Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 7, 1876
LOOK UP.
By C. W. Stone
BY C. W. STONE.
TEXT : “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.” Psa. 19:1.
Thousands of people pass through the world without knowing what a telling picture of his works God spreads in the heavens on every starry night. Like Bunyan’s man with the muck-rake, they have acquired such a habit of looking down that the most glorious exhibition might be visible overhead without attracting their attention. They will gaze with admiration upon a well-wrought painting, admire its forest representations, look with awe upon its precipices, contemplate with pleasure the beauties of its blue sky and floating clouds, and go into ecstasies over its miniature waterfalls. They will pay hundreds of dollars for a painting of a landscape; and while they admire in it the beauties and perfection of the likeness, and talk of the skill of the artist, they often forget that this, beautiful as it may be, is but a faint representation of one of the great original pictures with which the great Artist has decorated our earth.
God has surrounded us with beautiful things and wonderful things well calculated to lift our minds to the contemplation of Him by whom all things were created. The study of the things of nature, pursued in a proper manner, will invariably enlarge the mind and elevate the thoughts; and when the door of Nature’s great storehouse of knowledge is once open, and the inquiring student gets a glimpse of its infinite fullness, he can but gaze in admiration, while from his swelling heart he pours forth praise and adoration to God, whose “tender mercies are over all his works.”
“To him who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language. For his gayer hours
She has a voice, a smile and eloquence
Of beauty; and she glides into his darker
Musings with a mild and gentle sympathy
That steals away their sharpness ere he is aware.”
The book of nature is ever present, always open. The lonely traveler may be cheered as he pursues his journey, and the weary laborer in the field may be rested as he toils, by turning his mind to the study of one of its pages.
Study the dewdrop, the waterfall, the blade of grass, the oak. Look closely at the beauties of the opening rose bud. “Consider,” said Jesus, “the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” “Consider” them. Do not let a passing glance suffice. “The lilies of the field,” even those that grow wild, without human care. What a happy selection to show God’s care! “Consider” “how they grow.” Yes; watch the rising stalk, the opening bud, the matchless painting of the unfolding leaf. “They toil not,” yet they are gloriously arrayed. Who arrays the lily in its gorgeous robes? Let Jesus tell. He says, “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field,”—ah! it is God that makes the lily grow. He has fixed His laws; and the obedient lily, growing, points us to its Creator.
The smallest of God’s works preach sermons. What, then, shall we say of the heavens? What an endless field for study! Look up! and contemplate for a while some of the grand things of the sky. In a clear day, look up into the ether of the heavens. Passing far beyond those light, fleecy clouds, we look at the sun. The eye cannot endure its exceeding brightness, but turns quickly away in pain. Think of the glory of God, which so far surpasses the light of the sun that mortal man cannot look upon his face, and live. Ex. 33:20. When the light from Heaven shone around Saul, he was made blind for three days. When the angel of the Lord descended from Heaven to call the Son of God from the tomb, the Roman guard fell to the ground as dead men; for “his countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow.” In the new earth there will be no need of the light of the sun, “for the Lord God giveth them light.”
We can form no just idea of the distance of the sun from us. It is about 92,000,000 miles, but the mind can hardly fathom that number. Rays of light are about 8¼ minutes in coming to us from the sun. The great size of the sun is another thing that baffles our comprehension. Here is an illustration: The moon is a body smaller than the earth, and much nearer to it than the sun is, its mean distance being 240,000 miles. It completes a revolution around the earth in about 28 days. Now imagine that the earth stands still during that time, and that the moon leaves a brilliant track to mark its path around the earth. This would be an enormous circle. Now place the sun where the earth is, and it would fill this whole circle made by the moon, and extend 200,000 miles beyond it on every side.
The grandest display of the handiwork of God, however, is visible on a starry night, when worlds on worlds bespangling the blue expanse are visible.
“Consider” the stars. A new picture every night—steadily changing all the time. The moon puts on a new face and appears farther to the east. Mark its place among the stars to-night, and see to-morrow night how much it has moved. The planets, sisters of the earth, are seen wandering apparently to and fro, moving in their appointed orbits around the sun. The fixed stars appear to move all together toward the west, so that the star seen rising to-night at nine o’clock will appear at that time of night three months hence on the meridian, a line drawn from north to south overhead. This appearance is caused by the eastward journey of the earth in its orbit around the sun.
By noting these things we can realize that, not only the great heavenly bodies move, but our little earth is also moving. If you spend twenty minutes in reading this article, you will in that time ride on the earth in its journey around the sun over 22,000 miles.
The fixed stars are so many suns; and each is undoubtedly accompanied by a train of planets with their satellites, or moons, as our sun is. Many of them are of such size that our sun falls into comparative insignificance when compared with them; and they are at such a distance from us that our sun is made to seem quite near when we think of it. Light moves at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. The light reflected from the planet Jupiter, or what is the same thing, Jupiter’s picture, comes to us in three quarters of an hour, when at his mean distance from us; that of Neptune, the remotest of the planets, in four hours. From the nearest fixed star, a Centauri, the passage of light occupies full three years; from 61 Cygni, ten years; from Sirius, the brightest of all the fixed stars, twenty years; from the Pole star, forty-six years; from the serene Capella, seventy-two years; from the Pleiades, or seven stars, seven hundred years; and from others, as many thousands; and from others still, probably as many millions of years.
It appears, then, that from every satellite, planet, and sun, there float out in every direction rays of light bearing upon them the picture of the object from which they come. The mariner looks at the pole star, and receives the light that left it nearly fifty years ago. The astronomer peers at Alcyone, and sees it as it was seven hundred years ago.
To the inhabitants of those stars which are at such a distance that it takes light 256 years to pass from us to them, the landing of the Pilgrims of the May Flower is just becoming visible; while by others about seven and one-fourth times as far away, granting them the requisite powers of vision, the scene of Calvary may now be witnessed. Thus we may say that in the different parts of the universe, every scene that has transpired since God made the heavens and the earth, is somewhere still visible.
As the moon follows the earth, and the four moons of Jupiter follow it, in their journey around the sun, so the sun with its train of planets and satellites is moving around some other distant centre. This seems to be the case with the other stars. The centre around which our system of worlds is said to be revolving is the beautiful star Alcyone, one of the Pleiades. Thus star is linked to star, and system to system; and what is more rational than the conclusion, that the grand centre of all, whence emanates the attraction that binds, and the power that swings them in their mighty orbits, is the eternal Throne of JEHOVAH?
The perfect harmony that exists in the movements of the heavenly bodies, and the minute exactness with which they accomplish their revolutions in set time, show that there is one Ruler, and only one, whose laws they all obey. The astronomer can tell, years beforehand, the exact second when Venus in its revolutions will come between the earth and the sun, when the earth will cast its shadow upon the moon causing an eclipse thereof, or when the moon will pass between the sun and the earth causing an eclipse of the sun. The navigator in mid ocean, by measuring with his sextant the direction and angular distance of the moon from some principal star near it, can readily compute his distance and direction from any port on the globe, whose latitude and longitude is on his map.
The heathen believes in a multiplicity of gods, each god ruling over certain things. Anciently the Greeks and Romans named their chief deity Jupiter, whose empire was in the aerial regions; Neptune ruled over the seas, rivers, and fountains; Vulcan, over burning mountains and fires; Æolus, over the winds; Bacchus, over the vine; Pan, over the hills and pastures, herds, flocks, and bees; Ceres, over grain, harvests, etc. Not unfrequently the gods would quarrel among themselves, and the worshiper, in making his offerings to appease the wrath of one, would incur the displeasure of another still more powerful.
If such were the case, what discord and irregularity would attend the movements of the worlds ruled each by many and different gods! An eclipse might happen at any time; the mariner could never reckon his longitude at sea; and our little planet would be in constant danger of being broken into fragments by a collision with some of the mighty orbs of space. But, thanks be to God, “the firmament sheweth HIS handiwork,” and the heavens obey one God, who is supreme. Nature unites her testimony with that of Revelation, and they both affirm that there is one Law-giver. James 4:12.
The ancients were not unacquainted with astronomy, and the Bible makes frequent mention of the stars. On the first day of creation, God created light, and divided it from the darkness, putting the light on one side of the earth, and the darkness on the other. On the fourth day, God placed this light upon the sun, which he appointed “to rule the day.” He made the moon a reflector of that light “to rule the night; he made the stars also.”
When God made the promise to Abraham,—that promise to be fulfilled to Christ, whose heirs we may be through faith and obedience (Gal. 3:16, 29),—he brought Abraham forth and said to him, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.”
Job was an astronomer. In chap. 9, verse 9, he speaks of Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and says that God made them. In chap. 38: verses 31, 32, the Lord addresses Job thus: “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?”
The Lord spoke to the prophet Amos as unto one acquainted with astronomy. He said, “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion,” etc. Creative power is the badge of the true God. “God that made the world and all things therein,” said Paul when he would make known unto the Athenians the true God. “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,” is the token or seal of authority which God gave to that law which he spoke from Mount Sinai. While we look upon the countless worlds that fill immensity, may our minds be enabled to realize more fully that our God, who made them, is great. May we, with the psalmist, be better able to see the great condescension of the Creator in his love and care for us. He says, “When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him?”
The appearance of the heavens on a clear, starry night is lovely beyond description; and it is made use of by the angel Gabriel in Dan. 12:3, in one of the most beautiful and impressive comparisons that the world has ever heard. I will quote it, beginning with verse 2: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt.” Now hear: “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever.”
“They that be wise.” This includes the host of the redeemed. They are compared to the brightness of the firmament, the glorious, light, silvery blue, that seems almost to glow with inward flame.
“They that turn many to righteousness,”—the faithful ministers, the shepherds178of the flock, who have sounded the warning note fearlessly, exhorted faithfully, and pleaded feelingly, with all long-suffering and patience,—they “shall shine as the stars forever and ever.” The silvery expanse of the heavens represents that “great multitude, which no man could number;” and the shining stars, the faithful ministers and all who have labored successfully to save souls. “There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead.” 1 Cor. 15:41, 42.
Work on, worn laborers; your reward is great. And ye whose course of life is through less expanded fields, go on; fill well the humble place God marks for you, and that is all he asks. Be “faithful over a few things,” and thou shalt be made “ruler over many things.” Great advantages slighted bring no rejoicing, but small opportunities well improved may secure happiness forever. The widow’s mite received more credit in the bank of Heaven than the larger offerings of the wealthy. What encouragement we have to do what we can! Reader, take in the beauties of the next star-light night.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.” The works of God show his wisdom and power, and should lead us to render him unfeigned worship and love. But it is not left with these things alone, impressive as they are, to mark out our pathway and lead us to God,—“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place.” 2 Pet. 1:19.
The words of the poet are to the point, and with them we close:—
“The heavens declare thy glory, Lord,
In every star thy wisdom shines;
But when our eyes behold thy word,
We read thy name in fairer lines.”
OH, SCENES OF BEAUTY!
By Mirren’s Musings
O, scenes of beauty, hid from me,
What longing thoughts ye raise,
While Fancy sings to Memory
Sweet songs of other days—
Of happier days while yet mine eyes
This glorious earth could see,
And look up to the azure skies,
And o’er the sun-lit sea.
O, earth and sea, O, sun and moon,
And every shining star,
I still remember, in my gloom,
How beautiful ye are!
I've loved to watch the sunbeams bright
Stream from the summer skies,
Flooding the world with joyous light,
Cheering the saddest eyes.
But better still I've loved the night,
Lit by a softer ray;
For moonlight made things beautiful
That were not so by day.
O, earth and sea, O, sun and moon,
And every shining star,
I still remember, in my gloom,
How beautiful ye are!
—Mirren’s Musings.
THE COMMANDMENTS.—PART 1.
By A. C. Spicer
The Sabbath and the Ordinances of the Old Covenant,—Their Similarities and Dissimilarities.
Very often when non-Sabbath-keeping people are urged to “remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy,” they reply, “Well, if you are going to keep the Jewish Sabbath, you should be circumcised, and should keep the passover and the other sabbaths of the Jews. If you keep a part of the law, you are ‘debtor to do the whole law.’ Hence, if you keep the Sabbath you must not pick up any sticks thereon, nor build a fire. If you do, you must be stoned to death.”
In such replies, there is an entire lack of distinction between the moral and the secular, between the universal and the limited, between the general and the special, between the object and the means.
Obligation to keep the moral law of God in no sense implies obligation to keep the “law of Moses,” as the national statutes and typical law are termed, no more than obligation to obey the Constitution of the United States implies obligation to still obey the old dead territorial laws, which were once applicable here, but which expired or were abolished long years ago, when the territory became a State. The first is general, universal, and the fundamental law of God’s moral government; the second was a special, limited, secondary, and simply prudential law of the Israelites, “added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made,” and which was a “school-master,” simply to teach the rudiments of faith till Christ should come and offer himself a sacrifice for sin. The one was “ordained unto life” and must continue as the law of holiness until that life is found at the resurrection, when “Christ shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” The other was limited to the time of the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross, as it was a law peculiar to that people, and regulating those ordinances, &c., “which were a shadow of things to come.” See Gal. 3; Col. 2. But because those old temporary territorial laws were abolished, or expired by limitation when the territory became a State, the Constitution of our general government did not therefore cease to exist. No more was the fundamental, universal moral law abolished by the expiration of the limited, temporary, typical, and civil law.
Again, that moral law contained no precept enjoining circumcision, the passover, or either of the other festival ordinances. Look at it as spoken by God with a “great voice” from Mt. Sinai. Ex. 20:3–17. Look at it again in Deut. 5:6–22, as “engraven by the finger of God” on stone. Ex. 24:12; 31:18; 34:28; Deut. 4:13. Nowhere in the moral law as recorded, spoken, or engraven, are those ordinances commanded, or even referred to, in the slightest degree. Yet, there, in the fourth precept thereof, the observance of “the Sabbath of the Lord” is commanded. And everywhere that law is repeated the Sabbath commandment is included.
Let no one, now, stultify himself by affirming that the moral law of ten commandments and the law enjoining those ordinances are all one. In Deut. 5:22, Moses distinctly declares that when God had spoken those ten precepts unto the assembly of the people with a “great voice,” “he added no more;” i. e., he spake no other precepts or laws in connection with them or at that time. And those, thus spoken separately from any others, were the ten precepts that were engraven on stone. Ex. 34:7, 8; Deut. 4:13; 5:22. Moses makes a plain distinction between the moral law and the temporary ritual law in his repeating record in Deut. 4:12–14, where he says, “And the Lord spake unto you,” &c. “And he declared unto you his covenant which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” Then of the other law he says (verse 14): “And the Lord commanded me at that time [i. e., while in that encampment before Mt. Sinai, though on a different occasion] to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.”
The fundamental law was spoken by God; and by him engraven, at one time; at another time the special, temporary, provisional law was dictated to Moses, by angels as Paul says, and then afterward written in a book by Moses. The fundamental ten precepts had been in force previously, from the first existence of the human family, and were continued in full force at, and from, the day of their rehearsal from Mt. Sinai. But the statutes and judgments were then for the first time given, and were not to take effect and be in force till the Israelites were settled in the promised land. Nor does the moral law (see Ex. 20:3–17; Deut. 5:6–21) prohibit kindling a fire on the Sabbath when such work is necessary to health and life, as it is in our country. Nor yet is the death penalty attached to the violation of the Sabbath by such acts. The case recorded in Num. 15:32–36, was an exceptional one.
It is true that to crimes of a certain definite character against God in violation of the Sabbath law, God did, in the wilderness, attach the penalty of death. Ex. 31:13–15. But God by Moses carefully designated the character of the crimes to be so punished. In Ex. 31:14, it is said, “Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death.” And in Num. 15:30, 31; Deut. 17:12, their character is further defined thus: “But the soul that doeth aught presumptuously . . . the same reproacheth the Lord. . . . Because he hath despised the word of the Lord and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off;” &c. “The man that doeth aught presumptuously and will not hearken, . . . even that man shall die; and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.” “And all the people shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously.” (Verse 13.) Then, it was for despising God and his authority, for sinning wilfully, as Paul termed it, in defiance of God, while the Israelites were being subjected to special discipline in the wilderness, under God’s special directions and subject to his personal supervision and judgment, that the death penalty was attached. But that severe though just penalty was not attached alone to the Sabbath law; it applied equally to the violation of either of the commandments of the moral law. See Num. 15:30. Then as we learn from Num. 15:32–36, “while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day,” and he was stoned to death therefor. Hence the cant retort against Sabbath-keepers. But what were the facts in the case?
That people were being tested by God as to their disposition to respect and obey him. Ex. 16:4; 20:20. God was thus proving them by testing their willingness to keep the Sabbath while he was miraculously feeding them with manna. Ex. 16. Then in that climate, while being thus bountifully fed, there was no need for them to build a fire on the Sabbath day. Hence kindling a fire had been expressly forbidden, Ex. 35:2, 3, as all work on that day had been specially forbidden under the penalty of death. Ex. 31:14, 15. That was all right. God was there and then specially disciplining and personally judging the people. So the presumptuously sinning man was brought before Moses and Aaron, and they “put him in ward,” as was done in the case of the blasphemer, “that the mind of the Lord might be showed them” (Lev. 24:12, 13), “because it was not declared what should be done to him.” They consulted the Lord in respect to his case. “And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.” That man had presumptuously gone out and “gathered sticks” in contempt and defiance of God’s authority, wilfully reproaching the Lord, and despising his word and breaking his holy commandment.
God, who saw and knew all that, sat as judge in his case, and the judgment was just. But how evident it appears from the narrative of the events that that was an exceptional case. And was it not a solitary one? Why, then, should professing Christian men demand that we, who love God’s holy Sabbath and law, should therefore not build necessary fires on the Sabbath days? We acknowledge that we should do no unnecessary work of that kind, however trifling. But do those who thus retort upon us to repel the claims of God’s Sabbath acknowledge that they should be subject to the stoning-to-death penalty for any such constructive violation of either of the other nine commandments which they confess to be binding on them? Why not? Do be as consistent with your own theory as you ask us to be with ours. But dost not thou “presumptuously” reproach the Lord, despising his word and defying his authority, when thou thus repelest his commandment? Yet we do not invoke the penalty of death by stoning upon you; but we still entreat you in all kindness, Listen to the voice of God, love and “do his commandments,” that you “may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
No more does obligation to keep the Sabbath holy imply obligation to be circumcised, or to keep those old-covenant festival ordinances.
1. The Sabbath, like marriage, was an institution of holiness, and the moral law enjoining it was a law of holiness, constituted before the sin of the race, and “ordained unto life:” i. e., to guide to that holiness of character which could be rewarded with eternal life. The transgression of the race did not abrogate the obligation to develop holiness of character; though that sin forfeited to man the reward of eternal life and rendered absolute holiness an impossibility, and hence rendered it impossible for him to attain unto immortality without extraneous aid and additional facilities. Therefore that transgression did not affect man’s relation to those institutions of holiness, or his obligation to be obedient to the law of holiness; though it did render necessary additional encouragements to obedience, and a plan according to which holiness might be imputed to him, to the end that he might yet participate in the forfeited blessings of eternal life.
That plan adopted was, in brief, that the punishment and death of a mediator in man’s stead might atone for the original sin, and then the “obedience unto righteousness” and “righteousness unto holiness” of that mediator should be accounted unto man for holiness on condition of all possible obedience to the moral law (with repentance for all individual transgressions), and faith in God, in his mediating Son, and in the plan adopted for justifying the sinner. At that time, there entered into the system of religion given to man the element of faith, which henceforth became a very characteristic element, and had its covenants, ordinances, and laws. All of those covenants, ordinances, and laws of faith were temporary, some being limited to one period of time marked by some great event in carrying out that plan of salvation, and some to another period of time and to other events.
2. The first great event which will be noticed here was an encouragement to obedience and the exercise of trusting, abiding faith. That was a covenant or mutual agreement into which God entered with Abraham, in which God solemnly bound himself to grant certain great blessings upon Abraham and his seed upon condition of faith and obedience to him. “If ye will obey my voice indeed” (Ex. 19:5), and “keep my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Gen. 26:5), was the condition. “All that the Lord hath spoken will we do, and be obedient,” was the responsive promise of Israel. Ex. 19:8; 24:3, 7. See also Gen. 17:1; 22:18.
That covenant with Abraham was a covenant of grace and salvation. Yet it promised temporal as well as eternal blessings, the temporal being provisional to the eternal, or, in other words, encouraging facilities for attaining to the eternal. It promised temporal rewards and eternal rewards; temporal prosperity and eternal prosperity; temporal possessions and eternal possessions; temporal habitations and an eternal city; the temporal food supplies of the “goodly land,” and the eternal fruits of the “tree of life” in the “better country, that is, an heavenly.” Gen. 17:1–8, 19; 22:17, 18; 26:3–5; 35:11, 12; Ex. 19:5, 6, &c.
The promises of God upon which that covenant was established were of a two-fold character; they promised physical blessings and spiritual blessings. In return for these, or as an antecedent condition upon which those promises were predicated, God required heart sanctification by repentance, faith, and obedience. That sanctification of the heart, in harmony with the outward sign thereof, was called the “circumcision of the heart” as a covenant. Antecedently God had said to Abraham, “Walk before me and be thou perfect.”
Moses, while enjoining upon the Israelites, in the name of God, a fulfillment of their covenant obligations said, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your hearts, and be no more stiff-necked. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave and swear by his name.” Deut. 10:16, 20. And this was in consonance with what God had required in case of the offending of the Israelites. “If they shall confess their iniquity, . . . if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember,” &c. Lev. 26:40–42.
This same thought is found repeated in Deut. 30. “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” Verse 6. “And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments,” &c. Verse 8. (The whole chapter needs to be read.) Compare these quotations with corresponding scriptures, and especially with Col. 2:11–13; 3:1–4; Rom. 2:25–29; 3:5, 6; and true circumcision will be seen to be of the heart. It was heart sanctification.
It was “setting bounds to the heart round about” by God’s law and indicated will. It was by repentance, dying to sin and the world; by faith, rising to a new life in trusting hope; by obedience, returning to God; and by love, drawing near to Him in whom the desired life was to be found. Thus it was circumcising the heart, or life, round about by the precepts and will of God, and so cutting off from access to it Satan and all his temptations to sin. Hence, it was called circumcision; circum—around, and cædere—to cut.
A. C. SPICER.
SABBATH REFLECTIONS.
By Lilla D. Avery
My soul is glad that the kingdom of immortal beauty is soon to be ushered in. That the present reign of corruption, sin and woe, of misery, of heart-breaking sighs, of trouble, fear, and sorrow, is soon to give place to the blissful reign of peace, joy, love, and never-ending felicity.
All hail! Glorious day of deliverance! Make haste and dawn. Dispel with thy beaming rays the moral darkness which envelops like a thick cloud this dreary earth. Give back to her weary ones that peace and joy that has been lost by disobedience. O my soul! thou canst but feebly realize the blessedness of an eternity at the right hand of God. Thou canst not comprehend the immensity of the sacrifice that was offered on Calvary's rugged mount for thee. Oh! the unbounded love, the “depth of mercy” that was shown by our adorable Redeemer! He is coming soon to complete the glorious plan of redemption. Yes; he's coming! coming! Coming to bring liberty to the captive; coming to raise the dead to life and immortality; coming to bring peace to earth's weary ones; coming to take vengeance on those who have refused the offers of mercy.179
Yes; coming! coming! King of kings, and Lord of lords. Courage, weary pilgrim. Be strong, fear not, and soon the King in his beauty thine eyes shall see, and thou shalt behold the land that is very far off.
LILLA D. AVERY.
THAT GREAT DAY.
By G. W. Kilgore
“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” Ps. 50:3–5.
When this prophecy is fulfilled, the sinners in Zion will be afraid; fearfulness will surprise the hypocrites. Those who once were in covenant with God, but afterward gave up the truth because there were so many sacrifices to make, will bitterly lament. Their agony will be great. But the worst of all conditions, it seems, will be that of those who slackly lived out the truth till the last—those who professed to be looking for Christ, and at the same time were swallowed up in worldly interests. They have caused unbelievers to feel safe; because they told, by their actions, that people need not be particular about these “special truths.” They have said, “The Lord is not coming in our day;” and, “Those who believe that God’s law must be obeyed, in order to secure eternal life, are no better than anybody else.”
These things some say by their actions, which speak louder than words. For the man that really believes a storm is coming prepares for it. He watches the signs in the sky. He talks to others about it. If his family are not all in a safe place, he is uneasy about them, and tries to help them secure shelter. But he who goes about his work as usual, and makes no exertion to prepare for this storm, shows that he doubts that there is a storm coming. If he has grain in the field lying down, and does not try to put it up, but keeps right on cutting down more; or if he has stacks open, and does not try to cover them, but keeps laying foundations for other ones, all would say, This man does not believe there is any storm approaching. And if he should declare that he believes the storm is not far distant, for the signs appear to say so, and that he knows the barometer shows the air is in a condition for rain, all would say he was a very slack farmer. Just so it must be with those in the service of Christ to-day. All who really believe Jesus is soon coming are preparing to meet him. But what can people think of those who profess to believe this, and at the same time are so careless about it that they are scarcely ever heard talking about it to others who do not believe it? Or what is to be thought of those who do talk about it, but act so near like the world that none would know they thought about it, if it were not for their words? They are certainly like the slack farmer.
It is very reasonable to suppose that when the tempestuous fires of God’s wrath shall come, those who knew of its coming and did not prepare, nor warn their neighbors of its approach, will hear somebody say to them, “Why did you not tell me of this? Why did you not give me the evidence of your belief? I did not think you had any evidence, you did not act as though you had.” Oh! who can conceive the thoughts of such ones at that time? What deep regret! No wonder Christ says, “There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Think of it, lost forever! Others also laying their eternal ruin to their slack and careless life. While the shining hosts of the faithful ones hail the coming Lord as their God, knowing that he will save them, these unfaithful ones will wail because of him.
Had they been diligent in serving the Lord, they could claim a part in that glorious salvation, and others could not point to a misspent life as an excuse for themselves. But now all hopes of salvation are ended. Probation is over and mercy is no more. A life of ease has been enjoyed in sowing to the flesh; but now the reaping time has come, and lo! nothing but corruption is to be found. The “tempestuous fire” is all that is to be expected while life lasts. Lost! Who can realize the true meaning of the term? Eternal ages will roll on, but he who is lost will never have his name recorded among the living. Lost, not because their names were not recorded on the church book, not because they did not go to meeting and speak occasionally, not because they did not aid the cause with their means once in a while,—no, no, but because their chief desire was to gain riches of this life, and because their influence upon those around them was bad.
Now, dear reader, are you one of the slack ones? If you are, think of the scripture before quoted: “Our God shall come and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.” Who will be saved in that day? Read what the same scripture says: “Gather my saints together unto me.” But who are they? Read on: “Those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” I want to keep this in mind all the time. Do our business affairs hinder us from serving God as we ought to serve him? What will we do with such affairs when “our God shall come”? We could far better sacrifice the advantage of such business and do something else, than to slight the cause of God. “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
Why, my dear friend, whoever you are, that love the things of this world more than you do the service of God, look at your prospect: This world’s goods will be worth no more than a pile of chaff when “our God shall come.” The tempestuous fire will burn up your property, and you along with it unless you turn your attention to the things of God. Turn to God now. Do not wait for a more convenient time. Waken up to your profession. The Lord is coming. Examine your heart. “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.” “Well, but,” says one, “I can’t help loving my ways that I am accustomed to.” Hear what the Bible says: “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Crucify self. Surrender to God. Then you can keep the commandments from the heart. The reason our hearts are not perfectly in obedience to Christ is because we have never fully surrendered to him. When one nation surrenders to another, it obeys the laws of the other nation. It never does before. Just so with us. When we surrender to God, we will obey his laws. We never can before.
Many say, “We cannot keep the commandments.” To say this is to acknowledge we have a carnal mind; for it is the carnal mind only that cannot keep the law of God. Yet some of those who profess to know the Lord will say they cannot keep his commandments. Hear what John calls such men: “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” “Well, how can I get so I will love the things of God,” say you? Read the Bible. Pray to God. Let the cause of God cost you some of your means. We must be awake to the times in which we live if we are saved. “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.” Make haste and get ready.