Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 2, 1893
Editorial.
By Editor
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable."—2 Tim. 3:16.
"BE not deceived," reader. Men may say that God's word means many things, but what does God say? He does not say what he does not mean. He would not so deceive. He means what he says. Will you not seek to know what he says?
God's word is truth (John 17:17), and truth alone is all that will save us in the time of peril (Ps. 91:4). Nay, more, but it must be the truth, not only in form, but in its very spirit, in the love of it. See 2 Thess. 2:10-12. He who has the truth in the love of it, has Him who is the truth. John 14:6.
CHRIST was the manifestation of God. "God was in Christ." Jesus was "God manifest in the flesh." Whatever Christ was so is God. But Christ taught the perpetuity and absolute immutability of the Decalogue, and himself observed the Sabbath which he made. Is it not strange that men professing loyalty to him should misinterpret his words and belie his example? "He that saith he abideth in Him [God] ought himself also so to walk, even as He [Christ] walked." 1 John 2:6.
"HE that believeth in Me hath everlasting life." The belief here spoken of is not the nominal so-called Christian belief of the masses. There are many who pass for disciples, and profess to know God, who are not known of him, and have not even the first principles of saving faith. Bible faith is that belief which brings Christ into our lives, and into our lives in that way that we shall confess by that life that "Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." 1 John 4:2. Then will Christ come in unto us, and make his abode with us. Then shall we have in us the Christ life, the eternal life of God's dear Son. Reader, do you want eternal life? and do you want it now? "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." John 17:3. "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 1 John 5:12.
HE who is genuinely converted to Christ, who has tasted of the wondrous mercy and love of God in giving his Son to die, will not spend his time in criticising the faults of his neighbors or brethren. The great truths of God, the wondrous pity of the Great Father to him and his faults, will shut from his mind the petty faults of his brethren. The "beam" in his own eye will shut from sight the "splinter" in his brother's eye. God's great and overwhelming love to him will, responded to, awaken that love within his own heart that will arouse no desire to criticise or accuse others, but to save them. The greatest, the surest, the only remedy for accusation and fault-finding is a view of the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beholding him, we will have charity for all.
THE SUNDAY CLOSING OF THE MIDWINTER FAIR.
THE Midwinter Exposition in San Francisco is an assured fact, at least so far as human calculation goes. It will doubtless be held as contemplated, and will be all that its most earnest advocate could wish in respect to its exhibit of the products of art, science, and nature.
The same conflict has already begun in respect to its closing on Sunday that was waged over the World's Fair at Chicago. The Christian Endeavorers of Alameda County set the ball rolling, and the Presbyterian ministers of San Francisco next entered the field. The editorial staff of the Occident, the Presbyterian paper of the coast, is also inclined to claim "first honors." More recently there has been a joint meeting of the ministers of San Francisco, and a committee has been appointed looking to a canvass of the Pacific Coast for petitioners to those having the Fair in charge to close on Sunday. They are determined that the Fair shall close. For instance, the Christian Endeavorers of Alameda County intimate that the opening of the Fair on Sunday will be against "the good name of our State, as well as the moral character of our people," that it "would be a dishonor to God, and a grievous violation of his law," and call on all "law-abiding citizens" to take "no concessions at the Fair and of entering into no contract regarding exhibits or other matters without a clear, irreversible clause securing Sunday closing during the entire time of the Exposition." And in similar language have spoken various clergymen of San Francisco.
OUR POSITION.
Let us not be misunderstood in the matter. We are not pleading for an open Fair on Sunday nor for a closed Fair. That is not our business. We do not care whether the Fair is open or not. If it is open, no law, State, Federal, or Divine, will be violated. Let this be clearly understood by all our readers. We repeat it: IF THE MIDWINTER EXPOSITION BE OPENED ON SUNDAY, NO LAW, STATE, FEDERAL, OR DIVINE, WILL BE VIOLATED.
CALIFORNIA HAS NO SUNDAY LAW. Sunday is simply a holiday, subject to the same exemptions as other holidays. But the law does not say how that day shall be spent. Certain kinds of business are not legal if done on that day, but the same kinds are not legal if transacted on the Fourth of July, or Admission day. But everyone has the privilege of working or resting, of going to hear a lecture or a sermon, of attending church or theater, of staying at home or going to the fields and parks and groves, of reading the Bible and other religious books, or the newspapers, of doing missionary work and relieving the sick and poor, or attending a baseball game. All save criminals have this privilege, and criminals are as well cared for, and the law-abiding citizen is as well protected, in California as in any other State. But a man is not made a criminal for doing something on Sunday that he can laudably do on other days.
And this is just as it should be. We do not mean by this that the influence of church and theater and ball game and picnic and newspapers and Bible are alike good, and that it is a matter of indifference as to which men choose. It makes all the difference in the world as to what influences and occupations men choose. But the privilege of choosing is alike sacred to each and all. It matters not though the baseballer may number one thousand and the churchgoer but one, the baseballer has no right to compel or coerce the church man to attend a baseball game on Sunday, nor so to hedge up his way that it shall, outside of his house, be baseball or nothing. And it is just as true that the churchgoer, though he may number a thousand, has no right to compel or coerce the baseballer or theater goer to attend the church on Sunday, nor so to hedge up his way that it shall, outside of his house, be church or nothing. This privilege of choosing or refusing as to just how the day shall be spent is alike precious to both parties and is equally the right of each. The law of California grants it, and738he who attends the theater is as law abiding as he who attends the church.
NO FEDERAL JURISDICTION.
If the Midwinter Fair be opened, no Federal law will be violated. What powers the Constitution did not grant to the Federal government were reserved to the States and the people; and the Constitution expressly forbids the law-making power of this government to legislate in the religious domain. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," are the words of the Constitution. California is a free and sovereign State. The Federal government has no more jurisdiction in respect to the closing of the Fair on Sunday in San Francisco than it has in respect to the politics of the man the people of this State shall choose as governor. It is not, therefore, a violation of national law if the Exposition be opened Sunday.
THE DIVINE LAW OF THE SABBATH.
It is not a violation of divine law if the Exposition be opened Sunday. God has set apart but one day as the Sabbath, and that is the seventh day, the day just before the first day of the week. See Mark 16:1; Luke 23:56; 24:1; Matt. 28:1. The "first day of the week" did not come, according to Mark, till "the Sabbath was past." The next day after the Sabbath was the first day of the week. The commandment for the Sabbath is given in Ex. 20:8-11, and 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."
This commandment enjoins the seventh day. The following are recognized principles in the interpretation of law:—
In the case of all law, it is the intent of the lawgiver 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 the Sabbath, and this God based on reasons which will apply to no other day. God showed his intent by the threefold weekly miracle of the manna for forty years, thereby precluding any construction of the plain words of the law. Whenever Inspiration refers to any weekly holy day by the term "Sabbath," it is the seventh day that is meant. Every law in God's word, every direction in regard to a weekly Sabbath, pertains to the seventh day and the seventh day alone. Upon that day alone the Creator rested; that day alone he blessed by putting into it his own presence; that day alone he sanctified or set apart for man's good. See Gen. 2:2, 3; Mark 2:27, 28. 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 Jesus. Eze. 20:20.
NO DIVINE LAW FOR SUNDAY.
On the other hand, there is no law in the Scriptures of truth enjoining the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, or to be kept holy unto the Lord. The following are a few of the expressions used by Protestant authorities with reference to this matter. Chambers' Encyclopedia (article "Sabbath") declares:—
By none of the fathers before the fourth century is it [the first day of the week] identified with the Sabbath; nor is the duty of observing it grounded by them either on the fourth commandment or on the precept or example of Jesus or his apostles.
The Augsburg Confession, drawn up by Melanchthon, states:—
The observance of the Lord's day [Sunday] is founded not on any command of God, but on the authority of the church.—Cox' Sabbath Manual, part 2, sec. 10.
Lyman Abbott, editor of the Christian Union (now The Outlook), said in that paper of January 19, 1882:—
The current notion that Christ and his apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament.
The Christian at Work, of January 8, 1885, declares:—
The selection of Sunday, thus changing the particular day designated in the fourth commandment, was brought about by the gradual concurrence of the early Christian church, and on this basis, and none other, does the Christian sabbath, the first day of the week, rightly rest.
Rev. Geo. S. Mott, D.D., president of the American Sabbath Union, says, "We admit there is no such [divine] command" for Sunday observance.
There will therefore be no crime committed, no infraction of law, State, Federal, or Divine, if the Midwinter Exposition be opened on Sunday. And, according to the law of the State of California, according to the Federal Constitution, according to the inspired word of the living God, no man or woman in California will or would transgress any law, State, Federal, or Divine, by attending the Fair on Sunday. Have we not, therefore, good reason why we, and, in fact, everyone else, should not care if the Fair be opened on Sunday?
WHAT CHRIST SAYS.
"But what if the Fair be opened on the seventh-day Sabbath?"—Then it will. In fact, we expect it will. Will we go?—Yes, but not on that day. God gives every true worshiper greater blessings in seeking him, in observing the Sabbath as he has commanded, than earth with all its riches can ever give. But because we observe that day, because we believe all ought to observe it, because God says so in his word, is no reason why we should seek to compel others to observe it, or condemn them if they do not. For, first, man can never compel religious observance, which is a matter of the heart and life; and, secondly, God never has given man that right, no, nor did the Perfect Man have this right when he walked upon the earth. Says Jesus Christ: "If any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." John 12:47. "As he is so are we in this world." He also said, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets."
No true follower of Christ Jesus can, therefore, seek to compel a Jew, Mohammedan, or even a pagan to do contrary to the convictions of that Jew, Mohammedan, or pagan. He may entreat, he may persuade, but he has no right to compel or coerce. When the Christian seeks this means of propagating the faith, he forsakes Christ and becomes antichrist. Those in charge of the Fair may do as they please; they are accountable to God alone. No religious body, or combination of religious bodies, whether they are right or wrong as regards the true Sabbath, have any right to bring pressure to bear, no right to coerce, or seek to compel the observance of their wishes. None are compelled to go to the Fair on Sunday; let not Sunday keepers compel others to stay at home.
But all this Sunday-closing agitation goes farther than the mere opening or closing of the Midwinter Exposition. It has greater ends in view, with still farther reaching results. These we will consider another time.
THE MARK OF THE CHRISTIAN.
THERE is an old fable, ever and anon brought forth as truth by the ignorant and base, that the early martyrs were tested by the question, "Hast thou kept the Lord's day [meaning Sunday]?" The answer was, "I am a Christian; I cannot deny it." It was not Lord's day, but Lord's supper. But that falsehood is paralleled now by the claim, contrary to the express teaching of Scripture, that Sunday is the Lord's day and Sabbath, and an apostate Christianity is putting it forward as a test of what is a "Christian." Of course God gives no such test. The following from the Presbyterian will illustrate this:—
A gentleman and lady from Trenton, N. J., were at the World's Fair. One day going through the Ceylonese exhibit they met a very intelligent looking Ceylonese, who spoke good English. His complexion was dark, he had black hair and mustache, and wore a comb in his hair. The lady said to him, "How is it that you speak such good English?" He said, "O madam, we have good schools in our country." The gentleman said, "Stay in this country; you will become a Christian." Straightening himself up, with conscious dignity, he replied, "I am a Christian, sir." Someone standing by, hearing his words, remarked, "Yes, a better Christian than many of our own people; this exhibit was tightly closed last Sunday."
Christian Endeavor and Christian Unity
It is in this way that the Spokane, Wash., Chronicle, of July 5, speaks of the influence of the Christian Endeavor movement:—
Great and valuable as the positive work of the Christian Endeavor has become, it is not to be compared with the vital character of its influence in bringing Christians nearer together, in discouraging divisive factors in religious life, in advancing the time, for which all who serve the Master truly must earnestly pray, when there shall be no orthodox nor heterodox, when reason and revelation and tradition shall each be recognized for its true position and value in Christian faith, when a liberalized Catholicism and unified Protestantism shall come together, and there shall be in this world, as in the world to come, one fold and one Shepherd.
But this time will never come. No society will ever bring unity. It can only come through simple submission, obedient faith, in the Lord Jesus Christ and the word of God, not on the part of masses, but as individuals.
THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY AND ITS DEVELOPMENT IN THE CHURCH.
By J. O. Corliss
BY ELDER J. O. CORLISS.
A PRECEDING article has shown the method by which the work of God is constantly resisted by the mystery of iniquity, while feigning to be the mystery of God. The natural query next arises, Has any people ever regularly and systematically pursued a course in the name of Christ which the light of the Scriptures reveals to be the work of the mystery of iniquity, done in disguise? A glance at Rev. 17:1-6 brings to view an intolerant power under the symbol of a lewd woman seated on a scarlet-colored beast, clothed in purple and scarlet color, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. Her imperious disposition had been so far indulged that she was actually drunken, not with wine, or strong drink, but "with the blood of the saints, and with the martyrs of Jesus."
However much she may have desired to conceal her real character, it could not be done in her besotted condition. In her very face she carried her name: "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." Such a character surely has no connection with the work of God, and yet it may not be thought strange if it is found that she lays claim to being in the direct favor of God.
Let us briefly review: This woman is not only branded a harlot, but the mother of harlots, and of the abominations of the earth. The record says that her unsavory reputation was earned through permitting the kings of the earth to commit fornication with her. Having the kings of the earth for patrons would show that, before her descent, she had held a position of eminence. Her fall was therefore all the more desperate, which accounts for the final cruel and blood-thirsty character which she developed.
The Revelator was much astonished at the woman's deeds of violence, until the angel revealed to him the mystery attached to her and to the beast which carried her. Transferring the symbol to the reality, the woman is the church. A woman is frequently used in Scriptures as a type of the church. The apostle said that he had presented the Corinthian church as "a chaste virgin to Christ." 2 Cor. 11:2. In Rom. 7:4 the church is said to be married to Christ. All through the Scriptures, in fact, this symbol is used. But only the figure of a pure woman can represent the church of Christ.
Yet the Borgian character of Revelation 17 is the symbol of a church. But how sadly fallen to permit illicit intercourse from the kings of the earth! Having been married to the Lord, she cannot remain pure and receive loving advances from even kings of earth. To God alone should the church look for power and authority. To receive these from the powers of the world is to deny the ability of God to bestow them, and so commit spiritual fornication—a detestable thing in the sight of Heaven.
In the case under consideration, this departure from God, while still professing fealty to him, led the church to persecute to death those who remained loyal to their spiritual vows. And why should she not act thus? She loved ease and distinction, yet greatly deplored error. The greatest error in her sight was to follow strictly the word of God, for that course only condemned her own. Some way must be devised by which to crush it out, and have conformity of action. She argued that a perfect union of sentiment was necessary in order to please God. Dissenters were agreed in this, but desired to make the Bible the rallying standard, while she appealed to her councils. Their tenets were condemned, and they were demanded to recant. The spirits of brave and conscientious men refused to yield. Nothing was left but to tolerate or destroy. Toleration was no part of their plan; conformity alone would satisfy, and this could be secured only through extermination. The sole prerogative in this direction, however, laid with the civil power, but that was easily managed. The church had already so far departed from God that it was in favor with the State. A demand was therefore made on the civil power to legislate favorably to the designs of the church. The thing was done, and the church then, through that power, undertook to crush out what it was pleased to brand as error, even though it cost the lives of those accounted heretics, and the church herself was made drunken with the blood of her helpless victims.
It could not be otherwise, for such is but the legitimate result of the union of religion with the civil power. It makes no difference whether the religion is pagan or Christian; the result is always the same. The reason is obvious. While religion of itself is a power, it is totally different from civil power.
RELIGION IS VOLUNTARY,
and wholly a matter of the individual conscience; civil government is compulsory over everyone alike. When, therefore, the civil power invades the realm of religion to make it a part of the civil law, the enforcement of that law must be compulsion in stated forms of religion, as expressed in the law. Of course those who frame such laws, make them express their own religious sentiment, and enforce it upon others, regardless of their personal convictions.
This would not seem to be so great a judicial crime in those governments where only pagan religion is known. But when those who profess to be directed by the Spirit of God, which rules for itself in every individual heart, undertake to coerce others to their religious dictations, it is not only a great crime against mankind, but a grievous sin against God as well. This is the fornication of the church, a departure from God to seek the alliance of a foreign power. When the church seeks only the Spirit and power of Christ, she is made to know the powerful mystery of his kingdom, in her efforts to change the practices of others. The moment, however, that the power of the State is sought, in any degree, to hold supposed error in check, it is a virtual denial of God's power or willingness to change the heart, and so save from sin. Thus the exchange is made. But what an exchange—the sacrifice of heavenly wisdom for earthly, the yielding of infinite power for that of puny man, the loss of the Spirit of Christ, which is one of loving tolerance, to secure the spirit of Satan, which is one of jealousy and hateful intolerance!
ITS WORK IN THE CHURCH.
But having said so much in this line, it is perhaps admissible from this point briefly to trace this persecuting spirit from its earliest appearance to the present time. Turning to Revelation, the twelfth chapter, this same symbol of a woman is presented. In this place, however, she is shown clothed with the sun, and crowned with a diadem of twelve stars. She is about to be delivered of a man child, who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron, while a great red dragon stands ready to devour her child as soon as it is born. But the child is rescued and caught up to God and his throne.
No one can fail to see in these beautiful symbolic utterances the church in her purity, bringing forth the Lord Jesus, the murderous attempt upon his child life, and his withdrawal from earth to sit at the right hand of the throne on high. But who is the dragon that figured so conspicuously in the scene? It is well known that King Herod was jealous of the predicted power of the child Jesus, and so issued an order to slay every child under two years of age, in the region about Bethlehem, in order to compass the death of his supposed rival in power. Matt. 2:1-16. But Herod was not the principal in this wicked attempt; he was but the agent of another. Passing back to Revelation 12, the real author of this atrocious iniquity is discovered. Verses 7-9 introduce a war in heaven, in which the dragon, with his angels, contends against Michael and his angels. The dragon is cast out, and called the devil, or Satan, because he becomes the arch deceiver of the whole world. It was he who desired the destruction of the infant Saviour, and instigated the Roman ruler to fulfill his intolerant craving.
Finding himself cast out of heaven, and from the society of the good, the dragon commenced a systematic persecution of the church. Verse 13. Every means was sought by which to overcome her, and so destroy the work of Him whom he had failed to conquer, but still hated. The church fled into the wilderness, where she was nourished of God, but this only increased the wrath of the dragon, which was carefully nursed, to be visited in force upon the remnant church, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
AN AGENT OF SATAN.
But how will he carry out his purpose?—Simply by inflaming to deeds of intolerance a majority of the professed people of God, and inspiring them to demand power from the civil authority, with which to enforce their4intolerant decrees. It was through this process alone that the death of the Son of God was made possible. The leaders of the professed church of God hated his teachings, called for his blood, and appealed to the civil power for satisfaction, which was granted. It is not possible for religious persecutions to develop in any other way.
Satan, it is true, is the author of all persecution, but things have been so ordered that he has no power of himself alone to enforce it. God protects all from the direct attacks of Satan, and, therefore, whatever injury he inflicts on man must be done through the agency of man himself. But he never attempts to persecute through the agency of those who are known to be allied to him; for then his work would be readily detected and made to cease. Besides, religious persecution is never attempted except on the plea of the honor of God, and worldlings are not enough concerned about this legally to vindicate its claims. It therefore remains for Satan to engage those who affect to hate him, and love the truth, to do his bidding, by starting in to coerce others to honor God through an outward compliance with what they conceive to be his requirements. A moment's thought on this ought to convince anyone that it is entirely wrong. Had God designed to have his work carried on in this way, he would have given power to his gospel to change men against their wills. But as he has not done this, overzealous ones become incited to attempt an improvement on God's system, by calling for the power of the State to do what they feel persuaded he has neglected to do. In all this is seen the hand of the great master of evil and the mystery of iniquity.
That such a policy as this would be followed by a powerful monopoly was plainly foreshadowed by the seer of Patmos. In Revelation 13 a beast is brought upon the field of vision, which was seen to come up out of the sea, that is, from among the people and nations of earth. Rev. 17:15. This is the symbol of a form of government by which blasphemy toward God and them which dwell in heaven is freely indulged in, yet it is an object of such universal worship that all the world, with but little exception, pays wondering adoration and honor to it. But such dazed veneration is not because of any gentle or loving nature possessed by this power; for its principal employment, wherever seen, is to make war against the saints of God, and thus overthrow them. Yet, notwithstanding its vicious ways, this malignant beast government was to extend its sway over "all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." Rev. 13:7.
A MANIFESTATION OF SATAN.
But from whence can such a government receive an extended power? It cannot be from God; for no trace of his nature is found in such proceedings. Think of it. Here is a government with civil power which it employs to make war on the saints—a government which demands and receives worship from nearly all the world. Is not this a clear rival to the government of God? But we are not left to conjecture in the matter. The prophecy emphatically states that this beast receives its power and great authority from the dragon, that is, the devil. Verse 2. It is, moreover, identified by its ten horns, which are the same as those on the beast which supports the woman, or church, of Rev. 17:3. It is also significant that, while in Rev. 17:6 the venom against the saints is ascribed to the woman, in chapter 13:7 the bloodthirsty treatment given them is charged upon the beast itself. No better evidence is needed to show that this power is a form of government which unites in its administration the union of church and State, and that such union is but the exhibition of Satanic power.
History reveals these very elements in all the governments of the Old World which have borne sway over God's people. Beginning with the Hebrews, we find them persecuted by order of the Egyptian king, who was also the head of a hierarchy of sun-worshipers. After the Israelites were carried thence to Canaan, they were made to feel the enmity of the Assyrians, who combined their sun-worshiping religion with the State power. Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Grecia, whose civil rulers were also heads of ecclesiastical establishments, each successively made religious laws for the people of God. Pagan Rome followed next with its iron rule, made burdensome by the combination of civil and religious might.
All these were pagan governments—worshipers of the sun; each had the elements of power ascribed by the Revelator to the beast. But still another more terrible experience in persecution awaited the people of God, under a head which had to receive a deadly wound in order to check its appalling work. This head finds special mention in the prophecy, because it is more than a single nation fighting against the saints; it is a combination of at least ten, which have agreed to give their supreme power to the beast for a time, to do this very work. These are not pagan nations either; they are professed Christians, and are united under the lead of one who professes to have the care of all Christendom intrusted to his spiritual guidance. Being counted their sole dictator in spiritual things, he assumes guardianship of their consciences and then secures laws through the civil power for their regulation.
As might be expected, with the civil power of so many nations behind him, this self-assumed spiritual head of the church would carry matters to the bitter end against all who dared to question his doctrine or authority, and the victims of his bigotry are therefore counted by the millions. But this head, which is none other than the system of Papacy, received a deadly wound at the hands of the French, in the year 1798, when the pope was made prisoner, and his civil power curtailed. No territory passed away with that act, but the form of government by which the world had been so long terrorized into abject slavery of conscience, was there simply stunned to inactivity. It was the partial dissolution of that union of the Church with the State which had allowed such full play to the work of the mystery of iniquity. The discipline of the Reformation prepared the people to dispute the right of the church to use "the civil power for the furtherance of its aims," and the result was the disenthrallment of conscience by the disenthronement of the assumed head of the church, who, it was conceived, was responsible for all the mischief of the past.
But this was by no means the destruction of the beast, or that form of government which it represented. That was only disabled for the time by the deadly stroke, the wound of which was in due process to be healed by a reunion of religion with the State, as foretold in the prophecy under consideration.
GOD WILL WORK.
By Eliza H. Morton
BY ELIZA H. MORTON.
THAT which concerneth me
I do believe
My Saviour will perfect.
I shall receive
Rich blessings from his hand,
And more and more
My heart will swell with love,
And tongue adore.
My path is onward, up;
Christ knows the way;
If I but follow him,
I cannot stray.
No thought of doubt shall come,
No vague unrest.
For me my God will work
That which is best.
FALLEN INTO SIN.
By Elder J. H. Durland
BY ELDER J. H. DURLAND.
It is natural for man not to feel troubled to any great degree about what are sometimes called "little sins." While he is conscious that he has not done just right, he sees that many others do the same things. Public sentiment may not be against his deviations, so Satan rocks him to sleep in this cradle, and carries him along towards destruction.
On the other hand, when the Christian has fallen into a sin, against which the sentence of his fellow-men has been declared, he is likely to go into despair. He is conscious of his guilt, and his misery cannot be told. He receives no encouraging words from those who know of his sin. Perhaps there stand around him a band of Pharisees seeking for an opportunity to cast stones at him. They have forgotten the words, "If a man be overtaken [caught before he can escape] in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." Gal. 6:1.
Under these circumstances the burdened sinner is likely to look at the dark side and go away from, rather than turn to, the Lord. He says, "The world is against me, and I can never persuade it that I am sincere in my repentance." Hundreds of souls have gone over the precipice of despair with this weight hanging to them. Could they have only been pointed to Him whose word says, "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up," they might have been saved. Jesus exemplified this teaching when the sinful woman was brought to him. He did not excuse sin, neither did he commend the accusers. He taught the lesson of charity, when he said, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." Let him who knows nothing about the power of sin in his own life, cast the stone of death at the guilty. We suppose he had a fair representation of the human family before him when he spoke those words, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Had those accusers been dealt with as they proposed to deal with the guilty woman, they would have suffered the penalty of death long before they knew of her sins. Men's hearts have not changed since that time; Christ's words apply to the present generation.
If you have fallen into sin, even the darkest sin the world knows, do not brood over it in melancholy thought and despondent feeling, but heartily regret it and go at once to Him who "delighteth in mercy," and who "pardoneth" all those who truly repent and believe the gospel. With him there is mercy and plenteous redemption. It is his good pleasure to forgive them that come to him. He said to the woman whom the Pharisees would have stoned, "Go, and sin no more." He is the same loving Saviour now that he was then. He would rather blot out your sin from before him than have it recorded against you for condemnation. It perfectly accords with his nature, his character, his promises, his covenant, to forgive sin. "Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isa. 1:18.
What gratification can it be to him to see you mourning and depressed? to see you polluted with the filth of sin? to see you hanging741down your head in dejection, as though he was either dead, or unchangeably wrathful towards you? No, no, my brother, my sister, he loves you too much to take pleasure in these. His love prompts him to invite you to him, to promise you forgiveness, to open his arms to receive you, to come to meet you, to cleanse you from unrighteousness, to return unto you the joy of his salvation, to uphold you with his free Spirit, and to lead you in the way everlasting.
Think how often he forgave backsliding Israel, how readily he forgave sinning David, how pitifully he looked upon unfaithful Peter, how many times he has received you when you have returned from your wanderings. He multiplies pardon. Did he teach his disciples to forgive until seventy times seven? and will he fail to do as he teaches?—Never.
Come, fallen one, as did David, and acknowledge your sins to him and he will pardon. As Peter, come and say, "Lord, save me." As the publican, "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner." Lift up your head, for there is another pardon left for you. Take it by faith in the Crucified, resolving, in divine strength, that sin shall no longer have the dominion.
"With broken heart and contrite sigh,
A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry;
Thy pardoning grace is rich and free;
O God, be merciful to me!
"I smite upon my troubled breast,
With deep and conscious guilt oppressed,
Christ and his cross my only plea;
O God, be merciful to me!
"Nor alms, nor deeds that I have done
Can for a single sin atone;
To Calvary alone I flee;
'God has been merciful to me.'"
WE have brought to view in this text three very important steps in the Christian life, (1) forgetting, (2) reaching, (3) pressing.
The first step, “forgetting those things which are behind,” is so self-evidently necessary that it seems useless to enlarge upon the thought. And yet there are many persons who find it hard to forget those things. In their very effort to forget them they keep them continually in mind, so that they cannot refer to their former conversation as those things, but the main question with them is, Why can I not forget those things?
The reason is evident,—it is because they have neglected to take the second step,—“reaching forth unto those things which are before.” The only way to forget those things which are behind is to keep our minds so busily engaged in reaching forth unto those things which are before that the other things will naturally sink into the sea of forgetfulness.
But this is not all. After having forgotten those things that are behind, by letting our minds reach forth unto those things which are before, we must, if we ever expect to enter the pearly gates, walk the golden streets, pluck the never-fading flowers, and dwell in those mansions which our Saviour has gone to prepare, “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Suppose you were drifting down a river in a boat with only two oars. You hear a voice, and, turning in your seat, you see just below you a beautiful craft lying to in the middle of the stream, and hear the captain calling you to come aboard. You at once forget everything behind, and your mind reaches forth unto that which is before; but if you expect to set foot on that vessel, you must lay hold of those oars, and press toward it. If you do not, you will drift out into the ocean, and be lost.
We are drifting down the river of time; I would that we were all in the boat of God’s preparing, with its two mighty oars, “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Just before us stretches the ocean of eternity; the ark of eternal safety is just ahead. The Master’s voice is calling, “Come,” “And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come.” God help us to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”