THAT there would come a great apostasy from the principles of Christianity; that in, through, and of, this apostasy would develop "the man of sin;" that the beginnings of this apostasy were seen and felt in apostolic times; and that the system thus created would continue until the return of Christ to earth the second time, is one of the facts most clearly set forth in the Scriptures of truth.
"Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him; to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand; let no man beguile you in any wise; for it will not be, except the falling away [apostasy] come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God. . . . And now ye know that which restraineth, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work; only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of His mouth, and bring to naught by the manifestation of His coming." 2 Thess. 2:1-8, A. R. V.
Since lawlessness comes as the result of an apostasy from the principles of Christianity, of course the opposite of this is true Christianity. Christ came to "save His people from their sins," and sin is the transgression of the law. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." And "he that is born of God doth not commit sin"—doth not transgress God's law. The "lawless one" therefore, is opposed to Christ and Christianity. "The mystery of lawlessness doth already work." This accounts for the fact that in apostolic times there were "false apostles" (2 Cor. 11:13), "false prophets" (1 John 4:1), and a perverted gospel. Gal. 1:6, 7.
Before the death of John, he said, "Ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists."
The last of the apostles being removed from the stage of action, through death, the second century witnessed the perversion of nearly every truth vital to Christianity. Justification by faith was supplanted by human works; the heathen mysteries took the place of the true mystery of godliness; ceremony for service; holy water for the washing of the Word; the sign of the cross for crucifixion with Christ; penance for repentance; Easter instead of Passover; and, finally, the day of the sun for the Sabbath of Jehovah,—God's holy day.
As I write there lies before me "The Apocryphal Books of the New Testament," "being all the gospels, epistles, and other pieces now extant, attributed in the first four centuries to Jesus Christ, His apostles, and their companions, not included in the Authorized New Testament." And not a single writer of them all but that perverts, in so far as he touches them, nearly every principle of the Gospel of Christ.
This perverted Christianity—Christian in form, but pagan in fact—having long since forgotten the power of God, succeeded at the beginning of the fourth century in engaging the power of the State. Its beginning was a Sunday law; its end, the Inquisition.
With little protest, except by the lives of God's faithful few, she "practised and prospered" until the era of the Reformation. Here God gave her a space in which to repent, but she neglected the opportunity; she spurned God's proffered grace.
THE SIGN OF APOSTASY
BY E. J. HIBBARD
Failing to reform her, a protest was made against her errors and abuses. Such were called Protestants—protest-ants. "The Bible, and the Bible only," said they; tradition is rejected. Accordingly controversies arose as to "whether bishops or pastors have power to institute ceremonies in the Church, and to make laws concerning meats and holidays, and degrees or orders of ministers. They that ascribe this power to the bishops, allege this testimony for it: . . . They allege the change of the Sabbath into the Lord's Day, contrary as it seemeth, to the Decalogue; and they have no example more in their mouths than the change of the Sabbath. They will needs have the Church's power to be very great, because it hath dispensed with a precept of the Decalogue."—Augsburg Confession, Art. 28, Pars. 30-33.
Thus, the change of the Sabbath, the dispensing with a precept of the Decalogue, was used as a sign, an evidence, that the church had a right to institute all laws and ceremonies whatsoever. And they (the Catholics) had "no example more in their mouths" in Luther's time than the change of the Sabbath. "They will needs have the church's power to be very great, because it hath dispensed with a precept of the Decalogue."—Augsburg Confession, Art. 28, Pars. 30-33.
Cardinal Gibbons says: "A rule of faith, or a competent guide to heaven, must be able to instruct in all the truths necessary for salvation. Now the Scriptures alone do not contain all the truths which a Christian is bound to believe, nor do they explicitly enjoin all the duties which he is obliged to practise. Not to mention other examples, is not every Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday, and to abstain on that day from unnecessary work? Is not the observance of this law among the most prominent of our sacred duties? But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify."—"Faith of our Fathers," pp. 111, 112.
Against this goes the declaration of the Bible: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Tim. 3:16, 17.
Once more: In "Doctrinal Catechism," page 174, the following occurs:
Ques.—Have you any other way of proving that the church has the power to institute festivals of precept?
Ans.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of the Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.
Thus with one voice the Catholic church affirms and reaffirms that the sign, the mark, the signal, to all the world that she has the right to institute laws and ceremonies binding on the conscience of all, is contained in this one fact—the change of the Sabbath of Jehovah. "The lawless one" here stands revealed.
And of the Protestants they say: "Their pretense for leaving the bosom of the Catholic Church was for apostasy from the truth as taught in the written Word. They adopted the written Word as their sole teacher, which they had no sooner done than they abandoned it promptly, as these articles have abundantly proved; and by a perversity as wilful as erroneous. They accept the teaching of the Catholic Church in direct opposition to the plain, unvarying and constant teaching of their sole teacher [the Bible] in the most essential doctrine of their religion, thereby emphasizing the situation in what may be aptly designated 'a mockery, a delusion, and a snare.'"—"Rome's Challenge," page 27.
And so, finally, "If any man worship the beast [this apostasy] and his image, and receive his MARK in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb." Rev. 14:9, 10. And the time is at hand.
[This article will be made even stronger by reading in No. 2 the articles entitled, "The Sign of What Christ Is;" "How the Sabbath Has Been Dishonored," and in No. 3, "An Appeal to Protestants."]
WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF THIS EARTH?
By A. O. Tait
BY A. O. TAIT.
Will this earth cease to be inhabited?
"For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited; I am the Lord, and there is none else." This plainly affirms that if the earth should cease to be inhabited, its creation would have been in vain.
2. For what was the earth formed?
"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear My 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. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." Mal. 4:1-3. The earth was formed, then, to be inhabited by the righteous.
3. What is God's appointed time for this cleansing of the earth?
"For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished; but the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:5-7. Then this sin-cursed earth, with its load of unrepentant sinners is being "reserved" for its cleansing baptism of fire at the judgment day.
4. How completely will these judgment-day fires cleanse the old earth from its curse of sin?
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?" 2 Peter 3:10-12. Everything pertaining to the old earth and its heavens or atmosphere shall be melted, dissolved, by the great purifying agent of fire.7
5. What are we to look for, coming out of this melted earth?
"Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth; wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3:13.
6. What is the promise to the meek?
"But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." Ps. 37:11. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Matt. 5:5. These texts make no such statement as that the meek do now inherit the earth, but the promise is that they "shall" inherit it. Observe that when the meek do inherit the earth, they "shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." In these times of war and strife of every kind it can not be said that there is the delightsome abundance of peace. But it is the promised inheritance of the followers of Him who said "I am meek and lowly in heart."
7. What vision was given John concerning the new earth?
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." Rev. 21:1-4.
Thus do the foregoing scriptures in unmistakable language declare that God will cleanse and redeem this earth from the pollutions of sin, and make it the eternal home of the righteous.
[The other Bible Readings in this series are as follows: No. 1, "Is Sinful Man Immortal?" No. 2, "What of the Dead?" No. 3, "The Resurrection of the Dead a Necessity."]
PERPETUITY OF THE LAW.
THE law of God existed before sin. Sin could not have entered if there had been no law, for "where there is no law there is no transgression."
The law is an expression of God's love for His creatures, and was written in the hearts of the first human pair. We may never know the internal struggle through which Adam and Eve passed in their first violation of God's law of love. The moral principles prohibiting covetousness, stealing, and allegiance to another god, all contrary to the law of God, were violated in the fall, the sin, that let death with all its hateful companions into the world.
The two great commandments, all embracing moral precepts, were all that were needed at first, but, as mankind departed farther and farther in the path of transgression, their minds became darkened, and their moral sense blunted. Hence God in His infinite compassion and love for the race, continued more and more to unfold the great principles of love to God, and love to man, until, amid the awe-inspiring splendors of Sinai, He proclaimed the Ten Commandments, with a voice that shook the earth. Afterward writing them with His own finger on the durable rock, He committed them to the care of His people, to be kept in the midst of His church in the most holy place of the sanctuary and temple.
All the rites and ceremonies of ancient Israel were but so many object-lessons, pointing to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Their significance and efficacy lay in Christ, the only "name under heaven given among men whereby" transgressors of the law of God could be pardoned and saved. So we see the truth of the Word, that Jesus was manifested to take away, not the law, but sin, the transgression of the law. Thus we see that the Gospel is not a substitute for the law, but, in the highest manner possible, attests the perpetuity of the law.
The first requirement of the Gospel is repentance. This command of the Gospel, to repent, was enjoined from the very beginning upon all sinners, in every age, and every place, and as repentance relates to sin, and by the law is the knowledge of sin, and sin is the transgression of the law, it is clearly seen that the Gospel of Christ recognizes the perpetuity of the law as its basis. We are not surprised, therefore, to hear the Saviour of the world say with great emphasis, "I am not come to destroy the law." "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." Matt. 5:17. Luke 16:17; "I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." John 15:10. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Matt. 19:17. And holy apostles have written, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. 13:10. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." 1 John 5:3. And holy men, in the olden time, speaking as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, have written, "Concerning Thy testimonies, I have known of old that Thou hast founded them forever." "Thy word is true from the beginning; and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever." Ps. 119:152, 160. "All His commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness." Ps. 111:7, 8. The preceding are only a few of the many testimonials of like import that might be given, but these will suffice to establish the perpetuity of God's law.
The law of God contains the whole duty of man (Eccl. 12:13); but since mankind all are fallen into the horrible pit of transgression (Ps. 40:1-3), they must needs lay hold of Christ and the Gospel to lift them out, and help them on their way of obedience to God. Thus sinful man, by the help of the Gospel, is enabled to find pardon and cleansing, and grace to do God's will acceptably, and thus pass the test of that judgment when the law of God is the standard.
Then, when the great judgment is concluded, the hosts of the redeemed accounted worthy of eternal life, their vile bodies changed, and fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body (Phil. 3:20, 21), they will enter upon their everlasting reign with Jesus in the kingdom of glory. In that blissful and eternal reign, the law of love will bear sway. Everywhere and always, in that realm of the fullness of joy, will be heard one harmonious strain, with love we serve one another, with love we serve God, and with love we rejoice in all His wonderful works. How like a beautiful chain of shining gold we see the perpetuity of God's holy law of love, throughout all time and all eternity. In the Edenic Age, the Antediluvian Age, the Patriarchal Age, the Levitical Age, the Christian Age, the Millennial Age, and the Eternal Age, God's great week of ages, God's will of love, His good pleasure, His moral law, is the one revelation of God, that ever shines with undimmed splendor, a perpetual revelation of God's character of infinite love.
[Read in No. 1, "The Purpose of God's Law;" in No. 2, "Perfection of God's Law;" No. 3, "The Transgression of God's Law."]
TOLERATION VERSUS LIBERTY.
The American View.
Toleration is an important step from State-churchism to free-churchism. But it is only a step. There is a great difference between toleration and liberty. Toleration is a concession which may be withdrawn. It implies a preference for the ruling form of faith and worship, and a practical disapproval of all other forms.
. . . In our country we ask no toleration for religion and its free exercise, but we claim it as an inalienable right.—Dr. Philip Schaff, in "Church and State in the United States."
What other nations call religious toleration, we call religious rights. They are not exercised in virtue of governmental indulgence, but as rights, of which governments can not deprive any portion of its citizens, however small. Despotic power may invade those rights, but justice still confirms them.—U. S. Senate Report, 1829.
I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, disciples, or exercises.—Thos. Jefferson to Rev. Mr. Millar, Jan. 23, 1808.
Love, Not Force
By Editor
Love, Not Force.—True and intelligent Christians will never seek to control the religious or non-religious opinions of even a single man, save by the law of love and the method of persuasion and reason. They know in their own experience that Christ did not compel their allegiance by force; He won it by love. As did Christ toward them, so will they act toward others. And this is the Golden Rule.
A FRUITFUL ERROR.
By Ellen G. White
NO error accepted by the Christian world strikes more boldly against the authority of Heaven, none is more directly opposed to the dictates of reason, none is more pernicious in its results, than the modern doctrine, so rapidly gaining ground, that God's law is no longer binding upon men. Every nation has its laws, which command respect and obedience; no government could exist without them; and can it be conceived that the Creator of the heavens and the earth has no law to govern the beings He has made? Suppose that prominent ministers were publicly to teach that the statutes which govern their land and protect the rights of its citizens were not obligatory,—that they restricted the liberties of the people, and therefore ought not to be obeyed; how long would such men be tolerated in the pulpit? But is it a graver offense to disregard the laws of states and nations than to trample upon those divine precepts which are the foundation of all government?
It would be far more consistent for nations to abolish their statutes, and permit the people to do as they please, than for the Ruler of the universe to annul His law, and leave the world without a standard to condemn the guilty or justify the obedient. Would we know the result of making void the law of God? The experiment has been tried. Terrible were the scenes enacted in France when atheism became the controlling power. It was then demonstrated to the world that to throw off the restraints which God has imposed is to accept the rule of the cruelest of tyrants. When the standard of righteousness is set aside, the way is open for the prince of evil to establish his power in the earth.
Wherever the divine precepts are rejected, sin ceases to appear sinful, or righteousness desirable. Those who refuse to submit to the government of God are wholly unfitted to govern themselves. Through their pernicious teachings, the spirit of insubordination is implanted in the hearts of children and youth, who are naturally impatient of control; and a lawless, licentious state of society results. While scoffing at the credulity of those who obey the requirements of God, the multitudes eagerly accept the delusions of Satan. They give the rein to lust, and practise the sins which have called down judgments upon the heathen.—Mrs. E. G. White.
