The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. 77

May 22, 1900

“The Third Angel’s Message. The Place of Sunday Legislation in the Making of the Beast” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 21, p. 328.

BY the whole history of the case, we have seen that by their perversions of the truth, and their accommodating their teachings to the ways of the heathen, the self-exalted teachers and leaders in the apostasy had secured to themselves a host by reason of transgression. And when that church succeeded in forming a union with the Roman State, that “host” was infinitely increased, since it took in practically the whole mass of the people, without any change of life whatever. The State and the Church became practically one and the same thing; and that one thing was a solid mass of hypocrisy. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.1

Upon this we have the plain, forceful, and indisputable words of the authoritative church historian, Schaff:— ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.2

By taking in the whole population of the Roman Empire, the Church became, indeed, a Church of the masses, a Church of the people, but at the same time more or less a Church of the world. Christianity became a matter of fashion. The number of hypocrites and formal professors rapidly increased: strict discipline, zeal, self-sacrifice, and brotherly love proportionally ebbed away; and many heathen customs and usages, under altered names, crept into the worship of God and the life of the Christian people. The Roman State had grown up under the influence of idolatry, and was not to be magically transformed at a stroke. With the secularizing process, therefore, a paganizing tendency went hand in hand. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.3

Just here the Church encountered a difficulty upon which she had not reckoned: she found herself unable to control by any power legitimately hers, this mass of transgressors. She found that her discipline was impotent to restrain the evil “host” which she had by transgression gathered to herself; and if Church discipline were to be maintained with this “host,” it could be maintained only by the power of the State. This power, however, the Church was not only willing, but glad, to employ; because it was a step which would only increase her power: and power was the sole aim in every stage of this procedure, from the first steps taken, and the first words spoken in speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.4

The principal thing which had characterized the Church of Rome, from the beginning of the apostasy—and, indeed, the chief thing in the apostasy—was the exaltation of Sunday. This was her sign of authority; this was the key of her ambition and of her power. And now the power of the State was gladly seized upon by the Church, to accomplish the further, and even the supreme, exaltation of Sunday; and, by this, to enforce Church discipline, not only upon those who were adherents of the Church, but also upon all who were not. By this means, she could enforce the authority of the Church, and a submission to the authority of the Church, upon those who were in no wise connected with the Church. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.5

This, at one stroke, gave to her power over all; and this power was held by her, and was confirmed by the State, as the power of God; because “there had in fact arisen in the church a false theocratical theory,” which aimed at “the formation of a sacerdotal State, subordinating the secular to itself in a false and outward way.” “This theocratical theory was already the prevailing one in the time of Constantine; and... the bishops voluntarily made themselves dependent on him by their disputes, and by their determination to make use of the power of the State for the furtherance of their aims.”—Neander. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.6

This false theocratical theory, and the formation of a sacerdotal State—a false theocracy—is the foundation and the explanation of the whole course of things in the making of the Beast, and of the place of Sunday legislation in the making of the Beast. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.7

A true democracy is the government of God. A false theocracy is a government of men in the place of God. True theocracy is the kingdom of God itself; false theocracy is a government of men in the place of God, passed off upon men as the kingdom of God. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.8

In a previous study, we have seen how that the Church in Rome claimed to be Israel oppressed by the new Pharaoh, Maxentius; and that Constantine was the new Moses, “called by God” to deliver Israel from Egypt and the oppressions of Pharaoh. And when that deliverance had been wrought, the bishops of the Church claimed, and insisted, that the kingdom of God as prophesied by Daniel was come. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.9

In the system now being formed, the State was not only to be subordinate to the Church, but was to be the servant of the Church to assist in bringing all the world into the new kingdom of God. the bishops were the channel through which the will of God was to be made known to the State. Therefore the views of the bishops were to be to the government the expression of the will of God; and whatever laws the bishopric might deem necessary to make the principles of their theocracy effective, it was their purpose to secure. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.10

Accordingly, no sooner had the Catholic Church made herself sure of the recognition and support of the State, than she secured from the emperor an edict setting apart Sunday especially to the purposes of devotion. March 7, A.D. 321, Constantine, playing into the hands of the new and false theocracy, issued his famous edict, which, both in matter and in intent, is the original and the moderl of all the Sunday laws that have ever been made. it reads as follows:— ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.11

Constantine, Emperor Augustus, to Helpidius: On the venerable day of the sun let the magistrates and people residing in the cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations, the bounty of heaven should be lost. (Given the 7th day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time.)—Schaff’s translation from the Latin, “History of the Christian Church,” Vol. II, sec. 75, par. 5, note 1. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.12

All know that, when the original Israel had been delivered indeed from Egypt by the Lord, the Sabbath was given to them, and by a law, to be observed in that government of God, that true democracy. And the establishment of Sunday observance by law, in the new, false theocracy of the fourth century, was simply another step taken by the creators of this new theocracy, in imitation of the original. This setting apart of Sunday in the new theocracy, and its observance being established and enforced by law, was in imitation of the act of God in the original theocracy in establishing the observance of the Sabbath. This view is confirmed by the testimony of one of the leading bishops of his day, as well as one of the principal bishops engaged in the making of the Beast. These are the words:— ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.13

All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s day.—Eusebius, “Commentary on the Psalms,” 92. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.14

Thus at the very first examination of the subject it is seen the change of the Sabbath—the rejection of the Sabbath of the Lord, and the substitution of Sunday—is the essential feature, the chief instrumentality, in the making of the Beast. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.15

And there is yet more to be told, which only the more confirms this truth: confirms it to the extent that makes it impossible for any one honestly to deny it. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.16

“Studies in Galatians. Galatians 4:12-20” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 21, pp. 328, 329.

“BRETHREN, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth? They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.” ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.1

Where is then the blessedness ye spake of?”—not the blessedness ye SPEAK of; but past tense: “ye spake of.” It was a blessedness which they had had, and had lost; and so it was no more a blessedness which ye speak of, but only which “ye spake of.” ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.2

This was the blessing of Abraham—the blessedness of justification by faith; for they had received the true gospel; they had believed in Christ, and thus they knew that Christ had redeemed them from the curse of the law, that the blessing of Abraham might come on them through Jesus Christ, and that they might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. All this they had experienced. But, by the delusions of the false gospel of “the Pharisees which believed,” they had been “bewitched” and driven back from the purity of faith unto justification by works. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.3

This is plain from Paul’s appeal, in the first verses of the third chapter: “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?... He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.4

But “to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Romans 4:5-8. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.5

This “blessedness” is the blessedness which the Galatians had known when they were Christians; but from which they had been drawn away. And now, it was only a memory: only a blessedness which they had spoken of, but which they could not, as a present thing, speak of. This, because faith, and all that is of faith, is only a living, present thing. Faith is the breath of the spiritual life; and when faith is gone, that spiritual life is gone. It must be constantly present, in constant, active motion, to avail for any soul. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.6

This “the Pharisees which believed” did not know; for they had not true faith: they knew not what it is to live by faith. The thought that justification by faith consisted in forgiveness and justification of the sins that are past; but that, being once thus justified, they must live by works. They thought that justification is obtained by faith, but is kept by works. And into this delusion and loss of faith they had persuaded the Galatian Christians, but with the dreadful result of the loss of the blessedness of righteousness by faith, and their relapse into the darkness of heathenism—into the bondage of sin and the works of the flesh. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.7

And that experience is illustrative of the everlasting truth,—and it is written for the instruction of all the people as to that everlasting truth,— that righteousness by faith, true justification by faith, is righteousness and justification by divine, ever-living, present faith, “and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” ARSH May 22, 1900, page 328.8

While the Galatians enjoyed this blessedness, its fruit appeared in the love which they showed to Paul. This love was the very self-sacrificing love of Christ—the abundant love of God shed abroad indeed in the heart, by the Spirit which they had received. Seeing the apostle in need of eyes, they would gladly have plucked out their own and given them to him, if such a thing could have been done. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 329.1

But now, what a change! From that height of blessedness they are driven back into such a condition that he is obliged to appeal to them: “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” ARSH May 22, 1900, page 329.2

And this is yet the mark of the Galatian, wherever he may be—the mark of the man professing Christianity, but who is not justified by faith, who has not the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. Whoever tells him the truth, in that becomes his enemy, and is so counted by him. This, because he does “not obey the truth:” he is not in the way of truth; he does not know the truth. Therefore, truth can not be to him the sole standard and the supreme test: only himself in his own personal preferences and ambitions, and his own self-righteousness, can be the standard. And whoever tells him the truth, especially if it be unpleasant, is counted as making a personal attack on him, and is therefore counted only an enemy. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 329.3

But the man who is the Christian, who is, indeed and in truth, justified by faith of Jesus Christ; who lives by the faith of Jesus Christ; who is righteous only by the faith of Christ, and the righteousness of God, which is by faith—such a one will always count as his friend, or his brother, the one who tells him the truth. However far it may show him himself to be wrong, however directly he himself may be involved, yet he will thankfully receive the truth, whatever it may be, however it may come, and by whomsoever it may be told to him. This, because the truth is his whole and his only salvation. It is the truth which makes him free. The truth is the only Way he has in which to walk. The love of the truth is his only incentive, the Spirit of truth, his only guide. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 329.4

But, as we have seen, this blessed condition—this condition of “blessedness”—the Christians of Galatia had lost, and so had again become only Galatians, because they had lost true faith, and had been turned from faith to works as the way of life and salvation. And this loss of true faith was the loss of the Christ within; for he dwells in the heart by faith. Ephesians 3:17. And because of their forlorn condition, which they did not realize, Paul longed for them as a mother for her children; and, in the depth of his longing, expressed their deep need: “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” The Christ within is what they had lost. To the experience of Christ within they must be restored, or they were lost. And this is simply the gospel, which, in itself, is “Christ in you the hope of glory.” ARSH May 22, 1900, page 329.5

“Editorial” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 21, p. 330.

ARCHBISHOP IRELAND has written a letter to the Duke of Norfolk, who is president of the Catholic Union of Great Britain, urging a united Catholic movement on the part of all English-speaking Catholics in the world. As the grand basis for such a movement, he cites the fact that the English language is fast encircling the globe, and that English-speaking countries are gaining a world-wide influence. Thus he writes:— ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.1

It is a broad, plain fact in the geography of the world—a fact daily becoming broader and plainer—that the English language is encircling the globe, that English-speaking countries are constantly growing with speed that nothing seems able to arrest, in territory and influence. I certainly shall not belittle the spheres of influence of languages other than the English, or deny in the least the importance to the church of countries speaking those languages; let due place be given to all agencies in the great work of religion. But, this said, the truth is before us, that in the present, and more yet in the future, the minds of peoples spread over immense regions of the globe are to be reached only through the English language, and that very much of the missionary work of the church is to be done under the egis of English-speaking countries. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.2

That mission is to attune anew the English language to the harmony of Catholic truth, which was its charm before the days of the schism of the sixteenth century—the most woeful disaster which ever befell Christendom; to make the English language the bearer of Catholic verities to the hundreds of millions who speak and read it; to build up for the Catholic Church public and social influences in English-speaking lands, so that there their power, instead of being against her, be for her; so to establish her in those lands that she be seen to be, as in fact she is, thoroughly in unison with the political institutions and the social aspirations that dominate these lands, so that the argument for such institutions be an argument, too, for the church herself—in fine, so to place the church as to enable her to win over to herself the great English-speaking world and turn to her own profit and to the profit of Christian civilization the wondrous potencies of that world. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.3

Shall not the people to whom the Third Angel’s Message is committed see this truth as to the spread of the English language, and act upon it now? ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.4

“‘A Needed Educational Reform’” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 21, p. 330.

THE Outlook of April 21, 1900, describes and urges “A Needed Educational Reform.” This reform is one that will make it possible that “religion can be preserved and promoted while education is being acquired.” Thus says the Outlook:— ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.1

One problem of education sorely needs to be taken up by our educators, which we are persuaded has not yet sufficiently occupied their attention. It is sometimes considered under the aspect of education and religion—the problem how religion can be preserved and promoted while education is being acquired—but the problem is really larger than this. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.2

That which makes this reform so sorely needed, is the present educational processes. These are most aptly described by the editor of the Outlook; who on this subject is thoroughly qualified to speak. He says:— ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.3

The educational processes of our time—possibly of all time—are largely analytical and critical. They consist chiefly in analyzing the subjects brought to the student for his examination, separating them into their constituent parts, considering how they have been put together, and sitting in judgment on the finished fabric or on the process by which it has been constructed. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.4

Thus all or nearly all study is analytical, critical,—a process of inquiry and investigation. The process presupposes an inquiring if not a skeptical mood. Doubt is the pedagogue which leads the pupil to knowledge. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.5

Does he study the human body?—Dissection and anatomy are the foundations of his study. Chemistry?—The laboratory furnishes him the means of analysis and inquiry into physical substances. History?—He questions the statements which have been unquestioned heretofore, ransacks libraries for authorities in ancient volumes and more ancient documents. Literature?—The poem which he read only to enjoy he now subjects to the scalpel, inquires whether it really is beautiful, why it is beautiful, how its meter should be classified, how its figures have been constructed. Philosophy?—He subjects his own consciousness to a process of vivisection in an endeavor to ascertain the physiology and anatomy of the human spirit, brings his soul into the laboratory that he may learn its chemical constituents. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.6

Meanwhile the construction and synthetic process is relegated to a second place, or lost sight of altogether. Does he study medicine?—He gives more attention to diagnosis than to therapeutics, to the analysis of disease than to the problem how to overcome it. Law?—He spends more time in analyzing cases than in developing power to grasp great principles and apply them in the administration of justice to varying conditions. The classics?—It is strange if he has not at graduation spent more weeks in the syntax and grammar of the language than he has spent hours in acquiring and appreciating the thought and the spirit of the great classic authors. It has been well and truly said to the modern student that he does not study grammar to understand Homer, he reads Homer to get the Greek grammar. His historical study has given him dates, events, a mental historical chart; perhaps, too, it has given him a scholar’s power to discriminate between the true and the false, the historical and the mythical in ancient legends; but not to many has it given an understanding of the significance of events, a comprehension of, or even any new light upon, the real meaning of the life of man on the earth. Has he been studying philosophy?—Happy he is if, as a result of his analysis of self-consciousness, he has not become morbid respecting his own inner life, or cynically skeptical concerning the inner life of others. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.7

It is doubtless in the realm of ethics and religion that the disastrous results of a too exclusive analytical process and a too exclusive critical spirit are seen. Carrying the same spirit, applying the same methods, to the investigation of religion, the Bible becomes to him simply a collection of ancient literature, whose sources, structure, and forms he studies, whose spirit he, at least for the time, forgets; worship is a ritual whose origin, rise, and development he investigates; whose real significance as an expression of penitence, gratitude, and consecration he loses sight of altogether. Faith is a series of tenets whose biological development he traces; or a form of consciousness whose relation to brain action he inquires into; or whose growth by evolutionary processes out of earlier states he endeavors to retrace; forgetting meanwhile what is the meaning of the experience itself as a present fact in human life, what vital force and significance it possesses. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.8

Vivisection is almost sure sooner or later to become a post-mortem; and the subject of it, whether it be a flower, a body, an author, or an experience, generally dies under the scalpel. It is for this reason that so many students in school, academy, and college lose, not merely their theology, which is perhaps no great6 loss, but their religion, which is an irreparable loss, while they are acquiring an education. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.9

When the destructive nature of the educational processes of the present day are thus so clearly set forth by one who is not only friendly to that system, but is himself a part of the system; and when in view of this even he urges “a needed educational reform;” surely that people whom God has made the light of the world in these last days should not need to be urged to this “sorely” needed educational reform. And where any of these should need to be urged to it, the measure of the urging could be only the measure in which these themselves are blindly imbued with love of these destructive processes. ARSH May 22, 1900, page 330.10