I am Jehovah thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
II.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.
III.
Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
IV.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
V.
Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.
VI.
Thou shalt not kill.
VII.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
VIII.
Thou shalt not steal.
IX.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
X.
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.
[All questions to this department will be answered which to the editors will seem to minister to the good of the readers and to the mission of the paper. The same question can not be answered repeatedly in the same volume. The name and address must accompany question, not for publication, but as an evidence of good faith, and that answer may be made by letter if deemed advisable. It is well always to enclose a stamp for reply.]
2180.—Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus seems to imply endless torment. How else is the fate of Dives to be understood?
C.
The parable itself, to our mind, is designed to show the condition existing between those who rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and those who accepted Him; the rich man a type of the Jews, the poor man Lazarus a type of the Gentiles. The ones who believed and received Jesus Christ were taken into a position of nearness to God, represented by Abraham’s bosom, children of Abraham (Gal. 3:29), while the Jews rejecting Christ have been wandering on in darkness ever since. This can be very greatly amplified and made, it seems to us, quite clear. There is nothing in the parable which would imply eternal torment; no terms are used from which any such inferences can be drawn. On the subject of eternal torment, the tract, “The Rich Man and Lazarus,” can be secured at this office, price two cents.
2181.—Formation and Creation.
Is there any difference between formation and creation of man?
N.
Practically, no. They were synchronous, at the same time, the one issuing in the other. “Creation” may be defined as bringing into existence that which did not exist before, tho it by no means implies that the material composing the thing created did not exist before. So God will create out of the matter of the old earth, new earth. “Formation” means shaping that which exists already. The creating of man was his formation out of the dust of the earth. Gen. 1:27; 2:7.
2182.—Sinning Ignorantly.
What was the status of the Israelite who committed an offense not ignorantly but consciously? Could such a sinner repent? In your article, “Cleansing of the Sanctuary,” June 26, the writer begins with those sins ignorantly committed. Is there no chance for the sinner who knows what he is doing, providing he repents?
These expressions in Leviticus, the first part, it seems to us, are better expressed in the Revised Version: “If any one shall sin unwittingly” (margin, “thru error”); not a sin of purpose, but thru a lack of understanding of all that is involved in it. Lev. 4:2. But the same laws provided for the sins which are known; as, for instance, Lev. 6:2, 3, in which trespass, robbery, defaulting, oppression, and perjury are involved. It tells us that if he should restore that which he took by robbery, or the things gotten by oppression, etc., that they shall be forgiven him. See also Eze. 33:13-16, and many other scriptures. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” Eze. 33:11. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah; tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; tho they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isa. 1:18. There is no limit to God’s forgiveness; the only difficulty comes in the sinner’s lack of the power to repent.
2183.—The Tables of Stone.
What was written on the tables of stone?
D. A. N.
The Ten Commandments as given in Ex. 20:1-17, beginning with “I am the Lord thy God,” etc., or better as in the American Revised Version, “I am Jehovah thy God.” That passage declares, “And God spake all these words, saying;” and then follow the ten precepts. Forty years afterward, Moses, in rehearsing that law, and urging his people to observe it, declared that God spoke it from the mount and the fire, and wrote it on two tables of stone, and gave them to Moses. Deut. 5:22. There can be no question as to that. As to work on the Sabbath, there were always three kinds permissible, work commanded of God for His own service, works of mercy, works of necessity. Under the first would come the service of the house of God; under the second the care of the sick, the feeding and watering of our beasts, the milking of cows; under the third, such things as were needful in the care of our bodies. No exact line can be drawn. The only way our actions can be right is to minimize all temporal work for His sake, and do all we do to the glory of God. Read Isa. 58:13; Matt. 12:1-12, as divine commentaries on the fourth commandment. God’s Sabbath is not a “yoke” to bear men down; it is made for man, to be a delight, a blessing to him in every respect. Even so receive it.
Please explain Rev. 12:1, “There appeared a great wonder in heaven.” When did this wonder appear? Was it before the creation of man?
D. A. N.
The vision was given to John on the isle of Patmos about A.D. 96. The woman clothed with the sun represented God’s church, and especially about the time of the first advent of Christ.
It Is Said; but That Is Not Proof.
THE following clipping from the Northwestern, without date, is sent us; it illustrates many other questions and answers:
“S. B. S.—I find in the questions and answers column reference to the change of the last day of the week to the first day for the Sabbath. Please give the location in the New Testament for the change and approval of the same.
“A.—There has been no change of the kind indicated by your query. The Sabbath was ordained by the Almighty, and the Jews observed the seventh day in commemoration of the creation and their redemption from the bondage of the Egyptians. The Christians observe the first day of the week in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and the universal redemption of mankind. The first is the Sabbath, the other is Sunday. Christ’s apostles transferred the religious rest observed by the Jews on the Sabbath to the day following.”
Now the first of that is absolutely true. There has been no change of the Sabbath; there can be no change in the teaching of the Book. God’s Sabbath is the same still, and ever will be. But neither Christ nor His apostles ever by word or act “transferred the religious rest” of the Sabbath to the first day of the week. There is not a scintilla of evidence to support it. They confirm God’s law, of which the Sabbath is a part, in every jot and tittle.
Keeping the Law.
And here is another question and answer from the Christian Herald and we are asked if it is correct:
“I. H. D., New York.—If we keep the first day of the week as the Sabbath, when God commanded us to keep the seventh, are we not transgressors of the law?
“Are you desirous of keeping the law? It is a step backward and involves an extensive change in your habits, but there is no reason why you should not do it if you wish. Do not, however, try to persuade other people to follow your ridiculous example. If you read the Epistle to the Galatians, you will see how indignant Paul was with the people who tried to fasten the law on the shoulders of the people whom Christ had set free. Peter, too, called it “a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear” (Acts 15:10). If you choose to desert the practise of the whole Christian church, and cast in your lot with the Jews, in this matter, commemorating the creation of the world, and not the resurrection of the Lord, you are voluntarily returning to a bondage from which you have been freed.”
What a question this teacher asks! “Are you desirous of keeping the law?” The opposite of keeping the law is breaking the law. To break the law is to have other gods before Jehovah, to worship idols, to take His name in vain, to break the Sabbath, to dishonor one’s parents, to kill, to commit adultery, to steal, to lie, to covet. What a blessing it would be to the world if all kept the commandments. Would it be “a step backward”? That is what the Gospel is for—to change man’s heart, write God’s law therein, in order that “the righteousness,” the “requirement” of the law might be fulfilled in those who “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” See Heb. 8:8-10; Rom. 8:1-4, A.R.V.
Nowhere does Paul condemn the keeping of the law, save as a means of justification. That is the thought of Galatians. No sinner can keep the law, and if he could, his keeping will not justify him for his sins. But leaving sin, uniting with Christ, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous.” 1 John 5:3. It is only to the sinner that God’s requirements are become a “yoke.” God’s Sabbath rightly kept is a “delight.” Isa. 58:13.
As to Jews, Paul says: “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Rom. 2:28, 29. There is absolutely no promise to the man who remains a Gentile; and certainly it is not to the praise of God that we should break His law.
The man who follows God is in the majority. If the whole Christian world has been deceived in receiving and passing a well-worn counterfeit, that is no reason why it should be done longer. It is counterfeit still.
He who keeps the Sabbath truly as a memorial of creation seeks in it the mighty power of God to recreate, to make a new creature. Eph. 2:10; 4:24; 2 Cor. 5:17. And so the Sabbath becomes a sign to him that God is He who sanctifies and saves. Eze. 20:12. Sunday is a sign of nothing save of pagan worship and decadent Church-and-State religion. Would God its devotees could see it as it is, and know the delight which comes in keeping the commandments of God in Christ Jesus.
THE TRUE EDUCATION READERS.
Mary L. Zener, Educational Secretary of the Colorado Conference, writes, “The copy of the first-reader duly received. I have carefully examined it and think it the best for our schools that I have seen. Not only is it good for our schools, but I think it good for any one needing a first reader. I am indeed glad that this series of readers is now published.”
Prof. A. W. Hallock, principal of Bethel (Wis.) Academy, writes upon receipt of Reader No. 2, “I have examined the book and like its contents and arrangement very much.”
The price of the readers No. 1 and No. 2, in full cloth binding, is 75 cents, post-paid; Reader No. 3 is 90 cents, post-paid.
All these books are fully illustrated, printed on first-class book paper, and substantially bound in cloth. They each contain lessons for a full school year, instead of for three months, as many other of the school readers do.
These books should be in every home where there are children, whether they have a home school, church school, or not.
This series of books is highly recommended by the professors and teachers in our colleges and academies, as well as by our church-school teachers. The books are thoroly practical in every way, and teach the principles of the third angel’s message and that which we call the Present Truth for this time and generation.
These books may be ordered from any state tract society or Seventh-day Adventist publishing house.
Two Significant Movements
By Milton C. Wilcox
Similar, yet Different
By Milton C. Wilcox
THE student of prophecy and history will never despise the day of apparently small things. He will measure events, their worth, their power to persist, by the principles which permeate them, and their hold upon the human heart.
All great, good, and right movements find their source in the heart of the Infinite, and are adapted to the needs of humanity. Always they will accomplish God's purpose and perform His work. The majority of men may reject them, yet there will ever be enough in every country and in every age to vindicate the wisdom, justice, and mercy of God in the movement.
Every false movement is to a greater or less extent either the perversion or the counterfeit of the true. Such movements originate with Satan, and are carried out either by his devotees, or by mistaken and professed followers of God, who believe they are doing God service while they are Satan's tools to frustrate God's purpose. They are adapted to man's natural lusts, ambitions, aspirations.
To understand these movements we must study the great principles involved, and which take hold of the springs of human nature for evil or good. We must learn their origin or source. We must test them by the unchangeable law of God.
The great movements of God all center in Christianity, which in all ages is the life of God sent down unto a sinful, dying world to save men. It takes hold of the motives, purposes, and affections of the heart of him who submits to its scheme, and changes them after the fashion of the Divine Man. Whatever reform stops short of this is of the human, and is temporal and ephemeral. While good men are often connected with these reforms, they are used of the devil to lead souls from the true. In many cases it is the temporary good, and the better hiding the best.
Satan has ever endeavored to oppose this work. He has perverted its principles, poisoned its life, counterfeited its forms and methods, set aside its Book for the tradition of men, and usurped the throne of its Author that he may act in the place of God.
Christianity will close its work in the world with a great and solemn message of reform and recreation. That great Threefold Message of power, life, protest, and warning is found in Rev. 14: 6-14. It will result in the development of a class which God calls "saints," who "keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Verse 12. That message of the everlasting Gospel goes to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Verse 6. It will be preached in all the world "as a witness unto all nations." Matt. 24: 14. It will not convert all nations, but it will give opportunity to all to accept or reject. Then will Christ come.
Opposed to the work of God, carried by a comparatively "little flock," is the work of the apostasy—perversion, and confusion. In these latter days this great system, if such it may be called, centers in the Papacy, which has set up another standard than that of God's word, another gospel than that of simple faith in Jesus Christ.
It is evident that the work of God must ever be characterized by missionary movements, missionary propaganda, till every soul is warned. It is also evident that this will be more manifest as we near the end. Therefore it is not surprising—it ought to be the natural thing to expect—that great efforts will be put forth to train missionaries and send them forth in the closing years of the work.
These things point the reason why the Seventh-day Adventist people, in proportion to their numbers, are sending out more missionaries into the dark lands of earth, and are giving more per capita for foreign missions than any other religious denomination, the Moravians not excepted. And this is nothing of which to boast, nor is it mentioned here in praise or boasting; it is recorded as mere fruitage which ought to be borne, the fact which ought to exist even in greater measure.
To enlarge these operations and make them more effective, important steps have been taken. First, a training-school for foreign missionaries is inaugurated in Washington, D. C. Rather, the training-school there has been dedicated to that one purpose. It will take the best in all their other schools, the consecrated young men and women of ability, in school and field, and give them the most thorough and quickest preparation possible to fit them for the foreign field to which God has called them. This will encourage other schools, encourage those called to the work, and furnish many more workers to carry God's everlasting good tidings to the world.
(Continued on Page 8.)
Two Significant Movements.
Similar, yet Different.
(Continued from Page 3.)
Secondly, a special young people's department has been formed by the General Conference Council for the purpose of enlisting under Emmanuel's banner an enthusiastic, devoted army of missionary volunteers, who will rapidly develop in work in the home field talents which will fit for labor in the great fields beyond. These are mighty factors in the closing, rapidly closing, work of God.
Right at this time, unknown each to the other, so far as we know, precisely similar movements are developing in the Roman Catholic Church in America. The recent great meeting of the American Federation of Catholic Societies at Indianapolis developed that a special school is being organized and is in operation at the Washington University of that church, to especially prepare priests in the quickest manner possible for missionary work among Protestants and in the world. Further, the Young Men's Catholic Union has been organized after the plan of the Y. M. C. A., in order to bring into the organization, and also the Catholic Church, all the young men possible. They hope much from these movements. They expect these centers of propaganda—colleges and organization—will tell greatly for the church.
Reader, in which of these two movements do you want a part? The one will give to the world "the everlasting Gospel," which makes men obedient to God, and followers of Christ; the other will still further spread—tho carried by honest men—the gospel of apostasy, the perversion of God's law, the tradition of men, and the union of Church and State.
These are significant movements; who will heed them?
The Attempt to Change the Sabbath
By W. A. Colcord
By W. A. Colcord
MANY attempts have been made to change the law of God, but none have been successful. Satan tried it in heaven; but he was cast out, and his angels were cast out with him. Jezebel tried it in the days of Elijah; but her priests were slain, and dogs ate her flesh by the wall of Jezreel. Nebuchadnezzar tried it when he erected his great golden image in the plain of Dura; but divine providence intervened, and “changed the king’s word.”
And yet in all these instances there was a time when it seemed as tho these opposing powers were triumphant, and had gained the day. In the conflict in heaven there was no doubt a time when Lucifer had gained so many sympathizers among the angelic host that he felt that his triumph was assured. This must have been so, or he would not have dared to match strength with the Son of God. But he misjudged the case. Things were not as they appeared, and when the final test came, he was overthrown.
So in the days when Israel had turned to Baal-worship. God’s prophets had been hunted, persecuted, and cut off wherever found, while the prophets of Baal were numbered by the hundreds, and ate at the queen’s table. So few, apparently, were the loyal ones still remaining, that Elijah was led to exclaim, “I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away,” altho there were, in fact, seven thousand left in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
And when the great image was set up near Babylon, and the royal decree went forth that all “people, nations, and languages” should fall down and worship it, all present, with the exception of three young men, were ready to bow down. But these three withstood the idolatrous decree of the king, and, under God, brought this attempt to alter the law of God to naught, so much so that the king himself was forced to confess his defeat.
Another Attempt to Change the Law of God.
But these are not the only attempts that have been made to change the law of God. Another power has arisen in the world which has sought to alter the divine precepts, and lead men into idolatry and the transgression of God’s law. This power is described in Dan. 7:25:
“And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”
The Douay, or Catholic, Bible renders this passage thus:
“And he shall speak words against the High One, and shall crush the saints of the Most High; and he shall think himself able to change times and laws, and they shall be delivered into his hand until a time and times and half a time.”
That this prophecy describes the work of that great apostasy and ecclesiastical hierarchy known as the Papacy, which arose in the Christian church, is quite generally agreed to by all outside of that apostasy and not under the influence of that hierarchy. This meets all the specifications of the prophecy.
The Revised Version says, “He shall think to change times and the law, evidently referring to the times and law of the Most High.
The expression, “He shall think himself able to change times and laws,” is significant. That the Papacy has thought itself able to change the law of God, the following authoritative statements show:
“The pope has power to change times, to abrogate laws, and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ. He can pronounce sentences and judgment in contradiction to the right of nations, to the law of God and man.”—The Roman “Decretalia.”
“The pope’s will stands for reason. He can dispense above law; and of wrong make right, by correcting and changing laws.”—Pope Nicholas.
The Ups and Downs of the Sabbath.
But this prophecy says that this power was to think to change times. One of the greatest gifts and choicest blessings bestowed upon man in the beginning was the Sabbath, a time divinely set apart for rest and worship, and the only institution mentioned in the law of God involving time. But as men departed from God, they ceased to regard this beneficent institution.
Thru the wilderness wandering, by miracle, precept, and promise, God sought to impress upon His chosen people the importance of observing the day of holy rest. By a seventy-years’ captivity he sought to teach them the evils of disregarding it. After their return from captivity they went to the other extreme, and surrounded the Sabbath with so many human regulations and restrictions that its real import and design were lost sight of, and it became, not a delight, but a burden grievous to be borne. From these senseless restrictions Christ relieved it during His ministry, and placed it back in its original divine setting, declaring that it was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Thus relieved of its burdens and human restrictions, Christ gave it in its purity to His church, as He had given it in the beginning to man.
For a time it was kept by the early Christian church; but as apostasy came in, a great change took place. The original design, nature, and importance of the Sabbath were lost sight of; because it was observed by the Jews, it was styled Jewish, and finally another day largely took its place in the church.
But such a change in the practise of the church could be brought about only upon the ground of the church, or some power in the church, changing, or attempting to change, the law of God; for that law not only regulates Sabbath-keeping, but stands as the very foundation of the Sabbath institution itself.
God Does Not Change.
That God would not change His law is evident; for this would at once destroy His character. He says, “I am the Lord, I change not.” Mal. 3:6. “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips.” Ps. 89:34. “Thy word is true from the beginning; and every one of Thy righteous judgments endureth forever.” Ps. 119:160.
Nor would Christ; for at the very opening of His ministry He said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets.” Matt. 5:17.
Neither would the apostles, who declare: “Do we then make void the law thru faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.”“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”“Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in thru the gates into the city.” Rom. 3:31; James 2:10; Rev. 22:14.
The Attempted Change Confessed.
But, true to prophecy, this same power—the Papacy—confesses that it changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. Not only so, but, while God sets forth the seventh-day Sabbath as the memorial and sign of His creative power (Ex. 20:8-11; 31:13-17; Eze. 20:12, 20), the Papacy sets forth the Sunday and the power to change the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week as a mark, or sign, of its authority and power. The following are a few only of the many testimonies that might be presented in proof of these assertions:
Ques.—Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?
Ans.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her,—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.—Doctrinal Catechism.
Ques.—How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
Ans.—By THE VERY ACT OF CHANGING THE SABBATH INTO SUNDAY, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.—Abridgment of Christian Doctrine.
The CATHOLIC CHURCH for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, CHANGED THE DAY FROM SATURDAY TO SUNDAY. The Christian sabbath is therefore to this day the acknowledged offspring of the Catholic Church.—Catholic Mirror.
The Catholic Church of its own infallible authority created Sunday a holy day to take the place of the Sabbath of the old law.—Kansas City Catholic.
Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claims to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles.—Sydney Catholic Press.
Thru his chancellor, Cardinal Gibbons speaks as follows regarding the change in the day of rest:
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that5the change was her act. It could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have dreamed of doing anything in matters spiritual and ecclesiastical and religious without her. And the act is a MARK of her ecclesiastical power.”
Father Enright, a Catholic priest, in a lecture given at Hartford, Kans., a few years ago, said:
“I will give $1,000 to any man who will prove by the Bible alone that Sunday is the day we are bound to keep. . . . The observance of Sunday is solely a law of the Catholic Church. . . . The church changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and all the world bows down and worships upon that day in silent obedience to the mandates of the Catholic Church.”
Thus the Papacy has thought itself able to change the law of God respecting this most important of all divine institutions, the Sabbath, and boasts of this change as the mark of its power and authority.
And, as in former apostasies and attempts to change the law of God, it would seem as tho this one had triumphed and carried the day. As the last quotation says, “All the world bows down and worships upon that day [Sunday] in silent obedience to the mandates of the Catholic Church.” Not only so, but the laws of nearly every government under heaven now uphold and enforce the observance of this false sabbatical institution.
And thus the Scriptures declared it would be. Referring to this power, the apostle John says, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life.” Rev. 13:8.
But while it may seem that the apostasy has triumphed, such is not the case. God’s law and government still stand. As in former conflicts, there are still loyal ones who will not bow the knee to Baal; who, like Daniel and his companions and the apostles of Jesus, choose to obey God rather than man. In the end and final outcome, truth will triumph gloriously. Wise is that one who now, like the loyal of past ages, discerns the real nature and outcome of this conflict, and chooses to stand on the side of God and final victory.
