Puritan Corner - Taking away the World

God takes away the world, that the heart may cleave more to Him in sincerity.

by Thomas Watson (1620-1686)

Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Job 1:21

THE GREAT CONTROVERSY: Audio & Pull Quotes- Chapter 28

Facing Life's Record

Audio:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/adJxW9wDOI4?list=PLA5C7629D1527F981

 Beginning with those who first lived upon the earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each successive generation, and closes with the living.
I beheld, says the prophet Daniel, till thrones were placed, and One that was Ancient of Days did sit: His raiment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool; His throne was fiery flames, and the wheels thereof burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from

before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. Daniel 7:9, 10, R.V.
Thus was presented to the prophet's vision the great and solemn day when the characters and the lives of men should pass in review before the Judge of all the earth, and to every man should be rendered according to his works.
He comes to the Ancient of Days in heaven to receive dominion and glory and a kingdom, which will be given Him at the close of His work as a mediator. It is this coming, and not His second advent to the earth, that was foretold in prophecy to take place at the termination of the 2300 days in 1844. Attended by heavenly angels, our great High Priest enters the holy of holies and there appears in the presence of God to engage in the last acts of His ministration in behalf of man--to perform the work of investigative judgment and to make an atonement for all who are shown to be entitled to its benefits.
*A book of remembrance is written before God, in which are recorded the good deeds of them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. Malachi 3:16. 
 Their words of faith, their acts of love, are registered in heaven. Nehemiah refers to this when he says: Remember me, O my God, . . . and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God. Nehemiah 13:14.
*In the book of God's remembrance .... There every temptation resisted, every evil overcome, every word of tender pity expressed, is faithfully chronicled.
There is a record also of the sins of men. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Says the Savior: By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Ecclesiastes 12:14; Matthew 12:36, 37.
---In the typical service the high priest, having made the atonement for Israel, came forth and blessed the congregation. So Christ, at the close of His work as mediator, will appear, without sin unto salvation Hebrews 9:28, to bless His waiting people with eternal life.
---As the priest, in removing the sins from the sanctuary, confessed them upon the head of the scapegoat, so Christ will place all these sins upon Satan, the originator and instigator of sin. The scapegoat, bearing the sins of Israel, was sent away unto a land not inhabited Leviticus 16:22; so Satan, bearing the guilt of all the sins which he has caused God's people to commit, will be for a thousand years confined to the earth, which will then be desolate, without inhabitant, and he will at last suffer the full penalty of sin in the fires that shall destroy all the wicked.

Ridiculing the Sabbath - Nothing New

Ridiculing the Sabbath (4th Commandment) is NOTHING NEW....
--Some "Christians" ridicule it by claiming it was for the Jews....
--Some claim it is the "Old Covenant" (yet they give lip service to obeying the other 9 commandments)...
--The world ridicules the Creative aspect of the Sabbath Commandment by replacing God's 6 day Literal Creation Week (then resting the 7th) with long age chronology of evolution following a supposed "big bang" (although many now hold to MOND, string theory, Brane theory, Multiverse theory or are going back to the Static theory since the mathematics doesn't really support the "Big Bang")...

There is really nothing new under the sun....Apion ridiculed the Sabbath too....read below how he ridiculed it...

"Apion, a Graeco-Egyptian grammarian living in Rome, who said

that after the Exodus from Egypt, “when the Jews travelled a six days’ journey, they had buboes [i.e., an inflammation] in their groin; and that on this account it was that they rested on the seventh day…for that malady of buboes in their groin was named Sabbatosia by the Egyptians.” (Against Apion, II/ 3, Whiston)."
ReformJudaism

RIDICULING THE SABBATH--The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9


*APION-
"Apion (Greek: Ἀπίων; 30-20 BC – c. AD 45-48) was a Hellenized Egyptian grammarian, sophist, and commentator on Homer, was born at the Siwa Oasis, and flourished in the first half of the 1st century A.D.
He appears to have enjoyed an extraordinary reputation for his extensive knowledge and his versatility as an orator; but the ancients are unanimous in censuring his ostentatious vanity.
He declared that every one whom he mentioned in his works would be immortalized; he placed himself by the side of the greatest philosophers of ancient Greece, and used to say, that Alexandria ought to be proud of having a man like himself among its citizens."
MMF 

Papal Notes - Getting "Sach"ed

"Jeffrey Sachs - one of the world’s best-known economists - is also arguably one of the world’s biggest cheerleaders of Pope Francis and believes him to be the most important moral leader in the world today.

Sachs, who is not Catholic, has advised the Vatican on papal documents....
Through his work with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Sachs was a critical player in helping craft Laudato si’, Francis’s 2015 encyclical calling for greater care for creation, and today he’s a leading champion of the document on the global stage.

Crux: You’ve consulted on a number of papal documents, both under St. Pope John Paul II and now Francis. How was the process for Laudato si’ different than previous experiences?
In the case of Laudato si’, there was an absolutely remarkable period of lead-up bringing the world’s top scientists, climatologists, engineers, as well as many other communities of engagement - politicians, judges, mayors, and others to the Vatican so that this issue could be explored in

tremendous depth.
I regard the Pontifical Academy of Sciences as a unique institution in the world because it’s the cutting edge and the highest level of scientific engagement, combined with the faith of the Church. There are no counterparts that I know of with the convening power where the world’s leading experts came, made inputs, contributed, and then we all sat back and watched this beautiful encyclical emerge.

By some accounts, Laudato si’ is the most quoted papal document in history in just three years’ time. How do you account for that?
You read it and it’s breathtaking. I often say that I can assign it to first year graduate students in earth sciences, biology, theology, diplomacy, or political science. It’s so compellingly holistic that it can be read from all these crucial points of view, so therefore it inspires in its profundity, and it speaks to our urgent needs in a very direct way. The language is also very clear, and I think it brings the full emotional response to all of the knowledge that is deeply interwoven in the document." CRUX
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Matthew 15:9

IN the NEWS - Judge Kubik & Job 9:24

Here in the U.S., a judge in Ohio took a child from the parents who opposed their child going transgender...now in Canada, a judge supports a bill to NOT allow parents to learn if their child is involved in LGBT activities in school...WHAT ARE ANY LGBT ACTIVITIES GOING ON IN SCHOOL ANYWAY?????...more INDOCTRINATION by the state.....

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked:

Job 9:24

"An Alberta judge dismissed an attempt by parents and schools to block Bill 24, a measure which makes it illegal for schools to inform parents that their children have joined LGBT clubs at school. 
Justice Johanna Kubik of the Alberta Court of the Queen’s Bench denied the application in Medicine Hat yesterday, saying that “the public interest in promoting basic equality for staff and students of institutions supported by public funding would not be served by staying the provisions [of the Bill].” 

The hearing of the injunction application had been on June 20, and the intervenor in the case was the Calgary Sexual Health Centre. The schools and parents are considering an appeal. 

Bill 24, or “An Act to Support Gay-Straight Alliances,” was passed in the Alberta legislature last November. As well as banning schools from notifying parents when their child joins a GSA unless the child gives consent, Bill 24 requires that independent religious schools, including Catholic schools, allow GSAs if a student asks for one. 

The application against the Bill was filed by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) on behalf of a coalition of parents, independent, and religious schools. The JCCF argued that the provisions added to the Alberta School Act were unconstitutional. 
The coalition included 26 faith-based schools, among them Jewish, Christian, and Sikh institutions. In a press release, the JCCF said that Bill 24 attacked these schools, interfering with their ability to form welcoming environments faithful to their religious character and to be “open and transparent” with parents. 

Ten individual parents were also in the coalition, asserting that keeping parents “in the dark” threatens the safety of some of Alberta’s most vulnerable and “at-risk” children. Two of the parents presented testimony that they had children in GSAs who had become convinced that they were “transgender” and had been encouraged by their club to act out their opposite gender role at school, which led to “psychological distress” and suicide attempts. Judge Kubik dismissed these accounts as “largely hearsay in nature.” 
Kubik also rejected Dr. Miriam Grossman’s testimony that GSAs do harm partially on the basis that the psychiatrist believes concepts of gender identity promoted by GSAs are a form of radical activism."
Lifesite

Creation Moment 6/30/2018 - Philosophy of Evolution from GEMS

"Planetary scientists sound like crystal ball gazers. They can peer into crystals of dust, seeing visions the rest of us can’t discern. All we see is a mature system of planets following the laws of nature discovered by two Bible-believing creationists, Kepler and Newton.

Where is this “early solar system” of dust and gas? You can’t see it.
 The NASA-funded astronomers only see bits of comet dust they collected on high-altitude craft. Somebody decided to call them GEMS (“glass with embedded metal and sulfides”). Ah, but it takes

special eyes to be able to look into the GEMS to discern the past, and see into the future. Here comes the futureware, the high perhapsimaybecouldness score, and the promised understanding:

By studying “the starting materials of planet formation from 4.6 billion years ago,” we might gain “a deeper understanding of the processes that formed and have since altered them,” Ishii said in the statement.
Following this research, the team will explore additional comet dust to better understand the composition of GEMS and the size of the sub-grains, according to the statement.

*Note: astronomers see dust disks around other stars, but it takes philosophy to imagine them forming planets. For all they know, the dust is debris from collisions as bodies break up, not build up."
CEH
And God made two great lights;
 the greater light to rule the day,
and the lesser light to rule the night:
he made the stars also.
Genesis 1:16

IN the NEWS - Trappist What?

.... strong drink is raging:

 and whosoever is deceived thereby

is not wise.

Proverbs 20:1

"The label of “Trappist” is among the most exclusive designations of beer worldwide, with only 11 breweries around the globe qualifying for the title.

But that number is about to become 12, with the Cistercian monks at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire gaining recognition as the first Trappist brewery in U.K. history.

The Leicestershire monks, who previously tried their luck at dairy farming, began exploring the idea of brewing beer in 2013 after they closed their dairy for monetary reasons. Inspired by the brew monks of Norcia in Italy, the U.K. monks visited the Norcia brewery a number of times and decided to move forward with a beer of their own.

After visiting other brew abbeys and conducting five years of extensive research, the monks opted to brew Belgian beer and began experimenting on the feast of St. Lutgard – a saint who was known for surviving on bread and beer during fasts.

“Beer is a good, honest, nurturing drink – our Belgian friends said more than once it should be liquid bread and not colored water, and that’s what we’re aiming to live up to,” said Dom Erik Varden, abbot of Mount Saint Bernard, according to the BBC." EWTN

THE GREAT CONTROVERSY: Audio & Pull Quotes- Chapter 27

Modern Revivals

Audio:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/pVoz0Jk_u7s?list=PLA5C7629D1527F981

There is no evidence of genuine repentance unless it works reformation.
But many of the revivals of modern times have presented a marked contrast to those manifestations of divine grace which in earlier days followed the labors of God's servants.

Popular revivals are too often carried by *appeals to the imagination, by *exciting the emotions, by *gratifying the love for what is new and startling.
Converts thus gained have little desire to listen to Bible truth, little interest in the testimony of prophets and apostles. Unless a religious service has something of a sensational character, it has no attractions for them. A message which appeals to unimpassioned reason awakens no response.
The power of godliness has well-nigh departed from many of the churches. Picnics, church theatricals, church fairs, fine houses, personal display, have banished thoughts of God.
Notwithstanding there are true followers of Christ in these churches. Before the final visitation of God's judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon His children. At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and His word.
Many religious teachers assert that Christ by His death abolished the law, and men are henceforth free from its requirements. There are some who represent it as a grievous yoke, and in contrast to the bondage of the law they present the liberty to be enjoyed under the gospel.

But not so did prophets and apostles regard the holy law of God.

---Said David: I will walk at liberty: for I seek Thy precepts. Psalm 119:45.

---The apostle James, who wrote after the death of Christ, refers to the Decalogue as the royal law and the perfect law of liberty. James 2:8; 1:25.

---And the revelator, half a century after the crucifixion, pronounces a blessing upon them that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Revelation 22:14.

---The death of Christ, so far from abolishing the law, proves that it is immutable. The Son of God came to magnify the law, and make it honorable. Isaiah 42:21.

*The law of God, from its very nature, is unchangeable.

*It is a revelation of the will and the character of its Author.

*God is love, and His law is love.

Commetaries on Psalm 51:7

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean:

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Psalm 51:7

 

Charles Spurgeon:
Give me the reality which legal ceremonies symbolise.
Nothing but blood can take away my blood stains...
Thou wilt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Foul as I am, there is such power in the divine propitiation, that my sin shall vanish quite away.
---Like the leper upon whom the priest has performed the cleansing rites, I shall again be admitted into the assembly of thy people and allowed to share in the privileges of the true Israel.
---Wash me. Let it not merely be in type that I am clean, but by a real spiritual purification, which shall remove the pollution of my nature.
---And I shall be whiter than snow. None but thyself can whiten me,....Snow soon gathers smoke and dust, it melts and disappears; thou canst give me an enduring purity.


Adam Calrke:
Purge me with hyssop - תחטאני techatteeni, thou shalt make a sin-offering for me; probably alluding to the cleansing of the leper: Leviticus 14:1, etc.
....and the ceremony above mentioned was for the purpose of declaring to the people that the man was healed, that he might be restored to his place in society, having been healed of a disease that the finger of God alone could remove.
This David seems to have full in view; hence he requests the Lord to make the sin-offering for him, and to show to the people that he had accepted him, and cleansed him from his sin.

John Wesley:
Hyssop — As lepers, are by thy appointment purified by the use of hyssop and other things, so do thou cleanse me a leprous and polluted creature, by thy grace, and by that blood of Christ, which is signified by those ceremonial usages.

Matthew Henry:
The expression here alludes to a ceremonial distinction, that of cleansing the leper, or those that were unclean by the touch of a body by sprinkling water, or blood, or both upon them with a bunch of hyssop, by which they were, at length, discharged from the restraints they were laid under by their pollution... If we be washed in this fountain opened, we shall be whiter than snow.

John Calvin:
 All which David here prays for is, that God would effectually accomplish, in his experience,
--what he had signified to his Church and people by these outward rites; and in this he has set us a good example for our imitation.
--It is no doubt to the blood of Christ alone that we must look for the atonement of our sins; but we are creatures of sense, who must see with our eyes, and handle with our hands; and it is only by improving the outward symbols of propitiation that we can arrive at a full and assured persuasion of it.
What we have said of the hyssop applies also to the washings referred to in this verse, and which were commonly practiced under the Law.

Congregations (by Geo-Political Regions) Northeast Industrial Ohio

COUNTIES- (Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning)
For More Regions see Link: https://master1844-dc.blogspot.com/2018/05/congregations-by-geo-political-regions_18.html

CATHOLIC        

Roman Catholic - 78
Polish National Catholic Church - 2

Catholic Church, Ashtabula, Ohio

ORTHODOX

   EASTERN
       Eastern Orthodox - 3
        Russian Orthodox - 1
        Carpatho-Russian Orthodox - 2
        Ukrainian Orthodox - 1
        Serbian Orthodox - 3
        Greek Orthodox - 3
        Catholic Church / Byzantine Rite - 8
        Orthodox Catholic - 1
   ORIENTAL
        Antiochian Orthodox - 1

MAINLINE PROTESTANT  
ANGLICAN
       Episcopalian - 7
       
   LUTHERAN
       Evangelical Lutheran Church of America  - 33
       Evangelical Covenant - 4
       Lutheran Missouri Synod - 10
       Lutheran Wisconsin Synod - 1
       Free Lutherans - 1
       Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ - 2
   CALVINIST
         PRESBYTERIAN
                Presbyterian Church U.S.A. - 44
                Presbyterian Church America - 1
                Evangelical Presbyterian - 1
               
         REFORMED
                 Hungarian Reformed - 1
            DUCTH REFORMED
                
   ZWINGLIAN
                  
        ANNABAPTIST
               BRETHREN
                    Church of the Brethren - 4
                    
               MENNONITE
                    Mennonite - 2
                   
                  AMISH
                    Traditional Amish - 40
                   
                   HUTTERITE
   CONGREGATIONALIST
       Congregational Christian Church - 3      
       United Church of Christ - 16
       Evangelical Reformed & Congregational Church - 2

       HUSSITE

   WESLEYAN
       United Methodist - 82
       Free Methodist - 3
       Primitive Methodist - 1
      Alleghany Methodist Connection - 4
      African Methodist Episcopal Church - 6*
      African Methodist Episcopal Church of Zion- 2*
      Christian Methodist Episcopal Church - 2*

Presbyterian Church USA, Warren, Ohio

RESTORATIONIST

   United Brethren - 
   Disciples of Christ - 21
  Christian Church & Churches of Christ  - 19
  New Apostolic Church - 3

EVANGELICAL PROTESTANT

   BAPTIST
              American Baptist USA - 18
              Regular Baptist - 12
              Southern Baptist - 35
              Independent Baptist - 2
              Baptist/Converge Worldwide - 4
              Free Will Baptist - 4
              National Baptist USA - 16*
              National Missionary Baptist - 4*
              Full Gospel Baptist - 2*
   MISCELLAEOUS EVANGELICAL PROTESTANT
          Grace Gospel Fellowship - 1
          Grace Communion International - 1

       HOLINESS
             Wesleyan - 1
             Church of the Nazarene - 21
             Church of God (Anderson, IN) - 14
             Missionary Alliance - 5
             Churches of Christ - 11
             Salvation Army - 3
             CHARISMATIC
             Assemblies of God  - 44
             Pentecostal Church of God - 1
             Holiness Pentecostal - 1
             Church of God (Cleveland, TN) - 13
             Church of God in Prophecy - 2
             New Apostolic Church - 1
             United Holy Church of America - 3*
             Church of God in Christ - 14*
             Foursquare Gospel - 3
             International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies - 2
             Pentecostal Fire-Baptized Holiness Church - 1
            
                  ONENESS PENTECOSTALSIM
              United Pentecostal - 3
              Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith - 2*
       SABBATARIAN
              7th Day Adventist - 7
              Messianic Covenant Congregation - 1
             

Catholic Church / Byzantine Rite, Youngstown, Ohio

                        ARMSTRONGISM
                           United Church of God - 1
                           Church of God Worldwide Association - 1 

CONVERGENCE

International Council of Community Churches - 1

CHRISTIAN - NEW AGE

National Spiritualist Association of Churches - 1

 

--NON DENOMINATIONAL CONGREGATIONS -- 79 --

OTHER
MORMON - 3
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES - 14
QUAKER - 4
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE - 1
UNITARIAN - 2
UNITY CHURCH - 1
NON- CHRISTIAN
 Muslim - 2
 Judaism - 4
 Bahai - 1
 Hindu - 1

(* denotes what are labeled "Black Protestant")

The city of confusion is broken down:

Isaiah 24:10

 

 2000 - (D) Gore/Lieberman 61%-39%
2004 - (D) Kerry/Edwards 61%-39%
2008 - (D) Obama/Biden 61%-39%

2012 - (D) Obama/Biden 62%-38%
2016 - (R) Trump/Pence 52%-48%

Creation Moment 6/29/2018 - Logical vs. Non-Logical

...... and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.... 1 Peter 3:15
"The physical sciences, then, depend on the validity of logic just as much as metaphysics or mathematics. If popular thought feels

‘science’ to be different from all other kinds of knowledge because science is experimentally verifiable, popular thought is mistaken. Experimental verification is not a new kind of assurance coming in to supply the deficiencies of mere logic. 
--- We should therefore abandon the distinction between scientific and non-scientific thought.
---The proper distinction is between logical and non-logical thought."
 C. S. Lewis, De Futilitate

PSALM 15: Application to His people (Priesthood)

*Put this Psalm in context---ARE YOU/WE ready to serve as a member of HIS Priesthood here on earth?
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
1 Peter 2:9

Psalm 15:
"This psalm raises the question of qualifications for service in the tabernacle (verse 1), then answers that question by describing the man who has
*personal purity (verses 2-3a), and
*interpersonal integrity (verses 3b-5).

(1)  A Two Part Question (15:1).
LORD,
-who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
-who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

(2)  A Twelve-Part Response (15:2-5b);

A.   Three Positively Phrased Ethical Characteristics (15:2).

(1)  His lifestyle exhibits integrity;

He that walketh uprightly,

(2)  His deeds exhibit justice;

  and worketh righteousness,

(3)  His speech exhibits reliability.

 and speaketh the truth in his heart.

B.   Three Negatively Cast Ethical Characteristics (15:3).

(1)  He does not tread over people with his tongue;

He that backbiteth not with his tongue,

(2)  He does not harm his fellow man;

nor doeth evil to his neighbor,

(3)  He does not dump reproach upon family or friend.

nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor.

C.   Three Positively Phrased Ethical Characteristics (15:4a-c).

(1)  He views the reprobate as rejected;

In whose eyes a vile person is contemned;

(2)  He respects the people of God;

but he honoureth them that fear the LORD.

(3)  He holds himself accountable.

He that sweareth to his own hurt,

D.   Three Negatively Cast Ethical Characteristics (15:4d-5b).

(1)  He is not fickle;

and changeth not.

(2)  He is not greedy;

He that putteth not out his money to usury,

(3) He cannot be bought.

nor taketh reward against the innocent.

(3) A One-Part Guarantee (15:5c).

He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

The Lord in answer to the question informs us by his Holy Spirit of the character of the man who alone can dwell in his holy hill.

In perfection this holiness is found only in the Man of Sorrows, but in a measure it is wrought in all his people by the Holy Ghost. Observe the accepted man's walk, work, and word.

The man who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord must shake off this sin as Paul shook the viper into the fire.

He shall not only be on Zion, but like Zion, fixed and firm."

BooksOfTheBible/Charles Spurgeon

 

THE GREAT CONTROVERSY: Audio & Pull Quotes- Chapter 26

A Work Of Reform

Audio:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/9I3RQ5gXBhI?list=PLA5C7629D1527F981

The work of Sabbath reform to be accomplished in the last days is foretold in the prophecy of Isaiah: Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that

layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
The sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Isaiah 56:1, 2, 6, 7.
 The Lord commands by the same prophet: Bind up the testimony, seal the law among My disciples.  Isaiah 8:16.
The seal of God's law is found in the fourth commandment.
---This only, of all the ten, brings to view both the name and the title of the Lawgiver. It declares Him to be the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and thus shows His claim to reverence and worship above all others.
---Aside from this precept, there is nothing in the Decalogue to show by whose authority the law is given. When the Sabbath was changed by the papal power, the seal was taken from the law. The disciples of Jesus are called upon to restore it by exalting the Sabbath of the fourth commandment to its rightful position as the Creator's memorial and the sign of His authority.
*As the claims of the Sabbath were presented, many reasoned from the worldling's standpoint. Said they: "We have always kept Sunday, our fathers kept it, and many good and pious men have died happy while keeping it. If they were right, so are we. The keeping of this new Sabbath would throw us out of harmony with the world, and we would have no influence over them. What can a little company keeping the seventh day hope to accomplish against all the world who are keeping Sunday?" 
*It was by similar arguments that the Jews endeavored to justify their rejection of Christ. Their fathers had been accepted of God in presenting the sacrificial offerings, and why could not the children find salvation in pursuing the same course?
*So, in the time of Luther, papists reasoned that true Christians had died in the Catholic faith, and therefore that religion was sufficient for salvation.
Such reasoning would prove an effectual barrier to all advancement in religious faith or practice.