Your ShelfYour Projects

Signs of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 20.

General Articles

Signs of the Times

May 22, 1884

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 22, 1884

General Articles.

By Ellen G. White

Faith the Christian's Victory.

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
THESE are precious opportunities that we are enjoying. Jesus is present with us to-day; for he has promised, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." His presence insures a blessing; but blessings do not always consist in a happy flight of feeling. The greatest blessing we can have is a correct knowledge of ourselves, that we may see our defects of character, and by divine grace remedy them.
We can never graduate in the school of Christ, but we should make continual advancement. We should never be satisfied with our present position and attainments. Like the apostle, we should "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus," and day by day grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. Are we doing this? Are we nearer to God to-day than we were a year ago? What a change there would be in our religious experience, what a transformation in our characters, if day by day we carried out the principle that we are not our own, but that our time and talents belong to God, and every faculty should be used to do his will and advance his glory. If we spent all our spare moments in work for the Redeemer, in searching the Scriptures, and in pleading with God to be imbued with his Spirit, what precious victories we should gain for Jesus!
We should study the Bible more that we may become familiar with the promises of God; then when Satan comes in, flooding the soul with his temptations, as he surely will, we may meet him with, "It is written." We may be shut in by the promises of God, which will be as a wall of fire about us. We want to know how to exercise faith. Faith "is the gift of God," but the power to exercise it is ours. If faith lies dormant, it is no advantage to us; but in exercise, it holds all blessings in its grasp. It is the hand by which the soul takes hold of the strength of the Infinite. It is the medium by which human hearts, renewed by the grace of Christ, are made to beat in harmony with the great Heart of love. Faith plants itself on the promises of God, and claims them as surety that he will do just as he said he would. Jesus comes to the sinful, helpless, needy soul, and says, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Believe; claim the promises, and praise God that you do receive the things you have asked of him, and when your need is greatest, you will experience his blessing and receive special help.
Many know so little of faith that when they have asked God for his help and blessing, they look to themselves to see if their prayer is answered; and if they have a happy flight of feeling, they are satisfied. This is not faith, but unbelief. We should trust God, whether we experience any change of feeling or not. We cannot expect to be very joyful and hopeful while we look to ourselves; for we must think of self as sinful. A large class of the professed Christian world are watching their feelings; but feeling is an unsafe guide, and those who depend upon it are in danger of imbibing heresy. Satan can move upon our feelings, and he can so arrange surrounding circumstances as to make our feelings changeable. Victory in God is not feeling, but faith. It is the faith that will not yield although there are seeming impossibilities to be encountered.
If I were to promise one of you a book to-morrow morning, what kind of respect would you show me if you were to respond by saying, "I wish I could believe you; but I will not believe until I have the book in my hand. When I get the book, I will believe." Would that be trusting my word? Oh, no! When you have the book in your possession, it is sight, and not faith at all. But this is just the way we treat our heavenly Father. We insult and dishonor him by our distrust, and are kept at a distance from him, and deprived of the rich blessings within our reach, by our wicked unbelief and ingratitude. We may have daily victories; but we lose the most precious gifts that Heaven can bestow because we will not take God at his word. When I am sick and afflicted, and ask for help, I do not sit in my room and wait for this help to come to me. I go forward in the path of humble obedience, expecting the Lord to answer my prayers, and sustain and bless me in doing the work that duty requires. Although all may seem dark, I place myself in the channel of light. What have I to do with feelings of darkness and discouragement? What have I to be troubled about? Faith can penetrate the darkest cloud. God has promised, and he will not fail me. It is no difficult, mysterious problem to believe. We take Jesus at his word; we come to him with all our burdens and our soul needs, and, according to his promise, find in him a helper and a strong deliverer.
There is a deep, rich, and full experience for us individually to gain. We shall every one of us be tested and tried. We have a rough pathway before us; but Jesus has traveled this way, and he knows just how to help us. Faith lightens our burdens and relieves our weariness by the anticipation of Heaven at our journey's end. Faith rejoices in hope, and is patient in affliction. Faith waxes strong and valiant in conflict, and conquers in the great fight of temptation. We must have a living faith,—a faith that will hold the soul in the hour of trial; for everything that can be shaken will be. In summer there is no noticeable difference between evergreens and other trees; but when the blasts of winter come, the evergreens are fresh and green, while other trees are stripped of their foliage. Just so it is with professed Christians. When no particular test is brought to bear upon them, we may not be able to distinguish between the true Christian and the hypocrite; but in times of trial and temptation the difference is easily discerned, for the source of the Christian's strength is made manifest. There are two classes of builders. One class are building on a foundation of sliding sand; the other, on the eternal Rock, and the winds blow and the tempests beat against this foundation in vain.
The inquiry in many hearts is, How shall I find happiness? We are not to make it our object to live for happiness, but we shall surely find it in the path of humble obedience. Paul was happy. He affirms repeatedly that notwithstanding the sufferings, conflicts, and trials that he was called to bear, he enjoyed great consolation. He says, "I am filled with comfort; I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation." All the energies of the chiefest of the apostles were bent to a preparation for the future, immortal life; and when the time of his departure was at hand, he could exclaim in holy triumph, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day." And the shout of victory of this warrior of faith has come sounding down the ages to our time.
It is one thing to profess the truth, but it is a very different thing to live it out. Many who profess to be keeping the commandments of God are deceiving their own souls. They have no union with Christ, and do not make the truth practical. In their homes, selfishness is interwoven with their daily life. There is manifested a want of refinement, an uncourteous, unkind selfishness. The religion of Jesus should be carried into the home circle, the work-shop, and all the business transactions. The genuine Christian will show in his life the fruits of the Spirit. The love of Jesus will flow out naturally in words and deeds of kindness. Those who yield themselves to the heavenly power, which alone can quell tumultuous passion, will be as angels of peace and blessing in the home circle.
Has the truth sanctified the receiver? Is he purer, nobler, better, for believing it? The words and deeds are the fruit which testifies whether the mind of God dwells in us, and we are guided by his law. We shall surely deceive ourselves if we think that because we hold certain Bible doctrines firmly, we actually possess the blessings which these doctrines were designed to bestow. The intellect may accept truth in its noblest form; but if this truth exerts no influence on the life and character, it is of no practical value. On the contrary, it proves a delusion if it quiets the conscience while it does not sanctify the soul. A theory of truth may be a beautiful covering to hide the deformity of a carnal heart. This was the sin of Chorazin and Bethsaida, which called forth the denunciation of Christ: "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes."
Jesus is coming. Great and important events are just before us. Are we ready, waiting and watching? Have we on the wedding garment, the robe of Christ's righteousness? Now is the time to secure this wedding garment. We must make no delay, but open the door of our hearts to the Saviour, who has long stood knocking for admittance. We must be in sympathy with Christ, and, as soldiers of the cross, make personal, interested efforts for the salvation of souls. What a privilege is ours that we may become co-laborers with Christ, and that our efforts may be accepted of God. We may join the conquering army if we will, and may share in its conflicts and its triumphs; but if we refuse, they will move on to final victory, and leave us behind. We each have an account to render at the bar of God, and it is essential for us to cultivate spirituality, to think often of Jesus, and to keep faith alive. Let us ever remember that God sees us. We may say with the psalmist, "I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." The whole life should be moulded after the divine Pattern, and then we shall see the King in his beauty, and live in his presence through the ceaseless ages of eternity.

GOD CARES FOR ME.

I SAT at the door at eventide, My heart was full of fears: And I saw the landscape before me lie Through mists of burning tears— I thought to myself, The world is dark, No light or joy I see; Nothing but toil or want is mine, And no one cares for me.
A sparrow was twittering at my feet, With its beautiful auburn head, And looked at me with dark, mild eyes As it picked up crumbs of bread; And said to me in words as plain As the words of a bird could be: "I'm only a sparrow, a worthless bird, But the dear Lord cares for me."
A lily was growing beside the hedge, Beautiful, tall, and white, And it shone through the glossy leaves of green Like an angel clothed in light; And it said to me as it waved its head, On the breezes soft and free: "I'm only a lily, a useless flower, But the Master cares for me."
Then it seemed that the hand of the loving Lord, Over my head was laid, And he said to me: "O faithless child, Wherefore art thou dismayed? I clothe the lilies, I feed the birds, I see the sparrows fall; Nothing escapes my watchful eye, My kindness is over all." —Sel.

"On the Down Grade."

By J. O. Corliss

This is the heading of an editorial which appeared in the Sunday Oregonian of April 27. The article is so much to the point that we give it below almost entire:—
"Even the most confirmed optimist, were he entirely candid, would be forced to admit that the standard of personal virtue and public morality in these times, if not actually waning, is really making little progress toward a higher plane. No one can view the daily movements of civil society in this land at the present time without becoming profoundly impressed with the thought that there is a great moral leakage going on somewhere amidst the complicated organism of individual, State, and national life. This deficiency is not particularly discernable in any one direction or country more than another, but it consists principally in the gradual and general lowering of moral tone and sensitiveness to shame in public thought and private activities. Many things are passed by now, or merely winked at, which ought to excite pronounced abhorrence and indignant comment. There seems too little of a restraining sense of honor among the people. Too many are inclined to do that which is right in their own eyes, and no notice is taken of such variations in conduct unless they happen to conflict with the civil law, or with the private interests of other parties. Even the absence of personal virtue is not generally considered a crime, if the person himself in other respects is a useful citizen, and especially if he has considerable wealth and influence. Thus, in rebounding from the excessive strictness of Puritan decorum and morals, we are fast going over to the opposite side of Parisian looseness and reckless license.
"This, however, is only the negative side of the matter. On the positive side there is obviously a very marked increase of all kinds of crime. Murders, robberies, embezzlements, defalcations, lying, cheating, housebreaking, fighting, and drinking are now as common and regular as the succession of day and night. Every paper is full of such occurrences from week to week the year round. There seems to be no break or let-up in the hideous procession of criminal events, but, on the contrary, they are apparently growing more numerous and sanguinary in character. The apology of increased publicity which is sometimes offered as an explanation or a reason of this rampant criminality will not always hold good. Every one with two eyes and a medium share of common sense knows as well as he knows anything that the spirit of lawlessness is ruling among the people in all civil and social spheres to-day with more potent auxiliaries and to a greater extent than formerly, and that many of the prevailing habits, customs, and practices of men and women are growing morally worse instead of better as the world becomes older and larger. To try to smooth over this ugly fact, or explain it away in self-justification, is cowardly and uncandid. In business life, methods of adulteration and fraud are openly resorted to and justified without the least appearance of shame or compunction of conscience. In politics, deception and perjury are as common as elections, and every one knows it. Why, then, pretend to deny it? What good can ever be accomplished by indulging in shallow and commendatory excuses, when the loathsome cancer of criminal infection is eating steadily inward towards the center and seat of personal and national life?
"How has this state of things come about? Chiefly from two causes. The first is through the rapid and abnormal growth of selfish, money-making greediness. Money is all that is thought of or cared for by the masses, and in the hot pursuit of this supreme object many better things are allowed to go by the board or take care of themselves as best they can. In a very emphatic sense this raging love of money is one of the principal roots of all our social and civil defections and evils.
"But another cause, equally potent and prolific, is the growing laxness of moral and religious education at home and in the church. The sense of active and personal obligation to God seems to be slowly dying out of the public mind. Every man is too much becoming a law unto himself. Some of the churches are little more than fine religious club-houses, with private terms of admission and an annual fee. They do a certain amount of good among their own members, but exert almost no power over the outside sinful world. Ministers meet their limited congregations weekly, hammer out a smooth essay on doctrine, make a few appointments, and then, one and all, go home for a season of weekly rest. If any unbeliever publicly attacks their creed, they will throw after him a huge bundle of deluding statistics and then retire with a feeling of victorious complacency within their own exclusive circles. But where is the moral power which is designed to make men lead better lives and abhor wickedness in thought and in conduct? Where is the public restraint against the commission of sin and iniquity?"
When the morals of the church have fallen so low, and the state of society has become so corrupt, as to call forth such a scathing rebuke in a secular daily, it would seem high time for the churches to set about remedying the evil. But we cannot hope for this very strongly, for the very reason assigned in the closing paragraph above quoted, namely: "If an unbeliever publicly attacks their creed they will throw after him a huge bundle of deluding statistics, and then retire with a feeling of victorious complacency within their own exclusive circles."
It is well that this comes from a secular source, and from a paper with the standing of the Oregonian. If any particular sect should formulate such ideas it would be cried down by every religious organ in the land. This is well illustrated by the lack of wisdom and charity manifested when one faithfully and conscientiously points out the low state of morals in the church, which is daily becoming painfully more apparent. The individual who undertakes such a work, whether of their own number or not, performs a thankless task. His suggestions are sneered at as unworthy of notice, and he himself is ridiculed as an ascetic—one to be shunned by all who would retain a popular standing in the church. In this way, those who otherwise would look at these things in the light of Scripture are deterred from acting out the suggestions of their feeble consciences. Yet this is called the church of Jesus Christ. Surely "Babylon is fallen, is fallen."
It is not so much to be wondered at, that the world at large appears to be given up to the committal of such hideous crimes as are daily recorded, and which multiply at so fearful a rate throughout the length and breadth of the land.
The church has lost its power to restrain even those within her borders. Nay, more, she does not even acknowledge the necessity of restraint. How, then, can she be expected to have a saving influence over those outside her inclosure? Many of her representatives to-day deny that the world is worse than in former days. More than this, they confidently proclaim from their pulpits that the millennium—the golden time when all shall know the Lord and walk in his ways—is about to dawn on the world.
In view of the startling statements of the above extract, from one who is daily chronicling current events, and therefore ought to know the moral and social standing of the country, shall we not conclude that it is time to arouse from the lethargy that has hitherto enveloped us, and inquire the true way to holiness? As our minds become enlightened in these matters, may we have help from God to walk in the way of truth.

Signs of Spiritual Decline.

WHEN you are averse to religious conversation or the company of heavenly-minded Christians. When, from preference, and without necessity, you absent yourselves from religious services. When you are more concerned about pacifying conscience than honoring Christ in performing. When you are more afraid of being counted over-strict than of dishonoring Christ. When you trifle with temptation or think lightly of sin. When the faults of others are more a matter of censorious conversation than of secret grief and prayer. When you are impatient and unforgiving toward the faults of others. When you confess, but do not forsake sin; and when you acknowledge, but still neglect duty. When your cheerfulness has more of the levity of the unregenerate, than the holy joy of the children of God. When you shrink from self-examination. When the sorrows and cares of the world follow you further into the Sabbath than the savor and sanctity of the Sabbath follow you into the week. When you are easily prevailed upon to let your duty as a Christian yield to your worldly interest or the opinions of your neighbors. When you associate with men of the world without solicitude of doing good or having your own spiritual life injured.—Sel.

Sing Unto the Lord

"SING unto the Lord, bless his name; show forth his salvation from day to day."

Origin and Nature of the Law.

By John Wesley

[From a Sermon by John Wesley.]
"Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Rom. 7:12.
"WHAT shall we say then? Is the law sin?" So some might infer from a misapprehension of those words, "the motions of sins which were by the law." "God forbid!" saith the apostle, that we should say so. Nay, the law is an irreconcilable enemy to sin; searching it out wherever it is. "I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known lust," evil desire, to be sin, "except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet;" verse 7. After opening this farther, in the four following verses, he subjoins this general conclusion, with regard more especially to the moral law, from which the preceding instance was taken: "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good."
In order to explain and enforce these deep words, so little regarded because so little understood, I shall endeavor to show, first, the origin of this law; secondly, the nature thereof; thirdly, the properties; that it is holy, and just, and good; and, fourthly, the uses of it.
I. 1. I shall endeavor to show the origin of the moral law, often called "the law," by way of eminence. Now this is not, as some may have possibly imagined, of so late an institution as the time of Moses. Noah declared it to men long before that time, and Enoch before him. But we may trace its original higher still, even beyond the foundation of the world, to that period, unknown indeed to men, but doubtless enrolled in the annals of eternity, when "the morning stars [first] sang together," being newly called into existence. It pleased the great Creator to make these his first-born sons intelligent beings, that they might know him that created them. For this end he endued them with understanding, to discern truth from falsehood, good from evil; and, as a necessary result of this, with liberty, a capacity of choosing the one and refusing the other. By this they were, likewise, enabled to offer him a free and willing service; a service rewardable in itself, as well as most acceptable to their gracious Master.
2. To employ all the faculties which he had given them, particularly their understanding and liberty, he gave them a law, a complete model of all truth, so far as is intelligible to a finite being; and of all good, so far as angelic minds were capable of embracing it. It was also the design of their beneficent Governor herein to make way for a continual increase of their happiness; seeing every instance of obedience to that law, would both add to the perfection of their nature, and entitle them to a higher reward, which the righteous Judge would give in its season.
3. In like manner, when God, in his appointed time, had created a new order of intelligent beings, when he had raised man from the dust of the earth, breathed into him the breath of life, and caused him to become a living soul, endued with power to choose good or evil, he gave to this free, intelligent creature, the same law as to his first-born children,—not wrote indeed upon tables of stone, or any corruptible substance, but engraven on his heart by the finger of God; wrote in the inmost spirit both of men and of angels, to the intent it might never be far off, never hard to be understood, but always at hand, and always shining with clear light, even as the sun in the midst of heaven.
4. Such was the origin of the law of God. With regard to man it was coeval with his nature; but with regard to the elder sons of God, it shone in its full splendor, "or even the mountains were brought forth, or the earth and the round world were made." But it was not long before man rebelled against God, and, by breaking this glorious law, well-nigh effaced it out of his heart; the eyes of his understanding being darkened, in the same measure as his soul was "alienated from the life of God." And yet God did not despise the work of his own hands; but being reconciled to man through the Son of his love, he, in some measure, re-inscribed the law on the heart of his dark, sinful creature. "He [again] showed thee, oh man, what is good [although not as in the beginning], even to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."
5. And this he showed, not only to our first parents, but likewise to all their posterity, by "that true light which enlightens every man that cometh into the world." But notwithstanding this light, all flesh had, in process of time, "corrupted their way before him;" till he chose out of mankind a peculiar people, to whom he gave a more perfect knowledge of his law; and, the heads of this, because they were slow of understanding, he wrote on two tables of stone; which he commanded the fathers to teach their children, through all succeeding generations.
6. And thus it is, that the law of God is now made known to them that know not God. They hear, with the hearing of the ear, the things that were written aforetime for our instruction. But this does not suffice; they cannot, by this means comprehend the height, and depth, and length, and breadth thereof. God alone can reveal this by his Spirit. And so he does to all that truly believe, in consequence of that gracious promise made to all the Israel of God. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. And this shall be the covenant that I will make; I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people." Jer. 31:31, etc.
II. 1. The nature of that law which was originally given to angels in Heaven and man in paradise, and which God has so mercifully promised to write afresh in the hearts of all true believers, was the second thing I proposed to show. In order to which I would observe, that although the "law" and the "commandment" are sometimes differently taken (the commandment meaning but a part of the law), yet, in the text, they are used as equivalent terms, implying one and the same thing. But we cannot understand here, either by one or the other, the ceremonial law. It is not the ceremonial law whereof the apostle says, in the words above recited, "I had not known sin but by the law;" this is too plain to need a proof. Neither is it the ceremonial law which saith, in the words immediately subjoined, "Thou shalt not covet." Therefore the ceremonial law has no place in the present question.
2. Neither can we understand by the law mentioned in the text, the Mosaic dispensation. It is true, the word is sometimes so understood, as when the apostle says, speaking to the Galatians, chap. 3:17, "The covenant that was confirmed before," namely, with Abraham, the father of the faithful, "the law," i. e., the Mosaic dispensation, "which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul." But it cannot be so understood in the text; for the apostle never bestows so high commendation as these upon that imperfect and shadowy dispensation. He nowhere affirms the Mosaic to be a spiritual law; or, that it is holy, and just, and good. Neither is it true, that God will write that law in the hearts of them whose iniquities he remembers no more. It remains, that the law, eminently so termed, is no other than the moral law.
3. Now this law is an incorruptible picture of the high and holy One that inhabiteth eternity. It is he, whom, in his essence, no man hath seen or can see, made visible to men and angels. It is the face of God unveiled; God manifested to his creatures as they are able to bear it; manifested to give, and not to destroy life,—that they may see God and live. It is the heart of God disclosed to man. Yea, in some sense, we may apply to this law what the apostle says of his Son, it is the streaming forth [or out-beaming] of his glory, the express image of his person.
4. "If virtue," said the ancient heathen, "could assume such a shape as that we could behold her with our eyes, what wonderful love would she excite in us!" If virtue could do this! It is done already. The law of God is all virtues in one, in such a shape, as to be beheld with open face, by all those whose eyes God hath enlightened. What is the law but divine virtue and wisdom, assuming a visible form? What is it but the original ideas of truth and good, which were lodged in the uncreated mind from eternity, now drawn forth and clothed with such a vehicle as to appear even to human understanding?
5. If we survey the law of God in another point of view, it is supreme, unchangeable reason; it is unalterable rectitude; it is the everlasting fitness of all things that are or ever were created. I am sensible, what a shortness, and even impropriety, there is in these and all other human expressions, when we endeavor by these faint pictures to shadow out the deep things of God. Nevertheless, we have no better, indeed no other way, during this our infant state of existence. As we now know but "in part," so we are constrained to "prophesy," i. e., speak of the things of God, "in part" also. "We cannot order our speech by reason of darkness," while we are in this house of clay. While I am a child, I must "speak as a child;" but I shall soon put away childish things; for "when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away."
6. But to return. The law of God, (speaking after the manner of men,) is a copy of the eternal mind, a transcript of the divine nature; yea, it is the fairest offspring of the everlasting Father, the brightest efflux of his essential wisdom, the visible beauty of the Most High. It is the delight and wonder of cherubim and seraphim, and all the company of Heaven, and the glory and joy of every wise believer, every well-instructed child of God upon earth.

The Habit of Untruth.

By N. Y. Examiner

SOME men seem to have a constitutional inability to tell the simple truth. They may not mean to lie, or to tell an untruth, but they are careless—careless in hearing, careless in understanding, careless in repeating, what is said to them. These well-meaning but reckless people do more mischief than those who intentionally foment strife by deliberate falsehood. There is no firebrand like your well-meaning busybody, who is continually in search of scandal, and by sheer habit misquotes everybody's statements.
This carelessness is a sin of no small magnitude. A man's duty to God and his fellows requires him to be careful. For what else were brains and common sense given him? Of course that other class, the malignant scandal-mongers, who take a fiendish pleasure in promoting strife, deliberately garble men's words, and twist their sentiments, is in the minority, and people have a very decided opinion regarding them. Most men seem to misrepresent because they do not seem to think that care in speaking the truth is a pre-eminent duty.
The effects of this careless misrepresenting of others are seen everywhere. Its effect on the individual is to confirm him in a habit of loose, distorted, and exaggerated statement, until telling the truth becomes a moral impossibility. No other thing causes so many long-standing friendships to be broken, so many dissensions in churches, so much evil everywhere. It is an abuse that calls for the rebuke of every honorable man—a rebuke that should be given, not only in words whenever occasion demands, but by example. "Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor; . . . and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor."

Redemption of the Earth.

By Editor

(Concluded.)
THE only apparent difficulty presented in Paul's argument on "the rest" in Heb. 4, is the change from the use of the Greek word katepausis, rest, to that of sabbatismos, literally "the keeping of a Sabbath," or a sabbath rest, in verse 9. But there is no real difficulty when we consider that Sha-vath and noo-ah are interchanged as verbs. Katepausen properly represents the latter, yet in verse 4, Paul follows the Septuagint and uses katepausen in a quotation from Gen. 2:3, where sha-vath is used in the Hebrew. Sabbatismos has a signification, according to the lexicons and the most judicious commentators, beyond literal Sabbath-keeping. Thus Greenfield says: "spoken of an eternal rest with God. Heb. 4:9." Robinson the same: "in N. T. only of an eternal rest with God. Heb 4:9." Dr. Smith, in Bible Dictionary, notices the opinions which have been offered that it refers to the Sabbath, and says: "The objections, however, to this exposition are many and great, and most commentators regard the passage as having no reference to the weekly Sabbath."
The Cyclopædia of M'Clintock and Strong has the following: "Sabbatism (sabbatismos, Heb. 4:9, A. V. rest), a repose from labor like that enjoyed by God at creation; a type of the eternal Sabbath of Heaven. See Rest." And of "rest," it says: "Rest also signifies a fixed and secure habitation," and refers to the texts quoted on that subject.
The great difficulty in referring Heb. 4:9 to a weekly Sabbath lies in this: it leaves the apostle's argument without any logical conclusion. Although the verse begins with the word "therefore" (in the Greek), if it refers to the weekly Sabbath, it has no logical connection with the argument preceding; certainly no relation to the declaration in verse 8, that if Joshua had given them rest—implying the rest of the promise—he would not afterward have spoken of another day—for receiving it. And this is the view taken by most authorities. Dr. Clarke says:—
"The apostle shows that, although Joshua did bring the children of Israel into the promised land, yet this could not be the intended rest; because, long after this time, the Holy Spirit, by David, speaks of this rest; the apostle therefore concludes—verse 9, 'There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.' It was not, 1. The rest of the Sabbath; it was not, 2. The rest in the promised land, for the psalmist wrote long after the days of Joshua; therefore there is another rest, a state of blessedness, for the people of God."
Dr. Barnes speaks at length on this subject, and marks clearly the relation of argument and conclusion. We quote briefly. On Heb. 3:11, he says:—
"The particular rest referred to here was that of the land of Canaan, but which was undoubtedly regarded as emblematic of the rest in Heaven. Into that rest God solemnly said they should never enter."
And on chap. 4:8, 9, he says:—
"The object is to prove that Joshua did not give the people of God such a rest as to make it improper to speak of a rest after that time. If Joshua had given them a complete and final rest; if by his conducting them to the promised land all had been done which had been contemplated by the promise, then it would not have been alluded to again, as it was in the time of David. Joshua did give them a rest in the promised land; but it was not all which was intended, and it did not exclude the promise of another and more important rest."
"There remaineth, therefore, a rest. This is the conclusion to which the apostle comes. The meaning is this, that according to the Scriptures there is now a promise of rest made to the people of God. It did not pertain merely to those who were called to go to the promised land, nor to those who lived in the time of David, but it is still true that the promise of rest pertains to all the people of God of every generation. The reasoning by which the apostle comes to this conclusion is briefly this: 1. That there was a rest called 'the rest of God'—spoken of in the earliest period of the world,—implying that God meant that it should be enjoyed. 2. That the Israelites, to whom the promise was made, failed of obtaining that which was promised, by their unbelief. 3. That God intended that some should enter into his rest—since it would not be provided in vain. 4. That long after the Israelites had fallen in the wilderness, we find the same reference to a rest which David in his time exhorts those whom he addressed to endeavor to obtain. 5. That if all that had been meant by the word rest, and by the promise, had been accomplished when Joshua conducted the Israelites to the land of Canaan, we should not have heard another day spoken of when it was possible to forfeit that rest by unbelief. It followed, therefore, that there was something besides that; something that pertained to all the people of God to which the name rest might still be given, and which they were exhorted still to obtain."
The word rest in this verse, sabbatismos, sabbatism in the margin is rendered 'keeping of a Sabbath.' It is a different word from sabbaton—the Sabbath; and it occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and is not found in the Septuagint. . . . It means here a resting, or an observance of sacred repose, and refers undoubtedly to Heaven, as a place of eternal rest with God. It cannot mean the rest in the land of Canaan, for the drift of the writer is to prove that that is not intended. It cannot mean the Sabbath, properly so called, for then the writer would have employed the usual word sabbaton, Sabbath. It cannot mean the Christian Sabbath, for the object is not to prove that there is such a day to be observed; and his reasoning about being excluded from it by unbelief and by hardening the heart would be irrelevant."
This is a very fair statement of the case, though the writer appears almost to lose sight of the object of the promise in referring it to Heaven. He is certainly correct when he says: "If Joshua had given them a complete and final rest; if by his conducting them to the promised land, all had been done which had been contemplated by the promise, then it would not have been alluded to again." It must be kept in mind that the promise which was not exhausted in their possession of Canaan, was "the promise made of God unto the fathers," especially unto Abraham and to his seed, and embraced "the land of promise," which, according to the New Testament, was "the world," or "the earth,"—the whole earth, or as the angel said to Daniel, "under the whole heaven."
To the above we will only add this short remark in the Bible Commentary: "There still remaineth,—is, still to be looked for hereafter, over and above that rest in the land of Canaan." And here we rest the argument, believing that it is abundantly proved that the children of Israel were not all "the seed of Abraham;" that their circumcision in the flesh was not all that was intended in that ordinance; and that a temporary possession by Abraham's natural descendants of the land of Palestine, was not all that was meant in the promise that he and his seed should inherit it for an everlasting possession. The promises to Abraham will be fulfilled only when "the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace."
"THE Lord openeth the eyes of the blind; the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down; the Lord loveth the righteous."
Continue reading: Training for a Calling