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Signs of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 40.

General Articles
Earlier text: The Ten Kingdoms

The Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus.

By J.

“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” 2 Cor. 5:17. As a new creature he lives a new life, a life of faith. “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” But it is a faith that works, for without works faith is dead. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, or destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works; show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.” James 2:14–18.
In Christ nothing avails but a new creature, he lives by faith; it is a faith that works, and the work is the keeping the commandments of God. Thus saith the Scriptures:—
1. “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.” Gal. 6:15.
2. In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” Gal. 5:6.
3. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.” 1 Cor. 7:19.
Again, it is “faith which worketh by love,” that avails, and “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” 1 John 5:3. And “love is the fulfilling of the law.” Rom. 13:10. Therefore, in Christ Jesus, the faith that avails, is the faith that keeps the commandments of God, the faith that fulfills the law of God.
Once more, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Eph. 2:10. “Created in Christ Jesus,” is to be made a “new creature” in Christ Jesus. But we are created in him “unto good works,” and these good works are those which God had before ordained that we should walk in them. That is to say, God before ordained good works in which we should walk. But we have not walked in them. Now he creates us anew in Christ, so that we may walk in these good works in which before we failed to walk. These good works are the commandments, the law, of God. These commandments express the whole duty of man, but man has failed to do his duty, “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” But now Christ is manifested to take away our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Cor. 5:21. We are made new creatures in him, that in him and by him, we may perform acceptable service and do the duty, keep the commandments of God, which be fore we failed to do, and which out of him all must ever fail to do. For he himself said, “without me ye can do nothing.” This is according to that which we have before shown: “What the law could not do,” “God sending his own Son,” did, “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.” Rom. 8:3, 4.
Therefore when the Third Angel’s Message calls, as it now does call, upon all men to “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus,” it simply calls all men to the performance of the whole duty of man—as he now exists. And when under this message we urge men to keep the commandments of God strictly according to the letter, we mean that they must be kept strictly according to the spirit too. When we press upon all the obligation of keeping the commandments of God, it is always the obligation of keeping them the only way in which they can be kept, that is, by faith in Jesus Christ; it is always the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus; it is that all must be made perfect by his perfect righteousness; and that all our righteousness must be the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, and that righteousness witnessed by the law and the prophets.
This is strictly according to the teaching of Christ and the apostles. When the young man came to Jesus, asking, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Jesus answered, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments,” and cited the second table of the ten commandments. The young man replied, “All these things have I kept from my youth up, what lack I yet?” Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven; and come, follow me.” As the record says that Jesus “looking on him, loved him,” and as Jesus asked him to follow him, it is evident that the young man was a person of good intentions and honesty of purpose, and he undoubtedly supposed that he had really kept the commandments. But it is not our own estimate that is the standard of what constitutes obedience to the law; it is God’s estimate that is the standard. We might conform so strictly to the law that according to our own estimate, we could see no point of failure, yet, when our actions should be measured by God’s estimate, weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, we should be found sadly wanting.
It is not according as we see, but according as God sees that the question of our keeping of the commandments of God is to be decided. And as God sees it, it has been recorded; “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” No doubt the young man, when measured by his own standard, stood at the full stature of moral character before God. But yet God’s standard declares he had “come short.” Even granting all the righteousness that the young man might claim by the keeping of the commandments alone, and there are yet many like him, yet to him and to all who like him expect righteousness by the law, the word of Christ is, “One thing thou lackest yet.” All such, lack the justifying blood, they lack the sanctifying power of the perfect obedience of the Son of God. In short, they lack the faith of Jesus, and so must ever come short until, by accepting Christ, they attain to the righteousness of God, which is by faith. It is in Christ alone that man can reach the full stature of moral character in the sight of God. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Eph. 4:13. However hard a man may strive for righteousness by keeping the law, yet, until he accepts Christ and finds in him the righteousness which is of God by faith, against him the word will ever stand, thou hast “come short of the glory of God;” “one thing thou lackest yet.” So we see then that Jesus taught that those who would be his disciples must keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Again, in his sermon on the mount, Jesus said, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” Matt. 5:19, 20. Happily, we have the record of the best Pharisee that ever lived, and in his experience we have the inspired illustration of these words of Jesus. Says Paul of himself, “As touching the law, a Pharisee; . . . touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” Yet this was not enough, for as he says in another place, “I know nothing against myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.” 1 Cor. 4:4. So even though he might, so far as he could see, be blameless, yet that was not proof that he was justified, for it is God who judges—it is God’s standard of righteousness, and not our own, that we must meet to be justified, and that standard is the righteousness of Christ, to which we can attain only by faith. So says Paul, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: . . . and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Phil. 3:7–9. This is a righteousness which he had not when he was a Pharisee. This then, is the righteousness which exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees; and this righteousness of faith we must have while doing and teaching the commandments. In his sermon on the mount, therefore, Christ positively taught the keeping of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Says James: “My brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. . . . If ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scriptures, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well; but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said [margin, that law which said], Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. . . . What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? . . . A man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works; show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.” Thus James shows that the faith of Jesus must be shown by works, and that these works are the doing of the law of God. He declares that we are not to have the faith of Jesus with respect of persons; and respect of persons he declares to be sin, the transgression of the law. We are not to have the faith of Jesus, therefore, with the breaking of the commandments of God, even in a single point. In other words, James teaches as strongly as it is possible to teach, that those who will have the faith of Jesus must keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
John says: “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world; even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:1–5. The beloved disciple therefore also teaches that we must keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
We have not the space and time would fail us to give all the scriptures even in the New Testament which teach the same thing. We shall close by simply saying that Christ said, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His [God’s] commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Rev 22:13, 14. He also said, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Christ said, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments;” he also said, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.” The Third Angel’s Message, the last message from God that the world will ever hear, embodies in a single sentence these sayings of Christ: “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” In the Third Angel’s Message is embodied the very gospel of Christ, wherein “is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Rom. 1:16, 17. When the Third Angel’s Message shall be finished, then the mystery of God—the gospel—shall be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. And those who truly obey the Third Angel’s Message will get the victory over the beast and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, and will, at the last, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God; and without fault before the throne of God; and it all will be through “him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.” Unto him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
J.

The Philosophy of Trades-Unionism.

In the early part of the season, the Coast Seamen's Union laid a boycott upon the Spreckles Steamship Company of San Francisco, because John D. Spreckles chose to hire men who suited him best, to do the work which he had to do. As a result of this boycott, the ship owners formed an association so as to better carry out their purpose to employ those whom they should choose to employ. The ship owners then, it seems, obtained the alliance of certain sailor boarding-house keepers. These boarding-house keepers are a sort of sailor brokers who furnish sailors to vessels that want them. And as these boarding-houses were furnishing the ships with men, in spite of the efforts of the Seamen's Union and the boycott, a boycott was then placed upon them, and so the matter went, one boycott bringing on another, and one strike another, until at last, on August 26, all the coast seamen had struck, and all the coast sailing vessels were tied up from Puget Sound to San Diego.
September 5, while a meeting of union seamen was being held in a hall in San Francisco, a telegram was received from Eureka, and read, “stating that the wharves there were loaded with lumber, and in four days all available store room would be taken up, then the lumber mills would all have to be shut down, and this would throw out of employment three or four thousand men, all Knights of Labor.” This telegram seemed to be a very joyful piece of news to the six hundred and fifty assembled sailors in San Francisco. Nor does the matter stop here. By the shutting down of these lumber mills and the tying up of these ships by the Seamen's Union, not only these four thousand hands in the lumber mills are thrown out of employment, but building in San Francisco, Oakland, and other cities on the coast, is obliged to stop for want of lumber; and this throws out of employment the union carpenters and builders, the union plasterers, masons, brick-layers, and so on indefinitely, in all these places.
Thus, because one steamship company chose to employ a certain man, or perhaps a dozen men, whom the Seamen's Union did not like, thousands upon thousands of men of different trades are thrown out of employment, and their families in many instances obliged to suffer for the necessities of life. This seems to us poor philosophy. But it is the only philosophy that is known to trade-unionism. It is perfectly illustrated by Mr. Simon Newcomb, in the Independent of September 9, in his comment upon a statement made by Mr. T. V. Powderly, grand master workman of the Knights of Labor. Mr. Powderly's statement was this:—
“Any bottle brought into my house does not go back. I cannot smash a beer bottle, because I drink ginger ale, but the bottle never goes out alive. This may be a small thing, but if 90,000 men who get bottles were to destroy them it would make a big hole.”
Mr. Newcomb, who in late numbers of the Independent has been giving some plain, wholesome talk on the labor question, comments upon this as follows:—
“The speaker's opinion evidently was that the greater the destruction of bottles, the better for laborers, and in this, no doubt, he voiced the prevailing sentiment on the subject.
“Most fortunately for mankind nobody ever applies this principle in his own individual case; if he did we should all very soon be transformed into a horde of half-starved barbarians. Every sensible man tries to get things as cheaply as possible, whereas all organized action on this theory is directed toward making them cost as much as possible.
“We may show this theory to be wrong either by the reasoning of the case, or the facts of the case. In the first place if we admit it, where will we stop? If 90,000 people make work for others by smashing all their bottles when they have used them once, would they not, on the same principle, benefit chair-makers if they should destroy all their chairs after using them a short time, say a month? One man could not do much this way, but 90,000 could make a big hole in the existing supply of chairs. What is true of the chairs would apply also to all the furniture of a house, the plates and the dishes. If 90,000 men should break them up after having them a year, they would make a big hole to be filled up by labor. If a man burned down his new house after living in it a year, would it not on the same principle be good for the house-builders? Then would not everybody be rendering a public benefit by doing the same thing?
“Of course you will reply to me that you do not carry your theory so far as this, and do not propose to run it into the ground as I am doing. But where will you stop? If your theory is good for so little a thing as a bottle, why should it not be good for so big a thing as a house? If you claim that there is a turning point, please tell me where it is that waste ceases to be beneficial to the public. When you have done this to your own satisfaction, I will tell you my answer. Waste is of no benefit at all, and the theory that it is beneficial to anybody is founded on not looking at all the facts of the case. Let us see what the facts all come to.
“Suppose that Mr. Powderly drinks one bottle of ginger ale a day, and that bottle is worth three cents. This will make, in round numbers, ten dollars worth of bottles a year which he destroys. If he sold the bottles instead of destroying them, he would have just ten dollars more in his pocket at the end of the year. With that ten dollars he would have bought something useful to himself. In so doing he would have given just the same employment to the laborer engaged in making those useful things, that he gave to the glass-makers by breaking the bottles. If he bought a pair of fine boots, as he might well do, there would have been ten dollars more in the pocket of the shoe-maker. So all he does by destroying the bottles is to give employment to bottle-makers at the expense of shoe-makers, or whatever trade makes the goods he would have bought with the money gained by selling the bottles.
“Now this is a principle which comes into all these cases. No cheapening processes can diminish the sum total of the demand for labor, for the plain and simple reason that everybody to whom money is saved by such cheapening is going to employ labor, or buy the products of labor with it. This side of the case is what we are all prone to forget when we discuss the question.
“I have written these talks because the singular spectacle was presented to me of a large body of men organizing and contributing money to do themselves all the injury they well could. What suffering they have thus caused themselves you all know. What privation the poor will endure next winter in consequence of the agitation thus brought about, you will see when next winter comes. I hope you will not then forget the cause of the distress.”
Mr. Newcomb recommends the saving of the bottles, and the selling of them at three cents apiece. Of course for the purposes of his illustration this is just as good as any other way. But in real practice there is a far better way. That is, don't buy the ginger ale. Thus you will not only save the three cents that you would get for the empty bottle, but you will also save the price of the ale, which is probably five or eight times the price of a bottle, and, which is of more value than all, you will save your manhood.
But in introducing this subject of the bottle, the beer, and the ale, Mr. Powderly has betrayed the greatest cause of all the laboring man's troubles. We state it as the literal fact that during the past summer, as we have passed, as occasion demanded, from our office to our home, a distance of but six blocks, time and again have we seen individual working men going from the saloon to the building on which they were at work, and each one with a wooden bucket of beer in his hand; and in most cases the bucket was heaping full. If Mr. Powderly and each one of the workingmen would only put a vigorous boycott upon himself in the matter of the saloon, the bottle, beer, ginger ale, and all their accompaniments, the question of the laborer's troubles would soon be settled, and the occupation of the managers of strikes and boycotts would be gone. We wish the workingmen would do it. But we fear they will not.

The Missionary.

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

The Pope and the Bohemians Have a Council at Basel.

BASEL, Switzerland, during the time of the Reformation, was the center of much light. From time to time God honored this city with men and women of integrity of character, and to a greater or less extent they have left their stamp upon the people. The Spirit of God ever seems to linger around those spots, where his truth has been revered. His word is the only lamp that lights up this dark world of sin and pollution.
The invasion of Germany by the Bohemians, and the ignominious defeat of the several crusades that were sent against them, combined to bring about the results desired by Procopius. The papal party was now anxious to make peace, and a grand council was called at Basel. This council presented quite a contrast to the one held at Constance, where the leaders of the reform were condemned to be burned at the stake. Bohemia had been condemned as a heretic nation, and every one favoring the doctrine of Wickliffe, Huss, and Jerome, had been anathematized. Europe had risen up en masse against the little Bohemian nation, comprising only about nineteen thousand square miles. The Bohemians had been denounced by the Papacy, and every step had been taken to obliterate them as a nation, and as individuals. But God had defended them; and now the same power that had condemned them, and issued decrees for their extermination, appoints a council for the purpose of negotiating with them for peace. It was to the city of Basel that the Pope invited the despised Hussites for this purpose. It is no marvel that in the nineteenth century it should be a center from which light emanates to the dark portions of the Old World. It was carrying the war into the enemies' country that drove the Austrian soldiers out of Moravia, which afterward became the location for one of the greatest missionary schools that ever existed.
In the year 1432, letters were sent to the Bohemians, couched in the most friendly terms, and designed to open the way for peace, and to give the emperor quiet possession of the kingdom in which, as he said, he was born, and over which his father, brother, and uncle had reigned; but a nation of which he could not gain possession by force of arms. In order to induce the Bohemians to come to Basel to confer on the matters of difference between them, the Pope offered them a safe-conduct to and from the council, and a guarantee for the free celebration of their worship during their stay. He added a farther assurance that the council “would lovingly and gently hear their reasons.” The Hussites were not at all sanguine as to the results of the conference, and they felt doubts as to their personal safety. For some time the question was considered by them whether, under the circumstances, it was proper to have their nation represented at this conference, but finally some three hundred men decided to attend it, and do what they could to make peace. When they reached the city the inhabitants turned out en masse to see the men whose tenets were so abominable, and whose arms were so terrible. The streets were lined with spectators as they entered the city. Every window and roof had its share of eager and anxious sight-seers. The Bohemians had been represented to them as having “teeth of iron, and eyes of demons,” and they expected to see some terrible looking objects in human form, in the men of Bohemia, who should appear in the council; but the tall figures and gallant bearing of the Bohemians, their faces scarred with battle, their eyes beaming with courage, were the subject of general comment. All eyes were drawn toward Procopius, and they said one to another: “This is the man who has so often put to flight the armies of the faithful,—who has destroyed so many cities, who has massacred so many thousands; the invincible, the valiant.”
After the opening of the council they were requested to present conditions of peace, which they did, claiming first, “The free preaching of the word; second, the right of the laity to the cup, and the use of the vernacular tongue in all parts of divine worship; third, the ineligibility of the clergy to secular office and rule; fourth, the execution of laws without respect to persons.” These four articles were generally understood to be the four principal points in the doctrines taught by Huss and Jerome, and they may be said to have formed the new constitution of the kingdom of Bohemia. They struck at the very foundation of the hierarchy of Rome, and implied a large measure of reform. The supreme authority of the Scriptures, which the Hussites maintained, implied the emancipation of the conscience, the beginning of all liberty. In their principles of reform they fell short of Wickliffe, who preceded them, as well as of Luther, who came after. But in Bohemia, the spiritual and intellectual were less powerfully developed; and the patriotic and military were in the ascendancy. Still the Bohemians acknowledged the great principle that the Bible is the only infallible authority, and when this was practically carried out, the fabric of Romanism was undermined.
S. N. H.

What They Lost.

By J. H. W.

It is quite a common thing to hear people say they cannot obey the truth, especially that they cannot keep all the commandments of the decalogue, because they will have to lose so much; they fear they cannot make a living. The following incident may be instructive to such:—
Near London there lived an old couple. In early life they had been poor; but the husband became a Christian, and God blessed their industry, and they were living in comfortable retirement, when one day a stranger called on them and asked their subscription to a charity. The old lady had less religion than her husband, and still hankered after the Sabbath earnings and easy shillings which Thomas had given from regard to the law of God. So when the visitor asked for their contributions she interposed and said: “Why, sir, we have lost a deal by religion since we first begun; my husband knows that very well. Have we not, Thomas?” After a solemn pause, Thomas answered, “Yes, Mary, we have. Before I got religion, Mary, I had an old slouched hat, a tattered coat, and mended shoes and stockings; but I have lost them long ago. And you know that, poor as I was, I had a habit of getting drunk and quarreling with you; and that you know I have lost. And then I had a hardened conscience and wicked heart, and ten thousand guilty fears; but all are lost—completely lost, and like a millstone cast into the sea. And, Mary, you have been a loser, too. Before we got religion, Mary, you had a washing-tray. And you had a gown and a bonnet much the worse for wear; but you have lost them long ago; and you had many an aching heart concerning me, at times; but those you have happily lost. And I could even wish that you had even lost as much as I have lost; for what we lose for religion will be an everlasting gain.”
It is a pity that, when people open a debt and credit account with the Lord, they so generally forget his mercies. But in the book of the Lord about all that will be found, will be his mercies and our errors and shortcomings. Here we look too much upon our services, and our trials, and our crosses. If our afflictions turn us toward the Saviour they will work for us. 2 Cor. 4:17, 18. But if they cause us to repine and fret, then they will work against us. It was in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, where he said, “I am the man that hath seen affliction,” that he also said of the mercies of the Lord, “they are new every morning.” Even so it is. Our lives, all along, have been dotted with places of trials and sorrows; but the mercies of God have flowed in one continual stream. Of him we receive “life, and breath, and all things.” Acts 17:25. Every breath which we draw makes us his debtor. And the intercessions of Jesus continually “holdeth our soul in life.” Ps. 66:9. Every-day blessings and privileges are but mementoes of the riches of his grace. If we had done all his righteous will we should yet be unprofitable servants; we could not benefit him; our righteousness could not reach to him. Ps. 16:2. It can be no gain to him that we make our ways perfect. Job 22:2, 3. “If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?” Job 35:7. But we have not done our whole duty; our ways have not been perfect before him. We have “done despite unto the Spirit of grace.” Heb. 10:29. Mercy, through the name of Jesus of Nazareth and the cleansing power of his blood, is all the plea that we can make. This truth is very often confessed, but very seldom felt. If it were generally felt, we should not so often find people claiming the privilege of making terms with God. They are willing to serve him if it involves no personal inconvenience and no earthly loss. Poor souls! what a terrible delusion they are laboring under. How deep is their self-deception, and how bitter will be their disappointment when they will be rewarded according to their works, and not according to their confidence or their profession. Matt. 7:21–23.
J. H. W.

How Sin Is Condemned.

A CORRESPONDENT of the Congregationalist writes to that paper as follows:—
“There is one thing which I cannot comprehend, and that is, why, if the New Departure doctrine of probation after this life is not true, it is not more distinctly condemned in the Scriptures.”
We don’t propose to make any comment on the doctrine of future probation, which many professed Christians have recently borrowed from Papacy and Paganism, but to clear up a very common difficulty, which is implied in the above quotation. That is, the idea that a thing is not wrong unless the Bible distinctly names that thing in terms of condemnation. This is a grave error. The Bible condemns error in two ways. First, by prohibiting it in express terms. By this means we know that it is wrong to steal, to lie, to swear, break the Sabbath, etc. Second, by inculcating something which is directly the opposite of the objectionable thing. One of these ways is really no stronger way of condemning error than the other. If the Bible tells us that a certain thing is true, it by that means just as forcibly tells us that everything which in any way differs from the thing commended is wrong.
Thus the Bible does not say in express terms that it is wrong to keep the first day of the week; but it plainly says: “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work.” The command to keep the Sabbath is a prohibition against keeping any other day. And so we might go through the whole list.
One thing however will be noticed by every one who carefully and conscientiously studies the Bible, and that is, that in reality both methods of teaching are used on about every subject. While by the commendation of good all evil is condemned, it is a fact that there is no form of evil that is not in some place in the Bible distinctly condemned.

NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.

Jesus Risen.

(October 31—John 20:1-18.)

THE RESURRECTION.     VISIT OF THE WOMEN.

Jerusalem.   First Day of the Week.   (Sunday A. M., April 9, A. D. 30.)
Matt. 28:1-4.     Mark 16:2-4.     Luke 24:1, 2.     John 20:1.
¹AND behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from Heaven, and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was as lightning, and his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the watchers did quake, and became as dead men.
¹Now [¹late on the Sabbath day—²And] ³very [⁴on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene] ²early, ⁴while it was yet dark, ⁵as it began to dawn toward [³But ²on] ¹²³ the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary [¹to see the sepulcher—²they come to the tomb when the sun was risen—³at early dawn, they came] ⁴unto the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. ²And they were saying among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the tomb? and looking up, they see that the stone is rolled back (for it was exceeding great) [³And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.—⁴and seeth the stone taken away from the tomb].

MARY MAGDALENE RUNS TO TELL PETER AND JOHN.

(Sunday A. M.)
⁶MARY MAGDALENE [⁴she] ⁴runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid him.

TWO ANGELS APPEAR TO THE WOMEN. SOME OF THEM ARE SPEECHLESS WITH FEAR AND AMAZEMENT, OTHERS RUN TO TELL THE DISCIPLES.

(Sunday A. M.)
Matt. 28:5-8.   Mark 16:5-8.   Luke 24:8-8.
³AND ⁵the women [³they] ³entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, while they were perplexed there about, behold [⁴And entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side], ⁵two men stood by them ⁶arrayed ⁷in dazzling [⁸in a] ⁸white [⁹robe] ⁹apparel; ²and they were amazed. ¹¹And as they were affrighted, and bowed down their faces to the earth, [¹⁰And] ¹the angel answered and said unto the woman, Fear not ye: [¹³And he saith unto them] ²be not amazed: ¹for I know that ¹²ye seek Jesus, ²the Nazarene, ¹who hath been crucified. [¹⁹They said unto them.] ³Why seek ye the living among the dead? [²⁰He is risen.] ¹He is not here; ²but ²is risen, ³even as he said. ³Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying that the Son of man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. ²Come, see the place where the Lord lay. ²Behold the place where they laid him! ¹And go quickly, and [²But go] ¹²tell his disciples ²and Peter, He is risen from the dead: and lo, ¹he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, ²as he said unto you. ¹Lo, I have told you. ³And remembered his words. ¹And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word.
²And ⁴others [³they] ²went out, and fled from the tomb: for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one; for they were afraid.

PETER AND JOHN VISIT THE SEPULCHER AND GO AWAY.

Jerusalem.   First Day of the Week.   (Sunday, A. M.)
³BUT ³Peter ¹therefore ¹arose, and ⁴went forth, and the other disciple, and they went toward [⁵ran unto] ³⁴the tomb. ⁴And they ran both together; and the other disciple outran Peter, and came first to the tomb; and stooping and looking in, he seeth the linen cloths lying; yet entered he not in. Simon Peter therefore also cometh, following him, and entered into the tomb; ³and ³stopping and looking in, he seeth [⁴he beholdeth] ³the linen cloths ⁴lying ³by themselves; ²and the napkin, that was upon his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself, ³and he departed [²to his home], wondering at that which was come to pass.
⁴Then entered in therefore the other disciple also, who came first to the tomb, and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
⁵So the disciples went away again unto their own home.

ANGELS FIRST, AND THEN JESUS APPEAR TO MARY MAGDALENE.

Jerusalem (No. 86.): First Day of the Week.
⁷NOW WHEN he was risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he cast out seven demons.
[⁴But] ⁴Mary was standing without at the tomb weeping; so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she beholdeth two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. When she had thus said, she turned herself back, and beholdeth Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing
him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him in Hebrew, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith to her, Touch me not [Marg., or, “Take not hold on me.”], for I am not yet ascended unto the Father; but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and my God and your God.

SOME OF THE WOMEN TELL THE DISCIPLES OF THE ANGELS; TO THE OTHERS, JESUS HIMSELF APPEARS.

Jerusalem (No. 86). First Day of the Week. (Sunday A. M.)
³AND ⁵the women returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven, and to all the rest. Now they were [³Mary Magdalene, and] Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; and the other women with them told these things unto the apostles. And these words appeared in their sight as idle talk; and they disbelieved them. ⁴Mary Magdalene cometh and telleth the disciples [⁵She went and told them] ⁵that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. ⁶I have seen the Lord; and how that he had said these things unto her. ⁷And they, when they heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, disbelieved. ⁸And behold, Jesus met them [⁹the other women], ¹⁰saying, All hail. And they came and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then saith Jesus unto them, Fear not; go tell my brethren that they depart into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
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