Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 12, 1892
WHAT IS THE CHAFF TO THE WHEAT?
MR. CRAFTS ON THE SABBATH.
IN the Christian Statesman of November 19 Rev. W. F. Crafts, the editor in chief, and the great Sunday-law champion of the United States, presents the first of a series of six lectures on the Sabbath question. The subject of this one is “The Sabbath before the Decalogue.” There are some things in these arguments, presumably the strongest which can be put forth, which we wish to notice. Mr. Crafts as usual first pays his respects to seventh-day keepers as follows:—
Genesis, not the Gospels, is the battle ground on which the champions of the Saturday Sabbath should first establish their claims.
They ask for a “specific command” for the observance of the Lord’s day. Let them give a “specific command” for the observance of the Sabbath before the Decalogue, in which they believe as well as we. If God’s example is enough in Genesis, Christ’s example is enough in the Gospels. If divine acts are to be considered as legislative “acts” that speak louder than words in the one case, they are of like authority in the other.
So it is a waste of time for the champions of Saturday to debate “the change of day” until they can prove they have the original day.
Their doctrine is that it is essential to salvation to keep the same day that God kept, that Adam kept. To prove that they are keeping such a day, one that has come down in unbroken succession from the first Sabbath of God and man, is the first link and most important link in their chain of Sabbath doctrine; and that link, the very one that fastens to the anchor of their hope, is hopelessly lost in the depths of the past. When they claim that not to keep the original day is as bad as theft, or murder, or adultery, that to keep it is a condition of salvation, it becomes essential to prove to a certainty that they have the original day. They cannot even prove it a probability. It is scarcely a possibility.
1. True Bible Sabbath-keepers do not hold, strictly speaking, to a “Saturday Sabbath.” The Sabbath of the Lord begins at set of sun Friday afternoon, and ends at set of sun Saturday afternoon. This is the Bible method of beginning every day. See Genesis 1; Lev. 23:32; Matt. 8:16; Mark 1:32, etc. The Sabbath of the Bible, therefore, whatever day of the week it may be, includes within itself only about three-fourths of any of our days, according to Roman reckoning. If the Bible time of beginning the day is not material, then one-fourth of the day is not material, for the beginning involves one-fourth of a day.2And if one-fourth of a day is not material, then the other three-fourths are not; and by that logic the holiness of the Sunday sabbath utterly falls. But by “Saturday-sabbath champions” Mr. Crafts means those who hold to the seventh day. These we will term seventh-day keepers.
2. Seventh-day keepers do establish their claims to the Sabbath not only by the Gospels, but by Genesis. Gen. 2:1–3 gives the very foundation of the Sabbath in the Creator's rest, blessing, and sanctification. God rested on the seventh day; that made the seventh day his Sabbath, or rest day. He blessed the seventh day of the cycle after he had rested, “because that in it he had rested;” that made the seventh day God's blessed rest day, or Sabbath.
God “sanctified,” “appointed,” or “set apart” that day. To whom did he appoint it? Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man,” the father of all the race, hence for all men. The Sabbath was therefore guarded by a command to man to observe the day. Gen. 2:1–3 does not give that command, because it is not a book of law, but a history of what was past; it does give, however, a record that a specific command was then given. Let the reader turn to the following texts to see the force of the Hebrew word “gadesh,” rendered “sanctify,” “proclaim,” and “appoint.” Ex. 19:23, 12. Sanctifying the mount was commanding the people how it was to be regarded. Josh. 20:7 (see margin) shows that the sanctifying of the cities of refuge was by specific command or appointment. To “sanctify” a fast is the same as to proclaim or command a fast. Compare Joel 2:15 with 2 Chron. 20:3. Therefore Gen. 2:1–3 in connection with Mark 2:27 positively declares that God proclaimed his Sabbath to man, and appointed it to be kept, even as Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast, or Joshua appointed the cities of refuge, or God set bounds about Mount Sinai. We have, therefore, not only the example of the Creator, but the record that he gave a specific command to man concerning the seventh-day Sabbath. Language means nothing if it does not mean this. The Sabbath, the seventh-day Sabbath, is therefore established by Genesis.
3. We have just shown that we have not only the record of God's example, but a record of his command, or appointment. We have, however, no example of Christ in the Gospels, for the observance of the first day of the week as a Sabbath or holy day. We have no record that he ever regarded it as a holy day, nor hint of such a record. We ask for no specific command for “the Lord's day;” we have that in the Decalogue; for the only Lord's day the Bible gives is the seventh day. See Ex. 20:10; Isa. 58:13; Mark 2:28. For the example of our divine Lord we have the deepest reverence, but we want the example. He has given us both example and precept in Genesis, or what is equivalent to that. He has given us neither example nor precept with reference to a holy first day in the Gospels. For a “specific command” for the observance of the Sabbath before the Decalogue, take not only what we have given above, but Ex. 16:23–30.
4. Seventh-day observers have proved many times that “they have the original day,” the seventh day of the cycle “in unbroken succession from the first Sabbath of God and man,” and we are willing to do it again for the benefit of the honest hearted and Mr. Crafts. Note the following:—
a. If the succession of the days had been lost from creation to the exodus, we are not dependent on man to set us right. The God who gave the Sabbath showed by a threefold weekly miracle for forty years that only one day of the seven, namely, the seventh, was “the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord” (Ex. 16:23), and this was “the seventh day,” “the Sabbath” (verses 26, 30).
b. We are not left to man's devices, memory, or fallible records to preserve the unbroken succession of the days of the weekly cycle to the crucifixion; inspiration has identified and confirmed it. It was “the Sabbath according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56), and it was the day just previous to “the first day of the week” (Luke 24:1; Mark 16:1, 2). We therefore are carried by inspiration from the crucifixion back to Sinai and the identification of the Sabbath by the manna; and by God's voice on Sinai and the instruction concerning the manna, we identify indisputably the Sabbath of the Decalogue and the original Sabbath.
c. No scholar will for one moment contend that the order of the days of the week has been lost between now and the crucifixion of Christ. All history is against it; astronomical records are against it; the Jews scattered all over the earth are against it; Sunday-keepers are against it. The first day then is the first day now. Therefore seventh-day keepers are observing in direct succession the original seventh day. We leave the candid reader who believes God's word to judge of its “possibility” and “probability” or certainty. It is not man who testifies at these important epochs; it is God. Well might we count it “hopeless” were we dependent on man, but we have God's word, a rock upon which we may rest.
And yet, looking at it from a purely human standpoint, it is not probable, scarcely possible, that the whole world should forget the count of the days. Once in a great while an individual does; rarely, indeed, a family does; but for a neighborhood, to say nothing of towns, counties, States, countries, and the whole world, to forget is preposterous. Upon this we need not dwell; God has spoken.
5. “Their seventh day,” continues Mr. Crafts, “is only a play upon words.” Indeed! Mr. Crafts says “the seventh day after six of work.” So Adam could have had one Sabbath, Cain another, Abel a third, and so on. And according to this logic God did not rest on a definite day. But the word says, and logic and common sense declare it must be true, God rested on a particular day; he blessed a particular day; he sanctified or commanded that particular day, “because that in it he had rested.” This particular day, “the seventh day,” he indicated by the fall of the manna, and enjoined it in the Decalogue for the same reasons he instituted it in the beginning. See Ex. 20:8–11; Gen. 2:1–3. This “Sabbath according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56) is the day before, as previously shown, “the first day of the week,” about which Mr. Crafts sneers. Reader, what day of the week is that which comes next before “the first day of the week.” Well, that day “is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” God has therefore given as his Sabbath the definite seventh day of the weekly cycle. Whose word, reader, is called in question to say that we know not when the Sabbath comes—the word of God, who gave the Sabbath, or the words of men who believe God enough to obey him?
6. The observance of any day is not a matter of salvation, but a matter of faith. Faith obeys; it cannot do otherwise. The absence of obedience shows that saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is also absent.
We shall have more to say on Mr. Crafts' lectures in the future. Decide, reader, not by the word of men but by the word of God. “What is the chaff to the wheat?”
Editorial.
By Editor
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable.”—2 Tim. 3:16.
Of that organization connected with the cause of God which takes to itself all glory for good done in its line, one of two things may well be questioned: There is a wrong spirit in the hearts of those who make the claims, or the principles underlying the organization are wrong. The latter will almost surely lead to the former.
God quickens, or makes alive, those who accept his gifts. He does not do this after they have attained a certain character or condition by their own efforts, but when they are dead in trespasses and sins. He does not do it because they are worthy, but “for his great love wherewith he loved us.” He does not quicken by our power, but by his Holy Spirit. The when, the why, the how is all of him. All he asks of us is to believe; and if we believe, we choose; and if we choose, we submit. God then works in the submissive soul to will and to do of his own good pleasure. Thus God would do by all, and thus, reader, he would do by you. Why not choose him this day? Now is the accepted time.
The apostle Paul says that those who hope in Christ should be “to the praise of the glory of his grace;” that is, the work wrought in us by his grace should be such as would redound to God’s grace, magnify that grace, and show its wonderful fullness. See Eph. 1:12, 14. What this work is, is shown in verses 4, 5: “In love having predestinated us [marked us out] unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” This is the exalted position (children of God) to which he has called us. This is the exalted character (that of Jesus Christ) to which he has marked us out. This is the benevolent plan by which it is accomplished, “the good pleasure of his will.” What wonderful encouragement such assurances should give every Christian! All this is what God wishes to do, is able to do, and Jesus died to do, in us if we will only yield ourselves to his will that he may. When we yield to God, and choose the good pleasure of his will, we may know that his will will work out that which is only for our good. Rom. 8:28. Such is his grace.
There is no greater evidence of a back-slidden church than to see it catering to the world, and seeking for civil power to support its creed or institutions. “Go ye into all the world” is the extent of the mission which Jesus gave his servants. “Preach the gospel,” “preach the word,” to every creature is the scope of the great commission. “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth; go ye therefore,” is the assurance that all the church needed to fulfill her mission was power from Christ, and that would be freely given. Why, then, should a church do as did Israel of old, forsake the Fountain of living waters, and hew out cisterns that can hold no waters? The marshaled powers of earth may seem to be a worthy, noble ally, and promise great results, but defeat and disaster are as sure to follow such an alliance as did the wreck of the merchant ships sent out by the idolatrous Ahab and good Jehoshaphat. He who chooses an earthly ally to meet the barriers of wickedness will find himself pierced by the broken staff on which he leaned.
A FORECAST OF POLITICS.
By Editor
FREDERICK F. WHEELER, a leading Prohibitionist of New York, thinks that out of the Prohibition party and the moral elements which survive the wreck of the Republican party, a new party will be formed, “a clean, new, progressive, and aggressive party, that will take up the questions of the saloon, immigration, transportation, finance, education, and others which have been too long relegated to the rear, and, led by new men of courage, positive and intelligent conviction, will carry them forward to a successful termination.”
And then when this is accomplished, he draws this pleasing picture:—
With the moral elements of the nation all centered in one party, and the immoral all in the Democratic, we can certainly soon expect to see the happy day when the American flag will not wave over a single legalized grogshop, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and no American child will go to bed hungry because a saloon licensed by Christian men has robbed it of its food.
With the politics of this we have naught to do. In the results contemplated we should heartily rejoice, but that time will never come when all the “immoral” elements are found in one political party. A party may vote itself so, but the morals remain the same.
The Pharisees considered themselves the most moral of men, but they crucified the Son of God; and he who spake as never man spake, declared that the “publicans and harlots” would go into the kingdom of heaven before them. Morals in the individual are as good in politics as elsewhere, but as a part of politics, as a matter of legislation, they had better be let alone.
THE FRIENDS OF SUNDAY LAWS.
By Editor
THE following is from Mrs. J. C. Bateham, the W. C. T. U. superintendent of the Sabbath Observance Department, who has an article in the Christian Statesman of November 19, on "The W. C. T. U. and Sabbath Reform." Inasmuch as Mrs. Bateham still retains her position, and this article has been written since the recent national convention at Denver, it may be taken fairly to reflect the position of the W. C. T. U. on the Sunday question. After speaking of the "victory of Sunday closing," over which they "congratulate one another," Mrs. Bateham continues:—
Closed gates on sabbath at the Exposition, now settled as we believe beyond a peradventure, is a moral victory that casts its light down the ages, and is worthy of our highest Te Deums. The year now closing has so far broken up the deep sea of apathy and hopelessness among church people, so drawn the attention, aroused discussion, and awakened conscience on the great Sabbath questions, that, if well followed up, we believe it will prove to have been the pivot around which we shall, as a nation, swing back toward a general legal and Christian observance of the sabbath. It is an omen of great future good that all denominations and varied organizations, that capital and labor, that veteran Puritans and young Endeavorers, worked with enthusiasm on the same moral platform, and politicians could do no other than sail with the wind.
It is sad, indeed, to see this great army, numbering in its ranks many noble women, giving itself to such a work. They did run well as long as they were doing a "Christian temperance" work, but they have prostituted their high calling to unholy political ends, and, like the "devout and honorable women" of old, are hindering the work of the gospel of Christ. Their Te Deums may well be placed alongside those sung by the armies of the Papacy in their seeming victories over the truth and its adherents in the Dark Ages.
And who are engaged in this work? "All denominations," "varied organizations," "capital and labor," "veteran Puritans," "young Endeavorers"—all on "the same moral platform." What effect did this union have on the politicians? Why, they "could do no other than sail with the wind." It certainly was not moral fear which moved the politicians; it was the wind of popular opinion set forth by the few in these various organizations who constituted themselves representatives of their unthinking (on this subject) fellows. And then Mrs. Bateham declares:—
We are on a vantage ground never before reached.83
The highest court of the United States has officially declared this a Christian nation. Congress, by its World's Fair action, has ratified the declaration, and the people, by their petitions, have said, "Amen, so would we have it." Now is the time to "push things."
And how do they propose to do it?—By repeating names and organizations till they "round out if necessary the 40,000,000 represented for the closing of the World's Fair gates on the sabbath." It would be a blessed good thing if the Australian ballot system could be applied to this matter of petition; the millions would be very perceptibly diminished. No political repeater or ballot-box stuffer ever violated the law of truth more than have the promoters of this matter of petitions for Sunday laws. Congress is to be pressed now for a national law, and "Blair's bill," says Mrs. Bateham, "covers the ground" "satisfactorily to us all." And so by every means possible will Sunday bills galore be pushed forward.
Say, reader, is all this Christian? Does this union of all these discordant elements on this one thing argue for its righteousness? We can understand how men of widely different motives and aims can consistently protest against the unrighteousness involved in it and the wicked results which flow from it. But is it Christian to move heaven and earth, to use and unite with the unchristian, the infidel, the antichristian, to carry forward a so-called Christian institution? Is it in harmony with God? Read 2 Chron. 25:5-9. Would Christ have done it? Read Matt. 16:22-24; John 18:36. Would Peter have engaged in it? Read Acts 8:20-23. The Sunday is coming to be, as it eventually will be, the great rallying point for all branches of apostate Christianity and the unchristian world. Herod and Pilate were made friends over the maltreated and crucified Christ. The foes of the religion of Christ will yet grasp hands over his downtrodden Sabbath, at once the memorial of the power and the token of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Reader, on which side will you stand?
Christ Our Sacrifice and Priest
By Uriah Smith
MAN'S SIN AND SAVIOUR. NO. 6.
By Elder Uriah Smith.
Christ Our Sacrifice and Priest.
ONE year's work completed a round of service in the sanctuary in the type. The reason for this is given by Paul in Heb. 7: 23. The priests of that dispensation were mortal men, and could not continue long, by reason of death. Hence, in order that the same man might go through the whole round of service in the sanctuary as high priest, and so the more fitly typify Christ, a complete round of service was limited to one year. But Christ ever lives, and so can complete his ministry in one grand round of service, however long the time may be. Heb. 7: 24; 9: 12, 26; 10: 10-12.
To avail ourselves of the merits of the offering of Christ, we come to God and plead Christ as our propitiation, and then we receive pardon through the efficacy of his blood, the same as the penitent who brought his victim to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of old. But when the ministry of our High Priest is changed to the most holy place, let us consider what will be the nature of the work then to take place.
The work in the most holy of the heavenly sanctuary will constitute the close of Christ's work as Mediator for the world. It will constitute the great work of atonement which he is to perform for men, the putting away of their sin in fact and once for all, through the merits of his own blood. Thus it was figuratively set forth in the type; and this fact shows that the atonement is a specific portion of Christ's ministerial work, and comes at the conclusion of his ministry and not at its beginning.
A great error misleads Christendom on this point. It is generally affirmed that Christ made the atonement on the cross. Two great and most mischievous errors spring from this view. The first is that of universal salvation. Thus, in John 1: 29 we read, "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh [margin, "beareth"] away the sin of the world." And Peter (1 Peter 2: 24) says, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." If we make these passages refer to the atonement, it would follow that the sins of the whole world were atoned for on the cross. Then the salvation of the whole world is inevitable; for whatever sins are atoned for, they will be thus disposed of and put away, and can never come up against the sinner to condemn him. Hence the whole world will be found at last free from sin, and be saved. But this will not do; for the Scriptures positively teach that all the world will not be saved; so another error has to be adopted to avoid this one.
The second error is this: that when Christ died upon the cross, he did not die for all the world, but only for a favored few, previously chosen and predestinated to this great blessing of salvation. But this is the most ultra doctrine of election or predestination, and equally unscriptural with the other. And, besides, this view contradicts the testimony quoted above from John and Peter, that Christ died for the sins of the whole world.
A correct view of the subject of the sanctuary enables one to avoid both these errors, and makes all the statements of the Bible harmonious and consistent. From this subject we learn that Christ acts in two capacities, first as a sacrifice and then as a priest. It was as a sacrifice, slain by the hands of wicked men, that he died upon the cross. Here the sins of the world were laid upon him, and as a sacrifice provided for all who would accept of him, he bore them. But when he comes to act as priest, to make the atonement, he atones only for the sins of such persons as have by repentance and faith sought pardon from him. So the saved at last are not all the world, nor only a predestinated and favored few, but all who have sought salvation and pardon in the appointed and provided way.
Christ's work of atonement in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary will decide the destiny of all men; for before he ceases to act as priest, it must be seen how many have accepted of his offered salvation, and he must confess their names before his Father. Matt. 10: 32; Luke 12: 8; Rev. 3: 5. And when his work as priest is ended, he takes his position as King of kings and Lord of lords. Rev. 19: 11-16. But this work of deciding the final destinies of men is the judgment; for it is the province of the judgment first to pass upon the character of men, and assign rewards and punishments accordingly. And this work of deciding all cases must be performed before the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven. A moment's reflection will show this; for when he comes he brings his reward with him, to give to every man according as his work shall be. And there is no time then given to investigate anyone's life and character, apportion rewards or punishments, or to do any work of investigative judgment; but a change is immediately accomplished for two classes of people, the righteous dead84are raised from their graves, separated from all the wicked dead, who still slumber on till the second resurrection (Rev. 20: 5), and the righteous living are changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, while the living wicked are left to perish beneath the judgments of God (1 Cor. 15: 51, 52; Rev. 19: 21).
THE INVESTIGATIVE JUDGMENT.
How is it known thus instantaneously who are to receive these blessings of a resurrection from the dead and a change to immortality when Christ comes? Answer—It has been decided by a previous work of judgment, which is none other than this closing work of Christ as priest in the sanctuary on high. But all judgment is rendered according to what we have done; and what we have done is known from the record of our deeds, which is kept for this purpose. John, describing another judgment scene, presents this feature, which must be the rule in all judgment work. He says: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Rev. 20: 12.
The decisions of this investigative judgment at the close of Christ's priestly work must also be rendered according to the "things which are written in the books." The work in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary therefore involves an examination of the books of record, or the investigation of the characters of all those cases that come before that tribunal. As expressing the great feature of this work, we may therefore call it "the investigative judgment."
By way of dissent from the view here presented, it may be said that this does not correspond with the type; for there were no books of record there examined, nor any rendering of judgment therefrom. Very true, and for the very good reason that that was an earthly, not a heavenly transaction; it was a work performed by mortal men, not by divine beings; it was the nearest approach that could be made to the real investigative judgment, by human agencies. The significance was all there in figure, without the particular and definite acts by which the real work of atonement will be carried out. And in reference to this imperfection, Paul says, "The law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things," etc. Heb. 10: 1.
This investigative work in the sanctuary on high results in one of two ways in every case examined. First, it will be found either that the person has truly repented of his sins and received pardon, and so his sins can be and will be blotted out of the books of remembrance (Mal. 3: 16; Acts 3: 19), or, secondly, it will be found that in his Christian life he has not been an overcomer, and his name will then be blotted out of the book of life (Rev. 3: 5).
The object of this sanctuary work being simply to decide to which class a person belongs, that is, whether he is one who is to be saved, or one who is to have for his portion the second death, only those cases will come up for examination whose names have once been entered in the book of life; for with respect to all others this great question is already decided. If they have never had their names in the book of life at all, they cannot of course have their part among the saved. They are condemned already.
This blotting out of sin is the cleansing of the sanctuary. This is the atonement. And when all cases have been examined, and the sins of all the righteous have been atoned for and blotted from the books, these sins are to be borne from the sanctuary by the high priest, and laid, according to the type, on the head of the scapegoat. Lev. 16: 20, 21. But we are now looking at the heavenly temple, and in this last great antitypical work who is the scapegoat, upon whom all the sins borne from the sanctuary are at last to be laid?
The view generally held on this point is that Christ is the scapegoat. This idea, like that of the atonement on the cross, springs also, we think, from the vague views of the work of Christ in his priestly office, which so widely prevail. Several reasons seem conclusively to show that Christ cannot act in the capacity of the scapegoat.
OF WHOM IS THE SCAPEGOAT A TYPE?
First, the scapegoat was one of two goats selected, as we have seen, on the day of atonement, for two very different purposes. One was slain and its blood was used to make an atonement in the sanctuary. That goat certainly typified Christ. So it would seem impossible that the other goat, used for an entirely different purpose, should typify Christ also.
Secondly, when Christ bore the sins of the world, it was on the cross, before his work as priest began. But sins are not laid upon the scapegoat, and he sent away with them, till the work of the high priest in the sanctuary is finished. Christ cannot therefore be the scapegoat.
Thirdly, the high priest laid the sins of the people on the scapegoat, and he was sent away by the hand of a fit man, not the priest himself, into the wilderness to perish. But Christ is certainly our great High Priest. How can he then be at the same time the goat upon which the priest lays the sins of the people? He does not lay the sins upon himself, and send himself away with them to perish.
Fourthly, the scapegoat was sent away into a land of separation, or a land not inhabited. So, if Christ is the antitype, he must be sent away from, not to, his people; not into heaven, for that is not a land "not inhabited," but from heaven to some desolate region, to come no more into the congregation of the people of the Lord. This surely will not be Christ's fate. He cannot, therefore, be the antitype of the scapegoat.
Fifthly, the scapegoat retained the sins of the people and perished with them; but when Christ comes the second time, he comes "without sin unto salvation." Heb. 9: 28.
As Christ cannot be the antitype of the scapegoat, the mind naturally turns to a being of just the opposite character, and one better answering to the idea suggested by the name itself, and that is to Satan. When the lots were cast on the two goats on the day of atonement, one was inscribed, according to Mr. Charles Beecher ("Redeemer and Redeemed," page 70), "La Jehovah," that is, for Jehovah, the other, "La Azazel," for Azazel. Who, then, was Azazel? The idea that this was a name for Satan is not a latter-day novelty; for Jenks, in his Comprehensive Commentary on Lev. 16: 8, says: "Spencer, after the oldest opinion of the Hebrews and Christians, thinks Azazel is the name of the devil, and so Rosenmuller, whom see. The Syriac has Azazil, the 'angel (strong one) who revolted.'"
In further confirmation of this view Mr. Beecher (pp. 67, 68) refers to the Chaldee Paraphrase, the Targums of Onkelos, and Jonathan, the Septuagint, the book of Enoch, the Jewish work, "Zohar," and the testimony of Cabalistic and Rabbinical writers, Origen and Hengstenberg. Professor Bush is also quoted as regarding Azazel as a proper name for Satan.
Against this application of the scapegoat one expression (Lev. 16: 10) is sometimes urged, which reads: "But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness." On this it is claimed that if the scapegoat is Satan, then Satan in part makes the atonement. Not by any means. The text does not say that the scapegoat made any part of the atonement, but that the priest made an atonement with him; that is, the priest alone makes the atonement, but, in completing the work, he has something to do with the scapegoat; and that which he did with him was only to lay upon him the sins of the people after he had removed them from the sanctuary, and to send him away to perish with them. So it will be most consistent and appropriate for our Great High Priest above, after atoning for the sins of his people with his own precious blood, and removing them from the sanctuary, to roll them back upon the head of the antitypical scapegoat, the father and promoter of all sin, the devil. Thus Satan makes no part of the atonement, but, as he acted a terrible part in the introduction of sin, so he has to act an ignominious and to him fearful part in putting away the evil of his own designing.
And what adds greatly to the strength of this view is the fact that in the experience of Satan, as revealed to us in the Scriptures, there is a scene which answers most fitly to the ancient ceremony of sending away the scapegoat to perish in the wilderness. John, speaking of events attending the close of Christ's work as priest, when he takes to himself his kingdom, and comes as King of kings and Lord of lords, to triumph over all his foes, tells us in the following words what is done with Satan, the head of the rebellious hosts: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years." And John further declares that at the end of the thousand years he perishes utterly in the lake of fire. Rev. 20: 10, 14. Then sin and sinners are forever blotted out of the universe, and the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Matt. 13: 40-43.
From this view of the subject it will be seen that the moment of greatest interest to the world is the time when the ministry begins in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary and the brief and closing work of making the atonement and cleansing the sanctuary is entered upon. Have we any means of ascertaining the time when this takes place? To this question there is an answer which ought to thrill every heart. The answer is, We have. One great line of prophecy, of surpassing interest, is devoted to this very purpose. It reads as follows: "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." Dan. 8: 14.
As we have seen that the sanctuary of the Bible is virtually one existing first as the type—the tabernacle of Moses—in the old85dispensation, and then as the antitype—the heavenly sanctuary—in this, we have only to ascertain in what dispensation the twenty-three hundred days end to know to what sanctuary—typical or antitypical—the prophecy applies.
Doctrinal.
"If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God."—John 7:17.
"THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW."
By Jessie Hocker
BY JESSIE HOCKER.
The sunset hour, its mellow radiance lies
Like benediction on yon purple hills.
The sweet, soft sounds of eventide arise
Like plaintive chords whose mystic sweetness thrills.
The wayside road lies 'twixt those towering walls,
And he who travels there must pass within
Their somber shade, which like a mantle falls
Across the way where sunlight once has been.
Does your path lie to-day within the thrall
The mount of shadows casts across the way?
Does your heart yearn to-day to rend the wall
That shuts without the sweet sunlight of day?
Know then this truth: the road is darkened there
That you may learn to lean upon His arm;
The smile of constant sun you could not bear;
'Twould bring upon your soul a lasting harm.
And wherefore doubt? Hath not the Father led
You safely through the labyrinth of years,
And o'er the path that is behind you spread
Transformed to gleaming rainbows all your tears?
O vale of shade, thy mission is twofold:
Showing the aid which in the light we scorn,
Showing the joy that time will ever hold
If faith within that darkened shade is born,
Showing how feeble was our petty claim
Of strength to walk alone when all was light,
Showing that we alone by Jesus' name
May brave the chilling terrors of earth's night.
So, when the shadows fall across your path,
Shrink not from entering their dark embrace,
Knowing that in this test the Father hath
Appointed it to fill a destined place.
College Place, Wash.
Slavery in New South Wales
Slavery in New South Wales.—The Voice prints a letter from Henry Stuart, of North Sydney, New South Wales, saying that slavery practically exists in Queensland and New South Wales. "The black labor traffic," he declares, "means nothing short of kidnapping and compulsory slavery. The wretched blacks are, from well-authenticated evidence, decoyed on board the so-called labor vessels, or if they are not decoyed they are kidnapped and carried off by force. On arriving at the northern Queensland ports the unfortunate islanders are marched up country to the sugar plantations, overseers for the planters keeping them together, and on arrival at the plantations the poor creatures work from sunrise to sunset in the cane, for the paltry sum of $60 a year and 'keep,' the keep consisting of coffee, molasses, and rice, with occasionally an old sheep thrown in for a change or a treat." It is said many times that slavery erelong will be banished from the earth, but it is suppressed in one form to spring up in another. So it will be till the end; for bondman and freeman will exist together then. See Rev. 6:15-17.