The Signs of the Times, vol. 10

November 27, 1884

“Helps in Studying the Lesson” The Signs of the Times, 10, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

The question has been asked, “At what time in the study of the Sabbath-school lessons should helps be brought in, and how should they be used?” To this question it is difficult to get an answer in a few words. In order to have a thorough knowledge of the subject, it would be necessary to have a clear understanding of what is meant by “helps;” but that must be waived for the present. We will suppose it to include the concordance, dictionaries, atlas, commentaries, histories, etc. Some will derive help from that which would be of no service to others. Taking it for granted that the things at hand are such as may be a help indeed, we would mark out, in brief, the following as a good plan for starting the lesson:- SITI November 27, 1884, page 710.1

Having learned from the lesson paper what the lesson is about, and what portion of Scripture it covers, take the Bible at once, there is where you will find the lesson to be studied. Read carefully, several times, all the texts that are quoted, so as to get them well in mind. The next step will be to commit to memory the portion that is to be memorized. This, of course, will not be accomplished at one effort; to commit the text thoroughly will be a work covering the whole week. If the student wishes, and is able, he may commit the whole of the lesson to memory; this is done by some, with profit. But it is not best to attempt too much at once. It is not the desire to tax the memory to such an extent that earnest thought cannot be put upon the matter thus committed. SITI November 27, 1884, page 710.2

While thus learning the texts referred to, the student should bear in mind the object for which they are quoted. Very often many things may be learned from a single verse; the question will indicate for what particular thing the verses is quoted. Then after learning the answers to each individual question, the lesson should be considered as a whole, to see the relation of the questions to one another, and what general point is made by the whole lesson. When this has been done, the student is ready to consult outside helps. SITI November 27, 1884, page 710.3

In the matter of consulting commentaries, great care and judgment must be exercised, as on doctrinal points they are often misleading.It is not safe for any one to consult commentaries indiscriminately, unless he is previously pretty well grounded in the truth. Commentaries are more for the learned than the unlearned. If one has a good general idea of the subject which he is studying, and is anchored to certain fixed principles, so that he can sift the chaff from the wheat, he will learn much from commentaries. It often happens that a positively erroneous exposition will awaken a train of thought in the mind of the careful student, that will be very profitable. Those, however, who are most familiar with commentaries, know that quite often the text upon which the student most needs light, is the one upon which the least is said. The reasons for this is obvious. It is perhaps needless to suggest that if there is any work bearing on the lesson, of whose orthodoxy you are fully assured, that is the one to be consulted first. It will aid your judgment in your further search. SITI November 27, 1884, page 710.4

One “help” should never be neglected. It is that of the Holy Spirit. It is the author of the Bible (2 Peter 1:20, 21; Ephesians 6:17), and can best give light upon it. One of its offices is to guide into all truth (John 16:13), and it may be had by any one for the asking. Luke 11:13; Mark 11:24. The promise, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men literally, and upbraideth not, and its shall be given him,” is given to all. This help should be sought before beginning the lesson, and during all the time of studying it. One thing more: The Saviour has said, “If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine.” He who earnestly and prayerfully studies the word, with a sincere desire to profit by it, cannot fail to be enlightened. Jesus also said: “If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” John 14:23. Now we read that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” When John 1:5. If then he dwells in us, what an all-powerful, ever-present help we have. Without this help, all others are worthless. E. J. W. SITI November 27, 1884, page 710.5

“Good Advice for Sabbath-Schools” The Signs of the Times, 10, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

The advice which we have to give is not our own, but is a bit that we found in a book written more than eighteen hundred years ago. It is contained in the following words of Paul to Timothy: “But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.” 2 Timothy 2:23. If every school would have this verse engrossed in large letters, suitably framed, and hung in a conspicuous place in the classroom, we believe that it would be to its benefit. There is no school in which is not needed as a warning, if not as a reproof. SITI November 27, 1884, page 713.1

We would by no means be understood as deprecating a spirit of investigation, or as advocating the shutting off of questions, except such as are indicated in the verse quoted. They are certain death to spirituality either in the school, the teachers’ meeting, or anywhere else. It is a lamentable fact that among any body of persons there will be some whose minds always grasp the fact that is not under consideration. A text of Scripture always conveys to them a hidden meaning, and they feel called upon to make known their doubts, or their new ideas. Others are always reaching out after the unattainable. They want to know more than is revealed. The question as to where Cain got his wife is still current. “Who was Melchizedek?” is asked with as much anxiety as though eternal happiness depended on the correct answer. The question, “How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?” is still put in spite of the fact that the inspired apostle has marked the mental ability of the questioner down to zero. SITI November 27, 1884, page 713.2

There is no end to these foolish and unlearned questions. We mention (though not without a blush) a case that occurred in a Sabbath-school which we recently visited. In the course of the lesson, Genesis 7:14, 15 was quoted as a proof text. At the close of the hour, when the leader inquired if any one had a question to ask concerning the lesson, one pupil rose and with much seriousness asked to know the difference between a bird and a fowl (!), since both words occur in Genesis 7:14. It will be said that this is an extreme case, and that so foolish a question is seldom asked. No doubt it is an extreme case, and if the question had been only asked we would not mention it; but there were no less than half a dozen persons who were unguarded enough to offer answers. It was this fact that convinced us that the bit of advice which we have quoted is greatly needed. SITI November 27, 1884, page 713.3

In the current lessons in the SIGNS, on immortality, there is room for an abundance of unlearned questions. Some will want to know how the Spirit can return to God. Others will demand, or offer to give, an exact definition of the terms “soul” and “spirit.” “How is it that the dead can hear the voice of God?” is a question that worries not a few. “What is life?” will probably be asked until mortals reach the state where they will not dissipate their intellectual powers by employing them on unprofitable questions. SITI November 27, 1884, page 713.4

“They do gender strifes.” The strifes do not always appear; in fact, we seldom hear of them in Sabbath-school, nevertheless strifes is the legitimate result of such questions. The reason is that there is nothing to decide the question at issue. There is nothing to which either party to the discussion can appeal as a final authority. The opinion of one is of as much value as that of another, and none are worth anything. If the discussion of such questions does not lead to strife, it is solely because the parties have enough grace in their hearts to yield a point, or let the matter drop. SITI November 27, 1884, page 713.5

As a general thing, the subject matter of the lesson will suffice to fill all the time allowed. If something in the lesson brings to one’s mind a text outside of the lesson, which throws additional light upon it, by all means let him speak of it for the benefit of others. The object of every lesson is to stimulate, not to repress, thought. If the leader sees that the text has no bearing, he can state that fact in a few words, and in a manner not to wound feelings of many. It may chance that the leader’s judgment is at fault, and that the text is to the point, but so long as he is leader he must be allowed to direct the course of the lesson. In a company of earnest students there will be no dearth of good thoughts, and it would be better to let one or two be lost, than to have a discussion to no profit. If a theory can be supported by Scripture, it must be good, but guesses concerning the Bible do not amount to much. SITI November 27, 1884, page 713.6

As we before said, these questions are usually dropped before they develop into strife; but of what profit are they? Are there not enough revealed truths in God’s word to occupy all our powers of mind, without frittering them away on foolish questions, or those to which no answer can be given, and which, even if answered, are of no practical importance? Time is too precious to spend on trifles, and therefore let us always and everywhere heed the apostle’s admonition: “Foolish and unlearned questions avoid.” E. J. W. SITI November 27, 1884, page 713.7

“‘The Lord’s Day.’ (Continued.)” The Signs of the Times, 10, 45.

E. J. Waggoner

(Continued.)

In our further investigation of this subject, we shall understand that the word “Lord” is applied both to the Father and the Son, and that even though we find it in various places applied specifically to one of them, the act predicated of that one is the act of the other also. We have seen that there is no working at cross purposes between the two, but that they are “one” in every thought and act. It is sometimes claimed, in connection with Revelation 1:10, that in the New Testament Jesus only is called “Lord,” some other title being invariably applied to the Father. One text (Revelation 11:15) is sufficient to disprove that claim: “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Here there can be no question but that “Lord” refers to the Father especially. In one verse in the Old Testament (Psalm 110:1), the word is applied to both Father and Son: “The Lord said unto my Lord, sit down at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” But in this case, the Hebrew has a different word for each; but in Revelation 11:15 the word for Lord is Kurios, the same that is used throughout the New Testament. SITI November 27, 1884, page 713.8

From John 5:23 we learn “that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” Wherever, then, we find an act enjoined by the Father, we know that the performance of that act honors the Son also, and that the neglecting of it is as much an insult to the Son as to the Father. Disobedience to the Father dishonors Christ. Now turn to Isaiah 58:13, 14 and we shall find one way in which we are to honor God: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” SITI November 27, 1884, page 713.9

In this text the Lord, through his prophet, speaks of “my holy day.” So it is the “Lord’s day” that is under consideration. The text shows that the Lord claims but one day as his own, because it does not say “my holy days,” nor “one of my holy days,” but “my holy day.” From this we also learn that the “Lord’s day” is holy. And still further, we learn that this holy, Lord’s day is the Sabbath: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable,” etc. Now turn to Exodus 20:8-11, and you will find all these things combined, and in addition will be told exactly what day of the week this holy Sabbath-the Lord’s day-is:- SITI November 27, 1884, page 714.1

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” SITI November 27, 1884, page 714.2

Right here we stop to notice an objection. A Presbyterian Catechism, which is before us, claims that the Sabbath is not the seventh day in order from the creation, but may be “any other seventh part of our weekly time.” The reason it gives for this claim is this: “In the beginning of the commandment it is not said, ‘Remember the seventh day,’ but, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ Just so in the end of this command, the words are not, ‘The Lord blessed the seventh day,’ but, ‘The Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.’” The fallacy of this reasoning is very evident, when we remember that “the seventh day is the Sabbath.” Since the seventh day is the Sabbath, that is, the seventh day and the Sabbath exactly coincide, and are one and the same thing, a blessing pronounced on the Sabbath day was, of necessity, a blessing on the seventh day. But that there may be no chance for any to imagine that our reasoning is not sound, we quote the direct statement of the sacred record: “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified [hallowed, see Webster] it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Genesis 2:3. In the face of this scripture, men may speculate as much as they please, but it will be in vain. It will still remain a fact that “the seventh day is the Sabbath.” SITI November 27, 1884, page 714.3

“But,” it is still objected, “the commandment does not say that the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath, and therefore we are left to decide for ourselves which seventh day we shall keep.” The inspired record decides this point, too. But first we would ask, If the commandment does not enjoin the observance of the seventh day of the week, what seventh day does it enjoin; it must be the seventh or last day of a period which consists of just seven days, the first six of which are devoted to labor. But the only period of that kind known is the week. Now turn to an incident recorded in the New Testament. SITI November 27, 1884, page 714.4

Immediately after the death of Jesus on the cross, Joseph of Arimathaea, begged his body, and took it down and laid it in a sepulcher. The inspired historian tells us “that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on.” Luke 23:54. He says further that “the women also, which came with him to Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulcher, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day.” Verses 55, 56. Here we have the record of two successive days,-the preparation day, and the Sabbath of rest, which immediately followed. What next? “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came onto the sepulcher.” Luke 24:1. This was “when the Sabbath was past.” Mark 16:1. Now if the first day of the week immediately follows the Sabbath day, on what day of the week does the Sabbath come? The seventh, of course, for there are only seven days in a week. The disciples, then, rested on the seventh day of the week. But what does that signify? If you read the fifty-sixth verse entire, you will see. “And they returned, and prepared spices and appointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” We have already seen that they rested on the seventh day of the week; now if this was “according to the commandment,” what is plainer than that the fourth commandment enjoins the observance of the seventh day of the week? SITI November 27, 1884, page 714.5

We have learned, then, that the seventh day of the week was the Lord’s day from the beginning, that the Lord sanctified it, or made it holy, and that the followers of the Lord,-those who loved to honor him,-observed it as such even after the crucifixion. And here we will leave the subject for this week. E. J. W. SITI November 27, 1884, page 714.6