Earlier text: THE TWO COVENANTSTHE COMMANDMENTS.—PART 1.
By A. C. Spicer
Further Conclusions from the Foregoing.
I. A careful study of Exodus has reinforced the following impressions and matured them into convictions:— 1. That in Eden during the primitive days of man God gave to him a complete system of religion adapted to his nature and relations as a moral and worshiping being, and gave to him His moral law substantially as afterward developed in the ten definite precepts, in terms adapted to his then existing condition and relations, need and comprehension, as the fundamental law of God’s moral government and that upon which that system of religion was based. 2. That primitively and before the fall of the race by sin, that was a religion of holiness—of righteousness—which pertained to character and implied character to be developed in complete harmony with, and in entire conformity to, that holy moral law and the Divine pleasure as a condition precedent to the rewards by which that law and the on-laying system of religion were sanctioned. 3. That among the blessings promised for holiness of character and life, the highest was immortality. 4. That primitively, purity and innocence were inherent in man’s nature; but not so holiness or immortality. Holiness implied character; and immortality, eternal life, was to be a reward or gift bestowed upon the holy. But character implied development, and development implied activities and tests. 5. But on call to dutiful activities and the application of tests of obedience, man, who was permitted to exercise the essential prerogatives of choice and freedom, failed of obedience, transgressed the rule of holiness,—the holy law of God,—forfeited his claim to, or the promise of, eternal life, and hence was pronounced a sinner, driven from the garden of purity and innocence and from the presence of Holiness, shut out from access to the tree of life, and consigned to mortality, without one ray of light reaching over beyond the grave to light up the future to him, and without one hope beyond this life. 6. That thereupon, a mutual friend to God and man interceded with the Father in man’s behalf, proffered his services as mediator, promised his best efforts—even139his life—to reconcile man to his Maker, restore him to obedience and induce him to retrieve the character lost, so that he might be permitted to live again and share in the blessings of immortality. 7. That as this mutual friend was no less a personage than the Son of God, and hence was equal to the undertaking, the Father accepted the proffer of mediation, and the Son undertook the great work, and in council with the Father adopted a plan of salvation, a scheme at once equitable to God, honoring his authority and law, and appreciably merciful and beneficent to man, upon which to redeem and save all who would accept of salvation and eternal life through him upon such divine plan. 8. That that scheme adopted did fully respect the authority and law of God as rightful ruler of all, and did aim to bring man back from heart alienation from God to respect, love, and honor him, and to obedience to his rightful and just authority and law as the only possible condition for the attainment unto holiness, which alone would render eternal life a blessing and therefore desirable; and that hence that scheme included the offer of himself a sacrifice for sin to die to redeem man from the death to which he had been consigned as a just penalty for his transgression, and the offer again of eternal life upon condition, as before, of willing, cheerful, and implicit obedience to the commandments of God, the Divine will, and the pleasure of his interceding Son, with this element added,—faith. That was faith in the Infinite Father as the all-wise and omnipotent Creator and Upholder of all things and hence the rightful Ruler of all; faith in his word as truth and in his justice, goodness, love and mercy; faith in his law as just and right, and in all his providences as conceived in wisdom, justice, and love, and ordered by unerring judgment; and faith in his interceding Son,—faith that he is in possession of the entire confidence and love of the Father, and of the Father’s co-operation in his mission of mercy; faith in his infinite love and friendship for man, in his pleasure and ability to fulfill all his promises; faith in the plan of salvation and in the power of the Son to conquer the tempting enemy of man and all opposing antagonisms, and finally to unlock the grave and restore man to life and to all the concomitant blessings of immortality. And such faith possessed and implicitly exercised, inasmuch as man by sin had lost the ability of ever attaining unto absolute holiness of character, was to be “accounted to him for righteousness.” 9. Thenceforward the most prominent characteristic of the “pure and undefiled religion” of the race has been faith, and it has been termed a religion of faith; but it is one of faith unto obedience, “obedience unto righteousness,” and “righteousness unto holiness.” 10. Then it was needful that that adopted plan of redemption with all its conditions and requirements upon man should be taught him, that he should be fully and definitely instructed therein, that he might have faith in it and in Him whom he was asked to believe in, to trust, and obey. Hence, as an expedient means or appliance to that end, according to the almost universal method of instructing by symbols, in those early days, a method of instruction was adopted requiring sacrificial, symbolic offerings to be made by the penitent and confessing child of faith, typical of the great sacrifice promised to be offered for sin in the fullness of time; and man was by it early taught that plan of redemption, and was systematically disciplined to represent his faith by those typical offerings, as is evident from the sacrifices offered by Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, &c. 11. Nevertheless, though that scheme provided for the redemption of man by the atoning blood of the Son of God, for his salvation by grace through faith, to be consummated in the resurrection morn when that Son should “appear the second time without sin unto salvation,” still it required the same implicit obedience to God’s moral law as was required before man’s sin. Indeed, the whole object and aim of the system of instruction adopted, with all its agencies of grace, seem to have been to discipline to the faith above indicated, ’tis true; but that discipline was for the primary purpose of leading man back from his disobedience and sin to obedience again as the essential condition precedent to the enjoyment of immortality; and hence all the temporary instructing and disciplining agencies consisting of covenants, ordinances, offering of typical sacrifices, and other ceremonies, with the laws prescribing and regulating them, were all adopted with the same object, were all secondary and limited, and based upon the universal moral law as primary. Evidence of this appears all along in this history, but is more definitely set forth in connection with the Abrahamic covenant, with the tests and proofs of the obedience of the Israelites recorded in Ex. 16 and 19, and as appears very conclusively in Ex. 20 where that law is so formally and impressively rehearsed and so authoritatively and emphatically commanded. Always and everywhere honor and obedience to the commandments of the moral law seem clearly to have been required as a condition together with faith, upon which grace and immortality were offered. To win rebellious man to faith and then through repentance back to obedience and imputed holiness, by the love of the Father manifested in the gift of his Son to suffer and die to ransom a rebellious race, and by the love of the Son manifested by the commanding and constraining example of an earth-life of disinterested love and beneficent sacrifice and the final laying down of his own life for man, seems to have been the object and method of the plan adopted. 12. It appears evident that the object of the choice of Israel and of their separation from the world as a peculiar people, of their early instruction, severe discipline in Egypt and during the forty years in the wilderness and again in Canaan, was to develop faith and to discipline to obedience to that law which had been ordained unto life, but which, transgressed, had “slain the transgressor,” hence to which man must be again reconciled and made subject, that in the keeping of it he might by grace, through faith, find that lost life again. It was doubtless with the same object that the peculiar theocratic system of civil government was instituted, by God, for Israel, based on the moral law and applying the principles of those several precepts to their civil relations while in the promised land. That was also the object of requiring of Israel the strictest possible conformity to the moral law, and the most rigid compliance with those civil statutes and with the laws of types and ordinances. Faith, then, instead of releasing its subject from obedience to the commandments of God, has for its very object to lead man back from his rebellious wanderings to entire obedience to God’s holy law and pleasure. II. These studies also reinforce and mature into a conviction of certainty the following conclusions:— 1. That those precepts of the decalogue are wholly moral; that they are complete and perfect as a law of holiness, providing for all relations, commanding all duties and protecting all virtues, forbidding all trespasses and prohibiting all vices and crimes; that they are universal being applicable in substance to all men everywhere; and that they are perpetual being founded in the nature and need of moral intelligences and in the obligations arising out of their relations to each other and to their Creator, and hence must continue as long as those intelligences and relations exist. This conclusion applies equally to the fourth commandment and as emphatically to it as to either of the others. 2. That the Sabbath and marriage were institutions of the primary condition of human innocence and purity and hence of the religion of holiness, ordained and given to man in Eden and before man’s transgression, with their regulating and protecting laws, and that as such those institutions and laws could not have been affected by man’s sin, or by any temporary, prudential arrangements adopted in the plan of redemption, or in the means for instruction under, or subject to, that scheme. However much man’s disposition toward those institutions of holiness and their appropriate laws might have been affected by sin, still the institutions themselves must have remained unimpaired and unchanged. No more could any subsequent changes or modifications of those temporary expedients for instruction and discipline, whether of ordinances and types or the laws thereof, affect those primary and antecedent institutions of holiness. Such changes might affect man’s respect for them, or his appliances and methods of honoring them, but not the institutions or laws thereof themselves. Those were based in moral necessities arising from moral conditions and relations in a state of purity and innocence and admitting and anticipating a condition of holiness; and their necessity was only enhanced by transgression and consequent state of and tendency to sin. Hence those holy institutions, with their essential laws, must exist and claim the respect of man as long as man exists subject to those relations and needs. 3. That neither the Sabbath nor marriage derived their origin nor any sacredness from the precepts which command obedience in respect to them. This would be true even if it were a fact that those precepts were never known till given from Mt. Sinai. Those institutions are each older than their respective precepts; they were not ordained for the precepts, but their respective commandments were ordained for them, to order and regulate man’s conduct in relation to them and to protect them. Hence, though those precepts might be blotted out, those holy institutions would remain. Even though, in the absence of the precepts, they might not be respected or honored, yet there they would remain, like a forsaken and neglected monument or temple, and even as would the sun and moon remain and shine on, though we might pluck out our eyes so as not to behold them. Disregard of those holy laws could no more blot them out than disregard of the laws of health and life could blot out the laws of health and life. Again, the expiration by limitation or even the abolition of any one, or of all, of those added, temporary, and limited covenants, ordinances, and types, with the law or laws thereof, could no more affect those institutions of holiness or the moral law in any respect, than the expiration of a temporary, local, military or police regulation or of some temporary church or society organization, or the abolition of some provisional session law of this State, could therefore blot out all the primary and fundamental institutions of freedom and light and religion and civilization in our land, and annul the constitution of our general government. A. C. Spicer. RUSSIA MOVING.
By Uriah Smith
SEPT. 20. The daily papers of the 19th contain exciting dispatches from the seat of war in the East. The Evening News contains an article, headed, “The War. Russia Cuts the Gordian Knot with the Sword, and Proposes to March her Armies into Bulgaria and Armenia. The Announcement Startles Europe.” We quote from the dispatch the following:— “Cable to the National Press Association. “London, Oct. 19.—The announcement yesterday that Russia had issued a circular note announcing that in the interests of humanity she feels bound to march troops into Bulgaria and Armenia, created the most intense excitement, and the subsequent intelligence that all Russians visiting abroad had been ordered home, and that the Russian fleet had been ordered from Cronstadt to the Mediterranean, only added to the agitation. There are 82,000 men at Bender, in Bessarabia, and 64,000 at Tiflis, in Georgian Caucasus; and both forces are ready to be hurled over the frontier. All diplomacy, it is now conceded, is useless. Ristics, the Servian premier, says that a resumption of the war, with Russia as one of the actors, is certain. There is some talk at Belgrade for an armistice until New Years; but whether it prevails or not will matter very little, for it is now the manifest purpose of Russia to carry on the war until she has opened a clear road to Constantinople.” “London, Oct. 18.—An intense excitement prevails here, but it is greatest in commercial and business circles. The prospects of peace are regarded as almost infinitesimal, and there is a feeling that Europe is entering upon the most stupendous struggle that has happened since the wars with Napoleon.” A NEW ELEMENT IN THE CONTEST.
Editorially the News speaks as follows of a new element to be introduced into the war in Europe:— “If Russia pushes her plans, and the war in Europe becomes general, a new element, not known to a great extent in European contests for many years, will come to the front. The leading Mohammedans of Arabia, at a meeting at Mecca, have resolved that it is the duty of the members of the faith in all parts of the world to go to the defense of Turkey. Already large sums of money have been forwarded from Mecca to Constantinople, to aid the cause of the Turks. A formal declaration has been made that it is the solemn duty of the Mohammedans to contribute for the support of the Crescent. The declaration issues from the orthodox leaders of the faith, and has all the sanction that can come from the city of the prophet.” In reading the foregoing, one can hardly help thinking of the words of the prophet, “Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat.” Joel 3:12. If Mohammedans from all parts of the world rally to the support of the Crescent, and Roman Catholics in all parts of the world make a strike, as multitudes of them are very desirous of doing, and are threatening to do, to re-instate the pope in his temporal dominions, this world will present such scenes of warlike activities and efforts as it has never witnessed. CONDITION OF EUROPEAN POWERS.
An interesting item also appears in the same paper respecting the recent preparations and present condition of the great powers of Europe. It does not look much like learning war no more. It is as follows:— “The exciting war news from the East lends additional interest to the reports just received in our foreign mails of the condition of the military preparations of the great powers. It is stated that France has completely re-organized her military system, re-armed both infantry and artillery, improved her cavalry, shortened her time for mobilization, enforced discipline among her troops, decentralized her stores, and studied tactics day and night.” “As for Germany, the authority from which we borrow these facts states that she has quickened her mobilization by several days, and improved and codified the system of tactics forced upon her by the sufferings her legions felt from the fire of the French. She has re-armed both her infantry and artillery, developed the use of railways in war, and added to her numerical strength by practically changing part of her landsturm into landwehr, a measure much the same as if we should turn our militia into regular troops.” “Austria, it is stated, has impressed the study of tactics on her officers as the one thing needful, and has so developed her organization that she can put nearly double the number of men in the field that fought at Koniggratz and Custozza. She has, moreover, re-armed her infantry long ago, and is now re-arming her artillery—not before it was needed.” “Russia has not yet completed her new military organization. She has made great improvements in her system of tactics, and has adopted the latest and most approved ones. British authorities do not believe that Russia has reached anything like the maximum of excellence in her military organization, but her arrangements and preparations are rapidly pushed. The British authorities, and especially the British army officers, look on with no small degree of interest while all these preparations are being perfected.” A good general view of the nature of the contest, and the long-cherished designs of Russia, is set forth in the following article. It will be of great interest in connection with the present aspect of affairs in that quarter. “Although Russia, as a well-defined and coherent power, dates no further back, in the estimation of historians, than the days of Peter the Great, and, therefore, is considerably less than two centuries old, the war she has now, according to the day’s dispatches, undertaken against Turkey, is the heritage of many centuries. At least one thousand years ago that aggressive little Slavonic band known as Russians, although residing far in the interior, amid the frosty fogs of Kiev and Novgorod, had its fleets on the Euxine Sea, and aided by the Scandinavians even ventured to attack Constantinople, the capital of the great Byzantine Empire. Even at this early day the Euxine was known as the Mare Russicum, the Russian Sea.” “Shortly after (in 955, as nearly as we can fix it) they became Christians of the Eastern church, and although this necessarily put a stop to the assaults upon Byzantium, it only increased their efforts to gain a permanent foothold upon the waters of the Azof and the Euxine, and contributed to inflame their lust for southern conquest; for Constantinople henceforth was to them, not only the fountain of religious authority, but served them as the sole representative of civilized life and the synonym for a degree of splendor which could hardly be grasped by their rude imaginations.” “In 1453 Constantinople fell into the hands of the Turks, and the last Byzantine emperor was Constantine Palæologus, whose niece Sophia was sought in 1472 by the Russian Ivan III., who had previously wrought wonders for his dukedom on the battle field, and now proved in many and more peaceful ways his right to the surname of ‘the Great.’ He imported many of the arts of civilization among his people, and (what is especially to our purpose in this article) introduced into his court the splendor of Byzantium, adopted the arms of the Greek Empire, and assumed the name of Czar of all the Russias—Czar being, as commonly held, quite the same as Cæsar. His adoption of this title carried out the affectation of the eastern emperors, who, although long divorced from Rome, liked to regard themselves as Cæsars; and, furthermore, it humored the notion, which then began to be entertained by the Russians, that their country was the heir and avenger of the Byzantine Empire, and the special protector of the Greek Christians of Turkey.” “Then some one (most likely one of the few poets of that period) introduced the fashion of calling Constantinople the Tsarigrad, or city of the Czar, and this also was a very pleasing idea to the people of that ice-locked land. From that time forth, this is the golden thread that binds the whole policy of the empire. Inflamed by Byzantine traditions, surrounded by arts, appliances and luxuries drawn from Constantinople and the South, and inspired by the notion that the imperial residence would some day be transferred from the moldy marshes of the Neva to the softer skies of Stamboul, Russia has steadfastly pursued her uniform way, and her progress, if slow and silent like the wool-shod footsteps of the gods, has been tolerably sure.” “In 1696, Peter the Great wrested the sea of Azof from the Turks, and kept it. Next, Catharine the Great won the Crimea. In 1812, by the peace of Bucharest, Alexander I. obtained Moldavia and the prettily named province of Bessarabia, with its apples, peaches, and cherries. Then came the great Nicholas, who won the right of the free navigation of the Black Sea, the Dardanelles and the Danube, but whose inordinate greed led him into the Crimean war, by which he lost Moldavia, and the right of navigating the Danube, and the unrestricted navigation of the Black Sea.” “This was, no doubt, a severe repulse to Russia, but it did not extinguish the designs upon the Ottoman power, nor did it contribute in any essential degree to the stability of the Ottoman Empire. Patiently biding her time, Russia has been watching and waiting, and in 1870, when all the western nations were watching the Franco-Prussian war, she announced to the powers that she would be no longer bound by the treaty of 1856, which restricted her use of the Black Sea; and since that time that sea has been as it was one thousand years ago, to all intents and purposes, a Mare Russicum.” A dispatch from London, dated Oct. 20, speaking of the interference of England in Turkish affairs, says:— “England has never undertaken to interfere in the concerns of the continent without continental allies. There is no good ground for believing that we should have real support from any power in a war for the defense of the Turkish state.” “Special Dispatch to the Evening News. “New York, Oct. 19.—A Graphic special from Washington, D. C., says the real cause of the panic in England over the Turkish question is the announcement of the Czar that he proposes to take possession of Armenia, which would bring the Russian forces on the flank of Turkey, and within striking distance of Syria, the Holy Land, and the Mediterranean Sea. By this road Russia eventually expects to reach Egypt and the Suez Canal. The occupation of Armenia also means eventually the total destruction of the Ottoman power. It is also surmised that Germany has similar designs upon Denmark and Holland, or she would never have consented to this enormous possible aggrandizement of Russia.” “The coming war in Europe is regarded in Washington as being probably the most gigantic which has ever been waged. England will be compelled to fight, and, if she does, she exposes herself to the incursions of American privateers.” THE OBJECT OF THE TRACT AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES.
By S. N. Haskell
The object of organizing the present system of missionary labor among Seventh-day Adventists is briefly set forth in the Constitution of the Tract Societies, and fully discussed in the TRUE MISSIONARY, published in 1874. Notwithstanding, it may not be out of place to call the attention of our friends to what is expected of those who become members of the Society. It had in view the interests of the Publishing Association, and a plan whereby our people might individually co-operate in every enterprise for the advancement of the cause of truth. The Scriptures everywhere teach individual responsibility141; that the reward of the righteous is proportionate to the self-denying labor performed by them. “Who will render to every man according to his deeds.” “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be.” It is necessary that these works be in harmony with the truth and plan of God, “for the day shall declare it; because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward.” The devotion of Cornelius, his continued prayers and almsgiving, were not sufficient of themselves. He therefore was instructed by the angel to send for Peter, who would tell him what he ought further to do. There are many among us that are willing to do, providing they are properly instructed how to do. There are those who would make good canvassers for our periodicals, good distributors of our publications, if the matter was explained and kept before the mind until they felt the burden of the work. To this end, directors, librarians, and other officers are appointed, and our people everywhere invited to join the Tract Society. Also, it was designed to present an open door before all, so that each individual could have the privilege to do according to his ability, both financially, and by personal effort. As we review the past we are constrained to think that there has been a great failure with many of the officers, and with very many of the members. The officers have not felt the responsibility of properly instructing the members, and the members have lost what interest they may have had in the missionary work. There are some noble exceptions, for which we thank God; nevertheless, the Spirit of God has revealed the fact that we were not doing one-twentieth part that we should. The book funds, the obtaining of subscribers for the REFORMER and SIGNS OF THE TIMES, besides those new enterprises which are continually coming up, have been sadly neglected by the Missionary Societies. These should all have been kept constantly before the members by the Tract Society officers, they themselves taking an active interest in them, so that all would have had a living interest in every branch of the work of God. During the past eighteen months the book funds, which were devoted to the benefit of the Tract Societies, have been reduced from thirteen thousand to three thousand dollars. The Swedish and Danish periodicals, which of themselves are not self-sustaining, should have been remembered by the Tract Societies, and not left to be a constant drain upon the Publishing Association. The effort of the Tract Society to increase the circulation of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES and the HEALTH REFORMER has not resulted in adding to their respective lists one-twentieth what it should have done. The cause of present truth is not a one-man affair; but while it has officers to take the oversight of it, and to act in especial reference to it, the people from the oldest to the youngest should be so instructed that they can feel that they have an identity in the work of God; that their prayers, their labor, and even the pennies of the children, all help to swell the stream of salvation and add glory and honor to him who died for us. In short, not an individual should live an aimless life, who has any knowledge of present truth. But the questions at once arise, What shall I do? and how can I exert an influence to advance the cause of God? In reply we say, Here is the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. Never was there a more important periodical for a pioneer paper than this. It is struggling to become self-sustaining; and our brethren can make it thus. Its influence is needed in every Conference and wherever the English language is spoken. Each individual should feel a responsibility in this matter, and take a copy at two dollars a year, in addition to the REVIEW AND HERALD, to lend to his neighbors. Send it to your friends for one dollar and a half per year, and where you are able, take from three to ten copies to use in obtaining subscribers. The effort of obtaining subscribers will be of lasting benefit to those who put it forth. There are those among us, who can take the Christian, a family newspaper, or some scientific book, and obtain a livelihood by getting subscribers for it. Now if such individuals would throw as much interest and life into obtaining subscribers for the SIGNS, a good number of names of paying subscribers would be sent weekly to the Office the year round from every Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in this country. We expect to see, during this present season, such an effort made for the SIGNS as will increase its circulation to at least ten thousand. Who are they among our friends, whether connected with the tract work or not, who will not get at least one paying subscriber a month during this Conference year, while others can send in their hundreds of names during the year? We want men and women who will give their time to canvass for it, as well as the REFORMER. If individuals prove themselves successful laborers in this direction, and if it is necessary, the Tract Society will help such; but let them first show fruit of their labor. It is those who have hearts that feel for others, whose labors will prove a blessing to the cause of God. Brethren and sisters, we appeal to you everywhere to take hold of this work, and take an interest in every branch of the cause of present truth. The brethren in many places have donated freely to increase the circulation of the SIGNS by the Tract Societies. This is all right and as it should be; but because of this liberality on the part of some, none who are equally able to donate, but from a covetous spirit refuse to do so, should feel to draw from this fund to take the SIGNS for themselves or their personal friends. “I mean not,” says the apostle, “that other men be eased and ye burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, and their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that there may be equality.” God’s hand is in the work of present truth, and he calls upon us to put forth an unusual effort at the present time. Hearts are being prepared for the reception of truth as never before. God’s providence and his Holy Spirit invite us to co-operate for the spread of the truth. We are now entering upon the long evenings. We say to all, Do not wait a single day, but make one general rally immediately to obtain subscribers; and God will bless the effort. To the directors we say, Stir up the members. The time has fully arrived when every Conference Tract Society should be in the field with its entire membership, obtaining subscribers for our periodicals. Then when the Judge of all the earth appears, we shall hear it said, “Well done, good and faithful servant, . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”