The tongue is a mighty weapon for good or for ill. A tongue set on fire of hell is a terrible scourge to any community. A consecrated tongue is an angel of good. St. James aptly calls the tongue a world of iniquity, and against its lawlessness each table of the law contains a most decided warning. Mere verbal professions are very poor things. “Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I command you?” was the searching question of the Master. Our Lord felt the importance of words, empty or sincere, so profoundly as to stake upon this one test the eternal destinies of his people; for He declared, “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” The tongue is thus a very important member, the more so because it is so prompt and willing a servant of the mind within. But how few there are who thus regard it. And thus powerful, and all too often unsuspected, it is often the most treacherous and subtle of all the forces which we wield. A blessing it might always be; a most blighting curse it often is.
How False Witness Is Borne.
We transgress this commandment whenever we entertain a strong suspicion and repeat it as a thing that we know; when we allow the temptation of a biting epigram to betray us into an unkind expression not altogether warranted by the facts. We also violate this commandment when we vindicate ourselves against a charge by throwing blame where it probably might but not certainly ought to lie, or when we are not content to vindicate ourselves without a countercharge which it would perplex us to be asked to prove. All cynicism is false witness. Even if it does not greatly wrong any one of our fellow-men, it does work injury both to society and the cynic. If he is of a coarse fiber, it excuses him to himself in becoming the hard and unloving creature which he fancies that all men are. If he is too proud or too self-respecting to yield to this temptation, it isolates him, it chills and withers his sympathies for people quite as good as, if not better than himself, and whom he thinks of as the herd. For this sin of false witness-bearing in all its forms there is but one remedy, and that is love—we must love our neighbor as ourself. Love sympathizes, love makes allowance for frailty, discovers the germs of good, hopeth all things and taketh no account of evil. What a world this would be if love instead of evil speaking and bearing false witness were the prevailing rule.—Christian Work.
“THE LAST INVITATION.”
By M. A. Price
“Ho, EVERY one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isa. 55 : 1. The invitation has been extended from the days of Adam down to our time. It is the last invitation. “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” Verse 6.
“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found,” implies that He will not always be found; and that time is near. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. . . . They shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, and shall not find it.” Amos 8 : 11, 12. “And yet have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God; and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” “Therefore repent, and turn yourselves from your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” “For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” Eze 18 : 23, 30, 32. “While mercy lingers, let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isa. 55 : 7-9.
The heavenly Father still invites all to come to the waters and drink. “Every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” The doors of mercy are still open, and the hands that were pierced for the sins of the people are still stretched out to a rebellious generation. Behold the wounded hands of Him “who was bruised for our iniquities,” and with whose “stripes we are healed.”
“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Rev. 22 : 17. He that accepts the water of life now, when it is so freely offered, will not have to drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which will be poured without mixture of mercy upon every one who slights the great Gift of God’s love. M. A. PRICE.
Ingersol, O. T.
How They Became Convinced
[Believing it would be of interest to our readers, the editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has asked Sabbath-keeping ministers and evangelical workers to tell in a few words the scripture or scriptures, the truths and principles, which constrained them to accept the unpopular truth of the seventh-day Sabbath. These testimonies must not exceed 500 words. Let us hear from all.]
HOW THE SABBATH CAME TO ME.
From my father’s death, when I was seven years of age, I was for eight years in the family of Methodist grandparents, and attended Methodist Sunday-school. One week, when I was at the age of ten years, we were to commit to memory the Ten Commandments. The same week, in the day school, we repeated in concert the number and names of the days of the week. When others would say, “Sunday, the first day,” I would say, “Monday, the first day.” I was threatened with punishment if I did not repeat it as the rest did. Rather than be whipped I joined the rest. In the evening I asked a pious aunt, “Is Saturday the Sabbath?” I thought Saturday must be the Sabbath, for the fourth commandment says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath.” The reply given me was “Saturday used to be the Sabbath, but Christ changed it to the first day of the week.”
When sixteen years of age I united by baptism with the First-day Adventists. The next year I commenced to preach for them. It was then the belief of that people that the Ten Commandments were done away by Christ. Once only while among them, when I was about twenty years of age, I gave a discourse on the law; and while repeating from Matt. 5:17–19, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law,” the thought passed like a barbed arrow through my mind, and, as distinct as though spoken in an audible tone, “Heaven and earth have not passed yet.” And as I read, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments,” the conviction came, “The law there spoken of is all binding, and all to be kept.” This conviction clung to me until I accepted the Sabbath truth.
On Sept. 26, 1852, some three months after the above occurrence, I listened to a discourse from Brother J. N. Andrews on the topic, “What law was abolished by Christ?” He treated of the two laws, one binding upon all men—the moral code, the other the law regulating those sacrificial offerings that pointed to Christ, and which ceased to be of obligation when Christ died. This cleared away my difficulties on the law question. With the next Sabbath I began its observance, and have now kept it for nearly fifty years. I rejoice in the privilege of calling “The Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable.” Isa. 58:13.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.
Oakland, Cal.
THE MOST HELPFUL HELPER.
My attention was first called to the Sabbath by one of our canvassers, who simply told me that the first day of the week was not the Sabbath, but that the Bible said, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” In keeping Sunday, the first day of the week, we were simply “obeying the Catholic Church.” This set me to studying the Bible, and then I bought “Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation;” subscribed for the SIGNS OF THE TIMES and Evangeliets Sendebud. This gave me a good start, but I did not become fully settled in my mind and begin to keep the Sabbath until I had read “Great Controversy.” In reading this book I found such convincing truth that it settled me for all time, and I have never since wavered. I love this truth, and it looks brighter and better to me to-day than ever before.
H. C. J. WOLLEKAR.
Seattle, Wash.
WHAT JESUS DID.
I was born of praying parents; taught to reverence God and His Word, as expounded by the church.
I was told that Christ and His followers, by their example, taught Sunday-keeping. In searching for such example, I found Christ’s words in John 15:10, “I have kept My Father’s commandments.” His Father commanded the seventh day to be kept. Ex. 20:8–11. Jesus says that He kept it. I found in Luke 23:56 that the women which followed Jesus kept the Sabbath, “according to the commandment.” There is no day in the commandment but the seventh day, then I knew that the seventh day was the Sabbath, and I therefore kept it.
BEN. FRANCIS.
Wells, Minn.
IMMANUEL
“Man turns from God, not God from him.”
Said the Prophet: “And they shall call His name IMMANUEL; which is, being interpreted, God-with-us.” Matt. 1:23.
Jesus Christ—the union of the Divine and the human—is the expression of God’s desire for mankind through all the ages. He was Divinity clothed with humanity. He was humanity expressing Divinity, just what God desired that every man should be.
When man was created, he expressed Divinity. In all his physical, mental, and spiritual beauty and symmetry, he showed forth the praise of his Maker. God was with him and dwelt in him. Adam was the son of God. Luke 3:38. He expressed in his own person the name given to Jesus, Immanuel—“God-with-us.” God was incarnate, dwelling in the flesh of sinless man.
But Adam, free to choose or refuse, to accept or reject, turned God from him, and admitted the enemy, who perverted his entire being. Sin—the transgression, the perversion, of God’s law of righteousness and life, became incarnate, and man became separate from God, having no hope and “without God in the world.” Eph. 2:12. It was no longer God-with-us, but sin-with-us. Humanity, separate from God, becomes an expression of sin, despite his divine origin and Godlike form. The relationship is abnormal and incongruous. Man feels it and is wretched.
But when man sinned, God did not turn from him. Man’s change of masters did not affect God’s character, God’s purpose, or God’s desire. He beheld with sadness the sin of man. He felt pain in the breaking of the tie which bound man to Him. In the very nature of His infinite love He could not compel man to do otherwise; but tho man had sinned, He would not leave the poor soul without divine effort to save him. As true as ever in the past the thoughts of the unchangeable God were “thoughts of peace and not of evil.” Jer. 29:11.
It was man that turned from God. God still came to greet and bless, but “the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah.” Gen. 3:8. It was not man who first called upon God, altho in his great and sore need; it was Jehovah who called after Adam. Verse 9. And when Adam listened, God’s message was not one of hopelessness. While He told the sinner of the fearful crop his seed-sowing must bear, He also told him that the former conditions could be restored through “the Seed of the woman.” Man had without God measured his power with that of the serpent and lost. God would have man receive again power from on high that the serpent might be conquered. This is revealed in the words that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head, while the serpent should only be able to bruise his heel. The bruising of the heel is but temporal; the bruising and crushing of the head is eternal.
Pre-eminently that Seed is Christ Jesus. Gal. 3:15. But it includes all those also who are “born of God,” “born from above,” who are of Christ Jesus. That privilege was as open to Adam by virtue of the offering of the Son of God as it is to us. Abel received the “incorruptible Word,” and became of the Seed of God. His heel was bruised by the enemy, but he shall come forth from that bruising an eternal conqueror. Cain rejected the Seed in God’s Word, and went on to destruction.
To induce man to accept this divine power, this presence of God, and so come into union with the Divine, our Father and our God has exhausted all heaven’s resources. On the other hand Satan has done all that he can through sin to lead man to look upon God as a tyrant, as a being who hated man, or as one so pure and holy that He could not tolerate sinful man in His presence.
Now there is seeming truth in some of Satan’s arguments, God is pure and holy; God does hate sin; but God loves the sinner—loves him that He may take the sin away and save the man. And so with pleading, infinite love He asks man to yield the sin, yield the rebellion, and let Him in. He does not ask man to change himself; for He knows the slave of sin can not break from his master. But He does plead with man to choose a better Master—God who is love; a better condition—the joy of perfect liberty. If man will but choose God, Infinite Love, Power, and Wisdom will enter the human flesh and separate and eradicate the sin; God, by His Spirit, will come in and dwell there, and in His Spirit bestow all the riches of His grace.
Then, dear soul, come to Him through Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, the Life. You need no human intercessor save Jesus. He has placed no virgin however blessed, no angel or saint, between Himself and you. No cordon of ecclesiastical police bars the way. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, says, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” To come unto Christ is not stopping short by a single inch. The poor sinful leper came, and Jesus touched him. He wants to touch you with His healing power. He wants to come into your life to cleanse away the sin. He wants to develop in your life His own righteous character so that you shall be to all beholders the expression of the thoughts of God, a testimony to the truth of the name Immanuel.
DEMONSTRATED FAILURES.
By G.
III. Temporal Honor.
ONE of the things which men covet, and for which they earnestly strive, is the honor which this world has to bestow. This honor is sought through various lines, but that which is deemed the most exalted is the honor of being a ruler of other people—of being a king. God has given proof to the world, and cited numerous instances in His Book, that no temporal honor, however high, tends to make the individual more spiritually minded. It has been demonstrated that “man being in honor [the honor of this world] abideth not; he is like the beasts that perish.” Ps. 49:12.
In the providence of God Moses was reared in the family of the king of Egypt. His real father and mother were of the serving class, but he was called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He was trained in military skill and in statecraft, “in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in word and in deed.” He was heir to the throne, and was very popular among the people. But this honor did not fit him for the higher spiritual honor before which is humility. Prov. 15:33. His first attempt at liberating his people culminated in murder and flight from the country. Forty years in the humble calling of sheep-herding brought him into that frame of mind, that humility of spirit, essential to the true service of God.
The first king of Israel was a man “little in his own sight,” and without honor among the people, when the prophet Samuel was commissioned to anoint him. While in this humble condition of mind the Lord blessed him with the Spirit of prophecy, and gave him success against the enemies of his people. But when his heart was lifted up through the abundance of honors bestowed upon him, he fell spiritually, and was destroyed.
Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, was so puffed up with the honor of being king that he became a most cruel tyrant, and God took away ten tribes from him. Jeroboam, the first king of the ten tribes, so misused the honor that God had given him that he was led into the grossest idolatry, and passed into history as “Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to sin.” To such an extent did temporal honor fail to bring men to God, that, in all the history of the kings of Israel, not one of them is accredited with a holy life or a righteous reign.
Manasseh was honored with kingship at the age of twelve years, but the honor did not turn his heart to God. He led Judah to “do worse than the heathen” (2 Chron. 33:9), and only when taken into captivity by the king of Assyria, and degraded by fetters and affliction, did he give his heart to God.
But a more striking example is that of Nebuchadnezzar. God gave him dominion over all the earth, made him a “king of kings,” gave him a kingdom richer and nobler than any that should succeed him. After giving him all this great honor, the superior majesty of the God of heaven was manifested to him in the most convincing manner; so much so that he was constrained to acknowledge that Daniel’s God was a “God of gods, and a Lord of kings.” He went so far as to proclaim death and destruction of property to every one in all his realm who would speak against the God of the captive Jews. Yet his heart was not changed, as his cruel decree clearly showed.
But Nebuchadnezzar was at last converted, altho the temporal honor so lavishly bestowed upon him failed to bring about the result. How then was the great work accomplished?—Why, God took away his honor, and took away the reason that could not reason out the love of God. By human wisdom no man ever knew God. Isa. 29:14; 1 Cor. 1:21; 3:19. God let the poor sinner down to the level of the brutes; and while in this condition, divested of the pomp of this world, the poor, dishonored king looked up to heaven. Then, he afterward testified, “Mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him that liveth forever.”
The man who seeks honor for himself never can find God. Access to the Most High is not obtained in that way. God dwells with him “that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isa. 57:15. Christ, the Christian’s example, said, “I receive not honor from men.” John 5:41. He knew that human honor was a detriment to the work of grace. When the people would enforce upon Him a high political office, He took Himself out of their way. Because He humbled Himself, and did not seek this world’s emoluments, God “highly exalted Him,” and gave Him “a name which is above every name.” Phil. 2:9. “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke 14:11.
G.
ONLY ONE REMEDY.
By S.
Southern papers are holding up to ridicule what they term the “New England conscience.” New England periodicals have been condemning the employment of young children in the mills of the South. The Southern editors retort that it is New England capital that operates the mills where this child labor is carried on, and that the New England capitalists would not come to the South with their mills until the laws were such that child labor could be employed; that they threatened to leave if laws were enacted to prohibit it; thus pointing out that the North has nothing to boast of in the matter of conscience and disinterested purity of purpose.
Neither has it. The present god of this world is Mammon, and the world is teeming with his devotees to-day, bartering principle and the instincts of humanity for the tantalizing bauble of the bubble of wealth, which the touch of an infant hand may shatter and scatter to the winds. The Mammon worshiper is the same in every part of the country. In the South just now some of them are sacrificing the child of tender years to the insatiate demands of their money hunger. Many of these idolaters are from the North, but that makes no difference in the cruelty of the practise or its blighting effects upon the lives of the tender victims. Southern Legislatures allow it to go on, that it may bring capital into that part of the country. And so on both sides it is money, or the desire for it, that is responsible for the conditions that exist there. The people who take advantage of the opportunity afforded, and send their children into the mills, do so because they need the money. They would rather that the conditions were not so exacting, that the hours of work were not so many; but the corporation is pitiless. It is, work the hours or leave the job. And the children work till the tired heads drop over their work and the tired limbs are scarce able to carry them to their homes.
Gold is the first consideration, and multitudinous are the ways to-day in which life and honor and the considerations of humanity are sacrificed to obtain it. It is not restricted to any locality; but wherever mankind is found there it is. It is not provincial; it is not national; it is individual. It is indigenous in every unregenerate heart. The only remedy for it is true conversion of heart, complete surrender of the will and the affections and the ambitions to Christ, letting His mind take the place of our money-loving desires, turning our aspiration away from the sensual, the material, the temporal, to the heavenly, the spiritual, and the eternal.
The idea of censuring localities for the results of583the worship of Mammon is all wrong. The disease is nearer home; it is in the hearts of men. The world is busy with heaping together “treasure in the last days” (James 5:3, R. V.), and men will not be turned away from their purpose by criticisms of the localities in which it is done. There is one remedy, and but one, the Gospel of Jesus—not in forms, not in dead ceremonies and formal acknowledgments; but by a living controlling power in the heart and life. The lack of this is one of the infallible signs that the coming of the just One draweth nigh.
S.
WHY NOT ALL OF IT?
A CONTEMPORARY quotes the fourth commandment in bold-faced type, and says:—
Many would accept all the decalogue but this, tho honesty would seem to forbid such distortion. If the rest are binding, why not this one?
And surely this would seem to be the logic of the thing. But our contemporary continues:—
. . . In Deut. 5:15 we read that God had the Israelites keep the day in memory of their Exodus. In Ex. 31:17 it is said to be the “token of the covenant.” Neither of these reasons apply to Gentiles, to say the least. The commandments and old covenants were to and with Israelites only, Gentiles have no part nor lot in them. Rom. 2:14 (R.V.); 9:4; Eph. 2:12, etc.
The Sabbath is first of all a memorial of God's creative power and goodness (Ex. 20:8-11), and, secondly, the sign of His power to recreate, or sanctify, inasmuch as it takes recreative power to save, sanctify, and regenerate (Read Eze. 20:12, 20; Ex. 31:13; Eph. 2:10). Therefore when God made Himself known by His creative power in the furnishing of the manna, and by the greatest manifestation of creative power since the earth came from His hand witnessed in the redemption of His people (Exodus 16; Deut. 4:32-39), thus revealing Himself, as Creator and Redeemer, “making Himself a glorious name” (Isa. 63:7-14), it was supremely fitting that He should there also make known His Sabbath as the memorial of creation (Ex. 20:8-11) and the sign of redemption and sanctification (Eze. 20:12; Ex. 31:13; Deut. 5:12-15). It was God's weekly, constant pledge of His everlasting covenant to redeem. Ex. 31:17.
It is true that these promises of the covenant do not apply to the Gentiles as Gentiles; for as Gentiles they are “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Eph. 2:12. That is the condition of every soul by nature—Jew or Gentile. The Gentile's only hope is to accept the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and by faith take hold of God's covenant and keep His Sabbath. That was true anciently (Isa. 56:1-7), and it is true to-day (Eph. 2:13, 19, 20; Rev. 14:12). So the Gentiles that have “no part nor lot” with God's covenants are without God, and without hope. We earnestly pray that our brother editor and those who follow him may see the preciousness of being among the true Israel of God. This editor continues:—
. . . Violation of this command was punishable by the death of the culprit, and that only. Ex. 31:14, 15. To do any work of any sort on the seventh day necessitated the death of the worker. See Ex. 35:2, 3, and Num. 15:32, 33, as examples.
So also the violation of the commandments prohibiting idolatry was punishable with death (Deut. 13:1-9); the transgression of the seventh commandment; of the third, of the fifth, was punishable by death (Ex. 21:15-17; Lev. 24:11-16; 20:4, 10-12). Will our anti-Sabbath brethren refuse to keep these because their infraction for sin's sake was punishable with death? No work for God, work of mercy or necessity, on the Sabbath day was forbidden. The priests did double regular work on that day (Num. 28:9, 10), and Jesus showed that providing for the necessities of men, and doing good for the sake of the Lord, was lawful, according to the Sabbath law. Matt. 12:1-12.
And here is our contemporary's view of the object of Christ's redemption:—
I do praise God that Jesus fulfilled this law, and is its end, unto righteousness, to all who believe (Rom. 10:4); that love is the fulfilling of all law (Rom. 13:10); that we are not called to the bondage of law, but unto perfect liberty (Gal. 5:13). Then there is no commandment to keep any day for the Gentiles?—No, praise God; nor for any who are under the blood of Jesus.
So according to this logic Christians are not expected to keep the first, or third, or fifth, or seventh, or ninth, or tenth, or any other precept of the Decalogue! That is, the Christian may worship idols, take the name of the Lord in vain, dishonor father and mother, commit adultery, bear false witness, and covet! This is the logic of his argument; for this editor himself says that “if the rest [of the precepts of the Decalogue] are binding, why not this one [the fourth]?” Therefore if this, the Sabbath precept, is not binding, logic would demand that no others are. Again, he rejoices in a “liberty” that set him free from obedience to the fourth commandment (and the law is one); the same “liberty” would set him free to steal, commit adultery, and blaspheme. We praise God for the power, the life, the love, that is in Christ Jesus to set all His children free from the law of sin and death. We praise Him that He saves from sin; that He redeems “from all iniquity [lawlessness];” “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit;” that in Christ Jesus that law is a law of love; that to faith every one of His commandments is an enabling act in very deed; and that as all others His Sabbath is “a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable.”
CHANGE IN LAW.
What would we think of a loyal citizen of the United States who would say, when a change of administration takes place: “Now I am at liberty; the old Constitution is gone, the old treaties and bills of rights, and statutory laws are abrogated.”
“What proof have you of that?” asks an intelligent neighbor.
“Why, the administration is changed,” is the response. “Yesterday the Republicrats ruled; to-day it is the Demlicans. We are no longer under those old Republicrat laws, but under the Demlican gospel.”
“But,” replies his neighbor, “a change of administration does not change the Constitution, the treaties, the bills of rights, the fundamental and statutory law.”
“Don’t it?” is the response, “I guess it does.”
The next day our Demlican friend is arrested for the infraction of some law that he did not like; and all reasonable men, Republicrats and Demlicans alike, say that it served him right.
Yet just so men argue over God’s government, over God’s fundamental and statutory law.
To Israel of old God committed the wonderful trust of His truth, not to pervert, not to hide, not to hug to their own heart; but to give to the world. Rom. 9:4; Ex. 19:5, 6. They were to be priests to the nations. Blessed, they were to be blessings. One of the sacred song-prayers they were taught to raise to God was,—
“God be merciful unto us, and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us;
That Thy way may be known upon earth,
Thy salvation among all nations.”
Ps. 67:1, 2.
During the time of the Levitical priesthood there were laws of a mere local or temporary character, regulating matters merely ceremonial pertaining to the earthly priests, the sacrifices, the offerings, the earthly sanctuary or temple service. Of course when the system of sacrifices which were offered reached Jesus Christ and the cross of Calvary, the laws and rules regulating them expired by limitation. When the priests came to the rent vail before the ark at the death of Christ, their service was superseded. So the mere routine regulations in government offices, adopted to meet the policy and methods of a certain administration, would expire by limitation when that administration would be succeeded by another. But all government laws made by the supreme power in the government would stand.
So God’s fundamental law, embodied in a largely negative form in the Decalogue, stands forever. It has nothing in it of a local, national, limited, or temporary character. It is, in its given form, for all times and ages, as long as there is a sinner needing its convicting power.
“The works of His hands are truth and justice;
All His precepts are sure.
They are established forever and ever;
They are done in truth and uprightness.”
Ps. 111:7, 8.
“It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away;
Than for one tittle of the law to fail.”
Luke 16:17.
A CHANGE OF MASTERS.
A SOUTHERN exchange contains the following notice of a strange incident:—
Jerry Logan, 60 years of age, colored janitor of the state supreme court at Knoxville, Tenn., sold himself to Gerald Stuart, clerk of the court, for $1,000. For this sum he agrees in a written contract to serve and obey Stuart as his legal master from now until the time of his death. The origin of the unique deal is that Logan has lately found himself involved in certain debts which have worried him a great deal, and to get rid of them he sought this means.
The transaction was simply a change of masters. The slave of debt chose rather to be the servant of an individual, with the sweet consciousness of being free from debt. He has publicly acknowledged that to an honest, conscientious man, debt is a most tyrannical master. There is also a spiritual lesson that may be drawn from this incident. Every sinner—and every human being is naturally a sinner (Rom. 3:23)—owes an enormous debt to his Creator. He owes a debt—a fine, or penalty, for violation of the law—that amounts to eternal death. His master is the one who leads or impels him to sin. (See Rom. 6:16.)
Now the Gospel sets before each one a way to get rid of this debt. The plan involves a change of master, giving one’s life service to Him who has already paid the debt for all who will make the change. There is no such thing as an independent man, every one is the servant either of “sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.” But it is possible for every one to be free, for “if the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” So the only freedom for any one is in the service of Christ. Wisdom is found in the choice to become a bond-servant of Christ in order to be out of debt, free from “him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil.” Heb. 2:14. “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” It is possible to-day to be able to sing from the heart,—
“’Tis done, the great transaction’s done;
I am my Lord’s and He is mine;
He drew me, and I followed on,
Charmed to confess the Voice divine.”
Question Corner
1276.—Man's Condition in Death.
Are there not as many texts in the Bible to prove that man is conscious after death as there are that the dead know not anything? S. J. M.
What is meant by consciousness after death?
After death, late or soon, comes the resurrection, and after the resurrection of course all the righteous will be conscious. If it is meant in death, the whole tenor of Bible teaching is that man is not conscious. “The dead know not anything;” “in that very day their thoughts perish,” are but echoes of other statements. All the Scriptures that are made to seem to teach otherwise are but figures of speech, personification, parable, etc. Why try to glorify death, the enemy?
Does our querist believe that Jesus taught in one case to honor father and mother, and in the other case to hate father and mother? The first text, quoting a command of the Decalogue, enjoins duty of the child, however old, to father and mother. The second text simply teaches that we should love all other things less than God, or love God more than father, mother, and all things else. Compare Luke 14:26, 27 with Matt. 10:37, 38. Hate sometimes means to love less.
Does this have reference to the Holy Ghost given on the day of Pentecost? What is the meaning of the remission and retaining of sin? G. D. M.
The Spirit is the same, but the giving and receiving are not. If the disciples had had sufficient faith they would have received the Spirit in greater measure when Jesus breathed upon them. As it was, they could not receive it in its fulness till the day of Pentecost. The Spirit fitted them to proclaim the Gospel message. They could say with all authority that whosoever received that message had forgiveness of sins, and whosoever would not receive it would be lost. Compare with Jer. 1:10, and 18:7–10. The great power and authority were in God's message borne.
