The Signs of the Times, vol. 16

October 20, 1890

“Principles and Precepts” The Signs of the Times, 16, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

The word “law” is derived from the same root as the words “lie” and “lay,” and primarily has the same meaning. “A law is that which is laid, set, or fixed, like statute, constitution, from Lat. statucee.”-Webster. And in harmony with this, the same authority gives us the first definition of the word “law,” “A rule of order or conduct established by authority.” It is a favorite saying with those who would make void the law of God while professing allegiance to his word, that the ten commandments are good, but that they are adapted only to fallen beings, and hence cannot bind angels nor redeemed saints, nor even people in this world who have been converted. Let us see how such a theory agrees with the definition of law. SITI October 20, 1890, page 514.18

We will suppose that the angels are free from law, and that redeemed saints are to have a like freedom. In that case there would be nothing “laid down” for their guidance-no rule or order of conduct established by authority. In fact, there would be no authority, and each one would act independently of all the others. There would then exist in heaven the same thing that would exist on earth if there were no law, namely, anarchy; for that means “without rule.” But “God is not the author of confusion,” and therefore such a state of things cannot exist in heaven, and if not in heaven, then of course not among the saints still on earth. The case may be stated thus: 1. When there is no law there is anarchy and confusion; there can be nothing else. 2. Confusion cannot exist among God’s people, whether in heaven or on earth. 3. Therefore the people of God are always and everywhere subject to his law. SITI October 20, 1890, page 514.19

Seeing that it will not do to claim that any beings are absolutely free from law, the enemies of the truth have invented a specious theory, with which, unfortunately, many firm believers in the law of God have been captivated. It is this: The law, they say, as it exists in the ten commandments hang on the two great principles of love to God and love to man, and it was these principles alone that existed before the fall, and these alone will be the law for the redeemed. Some there are who claim that these principles are all the law is abolished; for it is the same thing in reality, while it has the appearance of great deference to the truth of God. Let us examine it. SITI October 20, 1890, page 514.20

It is utterly impossible for anyone to be guided by an abstract principle. Certain principles may have a controlling influence on our lives, but they must be embodied in definite precepts. As an illustration, we will relate a portion of a conversation which we once had with a gentleman who claimed that Christians have nothing to do with the ten commandments. The question was asked him, Is there, then, nothing for Christians to do? Answer: “Yes, they must love the Lord.” Very good, but how are they to show that they love the Lord? Answer: “By doing what he tells them to do.” Well, what is it that contains specific statements of what the Lord requires us to do to show our love for him? Answer: “Young man, I am older than you are.” The reader will wonder, as we did, what bearing this had on the subject. It showed that the man saw that the only possible answer was,“The law of God,” an answer which would not agree with his theory, hence he chose to give none. But the illustration serves to show that principles, to be obeyed, must be embodied in precepts. SITI October 20, 1890, page 514.21

Says the beloved disciple, “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” 1 John 5:3. So when we read that the first great commandment is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37), we know that it means nothing more nor less than that it is our first and highest duty to keep, both in letter and in spirit, all those commandments which define our duty to God. In no other way can we show that we love him. In fact, nothing else but that is love for him. SITI October 20, 1890, page 514.22

Suppose for a moment that a man were placed here on earth with nothing to serve as a rule of life except the statement that he must love God supremely and his neighbor as himself. He sets out with a firm determination to do his whole duty. But erelong he is found doing something which God abhors. We will suppose that he is adoring the sun and moon. When reproved for this, he might well reply: “I did not know that I was doing anything wrong; nothing was said to me about this matter. I had a feeling of love and gratitude to God, and did not know how to manifest it in any better way than by paying homage to the most glorious of his created works.” By what law could the man be condemned? He could not justly be condemned, because the will of the Creator on that point had not been made known to him, and he could not reasonably be expected to know the will of God if it had not been revealed. SITI October 20, 1890, page 522.1

It will be seen by a very little consideration, that to put a man on the earth with nothing but a general command to love God, and at the same time to expect him to do nothing displeasing to God, would be to assume that the man had infinite wisdom. For God is infinite; and if a man, without being told, finds out what God requires, it can only be because he can comprehend infinity. But this is an impossibility. “Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?-No, indeed; the creature that could know the mind of God any further than it was directly revealed by him, has never existed. SITI October 20, 1890, page 522.2

Then since, as we have conclusively proved, there must be a law for all creatures, and since this law must be definitely expressed, and since, moreover, the whole duty of man is to love God above all things, and his neighbor as himself, we are shut up to the conclusion that the ten commandments always have been and always will be the rule of life for all created intelligences. In direct support of this, Solomon says: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13. This settles the matter, at least for the present time. John also says that the love of God is to keep his commandments; but it will be our duty to love God to all eternity; therefore it will always be our duty to keep the commandments of God. And it makes it no less a duty because it becomes our highest pleasure. To the natural man, duty is irksome; the object of making him a new creature in Christ is that it may be a pleasure for him to do his duty. Paul says that God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, thus condemning sin in the flesh, in order that the “righteousness [requirements] of the law might be fulfilled in us.” Romans 8:3, 4. The object of the gospel is to make us like Christ, who said, “I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.” Psalm 40:8. SITI October 20, 1890, page 522.3

In addition to the above, we offer the words of the prayer which Christ has commanded us to pray to God: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10. Now the will of God is his law. See Romans 2:17, 18; Psalm 40:8. We are taught by this prayer, then, that when the kingdom of God is established on this earth, God’s law will be kept here even as it is now kept in heaven. And David says, by inspiration, that the angels that excel in strength “do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.” Psalm 103:20. That is, they are anxious and delight to keep God’s commandments. Duty is with them a pleasure. And when God’s kingdom comes, we also, if permitted to become subjects of it, will delight to do God’s will, and will keep all his commandments, of which “every one” “endureth forever.” We shall then do perfectly what we now are (or should be) striving to do in spite of the weakness of the flesh. SITI October 20, 1890, page 522.4

This subject will be continued in another article, in which we shall consider the objection that there are certain commandments of the decalogue which angels or glorified saints could not violate if they wished to, and that therefore it is absurd to suppose that obedience to those commandments is required of them. E. J. W. SITI October 20, 1890, page 522.5

“A Serious ‘Drawback’” The Signs of the Times, 16, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

The New York Observer of October 2 has a letter from its Pacific Coast correspondent, entitled “A Sabbath in San Francisco.” After speaking of the flourishing growth and the commercial importance of the city, and of the numerous charities that are liberally sustained, he adds:- SITI October 20, 1890, page 522.6

“True, there are some drawbacks here as there are in all the cities of our land. Attractive as the city is, and in its main features very desirable as a place of residence, yet the good people who have come from the East regret the absence of some things with which they have always been familiar. There are no Sabbath law in California, and no recognition of it on the statute-books of the State. Labor of all kinds can be carried on without hindrance, stores may remain open for the transaction of business as on any other day of the week, places of amusement may be open without interference form the authorities, while noisy demonstrations can go on as usual. But while there is the absence of all Sunday laws, we must not draw the conclusion that there is no respect paid to the Lord’s day. Truth compels us to state the fact that San Francisco is a Sabbath-keeping city. The drift is plainly in that direction. The moral sentiment of the people is largely in its favor, and with very rare exceptions you will find as much order and quiet in the streets as in some of our most favored Eastern cities. Those who knew California twenty years ago now witness a far different order of things. The mass of the people respect and keep the Lord’s day.” SITI October 20, 1890, page 522.7

We can faintly imagine the pain that must have wrung the heart of the correspondent as truth compelled him to pen the above paragraph. We now understand something of the anxiety with which the hearts of all Sunday-law advocates turn towards California. What zealot for Sunday laws could contemplate such a condition of things as just described, without undergoing anguish of soul? Think of it; in San Francisco, where they have no Sunday law, the Sunday is actually as well observed as in the more favored cities in the East! How dreadful! And what is worse, the Sunday is much better observed than it was twenty years ago, when California had a Sunday law! This is heart-rending! Such a state of things must be changed at all hazards. San Francisco must not be allowed to struggle along, hampered by such “drawbacks.” SITI October 20, 1890, page 522.8

Perhaps some innocent person may ask, “Where is the ‘drawback’ in not having a Sunday law, and why should its absence be regretted if Sunday is observed in San Francisco as well as in our ‘most favored Eastern cities,’ and better than it was when California had a Sunday law?” Do you not see? It is not a ‘drawback’ to the city of San Francisco, but to the cause of religious legislation. Is it not evident that if this state of things is allowed to continue, people will conclude that Sunday laws are not necessary in order to have Sunday observed? More than this, when truth compels the zealous Sunday-law advocate to admit that Sunday is better observed in San Francisco now than when it had a Sunday law, some impertinent fellows, who have more logic than reverence for bigotry, will soon be claiming that Sunday laws are a detriment to proper Sunday observance. And then the advocates of religious legislation will have no argument except the one which a gentleman who is active in the movement recently used with us, “We are determined to have a Sunday law anyway.” What! let people continue to observe Sunday without a Sunday law? Never. That would be worse than to allow sick people to get well without a physician. E. J. W. SITI October 20, 1890, page 522.9

“Back Page: Sun-god” The Signs of the Times, 16, 41.

E. J. Waggoner

Israel’s making of the sun-god, or golden calf, is an emphatic lesson of man’s natural depravity. They had promised, but in their own strength, that they would obey God’s voice (Exodus 19:5), and they were no doubt honest in this; but their hearts were unregenerate, and deceived themselves. A deceived heart turned them aside. Isaiah 44:20. The only way by which we can do God’s will is to be regenerated-born again-the heart of enmity to God’s law taken away, and the new heart given. The only means by which we can keep God’s commandments is by his strength, put on through faith in Christ. Every other way, every covenant in our own strength, will, like that of Israel at Horeb, gender to bondage. Galatians 4:24. SITI October 20, 1890, page 522.10

Sabbath, October 11, was a good day for the church in Oakland. Elder E. J. Waggoner, who closes his pastorate over this church, covering a period of some years, spoke in the morning, basing his remarks on 2 Corinthians 4. The prominent thoughts presented were that not alone in the life to come did God reveal to us the blessings and joys of the eternal world, but even now he revealed them to us by his Spirit; that while the glorified people of God will sometime walk in immortality, in the presence of God, in the joys of the world to come, it was the privilege of the Christian to walk there even now by faith; and that God designed the sufferings even of this present life to work out in us even here an eternal weight of glory through the exceeding riches of his grace. The very things over which the natural man would become discouraged would prove stepping-stones to the Christian, who would come off more than conqueror in the conflict. After the sermon a social meeting was held, in which eighty testimonies were borne in a little over forty minutes, with no dry or prosy ones among them. There were present a part of the crew and some of the missionaries of the ship Pitcairn, who hope to sail westward within a week, and Elder J. N. Loughborough and others soon to go eastward to other fields of labor. It was a good day. God grant that all these his people may meet in the glad “harvest home.” SITI October 20, 1890, page 522.11

All departure from God’s word means idolatry, and the farther one strays from the letter of his warning or his command, the more flagrant becomes his idolatry. In the very beginning God provided means to guard men against idolatry, but that means has been grossly neglected, with the result that is so fully demonstrated in the history of man. He established at creation a memorial of the creative power of the true God. The one grand distinction between the true God and all false gods is that the true One created the heavens and the earth. No false god has ever claimed, nor was it ever claimed for him, that he created anything. SITI October 20, 1890, page 522.12

We read in Exodus 20:11 that “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.” Is it reasonable to suppose that if men had faithfully celebrated this weekly memorial day, they would have come to believe in any other god? See Ezekiel 20:12: “Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” We see, then, that the one object of the Sabbath, was a memorial of the true God. Is there any less necessity for such a safeguard to-day than there was in ancient times? SITI October 20, 1890, page 522.13