abraham was born.

The lives of these three men span the whole time from Eden even to the old age of Abraham. How easy and natural for them to hand down the Sabbath from father to son, without any probability or even possibility of losing it. EDITOR.

(To be concluded.)

Opposition to the Truth.

By R. F. Cottrell

HAD the truth always been obeyed, earth had still remained in Eden. But the truth has been transgressed and opposed; hence the great controversy between truth and falsehood. The first to leave the truth was Satan; angels and men have followed his example. Jesus said to the unbelieving Pharisees, "Ye are of your father, the devil; and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth." John 8:44. To say that he abode not, or remained not, in the truth, is an acknowledgment that he was once in the truth. Pride and exaltation caused him to leave the truth by the transgression of the law of God, and in the beginning of our world he became the murderer of our race by leading man into sin, the wages of which is death. He was the first to leave the truth—to break God's law—and for this reason the everlasting fire, into which the wicked will be driven, is "prepared for the devil and his angels."

Since sin entered, opposition to the truth has raged. The ancient pagans turned the truth of God into a lie by worshiping the creature instead of the Creator. Rom. 1:25. But the great apostasy of the present dispensation, "the man of sin," or "the lawless one," has outdone all in exalting himself above God, and casting down his truth and trampling it in the dust. 2 Thess. 2. Daniel was forewarned of the arrogant and blasphemous work of this great abomination of desolation in the following words: "And an host was given him against the daily by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practiced and prospered." Dan. 8:12. "And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws." Dan. 7:25. The law of God is the truth. Hence to think to change his times and laws is precisely equivalent to casting the truth to the ground.

And this opposition to the truth is not all in the past, but will continue to the end. Amid the perils of the last days, the apostate church, those who still have a form of godliness, will be, as the apostle says, "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth;" but on the contrary, they will "resist the truth;" as did Jannes and Jambres. See 2 Tim. 3:1-8. Hence Paul most solemnly charges the gospel minister "before God and the Lord Jesus Christ," and in view of the approach of the Judgment of the living and the dead, to "preach the word," the word of God, which is truth, and assigned the following reason: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2 Tim. 4:3, 4. And any one who will carefully read Isa. 59 will see that when the day of vengeance comes upon the last generation of earth, it will come because "truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." "Yea," says the prophet, "truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey." To depart from evil is to leave off sin, which is the transgression of the law. Hence we learn that the evil doer, that "hateth the light," will be arrayed against, and strive to devour like a beast of prey, him that shall venture to do the truth. The Lord seeing it will be displeased and will "put on the garments of vengeance for clothing," and repay fury to his adversaries."

But the "Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob." Here is described the final conflict between truth and error. It is described in Rev. 12:17: "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." But the doers of the truth shall be the victors; they shall stand on the Mount Zion, with the Lamb, and shall sing the song of deliverance on the sea of glass, when the judgments of God shall have been made manifest against their persecutors, as the host of the Egyptians were swallowed up in the Red Sea. Rev. 14:1; 15:2-4. R. F. COTTRELL.

I Have Not the Will.

By Epsilon

If people were generally frank, we would often hear them speak the plain truth and say, "I have not the will," instead of making lame excuses, or offering arguments for not doing a clearly-defined duty. It is a weakness of poor, fallen man to try to conceal the real cause of neglected duty by framing excuses, and inventing cunning arguments. Our Saviour sets forth this human weakness in the parable beginning at Luke 14:16. One could not attend the feast because he had bought a piece of ground, and must go to see it. Another had bought five yoke of oxen, and must go to prove them. Another had married a wife, and could not come. The Master, on hearing of these excuses, was angry; because he knew that their love of other things was the cause of their disrespect to him. He also knew that frankness would have caused them to speak the plain truth and say, "I have not the will."

The following incident is brought to mind by reading the poem, "Over the hill to the Poorhouse." An aged woman had spent her better days in toiling for her ungrateful children. Her two sons lived in a distant land, in comfortable homes, and neighbors to each other. The news came that their mother would go to the poorhouse, unless otherwise provided for. When one of the sons heard the news, he said, "I would send for my mother and have her live with me, but this climate is too cold for her."

When the news reached the other son, he said, "I would send for my mother and have her live with me, but the climate is too hot for her."

The Lord spoke plainly with his own voice, wrote distinctly with his own finger, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God;" but men have written out many conflicting theories in order to set aside this plain scripture. All the wise (?) men that have ever trodden the earth are not able to remove the stubborn fact that "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Self-willed opposers would save a great deal of time and paper, if they would only be truthful enough to say, "I do not keep holy the seventh day because I have not the will." Epsilon.

The Fool Hath Said

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Ps. 14:1.

Counterfeits.

1. We are acquainted with nothing valuable which has not its counterfeits. We might offer a reward to any one who would point us to an exception. We know that all the virtues, and all the correct sentiments or doctrines, together with every excellent trait of character or lovely grace, may be counterfeited; therefore piety, or true religion, cannot be made a solitary exception, for it is made up of correct principles, lovely doctrines, and lovely graces or traits of character. If any religion should actually point us to a life which would not close, and to pleasures without a defect, I should call it more valuable than much wealth.

2. The counterfeit often appears, to the incompetent, brighter and more captivating than the genuine original.

3. We are called upon to struggle for qualifications to decide, and to aim after superior judgment, in proportion as our interest is threatened, and in accordance with the value of the thing presented. No one can become skilled in any branch of useful knowledge, without thought, industry, and research. The acquisition of that which is most valuable, generally calls for most toil. The same benevolence which gave iron for our use, planned that we should dig it from the hills. The same kindness which formed the grains for our table, determined that we should rake the fields in the sun, before our bodies were thus nourished. To judge ably of things exceedingly valuable is worth uncommon industry.

4. Men never complain of anything being liable to counterfeit pretensions, religion excepted; and they never complain of the necessity of their exertions to qualify themselves for judging between truth and falsehood in any case but in that of religious truth.

5. Men never say that because it is difficult to tell false gold or silver from the genuine coin, therefore they will cast all away; though thousands and millions are poor judges in such cases, from want of attention.

6. Men do not say that there is no such thing as honor, or probity, or modesty, or benevolence, or sensibility, because such things may be skillfully counterfeited, so as to call for judgment and experience to detect the falsehood.

7. We might make out a very pathetic case, of thousands of the youthful and inexperienced who had little opportunity to become judicious, and were liable to imposition every hour, and in connection with every coin and every character which could be named. We might say that we did not believe that our Creator would leave these unskillful creatures of his to be liable to the loss of every earthly blessing every hour, and even to the loss of that life which his own kind hand had bestowed. We might declaim with marvelous wisdom, and apparent sensibility, yet it would not alter the case in any respect; he has made the millions around us as we see them exposed, and calls to them for action.—Nelson on Infidelity.

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