Earlier text: THE LIVING WATERENDING OF THE PROPHETIC DAYS.
By J. O. Corliss
Daniel having received the time message, as given by the angel (Dan. 8:13), and the heavenly command having been uttered to make the prophet understand it, the angel began his instruction to Daniel, by saying that 70 weeks were “determined” (“Hebrew chathak, literally, to cut off, tropically, to divide, and so to determine, decree.”—Gesenius) upon his people, the house of Israel. In these 490 days, to be “cut off” from the 2300, transgression was to be restrained, and reconciliation for iniquity was to be accomplished, by the introduction and proclamation of everlasting righteousness, thru the anointing of the Lord Jesus. Dan. 9:24. The beginning of these days was to be reckoned from the going forth of the final commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem. Verse 25. This commandment was issued by Artaxerxes to Ezra. Ezra 7:8, 12, 13. The chronological date in the margin of this chapter gives the time of this commandment as 457 B.C. Beginning with this date, 69 weeks were to extend to the manifestation of the Messiah. To learn the nature and time of this development, it is necessary to know the definition of the name “Messiah.” This may be learned by the marginal rendering of that word as used in John 1:41. There it is rendered “the Anointed.” Jesus was not anointed at His birth, or at His circumcision, nor even at His first appearance in the temple, but by the descent of the Holy Spirit, with the proclamation, “Thou art My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Acts 10:38; Mark 1:9–11. This occurred at the baptism of the Saviour, some time in the autumn of 27 A.D. Taking the two dates (457 B.C. | 27 A.D.) and adding them together, we have the sum of 484 years. But when we make allowance for seven months of 457 B.C. which expired before the decree to build Jerusalem went into effect (see the full account in Ezra), and also for at least five months of A.D. 27 which had not yet expired at the time of Christ’s baptism, we have one full year to subtract from the 484 years, the result obtained from adding together 457 entire years B.C., and 27 complete years reckoned in the Christian era. This would make the time between the carrying out of the commandment to build Jerusalem, and the actual manifestation of the Messiah to be just 483 years. This exactly corresponds to the number of days which make up the 69 weeks the prophet was told would span that time, and is therefore the best of evidence that the prophetic days thus employed were intended to be symbols of literal years. See also Eze. 4:6. One more week of the seventy to be given to the recognition of old Israel as the “chosen” people remained. During this week the Messiah was to confirm the covenant with many, thru the offering of His own life for the sins of the world. His own blood having been spilled on the cross, it follows that all the sacrifices and oblations which pointed with shadowy finger to that event, must cease. This was to occur in the “midst,” or middle, of that seventieth prophetic week. Inasmuch as the 69 weeks ended with the manifestation of the Messiah, the seventieth week must begin at the same period. This would give three and one-half prophetic days, or literal years, to the Saviour’s ministry. Adding this time to the autumn of A.D. 27, the time of Christ’s baptism and anointing, the crucifixion must have occurred in the spring of A.D. 31. But there were still three and one-half years to be devoted to confirming the everlasting covenant among the first witnesses for the truth. Adding these to the spring of A.D. 31, they bring us in our reckoning to the autumn of A.D. 34. At this time the rejection of Christ by old Israel was completed by the official act of the Jewish elders in condemning Stephen to death, and thus scattering abroad the church which was at Jerusalem. Acts 6:9–15; 8:1–4. See chronological date in margin of last chapter quoted. Thus ended the 70 weeks, or 490 years, of the 2300, which were to reach to the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary. These subtracted from the 2300 leave 1810 years to be added to the autumn of A.D. 34, which would end in the autumn of 1844. At the end of these days the sanctuary of Dan. 8:14 was to be cleansed. In the yearly cleansing of the earthly sanctuary, which was a type or shadow of the heavenly, the high priest went into the most holy place, before the ark containing the Ten Commandments, and there made atonement for the sins of the people. Following the type, Christ, our great High Priest, must, in the time of cleansing the heavenly sanctuary, pass into the “holy of holies,” before the ark of God’s commandments, there to perform the closing work for His people, preparatory to coming to earth to receive them unto Himself. The present generation of men are therefore in the same position as indicated in the type, namely, awaiting the final adjustment of their cases, in order to the closing of their probation. Truly a most solemn time. LOVE'S WORK.
By Seth Smith
“BEAR ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” Gal. 6:2, 3. We can not bear one another’s burdens, unless we have the love of God. And we can not have the love of God, unless we have faith in Christ—Christ dwelling in us by faith—which will cause us to be something instead of being nothing. I Cor. 13:2. Then, if a man think himself to be something when he has not love, he deceives himself. But it does not seem right to say that a man is nothing, after that God has created a new heart in him; for that would be saying that God has failed, that He has made nothing, when in fact He has made something out of nothing. “God is love.” Then surely they that have love are “partakers of the divine nature,” and are something. What they do they do in love, and do not study to be approved of men, but “study to be approved of God.” They that have not the love of God (they who are nothing) can not “bear the burdens of others, and so fulfil the law of Christ,” because they have not Christ dwelling in their hearts by faith. They are always the ones who delight in outward show, in forms, ceremonies, and perhaps think that they must do some wonderful work in order to be saved, not knowing that a wonderful work must be done in them before they can be saved. “The law of Christ” being the law of love, we must first have love before we can fulfil it. The man without the love of God is the man who will think himself to be something, and will be looking around for some one to bear his burdens, instead of troubling himself about the burdens of others. We often hear this remark, “There is nothing to him.” “There is nothing to him,” and it is because the man is without the love of God. We never know where to find him, except it is on the wrong side. But the man with the love of God in his heart is sure to make it manifest that there is something to him, tho he may not be considered smart or educated. A PREACHER was praying, “O Lord, send us an old-fashioned revival.” “Amen,” responded a brother. “Send us,” continued the preacher, “a revival that will help us all to love one another.” “Amen,” shouted the same brother. “O Lord,” continued the preacher, “send us a debt-paying revival.” That settled his “Amens.” “For we walk by faith, not by sight,” says an apostle. 2 Cor. 5:7. But by this we are not to understand that faith is blind or deaf or senseless in any way. May faith not be the surest way of walking, after all? Let us study the text. By walking is to be understood Christian progress, following Christ, pursuing His steps in the path of life. Faith is taking God at His Word; yielding absolutely to Him in all things; to be or not to be, to do or not to do, as He wills. In walking we make use of three senses especially, namely, sight, feeling, hearing. In walking physically we do not always see the way. Sometimes we must feel our way in the darkness. A friendly wall on the right, a tree or a post on the left, a kind hand to lead, are always helpful in the deep, black darkness, when sight is useless. But there are times when no human eye can see the way, no foot is sensible to the beaten path (for there is none), no friendly wall or guide-posts direct the way; we toss our hands in darkness, and reach forth to touch some familiar object, but find none. One thing only is left. We listen, O how intently we listen, for some sound to guide us; and like the ship enshrouded in the dense fog on a pathless sea, we heed the sound, the warning bell, the loud whistle, the friendly voice, and are safely guided. Thrice blessed is he who can use all these precious helps. Faith is not blind. She sees,—not in the dim vision of eyes blurred by sin, but by clearer sight than earth knows. The seeing, however, is not ours, but God’s. The prophet Ezekiel helps us into the secret in the following: “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me thither. In the visions of God brought He me into the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain; . . . and behold, there was a Man [Christ], . . . and the Man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee; for to the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought hither. Declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.” Ch. 40:1–4. “Visions” means “seeings.” “Visions of God” means “seeings of God.” Unbelieving Israel looked upon their condition and environments with the eye of flesh; they saw only with human vision. God wished them, as He wishes all, to see with His seeing, to view things as He views them, in all their eternal importance. As with Ezekiel, so with the other prophets and writers of Inspiration. They saw with the seeing of God. They heard His messages as He gave them, and they have revealed to His people the things of God. Their word is His word. Their visions are His seeings translated to us thru the human messenger. We look upon the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16)—as pleasing in its incipient stage. Its flowering is gaudy, and sometimes even beautiful; its fragrance is intoxicating, and we love to lie in the lap of “sensuous ease.” Self questions: “Why not indulge ‘appetite a little? surely it can do no harm, and ministers pleasure. Why not enjoy the indulgence of sensual clamoring? These things are a part of our nature; why not follow that which seems beautiful? Why not adorn ourselves with it? Why not indulge the lust, the overweening or unlawful desires of the eye? Why may we not gaze upon secret things, and minister to the curious and prurient? Why not foster our pride? Why not boast of our strength, our wisdom, our knowledge, our riches, our possessions—in short, the pride of life?—Why not?” To human vision these things in a degree seem laudable. But these things minister only to the flesh and its perverted desires. They are sinful; they miss the mark; they “come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:23. “Sin, when it is finished [“full-grown,” R.V.], bringeth forth death.” James 1:15. God sees the fruit in the flower; He desires you to do the same. He sees the full-grown plant in the seed. He wants His children to see it. These things are of the world, “and the world passeth away, and the lust thereof.” God sees it all. He tells it all. He anxiously longs that His children shall see as He sees, shall know that in the enticing flower of lust there is deadly fruit; that in the pleasurable companionship of sin’s sirens there is the loathsome body of death, that would drag us down to destruction with its clutch of skeleton hands, hidden now with sensual, glowing flesh. Sin is death. The last enemy lurks in every part of it. The only way, the only sure, certain way to know and conquer our deadliest enemy, is to look upon it with the seeing of God, and then turn from it with all our heart. But not alone the evils of the way does faith show us. Righteousness is life. In its sowing is the seeding of life. In God’s Book are the wonderful words of life, and “he is in the way of life that keepeth ‘instruction.’” “The labor [the seed-sowing] of the ‘righteous tendeth to life.’” “He that is steadfast ‘in righteousness shall attain unto life;’” that is, absolute, everlasting life. Prov. 11:19, R.V. “The ‘fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.’” “In the ‘way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway ‘thereof there is no death.’” “The Spirit is life ‘because of righteousness.’” That way of life may be by the path of self-denial, ending with Gethsemane and the cross and the grave; but there is no sepulcher so strong that it can lock in its embrace the child of righteousness. In his seed-sowing he may meet all the opposition of the world; all the contumely and reproach of a popular apostate church; he may be accounted an enemy to religion and the State; but he sows to righteousness, he forsakes sin, he lives the Word; and faith knows and sees that it is well; God is working out all things with them for good who trust in Him, who see with His seeing. Faith sees not only the beginning in unswerving allegiance to right and good and truth, but the end—immortality in the everlasting kingdom of God. What, then, are all the honors, the pleasures, the indulgences, the wealth, the power of the world? In a little while the eye of faith sees the dream in the past, and the “Dead Sea apples” of earthly sowing turn to ashes. What, then, are the few trials and conflicts and sorrows and self-denials and losses and deprivations and sacrifices! They are but “light afflictions,” which consume the sin and work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. “We walk by faith,” because we see farther, clearer, truer, better than in any other way. There is still more. We will continue the study next week. NOT “TRICKERY AND FRAUD.”
THAT versatile and incisive writer, Mrs. Ella Wheeler Wilcox, recently and truly said:— “In these days, when science is giving spirit-phenomena its serious attention, it savors of ignorance and obstinacy for an individual to declare all such manifestations are the result of trickery and fraud.” But she is just as truly in error in saying:— “After much investigation, I am satisfied that communication with disembodied spirits is possible—is an established fact, as established as wireless telegraphy, but much less satisfactory, and rarely resulting in positive good to the recipient.” She then recalls two satisfactory experiences which remain with her— “convincing, and comforting: for what can be more to the human mind than the belief that dear ones who have passed into the Silence may at times come near with words of warning and counsel? Nevertheless, I am confident it is not in harmony with God’s plan to call back these emancipated spirits; it delays their progress and interferes with our character-building.” And there is much more of the same character. How is Mrs. Wilcox right and how wrong, judged by the Word? 1. We answer the last question first. There are no disembodied human spirits that men can call back. “The living know that they shall die; but the ‘dead know not anything. . . . Also their love, ‘and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; ‘neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.” Eccl. 9:5, 6. “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, ‘in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, ‘he returneth to his earth; in that very day his ‘thoughts perish.” Ps. 146:3, 4. And so the apostle bases all the hopes of the future life on the resurrection from the dead; and if there be no resurrection, even “they also that are fallen asleep in ‘Christ are perished.” 1 Cor. 15:18. 2. The Bible reveals another class of beings not clothed in flesh, but spirits. These spirits are divided into two classes—good angels, at the head of whom is Christ, and evil angels, or demons, at the head of whom is Satan. In the great controversy which has waged between good and evil the fiercest contentions have been between these forces in the spiritual realms. Rev. 12:7-9. Satan is a deceiver; his angels are deceivers with him. He appears as an angel of light, and his ministers as ministers of righteousness. Knowing all about our friends in life, they come after these friends are dead, claiming to be their disembodied spirits. And that is the reason, as Mrs. Wilcox says, and the wrecking of many minds and lives testifies, that communication with these professedly human spirits is not only of no benefit, but contrary to God’s will, and of positive damage to the characters of those who admit them to companionship. All the spirits which are summoned at human bidding by some medium are the demons of the bottomless pit, tho they assume the guise of the dear and the holy. 3. God has His ministering spirits, the good angels. Heb. 1:14. They ever are doing for the race, rarely being seen, ever losing sight of self in their ministrations, ever calling the soul away from the creature to the Creator, away from the human to the divine, away from man to God and His Word. 4. The whole false conception of spirit-phenomena is based upon the erroneous belief of man’s immortal soul or spirit, capable of existing as a conscious, intelligent entity apart from the body. But this theory has no foundation in the Word. Spirit (or soul), as connected with man, means life. It came from God as life alone; it returns to God as life. The individual entity involves the whole man. Turn from all these spirit-phenomena to the Word of God. In the words of the prophet: “Should not ‘a people seek unto their God? On behalf of the ‘living should they seek unto the dead? To the law ‘and to the testimony’ if they speak not according ‘to this word, surely there is no morning for them.” Isa. 8:19, 20, R. V. BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED.
By G.
The flood in Noah’s time came upon the earth because of the hopeless condition of the people. They would not be saved, and therefore they could not. “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. . . . And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air. . . . But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Gen. 6:5-8. So Noah was saved by grace, or unmerited favor, notwithstanding the record that he was “a just man and perfect [margin, “upright”] in his generation,” and that he “walked with God.” Because Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, he was taken into the confidence of the Lord, just as Abraham and Lot were taken into His confidence in the matter of the destruction of Sodom. “The Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” Ch. 18:17, 18. Lot also was saved by grace, when the thing shown to Abraham came to pass. The Lord “delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds).” 2 Peter 2:7, 8. The fact that we are saved by grace is emphasized in the statement that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom. 5:8. That puts every man, however good his record, on the roll of beneficiaries of grace; for Christ was the “Lamb slain [in purpose] from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8), before even Adam was created. But the expression, “By grace are ye saved,” is supplemented by a condition. That condition is faith. “By grace are ye saved, thru faith.”7 So when God “said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence thru them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth,” He also said, “Make thee an ark.” Then He told Noah to take of “every living thing of all flesh” into the ark with him, “to keep them alive.” To this end the Lord added the instruction, “And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.” Now suppose Noah had not believed the Lord, and had not gone to work to carry out His instruction, how much benefit would he have received from the grace of God? The grace of God is manifested in the offer of salvation, but the salvation can be actually bestowed only thru faith. The grace of God was shown to all the people to whom God sent Noah to preach the Gospel, but they did not find the grace because they did not believe the Word preached to them. Noah found grace because he believed. “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear [margin, “being wary”], prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Heb. 11:7. Note that Noah condemned the world, not by reproaching them, not in his preaching the Gospel to them, but in building the ark. It was in this that his faith was pre-eminently demonstrated in contrast with the unbelief of mankind in general. When the flood came, the ark stood out as the visible witness against all unbelief of God’s word, and in vindication of Noah’s faith. The record in Genesis says that Noah did “according to all that God commanded him.” Then “the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation.” Noah’s righteousness consisted in his faith. While he had previously “walked with God,” the supreme test of his faith was the building of the ark. It was a faith exercised concerning “things not seen as yet.” No one ever had seen rain; no one ever had seen a flood; no one ever had seen a great boat floating upon the water. The wise men of Noah’s time scoffed at such propositions, as being unscientific and absurd. But it was with Noah as it was afterward with Abraham, he “believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Rom. 4:3. “Faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.” Verse 9. Abraham’s faith was notably “tried” when he “offered up his only begotten son.” As in the case of Noah, he was tested concerning “things not seen as yet”; for he offered Isaac “accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead.” Now Abraham, or any one else at that time, never had seen a person raised from the dead; but God had promised to make of Abraham a great nation, and the promise specified that it should come thru Isaac. So Abraham reasoned that God’s word could not fail, and the resurrection of Isaac was essential to its fulfilment. Noah had received much of the blessing of God before the flood; but his entry into the ark, his salvation when all the scoffers and unbelievers were destroyed, was after demonstrating his faith by obedience. It was thru obedience that the righteousness of his faith was sealed. The word was, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation.” Then acceptable faith is practicable, visible. It is a theory that is demonstrable only in good works. “Faith, if it hath not works, is dead.” Jas. 2:17. When Abraham had proved his faith in offering up his son Isaac, the Lord said, “Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me.” Gen. 22:12. Then the Lord magnified the promise, and added His oath to it. To the promise of an innumerable seed He added, “And thy seed shall possess the gate of His enemies” (meaning a final great victory); “because thou hast obeyed My voice.” Verses 17, 18. The manifestations of faith are not that the Lord may know the heart; they are for witnesses to the truth before men, and for the purpose of proving us, that we ourselves may know whether we are in the faith. God does not want us to be deceived concerning ourselves. See 2 Cor. 13:5. God knew Noah before his great test in proclaiming the flood and building the ark, and established His covenant with him before he began the work. Gen. 6:18. He also knew Abraham before the trial of his faith on Mount Moriah. Before confiding to him the fate of Sodom, the Lord said, “I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.” Ch. 18:19. But God designs that the faith of His children shall glorify Him before the world. In this they are to be witnesses for Him unto all nations. He says to them, “Ye are the light of the world. . . . Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 5:14-16. Two conspicuous characteristics will mark those who stand out in opposition to the wickedness that will pervade the earth when the judgment of God is again poured out; they will “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12. And the peculiar sign that will show their faith by their works, at which the wicked will scoff as they did at Noah and his ark, will be the “Sabbath of the Lord”—which is the sign between God and His people forever. Ex. 31:12-17; Eze. 20:19, 20. “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Matt. 19:17. The overthrow of Sodom was a type of the final judgment upon the wicked, and her people were destroyed because of “their unlawful deeds.” G. A READER of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, believing that there are godly people among its readers, asks their prayers for the only son of an invalid mother. The young man has “good habits, honest and gentlemanly, but seems to have lost ‘all faith that there are any Christians except his ‘mother, and that she would be good anyhow; he ‘has seen so much fraud and deceit amongst church-‘members.” And we are asked to request “the prayers of all parents in behalf of her son’s conversion, earnestly and with faith for one month, at every ‘devotion in prayer, and if he is changed, for their ‘comfort will let them know thru your paper.” This is signed “An Anxious Mother.” As this is a typical case of many, many other requests which come to Christians in public life, it may be of help to those making these requests to study a few things. 1. Are those asking this boon of God clear with Him? Are they “reconciled to God”? God is ever open to help the needy as far as He can. Do they stand where He can? Are they in harmony with His will? Have they confessed and put away every known sin? Are they walking in all the light which is shining upon their pathway? Why ask these questions? Well, the letter which we have quoted from above begins by saying:— “I have read several copies of your paper. I can not understand why one day in seven to keep holy is not all right, called either the first or the seventh. But of this I do not bother my mind. I try to keep my one day in the fear of God.” 2. Now, here is a point of duty which doubtless has “bothered the mind” of our correspondent, else why mention it? We do not refer to it because it pertains to the Sabbath day. The same principle is involved as regards every other command of God. The question is not as to what we understand, but, What does God say? The child who implicitly trusts and obeys his parent, does it many times when he does not understand; but he knows and has demonstrated many times when he did understand, that “father knows best,” and the only wise, grateful, true thing to do is to obey. God has not said “one ‘day in seven;” He has not left the Sabbath to the caprice or whim of divers and discordant human minds, however well-intentioned; He has given a specific day, hedged about with His own holy rest, blessing, sanctification, and law; and in infinite love He commands, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. . . . The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” We can not make by our keeping any day holy. We can not keep holy a day which God has not made holy. We can keep holy only that which He has made holy. Now, if this duty has come to this “anxious mother,” let her settle that with God. The only way that she can have a mind at rest is to have it at peace with God, in perfect harmony with His holy will, His law. Ps. 40:8. We may solace ourselves by a perverted conscience, by a perverted custom, by a counterfeit scheme; but it is but the soporific of sin, never the true rest of soul; and in the great judgment day when we stand face to face with God’s holy law, and Christ’s perfect example, both of which we have knowingly slighted, our hope shall forever perish. And we say again, This principle applies to every moral duty. 3. God never works by halves. If He lays the burden of a soul’s salvation upon one or two or three, He will co-operate with that one or two or three. United prayer is good; but we would rather have the prayers of two or three godly persons who knew our need, who could talk over the case, who were burdened for our soul with the burden given of God, who therefore could pray unitedly, than the prayers of all the readers of the Signs who prayed out of mere sympathy, but upon whom no special burden from the Lord came. Do not misunderstand us. Let all who pray, pray for the son with the mother, as God leads. We are sure He will hear her prayer, if she is rightly related to God. “If any man will do His will, he shall know.” John 7:17. “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” 1 John 3:22. He may not answer in just the way the mother wishes; He will not convert the son against his will; but God will answer in the very best way He can consistently with our good and His glory. 4. Human “fraud and deceit” in the ranks of God’s people, there have nearly always been. As long as a genuine is of great worth, Satan will have his counterfeits. But Christ Jesus came to save men from these very evils; and He accomplished His work for all who will look to Him, even tho He was put to death by the hypocrites, the fraudulent. Let all these things of wickedness lead us to look all the more earnestly to the genuine, the all-sufficient, in Christ Jesus our Lord. (1) Where is the difference between a papal indulgence to commit sin, and a government license for same privilege? (2) Does not every soul that sins indulge, or license itself [himself]? J. C. K. 1. The principle may be the same. There is a difference, however, in motive and effect. The first is done under the cloak of religion by an organization standing, professedly, for Him who came and died to save men from sin. Civil government exists for the purpose of restraining incivility, to protect men in rights common to all. It is practically based on policy and expediency. At its best it can give nothing but temporary benefit. Of course, a Christian acting as a civil officer could not do an unchristian thing. 2. Yes, if he justifies himself in that sin. There are slaves of sin, who continue in sin, knowing the consequences of sin, admitting all its evil, yet knowing no power to save from sin. But that soul who indulges in sin, and justifies himself in sin, grants himself license to sin. The Papacy is not confined to the Vatican. It is found first in the individual heart. It is perversion usurping the rule of right; it is self enthroned as love; it is sin usurping the place of righteousness; it is man exalting himself to the place of God. Whether in one individual or in an aggregate of ten millions, the principle is the same. Connected with the civil power, or the civil power controlled by this principle, it is well likened to a cruel, rapacious “beast.” 1160. Predestination and Free Will.
Is predestination possible in the exercise of free will? K. It is. In brief, God has predestinated (marked-out-beforehand) character, and has foreordained that a certain number of pre-marked-out characters shall inherit this earth. All that is of worth in God’s sight is character. All that men truly prize in men is character. Those characters, pre-determined, were all alike righteous, yet each having its own individuality, all at last perfectly fitting together in the great temple of God’s saved ones. Each character contemplated victory, and so crowns await them. Each character was in the beginning named appropriately, and those names recorded in the Lamb’s book of life from the foundation of the world, from the planning of this cosmos. Every soul coming to accountability (for it is to such that God’s message comes) is called to one of these characters; and it is the privilege of that soul to choose or refuse the call; to submit to God and let God by His providence, His power, His love, shape that soul into that character; or to reject God’s love at any stage, and let some other soul take the character, the crown, and, what will be when character is formed, the new name. If the scriptures which teach these things are unfamiliar to those interested, they can follow no more profitable study than looking them up. If more light is wanted, send for Bible Student’s Library, No. 67, “Bible Election;” price, two for five cents, or ask for further information. The swine of Matt. 7:6 represents those whose natures are so gross, selfish, and swinish that they can see no more value in the priceless pearls of truth than in worthless clay; Satan’s agents, who are sent to hinder the work and consume the time of the minister of God, and lower the more spiritual truths of the Gospel to the things of the world; “devilish, sensual, not having the ‘Spirit.’” They must be reached in some other way than by feeding them on pearls of spiritual truth.