Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 14, 1876
GOD WILL HELP.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.
Text: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Heb. 11:6.
This evening I shall depart from the usual line of my discourses, as I want to help some here whom I know to be in need of encouragement, to decide to take their stand for the right—for God and his truth.
My text declares two things: 1. That we must believe that there is a God; and, 2. That he is a rewarder of those who seek him. To believe in God, we must believe there is a God. Most men believe this, yet there are some who do not; and of such the Bible says, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”
To believe in God, however, we must have some evidence upon which to found such belief, and such evidence abounds everywhere. All nature, the heavens above us, the earth beneath us, the grass, the flowers, the trees, and our very being, declare: There is a God. Besides these, the revelation we have of his will through the Bible is evidence that there is a God in Heaven. God requires us to believe. Read what our Saviour says: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature; i. e., present the facts of the gospel.” He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Mark 16:15, 16. If they believe they shall be saved. Man has it in his power to cultivate faith. He may grow in faith—may increase more and more. The Lord presents sufficient evidence upon which man may rest his faith; but he has left enough chance, so that if men will doubt they may.
We must believe that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him. I must believe this. It is a belief in this that will save my soul, and yours. I can go down on the streets and find wicked, profane, drinking men who say they believe in God, but they have no practical faith in him. In 1 John 5:4, we read, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” When a man has strong, active faith in God, believes in a living God, a present helper, he can do anything for God or his truth. The trouble with us is, we feel that God does not care for us—that we are so weak and little, so far away from him, that he does not notice us. But this is a lack of faith. Jesus says, “Have faith in God.” “O ye of little faith.” The disciples prayed, “Lord, increase our faith.” Lord, help our unbelief. You ought to struggle to have faith. Some think if they do not have faith they are not to blame for that. But it is our duty to cultivate faith as much as it is to develop any other good quality.
The wrong side is always the easy side. To disbelieve is much easier than to believe. To gain anything valuable or good, we must work and strive. This is so even in our work in the field, on the farm, in the garden, everywhere. Take that field of wheat. Was that produced without labor? No; you had to work for it. The field had to be ploughed, planted, and cultivated; but thistles grow without being cultivated. If a man becomes an intelligent man, it is a life work. If a man accomplishes any high and honorable work, or gains a position in society, he does it only by the most constant and continued effort. A fool can be a bad man, a drunkard, or a tattler. The infidel and the doubting man take the easy side.
The first thing for a Christian to do is to cultivate faith. Talk doubts, and you will have doubts. Talk faith, act faith, and you will find your faith growing stronger. Do you know that God prizes above everything else a faith that leads a man to obey him? James addresses his brethren thus: “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” Here is a statement that seems unreasonable at first, “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” We think and feel differently about it. God tries our faith, and why? If he is going to maintain his authority, and the order and happiness of this universe, he must have the prompt, unquestioning faith and obedience of all. He does not want that fault-finding, criticizing man in his kingdom. God must be implicitly obeyed without questioning. He wants the loyal man, the obedient man.
From Genesis to Revelation, Bible readers must have observed this fact, that when a man commences to be a Christian, God commences to try him. A man says, I want Heaven and immortality. God says, Will you trust me? Have you faith in me? And he then presents a cross just in his pathway. If he does not take up that cross, he is a failure, and God does not want him. The religion of Christ has always been unpopular, and its adherents have been in the minority. Many professed followers of Christ are zealous only for their church or creed. Now let the Lord present a cross, a life of self-denial, and that man will not accept of such a life. The cause of simple truth has always been covered with ignominy, and it invariably requires self-denial to accept it. The Lord orders it thus to test men’s faith. You say the Lord wants every one to serve him. You are right. But he wants to know if they love him enough to sacrifice for him. This he can know only as a man does the things he has told him to do.
I read my text again: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Now Paul gives an illustration of faith: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Verse 7. Go back to the time of Noah. The people had never seen it rain before the flood, and they could not believe such a thing possible. But Noah, without seeing it, believed, and built his ark, the first boat that ever was built. It cost an immense amount of labor and of means to build it. Who bore the expense of building that ark? I believe it will be found in the Judgment that when that ark was done, Noah had put all he had into the building of it, and that he was a bankrupt man. He showed his faith by doing this.
It is just so with regard to the second-advent doctrine. The world must be warned. The masses will not believe; but this work calls for a set of just such men as Noah. After we see the event there is no more chance for faith. There are men here by the scores, and women too, who love the truth of God, and will come here, after working hard all day, night after night and week after week. I know they love God and the Bible in a certain sense; but these dear souls are trembling in the balance. They are afraid if they come out on the Sabbath they will get wounded; and their church will turn away from them; and that they will lose their places in the shop or in the store. I want to say to such that in this the Lord is proving you, as he has all others in past ages. Your faith will now be tried.
We have another instance of faith in Heb. 11:17–19: “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called; accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.” Now let us turn to Gen. 22:1, 2, and see what is there said about the case of Abraham: “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt [or try] Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham; and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”
Abraham reached the age of eighty-five years, and he had no son; but when he was about one hundred years of age, Isaac was born. This child, the son of his old age, Abraham loved very much; but now the Lord required this son of him. To Abraham this demand was a reality. This was a close test, was it not? With his own hand, he was to take the life of his son, his only son, whom he loved, and offer him as a burnt-offering to the Lord. He must go a long journey, that he might have time to think of it. On the third day, he lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off; and leaving the young men, Abraham, with his child, went alone to the place appointed. Then, building an altar, he bound the lad upon it, and raised his knife, expecting to slay him as the Lord had commanded. But see how it ended. The angel said, “Lay not thine hand upon the lad; for now I know that thou fearest God.” There was something that tried him, but he did not try to evade it. He meant to obey God at any cost. “Now I know,” said the angel, “that thou fearest God.” God could just as well have tested him some other way; but no, he wanted to know how he would act if called upon to sacrifice his only son.
In every age, and even at this very time, men are called upon to sacrifice unto the Lord. Will they shield themselves now, and dodge the cross; or will they lift it, that the Lord may know, as he did of Abraham, that they fear him?
Take another case, that of Moses. We read, “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” Just go back there. Moses, in the providence of God, was brought up at the king’s palace, where he was to be made heir of the throne. But the time came when he was to make a choice. Did he say, If I go out from here I shall lose my position, my inheritance, and wealth? No; he chose to lose all these things, and to suffer affliction with the people of God. For this the name and character of Moses are handed down to us with honor; while, had he chosen otherwise, his name might have perished with the throne and riches that would have been his if he had not trusted God. So Moses will shine through all eternity. God brings us right here. Have you the faith that Abraham had, or that Moses had, which will lead you to do or die for Christ?
Notice the case brought to view in Exodus 14, relating to the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage, and their journeyings through the wilderness. The Israelites could have gone over into the promised land in about three days. They had left the presence of Pharaoh, and started on their journey. No sooner had they left than Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he started chariots and horsemen after them. The Israelites came near to the Red Sea, and behind them came up the Egyptian host. They saw no way of escape; before and behind they were hedged in; but the Lord said to Moses, “Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward.” They went up to the water’s edge, just as far as they could go. Then the Lord helped them; and, behold, the sea parted, and they passed on dry shod. In this they saw the salvation of God; and they sang praises on the other side, as they turned and saw the host of their enemies, following after, engulfed in the returning waters.
This circumstance is thus particularly related to teach us this lesson, to go forward and not to wait for the way to be clear. The Lord brings us where it looks as though if we keep the Sabbath we shall come to want, may be starve. The devil pictures before us cold, hunger, and starvation, that we may be kept from obeying God’s commandments. My brethren, have more faith in God, who is able to turn all these seeming difficulties to your present and future good. Go forward in the name of Israel’s God, and trust him, committing to him all your ways. It is very pleasant to talk about the good God, the mighty God; but when he brings men into close places to prove their faith in him, when he lays trials and sacrifices before them, how apt they are to choose any way to get around them, rather than to go forward, trusting in God. When a person once proves God and finds that he will help and work deliverance, how precious is that experience. We know, by our own experience, of what we speak.
Take another Bible example. From Exodus 17, we learn how the Israelites were led. In the wilderness the people thirsted, and they chided with Moses thus: “Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” Why were they led through this dry and thirsty land? Was it a happen so? No, indeed. He caused this on purpose. He did it to test their faith. We are not called to their experience90but it is our privilege to trust God’s power now, even at this day. Our necessity may be God’s opportunity. He may lead us to lose our business, our trade, our church, and our companions. For what? To prove us. A remarkable passage, just to the point, is found in Deut. 8:2: “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments, or no.” It is a great thing to know what is in man’s heart. The Lord has an object in all these trials. We read on: “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” Verse 3. Yes, man does not live by bread only.
A great many Christians think they have faith, but they would not trust God for a meal of victuals. Do you think that God does not prove men now? I ask you, Where is the test of modern Christianity? Is it in the popular churches? Do you lose anything in your business or in society by being in them? “Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm.” Jer. 17:5. Are you depending upon your position, your riches, your health? The company may fail, the bank may fail, your health may fail. Beauty vanishes, riches take wings and fly away, earthly hopes may in a moment be all gone; and then where is our hope? Is it in God, or have we chosen for our portion the things of this world which perish with the using? We do not know how corrupt we are, we do not know how much we love the world, or how little faith we have in God, till we are tried. You cannot know your own heart. If when some great self-sacrifice is presented to me, I cheerfully make it for the Lord and his cause, then I know that I have faith in God; but if I shirk and try to get around these sacrifices, it is evidence that I have not faith. “God first and self second,” should be the Christian’s motto. “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.” Matt. 6:25. Let us have faith in God. Christ continues: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Verse 33. Is there a living God in Heaven? Can we trust him?
See how the three Hebrews proved their God. The king had made a decree that every man, at a certain sound, should fall down and worship the golden image, and whoever was found not worshiping should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. They were now to be tested. Which would they do, bow down before the golden image, or refuse to do so and suffer the penalty of death? What did they do? Hear the king’s reporters: “There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee; they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Dan. 3:12. Then the king was angry; but he gave them another chance, by regarding which they might live. But hear their answer: “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us,” “and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Verses 17, 18. Live or die, we will serve the living God. Did God deliver them from the burning furnace? No; he suffered them to walk right into the furnace. By faith they walked in, and, lo, not a hair of their heads was touched, and they walked out whole. You must trust God in the same way. Live or die, bread and butter or not, I will obey God, should be the decision of every soul. Will you decide for the right, suffering the consequences? Walk out on the end of the plank. Take one step, and then another one, and another, till you get to the end, where God says, Step off. My brother, have you got to the stepping-off place? How easy to trust God for eternity and Heaven; but when it comes to trusting him for bread and butter you cannot do that. The Lord says, Do this or that. You say, I cannot do it. “O ye of little faith.”
Take these cases of trial and deliverance in the Bible. Why are these things written? For just such an emergency as you are in to-day, to teach you faith in God. Is God dead, or gone on a journey, or asleep? No; the God of the Bible lives to-day, and can and will provide for you if you trust in him. Obey him. Go just as far as you can; then God will come to your help. The trouble is you want him to help you before you trust him. This he will never do—faith first, deliverance next.
When Christ was among men, a belief in him and an acknowledgment of it was not so easy as now. To be a disciple, or follower of Christ, required a great deal of moral courage. Then to declare one’s belief in him was to subject one’s self to ridicule, scorn, and derision. Then, as now, the question was asked, “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?”
Paul believed God. The Lord said of him at the time of his conversion, “For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” The Lord called Saul, a lawyer, a worldly man, to see how great things he must suffer. In Acts 20, we read of his sufferings and persecutions; but in the midst of them he says, “But none of these things move me.” He wanted the favor of God and he was willing to suffer, that he might finish his course with joy. We have not only to do the will of God, but we must suffer his will. Christ came here a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His example of self-denial and sacrifice is before us. My brother or sister, do you want an easier way? Will you shirk and try to get around the crosses, and hope for the victor’s crown of life and immortality in the world to come, when others before you have fought hard battles, and sacrificed for the sake of truth?
Look at John Bunyan. He, like many of you, had a family of children depending on him. But for twelve long years he was kept a prisoner because he would preach the word. Did he reason, as I have heard many do in this tent, that he had a family to support, a duty to do by them, and hence he would keep still? Oh, no; he boldly took his stand, and went to prison for it. Mark the result. Through this imprisonment we have that book, next to the Bible, Pilgrim’s Progress. His sufferings were worth more to the cause of God than anything else could have been. Are we called to suffer like that? Oh, no; but when we see just a little sacrifice before us, we draw back and think we cannot make it. Shall we shield ourselves where other men have suffered? We are soon coming to the other world. Are you children of the living God? Are you willing to take up the cross, to give up husband, wife, children, and all things, for God’s sake and the truth’s sake? If we have not faith to trust God in these things now, he will not trust us with immortality and a place in his glorious kingdom hereafter.
THE ATHEIST.
By Wm. Knox
The fool hath said, “There is no God!”
No God! Who lights the morning sun,
And sends him on his heavenly road,
A far and brilliant course to run?
Who, when the radiant day is done,
Hangs forth the moon’s nocturnal lamp,
And bids the planets, one by one,
Steal o’er the night vales, dark and damp?
No God! Who gives the evening dew,
The fanning breeze, the fostering shower?
Who warms the spring morn’s budding bough,
And plants the summer’s noontide flower?
Who spreads in the autumnal bower
The fruit tree’s mellow stores around,
And sends the winter’s icy power,
To invigorate the exhausted ground?
No God! Who makes the bird to wing
Its flight like arrow through the sky,
And gives the deer its power to spring
From rock to rock triumphantly?
Who formed Behemoth, huge and high,
That at a draught the river drains,
And great Leviathan to lie,
Like floating isle, on ocean plains?
No God! Who warms the heart to heave
With thousand feelings soft and sweet,
And prompts the aspiring soul to leave
The earth we tread beneath our feet,
And soar away on pinions fleet
Beyond the scenes of mortal strife,
With fair ethereal forms to meet
That tell us of the after life?
No God! Who fixed the solid ground
Of pillars strong that alter not?
Who spread the curtained skies around?
Who doth the ocean bounds allot?
Who all things to perfection brought
On earth below, in heaven above?
Go, ask the fool, of impious thought,
Who dares to say, “There is no God!”
—Wm. Knox.
THE COMMANDMENTS.—PART 1.
By A. C. Spicer
In Exodus (Continued).
Next, attention is called to the emphatic and incontestable recognition of the then existing Sabbath, appointed by God in Eden, at the close of his six days’ creative work (Ex. 16: 22–30), and an intimation, at least, that the whole moral law of God was then and there known, in the wilderness of Sin, before it was ever announced from Mt. Sinai. Verse 28.
Replying to the murmurings of the people, God said, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.” Chap. 16: 4. This definitely presents the fact that God then had a law which he desired the people to walk in. It is implied in the above language that the people had failed to walk in that law. And now God declares his purpose to test their willingness to keep his law by some circumstances connected with the giving of bread from heaven, and the gathering of the same by the people at “a certain rate every day.”
In what did this trial or “proof” consist? “And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” Verse 5. “Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man,” &c. Verse 16. “And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man; and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.” Verse 22. And Moses said unto them, “This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.” Verse 23. Then, the gathering of two rations on the sixth day, and preparation thereof for eating on that day, was preparatory to the keeping of the Sabbath. But when had God said, “To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord”? It certainly is not recorded anywhere in this narrative, thus far, that God had so said. Nor is the language used so far anywhere in this narrative the language of a legislator proclaiming the appointment of an institution or the giving of a law. It appears only as the language of authority, regulating conduct under, and subject to, an existing, known institution, and its protecting law.
“And Moses said, Let no man leave of it [the manna] till the morning. . . . But some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms and stank. . . . And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating; and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.” Verses 19–21. On the sixth day Moses said, “Bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that which ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning. . . . and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.” Verses 23, 24. Sabbath morning “Moses said, Eat that to-day; for to-day is a Sabbath unto the Lord. To-day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days shall ye gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.” Verses 25, 26. Here should be noticed the marked respect which God manifests for the Sabbath, and the care he takes that the people shall keep it holy, working a miracle thereon by preserving the food on that day, while on other days it spoiled when an attempt was made to keep it over. Note further that, on the Sabbath, God ceased from the special work of giving that bread—an example to the people to cease from labor on that day, and that the seventh day is called “a Sabbath unto the Lord,” as in verse 23 it was termed “the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.” Here the thought is suggested (and it is believed subsequent investigation will fully confirm it) that the Sabbath was not only “made for man,” and given to him in which to cease from ordinary labor and learn of God and worship him and do good, but that it was and is an especial “rest-day unto the Lord,” he ceasing on that day from labor as an example to man, as he ceased from his labors of creating at the close of the sixth day, in Eden, and rested therefrom as an example to the race.
The Sabbath, then, is not the Jew’s Sabbath, nor yet man’s Sabbath, but the “Sabbath of the Lord thy God”—God’s Sabbath, though instituted for the benefit of man.
Nor is the language used in the 25th and 26th verses in respect to the Sabbath indicative of the first appointment and establishment of an institution; it is not the language used in instituting and proclaiming any such institution as the Sabbath, or even an ordinance, as may be seen by reference to the original appointment of the Sabbath; Gen. 2: 2, 3; by reference to the establishment of the passover festival; Ex. 12; of God’s covenant with Noah; Gen. 9: 12; of his covenant with Abraham; Gen. 17: 1–14; and by reference to the original appointment of the passover festival as sketched above from Ex. 12, or to the language instituting the feast of the first-fruits of the harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the end of the year. Ex. 23: 16–19; 34: 22, &c. It is not the language even of the original proclamation of an appointed institution then for the first time made known. This is not an announcement that the seventh day was to be “the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” but the language only of special directions to guide the people in complying, under the peculiar circumstances of that peculiar occasion, with the law of the Sabbath already instituted and already well known. In fact, the mention of the Sabbath by Moses in verse 23 was simply incidental to the approval of the previous act of the people in gathering their double rations on the sixth day, and further directing them what to do with the peculiar material after it was gathered; and the mention of the Sabbath in the language of verses 25 and 26 was incidental to the assurance by Moses that no manna would be found in the field on that day. In short, the whole language used in this chapter, and the events and circumstances described thereby, indicate that the Sabbath was an institution already established and well known to the people, and that with the usages and law of the Sabbath and its requirements they were entirely familiar; but that under the peculiar circumstances occasioned by the special miracle wrought at that time to feed them, they needed special instructions how to manage the strange and unfamiliar and very peculiar material so supplied to their hands.
But “it came to pass that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” Verses 27–29. Here in these verses is completed the definite answer to the inquiry, In what did that “proof,” test, or trial, of the willingness of that people to “walk in God’s laws” consist? which is spoken of in verse 4. The keeping of the Sabbath was made the test. And here is again brought to view the fact that God had not only given to the people, previous to this day, “laws” to be obeyed, but also “commandments,” in which the people were instructed, with which they were familiar, and which they broke by going out to gather manna on the seventh day. Otherwise, the rebuke contained in verse 28 was out of place and meaningless. Most clearly and most certainly does it appear in this chapter that the Sabbath had been given and was known to the people, and that there was a law or commandment enjoining and regulating the Sabbath, given and known before this time. Whoever gives close attention to the language used by God and that used by Moses, as represented in this sixteenth chapter of Exodus, must see that it is not language ordaining or announcing a new institution, but language simply regulating conduct under the peculiar circumstances, according to a law already known at this time, when God would discipline the people in special lessons of obedience, as a test or “proof” of their disposition to obey him.
But grant for the moment, what has been so persistently claimed by many, that these Israelites previous to this knew nothing of the Sabbath, and that the language of the fourth and fifth verses is the first intimation they have had of the appointment of a Sabbath; then how shall they determine what is meant by the term “sixth day”? The “sixth day” from what point of time? If, for more than twenty-five hundred years, there had been no Sabbath to divide time into weeks—to mark the termination and recurrence of the septenary period of time, then what could those Israelites have known about the “sixth day,” or the “seventh day,” as spoken of in this chapter? Nothing in nature determines or marks the septenary period, as the days, months, and years are determined and marked. God’s working six days and resting from his works on the seventh day, and then blessing and sanctifying the seventh day as a day of sacred rest “for man,” alone determined the septenary period of time; while the Sabbath alone marked it, dividing days into weeks, and designated when and where, in point of time, to begin to number the days of the week, and when and where to end. Without the Sabbath, those Israelites would have been then, as doubtless the race would be now, as weekless as the millions of Buddhists of India, who are said to have no Sabbath, and hence no weeks.
Logically, the fact of the existence of the septenary period determines the fact of the existence of the Sabbath, which alone marks that period. It is believed that the testimony is conclusive that the septenary period was established by God at the creation of man; that it has always existed since that time, and been recognized almost universally; and that the Sabbath has existed contemporaneously with it, marking the beginning and ending of the week. It is also believed that the testimony from Genesis, and now here in this sixteenth chapter of Exodus (see especially verses 4 and 28), is sufficiently conclusive to silence all cavils against the conclusion that91the fourth-commandment law, prescribing regulations for man’s conduct in respect to the Sabbath, and guarding and protecting that sacred institution, was given and made known when the Sabbath was ordained in Eden, and that a knowledge thereof, sufficiently full and definite upon which to predicate moral action and moral responsibility, was retained and continued all along through the ages down to the point of history mentioned in this chapter. For moral responsibility and accountability, such as are implied in this chapter (especially in verses 4, 28, and 29), argue the presence of a law to which the people were responsible under God, and a knowledge of that law.
Again, the presence of a law governing and protecting an institution (as in this case), logically argues the presence of the institution to be protected by it; and, conversely, the presence of an institution (as the Sabbath as set forth in this chapter) logically argues the presence of the law, in short, of all the laws and regulations needed to regulate and protect said institution. Therefore, not only must those Israelites, in the wilderness of Sin, and at least two weeks before they reached Mt. Sinai, have had a definite knowledge of the Sabbath of God, but also the Sabbath commandment guarding and protecting the institution, and all needed general rules to regulate their conduct in respect thereto, must have been known and understood by them; otherwise, God’s method of “proving them,” “whether they would walk in his law or no,” and his very severe rebuke of the people for refusing to keep his commandments and laws (verse 28), would seem a very great severity and injustice to them. Here notice that he charges them, impliedly, not with neglecting or accidentally failing to keep his commandments and laws, with which, perhaps, they were but partially acquainted, but with “refusing” to keep commandments and laws well known and understood, and, doubtless, perversely refusing so to do. This is the implication here.
To argue that this reference to the Sabbath here in Ex. 16 is only made prophetically as foreshadowing its institution and proclamation to the Jews from Mt. Sinai, and simply preparatory to that great event, seems very unreasonable, to say the least. For, verily, the people were required there, at that time, to “abide every man in his place” “on the seventh day,” because it was the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. “So the people rested on the seventh day.” Verse 30. Surely, then and there was the Sabbath, and then and there was it kept by God’s people.
To argue, on the other hand, that the time spoken of here in Ex. 16 was the time when the Sabbath was first given to man seems scarcely less unreasonable; for not only do the forms of speech, style of language, and tense of verbs used, and all the events and circumstances here recorded, indicate that the Sabbath was at that time a previously existing and well-known institution; but if this language of Ex. 16 is to be interpreted as originally ordaining and proclaiming the Sabbath as a new and before unknown institution, then, surely, the Sabbath was at first given without giving a reason for it; for no reason for the Sabbath is given in Ex. 16. Such a transaction would be unlike God, for, according to that supposition, the people were imperatively required to keep the Sabbath, which, as we learn elsewhere from the Bible, was ordained as a memorial to commemorate a very great event in the providence of God, and yet were not told what that institution commemorated.
Verily, keeping in mind all the facts above stated,—the septenary period, and the fact that the appointment of the Sabbath alone determined it or marked its recurrence; the language used in Ex. 16; the events that there took place; and then the reasons given in God’s word for the institution of the Sabbath,—we are necessarily carried back to Gen. 2: 2, 3, to find an account of the origin of the Sabbath, and the object and reasons for it, which here we find to be an existing and known institution.
A. C. SPICER.
TRUST
By Mrs. M. F. Butts
MAKE a little fence of trust
Around to-day:
Fill the space with loving work,
And therein stay.
Look not through the sheltering bars
Upon to-morrow.
God will help thee bear what comes
Of joy or sorrow.
—MRS. M. F. BUTTS, in Independent.
THE LORD IS COMING.
By Albert Weeks
The Lord is coming. He is coming back to this earth. He is coming soon, very soon.
We know that this is true because of the fulfilment of many prophecies reaching to that great event. We know it because of the instruction our Saviour gave in answer to the question, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” We have seen the signs fulfilled, and have believed; and now we accept the injunction, “Know that he [margin] is near, even at the doors.”
His coming will be in glory. His mission of humility is past. He comes no more as “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” This time he is not to be cradled in a manger. But he comes in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that obey not the gospel. We behold a royal title, “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” He reigns supreme. “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever.” Dear Lord, prepare us for an eternal inheritance where thou dost reign.