The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, vol. 77

February 27, 1900

“The Meaning of the Missionary Reading Circle” ¹ Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 9, pp. 131, 132.

A. T. JONES

(Concluded).

THERE is another warning in the book of Daniel, in these lessons that you are studying,—the history of Belshazzar. Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had longed for God, had found God, had become a true worshiper of God, and was saved by the Lord, as any other saint. Belshazzar knew all this,—all people, indeed, knew it; for it was published over and over. When Daniel made known to Nebuchadnezzar the dream that gave him the knowledge of God, that knowledge went to all the people. When Nebuchadnezzar set up his image, and the brethren would not worship it, then that was spread among all the people of the world at that time; for all the governors, the captains, the princes, and the sheriffs were there to see it all; and when they went back to their provinces, they carried it with them, and the fame of it spread everywhere. When Nebuchadnezzar wrote out his own experience, that was sent in a public decree to all the peoples, nations, and languages: it was read to them by the governors: so the message of God came to all the people again and again. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.1

Now Belshazzar knew all this; but he paid no attention to it. He did not glorify God, though he knew all this. And because of that, because he passed it all by and acted in defiance of it all, he was weighed in the balances then, was found wanting, was set aside, and he, with Babylon, perished. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.2

And it is the truth, and you know it, that there are not only grandchildren, but even children of Seventh-day Adventists who know all this that God did for Nebuchadnezzar, as really as Belshazzar knew it. there are children and grandchildren who have been taught all this from their infancy, and have come up now to the age of young manhood and young womanhood, who, though they know all this as really as did Belshazzar, also despise it all as really as did he. These now do not fear God, nor glorify him in whose hand is their life, and from whom they get their breath every day. Their parents taught them these things when they were small. They understood it then, and they have been under the teaching of it all these years. And now that they have reached the age of young manhood and young womanhood, they despise it as did Belshazzar. And they are the Belshazzars of to-day. And that which came to the Belshazzar of the day will come to the Belshazzars of to-day. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.3

Any one who knows these things that came to Nebuchadnezzar, and acts an did Belshazzar in view of these things that he knows came to Nebuchadnezzar, that person is a Belshazzar; and that which came to the other Belshazzar will come to him. And we are now in the time when these Belshazzars are being weighed in the balances and found wanting. And you know that that is so. Then what is the next thing?—After the weighing of the Belshazzars and the finding of them wanting, the next thing another kingdom comes in. It was Medo-Persia that took the kingdom then. There is another kingdom to come in now too, thank the Lord; and it is the kingdom of God,—the kingdom which shall stand forever, and shall not be given to other people. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.4

And there is where we are on that phase of the subject. And this is another illustration of the deep and solemn meaning of the Missionary Reading Circle, as it comes to families from week to week. And surely it reveals that we are in a time that calls upon all to awake out of sleep as never before in the history of this people. It is a call from God to this whole people to awake and study these things, read the literature, and then spread it abroad to all people, in these days when everything is going with swiftness, and when, of all things, the work of God requires haste. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.5

There is one other item in this connection, to which I must call your attention; and that is the character that stood through all this, and was ready for each step of God’s truth as it came, all the way along. At the beginning of the book of Daniel, you find a young man of integrity of principle, who takes his stand upon principle, and stands there. There were three others who stood with him. At the next step in the progress of God’s message to the people at that time, you find these four young men faithful, learning from God, and explaining to the king, the king’s dream. The next step was the test of the three young men, in the face of a fiery furnace, and they were still found faithful. The next step was Nebuchadnezzar’s experience; and Daniel must be called to explain that, and he is equal to the occasion still. He is awake to the time, and can give the message of God upon the hour. The next step is Belshazzar’s test. The king’s character and his failure are to be revealed, and the nation is to sink into everlasting ruin: and there is that same man; and he is ready on the hour with the message of God for the hour. And he gave the message. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.6

Then there came yet another test after that, when Daniel was tested over and over, we know not how long. He was systematically spied upon. A trap was set for him by a set of schemers, who were ready to take any advantage, or create any advantage, by which they might accomplish their purpose to discredit him and break him down. A large number of them set themselves to spy upon him day by day, to see whether they could not find some fault with him concerning the business of the kingdom. But when they had done everything they could, when they had examined every place, and every particle of business of a mighty world-empire, they were compelled to confess that there was neither error nor fault that could be found—no error in the business, and no fault in the man. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.7

And that is the kind of character that God calls for to-day. Such character alone can stand in this time, in this last Babylon, in this time when God would make known his truth to the nations, in this time of being weighed in the balances and found wanting. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.8

Daniel was weighed in the balances every day. He put himself in the balances before God every day, and held himself before God, in God’s balances every day, and had God’s judgment passed upon him every day; so whenever the time came for him or anybody else to be weighed in the balances, he was not afraid to go into the balances. He had put himself into the balances, and against himself and all that he was, and all that he ever could have had, he had put the merit of Jesus Christ; and when that was there, there was no weight of sin or anything else that could overbalance that: he was perfectly secure. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.9

While these men were thus systematically conspiring against Daniel, and continually spying upon him, looking suspiciously into every piece of business, and narrowly and with prejudice examining every record with which Daniel was in any way connected, or for which he was in any way responsible, how do you suppose Daniel took it? Do you suppose that Daniel set on foot any arrangement or any scheme to shut that off, or to oppose it, for fear they would discover some fault, or that they might find something that was wrong? Do you think he did? Was Daniel afraid that they would find something wrong?—No. In all this Daniel did simply as he did aforetime. He was not afraid that they would find something wrong. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.10

This is not to say that Daniel had proudly set himself up, and said, There is nothing wrong in me. I am perfect. I am infallible. Not at all. But Daniel was so thoroughly in earnest, so thoroughly honest, so thoroughly just, that he would have been just as glad of the discovery of an error as any enemy in all the land could be. He was always trying to find just such a thing as that himself: and that is how he escaped them all. So if they had found any error, he would have been glad of it, and would have said, All right, we will correct that instantly. And I thank you for pointing it out. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.11

That was Daniel, and that is the kind of business men God wishes in these last days. He is calling for them now in every institution, everywhere among all Seventh-day Adventists throughout the world. And any one in charge of business who is not of that kind, any one who pretends to be a business man and is not of that sort, is not Daniel’s sort, and he is not the kind that God is calling for. If there is any one in charge of business anywhere throughout all the ranks of Seventh-day Adventists, who would not be glad to have anybody in the wide world, even a prejudiced, conspiring enemy, point out a mistake, or detect an error, or discover a fault, in the way that business is conducted—any one, I say, who is not glad to have that done is not fit for that place, and is not a Christian business man at all. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.12

And that is what Daniel’s business character is put in that book for. It is drawn out thus, and is set before you and me in all its details, and brought down to us in these last days, in order that in these times when God wishes men whom he can trust anywhere, who will be ready to give the Third Angel’s Message at any point that may arise, at any crisis that may come, he may find us ready on the instant to give the message of God, ready on the instant to stand whatever test the enemies or friends, God or man, may put upon us. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.13

That is the kind of character alone that will stand in these days and in these fearful times in which we are: I do not say to which we are coming; but in which we are. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.14

Is it not high time that we were doing missionary work? Is it not high time that we, each one of us, were in that place where Daniel stood before God,—weighed daily in the balances, and not found wanting, because of the merit of Jesus Christ, which is our only hope? ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.15

This is simply what the Third Angel’s Message is—“the hour of his judgment is come.” And when the message says that the hour of his judgment is come, as certainly as I believe that message, I believe that the hour of his judgment is come to me. And as certainly as I believe that the hour of his judgment is come to me, so certainly will I enter into that judgment, and put myself into the balances to be weighed. I will put myself into the balances of God, the balances of the sanctuary. I will put myself there in the righteousness and fullness of merit of Jesus Christ, who is the “minister of the sanctuary” himself. He who holds the balances knows all the fullness and richness of the merit of the Lord Jesus. And when Jesus Christ’s merit is found there in my behalf, I am not afraid to put myself into the balances; for I know that I shall not be found wanting; for he presents me “faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy;” he presents me “holy and unblamable and unreprovable” in the sight of God. His merit is able to take away every sin, to make complete atonement, and to save to the uttermost every soul who comes to God by him. Bless his name. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 131.16

And so, in the very nature of things, it is only such a character as Daniel’s was, such as Jesus Christ’s is, that we must have to-day. That is the only thing that will win; that is the only thing that will carry us through, and make us ready for each crisis as it comes. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 132.1

Then may such study be given to the Missionary Reading Circle as never was given by Seventh-day Adventists before. And may it be attended with such earnestness and such devotion that the blessing of God may come upon each one; for now is the time when this word must go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. We are on the verge of the days when life is to be given to the image of the beast by the very machinery that has been created for this time. May the Lord save his people from the mistakes that Israel made of old. May we awake and give to the world that which God has given to us to give to the world, even while there is yet a little time of quietness and of comparative peace. May we gather from the study of the book of Daniel the principles that will make manifest in us the character of Daniel, so that we shall be ready for every test and every crisis, as was Daniel. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 132.2

“The Third Angel’s Message. What Is It as to Babylon the Daughters?” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 9, p. 136.

WE have seen that, up to the time of the planting of the American colonies, each denomination that had been developed by the advance steps of the Reformation had become joined to the state; and that the Independents, or Congregationalists, who had not joined themselves to the state in Europe, did so in the New England colonies, while the Church of England was the established church in all the Southern colonies. Thus it came to pass that in the “New World,” church and state were in every colony united, except in Rhode Island, and the whole influence of the colonial governments was enlisted in sustaining the illicit union of professed Protestantism and the state. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.1

But in Virginia, immediately after the Declaration of Independence, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, and the Quakers took the lead in a movement that became universal and even national on this side of the sea. That movement was the total separation of religion and the state, bringing the churches back to the original “principles on which the gospel was first propagated and the Reformation from popery carried on.” After a contest of nearly ten years, this splendid task was accomplished for the State of Virginia, “with the hope that it would endure forever.” ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.2

The long and universal discussion of this great subject in the State of Virginia, had drawn the attention of all the other colonies to this great principle; and when, immediately upon the triumph of the principle in Virginia, the convention was called to form the Constitution, and frame a government, for the whole nation, this principle of the total separation of church and state was established in the National Charter, and was recognized as a fundamental principle. And from this the influence spread, and caused that “in every other American State oppressive statutes concerning religion fell into disuse, and were gradually repealed.” ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.3

Thus, in this land, and in this great nation, Protestantism was placed in its original attitude, as in the beginning of the Reformation, and as the first principles of the Reformation required; and also in the original attitude of Christianity as it was preached by Christ and the apostles, and as the fundamental principles of Christianity require. Thus Protestantism—the church, even in its different denominations—became clothed with a power that made her once more, and rightly, the “Gate of God.” And the benign influence of this excellent example acted upon all the nations of the Old World, and led them forward in the path of light and liberty, which is the path of true Protestantism, which is the path of true Christianity, which is the path of the total separation of the church from the state: the path in which the church walks only with her true Husband, with her dependence solely upon God. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.4

Then, in 1840-44 there came the time when, “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” God would send the message of “the everlasting gospel,” proclaiming, to all men: “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14:6, 7. Thus the church in this great nation, standing in an attitude the purest and the closest to God of any in the world,—in the nature of things, this church would be the chosen instrument by which God would spread that message of blessing and of warning to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Also thus, in the nature of things, this nation would be the place where that message would rise in its power, and fro which it would spread to all nations. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.5

Here was a wonderful blessing that God had for his church at that time,—a blessing by which she would have been indeed the “Gate of God” to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” on the earth. It was a message that opened up to the church the length and breadth and depth and height of the glory of the everlasting gospel as it had never been seen before since the days when the apostles preached it in the fullness of its living power. In this message was “the mystery of God” revealed in all its fullness,—God manifest in the flesh,—Christ in men “the hope of glory.” And all this blessing and glory was to be proclaimed to all the world in view of the fact that “the hour of His judgment is come;” and in order that men might be fitted to stand holy and without blame before God, ready in all respects to be translated without seeing death, at the coming of the glorious Lord. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.6

But lo! instead of receiving this wonderful blessing; instead of rejoicing and being glad that God had sent to her a message that would clothe her with such power as would make her the instrument of God’s greatest work for the salvation of the nations, she refused the blessing, rejected the message of God, and would not walk in the light that had come to her and to the world. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.7

Then history again repeated itself. By thus rejecting the message of God, there was a “falling away” again from the truth, and she that had been the “Gate of God,” became “confusion,” and of her it had to be said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” Faith is the strength and salvation of the church, as of the individual. Faith is the breath of life of the church, it must be constantly and momentarily used, in order to live by it; because “the just shall live by faith;” and faith comes by hearing the word of God. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.8

Since, then, faith comes by hearing the word of God, whenever any word of God, any message of the word of God, is rejected, either by the church or by the individual, faith itself it rejected; because it is impossible to retain faith while rejecting that by which alone faith comes. Further: when any advance light or additional truth is rejected by a church or by an individual, that church or individual not only rejects this advance light and truth, but rejects whatever light and truth such church or individual formerly possessed. A person refusing to breathe rejects not only renewed life, but loses the life that he already has. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.9

This is strongly illustrated in the words of Jesus concerning the people of his day on earth, who rejected him: “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.” John 15:22. Before Jesus came, these people were walking in the light of faith as they then had it, and Jesus testifies that they were accepted in it. If those folks had died before Jesus came, they would have been saved, because “they had not had sin.” But when he came with such light and truth and glory; when he spoke to them such words as had never been spoken to them; when he did among them such works as none ever had done; and they rejected it all and refused him, in so doing they rejected all true faith; not only the present faith in him and his message, but also the faith which they had before he came, and which made them accepted before God in their day before he came. Accordingly, Jesus further said: “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated me and my Father.” Verse 24. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.10

Men can not reject the truth of God, and still retain the truth of God: they can not refuse to walk in the light, and still walk in the light: they can not hate Christ and God, and still be the brethren of Christ and the children of God. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.11

Consequently, when in 1840-44 God’s wonderful message of the everlasting gospel of light and blessing and of truth, to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, bringing to them the presence, the power, the righteousness, of God, which would prepare them to stand in the judgment,—when this was rejected, and when God’s messengers whom he sent to give it were hated and persecuted, then she which had been the “Gate of God” in her day, ceased to be the “Gate of God,” and became only “confusion.” ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.12

“The ‘Return of the Jews’” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 9, pp. 136, 137.

“FOR there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.” ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.1

It will be of interest to notice the scriptures which discuss the great truth that there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile. Here is one passage of divine argument as to the relative standing, and the true standing, of the Jews and the Gentiles:— ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.2

“Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.3

“Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.4

“For circumcision [being a Jew] verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision [the Gentile] keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision [the Gentile] which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee [the Jew], who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.5

“For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Romans 2:17-29. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.6

Now, how would it be possible more forcibly to show that there is not, and can not be, any sort of difference between Jew and Gentile; for the whole question of the relation of either to God, turns upon character. “There is no respect of persons with God;” there is respect of character. And the sole standard of character is the righteousness of God, which is expressed in his law. And when a Jew disregards the law of God, in character he is a Gentile, and in person he is as a Gentile. And when a Gentile keeps the righteousness of the law, and so fulfills the law, he becomes in character a true Jew, and in person is as a Jew. This because being truly a Jew consists altogether in character, in the true circumcision “of the heart, in the spirit,” which is, indeed, “the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh,” and having the love of God shed abroad in the heart, which love is manifested in the keeping of the his commandments. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.7

Since, then, when a Jew according to the flesh, wanders from God, and by transgression of the law of God his circumcision is made uncircumcision, and he becomes a Gentile in character, and as a Gentile in person; and when a Gentile comes to God, and his uncircumcision becomes circumcision, and he becomes in character truly a Jew, and in person is as a Jew, what is this but a return—a true return—of the Jew? ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.8

And even so says the Scripture, in another place: “They are not all Israel, which are of Israel; neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.9

“That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Romans 9:6-8. And, “WE, brethren [Galatians—Gentiles], as Isaac was, are the children of promise. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 136.10

“Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” Galatians 4:28-30. And when the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman, how much less shall he be heir above the son of the freewoman, as the theory of the “Return of the Jews” represents him! ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.1

And all this is simply to say again that the only way of return for the Jews is the way of the faith of Jesus Christ, the way of the truth of the one gospel of Christ, the way of return of all sinners alike: even as is demonstrated over and over in the books of Galatians, Romans, and Hebrews especially, as it is also in the other books of the New Testament, as well as in the very essence of the whole plan of the gospel itself. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.2

“Studies in Galatians. Galatians 3:19” Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 77, 9, p. 137.

“WHEREFORE then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions.” From the evidences presented in last week’s study in Galatians, it is perfectly plain that the law of God, the ten commandments, in written form, both in tables of stone and as drawn out in its principles in the statutes and judgments of the “additional directions given to Moses,” was spoken, was given, was added, because of the transgressions of men. As men went further into darkness, the Lord followed them with added efforts, and with further details to bring them to the light. Indeed, they went so far into transgressions and darkness that the Lord actually followed them so far as to give them “statutes that were not good.” The whole story is told in the following passage:— ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.1

The law of God existed before man was created. The angels were governed by it. Satan fell because he transgressed the principles of God’s government. After Adam and Eve were created, God made known to them his law. It was not then written, but was rehearsed to them by Jehovah. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.2

The Sabbath of the fourth commandment was instituted in Eden. After God had made the world and created man upon the earth, he made the Sabbath for man. After Adam’s sin and fall, nothing was taken from the law of God. The principles of the ten commandments existed before the fall, and were of a character suited to the condition of a holy order of beings. After the fall, the principles of those precepts were not changed, but additional precepts were given to meet man in his fallen state.... ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.3

Adam taught his descendants the law of God which law was handed down to the faithful through successive generations. The continual transgression of God’s law called for a flood of waters upon the earth. The law was preserved by Noah and his family, who for right-doing were saved in the ark by a miracle of God. Noah taught his descendants the ten commandments. The Lord preserved a people for himself from Adam down, in whose hearts was his law. He says of Abraham, He ‘obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, my laws.’” ... ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.4

If the descendants of Abraham had kept separate from other nations, they would not have been seduced into idolatry.... ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.5

There were but a few families that first went down into Egypt. These increased to a great multitude. Some were careful to instruct their children in the law of God; but many of the Israelites had witnessed so much idolatry that they had confused ideas of God’s law.... ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.6

To leave them without excuse, the Lord himself condescended to come down upon Sinai enshrouded in glory, and surrounded by his angels, and in a most sublime and awful manner made known his law of ten commandments. He did not trust them to be taught by any one, not even his angels, but spoke his law with an audible voice in the hearing of all the people. He did not, even then, trust them to the short memory of a people who were prone to forget his requirements, but wrote them with this own holy finger upon tables of stone. He would remove from them all possibility of mingling with his holy precepts any tradition, or of confusing his requirements with the practices of men. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.7

He then came still closer to his people, who were so readily led astray, and would not leave them with merely the ten precepts of the decalogue. He commanded Moses to write, as he should bid him, judgments and laws, giving minute directions in regard to what he required them to perform, and thereby guarded the ten precepts which he had engraved upon the tables of stone. These specific directions and requirements were given to draw erring man to the obedience of the moral law, which he is so prone to transgress. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.8

If man had kept the law of God, as given to Adam after his fall, preserved in the ark by Noah, and observed by Abraham, there would have been no necessity for the ordinance of circumcision. And if the descendants of Abraham had kept the covenant, of which circumcision was a token of pledge, they would never have gone into idolatry, nor been suffered to go down into Egypt; and there would have been no necessity of God’s proclaiming his law from Sinai, and engraving it upon tables of stone, and guarding it by definite directions in the judgments and statutes given to Moses. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.9

Moses wrote these judgments and statutes from the mouth of God while he was with him in the mount. If the people of God had obeyed the principles of the ten commandments, there would have been no need of the specific directions given to Moses, which he wrote in a book, relative to their duty to God and to one another. The definite directions which the Lord gave to Moses in regard to the duty of his people to one another, and to the stranger, are the principles of the ten commandments simplified and given in definite manner, that they need not err. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.10

The Lord said of the children of Israel, “Because they had not executed my judgments but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers idols. Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live.” Because of continual disobedience, the Lord annexed penalties to the transgression of his law, which were not good for the transgressor, or whereby he should not live in his rebellion. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.11

By transgressing the law which God had given in such majesty, and amid glory which was unapproachable, the people showed open contempt of the great Lawgiver, and death was the penalty.”—The Spirit of Prophecy 1:261-265. See also “Patriarchs and Prophets,” chap. 32, pars. 1-4. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.12

It is true that the sacrificial system was also given, added, because of transgressions. This is true as to the sacrifices originally, with Adam and Abraham: it is also true of the Levitical system given to Israel in the wilderness. This is also stated in a passage quoted in previous studies, as follows:— ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.13

A system was then [“after the fall”] established requiring the sacrificing of beasts, to keep before fallen man that which the serpent made Eve disbelieve, that the penalty of disobedience is death. The transgression of God’s law made it necessary for Christ to die a sacrifice, and thus make a way possible for man to escape the penalty, and yet the honor of God’s law be preserved.”—The Spirit of Prophecy 1:261. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.14

The sacrificial system, committed to Adam, was also perverted by his descendants. Superstition, idolatry, cruelty, and licentiousness corrupted the simple and significant service that God had appointed. Through long intercourse with idolaters, the people of Israel had mingled many heathen customs with their worship; therefore the Lord gave them at Sinai definite instruction concerning the sacrificial service. After the completion of the tabernacle, he communicated with Moses from the cloud of glory above the mercy seat, and gave full directions concerning the system of offerings, and forms of worship to be maintained in the sanctuary. The ceremonial law was thus given to Moses, and by him written in a book. But the law of ten commandments spoken from Sinai had been written by God himself of the tables of stone, and was sacredly preserved in the ark.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, 364, 365. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.15

Thus, of either the moral law or the ceremonial law it is true that it was given, added, because of transgressions. The question then is, Which one is the law pre-eminently referred to in this clause in Galatians 3:19? And from the specifications already noticed, as to this law having been “ordained ... in the hand of a mediator,” and the direct association of this text with the speaking of the law of God in Hebrews 12:20 and Deuteronomy 5:22, it certainly must be the truth that the law which in this passage is pre-eminently intended, is the law of God, the ten commandments, in written form on tables of stone and in the Bible. ARSH February 27, 1900, page 137.16