The Watchtower, September 1, 1887
ZWT - 1887 - R0897 thru R0997: R0968 (001) - September, 1887
VOL. IX. PITTSBURGH, PA., SEPTEMBER, 1887. NO. 1.
Zion's Watch Tower
AND
HERALD OF CHRIST'S PRESENCE.
PUBLISHED MONTHLY.
TOWER PUBLISHING COMPANY, PITTSBURGH, PA.
BUSINESS OFFICE: No. 151 Robinson St., Allegheny, Pa. C. T. RUSSELL, EDITOR.
The Editor recognizes a responsibility to the Master, relative to what shall appear in these columns, which he cannot and does not cast aside; yet he should not be understood as endorsing every expression of correspondents, or of articles selected from other periodicals.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
TERMS:--FIFTY CENTS A YEAR, POSTAGE FREE. Including special number (Millennial Dawn, Vol. I., paper bound) seventy five cents. Remit by draft, P.O. Money Order, or Registered Letter, payable to C. T. RUSSELL.
FOREIGN TERMS.
Three shillings per year. Including "Special Number," four shillings. Remit by Foreign Postal Money Order.
TAKE NOTICE.
This paper will be sent free to any of the Lord's poor who will send a card yearly requesting it. Freely we have received and freely we would give the truth. "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat-- yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." And you that have it--"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently--and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."--`ISAIAH 55:1,2`.
HINTS ON SELLING DAWN.
Any one desirous of engaging in the spread of the truth can find grand opportunities and plenty of them, selling paper-bound DAWN, VOL. I. The present price, 25 cents, brings it within the reach of all. We state again that ten cents per copy is allowed for expenses out of the Tract Fund. According to your zeal, faith and talents united, will be your success. Take your sample book and make a trial before ordering books. For particulars of how to succeed in selling DAWN, write to us for a copy of our Hints to MILLENNIAL DAWN Canvassers, just printed. It will be sent free by mail.
MISSIONARY ENVELOPES.
Another plan for spreading the "glad tidings" has been conceived. It is to print some pointed Scripture passages briefly showing our glorious hope, across the face of an envelope at the top, leaving plenty of room for addressing and stamps, and on the back of same some friendly mentions of MILLENNIAL DAWN.
The suggestion is that if all our readers used envelopes printed thus for their correspondence, it would call the attention of thousands to the "blessed hope," which fills our hearts, and to the book which presented that hope, briefly, strikingly, and often more effectively than any other tract or paper would do, and without extra cost to you, by the plan we have arranged.
Buying and printing envelopes in quantities, we can pay postage to you and all expenses, and sell them at a lower rate than you could buy them for blank, in small quantities. We can supply you at 35 cts. a hundred, or 300 for one dollar, postage or expressage prepaid. And for any one wanting 2,000 at a time, we will print a neat small business card in the corner below the above mentioned Scripture texts, without extra charge, i.e., 2,000 for six dollars ($6.00) expressage prepaid. Cash in advance must accompany all orders, as it will busy us to attend to the extra work, without trouble and worry about accounts and collections.
In this way those at home also, can find room to do something in the harvest field, can help spread the good tidings of great joy, and bring it before the eyes of thousands. And if brethren in business will adopt the plan, hundreds of thousands of these messengers may soon be running to and fro through the earth and knowledge be increased thereby. We can offer no variety--they will be full sized No. 6 Envelopes, of either a green or blue tint. We need not say to you that they will be neat and respectable.
Less than 100 we do not care to sell, as the time consumed does not justify; hence we say, Less than 100 will be one cent each. Address orders to TOWER PUBLISH CO., Allegheny, Pa., U.S.A.
VIEW FROM THE TOWER.
"Watchman, What of the night? The morning cometh, and also the night."
Our last "VIEW" scanned the advantages of the present over all past time, to the consecrated child of God, both for his own up-building and for preaching the glad tidings to others; but now we look beyond the present, into the future. We see beyond, the brightness of the Millennial Day whose dawn-streaks may even now be seen as we look from the WATCH TOWER in the right direction. We know that there the Sun of Righteousness, with healing in its beams, shall ultimately dispel all darkness--every error and wrong; but between the present comparatively favorable hour, though it is not without its difficulties, and that coming time of unhindered righteousness, what may we expect? Will it continue to be as favorable for study and helps as the present, or more so, or less so? Will it be favorable as the present for labor in the vineyard, or more or less favorable? That is the query now.
We have no desire to draw a dark picture; we prefer rather to think of and point out the glory to follow, the joys of the grand incoming Millennial Day, than the afflictions and discouragements of the nearer future, which precedes full sunrise.
But it is necessary as a portion of "meat in due season," that the saints should be at least in a measure forewarned of impending events, that when they come to pass they may not be alarmed or disheartened, but being fore-armed may know how to meet them; and also that they may more fully appreciate the blessings of the present, so as to most diligently "Work while it is called day, for the night [a much darker time in comparison with the present, which is called day,] cometh wherein no man CAN WORK." Though the Watchman proclaims to the inquirer that the Millennial morning cometh, he should also forewarn of the approaching night between, darker than the present.
The Apostle asserts that "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine." (`2 Tim. 4:3`.) He speaks of the general or nominal Church, which in our day includes "all sorts" of what a prominent Methodist Bishop has styled "the ring-streaked and speckled of Christendom." While this is true now in the same sense that it has been true for centuries, is it not to have a more forcible and clear fulfillment future? It is true now that the Church nominal will not endure preachers who ignore their creeds and "preach the Word," the "whole counsel [plan] of God;" but having "itching ears" they love human speculations on evolution, and philosophies falsely so called, rather than the Word of God, which to them, seems old and unrefreshing; for none get the refreshing "meat in due season" from the Word, except those who possess its spirit and are walking in obedience to its light. And yet because they cannot hinder it, they endure the sound doctrine to some extent--to an extent far beyond what Rome in her palmy days would have endured. Men have been burned at the stake, imprisoned, etc., for expressing truths with far less force and plainness than is used in the TOWER.
Just before the words we are considering (`2 Tim. 4:3`), the Apostle refers directly to the perilous times of the last days of this age, (`Chap. 3:1-13`), pointing out its high minded, pleasure-loving and good-despising characteristics, with its formalism, covetousness, pride and unthankfulness; and declares that (in the church) Evil men and leaders-astray (from the truth) shall grow worse and worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves by their sophistries. And since the Apostle was thinking and writing specially about the last days, and not about the middle ages, we are surely justified in querying whether a time may not be but a short distance before us, when sound doctrine will not be endured, or permitted, to any degree in the "last days."
While it is true now, to a large extent, that none are permitted to buy or sell [trade in the truth] in the common marts or synagogues, except those who have the mark of the beast or the number of his name, (`Rev. 13:17`) yet we manage to do considerable trading outside--among the people. And the question is, May not this statement of the Revelator mean still more than our present experience, and like the Apostle Paul's statement imply that a time will come in the last days, in which sound doctrine will not be endured at all?
In back numbers of the TOWER, we have shown that the true Church, while in the flesh, is the antitypical Elias or Elijah, which introduces and prepares the way of the true Spiritual Church--the Christ in glory. We showed that the prophet Elijah's ministry was typical of the Church's ministry, and that his tribulations at the hand of Jezebel and her priests and Ahab, were typical of the persecutions of the true saints at the hand of the antitypical Jezebel, the false church --Rome, and her priests, and her husband --the Roman Empire etc., etc. We also showed that John the Baptist was another type of the Church in the flesh during this Gospel age, in that he fulfilled the work of the antitypical Elijah to the Jewish people, when the kingdom was offered them formally and figuratively at the first advent. John was called the Elias because he was another figure, as Elijah was, of the real Elijah, antitypical--the true church in the flesh. (`Matt. 11:14`.) So, then, whatever we find in the life and experience of either Elijah or John, which seems to fit well to the experience of the Church, and to the testimony regarding her future earthly course, we are justified in recognizing as typical.
We shall not here refer at length to Elijah and the wonderful correspondence between his experience and that delineated in the Revelations, in which even his persecutor Jezebel is mentioned by name, and the application made of it to the Church's persecutor, nor to the exact correspondence of time there pointed out and the fulfillment of all these in the history of the true (not the nominal) Church. For this we refer you to your file of TOWERS. (See, Nov. '83.) We here draw your attention merely to the closing events of the lives of Elijah and John, as illustrative of what we may expect to be the closing events in the history of the "little flock" in the earthly condition--the true antitypical Elias which was to come, and whose failure to turn or convert the hearts of the world before the great Millennial day of the Lord, makes necessary the smiting of the earth with a curse (`Mal. 3:23,24`.) --the time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation, needful to prepare the world for the reign of the Prince of Peace.
Elijah passed from earthly scenes in a chariot of fire, representative of the spiritual glory and exaltation awaiting at the end of the earthly race course, those of the Church alive and remaining to the last; but we should also remember that it was by a whirlwind or storm-burst that he was taken away; and a storm is the symbol of trouble as much as the fiery chariot would be a figure of victory and glory in that trouble.
John the Baptist's closing experiences mark the trouble feature more clearly. Though he was not obeyed by the people (`Matt. 17:12`), they for a short time recognized him as a sincere man, a servant and prophet of God (`Jno. 5:35`), yet when he had announced Jesus as Messiah,
his work soon began to wane, as he had testified it should do, saying of Jesus, "He must increase, but I must decrease." So it must be in the end of this age: the work of the John class or Elijah class, closes with the announcement that The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and the King is present. This is now being done; and strange to say the testimony is in almost the same words used by John, who declared: "There standeth one [present] among you whom you know not," "whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge [cleanse] his [threshing] floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" [in a time of trouble].--`John 1:26`; `Matt. 3:12`.
As John decreased--his work being done when this message was delivered --so the Church in the flesh must decrease when its last message is given, until the last member has laid down his consecrated life and passed beyond the vail into "glory" thenceforth to be a member of the glorious reigning Christ. As John said that Jesus must increase, so now that the real Kingdom is about to be established, we can confidently say, that the King is present, and that his kingdom must increase until it fills the earth. And, John's announcement of the "harvest" work--the gathering of the wheat, and the trouble coming upon the chaff, finds its parallel in the present time.
John's liberty was restrained soon after the delivery of this message announcing the present One and the work before him; he was cast into prison because he had reproved the king of improper union with a woman (`Matt. 14:4`); and though the faithful children of God have often pointed out that union between the church and the civil power was out of order, being in the Scriptures termed harlotry (`Rev. 17:5`), and though in great measure the world has separated from the churches, the union still exists and bids fair to increase; for the Scriptures seem to point out that in the time of trouble approaching, the churches, professedly virgins of Christ, will be on the side of and will be
united to the kings of the earth; and the true church like its prototype, John the Baptist, will be unpopular and restrained of liberty, because of faithfulness in opposing and condemning this error.
In John's case and Elijah's, it was a woman that persecuted, a king acting as her agent and tool: with the true church it has been in the past, that which these symbolize, and doubtless will be so in the future--the nominal Church represented by a woman and civil government by a king. Not only does prophecy point out a closer union between these than at present exists, but common sense teaches us the same; for any one can see, that the principal lever by which the aristocratic classes rule the masses, is the superstition that God appointed these "great men," often both weak and vicious, to rule over them; and that to rebel against tyranny, and injustice, and to claim justice, liberty and equal right, is to oppose God's will. The church of Rome laid the foundation for this when she had power over the nations. She made and unmade kings and emperors, and claimed to do so as God's representative, and taught that when such were appointed, they reigned by divine authority.
Protestants followed in her footsteps and tacitly admitted these claims; and hence to-day Protestants and Catholics stand virtually pledged to the monarchies of Europe, and will be bound to deny the right of the people to redress their wrongs, or assume self-government, except by constitutional means, which is impossible, except in such countries as Great Britain, whose present liberal constitution whereby the majority of the people are able without violence to redress their wrongs, was gained by revolt against the autocratic power of their kings. (See, "Magna Charta" in English history.)
Not only so, but the coming struggle between the Aristocracy and the Masses of every civilized land, will be so peculiar, so unlike any former experience, that moderate, conservative, religiously and peaceably inclined people, fearing the utter wreck of society in chaos and anarchy, will naturally prefer monarchy, oppression and bondage, to anything certain to be worse. Hence such will side with church and empire, with wealth and aristocracy, in the general effort to repress and prevent that irrepressible conflict.--"The battle of the great day of God Almighty."
Eventually almost the only exceptions to this course, among the lovers of peace and true religion, will be such as ourselves, to whom the King of kings is pleased through his Word to reveal his plans (`John 16:13`), and who have full confidence in his wisdom and love, as well as in his power to make all things work out according to his prophetic promises. Only such among the conservative, order-loving people as see the part which the coming social revolution must play in God's plan, in removing effete systems whose day is past, and in preparing the world by a great levelling process, for the Millennial reign of righteousness, will be able to comprehend the situation and to act accordingly. But these will be misunderstood, and their endeavors to point out the true state of the case, and the real and only remedy, will probably be interfered with by those who see not the grand outcome, and who because unwilling to submit their own wills, ideas and plans, are unable to see God's plans. When repressive, restrictive and coercive measures are thought to be necessary, such measures will probably include not only labor organizations and the organs which advocate their rights and wrongs, but probably such publications as point out the plan of God, and the real cause and only remedy for the great distress of the nations. Yes, the time may not be far distant when repressive measures may be brought to bear against the TOWER, the MILLENNIAL DAWN, and against every efforts of the saints to spread the good news of the coming Kingdom, all on the plea that the general interests and the public welfare demand such a course.
Thus will be fulfilled the predictions of the `second Psalm`, and probably in the end with more bitterness than can now well be imagined, though it has been partially fulfilled already upon the Head of the body.--`Acts 4:25-29`.
The same necessity for restricting liberty on political and social questions, will probably be seen to apply equally to freedom of expression on religious questions, which really lies at the foundation of all liberty. It would not surprise us if a "strong government," a monarchy, would some day replace this present Great Republic; and it is entirely probable that a common standard of religious belief will be deemed expedient and will be promulgated, to teach outside of which, will be treated and punished as a political offence. Such a persecution would not only furnish in the end or harvest of this age another parallel to the harvest of the Jewish age (`Acts 4:10-13,23-30`; `5:29-41`; `11:19`), but would also give a wider and deeper meaning than we had before expected, to the words of the Apostles Paul and John, quoted at the beginning of this article, and to the typical illustration of the close of the earthly career of the true church, as represented in Elijah's whirlwind and John the Baptist's imprisonment and beheading.
Two lessons we may draw from this to advantage, whether future developments shall prove that we have read the prophetic testimony correctly or incorrectly, and they are these: First, we should be so prepared, so armed, and so thoroughly furnished with the invincible truth, that persecutions would move us only to greater zeal, and not lead us through surprise or fear to lower our standard, nor to surrender when the Kings of the earth stand up and with the religious rulers of the people are gathered against us and the truths to which God has granted us the privilege of witnessing, as his servants and ambassadors, to them who know us not, even as they knew not our Lord. (`1 John 3:1`.) Second, such reflections relative to the future, contrasted with the privileges of the present (See last month's VIEW) should serve to stimulate every consecrated child of God to make diligent use of the present grand harvest opportunities and privileges, remembering that "he that reapeth receiveth wages," as truly as they that planted and watered, and that now is pre-eminently a time for gathering fruit unto eternal life. The little quiet of the present favorable time, with its greater liberties and advantages in every way, is divinely arranged in order to the sealing of the true servants of God in their foreheads (intellectually). --See `Rev. 7:3`.
The Master saith: "Work while it is called day; for the night cometh when no man can work." Ask yourself, What am I doing? Then lay aside weights and hindrances, and multiply your efforts. Be assured that if you are not a servant of the truth in some of the many ways now open, you are unworthy of it, and will lose your hold on it, because now is the harvest, the sifting and separating time. Various things will tend to draw you away from the truth; fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters will oppose and seek to separate you from the truth and its service. You must remember the Lord's words, that the "harvest" is not a time for peace, but on the contrary it will surely produce separation and alienations between true wheat and all else. See, and treasure up his words on this subject.--`Matt. 10:30-39` and `Luke 18:28-30`.
BROTHER HICKEY'S ANNIVERSARY.
Saratoga Co., N.Y., Aug. 23d, 1887,
MY DEAR BRO. RUSSELL:--Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied! Surely, I have great joy and consolation in thy love, being refreshed by thee.
The August TOWER is a very precious and grateful supply of the satisfying food God so graciously permits you to dispense to the household of faith. Thank you for the very kind personal allusions. I know you meant all in love (including letter, though its publication was embarrassing). The articles from your pen are verily "meat in due season." And I am greatly rejoiced to learn that the number of harvesters is increasing; that their enthusiasm is so great; that the seal of divine approbation is so evidently set upon their efforts; and that each zealous worker seems to realize it, in his or her inner consciousness.
In my own case, I am frank in confessing that I believe that the prime object my Heavenly Father had in view in the severity of his dealings with me during the three months (just past) of physical suffering, was to bring me to see what is now manifestly my plain duty.
That is, to devote all the strength God gives me to the work of carrying to others and to as many as possible, that same blessed instrumentality which served to dispel the darkness from my own pathway, and to carry me forward and upward to such sublime heights of vantage ground, as to make me spurn forever anything and everything that is of the earth earthy; and to so fill and sway and agitate my throbbing heart as to all but burst, it in the sudden and mighty inflow of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord; and to plunge me into such fathomless depths of the boundless ocean of God's love as to cause me to struggle and gasp, and--in my supreme joy, to wonder what possibilities there must be--can be, when we see face to face. God, I say, has been teaching me by exceedingly severe dealings that my bounden duty is "go and do likewise!" I can see very plainly now as I look back at the various stages of my sickness, how that God, in love permitted a severe and sudden attack when I thought I was gaining and began to plan for "my way." That happened so often, that at last my dull comprehension has been sharpened and I have answered my Master with a "Yea, Lord, thy servant heareth!"
And now my health improves every day and my strength increases, and instead of being called hence, as I delusively imagined I was to be, I was only being vigorously shaken up, to a realizing sense of what I ought, long ago, to have seen to be my very plain and bounden duty. Now it might be of some use to print some of this letter. For it might serve to arouse some other of the sickly ones to vigorous action in dispensing to others that which has blessed them beyond all power of expression. I came here two weeks ago last night, "a physical wreck;" the next day I dragged myself out in the heat and began to work. The result is, I have gained steadily with the thermometer "among the nineties," and can now work about six hours a day without very great fatigue.
Of course I have not done as well in point of numbers of DAWNS sold as some of the beloved brethren, (chief among them Bro. Adamson) whose letters in TOWER cheer and enthuse us. One reason probably is, it isn't in me, and another is, that there could probably be no less favorable spot chosen than this wicked, brilliant, flashing Summer resort. Still, I can sell from 10 to 15 daily notwithstanding all disadvantages of my still weak condition and the character of place and people. And I expect to reach yet many more per day elsewhere and in cooler weather. "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the WORK of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
It is just one year this day since I wrote you of the great and unspeakable blessing God had so graciously sent me through that marvelous production, "MILLENNIAL DAWN: The Plan of the Ages." Its effect upon me after careful and prayerful study, and testing by the Standard of God's Word, was instantaneously revolutionary.
I know of no other instance of a conversion so sudden and complete, from gross error honestly embraced and its conclusions sincerely acted upon, to the joyous reception of the truth and hearty conformity to its requirements as far as light was given, excepting that of Saul on his way to Damascus. Though I doubt not there have been many other like turnings.
I withdrew from the body of the Presbyterian Clergy at the earliest opportunity, henceforth to know no name but Christ. Numerous predictions were made concerning me by friends, relatives, and former clerical associates. One was to the effect that I would soon go into infidelity; another, that I would lose my reason; another, that I would return to the fold of Orthodoxy and Calvinism. As to the first, Infidelity (unbelief), I am deeply sensible that my trust, my confidence, my faith in God and the precious truths of his Word, has grown and strengthened constantly. And this is not surprising, for it is in the very nature of things that increased knowledge of God and his Divine Revelation should inevitably bring increased belief. As to the mental status, my honest conviction is that the subject is much further removed from the condition of lunacy then when he was literally
The continuation of this letter will be found on Page, 8.
Continued from Page, 2.
crushed under the "burden of souls" doomed to "eternal torment."
As to the last named prediction; am I a dog, that I should return to my vomit, or a sow, that I should return to my wallowing in the mire? Shall I return to the musty husks and polluted waters of former things, after revelling in broad fields of tender grass and drinking from crystal streams of living waters? Sooner would the eagle cleaving the blue expanse, return to the iron-barred cage of its former captivity. Surely the truth hath made me free!
The conviction that the best and only way to keep the blessing, and to increasingly realize its preciousness, is to give it out freely to others, deepens and strengthens daily. Accordingly I shall devote all the time, talents and energy God gives to proclaiming the "Glad Tidings" to as many others as I may be able to reach, and that through the same instrumentality by which I was reached: "MILLENNIAL DAWN--The Plan of the Ages," while this is so manifestly the work to be done.
I enclose a cheering letter from my Brooklyn Physician.
Affectionately and gratefully Your brother in Christ, S. I. HICKEY.
We give some extracts from the letter mentioned above:--
MY DEAR BRO. HICKEY:--Someway, in thinking about you, after I realized that you had gone and that I might not see you again face to face, I felt the truth of that old adage about "blessings brightening as they take their flight." I felt that I had suffered a dear friend to go away without talking to and with him about what was nearest his and my heart, those things for which you have suffered much reproach and contumely.
I had refused to listen to you, or had changed the subject whenever you had approached it, and my heart smote me. Thinking of this, I grieved a little over it, and in my grief I took up M. DAWN to learn more about it. I confess to you that I had not read the book through, I think I read the first three chapters, and then threw it aside. There were many good things in it which I could heartily accept even then--but the conclusions were what strangled me. I had heard the conclusions from you, but not the full course of reasoning and Scripture proof; and that reminds me of an error too often made: that of stating conclusions first, and so awakening such antagonism, that no subsequent argument will be effective. For instance, to state that "there is no hell," or "there is probation after death," etc. With most people you may as well stop right there. I speak of it because at first you approached the subject in that way, though I doubt not you have learned better by this time. Now, as I have said, I have read "MILLENNIAL DAWN"-- have just finished it, and I can truly say, I regard it as a wonderful book, and as throwing a flood of light on the Word. It harmonizes in a remarkable manner, things which were before all confusion and discord. It plainly shows a plan, and moreover, a plan which on the whole is reasonable. I believe, too, that, on the whole, it is Scriptural. Certainly there is great good in it.
My appetite is whetted by the taste, and I want more, more time to study and compare Scripture and think and pray over it. I must look at it from all sides.
So you see your going away has worked some good where you least expected it.
Yours truly S. C__________.
ACQUAINT THYSELF WITH HIM.
God works in silence, and His vast designs Are brought to pass in quietness and peace; Unheralded the sun comes forth at morn, And without tumult on the nation shines; Unwept again its ministrations cease,
And twilight worlds are born.
The years sweep onward, but their chariot wheels Vouchsafe no echo to our yearning call; The swift attendant seasons as they pass Are shod with silence, and no sound reveals The rapid hours, whose steps are as the fall
Of snowflakes on the grass.
In quietness through dreary winter days The buds of next year's summer take their rest, Assured of happy waking by-and-by; Though long the sweetness of the spring delays, Though tempests move in wrath from east to west,
They neither strive nor cry.
Patient in long reserve of hidden power, God's judgments tarry their appointed time, But from His love, wherein all fulness dwells, Mute tokens come about us hour by hour, In silence sweeter than the voiceless chime
Of fragrant lily bells.
The perfect bliss for which His people crave-- The final victory--He sees across The cloud and sunshine of a thousand years; While the frail garland on a baby's grave May circumscribe life's utmost gain and loss
To eyes grown dim with tears!
Oh troubled heart! no storms of adverse fate, No wave of circumstance may overleap The jasper borders of eternity; Acquaint thyself with Him, nor zeal abate, He shall appoint a rest, and for thee keep
The white robe and the palm!--Selected.
THE SABBATH DAY.
THE JEWISH SABBATH AND THE LAW OF WHICH IT WAS A PART.
Though our views are widely different from those of most Christian people on this subject, yet let us say, we are very glad that one day of each week is set apart for rest from business and for the worship of God, without regard to which of the seven days is thus observed, or by what law or lawgiver it was appointed. We greatly enjoy the day, and think it not only a blessing to those who use it for worship and study, but also for those who use it merely as a day of rest and recreation from toil, to enjoy the beauties of nature, or to visit with their friends and families as they cannot do on other days.
But we must totally dissent from the idea of Sabbath common to the majority of Christian people, for two reasons. First, because if their claim that we are under the Law, of which the Sabbath day observance was a part, were true, the day they keep as a Sabbath, is not the day mentioned in that command. They observe the first day, and the command designated the seventh day of the week. If the command is binding at all, it cannot be changed, any more than any other of those commands can be changed. Second, If bound to the Law, we object to the keeping of the Sabbath in any other than the strict way in which its keeping was therein prescribed. If the command is binding upon us, the manner of its observance, its very essence, is no less binding. If the strict observance of it has passed away, surely whatever destroyed its strict interpretation destroyed the command entirely. So then, it should be observed with all its former strictness, so that even the gathering of sticks on that day would be punishable with death, now as then, (`Num. 15:32-36`.) and on the day prescribed and observed then, or else it has no binding force whatever: unless it can be shown that God, the giver of that Law, changed it himself. Men have no right to change God's laws; no, not if an angel from heaven sanctioned it.
The Law stands exactly as it was given and applies only to those to whom given, or if it is claimed that it was altered in any degree, or made applicable to other people, the evidence should be no less clear and positive than that of its original giving at Sinai: and no such evidence of its change to another day, or another people, nor of any relaxation of its original severity, exists. On the contrary we shall find abundant proof that it was neither altered nor amended, but fulfilled and set aside, abolished by our Redeemer.
We claim that God never authorized a change in the Law; that not one jot or tittle of it could fail, until all should be fulfilled. (`Matt. 5:18`.) We claim on Scriptural testimony, that our Lord, as the man Christ Jesus, was born under the Law, a Jew, and fulfilled its every requirement, and thus fulfilled it as a whole. He became the heir of its promises or covenants, and "redeemed them that were under the Law"--the Jewish nation--from the condemnation which that Law brought upon them all, because of their inability to live up to its requirements.
Many Christians fail to recognize, that in the beginning of the Gospel age, the church was composed of converts from both Jews and Gentiles. The Jews as a nation had been released (typically) from the Adamic curse, or condemnation, and put under the Law given at Sinai, as a covenant under which they were to have life if obedient. The Gentiles (heathen) was the name by which all the great bulk of the human family was known, except this one little nation, which God typically justified by typical sacrifices, and placed again on trial under the Law given at Sinai. The Law proved valueless to them so far as giving them the hoped-for life was concerned, though it as a schoolmaster taught them some good lessons. Consequently Jews and Gentiles were both under condemnation when our Lord came. Both were condemned to death--the Jew by the Law from which he had expected so much, but which, because of the weakness of his flesh he was unable to comply with, was condemned as unworthy of life; while the Gentiles were condemned to death under the original sentence upon father Adam, from which they had in no sense escaped, not even typically as the Jew had.
Both Jew and Gentile, therefore, needed deliverance from the same curse, condemnation, viz., death; and the Deliverer whom God provided was sufficient for both, and in the one sacrifice of himself he accomplished the redemption of both, and reconciled both unto God in one body by the cross. (`Eph. 2:16`.) For the Jew, by fulfilling all the demands of the Law, he gained all the promises which that Law offered; and by his death for that people he redeemed them all from its curse or penalty--death; and ended that typical covenant. The ending of that covenant and the redeeming of that people from its curse or condemnation, took place at the same time, and was accomplished by the same sacrifice, that paid the ransom (the corresponding price) for Adam and all who were still under the curse of death through him; because our Lord was the representative not only of the Jew, but was also at the same time a representative of all mankind. Thus we see further, that had our Lord not been born under the Law, he could have redeemed all others yet under the Adamic condemnation, but the Jew, under a special law and its special condemnation, would not have been benefited. Hence God's arrangement that salvation should be of the Jews, (`John 4:22`) in order that His special typical dealings with them as a people should work them no injury.
So then we see that none were made free from the Law except Israelites who had been under it, and consequently there is an error in the thought of those who sing and apply to themselves the words--
"Free from the Law, O happy condition:
Jesus hath died and there is remission.
Cursed by the Law and bruised by the Fall,
Christ hath redeemed us once for all."
An Israelite after the flesh, converted, could properly express this sentiment, but no one else, except it be understood to apply to the church as a whole, some of whom were redeemed from the curse of the Law, and some from the curse of the Fall.
When the Apostle declares, "Christ is become the end of the Law, for righteousness to every one that believeth," he evidently refers to those who were under the Law--Jews. But we can apply the same principle to all, thus: The first Law against which Adam sinned, and whose penalty brought death upon all, like the one which the Jews failed to keep, was a law of obedience to the will of God. The principles or knowledge on which the obedience was based with the Jew, was the Ten Commandments written upon tables of stone, but in Adam's case it was the knowledge of God's will written in the heart, in that he had been created a mental and moral likeness of God. The penalty or curse for the violation of both of those laws was the same, death: so while the Jew was redeemed from the curse of the one given at Sinai all other men were redeemed from the curse of the original Law violated in Eden.
So then as it stands to-day, the Jew's covenant or Law, though they are not aware of it, is at an end, as much as though it never had been given them. It never gave them the blessings they had hoped for through it, and now they are free from it. The Jew born since that law covenant ended, is now, with all the rest of the world, under the penalty of the first disobedience--the death penalty. The ransom FOR ALL has been given, but its benefits are only applicable to those who believe, and thus far the believers are only a few compared with the mass of mankind. This few have escaped from all condemnation of all broken laws, while the remainder --the world in general--still continues under the original condemnation. He that believeth is passed [reckonedly] from death unto life (`John 5:24`) while he that believeth not is damned [condemned] --"condemned already." (`John 3:18`) He was condemned six thousand years ago, and has not escaped the condemnation that is on the world. (`Rom. 5:16`.) The only ones who have escaped from this condemnation so long upon all, are referred to by Paul (`Rom. 8:1`), "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit."
These are the free ones; free from all laws and all penalties--free indeed. "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."--`John 8:36`.
But can it be that God has released these entirely from both the Law given in Eden and that given at Sinai? Just so; being justified and released from its former condemnation by the death of Christ, and having received his spirit of love for and obedience to God, so long as they are in Christ they are free: free to abide in him, by continued submission to his will, the essence of which is LOVE, to God and to man. All who come into Christ submit themselves to his will and voluntarily make it their law; and those who willingly violate this law will cease to "abide in him" and will be "cast forth" (`Jno. 15:6`) as dead branches. Through him our best endeavors to do his will are acceptable, and we have thus passed out of condemnation to death into justification to life so long as we abide under the blood of the covenant. In no other way could any be accepted by God; for the law given in Eden was one that required obedience, and that given at Sinai demanded the same. And since we know
that God could not give an imperfect law, (`James 3:11`.) and we could not obey a perfect one fully, we see the necessity for our being freed from all law and accepted through Christ.
Thus we see that those in Christ, whether they were Jews or Gentiles, are in no sense under the Law given at Sinai --neither the ceremonial laws relating to typical fasts and feasts and sacrifices, nor those graven upon stones termed the "Ten Commandments." The sanctified IN CHRIST JESUS need no such commands. Love to God and men, laid down by Jesus and the apostles, is the only rule under which the new creature in Christ is placed; and it is the very essence of his new mind --the spirit or mind of Christ.
THE LAW ON TABLES OF STONE.
Look at those commandments given to the Jew, singly, and see if it would not be useless to address such commands to the saints.
I. "Thou shalt have no other gods beside me." What saint would think of such a thing?
II. "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, nor the likeness of any form that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them nor serve them; for I am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments." For whom is such a law needful? Surely not to the saints in Christ who love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and strength, and who are laying down life itself in his service.
III. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." Again we remark, Surely none of the saints will have any desire to blaspheme or profane their Father's name, but the reverse, they are laying down their lives to glorify his name.
IV. This we will examine last.
V. "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." This is distinctively an earthly promise of the land, while the promise to the saints is not long life here but hereafter. He that sacrifices his life, lands, etc., becomes in Christ heir to the heavenly promises. Such, too, having the spirit of Christ, delight to honor their earthly parents, but especially to do the will of their Father in heaven.
VI. "Thou shalt do no murder." Do not the saints delight to bless others and do good even to those who despitefully use them and persecute them? If so where would be the propriety in telling such that they must not murder--must not do the thing farthest from their desires? It would be useless to say the least.
VII. "Thou shalt not commit adultery." The sanctified in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit of Christ, could not thus wrong others.
VIII. "Thou shalt not steal." Do the
saints desire to steal? Do they desire to defraud others? Is it not rather their spirit to "labor, working with their hands that they may have, to give unto the needy?
IX. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." How could one of the sanctified in Christ thus injure his neighbor? It would be entirely foreign to the Spirit of Christ--the spirit of truth, and would prove that the one who knowingly and willingly bore such false testimony, had not the spirit of Christ and was none of his. (`Rom. 8:9`.)
X. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's." Covetousness is wholly foreign to the spirit of Christ, and to the extent that the spirit of Christ dwells richly in his members, they will be free from covetousness. The spirit of sacrifice having in the saints taken the place of self-love, covetousness is forestalled.
All these commands were proper and suitable enough to the Jew to whom they were given, or would be suitable to any fallen man, but not to any new creature in Christ, whose very nature, as new creatures, is to do right; yet because of the weakness of the flesh they cannot do perfectly even though they desire and endeavor to do so. But though we can easily keep the outward letter of this law, yet under our Lord's teachings we see that it really means more than its surface indicates: that he who hates a brother without a cause has the murder spirit and is a murderer and he that desires to commit adultery lacking only the opportunity is in heart an adulterer, (`Matt. 5:28`) and he who loves and serves money and spends time and talent for it, more than in God's service, is an idolater. Our Redeemer's teaching regarding the obligations under that Law is--"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." From this we see that even we who are in Christ with all our holy desires and aims could not keep that Law according to this our Master's definition of it, because our new mind is hindered by the weakness of the sin-degraded and marred earthen vessel--the flesh. We should find it impossible to get rid of inherited selfishness, so as to be able to love our neighbor as ourselves, or even to love and serve God with all our hearts and talents, much as our new minds might choose and seek to obey this, the spirit of the Law.
So then, as we could not be acceptable under that Law, we are made free from it entirely and put under the rule of love to God and our fellow man: and our best heart-endeavors to fulfill this law of love, are accepted as a perfect fulfillment of his law of love, and all we lack is continually compensated for out of the fullness of Christ--which is imputed to us.
So then ye are not under law but under grace--favor. (`Rom. 6:14`.) You are not acceptable with God because there is no fault in you, but because favor covers your unwilling imperfections of thought, word and deed.
So far as these Ten Commandments are concerned, there is no question that they were given only to Israel after the flesh. The preface in `Exod. 20:2` shows this, saying, "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." So too in repeating them again Moses declares (`Deut. 5:1-5`.) "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears THIS DAY, that ye may learn them and observe to do them. The Lord our God made not this covenant with our fathers, but with US, even us who are all of us here alive this day. The Lord spake with you face to face--saying" etc. etc. Also, see `Ezek. 20:10-13` and `Neh. 9:12-14`.
THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT.
Consider now the IV. Commandment given to the Jew, written upon tables of stone:--"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh is a Sabbath unto the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
This command merely enjoins idleness on the seventh day of each week. It does not say to cease from ordinary work and engage in spiritual work, as many of its advocates seem to suppose; but on the contrary it prohibits all kinds of work. Many who think themselves bound by this command, neither REST on the seventh day nor on the first day of the week, which without orders they make an effort to keep instead of the Seventh day which the Law appointed for those under it. On the contrary, to very many the first day is as busy a day as any. The ruling under the Law, was, that any one who even picked up sticks or kindled a fire was a violator of this command and must be put to death. (`Num. 15:32-36`. `Exod. 35:3`.) How many of those who claim to keep this commandment do far more work in the way of cooking, etc.--they, their sons, and their daughters, their men-servants and maid-servants? If that law is now in force, and if it has by any means gotten beyond the Jew on whom alone it was put, so as now to cover Christians, then every Christian violates it repeatedly, and is worthy of death for each offense, for "they that violated Moses' Law died without mercy."--`Heb. 10:20`.
But some one will ask, Was not the Sabbath observed before the giving of the Law? and does not the reference to God's resting on the seventh day prove that the Sabbath was observed from the time of creation? We answer, No; during all the two thousand years from Adam to Jacob, the record shows no command to keep the Sabbath, not even a hint on the subject. The Mosaic or Law dispensation began with Israel, the night they left Egypt. The Passover was the first feature of Law instituted; and it was instituted that night. And that Law covenant is continually referred to as dating from that time "When I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt." `Heb. 8:9`, `Jer. 31:32`.
The observance of the seventh day as a rest day, or Sabbath, was instituted as a part of the Law of God some two weeks before the formal giving of that Law in tables of stone at Mt. Sinai, namely, at the giving of the manna, in the wilderness, where a most favorable opportunity occurred for giving them an object lesson in the double supply of manna on the sixth day, and none on the seventh. But from the entire account it is evident that it was something new to the Israelites. Its explanation
to them, (`Exod. 16:22-30`) as well as Moses' uncertainty in the case of the first transgression of this law (`Num. 15:32-36`.), prove that it was new, that it had not been known among them or their fathers previously. The reason given for this command, to observe the Sabbath because God had rested on the seventh day--after the six days of creation, could not be understood by Israel, as we can now understand it in the light of the New Testament. They probably got the idea that God was weary after the six days work of creating, and rested as they did; but we see and will shortly show that he rested in a very different way, and for a different reason.
INFLUENCE OF THE LAW AMONG EARLY CHRISTIANS.
In the introduction of the Christian dispensation, the new church was composed largely of proselytes from the old Jewish church; and these, used from childhood to the requirements of the law of Moses, could scarcely realize the greatness of the change which there occurred. They were continually adding Christ's teachings and his law--of love, to their Mosaic Law, thus adding to their already too heavy burden, instead of accepting of the sacrificial death of Christ as the atonement for their sins under the Law, and as the end of that Law Covenant which had always condemned them. (`Rom. 10:4`; `3:20,28`.) It is not surprising when we remember their early prejudices in favor of the Law, that the spirit of truth was able to guide them but slowly into the full truth on this subject. Even the Apostles were slow to learn, and we find Peter so slow to follow the lead of the spirit, that he had to be taught by a special vision that Gentiles needed no longer to become Jews and conform to the Law of Moses before they could share divine favor, but that they had access to God through Christ's cleansing work regardless of the Law.
Some complained to the other apostles and brethren about Paul's recognition of Gentiles and this brought the question before them all, and led to an investigation, and others learned their first lesson as Peter had by hearing from him of God's dealings in the matter. "When they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."--`Acts 11:18`.
Paul, most easily led of the spirit, got clear views on the subject earliest, and had to oppose others among the apostles less strong and spiritually clear-sighted. (`Gal. 2:11`.) Jerusalem was long considered the centre of the Christian religion, the largest number and oldest believers and apostles living there, and as Paul got clearer and clearer views of the changed condition of things and preached the truth, some prejudiced ones wanted to know whether the brethren at Jerusalem would concur in the advanced views, and Paul and Barnabas and others went up to Jerusalem to lay the matter before them and to bring back a report. A great debate and examination of the question on all sides followed. Peter and James finally agreeing with Paul, influenced the entire council. Peter reminded them of God's wonderful dealing with Cornelius, whose heart was purified or justified and made acceptable to God through faith in Christ, and not through keeping the Law, and urged, "Now therefore why resist ye God to put a yoke [Moses' Law] upon the neck of disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear." James said, "My judgment is that we should not burden them which from among the Gentiles are turned unto God." Then the council so decided and sent a written message to the confused Gentile believers, saying:--
"We have heard that certain ones who went out from us [here] have troubled you with words subverting your souls [destroying your faith], saying, 'Be circumcised and keep the Law'--to whom we gave no such commandment....It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things, strangled, and from fornication." --`Acts 15:9-29`. And even these things though they were good as advice, we shall see by further testimony were so much law that no one had a right to place upon any made free by Christ. --nor are these stated as law, with penalties, etc.
Paul's principal failure was in allowing them once to overpersuade him on this very matter of Moses' Law.--`Acts 21:18-28`. Here overcome for a time by the opinions and weakness of those apostles whose home was in the centre of Judaism, and whose progress in following the lead of the spirit into the full truth had been less rapid than his own, Paul erred greatly.
Paul's course was a brilliant one, and his great work was known far and near, and everywhere it exasperated the prejudiced Jews. So when he came to Jerusalem for the last time to see the Apostolic brethren, and had given them a detailed account of his great work among the Gentiles, they were glad and glorified God. Their Jewish prejudices did not blind them, but they were too prudent (`Matt. 11:25`.) and said unto him, "Thou seest brother, how many thousands of Jews believe; and they are all zealous for the Law: and they are informed concerning thee, that thou teachest all the Jews that are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses [law] saying, That they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs"--common to the Jews.
The difficulty with the apostles at Jerusalem was that in their anxiety to make converts to Christ, they had failed "to declare the whole counsel of God," and had kept themselves as well as others from growing in grace and knowledge more rapidly, in their desire to fasten the law, to the Gospel, as a bait to catch Jewish fish. And now that Paul was come, whom they knew to be very outspoken, they feared he would drive off some of their only half-converted thousands, and that thus the cause might seem to lose some of its prestige, its seeming prosperity. Really far better would it have been had the company been hundreds instead of thousands, and thorough out-and-out furnished and equipped soldiers of the cross.
How many to-day as teachers are filling church rolls with thousands by compromising with the World as James and others did with the Jewish prejudices concerning the law! How much injury it is doing now as then, and how careful some are now not to scare the goats out from among the sheep lest the numbers and influence would be less! Ah! What a great mistake!
They said further to Paul: It will not be long until the masses of the people learn of your presence; therefore at once take such steps as will lead them to think that you are misrepresented, and that you are still a faithful Jew and law-keeper: take with you therefore four men of our company here which have a vow on them, and go into the Temple and both purify thyself according to the Jewish custom, and also pay the temple tax for these others, so that the Jews and Jewish Christians seeing you thus bearing the expense of others as well as conforming to the Law yourself, may conclude that you are very zealous for the Law, and that you certainly were misrepresented in the reports which reached them of your preaching. This seems to
be the substance of their argument. See `Acts 21:18-26`.
Alas! that grand, noble, bold Brother Paul should let slip so favorable an opportunity for testifying as he afterward did to the `Galatians (5:2-6`) that whosoever justified (purified) himself by the Law and circumcision, Christ would profit him nothing. It was the grandest opportunity Paul ever had of setting straight the brethren at Jerusalem. But overcome for the moment by the influence and prominence of those who made the request, Paul yielded, and committed the only act of weakness marking his long and noble record--he went into the Temple and pretended to be a law-keeper and to trust in the typical purifyings, and misused some of the Lord's money in the insincere forms, and all to no purpose: to his own discredit and tribulation, merited no doubt as a chastisement.
Similar besetments surround us all to-day: how often many teaching brethren are tempted now, as were James and the Elders at Jerusalem, to keep back part of the truth in the endeavor to swell numbers and influence; how many are tempted as Paul was, to consent to unwholesome advice for the sake of peace, and because of love and respect for brethren. Instead, each should have been anxious only to please the "Head of the body," and to declare the whole counsel of God.
But Brother Paul's wavering course was only momentary, and we have abundant proof of this in his various epistles to the churches, in which he repeatedly sought to counteract the teachings and influence of some who were overthrowing the foundation, bringing in another gospel, another version of the good news, namely, that believers in Christ would be saved if they kept the Law. (The other apostles also got more clear gradually, so that the epistles of Peter, James and John fully coincide with those of Paul, and give no uncertain sound on this all important point, that Christ is become the end of the Law to every one who believeth.) And it is because this same error has continued since, and is even to-day opposing the cross of Christ as the redemption price, and claiming that we are justified not "by faith in his blood," but by keeping the Law as Christ kept it, that it is needful now, to show that the Law never was given to any except Israel after the flesh; and it did them no good except to show them their inability to justify themselves, and as a schoolmaster to point them to Christ as the end of the Law to every one that believeth. Paul's epistle to the Galatians was written expressly to counteract this Law teaching, which was subverting the true faith in Christ and pointing men away from the cross of Christ, to a hope of acceptance with God by keeping the Law. This he calls "another gospel," yet really not another, for there can be but one,
…