Signs of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 19. (5/20/1886)

Signs of the Times

May 20, 1886

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 20, 1886

General Articles.

By Mrs. E. G. White

A Sabbath Reform Needed.

As LONG as the children of Israel obeyed God, they were prosperous; but when they departed from him in disobeying his law, they brought upon themselves humiliation and distress. They were made to realize that their defense was of God, and that when his protection was withdrawn they were feeble, exposed to the ravages of their enemies. But though they were carried away into captivity, the eye of God was upon them; for they were to preserve the knowledge of his law until the promised Messiah should come.

One of the principal ways in which the Jews departed from God was in the desecration of the Sabbath. The heathen around them disregarded God's holy day, and through association with these idolatrous neighbors many had been led to imitate their example. Some not only traded with heathen merchants on the Sabbath day, but tried to overcome the scruples of their more conscientious countrymen, and lead them into the sin of Sabbath-breaking. Thus to a great extent the sacredness of the Sabbath was destroyed.

At this time Nehemiah was God's chosen instrument to effect a reformation among his people, and to deliver them from the oppression of their enemies. The circumstances were discouraging; but Nehemiah was a man of courage and fidelity. He caused the people to be instructed in the law they had broken. Precept by precept it was carefully explained, that all might fully understand the will of God.

The Jews acknowledged that their deplorable condition was the result of their transgressions; and in a general assembly, the Levites, as the representatives of the people, confessed the goodness of God in his dealings with them, and their ingratitude and sins as a nation. Having suffered punishment for their sins, and acknowledged the justice of God in his dealings with them, the Israelites covenanted to obey his law. And that it might be a sure covenant, and preserved in a permanent form, it was written out; and the priests, the Levites, and the princes “sealed unto it.” They had a clear understanding of the claims of God and of the character of sin; and with those who had real principle, to see and understand was to act.

The church of to-day has followed in the steps of the Jews of old in setting aside the commandments of God. She has changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant, and now, as then, pride, unbelief, and infidelity are the result.

We need Nehemiahs now, faithful men who shall arouse the people to see how far they are from God through their transgressions. Said the psalmist, “It is time for thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void thy law.” These words are as applicable at the present time as they were in the days of the psalmist. The whole Christian world should search the Scriptures for themselves; for the law of God is made void by the teaching in the pulpits. The papal power has thought to change the law by instituting a Sabbath for the world and the Christian church; and this spurious Sabbath is exalted and revered, while the Sabbath of Jehovah is trampled beneath unholy feet. But will the Lord degrade his law to meet the standard of men? Will he accept a man-made institution in place of the Sabbath which he has sanctified and blessed? No; the convenience or profit of men is not to interfere with the claims of God, for he is a jealous God. He does not alter his precepts to gratify the desires of the ambitious or the covetous. “Thus saith the Lord” is sufficient to settle all controversy.

He who instituted the Sabbath has never changed it to another day. He rested on a definite day, and blessed and sanctified a definite day, and he requires the human family to observe that definite day. The position that God blessed and sanctified a seventh part of time, and no day in particular, is a deception. By this means many have become so confused that they regard God's holy rest-day as possessing no special sacredness. Because the world do so, they feel at liberty to set the Bible Sabbath aside, and select one that suits their own convenience; and ministers of the gospel assure their congregations that this course is right.

There is need of a Sabbath reform among those who profess to observe God's holy rest-day. Many seek to please themselves rather than to honor God. Some discuss business matters and lay plans on the Sabbath; and God looks upon this in the same light as though they engaged in the actual transaction of business. Others enter into partnership with men who have no respect for the Sabbath. If, for the sake of gain, a Sabbath-keeper allows the business in which he has an interest to be carried on on the Sabbath by his unbelieving partner, he is equally guilty with the unbeliever; and it is his duty to dissolve the relation, however much he may lose by so doing. He should not allow men in his employ, paid by his money, to work on the Sabbath. Men may think they cannot afford to obey God in their business affairs; but they cannot afford to disobey him. He will not allow carelessness in the observance of the Sabbath to pass unpunished. If we would enjoy his blessing, the Sabbath must be kept holy.

Divine mercy has directed that the sick and suffering be cared for; the labor required to make them comfortable is a work of necessity, and no violation of the Sabbath. But all unnecessary work should be avoided. Many carelessly put off until the beginning of the Sabbath little things that should have been done on the day of preparation. This should not be. Any work that is neglected until the commencement of holy time, should remain undone until the Sabbath is past. This course might help the memory of these thoughtless ones, and make them more careful to do their own work on the six working days.

To keep the Sabbath holy, we should not even allow our minds to dwell upon things of a worldly character. Yet it is not necessary that we shut ourselves away from nature, and deprive ourselves of the free, invigorating air of heaven. The Sabbath was made to be a blessing to man, by calling his mind from secular labor to contemplate the goodness and glory of God. It is necessary that the people of God assemble statedly for his worship, to interchange thoughts in regard to the truths of his word, and to devote a portion of time to prayer. But these seasons, even upon the Sabbath, should not be made tedious by their length and lack of interest. During a portion of the day, all should have an opportunity to be out-of-doors.

Parents, why not make use of the precious lessons God has given you in the book of nature to give your children a correct idea of his character? Go and sit with them in the groves or bright sunshine, and give their restless minds something to feed upon by conversing with them on the wonderful works of God. Call their attention to the tokens of God's love to man as seen in his creative works, and their young minds will be attracted and interested, and their hearts will be inspired with love and reverence.

All who love God should do what they can to make the Sabbath a delight, holy and honorable. They cannot do this by seeking their own pleasure in sinful, forbidden amusements. But by exalting the Sabbath in the family, it may be made the most interesting day in the week, so that its weekly return will be hailed with joy by every member of the family. In no better way can parents exalt and honor the Sabbath than by devising means to impart proper instruction to their children and to interest them in spiritual things, giving them correct views of the character of God and what he requires of them in order to attain to eternal life. Parents, make the Sabbath a delight, that your children may look forward to it, and have a welcome for it in their hearts. Thus will God be honored in the home.

When Nehemiah moved out as a reformer and deliverer in Israel, he was actuated by love to God and anxiety for the prosperity of his people. His heart was in the work he had undertaken; and his hope, his energy, his enthusiasm, his determination of character, were contagious, and inspired others with the same courage and lofty purpose that animated him. Each man became a Nehemiah in his own sphere, and helped to make stronger the hand and heart of his neighbor; and soon feebleness was succeeded by strength and courage.

Here is a lesson for ministers and others who are laboring for the salvation of souls. Christian laborers should manifest the same zeal and earnestness that characterized Nehemiah. If ministers are inactive and irresolute, destitute of godly zeal, what can be expected of those to whom they minister? In some instances they may rise above the moral level of their teachers, but not often. But when ministers broaden their plans, and show that they are in earnest, the people will respond to their efforts; and disunited, dispirited workers will become united, strong, hopeful, and eager.

It is a sin to be heedless, purposeless, and indifferent in any work in which we may engage, but especially in the work of God. Every enterprise connected with his cause should be carried forward with energy, thought, and earnest prayer. Faithful standard-bearers for God and his truth are wanted, and many are ready to respond to the call. As these see the iniquity and violence that exist in consequence of making void the law of God, they will see greater reason than ever to reverence that law, and will highly prize its righteous, restraining influences. Contempt and reviling increase their love for the precepts of Jehovah. With David they will say: “I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.”

“DRAW ME.”

By Mrs. Luther Keene

DRAW me away from things That draw me far from thee! Things poor and perishing,— Yet with all might to bring Me down to saddest night, Or lift to such delight That I forget thee quite. O Strength! more strong than they, By love or loss draw me from these away.

And draw me out of self,— This painful prison house. O Love! that, stooping low, Each whispered want doth know, Draw me from faithless fears, From unrefreshing tears, From hate, that blinds and sears. Lord, from myself draw me, That, glad and free, I may run after thee.

Oh! draw me up to thee,— Up, up where life abides; From things that so oppress, From self's drear loneliness, To love, without a thorn, To joy, of loving born, To peace, of Heaven the morn; Yea, to thyself draw me, And hide me, Lord, forevermore in thee. —Mrs. Luther Keene.

On the Supposed Scriptural Expression for Eternity.

By De Quincey

Forty years ago (or, in all probability, a good deal more, for we have already completed thirty-seven years [1852] from Waterloo, and my remembrances upon this subject go back to a period lying much behind that great era,) I used to be annoyed and irritated by the false interpretation given to the Greek word aion, and given necessarily, therefore, to the adjective aionian as its immediate derivative. It was not so much the falsehood of this interpretation, as the narrowness of that falsehood, which disturbed me. There was a glimmer of truth in it; and precisely that glimmer it was which led the way to a general and obstinate misconception of the meaning. . . .

The reason which gives to this word aionian what I do not scruple to call a dreadful importance, is the same reason, and no other, which prompted the dishonesty concerned in the ordinary interpretation of this word. The word happened to connect itself—but that was no practical concern of mine; me it had not biased in the one direction, nor should it have biased any just critic in the counter-direction—happened, I say, to connect itself with the ancient dispute upon the duration of future punishment. What was meant by the aionian punishments in the next world? Was the proper sense of the word eternal, or was it not? . . . That argument runs thus—that the ordinary construction of the term aionian, as equivalent to everlasting, could not possibly be given up when associated with penal misery, because in that case, and by the very same act, the idea of eternity must be abandoned as applicable to the counter-bliss of Paradise. Torment and blessedness, it was argued, punishment and beatification, stood upon the same level; the same word it was, the word aionian, which qualified the duration of either; and, if eternity in the most rigorous acceptance fell away from the one idea, it must equally fall away from the other. Well, be it so. But that would not settle the question. It might be very painful to renounce a long-cherished anticipation; but the necessity of doing so could not be received as a sufficient reason for adhering to the old unconditional use of the word aionian. The argument is—that we must retain the old sense of eternal, because else we lose upon one scale what we had gained upon the other. But what then? would be the reasonable man's retort. We are not summoned as to a choice of two different arrangements that may suit different tastes, but to a grave question as to what is the sense and operation of the word aionian. Let the limitation of the word disturb our previous estimate of Paradise, grant that it so disturbs that estimate, not the less all such consequences leave the dispute exactly where it was; and if a balance of reason can be found for limiting the extent of the word aionian, it will not be the less true because it may happen to disturb a crotchet of our own.

Meantime, all this speculation, first and last, is pure nonsense. Aionian does not mean eternal; neither does it mean of limited duration; nor would the unsettling of aionian in its old use, as applied to punishment, to torment, to misery, etc., carry with it any necessary unsettling of the idea in its application to the beatitudes of Paradise. . . . What is an aion? In the use and acceptance of the Apocalypse, it is evidently this—viz., the duration or cycle of existence which belongs to any object, not individually for itself, but universally in right of its genius. . . .

Under the old and ordinary view of the apocalyptic aion, which supposed it always to mean the same period of time—mysterious, indeed, and uncertain, as regards our knowledge, but fixed and rigorously certain in the secret counsels of God—it was presumed that this period, if it lost its character of infinity when applied to evil, to criminality, or to punishment, must lose it by a corresponding necessity equally when applied to happiness and the golden aspects of hope. But, on the contrary, every object whatsoever, every mode of existence, has its own separate and independent aion. The most thoughtless person must be satisfied, on reflection, even apart from the express commentary upon this idea furnished by the Apocalypse, that every life and mode of being must have hidden within itself the secret why of its duration. It is impossible to believe of any duration whatever that it is determined capriciously. Always it rests upon some ground, ancient as light and darkness, though undiscoverable by man. This only is discoverable, as a general tendency, that the aion, or generic period of evil, is constantly towards a fugitive duration.

The aion, it is alleged, must always express the same idea, whatever that may be; if it is less than eternity for the evil cases, then it must be less for the good ones. Doubtless the idea of an aion is in one sense always uniform, always the same—viz., as a tenth or a twelfth is always the same. Arithmetic could not exist if any caprice or variation affected these ideas—a tenth is always more than an eleventh, always less than a ninth. But this uniformity of ratio and proportion does not hinder but that a tenth may now represent a guinea, and next moment represent a thousand guineas. The exact amount of the duration expressed by an aion depends altogether upon the particular subject which yields the aion. It is, as I have said, a radix; and, like an algebraic square root or cube root, though governed by the most rigorous laws of limitation, it must vary in obedience to the nature of the particular subject whose radix it forms. . . . As the upshot of my speculation, accept these three propositions:—

(a) That man (which is in effect every man hitherto) who allows himself to infer the eternity of evil from the counter-eternity of good, builds upon the mistake of assigning a stationary and mechanic value to the idea of an aion; whereas the very purpose of Scripture in using this word was to evade such a value. The word is always varying, for the very purpose of keeping it faithful to a spiritual identity. The period or duration of every object would be an essentially variable quantity, were it not mysteriously commensurate to the inner nature of that object as laid open to the eyes of God. And thus it happens, that everything in this world, possibly without a solitary exception, has its own separate aion: how many entities, so many aions.

(b) But if it be an excess of blindness which can overlook the aionian differences amongst even neutral entities, much deeper is that blindness which overlooks the separate tendencies of things evil and things good. Naturally, all evil is fugitive and allied to death.

(c) I separately, speaking for myself only, profoundly believe that the Scriptures ascribe absolute and metaphysical eternity to one sole Being—viz., to God; and derivatively to all others according to the interest which they can plead in God's favor. Having anchorage in God, innumerable entities may possibly be admitted to a participation in divine aion. But what interest in the favor of God can belong to falsehood, to malignity, to impurity? To invest them with aionian privileges, is, in effect, and by its results, to distrust and to insult the Deity. Evil would not be evil if it had that power of self-subsistence which is imputed to it in supposing its aionian life to be co-eternal with that which crowns and glorifies the good.

A Present Need.

By Gertrude Abell

"This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you." These words spoken by the Saviour so many years ago, are as binding now as they were then. "That ye love one another as I have loved you." What a wondrous love that was, a love that brought the Son of the most high God from his Father's house to die for us; to die the ignominious death of the cross, for you, for me.

This is the manner of love he would have us bear one toward another. Have we this love in our hearts? Are we striving day by day to show our love for each other by helping the weary brother on his way, by comforting and cheering the sad, discouraged sister, in her doubts and perplexities? Are we ever ready to lend a helping hand, or to listen with patience and sympathy to the tale of another's troubles? Are we ready to excuse the shortcomings of our brothers and sisters, not knowing the causes that led to them?

Or, instead, are we not too often found criticising and judging others? are we not too ready to find fault and censure? We forget that others have trials and temptations as well as ourselves, and when they falter, and perhaps stumble, we forget that we might do the same if placed in like circumstances; and so, instead of holding out the helping hand in love and kindness, we do as the priest and the Levite, turn to the other side and pass on.

It seems to me that among Seventh-day Adventists, this love one for another must wax stronger, or we shall fall short at the last day. We as a people stand alone, far more than any other people, and the time is hastening when we shall be all alone. We then will be as one family, having one faith, one hope, and one doctrine. All the members of one household are expected to love and cherish one another. If we are ever to belong to the King's household, we must begin now to cultivate our affection for each and all of the King's children.

There must be less backbiting, less faultfinding, and less judging of the brethren. There must be more union of hearts and wills, more earnest prayer for this love, and more willingness to sacrifice our own pleasures and comforts, if need be, for the pleasure and comforts of others. GERTRUDE ABELL.

Livermore, Cal.

Not Always a Duty.

By C. P. Bollman

WHEN the subject of the second advent is presented, and the duty of watching for the coming of the Lord is urged, some excuse themselves from giving heed, by saying that it has always been the duty of Christians to look for the second coming of Christ; and that it is no more important now than it has ever been since the days of the apostles. But that this is an error will appear from an examination of a few texts of Scripture.

In his first epistle to the Thessalonians the apostle Paul speaks thus of the coming of the Lord:—

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” 1 Thess. 4: 16–18; 5: 1–4.

In this scripture the apostle plainly teaches that when the day of the Lord comes some will be overtaken as by a thief; but he adds, “Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” But why will they not be thus overtaken? Evidently because they are watching—expecting the return of their Lord. “Yes,” you say, “that is just what I thought; the brethren are Christians; and as Christians are always watching, as a matter of course they will not be overtaken as by a thief.” But have Christians always been watching for the second coming of Christ? Let us see what the apostle says about it in his second letter to the Thessalonian brethren. It seems that some, taking advantage of the expression in Paul’s first letter, “Then we which are alive and remain,” etc., had taught and written, in his name, that the Lord was to come in their day; but the apostle did not wish to be so represented, for he had taught no such doctrine, as appears from the following text:—

“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?” 2 Thess. 2: 1–5.

Here the apostle plainly told them that they could not look for the coming of the Lord in their day, for there must come a falling away first, and the “man of sin” must be revealed; and, he adds, almost reproachfully, “Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?”

By the “man of sin” the apostle means the Papacy (see any Protestant commentator), which was not fully established till A. D. 538; so it was clearly not the duty of any Christian to look for the second coming of Christ prior to that date. Indeed, Paul warned the church against it.

It will be noticed, however, that not only was the man of sin to be revealed, but he was to sit in the temple of God, showing himself to be God; and, according to Dan. 7: 25, this blasphemous power was to hold sway for “a time and times and the dividing of time”—1260 years (cf. Rev. 12: 6, 14; 13: 5), which, added to 538, brings us down to A. D. 1798, prior to which date no one could scripturally look for or expect the coming of the Lord. Therefore all scriptures which enjoin the duty of watching for the second coming of Christ must apply this side of A. D. 1798, or at least this side of the 1260 years of Papal supremacy.

That this view is correct appears also from other texts. In Joel 2: 1, 15–17 we read:—

“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them; wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?”

This is a prophetic commandment which must be fulfilled or else the scripture fails. But this alarm could not go forth in the days of the apostles, for Paul said that the day of the Lord was not then at hand; this message then could not go forth till after the events had taken place of which the apostle wrote; and, as already seen, those events bring us down this side of 1798; therefore, Joel 2: 1, 15–17 could not apply earlier than the present century; and until such time as that scripture did apply it was not a Christian duty to look for the second coming of Christ, nor to regard it as an event near at hand.

But the apostle’s prohibition has expired; the “man of sin” has been revealed and has sat in the temple of God “showing himself that he is God,” the long, dark night of Papal persecution is in the past; and for years the solemn message has been sounding forth, “Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Shall we not, in view of these things, heed the admonition of the prophet:—

“Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired, before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness; it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” Zeph. 2: 1–3.

Do Not Be Discouraged.

It is the hungry man that enjoys food, the tired man that enjoys rest, and the weary wanderer that appreciates and enjoys the comforts of home. So it is the afflicted, tempted, and tried Christian who rejoices in the consolations of divine grace here, and who will be enraptured with the glories of his Father’s house hereafter. Tears will give place to smiles, joy will succeed sorrow, and the sighing of earth will be changed into the music of Heaven. Do not be discouraged, then, because of the roughness of the way. The wilderness must be passed through before the Jordan is crossed and the promised land is gained. The battle always precedes the victory; the conflict goes before the triumph. Then, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you. Endure with patience. “For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.”—Sel.

Worldly Conformity.

By Roswell F. Cottrell

“And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Rom. 12:2.

CONFORMITY to innocent manners and customs of the people is not wrong, but commendable. We should come as near to the people as we can, and not violate any principle of right. In going from place to place, the apostle Paul adopted the harmless customs of different nations, that he might have a saving influence upon all. But to sacrifice a single principle of right, to go contrary to one express requirement of the Scriptures, hoping thereby to gain an influence for good, is one of the greatest mistakes that ever was made by a professor of godliness.

Our depraved nature always has a downward tendency. The work of elevating men to the standard of truth is a difficult work, demanding the greatest circumspection. And when any propose to do evil that good may come, the result is always evil. And yet we hear professed Christians say, I must do this or that, in violation of the express word of God, in order to have an influence over others, to bring them to Christ and his truth. How eminently wise, to descend from the high and holy standard of right, in order to elevate others to the position that we have vacated! Those who do so plainly show that, instead of gaining an influence over the world for good, they themselves are under the evil influence of the world.

What caused the great apostasy in the professed church? What changed the church into the harlot of Revelation? What transformed the doctrines and duties of Christianity into heathen philosophy and pagan rites? or, rather, how were the former exchanged for the latter? It was merely by descending to paganism to get an influence over pagans.

There was a minister who acknowledged the claims of the Fourth Commandment,—that the seventh day was the only true Sabbath of the Bible,—but he thought he would have a greater influence, and be able to do more good, by yielding to the prevailing custom and keeping Sunday; and so he went on breaking a known commandment of God and calling sinners to repentance! Probably more professed conversion under his preaching than would had he preached the whole truth; but they were converted to only a part of the truth, and were still transgressors of the law of God, i. e., sinners, though perhaps ignorantly, but their teacher, knowingly. Streams do not rise higher than their fountains; but it sometimes happens that disciples—

“Grow wiser than their teachers are, And better know the Lord.”

Think a moment of a temperance reformer who takes an occasional glass with tipplers to get an influence over them. Just so it is with those who follow the foolish and sinful fashions and hurtful customs of worldlings and false professors, to get an influence over them. Some dress and adorn themselves in a manner expressly forbidden in the writings of the apostles. They do it, they say, to get an influence over their friends and neighbors. For what purpose? Of course it is to convert them to the meekness, humility, and plainness of Christ and his teachings. They may deceive themselves; but worldlings of sense are not deceived, but see the falsity of their profession, and feel and know that they have ignored the teachings which they profess to follow, and have come over to the side of the world.

The only way to wield an influence for good is to live out the teachings which we profess to adopt. Practice the right; and let all see that we are sincere and true to principle; while our gravity of manners and courteous conversation prove that we have been transformed by the renewing of the mind. R. F. COTTRELL.

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