The Law And The Gospel…

The Law And The Gospel

Sinai And The Cross. "The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ." Gal. 3:24.

1. What is one of the uses of the law?

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20.

2. In thus making known sin, and the consequent need of a Saviour, what part does the law act?

“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” Gal. 3:24.

3. What is the gospel declared to be?

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Rom. 1:16.

4. What is the significance of the name bestowed by the angel upon the Saviour before His birth?

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21.

5. In whom is this power to save from sin revealed?

“But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-*block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” 1 Cor. 1:23, 24.

6. What was foretold concerning Christ’s attitude toward the law of God?

“Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Ps. 40:7, 8.

7. What is the first promise of the new covenant?

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts.” Heb. 8:10.

8. What is Christ’s relation to this new covenant?

“But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.” Verse 6.

9. How is this same work for man otherwise described?

“For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this Man have somewhat also to offer. For if He were on earth, He should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law.” Verses 3, 4.

10. What is necessary on the part of the individual in order to receive the benefit of Christ’s work?

“With the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Rom. 10:10.

11. For what did the apostle Paul trust Christ?

“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Phil. 3:8, 9.

12. What relation does the law sustain to this righteousness?

“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.” Rom. 3:21.

13. Does the faith which brings righteousness abolish the law?

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” Verse 31.

NOTE.—The law reveals the perfection of character required, and so gives a knowledge of sin; but it is powerless to confer the character demanded. In the gospel, the law, first written in the heart of Christ, becomes “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” and is thus transferred to the heart of the believer, in whose heart Christ dwells by faith. Thus the new covenant promise is fulfilled that the law shall be written in the heart. This is the genuine experience of righteousness by faith,—a righteousness which is witnessed by the law, and revealed in the life in harmony with the law. The gospel is thus seen to be the provision for restoring the law to its place in the heart and life of the one who believes on Christ, and accepts His mediatorial work. Such faith, instead of making void the law, establishes it in the heart of the believer. The gospel is not against the law, therefore, but upholds, maintains, and presents the law to us in Christ.

14. What did Christ take away?

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29.

15. What has Christ abolished?

“But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” 2 Tim. 1:10.

16. What change is brought about through the gospel?

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Cor. 3:18.

NOTE.—It is sometimes claimed that Christ changed, abolished, or took away the law, and put the gospel in its place; but this shows a misapprehension of the real work of Christ. The individual believer is changed by beholding the glory revealed in the gospel (2 Cor. 4:4; John 1:14); death has been abolished through the death of Christ; and sin has been taken away by the great Sin-bearer; but the law of God still remains unchanged as the very foundation of His throne. See note on page 98.

17. What spiritual interpretation did Christ give to the sixth commandment?

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire.” Matt. 5:21, 22.

18. How did He interpret the seventh commandment?

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Verses 27, 28.

19. Of what prophecy was this teaching a fulfilment?

“The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honorable.” Isa. 42:21.

NOTE.—Christ not only gave a spiritual interpretation to the law, and Himself observed it according to that interpretation, but He showed the holiness and the immutable nature of the law by dying on the cross to pay the penalty of its transgression. In this way, above all, He magnified the law, and showed its far-reaching, immutable, and imperishable nature.

20. In what promise was the gospel preached to Abraham?

“And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.” Gal. 3:8.

21. On what basis was Abraham accounted righteous?

“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Rom. 4:3.

22. What scripture cuts off all hope of justification by works?

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20.

23. In what way are all believers in Jesus justified?

“Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Verse 24.

24. After this work of grace has been accomplished, is the believer expected to go on in sin?

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Rom. 6:1, 2.

NOTE.—Even in the days of Abraham the same gospel of righteousness by faith was preached as now, while the law made known sin, and witnessed to the righteousness obtained through faith, just as it has done since the cross. From this it is evident that the relation between the law and the gospel has always been the same.

25. What was Christ’s personal attitude toward the law?

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” Matt. 5:17. “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15:10.

26. What scripture shows that God’s remnant people will have a right conception of the proper relation between the law and the gospel?

“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12.

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IX. THE SABBATH

In The Corn-Field On The Sabbath Day. "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Mark 2:27.

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Institution Of The Sabbath

The Garden Of Eden. "God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it." Gen. 2:3.

1. When and by whom was the Sabbath made?

“Thus the heavens and the earth, were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.” Gen. 2:1, 2.

2. After resting on the seventh day, what did God do?

“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” Verse 3.

3. By what three distinct acts, then, was the Sabbath made?

God rested on it; He blessed it; He sanctified it.

Sanctify: “To make sacred or holy; to set apart to a holy or religious use.”—Webster.

4. Did Christ have anything to do with creation and the making of the Sabbath?

“All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:3. See also Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2.

NOTE.—Christ, being the active agent in creation, must have rested on the seventh day with the Father. It is therefore His rest day as well as the Father’s.

5. For whom does Christ say the Sabbath was made?

“And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27.

NOTE.—It was not made for the Jews alone. The Jews derive their name from Judah, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, from whom they are descended. The Sabbath was made more than two thousand years before there was a Jew. When Paul says, “Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man” (1 Cor. 11:9), we understand him to mean that marriage was ordained of God for all men. So likewise with the Sabbath. It was made for the race.

6. What does the Sabbath commandment require?

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, 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 man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.” Ex. 20:8-10.

7. What reason is given in the commandment for keeping the Sabbath day holy?

“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.” Verse 11.

NOTE.—The Sabbath is the memorial of creation, and the sign of God’s creative power. Through the keeping of it God designed that man should forever remember Him as the true and living God, the Creator of all things.

8. Did God bless and sanctify the seventh day while He was resting upon it, or when His rest on that day was past?

“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: _because that in it He __HAD__ rested from all His work_ which God created and made.” Gen. 2:3.

NOTES.—God blessed and sanctified the seventh day then future, answering to the day on which He had just rested. The acts of blessing and sanctifying involve the idea of a future use of those things which are blessed and sanctified. Past time cannot be used. It is gone forever. The blessing and sanctification of the day, therefore, must have related to the future—to all the future seventh days.

In Joel 1:14 we read: “Sanctify [i.e., appoint] ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord.” Wherever used in the Bible, the word sanctify means to appoint, to proclaim, or to set apart, as in the margin of Joshua 20:7; 2 Kings 10:20, 21; Zeph. 1:7. So when the Sabbath was sanctified, as the last act by which it was made for man, an appointment, or proclamation, of the Sabbath was given. See Ex. 19:23.

“If we had no other passage than this of Gen. 2:3, there would be no difficulty in deducing from it a precept for the universal observance of a Sabbath, or seventh day, to be devoted to God as holy time, by all of that race for whom the earth and its nature were specially prepared. The first men must have known it. The words He hallowed it can have no meaning otherwise. They would be a blank unless in reference to some who were required to keep it holy.”—Lange’s Commentary, Vol. I, page 197.

9. How did God prove Israel in the wilderness?

“Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no.” Ex. 16:4.

10. On which day was a double portion of manna gathered?

“And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.” Verse 22.

11. What reply did Moses make to the rulers?

“And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.” Verse 23.

NOTE.—This was a full month and more before they came to Sinai.

12. When had God said this?

In the beginning, when He sanctified the Sabbath. Gen. 2:3.

NOTE.—In the wilderness of Sin, before Israel came to Sinai, Moses said to Jethro, his father-in-law, “I do make them know the statutes of God, and His laws” (Ex. 18:16), which shows that these statutes and laws existed before they were proclaimed on Sinai.

13. What did some of the people do on the seventh day?

“It came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.” Ex. 16:27.

14. How did God reprove their disobedience?

“And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My laws?” Verse 28.

15. Why was double manna given on the sixth day?

“See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” Verse 29.

16. How, then, did the Lord prove the people (verse 4) whether they would keep His law, or not?

Over the keeping of the Sabbath.

NOTE.—Thus we see that the Sabbath commandment was a part of God’s law before this law was spoken from Sinai; for this incident occurred in the wilderness of Sin, before the children of Israel came to Sinai, where the law was given. Both the Sabbath and the law existed from creation.

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God’s Memorial

Christ The Word. "He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered." Ps. 111:4.

1. What is to endure throughout all generations?

“Thy name, O Lord, endureth forever; and Thy memorial, O Lord; throughout all generations.” Ps. 135:13.

Memorial: “Anything intended to preserve the memory of a person or event; something which serves to keep some person or thing in remembrance, as a monument or a practise.”—Webster.

2. What illustration of this is given in the Bible?

“And these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel forever.” Joshua 4:7.

3. What were these stones to commemorate?

“And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.” Verses 21, 22.

NOTE.—These stones were to be a standing memorial, or reminder, of Israel’s coming dry-shod over the Jordan.

4. What was another memorial instituted to commemorate another signal providence in behalf of the Israelites?

“And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.” Ex. 12:14.

NOTE.—This, the Passover, was a periodical memorial, to be observed on the fourteenth day of the first month of each year, the day on which the Israelites were delivered from Egyptian bondage, and its celebration was to be, with the seven days’ feast of unleavened bread following and connected with it, in commemoration of that event. See Ex. 13:3-9.

5. Does God design that His great work of creating the heavens and the earth shall be remembered?

“The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honorable and glorious: and His righteousness endureth forever. He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered.” Ps. 111:2-4.

6. What has He commanded men to observe in memory of this great work?

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; ... 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.” Ex. 20:8-11.

7. Of what was this memorial to be a sign?

“And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Eze. 20:20.

8. How long was the Sabbath to be a sign of the true God?

“It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.” Ex. 31:17.

NOTE.—It is manifest that if the object of the Sabbath was to keep God as the Creator in mind, and it had been faithfully kept from the first, there would not now be a heathen or an idolater on the face of the earth.

9. What besides creation were Israel to remember when they kept the Sabbath?

“And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” Deut. 5:15.

NOTE.—There is a deep significance to this scripture not apparent to those unacquainted with the facts. In Egypt, through oppression and idolatrous surroundings, the keeping of the Sabbath had become not only almost obsolete, but well-nigh impossible. See reading on “Reasons for Sabbath-Keeping,” under questions 9 and 10, page 423. Their deliverance from bondage was in order that they might keep God’s law (Ps. 105:43-45), and particularly the Sabbath, the great seal, sign, and memorial-institution of the law. The recollection of their bondage and oppressed condition in Egypt was to be an additional incentive for keeping the Sabbath in the land of freedom. The Sabbath, therefore, besides being a memorial of creation, was to be to them a memorial of their deliverance from bondage, and of the great power of God as manifested in this deliverance. And as Egypt stands as a symbol of the condition of every one in the world under the slavery of sin, so the Sabbath is to be kept by every saved soul as a memorial of the deliverance from this slavery by the mighty power of God through Christ.

10. Of what else does God say He gave the Sabbath to His people to be a sign, or reminder?

“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.” Eze. 20:12.

NOTE.—Sanctification is a work of redemption,—of making holy sinful or unholy beings. Like the work of creation itself, this requires creative power. See Ps. 51:10; John 3:3, 6; Eph. 2:10. And as the Sabbath is the appropriate sign or memorial of the creative power of God wherever displayed, whether in creation, deliverance from human bondage, or deliverance from the slavery of sin, it is to be kept as a sign of the work of sanctification. This will be one great reason for the saints’ keeping it throughout eternity. It will remind them not only of their own creation and the creation of the universe, but also of their redemption.

11. Through whom do we have sanctification?

“But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” 1 Cor. 1:30.

NOTE.—Then, as the Sabbath is a sign or memorial of sanctification, and as Christ is the one through whom the work of sanctification is accomplished, the Sabbath is a sign or memorial of what Christ is to the believer. Through the Sabbath, therefore, God designed that the believer and Christ should be very closely linked together.

12. What statement of the redeemed shows that they will remember God’s creative power?

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” Rev. 4:11.

13. How often will they congregate to worship the Lord?

“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:22, 23.

NOTE.—The Sabbath, which is the memorial of God’s creative power, will never cease to exist. When this sinful state of things shall give way to the sinless new earth, the fact upon which the Sabbath institution is based will still remain; and those who shall be permitted to live in the new earth will still commemorate the creative power of God, while singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Rev. 15:3. See Rev. 22:1, 2.

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Reasons For Sabbath-Keeping

Mt. Sinai--Where The Law Was Given. "That ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Eze. 20:20.

1. What is the one great feature by which the true God is distinguished from all false gods?

“The Lord is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting king.... The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion.” Jer. 10:10-12.

2. When Paul wished to preach the true God to the idolatrous Athenians, how did he describe Him?

“Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein.” Acts 17:23, 24.

3. What did the apostles say to the idolaters at Lystra?

“We ... preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein.” Acts 14:15. See also Rev. 10:6; 14:6, 7.

4. What reason is given in the fourth commandment for keeping the Sabbath day holy?

“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.” Ex. 20:11.

NOTES.—The Sabbath is the great memorial of creation and of God’s creative power, a constant reminder of the true and living God. God’s design in making the Sabbath, and in commanding that it be kept holy, was that man might never forget Him, the Creator of all things.

“The original Sabbath being a perpetual memorial of God, the Creator calling man to imitate God in the observance of the same, man could not keep the original Sabbath and forget God.”—Prof. E. W. Thomas, M. A., in Herald of Gospel Liberty, June 19, 1890.

When we remember that two thirds of the world’s inhabitants today are idolaters, and that since the fall, idolatry, with its train of associated and resultant evils, has ever been a prevailing sin, and then think that the observance of the Sabbath, as God ordained it, would have prevented all this, we can better appreciate the value of the Sabbath institution, and the importance of Sabbath-keeping.

5. What does God say the Sabbath will be to those who hallow it, or keep it holy?

“And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Eze. 20:20.

6. How important is it that we know God?

“And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” John 17:3.

7. Is there any danger of God’s chosen people forgetting Him?

“Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes.” Deut. 8:11.

8. What other reason is given for keeping the Sabbath?

“Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; _that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth __SANCTIFY__ you_.” Ex. 31:13.

NOTE.—To sanctify is to make holy, or to set apart for a holy use. The sanctification, or making holy, of sinful beings can be wrought only by the creative power of God through Christ by the Holy Spirit. In 1 Cor. 1:30 we are told that Christ is made unto us “sanctification;” and in Eph. 2:10 it is said that “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” The Sabbath, therefore, is a sign of sanctification, and thus of what Christ is to the believer, because it is a reminder of the creative power of God as manifested in the work of regeneration. It is the sign of the power of God, therefore, in both creation and redemption. To the believer, it is the evidence, or sign, that he knows the true God, who, through Christ, created all things, and who, through Christ, redeems the sinner and makes him whole.

9. What special reason did the Israelites have for keeping the Sabbath?

“And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” Deut. 5:15.

NOTE.—In their bondage the Israelites had to some extent lost the knowledge of God, and departed from His precepts. The Sabbath came to be greatly disregarded by them; and in consequence of the oppression of the Pharaohs, especially the Pharaoh of the exodus, as witnessed by the rigorous exactions made upon them by this latter king through their taskmasters, its observance was made apparently impossible. See Ex. 5:1-19. The special point, both of reform and of conflict, just preceding their deliverance from bondage, was over the matter of Sabbath observance. Moses and Aaron had shown them that obedience to God was the first condition of deliverance. Their efforts to restore the observance of the Sabbath among the Israelites had come to the notice of Pharaoh; hence his accusation against them, “Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let [hinder] the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.... Behold, the people of the land are many, and ye make them rest [Heb., Shabbath] from their burdens.” Ex. 5:4, 5. Deliverance from this oppression was indeed, therefore, an additional and special reason for their keeping the Sabbath. But Egypt and Egyptian bondage simply represent sin and the bondage of sin. See Rev. 11:8; Hosea 11:1; Matt. 2:15; Zech. 10:10. Every one, therefore, who has been delivered from sin has the same reason for keeping the Sabbath as had the Israelites who were released from Egyptian bondage.

10. What does the psalmist say was the reason why God brought His people out of Egypt, and placed them in Canaan?

“And He brought forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness: and gave them the lands of the heathen: ... that they might observe His statutes, and keep His laws.” Ps. 105:43-45.

NOTE.—Their deliverance from Egyptian bondage was a reason for the keeping not only of the fourth commandment, but of every precept of God’s law. This is indicated by the preface or preamble to the law as given on Sinai: “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,” etc. Ex. 20:2, 3. See also Lev. 19:35-37; Deut. 10:19; 15:12-15; 24:17, 18. Likewise, every one who, through Christ, has been delivered from the bondage of sin, God calls to obedience, not only in the matter of Sabbath-keeping, but to every precept of His holy law. “Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.” Isa. 56:2.

11. What is the meaning of the word sabbath?

Rest.

NOTE.—Previous to the fall, God designed that man’s time should be occupied with pleasant, invigorating, but not wearisome labor. Gen. 2:15. Laborious, wearisome toil came in consequence of sin. Gen. 3:17-19. While under the fall the Sabbath, therefore, may bring physical rest to both man and the beasts of burden (Ex. 23:12) in a way not originally intended, physical rest was not its original and primary design or purpose. Cessation from the ordinary labors and occupations of the week was ordained, not because these are wrong or sinful in themselves, but that man might have an appointed time and a frequently recurring period for the contemplation of the Creator and His works. Under the gospel, the Sabbath is a sign of spiritual rest and freedom from sin. So we read, “For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” Heb. 4:10.

12. Who gives this rest from sin?

“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matt. 11:28, 29.

NOTE.—The Sabbath, then, is the sign of the soul-rest which Christ gives to the weary and ladened with sin.

13. Was the Sabbath intended as a day for public worship?

“Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation.” Lev. 23:3.

NOTE.—A convocation is an assembly of people.

14. Does the New Testament teach the same duty?

“Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Heb. 10:24, 25.

15. What does Malachi say of those that fear the Lord?

“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord harkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” Mal. 3:16, 17.

16. Will the Sabbath be observed as a day of worship in the new earth?

“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:22, 23.

NOTE.—“Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless till it find its rest in Thee.”—St. Augustine.

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Manner Of Observing The Sabbath

Sabbath Morning. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Ex. 20:8.

1. What is first commanded in the Sabbath commandment?

“Remember the Sabbath day.” Ex. 20:8.

2. Which day is the Sabbath?

“The seventh day is the Sabbath.” Verse 10.

3. For what purpose are we to remember the Sabbath day?

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Verse 8.

NOTE.—All through the week the keeping holy of the Sabbath day is to be remembered, or borne in mind. No business contracts or arrangements are to be made, no manner of living indulged in, which will prevent or interfere with the proper or holy observance of the day when it comes. The keeping of this commandment, therefore, is in the interests of, and with a view to, holy living all the time. The commandment itself enjoins a duty, and is to be kept, all through the week; the Sabbath is to be kept when it comes. The Sabbath commandment, therefore, like every other precept of the decalogue, but contrary to the conception of many, is to be kept all the time, and not simply one day in the week. In this matter we should distinguish between the Sabbath and the Sabbath commandment.

4. Who made the Sabbath day holy?

“Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Verse 11.

NOTE.—God made the Sabbath day holy; we are to keep it holy.

5. What is it that makes a thing holy?

God’s presence in it. See Ex. 3:5; 29:43-46; Joshua 5:13-15.

6. Then in order to keep the Sabbath day holy, what must be recognized?

God’s presence in the day; His blessing upon it; and His sanctification of it.

7. When, according to the Bible, does the Sabbath begin?

“And the evening and the morning were the first day.” “And the evening and the morning were the second day,” etc. See Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31.

NOTE.—The evening begins “at the going down of the sun.” See Deut. 16:6; Mark 1:32; Deut. 23:11; 1 Kings 22:35,36; 2 Chron. 18:34.

8. Does the Bible recognize this as the proper time for beginning and ending the Sabbath?

“From even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.” Lev. 23:32.

NOTE.—One great advantage of keeping the Sabbath according to the Bible method of reckoning the day, that is, from sunset to sunset, over keeping it according to the Roman reckoning, or from midnight to midnight, is that by the former one is awake to welcome and to bid adieu to the day when it comes and goes, while by the latter he is asleep when the day begins and ends. God’s ways are always best. The setting of the sun is a great natural sign for marking the division of time into days.

9. What kind of labor is to be done through the week?

“Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work.” Ex. 20:9.

10. Is any of this kind of work to be done on the Sabbath?

“In it thou shalt not do any work.” Verse 10.

NOTE.—If the Sabbath is to be kept “holy,” mere physical rest one day in seven cannot be the great object of the Sabbath institution.

11. How does the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, indicate what is true Sabbath-keeping?

“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, honorable; and shalt honor 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.” Isa. 58:13, 14.

NOTE.—“Whether the Sabbath becomes a delight or a burden depends upon the spirit with which a man meets it. Indeed, the spirit of the man settles the question as to the benefits to come from any duty he may perform. One man cannot understand why his neighbor should prefer the park or the ball ground to the church, simply because his spirit is different. He has cultivated the higher nature until he loves spiritual things above all others, and to him the Sabbath is indeed a delight. It comes to his weary soul as a reminder of God, and brings him nearer to heaven in heart and mind than does any other day.”—Sabbath Recorder, Dec. 12, 1910.

12. What is the character of God, and how only can He be truly worshiped?

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24.

NOTE.—This is one reason why the attempt to produce Sabbath-keeping by human Sabbath laws is altogether out of place. Such laws can never produce true Sabbath-keeping, for that is spiritual, and must be of the mind and from the heart, and not perfunctory, mechanical, nor of force.

13. What is one thing for which God has given the Sabbath to be a sign?

That He sanctifies His people, or makes them holy. See Ex. 31:13; Eze. 20:12; and page 420.

14. What does the “psalm for the Sabbath day” suggest as proper acts and themes for thought and meditation on the Sabbath?

“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High: to show forth Thy loving-kindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness every night, upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound. For Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work: I will triumph in the works of Thy hands. O Lord, how great are Thy works! and Thy thoughts are very deep.” Ps. 92:1-5.

15. What do the works of God declare?

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.” Ps. 19:1-3. See margin.

NOTE.—God designed that the Sabbath should direct the minds of men to His created works, and through these to Him, the Creator. Nature itself speaks to our senses, telling us that there is a God, the Creator and Supreme Ruler of the universe. The Sabbath, ever pointing to God through nature, was designed to keep the Creator constantly in mind. The proper keeping of it, therefore, must naturally tend to prevent idolatry, atheism, agnosticism, infidelity, irreligion, and irreverence; and, being promotive of the knowledge and fear of God, must of necessity be a deterrent to sin. In this may its value and importance be seen.

16. Was the Sabbath designed to be a day for public worship?

“Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation.” Lev. 23:3.

NOTE.—The word convocation means “a calling together,” and is always used in the Bible with reference to meetings of a religious character.

Gathering The Manna. "On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread." "But on the seventh day ... there shall be none." Ex. 16:22, 26.

17. What example did Christ set in Sabbath observance?

“And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16.

18. What else did Jesus do on the Sabbath?

“And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.” John 9:14.

NOTE.—A large share of Christ’s ministry consisted of miracles and acts of mercy performed for the relief of suffering humanity; and not a few of these were done on the Sabbath. On this day, as on other days, He “went about doing good.” See next reading.

19. With what words did He justify acts of mercy on the Sabbath day?

“Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.” Matt. 12:12.

NOTE.—Not a little of Christ’s earthly ministry was devoted to up-lifting the Sabbath, and showing the beneficent character of the Sabbath institution. It was not meant to be a day of sorrow, austerity, or gloom. Disinterested works of love and mercy toward man or beast are always in place on the Sabbath. Lawful means “according to law.”

20. What day is especially indicated as the day to prepare for the Sabbath?

“And that day [the sixth day] was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on.” Luke 23:54. See also Ex. 16:22, 23.

NOTE.—In order to keep the Sabbath day holy, it must be remembered all through the week; and on the sixth day, or the day just before the Sabbath, special preparation should be made to be ready to welcome and observe the day when it comes.

21. How did the Israelites in the wilderness on the sixth day prepare for the Sabbath?

“And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man.” Ex. 16:22.

NOTES.—The Sabbath should not be a day of either ordinary labor, idleness, or amusement, but one of rest, reflection, holy joy, worship, and helpfulness. It should be the happiest, the brightest, and the best of all the week. Such it should be made for young and old. Very early the children can be taught the stories of creation and redemption, and taken out amid the handiworks of God and taught to see Him and to commune with Him through nature. Preparation for the Sabbath, therefore, is an essential to its proper observance. God’s blessing is upon the first moments of the Sabbath as well as upon the last; and, as far as possible, everything should be got in readiness so that the entire day may be devoted to God and humanity in the manner indicated.

In making the Sabbath, God rested upon, blessed, and sanctified the day. Ex. 20:11. Whoever, then, keeps the Sabbath aright, may expect that there will be brought into his life God’s rest, blessing, and sanctification.

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Christ And The Sabbath

Healing On The Sabbath Day. "Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days." Matt. 12:12.

1. Of what did Christ say the Son of man is Lord?

“The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.” Matt. 12:8. See also Mark 2:28.

2. Who made the Sabbath?

“All things were made by Him [Christ, the Word]; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:3.

3. Did Christ, while on earth, keep the Sabbath?

“As His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16.

4. Although Lord, Maker, and an observer of the Sabbath, how was He watched and spied upon by the scribes and Pharisees on this day?

“And the scribes and Pharisees watched Him, whether He would heal on the Sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against Him.” Luke 6:7.

5. With what question did Christ meet their false ideas and reasonings regarding Sabbath-keeping?

“Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?” Verse 9.

6. How did they manifest their displeasure at His healing the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath?

“And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.” Verse 11. “And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.” Mark 3:6.

NOTE.—They were angry because, notwithstanding the fact that by the miracle performed Christ had given evidence that He was from God, He had shown no respect for their views of Sabbath-keeping, but, on the contrary, had shown these to be wrong. Wounded pride, obstinacy, and malice, therefore, combined to fill them with madness; and they went out immediately and held council with the Herodians,—their political enemies with whom they disagreed in the matter of paying tribute to a foreign power,—for the purpose of accomplishing His death.

7. Because Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath day, and told him to take up his bed and walk, what did the Jews do?

“Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath day.” John 5:16.

NOTE.—It is a fact worthy of note that over the question of proper Sabbath observance the Jews not only persecuted Jesus, but first took counsel to kill Him. Not the least of the malice which finally culminated in His crucifixion, was engendered over this very question of Sabbath observance. Christ did not keep the Sabbath according to their ideas of Sabbath-keeping, and so they sought to kill Him. And they are not alone. Many today are cherishing this same spirit. Because some do not agree with their ideas regarding the Sabbath, or Sabbath observance, they seek to persecute and oppress them,—seek laws, and alliances with political powers, to compel respect for their views.

8. How did Jesus answer them?

“But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” Verse 17.

NOTE.—The ordinary operations of nature, as manifested in God’s almighty, upholding, beneficent, and healing power, go on on the Sabbath the same as on other days; and to cooperate with God and nature in the work of healing, relieving, and restoring on the Sabbath, cannot, therefore, be out of harmony with God’s will, nor a violation of His Sabbath law.

9. What effect did this answer have upon the Jews?

“Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath [i.e., in their estimation], but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.” Verse 18.

10. Because the disciples plucked a few ears of corn on the Sabbath day to satisfy hunger, what accusation did the Pharisee make against them to Christ?

“And the Pharisees said unto Him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful?” Mark 2:24.

11. What was Christ’s reply?

“And He said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungered, he, and they that were with him? how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the showbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Verses 25-27.

12. Because of Christ’s healing a woman of an infirmity on the Sabbath, what did the ruler of a certain synagogue say?

“And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Luke 13:14.

13. How did Christ answer him?

“The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? and ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” Verses 15, 16.

14. What effect did Christ’s answers have upon the people?

“And when He had said these things, all His adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.” Verse 17.

15. By what method of reasoning did Christ justify acts of mercy on the Sabbath day?

“Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day? And they could not answer Him again to these things.” Luke 14:5, 6. “What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.” Matt. 12:11, 12.

Healing Impotent Man On The Sabbath. "Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath day." John 5:16.

16. Into what perplexity did Christ’s working of miracles on the Sabbath throw the Pharisees?

“Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because He keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.” John 9:16.

NOTE.—The working of these wonderful, beneficent, and gracious miracles on the Sabbath was an evidence that Christ was from God, and that His views of Sabbath-keeping were right. By these miracles God was setting the seal of His approval to Christ’s views and teachings respecting the Sabbath, and to His manner of observing it, and thus condemning the narrow and false views of the Pharisees. Hence the division.

17. According to Isaiah, what was Christ to do with the law?

“He will magnify the law, and make it honorable.” Isa. 42:21.

NOTES.—In nothing, perhaps, was this more strikingly fulfilled than in the matter of Sabbath observance. By their traditions, numerous regulations, and senseless restrictions the Jews had made the Sabbath a burden, and anything but a delight. Christ removed all these, and by His life and teachings put the Sabbath back in its proper place and setting, as a day of worship and beneficence, a day for doing acts of charity and mercy, as well as engaging in contemplation of God and in acts of devotion. Thus He magnified it and made it honorable. One of the most prominent features of Christ’s whole ministry was this great work of Sabbath reform. Christ did not abolish the Sabbath, nor change the Sabbath; but He did rescue it from the rubbish of tradition, the false ideas, and the superstitions with which it had been buried, and by which it had been degraded and turned aside from the channel of blessing and practical service to man designed by its Maker. The Pharisees had placed the institution above man, and against man. Christ reversed the order, and said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” He showed that it was to minister to the happiness, the comfort, and the well-being of both man and beast.

Because of the false ideas which the Jews held concerning the Sabbath and its observance, and the conflict which Christ had with them in consequence, many of the professed followers of Christ a little later were led into the error of rejecting the Sabbath itself as Jewish, and, without any divine command or Scripture warrant, to substitute another day in its place.

18. Knowing that the unbelieving Jews would still cling to their false ideas respecting the Sabbath, and that flight from Jerusalem and Judea on that day would be attended with difficulty, for what, in view of the coming destruction and desolation of the city and people, did Christ tell His disciples to pray?

“But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.” Matt. 24:20.

NOTE.—Christ’s experience with the Jews, the chosen and professed people of God at that time, respecting the Sabbath is but a type of what, according to prophecy, is to occur in the last days. Already it is beginning to find its parallel in the movement to enforce Sunday observance by law. See readings on pages 271, 484, 488.

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The Sabbath In The New Testament

Paul On The Way To Assos. "And they ... rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56.

1. According to the New Testament, what day immediately precedes the first day of the week?

“In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.” Matt. 28:1.

NOTE.—According to the New Testament, therefore, the Sabbath had passed when the first day of the week began.

2. After the crucifixion, what day was kept by the women who followed Jesus?

“And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56.

3. What day is the Sabbath, “according to the commandment”?

“But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Ex. 20:10.

4. What was Christ’s custom respecting the Sabbath?

“And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16.

5. In what instruction to His disciples did Christ recognize the existence of the Sabbath long after His ascension?

“But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.” Matt. 24:20.

NOTE.—The destruction of Jerusalem under Titus occurred in the spring and summer of 70 A.D. The flight of the Christians took place three and one-half years earlier, or late in October, 66 A.D., following the arrival and sudden withdrawal of Cestius and his army. See pages 313, 314.

6. On what day did the Jews meet for worship?

“Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.” Acts 15:21.

7. On what day did Paul and Barnabas preach at Antioch?

“They came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.” Acts 13:14.

8. When did the Gentiles request that Paul should repeat the sermon he had preached at Antioch on the Sabbath?

“And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.” Verse 42.

9. On what day did Paul and his companions preach to the devout women at Philippi?

“And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.” Acts 16:13.

10. What was Paul’s manner respecting the Sabbath?

“They came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.” Acts 17:1, 2.

NOTE.—It was Paul’s manner, as it was Christ’s custom (Luke 4:16), to attend religious services on the Sabbath.

11. How did the apostle spend the working days of the week when at Corinth?

“After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; ... and because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tent-makers.” Acts 18:1-3. See Eze. 46:1.

12. What did he do on the Sabbath days?

“And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.” Acts 18:4.

13. How long did he continue this work there?

“And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.” Verse 11.

NOTE.—Here, then, were seventy-eight Sabbaths on which Paul preached in one city. The record further says that he worked at his trade, and we may justly infer that Paul worked at tent-making just as many Sundays as he preached Sabbaths. If to these seventy-eight Sabbaths we add the three he spent at Thessalonica, the one at Philippi, and the two at Antioch, we have a record of eighty-four Sabbaths on which the apostle held religious services, while, so far as the record shows, he held only one meeting on the first day of the week, and that a night meeting, immediately following the Sabbath. See Acts 20. Evidently Sunday was not the Sabbath in Paul’s day.

14. On what day was John in the Spirit?

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” Rev. 1:10.

15. Who is Lord of the Sabbath?

“The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:28.

16. What, through the prophet Isaiah, does the Lord call the Sabbath?

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day.” Isa. 58:13.

17. Why does the Lord call the Sabbath His day?

“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.” Ex. 20:11.

18. Through whom did God create the world?

“God ... hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, ... by whom also He made the worlds.” Heb. 1:1, 2.

NOTES.—From beginning to end, the Bible recognizes but one weekly Sabbath,—the day upon which God rested in the beginning; which was made known to Israel at Sinai (Neh. 9:13, 14); was observed by Christ and His apostles; and is to be kept by the redeemed in the world to come. Isa. 66:22, 23.

The terms Sabbath, Sabbaths, and Sabbath days occur sixty times in the New Testament, and in every case but one refer to the seventh day. In Col. 2:16, 17, reference is made to the annual sabbaths connected with the three annual feasts observed by Israel before the first advent of Christ.

The first day of the week is mentioned but eight times in the New Testament, six of which are found in the four Gospels, and refer to the day on which Christ arose from the dead. See Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19. The other two (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2) refer to the only religious meeting held on the first day of the week after the ascension, in apostolic times, recorded in the New Testament, and to a systematic accounting and laying by in store at home on that day for the poor saints in Judea and Jerusalem.

It is evident, therefore, that the Sabbath of the New Testament is the same as the Sabbath of the Old Testament, and that there is nothing in the New Testament setting aside the seventh-day Sabbath, and putting the first day of the week in its place.

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The Law of God

As Given By Jehovah As Changed By Man I I Thou shalt have no other gods I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt before me. not have strange gods before Me. II Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything 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 to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God 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. III II Thou shalt not take the name of Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the the Lord thy God in vain. Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. IV III Remember the Sabbath day, to keep Remember that thou keep holy the it holy. Six days shalt thou Sabbath day. labor, 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 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, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. V IV Honor thy father and thy mother: Honor thy father and thy mother. that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. VI V Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not kill. VII VI Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not commit adultery. VIII VII Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not steal. IX VIII Thou shalt not bear false witness Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. against thy neighbor. X IX Thou shalt not covet thy Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not neighbor’s wife. 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. X Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods. Ex. 20:3-17. Butler’s Catechism, page 28.

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The Change Of The Sabbath

Changing The Law. "He shall think to change the times and the law." Dan. 7:25, R. V.

1. Of what is the Sabbath commandment a part?

The law of God. See Ex. 20:8-11.

2. What, according to prophecy, was to be Christ’s attitude toward the law?

“The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honorable.” Isa. 42:21.

3. In His first recorded discourse, what did Christ say of the law?

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” Matt. 5:17.

4. How enduring did He say the law is?

“For verily I say unto you. Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Verse 18.

5. What did He say of those who should break one of the least of God’s commandments, and teach men so to do?

“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.” Verse 19.

NOTE.—From this it is evident that the entire code of ten commandments is binding in the Christian dispensation, and that Christ had no thought of changing any of them. One of these commands the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath. But the practise of most Christians is different; they keep the first day of the week instead, many of them believing that Christ changed the Sabbath. But, from His own words, we see that He came for no such purpose. The responsibility for this change must therefore be looked for elsewhere.

6. What did God, through the prophet Daniel, say the power represented by the “little horn” would think to do?

“And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High: and he shall think to change the times and the law.” Dan. 7:25, R. V.

NOTE.—For a full explanation of this symbol, see readings on “The Kingdom and Work of Antichrist” and “The Vicar of Christ,” pages 218, 224.

7. What did the apostle Paul say the “man of sin” would do?

“For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped.” 2 Thess. 2:3, 4.

NOTE.—There is only one way by which any power could exalt itself above God, and that is by assuming to change the law of God, and to require obedience to its own law instead of God’s law.

8. What power has claimed authority to change the law of God?

The Papacy.

9. What part of the law of God especially has the Papacy thought to change?

The fourth commandment.

NOTES.—“They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord’s day, contrary to the decalogue, as it appears; neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, say they, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the ten commandments.”—Augsburg Confession, Art. XXVIII.

“It [the Roman Catholic Church] has reversed the fourth commandment, doing away with the Sabbath of God’s Word, and instituting Sunday as a holy day.”—_N. Summerbell, in __“__History of the Christians,__”__ page 418._

10. Why did God command Israel to hallow the Sabbath?

“And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Eze. 20:20.

NOTE.—As the Sabbath was given that man might keep God in mind as Creator, it can be readily seen that a power endeavoring to exalt itself above God would first try to cover up or remove that which calls man’s special attention to his Creator. This could be done in no other way so effectually as by setting aside God’s memorial—the seventh-day Sabbath. To this work of the Papacy Daniel had reference when he said, “And he shall ... think to change times and laws.” Dan. 7:25.

11. Does the Papacy acknowledge that it has changed the Sabbath?

It does.

NOTE.—“Question.—How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?

“Answer.—By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feast days commanded by the same church.”—_“__Abridgment of Christian Doctrine,__”__ by Rev. Henry Tuberville, D. D., of Douay College, France (1649), page 58._

“Ques.—Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?

“Ans.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her,—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”—_“__A Doctrinal Catechism,__”__ by Rev. Stephen Keenan, page 174._

“The Catholic Church of its own infallible authority created Sunday a holy day to take the place of the Sabbath of the old law.”—Kansas City Catholic, Feb. 9, 1893.

“The Catholic Church, ... by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.”—Catholic Mirror, official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.

“Ques.—Which is the Sabbath day?

“Ans.—Saturday is the Sabbath day.

“Ques.—Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

“Ans.—We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”—_“__The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine,__”__ by Rev. Peter Geiermann, C. SS. R., page 50, third edition, 1913, a work which received the __“__apostolic blessing__”__ of Pope Pius X, Jan. 25, 1910._

What was done at the Council of Laodicea was but one of the steps by which the change of the Sabbath was effected. See under questions 17-21. The date usually given for this council is 364 A.D.

12. Do Catholic authorities acknowledge that there is no command in the Bible for the sanctification of Sunday?

They do.

NOTE.—“You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”—_Cardinal Gibbons, in __“__The Faith of Our Fathers,__”__ edition 1892, page 111._

“Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claims to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles.... From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first.”—Catholic Press (Sydney, Australia), Aug. 25, 1900.

13. Do Protestant writers acknowledge the same?

They do.

NOTE.—“Is there no express commandment for observing the first day of the week as Sabbath, instead of the seventh day?—None whatever. Neither Christ, nor His apostles, nor the first Christians celebrated the first day of the week instead of the seventh as the Sabbath.”—New York Weekly Tribune, May 24, 1900.

“The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath.... There is no Scriptural authority for so doing, nor of course any Scriptural obligation.”—The Watchman (Baptist).

“The observance of the first instead of the seventh day rests on the testimony of the church, and the church alone.”—Hobart Church News (Episcopalian), July 2, 1894.

For additional testimonies, see reading on page 454.

14. How did this change in observance of days come about, suddenly or gradually?

Gradually.

NOTES.—“The Christian church made no formal, but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other.”—_“__The Voice From Sinai,__”__ by Archdeacon F. W. Farrar, page 167._

This of itself is evidence that there was no divine command for the change of the Sabbath.

15. For how long a time was the seventh-day Sabbath observed in the Christian church?

For many centuries. In fact, its observance has never wholly ceased in the Christian church.

NOTES.—Mr. Morer, a learned clergyman of the Church of England, says: “The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted that they derived this practise from the apostles themselves.”—_“__Dialogues on the Lord’s Day,__”__ page 189._

Prof. E. Brerwood, of Gresham College, London (Episcopal), says: “The Sabbath was religiously observed in the Eastern church three hundred years and more after our Saviour’s passion.”—_“__Learned Treatise of the Sabbath,__”__ page 77._

Lyman Coleman, a careful and candid historian, says: “Down even to the fifth century the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church, but with a rigor and solemnity gradually diminishing until it was wholly discontinued.”—_“__Ancient Christianity Exemplified,__”__ chap. 26, sec. 2._

The historian Socrates, who wrote about the middle of the fifth century, says: “Almost all the churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this.”—_“__Ecclesiastical History,__”__ book 5, chap. 22._

Sozomen, another historian of the same period, writes: “The people of Constantinople, and of several other cities, assemble together on the Sabbath as well as on the next day; which custom is never observed at Rome.”—_“__Ecclesiastical History,__”__ book 7, chap. 19._

All this would have been inconceivable and impossible had there been a divine command given for the change of the Sabbath. The last two quotations also show that Rome led in the apostasy and in the change of the Sabbath.

16. What striking testimony is borne by Neander, the noted church historian, regarding the origin of the Sunday sabbath?

“Opposition to Judaism introduced the particular festival of Sunday very early, indeed, into the place of the Sabbath.... The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect, far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. Perhaps at the end of the second century a false application of this kind had begun to take place; for men appear by that time to have considered laboring on Sunday as a sin.”—_Neander’s __“__Church History__”__ Rose’s translation, page 186._

17. Who first enjoined Sunday-keeping by law?

Constantine the Great.

NOTES.—“The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in 321 A.D., enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday (venerabili die Solis), with an exception in favor of those engaged in agricultural labor.”—_Encyclopedia Britannica, ninth edition, article __“__Sunday.__”_

“Constantine the Great made a law for the whole empire (321 A.D.) that Sunday should be kept as a day of rest in all cities and towns; but he allowed the country people to follow their work.”—_Encyclopedia Americana, article __“__Sabbath.__”_

“Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the Sabbatical observance of that day is known to have been ordained, is the edict of Constantine, 321 A.D.”—_Chambers’s Encyclopedia, article __“__Sabbath.__”_

18. What did Constantine’s law require?

“Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun; but let those who are situated in the country, freely and at full liberty, attend to the business of agriculture; because it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn and planting vines; lest the critical moment being let slip, men should lose the commodities granted by heaven.”—_Edict of March 7, 321 __A.D.__, Corpus Juris Civilis Cod., lib. 3, tit. 12, 3._

NOTE.—This edict, issued by Constantine, under whom the Christian church and the Roman state were first united, in a manner supplied the lack of a divine command for Sunday observance, and may be considered the original Sunday law, and the model after which all Sunday laws since then have been patterned. It was one of the important steps in bringing about and establishing the change of the Sabbath.

19. What testimony does Eusebius (270-338), a noted bishop of the church, a flatterer of Constantine, and the reputed father of ecclesiastical history, bear upon this subject?

“All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s day.”—_“__Commentary on the Psalms,__”__ Cox’s __“__Sabbath Literature__”__ Vol. I, page 361._

NOTE.—The change of the Sabbath was the result of the combined efforts of church and state, and it was centuries before it was fully accomplished.

20. When and by what church council was the observance of the seventh day forbidden, and Sunday observance enjoined?

“The seventh-day Sabbath was ... solemnized by Christ, the apostles, and primitive Christians, till the Laodicean Council did, in a manner, quite abolish the observation of it. ... The Council of Laodicea [A.D. 364] ... first settled the observation of the Lord’s day.”—_Prynne’s __“__Dissertation on the Lord’s Day Sabbath,__”__ page 163._

21. What did this council, in its twenty-ninth canon, decree concerning the Sabbath and Christians who continued to observe it?

“Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday [Sabbath], but shall work on that day.... If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ.”—_Hefele’s __“__History of the Councils of the Church,__”__ Vol. II, page 316._

NOTES.—Some of the further steps taken by church and state authorities in bringing about this change may be noted as follows:—

“In 386, under Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius, it was decreed that all litigation and business should cease [on Sunday]....

“Among the doctrines laid down in a letter of Pope Innocent I, written in the last year of his papacy (416), is that Saturday should be observed as a fast-day....

“In 425, under Theodosius the Younger, abstinence from theatricals and the circus [on Sunday] was enjoined....

“In 538, at a council at Orleans, ... it was ordained that everything previously permitted on Sunday should still be lawful; but that work at the plow, or in the vineyard, and cutting, reaping, threshing, tilling, and hedging should be abstained from, that people might more conveniently attend church....

“About 590 Pope Gregory, in a letter to the Roman people, denounced as the prophets of Antichrist those who maintained that work ought not to be done on the seventh day.”—_“__Law of Sunday__”__ by James T. Ringgold, pages 265-267._

The last paragraph of the foregoing quotation indicates that even as late as 590 A.D. there were those in the church who observed and who taught the observance of the Bible Sabbath, the seventh day.

22. What determines whose servants we are?

“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?” Rom. 6:16.

23. When tempted to bow down and worship Satan, what reply did Christ make?

“Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Matt. 4:10, 11.

24. What do Catholics say of the observance of Sunday by Protestants?

“It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred this rest to the Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord. Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] church.”—_“__Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today,__”__ by Mgr. Segur, page 213._

25. What kind of worship does the Saviour call that which is not according to God’s commandments?

“But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt. 15:9.

26. When Israel had apostatized, and were almost universally worshiping Baal, what appeal did Elijah make to them?

“How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21.

NOTE.—In times of ignorance God winks at that which otherwise would be sin; but when light comes He commands men everywhere to repent. Acts 17:30. The period during which the saints, times, and the law of God were to be in the hands of the Papacy has expired (Dan. 7:25); the true light on the Sabbath question is now shining; and God is sending a message to the world, calling upon men to fear and worship Him, and to return to the observance of His holy rest day, the seventh-day Sabbath. Rev. 14:6-12; Isa. 56:1; 58:1, 12-14. See pages 259, 446, 463, 547.

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Who is on the Lord’s side Always true? There’s a right and wrong side, Where stand you?

Thousands on the wrong side Choose to stand, Still ’tis not the strong side, True and grand.

Come and join the Lord’s side: Ask you why?— ’Tis the only safe side By and by. F. E. BELDEN.

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The Seal Of God And The Mark Of Apostasy

The Angel With The Seal. "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among My disciples." Isa. 8:16.

1. What does the Bible present as the object of a sign, or seal?

“Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed.” Dan. 6:8.

NOTE.—That is, affix the signature of royalty, that it may have the proper authority, and thus be of force. Anciently it was customary for kings to use a ring, containing their name, initials, or monogram, for this purpose. Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, “wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal.” 1 Kings 21:8. Of the decree issued under Ahasuerus for the slaying of all the Jews throughout the Persian Empire, it is said that “in the name of King Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king’s ring.” Esther 3:12.

2. What are the three essentials to an official seal?

To be complete, an official seal must show three things: (1) The name of the lawgiver; (2) his official position, title, or authority, and so his right to rule; and (3) his kingdom, or the extent of his dominion and jurisdiction. Thus: “Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States,” “George IV, King of Great Britain,” “Nicholas II, Czar of Russia.”

3. With what is God’s seal connected?

“Bind up the testimony, seal THE LAW among My disciples.” Isa. 8:16.

4. Does the first commandment show who the author of the law is?

“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” Ex. 20:3.

NOTE.—Who the “me” here spoken of is, the commandment itself does not state. Such a prohibition might come from any source. Any heathen could claim it as a command from his god, and, so far as the commandment itself goes, no one could disprove his claim.

5. Does the second, third, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, or tenth commandment indicate the author of the decalogue?

No; none of them.

NOTE.—The second commandment forbids the making of and bowing down to images, but does not in itself reveal who the true God is. The third commandment says, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,” but it likewise fails to reveal the true God and giver of the law. A worshiper of the sun might say he kept this commandment so far as it itself reveals what god is meant. So of the other commandments here referred to. In the last five commandments the name of God is not even mentioned.

6. Which commandment alone of the decalogue reveals the true God and Author of the law?

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, 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 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, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Verses 8-11.

NOTE.—The fourth commandment alone reveals the name, authority, and dominion of the Author of this law. In six days, (1) the Lord (name); (2) made (office, Creator); (3) heaven and earth (dominion). This commandment alone, therefore, contains “the seal of the living God.” By what is revealed in this commandment is shown what God is referred to in the other commandments. By the great truth revealed here all other gods are shown to be false gods. The Sabbath commandment, therefore, contains the seal of God; and the Sabbath itself, the observance of which is enjoined by the commandment, is inseparably connected with this seal; it is to be kept in memory of the fact that God is the Creator of all things; and it is itself called a “sign” of the knowledge of this great truth. Ex. 31:17; Eze. 20:20.

7. What reason does God give for the Sabbath being an everlasting sign between Him and His people?

“It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.” Ex. 31:17.

NOTE.—The Sabbath is the sign, or mark, or seal, of the true God, the Creator.

8. Of what does God say the keeping or hallowing of the Sabbath is a sign?

“And hallow My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Eze. 20:20.

9. Of what besides a knowledge of God as Creator, is the Sabbath a sign?

“Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth SANCTIFY you.” Ex. 31:13.

NOTE.—The Sabbath is the great sign of God’s creative power wherever and however manifested, whether in creation or redemption; for redemption is creation—re-creation. It requires the same power to redeem that it does to create. “Create in me a clean heart.” Ps. 51:10. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” Eph. 2:10. At each recurrence of the Sabbath, God designs that it shall call Him to mind as the One who created us, and whose grace and sanctifying power are working in us to fit us for His eternal kingdom.

10. What scripture shows that a special sealing work is to take place just before the letting loose of the winds of destruction upon the earth?

“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” Rev. 7:1-4. See Eze. 9:1-6.

11. Where did the apostle see this same company a little later, and what did they have in their foreheads?

“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.” Rev. 14:1.

NOTE.—The seal of God and the Father’s name must refer to the same thing. The seal is the sign or stamp of perfection, and God’s name stands for His character, which is perfection. And the Sabbath of God, kept as God ordained it to be kept, holy, and in holiness, is a sign of this same thing—perfection of character. When this seal is finally placed upon God’s people, it will be an evidence that His grace and His sanctifying power have done their work, and fitted them for heaven. In the world to come, all will keep the Sabbath, and will therefore have this seal or mark of sanctification, holiness, and perfection of character. Isa. 66:22, 23.

12. What is said of the character of these sealed ones?

“And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Verse 5.

13. How is the remnant church described?

“Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Verse 12.

14. Against what three things does the third angel of Revelation 14 warn men?

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” Verses 9, 10.

NOTE.—The beast represents the Papacy; the image to the beast represents another ecclesiastical body dominating civil power. See readings on pages 268, 271. And over against the seal of God stands the mark of the beast, the mark of apostasy. Against this false and idolatrous worship and the reception of this mark, God sends this solemn warning.

15. What power mentioned in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation is to enforce this mark?

“And he [the two-horned beast] causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.” Rev. 13:16.

NOTE.—The two-horned beast is understood to represent the United States of America. See reading on page 271. As this nation repudiates her principles of civil and religious liberty, and becomes a persecuting power, other nations will follow her example in oppressing those who refuse to yield their allegiance to God.

16. What does the Papacy set forth as the mark, or sign, of its power and authority?

“Question.—How prove you that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?

“Answer.—By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of.”—_“__Abridgment of Christian Doctrine,__”__ by Rev. Henry Tuberville, D. D., page 58._

NOTES.—In a letter written in November, 1895, Mr. H. F. Thomas, chancellor to Cardinal Gibbons, replying to an inquiry as to whether the Catholic Church claims to have changed the Sabbath, said: “Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act, ... and the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things.” For other statements concerning this, see pages 441, 444, 464.

The true Sabbath being a sign of loyalty to the true God, it is but natural that the false sabbath should be regarded as a sign of allegiance to apostasy. And such we find to be the case.

17. What do papal authorities say of the observance of Sunday by Protestants?

“The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] church.”—_“__Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today,__”__ by Monsignor Segur, page 213._

NOTE.—The statement here made is true, and a full realization of the fact will lead those who honestly, but ignorantly, have heretofore been observing Sunday as the Sabbath, to refuse longer to pay homage to apostasy, and return to the observance of that which is the sign of loyalty to heaven,—the only weekly day of rest which God, in His Word, has commanded men to keep holy, the seventh day.

18. What will be the dragon’s attitude toward the remnant people who keep the commandments of God?

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17.

19. How strongly will this false worship and the enforcement of this mark be urged?

“That the image of the beast should both speak, and cause [decree] that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark.” Rev. 13:15-17. See note under question 19, on page 227.

20. Over what do the people of God finally gain the victory?

“And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.” Rev. 15:2.

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The God that made the earth, And all the worlds on high, Who gave all creatures birth, In earth, and sea, and sky, After six days in work employed, Upon the seventh a rest enjoyed.

The Sabbath day was blessed, Hallowed, and sanctified; It was Jehovah’s rest, And so it must abide; ’Twas set apart before the fall, ’Twas made for man, ’twas made for all. R. F. COTTRELL.

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The Lord’s Day

John’s Vision On Patmos. "I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day." Rev. 1:10.

1. From what time was Christ, the Word, associated with God, the Father?

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1, 2.

2. By whom were all things created?

“Which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.” Eph. 3:9.

3. By whom were the worlds made?

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, ... by whom also He made the worlds.” Heb. 1:1, 2.

4. How does Paul again express this same truth?

“For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, ... all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” Col. 1:16, 17.

5. Was there anything made without Christ?

“All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” John 1:3.

6. Was the Sabbath “made”?

“And He said unto them, _The Sabbath was __MADE__ for man_.” Mark 2:27.

7. Then by whom was the Sabbath made?

By Christ.

NOTE.—This conclusion is inevitable. If all things were made by Christ, and without Him was not anything made that was made, and the Sabbath was one of the things that was made, then it follows that the Sabbath must have been made by Christ. This being so, the Sabbath must be the Lord’s day.

8. What did God do in the beginning on the seventh day?

“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.” Gen. 2:2.

NOTE.—If all things were made by Jesus Christ, then He, with the Father, rested on the first seventh day from all His labor in the work of creation.

9. After resting on the seventh day, what did God do?

“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” Verse 3.

NOTE.—And inasmuch as this blessing and this sanctification of the day were a part of the making of the Sabbath, as well as the resting upon the day, these also must have been done by Christ; for the Sabbath was made by Him.

10. How much honor is due to Christ?

“That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” John 5:23. “I and My Father are one.” John 10:30.

NOTE.—In keeping the Sabbath, then, we honor Christ equally with the Father.

11. Did Christ keep the Sabbath?

“And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16. “I have kept My Father’s commandments.” John 15:10.

12. Did Christ’s followers keep the Sabbath after His death?

“And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56.

13. Did they observe it after His resurrection?

“And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.” Acts 17:2. See also Acts 13:14, 42, 44; 16:13; 18:1-4, 11.

14. On what day does John say he was in the Spirit?

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” Rev. 1:10.

15. What day does the commandment say is the Lord’s?

“The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.” Ex. 20:10.

16. By whose Spirit did the prophets write?

“The Spirit of Christ which was in them.” 1 Peter 1:11.

17. What does the prophet Isaiah, speaking for God through this Spirit of Christ, call the seventh-day Sabbath?

“My holy day.” Isa. 58:13.

18. Does Christ anywhere in the Scriptures ever claim any other day of the week than the seventh as His?

He does not.

NOTE.—We do not need to speculate as to what day is the Lord’s, if we will but take the Word of God for our guide, for loyalty to which John was banished to the isle of Patmos. See Rev. 1:9.

19. If John, therefore, referred to a day of the week, on what day must he have been in the Spirit?

The seventh day.

NOTE.—No other day of the week in all the Bible is claimed by God as His day. During the second, third, and fourth centuries of the Christian era, when apostasy came in like a flood, men, without any warrant or command of Scripture, thinking to do honor to Christ and despite to the Jews who crucified Christ, began to neglect the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and to honor the day of the week on which Christ rose from the dead, the first day, as “the Lord’s day,” until finally the Sabbath was almost wholly lost sight of, and the Sunday quite generally took its place. But there was no more warrant for this change in the divine and unchangeable law of God than there was for other errors and changes which crept into the professed Christian church during this same time, such as abstaining from meat on Friday in honor of the crucifixion; Mariolatry, or the worship of the Virgin Mary; the mass; purgatory; indulgences; prayers for the dead; saint-worship; and the human vicarship of Christ. There was no more divine authority for one than for the others. All came in through apostasy. The Bible knows but one true and living God, one Lawgiver, one Mediator between God and man, one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, one body, one Spirit, one hope, one faith, one baptism, and one Sabbath. See Jer. 10:10-12; Rev. 14:6, 7; 1 Tim. 2:5; Eph. 4:4-6; Ex. 20:8-11.

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Walking As He Walked

Jesus In The Synagogue On The Sabbath. "Leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps." 1 Peter 2:21.

1. The way of the Christian life was set for us by Jesus Himself.

“He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” 1 John 2:6. “Leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps.” 1 Peter 2:21.

2. The footprints that Jesus set for us to follow, lead unvaryingly along the way of God’s commandments.

“I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15:10. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” 1 John 5:3.

3. The pathway is the same today as when Jesus walked in Judea.

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Heb. 13:8.

4. When it is shown that Jesus kept the seventh day holy as our example, many ask, “Why have not scholar and churchmen found out that there is no Bible authority for first-day sacredness?”

The answer is, They have found it so, and have freely declared the fact.

Testimony Of Eminent Men

5. The extracts that follow are from noted clergymen, scholars, and eminent writers, all of whom doubtless kept the Sunday as a matter of church custom. But they nevertheless bear witness that there is no Bible command for it.

Church Of England Writers

Archdeacon Farrar: “The Sabbath is Saturday, the seventh day of the week.” “The Christian church made no formal, but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other.”—_“__The Voice From Sinai,__”__ pages 163, 167._

Canon Eyton (of Westminster): “There is no word, no hint, in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday.” “The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday.” “Constantine’s decree was the first public step in establishing the first day of the week as a day on which there should be secular rest as well as religious worship.... Into the rest of Sunday no divine law enters.”—_“__The Ten Commandments,__”__ Trubners & Co._

Canon Knox-Little, replying to those who quote the example of Christ against the High-church ritualism, says:—

“It is certain that our Lord when on earth did observe Saturday, and did not observe Sunday.” “If they are consistent, as I have said, they must keep Saturday, not Sunday, as the day of rest.”—_“__Sacerdotalism,__”__ Longman Company._

Sir William Domville: “Centuries of the Christian era passed away before the Sunday was observed by the Christian church as a Sabbath.”—_“__Examination of Six Texts,__”__ chap. 8, page 291._

Writers Of Other Churches

Bishop Grimelund, of Norway (Lutheran): “The Christians in the ancient church very soon distinguished the first day of the week, Sunday; however, not as a sabbath, but as an assembly day of the church, to study the Word of God together.”—_“__Geschichte des Sonntags,__”__ page 60._

Dr. R. W. Dale (British Congregationalist): “It is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath.... The Sabbath was founded on a specific, divine command. We can plead no such command for the observance of Sunday.... There is not a single line in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday.”—_“__The Ten Commandments,__”__ Hodder and Stoughton, pages 106, 107._

Dr. Lyman Abbott (American Congregationalist): “The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament.”—Christian Union, June 26, 1890.

Dr. Edward T. Hiscock (Baptist): “There was and is a commandment to ‘keep holy the Sabbath day,’ but that Sabbath was not Sunday. It will, however, be readily said, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week.... Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament—absolutely not.”—The New York Examiner, Nov. 16, 1893.

Dr. D. H. Lucas (Disciple): “There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day the Lord’s day.”—Christian Oracle, Jan. 23, 1890.

Cardinal Gibbons (Roman Catholic): “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday.”—_“__Faith of Our Fathers,__”__ edition 1892, page 111._

Prize Essay of American Sunday-school Union: “Up to the time of Christ’s death, no change had been made in the day.... So far as the record shows, they [the apostles] did not give any explicit command enjoining the abandonment of the seventh-day Sabbath, and its observance on the first day of the week.”—_“__Lord’s Day,__”__ pages 185, 186._

Encyclopedias And Church Manuals

“Dictionary of Christian Antiquities:” “The notion of a formal substitution by apostolic authority of the Lord’s day [meaning Sunday] for the Jewish Sabbath, and the transference to it, perhaps in a spiritualized form, of the Sabbatical obligation established by the promulgation of the fourth commandment, has no basis whatever, either in the Holy Scriptures or in Christian antiquity.”—_Article __“__Sabbath,__”__ Smith and Cheetham._

“Cyclopedia of Biblical Theology:” “It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day.”—_Article __“__Sabbath,__”__ McClintock and Strong._

Methodist Episcopal “Theological Compend,” by Amos Binney: “It is true, there is no positive command for infant baptism.... Nor is there any for keeping holy the first day of the week.”—Pages 180, 181.

Protestant Episcopal “Manual of Christian Doctrine:” “Is there any command in the New Testament to change the day of weekly rest from Saturday?—None.”—Page 127.

Protestant Episcopal “Explanation of Catechism:” “The day is now changed from the seventh to the first day; ... but as we meet with no Scriptural direction for the change, we may conclude it was done by the authority of the church.”

6. What influence do the Bible and history show working in the church immediately after apostolic days?

“Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 20:30.

NOTE.—“In the interval between the days of the apostles and the conversion of Constantine, the Christian commonwealth changed its aspect.... Rites and ceremonies of which neither Paul nor Peter ever heard, crept silently into use, and then claimed the rank of divine institutions.”—_Dr. W. D. Killen’s (Presbyterian) __“__The Ancient Church,__”__ Preface._

7. What did Christ say of worship based upon the commandments of men?

“In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt. 15:9.

8. What did He say should be done with every plant not planted by God?

“Every plant, which My Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” Verse 13.

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The Sabbath In History

Israel In Captivity. "To fulfil the word of the Lord, ... until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths." 2 Chron. 36:21.

1. When and by what acts was the Sabbath made?

“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” Gen. 2:2, 3.

2. What division of time is marked off by the Sabbath?

The week.

NOTES.—“One of the most striking collateral confirmations of the Mosaic history of the creation is the general adoption of the division of time into weeks, which extends from the Christian states of Europe to the remote shores of Hindustan, and has equally prevailed among the Hebrews, the Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and northern barbarians,—nations some of whom had little or no intercourse with others, and were not even known by name to the Hebrews.”—_Horne’s __“__Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures,__”__ Vol. I, page 69, edition 1841._

“Seven has been the ancient and honored number among the nations of the earth. They have measured their time by weeks from the beginning. The original of this was the Sabbath of God, as Moses has given the reasons for it in his writings.”—_“__Brief Dissertation on the First Three Chapters of Genesis,__”__ by Dr. Lyman Coleman, page 26._

Gen. 7:4, 10; 8:10, 12, show that the week was known at the time of the flood.

3. How widely recognized is the seventh-day Sabbath in the different languages of the world today?

It is very generally so recognized.

NOTE.—Some years ago the late Dr. William Mead Jones, of London, published a “Chart of the Week,” showing the style of the weekly cycle and the designations of the different days of the week in one hundred and sixty different languages. This chart shows very vividly that the seven-day period, or week, was known from the most ancient times, and that in no fewer than one hundred and eight of these languages the seventh day is designated as the Sabbath, or holy day. The following is from this chart:—

English The seventh day The Sabbath Hebrew Shabbath Sabbath Greek Sabbaton Sabbath Latin Sabbatum Sabbath Arabic Assabt The Sabbath Persian Shambin Sabbath Armenian Shapat Sabbath Turkish Yomessabt Day the Sabbath Abyssinian Sanbat Sabbath Russian Subbota Sabbath Polish Sobota Sabbath Hindustani Shamba Sabbath Malay Ari-Sabtu Day Sabbath Afghan Shamba Sabbath German Samstag Sabbath Prussian Sabatico Sabbath French Samedi Sabbath day Italian Sabbato Sabbath Spanish Sabado Sabbath Portuguese Sabbado Sabbath

4. What reason did God assign at Sinai for having blessed and set apart the seventh day as a day of holy rest?

“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.” Ex. 20:11.

5. What promise did God make to Israel, through Jeremiah, if they would keep the Sabbath?

“And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently harken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein; then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain forever.” Jer. 17:24, 25.

6. What did He say would happen if they did not hallow the Sabbath day?

“But if ye will not harken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” Verse 27.

7. What befell the city of Jerusalem when it was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in 588 B.C.?

“And all the vessels of the house of God ... he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire.” 2 Chron. 36:18, 19.

8. Why was this done?

“To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath.” Verse 21.

NOTE.—Israel’s Babylonish captivity, under Nebuchadnezzar and his sons, was seventy years long because that for 420 years, or for six times seventy years,—from the days of Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar’s time,—they had largely neglected to keep the Sabbath. See Eze. 22:8, 26; Jer. 25:8-11; 17:24, 27; 2 Chron. 36:15-21. The seventy years’ desolation made up for the 420 years of Sabbath desecration. So during the millennium, or the one thousand years after Christ’s second advent, the whole earth will lie desolate, or keep sabbath, for one thousand years, because that for six thousand years the world’s inhabitants have disregarded the Sabbath. See this period and condition pointed out in Rev. 20:1-4; Isa. 24:1-6; Jer. 4:23-27. The periods of rest and desolation of the land are divinely appointed sabbatical compensations for man’s irreligion, as manifested in Sabbath desecration. They are impressive lessons on the importance of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and the results of breaking and disregarding it.

9. After Israel’s restoration from the Babylonian captivity, what did Nehemiah say was the reason for their punishment?

“Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” Neh. 13:17, 18.

10. How does he speak of God’s giving the Sabbath to Israel?

“Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: and madest known unto them Thy holy Sabbath.” Neh. 9:13, 14.

NOTE.—Let it be noted that this text does not say that God made the Sabbath then, but simply that He made it known to Israel then. They had largely forgotten it while in Egypt. See pages 419, 423.

11. How did Christ, while on earth, regard the Sabbath?

“And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” Luke 4:16.

12. By what did Christ recognize the Sabbath law?

“And He said unto them, ... It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.” Matt. 12:11, 12.

NOTES.—William Prynne says: “It is certain that Christ Himself, His apostles, and the primitive Christians for some good space of time, did constantly observe the seventh-day Sabbath.”—_“__Dissertation on the Lord’s Day Sabbath,__”__ page 33._

Morer, a learned clergyman of the Church of England, says: “The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted that they derived this practise from the apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to that purpose.”—_Morer’s __“__Dialogues on the Lord’s Day,__”__ page 189._

The historian Neander says: “Opposition to Judaism introduced the particular festival of Sunday very early, indeed, into the place of the Sabbath.... The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect,—far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. Perhaps at the end of the second century a false application of this kind had begun to take place; for men appear by that time to have considered laboring on Sunday as a sin.”—_Neander’s __“__Church History,__”__ Rose’s translation, page 186._

Dr. Lyman Abbott says: “The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day of the week for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament.”—Christian Union, June 26, 1890.

Archdeacon Farrar says: “The Christian church made no formal, but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other.”—_“__The Voice From Sinai,__”__ page 167._

13. What was the first effort of the Roman Church in behalf of the recognition of Sunday?

In 196 A.D., Victor, bishop of Rome, attempted to impose on all the churches the Roman custom of having the Passover, or Easter, as it is commonly called, celebrated every year on Sunday. See Bower’s “History of the Popes,” Vol. I, pages 18, 19.

NOTE.—This, Dr. Bower, in his “History of the Popes,” Vol. I, page 18, styles “the first essay of papal usurpation.”

14. What was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice?

“The question relating to the observance of Easter, which was agitated in the time of Anicetus and Polycarp, and afterward in that of Victor, was still undecided. It was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice, being the most important subject to be considered after the Arian controversy.”—_Boyle’s __“__Historical View of the Council of Nice,__”__ page 23, edition 1836._

15. How was the matter finally decided?

“Easter day was fixed on the Sunday immediately following the full moon which was nearest after the vernal equinox.”—Id., page 24.

16. In urging the observance of this decree on the churches, what reason did Constantine assign for it?

“Let us have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews.”—Id., page 52.

17. What had Constantine already done, in 321 A.D., to help forward Sunday to a place of prominence?

He issued an edict requiring “the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades” to rest on “the venerable day of the sun.” See Encyclopedia Britannica, article “Sunday;” and this work, page 443.

18. Who did Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, and one of Constantine’s most ardent supporters, say had transferred the obligations of the Sabbath to Sunday?

“All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, _these __WE__ have transferred to the Lord’s day_.”—_Eusebius’s __“__Commentary on the Psalms,__”__ quoted in Cox’s __“__Sabbath Literature,__”__ Vol. I, page 361._

19. What did Sylvester, bishop of Rome, 314 A.D. to 337 A.D., do for the Sunday institution by his “apostolic authority”?

He officially changed the title of the first day, calling it the LORD’S DAY. See “Historia Ecclesiastica,” by M. Ludovicum Lucium, cent. 4, cap. 10, pages 739, 740, edition Basilea, 1624.

20. What did the Council of Laodicea decree in 364 A.D.?

Canon 29. “Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday [Sabbath], but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honor.”—_“__A History of the Councils of the Church,__”__ Charles Joseph Hefele, Vol. II, page 316._

21. How late did Christians keep the Sabbath?

“Down even to the fifth century, the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church.”—_Lyman Coleman’s __“__Ancient Christianity Exemplified,__”__ chap. 26, sec. 2._

22. How generally does the historian Socrates, who wrote about the middle of the fifth century, say the Sabbath was observed by the Christian churches of his time?

“Although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this.”—_Socrates’s __“__Ecclesiastical History,__”__ book 5, chap. 22._

23. What day was observed in the dark ages by some of the Waldenses?

“They kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian faith and the commandments of God.”—_Jones’s __“__Church History,__”__ Vol. II, chap. 5, sec. 4._

24. Who among the early Reformers raised this question of Sabbath observance?

“Carlstadt held to the divine authority of the Sabbath from the Old Testament.”—_“__Life of Luther,__”__ by Dr. Barnes Sears, page 402._

25. What did Luther say of Carlstadt’s Sabbath views?

“Indeed, if Carlstadt were to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have to give way, and the Sabbath—that is to say, Saturday—must be kept holy.”—_Luther, Against the Celestial Prophets, quoted in __“__Life of Martin Luther in Pictures,__”__ page 147._

26. What claim is now made by the Roman Church concerning the change of the Sabbath to Sunday?

“Question.—Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?

“Answer.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her,—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”—_“__Doctrinal Catechism,__”__ by Rev. Stephen Keenan, page 174._

NOTE.—Through want of sufficient light and investigation, and because of the efforts of some who opposed the Sabbath during the Reformation, Sunday was brought from Catholicism into the Protestant church, and is now cherished as an institution of the Lord. It is clear, however, that it is none of His planting, but rather the work and result of apostasy. But a message is now going forth to revive the truth on this point, and calling for a genuine reformation upon it. See pages 251-263, and next reading.

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Sabbath Reform

The House Of Prayer. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day." Isa. 58:13.

1. What kind of worship does Christ say results from doctrines based on the commandments of men?

“But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt. 15:9.

2. What commandment did Christ say the Pharisees had made void by their teaching?

“For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother.... But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free.” Verses 4-6.

3. What was the result of their course?

“Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.” Verse 6.

NOTE.—By a gift or dedication of property to the temple service, they taught that a man might be freed from the duties enjoined by the fifth commandment.

4. What question did the disciples soon afterward ask Christ?

“Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?” Verse 12.

5. What answer did the Saviour make?

“But He answered and said, Every plant, which My Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” Verse 13.

NOTE.—What is true of the fifth commandment is true of every other commandment. If through tradition men set aside any other of God’s commandments, the words of Christ to the Pharisees are equally applicable to them. They are guilty of making void the commandment of God, and of instituting vain worship.

6. When, and by whom, was the Sabbath “planted”?

“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.” Ex. 20:11.

7. Who claims to have planted the Sunday institution?

“Question.—Has the [Catholic] church power to make any alterations in the commandments of God?

“Answer.—... Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God’s worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God’s commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.”—_“__Catholic Christian Instructed,__”__ by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Challoner, page 211._

NOTE.—“We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for keeping Sunday holy, instead of Saturday, as we have for every other article of our creed; namely, the authority of ‘the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth’ (1 Tim. 3:15); whereas, you who are Protestants have really no authority for it whatever; for there is no authority for it in the Bible, and you will not allow that there can be authority for it anywhere else. Both you and we do, in fact, follow tradition in this matter; but we follow it, believing it to be a part of God’s word, and the church to be its divinely appointed guardian and interpreter; you follow it, denouncing it all the time as a fallible and treacherous guide, which often ‘makes the commandment of God of none effect.’ ”—_“__Clifton Tracts,__”__ Vol. IV, article __“__A Question for All Bible Christians,__”__ page 15._

For further quotations on this, see pages 441, 444, 455, 456.

8. When is final salvation to be brought to God’s people?

“Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:5.

9. When God’s salvation is near to come, upon whom does He pronounce a blessing?

“Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.” Isa. 56:1, 2.

10. Is this promised blessing confined to any one class?

“Also the sons of the STRANGER that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer.” Verses 6, 7.

NOTE.—It is evident from these scriptures that in the last day, when men are waiting for the Saviour to appear, there will be a call for those who really love the Lord to separate themselves from the world, to observe the Lord’s true Sabbath, and to depart from all evil.

11. What does God tell His ministers to do at this time?

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” Isa. 58:1.

12. What message of Sabbath reform does He send?

“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, honorable; and shalt honor 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.” Verses 13, 14.

NOTE.—The Sabbath of Jehovah is not now, by the majority even of professed Christians, called holy and honorable. By many it is stigmatized as “Jewish.” The Lord foresaw how this would be in this age, and inspired the prophet to write as he did. “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath.” This is a strong expression, indicating that many would be trampling upon God’s day, and doing their own pleasure upon it, instead of seeking God, and honoring Him by keeping the Sabbath holy.

13. What will those be called who engage in this reformation?

“And thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.” Verse 12.

14. What does another prophet say professed teachers among God’s people have done?

“Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane; neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” Eze. 22:26.

15. What have they done to maintain their theories?

“And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.” Verse 28.

NOTES.—Untempered mortar is that which is improperly worked, and will not therefore hold together or stand the test. Thus it is with the reasons advanced for keeping Sunday instead of the Bible Sabbath, the seventh day. They are not only unsound and untenable in themselves, but are utterly inconsistent, contradictory, and destructive one of the other, among themselves. They are like the witnesses employed by the Jewish leaders to condemn Christ. Of these the record says: “The chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death; and found none. For many bare false witness against Him, but their witness agreed not together.” Mark 14:55, 56. The lack of agreement among them was evidence in itself of the falsity of their testimony. In nothing, perhaps, is a lack of agreement better illustrated than in the reasons assigned for Sunday-keeping. Note the following:—

One says the Sabbath has been changed from the seventh to the first day of the week.

Another says that the Sabbath commandment requires only one day of rest after six of labor, and hence there has been no change.

Some reason that all ought to keep Sunday, because although, as they affirm, God did not appoint a particular day, yet agreement is necessary; and to have any or every day a sabbath would be equal to no sabbath at all.

Others, to avoid the claims of God’s law, assert that the Sabbath precept is one of those ordinances which was against us, contrary to us, blotted out, and nailed to the cross. Still, they admit that a day of rest and convocation is necessary, and therefore the day of Christ’s resurrection, they say, has been chosen.

Another class say they believe it is impossible to know which is the seventh day, although they have no difficulty in ascertaining which is the first.

Some are so bold even as to declare that Sunday is the original seventh day.

Others, with equal certainty, say that those who keep the seventh day are endeavoring to be justified by the law, and are fallen from grace.

Another class, with more liberal views, say they believe that every one should be fully persuaded in his own mind, whether he keep this day, or that, or none at all.

Still again, as if having found the great desideratum or missing link in the argument, men credited with even more than ordinary intelligence, will sometimes declare that it is impossible to keep the seventh day on a round and rolling earth; and yet, strange to say, they find no difficulty in keeping Sunday anywhere, and believe that this day should be observed the world over!

Lastly, and more terrible and presumptuous than all the rest, some, like Herod of old in slaying all the children of Bethlehem in order to make sure of killing Christ, have gone so far as to teach that all ten commandments have been abolished, in order to avoid the duty enjoined in the fourth. But as in the case of Herod, God’s Anointed escaped the murderous blow of this wicked king, so in the judgment such will have to meet God over His broken law, and will find that the Sabbath precept stands there unchanged with the rest.

Said Christ, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5:19.

16. What does the Lord say will become of this wall thus daubed with untempered mortar?

“Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.” Eze. 13:11.

17. When are these hailstones to fall?

“Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?” Job 38:22, 23.

18. Under which of the seven last plagues will this hail fall?

“And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; ... and the cities of the nations fell: ... and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent.” Rev. 16:17-21.

19. In order to prepare His people for that terrible time, what does God expect His ministers to do?

“Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.” Eze. 13:5.

20. Instead of trying to close up this breach made in God’s law [the loss of the Sabbath], and so make up the hedge, what have they done?

“They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.” Verse 6.

21. During these closing scenes, what message is God sending to the world to turn men from false worship to the worship of the true and living God?

“Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.... Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.... If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.” Rev. 14:7-10.

NOTE.—This is the last gospel message to be sent to the world before the Lord comes. Under it will be developed two classes of people, one having the mark of the beast (the Papacy), and the other keeping the commandments of God, and having His seal, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. See readings on pages 259, 446.

22. What, besides attending and taking part in religious services (Luke 4:16), did Christ do on the Sabbath day?

“Who went about doing good.” Acts 10:38. See Matt. 8:14-17; 12:1-15; Mark 2:23-28; 3:1-6; Luke 6:1-11; 13:11-17; 14:1-6; John 5:1-18; 9:1-41.

NOTE.—When we come to study the life of Christ, we find that He did not make the Sabbath a day of idleness, nor even a day confined wholly to public and private worship, but one of active service in blessing others. On this day especially He went about doing good, ministering to the sick, and bringing relief to those long bound by Satan. Luke 13:15, 16; John 5:5, 6. And as He is our pattern in all things, we, too, like Him, should seek to make the Sabbath a day for helping and blessing others. To loose the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, deal bread to the hungry, clothe the naked, and let the oppressed go free, is the fast which God has chosen, and the Sabbath-keeping most acceptable to Him. Isa. 58:1-12. In this kind of work and ministry there is room for a world-wide Sabbath reform.

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Brother! up to the breach For God’s freedom and truth; Let us act as we teach, With the wisdom of age, and the vigor of youth. Heed not their cannon-balls; Ask not who stands or falls; Grasp the sword of the Lord, And—Forward!

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X. CHRISTIAN LIBERTY

Christ And The Tribute-Money. "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s." Mark 12:17.

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The Author Of Liberty

Peter Delivered From Prison. "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee ... out of the house of bondage." Ex. 20:2.

1. How is the bondage of Israel in Egypt described?

“And the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.” Ex. 2:23. Compare with James 5:1-4.

2. Who heard their groaning?

“God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” Verse 24.

3. What did God say to Moses?

“Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto Me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” Ex. 3:9, 10.

4. In giving Israel His law, how did God describe Himself?

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” Ex. 20:2.

5. What provision did God make against slavery and oppression in Israel?

“And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shall let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shall not let him go away empty: thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy wine-press: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing today.” Deut. 15:12-15. “Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Ex. 22:21. See 2 Cor. 1:3, 4.

6. What was one reason assigned why Israel should keep the Sabbath?

“And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” Deut. 5:15.

NOTE.—This would suggest the idea that in their servitude and oppression in Egypt they had had difficulty regarding the observance of the Sabbath, which is a fact. From the accusation brought against Moses and Aaron by Pharaoh, as recorded in Ex. 5:5,—“Ye make them rest [Heb., Shabbath] from their burdens,”—it is plain that the Sabbath had been denied them, that they had been required to work on the Sabbath, and that Moses and Aaron were teaching them to keep it. Where individual rights and religious liberty are recognized, Sabbath observance is neither denied nor required by civil law.

7. What proclamation was to be made throughout the land of Israel every fifty years?

“And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.” Lev. 25:10.

8. Because Israel failed to do this, became oppressive, and disregarded and misused the Sabbath, what did God do?

“Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ye have not harkened unto Me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.” Jer. 34:17. See also Jer. 17:24-27; 2 Chron. 36:19-21.

9. What fault did God find with the way in which Israel came to celebrate her fasts and seasons of worship?

“Behold; in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and _exact __ all your labors_. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness.” Isa. 58:3, 4.

10. What does God set forth as the acceptable fast to Him?

“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” Verses 6, 7.

NOTE.—All this shows that God loves liberty, and hates bondage and oppression.

11. What was Christ’s mission to this world?

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” Luke 4:18.

NOTE.—The Gospels show that a large part of Christ’s time even on the Sabbath was devoted to relieving the oppressed and distressed.

12. In what condition are those who commit sin?

“Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” John 8:34.

13. Why was Christ’s name to be called Jesus?

“And thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21.

14. What lies at the root of all sin?

“When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin.” James 1:15. “I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Rom. 7:7.

NOTE.—Lust, covetousness, and unlawful desire are only different names for selfishness. Selfishness lies at the root of all sin; and selfishness is simply the love of self to the disregard of the equal rights of others.

15. By what scripture is the equality of rights clearly shown?

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Lev. 19:18.

16. What rule of conduct has Christ laid down in harmony with this command?

“Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” Matt. 7:12.

NOTE.—Selfishness, then, must be uprooted from men’s hearts before they will recognize the equal rights of their fellow men.

17. Who alone can cleanse men’s hearts from selfishness?

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. See also 1 John 1:9.

18. Who alone, then, can give men real freedom?

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36.

19. What was Christ’s attitude toward unbelievers?

“If any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.” John 12:47.

20. What spirit did Christ say should control His disciples?

“But Jesus called them to Him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42-45.

21. What is present where the Spirit of the Lord is?

“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Cor. 3:17.

22. What kind of worship only is acceptable to God?

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23, 24.

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Freedom and reason make brave men; Take these away, what are they then?— Mere groveling brutes, and just as well The beasts may think of heaven or hell.

Know, then, that every soul is free To choose his life, and what he’ll be; For this eternal truth is given: That God will force no man to heaven.

He’ll call, persuade, direct him right, Bless him with wisdom, love, and light, In nameless ways be good and kind, But never force the human mind.

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The Powers That Be

Worship Interfered With By The State. Christians surprised by troops while worshiping in a cavern.

1. Who should be subject to civil government?

“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God.” Rom. 13:1.

2. By whom are the powers that be ordained?

“The powers that be are ordained of God.” Same verse.

3. What does one resist, who resists civil authority?

“Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.” Verse 2.

NOTE.—“That is, they who rise up against government itself, who seek anarchy and confusion, who oppose the regular execution of the laws. It is implied, however, that those laws shall not be such as violate the rights of conscience or oppose the law of God.”—Dr. Albert Barnes, on Rom. 13:2.

4. What do the Scriptures indicate as the proper sphere and legitimate work of civil authority?

“For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.... If thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” Verses 3, 4.

5. For whom is law made?

“Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient.” 1 Tim. 1:9.

6. How are Christians admonished to respect civil authority?

“Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work.” Titus 3:1. “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that do well.... Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” 1 Peter 2: 13-17. “For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.” Rom. 13:6, 7.

7. In what words does Christ show that there is another realm outside of Cæsar’s, or civil government?

“Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” Matt. 22:21.

8. To whom alone did He say worship is to be rendered?

“Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Matt. 4:10.

9. What decree did King Nebuchadnezzar once make respecting worship?

“To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up. And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” Dan. 3:4-6.

NOTE.—This decree was in direct conflict with the second commandment of God’s law, which forbids making, bowing down to, and serving images. It was religious, idolatrous, and persecuting in character.

10. What answer did the three Hebrew captives, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, return when asked by the king why they had not fallen down and worshiped the golden image, as he had commanded?

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” Verses 16-18.

11. What did Nebuchadnezzar then do?

“Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: ... and he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.” Verses 19, 20.

12. After their miraculous deliverance, what did Nebuchadnezzar say?

“Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent His angel, and delivered His servants that trusted in Him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.” Verse 28.

NOTE.—By preserving these men in the fire, and thus changing the king’s word, God was demonstrating before all the world, through this greatest of then-existing earthly kingdoms, that with the question of religion civil governments can of right have nothing whatsoever to do; that religion is a realm outside the legitimate sphere of civil authority; and that every individual should be left free to worship, or not to worship, according to the dictates of his own conscience. The lesson to be learned from this is that, although ordained of God, civil governments are not ordained to direct or oppress men in religious matters.

13. How only did the envious princes and rulers under King Darius conclude that they could effect the downfall of Daniel?

“Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.” Dan. 6:5.

14. To this end, what decree did they prevail upon the king to make and sign?

“That whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.” Verse 7.

NOTE.—Unlike the decree of Nebuchadnezzar, this decree forbade the worship of the true God, and was therefore in direct conflict with the first commandment, which forbids the worship of any other than the true God. Like it, however, it was religious and persecuting in character.

15. How did Daniel regard this decree?

“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, _he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, __ and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime_.” Verse 10.

Daniel Praying In Babylon. "When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, ... he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, ... as he did aforetime." Dan. 6:10.

16. What was finally done with Daniel?

“Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions.” Verse 16.

17. What did Darius say to Daniel the next morning when he came to the lions’ den?

“The king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?” Verse 20.

18. What was Daniel’s reply?

“Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever. My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.” Verses 21, 22.

NOTE.—Here again was demonstrated by a most remarkable miracle, wrought in the face of the greatest nation then in existence, that with the directing, prescribing, proscribing, or interfering with religion or its free exercise, civil governments can of right have nothing whatever to do; that religion is an individual matter, and should be left to the dictates of each one’s own conscience.

19. Before leaving His disciples, what command did Christ give them?

“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15.

20. What counter-command did the Jewish Sanhedrin soon afterward give them?

“And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” Acts 4:18.

21. What reply did Peter and John make?

“But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to harken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” Verses 19, 20.

22. For continuing to preach Jesus, what did the Jewish rulers do to the apostles?

“Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.” Acts 5:17, 18.

23. What did an angel of God then do?

“But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.” Verses 19, 20.

NOTE.—Here once again is demonstrated the fact that men have no right to interfere with the free exercise of religion, and that when the laws of men conflict with the law and Word of God, we are to obey the latter, whatever the consequences may be. God Himself has set the seal of His approval to such a course. John Bunyan was imprisoned for twelve years for daring to preach the gospel contrary to law.

24. Upon the apostles being called before the council again, what question did the high priest ask them?

“Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” Verse 28.

25. What reply did the apostles make?

“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” Verse 29.

NOTE.—“Obedience is to be rendered to all human governments, in subordination to the will of God. These governments are a recognized necessity, in the nature of the case, and their existence is manifestly in accordance with the divine will. Hence the presumption is always in favor of the authority of civil law, and any refusal to obey must be based on the moral proof that obedience will be sin.... It is still true that obedience to human law often involves sin against God and man. There are cases so clear that no one can question the duty to refuse obedience. In all times and in all lands such cases have arisen.” “It is too obvious to need discussion, that the law of God, the great principle of benevolence, is supreme, and that ’we ought to obey God rather than men’ in any case of conflict between human law and the divine.”—_“__Moral Philosophy,__”__ by James H. Fairchild, pages 178-181._

26. Who is higher than the “higher powers”?

“If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for He that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.” Eccl. 5:8.

NOTE.—In attempting to defend the right of civil government to enforce religious observances by law, some still ask, “Shall we not obey the powers that be?” We answer, “Yes, when they are in harmony with the higher powers that be. God made His law for all the universe. He created man; He gives the bounteous provisions of nature, and holds our breath and life in His hand. He is to be recognized, His law honored, before all the great men and the highest earthly powers.”

27. Because Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman in accordance with the command of King Ahasuerus (Esther 3:1-6), what decree did Haman succeed in having the king issue and send to every province throughout the Persian Empire?

“And the letters were sent by posts into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey. The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, that they should be ready against that day.” Esther 3:13, 14.

NOTES.—By an overruling of Providence the carrying out of this terrible decree was averted, and Haman was hanged on the very gallows which he had erected for the execution of Mordecai. See Esther 7:9, 10.

God has placed the sword (civil authority) in the hands of Cæsar (civil government) for the punishment of evil-doers; but when the sword is raised to slay the innocent, as in the case of the children of Bethlehem (Matt. 2:16); or to enforce idolatrous worship, as in the case of the three Hebrews (Daniel 3); or to prohibit the worship of the true God, as in the case of Daniel (Daniel 6); or to slay all of God’s people, as in the time of Esther; or to enforce the observance of a false sabbath, as in the case of all Sunday laws, it is an abuse of civil authority, and not a proper or justifiable use of it; and God honors those who, under such circumstances, in the face of persecution, oppression, and death, remain loyal and true to Him.

“Government is never the gainer in the execution of a law that is manifestly unjust.... Conscientious men are not the enemies, but the friends, of any government but a tyranny. They are its strength, and not its weakness. Daniel, in Babylon, praying contrary to the law, was the true friend and supporter of the government; while those who, in their pretended zeal for the law and the constitution, would strike down the good man, were its real enemies. It is only when government transcends its sphere that it comes in conflict with the consciences of men.

“But it is objected that the example is corrupting,—that a bad man will violate a good law, because the good man refuses to obey a wicked law. The cases are just as unlike as right and wrong, and any attempt to justify the one by the other is gross dishonesty. Unquestionably, the principle can be abused by the wicked, and so can any truth whatever; but the principle of unquestioning obedience to human law is false, and needs no perversion to make it mischievous....

“It should always be remembered that the great end of government is human well-being, that law and authority are nothing in themselves, and that all their sacredness arises from the uses which they serve. The machinery of government is valuable only for the work it does; in itself, it has no value.... The most grievous of all imperfections in government is the failure to secure the just and good result.... Injustice and oppression are not made tolerable by being in strict accordance with the law. Nothing is surer, in the end, than the reaction of such wrong to break down the most perfectly constituted government.”—_“__Moral Philosophy,__”__ by James H. Fairchild, pages 184-186._

God is above all earthly rulers, and His law above all human laws. He made us, and we therefore owe allegiance to Him before any earthly power, potentate, or tribunal. And this is saying nothing in disparagement of civil authority exercised in its rightful domain—civil things.

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Individual Accountability

Esther At The Banquet. "We are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish." Esther 7:4.

1. What is religion?

“The recognition of God as an object of worship, love, and obedience.”—Webster. Other definitions equally good are: “The duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it.” “Man’s personal relation of faith and obedience to God.”

2. In religious things, whom alone did Christ say we should recognize as Father?

“And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” Matt. 23:9.

3. When tempted to fall down and worship Satan, what Scripture command did Christ cite in justification of His refusal to do this?

“Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” Matt. 4:10. See Deut. 6:13; 10:20.

4. To whom alone, then, is each one accountable in religious things?

“So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Rom. 14:12.

NOTE.—With this agree the words of Washington: “Every man who conducts himself as a good citizen, is accountable alone to God for his religious faith, and should be protected in worshiping God according to the dictates of his own conscience.”—Reply to Virginia Baptists, in 1789.

5. What do those do, therefore, who make men accountable to them in religious affairs?

They put themselves in the place of God. See 2 Thess. 2:3, 4.

6. Why, in religious matters, did Christ say men should not be called masters?

“Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.” Matt. 23:10.

NOTE.—Every one, therefore, who acts as master in Christ’s church, or lords it over God’s heritage (1 Peter 5:3), puts himself in the place of Christ.

7. To whom, then, as servants, are we responsible in matters of faith and worship?

“Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth.” Rom. 14:4.

8. Whose servants are we not to be?

“Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.” 1 Cor. 7:23.

NOTE.—“Satan’s methods ever tend to one end,—to make men the slaves of men,” and thus separate them from God, destroy faith in God, and so expose men to temptation and sin. Christ’s work is to set men free, to renew faith, and to lead to willing and loyal obedience to God. Says Luther: “It is contrary to the will of God that man should be subject to man in that which pertains to eternal life. Subjection in spirituals is a real worship, and should be rendered only to the Creator.”—_D’Aubigne’s __“__History of the Reformation,__”__ edited by M. Laird Simons, book 7, chap. 11._

9. Where must all finally appear to render up their account?

“For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” 2 Cor. 5:10.

NOTE.—Inasmuch, then, as religion is an individual matter, and each individual must give account of himself to God, it follows that there should be no human constraint nor compulsion in religious affairs.

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Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone; Dare to have a purpose firm, Dare to make it known.

P. P. BLISS.

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Union Of Church And State

Paul And Silas In Prison. "These men, being Jews, ... teach customs, which are not lawful for us ... to observe, being Romans." Acts 16:20, 21.

1. What was already at work in the church in Paul’s day?

“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work.” 2 Thess. 2:7.

2. What class of men did he say would arise in the church?

“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 20:29, 30.

3. Through what experience was the church to pass, and what was to develop in the church, before Christ’s second coming?

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” 2 Thess. 2:3.

4. In what was shown the first tangible evidence of this “falling away” from the truth of God?

The adoption of heathen rites and customs in the church.

NOTE.—“The bishops augmented the number of religious rites in the Christian worship, by way of accommodation to the infirmities and prejudices, both of Jews and heathen, in order to facilitate their conversion to Christianity.... For this purpose, they gave the name of mysteries to the institutions of the gospel, and decorated particularly the holy sacrament with that solemn title. They used in that sacred institution, as also in that of baptism, several of the terms employed in the heathen mysteries, and proceeded so far, at length, as even to adopt some of the rites and of the ceremonies of which those renowned mysteries consisted.”—_Mosheim’s __“__Ecclesiastical History__”__ (Maclaine’s translation), cent. 2, part 2, chap. 4, pars. 2-5._

5. How early was this tendency manifested?

“This imitation began in the eastern provinces; but, after the time of Adrian [emperor 117-138 A.D.], who first introduced the mysteries among the Latins, it was followed by the Christians who dwelt in the western parts of the empire.”—Id., par. 5.

6. What has been one great characteristic of the Papacy?

A union of church and state, or the religious power dominating the civil power to further its ends.

7. When was the union of church and state formed from which the Papacy grew?

During the reign of Constantine, 313-337 A.D.

8. What was the character and the work of many of the bishops at that time?

“Worldly-minded bishops, instead of caring for the salvation of their flocks, were often but too much inclined to travel about, and entangle themselves in worldly concerns.”—_Neander’s __“__History of the Christian Religion and Church__”_ (Torrey’s translation), Vol. II, page 16.

9. What did the bishops determine to do?

“This theocratical theory was already the prevailing one in the time of Constantine; and ... the bishops voluntarily made themselves dependent on him by their disputes, and by their determination to make use of the power of the state for the furtherance of their aims.”—Id., page 132.

NOTE.—The “theocratical theory” was that of a government administered by God through the church, particularly through the church bishops.

10. What was the date of Constantine’s famous Sunday law?

A.D. 321.

11. When and by whom was the Council of Nice convened?

By the emperor Constantine, 325 A.D.

12. Under what authority were its decrees published?

“The decrees ... were published under the imperial authority, and thus obtained a political importance.”—Id., page 133.

13. What was one principal object in calling this council?

“The question relating to the observance of Easter, which was agitated in the time of Anicetus and Polycarp, and afterward in that of Victor, was still undecided. It was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice, being the most important subject to be considered after the Arian controversy.”

“It appears that the churches of Syria and Mesopotamia continued to follow the custom of the Jews, and celebrated Easter on the fourteenth day of the moon, whether falling on Sunday or not. All the other churches observed that solemnity on Sunday only, namely; those of Rome, Italy, Africa, Lydia, Egypt, Spain, Gaul, and Britain; and all Greece, Asia, and Pontus.”—_Boyle’s __“__Historical View of the Council of Nice,__”_ page 23, edition 1836.

14. How was the matter finally decided?

“Easter day was fixed on the Sunday immediately following the full moon which was nearest after the vernal equinox.”—Id., page 24.

15. What was decreed by the Council of Laodicea, A.D. 364?

That Christians should keep the Sunday, and that if they persisted in resting on the Sabbath, “they shall be shut out from Christ.” See Hefele’s “History of the Councils of the Church,” Vol. II, page 316.

16. What imperial law was issued in A.D. 386?

“By a law of the year 386, those older changes effected by Constantine were more vigorously enforced; and, in general, civil transactions of every kind on Sunday were strictly forbidden.”—_Neander’s __“__Church History,__”_ Vol. II, page 300.

17. What petition was made to the emperor by a church convention of bishops in A.D. 401?

“That the public shows might be transferred from the Christian Sunday and from the feast-days to some other days of the week.”—Ib.

NOTE.—The desired law was secured in 425 A.D. See pages 444, 489.

18. What was the object of the church bishops in securing these Sunday laws?

“That the day might be devoted with less interruption to the purposes of devotion.” “That the devotion of the faithful might be free from all disturbance.”—Id., pages 297, 301.

19. How was the “devotion” of the “faithful” disturbed?

“Church teachers ... were, in truth, often forced to complain that in such competitions the theater was vastly more frequented than the church.”—Id., page 300.

20. What does Neander say of the securing of these laws?

“In this way the church received help from the state for the furtherance of her ends.”—Id., page 301.

NOTE.—In this way, more perhaps than in any other, church and state were united. In this way the church gained control of the civil power, which she later used as a means of carrying on most bitter and extensive persecutions. In this way she denied Christ and the power of godliness.

21. When the church had received help from the state to this extent, what more did she demand?

That the civil power should be exerted to compel men to serve God as the church should dictate.

22. What did Augustine, the father of this theocratical or church-and-state theory, teach concerning it?

“Who doubts but what it is better to be led to God by instruction than by fear of punishment or affliction? But because the former, who will be guided only by instruction, are better, the others are still not to be neglected.... Many, like bad servants, must often be reclaimed to their Master by the rod of temporal suffering, ere they can attain to this highest stage of religious development.”—Id., pages 214, 215.

23. What is Neander’s conclusion regarding this theory?

“It was by Augustine, then, that a theory was proposed and founded, which, tempered though it was, in its practical application, by his own pious, philanthropic spirit, nevertheless contained the germ of that whole system of spiritual despotism, of intolerance and persecution, which ended in the tribunals of the Inquisition.” “He did not give precedence to the question, What is right? over the question, What is expedient? But a theory which overlooks these distinctions leaves room for any despotism which would make holy ends a pretext for the use of unholy means.”—Id., pages 217, 249, 250.

NOTE.—It was thus that the union of church and state was formed, out of which was developed “the beast,” or Papacy, of the Apocalypse, which made “war with the saints” and overcame them. A like course cannot fail to produce like results today. Dr. Philip Schaff, in his work on “Church and State,” page 11, well says: “Secular power has proved a satanic gift to the church, and ecclesiastical power has proved an engine of tyranny in the hands of the state.”

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Sabbath Legislation

Christ Reproving The Pharisees. "For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." Matt. 12:8.

1. Who made the Sabbath?

“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.” Ex. 20:11.

2. To whom does the Sabbath belong?

“The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Verse 10.

3. To whom, then, should its observance be rendered?

“Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Mark 12:17.

NOTE.—When men make Sabbath laws, therefore, they require Sabbath observance to be rendered to the government, or, presumably, by indirection, to God through the government, which amounts to the same thing.

4. In religious things, to whom alone are we accountable?

“So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Rom. 14:12.

NOTE.—But when men make compulsory Sabbath laws, they make men accountable to the government for Sabbath observance.

5. How does God command us to keep the Sabbath day?

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Ex. 20:8.

6. What does He indicate as one of its purposes?

“Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.” Lev. 23:3.

7. Seeing, then, that the Sabbath is holy, is to be kept holy, and is a day for holy convocations, what must be its character?

It must be religious.

8. What, then, must be the nature of all Sabbath legislation?

It is religious legislation.

9. When the state enacts religious laws, what is effected?

A union of church and state.

10. What has always been the result of religious legislation, or a union of church and state?

Religious intolerance and persecution.

11. What was Constantine’s Sunday law of March 7, 321?

“Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun; but let those who are situated in the country, freely and at full liberty, attend to the business of agriculture; because it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn and planting vines; lest the critical moment being let slip, men should lose the commodities granted by heaven.”—Corpus Juris Civilis Cod., lib. 3, tit. 12, 3.

12. What further imperial legislation in behalf of Sunday observance was issued in 386?

“By a law of the year 386, those older changes effected by the emperor Constantine were more rigorously enforced, and, in general, civil transactions of every kind on Sunday were strictly forbidden.”—_Neander’s __“__Church History,__”_ Vol. II, page 300, edition 1852.

13. At the instance of church bishops, what still further law was secured under Theodosius the Younger, in 425?

“In the year 425, the exhibition of spectacles on Sunday and on the principal feast-days of the Christians was forbidden, in order that the devotion of the faithful might be free from all disturbance.”—Id., pages 300, 301.

14. What does the historian say of this legislation?

“In this way the church received help from the state for the furtherance of her ends.... But had it not been for that confusion of spiritual and secular interests, had it not been for the vast number of mere outward conversions thus brought about, she would have needed no such help.”—Id., page 301.

15. What did Charlemagne’s Sunday law of 800 require?

“We decree ... that servile works should not be done on the Lord’s day, ... that is, that neither should men do field work, either in cultivating the vineyards or by plowing in the fields, by cutting or drying hay, or by placing a fence, or by making clearings in the woods or felling trees or working on stones or constructing houses or working in the garden; neither should they come together to decide public matters nor be engaged in the hunt.... Women may not do any textile work nor cut out clothes nor sew nor make garments.... But let them come together from all sides to church to the solemnities of the mass, and let them praise God for all things which he does for us on that day.”—_“__Historical Chronicles of Germany,__”_ Sec. 2, Vol. I, 22 General admonition, 789, M. Martio 23, page 61, par. 81.

16. How does the Sunday law of Charles II, of 1676, read?

“For the better observation and keeping holy the Lord’s day, commonly called Sunday: be it enacted ... that all the laws enacted and in force concerning the observation of the day, and repairing to the church thereon, be carefully put in execution; and that all and every person and persons whatsoever shall on every Lord’s day apply themselves to the observation of the same, by exercising themselves thereon in the duties of piety and true religion, publicly and privately.”—_“__Revised Statutes of England From 1235-1685 __A.D.__”__ (London, 1870), pages 779, 780; cited in __“__A Critical History of Sunday Legislation,__”_ by A. H. Lewis, D. D., pages 108, 109.

17. What did the first Sunday law enacted in America, that of Virginia, in 1610, require?

“Every man and woman shall repair in the morning to the divine service and sermons preached upon the Sabbath day, and in the afternoon to divine service, and catechizing, upon pain for the first fault to lose their provision and the allowance for the whole week following; for the second, to lose the said allowance and also be whipped; and for the third to suffer death.”—Articles, Laws, and Orders, Divine, Politique, and Martial, for the Colony in Virginia: first established by Sir Thomas Gates, Knight, Lieutenant-General, the 24th of May, 1610.

NOTES.—These are the original Sunday laws, after which all the Sunday laws of Europe and America have been modeled. Church attendance is not generally required by the Sunday laws of the present day, nor was it required, in terms, by the earliest Sunday laws; but that is and ever has been the chief object of all Sunday legislation from Constantine’s time on, and it is as much out of place today as it ever was.

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Who Persecute And Why

The Stoning Of Stephen. "Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." John 16:2.

1. Because Jesus had not kept the Sabbath according to their ideas, what did the Jews do?

“Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath day.” John 5:16.

2. What kind of fast is most acceptable to God?

“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” Isa. 58:6.

NOTE.—This is what Jesus did. He, the Author and Lord of the Sabbath, in addition to attending and taking part in religious services (Luke 4:16), went about doing good, healing the sick, relieving the oppressed, and restoring the impotent, lame, and blind, on the Sabbath day. But this, while in perfect accord with the law of God, the great law of love, was contrary to the traditions and perverted ideas of the Jews respecting the Sabbath. Hence they persecuted Him, and sought to slay Him.

3. Why did Cain kill Abel?

“For this is the message that ye have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” 1 John 3:11, 12.

NOTE.—The following comment upon this passage by M. de Chesnais, a Catholic priest of New Zealand, is well put: “If you would read the Word of God, you would find that from the beginning all good people were persecuted because they were good. Abel was slain by his brother because he was good, and Cain could not endure the sight of him.”—Kaikoura (New Zealand) Star, April 10, 1884.

The Fiery Furnace. "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace." Dan. 3:17.

4. Commenting upon the treatment of Isaac, the son of Sarah, by Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman, what principle does the apostle Paul lay down?

“But as then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.” Gal. 4:29.

5. What other instances of persecution mentioned in the Bible, demonstrate the correctness of this principle?

a. Esau, who sold his birthright, persecuted Jacob, who vowed his loyalty to God. Gen. 25:29-34; 27:41; 32:6.

b. The wayward and envious sons of Jacob persecuted Joseph, who feared God. Genesis 37; Acts 7:9.

c. The idolatrous Egyptians persecuted the Hebrews, who worshiped the true God. Exodus 1 and 5.

d. The Hebrew who did his neighbor wrong thrust Moses, as mediator, aside. Ex. 2:13, 14; Acts 7:26, 27.

e. Saul, who disobeyed God, persecuted David, who feared God. 1 Samuel 15, 19, 24.

f. Israel, in their apostasy, persecuted Elijah and Jeremiah, who were prophets of God. 1 Kings 19:9, 10; Jer. 36:20-23; 38:1-6.

g. Nebuchadnezzar, while an idolater, persecuted the three Hebrew captives for refusing to worship idols. Daniel 3.

h. The envious and idolatrous princes under Darius, persecuted Daniel for daring to pray to the God of heaven. Daniel 6.

i. The murderers of Christ persecuted the apostles for preaching Christ. Acts 4 and 5.

j. Paul, before his conversion, persecuted the church of God. Acts 8:1; 9:1, 2; 22:4, 5, 20; 26:9-11; Gal. 1:13; 1 Tim. 1:12, 13.

NOTE.—The history of all the religious persecutions since Bible times is but a repetition of this same story,—the wicked persecute the righteous. And thus it will continue to be until the conflict between good and evil is ended.

6. Who does Paul say shall suffer persecution?

“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Tim. 3:12.

7. What is essential to extensive religious persecution?

Ecclesiastical control of the civil power, or a union of church and state.

8. Since persecution is invariably wrong, and the persecutor is generally in the wrong on religious subjects, what must be true of persecuting governments?

They likewise must be in the wrong.

NOTES.—“There are many who do not seem to be sensible that all violence in religion is irreligious, and that, whoever is wrong, the persecutor cannot be right.”—Thomas Clarke.

“Have not almost all the governments in the world always been in the wrong on religious subjects?”—Macaulay.

“Do not the Scriptures clearly show that they who persecute are generally in the wrong, and they who suffer persecution in the right,—that the majority has always been on the side of falsehood, and the minority only on the side of truth?”—Luther.

“Religion was intended to bring peace on earth and good will towards men, and whatever tends to hatred and persecution, however correct in the letter, must be utterly wrong in the spirit.”—Henry Varnum.

God never forces the will or the conscience; but, in order to bring men under sin, Satan resorts to force. To accomplish his purpose, he works through religious and secular rulers, influencing them to enact and enforce human laws in defiance of the law of God.

9. Under what terrible deception did Christ say men would persecute His followers?

“These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” John 16:1, 2.

10. Who is the original murderer?

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44.

11. When James and John wished to call down fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans who did not receive Christ, what did Christ say to them?

“He turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” Luke 9:55, 56.

NOTES.—Some of the reasons given in justification of persecution may be noted in the following quotations:—

“The state cannot afford to permit religious liberty. We hear a great deal about religious tolerance, but we are only tolerant in so far as we are not interested. A person may be tolerant toward a religion if he is not religious.... Intolerance means fervor and zeal. The best the state can do is to establish a limited religious liberty; but beyond a certain degree of tolerance the state cannot afford to admit the doctrine.”—Monsignor Russell (Catholic), quoted in Washington Post, May 5, 1910.

“The church has persecuted. Only a tyro in church history will deny that.... We have always defended the persecution of the Huguenots, and the Spanish Inquisition. When she thinks it good to use physical force, she will use it.... But will the Catholic Church give bond that she will not persecute at all? Will she guarantee absolute freedom and equality of all churches and all faiths? The Catholic Church gives no bonds for her good behavior.”—Editorial in Western Watchman (Catholic), of St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 24, 1908.

“The Inquisition was a very merciful tribunal; I repeat it, almost a compassionate tribunal.... A man was only allowed to be racked once, which no one can deny was a most wonderful leniency in those times.”—Catholic Mirror, official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, Aug. 29, 1896.

“We confess that the Roman Catholic Church is intolerant; that is to say, that it uses all the means in its power for the extirpation of error and sin; but this intolerance is the logical and necessary consequence of her infallibility. She alone has the right to be intolerant, because she alone has the truth. The church tolerates heretics where she is obliged to do so, but she hates them mortally, and employs all her force to secure their annihilation.”—Shepherd of the Valley (St. Louis, Mo.), 1876.

This erroneous position has been well refuted by Lord Macaulay in the following words: “The doctrine which, from the very first origin of religious dissensions, has been held by all bigots of all sects, when condensed into few words and stripped of rhetorical disguise, is simply this: I am in the right, and you are in the wrong. When you are the stronger, you ought to tolerate me; for it is your duty to tolerate truth. But when I am the stronger, I shall persecute you; for it is my duty to persecute error.”—_Essay on __“__Sir James Mackintosh.__”_

Benjamin Franklin well said: “When religion is good it will take care of itself; when it is not able to take care of itself, and God does not see fit to take care of it, so that it has to appeal to the civil power for support, it is evidence to my mind that its cause is a bad one.”—Letter to Dr. Price.

John Wesley gave the following Christian advice: “Condemn no man for not thinking as you think. Let every one enjoy the full and free liberty of thinking for himself. Let every man use his own judgment, since every man must give an account of himself to God. Abhor every approach, in any kind or degree, to the spirit of persecution. If you cannot reason nor persuade a man into the truth, never attempt to force a man into it. If love will not compel him to come, leave him to God, the Judge of all.”

12. What does Christ say of those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake?

“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Matt. 5:10-12. See Rev. 2:10; 6:9-11.

“In the furnace God may prove thee, Thence to bring thee forth more bright; But He can never cease to love thee; Thou art precious in His sight: God is with thee,— God, thine everlasting light.”

13. What divine precepts received and obeyed would do way with all oppression and persecution?

“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Matt. 22:39. “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” Matt. 7:12.

14. What does love not do?

“Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Rom. 13:10.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

The Bigot’s Creed

Believe as I believe—no more, no less; That I am right, and no one else, confess; Feel as I feel, think only as I think; Eat what I eat, and drink but what I drink; Look as I look, do always as I do; And, only then, I’ll fellowship with you.

That I am right, and always right, I know, Because my own convictions tell me so; And to be right is simply this: to be Entirely and in all respects like me. To deviate a jot, or to begin To question, doubt, or hesitate, is sin.

Let sink the drowning man, if he’ll not swim Upon the plank that I throw out to him; Let starve the famishing, if he’ll not eat My kind and quantity of bread and meat; Let freeze the naked, too, if he’ll not be Supplied with garments such as made for me.

’Twere better that the sick should die than live, Unless they take the medicine I give; ’Twere better sinners perish than refuse To be conformed to my peculiar views; ’Twere better that the world stood still than move In any way that I do not approve.

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XI. LIFE ONLY IN CHRIST

The Open Grave At Hanover, Germany. "This grave, purchased for eternity, must never be opened."—German Princess. See page 515.

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Origin, History, And Destiny Of Satan

The Temptation. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" Isa. 14:12.

1. Have any others than the human family sinned?

“God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” 2 Peter 2:4.

2. What is the name of the one who led the angels to sin?

“Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matt. 25:41.

3. By what other names is he known?

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.” Rev. 12:9. See also Isa. 14:12, where he is called “Lucifer.”

4. What was Satan’s condition when created?

“Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” Eze. 28:15.

5. What description is given of him by the prophet Ezekiel?

“Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, ... the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.” Verses 12-14.

NOTE.—From this it is evident that Satan was a high and exalted angel before he fell, a masterpiece of wisdom and beauty. From the reference to his “tabrets” and “pipes” it seems probable that he was chorister of heaven, and led the angelic host in song. In the earthly sanctuary the cherubim overshadowed the mercy-seat. Ex. 25:16-22; Heb. 9:3-5; Ps. 99:1.

6. What unholy, ambitious spirit took possession of Satan, and led to his fall?

“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.” Isa. 14:13, 14.

7. Did pride also contribute to his fall?

“Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.” Eze. 28:17.

8. What does Solomon say precedes destruction and a fall?

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Prov. 16:18.

9. How does the prophet Isaiah describe Satan’s fall?

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” Isa. 14:12.

10. Why was Satan cast from his high position?

“By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.” Eze. 28:16.

11. When cast out of the mountain of God, to what place were Satan and his angels banished, to be kept till the judgment?

“For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” 2 Peter 2:4.

NOTE.—This, we understand, is the darkness surrounding this world, and is symbolic of the darkness of utter hopelessness and despair in rebellion and sin. When Satan led man to sin, darkness was brought upon this world. But God did not leave man to hopelessness. In His mercy and great love He caused “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ” to shine, to call men “out of darkness into His marvelous light.” That Satan and the angels who fell with him had a period of probation and opportunity to repent, there can be no doubt. Their fate is the result of stubborn rebellion and persistence in sin in spite of the overtures of mercy and the offers of pardon. For this they were cast out of heaven. The wicked angels are kept in everlasting chains of darkness.

12. How is the conflict which took place in heaven between Christ and Satan described by the revelator?

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Rev. 12:7-9.

13. In what terms did Christ refer to Satan’s fall?

“And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” Luke 10:18.

14. Has Satan ever appeared before God since his fall?

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.” Job 1:6. See also chapter 2:1.

15. When asked whence he came, what was Satan’s reply?

“Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” Job 1:7. See Job 2:2.

NOTE.—By tempting man to sin, Satan usurped man’s dominion over the earth. Rom. 6:16; 2 Peter 2:19. This he now claims as his kingdom (Luke 4:6); hence the temptation in offering the kingdoms of this world to Christ. As the “god” and ruler of this world, Satan, for four thousand years before the crucifixion of Christ, appeared before God among the representatives of other worlds, as the representative of this world. After accomplishing the death of Christ, the Son of God, the sinless One, Satan was cast out of this council, or assembly, and has not been permitted to enter it since. This was his second fall, and the one, doubtless, to which Christ, just before His crucifixion, alluded when he said, “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” John 12:31. His final fall and destruction are still future.

16. What has been the character of Satan since his fall?

“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.” 1 John 3:8.

17. Was he ever in the truth?

“Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.” John 8:44.

NOTE.—The expression “abode not in the truth” implies that Satan was once in the truth, but that he did not remain there.

18. What is the only “beginning” of which we have record?

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Gen. 1:1.

19. What besides a murderer did Christ say Satan is?

“When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” John 8:44.

20. What did God tell Adam and Eve would be the result if they transgressed by partaking of the forbidden fruit?

“Thou shalt surely die.” Gen. 2:17.

21. What did Satan say to Eve concerning this?

“And the serpent said unto the woman, _Ye shall __NOT__ surely die_.” Gen. 3:4.

NOTE.—This, as far as the record shows, was the first lie,—a direct denial of the word of God. By persuading Eve to accept and believe it, Satan led our first parents to commit sin; and, as “the wages of sin is death,” by it, also, he caused their death, and so became, in reality, the first murderer. A lie, therefore, is a twin brother to murder, and one of the most hateful things to God, the “God of truth.” See Prov. 6:16-19. “The lip of truth shall be established forever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.” Prov. 12:19. “All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.” Rev. 21:8. See also Rev. 21:27; 22:15.

22. What has been the result of sin’s entrance into the world?

“By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” Rom. 5:12. “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” Verse 19. “The whole world lieth in wickedness.” 1 John 5:19. “In Adam all die.” 1 Cor. 15:22.

23. When Christ came to redeem man, what did Satan do?

“And immediately the Spirit driveth Him into the wilderness. And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan.” Mark 1:12, 13. See also Matt. 4:1-11.

24. How severely was Christ tempted of Satan?

“For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Heb. 4:15.

25. What has the church suffered since the days of Christ?

“And when the dragon [Satan] saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman [the church].” Rev. 12:13.

NOTE.—Many millions of the people of God have been put to death since the beginning of the Christian era, under pagan and papal persecutions, all of which have been instigated by Satan. See Buck’s Theological Dictionary, any commentary or church history on the subject of persecution, and the readings on pages 218, 264, 268, 491.

26. Is the remnant church to feel his wrath, and why?

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Verse 17.

27. How will Satan deceive men in the last days?

“And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.” Rev. 13:14.

NOTE.—This, we understand, refers to Spiritualistic manifestations and miracles to be wrought to fasten men in error and deception. See readings on pages 530, 533.

28. What will influence the nations to gather for the great battle of Armageddon?

“They are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Rev. 16:14.

29. Why will men be allowed thus to fall under the delusion of Satan?

“Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thess. 2:10-12. See 1 Kings 22:20-23.

30. For how long is Satan to be bound at the second advent?

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.” Rev. 20:1, 2.

31. What is to take place at the close of the thousand years?

“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.” Verses 7, 8.

NOTE.—Satan’s evil career began in rebellion against God in heaven, and ends in rebellion against Him on earth.

32. As Satan and his host compass the camp of the saints, what will take place?

“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” Verse 9.

33. What is to be Satan’s final doom?

“I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.” Eze. 28:18, 19.

NOTE.—A gladsome thought! Satan, sin, and sinners are finally to come to an end, and be no more. Then God will have a clean universe.

34. Why did Christ partake of our nature?

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Heb. 2:14.

35. What exhortations are given to Christians in view of Satan’s hatred against God and all that is good?

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith.” 1 Peter 5:8, 9. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7.

36. With what weapon did Christ successfully meet Satan’s temptations?

The Word of God. “It is written, ... It is written, ... It is written.” Matt. 4:4-10.

NOTE.—The Word of God is the “sword of the Spirit.” Eph. 6:17. If Christ met and vanquished the enemy with this, so also may we. But no one can use it who is unfamiliar with it. How important, then, that we search, study, and know it! See first readings in this book, and reading on “Importance of Sound Doctrine,” page 127.

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Gracious Father, guard Thy children From the foe’s destructive power; Save, O save them, Lord, from falling In this dark and trying hour! Thou wilt surely prove Thy people, All our graces must be tried; But Thy Word illumes our pathway, And in God we still confide.

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