The conspicuous American vice, says The Independent, is “the body and soul-ruining vice of unbridled impatience.” But just at this time, in contrast with the impatience which the unrestful spirit of the world stirs up in the natural heart, the Christian virtue of patience is to be strikingly revealed. For in connection with the prophecy of the giving of the last gospel message to the world, it is written, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Impatience is lack of self-control; and as the Spirit of God is withdrawn from the world, its inhabitants will be more and more given over to the spirit of passion and strife.
L. A. S
By L. A. S.
WE live in an age of the world when the principles of Christianity are so little known and appreciated, even in those nations which call themselves Christian, that one who puts them into practise as the Christian is instructed to do in God's Word, is certain to be regarded by the world as a strange character, and is quite likely to be considered of unsound mind. An illustration of this truth occurred in connection with the recent flood at Kansas City, according to statements printed in the Kansas City Star. A man named Force, says the Star, a Nebraska farmer, recently sold a farm for three thousand eight hundred dollars. “He had read about the Kaw Valley flood, and came to Armourdale, where he has been distributing money in small amounts to the sufferers.” In all, he has disbursed about two hundred and fifty or three hundred dollars. “Yesterday afternoon [September 19] Force went to the home of Mrs. Clara Wyball, 505 Scott Ave., Armourdale, and said he understood she was a flood sufferer, and that her child was sick. Mrs. Wyball said this was true. ‘God has commanded me to give you this,’ said Force, handing her a five dollar bill. Mrs. Wyball asked him to come and watch the sick child a few minutes while she went to get some medicine. Force consented, and the woman ran to the police station and told Sergeant George Jameson. The sergeant sent officer Brockman home with her. They found Force watching the sick child.” He was arrested and taken to the police station. “At the police station Force told the officers he believed it was his duty to give the money God had placed in his hands, to the sufferers. He said he was a member of the Christian Church, and had a brother and a sister in Craig City, Neb. ‘I gave most of the money to the poor people who live in tents,’ he said to a reporter. ‘I read of the flood, and when I sold my farm, I determined to distribute the money here. I came to Armourdale for that purpose.’”
“Force said he was obeying the commands of Jesus Christ, ‘If any man will come after me, let him . . . take up his cross, and follow me.’ ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive;’ and, ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.’”
Mr. Force was held at the station to have his mental condition inquired into. The people with whom he stopped in Armourdale testified that they had never seen the slightest thing about his actions to indicate that he was mentally unsound. To a reporter who asked him what he thought of being locked up, he replied, “It has always been the fate of those who tried to do good.”
It is fashionable to-day to profess belief in the Word of God, but very unfashionable to put a real belief in that Word into actual practise. Sin has so perverted the perceptions of mankind that those who serve God are considered fools, and those who persecute God's servants think they are serving God in doing it. The final scenes of earth's history will be marked by many instances of this kind.
L. A. S
Public Sentiment and Lynching
ALTHOUGH special reference was made to the crime of lynching by Chief Justice Lore, of Delaware, in a recent address to a grand jury, in which he set forth in strong language the terrible nature of the act itself and of the consequences which must ensue from its ascendency in the community, and reminded them that they were bound by their oath to uphold the laws of the State, the grand jury which met recently in Wilmington refused to bring an indictment against any of the persons who participated in the lynching of the negro White at Wilmington last June, although the identity of several of them and their participation in the act were perfectly well known. The grand jury simply refused to do anything at all in the matter, on the ground that public sentiment was against the punishment of the lynchers. When this kind of public sentiment gets to be universal, or even to preponderate in this nation, it will soon disorganize all courts of justice, and stop all the machinery of civil government. When the Spirit of God shall be withdrawn from the earth, every evil passion will have sway in the minds of men, there will be mob rule everywhere, and civil government will no longer be a reality anywhere; and already we have occasional glimpses of what is coming.
Do Roman Catholics Worship the Virgin Mary?
Do Roman Catholics worship the Virgin Mary? Upon this question light is thrown by the following quotation, the correctness of which is vouched for by a high Episcopalian authority, The Living Church. It is, says this journal, a Catholic prayer “issued with the approbation of a cardinal archbishop, in the Latin tongue, and therefore for use among persons who are not ignorant:” —
O most wise Mother, receive me among thy devotees. Into thy blessed hands and into the bosom of thy pity I commend my soul and my body with filial confidence, now and in the hour of my death. Rule, teach, guide, and defend me in all things according to thy will. Look, O Lady, upon the prayers of thy servant, most unworthy though he be; look on all my necessities. To thee I fly as mine only refuge; hide me under the covering of thy Motherly protection. Do not repel me from thee, O Mother of pity, for without thee my soul can not live. Amen.
“Go Forward”
By Ellen G. White
MRS. E. G. WHITE
THERE is a lesson of the greatest importance for us in the experience of the children of Israel as they left Egypt.
More than a million people had been led, out of the right course many of them thought, into a valley hemmed in by mountains. Before them lay the Red Sea, and behind them, following fast after in pursuit, was Pharaoh’s army.
As the people were encamped beside the Red Sea, they saw in the distance the flashing armor and moving chariots of Pharaoh’s host. Terror filled their hearts. Some cried to the Lord, but by far the greater part hastened to Moses with their complaints. “Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.”
Moses was greatly troubled that his people should manifest so little faith in God, notwithstanding they had repeatedly witnessed the manifestation of his power in their behalf. How could they charge upon him the dangers and difficulties of their situation, when he had followed the express command of God? True, there was no possibility of deliverance unless God himself should interpose for their release; but having been brought into this position in obedience to the divine direction, Moses felt no fear of the consequences. His calm and assuring reply to the people was, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”
It was not an easy thing to hold the hosts of Israel in waiting before the Lord. Lacking discipline and self-control, they became violent and unreasonable. They expected speedily to fall into the hands of their oppressors, and their wailings and lamentations were loud and deep. The wonderful pillar of cloud had been followed as the signal of God to go forward; but now they questioned if it might not foreshadow some great calamity; for had it not led them on the wrong side of the mountain, into an impassable way? Thus the angel of the Lord appeared to their deluded minds as the harbinger of disaster.
But now, as the Egyptian host approached them, expecting to make them an easy prey, the cloudy column rose majestically, passed over the Israelites, and descended between them and the armies of Pharaoh. A wall of darkness interposed between the pursued and their pursuers. The Egyptians could no longer discern the camp of the Hebrews, and were forced to halt. But as the darkness of night deepened, the wall of cloud became a great light to the Hebrews, flooding the entire encampment with the radiance of day.
Hope returned to the hearts of Israel. And Moses lifted up his voice unto the Lord. “And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward. But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the waters.”
Obedience to the Command
As Moses stretched out his rod, the waters parted, and Israel went down into the midst of the sea upon dry ground, while the waters stood like a wall on each side. “Go forward” was the word given by Moses, and it was echoed by the captains of the different divisions. In obedience, the host of Israel stepped into the path so strangely and so wonderfully prepared for them. The light from the pillar of fire shone upon the foam-capped billows, and lighted up the road that was cut like a mighty furrow through the waters of the sea.
As the cloud moved slowly on, the Egyptian sentinels discovered that the Israelites had moved their encampment, and at once the mighty army was set in readiness for motion. They heard the sound of the marching of the Hebrews, but they could see nothing; for the cloud that gave light to Israel was to the Egyptians a wall of darkness. Guided by the sound, they followed on, but they moved slowly; for their chariots drove heavily. Yet still they moved on, expecting soon to break through the cloud, and overtake the fugitives.
At last the shadows of night passed away, the morning dawned, and the pursuing army was almost within reach of the fleeing Hebrews.
A Manifestation of God’s Power
“And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians.” Before their astonished eyes the mysterious cloud changed to a pillar of fire reaching from earth to heaven. The thunders pealed, and the lightnings flashed. “The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound; thine arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.”
The Egyptians were seized with confusion and dismay. Amid the wrath of the elements, in which they heard the voice of an angry God, they endeavored to retrace their steps, and to flee to the shore they had quitted. But Moses stretched out his rod, and the piled-up waters, hissing, roaring, eager for their prey, rushed together, and swallowed the Egyptians in their black depths.
As morning broke, it revealed to the multitudes of Israel all that remained of their mighty foes,—the mail-clad bodies cast upon the shore. From the most terrible peril, one night had brought complete deliverance. That vast, helpless throng—bondmen unused to battle, women, children, and cattle, with the sea before them, and the mighty armies of Egypt pressing behind—had seen their path opened through the waters, and their enemies overwhelmed in the moment of expected triumph. Jehovah alone had brought them deliverance, and to him their hearts were turned in gratitude and faith. Their emotion found utterance in songs of praise. The Spirit of God rested upon Moses, and he led the people in a triumphant anthem of thanksgiving:—
“I will sing unto Jehovah; for he hath triumphed gloriously;
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea;
The Lord is my strength and song,
And he is become my salvation:
He is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation;
My father’s God, and I will exalt him. . . .
Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like thee, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders? . . .
Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed;
Thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.”
God in his providence brought the Hebrews into the mountain fastnesses before the sea, that he might manifest his power in their deliverance, and signally humble the pride of their oppressors. He might have saved them in any other way, but he chose this method in order to test their faith and9strengthen their trust in him. The people were weary and terrified, yet if they had held back when Moses bade them advance, God would never have opened the path for them. It was “by faith” that “they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land.” In marching down to the very water, they showed that they believed the word of God as spoken by Moses. They did all that was in their power to do, and then the Mighty One of Israel divided the sea to make a path for their feet.
God’s Word to Us
“Go forward” is the word of the Lord to us. You may not see the end from the beginning; nevertheless, pray, believe, and move forward, not in self-sufficiency and self-exaltation, yet filled with hope and courage, assured that the Lord is your helper and protector. Angels of heaven are guarding his faithful ones. If his people will keep the way of the Lord, they will receive all needed help. Let God be praised and magnified. Let men walk in humility before him.
Until the end of time, the church will have to strive with difficulties, that God’s work may stand out pure and clean, untainted by fraud or intrigue. Let his people believe in him, and walk in his counsel. They may be permitted to struggle with difficulty, but in answer to humble prayer, the Lord will reveal himself as a God who can deliver in every emergency. The great work to be carried forward in these last days seems to move slowly, but the Lord is preparing the way before those who are seeking wisdom from above, those who are willing to walk in his way.
An Unchangeable Promise
God’s promise to his church will stand fast forever. He will make her an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations. There is no limit to his power. Our covenant-keeping Saviour unites with the omnipotence of the King of kings the tender care of a faithful shepherd. He who has chosen Christ has joined himself to a power that no array of human wisdom or strength can overthrow. “Fear thou not; for I am with thee,” he declares; “be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Inasmuch
There's a song of welcome waits
Every life of pure endeavor;
Every work that love creates
Lives on high, a name forever.
Humble hearts may hide their worth,
But the Lord himself will own it,
Answering for his suffering earth,
“Inasmuch as ye have done it
Unto these.”
In your mission of relief,
In your helpful self-denying,
In the touch that comforts grief,
In the word that guides the dying,—
Whispers Christ of Nazareth,
Sweeter than an angel’s sonnet,
On the other side of death,
“Inasmuch as ye have done it
Unto these.”
Fill the empty, lift the lost,
Buy the slave the right God gave him,
Prize the sinner at his cost
To the heart that bled to save him,
And the deed, though incomplete,
Bears his signet star upon it
When you lay it at his feet,
“Inasmuch as ye have done it
Unto these.”
— The Vanguard.
The Personality of God
By Stephen Nelson Haskell
S. N. HASKELL
Of late the question has repeatedly come to me, Does it make any real difference whether we believe in the personality of God, as long as we believe in God? My answer invariably is, It depends altogether upon the standpoint from which we view it. If from the Spiritualist’s, the Christian Scientist’s, the Universalist’s, or if from the standpoint of any other “ist” or “ism,” it makes but little or no difference. But from the standpoint of Seventh-day Adventists it makes all the difference in the world.
No man who is a Seventh-day Adventist can understandingly take that position; neither can a Seventh-day Adventist hold that position for a moment. In it is involved a denial of the “Father and the Son,” the law of Moses, the prophets, the psalms, the holy angels, the personality of the devil, and all that is according to sound doctrine.
First: Seventh-day Adventists believe that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16, 17); and that “man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.” Deut. 8:3. Every word which is a thought expressed, every passage, and every book in the Bible, is the unfolding of the wondrous theme of redemption’s plan, the restoring of the image of God in the soul. It contains all the creative energy that called the worlds into existence, and therefore contains victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The view that God has no personality is a denial of many plain declarations of the Word of God.
While the face of God no man can see and live, because of sin, yet Moses positively declares that the nobles “saw God,” which could not be true if God had no personality. Micaiah, the prophet, said: “I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.” 1 Kings 22:19. The prophet Isaiah bears the following positive testimony: “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.” Isa. 6:1. He also saw seraphim, which are a high order of angels.
David said, “The Lord is in his holy temple.” Ps. 11:4. “He sitteth between the cherubim.” Ps. 99:1. It is surprising how many such testimonies are found in the Old Testament Scriptures, from the law of Moses to the prophet Malachi. The same strain is taken up in the New Testament. Christ said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” John 1:51. Stephen, “full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” Acts 7:55, 56. The doctrine of the personality of God is the fundamental doctrine of the Scriptures.
Man Created in God’s Image
Second: At the creation God said to Christ, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Gen. 1:26, 27. Man bore the image of God both morally and physically; for after man sinned, we read that Adam “begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.” Gen. 5:3. Here is an explanation of the words “image” and “likeness.” As Seth bore both the physical and the moral nature of Adam, so Adam bore the physical and the moral likeness of God.
Neither was this image of God which man bore a mere concept; for the Bible declares that the Lord has parts, the same as the human body. For instance, the prophet says his “garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool.” Dan. 7:9. The psalmist declares, “His eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.” Ps. 11:4; 2 Chron. 16:9. When telling the Israelites of their murmuring toward God, Moses said, “Ye have wept in the ears of the Lord.” Num. 11:18. James, in speaking of the last days, says that the cries of the poor have entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. James 5:4. David says, “Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me.” Ps. 86:1. Isaiah, in speaking for God concerning the wicked, says, “These are a smoke in my nose” (Isa. 65:5); but of Noah’s offering we read, “And the Lord smelled a sweet savor.” Gen. 8:21; Phil. 4:18. And we read of other parts of God,—face (Ex. 33:20; Isa. 59:2), mouth (Num. 12:8), back parts (Ex. 33:23), hands (Ex. 33:22), arms (Deut. 5:15), body (Ex. 24:10), etc.
As surely as fallen humanity has borne the physical image of the first pair which God created, so surely do God and Christ have a form, hence a personality. When Christ came to this earth, and took sinful nature upon him, although sinless himself, he bore the physical image of all mankind; and of him God said, “In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” Col. 2:9. And again we read, “God . . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, . . . who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” Heb. 1:1-3. I do not know what language could make this thought more plain. See also 1 Cor. 15:45-49; Luke 24:13-40. Are these scriptures meaningless? Are they intended to deceive? Daniel taught Nebuchadnezzar that Christ had a form before he came to this earth, or how could the king have said, “Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? . . . Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the10fourth is like the Son of God”? Dan. 3:24, 25. He recognized him as having a form like men.
Daniel also taught the ministration of angels, or how could the king have said, “Who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him”? Dan. 3:25-28. Are the wise philosophers of the twentieth century filled with greater wisdom than were those pious men who taught the personality of God, Christ, and angels? Angels ate and drank with Abraham, and in the person of travelers they have appeared to mankind many times since. For a further description of the personality of Christ, see Daniel 10 and Revelation 1.
God’s Habitation, or Dwelling Place
Third: God said to Moses, “Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” Ex. 25:8. He could not dwell among Israel unless they built him a sanctuary. They had been in Egypt, where, in common with the Hindus, the belief was entertained that God was in cats and dogs, in cattle, in the Nile that flowed, and in everything that had life. It was the old mystic and pantheistic notion. They reasoned that as God was the author of life, and as his life was in all these things, so all the God there was pervaded all nature, both animate and inanimate; that there was no personal God in the heavens, but that God was everywhere, and nowhere in particular. Now to impress the minds of his people that he was a person, and had a dwelling place, and that this dwelling place was in heaven, and that their salvation depended upon their believing this, God said, “Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.” So about one year was occupied in building the sanctuary in the wilderness, with special instruction that it should be made according to the pattern shown in the mount. By this they learned that God has a sanctuary in the heavens, and in it there is a personal being. The sanctuary on the earth was the pattern, or figure, of the heavenly. Every ceremony in the law of Moses contained salvation, or prefigured some essential truth fulfilled in the gospel.
Hear the apostle’s comment on this: “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have something also to offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.” Heb. 8:1-5. See also Heb. 9:8, 9, 24. The entire ninth chapter can be interpreted in no other way, save that there is a real sanctuary in heaven, and a personal God dwelling therein.
Fourth: The sanctuary built by Moses was the recognized dwelling place of Jehovah. It contained two apartments; in the inner apartment was the ark, in which was the law of God, and its covering was the mercy seat, and two cherubim stretching their wings over the law of God, between which was the glorious shekinah, showing the dwelling place of God in the heavenly sanctuary. Ex. 25:8; 26:33, 34; Rev. 4:1-3. This was the belief of every true prophet who lived on this earth, for God always gave the seer a view of his dwelling place while he was seated upon the throne in the sanctuary. The throne was not of gold or silver or ivory or diamonds, but a living throne, which moved wherever God saw fit, to go. Angels are God’s throne. Ezekiel 1. The earthly sanctuary had two apartments, as does the heavenly. In the worldly sanctuary the glory of God moved to the outer apartment, and from the outer apartment to the inner apartment. There was the place of God’s throne between the cherubim. Ex. 29:42, 43; 25:22; Lev. 16:2. So in 1844, at the sitting of the judgment the thrones were placed, and the “Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as 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.”
Prophets Taught the Personality of God
Daniel also says, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.” Dan. 7:9-13. God rode in his heavenly chariot when he came upon Sinai’s mount, where he and Christ stood side by side when Christ spoke the Father’s law. Deut. 33:2. David, inspired by the Lord, said, “He hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; to declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; when the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.” Ps. 102:19-22.
Again: “The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.” Ps. 103:19. Jeremiah says, “A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.” Jer. 17:12. If God has no personality, there is no sanctuary in heaven, for God dwells in it; there are no angels, for they compose his throne; there is no Satan, for he is a fallen angel, and was cast out of heaven (John 12:31; Luke 10:18); the Bible is a myth, and bears false testimony, because it declares all this.
Fifth: Our existence as a people is founded on a belief in the truths stated above. Seventh-day Adventists have their denominational existence this side of 1844. It was their belief in the prophecies that made them Adventists in the beginning. They believe the 2300 days, or years, of Dan. 8:14 pointed to the cleansing of the sanctuary. The date for the beginning of this period was 457-456 B. C., at the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Ezra 7. This date is established by more than twenty eclipses; consequently the prophetic period ended in 1844. This separated the Adventists from other denominations. The proclamation of Revelation 10, that time was no longer, which the angel proclaimed from a little book, the book of Daniel, which was sealed until the time of the end, was a fulfilment of this prophecy. It was the first angel’s message of Revelation 14. It went to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.
The investigative judgment of the righteous dead then and there began. 1 Peter 4:17. The seventh angel then sounded. Rev. 11:15. The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament. Rev. 11:19. Soon the test came on the Sabbath question, for the law of God was seen in the light of the sanctuary. It was the great antitypical day of atonement, the beginning of the investigative judgment, when the thrones of judgment were placed. It was the beginning of the finishing of the mystery, the closing work of the gospel. About fifty years ago the great religious awakening all over the world upon the subject of the second coming of Christ bore testimony to this great fact.
Danger in Rejecting Truth
Many who had been Christians and were accepted in God’s sight neglected to study the Bible to see if these things were so, and were indifferent to the work in the heavenly sanctuary. So God sent a second message, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.” Then came the most awfully solemn message that can be found in Holy Writ: “The third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveeth the mark of his name.” Rev. 14:9-11.
Therefore we repeat what we previously said, To deny the personality of God, is to deny the existence of the sanctuary in the heavens; for there God dwells. It is to deny the existence of the angels; for they are his throne. It is to deny the law of God; for it is the foundation of his throne. It is to deny the existence of Satan; for he is a fallen angel. It makes the light11and life which God created, and which proceeds from him, whether it be in the grass or in cats or dogs or in mankind, to be the god. Since man, however, is the highest form of light and life, he necessarily becomes the supreme deity. It leads men to worship the creature more than the Creator. We lift a warning voice against any such doctrine, from whatever source it comes. We say the Bible, and the Bible only, shall be our creed. In it is salvation.
Years ago while in Tasmania there was a woman lecturer who spoke against God and the Bible. A large number of young men in the city of Hobart became infatuated with her teaching. Some bemoaned that they had not such men as Hastings or Talmage of America to meet such blasphemy. At the close of one of the lectures the shrill voice of a woman, possibly at the age of seventy-five, attracted the audience before they dispersed. She pressed her way to the platform, and pointing her bony finger at the speaker, spoke, substantially, as follows: “I have lived threescore and ten years. God has removed my husband, and one child after another, until I am alone in this dark world. But God has sustained me! the hope of the future world has cheered me. Now you have taken away my God, and my hope, and what do you give me in his place?” Several times she repeated, “What do you give me in his place?” Here was an argument the blasphemer could not meet. Sinking into her chair, she said: “If you have a Christian’s hope, you had better keep it.” So we would say to those whose hair has whitened in the third angel’s message, as well as others who have more recently embraced the truth, those whom death has robbed of wives, of husbands, of children, of fathers and mothers, who have fallen asleep in the hope of the soon-coming King, as revealed in the Word of God. We point you to the heavenly sanctuary, to a faithful and merciful High Priest standing before the ark of God, who dwelleth between the cherubim. “We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We were never of better courage; never did the light shine more clear and bright as we find ourselves amid the shoals and rocks in the harbor, just as the old ship is entering into port. God has never failed his people, and he will not do it now. Have courage, my brethren, have courage in the Lord. Hold fast to the main pillars of truth, and we shall soon meet around the throne of God, where we shall all see him face to face.
Better to Stem the Roaring Tide
“BETTER to stem with heart and hand
The roaring tide of life than lie,
Unmindful, on its flowery strand,
Of God’s occasions drifting by!”
The Schooling of Experience
“Though we seem to fail, utterly fail, it is our privilege to try again. Though the schooling of experience is bitter, it is better to endure the mortification of the completest defeat than to miss the knowledge of our resources which adversity alone can give. It is when we try and fail that we are most willing to go to Him who never failed or became discouraged.”
Working for Jesus
By Harry Armstrong
WORK, for fast the day is closing, Fields so white already stand; Can we live in self-reposing And not lend a helping hand?
No; while yet the dew of heaven Gently falleth from above, Let our time be daily given, Freely sowing seeds of love.
Then when closed the work of sowing, And the reaping time is o'er, At the feet of Jesus bowing, We can lay our golden store.
—Harry Armstrong.
Who Keeps the “Jewish Sabbath”?
By R. D. Hottel
R. D. HOTTEL
THE expression “Jewish sabbath” does not occur in the Scriptures. To apply the term to the “Sabbath of the Lord thy God” is to charge the Almighty with the same character that the Jews possessed, who, although highly favored of God, refused to walk in his way. Now while the term “Jewish sabbath” does not occur in the Bible, yet we are led to believe that there is such an institution after all. Anything that is “Jewish” must pertain to the Jews. Now we read in Gal. 1:13, 14, of a “Jews’ religion.” Paul, before his conversion, had profited in it. This is a Bible term, and shows that there was a religion in Paul’s day peculiar to the Jews. Of what did it consist? Paul tells us in the same verses: it was “the traditions of my fathers.” Instead of this people obeying the voice of God and keeping his covenant, which would have made them “a peculiar treasure” unto the Lord (Ex. 19:5), recognized as a people of superior wisdom and understanding by all the nations of the earth (Deut. 4:1–13), they made of none effect the commandments of God by their traditions, and in vain worshiped him, “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt. 15:1–9. Therefore it can be truly said that any observance that is not according to the commandments of God, but after the traditions of the fathers, is of the “Jews’ religion,” or “Jewish.”
Now according to the commandment of God, the “seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God;” it is the “Lord’s day” (Rev. 1:10); it pertains to God; it is peculiar to him,—a memorial of his power, a sign between him and his people that they “may know that I am the Lord your God.” Eze. 20:20.
According to the testimony of First-day observers, the Sunday institution rests “on custom first, and voluntary consecration of it to religious meetings” (Peter Heylyn); “was always only a human ordinance” (Neander); “the Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath” (The Watchman, Baptist); “it is founded not on any command of God, but on the authority of the church” (Augsburg Confession, by Melanchthon). Therefore, who keeps the “Jewish sabbath”?
Helping an Important Work
By C. W. HARDESTY
C. W. HARDESTY
THE Lord is assembling the outcasts of Israel, and gathering together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Isa. 11:12. As soon as one is reclaimed as an Israelite, he becomes one of the band of believers, and enlists in the cause of God on earth. God has ordained this unity, this “church capacity,” in order “that one may strengthen another in good and righteous endeavor;” and as Christ was and is bound up in every branch of the work, so his people are to manifest a deep interest in every branch of the message for to-day. They are his ambassadors to all the inhabitants of the world to lift up the ensign and to blow the trumpet. We have reached an epoch when we are called upon to finish the work by making a grand rally, an expeditious movement, to carry the warning to earth’s remotest bounds. What an exalted privilege!
And how very careful we should be not to counterwork the plans which God himself has devised; and when the Lord tells us that there should be a revival of the canvassing work, and that our people in general should take an interest in it, each and all should look about to see what can be done to assist such a revival. He who remains at home can do much. His children should be given to the Lord’s cause, instructed and taught in the way they should go. He should also do what he can to encourage others to enter the field.
Every local church elder may look over his flock, and encourage those who would be useful in carrying the printed page to enlist, reporting the names of these to the State agent. Church librarians and leaders of missionary societies, when organizing local campaigns for the sale and distribution of literature, should remember that such efforts are approved of God, and that such experiences will be of much value to all who afterward give themselves wholly to the work. Presidents of conferences have unlimited opportunities to assist in this general revival. The interest manifested by them receives the approbation of the One who organized the work; and all ministers have many grand opportunities to explain the importance of the publishing work, and to help many to enter the field, giving them counsel, and referring them to those who have been chosen to give special instruction.
Your instruction as a missionary teacher means much to the youth who are rapidly forming character. When you send these children out to sell and distribute literature containing the gospel message, the Lord’s blessing rests upon them, and your work is approved of God; for these children will soon be called upon to witness for God in a larger capacity. These efforts are incentives to noble achievements. Let the people in general respond to the Lord’s call to help carry the printed page to “all places.” Each one can have a part in this work.