Earlier text: General ArticlesTHE STORY OF JONAH.
By Prof. L. T. Townsend
WE have now narrowed down the "incredible" parts of this story to the preservation of the prophet in the sea-monster, and his escape from peril. All other parts are credible, credible in themselves considered, and also are supported by the best of historical and exegetical evidence. But, as is claimed, Jonah's adventure while in the sea and in the sea-monster is not credible. And doubtless more than one person among us has asked, perhaps is now asking, how any intelligent man can believe these questionable parts of the story. Is not such belief, it is asked, confronted by difficulties that are clearly insurmountable? Though Jonah might have been thrown into the sea, and afterwards have reached the shore, and have gone to Nineveh; even though he might have been seized by a sea-monster and swallowed, and have suffered no form of mutilation (as was the case with a sailor in 1758, of whom Heubner gives account), still must it not be conceded that in the monster's stomach Jonah could have retained his consciousness but a few seconds, unless there were divine interpositions? After remaining there for five, or at most for ten minutes, must it not be admitted that there is no power or agency on earth that could have restored him to consciousness? And, according to the record, he remained in that loathsome imprisonment until some hour of the third day after his casting into the sea. God, therefore, must have miraculously interposed, or Jonah never again could have seen the light. And yet, upon our willing admission that such divine interpositions are possible, and that they have taken place, very much depends. Unless this story of Jonah, and many others which involve just as signal and miraculous interpositions, are true to the letter, the foundations of our Christian religion are gone, and our evangelical faith is not worth contending for a day longer. A new system of religion must be discovered, or helplessly and hopelessly we must remain without the inspirations and consolations that have long cheered humanity. In its dependence upon its alleged facts, Christianity differs from other religions. Other religious systems are speculative; their facts are incidental. The facts of the Christian religion, on the other hand, are real and supreme; that is, if Adam and Abraham never lived; if God did not give the law to Moses; if Christ was a myth, and if he neither lived, died, nor rose again, then, at least in the judgment of anyone who has the least respect for logical methods and conclusions, the whole superstructure of Christianity falls to the ground. Christian people must cleave to the facts, or else be consistent and abandon their whole system. Logically there is no third course open to an evangelical Christian. The Bible records and Christianity always have been, and always must be, one and inseparable. The self-consistency of Christianity, and the courage with which the natural and supernatural events recorded in the Old Testament are repeated and emphasized by the founders of Christianity, leave no escape from the conclusion that the Bible is one, and that, in the world's redemption, Judaism and Christianity are also measurably inseparable. And this also is true: the alleged fact that God wrought a miracle in behalf of Jonah, in order that the prophet the more faithfully might declare the divine message, and in order that he might be a prophetic sign of Christ's resurrection and of our own resurrection, is no more incredible than any one of the scores of miracles recorded in the Bible. If you deny one, you must deny all. The story of Jonah is no more incredible than the parting of the waters of the Red Sea; no more incredible than the calling of fire from heaven by Elijah; no more incredible than the preservation of Daniel in the den of lions, or than the walking of his three companions in the midst of fire; no more incredible than the story of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, of which Jonah's experiences always have been regarded as prophetic types, and upon which in supreme dependence rest the faith and hope of the whole Christian world. THE IDEAL CHRISTIAN.
By James Mudge
STEADY progress can be exhibited in no department of life except there be an ideal, a clearly-defined object or aim. Without a working model, a pattern, the labors of the workman will be largely wasted for lack of definite direction. This is precisely as true in regard to Christian living as in regard to any other kind of activity. Every Christian must distinctly form and constantly keep before him an ideal image of what he means to be. Otherwise he will not feel that incitement to a continual advance without which no important advance is likely to be made. Clearly our ideal of what perfect Christian living is should be ever advancing. It will be if we follow the ever advancing light which God from many sources throws upon our pathway. He whose conscience is not growing tender and more sensitive to slight departures from rectitude or small omissions, who is not becoming keener to detect little infractions of the perfect law, who is not increasingly scrupulous as to the purity of his motives and the fervor of his quick response to all God's calls, he has good reason to suspect the genuineness of his devotion to the Master. Is there not a fully intelligible sense in which at conversion a new-born child of God is a perfect Christian, perfect as a babe, perfect according to the light and strength at that time vouchsafed to him? Yet, of course, there are other higher perfections toward which he is to press forward, very much greater degrees of likeness to the image of Christ. Will he ever get where no greater approximation to that matchless image is possible to him? The perfection of man involves continual growth, as his opportunities and his powers expand. He cannot rest in any attainment as a finality. Resting is rusting. And it would seem that this must apply as much to his love as to any other part of him. . . . A higher ideal, a larger perfection, a fuller love, should be constantly coveted and attained. They will accomplish it, who make it their one aim, who allow nothing to distract them, who concentrate every energy. They will perceive more and more strongly and clearly the transcendent beauty and excellence of the divine will until the pleasure of doing or bearing it so far surpasses the pain and drowns the suffering involved that the pain and suffering practically disappear. . . . The desire will become perfectly concurrent with God, so that there will be no desire for anything that he does not sanction; there will be perfect indifference to everything which is out of God's plan and wish. . . . No other reward will be sought but his approval, no other aim will be cherished but to do his ever blessed will.—Rev. James Mudge, in Christian Advocate. "How will I ever get through this day?" said one at an early morning hour, anticipating for that particular day an unusual amount of care and trial. These words were uttered with no misleading ignorance in respect to divine Providence, only with an unmindfulness, at that moment, of infinite love and watchcare. Soon afterward, at the morning hour of family worship, there came a sweet sense of Christ's love and strength, and then the shrinking soul was enabled to go forth with courage to meet successfully the work of life. It was not, we may suppose, any willful distrust of God that occasioned the above remark, but only the temporary suspension of a conscious devotional habit. How common is such an experience! And because it is so universal we come to think that deliverance from the unreflecting habit is something quite impossible in this life; whereas God would have his servants possess such an elevation of Christian character that, absorbed as they must necessarily be in the affairs of this life, they still will have a secret reliance upon himself all the time—a substratum of holy confidence, a quiet strength and joy! Everyone should so live as always to say with each opening day, "God does keep me and does help me to meet every duty and trial."—Selected. The Holy Ghost in Church Affairs
Sometimes we think the Holy Ghost is only needed to furnish men to do spiritual work; but we are reminded that in choosing of the first deacons to attend to the temporal and material interests of the church, called the "serving of tables," the disciples were directed to choose "men of good report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business." Perhaps the reason why most church quarrels and disagreements grow out of questions and matters affecting the formalities, is because we are not careful to seek the presence and power of the Holy Ghost here, as well as in what we are pleased to call the spiritual interests and concerns of the church. Is not everything that appertains to the church of God a spiritual interest; and ought not everything be done in the power of the Spirit, from the building of the meeting-house to the preaching of the sermon in it?—Words and Weapons. “WHAT wilt thou have me to do?” was Paul's inquiry when Jesus appeared to him on his way to Damascus. This showed a spirit of entire submission. He had been doing his own will, but now he was ready to do the will of Christ. Many persons are willing to work for Christ, if they can have their own way, and choose their own work. But we should be willing to work for him wherever he may place us, and in the work to which he may call us. Hence, instead of doing our own will, we should seek to know and do the will of God.—Selected. EXPLAINING MIRACLES.
By Editor
MANY very good persons have in the past been zealous to explain the miracles of the Bible. Of late years the number of these zealous souls has been increasing. Their motive is a laudable one, for they think that if they can take out of the way of infidels some of the difficulties of the Bible, and thus remove their objections to that book, many will accept its teachings. But however honest the motive may be, it is certain that they are engaged in a thankless task. If they knew the cause of infidelity, they would not think to cure it by such methods; and if they would stop to consider, they would see that if it were possible to explain the miracles of the Bible, there would be no inducement for an infidel or anybody else to accept its teachings. Miracles lie at the very foundation of the gospel, and are the principal part of its superstructure. The very existence of God is a miracle; the creation of the world was a miracle; the fact that it is upheld by the same word that brought it into existence, is a miracle; our own existence is a miracle; and the plan of redemption is a stupendous miracle. A belief in miracles underlies all knowledge, and all true science. The first element of knowledge is to perceive that things exist. Before any advancement whatever can be made in science, the fact that things exist must be accepted. And this requires no reasoning, for we cannot help believing it. But the apostle says: "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Heb. 11:3. We look at the heavens and the earth, and ask, How were they framed? And the answer is, God formed them out of nothing; he created the matter which composes them; "he spake and it was; he commanded and it stood fast." By his own word he caused matter to exist where the instant before there was nothing. Who can understand this? Nobody. It is a miracle; but the acceptance of it by faith underlies all true science. But the devotee of "science falsely so called," attempts to account for the existence of the worlds in some other way. He says that all these things which we see were evolved from a single particle of matter. But when he has gone back to that atom, which, as he claims, has, by repeated self-multiplication, produced the worlds, he is still confronted by the question, How did this atom come into existence? And he can never get back of that "How?" So after all his contempt for miracles, he bases his theories on a greater miracle than does the believer in the word of God. For he assumes that inanimate matter created itself out of nothing; while the Bible brings to view an intelligent Creator. Suppose that our zealous friends should, by some miracle, succeed in explaining the miracles of the Bible; would the infidel then accept that book? Certainly not; for all reason for accepting it would be taken away. The Bible would then have been brought down to the level of man; it would be nothing more than any man could produce. We might go further, and say that if it were possible to explain the miracles of the Bible, there would be no God in whom to believe. The very existence of God implies the existence of miracles. God could not be God, and not work miracles. An infinite God must do things which are above the comprehension of a finite mind. They are not miracles to God; there can be no miracles to him,—for he simply does his own will. But the simplest acts of God must necessarily be above the comprehension of man. If it were not so, man would be equal to God. That the simplest acts of God are beyond human comprehension is demonstrated every day, in the growth of plants, the sunshine, the rain, and a thousand other things which we think we understand, because they are so common, but which no man can explain. We know that under certain conditions, certain results will follow; but why? God alone can answer. And so it is a mistaken zeal which prompts one to try to explain the miracles of the Bible. No man can do it, but the very attempt to do so tends to lower God and the Bible in the estimation of unbelievers. It tends to make them think that God does not work in so very mysterious a way after all. Moreover, when believers attempt to explain miracles, the world accepts that attempt as an evidence that everything that God has done may be understood; and consequently when they read of something that absolutely defies comprehension, they reject it as false. The reason why men are infidels is not because of the difficulties in the Bible, but because of the difficulties in their own hearts. When men lost the knowledge of God, it was not because they had nothing to reveal God to them, but "because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man." Rom. 1:21-23. The fault was all in themselves. It is an evil heart of unbelief that causes men to depart from God, and it is the same thing that keeps them from coming to him. Says the apostle: "But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is." Heb. 11:6. This proposition is self-evident. No one can come to God unless he first believes in the existence of God. And no one believes in the existence of God if he has conjured up in his mind some image to take the place of God, which is totally unlike God. And he who believes that God is, must believe in his power to work miracles. More than this, he must believe in the absolute necessity for the performance of miracles, because from the very nature of the case the infinite God must do things that are too wonderful for man to comprehend. The fact that God is a wonder-working God is the great source of consolation to the Christian. To be sure the Christian rests in the promises of God, but what would those promises avail if infinite power were not behind them. When Christ commissioned his disciples to preach the gospel, he fortified them with the assurance, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." And thousands have read the promises of God, and have confidently rested in them, because of the words: "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Deut. 33:26, 27. The miracles of the Bible are not to be explained, but believed. Our belief in them is the measure of our belief in God. We believe that God exists, that he is the Creator of all things, and accepting this fact, we do not find it at all difficult to believe that he caused the shadow on the dial of Ahaz to turn backward; that he caused the sun to stand still in the heavens, so that one day was as long as two; that he divided the Red Sea, and the River Jordan; that he caused iron to swim, and made the dumb ass speak with human voice; that he preserved Jonah alive three days in the whale's belly; or that he raised the dead. Why should he not do such things? "Our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he would." He made all things; why should we suppose that he has less power to control than he had in creating? No; it is the most natural thing in the world for our God to do wonderful things, because he is a wonderful God. So we do not seek to explain any miracle; we cannot afford to waste time in so fruitless a task. And we know of no better way to convince infidels of the truth of the Bible than to put before them its plain declarations. The promises of God are not to those who understand them, but to those who believe them. Men may say that they can't believe; it is not so; they can believe; they must believe or else be lost; for "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD.
By W.
WHEN a man has gazed into the starry heavens through a telescope, he has an idea of depth that he never had before. Let him, for instance, point his telescope toward some portion of the Milky Way, where to the naked eye only a faint haze is visible, and he will see not only countless multitudes of stars, but will be impressed with the fact that there is an infinite depth beyond, which the strongest telescope cannot fathom. Suppose now that as the enthusiastic astronomer is dilating upon the wonders of the starry worlds, someone should say to him, "Oh! you see more in the heavens than is really there; those little shining specks are not so important as you think they are, but you have been gazing at them so intently for so long a time that everything is magnified to your vision." Almost any intelligent person would tell such an one that it is impossible to overestimate the extent and wonders of the heavens; that the telescope magnifies nothing, but simply helps us to get an approximate idea of the actual size of the heavenly bodies; and that it is just as impossible for any man to comprehend the vastness of the universe as it is for him to comprehend God. This train of thought was suggested by one who, after a conversation upon the law of God, said: "You have been studying the subject so long that, to you, everything is magnified. It is always the case that when one thinks on a certain subject a great deal, little things assume an importance which they do not actually possess." Is this true? Can a person look into the perfect law of liberty so intently that some portions of it will assume undue proportions? Many who would agree with us in our statement concerning the heavens, will agree with our friend in his statement concerning the law; but it can be shown that the human mind can no more fathom the depths of the divine law, than it can compass the bounds of the universe. If the law were of human origin it could be fathomed, for what one finite mind has evolved, another finite mind can comprehend. But who can know the Almighty to perfection? And the law of God is the righteous will of God. It is a transcript of his own character. This fact alone should convince anyone that there is no danger of overestimating any portion of it. Things of human origin may often be comprehended at a glance, and then if one spends time poring over them, minor points assume undue importance. But the Scriptures, which are a commentary on the law, must be searched in order to be understood. One may imagine that his casual glance has enabled him to grasp all that is contained in a passage, and it may seem to him that there is little in it; but Paul says: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor. 2:14. And he says: "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." Verse 10. These deep things of God are revealed only to those who have Christ, for in him "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Col. 2:3. The psalmist David did not think there was any danger of thinking upon the law so much as to unduly exalt any portion of it, for he said: "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." Ps. 1:1, 2. And of himself he775 said: "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day." "God is love;" all men who profess to know God, make much of this fact. His love is infinite, because he is love, and he is infinite. But no man can understand any more of the love of God than he does of the law of God, for the love of God runs parallel with his law. The love of God is just as extensive as his law, and no more so. Just consider: His law is a law of love, and we read that it was in love that he gave it to men. Deut. 33:2, 3. He desires that all men should have life; but they cannot have life unless they are like him; for only those who are like God can dwell in his presence, and soon the glory of the Lord is to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Then those who are not like God will be destroyed. But no man can see God, so as to know what it is to be like him, and so God has given us his law,—the transcript of his character,—that we, by conforming to it, may be like him, and so have life. Thus the law was ordained to life. The angels who have never sinned, but who "do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word," have life for that reason. But as for men, "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" and "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Why did Christ die? He himself answers: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. "Sin is the transgression of the law," and "the wages of sin is death." Hence we know that all men were doomed to death, because they had trampled upon the law of life, and God in his great love for them gave his only begotten Son, in order that they might, through faith in him, escape that awful fate. We say that this was infinite love; that in that one gift God gave all that Heaven had to bestow; and that the infinite power of God himself could do no more for guilty man than he has done. But would God take steps that were unnecessary? To give up his own Son was a sacrifice that a finite mind can never understand; would he have made that sacrifice if man could have been redeemed by any easier way? No, indeed; the love of God was no greater than was necessary to satisfy the righteous demands of his broken law. But that love was infinite; therefore the law itself is infinite. The love of God in Christ helps us to understand the law; the law of God, carefully studied, helps us to understand the love of God. Both work together. The danger with men is that they will take too narrow and too shallow views of the law, and not that they will get too exalted ideas of its breadth and depth. Christ came to earth to "magnify the law, and make it honorable." He did not make it larger than it was before, but exhibited it in his life, so that its hidden beauties might stand out prominent. He was the living embodiment of the law. He who studies the character of Christ, with a longing desire and an earnest purpose to emulate it, is studying the deep things of God,—the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,—that are hidden in him. As we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we learn that the greatest things in the law are those things which to the natural mind appear trivial, or which do not appear at all; and with the psalmist we cry to the Lord, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." A FEW weeks ago we commented on the transfiguration scene, showing that it was a miniature representation of the coming of the Lord in glory, to raise the righteous dead, and to translate the living. That this was the intent of that wonderful scene is shown by the words of Christ, which immediately precede the record of that event: "Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power." Mark 9:1. And also by the words of Peter, who says with reference to that event: "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from Heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount." 2 Pet. 1:16-18. Ever after that memorable day, the coming of the Lord must have been a more vivid reality to Peter, James, and John, than it had been before. Jesus said to them, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory," and now these three disciples could realize what that glory would be. They had been eye-witnesses of his majesty, and had beheld the glory of his coming. Perhaps some may be inclined to say, "If I could have such evidence as that, I would have no doubt about the matter. If I could only see for myself, I should know that these things are so." Well now read what Peter says immediately after his reference to the transfiguration:— "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1:19-21. Here is something that is more sure than anything that man has seen; it is something that comes direct from "the Spirit of truth." Men's eyes may deceive them; but the word of prophecy does not depend upon any human faculty; it "came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Men were simply the unresisting mouth-pieces of the Spirit of God; it spoke the words, and they had no voice in the matter. An instance of how the prophecy came not by the will of man, is afforded by the case of Balaam. It is true that Balaam was not a "holy man of God;" but the fact that he intended to pronounce a curse makes it more apparent that the prophecy came not by the will of man. Balaam was tempted by the promise of a great reward to go and curse Israel, but God, in his great love for his people, "turned the curse into a blessing." When Balak reproached Balaam for not cursing Israel, the latter replied, "If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to do either good or bad of mine own mind; but what the Lord saith, that will I speak." Num. 24:13. While Balaam was thus passive in the hands of the Lord, he uttered this prophecy: "I shall see Him, but not now; I shall behold Him, but not nigh; there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city." Num. 24:17-19. Here we have one instance of the "sure word of prophecy" concerning the coming of the Lord. Considering the circumstances under which it was uttered, it is a notable instance. It shows most fully that prophecy is something that has in it nothing of the human, but is wholly divine. No human frailty enters into it, but it comes direct from the Holy Spirit. Thus it is "more sure" than human eyesight. For this reason it is that it was said: "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Still more ancient than the prophecy given through Balaam is the one uttered by Enoch. Jude speaks of the destruction of the wicked, and says (verses 14, 15): "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." The well-known prophecy uttered by Job is perhaps more ancient than that spoken by Balaam. After expressing a wish that his words might be graven in the enduring rock, he said: "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." Job 19:25-27. This prophecy brings to view the Christian's hope, namely, the resurrection of the dead at the coming of the Lord, showing that from the earliest times this was the hope of God's people. It was "the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers." Acts 26:6. But more explicit than any yet quoted, as showing "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," is the following by "the sweet psalmist of Israel," who could say, "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue." 2 Sam. 23:2. The word of the Lord, which was in his tongue, said:— "The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness; for God is judge himself." Ps. 50:1-5. Again the Lord spoke by him to the same intent: "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord; for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth." Ps. 96:11-13. With this we must close for this week. Next week we shall quote further from the "sure word of prophecy" concerning the coming of the Lord, and shall then give further evidence that the word of prophecy is sure. W. THE PLACE OF THE SABBATH IN THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE.
By J.
WE have before shown that the image of the beast—the union of Church and State in this Nation—is almost formed. But the pretensions of those who are carrying forward that wicked work will so closely resemble the work of the Third Angel's Message, the counterfeit will so closely resemble the true, that those only who receive the love of the truth of God as given in the Third Angel's Message, and whose eyes are anointed with the heavenly eyesalve, will be able to detect the devilry in the thing. Counterfeit number one. The word of God, spoken directly against the worship of the beast and his image, and intended to save men from that wicked worship, says, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." These, who are making here the image of the Papacy, pretending boundless faith in Jesus, propose to secure an amendment to the National Constitution, which will make the ten commandments the supreme law of the Nation, to be enforced upon all men as such. Here, then, are those who are set to warn the world against the worship of the beast and his image, urging all people to keep the commandments of God. On the other hand, here, also, are those who are making that image and who will enforce his worship even to the last extreme, and they propose to compel all men to keep the commandments of God. Now where lies the difference between these two classes? How is it that the first of these escape the wrath of God, and get the victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, while the second actually make the image of the beast, and worship both the image and the beast, and drink the wine of the wrath of God? Remember that it is "evangelical" Protestantism that is making776 the image of the Papacy in the United States, by the proposed establishment of National Christianity, and that it is the Seventh-day Adventists that are opposing it with all their might by giving the Third Angel's Message. Where, then, is the difference between "evangelical" Protestants and Seventh-day Adventists in regard to the ten commandments? Take the first commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." They all view it and teach its obligations exactly alike. It is so also with the second commandment, with the third, with the fifth, the sixth, the seventh, the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth. Upon all these there is scarcely a shade of difference between the views of Seventh-day Adventists and the great body of Protestants. The only difference that there is between these two bodies is in their respective views of what day is the Sabbath. The Seventh-day Adventists hold to the fourth commandment as it is: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work;" they endeavor to obey it strictly as God spoke it, as he wrote it, and as he interpreted it. On the other hand the whole body of Protestants hold that the seventh day is not the Sabbath, but that the first day is the Sabbath, and that to so keep the first day is the one great distinguishing badge of Christianity. This is the only difference between the two bodies so far as the ten commandments are concerned. And this is just the difference between the Third Angel's Message and the movement to make an image of the Papacy, against which that message warns men. This is just the difference between the worship of him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters, and the worship of the beast and his image. Therefore, it is evident from the facts in the case as they exist to-day, as well as from the Scriptures, that the Sabbath question is the pivot upon which turns the Third Angel's Message. All this, however, is nothing new to us. We have known this and have been telling the world so these forty years. All these years we have been holding before the world the great principles of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and calling the attention of the people to the truth that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, and the great sign which God has set by which it may be known who they are who worship him that made heaven and earth; and also that by this they should escape the worship of the beast and his image. We have known all these years, and have told the world so, that the Sabbath question would yet be the greatest question in the world. The greater part of this time we were counted fools, hobby-riders, and all such like things, by the great body of Protestants. They said that the Sabbath question was the least of the great questions of our holy religion. They said that the great questions of how the gospel of Christ could be conveyed to the masses, at home and abroad, how infidelity and atheism could be checked,—that these were the great, the transcendent questions that must occupy the thoughts and efforts of the church, while as for the Sabbath question, that was one of the least and only incidental at that. Thus it was in former years. But now how is it? What now is the leading topic in all the temperance and religious bodies in the land? It is, "How shall our American Christian civil Sunday sabbath be preserved?" Large conventions of ecclesiastics all over the land are held solely to discuss this question. The W. C. T. U. works it up all over the United States. Prohibition conventions put it in their platforms. The leading preachers and lecturers of the Nation discuss it from pulpit and platform. Legislatures, both State and National, from beginning to end of their sessions, are petitioned for the enactment of stringent laws in its behalf. The religious papers of the country lift up one united cry that it must and shall be preserved. Knights of Labor, and workingmen's unions, and socialists, call loudly for laws enforcing its observance. Political conventions are "worked" and Legislatures are "lobbied" in the interests of the Christian Sunday. Saloon-keepers endorse laws for its observance. Now, instead of its being the least and most incidental of the questions of our holy religion, it is by their own confession the greatest and most urgent of all. Now, instead of the question of how to reach the masses with the gospel being the greater, that question must take a back seat, while there comes to the front the universal demand for stringent Sunday laws strictly enforced, that by this means the masses may be reached. Now, instead of the questions of infidelity and atheism taking the far greater precedence, it has come to this, that if you don't favor Sunday laws you are an infidel, and if you oppose them you are an atheist. Now, instead of the questions of infidelity and atheism taking precedence, it has come to pass that the question of the Sunday sabbath is made the test of fidelity and theism. What, then, does all this mean? Well, it means this one thing if nothing else, it means that we were telling the truth all these years when we told the world that the Sabbath question would yet be the greatest question in the world. How did we know it? We knew it by the truth of God, the love of which will save men. How could we see it when as yet there was not only none of it, but when those denied it who we said would preach it? We saw it by the light of the Third Angel's Message, of which it is the pivot. And this further shows that the Third Angel's Message is abroad in the world, and there is no use in denying it. J.