Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 6, 1901
BETHANY
By M. H. Brown
Around Bethany cluster many sacred memories. It was the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus, whose names are so closely associated with the name of Jesus in His earthly life. It lies on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, about a mile beyond the summit, near the point where the road from Jerusalem to Jericho begins its more sudden descent towards the Jordan valley.
MODERN BETHANY ("EL-AZIRIYEH.")
Bethany is now called Lazarieh, or el-Aziriyeh, “the place of Lazarus.” It is a wild mountain hamlet, containing only about twenty families, yet here is the spot where Jesus often stopped to rest at the home of Mary and Martha; here is where He raised Lazarus from the dead; here is where Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with the costly ointment; and here is where He ascended to heaven.
The incidents that have been mentioned furnish material for many valuable lessons. We will briefly notice some of them. “At the home of Lazarus, Jesus had often found rest. The Saviour had no home of His own; He was dependent on the hospitality of His friends and disciples; and often, when weary, thirsting for human fellowship, He had been glad to escape to this peaceful household, away from the suspicion and jealousy of the angry Pharisees. Here He found a sincere welcome and pure, holy friendship.”
This welcome and cordiality was a source of comfort and joy to the Man of sorrows. “He longed for human tenderness, courtesy, and affection.” He was made in all things like unto His brethren. Heb. 2:16–18. He became weary; He yearned for human love; He enjoyed the association and companionship of His fellows. “In the home at Bethany Christ found rest from the weary conflict of public life. Here He opened to an appreciative audience the volume of Providence. In these private interviews He unfolded to His hearers that which He did not attempt to tell to the mixed multitude. He needed not to speak to His friends in parables.”
On His first visit to Bethany, when Christ was giving instruction, “Mary sat at His feet, a reverent and devoted listener,” while Martha was “perplexed with the care of preparing the meal.” She said, “Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.” The Saviour and His disciples had just arrived from Jericho, and were tired and worn from their journey. “Martha was anxious to provide for their comfort, and in her anxiety she forgot the courtesy due to her Guest.” Jesus said to2her, “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her.” Mary was feasting upon the precious words which fell from the Saviour’s lips. They “were more precious to her than earth’s costly jewels.”
“The one thing that Martha needed was a calm, devotional spirit, a deeper anxiety for knowledge concerning the future, immortal life and the graces necessary for spiritual advancement. . . . Jesus would teach His children to seize every opportunity of gaining that knowledge which will make them wise unto salvation. The cause of Christ needs careful, energetic workers. There is a wide field for the Marthas, with their zeal in active religious work. But let them first sit with Mary at the feet of Jesus. Let diligence, promptness, and energy be sanctified by the grace of Christ; then the life will be an unconquerable power for good.”
Passing over the wonderful event of the resurrection of Lazarus (too long for this paper), near the close of Christ’s earthly ministry, we note another occurrence in the little village—and its lesson. The anointing of Jesus by Mary was an act of loving ministry performed at Bethany, in the home of Simon the leper. Jesus approved the sacrifice made by Mary, saying, “She hath wrought a good work upon Me.” “She did it for My burial.” Matt. 26:10, 12. See also John 12:7. Mary did not understand the significance of her act in its relation to the Saviour’s death, but under the guidance of the Spirit of God she “wrought a good work,” while worldly-minded ones who criticized her, were reproved. They only saw a useless waste. Jesus saw the service of a loving heart, and accepted it as a precious gift.
At Bethany Jesus gave His disciples His parting blessing, and while in the act “He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” Luke 24:50, 51. When He first talked of leaving them, His disciples were sad and troubled; but the instruction He gave them, and the experiences gained in connection with the betrayal, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ, had changed their frame of mind. Now their hearts are filled with praise, even as they view their ascending Lord, and He vanishes from their sight. “They worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” Verse 52. Thus it may be with us. Under the divine blessing, with unwavering faith and calm trust in God, we may see earthly joys and hopes fade away, and our friends—and loved ones vanish from our sight, yet we may “rejoice in hope of the glory of God,” and not only so, but we may “glory in tribulations also.” Rom. 5:2, 3. M. H. BROWN.
PERMANENCE OF THE MORAL LAW.
By Samuel Miles
The Fourth Commandment.
THERE is not an institution or ordinance which the Decalog was intended to guard, which Christianity does not require it still to protect, whether it has reference to the purity of worship, to the sanctified and weekly observance of the Sabbath, to the honor due to parents, or to the respect due to the person and the property of others. Christianity not only enjoins all that the Ten Commandments insisted on, but justifies its action by appealing to the commandments themselves, thereby treating them as an immaculate and abiding authority, even tho “a man is not justified by the works of the law, save thru faith in Jesus Christ.” Gal. 2:16, R.V.
The privileges of Christianity add the weight of their testimony in confirmation of the continuance of laws ordained to uphold the rights of man and to protect the rights of God. These privileges increase responsibility, but they do not release from essential duty. Redemption from “the curse of the law” is neither an exclusion from its benefits nor a discharge from its obligations. That redemption secures for us the “grace” which transforms duty into a delight, by inciting and enabling us to do all that is commanded, not in a spirit of fear, but from a spirit of sincerest love. Where this principle of love is, the letter of the law is insufficient as a limit to the obedience rendered, for it prompts the fullest possible compliance with every demand both of the original law and with the requirements of the same law when illumined by the “grace and truth” which “came by Jesus Christ.”
We Can Never Outgrow Them.
Thus, whether we consider the condition of mankind or the moral government of God, whether we go to Sinai or to Mount Zion, whether we examine the principles of the Decalog or their use in the Christian economy, we find irrefragable evidence of the permanence of laws which “never grow old thru the long lapse of waning years.” We also find abundant proof that, whatever our progress may be, it will never obliterate the stamp of perpetuity which God has impressed upon these laws, nor permit exemption from the obedience to them which that very perpetuity involves.
No Distinction Permitted.
To make distinctions in laws all of which are of equal authority and which are coexistent with each other, with a view of selecting some for acceptance and others for rejection, is to question the wisdom which instituted the whole; and, in respect to the moral law, it betrays a reluctance to accept the divine will as the final arbiter of duty. It thus savors of suspicion and distrust, and these should have no place in those who owe fealty to the King of heaven. No self-respecting monarch allows his subjects to treat the statutes of his realm after their own pleasure; and no loyal subjects pretend to have liberty to do so. Heaven’s King has delegated to no subject of His, either human or angelic, a right to do as he pleases with His laws. He rules as well as reigns, and where He draws no distinction He permits others to draw none.
No Degrees of Comparison.
In these commandments—a term representing the law—there are no degrees of comparison; and such pharisaic subterfuges are a perversion of truth which Christ condemns, their effect being to “break” or to annul divine precepts by discounting the importance of some portion of valid and necessary statutes. Such an offense, whether in the teacher or the taught, can not be committed with impunity. “As I have done,” said Adonibezek, “so God hath requited me.” So shall it be in this instance. He who would diminish God’s laws and set holy precepts aside, by explaining away their force and meaning, shall be himself diminished by being reduced, in the retributive providence of God, to a similar condition of dishonor as that to which he assigns the distinguished commands of the Most High. Verily, “them that honor Me I will honor, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.”
The same principle of righteous judgment is observed in regard to those who candidly recognize the imperative duty of upholding the law in its integrity, and who “stumble” not “in one point,” but diligently and sincerely act up to the responsibilities of their position by consistently declaring “the whole counsel of God.” “Whosoever shall do and teach” these enduring “Commandments” in all their fullness and obligation, “he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven,” by having meted out to him some exceptional favor, which shall be equivalent to the just and honorable esteem in which he holds the royal mandates of the Eternal King, who renders “to every man according to his works.”
To Be Unhesitatingly Obeyed.
The fourth commandment, like its co-precepts, is not to be suspiciously received, but is to be unhesitatingly obeyed.
The suspicion which has been cast upon it is groundless. That it was given thru Moses in no way affects it. So were all the commandments. If one law is to be deprived of its continuous value on this account, the laws to which it is allied, and which were communicated at the same time and in the same manner, must be similarly deprived. But a duly-authenticated message, conveyed by a properly-accredited messenger, is always valid; and in respect to its authority, permanence, and need, there is nothing which differentiates this particular edict from its associates. The same must be said of its contents, which bear no trace whatever of a human element in their composition; for the real text of the commandments is not in the summary given in Deuteronomy 5, but in the words of Jehovah as recorded in Exodus 20.
Not of Human Devising.
Moses knew how genuine and how divine the contents of the several laws were, and his repeated testimony (Ex. 20:1; Deut. 5:4, 5, 22-24) is ever corroborative of the statement that “the Lord said unto” him, “Come up to Me into the mount, and be there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them” (Ex. 24:12).
Thus God Himself placed upon permanent record the laws He had already spoken. No exception is noted in any of them, and no human skill was employed in the construction of any one of them. Had it been, the value of the one so treated would have been depreciated, and it could not have been accepted, in full confidence, as a mandate of Jehovah of binding obligation. Witnessing, as the fourth command does, to the holiness of God, to man’s relation thereto, and to his duty in respect thereof, it is certain that this command was3neither devised nor composed by human ingenuity. Our Lord, too, spoke of the law in its entirety, and as it was known and received, and so included the fourth.
Considering what the Sabbath means, and what it actually is to humanity, it is not pleasing to reflect that of all the “Ten Words,” the fourth is most disparaged, and that this benign command is the one most distasteful, even to persons who would not lessen the dimensions of the Decalog except in this particular. Happily for these persons, as well as for others, such depletion is impossible.
He who “knew all things,” taught a more excellent way of glorifying God and of promoting the good of mankind than curtailing the Decalog, and that was to accept it in its wholeness, and to evidence that acceptance by keeping it in its wholeness always, the fourth precept as well as the other nine precepts, and no less earnestly and constantly than the other nine.—Rev. Samuel Miles, Wesleyan.
SINGING FROM THE HEART.
A COMPANY of monks in the olden time lived together in a monastery, working busily tilling the land and caring for the sick and poor, yet ever hallowing their work with prayer. Every evening they sang the beautiful hymn “Magnificat” at their vesper service, but as they grew old their voices became harsh and broken, and they almost lost all tune, but they still sang on.
One evening a stranger youth came in to see them. He was strong and beautiful, and when they began the “Magnificat,” his lovely, clear voice soared upward, as if to sing at the very gate of heaven. The poor old monks listened, enraptured with the wonderful music, until they forgot to sing themselves.
That night an angel, so the legend runs, appeared to the eldest monk and asked, “Why did not the holy hymn ascend to heaven at evensong as heretofore?” And the monk, astonished, replied: “O blessed angel, surely it did ascend! Heard you not in heaven those almost angelic strains from the voice of our gifted brother? So sweetly he sang that our poor voices were hushed, lest we should mar the music.” But the angel answered: “Beautiful it may have been, but no note of it reached to heaven. Into those gates only music of the heart can enter.”—Selected.
THE EDEN DAY-LINE THEORY.
By W. A. Colcord
We are living in times when not only many old errors are being revived and strenuously advocated, but when many new and strange theories are being advanced and seeking recognition. One of the latter is that Eden, or the place where Eden is supposed to have been located, marks the place at which the true day-line should be drawn, instead of the point in the Pacific where the streams of emigration have come together.
In the first place, it may be noticed that the whole theory is based upon assumption. Its advocates assume that the day-line must be where man was placed in the beginning, and where Christ lived when on the earth; but the Bible does not say so. They have to assume the very point they try to establish and prove.
In the second place, the theory, if correct, and had it been carried out by a sinless race, would have caused confusion from the very beginning. It can not therefore be of God, for God is not the author of confusion. The theory is that where Eden was, that marks the place of the true day-line; every new day should begin there; westward from this point the reckoning should be twenty-four hours in advance of that immediately eastward. In other words, if one of Adam’s sons had taken up his home one mile west of Eden, and another taken his up one mile east, they would have needed to reckon themselves as living in different days, tho living only about two miles apart. While standing under the same shining sun, the one to the west would have called a certain day the first day of the week, while the one to the east would have called the selfsame day the seventh. To be more specific, they could not have met together for worship and kept the same Sabbath, tho living only two miles apart. One would have needed to keep his Sabbath twenty-four hours before the other one did his.
As all can readily see, this would have created confusion, and made a most unhappy and unseemly division in the Adamic family. The place which above all others on earth should have been marked as a place for family reunions and harmony in seasons of worship, would have been the place of confusion and division.
Adam was to be the father and king of the whole human family. Eden was given to him as his permanent home. His descendants would naturally scatter and make homes for themselves in all directions from Eden. Adam being father and king, and Eden being his home, his descendants, had the race not fallen, would naturally have come to him, and thus to Eden, for Sabbath services, family reunions, etc. In order that there might be harmony and a united service, they would all, from whichever quarter they might have come, have needed to bring the same day with them, and all reckoned days the same when they arrived there. But this would have been impossible had they considered Eden as the place of the day-line, and went out reckoning different days on different sides of Eden.
It would be the most natural thing in the world for men, as they migrated from Eden, to take the Eden day with them, no matter which way they traveled. When, in the course of their emigrations, they met on the other side of the earth, they would, of course, find themselves twenty-four hours apart. But this would not matter, as that would not be the place for general meetings or Sabbath services. But of all places upon the earth, Eden, the birthplace of the race, should be the place of harmony of days and unity of reckoning. But the Eden day-line theory would make it the place of utmost confusion. On the very opposite side of the earth from Eden, therefore, at the point where the streams of emigration would meet, we would naturally conclude would be the natural and proper place for the day-line. And that is where providence, nature, emigration, and common sense have fixed it, in the broad waters of the Pacific.
Another argument greatly confirmatory to this position is the fact that this will be the very condition and arrangement of things in the new earth, when Eden is restored. The Edenic site will be a place of general meeting and harmony in reckoning of days. This is shown4from the Bible. When Christ descends at the close of the millennium, His feet touch the Mount of Olives, which spreads out and becomes a great plain, preparatory to the descent and final resting-place of the New Jerusalem. Zech. 14:4, 8, 9, 11; Rev. 21:2. Zech. 14:16 shows that this is the place where the people will assemble from time to time to worship God; and Isa. 66:22, 23 says that in the new earth all flesh shall come from one new moon to another and from one Sabbath to another to worship before the Lord. Those who come from the east will bring the same day with them as those who come from the west. All will keep the same Sabbath at Jerusalem, not two different days, as they would necessarily if that was the place to locate the true day-line. The day-line will be on the very opposite side of the earth from Eden and Jerusalem.
The Eden day-line theory, therefore, is as wide the mark as it possibly could be. It has neither Bible, common sense, nor historic fact to support it. It is only one more of the many other like modern delusions and winds of doctrines brought in to evade the cross of keeping the true seventh-day Sabbath, to confuse the minds of the simple, and to nullify God’s message for this time. It bears no stamp of truth or divinity about it. It teaches that in all the countries east of Palestine over to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the people are wrong in their reckoning of the days of the week; that they are one day ahead of time; that what they call Sunday is in reality the seventh-day Sabbath, and that, therefore, the people in India, China, Siberia, the East Indies, Japan, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and many of the islands of the Pacific, should keep Sunday as the true seventh day. The peoples of all these countries constitute about one-half the population of the globe. The Sabbath according to the Bible is the seal of God; the false sabbath is the mark of apostasy. If, however, what is called Sunday in these countries is the true Sabbath and seal of God, what, pray tell, is the mark of apostasy? Any doctrine which nullifies to half of the world the very pith and point of the last message God has for the entire world, can not be of God. It deserves to be consigned to the silent shades of oblivion, as unworthy the serious consideration of any sane, thinking man.
W. A. COLCORD.
Sydney, Australia.
“HOW SHALL WE?”
By A. T. Jones
How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”
How shall we? Can you tell? Can a man live in what he dies of? When any person dies of any disease, can he live any longer in it?—No; that is why he died—he could not live any longer in it.
Having died of that disease, were he even brought back from the dead into that very disease, could he live any longer in it?—No; he would certainly and immediately die again. A person simply can not live any longer in the thing of which he has died. This is perfectly plain to everybody.
Very well, then, have you died to sin? Have you grown so sick of sin that you died of it? Have you grown so sick of it that you could live no longer in it, and so died to it?
If you have, do not be afraid; you can not live any longer therein. Were you even taken back from that death, and put once more in the presence of sin, you would certainly and immediately die again. You could not live any longer in it, when you were there before; and because you could not live any longer in it, you died; and if you were brought back to it again, you could not live any longer in it any more than you did before.
Remember, this is being sick unto death, of sin; not sick of a few or even many particular sins, while at the same time you choose others because they are pleasing to you, and become fat and flourishing on them. In this way you can live in sin forever, and then die in it, and then die the second death for it.
No; it is not sins, so that we can die to one and live to another, that are contemplated in the Scripture; it is sin,—sin in the essence,—so that when you die to it, it is death indeed to sin, in every phase and of every sort. Then, being thus dead to sin, you simply can not live any longer therein. The very presence of the thing, the very suggestion of it, is death to you.
And being thus dead to sin, the Lord intends that we shall not live any longer in it. And intending that we shall not live any longer in it, He intends that we shall live ever longer without sinning.
There is power in Jesus Christ to keep the believer from sinning. There is virtue in the grace of God to hold back the believer in Jesus from serving the sinful propensities and passions that dwell in the human flesh. Praise His holy name forever and ever.
“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign thru righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Are you dead to sin? Then how shall you live any longer therein? A. T. JONES.
HUMILITY
By F. R. Richards
AND Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 18:2, 3.
By this beautiful object-lesson the Saviour demonstrated to His hearers the open simplicity of the problem of salvation; the humble, trusting innocence of the little child appealed to the finer instincts of the hearers thru the tenderest cords of human affection. It was evidently not a question of stature, great or small, nor of maturity or youth, but it was truly a question of contrition and humility against pride and self-righteousness.
How impressive the lesson! What a witness to the fathomless riches of God’s love for the children of men does the picture present! How fruitless their efforts, and how foreign to the truth was the distorted reasoning of the scribes and Pharisees! How worthless their self-appointed works of forms and ceremonies in contrast with divine wisdom! “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” 1 Peter 5:5, 6. “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 18:4.
The lesson before us well illustrates how vastly removed from harmony with the divine mind are the ruling elements of fallen nature in man. How vain, then, are his efforts to work out the change in himself that will span the chasm between the carnal and the spiritual! Yet how many poor souls, by arousing and fostering and training their nobler tendencies, seek to produce such perfection of character as would pass examination before the bar of God! Alas for them! The end aimed at is worthy and exalted, but utterly unattainable, except as by divine intervention it is brought within the reach of all, even to the most lowly. No amount of educational training that money, talent, and social advantage may procure can ever fit one soul for citizenship in heaven apart from the spiritual change wrought only by that divine, invisible agency, the Holy Spirit.
Among all the inhabitants of the earth, past and present, there is no exception; “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” “because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Rom. 8:7. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” Jer. 17:9.
To make outward profession of humility is an easy thing, which many honestly do, and for a time they pass pleasantly thru a smooth experience in life. But trials are met at length, as must be in every case, and character is then tested. The cherished humility may then prove spurious; for if perchance we be misjudged, misunderstood, contradicted, misrepresented, or even be harassed by envious persons with malicious intent, how will we endure the trial?
If at such a time the heart fails to respond with considerate forbearance, charity, and sympathy for the cause of our discomfort, we may know that we are not humble and contrite, but selfish and proud, being yet in the bondage of sin. He who is truly humble sees himself a sinner in the sight of a holy God. He feels his helplessness apart from divine grace. A sense of spiritual leanness strangles selfish pride, and he knows that he is “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Rev. 3:17. Such an one the Lord will bless with all spiritual blessings. “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.” Ps. 51:17.
If the Christian’s heart goes out with love stronger and deeper than ever for the erring brother who in sincere humility and repentance confesses his wrongs, how much more will our heavenly Father and holy angels rejoice in a wanderer’s return! Jesus says, “Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” Luke 15:7.
The achievement of him who thus conquers his own selfish pride may not be discerned and lauded to the skies by a hero-worshiping throng, who see only the perishing tinsel of earthly pomp and glory, but his reward will be a praise that neither the march of time nor the hand of death can ever remove; for God by the word of His prophet says that better is he “that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” Prov. 16:32.
Well may we study, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
Atchison, Kansas. F. R. RICHARDS.
SABBATH-KEEPING
By A. P. Bamberger
God’s way of Sabbath-keeping is, as it always has been, and ever will be, “according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56 tells us that the women returned from the burial of Jesus, and prepared spices and ointments, and “rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” The commandment referred to says that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Ex. 20:10. Jesus declares that this same seventh-day Sabbath “was made for man; therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath day.” Mark 2:27, 28. “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” Col. 1:16, 17.
Then if the heavens and the earth, and all that in them is, was created by Jesus Christ, He could well tell the people, when He was upon earth, that the seventh-day Sabbath was made for man, and that He, the Creator, was Lord also of the Sabbath day; for if by Him all other things were made, so surely was the seventh-day Sabbath made by Him, as well as the other six days, wherein all things were created and made by Him. Therefore the Lord commanded His people to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:8–11.
Had sin never entered our world, man never would have thought to change the Sabbath. Sunday-keeping, therefore, is a blot on creation caused by sin. Now as there is no “thus saith the Lord” for the sanctification of the first day of the week as a day of rest, it can not be of divine planting, and the Lord Jesus hath said, “Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” Matt. 15:13. The unchangeable Creator has told us with unmistakable plainness which day He did bless and sanctify. “God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.” Gen. 2:3. God has also said, “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of5the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; . . . for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isa. 58:13, 14.
Now permit me to ask one plain question: Do you believe that our kind Creator, who never made a mistake, has taken the sanctified blessing of the seventh day of the week, making a secular day of it, and has transferred the sanctified blessing and grafted it upon the first day of the week? He has never given us any reason for such a change, nor even hinted in His Word that we should keep the first day holy.
Reader, who will you believe and obey in this matter, God or man? The former commands us to remember to keep holy the seventh day, and the latter says to remember to keep holy the first day. Jesus says, “Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me.” John 5:39. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass away.” Matt. 24:35. “He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” John 12:48.
Be not deceived, dear reader; God is not mocked, neither is He the author of confusion. The Bible Sabbath is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy God; it rests upon the everlasting rock of God’s Word; it is unchangeable, because God is unchangeable; it may be trampled underfoot, it may be vilified by false witnesses, as was its Lord, who said it was made for man. It may be crucified between thieves and buried, as was its Maker; but, notwithstanding all opposition, it lives, because it is of God. It is founded in eternal fact, and forever upheld by the Word of God. Such is the Lord’s Sabbath, the seventh day; God fixed it at creation, and no human power on earth can move it from its place.
A. P. Bamberger.
THE JOY AND PEACE UNSPEAKABLE.
By J. C. Kastner
Many have certified thereof; some do still. To appreciate, delight in, and love divinely, requires something not of man but of God. “To the pure all things are pure.” To the sinless, every created being bears witness of a grace and mercy, a wisdom and goodness positively divine.
Satan accuses everything, condemns everything, and hates everything—more than that, desires everything, corrupts everything, and enjoys nothing; for gratification of his lusts bears bitter fruit enough. Paul was supremely blest in prison and in chains. Stephen, amidst those that sought his blood, saw heaven open. Fools promise everything the natural heart desires; those who believe them are always missing the joy and peace unspeakable, tho they gain the whole world.
We read daily of unfortunates who, with health and wealth, education and enlightenment, commit suicide, to get out and away from their misery, trusting to profit by the shelter of the grave. Iscariot hanged himself for the same reason. Say not insanity is not the portion of every one seeking joy or peace in evil. When we seek, we find. Seek we in Christ, we find what He promised. Seek we in Satan’s kingdom, abject materialism, damnable desires, and unutterable emptiness of soul are our inevitable portion. The same cross that brightens and glorifies life in Christ is a savor of death unto every carnal impulse and desire. Common sense might teach the world that no joy is pure that depends for its existence upon other people’s expense, shame, and corruption. Where mutual condemnation is held needful for mutual instruction and correction, every coward thereunto has his feet fastened in hell.
The simple fact is, the only rebuke that goes more than skin deep is to suffer for the sin of others, even as Christ suffered for us. The joy of victory over aught causing us to hate instead of pity our neighbor who still seeks delight in the flesh, the world, and the devil, is not of man, but of God.
TO THOSE whose lives have revealed that they have received Christ as their Saviour from sin, the Word is, “Come;” to those who have refused the gift of His love, the Word is, “Depart.” The one class have chosen the fellowship of Jesus by His indwelling Spirit, and to them it is granted to enjoy that fellowship to all eternity in the earth made new and fully relieved from the curse and all its effects. “They shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads.” “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Rev. 22:4; 21:3.
The other class have said by their actions, “We will not have this Man to reign over us.” Instead of separation from the world they have chosen separation from God, and now this choice is forever confirmed, and they “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.” 2 Thess. 1:9.
In the judgment that fellowship with God, which is life, is granted thruout eternity to those who have opened their hearts to the indwelling of God’s presence in Jesus Christ, but eternal separation from God is the lot of those who have refused His presence here. But separation from God is death; “for in Him we live and move and have our being.” And so the punishment of the wicked and the reward of the righteous will be of equal duration. Sustained by His own life, the righteous will live as long as God lives; but, being eternally separated from that life by their own choice, the wicked shall “be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous.” “For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be.”
E. J. WAGGONER.
WILL YOUR HOUSE STAND?
By R. A. Prickett
In building a house it is well to remember that conditions may arise which are not seen at present. In the Saviour’s instructions in the seventh chapter of Matthew He is seeking to get before the minds of His hearers a basis of sound faith, in contradistinction to the teachings of men. In verses 24–27 He gives us examples of two kinds of character houses,—one is founded on a rock, the other on the sand.
The first case is to illustrate the man who both hears and does the words of truth found in the Book of God. He “digs deep” (Luke 6:48), to be sure that he is on the solid truth (John 17:17), and that there is no more sin separating him from God. He is a wise man. When the days of trial come, when he is tested, he endures.
Notice there are three things mentioned as coming to that house,—first, rain; second, floods; third, winds. The rain softens the soil but does not affect the rock. The floods sweep away the softened earth and undermine the house. “The floods of ungodly men made me afraid.” 2 Sam. 22:5. How many a character has been wrecked by having been surrounded by the floods of the ungodly! The wind completes the wreck. “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.” Eph. 4:14.
We are living in a time above all others when Satan has brought all his artillery of falsehoods and deception to bear to deceive men and women. Then how exceedingly important it is that we be founded on the rock, rooted and grounded in the truth, that we may be able to stand against all these things! Therefore be careful about the rain of sin, the company of the ungodly (Prov. 24:1), and the many voices, the winds of false doctrine. Build on Christ. Beware of the other character cited in Matthew 7, of the foolish man who built his house on the sand.
