Signs of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 28. (7/23/1885)

Signs of the Times

Jul 23, 1885

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 23, 1885

General Articles.

By Mrs. E. G. White

Protestant Reformers in England.

WHILE Luther was opening a closed Bible to the people of Germany, Tyndale was impelled by the Spirit of God to do the same for England. He was a diligent student of the Scriptures, and fearlessly preached his convictions of truth, urging that all doctrines be brought to the test of God's word. His zeal could not but excite opposition from the papists. A learned Catholic doctor who engaged in controversy with him exclaimed, "It were better for us to be without God's law than without the pope's." Tyndale replied, "I defy the pope and all his laws; and if God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy who driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than you do."

The purpose which he had begun to cherish, of giving to the people the New-Testament Scriptures in their own language, was now confirmed, and he immediately applied himself to the work. Driven from his home by persecution, he went to London, and there for a time pursued his labors undisturbed. But again the violence of the papists forced him to flee. All England seemed closed against him, and he resolved to seek shelter in Germany. Here he began the printing of the English New Testament. Twice the work was stopped; but when forbidden to print in one city, he went to another. At last he made his way to Worms, where, a few years before, Luther had defended the gospel before the Diet. In that ancient city were many friends of the Reformation, and Tyndale there prosecuted his work without further hindrance. Three thousand copies of the New Testament were soon finished, and another edition followed in the same year.

With great earnestness and perseverance he continued his labors. Notwithstanding the English authorities had guarded their ports with the strictest vigilance, the word of God was in various ways secretly conveyed to London, and thence circulated throughout the country. In vain the papists attempted to suppress the truth. The bishop of Durham at one time bought of a bookseller who was a friend of Tyndale, his whole stock of Bibles, for the purpose of destroying them, supposing that this would greatly hinder the work. But, on the contrary, the money thus furnished, purchased material for a new and better edition, which, but for this, could not have been published.

Tyndale was betrayed into the hands of his enemies, and at one time suffered imprisonment for many months. He finally witnessed for his faith by a martyr's death; but the weapons which he prepared have enabled other soldiers to do battle through all the centuries even to our time.

In Scotland the gospel found a champion in the person of John Knox. This true-hearted reformer feared not the face of man. The fires of martyrdom, blazing around him, served only to quicken his zeal to greater intensity. With the tyrant's ax held menacingly over his head, he stood his ground, striking sturdy blows on the right hand and on the left to demolish idolatry. Thus he kept to his purpose, praying and fighting the battles of the Lord, until Scotland was free.

In England, Latimer maintained from the pulpit that the Bible ought to be read in the language of the people. "The Author of Holy Scripture," said he, "is God himself, and this Scripture partakes of the might and eternity of its Author. There is neither king nor emperor that is not bound to obey it. Let us beware of those by-paths of human tradition, full of stones, brambles, and uprooted trees. Let us follow the straight road of the word. It does not concern us what the Fathers have done, but rather what they ought to have done."

Barnes and Frith, the faithful friends of Tyndale, arose to defend the truth. The Ridleys and Cranmer followed. These leaders in the English Reformation were men of learning, and most of them had been highly esteemed for zeal or piety in the Romish communion. Their opposition to the papacy was the result of their knowledge of the errors of the holy see. Their acquaintance with the mysteries of Babylon, gave greater power to their testimonies against her.

The grand principle maintained by Tyndale, Frith, Latimer, and the Ridleys, was the divine authority and sufficiency of the Sacred Scriptures. They rejected the assumed authority of popes, councils, Fathers, and kings to rule the conscience in matters of religious faith. The Bible was their standard, and to this they brought all doctrines and all claims.

Faith in God and his word sustained these holy men as they yielded up their lives at the stake. "Be of good comfort," exclaimed Latimer to his fellow-martyr as the flames were about to silence their voices, "we shall this day light such a candle in England as, I trust, by God's grace shall never be put out."

The Church of England, following in the steps of Rome, persecuted dissenters from the established faith. In the seventeenth century thousands of godly pastors were expelled from their positions. The people were forbidden, on pain of heavy fines, imprisonment, and banishment, to attend any religious meetings, except such as were sanctioned by the church. Those faithful souls who could not refrain from gathering to worship God, were compelled to meet in dark alleys, in obscure garrets, and at some seasons in the woods at midnight. In the sheltering depths of the forest, a temple of God's own building, those scattered and persecuted children of the Lord assembled to pour out their souls in prayer and praise. But despite all their precautions, many suffered for their faith. The jails were crowded. Families were broken up. Many were banished to foreign lands. Yet God was with his people, and persecution could not prevail to silence their testimony. Many were driven across the ocean to America, and here laid the foundations of civil and religious liberty which have been the bulwark and glory of our country.

As in apostolic days, the persecution turned out rather to the furtherance of the gospel. In a loathsome dungeon crowded with profligates and felons, John Bunyan breathed the very atmosphere of Heaven, and there he wrote his wonderful allegory of the pilgrim's journey from the land of destruction to the celestial city. For two hundred years that voice from Bedford jail has spoken with thrilling power to the hearts of men. Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" and "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" have guided many feet into the path of life.

Baxter, Flavel, Alleine, and other men of talent, education, and deep Christian experience, stood up in valiant defense of "the faith once delivered to the saints." The work accomplished by these men, proscribed and outlawed by the rulers of this world, can never perish. Flavel's "Fountain of Life" and "Method of Grace" have taught thousands how to commit the keeping of their souls to Christ. Baxter's "Reformed Pastor" has been a blessing to many who desire a revival of the work of God, and his "Saints' Everlasting Rest" has done its work in leading souls to the "rest that remaineth for the people of God."

A hundred years later, in a day of great spiritual darkness, Whitefield and the Wesleys appeared as light-bearers for God. Under the rule of the established church, the people of England had lapsed into a state of religious declension hardly to be distinguished from heathenism. Natural religion was the favorite study of the clergy, and included most of their theology. The higher classes sneered at piety, and prided themselves on being above what they called its fanaticism. The lower classes were grossly ignorant, and abandoned to vice, while the church had no courage or faith to any longer support the downfallen cause of truth.

Whitefield and the Wesleys were prepared for their work by long and sharp personal convictions of their own lost condition; and that they might be able to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ, they were subjected to the fiery ordeal of scorn, derision, and persecution, both in the university and as they were entering the ministry. They and a few others who sympathized with them were contemptuously called Methodists by their ungodly fellow-students,—a name which is at the present time regarded as honorable by one of the largest denominations in England and America.

They were members of the Church of England, and were strongly attached to her forms of worship; but the Lord had presented before them in his word a higher standard. The Holy Spirit urged them to preach Christ and him crucified. The power of the Highest attended their labors. Thousands were convicted and truly converted. It was necessary that these sheep be protected from ravening wolves. Wesley had no thought of forming a new denomination, but he organized them under what was called the Methodist Connection.

The servants of God trod a rugged path. Men of influence and learning employed their powers against them. After a time many of the clergy manifested determined hostility, and the doors of the churches were closed against a pure faith and those who proclaimed it. The course of the clergy in denouncing them from the pulpit, aroused the elements of darkness, ignorance, and iniquity. Again and again did John Wesley escape death by a miracle of God's mercy. When the rage of the mob was excited against him, and there seemed no way of escape, an angel in human form came to his side, the mob fell back, and the servant of Christ passed in safety from the place of danger.

The Methodists of these early days—people as well as preachers—endured ridicule and persecution, alike from church members and from the openly irreligious who were inflamed by their misrepresentations. They were arraigned before courts of justice—such only in name, for justice had no place in the courts of that time. Often they suffered violence from their persecutors. Mobs went from house to house, destroying furniture and goods, plundering whatever they chose, and brutally abusing men, women, and children. In some instances, public notices were posted, calling upon those who desired to assist in breaking the windows and robbing the houses of the Methodists to assemble at a given time and place. These open violations of all law, human and divine, were allowed to pass without a reprimand. A systematic persecution was carried on against a people whose only fault was that of seeking to turn the feet of sinners from the path of destruction to the path of holiness.

Said John Wesley, referring to the charges against himself and his associates: "Some allege that the doctrines of these men are false, erroneous, and enthusiastic; that they are new and unheard of till of late; that they are Quakerism, fanaticism, and popery. This whole pretense has been already cut up by the roots, it having been shown at large that every branch of this doctrine is the plain doctrine of Scripture interpreted by our own church. Therefore it cannot be false or erroneous, provided the Scripture be true." "Others allege that their doctrines are too strict; they make the way to Heaven too narrow, and this is in truth the original objection, as it was almost the only one for some time, and is secretly at the bottom of a thousand more which appear in various forms. But do they make the way to Heaven any narrower than our Lord and his apostles made it? Is their doctrine stricter than that of the Bible? Consider only a few plain texts: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.' 'Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment.' 'Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.'"

"If their doctrine is stricter than this, they are to blame; but you know in your conscience it is not. And who can be one jot less strict without corrupting the word of God? Can any steward of the mysteries of God be found faithful if he change any part of that sacred deposition?—No; he can abate nothing; he can soften nothing; he is constrained to declare to all men, I may not bring down the Scriptures to your taste. You must come up to it, or perish forever."

(To be concluded next week.)

CHANGE.

It was long ago, in violet time, That an angel brought from the heavenly clime A blossom fair, oh, very fair! And life in the lowly home grew light, In the sunny smiles of a baby bright; While a mother's song rang joyfully, "My babe, thou art all the world to me."

Now the swift days sped, and the baby fair Was a maiden grown, with beauty rare; Whose service sweet, in love complete, Made beauteous summer through all the years, Till her young life turned in smiles and tears, To a heart that whispered tenderly, "My love, thou art all the world to me."

The bountiful seasons came and went; Life's summer with autumn was softly blent; While wealth to give and grace to live, With treasures of friendship from Heaven came down; But of all dear things, the comfort and crown, Was the voice that sang full lovingly, "My mother, thou'rt all the world to me."

Still silently on, the sad years steal; Life's winter and losses their flight reveal; And one sits low—with hair of snow— Soft eyes that still plead and lips that pray, And hands folded gently from work away. But the smile in her eyes says trustingly, "Heaven is more than the world to me!" —Advance.

The "Holiness" Man and the "Justified" Man.

By W. N. Glenn

ALTHOUGH the so-called holiness movement in this country is of recent origin, the leading principle of its votaries is quite ancient. Holiness men of this stamp were numerous and influential in the days when Christ sojourned upon the earth. Their true character is exposed by him in a parable, recorded in the eighteenth chapter of Luke, which was spoken "unto certain which trusted in themselves as being righteous." Verse 9, margin. "Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess."

The modern "holiness" man is just a little behind the ancient Pharisee in this,—he does not pay tithes; he does not fast twice in the week; those acts are "Jewish." But his testimony is of the same self-righteous tenor as the Pharisee's prayer. He is "wholly sanctified;" has not committed a sin in so many months or years; and he thanks God that he is "not as other men," especially as that more humble-minded man who feels that he is a sinner, and in need of saving grace every hour.

But what is the Saviour's estimate of such righteousness? "The publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." The man who claimed to be faultless was condemned; and the one who realized that he was a sinner, and pleaded for mercy, was "justified." The true position of one who would obtain the favor of the Master could not be more plainly set forth. The man who feels that he is not a sinner places himself outside the pale of the Saviour's mission. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance," was the declaration made to the same class of holiness men represented above.

The apostle John dwells particularly upon this subject in his first letter, using even stronger language than his Master did. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

There is, moreover, another point of similarity between the ancient and the modern "holiness" man. The Saviour charged the self-righteous Jews with making void the commandments by their traditions; and that is just what the "holiness" preachers and their "bands" are doing to-day, only they are a little more bold, and ignore the commandments altogether,—some of them claiming that the law is done away, and others that Christ fulfills the law in their stead. In either event, the "holiness" man is exempt from keeping the law. On this point the apostle John is equally emphatic: "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

Again, the "holiness" man, although ignoring the law, talks flippantly about progressing from a "justified state" to a "sanctified state." By the latter he means a position in this life where he cannot sin; and the qualification for this attainment consists, practically, in being presumptuous enough to assert the claim that he is sanctified. He is his own judge in the matter. But Christ prayed for those who had been justified by faith in him, "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." And David says, in Ps. 119: 142, "Thy law is the truth;" and in verse 151, "All thy commandments are truth." Christ and his apostles recognized David as a prophet; then, according to his testimony, the Saviour's prayer was, Sanctify them through thy law.

The justified man cannot consistently ignore the law. He has acknowledged himself a sinner, and "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3: 4. He is justified by faith in Christ's blood, concerning sins that are past (Rom. 3: 25) "through the forbearance of God." "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." Verse 31. Then the man who is justified by faith in Christ, and forgiven his past sins, comes face to face with an established law. But how does he establish it? His acknowledgment that he is a sinner, which must precede his justification, is a recognition of the claims of the law; then having confessed that it was wrong to violate it, he thereby acknowledges or establishes his obligation to observe it in future. A pardon for a past offense does not grant a license to recommit the offense. On the contrary, to repeat the crime once pardoned simply destroys the pardon, or justification, and another pardon becomes necessary to shield the offender from the penalty of the law. On what other principle could a pardoned criminal expect to be retained in the favor of God than by obedience to the law for the violation of which he has been mercifully pardoned?

We see then that the "holiness" man reaches his boasted sanctification while trampling the law under foot, by asserting his own righteousness; but the justified man must attain sanctification through obedience to the law. "We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" (Rom. 3: 28); so far it is an act of mercy on God's part—no amount of obedience on the part of the sinner could atone for the past. But his sanctification is through the truth (the law), and hence becomes a life-work. The law is established, and with this mirror before him to point out his defects and guard him from error, he starts out, by the help of God, to overcome the world. "By the law is the knowledge of sin." With this chart before him, written upon his heart (Heb. 8: 10), in the strength of the Spirit of God, he "adds to his faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity,"—thus growing to a perfect "holiness in the fear of God."

There is no "boasting" in this work, for that is "excluded" by "the law of faith." Rom. 3: 27. True faith will not admit of boasting; it is a result of humility and conscious unworthiness, and calls for corresponding works. W. N. GLENN.

Sunday Labor Movement in Germany

THE movement in Germany for the abandonment of all but inevitable labor on Sunday is growing rapidly. An immense meeting was lately held in Berlin to promote it.

Controversy over the Law.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

(Concluded.)

BUT Satan did not give it up here. A few centuries afterward he brought all his forces to bear upon another one,—the second commandment. This one, as every one knows, in the clearest and most positive manner forbids the making of any image or likeness of anything in heaven above, or in the earth, or bowing down to it or worshiping it. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them." Ex. 20:4, 5.

Probably no precept in all the decalogue received so much attention among the people of Israel as this one. God's wrath against image-worship in every form was proclaimed from heaven time and again, until it would seem that any one with the slightest regard for the word of God, would not try to do any such thing. Yet, strange as it may seem, nearly the whole Christian church was led by the devil into the very thing which this commandment forbids. Images of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, Peter, Paul, and thousands of other saints, were set up in all the churches, on the road-side, in private houses, and used in divine service.

Go into a Catholic church to-day, and you will see numbers of the people bowing down before images. This thing went on for more than a thousand years, until the rise of the Reformation under Luther, and other reformers. Then there was a great battle over this commandment, great contention, and much bloodshed; but many came out and took their stand against image-worship.

Take another commandment: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." It would seem to be impossible that men could be led to violate this commandment as a religious duty; to think that they were doing God service while breaking it; but such is the fact to-day. Go out to Mormondom, and there are people numbering thousands who believe it to be one of the most sacred duties to do the very thing that this commandment says they shall not do,—to live in adultery; one man living with several women. The mormon priests have taught their women that it is the will of God that they should do so. Many of these women not only permit, but assist their husbands to take other wives, in order to raise up children for the kingdom, to enhance their glory in Heaven. We lift up our hands in holy horror at the degradation and weakness of these women in thus violating one of the plain commandments of God. But it is simply an old trick of the devil against the law of God.

Take this commandment: "Thou shalt not kill." How many of God's people have been killed by men who thought that they were doing God service? They read that commandment in their sacred worship, and they would rise from their knees, and grasp their swords, and march out to kill God's own saints; and they verily thought they were pleasing God in doing it. You can all see how the devil has blinded men in reference to the law.

Look at another commandment. The fourth commandment says,—and every one knows this,—"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;" "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." And yet the church of Christ has been led by Satan to virtually lay aside this commandment and put another in its stead. So now nearly the whole world are openly violating the Sabbath that the Lord has made, and in its place they observe a day that God has never required to be kept. The Sabbath commandment is just as binding as the commandment against image-worship, or murder, or adultery. They all stand in the same catalogue, and were given at the same time. Satan's work against the commandments has not been confined to the fourth, as we have seen, but he has done something to nearly all the ten. Probably if he were to live long enough, he would in some way attack the remaining commandments. Why cannot people see that in working the seventh day they are violating the fourth commandment, just the same as the papists are breaking the second in worshiping images?

Many persons, when all other arguments against the Sabbath fail, fall back upon this, "How can it be possible that God would permit the open violation of the Sabbath for more than a thousand years? How could he allow the whole church, and the best men upon the earth for so long a time to break one of his commandments, and bless them in it?" Taking this same line of argument, how could God permit image-worship? How was it that for over a thousand years God permitted his church almost universally to engage in the worship of images? And yet he did. And the very same thing has been done with the other commandments as we have shown.

We might expect that the last reformation would be a battle over God's commandments; and this is just what we see going forward at the present time, and may God speed it on. When the smoke and dust of the battle shall have cleared away, it will then appear that the heat of the whole struggle has been over that holy and immutable law of Jehovah. Happy is the man who shall be found on the right side.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

Robert Buchanan on Robert Ingersoll.

By Editor

MR. INGERSOLL, having been completely demolished by Father Lambert, is now attacked from a new quarter, and in the presence of some of his own friends. This time the arraignment is made not by priest or minister, but by one who, so far as we know, does not even make a profession of Christianity,—Robert Buchanan, poet, novelist, and dramatist. The article is entitled, "Free Thought in America," and appears in the April number of the North American Review. The entire number is one of great interest. We present to our readers some selections from the article:—

"There is a notion even in refined circles in America that the influence of a man like Colonel Robert Ingersoll may be an influence for good. I altogether fail to see it. While doing full justice to the honesty, the courage, and the good humor of this remarkable orator, I am convinced that he is precisely the sort of teacher—I had almost written devil's advocate—to whom Americans should just now shut their ears. Free thought should be distinguished from the offenses against common intelligence committed by this Philistine of the Philistines. . . . Ingersoll enters the temple of religion with his hat on one side, a cigar in his mouth, and a jest upon his lips. . . . He is just the sort of person of whom America does not stand in need. The predominant vices of America, especially as represented by its great cities, are its irreverence, its recklessness, its impatience—in one word, its materialism. The exhibition can do no good; it may do no little harm. For my own part, I should prefer even to accept hell with John Calvin, rather than to eat cakes, drink ale and much hot ginger with Colonel Ingersoll. . . . He is the boy in the gallery, cracking nuts and making precocious comments during the performance of the tragedy of life. . . . That such a person should have a large following, among a generation so much of his way of thinking is no matter for surprise; in the nineteenth century it is truly sad, as showing how little science has done, after all, to elevate the intellectual condition of the masses. . . . Colonel Ingersoll is very fond of proclaiming his admiration for the great scientific teachers of the age; but in reality he is as far away in spirit from the thought of Darwin as from the vision of Shakespeare."

"To go to him for religious guidance is like asking a native of the kingdom of Dahomey to favor us with his ideas on free-will or the incarnation. . . . The gospel of hot ginger as preached by Colonel Ingersoll, would soon make of New York another Sodom."—Buffalo Christian Advocate.

Something He Did Know.

IN former days candidates for admission to certain churches were examined as to their knowledge of sundry doctrines. Questions which no theologian could answer were gravely put to uneducated men, and even to boys. On the length of his reply and the frequency with which he used the stereotyped phrases depended, in some degree, the approval which the church committee showed the candidate.

Among the young people in a New England village who professed themselves Christians was a simple-minded youth of the smallest possible amount of wit consistent with moral responsibility. But being sincerely anxious to join the church, he presented himself to the church committee. The first question put to him was:—

"Do you understand the doctrine of the Trinity?"

"No, I can't say I do."

"Can you give the committee a definition of regeneration?"

"I don't think I can."

"Well, what do you understand by fore-ordination? Take plenty of time to answer," said a kind-hearted old deacon, thinking the candidate was confused.

"I don't know much about it."

"Can't you give us some opinion respecting God's decrees?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Well, then," said the minister, a little impatiently, "what do you know?" Promptly came the answer:—

"I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Christ died to save me. And I want to join the church to get more help from Christ and his people."

Every member of that committee felt rebuked, and one of them said afterwards: "I learned from that moment to respect the spiritual knowledge of the humblest man or woman, and not to think so much of that knowledge which comes from the head alone."—Sel.

The Good Warfare

“THAT by them thou mayest war the good warfare.” Fighting is the normal attitude of the Christian. If a Christian finds himself out from under fire, and with no enemy facing him, he may well ask himself if he hasn’t fallen out of his regimental line, or if he isn’t shirking duty in some way. Whatever delays there may be in the declaration of war between any of the great powers of earth, war was long ago declared between Christ and his adversaries, and every son of man belongs in that fight; and, in fact, he is practically counted in on one side, or on the other. If a man calls himself the Lord’s soldier, and isn’t fighting for the Lord, the devil will be glad to give him wages and rations, as if he were on his side of the fight, in spite of his uniform. Warring the good warfare is your duty and mine. Are we up to it as we should be?—Sel.

Marriage and Divorce

ONE of our American monthlies not long since published an article entitled "Marriage and Divorce," in which the writer said: "When a divorce is asked for it should be granted without hesitation."

That is the depth of immorality and licentiousness to which the divorce business has now sunk. It means that marriage shall be limited only by the whims of either party, and divorce granted without hesitation when it is asked for. Nothing is lower except the abolition of marriage altogether.—N. Y. Observer.

Continue reading: Can the Old Testament Be Trusted?