The Home Missionary, vol. 5
November 1893
“Christ’s Faithfulness in Sabbath-keeping” The Home Missionary, 5, 10, pp. 215-222.
A Sermon Delivered by Elder A. T. Jones, at the Camp-meeting in Lansing, Mich., Sept. 26, 1893
Hebrews 3:1, 2: “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to him that appointed him.” HOMI November 1893, page 215.1
The one thing for us all to do all the time is to consider Christ Jesus. In him all perfections meet; in him we find faithfulness on every point; and if you want to be faithful, and want to hold out faithful, just consider Christ Jesus who was faithful, and draw from him faithfulness. We often hear brethren in social meeting close their testimony by saying, “Pray for me that I may hold out faithful.” Well, that is not the way nor the place to get faithfulness. The brethren can pray for you that you may hold out faithful; but unless you consider Christ Jesus who was faithful, you never can be faithful. We are to draw from him faithfulness, as we are to draw righteousness and every other virtue. He is to be unto us faithfulness, just as he is to be unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. HOMI November 1893, page 215.2
Therefore “Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him.” HOMI November 1893, page 215.3
This verse begins with a “wherefore;” that is, for this reason; and the reason is expressed in a previous verse. “Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.” “Wherefore,” that is, for this reason, “Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful.” That is true in everything, and to us, especially now, is it emphatically true; and we are to consider his faithfulness in connection with the Sabbath of the Lord, and its keeping, if we would be faithful in the keeping of it. The Sabbath means Christ, and Christ means the Sabbath; and we are to consider him in that respect, and his faithfulness therein. HOMI November 1893, page 215.4
And along with that we are to consider his faithfulness in keeping the Sabbath under persecution and at the risk of his life, and in giving up his life even, rather than to give up the Sabbath of the Lord. Because it was for not keeping the Sabbath to suit the Pharisees and the scribes and the doctors of the law, that he was persecuted first; and when he persisted in his way of keeping the Sabbath, that is, the Lord’s way, in spite of their persecution, then they went about to kill him. And when he would not give it up, then they did kill him. But God raised him from the dead, and took him to a world where he can keep the Sabbath without being annoyed, and without disturbing anybody else. HOMI November 1893, page 215.5
Now I want to call your attention to the scriptures that tell this. When Jesus came, he did not come in exactly the way that suited the Pharisees and the scribes and the doctors of the law; nevertheless they were not certain but that he might develop into that after awhile. Consequently they studied his course for a considerable time, without making any positive opposition against him publicly. In fact, for about eighteen months of his public ministry, this people were studying him, and looking to see what would develop. Of course as he did not come according to their ideas, they would have nothing to do with him if he did not develop into what would conform to their ideas. And they watched him to see how the matter would come out. But he made no great demonstration of putting himself forward or calling attention to himself; he simply went on quietly teaching and healing the people, doing good everywhere that he went. They could not very well find fault with that, and it would be all right if in the end it would develop into what they expected. HOMI November 1893, page 215.6
But when a year and a half had gone by, his fame had spread through the land, and had attracted the attention of the Pharisees, the scribes, and the doctors of the law, as well as the common people. By this time he had attracted their active attention, their interested attention, and their selfish attention, too; because as they watched him in his course, they saw not only that he did not develop into what they expected, but, on the contrary, they saw that he was gaining an influence with their people in a way that was not playing into their hands; and that as he went on longer, the people were drawn more to him. They hoped that if he did not develop into what they wanted,—in fact, they thought, they really supposed, that if he did not develop into what they expected, then, of course this would be evidence in itself that he could not possibly be the Messiah, and therefore his work could come to nothing. Thus when they did not see him develop into what they expected, they were looking for his power and influence to dwindle away, and come to naught. HOMI November 1893, page 215.7
But there appeared in his words a something that held the attention of the people,—the common people. And they were glad to hear him over again when they heard him once; for his words were mildly spoken, and with a simplicity that everybody could understand. He did not speak in the learned utterances of the doctors of the law and the scribes, but always used language that the people could understand. They did not have to have a dictionary to find out what the words meant that he used. His word was in simplicity and power, and it clung to the people and remained with them, and had a tendency always to draw them more and more to him. The Pharisees and scribes seeing this, began to see that they would have to do something if they were to save their own credit with the people. So at the end of the first year and a half, near his second passover, this event occurred which is recorded in the fifth chapter of Luke; it is also recorded in the second chapter of Mark; but I read Luke’s record, because it has a point or two in it that Mark’s has not. It was the time when he was in the house teaching. A great multitude had gathered around the house, and some men came bearing a man sick of the palsy. They could not get through the door for the press of the people, so they went up on the housetop, and took up the tiling and let the man down at Jesus’ feet, and Jesus said, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” Now the record is this:— HOMI November 1893, page 216.1
“And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.” Luke 5:17. HOMI November 1893, page 216.2
As Jesus said to the man sick of the palsy, “Thy sins be forgiven thee,” these Pharisees and doctors of the law began to reason and murmur in their hearts, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And instead of following the logic of their own proposition,—that nobody could forgive sins but God alone, and here was one who was forgiving sins, and therefore he was God with them,—they took the other course, and said, “This man is forgiving sins, and therefore he is a blasphemer.” But we read:— HOMI November 1893, page 216.3
“That ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.” HOMI November 1893, page 216.4
Although Jesus had given them the proof upon their own proposition, that he was God with them, and God there present, they did not accept it, but went on with their reasonings about his being a blasphemer. HOMI November 1893, page 216.5
I simply read this, and call your attention to this passage, that you may see how extended the attention was at this time among these classes,—the Pharisees, and the scribes, and the doctors of the law,—so that you may see the reasons of what followed. This verse shows plainly that Christ had by this time attracted the interested attention of this class of men all over the land, from Jerusalem as well as elsewhere. HOMI November 1893, page 216.6
Now turn to the fifth chapter of John. And I say again that the passage which we have just read was at the end of his first full year, near the second passover that he attended; and this passage which I now read was at this second passover. It may have been within a few days of the other, but whether it was less or more, it was but a short time. HOMI November 1893, page 216.7
Now let us read the fifth chapter of John, beginning with the first verse. HOMI November 1893, page 216.8
“After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” HOMI November 1893, page 216.9
This is his second passover. HOMI November 1893, page 216.10
“Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the Sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole.” HOMI November 1893, page 216.11
And of course they then knew who it was who had told him to do this “unlawful” thing—to take up his bed and walk. HOMI November 1893, page 216.12
“And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day.” HOMI November 1893, page 216.13
We know, and have always known, that persecution is coming on the people who keep the Sabbath. Then don’t we need to consider the faithfulness of Jesus right now in Sabbath-keeping? This Scripture means us just now. “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to him that appointed him,” when he was persecuted for keeping the Sabbath. We need his faithfulness in keeping the Sabbath to hold us faithful in the keeping of it, during the times in which we are now to enter. HOMI November 1893, page 216.14
“Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus.” Another thought: Jesus was persecuted for keeping the Sabbath. Then whoever else is persecuted for that is in good company, isn’t he?—Yes, sir. HOMI November 1893, page 216.15
Now think of this. Jesus being Lord of the Sabbath, and the Sabbath being the sign of what he is to mankind, and he being the living expression of the Sabbath in his life, it was impossible for him to do anything on the Sabbath that was not Sabbath-keeping, because the very doing of it was the expression of the meaning of the Sabbath in itself. HOMI November 1893, page 216.16
But his Sabbath-keeping did not suit the Sabbath ideas of the Pharisees and the doctors of the law and the scribes, and they called it Sabbath-breaking. So he was counted a Sabbath-breaker when he was a Sabbath-keeper. Have you known any people in our day who were counted Sabbath-breakers when they were Sabbath-keepers? HOMI November 1893, page 216.17
Now Christ’s ideas of the Sabbath are God’s ideas of the Sabbath. The Pharisee’s ideas of the Sabbath and Sabbath-keeping, being directly the opposite of the Lord Jesus’ ideas, were wrong; so the controversy in that day between Christ and the Pharisees and the doctors of the law was simply whether God’s ideas of the Sabbath should prevail, or man’s ideas of it should prevail. I say again, Christ’s ideas of the Sabbath and Sabbath-keeping were right; they were God’s ideas. The Pharisees’ ideas of the Sabbath and Sabbath-keeping were wrong, because they were opposed to Christ’s ideas. Therefore the controversy between them was whether God’s ideas of the Sabbath should prevail, or man’s ideas should prevail. There was not dispute then about what day was the Sabbath, but what the true Sabbath idea was. Now it is the same controversy but with it there is a dispute as to days; yet the thought is the same to— day that it was then,—whether God’s idea of the Sabbath shall prevail or man’s. God says the seventh day is the Sabbath; man says the first day is the Sabbath; so it is still the same controversy between Christ and the Pharisees of this day that was between Christ and the Pharisees of that day. And the whole question is simply whether God’s ideas of the Sabbath shall prevail in the world, or whether man’s ideas of it shall prevail. HOMI November 1893, page 216.18
Well, then, as Jesus was persecuted for Sabbath-breaking when he was keeping the Sabbath truly, we are in good company, and everybody else is in good company, when they are persecuted for Sabbath-breaking when they are Sabbath-keeping. HOMI November 1893, page 217.1
“Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.” HOMI November 1893, page 217.2
By this we further see that the very first steps that the Pharisees and the doctors of the law ever took against Jesus Christ to do him harm in any way, were taken because he had not kept the Sabbath to suit them. That was the controversy between Christ and them; and upon this point everything else turned. HOMI November 1893, page 217.3
Now we will read some more. Shortly after this we have that record in the second chapter of Mark 23rd verse; it is also in the twelfth chapter of Matthew; but I read Mark’s record now, because he gives a point that is not in Matthew’s, and it is all-important:— HOMI November 1893, page 217.4
“And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the Sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungered, he, and they that were with him? How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the showbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” HOMI November 1893, page 217.5
Now Matthew and Mark carry the record right on as though it was the same Sabbath day. Luke’s record seems to imply that it was the next Sabbath day; but whether it was the same or the next, it was not later than the next. The record goes right on:— HOMI November 1893, page 217.6
“And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse him.” HOMI November 1893, page 217.7
Now notice; they were already persecuting him for keeping the Sabbath,—for breaking the Sabbath as they would have it,—and they were ready to kill him. Now the next time they have an occasion, they are watching him to see whether he will yield to the persecution, whether he will yield to their demands, and compromise the Sabbath, or compromise himself, in order to please them. They are watching him now to see whether their attempts to get him to compromise with them and yield to their ideas are succeeding; and so they watch him to see what he is going to do, so that they may accuse him if he does as he has formerly been doing. And if he does not now compromise and yield to their ideas of the Sabbath, they will accuse him, and follow it up the way which the record shows. HOMI November 1893, page 217.8
And Jesus knew they were watching him, and what they were thinking about, and what they were watching him for. He knew that their attention was all on him. And that they might have the fullest evidence possible, he called to the man who had the withered hand, and said to him, “Stand forth.” That directed everybody’s attention to him, and the man standing there waiting. Then he asked the Pharisees and those who were accusing him, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?” Well, they could not say it was lawful to do good, because then they would sanction his healing this man on the Sabbath. “Is it lawful to save life, or to kill?” They did not dare to say it was lawful to kill, and they did not dare to say it was lawful to save life. For he told them to their faces, and they knew it was so, that if one of them had a sheep that fell into a ditch on the Sabbath day, they would pull it out to save its life. Therefore, “They held their peace,” and if they had done the same thing oftener, they would have done a good deal better. HOMI November 1893, page 217.9
“And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out; and his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.” HOMI November 1893, page 217.10
Here is another element which enters in now. The Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians. That was a sect, a denomination of their sectarian enemies, and at the extreme opposite pole from Phariseeism, too. The Pharisees were the godly of the nation, you know, in their own estimation. They held themselves to be the righteous ones of the nation, the ones who stood the closest to God, and therefore they stood farthest from Herod and Rome. They despised Herod; they hated Rome. The Herodians were the political supporters of Herod; consequently the friends of Rome and Roman power. Therefore as denominations, as sects, the Pharisees and the Herodians were just as far apart as they could be. HOMI November 1893, page 217.11
Now Herod was the stranger that sat on the throne of Judah when the prophecy was fulfilled which Jacob had spoken: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Herod, a stanger [sic.], an Idumean, a heathen, was sitting on the throne of Judah, and was lawgiver to Judah by direct appointment of Rome and the Roman Senate; and they all knew that the time was come when the Messiah should appear. For when the wise men came to Jerusalem, and said, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews,” Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Why was Herod troubled and all Jerusalem with him when they heard that Christ was born?—Because they knew the time was come that he should be. HOMI November 1893, page 217.12
Therefore was Herod troubled, and all the rest with him; and they called the scribes and inquired where Christ should be born, and they said, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda; for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.” HOMI November 1893, page 217.13
Herod was that stranger, and the Pharisees hated him and his family, because he was the one from the Gentiles, from the heathen, that was ruling over the house of God. More than that, they hated Rome, because it was Roman power that held up Herod. HOMI November 1893, page 217.14
Now these Herodians were the political sect,—and religious, too, for that matter,—but more political than religious; and they were the partisans of Herod and his household, to sustain him, and set him in the most favorable light all the time; and also as a consequence they had to be friendly to Rome, because Roman power sustained Herod. HOMI November 1893, page 217.15
Now when the Pharisees saw that Christ was not going to yield to their ideas of Sabbath-keeping, they, in order to carry out their purpose to kill him,—you can see it was a far-reaching purpose,—joined themselves, not only to their sectarian enemies, but to these particular religio-political sectarian enemies, so that they could get hold upon Herod, and at the last upon Pilate. They did this to carry out their purpose to destroy Jesus. So they entered politics. HOMI November 1893, page 217.16
[A voice—“say that over again.”] HOMI November 1893, page 218.1
I must say that over again; and we cannot say it over too often, brethren. We are considering the faithfulness of Jesus to the Sabbath of the Lord. And we need to consider that every day now, in the times in which we are cast. Persecution is coming swiftly upon those who will keep the Sabbath of the Lord and reject man’s idea of the Sabbath. I repeat therefore. HOMI November 1893, page 218.2
The Pharisees were at one extreme in the nation; the Herodians at the other. The Pharisees were the ones who, in their own estimation, and largely in the eyes of the people, stood closest to God, and therefore the farthest from a heathen who was ruler over the house of God. You can see that. Now the Herodians were a sect that took their name—Herodians—from Herod, because they were the partisans of Herod, of his household, and his dynastry [sic.] that was making itself firmly fixed in the rule of Judea,—and of his household, they were necessarily partisans of Rome, were courting Rome’s favor, and treating with it, to bring it more firmly upon the people, because Roman power held up Herod; and if they would be friendly to Herod’s power, and hold him up, they had to be friendly through that to Rome, to hold up Herod. HOMI November 1893, page 218.3
You know that at the last, Herod and Pilate were made friends over this very thing; and that the priests and the scribes and the Pharisees took Christ to Pilate, and Pilate sent him to Herod for Herod to judge him, and he did. Then they took him again to Pilate, and they afterward under threats drove Pilate to judge him also. Now you can see the far-reaching purpose which the Pharisees had in this counseling with the Herodians. It was to get Herod’s power and Rome’s both in their hands, to carry out their determined purpose to kill Jesus because he would not yield to their ideas of the Sabbath, and give up God’s ideas of the Sabbath. HOMI November 1893, page 218.4
That is why they joined the Herodians—they wanted political power, and political power, too, which they themselves despised. The Pharisees despised this political power; and were professedly separated from it. They despised Herod and hated Rome, but they hated Jesus more than they hated these. And in order to carry out their purpose against Jesus—it was really against the Sabbath—they joined themselves to their extremest sectarian enemies, in order to get political power to carry out their wishes; because they could not carry out their wishes without political power. HOMI November 1893, page 218.5
Well, we may as well carry along the parallel. Haven’t we seen the same thing? Haven’t we seen a people professedly separated from political power, and confessedly separated from it?—Protestantism, pledged to a total separation from political power, and having nothing whatever to do with it?—haven’t we seen a professed Protestantism, out of a hatred to the Sabbath of the Lord, joined with politicians and with Rome herself, the chiefest political power on earth, and religio-political also? Haven’t we seen them do that, in order to crush out of existence God’s idea of the Sabbath, and set up man’s? Then don’t we need to consider Christ Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, in his faithfulness to Sabbath-keeping in such a time as that, when we live now in just such times? Then was not this written for us?—Assuredly. Then let us see that we consider his faithfulness, and draw from him that faithfulness that will keep us as faithful to God’s ideas of the Sabbath, as it kept up. HOMI November 1893, page 218.6
The next instance is in the seventh chapter of John. This follows on not a great while after the other. Beginning with the first verse:— HOMI November 1893, page 218.7
“After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.” HOMI November 1893, page 218.8
Why did they seek to kill him? Do you know?—Because he kept the Sabbath and would not surrender to them. HOMI November 1893, page 218.9
“Now the Jews’ feast of tabernacles was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in him. Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast: for my time is not yet full come. When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee. But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Then the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people. Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews. Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.” HOMI November 1893, page 218.10
And as he was teaching in the temple we have this, the 19th verse:— HOMI November 1893, page 218.11
“Did not Moses give you the law, and [yet] none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil; who goeth about to kill thee? Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers); and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the Sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” HOMI November 1893, page 218.12
What is the controversy still?—The Sabbath. Skipping some more, read the 30th verse:— HOMI November 1893, page 218.13
“Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.” HOMI November 1893, page 218.14
But when the officers got there, they heard him speaking, and they stood there charmed, listening to his words. And when Jesus ceased speaking, they turned around and went back without him to the Sanhedrim whence they were sent. Now beginning with the 43rd verse:— HOMI November 1893, page 218.15
“So there was a division among the people because of him. And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him. Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them), Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth? They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. And every man went unto his own house.” HOMI November 1893, page 218.16
They would have condemned him then without a hearing even, without his presence, had not Nicodemus made his voice to be heard, and thus brought in a dissenting note, and they had to be unanimous in order to condemn. But what was it all for? Turn to the thirteenth chapter of Luke (beginning with the tenth verse):— HOMI November 1893, page 218.17
“And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work; in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed; and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.” HOMI November 1893, page 219.1
Now turn to the ninth chapter of John, and we will read from the first verse to the sixteenth:— HOMI November 1893, page 219.2
“And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. The neighbors therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not. They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.” HOMI November 1893, page 219.3
Next we read in the 11th chapter of John. Jesus went on doing his miracles, even to raising Lazarus from the dead, and they went so far as to try to kill Lazarus to destroy the evidence of Christ’s power to raise the dead. But as the work went on with Christ, they found they were losing ground more and more with the people, as Christ was gaining more and more with the people, as Christ was gaining more and more influence. HOMI November 1893, page 219.4
“Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.” HOMI November 1893, page 219.5
That was when he had raised Lazarus from the dead. Now the story goes right on from there. Some of them went to the Pharisees and told what things Jesus had done in the resurrection of Lazarus. Then and there the chief priests and the Pharisees took counsel and said:— HOMI November 1893, page 219.6
“What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him; and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.” HOMI November 1893, page 219.7
Now notice that argument that was in their hearts, and in their words, in fact. They were accusing Jesus all the time of Sabbath-breaking; and here now they said, “If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him,” and that will make all men Sabbath-breakers, and it will be a nation of Sabbath-breakers, and when the nation becomes a nation of Sabbath-breakers, why the judgments of God will be visited upon us, and the Lord will bring the Romans and sweep away the whole nation. HOMI November 1893, page 219.8
“And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all.” HOMI November 1893, page 219.9
He was right, too. Yes, sir, he was right. If he had only stuck to it. HOMI November 1893, page 219.10
“Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.” HOMI November 1893, page 219.11
Now why do they determine to put him to death? Sabbath-breaking is the reason. And now, they argue, if he goes on thus breaking the Sabbath, all men will believe on him, that will make all men Sabbath-breakers, and then they will be a whole nation of Sabbath-breakers; the nation itself will be a Sabbath-breaker. Therefore in order to save the nation, what did they propose to do?—To kill Jesus. But when they do that, they are killing the Saviour. So in order to save the nation, yes, to save themselves and the nation, they would destroy the Saviour of themselves and the nation. Then who did that make the Saviour of themselves and the nation?—Themselves. Jesus was the Saviour of the nation, wasn’t he? and the Saviour of the people if they would believe on him. Jesus was keeping the Sabbath, the sign that he is the Saviour. So now they rejected his salvation, and himself, and all with it, Sabbath and all, in order to save the nation; and so that makes them their own saviours, and this makes self-salvation the way of salvation, instead of Christ the way of salvation. HOMI November 1893, page 219.12
Then at the last analysis on the subject of salvation, the contest between Christ and the Pharisees was whether it was salvation by Christ or salvation by themselves. They were destroying him, the Saviour of themselves and the nation, in order for themselves to save themselves and the nation. So that it came to just this: whether Christ is the way of salvation, or self is the way of salvation? And the Sabbath, Christ’s idea of the Sabbath, was the sign of salvation by Christ. Man’s idea of the Sabbath was the sign of self-salvation, and salvation of self, by self, through self, and for self—self all the time. HOMI November 1893, page 219.13
Now turn to the eighteenth chapter of John, where we will begin to read with the 28th verse, when they bring him to Pilate. I will not take Peter’s denial, and how he was led to make that. Now the 28th verse:— HOMI November 1893, page 219.14
“Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment: and it was early; and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover. Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.” HOMI November 1893, page 219.15
This shows that they had gone as far as they could in attempting to put him to death; but they could not execute him, because the Roman power had taken from them the power of putting anybody to death; and consequently when they settled it that Jesus must be destroyed, they had to have Rome’s order to do it. So they answered Pilate as stated:— HOMI November 1893, page 219.16
“Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him; for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; and went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.” John 18:33-40; 19:1-16. HOMI November 1893, page 219.17
Thus they accomplished their purpose; thus they persecuted him to death for Sabbath-keeping—calling it Sabbath-breaking all the time. Thus they destroyed the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, and did all that lay in their power to shut away from the world God’s ideas of the Sabbath, in order that man’s ideas might prevail. HOMI November 1893, page 220.1
They shut away the Son of God from the world, and his salvation, and his sign of it, that they might appear themselves to save themselves from themselves. But how was it they accomplished this? When Pilate was determined to let him go, and sought how he might release him, and they saw he was about to slip through their hands, then they made it a charge of high treason, involving both Pilate and Jesus; Pilate, if he let him go, and Jesus, if Pilate took judgment in the case. HOMI November 1893, page 220.2
Now, any one who set himself up for king, or made any pretentions toward it at all, in the Roman empire, even by a sign or a word, was guilty of high treason at that time; for Tiberius ruled. And when they said to Pilate, “If thou let this man go, thou art not Cesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cesar;” they simply said to him in other words, “Here is a Jew who has set himself up for king of the Jews; we, the Jews, have prosecuted him before your tribunal. Now, if you refuse to take notice of this case, and thus let this pretended king of the Jews escape you, and escape us, when we inform Tiberius at Rome of it, that a Jew set himself up for king and we ourselves rejected him, and prosecuted him before Rome’s tribunal, and you sanctioned his kingship, and let him go, and refused to hear us—you know what you will get. You know it will be your ruin.” That was what their argument meant; and he knew and they knew, that that meant death to him, for sanctioning the kingship of a Jew. And therefore under this threat they got Pilate to do what he was determined otherwise not to do. HOMI November 1893, page 220.3
And when they said, “We have no king but Cesar,” and that they would carry this report to Rome with the rest of their report, and that they had unanimously proclaimed themselves loyal to Cesar, and Pilate himself had turned traitor to Cesar, and had fought them down against all their wishes,—you can see what an immense weight it would give to such a charge in their threatened representations, or misrepresentations, to Tiberius. HOMI November 1893, page 220.4
And another thing: When they exclaimed, “We have no king but Cesar,” didn’t they in that turn their backs upon God, and reject him, and all that he had ever done for them and their fathers as a nation? Was not that the chiefest crime, the chiefest sin, that they could commit? HOMI November 1893, page 220.5
Well, what came then? They did this to save the nation from the Romans. They said, If we let this man thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation. They did not let him alone, and the Romans came and took away both their place and nation forevermore. Then their efforts to save the nation destroyed the nation. Self-efforts for salvation will always destroy him who tries it. HOMI November 1893, page 220.6
But let us follow this in its direct intent and purpose. Their efforts to save the nation, destroyed the nation; and the thing which they did that night settled the doom of that nation forever. There was no more salvation for that nation, as such, after that night, than there was for Sodom when Lot went out of it. That night they settled the doom, the destruction, of that nation; and it was only a question of time when the destruction would come; and in view of that destruction Jesus sent forth his disciples with the everlasting gospel of this same Saviour whom they had crucified; and they went to every one, to call every one in the nation, as an individual, to believe on him, not only for salvation from self, but for salvation from this destruction that was so certain to come. Every believer in Jesus escaped the destruction that was to come. Those who did not believe on him, did not escape. HOMI November 1893, page 220.7
So they needed Jesus Christ that day for their salvation in this life as well as for the other life. They were just as dependent upon Jesus Christ to save them from the ruin that was to come, as they were dependent upon him to save them from their own sins. And he gave them a sign by which they were to know when to flee for their lives: When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, “then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day,” for these be the days of vengeance. HOMI November 1893, page 220.8
So the doom of the nation was fixed that night. And all that the Lord himself could do for them was to send his saving message to the whole nation, to all the people, telling them to believe in Jesus and they would be saved out of the nation, and from the ruin that was to come upon all the nation who did not believe. HOMI November 1893, page 220.9
We have already spoken of a parallel to this at a point or two as we have gone along. There have been in this nation for nearly fifty years now, God’s ideas of the Sabbath advocated, believed, and observed. The Pharisees and the doctors of the law saw it when it began, and they have watched it ever since; and they have said, “O, it will amount to nothing; this is just a little flurry; and when these men have been here and preached a little while, it wakes up quite a stir while they are here; but as soon as they are gone, the whole thing will die out, and it will amount to nothing.” They have said that at the beginning, and all the way along; but steadily they have seen that it did not work that way. Steadily they have seen God’s ideas of the Sabbath finding a place among the people, more and more, and more widespread. Although the word might be spoken in weakness, there was that about the words that were spoken, which caused them to linger with the people, and to stay in a person’s heart for twenty years or more, and at last bring him to God. They saw it doing this. And then they saw that they would have to take more active measures than that, if they were going to maintain man’s ideas of the Sabbath against the Lord’s; and they did it. They got the States to make Sunday laws, and they enforced them to a greater or less extent at different times, and in different places; but that did not stop the growth of God’s Sabbath. Still it went on. Then they said, “If we let this thing alone, and let this people alone, why there will be a whole nation of Sabbath-breakers! They go into a community and preach, and they get only two or three at the most, and probably none at all, to keep the Saturday; but they break up the people’s keeping Sunday, and therefore they are simply making the nation a nation of Sabbath-breakers; and it must be stopped, or the nation will perish for Sabbath-breaking; the judgments of God will come upon the land, and destroy us all.” HOMI November 1893, page 220.10
Therefore they were compelled to have the power of the nation joined to them to put under foot and crush out of existence, as far as lay in their power, God’s idea of the Sabbath, and exalt man’s. They tried it little by little, and more and more, upon the national legislature and the national power; but large numbers of the national legislature, like Pilate of old, said, “We find no fault in this thing; we will have nothing to do with it; attend to it yourselves; it is a controversy of your own; it is a religious matter; and if it comes up here, we will vote against it, every one of us.” Scores of them said that. Then these Pharisees and doctors of the law said to the representatives of the government, “If you do not do what we ask of you, if you do not vote for that Sunday law, setting up Sunday here for the Sabbath of this nation, we will never vote for one of your again as long as you live, for any office under the sun.” HOMI November 1893, page 221.1
Then, just like Pilate, they surrendered and said, “We will do it—we will do it.” They sat down in their official seat and took jurisdiction of the case, under the threats of the Pharisees and doctors of the law. And in the doing of this, these Pharisees and doctors of the law did as certainly turn their backs upon God, and join themselves to Cesar—to earthly power—as did the Pharisees and priests and doctors of the law of old. HOMI November 1893, page 221.2
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation; the power of God belongs to every professor of the gospel, and he who has the power of God cannot possibly have any other. No power can be added to the power of God. HOMI November 1893, page 221.3
Then he who professes the gospel, and calls for any other power, denies the power of God; and when he denies the power of God, and puts his confidence in the power of man, whether man as an individual, or man assembled in governments, he puts his trust in human power instead of the power of God. And when these people sent up their petitions and their prayers to Congress instead of to God, they turned their backs upon the Lord, upon the power that goes with the gospel, and turned their attention to man for their help, to carry out this work that they were engaged in. HOMI November 1893, page 221.4
Well, then they got Congress—yes, they got the whole government of the United States—to take jurisdiction of the case. They took the fourth commandment as recorded in God’s word, and put it in the official record of the governmental proceedings, and they said, “It may mean Saturday or Sunday; it may be one day or the other, and we declare that it is and shall be the first day of the week commonly called Sunday,” and that that is the meaning of the fourth commandment. HOMI November 1893, page 221.5
Then under these threats of the Pharisees and the doctors of the law of to-day, upon the representatives of the government, they did just as they did back yonder,—they got the governmental power to put the Sabbath of the Lord under foot, and as far as lies in their power, to crush it out of existence, and they put a man’s ideas of the Sabbath in it instead. That thing is done. Everybody on earth knows that that is past. And now we are that far along in the record made by Jesus in his faithfulness to Sabbath-keeping. HOMI November 1893, page 221.6
This nation stands now where that nation stood when it rejected Jesus Christ because of his ideas of Sabbath-keeping. And these here did it for the same purpose. Three United States senators, each one in his place, said definitely that this must be done for the salvation of the nation. The three who had as much to do—two of them had more to do—than any others to carry it through, and the third one not much less,—senators Hawley of Connecticut, Colquitt of Georgia, and Frye of Maine,—each of the three placed the salvation of the nation as the purpose of setting up Sunday as the Sabbath under these threats. HOMI November 1893, page 221.7
Then, as the same thing has been done by the same parties, for the same purpose, and by the same means, we are that far along in the account. Then what next comes? Will the rest of the account be met?—Yes, sir. But whereabouts in the account do we stand to-night? That is what we want to know. Do we stand back of the point where Christ was rejected? Do we stand back of the point where Pilate surrendered and took jurisdiction of the case when he knew he had no jurisdiction? Or do we stand this side of that point? (Congregation: “This side.”) But when they stood at that point, the doom of the nation was sealed. HOMI November 1893, page 221.8
Then as that which they did at that time fixed unalterably the doom of that nation for destruction, and we stand beyond that point at which they did it, where do we stand? Where does this nation stand? Will the remaining point be fulfilled as certainly as those have up to this point? There is only one more—only one more thing to come in their record of the case. There is something more to come for the disciples; there is something more to come for us; but there is only one thing more in the list of things on the side of the wicked, and what is that?—The destruction of this nation as the consequence of that which has been done, as certainly as the destruction of that nation followed that which they did back there that night. HOMI November 1893, page 221.9
When that was done that night, and the doom of the nation was fixed, did that doom fall at once?—No; he told his disciples that they should bear witness of him in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and then in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. In Jerusalem and in Judea first, because ruin hung there; then to all the world afterward. But to Jerusalem and Judea first, in order to save by this gospel such as would be saved from the ruin that was certain to fall. But we stand there to-night. This nation stands now where that one did then. Ruin is determined; that is fixed; it is only a question of time as to when it comes. HOMI November 1893, page 221.10
But behold, Jesus has a people to-day who are maintaining his Sabbath, and God’s idea of the Sabbath as he reveals it to the world. To this people he says by the voice of the angel, “Go ye into all the world, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people.” This thing concerns every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, because the influence of this nation is world wide, and that which this nation has done in this land, will lead all the other nations in the same evil way, and the ruin that falls on this, takes the others in. HOMI November 1893, page 221.11
Well, then, the message now is, Go forth, as certain as it was then, to all the world, because it is doomed. Go, bearing the everlasting gospel to save such as will be saved from the ruin that is fixed by this which has been done. HOMI November 1893, page 221.12
But before those disciples could go, and before they went, Jesus said unto them, “Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high;” “but ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Then the world is that far along. HOMI November 1893, page 221.13
Now let us look at our side of the question. We too are that far along. They did not go until Pentecost had endued them with the power. Where are we?—We are in the presence of the second Pentecost. Will you seek for that power? Even as he said to them, you cannot carry this message without it. You cannot be faithful to the Sabbath of the Lord as Jesus Christ was, without his living presence which that Holy Ghost brings. And therefore his message now is to go to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. And you are called, have been called all these years, to give it. Are you ready to give it? Are you ready to go out to the ends of the earth to give it? God is calling for a people of that kind now; now necessarily preachers. Go. Ask him whether he wants you to go. Do not go without that. It is only loss to go without the endowment of the Holy Spirit, without the credentials that God gives. HOMI November 1893, page 222.1
But the Lord is calling for hundreds and families to go into all the world. Then ask him whether he wants you to go. Why are you dallying around here, lingering around some farm and holding on to it, trying to get a living, when you can do it just as well, or even better, somewhere else where God calls you. There are thousands more Seventh-day Adventists in the United States, and even in Michigan, than there should be now; the Lord calls upon his people to scatter and go into all the world. This message means business now; and such business as many have not yet thought of. Persecution for Sabbath-keeping is certainly coming, and that very soon; and we need the faithfulness of Jesus Christ to keep us faithful. And shall we wait for persecution to scatter us abroad, in order to preach the word? God forbid! Let us go by genuine faith, and in the faithfulness of Jesus, who came voluntarily when God called. HOMI November 1893, page 222.2
“Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Will you? Now the call comes to us! Go to all the earth and preach this gospel to every creature, that there may be saved out of the world such as will escape the ruin that is so certain to fall, and that speedily, too. Yes, it is ever so much nearer than one in a thousand of Seventh-day Adventists ever dreamed of,—ever so much nearer than that. We and this nation are now standing where they were that night when they rejected Jesus Christ, and when the doom of that nation was fixed. We stand now where they stood then, and it is only a question of time as to when that ruin will certainly fall. And that question of time, of longer or shorter, depends to a considerable extent upon what use you and I make of the truth God has given us. Shall we carry this gospel of the kingdom to all the world, that the end may come? When that is done, the end will come. And if you can do it in a little moment, the end will come. If you do not, and the Lord has to wait, and wait, and wait, longer, why, we shall be just that much longer out of the kingdom than we need to be. HOMI November 1893, page 222.3
Come, brethren, let us find Jesus Christ. Let us find him in his faithfulness, in his faithfulness to Sabbath-keeping, in his faithfulness to him that appointed him. He appointed him to preach the gospel in the world, and he did it until his life was taken away. Will you do it? Then though your life be taken away, God raised him from the dead, and that is written for our understanding, too. Do you love the third angel’s message more than your life, this temporal life? Do you? God is able to raise you from the dead if you spend your life in spreading the message. “Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him.” Now one more word. HOMI November 1893, page 222.4
They back there did not know what they were doing, when they condemned and rejected Jesus on account of the Sabbath. These who have done this great evil in our day do not know what they have done, or what they are doing—they do not know that in condemning and rejecting the Sabbath they also are condemning and rejecting the Lord. These do not know that in this which the have done they have fixed the doom of this nation. They did not know it back yonder either; but didn’t they do it back there?—Assuredly. Could they have done it any more certainly if they had known all about it from the beginning?—No sir. These do not know what they have done; but they have done it; and they could not have done it any more certainly if they had intentionally and knowingly done it, and went about to do it, from the beginning. HOMI November 1893, page 222.5
These things in the life of Jesus, were written for the people who live in this day, whether they be Sabbath-keepers or not; for those who be not Sabbath-keepers, and do not trust in Jesus for salvation, of which the Sabbath is the sign, they will trust in themselves for salvation, of which the Sunday is the sign. And you and I,—Seventh-day Adventists,—to-day, need Jesus Christ to be our Saviour from the worship of the beast and his image just as entirely and as completely as we need him to save us from the sins that we committed last week. This is true; for it is written, “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb.” And that means those names that are kept there, too, when the time of blotting out comes,—the names must be written there to stay. HOMI November 1893, page 222.6
Well, then, just as in Judea, when that nation was doomed, they were dependent upon Jesus Christ to save them from the ruin, as well as to save them from their own personal sins, so we to-day are as wholly dependent upon Jesus Christ to save us from worshiping the beast and his image, as we are to save us from our sins. And if you do not depend upon him for that, and if he is not your personal Saviour every hour, and every moment of the day, from worshiping the beast and his image, as well as from your own personal sins, you will keep Sunday as certainly as that you live in the times when the test comes. I do not care if you are a Seventh-day Adventist, or an elder of a Seventh-day Adventist church, or even a Seventh-day Adventist preacher, you will give up the Sabbath, and compromise, and keep Sunday, if you have not Christ as your personal Saviour very moment. HOMI November 1893, page 222.7
“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; who was faithful to him that appointed him.” HOMI November 1893, page 222.8
“Health Reform by Faith” The Home Missionary, 5, 10, pp. 229-231.
THE following is a report of a talk on health reform given by Elder A. T. Jones, at the Lansing camp-meeting. In future numbers we shall have other talks, taking up breathing, eating, etc., more in detail. Elder Jones’s talks on this subject have been a means of great blessing in various camp-meetings and worker’s meetings, and we are glad to give our readers the benefit of some of these things:— HOMI November 1893, page 229.1
The Lord has told us in 3 John, second verse, “I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health.” Now that is an important wish. And the Lord wishes to what extent?—“Above all things.” Does he wish above all things that you should be in health? He says so, surely. Well, then, is it not a shame for a Seventh-day Adventist to be sickly and pale and lean? HOMI November 1893, page 229.2
But he has given a comparison. “I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” Has not the Lord given directions, prescriptions abundant, that our souls may prosper? Any one who will follow the directions of the Bible as to his soul, his spiritual nature will not be lacking in anything. Will he not be constantly growing and prospering spiritually, in the Christian life and in the knowledge of God?—Certainly he will. It is impossible that it should be otherwise. HOMI November 1893, page 229.3
But the Lord has given prescriptions also which, if people will follow, will cause them to grow and prosper in health and in strength, just as he intends that our souls shall do. And he intends to have, and he is going to have his people to be the fairest, healthiest, best-looking people on the earth. And when other people are dying by the thousands, when other people are carried away by disease, and are suffering all kinds of evils in this respect, he intends that his people shall be in perfect health, and not troubled at all. And when Seventh-day Adventists reach that place where they will apply the principles of health reform which God has given us, as the Lord intends, we shall see results which have not yet been seen in many cases. Those who are looking for the coming of the Lord, those who are believing the message as it is, will apply the health-reform principles as they apply the principles that are given for our souls’ sakes; and those who do not apply the principles which God has given to cultivate our spiritual nature, and do not apply them as God has given them, will not apply the health reform as God has given it. HOMI November 1893, page 229.4
Health reform, as such, is to be practiced by faith in Christ. And when our people get to that place where they will live health reform by faith in Christ, then they will live righteousness by faith in Christ. Any one who does not live righteousness by faith in Christ, cannot live health reform as God has given it. One is just as really a matter of faith as the other. Did not God give it? Has he not prescribed it? Is he not the source of it? Does he not intend to be not only the author but the finisher of it? Then is it not of faith? Read Romans, fourteenth chapter, and note especially the last verse, and the last words of that verse,—“Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” And this is spoken of eating and drinking, too. Well, let us get hold of it that way, and apply it that way, and then that will bring in a better practice of health reform among us. HOMI November 1893, page 229.5
Another thing: The only way I can apply the righteousness which is by faith of Christ, and these truths that belong to our spiritual nature, is to apply them in my own life according to my own individual experience. So likewise the principles of health reform. I am to believe and apply as God has given them, according to my own individual experience and needs, guided by the Spirit of God. HOMI November 1893, page 229.6
Now among us there has been too much regulating other people’s faith, and other people’s conduct in spiritual things. But that is being put aside now, and left entirely behind, thank the Lord. There has likewise been too much regulating other people’s practice in health reform; each one looking at somebody else, first setting up for himself a cast-iron rule, and then binding that about with steel bands besides, and then fitting it onto everybody else, and if they would not wear it, condemning them for not being health reformers. They would not have been health reformers if they had worn it. That is the surest way not to be health reformers. All this, too, will now be left behind by those who believe the message. HOMI November 1893, page 229.7
And when this is done, we shall see the Lord’s people standing where he intended long ago they should stand, in health and in prosperity, both spiritually and physically. He has given this that we may be prepared by his direction to pass safely through the time of the plagues which are about to fall, when the very air itself will be sick; it is to prepare us to pass through that, and to be translated. HOMI November 1893, page 229.8
Now I ask another question, Can a man neglect the work which God has given for his spiritual nature, and prosper spiritually? Can he do that and be healthy spiritually? Can he do that and grow and prosper in the knowledge of the Lord?—No, you know he will be weak; he will be wavering, and he will degenerate, he will get cold and indifferent and backslidden. And on the other hand, I also ask, Can a man slight the directions which God has given in this matter of health reform and have good health?—Of course he cannot. HOMI November 1893, page 229.9
If a man will follow the directions which God has given for his spiritual nature, as God has given them, he cannot do anything else than prosper spiritually. He cannot backslide; he cannot get cold; he cannot stand still. He is growing every day in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. So, also, if a man will apply the principles of health reform as God has given them, can he be sickly?—No, sir; I say he cannot be sickly. As I said awhile ago, it is a disgrace for a Seventh-day Adventist to be sickly. The Lord promised his people long ago that if they would do what he told them in this respect, as in others, he would take away from them all sickness, and that is spoken to us, and it means us, and he is going to do it, thank the Lord. And those who do not love the third angel’s message, and those who love their own ways, will get sick, of course, because they will worship the beast and his image, and the plagues will affect them. HOMI November 1893, page 230.1
Also the Lord told us among the first printed testimonies that were ever given on the matter of health reform, that health reform “is an individual matter.” Now you treat it so will you? You need not require everybody else to live exactly as you do, and eat just what you eat, in order to be health reformers; because if they did, they would not be health reformers. HOMI November 1893, page 230.2
Now just a few words upon that. If all men were now as God made them at the start, all things that God has prescribed that are good to eat, would be equally good for all people to eat. If all men were now as God made them at the start, all that he has said is good for man to eat, would be equally good for all people, and all people could live on the same things. But mankind are not that way; we are a long way from where God made us. We are nearly six thousand years in distance from where he made us, and further than that in degeneracy. Every person has defects that he is not responsible for at all, that come from away back. Our fathers, generation after generation, practicing evil things, and going contrary to God’s way in all things, have visited upon us and extended to us weaknesses, and many things of this kind that make each one not like anybody else on the earth; and entails defects upon him that are not in other people. HOMI November 1893, page 230.3
Well then, in these circumstances all things that the Lord says are good to eat are not equally good for all people. Now that is a fact. Don’t you know that some people enjoy and fatten on things that you cannot eat at all, yet that are good? Of course there are many people who live on things that are not fit to eat; but we are talking about health reform now. You know that there are some people who can eat things that you cannot eat at all, and things that are good for them, too. Now would it not be just as sensible for them to say that you are not a health reformer because you cannot live on what they live on? That is none of their business. You find out what is good for you, and let the other man find out what is good for him, and then each of you enjoy it, and be health reformers together. HOMI November 1893, page 230.4
But health reform is not all in eating. A man can live a good while without eating; he can live weeks. He can live several days without drinking anything at all. He cannot live minutes without breathing. The first thing a person does in this world is to breathe, and the last thing he does is to stop breathing; and all the way between he is breathing, and he cannot live minutes without it; whereas he can live days without drinking, and weeks without eating. And if [sic.] is hardly too much to say that proper breathing is the most important part of health reform. But that is hardly ever thought of by nine tenths of Seventh-day Adventists. It [sic.] we breathe properly, having eaten that which is good, we shall have good blood all the time. HOMI November 1893, page 230.5
The Lord has given each person in this world lung capacity enough to keep all the blood in that person pure enough for all purposes; but if he does not use the lung capacity that God has given him, he cannot have his blood as pure as it ought to be, and consequently he will not have as good health as he ought to have. If I use only half of my lung capacity, will I have as pure blood as if I used it all?—Of course not. If I use only the top of my lungs, only the upper part of them, and the lower part use not at all, can I have as pure blood, even though I eat pure victuals, as I ought to have, and as God made me to have?—Plainly not. HOMI November 1893, page 231.1
So if you only use the top of your lungs, and breathe this way [raising the shoulders and upper part of the chest] you may live all the health reform you please, so far as eating is concerned, and you cannot have good health; because you are not living health reform indeed. And if you bind yourself about the waist [compressing it tightly], you cannot breathe with any other part of your lungs than the top of them. HOMI November 1893, page 231.2
Then do you see what you are doing when you bind yourselves about like that? You are robbing yourself of the use of the lung capacity that God has given you, to keep your blood pure, and he has not given you any too much. You are robbed of that, and until you give yourself freedom, and learn to breathe, you cannot have as pure blood as you ought to have, even though you eat good victuals. HOMI November 1893, page 231.3
So I say, when we live health reform as God has prescribed it, we shall be all right; we shall be fair of skin and healthy of flesh, and strong to work, and we can work right straight along. God has not given health reform for nothing. Practice it as he gave it; find out what he says, and practice it in all things; then it will work well in all things. HOMI November 1893, page 231.4
But bear in mind that the lungs are not made to breathe with; they are not to do the work in breathing; that is not what they are for. The abdominal muscles are made to breathe with; these are to do the work while the lungs remain passive, and if you do not use these muscles, you do not breathe right. That is all I can say on that now. HOMI November 1893, page 231.5
Well, then, you must eat good victuals in order to have good blood to start with; then you must breathe right in order to keep the blood good. Because if we eat victuals that are not good, and that cannot make good blood, it is impossible for all the lung capacity to make that blood pure, or to keep it pure. Therefore the Lord has told us what is good to eat. Now I will give you a rule; it is simple enough, I do not think you will have to write it down in in [sic.] order to remember it, one by which every one here can be a health reformer continually, when he breathes right. HOMI November 1893, page 231.6
Here is the rule: Find out what God says is good to eat; that is the first thing. Find out all that he says is good to eat. Then find out in that list what is good for you to eat. Then see that it is well cooked. Then thank the Lord for it, eat it with a glad heart. And THEN LET IT ALONE. Breathe right, and you will have no difficulty. Let each one do that, and then, you see, it is none of your business whether somebody else eats what you eat or not; he is eating what is good for him, just as you are eating what is good for you. It is an individual matter, and all will be health reformers together. HOMI November 1893, page 231.7
Now that is not saying that what each one thinks is good for him, because it tastes well, is to be eaten. That is not it. Find out what God says is good, and then find out from this what is good for you. Cook it right, and then eat it when you have thanked the Lord for it. And there is just as much importance in letting it alone after you have eaten it, as there is in any of the other points. HOMI November 1893, page 231.8
[Question by one in the audience: What do you mean by letting it alone?] HOMI November 1893, page 231.9
Well, it is this: The not letting it alone begins before you eat it. There is something on the table, and you would like to eat some of it. Or it may not be on the table yet and you say, “If I thought that would not hurt me, I would cook some of it for dinner;” and then you finally decide that perhaps it will not hurt you, and you cook some of it. When it is on the table you say, “I am afraid that will hurt me if I eat it; but if I thought it would not hurt me, I would eat it.” And finally you conclude perhaps it will not hurt you if you eat some of it; and so you do. And then you begin to query, “Now I wonder, I wonder whether that will hurt me; I wonder whether that will digest just right or not; I really feel as though that was not going to agree with me.” That is what it is to not let it alone. HOMI November 1893, page 231.10
And I say that all this is none of your business. Be sure that it is good, and good for you, and when you have eaten it, let it alone. Of course it will not digest right when you are bothering it all the time, and keeping it from digesting. Let it alone. Having thanked the Lord for it, and asked his blessing upon it, believe that his blessing is upon it. Why do we ask the Lord to bless our food and bless it to its intended use, and then not believe that he does it? Where is the faith in that? That is not health reform. Let us quit it. HOMI November 1893, page 231.11
A. T. JONES.
HOMI November 1893, page 1.1
“The ‘Close Combat’” The Home Missionary, 5 Extra, pp. 1-10.
A sermon Delivered by Elder A. T. Jones, at the Camp-meeting in Lansing, Mich., Sept. 29, 1893
We are to study this morning where we are, and what we are to do. And in order to see this more plainly it will be well to take a glance at the question of where we have been, and what we have had to do, nnto [sic.] this time. Seeing that anew, we can better understand where we now are and what is now to be done. The message which made us all what we are, is that message which says: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out with mixture into the cup of his indignation;” and the corresponding text: “Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” HOMI November 1893, page 1.2
That is the message that made us what we are, and brought us where we are to-day. “Early Writings” mentions it on page 117:— HOMI November 1893, page 1.3
“This message was designed to put the children of God upon their guard by showing them the hour of temptation and anguish that was before them.” HOMI November 1893, page 1.4
We have seen that, haven’t we? We have been brought to view the hour of temptation in the scriptures that are for us now, and we are now in the hour of watching preparatory to the hour of temptation, and the loud cry of the third angel’s message is now going to the world to prepare a people for the hour of temptation which we are soon to meet. HOMI November 1893, page 1.5
So I read this sentence again and the New Testament one with it:— HOMI November 1893, page 1.6
“This message was designed to put the children of God upon their guard by showing them the hour of temptation and anguish before them. Said the angel, ‘They will be brought into close combat with the beast and his image.’” HOMI November 1893, page 1.7
Brought into what?—They will be brought into close combat with the beast and his image. In the terms which men use, the expression, a close conflict, a close combat, in other words, suggests a hand-to-hand conflict, that is, the closest kind; that is what is before us. Bronght [sic.] into close combat with the image and the beast is it?—No, that expression is never used in the Testimonies nor in the Bible. It does not say, “If any man worship the image and the beast,” it does say, “We are brought into close combat with the image and the beast,” does it? It is the beast and his image. The beast stands first all the time, doesn’t it? Brought into close combat with the beast and his image: “If any man worship the beast and his image.” I simply read that so far to call attention to that idea that the combat is to be close between the people who fear God and the beast and his image. HOMI November 1893, page 1.8
“Those who would not receive the mark of the beast when the decree goes forth must have decision now to say, Nay, we will not regard the institution of the beast.” HOMI November 1893, page 1.9
Do you see the difference? Those who would not receive the mark of the beast must have decision now to say, Nay, we will not regard the institution of the beast. Then we are to disregard the institution in order to escape the mark. And when the time comes to enforce the mark, those only will escape it who have disregarded the institution. That is the message we have, that is what has brought us here. HOMI November 1893, page 1.10
Now then, we have seen that thing coming a good while; I mean we have seen it. Of course we have said it was coming a long time, but that was said a long time before there was any sign, except the word of God, which said it was coming. But from the time when we could see the thing moving which would make this image of the beast, that has been a considerable time, and that started with what was known as the National Reform Association. That Association stood alone for a number of years in its purpose and its work to make an image of the beast, to make this a Christian nation, and so to set up Sunday as the national Sabbath. We had that Association alone to deal with, and we did deal with it to some extent,—not near so much as we ought to have done, of course; but we did to some extent. Some people thought we were rather severe with it sometimes when we did deal with it, but I think that they now hardly think that we dealt any too severely with it at that time. HOMI November 1893, page 2.1
Well, in 1887 the National Reform Association secured the alliance of other organizations to such an extent that the other organizations had the lead, and the weight of influence and of strength were in the other organizations instead of in the original one. While the National Reform Association stood alone, all its weight and all its influence were from itself alone, and we had to deal with it alone. When the National Prohibition Party and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union joined the National Reform Association, their influence and weight were greater than that of the original Association. Then we had these to deal with, and we did, and a great many thought we were too severe on them when we were dealing with them, but I do not know whether these now would think we dealt any too severely with them then. I do not think we ever did. HOMI November 1893, page 2.2
In 1888 that combination secured the alliance of another association, which had more weight and influence than this combination had altogether before this additional one was added. That was the American Sabbath Union. Its weight and its influence took the lead now of the whole combination as soon as it joined it, and with that we had next to deal. The others stood in the background as it were, and with this we had to deal direct. And so you know we dealt with the American Sabbath Union for two or three years, and some people thought we were too severe with the American Sabbath Union, but I do not suppose that they will now think that we were any too severe with them then. HOMI November 1893, page 2.3
Theu [sic.] in 1889 they joined hands with the Catholic Church, but the Catholic Church did not take the lead at once, did not step up and do the part that she is doing to-day, and it was not for that purpose that she joined hands, and that they joined hands with her. What they joined hands with her for was that they might make to Congress the representation that it was the united Christian sentiment of the country, and not sectarianism, that called for national Sunday legislation. That is all it was for, and they did not intend, and Rome did not intend yet to assume the prominent place. All united to get Congress to take the step. Then when by this means Congress was added to the National Reform combination, all these others fell into the background, and Congress took the lead, and with Congress we had then to deal. HOMI November 1893, page 2.4
And now that Congress has done what the combination called for, has done what the Catholic Church wanted done all the time,—now she steps forth and takes the lead, and with her we have to deal from this time and forward. HOMI November 1893, page 2.5
Now do you see the situation? Each association, each department that arose, we had to deal with direct. As the successive ones joined the first one, we had those to deal with directly, and with the others only indirectly. And when Congress joined the combination, we had Congress to deal with directly, and all the rest only incidentally. Now then, that is all passed. We have the Catholic Church to deal with from this time forward directly, and all the rest only incidentally. The government of the United States itself takes second place now, and the Catholic Church stands forth predominant, and with her we have to deal. HOMI November 1893, page 2.6
Well, then, it has come to that, as we shall see a little more plainly presently; but now that it has come to that, you can see that there will be a closer combat, and it will mean more than anything which we have met before. It was comparatively a very easy thiug [sic.], and void of all danger of any kind, to deal with the National Reform Association, because they have no power. It was all simply in the field of argument and discussion. It was the same when the other combinations joined that; the same when the American Sabbath Union joined it, and the same when Congress joined it. But when Congress joined the combination, it put the power, not into Protestant hands, but into Catholic hands. Protestants securing the control of Congress did not put the power of the government of the United States into the hands of Protestants, but into the hands of the Catholic Church. So that when we have her to deal with, it is her in possession of power, and that means more than any discussion that we have yet carried on. HOMI November 1893, page 2.7
More than this, the testimony which came about a year ago, told us of his message of Revelation 18, “Another angel came down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory;” that he comes bearing no soft, smooth message, but one that is calculated to stir men’s hearts to their very depths. Now when men’s hearts are stirred to the very depths, then whatsoever is in the hearts is going to show itself. If it is wickedness and violence that is in the depth of the heart, it will show itself when it is stirred. If it is honesty and the love for truth, that will show itself. And we are now in the time when the message of God, preached as it is, will stir men’s hearts to their very depths; and if it strikes a wicked heart and stirs that to its very depths, then we may expect a wicked reply. You can see that. HOMI November 1893, page 2.8
Well, then this brings us to the point where the testimony says we are to come into close combat with the beast and his image. Now that you may see that I am not speaking unadvisedly on this thing when I say that it is with the Catholic Church we have to deal henceforth, and that the Protestants, instead of getting power into their hands, have put power into the hands of the Catholic Church, I read a passage:— HOMI November 1893, page 3.1
“I saw that the two-horned beast had a dragon’s mouth, and that his power was in his head.” HOMI November 1893, page 3.2
Now, then, the prophecy says that in the last days they will be heady, don’t it? One characteristic of the wickedness of the last days is that they will be heady. Well, Seventh-day Adventists want to be hearty, not heady. God wants hearty people; the devil is satisfied with heady people. “I saw that the two-horned beast had a dragon’s mouth, and that his power was in his head, and that the decree would go out of his mouth;” that is the decree we read of last night. The decree would go out of his mouth. HOMI November 1893, page 3.3
“Then the Catholics bid the Protestants to go forward and issue a decree that all who will not observe the first day of the week instead of the seventh shall be slain.” HOMI November 1893, page 3.4
At whose command is that decree issued?—That of the Catholic Church. Protestants are merely her tools, the instrument through which she works, and therefore when I say that we have the Catholic Church to deal with from this time forward, I do not mean the Catholic Church independently of Protestantism, but the Catholic Church using Protestantism, and through it we have to deal with her. She is the motive power, she is moving the wires, she is pulling the strings. In fact she has been doing this already until she got this power in her hands, and now she will do it more than ever, and she is even now doing it more than ever. I read on:— HOMI November 1893, page 3.5
“Then the Catholics bid the Protestants to go forward and issue a decree that all who will not observe the first day of the week instead of the seventh shall be slain, and the Catholics whose numbers are large will stand by the Protestants. The Catholics will give their power to the image of the beast, and the Protestants will work as their Mother worked before them, to destroy the saints.” HOMI November 1893, page 3.6
His power was where?—In his head. Then what is the head of the image of the beast? His power was in his head, and the Catholics give their power to the image of the beast, and the Protestants will work as their Mother worked before them to destroy the saints. The power was in his head, and the decree goes out of his mouth. Do you see the point? The papacy is the head, Protestantism is the mouth, and she speaks her decree through Protestantism. It is the beast that is speaking. HOMI November 1893, page 3.7
“But before their decree bring forth or bear fruit, the saints will be delivered by the voice of God.” HOMI November 1893, page 3.8
Good. I simply read that that you may know that I am not speaking without authority when I say to you that with the Catholic Church we are to deal from this time forward. Not only we, but all the other people. I think I said to the people on the Lansing camp-ground last year—to the people who keep Sunday—that, from that time forward, they would have to render an account to Rome as to how they kept Sunday and why. Did I? I have said it in other places; I do not know whether I said it here or not. Did any of you heart it? [Voices: Yes sir.] Very good. I have been telling it everywhere, that the people who keep Sunday, from this time forward will have to render an account to the Catholic Church as to how they keep it and why they keep it. And now she herself is calling upon them to render that account. So that it is the literal truth that we and the others,—people who keep Sunday, and people who keep Sabbath—have Rome to deal with. Now I want you to see that she knows this too, that she has this in her mind now, and is already talking about us. When it comes to that point, that the Catholic Church takes up Seventh-day Adventists and talks of us, and sets forth our doctrines, that gives us to understand that she knows where we are. And when she goes on and deals with Protestants, and calls upon them for their authority for keeping Sunday, then it is time also for them to understand that she has them in her eye, too. HOMI November 1893, page 3.9
The Catholic Mirror, published in Baltimore, is Cardinal Gibbons’s official organ. It is the mouthpiece of the papacy in the United States. The official documents are printed there. The pope’s official communications with the Cardinal and to the Catholic people are published through that paper. That paper, in its issues of Sept. 2, 9, 16, and 23, has four editorial articles; that is, official statements in the Cardinal’s own organ, upon Protestants and Seventh-day Adventists—the Protestants for keeping Sunday, and the Seventh-day Adventists for keeping the Sabbath. I will read the first one. I have read all four of all the rest. You can get them all later, but what I will read you is in this. The articles, all four of them, are printed under the one heading. It is entitled, “The Christian Sabbath.” And the sub-head to it is this:— HOMI November 1893, page 3.10
“The Genuine Offspring of the Union of the Holy Spirit, and the Catholic Church, His Spouse. The Claims of Protestantism to any part Therein Proved to be Groundless, Self-Contradictory, and Suicidal.” 1 HOMI November 1893, page 3.11
That is to say, the Christian Sabbath, using that for Sunday all the time, is the genuine offspring of the union of the Holy Spirit and the Catholic Church. And that the claims of Protestantism to any part at all in Sunday observance is proved to be groundless, self-contradictory, and suicidal. Well, that is pretty plain to start with, isn’t it? She just simply says to all the Protestants: “Any claim that you make to any part at all in Sunday observance is groundless, self-contradictory, and suicidal. You are committing suicide when you claim it, and profess to stand upon ‘the Bible alone.’” That is pretty plain. She never talked so plainly before, did she, in this country? No, sir. And the reason of it is that now she knows she can afford to talk plainly, because she has all things in her own hands. I read:— HOMI November 1893, page 3.12
“Our attention has been called to the above subject in the past week by the receipt of a brochure of twenty one pages, published by the International Religions [sic.] Liberty Association.” HOMI November 1893, page 4.1
Published by what?—The International Religious Liberty Association. Do you know anything of it? Are you a member of it? [Voices: Yes, sir.] There are some here, of course, who are not. Don’t you wish you were? When the Catholic Church will take it up, and name it, don’t you wish you belonged to it? Then you better become members right away, to-day. If there is anybody here who is not a member of the International Religious Liberty Association, you would better become a member this very day! HOMI November 1893, page 4.2
This leaflet is entitled, “Appeal and Remonstrance.” Have you ever seen that? [Voices: Yes, sir.] Have you read it? [Voices: Yes, sir.] You see it has brought forth a response:— HOMI November 1893, page 4.3
“Embodying resolutions adopted by the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists, Feb. 24, 1893. The resolutions criticise and censure, with much acerbity, the action of the United States Congress, and of the Supreme Court, for invading the rights of the people by closing the World’s Fair on Sunday. HOMI November 1893, page 4.4
“The Adventists are the only body of Christians with the Bible as their teacher who can find no warrant in its pages for the change of day from the seventh to the first.” HOMI November 1893, page 4.5
Now I may say, before going any further, that she treats us perfectly square in all this; states the truth just as it is, and a good deal more fairly than any of the Protestants have ever stated our case. HOMI November 1893, page 4.6
“Hence, their appellation, ‘Seventh-day Adventists.’ Their cardinal principle consists in setting apart Saturday for the exclusive worship of God, in conformity with the positive command of God himself, repeatedly reiterated in the sacred books of the Old and New Testament, literally obeyed by the children of Israel for thousands of years to this day, and indorsed by the teaching and practice of the Son of God while on earth.” HOMI November 1893, page 4.7
That is a good foundation. And she knows it. HOMI November 1893, page 4.8
“On the contrary, the Protestants of the world, the Adventists excepted, with the same Bible as their cherished and sole infallible teacher, by their practice, since their appearance in the sixteenth century, with the time-honored practice of the Jewish people before their eyes, have rejected the day named for his worship by God, and assumed, in apparent contradiction of his command, a day for his worship never once referred to for that purpose, in the pages of that sacred volume. HOMI November 1893, page 4.9
“What Protestant pulpit does not ring almost every Sunday with loud and passionate invectives against Sunday violation? Who can forget the fanatical clamor of the Protestant ministers throughout the length and breadth of the land, against opening the gates of the World’s Fair on Sunday? Who can forget the thousands of petitions, signed by millions, to save the Lord’s day from desecration? Surely, such general and widespread excitement and noisy remonstrance, could not have existed without the strongest grounds for such animated protests. HOMI November 1893, page 4.10
“And when quarters were assigned at the World’s Fair to the various sects of Protestantism for the exhibition of articles, who can forget the emphatic expression of virtuous and conscientious indignation exhibited by our Presbyterian brethren, as soon as they learned of the decision of the Supreme Court not to interfere in the Sunday opening? The newspapers informed us that they flatly refused to utilize the space accorded them, or open their boxes, demanding the right to withdraw the articles, in rigid adherence to their principles, and thus decline all contact with the sacrilegious and Sabbath-breaking Exhibition. HOMI November 1893, page 4.11
“Doubtless, our Calvanistic [sic.] brethren deserved and shared the sympathy of all the other sects, who however, lost the opportunity of posing as martyrs in vindication of the Sabbath observance. HOMI November 1893, page 4.12
“They thus became ‘a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men,’ although their Protestant brethren, who failed to share the monopoly, were uncharitably and enviously disposed to attribute their steadfast adherence to religious principle, to Pharisaical pride, and dogged obstinacy. HOMI November 1893, page 4.13
“Our purpose in throwing off this article is to shed such light on this all-important question (for were the Sabbath question to be removed from the Protestant pulpit, the sects would feel lost, and the preachers be deprived of their ‘Cheshire cheese’), that our readers may be able to comprehend the question in all its bearings, and thus reach a clear conviction. HOMI November 1893, page 4.14
“The Christian world is, morally speaking, united on the question and practice of worshiping God on the first day of the week. HOMI November 1893, page 4.15
“The Israelites, scattered all over the earth, keep the last day of the week sacred to the worship of the Deity. In this particular the Seventh-day Adventists (a sect of Christians numerically few) have also selected the same day. HOMI November 1893, page 4.16
“The Israelites and Adventists both appeal to the Bible for the divine command, persistently obliging the strict observance of Saturday. HOMI November 1893, page 4.17
“The Israelite respects the authority of the Old Testament only, but the Adventist, who is a Christian, accepts the New Testament on the same grounds as the Old; viz., an inspired record also. He (that is, the Adventist) finds that the Bible, his teacher, is consistent in both parts (Old Testament and New); that the Redeemer during his mortal life, never kept any other day than Saturday. The gospels plainly evince to him this fact; while, in the pages of the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, and the Apocalypse, not the vestige of an act canceling the Saturday arrangement, can be found. HOMI November 1893, page 4.18
“The Adventists, therefore, in common with the Israelite, derive their belief from the Old Testament, which position is confirmed by the New Testament, indorsing fully by the life and practice of the Redeemer and his apostles the teaching of the sacred word for nearly a century of the Christian era. HOMI November 1893, page 4.19
“Numerically considered, the Seventh-day Adventists form an insignificant portion of the Protestant population of the earth, but, as the question is not one of numbers, but of truth, fact, and right, a strict sense of justice forbids the condemnations of this little sect without a calm and unbiased investigation.” HOMI November 1893, page 4.20
And when she has held the “calm and unbiased investigation,” then what? Then what? “Let us not condemn without a calm and unbiased investigation.” Why condemn at all, even after a calm and unbiased investigation? You can see the line now that is laid out before them. They propose to nag the Protestants with this thing right straight along all the time until she gains her end, and then she will turn her attention to us. She tells them in the last words that she utters in this article, if there is any Protestant in the United States that wants to take up the advocacy of Sunday, she is ready for it, and would be glad to meet him in discussion, “but as their policy is to lay low, it is altogether likely that none of them will say the word”—that is the way she winds up this challenge. HOMI November 1893, page 5.1
If the Protestants do take it up, that will simply give the Catholics that much better opportunity to discuss it, and show their authority in the whole thing. If they do not take it up, then the Catholic Church will simply take advantage of their silence, and claim from their silence that they admit everything, and therefore, they are all Catholics. And when she gets them all under her authority that way, none of them daring to say anything against her, then she will call upon us to render an account why we do not keep Sunday. Do you see the plan? Then it will be that we shall come into active, close combat with the beast. Are you ready for it? HOMI November 1893, page 5.2
See here. I just want to call your attention to a thought. You can think of it all you please, and you will find opportunity to. We are up to the time when the gospel goes forth to save people form the ruin that is to come upon the nations. We know that. We are in the time that corresponds to that time when the early Christians were selling out preparatory to escape the ruin. Are we?—Yes, sir. And in that same time, while they were selling out and preparing for the ruin, they were persecuted, on this hand, and on that hand. They were arrested, and imprisoned, and scourged, and threatened to be killed. Then you see this, that the book of Acts is our book of present truth, our daily experience from this time forward. You study this book of Acts now, if you want to know what your experience is to be, if you are faithful to the this angel’s message. HOMI November 1893, page 5.3
“The Protestant world has been, from its infancy in the sixteenth century, in thorough accord with the Catholic Church.” HOMI November 1893, page 5.4
Hear that. HOMI November 1893, page 5.5
“The Protestant world has been, from its infancy in the sixteenth century, in thorough accord with the Catholic Church in keeping ‘holy’ not Saturday, but Sunday. The discussion of the grounds that led to this unanimity of sentiment and practice for over three hundred years, must help toward placing Protestantism on a solid basis in this particular, should the arguments in favor of its position overcome those furnished by the Israelites and Adventists, the Bible, the sole recognized teacher of both litigants, being the umpire and witness. If, however, on the other hand, the latter furnish arguments incontrovertible by the great mass of Protestants, both classes of litigants, appealing to their common teacher, the Bible, the great body of Protestants, so far from clamoring, as they do with vigorous pertinacity for the strict keeping of Sunday, have no other resource left than the admission that they have been teaching and practicing what is scripturally false for over three centuries, by adopting the teaching and practice of what they have always pretended to believe an apostate church, contrary to every warrant and teaching of sacred Scripture. To add to the intensity of this scriptural and unpardonable blunder, it involves one of the most positive and emphatic commands of God to his servant, man: ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ HOMI November 1893, page 5.6
“No Protestant living to-day has ever yet obeyed that command.” HOMI November 1893, page 5.7
That is a fact. Of course this speaks only of Protestants; that is, exclusive of Seventh-day Adventists. No Protestant has ever, says the Catholic Church, observed the command of God to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. That is true. HOMI November 1893, page 5.8
“No Protestant living to-day has ever yet obeyed that command, preferring to follow the apostate church referred to than his teacher, the Bible, which, from Genesis to Revelation, teaches no other doctrine, should the Israelites and Seventh-day Adventists be correct. Both sides appeal to the Bible as their ‘infallible’ teacher. Let the Bible decide whether Saturday or Sunday be the day enjoined by God. One of the two bodies must be wrong, and whereas a false position on this all-important question involves terrible penalties, threatened by God himself against the transgressor of this ‘perpetual covenant,’ we shall enter on the discussion of the merits of the arguments wielded by both sides. Neither is the discussion of this paramount subject above the capacity of ordinary minds, nor does it involve extraordinary study. It resolves itself into a few plain questions, easy of solution:— HOMI November 1893, page 5.9
“First. Which day of the week doos [sic.] the Bible enjoin to be kept holy? HOMI November 1893, page 5.10
“Second. Has the New Testament modified by precept or practice the original command? HOMI November 1893, page 5.11
“Third. Have Protestants, since the sixteenth century, obeyed the command of God by keeping ‘holy’ the day enjoined by their infallible guide and teacher, the Bible; and if not, why not? HOMI November 1893, page 5.12
“To the above three questions we pledge ourselves to furnish as many intelligent answers, which cannot fail to vindicate the truth and uphold the deformity of error.” HOMI November 1893, page 5.13
In the next three articles these three questions are answered, showing that the Catholic Church is the only authority for Sunday; that Protestants are standing upon Catholic ground, and that, therefore, when they claim to keep Sunday, and claim the Bible only as their authority, they are committing denominational suicide. I read this that you may see that the time has come of which we told the people: That the people who keep Sunday from this day forward, are now called upon to give an account to the Catholic Church as to why they keep Sunday, and also, the other articles show, as to how they keep it too. HOMI November 1893, page 5.14
Well, when she has got over her controversy with them, the next step will be to take us up, but in fact we are in the controversy already, because we are names there. [A voice: What paper is that in?] That is in the American Sentinel. You see what those people are missing who are not taking the American Sentinel? Those here who are not subscribers would better subscribe to-day. HOMI November 1893, page 5.15
Now we are to be drawn into controversy with her, face to face, that is a fact. And in the other articles it comes out plainer yet, especially on the infallible authority, the infallibility, of the Church. She brings it up this way: The Adventists and Protestants both stand on Protestant ground, and claim the Bible as their infallible teacher, and their sole and ultimate authority; while we Catholics have the Bible, the infallible guide, and also an infallible interpreter of that guide—the pope—so that we know just where we stand. That is, it is true, the “Protestant” position; but it is not the Christian position. It is not the Seventh-day Adventist position. The true position is this: We have the Bible, the infallible truth of God. We also have Jesus Christ, the true head of the church, as the infallible teacher and interpreter of the infallible word, through his Holy Spirit, which is the infallible guide into all truth. Jesus Christ himself interprets the Scriptures, he guides his church by his Spirit, through prophets. So you see at once that the culminating point, the pivot, upon which turns our controversy with Rome, is the spirit of prophecy. And when in opposition to the spirit of prophecy, Rome sets up her claim to infallible authority, in order to make good her claim and maintain it by evidence, she will be compelled to have supernational communications. In order to secure these, she will have to seek her “saints,” which is really going to the dead, and thus she will be led to seek unto them that have familiar spirits,—she will be compelled to go to Spiritualism for “visions,” and “prophets.” Thus Catholicism and apostate Protestantism, which have already joined hands, will join hands with Spiritualism, as announced in “Testimony 32,” p. 207. Thank God for the spirit of prophecy! HOMI November 1893, page 6.1
And it is plain that we are right on the eve of this threefold combination. Then there will be just two bodies in the world,—the Catholics and the Seventh-day Adventists. For whoever does not propose to go with the Catholic Church, there is no place for him to go but with the Sabbath-keepers. Those who choose to go with her will stand on her ground, of course, and will accept her “infallible” authority. And the only way that she can maintain her authority against the power of the third angel’s message is in finding “prophets” and “visions” of her own. But anybody but the Lord, who supplies prophets and visions, is of the devil, and that is Spiritualism. Thus again I say they are driven to join hands with Spiritualism in order to maintain their doctrine of infallibility. And the Lord has given to us the true doctrine, the true Protestant doctrine of infallibility, and has manifested it, through visions from the Lord, his own voice speaking, and leading his people like a flock. [A voice: Thank the Lord!] Amen, let all the people thank the Lord. HOMI November 1893, page 6.2
But you can see how we are coming face to face, and into close combat with the beast and his image. You can see that. Well then, brethren, that being so, is it not important that you and I become thoroughly acquainted with the spirit of prophecy? Not simply acquainted with a person who has the spirit of prophecy. Not simply become thoroughly acquainted with a person who is a prophet, but become thoroughly acquainted with the spirit of prophecy itself. There is a difference between having confidence in the spirit of prophecy. You may have confidence in a prophet because you are acquainted with that person and have confidence in the person, and have had opportunities to understand the claims of that particular person to be a prophet. But if God should speak by some other one, to whom you had no opportunity to apply the physical tests that would satisfy you that that person was a genuine prophet, then how would you know whether that person was a prophet of the Lord or not? HOMI November 1893, page 6.3
This is worth considering, because there are going to be more prophets before the third angel’s message closes, and that you may see that, I will read a passage. Second chapter of Acts 17th verse: “It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters”—O no; your daughter shall prophesy. Is that it? “Your daughters;” plural number. That is not all. “Your sons.” Whose sons?—Your sons, and your daughters. Is that so? Well now, suppose one of them should prophesy some day, how would you know whether it was true or false? That is the question. Suppose some one should write a testimony to you as from the Spirit of God, some day, how would you know whether that were true or false? You had no opportunity to see that person in vision, when the matter was given; you had no opportunity to apply the physical tests which the Bible has given. HOMI November 1893, page 6.4
The Lord has given physical tests which, when they can be applied, are proper enough; we cannot do without them, it is all well enough; but suppose a testimony comes really from the Lord to me, from one whom I never knew to be a prophet or anything of the kind—we will say it is really from the Lord. How am I to know whether that is genuine or not, when I have never applied, and have had no chance to apply, any of the physical tests which the Bible gives? How can I tell? Before believing that testimony and acting upon it, am I to wait until I can see that person have a vision and apply all the physical tests that the Bible has given, in order to know whether it be a true testimony or not? The testimony might be very urgent. It might be some important duty laid upon me, but am I to wait to hear whether that person from which it comes has had a vision, or wait till I see that person in vision in order to tell whether it is true or false? Brethren, there is a better way. “My sheep know my voice, and they follow me.” HOMI November 1893, page 6.5
Now that you may see that there may arise such occasions as that, I will read of one occasion that did arise. Turn to 2 Chronicles 20th chapter and 11th verse. A great mass of heathen came up against Judah to destroy them, as they are massing the heathen against us now to destroy us. Jehoshaphat was king. He called all the people together, and they prayed unto the Lord and fasted. He said then, beginning with the 11th verse:— HOMI November 1893, page 6.6
“Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee. And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.” HOMI November 1893, page 7.1
They were in a strait; they wanted help from God, and nothing would answer but help from God. What then?— HOMI November 1893, page 7.2
“Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation; and he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” HOMI November 1893, page 7.3
Did he have a vision there, and that whole multitude have a chance to come up and apply all the physical tests that the Bible gives in order to be sure whether that was from the Lord or not? There is no evidence written there that he had a vision at all. The Spirit of God came upon him in the midst of the congregation, and he prophesied in the name of the Lord, and it was true, and the people knew that it was from God. How did they know it?—Ah, they knew his voice. HOMI November 1893, page 7.4
I am not saying anything at all against the application of all the physical tests that God has given. I am only saying that when we have no opportunity to apply these, you and I need to know his voice that we may answer when the Lord speaks, and we may know what to do when he speaks, even though we have not the opportunity of applying these tests. Therefore, as God has promised that your sons and your daughters shall prophesy—remember that is not all. “Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.” Sons, daughters, young men, old men, that is not all yet. “And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.” Sons, daughters, young men, old men, servants, and handmaids, God says that out from all these he will call persons to be prophets. Well, suppose he should! How are we going to know?—We are to become acquainted with his voice, so that when he speaks, we shall know the voice. “My sheep know my voice, and they follow me,” and the devil cannot imitate the voice of Jesus Christ. No, sir. He cannot imitate the voice of Christ. He may speak in the very words that are in the Bible, but it is not the voice of Jesus. No, sir. HOMI November 1893, page 7.5
Therefore, become acquainted with the voice of Jesus, brethren. And that means to get your hearts filled with the word of God, so that in your hearts and minds will be ringing the tones of his voice. And then when any one speaks from him, the tones will combine and harmonize with the tones that are ringing in your hearts and minds already, and you know his voice. Fill the whole heart with the words of the Lord. And this only brings to us afresh the importance of more diligent and earnest Bible study than we have ever engaged in before. That is what we must do or else we shall be deceived. We shall certainly be deceived if we are not acquainted with the voice. If I am not acquainted with the voice of God, is there not danger of my rejecting the true word of God spoken to me, because I do not know the voice, and have not the opportunity of applying the physical tests that God has given? If I do not know the voice, is there not danger that I might reject the true word of God and endanger my eternal salvation, cut myself off from ever having a knowledge of God and walking in his way? And we are in this danger to-day, because the time has come when God is pouring out his Spirit upon the people, and there will be more than one prophet. And when another prophet shall speak in the name of the Lord what he will speak, you and I will be in danger of refusing him, and of rejecting the testimony of God, if we do not know his voice. HOMI November 1893, page 7.6
And we know that there are to be false prophets, too, and many of them. False prophets shall multiply upon the earth. How shall we know whether they are false? We shall not have a chance to see whether the false prophet is in vision or not, because we do not want to associate with those classes. We do not propose to circulate among Spiritualists and connect with that thing. How are we to know them, then?—Ah, “My sheep know my voice; and they follow me;” “and a stranger will they not follow; for they know not the voice of strangers.” That is, the voice of strangers does not have any place in their heart, it cannot call them. They know that it is not the voice of the true Shepherd, and that is enough. We do not need to know it to become acquainted with it, when it is not the right one. We know the true voice, the voice of the Good Shepherd, and we do not need to know any other. Was it not written to us last winter that, to those who stand steadfast in the truth and seek God with all the heart, and are consecrated to him, and sanctified unto God, that “in the midst of all the delusive doctrines, the Spirit of God will silence every other voice than that which comes from the True Shepherd?” O then is it not time that we become acquainted with the Spirit of God, more than ever before? Why the fearful importance of this time calls upon us to seek for such a measure of the Spirit of God as has never been known in this world except at Pentecost. Will you seek for the Spirit of God that you may know his voice? That you may be acquainted with the Spirit of prophecy? And then God will make us acquainted with prophets. HOMI November 1893, page 7.7
Now I want to read to you from the testimony that that is where we are, and you can see we are right in that place. But before reading this I might call your attention to another thing. We are now in the presence of the Catholic Church, and have her to deal with, and all the others occupy the background. But this controversy drives them into the next and culminating combination—the alliance with Spiritualism. Well, then, when they join hands with Spiritualism, then the Catholic Church itself, as such, will rather fall into the background, and we shall have Spiritualism, and then shortly the devil himself, to deal with. Then, thank the Lord, Jesus himself comes, and we are free from the whole wicked combination forevermore. HOMI November 1893, page 8.1
Now then, “Testimony 32,” page 206, I read some things right along so that you will see what has been, and where we are, and what is to be:— HOMI November 1893, page 8.2
“Wealth, genius, education, will combine to cover them [Sabbath keepers] with contempt. Persecuting rulers, ministers, and church members will conspire against them. With voice and pen, by boasts, threats, and ridicule, they will seek to overthrow their faith. By false representations and angry appeals, they will stir up the passions of the people. Not having a ‘Thus saith the Scriptures’ to bring against the advocates of the Bible Sabbath, they will resort to oppressive enactments to supply the lack. To secure popularity and patronage, legislators will yield to the demand for a Sunday law.” HOMI November 1893, page 8.3
Has not that been done?—Yes, sir. We know that has been done. That is past. HOMI November 1893, page 8.4
“Those who fear God cannot accept an institution that violates a precept of the decalogue. On this battle-field comes the last great conflict of the controversy between truth and error.” HOMI November 1893, page 8.5
What conflict?—The last. How many of these things have we read here in these lessons? Why, in the Bible, in “Early Writings,” in the events around us in the world, and in the Testimonies, every point strikes the same words—it is the last thing, and almost the last act, the last work of his ministry, the last work of the message, the last great conflict. What does that mean? Ah, these things all clustering around one point, and each one the last in its particular line of prophecy, all mean that we are in the presence of the end of all things. That is precisely the meaning of all this, and there is no escaping it. Oh, we are to get ready. I read on:— HOMI November 1893, page 8.6
“By the decree enforcing the institution of the papacy in violation of the law of God, our nation will disconnect herself fully from righteousness.” HOMI November 1893, page 8.7
That is yet to come. We are between this and the yielding of legislators to the demand for a Sunday law. That is past; this is to come. And here is another situation of the same kind:— HOMI November 1893, page 8.8
“When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to clasp the hand of the Roman power.” HOMI November 1893, page 8.9
Has she done it?—She has. We know she has, and at the Parliament of Religions, Chicago, Archbishop Ryan proudly proclaimed it. That is past, then, isn’t it? HOMI November 1893, page 8.10
“When she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with Spiritualism.” HOMI November 1893, page 8.11
And we are in the presence of this very thing. Again one of these things is past, and the other is to come. And we are entering upon the very controversy that drives them to this. Because though Protestants deny the infallibility of the Romish Church, they have to assert their own infallibility to sustain Sunday. And that same assumption is creeping in largely among professed Protestant leaders to-day,—that the Church is of authority and must be obeyed, is a general concensus of opinion. It is simply the doctrine, in another form, of the infallibility of the pope. Well, have they not already required Congress to interpret the Bible for them their way? And whoever interprets the Bible claims infallibility to start with. Then professed Protestants have set up and established in this country the infallibility of an organized body of men; they have asserted the power of Congress correctly to interpret the Scriptures. And in this alone they are committed to the Romish principle of infallibility. Again I read:— HOMI November 1893, page 8.12
“When she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with Spiritualism, when under the influence of this three-fold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its constitution as a Protestant and Republican government.” HOMI November 1893, page 8.13
She has repudiated every principle as a Protestant government by this which she has already done. And there remains only the alliance with Spiritualism to repudiate every principle as a Republican government. Then when that is done, and they— HOMI November 1893, page 8.14
“Shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan, and that the end is near.” HOMI November 1893, page 8.15
Now then,— HOMI November 1893, page 8.16
“As the approach of the Roman armies was a sign to the disciples of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so may this apostasy be a sign to us.” HOMI November 1893, page 8.17
What apostasy?—Why, this apostasy of Protestantism clasping hands with Romanism, and then with Spiritualism. HOMI November 1893, page 8.18
“So may this apostasy be a sign to us that the limit of God’s forbearance is reached, that the measure of our nation’s iniquity is full, and that the angel of mercy is about to take her flight, never to return. The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes of affliction and distress which prophets have described as the time of Jacob’s trouble.” HOMI November 1893, page 8.19
Now then that shows us that as the approach of the Roman army meant the impending destruction of Jerusalem, so the approach of this thing shows us the impending close of probation. Is it approaching? Do we see it approaching? Have they joined hands with Romanism?—They have. Are we in the midst of the controversy right now that drives them, in spite of themselves even, to join hands with Spiritualism?—We are. Then is not that the sign that shows the impending flight of the angel of mercy never to return, the close of probation, the time of trouble, and the marvelous working of Satan and then the end? Isn’t it time we sought the Lord? Isn’t it time we became indued and filled with the Spirit of God? Isn’t it time we prepared for the conflict, which is to be a close combat? Now don’t you see what I meant in the previous lesson when I read that one sentence here in which it said, in this time of the loud cry “the people of God are prepared [by the loud cry] to stand in the hour of temptation which they are soon to meet”? And,— HOMI November 1893, page 8.20
“I saw a great light resting upon them as they united fearlessly to proclaim the truths of the third angel’s message.” HOMI November 1893, page 9.1
How proclaim it?—“Fearlessly.” Well then that is thrown in there—they united fearlessly to proclaim it—to show that we are in a time when there is danger of some being fearful to proclaim it, that it requires fearlessness in order to do it. And it is repeated. HOMI November 1893, page 9.2
“This message seemed to be in addition to the third angel’s message, joining it, as the “midnight cry” joined the second angel’s message in 1844. The glory of God rested upon the patient, waiting saints, and they fearlessly gave the solemn warning proclaiming the fall of Babylon, and calling upon God’s people to come out of her that they may escape her fearful doom.” HOMI November 1893, page 9.3
Now I call your attention to a few words that the Catholic Church has spoken, and is speaking to-day, this present year, as to what they propose to do now with the Republic. Here is a document issued by the “Catholic Truth Society of America.” It is spreading Catholic documents all over the United States, filled with all kinds of iusidious [sic.] doctrine to make it appear that the Catholic Church is the conservator of American institutions. This is entitled, “The Catholic Church and the American Republic.” And I read:— HOMI November 1893, page 9.4
“The friends of Catholicity on the other hand assure us that as God in his providence creates a new soul for every human body that is born into the world, so the American Republic was no sooner born from the womb of time than he in like manner created a separate republic to be its companion, its protector, and its infallible guide through all the years of its existence.” HOMI November 1893, page 9.5
What, according to this precious document, did he give to be the guide of this republic?—“He gave the Catholic Church to be the infallible guide of this republic.” But the Protestants have got Congress to take up the doctrine of infallibility to guide it without the Catholic Church. That brings a controversy, then, between the Church of Rome and Protestants, as to whether they are the true infallible guide, or whether the Catholic Church is. So you see the whole question of infallibility comes to us from every side and we are driven into a controversy, of which this is the central point. I read one:— HOMI November 1893, page 9.6
“They [the friends of Catholicity] tell us, furthermore, that, as the soul can live without the body, but the body cannot live without the soul, so the Church cau [sic.] live without the Repnblic [sic.], but the Republic cannot live without the church. In a word, that the Church is necessary to the Republic, and without her spiritual guidance the Republic must inevitably fail, as evidenced by the ancient republics of history before her. These are bold doctrines to preach to Americans.” HOMI November 1893, page 9.7
Exactly. She knows that. But she knows the time has come when she has the power so firmly in her hands that she can preach as boldly as she pleases. HOMI November 1893, page 9.8
“Is not this whole country stamped for a Catholic land? With the great doctor, St. Augustine, guarding the Atlantic coast, and the heroic missionary, San Francisco, the Pacific; with the indomitable apostle, St. Paul, kindling zeal and enthusiasm in the North, and the gentle San Antonio inspiring love and peace in the South; with the Warrior King, St. Louis, in the center, and the great St. Joseph and Notre Dame, the gracious queen of heaven, hard by,—with all these powerful intercessors pleading for her, can we, I say, expect anything less than a glorious triumph for Catholicity in America? HOMI November 1893, page 9.9
“Surely God’s plans are manifest. America is the last and greatest of nations; and he means to possess her for himself.... The nets of St. Peter will drag this continent from ocean to ocean, till they are filled to breaking with the souls of men that shall be saved.” HOMI November 1893, page 9.10
These are bold doctrines to preach to Americans; that is true. But the sad thing about it is that Americans hear the preaching and calmly sleep on. And even yet more sad—the saddest of all, is that Seventh-day Adventists are not awake to these things, and are not prepared for the conflict. HOMI November 1893, page 9.11
This shows what they propose to do with us all. O, that we might have more of the power of God. O, that we might believe fully in the power that we may have. Isn’t it high time to awake out of sleep? Isn’t it high time to get such a spirit of the message of God, as will fit us to go forth and fearlessly proclaim that message as it is now to be given, and so be able to meet the Catholic Church upon her own ground, and defeat her by the power of God, and the sacred things of his truth? It is time that our ministers were waking up more than they are. It is time that we were getting acquainted with these encroachments of the Catholic Church, that we may meet her where she is, and be able to defeat her, before all the world by the power of God as she stands forth, Goliath-like, challenging the world. O, the time that has been lost by this looseness, this dilatoriness, this slackness, in the study of the third angel’s message, and the things that God has sent to us year after year to study! HOMI November 1893, page 9.12
Break loose, brethren. Cut loose from everything. Fall on the rock and be broken all to pieces. Are you going to awake now, and find out everything that God sends? He that knows the least can learn the most. And when a man will confess to God that he knows nothing, then God can teach him everything. The Lord can do more for that man in one day than the man himself can learn in ten thousand years by his own effort, or through his own opinions. HOMI November 1893, page 9.13
How are you prepared for the issues before us? Who is ready? Who is ready to enter into the impending conflict with Rome? Who is ready? Who is ready to take the word of God and stand upon it, let Rome do her worst? Who is ready to go forth in the conflict in the face of Rome, and against all the power that she has over all the earth, and back of her, Satan ready to give her all his power. Who is ready? HOMI November 1893, page 9.14
Isn’t it time we seek the Lord? Isn’t it time we seek him here at this meeting that he may pour his Spirit upon us that he may give us a clear understanding? O, for more than a year God has had an ocean of light ready to open before us. More than a year we have been standing right on the shore of an ocean of light. Will you seek him that he may launch us off the shore into the fullness of the light and glory he has for us? Will you? O, it is time! it is time! O that we might break loose from the world; that we would cut loose from everything of earth; that we might be launched into this ocean of light that God would bestow upon us by his Spirit, and by which he would prepare us for the work we have to do. HOMI November 1893, page 10.1
Not only that, but we are so near the coming of the Lord that we can almost see the light of the city from where we stand now. Just one or two more steps upward and we shall be where we can see the glory of the beautiful city. We are almost to the heights. Brethren, will you cut loose everything that we may rise? He is our Leader. I will seek the Lord with you. Shall we seek him together? Let it be done. For the Lord’s sake, let it be done. Let us not rest satisfied until it is so. Give him no rest until it is made so. Here we are. These things surround us. May the Lord awaken us to the times; and may we have his everlasting salvation, and be prepared to meet him when he comes in all his glory. HOMI November 1893, page 10.2
“Health Reform by Faith” The Home Missionary Extra 5, pp. 10-14.
“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 2 John 2. HOMI November 1893, page 10.3
God wishes above all things that you and I may prosper, and be in health. “Even as thy soul prospereth.” So the Lord puts our health, and his care for our health, just on the same level exactly with our souls’ prosperity. He has made abundant provision for our soul’s prosperity in his word. And our souls cannot have the prosperity which he has provided, if we slight the provision he has made, that is, if we slight his word. But he has made provision also that we may be in health, even as our souls prosper. Then he has certainly given direction and made provision in his word as to how this shall be done. And we cannot prosper and be in health, if we slight his word in this respect. So we cannot have health of soul without using the provision which God has given, without following his word faithfully; neither can we have health without doing the same thing. And when he wishes above all things that we may have health, just as certainly as our souls prosper; when he expresses as much care for our health as for the other; we are not making the response to his wish that we should unless we do give health that place that he gives it. Unless we give health the place that he gives it, we are assuredly not fulfilling his will in all things. He desires that we shall be filled with the knowledge of his will in all things. HOMI November 1893, page 10.4
Let us read:— HOMI November 1893, page 10.5
“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in knowledge of God.” Colossians 1:9, 10. HOMI November 1893, page 10.6
“Filled with the knowledge of his will.” And assuredly our expression of his will is in this text: “I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” He has thus expressed his will in this matter, and if we are filled with the knowledge of his will, then the subject of health will have in our estimation and in our lives the place the Lord desires it to have; and then we shall walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, in this matter, and shall have the health that he wishes us to have; and so we shall be fruitful in every good work, and increase in the knowledge of God. HOMI November 1893, page 10.7
Health reform, then, is just as certainly—I do not say as much but as certainly—a part of God’s plan of salvation as righteousness by faith. He wishes us our souls prosper; but how can our souls prosper without righteousness by faith?—They cannot do it. He wishes above all things that we may prosper and be in health even as our souls prosper. Then how can our health prosper as he wishes it without health reform by faith?—It cannot do it. HOMI November 1893, page 10.8
Genuine health reform means health reform by faith, as genuine righteousness means righteousness by faith. And if a person does not apply health reform by faith, then he does not get the benefit that is in it, and he cannot. And now that you may see that that is just what the scripture says, I will read a passage. Turn to the 14th chapter of Romans, beginning with the 15th verse:— HOMI November 1893, page 10.9
“But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of: for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ [is] acceptable to God, and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” HOMI November 1893, page 10.10
This statement that whatever is not of faith is sin, is a universal truth. Yet here it is stated in direct connection with eating. Whatsoever is not of faith in eating, as well as anything else, is sin. So that he that doubteth is condemned, or damned, if he eat; because of what?—Because he eateth not of faith. then a man that eats not of faith, what is his condition before God?—He is condemned. What is he doing?—Sinning, for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. HOMI November 1893, page 10.11
Faith is the gift of God. It comes to us by the word. For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Then in order to eat by faith, where are we to get the faith, and the authority for eating, and what we shall eat?—From the word of God, most surely. If a man slights what the word of God says he shall or shall not eat, he does not eat by faith. Because the faith by which we are to eat is of God, to be brought to us, and be created in us, by the word of God, just as the faith by which we receive righteousness and virtue, comes from God by his word. HOMI November 1893, page 11.1
So that just as the word of God brings faith to us, pertaining to our soul’s salvation, so the word of God brings faith to us concerning our health. The Word of God brings faith concerning our soul’s prosperity, and when in faith we accept that word, our souls prosper; so in faith we take this word concerning our health, and our health prospers. Now that is a fact. For in direct connection with our eating and drinking, that word says: “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Look back at the first verses of this fourteenth chapter of Romans. We read: “One believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth; for God hath received him.” And so it goes on regarding this matter of eating and giving God thanks, eating to the glory of God, eating by faith, and closes up the whole chapter with that all-sweeping word, “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” HOMI November 1893, page 11.2
Here is another text worth studying. In the 10th chapter of 1 Corinthians, the 27th verse:— HOMI November 1893, page 11.3
“If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience’ sake. But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof. Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man’s conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, etc.” HOMI November 1893, page 11.4
Our salvation is by grace through faith, and so our health reform, our eating, is by grace through faith. And that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. Health reform never came by us. It came from God. Therefore, as the salvation of souls came by the grace of God, the gift of God through faith, and not of ourselves; so health reform came as the gift of God, and by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. HOMI November 1893, page 11.5
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” HOMI November 1893, page 11.6
Our body belongs to God. Does our spirit belong to God?—Yes. Who can make our spirits prosper? Who can bring our spirits to the image of Christ?—None but Christ. Who can bring our bodies to that?—None but Christ. Our bodies are to be made in the image of Christ, as well as are our souls. Of course they are. The word says so. Let us read the verse that says it. Philippians 3:20, 21:— HOMI November 1893, page 11.7
“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” HOMI November 1893, page 11.8
Then our characters are to be just like Christ’s; our bodies are to be just like Christ’s. In other words, our spirits are to be just like his, and our bodies are to be just like his. And therefore it is not saying too much to say that health reform must be by faith, or else it is not health reform. And without living health reform by faith we will never get the benefit of it, any more than we can be benefited by a righteousness that is not of faith. HOMI November 1893, page 11.9
Our bodies are the Lord’s just as certainly as are our spirits; and our bodies are to be like Christ’s just as certainly as our spirits and our characters are to be made like Christ’s. HOMI November 1893, page 11.10
“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23. HOMI November 1893, page 11.11
And that is the object of health reform. It is to prepare our bodies for immortality. So now I will read the evidence of it. Here is the testimony on the object of health reform—what is to be attained by it. Vol. I, of the bound Testimonies for the Church 1:554:— HOMI November 1893, page 11.12
“It should ever be kept prominent that the great object to be attained through this channel is not only health, but perfection and the spirit of holiness, which cannot be attained with diseased bodies and minds.” HOMI November 1893, page 11.13
What is the object of health reform, then?—Perfection, and the spirit of holiness. It is simply the same thing as being like Christ in body and in spirit. HOMI November 1893, page 11.14
Page 564, same volume. The title of it is, “Health and Religion;” but in speaking of the health institution, and why it should be established, the object of health reform, and the work of it, it is stated thus:— HOMI November 1893, page 11.15
“God would have a health institution established, which will in its influence be closely connected with the closing work for mortals fitting for immortality.” HOMI November 1893, page 11.16
The object of the third angel’s message is to fit us to meet Christ alive. And the health reform is part of the third angel’s message. We will come to that presently in another way. Then health reform is just as much in its place fitting people to be like Christ and to be translated to immortality when he comes, as the main body of the third angel’s message is to make us like Christ in character. HOMI November 1893, page 11.17
Then Vol. II., p. 356:— HOMI November 1893, page 12.1
“What is the work that we are to undertake here just previous to receiving immortality?—It is to preserve our bodies holy, our spirits pure.” HOMI November 1893, page 12.2
When is it that we are to do that?—Just previous to receiving immortality. That is the work. Then it is plain enough that health reform is to fit a people for immortality. HOMI November 1893, page 12.3
Now, Vol. I, p. 559. This touches the very point we had a moment ago in another way:— HOMI November 1893, page 12.4
“The health reform is closely connected with the work of the third message, yet it is not the message.” HOMI November 1893, page 12.5
See the difference? It is closely connected with it, but it is not it. HOMI November 1893, page 12.6
“Our preachers should teach the health reform, yet they should not make this the leading theme in the place of the message.” HOMI November 1893, page 12.7
Now as to its place. Here is the place of health reform:— HOMI November 1893, page 12.8
“Its place is among those subjects which set forth the preparatory work to meet the events brought to view by the message.” HOMI November 1893, page 12.9
Well, what are the events brought to view by the message? Just think of that for a moment. What are the events brought to view by the third angel’s message?—The coming of the Lord; and before that, the pouring out of the plagues, and the worship of the beast and his image on the part of the wicked; perfect holiness and the close of probation on the part of the righteous. The image of Christ is to be reflected in us fully; we are to be sealed with the seal of the living God; so that we are like Jesus in character. And when we are to pass through the seven last plagues, and meet him when he comes in the blazing glory of all the universe, that we may be like him in body. Those are the things brought to view in the third angel’s message, and health reform is to be preached by us all and set forth as the preparatory work to meet those things which the message tells about. “Among these it is prominent.” HOMI November 1893, page 12.10
Well, then, don’t you see that health reform, without the events that the third angel’s message brings to you, is almost meaningless? In any other view than God gives, it is almost meaningless, because it is not simply for present health, in this world; it is not simply as a thing of health, that men may go on without believing in the Lord, and just merely for the sake of health. There is a benefit in that, of course; but that is not the purpose of preaching or teaching it by us. It is not that people shall merely have health. No, sir. It is health by faith, in view of the things that are brought to view by the third angel’s message, to meet Jesus Christ, and the things that are coming between us and his coming. And therefore we are to preach the third angel’s message, and get people to see what is coming, and then get them to prepare their bodies to meet them, as Jesus Christ ... o prepare their souls for the close of probation. HOMI November 1893, page 12.11
In other words, righteousness by faith brings us to the perfection of Jesus Christ in character, and health reform by faith brings us to the perfection of Christ in our bodies. Between the point where we are sealed with the seal of the living God, and the coming of Christ, there are the seven last plagues, and our bodies have got to go through them unscathed, before they become like the glorious body of Jesus. When we preach to the people the coming of the Lord, and the necessity of meeting him, and the motive in keeping the Sabbath, and all that, their bodies are not prepared by that in itself, to meet him. So that the health reform has to come in in its place, and fit the people to meet the events brought before them in the preaching of the message; and that is just as much a part of the third angel’s message, in its place, as is the other. HOMI November 1893, page 12.12
Faith in Jesus Christ, personal faith in Jesus Christ, and receiving righteousness by faith, and the keeping of the Sabbath, seeing Christ in it, and receiving the seal of God, the perfect image of Jesus Christ, reflected in the character,—this prepares the character for the close of probation. And the health reform is to prepare our bodies for the close of probation, because, between the close of probation and the Saviour’s coming, our bodies are to pass through the plagues before we are ready to meet him, and be like him, seeing him as he is. This is true. It says so. I will read that again:— HOMI November 1893, page 12.13
“The health is closely connected with the work of the third angel’s message. Our preachers should teach the health reform, yet they should not make this the leading theme in the place of the message. Its place is among those subjects which set forth the preparatory work to meet the events brought to view by the message; among these it is prominent.” HOMI November 1893, page 12.14
One more passage as to the object of health reform. Page 486, same volume:— HOMI November 1893, page 12.15
“In order to be fitted for translation, the people of God must know themselves. They must understand in regard to their own physical frames, that they may be able with the psalmist to exclaim, “I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.’ They should ever have the appetite in subjection to the moral and intellectual organs. The body should be servant to the mind, and not the mind to the body.” HOMI November 1893, page 12.16
And that work is necessary to the people in order that they may be fitted for translation. The people of God must know themselves; and the object of health reform and of the teaching of it, is that we may know how to treat ourselves, and how to live to have good health, and be fitted for translation. HOMI November 1893, page 12.17
Well then, I say again that the object of health reform is not merely for health’s sake, and that that is not God’s view of it. When it is practiced and taught anywhere merely for health’s sake, it is not meeting God’s mind. Of course the person who practices it will have better health, but will he be prepared for what it is to prepare him?—No. Getting people ready to meet Jesus Christ, to be translated, ready for the Lord,—that is the Lord’s idea and purpose in health reform. HOMI November 1893, page 12.18
Now right in the same line, let us study another division of it. Health reform is to be practiced by faith, just as any other part of religion is. Well, how much faith can I have for you? How much faith can one have for another?—Not any. How much religion can you have if you find out what faith I have, and then try to live according to my faith?—None that is worth anything. I cannot find out another man’s faith, and how he lives by faith, and how the promises of God live in him in response to his faith, and how he prospers in all these different things by faith, and then shut myself up to that, and have prosperity, too. One cannot live by another’s faith, and copy another’s religion. It is impossible to do that. Faith is wholly an individual matter. Therefore it is written: “Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God.” Now, then, true health reform is by faith; therefore, just as truly as faith is an individual matter, so true health reform is an individual matter; one cannot practice it for another. God’s promises are just as much an individual matter to you as though there were not another man in this world. And they are just as much an individual matter to you with all the other men in the world, as though there were not another man in the world, for the reason that no two men are alike. Now it is the same thing in health reform. It is the same thing in all the work of a lifetime. Just as we read here a while ago, “Hast thou faith?” What then?—“Have it to thyself before God.” And in that place he is writing about eating, too,—eating and drinking. Well, then, in matters of health reform, have faith for yourself, and study that thing for yourself, and live it for yourself. Apply it by the Spirit of God and the faith of Jesus Christ to yourself in your own life, according to your own needs before God. HOMI November 1893, page 13.1
Health reform then, on this basis, you can see, is just as certainly an individual matter as is the person’s own soul’s salvation. You cannot save your soul by finding out how I believe to the saving of mine, and then how the Lord works with me to save mine. You have to find out from God himself, for yourself, so that he will work in you, and you know that for yourself, as an individual personal matter. So it is with true health reform. Though I be hearty and strong and able to do much work, you are not to find out how I live and then copy that in order that you may be hearty and strong and able to work. The probabilities are it would kill you. No, you find out for yourself how you should live, and then live that way in order for you to be healthy and strong and able to work. HOMI November 1893, page 13.2
Now I want you to see that the Testimonies teach and emphasize this very thing. In Vol. 1, p. 486, is the following:— HOMI November 1893, page 13.3
“The health reform, I was shown, is a part of the third angel’s message, and is just as closely connected with it as are the arm and hand with the human body. I saw that we as a people must make an advance move in this great work.” HOMI November 1893, page 13.4
Let us do it. HOMI November 1893, page 13.5
“Ministers and people must act in concert.” HOMI November 1893, page 13.6
And they will when the ministers act first. HOMI November 1893, page 13.7
“God’s people are not prepared for the loud cry of the third angel’s message.” HOMI November 1893, page 13.8
What has that to do with health reform? Is health reform to prepare us for the loud cry, too? HOMI November 1893, page 13.9
“They have a work to do for themselves, which they should not leave for God to do for them. He has left this work for them to do.” HOMI November 1893, page 13.10
Now the sentence:— HOMI November 1893, page 13.11
“IT IS AN INDIVIDUAL WORK; one cannot do it for another.” HOMI November 1893, page 13.12
Now that is plain enough. Health reform is an individual work, and one cannot do it for another. We are not to ask some one to do it for us; and we are not to ask some one to live, and then tell us how they live, and then we live like that, and then call that health reform, and be pale, and lean, and not good for anything. No, sir. There is no health reform about that. HOMI November 1893, page 13.13
Second volume, p. 371, middle of the page, touches this question. HOMI November 1893, page 13.14
“When we adopt the health reform, we should adopt it from a sense of duty, not because somebody else has adopted it.” HOMI November 1893, page 13.15
Here in Vol. III., p. 311, we read:— HOMI November 1893, page 13.16
“Our preachers should all be sincere, genuine health reformers, not merely adopting the reform because others do, but from principle, in obedience to the word of God.” HOMI November 1893, page 13.17
Do it, each one, because he knows that God speaks to him, and he receives it as from God, and performs it thus. That is health reform by faith, and having the faith to himself before God. HOMI November 1893, page 13.18
Here, also, in Vol. II., p. 374:— HOMI November 1893, page 13.19
“Some of you feel as though you would like to have somebody tell you how much to eat.” HOMI November 1893, page 13.20
This is not all, either. They would like to have some one tell them what to eat, and just when to eat it, and then how much to eat at that time. It is all the same thought. HOMI November 1893, page 13.21
“Some of you feel as though you would like to have some one tell you how much to eat. This is not the way it should be. We are to act from a moral and religious standpoint. We are to be temperate in all things, because an incorruptible crown, a heavenly treasure, is before us. And not I wish to say to my brethren and sisters, I would have moral courage to take my position and to govern myself. I would not want to put that on some one else.” HOMI November 1893, page 13.22
On page 367, two classes are presented before us:— HOMI November 1893, page 13.23
“First, those who were not living up to the light which God had given them. They started in the reform because somebody else did. They did not understand the system for themselves. There are many of you who profess the truth, who have received it because somebody else did, and for your life you could not give the reason. This is why you are as weak as water. Instead of weighing your motives in the light of eternity, instead of having a practical knowledge of the principles underlying all your actions, instead of having dug down to the bottom and built upon a right foundation for yourself, you are walking in the sparks kindled by somebody else. And you will fail in this, as you have failed in the health reform.” HOMI November 1893, page 13.24
Thus you see that if we attempt to live the principles of the third angel’s message, or profess to believe, because somebody else does, instead of getting it all individually from the Lord himself, then we are as weak as water, and we fail. And if you receive health reform that way, because somebody else does, and then attempt to practice it the way somebody else does, you will likewise be as weak as water, and will fail in the health reform. Don’t call that way of doing, health reform. It is not health reform at all. The Lord does not want us to fail in our spiritual health, nor in our physical health. But “whatsoever is not of faith is sin;” and sin is failure. Well, then, have faith just as certainly in one as in the other. HOMI November 1893, page 14.1
This is all I have to give now on this particular line. What I desired in this line of thought—or you can call it a lesson, just as you please—was to find what health reform is, what the object of it is, and that it is an individual work—that it does not belong to one for another. This is simply preliminary, opening up the whole field for our study. And as we study it all the way through, so far as we shall have opportunity to study it, we shall see how entirely the whole course of health reform mapped out for us meets the points here made. And the object of the health reform is not met unless it is followed in the way here pointed out. HOMI November 1893, page 14.2
Well, then, let it be thus preached and practiced. Of course we cannot preach it effectually unless we do practice it. Living health reform will do more than all our preaching without it. The ministers and the people are to move in harmony, move together. And as I said when I read that, this will always be so when the ministers move first, as they ought. But if God has to take up the people and carry them ahead of the ministers, then the work does not move in harmony. We are to be a living illustration of health reform, as we go before the people, and practice it before them, and at their tables, and teach them at the fireside, just as we teach them righteousness by faith. And we shall have to teach it and practice it right amongst people who have been professing to be health reformers for years. But God is in it, and it will win; and the great object named will be accomplished; we shall be prepared to pass safely through the seven last plagues, and be fitted for translation. HOMI November 1893, page 14.3
“Our Country, the Third Angel’s Message, and Our Relations to Both” The Home Missionary Extra 5, pp. 7-12.
Reading for Sunday, December 24
OUR COUNTRY
WAS made as it was made, with total separation between religion and the State, for the plainly declared purpose of keeping the people of the United States from being led back to the Church of Rome. To keep the Romish religion from becoming the established and national religion, the makers of the government forbade the establishment of, or any favors toward, any religion at all. To save the people from the domination of the Roman power in the institutions of the Romish religion, our fathers forbade any favors even to “the Christian religion.” They said: “The same authority that can establish the Christian religion in exclusion of all other religions, can with the same ease establish any particular sect of Christians in exclusion of all other sects. Therefore to keep the Roman sect of “the Christian religion” from become the established religion and the dominant power here, they forbade any governmental recognition of even “the Christian religion” itself. HOMI November 1893, page 7.1
The makers of this government said that “To judge for ourselves and to engage in the exercise of religion agreeably to the dictates of our own consciences, is an unalienable right, which, upon the principles on which the gospel was first propagated, and the Reformation from Popery carried on, can never be transferred to another.” They said further that, “it is impossible for the magistrate to adjudge the right of preference among the various sects which profess the Christian faith, without erecting a claim to infallibility which would lead us back to the Church of Rome.” Thus certainly did the makers of this government intend that the people of the United States should never, by any act of the government, be led back to the Church of Rome; and thus certainly did they intend that the government of the United States should never touch any question of religion, and specifically “the Christian religion,” in order that their expressed purpose might prevail,—that the people should not be led back to the Church of Rome and popery. HOMI November 1893, page 7.2
Nevertheless, for twenty-four years the Nation Reform Association of professed Protestants, worked steadily alone, to have “the Christian religion” named and legalized as the religion of this nation. In its twenty-fifth year, 1887, it secured the alliance of the National Prohibition party and the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, and with this additional power, continued its efforts for the legal recognition of the Christian religion as the national religion. In 1888 this National Reform Combination secured the alliance of the American Sabbath Union representing the great “evangelical” churches of the country, and with increased power the whole combination plied their efforts upon the national government to secure the legal recognition of the Christian religion and the setting up of Sunday as the national holy day. In 1889, the National Reform Association, through the leadership of the American Sabbath Union, secured their long-desired “co-operation” of the Catholic Church for national Sunday observance. And in 1892 they were gratified with the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, declaring that “this is a Christian nation,” and thus giving national legal recognition to the Christian religion, and this was swiftly followed by the action of Congress in which Sunday was set up as the Sabbath of the fourth commandment and of this nation, to the express exclusion of the Sabbath of the Lord. In this act the Congress of the United states did adjudge a question of preference among sects professing the Christian faith, and therefore did the very thing which the makers of the government declared it impossible to do without leading back to the church of Rome. And the Supreme Court in declaring this to be a Christian nation and thus giving legal recognition to the Christian religion in the exclusion of all other religions, did do the very thing which the makers of the government declared would inevitably end in the legal recognition of some particular sect of Christians to the exclusion of all other sects. HOMI November 1893, page 7.3
Thus certainly this government, as it was originally made and as it was intended forever to remain, has been subverted; and so certainly there now follows the thing which our fathers so plainly guarded against,—the domination of the Church of Rome and of popery. Rome had been watching the National Reform movement all the time, and had been waiting for that movement to grow to such a state as would be to her advantage to co-operate with. And it was not unadvisedly that in 1889 the Catholic Church joined hands with the National Reform Combination, “to bring the Protestant masses over to the reverent observance of the Catholic Sunday.” And it was with great gladness that she heard the supreme judicial declaration that “this is a Christian nation,” with the citation of Catholic documents to prove it, and also saw Congress set up the sign of her own authority—the Sunday—as the holy day of the nation in express exclusion of the Sabbath of the Lord. It was with supreme satisfaction that she saw her own sign of her own salvation set up here by a national act as the symbol of the salvation of the nation. And then it was the Pope Leo XIII published in the United States his plans concerning the United States, and through this concerning Europe and all humanity, as follows:— HOMI November 1893, page 7.4
“In his [Pope Leo’s] view, the United States has reached the period when it becomes necessary to bring about the fusion of all the heterogeneous elements in one homogeneous and indissoluble nation.... It is for this reason that the pope wants the Catholics to prove themselves the most enlightened and most devoted workers for national unity and political assimilation.... America feels the need of this work of internal fusion.... What the Church has done in the past for others, she will do for the United States.... That is the reason the Holy See encourages the American clergy to guard jealously the solidarity, and to labor for the fusion of all the foreign and heterogeneous elements into one vast national family.... HOMI November 1893, page 8.1
“Finally, Leo XIII desires to see strength in that unity. Like all intuitive souls, he hails the united American States and in their young and flourishing church, the source of new life for Europeans. He wants America to be powerful, in order that Europe may regain strength from borrowing a rejuvenated type. Europe is closely watching the United States.... Henceforth we [Europeans] will need authors who will place themselves on this ground: ‘What can we borrow and what ought we to borrow from the United States for our social, political, and ecclesiastical reorganization?’ The answer depends in great measure upon the development of American destinies. If the United States succeed in solving the many problems that puzzle us, Europe will follow her example, and this outpouring of light will mark a date in the history not only of the United States, BUT OF ALL HUMANITY. HOMI November 1893, page 8.2
“That is why the holy father, anxious for peace and strength, collaborates with passion in the work of consolidation and development in American affairs. According to him, the church ought to be the chosen crucible for the moulding and absorption of races into one united family. And that, especially, is the reason why he labors at the codification of ecclesiastical affairs, in order that this distant member of Christianity may infuse new blood into the old organization. HOMI November 1893, page 8.3
And this was followed swiftly by the establishment of Satolli as permanent apostolic delegate here to carry out this plan; and Satolli openly declared at the Catholic Congress in Chicago, Sept. 5, 1893, not only that this is his place and work here but commanded the Catholics of the United States to carry out this scheme. His words are as follows:— HOMI November 1893, page 8.4
“In the name of Leo XIII, I salute the great American Republic, and I call upon the Catholics of America to go forward, in our hand bearing the book of Christian truth, and in the other the Constitution of the United States.... HOMI November 1893, page 8.5
“To-day this is the duty of the Catholics: To bring into the world the fullness of supernatural truth and supernatural life. This especially is the duty of a Catholic Congress. There are the nations who have never separated from the church, but who have neglected often to apply in full degree the lessons of the gospel. There are the nations who have gone out from the church, bringing with them many of her treasures, and because of what they have brought, shedding partial light. But cut off from the source, unless that source is again brought into close contact with them, there is danger for the future. HOMI November 1893, page 8.6
“Bring them in contact with their past by your action and teaching. Bring your fellow countrymen, bring your country into immediate contact with that great secret of blessedness—Christ and his church. And in this manner shall it come to pass the word of the psalmist shall be fulfilled: ‘Mercy and justice have met one another, justice and peace have kissed.’ ... HOMI November 1893, page 8.7
“Now all these great principles have been marked out in most illuminous lines in the encyclicals of the great pontiff, Leo XIII. He has studied them. Hold fast to them as the safest anchorage, and all will be well. These several questions are studied the world over. It is well they be studied in America, for here in America do we have more than elsewhere the key to the future. [Applause]. HOMI November 1893, page 8.8
“Here in America you have a country blessed specially by Providence in the fertility of field and the liberty of its Constitution. [Loud applause[. Here you have a country which will repay all effort [loud and prolonged applause] not merely tenfold, but, aye, a hundredfold. And this no one understands better than the immortal Leo. And he charges me, his delegate, to speak out to America words of hope and blessing, words of joy. Go forward in one hand bearing the book of Christian truth—the Bible—and in the other the Constitution of the United States. [Tremendous applause, the people rising to their feet].” HOMI November 1893, page 8.9
The Constitution of the United States as it was made, and as it was intended by its makers to remain, was directly opposed to every principle and every purpose of Rome. And that Constitution, as our fathers made it and intended it, no Catholic was ever commanded by any pope to take in one hand with the Catholic Bible in the other. But when that Constitution was interpreted to mean that this is a Christian nation, when that Constitution was interpreted according to Rome’s principles, and the sign of her authority with Catholic documents was cited to support this interpretation, then it was, and not till then, that all Catholics were commanded to take this Catholic Constitution in one hand and the Catholic Bible in the other; and, with Satolli at their head, go forward to their “hundredfold” reward in the United States, and through this bring again “all Europe” and “all humanity” back into “close contact” with “the Church.” HOMI November 1893, page 8.10
And now with the Catholic Bible in one hand, and the Catholic Constitution of the United States in the other, the Catholic Church steps forth and declares that this is a Catholic Christian nation. The arguments which the National Reformers have used all these years, to prove that this is a Christian nation, she now boldly appropriates, and says that they mean that this is a Catholic Christian nation. All the claims which the National Reform combination has presented for the governmental recognition of religion, the Catholic Church now adopts and declares as the consequence that it is governmental recognition of the Catholic religion. HOMI November 1893, page 9.1
All these years the National Reform combination has constantly presented as the basis for the governmental recognition of their religion, that “this country was settled by Christian men having Christian ends in view.” And now that they have secured their long desired governmental recognition of “the Christian religion,” the Catholic Church appropriates bodily the argument, and boldly declares that this country was first discovered and settled by Catholic Christian men, having Catholic Christian ends in view. At the late World’s Congress of Religions this was made plain beyond all chance for question. In a paper read by Professor Thomas O’Gorman, of the Catholic University, of Washington, D.C., it is presented more fully and compactly than in any other place we have found, and we shall therefore quote largely from it. On this point of the discovery and settlement of the country “by Christian men having Christian ends in view,” he says:— HOMI November 1893, page 9.2
“By right of discovery and possession, dating back almost 900 years, America is Christian. On the waters of Lake Michigan, close to the Convent of La Rabida are moored three Spanish caravels and a little farther away one Viking ship. All three—convent, caravels and Scandinavian craft—are evidences of an acquaintance between America and the church in times when the only Christianity in existence was Catholic. This fact is sufficient justification for a change I have allowed myself to make. In the programme, this paper has for title, “Relation of the Catholic Church to America.” For wider latitude and juster account I make it “Relation of Christianity to America.” HOMI November 1893, page 9.3
“The strange Viking boat carries the relation to a period ante-dating Columbus by almost five hundred years. About the year 1000, Christian colonists from Norway founded in Greenland a Christian community, which for 400 years—that is, almost down to the days of Columbus—possessed a body of Catholic priests and a continuous line of bishops in communion with the popes of Rome. From Greenland, traders and missionaries pushed westward to the mainland. Trading posts and mission stations, if not permanent settlements, arose on the coasts of New England, and the natural products of this country found their way to Europe and even to Rome, the capital of Christendom, as payment of the Peter pence from the Catholic people of far away Greenland and Vinland. In the showcases of the Convent of La Rabida in your White City are some of the many contemporary documents which prove these facts, and imply a relation existing long before Columbus, between Rome and the land that was to become in later ages the cradle of the American republic. For reasons, which it is not my present task to indicate, the intercourse had gradually grown intermittent and had all but ceased when Columbus appeared. At any rate, it had never dawned on the mind of Europe that the far-away Scandinavian colony was in a new continent. Greenland and Europe, and to be a souther dip of the known continent into habitable western latitudes from inhabitants polar regions. So much for the older acquaintance between the church and America. HOMI November 1893, page 9.4
“AMERICA DISCOVERED BY CATHOLICS
“The Spanish convent and caravels indicate a relation that began 400 years ago; a relation which was to Europe the revelation of a new world, what the Scandinavian relation had not been; a relation that has not ceased since, as had the Scandinavian; a relation that at first flitted like some distant dream before the eyes of Spain in the solemn halls of Salamanca, that gradually took on some faint reality beneath the walls of Granada, in the quiet port of Palos, that finally became fact on the newly found shores of San Salvador, in the shadow of the cross raised on American soil by the successful discoverer. The books, pamphlets, lectures, and articles written in this Columbian anniversary prove beyond a candid doubt that the discovery of America was eminently a religious enterprise, and that the desire to spread Christianity was, I will not say the only, but the principle motive that prompted the leaders engaged in that memorable venture. Before you can strip the discovery of its religious character, you must unchristen the Admiral’s flagship [Santa Maria] and tear from her bulwarks the painting of the patroness [the Virgin Mary], under whose auspices the gallant craft plowed her way through the terrors of the unknown ocean. HOMI November 1893, page 9.5
“MOTIVES OF THE EARLY COLONISTS
“The inspiration that gave the old world a new continent was also the cause of its colonization and civilization. Various popes from Alexander VII, 1493, to Leo XI, 1514, approved and legalized discovery and occupation in America. The purpose of their bulls was to prevent or settle difficulties and wars between rival claimants to the new lands. The indirect results of their intervention were of untold benefit to humanity. That intervention promoted the geographical study and knowledge of the globe, instigated Magelian’s voyage around the world, created the partition of the continent, and hence also the colonial system out of which this great nation is born.” HOMI November 1893, page 9.6
Thus the National Reformers see their fundamental argument appropriated by Rome and used to her sole advantage, and not one of them nor yet all of them together can successfully dispute it for a moment. And so we and they see fulfilled to-day that which we have told them all the time, that in all their efforts they were but playing into the hands of Rome. HOMI November 1893, page 9.7
The National Reform combination has always made the fallacious claim that the union of religion and the State is not the union of Church and State; and vice versa, the separation of Church and State does not mean the separation of the State from religion. This claim the Catholic Church now appropriates and declares:— HOMI November 1893, page 9.8
“We may truly say that with us separation of Church and State is not separation of the nation from religion.”—Id. HOMI November 1893, page 10.1
The National Reform combination has argued that Sunday laws, Thanksgiving proclamations, and other official documents of presidents and governors, laws which uphold “Christian marriage” by prohibiting polygamy, chaplains in army and navy, in Congress and legislatures, and decisions of courts that Christianity is part of the common law,—all prove that this is a Christian nation. All this also the Catholic Church has adopted as proof of her claims upon the nation. Professor O’Gorman continues:— HOMI November 1893, page 10.2
“Of what I should call the State’s Christianity, I give the following evidences:— HOMI November 1893, page 10.3
“Not only does the federal government make Sunday a legal day of rest for all its officials, but the States have Sunday laws which do not enforce any specific worship but do guard the day’s restfulness. Moreover, certain religious holydays are made legal holidays. HOMI November 1893, page 10.4
“Presidents and governors in official documents recognize the dependence of the nation on God and the duty of gratitude to him.... HOMI November 1893, page 10.5
“The action of Congress in regard to Mormonism is an upholding of the Christian marriage, and in all the States bigamy is a crime. Immorality is not allowed by the civil power to flaunt itself in public, but is driven to concealment, and the Decalogue, inasmuch as it relates to the social relations of man, is enforced. HOMI November 1893, page 10.6
“Celebrations of a public and official character, sessions of State legislatures and Congress are opened with prayer. Chaplains are appointed at public expense for Congress, the army, the navy, the military and naval academies, the State legislatures and institutions.... HOMI November 1893, page 10.7
“More than once it has been decided by courts that we are a Christian people, and that Christianity is part of our unwritten law, as it is part of the common law of England. HOMI November 1893, page 10.8
“Such, briefly, is the relation of Christianity to the American republic, when we consider only its internal life. Are we not justified in concluding that here Christianity has added to her domain a nation which is the most active, the most progressive, and not the least intellectual in this nineteenth century?” HOMI November 1893, page 10.9
The Supreme Court of the United States declared that “we are a Christian people” and that “this is a Christian nation.” This the Nation Reform combination hailed as containing “all that the National Reform Association seeks;” and this they have been using ever since as the official and ultimate authority that must settle every question and silence every word of doubt or dissent. As proofs of its declaration that “this is a Christian nation” and that this is the meaning of the Constitution, the Supreme Court not only cited the commission of Ferdinand and Isabella to Columbus, but also “the form of oath universally prevailing;” the laws respecting the observance of the Sabbath; the Constitutional proviso “that the Executive shall have ten days (Sunday excepted) within which to determine whether he will approve or veto a bill,” etc. This whole ground is covered in just two sentences by Professor O’Gorman with direct reference to the Constitution, as follows:— HOMI November 1893, page 10.10
“Our political charter presupposes God and Christianity, presupposes the main facts and the past history of Christianity, and is bound to them by discovery and colonization. The oath required from all officers of the federal government, the exemption of Sunday from their working days, the subscription “In the year of our Lord” are a recognition of God, and imply that the Lord Jesus Christ is the turning point of humanity, the source and beginning of a new order.” HOMI November 1893, page 10.11
The Supreme Court also cited the Declaration of Independence as proof that this is a Christian nation. Professor O’Gorman follows even to the same extreme and then declares that the Catholic Church is the foundation of it all. Here are his words:— HOMI November 1893, page 10.12
“Look at the fundamental articles, the formative principles of the republic—‘All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; to secure these, just governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.’ These are Christian principles asserting God, creation, the rights of the creature, and by implication the duties that are correlative to those rights. To these principles the Catholic Church gave an impregnable foundation when in the council of Trent, she defined that reason is not totally obscured and will is not totally depraved.” HOMI November 1893, page 10.13
Then in his closing sentences he sums up all, covers the whole ground, and swallows up everything into the Catholic Church, as follows:— HOMI November 1893, page 10.14
“Our roots are in the good, our up-growth must needs be toward the better. The affirmation of any one truth, logically followed out, leads to the knowledge and affirmation of certain fundamental evident truths of reason; our dominant tendency, therefore, the law of our progression, is toward complete truth, if we but remain true to the spirit that called us into being, and still, thank God, animates our present living. HOMI November 1893, page 10.15
“We believe that Divine Providence led to the discovery of this Continent and directed its settlement and guided the birth of this nation, for a new and more complete application to political society of the truths affirmed by reason and Christian revelation, for the upbuilding of a nation as great religiously as it is politically, of a nation that shall find its perfection in Catholic Christianity. With that freedom allowed every speaker in this parliament of religions, I affirm my sincere conviction that Catholic Christianity is the fullness of truth, natural and supernatural, rational and revealed, that Catholic Christianity is the strongest bulwark of law and order in this republic. If ever our country should fail and fall, it is not from the Catholic Church that shall come the shout of triumph at the failure and the fall, for never has she had a fairer field of work than the United States of America.” HOMI November 1893, page 10.16
Thus Rome sets herself forward as the end and all, and hers the prior and supreme right, in all things pertaining to this union of “religion and the State,” in this “Christian nation.” And the blindness of professed Protestants and of the Supreme Court has given her the complete legal, legislative, and governmental basis for all her claims. And we say again that there is not one person in the National Reform combination, nor in the whole combination together; not one member of the Supreme Court, nor yet the whole court together; who can successfully dispute the argument or the claim Rome is now making upon the foundation which they themselves have so surely laid for her. And so we and they see fulfilled to-day before the eyes of the whole nation, that which we have all the time told them, that they were only playing into the hands of Rome. To-day Rome is profiting by that in which the National Reformers have always fondly hoped they themselves might be profited. HOMI November 1893, page 11.1
And beyond all this, but simply the consequence of it all, the Catholic Church is circulating official documents in the United States in which she openly announces the “collapse of Protestantism,” and her hope to “missionize” the United States “in half a decade;” and at the same time abruptly challenges all Protestants to show why they keep Sunday; and to cap it all she publishes to the people of the United States, the following, which she herself pronounces “bold doctrines to preach to Americans:”— HOMI November 1893, page 11.2
“The friends of Catholicity assure us that, as God in his Providence creates a new soul for every human body that is born into the world, so the American Republic was no sooner born from the womb of time than he in like manner created a spiritual republic to be its companion, its protector, and infallible guide through all the years of its existence. HOMI November 1893, page 11.3
“They tell us furthermore that as the soul can live without the body, but the body cannot live without the soul; so the church can live without the republic, but the republic cannot live without the church. In a word, that the church is necessary to the republic, and without her spiritual guidance the republic must inevitably fall as have all the ancient republics of history before her.... HOMI November 1893, page 11.4
“Is not this whole country stamped for a Catholic land? With the great doctor, St. Augustine, guarding the Atlantic coast, and the heroic missionary, San Francisco, the Pacific; with the indomitable apostle, St. Paul, kindling zeal and enthusiasm in the North, and the gentle San Antonio inspiring love and peace in the South; with the Warrior King, St. Louis, in the center, and the great St. Joseph and Notre Dame, the gracious queen of heaven, hard by,—with all these powerful intercessors pleading for her, can we, I say, expect anything less than a glorious triumph for Catholicity in America? HOMI November 1893, page 11.5
“Surely God’s plans are manifest. America is the last and greatest of nations; and he means to possess her for himself.... The nets of St. Peter will drag this continent from ocean to ocean, till they are filled to breaking with the souls of men that shall be saved.”—The Catholic Church and the American Republic, Historically, Analytically, and Prophetically Considered, 1893, pp. 2, 3, 15, 16. HOMI November 1893, page 11.6
No more proofs are needed to show that upon the basis of the arguments furnished, and the governmental actions secured, by the National Reform combination, the Catholic Church now claims, and with all her native arrogance assumes, actual possession of our country. With the mouths of the Protestants, and Congress, and the Supreme Court, and the Executive, completely stopped by their own arguments and actions flaunted in their faces and before the whole country by the Catholic Church, our country to-day is practically held by the Catholic Church, and is therefore practically a Catholic country. This is OUR COUNTRY as it stands to-day. HOMI November 1893, page 11.7
What then as to HOMI November 1893, page 11.8
THE MESSAGE
Well, standing as we do, face to face with the beast, seeing his mischievous workings and hearing his loud and arrogant declarations; seeing before our very eyes the plain workings of the beast not only on his own part, but also through his image,—apostate Protestantism,—which is still blindly aiding and abetting the beast, which is now even more than ever the mere tool of the beast,—seeing all this, and standing in the very presence of it all, what is there left to do, what else can possibly be done, than unitedly to lift up the “loud voice:”— HOMI November 1893, page 11.9
“If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” HOMI November 1893, page 11.10
What is there left for us to do, and what else can possibly be done by any Seventh-day Adventist, than to receive that “great power” which is now descending from above, to arise and shine with that light and glory which is to lighten the whole earth, and all go forth crying “mightily with a strong voice:”— HOMI November 1893, page 11.11
“Babylon is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.... Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.... and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” Revelation 18:1-8. HOMI November 1893, page 11.12
This is all that can be done by any one henceforth who would give the third angel’s message; for this is the third angel’s message. It is true, this will cause the lines to be clearly drawn between us and every earthly interest and every worldy thing. It is true this will make the distinction appear clear-cut and positive between the worshipers of God and those who worship the beast and his image; between those who will receive the seal of the living God, and those who will receive the mark of the beast; between those who will wear the sign of salvation of Jesus Christ alone through faith alone, and those who will wear the sign of salvation by the Catholic Church alone through force alone; between those who will keep the Sabbath of the Lord, and those who keep the Sunday. HOMI November 1893, page 11.13
This is all true, and is it not time that this distinction was being made and clearly seen by the power of God and his truth? The beast and his image are drawing this line already. Is it not time that the power of the third angel’s message was drawing the line also? The National Reform combination, the image of the beast, never hesitates a moment to class with the Seventh-day Adventists everybody who protests against their evil work. And the Catholic Church—the beast—also now draws the line between herself and the Seventh-day Adventists, and openly declares to all Protestants that they must take their stand with the Seventh-day Adventists, or must stand with her; and that there is no other alternative for them without their standing in an attitude which is “indefensible, self-contradictory, and suicidal.” HOMI November 1893, page 12.1
Well then, seeing that both the beast and his image are drawing the line which it is the express object of the third angel’s message to draw, and are making the distinction which it is the express object of the third angel’s message to make, is it not high time that the people to whom this wonderful message is committed were so baptized into the Spirit, and clothed with the power of this glorious message, that the message itself shall do the work assigned to it, and have the glory and the honor and the distinction and the power that belongs to it? Shall the great enemy of this message and of all righteousness, do more to mark the distinction between the two great sides in this great controversy than the message itself shall be allowed to do? Shall the beast and his image be allowed to do more in making the distinction between their worshipers and the worshipers of God, than the people do to whom this awful message has been committed? Since Satan and the beast and his image are now doing the very work in this respect, that it is the rightful office of the third angel’s message itself to do, and since this message is not allowed to do its appointed work because of the blindness and the slackness of the people who profess to be giving that message, how much longer is it possible for the Lord to wait upon this people? O will this people ever awake? Will they ever arouse to the mighty work which is going on before our very eyes? Nearly two years ago there came this solemn word: “If any delay, the character of God and his throne will be compromised.” Shall the character of God and his throne be put yet further to the risk, shall these be indeed compromised, in waiting longer upon a people who will not awake nor come up to the help of the Lord against the mighty? HOMI November 1893, page 12.2
What, then, are— HOMI November 1893, page 12.3
OUR RELATIONS TO BOTH “OUR COUNTRY,” AND OUR MESSAGE
This is indeed an all-important question. From the evidences already presented it is clear that so far as “our country” is concerned, our relations to it are practically only our relations to the Catholic Church and apostate Protestantism—to the beast and his image. HOMI November 1893, page 12.4
As for our relations to the third angel’s message, this can be discovered and decided only by each individual for himself alone before God, for our relations to the third angel’s message are simply our relations to God. HOMI November 1893, page 12.5
It is easy enough to tell what our relations ought to be to the third angel’s message. To tell what these relations are is another matter. The relation of every one who bears the name of Seventh-day Adventist to the third angel’s message, ought to be just this: To be completely severed from everything of earth and of earthliness, from everything of the world and of worldliness. To be consecrated, all that he is and all that he has, wholly to the Lord. To have everything on the altar,—self, property, children, and all,—earnestly inquiring of God for a knowledge of his will, watching and waiting for the answer; constantly saying, “Here am I, Lord, send me;” and ready on the instant to go to the ends of the earth when the call is made, to bear to all nations this blessed gospel of the kingdom, for a witness to all nations, that the end may come. HOMI November 1893, page 12.6
This, and this only, is the relation which every person who bears the name of Seventh-day Adventist should bear to the third angel’s message. What your relations really are to this message must be decided by yourself and for yourself before God. HOMI November 1893, page 12.7
And above all things, be diligent in making this all-important inquiry; for there is but a very short time remaining in which to do it. HOMI November 1893, page 12.8
ALONZO T. JONES.