Now having found that the first law for Sunday rest gave it a heathen title, that the name is altogether of heathen origin, I proceed to inquire on what basis the law stood, that is, what was the nature of the edict—what the motive which actuated Constantine in giving this decree? This also can be settled to a certainty. Many interested religionists, with far more zeal than piety or regard for the precepts of Jehovah, speak of Constantine's edict as a law for the Christian observance of the Lord's day. The very title that he gave it, the origin of that title, and the known use of the title in those times, disprove their assertion. Indeed, their knowledge of the origin of the title ought to cause them to blush when they make such assertions. But our proof is explicit on the point of the motive that gave rise to the first Sunday law. We are not straitened for testimonies in regard to this; they are so numerous that I cannot give a tithe of them. And their importance on the subject under consideration cannot be overestimated.
1. The fact that Constantine gave it the title by which it was known in pagan worship, shows that it was not enforced as a Christian institution.
2. It was dated March 7, 321, and on the next day, March 8, he issued a decree for the examination of the entrails of beasts, for the determination of portents, or for ascertaining the causes of public calamities. This was a heathen custom, and showed the heathenism and superstition that swayed his mind at that time.
3. At the time when these decrees were issued, he had made no profession of Christianity. Indeed, authorities have been quite willing to place the time of his professed conversion after the time when he presided over the Council of Nice, that it might be after the commission of many of his most perfidious and criminal acts.
4. Historians freely testify that at and after the time of issuing his Sunday decree, he was a worshiper of Apollo, the sun-god, and to the close of his life, about 337, retained the title of Pontifex Maximus, or high priest of the heathen hierarchy.
Milman, in the "History of Christianity," b. 3, chap. 1, says:—
"It is the day of the sun which is to be observed by the general veneration; the courts were to be closed, and the noise and tumult of public business and legal litigation were no longer to violate the repose of the sacred day. But the believer in the new paganism, of which the solar worship was the characteristic, might acquiesce without scruple, in the sanctity of the first day of the week."
This is well expressed. It was, indeed, a new phase of paganism; for, though the venerable day of the sun had long—very long—been venerated by them and their heathen ancestors, the idea of rest from worldly labor in its worship was entirely new. Gibbon also gives a clear testimony on the character of Constantine as a sun-worshiper. In chapter 20 of "History of the Decline and Fall of the Empire," he says:—
"The devotion of Constantine was more peculiarly directed to the genius of the sun, the Apollo of Greek and Roman mythology; and he was pleased to be represented with the symbols of the god of light and poetry. . . . The altars of Apollo were crowned with the votive offerings of Constantine; and the credulous multitude were taught to believe that the emperor was permitted to behold with mortal eyes the visible majesty of their tutelary deity. . . . The sun was universally celebrated as the invincible guide and protector of Constantine."
In a note on the same page is found the following:—
"The panegyric of Eumenius, which was pronounced a few months before the Italian war, abounds with the most unexceptionable evidence of the pagan superstition of Constantine, and of his particular veneration of Apollo, or the sun."
Keightly, "History of Rome," speaking of Constantine at and after his profession of Christianity, says:—
"Constantine, however, was still a polytheist, and his principal object of worship was the sun-god, Apollo. At the same time, with the compliant spirit of polytheism, he held the God of the Christians and the Author of their faith in respect and reverence."
And Dr. Schaff testifies to exactly the same thing; in his "Church History," vol. 2, pp. 14, 15, he says:—
"At first Constantine, like his father, in the spirit of Neoplatonic syncretism of dying heathendom, reverenced all the gods as mysterious powers; especially Apollo, the god of the sun, to whom, in the year 308, he presented munificent gifts. Nay, so late as the year 321, he enjoined the regular consultation of the soothsayers in public misfortunes, according to ancient heathen usage; even later, he placed his new residence, Byzantium, under the protection of the god of martyrs, and the heathen goddess of fortune; and down to the end of his life he retained the title and dignity of Pontifex Maximus, or high priest of the heathen hierarchy. His coins bore on the one side the letters of the name of Christ, on the other side the figure of the sun-god, and the inscription, Sol Invictus."
On this point in regard to Constantine's Christianity after he professed it, the "Religious Encyclopedia" says:—
"The notion of conversion in the sense of a real acceptance of the new religion and a thorough rejection of the old, is inconsistent with the hesitating attitude in which he stood toward both. Much of this may indeed be due to motives of political expediency, but there is a good deal that cannot be so explained. Paganism must still have been an operative belief with the man who, almost down to the close of his life, retained so many pagan superstitions. He was at best only half heathen, half Christian, who could seek to combine the worship of Christ with the worship of Apollo, having the name of the one and the figure of the other impressed upon his coins, and ordaining the observance of Sunday under the name of dies solis in his celebrated decree of March, 321, though such a combination was far from uncommon in the first Christian centuries. Perhaps the most significant illustration of the ambiguity of his religious position is furnished by the fact that in the same year in which he issued his Sunday decree, he gave orders that if lightning struck the imperial palace, or any public building, the haruspices, according to ancient usage, should be consulted as to what it might signify, and a careful report of the answer should be drawn up for his use."
Mosheim, in "Historical Commentaries," p. 469, on the same point says:—
"How long Constantine retained these vague and undecided views of religion and religious worship, regarding the Christian religion as excellent, and salutary to the Roman State, yet not esteeming other religions, or those of inferior gods, as vain, pernicious, and odious to God, . . . it is difficult to determine. Zosimus, as is well known, reports that Constantine did not openly profess Christianity, and show himself hostile to the Romish sacred rites, until after the slaughter of his son Crispus, and his wife Fausta; which truly detestable crimes were perpetrated in the year 326."
It cannot be disguised that, at the time of his issuing his Sunday decree, he was a pagan of no very high grade; and his profession of Christianity never raised him much above the average pagan. The "Encyclopedia Britannica" gives a just estimate of his character. Speaking of the title of "The Great" being conferred upon him, it says:—9"Tested by character, indeed, he stands among the lowest of all those to whom the epithet has in ancient or modern times been applied."
Dr. Schaff is justly esteemed as a man of extensive learning, and whose testimony regarding facts, no one would call in question. He is a theologian, and a warm friend of Sunday-keeping. But his theological relations have not prevented his giving the facts in regard to the first Sunday law. He says:—
"He enjoined the observance, or, rather, forbade the public desecration, of Sunday, not under the name of Sabbatum or dies Domini, but under its own astrological or heathen title, dies solis, familiar to all his subjects, so that the law was as applicable to the worshipers of Hercules, Apollo, or Mithras, as to the Christians."
And more so, for it referred to heathen, and not at all to Christian worship. Again Dr. Schaff says:—
"He enjoined the civil observance of Sunday, though not as dies Domini but as dies solis, in conformity to his worship of Apollo, and in company with an ordinance for the regular consultation of the haruspex, 321."
Concerning its claim to be considered a sacred day, it is not necessary to add much to what has already been said by the writers quoted. It would be presumption in the extreme to claim that God ever conferred any blessing or sanctification directly upon it. By a system of false reasoning, they try to make out that the blessing that was conferred upon the seventh day, was transferred to the first; but of course no scripture is ever quoted to justify the claim. The authorities here given say that it was dedicated to the sun; and that dedication is its only claim to sanctity. In perfect harmony with these, is the following from the Douay Catechism:—
"It is also called Sunday from the old Roman denomination, dies solis, the day of the sun, to which it was sacred."
Now, as far as the first proposition is concerned, I think I have done all that I proposed: I have given such proofs, and such an abundance of them, that every candid person must admit that it is clearly proved that the name origin, authority, and sacredness of the Sunday institution are altogether and only pagan. Thus far there is not a Christian feature about it. With great confidence I approach the examination of the second question, for which the way is so well prepared. But in passing, I will say that I have carefully avoided giving the testimony of anyone who was committed in favor of Sabbath-keeping. Every author quoted was in favor of the Sunday. If ever anybody had a right to feel confident in their position, we surely have in regard to the assertion that the Sunday is, in every feature, a heathen institution.
2. Is the institution of Sunday, as a church festival, or day of Christian observance, of papal origin? In other words, did the Papacy set up the Sunday in the church as a substitute for the Sabbath of the Lord?
It is easy to see where the advocates of Sunday fail to apprehend the truth on this point. Their failure no doubt lies right here: they do not appreciate the fact that almost everything that is attributed to the Catholic Church, and can be traced to no other source, is more or less veiled in obscurity as to its origin. I invite them to take up in order the institutions which are attributed to the Papacy, and show the precise or exact origin of each. For instance: Do they believe that the Popes of Rome ever exercised civil power? They must answer in the affirmative. Will they inform us when and where that power was conferred, or how they took that power? And if they cannot clearly and satisfactorily do that, will they therefore deny that the Popes ever exercised that power? or will they assert that their power must be of divine origin? A Catholic work now before me, "with the approbation of the Lord Bishop of Beverly" (Sadlier, New York), speaking of this, says:—
"And now we approach a most important topic—the rise of the temporal power of the Popes. There is this which plainly marks it as the gradual, silent work of God. No one can point with precision and certainty to the precise time when it did rise. . . . It grew as the trees grow from the soil. You cannot say when the acorn first bursts its shell and the lordly oak springs forth. Tell me whence the broad river draws its waters; tell me of all the streams, all the little rivulets and fountains that feed it, and I will then tell you every source which gave rise to the temporal sovereignty of the Popes. Like everything natural, everything providential, we can only catch indications of it here and there, in the days of its infancy, for I speak of times long before Charlemagne."
Very few of the dogmas called Papal can be traced to their origin. As seen above, the Catholics base their claim on this fact, that you cannot mark their origin; that, being believed or practiced so early, they must have been derived from the apostles. This is exactly the popular argument for Sunday. But Archbishop Whately drew an argument against them from this very fact; inasmuch as the Scriptures thoroughly furnish the man of God to all good works, if these dogmas were of divine institution we could easily trace them to their divine origin—to the word of God. It matters not a whit how many or who kept Sunday, or how near to the time of the apostles it was kept. Did God command it? do the Scriptures thoroughly furnish us with proofs for its observance? Lacking this, it lacks everything that is required to make it a Christian ordinance.
I do not make these remarks because they apply to the Sunday; I do not admit that it stands with the other Papal institutions, veiled in even comparative obscurity. In this respect it has a prominence all its own—it can be traced to the Papal power without the least shadow cast upon the evidence. I am confident that I can point out the two springs which, more than all others, gave rise to the baleful stream of temporal church power. But I have called attention to the obscurity of the origin of Papal dogmas, solely to show that the advocates of Sunday are inconsistent and unreasonable in their claim; they ask for the Sunday what they cannot begin to give for other institutions which they freely admit are of Papal origin. Fortunately, we can meet their most unreasonable demand with full and sufficient proof, as I shall now show.
The reader will bear witness that the origin of the Sunday as a day of rest from labor, has been clearly shown: it is only pagan. We have now to consider its authority as a church institution. I shall show that the Papacy took it up from the hands of the emperors, and strictly enforced its observance, and took most effective steps to suppress and utterly abolish the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea, was the first to speak of the transfer of the honors and duties of the Sabbath to Sunday. Let the reader carefully note this important fact. His words are as follows:—
"And all things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord's day, as more appropriately belonging to it, because it has the precedence and is first in rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath."
I cannot give the room for all the notice that this first Sunday-sabbath testimony deserves. The Lord, in his own institution, doubtless knew best to which day the duties were most appropriate, and which day was most honorable. See Isa. 58:13. In this transaction the pronoun "we" cuts a great figure—much greater than it will be able to maintain in the day when God shall bring every work into judgment on the authority of his commandments. Eccl. 12:13, 14; Rom. 2:12, 16. Eusebius did not intend to disparage the transfer of Sabbath obligation; he was the obsequious flatterer of Constantine, and fully coincided with his decree in favor of the venerable day of the sun; and he never failed to speak in a manner to tickle the vanity of his royal patron. He spoke the exact truth in regard to the transfer. That the church took it up and united with the emperors in enforcing its observance, Dr. Heylyn, a historian of undisputed veracity and of unbounded research, testifies thus:—
"And as the day of rest from labors, and restraint from business upon that day, it received its greatest strength from the supreme magistrate as long as he retained that power which to him belongs; as after from the canons and decrees of councils, the decretals of Popes and orders of particular prelates, when the sole managing of ecclesiastical affairs was committed to them."
J. H. W. (To be continued.)
The Missionary.
By E. J. Burnham
THE AUSTRALIAN FIELD.
FOR the last two months the work here has been moving forward very encouragingly. A good work has been done at Wychitella, where Elder M. C. Israel held meetings about three weeks in September and October. One of the brethren at Ballarat went to Wychitella to canvass for "Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation;" and, seeing that a good interest had been awakened, he called on Brother Israel to go and carry on the work. The time thus employed was well spent, as ten good, substantial persons took a stand on all points of the truth.
Brother Israel has recently spent a few days in Ballarat. He went there to hold a few meetings with the church, to strengthen and encourage the brethren and sisters; but the interest was so good that he stayed longer than he intended. Some who had given up the truth came back, and a few signed the covenant for the first time. Brother Israel held three Bible-readings with one gentleman who has been in the Government employ, and has retired on a pension. The first was on the Saints' Inheritance; the second on the coming of the Lord and kindred themes, awakening an interest in the state of the dead; and the third on the nature of man. The gentleman accepted it all as truth, and is still interested and investigating. He gave Brother Israel ten shillings ($2.50) at parting.
There has been from the first an excellent interest in the tent-meetings in Melbourne. Elder Curtis has presented the truth in a clear and forcible manner. The congregations have been very good; and the people, Bible in hand, have listened with marked attention. The covenant has not been presented as yet; but nine or ten have taken a stand on the Sabbath, and many more are interested, and are on the point of deciding either for or against the truth. It costs more here than it does in America to decide between the present life and that which is future and immortal. May God help them to choose the better part.
The work in the office, too, has been increasing. For some time past there has been, in some departments, at least, just about as much as could be done with the number of hands employed at present, and the prospect is good for the future.
Quite an effort has been made to increase the circulation of the Echo by canvassing for it from house to house, and selling single copies where subscriptions could not be obtained. Several of the sisters have developed quite a talent for this work. One of them sold one hundred and twenty copies of the November number, and in one instance sold thirty copies in a day. In this way many have had their attention called to the truth, and much good has been done.
Our courage is good. Will the brethren and sisters in America pray that the blessing of the Lord may continue to rest on the work here.
E. J. BURNHAM.
Melbourne, November 29, 1887.
THE KINGDOM OF CONGO AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES.
By Editor
THE following is a portion of an article written by the Rev. John Leighton Wilson, missionary in Western Africa, which was published in the Bibliotheca Sacra, of January, 1852. The article, somewhat condensed, will continue through several numbers of the SIGNS, and will, we think, be found very interesting and profitable.
No part of Western Africa is so well known to history as the kingdom of Congo. And the circumstance that has contributed to its notoriety, but not to its honor as a nation, is the fact that from the earliest period of its discovery by the Portuguese up to the present moment, it has always borne the lead in the foreign slave trade, and, in all probability, has furnished a larger number of victims for the markets of the New World than any other region of Africa whatever. Congos or their descendants may still be identified in many parts of the United States, throughout the West India Islands, and in large numbers in Brazil, where they have not yet laid aside their vernacular tongue.
But the circumstance which, above all others, has contributed to give it interest in the eyes of the civilized world, is the fact that it has been the stage upon which has been achieved one of the most successful experiments ever made by the Church of Rome, to reclaim a pagan people from idolatry. For more than two centuries, the kingdom of Congo, according to the showing of the missionaries themselves, was as completely under the influence of Rome as any sister kingdom in Europe; so that if the inhabitants of that country are not now, in point of civilization and Christianity, what Rome would have them to be, or all that a pagan people are capable of being made under her training, the fault lies at her own door. In relation to the missions which she planted about the same time in India, China, and other parts of the world, it has been alleged, with some degree of justice, that her designs were thwarted in consequence of political changes in Europe, which placed Protestant nations in the ascendant, and gave them a preponderant influence in those countries where her missions had been established. With no less justice it has been urged that the failure of her efforts among the Indian tribes, both of North and South America, ought to be ascribed to the fact that these tribes have been overshadowed and borne down by the presence of more powerful races, without allowing sufficient time for the full development of her peculiar principles. But whether these things can be regarded as satisfactory explanations of the causes of failure in other parts of the world or not, nothing of the kind can be urged in relation to her missions in Congo. Here she has always had the field to herself; and for more than two centuries enjoyed facilities and advantages for propagating her religion among this people, which she can scarcely ever expect to have again in any future efforts of the kind that she may make.
It is our intention in the present article to examine the character and results of this mission. But in order to render our views intelligible, we must give a hasty sketch of the civil as well as the religious history of the country, before entering upon the proposed investigation.
The kingdom of Congo, as also the great river of the same name, was discovered by the Portuguese about the year 1485. It was not a new or isolated discovery, but an extension of those they had made some years previously higher up the coast. At the time, however, it was regarded as immensely valuable, and it awakened an interest in Portugal, in behalf of this people and country, that has not entirely subsided after the lapse of more than three centuries.
The kingdom of Congo lies entirely on the south side of the river, which forms its northern boundary; while on the south it is bounded by the Portuguese province of Angola, on the west by the Atlantic, and on the east by the mountains of Matamba, which separate it from the country of the savage and war-like Giaghis. It is of an oblong figure, extending along the sea-coast about 250 miles and interiorwards about 350. At the time of its discovery, or very soon afterwards, it was divided into six provinces, viz., Sogno, Bamba, Pemba, Batta, Pango, and Sundi, to the chiefs of which the Portuguese gave the names of dukes, counts and marqueses, which they ever after retained. Of these provinces, Sogno and Bamba were the largest and altogether the most important.
San Salvador, the capital and metropolis of the whole kingdom, was situated in the province of Pemba, about 50 Italian miles southeast of the mouth of the Congo, and about 140 northeast of Loando St. Paul, the capital of Angola. It was situated upon the summit of a high mountain, and not only enjoyed a magnificent prospect of the surrounding country, but was reputed healthful even for Europeans. It was not only the residence of the king, but was the headquarters of the missionaries, as also for a large number of Portuguese merchants, who resorted thither on account of the facilities it offered for trade. At the time of its greatest prosperity, which was probably the early part of the seventeenth century, it is said to have contained about 40,000 inhabitants.
For many years, a bishop and his chapter, a college of Jesuits, and a monastery of Capuchins, were supported in San Salvador at the expense of the Portuguese Government. The only other towns of any considerable importance were the capitals of Sogno and Bamba, neither of which, however, is supposed to have contained more than six or eight hundred houses. In both of these there were monasteries of Capuchins, and in Sony, the capital of Sogno, there were six churches, the largest of which could contain five or six hundred people. Sony was situated upon a small creek, that emptied into the Congo a few miles from its mouth, and was the great sea-port of the kingdom.
Diego Cam, the original discoverer, having entered the river and learned by signs from natives whom he found upon its banks, that there was a great kingdom in the interior by the name of Congo, was so much elated by the discovery that he took very little time to verify these equivocal proofs, but made all speed back to Portugal to report his success. The interest which this discovery awakened in the mind of the king and people of Portugal was scarcely less than that felt by Diego Cam himself; and he was sent back almost immediately with three Dominican friars. On his second arrival he had an interview with the king, and was treated with the utmost kindness and courtesy. Two of the friars that accompanied him died soon after their arrival, probably of the effects of the climate; and the third was killed some years after by the Giaghis, while acting as chaplain to the Congolan army.
On his third voyage to Congo, Diego Cam took with him twelve missionaries more, of the Franciscan order, who are regarded as the founders of the Christian religion in the kingdom of Congo. The count of Sogno, and the king of Congo, his nephew, were among the first converts to Christianity. For a time the latter showed great zeal in promoting the new religion among his subjects; but as soon as he found that he was required to give up the multitude of wives and concubines with which he was surrounded, and be married to a single wife, he renounced it and returned to the religion of his fathers. His son and successor, Don Alphonso the First, felt no such difficulty. He not only embraced Christianity himself, but did all he could to promote its interests throughout his realms. His brother Pasanguitama was a man of a very different spirit, and finding there was quite a popular dislike to the new religion, availed himself of it to raise a rebellion against his brother. The armies of the two brothers had scarcely engaged in battle when St. James was distinctly seen fighting on the side of the king; and victory, of course, soon turned in his favor. Pasanguitama was not only beaten, but was made a prisoner. He refused to ransom his life by embracing Christianity, and was accordingly executed. It fared differently with his general, who was pardoned on the condition of becoming a Christian, but had to do penance in the way of bringing water for all who were baptized in the capital. Soon after this signal victory in behalf of Christianity, a large re-enforcement of missionaries was sent out by the Society de Propaganda Fide , most of whom were from the Italian States; and in the course of fifteen or twenty years the entire population of Congo was gathered into the pale of the Roman Catholic Church.
Humility and Cleansing from Sin
To be accepted at the throne of grace one must "be clothed with humility;" but, says an old divine, "Humiliation, though it does not properly cleanse your hands, yet it plucks off the gloves and makes them bare for washing." This old divine is right, for John tells us that it is "the blood of Jesus Christ" that "cleanseth us from all sin."—Zion's Herald.
The Gospel for Sinners
The woman was encouraged that Jesus had noticed her case sufficiently to remark upon it, although his words conveyed no definite hope to her mind, and she now urged her case with increased earnestness, bowing at his feet and crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." Jesus, still apparently rejecting her entreaties, according to the unfeeling prejudice of the Jews, answered, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs."
This was virtually asserting that it was not just to lavish the blessings brought to the favored people of God upon strangers and aliens from Israel. This answer would have utterly discouraged a less earnest seeker. Many would have given up all further effort upon receiving such a repulse, and would have gone away feeling humiliated and abused, beyond all patience; but the woman meekly answered, "Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table."
The Commentary.
CREATION AND THE SABBATH.
LESSON 2.—SABBATH, JANUARY 14.
1. WHO was the direct agent in the creation of the earth? John 1:1, 3.
2. State briefly what was done on each of the first four days.
5. How did God regard his work when it was done?
"And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." Verse 31.
6. How did he spend the seventh day?
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made." Gen. 2:1, 2.
7. After he had rested on the seventh day, what did he do?
"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Verse 3.
8. What is the meaning of "sanctify"?—"To set apart for a holy or religious use."—Webster.
9. What is the name of the seventh day?
"But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." Ex. 20:10.
10. For whom was the Sabbath made?
"And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Mark 2:27.
11. What is necessarily implied in the statement that after God had rested upon the seventh day he sanctified or set it apart?—That he told man what he had done, and commanded him to keep it holy.
12. Give two instances of the use of the word "sanctify," which confirm this. Ex. 19:12, 23; Josh. 20:7, margin.
13. What is the great object of the Sabbath?
"Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctified them." Eze. 20:12.
14. How does the Sabbath serve as a "sign" to make us know the true God?
"Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord; whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death." "It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." Ex. 31:15, 17.
15. What is God's distinguishing characteristic?
"For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols; but the Lord made the heavens." Ps. 96:4, 5; Jer. 10:10-12.
16. What is the difference between God and men?
"Know ye that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." Ps. 100:3; Isa. 55:9; 40:15, 17.
17. Then what was the Sabbath designed to do for men?—To be a continual reminder of God's greatness, and of their dependence upon him, and of their duty to serve him with humility.
18. If Christ created the heavens and the earth, who must have made the Sabbath?—Christ, for the same one that worked six days, rested on the seventh.
19. Then what relation does he sustain to it?
"Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Mark 2:28.
20. Then in keeping the Sabbath, whom do we honor?
21. And when the Sabbath is not kept, who is dishonored?
JESUS now left the vicinity of Jerusalem and went to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. Here a woman who was a Canaanite met and besought him to heal her daughter, who was grievously vexed with a devil. The woman well knew that the Jews had no dealings with the Canaanites and that they refused even to speak to them; but having heard of the miracles of mercy which Jesus had performed, she resolved to appeal to him to relieve her daughter from the terrible affliction that was upon her. The poor woman realized that her only hope was in Jesus, and she had perfect faith in his power to do that which she asked of him.
Jesus Teaches Mercy to His Disciples
But Jesus received the importunities of this representative of a despised race in the same manner as the Jews would have done; this was not only to prove the faith and sincerity of the woman, but also to teach his disciples a lesson of mercy, that they might not be at a loss how to act in similar cases after Jesus should leave them and they could no longer go to him for personal counsel. Jesus designed that they should be impressed with the contrast between the cold and heartless manner in which the Jews would treat such a case, as evinced by his reception of the woman, and the compassionate manner in which he would have them deal with such distress, as manifested by his subsequent granting of her petition in the healing of her daughter.
The Faith of the Canaanite Woman
ALTHOUGH Jesus was apparently indifferent to her cries, yet she did not become offended and leave him, but still had faith that he would relieve her distress. As he passed on, as if not hearing her, she followed him, continuing her supplications. The disciples were annoyed at her importunity and asked Jesus to send her away. Their sympathies were not aroused by her distress. They saw that their Master treated her with indifference, and they therefore supposed that the prejudice of the Jews against the Canaanites was pleasing to him. But it was a pitying Saviour to whom the woman made her plea, and, in answer to the request of the disciples to send her away, Jesus said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Although this answer was in accordance with the prejudice of the Jews, it was an implied rebuke to the disciples, which they afterward understood as reminding them of what he had often told them. That he came to the world to save all who would accept him. Whoever sought the Saviour, ready to believe on him when he should be manifested to them, were of the lost sheep whom he had come to gather in his fold.
The Canaanite Woman’s Persevering Faith
FROM the abundance upon which the rightful family feasts, the crumbs fall to the floor and are devoured by the dogs that watch for them under the table. She acknowledged that she occupied a like position to that of the brutes that accept thankfully whatever falls from their master's hand. While favoring God's people with rich and bountiful gifts, would not Jesus bestow upon her one of the many blessings he gave so freely to others? While confessing that she had no claim upon his favor, she still pleaded for a crumb from his bounty. Such faith and perseverance were unexampled. Few of the favored people of God had so high an appreciation of the Redeemer's benevolence and power.
Great Faith Rewarded
JESUS had just departed from Jerusalem because the scribes and Pharisees were seeking to take his life; but here he meets one of an unfortunate and despised race, that had not been favored with the light of God's word; yet she yields at once to the divine influence of Christ, and has implicit faith in his ability to grant her the favor she asks. She has no national nor religious prejudice or pride to influence her course of action, and she unconditionally acknowledges Jesus as the Redeemer, and able to do all that she asks of him. The Saviour is satisfied, he has tested her confidence in him, and he now grants her request and finishes the lesson to his disciples. Turning to her with a countenance of pity and love, he says, "O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." From that hour the daughter became whole, and the demon troubled her no more. The woman departed acknowledging her Saviour, and happy in the granting of her prayer.
Christ’s Lesson of Mercy to the Gentiles
By Ellen G. White
This was the only miracle that Jesus wrought while on this journey. It was for the performance of this very act that he went into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. He wished to relieve the afflicted woman, and at the same time to leave an example, in this work of mercy toward one of a despised people, for the benefit of his disciples when he should be no longer with them. He wished to lead them from their Jewish exclusiveness to be interested in working for others besides their own people. This act of Christ opened their minds more fully to the labor that lay before them among the Gentiles. Afterward, when the Jews turned still more persistently from the disciples because they declared Jesus to be the Saviour of the world, and when the partition wall between Jew and Gentile was broken down by the death of Christ, this lesson, and similar ones which pointed to a gospel work unrestricted by custom or nationality, brought a powerful influence to bear upon the representatives of Christ in directing their labors.—Mrs. E. G. White, in Great Controversy, Vol. 2.
God’s Goodness to All Humanity
By Henry
"To the children of men!" We must acknowledge God's goodness to the children of men, as well as to the children of God; to others as well as to ourselves.—Henry.