The Signs of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 20 (5/27/1886)

The Signs of the Times

May 27, 1886

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · May 27, 1886

Willing Obedience.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

God requires prompt and unquestioning obedience to his law. But men are asleep or paralyzed by the deceptions of Satan, who suggests excuses and subterfuges, and conquers their scruples, saying as he did to Eve in the garden, “Ye shall not surely die.” Disobedience not only hardens the heart and conscience of the guilty one, but it tends to corrupt the faith of others. That which looked very wrong to them at first, gradually loses this appearance by being constantly before them, till finally they question whether it is really sin, and unconsciously fall into the same error.

We should not look in the face of duty and delay meeting its demands. Such delay gives time for doubts, unbelief creeps in, the judgment is perverted, the understanding darkened. At length the reproofs of God's Spirit do not reach the heart of the deluded person who has become so blinded as to think that they cannot possibly be intended for him or apply to his case.

The precious time of probation is passing, and few realize that it is given them for the purpose of preparing for eternity. The golden hours are squandered in worldly pursuits, in pleasure, in absolute sin. God's law is slighted and forgotten, yet every statute is none the less binding. Every transgression will bring its punishment. Worldly love of gain desecrates the Sabbath, yet the claims of that holy day are not abrogated or lessened. God's command is clear and unquestionable on this point; he has peremptorily forbidden us to labor on the seventh day. He has set it apart as a day sanctified to himself.

Many are the hindrances that lie in the path of those who would follow in obedience to the commandments of God. There are strong and subtle influences that bind them to the ways of the world; but the power of the Lord can break these chains. He will remove every obstacle from before the feet of his faithful ones, or give them strength and courage to conquer every difficulty, if they earnestly beseech his help. All hindrances will vanish before an earnest desire and persistent effort to do the will of God at any cost to self, even if life itself is sacrificed. Light from Heaven will illuminate the darkness of those who, in trial and perplexity, go forward, looking unto Jesus as the author and finisher of their faith.

In ancient times God spoke to men by the mouths of prophets and apostles. In these days he speaks to them by the testimonies of his Spirit. There was never a time when God more earnestly instructed his people concerning his will, and the course that he would have them pursue, than now. But will they profit by his teachings, will they receive his reproofs and heed the warnings? God will accept of no partial obedience, nor sanction any compromise with self.

Through Samuel, God commanded Saul to go and smite the Amalekites and utterly destroy all their possessions. But Saul only partially obeyed the command; he destroyed the inferior cattle, but reserved the best, and spared the wicked king. The next day he met the prophet Samuel, with flattering self-congratulations. Said he: “Blessed be thou of the Lord; I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” But the prophet immediately answered, “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear.”

Saul was confused and sought to shirk responsibility by answering, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” Samuel then reproved the king, reminding him of the explicit commands of God directing him to destroy all things belonging to Amalek. He pointed out his transgression and declared that he had disobeyed the Lord. But Saul refused to acknowledge that he had done wrong; he again excused his sin by pleading that he had reserved the best cattle to sacrifice unto the Lord.

Samuel was grieved to the heart by the persistency with which the king refused to see his sin and confess it. He sorrowfully asked, “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”

God has given us his commandments, not only to believe in, but to obey. The great Jehovah, when he had laid the foundations of the earth, and dressed the whole world in the garb of beauty, and filled it with things useful to man, when he had created all the wonders of the land and sea, instituted the Sabbath day and made it holy. God blessed and sanctified the seventh day because he rested upon it from all his wondrous work of creation. The Sabbath was made for man, and God would have him put by his labor on that day, as he himself rested after his six days' work of creation.

Those who reverence the commandments of Jehovah, after light has been given them in reference to the fourth precept of the decalogue, will obey it without questioning the feasibility or convenience of such obedience. God made man in his own image, and then gave him an example of observing the seventh day, which he sanctified and made holy. He designed that upon that day man should worship him, and engage in no secular pursuits. No one who disregards the fourth commandment, after becoming enlightened concerning the claims of the Sabbath, can be held guiltless in the sight of God. The example of Adam and Eve in the garden should sufficiently warn us against any disobedience of the divine law.

The sin of our first parents, in listening to the specious temptations of the enemy, brought guilt and sorrow upon the world, and led the Son of God to leave the royal courts of Heaven and take a humble place on earth. He was subjected to insult, rejection, and crucifixion by the very ones he came to bless. What infinite expense attended that disobedience in the garden of Eden! The Majesty of Heaven was sacrificed to save man from the penalty of his crime.

God will not more lightly pass over any transgression of his law now than in the day when he pronounced judgment against Adam. The Saviour of the world raises his voice in protest against those who regard the divine commandments with carelessness and indifference. Said he: “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.”

At the very beginning of the fourth precept, God has said, “Remember,” knowing that man, in the multitude of his cares and perplexities, would be tempted to excuse himself from meeting the full requirements of the law; or, in the press of worldly business, forget its sacred importance. “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work,”—meaning the usual business of life, for worldly profit or pleasure. These words are very explicit; there can be no mistake. How dare any one venture to transgress a commandment so solemn and important? Has the Lord made an exception, by which some are absolved from the law he has given to the world? Are their transgressions omitted from the book of record? Has he agreed to excuse their disobedience when the nations shall come before him for judgment?

Let none for a moment deceive themselves with the thought that their sin will not bring its merited punishment. Their transgressions will be visited with the rod, because they have had the light, yet have walked directly contrary to it. He that knoweth his Master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.

God has given man six days in which to do his own work, and carry on the usual business of his life. But the Lord claims one which he has set apart and sanctified. He gives it to man as a day in which he may rest from labor, and devote himself to worship and the improvement of his spiritual condition. What a flagrant outrage it is for man to steal the one sanctified day of Jehovah, and appropriate it to his own selfish purposes!

It is the grossest presumption for mortal man

to venture upon a compromise with the Almighty, in order to secure his own petty, temporal interests. It is as ruthless a violation of the law to occasionally use the Sabbath for secular business as to entirely reject it; for it is making the Lord's commandments a matter of convenience. “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God,” is thundered from Sinai! The Lord requires willing sacrifice. No partial obedience, no divided interest, is accepted by him who declares that the iniquities of the fathers shall be visited upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him, and that he will show mercy unto thousands that love him and keep his commandments.

PRAISE

“Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.”

BEGIN, my soul, th’ exalted lay; Let each enraptured thought obey, And praise the Almighty’s name; Let Heaven and earth, and seas and skies, In one melodious concert rise, To swell the inspiring theme.

Whate’er this living world contains, That wings the air or treads the plains, United praise bestow; Ye tenant of the ocean wide, Proclaim him through the mighty tide, And in the deeps below.

Let man, by nobler passions swayed, The feeling heart, the judging head, In heavenly praise employ; Spread his tremendous name around, Till heaven’s broad arch rings back the sound, The general burst of joy. —Sel.

The Two Resurrections.

The following is part of an Easter sermon by Rev. E. S. Chapman, D. D., pastor of the first Presbyterian Church, East Oakland, Cal. We hope it will receive the careful reading that it deserves:—

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” This is the divine promise; it will be accomplished by divine power, and according to divine order.

Our waywardness and sinfulness may produce much of disorder and confusion in this earthly life, but divine system and order will prevail at the resurrection of the dead. It will not be the intermingling of heterogeneous elements, as is too often the case now, “but every man in his own order; Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” All the details of this wonderful event are carefully traced in the sacred pages. We may there learn all that our inquiring hearts may yearn to know respecting that which precedes, attends, and follows it.

WHEN JESUS COMES

This resurrection shall occur. “Afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” It was the oft-repeated promise of the blessed Master to his disciples that he would come again and receive them to himself. He declares that his coming shall be “at an hour when ye think not” (Luke 12:40), “as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west” (Matt. 24:27), “in the clouds with great power and glory” (Mark 13:26), and “in the glory of his Father, with his angels” (Matt. 16:27). The purpose of that coming is declared by himself to be, to “gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven” (Mark 13:27). In his last discourse before his crucifixion he renewed this promise in the memorable words, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” And when the amazed disciples had witnessed his ascension and were steadily gazing into heaven, hoping to see him return again to the earth, the white-robed messengers of God gently rebuked their folly and said, “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). This assurance brought to their remembrance the Master’s oft-repeated promise, with which it was in such perfect harmony. And in this hope of his speedy return they patiently endured all their sad afflictions and faithfully performed their work. This hope was the crowning glory of all their faith, and the inspiring theme of all their teachings. It was always made prominent both in discourse and epistle, for it was the “hope of the church.”

When the Thessalonians had accepted the gospel as preached by Paul, they were daily looking for the Lord’s return, so prominent had that promise been made in the preaching of the great apostle. And when some of their number had fallen asleep, they were greatly distressed lest death had robbed them of a part in that promised coming of the Lord. To correct this distressing error the apostle wrote them a fuller explanation of that great event to which they were all so anxiously looking. They had failed to consider the resurrection features of the Lord’s coming, and to this the apostle directs their special attention.

THE LIVING IN CHRIST

Shall not be the first to greet the returning Lord. “We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep.” The glory of that coming shall enswathe the whole earth. It will light up with its own radiance all the receptacles of the dead, and warm into newness of life the ashes of all who sleep in Christ. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.” It will not be a shout of anguish like that unlanguaged cry which he uttered upon the cross, but such a shout of triumph as earth has never heard; such a shout as shall awake the sleeping dead, whether buried in the deepest sea, upon the mountain-top, in the dreary desert, or in the city full. “And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.” Mark 13:27. “With the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” shall his shout of triumph be attended, and

“THE DEAD IN CHRIST SHALL RISE FIRST.”

“Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” The first to answer that divine summons will be those who have lived and died in Christ. Not even the living in Christ shall precede them in responding to that heavenly call. The deepest seas shall yield their precious treasures; the hardest marble shall crumble, and the strongest bars shall break as the redeemed of God shall awake and arise to meet their blessed Lord. O, the glory of that resurrection day, “when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality.” Not in the weak and wasted forms in which we have here toiled and suffered and died, will we answer that divine summons. “It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” 1 Cor. 15:42–44. “For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto this glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” Phil. 3:20, 21.

But though they are the first, the dead in Christ shall not be the only earthly participants in the events of that great and glorious day. The Thessalonian believers feared their departed friends would have no part at all in the promised blessing. But the apostle shows them that their awakening shall be the first human answer to “the voice of the archangel and the trump of God.” “Then we which are alive and remain shall be CAUGHT UP TOGETHER WITH THEM IN THE CLOUDS, to meet the Lord in the air.” “Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Cor. 15:51, 52.

O, what a glorious truth is this! No wonder that in the days of the apostles it was called the “hope of the church.” No wonder that so much of the New Testament is devoted to the setting forth of this one doctrine. No wonder that the great apostle Paul labored and prayed that he might know him, and the power of his resurrection, and that the very height of his ambition was to “attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” Phil. 3:10, 11.

For this wonderful event the blessed Saviour admonishes us to watch and be always ready. Many of his most impressive parables were spoken to awaken in our hearts the interest that would cause us to be always prepared for his coming. And in the Apocalyptic vision, the voice of a great multitude is heard joining in the glad chorus of joy: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.”

“It may be at morn, when the day is awaking, When sunlight through darkness and shadow is breaking, That Jesus will come in the fullness of glory, To receive from the world ‘his own.’”

“It may be at mid-day, it may be at twilight, It may be, perchance, that the blackness of midnight Will burst into light in the fullness of glory, When Jesus receives ‘his own.’”

“Oh, joy! oh, delight! should we go without dying, No sickness, no sadness, no dread and no crying, Caught up through the clouds with our Lord into glory, When Jesus receives ‘his own.’”

We may live to see that day, and we may not. Many, dear to our hearts, have already been called away, and we too may lie down in the narrow house. But though our resting-places may be separated from each other by continents and seas, we shall together awake and arise in the perfection of resurrection, beauty, and glory. This was the hope with which Paul sought to comfort the hearts of the Thessalonian believers, and this is the hope with which I would inspire you to faithfulness in the Christian life.

But all this applies to none but those who are living or sleeping in Christ. In the text it is “they that are Christ’s,” who shall be raised “at his coming.” In the epistle to the Thessalonians it is “the dead in Christ” who shall rise first, “then we,” believers, “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.”

(Conclusion next week.)

“Where Is Boasting, Then?”

By G. D. Ballou

A NEAR approach to anything like boasting about the affairs of this life is always looked upon by charitable people with a feeling of pity and compassion; and when a man openly brags about the superiority of his worldly possessions or about the smartness of the children, the sense of pity deepens into one of disgust, and nothing bores us more than to be compelled to listen to such boasting. But what shall be said of the spirit of boasting that speaks loudly and boldly of one's own goodness and purity of heart? There are no words capable of justly expressing the mingled emotions that fill intelligent minds when there is such an exhibition of folly and presumption. If it were folly alone, compassion would make allowance, but when the cause of God is abased and the prophets and apostles put entirely in the shade by the claims of sinless purity which we sometimes hear, then forbearance ceases to be a virtue, and mingled emotions of disgust, contempt, and sorrow clamor for expression.

There is abundant evidence that in the Bible the people of God are called holy and are said to be sanctified; and the fruits of the Spirit which give evidence that this work of sanctification is being accomplished are named in Gal. 5:22, 23. Among these is meekness, which leads the Christian to place a modest estimate on his own attainments. A small degree of this grace will prevent Christians from presuming to proclaim their own holiness. It is only when this grace is wanting and its place usurped by spiritual pride and self-sufficiency that men and women will be found vain enough

to testify before men that they are perfect. Those who keep the life of Christ before them as a pattern cannot think highly of their own efforts and attainments unless they utterly fail to appreciate the contrast between his life of perfect obedience and their own imperfect and crooked ways.

The mistakes which Christians make, and the sins of ignorance they commit, ought to keep them humble. What can be done for an individual who brags of his humility and boasts of his meekness? What is it but self-righteousness that blinds people to their own follies and mistakes?

What can be done to relieve the world of these stumbling-blocks over which so many are to-day falling to ruin? Our Saviour recognized the difficulties of the case when, in view of the self-righteous notions of the Pharisees which forbade them sitting at meat with those they considered to be sinners, he sharply reproved them, saying: “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” Matt. 9:12. Jesus could furnish healing for the spiritual maladies of the humble publicans and sinners, but he could do nothing for the self-righteous and complacent Pharisees who felt no need of a Saviour.

The sin of spiritual boasting may be made more apparent by noticing some of the plain declarations of Scripture in reference to it, and by these the reader may be kept from this spiritual leprosy.

Luke 18:9-14: Jesus spake a parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray; one of these stood up and thanked God that he was not wicked like other men, and that he was not even as bad as the publican who stood near praying, and then he proceeded to tell the Lord how good he was and what laudable deeds he was constantly performing. But the other man would not even look toward heaven and could only say as he smote upon his breast, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Jesus concludes this parable by saying this publican “went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

In Rom. 10:2, 3, Paul, in speaking of his own nation, bears witness that they had “a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Here was a class who were full of zeal and earnestness and works, “going about to establish their own righteousness;” but they were not in subjection to God's righteousness, hence were strangers to God, because, being full of self-righteousness, they would not humble themselves to learn the will of God. Self-righteousness and a desire to obey God's will cannot abide together in the same heart.

Isa. 65:2-7: Here the Lord revealed to Isaiah the true condition of a people who were walking after their own thoughts, though very scrupulous about making sacrifices, and so very pious that they sought inspiration by lingering about the resting-places of the dead; yet they were corrupting themselves by eating swine's flesh and other abominable things, and making themselves odious to God by setting up the claim that they were holier than other people. The Lord said, “These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.” I will “recompense into their bosom, your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers.” This shows how God regards “pious” sinners who claim to be pure and holy above other people.

In Numbers 16 is the first account of some who set up their own claim to holiness. If the reader will turn to this chapter he will see what a terrible rebuke God administered to those presumptuous ones. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram told Moses and Aaron that “all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them.” This was a very polite and delicate way of saying that we, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, are just as holy as you, Moses and Aaron. And then they proceeded to find fault with and raise rebellion against those whom God had placed to lead his people. The only answer Moses had was, “To-morrow the Lord will show who are his, and who are holy.” On the morrow, by the destruction of Korah and all his company, the Lord did make manifest who were accepted of him and who were condemned. This awful rebuke ought to be a lesson to those who in these days put forth this blasphemous claim, and thrust themselves forward as leaders of God's people.

I am not arguing that there are no holy men on earth to-day, for I believe that, as in past times, every true child of God is by the Lord accounted holy in a certain sense of the term. The point I would make plain is that it is a dangerous thing for men to set up this claim of sinless purity, and that when they do put forth this claim it is evidence that they are unholy in God's sight; for in doing it they rob themselves of the graces of meekness and humility, without which there can be no such thing as acceptance with God. It is the prerogative of him who can read the heart, to show who are his, and who are holy.

The redeemed holy ones who stand at last upon Mt. Zion ascribe holiness not to themselves but to God. Their song is “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.” Where, then, is there room for boasting? It is excluded by the law of faith. Rom. 3:27. Whoever has faith, a true intelligent faith, in Jesus, based on a clear conception of the nature of his work, will have no disposition to boast of his own spiritual attainments. His mind and heart will be so full of the character of Christ that there will be no room for self-glorification. He will say with Paul, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

G. D. BALLOU.

St. Helena, Cal., May 9, 1886.

Religious Liberty.

By Rev. H. D. Clarke

The present agitation of the above subject all centers about the Sabbath question. That most if not all religions will be tolerated in this country is quite certain, but religious liberty and religious toleration are two distinct things. Our opponents are willing, they say, that we should observe the seventh day, but to do secular work on Sunday is quite another concession. “The wheels of trade and labor on Sunday must be stopped.” To make any exceptions in favor of seventh-day observers would open the flood-gates of Sunday desecration, say our religious-amendment friends, hence “for the sake of the people, physically, intellectually, and morally, the wheels of business must pause” on one day in seven. Notice the present argument. Sunday legislation, they say, is not in the direct interest of the religious world, that is, it is not to favor any religious sects; it is not with the intention of making Sunday the Sabbath; but it is for the physical benefit of an overworked people who are growing prematurely old. Says an advocate of Sunday legislation: “In France there is little rest. The wheels of trade never cease. Sunday evenings the theaters are crowded. The result is there are few old men.” To give long life and health to the people, he thinks the State must give us a “civil rest day.” O, how fallen is the Sunday! “Civil rest day!” We hear little now about the divinely appointed Sunday, the Lord’s day. Men have become enlightened, and it will not do to urge legislation in behalf of a holy day, but a “civil rest day;” that is charming. It will deceive the people (especially the Seventh-day Baptists) and secure the desired object. Strip this subject of its religious garb, array it in the “habiliments of mere policy and temporal considerations,” and the work will be easily done.

This is a time when, to secure popular favor, position, and power, you must profess great sympathy with the working men. Profound interest in their social status will secure their votes. That they need our true sympathy we do not dispute, and that they have rights capitalists should respect is true, and vice versa. But the hypocrisy of this professed zeal in behalf of working men is too apparent. Will it satisfy the religious-amendment party to coerce men to rest? Will it give them great pleasure to see the people lazily lounging about on Sunday, smoking, or reading novels? Will this pay them for their great labor in securing Sunday legislation? Nay, verily. This plea for a “civil rest day for the people” is a humbug, and to urge it is to falsify the facts. Behind all this is the religious movement, the propping up of the decaying Sunday Sabbath by legislation. The idea of Christian worship on the first day of the week is primary. To secure it the present deceptive plan is being carried out.—Rev. H. D. Clarke, in Sabbath Recorder.

Forgive and Forget.

THE great Sir Matthew Hale had so completely gained the government of his passions that, though naturally of a quick temper, he was never seen in a passion, nor did he ever resent injuries. Of the noble generosity of his mind, the following is a striking instance: A person who had done him a great injury, afterwards came to him for advice in the settlement of his estate, which he frankly gave him, but would accept no fee for it; and when he was asked how he could use a man so kindly who had wronged him so much, his answer was, “I thank God, I have learned to forget injuries.”

Those who say, “I can forgive but I cannot forget,” know nothing of real forgiveness. The Saviour taught us to pray: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;” and the Lord says: “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

God’s Standard.

If it be true that every man has his opinion of himself, it is equally true that God has his opinion of every man. These opinions are very likely to differ. That is because we use different measures of value from God. Our scales are different. We put down our moral weight as so much, while God puts it down perhaps as not one-tenth as much, perhaps as absolutely nothing. One of the most important things a man can do is to have his scales adjusted and corrected so as to agree with the scales he will at last be weighed by. God’s word gives us the standard. By that we can figure our weight. It has been said that we are each three men—what we see ourselves to be, what our neighbors see us to be, and what God sees us to be. The three will coincide by and by, and the time when that will happen is called God’s Judgment day.—Independent.

Then “let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into Judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Eccl. 12:13, 14.

Goodness Practiced for Its Own Sake

By Cicero

MOTIVE.—If we practice goodness, not for the sake of its own intrinsic excellence, but for the sake of gaining some advantage by it, we may be cunning, but we are not good.—Cicero.

Mark Received in Right Hand or Forehead

“AND he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.”

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