IN regard to the length of time in which Constantine retained his inconsistent position as a professed Christian, and, at the same time, a pagan high priest, Dr. Schaff further says:—
“When at last on his death bed he submitted to baptism, with the remark, ‘Now let us cast away all duplicity,’ he honestly admitted the conflict of two antagonistic principles which swayed his private character and public life.”—Hist., vol. 2, p. 18.
It appears beyond all denial that, had not the bishops become ambitious, selfish, and worldly; had they not valued the personal favors bestowed by the emperor above the purity of the church, they would never have recognized him as the leader and head of the church, as he actually was at the council of Nice. But this was a dark day for the church, as the extracts we have given conclusively show. Most of the testimony respecting it comes to us through the “orthodox” or Roman side. But the picture is dark enough. Athanasius, a man of indomitable will and determination, took the lead of the Trinitarians, or orthodox, as they were finally called, while Arius headed the opposition. Strong charges were preferred against Athanasius, concerning whose trial Sozomon thus speaks:—
“After several sessions, when the synod was filled with tumult and confusion, and the accusers and a multitude of persons around the tribunal were crying aloud that Athanasius ought to be deposed as a sorcerer and a ruffian, and a being utterly unworthy of the priesthood, the officers, who had been appointed by the emperor to maintain order in the synod, compelled the accused to quit the judgment hall secretly; for they feared that he might be torn to pieces by the mob.”—Eccl. Hist., p. 86.
But Athanasius triumphed; his party was decided to be orthodox, and Arius was denounced as a heretic. Constantine, in keeping with his vacillating policy, espoused the cause of Arius, but afterward opposed him in the most determined manner. Socrates gives the following as an edict published by the emperor for the destruction of the writings of Arius:—
“If any treatise composed by Arius should be discovered, let it be consigned to the flames, in order that not only his depraved doctrine may be suppressed, but also that no memorial of him may be by any means left. This therefore I decree, that if any one shall be detected in concealing a book composed by Arius, and shall not instantly bring it forward and burn it, the penalty for this offense shall be death; for immediately after conviction the criminal shall suffer capital punishment.”—Socrates’ Eccl. Hist., B. 1, chap. 9, p. 31.
With such a decree in regard to his writings, with enemies ever alert to see that it was carried into effect, it is not surprising that the world knows absolutely nothing of the actual teachings of Arius. So far as Arius himself was concerned, the controversy was closed by his sudden death in a fit of purging and retching; the orthodox declaring that God had smitten him for perverting the faith, and his friends as persistently declaring that he died of poison from the hands of his orthodox enemies. And their statement does not appear unreasonable when we consider the spirit in which the warfare was waged against him by the “orthodox” party.
By the testimony which has been herein produced it has been seen that the judicious have always looked upon Constantine’s espousal of the cause of the church as of doubtful utility to the church and to Christianity. But the full extent of his legacy to the church is appreciated by very few. Himself a high priest of the pagan rites, with nothing whatever to recommend him as a follower of Christ, presiding over a council of Christian bishops, alluring them by flattery and presents, set an example which the ambitious prelates were not slow to follow.
Of his influence and the results Eugene Lawrence speaks as follows:—
“Constantine became emperor, and the bishops of Rome emerged from the Catacombs to become one of the ruling powers of the world. This sudden change was followed by an almost total loss of the simplicity and purity of the days of persecution. Magnificent churches were erected by the emperor in Rome, adorned with images and pictures, where the bishop sat on a lofty throne, encircled by inferior priests, and performing rites borrowed from the splendid ceremonial of the pagan temple. The bishop of Rome became a prince of the empire, and lived in a style of luxury and pomp that awakened the envy or the just indignation of the heathen writer, Marcellinus. The church was now enriched by the gifts and bequests of the pious and the timid; the bishop drew great revenues from his farms in the Campagna and his rich plantations in Sicily; he rode through the streets of Rome in a stately chariot and clothed in gorgeous attire; his table was supplied with a profusion more than imperial; the proudest women of Rome loaded him with lavish donations, and followed him with their flatteries and attentions; and his haughty bearing and profuse luxury were remarked upon by both pagans and Christians, as strangely inconsistent with the humility and simplicity enjoined by the faith which he professed. The bishopric of Rome now became a splendid prize, for which the ambitious and unprincipled contended by force or fraud.”—Historical Studies, art. Bishops of Rome.
He adorned the churches “with images and pictures,” and Gibbon says it was from his erecting the cross as a symbol to be reverenced that “the Catholic Church, both of the East and of the West, has adopted a prodigy which favors, or seems to favor, the popular worship of the cross.”—Dec. and Fall, chap. 20, § 13.
It is well to bear in mind that he never used the “labarum” or symbol of the cross until over ten years after he professed to have seen the vision! See Gibbon, chap. 20, ¶ 11; and Ency. Brit., art. Constantine.
Although the gorgeous rites of the pagan worship were introduced into the worship of the churches, there was found an excuse (as there always is) for the innovation. They were put to a “pious use.” Thus Gibbon says:—
“The most respectable bishops had persuaded themselves that the ignorant rustics would more cheerfully renounce the superstitions of paganism, if they found some resemblance, some compensation, in the bosom of Christianity. It must ingenuously be confessed that ministers of the Catholic Church imitated the profane model which they were impatient to destroy.”—Dec. and Fall, chap. 28, § 16.
No one can fail to see from these statements, the origin of image worship, and of the gaudy ceremonials of the Catholic Church, as seen even in this day. The progress and success of this step is thus described by the same historian:—
“At first the experiment was made with caution and scruple; and the venerable pictures were discreetly allowed to instruct the ignorant, to awaken the cold, and to gratify the prejudices of the heathen proselytes. By a slow though inevitable progression, the honors of the original were transferred to the copy; the devout Christian prayed before the image of a saint; and the pagan rites of genuflection, luminaries, and incense again stole into the Catholic Church. The scruples of reason or piety were silenced by the strong evidence of visions and miracles; and the pictures which speak, and move, and bleed must be endowed with a divine energy, and may be considered as the proper objects of religious adoration.”—Dec. and Fall, chap. 49, § 2.
Another part of Constantine’s legacy to the church, which has ever since his day occupied an important place in the Catholic faith, is the pontificate and primacy of Rome, and with it the union of church and State, or the uniting of civil and ecclesiastical power in one officer. The papacy owes both its origin and power to this emperor.
In conformity to his polytheistic religion, and his policy of favoring all whose influence could strengthen his authority, “he exempted the Christian clergy from municipal duty” as early as 313. [Schaff, vol. 2, p. 3.] An early historian has left us a very important testimony on this subject:—
“Constantine likewise enacted a law in favor of the clergy, permitting judgment to be passed by the bishops when litigants preferred appealing to them rather than to the secular court; he enacted that their decrees should be valid, and as far superior to that of other judges as if pronounced by the emperor himself; that the governor and subordinate military officers should see to the execution of these decrees; and that sentence, when passed by them, should be irreversible.”—Sozomon, Eccl. Hist., p. 11.
Thus the clergy were not only permitted to exercise the functions of a civil magistrate, but they were given authority above that of the civil magistrates. From their decisions there was no appeal. It takes but little knowledge of the laws of courts to perceive how readily corruption would be introduced and fostered by such an arrangement. In fact, every step tended toward binding the church and the State together as really as if that had been the only object in view. The tendency to worldliness as the result of such action is thus set forth by Hallam:—
“It was among the first effects of the conversion of Constantine, to give not only a security but a legal sanction to the territorial acquisitions of the church. The edict of Milan, in 313, recognizes the actual estates of ecclesiastical corporations. Another, published in 321, grants to all the subjects of the empire the power of bequeathing their property to the church. His own liberality and that of his successors, set an example which did not want imitators. Passing rapidly from a state of distress and persecution to the summit of prosperity, the church degenerated as rapidly from her ancient purity, and forfeited the respect of future ages in the same proportion as she received the blind veneration of her own. Covetousness, especially, became almost a characteristic vice.”—Hallam, Middle Ages, p. 261.
It is a mistake, however, to place these actions as the “effects of the conversion of Constantine,” as there is no proof that he considered the Christian religion better than other religions at the time of these decrees. He was aware of the firmness and constancy of the Christians under persecution, and as a politic statesman he thought best to attach the bishops and the churches to himself, to draw their influence toward the empire rather than to increase divisions among his subjects. By uniting the Christian and pagan systems he hoped to strengthen the empire; and to this end he used every means to give influence to the ambitious prelates, especially to the bishop of Rome. The following statement of the “Encyclopædia Britannica” is pointed and truthful:—
“It has been frequently remarked that Christianity did as much for Constantine as he did for it, and the history of the time amply justifies the observation. Whatever be the truth about the sincerity of his conversion, it is undoubted that he, from first to last, looked at the church from a political point of view, and made use of it accordingly for his own political aggrandizement.”—Enc. Brit., art. Christianity.
Against Flattering Titles
“LET me not . . . accept any man’s person; neither let me give flattering titles unto man. For I know not to give flattering titles.” Job 32: 21, 22.
Doing as the Romans Do.
By John Norton Loughborough
“AND unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” 1 Cor. 9: 20-22.
It is only a short time since, while urging the importance of yielding obedience to God’s commandments “as he has commanded us” (Deut. 6:25), that I was met with the statement that the Bible says, “When you are in Rome, do as the Romans do.” No careful reader of the Bible would ever put forward this saying of men as Scripture. There is no such language in the Bible. Neither is there any command to follow any one any further than they follow Christ and the truth. The nearest approach to this saying of men is in the words of Paul which appear at the head of this article. The apostle does not tell us in that to do as others do, or to do as the Romans do. He is simply giving us a record of his manner of labor. The key-note to his meaning seems to be found in the last expression, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”
Does the apostle mean to assert that he changed all his practices so as to have them in exact accord with those with whom he associated? Would he save men by thus weakening before them, and by doing just as they did? Would he, like the chameleon, which is said to assume the color of the substance on which it last sat, make the shade of his religion just like those with whom he might be found? If so we never should find a record of his provoking the wrath of the Corinthians and Ephesians by his plain and fearless declarations of truth.
Instead of understanding the apostle to mean that he changed his faith or practice of religion simply to meet the people, I should rather conclude his meaning to be that in his endeavor to save the people he adapted all his reasonings to their understanding and situation. As moderns would express it, he took them where they were. In thus reasoning with each class he would adapt his reasoning to their knowledge, thus seeking to lead them to Christ. With the Jews he spoke of those things which they understood, as the temple and its service, showing them that the real service, of which the Jewish priesthood was only a shadow, a figure, and a pattern, was the service of Christ, who is the true high priest while seated at the right hand of the Father’s throne in the heavenly temple. Of this mode of argument we have a fair illustration in the book of the Hebrews.
In reasoning with the Romans, who had not had all the advantage of a Jewish education, he would set forth the grossness of men as they turned away from the knowledge of God, and urge upon them the importance of a knowledge of God’s moral law that they might discern between right and wrong. He showed them also that Christ is a propitiation for sins, through whom they might become reconciled to God. Indeed, in the seventh chapter of Romans we have an illustration of how he placed himself in the position of those he would reach, even those who were “under” the condemnation of the law, when he said, “I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7:7. Here he virtually says, I have been in the same condition in which you are. I will tell you how I was rescued. He says, “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.” Rom. 3:19.
Again, “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” Verse 20. Really saying, I learned my sins by the law, you will have to learn yours the same way.
The expression “without law” certainly cannot mean that there were some persons in the world who were not answerable to the law of God, for he immediately adds, “Being not without law to God.” If the idea is that they were ignorant of the claims of God’s law upon them, or of the fact that their course was condemned by the law, then we see the apostle placing himself in that position when he says, “I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.” Rom. 8:9. He said, as quoted above, that he would not have known sin except the law had said, “Thou shalt not covet.” His being without law could not mean that he was not under obligations to keep that commandment, but that he did not realize that his course was contrary to the commandment until it was brought forcibly upon his mind; then “sin revived.” As he became conscious of his sin he died to sin. In other words, through the grace in Christ he obtained strength to turn away from transgression and yield acceptable obedience to the law of God. See Rom. 8:3, 4.
The apostle Paul was not a man that sought an easy way; neither did he adopt any course to simply please the people. He was not like the last day teachers which he described to Timothy, who should seek to please those who have “itching ears,” but he said of himself, “I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” Acts 20:26, 27. Let no one excuse himself from doing as the Lord has commanded in his word, on the ground that if we “do as the Romans do” we are following a Bible example. J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
Is Man Immortal?
By E. Hilliard
The doctrine that man is naturally immortal is almost universally believed. Thousands who hold this doctrine never have searched the Scriptures for themselves, but believe it because it is taught from the popular pulpit of the day. It would seem that he who will take the Bible for his guide, and humbly seek for truth, need not be perplexed. Indeed, the very first chapters of the sacred word clearly set forth the nature of man. Let us carefully examine them.
God gave our first parents the privilege of eating of all of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge. He told them if they partook of this tree that death would be the result. "But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen. 2:17. Satan entered the garden in the form of the serpent and conversed with the woman. After finding out that she fully understood God's command and the penalty attached thereto, he squarely contradicted God's words. He said to her, "Ye shall not surely die." Gen. 3:4. As soon as he had succeeded in causing her to believe that she was in possession of an undying nature, she did not fear the penalty of death, and ate of the forbidden fruit, and gave to her husband and he did eat. Satan has succeeded most wonderfully in causing their posterity to accept his words as truth, and to believe that we do not really die, but that what we call death is merely a change of abode.
After Adam and Eve had transgressed, God drove them out of the garden. But how carefully he guarded the tree of life. "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever. . . . So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." Gen. 3:22-24. God in his mercy protected this tree so that man could not partake of its fruit and perpetuate a life in sin. He had told them if they disobeyed his command they must die. He addressed the thinking, intelligent part of the man; consequently it was the responsible part of the man that must suffer the penalty. They were excluded from the tree of life that they might receive the wages of their transgression—death. If they were created immortal, there would have been no propriety in guarding this tree.
The beloved apostle John does not convey the idea that man is naturally immortal. He says, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." 1 John 3:15. If man has inherent immortality, the murderer has it as well as any other man, for all are descendants of Adam. This apostle plainly declares that it is not in our nature.
Many claim that the soul is an intelligent, self-existing entity, and that when the body dies it wings its way to another sphere. The Bible, however, does not support this doctrine. Ezekiel says in clear and unmistakable terms, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Eze. 18:4, 20. The Scriptures teach us that mind is dependent upon living organism. Hear what the wise man says: "For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun." Eccl. 9:5, 6. Love, hatred, and envy are attributes of the mind, and he distinctly states that these perish. The psalmist corroborates this statement when he says, "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146:3, 4. This scripture plainly shows that thought is dependent upon matter, and that when the breath leaves the body the mind ceases to act and the dissolution of the body begins.
Not one of the Bible writers has penned a word in proof that man was created immortal. The belief that he was, originated with Satan, the great deceiver, in Eden, and like other theories of his invention, it has been generally received as truth. Paul, all through his writings, teaches that immortality is yet to be received. He admonishes us to seek for it. Rom. 2:7. He says that God is the only being that has inherent immortality, and that we are to receive it, as a gift, through Christ. 2 Tim. 6:15, 16; Rom. 6:23. He tells us plainly when this gift is to be given. It is at the coming of Christ, when the dead are raised. See 1 Cor. 15:51-54.
With such clear, emphatic declarations of Scripture respecting the nature of man, how can any one avoid the conclusion that man is mortal, and that the dead are unconsciously resting in the grave?
Reader, there is more importance attached to this subject than you, perhaps, are aware of. The belief that man is immortal, and that the dead are conscious, is the very foundation upon which the superstructure of spiritualism is built. Those who hold to this theory are in great danger of becoming victims to this Satanic delusion. E. Hilliard.
Strive for Eminent Holiness
BE not contented with a little religion, with a little knowledge, a little hope, a little activity, a little holiness. Be not satisfied with any thing short of deep, devoted, active spirituality, and decided and eminent holiness. Make not the too numerous half-hearted and decent but doubtful Christians your patterns for imitation. But let Christ be your pattern and strive to be like him.—Sel.
Fellowship Through the Holy Spirit
CHRIST not only prayed thus but he made ample provision for the fulfillment of his prayer. "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one." "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." "If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." John 14 : 15–17, 23. Thus "our fellowship is" formed "with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." And this is the only possible way in which we can have true fellowship one with another. For if this man has, by the Holy Spirit, fellowship with the Father and with the Son; and if that man has, by the Holy Spirit, fellowship with the Father and with the Son, they must have fellowship one with another, for the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one; and those who have fellowship with these must be one likewise.
Character Versus Reputation
"MADE himself of no reputation." It has been said that—
"The purest treasure that mortal times afford,
Is—spotless reputation."
But character excels reputation, as far as light excels darkness. Thousands of men today are living on their reputation, while their characters are as black as night. Thousands have the reputation of being very charitable, who at the same time have so little character that they will rob the fatherless, oppress the widow, and grind the faces of the poor. Many have the reputation of being the very exemplars of liberality, giving abundantly to the church, to the Sunday-school, and to missions, who at the same time are so destitute of character as to rob their employers, their customers, or their creditors, that they may support their reputation of being liberal to the cause of religion. If there were a vastly greater demand for character, and a good deal less of a willingness to be dazzled by reputation, the world would be much better off than it is. A good reputation can be made in a day, but years are required to make a character. A good reputation can be made by one single act, but it requires all the acts of a good life to form a good character, even in the eyes of men.
Shining as Lights in the World
"Among whom ye shine as lights in the world." Said Jesus, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." Matt. 5:14. This is sometimes quoted "cannot easily be hid," but the Lord did not say so. He said it "cannot be hid." When a man professes the name of Christ, men themselves expect him to depart from iniquity. Wherever he is known he cannot be hid. If his life is consistent with his profession, well; if it is otherwise, it cannot be hid. So with the light. "Ye shine," says Paul. We often hear persons say, "I want my light to shine." We need have no care about the fact of its shining. "Ye are the light," says Christ. "Ye shine," says Paul. If we have professed the name of Christ, our light will shine, and we cannot prevent it. But how it shall shine is for us to control. "If therefore the light that is in263thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matt. 6:23. "Take heed therefore that the light that is in thee be not darkness." Luke 11:35. It is not the fact of our light shining, but the manner of its shining, about which we are to be concerned. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works." "Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles; that, whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation." 1 Pet. 2:12.
The Sabbath-School.
By Editor
As THE lesson for May 23, which is due in this issue of the SIGNS, is a review of the subject of "The Promises to Abraham," it is omitted, and further notes than have been published are not deemed necessary. The student's memory will be refreshed by a reference to the notes on this subject which have appeared in previous numbers, under the regular lessons.—ED.
Guarding the Unity of Christ
By Editor
WE repeat, they must be one; it is impossible that they should not be, as long as they keep the unity of the Spirit. But Satan is alive, he is active and determined, he will stir up division, strife, and contention if it be possible, and there is where each one must ever be watchful, earnest, and vigilant, that he be not one through whom the adversary may wound the precious body of Christ. Paul's warning is that 'of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.' Acts 20 : 30. There is the secret of all perverseness and division—self-exaltation, to draw away disciples after them. Instead of being disciples they want to be masters. Instead of exerting themselves, in meekness and quietness, to gain disciples to Christ, they seek, in willful self-assertion, to draw disciples after themselves. But that is not all, they will 'draw away disciples,' that is, they will endeavor in their perverseness to draw disciples of Christ away from him unto themselves. 'Take heed to yourselves.' 'Let no man deceive you.' Let no man deceive himself.
Keeping the Unity of the Spirit
"I THEREFORE, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." As we have seen, the Holy Spirit is the pledge of our unity with the Father and the Son, and the means of our attaining unity one with another, and here is set before us our duty to endeavor to keep this unity of the Spirit. And the basis of that unity is the word of God, which was written by holy men of God as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. It is this word in which all are to be of the same mind and about which all are to speak the same thing. It is in the truth of God that all are to be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. It is in the faith and work of Christ that there is to be no division. For he said, "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." And, "Thy word is truth." John 16:13; 17:17. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Cor. 2:14, 16. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." But "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Rom. 8:9, 14.
Character Before Reputation
It is character alone that is acceptable to God. No brilliancy of reputation can dazzle him. He demands truth in the inward parts. "God looketh on the heart." And here people make a great mistake as often as in anything else. Thousands when called upon to obey the truth of God, will put first their reputation, and what they think is their influence, and will make their allegiance to God—their character—yield to these. Christ "made himself of no reputation;" so likewise did he who was the figure of Christ, he "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt." So it will ever be. The disciple is not greater than his Lord. The people of God have ever been subject to reproach; the truth of God has always been unpopular, and men often have the opportunity to follow Christ most closely by, like him, making themselves of "no reputation." Often it becomes necessary for us to forfeit reputation before men, that we may perfect character before God.
Humility and Eternal Exaltation
"He humbled himself." He, the only begotten Son of the Highest, he by whom all things were created, for our sakes became poor, and was despised, afflicted, tormented, and crucified; he, the King of glory. Another, one of the very highest of created beings, determined to exalt himself to be like the Most High. He who exalted himself is to be abased to the lowest hell. He who humbled himself has been highly exalted, and has been given "a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." With the one who exalted himself—short exaltation, eternal humiliation. With the one who humbled himself—short humiliation, eternal exaltation. "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." Matt. 23:12. "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." 1 Pet. 5:6.
Without Murmurings or Disputings
"Do ALL things without murmurings and disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation." Jesus said, "Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." Matt. 10:16. But how many of us consider that we must be wise as serpents to be harmless as doves.
"LET this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." In the verses previous to this Paul exhorts us to likemindedness. It is not in this epistle alone, but in several others that he presents this subject. Indeed it is the chief duty of Christians to be of one mind. In 1 Cor. 1:10 it is written: "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." In Rom. 15:5, 6 we read: "Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus; that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." And in Phil. 2:2 Paul says: "Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. . . . Let each esteem other better than themselves."
Christ’s Prayer for Christian Unity
In that last prayer of Jesus, before he went over the brook Cedron into Gethsemane, this was his one great request, "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." John 17:21-23. Here three times in quick succession the prayer is that all who believe on him may be one; and twice is expressed the consequence of such unity, "That the world may believe" that he is the Son of God. The great heart of him who gave his life for the world, yearns for the belief of those for whom he died. A few then believed in him, and through these is he to be made known to the world, and that the world may believe their testimony they must be united. Burdened with this great argument, he prays with an earnestness only second to that in Gethsemane, that all his followers may be one, that so the world may believe that he was sent of God, and so believing be saved.
Respect the Old Testament.
By Talbot W. Chambers
THERE are not so many discouraging features in the aspect of our times as the opposition shown by some to the study of the Old Testament by the young. It indicates a great lack of clearness and comprehensiveness of view in relation to the nature and claims of the Scripture. And all experience shows that a failure here is far-reaching in its results. Any disparagement of the older Scripture reacts fatally upon the later. Often men do not dream of such a thing, but all the same the effect follows.
1. The Old Testament should be taught in the Sunday-school because it is a constituent part of the word of God, resting upon precisely the same authority as the rest of the volume. If men are to learn the whole counsel of God, they must study the whole record of that counsel. Is there any arrogance equal to that of separating that which God has joined together?
2. All the encomiums of Scripture in the New Testament refer to the Old. Paul called it the sword of the Spirit, and said that as being inspired it was profitable for teaching and training so as to furnish the man of God completely for every good work. Eph. 6:17; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17. Our Lord used it to repel the tempter, to rebuke the Sadducees, to instruct the disciples, and to utter his own last words on the cross.
3. The Old Testament is as much needed to understand the New as the New is to illumine the Old. The later presupposes the earlier and builds upon it at every step. Borrow at first distributed the New Testament alone in Spain, but afterwards found this to be a mistake, for people previously ignorant of the Bible could not get hold of the force and meaning of the gospels and epistles without the aid of the antecedent disclosures. And what becomes of Christ's references to the fathers, and Paul's appeals to Abraham and David, and the priestly argument of the epistle to the Hebrews, if the Old Testament be not read and considered?
4. A chief peculiarity of the Bible is that it records a progressive revelation, all the stages of which are closely interlocked together. Its completeness and glory are seen only when this fact is recognized and receives its due weight. Are our children to be trained in studious ignorance of this capital truth?
5. The Old Testament is peculiarly fitted to interest and please the young. So much of it is history, or rather chronicles, annals, which tell their own story and possess the advantage which the concrete has over the abstract. More than once I have seen lads reading in turn at family worship lose the place because, interested in the narrative, they had read on to see the issue. Again, the biographies of the older Scripture are very fascinating. From Abraham to Daniel there is a long list of worthies, wonderfully varied in character and circumstances, but all attractive by the power inherent in an absolutely truthful memoir, which furnishes an inexhaustible mine of interest and suggestiveness. What Christian mother could get along without the story of Joseph, of Samuel, of David? Further, the element of the marvelous so prominent in the Hebrew records seems exactly adapted to meet youthful tastes. The creation and the deluge, the plagues of Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea and the Jordan, the hailstones on Gibeon, the exploits of Samson, the narrow escapes of the son of Jesse, the miracles wrought by Elijah and Elisha, the story of Esther, of Jonah, and of Daniel and his friends,—are all adapted to meet the natural craving of the young for the abnormal and supernatural. But they meet it with truth, and with truth intimately associated with moral and religious ideas, so that the effect is as wholesome as it is gratifying. Once more, the poetical portions of the Old Testament are indispensable, whether it be the didactic or gnomic utterances in the book of Proverbs, which sum up the wisdom of all ages and exhibit the insight and shrewdness of "Poor Richard" without his narrowness and sometimes questionable morality, or the Psalms of David, so sweet, so rich, so varied, so adapted to the nature of man as man always and everywhere. What injustice to a child can be greater than to cut him off from the study of compositions like these, the models of their kind? Instead of lessening the attention given to the Old Testament we ought to increase it, make it more intelligent and searching, and above all bring to view its manifold, close, and intimate relations to the New, so that the young shall see and feel that the two Testaments combine to make one whole, and that whole is the word of God.—Talbot W. Chambers, D. D., in Old Testament Student.