Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 23, 1894
Its Source
"Beware of Covetousness."—In the twelfth chapter of Luke, verse 15, our Lord warns us to "beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things he possesseth."
THE word "covetousness" comes from the Greek pleonexia, defined as "some advantage which one possesses over another; an inordinate desire of riches, covetousness, grasping, overreaching, extortion." Its use in the Scriptures may be learned from such texts as Mark 7:22; Rom. 1:29; Eph. 5:3; Col. 3:5. The word rendered "covet" in the tenth commandment of the Decalogue, as translated into the Greek, epithumeō, is more comprehensive, meaning "to fix the mind on, to set the heart upon, long for, to lust after." The word "covetousness," however, is generally used with respect to property, as being synonymous with avarice, or inordinate desire for gain, desiring that which belongs to another.
Its Source.
The root of covetousness is in the natural heart of man. "For from within, out of the heart," says our Saviour, "proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, . . . foolishness;" all these evil things come from within. Mark 7:21, 22. The margin puts covetousness and wickedness in the plural, and thus shows that covetousness and wickedness are manifested in different ways. One man is covetous in one way, another in another way. One lusts after power, another after fame, another after applause, another after the indulgence of the lower, baser passions, another after property or money. But in all cases the root of the wickedness is within the heart.
Opposite of Covetousness.
The only proper and normal mainspring of action in the life of every man is love. God's requirements, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," are the only duties resting upon man. These include all other duties. Love to God would lead us to render to him all due homage and obedience. Love to our neighbor would lead us to treat him as we would have him treat us if our cases were reversed. Love in operation is life, and peace, and joy. It brings strength and cheer to the heart of him who possesses it; it proves a blessing to those to whose needs it administers. But love does not exist naturally within the human heart; it is from above. Therefore says an apostle: "Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born [begotten] of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love."
COVETOUSNESS is the opposite of all this. Love flows outward for the good of others. Covetousness makes the heart the center and endeavors to draw all things inward for the benefit of self and self alone. It is especially manifest in this age and in this country, in the worship of money and what money will bring. This has doubtless been true in a greater or less degree in all ages; it is emphatically true at the present time. The worship of Plutus, the god of wealth, the mammon of the Scriptures, is the religion of the covetous.
The Power of Wealth.
A plutocracy is a government by the rich. America is largely a plutocracy to-day. In all matters where the interests of wealth are united, wealth is dominant. Gold is an "open sesame" to almost every coveted position in social or political life. Do the ignorant and uncultured, who cannot trace their lineage back through blue-blooded ancestors to some barbarous or savage chieftain, wish to be considered as belonging to the "upper ten"?—Gold will pave the way. Does the mediocre citizen, whose merits would never raise him higher than town clerk, desire to enter the halls of Legislature or Congress with "Hon." before his name?—Gold will open the doors. Does the libertine wish to indulge his bestial propensities?—Gold will enable him to do it even at the expense of the hitherto innocent. Are so-called positions of honor desired anywhere?—Few indeed are the places where gold sufficient is not potent. Are riches desired for the sake of being rich?—Well, gold, gold, gold, sufficient gold, will make one rich. Thus it is that covetousness, or love of money, is the sin which underlies so many other sins. Some men love money for its own sake; others love it for what it will buy, both motives being equally selfish. Truly has the Lord said: "For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some reaching after, have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 1 Tim. 6:10, Revised Version.
A Curse to Others As Well.
How emphatically true are the above words! How men have not only pierced themselves through with many sorrows, but they have pierced others through with many sorrows also! There are millions through the past ages who, could they speak, would testify to its truth to-day, and the history of the ages has told us of the world-wide ruin wrought by the coveting of "saint-seducing gold." We have the testimony in the present, as in the past, that "Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law." The vast fortunes that are piled up by the Goulds, Vanderbilts, Astors, Stewarts, Rockefellers, Huntingtons, and Pullmans, of America, bring their possessors no comfort, and are a menace to stable government. In fact, the law-making powers are, to a greater or less extent, controlled by the wealth of the country, and especially when this wealth is combined in any one line, as it is, for instance, in the great Sugar Trust and Standard Oil Company. Votes are purchased to elect lawmakers, and the lawmakers are purchased after election. Men purchase votes to get more gold; men sell votes for the same purpose. The cry of the millions is:—
"Gold! gold! gold! gold!
Bright and yellow, hard and cold."
The love of money lies at the very foundation of the present troubles through which our country is passing. Wealthy corporations by law and combinations have forced prices up and down at their own sweet will, regardless of the needy, have ground the faces of the poor, have reduced the already meager wage, have used men as so many mere machines to advance themselves and their selfish interests. This they have been able to do by better opportunities, excellent training, and superior talent. Their very success has lifted them in their own imagination above the common mass of men. The rich are forming a sort of aristocracy among themselves with wealth as the badge of nobility. All these things and more have roused the prejudices, resentment, and hatred of millions of the poorer class, and these sentiments have been fed by demagogues and politicians who are feathering their own nests by plucking the few feathers left by the rich.578
Not the Rich Alone.
But it is not alone the rich—those possessing large earthly wealth—who fall under the condemnation of the word of God. That man who has set his heart on riches, or on the perishable things of earth which riches will buy, albeit he may not be able to obtain them, is as truly covetous as the man with the same disposition who has obtained what he sought. The reason why one was successful and the other not is not a matter of disposition, but of ability and opportunity. “The love of money” may be as great in the heart of a brakeman, for instance, as in that of a railroad manager, and may lead to worse results; for while, in the manager it may result only in the stealing of a few thousand acres of land or a million or two of dollars from the government, in the brakeman it may result in the wrecking of trains, the loss of millions of dollars through paralysis of commerce, and the loss of precious life. It is the love of money in both instances. “They that will be rich [Revised Version, “They that desire to be rich”] fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” 1 Tim. 6:9. There are thousands who desire; there are few who obtain. If the wealth of the world were divided among its inhabitants, an equal amount to each, but a little while would serve to destroy the equality, and divide the people between rich and poor. But those who desire, who cherish the desire, fall into the snare in the time of temptation. Both classes have met it in this great railway strike, and both continuing in the desire will meet “destruction and perdition” at last.
There Is a Better Way.
We know that it will not be believed by the mass; but some will believe it and heed it; for it is God’s way. “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.” 1 Tim. 6:6–8. “Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?” James 2:5. Use this world as not abusing it. It is worth nothing to us only as we may use it to glorify God, and so be helped on to that better world which will know no poor. Food and raiment are all that the rich have, and but few have any hope beyond. The poor may be poor in earthly riches, but they may possess the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, the riches of the glory of God’s grace in Christ Jesus. The rich in worldly goods who counts his riches by actual deed as belonging to God is poor in His sight. The poor whose heart is set on riches is accounted of God as those who are rich; they worship the same god of gold. But those who give all to him, who use all for him, are the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom. Here is good advice for all, rich and poor:—
“The rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.”
“Labor not to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.”
“And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
“Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie; to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.”
“A faithful man shall abound with blessings; but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.”
“Riches profit not in the day of wrath; but righteousness delivereth from death.”
“Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”
“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.”
SOME SUNDAY ARGUMENTS.
THE Victoria (B. C.) Weekly Colonist, of May 25, contains a report of a sermon on “The Christian Sabbath” by the Rev. Dr. Campbell, of the First Presbyterian Church of that city, which we are requested to notice. It really presents nothing worthy of notice. Those who know God’s word will readily see all its fallacies. However, all do not know God’s word, and it is this class we hope to help in the following remarks.
The gentleman evidently did the best he could for the cause he represented, but, unfortunately for those who attempt to defend Sunday, they champion an ignoble cause, concerning which we may well inquire, in the words of the Scripture, “Who hath required this at your hand?” Dr. Campbell takes the following positions, which we number:—
[1] Although it [the Sabbath] was the seventh day of the week in relation to God’s work, it was first in relation to man’s; for before he entered on the toil of tilling the garden of Eden he enjoyed the blessings of the Sabbath, the day on which God rested from all his work of creation.
To this we may reply that according to the Sacred Record Adam’s first day was the sixth day, upon which were brought before him all the animals, which he that day named. Compare Gen. 2: 19, 20 with 1: 27–31.
After admitting that the weekly division of time was observed down through the ages, he well says:—
The word “remember,” with which the fourth commandment begins, seems to indicate that the Sabbath was well known to the Hebrews, for indeed no new law was given at Sinai, and the fourth commandment only put the law of the Sabbath in a more definite form than it formerly was.
He continues:—
[2] The essential element in the fourth commandment is setting apart one day in seven for rest, and six days for labor. Emphasis is laid upon the idea of the Sabbath. “Remember the Sabbath day,” not the seventh day, “to keep it holy,” and the command closes with the statement, “Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day,” not the seventh day, “and hallowed it.” . . . While in the body of the commandment the seventh day is mentioned as the day of rest, the stress is not laid in Scripture on the seventh day, but on the Sabbath, and that too whether the day observed as the Sabbath be the seventh or first day of the week.
But the Sabbath is only one day. On one day only God rested; one day only he blessed; one day only he set apart. That day was the579seventh, the rest day, the Sabbath; for sabbath means rest. To “remember the Sabbath day” is therefore to “remember the day of the rest.” “Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day,” is to say, “Wherefore the Lord blessed the day of the rest,” which can be only one day, namely, the seventh. And God did lay “stress” upon the seventh day by a threefold weekly miracle of forty years. He showed that only one day was, or could be, his Sabbath, namely, the day of his rest. Exodus 16.
[3] After the resurrection of Christ the apostles and early Christians ceased to keep the seventh day as the Sabbath, but substituted the first day of the week, which was called the “Lord’s day.”
But there is not the slightest evidence in the Scripture that that is the case. The idea is preposterous that Christ observed the Sabbath in a “lawful” manner all his earth life, told his disciples to “follow me,” and then these disciples, without one word as to the sacredness of Sunday from his lips, departed from Christ’s express example and began the observance of a day which has no Biblical claim to sacredness whatever. These same disciples taught the observance of God’s holy law (Rom. 3: 31; 1 John 2: 3, 4; 5: 3; James 2: 8–12; Rev. 14: 12), and the necessity of following in Christ’s footsteps (1 Peter 2: 21; 1 John 2: 6). Where and when and how did Christ substitute the first day for the seventh? Where is the record? What the true Lord’s day is, is expressly told us in Mark 2: 27; Isa. 58: 13; Ex. 20: 8–11. Further, the seventh-day Sabbath was kept in the church, notwithstanding the apostasy, for more than four centuries after Christ.
[4] Jesus appeared after his resurrection to his followers gathered together for worship seven times. The first two were on the first day of the week, and merely it is not unreasonable to suppose that the other five were also on that day.
The first one was on the evening of the first day, when the day had passed. Why did he not meet earlier with them if the day were to be kept as sacred? The fact is the disciples did not believe him to be risen. See Mark 16: 14. The second recorded meeting was “after eight days” from the first, certainly not on the first day of the week. John 20: 26. The third was on a fishing occasion, which might have been Sunday. Our Presbyterian friend should not find fault with anyone for following piscatorial diversions on Sunday; for according to his above statement leaders of the primitive church on that day “went a-fishing,” and our Lord gave them success. The last meeting was forty days after his resurrection, on a Thursday, ten days before Pentecost. The whole Sunday argument is based on just such suppositions.
[5] The precepts and commandments which Jesus gave to his disciples during the forty days after his resurrection we learn from the acts and writings of these inspired men. One thing in particular they did by precept and example: they taught the churches which they organized to meet on the first day of the week for worship, an important part of which was the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, which seems conclusively to have been an injunction of Christ himself. As the essential elements of the Sabbath were transferred to the first day of the week it is of little moment whether the name was transferred or not.
But what “precepts and commandments” do we learn? Where are such ever mentioned? Jesus said before his death that he had given them God’s word (John 17: 8, 14), and on the cross he declared his work finished, which he came to do personally on earth. Nowhere by precept or example did the apostles teach the church to meet on the first day. The celebration of the Lord’s Supper was “an injunction of Christ himself,” but the celebration of the Lord’s Supper on the first day was not. The time was left with them, and was sometimes daily. Acts 2: 46. The essential elements of the Sabbath were God’s rest, blessing, and sanctification on his part. Gen. 2: 2, 3. To man, it was a memorial of God as a Creator, and a sign of him as Recreator or Redeemer. Ex. 20: 8–11; Eze. 20: 12, 20. The resting of God could not be transferred to the first day of the week, because he did not rest that day, and his blessing and sanctification have not been transferred. And on man’s part there is nothing in connection with the first day which reveals to man God as Creator or Redeemer.
[6] As the work of redemption is more important than that of creation, so the Lord’s day is of greater importance than the Jewish Sabbath.
The work of redemption, of regeneration, of saving man, is a work of creation. It is creating a man anew in Christ Jesus, and is so called. See Eph. 2: 10; 4: 24; Col. 3: 10. The Sabbath is a memorial and a sign of both creations. God’s power in creation is pledged for man’s salvation. See the whole of Isaiah 40; Eze. 20: 12, 20.
[7] A direct command for the change of day is not essentially necessary, for the acts of Christ and his inspired followers are as authoritative as direct commands. If the principle is taught in the word it is all that is necessary.
By the above we may justify every error and dogma of the Papacy; and it is the principle now forsaken by many Protestants, who will inevitably be led back to the Church of Rome. Says Dowling:—
The Bible, I say, the Bible only, is the religion of the Protestants! nor is it of any account in the estimation of the genuine Protestant how early a doctrine originated, if it is not found in the Bible. . . . He who receives a single doctrine upon the mere authority of tradition, let him be called by what name he will, by so doing steps down from the Protestant rock, passes over the line which separates Protestantism from popery, and can give no valid reason why he should not receive all the earlier doctrines and ceremonies of Romanism upon the same authority.—History of Romanism, book 2, chap. 1.
Loyalty.
Loyalty to government, to God, is one of the demands of the hour, yet, sad it is, loyalty to government in these days is conspicuously lacking. Utterly regardless of right and duty in the past, the railroad corporations have enriched themselves at the country’s expense. Utterly regardless of right and duty, lawless strikers and rioters are destroying themselves at not only the railway’s expense, but at the expense of every branch of trade and industry, and in open and planned defiance of law and government. But loyalty to earthly government may not be expected of them when loyalty to divine government is wanting. There can be no loyalty without conscience; and there can be no conscience—no good conscience—where utter disregard for the principles of God’s word is prevalent. Loyalty to the principles of God’s government means loyalty to human government; and he who is not loyal to human government in the proper sphere of human government does not know the principles of God’s government.
"THIS DO, AND THOU SHALT LIVE."
By Ellen G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
(Concluded.)
IN the parable Jesus presented a stranger, a neighbor, a brother in suffering, wounded and dying. How much more should their hearts have been moved with pity for him than for a beast of burden! But, though priests and scribes had read the law, they had not brought it into their practical life. They had read: "For The Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward; he doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." "And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God."
In speaking of the manner in which the priest and the Levite treated the wounded man, the lawyer had heard nothing out of harmony with his own ideas, nothing contrary to the forms and ceremonies that he had been taught were all the law required. But Jesus presented another scene: But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out twopence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."
After Christ had shown up the cruelty and selfishness manifested by the representatives of the nation, he brought forward the Samaritan, who was despised, hated, and cursed by the Jews, and set him before them as one who possessed attributes of character far superior to those possessed by those who claimed exalted righteousness. The Samaritan manifested the pity and love that the priest and Levite gave no evidence of possessing. He gave a demonstration that he had a heart that could feel for suffering humanity, that he had nobility of soul to show mercy to one whom he knew not, that his love was of the right quality, flowing out in disinterested benevolence, and making him treat the wounded stranger as he would desire to be treated were he placed in similar circumstances.
Everyone who claims to be a child of God should note every detail of this lesson. The wounded and bruised sufferer was a man, and the Samaritan showed himself to be a man. He did not stop to consider whether or not this man would be pleasant or disagreeable, whether he was a Jew or a Gentile. He knew580that he was in need of help from humanity. "Thy neighbor" does not mean one of the church or faith to which you belong. If our names are upon the church book, we should represent the mercy, compassion, and tenderness of Jesus Christ, with no thought as to race, color, or class distinction. The Samaritan realized that there was before him a human being in need and suffering, and as soon as he sees him, he has compassion upon him.
He takes off his own garment with which to cover his nakedness, and uses the oil and wine he has provided for his own comfort to heal and refresh the wounded man. He forgets that he may be in danger of similar treatment from robbers by tarrying in the place, and places the man on his beast, and moves slowly along, with even pace, so that the stranger may not be jarred and made to suffer increased pain. He brings him to a comfortable inn, takes care of him through the night, watching his case carefully, and in the morning, as the suffering has improved, he ventures to leave him to the care of the inn keeper. He hands him a sum of money, bidding him care for the stranger, and saying that if he spends more than he has provided, he will repay him on his return.
The Samaritan followed the impulse of a kind and loving heart. Christ so presented the scene that the most severe rebuke was placed upon the unfeeling actions of priest and Levite. But this lesson is not only for them, but for Christians of this day, and is a solemn warning to us that for humanity's sake we may not fail to show mercy and pity to those who suffer. Like Judaism, Christianity has become perverted, and selfishness and cold formality have quenched the fire of love, and dispelled the graces that would make fragrant the character. Holding up before the lawyer the course of the Samaritan, Jesus said to him (for he was no pretender), "Go, and do thou likewise." There are many who are sentimental, and who are ready to weep over any tale of woe, but who do not manifest real love in doing for the needy those things that should be done. But those who have read this lesson, and have been benefited, will be able to distinguish real love from sentimentalism.
In the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus presented his own love and character. The life of Christ was filled with works of love toward the lost and erring. In the man bruised and wounded and stripped of his possessions, the sinner is represented. The human family, the lost race, is pictured in the sufferer, left naked, bleeding, and destitute. Jesus takes his own robe of righteousness to cover the soul, and whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. The Lord Jesus gives no encouragement to the idea that one is superior to another, and justifies no one in cherishing feelings of contempt or even indifference toward his fellow-men. The law of God is the standard to which all must attain, and sinful man can obey that law only by the merit and grace of Jesus Christ, who has died for his salvation.
STRIKE! FELLOW-WORKMEN, STRIKE!!
By Editor
AMONG the incidents of the strike, it has been reported that certain cigar makers' and brewery workmen's unions had struck. Good. Not that we have aught against the men engaged in either line of business, but it would be a blessed thing for thousands of the workingmen and their wives and children if every worker, rich or poor, in the tobacco, beer, and alcoholic interests would strike, and strike forever. It would pay the workingmen of this country to pension them all liberally, on the condition that not another leaf of tobacco should be grown, nor another gallon of beer brewed, nor another quart of intoxicating drinks distilled or manufactured. Of course this will not be as long as men have appetites uncontrolled by reason or grace, but it is a thing devoutly to be wished. Many of the rumsellers who "sympathized" with the strikers, whose saloons became the gathering place of the disaffected, have well filled their tills from hard earnings, or will absorb the greater part of the first month's wages after the strike is over, while in many instances the grocer, butcher, and baker will go unpaid.
The worst foe which the workmen of this country have, the one which robs them of manhood, honor, and comparative plenty, the one which dulls the brain, brutalizes the mind, and enslaves the whole being of thousands, is King Alcohol, together with his myrmidons, beer and tobacco. These stimulants and narcotics are not needed. We know they are not. The writer has worked on the farm from 4 A.M. till 10 P.M., in the iron mines for twelve hours a day, at the printer's case, in building, in the lumber woods, in sawmills, for the same length of time, at hard brain labor for from fourteen to sixteen hours a day, year in and out, in Europe and America, indoors and out-of-doors, when the thermometer stood at 110° Fahrenheit in the shade, and 10° to 20° below zero in the sun, and in all the various places, times, conditions, and environments, he has never needed either alcohol, beer, or tobacco; and he has fared as well, and been happier, he believes, than those who used these poisons. There are hundreds of others who can testify to similar experiences. Fellow-workmen, strike on these things, connect with God in this strike, and blessing and victory shall be yours.
A YEAR ago, in obedience to the instruction of Pope Leo XIII., England was dedicated and consecrated by the faithful "to the most Holy Mother of God, and to the Blessed Prince of the Apostles" (which, being interpreted, means the pope of Rome). How England regarded this he did not ask, but she is trending that way as fast as she can. Germany, England, and the United States, the former strongholds of Protestantism, are not able to raise a manly protest.
"THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES."
By W. N. Glenn
BY W. N. GLENN.
In the first verse of the twelfth chapter of Luke we find a caution from our Lord to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." The fact that it is hypocrisy is most assuredly a good and sufficient reason for the caution. Therefore it is fitting to inquire further as to what is this leaven against which we are so plainly warned by the Lord himself.
In the sixteenth chapter of Matthew, where this same caution is again recorded, there is an explanation by which the disciples understood that he meant that they should beware "of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Then in the seventh chapter of Mark the Lord says of these Pharisees, "Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Verse 7. By the commandments of men he referred to the traditions of the elders, concerning which he further said, "Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." Verse 9. Again, in verse 13, they are charged with "making the word of God of none effect" through their traditions.
From these testimonies it is seen that by the "leaven of the Pharisees" is meant the commandments or traditions of men. From the fact that such teaching is hypocrisy, it must have been presented to the people in a false light. And the further fact that these traditions were taught as doctrine, shows that they were represented to be the commandments of God. Then the leaven, the hypocrisy, against which we are warned is that of representing the commandments of men to be the word of God.
This leaven had been silently, stealthily working among the Jewish people until it had permeated and corrupted the whole nation. Its deceptive influence had become so deep seated that when the Messiah came, for whom the people were looking, they were so blinded that they could not recognize him. Although he did the will of God, manifesting in his life the perfect law of his Father, they utterly rejected him, and even put him to death because he would not observe their hypocritical traditions. The deleterious effect of such teaching is thus summed up in Matt. 23:13: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."
But the "leaven of the Pharisees" has not ceased to work. From the Jewish Church the hypocrisy of teaching for doctrine the commandments of men soon passed over and took root in the Christian church. In Paul's day he could say, "The mystery of iniquity doth already work." All along men have been teaching the old "Thou shalt not surely die" falsehood first iterated in Eden. The leaven of man's inherent immortality has corrupted almost the entire church. Ministers and other teachers are presenting it as a doctrine of the Bible, notwithstanding the uniform teaching that eternal life and immortality are obtained only in Christ. On the tradition that man has eternal life in himself has been reared all the fabulous structure of Spiritualism, with its seductive delusions luring men to death. Its advocates most effectually "shut up the kingdom of heaven" against their deluded adherents.
Another tradition of men which has leavened a large portion of the church is the institution of sprinkling. In this the votaries of the commandment of men also "transgress the commandment of God" in regard to baptism (immersion), which is a memorial of the burial and resurrection of Christ. "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead." Col. 2:12. To memorialize a burial by sprinkling a little water on the forehead is verily a travesty upon the example of our Lord, who "was baptized of John in Jordan," going down into the water. See Mark 1:9, 10; Matt. 3:16.
But in no respect is the "leaven of the Pharisees" so pointedly manifest as in the tradition of Sunday observance. Herein is a marked parallel between the time of Christ's sojourn on earth and our time. Because the rulers of that time could find no other fault in the faithful Preacher of the word, they made special attacks upon him because he kept the Sabbath according to the commandment, and not according to their traditions.581The question of the day of the Sabbath was not in issue then, but men insisted upon the enforcement of their commandments regarding the Sabbath; and their zeal, their bigotry, and their hypocrisy would willingly have put to death the transgressor of their traditions. The same principle is involved in the matter of setting up a day by the sole authority of men, the observance of which is to "make the commandment of God of none effect."
The first-day sabbath tradition worked its way into the church gradually, silently, insidiously, as the leaven works, until it became strong enough to assert its claims upon the whole body. At first "a little leaven," making no pretension to sacredness, in course of time, and incidentally by force of secular law, it "leavened the whole lump," until, at the Council of Laodicea, about A.D. 364, the traditional day was declared to be sacred, and the day designated in the commandment of God openly rejected. Like the Pharisees of old, the council anathematized all who ignored the commandment of men and adhered to the law of God.
And this "leaven" is still working. The first-day sabbath is still urged upon the people as the law of God. The anathemas of the rulers, who assume to be the conservators of the oracles, are still hurled at all who dissent from their tradition. The power of the civil law is still invoked to enforce the tradition upon all, and is especially employed against those whose consciences impel them to obey the commandment of God.
The injunction, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees," is as applicable to our day as it was when first uttered by our Lord; and it will be so as long as men are disposed to have their own unscriptural doctrines usurp the place of the word of God.
THE Lord is coming. See his glorious signs,
Hung in the heavens, and spread o'er sea and earth,
As tokens of the coming morning shine
Before the radiant sun sends all his glories forth.
God's holy word was given to guide us safely through
The night of time, to heaven's eternal day;
Then let us search its pages—learn to do
His holy will, and when we learn, obey.
An ancient king of Babylonish fame
Saw, in the dreamy visions of the night,
An image stand erect, with giant frame,
With head of gold, and arms of silver bright.
Brass formed the body of this wondrous man;
The legs of iron seemed to say, "I'm strong."
But, lo! the feet are weaker—clay creeps in—
An indication that 'twill fall erelong.
Again he looks, and, lo! a stone cut from the mount
Smites the great image on its crumbling feet,
And then the gold and silver, brass and iron, and clay,
Crumble and pass as chaff is blown from wheat.
The prophet told the king that kingdoms four
Should rise successive, then the fifth should come—
God's everlasting kingdom, glorious, great.
The rest should pass away to make it room.
So it has been; the Babylonish head of gold
In splendor shone long years, but it must pass,
And give the silver place—the Persian kings;
And they in turn must give away to brass.
The brass, symbolic of the Grecian throne,
Shone forth in glory; but to fade 'twas doomed,
For the next symbol, the iron kingdom, comes,
Showing the wondrous strength of ancient Rome.
Majestic Rome unrivaled stands long years,
Like iron strong, and then the mingled clay
Forms weakened feet, increasing human fears,
And thus the image, tending toward decay.
We look again, and, lo! the toes appear,
Ten kingdoms on the soil once held by Rome.
A little while then these will disappear,
And then the kingdom of the Lord will come.
The stone cut from the mountain represents
The blest and universal kingdom of our God.
It breaks in pieces and consumes the four,
And spreads its reign of peace o'er all the earth abroad.
The fifth great universal kingdom shall eclipse
The glory of the four that's passed away.
And it will stand forever; it will never fall.
O reader, are you ready for that day?
Hebron, Wis.
Perfection as the Highest Aim
By Andrew Murray
PERFECTION as the highest aim of what God in his great power would do for us, is something so divine, spiritual, and heavenly that it is only the soul that yields itself very tenderly to the leading of the Holy Spirit that can hope to know its blessedness.—Andrew Murray.