t that glory was
eclipsed by the greater glory of the New Testament law. Now turn to
Gal. 4:21-31. Read verse 24 first."
"'Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the
one from mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar,'"
read Mary.
"This passage proves," said Robert, "that Paul was showing by
Abraham's two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, Isaac by Sarah, and Ishmael by
Hagar, that the covenant at Sinai was to be cast out, just as Hagar
and Ishmael were cast out of Abraham's home. The verse you read
declares that the Ten Commandments, covenant, law, and all from Sinai
correspond with Hagar. What happened to her? She was cast out. So the
old Ten-Commandment law is cast out in favor of a better one. Now turn
to Hebrews 8 and read the last verse."
"'In that he saith, a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now
that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.'"
"Plain enough, isn't it, Mary?" asked Robert. "God found fault with
the old covenant (see verse 7) and so he took it away."
"But, Robert," said Mary, "does this mean that it is right to lie, or
steal, or kill? If the Ten Commandments are done away with, how will
these sins be condemned?" And Mary was really puzzled about it.
"Why, Mary," said Robert, "the Ten Commandments did not make it wrong
to lie and steal. It was always wrong to lie and steal even before
there were any Ten Commandments. Wrong is wrong. Now in Christ's law
every possible wrong is condemned. Do you see the point? Now, the
Sabbath-day law is the Fourth Commandment of the Ten. But that Sabbath
law was given to the Jews only. They could keep it where they lived,
but everybody can't keep it now at the same time even if they should
want to."
"You see we live on a round earth," continued Robert, "and the sun
shines somewhere all the time. Now Israel could keep the seventh day
all right in Palestine, but suppose that they had been scattered over
all the earth? Then a Jew in Australia would be keeping his Sabbath
about eighteen hours before his brother in California. The day begins
out in the Pacific Ocean, not because it really begins there, but
because for the sake of convenience it was fixed to begin there. The
whole arrangement is artificial. Now, would God put so much emphasis
on keeping a certain day under such circumstances? Adventists think
it is very wrong to work on the Sabbath-day, yet some of them work
as much as twelve hours while thei
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