Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 13, 1894
The Spirit and Letter of God's Law
By Editor
AN exchange says that “God never needs many soldiers when led by a Gideon.” But this is a better way to put it: A Gideon never needs many soldiers when God is directing the battle.
ONE of the most mischievous delusions of the times is the prevalent notion that the spirit of the law of God may be obeyed in the deliberate disobedience of the letter. It is true that the law requires spiritual obedience, for “the law is spiritual,” but it is the letter that expresses to the finite mind what the law is. While the spirit of the law is broader and deeper than the letter, as comprehended by the finite mind, there is no inharmony or counteraction. “The law of the Lord is perfect.” The laws of men sometimes fail to express the exact design of the law-making power; not so the law of God, which is the perfect revelation of his will. We never can be guided to a spiritual discernment of the requirements of this law by walking contrary to the letter. “Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.” Deut. 32: 46.
THE children of this world are seeking after wealth, honor, knowledge, and pleasure, expecting only a short lease of life. The children of God, through patient continuance in faith, manifested in works of love, expect a far greater measure and a far more enduring quality of these very things. The world laughs at the Christian for risking his all on faith in the promise of greater returns hereafter. But the world at the same time is risking all on known uncertainties, which are every day proving but delusive phantoms, vanishing from sight just as the imagination is ready to grasp them. Occasionally a man reaches almost the height of his ambition, but just as he is ready to congratulate himself on the result, he hears the summons, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” Never has it been said that anyone in his dying hour regretted having lived a life of faith in God. Faith never disappoints even in the most critical emergency.
"HEALING THE HURT SLIGHTLY."
By Editor
THAT is just what the Lord declared the false prophets in Israel did by their preaching peace and error. That is just what many of our modern false prophets are doing at the present time. The Christian Statesman of July 21 has an article with the above heading. After speaking of the adjustment that must be made between capital and labor, and the tariff reform that may be demanded, and reform in other directions, it states that this government must recognize in itself God's government. It says:—
"There is a government above the government of this nation; there is a violent wrestling of right other than that by strikers and anarchists. God has a government which extends to all the affairs of men and nations. This nation has set that government at naught. God's law has been, and is being, defied. This is the real reason for our national troubles."
Every word of the above is true, but not in the sense designed by our contemporary. What the Statesman is calling for is that the government shall enforce Sunday observance; but we would like to ask the Statesman, and all other Christians, how it would be possible for the government to enforce God's law. God's law is a law of love. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself," is the summing up which not only our Lord but the ancient prophets gave of God's holy law. That law can only be obeyed through love. Love can only come through faith; and by what power can a civil government create faith or produce love? Of course it could compel men to outwardly yield to certain things, but if the yielding were not a heart work, it would only be rank hypocrisy. But if it be a heart work, there is nothing whatever in this government to hinder any man from obeying God. Therefore, for the government to compel men to obey a higher law is to compel them to be hypocrites, and how would this please God? Would God chastise us for not being hypocrites, or compelling others to be?
But the higher law which the Christian Statesman demands shall be enforced is not the law of God, but a substitute of that law by the "man of sin." In enforcing that, the government would not only compel men to be hypocrites, but doubly hypocrites,—hypocritical in obeying a law for God's law that was not God's law, and in attempting to be by compulsion that which we cannot be compelled to be. If the Christian Statesman, and thousands of others who are talking just as that paper does, desire that men shall obey God's law, and that the nation shall be saved from calamities, why do they not preach the gospel, the power of God, the only power which can bring obedience to the law of the Most High?
The Advance of July 19 points out one of the manifest inconsistencies of the sympathetic strike. It says that some of the members of the Chicago Council posed as friends of the laboring classes against the capitalists, but that one or two of these men were the most notorious boodlers in the council; that they have never failed to champion the very worst ordinances for the benefit of monopolies; that they have voted franchises worth millions away from the people and into the hands of the capitalists; that every laboring man in the city is paying tribute to monopolies who have become rich and powerful and insolent through the votes of the boodlers in the council; and that when the strike is over, these men will be looked upon as champions of the laboring man's cause.
In fact, it does not seem as though more unwisdom could have been used than has been used in this last railway strike. Not only has unwisdom been manifested, but lawlessness has been one of its salient features. For instance, here in Oakland mobs paraded the streets, derailed cars, "killed" engines, overturned coaches, and tampered with switches, by violence taking men from trains who had just as good right to work as any striker in the Union; yet during all this the Union claimed that it was for law and order. A meeting of the best citizens in the town was held, and a series of resolutions passed frowning upon the acts of lawlessness which had been committed, in which resolutions nothing whatever was said against the Railway Union or in favor of the capitalists; yet some of the strongest expressions in favor of law and order were hissed by fully one-third of the large audience, which numbered, doubtless, not less than three or four thousand.626Immediately afterward a meeting was held by citizens claiming to be the friends of labor, in which resolutions were solemnly passed declaring that there had been no violence, no mob power, nothing but law and order and peace in the city of Oakland. Do these men really believe that expression? If they do, they manifest a degree of moral obliquity that is absolutely alarming. If they do not, a constant reiteration of their sentiments will bring them to that. One of them is reported to have stated that he had been in three strikes. He said the next would be, not a strike, but a revolution, which, in other words, simply means rebellion. The unwisdom of the whole thing has been manifested in the results, the losing of men's labor and reputation falling more heavily upon the workmen themselves than upon any other class. Blinded indeed is he who cannot see an index to the troublous future in these upheavals through which we are passing.
THE LATEST, AND THE WORST.
By Editor
If it were really true, as some learned men profess to believe, that the Bible sustains the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, there would be no occasion for the many absurd efforts to prove the assumption. A contributor to Sunday Reform Leaflets is so straitened for Bible proof for the alleged change of the day of the Sabbath that he actually presents the following, and, strange as it may seem, he is evidently in earnest about it—
It is not generally known that there is a direct prophecy in the Old Testament that the day should be changed from Saturday to Sunday. The Jews were taught prophetically that there would be a change in the day of the week, but not in the amount of time.
In Ezekiel 43:27 we read thus: 'And when these days are expired, it shall be that upon the eighth day and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings on the altar, and your peace offerings, and I will accept you saith the Lord.'
Here is a plain statement that the offering should be made on the eighth day, corresponding with our Sunday, the first day of the week. And unless the worship on the eighth day refers to the Christian dispensation it has not been fulfilled. In nowhere do we find it fulfilled in the service of the Jewish temple. In nowhere do we read of the Jewish nation changing the day and their worship from the seventh to the eighth day.
By the eighth day we are to understand some particular and important day under the gospel dispensation; for the prophet is prophesying concerning it. But there is no particular day to be noticed under the new dispensation more than another, except the Sabbath day and the service, all the rest were done away as types when the substance came. The Psalmist speaks of this day when he says: 'This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.' It is plain that the whole psalm is a prophecy concerning Christ, and the expression 'this is the day which the Lord hath made,' has a direct reference to the resurrection day. The first day of the week, then, was made and appointed by the Lord God to be the Christian Sabbath.
The offering of the sacrifices on the eighth day referred to by Ezekiel, has a direct reference to the worship of God in Christian churches on the Lord's day. This is plain and pointed. It will do no good to put the verse on the rack, and torture it, in order to make it to squeeze out some other meaning. It refers pointedly to the important change from the seventh to the first day of the week—refers to the service of praise in Christian churches on Sunday. And unless it means this it has never been fulfilled.
This is the latest effort we have seen, and if there be any worst, it is the worst. Lest the reader should doubt that any man did in real earnest give vent to such a proposition, we deem it necessary to be very explicit in stating the authority, so that it may be easily verified. The quotation is from an article by Rev. J. A. Jones, in the Leaflets of March, 1894. This is a quarterly publication, issued at Columbus, Ohio, by Rev. Edward Thomson, LL.D., and is the principal article in that number.
When it comes to forcing in an eighth-day sabbath to correspond with the first day of a seven-day week, right through a dispensation of nearly two thousand years, it would seem that further comment is superfluous. If any reader is too obtuse to see the folly of such a proposition on its face, it would be useless to add argument. Our apology for giving space to so much of what Sir Walter Scott would term a "screed of doctrine" is, that it is issued under the auspices of one who for several years has been somewhat conspicuous as a Sunday reformer. Furthermore, the Sunday mania seems to have taken such a firm hold upon the masses of Christendom that they have just about closed their eyes and made ready to swallow whatever plea for Sunday sacredness any titled churchman may put into their mouths. They seem so ready to grasp at any straw making even the baldest pretense to scriptural authority for Sunday observance, that it becomes necessary to note some things that ordinarily would be deemed too futile to require attention.
In order to see the utter folly of the position taken in the foregoing quotation, it is only necessary to read from the beginning of the fortieth chapter of Ezekiel up to the passage quoted. Note the time of the vision, "in the five and twentieth year of our captivity," meaning the captivity in Babylon. (Ezekiel was a captive in Babylon; see chapter 1:1-3.) It was a vision of their return to Jerusalem and the restoration of the temple, with its service. Dr. Clarke aptly says, "The temple of Jerusalem lying in ruins when Ezekiel had this vision, the Jews needed consolation." So we have in these chapters explicit directions for the rebuilding of the temple, and in verses 10 and 11 of chapter 43 the prophet is directly charged to show it to the people. From verse 18 to 26 are directions for the consecration of the priests and the purification of the altar after it should be restored, before beginning the regular daily service for which it was intended. "Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves." Verse 26. Then comes the verse quoted by Mr. Jones to prove the change of the Sabbath: "And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord." Verse 37.
"Eighth day" of what?—Evidently the eighth day from the beginning of the dedication services, which consumed seven days. There is no intimation as to what day of the week it was. There is no intimation that it was "some particular and important day" to be afterward observed. It was simply the day upon which the regular temple service was to be resumed after the dedication. If, as Mr. Jones argues, it meant the change of the Sabbath, then the Sabbath was changed at the restoration of the temple service after the captivity! If the offerings on that "eighth day" made it the Sabbath, then every day after that also became the Sabbath, for the temple service was a daily service. The passage reads, "Upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar," etc. Every reader of the Bible knows that this was a daily service.
But the Rev. expositor says of this prophecy that "nowhere do we find it fulfilled in the services of the Jewish temple." But we do find it so fulfilled. When the temple was rebuilt by Zerubbabel after the captivity, there was a dedicatory "feast of unleavened bread" seven days. See Ezra 6:14-22. That the prophet is not "prophesying concerning the gospel dispensation" is evidenced by the fact that the people were directed to offer bullocks and rams; and in the following chapter, where instructions are continued in the same vision, we read, "Thus saith the Lord God: No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary." Verse 9. And the Levites were to minister to the house, and to "slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people." See verses 10-14.
W. N. G.
Confession, Repentance, and Mercy
The part we have to act is to return to the Lord by confessing our sins to him and to one another. A broken and contrite heart he will not despise; but our self-righteousness is in his sight as filthy rags. With many, self is whole; but when they fall upon the Rock, and are broken, then the arms of Jesus will encircle them, and draw them close to his great heart of love. God will not do for us that which we can do for ourselves; but he has said, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." And when we comply with the conditions, he will fulfill his words.—Gospel Workers.
"Now Is the Accepted Time."
"Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." Luke 13: 24. We often hear this text presented as showing a contrast between "striving" and "seeking," giving the idea that seeking implies a merely passive Christian life. That this is not the idea of the text is shown by the Saviour's injunction, "Seek, and ye shall find." To strive means to seek earnestly and continually. The reason that many "will seek to enter in and shall not be able" is because they will seek too late. That this is the point is shown by the verses that follow: "When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are," etc. The time is at hand when many will seek to enter in at the strait gate and shall not be able. Soon the time of probation will be closed, and the door will be forever shut. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord; and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." Amos 8: 11, 12. "Now is the accepted time."
A SOLEMN LESSON.
By Ellen G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
THE solemn fate of the five foolish virgins, presented in the parable of the ten virgins, is recorded to warn those who, while professing the faith of Christ, have become cold and backslidden.
The five foolish virgins represent the careless, indolent, self-satisfied professor of religion. They have a calm expectation of entering heaven sometime, yet they have not purified their souls by obeying the truth. They understand the theory of truth, but have no vital connection with God. They trust to feeling, and neglect to search the Scriptures. They are satisfied to walk in the sparks of their own kindling. We are all exhorted to be diligent, that we may make our calling and election sure. But I am greatly troubled, fearing, yes, knowing, that there are many who profess the truth who are not testing their lives and characters by God's great moral standard of righteousness. They are careless; they have not the oil of grace in their vessels with their lamps. They are cherishing hidden sins, which no human eye can see. They know that they are not pure, and without spot, and should diligently seek God, that they may cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the sight of God.
There are many ideas in the world as to what is sin. The deist says that sin is dishonesty, a lack of patriotism, honor, and manliness. Those who have little idea as to what constitutes religion will tell you that sin is murder, adultery, robbery, and crime. But what does the word of God define it to be? John writes, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law." Without the law we have no knowledge of what sin is. Those who have no respect for the law will be deceived by entertaining hopes of entering heaven.
But a knowledge of the law is not enough. He who accepts the law, who acknowledges the claims of the law, who yet feels satisfied with himself, and has no experience in being born again, will fail of keeping the law, and will come under its condemnation. God's law not only covers every deed of outward life, but also penetrates to the intents and purposes of the heart. The man who will meet Christ in peace will be the man who follows in his footsteps, who takes him for his example and righteousness. Jesus said, "I have kept my Father's commandments." He was perfect, pure, spotless. His life was the embodiment of all that was noble and holy, and whoever obeys Christ, fulfills the law of God, meets every claim upon him, treats every being as the purchase of the blood of Christ.
He who does not yield to the claims of the law of God, sets himself above God, breaks away from God's rule of right, and becomes disloyal, as did the great deceiver in the beginning. Would that some who claim to be commandment keepers could see how their cases stand in the register above. Oh, that all who are falling short of the principles of righteousness might realize that they do not meet the broad, far-reaching claims of the law of God upon them! Repentance for sin is the first step in conversion. Repentance is an intense hatred of sin in all its forms. Phariseeism permits of self-complacency, and those who are self-righteous, appear to have a form of piety, but at heart they are corrupt. They may talk of their hope of heaven, when, in fact, they have not taken the first step toward heaven.
We are not under a system of mere requirements, mere justice, and unsympathizing rigor. The penalty of transgressing the law has fallen upon our Substitute and Surety, and for a time has been suspended, so that the guilty do not feel its weight; but the object of this suspension is not to teach us that its claims are over, its exactions set aside, but to attract us to holiness, to obedience. Nothing is changed except the manner of bringing men to obey the law. Obey its claims we must. The first step toward obedience is repentance. We are to see the excellence of its requirements by beholding the wrong of disobedience.
He who is truly repentant, he who is regenerated, hates sin. All manner of selfishness is distressing to him. Indifference to God on the part of those around him grieves him. He is not led to exalt self in the performance of his duty, but abhors self. "I abhor myself" is the language of the godly of all ages, who have had a clear view of the purity and holiness of Christ. But those who are but superficial Christians seek to exalt self by depreciating others. The clearer the views of the character of Christ the more humble will be our views of self. Like Job, Isaiah, Daniel, David, and Paul, we shall feel that our comeliness is turned in us into corruption.
Those who are represented by the foolish virgins have not this sense of their own unworthiness. They have no oil in their vessels with their lamps. The same principles of truth are presented in the parable of the two builders,—one built upon the rock, and the other upon the sand. Jesus says: "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand; and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it."
It is not a matter of little consequence to us as to how we hear and how we treat the truth of God. To misunderstand the truth, to fail to appreciate it, because we do not cherish light that comes to us, will tend to make us careless in our character building, and we shall have our foundation laid upon the sand. The wise builder builds upon the Rock Christ Jesus, no matter what may be the inconvenience. He builds not upon human but upon divine merit, accepting the righteousness of Christ as his own, and as his only hope of salvation. The foolish builder built upon the sand, and through his carelessness, or prejudice, or through the deceptions of the natural heart, he cherishes a self-righteous spirit, and places human wisdom in the place where God's wisdom should have the supremacy; and how terrible are the consequences!
There are many unwise builders, and when the storm of temptation comes and beats upon them, it is made evident that their foundation is only sliding sand. They are left in gross darkness, without faith, without principles, and without foundation. The five foolish virgins had a real interest in the gospel. They knew what was the perfect standard of righteousness; but their energies were paralyzed with self-love; for they lived to please and glorify themselves, and had not the oil of grace in their vessels with which to replenish their lamps. They were often distressed by the enemy, who knew their weakness, and placed darkness before them in the semblance of light. Truth, precious, life-giving truth, represented as oil, appeared to them as unessential, and Satan took advantage of their blindness, ignorance, and weakness of faith, and they had a fluctuating experience, based on uncertain principles.
All who wait for the heavenly Bridegroom are represented in the parable as slumbering because their Lord delayed his coming; but the wise roused themselves at the message of his approach, and responded to the message, and their spiritual life was replenished. Their spiritual discernment was not all gone, and they sprang into line. As they took hold of the grace of Christ, their religious experience became vigorous and abundant, and their affections were set upon things above. They discerned where was the source of their supply, and appreciated the love that God had for them. They opened their hearts to receive the Holy Spirit, by which the love of God was shed abroad in their hearts. Their lights were trimmed and burning, and sent forth steady rays into the moral darkness of the world. They glorified God, because they had the oil of grace in their hearts, and did the very work that their Master did before them,—went forth to seek and to save those who were lost.
Striking for an Enemy's Heart
By Christian Neighbor
How we are, after almost nineteen centuries of experience, working on in the old barbarous ways of killing enemies with shot and murderous shell! Warships cover the ocean, and standing armies darken the land. Yet628there is not a wrong that justice cannot arbitrate, there is not an enemy that love cannot conquer, if you give her a fair chance. There are some of us who may be stigmatized as "cranks," who yet believe Christ's way to strike at an enemy is to strike for his heart, and that you have never succeeded in killing an enemy until you have made him a friend.
TRUST.
By C. L. Eby
To Christ I owe my life, my all;
In him I now confide;
E'er since I heard his gracious call,
I in his strength abide.
I would not dare to walk alone
Along life's rugged way;
Unless his hand doth hold my own,
My feet would surely stray.
And while he holds me by the hand,
I care not where he leads;
'Tis only he can understand
My soul's sincerest needs.
What tho' the way be rough and steep
Upon the mountain cold;
In him alone my trust I'll keep;
My hand in his I hold.
And tho' he leads by waters still,
And pastures green and fair,
I am content to do his will,
No matter how or where.
I would not, could not live alone,
Without my Master near,
And since I'm constant at his throne,
I have no need to fear.
—C. L. Eby, in Union Gospel News.
TWO RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS.
By Elder R. C. Porter
IMMEDIATELY after the fall, sacrifices were offered. The record in Genesis is very brief, and does not give us the full particulars of what offerings they were instructed to bring, and why they were to offer only a certain kind of offering for a sin offering. But this we are plainly told, that before they were driven from the garden they were clothed with the skins of animals and fully instructed that through the seed of the woman they were to see restored that which was lost. That they understood that this involved the life of the "seed of the woman," given even unto death, and in death, is plain from the fact that the first offering that was acceptable to God, of which we have any direct record, was an innocent lamb offered slain. Gen. 4:4.
Cain was very angry because the Lord did not accept his offering, and his countenance fell. The Lord asked him why his countenance was fallen, and why he was wroth, and then added, "If thou doest well, shalt not thou be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door." Verse 7. What sin is it of which Cain is guilty?—The sin of unbelief. "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous." Heb. 11:4. Did not Cain bring an offering and come to worship?—He certainly did. Why then were not his sacrifice and worship accepted?—In it there was no shedding of blood, no giving of the life, without which there is no remission of sins.
But why was it necessary that the sinner, in presenting his sin offering, make an offering with the shedding of blood?—Because the law which he by sinning had transgressed, demanded the life of the transgressor in unbroken service. Since he had failed in this, his only hope was now in Christ, whom he must accept by faith, living a life of unbroken loving service, even unto death, and given in death for him. In the blood, which represents the life, of the innocent lamb, thus poured out on his account, he sees the life of Christ, living in unbroken sinlessness unto the death, and given in death that he may have perfect release from sin through faith in him, and by giving to God his life through Christ in unbroken service unto death, he may have innocence and life equal to that of the Son of God, reaching through eternity.
This was God's instruction as seen in his acceptance of Abel's offering, which was offered in this way, and his refusing to accept Cain and his offering, because there was in it no faith in Christ as his sin offering and his righteousness.
In Cain's offering is clearly seen the instruction of that wily foe again, "Yea, hath God said that you should bring a lamb for a sin offering; but God doth know that you are a tiller of the ground, and it will be more convenient for you to bring of the fruit of the ground, and this slight (?) deviation will make no difference. He does not mean exactly what he says." Cain listens to the voice of the tempter, consults his own convenience, departs from the express direction of the Lord in his worship, and in this slight (?) deviation, as Satan calls it, forgets the true significance of the offering to his own soul, and so becomes only a formal worshiper.
When corrected—first by the worship of Abel, which was in strict conformity to the word of the Lord and true spiritual worship, showing faith in Christ as his sin bearer and redeemer, and secondly by the Lord's having respect unto Abel and to his offering, while to Cain and his offering he had not respect, and lastly by the plain instruction from the Lord that the reason why his offering was not accepted was because he did not do well in bringing it as he did—Cain became very angry and vented his wrath on a brother worshiper whose worship was acceptable to God.
Here is a true picture of the true cause of all the religious legislation, persecution, martyrdom, that has ever cursed the world, or ever will curse it, until Eden shall bloom on earth again.
It first comes by a departure from the word in religious worship. Then, having a form of worship not supported by the word of God, self-serving in character, they become formal and spiritless in their worship. They next become angry with those who differ from them in religious faith and practice, demanding human laws to force all others to conform to their wicked forms of worship. The result is persecution and martyrdom. True religion is always voluntary, and does not seek to force itself upon any. Being wholly unselfish, it gives itself to others for their sake.
God's government before sin entered was a government of love, granting to all the privileges of choice and free will. In it there was no coercion. If, then, God would not compel the consciences of men in his worship at a time when all were sinless, never can we, who are sinful by nature, force the conscience of men without impeaching the wisdom of God and exalting ourselves above him. In God's government he not only granted to all the privilege to do the right, but he gave them equally the privilege to do the wrong if they should choose. His disciples follow him from choice, not through fear, but through love.
Two systems are introduced in the case of Cain and Abel, that run through all time, until the conflict between Christ and Satan closes with Paradise restored. In the one system, until the cross, is continued the offering of lambs and innocent beasts, expressing full consecration to God in humble, trusting service even unto death, drawn from the heart in response to the touch of that divine love which knows no measure, that love which brought the sinless Son of God from the highest heights of heaven to the humblest walks as Son of Man, and darkest sins and deepest woes, for others' sake.
In this system of voluntary service is seen unwavering fidelity to the word of Him whose love begets the service. This is seen in the case of Abraham, Joseph, Job, David, Daniel, John the Baptist, the apostles, and others. Being in love with him, and knowing his everlasting love for them, his word expressing his will and pleasure in their walks of life, becomes at once their will and delight, and they follow with songs of praise wherever he directs.
The other system is one in which the service is born of fear. Its service is a service of fear, not love. It sees in God a God of vengeance, not of love. Its only service is to avert the vengeance of God upon itself. Seeing in God only vengeance, it sees in the sacrifice of the innocent lamb only penance done to appease the wrath of an angry God. Hence it worshiped by bringing the fruits of the ground, slain animals, and human sacrifices, beaten, mangled, or killed to appease the wrath of an offended God. Its service was a service of fear and dread of the vengeance of the God that was worshiped. Hence the groans and wailings of the worshipers, who followed the system introduced by Satan through Cain, which system was afterward developed into paganism, and later was adopted by Baptists and many Jews, and is now seen in apostate Protestantism. Its service being a service of fear, and not of love, it saw no giving of the life in love for others in the sacrifices offered. Its votaries therefore did not give their lives in loving service to God, delighting to do his will; but, in harmony with the character they attributed to God, they demanded of themselves such service as they thought would save from eternal vengeance. Viewing God thus, they could not enter his courts with holy joy and heartfelt praise, and as a result of their living for themselves alone, their worship became a weariness to the flesh. They became creatures of vengeance, and did not like to retain God in their knowledge. They sought their own pleasure and convenience, and paid little or no respect to the word of God. This was a fruitful field in which Satan could continue to work advantageously to accomplish his wicked schemes to ruin souls.