Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · Jan 10, 1900
LIGHT REJECTED.
By Ellen G. White
A Deceived People—Christ's Work—Dangerous Error Now—Cause of Deception.
CHRIST came to a people who were deceived and deluded by the demon of ambition. At that time they were under the Roman yoke, but they expected One to come who would establish a kingdom from which would be excluded every other people on the earth. He was to break the heathen yoke, to lift up His people, and set them with princes. All nations were to be summoned to appear before the One sent by God, and there called upon to surrender themselves or be consumed.
Prophets were continually arising and claiming to have special messages to this effect. Judah was to be honored as the place of power and glory. The kingdoms of the world and the riches of the Gentiles were to be placed at their feet, and they were to be exalted as priests and kings unto God. Those who did not believe in these great things for the Jewish nation were pronounced infidels. If their prayers did not abound in these glowing expectations, they were treated as worse than useless.
This was Satan's masterly working. He controlled their minds and kept them in a state of constant excitement as to who should be greatest in this imaginary kingdom about to be set up on the earth. Poor deluded souls! Satan was deceiving them, and they were receiving his false representations. He was actively seeking to counterwork the work of Christ as foretold by the unerring Word of prophecy. The simplicity of His mission and the character of His work were altogether different from that which the Jews had anticipated. It was in perfect harmony with the prophecies, but not in harmony with the prophecies as they had read them in the light of false and delusive hopes. The people were so infatuated by the falsehoods of Satan that their minds were wholly unprepared for the real Christ.
Christ's Work
was to set before men the character of His kingdom, showing that names and positions and titles are nothing, but that pure virtue and a holy character is accounted as everything in the sight of heaven. In His sermon on the mount, the very first sentences that came from His lips were calculated to lay those ambitions low in the dust. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," He said, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
This whole sermon was an exposition of the law. Christ presented the far-reaching claims of the law of God. He tried to correct their high imaginings by exalting true sentiments, and proclaiming a blessing upon those traits of character that were entirely opposite to the attributes they were cherishing. He presented before them a kingdom where human ambitions and earthly passions can not find entrance.
Christ saw that Israel, who had been highly favored in having had committed to them the oracles of God, were misinterpreting the Scriptures to meet their own best condition. Their teaching was no more the Word of God, but the sayings of men; they were making of none effect the commandment of God by their tradition. They were working away from the high and holy standards given them in the Word of God, and were meeting a human standard. Christ's work was to strip away these false theories, and by His own life reveal the character of God, that He might lift souls who were perishing in ignorance of true godliness into a pure and holy atmosphere.
Dangerous Error Now.
Those who are making void the law of God in this age are under a deception fully as dangerous as were the Jews. They depreciate the Old Testament Scriptures and exalt the New. The New Testament presents the same standard of righteousness as the Old. It is the key to the Old. Abel was a Christian; he died for Christ because he acknowledged Him in the blood of the slain lamb. Noah was a Christian. He unflinchingly endured the test of his faith. He was righteous in his day, and is called a "preacher of righteousness." Christ was the Way for the antediluvian church; He was the Way for the patriarchs, for the prophets, and He is the Way for the Christian church to-day. Christ is brought to view in the Old Testament Scriptures as a personal Saviour. And the same Christ who was the Way in the Old Testament Scriptures declares in the New, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
John the Baptist had prepared the way for Christ, urging upon all repentance and confession of sin. In Galilee Christ followed the preaching of John with the message, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." In the synagog of Nazareth He announced His mission, saying: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
As He spoke, the Spirit of God impressed the minds and hearts of His hearers. A thrilling power from God attended His Word, and they witnessed to the glorious words that proceeded out of His lips. But Satan began to insinuate his questioning doubts: "Who is this man? Is not this Joseph's son?" Jesus had laid before this people their true position, and this had infuriated the hearts already filled with unbelief and prejudice. They would not hear from His lips the truth in regard to their condition, and they thrust Him out of the synagog. And they would have cast Him headlong over a precipice, had not angels come to His assistance, and led Him away to a place of safety. How quickly, when unbelief enters
Why Deceived.
men become self-deceived. They rejected the teachings of Christ because He exposed the teachings of their hearts, and reproved their sins. They would not come to the Light, fearing that their deeds would be reproved. They chose darkness rather than light. "This is the condemnation," said Christ, "that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." The Jews pursued their course of rejecting Christ, until, in their self-deceived, deluded state, they thought that in crucifying Him they were doing God service. This was the result of their refusing light. God does not compel any man to believe. He sets light before men, and Satan presents his darkness. While the deceiver is constantly crying, "Light is here; truth is here," Jesus is saying: "I am the Truth, I am the Way; I have the words of eternal life. If any man follow Me, he shall not walk in darkness." God gives to us all evidence sufficient to balance our faith on the side of truth. If we surrender to God, we shall choose the light and reject the darkness. If we desire to maintain the independence of the natural heart, and refuse the correction of God, we shall, as did the Jews, stubbornly carry out our purposes and our ideas in the face of the plainest evidence, and shall be in danger of as great deception as came upon them. And in our blind infatuation we may go to as great lengths as they did, and yet flatter ourselves that we are doing work for God.
MRS. E. G. WHITE.
DESTRUCTION OF THE WICKED.
By William Penniman
It "Leads to Infidelity."
CERTAINLY those who use this objection must be hard pressed. We shall prove that the infidelity is on the other side of the question.
A noted revivalist, in depicting the horrors of the damned, said that after the sinner had wailed for millions and millions of years in hell, he would lift up his eyes and behold the pendulum of the great clock of eternity beating backward and forward eternity after eternity.
Benson says:—
God will exert all the power of His omnipotent wrath to make the sinner as wretched in hell as he is capable of being.3
Pres. Charles G. Finney, of Oberlin, said:—
The laws of progress can not be arrested by any amount of sinning. . . . What follows from these established laws of the human mind and of human existence? Let your reflections trace out the fearful results which will occur from the laws of eternal progression. . . . O, look upon that sinner after he has passed along through millions of ages of his everlasting progression in knowledge and growing capacities for sin and suffering. Hear him; he says hell knew but little of sin and suffering when I came here compared with what I suffer now. Alas, I seem to have all hell in my own bosom. I sin and suffer enough with my vastly augmented powers to make an awful hell even if these agonies were equally distributed among myriads of my fellow beings. How awful! Sin, misery, and ruin enough to make one awful hell locked up in the bosom of a single sinner. . . . No form of estimate can reach its appalling magnitude.
The sinner is represented, after he has passed on beyond these millions of ages, as saying:—
My miseries have only begun. This soul of mine has only begun to know how to suffer the real sufferings of the damned. Its keen sensitiveness to agony has only begun to develop itself.
Yet in the flow of endless years of progression in sorrow, each one will say:—
If all the universe at the moment of my death had taxed their minds to the utmost to conceive the gulf and miseries that wrung my heart, they could not have even begun to reach the appalling estimate.
According to this horrible and blasphemous doctrine sin and suffering will eternally increase.
Another theologian teaches that the happiness of the righteous, as they look over the battlements of heaven into the gulf of despair and behold the suffering of the wicked, will be increased.
It is no wonder that Rev. Sylvanus Cobb (Universalist) said he was "willing to forego that amount of pleasure."
To prove how the infidelity comes in, listen to a plain writer on this subject:—
Robert Owen, his son Robert Dale, Paine, Carlisle, Taylor, Francis Wright, and nearly all their coadjutors in Europe and America, were nurtured in the faith of the endless misery of the lost, and what but that horrible doctrine, and the erroneous supposition that the Bible teaches it, led them to reject the whole of Christianity. Robert Dale Owen says that he was brought up a Presbyterian of the strictest sect, and that the doctrine of the endless punishment [as it is taught in the catechism] was the first thing that staggered his young credulity.
It is related of Lord Shaftsbury that on asking Bishop Burnett if the doctrine of endless torment was actually taught in the Bible, and being answered in the affirmative, he immediately replied:—
I can not embrace a system which inculcates a doctrine so utterly opposed to all particulars of the character of the merciful Ruler of the universe.
Many good and benevolent minds have come to the same determination.
Taking it for granted from the testimony of religious teachers that the Bible teaches the detestable and terrible doctrine of endless sin and woe, they at once reject the whole as entirely unworthy of a God of benevolence and wisdom.
Let Christianity be stripped of all heathen dogmas, and all doctrines of human invention, and especially of the God-dishonoring and soul-withering system of endless sin and suffering which is no part of revelation, but stands directly opposed to the Bible, and let the Gospel be presented to man in its purity and divinity as a system worthy of a God of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, and it will and must prevail.
A doctrine which so plainly conflicts with the justice, mercy, and goodness of God can not but work evil.
It has been, and may be said by some that they would rather exist forever in torment than to cease to live. Such do not realize what they are talking about; for how often do some pray for death to end their suffering in this life. Then what will it be where the suffering is so much greater that it can not be compared to the sufferings of this life and also "eternally increase"?
The Lord in great mercy, after one has suffered according to his deeds, ends the life.
Let us then thank the Lord that "justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne; mercy and truth shall go before Thy face." Ps. 89:14.
The Fountain of Life
Jesus, himself becomes a fountain of life and refreshing to other weary, thirsty ones. "And thou shalt be like . . . a spring of water whose waters fail not." Isa. 58: 11. Blessed promises, cleansings, refreshings of life! And, praise God, it is all forever; from His eternal throne to all parts of a regenerated earth flow the pure crystal waters of the River of Life. In that land there is no decay or death. In that land men do not count time by generations. In that land will never be written Ichabod. In that land the glory of God fills the earth as the waves fill the sea. To that eternal Fountain now, and to the land in a little while, the eternal God invites you, sinner. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters."
Why Deceived.
A SERIOUS MISTAKE.
By Alonzo Trevier Jones
[By A. T. Jones, in Review and Herald]
THERE is a serious and very bothersome mistake which is made by many persons.
That mistake is made in thinking that when they are converted, their old sinful flesh is blotted out.
In other words, they make the mistake of thinking that they are to be delivered from the flesh by having it taken away from them altogether.
Then, when they find that this is not so, when they find that the same old flesh, with its inclinations, its besetments, and its enticements, is still there, they are not prepared for it, and so become discouraged, and are ready to think that they never were converted at all.
And yet, if they would think a little, they ought to be able to see that that is all a mistake. Did you not have exactly the same body after you were converted that you had before? Was not that body composed of exactly the same material—the same flesh and bones and blood—after you were converted as that of which it was composed before? To these questions everybody will promptly say, “Yes.” And plainly that is the truth.
And now there are further questions: Was not that flesh also of exactly the same quality as before? Was it not still human flesh, natural flesh, as certainly as it was before? To this also everybody will say, “Yes.”
Then, also, a still further question: It being the same flesh, and of the same quality,—it still being human flesh, natural flesh,—is it not also just as certainly sinful flesh as it was before?
Just here is where creeps in the mistake of these many persons. To this last question they are inclined to think that the answer should be, “No,” when it must be only a decided, “Yes.” And this decided “yes” must be maintained so long as we continue in this natural body.
And when it is decided and constantly maintained that the flesh of the converted person is still sinful flesh, and only sinful flesh, he is so thoroughly convinced that in his flesh dwells no good thing that he will never allow a shadow of confidence in the flesh. And this being so, his sole dependence is upon something other than the flesh, even upon the Holy Spirit of God; his source of strength and hope is altogether exclusive of the flesh, even in Jesus Christ only. And being everlastingly watchful, suspicious, and thoroughly distrustful of the flesh, he never can expect any good thing from that source, and so is prepared by the power of God to beat back and crush down without mercy every impulse or suggestion that may arise from it, and so does not fail, does not become discouraged, but goes on from victory to victory and from strength to strength.
Conversion, then, you see, does not put new flesh upon the old spirit, but a new Spirit within the old flesh. It does not propose to bring new flesh to the old mind, but a new mind to the old flesh. Deliverance and victory are not gained by having the human nature taken away, but by receiving the divine nature to subdue and have dominion over the human,—not by the taking away of the sinful flesh, but by the sending in of the sinless Spirit to conquer and condemn sin in the flesh.
The scripture does not say, Let this flesh be upon you, which was also upon Christ; but it does say, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 2:5.
The scripture does not say, Be ye transformed by the renewing of your flesh, but it does say, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Rom. 12:2. We shall be translated by the renewing of our flesh; but we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
The Lord Jesus took the same flesh and blood, the same human nature, that we have,—flesh just like our sinful flesh,—and because of sin, and by the power of the Spirit of God through the divine mind that was in Him, “condemned sin in the flesh.” Rom. 8:3. And therein is our deliverance (Rom. 7:25), therein is our victory. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” “A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.”
Do not be discouraged at sight of sinfulness in the flesh. It is only in the light of the Spirit of God, and by the discernment of the mind of Christ, that you can see so much sinfulness in your flesh; and the more sinfulness you see in your flesh, the more of the Spirit of God you certainly have. This is a sure test. Then when you see sinfulness abundant in you, thank the Lord that you have so much of the Spirit of God that you can see so much of the sinfulness; and know of a surety that when sinfulness abounds, grace much more abounds, in order that “as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
BRING THAT GLAD DAY.
By Mrs. M. L. O'Reilly
How swiftly the days are all passing away,
With their burden of sorrow and tears;
With your hours of pain, of death, and decay—
O, hasten, ye swift-rolling years!
Fly onward, speed ever,
Bring that glad day
Where there'll be no more fears,
Neither crying nor tears,
For Jesus will wipe them away.
Hasten onward, sad years, O, quickly depart
With your freightage of anguish and woe;
With your weeping, your sorrow, and sad broken
hearts,
We pray ye, roll on, quickly go!
Fly onward, speed ever,
Bring that glad day
Where there'll be no more fears,
Neither crying nor tears,
For Jesus will wipe them away.
Onaway, Mich. MRS. M. L. O'REILLY.
CATHOLICISM IN NORWAY.
At the beginning of the present century there was not a single Catholic in Norway. To-day the Catholic Church has more liberty and a better status than in any other country in Europe. Since 1890 the appointment to all ecclesiastical posts is left entirely to the church herself; the Catholic priest is the civil officer for the Catholics of the district; the Catholic marriage ceremony has legal force; the liberty of the public is guaranteed; Catholic processions are escorted by the police with great pomp, and at the solemnity of Corpus Christi the Lutherans actually go to the length of presenting flowers for the decoration of the altars.—Catholic Mirror.
THE SANCTUARY AND THE JUDGMENT.
By Uriah Smith
The Investigative Judgment—Extent of Judgment—An Appointed Day—The Condition of the Dead—The Heavenly Record.
THE cleansing of the sanctuary is a specific, and definitely located event. It occupies a comparatively brief period of time. It is the last work of Christ for the world, in His sublime office of priest and mediator. From the examination of the subject thus far, we have seen what the nature of the sanctuary work is; it is a work of judgment; for it is to decide character and determine destiny. It involves the examination of the books of record, in which the deeds of men are entered, and for which they are to be judged. The prophet Daniel, in his description of the opening of the concluding scene of the sanctuary work, uses these solemn words: "The judgment was set, and the books were opened." Dan. 7:10. For what purpose the books are opened, in connection with the judgment, John plainly tells us, when he says: "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."
But some one may say that this describes a scene that takes place at the end of the thousand years, and not anything connected with the cleansing of the sanctuary, and therefore can not describe the nature of that work. True, John speaks of events occurring at the end of the thousand years; but it is at once evident that he is describing a scene of the very same nature as that of Dan. 7:10; for they both pertain to a work of judgment; and in both "books are opened" when the judgment is set. John is a little more definite, and tells why books are used. It is because men are to be judged according to their works; and the books are the only place where the records are to be found. So, altho John refers to the judgment at the end of the thousand years, the judgment spoken of by Daniel, just before the coming of Christ, during the cleansing of the sanctuary, must proceed on the same lines, and be accomplished by the same means, involving the same course of procedure in both cases. We speak now of the judicial, not of the executive part of the work.
The Extent of the Judgment.
Thus it appears that in the investigative judgment, the record of our lives must be examined; and by the things written in the books, our acceptance or rejection by the Lord Jesus must be determined. We are to be judged for our sins; but our sins are our deeds, either in thoughts, words, or actions. These facts and references show how wide a space, or how long a period, the judgment covers. It begins with the sanctuary cleansing of Dan. 7:9, 10, spans the examination of the cases of the wicked, during the thousand years, and includes the execution of the sentence in their cases at the close of that period, with all the time occupied therein. Rev. 20:11-13. And all this work, whether that in which we are involved now, or that which is to come, belongs to that great whole of judgment work, to which Paul refers when he says: "Because He [God] hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." Acts 17:31.
This event, the cleansing of the sanctuary, is of sufficient importance to be made a subject of prophecy, and was foretold nearly 1,400 years before the time of its commencement. The reader will at once perceive the bearing of this fact upon one of the tremendous dogmas of the Christian church. We call it tremendous, because of its wide dissemination, and because of the baleful progeny of error which it has brought forth. That dogma is, that all men, as they pass from this state of existence, enter at once into the presence of God, and are immediately judged, and are then assigned to their eternal condition, for weal or woe. And this view springs from several other heresies which lie interwoven back of it: (1) That every person possesses a something, entirely separate from, and independent of, his bodily organism, ever and always conscious and intelligent, called the soul; (2) that this soul is endowed with such vitality, that God Himself can not, or will not, destroy it; (3) that it is therefore immortal, and, not being dependent upon the body is not affected by any change which the body may undergo, and hence lives right on when the body dies; (4) that it is this soul which is said to return to God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7); and that it can go there for no other purpose but to be judged and sentenced to its final doom.
On this view, the judgment has been in operation ever since men began to die; and the "day" which God hath appointed, in which to judge the world, spans the whole period of human history. With such a view the testimony of the Scriptures becomes a tissue of ambiguity and confusion. But the subject of the sanctuary corrects all this, by limiting the judgment to a certain time, and making it a definite chronological event, located at the close of human probation. Then, if men are not judged till a certain time, as the sanctuary teaches, what about their condition previous to that judgment?
The Condition of the Dead.
In the light of the foregoing fact, it is certain that no intelligent part of mankind can then return to God; for God does not receive His people to Himself in that condition. A passage from both Peter and Jude explains the condition of those who are waiting for judgment: Peter—"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." 2 Pet. 2:9. Jude—"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude 6. Then if the wicked are not alive, and are reserved, what condition are they in during this detention? Many scriptures testify on this point. David says: "Put not your trust in princes [the most favored class among men], nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Solomon testifies in a similar strain: "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything." "There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Of the dead, he further says: "Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." Eccl. 9:5, 10, 6.
The Scriptures abound in proofs that in death no consciousness is to be found, and no physical, mental, nor moral processes are possible; and thus the dead, their life record closed, are reserved to the day of final settlement, when the records will be examined, and sentence rendered, according to their works, in such a manner, and to such a degree, as will be satisfactory to all the onlookers in the universe, and to accord with their divinely-implanted sense of justice in the matter.
The thought may, however, occur to some that the scenes of judgment described by Daniel and John, would be consistent enough, if understood as pertaining to the living; but the myriads of those to be judged, are yet in their graves, and how can their cases be managed?—Equally well; for the record of their lives in "the books" will furnish all the data which will, in any case, be taken into account, so far as the preliminary examination, and the making up of the sentences in their cases is concerned; and to allay all questionings on this point, the Scriptures plainly state that the dead, calling them by that name, are to be judged, and that they are judged while they are dead; for they do virtually live by their records, in the presence of those who conduct the examination, and make up the sentence, while their cases are in review. So John says, "And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books."
And still another query may arise in some minds: Does not Paul say that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ? and does not this imply that all will be living when judgment is rendered? Undoubtedly this statement in 2 Cor. 5:10 is to be understood as affirming that all will sometime appear before the judgment seat of Christ, in a living conscious condition; and the Scriptures make ample provision for just this event. It will be noticed that the passage adds, "that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." This states the purpose for which all stand at that judgment seat; and it shows that it is the executive judgment that is here referred to; and in the execution of the judgment, all the parties will, in a state of life and consciousness, receive the awards made out from an examination of the things written in the books; and this examination can be had, and the sentences formulated, while the parties are still in their graves. In no other way can the "dead" be judged. And the carrying out of the sentences written, is by means of, and beyond the time of, the resurrection of the dead; and all will then be alive. It is so with the righteous when Christ appears.5
First, there is the investigative judgment on their cases, which we are now having; then, secondly, there is the carrying out of the decisions made, when Christ comes, and the crown of immortality is placed upon the heads of the overcomers. Just the same steps are followed in the cases of the wicked. They being left in their graves at the time of the first resurrection are judged by an investigative judgment in their cases, during the thousand years while they are in their graves, when the saints sit on thrones of judgment and reign with Christ. Rev. 20:13. After a thousand years, the wicked live again, and in that condition receive their punishment. Here the awards are made to the wicked; and this is the time when the saints judge wicked men of the world and angels. 1 Cor. 6:2, 3.
Let it be granted that the views here set forth upon the sanctuary question are correct, and all the queries spoken of in regard to the nature of man, the unconscious state of the dead, and the nature, time, and manner of the judgment, are forever settled.
Respecting the judgment, a word more may be added. No other view but the one here set forth, relieves it, in connection with the doctrine of the conscious state of the dead, of insuperable embarrassment. The Scriptures, aside from the sanctuary argument, clearly teach that there is to be a general judgment in the future, at which time such awards shall be meted out to every one, as shall accord with the records of his deeds. But if every one remains conscious in death, and is immediately judged and assigned to his eternal doom when he passes from this life, what reason could possibly exist for a general judgment in the future, to re-examine these cases, and render a new decision? The whole transaction would then indicate the possibility that a mistake had been made in the first case, and that the whole matter should be retried. The farce of the Dreyfus trial would be nothing in comparison with this. And in this case, the uncertainty of the future! For if a mistake could once be made in the sentence rendered, what assurance could there be that a mistake would not be made in the second trial, and some poor soul who by repentance and conversion would be entitled to the bliss of heaven, be sentenced, by such dire mistake, to the damnation of hell? The thought, tho legitimate from the standpoint of the wide-spread and popular dogma of natural immortality and consciousness in death, borders too hard on blasphemy to be dwelt upon.
A right understanding of the subject of the sanctuary would eliminate all danger of being drawn into such a predicament, and subjected to the embarrassment of such a hypothesis; besides, this sanctuary light furnishes a key to many apartments in the temple of truth, the importance and beauty of which are too largely liable, otherwise, to be overlooked.