ART thou weary, brother, in the way—
Fain to leave thy load behind thee?
Art thou beaten sorely in the fray?
Do thy burdens chafe and bind thee?
Courage, heart! No beds of ease
Spread for them whom God doth please
To send forth by grace and skill
To work out His perfect will;
Bear thy burden in His name—
He will give thee soul of flame;
Do thy task in truth and share
All the comforts of His care;
Speak thy word and bear thy pain—
They will bring thee endless gain;
Stay by Him and He will stay
Close beside thee all the way.
Art thou cheerless, sister, in the home,
Where the “Wolves of Want” assail thee?
Do no joyful voices come?
Do thy fervid hopes all fail thee?
Courage, heart! God knoweth all—
Every wounded sparrow’s fall,
All the pangs that pierce thy breast,
Each sore cry that breaks thy rest,—
Sees thy hurt and counts thy tears,
Feels the truth in all thy years:
Go to Him for peace, and plead
For the sweetness thou dost need;
Heaven is what thou art and where
God abides, no lack is there:
Come to Him and He will come
As the sunlight of thy home.
Dost thou dream that holiness will cease—
Wrong and Sin ascendance gaining,
Dost thou tremble lest the Prince of Peace
May not be forever reigning?
Courage, heart! The dawn breaks free—
God’s full year of jubilee;
Freedom, Truth, and Right have won
By the merit of the Son;
Earth is His and Heaven above
Is the perfect life of love;
Fear not thou, but do thy part,
With a strong and constant heart
Stand for virtue, goodness, light—
God will banish all the night:
Cease thy doubt, for sin shall cease,—
Faith and holiness increase.
New York City.
“No Man Taketh My Life from Me”
By Geo. E. Langdon
By Geo. E. Langdon
It was not determined of Jehovah that His Son should meet death at the hands of sinful men to complete the plan of salvation. Indeed, God would never accept a sacrifice for sin that was slain by unrepentant hands.
“Let Us Reason Together”
We often hear it said, “If Judas had not been instrumental in bringing about the death of Christ, some other would, for this was necessary to perfect the plan of salvation.” The skeptic replies: “Then the slayer should be equally esteemed and worshiped with the slain; for none could have been saved if he had not done this work.” That this objection is well taken, none can reasonably deny.
If God’s plan in the death of His Son is dependent upon any of His creatures taking a course that is diametrically opposed to the principles He has given in His law—“Thou shalt not kill,” then it savors much of the spirit of the Dark Ages that “the end justifies the means.” God’s law is the very epitome of His character. Who would dare to be so hazardous as to charge God with absolute violation of the very principles of His character? God can not “do evil that good may come.” Rom. 3:8.
Another says, “Judas was not compelled to do the deed; he was willing to betray the Master, and the rulers were ready to complete the work.” Again the skeptic makes this retort: “If no one could have been found to do the evil deed, or if all had repented by Christ’s preaching, then He would not have been slain; consequently no one could have been saved.” He further says, “Do Christians call it a ‘Gospel story’ which teaches that a just and holy Being would create some one to slay His Son,—bring in a murderer for the completing of His plan, and then punish him in hell-fire for doing a deed (either voluntary or involuntary) that brings eternal life and happiness to millions? It seems too terrible to contemplate!” I am glad to state that God’s word teaches no plan that strikes harshly upon the most tender or delicate chord of the soul.
It is right to “reason of righteousness and judgment,” but it is of the utmost importance that we reason from a correct premise—the truth. Many have honestly stumbled over the above conclusions; but these conclusions are all deduced from a false premise.
In Spurgeon’s sermon, “The Dream of Pilate’s Wife,” where she warns Pilate, “Have thou nothing to do with that just Man,” he says: “Certain old writers trace her dream to the devil, who thus hoped to prevent the death of our Lord, and so prevent our redemption. I do not agree with the notion, but if it were so, Providence overrules even the devices of Satan for the purposes of wisdom.” Further, he makes her say, “My husband, if He must die, let it be by some other hand than thine!” Now whether Spurgeon believed it was in the providence of God that Christ must, in some way, be slain by wicked and violent hands to bring about the redemption of man, matters not. However many or how long great and good men have believed and taught a theory, it will still bear investigation, especially when it charges God with folly, if ever so slightly.
That He Should Be Cruelly Slain Was Satan’s Plan. John 13:2
It was not God’s plan that brought about the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ; neither the betrayal nor the crucifixion necessarily has any connection whatever with the plan of salvation. They were only matters of prophecy to the effect that He should be slain by His fellows; but remember that prophecies are not always decrees. God looked down through the ages and saw what ungodly men would do, and foretold it. Jesus at the evening meal (Matt. 26:24) instructed the disciples that it was not God’s will that any one should betray Him; He said it were better for that man never to have been born than to betray the Son of Man.7
Jesus took man’s nature (Heb. 2:14, 9), and man’s nature is to die. Jesus need not to have been murdered to pay the penalty of sin, which is death. He could have come to earth and lived among His fellows and taught them the way of life, and died in God’s time and order from the weight of the sins of men placed upon Him, and in so doing have met God’s mind in the sacrifice. In fact, no man took Christ’s life. John 10:17, 18.
No man or company of men actually put Christ to death. He gave His life for man. Hear His words: “No man taketh it [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.” This declaration is emphatic. True, it was in their hearts and purposes to take His life, just as the prophecies had foretold according to the foreknowledge of God (Acts 3:18; 2:23; 4:28; Luke 22:22); and as a result they will certainly bear the guilt of His death, the same as if they had actually accomplished it; for their treatment would have caused His death in time (just as the same treatment caused the death of those who were crucified with Him) had not God then and there laid upon Him “our sins,” which broke His heart and actually caused His death. Nailing Christ to the cross did not cause His death. When the soldiers rode up to the cross they were surprised to find that Jesus “was dead already,” and Pilate marveled that He was “already dead.” Mark 15:44. They were unable to account for His sudden death. Men usually survived crucifixion from six to eight days, history records.
At first thought in reading from the standpoint of former teachings, one might think that Acts 2:23; 4:28; and Luke 22:22, quoted above, substantiate the former ideas of fate. A little study of the texts, however, will show to the contrary. “Him being delivered,” delivered is from ekdoton, meaning surrendered or given. Jesus was surrendered or given to the world (John 3:16) by Jehovah, but instead of receiving Him, those to whom He was given turned to be His enemies, according to the Father’s “determined counsel and foreknowledge.” Determined is from to horismene, and means properly, that which is defined or marked out, in His counsel through the prophets, by His foreknowledge. Jesus was surrendered to the world and treated just as the foreknowledge of God had marked out in His counsel through His prophets. The thought is, not that God intended it to be so, but that He saw that it would be so.
The cross was only a tribute many another martyr has paid to the cause of truth. There is something vastly more significant to us in Christ’s death than His martyrdom on the cross.
Christ died of a broken heart. The awful weight of our sins rested upon Him, and He yielded up His beautiful and holy life under the terrible load of our guilt. In the blood-drops of agony in the garden and in the broken heart, was the true and actual sacrifice in God’s plan for man’s redemption. One writer forcefully expresses this glorious truth in these words: “It was not the spear thrust, nor the pain of the cross, that caused the death of Jesus. That cry uttered ‘with a loud voice,’ at the moment of death . . . declared that He died of a broken heart. His heart was broken by mental anguish. He was slain by the sin of the world.”—Desire of Ages, ch. 80, par. 12.
Blessed truth, that our sacrifice was not slain by unrepentant hands for our redemption. The wicked can not make an offering for the children of God. It is very plain that it was never thus in the type.
In the Gospel in types, before Christ, “which is a figure of the true,” the repentant sinner must take the life of the lamb himself. Must not the antitype correspond to the type? The wicked have no part whatever in carrying out the plan of redemption—only to accept and live. God would never accept a sacrifice by ungodly man, made knowingly or ignorantly (Prov. 15:8), either for himself or for another. Is it not precisely the same at
In that dark and agonizing hour of Calvary, “Jehovah . . . laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” By our sins He was slain. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body upon the tree, that we . . . might live.” 1 Peter 2:24. The sins laid upon Him broke His heart and crushed out His life blood, for us. “For without shedding of blood [yielding up of life] there is no remission.” Heb. 9:22. He gave His life from the foundation of the world—a willing sacrifice—for us. Thank God, it was never forced by murderous hands—there is no murderer in His plan. It is a vicarious sacrifice, perfect in every detail, and as such solemnly appeals to every heart.
Reader, are your sins confessed and laid upon the Lamb of God? If so, the One whose life you had a part in taking is your great sacrifice. He who refuses to lay his sins upon Jesus, but chooses rather to bear them for himself, unconfessed, will be slain by them in the second death. There are just two ways to cleanse the world from sins. One is to carry them to Calvary and live, the other is to carry them to the burning flames and perish.
A Summary of the Signs of His Coming
By H.
1. Before the Saviour comes again, what must be accomplished?
“This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14.
2. The Gospel of the kingdom includes the message of a returning Redeemer.
“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Joel 2:1.
3. What signs are to be found in the religious world?
“The Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons.” 1 Tim. 4:1.
“Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof.” 2 Tim. 3:5.
4. How is the financial condition described?
“Know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money.” 2 Tim. 3:1, 2.
“Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. . . . Ye have laid up your treasures in the last days.” James 5:1-3.
5. How will the nations of earth be engaged in the last days?
“Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. . . . For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Matt. 24:6, 7.
“Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.” Joel 3:9, 10.
6. In spite of the fact that the nations fondly hope and work for universal peace, what warning do the prophets give?
“When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape.” 1 Thess. 5:3.
“Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that prophesy in My name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in the land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.” Jer. 14:15.
7. Where will still other signs be displayed?
“I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth.” Joel 2:30.
8. What signs have already been seen in the heavens?
“The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh.” Joel 2:30, 31.
“The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven.” Matt. 24:29.
9. What of the signs in the earth?
The earth “shall wax old like a garment” (Ps. 102:26); “there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places” (Matt. 24:7); “the heavens and the earth shall shake” (Joel 3:16).
These signs in the earth, were more fully considered in the study of last week. Famines and earthquakes, in themselves, are not signs, but their wonderful increase in frequency and destructive power, with the many other accidents which result from the giving way of the crumbling earth, does constitute a sign of the soon-coming dissolution of things earthly. Heaven and earth, and men and nations, display the signs of the greatest event of earth’s history. The written word of God has revealed His purpose; His created works fulfil His word; the “fulness of time” has come, and the message has almost circled the earth—“then shall the end come.” H.
Keeping God in Our Thoughts
By Ellen G. White
If we would think of God as often as we have evidence of His care for us, we should keep Him ever in our thoughts, and should delight to talk of Him and to praise Him. — Mrs. E. G. White.
When Shall We Learn the Truth?
It is ever well to question, at least, any society or organization which sets up a human organization as authority, and the creed of that organization as the truth. This is well illustrated in the following quotation from a Roman Catholic priest, in stating the object of a Catholic organization:
“The object of the Catholic Truth Society is to set forth the teachings and history of the Catholic Church from the Catholic standpoint. As we may be reasonably supposed to know best what our teachings mean, it is only right that those who wish to examine our teachings should learn them from us.”
Our purpose in quoting the above is to point out the wrong principle involved in the last statement. For it is a fact that those in error do not best know what their teachings mean. The old-school physicians, who bled till they sapped all the vitality of a fever patient, did not “know best” what their teachings and practise meant. There is no one so deceived in his own case as the self-satisfied sinner. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”—as much as to say, No one. The text continues, “I the Lord search the heart.” Jer. 17:9, 10. To whom then shall we go? Shall we go to the Buddhist to learn what the teachings of Buddhism mean? Shall we go to the Spiritualist to learn what the teachings of Spiritualism mean? Shall we go to the anarchist to learn what the result of his teachings will be? Shall we take lessons of the light-fingered cult or the road agents to learn the justification of their acts? Or shall we go to the law of the eternal God, and the word of His truth, and the life of His Son? Roman Catholic theory may be learned by the study of Roman Catholic theology. But the truth must be found, if found at all as a saving truth, in God and His word. If the Roman Catholic have the truth, that word and his life will reveal it. He will bear witness in teaching and life to the truth of that word. This we will know if we learn it in the word. If he do not have the truth, why need we study a false theory? The artist who would paint a perfect picture does not fill his heart and soul with imperfect models, but with the perfect. The truth, the whole truth, is found in God’s word. Accept nothing which is contrary to that.
The only true way to discern error is to know the truth. “My sheep hear My Voice,” says Jesus, “and I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27. “A stranger will they not follow; . . . for they know not the voice of strangers.” Verse 5. The sheep do not spend their time endeavoring to learn the voice of every stranger or any stranger. It is enough for them that they know the One Voice; all others are discerned as strangers because they know the One.
The only sure way to discern truth is, not to know a theory or a system or a church, but to know God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. If the princes of this world had known God “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” 1 Cor. 2:8. And Jesus declares that those who persecute His followers do so “because they have not known the Father, nor Me.” John 16: 1-3. Knowing God, knowing His Voice, which uttered His holy and immutable law, knowing and having (for we know it not unless we have it) the life of Jesus Christ, we will in God’s wisdom and by His power be preserved from damning and delusive error. “Thy word,” says the psalmist, “have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee.”
Science and Revelation
SCIENCE can do little in revealing the method or mode of creation. Its explanations so-called are all humanistic and rather detract from, than add to, the glory of creation and the majesty of its Creator.
Its childish prattle is hushed into silence by the mighty revelation of the word. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Gen. 1:1. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made.” Ps. 33:6. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.” Heb. 11:3. “He spake, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Ps. 33:9.
What a mighty word is this! Obedient to His voice, all things, both material and spiritual, stood up before the Lord Jehovah. The flying hosts of heaven and the teeming things of earth are not only the work of His hand; but they came into being by the breath of His mouth. Ps. 33:6.
“The breath of His mouth.” Thus would revelation teach us how easy for God was the task of creation. His breath alone was sufficient to frame the mighty, immeasurable universe. And the inspired penman, throwing his enlightened thought back upon the ponderous event, and gazing enraptured at the spangled heavens of creation, cries out in exulting wonder, “Lo, these are only the outlying borders of His works: what a whisper of a word we hear of Him! The thunder of His power who can comprehend!” Warren’s translation. Job 26:14.
Indeed, if, in accordance with both science and revelation, all the universe within our reach and sight is but one of the suburbs of creation, how small a whisper do we hear of that “word of His power” (Heb. 1:3) which called the things which were not as tho they were (Rom. 4:17), and bade them forever stand forth!
Here is a view of creation worthy of its Creator. And this wondrous picture of revelation, this masterpiece of divine knowledge, painted for us by the inspired artists of the Scriptures, can not be improved upon by any lines that the childish hands of science might blunderingly smear across the illumined canvas.
Science may teach us much as to what God has created, open up many of the mysteries of this wonderful work, and teach us secrets beneficent alike to body, mind, and soul; but to explain creation aside from the word, all its efforts are fruitless and its mistakes pitiful.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” These are the opening words of the first book of the Bible. They are worthy a place in the forefront of the Scriptures. They compose the noble preface of divine revelation. As one has said, “In these few words grander truths are declared, deeper mysteries solved, and profounder interests . . . revealed, than in all the secular books ever written, or in all the wisest philosophies ever framed by human skill.”
It is the most weighty sentence ever uttered. In ten words the greatest secrets of the universe are laid bare. By ten words the whole universe is illumined as with the light of God. And these ten words contain among their number five great universal terms—five unmeasured totalities; namely, God, beginning, creation, heaven, earth. “And these, which else are a profound, baffling the utmost plummet of human thought, it irradiates at a single stroke.”
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” “A sublimer passage than this, from the first word to the last,” says Cuvier, the naturalist, “never can or will come from a human pen.”
Man when he builds anything must work with hands and tools and materials, and put forth time and strength to accomplish his tasks. And science in seeking to explain the creation would seek to explain it in the light of man’s methods.
First, to explain creation, science asks for time—unmeasured time. Contrast this with that word which declares, “He spake, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Ps. 33:9. As they say in Latin, “Dictum factum;” or as we say in English, “Said and done.” No period of time required; no delay interposed. As with light, so with all—“He said, Let it be; and it was.”9
Secondly, to explain creation, science asks for a humanized strength, a minimum of power, as with man, working through long intervals to create the world. Not so the picture as given in the Scriptures which say, “And God said, Let the waters . . . be gathered together, . . . and let the dry land appear; and it was so.” “And God said, Let the earth bring forth; . . . and the earth brought forth.” “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven; . . . and it was so.” “Dictum factum,” always and every time; “said and done.”
Thirdly, science to explain creation asks for the human method of ways and means, of instruments and appliances. But contrast this with this selfsame picture of revelation, this dictum factum, this said and done, this “God said, Let be, and it was,” of the Scriptures; and science is rebuked for its humanizing of the creative work.
A Complete Saviour
JESUS CHRIST our Lord is a complete Saviour. He needs no pope, no cordon of councils or priests, no church creeds, between Him and the sinner in order to save that sinner’s soul. With His own human arm linked by power with the throne of the Eternal, and in infinite pity and tenderness, He reaches down to the lowest strata of humankind to lift up to companionship with God every longing human soul. O sinner, you may come to Him boldly! He is a royal priest, having “compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way,” that you may come. The door of mercy stands not ajar, but wide open. He says, “I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it,” be he called pope, bishop, or preacher. “He delighteth in mercy.” He is “pleased” with them that “hope in His mercy.” Will you not trust Him? He is able; He is wise; and He is willing. Will you not accept Him as your Saviour, His life as your light, His word as your guide?
Sunday Laws and the Legal Workweek
It is said that if government fixes the number of hours in a legal day’s work, it has a right to prohibit labor on Sunday. But the cases are not parallel. If government has a right to determine the number of hours in a day’s work, it has the right to determine the number of days in a week’s work. This is a parallel. But when the government declares that eight hours constitute a day’s work it does not prohibit a man from working ten or twelve or more if he desires. So it could say that six days constitute a week’s work, but it has no right to say that a man shall not work any six, beginning those six anywhere he chooses. He may work seven if he desires. It is one thing to define a period of time; it is quite another to limit men to a fixed period. The one law pertains to an institution, a thing, the other pertains to men.
Tuberculosis
By Editor
VERY earnest efforts are being put forth throughout the United States to combat the advances of the great white plague, and to enlist every organization in the country in active work in this line. We have not only the International, but the National Association for the study and prevention of tuberculosis, and such associations as are forming in the states, cities, and counties also.
One of the circulars which we have received states that the Roman Catholic Church is leading in the active cooperation against the great white plague; but we wish to say that the SIGNS OF THE TIMES and the church organization with which it is connected have been putting forth efforts in that direction throughout all the years before even these associations were formed.
Tuberculosis is curable, but it is not curable through some specific, some patent medicine. A dozen different things have been suggested, and science is putting forth every effort in its power to invent or discover some serum or remedy which will materially help in checking it, but the cure of the disease, as we have pointed out many times, must come from nature itself, and the three great contributing factors to that cure are sufficient exercise (perhaps we would better say sufficient rest), abundance of pure air night and day, and a super-abundance of nourishing food. There are no factors which will help as will these. Of course there should be proper regulation of loose, easy, comfortable clothing. The mind should be in that condition where there will be as little worry as possible, but the building up of the system must come from the great factors of pure air and good food; let the patient spend as much of his time in the open air as possible, out in the sunshine.
This paper and its associates have also emphasized the need of cleanliness. One of the potent factors for the spread of the disease is uncleanliness. Those who are under its power of course naturally grow careless; care is not taken of the sputum in which are the disease germs. The sick expectorate upon the floor or in the carpets or in public places. These germs are taken up by the flies, or become dried and pulverized, and are scattered by the winds everywhere, so that the air becomes saturated with them. These are inhaled by persons of weak throats, tender, susceptible lung membranes, and the disease becomes fastened in the system. If every one who has tuberculosis or who thinks there may be a possibility of his having it, would be very careful not to do anything that would spread the disease, it would not be long before a change for the better would be seen.
Afflicted persons ought to feel that there are other lives at stake as well as their own and ought to put forth every effort in their power to keep others from contamination. Friends and nurses ought to deal plainly with those who are thus afflicted.
It may seem hard sometimes to the one who is ill to be asked to do this or that, and yet it would be exceedingly selfish on the part of the afflicted ones to consider only themselves. They ought to be anxious to do nothing that would in any wise bring the same trouble upon their friends or attendants. Let them cooperate with all these who are endeavoring to stamp out the disease. They would find their own health improve as they were mindful of others.
It is an awful thing to think that an average of one in six or seven of all the population are tuberculous. And yet, with simple, common-sense care the most of them may be cured; and others yet free from the disease may be preserved from its ravages. The SIGNS OF THE TIMES, therefore, as it has in the years of the past, heartily welcomes every reasonable movement along this line.
[The executive secretary of the National Tuberculosis Association is Dr. Livingston Farrand, 105 East 22nd St., New York. The secretary is Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs, 11 Mount Vernon Place, West Baltimore, Md.
The secretary of the California Association is Dr. Geo. H. Kress, 240 Bradbury Bldg., Los Angeles. Any one interested can obtain from these secretaries information and instruction.]
Our Old Testament readings include from the seventh chapter of 2 Kings to the close with the 23rd chapter. They begin with the reign of Joram, king of Israel, continuing through the reigns of Jehu, who began a new dynasty, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam II, Zachariah, and Shallum, which ended Jehu’s dynasty. Then came the short and troubled reigns of Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, ending with that of Hoshea, when the kingdom of Israel came to an end by the invasion of Shalmaneser of Assyria, the conquest completed by Sargon, successor to Shalmaneser. Then the tribes were carried away into captivity and scattered.
Among the interesting things in this week’s reading is the varied events in the life of Elisha the prophet, who, after about sixty years’ ministry, died under the reign of Jehoash, 796 B.C. During this period also we have the prophets Hosea, Jonah, and Amos. In Judah we have during this same time the reigns of Ahaziah, the wicked Athaliah, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah (or Uzziah), Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, and Jehoahaz. A wonderfully interesting period of time covering nearly 300 years. During this time there prophesied in Judah, Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and Nahum. What a spotted record Judah has left us! Under her righteous, faithful rulers, the kingdom always prospered, and yet so many times after such prosperity we find the rulers turning from God to the grossest idolatry, bringing upon themselves and their people calamity.
Our New Testament lessons for the week begin with the first chapter of John and close with the end of the fourth chapter. These beginning chapters of the fourth Gospel will speak for themselves. They show the preexistence of Christ, give the character of John and his teachings, choosing of the first disciples, instruction of our Lord to Nicodemus, and the marvelous lesson in connection with the woman of Samaria.
Living in the Past
By H.
NOT all the great deeds of the past will make salvation sure for to-morrow. A life filled with brave deeds, and good deeds, can not cover one misstep in the way. The balance of tremendous things depends on a pivot, a point, a mere line. Man may question the justice of it all he will, but it is just. One sin cost man his life, and Heaven was emptied to restore the balance. He who has paid all demands all, and justly.
How, then, can men find comfort and assurance in looking back to the good days of their own experience? What satisfaction can there be in the thought that on a certain day, at a certain place, under the influence of a certain man's ministry, we were “converted”? None whatever, unless we have advanced from that memorable day to the present. That was a great day to us, but if that conversion was real, every day since has been greater, and therefore deserving of praise. The faithful service of to-day should eclipse the past in our walk with the Lord.
The past may have brought blessings; youthful “first love” may have been happiness not experienced now; but there should be in the life of every Christian a growing satisfaction in the Lord which makes each succeeding day a greater day, and each experience an added strength in the hold on heavenly things. H.
