Earlier text: HOW CHRIST BORE OUR SINSTHE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE.
HAVING shown that now is the time—from A. D. 1844, and onward—when the Third Angel's Message is due to the world, it remains to study the import of that message. It is a world-wide message; for— 1. The first of the three angels (Rev. 14:6, 7) spoke with a loud voice “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people;” the second angel followed this one; and the third angel followed them. As, therefore, the first one was to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, and as the third one follows, the third likewise must go to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. 2. The third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If any man worship the beast and his image,” etc. This phrase, “If any man,” shows that this word is spoken to all men; that it is a universal message. 3. Of the Beast it is said: “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Rev. 13:8. And the work of the Image of the Beast is but to cause the worship of the Beast. True, he compels men to worship himself—the Image of the Beast; but, as he derives his authority, and draws his inspiration, from the Beast, the worship of the Image is but indirectly the worship of the Beast. Now, as the worship of the Beast is to be by “all that dwell upon the earth;” as the Third Angel's Message is the warning against the worship of the Beast and his Image; and as obedience to this warning is the only means of escaping that worship and the wrath of God,—therefore the Third Angel's Message must go to “all that dwell upon the earth:” the warning must be as extensive as is the worship. It is therefore evident that this thing will not be done in a corner. This message says: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.” We have before cited the scriptures which show this wrath to be the seven last plagues, and which show that with the seventh of these plagues comes the end of the world. But all do not worship the Beast and his Image. There are some who get “the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name;” and these are seen standing “on the sea of glass,” before the throne of God, having the harps of God, and they sing a song which none can learn but they, and it is the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Rev. 4:6; 15:2, 3. How do these get the victory? Notice; the message not only warns all men against the worship of the Beast and his Image, but it tells how to avoid that worship; it not only tells men what they shall not do, but it tells them what to do; it not only calls men to the conflict with the Beast and his Image, but it tells them how to get the victory; and this is contained in the words, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12. Here, then, is a message which is now due, which is to go “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” calling upon all to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. The purpose of this message is to gather out from “all that dwell upon the earth” a people of whom it can truly be said, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus;” and that so, such may escape the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. This makes it incumbent upon all now to study the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus as they have never studied these before, asking themselves the question, Am I one of whom this scripture speaks? Am I one who truly keeps “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus”? And, as this message is world-wide, these considerations plainly show that under the power of the Third Angel's Message there must be, and there will be, such a world-wide study of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus as there has not been since holy John stood on the Isle of Patmos. What, then, is meant by “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus”? First, as to the commandments of God. In a certain sense, there is no doubt that every injunction of the Bible is a commandment of God; for the Bible is the word of God. Yet, besides this, there is a certain part of the Bible that must be admitted to be the commandments of God above every other part. That certain part is the TEN COMMANDMENTS. Whereas, in giving all other parts of the Bible, “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:21), in giving the ten commandments “God spake all these words.” The whole nation of Israel was assembled at the base of Sinai, and “Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire;” “and all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet,” “and so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.” And there, amid those awful scenes, God personally spoke the ten commandments, with a voice that shook the earth. Heb. 12:26. Nor was that all. After having so spoken these great words unto all the people, “The Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. . . . And Moses went up into the mount of God.” Ex. 24:12, 13. “And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” Ex. 31:18. “And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.” Ex. 32:15, 16. When Moses came down to the people, he found they had made a golden calf, and were worshiping it after the manner of Egypt; “and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.” “And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai.” Ex. 34:1, 2. Then, Moses says: “I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand. And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.” Deut. 10:3, 4. Thus we find not only that God spoke the ten commandments, but that he wrote them twice upon tables of stone. Although holy men of God, when moved by the Holy Ghost, could speak the message of God, none could be found holy enough to speak the words of the ten commandments in their deliverance to the children of men. Although the Spirit could say to the holy prophets, “Write,” no such word could be given to any man when the ten commandments were to be given in tangible form to the children of men. But, instead, God said, “I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written.” And again the second time, when these tables were broken, “I will write . . . the words that were in the first tables.” Nor was this all. God did not come down upon Mount Sinai alone; but thousands upon thousands of the holy angels were with him there. “The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.” Deut. 33:2. “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.” Ps. 68:17. This array of angels is that to which Stephen referred when he said to his persecutors that they had “received the law by the disposition of angels.” Acts 7:53. The Greek word here rendered “disposition” signifies “to set in order; draw up an army; posted in battle order.”—Liddell and Scott. When, therefore, God came down upon Mount Sinai to deliver the ten commandments, he was surrounded with the heavenly host of angels, drawn up in orderly array. Four-faced and four-winged cherubim, six-winged seraphim, and glorious angels with glittering, golden chariots,—all these, by the tens of thousands, accompanied the Majesty of heaven as in love he gave to sinful men his great law of love. Deut. 33:3. Than at the giving of the law of ten commandments, there certainly has been no more majestic scene since the creation of the world. Well, indeed, might Paul name “the giving of the law” among the great things that pertain to Israel. Rom. 9:4. In view of all these things, it is assuredly the truth that the ten commandments are very properly distinguished as the commandments of God, above every other part of the Bible; although all the Bible is the word of God. This is according to that word itself: “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy son's sons; specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. . . . And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” Deut. 4:9–13. In impressing upon the people the things they should diligently remember, “specially” to be remembered were the day that God came down upon Sinai, and the words that were then heard. And those words were the ten commandments. This is of equal importance to the world to-day; for all is summed up by Solomon when he says: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter [margin, “the end of the matter, even all that hath been heard, is”]: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Eccl. 12:13, 14. Men are to be judged by the law of God; that law is the ten commandments; and the words of Solomon are emphasized in the First and Third Angel's Messages of Revelation 14. The first angel says: “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come;” and the third angel follows, saying: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” The Third Angel's Message embraces Sinai and Calvary; the law of God and the gospel of Christ; God the Father and God the Son. And when this message ends, the work of God for the salvation of men—the mystery of God—will be finished. Reader, are you keeping the ten commandments, with the faith of Jesus? Read them carefully and see. Read them earnestly and prayerfully, for God is now bringing every work into judgment: and every work that will not bear the test of the ten commandments will be “found wanting.” “BRETHREN, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Note that when a man is overtaken in a fault, the only thing that the Scripture commands Christians to do is to “restore such an one.” There is no commandment to condemn him, to set him at naught, to ostracize him, to talk about either him or his fault; but only to “restore” him. This is the only spirit that there is in Christianity; for “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Condemnation is not what anybody needs in this world; for everybody is already condemned over and over, by his own sins, and by his own knowledge of his own faults. And, surely, it could be nothing but an essentially vindictive spirit that would crowd more condemnation upon a person who is, already, and many times, doubly condemned. And Christianity is not of such spirit: Christianity is the spirit of love, of the very love of God; and God’s love is manifest in his sending of Christ, not to condemn the world, but to save it. Such alone is the spirit of Christianity, everywhere, and forever. This is shown also in the text, in directing that “ye which are spiritual, restore such an one.” There is no direction to anyone who is not spiritual to make any attempt to restore such a one: and this for the simple reason that any such one could do it. The first consideration, therefore, when the Christian receives the knowledge that one is overtaken in a fault, is that that one is to be restored. The next is, Am I spiritual, so that I can hope to restore him? This brings the one who is to attempt the restoring, face to face with himself and God, in an examination of his own standing before God, as to whether he is truly spiritual. And when this is found to be so, when one has found himself truly spiritual, then, in the spirit of meekness, which is only the spirit of Christ, and which can be only in him who is truly spiritual, seek to restore the one overtaken in the fault: at the same time “considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted,” putting yourself in his place, asking yourself how you would like to be approached, how you would like to be treated, if you were in the fault in which the brother has been overtaken. Bear in mind also that it is the man who is “overtaken” in the fault who is to be restored—not one whom you imagine to have committed a fault; not one whom you think has done what you think to be a fault. This word gives no countenance whatever to any spirit of fault-finding, or of searching for faults in a brother. It is counsel to be followed and applied only when one is “overtaken in a fault;” when it has become apparent that there is actually a fault. Then, and only then, is the matter to be touched; and then only “ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” Jesus has also given specific directions as to how Christians shall go about to “restore” the one overtaken in a fault. He says: “Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.” Matt. 18:15. In all the word of God there is no counsel plainer than this of the Lord Jesus; yet what counsel of his is more, and more positively, disregarded by those who profess to be his? It is the truth, well known to all, that the majority of professed Christians do go and tell anybody, and almost everybody, else than the one who has committed the fault. But how can they do so and be Christians? Such a course is natural to the natural man, because it is natural to each man in the world to think every other man his enemy, and, consequently, to have no confidence in him; and then he concludes that it would do no possible good for him to go and tell the man his fault, because it would only make the man still more his enemy. But it is not so with Christians. The believer in Jesus is sure that all other believers in Jesus are not his enemies, but are his brethren; he counts them as such; he has confidence in them as such. Therefore, he who is really a Christian has confidence in his brother, that his brother will listen to him and will hear him in what he has to say, even though it be to tell him his fault “between thee and him alone.” Therefore, it is lack of confidence in a brother’s sincerity in the fear of the Lord, which is the cause that any professed Christian will not go and tell his brother his fault “between thee and him alone.” But lack of Christian confidence is only the mark of the lack of brotherly love, which, in itself, is a lack of Christianity. So the true analysis of such a course shows that it is simply the lack of Christianity that causes any professed Christian to tell it to anybody else than the one in fault, and not to “go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.” But go as a Christian, as a brother, and “tell him his fault between thee and him alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.” To “gain” him, to “restore” him, is all the purpose of your going to him at all. And when one is not a Christian, there is indeed no need for him to go and tell a man his fault, because he is not in a condition to be able to tell it in a way that will do the man any good; for even when one is a Christian, and is spiritual, and “in the spirit of meekness” goes and tells a man his fault, between the two alone, it is possible that even then the man will not hear him. And “if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” Matt. 18:16. Not that you are to go and tell one or two more, but you are to take one or two more, and go and tell him, in their presence as witnesses. “And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” Verse 17. He who, against all this attempt to restore him, holds on his own way, rejecting all attempts of his brethren to help him, has demonstrated that he has not the spirit of Christian brotherhood, and has separated himself from the company of the brethren. And then all that the church can do is to recognize the truth of the situation thus developed, and “let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” As it is written in another place: “A man that is an heretic [one who chooses for himself, against the word of God, against all considerations of brotherhood] after the first and second admonition reject; knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.” Titus 3:10, 11. A PRELIMINARY WORK OF JUDGMENT.
By Uriah Smith
WHAT we mean by this expression is that when the great work of the final judgment of this world is accomplished, it will be found to be composed of several distinct divisions, each specific in its nature, and assigned to a particular time and place. That there is such a work of judgment determined, which shall decide all characters to be either good or bad, and affix appropriate penalties to every evil course of conduct, and assign suitable rewards to everyone whose course of conduct has been righteous, and carry out all such decisions to be fixed for eternity, is one of the plainest propositions set forth in the sure and unchangeable word of God; and it is one of the most momentous subjects that can engage the attention of the human mind. Paul sobered the frivolous minds of the Athenians, by laying upon their hearts this tremendous truth: “Because he [God] hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Acts 17:31. The first thought suggested by the word “day” is a period of twenty-four hours; but a moment’s consideration will convince anyone that no such limited time would suffice for such a work as this. See also 2 Peter 2:9; 3:7–12; Jude 6; Matt. 25:31–34; etc. These texts show that a comparison of the Scriptures is necessary, in order so to adjust their testimony that they shall present a consistency and harmony as to time and place in the work called the judgment. There are subjects which throw light on all these points, which thereby become subjects of paramount interest and importance. Some of these are connected with the great subject of the sanctuary, with which the readers of this paper are supposed to be familiar. An examination of that work known as the cleansing of the sanctuary, leads into a series of subjects of the most timely and important character,—subjects which explain some statements of Scripture that are otherwise obscure; which harmonize lines of prophecy that otherwise seem disconnected, and hard to understand; and which answer some vital questions concerning events connected with the crowning of all events, the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, which otherwise seem unanswerable. Take, for instance, this one point: When Christ comes, it is with the suddenness of a snare to the inhabitants of the earth. “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matt. 24:27. This is a crucial period with all the people. There will be just two classes then,—those who rejoice to see him, and those who wail because of him. The people of God are then singled out for a great and instantaneous change to be wrought upon them, while all others remain as they were. Then, also, those who are asleep in Christ, in their graves, are raised in glory and power from their tombs, while all those who are not the dead in Christ sleep on in their graves for a thousand years. 1 Thess. 4:16; Rev. 20:5. And as for the living, the same distinction and separation are instantly made. The righteous living are changed from mortality to immortality in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:51, 52), while all the others are given over to perish under the judgments of the Almighty. 2 Thess. 1:7–9. This change is wrought at the last trump,—that trump which is heard when the Lord himself descends from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the archangel. 1 Thess. 4:16. And this separation between the righteous and the wicked is accomplished, and the righteous are made immortal, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Thus the people of God are delivered; but who are the people of God? This question opens to us the fact that some decision must have been reached respecting them previously to this time; but all decision of character for the purpose of determining rewards or punishments is a work of judgment, and is a part of what constitutes the judgment of the great day, the solemn theme of the Bible. The goats are to be placed on the left hand, and the sheep on the10 right, when the nations are summoned before the King in his glory. Matt. 25:34, 41. The wicked shall be severed from among the just. Matt. 13:49. The righteous are to be saved, and the wicked destroyed. And the destiny of all is decided from the records that are kept of the deeds of all men; for so God has ordained. This is why we read that when the judgment is set, millions of angels minister before the Lord, and the books are opened. Dan. 7:10; Rev. 20:12. Thus it is evident that there must be some examination of cases, and the assigning of certain ones to their respective classes, before the Lord appears in the clouds of heaven; for it will be noticed that the decisions are then instantly declared, there being no time then to investigate cases. Consequently, this portion of the work of the judgment must be accomplished before the Lord comes. But when, and by what means, can this be brought about? How can Christ come to reward every man as his work shall be (Rev. 22:12), without an antecedent judgment, to pass upon such cases? and if there is such a judgment, where and in what order of events does it come in? This has been a puzzling problem to many students of prophecy. From the standpoint of the common theology, this has presented a real dilemma; and here are some of the hypotheses that have been resorted to, to meet it: It is claimed, by one class, that the dead, both good and bad, are all raised together, at the trump of God; are judged, and then sentenced to their respective rewards or punishments; while the living are disposed of in the same manner; and thus the judgment is gone through. But consider for a moment how long a time would be necessary for this work. Would one minute be too long a time to devote to each case, to examine the records, and fix the sentence according to his works? If not, taking the common estimate that there are fifteen hundred million persons living on the earth at the present time, it would take one billion five hundred million minutes simply to decide the cases of those now living. But if we should go back, and take in only one other generation, equally numerous, which would certainly be conservative enough, we should have three thousand million human beings to be judged; and giving one minute to each, it would require three thousand million minutes, fifty million hours, over two million days, or over fifty-seven hundred years, to accomplish the work, to say nothing of the unnumbered generations of the past. But more than this: such a supposition runs point-blank against the testimony of the Bible itself; for the Bible plainly declares that after the righteous are raised, a thousand years pass away before the wicked are called from their graves: “But the rest of the dead lived not again till the thousand years were finished.” Rev. 20:5. So this scheme will not work at all. Then another attempt is made to adjust the matter, which is this: that when the righteous dead are raised, they are raised without any change, mortal, as they went down, to be changed afterward. Then they are judged, and made immortal—all this to avoid any judgment before Christ comes. But this scheme, besides being cut off by the time limit stated above, is also directly contradictory to the Bible, which plainly declares that the righteous dead are raised in power and glory, incorruptible, with a spiritual body, and to die no more; while the righteous living are changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, to the same holy state. There is no time allowed here for the examination of the books and the investigation of character. Hence this hypothesis also absolutely fails, as it makes no provision for that previous investigation of character which must take place before Christ appears. We know of no system of belief that has in its provisions any consistent time and place for such a necessary work, except that held and advocated by Seventh-day Adventists. This is an important consideration, and should commend the position of this people to the favorable consideration of everyone who is seeking for a consistent and harmonious understanding of the Scriptures. Mark well the situation: There must be a period of judgment, and the decision of the great question of probation before the Lord returns to this earth. But this work of rejecting or accepting people for his kingdom, belongs to the priestly work of Christ. But where does it come in? Christ’s last work as priest before he takes his throne as king, is to cleanse the sanctuary. That being ended, his work as priest is forever done. The very time for this work to begin is pointed out. At the end of “two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Dan. 8:14. It has been found that those days ended in 1844. Then our High Priest entered the most holy place of the heavenly temple, and the final work of atonement for the world began. The subject of the sanctuary, rightly understood, solves all the perplexities herein alluded to. The cleansing of the sanctuary is a work of judgment. It provides the very place for the preliminary work that is necessary to be done before the Lord comes, and its cleansing is a work of exactly the right nature. Christ’s work as priest being designed to gather out from the human family a people for his name and kingdom (Acts 15:14), it must continue till that result is reached. Then it will have been decided how many have accepted of Christ’s offers of life and salvation, and become his people. It is the putting away of sin that determines this point; and this is the very work Christ performs in the most holy place of the sanctuary above, at the conclusion of his ministry; and this is the cleansing of the sanctuary. This involves an examination of the books; for the plan is that all judgment shall be rendered to each individual, according to his works as they have been recorded in the books. Rev. 20:12. Only one conclusion can be drawn from such testimony, and that is that a faithful record is kept of the course of every person, for which he must answer at the bar of God. If one repents and maintains a Christian life, his sins are at last all blotted out. So Peter exhorts: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19. Of the same class Christ speaks, in Rev. 3:5: “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” Again he says, “Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 10:33; Luke 12:8, 9. And this is when Christ is about to come as a thief upon all them who do not watch for his return. Rev. 3:5. The subject of the sanctuary places all these points in a clear and vivid light, and thus clothes itself with glory. Thus before Christ appears, the saints are all prepared for their reward. And when Christ has taken them up to his Father’s house (John 14:2, 3), they reign with Christ, examining and passing sentence upon the incorruptible dead, preparatory to the execution of the judgment in their cases, at the end of the thousand years. In this work they occupy a thousand years. Rev. 20:4. Here is the “time of the dead that they should be judged” (Rev. 11:18); for then “judgment is given to the saints of the Most High.” Dan. 7:22. Bearing in mind the fact that there are more than two hundred million assistants in this work (Dan. 7:10; Rev. 5:11), a thousand years gives ample time to examine and adjudge all cases. There is no embarrassment for time, no haste, and no confusion. As the cases of all the saints had been examined, and they were ready for immortality at the second coming of Christ, so at the end of the thousand years the cases of the wicked have all been examined, and they are then ready for destruction. The thousand years end; and the final lake of fire, which is the second death, ends the scene of all evil and of all the wicked. Rev. 20:7–15. Then the righteous go forth upon the earth made new for an eternity of joy. Minstrel Shows Adopted by Popular Churches
Not content with attending real negro minstrel shows, it is said that “society is in possession of a new fad in the form of negro minstrel entertainments.” The queer part about it all is that the “negro minstrels” are white persons with blackened faces. The popular church organizations, such as the Epworth Leagues, Christian Endeavorers, King’s Daughters, etc., have all “fallen in with the prevailing spirit, and are resorting to minstrel shows as a means to replenish their treasuries.” It is further stated, and upon good authority, that “society belles and the most aristocratic young men do not hesitate to blacken their faces and assume the characters of negro performers on the amateur stage,” because it is “the thing” to do so. And the songs that are sung “either appeal to the senses or tend to arouse the sentiment of pathos, through which evil is oftener wrought than is generally known.” Further: “The results of this fad are even now coming to the front. In one city in an adjoining State, six fashionable young ladies, leaders in society, have fallen victims to the blandishments of a negro who was secured to train them in the divine art” of singing “darkey songs.” Thus the popular churches, having discarded tithing, God’s plan for filling the church treasury, and having abandoned the aid of the power of God, the Holy Spirit, are obliged to resort to carnal methods of raising money. “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” “Come out of her, my people.” THE Paris Exposition closes November 5,