ALL persons trust in some thing or some power outside of themselves to do what they do in life. Many trust in others or in some condition of life for a future life. Some trust in social position, some in wealth, some in man, and many in good works. Our text says, “Our sufficiency is of God.” Wealth may rust and decay; it may take wings and be gone in a moment; social position and man may fail us; good works may prove a ladder too short to reach the tree of life, but God can never fail. “Our sufficiency is of God.”
What is God able to do for us? Let us read 2 Cor. 9: 8: “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” Then if God is able to do this, what difference does it make how weak and inefficient we are? He makes up all our lack. As a good brother used to say, “The Lord and I are as strong as the Lord and anybody else.” Then do not go about empty, bare, and barren, talking of your weakness, but trust in his great strength who is able to do these things for you.
Again, we have God’s ability mentioned in Eph. 3: 20. “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” You never can reach the height of that promise, or its depth, its length or breadth. Do you know what it means? A poor widow in Israel in the days of Elisha the prophet was in trouble. Her husband, dying, had left her in debt. The creditors were coming to take her two sons to be bondmen. In her distress she looked to the Lord. “What have you in the house?” said the prophet. “Not anything but a pot of oil.” “Borrow all the vessels you can of your neighbors, borrow not a few.” She did, and began to pour out the oil in her humble home, alone with God and the two boys. How wonderfully the oil ran that day. At last the vessels were all filled and the oil stayed. “Sell that thou hast, pay thy debt, and live then upon the rest.” She only asked for present need, and got it supplied and some for future use. She realized a little of what this promise means. So did the lame man at the gate Beautiful. A penny or two was all he asked, but Peter in the name of Jesus bids him be made whole, and he walks and leaps and praises God.
Again, let us read 2 Tim. 1: 12: “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” Why try so hard to keep yourself, to keep your religion? Let it keep you. “Kept by the power of God through faith,” says Peter. Then commit your all to him and let him keep you and it. He can take care of the home, the family, the business, our all, better than we can, because he is able. Let him. Here is a text for an unsaved one. Heb. 7: 25: “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
Then come to him and be saved. “Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” He does not save in sins, nor does he let us keep our sins. No, he takes us out of sin, and sin out of us so completely that all who are “in Christ Jesus are new creatures.” Praise his name! And he can save now, to-day, in a moment. . . .
“But I am so weak I am afraid that I shall not hold out.” Here is a promise of God’s ability for you. Jude 24: “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” “Able to keep you from falling,” then you need not fear to start on the journey to the kingdom of God. He will hold you up. “The Lord upholdeth all that fall.” Ps. 145: 14. What does this mean? If you stumble he will catch and uphold you. Then trust him. It is for us to start; he will carry us through.
Finally, he is able to make us like himself. Phil. 3: 20, 21: “For our conversation is in Heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” Yes, Jesus is not only able to save from sin, to change the heart, to make us new creatures in him, but his ability to save touches the physical nature. God has undertaken to save the whole man and he will do it. Let us, then, trust in his ability, ever remembering, as he has told us, “Without me ye can do nothing,” and do not forget that “our sufficiency is of God.”—Selected.
Calm Me, My God
“Calm me, my God, and keep me calm,
Soft resting on thy breast;
Soothe me with holy hymn and psalm,
And bid my spirit rest.
“Calm in the hour of buoyant health,
Calm in my hour of pain;
Calm in my poverty or wealth,
Calm in my loss or gain.”
Christianity as Idea and Life
By Parkhurst
CHRISTIANITY as an idea begins with thinking of God in the same way that a true son thinks of his father; Christianity as a life begins with feeling and acting toward God as a true son feels and acts toward his father.—Parkhurst.
Giving One-Twelfth Instead of One-Tenth
Too many people figure their gifts to the Lord like the man who had been giving one-tenth of his income and was so well pleased that he decided to give one-twelfth.—Public Opinion.
SANCTIFIED COMMON SENSE.
TACT is both a mental and a moral virtue. It consists partly in clear perceptions of the relations of things, which is purely intellectual, and partly in nice regard for the feelings and rights of others, which is distinctly moral sentiment. Tactless men are always persons of imperfect perception, men who never see things as they are, but through some spectacles of preconceived notion; they are almost always men of blunt feelings, careless of the rights and comfort of others. A minister without tact is a sight to make the careless laugh and the judicious grieve. No man can do more harm by blundering than can he. No man is brought into contact with so many people of different temperaments, opinions, plans, habits of life. His intimacy with men and women is equaled only by that of the family physician, and perhaps not even by his. He is with his people in the privacy of their homes, in sickness and health, in prosperity and adversity. He can derange the delicate social machinery by lack of tact as easily and as fatally as an unskillful hand can derange the works of a fine watch. His capacity for doing harm is almost without limit, and that without any vicious intent or immoral conduct on his part, but merely by saying and doing the wrong thing at critical times. How important, then, that he of all men should seek to develop this quality of tact in dealing with men; that he should so far as possible avoid mistakes, but above all seek to learn from the blunders that he does commit so as never to duplicate them.—The Examiner (Baptist).
LOVE ESSENTIAL.
By N. Y. Tribune
THE love which every child brings with it is in itself the strongest indication of the needs of childhood. Love is like sunshine; without it there can be no harmonious growth or development. As well expect a fruit tree to bear delicious fruit in a cellar as to expect a child to grow up into symmetrical manhood or womanhood without love. As invariably we appropriate the sunniest nook in the garden to the nursery, the sunniest room in the house to the nursery, so must the warmest and sunniest apartments of the heart be given to the little ones. Nurtured in an atmosphere of love, their various powers expand in unconscious but harmonious beauty.
Do Not Fret
By Mrs. Nannie A. Brown
Do not fret. It only adds to your burden. To work hard is very well; but to work hard and worry too is more than human nature can bear.—Mrs. Nannie A. Brown.
A CONSECRATED CHRISTIAN LIFE.
THE following is an extract from a letter received the other day from a very intelligent young lady. It serves to illustrate a very important truth:—
“I have always attended church and have heard a great many sermons, but never until now did I understand how to become a Christian. I have always thought that one had to experience certain feelings; but instead, I now see that it is but to take Jesus Christ at his word, and he saves. Now, with God’s help, I am purposed to live a consecrated Christian life.”—Selected.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness."
God is love; yet "he reserveth wrath for his enemies." The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of peace and love; but all who reject it will be "punished with everlasting destruction." 2 Thess. 1:8. Not only so, but the gospel itself reveals not only the righteousness of God, but also the wrath of God against those who spurn that righteousness. Said Christ: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark 16:15, 16. The wrath of God, which is revealed against unrighteousness, is not a light thing. "In his favor is life;" consequently in his wrath there must be death. So we read that those upon whom the wrath of God abides, "shall not see life." John 3:36.
God is "of purer eyes than to behold iniquity." Sin is foreign to his nature, and cannot be tolerated. But the punishment meted out to the wicked will not be solely because of their personal sins, that is, not simply because they themselves are wicked, but because by their wickedness they have hindered others from being good. Sin is contagious. It is not only a blood disease, making corrupt every part of the individual in whom it has a place, but it affects all who come in contact with the one so diseased. Says the wise man: "One sinner destroyeth much good." Eccl. 9:18.
An erroneous opinion generally prevails in regard to the expression, "who hold the truth in unrighteousness." It is usually regarded as applying to wicked men who have the true doctrines of the Bible, but do not practice them; but this is not the idea. The word here rendered "hold" means, primarily, to hold back, withhold, check, restrain, hold down. It implies more than simple possession; it conveys the idea of shutting up in prison, restraining the liberty, or crushing out. The Vulgate has detineo, to hold off, keep back, detain. The idea is that the unrighteousness of men prevents the spread of the truth. Wickedness hedges up the way of truth.
A good illustration of this is seen in the case of Jesus at Nazareth. When he first spoke to the people, their hearts responded, and they were forced to acknowledge the truth. But soon envy, jealousy, and evil passions assumed control, and drove out the good impressions that had been made. Then they began to say, "Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? and his sisters, are they not all with us?" Their thought was, "What can this man tell us? we knew him when he was a boy." And then the record says: "And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief." Matt. 13:58. They might have received wonderful blessings, but they would not. They most effectually held, or shut up, the truth by their unrighteousness.
It is utterly impossible that a man should long possess the truth while pursuing an unrighteous course. Indeed, we may say that it is impossible that he should have the truth at all, while living in the commission of deliberate sin. For Christ is the truth, and the whole truth; whosoever has not Christ, has not the truth; and the man who lives an ungodly life has not Christ. It may be said that an ungodly man may possess a correct theory of truth. That is so, but a theory will not save him, neither will a mere theory advance the cause of truth. The truth which makes free is the truth as it is in Jesus.
The word of God unhampered will grow and multiply. It will enlarge the one who has it. It must manifest itself. Said the prophet Jeremiah: "Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay." Jer. 20:9. But if the prophet had persisted in his first intention, and had refused to speak, that word which was as a burning fire shut up in him, would soon have gone out. The word of God is like a fire; but if a fire is confined, and not given vent, it will soon go out.
"Therefore we ought to pay the more earnest heed to the words which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip." Heb. 2:1. The margin has it, "run out as leaking vessels." This shows that it is a wrong view of Rom. 1:18 which makes it teach that a man may possess the truth of God, and still be an ungodly man. He may have the truth, and may have been set free by it; but if he fails to give earnest heed to it, he will soon lose it all. The man who doesn't give heed to the truth which he knows, will soon lose it. He may retain a mental conception of the theory of the truth, but he can no more be said to be holding the truth than a man who has an articulated skeleton can be said to be holding a man.
That the idea that we have presented is the one that was in the mind of the apostle, is still further evident from what follows, namely, that the heathen once knew God, but lost that knowledge because they did not act in harmony with it. And when the truth has once leaked out of the heart, that person is an agent, it may be unconsciously, in the hands of Satan, to prevent some other one from receiving it. For "no man liveth to himself."
THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST.
By W.
(Continued.)
THE fact that Jesus is spoken of as the only begotten Son of God should be sufficient to establish a belief in his divinity. As Son of God, he must partake of the nature of God. "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." John 5:26. Life and immortality are imparted to the faithful followers of God, but Christ alone shares with the Father the power to impart life. He has "life in himself," that is, he is able to perpetuate his own existence. This is shown by his own words when, showing the voluntary nature of his sacrifice for man, he said: "I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." John 10:17, 18.
That Christ is divine is shown by the fact that he receives worship. Angels have always refused to receive worship and adoration. But we read of the Father, that "when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him." Heb. 1:6. If he is to receive worship from angels, it follows as a matter of course that he should receive worship from men; and we find that even while here on earth, in the likeness of man, he received worship as God. The prophet John thus records the adoration which Christ will finally receive equally with the Father:—
"And every creature which is in Heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." Rev. 5:13.
If Christ were not God, this would be idolatry. The great indictment against the heathen is that they "changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator." Rom. 1:25. It matters not what the position of a creature may be, whether a beast, a man, or an angel, worship of it is strictly forbidden. Only God may be worshiped, and since Christ may be worshiped, Christ is God. So say the Scriptures of truth.
It is hardly necessary, with all this array of testimony, to speak of the pre-existence of Christ. One of the strangest things in the world is that men professing to believe and reverence the Bible, will claim that Christ had no existence prior to his birth of the Virgin Mary. Three texts only will be quoted here to disprove this theory, but texts which will be quoted later, on another point, will just as fully prove the pre-existence of Christ. The first text is in the prayer of Jesus, on the night of his betrayal. He said: "And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." John 17:5. We don't know what could be plainer, unless it is the statement that he made the world. John says that "all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made." John 1:3.
But stronger still are the words of the prophet, who foretold the place of the birth of the Messiah, in these words: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity." Micah 5:2, margin. He who would dispute the pre-existence of Christ, in the face of these texts, would deny that the sun shines at midday, if it suited his notion to do so.
In arguing the perfect equality of the Father and the Son, and the fact that Christ is in very nature God, we do not design to be understood as teaching that the Father was not before the Son. It should not be necessary to guard this point, lest some should think that the Son existed as soon as the Father; yet some go to that extreme, which adds nothing to the dignity of Christ, but rather detracts from the honor due him, since many throw the whole thing away rather than accept a theory so obviously out of harmony with the language of Scripture, that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. He was begotten, not created. He is of the substance of the Father, so that in his very nature he is God; and since this is so "it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell." Col. 1:19.
Some have difficulty in reconciling Christ's statement in John 14:28, "My Father is greater than I," with the idea that he is God, and is entitled to worship. Some, indeed, dwell upon that text alone as sufficient to overthrow the idea of Christ's divinity; but if that were allowed, it would only prove a contradiction in the Bible, and even in Christ's own speech, for it is most positively declared, as we have seen, that he is divine. There are two facts which are amply sufficient to account for Christ's statement recorded in John 14:28. One is that Christ is the Son of God. While both are of the same nature, the Father is first in point of time. He is also greater in that he had no beginning, while Christ's personality had a beginning. Then, too, the statement is emphatically true in view of the position which Christ had assumed. He "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men." Phil. 2:7, Revised Version. He was "made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death." Heb. 2:9. In order to redeem men, he had to come where they were. He did not lay aside his divinity, but he laid aside his glory, and veiled his divinity with humanity. So his statement, "My Father is greater than I," is perfectly consistent with the claim, made by himself as well as by all who wrote of him, that he was and is God.
(To be continued.)
Presbyterian General Assembly
The next General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States will meet May 16, in the Fourth Avenue Presbyterian church, New York, of which the Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby is pastor. The question of organic union is expected to arouse much discussion.
THAT WONDERFUL FIRST DAY.
By Editor
THE following is a part of a leading editorial that appeared in the Occident just before last Christmas. We have never seen anything that more fully exhibits the weakness of the claims for the first day of the week as a day above other working-days, than it does:—
“As we do not know the exact date of our Lord’s birth it would have been well if, instead of the twenty-fifth of December having been chosen as the time for commemorating the advent, there had been selected, say, the first Sunday after the twentieth of December. It seems especially appropriate that Christmas should come on the day of Him whose birth we celebrate. What added impressions to the sweetness of the day would be given, what increased delight to think of the birth, the resurrection, the ascension, and the coming again in glory as each on the first day of the week. The resurrection and the ascension we know were on this day; the coming again in like manner we may reasonably infer will be on the Lord’s day; and so, too, may we not rightly infer that this day was divinely selected for the [first] advent?”
There is a specimen of large conclusions from small premises. The writer starts out with the acknowledgment that nobody knows the date of Christ’s birth, and the wish that, since any celebration of it is all guess-work anyway, the first day of the week had been chosen, and winds up with the conclusion that Jesus was born on Sunday. In that case, the wish is father to the thought, just as it is in all Sunday argument. We can readily understand how a little girl can attribute to her doll all the wants and actions of a living child, and can care for it with as much solicitude as a mother could for her babe; and we can understand how a boy can ride his father’s cane with as much enthusiasm and real enjoyment as though it was a real horse; but it is passing strange how grown men, with their reasoning faculties fully developed, could regard Sunday with increased reverence and delight, simply because they might suppose that Jesus had been born on that day, knowing all the while that it was not so.
But what a wonderfully elastic day that first day is. We have long been familiar with the theological sleight-of-hand performance by which two evenings more than eight days apart (John 20:26) were both made to be the first day of the week. That is, we have been familiar by sight only, for we have never been able to comprehend how it was done. We have also known for a long time that the credulous followers of the egotistical ignoramus who some centuries ago wrote under the pseudonym of Barnabas, regard Sunday as both the first and the eighth day of the week, which has only seven days; but we never before heard that both the resurrection and the ascension of Christ were on the first day of the week. How long will it be before the pleaders for Sunday will claim that every notable event in history took place on that day?
Just notice how accommodating that first day is. The resurrection of Christ is generally admitted to have been on Sunday. The writer of the book of Acts says that in a former treatise (the book of Luke) he had set forth all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up, after he had given commandments unto the apostles, “to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days.” Acts 1:3. Luke records the resurrection and the ascension of Christ, and he says that he was seen alive after his passion forty days. Now let any child that knows the days of the week, and can count on its fingers, reckon up and tell on what day the ascension must have been. He arose from the tomb very early in the morning of the first day of the week, so that five full weeks, thirty-five days, would bring us to the beginning of another first day of the week. The fifth day from that, completing the forty days, would fall upon the fifth day of the week, or Thursday. So that, stretching the forty days to their utmost limit, the ascension of Christ cannot be made to have come later than very early on Friday morning; yet the Occident has no difficulty in making it come on Sunday. The church festival of Lent is forty days long, yet the Catholics with all their regard for Sunday, do not try the impossible feat of making it begin and end on that day. It always begins on Ash Wednesday, and ends on Easter Sunday. We should like to see the Occident solve its problem of making a period of forty days begin and end on Sunday.
So, then, we have Sunday not only the first day of the week, but also the eighth (?) and the fifth; and certain ones also tell us that it is the seventh as well. There is only half the week yet to be accounted for, and surely it will not be a difficult task, for those who have done this, to show that there is no day in the week but Sunday. Of course it is claimed that Christ always appeared to his disciples after his resurrection on Sunday, including the fishing occasion recorded in John 21, although the people who claim that his appearings to them were only on Sunday, do not seem willing to carry their adherence to apostolic example so far as to set apart the first day of the week as a fishing day.
The reader may have thought it extravagant when we said that but little remained for the Sunday folks to do to show that there is no day in the week but Sunday; and so it is extravagant; but it is no more than they have virtually done already. Thus: They claim Jesus showed his regard for Sunday, and put special honor upon it, by appearing to his disciples on that day after his resurrection. Now to make any point on this, they must necessarily claim that he did not appear to them on any other day; for if he met with them on other days beside Sunday, it would have lost its prominence. This claim they endeavor to make good by stretching a week out over eight or ten days, so as to make two events, more than eight days apart, fall on Sunday. But Luke says that Jesus showed himself alive to his disciples after his passion, “being seen of them forty days.” Therefore he appeared to them every day between his resurrection and his ascension, just as would naturally be expected; and so our friends who think that they can prove that Jesus showed himself to them only on Sunday, have the Scriptures to help them out in their claim that every day in the week is Sunday. There are some unfortunate persons, known as tramps, who might, on that basis, hail with delight a law forbidding work on Sunday.
While the Occident was about it, we cannot see why it does not claim that the crucifixion also took place on Sunday. Then it would have had much more cause to regard the day as sacred. But why pursue the matter further? The fact that men of intelligence are forced to invent such childish excuses for the observance of Sunday, is as good an argument as can be asked for to prove that Sunday has no claim whatever to be regarded as a sacred day. For our part, we deem it far more satisfactory to observe the Sabbath which God has sanctified, and which does not slip around so much, but can always be found on the same day of the week—the seventh.
UNITY, BUT HOW?
By M. C. W.
THE Catholic Review of March 9 gladly acknowledges “that the increasing desire for unity, manifested among the various denominations of our separated [Protestant] brethren, is a most hopeful sign.” It speaks of the large and increasing number among devout Protestants “who are convinced that schism is a sin,” and that unity is necessary in order to comply with Scripture. The Review continues:—
“These good people acknowledge frankly that the endless divisions among Protestants are all wrong—a very great evil—but they live in hope of some future scheme of union which shall unite them all in one body. We insist that this is a vain hope, and that the only possibility of unity lies in a return to the Catholic Church, which has an infallible principle of unity, and which has preserved the true faith and the unbroken Christian traditions from the beginning.”
After pointing out the difficulties to unity, the article closes thus:—
“Now, if, as is clear as the sun at noonday, union among Protestant sects is impossible, and if schism is a sin, what are you going to do about it?”
Many will no doubt do as the Review insists, “return to the Catholic Church,” and accept of that unity which consists of permitting someone else to be conscience for them; but there is a better “scheme of union,” and that is a return to the Scriptures of truth. There is union, soul-satisfying union, in God’s word. It comes first by union with God through Christ, entire submission to God’s will, and his word solely as the guide in all matters of faith. The Spirit of God will lead such into the unity of the faith, a unity not patched up, but union of heart and mind, where God’s watchmen will “see eye to eye.” And the only reason why there is not such union among Protestants is because they are trying to hold to the Bible while they are determined to hold to tradition. Thus they make void the commandments of God that they may keep their tradition. Holding to tradition, they logically ought to become Catholics; but if they will cut loose from all tradition contrary to truth, they may become united on “the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12. What will they do? It is either Rome or the Bible.
M. C. W.
THE SABBATH OF THE LORD.
By M. C. W.
IN past articles it has been conclusively shown that the Sabbath originated at creation; that it was the blessed and sanctified rest-day of the Creator; that it was made for the whole race; that it is in no sense Jewish any more than any other moral precept; that it was kept by the holy men of the patriarchal dispensation; that its character was emphasized as moral and immutable by being spoken with nine other moral precepts, and written on tables of enduring stone, by God himself; that it is in no sense typical or shadowy, but a memorial of God’s creative power and love.
It has been shown that the law of which it is a part is perfect and complete in itself; that it was honored and magnified by Christ; that “one jot or tittle should in no wise pass from the law” till eternity should end; that therefore no change could take place in any precept of that law; that the apostles and early Christians honored the law, and the Sabbath; that it was lost to the church not through faithfulness to God, but through the great apostate system, the Papacy; and that the Scriptures predict a reform upon the law and Sabbath in these our days, just before Christ appears.
All these are facts; while, on the other hand, there is no support whatever for Sunday in the Scriptures. It is an institution wholly human, a part of that tradition the keeping of which makes void the commandment of God.
A prophecy of Rev. 14 was considered last week. We wish to here notice some predictions in “the gospel prophet.” Isaiah, chapter 56, presents a prophecy of the closing years of probation, when God’s “salvation is near to come” and his “righteousness to be revealed.” God’s righteousness, his holy law (Isa. 56:6, 7), as before shown, will be heralded to the world just before Christ comes (Rev. 14:6-14); and that coming will bring redemption. 1 Thess. 4:16. And when that coming is at hand, his salvation is near, or, what is the same thing, his redemption draws nigh. Luke 21:25-28. See also Ps. 50:3-6. The prophet continues: “Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.” Isa. 56:2. Then, that no Gentile may say that it is a Jewish institution, God makes a promise to strangers, or those who are not of Israel, if they will only take hold of his covenant and keep the Sabbath. Verse 6. The last part of the chapter is a condemnation of the false shepherds of the last days.
In the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, is another message of reform. It is connected with the fifty-ninth chapter, both relating to the time when Christ is about to put on the garments of vengeance and come to redeem his people. Chapter 59:17-20. The message is to the professed people of God, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression.” Chapter 58:1. Yet they are seemingly unconscious216of it. They seek God daily just as though they were doing righteousness, or keeping all his commandments. They seek God and fast for his blessing. But they do not seek him aright; they do not put away their sins; they do not seek the old paths. Jer. 6:16. But among the professed church of God are ever found those who will heed the warning of the Lord and turn from transgression. This is what the prophet says of that class which will heed this message:—
“And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.” Isa. 58:12-14.
This is the closing work of the gospel of Christ (Rev. 14:6, 7), the restoration of the old paths, the building up of the testimony, the sealing of God’s law among his disciples. Isa. 8:16, 17. Those who heed this message will seek out “the old paths” and “the good way,” and will “walk therein;” they will turn their feet from his holy Sabbath; they will honor him by keeping all of his commandments, and the faith of Jesus.”
One more text, and we close this series of articles. The Sabbath ends not with probation; it is not for a fallen world alone; it is a blessing throughout the eternal years of the earth restored:—
“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon [month] to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:22, 23.
The message of Isa. 58 and 59 and Rev. 14 are being given to the world. For over forty years men who have come from all denominations, from every walk of life, have, by searching God’s word, seen the light of his truth, the light of his law, the light of his gospel, and they have been compelled by honest convictions and force of evidence to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Possessing the Spirit of Christ, they have been compelled to give this message to others, till truth has girdled the world. As men have borne this message into unknown parts, they have found that God has gone out before them. Others taught by God’s word and Spirit alone are found who have come to the same conclusion.
On the other hand, Sunday, the child of Paganism and the Papacy, is being pushed forward, not by Scripture proof or the Spirit of God, but by strong human organizations, Protestant and Papal combined, who are seeking to intrench it in the strong citadel of State civil law, in order to compel its observance by all. We earnestly hope that our many readers may not be influenced by the sophistry of men to support or adhere to an institution which is opposed in letter and spirit to the holy law of God, which Christ died to honor and maintain. “Let no man deceive you with vain words.”
God’s law cannot be abolished; it is as enduring as his throne. Its principles are the reflect of his character. Upon it his Government is based. In its very nature it is unchangeable. The “man of sin,” mighty in earth, has thought to change it, but it is only for a time. The time of Papal darkness and tradition is almost over. Long time has it existed. “How long, O Lord, how long?” arose again and again through the long and dreary centuries of Papal rule and ruin from dying martyrs and persecuted saints. But God remembered his people. Light came from the monk’s cell, from the soldier’s camp fire, from the scholar’s study, from the peasant’s cot,—from the open Bible the light flashed forth. All Europe was illuminated. The powers of evil could not stay the work. Thousands poured out their blood upon the altar of truth and light. It did not quench but fed the flame. It was the beginning of the Reformation from Pagan and Papal error.
That Reformation is not yet ended. One of its last reforms is the restoration of God’s ancient Sabbath. “The old paths” are to be relaid; “the foundations of many generations” are to be built up; the “breach” in God’s law is to be restored. The remnant church will be found keeping all of the commandments of God as well as all the faith of Jesus. Reader, will you be among that number? Build over against your own house. Turn to the old ways laid down in the word of God. Protestant, you stand on the Bible in principle, stand on it in practice. It will not pay to be deceived; “God is not mocked.” Break from the superstitious fetters of an apostate church, and turn to the pure truths of the word of God. If you do this ere the last threefold message shall have done its work, you will be numbered among those of whom it is said, “Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”
Precious Sabbath! thou hast survived the wreck of nations, the turmoil of time, and the storms of ages. Thou didst first come from thy Creator fair and pure, not knowing the stain of sin. The beauties of a sinless Eden were about thee. No noisy strife, no clash of words, no oath profane, no din of labor, no sinful speech, broke upon the sacred stillness at thy birth in the Paradise of God. Thou wast consecrated by the rest of thy Creator, the happy songs of sinless ones, the glad praises of a sinless world. Thou hast seen the rebellion of the race, the curse of sin, the track of the serpent, the rise and fall of nations, the sufferings of thine Author. Thou, too, hast suffered from the hand of the enemy, been trodden under foot like thy divine Lord, wounded in the house of thy friends, crucified between two thieves. But thou shalt come forth again clad in eternal beauty. The coronet of immortality will be placed on thy brow. Thou shalt dwell forevermore in the earth made new—in the Paradise of God restored. Thou hast seen Eden lost; thou shalt witness it restored, nevermore to be marred by the blight of sin, but reflecting eternally the goodness and glory of thine Author and Preserver.
Be thou still our friend. Speak to us of God the Father, of God the Son,—Creator and Redeemer. Tell us of the glorious home before sin entered, of the love of God in giving that home. Cheer us with the promise of glorious rest by and by, when weary toil will be over, when the riches of grace ripen into the riches of glory, when the earth shall be filled with that glory as waters cover the sea, when the Lord God our Father shall dwell with his people, when tears shall be wiped from all faces, when there shall be no more death, when we shall “see the King in his beauty.”
And then from month to month shall the redeemed meet in joyous festival in the city of God to partake of the fruit of “life’s fair tree.” From Sabbath to Sabbath will they meet in Zion’s walls to bathe in the refulgent glory emanating from the Creator, and learn deeper, broader, higher, more satisfying lessons of the greatness and goodness of Him who washed them from their sins in His own blood. Like a rainbow arch the Sabbath spans the chasm made by sin; one end of the bow resting in Eden, fresh from the hand of Omnipotence, the other end, in Eden restored, while all through the dark valley of death, light from above has cleft the gloom and revealed to the faithful of all ages the perfect law and Sabbath of the Lord.
“Sweet day of rest!
With God’s best gifts so richly blessed;
The verdant spot where all is dreary—
The fountain where the faint and weary
May drink, and wander on refreshed—
Sweet day of rest!”