p. 2 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 11. (3/12/1902)

Signs of the Times

Mar 12, 1902

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 12, 1902

BROTHERHOOD

By Ellen G. White

From age to age the Lord has been striving to awaken in the minds of men a sense of brotherhood. Thus he seeks to establish order and harmony in the world. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,”—this is the message His children are to proclaim by lives of unselfish endeavor.

It is upon Christ-like love that brotherhood depends. Without this love nothing can be done toward fulfilling God’s purpose for humanity. Without it all effort is without avail. Paul declares, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. . . . And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. . . . Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. . . . But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”

In the life of Christ this love found perfect expression. He loved us in our sin and degradation. He reached to the very depths of woe to uplift the erring sons and daughters of earth. There was no wearying of His patience, no lessening of His zeal. The waves of mercy, beaten back by proud, impenitent, unthankful hearts, ever returned in a stronger tide of love.

He who is constrained by the love of Christ goes forth among his fellow-men to help the helpless and encourage the desponding, to point sinners to God’s ideal for His children, and to lead them to Him who only can enable them to reach this ideal. Divested of selfishness

and filled with divine benevolence and tender affection, Christians are drawn out to work for Christ by helping those for whom He gave His life. They hold communion with the Saviour, and His love is revealed in all they do and say. Angry words die unspoken. Unchristlike actions are checked. God accepts such ones as His instruments, and through them works for the fulfilling of His purpose.

Never are we to be cold and unsympathetic, especially when dealing with the poor. Courtesy, sympathy, compassion, are to be shown to all. Partiality for the wealthy is displeasing to God. Jesus is slighted when His needy children are slighted. They are not rich in this world’s goods, but they are dear to His heart of love.

God recognizes no distinction of rank. With Him there is no caste. In His sight men are simply men, good or bad. In the day of final reckoning, position, rank, or wealth will not alter by a hair’s breadth the case of any one. By the all-seeing God, men will be judged by what they are in purity, in nobility, in love for Christ.

God lets His sun shine on the just and on the unjust. This sun represents Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, who shines on all alike, high and low, rich and poor. This principle is to guide those who work for Him. From it no one can deviate and be successful in his efforts to help his fellow-beings.

Christ declared that the Gospel is to be preached to the poor. Never does God’s truth put on an aspect of greater loveliness than when brought to the needy and the destitute. Then it is that the light of the Gospel shines forth in its most radiant clearness, lighting up the hut of the peasant and the rude cottage of the laborer. Angels of God are there, and their presence makes the crust of bread and the cup of water a banquet. Those who have been neglected and abandoned by the world are raised to be sons and daughters of the Most High. Lifted above any position that earth can give, they sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. They may have no earthly treasure,

but they have found the pearl of great price.

The triumph of Christianity is dependent on the influence of its adherents. Manfully the Christian is to fight the good fight of faith. Lawfully he is to strive, never relaxing his efforts, day by day seeking for greater power to help those around him. His words are to be right words, pure and true, fraught with sympathy and love; his actions right actions, a help and blessing to the weak. Never is he to grow weary in his work. He will meet with trials, but he must always be brave and cheerful, bringing joy and courage into other lives.

MRS. E. G. WHITE.

RESTORATION from BABYLON

By Alonzo Trevier Jones

BY ALONZO TREVIER JONES

CAUSES OF THE CAPTIVITY.

There is hardly any portion of the Bible story that receives less attention than that relating to the period of the restoration of Israel to their own land, from the captivity to Babylon. And yet there is hardly any portion of the Bible story that is more full of the very life and movement of God in human affairs: hardly any portion more full of valuable lessons. Indeed, there is no portion of the Bible story so full as is this of striking illustrations of how, how promptly and how triumphantly, God can interpose with kings and powers in behalf of His cause and His people in the earth.

For this reason the SIGNS OF THE TIMES will publish, beginning with this article, a series of studies of that interesting and important part of the Bible story. The books of the Bible especially embraced in this are, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The period of the world covered in the narrative is about from B.C. 536 to the crucifixion.

God had brought Israel out of Egypt, and, separated from all the nations, had placed them in the land of Canaan, “the glory of all lands,” to be the light of the world. The chief reason why He placed them in the land of Canaan—Palestine—is that then, and for ages afterward, that little country was the pivot of the world. Between Egypt and the eastern and northern nations there was then, and for ages afterward, constant intercourse, practically all of which necessarily passed through Palestine. Yet later, when the weight of empire passed to the west, still Palestine was the center around which swirled the grand sweep of the world’s affairs.

At that center of the world’s great currents God set His people to be His light to all the nations, whose people by thus constantly passing and repassing through that land, should behold that blessed people and glorious land, and be led to say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people” (Deut. 4:6); and thus be led to inquire for the source of this wisdom and understanding, this prosperity and glory, and so find the true God, and turn from idolatry to the worship of Him. God intended that by His splendid presence abiding with them, His people should thus influence all the nations for good; and thus to carry on His fulfilment of His promise to Abraham, “In thee shall all nations be blessed.”

Therefore, of Israel God had said, “Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.” Num. 23:9. But the people would not have it so. They exclaimed and insisted, “Make us a king,” “that we may be like all the nations.” 1 Sam. 8:4–20. They had their way; they rejected God, and not only became “like all the nations,” but did “worse than the heathen” round them. And then, as they became like the nations that were in that land before them, likewise as with those nations the land could no longer endure them, and so must spew them out, as it had spewed out the nations before them. They were carried captive to Babylon, and the land was left desolate that it might have rest from the sickening iniquities with which it had been afflicted.

The special sins that brought the captivity of Israel and the desolation of the land, were:—

1. Oppression and injustice. “O house of David, thus saith the Lord, Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings,” Jer. 21:12. “Thus saith the Lord, Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place,” “then will I cause you to dwell in this place.” Jer. 22:3; 7:5–7.

2. Oppressing and defrauding the laborer in his wages, while they in their wealth reveled in luxury. “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbor’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work; that saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.” Jer. 22:13, 14.

3. Neglect of the poor. “Shalt thou reign because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him; was not this to know Me? saith the Lord. But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness.” Jer. 22:15–17.

4. Disregard of the Sabbath. Jer. 17:21–27.

5. The worship of the sun, with all the abominations that go with it. Eze. 8:3–18.

6. Rejection of the word and message of the Lord in reproof, counsel, and warning. Jer. 26:1–23; 36:22, 23; 37:1–21, 38:1–28.

But the very crowning abomination of all was:—

7. Their making the temple of God, and the forms of worship of the Lord, their confidence of salvation, while practising all these other iniquities and abominations: their holding God to a strict accountability for His promises, while they ran perfect riot against every precept upon which those promises could possibly rest: their making capital of God’s temple, and ordinances, and services designed to put away sin, as security in their complete abandon in the indulgence of sin: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these.” [Luther’s translation: “Here is the Lord’s temple, Here is the Lord’s temple, Here is the Lord’s temple.”] Jer. 7:3, 4. “Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and

say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us.” Micah 3:9–12. “Behold, ye trust in lying words, that can not profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? [“There is no danger to us, tho, or as long as, we do such abominations.”—Luther’s Translation.] Is this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers [den of murderers, a resort of cut-throats—German] in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord.” Jer. 7:8–11.

“Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house [of the Lord] as the high places of the forest.” Micah 3:12. “Go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, and ye answered not: therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by My name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me; for I will not hear thee.” Jer. 7:12–16.

Because of that deplorable, even desperate, condition of things in Jerusalem, the Lord of Jerusalem was compelled to liken her to Sodom, declaring that she and Sodom were sisters; and further: “As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abominations before Me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.” Eze. 16:48–50. And consequently Ezekiel saw in a vision a man with a writer’s ink-horn by his side, passing throughout Jerusalem, setting a mark upon the foreheads of the men who were sighing and crying for all the abominations that were done therein. Following him were six other men, each with a slaughter-weapon in his hand, to “slay utterly” all to whom they should come, except that they were to “come not near any man upon whom is the mark.” Eze. 9:1–7.

Now this whole narrative has its parallel in the last days, even in our own time. General wickedness prevails (Matt. 24:12; 2 Tim. 3:13); oppression, injustice, defrauding the laborer in his wages to increase the overloaded coffers of the rich, who revel in luxury—all this is indulged (James 5:1–8); in the midst of this abundance to boundless millions there is such neglect of the poor that God is obliged to turn His attention especially to them (Luke 14:21–23); the Sabbath is disregarded (Isa. 56:1, 2; 58:13, 14); the sun—in the Sunday—is honored (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 14:9–12); the Word of God in counsel and warning, concerning all the evil and impending destruction, is rejected (2 Peter 3:3–7, 10–14; Matt. 24:37–39); and, also, there prevails the same chief abomination of all—the indulgence of a whole catalog of iniquities under the form and profession of godliness (2 Tim. 3:1–5);—so that, looking again upon it all, God is compelled to liken it also to Sodom, because the last days of the world are as the last days of Sodom: “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot . . . even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” “The same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” Luke 17:28, 29, 30.

And while this destruction and desolation is impending, the heavenly messenger (Rev. 7:2, 3) passes through the world, setting the royal seal—the heavenly mark—upon the servants of God, who are sighing and crying for all the abominations that are done in the land; and after him pass the messengers of judgment, slaying utterly all upon whom is not found the mark. Rev. 14:9, 10; 15:1; 16:1–21.

Thus certainly and thus fully does the period which culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem and the desolation of that land, contain lessons of deep meaning to the people who live in the last days—even now—when all the cities of the nations and of the world are broken down, and the earth made desolate, “at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger.” Jer. 4:26; Rev. 16:19; Zeph. 1:14–18.

So, also, does the period of the restoration from that ancient destruction and desolation contain lessons of deep meaning to the people of God of all times, and especially of the last days.

[The next article of the series is entitled, “The Release from Captivity.”]

ETERNITY IN OUR RECKONING.

By John G. Woolley

“THE kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore, . . . and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world; the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.”

Parables are word-cartoons. They are scientifically unreliable. They are artistically negligent. They have no critical value. Their object is mere suggestion; their purpose, broadly moral; their sphere, now; their truth purely relative.

The people that followed Jesus were fuller of anxiety about heaven, hell, eternity, and such unrevealed and unrevealable things than they were about straightforward, present righteousness, and this parable was spoken at the exact level of the audience, as if to say: What does a seine catch?—Everything. What do you do with the seine after the cast?—Haul it ashore. What do you do with the fish?—Sort them. What do you do with the good ones?—Preserve them. What with the bad?—Destroy them. Well, building heaven is at least as intellectual a business as fishing.

Meanwhile, whatever eternity is, this moment is a part of it. Whatever destiny is, quality determines it; and quality is character, and character is the sum of conduct, and conduct is action. You can’t act in the past or in the future; now or never is your eternal opportunity and duty.

The notion of “eternity” is inspirationally powerful—not otherwise. It is a kind of psychological pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night to impel us to progress and to allay our fears. The “eternal” man is the hope of earth and heaven. The man who sees not this eternal shine can do nothing for other men. The woman who feels not the backing of this eternal origin can not make a home, in the high, great meaning of the word. The teacher whose knowledge lacks the grandeur of this immensity is mullet or dog-fish in the net of “destiny.”

The way of noble living, loving, learning, is high and hard, and the great rewards of knowing, enjoying, or suffering are impossible, invisible, to him who never hears his imagination saying, “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” —John G. Woolley.

The Highest Achievement Comes by Surrender

“THE highest achievement comes by surrender. This is an exalted and difficult truth, but one which has been proved in the experience of every choice soul. When we give up self and give up our own lower desires and rights, we enter into the lofty heritage of those who are great enough to deny and master self.”

“NOT UNDER THE LAW.”

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

“What you say concerning the Sabbath as a law to be observed by Christians is not Scriptural; for we are not under the law, but under grace.”

THIS is but a sample of numerous communications that come to us, or of statements which we frequently hear. So general is the idea that we are not to keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, because the apostle says, “Ye are not under the law, but under grace,” that it deserves special attention.

One strange thing is that we never hear that text applied to any other than the fourth commandment. But the fourth commandment is only a part of the law; and if the fact that we are not under the law absolves us from keeping the Sabbath, then it just as surely frees us from obedience to the other nine precepts of the law. Suppose therefore we make the application.

The eighth commandment says, “Thou shalt not steal.” But when the thief is reproved for his dishonest practices, and is told that he should live by labor, and not by fraud, he may retort, “Your argument is not Scriptural, for we are not under the law, but under grace.”

The violent man, whose hand is against every man, when told that hatred and violence are murder, and that the commandment says, “Thou shalt not kill,” has as good a right to use the text to justify himself, as the man who uses it against the Sabbath. “We are not under the law, but under grace,” he will say, as he makes an assault upon his neighbor.

Our friend sees a man who is going to the house of the woman whose “steps take hold on hell,” and he admonishes him to turn back, quoting to him the commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” But this man has heard our friend say that it is unscriptural to keep the fourth commandment, because we “are not under the law, but under grace,” and so he says, “Have you forgotten your text so soon? Don’t you know that we are not under the law, but under grace? Instead of reproving me, you had better come along with me; for surely so conscientious a man as you are does not want to be in opposition to Scripture.” What can our friend reply?—Nothing whatever that will have any effect upon that man, unless he says, “I was mistaken; I made an unwarranted use of those words.” Let us hope that he would do so.

Our friend goes as a missionary to China. He teaches the heathen that the Bible is the Word of God, and to be obeyed; and an honest-minded heathen who has read the Bible for himself begins to keep the seventh-day Sabbath “according to the commandment.” Our friend is shocked, and says, “That is not at all right; you must not keep the Sabbath; we are not under the law, but under grace.” The poor Chinaman does not see it clearly; but since it is much more convenient not to keep the Sabbath than to keep it, he allows custom and convenience to make up for the obscurity, and yields to his new teacher.

But the next day our missionary friend is shocked to find his new convert making obeisance to a hideous idol, and burning some strange-smelling stuff before it. “What!” he exclaims, “have you forgotten that the great God who created all things has said, ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,’ and, ‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, . . . thou shalt not bow down thyself to them’?” And the simple-minded man will reply, “Me no forget; me ’member your teaching velly well; not under law, under grace.” By what arguments will our friend make it appear to him that the expression, “not under the law, but under grace,” takes away the obligation to keep the fourth commandment, but does not in the least diminish our obligation to keep all the others?

We have not drawn a fanciful picture. Many hundred years ago the same argument was used that we have put into the mouth of our friend. Read in Jer. 7:8-10 the reproof which the Lord gave to Israel of old:—

“Behold, ye trust in lying words, that can not profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?”

As a matter of fact the words, “not under the law, but under grace,” are not now used, at least not to any great extent, to justify disobedience to any other commandment than the fourth. And why not?—Because the people who so use them declare with truth that they do not wish to steal, and murder,

and commit adultery; that such things are abhorrent to them. Quite so; but that only proves that it is not the commandment of God that restrains them, but the impulse given them by their training and by public opinion. If it were popular to do those things, and they had been brought up to do them, they would plead the same excuse for them that they now do for not keeping the Sabbath.

Now let us consider what the Scripture really does say, and then we shall know what it means. The text is Rom. 6:12-15, and reads thus:—

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.”

Note these obvious facts:—

1. Those who are not under the law are those over whom sin has no dominion. But “sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. Therefore,—

2. Those who are not under the law are the ones who are not transgressing the law, but who are keeping it.

3. It is not stated, as a universal fact, that all men are not under the law, but under grace. The words, “Ye are not under the law, but under grace,” are addressed to those who have been “baptized into Jesus Christ,” “in the likeness of His death,” and have been made alive from the dead, “in the likeness of His resurrection.” It is therefore not at all true of the transgressors of the law that they are “not under the law, but under grace.” Such persons are still under the law.

4. But “the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” Titus 2:11. Its object is to save men from sin—from the transgression of the law. Those who accept this grace are brought out from under the law, to walk in it without fault before God. For “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:3, 4.

Let us take heed not to trust in vain words that do not profit, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose delight it was to do the will of God, whose law was in His heart.

E. J. Waggoner.

MAKE SUFFERANCE ART.

By Benj. Philips.

I oft reflect o’er my mistakeful days When time was dear and joyous health was true, When I cared not what burdened age might woo, But lent myself to fleeting Pleasure’s rays. Alas! I muse some hundred various ways, And sorrow o’er what Penance finds to do— Now little light from shrouded skies breaks through To brighten life whenever hope decays.

'Tis little need of spurning agony, Which seems to gather from the clouds above, And swift bestow its darkest honor free. Mine eyes are dimly blinded; yet there's Love Beyond the clouds, which calms this trembling heart. 'Tis better, then, to suffer willingly The test He brings, and make thy suff'rance art.

Seiad, Cal. BENJ. PHILIPS.

THE WATCHFUL MAN.

By Bishop Ryle

NONE are so likely to maintain watchful guard over their hearts and lives as those who know the comfort of living in near communion with God. They feel their privilege, and will fear losing it. They will dread falling from their high estate, and marring their own comfort by bringing clouds between themselves and Christ. He that goes on a journey with a little money about him takes little thought of danger, and cares little how late he travels. He, on the contrary, that carries gold and jewels will be a cautious traveler. He will look well to his roads, his horses, and his company, and run no risks. The fixed stars are those that tremble most. The man that most fully enjoys the light of God’s countenance will be a man tremblingly afraid of losing its blessed consolations, and jealously fearful of doing anything to grieve the Holy Ghost.—Bishop Ryle.

“NO STUMBLING-BLOCK”

By G. W. Reaser

It is written, “Great peace have they which love Thy law; and nothing shall offend them.” Ps. 119:165. The marginal reading for the last clause of this verse is, “They shall have no stumbling-block.” Who shall have no stumbling-block? Answer, “They which love Thy law.” What is a stumbling-block? In the spiritual sense, here evidently meant, a stumbling-block is something over which one may stumble and fall spiritually; and with the fall there is the possibility of never rising again.

A stumbling-block is, in reality, sin cherished in the heart. The law defines sin. Those who fully love the law and its Author, will not cherish sin in the heart, therefore they will have no stumbling-block.

Christ was a Stone of stumbling to the house of Israel. Had they loved God’s law, and recognized its principles in action, they would have recognized the Son of God; for in His life the law appeared “drawn out in living characters.” “They that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him.” Here is a startling example of cherishing sin in the heart instead of loving the law of God.

Suppose a professed Christian does not wholly love the law of the Lord, but has a stumbling-block in his heart instead of one of the commandments, can such a one have “great peace”? Evidently he will not have “the peace of God which passeth all understanding.” Suppose he should seek the Lord for guidance, still cherishing this stumbling-block in his heart, what would be his condition after thus formally seeking the Lord, and what would be the Lord’s attitude toward him? Let the Lord answer: “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face; should I be inquired of at all by them?” “For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from Me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me; I the Lord will answer him by Myself; and I will set My face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.” Eze. 14:3, 7, 8. Again, the Scriptures say, “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.”

Many professed followers of Christ are not remembering to keep holy the same Sabbath that He kept, and which is embodied in the very heart of God’s law. When light from the sacred page shines upon their pathway, revealing this truth to them, if they still persist in disregarding the claims of God, can it be truly said of them that they love His law? Can they consistently expect to have His “great peace”? Do they not cherish an idol, a stumbling-block in their hearts, even the keeping of a day which was never sanctified as the Sabbath of Jehovah, and is a rival to His holy day? Suppose such come to the Lord in prayer, desiring to be established in an error,—in keeping a popular day and not in keeping an unpopular Sabbath; what is the danger to such a person? The Lord says, “I will answer him according to his stumbling-block, and I will set My face against that man,” “and I will cut him off from the midst of My people.”

Does any one ever think of such an absurd thing as of asking the Lord if we may live in violation of any of the other nine commandments of the Decalogue? Are not the claims of the fourth commandment as binding as any of the other nine?

Millions keep Friday as a Sabbath. Is it wrong to use Friday for secular work? Many other millions of the human family regard Sunday as a Sabbath. Is it sinful to perform our own work upon Sunday, the first day of the week? There can be but one truthful answer to the question concerning each of these days.

“Where no [divine] law is, there is no transgression.” Both of the days, as sabbaths, are man-made institutions. The Lord never proclaimed them as His holy days.

Are we, then, left without a Sabbath day? “There remained therefore a rest to the people of God.” The Sabbath, made for man—the race—at the foundation of the world, is still in force, still regarded by the Lord as His holy day, still His blessed rest-day. His Word, the true Protestant’s guide, declares in favor of none other than the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.

Why not be on the Lord’s side, which, tho unpopular, is always the safe side? Is it not safe, for time and for eternity, to keep the same Sabbath that was kept by our Saviour and all other Bible characters who met with God’s approval? Write out a list of God’s worthies, as recorded in His Word, and do not forget to give the Man of Calvary the chief place among them. Is not the company sufficiently honorable so that you would esteem it a privilege to have a place among them and a part with them in the kingdom? These were all Sabbath-keepers, and none of them Sunday-keepers.

Dear reader, which day do you observe as the Sabbath? What a fearfully unsafe thing it is to be at variance with God, in one of the most prominent, distinguishing, and essential Christian institutions and practises; and yet all who are keeping the first day of the week instead of “the Sabbath according to the commandment,” are doing this unsafe thing. They not only keep a day which is set up as a rival to the Sabbath of Jehovah, but they trample His day under foot. (See Isa. 58:12, 13.) “Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee.”

G. W. Reaser.

Maritzburg, Natal.

CHANGED INTO HIS IMAGE.

I GAZE on beauty, and may be myself deformed; I admire the light, and may yet dwell in darkness; but if the light of the countenance of God rests upon me, I shall become like unto Him; the lineaments of His visage will be on me, and the great outlines of His attributes will be mine. O, wondrous glass, which thus renders the beholder lovely! O, admirable mirror, which reflects not self with its imperfections, but gives a perfect image to those that are uncomely. If thou dost continually draw thine impulse, thy life, the whole of thy being, from the Holy Spirit, then shalt thou see God and Jesus face to face.—Spurgeon.

A LITTLE WHILE.

By J. O. Beard

“For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” Heb. 10: 37.

“A little while,” how sweet the words to ears Grown dull to earthly sounds. And sorrow’s tears Are dried as hope points out the coming Lord. The wayworn toiler scans anew the Word, Then gladly lifts again his load, And hastens on the road. And weary ones from lowly beds of pain Look up and smile, and ask to hear again The message sweet that promises release From present ills, and in their place gives peace.

“A little while,” and captives shall be free From dungeons dark, and chain-gangs; they shall see The glory of the Lord when, with great power, He comes to save them in their darkest hour. The cup of bitter woe, That made them tremble so, Shall never touch their lips again. Our Lord Has said it shall be given—just reward— To those who o’er them trod in haughty scorn; To them it shall be bitter on that morn.

“A little while,” and He who comes will come. He tarries now a few brief days, that some Who linger yet outside the door, may turn Before His righteous wrath ’gainst sin shall burn. His banner is unfurled, Proclaiming to the world His standard high of truth and righteousness. With nail-pierced hands outstretched, He waits to bless. A little while His mercy lingers still That all may hear, believe, be saved, who will.

“A little while,” and He who comes will come To take His people to their glorious home, Where tempests ne’er becloud the sunlit skies; Where God shall wipe all tears from weeping eyes; Where are no beds of pain, And ended is Death’s reign. Awake, my soul, awake! O, shout and sing! A little while, and thou shalt see thy King. Like Him we then shall be; the word is His That says, “For we shall see Him as He is.”

O, wondrous change to come in time so brief! I look upon this world of pain and grief, And see its sin and shame, its want and woe, Then look by faith where such things none shall know, And cry, “Lord, haste the day When sin shall pass away.” Words can not tell the blackness of Earth’s night, Nor tell the beauty of that home of light— The pen drops on th’ unwritten paper pile; But, O, thank God, it’s but “a little while.”

J. O. BEARD.

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