p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 14. (4/3/1901)

Earlier text: Whole-Wheat Bread Versus White Bread

LESSON 2.—APRIL 13.—OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST.

[Note to the Student.—These lessons are not designed to be exhaustive, but suggestive. In references to the “Desire of Ages,” in the lessons, the subscription edition is referred to. Those who have only the trade edition will find the matter in chapters 4, 11, 27, 71, 77, 78; also read “Patriarchs and Prophets,” chapters 5 and 30. “Christ Our Advocate,” Bible Students’ Library No. 120 (price, 10 cents), and “Looking unto Jesus” (price, $1.00) will be found a great help. The SIGNS OF THE TIMES will have an article on the subject of each lesson this quarter by J. O. Corliss. Read these articles in connection with the study of the lesson. We have not space to print all the Scriptures. Let the student study them carefully from the Bible. Those printed are from the Revised Version.]

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

1. Whom are we exhorted to consider?

“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus.” Heb. 3:1.

2. What statements are made that show that this subject requires study and divine enlightenment?

“And having been made perfect, He became unto all them that obey Him the Author of eternal salvation; named of God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.” Heb. 5:9.

“Of whom we have many things to say, and hard of interpretation, seeing ye are become dull of hearing. For when by reason of the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again that some one teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food. For every one that partaketh of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. But solid food is for full-grown men, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.” Heb. 5:11-14.

3. For what purpose is a high priest ordained?

“For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it is necessary that this high priest also have somewhat to offer.”

“For every high priest, being taken from among men, is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.” Heb. 8:3; 5:1.

4. What gift did Christ offer?

“And walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.” Eph. 5:2.

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Heb. 9:14. (Note 1.)

5. By whom and how was Christ made high priest?

“And inasmuch as it is not without the taking of an oath (for they indeed have been made priests without an oath; but He with an oath by Him that saith of Him, ‘The Lord sware and will not repent Himself, Thou art a priest forever.’) Heb. 7:20, 21.

6. To what order of priesthood was Christ appointed?

“Whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” Heb. 6:20.

7. Why was He not made a priest after the order of Aaron?

“Now if there was perfection through the Levitical priesthood (for under it hath the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be reckoned after the order of Aaron?”

“For there is a disannulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness (for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in thereupon of a better hope, through which we draw nigh unto God.” Heb. 7:11, 18, 19. (Heb. 10:1. Note 2.)

8. What is said of the nature of Christ’s work as priest?

“And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins; but He, when He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made the footstool of His feet. For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” Heb. 10:11-14. (Heb. 7:23, 24).

9. What is He able to do?

“Wherefore also He is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Heb. 7:25.

NOTES.

1. “None but the Son of God could accomplish our redemption; for only He who was in the bosom of the Father could declare Him. Only He who knew the height and depth of the love of God could make it manifest. Nothing less than the infinite sacrifice made by Christ in behalf of fallen man could express the Father’s love to fallen humanity.”—Steps to Christ, p. 13.

2. Jesus Christ was both king and priest. Aaron was only priest. Jesus reigns with His Father on the throne of grace while He reconciles souls to God. He reconciles souls that He may reign in their hearts. Aaron could not rightly typify Christ our royal priest, our reconciling King.

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SEND 15 CTS. FOR ONE POST-PAID. Agents do well selling it. Do you want to try it?

Address TATT BROTHERS & CO., 1311 Fourth Ave., E. Oakland, Cal.

Good Health

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A WORD OF CHEER.

The following letter from Toronto, Canada, speaks for itself. We pray that the Lord may so continue to speak thru the SIGNS that it may be a continual help:—

“Dear Sirs and Brothers: Greeting. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ rest upon and remain with you, and with your work. Amen.

“To us who have believed He is precious.

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Salesmen Wanted

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The World Approaches Armageddon

The spectacle of the pope melting up 150,000 firearms in a specially prepared furnace in the Vatican may give consolation to some with the hope that peace for the world is coming. But while he burns up these extra stands of arms, he still retains his Palatine Guards. Why not dispose of them also? This would certainly be the consistent thing for any one to do who professes to be the vicar of Christ. However, the delusive dream that the world is approaching a time of peace should not be allowed to steal over any one for a moment. The pope has burned up a lot of firearms, no doubt too much out of date to be valuable except in a museum of antiquities; but every nation on earth is strengthening and extending its military equipments until the burden has become so great as to be well-nigh unendurable. It is the battle of the great day of the Lord on the fields of Armageddon that the world is driving up to, and not to a time of peace.

The California Legislature

The California Legislature adjourned sine die at 11:30 o’clock P. M. on the 16th ult. In the history of this body for the past eighteen years the session just closed was unique from the fact that the question of Sunday observance was not in any way brought into its deliberations. No subject was introduced that in any way involved the question; and it can not be said that this result was because this particular Legislature was inferior to its predecessors in individual regard for the day as an institution. At the session of eighteen years ago, the old Sunday law was repealed because of a sudden outburst of radical enforcement after it had lain dormant for twenty years. And at every session since that time until the one just closed, there has been an effort to re-enact the law. At no time, however, has the effort originated with members of the Legislature. In every case the bill has been introduced at the instance of clergymen, on the pretext that the people wanted it, notwithstanding the fact that the people had voted the repeal by over seventeen thousand majority. Very heavy pressure has been brought at previous sessions, both upon the people to demand and upon the legislatures to enact a Sunday law, but so far the providence of God has overruled to ward off the infliction upon the State; for which providence there ought to be general thanksgiving that religious liberty still has a footing in the republic.

Duty of Parents

Read the article in another column, “Duty of Parents.” We are sure the article will prove a blessing to all parents who desire to know the better way.

The Bear and the Lion

And now it is the Bear and the Lion face to face growling in the far Orient, with the Bear having all the advantage. The South African chains upon the Lion are decidedly bothersome just now. After all, what a hopeless discord exists in the concert of nations. Yet above all the discord God rules.

The Nation’s Downward Drift

To him who has loved his country and her institutions, it is a sad sight to see her drifting to certain wreck and ruin out on the rocks of imperialism and greed. It was predicted by Daniel, it was predicted by John; and those who know the prophecies were sure it would come; but it is sad nevertheless. Her increase of the army to fight those who are struggling for liberty, the adoption of the Spooner Amendment, the breaking of plighted truth to Cuba, are all unmistakable evidences of the downward drift. But it is sad, and we sadly record it.

In What Is It Belief?

In writing, to a gentleman recently, we kindly intimated that it would be useless to bring the Bible as proof to him, because he did not believe the Bible. He replied: “I wish to disabuse your mind in regard to my belief of the Bible. I do believe all in it that is worthy of belief.” The veriest infidel believes he does this. But this is simply making his mind the standard of belief; he believes not God, but self. He believes not in the Bible, but in his opinion of it. Many believe in the same way, and think they are Bible believers. But the Bible believer is the man who believes it all.

Christian Science and Hypnotism

Mr. Frank W. Gale, of San Francisco, feels that the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has misrepresented Christian Science in classing it with hypnotism, magnetic healing, psychic healing, etc. He says among other things: “Christian Science is the very opposite of hypnotism; for instead of exercising any human will-power over a patient, or seeking to control his mind, it recognizes God’s divine mind as the power which governs man harmoniously, and makes him ‘free indeed.’” While we do not question Mr. Gale’s belief in the opinion expressed, we believe that the underlying principles of these religions and cults are identical. Of this we shall have more to say hereafter, when we shall quote from Christian Science authorities.

The Distance of the New Star

Some of the newspapers are telling us, with more or less definiteness, that the distance of the new star, recently discovered in the constellation Perseus, is so many million times the distance from the earth to the sun, and that it is some thousands of times larger than our sun. The simple fact is that its distance is a matter of pure conjecture. No astronomer has ever attempted to measure it, for the simple reason that the earth has not traveled far enough since its discovery to form a base line for the computation of the star's parallax. Its distance may be so great that no parallax will be shown at all. But the determination of this point is a matter of time, and before it can be computed the star may have entirely disappeared.

EASTWARD BOUND.

A SPECIAL car secured for those who attend the General Conference from this coast, left Oakland, March 21, going by the way of Ogden, and the Union Pacific, Chicago and Northwestern, and the Michigan Central railways, arriving in Battle Creek on Monday afternoon of the 25th. The following persons were in the party: C. H. Jones, M. C. Wilcox, J. N. Loughborough, C. M. Gardiner and wife, Miss Katie Wilcox, J. O. Corliss, Mrs. C. Holliday, J. O. Stedman, Mrs. Carrie King, B. L. Howe, Frank Saxby, L. O. Stowell, Miss Avah Stowell, M. H. Brown, N. B. Osborne, Miss Helen Chittenden, Mrs. J. Gotzian, Mrs. M. P. Stiles, J. W. Bagby, C. N. Martin, J. S. Reekie and wife, and D. E. Robinson. The three last named have just arrived from Australia, and B. L. Howe comes from Honolulu.

Mrs. E. G. White, W. C. White, Miss Sarah McEnterfer, Miss Maggie Hare, and N. C. McClure started one week earlier, going via the Sunset Route.

M. E. Cady, J. J. Ireland, and W. T. Knox and wife have gone by the way of Portland and Walla Walla.

C. Santee, H. H. Hall, Miss Sarah Peck, Miss Marian Davis, and others are to follow, by various routes, about a week later.

Some of the foregoing named persons are going as delegates to the Conference, and the rest are taking advantage of the reduced railroad rates to attend the Conference and enjoy its benefits.

What Is the Difference?

What is the Difference?—An esteemed brother thinks that there is perfect agreement between inspiration of ideas and inspiration of words (verbal inspiration), because words are symbols of ideas. It is possible that the two might be identical; but it is not at all probable. If God inspired the Biblical writers with merely the idea, which they are left to put into words of their own choosing, it follows that the writer must be capable of perfectly comprehending the ideas so as properly to express them with words; and it further follows that the minds of these writers must be able to grasp the infinity of the mind of God. For God spoke thru these men not alone that with which they were familiar, but that which they had no means of knowing, and in the nature of the case could not understand, which pertained to unrisen nations and future ages. Daniel expressly tells us that he did not understand what God moved him to write, and Peter tells us that the prophets searched their own writings to learn of the times of the Messiah, which they revealed to others, but did not themselves know. God took the man and used the best words that man was capable of using for the revelation of truth for all time; the meaning of these words is developed and revealed in the hearts and minds and lives of the people who receive them in the age and place where these words apply. There is a vast difference between verbal inspiration and idea inspiration.

There Is Naught in which to Glory.—

Mr. James Lane Allen, a writer of some note, tells us, as quoted by the Literary Digest of March 16, that “so far from there having been any national literary response to our war in the Philippines, it is certain that there has begun to appear a literature against it.” He says again: “I challenge any one to make any sort of collection of American literature that celebrates our long war of two years to subjugate an innocent people who never wronged us but by desiring the same liberty which we ourselves would die to defend.” “Then [at the time of the Revolution] we were a weak people struggling for liberty against a strong one; now we are a strong people making war on a weak one, who are struggling to be free. The spirit of national art finds everything to celebrate in the former; it has not yet discovered anything in the latter, to judge by its silence.”

The World's Intoxication with Money

In the New York World an enterprising lady reporter is giving from Sunday to Sunday, pen-and-pencil sketches of her interviews with some of the leading financiers and business men of to-day. One of the most impressive things in her articles is the description of the rush and drive that these men put into their intense pursuit of money. The world is intoxicated with the craze for money. People seem to think that if they could only get enough money, they would be at the top round of enjoyment, and in the rush to get gain they forget everything else. How awful will be the awakening in a short time, when their career will be cut short by the trumpet notes of the Archangel as He comes to earth in person to sound the knell of all these follies and begin His reign of righteousness!

A Worthy Question.

An article in the Outlook of March 16 on “Why the Chinese Dislike Foreigners,” has this in its closing paragraph: “Those who have followed us thus far will be able to judge for themselves what effect the administration of such an organization as the Roman Catholic Church has proved to be in China during the last sixty years would have, if transferred to the soil of any one of the countries which have treaties with China. There is good reason to believe that there is not one of them in which such causes [Catholic political interference] would not have produced worse results than have been seen in China until the late rising began.”

Consumption’s Toll on Life Insurance

The dread disease of consumption accounts for one-fourth of the deaths on which life-insurance policies are paid.