Signs of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 13. (3/27/1907)

Signs of the Times

Mar 27, 1907

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 27, 1907

Contained in this Issue.

By Editor

THE RISEN CHRIST.

"HE GOETH BEFORE YOU."

THE RICHNESS OF THE BIBLE.

QUESTION CORNER.

2029.—The Heathen; 2030.—Judah and Ephraim, Eze. 37: 16-22; 2031.—The Judgment of Ariel; 2032.—Playing for Dances; 2033.—Abstinence from Swine's Flesh; 2034.—Lamech's Complaint, Gen. 4: 32; 2035.—Voting; 2036.—Support of Catholic Schools.

THE GREAT SALVATION.

God's Messengers.

THE THREE SHOUTS.

MONOTHEISM INDIGENOUS.

ETERNAL LIFE AND IMMORTALITY.

WHAT IS TRUTH?

PILLARS OF HEALTH.

IV. How to Keep from Overeating.

CARING FOR LACE CURTAINS.

CHINA.

Customs, Ceremonies, and Usages.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.

WHAT CONGRESS DID.

Poetry

Resurrection. The Christian Way. The Bread of Life. Friends. Oblation.

COURSE OF BIBLE STUDY.

By Editor

The first eight subjects to be presented in this special series beginning May 1, are:

THE BIBLE.
PROPHECY.
THE COMING OF THE LORD.
OUR SACRIFICE AND PRIEST.
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.
THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
MAN AND HIS DESTINY.
SPIRITUAL GIFTS.

Here are outlines for the next six studies:

ELECTION, PREDESTINATION, AND FREE WILL.
THE GREAT THREEFOLD MESSAGE.

(a) The Condition of the World. (b) God's Healing Message. (c) Message Rejected, and Result. (d) The Beast. (e) The Image. (f) The Mark. (g) The Result of the Messages. (h) God's Sealing Work. 11. THE CHURCH. (a) What the Church Is. (b) The Called-Out Ones. (c) The Apostate Church. (d) The Two Witnesses. 12. BIBLE TEMPERANCE. (a) The Temple of God—Eating, Drinking, Dressing, Exercise, and Breathing. (b) True Sanctification. 13. THE SABBATH, THE TEST OF THE AGES. (a) Its Origin, Nature, and Object. (b) The Sabbath in the Old Testament. (c) The Sabbath in the New Testament. (d) The First Day of the Week. (e) The Change of the Sabbath. (f) The Restoration of the Sabbath. 14. THE GREAT FEDERATION MOVEMENT. (a) Federation of Capital. (b) Federation of Labor Organizations. (c) Federation of Socialistic Societies. (d) Federation of Religious Bodies. (e) The True Church Unfederated.

Think of the value of having such a course of Bible lectures given right in your own home. Each study can be placed on file for future reference. Better still, with the course in this form, at a very slight expense you can make it possible for your friends, near or at a distance, to enjoy it with you.

Prices on this series of 26 special numbers, beginning May 1, are: On clubs of five or more to one address, during the six months, 50 cents per copy; On single subscriptions, 75 cents for the six months.

Address early your tract society, or SIGNS OF THE TIMES Mountain View, Cal.

UP TO DATE

By Editor

MISSIONARY AMMUNITION

TO BE USED ON THE FIRING LINE

Let them be sown as deep and scattered as widely as the leaves in autumn.

We refer to the compact, truth-filled Signs Leaflets.

This series of Leaflets covers vital phases of Bible truth for this time, and are condensed to the last degree. Each Leaflet has an especially engraved heading, and consists of two well-filled pages of matter. The titles are as follows:

The Sure Word of Prophecy.
Prophetic History of the World.
Second Coming of Christ.
Signs of Our Times.
The Sanctuary.
The 2,300 Days.
The Law of God.
The Sabbath of the Bible.
The First Day in the Bible.
Who Changed the Sabbath?
The Great Threefold Message.
The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast.
Church and State.
Life and Immortality.
The Great Judgment Day.
The Home of the Saved.

Sold only in full packages of 100 of a kind, or in pound packages containing about 18 of each of the 16 kinds. The prices are as follows:

100, all one kind .............................. $0 15 post-paid 1,000, 100 each of the ten kinds ................. 1 30 " " 1,600, 100 each of the 16 kinds ................. 1 95 " " 1 lb., about 18 of each kind ...................... 50 " "

Address your Tract Society or the Publishers, PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING CO., Mountain View, Cal. 1109 E. 12th St., 285 Salmon St., Kansas City, Mo. Portland, Ore. REVIEW & HERALD PUB. CO., Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. Battle Creek, Mich.

THE RISEN CHRIST.

By Editor

WHEN this paper reaches its readers, many in the Christian world will be in full preparation to celebrate "Easter," others to call to remembrance Christ's resurrection, one of the great vital facts of Christianity. But why Christian people should designate a yearly day, set apart for the celebration of that event, by the heathen term "Easter," the name of a goddess of the vernal season, worshiped with rites sensuous and lascivious, we can not understand. No more can we understand why men should set apart a day only, one day in a year, for the honor of an event which pertains to the whole Christian life—the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ our Lord.

JESUS THE CHRIST was not born that a day might be set apart to His memory and kept half in gratitude and half in perpetuation of the old Roman Saturnalia, which it once was, when the sun-worshipers kept the day of the sun's lengthening light, and hailed the great luminary as conqueror over darkness. Jesus was the Word become flesh, that He might in demonstration of His love be God-with-us — Emmanuel — forevermore, and to demonstrate the power of God to overcome sin in sinful flesh. For as the children were "sharers in flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same; that thru death He might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver all them who thru fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. . . . Wherefore it behooved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted." Heb 2:14-18. The birth of Jesus is for all time. In all days of temptation and trial He is a brother beloved, a joy and a rejoicing.

Not for one day's celebration did He die. It was not that men might keep "Good Friday," and worship God by fasting because He died one day so long ago. His death upon that day was but the climax of an offering of ages, the demonstration to humanity of infinite love—constant, changeless, eternal. But one thing can rightly celebrate that death "for our sins," and that is to yield our sins to God, to reckon ourselves "to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus;" in other words, to be "crucified with Christ," not thru Lent, nor on "Good Friday," not on days of stated fasts, but every day, at all times.

Not for the perpetuation of the heathen festival Easter did our Lord die. Not for that does His resurrection stand. Not with nature worship does it in any way coalesce. "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;" for He Himself did no sin. When He rose from the dead He lived because of the power of His righteous life. He became a brother to man in sinful flesh; but in the flesh of man He triumphed over the sin, and demonstrated that He was the Son of God. For the very Gospel is God's message "concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Rom. 1:1-4. For the power of a righteous life the resurrection of Christ stands, not for an hour, not for a day, but for the whole life, in eternal triumph over sin.

THE manifestation to the world of entrance into the service of Christ is not the celebration of a heathen festival, but it is God's own appointed ordinance of baptism. It is the marriage ceremony by which the believer says to the world that he has cast off the old man with his sins and lusts, and has put on the new man Christ Jesus. "As many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27), "that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God" (Rom. 7:4); "buried therefore with Him thru baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised from the dead thru the glory of the Father, so we also might

walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4).

For the new life in righteousness, baptism stands; for the power to live that life, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the pledge. God desires that His children shall "know what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of the strength of His might which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." Eph. 1:18-23. All the elaborate forms, all the ornate display of flowers and costumes, are empty mockery if the power of Christ be in the heart and life. The world is waiting to see it. If the resurrection power of God was with His professed people, the denial of that resurrection by an infidel preacher would have little effect. The "power of an endless life" would be daily witnessed upon His people.

“HE GOETH BEFORE YOU.”

THESE words were God’s message to the mourning, discouraged, yet hoping, disciples as they came to the empty grave on that now far-away resurrection morning.

They had forgotten the Master’s words that He would rise again. They had heard that He had arisen, and to the tomb they went, doubting, but found it empty. God recognized the hungry longing of their heart. He sent His messenger to meet them at the sepulcher. He tells them to “be not amazed; ye seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who hath been crucified; He is risen; He is not here: behold, the place where they laid Him! But go, tell His disciples and Peter, He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him.” Mark 16: 6-8.

For centuries the crusaders beat their waves of fanatic zeal against hostile hordes of the hated followers of the prophet, to wrest from their hands the rock-cave hewed out by man, in which the Lord had lain.

Trusting in the empty shell is as futile as were the efforts against the Moslem. He is not there; “He is risen.” O how many times are the disciples of Jesus seeking Him in the dead forms of the past. Those forms once enclosed the truth. Man fashioned and shaped and molded them to use for God. Sometimes they distorted the truth placed therein. Sometimes they cramped and limited that truth. Yet, despite all imperfect vision, plans, and methods, God used the men.

These men of God pass on, blessed of God and honored of their fellow men. Others lacking the power of God rise up in their places. They hope to obtain the same power by following the same creeds, forms, plans, methods, and fail. The empty tomb of soulless forms gives back no voice, clothes with no mantle of might, and discouragement and division result.

Some devoted souls hear the voice of the divine messenger: “He is not here: . . . He goeth before you,” and they follow on, find His blessed presence, and again build new forms to enclose the living truth of God, which in turn become sepulchers of dead hopes to later generations who seek Christ in them.

God blessed Martin Luther notwithstanding his errors and imperfections; and Ulric Zwingle and John Calvin and John Wesley, and many others. What a pitiful thing it is that there are so many thousands who believe that success will follow by following these men, just emerging from wildernesses of errors, the fringes of the Dark Ages.

The church of Jesus Christ must be a creedless church so far as humanity may place its molding hand upon it. Truth has its forms, simple, expansive, filled with the life of God, responding to the new wine of the ever unrolling, expanding word. God’s memorial of creative power is His holy Sabbath, guarded by a law which includes all the week, and hence all time. For that power—the unregenerate soul’s only hope—man has substituted a memorial day which has neither fitness in nature nor divine sanction in either precept or example, and which is so weak in itself that there is constant demand for human legislation to support its tottering claims.

God’s memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is Bible baptism, marking to those without, the believer’s life-union with Christ, expanding constantly in the new creation of a fruit-bearing life. Man’s substitute for this is the observance of the pagan Easter festival once a year, and a sermon or so at the time, half of the truth of which is lost in the hilarity of the season. Would to God that men might take the simple truth of the word. They would find in the risen, living Christ, in the living, vitalizing truth of the Bible, a broader theology, a grander view, a more vital power, than can be obtained from all the husks of “higher criticism.” “He goeth before you,” out into the great, needy, dying world with His saving truth; there shall ye find Him.

THE RICHNESS OF THE BIBLE.

By Ellen G. White

IN giving us His word, God has placed us in possession of every truth essential to salvation. The storehouse of the riches of Christ is open to all who come. Thousands of men and women are drinking of the water from the wells of salvation, yet the supply is not diminished. These men have not exhausted the grand and holy themes of the word of God. Thousands more may engage in searching out the mysteries of salvation.

When the life of Christ and the character of His mission are dwelt upon, rays of light will shine forth, and at every fresh attempt to discover truth, something that has never

yet been unfolded will be revealed. The study of the incarnation of Christ, His atoning sacrifice and mediatorial work, will employ the mind of the diligent student as long as time shall last; and, looking to heaven with its unnumbered years, he will exclaim, "Great is the mystery of godliness."

MRS. E. G. WHITE.

2029.—The Heathen

By Editor

[We are willing to answer all questions in this department that are practical for the department and that would minister to the general good of our readers, but we answer no questions unless the name and address accompany the question. We do not ask this for publication, nor will it be published unless the inquirer so desires; we ask it, however, as an evidence of good faith, and that we may answer by letter if deemed best. Inquirers will please take notice. There is no departure from the rule. Unsigned questions reach the waste basket by the most direct route.]

2029.—The Heathen.

Please give me your ideas as to what will become of the heathen. Does it not say somewhere in the Bible they will be as tho they had not been? Do they not have a chance at salvation? J. E. W.

Every soul that lives in the world, who has come to the age of responsibility, has the opportunity of choice. Ps. 19: 1-4; Rom. 10: 18; 1: 20; John 1: 9; 2 Chron. 16: 9. Read these texts, compare Psalm 19 with the passage in Romans 10, note what is said in John 1: 9, Jesus “lighteth every man that cometh into the world,” and that Paul tells us they are “without excuse.” All this modern-day delusion that the heathen have not had a chance is contrary to the Scriptures and to God’s dealing with men, contrary to the very sense of justice there is in man when exercised toward others. Man holds his fellow men responsible if they have committed wrong toward him; are they not equally responsible when they commit wrong toward God? It is not the amount of light which one accepts which saves him; it is the heart with which he receives it. One ray of light received, to which the life and its purposes are given, will bring men to the great source of light. One may possess all the light of the Bible, however, and reject one ray of light and be lost. The rejection of that ray of light turns him from the source from which that ray emanated, and throws him into darkness; but those who reject God will die, heathen and all, and be as tho they had not been. Obadiah 16.

2030.—The Union of Judah and Ephraim, Eze. 37: 16-22.

Will you kindly explain this parable, and state if the Book of Mormon is the word of God as they say it is? P.

The passage in Ezekiel above referred to is simply a prophecy that the Lord would unite all His children again in one fold. He would, however, have done that then and there if they had only yielded to Him. They said that their hope was dried, that they were entirely cut off, that their cases were hopeless. Verse 11. God tells them what He has the power and the willingness to do, that He would bring them up out of their graves, and put His Spirit upon them, and they should live; but all this was based on their turning to Him. See Eze. 33: 11. According to the general conditions which the Lord lays down in Jer. 18: 7-10, if the nation for whom God speaks would not turn from their evil ways, they would not receive the good which He had spoken for them. Israel failed then and there to yield to the Lord, except in the slightest measure, after the captivity; consequently that promise and prophecy were conditional. Israel did not meet the conditions; consequently we never will have them fulfilled just as God gave them there. They will, however, in the new dispensation be fulfilled more gloriously, as recorded in Revelation 21, 22; or as our Lord Himself expressed it, “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd;” and the one Shepherd is Jesus, and the true children of Abraham are all those that accept Christ by faith. Gal. 3: 29.

The Book of Mormon is not the word of God. The one preeminent word which God has given us is His holy book, the Bible. Everything which is contrary to that can be set aside as not His word. “To the law and to the testimony [to God’s holy law and to His prophecies]: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Whether the Book of Mormon or any other book claiming to be the word of God, test it by the Bible, and more especially by God’s eternal law.

2031.—The Doom of Ariel.

Kindly explain Isa. 29: 1-4. A. M. P.

We will not quote the scripture as it is quite long. It is simply a prophecy against Jerusalem. “Ariel” is a poetical name of Jerusalem, meaning “the lion of God.” In her backslidden condition, while her feasts might be held from year to year and the regular round of religious ceremonies take place, yet destruction would come to her; for God Himself would be against her. He would suffer siege to be laid to her, and her walls brought low. She should be brought very low, so that her very voice would seem as tho it were one whispering out of the dust. That is the import of the prophecy, the great trouble which would be brought upon Jerusalem.

2032.—Playing for Dances.

Is it not as great a sin to play for dances as to dance? INQUIRER.

Mere dancing in itself is not wrong. David danced before the ark of God; children in the exuberance of their spirits dance. Presumably our Inquirer does not refer to these kinds of dances, but to the popular dance, the promiscuous gatherings of both sexes, which have been abundantly fruitful of evil. The late hours, the dissipation, the overwrought nerves, the unnatural familiarity, and other things connected with the modern popular dance are corrupting, debasing, and productive of other evils. These dances without music would be of no interest. What justification then can there be for one who may not believe in the dance playing for these dances? To us it would seem there could be no difference. Sometimes there is more madness in the music than in the dancing. We can not understand how one who held scruples against the one could take part in the other.

2033.—Abstinence from Swine’s Flesh.

Why do Adventists not eat hog meat? H.

Seventh-day Adventists and thousands upon thousands of others do not use swine’s flesh for food because it is unwholesome. That is the very nature of the swine itself; it is a scavenger. If one is ill, it is one of the first foods prohibited generally. In convalescence it is one of the last foods permitted. The strong laborer with strong digestive powers, working in the open air, can use it for years with seeming impunity. With his tremendous digestive powers and good circulation, it does him little harm. It may and will affect his blood, filling it full of humors. The very word “scrofula” itself comes from scrofa, a sow, a female swine. For its unwholesomeness, God prohibited it to His people anciently. Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14. We can see witness to its benefits in the better health of the Jews as compared with every race of people. We can not understand that the Lord did this for mere local or national consideration, but that His people might be stronger, possess better health, and therefore glorify Him. And we have no data by which to conclude that the nature of the swine has changed since the Lord laid His prohibition upon it; and, therefore, among the many good things which God has given us, we have no use whatever for that kind of food.

2034.—Lamech’s Complaint. Gen. 4: 23.

Will you please explain Gen. 4: 23? P.

Read as in the American Standard Revised Version: “And Lamech said unto his wives; Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Ye wives of Lamech, harken unto my speech; For I have slain a man for wounding me, And a young man for bruising me; If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.” The thought is this, that some young man in his wrath rose up and smote Lamech, and Lamech slew him. God said that whosoever slew Cain vengeance should be taken on him, yet Cain slew his brother without justification. Lamech was justified in slaying the young man; and if the Lord should avenge one who slew Cain, far above this would He avenge any who might slay Lamech. In other words, Lamech felt that God would justify him in the act that he did, and would preserve his life from any who might avenge him. This is the first instance of poetry we have in the Scriptures.

2035.—Voting.

Does the Adventist vote under this government? J. A. H.

He does if he so desires, and is a citizen of the United States and of the State in which he resides. The government itself makes no discrimination whatsoever in regard to belief. If one fails to vote, he has his own reasons for it. There are many devoted religious people who see no solution to the great problems of society in voting, or any remedy for its ills at the ballotbox. Consequently many of these refrain from voting. There are many other Christians who feel that their citizenship is not here, but in heaven, even as the apostle Paul declares in Phil. 3: 20, 21. As citizens of that better country, they do all that they can to win others to the same allegiance. At the same time such as these are always blessings to the country in which they live, because if they heed the words of the Scriptures, they will render to the government all that belongs to the government, and pray for those who are administering it.

2036.—Support of Catholic Schools.

Please state whether this government raises money for the benefit of Catholic schools or not.

For Indian schools, yes. Some years ago the government was supporting Catholic, and the schools of some Protestant, denominations among the Indians. When some of these Protestant denominations saw that the Catholics were getting the lion’s share, they protested against the principle that was utterly wrong from the beginning. Thru this agitation the support was for a time withdrawn, but it is obtained now in different ways. All the statistics that we had upon that question were burned at the time of our fire, so we can not give exact data. If any of our correspondents can, we should be glad to hear from them. But we understand at the present time that the United States money is used for the religious teaching of Catholics in Indian schools.

Continue reading: THE GREAT SALVATION