We are living in most solemn times. The gospel in the Old and New Testaments is not to be contemplated from a narrow, single aspect, as one or two men, or even many men may view it. How large, how broad, how extensive, is the gospel! I have been writing upon this subject for years, and have much written that I cannot now place in shape to be handled. I have had but a trifle of editing done for one year. I speak the things, and write the things, that burden my soul, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear. I must work; I must watch; I must pray; I must consider nothing in a narrow, contracted style. The Lord Jesus in his instruction was pleased to fashion character after the divine likeness.
Truth and error are both in the field, striving for the mastery. The champions of truth will have a fierce conflict. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” The warning comes, and the directions53are repeated, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” All that the Lord has told you, it devolves on you to do. No one need be deceived, if he will make the word of God his study. How little is the book of Revelation studied! It is a hidden mystery to the religious world; and why? — Because the events not pleasant for consideration, are so faithfully traced by the prophetic pen; and people who are in any way troubled about the matter are soothed by their shepherds, with the statement that the Revelation cannot be understood. But it is to be understood; for it especially concerns us who are living in these last days. Read Rev. 1: 1–3. “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.” Read the last chapter of Revelation carefully and prayerfully. What significance there is in the statements of this chapter! “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” This is the most effectual teaching that can be given in the church built for the Sanitarium, and this testimony is to be given in all the churches. Wherever there is an opportunity to reach the people, the attention should be called from the earthly to the heavenly. “And the54Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” We are to voice the words of the angel.
We are not to drift into worldly channels. Consider the cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Christ’s ministry, and at the close of his life, his personal labors in the guise of humanity. Whom did he find intent on gain? The Jews had made the courts of the temple a scene of sacrilegious traffic. They had turned the ancient and sacred institution of the Passover into a means of vile profit. They bartered deep, turning the once sacred service instituted by Christ himself, into a worship of mammon. But Christ came suddenly into the temple courts; divinity flashed through humanity, and, raising a whip of small cords in his hands, with a voice that they will hear again in the execution of the judgment, he said, “Take these things hence.” “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” These priests and rulers saw as it were an avenging angel with a flaming sword, such as guarded the way to the tree of life.
To-day this sacrilegious work is being more than repeated. There will be messages borne; and those who have rejected the messages God has sent, will hear most startling declarations. The Holy Spirit will invest the announcement with a sanctity and solemnity which will appear terrible in the ears of those who have heard the pleadings of infinite love, and have not responded to the offers of pardon and forgiveness. Injured and55insulted Deity will speak, proclaiming the sins that have been hidden. As the priests and rulers, full of indignation and terror, sought refuge in flight at the last scene of the cleansing of the temple, so will it be in the work for these last days. The woes that will be pronounced upon those that have had light from heaven, and yet did not heed it, they will feel, but will have no power to act. This is represented in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. They cannot obtain a character from the wise virgins, and they have no oil of grace to discern the clear light or to accept it. They cannot light their lamps and join the procession that goes in to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Study the Revelation in connection with Daniel; for history will be repeated. We must be true and faithful amid the abounding iniquity that prevails. At no period of time are we in such danger as when prosperity seems to crown our efforts. Self must be hidden in God. We are living amid the perils of the last days, and many are insensible to the perils that threaten our world. We, with all our religious advantages, ought to know far more to-day than we do know. “Watch, and pray,” said Jesus, “for ye know not when the time is.” “Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.” Repentance is not a desirable emotion. Christ said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” The right eye is to be plucked out; the right hand is to be cut off. There is hidden depravity that needs to be carefully considered and uprooted. God help us individually to purify our souls by obeying the truth.
WHO ARE REPRESENTING CHRIST?
We are living in times that try men’s souls. Those in high positions of trust, whom we may call—as God called some in the days of Noah—mighty men, men of renown, know little of the causes that underlie the present state of society. Many do not care to know; others do not study from cause to effect. Those who hold the reins of government are not able to solve the problem of moral corruption, poverty, pauperism, and increasing crime of every type, manifest in all classes, from the highest to the lowest. They are struggling vainly to place business operations on a more secure basis. The great extremes of wealth and want produce unnumbered evils.
In our large cities there exists an appalling condition of poverty; multitudes are destitute of food, clothing, or shelter fit for a human being. In the same cities are men of wealth who have more than heart could wish; who live luxuriously, spending their money upon richly furnished houses, upon personal ornament, or worse, upon the gratification of the sensual appetites, upon tobacco, liquors, and other things that destroy the power of the brain, unbalance the mind, and debase the soul. While they are thus selfishly indulging themselves, all heaven is looking down upon these unfaithful stewards. God and angels mark how the means given to men, with which to honor the Creator by blessing the world, are turned to the gratification of self, to the dishonor of God, and to the neglect of his heritage. . . .
The prince of darkness has set in operation every device to ruin and destroy man. He has57legions of evil workers uniting with him to obliterate the image of God in our youth. I ask those who are acquainted with truth, who know righteousness, What are you doing? Are you using your influence to bring into the ranks of the Lord’s army all whom you can possibly reach? Have you yourself enlisted to fight the battles of the Lord? As Christians it is our work to represent Christ. We are to set an example that shall be in striking contrast to the practises of this evil age. He that is selfish will neglect to do the very work he ought to do, and take up a work that God has not given him to do. “He that loveth pleasure [margin, sport] shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.” “He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honor.” “The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labor. He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not.”
“He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.” This breaks up worldly policy, and sets aside worldly maxims. “That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee? Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate.” Consider also these words: “For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them. Make58no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go.” Why? — “Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.”
While distrust and alienation are pervading all classes of society, Christ’s disciples are to reveal the spirit that reigns in heaven. Because the world was ruined through sin, God gave his Son to draw men back to him. He “so loved the world that he gave” all that heaven could give for the saving of the lost. In every soul who receives that love, it will manifest itself in like manner. God so loved that he gave. If we love with his love, we too shall give all. We shall be co-workers with him whose mission it is to “preach the gospel to the poor; . . . to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” We shall do the work he has set before us,—“to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke; . . . to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house; when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.” . . .
The Saviour marks all our work as though done unto himself; for he identifies his interest with that of suffering humanity. Every one who names the name of Jesus is called, so far as it lies in his power, to help every other soul in the heavenward way. But let none feel that Christ has placed them on the judgment-seat to pass judgment on a brother or sister who is unfortunate,59or who falls into error. Many hearts are sorely stricken, to whom words fitly spoken might bring peace and rest. These souls are a test to their brethren and sisters, revealing what is in the heart. All heaven is looking to see how we treat those that need our help. It is this that reveals whether the glowing fire of the first love is still burning upon the altar of the heart.
What a power the church would have in it if all its members were so imbued with the Spirit of Christ as to speak to one another only words of comfort and peace and hope; if none felt it their prerogative to judge, to oppress, to cast a dark shadow on the soul of another!
LEARNING OF CHRIST.
I think it would be very becoming to all who claim to follow Christ, to be indeed learning of Christ,—his methods, and his meekness, and lowliness of heart. We have a decided message to bear. In Jude 1–8 we have the description of the pollution of the world, and the working agencies of Satan to corrupt the world; yet Michael, the Archangel, when contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, and dared not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke thee.”
“And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.” Zech. 3:1. These things are written for our benefit, and we are to study the word in all these things now, for they concern us particularly. There is to be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation. Our work is to study to weed out60of all our discourses everything that savors of retaliation and defiance and making a drive against churches and individuals, because this is not Christ’s way and method. He did not pronounce scathing rebukes against those who did not know the truth, but against those whom God had made the depositaries of sacred responsibilities, a people chosen and favored with every temporal and spiritual advantage, and yet bearing no fruit. The most solemn responsibility for the Jewish nation was when Jesus was in their midst. It was that generation, the generation which rejected him, that was the guilty one. Jesus, speaking sometimes by warning, by judgments, by blessing given and withdrawn, said, “They would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproofs.” If thou art destroyed, it is thyself alone who art responsible. “Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” Warning, expostulation, forbearance, and patience are about to cease. Mark the cursing of the fig tree, representing the Jewish nation, covered with leaves of profession, but no fruit to be found thereon. The curse is pronounced upon the fig tree, which represents the moral, thinking, living agent, cursed of God, living as were the Jews for forty years after this event, yet dead. Mark, the other trees, representing the Gentiles, were not covered. They were leafless, making no pretension to having a knowledge of God. Their time of fruit-leaving was not yet.
“ARISE, SHINE; FOR THY LIGHT IS COME.”
Let not any hard reproaches be made against those who know not the truth. Even the churches are in darkness. Those to whom God has entrusted61the treasures of his grace are to be made the living, responsible agents; but what is their position? — They have lamps, — a knowledge of the truth, — but how few have communicated the precious light God has given them; how few have borne fruit to the glory of God! They do not improve the light and privileges given. They do not “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” They have no fruit, and the condemnation of God is upon them. The Lord will not open the eyes that refuse to see. The moistening revives, the sunshine God has given to quicken into life, continues, but they remain fruitless. Shall those for whom the Lord has done so much, have the form of godliness, and stop there? 2 Tim. 3:1–5.
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CHURCH.
The Lord pities the world, his vineyard, which has not been worked. . . . In the midst of wrath he remembers mercy. His heart of divine mercy is full of love and compassion for the thousands who are in ignorance of the truth. There has been everything done for those who have a knowledge of the truth, to keep them in the truth; but those who know not the truth have not received one tithe of the advantages that they should have had. And thus it continues to be. God help the people to whom he has given every advantage, as he did the Jewish nation, to receive and impart to those who are in ignorance of the light of truth, instead of rejecting the light and blessing!
I do not know that you understand this. May the Lord help you to discern! It is not the place of those who have had from Jesus light, precious62light, to condemn those to whom this light has never come, and to write or to speak things which will close the ears, and the door of the heart, and hedge up the way so that Satan’s power shall take possession of human minds; to give the imagination a false viewing, that will, through any course that we shall pursue, bring on a state of things that will prevent us from reaching the world. This the Jewish nation did. They made themselves obnoxious to the world.
How shall correct impressions of what we really do believe be given to our world?—By studying methods, not of contention and condemnation, for there are thousands living up to the best light they have, and every means should be used to get the knowledge of the truth before the thousands who will discern evidence, who will appreciate the likeness of Christ in his people, if they have an opportunity to see it. There are those among us who, if they should take time to consider, would regard their do-nothing position as a sinful neglect to use the talents which God has given them.
God has given his messengers the truth to proclaim. Then the churches are to voice the truth from the lips of the messengers, and use their talents in every way possible to make the ministry a power to communicate truth by their catching the first rays of light, and diffusing the same. Here is our great sin. We are years behind. The ministers have been seeking the hidden treasures, and have been opening up the casket, and letting the jewels of truth shine forth; but there is not one hundredth part being done by the members of the church that God requires of them. They will in that great day be self-convicted and self-condemned.63May the Lord lead them to self-penitence, and to see themselves now, and to exclaim, “Lord, I am that fruitless fig tree!” May the Lord forgive his people who are not doing the work in his vineyard that he has given them to do! “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” Rev. 22 : 16. Study this subject; read the next verse. We see that this is the very message that has been going forth to the people of God.
The large halls in our cities should be secured, that the third angel’s message may be proclaimed by human lips. Thousands will appreciate the message. While so much trouble and money have been absorbed in ministerial institutes for those who have the truth and do not appreciate it, thousands are in ignorance of the truth. They know not what the faith of Seventh-day Adventists is. Why do not the church-members communicate that which they have received? Why this negligence? Why this selfish neglect, when the value of souls is at stake? Why is there not now something being done in a larger measure than has been done? Why are camp-meetings kept year after year in the same locality? Why are they not taken to cities that know nothing of our faith? The plea is, There will be a saving of money and labor. Let the saving be done in other lines. But when souls are to be labored for, and the truth is to come before those who know it not, let us not talk of limiting on this line. A world is to be warned. Watch, wait, pray, work, and let nothing be done through strife and vainglory. Let64nothing be done to increase prejudice, but everything possible to make prejudice less, by letting in light, the bright rays of the Sun of Righteousness amid the moral darkness. There is a great work to be done yet, and every effort possible must be made to reveal Christ as the sin-pardoning Saviour, Christ as the sin-bearer, Christ as the bright and morning star, and the Lord will give us favor before the world until our work is done.
We have no time to lose. The end is near. The passage from places to spread the truth will soon be hedged with dangers on the right hand and on the left. Everything will be placed to obstruct our way so we shall not be able to do that which is possible to be done now. We must look our work fairly in the face, and advance as fast as possible in aggressive warfare. I know from the light given me of God that the powers of darkness are working with intense energy from beneath, and with stealthy tread he (Satan) is advancing to take those who are asleep now, as a thief taking his prey. We have warnings now which we may give, a work now which we may do; but soon it will be more difficult than we can imagine. God help us to keep in the channel of light, to work with our eyes fastened on Jesus our Leader, and patiently, perseveringly press on to gain the victory.