Signs of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 6. (2/5/1902)

Signs of the Times

Feb 5, 1902

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 5, 1902

HIS MARVELOUS WORKS.

By C. M. Snow

Vernal Falls, Yosemite Valley; height 350 feet. Here the Merced River takes its second great plunge to reach the floor of this most beautiful valley.

In the wonders that are done in the earth men see “as through a glass darkly” the power of Him who spoke the worlds into being. Standing at the foot of a mighty waterfall, where a river has been tumbling down for ages, and listening to the deep reverberations of its tireless tongue, louder than the roar of the lightning express, deeper than the boom of guns,—the littleness of man comes home with crushing weight. I have listened for hours to the thunderous roar of this mill-race of the Infinite, and wondered what must be the power of Him whose tuneful toy it was and is. He has cut the river bed as with a knife and dropped it three hundred fifty feet, and then sent its boiling waters with tremendous impetus down a fearful chasm between the great, trembling sounding-boards of the mountainsides, whose vibrations we feel as well as hear. We climb the dizzy stairs cut in the rocky cliff, till our feet are on the brink of the mighty plunge, and look down into the rainbow-painted basin where the waters swirl and writhe and struggle with the Titan rocks. Farther up the chasm, another, higher fall sends down its foaming waters. Far behind another, and still higher, is looping down a filmy, wind-swung drapery out of the very clouds two thousand and six hundred feet above; and to the right glitters a rainbowed ribbon of the purest meltings of the mountain snows, fluttering and folding and swaying and almost vanishing in the air, as it curls down from its dizzy height, singing in the wind. Beyond this is another, a bridal veil, whose woof is the rainbow, draping a sheer mountain-side nine hundred dizzy feet. And here the shattered mountain peaks are pointing constant fingers to the sky, as if to tell the beholder who is the Author of it all.

TRULY, “great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints.” All over the world are these footprints and finger-prints of the Maker of the heavens and the earth. Where can we hide that we do not find some memorial of the hand that shaped the universe? Here, it is a tiny leaf, sipping the dewdrops of the early morn; there, it is a Vernal Fall, beating its tons of water into pearls of floating mist. Here, it is a pebble forming deep down in the caverns of the earth; there, it is a mighty sun blazing out in untold glory across the abyss of a thousand million miles. Here, it is a tiny insect invisible to the naked eye; there, it is the buried bones of a mastodon, telling their own story of the watery grave that closed over the wickedness of the ancient world. Here, it is a tiny rill wandering down a mountainside; there, it is a mighty river plowing a furrow through the great sea, and tempering the cold winds that sweep down from the Arctic. Here, it is the grace of a kindly deed in a tender child; there, it is a mighty wave of Christian progress, bearing the last message of a long-suffering God into the highways and byways of a sinful world. He breathes upon us in the winds that fan our cheek; He showers us with His blessings in the dew and rain; He prolongs our lives that we may learn to know Him; and in it all holds out the never-fading promise of eternal life to all who will to do His will.

THERE is an eternal purpose in the wondrous works which His hands have fashioned in the earth. The psalmist tells us that “He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered.” Ps. 111:4. Had the hands of man shaped the wonders which we see, the heart of man would have turned within to find the source of power and life; but it is the Creator’s purpose that man should see Him and remember Him in the mighty works which He has done. So He has peopled the earth with a myriad reminders of Himself, that man might have no just excuse for forgetting Him and turning his feet into the paths that lead to wickedness and death. Men have chosen to

forget Him; have chosen their own ways; have sought for pleasure in the ways of death, and have reached the goal toward which their wayward feet were speeding. “As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind” (Rom. 1:28); and in the chambers of those reprobate minds they hung the pictures of all the villainy and vice which Satan could invent. When they had forgotten God, there was nothing in the earth or in the ways of men that could check the speed of their downward course. With their hand tight clasped in the hand of Death, they raced to ruin.

THEN came the proclamation of the Gospel message, calling men back to a memory of God. The Lord Himself taught men with His own lips to see the Creator in the things which He had made. So He filled His teachings with parables, and based His parables on the flowers of the field, the birds of the air, the grass, and various things in which the hand of God is seen. Sin had clouded the vision of mankind so that it could not see God in His works, and blurred the image of God in man. Christ’s work was to sweep away the mists and clouds which sin had brought, and to restore in man that image which he had well-nigh lost. With a clearer vision and a truer image of his Maker, he could now go forth to help in that glorious work of restoring that image and clearing that vision in the great teeming world around him. And so the great commission comes to the regenerated man, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.” Matt. 28:19. They went, and they taught as He had taught “with signs following;” taught those who had forgotten God to see Him in His works, and to know Him by His power to cleanse and purify the heart that had known only wickedness.

THE wonders of the deep and the wonders of the hills are all of God, for He “alone doeth wonders.” Nebuchadnezzar, when he had seen the miracles which God had wrought, declared, “How great are His signs! and how mighty are His wonders!” Dan. 4:3. That heathen king was just arousing from the universal forgetfulness of the heathen world, and was learning to see God in the works which He performed. His kingdom stood long after he himself had been gathered to his fathers. Pharaoh refused to humble himself, refused to see God in the works which were done before him, and perished with his host in the waters that parted for those who listened to the voice of God. These are types of the present time. There are those who will not see God in their creation or the mighty works which He has done, and they will perish in the last great overthrow. But there are others who will see the Creator in His handiwork, will see Him in His wonderful work for and in them, will yield their will to His will, accept the sacrifice which He has made in their behalf, and will finally see and hail Him with joy when He comes to claim His own.

SO LET us reach out after Him, that our ears may be attuned to hear the still, small voice that is ever speaking to us; that our eyes may be opened to see Him in all His wonderful works about us; that the image of God may be restored in us; and that we may learn to glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits which are His. The wonders of the hills hold no secret from the true child of God; the glory of the cataracts is not a mystery to him; and he finds in every tree, or shrub, or flower, or waterfall a voice that speaks to him of the One who ever liveth, the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. C. M. SNOW.

THROUGH TRIAL TO PERFECT TRUST.

By Ellen G. White

He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” The refining process is hard for human nature to endure; but only by it can the dross be purged from the character. In the furnace of trial we are purified from the dross that prevents us from reflecting the image of Christ. God measures every trial; He watches the furnace fire that must test every soul.

Through trial God leads His children to perfect trust. “In the world ye shall have tribulation,” Christ says; “but in Me ye shall have peace.” It is through much tribulation that we are to enter the kingdom of God. The followers of Christ will often be sorely tried and afflicted. Joseph was maligned and persecuted because he was determined to preserve his virtue and integrity. David, God’s chosen messenger, was hunted like a beast of prey by wicked enemies. Daniel was cast into a den of lions because he would not yield his allegiance to God. Jeremiah spoke the word that God gave him, and his plain testimony so enraged the king and the princes that he was cast into a loathsome pit. Stephen was stoned for preaching Christ and Him crucified. Paul was imprisoned, and finally put to death, because he obeyed Christ’s command to carry the Gospel to the Gentiles. John, the beloved disciple, was banished to the Isle of Patmos for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

No cross, no crown. How can we be strong in the Lord without trial? To have physical strength, we must have exercise. To have strong faith, we must be placed in circumstances where our faith will be tried. Every temptation resisted, every trial bravely borne, gives us a new experience, and advances us in the work of character building. Our Saviour was tried in every way, yet He triumphed in God constantly. It is our privilege under all circumstances to be strong in the strength of God, and to glory in the cross of Christ.

Through affliction God reveals to us the plague-spots in our characters, that by His grace we may overcome our faults. Unknown chapters in regard to ourselves are opened to us, and the test comes, whether we will accept the reproof and the counsel of God. When brought into trial, we are not to fret and worry. We should not rebel, or worry ourselves out of the hand of Christ. We are to humble the soul before God. The ways of the Lord are obscure to him who desires to see things in a light pleasing to himself. They appear dark and joyless to our human nature. But God’s ways are ways of mercy, and the end is salvation. Elijah knew not what he was doing when in the desert he said that he had had enough of life, and prayed that he might die. The Lord in His mercy did not take him at his word. There was yet a great work for Elijah to do; and when his work was done, he was not to perish in discouragement and solitude in the wilderness. Not for him the descent into the dust of earth, but the ascent in glory, with the convoy of celestial chariots to the throne on high.

Our sorrows do not spring out of the ground. God “doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.” When He permits trials and afflictions, it is for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. If received in faith, the trial that seems so bitter and hard to bear will prove a blessing. The cruel blow that blights the joys of earth will be the means of turning our eyes to heaven. How many there are who would never have known Jesus had not sorrow led them to seek comfort in Him.

The trials of life are God’s workmen, to remove the impurities and roughness from our character. Their hewing, squaring, and chiseling, their burnishing and polishing, is a painful process; it is hard to be pressed down to the grinding wheel. But the stone is brought forth prepared to fill its place in the heavenly temple. Upon no useless material does the Master bestow such careful, thorough work. Only His precious stones are polished after the similitude of a palace.

But when tribulation comes upon us, how many of us are like Jacob. We think it the hand of an enemy; and in the darkness we wrestle blindly until our strength is spent, and we find no comfort or deliverance. To Jacob the divine touch at break of day revealed the One with whom he had been contending,—the Angel of the covenant; and, weeping and helpless, he fell upon the breast of Infinite Love, to receive the blessing for which his soul longed. We also need to learn that trials mean benefit, and not to despise the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when we are rebuked of Him.

“Happy is the man whom God correcteth. . . . He maketh sore, and bindeth up; He woundeth, and His hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles; yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.” To every stricken one, Jesus comes with the ministry of healing. The life of bereavement, pain, and suffering may be brightened by precious revealings of His presence.

Each fiery trial is God’s agent for our refining. Each is fitting us for our work as co-laborers with Him. “Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

MRS. E. G. WHITE.

WAITING

By MIZPAH

“In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Phil. 4:6.

When the last faint glim'ring sunbeam Sinks down the golden west; When each tuneful-throated warbler Is cradled in its nest; And night comes gently wooing The world to slumbrous rest, Then my aching heart seems breaking With longing and request. 'Tween the heart sobs still I'm saying, “God knoweth what is best.”

When morn breaks o’er the mountain, And joy seems far from me, I pray with tearful pleadings, Thy strength impart to me. Jesus! Thou tried and tempted, Thou hearest my request, And if ’tis still withholden, God knoweth what is best.

By faith I still am looking Beyond the shores of Time, Where joy will be unbounded, Fruition there be mine. While here, so sad and lonely, I'll lean on Jesus' breast, And whisper there ’tween heart sobs, “God knoweth what is best.”

MIZPAH.

A Lay Discursus on the Soul

By J. A. L. Derby

BY PROF. J.A.L.DERBY.

Common Sense in Religion.

It is, to say the least, a divine accident that the Celt and the Anglo-Saxon lie in juxtaposition—a most striking spiritual object-lesson of two syllables, with the accent thus placed on each: The Irishman, naturally the peer of the other, with capabilities as great as those of any nationality on earth (I dare affirm it), actually an age-long inferior, subject civilly, abject spiritually, nationally subordinate because spiritually servile—sold like a commodity by the hand he licks;—but Britain! free, imperial!—and why?

Admirable, aye, most worthy of all imitation is the national characteristic of the Englishman, discerned through all the heart of his history, of following the light or leading of his religion only until its practise conflicted with his personal liberty, and then quietly taking counsel of his common sense, preferring its teachings to the uncertain refinements of his theology.

The guide-boards of common sense were erected by God on the highway of holiness toward the celestial city; duty-charts are the invention of theological metaphysicians—too frequently of interested casuists.

Jonathan Edwards might well have exchanged for an anthem of praise and thanksgiving the lachrymal brine he spilled into the ink with which he signed the death-warrant of span-long infants (he wept, ’tis said, as he offered innocent babes in the arms of the red-hot Moloch of his Calvinistic theology), if he had used his fine powers to consider thoughtfully for a few moments, how long it would be before the common sense of mankind would consign his polemic conclusions to the place he intended for the infants.

Even tho a person may not be well enough versed in his Bible to answer therefrom the apparently logical theses of the thousand religious theorists he will certainly meet, we hold it as the chiefest article of our creed, that he were better to reject every element of any doctrine which insults common sense, revolts the moral nature, or does violence to the organic instinct of benevolence. This is a sovereign household antiseptic for all sorts of pious fudge. If some zealot tells you that the command, “Thou shalt not kill,” restrains you from taking the life of bedbugs, fleas, potato-beetles, etc.; if he would convince you of the truthfulness of the theory of “Christian Science;” if he would have you enamored of the celestial nature of polygamy, it would be a sufficient answer that these things fall within the rule just given.

All hail, common sense! In thine honored defense Even this humble scribe shall most proudly enlist! Tho priests may decry thee, Tho schemers deny thee, In chanting thy praises my song shall persist!

Let scholars cease laughing, And prelates cease chaffing, There are millions of simple to one that is wise; And thy modest pleading Gives practical leading When their soaring follies get lost in the skies.

A patent on wisdom No deity gives them; Wise or unwise, we must follow our light. To us simple creatures What profit are teachers Whose skilled disagreements bewilder our sight?

Let them settle their quarrels O’er the science of morals, And tilt, if they like, over dogmas and creeds; ’Midst tangled devices, Their plain wit suffices The commons to follow the Book as it reads:

I trow that Who gave us The Guide-Book to save us Has made it so clear that the runner may read; And plain common sense Is the grandest defense Of divine Inspiration for common man’s need.

Permit, therefore, a fellow-mortal, who has stood awed and silent before the profound problem of human destiny, to emulate this virtue of his ancestors; with little confidence in his capacity, making no boast of originality, to record some meditations and conclusions, not hasty, but sincere; not profound, but true to his light; not expansive, but suggestive; not scholarly, but which he trusts may prove no less helpful and satisfactory on this account to some others who, like himself, have found themselves struggling with the sphinx-riddle of human existence. No claim is made of speaking ex cathedra, nor is any one bound to adopt his conclusions. A searcher for truth, he will at all times be happy to be set right by any one who, by broader inductions, is able to bring more accurate generalizations.

The Question Stated.

Without further preliminaries, laying aside all preconceived notions, especially those inherited, concerning the whence and the whither of the human bubble, which floats for a moment on the mysterious sea of existence only to break and disappear, let us, with a candor equal to the gravity of the theme, address ourselves in a practical manner to a consideration of the nature of the human soul.

To prevent obscurity, to secure clearness and definiteness, every science begins by stating its axioms or defining its initial working-elements. In physics, for instance, matter and motion, with their properties and laws, are the fundamental things. No correct theory in physics can omit from its reckoning the known properties of matter—mass, extension, impenetrability, indestructibility, and inertia. No system of mathematics can fail to take into account the essential properties of number.

But our knowledge of the human soul has not yet been reduced to scientific formula—notwithstanding we have seen a spiritualistic book (of which later) pretentiously claiming to give a scientific demonstration of the immortality of the soul. It is precisely on the questions as to what the soul is, and what are its properties, that the travail of thought and the turmoil of pen have thus far been expended.

It would be difficult to overstate the value of the contribution to perspicuity, not only in science but in all discussions, of primary, or introductory definitions, as accurate as possible, of the exact points involved. Not seldom a proper definition is the whole controversy. A demonstrably correct definition of the soul,—or, if this be impossible, an accurate summary of its properties or phenomena,—would settle forever the entire point at issue. What a pity that teachers of religion can not content themselves with being ministers of the Word, rather than striving to be theo-logicians amusing themselves and bewildering mankind with their assumptions, inferences, guesses, and what-not! What an inestimable gain to the whole field of religion, as well as science, if our controversialists could only be confined in some sort of mental straight-jacket compelling them to deal with what they know! What an epoch would be marked in the history of thought, if every theory-chaser would resolve not to talk dogmatically on subjects of which he is ignorant! What an amount of time, patience, and friendship might be saved, what a vast deal of misunderstanding would be spared, if disputants would first reduce to definite statement the points in controversy, instead of assuming mentally definitions agreeable to their preconceived opinions, and then arguing from that point of view.

The incident is perhaps familiar of the two London clergymen who walked the streets for half a day, debating a certain point, until one of them, having an appointment, excused himself, saying that his views were expressed exactly in a certain tract which his opponent might get and read. The other replied that he himself had written the tract. There was no disagreement in fact; they had merely failed to define.

O, the ink we spill, and the books we fill, And the prodigal waste of breath, Over terms whose meanings we do not see Definitions on which we could never agree Tho we cudgelled each other to death.

O, the tongue we use in an aimless cruise For points we’ve not defined, And the battles we wage to reform the age When, bless your soul, there is never a sage Could tell what we have in mind.

Let no one accuse us of treating in a spirit of mere facetiousness so serious and vital a question as the one under consideration; let no one impugn our motive, even tho it be a mistaken judgment which leads us to hope that an occasional figure or meter—as in the above paraphrase of a portion of Kipling’s Vampire—or even a pleasantry, may serve to enliven our discussion or impress a point.

The next article considers the question, “What Is the Soul?”

LOVE IS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Love is a purifying principle. The opinion which has prevailed among men that love is not only gentle and tender, but also weak and soft, is a grave error. Parents who rule by love are considered overindulgent. Love and righteousness are set over against each other as opposing principles. In almost all discipline, whether in reformatory or educational institutions, love and righteousness are treated as tho they were incompatible. But that kind of love which indulges in wrong-doing or winks at wickedness or encourages evil is a spurious kind. Love “rejoiceth not in iniquity.” “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” Love is righteousness as well as gentleness. Where love reigns, mercy and justice embrace each other. The Golden Rule is the law of love. As light expels darkness, love drives out every evil thought, every evil desire, every evil affection. Love embodies all good. Every virtue centers in and grows out of love. So comprehensive is this grace, that where it reigns all good qualities of heart and character are included. Love is holiness. Love is purity. Love is life.—Christian Advocate.

Faith and Christ’s Saving Power

OUR faith opens the door for the entrance into us of Christ’s healing, saving might. If we clog the channel, the life-giving water will not flow through it.—Alexander McLaren.

THE LAW OF GOD

By E. J. Hibbard

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT.

THOU shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”

“Covetousness . . . is idolatry.” And “this ye know, that no . . . covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”

In every commandment, and especially so in the first, we have seen that the God-life is its only fulfilment. To have no other gods besides the Lord, means to have the Lord in all His fulness. Now covetousness, in its quintessence, is the entire absence of God. It is therefore evident that covetousness, which is selfishness in operation, is the root cause for the violation of any precept of Jehovah. No covetous person can, in deed and in truth, keep one of God’s commandments. How can he? He is an idolater. God is supplanted; and therefore there is in him no character which can possibly keep the commandments of God.

“Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” If he has not seen it before, the tenth commandment opens the eyes of the natural man to the fact that the law of God deals with the thoughts and intents of the heart. Solomon understood this when he wrote: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man; for God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing.” He knew that God’s holy law covered “every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Therefore the keeping of it, said he, “is the whole duty of man.” And the apostle Paul had no greater light when he wrote: “As many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law, . . . in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to My Gospel.” The Gospel which Paul preached revealed no other law as the standard of judgment, than the one which Solomon preached. They both saw that it covered the secrets of men, even every secret thing.

Covetousness is not only the secret desire for any and every evil thing, but unlawful desires for things not our own. It is that which always precedes the overt act. It keeps men, as well as children, from honoring their parents. It leads to murder; is the basis of adultery in the overt act; it spurs men on to steal; and, in order to do any of these things, or to clear one’s self when it is done, it leads to, and forms the basis of, every false testimony against our neighbor. The Pharisees, in the days of Christ, were “covetous.” The clergy of Rome, through all the ages since the apostasy which gave that church its birth, have been filled with covetousness. Many of the Protestant pulpits are represented in no better way. We all know this to be true. Is it therefore any wonder that in these latter days the supposed shepherds of the flock are proclaiming “God’s law is abolished”?

But one word more about covetousness: Is it altogether confined to the desire for that which is another’s? The following incident will show: “And one of the company said unto Him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. And He said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And He said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And He spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” Is there any point in the parable? Was that man covetous with his own goods, or rather, with the Lord’s goods, over which he had been made steward? May God help each of us to learn the lesson!

“I had not known sin but by the law.”

“I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” It is the law, then, the whole law, and not simply one commandment, which says, “Thou shalt not covet.” Those words are found only in the tenth. How do the other nine say it? The question has already been answered in the fact that covetousness is the antithesis of godliness. “God is love.” “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” Covetousness is the transgression of the law, because “sin is the transgression of the law;” for covetousness is the root of all sin. “The carnal mind is enmity against God.” And why?—Because “it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

It would appear, then, that anything not subject to the law of God is enmity against God Himself, would it not? Have we not seen, in every commandment, that God Himself is the fulfilling of it? and that only the absence of God is the transgression thereof? Is this law abolished by Christ?

“I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free”—from the law of God? O no; a thousand times, no—“The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” What is the attitude of the “law of sin” toward “the law of God”? It is “warring against” it. Once delivered from that which is “warring against” the law of God, will I not cease to war against it? Will I transgress it in thought and act? Will I war against it through pulpit or press? I think not. Does not every such action betray the fact that I am controlled and actuated by “the law of sin”? Does it not reveal the “carnal mind”?

Why am I delivered from “the law of sin”? Why has Christ “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.” “Sin is the transgression of the law.” “Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins.” Does He save from the keeping of the law, then, or from the transgression of it?

“Whosoever committeth sin is the servant [bondservant, R. V.] of sin.” “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Christ is the only Saviour. Every redeemed soul knows that. And there is another thing which every redeemed person knows; which is, that “saved from sin” does not mean “saved from righteousness.” “All His commandments are righteousness.” Now Israel had the “law of righteousness;” for it is expressly so stated: “Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? [That means, why? For what reason?] Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.”

Then the law which Israel followed after was all right, was it not? It is the law of righteousness. Why did they not attain to it? “They sought it not by faith.” “Christ is the author and finisher of faith.” They sought it not through Christ. “They stumbled at that stumbling-stone.” They attempted to obey God without a Saviour. But, altho they failed, and did not attain to the law of righteousness, was not their attempt to do so more commendable than an attempt to pervert the only Saviour from sin into a licenser of sin? But this supposition is not essential to the enlightenment of any truly converted person. His every impulse harmonizes with the holy law of God.

To the believer in Jesus, every commandment is a promise. But outside of Christ, every commandment is condemnation and death. Why did not Israel attain?—“Because they sought IT not by faith.”

Here is the way the law of God reads to every man in Christ Jesus (Young’s translation):—

Thou hast no other gods before Me.

II.

Thou dost not make to thyself a graven image, or any likeness which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the waters under the earth. Thou dost not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous God, charging iniquity of fathers on sons, on the third generation, and on the fourth, of those hating Me, and doing kindness to thousands of those loving Me and keeping My commands.

III.

Thou dost not take up the name of Jehovah thy God for a vain thing, for Jehovah acquitteth not him who taketh up His name for a vain thing.

IV.

Remember the Sabbath-day to sanctify it; six days thou dost labor and hast done all thy work, and the seventh day is the Sabbath to Jehovah thy God: thou dost not do any work, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy handmaid, and thy cattle, and thy sojourner who is within thy gates,—for six days hath Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and RESTETH in the seventh day; therefore HATH Jehovah blessed the Sabbath-day, and DOTH sanctify it.

Honor thy father and thy mother, so that thy days are prolonged on the ground which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee.

VI.

Thou dost not murder.

VII.

Thou dost not commit adultery.

VIII.

Thou dost not steal.

IX.

Thou dost not swear against thy neighbor a false testimony.

Thou dost not desire the house of thy neighbor, thou dost not desire the wife of thy neighbor, or his man-servant, or his handmaid, or his ox, or his ass, or anything which is thy neighbor’s.

Redeemed. In harmony with God and His holy law. “Praise ye the Lord.”

E. J. HIBBARD.

What He Has Done for Our Souls

By Alexander McLaren

Our best recompense to the name that cures all infirmities, even congenital ones, and quickens all faculties, is joyfully to use the powers that He frees from their paralysis, and to let them take us into the temple, there to sing out in men's hearing what He has done for our souls.—Alexander McLaren.

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