Earlier text: TREES[From a sermon in the Philadelphia Temple Review, by Russell H. Conwell, on Mal. 4:2.] In Jesus Christ is found all the light that there is in religion, and the man that is without that light hath no light—he is in darkness still. Jesus Christ is the great religious Sun, and from Him, we receive every right impulse, and every good thought, every holy motive, and every hope of everlasting life. And then there is one other thought about it, and that is: Christians receiving this sunlight of Christ within themselves should, as it is often said, reflect it. It is all they can reflect. You have no light unless you have Christ, and if you have that light it should be reflected. You remember hearing about the keeper of that light at Calais, on the coast of France. He was showing the tower to a visitor, and the visitor said, “What would happen if the light should go out?” “Go out? Go out? Why it can not go out!” “O, well, it is possible.” “No; it can not go out; it never should go out, and it never can; we would not dare to let it go out, because of those we can not see out on the dark ocean. There are hundreds—yea, thousands—in those vessels passing up and down this channel, and even if this light should burn a little dimly we should hear of it from India, and from America and South America, and from the islands of the sea; messages would come back, saying, ‘The light at Calais burned dim, and led us out of our course, and caused us danger and expense.’” Said he, “It must never burn dim.” And so with a man receiving the light of Jesus Christ. When he takes it into his heart and life, it must “never burn dim,” because, in the night of a sinner’s life he has no other guide but the Christian’s life. There are some here to-night that never have known what it is to love Christ, and they are looking at the Christian. They are guided by Him. They have not seen the Sun, but they are looking at the Christian, the lighthouse, the reflected light of God—trying to see in them what it means. And it often bothers them, and burns dimly; sometimes it seems entirely to go out; sometimes it revolves, and sometimes stands still; and these poor sinners are waiting for you and for me, to be sure that our light is a light that shall guide them to the morning, and when we burn dimly, or quiver, or shake and hesitate in our reflection of the light of God, then they are cast on the shoals and rocks, and they are overcome by the ocean, and cast to its bottom, and there on the sands or rocks of the bottom of the sea their bones are bleaching, because you and I let our light burn dimly or go out. O, Christians, let your lives reflect the Lord Jesus Christ. You sinners that are now looking at the Christians, and saying, “I would like to be a Christian, but not such as they are”—I say to you, that if you will but look and wait you shall see the glorious morning, when the very Sun itself—not reflected light—shall arise above the gorgeous peaks of the east, and shine over the landscape, and show you a world more beautiful than you ever imagined, and reveal to you the very towers of heaven itself. How They Became Convinced
[Believing it would be of interest to our readers, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has asked Sabbath-keeping ministers and evangelical workers to tell in a few words the scripture or scriptures, the truths and principles, which constrained them to accept the unpopular truth of the seventh-day Sabbath. These testimonies must not exceed 500 words. Let us hear from all.] The first twenty-eight years of my life I made no profession of Christianity, yet all the while I had a desire to be a child of God. When I was quite small I attended, mostly, the services of the New Light Church, and was puzzled when told that by “Sabbath” the minister meant Sunday, when the commandment said that “the seventh day is the Sabbath.” As I grew older, owing to the popular teachings of the Sabbath, I drifted into the idea that Sabbath now means Sunday, owing to its being changed to commemorate the resurrection of Christ. As time passed I heard of the Seventh-day Adventists, who, it was said, “kept Saturday for Sunday.” I thought how misled they are. But I soon learned there was no scripture for any change of the Sabbath. Then it was brought vividly home to me what the commandment said. When I saw that the Lord changed not (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8), and from much Scripture evidence that He would not alter the thing that is gone out of His lips (Ps. 89:34), I became thoroughly convinced that the seventh day is the Sabbath. But I did not hasten to obey. Another scripture brought me to obedience: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matt. 6:33. This scripture told me where I stood. I wanted to seek first “these things,” and then “His righteousness.” “My ways are not your ways.” Every excuse offered was answered by the above scripture. I could not get away from it. I saw, if I ever was saved, I must conform my ways to His ways, by seeking first “the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.” This I resolved to do, and, being already convicted on the Sabbath, I began the observance of the Sabbath of Jehovah, and am rejoicing in the truth of God. A. L. MILLER. [From one eighty-three years of age.] FOR two years I was so prejudiced I would not read on the Sabbath question, supposing it to be Jewish, and not for me, being a Gentile shoemaker. Madison Ballou, a seventh-day Christian man, called at my house for a little repairing. I said to him, “Are you going to the tent to hear Bywater and Burnham preach?” He replied, “I guess not, they are not preaching the Third Angel’s Message,” repeating Rev. 14:9: “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice,” warning us not to worship the beast. We know that the highest type of service or worship is obedience, and as the message of the third angel developed a commandment-keeping people (verse 12), and as we were keeping all the commandments but the fourth, we thought possibly we might be mistaken in observing the first day of the week instead of the seventh. At last we were convicted, through and through. After Brother Ballou left, I said to my wife, “We will now settle this question by the Bible.” We soon learned “the Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27. I had always claimed to be a man. That being true, the Sabbath was for me as well as the Jew. The result was, at the end of two weeks we both were keeping the seventh day. My wife kept it until her death, over forty years. I have observed it over fifty years, and the way grows brighter and brighter as the days go by. The end is near. Christ is soon coming. And when He appears, it will be no strange sight to those who love His appearing, for this is just what we have looked and waited for. HAVING been brought up a strict Methodist, and believing it was wrong to even whistle on Sunday, there necessarily came a great change into my life to lead me to regard with respect and reverence, and enter into the blessings placed upon, the day enjoined in the fourth commandment. I was taught by both my mother and our Methodist mother church to believe and obey the Word of God; and when I found that the day I had been observing as unto the Lord was not the day He had blessed, sanctified, and commanded, I could no longer treat it as such. At the same time this truth was being unfolded, there came another which is so solemn, so sacred, that altho I thought I had love to my Saviour, yet I trembled for a time, and feared to welcome that truth into my life. Strange as it may seem to some who may read these words, that truth was that of the near-coming of our blessed Lord and Saviour. I was converted in a Methodist meeting, and had truly given my heart to the Lord; but the word that He was soon coming rather alarmed me, instead of giving me joy as it does now. For a time I resisted conviction. The fourth commandment kept coming to my conscience; and I read, “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10. At last I saw that the heart that had once been given to Him must be renewed day by day, and yielded to Him in all things. I learned, also, that Sabbath-keeping meant to work with the Creator during the week, if I would rest with Him on His holy day; and since I have learned this great secret, the day of His rest has come to be to me a delight. The commandment came home to my heart, self died, and it is now my earnest prayer that the life I now live in the flesh I may live by the faith of the Son of God, who loves me, and gives Himself to me. I see that the day which is hallowed in the fourth commandment is the one which comes just before the day I used honestly to keep, as many do now. I have come to know my Bible better; and not merely to think I love my Saviour, but to actually love Him and His appearing. CLIFFORD G. HOWELL. Humility and Joy in Worship
A HUMBLE man is a joyous man. There is no worship where there is no joy. For worship is something more than either the fear of God or the love of Him. It is delight in Him. —F. W. Faber. It is as easy for you to please everybody as it is for everybody to please you.—Chicago Daily News. (See page 14 for Sabbath-School Lesson and Text.) THAT the four beasts of Daniel 7 refer to the same four great empires symbolized by the four parts of the image of Daniel 2 is evident to every student of the prophecy. The lion with eagle’s wings is a symbol of Babylon. Jer. 4:7, 13; 48:40; Heb. 1:8. The bear is a symbol of the power which succeeded Babylon, Medo-Persia. Grecia is represented by the leopard; and the great and terrible beast, which combined the cruelty and ferocity of all, represents Rome. In Daniel 2 these empires were presented before the king of Babylon as the kingdom of man, composed of men. To the prophet of God they were represented according to their characters as cruel beasts, caring only for themselves, willing to ravage and spoil others. Medo-Persia succeeded to Babylon in B.C. 538; Grecia to Medo-Persia in B.C. 331; Rome to Grecia in B.C. 161, when Macedonia was conquered. Seven years later Rome came into connection with the people and work of God by a league with the Jews. The ten horns on the fourth beast symbolize the ten divisions into which the Roman Empire was divided between the years A.D. 351 and 476. Dan. 7:24. These kingdoms were as follows in the order of their rise and separate existence as States; Alamanni, Franks, Burgundians, Vandals, Suevi, Visigoths, Saxons, Ostrogoths, Lombards, Heruli. From the rise of the last kingdom—A.D. 476, the Heruli—to the plucking up of that kingdom in 493, a period of seventeen years, there were just ten kingdoms and no more in Roman territory. Right at this very time Daniel saw another horn, a different one, coming up among the ten with decided and peculiar characteristics of its own, which increased in power till it dominated the others, and wielded the power of the beast that carried it to its own sinister purposes and its own utter destruction. What power does it represent? We will be better able to answer this question if we will carefully note the specification of its rise, its character, its duration:— (1) The little horn represents a power to rise in a ten-divided empire. Verse 8. (2) It represents a power, before which three kingdoms would fall in its establishment. Verses 8, 20, 24. (3) It represents a power that would manifest marked strength and assumption. Verse 20. (4) It represents a power of a “diverse” or different nature. Verse 24. (5) It represents a shrewd and far-seeing power. Verses 8, 20. (6) It represents a blasphemous power. Verses 11, 20, 25. (7) It represents a persecuting power. Verses 20, 21, 25. (8) It symbolizes a power which would assume to change the times and the law of God. Verse 25. (9) It symbolizes a power whose domination over its fellows would continue a definite time. Verse 25. (10) It symbolizes a power whose kingly rule would be taken away. Verse 26. (11) It symbolizes a power, which, notwithstanding the loss of temporal dominion, would be a persecutor and blasphemer till Christ’s coming. Verses 21, 22, 11. Surely these specifications are definite and particular.7 Search the whole range of history, and it would be impossible to find two powers to which they could apply. The chances are as one to one hundred. Kingdoms can be found in plenty to which one of these apply, and sometimes more, but only one to which all apply. In making this application, which facts force us to make, we wish to say that we do it with naught of malice or ill-feeling toward a single soul connected with the power or system herein symbolized, from its ever world-renowned head to its humblest devotee. “We deal with principles not with men.” We willingly concede the honesty of heart and sincerity of purpose of those who form its rank and file. They are all the purchase of the blood of Christ. But we believe that they are greatly deceived and under a spiritual bondage from which millions have vainly put forth human effort to be free. Yet we would not for one moment force a single soul of them all to relinquish his belief in or adherence to the great false system. That is a matter of his own conscience, a right God-given; a right on our part to refuse as his to choose, with which no human tribunal has the right to interfere, of which the sole arbiter is God. But the Master has put upon His servants the duty to proclaim His Word, the warnings of the light of prophecy as well as the duty of precept and the privilege of promise. To fulfil this duty, to warn souls within this system and without, is the object of this writing. We entreat our readers, Jews and Gentiles, Romanist and Protestant, believer and infidel, to hear and read patiently and candidly, and so do as the Master directs. It may be to you, reader, a matter of eternal import. In God’s “more sure word of prophecy” is the light of life which we ignore at our peril. 2 Peter 1:17. In the light of these considerations let us study more fully the specifications of the prophecy as applied to the only power in which alone all can find application, the great system of apostasy commonly called the Papacy. Note the specifications above, which we will consider here in the same order:— 1. The Papacy—beginning its career in the Christian church even in apostolic times and immediately subsequent (2 Thess. 2:3–7; Acts 20:29, 30)—finally centered in the bishopric of Rome, the incumbents of which assumed to be the head of the church even as the Roman officials were the head of the State, forgetting the words of Christ, “One is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” This assumption was strenuously disputed for a long time, especially by the African and Eastern churches. But when Constantine threw his tremendous influence in favor of the unholy assumption, and politics came to rule in the church instead of the principles of living truth, the assumption grew amazingly; and a backslidden Christianity, reverting to its Paganism, and longing for a visible head, accepted the claim and demand of the See of Rome as gospel truth. There were opponents, however, chief among them the Arians, who could not accept the mystical, unscriptural doctrine of the Trinity. When Justinian came to the throne of the empire, he set the seal upon the claim of the Roman See by declaring the incumbent of that see to be “universal bishop and head of all the churches of the east and west,” and further ordained that “all matters, relative to the church should be referred to Rome.” This was in A.D. 533. Justinian calls him, “the Head of all the holy churches,” and the “Head of all bishops, and the true and effective corrector of heretics.” To “correct” heretics in the meaning of Justinian’s words demands control of civil power, and this was granted. The See of Rome determined heresy, and the State executed her decrees. The Papacy was becoming the chief power to be reckoned with. 2. But not at all at once did victory come. Some of the ten kingdoms opposed the assumptions of the Roman bishop. As a result three were plucked up, the Vandals, the Huns, and the Ostrogoths, the latter in A.D. 538, five years after Justinian’s decree. 3. “Whose look was more stout than his fellows.” Dan. 7:20. The Papacy has been a strong power. Empires and kingdoms have arisen which would seemingly conquer the world, some of which have opposed the Papacy; but they have fallen. But the Papacy continues. It has been more stout than its fellows. It has been built broad and well buttressed in the very elements of earthliness, having a hold on human nature that other powers know not. 4. “He shall be diverse.” Verse 24. The Papacy differs from all the other powers. Surrounding kingdoms were all civil powers. The Papacy was both civil and religious. It was primarily the latter; but when the church wandered from Christ, when she crowded Christ out of His own temple, her body, and let the world in, connection with worldly power came in also, and increased in proportion to her backsliding. The Roman Catholic Church at first was purely ecclesiastical. Her ecclesiastical power will continue to her utter end. When the Bishop of Rome was elevated as head of all the churches and corrector of heretics, the Papacy became established by law in that very thing, and there began her spiritual domination over the nations. In the year A.D. 756 she was given civil power over the States of the Church by Pepin of France. Here was power and authority as an ecclesiastical body within herself; spiritual domination over the nations by their consent, and temporal power in her own territory. Surely it was a “diverse” power. 5. The little horn not only had eyes, but “eyes like the eyes of a man.” Dan. 7:8, 20. The other horns were blind, not having even the eyes of the beast that bore them. So with the kingdoms of earth. They think largely of the present, live for the present, plan for the present, and perish in the present. But the Papacy has looked to future glory and success. The sacrifice of the present has been freely made, for a better future, even tho that future is a hundred years away. Civil powers, like brute beasts, live for the present. The Papacy plans for years and centuries, wiser than all contemporaries. 6. “A mouth that spake great things.” Verse 8, 20, 25. The Papacy is a blasphemous power in arrogating to itself powers, offices, positions, and titles which belong only to the great God. Creative power is claimed in the transmutation of bread and wine to flesh and blood. Power is also claimed to forgive sin and pronounce judicial sentence, and last of all is the heaven-daring claim of papal infallibility in 1870. Verse 11. 7. “Shall wear out the saints of the Most High.” Verse 25. It has been pre-eminently a persecuting power; with its formation it could not be otherwise. A religion united with the State, if it have the power, will always be a persecutor. The very fact of uniting with the State reveals the loss of the power of God. And when the power of God is lost, the apostate church will turn to the only power she knows to establish her human creed, the power of the State. And that will result in persecution, as it has with the Papacy, till countless thousands number her victims of the Dark Ages. 8. The Papacy has thought to “change the times and the law” of God, or that part of God’s moral law which relates to time. She has changed the day from a sunset beginning, a natural matter, to a midnight beginning, a wholly artificial matter. The great apostasy has changed the day of worship in the church from the Sabbath of the Lord our God, the seventh day, to the Sunday, the first day of the week, for which there is no Scripture authority. Of this the Papacy boasts, and sets forth her work in this respect as the mark of her power. 9. The spiritual domination of the Papacy continued a definite period, “a time and times and the dividing of a time,” three and one-half years; this at 360 days to the year (Bible time), would be 1,260 days. See also Rev. 12:6, 14; 13:5. A day in prophetic time symbolizes a year. Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:4, 6. The 1,260 years began with the year that the Justinian decree became effective in 538, and continued till 1798, when Berthier, a French general took the pope prisoner. The head of the Roman See died in captivity two years later. 10. While the spiritual dominion of the Papacy over the nations by their consent was broken in 1798, Rome’s temporal power over her own territory (the States of the Church) continued till 1870, when after repeated losses to the various surrounding powers, the last vestige of her kingdom was swept away by Victor Emmanuel. 11. The prophecy indicates that the Papacy will again be a persecutor; for it is to make war against the saints till Christ comes in the clouds of heaven. Dan. 7:21, 22; 2 Cor. 5:10. The “deadly wound” will be healed as the Lord declares. Rev. 13:3. The nations will again say to the See of Rome, “Come thou and be our spiritual adviser, our queen.” And she will say as declares the prophet, “I sit a queen and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” But beyond all this is the glorious kingdom of God. “And the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all nations shall serve and obey him.” Dan. 7:27. Every kingdom of men has had its slaves, its subjects, and its devotees; and they have all perished. No king could give his subjects life, or assure their peace or happiness. Even the “diverse” kingdom, the head of which claims to hold the keys to the favor of God, has filled the earth with bloodshed and strife in the name of the Prince of Peace. Christ’s kingdom will be one of eternal peace and progress. He who admits Christ into his life—His law, His life—has the kingdom of Christ enthroned within. And all such will possess the eternal kingdom. The practical question is, Shall we become subjects of the kingdoms which perish? or shall we be warned in time, and enter the kingdom which shall never perish. A TIME OF PEACE AND SAFETY.
By S.
This old earth has seen much of sorrow and suffering. Its hills and valleys have often been trampled by the feet of angry hosts and reddened with the blood of those whom they hunted with vengeance in their hearts. It has been nation against nation; tribe against tribe; family against family; man against man. And in it all and through it all the cruel hand of sin was working out the purpose of Satan in perverting the blessings of the Most High. He had perverted love till it turned to hate; and his devotees were dispensing ruin and death in the place of the service of love and the benefactions of benevolence. In such the heart had become the citadel of hate when it should have been the stronghold of love; and with that perverted, every imagination of the mind became “only evil continually.” The farthest extreme from the purpose of God is met on the battlefield—on the field where men battle against each other individually as well as on the field where they battle collectively. The purpose of God toward His creatures and in His creatures toward each other is helpfulness and not strife, loving interest and not murder. But the world was full of the perversion of God’s intention anciently; it is full of the same perversion at the present time. He who has not in view another’s good is out of harmony with the purpose of the one who made him; and in the strife for preferment, wealth, and aggrandizement, the present day is probably ahead of any age in the history of the world. The whole world is arming itself now to make its last and greatest demand for self, and to be in a condition to enforce that demand. The rumors of war and the expectation of war are existent on every hand; and soon will come the day when this greatest perversion of the purpose of God will make itself manifest in all the horrors of its glory as the world has never seen it before. The time is ripe for the exhibition, and the hearts of men are filled with dread as they realize the meaning of the terrible omens. Some are crying “peace and safety” when they should be warning men of the true condition of things. They are making men believe that peace is at hand when the heralds of war are already calling to the fray or aiming their modern catapults at the citadel itself. Thus does the false teacher disarm the victims at the time of greatest danger. He who expects no foe is doubly disarmed; and the one who has been taught to expect peace and safety and a long reign of quietness and temporal blessings, when the day of destruction is hastening to his very gate, will find that swift judgment has come upon him and his shelter is unprepared. The Lord says that sudden destruction shall come upon them and “they shall not escape.” 1 Thess. 5:3. That cry of “peace and safety” is heard now, at the very time when the nations are angry and are sparring for an opening, maneuvering for an opportunity to strike when the other is at a disadvantage. The fact that that cry is heard now is one of the most unmistakable signs of the times. When the angels that are now holding the winds of strife shall cease longer to restrain the angry nations, the day toward which the nations look with dread will dawn upon the world, and the sad course which began in disobedience and sin will find the goal toward which it has sped these thousands of years, ruin and death. We see what has come upon the world in the past; we see the end toward which it points; we see the dogs of war now straining at the leash that holds them; we see the fearful carnage that is coming and coming soon; we see the approach of the great day of God which that terrible work will usher in; and yet, in spite of all this, we can say that there is coming a time of peace and safety. The end of this history of sin is not the end of God or His purpose concerning man and the earth on which He placed him. Tho God has waited long for Satan to demonstrate to the universe the falsity of his charges against God and the wickedness of his purposes throughout, the fruit of his evil work will not go on forever, and the end of the reign of sin is not the end for those who have sworn fealty to the God of heaven and stood faithful to their vows. God has something better for them; and wars and rumors of wars will trouble them no more when He has made an end of sin. The Lord has told us of that permanent habitation, that quiet, peaceful habitation, in which He will place that tabernacle which shall not be taken down; and of that place He says: “But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.” Isa. 33:20, 21. The galley with oars and the gallant ships were ships of war. How much sad history has gone down in the wrecked or sunken war galleys, with the bodies and souls of men chained to their oar-locks, slaves for life in the terrible business of war and oppression. The rivers as well as the seas have been plowed by these engines of destruction, and human life has been counted as nothing when it stood in the way of the plans of ambitious men, or when it could be forced to contribute to the carrying out of those plans. There will be no place for them in the reconstruction of the war-racked dominion of man. No slave will be there to cringe under the blows of a cruel master or spend his life in the service of another’s choosing, as anciently they did in the war galleys of greedy nations or in the fields of men who bought them as chattels. “The former things are passed away,” and it can be truly said then that “the nations shall learn war no more,” for then there will be but one nation and Jesus Christ will be king over all. The words of the prophet are, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain.” That time is not yet. The declaration that the nations of this present world shall not learn war any more is not the declaration of God, tho it is found in the Bible. It is put there by the Lord as the declaration of men. He tells us what men will be saying, quotes their words, and then tells us what His remnant people will be doing in that time. See Micah 4:1-7. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Gal. 6:7. It is as true of nations as of men. They have sowed hatred and war; they will reap hatred and war. That will be their harvest. As God’s Word is true, the nations of this world will come to their end in war. “Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up; beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come.” Joel 3:9-12. That is to be the slogan that will gather the clans of earth to the last mighty fray. They are arming and drilling now, and the gathering is not long to wait. How good to know that we can look beyond this sad prospect: that we have the promise of a quiet, peaceful dwelling from which all selfishness and sin, all misery and hunger, all strife, contention, and war, will be forever banished and come into our thoughts no more! This will be only after God has renovated this sin-cursed earth and allowed sin to burn itself out in the fires that were kindled by itself. Toward that consummation we are hastening now; the shelter is provided. Let us haste to enter in. THERE is no other time given mortal man but the present, the very present moment. His true worth is what he is, not what he will be. His power for service is what he is, not what he will or may be. Victory, if gained at all over temptation, is a victory of now. The only time to resist the temptation is when the temptation is present. It may be hopeful to weep and mourn over failures and defeats; but it is always good, always the best thing, not to fail, not to be defeated. In fact, there is no other time than the now to meet the enemy, to win the victory. It is for this reason that God so declares Himself to His people: “God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble.” He declares His name to be I AM. It is a blank pledge to be instantly filled out with whatever the child of God needs. Is he weak and needing strength? “He is our strong Rock.” Are we subject to death, dying? “He is thy life.” His grace has brought salvation down to a greatly needy race. Cleansing, righteousness, life, power, are all open to the channel of faith. By faith in Jesus Christ we have access, constant and instant, into this great storehouse of God. “My God shall supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” God’s “shall” awaits your present acceptance according to the need. O soul, do you know Christ’s salvation? You are not saved at all unless you are saved now. You are not kept unless you are kept now. The great God is not your refuge unless He is your refuge now. Do not delay deciding the one great and important question of your life. Do not turn the cold shoulder to God. Do not put Him off. “Behold, now is the accepted time.” DEMONSTRATED FAILURES.
By G.
SALVATION is “not of works, lest any man should boast.” Eph. 2: 9. But the natural man has nothing of which to boast. He is simply a sinner (Rom. 3: 23), “condemned already” (John 3: 18), and “without excuse” Rom. 1: 18-20. “Where is boasting then? It is excluded.” Ch. 3: 27. No work that man can do can lift him out of the mire of sin, out of the condition of condemnation. The Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims salvation by faith. “By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Eph. 2: 8. Every other religion contemplates salvation by human works; but every other religion is false. There is no salvation in any other name than that of Jesus Christ. Acts 4: 10-12. This is not only the theory of the Gospel, but it has been demonstrated. The impotence of man’s effort to elevate himself by his own works was demonstrated in Eden. God would give the first human pair wisdom and knowledge by His Word, through His works as object lessons. But the woman was deceived into the false idea that there was a short cut to wisdom and knowledge by a way of their own in disregard of God’s way. The man accepted the idea, and the result was sin and death, not only for themselves but for their posterity. Abel believed the Gospel of Christ. He brought an offering to God such as God commanded, and thus proved his faith. Cain sought to please God by a work of his own. He brought an offering of such things as he had produced by his own hard work. So Abel and his offering of faith were accepted, his sins were forgiven, his soul was saved. Cain and his offering of works were rejected. His work was of man, and it came to naught. Acts 5: 38. “His own works were evil,” because they were his own; and “his brother’s righteous,” because they were the work of the Spirit, therefore not his own. It was God that worked in him “to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Phil. 2: 13. Abraham and Sarah became impatient of awaiting the promised son, and devised a work of their own. Sarah gave Abraham her maid, Hagar, for a wife, and she bare unto him Ishmael. But the scheme proved a great failure; the union resulted in family trouble and prolonged enmity between the descendants of Ishmael and those of Isaac. It gendered only to bondage, and to the hindrance of the cause of God in the earth. When Esau and Jacob were born, the Lord said that the elder should serve the younger. When the children had grown to manhood, Jacob took occasion to make sure by craft what the Lord had promised. Taking advantage of his brother’s hunger and reckless character, he purchased his birthright for a paltry mess of pottage. When Isaac was old and blind, he told Esau to prepare him a dinner of venison, such as he liked, and receive his blessing. Rebecca overheard the conversation, and became alarmed lest the Lord’s promise should be frustrated. Supposing that it behooved her to do something, she called Jacob and told him to kill a couple of kids while Esau was out hunting for venison. Then she prepared the dinner for Isaac, put the skins of the kids on Jacob’s neck and hands to imitate his brother’s hairy skin, and sent him to deceive his father by personating Esau.8 As far as the deception was concerned the scheme answered its purpose. But the result was disastrous to the happiness of the entire family. Esau’s hatred of Jacob was aroused to the point of threatening his brother’s life, and Jacob had to flee from home. Rebecca never saw her favorite son again, and it was over twenty years before even a formal reconciliation took place between the brothers. Moreover the animosity of Esau effected his descendants for hundreds of years. They refused to allow Israel to pass through their land, on any conditions whatever, when the latter were journeying from Egypt to Canaan. See Numbers 20. All this because Rebecca and Jacob essayed to supplement the Lord’s promise with their human works. But it didn’t stop here. In the days of King David (2 Sam. 8: 14), and in the days of Amaziah (2 Chron. 25: 11-14), Israel subdued the people of Edom by warfare. Israel never could wield any moral influence upon the descendants of Esau. The Lord gave to Abraham and his children the ceremony of circumcision as a sign of the righteousness accredited to him because of his faith; and under the Aaronic priesthood various other ordinances were added as Gospel object lessons. But, failing to exercise the faith that all these things implied, the people came to look upon the ordinances as themselves works of righteousness. To these they added numerous other traditions of their own devising, and this dependence upon their own human works was carried to such an extent that it cut off the masses of the people from recognizing their Saviour when He came in person. It made void all influence of the law of God upon their hearts to bring them to Christ. Ps. 119: 126; Mark 7: 13. They set their own works above the wisdom of the “schoolmaster.” Their failure is thus expressed by the apostle Paul: “They being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.” Rom. 10: 3. When people turn from the righteousness which comes by faith in Jesus Christ, witnessed by obedience of His commandments (John 14: 15), they have no other resource than human works. Not only has this been demonstrated, and the utter futility of such works demonstrated, in the history of the Jews, but it has also been demonstrated in the history of the Gentiles. Rom. 1: 20-25. That everything in religion, not based on “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14: 12), is delusive and utterly soul-destroying, has been fully demonstrated and the fact faithfully recorded in the Word of God for our learning. So any who are deceived by the works of man not sustained by the Word, will be without excuse in the judgment. G.