p. 1 | Review and Herald, Vol. 34, No. 7. (8/10/1869)

Review and Herald

Aug 10, 1869

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 10, 1869

THE GENTILE SABBATH:

By Dudley Marvin Canright

A Few Reasons Showing that the Seventh Day Should Be Kept by Gentile Christians.

BY D. M. CANRIGHT.

TEXT: “The Sabbath was made for man.”—Christ.

AS WE present the claims of the Lord’s Sabbath, it is often objected that it is a Jewish institution, never designed for the Gentiles. To meet this is the object of these lines. I must state my arguments concisely, and ask the reader to weigh them carefully. Christ says the Sabbath was “made;” if so, there must have been a time and place when and where it was made. It was not made when he was on earth, for it existed long before. It was not made in the days of Solomon, nor yet in the days of Samuel; for it was familiarly known long before that. Nor was it made on Sinai at the giving of the law; for its violation was prohibited before that. See Ex. xvi. Nor yet was it made at the coming out of Egypt, for it is familiarly spoken of at that time, Ex. xvi. The commandment itself points far back of this, even to Eden, Ex. xx, 8–11; and, finally, in Eden we find a plain record of its institution. Gen. i records how God made all things in six days. Chap. ii, 1–3, reads, “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” The Sabbath commandment states the same: “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, . . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it.” Ex. xx, 8–11. The facts stated are plain, simple, and important. First, God created all things in six days. Secondly, He rested the seventh day. That made it his rest-day, or Sabbath-day, as Sabbath means rest. Thirdly, He blessed the seventh day. That made it his blessed Sabbath-day. Fourthly, Then he sanctified the day. To sanctify, is “to set apart to a holy or religious use.” Web. How would God set apart the day to a holy use? Ans. By commanding Adam to keep it holy. That he did this, and thus instituted the Sabbath in Eden before the fall, has been generally acknowledged by all Christians.

1. My first reason for believing that the Sabbath belongs to Gentiles is, that the facts on which it is founded are eternal and unalterable. It is just as true to-day among the Gentiles, as it ever was in the past among the Jews, that God created all things in six days, and rested the seventh day. But this is the reason given why the Jews should keep it; and so the same reason still exists why the Gentiles also should keep it.

2. The seventh-day Sabbath was given to man by God as a memorial, or sign, by which to commemorate his creative work and rest. Every time we keep the seventh day it calls to our minds the fact that we worship the true God who rested on that day, after he had created all things in six days. Thus it becomes a sign of the true God, or his memorial. That this is the design of the Sabbath, what God made it for, is plainly stated. Gen. ii, 3: “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; [why?] BECAUSE that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Ex. xxxi, 17: “It [the Sabbath] is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; [why?] FOR in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Sign and memorial are synonymous terms. See Webster. So in Josh. iv, 4–7, of the monument of stones which they made, the Lord said, “That this may be a sign among you, . . . these stones shall be for a memorial.” Hence, the Sabbath is God’s sign, or memorial. Says the Psalmist, “Thy name, O Lord, endureth forever, and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.” Ps. cxxxiv, 13. Now if it was ever necessary for any people in any age, as the Jews, for example, to keep the seventh day to commemorate God’s creative work, that same reason exists still, why all, Jews or Gentiles, who recognize God as the creator of all things, should keep the same day for the same purpose. “Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also.” Rom. iii, 29. Is it not necessary and all-important that the Gentiles should remember and commemorate the Creator’s work and rest? Certainly. This all must confess. Well, that is the very primary object of the seventh-day Sabbath; the reason God has given why it should be kept. This reason is just as good now as ever, and just as applicable to Gentiles as to Jews. This is my second reason for believing the Gentiles should keep it.

3. The keeping of the Sabbath secures great spiritual blessings to those who observe it, by giving them a day for religious reading, prayer, meditation, and meetings. Though this is not the primary object of the Sabbath, yet its observance secures these highly-important means of grace to God’s people. Says the Lord, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy CONVOCATION.” Lev. xxiii, 3. Convocation, i. e., a calling together, a public meeting. Without the Sabbath, we would have no such meetings, and we all know the great importance of them. Now it needs no argument to prove that, in this respect, the Gentile Christians need the Sabbath as much as ever the Jews did. Here the same reason why the Jews should keep the Sabbath, still exists for Gentiles to keep it. But if the seventh-day Sabbath is not given to Gentiles, then God has never provided a Sabbath-day for them; for he has never required them to keep any other day.

4. Another minor, though highly-important and necessary blessing, connected with the observance of the Sabbath, is that of a weekly day of physical rest for man and beast. I can not, and need not, here argue the importance of the Sabbath-day in this respect. All know that our physical system demands the weekly Sabbath-day for rest. Do not the Gentiles need this as much as ever the Jews did? Certainly, they do. But if God did not make the seventh-day Sabbath for them, then he has left them destitute in this important matter; for he has never given them any other day. If he has, where is the record of it? Here, again, the same reason for keeping the Sabbath applies to the Gentiles as forcibly as to the Jews.

5. Another weighty and important reason, showing conclusively that the seventh-day Sabbath was not a Jewish institution—not simply made for them alone—is the fact that it was made and given to Adam, the father of the whole human race, over two thousand years before ever a Jew existed!! The Jews are the descendants of Abraham, who lived about two thousand years after the creation of the world,—the time when God made the Sabbath. Hence, no Jews could have existed before Abraham’s time. But God gave the Sabbath to Adam, who was the father of all men, Gentiles as well as Jews. In giving the Sabbath to Adam, God gave it to all his posterity, of whom he was then the representative. The Gentiles are Adam’s posterity, and hence, the Sabbath was given to them through him. Again, Adam was not a Jew. But the seventh-day Sabbath was given to him. Therefore, the Sabbath was given to some one besides the Jews. Hence, it is not for the Jews only.

6. At the very time God made the Sabbath for man, at the creation of the world, he commanded them, Gen. i, 28, to “be fruitful, and multiply, and REPLENISH THE EARTH,” that is, to stock, to fill up completely. Web. Hence, as Paul says, God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.” Acts xvii, 26. This strongly corroborates the fact that God made the Sabbath for all nations who dwell on all

the face of the earth. This would certainly include the Gentiles.

7. The fact that the seventh-day Sabbath was made by God in Eden before the fall, is strong evidence of its perpetuity and of its universal application to all nations. It was not a temporal thing, brought in after the fall, to serve a special purpose with a peculiar people; but was given as a blessing to man in his Eden home. This fact should have great weight in this question.

8. Christ says, “The Sabbath was made for MAN.” Mark ii, 27. Now it is a grammatical rule that a noun unlimited by an adjective is to be taken in its broadest sense; as, man is mortal, i. e., all men are mortal. Hence this language is equivalent to declaring that the Sabbath was made for all men. Thus: 1. The Sabbath was made for man. 2. Every Gentile is a man. 3. Therefore the Sabbath was made for the Gentiles. There is no evading this conclusion, unless it can be shown that a Gentile is not a man? The Sabbath was made for man; therefore, wherever we find a man, the Sabbath was made for him. And the Gentiles are men, hence the Sabbath was made for them.

9. Another fact directly showing that the Sabbath was made to be of universal application to all men, both Jews and Gentiles, is that God has placed it in the heart of the moral law, the ten commandments. All confess that the other nine precepts are of universal application to all men, Gentiles as well as Jews. Look at them. 1. Have no other gods before me. 2. Make no images, nor worship them. 3. Take not my name in vain. 4. Keep my Sabbath, the seventh day. 5. Honor thy parents. 6. Do not kill. 7. Do not commit adultery. 8. Do not steal. 9. Do not lie. 10. Do not covet. Ex. xx. This is the substance of them. Did not God know what was appropriate when he classed his Sabbath with these moral precepts which are binding on all men? Certainly he did, and put it there intentionally, thus showing his design that all men should keep it.

10. My tenth reason for believing the Sabbath binding on Gentiles is, that the law of God, the ten commandments, was neither abolished nor altered by Christ at his coming. On the contrary, Christ and all the New-Testament writers declare that it is not destroyed nor made void, but is established by the gospel, and binding on Christians. Says Jesus, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven.” Matt. v, 17–19. So says Paul: “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.” Rom. iii, 31. James talks in the same strain: “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.” Chap. ii, 10, 11. This clearly teaches that the law, every point in it, is binding on Christians. The seventh-day Sabbath is a part of that law, and hence must be kept by Gentiles.

The ceremonial law given through Moses, regulating the priesthood, sacrifices, circumcision, feast-days, new moons, and yearly sabbaths, was abolished at the cross, and is not binding upon us; but not so of the moral law.

11. The Gentiles who never saw the law nor the Bible, have the law written in their hearts by nature. Proof: “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which show the work of the law written in their hearts,” &c. Rom. ii, 14, 15. Here we are taught that the Gentiles have the law written in their hearts by nature; hence it is to the principles of this law, the sense of moral right and wrong, that God’s word appeals, to convince these Gentiles that they are sinners, and need to repent. Now the Sabbath is a part of that law; a proof of which is, that most of the Gentiles have a Sabbath, a sacred day, which comes, not once in eight, or ten, or six days, &c., but once in seven days. Where did they get this idea from? We answer. From nature and from tradition. Both facts show that God designed the Sabbath for Gentiles as well as Jews.

12. Another fact pointing to the same truth is, that all the world are declared to be condemned by that law, or to be under it. Rom. iii, 19: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Here the law stops every mouth and condemns all the world. A law cannot condemn those who are not under it; but all the world are under the law; the Gentiles are a part of the world; therefore, the Gentiles are under the law as well as the Jews. This shows that it has claims upon them. Well, the seventh-day Sabbath is a part of that law; hence it is binding on the Gentiles. Paul says we are not under the law, but under grace. Very true. We, Christians, are not under the law, that is, condemned by it, for we have been pardoned; but that does not release us from keeping it.

13. But we have a direct declaration of the Lord, pronouncing a blessing on every Gentile who will keep his Sabbath. Isa. lvi, 2–7. “Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. . . . Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth his hand from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant, even them will I bring to my holy mountain.” The strangers are the Gentiles. Eph. ii, 11, 12. Here then is a direct declaration from God that he wishes Gentiles to keep his Sabbath. This settles the point that God made it for Gentiles as well as Jews.

14. By the words of Jesus himself we have the Sabbath and the law of the Sabbath recognized as binding in the New Testament, hence obligatory on Gentiles. Matt. xii, 12. “Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath-days.” 1. Then there are Sabbath-days in the gospel. 2. There is a law with regard to the Sabbath. It is lawful, means that it is according to law; but it could not be according to law when there is no law. Hence, in this language he recognizes the law of the Sabbath in the New Testament. That law says the seventh day is the Sabbath.

15. Devout Gentiles have kept the Sabbath. Paul, in all his travels, as related in Acts, always found devout Greeks and Gentiles keeping the Sabbath with the Jews, and this, too, outside of Judea. Acts xiii, 42–48; xvii, 1–4; xviii, 1–4. Many of these Gentiles became Christians, and kept right on observing the Sabbath as before. Thus, at Corinth.

16. History shows that the Gentiles, as well as Jews, did keep the Sabbath for 300 years and more after Christ. This they probably learned from the apostles themselves.

17. The Sabbath will be kept in the new earth. Isa. lxvi, 22, 23. All will keep it there who are saved, both Jews and Gentiles. This strongly indicates that it should be kept by all who are preparing for that holy place. These are a few of the reasons which lead me to believe that the Sabbath was made for Gentiles as well as Jews, and should be kept by them now.

CONSECRATED.

By E. Warren

Oh, the sweetness of the spirit That to Christ is fully given! The last sinful thing rejected, There is room for joy from Heaven.

Who can tell the rich, full blessing, Gushing from the springs of love, All supplied from those pure fountains From which seraphs drink above.

Oh! so pure must be our being, Ere this life and love comes in; For the stream from Heaven flows feebly, O'er the rubbish of our sin.

And a mountain wall arises, Reared by guilt around our souls; Here the gentle stream must tarry, Checked, rebuffed, aback it rolls.

Let us tear away the hindrance, Though it leave our dwelling bare; Then may flow the healing waters, Heaven's blossoms flourish there.

E. WARREN.

THE LORD'S SABBATH PROVED BY SUNDAY ARGUMENTS.

By G. W. A.

(Concluded.)

OUR extracts, last week, from Mr. Kingsbury's work, closed where he was answering the objection, “But the moral law, or ten commandments, has been abrogated.” In refutation of that error he continues to meet the point at issue as follows:

“John vii, 19: ‘Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?’ Evidently referring to the sixth commandment, the moral law. See also 23d verse, ‘law of Moses,’ which there means the law of circumcision—a part of the ceremonial law. The ceremonial law is frequently called the law of Moses, while the ten commandments are called the law of God, and we know not that they ever were called the law of Moses, unless when referring to the whole Pentateuch. God wrote the moral, Moses the ceremonial law; hence the propriety of this usage to distinguish them—‘the law of God and the law of Moses.’ The Moral Law is also too high to be reached by mortals. No one can destroy, or alter, or abrogate it. See also verse 49: ‘This people who knoweth not the law are cursed,’ i. e., the unbelieving people that followed Jesus.

“Some in Paul's day taught that faith made void the law, that the man who believed in Christ was no longer bound by the law. See Rom. iii, 28. ‘Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.’ To this unscriptural conclusion, Paul, in the 31st verse, replies, ‘Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law,’ i. e., the moral law, that law which is in its very nature indestructible, and adapted to the government of moral, accountable creatures, in all ages of the world. No one of the commands can be taken from the decalogue: and the Sabbath is an essential part of it, one of its immutable, natural, as well as moral laws.

“The moral law, then, Paul being witness, stands complete in all its parts; established, if possible, more firmly than ever, by what Christ and his apostles have done. Let no man then conclude that he can by any means avoid the claims of the moral law. He cannot do it. It stands, all of it, unrepealed, and will forever so stand. Rom. iv, 15: ‘For where no law is, there is no transgression.’ If the moral law is done away, then there is no sin. In order, then, to determine what is and what is not sinful, we need the whole law. That touches every case of transgression which can be committed against God or man.

“Rom. v, 13: ‘But sin is not imputed when there is no law.’”

“Rom. vii, 1: ‘Know ye not, brethren, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?’ Now infidels acknowledge that the ceremonial law was done away by the coming of Christ; and they would not wish to have it understood that this quotation referred to the judicial law of the Jews. That would be too strict for them. Hence we know not how they can avoid the conclusion that the passage speaks of the moral law as a whole; and that no part of it has ever been abrogated, nor ever can be. This law, O man, whether you will or not, hath dominion over you. Again, in the third verse, Paul states the conditions which constitute adultery, i. e., that a woman be married to another man during her husband's lifetime; in which case ‘the law’ calls her an adulteress; that is, of course, the moral law. In the sixth verse, the phrase, ‘delivered from the law,’ means, not from obligation to obey it, but that by faith in Christ, we may be delivered from its condemning power.”

“The passage in verse 7, ‘Is the law sin? God forbid,’ together with the whole of the apostle's argument in this chapter, amounts to this: The Christian religion, instead of doing away or contradicting the commandments, establishes, and is in exact accordance with them. The law is as holy, just, and good, and as necessary now, as ever it was before the coming of Christ. No part of it is sin, no part unnecessary, no part unjust.

“Verse 22: ‘For I delight in the law of God after

the inward man.’ Such is the feeling of that apostle towards the law of God, who has been quoted to prove its abrogation. He still ‘delights in it.’ This holy man, in loving the law, did not love that which he had been instrumental in abolishing. He could not delight in a nonentity. The Christian Sabbath was a part of the law he delighted in. [The reader must decide, from the Scriptures, whether the term ‘Christian’ Sabbath is a proper expression or not. The Bible says nothing about either Jewish or Christian Sabbath, but simply calls it ‘the Sabbath of the Lord.’ And the writer, Mr. Kingsbury, has directly contradicted this idea in the words before quoted, as follows: ‘The Sabbath is not peculiar to any dispensation, patriarchal, Jewish, or Christian. It is older than either, and belongs to the race.’ A.]”

“Rom. viii, 7: ‘Law of God,’ i. e., moral law, not the law of Moses; also xiii, 8, 10: ‘Love is the fulfilling of the law.’ Of course, law here means the ten commandments.

“Eph. ii, 15: ‘Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.’ This text the objector also thinks supports his position. But, by a careful examination, it is easy to see the apostle's meaning. He is giving to the Ephesians a short view of what Christ has done for them, in breaking down the wall of partition between them and the Jews; that he has brought them nigh by his blood—is their peace; and of the twain, the two classes, has made one new man, in himself, by abolishing in the flesh the enmity, i. e., doing away these ceremonial laws or ordinances, which had been established to keep them separate, and were in the way of their coming together. Thus, by removing the law of commandments, in ordinances, the enmity between Jew and Gentile should, by-and-by, cease.

“James ii, 8, 10, shows that the whole law was yet in force. ‘For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.’ The sixth and seventh commands are mentioned, which shows that it is the ten commandments of which the apostle speaks.

“1 John iii, 4: ‘Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law.’ From this, also, it appears that the law, the moral law, is still in force.

“Let it be observed that the original institution of the Sabbath, as related in Ex. xx, is not only a moral precept, but is among the immutable natural laws, and can never be abrogated or repealed by any being on earth, or in Heaven, without a change in the divine government, as appears from Christ's own words, and the declaration of the apostle, as before stated. Let the enemies of that institution know that it stands so high that they cannot reach it, is so broad that they cannot span it, and so deep that they cannot fathom it. It was given distinct and apart from the ceremonial laws, written on stone by the finger of God, and held a most prominent and honorable place in the decalogue. It was laid up in the ark with the other immutable, holy, and just precepts, there forever to remain. Christ did not abrogate it, for one jot or tittle of the law, that is, the moral law, could not fail.”

Pages 58 and 59 speak plainly of the distinction between the moral and ceremonial law, and of the immutability and eternal perpetuity of the former.

“The moral and ceremonial laws God has always kept separate and apart; and, by so doing, shown to his creatures his intention forever to keep them distinct. He wrote the one, and caused Moses, his servant, to write the other. In their natures they differ. Their objects are different, and their effects different. One could be spared from the world before the days of Moses, and since the days of Christ; the other could never be spared from this world, as may clearly be inferred from God's governing his creatures, before the ten commandments were written, by the principles of that law, which, in all probability, were well known to the ancients, though not yet written. Do not these things establish the doctrine, that all men are now under obligation to keep the fourth commandment? Here is a great rule of moral right, which, though the record of it might be burned up and forgotten by man, can never cease to be binding on moral beings. We consider it, in its nature, indestructible—immutable as the throne of Him from whom it emanates. It stands a holy rule between God and man. Through it we see and know God, while we learn our duty to him, ourselves, and to one another. All the law is holy, perfect, essential, and everlasting in its very nature. We should as soon expect the infidel and the deist to succeed, were they to attempt to pull down the throne of the Almighty, as to expect they would succeed in destroying that law, or even rendering one jot or tittle of it liable ever to fail. Let them beware how they lay their polluted hands on so holy and so important an instrument. Their enterprise is as fruitless as it is wicked and malicious, and may bring down, in this life, merited rebuke. It certainly will, if unrepented of, be punished in the next with everlasting destruction. When we attempt to defend the character of this law, it awakens in us feelings similar to those we have when we undertake to defend the character and existence of God. It seems a work of supererogation, and too holy a matter for sinful man to engage in. The law was from eternity. God has written it, and handed it down to men. He holds it out before their eyes. It is himself in perfection; and rather than suffer it to be blotted out, or any of its principles dispensed with, as it relates to rational, accountable creatures, he would dash this world, which he has made, and which he sustains, to atoms—and none could prevent the awful catastrophe.”

“This law cannot be lost or abrogated, either by men on earth, or spirits in Heaven or hell. It is forever settled; it cannot be abrogated or lost. No, not even its author—with deference we speak it—can abrogate it, until he change his own nature and the mode of his government.

“But he is immutable. Blessed truth! Let it be repeated by all good men in the ears of the ungodly—HE IS IMMUTABLE.”

To all of the foregoing the pious heart of every good Sabbath-keeper will readily respond, Amen. And from the extracts given, the reader of the REVIEW must decide whether the statement of our caption—“The Lord's Sabbath proved by Sunday Arguments”—has been sustained or not. In justice to Mr. Kingsbury, however, perhaps we should say that his thoughts on the Sabbath were first published to the world upwards of thirty years since, at a time when the claims of the seventh-day Sabbath were not urged as at the present time. The design of the book is to persuade men to observe Sunday in a more sacred manner. But in doing it, arguments have been used, which, the reader will readily see, completely upset Sunday, and exalt to the heavens the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.

How true it is that “truth crushed to earth shall rise again,” and that God often accomplishes this through means least expected. G. W. A.

Past Guilt Requires Christ’s Atonement

18. A man once went to a store and bought a lot of flour on credit. He afterward dealt much with this trader, but was very careful to promptly pay for every article purchased. After a lapse of time, the merchant presented his bill for the flour and demanded payment. “But,” answered the debtor, “have I not promptly paid for the corn, the molasses, the sugar, and all other things which I have purchased?” “Yes, yes,” responded the creditor, “but are you fool enough to suppose that that cancels your indebtedness for the flour? Who will not condemn the folly of this debtor? And yet millions are thus hoping to cancel their indebtedness to God. Sinner, could and should you henceforth always do just right, it would not in the least degree atone for your past guilt. God has a fearful account against you, which must be remitted through the merits of Christ, or you are doomed to the everlasting chains.

INCONSISTENCY.

By CHARLES P. WHITFORD

WHILE attending a meeting held by first-day Adventists recently, one of their number asked the following question: "If we are to be saved by keeping the law, what need of the death of Christ." This man had recently heard from the lips of our esteemed Bro. Cornell that we do not trust in the law and the keeping of the Sabbath, for salvation, and that it is not in the nature of law, either human or divine, to redeem the transgressor. And yet this man asks a question in which he assumes a point of faith which he has been plainly taught we do not believe, and then desires us to prove that we are to be saved by keeping the law, as assumed by him in the question.

How inconsistent men will act and talk when arrayed against the law of God. The law was given to man as his saviour. He broke it; but it could not redeem him. Christ must do this work. But after receiving pardon through Christ for sin (which is transgression of the law), shall we continue in sin (or continue to transgress the law) that grace may abound? Says Paul, "God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law." "For without the law sin was dead." "For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived [from a dead and slumbering condition], and I died." Paul was once alive, and, in his own estimation, thought he was blameless as touching the "law of God;" but when the commandment came which required him to be holy, just, and good, sin revived, and Paul died, as to all hope in himself, from the law, or from obedience to it. He saw that it condemned him, and that, judged by it, he was lost; hence, he exclaims, "Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

Paul was wretched on account of his remaining proneness to violate the law; hence, with earnestness, he exclaims, "Who shall deliver me?" Not the law, not my own efforts, nor my abhorrence of myself on account of disobedience; not any expedients which ever have been, or can be, devised by creatures. Left to these, merely, he who is filthy will remain filthy still. What then? Must I perish, or drag on forever this body of death? No. "I thank God," says Paul, "for his unspeakable gift." There is deliverance, complete, everlasting deliverance, from all evil, through Jesus Christ our Lord. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. viii, 3, 4. The law could not deliver Paul, who had broken it, from condemnation and ruin. Neither could it lead him to obey it, nor to repent of having broken it; nor could it lessen his disposition to violate it. It could make no atonement for sin, and could not save from it. It was weak through the flesh; and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; destroyed the power of sin over those who trust in Christ, by showing, through his atonement, the evil nature of sin, the guilt of those who commit it, the excellence of the law of which it is a violation, the wrath of God against it; and so, opening a way in which God could be just, and the justifier of all that believe in Jesus; and through their union with him, to render to the law, true obedience; thus delivering them from both the condemnation and the reigning power of sin, neither of which things the law could do. "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us;" that we might be brought into that state of true righteousness which the law requires. The law could not save Paul, and it cannot save us. We may observe all these precepts to the best of our ability; but if we look no farther than the law for salvation, we can never find pardon for our sins. The hope of eternal salvation hangs upon Christ. Adam hung his hope there. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and the believing Jews, hung theirs there. We can do no more. The hope of the next life depends upon Jesus Christ. Faith in his blood can alone free us from our transgressions; and a life of obedience to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, will be a sufficient passport through the golden gates of the city of God. CHARLES P. WHITFORD. Addison, Vt.

A SLEEPING CHRISTIAN.—

“The Devil,” says Luther, “held a great anniversary, at which his emissaries were convened to report the results of their several missions. ‘I let loose the wild beasts of the desert,’ says one, ‘on a caravan of Christians, and their bones are now bleaching on the sand.’ ‘What of that,’ said the Devil, ‘their souls will all be saved.’ ‘For ten years I tried to get a single Christian asleep,’ said another, ‘and I succeeded, and left him so.’” “Then the Devil shouted,” continued Luther, “and the night stars of hell sang for joy.”

The Fragility of Friendship

As one single drop of black ink will tinge and pollute a vessel of crystal water, so one little act of faithlessness may irredeemably poison a whole lifetime of the purest friendship and confidence.

Following Christ in Prayer

SINCE Gethsemane's garden and Olivet's wood-crowned summit witnessed the fervent prayers of our Saviour, let us follow his example till earth is made Heaven.

THE BEHAVIOUR OF MINISTERS.

No CLASS of men are under such sacred obligation to behave with circumspection in all their conduct, as the ministers of Christ. The eye of the world is upon them, to discover whether their lives indicate that the truths which they preach are to them a reality. The eye of the church is upon them, to see how the truth should be lived out; for they are commanded to be examples to the flock, and their lives are to exemplify the truth which they preach. The eye of Satan is upon them, to watch for their haltings. The eye of God is upon them, to see whether they do, with faithfulness, serve him in their sacred calling; and his angels preserve a faithful record of their conduct. Wherever they may be, they stand as the representatives of the Saviour. They are ambassadors of Christ, and unless they are willing to put their Master to shame, their conduct must be such as shall be worthy of their high calling.

Virtue, integrity, and piety, no one, perhaps, will deny, are absolutely indispensable in those who are called of God and of his people to act in this sacred work. But there is, connected with this, something else which must not, for any consideration, be left out of the account. Ministers of Christ must not only possess true moral excellence; they must also be men of prudent behaviour, especially toward women. I do not now speak at all of such ministers as are corrupt at heart. Such men are the servants of Satan, who, if they ever behaved with prudence and reserve, do it that they may the better deceive the unwary. But it is with reference to truly upright and worthy men, who, from lack of caution, or wise discretion, are liable to act in such a manner as to create suspicion, or, at least, to give anxiety and pain to those who have the cause of God at heart.

Brethren, be circumspect. Better be too reserved toward such persons than too forward. You know not always with whom you are conversing. Others, looking on, may know evil of them, and suspect evil of you. Be so much upon your guard that you shall, if possible, wholly avoid the appearance of evil. It is not enough that you have no evil intent. You must be careful that your good be not evil spoken of. Many ungodly men have crept into the ranks of the Christian ministry. These persons have turned the grace of God into lasciviousness. They have made their sacred office the means of committing abomination. The office itself is dishonored, and those who fill it are justly watched, to see whether they are men of God, or wolves in sheep's clothing. There is such a thing as so walking in the fear of God, and with such propriety of conduct, that even the tongue of malice and slander shall be disarmed. If every minister of Christ, who is such in reality, would thus act with strict propriety of deportment, it would be far more difficult for evil-minded persons to act their part of ruin and of death. Let the sad lesson, so recently taught us, put both ministers and people upon their guard.

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