Signs of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 2. (1/8/1885)

Signs of the Times

Jan 8, 1885

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 8, 1885

The Calling and Character of John.

By Mrs. E. G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

JOHN was one of the first to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. He had listened to the preaching of John the Baptist, and knew that he was sent as the forerunner of Him who was the Hope of Israel. To John and Andrew the Baptist pointed out Jesus as "the Lamb of God." They immediately sought an interview with the new teacher. If the testimony which they had heard borne of him was indeed true, that it was he who should take away the sin of the world, they would become acquainted with him, and be instructed by his words of wisdom. Jesus saw them following him, and welcomed them to his humble abode. They remained with him that night, and when they left his presence, it was with their faith in his divine character and mission fully confirmed.

Andrew went in search of his own brother, Simon, and brought him to Jesus, with the welcome announcement, "We have found the Messiah." The next day Jesus called Philip to follow him. Philip sought out Nathanael, whom he knew to be a sincere and godly man, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and expressed his firm conviction that in Jesus of Nazareth he had found "Him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write."

Andrew, Peter, James, and John were henceforth known as disciples of Jesus. They accompanied him to Jerusalem, and were with him while he preached in the cities and villages of Judea, and in Samaria on his return to Galilee. They heard his teachings, and witnessed the exhibitions of divine power in the miracles which he performed; and day by day their faith increased, that this unassuming Galilean peasant was indeed the promised Messiah, who should restore the kingdom to Israel.

Though they attended upon the preaching of Jesus, and were much in his society, they still pursued their humble calling; but the time came when they were to leave their nets and their fishing boats, and be more closely associated with Jesus. Crowds now attended upon his ministry; and as he taught by the lake of Gennesaret, they so "pressed upon him to hear the word of God," that he entered into Peter's boat, and from it taught the people on the shore. When he had ceased speaking, he said unto Peter, "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." Peter answered that they had toiled all night, and had taken nothing. Their labors had been fruitless in the usual time for fishing, and there was no human probability of success now; "nevertheless," said Peter, "at thy word I will let down the net." It was done, and the draught of fishes was so great that the net could not contain them, and James and John, the partners of Andrew and Peter, were called to their assistance.

Astonished beyond measure at the unexpected result of his act of simple obedience, Peter impulsively exclaimed, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." But Jesus soothed his excited disciples, telling them that from henceforth they should be fishers of men. An important and solemn work was before them. They were to give up their only means of support, and spend their lives in unselfish efforts to save perishing sinners; but before he called them to this life of self-denial and dependence upon God, the loving Saviour showed them, that, as Lord of Heaven and earth, he was abundantly able to provide for all their wants.

"And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him." From this time they were constantly with Jesus. The Great Teacher passed by the wise men of earth, the talented and the educated, who were accustomed to receive praise and homage as leaders of the people. They were so proud and self-confident in their boasted superiority that they could not be moulded to sympathize with suffering humanity and become co-laborers with the humble Man of Nazareth. It was easier to train and educate these unlearned fishermen for the high and holy work to which he had called them; for they were teachable. They could be elevated to meet the divine standard. They could be taught to subdue self, and could be imbued with correct principles and pure doctrines.

Before they should go out to preach to all the world the good news of salvation through Christ, the disciples were to gain an experience; their fidelity was to be tested.

While teaching them, Jesus was instructing the world. He opened to them sacred truths. He taught them the worth of the soul, that they might feel the importance of laboring for its salvation with zeal and enthusiasm. They must be fitted for the great work which they were to carry forward when Jesus should leave them and return to the Father; and he kept them near him that they might see the character of his labor and be inspired with his spirit.

John was distinguished above the other disciples as the one whom Jesus loved; and he received many tokens of the confidence and love which he enjoyed in so pre-eminent a degree. While not in the least weak or vacillating in character, he had cultivated an amiable disposition and possessed a warm, loving heart. It was his delight to be ever at the side of his Master, listening to his gracious words of instruction, and his deep and genuine affection led him to be a doer as well as a hearer of the word. Day by day his heart was drawn out toward Christ, until he lost sight of self in love for his Master.

His love for Jesus was not a mere human friendship; it was the love of a repentant sinner, who felt his dependence on the pardoning love and transforming grace of his Redeemer. His deep and fervent affection was not the cause, but the effect of Christ's love for him. It did not spring from natural goodness of heart; for he had by nature serious defects of character. But self was hid in Christ. He was closely united to the Living Vine; and though naturally proud, ambitious, and quick to resent slight and injury, he became meek and lowly of heart, a partaker of the divine nature. Such will ever be the result of communion with Christ.

John was willing to be trained as to his manner of working and the spirit in which he should labor. He did not tenaciously cling to his own way, but yielded his will to that of Christ. He loved to contemplate the life of Jesus; and his strong love gave him a deeper, clearer insight into the character of his divine Lord than any of the other disciples possessed. Here he found the great lessons and perfect model of his own life, and he was ever trying to mould his character after the lovely one presented by the Saviour.

The confiding love and unselfish devotion of John present lessons of untold value to the Christian church. God is no respecter of persons. Heaven is a place prepared for those who have a fitness of character for the society of angels. Its lofty seats are not reserved for relatives and particular friends, but are given to those who love most. The beautiful mansions are opened to those who have practiced self-denial, who have brought their wills into subjection to the will of God, and in life and character have conformed to the divine standard. They may have by nature fierce tempers and grave faults, and these may have been fostered and increased by wrong methods of training; but if through the grace of Christ they subdue their unlovely traits, and fight the good fight of faith, they will receive the overcomer's rich reward.

The work before every one of us who have named the name of Christ is to copy the divine Pattern. We must rely in loving confidence upon the merits of Christ, and take hold upon his strength. Day by day we must subdue the evil traits that strive for the mastery. Earnest faith and loving obedience will bring us into as close relationship to Christ as was the loving and beloved John. Those who are faithful in this appointed work will be the acknowledged heroes of the heavenly courts. They reflect a bright light to the world now, for the power of divine grace is made manifest in them; and by and by they will shine forever as stars in the kingdom of Heaven.

CHRIST THE BURDEN BEARER.

By Mrs. M. Stratton Beers

BY MRS. M. STRATTON BEERS.

I CARRIED the heaviest burden, And was faint with fatigue and despair; I knew not one way of deliverance, Nor escape from my sorrow or care. But I heard a voice fall soft on my ear, "Be still and wait, for lo! I am here."

But the cross I bore was so heavy That I stumbled each step of the way; And my heart so loudly was beating That I heard but the half it did say; So He came closer, and spake in my ear, "Fear not, dear pilgrim, for lo! I am here."

Then I cried, "Oh help!" and He bore it all, Both the cross and the burden beside, "For I am the 'Burden-bearer,' child, And the Counselor, Comforter, Guide; Though Satan assail, and danger be near, There shall naught o'ercome thee, for I am here."

Strength Through Union with Christ

In point of character we are only as strong as our weakest point. How necessary then that we have a living connection, a vital union with Him who has no weak points; that through him we may become strong.

Moral and Positive Law.

(Concluded.)

Is God as careful in regard to the positive law under the new dispensation as under the old? I answer most unhesitatingly, He is. Dr. Owen says: "All things concerning the church under the gospel are no less perfectly and completely ordered and ordained by the Lord Jesus Christ than they were by Moses under the law." Dr. Payne declares it to be "a reflection upon the infinite wisdom to say they (the New Testament laws) are obscure, but they may be explained away if left to the mercy of man to explain them."

Dr. Witherspoon: "It is a very dangerous thing for us to make a comparison between one duty and another; especially with view of dispensing with any of them, or altering their order and substituting one in another place."

The great Dr. Owen, from whom I have already quoted, in his "Communion with God," says: "Christ, marrying his church to himself, taking it to that relation, still expresseth the main of their chaste and choice affections to him to lie in their keeping his institutions and his worship according to his appointment. The breach of that he calls adultery everywhere, and whoredom; he is a jealous God, and gives himself that title, only in respect of his institutions, and the whole of the apostasy of the Christian church into false worship is called fornication (Rev. 17:5), and the church that leads others to false worship, the mother of harlots. On this account, those believers who really attend to communion with Jesus Christ, do labor to keep their hearts chaste to him in his ordinances, institutions, and worship. . . . They will receive nothing, practice nothing, own nothing but what is of his appointment. They know that from the foundation of the world he never did allow, nor never will, that in anything the will of the creatures should be the measure of his honor, or the principle of his worship, either as to matter or manner. That principle, that the church hath power to institute and appoint anything, or ceremony, belonging to the worship of God, either as to matter or manner, beyond the orderly observance of such ordinances as Christ himself hath instituted, lies at the bottom of all the horrible superstition and idolatry, of all the confusion, blood, persecution, and wars that have so long a season spread themselves over the Christian world; and it is a design of the great part of the Revelation (of John) to make this discovery."

These writers say further that no law derives its authority from the judgment (or the inclination) of those to whom it is given.

Dr. Waterland observes: "The law presumes that when a man has done an ill thing (or neglected his duty) he either knew it was evil, or ought to have known it. Ignorantia juris non excusat delictum—Ignorance of the law does not excuse the offense. Even though conscience be pleaded for the omission or corruption of a positive institute, he would not, they being judges, be exculpated." Heineccius says, "Conscience is not the rule, but it applies the rule to facts and cases which occur. He who follows an erroneous conscience sins on this very account that he follows it rather than the will of the legislator."

The morality of our conduct does not depend upon our understanding, for our knowing or being ignorant of a thing is not the reason why it is right or wrong, any more than the nature of an action does upon the will; because the willing of a bad action to a good end cannot render it innocent. Divine law is the rule of our conduct, and every departure from it is sinful. Let it be remembered that in the positive department of Christianity there are no prohibitions; the divine command or inspired example is given, and all that is not conformable thereto is disorderly—prohibited; it is an act of will worship. In my judgment the following scriptures prove the propositions laid down.

In his sermon on the mount, Christ says: "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven." Dr. Wayland and others say that "least" in this passage means farthest from the kingdom of Heaven. Again he says, "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." Again he said, "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their . . . lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Again, "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" Again, "If a man love me he will keep my words." We gather from these scriptures the necessity of obedience.

The two positive institutions of the New Testament are baptism and the Lord's Supper. Both are commanded, and both are to be scrupulously observed according to the law instituting them. In every case where there was a departure from the law, the violators of it were properly instructed, and the ordinances were properly administered.

Paul found twelve Ephesians who had been improperly immersed. He did not say, Brethren, your intentions were good, you meant to do right, and according to your conscience you did do right, and as you are satisfied, why, your baptism is as valid as any administered in Jerusalem under our Lord's eye. No; Paul, carrying out the idea that to "obey was better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams," said: You are not baptized properly, and even though you have a faith, which I do not question, you ought to be baptized, and the twelve were baptized. "The free spirit," "an enlarged catholicity," and a hundred other euphuisms under which disobedience to divine law is hid in these times, did not prevent Paul from displacing the spurious by a genuine baptism.

The same apostle found the Corinthian church in error with regard to the observance of the Lord's Supper. They, acting according to the prompting of this "free spirit," this "enlarged catholicity" about which we hear so much now, had entirely set aside the Lord's Supper by a feast of their own. He rebuked them severely, and in restating the law under which the supper was originally instituted, he gives the sole object of the ordinance—the remembrance of Christ, and the expression of the belief that he will come again.

We see too in the bodily afflictions sent upon these Corinthians because of their prostitution of this ordinance, a manifestation of that jealous spirit which induced the Lord to destroy Nadab and Abihu and Uzzah and other violators of the Mosaic law. Paul said to the Corinthian brethren, For this cause (your sinfulness with respect to this supper) many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep.

Will not every true lover of Christ earnestly labor to know and do the will of Christ? We are not to do everything that Christ did. He does not demand that of us. We are not to be circumcised, or to wear such garments as he wore, or to recline at our meals. But what he has commanded us to do, we fail to do at our peril. As, for instance, in baptism, it becometh us, as him, to fulfil all righteousness, or, as John Wesley says, so beautifully, "Let our Lord's submitting to baptism teach us holy exactness in the observance of those institutions which owe their obligations merely to a divine command. Surely thus it becometh all his followers to fulfil all righteousness."

Christ's laws cannot without guilt be changed by adding to or subtracting from. This, however, has been done. The Catholic Church claims a right to do this. Archbishop Kendrick claims for her "the right to regulate at her just discretion whatever regards the administration of the sacraments." John Calvin claims that the church has a right to have rites dissimilar from the scriptural ones. Hear the Right Rev. the Catholic Bishop of Strasburg in a letter addressed to the Protestant clergy. He is showing up the inconsistency of Protestants in declaring the Bible to be their only rule of faith and practice. He says: "It would be all up with your baptism unless you establish it by tradition and the Roman Catholic Church."

My brethren, there is no limit to one's departure from truth and scriptures when once we set aside the positive instructions of Christ, making void the commandments of God, by traditions of men.

Let us adopt Martin Luther's rule, to which, however, he did not always adhere: "Whatever cannot be proven by Scripture, that I will not accept." Conformity to Christ's plan is as important for man as it was for Christ to prescribe it. If certain definite things are commanded, then these definite things are to be done. To change Christ's law, or to observe as ordinances that which he did not command—what is that but to dethrone Jesus, and to say that the age, culture, expediency, indifference, non-essentialism are all to be greater factors in our lives than simple obedience?

Let us set our faces as flints against all innovations. Let men cry bigotry, narrow-mindedness, illiberality, and charge us with all conceivable uncharitableness; no matter, for our Master we would bear even more than that. Let us agree with all, as far as agreement consists with fidelity to our Lord, and even where we differ let there be no unkind word, no hard feeling. We are brethren still. But let it cost what it will, be true to Jesus. Love Jesus more and it will be easier to obey him. Love always tries to be obedient. God grant that with honest hearts we may study to know and to do the will of him who gave himself a ransom for us. May we always observe all things which he has commanded. Then with David we may exclaim, "I esteem all thy commandments concerning all things to be right, and hate every false way." And at life's close the Master will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Amen.—C. C. Chaplin, in Christian Repository.

Family Prayer.

By Presbyterian Banner

It is said that in many professedly Christian households, in some localities, the family is no longer gathered morning and evening to worship God. We do not know how this is, but we do know that if it is true, a most important means of grace is neglected. It has been well said that "the family altar, with its morning and evening sacrifice of praise and prayer, where the spirit of the world through the day does not make it a mere formality, is the very heart and center of the Christian home. This united recognition of dependence on God, this devout acknowledgment of his fatherly care, and daily seeking his guidance, consecrates the dwelling of the Christian as a temple of Jehovah—makes it a 'Bethel'—a house of God." Over such homes the promises of God rest in clouds of blessings. Honoring God, God honors them, and "creates upon their dwelling-place a cloud and a smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, and over all the glory is a defense." A house in which God is not worshiped is not a safe place for a Christian family.

Faith and Works Like Wings

By J. Beaumont

"Faith without works is like a bird without wings. Though she may hop with her companions on earth, yet she will never fly with them to Heaven; but when both are joined together, then doth the soul mount up to her eternal rest."

The Testing of Character.

By S. S. Times

THERE are thousands of people who plume themselves upon never having committed this or that form of evil, when they ought rather to thank God that they never had either the power or the opportunity to sin in that particular way. There are thousands of men who stand to-day happy in their simple integrity, to whom the opening of new opportunities, or the enlargement of their power, would bring temptation, transgression, and disgrace.

There is no testing of character like the testing which comes with the possession of power. No man knows, or shows, all that is in him, until he has the power to do with impunity whatever he pleases. Plato suggests that men are usually just from compulsion, rather than from choice. And there is a certain amount of truth in the suggestion; for human nature, fenced in as it is by social custom and by religious law, often breaks out into such wantonness of wickedness as to give us reason to ask ourselves what the result would be if there were no restraints to prevent, and no laws to regulate, the exercise of man's wild will.

The truth is that we are liable to congratulate ourselves that we are above some particular form of temptation, when in reality we are before it; and often we only need to be lifted into a higher region of capability and opportunity, to find ourselves struggling for our lives with the very temptation from which we had judged ourselves to be most safe. Much of what we call virtue in ourselves and others, can be called so only by courtesy; for that which is guiltless simply because it never has had the chance or the power of transgression, may be innocence—the untried purity which has committed no wrong; but it is not virtue—the strength which knows its own weakness, and which has fought and conquered.

Every increased opportunity or capability for good, brings increased opportunity and capability for evil. Nor is this peril to the character associated solely with the possession of a particular kind of power. It belongs to requirements of every class. It comes with the possession of material wealth. "Money will do anything," says the popular proverb; and one of the peculiar dangers of the wealthy is that they are tempted into forbidden places to which their wealth serves as the golden key. This peril comes with intellectual power. Who is so exposed to the temptation to turn aside from the narrow and strait path as the man whose brain is clear enough to see how, by a little unscrupulousness—by a little lowering of his standard—he may "make the most of himself," from a worldly point of view? And this peril comes with the possession of even spiritual power. Wherever the place of spiritual privilege is, there is the place of spiritual temptation. The Jewish tradition which declares that it was the highest of angels who fell from his first estate, and became Satan, receives sad confirmation when we contemplate the history of the church, and see how frequently the highest have fallen, and how the first have become the last. And we know that our Lord's sharpest rebukes were spoken to the religious leaders and the literary men of his day—the classes which best knew the revealed will of the Lord, and by whom the power which came of that knowledge had been degraded to serve personal ambition and personal greed.

No man is quite free from the temptation to imagine that an increase of power and opportunity would make it easier for him to live an upright life. Few have that knowledge of self which forbids them to thrust forth their hands for the Master's cup, and to proclaim their own ability to drink of it. There is a general forgetfulness of the fact that the brighter the light in which a man stands, the deeper is the shadow that he casts; and that the more a man gains, the greater the burden which he has to carry. The man who stands at the top of the cliff sees farther and more clearly than the man at its foot; but his chances of falling are also vastly greater.

No, no! what is wanted in the lives of most of us is not more power and larger opportunities, but the more faithful use of the power and the opportunities which we have, and more gratitude to God because he has not called us to the possession of powers which we could not control, and to the facing of opportunities which might be, for us, by-ways from the way of life to the gate of hell. If God has not given us great powers, he has not given us the heavier responsibilities which these bring with them; it may be that the hand of mercy is holding back from us the talents and the opportunities which we covet, but which, committed to our frail bark, would swamp our tiny vessel. The man who possesses much material wealth, the man of genius, the man who occupies a place of high spiritual responsibility, is a man to be warned, to be encouraged, to be prayed for, rather than a man to be envied. We ought not presumptuously to demand that these powers shall be ours; in this, as in aught else, we ought rather to pray, "Lead us not into temptation." And if, on the other hand, it be God's will to call us to higher possession and greater power, our duty is to accept his decision cheerfully; not shrinking from the greater perils which that implies, knowing that He who gives the greater responsibility will not refuse to give with it his all-sufficient grace; and that to his every trusting child the promise comes, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be."

Christ's Personal Coming.

By Lyman Abbott

It is a strange and inconsequential logic which concludes that Christ will not come again because history has perpetually baffled all irreverential guesswork.

The prophecy of the first coming of the Messiah is not so clear in the Old Testament. The second coming is the hope held out to his church for the future. It is explicitly reiterated and promised by Christ. It was unmistakably the anticipation of his apostles. It is made by both, the basis of many a practical exhortation. The disciples are bid to be ever hastening the coming of their Lord; to live soberly in this present life, looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing; to be as virgins, with lamps trimmed and burning, that wait for the bridegroom; to be as stewards keeping their trust till their king returns to receive their accounting. Are they oppressed? They are to be patient unto the coming of the Lord. Are they in sorrow? They are to comfort one another with the hope of the day when the Lord shall descend from Heaven with a shout. Are they weary of waiting? They are warned against scoffers who ask, Where is the promise of his coming? With this hope Christ comforts his disciples ere he departs from them: With this the angels again encourage them after his resurrection.

It is idle to attempt to interpret these prophecies by the gradual and invisible appearing of Christ in the spiritual experience of his own disciples. The exegesis which can thus explain away the words of Scripture can at will make nothing out of something, and something out of nothing. The one appearing is gradual, the other is to be sudden, like a stroke of lightning; the one is invisible, the other shall be seen of all men; the one is without observation, the other with a shout and the sound of a trumpet; the one is recognized only by believers, and sometimes with difficulty even by them, the other shall bring terror to the foe and triumph to the friend of Christ. I would not put undue emphasis on the emphatic words of the angel at the time of the ascension: "This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven;" but if they do not indicate a far different manifestation of Christ from any we have seen in the gradual development of a Christian spirit among men, words have no meaning.—Lyman Abbott.

Partnership in Sin.

Boys at school do wrong in company, which no one of them would commit if alone responsible for the act. Young men at college sin as they would not at home, simply because "all the fellows do." Churches make the house of prayer a house of merchandise and play, because "all the churches do." Christians gamble because the church approves of it.

Politicians buy votes and slander their opponents because "all the rest do." The followers of him who said: "Swear not at all," multiply horrid oaths in secret lodge, because "we have all taken the same obligation." So-called Christian nations break every command in the decalogue and no person in particular feels guilty. The robbery of Mexico enlarges our republic; the killing of Indians opens the land for white settlers; negro slavery made cheap sugar and cotton; forcing opium upon the unwilling Chinese fills English coffers; plundering Chinese and Madagascar villages adds to the prestige of France; and so justice falls in the street, and a false show of patriotism hides the blush of shame. It is for our readers to do right as individuals, and not to think the consent of a church or a lodge can annul the moral law. "Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shall thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment." Ex. 23:2.—Cynosure.

Self-Seeking.

At the recent breakfast party given to President McCosh, at Belfast, this distinguished gentleman said that in his early life he applied for many positions, scarcely one of which he ever got, and he never applied for one of the positions he since held. It is not an uncommon experience that all self-seeking miserably fails, and the highest honors and most useful places have come entirely unsought. The real way to promotion and greater usefulness, is through earnest work and meritorious conduct. The light that shines brightly will be seen in the distance. We once heard a student in a theological seminary ask Dr. John Hall, at the close of one of his lectures, "How shall we best attain a change of field?" His prompt and wonderfully suggestive answer was, "By making yourselves conspicuously useful in the fields of labor where you are." This is the remedy for many of the evils of the candidate system, and would assuredly help a man much more and quicker to another field of labor than the personal solicitude of himself and friends, which so often diminishes self-respect.—Herald and Presbyter.

Temptation in Times of Distress

By Thomas Guthrie

The lion is said to be boldest in the storm. His roar, it is said, never sounds so loud as in the pauses of the thunder, and when the lightning flashes, brightest are the flashes of his cruel eye. Even so he who goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, often seizes the hour of nature's greatest distress to assault with his fiercest temptations. He tempted Job when he was bowed down with grief. He tempted Jesus when he was faint with hunger. He tempted Peter when he was weary with watching, and heart-broken with sorrow.—Dr. Guthrie.

Angels Watching the Heart’s Conflicts

The angels do not so watch for news and swiftly fly to bear the tidings from some Waterloo or Gettysburg, or the more critical battlefields of other ages, as they watch and wait in tremulous eagerness over conflicts which often have their sole field within a human heart.

Needless Alarm.

By J. O. Corliss

IN discussing the International Sunday-school Lessons for 1885, the Vermont Chronicle severely criticizes the future plans of the lesson committee in the following words:—

"To compass the Bible in the way of study is a grand thing, but to keep children for a whole year, or for any large part of a year, and especially the most hopeful, the most fruitful season of the year, away from the gospels, shut up with the Jewish Judges or Leviticus, we do not believe is best. If we understand it, the Sunday-schools of the world are to have no gospel until 1886! Meanwhile they are to be kept to Moses and the prophets. If this is so, we protest against it. No system, however excellent in its methods and results, can be good which thus for so long a time keeps the millions of children, without any respect to their intellectual capacities, or their mightier spiritual wants, to the study of Jewish institutions and traditions. No Saviour for the children for 1885! That will not do."

The impression conveyed by the above is that the entire set of lessons for the present year is to be in the Old Testament. Now it is a fact that the first half of the year is to be devoted to the study of the Acts and the epistles. In view of this we can see no reason for the above stricture on the proposed lessons. There is certainly gospel enough in the Acts and epistles to satisfy the most orthodox.

But why speak so disparagingly of the Old Testament scriptures? Their importance in the establishment of the gospel cannot be safely overlooked. We know that Christ and his apostles ever appealed to them as authority in their work. Who that has studied the Bible carefully does not understand that the New Testament itself is but an outgrowth of the Old Testament; and if the New Testament, which is supposed to be full of gospel, depends upon the Old Testament for its development, then why should we not conclude that the parent trunk contains at least the germs of that which is able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus?

Before a single word of the New Testament was written, our Saviour said: "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me." John 5:39. The Saviour's own words for it, then, that the Old Testament testifies of him. And why should it not do so, when the writers of it were inspired by Christ to do their work? When writing of the common salvation received as the end of faith, the apostle Peter says: "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." 1 Pet. 1:10, 11. All will readily see that this scripture applies to the Old Testament writers. Notice, that he says they testified beforehand of Christ's sufferings, and yet their testimony was given by the Spirit of Christ which was in them.

We also learn that Moses himself, fifteen hundred years before the so-called Christian era, had strong faith in Christ. In making reference to the decision of Moses, wherein he refused to be regarded as the seed of Pharaoh, but chose rather to suffer affliction with God's people, the apostle says that he esteemed "the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt," and then adds significantly, "For he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." Paul very well knew that the reward of salvation could only come through faith in Christ, yet when writing to Timothy he exhorted him to continue in that which he had known from a child—"the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

It is evident from this statement that a continuance in those scriptures to which he referred would establish Timothy's faith in the Lord Jesus. It must further be granted that the scriptures which Timothy read years before, when a child, were certainly the Old Testament, for the New Testament had not at that date been compiled.

But Moses could have a stronger faith in Christ than those who had only read the scriptures that testified of him; for it is very evident that Moses enjoyed actual converse with the Lord. One thing is certain, that during all the sojourn in the wilderness, some one accompanied the host of Israel, who spoke authoritatively to Moses, and directed all the marches of the forty years' campaign. Thus we read from Exodus 23:20, 21: "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions; for my name is in him."

There are some things in this scripture to carefully note. 1. God sends his Angel to conduct them to the promised land. 2. He would utter words that must be obeyed. 3. God's name was in him, thus giving him authority to speak as God. Who could be clothed with so much authority but the Lord Jesus himself? And if Christ was the actual leader of the armies of Israel, how plainly evident that the expression, "And the Lord spake unto Moses," which occurs so frequently in the narrative of the exodus, refers to directions given by Christ himself to Moses.

But we are not left to infer who this (to some) mysterious personage was. In commenting upon the course and conduct of the Israelites, Paul remarks: "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them (margin, went with them); and that Rock was Christ." 1 Cor. 10:1-4.

This is a wonderful statement. The apostle did not want the Corinthian brethren to be ignorant of the fact that the Israelites in their wanderings through the wilderness had spiritual meat to eat, and drank of a spiritual Rock. And why should they not have such, when Christ himself, the "author and finisher of our faith," went with them? Should it be thought a thing incredible that they partook of spiritual blessings, while in daily intercourse with the Author of those blessings?

Yet so it is. There is with some an unaccountable prejudice against everything pertaining to Old Testament times, which leads them to make statements recklessly, thereby betraying the greatest ignorance of the subject upon which they speak or write. Like the author of the quotation at the head of this article, they will affirm that no Christ or gospel is to be found outside of the New Testament. But a little careful study of the question cannot fail to convince the judgment of the most skeptical that the gospel—or remedy for sin—is as old as the need of it.

The Bible is a unit. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." So said the great apostle, 2 Tim. 3:16. The Old Testament is necessary to the understanding of the New. Neither could the Old Testament be fully understood until the appearance of the New, for the excellent reason given in the words of another: "The New Testament was contained in the Old, and the Old Testament is revealed in the New."

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