Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 7, 1892
OUR PURPOSE.
By Editor
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES begins a new volume with this number. What it has been the last year, our readers all know. We are glad of the many commendations we have received. We are glad that it has brought light and joy and blessing to many hearts, as letters which we have received show. For all the good it has accomplished, for the light it has disseminated, for the hope and cheer it has carried to weary hearts, and mourning homes, and sin-sick souls, for the courage which it has given to the soldier in the field,—for all this, and more, the glory belongs to God. He it is who has helped all who have contributed to its pages and its success. It is his word which has formed the basis of its many articles, both doctrinal and practical. It has endeavored to point men to the center and circumference of all truth, Christ Jesus our Lord, and at the same time to point out the soul-destroying errors which abound in these days.
While the SIGNS OF THE TIMES is published and controlled by a denomination, its object is not to build up a denomination. It works in and through an organization only as it can do more effectual work for Christ. The SIGNS and the denomination which publishes it believe they have a mission to the world. They do not differ with others in religious matters because they wish to differ. They do not agree with many in the various churches simply because they wish to agree. Their standard and their motive are higher than mere human opinion or expediency. They differ with others because, according to their understanding of God's word, they must differ. They agree with others when that word leads, and only when it leads. Glad, yes, longing to agree ever, if God's word brings the agreement; but if that word leads in other paths than those in which the multitude walk, better to walk alone with Christ than to be one of the great multitude.
In the first centuries of this era, God was manifest among men in all his beauty of character. The Son of the living God "emptied himself" that God might be manifest in him to the world for which he came to die. He spake not his own words, but the Father's. In fact, he was the Word of God. Through him and the Holy Paraclete which he sent after his departure, the glad tidings of salvation shone out as never before. The gospel was preached without mixture of error. That gospel declared that Christ had redeemed the world by the price of his life, that in him was all fullness, that from him came all blessings, all power, all life; and that all that man could do was to deny self, choose Christ, and by faith in him lay hold of all the blessings waiting in Christ for him.
This was the gospel which Christ commissioned his servants to proclaim to all the world. The power to propagate it lay in him alone, and was to be imparted to them by the channel of faith. His promise was, "And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the consummation of the age." In answer to prayer, and according to his promise, the power came by the Spirit of God, which was poured out upon the little band of disciples on the day of Pentecost. And what a mighty work followed! Souls were converted everywhere. As the children of God went forward, burdened in soul for the lost ones, God prepared the way, God went with them, God was their rearward. They had chosen God, they had yielded to him, and God worked in them to will and to do of his own good pleasure. In a little while the then known world had heard the gospel, and idol temples and heathen shrines had given place to the humble assemblies and the family altars of Christians. This power was the power of the word of God, of the gospel of God, of the mystery of God, which is Christ in the regenerate heart, the hope of glory.
But in a little while from this how was the fine gold changed! Even in the days of the apostles "the mystery of iniquity" began to work. Men came into the church who had not wholly chosen Christ, who were not emptied of self, who were connected with the world, and who drew others away after them. See Acts 20:29-31; 2 Thess. 2:7. Losing connection with God by turning from him, they grieved his Spirit, and lost his power. Losing God's power, departing from the simplicity of faith, corrupting his word by pagan sophistries and fables, they also lost power to win souls to Christ, to submission to the Christian religion.
From Christ the church turned to the world. She cast off the one to whom she had plighted her vows, and committed fornication with the kings of the earth. She did this in order to gain power to compel men to do by human means what the gospel of Christ and the Spirit of God had once done through her. But how deplorably she failed! As men sought in themselves, and to establish by their own effort, that righteousness which is acceptable to God, so they sought to spread abroad the gospel (which was not the gospel) by means which were so largely human that Christ and his power were eliminated more and more, till the mystery of iniquity had wholly usurped the place of the mystery of God.2The mystery of God is Christ in the regenerated man, Christ in the flesh to the overcoming of all sin by faith. The mystery of iniquity is self and self-righteousness in the place of Christ. From the first came the work of Christianity in the first century; from the second came the Papacy and all the crimes in the name of Christianity in the Dark Ages. The former has ever exalted God and his word, and the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Saviour of men; the latter has, while nominally professing faith and foundation in the word of God, exalted tradition, perverted and mutilated the Scriptures of truth, given glory to man, and rejected Christ by substituting for his power the weakness of man.
The Reformation came part way out of the wilderness of error, and then paused, endeavored to confine the free gospel of Christ within the bounds of human creed, and laid hold on civil power to compel its acceptance by men. Other men have seen more of the gospel of Christ, and have broken through these law-bound creeds.
Now again the church has come to a great crisis. For years the discordant sects of Christendom, with their constant disagreements within and without, have been a mighty host of witnesses that the church is not occupying that position of unity designed of God. See 1 Cor. 1:10; John 17:15-24. To bring his people to this unity in Christ, God has given a threefold message of gracious invitation, solemn warning, faithful injunction, and glorious promise to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Rev. 14:6-14.
Then comes the end, the great Reaper, the harvest, the final reward at the coming of the King. That message warns against fornication with the world, or, in other words, against a union of religion with the State, tells of the present low, sad condition of the church, and invites all to come to God, give glory to him, and worship the Creator of the heavens and the earth. That message is to go to the world. It is to present once again the mystery of God and the power of his Christ.
The SIGNS OF THE TIMES has this great message to the world. This is its mission. Not that God has intrusted all this work to this journal alone. God forbid. But the duty of the SIGNS and its publishers is as obligatory as though they stood alone. But God has room for all. He invites all to hear, to accept, to have a part in its publication to all the world. Would to God there were thousands more heralding the gospel of the Christ.
This will be the work of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES the year to come. It hopes to be a better preacher of the Lord Jesus Christ, a better medium for the revelation of God's love, a better herald of the coming King, and to this end it asks the support, the coöperation, and the prayers of all its readers.
America’s Proposed Saint
THE pope has given consent that America may have a "saint," namely the late bishop of Philadelphia, John N. Newmann, by earthly nomenclature. All this at the instigation of the "Order of the Holy Redeemer," of which the bishop was a member. Evidences of his great sanctity have been gathered, and will be examined as to their orthodoxy. Three miracles are necessary, counting posturings of course. Among those stated are that decomposition of the body did not set in till eleven days after burial (not a difficult miracle in these days of skillful undertakers); that three different persons were given speech, hearing, and sight by his power, and that he foretold the recovery of a child and his own death. And this much America has gained during the last four hundred years! Beneficent "Mother Church!" "Glorified Country!" But the beneficence and glory are of the same character as was seen in the world's darkest midnight, the triumph of the Papacy.
God’s Goodness Redeems Man
It is the goodness of God that redeems man. Man cannot buy or earn or merit pardon or salvation. He can only choose and by faith accept that which Christ has purchased for him, and which he freely gives to all who will accept it. We know that it is hard for proud man to accept this, but the humble hears thereof, and is glad. God waits to be gracious to all. His blessings are in reach of all, for all may be humble, all may by faith reach Christ Jesus, who has stooped to redeem "every man." Then why not be saved?
Editorial.
By Editor
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable."—2 Tim. 3:16.
"FOR God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16, 17.
Different Styles, One Divine Voice
It is frequently said the various styles in which the Bible is written, each writer having his own peculiar style, disproves verbal inspiration; for if God gave the very words, the style would be the same in all. But what right have these objectors to confine the Spirit of God to any one style? Very inspiration, as consistent with different styles, has been well illustrated by something like the following: A skilled musician plays many instruments, a piano, an organ, a flagolet, a fife, a violin, a guitar, a cornet. Upon all these he plays "Home, Sweet Home." The style of each instrument is different from all the others, and peculiar to itself, but it is the same tune which is played through all. Each instrument speaks the same thing. So the Spirit of God uses different men of different stations, but it is the same God which speaks through all.
WHAT A SECULAR JOURNAL SAYS.
By Editor
THE Washington, D. C., National View of the 15th ult. has the following to say on the Sunday question:—
“SUNDAY—WHAT IS IT?”
“Negatively—what it is not. It is not ‘the Sabbath day.’ That is the seventh day, as established by God himself, through the law as expounded by Moses to the Israelites, some hundreds or thousands of years ago. So this day is the Sabbath. And without alteration by the same power that made it, it will so remain until the end of time for all who recognize the original authority to promulgate the same. It is now held by the Jews, for whom it was, and will, doubtless, continue to be. Some other Christian sects hold to the same view; and so regard the day.
“But Sunday, the first day of the week, although set apart for religious purposes somewhat like unto the Sabbath, is not the Sabbath, and should not be so called, because it does not exist by the same distinctive authority. And no authority exists for changing the one for the other, neither by God himself nor by the Christ. So that we have only to submit that Sunday, the first day of the week, is a distinctive or holy day, like unto the Sabbath3only by the custom of the early Christians to meet together on this day; and later, the canons of the church established it, and through the civil law, which was made to correspond therewith.
“This is the long and short of it. Multum in parvo, much in a little. And you can make no more out of it except the voluntary recognition which the people of Christian countries extend to it. And so, as a social and moral institution, it is accepted by the world at large; all of which is well enough of itself, but there is no justification for appropriating the name of the Jewish Sabbath. The Jewish Sabbath has a history by itself; and no manipulation of days or objects can alter or change it. It should be allowed to retain its own original status, without interference from without.
“And Sunday should stand on its own bottom—so to speak—and perform its own independent functions, without any confusion of ideas, or the confounding of one day for the other. They are not one; but separate and distinct. Let each be recognized and respected according to worth and authority. But out with equivocation, deception, and misrepresentation.
“Honor bright! Sunday for the first day of the week; the Sabbath for the seventh. This is fair play. This is consistent. It is just and true. So mote it be.”
With the exception of a few careless expressions the above is a candid statement of fact. The “authority” which set Sunday apart is purely human. But the customs of the early church and any number of church canons or bulls can never make a day “holy,” or “moral,” any more than custom and the laws of some intra or extra governmental society can make a counterfeit bill genuine. Morality and holiness are intrinsic or imparted of God, but God has never thus invested Sunday. With the National View would we say respecting these two rival days: “Let each be recognized and respected according to worth and authority,” and we would add, let the word of God be the standard; “but out with equivocation, deception, and misrepresentation.” The Sabbath was given of God, not Moses. Sunday, as a so-called holy day, is only of human origin; in the word of God it ranks the same as any other of the six working days of the week.
THE NEXT STEP IN CHRISTIANITY.
UNDER the above heading the Advance of September 22 refers to an opinion expressed by one of its writers (and held by many people, we may add) that the church is about to take an advanced step, spread herself out, so to speak, taking "into recognition of Christian fellowship and religious standing a growing class of men who are now outside of the church." The Advance feels that it may well be questioned whether such a step would really be backward or forward, and truly remarks (Italics are ours):—
"A glance over the pages of church history readily reveals the fact that a decadence of religious conviction has always been intimately connected with latitudinarian ideas in regard to church membership, either as cause or consequence. Whether it was the imperial power of a Charlemagne sweeping into the folds of the church whole tribes of barbarians, or a Cortez proselyting the conquered Mexicans with the power of the sword and the help of a fair interpreter, or the required conformity of the English establishment, or the easy-going notions of Rationalism, the underlying idea has always been the same, namely, that men can be massed in the Christian fold on some basis of human regulation or opinion, without regard to a distinct individual experience."
And this is emphatically true. The church militant is to be in the world but not of the world. But more and more emphatically is the church becoming of the world. The Advance continues:—
"Over against this arbitrary regulation on the one hand and loose opinion on the other, has stood the central doctrine of the Reformation, namely, that men must be converted into the church. The power of the Reformation was and is its clear-cut distinctions. It has always made a direct and definite appeal to the individual, and urged upon him the requirement of a changed heart, redeemed nature and personal choice of Christ as Saviour and Master. It has said, as he said it of old, Ye must be born again. If it is now about to step away from this principle and adopt some other basis of recognition, it would seem to be abandoning its fundamental position. How it can preach the gospel of the New Testament and give up the idea that men must repent and believe and personally consecrate themselves to the service of Christ in order to bear the name of Christian, is not easily seen."
Why go back to the Reformation merely? Why not build on the words of Christ? True, in the proclamation of that principle, the Reformation was presenting the gospel of Christ, but the Reformation held with that truth of the gospel many more things which needed reforming. What the Reformers did was well for their day. They followed the light which then dawned upon them; but for us to look back to the Reformation for our example, for our liberty, for our reason of faith, is to
*"Make their truth our falsehood,
Thinking that hath made us free,"
copying the errors and the weaknesses rather than the truth and strength. It is the words of Christ that are needed, "Ye must be born again," but this is not looking back, but forward, for Christ goes ever on before. His truth leads in ever brightening splendor, laying bare cherished error and hoary tradition in all its wickedness, as it reveals to the earnest seeker new and greater depths of God's wisdom, power, and love.
But the Advance, and many other religious papers, are working, blindly, perhaps, for the very thing which they condemn. In the advocacy of Christian teaching in the public schools by State-paid teachers, in the constant, persistent, and increasing demand that Sunday, the so-called "Christian Sabbath," shall be enforced by statute law, and in other things of which we need not speak, are they working to bring in a standard of Christian morality and worldly tests of Christianity which will develop hypocrites to that extent, and degrade the religion of Christ to that degree, that all the weak editorials of protest will never be able to check.
Sunday is of human origin only, as Neander, the great church historian, has remarked. It came in as a substitute of the truth of God, and this elevation of a church dogma by statute law is massing men into the "Christian" fold on a "basis of human regulation." It is giving glory to human substitutes and apostate powers. Against this the age-lasting gospel of God, with its burden, not for the sixteenth century, but for our day, peals forth its warning voice to all the world, "Fear God, and give glory to HIM, for the hour of his judgment is come; and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Rev. 14:7. "The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?"
ENGLAND'S PERIL.
VERY few of our readers know of the constant progress which the Papacy has made in England, and the avowed object which the Roman Church has on that country. The following from William Wileman in an English tract sets before us something of this progress, and presents two quotations as regards the aim of the Papacy:—
“One of the most painful and saddening features of the truly critical times that are passing over the nation is the widely-spread lack of discernment of the signs of the times, and a consequent indifference and apathy as to their issue. 'Peace and safety!' is what most men wish to think, even while the enemies of God and of his truth are laying their plans for the overthrow of all that is likely to prove the continuance of our national peace and safety. Lulled by a vague hope that God will not permit our Protestant liberties and our national privileges to suffer damage at the hands of those who would limit them, we have not only encouraged our enemies but have seriously imperiled our own strength. Gradually and silently, for the most part, but surely and effectually, has one position after another during the past fifty years been approached and scaled and carried before our eyes, as if we had no power even to protest. If our concern for the honor and glory of God is to be measured by any outward manifestation of zeal on our part, it must surely be in a languishing condition; just as if our own carnal ease, and a supposed certainty that even the final triumph of Rome would never reëstablish persecution in England, were more to us than the maintenance of the truth and the glory of its Author.
“Do we, as patriots, as Protestants—above all, as Christians—adequately realize the present peril? Do we, through a false estimate of our own strength, underestimate the strength of the enemy?
“We may rest assured that Rome knows what she seeks, and that every stealthy act is intended as a step to her avowed aim. Let her speak for herself:—
“‘We are contending, as our adversaries know full well, for the extirpation of Protestant opine and practice, not merely in the church itself, but throughout England. We do not care one solitary straw whether a man preaches in surplice, gown, or shirt sleeves, so long as he does not preach any kind of Protestantism.’—Church Times, March 24, 1872.
“‘If ever there was a land in which work is to be done, and perhaps much to suffer, it is here. I shall not say too much if I say that we have to subjugate and subdue, to conquer and to rule, an imperial race; we have to do with a will which reigns throughout the world as the will of old Rome reigned once; we have to bend or break that will which nations and kingdoms have found invincible and inflexible. Were heresy conquered in England, it would be conquered throughout the world. All its lines meet here, and, therefore, in England the church of God must be gathered in its strength.’—Dr. (afterwards Cardinal) Manning, in the Tablet, August 6, 1859.
“This ought to open the eyes of sleeping Protestants.”
THE MODERN WAY TO PRESERVE THE GOSPEL.
By Editor
AN INSTANCE.
A BROTHER writes of a Sunday-law convention in Santa Barbara as follows:—
On the 11th ultimo there was a "sabbath" convention held in this city. This was the result of the recent labors of Rev. A. W. Holt, a secretary of the American Sabbath Union. The convention consisted of church pastors, church officers, and Sunday school officers and teachers. A local Union was duly organized, to work as an auxiliary to the American Sabbath Union. There was not a word of opposition spoken against the movement until near the close of the convention, although the spirit of the "dragon" leaked out all through.
Many short speeches were made, to the effect that there must be effective "Sabbath" laws, or the work of the gospel would come to an end, and the world go to the devil. One minister said: "Our movement has many opposers, and the worst class of opposition comes from the Seventh-day Adventists." He then explained what he meant, by telling that the Adventists refuse to obey the law of the land, and persist in filling the country with their literature. Another minister said: "As for these Seventh-day Adventists, why, there is only a handful of them anyway, and as for me, I waste no time with them. I don't regard them as worth the powder and shot that would blow them up."
Rev. Mr. Holt considered some folks very ignorant, or they might see that Sunday was really the seventh day. He then offered an elaborate argument (?) to prove that the first day of the week is the seventh.
A member of the Presbyterian Church then said: "I would state in behalf of these seventh-day people that I know them to be honorable citizens, and just as good Christians as we are. I want to see fair dealings with everybody."
A stranger then said: "I am a minister of the precious gospel of the Lord Jesus, which is the power of God unto salvation, unto everyone that believeth. Beginning the work ten years ago, I have talked with all classes, and of every shade of political and religious belief, and must say that my study and experience have made me skeptical as to any good coming to the cause of Christianity through legislation upon a religious institution. As workers together with the Lord Jesus, I am persuaded that the less we look to the State for laws that will reform morals, and the more we look to the teaching and power of the gospel, the more effective will be our labors, and the more we will see of the salvation of God." He also spoke of Luther's work in contrast to that of Zwingie, claiming that Luther's faith and trust in God were worthy of imitation by the laborers in the vineyard to-day.
The dampness caused by the last speaker was soon dispelled by Rev. Holt. He said that it was true that Church and State were closer together than most people were aware, "but the constitutionality of Sabbath laws," said he, "is no longer a question." He then showed how that had been settled by the Supreme Court, by reading a part of its decision, and exhorted the supporters of the movement to be workers, and, to give an example of how energetically to labor, he referred to the "little denomination of Seventh-day Adventists" and how they stirred the people everywhere by sending colporters loaded with tracts and literature to give to everybody who was interested enough to read. The convention closed at once.
The above well illustrates the spirit so rapidly developing in a great part of the religious world to-day. Just think of it, that there must be effective sabbath laws, or Sunday laws, or any other human laws, or the work of the gospel would come to an end, and the world go to the devil! Think of it. Is the gospel of God dependent upon human laws? Was it in the days of Christ or of Paul? Is it not the same gospel of the same God to-day? Certain kings of Judah thought that that kingdom could be kept only by an alliance with Egypt, but the human prop on which they leaned broke and pierced them, and trusting in it proved their destruction. Those who seek to save the world or support the gospel by such means as the American Sabbath Union are laboring for, are driving the world to the devil as fast as possible, and are rejecting Jesus Christ, who declares that all power for the propagation of his religion is in him, and he vouchsafed his power to everyone who trusts in him.
MAKE YOURSELF UNDERSTOOD.
ONE of the great objects of speech is to make one's self understood, that is, provided one has anything to say. If one has no ideas, then one can use big words, and sometimes fool and confuse ignorant people; but intelligent people are not cheated in that way.
There are many learned men who cannot speak to the common people. Their language is such a mixture of words derived from foreign tongues that the common people do not hear them gladly. Great speakers and great men can make themselves intelligible. It is only men of inferior grade and defective or one-sided education who talk on ordinary themes in language which common people cannot understand, and which it is possible they do not understand themselves.—The Christian.
MAN'S SIN AND SAVIOUR.
By Uriah Smith
BY ELDER URIAH SMITH.
No. 1. The Subject Stated.
SIN AND ITS EXTENT.—When we speak of sin we touch a subject in which all are interested, or at least in which all are concerned; for "all have sinned." Rom. 3:23.
SIN DEFINED.—By an apostle who wrote as late as A.D. 90, sin is clearly defined: "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4.
RESULT OF SIN.—The result of sin in all affected by it, if they never become freed from it, is clearly stated in both the Old Testament and the New: "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Eze. 18:20. "The wages of sin is death." Rom. 6:23.
THE REMEDY.—The remedy for sin is Christ; for thus it was stated in the announcement of his birth: "He shall save his people from their sins." Matt. 1:21. "He was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin." 1 John 3:5. "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5:21. "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6:23.
Such are a few of the representative texts on the subject of sin, its nature and effects, and the means provided for our release from it and its results, through Jesus Christ. Theologically, this canceling of our sins through the death of Christ, is known as "the atonement;" and while, strange to say, the word "atonement" occurs but once in the New Testament (Rom. 5:11), and is there wrongly translated, the original word meaning, not "atonement," but "reconciliation," both the word and the doctrine have a prominent place, and justly so, in the creed of every evangelical body of Christians in the land. We say justly so; for the doctrine is elsewhere abundantly taught in the Scriptures, as we purpose to show.
Without entering into a discussion of the philosophy and justice of the arrangement by which one person's actions can be substituted for those of another, and the innocent suffer for the guilty, there is yet left a very interesting field of study in the ordinances and services instituted as a means by which this unique transaction could be manifested before men.
Simultaneously with the introduction of the plan of salvation, appeared the system of sacrifices. Heb. 11:4. Speaking of the putting away of sin, the apostle declares that "without the shedding of blood there is no remission." Heb. 9:22. The law demands the life of the transgressor. "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Eze. 18:20. "The life of the flesh is in the blood" (Lev. 17:11), and the presentation of blood is evidence that life has been taken, and that the claims of the law have been honored and satisfied.
The gospel to us lost sinners is that some other blood than our own, even the blood of Jesus, has been provided, which can be presented to the law, and the law thus be honored and satisfied, and we go free. Previous to Christ's death on the cross, even from the time of Abel's offering, all the shedding of blood foreshadowed the divine offering of the Son of God on Calvary for the sins of the world. Since that time we come directly to the Father through him, pleading the merits of his blood, that offering by which he has entered into the holy places, and in which there is provision for our "eternal redemption," and for the redemption of all who will accept it at his hand. Heb. 9:12.
With blood is the atonement made. Thus the Lord says: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." Lev. 17:11. While, as already noticed, the word "atonement" does not properly occur in the New Testament, it is very fully set forth in the Old. But the work called the "atonement" is connected with the work assigned to an established order of priesthood; and these priests performed their offices at, and in, a place specially provided for their work, called the sanctuary. And in that place, and at a certain point in their ministry, the atonement was made. And this subject has a special interest for us in the fact that all the work of the priests of the former dispensation, including this work of making the atonement, was all a figure and shadow of the work of Christ in this, the so-called gospel dispensation, in which our interests are so fully involved.
This statement is not a deduction of logic, which might, perchance, be unsound; and it is no mere picture of the imagination, which might have no foundation; but it is a plain and direct statement of the Scriptures. Thus, the apostle, speaking of the priests who had been appointed to offer gifts under the former dispensation, says: "Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things." Heb. 8:3-5. The substance of which their work was a shadow can be nothing less than the priestly work of Christ; for the body of all those things which under the former dispensation constituted a shadow, the apostle elsewhere expressly says pertains to Christ. Col. 2:17: "Which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ."
One way, then, and one of the most effectual ways, for us to learn of Christ is to study the shadow of his work, which is given us in the ministry of the Levitical priesthood. It is one of the unfortunate features of modern theological teaching that the present is considered as having no connection with the past; that the New Testament has no connection with the Old; that the Old Testament may be cast aside, and relegated to neglect and oblivion, and all our attention be confined to the New. Whereas the whole round of service connected with the Mosaic system was a grand picture of higher and greater things to come, in the work of redemption, a most impressive object lesson from which we are to learn more and more of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his work as our sacrifice and our Saviour.
We therefore invite the attention of the reader to the shadow projected from the cross and the gospel back through all the centuries of the Mosaic economy, with a view to learn therefrom more of the present position and work of Christ, as the divine Mediator in our behalf, in the courts above.
MAN IS NOT IMMORTAL
By George C. Tenney
THE NATURE AND EXISTENCE OF MAN. NO. I.
BY ELDER G. C. TENNEY.
THIS subject is presented under a compound title because these two phases of the question are so closely related that they are almost universally considered together, though in real character they are entirely distinct. That in which the race is most intensely interested is the problem of existence. This brief life seems to be but a taste of what life should be. So fleeting, so uncertain, so disappointing, it fails to satisfy the heart; and all people have from these circumstances learned to anticipate a future more complete existence, where the joys and happiness of which we here obtain but brief glimpses will exist in perpetual fullness.
From early childhood the mind reaches into the future and seeks to penetrate that unknown, mysterious region whose gateway is the tomb, and whose warden is Death. But no tidings have ever been borne back from those who have crossed the threshold of Death's dominion. So far as human knowledge is concerned, all we know of life beyond this state is but empty speculation.5
We leave this unprofitable field at once without entering upon it, and turn to the only source of knowledge of unseen things. God has in his word lifted the veil, and we see rays of glory piercing death's domain and lighting up our future. The universal yearning for a satisfying portion of life led the ancient philosophers, who were unacquainted with God and the revealed truth, to conclude that the essential principle in man was immortal. The body might be dissolved, but the soul would live forever. It was an emanation from Deity; it must be immortal. Spiritual education or divine revelation was not required to originate such an idea; it naturally arose from the longing of the heart. This universal desire is frequently spoken of as a proof that man is by nature immortal; but to us it conveys no such evidence,
MAN IS NOT IMMORTAL.
The Bible bears an unvarying testimony to this truth. Existence is not an inherent quality of man's nature. There is no part of his being but is liable to extinction. Life or existence is an attribute of God only. He has the power to create; he can destroy; he can perpetuate; he can cut off. Continued existence is a manifestation of divine power, and death ensues at once when that power is withdrawn. The Bible teaches that God and he only hath immortality, and that man is mortal. 1 Tim. 6:16; Job 4:17; Isa. 40:6; and many others. This being true, man can only become immortal by endowment from God. Until he is thus specially endowed he holds his life by no natural tenure, but lives as a pensioner upon divine bounty, subject to the emergencies of mortality. It is true that mankind was designed by the Creator to enjoy eternal life, but before the race had proved itself worthy of the priceless boon, yea, even at the very outset of their trial, human nature betrayed a fatal weakness, and all was lost. They lost all hope or possibility of obtaining eternal life, and by sin were alienated from God. In this unhappy state life and immortality were brought to light through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Again the precious boon was placed before mankind to be obtained at the end of a successful probation.
The word "immortality" occurs but five times in the Bible, as follows: Rom. 2:6, 7, "Who will render to every man according to his deeds; to them who by patient continuance in welldoing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life." Certainly this text would lead no one to conclude that man now possesses immortality. We next find the word in 1 Cor. 15:53, 54, where it is twice introduced in this way: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." The event here spoken of is Christ's second coming and the resurrection of the just. When the faithful ones are endowed with immortality, it becomes a part of their nature. The word is again used in 1 Tim. 6:16, where it speaks of God the "King of kings and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality;" and again in 2 Tim. 1:10, where we are told that immortality is brought to light through the gospel. The word "immortal" is used but once in the Scriptures, 1 Tim. 1:17, where it is applied to God. Not once is immortality ascribed to man under this term directly, or under any other term by inference. In vain we look for the "immortal soul," "never-dying soul," "deathless spirit," or any similar epithet or phrase in the Bible.
THE STORY CONCISELY STATED
is this: Man was created in the image of God and designed for a high position. Before he was fixed in this position, he was placed upon trial. He failed, and was banished from his beautiful abode in paradise. He was excluded from the tree of life, "lest," saith God, "he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." Gen. 3:22. This one circumstance settles the question beyond successful dispute. In that home death like a dark cloud overshadowed the human race. But Christ undertook to pay the debt of all who by faith and obedience would demonstrate their loyalty to God; so that eternal life became the gift of God through Jesus Christ. Rom. 6:23. The record is that "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And, "He that hath the Son of God hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." This life is in his Son, and when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then he will confer the prize upon those whose names are in the "Lamb's book of life."
Doctrinal.
"If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God."—John 7:17.