Earlier text: I AM THAT BREAD OF LIFEFEW OR MANY.
By A. R. Ogden
MANY people decide a question as the masses decide; but this is a false principle, and may lead to a fatal mistake. When God speaks, it is the duty, and should be the joy, of all His creatures reverently to submit to His infinite wisdom. God’s holy law, the Ten Commandments, is the grand constitution of the universe—the foundation of the divine government; for there can be no government without law. How, then, can any think or teach that that law is a thing of the past? Let us rather believe it to be eternal,—like its Author, pure, holy, perfect, eternal, unchangeable. Ps. 19:7; 89:34; 119:89; Matt. 5:17–19; James 2:10; Eccl. 12:13. As sin increases, as rebellion against God’s rule and government becomes more general, the harder will it be to stand for God and His law in a world that hates both. The one who stands alone, so far as this world is concerned, but with God, is on the strong side. Yet it is so natural to go with the crowd. It is so easy to float down stream. The trial of faith comes when God reveals some unpopular truth, and we are compelled to stand with and for that truth, or decide against Him. In every age this has been the case. Some truth of God has been unpopular,—a test of character. But when divine light is revealed, it must be accepted, or it becomes darkness. John 12:35. To decide against God and truth is to decide against eternal life. God is to-day revealing the Sabbath truth. He declares, “The ‘seventh day is the Sabbath,” and commands, “Remember the Sab-‘bath day to keep it holy.” So it will always be. No amount of reasoning or theorizing will ever change these statements of truth. One may bring one excuse, another some other human reason; but will these excuses stand in the judgment? Let each decide to stand for God and His law (the truth), even tho there should not be another faithful, loyal soul in the whole world. Let us be up and doing. Soon the harvest will be past, and the summer ended; and shall it be said, “And we are not saved”? O, HOW hard it is to die, and not be able to leave the world any better for one's little life in it.—Abraham Lincoln. TRUE exaltation is reached by two prominent steps,—humbling of self and giving glory to God. To true humility belongs also patience to abide God's time. Christ was “highly exalted” because he first humbled Himself (Phil. 2:8, 9), and all through His earthly career He had sought only to do His Father's will, and therefore to do Him honor. John 6:38; Matt. 26:39. Through a prophet sent to Eli, the Lord says also to us, “Them that honor Me I will honor, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.” 1 Sam. 2:30. And through Solomon He reminds us that “the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility.” Prov. 15:33. That this humility must be voluntary, is shown in the instruction of Christ, “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke 14:11. It is to this class that James refers when he says, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” James 4:6. The exaltation of Joseph in Egypt is an instance of preferment because it was evident that God was with him, and this was made manifest by Joseph's giving God the glory for the wisdom which he himself had manifested before the dignitaries of Egypt. First, in his service of Potiphar, to whom he was sold when taken to Egypt, his conduct was such that “his Master saw that the Lord was with him.” When his master's wife sought to draw him into sin, he resisted her wiles for the honor of God, and had to suffer a long imprisonment for his fidelity to the law of God. But in the prison his righteous course again brought his God to favorable notice; and he was advanced to a position of trust “because the Lord was with him, and that which he did the Lord was the doer of it.” Thus the Lord received glory before men through Joseph's humility in ascribing honor to Him, and in turn Joseph was promoted through the providence of God. The Lord's being with Joseph is our evidence of Joseph's humility of heart; for the Lord says, “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isa. 57:15. Joseph's exaltation did not consist simply in his being promoted in the line of his service of men. His exaltation through the gift of prophecy, in the interpretation of dreams, was more to his honor than the stewardship in his master's house or the position of trust in the king's prison. It was this gift that finally brought him to the governorship of all Egypt. When Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh's chief butler and chief baker in the prison, he gave God the credit of it. True he asked a favor of the butler when he should be restored to his office before the king, but it was forgotten by that individual until the king had dreams that gave him great anxiety. Then the butler was reminded of his neglect. In the providence of God the reminder came at a time when the king's own interest would demand attention to the obscure Hebrew prisoner. Pharaoh dreamed that he stood by the river, “and, behold, there came up out of the river seven well-favored kine and fat-fleshed; and they fed in a meadow. And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean-fleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. And the ill-favored and lean-fleshed kine did eat up the seven well-favored and fat kine.” Then Pharaoh awoke and slept again, and the same matter was presented in another dream. “Behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good. And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them. And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears.” In the morning the king was troubled about the dreams. “But there was no wise man of Egypt that could interpret them.” Now was the Lord's time to further manifest His power and wisdom, and incidentally to exalt His servant, who had been so long under the instruction of humility and patience, an innocent victim of false accusation and ingratitude. Then, as before stated, the butler was reminded of his forgotten promise to Joseph. “Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon.” The king said to him, “I have heard say of thee, ‘that thou canst understand a dream to interpret7it.’” True to his faith, Joseph denied himself and exalted his God. “It is not in me,” he replied; “God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” Then Pharaoh told his dream, which Joseph interpreted to mean seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine. Following the interpretation came the inspired counsel to the king concerning the course to be pursued. He was to lay up food during the years of plenty against the years of famine. One purpose of the dreams was to tell the king what was coming, that he might be prepared for it, and the lives of his people be spared. Another purpose was to bring before the king and his people a knowledge of the true God, in whose hand are the destinies of every nation and kindred and tongue and people. Pharaoh accepted the interpretation and the counsel from the servant of God. The same Spirit that had prompted the advice to the king now suggested to his mind the only man in his kingdom who was “discreet and wise” enough for such an emergency. Who could it be but one in whom was the Spirit of God, even Joseph? “And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art. . . . See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.” Joseph's pathway from home, through the pit at Dothan, through bondage in Potiphar's house, to the end of his imprisonment, was thorny and long, consuming more than twenty years. But at the end of his instructive experience, it was but a step from the dungeon to the throne. From such lessons as this, “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Rom. 8:28. THE great need of Christianity to-day is power—power to overcome sin, power to live an honest life, a pure life, a true life, a godly life. There is no question but that multitudes long for this power. They want to be Christians; many of them profess to be; but they do not live Christian lives. They are tempted, and fall; they mourn and repent, and are tempted, and fall; and so the endless round is repeated till oftentimes the heart loses hope, the conscience ceases to respond, and the soul drifts a derelict into the engulfing maelstroms of the world. Yet, there is power in Christ to save; and that power is the same power which He possessed,—which enabled Him to build the holy character of all characters of earth. What was that power?—“The ‘power of an endless life.’” “As the Father hath life ‘in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life ‘in Himself.’” It was the power of the endless, mighty life of the Creator of the universe, making constant, living connection with the great Fountain. The natural man has life, but it is a perverted life, ending in death, unless its possessor shall “lay hold of eternal life.” It is granted him of God that he may by submission and faith receive the life eternal. He can not possess the life eternal while in transgression against God. God’s life can not flow through perverted law and give life. Its only channel is through unperverted media. Even such was Jesus Christ. In Him the law is “the law of the ‘Spirit of life.’” From Him, and only from Him, may every soul receive it by faith. Hence “he that ‘believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he ‘that believeth not the Son shall not see life.’” Hence, also, Jesus sadly tells the unbelieving: “And ‘ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.’” But is this life real?—Yea, it is real, actual, power-giving, sin-cleansing, body-healing, character-building life. It is in Christ Jesus. It ever flows from Him, the Fountain, to us. With Him it is absolute. The Fountain wells and flows eternally, whether we receive or not. If we let true faith form the channel, the life will flow in. And that life is just as actual as is the life of Christ. We may lose it; unbelief and disobedience may break the connection; but as long as true faith abides, the true, actual life abides. Its actuality is inherent in the life; and if received at all, it is actually eternal life. Whether it is absolute depends on one condition. The point of this article is, that only in eternal life have we hope; and that we may have it now if we will. “These things have I written unto you, that ye ‘may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you ‘that believe on the name of the Son of God.’” 1 John 5:13, R.V. Then, brother, believe it. Dear soul, whoever you are, believe in God, and obtain it. Know the power of the endless life, rejoice in its healing efficacy, and go forward to everlasting victory. The State and the Sabbath Law
By G.
The Christian Statesman says that the State should enforce the Sabbath law against all unnecessary infractions of it, that citizens may have opportunity for moral and religious improvement. But the State can only enforce laws of its own making. The only Sabbath law that has any just claim to morality is the law of God, and that law is “spiritual.” How can a fallible human State enforce a spiritual law? The Lord Himself does not pretend to enforce His law. He certainly has not delegated the State to do what He would not do Himself. His own Spirit endeavors only to persuade men, and holds out inducements to them to willingly obey His voice. But what the Statesman means is that the State should enforce the Sunday law. But as the Sunday institution is directly opposed to the Sabbath of the Lord, how can its enforcement by the State work any improvement in the morals of the people? The fact that the State makes Sunday laws at all is evidence that they can not be enforced through any principle involved in either the law or the Sabbath of the Lord. G. CONFORMED OR TRANSFORMED.
By S.
The success of worldly enterprises has often led the professed followers of Christ to pattern some part of their work after the methods which made that worldly work a success. We have seen it of late in the introduction of modified, theatrical performances in the church. Pastors who have compared the size of their audiences with the throngs which patronize the theater have introduced “attractions” to increase their attendance. The theater has its “attractions,” and they draw the masses. The worried pastor reasons that they will do the same for the church. They have been added to the church service, and the pews have had more occupants. It is safe to say, however, that the additional occupants come to see the curious and spectacular. They get what they come for, and probably depart satisfied. But they who come to hear the voice of God through one set to utter it, what do they get?—A theatrical performance. Refusing to go to the theater, the theater came to them—came into the sacred edifice where they had met God, and expected to meet Him again and again. They would not enter the playhouse; so the playhouse came into the church, displacing the Word, disorganizing the service, and lowering the respect of both saint and sinner for the house, the pastor, and the pastor’s influence. Thus what is gained in numbers is lost in real heart work, in real, positive influence for good. The church which resorts to such means will soon find that it must add new “attractions” as the theater does, or see its audiences dwindling away. Such a course is in direct opposition to the counsel of the Spirit: “Be not conformed to this world; but ‘be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, ‘that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” Rom. 12:2. Conformity to the world will never win the world; for it never has. Conformity to the world is a yielding to the ways of the world, forming our ways, words, and actions in harmony with the ways and words and actions of the world. It is not our winning the world; it is our yielding to the world. They who come to a church in response to its “attractions,” come for the attractions, not for salvation, not to hear the word,—come because they recognize themselves in that church, not because they recognize God in its members or its pastor. They go to the theater to be pleased, amused; they will go to such a church for the same purpose. It is the business of the theater to please people, to cater to the cravings of unregenerate appetites, to make men and women satisfied with themselves. It is the business of the church to teach truth, however unpleasant it may be to the natural heart; to make men and women so dissatisfied with themselves that they will seek the satisfaction there is in Christ and the knowledge of sins forgiven. It is the business of the church to do God’s work, and that is not and never has been seeking the pleasures of the world. Here, then, are two institutions, each doing a definite work. The theater can not accomplish its purpose by teaching the Word of God and by influencing its patrons to lead lives of unselfishness. That never has been pleasing to human nature. It accomplishes its end, however, and that by its own means. It is not reasonable to suppose that these same means can be used to accomplish an object entirely different even if employed in an edifice hitherto sacred. The church can not accomplish its object in the earth by using means designed for the very purpose of thwarting that work, which are antagonistic to that work, and promote only the service of self. Conformity with that which works evil is, in the end, conformity with the evil itself; and that is what is bound to be when we use the instruments of the world in attempting to do the Lord’s work. “Be ‘not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed ‘by the renewing of your mind.” That means a transformation out of self and into Christ. It is accomplished through the renewing of the mind, not by conformity with the world. There is salvation in heeding this admonition, or command, of the Lord. There is death, everlasting death, in refusing to do it. Therefore, “be not conformed” but “transformed.” The great drift to-day is toward conformity; it is the dominant spirit of the times. IS CHRIST A MINISTER OF SIN?
THIS is not a new question. It was asked over eighteen hundred years ago. We can not answer in the affirmative, reader, can you? We are satisfied with the apostle’s answer: “God ‘forbid.’” Nay, Christ can not be a minister of sin. If anything is made plain in the Scriptures of truth, these facts are:— 1. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:23. “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:15. There is therefore no hope for the sinner in himself. He is literally “without strength,” and being “without God,” is “without hope.” 2. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. That law is the Decalogue; “for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7:7. It was the law in which, possessing it outwardly only, the Jews had “the form of knowledge and of the truth,” which declares, “Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal,” etc. Rom. 2:17–23. The same thing is taught by James, in his second chapter, verses 8–12. 3. That law is the expression in words of the character of God. “All Thy commandments are righteousness.” Ps. 119:172. He demands that His children shall be of the same character as Himself: “Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.” Lev. 19:2; 1 Peter 1:16. The requirement is the same in all dispensations and ages. The God who is “righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works” (Ps. 145:17), could not give for the conduct of His children an imperfect or unholy or unrighteous law. 4. God is unchangeable: “I am the Lord, I change not.” Mal. 3:6. “With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1:17. God’s law is, therefore, as unchangeable as Himself. It reflects the character of His unchangeable government. It can not pass or change without a reflection upon His government; more, without the destruction of His government. Therefore it is divinely declared: “All His commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.” Ps. 111:7, 8. God through His prophet calls our attention to the most constant and stable things we know,—the bending, star-gemmed, or sun-burnished heavens, and the solid earth, and declares: “The heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but My salvation shall be forever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto ME, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law.” Isa. 51:6, 7. The great Jehovah declares His righteousness to be His law, and that it “shall not be abolished,” that it “shall be forever.” Verse 8. And Jesus but condenses all this in Matt. 5:17–20 and Luke 16:17, in which He declares: “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” 5. Jesus Christ came to this earth, lived the life God requires of man,—the life of obedient faith to all the commandments of God,—and died upon the cross to save man, not in his sin, but from his sins. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus,” said the angel, “for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21. “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us FROM ALL INIQUITY [lawlessness, law-breaking], and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak . . . with all authority.” Titus 2:14, 15. He Himself declares: “For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” John 6:38. “I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15:10. “Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us as an example that ye should follow His steps, who did no sin [‘sin is the transgression of the law’], neither was guile found in His mouth.” 1 Peter 2:21, 22. These are all plain, simple, great Gospel truths. And yet when we try to tell this blessed Gospel to the sin-sick, wandering, discouraged souls, hopelessly stranded on the rocks, or helplessly drifting on the great restless sea of iniquity, doubt, and despair, there are those who tell us that we are not preaching Christ, but the law; that the law is abolished; that it is Jewish; that we are proclaiming Judaism; that we ought to leave the law and preach Christ. Some of these erroneously earnest souls, in their anxiety to get rid of the law, tell us that it was abolished at the cross, and a few sentences farther on declare that the law and prophets were only till John the Baptist. That is, the law passed away when John began his ministry, and two or three years later was abolished at the cross! And we wonder, in sad, amazed wonder, at the kind of mind which could take such conceptions of God—at the kind of redeemer they lift up before mankind! They represent the great, immutable God to be as changeable as the fashions in man’s religions; His righteousness, like that of many, as accommodating as a jellyfish, shaping itself to rebellious man’s desires, paining the righteous and justifying the wicked. They tell us that Christ came to save the sinner, and that He does this by abolishing the law, which defines the sin! that He honors (?) the unchangeable Father who sent Him by making of no effect the law of God’s government! Instead of making Christ the minister of righteousness, delivering souls from sin, that they may, by the endless life of His Spirit, live above sin, be righteous, and do righteousness, Christ forgives, that men may continue in sin; He redeems, that men may transgress; and like Israel of old, they say: “We are delivered to do all these abominations;” that is, transgress God’s law. Jer. 7:8–10. Why will men so deceive themselves, or permit themselves to be so deceived? Why will they so dishonor the Father and Son, who are One? Why will they so pervert Christ’s teaching? Why will they so disgrace His name? Why so utterly ignore the example of the only Perfect Man, of whom it is said: “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” 1 John 2:6. Why come up to the great day of God with the deceived plea, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works?” and hear the dread words from the lips of Him who died to save from iniquity, “I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity”? Why not now be undeceived by His words, “Why8 (664)call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Luke 6:46. Dear soul, astray in sin, come to Jesus, and find Him One mighty to save from sin and sinning; from transgression and transgressing. He is able to save to the uttermost. He will give to the adulterer a clean heart. He will give to the disobedient child a heart to honor his parents. He will give to the covetous a generous heart. He will make the Sabbath-breaker to know God’s rest from sin. And to Him be all the glory. WHY NOT FOLLOW JESUS IN SABBATH OBSERVANCE?
By G.
IN DR. PARKHURST’S “Notes of Travel” in Europe, as published in the Christian Work, he notes, as one of the lessons of a prolonged stay on the continent, “an appreciation of the beauty and ‘helpfulness of the American Sabbath.” Then, speaking of very serious departures even in our own country from old ways of observing Sunday, he says: “Out of our anxiety to discriminate between the ‘Jewish Sabbath and the Lord’s day, we are certainly ‘moving in the direction of converting a holy day ‘into a holiday.” The idea of discriminating between the Jewish Sabbath and the Lord’s day is not new. The Lord Jesus Christ was anxious on that point. But His anxiety was not for a change of the day; it was for a change from the formal traditional observance of the day to a really spiritual observance, as was indicated in the commandment. The Jews habitually transgressed the commandment of God, and thus the Lord’s day was to them a veritable Jewish Sabbath. But when Christ came He had the law of God in His heart, and ignored the traditions of the Jews. From His example we learn the true idea of Sabbath-keeping. He did not keep another day in order to get away from the Jewish Sabbath, but He kept the same day in the true spiritual manner. We learn from His example that mere inactivity is not Sabbath-keeping. He went about doing good on that day, honoring His Father in that which He did. The commandment says that “the seventh day is ‘the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,’ and it says that ‘the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.’” In the very beginning “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.” Therefore it is especially the Lord’s day, and He calls it “My holy day.” Therefore when Jesus was keeping the Sabbath, on the seventh day, He was truly discriminating between the Jewish Sabbath and the true observance of the Lord’s day. In after years, however, when the learned and influential heathen came into the church in great numbers, they still held their old prejudices against the Jews and everything “Jewish.” But, unlike Jesus, in their anxiety to discriminate between the Jewish Sabbath and the Lord’s day, they showed their hostility to the Lord’s day itself. The passing of the typical ceremonies peculiar to the Aaronic priesthood was construed to include the passing of the Sabbath day instituted in Eden, when there were no typical services of any kind. In order to emphasize their hostility to “Judaism,” they adopted a popular heathen festival and called it the Lord’s day, using as a pretext the fact that Christ had risen from the dead on that day. The change, however, was without any divine authority; and its continued observance is without authority excepting that of tradition. It seems strange that a purpose which leads to the converting of a holy day into a holiday should be so persistently pursued. There is something wrong somewhere. Dr. Parkhurst admits that the popular method of discriminating between the Jewish Sabbath and the Lord’s day leads to a profanation of a holy day. And we agree that such is the fact. But it is the seventh day, blessed and sanctified by the Lord Himself, that is thus profaned by making it a common working day, and endeavoring to substitute for it a day which He never recognized as His. Then why not follow Jesus in the matter of discriminating between the Jewish Sabbath and the Lord’s day? Why not simply ignore the Jewish traditions, and observe the day in the proper manner, instead of trying to establish another human tradition in the form of a rival day? Jesus disregarded the traditions of the Jews concerning the observance of the day, but He did not disregard the day. He was “Lord also of the Sabbath day,” and He honored the Sabbath day. He will no more recognize the traditional day which men have substituted for His day than He would recognize the traditional observance of the day which He commanded to be kept holy. Speaking further of Sunday observance, Dr. Parkhurst says: “Being deprived of the day for a time ‘affords a very complete exposition of the day’s real ‘nature and import.’” And he never wrote more truthfully. The admission that the day (as a Sabbath, of course) is one of which he could be deprived against his will, is a virtual concession that it is of traditional, or human, origin. No man who adheres to “the commandments of God and the faith of ‘Jesus’” can be deprived of the Lord’s day against his will. If he is a follower of Jesus, the law of God is written in his heart; and no matter where he may be in the land of the living, he can not be deprived of his Sabbath day’s blessing. Men having received the Sunday institution from men, of course they can be deprived of its supposed benefits by the influence of men. Not so with the Lord’s day, “the Sabbath ‘of the Lord thy God,’ or with any other gift or blessing that comes from God. “The Word of the ‘Lord endureth forever.” THE New York Times suggests that the proper thing for the Philippines is a modified Roman Catholicism under government control. The originator of such a suggestion has learned little in the school of religious liberty. In the first place, religion under government control is in no true sense religion. It may be worship; but it is the worship of government, not of God. He who directs or controls in the matter is the authority ultimate; and if that is the government, it must be above God, sitting in the place of God, and homage to that is idolatry. Thus a misguided government, by seeking to direct and control religious teaching and religious work, relegates to itself (or attempts to) the obedience and homage which belong to God, and so becomes the propagator of idolatry. The power that attempts to come in between God and the people is always and everywhere a usurping power, taking to itself that which belongs to God. Our government can not be consistent with itself and take upon itself the work of directing or controlling in religious matters. The government has a perfect right to interfere with the uncivil actions of any man, or set of men, who may be robbing a people of their property or rights while professing to be the spokesmen and ambassadors of God; just as it would interfere if they were men who made no such profession. The government has a legitimate work, a legitimate place; but it is not in the line of directing or controlling in religious affairs. If it is necessary that Catholicism in the Philippines should be a “modified” form, as the Times suggests, that is a matter with which the Catholics themselves must deal. It is no proper matter of legislation or governmental direction. To say that any religion must be under government control is to say that the ones now controlling it are less fitted to do it than are the appointees of the government; and when that is admitted in the case of any sect or religion, it must be admitted in the case of all sects and all religions; and thus would we have repeated in this age that dark folly of the past,—a union of Church and State. All this is in the suggestion of the Times; and in spite of all the teaching the world has received along the line of religious liberty, there is a decided drift away from our moorings in the direction of that very proposition. Will you kindly explain Zechariah 13. The first verse, I suppose, refers to the first advent of Jesus. How much time does this chapter cover? J. L. This department is too limited to explain so large a scripture. In general it may be said that the chapter is a prophecy of the restoration of Israel from the Babylonian captivity; and that this restoration is itself a type or prophecy of the greater restoration from the later Babylon and this world. We hope ere long to print a series of articles on Zechariah. The one who is writing them is an extremely busy man, but we hope he will soon have them all out. 1177. Disfellowshiping a Member.
Can a church disfellowship one without first laboring with him when such a one is willing to be labored with? And is such a one still a member of the church of God? INQUIRER. We do not know to what particular denomination this inquirer belongs; that makes no difference, however. The business of a church is the business of her Lord,—to save life, not destroy it. It is the duty of the church of Christ to do all in her power to heal the spiritually sick, restore the spiritually lame, bind up the wounds made by Satan’s fiery darts; to strengthen the bruised reed, to fan the smoking flax into a flame. She has no right to disfellowship a member until she has exhausted every resource of her power to save him. When the church does that, and fails to help the wandering one, it is manifest to all that he leaves the church, not the church him. The action of the church is its recognition of this. Whether a man is a member of the church of God depends on his relation to Christ Jesus. If he has been baptized into Christ, he is a member of Christ’s body. If a church passes wrong judgment upon him, that does not affect his connection with Christ. In spite of all wrong judgment of men, he may be “holden up; for ‘God is able to make him stand.’” Rom. 14:4. On the other hand, let the lost sheep come back to the fold. If he has sinned, let him confess and forsake his sin without any regard to what others have done or may do. If he does this truly, faithfully, whole-heartedly, condemning no others, accusing no others, excusing not himself, we know that God will receive him; and surely that church must be in an awful condition which will not gladly welcome the wanderer home. 1178. Sunday and Its Origin.
Please inform me what was the original nature or character of Sunday? How . . . did it take the place of the Sabbath in the Roman churches? and greatly oblige an old subscriber. C. H. C. 1. Sunday, as was aptly expressed by a writer sometime ago in the North British Review, is “the wild solar holiday of all ‘pagan times.’” It was originally dedicated to the sun as a festival day, and observed with all the looseness and lewdness inculcated in sun-worship. 2. The apostolic church early found itself filling up with half-converted heathen philosophers, teachers, and people of the common sort. Many of these came into the church retaining their ancient customs. As the teachers of the church lost their power, they began to devise ways and means to secure converts. Among these were the retention of heathen customs, the transference of these customs to the Christian church, dedicating them to Christ, etc., that they might the more easily win the heathen. Sunday was one of these heathen institutions which most of the pagan world regarded. It came into the church as a compromise. See Bible Student’s Library, No. 80, “Sunday: Origin of Its Observance in the Christian Church,” 15 cents; No. 134, “The Lord’s Day, the Test of the Ages,” 15 cents; Apples of Gold Library, No. 45, Historical “Facts and Incidents Relative to Sabbath and Sunday,” price 2 cents. The fullest for the question is the first-named. 1179. “Of the Seed of David.”
Will you please inform me how to explain from the Scriptures that Christ was of the seed of David through Mary? Also can you give me proof outside of the Bible that Mary was of the seed of David, as well as proof in the Bible? MRS. B. D. The best way to explain it is the simple statement that Jesus Christ “was made [R.V., ‘born’] of the seed of David according to the flesh.” Rom. 1:3. That is very plain, isn’t it, to any one who believes the Bible? If they do not believe it, no explanation will help them. See also Acts 2:29-31; Heb. 7:14; 2 Tim. 2:8; Acts 13:22, 23; Luke 1:30-32. Certainly this would indicate that Mary was the seed of David. Moreover, it is again and again declared that Joseph was of the seed of David. Luke 1:27; Matt. 1:1-16. Joseph and Mary were married, the twain one flesh,—the posterity counted after the husband. On the side of His reputed father He was of the seed of David, and would be so counted in Jewish law. The record in Matthew is generally understood as giving the genealogy of Joseph; Luke, that of Mary. Schaff (Bible Dictionary) says that “Mary is always called by the Jews ‘the daughter of Heli.’” Then Heli (Luke 3:23) was the father of Mary, the father-in-law of Joseph. “Matthew, writing for the Jews, gives the legal pedigree of Jesus (which was always reckoned in the male line) through Joseph, his legal father, in the line of Solomon.” Is not this sufficient? A PEOPLE without profound and decided convictions are open to every species of delusion. That is emphatically true of the people of the world to-day. Thousands have been reared in a Protestantism, who once held the Scriptures, from Genesis to the Revelation, to be the revealed will of God, the manifestation of God in written word. But into Protestantism was injected the baleful and insidious poison of the “higher criticism,” and confidence in the Bible has been dealt fearful blows. Many no longer read it or believe it. The result is an unsettled confusion, a prepared ground for seductive error. Among these delusions spreading so rapidly to-day because Protestantism has been false to itself, are Buddhism, Theosophy, and Mohammedanism (Islamism), which still chain multitudes of Orientals in the dark dungeons of heathen hopelessness. Of the last ism Current History for September tells us that special effort is now being put forth for the revival of Islamism, with the approval of the Sultan of Turkey. It says:— The strength of this movement can be shown by the increase in Mohammedan adherents in the last twenty years. In 1880, when the revival practically began, the Mussulmen of the world numbered about 175,000,000. In 1900 the number was estimated at about 260,000,000. Modern Mohammedanism has abandoned the sword as a means of making converts; the star and the crescent is carried to the uttermost corners of earth by missionaries, well trained, zealous teachers, often fanatics. Parts of Russia, all of Asia and Malaysia, and Northern Africa are the field of their active endeavor. A number of strong and semi-secret societies have been organized for the propaganda, with definite and settled policy, the key-note of which is close adaptation to the conditions of the people they are trying to reach. The Mystic Shriners, a high degree in Free Masonry, is Mohammedan. For its spread in civilized as well as in pagan lands God will hold responsible the people to whom He has given light. If Protestantism had gone forward upon the principles which gave her birth, the whole world would have been enlightened, and multitudes would have been saved from the darkness of this world long ere this. But when the church becomes a part of the world, when the salt has lost its savor, when conviction of truth gives way to confusion or agnosticism, what is there to hope? We may expect all these delusions, including Spiritism and Christian Science among them. The effectual remedy for all is the Scriptures of truth. Missionary Restrictions in Muslim Territories
AFTER Lord Kitchener’s forces had destroyed or captured the armies of the Soudan, and put an end to resistance there, an agreement was entered into with the Soudanese to the effect that missionaries should not be allowed to enter that field for some time to come. Instead, a subscription was taken up in England, and a Mohammedan college established at Khartoum, named after General Gordon. Now that the Africans are actively proselyting among the whites, the English missionary societies are appealing to the government for permission to enter the Soudan. The government, remembering its embarrassment at the present time in South Africa, and not wishing to stir up the hatred of the Soudanese, still refuses to allow Christian missionaries to enter this Mohammedan field. Commenting on this, the Congressionalist says: “We have precisely the same situation to face in certain of the Philippine islands where Mohammedans predominate. Our government for the time is discouraging any attempt to introduce Christian missionaries. No decree that we know of has been issued, but it is understood that such is the wish of the government.”