Earlier text: MEMORIES OF BETHLEHEMCHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
CHRIST placed a very high estimate on the Old Testament, as a revelation from God, as a divine rule of life, as a prophecy of His own person and redemptive work. There is a disposition now in many quarters to belittle the authority of the ancient books, and to make them more elementary than they are. This disposition finds no warrant in Jesus Christ. In His parable of the rich man and Lazarus, when the sufferer pleads with Abraham that his brother may be warned by the return of Lazarus, and thus prevented from coming into the place of torment, Abraham refuses the request as needless. He says, with great emphasis: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one rise from the dead.” Put beside this Paul’s eulogy of these Scriptures to Timothy: “From a babe thou hast known the Sacred Writings [of the Old Testament] which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Jesus Christ.” The closing thought here suggests the relation of the Old Testament to Christ. The ancient books proclaim the one redemption through the Messiah, fulfilled by His coming, and declared by the writings of the New Testament. “Every [Old Testament] Scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.” Long before these words were written, Christ had said to the Jews: “Ye search the [Old Testament] Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life, and these are they which bear witness of Me.” This is the uniform tenor of Christ’s teaching concerning the Old Testament, throughout the Sermon on the Mount and everywhere else. This is the one example for us. It is often said that Christ can not be found in the Old Testament, except He first be wrongly put there through strained metaphors and other fraudulent teachings. But He found Himself there, plainly on the surface, and according to unforced and inevitable teaching. As cited above: “They are they that testify of Me.” And after His resurrection, in those wonderful hours, unlike any other hours in the history of the world, at Emmaus and Jerusalem, “Beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” “He said unto them, All things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms, concerning Me.” Perhaps, if we can occupy our right relation to the Old Testament, and not disparage it, our hearts, too, may burn within us while He talks with us by the way, and opens to us the Scriptures. How They Became Convincd
By Editor
[Believing it would be of interest to our readers, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has asked Sabbath-keeping ministers and evangelical workers to tell in a few words the scripture or scriptures, the truths and principles, which constrained them to accept the unpopular truth of the seventh-day Sabbath. These testimonies must not exceed 500 words. Let us hear from all.] I WAS brought up in a Christian family who thought that the first day of the week was the Sabbath. When eighteen years of age, I professed religion and was willing to be led by the church, Free Baptist, which I joined. After I had a home of my own I began to read the Bible. My teacher had told me that the seventh day was given to the Jews; while reading God's Word it seemed to me that I was somewhat related to that people, and His strict command for the Sabbath I applied to Sunday, as my friends had taught me. At length I heard of a people called Adventists, who said that Sunday was not the Sabbath. I thought our Christian churches knew best, and so refused to hear such teaching, because I was determined not to be deceived. A sister of mine accepted the Sabbath truth, and I mourned for her as one in delusion. At one time I told a neighbor that if ever I found that God required His people to observe the seventh day I would make the change, let it cost what it might. Twenty years or more rolled away and found me still keeping Sunday. Finally I attended meetings held by a Free Baptist woman minister. Her sermons made me feel as if God required something of me that I was not willing to do. She would say, "Do what the Lord wants you to do," and she seemed to be talking to me; so I began to try to find out what the Lord wanted me to do. For some time my mind had been troubled, when one morning I dreamed of talking to a woman and telling her how many years it had been since I knew that Sunday was not the Sabbath. She replied, "You are out then." Her words caused me to fear that God would leave me out of the kingdom. I answered quickly, "I am not out; I have gone too far." It was the morning of the seventh day. I awoke and told my husband of my determination. My work was unsettled and remained so. I dared not desecrate God's holy day any more. Now, on reading the Bible, I wonder that I could not see it before. The minister, who had unconsciously and unintentionally been one of the means in God's hands of causing me to change, called and prayed with me, hoping to dissuade me from my purpose to observe the seventh day; but the light had shone in on the Word. How true that "the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not."
MRS. J. W. COLLINS. BROUGHT up in the fold of the Presbyterian Church, taught and cared for by a devoted mother, I early renounced the world, the flesh, and the devil; but I soon found that it required a greater power than I possessed by nature, or fleshly resolution, to make and keep me free from evil. Converted from my sinful course by the power of God, at the age of twenty-three, I began to take the Bible as my guide in life; yet, for many years, I failed to perceive the truth in regard to the Sabbath, or the nature and destiny of man. Once while a missionary Baptist minister, I undertook to combat sabbath (Sunday) desecration, only to learn that Sunday had no recognized claims as a holy rest day in the Word of God. From this I drifted into Antinomianism, contending that the law (Ten Commandments) had been abolished, and that grace (?) had taken its place. In this belief I continued for about two or three years. I had often heard of the Adventists, but had been led to believe that they were a kind of infidels, who taught that a man "had no more soul than a hog." I thought that doctrine so horrible that I did not care to read literature published and circulated by such people. By some means the Seventh-day Baptists, a new people to me, began to send me literature concerning the Sabbath. Altho I was skeptical at first concerning the validity of the seventh day as the day of rest for us now, yet, as it came from the Baptists (a name which with me, at that time, covered a multitude of errors), I was led to investigate; and, praise the Lord! I have been learning more and more about it ever since. "A good understanding have all they that do His commandments." Attending a camp-meeting at Berea, W. Va., in the summer of 1892, I became convinced on other main truths as held by our people, and immediately united with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the exponent of the doctrine of God in these latter days. I am looking to God for wisdom and grace, and praising Him for His wonderful forbearance, through which I have been kept until now, that I might learn the truth, which is unto freedom, unto salvation.
WILLIAM H. BROWN. IN THE FINAL ACCOUNTING.
By A. P.
A LITTLE girl who had been taught the physical evils of tobacco using as well as of intoxicating liquors, spent her vacation at the home of an uncle. This uncle kept a small store, and among the articles sold were tobacco and cigars. One day Florence said to him, “Uncle, what makes you sell tobacco? don’t you know it hurts people?” “I don’t suppose it does any particular good,” he replied. “Then,” persisted the little reformer, “why do you do it?” He laughingly answered, “O, for the money, I guess.” “Uncle,” she said, with a very serious face, “when you get to heaven, won’t you awfully dread to tell God that?” Her words caused an arrest of thought, that later resulted in the banishment of narcotics from the list of articles sold at that store.—A. P. "WHEN a man climbs to rob his fellows he uses a ladder labeled 'kindness.'" LIFE, not what it is, for it is here, both life and its dread opposite, death. This brief study does not pause to speculate on the mystery of life; rather the kind of life and its continuance shall be the all-important theme. For most men love life; and, most of all, they love continuance in life, with but little thought, generally, as to the manner of the life. They desire quantity rather than quality, persistence rather than perfectness. Our study shall be based upon the Scriptures, and we take for our starting-point the following words from the American Standard Revised Version:— “If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwelleth in you.
“So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh: for if ye live after the flesh, ye must die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Rom. 8:9-13. It demands no close or exacting study of the above scripture to see that there are two lives, two ways of living, presented. The one is expressed by “the Spirit of Christ,” “Christ in you,” “the Spirit is life,” “The Spirit of Him . . . dwelleth in you,” “shall give life,” “ye shall live.” The other is expressed by the terms, “the body is dead,” “live after the flesh,” etc. But is there more than one life? Is not all life one? Is not the source of life one? Have not all living creatures—rock and tree and bird and beast and man—the same life? Is it true, as expressed by Sir Thomas Browne, that “life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us”? Is it true that life is God, and that God is within every living creature, variously expressed as “the divine immanence,” “the divine self within,” and other terms more or less emphatic, some writers expressing it so strongly that they declare of themselves in bold capitals, “I AM”? Or is the quality of life dependent upon the law of its reception and use? These are vitally important questions in these days of multiplied isms, false philosophies, “science falsely so-called,” and speculative delusions. Let us briefly consider some of the elemental facts set forth in the Scriptures, and open to every-day observance in the light of common sense:— 1. The source of all life is one, namely, God, the great Jehovah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. “With Thee is the fountain of life” (Ps. 36:9); “in Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). 2. He who lives in glory transcendent and supernal, in the great Central Heaven, has been pleased to give this life to all His creatures through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. “For as the Father hath life in Himself, even so gave He to the Son also to have life in Himself.” John 5:26. “For in Him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things have been created through Him and unto Him; and He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the Head of the body, the church.” Col. 1:16-18, A. R. V., margin. 3. By the power of His life all things were created. By the out-flowing from the great Central Fountain is the universe supplied; for “He Himself giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” Acts 17:25. 4. But this Being of life is also a Being of law. “Jehovah hath established His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom ruleth over all.” Ps. 103:19. Wherever life flows law is operative. He ruleth over all; He giveth life to all; and He therefore giveth life in harmony with law. 5. His own perfect plan knows only righteous law and eternal, endless life, the life in consonance with the law of righteousness; “for in the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.” Prov. 12:28. Constant harmony with righteous law means endless persistence in fulness of life. 6. But the perfect life was amenable to different laws, in harmony with the varied creation of God. The mineral has its law of formation and crystallization, and each mineral a law peculiar to itself. The various salts have each their peculiar crystals. If these crystals be dissolved, and the water be allowed to evaporate under proper conditions, crystallization will immediately take place, each salt appropriating the life according to the law of its own being. Each plant in the vegetable kingdom has its own peculiar law, placed therein by the Creator. By that law the inflowing life is regulated and used. Growth is produced, flower and seed follow; and the seed always produces its kind. In the animal kingdom the same law obtains. Each species has its own law. Each animal perpetuates its kind, Darwinism to the contrary notwithstanding. The gulf has not been bridged between the species, the “missing link” is still missing. Men breed hybrids and mules and monstrosities, but, thanks to the God of law, the hybrids do not persist. The horse was created horse, and is horse still. The robin was created robin, and is robin still. Man was created man, and is in many cases man still; and in all cases, in some measure, is man degenerate. 7. But man is subject, not only to law, but laws. He receives life from the great Fountain through different channels. As an animal, he receives it from the food he eats, from the water he drinks, from the air he breathes, as truly as does the horse, but normally always according to the law of his physical being. That God-given power of law and inflowing life takes the vegetable and transmutes it into flesh and blood and bone and nerve. But this does not feed the moral, spiritual man. The spiritual man must have life through another channel, in harmony with a higher law. That law, in the nature of the case, must be the reflect of God’s character. For He commands man to be holy as He is holy, perfect as He is perfect. Lev. 19:2; 1 Peter 1:16; Gen. 17:1; Matt. 5:48. And the spiritual law which He has given is summarily comprehended in the Decalogue, coming to sinful man in a largely negative and prohibitive form, but to the child of God as enabling acts in Jesus Christ, comprehended in the two great principles of love to God and man. Therefore the law of man’s spiritual life is God’s all-comprehensive, spiritual law, and the eternal life of God is only received as man’s will and heart and mind are perfectly yielded to that law. That law, therefore, becomes the great test of all other laws, of all lives. It is the one Voice by which all other voices are to be tested. Sinful man’s relation to that law and the life of God will be considered in our next. A TRULY inspired prayer for anything is equivalent to a divine promise of that thing, whatever it may be. The Word says that “we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which can not be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” Rom. 8:26, 27. It is also said the Spirit “helpeth our infirmities,” so that by the Spirit we are enabled to abide in Christ; and He says, “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7. So, in the mind of Him in whom the Word abides, the Spirit indites prayer for the things that God wants to impart. Only in this way can prayer be “according to the will of God.” People sometimes get the idea that some of the prayers of David are retaliatory, and therefore unchristian. For instance, he prayed: “Let them be put to shame and confounded that seek after my soul; let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor that delight in my hurt. Let them be turned back by reason of their shame that say, Aha, aha.” But this was what the Lord designed to do, and the Spirit indited the prayer to that end. Again, is not this prayer against spiritual enemies, whom we know God designs to destroy? or, if it were against human enemies, was it not against those whose enmity was against Israel, against David as the ruler of Israel? When David was persecuted personally, he never sought the destruction of his persecutors. He would do no harm to Saul when he had the king in his power (1 Samuel 24 and 25); nor would he permit retaliation upon Shimei, who threw stones at him, in the time of his sore trial (2 Sam. 16:5-14); and he wept sorely over the death of Absalom, who had sought to deprive him of the kingship. Prayer is not a matter of selfish desire, or the mere gratification of the flesh. The primary purpose in effectual prayer is the honor of God and the furtherance of His cause. The benefit of the individual must in every case be secondary, merely an incident conditioned on the will of God and the glory of His name. The Father already knows what we have need of, and what is best for us. “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Heb. 4:16. Our Lord said of Himself, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." John 12:32. He never intimated that all men would yield to that drawing. But that drawing influence is sent out into all the world, and souls are choosing every day one of two paths, the one leading upward into the light of life, and the other downward into the darkness of death. Wherever men yield to that drawing power there is an uplift in the soul that brings them nearer God and perfects in them qualities that had otherwise remained buried under the clods of worldly cares, trampled by the feet of doubt and rebellion. Scientists often speak of uplifts in the earth's crust. These uplifts bring to light gold and silver and precious stones. So Christ's uplifting, drawing power in the human soul brings to light the gold and jewels of Godlikeness in human character. The uplifts in the earth's crust represent Christ's work among earth's inhabitants. The image, or likeness, of the Creator in man was buried deeper and deeper under the superstition and demonolatry and darkness of the ages. Christ promised to perform that mighty work when His sacrifice (the lifting up) had been accomplished. His promise has been kept, and the great work of drawing men out of the world, out of the snares of self and Satan, is permeating every quarter of the globe. The story of the life and death and resurrection and ascension of Christ is thrilling the hearts and drawing the souls of men as no other theme has ever done. There is being set before the world the fact that the heathen doctrine of a man-hating god is a deception of the enemy, a falsehood of his invention, an utter perversion of fact; and in the place of that falsehood the great and glorious fact of God's undying love is being made known. Agents of Satan have accused God of cruelty and injustice, and have turned thousands down into death through that cruel untruth. But God is causing His servants to proclaim this glorious message: "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And again: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." Jer. 31:3. "The Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he." Verse 11. When men have yielded to that drawing power, and have allowed God to work out in them His purpose concerning them, then He can say of them, "I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul." Verse 25. No penitent, sorrowful soul is ever turned away from Christ unsatisfied. At that fountain there is cleansing and7forgiveness for all who seek it, and Christ Himself says, Come, come without money and without price; only come and taste and see that the Lord is good. That invitation which He gives He teaches all who accept it to repeat to all who have not yet done so. He sends them forth after the souls that have not known Him, or who, having known, have forgotten; and, in the joy of seeing souls yield to God, Christ permits His faithful messengers to share. They go forth to find the lost ones even as Christ had sent others to find them; and, when they find, and with His help retrieve, the wanderers, then they find Christ in a newer and larger and more glorious sense than they had ever known Him before. You will not find Christ among the feasting, recreant shepherds. He is out in the wilderness seeking the lost. If you would have fellowship with Him in its truest sense, you must go with Him in the search for the straying ones there. While the great business of the Gospel continues in this world, the faithful shepherd will be found seeking the lost. He will not be feasting in the fold while the flock, or any portion of the flock, is straying in the wilderness. He might stay by the fold and himself be lost from Christ, his Overshepherd, who is busy on the mountain side and in the wilderness, where the wolves of sin are worrying the lost. The sheep that has lost its way knows it; the "piece of money" that was lost did not know it was lost. So there are the two classes to be drawn by the power of God and through the instrumentality of man back into the ownership and protection of God. Over these Christ leans in love, and for their rescue He sends forth His faithful followers. It is a great business, an urgent business, and the call to this service is a holy calling, a glorious privilege. NEGLECT OF THE LEADING INDUSTRY.
MEN are suffering for the necessaries of life because the prime industry, the cultivation of the land, is neglected. The products of the soil, which supply all of man's necessities, may everywhere be procured by the most healthful of all employments—labor in the open air, on the surface of the ground. Yet men neglect or forsake that which God designed for their sure support, and dig down in dingy mines for uncertain treasure, or house themselves in close apartments to rack their brains over schemes to overreach their fellow-men through dishonest speculations or extortion in trade. The bad business policy of the whole race is aptly set forth by a writer named G. H. Simons, as follows:— The histories of past generations are ashamed by the heritage of worn and wasted fields. If these fields had been tilled with care and wisdom they would have been like gardens. For six thousand years man has been tilling the soil, and yet the sons of earth are hungry; the flax and cotton from the rich valleys have been gathered, yet the naked are not clothed; the hills have been robbed of their forests, yet many are homeless; and taking the iron from about earth's heart, iron prison bars have been made for its free men, and chains for its slaves. This neglect of the industry that of necessity must support all others, is not only manifest among the masses, but the legislative and executive departments of government show the same disregard of the interests pertaining to soil cultivation. Hon. Walter P. Brownlow, member of Congress, from Tennessee, has introduced a bill providing for an appropriation of $24,000,000 to be apportioned to the different States for the encouragement of good wagon roads. In support of the measure he represents that it is mainly for the benefit of the farmers. He also gives some items showing how the government has assisted other interests to the prejudice of the tillers of the land. For instance, in ten years the appropriation for rivers and harbors has been $176,226,934. This is distributed in localities, according to political influence, and for the benefit of shipping and commercial interests. Millions and millions are spent to improve cities by erecting costly buildings at expense about double what it would cost private individuals to build the same. The government has given 197,000,000 acres of land to railroads, and to the Central and Union Pacific companies it gave $61,000,000 in bonds, besides large amounts to other roads. Now with all these (and many more) aids to every other interest, is the farming interest in any way protected?—No; instead of the producers of earth's products being benefited in any way, the interests already helped so liberally, use these facilities for preying on the farmers rather than for assisting them. Of all the business enterprises of the country, the tillers of the soil form the one class that can not set the price of their products. For what the farmer buys he must pay what is asked; for what he sells he must take what is offered. He has no prerogative either way, as in other industries. In rating the prosperity of the country, the standard is always the profits of the railroads and great manufacturers, yet these profits are, largely at the expense of the agricultural classes. Man has made a sorry failure of managing the heritage that God gave him in the beginning. Through greed and waste and neglect, earth's resources are diminishing; the masses are becoming impoverished for the benefit of the few. And it has all come about by the exercise of human wisdom, a wisdom inspired by the great deceiver, whose aim is destruction. Men have not only turned from the wisdom of God available for the proper use of the products of earth, but the masses are neglecting or rejecting the overtures of mercy by which they might secure homes in the earth, as it will be restored to its Eden beauty and fruitfulness, and wherein righteousness will reign supreme. Surely "the wisdom of man is foolishness," and it is being demonstrated more and more as he runs his downward career. ELEVEN CENTURIES OF STRIKES.
AMONG the causes which help to check the legitimate expansion of trade in this country, says the Manchester (Eng.) Courier, a prominent place is taken by strikes and "lockouts." Last year was not marked by any serious disturbances, yet from a report just issued by the Board of Trade it appears that the aggregate of time lost by rather more than a quarter of a million workers was 3,479,225 days. Allowing for Sundays, this represents over eleven centuries, and at this rate the figures, in Great Britain alone, soon become of astronomical magnitude. The mining and quarrying industries are responsible for most of this result, the colliers accounting for 96 per cent of the total number of disputes and a nearly equal percentage of their duration. THE wicked will be destroyed from the earth for the same reason that the persistent, incorrigible anarchist is deemed worthy of death by an earthly government, namely, their continued existence is a constant menace to good order. God's purpose is a clean universe, and to this end there must be a government of righteousness in the earth. His promise is that such a government will be established, but in order to do so it will be necessary to destroy the consequences of sin. This will be done by purging the present earth by fire, and transforming it into a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 2 Peter 3:13. A government of righteousness can only be conducted by the Lord Himself, and this can not be until He sets up His personal kingdom in the new earth. Being heir to the throne of David, He carries the throne over to the new earth. "The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end." Luke 1:32, 33. And of His reign David says: "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; the scepter of Thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness." Ps. 45:6, 7. It is not because of any desire of God to see the wicked perish; for He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He would delight to see them turn unto Him and live. Eze. 33:11. For that very purpose He has exercised long patience. 2 Peter 3:9. But as it was in the days of Noah, when it is manifest that no more will yield allegiance to the King of righteousness in response to the overtures of His Gospel, then the day of the Lord will come. In the eternal purpose of the Creator of the universe, the kingdom of righteousness must have supreme jurisdiction in the earth, and all that will not yield to its benign influence must necessarily perish before it. There is no other way. They simply can not stand in the presence of the Lord when He comes in His glory. Ps. 68:2, 3; 2 Thess. 2:8. And even if they could stand, it would not do them any good; they would continue to be disloyal and disorderly. Isa. 26:10. Hence the folly as well as the impossibility of that post-mortem probation of which we hear so much in recent years. 1472.—The Last King of Judah.
Who was the last king to sit upon the throne of David? See Sabbath-school lesson for Nov. 28, question 9. Zedekiah, the one who was captured by the Chaldeans when Ezekiel uttered the prophecy found in Eze. 21:25-27. See Jer. 39:1-10. 1473.—Time of the Ark's Building.
Where do you find in the Bible that Noah was one hundred and twenty years building the Ark? Nowhere. The inference is reasonable that during the 120 years' limit which God placed upon man's probation, Noah not only preached righteousness, but showed his faith by his works in building the ark commanded of God. Compare Gen. 6:3 with 2 Peter 2:5, Heb. 11:7, and 1 Peter 3:20. These scriptures, taken together, would seem to indicate that the ark was preparing in some way during the continuance of the days of God's long-suffering. Why were the days of the week given the names they bear instead of the First Day, Second Day, etc.? What do these names signify? When men departed from the true God, under the guidance of the enemy they began worshipping false gods. Having transferred their devotion to their false gods, they began in will worship, which error always fosters, to establish memorials and remembrances to their pseudo deities. Among these remembrances were the days of the week. Sunday was named after the sun; Monday, from the moon; Tuesday, from the Norse Tyr, the God of martial honor; Wednesday, from the Norse god Woden, the mad or furious one; Thursday, from Thunres, the god of thunder; Friday, from the goddess Frigga, answering to Venus; Saturday from the god Saturn. Nebuchadnezzar named the Hebrew youths after heathen gods, to help them to forget Jehovah. So the days of the week in Satan's plan were thus named, to help men forget the Sabbath and the Lord of the Sabbath. Please explain in your Question Corner the meaning of Hos. 2:11: "I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast-days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts." The American Revised Version has "feasts" instead of "feast-days," and "solemn assemblies" instead of "solemn feasts." The verse is part of a prediction of judgments upon Israel for her sins. She had perverted all the feasts of the Lord, all His holy days, and had turned to heathen gods. The Lord simply declares that all this perverted worship of hers shall cease in her utter overthrow. Do you not believe that those who believe are under obligation to take up serpents? Not at all. That is one of the signs which the Lord declared should follow those who believe; but we are not to suppose that all these signs will follow every one, or be manifest at all times; nor ever at the will of man, but always at the will of God. God does not furnish power for man to display himself. If necessary to His work or for the glory of His name that men should work these miracles, and He can trust them with His power, God will enable them to do all that is here promised; but it is an utter perversion of this text to demand of a believer that he should do the things named to prove his faith. The man who would ask it is unwise, the man who would attempt to work miracles in response is both unwise and presumptuous. Jesus was thus challenged by both Satan and Herod, but He responded to neither; and John, among the greatest prophets, wrought no miracle.