But the time came when they transgressed God’s easy prohibition; they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, disobeyed God’s law, and so brought death upon themselves. “The Lord said, Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden; . . . and He placed” at its entrance “cherubims and a flaming sword, . . . to keep the way of the tree of life.” Gen. 3:22–24. There are no immortal sinners. None have eternal life. God has pronounced the irrevocable sentence, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Eze. 18:20.
The interesting query now arises, What became of this tree? For it can not be found upon the earth to-day. The evidence seems quite conclusive, that prior to the deluge it was withdrawn from the earth. But it was not destroyed. For in the New Testament we read of this same tree of life. In his glowing description of the glories attending the heavenly Jerusalem in its future advent to our world, the seer of Patmos declares that the angel showed him “a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the street of it. And on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” Rev. 22:1, 2.
Notice that there is but one such tree. The Bible nowhere mentions more; it is throughout the tree of life. It is the same tree of which Adam and Eve partook in their innocency, and as it was seen in the city of God, it must have been transplanted thither. But how can it be one tree, when it is on both sides of that noble stream which makes glad the dwelling-place of the saints in light?—Ah, here is a wonderful fact: it completely overarches the river. It has roots and a trunk on both sides.
Nature has provided a feeble illustration of this in the banyan tree of India. Plant one such tree, and in time a forest will appear. The trunk first shoots upward, and then sends down branches which take root in the earth. These branches themselves become new trunks. Thus one tree becomes a forest, connected throughout. Even so of the tree of life; for the apostle declares, “On either side of the river was there the tree”—the one tree—“of life.”
The tree bears twelve manner of fruits, and yields its fruit every month, thus affording a different variety for each month. There is no monotony about this tree of life. Fruit every month. With this agree the words of Isaiah the prophet, who, in describing the glories of the new earth state, declares, “It shall come to pass, that from one new moon [month] to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:23.
But it seems that the leaves of the tree also are of service. They are “for the healing of the nations,” or, as Ezekiel puts it, “for medicine.” Eze. 47:12. But why for medicine, when we are assured that the inhabitant of that country shall not say, “I am sick.” Isa. 33:24. Consider this: Before the flood, when our race was in its infancy, men were of lofty stature and possessed great intellectual vigor. Moses the sacred historian, says, “There were giants in the earth in those days.” Gen. 6:4. All this is to be restored in Christ. At the first resurrection the saints arise, clothed with the garb of immortality. Death can visit them no more, for every trace of disease will be left within the tomb. But while they awake thus in primeval strength, they do not arise in primeval stature. How do we know this?—Because Malachi, in speaking of the final restitution, declares, that unto those who fear God’s name “shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.” Mal. 4:2. The leaves of the tree, then, are essential to our complete restoration.
Who among us will receive this inestimable blessing? Who of us will partake of this fruit—will eat and live forever?—Let the True Witness answer: “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. Rev. 2:7. The promise pertains only to the soul that overcomes.
O, think of that world from which every taint of the curse has been removed. Think of that world where there is no sickness, no sorrow, no suffering, no death; of that city whose walls are of jasper, whose streets are pure gold; of that fountain, every drop of which sparkles with living water. Think of that tree which grows upon both its banks, and completely overarches as well the river as the broad avenue that leads to the great white throne; and then think upon the blessedness of that eternity when, within the kingdom, you shall realize that it is your home forevermore. O day of joy and gladness, hasten thine appearing! O portals of the city of God, open and enfold us in your eternal rest! And Christ our life will, if we will let Him, bring us to that blessed state.
THORO HARRIS.
THE TREE OF LIFE.
THERE was a tree once planted on the earth by the divine Hand that can not now be seen. You look in vain for it among the stately oaks and the “whispering pines of the forest.”
Many there doubtless are who would be glad to find it; for its fruit possesses the marvelous power of perpetuating life. If you could eat of it, you would never die. Were it accessible, physicians would be obliged to forsake their calling; for they would nevermore be summoned to the bedside of the sick. The undertaker also would go out of business.
“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the Tree of Life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Gen. 2: 8, 9; 3: 3.
What a striking contrast! The trees grew side by side, in the center of the garden; but one was the minister of life, while the other became the vehicle of death.
“So near grows death to life.”—Milton.
Inasmuch as our first parents were granted free access to this tree, it is altogether likely that they partook of it before the fall. Why, then, did they not live forever? Because the boon of immortality depended, not upon once tasting of life, but upon eating it continually, upon character. As a matter of fact, Adam and his immediate posterity did live much longer than men do now. This is probably due in part to the fact that Adam and Eve both partook of the life-giving plant, perhaps repeatedly, before they were banished from their Eden home.
“PREACH THE WORD!”
By C. Castberg
“I CHARGE thee,” says the apostle Paul to the Christian minister, “preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Tim. 4 : 1—4.
These words were spoken with reference to “the last days,” when the coming of our “Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom” (2 Tim. 3:1; 4:1) is nigh at hand. The admonition, therefore, applies to the generation in which we are living—a time that surely more than any other time in the history of the world is a time of “fables;” for the children of men are “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” Eph. 4 : 14.
To meet these fables many think that they ought to be conversant with them, and so they study Mormon, Theosophical, Unitarian, Spiritistic, and other writings, in order—as they suppose—to be better qualified to meet these doctrines within the pale of their own domain. But what a mistake! And what has been the outcome of this method of study?—Bitterness and strife and unbelief, and no results worthy of mention for the advancement of the truth. But “the servant of the Lord,” Paul says, “must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves: if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge [R.V.] of the truth.” 2 Tim. 2 : 24, 25.
And how much valuable time has been thrown away in attacking everything and everybody—precious time that might have been used for a better purpose! Paul shows us a better and more effective way: “Preach the Word!” Every other weapon is carnal; but “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God.” With “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph. 6 : 17)—the only sword a Christian is justified in using—one will be able to cast down “every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.” 2 Cor. 10 : 4, 5.
Let alone the fables, and the things which others teach or think; “do the work of an evangelist” by preaching the WORD, and then the fables, or erroneous doctrines, will vanish as the morning dew from the minds of those that are sincere at heart. The truth shall make them free. John 8 : 31, 32.
Oakland, Cal. C. CASTBERG.
Israel’s Provision in the Wilderness
“ISRAEL was never so royally provided for as in the wilderness.”
PEACE
THE word in the Greek comes from a root meaning “to join, to make one.” In the English it comes from a Latin root, signifying “a pact, or a bargain.”
There is war between the natural man and God. But God is not at fault. The universe is His; for He made it. He created the heavens and the earth. Without Him there was nothing made that was made.
Surely, He had the right to give the law to the universe and those who people it. Receiving from His hand all that is good, they should render to Him reasonable, hearty service.
But man failed to do this. He yielded to the enemy, and Satan and sin became incarnate. The God-given mind of man became a carnal or fleshly mind. And “the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Rom. 8:7.
It is not God who is enmity against man. Satan would have us believe that He is. From the earliest days of sin he has endeavored to induce the race to believe that God hated the sinner. Many of those who believed in the existence of a Deity, and were bound to serve Him, Satan has made to endeavor to serve Him from fear or for the hope of selfish reward, but never from love. And yet, through all these ages, God has been pleading the living love of eternity.
He loves the sinner. “I have loved thee with an everlasting love,” He speaks to us through the weeping prophet. Through His Son He declares: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Through an apostle: “Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; for peradventure for the good man some one would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Surely, the One of whom these things are livingly true does not hate us. He has no enmity toward us. He wishes only to save us. “As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways; for why will ye die.” In the appeal is the storied love of the Infinite.
It is man who is the enemy. It is man who is against God. It is man who is fighting against God. It is God who has fought the battle for man.
The trouble came when sin was given rule in human flesh. Man left the ranks of God, and joined the ranks of the enemy. The banner of Love came down; the banner of selfishness flaunted over him.
But in this work man has found no peace. He has sought it in various ways; he is seeking still. He pursues it in the haunts of pleasure, and dissipation, and lust, and comes back weary, heartless, hopeless, from the quest. He struggles for it in the mad ambitions of the world, fame, power, fortune, and gains added strife and perplexity. He fasts till he is a skeleton; he walks long journeys on bare hands and knees, till they are raw and sore; he elevates both hands, with fists clenched, till the claw nails grow through the palms, and the joints of shoulder and arm become solid bone; others worship such an object, and do a thousand other things to mortify the body, and satisfy a mind at strife, and all to get peace.
But peace does not come in this way. It can only be gotten where righteousness is, and that abides in God. The apostle tells the story when he says, “Grace and peace to you.” Grace is God’s love to the sinner; peace is that which love brings.
Over and over peace is presented in the Word not as something which we must seek and struggle to get, but that which God brings to us as something already obtained. And so it has been. The Son of God took upon Himself our flesh, lived the life of God in the flesh, brought the mind of God into the flesh, and so forever united Himself to humanity. He therefore is “our Peace, who made both one, and brake down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in His flesh the enmity.”
His absolute righteousness kept Him at peace with God; and He offers to all sinners that same righteousness, spotless and unstained, to cover all their sins; that same mind which dwelt in Him to do God’s will; that same life in which is the power of an eternal overcomer.
The peace which Christ our Peace gives is a condition, not a thing. It does not come by seeking it, but by yielding to God and His holy law in Christ Jesus. To all who give up the sin and believe on Jesus is the righteousness, the justification, the making just or in harmony with God, given. Rom. 3:20-31. “Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” When the heart is yielded to Him, whatever may have been our condition, there is peace; and, if held there by living faith, there is the peace that passeth understanding.
“O soul without gladness, or comfort, or rest,
Passing down the rough pathway of time,
Make the Saviour your Friend ere the shadows grow dark,
O, accept this sweet peace so sublime.
“Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above,
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray,
In fathomless billows of love.”
CHRISTIAN EMANCIPATION.
By S.
UNTIL we can control our thoughts, we are not free men; we have not been emancipated from a most fatal slavery; can not live a pure and acceptable Christian life.
It is virtually true that as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. The thing that takes up our attention is the thing that is molding and shaping our character. We become like that which we contemplate. If it be the law of God that takes up our attention, we are bound to grow into its similitude, by the very recreating process which emanates from that divine instrument. Dwell upon the wondrous love of God, and out of your own heart will flow a richer, deeper, fuller, purer love, both for God and the creatures of His hand, than you had ever known before. But contemplate self and self-advancement, and turn away your face from the contemplation of God's love, and the soul will shrink and shrivel while the arm grows strong and the heart cruel to crush and trample on everything and every one that stands in the way of our ambition. The thoughts we think are building roads for us, either upward toward heaven and all that is good and true and pure and lovable and lasting, or downward toward the earth and all that is sordid, selfish, unlovable, and transient.
It is an important matter—there is none more so. The wisdom of God gives us this admonition: “Keep thy heart with all diligence.” And the reason follows: “for out of it are the issues of life.” Prov. 4:23. Out of the heart diligently kept there flows life, because of the fact that into such a heart the life of God can flow, and it can not flow into any other. The heart that is not diligently kept can not receive the inflow of the life of God, and consequently has none to give out. But the “issues of life” from the heart that is diligently kept do not pertain wholly to those for whom we labor. They pertain also to the individual himself. Such a keeping has life in it for the one who does the keeping as well as for those for whom he labors.
When the heart is right, the ear will hear the promptings of the Spirit of Christ; the eye will see His glory and the things that make for our peace; the mouth will be filled with God's praise and words of comfort, consolation, and exhortation; the feet will be swift to obey the promptings of the mind of Christ in errands of mercy; and the hands will not fail in deeds of kindly ministration. Truly, out of such a heart are “the issues of life.” Such a one has the freedom that Christ alone can give; for He alone can give the strength for such a keeping of the heart.
But he who throws open the doors and windows of his heart to the miasma of evil thoughts becomes a bond-servant to the evils which such an act entails. “To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.” Rom. 6:16. By permitting ourselves to indulge in evil thoughts we voluntarily enslave ourselves in a slavery whose only end is death, in which there is nothing good or satisfying, and out of which can come nothing that is honorable or enduring.
The thing which commands our attention is the thing that constitutes our treasure. If that be God's glory and the good of His creatures, we are laying up a treasure of which time can never rob us. But there can be no half-way work about it. It requires all there is of us. Half-hearted service will never do. It must be the whole might, mind, soul, and strength. That includes the thoughts we think. The admonition of the Lord is: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.” Those are the very first steps in the new life. We can not pass over them nor around them. The unrighteous man must forsake his thoughts before he can be a man free from the bondage of sin; and as long as a man is in the bondage of sin, Christ is not ruling in his heart, and can not rule there. Of course, these first steps are not taken in human strength; but when they are taken in the strength that comes by answered prayer, then the Lord “will have mercy upon him,” and “our God” will “abundantly pardon.” Isa. 55:7.
Instead of being a captive then, he brings into captivity the very instruments which made him a captive before; that is, his thoughts. As the conqueror casts down the strong holds of his conquered enemy, so his work is to be “casting down imaginations” and “bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Cor. 10:5. In this he has overcome God's enemy, the carnal mind (Rom. 8:7), and learns to hate what God hates, the imaginations of evil (Zech. 8:17). Then we are to “gird up the loins of our mind;” “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus;” “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,” pressing “toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13, 14); arming ourselves with the same mind which He had, and thus abiding in Christ.
That means emancipation from the bondage of sin on the one hand, and on the other it means the most glorious liberty to which it is possible for man to attain. Freedom in Christ means freedom from all that debases and drags down, and freedom in all that is noble, pure, and worthy of everlasting endurance. That is the emancipation which God gives, and He is holding it out now to every son and daughter of Adam.
S.
DEMONSTRATED FAILURES.
II. Temporal Prosperity.
MEN who nominally acknowledge the importance of living Christian lives frequently defer the practical acceptance of the Gospel until they shall have acquired a certain measure of this world's goods. They seem to think that with a sufficient accumulation of wealth to insure a living, it will be more convenient to live out a Christian profession than when struggling with the problem of making a living in poverty, or even in moderate circumstances. But this whole question was demonstrated long ago, and it has been shown that material prosperity of itself is no help to spiritual attainment. On the contrary, when one's trust is placed in material things they become a decided detriment.
When the Lord would bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, He held out to them, as an inducement to follow His guidance, the promise of a land "flowing with milk and honey." This promise implied a far more prosperous temporal condition than that in which they were placed in Egypt. Of course the ultimate design was a better spiritual condition; for later on the promise was that they should be a "kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." But in Egyptian bondage the Israelites had degenerated into such a condition of worthlessness that nothing but the prospect of material gain would be any inducement to them to follow the leader sent to them by the Lord.
After the occupation of Canaan the people were several times granted extraordinary prosperity, but in every instance they became vain in their own conceit, apostatized from the One who prospered them, and turned unto idols. In such instances they did7not return to their allegiance to God until reduced to poverty and subordination to other nations. There is not a single instance on record where prolonged temporal prosperity did not result in spiritual declension. As with Sodom pride and idleness accompanied fulness of bread, it was so in greater degree when Israel prospered in worldly wealth.
The parable of the foolish rich man (Luke 12: 16-21) was given to illustrate the folly of laying up treasure on earth while neglecting to become "rich toward God." So also the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (ch. 16: 19-31) was given to show the sad mistake of those who trust in riches as a means of grace, or in any wise a help in spiritual attainment. Those who put off the matter of the soul's salvation until worldly affairs are placed in a satisfactory condition, just reverse the advice of the Saviour to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." They show utter unbelief of the Lord's promise that the things needful in this life "will be added" to those who make it their primary business to seek His kingdom and His righteousness.
Then we have the example of the rich ruler (ch. 18: 18-23) to demonstrate that the selfish possession of wealth is a positive bar to the portals of the everlasting kingdom. And the apostle Paul carries the matter even further, and says "they that will be rich [those who strive to be rich, whether they succeed or not] fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." 1 Tim. 6: 9.
Thus we have it demonstrated by history and by divine testimony, that temporal prosperity, like long temporal life, becomes a curse unless consecrated to God in the spiritual life of the possessor. This is why God has chosen "them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to them that love Him." James 2: 5, R.V. Those who shall have a part in that kingdom must love God "with all the heart;" and "if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2: 15.
LOVE AND OBEDIENCE.
By G.
ONE of the popular slogans now being sounded in support of Sunday observance is this: “Love always gives more than law demands.” This is an admission that Sunday is not the Sabbath commanded by the law of God, and at the same time assumes that love is an unruly sentiment that disregards law. The professed love of a subject that assumes to do more than the law requires, when that extra service is in contravention of what the law does require, is not love at all; it is sheer presumption. Furthermore, it is a well-known fact that many Sunday observers, while professing to do so out of love and gratitude for a risen Saviour, do not give this service in addition to what the law demands, but instead of the law’s requirement.
“And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?” Deut. 10:12, 13. But Israel attempted to do more than the law required, and they so beclouded the commandments of God with their own traditions, expressions of their own righteousness, that the Lord said they had made His law of none effect.
The Lord sent King Saul and his army to utterly destroy the Amalekites and all that they had. The Israelites easily overcame their foes, and became so elated that they conceived the idea of a great sacrifice to the Lord. So they spared the best of the sheep and oxen for that purpose. They imagined that they would get great credit for a sacrifice of that which did not belong to them. The Lord had confiscated those flocks and herds, and had ordered them destroyed; but Israel would do more than was demanded, and thus show their love to God.
Saul, in spite of his imperative orders, consented to this extra service. But God did not so regard the unwarranted act. He said to Saul, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.” 1 Sam. 15:2, 23.
All the works of supererogation instituted by the Papacy and its imitators,—the church-made festivals and holy days, penances and indulgences, the adoration of relics, and the memorials of so-called sacred places and occurrences,—concerning which God hath given no commandment, are all based on the false theory that “love always gives more than law demands.” But God has not left us ignorant as to how He regards such service. His plain declaration is, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15. And John adds, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” 1 John 5:3. Love is obedience, and obedience is the manifestation of true love. God has plainly told us that He regards anything else as “rebellion” and “stubbornness,” which are equivalent to “witchcraft” and “idolatry.” G.
LANGUAGE OF THE BIBLE.
A so-called “translation” of the New Testament is being industriously “boomed” on the argument that the language of our common, or King James’, version is not the language of to-day, but of three hundred years ago, and that we need a new translation in the every-day language of the people now. And so men have read the New Testament (in the Greek, too, we presume), and have endeavored not to translate the Greek into our every day-language, but to translate their understanding of the New Testament into our every-day language. At least this seems to be what they have done, whatever they aimed at; for they are many times a long way from the original. What are the facts in reference to our so-called “Authorized Version”?
1. It was translated nearly three hundred years ago, finished in 1611.
2. It was not so much a translation as a revision of translations before it.
3. But it fixed in a way no other book has ever done the English tongue, and has perpetuated it to the present. It contains very few, comparatively, obsolete or obsolescent words, words which have undergone a change in meaning, and archaic expressions.
4. It was translated from Hebrew and Greek manuscripts that were confessedly far from perfection. The earlier better ones, now so well known, had not at that time been discovered.
5. The study of cognate languages—languages from the same stock as the Hebrew and Greek—had not, in 1611, reached the advance stage that it has at present. A translation to-day would therefore be preferable. But with the exception of obsolete words, archaic expressions, and words changed by age in meaning, why should the style of the simple, quaint, forcible, expressively beautiful language of our Bible be changed? There is no better English in existence, and there are fewer words to send one to a dictionary than in any other book. Read its sweet and beautiful stories to children from five to ten, and they have no trouble in understanding them. We were intimately acquainted for many years with a school teacher, who, when a child, learned to read from her New Testament. Many times she read it through, and was truly converted when nine years old, with no shallow experience. She received no special help from any one. Her experience obtained with her Testament was beyond the experiences of those who surrounded her.
But the language of the Common Version is not the language of three hundred years ago. It is simpler in form than books in general then published, and the spelling and forms of letters have greatly improved. Here is a specimen of the English of 1635, taken from “A Treatise of the Sabbath-Day, by Dr. Fr. White, L. Bishop of Ely.” In the following extracts Dr. White is stating the position of Theophilus Brabourne, whom he is answering. We have to use the letter f for the long s, not having the other in stock:—
His Assumption.
The Fourth Commandement, Remember the Sabbath-day to keepe it holy, Is one of the ten Commandements, and it is a Pre-cept of principall note, placed in the first Table: and the observation thereof is required in the Law, and in the Prophets with great vehemency: and the transgression punished with much severity, Exod. 35.2. Whosoever doth any work therein shall die, Num. 15.32. they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath-day, etc. And all the congregation brought him without the host, and stoned him with stones, and he died, as the Lord had commanded.
This is quite simple because Scriptural. Here is a paragraph taken at random from Dr. White’s introduction:—
The Gentile Infidels insulted over Christians, because of divisions, which by the fraud of Heretikes, were raised among them: they scorned and derided their religion, imputing the base opinions, and actions of Heretikes, to the sound part of the Church in generall: And alleged this as a prime reason, wherefore they could not beleeve them because they were divided into so many factions, and for that their religion was a confused fardell, and rifferaffe, of various and prodigious opinions.
This is a good sample of seventeenth century English, which a “twentieth-century man” will have no trouble in understanding. Here is a quotation from Scripture made in 1636:—
On the seventh day God ended His worke which He had made, and hee rested on the seventh day from all His worke which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it hee had rested from all His worke which God created and made.Gen. 2:2, 3 as quoted in Heylyn’s, “Hist. of the Sabbath,” 1636.
Surely it will be seen that spelling and typography make a wonderful difference between the Bible as printed then and now.
But is there not need of a revision of our Bible of 1611? Undoubtedly, and we have two such revisions: (1) The Revised Version of 1881 which helped materially, and (2) The American Standard Revised Version of 1901, which is a great improvement over both, and presents the very best translation of the original extant in the best English of to-day. More of this elsewhere.
A word in conclusion. Keep to the language of the Bible, the clear, forcible English, which can not be improved by the introduction of words of Latin derivation. Keep the Bible to its own style, which God in His providence gave it, differing from all other books in large measure in its simplicity, even in the time of its translation, 1611. Let parents and children become saturated with its pointed style, its piquant phraseology, its unexcelled English. It is the purest well of the undefiled Anglo-Saxon. It made and it has perpetuated a language. Let the children of God keep it.
QUESTION CORNER
1272.—An Excuse for Drinking.
Drinking men use the following text for an excuse. Deut. 14:26: “And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth.” How can you explain it, or harmonize this text with others, such as Prov. 23:29, 30?
The term “lusteth after” should be “desireth,” and “desireth,” “asketh of thee.” (1) If God’s people carried out this instruction in the true spirit of it, they would transgress no other command of God known to them. If they did not thus carry it out, then they did not meet His mind at all. (2) God gives every man the privilege to do as he will. He has told them what is good. In that good, rightly used, they may rejoice. If they do evil, they must suffer the consequences. (3) No one would say that God approved the eating of forbidden food in Deut. 14:26, which He prohibited in verses 3 to 21 of the same chapter. We should understand His limitations upon our freedom. Those who take such texts as license to indulge unholy lusts will sometime see that they have used the text as an occasion, an excuse for wrong-doing, but that it is not a cause. He who wishes to glorify God will find plenty of instruction, encouragement, and help for that purpose in the Word. Those who wish to serve self under the license of a religious cloak will manufacture excuses anywhere.
1273.—Paying Tithes.
Is it right to pay tithes? Did Jesus and the apostles pay tithes? Are we to follow His example in everything?
M. L.
(1) It is right to do what God has specifically commanded, through priest, prophet, His own Son, and apostle. Lev. 27:30; Mal. 3:10; Matt. 23:23; 1 Cor. 9:13, 14; Heb. 7:8. Note the force of “even so” in 1 Cor. 9:14. (2) Jesus said that He kept His Father’s commandments. John 15:10. (3) Even so we are to follow His example, and in all things keep God’s commandments. Is not this plain?
RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
By G.
In ultimate purpose the National Reformers and the Roman Catholics are practically identical. They are alike the opponents of true Protestantism. This is demonstrated by their attitude toward the public schools. They both oppose secular public schools, and both insist on religious teaching in such schools. But their theory on the school question is only a means to an end, namely, church control of the government. There is no antagonism between the Roman Catholics and the National Reformers on basic principle, the contest is simply as to who shall control the government. Practically it would make no difference to the people which party should hold the government reins—whether Catholic, or Covenanter, or Puritan; the result, in the light of past experience, would be persecution of conscientious dissenters.
But all of these Church-and-State advocates would fain make the public schools a stepping-stone to religious control of the government; and they would fain make the government bear the expense of their schemes. They all want the government to furnish schools wherein shall be taught religion, and each wants that religion to be in harmony with the religion of his church. Hence we repeat that there is no difference in principle between the Roman Catholic and the National Reformer; their controversy is only as to which party shall have the privilege of dictating what religion shall have the pre-eminence in government support.
Parents may very consistently prefer not to send their children to the public schools; but to oppose these schools is a different thing. The ideas of different people regarding proper religious teaching are so different that agreement upon a religious curriculum would be an impossibility. Anything even approaching fairness never could be reached, for the reason that majority rule never can be properly applied in deciding what should or should not be taught as religious doctrine. Therefore the only proper work of a public school is to teach such branches as will give the children a preliminary fitting for the ordinary pursuits of life, and for the further pursuit of learning in any desired line. The public schools should teach the branches of learning concerning which there is no question among the people. This is the only fair method, where all are called upon to support the schools.
Those who clamor for religious teaching in the public schools, have always a desire to have their own religion taught at public expense. Asking the government to take the burden and bear the expense of one's home work or church work or missionary work, is trusting entirely too much to the government; besides, it is a selfish, unreasonable shirking of individual or church responsibility. It is always asking a great many people to support what they do not believe and do not want.
When the State teaches religion, the State must decide what is religion. When the State undertakes9to teach the Christian religion, the State must decide what is the Christian religion; and the result will just as surely be political controversy as to what is the Christian religion. In the fourth century there was a controversy over church property, which involved a State decision as to what sect of the professed Christian Church was the church, and the decision was in favor of the Catholics. Now a controversy over the question of teaching religion by the government would be of the same nature. The trouble is not that the decision might possibly be favorable to the Catholics directly, but that it would be a government manipulation of religion, a consummation which no true Protestant could favor.
