Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 28, 1894
The Sinner’s Plea—Our Plea
By Editor
The Jesus of Nazareth of eighteen centuries ago is of no help to us now if he is no more than that. What he wants to be to every soul is a precious living Saviour, now present with us. “They shall call his name Emanuel, . . . God with us.” It was for this that Jesus Christ took upon himself the form of man. It was for this he died. In his human nature he comes down to the lowest state of sinful man; in his divine nature he is one with the Father of glory. He comes down to us that he may lift us up to God. The real question with us is, Will we let him do it?
The Australian Age seems to believe in the sacredness of “Good Friday,” but not in its enforced observance. In speaking of this it says:—
We need hardly say that the sacredness of Good Friday in the eyes of the Roman Catholic or member of the Church of England will not be and ought not to be in any way abated because the State declines to enforce its observance. The churchman will be bound by his conscience in this as in other religious observances, and probably all the more strongly because of the operation of the law of liberty.
And this is the proper spirit. But where can we find a religious paper which would take such reasonable ground? The world is more tolerant than the church. Is there not danger that it be said to the professed people of God in these days as was said to the Jews of old, “The publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you”?
The Sinner’s Plea—Our Plea.
The eighty-sixth psalm is an inspired prayer of the needy. The first verse expresses the sense of humility,—“Bow down thine ear, O Lord,”—and also the sense of need which should be realized by everyone who seeks God—“for I am poor and needy.” Our need is the necessity of our plea, and it includes all things, for has not the Lord told us that we are poor and naked and blind and wretched, sick from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, stricken through and through with the leprosy of sin? This is the condition of the race, our condition, as diagnosed by the great Physician. May we sense our need.
“Be Merciful.”
The sinner needs mercy. The transgressor needs pardon. “All have sinned” against God; he only can pardon, and he has invited all to “come boldly,” that we “may obtain mercy,” that we may secure pardon. He has not bidden us to come that we may not find. He has not bidden us hope that he may disappoint. He does not mock his children. He has left the prayer on record, that the humble may pray it, and be glad; that the poor and needy may know that God will listen and hear, that he will be merciful, and will “rejoice the soul.”
“Thou Lord Art Good.”
God’s goodness is his glory. The poet has truly said:—
“Heaven and earth are witnesses
That thy glory goodness is.”
And God has declared this very thing. Moses in the longing of his heart thus pleads with God in an hour of sore anguish: “I beseech thee, show me thy glory.” And the Lord replies: “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord [that which expresses his character] before thee.” This promise the Lord fulfilled: “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth; keeping mercy to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgressions, and sin, and acquitting even him who is not innocent.”—Boothroyd’s translation. This is God’s character; this is what his Name means; this is the infinite sum of his goodness, of all goodness. God’s goodness is the basis of the sinner’s hope. God is good, and only good; there is no evil in him; and “no good thing will be withheld from them” that walk uprightly. “The Lord is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works.” What he desires is that men shall know his “good and perfect will.” He invites all, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” Why will not men partake of God’s goodness? Man’s “goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.” God’s goodness is eternal, and it may be obtained by believing God. Truly says the Psalmist, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Taste now; “eat ye that which is good.” His goodness is our hope, our life, our all.
“Ready to Forgive.”
God is ready to forgive, because he is good. How many will believe in the disposition of good men and women to forgive wrongs and trespasses, but are afraid to trust God! But all of the mercy which men possess comes from God. God is merciful; this is the meaning of his name. He will not only forgive, but he longs to forgive. He pleads with the worst sinner, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” As expressed in our psalm under consideration, “God is ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy.” However great our sin, there is plenty of mercy in God to cover it all. God keeps mercy for that purpose. He not only keeps mercy, but he “delighteth in mercy.” It is free to all, and God is pleased with all who hope in his mercy. Oh, come, taste of God’s goodness, trust his mercy! He waits to be gracious to everyone.
THE REASON OF LAWLESSNESS.
BLIND indeed is he to the light of prophecy who cannot see in these labor troubles and industrial movements the beginnings of the fulfillment of the prophecy in the fifth chapter of James: “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.” These troubles which we now see are the premonitions of the coming storm. Among the poor, yea, the larger part of them, reigns discontent. It is among the discontented that anarchy and crime breed their lawless hordes. And lawlessness is continually increasing, and will increase till the great majority of the families of the poor are involved in it, and the conscience is not only benumbed, but the sympathy is awakened as well. It is thus that the poorer classes are honeycombed by lawless sentiments, that amount to little in the time of prosperity, but develop into crime, and hatred for the rich, in times of pinching poverty.
But the fault is not all with the poor. Lawlessness and injustice are taught by the rich. The great fortunes are not justly acquired, albeit they are legally so. Laws are framed in favor of great, rich, grasping, sordid, soulless corporations; smaller firms and tradesmen are forced to the wall, and men are considered only as so much stock in trade, to be sacrificed whenever it will pay. And thus it is that the wealthy by their influence breed contempt, not only for the laws which are enabling acts to the formation of a great plutocracy, but for all other laws; for men in the condition of thousands to-day do not draw nice, ethical, or moral distinctions.
It is for the above reasons that God tells the rich men that the miseries which shall450come upon them are “your miseries.” They are the fruit of their own sowing, the results of their own unjust, overreaching policy. The Lord continues:—
“Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.” James 5:2-6.
Here is the indictment, and in how many cases is it now true, as men may see! In how many more cases it is true the judgment of God will reveal. The cold avarice, the hoarded treasure, the heartless extravagance, the utter yielding to sensuous enjoyment, are all obvious in the cases of all too many of the wealthy, while the poor and needy are famishing, freezing, dying on every side. If the rich show contempt of justice and law, why not the poor? If “might makes right” in railroad wrecking, in stock gambling, in greedy corporations, crushing the life from individuals, it also makes right in train stealing, highway robbery, and questionable ways of the “commonweal” army. And is it not the same in principle morally in both cases?
There is a deeper reason why law and government are brought into contempt, and that is that the greater part of the religious world have ignored the basis of God’s government, his holy law. Ministers of the gospel of Christ, professedly, have called it Jewish, have treated it with contempt, and utterly ignored some of the plainest statements. They have abolished the law in one breath which Christ lived and died to honor and magnify, and with the next breath they have demanded that human governments enact into civil law their amended code of the universe. They have made God altogether such an one as themselves, till law and religion have been brought into disrepute by those who ought to be the strongest pillars of the civil government, not through politics, but by letting politics alone, and preaching the gospel of Christ Jesus to individual men. But sad it is the majority have not done this. They have sowed the winds from their pulpits, in legislative lobbies, from the platform and press; they are about to reap the whirlwind in the oncoming wars of anarchy. God has predicted it all in his holy word. Read Isa. 56:9-12; 59:1-20; Eze. 13:3-23; 22:25-31; Luke 21:25-27.
But in these evil times God would have all, and especially the poor, trust in him. He will render justice to all. “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.” “Stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” There is no permanent help for the troubles of the earth in human schemes. The only sure hope is in the gospel of Christ.
A New Definition.
By Editor
Hypocrisy is defined to be “the practice of supporting a character different from what is real; dissimulation with regard to the moral or religious character.” But the late Honorable W. C. P. Breckenridge, in confessing to his constituents the sin cloaked for so many years under religious and high moral profession, said, as reported in the San Francisco Examiner of May 6:—
“It has not been hypocrisy that my life has not been consistently wrong; I knew the secret sin; I tried to atone for it in ways that it is not becoming in me to more than allude to.”
But does not every hypocrite know in some sense his sin? When the hardened hypocrites came before Christ bringing the adulterous woman, and he stooped down and wrote on the ground the very sins of which they were guilty and which their cloak of sanctity could not hide from him, they knew their sin, and went out self-condemned without casting a stone. They may have attempted to “atone” for their sins by branding the woman. The utterance quoted above shows utter ignorance of Christianity. He, the sinner, atoning for the sin! Only Christ can do that. Again he says that when someone writes this history—
“whatever blame may attach to me, he may write of me that even with that blame he loved the poor; he toiled for his fellow-men; he labored for good causes, loyal to principles and faithful to truth—devoted to you.”
We do not condemn Colonel Breckenridge, that rests with God, but the above words show that the knowledge which indicted them is not the knowledge of an intelligent Protestant Christian. It is the plea of self.
DELUSIONS OF THE LAST DAYS.
By Ellen G. White
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” Before the last developments of the work of apostasy there will be a confusion of faith. There will not be clear and definite ideas concerning the mystery of God. One truth after another will be corrupted. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” There are many who deny the preexistence of Christ, and therefore deny his divinity; they do not accept him as a personal Saviour. This is a total denial of Christ. He was the only-begotten Son of God, who was one with the Father from the beginning. By him the worlds were made.
In denying the miraculous incarnation of Christ, many turn from other truths of heavenly origin, and accept fables of Satan’s invention. They lose spiritual discernment, and practice that which is brought to them and impressed upon their minds through the agency of Satan. As the convict is branded451and defaced by a hot iron, so their consciences are seared and marred by sin. They proclaim their own righteousness, and exalt themselves before the people in order to gain confidence and to draw to their side those who have not received the love of the truth. "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom: Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. 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."
Spiritualism is about to take the world captive. There are many who think that Spiritualism is upheld through trickery and imposture; but this is far from the truth. Superhuman power is working in a variety of ways, and few have any idea as to what will be the manifestations of Spiritualism in the future. The foundation for the success of Spiritualism has been laid in the assertions that have been made from the pulpits of our land. The ministers have proclaimed, as Bible doctrines, falsehoods that have originated from the arch-deceiver. The doctrine of consciousness after death, of the spirits of the dead being in communion with the living, has no foundation in the Scriptures, and yet this theory is affirmed as truth. Through this false doctrine the way has been opened for the spirits of devils to deceive the people in representing themselves as the dead. Satanic agencies personate the dead, and thus bring souls into captivity. Satan has a religion, he has a synagogue and devout worshipers. To swell the ranks of his devotees he uses all manner of deception.
The signs and wonders of Spiritualism will become more and more pronounced as the professed Christian world rejects the plainly revealed truth of the word of God, and refuses to be guided by a plain "Thus saith the Lord," accepting instead the doctrines and the commandments of men. Through rejecting light and truth many are deciding their destiny for eternal death; and as men reject truth, the Spirit of God will gradually withdraw itself from the earth, and the prince of this earth will have more and more control over his subjects. He will show great signs and wonders as credentials of his divine claims, and through Spiritualism will work against Christ and his agencies.
The Scriptures positively forbid intercourse with evil angels on the supposition of communion with the dead. Through this deception Satan can educate souls in his school of falsehood, and make of none effect the lessons that Christ would teach, which, if practiced, would result in the eternal life of those who obey. Satan is seeking to form a great confederacy of evil by uniting fallen men and fallen angels. But the Lord says: "When they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." "And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a-whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people." "Regard not, them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them; I am the Lord your God."
The great power that attends Spiritualism has its origin in the great leading rebel, Satan, the prince of devils. It is through his artifice that evil angels have been able to substitute themselves for the dead, and through lying hypocrisy they have led men to have intercourse with devils. Those who commune with the supposed spirits of the dead are communing with those who will have a corrupting, demoralizing power upon the mind. Christ commanded that we should have no intercourse with sorcerers and with those who have familiar spirits. This class are represented in the Gospel as among those who shall perish in their iniquity,—"the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone."
For years Spiritualism has been growing in strength and gaining in popularity by advocating a certain kind of faith in Christ, and thus many Protestants are becoming infatuated with this mystery of iniquity. It is little wonder that they are deluded, when they persistently retain the error that, as soon as the breath leaves the body, the spirit goes immediately to heaven or hell. Through the hold this doctrine has upon them the way is prepared for the delusive working of the prince of the power of the air. Satan personated the serpent in Eden, regarding this creature as best adapted for his line of temptations. Satan has been increasing in skillful methods by constantly practicing upon the human mind. It is his one purpose to complete the work which he began in Eden, and work the ruin of mankind. Through his mysterious workings he can insinuate himself into the circles of the most educated and refined, for he was once an exalted being, in a high position of responsibility among the heavenly hosts. It is a mistake to represent him as a monstrous being with hoofs and horns, for he is still a fallen angel. He is capable of uniting the highest intellectual greatness with the basest cruelty and the most degrading corruption. If he had not this power, many would escape his snares who are now charmed with his attractive representations and taken captive by his delusions.
As the Spirit of God shall be withdrawn from the earth, Satan's power will be more and more manifest. The knowledge that he had through being in connection with God, as a covering cherub, he will now use to subordinate his subjects who fell from their high estate. He will use every power of his exalted intellect to misrepresent God and to instigate rebellion against Jesus Christ, the Commander of heaven. In the synagogue of Satan he brings under his scepter, and into his counsels, those agents whom he can use to promote his worship. It is not a strange matter to find a species of refinement, and a manifestation of intellectual greatness, in the lives and characters of those who are inspired by fallen angels. Satan can impart scientific knowledge, and give men chapters upon philosophy. He is conversant with history, and versed in worldly wisdom.
Almost every phase of talent is now being brought into captivity to the prince of the power of darkness. Worldly minded men, because they wish to exalt themselves, and have separated from God, do not love to retain God in their knowledge, for they claim to possess a higher, grander intellect than that of Jesus Christ. Satan envies Christ, and makes the claim that he is entitled to a higher position than the Commander of heaven. His self-exaltation led him to despise the law of God, and resulted in his expulsion from heaven.
Through the Papacy he has manifested his character, and brought out the principles of his government. Of this power the apostle Paul says: "Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. . . . For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. . . . Shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
The confederacy of evil will not stand. The Lord says: "Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces. . . . Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand; for God is with us. For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary."
Satan will use his agencies to carry out diabolical devices, to overpower the saints of God, as in times past he used the Roman power to stay the course of Protestantism; yet the people of God can look calmly at the whole array of evil, and come to the triumphant conclusion that because Christ lives we shall live also. The people of God are to advance in the same spirit in which Jesus met the assaults of the prince of darkness in the past. The evil confederacy can advance only in the course which Jesus has marked out before them; every step of their advance brings the saints of God nearer the great white throne, nearer the successful termination of their warfare. The confederacy of evil will finally be destroyed; for the prophet says, "Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be as stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Even of him whose heart was lifted up because of his beauty, who corrupted his wisdom by reason of his brightness, the Lord says: "I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth452in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more."
Wine Given to Children at Fair
By Editor
The Occident, our bright and able Presbyterian contemporary across the bay, says in its issue of May 10:—
Alameda County had a day at the Midwinter Fair last week. All the schoolchildren had free tickets and were out in full force. Some men—shall we call them men?—connected with the wine exhibit set out free wine and gave it to the children; even the little ones five years of age had all they wished to drink. Some may ask, Where was the law in regard to minors? We are sorry to say that the law of God or man is not taken into consideration at the Midwinter Fair.
The giving of wine to the children was an outrage which ought to arouse the indignation of every right-minded man. And, too, the law of God is broken, we know. Every seventh day of the week, sanctified of God from the beginning, and confirmed by the life and death of Christ, is trampled underfoot, by many who regard no day at all, and by many more who have substituted a day of heathen tradition for the Sabbath of the Lord. But that belongs to God, and he will render to every man his deeds.
SO WENT ROME.
By Tom Watson
ALL the Democratic newspapers agree that the balls, receptions, and banquets now being given in Washington by the Democratic office holders are the most costly and magnificent ever seen in this country.
Inside the White House is a blaze of jeweled ladies and gold-braided gentlemen, the sound of revelry—all the tinsel and sensuality of codfish aristocracy displaying sudden and ill-gotten wealth.
Outside, just a few blocks away, lies abject poverty, crouching amid rags and filth, and in every street is the cry of children begging for bread and strong men pleading for work. —Tom Watson.
THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME.
By Marianne Farningham
BY MARIANNE FARNINGHAM.
“What is His name?” asked a heathen woman of a missionary who was talking to her of Jesus. “Tell me his name again. I do not want to forget it.”
His name? Ah, sister of the darker brow,
The name of Jesus will not leave thee now.
Once taken to thy heart and memory,
It will remain a joy and strength to thee.
We pity thee that thou so late hast heard
The name which has thy love and wonder stirred,
And we half envy thee the strange, new bliss
Of learning all at once who Jesus is.
We heard his name in many a cradle hymn,
When eyes shone brightly which are long since dim;
Our mothers used to speak it in their prayers;
Our fathers found it helped them in their cares.
We learnt to say it in our earliest years,
To make us good and take away our fears.
And all our lives, in want, or grief, or shame,
We have been comforted through this dear name.
There is no other name that saves from sin
And makes on earth the life of heaven begin;
It binds us here below and those above
Together to the Father's heart of love.
It takes away from death its pain and sting,
And teaches the forgiven ones to sing;
It wakes the longing to be good and pure,
And gives us courage bravely to endure.
The name of Jesus has most wondrous might;
'Tis inspiration, wisdom, guidance, light;
It summons men to duty secretly,
And, though none watch, they serve God loyally.
It is a trumpet call, and the great crowd
Responds when some high truth must be avowed;
It makes all seek the right and shun the wrong,
And fills the soul with joy, the lips with song.
Who have not hearts to trust and eyes to see,
Dream not how much to them this name might be;
Salvation, hope, and love of righteousness
Have they who know how Jesus Christ can bless.
The highest life of earth to them is given,
And everlasting life with him in heaven;
O dark-browed sister who dost know his grace,
May we all see him one day face to face!
—London Christian World.
GRACE IN THE LAW
By T. H. Starbuck
THE PERFECTION OF THE LAW. NO. 5.
BY ELDER T. H. STARBUCK.
GRACE IN THE LAW.
But perhaps some minds would here interpose the objection that if all that has been previously said is true, salvation springs from the operation of the law and not from the mediatorial work of Christ. But this objection will vanish when the case is carefully considered. The Scriptures say truly that grace is the gift of God; but it is nevertheless the gift of God whether it comes in a direct manner or through some agency. He dispenses his blessings through the agency of law, as will be demonstrated hereafter. If the law embraces the principle of mercy, he could bestow the blessings of salvation through that channel, and it would be the gift of God, just as the Scriptures say. It is a recognized fact that the blessings of this natural life come through the operation of natural laws; and it is consistent with nature and revelation that the blessings of grace should spring from the operation of moral law. If he causes his grace to abound through a perfect fulfillment of the moral law, that alone would prove its absolute perfection, for it would manifestly contain within itself the efficacious elements of victory over evil.
But, on the contrary, if the remedy for sin proceeds from some source separate from the morality of the law, its imperfection would be evident. If the constitutional law of a kingdom, legitimately administered in case of civil rebellion, is unable to carry the State safely through such a test, there would be evidence of some defect in the law, and a legal reformation would be called for or else a dissolution of the government would speedily follow. The law of Jehovah was designed for the perfect moral government of the universe. If, when it was put to the test of rebellion, God had to bring into requisition principles ulterior to it, its defects would stand revealed; but inspiration says it has no defects. Hence, it is concluded that in the plan of salvation God has put into operation no moral principles not originally embraced in his perfect law.
Sin was an emergency demanding prompt and decisive action, for two reasons,—the stability of the government and the honor of the Supreme Ruler, and the moral welfare of all the governed; but it called into operation no principles except those previously ordained in God's perfect plan. No event could take the King of heaven by surprise. Many scriptures show that the blessings of grace come through the fulfillment of the moral law. "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." Rom. 3: 28. By the "deeds of the law" is meant our obedience to it. If after we have violated the law, our subsequent obedience to it would save us, salvation would spring from our efforts, and not from Christ's mediatorial work. Fulfilling it on our part avails nothing because of the weakness of the flesh; but if God fulfills it toward us in the gift of his Son, there is grace in it for us. The efficacy of the "deeds of the law" depends upon whose deeds are under consideration. Christ has power to put into operation all the principles of God's law in behalf of the lost; but sin has deprived us of any such power.
It will be conceded that the plan of redemption is a part of God's moral government of the universe. But he rules either by law or arbitrarily. Which is it? If his power is exercised arbitrarily, then it is not according to law; but nature and revelation both testify in unmistakable language that he controls all things by law. He is not an arbitrary Ruler. He is eternally the same, and his will is expressed in law. But if the plan of redemption proceeds according to law, what law is it? But one answer is possible:—
IT IS THE MORAL LAW.
It could be no other than that law which sin antagonizes. The controversy between truth and error is peculiar. It hinges upon the law of God. The whole drama of sin is an effort to dethrone God and overthrow his moral government. On the contrary, the plan of salvation is to vindicate the perfection of the law and demonstrate his supreme right to reign, as well as to save the lost. The former is enmity to the law; the latter is the development of its latent powers. Hence, grace is administered to the world through the law. The power is of God, its Author, but he dispenses his grace through the law as his appointed agency for that purpose. The moral law is his holy covenant, or his established rule of moral action. He cannot deny himself. He will do nothing, even in the salvation of man, that is contrary to his holy covenant. "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." Ps. 89: 34. The theory then that the law is stern, unrelenting justice is not written on the page of inspiration; but it comes rather from the enemy of all righteousness, who has ever sought to make men believe that God is a tyrant instead of a Being of infinite love and compassion.
These considerations lead to the conclusion that the law of Jehovah is absolutely perfect, and as universal in its moral grasp as the law of gravitation is in a physical sense. Its deep and unselfish love was revealed to man in the matchless passion of the Crucified One. It is in the light of Calvary that its perfection appears in its divine fullness. When we stand beside our bleeding, suffering Lord, and from thence survey the law, and grasp the thought that he died that death of shame in fulfillment of the perfect law of love, our eyes are opened to behold wondrous things out of it which could not otherwise be so well understood. The death of Jesus vindicated its claims and revealed the true nature of Satan's designs against the throne of God. On the one hand, obedience to it means eternal life to sinless intelligences above; on the other, it is God's great sin detector to all transgressors. If the element of divine mercy in the law had never been questioned by the introduction of evil, it would never have developed into the gospel of salvation; and yet had sin never existed, God's intelligent creatures would have been perfectly happy and free in the enjoyment of heaven's felicities. Sin was not a necessity in the development of God's plan of the universe, but it was his opportunity to teach two profoundly important lessons to his creatures,—the universal perfection and adaptability of his moral government, and the awful danger of the experiment of sin.
Antinomianism can find no favor in a truly loyal heart, for it is of Satanic mould. It came in with the origin of evil and will be extinguished with it at last. All evil has an antinomian tendency. The theory of the abolition of the law so popular at the present time antagonizes the moral government of heaven, and those who teach it array themselves on the side of the enemy. Such teachers are trampling upon God's love and rejecting his grace, for to oppose the law is to show the heart to be disloyal to God. "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8: 7. Enmity to its claims reveals the natural carnality of the heart, and shows the need of conversion. The unconverted heart neither loves the law nor its Author, for love to God is loyalty to his law.
FUSION OF HEATHENISM AND CHRISTIANITY.
By I. E. Kimball
BY ELDER I. E. KIMBALL.
According to Tertullian, "heresy is but the custom of the past, . . . . the same as idolatry." We shall be obliged, according to this definition, by one of the "Fathers," to put the brand of heresy upon much of that which was denominated Christianity in the second and third centuries. The sentiments and sensibilities of the church comport more with the heathen standard than with Christ—an allegation hard to be made.
We have spoken of their temper as not less uncharitable than the heathen. The new Platonism, which so energetically wrought for a fusion of all philosophies, Christianity with the rest, held to the old rule that deception was commendable if practiced for the promulgation of truth; such loose ideas prevailed in the church, especially among those who countenanced and patronized the Platonic school of Alexandria. And some of the teachers in the Christian school of Alexandria were mere philosophers, according to Ammonius Saccus' rule. In fact some of them were noted patrons of his school.
The Scriptures came thus to be interpreted in the most fanciful, illogical manner. One of the most eminent and trusted of the writers of that time, in speaking of Christ's illustration of the two sparrows sold for a farthing, gravely tells us that the two sparrows represent the body and the soul. "Where two or three are gathered together in my name," is made to represent marriage. The observance of the third, sixth, and ninth hours by the Jews, Cyprian would make to represent the Trinity. The writings of the so-called Barnabas are mythical, illogical, and untrue, insomuch that an author of to-day putting forth such trash would be accounted a religious boor or madman. The "Apostolic Father" Hermes is called by Mosheim "a wild, disordered fanatic," but his was the most popular book of the second and third centuries, and largely accounted as inspired.
The heathen doctrine of deception found its way so fully into the church that base artifices were resorted to, instead of sound arguments against opponents. Many books appeared. To find readers and to be made to speak authoritatively forged names of bishops and martyrs were given for the authors, so that now we know nothing of what is genuine and authentic. At least two-thirds and probably four-fifths of all the "Apostolic Fathers'" writings are universally conceded to be forged453productions. In the book of Hermes and writings of Clement, which were read aloud in the churches of the second century, may be found such stories as that of the phoenix, and even grosser fables.
Ignatius is called, by very good authority (Dr. Killen), "an anti-evangelical formalist," "a puerile boaster," "dreaming mystic," "crazy fanatic." Papias' collection of oral traditions are monstrous lies. Irenæus, too, was one of the vague, fanciful interpreters, and Justin, a mystic of the real Catholic stamp of after times. Clement of Alexandria surpassed all others as a speculative philosopher and fanciful interpreter. He believed the seeds of celestial wisdom to be hid in the Greek philosophy, and this philosophy he without scruple attributed to the Deity. He allegorized even the ten commandments and the historical narratives of the Bible and deranged the relative position of everything. Plato was, in his estimation, an evangelical prophet, and the Greek philosophy a heaven-sent preparation for the gospel.
Tertullian was "superstitious," "bigoted," "choleric," and at times showing much spirituality and light, and again evincing the most perturbed, vindictive spirit. Origen was born A.D. 185 or 186. He continued the wild style of allegorizing borrowed from heathenism and the new Platonism, of which he, as also Athenagoras, Pantænus, and Clement had approved. Of this new Platonism and its effects we will hereafter speak.