We take up the thought tonight just where it was left last night, that the work of God in salvation is the same as the work of God in carrying out his original purpose in creation, because as stated then, at the time the creation of the heavens and the earth was finished, and all the host of them, God's completed purpose stood there in which He took delight in that day. Yet through the deception of Satan, this world was swung clear out of His creative purpose and turned to the opposite.
Therefore, in order to complete his purpose, He has to gather from this world a people who will fill the earth when made new as it would have been filled if it had never fallen in His original purpose. And when that is accomplished through this word of salvation, the power of God in salvation that will be the real finishing indeed, the real accomplishment of His original purpose in making this world with all things--a complete universe, when everything that is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that in them are, are saying, "Blessing and honor and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever."
And therefore, the Saviour, when He was here, said, "My Father worketh hitherto and I work." God's work was finished when the seventh day began of old. He rested. But His work on this earth and forming man here was undone, so that he had to set to work again in the work of salvation to complete His original purpose, and therefore Jesus says, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."
Now I will read three passages in the Old Testament and three in the New and you can multiply on them just as far as you please, especially from the 40th chapter of Isaiah and onward, showing that in the work of salvation He puts His original work in creation and Himself as Creator and His power as manifested in creation as the basis of our confidence in His power to accomplish our salvation.
Turn first to Psalm 111:4: "He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered." The revised version, the Hebrew, Jewish, and others give it: "He hath made a memorial for his wondrous works." That is what we have been talking about. That is the first part of the verse, and now the latter part: "The Lord is gracious and full of compassion." His wonderful works, then, that are signified in the memorial which He has established, are attached right there in that verse, to His graciousness, His fullness of compassion for man in this world, who needs it so much.
Now the 40th chapter of Isaiah, and you can follow on through, then, clear through the rest of the book of Isaiah, and you will see it all the way through. I will begin with the first verse, which is, you remember, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem." The margin reads: "Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way for the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." That is the message of John the Baptist.
"Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said, cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it; surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand forever."
And Peter quoting that text in the last two verses of the 1st chapter of 1st Peter says: "And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." He is quoting this from Isaiah, that "the word of our God shall stand forever," and he says, "This is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."
Then Isaiah goes right on and speaks in other words of the gospel: "O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand and his arm shall rule for him: behold his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young."
Now that is the gospel. Up to that point he is teaching the gospel by the word of God. Now read: "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" Who did that? The same One who comes and says, "I will tenderly lead like a shepherd those who are mine: the same Whose word now speaks to us in the gospel and liveth forever.
"Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel and who instructed him and taught him the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and shewed to him the way of understanding? Behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, or the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?"
Then skip to the 25th verse: "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth." Not one gets away. "Not one faileth" the text is. They are all kept: but what keeps them in place? [Congregation: "The power of His word."] He upholds "all things by the word of his power."
Now He tells us to look up and see who created all these things and "bringeth out their host by number." He "bringeth out their host" how? [Congregation: "'By number.'"]
Well, then, what is that for? Now, then, the 27th verse: "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Look up to the heavens and see who made all these things, and he calls out their host by number and not one fails. Now, Jacob, why are you saying that God has forgotten you? What do you get discouraged for? What do you think He has forgotten you for? Why, He does not forget any of the planets in the universe; He knows them all by their names. Is He going to forget your name? What are these two things put there together for? [Voice: "For our comfort."] Because the same one who created all these things is the one who comforted Israel. The One who knows all these things is the One that gives you and me our new name.
Twenty-eighth verse: "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength." Who does it? [Congregation: "The Lord."] Well, lift up your eyes and see who created all these things, and then that He has power to give to the faint. He has power for the faint, by His word; so He says, "Be of good cheer. Be of good courage." It is so. For, when He spoke to Daniel, "Be strong," Daniel said, I am strong, for Thou hast strengthened me.
Now the remainder of the chapter: "Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not be faint." Because the power that keeps the planets in their courses and in one place, that same power will be with the weak and the faint, and so they can "run, and not be weary," and they can "walk and not faint." Then don't you see that the Lord puts the creation and His power in creation there as the foundation of our hope in His salvation? Then isn't it all one?
Another blessed verse that touches so intimately everybody--I read it principally for that purpose--is found in the 147th Psalm, 3rd and 4th verses: "He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names." Then the one who can tell the number of the stars, call them all by their names, is He who binds up and heals the broken hearts--binds up their wounds. Well then, have you been wounded in spirit, broken-hearted and almost in despair and thought everything and everybody had forgotten you? Why, just remember the very next verse. The thought connected with it is--He not only "healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds," but He tells the number of the stars and He calls them all by their names and He will not forget your name. That is the Lord. That is our Saviour, but the foundation of our confidence in Him as Saviour is that He created all these things and knows all their names and holds them up by the word of His power, which saves.
Now reading hurriedly in the New Testament, you remember that scripture in the 1st chapter of John, 1-3: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was 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 14th verse: "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us . . . full of grace and truth." "And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace."
Then that one who created all things came here himself, "full of grace and truth"; flesh like ourselves, and through Him we are partakers of His fullness. Don't you see then, that the only thought that God would have us have about salvation is that He who created us saves us; that the power by which He created is the power by which He saves; and the means by which He created--His word--that means is the very one by which He saves. And this was His word, "unto you is the word of this salvation sent."
Eph. 3, speaks of the gospel, beginning with the 7th verse and ending with the 12th: "whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ." Now, what was he to preach? "The unsearchable riches of Christ" and to make men see what is the mystery that is "in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ." Then the gospel is to bring men to understand God's purpose when He started out to create in the first place. Then if the gospel were engaged in any other work and teaching any other thing or any other power than that original creation, don't you see, the preaching of it would not bring them to that? But that being the design of it, that simply shows the force that is before us always, that God's purpose in the gospel is to make known to men who have lost the knowledge of it, the knowledge of His original purpose in creating all things by Jesus Christ.
So we read on: "to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." But we read in another place that He purposed that before the world began. He would have to, if it was an eternal purpose. Then, in Christ, in the salvation of this world and men, and the working of Christ in it, God is carrying out His eternal purpose that He began at the beginning. "In whom (in Christ) we have boldness with confidence by the faith of him."
Let us read that eternal purpose again: "According to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Then that original creating purpose that we spoke of last night, that was in Christ, this carrying out of it that was frustrated, is Christ. Then it was Christ back there, and it is Christ now. It is Christ all the time and the power of God in Christ all the way: the power of God manifested in the word all the way for the accomplishment of His purpose at the beginning and the accomplishment of that purpose at the close. Satan came in and swung the world off in a crooked way. The Lord says, "All right, we will carry it out that way." Satan didn't do anything. He swung the world off, and so it has gone on, as it were, in a little by-way, and God will carry the thing through in that byway and accomplish His eternal purpose so that it will astonish the universe and destroy the devil. It will do it.
The same thing is in Col. 1, beginning with the 9th verse. I will read hurriedly from the 9th to the 17th verse: "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding: That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being faithful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness: Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." Creation, salvation, the blessing of God, and His grace, and deliverance from the power of darkness, also, it is all one story--the creative power of God, and God in Jesus Christ.
First chapter of Hebrews has it all through. Well it is all through the Bible. Now then the thought. We do not need to dwell any further upon the thought that salvation is creation and is given as a sign signifying creative power manifested in Jesus Christ. And the only way that that power is manifested at all is in Jesus Christ; the only way we can know God is in Him. Now He has set up that sign to signify the creative power of God in Jesus Christ, and whether that creative power be in the original creation or in the work of salvation to carry out that original purpose in creation, it is all the same power, the same purpose, by the same one, in the same way, and by the same means and the same sign signifying all in all, in all its bearings and workings.
Now then if you have another sign set up, to signify the work of salvation, another sign than that which God has set up--will that other sign signify the power of God and the salvation that is expected? [Congregation: "No."] Now think carefully of this. God set up a sign to signify His power working everywhere and in every way, in Christ Jesus. If you or anybody else sets up another sign, it cannot signify the power of God, because it is some other one than God that sets it up. Then it is impossible to signify the power of God by another thing, another sign; that is impossible. Is that so? [Congregation: "Yes."]
Further, if anybody should find anywhere in history another thing set up to signify salvation, it would signify salvation by another power than the power of God in Jesus Christ. It would have to do it. Well, has there been any effort, any pretense ever made in history, by any other power, to save people, apart from Jesus Christ? [Congregation: "Yes."] Has there not arisen in the world a power called antichrist? [Congregation: "Yes."] "Anti" is against or opposed to Christ. That power does propose to save people, doesn't it? [Congregation: "Yes."] Let us read the description of what it does in the first place: "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." 2 Thess. 2:4.
Daniel 8:25 also says: "He shall also stand up against the Prince of princes." He shall "stand up" to reign, to rule, and to show forth his power "against," opposed to, "the Prince of princes." Who is the Prince of princes? [Congregation: "Christ."] He stands up against Him; he will reign; he will exercise his power, manifest his work, in opposition to Christ. Take the eleventh verse. "Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host." But the margin reads, "He magnified himself against the Prince of the host of heaven," because the previous verse shows it is the host of heaven. Then, as Paul says, he exalted himself, opposed and exalted himself above all that is called God and that is worshiped. Magnified himself, exalted himself against the Prince of the host.
What power is that? [Congregation: "Papacy."] That power is the papacy, the church, the Catholic church, the Church of Rome. Now is it not the doctrine of that church that there is no salvation anywhere else? [Congregation: "Yes."] Or by any other means than that church? Isn't that settled? [Congregation: "Yes."] Further, that church, that power opposed to Christ, that exalts and sets up itself as the way of salvation, is itself opposed to Christ. And yet that church says there is no other way of salvation. Then is it not plain that if it is going to have any sign to signify its power to save, it has got to have another one than the Sabbath. That is settled.
Now then another thought. As it must be a sign other than the Sabbath, which is the sign of the power of God in Jesus Christ in salvation, then any other power setting up a sign to show and signify its power unto salvation, would it not have to be in the nature of things a rival sabbath? It would have to be that; there is no room for anything else. If they would set up anything else as a sign, the sign that God has set up would stand alone and distinct in the world, and it would take precedence of it and there would be no rivalry at all. Therefore, to make the rivalry complete and to make his power manifest in opposition to Christ, the man of sin has to have a sign of his power unto salvation, and it must be, in the nature of things, a rival to the sign which is the sign of the salvation in Christ. It has to be that.
And the Church of Rome makes no pretense to anything else. It makes no pretension to anything else than that the Sunday which it has set up is the sign of the power of the church to command men under sin into the way of salvation. That is settled. That is the object of it. That is all it has started out to do, and that is all it did.
Now when the Sunday was set up and enforced upon the people by the power of earthly government, it made the practical living papacy, as it exists in the world. When it was done, Sunday was put in the place of the Sabbath of the Lord by a direct and definite purpose. That was done. Here is the record. This is said by one of the men who did it. On page 313 of Two Republics, we read as follows:
"All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord's day." --Eusebius.
Then the law was there to enforce the observance of Sunday and what was the purpose of that? From Two Republics, p. 315, I read:
"Our emperor, ever beloved by Him, who derives the source of imperial authority from above, and is strong in the power of his sacred title, has controlled the empire of the world for a long period of years. Again, that Preserver of the universe orders these heavens and earth and celestial kingdom, consistently with his Father's will. Even so our emperor whom he loves, by bringing those whom he rules on earth to the only begotten Word and Saviour, renders them fit subjects of his kingdom."-- Eusebius.
Then that purpose was to save people by that means, and the Sunday was put there as the sign of the power that was doing it, instead of the Sabbath of the Lord, which signifies the Lord's power to do it. I read further on page 316:
"He commanded, too, that one day should be regarded as a special occasion for religious worship." --Id.
And again,-
"Who else has commanded the nations inhabiting the continents and islands of this mighty globe to assemble weekly on the Lord's day and to observe it as a festival, not indeed for the pampering of the body, but for the comfort and invigoration of the soul by instruction in divine truth?"--Eusebius.
That is all it was set up for, to take the place of God, to take the place of the Sabbath of the Lord. It is appropriate enough that it should do so, because we have found if there is going to be another power that is going to save men, it has got to have another sign than God's to signify its power. It belongs there.
That made the papacy; that set up the government of the church, and made the church the channel of salvation by absolute earthly power and compelling men into that way.
Now we have read the doctrine of the church here--the doctrines of the church of Rome in the way that men must be saved, and it was altogether man's self. It was altogether the power of self alone that could save. That is not the salvation of Christ. Her doctrines are that a man must fit himself, good enough, and the Lord would take him and make a regular bargain with him. "If you will do so and so, then I will be good to you." That is the record itself there in that book; I have not time to read it tonight. Her doctrine is that a man must do that, but there is not power in him to do it, but there is the argument. If he does it, then he gains all. That is not the salvation of Christ. That is not the salvation of God.
Further than this: the professed Protestant churches of the United States have taken that same course now, and have also exalted Sunday, the day that they place in this government, as the Catholic church did in the Roman empire, and for the same purpose.
Further than this, these professed Protestant churches know that there is no commandment given for that thing. They say that. They say that it began with the primitive church. I do not care how far back they claim to get it in the primitive church. If it be a church institution, a church ordinance, that the church commands men to perform, it is the same thing. It is the same evil thing. Because any church that would attempt to do it, becomes in the nature of the attempt, an apostate church. Trace it to the days of the apostles if you want to, yet the church that did it is, in the nature of things, an apostate church, attempting to save itself and others without the power of God. Therefore whatever church did it, it is in the nature of things a fallen church, because it is not the church's office in the world to command men. The church's office in the world is to obey God and not to command men.
Any church, therefore, that presumes to command men is, at the very motion of it, an apostate church. The church that obeys God is the church of God. God commands; His is the power. His is the authority. He used the church, that through it He may reflect His power and His glory unto men. But the church has no right to command anybody. It obeys God alone, too.
Now I will put that in another way or state it a little more plainly. It is not the church's place to command anybody, and it is not the church's place to obey anybody, but God only. Now look at that a little further. The church as a whole--Catholic and apostate Protestant--has already put herself in the place of Jesus Christ. Because any church that exalts herself and makes herself the way of salvation is, in that thing, an apostate church and puts herself in the place of Jesus Christ, who is the Saviour, don't you see?
Then no church can exalt herself as a saviour of men. She may exalt Jesus Christ as the Saviour of men, and Jesus Christ in her as the Saviour of men, but not herself, because it is the same with the church as with individuals. I have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I have the presence of Jesus Christ dwelling in me. That is the word of the individual Christian, but the individual Christian cannot say, I am the Saviour. The individual Christian cannot say I am righteousness, that I am good and have goodness to bestow upon others that they may be saved. No, the Christian can say, I have the righteousness of Christ. Christ dwells in me and sends in me and through me His blessed purpose in reaching others and saving them. But He is the Saviour. He is the righteousness. He is the power. He is all and in all.
As with the individual so with the collection of individuals. As Christ dwells in the individual, so he dwells in the collection of individuals, in an additional sense beyond that which He dwells in the individual, and the righteousness of Christ in the collection of individuals is only the idea of the righteousness of Christ in a greater measure, if anything could be, upon the collection of individuals which is the church. So as Christ in the individual works through the individual to save, so Christ in the church works through the whole church to save. But if the church grows proud and thinks she is above all and begins to give herself credit for her glory and her power to save, she, in that moment, puts herself in the place of Jesus Christ as the Saviour.
That is the same self-exaltation in the church that there is in the individual, and it was the selfexaltation in the individuals that made the self-exalted church and brought on the apostasy.
Now then, that is the church putting herself forth as the way of salvation, as the Saviour indeed, as the only channel of salvation and all must be saved by the way she lays down. And she thus exalted herself against God and against the Prince of the host, against Jesus Christ, and set up that sign of her power to save, against the sign which God set up. And, as we have found, she did it with the direct intent and purpose to put it in the place of the Sabbath of the Lord.
And in the second apostate church--that which has come in this land--she has done the same thing. She has by a direct act of the government of the United States, the congressional action, put the Sunday institution, the sign of the power of the Church of Rome to save men--the professed Protestant churches have put that by a direct congressional act, in this land, in the place of the Sabbath of the Lord. So that both mother and daughters have put the Sabbath of the Lord out of the way and have put the Catholic church's sign of salvation in its place.
Now let us see what that amounts to. What have we found the Sabbath is? The Sabbath we have found by every consideration is the sign of what Jesus Christ is to the believer. The sign of what God in Jesus Christ is to men, that it has in it the presence, the blessing, the spirit, the refreshing, the presence of Christ which makes holy and the presence of God which sanctifies. It has in it the presence of Jesus Christ, and the man who keeps it by faith in Jesus has the presence of Jesus. And as each Sabbath day comes he finds additional presence of Jesus.
Then when that apostate church put that out of the way and put her own sign in its place, did she put only the day out of the way? [Voice: "She put Christ out of the way."] Was not that putting Jesus Christ away from the minds and lives of men? When the apostate daughters have done the same thing in our land, before our eyes, have not they by that put away the presence and the power of Christ and thus taken him away from the knowledge of men and from the lives of men? [Congregation: "Yes."]
Now it seems to me that there is a point there that is worth our consideration, as to why it is that progress has not been made in Christian profession in the ages that are past, in the way Christ intended always that progress in Christian life should be made. What did He put into the life of man when He made him, even though he had remained faithful and never sinned, to carry him on in everlasting progress in the knowledge of God, in Himself--what did He put there? Let me ask it over again now. When God made man at the beginning, put him here upon the earth to live, if he had remained faithful forever and had never sinned, was there anything that God had put there and attached to him that would carry him on in an everlasting progress in the knowledge of God in his own heart's experience? [Voice: "The Sabbath."]
Didn't we read it last night over and over? Didn't He put Himself, His name, His living presence, His sanctifying power, into the Sabbath day, and give that to man, although He was already blessed, although He was already glorified, so that when the blessed man came to that blessed day, He received additional blessing? Is not that so? [Congregation: "Yes."] Then has not God put into the world something that will, if observed, if kept as God chooses and intends--be something that will keep man, carry him onward, in a channel of growth and progress in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, in himself? What is that? [Congregation: "the Sabbath."]
It is there since man fell. Now then, when the Church of Rome took the Sabbath away from the minds of men--that by which they might be brought to the recognition of Christ and to the converting power of Christ--was there anything there to carry them forward in the sanctifying work of Christ? That is the secret, then, you see, why each church, starting out in the knowledge of God, salvation by faith and righteousness by faith came to a stand-still; then another church had to rise up and reach righteousness by faith, salvation by faith, and come to a stand-still. And another one had to rise up and do the same thing and come to a stand-still. But when we came to this, the everlasting gospel is to be preached again, and a church is to rise up again at the last which has that sign which brings the presence of Jesus Christ to men in His living presence, in a progressive work unto a completion. That is the church that has the Sabbath of the Lord, and the church which has the Sabbath of the Lord is brought to that completed work in the salvation of Christ.
Then who can measure, who but the mind of God could possibly measure the iniquity and the evil that has been done to the world by that fearful thing that the apostate church has done? None but the mind of God can comprehend the mischief and the loss that has been wrought in the world by that thing.
Well, then, the effect of that was to take away the presence of Christ--take Christ away from the knowledge, the heart's experience, of men and to put another, to put a human power, a satanic power, to put self, in the place of God and in the place of Christ, Who emptied Himself that God might appear.
Now here is a historical parallel so apt and so perfect that I read it. First, mankind altogether, as men, without any church at all, are subject to God. Can they exist without Him? [Congregation: "No."] If any man by his own act could indeed become independent of God, could he exist? [Congregation: "No."] What did Satan start out to do in the first place? Was it not to become independent of God, self-existent? If he could have accomplished his purpose, what would it have been? [Voice: "His destruction."] Bound to be, because he could not exist without Him who created him, but in his wild ambition, in his intense all-absorbing selfishness, he thought he could live without God Who created him.
Is not that the same thought in this self-exaltation that has put itself in the place of God? Well, whether it be man as man, or men professedly as Christians organized into a church, they are equally dependent upon God and God in Jesus Christ, and they are subject to the law of God. The law of God is the supreme law. The law of God is the government of His whole universe, and everybody on the earth is subject to that law.
Now see the parallel: About two hundred and sixty years ago Ireland had Home Rule, as she is after it now. She had a Parliament of her own, governing her own internal affairs, the affairs of Ireland, but she was subject to the supreme government in England. Now I read from the fifth volume of Macaulay's History of England, page 301 of this particular edition, chapter 23, however, and if you have other editions you can find it in that chapter. Now notice:
"The Irish Lords and Commons had presumed not only to re-enact an English Act passed expressly for the purpose of binding them, but to re-enact it with alterations. The alterations were indeed small, but the alterations even of a letter was tantamount to a declaration of independence."
Now is the law of God enacted to bind the church as well as every other man? [Congregation: "Yes."] Has that apostate church presumed to alter that law? [Congregation: "Yes."] The alteration of it in a single letter would be what? [Voice: "A declaration of independence."] She has altered it more than a single letter, in the actual thought, in the very idea, in the very thing that reveals and brings the presence of God above every other part of the law. She has taken Him out of it. Then what has she done? [Congregation: "Put herself there."] She has established her own independence of God and proclaimed it to the world.
The Protestant churches--professedly Protestant, not Protestant any longer--the professed Protestant churches have drawn the Congress of the United States into the same identical position; they have drawn the Congress of the United States into a re-enactment of the fourth commandment, haven't they? [Congregation: "Yes."] It was quoted bodily and put upon the statute book of legislation. Gov. Pattison, the other day, in Pennsylvania, speaking in the capitol of that State, arguing in behalf of Sunday laws that are already on the statute books, said that this law is only a part of that system of the law of God which is "re-enacted" in the statutes of Pennsylvania. He says that the law of God is there "re-enacted."
But did they re-enact the law of God as it is? [Congregation: "No."] To do that, to undertake to enforce it, would put themselves on an equality with God, but they-re-enacted it with alterations, and that puts them above God. And the churches of this nation have proclaimed themselves independent of God, in the act which they have taken of setting up His own law and then deliberately altering it in the course of the legislation which set it up.
Let me read another sentence from Macaulay's History of England, from the same page as before:
"The colony in Ireland was therefore emphatically a dependency; a dependency, not merely by the common law of the realm, but by the nature of things. It was absurd to claim independence for a community which could not cease to be dependent without ceasing to exist."
Was there ever a more complete parallel on earth to illustrate in the place of government and government law this principle, than that which occurred there and was recorded for our instruction?
Now a thought. Jesus Christ came into the world Himself, didn't He? [Congregation: "Yes."] He made the Sabbath Himself, didn't He? [Congregation: "Yes."] He was Lord of the Sabbath Himself, wasn't He? [Congregation: "Yes."] He knew, and He alone, the true idea of the Sabbath, didn't He? [Congregation: "Yes."] Yet he did things on the Sabbath, carrying out the true idea of the Sabbath, which did not suit the ideas of the priests and Pharisees and the politicians of that day, didn't He? [Congregation: "Yes."] And that stirred up their hatred against Him. The thing that did stir up their hatred against Him was that very thing--that more than anything else He disregarded their ideas of the Sabbath. Isn't that so? [Congregation: "Yes."] And their hatred put Him out of the world for that reason more than any other under the sun, that He disagreed with their ideas of the Sabbath. They did it.
In the fourth century there was another apostate church disagreeing with God's idea of the Sabbath, and they put the Sabbath and Him with it out of their minds and out of the world as far as their power could go. The other put Him out of the world, but He came back again, and they put Him out only so far as their power was concerned; that is all.
Here is another apostate church, a third one, following the example of the other apostate two which have gone before. It has put Him in His Sabbath out of the world because their ideas of the Sabbath disagree with His, and they will not submit to His. That is a fact. You know that is a fact.
In order that that original apostate church might accomplish her purpose of putting Him out of the world and thus maintain their ideas of what the Sabbath is, they joined themselves to an earthly power. They joined themselves to Caesar and turned their backs upon God. That was done. In the second apostasy of the church, that she might accomplish her purpose of putting Him in His Sabbath out of the world, she joined herself to Caesar, likewise to accomplish her purpose. In the third apostasy, in order that these also may carry their idea of the Sabbath against Christ's idea of the Sabbath, they must put Him in His Sabbath out of their way. But in order to accomplish it they must join themselves again to the powers of earth, again to Caesar, as the others did before them.
In the first apostasy, when they joined themselves to Caesar in order to get rid of him and sustain their own ideas of what the Sabbath is, against Him, the result of that, although it was accomplished by a mere minority, a very small minority--in fact so small that they did not dare to let the people know what they were about for fear they would rescue Him out of their hands entirely--that minority, small as it was, was composed most largely and was led entirely by leaders of the church, and these leaders of the church, by threats, compelled the representative of Caesar's authority, by their threats, to yield to their ideas and execute their will. You know they did it. That is the record, and that was the utter ruin of that nation, wasn't it? [Congregation: "Yes."]
It is possible, then, is it, for a minority, a very small minority, led by even a minority of the church managers--but the leading ones--to take a course that will ruin the nation of which they are a part? [Congregation: "Yes."]
When we come to the second apostasy, they did the same things again by trading off their influence to worldly power and by this means get governmental power in their hands to accomplish their purpose of putting Christ in His Sabbath out of their way and maintaining their own ideas of the Sabbath against His.
That was done by the minority; it was done by chief leaders of the church and but a few at that. What was the result of that intrigue to the empire of Rome? It was its utter ruin. Then it is possible that a minority, a very small minority, insignificant, as compared with the great mass--led, though, by a few of the church prelates--I say it is possible for such a few as that to establish such a system of things and take a course and put the government into such a course of work as will prove its utter ruin. That has been demonstrated twice in history.
Then in this land, last year, before your eyes and mine, a minority of the people of this country, led by a few--a minority only of the church leaders--did, by threats, bring the politicians to surrender the power of government into their hands to accomplish their purpose of sustaining their ideas of the Sabbath against Christ's idea of the Sabbath. It has been demonstrated twice in history that such an act as this ruined the nation in which it was done. Does that double demonstration mean anything in the third instance? [Congregation: "Yes."] The lesson that is taught in both instances will be felt in the third instance. It means that. Ruin and nothing but ruin can come out of it. They themselves cannot prevent it. It cannot be done. They have set a-going a train of circumstances that nothing in the universe can stop. That is fixed.
Now this Congress is about to expire. It is altogether likely from the whole situation that it will expire without touching the question further. If the next Congress should repeal it outright, it would not affect the situation and the results. That thing has started and it will go on in spite of everything they can ever do. You and I need not be surprised that if it be not repealed by the next Congress, that it will be repealed some day and when that day comes, then let every Sabbath-keeper on the earth rise up with all the vigor that the Spirit of God can give him, cut loose from everything on earth, and put it into the cause of God. For in but a little while the tide will swing back and take all with it to ruin. You and I need not be surprised that that may come. When it comes, that will be the meaning of it.
But those who have not had an experience in the cause of God will mistake the meaning of it, and they will say to you, "We told you all the time that you were making too much out of that. There was nothing in it." And so, they will settle back, but when the tide swings back, they are caught in ruin. Let not your minds and your hearts be deceived by anything of that kind, even though it should come twice. You believe it. Believe what is being said here. Study it for your lives, for your lives are in it. Bear in mind that that which has been done means, in itself, exactly what these two previous lessons teach--it means ruin, though there might be the repeals once or twice. The tide is set, and the result of that follows, in spite of anything that the universe can do. Then, it is no difference what a man tells you, you tell him you know better. No difference if Congress undoes it. You tell them that that is the surest reason that the thing is that much nearer than ever, and put your whole soul into it. If he laughs at you, God has promised that the day will come that you will laugh and he will mourn. It is dangerous business.
Well then, these are some of the things. We will call your attention to other things at another time.
Now then the question as to whether the Sabbath--the seventh day--the Sabbath of the Lord is the day or Sunday is the day has considerable meaning in it. It means more than anyone on the earth has yet dreamed, unless taken personally into the counsels of God. Further than that, let us look at it. We have found that the Sabbath is the sign of the power of God in Jesus Christ, working the salvation of men. We have found that the Sabbath brings by itself and in itself the presence of Jesus Christ into the living experience of a man as nothing else can and keeps it there. That is a fact; if you have not found it out in your own experience, you believe it, and you will find it in your own experience. Everyone may know who will believe.
Well, then, we have found that the attempt in that was to take the Lord away from the knowledge of man. That has been demonstrated.
Now, upon that question, then, as to whether the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord or not, hangs man's salvation. That is settled. Upon that question hangs their salvation or their destruction now. There are instances of that kind. Let us turn and read it, and with that thought we will close for this time. Acts 25:19, 20: "But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. And because I doubted of such manner of questions, I asked him whether he would go to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these matters."
That was a great question to make such an uproar about, as to whether a man was dead or alive. Here the whole Jewish nation was stirred up against one of their own people and all the question that was involved was as to whether one was dead or alive. That is all that Festus saw in it. But you and I know that upon whether that person was dead or alive, depend the salvation or the perdition of this whole world. You know that is so. And the same thing is asked today. "What is the use of all this stir about whether it is Saturday or Sunday, about the keeping of the day. Why, it is only a day anyhow. What is the use of getting up a new sect--a new denomination--and making a great stir? What is the use of making all that stir about it, whether Sunday is the Sabbath, or another day; whether we rest on one day or another? Never mind as to whether that day is the Sabbath or not."
Upon the decision of that by men as individuals and as bodies depends the salvation or the destruction of this earth today. That's settled. Whether that day is the Sabbath of the Lord or not, upon that hangs the salvation of men today as it did back there that day. Those people, in their envy against Christ and determination to maintain their own idea against God's idea--they got Him out of the world, and then they got up a controversy as to whether He was dead or alive, so these same people will put the Sabbath out of the world and then raise up a question as to whether it is the Sabbath or not.
They know well enough it is the Sabbath, but like those back there, they will maintain their own ideas of the Sabbath against God's idea, and though He has told them that He is Lord of the Sabbath, just as certainly as that was so in that question depended the salvation of men, just so certainly today on this question depends the salvation of men, because we can say boldly that the salvation of men does depend and does hang upon their keeping the Sabbath of the Lord because the keeping of the Sabbath of the Lord has the presence of Jesus Christ, His life, and man cannot be saved without it.
So I say again, we may boldly say that the salvation of a man depends upon his own observance of the Sabbath of the Lord as it is in Jesus Christ, for that means Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ means the Sabbath, and the Sabbath means Jesus Christ. In this day, when men are enlightened upon it, when the message of the everlasting gospel is to be preached to the world, when the third angel's message is to go to them with Christ in it and Christ the all and all of it then they also that reject the Sabbath of the Lord, they turn their backs upon Christ, and they themselves know that there is no salvation in that way.
But haven't we in our previous study seen that there is nothing else to preach to men in this world but Jesus Christ and Him alone? That is the only thing, and haven't we seen that we are to preach Him in the face of every earthly consideration, every consideration of protection of earthly powers, every consideration of wealth or influence of any kind and life itself? That is in the message to the world. Christ is the message to the world. Christ as made known in the Sabbath of the Lord, which is "a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God," and My name is "I AM" what "I AM!"