of Canaan, their own relatives included,
who had turned their backs upon their
opportunity.
The foreknowledge of that return to
possess the land reconciled the Bedouin
prince to his wandering life, and his
vision of a still greater day kept him
faithful to Jehovah. “For he looked
for a city which hath foundations, whose
builder and maker is God.” And of all
the inhabitants of this city he is the
spiritual father. For, ‘if ye be Christ's,
then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs
according to the promise.”
We have now seen the origins of
Babylon and of the people who are to
possess Jerusalem. These are the first
two high points in our search for the
hand of God in history. It remains to
follow the struggles through the ages of
the two cities and the two forces, and to
note the occasions when Jerusalem comes
into missionary contact with Babylon,
until we see the final triumph of the
city of God.
The Law That Governs
Heaven
(Continued from page 15)
feeble honor of inscribing it on charts
and church walls, teaching it in Sunday
school lessons and church catechisms.
And its position in the ark, beneath
the mercy seat — what was meant by
this? ‘The mercy seat represented the
throne of God's grace in heaven. As the
law engraven on the tables of stone was
beneath the mercy seat, so the throne of
God in the heavens has for its founda-
tion the sacred principles expressed in
this law. It is the fundamental law of
His kingdom. Its holy principles must
be maintained or else His character
must be compromised and disgraced and
His government of love. and righteous-
ness must fall. It is significant, there-
fore, that the Saviour said: ‘It is easier
for heaven and earth to pass away, than
for one tittle of the law to fall.” Luke
16:17, A. R. V. Long indeed should
pause the puny hand of man before
irreverently touching this sacred oracle
or lightly regarding any of its require-
ments.
ANTEDATED SINAL
EFORE we leave this part of the
subject let us consider a few texts
more. ‘Righteousness and justice are
the foundation of His throne.” Psalm
97:2, A. R. V. Righteousness is not
what each may imagine it to be, each
to apply it according to his private con-
ceptions and conveniences. God has
not left it to man to determine the
nature and extent of his obligations or
of our Father's requirements. ‘‘ Forever,
O Jehovah, Thy word is settled in
heaven.” Psalm 119: 89, A. R. V. “Thy
righteousness is an everlasting righteous-
ness, and Thy law is truth.” Verse 142,
A. R. V. “All Thy commandments are
righteousness.”” Verse 172, A. R. V.
That we might be able to stand before
APRIL, 1929
God, Christ came that the ‘‘ordinance
[margin, requirement; King James Ver-
sion, righteousness] of the law might
be fulfilled in us.’’ Romans 8:4, A.R. V.
The law then is the foundation of God's
throne. Justice also is its foundation,
we are told. Justice relates to the ad-
ministration of law. In short then,
righteousness, the law of God, is the
detailed expression and requirement of
love and justice, its just, impartial
administration upon which the integrity
of the government of God is staked.
The law then antedated Sinai. Its
principles are eternal, for they have
their origin in the nature of the Eternal
One. We have no record, it is true, of
when it was previously given. We know
nothing of the circumstances or spectacle
that may have accompanied it, nor do
we know its exact form of expression,
but we do have a record of the recogni-
tion of the principles. No one failed to
recognize the evil of the first murder
and the sin of Cain’s lie to cover it.
Jacob was conscious of his guilt in deceiv-
ing his father and wronging his brother.
Joseph knew well the wickedness of
adultery when he said, “How can I do
this great wickedness and sin against
God?” Reuben knew the wrong his
brethren were committing against Joseph
for he said to them, ‘“ Do not sin against
the child.”
Nor was this knowledge of evil simply
intuition, a matter of conscience. God
had communicated His will to them
definitely and in detail. This is clearly
indicated in His statement to Israel
when they sinned against Him in a
matter of a law not definitely recorded:
“How long refuse ye to keep My com-
mandments and My laws?” Exodus
16: 28. And long before this the Lord
had said concerning Abraham: ‘“Abra-
ham obeyed My voice, and kept my
charge, My commandments, My stat-
utes, and My laws.”” Genesis 26: 5. With
these requirements of God the people
were definitely acquainted, else they
could not be held responsible. As the
United States Constitution contains
nothing that was not contained in
principle in the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, so these laws as the ancients
received them and Israel knew them
contained nothing that was not in love.
As the meaning of the Declaration of
Independence would not have been
understood without its enlargement and
application in the Constitution, so love
needed its principles made clear in
God’s fundamental law.
WRITTEN IN OUR NATURES
OD does write His law on the hearts
of His children. He had written
it on Adam’s and Eve's hearts, for they
were made upright. God’s love was shed
abroad there. But they were deceived.
How could they know it was a deception?
Not by the feelings of their hearts. Under
the temptation, these led Eve astray.
There was just one way—by the
commandments God had given. It was
by these, the commandments of God,
that Christ recognized the nature and
source of His temptation in the wilder-
ness. These experiences and a multitude
more have not been recorded without
a purpose for us.
Is it not significant, too, that the only
principle of the law that perhaps we
might not have some conception of
without definite instruction is the only
one that is specifically mentioned at the
very beginning? I refer to the fourth
commandment, relating to the Sabbath.
In Genesis 2: 1-3 we are told of the insti-
tution of the Sabbath as the crowning
act in the work of creation. It has come
to man as a natural heritage through
the fact, and as a result, of his creation,
therefore it is a moral obligation, and
properly belongs to the fundamental
principles governing man. And as if
there was a special significance attached
to it, the Lord mentioned the desecra-
tion of it as an evidence or indication
of the thought that Israel did not recog-
nize the claims of the whole law upon
them. For when, before the proclama-
tion of the law from Sinai, some went
out to gather manna on the Sabbath,
the Lord reproved them, saying, “How
long refuse ye to keep My commandments
and My laws.” It is therefore very
clear why the Lawgiver should place
the commandment relating to the Sab-
bath in the very midst of His funda-
mental law, in detail, and the reason
given for it as we find in no other com-
mandment.
What meaning is attached to the
declaration of the wise man when he
said: ““This is the end of the matter;
all hath been heard: Fear God, and keep
His commandments; for this is the whole
duty of man. For God will bring every
work into judgment, with every hidden
thing, whether it be good, or whether
it be evil.”’ Ecclesiastes 12: 13, A. R. V.
Russia Leads the Way
(Continued from page 19)
tories employing one thousand or more
in the United States, while in Russia
there were 1,300,000, not including
miners. Forty-three and eight-tenths
per cent of Russian workers were em-
ployed in the big factories. But 20.5 per
cent of American workers labor in large
establishments. ‘There were actually
more workers in factories employing
five thousand in Russia than in indus-
trial Germany. This industrial group,
class-conscious, developing organization,
became a fertile field for the revolution-
ary propaganda of direct action. It
used its industrial power to secure not
only industrial concessions but political
change. If the figure 100 is used to
indicate the number of strikes in Russia
between 1900 and 1910, and we compare
Russia with America, our figure would
be 35, and that of Germany 17. Here,
therefore, is a second great causal factor:
a nation in transition from semi-feudal-
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