Signs of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 33. (8/28/1884)

Signs of the Times

Aug 28, 1884

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 28, 1884

General Articles.

By Mrs. E. G. White

“Praise Ye the Lord.”

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

“LET everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” Ps. 150:6.

Have any of us duly considered how much we have to be thankful for? Do we remember that the mercies of the Lord are new every morning, and that his faithfulness faileth not? Do we acknowledge our dependence upon him, and express gratitude for all his favors? On the contrary, we too often forget that “every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.”

How often those who are in health forget the wonderful mercies that are continued to them day by day, year after year. They render no tribute of praise to God for all his benefits. But when sickness comes, God is remembered. The strong desire for recovery leads to earnest prayer; and this is right. God is our refuge in sickness as in health. But many do not leave their cases with him; they encourage weakness and disease by worrying about themselves. If they would cease repining, and rise above depression and gloom, their recovery would be more sure. They should remember with gratitude how long they enjoyed the blessing of health; and should this precious boon be restored to them, they should not forget that they are under renewed obligations to their Creator. When the ten lepers were healed, only one returned to find Jesus and give him glory. Let us not be like the unthinking nine, whose hearts were untouched by the mercy of God.

Many who profess to be Christians are too much like the heath in the desert, and cannot “see when good cometh.” They allow their anxiety for their children to overshadow their lives, so that they almost despise the love of God that has been extended to themselves. They say, “If my children are not saved, I do not care to be.” In this they dishonor God. They should prize the gift of eternal life, and praise the Lord for pardoning mercy. But they should not neglect to plead for their children, at the same time doing their duty by them in every respect. If one is brought to the fold of Christ, they should praise Him who holds in His hand the hearts of the children of men, and “turneth them whithersoever he will,” and then present another child in the arms of faith.

God is love. He has a care for the creatures he has formed. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” John exclaims, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” What a precious privilege is this, that we may be sons and daughters of the Most High, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. Then let us not mourn and grieve because in this life we are not free from trials, disappointments, and afflictions. Let us not complain at inconvenience and suffering. If in the providence of God we are called upon to endure trials, let us accept the cross, and drink the bitter cup, remembering that it is a Father's hand that holds it to our lips. Let us trust him in the darkness as well as in the day. Can we not believe that he will give us everything that is for our good? “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Even in the night of affliction, how can we refuse to lift heart and voice in grateful praise, when we remember the love to us expressed by the cross of Calvary?

Meditate on the beneficence of God, dear reader; you will find it most profitable to recount your blessings. Let the language of your heart be, “God has been very good to me.” He delights in mercy; therefore I may trust in him. His love, his patience, his long-suffering have followed me all the days of my life. I will believe and watch and pray; and unworthy and helpless as I am, exposed to disappointment and sorrow, and the temptations of a wily foe whom I cannot resist in my own strength, Jesus will be my helper, and will fight my battles for me. He loves me. He has given the fullest evidence of his love in dying for me. He will withhold no real blessing.”

What a theme for meditation is the sacrifice that Jesus made for lost sinners! “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” How shall we estimate the blessings thus brought within our reach? Could Jesus have suffered more? Could he have purchased for us richer blessings? Should it not melt the hardest heart, when we remember that for our sakes he left the happiness and glory of Heaven, and suffered poverty and shame, cruel affliction and a terrible death? Had he not, by his death and resurrection, opened for us the door of hope, we should have known nothing but the horrors of darkness and the miseries of despair. In our present state, favored and blessed as we are, we cannot realize from what depths we have been rescued. We cannot measure how much deeper our afflictions would have been, how much greater our woes, had not Jesus encircled us with his human arm of sympathy and love, and lifted us up.

We may rejoice in hope. Our Advocate is in the heavenly sanctuary, pleading in our behalf. Through his merits we may have pardon and peace. He died that he might wash away our sins, clothe us with his righteousness, and fit us for the society of Heaven, where we may dwell in light forever. Dear brother, dear sister, when Satan would fill your mind with despondency, gloom, and doubt, resist his suggestions. Tell him of the blood of Jesus, that cleanses from all sin. You cannot save yourself from the tempter's power, but he trembles and flees when the merits of that precious blood are urged. Then will you not gratefully accept the blessings Jesus bestows? Will you not take the cup of salvation that he presents, and call on the name of the Lord? Do not show distrust of Him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Do not for a moment pain the heart of the pitying Saviour by your unbelief. He watches with the most intense interest your progress in the heavenly way; he sees your earnest efforts; he notes your declensions and your recoveries, your hopes and your fears, your conflicts and your victories.

Shall all our devotional exercises consist in asking and receiving? Shall we be always thinking of our wants, and never of the benefits we receive? Shall we be recipients of his mercies, and never express our gratitude to God, never praise him for what he has done for us? We do not pray any too much, but we are too sparing of giving thanks. If the loving-kindness of God called forth from our hearts more thanksgiving and praise, we would have far more power in prayer. We would abound more and more in the love of God, and have more bestowed to praise him for. You who complain that God does not hear your prayers, change the present order, and mingle praise with your petitions. When you consider his goodness and mercies, you will find that he will consider your wants.

Pray, pray earnestly and without ceasing, but do not forget to praise. It becomes every child of God to vindicate his character. You can magnify the Lord; you can show the power of sustaining grace. There are multitudes who do not appreciate the great love of God nor the divine compassion of Jesus. Thousands even regard with disdain the matchless grace shown in the plan of redemption. And all who are partakers of this great salvation are not clear in this matter. They do not cultivate grateful hearts. But the theme of redemption is one that the angels desire to look into; it will be the science and the song of the ransomed throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. Is it not worthy of careful thought and study now? Should we not praise God with heart and soul and voice for his “wonderful works to the children of men”?

Our God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, declares, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me.” All Heaven unite in praising God. Let us learn the song of the angels now, that we may sing it when we join their shining ranks. Let us say with the psalmist, “While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.” “Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.”

NO MORE DEATH.

By L. E. Millne

Is THERE a land so fair, so bright, That tears are never found? No sighs nor sorrows in that land, But only joys abound?

No rude alarms, nor stormy blast Shall sweep o'er that bright land, And friend from friend shall never part, Amid the heavenly band.

What most we love and cherish here Doth quickly fade away. But ah! the joys of Heaven endure— One long, eternal day.

Is there a mansion, Lord, for me, Waiting in that bright land? Oh, may I walk the golden streets Amid the angel band?

Then will I list the Master's voice And with him suffer here, If with the faithful, I, at last, With Jesus may appear. —L. E. Millne.

Excellency of the Divine Law.

(Concluded.)

3. Its excellency is further seen in its power to secure the happiness of the entire universe.

Poetry is poor, and the imagination altogether inadequate to exhibit the scene which would everywhere and always meet our eye were the law of God perfectly obeyed by all. Every individual being possessed of those feelings which we have just alluded to, all would possess in themselves a source of unbounded happiness. Moreover, the mind of the individual would not have to depend merely upon itself, but every other being would regard him with perfect love, and would seek his welfare. And thus, all loving and all loved, every heart would be attuned to harmony, and every voice in concert would sweetly swell the universal chorus, for God would be exalted to his proper throne, and would reign supreme over willing and delighted subjects, who were ever yielding the homage of love to a God of love; while the feeling of every heart towards the Great Supreme first, and then towards all fellow-creatures, being precisely that the exercise of which causes exuberant gladness, and this being, in such a supposed state, uninterrupted, our happiness would meet with no rude check, and being perfect, so would our bliss be perfect also.

What a delightful vision is presented to our view. The God whose name is love, sitting on the throne of universal empire, and swaying the scepter of love over all the intelligent creation; the teeming myriads of the universe burning with seraphic love to him, acquiescing, delighting in his will, and dwelling rejoicingly in his presence; their hearts being under the soft control of love, they regard their fellow-creatures with a beaming eye, and the melody of love is heard in every whisper, and in every note. Nor is all this a pleasant fiction. Such is Heaven. Law, perfectly observed there—the law of love—secures the happiness of all. And it is nothing but the universal neglect of God's law which has transformed this beauteous earth into the wilderness that it is. Oh how wretched has the infraction of law made man everywhere! How earth sighs, from her deepest recesses, over the ills which have resulted therefrom, and wherewith humanity is weighed down and crushed! Whenever man causes a sigh to rise from any heart, that sigh is wrung from the bosom by his violation of God's law. Trace up, then, all the misery which has filled the world, to this, its proper source, and say whether the beauty of the law is not apparent in the happiness it can cause, and in the wretchedness which its violation occasions.

4. Its excellency is seen in the fact that the moral sense, the conscience, of every man approves it.

Among even those who, alas for them! impiously set themselves against God and his revelation, there is not one that can take any exception against this law. All have broken it, and all by nature dislike it, as a law for themselves, and refuse to obey it; but all have a perception of its excellence. And that part of it especially which refers to our behavior to each other, has been adopted by all classes, and has received even from the ungodly the designation,—"the golden rule." And every man wishes all others to regulate their conduct toward himself by this law, whether he is governed by it or not. And this universal demand, even from those who have violated it, is a universal testimony to its excellence.

Yes, all men love to see it exhibited and observed by others. For who is there so base as not to approve the self-denying philanthropy of a Howard, the untiring humanity of a Clarkson, and of many others whom it would be easy to mention? Yet all that was so admirable in them was conformity, in some good degree, to this law. How often men admire, without giving themselves the trouble to think what it is that imparts loveliness to the objects of their applause. You may, perhaps, see one who is fitted to adorn the choicest circles, leaving the elegant occupations and refined society of her graceful home, entering the abode of poverty and affliction, to administer with her own hands to the wants of the suffering, or, by her soft and sweet-toned consolations, soothing the mind of the miserable. You may observe her encountering all that delicacy shrinks from, a ministering angel to the wretched. You speak in glowing terms of her goodness, but do you recognize that such a one is only complying, and that but partially, with one branch of this beauteous law?

What we instantly hate, too, is a violation of this law. We see a sordid wretch, who, having gold in his coffer, loves to keep it there; a son of misery, aye, a daughter of sorrow humbly sues for a trifle from his abundance; but the vile lover of his yellow earth turns a deaf ear to the pleadings of distress; anguish may rise, and swell, and overwhelm the soul—he beholds it all unmoved, his heart is like the nether mill-stone. We vent our indignation—honest, praiseworthy indignation. But the conduct so justly stigmatized is precisely the opposite to that enjoined by God's law, and is expressly denounced by it. See how, when unbiased by personal considerations, we take part with the law, and approve it as "holy, and just, and good." Thus in the meed of admiration which we bestow on virtue, and in the frown of indignation with which we greet the contrary, does the moral sense of all men testify to the excellence of the law. Partial conformity to it presents us with partial excellence and partial happiness; while perfect conformity thereto, is perfect excellence and perfect happiness.

5. The excellency of the law is further shown in the fact that the Saviour, when intending to exhibit a perfect model of loveliness of character, made it his rule.

It has been already remarked that the loveliest character that we ever met with derived all that was really excellent from conformity to the law of God. There is no imaginable excellence that it does not comprehend. Take, then, the finished portrait of perfection which we have in the whole demeanor of Jesus of Nazareth. Whatever forbearance, magnanimity, benevolence, self-renunciation, he manifested, he never went a hair's breadth beyond the requirements of this law. Did he forget his own fatigue at Jacob's well? Did he wipe away the tears from the widowed cheek of her of Nain? Did he weep in sympathy with the sorrow-stricken sisters of Lazarus? Did he go about doing good, laboring to reclaim the wanderer, to instruct the ignorant, to bless the wretched, and to raise all about him to virtue and happiness? Did he bury in oblivion his cruel wrongs, and pray for his very murderers? Did he forget his own anguish on the cross, when his weeping mother caught his eye, and when the accents of the dying thief fell upon his ear? In no one instance did he ever step beyond the circle law had drawn. In all he did, when in childhood and youth, he was subject to his parents; when in after life he lived only for the good of all around him and for the glory of his Father, he only, as it was predicted of him, magnified the law and made it honorable, by complying with its demands. Study then the character of Jesus, gaze on the exquisite loveliness that was embodied in his demeanor; and as you admire, recognize therein neither more nor less than law perfectly observed:—

"For in his life the law appears, Drawn out in living characters."

H. H. Dobney (Baptist), in "Future Punishment."

Civil or Religious, Which?

By Alonzo T. Jones

REV. W. F. CRAFTS has been preaching lately, in the First Congregational Church, Chicago, a series of sermons in favor of Sunday laws; and the fact that the daily Inter-Ocean reports these verbatim, sometimes occupying more than five columns, is an indication of the prominence that this subject is assuming in public affairs. The report of the sermon of Sunday evening, August 3, is before us, some points of which we propose to notice.

As is usual in the discussion of this question nowadays, he tries to make it appear that Sunday laws and their enforcement have nothing to do with religion, but have "relation to health, education, home virtue, and patriotism," and his attempt is crowned with the usual success of such efforts, that is, to prove emphatically the contrary. He says: "Such a day [as is secured by well-enforced Sabbath laws] causes rich and poor to meet on the platform of"—What suppose you, my reader? On the platform of "health" interests? of "educational" interests? of the blessings of home virtue? on the platform of "patriotism"? Not at all. But "causes rich and poor to meet on the platform of religious equality." Yet Sunday laws well-enforced have no relation to religion!

Again; "Liberty allows the majority no right to enforce its religion upon others. But inasmuch as more than three-fourths of the population are members or adherents of Christian churches, and so accustomed to set apart the first day of each week for rest and religion; and inasmuch as it is the conviction of this majority that the nation cannot be preserved without religion, nor religion without the Sabbath, nor the Sabbath without laws, therefore Sabbath laws are enacted," &c. Let us analyze this. (a) The nation cannot be preserved without religion. (b) But religion cannot be preserved without the Sabbath. (c) But the Sabbath cannot be preserved without laws. Now if these laws are to preserve the Sabbath that the Sabbath may preserve religion, it inevitably follows that all such laws are enacted in the interests of religion solely.

Again; "Sabbath laws for protecting the worshiping day of the prevailing religion, . . . are vindicated." And so he goes on through his whole sermon, insisting all the time that Sunday laws must have "no relation to religion," yet proving by every line of argument, in spite of his propositions, and in spite of logic, that such laws are wholly in the interests of religion. So it is, and always will be, with every one who attempts the task. All of this goes to show that the animus of the whole discussion is the Sunday as a religious institution, and the enforcement of its observance as such. A further illustration of this is seen in the above quotation. Notice, he says the "majority has no right to enforce its religion upon others." Then without the slightest break, or hesitation, he goes right forward and declares that a majority "are members or adherents of the Christian churches, and have set apart the first day of each week," &c., &c., and winds up with the demand for laws for the enforcement of Sunday for the preservation of religion, in obedience to the will of that majority. The gentleman's logic is about as badly mixed as are his metaphors in that place where he sees the "infidel iconoclast," that is one breaking an image, and cries out, not in tones of entreaty, but of command, "Woodman, spare that tree."

After all this we are not surprised to find him sanctioning an exposition (?) of the first amendment to the Constitution, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." He calls it "that much misunderstood article of the National Constitution" and says: "President Charles E. Knox, D. D., of the German Seminary at Bloomfield, N. J., in a very able paper on the Attitude of Our Foreign Population

toward the Sabbath," urges that this amendment needs to be expounded everywhere to our foreign population. It should be shown to them that while Congress possesses no law-making power in respect to an establishment of religion, it may, and does, and always has, passed laws which have respect to religion.' Then our foreign population are to be informed, are they, that Congress "may, and does, and always has," violated the Constitution? That would be an exposition of this article indeed. This will be news to the National Reform Association, too, as well as to the rest of us. We feel almost sure that if Dr. Crafts can convince that association of the truth of this exposition, he will be promoted to great honor. However, we doubt his ability to do it. First, because this statement of Mr. Knox is notoriously false; and secondly, because the idea advanced by Mr. Crafts himself that the enactment of Sabbath laws is "not in violation of this article," stands contradicted by the United States Senate, in that, when in 1830 it was petitioned to legislate on this very subject of Sunday, it declared that such action would be unconstitutional.

Nor is the gentleman any more successful in his exposition of Constantine's edict. After referring to the words of Moses in connection with the Sabbath, "that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou," he says: "Constantine gave substantially the same reasons for the first Sabbath law enacted in Europe. It was a law to protect slaves and peasants in their right to Sabbath rest." From this we can only wonder whether Mr. Crafts ever read Constantine's law to which he refers. So far from its being the "first Sabbath law enacted in Europe," it was not a Sabbath law at all. It commanded rest on the "venerable day of the sun." It was the sun that was to be honored. If he had said this was the first Sunday law enacted in Europe he would not have been far wrong. But to make it a Sabbath law, is as utterly at variance with the truth as is the statement that "it was a law to protect slaves and peasants in their right to Sabbath rest." A peasant is one who lives in the country, one who lives by rural labor. Now read Constantine's law and see how much protection it gave the peasant, and the slave. Here it is—"Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun; but let those who are situated in the country freely and at full liberty attend to the business of agriculture; because it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn or planting vines; lest, the critical moment being let slip, men should lose the commodities granted by Heaven. Given the seventh day of March; Crispus and Constantine being consuls, each of them for the second time." It is exceedingly difficult to conceive how any honest man who ever read that edict at all, could state that it was to "protect slaves and peasants," when they were the very ones to whom it gave no protection whatever; the very ones who, by the terms of the edict itself, were excluded from its protection.

And it is by such methods as these that the national Sunday law is to be brought about, methods that have in them every element of dishonesty. But the methods are worthy of the cause in which they are enlisted, and the institution which by them is sought to be upheld. "Truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth falleth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey; and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment." Isa. 59:14, 15.

Other points we reserve till another occasion.

ALONZO T. JONES.

God’s Precepts Are Right

"I ESTEEM all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." —Ps. 119:128.

The Doctrine of Christ.

By W. N. Glenn

THAT which is popularly recognized as Christian teaching sets forth the doctrine proclaimed by Christ as something new for this dispensation, and entirely different from the oracles of God in pre-advent days. It is even maintained that his teachings are antagonistic to the scriptures of the Old Testament, and designed to supersede them. Now the Old Testament, in all parts, purports to be the word of God. It matters not by whom promulgated, there is no doubt amongst real Bible believers that God indorsed the whole. Then they must admit that its doctrines are the doctrines of God; and we are assured that with him “there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” Jas. 1:17.

Jesus plainly told the Jews, while preaching in the temple, “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.” John 7:16. And further, “If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.” Verse 17. He also told his disciples, at Jacob’s well, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” Chap. 4:34. Again, “I came down from Heaven not to do mine own will, but his that sent me.” Chap. 6:38. And in addressing his Father in prayer, on the night of his arrest, he said, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” Chap. 17:4.

From these scriptures we learn that Christ’s mission was not to undo anything, but to further the previous design of the heavenly council. The terms “gospel dispensation,” “gospel age,” etc., as implying a change of purpose or principle of faith since the advent of Christ, are not warranted by the Scriptures. The gospel dispensation is co-existent with the plan of salvation; it began in Eden and will end only when probation ceases. We have no warrant for setting one period of time over against another, with one “doctrine” for this period and another for that. The doctrine of salvation through Christ is one in all ages; faith in the efficacy of his blood was required and exercised from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Moses, and from Moses to Christ, just as literally as from Christ to the present time.

What may be termed “dispensations,” by way of distinguishing the church systems of different periods, are but so many stages of the same work. There are no antagonisms, but one harmonious whole. Each succeeding story of the building is erected, not to demolish or overshadow its predecessor, but as a part of the grand structure, dependent upon all underneath it for support. All that has been written concerning all dispensations “is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Tim. 3:16, 17.

The design of the Creator from the beginning was to have the earth inhabited by an obedient people. This design was temporarily frustrated by Adam’s transgression. The fact that one act of disobedience brought condemnation upon the entire race, shows how important is the matter of obedience. The whole scheme of redemption, involving the death of him “without whom was not anything made,” was necessitated by that one act. Although his sentence was death, man was given a new probation, another chance to gain that eternal life which obedience would have secured to him. This manifestation of mercy was based upon God’s love for his creatures, but it was not without condition. Both these propositions are sustained in one declaration of Jesus: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

But the man’s first test involved obedience; shall he be exempt from obedience on the second test? Shall faith alone save him, and he be at liberty to do as he pleases? Paul answers this question in Heb. 5:8, 9: “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” Many other scriptures might be cited, but this is plain and worthy to be deemed conclusive, that obedience, as well as faith, is essential to salvation.

But what shall we obey? Has God a law for the general government of the race, or has he merely special regulations for certain periods, to perish with the using, and to give place to others as expediency may demand? There was a law of types and shadows which ended by limitation when the Antitype, to which it pointed, came. This was enacted nearly fifteen hundred years after creation, and expired at the cross, almost nineteen hundred years ago. Of course it could not apply to the entire human race. But there is a law spoken of in the Scriptures which Christ’s death did not “destroy” (Matt. 5:17); and from which “one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass,” “till heaven and earth pass.” Verse 18. This must have been the law that existed from Adam to Moses. There was law then, for “death reigned” (Rom. 5:14), and death is the wages of sin (chap. 6:23), and sin is not imputed where there is no law. Chap. 5:13.

We are told in Gal. 3:13 that “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.” Now, as the curse which necessitated the mediation of Christ was pronounced in Eden, the law whose violation brought on the curse must have existed there. What law was that? It must have been the law that Adam violated when he obeyed Satan before God; when he dishonored his Father; when he took that which did not belong to him. It must have been the law which Cain violated when he killed his brother Abel, and which the people violated to such an extent as to bring upon the world a destructive flood. It must have been the same law that Christ referred to when he told an inquirer, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matt. 19:17); for the specifications in the succeeding verses show the identity beyond a doubt. It was none other than the moral law of ten commandments. Its violation brought death, and its observance, by the blood of Christ, leads to eternal life.

This, then, is the doctrine presented by Christ in all “dispensations”—faith in his blood, and obedience to the everlasting law of the Father.

W. N. GLENN.

God Is Within All Things

God is within all things, but is shut up in nothing; outside all things, but excluded from nothing; beneath all things, but not depressed under anything; above all things, but not lifted up out of the reach of anything.

The Discipline of Life

The great good of life is its discipline—the despoliation of self; and, if the thing most indispensable is the breaking down of self-confidence, then God must choose the point where it will be felt.—Sel.

Meditation.

By William Lindsay Alexander

MEDITATION on divine things makes them really profitable to us. In the mere apprehension of truth, whether through reading or hearing, there is little or no profit. The profit begins when that which is apprehended is so pondered as to become part and parcel of man's inner nature; just as food becomes of advantage to us when it is not only taken into the body but assimilated to it, and mixed with its substance. A man may run through a picture gallery so as to see every picture it contains, and to derive from the sight a certain amount of pleasure; but he alone profits by such an exhibition who pauses and studies each work of art, and gathers ideas from it which enrich his mind, or learns lessons from it which refine his taste, or which may guide his own efforts after excellence in art. "It is the settling of milk," says an old writer, "that makes it turn to cream, and it is the settling of truth in the mind that makes it turn to spiritual nutriment."—W. L. Alexander.

Their Testimony Does Not Agree.

By Editor

If the Sunday could be sustained by the Bible, its advocates would be able to agree upon a line of argument in its favor, as do the advocates of the Sabbath of the Lord. These, having the express precept of Jehovah in favor of the seventh day, and the concurrent testimony of the whole Bible in harmony with the words spoken by the Lord himself, have no difficulty in being of one accord, of one mind, and all speaking the same thing, being perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Phil. 2:2; 1 Cor. 1:10. But how different with Sunday-keepers. Having no Scripture to lean upon, depending on tradition and "the Fathers," who, as Dr. Clark said, "blow hot and cold," they are constantly contradicting each other, and a good defense of the Sabbath might be maintained by reproducing the "arguments" of the various phases of the advocacy of "the venerable day of the sun."

We have before us a pamphlet of over fifty pages, aimed at the Seventh-day Adventists, in which are given the following reasons for our success. We commend these words to all who think they can keep Sunday in obedience to the fourth commandment. ED. SIGNS.

Another cause of success with these people is the false notions that prevail in most communities about the perpetuity of the fourth commandment of the decalogue. Nearly all of the Protestant sects in this country appeal to this commandment as authority for keeping the first day of the week. Many of these sects feel that it is next to sacrilege to call the first day of the week by any name except that of Sabbath. This appealing to the fourth commandment and this calling of the first day of the week the Sabbath is a matter of astonishment. Any one who will take the trouble to make an examination will find: (1) That in the New Testament the name Sabbath is never applied to the first day of the week; (2) That the fourth commandment is never appealed to as authority for keeping this day till after the days of Constantine, that is, not before the middle of the fourth century; and (3) That the prevailing custom of calling this day the Sabbath did not take its rise till near the end of the sixteenth century. In proof of these statements I refer, to the New Testament in proof of the first, to "Smith's Bible Dictionary" in proof of the second, and to church histories generally, and to Alvan Lamson's "Church of the First Three Centuries," page 379, in particular, in proof of the third.

In view of these incontestable facts how Protestant ministers of intelligence can persist in quoting, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," when they mean the Lord's day, or the first day in the week, is what astonishes me. If the Saviour, and the apostles, and the primitive church, for more than three hundred years never referred to the fourth commandment as authority for observing the first day of the week, what right have we to do so? Are we wiser than they? This false position furnishes ground ready for the seed of the seventh-day advocates. They can approach the people in this wise: "You see we all believe that the entire decalogue is in force, and of course the fourth commandment is binding upon us. But we must bear in mind that 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,' is not all of the commandment, for the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, is equally a part of it. How can we claim that one part of it is binding, and not all of it?" Some one may answer that the day is changed. But these seventh-day people will quickly reply, "Where is the chapter and verse in the teaching of Christ or his apostles that authorizes us to read 'the first day is the Sabbath of the Lord'?" Then if the practice of the early church is referred to, the result is the same. Smith in his Bible Dictionary sums up the results of his investigations as to the custom of the early church for three hundred years, in these weighty words: "Finally, whatever analogy may be supposed to exist between the Lord's day and the Sabbath, in no passage that has come down to us is the fourth commandment appealed to as the ground of the obligation to observe the Lord's day."

The advocates for the observance of the Sabbath take advantage of this false position on the binding force of the fourth commandment and easily carry some good, conscientious people with them. They are not to blame for what they do. The blame rests with those who, contrary to the teaching of Christ and his apostles, and the primitive church for more than three hundred years, quote the fourth commandment as authority for observing the Lord's day, and who also, contrary to the custom of the church for sixteen hundred years, call the first day of the week the Sabbath.

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