Review and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 1.
COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM, AND BE YE SEPARATEPage 1
Earlier text: THE SABBATH IN THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENTDISEASE AND ITS CAUSES.
By Ellen G. White
Another great cause of mortality among infants and youth is the custom of leaving their arms and shoulders naked. This fashion can not be too severely censured. It has cost the life of thousands. The air, bathing the arms and limbs, and circulating about the armpits, chills these sensitive portions of the body so near the vitals, and hinders the healthy circulation of the blood, thus inducing disease, especially of the lungs and brain. Those who regard the health of their children of more value than the foolish flattery of visitors or the admiration of strangers, will ever clothe the shoulders and arms of their tender infants. The mother's attention has been frequently called to the purple arms and hands of her child, and she has been cautioned in regard to this health- and life-destroying practice; and the answer has often been, “I always dress my children in this manner. They get used to it. I can not endure to see the arms of infants covered. It looks old-fashioned.” These mothers dress their delicate infants as they would not venture to dress themselves. They know that if their own arms were exposed without a covering, they would shiver with chilliness. Can infants of a tender age endure this process of hardening without receiving injury? Some children may have at birth such strong constitutions that they can endure this abuse without its costing them life; yet thousands are sacrificed, and tens of thousands have the foundation laid for a short, invalid life, by the custom of bandaging and surfeiting the body with much clothing, while the arms—which are at greater distance from the seat of life, and for that cause need even more clothing than the chest and lungs—are left naked. Can mothers expect to have quiet, healthy infants, who thus treat them? When the limbs and arms are chilled, the blood is driven from these parts to the lungs and head. The circulation is impeded, and nature's fine machinery does not move harmoniously. The system of the infant is deranged, and it cries and moans because of the abuse it is compelled to suffer. The mother feeds it, thinking it must be hungry, but food only increases its suffering. Tight bands and an overloaded stomach do not agree. The child has no room to breathe. It may scream, struggle and pant for breath, and yet the mother must not mistrust the cause. She could relieve the sufferer at once, at least of tight bandages, if she understood the nature of the case. At length she becomes alarmed, thinks her child really ill, and summons a doctor, who looks upon the infant a few moments, and then deals out poisonous medicines, or something called a soothing cordial, which the mother, faithful to directions, pours down the throat of the abused infant. If it was not diseased in reality before, it is after this process. It suffers now from drug-disease, the most stubborn and incurable of all diseases. If it recovers, it must bear about more or less in its system the effects of that poisonous drug, and it is liable to spasms, heart-disease, dropsy on the brain, or consumption. Some infants are not strong enough to bear even a trifle of drug poisons; and as nature rallies to meet the intruder, the vital forces of the tender infant are too severely taxed, and death ends the scene. In this age of the world, it is no strange sight to see the mother lingering by the cradle of her suffering, dying infant, her heart torn with anguish as she listens to its feeble wail, and witnesses its expiring struggles. It seems mysterious to her that God should thus afflict her innocent child. She does not think that her wrong course has brought about the sad result. She just as surely destroyed her infant's hold on life as if she had given it poison. Disease never comes without a cause. The way is first prepared, and disease invited, by disregarding the laws of health. God does not take pleasure in the sufferings and death of little children. He commits them to parents, for them to educate physically, mentally, and morally, and to train for usefulness here, and for heaven at last. If the mother remains in ignorance in regard to the physical needs of her child, and, as the result, her child sickens, she need not expect that God will work a miracle to counteract her agency in making it sick. Thousands of infants have died who might have lived. They are martyrs to their parents' ignorance of the relation which food, dress, and the air they breathe, sustain to health and life. Mothers in past ages should have been physicians to their own children. The time the mother devoted to the extra beautifying of her infant's wardrobe, she should have spent in a nobler purpose—in educating her mind with regard to her own physical needs and those of her offspring. She should have been storing her mind with useful knowledge in regard to the best course she could pursue in rearing her children healthfully, realizing that generations would be injured or benefited by her course of action. Mothers who have troublesome, fretful infants should study into the cause of their uneasiness. By so doing, they will often see that something is wrong in their management. It is often the case that the mother becomes alarmed at the symptoms of illness manifested by her child, and hurriedly summons a physician, when the infant's sufferings would have been relieved by taking off its tight clothing, and putting upon it garments properly loose and short, thus allowing it the use of its feet and limbs. Mothers should study from cause to effect. If the child has taken cold, it is generally owing to the wrong management of the mother. If she covers its head as well as its body while sleeping, in a short time it will be in a perspiration, caused by labored breathing, because of the lack of pure, vital air. When she takes it from beneath the covering, it is almost sure to take cold. The arms being naked, exposes the infant to constant cold, and congestion of lungs or brain. These exposures prepare the way for the infant to become sickly and dwarfed. HEALTH WORK AN ENTERING WEDGE.
By Annie Hemming
ANNIE HEMMING.
(Mount Sterling, Ky.) AFTER the light received last year at the Sanitarium Summer School, I realized that God would expect more of me than before. On arriving in Kentucky, I began canvassing for Good Health, and in this way became acquainted with the people. To procure subscriptions I promised, as an inducement, a health talk every week at Rev. ____’s house, as his wife, after subscribing, gave the use of her parlor till there should be other openings. Later a wealthy resident, to whom I had previously loaned copies of the Signs of the Times, gave the use of a large room. We have met weekly for months, and the class understands simple treatments. This class has given me a standing among the wealthy people, and I have more calls for health visits than I can fill. A few months ago when I was in need of a room, I got discouraged hunting for one. Now that I am known, there are four families who wish me to take rooms on account of the health principles. One family gave up tea, coffee, pork, spices, fried food, and tobacco. The result is a marked improvement in their health. This is a foreign field as regards the third angel’s message. I hope God will put it into7 the heart of some one to come here as a self-supporting worker. Three persons are keeping the Sabbath, as a result of Bible work. So we have a small Sabbath-school. FROGS AS WEATHER PROPHETS.
Have you seen the little weather frogs? They are knowing little chaps, and can always tell when it is going to rain, and when it is going to be fine; and if you will purchase a couple of them, just for company for each other, you will never be caught out in the rain without your umbrella. These little weather prophets are newcomers to our land, being German immigrants. They have been shown for a few days in a large bird store. When I saw them, the little fellows were perched on two sticks, which ran across a glass-sided affair, like an aquarium box. These sticks were almost at the top of the box, which was about half filled with clear water. The majority of the little fellows were a dull brown, very nearly the color of the stick on which they sat, and a few were between green and brown. These frogs are really tree frogs, and have the faculty of changing their color to match the object on which they are perched. They receive the name of “weather frogs” because they jump into the water upon the approach of rain or bad weather, and come out again when the weather shows signs of changing to clear. When full grown, these tiny frogs are little more than an inch in length. In captivity, the weather frog is kept in a glass jar or globe, which is covered on top with a wire screen. Water is put in the bottom of the jar.—New York Herald. “AFTER MANY DAYS.”
By L. Flora Plummer
We often think that if we could see immediate results of the missionary work we do, we would be more zealous in our efforts for others. We must work by faith as well as walk by faith. To those who cast their bread upon the waters, the promise is that they shall find it “after many days.” The harvest comes after the sowing, and not immediately in connection with it. The promise to the one who sows is that in the harvest time he shall “come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” The drawing, compelling, overwhelming power there is in the truth of God is forcibly illustrated by the following incident: Some one sent several copies of the REVIEW AND HERALD to a woman, who became interested in the paper, but the husband was so prejudiced that he burned every one of the papers that he could find. His wife pasted one of them up over the wood-box. One cold day he came in from his work, and sitting down near the box to warm by the stove, his eye caught a headline on the paper, and he read a portion of the article. Then saying, “That’s not true,” he tore the article out, and threw it into the box. He went out to work again, but could not forget what he had read. In a short time he returned to the house, and when his wife was out of the room, he hunted out the torn pieces, and holding them in place on the wall, read the entire article. From that time on, he read every number of the paper that came, and finally surrendered to the Lord most fully. He and his wife began to observe the Sabbath, and now two of his brothers and their families are also members of the church. They do not know who sent the papers; but in the gathering day, some one will be surprised to see those in the kingdom whom he never knew, but for whom he labored in sending that paper. These will be stars in some one’s crown. REMEMBER always that the object of the Reading Circle work can not be attained without a careful home study of the lessons. Review topics are suggested for use in Circle meetings, but the meetings can in no wise take the place of the home study. The notes on the lessons, which are published exclusively in the Youth's Instructor, will be a help to each family. Have you invited your neighbors to join with you in these studies? Let the rays of light shining in your home, reach out in every direction. 1. Who is the narrator of the events in the fourth chapter of Daniel? 2. Judging from the general tenor of this chapter, what change had taken place in the opinions of Nebuchadnezzar? 3. In what ways was the king “at rest” and “flourishing”? 4. By what means was he “troubled”? 5. Note the points of similarity between this incident and the one in Daniel 2, in the manner of securing an interpretation of the dream. 6. Fix in mind all the details of the dream recorded in Dan. 4:10-17. 7. How were the various excellences of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom symbolized? 8. In what way was the mercy of God shown to be mingled with his judgments? 9. What important key to prophetic interpretation is revealed? 10. How are the angels represented as being connected with the events? 11. How was the respect and esteem which Daniel felt for the king revealed in his manner and conversation? 12. Study carefully each point in the interpretation of the dream. 13. How might the threatened judgment have been averted? 14. Describe the circumstances under which the prophecy was fulfilled. 15. Describe the condition of the king during the seven years of his affliction; also his remarkable restoration to his previous power. 16. How effective was the lesson he thus learned? 2. Recapitulate the Lord’s dealings with the king in the second, third, and fourth chapters of Daniel. 3. What reason is given in this lesson why Nebuchadnezzar was threatened with so terrible a judgment? What connection had the angels with the matter? 4. Give a Bible example of the judgments of the Lord being turned aside by the course taken by those concerned. JANUARY STUDY OF THE FIELD.
(Text-book, January Magazine.) A CHANGE will be noticed in our field study this month. In arranging the material that will make up the Missionary Magazine during 1900, it was decided to publish monthly several articles particularly adapted to the Reading Circle work, and upon these especially our study will be based. It was further planned to use the current issue of the journal rather than the previous one, so that the questions and articles may be in the hands of the students at the same time. This necessitates the preparation of the questions from the manuscript before the paper is made up, and will account for the apparent lack of harmony between the arrangement of the articles in the body of the Magazine and in the study. This week the study is based upon one article. Where possible, we would urge further reading upon the field under consideration. Occasionally we shall suggest for additional reading such books as may be helpful. Send your answers to your field study, monthly, as heretofore, to your State missionary secretary, or whoever may have charge of the work in your Conference. If you do not have the address of this officer, correspond with the Foreign Mission Board, 150 Nassau St., New York City, and you will be put in touch with him. 1. What does the Bible call Egypt? 2. What evidence have we that it was settled by descendants of Noah at an early date after the flood? 3. Give some reasons that seem to indicate that the inhabitants of Egypt had at one time a knowledge of the true God. 4. Give instances showing that God's people have been in touch with the Egyptians all along down through the ages. 5. By what name were the early Egyptian Christians called? 6. About how many of these people are faithful at the present time? 7. What is the population of Egypt to-day? 8. What has recently tended to open the doors of Mohammedan Egypt to the entrance of the gospel? 9. Who first preached the third angel's message in that country? What fate befell him? 10. Through whom was the message next carried to this field? 11. How have they shown a missionary spirit? With what results? 12. How many laborers are there in Egypt at present? 13. In how many languages is the message now being circulated there? 14. Locate upon the map the districts in which our laborers are now carrying forward their work. 15. What experience of the Christians of the early church was repeated in the circumstances that caused the Armenians to carry the truth into Egypt? As a suggestion to churches similarly situated, the following extract is given from a letter from one of our large city churches:— I have been wondering how to organize this work in the church so that it will do the most good to the most people. Of course all should study the lessons for themselves at their homes during the week; but if it stops there, it seems to me that the work will fall far short of doing the good it might do. I have thought of this plan: Organize classes wherever two or more can get together once each week, to go over these lessons. Select leaders, or teachers, for these classes. The work of the classes is not to study the lessons, but to recite them to the teacher, making it regular school work, or similar to it. The best material should be selected for teachers. To avoid the results of one class having a better teacher than another, the classes may be numbered, and each teacher each succeeding week take the next higher number until the highest is reached, and then begin with number one, and so on. It will be necessary to select only those for teachers who are willing to give themselves to the work, and who will be punctual each week in attending their classes, even if it takes them several miles from their homes. I think it would be right for the class to bear the expense of their teacher's car fare. I am very anxious that just as far as possible all the members of this church shall have the benefit of this study, and of having some one meet with them once a week. Our members are scattered all over the city and surrounding country, so that only a small number of them can meet at the church regularly for evening meetings, and I have thought that such a plan as this might be a good thing. Roman Catholic Churches in the Klondike
There are four Roman Catholic churches in the Klondike regions—at Dawson City, Selkirk, Hunker Creek, and Last Chance Creek. Four priests are now settled at Dawson City. HOME-MADE WASHING MACHINE.
By Mrs. May Compton
I have found the following device to answer the same purpose as the more costly manufactured machines: For a handle shape a light stick like an old-fashioned potato masher, only on an enlarged scale; take a tomato can, small lard pail, or any similar tin vessel, and fasten through the bottom to this handle. Use this washing machine in a deep tub, as you would a churn dash. Rub plenty of soap on soiled spots. You will find that the air forced through the clothes in this way will extract the dirt, with little or no labor, and a minimum of wear to the cloth. THE THIRD ANGEL’S MESSAGE: WHAT IS IT?
The expression “the Third Angel’s Message” has reference to the message borne by the third in a series of three angels, each one bearing a message, in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation. The messages of these three angels blend and culminate in the third, which does not cease to sound until the harvest of the earth is ripe, and made ready for the coming of the Lord to reap it. The Third Angel’s Message itself, as it is announced in the words of the third angel, separated from the other two, is as follows: “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 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; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” This is the Third Angel’s Message, as it would stand separated from the other two. But, in fact, it can not be regarded as separate, and can not be made to stand apart as if it alone were a single, separate message to the world; for the very first words concerning it are: “The third angel followed THEM.” Thus, by the very first words of the message itself we are referred not only to the one, but to the two which preceded it. And the Greek word translated “followed” signifies not following apart, nor only following, but “following with,” as soldiers follow their captain, or servants their master; therefore, “to follow one in a thing; to let one’s self be led.” When spoken of things, it signifies to follow as a result; to follow “as a consequence of something which had gone before.” Thus, as to persons, the third angel follows with the two which have preceded; and his message, as a thing, follows as a result, or consequence, of the two which have gone before. Of the second one also it is written: “And there followed another angel.” As with the third angel following him, so it is with the second angel following the first. And of the first one it is written: “And I saw another angel fly,” etc. This is the first in this series of three. There follows with him another; and the third angel follows with them. There is a succession in the order of their rise; but, when the three have in succession risen, then they go on together as one. The first one sounds forth his message; the second one follows and joins with the first; the third follows them, and joins with them; so that, when the three are joined, and go on together in their united power, they form a mighty threefold, loud-voiced message. It takes all to make the Third Angel’s Message complete; and the Third Angel’s message can not be truly given without the giving of all. What, then, is the threefold message in its respective parts?—Here is the first: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Here is the second: “And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” And here is the third: “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 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; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” A glance at the wording of each of these messages will discover that thought in the Greek word “followed,” which signifies “following as a consequence.” The first bears the everlasting gospel, to preach to every creature, calling upon all to fear God and give glory to him, and to worship him, because the hour of his judgment is come. The rejection of this message produces a condition of things which is described as the consequence of such rejection, in the words of the second angel, which followed. And, because of the rejection of the first message, and because of the consequences of that rejection, as announced in the second, a condition of things is produced as a further consequence, which requires that the third angel shall follow them, proclaiming with a loud voice his dreadful warning against the terrible evils that have been produced as the double consequence of the rejecting of the first message. And that the voice and work of the third angel blend with that of the first, is plain from his closing words: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus;” because this is ever the object of the preaching of the everlasting gospel. It is the substance of fearing God and giving glory to him, and of worshiping “him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” And the keeping of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus is the only thing that will enable any soul to stand in the hour of his judgment, which the first angel declares “is come.” Immediately following the closing words of the third angel is “heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth”—from this time forward; and immediately following this, are the words: “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.” And Jesus himself said, “The harvest is the end of the world.” Again: the third angel particularly warns all people against the worship of the beast and his image, whatever these may be; and, from Rev. 19:11–21, we find that the beast and his image are “alive” when the Lord comes in the clouds of heaven, and are “both” destroyed with the brightness of his coming. These facts show that the Third Angel’s Message is a mighty, threefold, loud-voiced message, which goes forth to every nation and kindred, and tongue and people, just before the coming of the Lord; which ripens the harvest of the earth; and which makes ready a people prepared for the Lord. And so, it is the last, the closing, message of God to the world. Such, in word, in form, in arrangement, is the Third Angel’s Message. What the Third Angel’s Message is in spirit and in truth, will be considered next. THE “RETURN OF THE JEWS.”
For anybody to claim, to advocate, or to believe in, the “return of the Jews,” shows that such person has no true conception of the gospel. This is plain from the words quoted in last week’s article,—the Lord’s appeal to all people before this people were scattered,—“What could have been done more, . . . that I have not done?” The final thing which the Lord did, was, as he himself says, to send his Son. And, in his Son, God gave himself; for “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself;” and “in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” And whosoever accepts him is, in the nature of the case, “complete in him.” And any Jew can find all this any moment that he chooses, and at any place that he may be in this wide world. He can find it in America as well as in Palestine: he can find it in New York City, in Hongkong, in Calcutta, in London, or anywhere else, just as well as in Jerusalem. Then, what possible need can there be that the Jews should return to Jerusalem? What can God do for them there, more than he did for the Jews before they were ever scattered from there? Has he another Son whom he can give? Has he yet a greater gift than himself that he can bestow? Has he a greater gift than “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” to give, even though he had another Son whom he might send? It is perfectly plain, therefore, that any claim of the return of the Jews to Jerusalem, or to Palestine, betrays an utter lack of the true value of the gospel. For there can be no question whatever that what we have here suggested must inevitably be involved in any return of the Jews; but there is no possible place for any such thing as that. God has no other Son to give. He has no greater gift than “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” to give, even though he had ten thousand other sons, greater even than Jesus. Then, as he has already given his only begotten Son; as in him he has given “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;” as all this was given to the Jews while they were yet a people, and was rejected by them, and upon their own judgment was given “to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof,”—as God has thus done all that it can be possible for even him to do; and as the benefit of all this can be had by any Jew, wherever he is on earth, at any moment when he will choose to receive it; so there is neither necessity, nor place, nor yet a possibility, of any return of the Jews to Palestine or Jerusalem, or of their re-establishment there as a nation and a peculiar people for whom and by whom God is to do great things. Another feature of this claim of the return of the Jews, which betrays an absolute lack of knowledge of the gospel, is that those who claim it actually hold not only that the Jews are to return, but that they are to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, to rebuild the temple, and re-establish the temple services, sacrifices, offerings, etc., etc. But since the time of the offering of Christ once for all, the offering of a sacrifice is the denial of Christ. And the establishment of a priestly service on earth is a denial of the priesthood of Christ, which is simply denial of his intercession. To establish a sanctuary service on the earth would be only to deny the sanctuary and its services in heaven. Thus any such scheme as is proposed in the claim of the return of the Jews is a denial of all that God has done in the gift of Christ, and if carried out, would be only a repudiation of all that Christ has done since his ascension to heaven, and all that he is now doing. But this whole subject was discussed, and this whole ground was covered, in the first days of Christianity, in the contest carried on by “the Pharisees which believed,” against the gospel as preached by Stephen in the earliest days of the gospel after the ascension of Christ, and by Paul afterward. And the truth of the question—the truth of the gospel, as against this destructive error—is all made plain in the book of Galatians. There it is made plain that all distinctions in behalf of the Jew are utterly broken down, exactly as Jesus said in the parable; and exactly as the Jews decided in their judgment upon the case as presented in the parable,—that the kingdom of God was taken away from them and9 given to others,—and that whatsoever the Jew obtains must be obtained precisely as by any others. Accordingly, over and over it is written: “There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.” A thorough study, therefore, of the book of Galatians is the best course to an understanding of the truth of the gospel as concerns the Jews, and so is the best refutation of all claims of “the return of the Jews.” From these considerations it is perfectly plain that under the present order of things in the gospel, there can be no “return of the Jews” according to the claims that are made as to the return of the Jews; that the only possible way that there can be any such return of the Jews would be to pass by all the present order of things in the gospel, and for the Lord to set up an altogether new system of things, an absolutely new procedure. Accordingly, to every claim of the “return of the Jews,” there is inevitably attached an “age to come,” in which is involved the millennium. And this is why it is that the subject of the “return of the Jews” and “the millennium” are so intimately connected. And thus we are brought to the study of the truth as to the millennium, as further answer to all claims of the “return of the Jews.” SO FAR in our studies in Galatians we have reached the end of the fourteenth verse of the third chapter. And in this study we have been brought about five times, by different lines of reasoning, to the fact that the coming of Christ—the sacrifice of Christ, and the work of Christ—brings salvation to the Gentiles just where the Gentiles are, and not where the Jews are; that the special claims of the Jews are now passed, and that, instead of the Gentiles being required to meet Christ in the field of the Jew, even the Jew himself must now meet Christ in the field of the Gentile, and not in the field of the Jew. Over and over it has been seen that the Jews claimed justification by law, while the truth of the gospel is, and always was, justification by faith. Laws were given to the Jews by the Lord; yet the object of these never was that those to whom they were given should be justified by the laws: the giving of those laws was but the consequence of their transgression and their unbelief, and that they might the better attain to righteousness by faith. As they went further into darkness by unbelief and transgression, God in mercy followed them with further means that, if by any means, he might bring them to a true and clear faith in Jesus Christ. Consequently, if they had maintained the true faith which Abraham had before he was circumcised,—faith which works the works of God, and which, therefore, keeps the commandments of God,—the keeping of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus,—none of these other laws, not even the written form of the law of God, would ever have been added. They would have kept the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. For “if man had kept the law of God, as given to Adam after his fall, preserved by Noah, and observed by Abraham, there would have been no necessity for the ordinance of circumcision. And if the descendants of Abraham had kept the covenant, of which circumcision was a sign, they would never have been seduced into idolatry, nor would it have been necessary for them to suffer a life of bondage in Egypt. They would have kept God’s law in mind, and there would have been no necessity for it to be proclaimed from Sinai, or engraved upon the tables of stone. And [even when God’s law had been engraved upon the tables of stone] had the people practiced the principles of the ten commandments, there would have been no need of the additional directions given to Moses.”—“Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 364. But the sole object of all these laws when they were added, was faith in Christ, and not works of law. And, therefore, when Christ had come, who was the sole object, aim, and purpose of all the laws and statutes that had been given by the Lord—when these had all met and found their purpose in him, and he had showed the grand glory of the true and clear faith of God, it is, of all things, extravagant to claim justification by law, as did “the Pharisees which believed,” and who had confused the Galatians who believed in Christ, by insisting that, in order to be saved, they must be circumcised and keep the law. This was made clear by Paul in his appeal to Peter before them all, when he said, “If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?” That is, if you have abandoned the ground of the Jews, which, in order to be justified, is the right thing to do, and have gone over to the ground of the Gentiles, how can it be required of the Gentiles to abandon their ground and go over to that of the Jews, which, as we ourselves have confessed, must be abandoned by even us who by nature belong on this ground? Next he followed this thought back to Abraham himself, and showed that even Abraham was justified by faith, and received all the promises, and became heir to the inheritance, by faith alone, without circumcision, or any other of the laws which were given to the Jews. He next showed that even to those who were circumcised and had all these laws, these things were of profit, and availed, only when they walked “in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.” So that, even with themselves, and through all their day, and forever, “they which are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” Next he demonstrates by the Scripture that those who are of the works of law, those who go about by the law to be saved, and to be justified by law, are under the curse; and that Christ is come, and “hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,” from the curse of our own works; and that he did this in order “that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles.” In all this it has been shown over and over that the Gentile meets Christ in the field of the Gentile, and not in the field of the Jew. It is also demonstrated over and over that the Jew meets Christ not in the field of the Jew, but also in the field of the Gentile: exactly where the Gentile meets him, where Abraham met him, and where all, alike, and forever, must meet him—in the glorious field of “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” All this, too, gives added emphasis, and sets in a fuller light, those two expressions in the word of Peter at the council in Jerusalem on this question, when he, telling the assembly that God had made choice of him among the apostles that the Gentiles by his mouth “should hear the word of the gospel, and believe,” and then said: “God, which knoweth the hearts, bear them [the Gentiles] witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them [note, not between them and us, but “between us and them”] purifying their hearts by faith.” He then appealed to them: “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” Note again that Peter, by the Holy Spirit, said not that they shall be saved even as we, but “we shall be saved even as THEY.” The means of salvation to the Gentile, and not to the Jew, is the supreme standard of salvation. We, Jews, shall be saved even as they, the Gentiles, are saved. And they were saved by being justified by faith: not by law; but without law. They must be so justified; for they did not have any of these laws, as had the Jews, by which to be justified, if that had been the way. And so we, the Jews, must be justified even as they must be justified—by faith without any works of any law, even though we had all the laws that ever were. There was a time when the Gentile could meet Christ in the field of the Jew; but that time is past. It passed by the fact of the Jews rejecting Christ, even though it had not passed by any other means. But it also passed by the coming of Christ as the object, purpose, aim, completion, and fullness, of all these laws that must of necessity be given to the Jews because of their unbelief and transgression. And since that time is doubly past, in which the Gentile could meet Christ in the field of the Jew; and since it is more than doubly so that now the Jew must meet Christ in the field of the Gentile, there is no other name, nor other means, by which either Jew or Gentile must be saved but by the name of Jesus Christ through faith in his name. It must be borne in mind always that in all this there was no question raised nor any point made as to the value of any law in itself: the sole question was, and is, as to any value or use of any law in justification. Justification is by faith, not by law: by faith which is of God, and, so, which works by the laws of God, which is the keeping of the commandments of God. And so of all who catch the thought of God as it is in the book of Galatians, it can truly be written, “Here are they which keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”