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Sketches from the Life of Paul
sinful course, or condemn their pleasure-loving propensities. Hence
they are offended by the plain words of the faithful servants of Christ,
and choose those teachers who will praise and flatter them instead
of rebuking their sins. These teachers “they heap to themselves” as
special favorites. Even among the professed ministers of Christ, there
are many who do not preach the word, but the opinions of men. They
have turned away their ears from truth. The Lord has spoken to them
in his word; but they do not care to hear his voice, because it condemns
their practices.
In his ten holy precepts, God has given a rule for man’s life, a law
which Christ declares is not to abate one jot of its claims upon men
through all their generations, to the close of time. That law is still
the believer’s rule of life, the sinner’s condemnation. That law Christ
came to magnify and make honorable. He showed that it is based upon
the broad foundation of love to God and men, and that obedience to its
precepts comprises the whole duty of man. In his own life he gave men
a perfect example of obedience to the law of God. In his sermon on
the mount he showed how its requirements extend beyond the outward
acts, and take cognizance of the thoughts and intents of the heart. That
law, obeyed, will lead men to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and
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to live “soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”
But the enemy of all righteousness has taken the world captive, and
has led them to make void the law of God. As Paul foresaw, the people
have turned away from the plain, searching truths of God’s word, and,
having itching ears, they have heaped to themselves teachers who
present to them the fables that they desire. These teachers trample
under their feet the fourth commandment, and instead of the day which
God has blessed and sanctified, they honor a day which he has not
commanded, and upon which he did not rest. The first day of the week,
whose sacredness rests wholly on the authority of the papacy, “the
man of sin,” is observed as a holy day by Catholics and Protestants
alike, instead of the day which God has set apart, and upon which he
has placed his blessing. Thus the Creator of the world is insulted, and
Satan laughs in triumph at the success of his devices.
With the growing contempt for God’s holy law, there is an in-
creasing distaste for religion, an increase of pride, love of pleasure,
disobedience to parents, and self-indulgence; and thoughtful minds
everywhere anxiously inquire, What can be done to correct these