TO WHOM SHOULD WE LISTEN?
THE WATCHMAN
C. E. Rentfro
EE that ye refuse not him
that speaketh. For if they
escaped not who refused
him that spake on earth,
much more shall not we es-
cape, if we turn away from
that speaketh
heaven; whose voice then
shook the earth.” Heb. 12:25, 26.
him from
This scripture reminds us that it is
necessary to obey the commands of the
voice that spoke from Sinat’s
The occasion of this speaking was one
of great importance. No more awe-in-
spiring scene has been recorded in his-
Nothing equal to it will be seen
until the heavens and the earth shall be
shaken at the coming of our Saviour.
Doubtless, then, the same law will be
announced from heaven in the midst of
greater grandeur than of old.
mount.
tory.
It will be well to read of this historic
occasion. Mention of it is found in
Catholic catechisms and Protestant writ-
ings, all referring to the giving of the
decalogue. The original record is found
in the Iloly Bible. In Exodus 19 the
preliminary instructions are recorded, as
given to Israel three days before the
great dav.
ration.
These were davs of prepa-
* Tt came to pass on the third day mn
the morning, that there were thunders
and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon
the mount, and the voice of the trumpet
exceeding lord; so that all the people
that was in the camp trembled. . . . And
Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke,
hecause the Tord descended upon it in
fire ; and the smoke thereof ascended as
the smoke of a furnace, and the whole
mount quaked greatly. And when the
voice of the trumpet sounded long, and
waxed louder and louder, Moses spake,
and God answered him by a voice.”
Ex. 19: 1€- 10.
This was a great earthquake accom-
panied by “thunders and lightnings.”
“And all the people saw the thunder-
ings, and the lightnings, and the noise of
the trumpet, and the mountain smoking;
and when the people saw it, they re-
moved, and stood afar off.” Ex. 20:
18. A number of years after this, Mo-
ses was recounting to the people these
facts and said, “And ye came near and
stood under the mountain ; and the moun-
tain burned with fire unto the midst of
heaven with darkness, clouds, and thick
darkness.” Deut. 4:11.
All this occurred that the people might
know who was the only true and living
God, and that what was done and said by
him at this time was of no little impor-
tance. He spoke the “ten command-
ments,” thus giving to mankind by means
of his own voice the basic principles of
his government, a transgression of which
in sin and results in death. Of this law
Moses said: ** These words the Lord
spake unto all your assembly in the
mount out of the midst of the fire, of
the cloud, and of the thick darkness,
with a great voice; and he added no
more. And he wrote them in two tables
of stone.” Deut. 5:22.
Many people are ready to teach that
this law announced by God's voice in the
midst of thunders, lightnings, fire, and
thick darkness, and heard by a million
souls who trembled greatly with fear,
has been changed or even abolished ; but
that the change has been accomplished
in such a secret way, so quietly, that
even thousands who accept it by keep-
ing the first day of the week, say that
there is no record of the change.
No one with the use of reason will
exchange a good thing for a poorer with-
out a great deal of persuasion. We
must believe that those who wished to
change the true day of rest into another,
thought that the new day was far bet-
ter than the original. To illustrate: In
Ilebréws are mentioned two covenants.
One was defective, and being the first or
old covenant, a new was made and re-
corded as well. ITeb. 8:7 -13.
Knowing that the seventh-day Sab-
bath was given to man at creation, and
again announced to Israel on a day so
memorable as that at Sinai, we must ex-
pect that if this change took place, it
would be at an hour more terribly sol-
emn, with a greater earthquake, more
thunderings and lightnings, and more
and louder sounds of the trumpet, in-
asmuch as the law of Sunday-keeping
is said to be more important than the
Sabbath of God’s law; and if it were not
so, no one would wish to exchange.
Is there any record of this change?
Has Jesus Christ spoken the second time,
693
annulling the work of the other? How
many heard the announcement from
heaven? Does history record such a
fearful event greater than that at Mount
Sinai? — No. Then let us listen to the
“ voice that speaketh from heaven.”
“ Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. Six days shalt thou labor an
do all thy work; but the seventh day is
the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it
thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor
thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-
servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy
cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy
cates. 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.” Tix. 20: 8-11.
SSS
FULFILLING THE LAW
H. W. Cottrell
N Christ's
mon on the mount, he said,
“Think not that I am come
to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfil.”
Matt. 5:17.  Whatsoever
he declared of the law as a
memorable scr-
whole, he equally declared of every com-
mandment or letter of the law; there-
fore Christ did not destroy the law —
Sabbath other
commandment in the law.
ished the disciples and the multitude not
to even think that he had * come to de-
strov the law.”
To ** fulfil’ means to establish. To
place any other meaning on the term as
herein used, would be to wrest it from
its divine setting ; for it must be in har-
the statement, 1 am not
come to destroy.” Llowever, should any
one insist that ** fulfil” means to bring
to an end, we will let inspiration settle
the question by comparing this saying
of Christ with Gal. 6:2: * Bear ye one
another's burdens, and so fulfil the law
of Christ.” Tf fulfil in this connection
means to end, abolish, destroy, then the
text would read, Bear ve one another's
burdens, ‘and so end, abolish, or destroy,
the law of Christ.
Mos
commandment or any
He admon-
mony with
“ THERE is no excuse for defection or
despondency, because all the promises of
heavenly grace are for those who hun-
ger and thirst after righteousness.”