Will you please answer in your columns a question in regard to the following texts?
“One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” Rom. 14:5.
“Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.” Gal. 4:10, 11.
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.” Col. 2:16.
May we not very reasonably conclude from the reading of these texts, and their connections, that the observance of the Sabbath is of very little importance, if not wholly unnecessary to salvation? M. D. B.
1. Rom. 14:5 and its connection is not a discussion of a question of days, but a question of judging, or condemning, a brother. To his own master he standeth or falleth, and, despite the judgment of mortals, God is able to hold him up. Even though the text did refer to the Sabbath, it would prove nothing concerning its obligation; it would simply prove that the observer or non-observer was answerable alone to God. But at the bar of God all who have known God’s law shall be judged by the law. Rom. 2:12; James 2:8–12. But the text and context seem to make the reference to matters which of themselves made no difference, ceremonial days of the law, for example. If it should be said that the term “every day” of the text must include the Sabbath, it is sufficient to show that it does not so include in Ex. 16:4. Compare with verse 27. The “every day” meant every day of the common days given to man, of “the six working days.” Eze. 46:1. The Sabbath command is a part of God’s law, of which no jot or tittle shall pass away. See Isa. 51:6, 7; Matt. 5:17–19. The Eternal Spirit of God did not contradict through Paul what it said through Isaiah and Jesus.
2. The days and times of Gal. 4:10, 11 are heathen days and times. Read the text and context:—
“Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.” Gal. 4:8–11.
Before they knew God, before the Gospel came to them, whom did they worship or serve? Answer—“Ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.” They were therefore heathen. Compare with 1 Cor. 12:2; 1 Thess. 1:9. See also Acts 14:6–18. Lycaonia was a part of Galatia. In their backsliding, what did the Galatians do? Answer—“How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?” What were among the heathen observances? Answer—“Neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.” Lev. 19:26. “He reared up altars for Baal [the sun-god]. . . . He made his son pass through the fire, and observed times.” 1 Kings 21:3–6. See also Eze. 8:15, 16. The oldest and most widespread heathen worship was sun-worship, and the oldest heathen day is the Sunday, dedicated to the worship of the sun. Besides this there were monthly and yearly and other heathen feasts and festivals and holy days. The Saturnalia, from which came the Roman Christmas, the feast of Eostre, from which came our Easter, and the Sunday, are good illustrations of the perpetuity of heathen customs. When, therefore, the Galatians went back to these gods, they doubtless returned to the old feasts and festivals, with their friends. No wonder that the apostle was afraid of their conversion. This shows how early Sunday began to come into the church.
3. The context of Col. 2:16 clearly shows that the meats and drinks and fast days and sabbath days to which the apostle had reference were those which were “a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Verse 17. These yearly days, some seven in number, are mentioned in Leviticus 23, “beside the Sabbaths of the Lord.” Verse 38. All the ceremonial sabbaths pointed forward to Christ, but the eternal Sabbath of the Lord was a constant memorial and sign of Christ’s power to create, uphold, and sanctify. Ex. 20:8–11; Eze. 20:20, 12. God’s moral law is unchangeable and eternal, and his weekly Sabbath is a part of that law.
No. 263. Questions on the Millennium.
1. If the saints are in heaven during the 1,000 years, what nations or where are they that the devil can not deceive them? Do not these nations reign on this earth during the 1,000 years? for Rev. 20:3, 8 speaks of their being, after the first resurrection and before the second.
2. Rev. 2:26 says he that overcometh can have power over the nations. If the saints are in heaven, where are there any nations to rule over?
3. Rev. 5:10. How can you claim that these will reign on the new earth during the 1,000 years, as there is no new earth till the 1,000 years are finished?
4. Is not the book of life that is used after the 1,000 years are finished, of Rev. 20:15, different from the Lamb’s book of life. Rev. 21:27.
5. Are any or all the prophets the promised seed? If they are, please explain Gal. 3:16. And if not, how can they have part in the first resurrection? If they do, please explain 1 Cor. 15:22, 23. F. H. Cox.
We have space to answer the questions but briefly. For further information the reader is referred to “The Great Day of the Lord,” Bible Students’ Library, No. 65, price 5 cents, or “Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation,” both published at this office. But, briefly:—
1. The nations, that is, the wicked nations of earth, are in their graves during the thousand years. All are slain at the presence of the Lord, when he shall come the second time. See Rev. 19:21; 2 Thess. 2:8; Jer. 4:23–27; Isa. 24:22. The events of Revelation 20 from beginning to end are not in chronological order. Verses 1–10 include one series; verses 11–15, another series. While the second resurrection is not mentioned, it is implied in verse 5. “The rest of the dead [those besides the righteous] lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” This, in connection with Rev. 19:21, shows that all but the righteous are dead, and implies that at the end of the thousand years (the “many days” of Isa. 24:22) the wicked dead will be raised.
2. The saints rule with Christ in judgment over the wicked dead, who live in God’s purpose till final judgment is executed. That the saints take part in this judgment is evident from 1 Cor. 4:5; 6:2, 3. The wicked come before them in the faithful records kept by angelic scribes. They are judged from the books. Rev. 20:12. The final triumph of all over the nations will be with Christ at the end of the thousand years. This is the executive phase of judgment. Psalm 149; Rev. 20:13. It is confounding the investigative portion of the judgment with the executive that causes so much confusion in respect to the thousand years of Revelation 20. In verses 1–10 we have the following events: The binding of Satan during the thousand years, at the beginning of which the righteous dead are raised, and the living wicked destroyed at Christ’s coming; the reign of the saints with Christ in the New Jerusalem, in the Father’s house; the investigative judgment of the wicked; the resurrection of the wicked; their deception by Satan; the descent of the New Jerusalem, with the saints; the destruction of sin and all allied with it. Some of these events are synchronous, or occur at the same time; some are consecutive. In verses 11–15 we have the investigative judgment in heaven, the dead standing before God in the records of their life and character (verses 11, 12); the resurrection of the wicked, and the final execution of the judgment (verses 13–15).
3. We do not claim that the saints will reign on the new earth a thousand years, but to all eternity. During the thousand years they reign with Christ in the New Jerusalem above, the future capital city of the new earth. Revelation 20 does not speak of the new earth reign. It is Rev. 5:10 which promises this; the promise will be fulfilled at the end of the great day of God’s wrath.
4. We do not understand what it is. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Rev. 20:15, however, does not say that the book of life is used after the thousand years. The fact there mentioned was ascertained previous to the end of that period. The book of life, it would seem reasonable to believe, will contain the names of the faithful to all eternity.
5. All are of the promised seed who have faith. See Gal. 3:26–29; Rom. 11:20. Every prophet who had faith in God to the end was of the promised seed. Christ is the Seed, but this includes all who are Christ’s. 1 Cor. 15:22 simply declares that through Christ all will live, irrespective of character. Death came to man in consequence of Adam’s sin; for this his descendants are not responsible, and the Lord saves from that consequence. The next verse declares that life will be given to the dead at different times, to those who are Christ’s when he comes, at the beginning of the thousand years. It will be given to the rest at the end. To our minds the above is in brief the only harmonious view.
THE TEST OF LOYALTY.
By Ellen G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
“But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not with me. It can not be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It can not be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the crystal can not equal it; and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls; for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? ... Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”
We shall learn how to depart from evil by studying the word of God, and by fulfilling the directions that are given us in the Scriptures. The psalmist says, “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” Those who ever bear in mind the fact that they are learners, those who are willing to be instructed, those who open their hearts to receive every ray of light that shines from the word of God, or that is presented to them by messengers whom God has commissioned to preach the Gospel, will learn the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. We are to study both the Old and the New Testament, for it takes the complete Scriptures to unfold the Gospel. The Bible is the treasure-house of wisdom.
The character of sin, and God’s treatment of sin, are first unfolded to us in the transgression of Adam. Sin is the transgression of the law, and when Adam and Eve sinned, they opened the floodgates of woe upon our world. The promise given to Adam that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head, and that it should bruise his heel, was the first proclamation of the Gospel. But while a way was provided for the forgiveness of sin, yet in no way did this provision lessen its hateful character in the sight of God, or do away with the dire consequences that would fall upon impenitent transgressors. Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and men could always say, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
Christ became our substitute and surety. He took the case of fallen man upon himself. He became the Redeemer, the Intercessor. When death was proclaimed as the penalty of sin, he offered to give his life for the life of the world, in order that man might have a second probation, and that individually he might enjoy the privileges that would come to us through this divine provision, and receive power to form a character after the divine image. But God has a day in which he will judge the world by that Man whom he hath ordained. All judgment is given into the hands of the Son. Christ has engaged to become the sinner’s surety, but he does not engage to lessen or detract from the obligation to the divine law. Should Christ change the law in any particular, the demands of Satan would be fulfilled, and God and Christ and the universe would be brought under bondage to his claims. Christ is the star of hope. He is the one to contest the claims of Satan; he is the seed of the woman that shall bruise the serpent’s head. He overcame Satan in heaven, and cast him out because of his rebellion and apostasy.
It was when he was in conflict with man that Satan gained his first victory. Changing his appearance, assuming the disguise of a serpent, in the most subtle, artful manner he assailed Eve, saying, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” And the woman said unto the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” The woman erred when she entered into controversy with the serpent. The Lord had not said, “Ye shall not touch it.” He had said, “Of every tree in the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,” she began to be charmed with Satan’s representations, and thought that God was unnecessarily restricting their liberty, and holding them back from that which would be for their advancement. “She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat.” She told her husband what the serpent had said, “and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” They forgot the great love that God had manifested toward them in giving them life, in providing them with a beautiful garden, in furnishing them with pleasant employment. They forgot his mercies, and thought him selfish and unkind. “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.” The garments of light which had enveloped them disappeared when they sinned against God.
There was nothing poisonous in the fruit of the tree of knowledge itself, nothing that would cause death in partaking of it. The tree had been placed in the garden to test their loyalty to God. The Lord designs that we shall contemplate the lesson that Adam failed to learn in his first experience, and would have us realize that the claims of God in this age are no less than they were in the Garden of Eden. Eden, has lost none of its high claims since that time. We are required to obey all the commandments of God. The Sabbath commandment is placed in the midst of the Decalogue, and it was instituted in Eden at the same time that God instituted the marriage relation. God gave the Sabbath as a memorial of his creative power and works, “for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” He made its observance obligatory upon man, in order that he might contemplate the works of God, dwell upon his goodness, his mercy, and love, and through nature look up to nature’s God. If man had always observed the Sabbath, there would never have been an unbeliever, an infidel, or an atheist in the world. If Adam and Eve had contemplated the works of God in creating the world, if they had considered the reason that God had in giving them the Sabbath, if they had looked upon the beautiful tokens he had given them in withholding nothing that would add to their happiness, they would have been safe, they would have adored him for his goodness and love toward them, and in place of listening to the sophistries of Satan in casting blame upon God, in ascribing to him motives of selfishness, they would have considered the works of his hands, and songs of melody and thanksgiving and praise would have burst forth from their lips in adoration of him who had bountifully supplied them with every good thing. If they had considered how he had made them the object of his overflowing love, they would not have fallen; but they forgot the presence of God. They forgot that angels surrounded them to guard them from every danger, and they looked away from their great Benefactor.
The Sabbath is a test to this generation. In obeying the fourth commandment in spirit and truth, men will obey all the precepts of the Decalogue. To fulfill this commandment one must love God supremely, and exercise love toward all the creatures that he has made. The Lord exhorts us to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy;” and since this is his exhortation, will any one charge us with wearying them in bringing this commandment to their remembrance?
OUR IDEAL.
By J. P. Henderson
BY J. P. HENDERSON.
An ideal is defined as a “conception proposed by the mind for imitation, realization, or attainment.”
The mind intuitively conceives an ideal picture, or conception, of whatever is presented to it, and life and character take on form and action in harmony with this conception.
As a stream never rises above its source, so the elements of life will never rise above, or be more perfect than, the ideal which is formed within. It is well said: “Man will rise no higher than his conception of truth, purity, and virtue.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 95.
That which is perfect in its construction has first had a perfect model of its formation in the mind. The artist first views the beautiful landscape. His vision takes in hill and dale, home and hamlet, and, with pen or pencil, the scene is transferred to a canvas that decorates the walls of his chamber.
It is thus the chambers of our memory are7adorned with the variegated scenes of life. In the regenerated heart these scenes are lovely sketches from nature, and the high, ennobling principles of character, but with the unbeliever they are more frequently from the debasing elements of the low and the vile. From the midst of these revelings of the mind the stream of life courses its way, for as he “thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Prov. 23:7.
An exalted ideal of the life of Christ is essential to the formation of perfect character. Its formation will rise no higher than the zenith of its conception.
To obtain a proper model, one must gaze beyond the visage of outward form. Jesus saw Nathanael coming, and said, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” He saw him while yet he was “under the fig tree.” He gazed upon the virtues of the soul within, and not upon the mere physical form! It is thus that we are to see Jesus, and by beholding are to become changed; for “as face answereth to face in water,” so life should answer to life in Scripture.
When the mind’s ideal is perfect, it will raise the standard of Christian virtues to the exalted level of the character of heaven. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matt. 5:48.
“Chisel in hand stood a sculpture boy,
With his marble block before him,
His face lit up with a smile of joy,
As an angel dream passed o’er him.”
“He carved the dream on that shapeless stone
With many a sharp incision;
With heaven’s own light the sculptor shone;
He had caught that angel vision.”
Goodland, Ind.
TRUST
By A. R. Wilcox
BY A. R. WILCOX.
When paths are light and plain,
We’re easy led;
When shadows fall, how oft
Our faith has fled!
A constant faith I’d have;
The road, tho drear,
I’ll follow; in Thy way
What need I fear?
Thy presence blest we feel
That draws to Thee;
Thy hand directs the while
We can not see.
Athens, Vt.
THE UNITY OF THE FATHER AND THE SON THROUGH ONE SPIRIT.
By Wm. Covert
BY WM. COVERT.
In studying the Scriptures which speak of the work and power of God through the Spirit, it should be understood that the Father and the Son are united as one in their work. When speaking of the Spirit of God and of the Spirit of Christ, it is quite helpful to know that but one Spirit is meant. Writing of this matter, the apostle said: “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” “And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body; . . . and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” 1 Cor. 12:4, 6, 13.
Another feature of the same truth is stated thus: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Eph. 4:4-6.
When Jesus spoke of this unity, he said: “I and my Father are one.” John 10:30. “I am in the Father, and the Father in me. The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doth the works.” John 14:10. The Son of God when in human flesh submitted himself so entirely into the Father’s keeping that he existed and acted wholly under the control of the Spirit of God. Also before Jesus came to our world as the Son of man, he acted in unison with the Father, and executed their united counsels. In considering this matter Paul speaks of “God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.” Eph. 3:9. We are also told that God hath “spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.”
Another apostle talks of how the graces of the Father and the Son blend together in one precious faith, “through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Continuing the same line of thought, he then asked that “grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.” 2 Peter 1:1, 2.
The Father and the Son are one in love for man, one in their harmony of action in creating and in redeeming man. And altho the Son came to this world that he might live and die in our stead, yet he never separated from the eternal Spirit, but through it offered himself without spot to God. Heb. 9:12.
Because of their inseparable relation, the beloved apostle could truly say: “He is anti-christ, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. . . . Let that [Spirit] therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that [Spirit] which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.” 1 John 2:22-24.
These scriptures show that in receiving the Spirit of God the believer is united with both the Father and the Son. So closely are Christ and the Father joined in the one Spirit that the blood which Christ shed for our sins is declared to be God’s “own blood,” with which he purchased the church. Acts 20:28. It would seem that the union was so wonderful that the Father in some way shared fully with his Son in the great offering made for man’s redemption. Truly it is so, as stated by the apostle, that “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” All nature, that is sustained and in touch with the eternal Spirit, gathered blackness and travailed in sorrow with its dying Lord. The sun refused to shine during the terrible hours of Jesus’ suffering on the cross (Luke 23:45); and the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent (Matt. 27:51).
But all this suffering, and the glorious results which are to follow, had been revealed many years before, by the Spirit of Christ which was in the prophets. 1 Peter 1:11. Yet the same apostle in another chapter says that in old time “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:21. Nevertheless, in these things no contradiction is found, for it is the same Spirit, whether revealed to us under the term Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ, Unction Anointing, or other titles.
THE LOVE OF GOD.
By G. H. Heald
BY G. H. HEALD, M.D.
Not simply love to God, or for God, as is sometimes supposed, but the love of God—God’s love; for “God is love,” and “love is of God.” “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” It might be said with equal truth that we know we dwell in love, and love dwells in us, because he has given us of his Spirit; for “he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God,” and “if we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” See 1 John 4:7-16. Moreover, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Rom. 5:5.
“If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15.
This love of the Father is not something which it is in our power to exert or manifest. It is entirely distinct from us naturally, being a gift from God to such only as choose to receive it.
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” 1 John 3:1. There is more in the expression than simply God’s love to us, which of course is included, and which we may say includes all else; but it also implies the love which God has shed abroad in our hearts.
The language of the original would make it proper to translate, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, or shed abroad in our hearts, in order that we might be called the sons of God.” “Therefore”—for this reason—“the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” This rendering of the text makes the “therefore” more significant. It is difficult to understand why God’s loving us and calling us sons would prevent the world knowing us; but where God has changed our characters by implanting therein his love, the world, not knowing him, can not know us.
When this is accomplished in us, it can be truly said, “Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
The words “we” and “us” are used here because used in the texts, but it is to be hoped that every reader may, with the writer, be among that number who, having “this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” 1 John 3:3.
Battle Creek, Mich.
THE MONROE DOCTRINE.
By W. N. Glenn
BY W. N. GLENN.
James Monroe was President of the United States from 1817 to 1825. In 1822 he officially recognized the independence of Mexico, and of the South American provinces of Spain. Soon afterward it was proposed that an alliance of European sovereigns be formed, called the “Holy Alliance,” for the purpose of aiding Spain to recover her revolted American colonies. But the scheme was balked by Great Britain’s refusal to join the alliance. Then President Monroe, in his annual message of 1823, inserted a passage declaring that any such attempt of the European powers would be deemed an act unfriendly to the United States; that any attempt of the powers of the Old World to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere would be dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, and would therefore be opposed. The prospects of a transatlantic expedition, which would have to meet the forces of all the Spanish American provinces on this continent, together with those of the United States, and the probability of complications with the British navy, were rather discouraging, and the project was abandoned. This was the first instance in which the pronounced attitude of the United States against the general interests of a combination of European powers received respectful recognition. And this “Monroe Doctrine” has ever since been deemed the settled policy of the United States. It has recently been emphasized by President Cleveland against the interests of Great Britain in a controversy regarding the boundary line between the South American republic of Venezuela and British Guiana,8 (104)Altho the United States Government in a measure owes her ability to primarily establish the doctrine to Great Britain’s attitude toward the proposed European alliance, yet on various occasions it has proved to be decidedly averse to British interests. But there is no doubt that the mysterious hand of Providence was instrumental in Great Britain’s holding aloof from an alliance whose purpose was to fasten the grip of Roman Catholic Spain on her struggling provinces in the Western Hemisphere.
The only direct attempt of any foreign power to ignore the Monroe Doctrine was when France undertook to establish an imperial government in Mexico, with an Austrian archduke, Maximilian, on the throne. This was during the Civil War in the United States, when this government had its hands so full at home that it was not in a position to protest. Otherwise it is probable that the French Government would not have made the attempt. However, Mexico proved herself able to maintain a Monroe Doctrine of her own, as far as her own territory was concerned. And the overruling hand of Providence was also in the final victory of the Mexican republic. The religious liberty since proclaimed by that government, making it possible for the everlasting Gospel to be preached to that people in its purity, could not have secured its present prestige under Roman Catholic imperialism.
MADE PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERING.
By E. Hilliard
BY E. HILLIARD.
CHRIST is our pattern in all things. In kindness and courtesy we are to imitate his example. We are to cultivate the same unselfish love, and in all things obey him as he obeyed his Father.
The Scripture saith, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” Heb. 5:8. When clothed in humanity, he learned to keep in the path of obedience by the sorrow and the trials that came upon him. The more severe the conflict, the more dense the darkness that hovered over his pathway, the more tightly he pressed his Father’s hand, and the more earnest his petitions that ascended to heaven for divine aid. His trials drove him to God; for he knew of himself that he could do nothing. John 5:19. As he without his Father could do nothing, so he has taught us that without him we can accomplish nothing. John 15:5.
Christ, the Captain of our salvation, was made perfect through suffering (Heb. 2:10); so we must be perfected in the same manner. He has said to us, “The disciple is not above his master; but every one shall be perfected as his master.” Luke 6:40, margin. The Master was made perfect through suffering, not for himself, but as a ransom and example for us. Then shall we shrink from trials and suffering?
Christ, in order to reach to the lowest depths of sin and degradation, was made to feel the weakness of the weakest, that he might sympathize with and save the lowest. In being touched with the feeling of our infirmities he was made a perfect Saviour. This perfection was brought about through the most extreme suffering.
With our blessed Saviour’s example before us, shall we think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try us, as though some strange thing happened unto us?—No, never; but, on the contrary, we should rejoice that we are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, we may be glad also with exceeding joy.
Dear reader, have you learned to really rejoice in trial, especially when it is a severe, fiery trial? Does it drive you to the Lord? If it does, then you can rejoice, because in the presence of the Lord there is joy; there can be nothing but joy. If our troubles are not bringing us peace of soul, they are not working as God designs. Instead of being perfected by them, we are being made miserable, and are but tares ripening for destruction. O, that both reader and writer may learn the peaceful lessons that are wrapped up in fiery trials! May God in his own good way teach us that we are to be made perfect through suffering.
Suva, Fiji.
SOME SEARCHING QUESTIONS.
By J. P. Henderson
Cardinal Gibbons Again.
EDITOR SIGNS: The questions below were prepared by a man, Mr. J. F. Snyder, who is searching for truth, but who is not as yet an Adventist. He wrote to Cardinal Gibbons, and received the reply referred to below.
The questions were placed in the question box of the First Baptist Church in this city, but were passed by in silence.
I thought perhaps they might contain points of interest to the readers of the SIGNS.
Respectfully, J. P. HENDERSON.
Goodland, Ind.
Why should Christians observe the first day of the week as the Sabbath, (1) when God distinctly declares in his word that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God (Ex. 20:10);
(2) When he sanctified the seventh day (Gen. 2:3); and blessed and hallowed it (Ex. 20:11);
(3) When he declares it to be a perpetual covenant (Ex. 31:16), and a sign forever between him and his people (Ex. 31:17);
(4) When the Saviour, in his earthly ministry as a divine Teacher, observed the seventh day and taught the same (John 15:10), and declared for its perpetuity (Matt. 5:17-19);
(5) When God has told us in prophecy that a power would arise in the world that would think to change times and laws of the Most High (Dan. 7:25), and when we have its complete fulfillment in that power which was the principal factor in making the history of the civilized world for thirteen centuries, and which is defined by all standard works of evangelical writers as apostate, namely, the Roman Catholic Church, who boasts that she changed the observance of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week by her own (assumed) authority, and independent of the plain teachings of the word of God, and defines it as the mark of her spiritual power, as reference to the following and many more of her authoritative declarations conclusively shows:—
1. See the “Doctrinal Catechism,” pp. 101, 174, 351, 355.
2. A Catholic work called the “Abridgment of Christian Doctrine”:—
“Question—How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
“Answer—By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of.”
“It was the Holy Catholic Church that changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, the first day of the week. And it not only compelled all to keep Sunday, but at the council of Laodicea, A.D. 364, anathematized those who kept the Sabbath, and urged all persons to labor on the seventh day under penalty of anathema.” So declares Father Enright, Kansas City, Mo., confirmed by Cardinal Gibbons.
In answer to a letter addressed to the cardinal, under date of Oct. 28, 1895, asking the question, “Does the Roman Catholic Church claim the act of changing the observance of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, as a mark of her power?” the following was received:—
Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. It could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have dreamed of doing anything in matters spiritual and ecclesiastical and religious without her. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters. [Signed] H. F. THOMAS,
