International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 6, 1888
THE SIN OF ELI.
By Mrs. E. G. White
ELI was priest and judge in Israel. He held the highest and most responsible positions among the people of God. He had been appointed to govern the nation, and to minister in their behalf before God. As a man divinely chosen for the sacred duties of the priesthood, and set over the land as the highest judicial authority, he was looked up to as an example, and he wielded a great influence over the tribes of Israel. But although Eli was appointed to govern the people, he did not control his own family, or rule his own household. Eli was an indulgent father. Loving peace and ease, he did not exercise his authority to correct the evil habits and passions of his children. Rather than contend with them or punish them, he would submit to their will, and give them their own way. Instead of regarding the education of his sons as one of the most important of his responsibilities, he treated the matter as of little consequence. The development of their character was of the greatest importance, and God held Eli accountable for the way in which he allowed his sons to exercise the evil propensities of their nature. The priest and judge of Israel had not been left in darkness as to the duty of the father to restrain and govern the children that God had given to his care. But Eli shrank from this duty, because it involved crossing the will of his sons, and would make it necessary to punish and deny them. Without weighing the terrible consequences that would follow his course, Eli indulged his children in whatever they desired, and neglected the solemn and sacred work of fitting them for the service of God, and the duties of life.
The course of Abraham is a complete contrast to that of Eli. “I know him,” said the Searcher of hearts, “that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.” There would be no betraying of his sacred trust; no sinful neglect to restrain the evil propensities of his children; no weak, unwise, indulgent favoritism; no yielding of his conviction of duty to the clamors of affection. Abraham’s love for his children would lead him to correct his household, at whatever cost, for the good of their souls, and the honor of God. He was diligent in the cultivation of home religion, for he well knew that the blessing of Heaven rested on the habitation of the righteous. He determined that the law of God should be kept in his household, and he was called the “friend of God” and honored by God as the “father of the faithful.”
Had Eli but followed his example, great and disastrous evils would have been avoided, and the blessing of God would have rested upon him and his house forever. God had said of Abraham, “I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him” “to do justice and judgment.” But Eli allowed his children to control him. The family government was reversed. The father became subject to the children. There is no greater curse upon households than to allow the youth to have their own way. When parents regard every wish of their offspring, and indulge them in what they know is not for their good, the children soon lose all respect for their parents, all regard for the authority of God or man, and they are led captive at the will of Satan. Many an indulgent father or mother has reaped a harvest of sorrow from their own loose and careless government of their households, and they have regretted, too late, that they did not restrain their children in their youth.
Eli failed where many are failing to-day. He neglected to honor God in his family life, to teach his sons to reverence and obey God; and the consequence of this neglect was apparent throughout all the life of his sons. When the work of disciplining and training the children is not properly done, it testifies against the parents in the defective character of their sons and daughters, and will produce evil results, not only in their lives, but in the lives of others. The influence of an ill-regulated family is widespread and disastrous to all society. It accumulates in a tide of evil that affects families, communities, and governments.
Because of Eli’s position, his influence was more extended than if he had been an ordinary man. His family life was imitated throughout Israel. The baneful results of his negligent, ease-loving ways were seen in the families that surrounded him. His evil ways were reflected in thousands of homes that were moulded by his example. If children are indulged in evil practices, while the parents make a profession of religion, the truth of God is brought into reproach. The character formed under the influence of the home is the best testimony to its Christianity. Actions speak louder than the most positive profession of godliness. If professors of religion, instead of putting forth earnest, persistent, and painstaking effort to bring up a well-ordered household as a witness to the benefits of faith in God, are lax in their government, sparing of themselves, and indulgent to the evil desires of their children, they are doing as did Eli, and are bringing disgrace on the cause of Christ, and ruin upon themselves and their households.
Eli did not manage his household according to God’s rules for family government. He followed his own judgment. He allowed Satan to take the reins in his own hands; and Eli found, when too late, that his children had been hurried to destruction. The favor of God was removed from his house and the curse of transgression was apparent210in the corruption and evil that marked the course of his sons. They had no proper appreciation of the character of God or of the sacredness of his law. His service was to them a common thing. From childhood they had been accustomed to the sanctuary and its service, but instead of growing in reverence, they had lost all sense of its holiness and significance. The course of Eli in bringing up his children had resulted in this state of mind in his sons. The father had not corrected the irreverence for his authority, had not checked their disrespect for the solemn services of the sanctuary; and when they reached manhood, they were full of the deadly fruits of skepticism and rebellion.
Though wholly unfit for the office, they were placed as priests in the sanctuary to minister before God. The Lord had given the most specific directions in regard to offering sacrifices; but these wicked men had carried their disregard of authority into the service of God, and they did not give attention to the law of the offerings, which were to be made in the most solemn manner. The sins of the people were transferred by figure to the sacrifice, which represented Christ, the Lamb of God that was to die for the sins of the world. The priests were commanded to eat in the tabernacle of certain portions of the peace-offering. By partaking of the sacrifice, and bearing their sins before God, they represented the work that Christ would do for us in the heavenly sanctuary, by bearing our sins in his own body. The sons of Eli, instead of feeling the great solemnity of this service, only thought how they could gratify appetite, and they demanded of the people whatever part they desired, even taking by violence the portion that was to be consumed upon the altar of sacrifice as a type of the great sacrifice of the Son of God on Calvary. This irreverence on the part of the priests soon robbed the offerings of their holy and solemn significance; and the people “abhorred the offering of the Lord.” The great antitypical sacrifice in which they were to look forward, was no longer a thing of meaning to them, “wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord.”
Eli made a great mistake in permitting his sons to minister in holy office. By excusing their course, on one pretext and another, he became blinded to their sins, but at last they reached a pass when he could no longer hide his eyes from the crimes of his sons. The people complained of their violent deeds, and he was grieved and perplexed. The indulgent father had never decidedly commanded their obedience, and as they grew up, they cast off all restraint. They had been brought up to think of no one but themselves, and now they cared for no one else. They saw the grief of their father, but their hard hearts were not touched. They heard his mild admonitions, but they were not impressed, nor would they change their evil course though warned of the consequences of their sin.
The child Samuel had been brought to Eli by the godly Hannah. He was to be devoted to the services of the sanctuary, and the responsibility of his education must now rest upon the aged priest. The sons of Eli, who should have been the instructors of the pious child, were wholly unfit for such a privilege. He had to be separated from their company, lest their evil influence should pollute his mind. But although Eli feared for their influence over Samuel, yet as a judge of Israel, he still sustained his wicked sons in the most sacred positions of trust. He permitted them to mingle their corruption with the holy service of God, and to inflict injury on the cause of truth, that years could not efface. Eli’s sons were called the sons of Belial, for they knew not God. They were wholly devoted to the service of Satan; and yet because they were his sons, Eli did not deal with them as transgressors, but permitted them to dishonor God, and injure his people. But when the judge of Israel neglected his work, God took the matter in hand.
“And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house? and did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honorest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me forever; but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. . . . And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind; and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed forever.”
God held Eli responsible for the actions of his sons, and charged him with honoring his sons above the Lord. Eli had permitted the offering appointed of God, as a blessing to Israel, to be made a thing of abhorrence, rather than bring his sons to shame for their impious and abominable practices. Those who follow their own inclination in blind affection for their children, indulging them in the gratifications of their selfish desires, and do not bring to bear the authority of God to rebuke sin and correct evil, which is corrupting other souls, make it manifest that they are honoring their wicked children more than they honor God. They are more anxious to shield their reputation than to glorify God; more desirous to please their children than to please God and to keep his service from every appearance of evil.
The promise had been made that the house of Aaron should walk before God forever; but these promises had been made on condition that they devoted themselves to the work of the sanctuary with singleness of heart, and honored God in all their ways, not serving self, or following their own perverse inclinations. Eli and his sons had been tested, and the Lord found them wholly unworthy of the exalted position of priests in his service. And God declared, “Be it far from me.” He could not carry out the good that he had meant to do them, because they failed to do their part. Long had God borne with the perverse ways of the house of Eli. He had given them space to repent, but they repented not, and the delayed sentence was finally executed. They were made contemptible before the people they had oppressed, and in one day, Eli and his sons died before the Lord; and the priesthood was taken from the family of Eli.
The only way to be truly great is to be truly good. Those who are worthy will be trusted with important work, and will be placed in important positions. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” Had Eli been a wise and faithful father, he would have been a wise and faithful judge and priest. If he had restrained his sons at home, he would have restrained their evil practices in the sanctuary; and Israel would not have been corrupted by their abominations. If the sons of Eli had been dutiful sons they would have honored God and his service, and lived before him; but they dishonored their father, and brought contempt upon the service of God, and they suffered the reward of their evil; for God had said, “Them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.”
CHRISTIAN, art thou growing weary
In the strife with wrong and sin?
Courage still, there's much to cheer thee;
Do not let the tempter win.
Christ himself hath gone before thee
In the path that thou must go;
Now from Heaven he's watching o'er thee,
Soon thy tears shall cease to flow.
Soon he'll come again, and take thee
To a home of endless joy,
Where the wicked cease from troubling:
Where thy peace none can destroy.
Then press onward still, and upward;
Let none turn thee from the way.
Soon will end this night of sorrow;
Soon will come the perfect day.
—Mary E. Inman, in Review and Herald.
INTO THE DARK TUNNEL.
A FEW days ago I had occasion to pass over the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad from Hoboken, and was reminded of an incident some years before, when for the first time I made the same journey. While seated in the waiting-room for the starting of the train, I observed a party consisting of a gentleman and lady, two little girls and a nurse. It was evidently a family, well-dressed and of such appearance and manners as denoted cultured, well-to-do people. I wondered who they were, but never found out.
When we had taken our places in the car, the nurse and children were seated directly behind the parents. Very soon after starting, the mother turned around, took hold of the younger child and gently lifted her over the back of her seat, placed her on her lap with her face to her own, raised the little girl's arms and brought them around her neck, and placed her own around the child's body, holding her close in her embrace. Not knowing what was before us, I was kept in wonder what these movements all meant; but as soon as we entered the tunnel and the darkness covered us, then light flashed out of darkness, and I understood. The dear mother feared that the child would be frightened, and so she took her in her arms; nor did the child by a sound or a movement show that she felt alarm. That warm, protecting embrace211killed all fear of evil; how could any harm reach her!
How could the thought of God hiding some beloved soul, in time of trouble, in his pavilion, in the secret of his presence, be kept from one's reflections? Has not one of our old English devotional writers, Baxter or Doddridge, said that "when God foresees great trials for a believer, he takes care to prepare that one by gracious manifestations?"—New York Evangelist.
MACHINERY VERSUS SPONTANEITY.
By Editor
THERE is a growing tendency among Christians to do almost everything in moral, religious, and ecclesiastical matters by conventions, by associations, by committees, by unions, and by orders, in the same manner, if not in the same spirit, as the various trades-unions, orders, conventions, and political caucuses and combinations in regard to worldly things are carried on. And it has come to pass that there are so many associations, bands, and unions, subdivided into committees and classifications, that the church and its institutions and methods are almost obsolete. Scarcely anything is done or attempted, unless it is by convention, association, or committee, so that it is hardly thought practicable to get a sinner converted or a backslider reclaimed except by a committee. Young Men's Christian Associations have by consent been delegated to do the work which the church should do through her divinely appointed channels and agencies. Members of the churches in their individual capacity hardly dream of getting anybody converted. The recovery of a fallen woman is not sought except through some moral reform association, or through the Red Cross Society. The drunkard must be reached through some society or temperance organization or order. Otherwise he is allowed to drift and perish, or is likely thus to perish. What is the church for if not to do this work in her individual and collective capacity as divinely appointed thereto? Singing can hardly be conducted without a musical association and a choir; and even in prayer-meeting, without a hymn-book and a formal announcement of the hymn, singing is seldom attempted.
Where is the old-time and scriptural spontaneity that used to melt and move hearts and hands and prompt to individual activity and labor in soul-saving? How the Methodists used to sing, even without hymn-books! How quickly they would learn to sing with the spirit and with the understanding! How quickly young converts would learn to pray with power, without a prayer-book! How zealous the early Methodists were in their individual efforts to get men converted, then to get them into class-meeting and into the church. For what end is the church but to save men; to use hospitality one to another; to help each other in business; to instruct, reprove, and exhort all we have intercourse with; to do good to all men of every possible sort, and as far as possible unto all men, not waiting for a convention or a committee; to sing in prayer-meeting, not waiting for the instrument? We are to keep our baptismal covenant vows and our church vows, and to do the work of the Lord and of the church either through committees or without mechanism or formality. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
We want more spontaneity and not so much machinery and organization. More of the presence, power, and promptings of the Spirit, and less of stiff dignity and ecclesiasticism.—Dr. Reddy, in Northern Christian Advocate.
[The above is especially pertinent at the present time, because a new order,—"The Soul-Winners' League,"—has just been started with headquarters at Peoria, Ill., where one thousand members have been obtained. It is to be composed of church-members of any denomination, the only condition for membership being that they shall labor to win souls. The evil of all this comes in the shape of causing people to think that this is not necessarily the work of the church. When leagues have to be started for the purpose of winning souls (presumably to Christ), what does the church amount to? But if the organization whose sole and special duty it is to win souls, cannot do the work, what hope can there be that it can be done by a self-appointed, separate organization?—Ed. Signs.]
PRAYER-MEETINGS.
By Christian Intelligencer
An active business man once remarked: "Attendance at the prayer-meeting is a part of my business. I consider it as much my duty to be present, as to meet any business engagement." We hold him up as an example. But he might have put it yet stronger, and said that he considered it more of a duty to be at a prayer-meeting than to meet any business engagement, on the ground for which we contend that religious engagements justly claim the pre-eminence. They should come first on the weekly list. Let this rule be adopted and conscientiously observed by all church-members, and there will be less occasion for a discussion of the questions: How shall we reach the masses? How shall we reach non-church-goers? Get Christians to show the same fidelity in fulfilling the religious engagements into which they solemnly entered when they took upon them the sacred vows of church membership that they exhibit in their secular engagements, and churches and preachers will never be without audiences.
THE word of God is "not yea and nay;" but all his promises, and threatenings as well, are yea and amen; and it is certain that we shall not find contradicted in one part of his word that which is taught in another part.
It was plainly shown in an article in these columns two weeks ago that a large part of the human race will, because of their own perversity in not accepting God's free offer of salvation, be eternally lost; that they will "be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;" that "the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch."
But notwithstanding the fact that the proof for all this is positive, some are troubled over such texts as Ps. 86:9, which reads as follows: "All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name." This, and kindred texts, they understand to teach the final restoration of all men to the favor of God. But it is certain that they teach no such thing; for we have seen that several plain texts do teach just the contrary, and "God is not the author of confusion."
The particular text in question is explained in three different ways: 1. The advocates of a temporal millennium claim that this is a prophecy of a time when all the nations which shall then be in existence upon the earth, shall become Christian, and shall worship the true God, in this mortal state. 2. Universalists of the several schools agree that its application is future, but contend that it includes not only those who according to the regular course of nature would be alive at that time, but also all the people who have ever lived upon the earth, even including the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. 3. Those who do not believe in a temporal millennium, nor in universal salvation, maintain that the text under consideration applies solely to "the nations of them which are saved," spoken of in Rev. 21:24.
That this latter position is the correct one will appear from several scriptures. Said the Saviour: "Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. 5:5. And in so saying he placed the seal of divine sanction upon the psalmist, who more than a thousand years before had said: "The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever." Ps. 37:29.4But we are not to suppose that the meek will inherit the earth in its present condition. Says the apostle: "The heavens and the earth, which are now, . . . are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men." "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness;" or, as some translations have it, "wherein the righteous dwell." 2 Peter 3:7, 13.
Though, as the Scriptures clearly teach, and as all admit, the "new earth" for which we look is simply a renewed earth,—this earth purified and made new,—the Lord, by the mouth of his prophet, says of it, "Behold I create new heavens, and a new earth." Isa. 65:17. In like manner the psalmist says of those who shall inherit this new earth: "The people which shall be created shall praise the Lord."
Of course we are not to understand that God will actually create a new race of beings, any more than he will create an entirely new earth; but, as the earth is to be changed and purified, so the apostle Paul testifies that all the redeemed shall be changed; he says: "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." "Behold, I shew you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Cor. 15:50, 51.
Thus we see that there is to be a regeneration both of the earth itself and of its inhabitants. Paul recognizes this fact when he says: "We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only so, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Rom. 8:22, 23, Revised Version. This certainly refers to the resurrection of the dead, and to the purging of the earth from all traces of the curse pronounced upon it because of sin.
Speaking of this the Saviour said: "Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." All the saved are reckoned as belonging to Israel. Says the apostle: "They are not all Israel, which are of Israel" (Rom. 9:6); "know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham." Gal. 3:7. And again: "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Verse 29. Therefore, when the Saviour said that his twelve apostles should sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, it was in effect a promise that they should reign over all the inhabitants of the new earth. And the words of David in Ps. 86:9 evidently refer to that time, and to those tribes: "All nations whom thou hast made ["the people that shall be created"] shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name." When this shall be, is told by the prophet: "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." Isa. 66:22, 23.
But all men are not to worship before the Lord in the new earth which he will make, for verse 24 tells us that the righteous shall go forth and shall look upon the carcasses of the wicked; "for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched." And this agrees exactly with the words of the Lord in Mal. 4:1, 3: "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." "And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of hosts."
The Lord has said plainly that if a man "committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die" (Eze. 18:26); and no text or set of texts should be wrested from their connections and be made to contradict plain statements of divine truth and the whole tenor of the Scriptures.
C. P. BOLLMAN.
"I AM WITH YOU ALWAY."
'Tis sweet to read the promise He hath given
To cheer our hearts along the pilgrim way,
But sweeter far to know its blest fulfillment,
And humbly walk with Jesus day by day.
To walk with Jesus! who shall tell the gladness
Of those whose daily life the Master shares?
Who hear his voice so full of love and pity,
And rest on him their burdens and their cares.
And this is mine—the joy of knowing Jesus,
And walking in the sunlight of his smile;
Mine is the peace that floweth like a river,
Deeper and broader growing all the while.
No more a transient guest my Saviour cometh,
To bless me but a while and then depart;
But with me now he evermore abideth,
And with his own glad presence fills my heart.
Sometimes, when busy with my daily labor,
Yet thinking of the mighty love he bore,
Some precious promise unto me he giveth,
Oft-read, perhaps, but never mine before.
I know not why he gives his choicest blessings
To one so undeserving of his love;
But, since he calls, with willing feet I hasten,
Content and glad to hear him say, "Well done."
Content to walk in paths of his own choosing,
Since he will hold my hand along the way;
Content to know that I am journeying homeward,
And brighter grows the pilgrim's path each day.
—Selected.
HONORING CHRIST.
By G. H. Rogers
MANY honest souls have been reassured in the observance of the first day of the week by the pleasing sophism that they were thereby honoring Christ, and by the converse statement that to neglect to observe the first day of the week would be to dishonor him.
Now in either case the question is, What will honor Christ? and, Who shall decide in what his honor consists? Seeking an answer to this question we find that even Christ sought not to honor himself (John 8:54): "If I honor myself, my honor is nothing, it is my Father that honoreth me." He also tells us why his Father honors him,—"I know him and keep his sayings." And this is the only condition upon which God will honor any; he says: "Them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." 1 Sam. 2:30.
In the common acceptation of the word, honor is the respect which persons have for, and pay to, those to whom they owe particular marks of deference; as shown to God, it implies the adoration due to God only. As shown by God to man, the blessings he bestows. Ps. 29:2: "Give unto the Lord the glory [margin, honor] due unto his name." And again, Mal. 1:6: "A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master; if then I be a father, where is mine honor? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible."
Then to set up something as worship or honor to God or his Son which he has not required at our hands, or for which there is no divine command, and neglect, as did this people in the days of the prophet Malachi, what he has expressly demanded of us, is to despise God's name and to offer polluted bread upon his altar.
Of this God further says (1 Sam. 15:22, 23): "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee." This was said to Saul when, in reply to his boast of performing the commandment of the Lord persistently and repeatedly made, the prophet tells him he has not obeyed. We learn from this, that no profession of devotion or claim of desire to sacrifice for God's honor can take the place of obedience. Obedience is the sacrifice that honors God and Christ.
Now Jesus tells us (John 5:23) we are to honor him by the very same means that we honor his Father. Hence if we would honor the Lord Jesus Christ there can be but one acceptable way to do it, and that is by keeping the commandments of God. "And I know that his commandment is life everlasting." John 12:50. Therefore to obey the ten precepts faithfully is keeping "the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12.
But God has never given commandment to keep the first day of the week or ever said we may neglect the seventh day. Hence to keep the day he has not commanded and profane the day he has commanded, no matter how much we may profess before God or the world that we do it to honor Christ, is simply to offer upon his altar polluted bread, despise his name, and say the table of the Lord is contemptible.
And as an almost universal rule we find that those who do this draw a contrast between the Old and New Testaments, boldly declaring that they do not go by the Old Testament, thus showing their contempt for the Lord's table, as is shown by Matt. 4:4: "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." And to show his displeasure at this God says (Mal. 1:8): "Offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts." Now when it is clearly shown, as Samuel showed to Saul, that a certain act is not obeying the voice of the Lord, then to persistently claim that it is, is only to presume upon God's mercy as did King Saul.
But who does keeping the first day of the week honor, and what does it commemorate? God's way of commemorating the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, is clearly set forth in Rom. 6:3-5: "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we213are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." Here, then, is God's way of commemorating the resurrection of Christ.
Keeping the Sabbath, the seventh day, commemorates the work of creation, and honors the Creator; but Sunday-keeping is the great distinguishing feature of a rival religion—sun worship—which has followed down through all the ages to oppose the worship of the true God. And we will by listening to the voice of this charmer simply be doing for its author what Christ refused to do (Matt. 4:9), "If thou wilt fall down and worship me."
Oh, awake! dear friend, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light! G. H. ROGERS.
A DIVINE REDEEMER.
By A. W. Heald
1. CAN man be justified by the deeds of the law?
“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.” Rom. 3: 20.
2. Through whom alone can the righteousness of the law be fulfilled in us?
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and by a sacrifice for sin, [margin] condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8: 3, 4.
3. What special attribute of the Deity is displayed in this wonderful plan?
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4: 10.
4. Was the coming of the Messiah foretold in the Scriptures?
“Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me.” John 5: 39.
The prophet Isaiah wrote so accurately of the miraculous birth, the life, sufferings, and death of Christ, that he has on this account been called the fifth evangelist, though he lived several hundred years before the Christian era.
5. How does the evangelical prophet describe the Redeemer?
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrow; and acquainted with grief. . . . Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” Isaiah 53: 3, 4.
6. For whom was he thus tormented?
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Verse 5.
7. What did Jesus himself say of his condition on earth?
“And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” Matt. 8: 20.
8. How does the prophet describe our Saviour’s cruel treatment at the hands of sinners?
“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” Isa. 53: 7, 8.
9. How far did the enraged Jews carry their persecution of the sinless Son of God?
“And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.” Luke 23: 33.
10. What prayer did Jesus offer for his murderers?
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Verse 34.
11. How could sinful men thus prevail against God?
“Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.” John 19: 11.
“But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” Matt 26: 54.
12. Was the world’s Redeemer left to suffer corruption?
“Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death; because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.” “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, [the grave] neither will thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Acts 2: 24, 27; see also verse 31.
13. Where does Jesus now intercede for us?
“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Heb. 9: 24.
14. What power has Christ in his priestly office?
“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Heb. 7: 25.
15. May we then be free from the condemnation of sin?
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” Rom. 8: 1, 2.
16. Being led by the Spirit, what have we received from God?
“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” Verses 15–17.
17. Can anything separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus?
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Verses 35, 37–39.