p. 7 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 28. (7/21/1909)

“But One Thing Is Needful”

By T. E. Bowen

ONE day Jesus was enjoying the quiet of the home at Bethany. It was near the meal-time hour, and something must be prepared for the honored Guest. Mary sat near her blessed Lord and Deliverer, listening to the words falling from His lips. “Martha was cumbered [distracted, margin A.R.V.] about much serving; and she came up to Him; and said, Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister did leave me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.”

It will be observed that this remark of Martha’s really contained a rebuke to the Master, that He did not appreciate the domestic situation sufficiently to thus hold Mary with His teaching from helping in preparing and serving the meal. In answer to her remark Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful; for Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

This lesson still comes with force not only to those who serve in the kitchen and dining-room in our homes, but to the husbands and fathers who till the farms and carry on the business of the shops and stores.

“But one thing is needful.” Not that Jesus would have us give no attention to the common duties of life, for He knows we have need of temporal things, and gives instruction to be diligent in business; but He does rebuke that feverish anxiety, that “distraction,” that comes from much serving and despoils the Christian’s peace. All this is of the world and should be overcome. The Lord puts it in other words when He says, “For a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”

“But one thing is needful.” And that one thing is obtaining just what Mary that very hour was securing—the assurance in her own soul that Jesus was to her a personal Saviour, her divine Redeemer. Having Him, she possessed all things. Losing Him, all would eventually be lost. And so of her, He said: “Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

In this hour of mad rush for perishable things so soon to pass away, shall we catch the spirit of the world and with that miss obtaining the one needful thing? Surely we shall do well to heed the words of admonition addressed to Martha in Bethany, also those spoken on Mount Olivet to the disciples, after taking their minds down over the history of time to the last generation that should witness the signs which were to precede His second coming, when Jesus said: “But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly as a snare.” “But watch ye at every season, making supplication, that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Surely it will be found then that “but one thing is needful.”

T. E. BOWEN.

Stories that Never “Become Old”

By Emma Hildreth Adams

By Emma Hildreth Adams

At first thought it seems an incredible thing that a brief, unadorned historical statement, even tho it record an action or an event of very serious import, should have power, centuries afterward, not only to enchain attention and awaken profoundest thought, but also to arouse the deepest emotions and the most exalted feeling in the soul of man.

Take as an example of such statements, the distinguished crossing of the Jordan by the children of Israel in the year 1451 before Christ, exactly when the time was due for them to enter the long-before-promised land.

Twelve short verses of the third chapter of the book of Joshua record the exceedingly instructive proceeding.

Not very long ago one evening hundreds of persons in the United States read that graphic description of the unparalleled incident.

Last year, many of these hundreds read the same twelve verses, deeply moved, no doubt, at the thrilling spectacle they depict. Not a few had read the living lines many times before, their minds filled with awe.

Yet that evening the simple, heedful words seemed charged with a subtle vitality, a piercing intensity, a keen consciousness of the mission to be accomplished. They painted feature after feature of the great scene in colors fadeless as the sky. They planted in the mind sharpest conviction of God’s love, might, and faithfulness.

Reader, put aside for a half hour the eager hurrying of these ominous days, and reflect over that last step in Israel’s famous transmigration. See the vast host of men, women, and children waiting at Abel-Shittim—opposite trembling Jericho—uneasy, anxious, but ready, willing to attempt the passage, tho the waters of Jordan were overflowing its banks widely, as if to render all the more conspicuous the imminent display of Jehovah’s power over Nature’s forces.

Note how explicitly at every step God’s order was obeyed. One act of disobedience on the part of Joshua, priests, or people, would have resulted in appalling disaster, as had several times proved the case during the sad years of desert wandering. Appreciate that it was the last impressive scene in a long, highly-wrought, living drama, its thrilling acts covering the time from smitten Egypt to obedient Jordan.

Behold the priests bearing the ark of the covenant, with its eloquent mercy-seat, approach the brink of the broad waters. Observe with what firm hearts they place their feet in the speeding stream, and then stand!

Now witness an astonishing scene. As did the waters of the Red Sea, over forty years before, so now the speeding flood of Jordan drew asunder, one portion flowing swiftly away down the rich valley, while the other, at the priest’s right hand, disregarding the law of gravitation, reared itself into a high, firm, crystal wall, and STOOD, obedient to the will of Him who “measures the waters in the hollow of His hand,” until the million host had passed over to liberty, to home, to great conquests, and, alas! to quick, astounding rebellion.

These two marvelous displays of Jehovah’s power, favor, and love, render Israel’s migration from Egypt to Canaan the most eminent national movement of all history.

No page records a scene like that witnessed when the priests, bearing the ark of the covenant, “stood firm” in the midst of Jordan until the vast procession of men, women, and children, preceded by the twelve men bearing twelve stones, taken from the dry bed of the stream—to erect a memorial of the momentous event—had all passed over opposite paralyzed Jericho.

But the most salient feature of that renowned transfer was the childlike trustfulness and submission of the vast throng, from great Joshua down through all its ranks.

The brief, but extremely definite, history brings to us no utterance of impatience, no syllable of complaint, tho the whole people tarried “three days” beside the surging waters before the actual crossing; no expression of doubt as to the possibility of effecting the passage, no word of dread or terror at coming face to face with enemies many and mighty.

It was a state of things far different from that presented by their fathers at Kadesh-Barnea, upon hearing the fatal report of the ten faithless men sent by Moses to inspect the “goodly” promised land.

The strong, vigorous host now facing Jordan, had experienced, through forty years, continuous sad reminding of the fateful stand taken by disappointed Israel on that fateful day.

It had seen one after another of its loved ones return to the dust until all who had borne part in that sinful murmuring had fallen without sight of the hills and plains, the fruits and flowers, the liberty and rest, now in full view just across Jordan. It had learned the priceless lesson of obedience to the words of God, the Deliverer of their fathers.

But this was not the only lesson this ransomed people had learned. Astonishing victories had been gained by them in their progress toward the notable river. God had enabled them to vanquish mighty kings, to acquire extended territory, with many fenced cities and unwalled towns; to gain vast wealth in cattle, money, jewels, all manner of spoil.

Briefly, Jehovah had guided them, defended them, given them great triumph, in everything kept His word with them. And now, beside this apparently impassable stream, and close to hostile nations, they are fearless, confident, obedient, trusting in the forceful arm many times outstretched in their behalf.

May it not be, that in these short, vivid, luminous sketches of Israel’s history, there lie sometimes, slightly veiled perhaps, yet easily discerned with a little study, important practical lessons for remnant Israel, and for to-day?

We read these wonderful portrayals carelessly, with little thought, little reflection, yet they hold for us teachings practical, priceless. If we could but rise to the height of adapting them to our needs in these urgent years, a richer, safer experience would be ours.

What Must I Do to Be Saved?

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle.

I Out from the clouds and the tempest, Where the black banners have waved, Soundeth the cry of the ages: “What must I do to be saved?” Error’s dark legions surround us, Troubles without and within, Dangers and trials confound us,— Black is the midnight of sin.

II Fiercer the conflict still rages, Fearful the dangers we’ve braved, Moaning with tear-drops of anguish, “What must I do to be saved?” Horror and darkness about us, Stars have gone out in the sky; Blindly we grope in the shadows,— “Save, blessed Lord, or we die!”

III Far through the mists of the earthland, Gleam the false beacons of sin, Soundeth the war-cry of error— Seeking the battle to win, See ye the Molochs of evil, Breathing their pestilent breath, Dark as the pit of corruption, Black as the night-shades of death.

IV Still through the mists and the darkness, Still through the gain and the loss, Gleameth the Token of Calvary— Gleameth the light of the Cross. Preach to earth’s suffering millions Gathered in dungeon and den, Bring the glad news of salvation,— JESUS THE SAVIOUR OF MEN.

Doing Good in a New Way

From an editorial in the “Sunday School Times” on “The Delusion of Symmetry.”

PROBABLY the priest and the Levite who left the wounded man by the roadside were not the heartless and cruel types we have thought them. It is quite as easy to believe that they were victims of symmetry. Each of them was engaged in a definite errand. He had been brought up to carry his errands through without break. Due at Jerusalem at a certain day and hour for his share of temple service, and due home again for his just and well-earned rest, his life had fallen into a religious routine which he hated to have broken in upon. God had ordered the routine, and the man’s whole life had been an acceptance of it. He was naturally distrustful of things that broke in on it. Nor was it callousness toward suffering, for his religion had made ample provision for the sufferers.

The real trouble was that this unfortunate man had been unfortunate in such an irregular and unsymmetrical way, not covered by the ordinary relief agencies. The Jericho road was no place for people to get into such a plight. At Jerusalem or Jericho, either end of the road, everything would have been all right; but midway,— well, it was too bad, but it was more than could be taken care of. At either of these places the priest and the Levite would have known what to do for him, but they were out of their track and quite helpless anywhere else.

The good Samaritan had his very pressing business too, but with a sigh, perhaps, he admitted the pressingness of this unlooked-for business also, and suffered interruption. And tho he would have preferred to have the man in reach of familiar agencies up in Samaria, the near-by inn would answer as well. Such cases ought to be cared for by a fund, and indiscriminate charity was dangerous; but, tho it was wholly irregular and unsymmetrical and out of order, the fund in his own pocket would do at a pinch. One of the good things about the good Samaritan was that he was flexible enough to be good in a new way.

Good men easily incur the penalty of being able to do good and be good in only one way, so that when circumstances veer somewhat they are often found to be doing what is positively bad, tho without the least bad intention. We must all have our policies of action and procedure, but their existence is simply for the sake of enabling us to compass and control our resources in the most effective way. Yet the tendency is strong to worship the policy, make an idol of the method, and lose sight of the resources.

What Claims Has the First Day to the Sabbath?

By H.

1. How many “first” days are mentioned in the New Testament?

Two; the day on which Christ arose from the dead, and the day when Paul preached at Troas. The first is mentioned in Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1, and John 20:1; the second is mentioned in Acts 20:7.

2. How is the first named?

“When the Sabbath was past, . . . very early in the morning of the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun.” Mark 16:1, 2.

3. When were these accounts written?

Matthew wrote six years after the resurrection; Mark, thirty-two years; Luke, twenty-four years; John, sixty-six years.

NOTE.— All of these writers used the term “first day of the week.” Not one mentions the day as the “Lord’s day,” or the Sabbath; but each one is particular to say that it was the day following the Sabbath which the women had kept “according to the commandment” by resting from their labors. Had these men known that the Sabbath was changed to the first day of the week, it is only reasonable to suppose that they would make mention of it at the time of the change. When the old Passover feast was held for the last time and the Lord’s Supper was instituted, minute details were given; baptism as an outward sign of a renewed life was fully explained; but of a change in the Sabbath not a word is said.

4. What of the other first day mentioned in the New Testament?

“Upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.” Acts 20:7.

NOTE.— According to Jewish custom in naming the days, this was on the evening of what we call Saturday. Eutychus fell from the upper window about midnight, after which the company “broke bread,” Paul preaching until daybreak of what we call Sunday morning. He then walked to Assos, a distance of nineteen miles, while his companions brought the ship around, a rather strenuous journey for the Sabbath day, we must admit. If Jewish reckoning of time is not followed, the “breaking of bread,” which is held to be a sign of the Sabbath, came on what we call Monday morning, which advocates of Sunday-sacredness are not ready to admit. So that “first day” was not a Sabbath.

5. What other mention is made of the first day in general?

“Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.” 1 Cor. 16:1, 2.

NOTE.— Candidly, where is there the least semblance of a Sabbath argument in this scripture? Paul instructed the churches to take a collection for the saints in need; as the Lord prospered them, they gave. On the first day of the week they reckoned up their accounts and put aside, “in store,” what they could afford; when Paul came, no time was lost in taking collections, for all were ready for him. This was not Sabbath work, but secular, and was therefore done on a weekday.

6. There being no Scripture authority for Sunday-sacredness, what does history say concerning it?

“The idea of the transference of the Jewish Sabbath from the seventh day to the first, was an invention of later times.”—Henry Alford, D.D.

“The seventh-day Sabbath was . . . solemnized by Christ, the apostles, and primitive Christians, till the Laodicean Council did, in a manner, quite abolish the observation of it. . . . The Council of Laodicea [A.D. 364], . . . first settled the observation of the Lord’s day.”—Prynne’s Dissertation on the Lord’s Day Sabbath. H.

Faith in the Resurrection

By James Smetham

“I KNOW that he shall rise again.” Do you, indeed? How do you know it? You have seen death often; have you seen a resurrection? If you know that he shall rise again, you are a believer; for here there is no proof but faith. How blessed is he that believes! Every portion of faith is precious, from the first dawning recognition of God to the “full assurance of faith.” It is a comfortable thought that Christ dieth no more and that He will bring with Him those who sleep in Him. If we know this only by faith, yet we do know it; and this fact, carefully entertained and treasured, ought from this time to be constantly at work on our moral nature. No one can be the same after the death of one very near to him; he will either be much better or much worse, and surely then, when the hand of God is stretched out to resume a soul, the ear of God is very near and very open, and His voice very clear in saying, “What can I do for thee?” He waits then for some very earnest response.—James Smetham.

We Also May Overcome

“Again the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto Him, All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Matt. 4:8, 9.

God created the earth for the home of man, to be ruled in righteousness. Man, created upright but free to choose, was given dominion over the beautiful world. In an evil hour, to that fair home came the tempter. Our first parents listened, argued, parleyed, and fell. The dominion held by the prince, Adam, was yielded to Satan. Yielding himself to Satan’s power, man yielded all under him, and Satan became ruler de facto, tho not ruler de jure. Tho ruler in fact, he is not ruler by right. He is a usurping satrap, under the sentence of condemnation by the suzerain Lord of the entire realm, who waits before sentence is executed that all may choose, and that righteousness may be seen to be life, and that sin and rebellion and departure from God may be seen to be death.

Man fell by sin; sin became incarnate. Man could maintain his rule only by righteousness; for in righteousness only is life and continuance. He can regain the lost ground only in righteousness. But as he himself had sinned and become the bond-servant of Satan, through self and sin, it is manifest that never of himself nor in himself could he conquer the usurper and bring back the world and restore his own. God saw the pitiable condition of the world, and “He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The Son of God “gave Himself.” God became incarnate in the flesh where sin had been incarnate. The battle was fought in the flesh between the lusts of the flesh, inherent through the sinful birth, and the spirit of God, inhering through faith. The Spirit won. Man’s liberty was assured.

The Son of God became Son of Man. He took man’s limitations, infirmities, weaknesses, temptations, that by faith He might win all victories for man. He was “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” “It behoved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.” “Wherefore also He is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through Him.” Heb. 2:17; 7:25, R.V.

Christ was tempted for all; He is the Saviour for all. The victim of hellish hate and temptation for all becomes the Victor over all satanic power for all. He met and vanquished the enemy with the same weapon that we must use—the simple word of God. Satan presents the glory of the world and the authority to rule. He tells the second Adam that He need not take the hard way of rejection by His own, of persecution, of Gethsemane, of the blood-stained cross, of the closed sepulcher; he asks not pain or toil or crucifixion, only an act of homage, “and all shall be Thine.” Jesus met him: “It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”

Jesus, the Loyal, could not crucify one principle of righteousness; He could not sever one single fiber which bound Him to the Father’s throne, to save Himself from eternal death. And right was might, tho right meant the death of the cross for our sakes.

Not for the sake of Jesus personally was this temptation recorded, but for all who follow. When power, position, wealth, fame, honor, are offered to a soul at the cost of the sacrifice of one right principle, Satan is making the offer; and that soul who yields the principle bows in worship before the prince of evil. As Satan came to Christ, so he comes to the church of Christ. He came to the persecuted church in the early centuries, offered her ease, wealth, emolument, if she would but yield but a little of the word of God, that she might the more readily win some of the heathen; and she yielded. The result was the heathenizing of the church, the union of church and state, and its fearful harvest of crime and death in the Dark Ages.

Satan is before the professed Protestant churches to-day. He is offering wealth, culture, influence, power. He says, “You may have the power through politics. You may control caucuses. If necessary, you may fill the ranks of the armies of the world with Christian men. Thus you may conquer the world. True, to do these things will be a departure from the word of God, from the simplicity and purity of the Gospel, from faith in your professed Master Jesus, from following in His example. But here are the glories of earth, the splendor of its magnificence, the plenitude of power; only fall down and worship me, and all shall be thine.” And, O, the sad, pitiful thing is, the once sweetly pure and beautiful church is yielding, yielding, oftentimes without shame; oftentimes

“Her shame is her boast and pride.”

Reader, there is but one way to meet the devil, the straightforward, unyielding, uncompromising course of righteousness as revealed in Jesus Christ. It is the way of the cross. It is not the way of the world. “What would Jesus do now?” you ask. He would do now just what He did when He met the tempter, when He walked the hills of Judea, when He prayed under the somber shadows in the paschal moonlight. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest, take them from the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.” O, for a worldless church filled with the word of God, the heavenly life! But, reader, whatever others may do, let us stand with Jesus Christ.

The Gospel of Beauty

By R.

God gives us here a mere taste of beauty to create in us an appetite for the coming feast. He gives a portion of beauty to educate us to appreciate the glories of the coming kingdom of the eternal years.

And most of all He gives us beauty as we toil at our posts of duty to remind us of His constant love and thought for us; let us not be so bound down with the sense of duty that we lose in us the sense of beauty.

The earth is cursed with sin—we doubt it not. In dust and grime, in sweat and blood, in pain and sorrow, in sickness and death, in darkness and gloom, in cold and storm, in calamity and crime, in ruin and degradation, we read the unchanging mandate,—“Cursed is the earth for thy sake.”

Cursed!—a hard word that; but even so, it is for our sakes; not to dishearten and degrade, but to educate for righteousness and to discourage sin. Everything in the world comes as a part of our education under God. Even the thorns and the thistles—the difficulties and the trials of life—were appointed for our good. They bear a part of the great plan of God in uplifting us from the ruin and degradation that sin has wrought.

There are thorns upon the roses, but it does not hinder the roses from being the most beautiful flowers in all the world. In spite of thorns they bud and blossom and throw their fragrance to the air. Is it to teach us that the sweetest things of life bloom out of the midst of trials and difficulties? Is it to teach us that the rarest, sweetest characters are the products and triumphs of the life of toil and trials?

It would seem so.

It is hard for a man to listen to the spring song of the birds and not have sent into his heart a message as to what love is. So long as a man still loves the flowers and the birds, the beauties of sky and field, or the smiling face of a little child, there is something of good still in his heart; God is still speaking, tho ever so faintly, the messages of His love.

And yet, with all of these beauty-tokens of the love of God, men in every age have misinterpreted the motives of God, have misrepresented His character, teaching that He is a tyrant, a harsh judge, a severe taskmaster, an unforgiving creditor.

They have done this notwithstanding the messages of God in nature as shown in the beauties and glories on every hand and in the care and providence which rest over every creature in the world.

And so to mirror more clearly the full beauties of God, He sent His Son into the world to live after God’s ideal, a man among men.

And if we miss the message in the clouds and in the rain, in the springing grass and the radiant flowers, in the care-free song of the birds and the soft sighing of the summer breeze, we need not mistake the message that He has brought us from the far-away land—the message of the nearness

and goodness of God, of His tender love for the children of men.

It is well for us to read God’s love in the bursting forth of vegetation, in the vocal notes of the birds, and the sweet perfume of the delicately tinted flowers; but these are but the whispers of that full, round harmony that swells into one mighty chorus in the Christ-life, declaring that God is love.

Let us look at the beauty of the earth and sky, and read there the message that God has imprinted in the harmonies of form and color; but, above all, let us not fail to look to Him who is the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley, the chiefest among ten thousand.

Earth reflects a beauty, but that beauty is but the shadowing forth of the matchless beauties that reside in Christ. We may name His excellencies by the types of nature, but the half has not even then been told.

He is called the rose of Sharon, because the beauty of the rose is but the manifestation of His love and creative power. Every good thing in nature is named as a type and symbol of the character and life of Christ.

And is this at all strange?

All of the things of nature have come out of the great love and power of God. What sin has not degraded, therefore, is still a manifestation to us of God’s character.

The beauty of the wayside weeds does not originate in themselves. The matchless splendor of the skies did not come to be of itself. The throbbings of love in the breast of a bird and the thankful warblings of its joyous heart did not spring spontaneously out of its little life.

No, not so.

Our Father in heaven is the fountain of life, of love, and of wisdom. It is He who kindles in the breast of man and bird some pulsations of the ceaseless throbbings of eternal love.

But the beauty, the glory, of God is not merely an outward shining. It is called the beauty of holiness. It is the beauty that is had alone in character. And the glory that He manifests is but the visible outflow of that character, which first of all and most important of all, is “all glorious within.”

It is this beauty that we should love. It is this beauty that we should manifest. It is this beauty that we should seek to put upon and within mankind.

If so, all other beauty will be but the teaching of the love and goodness, yea, the character of God. R.

“A State Without a Law”

WHAT would occur if the world to-day was without law? if all the laws were swept away with one dire act of international and world-wide legislation and decree? Every thinking mind would make answer at once in one word, “Chaos.” Yes, it would be chaos, confusion, and a carnival of crime if there were law to define it. Chaos, we are told, reigns in the “Empire state,” the great commonwealth of New York, especially among the lawyers. The people generally do not know that law is abolished; they suppose the same laws in force which have been for years. They go on in the same way, as do all the officials, carrying out the old forms just as tho they were law. They do not know what else to do.

The facts are these: A bill was passed last winter, signed by Governor Hughes, Feb. 17, 1909, consolidating all general statutes in the state. In 1904 a Board of Statutory Consolidation had been constituted by law, consisting of four very able lawyers. These men served without pay in “directing and controlling the simplification, arrangement, and consolidation” of the General Statutes of the state. Their work extended as far back as 1778, a period of 130 years. The report of five years’ labor consisted of six large tomes of 7,000 pages. It was rushed through, of course. The New York World says:

“Every law affecting property, corporations, real estate, wills, municipalities, excise, railroads, copartnership and the thousand and one interests and businesses which compose the life and machinery of the state, existing on or before Feb. 17, 1909, was repealed by the Consolidated Laws act, whether it had been on the statute books since 1778 or whether it was but a year or a day old. Not only that, but the entire Penal Code of the state was abolished, and a fifth of the Code of Civil Procedure, more than 600 sections out of some 3,000, was wiped out.”

Of course, it is understood that the consolidated code is the law, but it is unobtainable. In the words of Prof. H. Gerald Chapin, of Fordham University, New York: “To all intents and purposes this state to-day is a state without laws. The laws are there, ‘true enough, and far too many of them when all is said and done, but of what use are laws which no man can know?”

Surely, this is bad enough, and all will probably admit that it was a colossal blunder to provide that the new consolidated-law statute should go into immediate effect on the signature of the governor. Time should have been given for the promulgation of the new code.

Yet men will accuse God of a more egregious blunder than this. They would teach us that His great and all-comprehensive fundamental law of the Decalogue was in force till John came (so one class teach) and was then abolished, and the new law comes to us three and one half years later, this side the Crucifixion. Others teach that the whole system of law in operation among the Jews was swept away at the Crucifixion, and that the new law was given on the day of Pentecost, in Romans 13, and elsewhere. In other words, nine of the ten precepts of the Decalogue were reenacted from time to time during a period of from fifty days to thirty years subsequent to the Crucifixion. For a period, then, there was no law. God had abdicated His throne, so to speak. There was therefore no sin during this time; for “sin is the transgression of the law;” “by the law is the knowledge of sin;” “sin is not imputed when there is no law;” and “where no law is, there is no transgression.” 1 John 3:4; Rom. 3:20; 5:12; 4:15.

In other words, men represent God as abolishing the law which convicts of sin, leaving mankind sinless, and yet permitting His Son to die to save men from sins which did not exist. It is no wonder that confusion and chaos exist among those who hold to such theories.

Would you be saved from chaos in the moral world, reader? Know then that God is not man that He should thus blunder; that His laws are not so involved that they must be recodified or consolidated or reconstructed; that His great, moral, fundamental law is eternal like Himself, unchangeable like His own character, unrepealable, perfect; that every soul is subject to its claims; that it holds every transgressor under its condemnation; that it witnesses to the perfection and genuineness of every one forgiven in Christ Jesus.

The great commonwealth of New York through the blunders of finite man may be “a state without a law,” but the government of God is absolutely perfect and eternally unchangeable. Well does Jehovah say of such, by the psalmist: “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.” See Ps. 50:17-22.

God’s Victory Through the Weak

By R.

THE mere handful who achieved victory as Gideon's band; Jonathan and his armor-bearer, a simple two driving to flight a trained army; the success of Abraham and his servants against the combined forces of five kings; Christ's triumph over Satan tho weakened by forty days' fast: all teach the one great lesson that it is not by might or power of earth, it is not by many or few, that God brings His battles into victory. “For ye see . . . God hath chosen the weak things of this world to confound the things which are mighty, . . . that no flesh should glory in His sight.” 1 Cor. 1:26, 27, 29. R.

The Choosing of God

By R.

WHEN God chose Joseph, the rejected of his brothers and a prisoner of the Egyptians, and made him a ruler in Egypt and a saviour of life; when He selected Moses, the one who had been refused by his own people and who was a fugitive from his adopted country, and made him the leader and deliverer of the Israelites; when He took David from the sheepfold, unknown to the nation and overlooked by his father and brothers, and made him king over Israel; in each one of these cases and in others it was being made manifest that God sees deeper than man and chooses those whom the world rejects in order to bring life and salvation to all those who follow His providence. “Things which are despised, hath God chosen.” This awful difference of view on the part of God and man culminated in the terrible crisis of the cross. Christ was despised and rejected of men, yet He became in spite of it the Redeemer and the Saviour of men. Men may still despise and reject Him, and may call the preaching of the Cross foolishness, but to those that believe He is the mighty power of God even unto an eternal salvation.

Paying Our Debts to the Past

“THE present is always full of opportunities to pay our debts to the past.”

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