The Present Truth, vol. 11
July 11, 1895
“Front Page” The Present Truth 11, 28.
E. J. Waggoner
“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” Hebrews 4:9. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.1
This rest, as we learned from the connection, is the Lord’s rest. The promise is left us of entering into His rest. Verse 1. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.2
That rest is not something to which we are to look forward, but it is to be enjoyed in the present. It is a rest that “remaineth.” It has existed since the days of old, and has not been withdrawn. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.3
Evidence of the truth of this is found in the fact that the rest that remains is the Lord’s rest. The Lord is not looking forward to a time when He can rest, but is resting now. He calls us to share His rest with Him, saying, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.4
Since what time has this rest been ready for man? The answer is, “The works were finished from the foundation of the world.” Hebrews 4:3. A finished work means rest; and so we read in the next verse that “God did rest the seventh day from all His works.” The Sabbath day-God’s rest-is the sign or seal of creation complete and perfect. “God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Genesis 1:31. And then He rested from His work, from that time-from the close of the sixth day-God’s rest has been ready for man. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.5
And at that time man-the new man whom God had created-entered upon that rest. “The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Genesis 2:15. “Eden” means “pleasure” or “delight.” A very literal rendering of the Hebrew would be that the Lord took the man and “caused him to rest in the garden of delight.” Work was given him, but it was work without weariness. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.6
But the man did not continue in that rest. He disobeyed the Word of God, and thus lost the rest that was in it. God said, “Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground.” PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.7
Nevertheless God’s rest remained. The Sabbath-the perfect rest of the new earth-still was left to man, as an evidence that God had not cast him off, and is a pledge of the rest in the earth again made new. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.8
This perfect Sabbath rest, the seal of a new creation, is found in Christ. “In Him were all things created.” Colossians 1:16, R.V. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” 2 Corinthians 5:17. Since man lost his rest only by sin, he recovers it only by the righteousness of God in Christ. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.9
God’s rest, however, does not mean lazy idleness. Although God entered into His rest at the creation, Jesus said, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” John 5:17. He works by means of His Word, on the strength of which He rested. If that Word works in us, we also shall find rest in labour. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.10
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” Ephesians 2:10. Just as when God made man He set him to work, yet gave him rest, so when He makes the man new, He makes him do it in order that He may work, yet it is restful work. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.11
And that is what the Saviour’s call teaches us. When He invites the weary to come to Him for rest, He immediately adds, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me.” Being yoked up with Him, we work with Him, and He works in us. His works were all done by the Word of God. If we, like Him, give heed to every Word of God, we shall do the works, and find the rest. Who will accept the gracious invitation? PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.12
“He Longs to Save” The Present Truth 11, 28.
E. J. Waggoner
“God is love.” 1 John 4:16. Hence all that is Godlike is like love; and all that does the work of God works by love. Love wins-never coerces or drives. There is nothing but love in the Gospel; and therefore the Gospel coerces nobody, and all that does coerce is not of the Gospel. Rebellious Jerusalem was a type of the rebellious world,—of all the wicked who will not walk in God’s way. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.13
The Saviour wept over Jerusalem, saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” Matthew 23:37. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.14
So the Saviour would often have gathered all sinners unto Himself, cleansed of all their sin, but they would not. The Saviour loved them, and His love was the power He brought to bear upon them; but they were left free to refuse it, as they did. The same power is brought to bear upon sinners to-day, but they are as free to turn from it as were the Jews. Anything which interferes with this freedom is not the Gospel, and does not operate in the interests of Christianity. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 433.15
“Beautiful Apparel” The Present Truth 11, 28.
E. J. Waggoner
The Lord said that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of the lilies of the field. Matthew 6:28, 29. The reason was that the Lord arrayed the lilies, while Solomon arrayed himself. The contrast is between God’s way of doing, and man’s way. Man, not the lily of the field, is the crowning work of God’s creation; but while the lilies have remained what God has made them, taking their life just as He gives it to them and putting on just that grace and beauty which He bestows, man has “sought out many inventions.” He has tried in many things to improve upon God’s way, but the result has not been an improvement in the sight of God. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 434.1
The Creator did not design man to be meanly arrayed, while bestowing such beauty of adornment upon the inferior things of His handiwork. He does not wish man to be ignobly arrayed, even in his fallen and degenerate state. The Saviour said, “If God so clothed the grass of the field, which to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you?” Matthew 6:30. And can there be any better apparel any more beautiful and appropriate garments, than those which He makes for us Himself? PTUK July 11, 1895, page 434.2
We make a great mistake when we refuse to let God clothe us with the garments which suit His taste. And we make that mistake, as the Word tells us, by taking anxious thought about the matter, as though it were one of the main purposes of existence, and studying to be arrayed according to our human taste and fancy without consulting Him. He who apparels the lilies and clothes all nature in her beautiful dress is a wiser and more skillful Artist than any that ever held sway over the fashions of the world. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 434.3
If we make outward adornment our care and study, we shall prevent the true adornment which the Creator desires us to have. There is the adornment of “a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” 1 Peter 3:4. There is the “fine linen, clean and white,” which is “the righteousness of the saints.” Revelation 19:8. “The Lord will give grace and glory.” Psalm 84:11. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 434.4
He who clothes the lilies and the sun will give grace and glory to man, even in fuller measure than before the fall. He will share his own beauty and glory with us, if we will “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” His righteousness is the most beautiful garment ever beheld. He has put the prayer in our hearts, “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us” (Psalm 90:17), and His answer is, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” Isaiah 60:1. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 434.5
“Studies in Romans. Living for Others. Romans 14:14-23” The Present Truth 11, 28.
E. J. Waggoner
In our study last week we learned that the members of the members of the church of Christ are not judges one of another, but fellow-servants of one common Lord. We are not taught that it is a matter of indifference whether or not we keep the commandments of God; quite the contrary, since we are all to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and be judged by them but we are taught that in those things concerning which the law of God does not speak particularly, one man’s ways are as good as another’s. We learned even further that even one who may be faulty with respect to an express commandment, is not to be dealt with harshly, and condemned. Such a course cannot help one, and, besides, we have no right to do so, since we are but servants. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 434.6
“I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 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.” PTUK July 11, 1895, page 434.7
In order to save time and space we will omit the questions on the text, leaving each reader to question it for himself. Study each statement carefully, and consider its connection as well as the general subject, and what is stated elsewhere in the Bible concerning the same thing. As many errors arise from careless reading of the Bible, and from hasty conclusions from detached statements, as from wilful perversion of the Word. Possibly many more are the result of lack of proper thought than of deliberate wilfulness. Let us therefore always take heed how we read PTUK July 11, 1895, page 434.8
CLEAN AND UNCLEAN
The Apostle says, “I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.” If we consider well the subject under consideration, we shall not wrest this scripture from its connection. The thing presented from the beginning of the chapter is the case of a man with so little real knowledge of Christ that he thinks righteousness is to be obtained by the eating of certain kinds of food, or by not eating certain things. The idea clearly conveyed by the entire chapter is that it is by faith, and not by eating and drinking, that we are saved. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 434.9
A little consideration of the question of clean and unclean food will help us much. There is a strange idea prevalent, to the effect that things that were at one time unfit for food are perfectly wholesome now. Many people seem to think that even unclean beasts are made clean by the Gospel. They forget that Christ purifies men, not beasts and reptiles. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 434.10
There were plants that were poisonous in the days of Moses, and those same plants are poisonous now. The very people who seem to think that the Gospel makes everything fit to eat, would be as much disgusted at the thought of eating cats, dogs, caterpillars, spiders, flies, etc., as any Jew would have been in the days of Moses. Instead of finding that a knowledge of Christ reconciles one to such a diet, we find, on the contrary, that it is only the most degraded savages who make use of them for food, and such a diet is both a sign and cause of degradation. Enlightenment brings carefulness in the selection of food. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 434.11
Now there is no one who can imagine the apostle Paul or any other person of good sense and refinement eating everything that he could possibly find on earth. Although most people think themselves wiser than God in the matter of eating and drinking, there are, as there always have been, certain things universally held to be unfit for food. Therefore when the apostle says that nothing is unclean of itself, he evidently confines his remark to those things which God has provided for man’s eating. There are people whose conscience is so poorly instructed that they fear to eat even of things which God has given to be eaten; just as there are some who forbid the eating of “food which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving.” 1 Timothy 4:3. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 435.1
So when the apostle says, “One believeth that he may eat all things,” it is evident that the “all things” does not include filth. The idea evidently is that one believes that he may eat everything that is fit to be eaten. But another, having for instance the thought that some of those things may have been devoted to an idol, fears to eat of them lest he should thereby become an idolater. The eighth chapter of 1 Corinthians makes this whole subject plain, as it runs parallel with the fourteenth of Romans. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 435.2
This throws light also upon the subject of days. Since the apostle evidently confines his remarks concerning food to that which it is allowable to eat, it is more clear that those days which may be considered as all alike are those days only which God has not sanctified to Himself. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 435.3
THE NATURE OF THE KINGDOM
“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Over that kingdom Christ has been set as King, for God has said, “Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion.” Psalm 2:6. Now read further the words of the Father to the Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” Hebrews 1:8, 9. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 435.4
A sceptre is the symbol of power. Christ’s sceptre is a sceptre of righteousness; therefore the power of His kingdom is righteousness. He rules by righteousness. His life on earth was a perfect manifestation of righteousness, so that He rules His kingdom by the power of His life. All those who own His life are subjects of His kingdom. No other thing but the life of Christ is the badge of citizenship in the kingdom of Christ. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 435.5
But with what was Christ anointed King? The text last read says that it was with “the oil of gladness.” Then gladness, or joy, is a necessary part of the kingdom of Christ. It is a kingdom of joy, as well as of righteousness. Therefore it is that every subject of that kingdom must be filled with joy. “A gloomy Christian” is as much a contradiction of terms as “a cold sun.” The sun is for the purpose of shedding the warmth of which it is composed; so the Christian is for the purpose of diffusing the peace and joy which is a part of his nature. The Christian is not joyful simply because he thinks that he ought to be, but because he has been translated into the kingdom of joy. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 435.6
“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.” He who in what things serves Christ? Why, he who serves Christ in righteousness, and peace, and joy. Or, as some translations have it, “He that thus serves Christ.” God accepts such service, and men approve. Not only do Christians approve such service, but unbelievers are constrained to approve. The enemies of Daniel were forced to bear witness to the uprightness of his life, when they said that they could find nothing against him except in the law of his God. But that very statement was an approval of the law of his God, obedience to which made him the faithful man that he was. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 435.7
UNSELFISHNESS
Peace is a characteristic of the kingdom. Therefore those who are in the kingdom must follow the things which make for peace. But selfishness never causes peace. On the contrary, selfishness is always the cause of war, and inevitably produces war if it is persisted in. Therefore the subject of the kingdom must always be ready to sacrifice his own desires and ideas in behalf of others. The unselfish person will give up his own ways whenever they interfere with the peace of another. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 435.8
But do not forget that the kingdom of God is righteousness as well as peace. Righteousness is obedience to the law of God; for “all unrighteousness is sin” (1 John 5:17), and “sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). Therefore, although by the laws of the kingdom one must necessarily give up his own wishes in order not to interfere with the feelings of others, by those same laws he is precluded from giving up any of the commandments of God. Obedience to the law of God is that which makes for peace, for we read: “Great peace have they which love Thy law.” Psalm 119:165. “O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! Then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” Isaiah 48:18. Therefore he who is so “charitable” as to give up any portion of the law of God because some people are displeased with it, is not following the things which make for peace. On the contrary, he is rebelling against the kingdom of Christ. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 435.9
This again shows us that the Sabbath of the Lord is not under consideration, as one of the things which are to be held as matters of mere personal opinion. The Christian has no option with regard to that. He must keep it. It is not one of the days which the subject of the kingdom may disregard if he wishes. It is one of the things that are obligatory. But there are things which one has the right to do if he wishes, but which he is not obliged to do. For instance, a man has the right to eat his food with the fingers, if he wishes to; but if that annoys his companion, the law of Christ requires him not to do so. And thus it appears that the law of Christ alone, will, if carefully heeded, make a man perfectly courteous. The true Christian is a gentleman in the best sense of that word. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 435.10
There are many things that are allowable, which some people with faith that is weak, because it is uninstructed, think to be wrong. Christian courtesy, as laid down in the fourteenth chapter of Romans, requires that the better-instructed person should regard the scruples of his weaker brother. To roughly ignore those scruples, although they may be destitute of reason, is not the way to help that brother into a wider liberty. On the contrary, it is the way to discourage him. “It is good neither to eat flesh, not to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.” PTUK July 11, 1895, page 435.11
Thus it becomes evident that the fourteenth chapter of Romans is simply a lesson in Christian courtesy and helpfulness instead of teaching that the Sabbath, or anything else that pertains to the commandments of God, may be disregarded at pleasure. Consideration is to be shown for “him that is weak in the faith;” but the one who is offended by the keeping of the commandments of God, has no faith at all. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 436.1
THE LIMITATIONS OF CONSCIENCE
“Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God.” Faith and conscience pertain to single individuals. No man can have faith for another. No man can have faith enough to serve for two. The teaching of the Roman Church is that certain ones have had more faith than they needed, and have been more righteous than was necessary, so that they can divide with other people; but the Bible teaches that it is impossible for any man to have more faith than will serve to save himself. Therefore, no matter how well one man’s faith may be instructed, no other man can be judged by it. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 436.2
We hear a great deal in these days about the public conscience. We are often told that the conscience of one man is outraged by the course of another. But it is with conscience as with faith, no man can have enough for two. The man who thinks that his conscience will serve for himself and for somebody else, has mistaken selfish obstinacy for conscience. It is this mistaken idea of conscience that has led to all the horrible persecutions that have ever been perpetrated in the name of religion. Let Christians all understand that conscience is between themselves and God alone. They are not at liberty to impose even their freedom of conscience upon another; but by the laws of the kingdom of Christ, they are obliged even to refrain at times from exercising their own freedom, out of consideration for others. That is to say, the man who can walk fast, is to help along his weak brother, who is going the same way, but more slowly. But he is not to turn around to please somebody who is walking the other way. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 436.3
“Two Masters” The Present Truth 11, 28.
E. J. Waggoner
A servant of Satan is not a worshipper of God. The Saviour said, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” John 8:34. But the servant of sin is the servant of Satan; for Satan is the author of sin. When we obey him, we sin. We cannot at the same time obey both Satan and the Lord, any more than we can serve both God and mammon. And we cannot worship God and at the same time disobey Him. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 436.4
If we do not obey God-if, in other words, we sin-we do not worship God; but we do worship the power whom we obey; for obedience is an acknowledgment of the right and authority of the power to which it is given. Hence when we sin we do homage to Satan; we acknowledge his way (for sin is his way, which he has set up in opposition to the way,—or law-of God), and thus render to him what we should have rendered to God; that is, worship. Our obedience tells unmistakably whom we worship. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 436.5
“Heathenism Rampant” The Present Truth 11, 28.
E. J. Waggoner
The Coptic, Greek, Armenian, and Roman churches still continue to quarrel over the “holy places” in Jerusalem, and to this day it requires the active intervention of the Mohammedan soldiery to prevent bloodshed among these religionists, who are there, professedly, to maintain the honour of the Christian faith. A Jerusalem correspondent gives the following description of the scenes on one day during the Easter celebrations:— PTUK July 11, 1895, page 436.6
“All day long from early light people had been flocking about the tomb of Jesus, where the fabled fire was expected to descend at three in the afternoon. By noon the place was crammed and jammed. Some had spent six hours waiting for the miracle. By half-past two every available place was occupied. Men even tied themselves to pillars. At this time Greek enthusiasm was at its height. It is almost impossible to describe the scene in the gloomy dome and centre of the building, for the lamps had been turned down. The Greeks indulged in shouts and songs in a weird and eccentric way. My position was in the centre of the room near the tomb. Humanity was densely packed. Some young Arabs would mount on the hands and shoulders of their comrades and shout in Arabic: ‘This is the tomb of Jesus,’ ‘Jesus is our King.’ My dragoman said they were getting excited and that trouble was likely to come, and he wanted to retire. The shouts increased, at times becoming political. There was clapping of hands and songs. Two or three would be dancing up and down on the shoulders of their fellows. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 436.7
“At three o’clock passages were cleared by the soldiers for the ‘Patriarch’s Parade,’ who was to march with a large retinue three times about the tomb. Just as the door of the tomb had been reached, the Armenian monks and men endeavoured to push aside the Greek Patriarch and shove their own into the tomb to give the fire. The Arabs were at once wild. They screamed and shouted and made an onset on the Armenians. Greek and Armenian were in instant battle. About four hundred Mohammedan soldiers that were on duty in the church rushed to the scene and endeavoured to separate the noisy contestants. They used the butt ends of their guns in beating them apart, and even prepared to fix bayonets. A trumpeter meanwhile was constantly calling for order with the trumpet. But it was of no avail. The fighting would break out again and again between the Armenians and Greeks. At one point it appeared as though there would be a frightful massacre. Several were wounded, and it is reported that an Armenian monk has since died. The guard and soldiers finally overpowered the Christians of both factions, and order was partially restored. It was an awful sight in a sacred building.” PTUK July 11, 1895, page 436.8
“He Delighteth in Mercy” The Present Truth 11, 28.
E. J. Waggoner
The Lord’s ways are not man’s ways. Isaiah 55:7-9. This is one reason why the sinner may come with confidence to God. In immediate connection with this statement the Scripture gives an exhortation to the sinner to forsake his ways and return to the Lord, with the promise that He will abundantly pardon. The Psalmist understood this when he besought the Lord for pardon. He said, “For Thy namesake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great.” Psalm 25:11. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 436.9
It is not thus that we could come to man, for with him our hope of pardon would be in proportion to the littleness of our offence. We should not think of presenting the heinousness of our wrongdoing as a reason for clemency. But it is thus that we may come to the Lord; and therein appears the difference between His way and man’s way. The Lord delights in mercy. He delights in making the wretched sinner into a new man, by His creative power, and this is what His pardon does, for the pardon of the Lord literally takes the sin away. And “there is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, that need no repentance.” Thus does God reassure the fearful, trembling sinner; not that he may go on in his sin, but that he may turn to the Lord; for there is no promise to those who do not turn. God will pardon sin for His name’s sake; for “God is love,” and He cannot deny Himself. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 436.10
“The Sabbath and the Apostasy” The Present Truth 11, 28.
E. J. Waggoner
For the benefit of a Wimbledon correspondent we will reply to a few points suggested regarding the Sabbath question, although the same have been frequently covered in our columns. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.1
GOD MADE IT
1. He refers to Christ’s words, “The Sabbath was made for the man, and not man for the Sabbath,” and says, “If my hat is made for my head and the hat does not fit, I would not go to work to make my head fit the hat, but the hat must be adapted to fit the head.” PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.2
But this would be a charge against the Lord which could not be discussed. The Lord makes no mistakes or misfits. The Sabbath was made for man. Our correspondent is a man. Therefore it was made for him. It is the person who has never tried it on who is sure it will not fit. No one has ever yet truly yielded to the command, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” who has not found the blessing which the Lord placed upon the day when He made it. “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.3
ONE FIRST-DAY MEETING
2. From the twentieth of Acts our correspondent infers that the disciples, stopping at Troas seven days, held no meetings until “the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread.” PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.4
This is an assumption wholly groundless. Paul was pushing on toward Jerusalem in such haste that, as recorded in the same chapter, he had not time to go to Ephesus, and sent for the elders of that church to meet him at Miletus, and yet our correspondent would have him waiting in Troas seven days without meetings, in order to give us an example of Sunday observance. The record wholly refutes this supposition. The meeting in verse 7 was an evening meeting on the “first day,” and as such, according to the scriptural reckoning of days, must have been at the close of the Sabbath, on what we should call Saturday night; for a Sunday night meeting would be on the second day of the week. As Coneybeare and Howson say in their “Life and Epistles of Paul,“ PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.5
It was the evening which succeeded the Jewish Sabbath. On the Sunday morning the vessel was about to sail. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.6
Having remained with the church over Sabbath, an evening meeting was held, as it was the apostle’s last visit, and on Sunday, as the boat containing his companions was navigated to Assos, the Apostle Paul, to quote Coneybeare and Howson again, “pursued his lonely road that Sunday afternoon in spring among the oak woods and the streams of Ida,” having spent the Sunday in a journey on foot of about twenty miles. But wholly aside from this, cannot every one see that a meeting on a day cannot make a Sabbath or a sacred day of it, nor make void the commandments of God? Divine institutions are not so loosely established. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.7
THE WORDS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
3. Referring to Paul’s references in his Epistles to festivals and holy days, our correspondent says if these refer to the ceremonial festivals and the various annual sabbaths “then it must be admitted that Paul wrote fourteen Epistles, and never mentioned the Sabbath at all, except when referring to the future he said, There remaineth therefore a rest, or keeping of a Sabbath, to the people of God.” PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.8
The Study in Romans last week dealt with some of the references to festivals and annual ceremonial sabbaths which the Jews were to keep “beside the Sabbaths of the Lord” (Leviticus 23:38), and dealt with the principle involved in all, and the same study in this number touches upon it. As to the rest that remaineth, by a mere coincidence the notes on our first page echo the Gospel invitation to all to enjoy the rest that remains. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.9
A word, then, about the Epistles which do not specifically mention the Sabbath. They are not merely the language of Paul, but the language of the Holy Spirit, and that Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts and throughout the Gospels speaks as plainly of the Sabbath as God’s voice spake of it from Sinai. Moreover, in all of Paul’s Epistles he preaches the Gospel of Christ, and of necessity shows that sin is the transgression of the law of God, and that the only salvation for the sinner is that provided in order that “the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.” He shows that it is only the carnal mind that is “not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Romans 8:7. Not the Gentile mind (nationally speaking), but the carnal mind. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.10
What has this to do with the Sabbath? The same Holy Spirit which in all of Paul’s Epistles holds up the law of God as the eternal standard of righteousness, in the Epistle of James says that he that offends in one point “is guilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill.” And He who said, Do not kill, said also, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. It all stands together, and, therefore, wherever the Holy Spirit, by Paul or any other servant, proclaims the law of God by which we shall be judged, the Sabbath is also proclaimed. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.11
BUT ONE GOSPEL
The Apostle Paul did not preach a Gospel of his own. As a servant of the Lord he believed Christ’s words:— PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.12
“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:18, 19. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.13
Therefore wherever the apostle went he left Sabbath-keeping churches. Our correspondent says that the churches of Judea kept the Sabbath, but not the Gentile churches. But the Holy Spirit says that the church of Thessalonica, composed mainly of Greeks, “became followers of the churches of God which in Judea are in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 2:14. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.14
The Lord has not two Gospels. Every sinner who is saved, Jew or Gentile after the flesh, will have been justified by faith, and to be justified by faith is to have the carnal mind taken away and be made a doer of the law; for that is the Divine definition of justification. Romans 2:13. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.15
THE APOSTASY
It was not until long after apostolic days that there was any occasion for controversy regarding seventh or first-day observance. The apostasy had not developed, and the whole world knew nothing of any weekly rest day other than the Sabbath. The heathen world had “times” and festivals, but no rest day. History shows that when the “falling away” came, and the festival day of the sun was adopted and christened, the Sabbath was still formally retained as a rest day, and Sunday was observed by professed believers after the manner of the heathen, not as a day of rest, but as Tertullian says, writing about A.D. 200, as a day of special mirth and license. What that means, anyone who has read of the practices attending sun-worship knows. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 437.16
With the growth of apostasy even a formal recognition of the Sabbath ceased in the great body of the worldly church, and by the Council of Laodicea (about A.D. 361) the body of believers who kept the Sabbath of the Lord and refused to follow the lead of apostasy were anathematised. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 438.1
THE CALL TO REFORMATION
Now that the falling away has come, and the power that was to “think to change” the law of God (Daniel 7:25) has arisen and done its work, it is for Christians to recognise the fact that no power on earth can change the law of God. It is more than a mere question of a day. It is a question of the one day that God has blessed, and a question of loyalty to God’s law and Government. Now, when the coming of the Lord is drawing near, and the day when every man will give an account of himself before the Judgment Court of God, the Lord by His Word is calling men from tradition back to the Gospel of Christ, as Jesus Himself preached it and lived it. And just as surely as Jesus lived a life of obedience and Sabbath-keeping then, just as surely will He do the same now in every soul that yields itself to Him. This is living by the faith of Jesus. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 438.2
The fact that Christ is soon to return gives force and urgency to the call to reformation. “We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law. And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.” 1 John 3:2-5. And only as we abide in Him, and He in us, can we be kept from sin and transgression. That is the reason why the law of God is a law of liberty to the believer, and not a yoke of bondage. Christ’s call, then, to Sabbath-keeping, is but the invitation, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” PTUK July 11, 1895, page 438.3
“Debt” The Present Truth 11, 28.
E. J. Waggoner
It is so much harder to pay for things already eaten or worn, that they seem to cost twice as much as when paid for at the time of their use. Debt is a destroyer of self-respect, of peace of mind, of one’s ability to do the best possible with the amount he has to spend. Do without until you can pay is sound advice. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 444.1
“News of the Week” The Present Truth 11, 28.
E. J. Waggoner
-There were 249,273 Indians in America at the last census. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.1
-The health of Prince Bismarck is said to be seriously impaired. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.2
-A shower of black ants occurred recently at Winnipeg, Canada. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.3
-A society to combat the use of alcoholic drinks has been formed in France. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.4
-The town of Germany, in Galicia, was destroyed by fire, July 1, many families being left destitute. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.5
-The world’s supply of ivory is said to be getting low. Billiard balls are beginning to be made of metal. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.6
-Telegrams from both Western and Eastern Galicia state that no cholera has broken out simultaneously in different places. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.7
-Very serious floods are reported from the island of Java, with great loss of property. It is feared that the coffee crops will be lost. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.8
-A very good harvest is expected this year in the Caucasus, as well as in the Southern and South-Western Provinces of Russia. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.9
-It is now proposed in England to drive tram cars by power derived from huge strings, which can be wound while the whole is in motion or otherwise. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.10
-At a recent great meeting in the Wesley Church, Melbourne, a resolution in favour of union between the Wesleyan and the Methodists of Australia was carried unanimously. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.11
-People who live beyond their means and are very tardy in paying their debts have been black-listed in Vienna by a daring publisher. A book containing their names has met with a big sale. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.12
-As usual at this season, press despatches report many cases of poisoning from imprudent eating, fruit, meat, and ice-cream being the articles which call for the exercise of the most care in partaking. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.13
-So ignorant are some of the Russian peasants that recently thirteen of them attacked and murdered an inoffensive stranger passing through their district, because they regarded him as the personification of cholera. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.14
-The growth of the application of electricity as a meant of propulsion is shown by the fact that 850 electric railways, with 9,000 miles of track are now in operation in the United States, against only thirteen roads in 1887. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.15
-With the change of government at Westminster, a more vigorous British foreign policy is anticipated, which at the present critical stage of affairs in the East, is likely to seriously affect the prospects for peace. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.16
-A strong movement has been started in Western Australia to put a stop as far as possible to the immigration of Asiatics, who are beginning to pour into the country, and are regarded by the Australians as an “intolerable nuisance.” PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.17
-It has been found that a heavy charge of electricity passing through the human body does not cause death, but only suspended animation. June 20 a man who accidentally received a shock of nearly 5,000 volts from a dynamo at Rochester, New York, was resuscitated after the manner of a drowned person, and was able to be out on the following day. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.18
-The French forces in Madagascar are meeting with but little effective resistance from anything except the climate in their operations for the conquest of the island. In Cuba the struggle continues between the Spanish troops and the revolutionists, with varying success; and in Ecuador a truce has been arranged between the combatants, following a defeat for the government forces, and it is hoped that peace will be restored. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.19
-In the government of Kasan, in Russia, no fewer than 11,034 converted heathen, 5,690 of them women, relapsed from the orthodox faith into their original idolatry last year. During the same period in the same district, 12,188 Tartars, including 5,767 women, gave up the Greek church for Mohammedanism, and the religious authorities believe that the greater part of the converted orthodox Christians are at heart either Mohammedans or heathens. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 446.20
“Back Page” The Present Truth 11, 28.
E. J. Waggoner
Our friends in the Sandwich Islands have established a Chinese school in Honolulu. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.1
The New York Sentinel reports the arrest of nineteen Seventh-day Adventists in Graysville, Tennessee, under the Sunday law of that State. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.2
A Gospel that is not free to the poor, is not the Gospel of Christ. The rich and poor approach God on the level of him “that hath no money” and “whosoever will.” Isaiah 55:1; Revelation 22:17. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.3
The seal of the Huguenots, says a writer, had on it a representation of an anvil, surrounded by broken hammers, and this legend:— PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.4
“Hammer away, ye hostile hands;
Your hammers break, God’s anvil stands.”
PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.5
There will be no “common herd” in heaven. People will not live there in “droves,” or general classes, in which all individuality is swallowed up, as it is here. The very purpose of this life is the development, by a right use of the mind and will God has given us, of that individuality which will fit us for the special place God has for us in the purposes that embrace eternity. Each stone in the grand temple of the Lord is designed for a special place, and is been hewed and fitted to it here, as was each stone in the temple built by Solomon. There is no haphazard about our lives; it is all the hewing and trimming of the Divine hand. And the Divine voice saying to us, “Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Revelation 3:11. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.6
The organ of the West London Mission says that in a small group of eighteen very short streets in Soho, there are no fewer than seventy-six public-houses-or an average of more than four per street. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.7
In Holland, a near neighbour of whose affairs we hear so little, the constitution of the State was supposed to have been framed to for ever keep down Catholicism and maintain the Reformed religion “of the State.” A well-informed correspondent, writing of present conditions, shows how helpless legal establishments are. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.8
The northern provinces are honeycombed with infidelity and socialism, the State Church presents the appearance of a huge whirlpool, in which all manner of heterogenous tendencies and beliefs are gyrating, and the Roman Catholics, smarting over the oppression of the last three centuries, possess the balance of power in politics. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.9
The coldness and darkness of agnosticism is sadly shown by one of the eulogists of the late Professor Huxley, who died last week:— PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.10
It is an old and foolish gibe that our generation has ceased to believe in God but believes in Huxley; still, with him many of us lose almost the only sure counsellor and guide that remained to us. Even he was not very sure that the journey would end anywhere, and he had no hews of its ultimate issue. Only, there was to be no loitering in pleasant byways, no despair that the way was long and dark; above all, there was to be no following of wandering fires. Better walk straight ahead into the darkness than be led by the flickering of marsh lights. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.11
Philosophic doubt has nothing but the darkness and shadow of death to offer in place of the life and immortality which is brought to light in the Gospel. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.12
The Bishop of Exeter, rebuking “unauthorised observances” in his diocese, declared that there were a few who persist in the observance of Romish festivals, such as Corpus Christi day, St. Joseph’s day, All Souls’ day, and, as they term it, the Repose of the Mother of God, commonly called the Assumption; who bring bambinos into their churches at Christmastide and Epiphany, and who celebrate Requiem Masses for the Dead. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.13
It is not at all likely that the reproof will have any effect, as those who do these things are more logical than their Bishop. They follow-with the Bishop’s approval-the ancient Catholic Church in the observance of many festivals, the Sunday included, which are unauthorised by the Scriptures, and will logically say that while observing these they cannot reasonably reject others instituted by the same authority. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.14
The case of a preacher who has been prosecuted for uttering a slander in his prayer suggests to a Church contemporary the “great advantage of using the Book of Common Prayer.” We should say, rather, that it suggests the disadvantage of the practice of praying to the congregation instead of to the Lord. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.15
There is only one way to be patient under all circumstances, and that is to have love for the Lord. “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” Romans 8:28. We can be patient when we know that all things-trials, disappointments, deferred hopes, or whatever else-are working for our good; because, that being the case, things could not be any better for us than they are, and hence no chance for feelings of dissatisfaction can exist. But we cannot see that all things are working for our good, except with the eye of faith. If we love the Lord, we have God’s word for it that it is so; and we can rest upon that evidence without the slightest tremor of doubt. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.16
Union with Rome means union with Rome’s doctrines, one of which is thus plainly stated by a Catholic writer in Rome, in some comment upon current events:— PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.17
The Voce Della Verta remarks that the renascence of piety in the hearts of modern Romans is manifested in many ways, and notably in the late Christian renewal of the pretty custom of placing the image of a Madonna in the shops of Rome, before which a tiny lamp is kept constantly burning. The Madonna del Negosianti was banished from many a tradesman’s place of business since 1870; but they are now again turning with humbled hearts towards the Refuge of Sinners. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.18
Are you willing to stake your hopes and prospects for eternity on this kind of a “refuge of sinners”? This is Rome’s refuge,—the only one she has to offer the condemned and sin-sick soul. But God offers the Lord Jesus Christ; and for those who would turn to this Refuge, no union with Rome as possible. PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.19
Those desiring to get in small compass a comprehensive study of the Sabbath question should send sixpence to our publishers for “Truth Found: The Nature and Obligation of the Sabbath.” PTUK July 11, 1895, page 448.20