Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 27, 1894
Feeding upon God's Word.
Feeding upon the word of God continually does not mean a continual reading of the word, a cramming of the mind and memory with its facts. The healthy man with a competence in a land of plenty feeds continually on food suitable to him; but that does not mean that he is continually eating. He sits at the table but two or three times a day. He eats slowly and sufficiently. He masticates the food thoroughly. He allows time for the digestion, assimilation, and absorption of the food. Each of these processes is as important as that of the eating. It is so with our spiritual food. We should read and study the word of God, slowly, thoroughly, weighing well each word. Then comes meditation upon the word, applying its principles to the acts of our lives, making it a very part of ourselves, even as the material food becomes a part of our bodies. So shall we become like God, on whose word and life we feed.
Evolution versus Creation
He who accepts and holds to the theory of evolution as regards the existence of the earth, who holds that the earth was not created by the fiat of God, but that through inherent energy it evolved from state to state till it reached its present condition,—he who holds to this, professed Christian though he may be, will logically and inevitably be led to reject regeneration, or the new birth through Christ Jesus. The pledge of Christ's power to save us is his power in creation. The same power that called cosmos from chaos and light from darkness changes the chaos of sin within the heart of man to the cosmos of righteousness, and chases away the darkness of carnality by the light of Jesus Christ. Regeneration is a recreation. Eph. 2:10; 2 Cor. 5:17; 4:6. But if it be evolution in the first case, is it not evolution in the second? Thus will the one error lead to the other. But the world could no more have evolved itself than the leopard can change his spots or the Ethiopian his skin or the sinner his heart and life. It is only the power of God which can bring suns and worlds into existence. It is the same power which recreates man and brings him into a new existence. The first is a pledge of the second. The rejection of the first leads to the inevitable rejection of the second. Jesus said, "If ye believe not his [Moses'] writings [the record of creation], how shall ye believe my words?"
THE GREAT STRIKE AND THE SABBATH.
By Editor
WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SABBATH DESECRATION?
THERE is no question among the various classes of thinking men as to the evil of the recent great railway strike and boycott, resulting in the paralysis of commerce throughout the breadth of a continent, in the financial ruin of thousands, in throwing myriads of laboring men out of work and reducing their families to beggary, in bringing untold loss upon thousands of innocent farmers and tradesmen, in defiance of law and authority, in broadening the gulf between rich and poor, in the loss of a score of lives. Its results were evil, and only evil, and those who will feel it most are those who quit work at the bidding of a few autocratic, irresponsible leaders.
Many causes have been assigned, all of which were more or less operative. Space will not permit their analysis or enumeration. What we wish to examine here is an alleged cause, from a religious standpoint, of the great strike and its consequent lawlessness. This cause has been presented with a decided unanimity of sentiment by different religious authorities.
Said the Rev. W. W. Case, of the Howard Street Methodist Episcopal Church, San Francisco, in a sermon preached July 15, on "The Infant Hercules Strangling Juno's Great Snakes," reported in the Chronicle of July 16 (the Italics in the following quotations are ours):—
"They [the railroad companies] have done more to overthrow one of the pillars of God Almighty than anybody else," said the speaker, "and that pillar was, 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.'"
The speaker then referred to the utter disregard of all railway companies to keep the sabbath day. They even went so far as to offer reduced rates on Sunday. He directly charged the railroad companies with being responsible for the present strike.
Rev. R. F. Coyle, D.D., of the First Presbyterian Church of this city, in a sermon on "The Signs of the Times," preached July 15, printed in the Oakland Enquirer of July 17, uttered the following sentiments:—
Again, the signs of the times point to the retributions which must follow the violation of God's law concerning the Sabbath. Capital, in its greed, in its insatiable avarice, has robbed the workingman of his sabbath, and now it is reaping its harvest. It has kept him at work, especially in connection with our railways, seven days out of the week, taken from him the opportunity of developing his conscience and improving his moral nature, and see what has come of it? Lawlessness is rampant, property is threatened and destroyed, a spirit of violence is in the air. We can hardly wonder at it. When capital forces its employes to break God's laws, it can hardly expect them to be loyal to human law. When rich corporations trample upon the commandments of Heaven, and become the most conspicuous law-breakers in the world, they are sowing the wind, and need not be surprised if they have to reap the whirlwind. The riots of 1877, which came so near laying Pittsburg in ashes, were carried on by workingmen whom capital had robbed of their sabbaths. In the lurid light of burning buildings flung upon the sky, one might have read the judgment of God against the desecration of his holy day. The rioters of the present hour, the turbulent, maddened disturbers of the peace, whose acts have paralyzed trade, and threatened the very life of the country, are mostly men who have been denied the boon of sabbath rest and the uplift of sabbath worship. . . .
The retribution of violated sabbaths is not all on the side of capital. Labor is feeling it. Labor unions have contributed their own share toward secularizing the Lord's day, and the bread of disobedience to God which they cast upon the waters they are finding again. It is coming back to them, and they are compelled to eat the bitter food of their own cooking. They cry out against capital for requiring of them Sabbath labor, and they have a right to; but while they are doing it, by picnics, by excursions, by Sunday travel, and by Sunday buying, they do not hesitate to rob some of their own fellows of their Sabbath rest. If they travel, somebody must serve them; if they buy, somebody must sell; if they turn the sabbath into a day of pleasuring, somebody must do the drudgery. There is nothing more certain than that our workingmen, by their high-handed desecration of the Sabbath, are partners with capital in girdling the tree that shades them. They are helping the money power to cut away their protection, and bringing down upon their heads the judgments of God.
We are all guilty here, more or less. Christian people are guilty. They, too, have dropped down into a widespread profanation of God's day, and are robbing the Almighty. They buy, and sell, and ride unnecessarily, even as do others. Their example does not emphasize their regard for the sabbath. Toward every point of the horizon there is evidence that they do not remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. The church is guilty. She has become surfeited with pride and worldly prosperity, and turned a deaf ear to the command that rings down from the lips of Jehovah to reverence his Sabbaths. Upon us all, therefore, the retributions of God's law are coming. Sinai is not a back number. The mountain still smokes and thunders. The Decalogue is still in force. The fourth commandment still holds. But we have violated it as a people, and filled up the cup of God's righteous wrath by our disobedience, and he is making us drink it. Heaven grant that the drinking of it may hurry us to repentance, and bring658us back with broken hearts to cry unto God for mercy.
The Christian Statesman of July 7 says, on the strike question:—
The violence connected with the railroad strike owes its origin to the education the railroads have given their employes in sabbath [Sunday] desecration. They have compelled men to disregard God's law until they have come to set all law at defiance. We believe the time is not far distant when those who teach men to set the law of God at defiance will reap the fruit of their own sowing, and it will be so manifest that they cannot mistake it. It is just as inevitable as destiny that the nation that will not obey God's law shall perish. Patriotism as well as piety demands a return to a strict compliance with the fourth commandment, as well as all other divine requirements affecting the nation. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked."
The Advance (Congregationalist), in its issue of August 2, in an article on "Anarchy Is Irreligion," thus speaks:—
Woe to the child that grows up to despise parental authority. Unhappy indeed is the nation where children have not learned to obey the law of their homes. It is for the same reason that God has appointed a Sabbath, to remind men at stated intervals of the existence of law, and to cause them to bow before its sanctity. The Sabbath serves the same purpose to-day as did the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden; a prohibition is laid upon it, that men may not use it for their own pleasure. This prohibition is to test them and train them. It is designed continually to teach them reverence for law. That man is an Anarchist at heart who deliberately flaunts at the sacredness of the Sabbath, or sneers at any other distinct revelation of the law of God.
With all that is said above in regard to the sacredness and importance of the Sabbath of the Lord, we are in hearty accord. With the Rev. W. W. Case, we hold that one of the pillars of God's government is the Sabbath commandment. With Dr. Coyle, we contend that "Sinai is not a back number." "The Decalogue is still in force. The fourth commandment still holds." With the Christian Statesman, we agree that "piety [at least] demands a return to a strict compliance with the fourth commandment." And with the Advance, we declare that the Sabbath is a test, and that "that man is an Anarchist at heart who deliberately flaunts at the sacredness of the Sabbath, or sneers at any other distinct revelation of the law of God." With the above writers, Methodist, Presbyterian, Reformed Presbyterian, and Congregationalist, and with others of other denominations who might be quoted in the same line, we agree in the above respects, and that the world of capital and labor, of trade and commerce, of Church and State, are guilty of trampling God's law underneath their feet, desecrating and profaning his holy day, and thus inviting upon the transgressors the sure penalty of disobedience; for "sin is the transgression of the law," and "the wages of sin is death."
A Vital Question.
But what day is the Sabbath of the Lord? We have the right to ask the question. More, it is the sacred duty of every Christian to ask the question. The question is not a settled one. It has not been for centuries. A question is never settled until it is settled right. A question is never settled right with the Bible Christian, with the true Protestant, till it is settled according to, and upon the rock of, God's word. Councils, creeds, Roman Catholic "Fathers," tradition, one or all, cannot determine the fact; what says the Bible?
God's law of the holy Sabbath, which Dr. Coyle declares "still holds," is as follows:—
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Ex. 20: 8-11.
The following are recognized principles in the interpretation of law, as all jurists will admit; let us apply them to God's law:—
In the case of all law, it is THE INTENT OF THE LAW-GIVER that is to be enforced.
When words are plain in a written law, there is an end to all construction; they must be followed.
When the intent is plain, nothing is left to construction.
Certainly the words of the fourth commandment of the Decalogue are plain. If language means anything, that law means that the intent of the Lawgiver was that the seventh day should be regarded by his subjects as the Sabbath. And this law God based upon reasons—his resting on the day, blessing the day, and the sanctification or setting apart of the day—which can apply to no other day of the seven; for God rested on no other day, blessed no other day, set apart no other day.
But God did not leave his intent to be declared by words alone. He showed by the threefold weekly miracle of the manna for forty years that the seventh day was the Sabbath, thereby precluding any construction of the plain words of the law.
The Seventh Day of the Week.
More than this: This seventh-day Sabbath was the seventh day of the week, for it was the day which came just before the first day of the week. See Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1, 2; Luke 23:56; 24:1. In short, the only weekly Sabbath or holy day known to the word of God is the seventh-day Sabbath, the memorial of creation, and the sign of sanctification, redemption, or re-creation in Christ. Eze. 20:12. It was the day hallowed by Christ, the Creator, in Eden, kept by patriarch and prophet, and magnified and made honorable by the holy obedience of Jesus Christ, our Example. We can "profane" only that day which God has hallowed. We can "desecrate" only that day which God has made sacred. We can remember to keep holy only that day which God has made holy. God has placed this honor upon only one day, namely, the seventh day of the week.
What then? Then the above quotations are true in principle but wrong in application. In applying to Sunday, the first day of the week, what God has indubitably and eternally, according to the plain words of Scripture, applied to the seventh day, the day just before Sunday, these teachers are instructing men to break God's law. More than this, there are many teachers among the various Protestant denominations who are continually heaping terms of reproach upon the very day thus honored of God. Then are not these very teachers countenancing disobedience and rebellion against God's law? Are they not saying with all their tremendous influence that God does not mean what he says, that his commands are not important? And may not both capitalists and laborers draw the conclusion that if God does not mean what he says in respect to the day and time of the Sabbath, he does not mean what he says in other respects? And if he did not mean by the plain words he uses that the very day named in his law should be regarded, can those words be made to mean that any other day should be observed as the Sabbath? And may we not say, in the adapted language of Dr. Coyle and the Christian Statesman, quoted above, that when religious teachers instruct men to break God's laws, they can hardly expect them to be loyal to human law? Is it not true of these religious teachers (unwittingly, perhaps) that they have taught men to disregard God's law till they have come to set all law at defiance? And what shall we say of that religious teacher (he numbers thousands) who, in the language of the Advance, "deliberately flaunts at the sacredness of the [only true] Sabbath," a most "distinct revelation of the law of God"?
Christian brethren, in the light of the above truths who are the most responsible for Sabbath desecration? God's Sabbath, like the forbidden fruit, is a test; where will you stand? It is not a question merely of days; it is not a question of denominations; it is not a question as between parties of men. It is a question between the traditions and errors of an apostate church and the word of the living God. It is a question of simple faith in the Scriptures of truth, upon which rests your soul's eternal interest. Jesus said, "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." The Sunday sabbath is not of God's planting. The seventh-day Sabbath is an important part of the revealed will of God. "He that doeth the will of God abideth forever." Behind the Sunday stands the Roman Church. Behind the Sabbath is Jehovah, our Righteousness. Where do you stand?
RATHER STULTIFYING EVIDENCE.
By W. N. G.
The efforts to establish the claim that "this is a Christian nation" are about as labored and withal fruitless as the attempts to adduce Scripture authority for the change of the Sabbath to the first day of the week. Two points in connection with the assumption that this is a Christian nation have lately been brought to the attention of the public, which are decidedly stultifying.
The California Christian Advocate of the 8th inst., commenting on the case of Private Cedarquist, U. S. A., who refused to drill on Sunday, exultingly concludes, "Verily we do live in a Christian nation after all." A moment's digest of the case will show how utterly futile is the conclusion. An officer ordered target practice on Sunday, and Cedarquist refused to obey. The conscientious soldier was tried for disobedience of orders,659convicted, and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. The matter was brought to the attention of the President, who issued a pardon.
The order for target practice on Sunday was in violation of an order of President Lincoln, issued in 1862, and the War Department ordered that Major Worth, who prosecuted Cedarquist, be himself tried for disobedience of orders. And this is why the Advocate concludes that "we do live in a Christian nation, after all." But there is not and never was a nation under the sun that would not punish its soldiers for disobedience of orders. And this is all there is in these trials. While the "specification" of the "charge" against the officer is ordering target practice on Sunday, the charge is disobedience of orders—a purely military charge, and not a religious charge. Furthermore, Major Worth has been acquitted of the charge against him, on the ground that President Lincoln's proclamation is not now in force, and that the commanding officer of the post was the proper judge of the necessity for the target practice which he ordered, the troops being on the eve of going into active service. But even if the officer was guilty as charged, if this were a Christian nation, it would be its duty to forgive this and every other offense, though committed seven times a day. The fact that it does not forgive all trespasses against its dignity, is positive evidence that it is not a "Christian" nation. And this further proves that it would be impossible for a Christian nation to exist in this sinful world.
The pardon of Cedarquist does not imply innocence of crime. A pardon never implies innocence; it simply implies clemency or mercy on the part of the pardoning power. And in this instance it is expressly stated that the pardon "is not in any way to be regarded as justification of the disobedience of orders on the part of the soldier." Notwithstanding the fact that the head of the nation forbids target practice on Sunday, yet the national law will punish the soldier who refuses to engage in such practice on that day when ordered to do so by a superior. If Private Cedarquist were again ordered to drill on Sunday, and should refuse, he would again be tried by court-martial for disobedience of orders. If convicted, as he surely would be if proved guilty, it is not likely he would obtain a pardon. This fact clearly stultifies the "Christian nation" argument based upon the Sunday drill order.
We had another attempt to bolster up the Christian nation theory in a recent address in this city by Mr. French, Prohibition candidate for Governor of the State. In the beginning of his address he argued earnestly that this is a Christian nation, but further along he stultified the argument by presenting statistics. For instance, the nation spends fifty cents per capita for missionary purposes, and fifteen dollars for intoxicating liquors. It is reasonable to assume that an individual who should spend fifteen dollars for intoxicants for every half dollar that he devoted to missionary work would not be reckoned as a Christian by Mr. French. Else his idea of Christianity must be very much befogged. W. N. G.
THE CHRISTIAN'S FAITH NOT TO BE PRESCRIBED BY MEN.
By Mrs. E. G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
AMONG the different denominations there seems to be a determination developing to bind the consciences of their members. They are building up barriers about their own sects, and forming a purpose to listen to nothing outside of their own doctrines. They are restricting themselves from hearing anything new, or any doctrine presented by any other people than those who belong to their own church. But it would be well for them to inquire from what origin this determination arises, and who has sent forth this order? Certainly the Lord has made no such restrictions, for he has his message, and his messengers are to go forth and present it to the people, in warnings, reproofs, and instruction in righteousness; and he has given the people directions as to what they shall do. The apostle says, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
Ministers of popular churches are many of them softening down and diluting the plain word of truth. They are obscuring the light, and changing the message, in order to accommodate it to the prejudices, and adjust it to the opinions and habits, of the people. Thus they cater to the taste of the world-loving members of the church. But while they are so free to change the truth of God, on the other hand they advise their members to exercise the greatest caution lest they hear the message of God from the messengers he chooses to send to the people.
Oh, let there be no cautioning of the people on the danger of studying the word of God! Let there be no concealment of truth, no measures taken to evade or ignore truth. Let no one entertain the erroneous idea that the people of this or that denomination are in need of no more light. Open the door of the heart, place yourselves in a position where you may catch new revelations of the character of God. Light comes from the very throne of God. When some familiar truth presents itself to your mind in a new aspect, when a text of Scripture suddenly bursts upon you with new meaning like a flash of light that scatters the mist, and you see the relation of other truths to some part of the plan of redemption, God is leading you, and a divine Teacher is at your side. Will you not then open the door of your heart to receive more and more of the heavenly illumination?
It is by contemplation of heavenly things that the soul is brought into fellowship and communion with the Spirit of God, and the soul that is teachable, that is continually seeking for fresh rays of light, will be blessed with brighter and brighter views of divine things. But there are many classes of religious teachers who seem to be determined to close every avenue whereby fresh rays of light from heaven may come to the people. They would bind the members of their churches by certain rules and regulations that forbid them to go to other places of worship, or listen to messengers outside of a certain class of teachers. In this way men and women are led to give up the liberty that God has ordained for them, and they fail to improve the mind and gather up the divine rays of light which emanate from sources outside their own church.
"Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price." We are God's property, and are to honor and glorify God. But we do not honor and glorify God when we become the servants of men, when we consent to have our liberty restricted by men or by councils of men. We have been bought with the precious blood of Christ, in order that we may be just and generous to our own souls. I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God, that you break every band that would restrict your liberty in Christ. God has light to impart to all his children that is of a more radiant character than any we have received, and you have no right to bind yourself in such a way as to shut yourself away from the light. You have no right to do after the inventions of any society of men, who would circumscribe the limit of your thought, and cause you to become a mere mechanical Christian.
You have many things to learn, and much to unlearn. You will have to sit at the feet of the great Teacher and learn of him concerning themes that are higher and nobler than the themes which now engage your attention. I am free to address you who have shut yourselves away from the light, because I know that a higher Teacher than man is calling you. You have lost much in your4religious life, because you have failed to improve the opportunities that have been presented to you from the Father of lights. Fresh rays of light from heaven are always given that the character may be transformed, that the soul may be able to contemplate truth in a new relation. When Jesus is welcomed into the heart, he will refine and mould and fashion the character. Those who receive him more fully, will not have less energy in their religious life, but their religion will be of a higher, holier type than ever before. They will work in such a way that their usefulness will be increased. God would have his professed children reach a higher standard, and ever go on, still reaching up to that which they have not attained. They should cherish every divine inspiration, for as his property he requires this of them.
No man or woman is to bind himself in such a way as to become a slave of men in any way. No man or set of men have the right of laying out to others what they shall or shall not do in religious matters, or in any way prescribing their faith. A voice speaks to us to which we are bound to listen. It is the voice of Christ, who says, "Follow me." He says, "He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." The Christian is never to be tame and dull. Those who are embued with the Spirit of Christ, will work in the Master's vineyard, and the heavenly fire of the soul will ever be kept burning. Our security is in Christ, in studying the guidebook he has given. Those who are studying the ways and methods of men and following their customs, are deceived if they think that they are following the directions of God in the matter.
Jesus says: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." The service of Jesus does not consist in outward show simply. It is not a matter of form and ceremonies, of parade, exclamation, gestures, noise, and a display of the commonplace passions. Pure religion consists in keeping the heart and mind in communion with the great Leader, Jesus Christ. It consists in having the inward adorning of a meek and quiet spirit. The indwelling Holy Spirit will give life and tone and style that will not be after the inventions of men, not in imitation of any earthly, human leader, but after the Pattern, Christ. Religion does not consist in playing upon words, in uncouth gestures; bodily exercise profiteth little in this matter. There is no divine eloquence in this kind of exercise.
The religion of Jesus Christ is ever to be distinguished from all other religions by its holiness of character. In true religion will be found great truths clearly defined in words, and inwrought in the life of its professors as a principle from the divine Author. In true religion the Holy Spirit will work in connection with human agents, confirming the truth of God. Every part of the service of Christ will be characterized by decorum and reverence. The truth of Christ cannot be confined to a certain range, yet it will be active to create for its environment, manners and habits and practices that will be in harmony with its Author. Everything will be done decently and in order. Wild methods and strange freaks and confusion are not authorized by the God of order. The methods employed by the church of Christ should be such as will win souls from allegiance to the prince of darkness, and cause them to take their stand under the blood-stained banner of Prince Emanuel.
Some may say that these methods of reaching men will not avail to reach those who are poor and low down in the scale of humanity. But this matter must be regarded in an altogether different light by those who would be soldiers in the army of Christ. Do not cherish the error that you must follow after a pattern presented to you by some man. Study your Bible more, and let the habits and practices of men have less and less of your attention. Do not dishonor your God by thinking that it requires but little knowledge of what saith the Scriptures, to be a useful worker in his cause. You are to study the manner of the great Teacher, and keep his example ever before you. No human being is to be your Pattern. The Lord of heaven is to be the Teacher and Pattern for everyone who would win souls to God.
JOY IN THE MORNING.
By F. E. Snow
BY F. E. SNOW.
"Joy cometh in the morning."
EVENING was drawing on, and in the west
The sun sank slowly, peacefully, to rest;
Where late the stately monarch took his way,
The silver clouds were piled in vast array,
Pale, cold, and cheerless in the waning light,
Proclaiming the approach of dreary night.
My soul lamented o'er the dying day,
Striving through tears to catch each last faint ray,
Longing, though vainly, for that chieftain's power
Who lengthened Israel's triumphal hour.
But suddenly, as when the meteor's glare
Flashes and quivers on the midnight air,
Those darkening clouds were flushed with rosy light,
And glowed and thrilled in colors warm and bright;
And all the west was like the temple old,
With arch, and colonnade, and gate of gold;
And swiftly came to mind those sacred lays
Which David chanted to Jehovah's praise:—
Lift up your heads, ye gates
Of everlasting gold;
The King of Glory waits;
Your gilded leaves unfold.
Lift up your heads, ye doors;
Why swing ye now so slow?
The song of triumph soars;
The conq'ror's trumpets blow.
Make ready every heart
The mighty King to greet;
Prepare to hear your part,
And all his praise repeat.
For only they who keep
Their hearts and hands all pure,
Can climb up Zion's steep,
And victor's palms secure.
So, as the glory faded and the night
Came gently downward, blotting out the light,
The grand old words kept ringing o'er and o'er
Within my heart, bidding me sigh no more;
Each setting sun proclaims a coming morn;
Out of each sorrow chastened joy is born;
Each cloud that gathers shall be flushed with light,
And songs of vict'ry rise through ev'ry night.