p. 13 | Review and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 11. (3/12/1908)

Earlier text: One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollar Fund

Aids for Bible Readers

By Walter Quincy Scott, D. D.

Historical quotations and extracts from various writers which may assist the thoughtful student of the Scriptures.

Notes on the Decalogue

THE fundamental idea of the decalogue is the decision in human history of the truth that God is the only deliverer of man. The decalogue is essentially Messianic. Its actual and only possible fulfilment is in Christ.

That God is man's only deliverer is a spiritual idea which becomes historically the fundamental principle of a new organization of a people, not by their expression of the idea in the form of public opinion, but through the instrumentality of a great leader. Such an idea develops the grandest courage of the soul, and we may therefore clearly imagine with what eager energy Moses pressed forward to the sea, and halted there for that final decision which should for the first time make every man, woman, and child of Israel an eye-witness of the final separating act of the invisible God's deliverance—an act which put them into a condition needing and ready to receive organic legislation, and which determined the fact that Moses should be the legislator.

The decalogue was designed to be an independent and complete spiritual code, the basis of all the legislation of the new commonwealth. It was immediately needed as a legal expression of the new and true religion and the central standard of the national faith. And it was so framed that while it accomplished the chief purpose of expressing the universal and permanent truths of the relations

between God and man, it should also by defining the relations of man with man supply the basis of all forms of moral law, founding morality upon religious obligation.

For these reasons the decalogue was given by itself, first of all, under circumstances that make it absolutely clear that this code differs distinctly from all subsequent and consequent Mosaic legislation. These circumstances are: that it was delivered first and separately; that its delivery was accompanied by miraculous signs of God's presence; that it was designated as “the law;” that it was spoken by Jehovah himself; that it was called “the testimony,” because it was God's own witness to the truth constituting the true religion; that it was called “the words of the covenant,” to signify its unchanging nature as expressing right relations between God and man; that it was placed in the ark of the covenant as expressing the sum of man's duties to God and God's purpose to fulfil every jot and tittle thereof. . . .

Consider now that the first five commandments express God's relations with man, emphasizing man's duties toward God.

The first commandment declares the reality of God's being, and man's obligation to recognize him as the only true God. It is the divine protest against the very existence of all false gods.

The second commandment relates to the worship of the true God by forbidding polytheism—sensual worship of any kind. And the reason annexed sets forth the personal nearness, the holiness and the love of God, in the contrast between his just punishment of sin and his mercy and love. Note “upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me” and “loving-kindness unto a thousand generations of them that love me and keep my commandments.”

This is one of the most wonderful expressions of the love of God to be found in the entire Bible. Compare Ex. 34: 7; Num. 14: 18ff, and the words of Jesus, John 14: 21.

Thus the first two commandments not only set aside all corruptions of idolatry, but show that all forms of idolatry spring from the alienation of the heart from the true God, and that God who reveals himself as the deliverer of man can be truly worshiped only by the heart of man—his love in response to the love of God.

The third and fourth commandments correspond respectively to the first and second. For as the first sets aside all idols, the third requires that God alone is to be worshiped by the holy and reverent use of his name—of anything whereby God maketh himself known; and as the second forbids all idolatrous worships, the fourth requires the keeping of the Sabbath (the definite time of rest from all worldly occupations) in order to commune with God in public and private worship and in obedience to his commands. And the fourth commandment is grounded upon God's example in creation, from which he rested to enter into communion with man, that man, might enter into communion with him. . . .

The fifth commandment enjoins honor to parents—filial duties. The ground of the obligation is that parents are God's earthly representatives. No form of law can supersede the control in all respects which parents in the nature of the case must exercise over their children. All the wants and even the lives of children depend upon their parents. In every form of government and society the parents stand toward their children in God's stead. It is a natural and moral union beyond the control or reach of any human power that may seek to violate it. As God ordains the union, he will thus be honored in his representatives, and filial duty is made the natural basis of piety.

Thus the last command of the first table completes the circle of truths respecting the duties of man toward God by showing the closest connection between the soul and God, for the parents produce the lives of their children, and, as it were, secondarily create them. And so if it was fitting that God should introduce these commands by describing himself as the God who brought men out of the land of their bondage, it was equally fitting that he should close this table by promising to lead his obedient children into the new land of liberty.

Observe that these last two commands of the first table have reference to the deeds of public worship and of home life, just as the preceding commands cover the domain of thought, motive, and speech.

But this last command of the first table which describes the manifestation of piety toward God in the duties of the family, is in closest connection with the second group of commandments defining the duties between man and his neighbor. Men learn in the family how to treat their neighbors. And if the first table of the law may be summed up in the one word “piety,” the second table may be summed up in the one word “probity;” the one table pointing out right relations with God as the only true basis for the other table pointing out right relations with man. For it is logically and actually impossible for morality to exist except as the outcome of religion.

Note that the first commandment of the second table (the sixth) is, Thou shalt not kill. This law protects human life, and has forbidding reference to all acts that even injure a fellow man's life.

Notice next the logical sequence of the second commandment of this table (the seventh), which forbids adultery. This law protects the institution of marriage, and forbids all acts which injure the partner of one's life.

Note the logical sequence of the third commandment of this table (the eighth), which forbids stealing. This law protects property, and forbids all acts which injure or take away the means of sustaining and cultivating one's life. These three commands cover all outward deeds of such a description that the hand may be regarded as their symbol. They forbid criminality in act.

In sequence the next commandment (the ninth) forbids false witness—all injury to the good name or to the rights of one's fellow man. It condemns criminality in word, the misuse of the tongue among men.

The last commandment of this table (the fifth), which is also the last of the decalogue, forbids covetousness, specifying with emphasis the objects of covetousness from the greatest (house, or wife, Deut. 5: 21—generic) to the least (anything). It condemns wrongdoing even in desires or thoughts. For covetousness is a state of the heart—a condition of thought. . . .

Finally, note the clear and broad distinction between the decalogue as a spiritual code of the universal and permanent principles of religion and morality, and the local and temporary legislation of Judaism associated with this code. Does it not betray sheer superficiality, if nothing worse, to say that the decalogue is not binding upon all men? For these commands are moral principles of universal and permanent validity. Not one of them is ceremonial in any respect whatever. They were not made true nor even discovered by Mosaic legislation; nor can any legislation or civilization whatsoever change their nature one jot or tittle.

Who will be so foolish as to say that Christianity abolished the prohibition of murder, of adultery, of theft, of falsehood, of covetousness; or abolished the reality of God's being, the love of the heart in his worship, the reverence due to his name, the devotion of time to communion with God, and filial duty to parents? Who can deny that Christ and his apostles continually quoted these commands and repeated their injunctions? Who does not know that Moses himself summed up the two tables of the law in the twofold obligation of love to God and love to man (Deut. 6: 4, 5; 10: 12, 18, 19; Lev. 19: 17, 18), and that Christ quoted this summary of Moses as the perfect law of his own kingdom? Matt. 22: 37-40.

By what warrant, then, either of authority or of logic, can any one say that even if nine of the commandments are moral principles, and therefore permanently and universally valid, one of them (the fourth) is not a moral law? that it is only ceremonial, only Jewish, only local and temporary? For the fourth commandment does not contain one word concerning any ceremony, and is so closely joined with all the rest that no man can logically take it out and say that the moral code is complete. For it is grounded directly upon the relations between God the Creator and man his creature with whom God enters into communion; and it makes its great appeal to the laws which God has ordained in creation, including the nature of man himself.—Walter Quincy Scott, D. D., in The Bible Record for February, 1908.

Opposing Ways

By G. D. BALLOU

G. D. BALLOU

EARTHLY courts do not ask a man to testify so as to incriminate himself. He may, and is asked to, incriminate as many others as he can. The court of heaven forbids us to incriminate others. We may testify only against our own selves, and that by confession. Wonderful contrast! One endeavors to exalt self and bring his fellow men low; the other humbles self so that the life of God may be manifested in the flesh. One method attempts to save self, but destroys others; the other method destroys self that one’s fellow men may live. One is a fight against humanity; the other a battle against sin. One places stumbling-blocks in the way of other men; the other removes them. One is the way of strife and war; the other the way of peace and rest. One is the way of death; the other the way of life. One is the way of this world; the other the way of the kingdom of heaven. Friend, which way have you chosen?

More About “Viavi!”

By J. R. LEADSWORTH, M. D.

EDITOR REVIEW AND HERALD: Since sending my article concerning the Viavi preparations, I have made some investigations of laboratory reports, and find that a number of chemists declare this preparation free from opium and morphin. But referring to this same question as to these preparations containing habit-forming drugs, the California State Journal of Medicine says: “It was unnecessary to put an expensive article like morphin, and one liable to bring about trouble in the future, into their remedies, when they do not need to.”

As stated in the former communication, our information was taken from the Standard Formulary, a book published by Englehard & Co., Chicago; and so far as we know, these publishers have never made a statement other than the one given in their book and quoted in our article. What we said was not with any malicious intent, but simply to state the facts as we believed them to exist. We still protest against such a system of humbuggery, that builds up immense fortunes for a few promoters by preying upon confiding sick and suffering women.

The editor of the California State Journal of Medicine, after taking some pains to look up the standing of the promoters of Viavi and its several preparations, devotes six pages in the April issue to showing up the methods adopted by this firm. Extracts of this article were published in the American Medical Journal of April 27, from which we quote:

“It appears that two astute, and, since they have made their millions, highly respected, men on the Pacific Coast conceived the idea some years ago of instituting a ‘treatment’ for the ills peculiar to women. This ‘treatment’ practically consisted—and, in great part, still consists—of prescribing vaginal douches. But, of course, as our contemporary says, ‘No large paying business could be built up by simply selling a little good advice and a trifle of common sense.’ There must be something definite to take, some wonderful, secret, and very costly remedy that will work the result, to secure which the douche is but the merest preliminary. Hence the ‘capsules’ and the ‘cerate’ and the ‘liquid’ and the ‘royal,’ and the rest of the wonderful remedies which, collectively, leave little uncured or uncurable by Viavi.

“So Viavi is ‘bought,’ and the douche is taken. The immediate increase of personal comfort, and many times the quick relief from some annoying minor ailment, which follows this exercise of cleanliness and common sense, might so hypnotize the average woman who accepts the Viavi preachments and takes the Viavi ‘treatment,’ that she would be ready to believe almost anything the promoters care to tell her.”

Speaking of the specific ingredients which are so skilfully combined in these famous (?) preparations as to actually cure tumors by their application, the writer above referred to says: “So far as we are able to determine, they contain nothing but the extracts of hydrastis and cocoa butter.”

This seems in perfect accord with the certified statement of one of the chemists, who volunteers the information that he gave one subject two ounces of the Viavi liquid at one time, amounting to nearly one hundred ordinary doses, and the fact that no distressing effects are reported upon the patient, would seem to indicate that the substance is practically inert. There are few if any other therapeutic agents which, when active enough to produce any effect upon the body at all, can be taken with the dose multiplied a hundredfold. The most valuable and simple remedies are those which require great skill in estimating dose enough. They are just as potent for harm as for good when taken slightly in excess.

It is well known that the business of producing patent and proprietary medicines insures large returns in proportion to the number of genuine or faked testimonials that can be produced praising the specific virtues of the remedy. The Viavi Company is not behind other firms in the methods of procuring these testimonials, as will be seen by the following quotations from a letter sent out to one of their agents, urging upon them the importance of procuring testimonials. We quote from the Journal of the American Medical Association of January 18:—

“THE NORTHERN OHIO VIAVI CO., CLEVELAND, Oct. 18, 1907.

“Mrs. . . . .

“DEAR MADAM: We would like to have a few more letters from your cures, or even from the women who are vastly improved, and perhaps a suggestion from us will assist you in getting these letters. Do not be satisfied to simply try to get a cure to give you a letter, but write out a letter yourself, such as you think covers the case, briefly but fully, and submit it to her for her signature, and then if there are any changes, they can easily be made. To some women it is distinct effort to sit down and write a letter of this nature, and they will continue putting you off until finally the matter is never accomplished. You know, of course, that we will supply you with a number of these letters printed on slips without charge. They will be of great help to you in your daily work. If your cure does not care to have her name given, she can merely sign her initials; that will be sufficient. . . .

“Very cordially yours, “THE N. O. VIAVI CO.”

Any one who has given the subject even passing notice knows that it is not difficult to get testimonials for any remedy foisted upon a credulous public. Visitors to the late Dowie Church of Zion City declare that the number of crutches, canes, and braces left there by some of the faithful who were “cured” of some so-called incurable malady, makes the place resemble a modern orthopedic establishment rather than a house of worship.

Some years ago a wonderful doctor dropped into St. Petersburg. He came from one of the back provinces of Russia, and announced himself as being able to cure consumption and almost every other known disease. He had a little bottle of red medicine which he gave to every sort of case with wonderful success, until by and by one of the czar’s friends was taken sick. The doctor gave him the same medicine, and he died. The “doctor” was brought into court, and was compelled to testify as to the nature of the medicine which had apparently killed the nobleman. The man, upon his oath in court, swore that the medicine was simply water of the River Neva, the dirty water being colored with a little cochineal, and nothing more. And yet there were many who had declared themselves cured by this medicine.

J. R. LEADSWORTH, M. D.

Los Angeles, Cal.

Your Boy

By L. D. SANTEE

L. D. SANTEE

Not all the treasures of wealth and grace, Were they down before you cast, Would you take for one smile of your darling's face, Did you know it would be the last.

Not all the gems of the richest mart, The treasures of sea or shore, Would buy one throb of that loving heart, Did you know it would beat no more.

Perchance the day may sometime come When your darling is lying low, And you, in a saddened, empty home, To your duties listless go; Ah, how will it soothe the weary mind, And soften your grief and woe, To know that your words have been soft and kind To your boy that is lying low;

And to know as you stood by his ridge of clay, As the sun was going down, You had sweetened the life of the child's brief day, With a smile, instead of a frown!

O, gentle mother, while he is given As a precious gift to you, Give to your boy a taste of heaven, By a love that is warm and true!

Chicago, Ill.

Other New Fields Opening

By W. J. TANNER

W. J. TANNER

On November 22 it was my privilege, in company with Elder U. Bender, to visit Fort de France on the island of Martinique. The small steamer on which we traveled kept near to the shore as we rounded the western point of the island and ran down to the above-mentioned city, and this gave us, with the aid of our glasses, a very good view of Mt. Pelée and of the ruins of St. Pierre. The volcano, after belching forth destruction for many months, seemed to be taking a rest; nevertheless the evidences of its recent activity were not wanting. The slope of the mountain, entirely denuded of every living thing, the mighty stream of lava, and beyond, the somber and silent ruins of the once thriving city of St. Pierre, all told us how dreadful are the forces of nature when God in his wisdom sees fit to permit them to be unchained.

Although it is scarcely six years since the destruction of this city and its forty thousand inhabitants took place, yet so quickly have followed other disasters, and so numerous have they been, that already the Martinique catastrophe seems far more remote than it really is. Surely we are living in a time when signs are multiplying rapidly; and not only the swift destruction of St. Pierre, but also the equally sudden disasters at San Francisco, Valparaiso, and Kingston demonstrate how terrible and how sudden the judgments of heaven may be when once the restraining mercy of God is withdrawn from an impenitent world.

There is another reason, however, why Martinique and its sister island, Guadaloupe, should be interesting to us. Being French colonies, the religion of the people is naturally Catholic, and both the government and the people have been unfriendly to the entrance of Protestantism.

Not long ago I met a colporteur for the British and Foreign Bible Society, who several years ago endeavored to circulate the Word of God in these islands. To be brief, he did not succeed in disposing of many copies, and soon had to flee before an infuriated mob, and eventually to leave the colony to save his life. We heard, too, of one of our sisters from St. Lucia, who, while endeavoring to distribute some of our literature in Fort de France a few years ago, met with some very hard treatment of a similar nature.

But to-day this situation is changed. The same Providence that is opening doors for the entrance of the third angel's message in other lands has opened the door into the French West Indian colonies. This has been caused in part by the change of the status of the church in its relation to the state in France during the past two years, and in part to the inclination of many to throw off the yoke of Rome.

At all events, the time is ripe for the entrance of the everlasting gospel into these French islands. Already I have heard that our friend, the colporteur mentioned above, has returned to the field, and is meeting with a better reception. Not having time ourselves to distribute any of our French literature in Fort de France, we improved the acquaintance we made with a fellow passenger, a native of the island, by giving him an assortment of tracts bearing on the cardinal points of the message, and asking him to circulate the same among his friends. He gladly received these, and a few weeks later, when I met him again in St. Thomas, he told me that he had fulfilled his promise, and that the tracts had been eagerly received. We trust that this will be but the small beginning of a strong and profitable work in Guadaloupe and Martinique. The people in these islands compare favorably with those in the British West Indies, and no doubt from among them also there will be some to swell the song of earth's redeemed ones, when they shall stand assembled before the throne of God.

Cape Haytien, Hayti.

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