XI. The Law.

From the State camp meeting—held at Dallas, Texas, 1911—I was sent to Gober, Texas, to hold a meeting. Clifford Taylor and his wife were sent along as my assistants—and they were good ones. The meeting lasted for six weeks, and about forty people were leaning toward Adventism at its close.

The three churches in Gober (Methodist, Варtist, and Christian) challenged for a debate. I have never known how to run; so I accepted. Н. L. Pirtle, an experienced debater of the Methodist Church, was chosen for the contest, and the three churches backed him.

The debate lasted eight days—September 8-18.

At the close of the debate the Christian people were not satisfied, and they challenged for another debate. They sent for Joe S. Warlick, champion debater of the Christian faith in Texas, and the Adventists sent for W. A. McCutchen, president of the Texas Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists. This second debate was held in Gober in November. I was teaching school near Santa Anna, Texas, and returned to Gober to witness the debate.

McCutchen’s throat gave way, and the debate frazzled out at the ends. Adventism in Gober also frazzled out at the ends. McCutchen was scheduled to meet Warlick at Cash and Angelina, Texas, in two contests in the spring of 1912; but he saw at this debate that his throat would not allow him to engage in another such wrangle. So he and Elder Hopkins called me to McCutchen’s room during the debate with Warlick, and McCutchen told me to go back to Santa Anna and to prepare to meet Warlick myself the next spring at these two places.

I knew the issue. The contest would center about “the law.” “The law,” with an Adventist, means the Ten Commandments. But “the law,” with Warlick and his people, meant the entire legal system of the Old Testament, commonly expressed in the first five books of Moses—the Pentateuch.

I took my concordance and tabulated every passage in the Old Testament that in any way refers to “the law.” I then read the entire New Testament through and tabulated on the fly leaves of my Bible every passage in the New Testament that refers to “the law.”

Then I began eliminating and cataloguing. I was hunting for truth—the truth on the question of “the law.” But I will confess here and now that one thing trumped me: there was not one text in all the Bible that referred to the Ten Commandments as “the law.” I made out a number of catalogues of my findings and sent them to McCutchen for assistance. The weight of the argument was certainly with Warlick. Mind you, I was not reading Advent literature; I was reading the Bible.

McCutchen sent my findings to Elder Hopkins, who had moderated for me during the debate with Pirtle. Hopkins is yet one of the leading Advent preachers of Texas. Hopkins sent them to William Cubley, another Texas minister among them. And they all wrote me letters—McCutchen, Hopkins, and Cubley—and each warned that I be careful; that I was slipping, etc. Hopkins said a whole lot about “Sister White,” and Cubley said I was on the trail that every one had followed who had left “the truth.”

But that mattered little with me. The study and the correspondence were continued. McCutchen wrote me that it was impossible for me to meet Warlick with my newly developed views. I was really up in the air.

In April, 1912, the Union Conference was held at Keene; and McCutchen asked me to tabulate my difficulties and bring them to the conference.

I did—stenciled them on charts measuring twenty-two by twenty-seven inches. There were a half dozen of these charts. During the conference he arranged for a meeting with me. Thirteen of the Texas ministers and Elders A. G. Daniels, president of the General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, also G. B. Thompson, the submarine chaser of the movement, were with me in a room in the basement of the large church at Keene. Elder McCutchen asked me to outline my difficulties. I hung up my charts and outlined what I had found. Elder Daniels had been commissioned to answer me. Daniels, the meanwhile, busied himself by walking up and down the room with his hands under the tail of his Prince Albert coat, and in nicely popping the same at intervals.

After I finished, Daniels stopped and said: “My dear young brother, have you not learned so little as yet as to know that the expression ‘the law,’ as it commonly occurs in the Bible, often refers to the first five books of the Bible, the law of Moses, commonly known as the Pentateuch?” 

I said: “Elder, if you will hold your foot on that proposition for about a minute, we will convince every one of these preachers right here and now.”

McCutchen spoke up and said: “Why, Elder Daniels, that is the very point he has been contending for—that ‘the law’ is a term that includes the entire Pentateuch, and not just the Ten Commandments.”

Daniels turned sharply on his heel and said: “Well, of course, you understand, brethren, when I say the expression ‘the law’ means the Pentateuch, you understand I mean in a secondary sense.”

And there the meeting came to an end.

In the remainder of this chapter the reader will find the charts that were presented to those fifteen brethren on the occasion referred to.

To an Adventist “the law” means the Ten Commandments, unless the context speaks of ceremonies or as the law having passed away, then it means “the law of Moses.”

THE TWO LAWS.

• We read of the “two covenants.” (Gal. 4: 24.)
• We read of the “two witnesses.” (Rev. 11: 13.)
• We read of the “two olive trees.” (Zech. 4: 3.)

We read of the “first Adam” and of the “second Adam;” but nowhere do we read of the two laws!

FURTHERMORE.

• We read nothing of a “temporal law.” 
• We read nothing of an “eternal law.” 
• We read nothing of a “moral law.”
• We read nothing of a “ceremonial law.”
• Moses spoke only of “the law.”
• The prophets spoke only of “the law.”
• Our Lord spoke only of “the law.”
• Paul wrote only of “the law.”

“The law” is found fifty-one times in the book of Romans and twenty-nine times in the book of Galatians, but “the laws” not once in all the Bible.

SOME LAW TITLES.

• The law. (John 1: 17.)
• The law of the Lord. (Luke 2: 24.)
• The law of God. (Neh. 10: 29.)
• The law of Moses. (Acts 15: 5.)
• The law of the God of heaven. (Ez. 7: 6.)
• The law of thy God. (Ez. 7: 14.)
• The book of the law. (Neh. 8: 3.)
• The book of Moses. (Neh. 13: 1.)
• The book of the covenant. (2 Kings 23: 2.)
• The book of the law of God. (Neh. 8: 8.)
• The book of the law of the Lord. (Neh. 9: 13.)
• The book of the law of Moses. (Neh. 8: 1.)

But these are titles of one and the same document—namely, “the law.”

WHAT GOD GAVE.

GOD GAVE:

• The book of the law. (Neh. 8: 1.)
• Moses’ law. (Ez. 7: 6.)

WHAT MOSES GAVE.

MOSES GAVE:

• The law. (John 1: 17.)
• The law of the Lord. (2 Chron. 34: 14.)
• God’s law. (Neh. 10: 29.)

This is directly opposed to Adventism, which teaches that Moses gave the former, while God gave the latter.

During my student years in the Adventist training school at Keene, Texas, I discovered that something of a fundamental nature was the matter with “the law” question. It was always a “question” with every one. I had no time to make a thorough examination; but in 1910, immediately after graduating from the institution, I began to study the question of the law again—this time not as I found it in Advent literature, but as I found it in the Bible. The following is a result of that study:

THINGS “WRITTEN IN THE LAW.”

• Neh. 10: 25-37:
  • firstborn (Ex. 13: 2)
  • dough (Lev. 23: 27)
  • tithe (Num. 18: 21)
  • wine and oil (Deut. 18: 2)

• Num. 10: 34: wood offering (Lev. 6: 12)
• Matt. 12: 5: priests (Num. 28: 9)
• 1 Cor. 14: 21: tongues (Isa. 28: 11)
• Num. 10: 34: altar (Lev. 6: 12)
• Num. 10: 34: sons (Lev. 13: 2)
• Num. 10: 34: cattle (Lev. 27: 26)

Not one of these things can be found in the Ten Commandments; yet they can all be found in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible.

“WRITTEN IN THE LAW OF THE LORD.”

• Pigeons. (Luke 2: 24.)
• Burnt offerings. (2 Chron. 31: 3.)
• Acts of Joshua. (2 Chron. 35: 26.)
• Altar. (1 Chron. 14: 40.)
• Sacrifices. (Luke 2: 24.)
• Firstborn. (Luke 2: 23.)

Luke 2: 23 states something of “the firstborn” as having been written “in the law of the Lord.” We turn to the Ten Commandments to find what was written, but there is nothing about the first-born. Then we turn to Ex. 24: 20; Lev. 26: 14; Num. 18: 27; Deut. 15: 19, and there we find things written of the firstborn.

“WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF MOSES.”

• Josh. 8: 31: altar (Ex. 24: 20).
• Dan. 9: 11: curse (Lev. 26: 14, 16). 
• 1 Cor. 9: 9: oxen (Deut. 25: 4).

These things are not found in the Ten Commandments; but they are found in the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch.

“WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT.” 

• 2 King’s 23: 21:
  • passover (Ex. 12: 11).
  • passover (Lev. 23: 5).
  • passover (Num. 9: 2).
  • passover (Deut. 25: 4).

These things, also, were written in the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch.

Hence:

• “The law” equals the five books of Moses.
• “The law of the Lord” equals the five books of Moses.
• “The law of Moses” equals the five books of Moses.
• “The book of the covenant” equals the five books of Moses.

No one disputes this axiom: “Things equal to the same thing are equal to each other.” Hence the four titles just given refer to one and the same thing—the legal system of Israel given by God through Moses.

SOME THINGS FOUND IN THE LAW.

• Women to keep silent. (1 Cor. 14: 34.)
• Not to covet. (Rom. 7: 7.)
• Man feeding a flock. (1 Cor. 9: 9.)
• High priests. (Heb. 7: 28.)
• Vineyards. (1 Cor. 9: 9.)
• Respect of persons. (James 2: 9.)
• Tithe. (Heb. 7: 5.)
• Gifts. (Heb. 8: 4.)
• Prophecy of Christ. (John 12: 34.)
• Circumcision. (Gal. 5: 3.)
• Shadow. (Heb. 10: 1.)
• Genealogies. (Tit. 3: 9.)

Each of these twelve items can be found in the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch.

There is not a text in the entire Bible that refers to the Ten Commandments as “the law.”

THE LEGAL SYSTEM.

“The law” was nothing more nor less than the legal system of Israel. This system is found in the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch. The law was a unit; but it had in it moral, civil, ceremonial, and religious statutes—thus:

Moral.—“Pertaining to the practice, manners, and conduct of men, as social beings, in relation to each other, and with reference to right and wrong.” (Webster.)

• Disobedience to parents. (Ex. 21: 15.)
• Negligence. (Ex. 21: 28-30.)
• Accidental homicide. (Num. 35: 9-28.)
• Assault. (Lev. 24: 19.)
• Rape. (Ex. 22: 16.)
• Unlawful marriage. (Lev. 20.)
• Perversion of justice. (Ex. 22: 9.)
• Kidnaping. (Deut. 4: 7.)
• Confusion. (Lev. 18: 23.)
• Abomination. (Lev. 18: 22.)

Ceremonial.

• Burnt offerings. (Lev. 1.)
• Meat offerings. (Lev. 2.)
• Peace offerings. (Lev. 3.)
• Sin offerings. (Lev. 4.)
• Consecration of priests. (Lev. 8: 9.)
• Purification of women. (Lev. 12.)
• Cleansing of lepers. (Lev. 13.)
• Atonement. (Lev. 16.)
• Feasts. (Lev. 23.)

Civil.

• Slaves. (Lev. 25: 47-54.)
• Lands. (Lev. 25: 27.)
• Debts. (Deut. 15: 1-11.)
• Usury. (Ex. 22: 25-27.)
• Pledges. (Deut. 24: 6-18.)

Religious.

• Worship of other gods forbidden. (Ex. 20: 3.)
• Images forbidden. (Ex. 20: 4.)
• Molten gods forbidden. (Ex. 34: 17.)
• Swearing. (Ex. 20: 7.)
• Pictures forbidden. (Ex. 20: 4; Num. 35: 52.)
• The Sabbath. (Ex. 20: 11.)

This fourfold legal system was “God’s law.” (Neh. 10: 29.) This was also “the law.” (John1:17.) This was “the law of the Lord.” (Luke 2:24.) Joshua “meditated” in this law. (Josh. 1: 7, 8.) So did every righteous man, according to David. (Ps. 1: 1, 2.) This fourfold system was “all the law.” (2 Kings 17: 13.) It was “the whole law.” (2 Chron. 33: 8.)

“THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS.”

Moses and the prophets are connected in three different expressions in the New Testament. These expressions are:

1. “Moses and the prophets.” (Luke 16: 29; Acts 26: 22; Luke 24: 44.)
2. “The law of Moses and the prophets.” (John 1: 45; Acts 28: 23; Luke 24: 44.)
3. “The law and the prophets.” (Matt. 11: 13; Matt. 22: 40; Rom. 3: 21; Acts 13: 15; Acts 24: 14; Matt. 5: 17.)

This should be sufficient to prove that these three expressions refer to one and the same thing—namely, the writings of Moses and the writings of the prophets. †

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CONTENTS