October 6, 1890

“Front Page” The Signs of the Times, 16, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

God is not confined to one land or territory or country. Jesus died for the world; and he who has the Spirit of Christ will be one upon whose heart lies the burden of evangelizing the world. Oh, for larger hearts! Oh, for more of the Spirit of Christ to enlarge our hearts!SITI October 6, 1890, page 500.8

There are ten million pupils in the Sunday-schools of the country. A better showing ought to be made in orals, but the fact is thousands leave the Sunday-school for the saloon, and the downward path in other directions. There is certainly a failure somewhere.SITI October 6, 1890, page 500.9

The Minneapolis ministers look upon the intention of the coming International Exposition management to open the ground on Sunday “as most unwise for the enterprise, contrary to the wishes of millions entitled to respect, and in direct opposition to the word of God. We sincerely appeal to the commissioners in charge to protect this day of rest.” It might be well to ask these commissioners how an open fair on Sunday would be worse than an open fair on Monday, according to the word of God. The true Sabbath of the Lord needs no such “protection.”SITI October 6, 1890, page 500.10

The giving of the gospel of Christ to the world, the conversion of souls, will never be accomplished by elaborate system or increased machinery, or the multiplication of societies. We have Christian associations of young men and young women. We have societies of Christian Endeavor; we have W. C. T. U.’s, and Y. W. C. T. U.’s, and King’s Daughters, and no one knows how many other societies. Every additional society is confession on the part of that church within whose pale it is organized that the work of that church fails to meet the divine requirement. Organization according to God’s plan, thorough and complete, is good; but it cannot convert souls. “Power comes from God.” It is not by might or by strength or by power or by wisdom of man that souls will be saved, but by the power of the Spirit of God. That Spirit will be given to him who seeks faithfully, earnestly, and in God’s way.SITI October 6, 1890, page 500.11

The following from the Lutheran Witness of September 7 shows the trend of the English High Church:-SITI October 6, 1890, page 500.12

“A priest of the Anglican Church proposed the question, whether the bishop of Lincoln, who is arraigned before the court of the primate of England for ritualistic practices, has not the right of appealing to the pope, the ‘patriarch’ of the whole church? The priest, who is the spokesman for many others, maintains that the thirty-nine articles refuse to acknowledge the temporal, but not the spiritual, jurisdiction of the pope in England. This certainly proves that the ritualistic high-church men of the established Episcopal Church of England are only Jesuits in disguise.”SITI October 6, 1890, page 500.13

The Pope is becoming the great pacifier of the nations, and it looks as though he might soon be of the churches.SITI October 6, 1890, page 500.14

“That Blessed Hope” The Signs of the Times, 16, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

“But I would not that ye should be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” There are several points that may be noted on this text: 1. Those who are dead are represented as asleep. The term is very common in the Bible. Read Job 7:21; Daniel 12:John 11:11-14, etc. The righteous are asleep in Jesus. 2. This being the case, it follows that the dead are unconscious, for a sleeping man knows nothing of what is going on around him. The general tenor of the inspired writings is in harmony with this idea. For examples see Job 14:14-21; Psalm 6:5; 88:1-12; 115:17; 146:3, 4; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10. 3. It is folly to say that we cannot know anything of the future. Paul said that he would not have his brethren ignorant; if we believe his words, we must admit that something can be known of man’s future. 4. It is not wrong for Christians to sorrow; the only sin is in giving away to uncontrollable grief, as did the heathen. They, having no hope, indulged in the most extravagant expressions of sorrow-tearing out the hair, rending their garments, uttering loud shrieks, cutting their flesh, etc. A Christian’s grief may be even more acute than that of the heathen, for Christianity tends to elevate, and to quicken the sensibilities, but it will always be tempered by hope.SITI October 6, 1890, page 500.15

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” From what place will God bring them? “From heaven,” many persons say. But the apostle says that those whom he brings have been asleep, and if the view of our friends be true, it must be that the saints in heaven do nothing but sleep, and that is absurd. The psalmist says, “In thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore.” We think it will need no argument to convince any rational person that David’s conception of “fullness of joy” and “pleasures forevermore” would not be met by a long period of unconscious sleep. Those who are asleep are in the grave, and from thence God will bring them, even as he did our Lord. Just as surely as Jesus died and rose again, so surely will God raise from the dead all the sleeping saints.SITI October 6, 1890, page 500.16

“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent [precede] them which are asleep.” Paul says, “we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.” From this some have supposed that Paul expected that the Lord would come in a very few years, and that he would live until that event; but this was not his expectation. We must believe him when he says, “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord.” Paul received his instruction directly from heaven. Now to say that Paul was mistaken in regard to the time of Christ’s second advent, is equivalent to saying either that he was not inspired, or that the Holy Spirit was mistaken. Neither of these positions can be taken by those who believe the Bible. That Paul had a correct idea of the time of the second advent, is clear from 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8. In his vivid narrative, Paul speaks of things to come as though they were present.SITI October 6, 1890, page 500.17

The word “prevent” is from the Latin words pre, before, and venio, to go, meaning “to go before,” and was formerly used in this sense. It is so used in King James’ version. See Psalm 88:13; 119:147, 148. But as one who went before another was able to “head him off,” as it is commonly expressed, the word finally became restricted to the present signification, to hinder. The Revised Version has the passage in harmony with modern usage. The word “conversation” is another word whose signification has been thus changed. It now means simply familiar talk; but in the Bible is has an entirely different meaning, being applied to one’s manner of life.SITI October 6, 1890, page 500.18

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” We cannot regard this text in any other way than as a description of an actual occurrence to take place in the future. If the expression “the Lord himself” does not mean Jesus Christ in person, but is a figure of something else, what words could the apostle have used to express the reality? If this be figurative language, then there is no literal language in the Bible. It agrees, however, with the words which the angel spoke to the disciples at the ascension of Christ. Acts 1:9-11. This last clause of the verses quoted settles an important point: “And so shall we ever be with the Lord.” How shall we be with the Lord?-By the descent of Christ to raise the dead and change the living. Can we not be with him before that time?-No; for so he told his disciples when on earth. The ardent Peter said, “Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake” (John 13:27); but still Jesus did not reverse his former sentence: “As I said unto the Jews, Whither I go ye cannot come; so now I say to you.” Then he comforted them with these words: “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” This is the “blessed hope;” with these words the apostle Paul commanded Christians to comfort one another. Men should be careful how they attempt to improve on the methods laid down by inspiration.SITI October 6, 1890, page 506.1

Some time ago a religions journal of note made an admission on this text, that was fatal to the popular view (the one which it also holds), that all men have inherited immortality. It said: “It is hard for us to understand how those converts could have imagined that it was peculiarly unfortunate to die before Christ’s second coming. It was because they imagined, and Paul too, perhaps, that Christ was to come soon, in the life-time of some of them [we have already shown that he did not imagine any such thing], and that his coming was physical; and they did not understand the doctrine of the immortality of the soul.” That is, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is so opposed to the doctrine of Christ’s second coming that those who hold to the former necessarily ignore the latter. We believe that this is the case. But the doctrine of Christ’s second coming is one of the most prominent in the whole Bible, and it must therefore follow that the Bible is opposed to the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. It was well said that “they did not understand the doctrine of the immortality of the soul;” but if Paul and his co-laborers did not understand nor teach it, whence is it that our modern teachers have learned so much about it? Have they a later revelation in which inspiration has corrected its former mistakes? Away with a doctrine which leads men thus to treat God’s word. Such teachers would do well to ponder upon Paul’s words to the Galatians brethren. Galatians 1:8.SITI October 6, 1890, page 506.2

“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” No argument can be drawn from this to prove that Christians cannot know anything about the Lord’s coming, for the next verse shows that he comes as a thief only to those who cry, “Peace and safety,”-those who are not watching. The brethren, Paul states, are not watching. The brethren, Paul states, are not in darkness that that day should overtake them as a thief. Christ gave his disciples very full instructions in regard to the times and the seasons (see Matthew 24), and as the whole gospel was revealed to Paul by the Lord himself, he had imparted the same information to the Thessalonian brethren. The prophecies of the Old Testament, especially the book of Daniel, give much light on the times and the seasons.SITI October 6, 1890, page 506.3

On 1 Thessalonians 5:10, Dr. Barnes makes the following comment:-SITI October 6, 1890, page 506.4

“‘Whether we wake or sleep.’ Whether we are found among the living or the dead when he comes. The object here is to show that the one class would have no advantage over the other. This was designed to calm their minds in their trials, and to correct an error which seems to have prevailed in the belief that those who were found alive when he should return, would have some priority over those who were dead. ‘Should live together with him.’ The word rendered ‘together’ is not to be regarded as connected with the phrase ‘with him,’ as meaning he and they would be together, but it refers to those who wake and those who sleep, those who are alive and those who are dead,-meaning that they would be together, or would be with the Lord at the same time; there would be no priority or precedence.”SITI October 6, 1890, page 506.5

That is exactly the truth on this important subject. Happy would it be for Christianity if the churches had never departed from it. E. J. W.SITI October 6, 1890, page 506.6

“Back Page” The Signs of the Times, 16, 39.

E. J. Waggoner

Some time ago, under the heading “Destroying the Foundations,” we made a few comments on the course adopted by some, of rejecting the five books of Moses, and with them necessarily the whole Bible, in order to get rid of the seventh-day Sabbath. To some it may seem strange that any should pull down a house, foundation and all, in order to get rid of one piece of timber; but such a course is very significant. The Sabbath is so interwoven with the whole of divine revelation that it cannot be removed without undermining the whole structure. The Sabbath is based on the facts of creation; and it cannot be abolished until it can be proved that God did not create the heavens and earth in six days and rest the seventh.SITI October 6, 1890, page 506.7

There is but one mention of Jesus sleeping in all the record of his life. This was not in the quiet of mountain retreat, or in the homes of friends, but, strangest place of all, it was in a storm at sea, when those who had followed the sea all their lives were in mortal terror, the storm having continued till the ship was full of water. Jesus was asleep. The waves might roll, the storm rage, but the Master of the universe could not be destroyed. “No water can swallow the ship where lies the Master of ocean and earth and skies.” Is not this a lesson of comfort and trust to the child of God? If Jesus is with us, though he seems to be sleeping, we are safe, whatever may take place. If we continue to trust, in God’s time he will allay the storm.SITI October 6, 1890, page 506.8

A Christian cannot grow unless he partakes of spiritual food. He may be indeed a child of God, his sins all forgiven, his heart changed; but to maintain this relation, to make progress in divine life, in other words, to grow to the stature of a full-grown man in Christ Jesus, he must partake of the required food. That food is the word of God. The “sincere milk of the word” will cause the young Christian to thrive even as the healthful child thrives on its natural food. 1 Peter 2:2. Jeremiah says: “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.” Jeremiah 15:16. And as we must partake of daily physical food in order to maintain strength, so daily the child of God should seek God’s word, listen to his voice, appropriate it to himself and his condition, and make it a part of his very being.SITI October 6, 1890, page 506.9