Earlier text: The Word of GodThe Victory of Faith
By D. T. Bourdeau
SAVING FAITH; OR FAITH SEEN IN WORKS. No. 7.
The path of faith is the path of success and victory. It is strewed with blessings of priceless value, and leads to a glorious and immortal inheritance and endless felicity in the kingdom of God. Tho we may not, from a human standpoint and shut up to our own wisdom and strength, see how we can overcome all the difficulties and trials in that path, yet God sees how we can overcome them, and has provided us with means whereby we can come off conquerors in every trial, and even turn failures and defeats into glorious victories. And even the obstacles and trials that we are called upon to meet are, if improved upon, the very means by which faith is brought into requisition and strengthened. There would be no need of faith if we did not have obstacles and trials to meet that we can not meet by our own wisdom and strength. And how could we test the strength of our faith, if we had nothing calling for the exercise of faith? And so of the other virtues, of which faith may in a certain sense be regarded as the parent. How can we tell whether a man is strong physically, unless his strength is tested? And how can his strength be tested, unless his muscles are taxed by heavy burdens? And did you ever hear of a man becoming strong without exercise? So of faith. Why, then, dread the difficulties by the way? Why not rather rejoice with Paul, Peter, James, and all the heroes of faith when our faith is tried, knowing that we have an opportunity of developing faith, of acquiring strength of faith, and that the trial of our faith is much more precious than gold that perisheth, tho it be tried by fire, and will “be found unto honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ”? 1 Peter 1:7. See also Rom. 5:3-5; James 1:2-8. We should, when our faith is tried, rejoice that we have an opportunity of showing our confidence in God. When we enjoy the approving blessing of God, and see the display of God’s power, and see every obstacle removed before us, it is a very easy matter to believe. But not so when we are reproved of God, when trials and difficulties beset our pathway, and when clouds obscure our mental vision, unless faith has previously gained strength, and the habit has been formed of taking God at his word under severe tests. The plan and principles of faith are so clearly defined, and their truthfulness and reliability have been so often demonstrated, that we should not for one moment hesitate to adopt them and conform to them. Tho there may be certain points in God’s testimony and promises that are unexplainable to our minds, and which, when viewed from a human standpoint, present impossibilities, yet the fact that God has never deceived us, and that we do understand enough of his testimony to warrant us in believing that it is true, and the fact that we are complying with the conditions upon which depends the fulfilment of his promises, should suffice to5 lead us to take him at his word, and claim as ours those things that he has promised. But we have more than this: The fulfilment of God’s promises is guaranteed to us by the death of the Son of God. The death of Jesus Christ is a voice from God telling us: I will fulfil my promises to you if you will comply with the reasonable conditions that I have made obligatory upon you. The word and promises of God are sealed by the blood of his Son. How, then, can we doubt God’s word? How can we doubt God’s faithfulness to fulfil his promises? Notwithstanding these evidences of God’s love and faithfulness, the tendency of hearts perverted by sin is to doubt God’s word, and to raise queries as to whether God will really fulfil his promises to those who exercise living faith in his Son. And even the masses of those who profess to believe in Christ come far short of venturing as much as they should in the direction of faith. Hence the spiritual weakness of most of Christians is seen in their efforts to overcome, and in their endeavors to further the cause of the Gospel. When the prophet Elisha was about to die, Joash, king of Israel, called on him to show him sympathy and affection. The spirit of prophecy came upon Elisha, and he told the king to take his bow and arrows, open the window eastward, and shoot. The king did so; whereupon Elisha said, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria.” Elisha again told the king to take his arrows. The king obeyed, and Elisha said unto him: “Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed. And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it; whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.” 2 Kings 13: 14-19. We have what we by faith venture for. If we venture nothing, we have nothing. If we venture little, we will have little. If we venture much, we will have much. To venture, we must cultivate faith, and in venturing our faith will grow, and with it all the other Christian graces. Christ tells us as he told the two blind men who came to him to be healed: “According to your faith be it unto you.” Matt. 9:29. The man who had a withered hand had to venture, do what he could toward stretching out his hand, for the Lord to restore his hand. Matthew 12. Christ says unto us, “Ask, and it shall be given you.” Matt. 7:7. “If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” John 14:14. What more can we demand of him before venturing? He is anxious to do great things for us. He is anxious to do great things through us in making us instrumental in leading others to believe and in contributing to the furtherance of his cause on the earth. All those who, through God, have done deeds of valor in the past, have been persons of faith. They have asked for great things and have ventured much. Noah ventured much in building the ark and in preaching righteousness and a coming flood to a wicked and scoffing generation; but his venturing proved his salvation and that of his family. Abraham ventured when he left his country and people to go as a stranger in a strange land; but his venturing proved a great blessing to him and to others. He ventured still more when he raised the sacrificial knife to slay Isaac; but in this ordeal his faith was greatly strengthened, and he obtained a victory entitling him to the appellation of “the father of the faithful.” Gideon ventured when he went out to meet the Midianites with only 300 men; but God wrought a great deliverance through him and his little army. David had to venture to slay Goliath. Elijah ventured a good deal when he took his stand against King Ahab and the hundreds of priests and false prophets that opposed him; but God was with him and wrought mightily through him, and translated him to heaven, making him a type of the righteous of the last generation. Mal. 4:5, 6; Matt. 16:27, 28; 17:1-5; James 5:1-18. Elisha was bold and ventured much when he asked for more of God’s Spirit than Elijah had; but his request was granted. 2 Kings 2. All the prophets and the early disciples of our Lord, and those who have since endeavored to follow their example in laboring to reform their fellow-beings, were men of faith, men who ventured all, and to whom God multiplied his grace, granting them wonderful victories. God does not change; the plan and power of faith is the same that it was in olden times; and God is as willing to do great things for us and through us, if we have faith, as he was to do great things for and through men of faith in past ages. The riches of grace that come through faith are exhaustless. They are not like gold mines, toward which people rush, fearing that eager hands will exhaust their treasures before they can reach them. There is enough for all of us and for many more. So of the work of faith, which opens before us on every hand. There is no necessity here for fears and jealousies. Why not honor God by magnifying in our lives and in efforts to carry forward the work of God, the grace of Christ, yea the fulness of God in Christ Jesus? Col. 2:9, 10, etc. Is not our God almighty? Are not his means and resources exhaustless? Is he not abundant in mercy and love, ready to forgive us and to relieve us under the most trying circumstances, if we truly believe? Ex. 34:6, 7, etc. May we not by God’s grace “be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might”? Eph. 6:10. Have we not in Jesus one who is mighty to save, and who can make to us his yoke easy and his burden light, if we will by faith copy his meekness? Isa. 63:1-5; 66: 1, 2; Matt. 11:28-30. Have we not a mighty Spirit and unfallen angels who excel in strength, who will help us mightily and enable us to come off victorious, if we exercise living faith in the Crucified One? Is not God more willing to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask, that they may do the works that he enjoins upon them, than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children? Luke 11:13; Matt. 7:11. Is not God as willing to clothe us with power from on high as he was to clothe the early church with that power? Luke 24: 49. But in order that we may receive this inestimable favor, must we not esteem it above every earthly good, and be willing to give up all to obtain it? Must we not cleanse our hearts and claim the Spirit’s aid, by childlike, living, persevering faith, by a faith that will lead us to regard the conditions laid upon us by the word of God, and to entrench behind the promises of God, claiming what he has promised as ours, in the name of Jesus, who now pleads for us at the right hand of his Father, that we may have the very things that we ask for? And then why not honor God by talking and acting as tho we had the very things we have asked? Does not faith have the promise of the life that now is as well as of that which is to come? Does not He who numbers the hairs of our heads, who feeds the birds, and clothes the lilies, clothe, feed, and care for those who truly believe? Luke 12: 13-26, etc. Is it not written that “the just shall live by faith”? Heb. 10: 38. Is it not true that without faith we are shut up to our sins and to the miseries that they bring upon us, and can not be truly happy, and that it is only those who have faith who enjoy true happiness? Does not God provide true believers with a perfect, complete armor whereby they are enabled to meet and defeat Satan and all the demons in the universe, and quench all their fiery darts, and do valiantly for God and his truth to the praise of Him who died to save us? Eph. 6: 10-20. We are living in an eventful period of this world’s history. Signs are multiplying on every hand, which show that the day of Christ is very near. Improvements and facilities are also increasing, and are coming in as helps to advance the work of God in the earth. Satan and his myriads of evil angels are working with power, signs, and lying wonders to oppose the work and people of God, knowing that their time is short. Matt. 24:24; 2 Thess. 2:8-12; Rev. 12:12; 16:14, 15, etc. May God’s true children gird on the armor for the conflict, remembering to bring into requisition the shield of faith wherewith they “shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” If they do this, they shall certainly come off conquerors; for God, Jesus, and the loyal angels who cast Satan and his angels out of heaven (Rev. 12:7, etc.), are with them. Reader, will you be on the side of God, of Jesus, of the mighty angels of heaven, and of those who stand by God’s truth and work in the earth? Will you see to it that you have genuine, living, saving faith? THE DANGEROUS BOOK
By Robert Collyer
If, when I read a book about God, I find that it has put him farther from me; or about man, that it has put me farther from him; or about this universe, that it has shaken down upon it a new look of desolation, turning a green field into a wild moor; or about life, that it has made it seem a little less worth living on all accounts than it was; or about moral principles, that they are not quite so clear and strong as they were when this author began to talk,—then I know that, on any of these five cardinal things in the life of a man—his relation to God, to his fellows, to the world about him, to the world within him, and the great principles on which all things stable center—that, for me, is a bad book. It may chime in with some lurking appetite in my own nature, and so seem to be as sweet as honey to my taste; but it comes to bitter, bad results. It may be food for another; I can say nothing to that. He may be a pine, while I am a palm. I only know this, that in these great first things, if the book I read shall touch them at all, it shall touch them to my profit, or else I will not read it. Right and wrong shall grow more6 clear, life in and about me more divine; I shall come nearer to my fellows and God nearer to me, or the thing is a poison.—Dr. Robert Collyer. PRIVILEGE AND BENEFITS OF PRAYER.
By E. Hilliard
PRAYER is close communion of the soul with its Creator and Saviour. When one has great financial results at stake, which depend on very careful and judicious movements, that no loss be suffered, he is very grateful for advice. He considers it a privilege to go to a financier of skill and receive his counsel. But how many when thrown into perplexity respecting spiritual things neglect to go to their closets, and there in solitude commune with the God of all wisdom for the needed help; and yet he has promised to guide the meek in judgment, to give wisdom to the ignorant, strength to the weak, courage to the faint, and peaceful rest to the weary soul! Whoever neglects his closet, must go his way destitute of all these heavenly gifts. The answer to our prayers is sometimes delayed, and often the petitioner under such circumstances chafes, begins to doubt, and is finally led to disbelieve. But to doubt and disbelieve God because of delay, is to declare our wisdom sufficient to determine the time for response. Not one thing asked for will be withheld, if the words of Holy Scripture abide in us. If they do, we will not knowingly ask for anything that the Bible prohibits. Said the Saviour: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7. The answer may be delayed, to test and try us, but if our faith does not fail, it will surely come. When it does come, it will be far beyond our expectations. Eph. 3:20. Job prayed long and earnestly, and was, doubtless, tempted to think that God had forsaken him. In all of his distress he did not forget his friends who had so unjustly accused him. It was when he remembered them in prayer that God answered him. We read in Job 42:10: “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” His prayer at last was answered. Then it was he received twice as much as he previously had. Through delay in answer to Job’s prayer, confidence, faith, and patience have been inspired in many a heart that has waited long for a reply to its petitions. The sick sometimes are, and always should be, prayed for. In some cases they are healed immediately; in other cases the work is gradual, and sometimes they are not healed at all. But, whatever the circumstances, when faith is exercised, it is all done according to the divine will. The petitioner knows that he loves and trusts God, and he knows that God knows it and loves him. He also knows that, however the matter goes, no matter what it is, it works for good. Rom. 8:28. The servant of God may be faithful in prayer for months and even years, and receive answers to his petitions, and then be put to a severe test. He may and may not fail. It depends upon his spiritual tenacity. Jonah was a devout, praying man, or God would not have called him to warn Nineveh. He was not prepared to go on such an errand, and yet the time had come for him to be called, that he might be prepared for the work. The Lord knew the course he would take, and also knew what to do to make complete his servant. The Lord knew that when he told him to go to Nineveh, he would pay his fare to Tarshish, and also that he would not reach his desired port. Had the Lord allowed the natural course of things, Jonah would probably have reached Tarshish. He who controls the elements, sent a tempest, and all on board were afraid, and prayed every man unto his god. They finally cast lots that they might determine who was the cause of the evil. The guilty Jonah was discovered, and cast into the sea. He was swallowed up by the waters. He paid his fare to Tarshish, to flee from the presence of the Lord, but went to the bottom of the sea, and it was there, with the depths closed around him, and weeds wrapped about his head, that he found the presence of the Lord most precious. He could not flee from the Lord. The Lord in his kindness prepared a great fish to swallow him up. In anguish of soul he prayed to God from within the fish. He prayed most earnestly, too. The distressing circumstances pressed from his lips a most heart-felt prayer. He said, “When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord.” From experience he made the expression, “They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.” It was when his strength failed that he remembered the Lord, and found that he had forsaken his opportunity of mercy. But in his deplorable condition he did not despair, as many do to-day. He said: “I will look again toward thy holy temple. . . . I will pay that I have vowed.” God heard and delivered him. Altho God’s children are sometimes self-willed and disobedient, the Lord does not forsake them, but in his infinite wisdom brings them into places where they will yield their will and gladly obey. Let us see if Jonah was ready to obey God after passing through his bitter experience. We read in Jonah, third chapter, verses 1 and 2: “And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.” He had no desire to pay his fare to Tarshish or any other seaport, but was willing to go straight to Nineveh. He was prepared for his work. He knew what it was to pray and be answered. He knew also how to sympathize with and pray for the lost, and he could properly warn the Ninevites. His labors were successful. They repented, and were saved from the impending judgments of God. O, what a wonderful God is our God! He is a God of mercy; for he saves the lost. He is a God of wisdom; for he knows how to take stubbornness from the hearts of his children. He is a God of power; for he knows how to answer prayer at the bottom of the sea, and deliver the petitioner. It is true that after Jonah’s work of warning Nineveh, the Lord took him through another experience, as stated in the last chapter of his book. The result of the trial will be known only in the coming judgment. Dear reader, let us trust the mighty God of Jonah; for he still lives, and by his side stands the risen Saviour, pleading for us. Tonga, South Pacific Ocean. THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD.
By H. F. Phelps
“The government of God is not as Satan would make it appear, founded upon blind submission and unreasoning control.”—Steps to Christ, p. 43. On the contrary, it is founded upon the principle of love, and in most complete harmony with reason itself. And that principle of love is expressed in his law of justice and righteousness (Ps. 97:2; 89:14; 119:172); and it is such because it is love. Being a law of love it is unchanging in its nature, for love can not change. That law is the manifestation of that principle of love, for its divine Author is love. 1 John 4:8. Therefore it is written, “Love is the fulfilling of the law” of love. Rom. 13:10. Love can not work evil to any being in the universe of God. Inasmuch as “God is love,” he is and can be nothing else but love. God is perfect, and is therefore perfect love. There is no unkindness in God, for “love suffereth long, and is kind.” 1 Cor. 13:4. Envy, pride, impatience, thoughts of evil, hatred, anger, and wrath are all of the flesh, and not of God. These are not in the nature of God, for “God is love.” All these are of the carnal mind, of sinful flesh, and are not of God; for all evil thoughts come from within the carnal man. Matt. 15:19. Sinful Flesh is Changeable.
Sinful flesh is changeable in its very nature, because sin is a change and reversal of the purposes of God. Hence sinful flesh is subject to fits of envy, anger, and hatred. It smiles and frowns, gives out sunshine and storm; it is good-natured and evil-natured; utters good thoughts and evil thoughts; can speak well of a person at one time and evil at another; can love them and then hate them. It is a conglomeration of envy, hatred, love (I speak of love in an accommodated sense), of anger, wrath, strife and murder. All this, and more, is in the same heart at the same time, and comes from the same person. But all this is of the devil, for sin began with him and is from him, and he delights in it. “He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, . . . He is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44. He is “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), and has so studied the laboratory of nature that he can cause sudden changes in the condition of the atmosphere, and can bring the stormy tempest and the cyclone, to bring suffering, ruin and death, in which he takes delight. He works in the hearts of the children of disobedience. And being a murderer and a liar, he would have mankind believe that all the misery in this life, and even death itself, is from God. He would have men believe that God, who is love, is just such an one as himself. But God is an unchangeable being. Love can never be anything else than love, therefore God is unchangeable. “But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.” Ps. 102:27. Christ was the very image of the character of the Father, and of him it is said: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and7 to-day, and forever.” Heb. 13:8. “I am the Lord, I change not.” “With whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” In order that this point may be made plain, if possible, look at the law of God, which is, as often stated, a transcript of the character of God, a representation of that character which is love, a representation of that God who is love. The law is therefore love. And being such, in its very nature it is as unchangeable as the throne of the eternal One. God himself, his nature, his character, and his government are unchangeable; and the law which is the foundation of that government is also unchangeable. That law is the foundation of his throne. “Righteousness and judgment are the establishment [margin] of his throne.” Ps. 97:2. And that righteousness, the law, is unchangeable and enduring as the eternal ages. “All his commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever.” Ps. 111:7, 8. “Thy word is true from the beginning; and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth forever.” Ps. 119:160. “My righteousness shall not be abolished.” Isa. 51:6. “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.” Ps. 89:34. “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17. God’s character and the character of his law is therefore unchangeable love. He does not love at times and hate at other times. He does not get angry at one time and love at other times. Being love itself, he does not get mad, and seek for revenge upon his creatures, even tho they are sinners. He is not even angry because sin exists, for he does not get angry as men get angry. In the words of another: “God is love.” His nature, his law, is love. It has been; it ever will be. ‘The high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,’ ‘his ways are everlasting,’ changeth not. With him ‘is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’ Every manifestation of creative power is an expression of infinite love. . . . The history of the great conflict between good and evil, from the time it first began in heaven to the final overthrow of rebellion and the total eradication of sin, is also a demonstration of God’s unchanging love.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 34. God loves the sinner, but he does not love the sin. Sin is all out of harmony with the character of God, contrary to his very nature; therefore, in the very nature of the case, sin is an antagonizing force, and will never be otherwise while it exists. There is no harmony between God and sin, and never can be. This is not so because God changes, but because sin is a wicked, inexcusable, changeable thing. Therefore God is opposed to sin, and hates sin, but not as men hate a thing. But even tho sin exists, God does not, as do men, become angry; for this would make him like a man, a changeable being. But such a thing, in the very nature of the case, can not be, and it never will be, for such a thing is an utter impossibility; for “God is love.” Then how can it be that the Scriptures speak of the wrath of God? the wrath of the law? the anger of God? the judgments of God? The Scriptures are correct, of course. When God speaks, it is so. Even tho we may not understand it, it is so nevertheless. Again, in the very nature of the case, there can be no disagreement. What we need to do is to look, not for the disagreement, for there is none; but for the agreement, for harmony is there. If we think there is not harmony, it is because we are out of harmony with the word, and can not see as we should. The disagreement is with us, and not with the word. Paul, by the Holy Spirit, in speaking of the law, said: “And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.” Rom. 7:10. Did the law kill? Was there any change in that which was ordained to life? That law is unchangeable. But “was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid.” Indeed, that which is good in itself, and came from the Author of all goodness, could not work death, for it was ordained to life; and God ordained it thus, and for nothing else. It was never ordained to death, hence could not produce death. Then how was it found to be unto death? Listen! “For sin . . . slew me.” Verse 11. It was sin that did the work. “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.” There was no change in the nature of the law, or in that for which it was ordained. The wicked work was done by sin, the perversion of the law. “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” The law, then, is just as good as when it first came into existence, but sin has brought all evil. And sin brings death, for “the wages [or result] of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. And it is sin that condemns. Sin is wrath, and anger, and torment, and suffering, and sorrow, and torture, and judgment, and agony, and destruction. All this, and more, comes of sin, and is sin, and the result of sin. But our God delights not in the death of even the wicked. Eze. 18:23. He created men, that they might be eternally happy in him; and he delights in having men turn again from all their wickedness in which is death, that they may still be made eternally happy in the enjoyment of his love. God takes no delight in sin, or any of its consequences. As he is nothing else than love, that which is called God’s wrath, and judgments against sin, are but the manifestations of his love in wiping sin out of existence. And those who will not submit to God, that they may be cleansed from all sin, and made pure and white by his almighty power, but remain inseparably connected with the sin, must at the last perish with the sin. Not because he desires to destroy and get revenge upon the sinner; no, no! but the sin must go. Still, there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. Rom. 8:38, 39. And when at the last all the terrible results of sin shall come upon the sinner, it will be with the greatest reluctance that the Father of love turns away and leaves him to his fate, to perish, to be filled with the results of sin. Thus we can see that when man at last suffers the wrath of the law, the judgments of God, in the terrible realities and sufferings of the day of judgment, they are but reaping the results of their own choice, their own course, being filled with their own ways. God gave all intelligent creatures the power of choice, and ever stands as the God of love that he is, with outstretched hands, pleading with those that have made the fatal mistake, to turn from the evil, the wrath, the anger, the judgments, that are in the very course that they have chosen. And when all that an infinite God could devise, has been set aside as a thing of naught, they will be left and “filled with their own devices.” Prov. 1:24–31. Let us follow the subject still further. Why did God make a law? Could not God have given us some other law? This was an utter impossibility. Even the Creator could not have given a different law. No other law could give eternal happiness to created beings. But when that which was ordained to life was found to be unto death, why could not that law have been changed in order to meet the then existing changed relations? This last word gives the key to the whole subject, and will show us that this was also an impossibility. God’s laws are not arbitrary. God did not manufacture a law by which to govern his creatures. If he had done this, it could not have been anything else than an arbitrary law. Had these laws been arbitrary, they would have also been despotic, and the authority of the Creator, would have been despotic, and he a despot. This is just what Satan would have men believe. This is his charge against the government of God. Therefore, as God’s laws are not arbitrary, we conclude that the law of God, which is the foundation and support of his government, simply grew out of the relations of created beings. Let us see if this is not correct. When there were no created beings there were no relations in existence. But just as soon as created intelligencies came upon the scene of action, that moment certain relations sprang into existence. These relations were not created; but they existed in the very nature of the case. These relations were, first: The relations between the Creator and the created; and out of that relation at once sprang the principle of supreme love to the Author of all their happiness. The love of the Creator was everlasting, for he says, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” Jer. 31:3. This was so because he would make the created eternally happy in his love. Therefore the love of the created should be supreme. And so Christ says: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment”—first in point of existence as well as that of importance. Just as soon as there were other created beings, at that moment existed other relations, as between one another, and out of these relations grew the principle of loving one another. And so Christ says: “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matt. 22:39, 40. Have these two great principles ever changed? Can they ever be changed? All will at once respond, This is an impossibility. The creature may change, but God never changes. His love, his character, his law, are all unchangeable. These relations and obligations will ever exist. It follows that, as upon these two great commandments, first given to intelligent creatures, growing out of relations, hangs all the law and the prophets, these also are unchangeable and can never fail. In the very nature of things this8 is so; and it is an utter impossibility for even the Creator to change the moral law in any one of its ten precepts. And as no man can love his neighbor as himself and violate either of the last six of the commandments; so also is it a fact that men can not love God with all the heart and refuse obedience to any one of the first four commandments. Even that so-much-hated Sabbath commandment remains unchanged in all its love, inviting the most reverent attention and obedience. And the person who refuses to obey this command, ignores the relation that exists between himself and his Maker, and thereby tramples upon the first great command of supreme love to God which grows out of those relations. Thus it becomes a true proposition that, because the Creator is love and unchangeable in his very nature and character, and the law is but a transcript of that character, so also the law is love and only love. Even the Ten Commandments, which are said to condemn the sinner and demand the life of the transgressor, even these are only love, and ever have been love, and ever will be love, and nothing else but love, unchangeable and as enduring as the relations out of which they grew; and being ordained to life, they have never been changed, and are still inviting to life. Invitingly they stand, pleading with the sinner to obey and live. Sin, not the law, condemns and demands the death of the sinner. The law says, Look, believe and live; and they point to its divine Author, the Creator, as the only one that can give the needed strength by which to obey. They point to him as the one in whom is perfect obedience. Sin says, You are a transgressor and must die; while God the Father, and Christ the Creator, and the law of love say, “Why will ye die?” “Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be saved.” Thus while sin demands the life of the transgressor, demanding first our service in bondage as slaves, and has naught to pay but death, for “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23), all the universe of God, even everything in creation, everything that came from the hand of God, even the law itself, stands pleading with the sinner to surrender to God, to look and live, to believe and be saved from the power of sin that would destroy. It invites the sinner to salvation, in order that he might obey these first great, grand principles and live forever, which was the purpose of God’s everlasting love. This is God’s everlasting, eternal purpose; it was such in the beginning, and he is able to accomplish that which he has begun. He is not only able, but abundantly willing, and according to his immutable promise, he will do it. And it will very soon be realized. Praise to his great and holy name.