Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 17, 1894
Christ, the Way to God
Christ Jesus, the Way, the Truth, the Life.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6.
THE whole system of human redemption is set forth in the above scripture, and volumes could be written in explication thereof without exhausting it. No one comes unto the Father but by Christ.
THE words take for granted man's lost condition. He is fallen, separate from God. By sin he has defaced God's image originally stamped on his character, and has erected the throne of self in the heart. The only means by which he may become united to God, the only way by which he may become acquainted with God, is through Christ. “No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” Matt. 11:27. But Christ came to reveal the Father. John 14:1, 10. The only way, then, to become acquainted with God, whom to know is life, is through his Son Jesus Christ.
The Way.—Christ is the way to God. The true way is the way of God's commandments (Ps. 119:32, 33), the way of peace (Ps. 119:165), which is the way of righteousness (Ps. 119:172). But all mankind have transgressed the way of the Lord, have perverted their own ways, and therefore “the way of peace have they not known,” for “there is no fear of God before their eyes.” Rom. 3:17, 18. And this is the case with all men of themselves, for “all have sinned” and, at the very best, “come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:19, 23. Christ is the way back to holiness, the only way by which man may be reconciled to God. He is the ladder seen in Jacob's dream with one end reaching to heaven and the other resting on the earth. He came down to the very lowest depths of sin; death;—and in his righteous character, developed in perfect obedience to God's perfectly holy law, as well as by his birthright, he lays hold upon the throne of heaven, and thus bridges the chasm which sin has made. To him who yields himself to God, and that is what faith is, his sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, the righteousness of God in Christ is placed upon him, and he is accepted in the beloved. See Rom. 3:21-26. The sinner becomes complete in Christ (Col. 2:9, 10), a saint in Christ's holiness (1 Cor. 6:11), a child of God (John 1:13; 1 John 3:1). He is accepted just as though he had never sinned.
The Truth.—Christ as the way is gladly accepted by many, but Christ as the truth by few. God's “word is truth.” It is by obeying the truth of that word—through faith, always of course—that we are purified (1 Peter 1:22); it is God's word by which we are sanctified, that is separated from the world and set apart to his service (John 17:17). In fact, it is through that same word of truth that we are begotten (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23), that we grow (1 Peter 2:2), that we are built up unto eternal life (Acts 20:32). How important, then, is this word, and yet how few are willing to accept it! How many there are who are more willing to accept of human perversions of God's word, of human traditions, of human opinions and practices contrary to the truth of the Bible, rather than by simple faith to receive the word! And yet he who truly receives Christ receives the word, for Christ is the Incarnate Word. That word is among men's words just what Christ is among men, both human and divine, reaching man in the lowest depths and lifting him to heaven by divine power. Christ is the Word (John 1:1-3), for all the word of God came through him. It was he who commissioned his evangelists and apostles; it was his Spirit which spoke through the prophets. 1 Peter 1:10, 11. And, therefore, to reject that word is to reject Christ Jesus. We cannot accept him as the way and reject him as the truth. It is by the truth that he builds our character (Acts 20:32; Matt. 7:24, 25), and by which he keeps us to the end (Ps. 17:4; 91:4; 2 Thess. 2:12, 13). Then receive Christ Jesus, not alone as the blessed way back to God, but as the truth in all its fullness, which will keep us there.
The Life.—Fewer still accept Christ as the life, the only life of the world. They accept of the way nominally, because they desire to be saved at least from the consequences of sin. They professedly embrace his truth for the same reason and yet pervert it by making its standard of interpretation human opinion. But to say that Christ is our life is to admit that we do not have life ourselves; and poor humanity does not wish to reject the lie told by the old deceiver to our first parents, “Ye shall not surely die.” And yet men do die, and the only proof we have that they do not is that reiterated lie of the ages. But the Truth declares, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” He also declares that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” He tells the unyielding sinners, “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” John 5:40. And yet to know him is not mere life as we now possess it, as the sinner possesses it; but “this is life eternal, that we might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” John 17:3. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. . . . And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” See 1 John 5:10-13. And he who lets Christ live his life in him, will at Christ's coming be given immortality, but not till then. See 1 Cor. 15:51, 54. But it all comes through Christ. The life is the accompaniment of the righteousness he gives (Rom. 8:10), and both righteousness and life come by faith in the word of truth. Why not take Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, the Life, as a whole Saviour?
The Freedom Rome Gives.
By Editor
The leading contributed article in the Catholic Mirror of November 24 is by J. Thomas Scharf, Jr., on "Our First Explorers Catholics." His argument is to the effect that because a Catholic discovered America therefore it belongs to Roman Catholics. It strikes us that by parity of argument the Indians and paganism have the first right. However, the writer admits that the first two attempts by Catholics to settle the country were abandoned. Really in this country the permanent settlement and character of the country came from Protestants. But that does not mean that the government should be administered by any religious class. In the same article the writer, in speaking of one of the early explorers, says:—
The influence of the action of Father Montesinos, the first to denounce human slavery in America, can be seen in the second patent to John Poncede. This required that the natives should be summoned to submit to the Catholic faith and the authority of the king of2Spain; and they were not to be attacked or captured if they submitted.
But what is this but a worse slavery? The terms were to submit to spiritual slavery and a foreign monarch, or be made slaves! Wonderful freedom in that, but it is the freedom we may always expect when papal principles are dominant, whether administered by Roman Catholics or Protestants.
CLEAN AND UNCLEAN MEATS.
By Editor
WE have received from a number of correspondents questions in regard to clean and unclean meats. We are asked if the laws under the Levitical dispensation are still binding upon those who live under the Christian dispensation. These questions we will answer as briefly as possible.
1. The distinction between clean and unclean beasts existed before God gave the laws relating to them to the children of Israel. For instance, we are told in Genesis 6 and 7 that while Noah should take of the clean beasts fourteen in number, he should take but two of the unclean. This provision was made that when the flood was over and he came out upon the barren earth, there would be clean beasts for both food and sacrifice, as well as for the preservation of the species.
2. The Lord then said: "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things." Gen. 9:3. And yet this would seem to be limited (a) by the lack of unclean beasts for other purposes than that of propagation; and (b) by the distinction which then existed between clean and unclean animals, and which was known to Noah and his descendants. We have parallels to this in different parts of the Scriptures; that is, we have specific laws prohibiting or limiting certain things; then we also have general statements which seem to include everything, prohibiting or limiting nothing, and yet we understand these general expressions as limited by the specific law. Two illustrations of this will serve to make it plain: In Ex. 16:4 the Lord told the children of Israel that they should go out and gather a certain rate of manna every day. Certainly that general instruction would seem to include seven days of the week without exception, and yet that general instruction was limited by the specific law of God, which declares that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and in it they should do no work, nor should there any manna fall. See verses 26 to 28. Again in Deut. 14:1-21 we have a repetition of the law concerning clean and unclean beasts. There are certain kinds which the Lord permits his people to eat, and there are certain kinds which he forbids. And yet in the 26th verse of that chapter the Lord tells his people that when they came to that place which he had chosen to set his name there, "thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth; and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God." Certainly that general instruction would seem to include everything that was desired, and yet that is to be understood as being limited by the specific law which God had given concerning clean and unclean meats.
3. The Lord would not make this distinction between clean and unclean meats arbitrarily. There was a reason why he did so. That reason is indicated by an expression found in 3 John 2: "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." God is always the same, and that has always been his desire for his people, and he knew that the flesh of some animals was much more healthful than that of others, and therefore he forbade that which he knew to be especially derogatory to health, and permitted that which he knew would be least so.
4. This prohibition of certain meats as embodied in the law continued through the Levitical dispensation, because when God's special people were combined largely in one nation and place and under uniform circumstances and influences, the prohibition could be easily carried out without interfering with the comforts or necessities of the people. But when we reach the Christian dispensation, those laws which had to do with meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances were as such abolished. See Heb. 9:10.
5. The reason for this, at least one good reason, was that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ was to go to all the world. The glad tidings of salvation would therefore reach men in every circumstance and condition of life. Some of them in the very necessity of the case would be placed in those circumstances where the use of unclean meats and unhealthful surroundings were absolutely unavoidable; but if in order to accept that gospel they must first separate themselves from every prohibition that was indicated in the Levitical law, it would have debarred thousands from the free salvation which the Lord Jesus Christ offered.
But this does not mean that the laws which God gave are useless; the same reasons, the same principles, underlying those laws exist now, and God would have the well-instructed soul remember the laws which he gave through Moses. God would have his people understand that it is better for them now, even as it was for them then, to abstain from the use of those meats which were unhealthful, and therefore made unclean because they were unhealthful. And the faithful, obedient soul will just as far as possible heed the precious instruction which God has given. While the specific law has been taken away, the real principles underlying those laws remain, and God would have his people people of principle.
6. The better way, speaking generally, would doubtless be to come back to the primal law of God. When man was first created, before sin entered, flesh formed no portion of his food, and in these days of diseased animal life of every kind, it certainly would seem from a purely health standpoint that to approximate God's original law would be the better way. Of course such a change as this cannot be made arbitrarily or immediately. Those who have been living on flesh foods largely may not be able to make the change all at once. The digestive organs must be gradually educated to the change in diet. One of the great difficulties which health reformers have to meet comes, to our mind, from this very thing. Someone will see that a course in the past has been wrong, and he immediately changes to a reform diet. The digestive organs have not had time to adapt themselves to the new burdens thrown upon them, and the result is, generally, ill health and discouragement. Such changes should be made gradually and wisely, but they should be made.
Of course there are some who are suffering from diseases of various kinds, whose systems demand flesh diet; at least such seems to be the case. But in all these things the real principle which should guide the child of God is stated by the apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 10:31: "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." If this principle controls the life, we will not seek for those things which merely taste good or which will please the appetite, but rather we will eat for strength and not for drunkenness. Eccl. 10:17. Not only this, but this principle should be applied to our own lives. While we may instruct others and teach them the better way, we are not to sit in judgment upon them. Thus writes the apostle: "Let us not therefore judge one another any more; but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." Rom. 14:13. What God desires his people to be is the very best specimens of humanity, physically, mentally, and spiritually, and wise and temperate living will greatly conduce to such results.
THE SABBATH QUESTION AND THE "CHRISTIAN" POSITION.
By Editor
WE wish to notice some of the things said by Prof. S. M. Martin on the Sabbath question, as intimated last week, not because he said it, but because he said it as a representative man of the religious denomination known as "Christians," or "Disciples," or sometimes as "Campbellites," from Alexander Campbell, their founder. Mr. Martin is one of their best known and faithfully advertised evangelists, and is an entertaining and forcible speaker. His argument on the Sabbath question is one often put forth by that denomination, revamped to some extent by D. M. Canright. We will notice some of Mr. Martin's most forcible arguments. We quote from a stenographic report of his sermon:—
1. The Sabbath before the Exodus.
If anybody ever kept the Sabbath day as a day of rest before the time of Moses, it is not so mentioned in the Book of God. Now, our Sabbatarian friends affirm that this day in the beginning was given to man. . . . There is not one word in the Bible to affirm any such an assertion—not one, and if the patriarchs ever kept it, we are without any Biblical account of it.
An argument which proves too much proves nothing. This is the misfortune with3the above. We might positively declare that nowhere before the time of Moses does it say that the patriarchs did not kill, or commit adultery, or take the name of the Lord in vain, and therefore these were not required of them. But the fact is that in the very nature of the case the transgression of the principles set forth in the Decalogue has always been sin and always will be. Genesis is not a book of law, but a history of God's providential dealings with the children of men. It does not give any law which makes a distinction between clean and unclean beasts, but, nevertheless, such distinction existed, was known to man, and regarded. See Gen. 7:2, 8, 9. There is no law which commands the observance of the seventh day as a holy day, but the record shows that the day was made holy in the beginning, and it also shows that a law must have been given to that effect. Gen. 2:2, 3 gives the history of the institution of the Sabbath, on the seventh day. It was made holy, and sanctified, or separated, or set apart for a sacred use. "The Sabbath," our Lord tells us, "was made for man." Mark 2:27. It was, therefore, to be kept by man, a holy, separated day, to the worship of God. There must, therefore, have been directions or a law for its keeping, the transgression of which was sin. This is so obvious that Alexander Campbell, in his "Christian System," says: "The moral and religious institutions of the patriarchal or family worship, which continued from the fall of Adam to the covenant of circumcision, were the Sabbath, the service of the altar, oral instruction," etc. "These were parts of that system which continued for two thousand five hundred years. The religious observance of weeks or Sabbaths in commemoration of creation . . . was religiously observed to the giving of the law. . . . Thus the law of the Sabbath commences with the words, 'Remember the Sabbath.'" ("The Christian System," p. 135.) Let Mr. Martin and his followers wrestle with this declaration of a greater man. The Bible shows that the Sabbath law as truly existed as did any other law found in the Decalogue.
Ex. 16:23 shows that the Sabbath was known as an existing institution weeks before Israel came to Sinai. And Abraham kept it, for says the Lord, "Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." Gen. 26:5. The Sabbath was therefore known and observed during the patriarchal age before Moses.
2. Given to the Jews.
The Sabbath is first mentioned in Ex. 16:23, over twenty-five hundred years after creation. It was then made known, and given to the Jews only, not given to any other people or nation under the sun. Now for the proof. "Thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai, . . . and madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath." Neh. 9:13, 14. "I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them." (Eze. 20:12), between the Jews and God, not between you and him. It was a sign between God and Israel, and was never given to anybody else. "Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day." Deut. 5:15. Did he ever bring you out of Egypt? Are you the fellow that was brought out of Egypt? Was it your ancestors that were brought out of Egypt? Are you a Jew, anyway? It was never given to anybody but the Jews, and was never binding upon this earth upon anybody but a Jew; but it has been taken out of the way even for the Jew, and never was in the way for any Gentile since the world began.
a. But we have just shown that the Sabbath was made at creation, and was "made for man," for ton anthrōpon, "the man," the whole race of mankind, all the posterity of Adam. It was made not for the Jew, who did not exist till twenty-five hundred years later, nor for the Assyrian, but for the race.
b. The Sabbath law also shows this:—
"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 manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates."
Note that the law is addressed to the individual, not to the Jewish nation. This is the Sabbath law. Note again that the law is based upon reasons which concern all men alike, the great facts of creation, as beneficent and important to the Gentile as to the Jew.
c. The Sabbath was given to the Jews. To them pertained "the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants [both old and new], and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever." Rom. 9:4, 5. Every blessing which has come to Christians came to the Jews, and the Sabbath was included among them. While the Lord ever calls the Sabbath his holy day, while he never calls it the Jewish Sabbath or the Sabbath of the Jews, he often speaks of himself as "the Lord thy God," the God of Jacob. But is he not the God of the Gentiles?—"Yes, of the Gentiles also." Rom. 3:29. And his Sabbath, the memorial of his creative power, is given to the Gentiles also, even as God is God of the Gentiles.
d. Mr. Martin has much to say of the new covenant under which we are. But the new covenant was made "with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah." Heb. 8:8. In the new covenant come all the everlasting blessings of the people of God, but the new covenant is as much "Jewish" as the Sabbath. In fact, the Sabbath is a mark of loyalty demanded of the Gentiles who accept of the new covenant. See Isa. 56:1-7, where the Lord promises a name better than of sons and daughter to strangers (Gentiles), "who join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant." Here is a requirement that Gentiles, to reap the promises, must be found Sabbath keepers.
e. Israel, the name of that nation to whom God intrusted all his blessings, was of spiritual origin. It was given to Jacob, the supplanter, because he had prevailing faith with God. Gen. 32:28. "And so [by faith] shall all Israel be saved," whether by birth they be Jew or Gentile. And the Sabbath is a sign between God and this true Israel forever. See also Ex. 31:17. Again, the term "Jew" came from the tribe of Judah. But it is in the tribe of Judah that all the spiritual hopes of God's people center. "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh [Christ] come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." Gen. 49:10. Said Jesus: "And other sheep [Gentiles] I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold [Israel, Eph. 2:12, 19], and one shepherd [the Shiloh of the tribe of Judah, the one great Jew]." John 10:16. And therefore says an apostle: "He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; . . . but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; . . . whose praise is not of men, but of God." Rom. 2:28, 29. Then, in this sense, every Christian is an Israelite, is a Jew, and the Sabbath is the sign between him and God, his Creator and Redeemer through Christ Jesus.
3. Made Known the Sabbath.
As quoted by Mr. Martin, Nehemiah says that when God came down upon Mount Sinai he made known unto Israel his holy Sabbath. In what sense? and how?
a. He did not make it known in the sense of revealing it to them for the first time, for they knew the Sabbath as an existing institution at least a month before they came to Sinai, and the Lord descended on the mount. In what sense, then, did God make known the Sabbath?—In the sense of revealing its true character.
b. How did he do this? 1. God seemed to anticipate the arguments that men would afterward bring that the Sabbath was a ceremonial observance, temporary, and would pass away with that dispensation; and therefore he associated it with nine other moral precepts, concerning which there could be no question among his professed people, so that, to destroy the Sabbath and take it out of the way, other moral precepts would have to be set aside. Three mighty fortresses on the one side or six on the other must be carried before the citadel of the Sabbath can be reached. 2. It is given as a memorial of God the Creator. His creation concerns all men for all time, and, therefore, is binding upon all men in all times. 3. The Sabbath is to be remembered "to keep it holy." It is therefore to be kept spiritually, and is only truly kept by those who are indeed the children of the Lord. 4. God not only made the Sabbath known as a spiritual memorial of his power as Creator, but a sign between him and his people, that they might know that he was their Redeemer and Sanctifier.
"It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." Ex. 31:17.
"Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." Eze. 20:12.
Redeeming, sanctifying, or regenerating is re-creation. It takes the same power to regenerate man as to create him. Says an4apostle, in speaking of this very thing, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." Eph. 2:10. The redemption of Israel from Egypt by God's outstretched arm and mighty hand was a manifestation of creative power, second to that of the creation itself. It is continually brought before us in the word of God as a sign of his power. Therefore, when Moses repeated the Decalogue at the end of forty years, he gave an additional reason why Israel should remember the Sabbath, and that reason was the redeeming power which had been exercised in their behalf in delivering them from Egypt. God thus made known the Sabbath to Israel both as a memorial of creation and a sign of redemption.
God has redeemed all Christians from a worse than Egyptian bondage, even sin. Upon them devolves the obligation of the observance of the memorial of their great Creator,—the seventh-day Sabbath. Upon them devolves the additional obligation of the observance of that same day, the sign of God's power in redeeming them from sin. He who knows Christ Jesus, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, as his personal Re-creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier, will not in the light of God's word confine His Sabbath to one age, people, or nation. He will observe it with all his heart.
We will notice other points next week.
170. VARIOUS QUESTIONS.
By Editor
Are the 144,000 of Rev. 14:4 gathered from among those who have died in the Third Angel's Message, or among the living only?
Will we have a special warning as to when the first plague will be poured out?
1. The 144,000 will be alive upon the earth when Christ comes, and will therefore be translated from among the living. It is expressly stated in the 3d verse, "they are redeemed from the earth," and in the 4th verse, "redeemed from among men." It seems to be in contrast with "redeemed from death," as spoken of in Hos. 13:14. The above number may include some who have died in the message, but who are raised from the dead just previous to the second coming of Christ. But the language of Rev. 14: 1-4 would to us imply that they were living when Christ appeared.
2. The only special warning which we know anything about concerning the first plague, or any of the plagues, is the great threefold message of Rev. 14:6-11, in connection with Rev. 18:1-4. See also Zeph. 2:1-3. That is God's warning to prepare for the day of the Lord. But the plagues begin with the day of the Lord. What further development of light the Lord may give us we do not know. The wicked will certainly be in darkness when that day comes. The unrighteous will be overtaken as a thief, for the day will come as a "thief in the night." 2 Peter 3:10.
3. We do not celebrate the Passover in the sense that the children of Israel did, for two reasons: First, it is not a memorial to us of deliverance from Egypt, and, secondly, as a type it has met the anti-type, and has expired by limitation; yet in the very fullest sense we do celebrate the Passover in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Passover was the type of Christ, but now Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. 1 Cor. 5:7. To go back to the sacrificial system would be to deny that Christ has come and died in our behalf. It was a matter of faith to every intelligent and devoted Jew. It could not be a matter of faith to us. The Lord's Supper, however, is not a memorial of the passing over of the angel, but of Christ's death, not to be celebrated at any definite time, but "as often" as the child of God desires to thus bring his Lord to remembrance.
171. THE LORD'S PRAYER.
Is the Lord's prayer sufficient? We take Jesus for example, and he taught us that. Sometimes I think this is the only way we ought to pray.
D. E. M'K.
Our Lord did not mean when he taught the disciples the Lord's prayer that they should invariably and always say that same form of words and no other. He did not say, "Pray these words," but he said, "After this manner pray ye." The Lord's prayer is given to us as a short example of what prayer should comprehend,—praise and glory to God, submission to his will, a request for those things that we need, a heart of love and mercy toward others, and the ascription to him of power and glory. It is a wonderfully comprehensive petition, covering all subjects in principle. He has told us elsewhere to pray for all men, for kings, for those who are in authority, to pray for the servants of God, to pray for our enemies, to ask in his name, etc., etc. He would have us by prayer and supplication cast all our cares upon him, and make our requests known unto him. But of course the long, detailed prayers should be in secret communion between ourselves and our heavenly Father. God would not have us learn any set form of words through which our petitions should be breathed at all times. Genuine prayer always has in it reverence for God and faith in him, with a deep sense of need on our part. Such prayers prevail.
172. SELLING.
What is your opinion in regard to selling property? A brother in the church has about 1,000 acres of land under cultivation, and four residences, all occupied by renters who are otherwise homeless. Would it be better for him to sell at a sacrifice and put part of the money into the cause, or to keep the place and give homes and occupations to families of Seventh-day Adventists who are paying tithes?
R. C.
The above is a sample of many questions which come to us here, and which it is impossible to answer. To express an unqualified opinion we would wish to know all about the circumstances, and that is an almost impossibility. We could say, in general terms, if the sacrifice was too great, the better way would be to keep the land. If it was duty to sell, certainly the Lord would have some other place for the renters, or still permit them to keep the farm under the new purchaser. These are questions which the individual must settle for himself. They lie between him and God. The Lord never designed that man's opinion should be the criterion by which individual duty should be carried out. We may lay down general principles. Such is the instruction which the Lord has given us in his word. Sometimes the Lord himself speaks to individuals through his prophets, as he has many times in the past; but in all such cases as are here presented the Lord wants us to seek him, and if we seek him earnestly and with a desire to do his will, whatever it may be, he certainly will guide us aright.
TIME AND ITS STORY.
By Geo. E. Price
BY GEO. E. PRICE.
(Concluded.)
XIII.
THE CLOSING HOUR OF NIGHT—THE COMING DAY.
Oh, who will heed the warning sent from God?
The conflict hastens fast; about us draw
The cords that soon must lead us to decide.
Will we cut loose from all this world of sin,
And firmly stand for God and for his truth?
Oh, blessed such! No harm can them befall,
Nor any plague come near their safe abode.
God's seal upon their foreheads, they can stand,
While others fall beneath the plagues of God.
Not so the wicked. Now has come their turn,
Who ate the good of earth and drank its sweet,
Who hurled loud imprecations on the few
Who chose to keep the Sabbath of the Lord.
Oh, howl, ye faithless shepherds of the flock!
Howl ye who trusted your poor souls to them.
Have they preserved them 'gainst the day of God?
Oh, howl, ye vain professors! Now has come
The day of vengeance on your guilty heads.
Ye now can see it is not harmless sport
To trouble those so precious in God's sight,
Who touched are as the apple of his eye.
O vain, deluding pastors, that have taught
The law of God abolished at the cross!
Ye now can see that God's eye has discerned
Your inmost thought, and watched your every move.
All words you wrote, or spoke from sacred desk,
Have borne their fruit; around you see the souls,
The harvest of your work, whose flesh consumes
While standing on their feet, in abject woe,
And eyes and tongue consume within their heads.
Ah, fain would ye escape the wrath of God,
Which now descends in torrents on your heads,
Unmixed with mercy that ye long have spurned!
What now avails your silver and your gold
To comfort ye who lose eternal life?
Now fall ye down, confessing loud the love
That God has manifest by mighty deeds
To those ye thought to kill did they not bow
To heavy laws that ye had made, to force
Their conscience in obedience to your will.
What now avails the image that ye made,
Commanding all to worship, or the mark
That all must wear or forfeit earthly rights?
Oh, vain these thoughts, for now ye see the men
Whom ye despised on earth, exalted high,
And ye condemned who thought to rule the world!
XIV.
Give ear, all ye to whom this message comes,
As voice of warning from Almighty God.
Why look ye to the things of this vain world?
Why set your heart on gaudy things of earth,
When ye can well obtain the heavenly crowns
Placed on your heads by hands that bled for you?
We are commanded to obey that law
Which forces mark of beast on all the world;
Why not this spurn as from the pit of lies,
Usurping God's true Sabbath from its place?
The great rewards ought surely tempt your souls,
Though life wears out beneath the cross ye bear.
A reign for endless years upon the earth,
Made pure and spotless from the stains of sin,
And matchless love enjoying all the while—
Oh, surely this is worth all trials here!
And why lament that cares are pressing hard?
Why should we mourn as those without a hope?
Is it worth while to leave the cause of truth
And throw contempt on all we now hold dear,
Because the world commands it at our hands?
Why fear their wrath before the wrath of God?
Is their wrath heavy as the seven plagues,
Poured out unmixed on all who do these deeds?
Oh, let us have respect to the reward
Promised to all o'ercomers at the last!917
What could be surer than His promised word
To be with us down even to the end?
And with us who will fear, though hell oppose
Our keeping all of His eternal laws?
Apace the day draws on when we will stand
On sea of glass, and with the harps of God
Shall praise our Saviour for the victory
O'er beast's infernal mark and image vile.
Great day! how fast it hastens, and how fast
We nearer draw to our eternal home!
See there the jasper walls, the streets of gold.
Oh, how they glitter 'neath the beauteous light
That shines from out the glory of the Lord!
Immortal made, we walk with him in white;
We see his countenance, and hear his words,
Not merely for a day or for a year,
But through the ages of eternity.
Question Corner.
By Editor
"If ye will inquire, inquire ye." "But avoid foolish questions."
[From time to time we will reply under this head, if deemed advisable, to such candid inquiries as may be sent us. Correspondents wishing a reply to their questions must give their full name and address, not for publication unless they wish, but as an evidence of good faith on their part, and to give us opportunity to reply by letter if deemed best. It is always well to inclose stamp. Let the questions be short and pointed, and such as may be answered in limited space. The questions will be numbered continuously.]
The Power to Redeem
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
WERE half the power that fills the world with terror,
Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts,
Given to redeem the human mind from error,
There were no need of arsenals or forts.
—Longfellow.
A Word of Cheer
By Mrs. Clara Doty Bates
'Tis sweet to hear,
Though oft repeated, a word of cheer.
—Mrs. Clara Doty Bates.