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Review and Herald, Vol. 44, No. 6.

WHO CHANGED THE SABBATH?

Review and Herald

Jul 21, 1874

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 21, 1874

WHO CHANGED THE SABBATH?

(Concluded.)
In presenting further evidence to show what power it is that has changed the Sabbath, we quote again from the “Catholic Christian Instructed”:—
“Ques. What warrant have you for keeping the Sunday, preferable to the ancient Sabbath, which was the Saturday?”
“Ans. We have for it the authority of the Catholic church, and apostolic tradition.”
“Q. Does the Scripture anywhere command the Sunday to be kept for the Sabbath?”
“A. The Scripture commands us to hear the church (Matt. 18:17; Luke 10:16), and to hold fast the traditions of the apostles. 2 Thess. 2:15. But the Scriptures do not in particular mention this change of the Sabbath. John speaks of the Lord’s day (Rev. 1:10); but he does not tell us what day of the week this was, much less does he tell us that this day was to take the place of the Sabbath ordained in the commandments. Luke also speaks of the disciples’ meeting together to break bread on the first day of the week. Acts 20:7. And Paul (1 Cor. 16:2) orders that on the first day of the week the Corinthians should lay by in store what they designed to bestow in charity on the faithful in Judea; but neither the one nor the other tells us that the first day of the week was to be henceforth the day of worship and the Christian Sabbath; so that truly the best authority we have for this is the testimony and ordinance of the church. And, therefore, those who pretend to be so religious of the Sunday, whilst they take no notice of other festivals ordained by the same church authority, show that they act by humor, and not by reason and religion; since Sundays and holy days all stand upon the same foundation, viz., the ordinance of the church.”—Cath. Christian Instructed, pp. 209–211.
The “Doctrinal Catechism,” pp. 101, 174, 351–355, offers proof that Protestants are not guided by Scripture. We present two of the questions and answers:—
“Ques. Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?”
“Ans. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.”
“Q. When Protestants do profane work upon Saturday, or the seventh day of the week, do they follow the Scripture as their only rule of faith—do they find this permission clearly laid down in the Sacred Volume?”
“A. On the contrary, they have only the authority of tradition for this practice. In profaning Saturday, they violate one of God’s commandments, which he has never clearly abrogated—‘Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.’”
Then follows a statement and refutation of the arguments Protestants usually rely on to prove the change of the Sabbath, such as the resurrection of Christ, the pouring out of the Spirit, the Lord’s day of Rev. 1:10; Acts 20:7; and 1 Cor. 16:2, showing that these scriptures contain no evidence of the institution of Sunday observance, but that the practice rests solely upon the authority of the Catholic church.

SUNDAY AUTHORITY.

In a Roman Catholic work entitled, “The Shortest Way to End Disputes about Religion,” p. 19, by the Rev. Robert Manning, approved by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Fitzpatrick, Coadjutor of the Diocese of Boston, Mass., we find the following:—
“As zealous as Protestants are against the Church’s infallibility, they are forced to depend wholly upon her authority in many articles that cannot be evidently proved from any text of Scripture, yet are of very great importance.”
“1. The lawfulness for Christians to work upon Saturday, contrary, in appearance, to the express command of God, who bids us ‘keep the Sabbath holy,’ and tells us the seventh day of the week is that day.”
“2. The lawfulness and validity of infant baptism, whereof there is no example in Scripture.”

A QUESTION FOR ALL BIBLE CHRISTIANS.

In accordance with the instruction given in the catechisms from which the foregoing quotations are made, a Catholic tract under the above title makes a precise statement of the positions held respectively by Catholics and Protestants on this question, in the following forcible language:—
“I am going to propose a very plain and serious question, to which I would entreat all who profess to follow ‘the Bible, and the Bible only,’ to give their most earnest attention. It is this: Why do you not keep holy the Sabbath day? diligently go to church, and say your prayers, and read your Bible at home every Sunday of your lives.”
“But Sunday is not the Sabbath day. Sunday is the first day of the week; the Sabbath day was the seventh day of the week. Almighty God did not give a commandment that men should keep holy one day in seven; but he named his own day, and said distinctly, ‘Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day;’ and he assigned a reason for choosing this day rather than any other—a reason which belongs only to the seventh day of the week, and cannot be applied to the rest. He says, ‘For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.’”
“Almighty God ordered that all men should rest from their labor on the seventh day because he too had rested on that day; he did not rest on Sunday but on Saturday. On Sunday, which is the first day of the week, he began the work of creation, he did not finish it; it was on Saturday that he ‘ended’ his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made; and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.’ Gen. 2:2, 3. Nothing can be more plain and easy to be understood than all this; and there is nobody who attempts to deny it; it is acknowledged by everybody that the day which Almighty God appointed to be kept holy was Saturday, not Sunday. Why do you, then, keep holy the Sunday, and not the Saturday?”
“You tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, but that the Christian Sabbath has been changed to Sunday. Changed! but by whom? Who has authority to change an express command of Almighty God? When God has spoken and said, Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day, who shall dare to say, Nay, thou mayest work and do all manner of worldly business on the seventh day; but thou shalt keep holy the first day, in its stead? This is the most important question, which I know not how you can answer.”
“You are a Protestant and you profess to go by the Bible, and the Bible only; and yet in so important a matter as the observance of one day in seven as a holy day, you go against the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place of that day which the Bible has commanded. The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the ten commandments; you believe that the other nine are still binding; who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with your own principles, if you really follow the Bible, and the Bible only, you ought to be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in which this fourth commandment is expressly altered, or at least from which you may confidently infer that it was the will of God that Christians should make that change in its observance which you have made.”
“The present generation of Protestants keep Sunday holy instead of Saturday, because they received it as a part of the Christian religion from the last generation, and that generation received it from the generation before, and so on, backward, from one generation to another, by a continual succession, until we come to the time of the (so-called) Reformation, when it so happened that those who conducted the change of religion in this country left this particular portion of Catholic faith and practice untouched.”
“But, had it happened otherwise—had some one or other of the ‘Reformers’ taken it into his head to denounce the observance of Sunday as a popish corruption and superstition, and to insist upon it that Saturday was the day which God had appointed to be kept holy, and that he had never authorized the observance of any other—all Protestants would have been obliged, in obedience to their professed principle of following the Bible, and the Bible only, either to acknowledge this teaching as true, and to return to the observance of the ancient Sabbath, or else to deny that there is any Sabbath at all. And so, in like manner, any one at the present day who should set about, honestly and without prejudice, to draw up for himself a form of religious belief and practice out of the written word of God, must needs come to the same conclusion; he must either believe that the Sabbath is still binding upon men’s consciences, because of the divine command, ‘Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day;’ or he must believe that no Sabbath at all is binding upon them, because of the apostolic injunction, ‘Let no man judge you in respect of a festival day, or of the sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is Christ’s.’ Either one or the other of these conclusions he might honestly come to; but he would know nothing whatever of a Christian Sabbath, distinct from the ancient, celebrated on a different day, and observed in a different manner, simply because holy Scripture itself nowhere speaks of such a thing.”
“Now mind, in all this, you would greatly misunderstand me, if you supposed I was quarreling with you for acting in this manner on a true and right principle—in other words, a Catholic principle, viz., the acceptance, without hesitation, of that which has been handed down to you by an unbroken tradition. I would not tear from you a single one of those shreds and fragments of divine truth which you have retained. God forbid! They are the most precious things you possess, and by God’s blessing may serve as clues to bring you out of that labyrinth of error in which you find yourselves involved, far more by the fault of your forefathers, three centuries ago, than by your own. What I do quarrel with you for, is not your inconsistency in occasionally acting on a true principle, but your adoption, as a general rule, of a false one. You keep the Sunday, and not the Saturday; and you do so rightly, for this was the practice of all Christians when Protestantism began; but you have abandoned other Catholic observances, which were equally universal at that day, preferring the novelties introduced by the men who invented Protestantism to the unvarying tradition of above fifteen hundred years.”
“We blame you not for making Sunday your weekly holiday, instead of Saturday, but for rejecting tradition, which is the only safe and clear rule by which this observance can be justified. In outward act, we do the same as yourselves in this matter; we, too, no longer observe the ancient Sabbath, but Sunday, in its stead; but then there is this important difference between us, that we do not pretend, as you do, to derive our authority for so doing from a book, but we derive it from a living teacher, and that teacher is the church. Moreover, we believe that not everything which God would have us to know and to do is written in the Bible, but that there is an unwritten word of God, which we are bound to believe and obey, just as we believe and obey the Bible itself, according to that saying of the apostle, ‘Stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle.’ 2 Thess. 2:14.”
“We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for keeping Sunday holy, instead of Saturday, as we have for every other article of our creed, namely, the authority of ‘the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth;’ 2 Tim. 3:15; whereas, you who are Protestants have really no authority for it whatever; for there is no authority for it in the Bible, and you will not allow that there can be authority for it anywhere else. Both you and we do, in fact, follow tradition in this matter; but we follow it, believing it to be a part of God’s word, and the church to be its divinely-appointed guardian and interpreter; you follow it, denouncing it all the time as a fallible and treacherous guide, which often makes the commandment of God of none effect.”

A CUTTING REPROOF.

In another Catholic work, called a “Treatise of Thirty Controversies,” we find the following cutting reproof:—
“The word of God commandeth the seventh day to be the Sabbath of our Lord, and to be kept holy; you [Protestants] without any precept of Scripture, change it to be the first day of the week, only authorized by our traditions. Divers English Puritans oppose, against this point, that the observation of the first day is proved out of Scripture, where it is said, the first day of the week. Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10. Have they not spun a fair thread in quoting these places? If we should produce no better for purgatory, prayers for the dead, invocation of the saints, and the like, they might have good cause indeed to laugh us to scorn; for where is it written that these were Sabbath days in which those meetings were kept? Or where is it ordained they should be always observed? Or, which is the sum of all, where is it decreed that the observation of the first day should abrogate or abolish the sanctifying of the seventh day, which God commanded everlastingly to be kept holy? Not one of those is expressed in the written word of God.”
And finally, W. Lockhart, B. A. of Oxford, in the Toronto (Cath.) Mirror, offered the following “challenge” to all the Protestants of Ireland; a challenge as well calculated for this latitude as that. He says:—
“I do, therefore, solemnly challenge the Protestants of Ireland to prove, by plain texts of Scripture, the questions concerning the obligation of the Christian Sabbath. 1. That Christians may work on Saturday, the old seventh day. 2. That they are bound to keep holy the first day, namely, Sunday. 3. That they are not bound to keep holy the seventh day also.”
This is what the papal power claims to have done respecting the fourth commandment. Catholics plainly acknowledge that there is no scriptural authority for the change they have made, but that it rests wholly upon the authority of the church; and they claim it as a token or mark of the authority of that church; the “very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday” being set forth as proof of its power in this respect.
That many should suppose that Christ wrought this change is not strange; for they have been so taught. But this misapprehension should no longer exist; for, according to the prophecy, the only change ever to be made in the law of God was to be made by the little horn of Daniel 7, and the man of sin of 2 Thess. 2; and the only change that has been made in it is the change of the Sabbath. Now, if Christ made this change, he filled the office of the blasphemous power spoken of by both Daniel and Paul—a conclusion sufficiently hideous to drive any Christian from the view which leads thereto.
But why should any one labor to prove that Christ changed the Sabbath? Whoever does this is performing a thankless task. The pope will not thank him; for if it is proved that Christ wrought this change, then the pope is robbed of his badge of authority and power. And no truly enlightened Protestant will thank him; for if he succeeds, he only shows that the papacy has not done the work which it was predicted that it should do, and so that the prophecy has failed, and the Scriptures are unreliable. The matter had better stand as the prophecy has placed it; and the claim which the pope unwittingly puts forth had better be granted. When a person is charged with any work, and that person steps forth and confesses that he has done the work, that is usually considered sufficient to settle the matter. So, when the prophecy affirms that a certain power shall change the law of God, and that very power in due time arises, does the work foretold, and then openly claims that he has done it, what need have we of further evidence? The world should not forget that the great apostasy foretold by Paul has taken place; that the man of sin for long ages held almost a monopoly of Christian teaching in the world; that the mystery of iniquity has cast the darkness of its shadow and the errors of its doctrines over almost all Christendom; and out of this era of error and darkness and corruption, the theology of our day has come. Would it then be anything strange if there were yet some relics of popery to be discarded ere the Reformation will be complete?
A. Campbell (Baptism, p. 15), speaking of the different Protestant sects, says:—
“All of them retain in their bosom, in their ecclesiastic organizations, worship, doctrines, and observances, various relics of popery. They are, at best, reformations of popery, and only reformations in part. The doctrines and traditions of men yet impair the power and progress of the gospel in their hands.”
Therefore, let the reader beware, lest he make the mistake of supposing he is following the Lord Jesus Christ, while he is only following his pretended vicegerent, the Antichrist of Rome.

SATISFIED

By M. A. Davis

“I shall be satisfied when I awake in Thy likeness.”
“I shall be satisfied;” not where the shadows Are falling heavily along my way; Where bright hopes fade, and fondest ties are severed, And cherished idols turn to crumbling clay; But where the sun of joy is ever shining, Where all the loved and lost of earth will dwell, Where sweet harp-music on the ear is ringing, And angel voices the glad chorus swell. Gladly I turn from all I’ve loved beside; There I shall rest, and shall be satisfied.
Shall these be satisfied? the soul’s deep yearning, High aspirations, longings unexpressed, Like a tired bird, its upward course oft winging, Then sinking downward to its lowly nest? Yes; when our joyous flight with stronger pinion Shall be unfettered by these mortal fears, When we shall range through nature’s wide domain, And catch the far-off “music of the spheres,” Our soul-thirst quenched where living waters glide, Then, in His fullness, we’ll be satisfied.
“I shall be satisfied;” not while the conflict Must every day be waged with self and sin, Often defeated, and yet still pursuing, Fightings without, and doubts and fears within; But, when the warfare shall at last be ended, If I, through grace, shall with the victors be, My name within the book of life be written, And with his jewels Jesus calls for me, Though in the dust my moldering form shall hide, I shall come forth, and then be satisfied.
Yes, satisfied; not, not, indeed while darkly, As through a glass obscure, that land I see; Not now, while Jesus’ image is but faintly, Alas! how faintly, shadowed forth in me; But oh! when, all undimmed, its matchless beauty Shall burst upon my wondering, dazzled sight, When I awaken in his likeness holy, His spirit pure, and form of glory bright, Then evermore with him I shall abide, And in his presence shall be satisfied.
Battle Creek, Mich.
M. A. Davis.

The Kingdom of God: The Day of the Lord

By J. H. Waggoner

The Kingdom of God.—No. 16.

(Concluded.)
Certain prophecies have been misapplied because of the error of making the day of the Lord identical with the one thousand years of Rev. 20. First, taking this for granted, they locate everything which is fulfilled in the day of the Lord in that one thousand years. But the day of the Lord is more than one thousand years in length; it both commences before, and reaches beyond, the one thousand years of Rev. 20. Peter does not give the length of that day, as has been inferred from 2 Pet. 3: 8, 9. He there refers solely to the faithfulness of God, saying that his longsuffering withholds the execution of his judgments on the scoffers; yet this is no evidence of slackness, as his promise is as sure one thousand years hence as if fulfilled to-day. With man, haste is necessary to the performance of his promise, as his life is but a hand-breadth; but not so with God, who is “from everlasting to everlasting.”
The day of the Lord commences before the second advent. It has been shown that the voice of God shakes the heavens and the earth before the Saviour comes. And Isa. 2 shows that they are shaken in that day. “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.” Verses 10–12. “In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.” Verses 20, 21. Also chap. 13: 6–13.
As this shaking is in the day of the Lord and before the advent, it follows that the day of the Lord commences before the advent. But the thousand years commence at the advent, for the resurrection of the just takes place at the commencement of the thousand years, Rev. 20, and at the time of the advent. 1 Thess. 4. Therefore the day of the Lord commences before the thousand years.
Again, the wicked are not raised till the one thousand years are finished; and Peter says the heavens and earth which are now are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men; and that in that day of the Lord the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat. Thus we find that the resurrection of the wicked, the execution of the Judgment, and the passing away of the heavens and earth, all take place in the day of the Lord, but after the termination of the one thousand years. Therefore, again, the day of the Lord and the one thousand years of Rev. 20 cannot be identical.
Because Peter says a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, we have no more warrant to infer that “the day of the Lord” is just one thousand years in length than that “the day of salvation” is of that length; and that day has already existed nearly two thousand years.
We have seen that the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, under the sounding of the seventh trumpet. This shows that Dan. 7: 13, is fulfilled under the seventh trumpet. The Son of man comes to the Ancient of days, and there is given him dominion over the people, nations, and languages, that is, of this world. Both Rev. 11: 14–18, and Dan. 7: 9–14, show that this takes place in close connection with the sitting of the judgment. This agrees with Ps. 110: 1, and other texts, which show that the dominion over the nations (or his foes being made his footstool) is given to him just before he returns the second time to take vengeance on his foes, and not when he first ascended on high. The setting up of the kingdom is in connection with the second advent, not with the first advent.
And it is also evident that the judgment is set before the coming of the Lord. This is proved in various ways, but most clearly by the order and location of the three messages of Rev. 14. The first announces that “the hour of his judgment is come.” The second, that “Babylon is fallen.” The third warns against the worship of the beast and his image and receiving of his mark, and calls to the keeping of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. And after these are all given, the Son of man comes to reap the harvest of the earth. The terms of the third message show that it is a message of probation, and therefore it stands in its natural order, before the coming of Christ.
And again the third message is easily located in reference to past events. It is based on the making of an image to the beast which had been wounded unto death, and whose deadly wound was healed. The deadly wound was given to the papal beast in 1798, when Pope Pius VI. was taken a prisoner and carried into captivity; and he died an exile from the pontifical throne. This wound was healed in the present century. And as the image is made to the beast which was wounded and healed, it could not be made before the present century. And therefore all efforts to locate this message far in the past, or after the coming of Christ, must be fruitless.
Again, the second message does not announce the destruction of Babylon as some have supposed; the fall of Babylon is distinct from, and prior to, her destruction. In this message is the mere announcement of the fall of Babylon, with the reason, while in chap. 18: 1–5, a mighty angel announces the fall and its consequences. This angel gives the following events and call in order:—
  1. Babylon is fallen.
  2. She is become the habitation of devils.
  3. Come out of her, my people.
  4. In one day shall her plagues come.
By this we see that the fall of Babylon is not her destruction as is often claimed, but it is a moral fall; for she becomes the habitation of devils after her fall; God’s people are called out of her after she becomes the habitation of devils; and her destruction is threatened after the people of God are called out of her. The location of the plagues is shown in connection with the third message. This message says, “If any man worship the beast, and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation,” &c. The first plague is poured out upon the very ones who do not heed this message. Rev. 16: 1, 2. Now as this beast, called also the man of sin, is destroyed at the coming of Christ, see 2 Thess. 2 and Rev. 19, it would be absurd to locate a message of warning against its worship after that time.
But as the first message precedes the second and third, it is proved that “the hour of his judgment” comes before the second and third messages are given. Such a proclamation as this was made by the Advent believers up to the fall of A. D. 1844. This was the faith of those engaged in that work. The Advent Shield, published in that year, says:—
“We look upon the proclamation which has been made, as being the cry of the angel who proclaimed, ‘the hour of his judgment is come.’ Rev. 14: 6, 7. It is a sound which is to reach all nations; it is the proclamation of ‘the everlasting gospel,’ or ‘the gospel of the kingdom.’ In one shape or other, this cry has gone abroad through the earth wherever human beings are found, and we have had opportunity to hear of the fact.”—Art. Rise and Progress of Adventism, by J. Litch. See also tract entitled, “The Last Hour,” published at the Advent Herald Office. The precise nature of the work announced by this first message we have not time and space here to investigate, but would refer to our published works on the subject of the sanctuary. The difficulty we have to contend with on this point in the minds of opposers is not a difficulty in regard to the facts, but to opinions; the opinions of the majority, on the Judgment, being most vague and indefinite. On this subject we introduce another quotation from the Advent Shield, the sentiment of which is widely different from the common views, but, as far as it goes, fully accords with ours:—
“We are inclined to the opinion that the Judgment is after death, and before the resurrection: and that before that event the acts of all men will be adjudicated; so that the resurrection of the righteous is their full acquittal and redemption—their sins being blotted out when the times of refreshing shall have come [Acts 3: 19]; while the fact that the wicked are not raised proves that they were previously condemned.”—Review of Prof. Bush on the Resurrection, by S. Bliss.
There is a third class not referred to in the above extract: the righteous who do not sleep, but are changed at the coming of the Lord. Their judgment must also be prior to the resurrection, as their translation is equivalent to a resurrection; and of course, their judgment takes place while they live upon the earth. To them the announcement of the Judgment come is of the deepest importance, and they alone will be benefited by the subsequent messages.
Jesus the Son of God is passed into Heaven to appear in the presence of God for us as our Mediator or Advocate. And it seems to be highly necessary that he should continue his work of mediation, and in his office of advocate, until judgment is rendered in favor of his people. No one could stand in the judgment without a mediator, to answer for himself. And so we see that it is a wise and merciful arrangement that the judgment sits before Jesus resigns his priesthood in the heavenly sanctuary.

THE FIRST DOMINION RESTORED.

The setting up of the kingdom of God looks to the restoration of this earth to its Eden state. The prophet Micah says:— “And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong-hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4: 8.
The “first dominion” can refer to no other than that given to Adam, which was dominion over all the earth, and over all that lived upon the earth. And thus it is written that the kingdom, and dominion, and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. “The meek shall inherit the earth.” It is in view of this that the kingdom is said to be prepared from the foundation of the world.
But of course the inheritance of the righteous must be redeemed from the curse which the sin of man brought upon it. Jesus will gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and that work iniquity. And so Paul says that our present reception of the Spirit is but “the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.” Eph. 1: 13, 14. The possession or inheritance is already purchased by the blood of Jesus; he bore its curse in the crown of thorns; but it must be redeemed, which it will be when “the works therein”—all the works of sinful man; all the evidences of his pride and rebellion—“shall be burned up.” Then we shall behold the new heavens and the new earth, wherein righteousness shall dwell. No sin, no pain, no tears, no death, will be there. The glory of God shall fill the earth as the waters fill the sea. Then shall “the Lord’s prayer” be fulfilled, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven.” J. H. Waggoner.

Bible Stories as God's Method of Teaching

THERE is no treatise on faith like the simple story of Abraham’s life; none upon patience like the story of Job; none upon courage like the story of Daniel; none upon meekness like the life of Moses; none upon zeal like the life of Paul; none upon love like the story of Jesus. This is God’s method, and the best.

The Contented Spirit and Small Mercies

THE contented spirit is pleased with what are called small mercies; but the skies cannot drop fatness for the discontented.

Significant Items.

By F. A. Buzzell

—A JAPAN paper discourages the sending of more youthful Japanese to the United States to be educated, on account of the evil associations with which they come in contact.—Boston Journal.

RUSH FOR WORKS OF FICTION.

—Of the call for books at the Boston Public Library, the Boston Times is informed that “the works of fiction are most largely called for, and the rush for a newly issued novel is something terrible.”
—A dispatch from Rome conveys the intelligence that when Pio Nono recently asked some U. S. Naval Officers how he would be received in America, the reply was that the people of America would regard his taking up his residence in this country as a great honor.—Boston Journal.
—It is surprising how vice and iniquities of every kind are coming to be rated as purity, so that some of the greatest are to-day defended in the name of Christianity.—Ex. from Sermon of Dr. Miner.
—This, unfortunately, is an age of blasphemy to a great extent. When men pass along the streets of the city they hear the youth, scarce able to talk, uttering oaths that would shock the stoutest in other times.—Ex. from a Catholic Sermon.
—A mercantile friend of ours tells us that a customer of his thus criticized, the other day, one of our national mottoes: “You see they've got it on the five-cent pieces, ‘In God we trust.’ Now think of a great nation like ours putting a lie on its currency! If they had said, ‘The god we trust,’ they'd have hit it. It's the only God nine out of ten of 'em know.”—Index.
—Interests, rents, and profits—the enginery of trade—have piled the world's wealth in idle heaps, and a few possess it, while the mass of the people are pinched to live.—South Boston Bee.
Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.—Bible.

RELIGION THE LIVING QUESTION.

—Here, in America, we are growing stronger day by day in men of Irish blood who thoroughly appreciate their position. In their relations to the State and to society, the question of nationality is a dead letter; the only living question is one of religion.—Boston Pilot.
—The execution of a wild beast in human form in New Hampshire (Evans of Northwood) is but the beginning of a work that awaits its accomplishment. The public is kept in a constant state of apprehension over the murders that are occurring almost daily.—Boston Times.
—“Days of Religious Ease and Respectability,” the critic of the Chicago Pulpit styles the present, from a religious standpoint.
—“Preach the word,” says Paul to Timothy, and the charge is more needed to-day than then, but little heeded.
PROOF: Rev. James Freeman Clarke preached a sermon, yesterday, on “What Shall Make Boston a Truly Great City.”—Boston Herald, June 15.
“The school children of distant States would read of historic buildings and places of Boston, &c., &c. The city would be advertised, &c. Paul says something to Timothy about teachers being heaped together and somebody's having itching ears, about sound doctrine not being endured, &c. 2 Tim. 4.”
—The murder mania of New England appears just at the present time to be raging worse than in any other part of the country. . . . In and around Boston Capitol, crimes are being perpetrated with a frequency that is almost appalling; and they are the worse because the authors are running loose without any particular fear of discovery and punishment. It is quite evident that something must be done at once to dam this current of human passions and restrain a multitude of yet uncommitted murders, by making a score or so of prompt examples.—Boston Times.
F. A. BUZZELL.

Hindered by Satan.

By MARY MARTIN

While reading 1 Thess. 2:18, I thought, How many of us have had an experience like that of Paul? How often we have felt like working for the Master, and resolved to do the little we could; but Satan has hindered us so often that instead of golden fruit we have nothing but leaves to bring to Him who has apportioned our labor. We have dear friends, with whom we intended to converse upon the subject of religion, and for whom we have such a deep interest; but there were “angel whisperings”—“they care for none of these things”—“you cannot do the subject justice”—but it was he who transforms himself into an angel of light who gave the caution, and the good we longed to do remained undone, for “Satan hindered us.”
Some have neighbors who are interested to read upon subjects pertaining to their everlasting welfare; and with the printed arguments in their possession, they rejoice that others are willing to investigate, but allow worldly business to so fully occupy their time, that the anxious mind is quieted by some unscriptural sophistry before the light comes, because Satan has hindered those who should be ever at their post.
There are some who start to follow the Saviour with noble resolves and high hopes. For a time the recording angel daily writes “consecration to God” over against their names, in that book whose record will one day be disclosed; but, alas! worldly gain, honor, and fame, attract their attention, and first love dies out as Satan hinders them.
There are those who in early childhood were taught to love and obey God, and were morning and evening carried to him in prayer. They well know the precious promises to those who endure faithful unto the end, and the punishment threatened for lives of sin, and yet are out on the ocean drifting, drifting, without making one effort to escape the whirlpool they are daily nearing. Once eternal life looked precious, but earth’s tinsel has come between their eyes and its heavenly brightness. Satan has hindered them.
As we look about us and see the good we have hoped would be accomplished, and feel that our hopes are farther from fruition to-day than ever before—all because Satan has hindered—with deep anxiety we ask the question, Is there no remedy? In the precious Volume so full of comfort and instruction for every one under all circumstances, we read, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Be it our earnest, continual endeavor to live so near to God, with so much light from Heaven falling upon our pathway, that the great deceiver who loves darkness rather than light may be driven from our presence, and we not be “hindered” in the short but perilous journey before us.
MARY MARTIN.
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