Signs of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 3. (1/15/1885)

Signs of the Times

Jan 15, 1885

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 15, 1885

General Articles.

By Mrs. E. G. White

Lessons in Humility and Love.

ON one occasion, as Jesus was journeying with his disciples, the twelve disputed among themselves as to which of their number should be greatest. They thought that Jesus, as the promised Messiah, would set up an earthly kingdom, and reign in Jerusalem on the throne of his father David; and John was no less anxious than his brethren to secure the highest place in that kingdom. The disciples did not intend their words to reach the ears of their Master; but he knew their hearts, and embraced this opportunity to give them a lesson in humility.

When they were come into the house, Jesus asked, "What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?" The presence of Jesus, and his question, put the matter in an entirely different light from that in which it had appeared to them while they were contending by the way, and they held their peace. They could now see that selfishness and pride of heart were at the foundation of their desire for the pre-eminence. It is no wonder that shame and self-condemnation kept them silent. But a little while before, Jesus had told them that he was to die for their sakes, and their selfish ambition was in painful contrast to his unselfish love.

When Jesus told them that he was to be put to death, and rise again the third day, he designed to awaken their interest, and draw them out to converse with him on this subject; but, wholly engrossed in their own selfish and ambitious hopes and plans, they failed to comprehend him, and they let this golden opportunity to obtain definite knowledge concerning the great test of faith which awaited them, pass unimproved. Had this important truth deeply impressed their minds, they would have been saved much anguish and despair. Jesus would have spoken to them words that would have afforded consolation and hope in their hour of bereavement and keen disappointment.

There was a radical defect in the characters of the chosen twelve, which must be pointed out and remedied. And Jesus "sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them; and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me; and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me." Those who possess the spirit of Christ will have no desire to occupy a position above their brethren; and those who are small in their own eyes are the ones who will be accounted great in the sight of God.

This lesson was not lost upon John. He saw his character in a new light. An act was brought to his mind which he had supposed was right, but which he now began to question. "Master," said he, "we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us; and we forbade him." James and John had thought that in forbidding this man to work miracles in the name of Christ, they had had their Lord's honor in view; but they began to see that they had been influenced by wrong apprehensions and a jealous desire for self-preferment. They acknowledged their mistake, and meekly accepted the mild reproof of Jesus: "Forbid him not; for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part."

But though so willing to make a personal application of the lessons of Jesus, James and John were by no means ready to abandon their ambitious designs. Soon after this, accompanied by their mother, they came to Jesus with the petition that they might be permitted to occupy the position of greatest honor in his kingdom. Jesus answered them, "Ye know not what ye ask." He knew the infinite sacrifice that awaited him; that before the kingly throne there was to be humiliation and shame, and the agonizing death of the cross. And yet he would willingly endure the terrible ordeal for the sake of seeing souls saved in his kingdom to enjoy untold bliss throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity.

This was the joy that was set before Christ, the glory that he was to receive, and that the two disciples had unwittingly requested to share. Jesus asked them, "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" Little did they comprehend the bitter cup of which their Lord spoke, or realize the fiery baptism; but they fearlessly responded, "We are able." Jesus said unto them, "Ye shall indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father."

"And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren." They were not less anxious than James and John to secure the chief places in the kingdom of Christ; they were therefore angry with the two brothers for taking, as they thought, an undue advantage. Aware of their ambition and their resentment, Jesus reasoned with them. "Ye know," he said, "that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." There was to be a difference between his kingdom and the kingdoms of the world. "The princes of the Gentiles" were ambitious, and sought for place and power; but their course in this respect resulted from false ideas of greatness and the pride of the human heart. Among the disciples of Christ an entirely different state of things was to exist. One was not to aspire to dominion over his brethren, and to seek to be lord over God's heritage.

"Even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." He, their Master, had set them an example of unselfish care for others. He was Lord of Heaven, and angels obeyed his word; yet he condescended to take upon himself the weaknesses and infirmities of human nature, to live man's example and to die his sacrifice. He did not, while upon earth, choose for himself wealth and honor and pleasant associations; but his life was spent among humble peasants in ministering to the wants of the needy and the afflicted. He did not shrink from contact with the most degraded and sinful; he preached the good news of pardon and peace to all who would accept it on Heaven's gracious and liberal terms. And in their ministry the disciples were to follow his example.

The great lesson which Jesus taught on these occasions is thus expressed by the apostle Paul: "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another." The disciples were in a school in which Christ was teacher; and those who were willing to see their own defects, and were anxious to improve in character, had ample opportunity. They were constantly receiving line upon line, precept upon precept, showing them that meekness, humility, and love were essential to growth in grace, and to a fitness for the work upon which they were soon to enter.

The instruction that Christ gave was not designed merely for the little group that listened to his words, but was recorded for the benefit of all his followers to the close of time. The truths he unfolded are of universal application, and should deeply impress our hearts; for they were never more needed than at the present time. The desire for place and power was never stronger; and there are many who think of others only to plan to advantage themselves at their neighbors' expense.

The people of God should be firmly united in love, strengthening one another against temptations and trials; but how often Satan diverts the mind to selfish objects. He knows our wrong traits of character, and he takes advantage of every opportunity to arouse them to activity. He excites contention, and leads professed Christians to seek for the supremacy, while through pride and self-esteem he blinds

their eyes to their own defects of character. While the disciples were contending among themselves as to which of them should be greatest, they little thought that Jesus heard them; but he read their hearts, and understood their ambitious desires. Just so it is at the present time. Jesus is weighing the character of every individual. If our motives are not pure, if our desire to please self is stronger than our desire for righteousness or to glorify God, we may rest assured that nothing is hidden from his eye, and that the desires of our hearts, as well as the acts of our lives, will be considered in the Judgment.

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

THE LILIES OF THE FIELD.

By Chambers' Journal

The Saviour's flowers! How pure and fair These simple "lilies of the field;" How sweet an incense to the air Their fragrant snow-white blossoms yield!

Not Solomon in glory bright, In gorgeous and in gold array, Was such a fair and wondrous sight As in their modest beauty, they!

They weave not the white robes they wear; They toil not, neither do they spin; No burden, like frail man, they bear, For, unlike him, they know not sin.

O emblems fair, O emblems sweet, Of Christian humbleness of heart! May we, as pure, at Heaven's feet Sit low and "choose the better part,"

That, to the "meek in heart" alone, Is by the great Redeemer given; That brings us kneeling to his throne, Throws wide the golden gates of Heaven. —Chambers' Journal.

Philosophy of Miracles.

THERE has been so much false philosophy written concerning the subject of miracles that it is difficult for those conversant with the speculations of writers upon this subject, to divest their minds sufficiently of pre-formed biases to examine candidly the simple and natural principles upon which is based the evidence and necessity of miraculous interposition.

The following statement is true beyond controversy: Man cannot, in the present constitution of his mind, believe that religion has a divine origin, unless it be accompanied with miracles. The necessary inference of the mind is that if an infinite being acts, his acts will be superhuman in their character; because the effect, reason dictates, will be characterized by the nature of its cause. Man has the same reason to expect that God will perform acts above human power and knowledge that he has to suppose the inferior orders of animals will, in their actions, sink below the power and wisdom which characterizes human nature. For, as it is natural for man to perform acts superior to the power and knowledge of the animals beneath him, so reason affirms that it is natural for God to develop his power by means, and in ways, above the skill and ability of mortals. Hence, if God manifest himself at all—unless, in accommodation to the capacities of men, he should constrain his manifestations within the compass of human ability—every act of God’s immediate power would, to human capacity, be a miracle. But if God were to constrain all his acts within the limits of human means and agencies, it would be impossible for man to discriminate between the acts of the Godhead and the acts of the manhood. And man, if he considered acts of a divine origin which were plainly within the compass of human ability, would violate his own reason.

Suppose, for illustration, that God desired to reveal a religion to men, and wished them to recognize his character and his benevolence in giving that revelation. Suppose, further, that God should give such a revelation, and that every appearance and every act connected with its introduction was characterized by nothing superior to human power; could any rational mind on earth believe that such a system of religion came from God? Impossible! A man could as easily be made to believe that his own child, who possessed his own lineaments, and his own nature, belonged to some other world, and some other order of the creation. It would not be possible for God to convince men that a religion was from Heaven unless it was accompanied with the marks of divine power.

Suppose again that some individual were to appear either in the heathen or Christian world—he claimed to be a teacher sent from God, yet aspired to the performance of no miracles. He assumed to do nothing superior to the wisdom and ability of other men. Such an individual, although he might succeed in gaining proselytes to some particular view of a religion already believed, yet he could never make men believe that he had a special commission from God to establish a new religion, for the simple reason that he had no grounds, more than his fellows, to support his claims as an agent of the Almighty. But if he could convince a single individual that he had wrought a miracle, or that he had power to do so, that moment his claims would be established, in that mind, as a commissioned agent from Heaven. So certainly, and so intuitively, do the minds of men revere and expect miracles as the credentials of the divine presence.

This demand of the mind for miracles, as testimony of the divine presence and power, is intuitive with all men; and those very individuals who have doubted the existence or necessity of miracles, should they examine their own convictions on this subject, would see that by an absolute necessity, if they desired to give the world a system of religion, whether truth or imposture, in order to make men receive it as of divine authority, they must work miracles to attest its truth, or make men believe that they did so. Men can produce doubt of a revelation in no way until they have destroyed the evidence of its miracles; nor can faith be produced in the divine origin of a religion until the evidence of miracles is supplied.

The conviction that miracles are the true attestation of immediate divine agency is so constitutional (allow the expression) with the reason, that so soon as men persuade themselves they are the special agents of God, in propagating some particular truth in the world, they adopt likewise the belief that they have ability to work miracles. There have been many sincere enthusiasts, who believed that they were special agents of Heaven, and in such cases the conviction of their own miraculous powers arises as a necessary concomitant of the other opinion. Among such, in modern times, may be instanced Immanuel Swedenborg, and Irvine, the Scotch preacher. Imposters also, perceiving that miracles were necessary in order that the human mind should receive a religion as divine, have invariably claimed miraculous powers. Such instances recur constantly, from the days of Elymas down to the Mormon, Joseph Smith.

All the multitude of false religions that have been believed since the world began, have been introduced by the power of this principle. Miracles, believed, lie at the foundation of all religions which men have ever received as of divine origin. No matter how degrading or repulsive to reason in other respects, the fact of its establishment and propagation grows out of the belief of men that miraculous agency lies at the bottom. This belief will give currency to any system, however absurd, and without it no system can be established in the minds of men, however high and holy may be its origin and its design.

Such, then, is the constitution which the Maker has given to the mind. Whether the conviction be an intuition or an induction of the reason, God is the primary cause of its existence; and its existence puts it out of the power of man to receive a revelation from God himself, unless accompanied with miraculous manifestations. If, therefore, God ever gave a revelation to man, it was necessarily accompanied with miracles, and with miracles of such a nature as would clearly distinguish the divine character and the divine authority of the dispensation.

The whole fullness and force of these deductions apply to the case of the Israelites. The laws of their minds not only demanded miracles as an attestation of divine interposition, but at that time the belief existed in their minds that miracles were constantly performed. Although they remembered the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, yet they likewise, as subsequent facts clearly attested, believed that the idols of Egypt possessed the attributes of divinity. The belief in a plurality of gods was then common to all nations. And although, by succeeding providences and instructions, this error was corrected, and perhaps entirely removed from the minds of the Jews, yet, before the miracles in Egypt, while the God of Abraham was, perhaps in most cases, acknowledged as their God, the idols of Egypt were acknowledged as the gods of the Egyptians, and probably worshiped as the divinities who had power to dispense good and evil to all the inhabitants of that land. And in common with all Egypt, they no doubt believed that the acts of jugglery, in which the magicians or priests of Egypt had made astonishing proficiency, were actual miracles, exhibiting the power of their idols and the authority of the priests to act in their name.

In view, therefore, of existing circumstances, two things were necessary on the part of God in order to give any revelation to the Israelites. First, that he should manifest himself by miracles; and secondly, that those miracles should be of such a character as evidently to distinguish them from the jugglery of the magicians, and to convince all observers, of the existence and omnipotence of the true God in contradistinction from the objects of idolatrous worship. Unless these two things were done, it would have been impossible for the Israelites to recognize Jehovah as the only living and true God.

It follows, then, that by the miracles which God wrought by the hand of Moses, he pursued the only way that was possible to give a revelation in which his presence and power would be recognized. The only point of inquiry remaining is, Were the miracles of such a character, and performed in such a manner, as to remove false views from the minds of the Israelites, and introduce right views concerning the true God, and the non-existence of factitious objects of worship?—Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation.

(To be concluded.)

Men's Hearts Failing Them for Fear.

BISHOP FOSTER, in the Christian Advocate, says: “One cannot long sojourn in Europe without feeling how exceedingly sensitive all political relations are. The quiet is never assuring. There are so many colliding interests among the different powers, and so many internal questions, that any moment may culminate in a wide and ruinous conflagration. The very air pulsates with danger. No power can move or even silently grow without disturbing all the rest. India is feverish. Egypt is unrest, Turkey is a prey around which the vultures are gathered, Greece is dissatisfied, Austria, Germany, France, Italy, and England are distrustful of each other. The nihilists, communists, and other guilds of destructionists are planning and scheming general chaos; and the nations, from India to the Isle of Britain, are liable at any new complications to break forth into the flames of war. There is so much at stake, such vast interests of civilization and human advancement, political and religious, that it cannot help but cause great anxiety with all thoughtful observers, as well as make uneasy all heads that wear crowns. What will come next, is a question propounded every day all over these uneasy surfaces of the globe, and the only rest to be found is in faith in an overruling power, who will somehow, out of the many alarming possibilities, work to the general progress and welfare.”

Reason Beyond Reason

By Sir Philip Sidney

REASON cannot show itself more reasonable than to cease reasoning on things that are above reason.—Sir Philip Sydney.

"Not As I Will."

By Ezra Tinker

GETHSEMANE is the darkest spot from Bethlehem to Calvary—Gethsemane's night, the blackest from the manger to the tomb. In the olive garden, the great moral battle in the world's history was fought—and won. Gethsemane was the crucial period in the history of the world's Redeemer. There was no other crisis in Christ's life to be compared with it. All that had preceded simply led up to the scene in the garden; all that followed was the outcome of the moral victory there singly won.

I recall the forty days in the wilderness, the temple, and the mountain-top, enumerate Nazareth, Capernaum, Jerusalem, catalogue the words and deeds of chief priests, scribes, and elders, fail not to note each unkind look and each ungracious word from the Jordan to the upper chamber, the days passed in forced seclusion, and the nights spent in earnest prayer. But over against all these I set the hours in Gethsemane. Have you ever earnestly contemplated this culminating scene? Nearly three years have been employed in miracle working, Christian teaching, and holy endeavor. Judea, Samaria, and Galilee have been repeatedly traversed, numerous villages and cities have enjoyed his friendly visitations, the palsied, the leper, the deaf, the dumb, the blind, the lame have experienced his healing power—the child and the man have been equally blessed. But Christ's mission on earth is drawing to a close. Galilee is visited for the last time. His face turns toward Jerusalem. He enters the ancient city amid the shouts of the vast multitudes who either led the way or followed in the train. He will never leave the city again. Before the close of the great feast, his enemies will seize him. He knows it all. Each day is fully improved. Toiling in Jerusalem by day, he rests at Bethany at night. The last night of his sojourn arrives. He gathers his disciples about him in an upper chamber, eats the passover, institutes the Lord's Supper, sings a song, descends to the walk, passes along the streets, crosses the brook Cedron, and enters the great battle-ground of the world. The disciples also enter the garden, but tarry behind. In the stillness and darkness of Gethsemane the struggle begins. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."

Have you ever tasted such a sorrow? Have you ever been crushed to the earth by the load placed upon your heart? Have you ever felt that you could bear the burden no longer? Have you ever seen some great duty before you, the performance of which might cost you your life? If so, you may have had a faint idea what the Saviour meant when he said, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful." The struggle reaches its moral climax when Christ voluntarily consents to bear the burden of the world's guilt, and exclaims, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt." All the rest is comparatively easy. The betrayer's kiss, the armed soldiers, the farcical trial, the cruel buffetings, the malignant mockings, the bloody scourgings, and the unjust condemnation, create no alarm. He appears as calm as if resting in the quiet home at Bethany. The decision to die was reached in the garden. The drops of blood are but the outward signs of an inward struggle which almost rends in twain the earthly tabernacle.

Oh, the agony of that hour when the God-man cried, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me!" The surrender of Christ was perfect. No mental reservation. The lips moved, the heart spoke, the will yielded. "Not as I will" may be readily pronounced by the lips, but fail of a true response from the heart. Submission in the face of imaginary burdens and crosses may fail in the presence of real ones. The mother yields her child while it is in health, but seizes it as soon as it is sick. The man of wealth scorns the unmanliness of the unfortunate bankrupt, but suicides when his own is swept away. The would-be martyr goes to the lion's den when no den is to be found, but shrinks and recants at the very mouth of a real one. A stolid submission is not the submission of Jesus Christ, or of divine revelation. The murderer is resigned to his fate because there is no escape. He dies because he must die. Not so the resignation of Christ. His life is in his own hands. There need be no arrest, no trial, no buffetings, no Calvary. He lays down his life for the good of the race. It is done freely; it is done cheerfully. There is repose in the very words. They are the words of conscious freedom, of cheerful obedience, and of perfect submission.

The experience is rich, grand, exceptionable, scriptural, attainable. If we can say, "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt," we have reached the heights of Pisgah. There is a pathway to the summit broad enough for the entire church. Moses climbed it, at the divine command; Stephen climbed it amid a shower of stones; Peter climbed it to an inverted cross; Paul climbed it to an executioner's block; Polycarp, to a martyr's pile. The world was redeemed through perfect submission. The world will be saved through the same spirit, and the church will be cleansed in the same way. We attain to completeness in Christian character by perfect obedience to each individual divine requirement. Write the Saviour's words upon your minds; bury them in your hearts; live them in your lives, and the world will be the better for your living.—Rev. Ezra Tinker.

"My Two Witnesses."

By Epsilon

"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth." Rev. 11:3.

DURING the forty-two prophetic months of papal persecution, when millions of reputed heretics were being put to death, God recognized but two witnesses, the Old Testament and the New. But the persecuting papists had such witnesses as tradition, falsified history, and the Fathers. These false witnesses were used to correct (?) the two true witnesses. The Bible says, "There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy" (Jas. 4:12); but the papacy said, "Obey the church," thus making itself another and better lawgiver. The Bible says, "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5); but the papacy taught that the Virgin Mary, Saint Peter, and other dead saints were intercessors. The papacy also taught the heathen doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and, setting aside the law of God, bowed down to graven images, trampled under foot the Lord's day, and put in its stead "the venerable day of the sun." With them the Bible was nothing compared to the will of the pope.

During these twelve hundred and sixty years, the two witnesses, the Bible, were studied in secret by those who were led as sheep to the slaughter. They laid down their lives in honor of the truth and light that shone from the two witnesses. They died because they would not heed the false witnesses—tradition, false history, and the Fathers.

The sixth verse of this chapter (Rev. 11) refers us back to the days of Elijah, when it rained not for twelve hundred and sixty literal days. These days of Elijah have an analogy that we should not fail to notice. The prophets of Baal were sun worshipers, analogous to the papacy, that set aside the law of God, and taught the people to keep "the venerable day of the sun," instead of the Lord's day, the Sabbath.

Reader, are you willing to allow the "two witnesses" to be your guide in regard to the teachings of our Lord? or do you prefer some traditional errors to the plain truths of the "two witnesses," in honor of whose true testimony millions have laid down their lives? May God help you to see and walk in the light.

EPSILON.

God's Peculiar People.

By R. F. Cottrell

God has a peculiar people, and a specific work to which he has called them. This has been the case in past ages of the world, and it will be to the end. In the development of the great plan of redemption and salvation, the people of God have been called to maintain their peculiarity; and their worst enemies, those from whom have arisen their greatest danger, have been false religionists, who have ever sought to lure them from their high calling, as witnesses for the truth, and bring them down to a level with themselves.

In ancient times the worshipers of the true God were beset round about with idolaters. These professed religion, as well as themselves. All they asked was charity. Men might worship Jehovah if they would not be exclusive, but would put him on a level with their gods. They would invite them to the sacrifices which were offered to the idols, and if they would consent to be present, they would soon see that "other folks had religion as well as themselves;" the object of false religion was gained, the truth was degraded, for its professors no longer maintained their peculiarity as witnesses for the truth.

Similar dangers beset us in these last days. God has given his people a testimony to bear and a work to do. Their only safety is in attending to the work that is given them to do—proclaiming the last message of the gospel to mankind. The worst enemy of God and men is a corrupt church, which, with high professions of charity, is ready to seduce the unwary from their peculiar character and work. They have religion; but if it will not bear the test of the "commandments of God and the faith of Jesus," it is not of the right kind; and weak souls in their association with them are sure to be the losers through their influence.

R. F. COTTRELL.

God Chooseth.

THERE are men who have strong and laudable desires to serve the Lord, and who fervently pray to be used for his glory; but he does not always seem to hear their prayers. There are various reasons for this. Sometimes men are unfit for the Lord's service. They are not purged from their sins; they are not vessels unto honor, fitted for the Master's use; and so he sets them aside as not adapted to his work. Sometimes men wish to do great things, but find themselves straitened, hindered, limited, and circumscribed; sometimes they are reserved for still greater work; in other cases they are rejected of the Lord for reasons well known to him.

Moses longed to lead Israel into Canaan, but he was not permitted to enter the promised land. So David would gladly have built the temple at Jerusalem, but the Lord would not accept that service at his hands. Paul was forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the gospel in Asia, and though he essayed to go into Bithynia, the Spirit suffered him not. In like manner we may have desires and aspirations for usefulness which will never be gratified. The Lord may see that we could not bear the exaltation and the honor which we seek. He knows far better than we do what is for our good, and so he would have us rest ourselves contented in his providence, not idle, but diligent; not careless, but watchful; not indifferent, but full of intense, earnest longing to do the will of God; yet patient under restraint, and content to be neglected and forgotten, remembering that "they also serve who only stand and wait," and that the Lord in his own well-chosen hour can lead us forth to fulfill his purposes of grace.—Words of Faith.

Christian Moderation

"LET your moderation be known unto all men." Phil. 4: 5.

The Seventh Day of What?

By John Orlando Corliss

WHILE all are agreed that the fourth commandment once enjoined the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath, there is by no means a universal agreement as to the meaning of the phrase "seventh day." Some declare that any day one may choose to set apart for rest after six days of labor, is as much the seventh day as any other day. But of what period of time would that be the seventh day? Surely any one can see that if the seventh day depends so much for its existence on man's appointment, it is folly to enforce it by a command from God, and a command, too, that gives as a reason for its enforcement that it is God's own rest.

If such a proposition could be true, how many rest days would the fourth commandment really enforce? Just as many as there are days in the week; for it is manifest that if man controls the time of the Sabbath, each one may decide for himself which day shall be the seventh. Then another deduction also follows; namely, the fourth commandment, while held to be general in its application, and binding upon all men in a certain sense, does not at the same time affect all men alike. For while it would condemn one for working one day in the week, because that was his convenient seventh day, another might work with impunity on that day, because in his creed he had set apart another seventh day.

What folly, do you say? True, and all who contend for an indefinite seventh day—which virtually destroys the Sabbath institution—make God the author of that folly, by giving a command that means nothing. If the appointment of the Sabbath were thus dependent upon man's convenience, he could just as well appoint the seventh day of the month, or the seventh day of the year as the seventh day of any other cycle. Why not? Because, says the objector, that would destroy the force of another part of the command which puts but six working days between the Sabbaths. But suppose such a result should obtain? Would that be any more disastrous than to destroy the identity of the definite seventh day?

It is manifestly much better to let the Sabbath law speak for itself, and all can then easily see the evident meaning of the command, and unite in removing the reproach that has been cast upon the Author of the Sabbath. "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the [not a] seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." The Sabbath, then, is the seventh day of a regular cycle, which contains just seven days. As the six working days precede the Sabbath, it is plain that it is not only the seventh day of that cycle, but also that it is the last day of the cycle. Therefore the close of the Sabbath introduces a new count of days, or another cycle.

This was God's order of the week from the beginning. In the commandment God affirms that he blessed and sanctified (set apart) as the Sabbath the day in which he had rested, after creating the world in six days. That day he also says was, and is, the seventh day. The same seventh day on which in the commandment he declared he had rested, and which he commands all to observe in like manner, he clearly pointed out to the children of Israel by withholding manna from them on each recurrence of that day during their forty years' sojourn in the wilderness.

The opening of the many months and years that came and went during all that time was not once marked by any such direct manifestation from Heaven. The advent of each year was determined by the changing seasons, and the months, as now, were marked off by the phases of the moon. Nature does nothing of the kind for the week. Nothing in the movements of the heavenly bodies denotes its beginning or ending. One thing and one only was ever given to separate between the weeks as they succeed each other in their flight. More than this, the week exists only by the division of time as marked by each recurrence of the Sabbath. Without it a weekly cycle would not have been known.

It is very plain, then, that the day of the Sabbath enjoined by the fourth commandment is the seventh day of the week. This is in harmony with the direct statement of the New Testament. Matthew says (chap. 28:1), "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week." Mark, this writer says that when the Sabbath was ending, the first day of the week was dawning. All are agreed that the week includes seven days, no more, no less. What day of the week was therefore closing when the first day was commencing? The seventh day most assuredly. Then of course the New Testament recognizes the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath.

But, says the objector, the fourth commandment says nothing about the week; it simply enjoins the seventh day as the Sabbath. Then we reply that the New Testament, to which the religious world uniformly appeals in settling points of controversy, identifies the day of the week enjoined by the fourth commandment, beyond the possibility of a doubt. Luke, in describing the events of the crucifixion day, says (chap. 23:54): "And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on." What Sabbath? Was it an annual sabbath—a feast day simply? The evangelist goes on to state what the women did after seeing the Saviour laid in the tomb, and then adds that they "rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment."

The day following, on which Christ arose, this writer distinctly says was the first day of the week. It follows, then, that the day before was the seventh and last day of the week; and as that day was the Sabbath according to the commandment, the question as to whether the fourth commandment enjoins the observance of the seventh day of the week is forever settled in the affirmative. J. O. CORLISS.

Where Art Thou?

It is very useful for us to frequently propose to ourselves this question, Where art thou? No former zeal, boldness, or usefulness will excuse present neglects. Yet we are most apt to boast of what we have been and done, when we have been neglectful in present duty. We shall do well often to imagine that we hear the Lord inquire, Where art thou? or, What doest thou here? In places of worldly amusement, in trifling company, riotous feastings, or where unlawful traffic is being carried on, the Christian can have no good answer ready. Nor can the minister, if entangled by needless, worldly business, by trifling studies, or by the pursuits of ambition, preferment of pleasure or reputation, to the neglect of the important duties of his calling.

Nay, if we are at home when we should be in the sanctuary preaching or teaching, or if we are drowsy or asleep under the sound of the gospel, or in company when we should be engaged in prayer and meditation or searching the Scriptures, such a question must confound us. In short, every station has its proper duties, every portion of time its proper work, and we should frequently call ourselves to account whether we be in our place and proper employment.—Sel.

Sincerity in Religion

Always remember sincerity is the very soul of religion. A single intention to please God and to approve ourselves to him, must animate and govern all we do.

The Nature of Happiness

By Burton

HAPPINESS is like an echo, it answers to your call, but does not come.—Burton.

Continue reading: The Treasures of the Snow