“The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.” PH086 13.3
Let us take this for our lesson. Study every word attentively. Upright principles and pure sentiments, cultivated and practised, form a character after the divine similitude. A conscience void of offense toward God and man; a heart that feels the tenderest sympathy for human beings, especially that they may be won for Christ, will have the attributes that Christ had. All such will be imbued with his Spirit. They will have a reservoir of persuasion, and a storehouse of simple eloquence. PH086 13.4
As Christians, we are now to labor most earnestly to bring souls to Jesus Christ. There must be no cheap chapters of experience woven into our Christian life. All true experience costs every soul that obtains it an effort, because of Satan's temptations. God sees how the soul hungers for the knowledge of God, for salvation through Christ, and the promise is, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.” PH086 13.5
God has commanded all men to obey his law. He sees not as man sees. His standard is elevated, pure, and holy: yet all may reach that standard. The Lord sees the soul-want, the conscious soul-hunger. He regards the disposition of the mind, from whence our actions proceed. He sees whether above everything else, respect and faith are evidenced toward God. The true seeker, who is striving to be like Jesus in word, life, and character, will contemplate his Redeemer, and by beholding, become changed into his image, because he longs and prays for the same disposition and mind that was in Christ Jesus. He is not restrained from evil through fear of shame, or through fear of loss; for he knows that all he enjoys comes from God, and he would improve his blessings, that he may represent Christ in Christ. He is not hungry to stand the highest, to obtain praise from human beings. This is not his eager interest. By making a wise improvement of what he now has, he seeks to obtain more and still more ability that he may give to God greater service. He longs after God. The history of his Redeemer, the immeasurable sacrifice that he made, becomes full of meaning to him. Christ, the Majesty of heaven, became poor, that we through his poverty might become rich; not rich merely in endowments, but rich in attainments. PH086 14.1
These are the riches that Christ earnestly longs that his followers shall possess. As the true seeker after the truth reads the word, and opens his mind to receive the word, he longs after truth with his whole heart. The love, the pity, the tenderness, the courtesy, the Christian politeness, which will be the elements in the heavenly mansions that Christ has gone to prepare for those that love him, take possession of his soul. His purpose is steadfast. He is determined to stand on the side of righteousness. Truth has found its way into the heart, and is planted there by the Holy Spirit, who is the truth. When truth takes hold of the heart, the man gives sure evidence of this by becoming a steward of the grace of Christ. PH086 15.1
The heart of the true Christian is imbued with true love, with a most earnest hunger for souls. He is not at rest until he is doing all that is in his power to seek and to save that which is lost. Time and strength are spent; toilsome work is not shunned. Others must be given the truth which has brought to his own soul such gladness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. PH086 15.2
When the truly converted soul enjoys the love of God, he will feel his obligation to yoke up with Christ and work in harmony with him. The Spirit of Christ rests upon him. He reveals the Saviour's love, pity, and compassion, because he is one with Christ. He yearns to bring others to Jesus. His heart is melted with tenderness as he sees the peril of the souls that are out of Christ He watches for souls as one that must give an account. With invitations and pleadings mingled with assurances of the promises of God, he seeks to win souls to Christ; and it is registered in the books of record. He is a laborer together with God. PH086 15.3
Is not God the proper object of invitation? It should be the work of the Christian's life to put on Christ, and to bring himself to a more perfect likeness of Christ. The sons and daughters of God are to advance in their resemblance to Christ, our pattern. Daily they are to behold his glory, and contemplate his incomparable excellence. Tender, true, and full of compassion, they are to pull souls out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. PH086 16.1
There is a work to be done by God's people. What is true eloquence in the human life? It is a heart full of pure sentiments, a veneration for all God's commandments. But earnest work has not been done. A certain round of duties has been performed, but this is not enough. Step out of the common channel. If you cannot reach the members of the churches, do not become discouraged. Take the work into the highways, and if the self-righteousness of those for whom you labor will not be penetrated by the leaven of truth, go out of the usual round into the byways, and there do your missionary work. PH086 16.2
God will not leave you to work alone. Ever since the proclamation of the third angel's message, angels of God have been waiting to co-operate with the human agent who is in earnest, and determined to work. We must go deeper into the mines of truth than we have done. PH086 16.3
“God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Oh, what love God hath shown for fallen man. Why do those who know the truth pass by on the other side so many who are in suffering need? PH086 16.4
The whole worship of ancient Israel was a promise, in figures and symbols, of Christ; and it was not merely a promise, but an actual provision, designed by God to aid millions of people by lifting their thoughts to him who was to manifest himself to our world. PH086 17.1
In Christ the world beheld the invisible God. “I am in the Father,” he said, “and the Father in me.” “He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.” “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also; and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.” In all our acts of true devotion, we fix our eye of faith upon our Advocate, who is standing between man and the eternal throne, waiting to meet our every effort, and by his Spirit assist us to a more perfect knowledge of God. PH086 17.2
The Lamb of God is represented before us as “in the midst of the throne” of God. He is the great ordinance by which man and God are united and commune together. Thus men are represented as sitting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This is the appointed place of meeting between God and humanity. PH086 17.3
“And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.” Christ brought human nature into a personal relation with his own divinity. Thus he has given a center for the faith of the universe to fasten upon. PH086 17.4
God designs that his law shall be obeyed by all who believe on Jesus Christ. Satan knew that if the human family could be induced to believe that God abolished his moral standard of character, man would not have a moral looking-glass, into which he could look and see what manner of person he was. PH086 18.1
“If any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” PH086 18.2
This is the word of the living God. The law is God's great moral looking-glass. He is to compare his words, his spirit, his actions with the word of God. If we decide that in these last days we have no work assigned to us that is out of the common course of the nominal churches, we shall meet with great disappointment. The great question to be investigated, weighed, and decided is, What can I do to reach souls that are lost? God calls for a work to be done by Seventh-day Adventists that I need not define. Unless the work is first done in their own hearts, all the specific directions that might be given to point out their course of action, will be labor in vain. PH086 18.3
Read the second chapter of James. Practise the truth in your daily life, and you will know the work that the Lord has given you to do. Read also the fourth chapter, especially verses 5-12; and chapter five, especially verses 13-20. These chapters are a dead letter to the larger number of those who claim to be Seventh-day Adventists. I am directed to point you to these scriptures, and to the seventh chapter of Matthew. You need to study every word as for your life. PH086 19.1
What the church in Battle Creek needs is to be doers of the word. This will lead a large number out of Battle Creek into other places, towns, and cities, where people have not had the light and opportunities that you have had. Many souls are now hanging in the balance. They are not with Christ. They are not gathering with Christ. Their influence is divided. They scatter abroad. PH086 19.2
Especially give heed to these words: “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Many houses now supposed to stand secure will fall. The Lord declares that he will not accept divided service. PH086 19.3
If you will take heed to the words of warning found in the chapters that I am directed to present before you, you will change your attitude, and become children of God. Thus you may save your souls through faith in Jesus Christ. You will receive the counsel given in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. If you will follow the directions marked out, the promise will be fulfilled, “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” PH086 20.1
Take up your appointed work. The Lord will fulfil the promise on his part. These inspired scriptures would never have been given to you if the Lord had not had confidence that you could do all that he has required. You can heed the invitation, “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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” PH086 20.2
You may rise to the heights to which the Holy Spirit calls you. True religion means living the word in your practical life. Your profession is not of any value without the practical doing of the word. “He that will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” This is the condition of discipleship. “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment unto the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.” PH086 21.1
Thank God that a work is being done outside of the church. The church has not been properly educated to work outside of their own people. Many souls out of the church might have been enlightened, and a great deal more light brought into the church, if every church-member in every country, who claims to have the advanced light of truth, had worked with heart and soul and voice to win souls to the truth. Altogether too little work is being done by church-members for those who need the light, those who are outside of the church of Seventh-day Adventists. The Lord declares, “A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.” Those who co-operate with Jesus Christ will realize that all these promises are fulfilled in their own experience. The Lord has pointed out the duty of every soul. In the judgment no one will have any excuse to present for not doing his duty. PH086 21.2
The test of discipleship is not brought to bear as closely as it should be upon those who present themselves for baptism. It should be understood whether those who profess to be converted are simply taking the name of Seventh-day Adventists, or whether they are taking their stand on the Lord's side, to come out from the world, and be separate and touch not the unclean thing. When they give evidence that they fully understand their position, they are to be accepted. But when they show that they are following the customs and fashions and sentiments of the world, they are to be faithfully dealt with. If they feel no burden to change their course of action, they should not be retained as members of the church. The Lord wants those who compose his church to be true, faithful stewards of the grace of Christ. PH086 22.1
The sin of these last days is upon the professed people of God. Through selfishness, love of pleasure, and love of dress, they deny the Christ that their church-membership says that they are following. I thank God that Jesus Christ knows every impulse in the heart of the believer. Many profess to be children of God, who do not follow Christ. Their frivolity, their cheap conversation, their want of high-toned piety, their low aims, mislead others, who would pursue a different course were it not for the example of these deceptive characters; those who do not love Christ or do his will, but simply follow their own imaginations. PH086 22.2
Jesus is acquainted with every heart that is humble, meek, and lowly. These have trials and make mistakes, but they are broken-hearted because they grieve the Saviour, who loved them and died for them. They come humbly to his feet; they fight his battles. In meekness and lowliness of heart they seek to do good to others. They seek to advance the cause of truth, in good and earnest endeavor. PH086 22.3
The Lord Jesus loves those for whom he has given his life, and when worldly influences are allowed to come in between them and their Helper, when idols are chosen before Christ, when his appeals to the human soul are regarded with indifference, and there is no response, Jesus is grieved. He knows that they are meeting with great losses; for they are stumbling-blocks to sinners. They are not gathering with Christ, but scattering from him. But when through great affliction the Spirit of God touches their hearts, and they turn to him, he will hear their prayers. Christ knows the capabilities he has given to every soul to serve him for his present and eternal good. He desires that these souls shall not disappoint him. He wants them to shine in his kingdom. Those who will be the most highly honored are those who take up their cross daily, and follow Christ. PH086 23.1
The Lord Jesus demands that every soul make a reality of truth. Show that you believe that you are not half with Christ and half with the world. Of all such Christ says, “I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.” He who appreciates the love of Christ, will be an earnest worker with Christ to bring other souls as sheaves to the Master. Thorough work is always done by all who are connected with Christ. They bear fruit to his glory. But indolence and carelessness and frivolity separate the soul from Christ, and Satan comes in to work his will with the poor worldly subject, We have a great truth, but through careless indifference the truth has lost its force upon us. Satan has come in with his specious temptations, and has led the professed followers of Christ away from their Leader, classing them with the foolish virgins. PH086 23.2
The Lord is coming, and we now need the oil of grace in our vessels with our lamps. I ask, Who will now be on the Lord's side? Before Jesus went away he promised that he would return again, and receive us unto himself, “That where I am,” he said, “ye may be also.” We are strangers and pilgrims in this world. We are to wait, watch, pray, and work. The whole mind, the whole soul, the whole heart, and the whole strength are purchased by the blood of the Son of God. We are not to feel it our duty to wear a pilgrim's dress of just such a color, just such a shape, but neat, modest apparel, that the word of inspiration teaches us we should wear. If our hearts are united with Christ's heart, we shall have a most intense desire to be clothed with his righteousness. Nothing will be put upon the person to attract attention, or to create controversy. PH086 24.1
Christianity. How many there are who do not know what it is. It is not something put on the outside. It is a life inwrought with the life of Jesus. It means that we are wearing the robe of Christ's righteousness. In regard to the world, Christians will say, We will not dabble in politics. They will say decidedly, We are pilgrims and strangers; our citizenship is above. They will not be seen choosing company for amusement. They will say, We have ceased to be infatuated by childish things. We are strangers and pilgrims, looking for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. PH086 24.2
*****
“Sunnyside,” Cooranbong,
January 12, 1898.
I am pleased that the Lord is in mercy again visiting the church. My heart trembles as I think of the many times he has come in, and his Holy Spirit has worked in the church; but after the immediate effect was over, the merciful dealings of God were forgotten. Pride, spiritual indifference, was the record made in heaven. Those who were visited by the rich mercy and grace of God dishonored their Redeemer by their unbelief. PH086 25.1
When Christ was upon the earth, he used every means possible to gain admission to the hearts of those whose doors should have been thrown open to receive him. He came to his vineyard seeking fruit. He dug about the vine he had planted. He pruned it and dressed it. But when he looked for grapes, behold, only wild grapes rewarded his care. The people disappointed their Saviour. PH086 25.2
How earnestly and untiringly Christ labored to reach the most lowly, as well as those who occupied higher positions. Hear him saying to his disciples, “Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.” What an example he gave them of his prayers in their behalf, that their faith should not fail, but increase. PH086 25.3
Christ's heart was ever touched by human woe. He walked and worked in the streets of the cities, teaching the weary, inviting them to come to him, crying. “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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Christ employed every means to arrest the attention of the impenitent. How tender and considerate were his dealings with all. He longed to break the spell of infatuation upon those who were deceived and deluded by satanic agencies. He longed to give the sin-polluted soul pardon and peace. PH086 25.4
Christ was the mighty Healer of all spiritual and physical maladies. Look, O look upon the sympathetic Redeemer. With the eye of faith behold him walking in the streets of the cities, gathering the weak and weary to himself. Helpless, sinful human beings crowd about him. See the mothers with their sick and dying little ones in their arms pressing through the crowd, that they may get within reach of his notice and touch. Let the eye of faith take in the scene. Watch these mothers pressing their way to him, pale, weary, almost despairing, yet determined and persevering, bearing their burden of suffering in their arms. PH086 26.1
As these anxious ones are being crowded back, Christ makes his way to them step by step, until he is close by their side. Tears of gladness and hope fall freely as they catch his attention, and look into the eyes expressing such tender pity and love for the weary mother as well as the suffering child. He invites her confidence, saying, “What shall I do for you?” She sobs out her great want, “Master, that thou shouldest heal my child.” She has shown her faith in urging her way to him, though she did not know that he was making his way to her; and Christ takes the child from her arms. He speaks the word, and disease flees at his touch. The pallor of death is gone; the life-giving current flows through the veins; the muscles receive strength. PH086 26.2
Words of comfort and peace are spoken to the mother, and then another case just as urgent is presented. The mother asks help for herself and children; for they are all sufferers. With willingness and joy Christ exercises his life-giving power, and they give praise and honor and glory to his name who doeth wonderful things. PH086 27.1
No frown on Christ's countenance spurned the humble suppliant from his presence. The priests and rulers sought to discourage the suffering and needy ones, saying that he healed the sick by the power of the devil. But his way could not be hedged up. He was determined not to fail or become discouraged. Suffering privation himself, he traversed the country that was his scene of labor, scattering his blessings, and seeking to reach obdurate hearts. PH086 27.2
That Saviour has oft visited you in Battle Creek. Just as verily as he walked in the streets of Jerusalem, longing to breathe the breath of spiritual life into the hearts of those discouraged and ready to die, has he come to you. The cities that were so greatly blessed by his presence, his pardon, his gifts of healing, rejected him; and just as great, yea, greater evidence of unrequited love, has been given in Battle Creek. Has Christ not loaded down his church with benefits and blessings? Has he not sent his servants with messages of pardon and righteousness, to be given freely to all who will receive them? PH086 27.3
Jerusalem is a representation of what the church will be if it refuses to receive and walk in the light that God has given. Jerusalem was favored of God as the depositary of sacred trusts. But her people perverted the truth, and despised all-entreaties and warnings. They would not respect the counsels. The temple courts were perverted with merchandise and robbery. Selfishness and love of mammon, envy, and strife, were cherished. Every one sought for gain from his quarter. Christ turned from them, saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” how can I give thee up? “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.” PH086 28.1
So Christ sorrows and weeps over our churches, over our institutions of learning, that have failed to meet the demand of God. He comes to investigate in Battle Creek, which has been moving in the same track as Jerusalem. The publishing house has been turned into desecrated shrines, into places of unholy merchandise and traffic. It has become a place where injustice and fraud have been turned carried on, where selfishness, malice, envy, and passion have borne sway. Yet the men who have been led into this working upon wrong principles, are seemingly unconscious of their wrong course of action. When warnings and entreaties come to them, they say, Doth she not speak in parables? Words of warning and reproof have been treated as idle tales. PH086 28.2
When Christ looked down from the crest of Olivet, he saw this state of things existing in every church. The warnings come down to all that are following in the tread of the people of Jerusalem, who had such great light. This people is before us as a warning. By rejecting God's warnings in this our day men are repeating the sin of Jerusalem. The Lord sees what the human agent does not see and will not see,—the outcome of all the human devising in Battle Creek. He has done all that a God could do. He has flashed light before the eyes of the people, that their sins might not reach the boundary where repentance cannot be felt. But by a long process of departure from just and righteous principles, men have placed themselves where light and truth, justice and mercy are not discerned. This course has become part of their very nature. PH086 28.3
I call upon all who have united in a course of action that is wrong in principle to make a decided reformation, and forever after walk humbly with God. The world is soon to be judged. A righteous God must avenge the death of his Son. Today men are choosing Barabbas, and saying, Crucify Christ. They will do this in the person of his saints. They will go over the same ground as the Jewish priests and rulers did in their treatment of Christ. He, the Son of God, and an innocent man, was murdered because he told men truths that it did not please them to hear. Yet he was the Son of the infinite God. PH086 29.1
Those who today despise the law of Jehovah, showing no respect for his commandments, are taking sides with the great apostate. They proclaim to a sin-corrupted world that the law of God is null and void. Those who declare this as truth deceive the people, and have virtually nailed the law of Jehovah to the cross between two thieves. What a thought! PH086 29.2
Before the worlds unfallen, and the heavenly universe, the world will have to give an account to the Judge of the whole earth, the very one they condemned and crucified. What a reckoning day that will be! It is the great day of God's vengeance. Christ does not then stand at Pilate's bar. Pilate and Herod, and all that mocked, scourged, rejected, and crucified him will then understand what it means to feel the wrath of the Lamb. Their deeds will appear before them in their true character. PH086 29.3
What a terrible deception is upon the minds of those who think that the world is growing better. Christ declares, “As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” To just such a pass will the world come in rejecting the law of God. PH086 30.1
“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, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” PH086 30.2
John was called to behold a people distinct from those who worship the beast or his image by keeping the first day of the week. The observance of this day is the mark of the beast. John declares, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” PH086 30.3
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.” We are plainly shown that two parties will exist at the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In which party do we wish to be found? “Behold I come quickly,” Christ says, “and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” This is the destination of commandment-keepers. Should we not all wish to be among that number who have right to the tree of life, and who enter through the gates into the city? PH086 31.1
Adam and Eve and their posterity lost their right to the tree of life because of their disobedience. “And the Lord God said, Behold the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” Adam and Eve transgressed the law of God. This made it necessary for them to be driven from Eden and be separated from the tree of life, to eat of which after their transgression would perpetuate sin. “Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Man was dependent upon the tree of life for immortality, and the Lord took these precautions lest men should eat of that tree and “live forever,”—become immortal sinners. PH086 31.2
Death entered the world because of transgression. But Christ gave his life that man should have another trial. He did not die on the cross to abolish the law of God, but to secure for man a second probation. He did not die to make sin an immortal attribute: he died to secure the right to destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. He suffered the full penalty of a broken law for the whole world. This he did, not that men might continue in transgression, but that they might return to their loyalty and keep God's commandments, and his law as the apple of their eye. PH086 32.1
The sign of obedience is the observance of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. If men keep the fourth commandment, they will keep all the rest. It was no human voice that spoke to Moses, giving him the Sabbath as a sign. “The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, 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. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you; every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.” PH086 32.2
The Lord does not leave so important a precept as this without definite specification. “Six days may work be done: but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord; whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant.” PH086 32.3
Human philosophy declares that an indefinite period of time was taken in the creation of the world. Does God state the matter thus? No; he says, “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days [not six indefinite periods of time; for then there would be no possible way for man to observe the day specified in the fourth commandment] the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh he rested, and was refreshed.” Please read carefully the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy. God says again, “Remember [do not forget] 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.” PH086 33.1
Yet with the living oracles before them, those who claim to preach the word present the suppositions of human minds, the maxims and commandments of men. They make void the law of God by their traditions. The sophistry in regard to the world being created in an indefinite period of time is one of Satan's falsehoods. God speaks to the human family in language they can comprehend. He does not leave the matter so indefinite that human beings can handle it according to their theories. When the Lord declares that he made the work in six days and rested on the seventh day, he means the day of twenty-four hours, which he has marked off by the rising and setting of the sun. PH086 33.2
God would not present the death sentence for a disregard of the Sabbath unless he had presented before men a clear understanding of the Sabbath. After he had created our world and man, he looked upon the work that he had done, and pronounced it very good. And when the foundation of the earth was laid, the foundation of the Sabbath was laid also. When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy, God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man, even in Paradise. In giving the Sabbath, God considered man's spiritual and physical health. PH086 34.1
God made the world in six literal days, and on the seventh literal day he rested from all his work which he had done, and was refreshed. So he has given man six days in which to labor. But he sanctified the day of his rest, and gave it to man to be kept, free from all secular labor. By thus setting apart the Sabbath, God gave the world a memorial. He did not set apart one day and any day in seven, but one particular day, the seventh day. And by observing the Sabbath, we show that we recognize God as the living God, the creator of heaven and earth. PH086 34.2
There is nothing in the Sabbath that restricts it to any particular class of people. It was given for all mankind. It is to be employed, not in indolence, but in the contemplation of the works of God. This men are to do that they may know “that I am the Lord that doth sanctify them.” PH086 34.3
The Lord draws very nigh to his people on the day that he has blessed and sanctified. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.” The Sabbath is God's memorial, pointing men to their Creator, who made the world and all things that are therein. In the everlasting hills, in the lofty trees, in every opening bud and blooming flower we may behold the work of the great Master-artist. All speak to us of God and his glory. PH086 34.4
Every loyal child of God will seek to know the truth. John stated the truth so plainly that a child may understand it. “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him.” Do we choose to be numbered with those who cannot discern the truth, who are so blinded by the deceptive power of the enemy that they see not Him who is the express image of the Father's person? PH086 35.1
The followers of Christ are of another class altogether. “But ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me; because I live, ye shall live also.” “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.” The word of a human being is not to be received and believed without question. We must first ask, Do they speak in harmony with the word? Do they refuse a plain “Thus saith the Lord” because they see that it involves a cross? PH086 35.2
Are we on the side of those who refuse to be loyal to God? They have no interest in knowing God. They reject the divine Son of God, the personification of all human goodness. They place themselves with those who although no fault could be preferred against Christ, chose instead a thief and a murderer. This testifies to the moral taste of the world. Shall we be on the side of the world, or on the side of Christ, who declared, “I have kept my father's commandments”? PH086 36.1
The word of Jehovah will stand forever. “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. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.... He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” PH086 36.2
Those who receive Christ by faith as their personal Saviour cannot be in harmony with the world. There are two distinct classes: One is loyal to God, keeping his commandments, while the other talks and acts like the world, casting away the word of God, which is truth, and accepting the words of the apostate, who rejected Jesus. PH086 37.1
On whose side are we? The world cast Christ out; the heavens received him. Man, finite man, rejected the Prince of life; God, our Sovereign Ruler, received him into the heavens. God has exalted him. Man crowned him with a crown of thorns, God has crowned him with a crown of royal majesty. We must all think candidly. Will you have this man Christ Jesus to rule over you, or will you have Barabbas? The death of Christ brings to the rejecter of his mercy the wrath and judgments of God, unmixed with mercy. This is the wrath of the Lamb. But the death of Christ is hope and eternal life to all who receive him and believe in him. PH086 37.2
God will most assuredly call the world to judgment to avenge the death of his only begotten Son, the One who stood at the bar of Pilate and Herod; that One is now in the heavenly courts making intercession for the people who refused him. Shall we choose the stamp of the world, or shall we choose to be God's separate, peculiar people? Shall we receive a “Thus saith the Lord,” for the “Thus saith” of man? The papal power, the man of sin, decides that the Roman Catholic Church has changed the law of God. In the place of the seventh day, they have baptized and presented to the world a child of the papacy, the first day of the week, to be observed as a holy day of rest. The Protestant world has received this child of the papacy, has cradled it, and given to it the honor that God has placed on the seventh day. PH086 37.3
“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy son's sons; specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.... And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” PH086 38.1
“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” PH086 38.2
“For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand.... Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.” Please read carefully the whole of the seventh chapter of Deuteronomy, and think upon the word of the Lord. PH086 39.1
Will you turn from a plain “Thus saith the Lord” after reading the history of Adam's sin and fall? He fell because he discarded the words of the Lord, and heeded the words of Satan. Will it pay to transgress? By transgression Adam lost Eden. By the transgression of God's commandments man will lose heaven, and an eternity of bliss. These are no idle tales, but truth. Again I ask, On which side are you standing? PH086 39.2
“If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” PH086 40.1
Mrs. E. G. White