Your ShelfYour Projects

Signs of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 50.

Industrial Conditions in England
Earlier text: Industrial Conditions in England

This Age of Living Miracles

By John William McCord

Achievements in the Physical World— The Mightier Works Revealed Through the Great Book—To Preach the Book Is to Preach Christ—Our Composite Message
By JOHN WILLIAM McCORD
THIS age is preeminently the age of miracles, and miracles are only accomplished by faith. Measured by the past, the era in which we live is a new era, a new country, a new world.
By faith Columbus discovered a new world, and by faith the Pilgrim Fathers explored and settled it. By faith Benjamin Franklin bottled the lightning, Morse harnessed it for service; Bell taught it how to speak; and Edison gave it a general education. By faith Watts invented the locomotive, and enabled men to travel ten miles in the time they had formerly traveled but one. By faith Fulton crossed the ocean in a steamboat, and the Wright brothers traveled the air like birds.
These and many others were men of faith, and by faith they surmounted difficulties, spanned rivers, scaled mountains, crossed seas, harnessed the lightning, and did many wonderful works.
This was real faith applied to material things, and miracles have been the result thereof. Yet this wonder-working faith was based upon hard facts—facts which previously had been discovered in the laboratory. So it is with the miracle that changes a sinner into a saint. This miracle, beside which all others pale into utter insignificance, is also based upon evidence, namely, the evidence of God’s word; for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Rom. 10:17.

The Book of Books

When we think of the origin of the Bible, its high morals, its fulfilled prophecies, and its wonderful preservation, we must conclude that this Book is different from all other books, and that its sacred pages are stamped with tokens of its divine authenticity.
When we pray, we talk to God; and when we read the Bible, the Lord talks to us. In this Book, God tells us His secrets and whispers His love. The Bible is, in reality, a letter from our heavenly Father, and the individual is wise who regards it as such and molds his life by its sacred teachings. When we believe the Bible, each promise becomes a link which binds the soul to God, and every fulfilled prophecy and promise becomes a round in the ladder of faith by which we climb to heaven.

Fellowship with Saints

It is said that the giants of literature live again in their books, and sometimes the sympathetic reader becomes better acquainted with these authors than were many even who lived with them. This is equally true of the Bible.
In the Bible we may love and work with Jesus; think and travel with Paul; study law with Moses, the drama with Job, eloquence with Isaiah, and statesmanship with Daniel; weep with Jeremiah, sing with David, and dream with John.
The Bible begins with the new earth, and ends with the earth made new. Its first pages chronicle the fall, its last pages show man restored to more than pristine glory. Its first pages show Paradise lost, its last pages Paradise regained. Its first pages are blotted with tears, and written with blood; its last pages show the curse removed, sin and death destroyed, and tears forever wiped away.
This old Book will help us to live, and teach us how to die. It will glorify our labor, and sweeten our rest. It will deepen our joy, and soften our grief. It is bread to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, a lamp to the straying, a friend to sinners, a safe guide to all. To obey its teaching is life in this world, and life everlasting in the world to come.

Heroes of the Bible

The characters we love most in the Bible are those which most closely resemble the Master’s. We admire Abraham because he was faithful, Moses because he was unselfish, Joseph because he was pure, David because he was brave, Daniel because of his integrity, Job because he was patient, Paul because of his ministry, Peter because of his leadership, and John because of his love.
In Jesus Christ these priceless characteristics are to be found in their fulness. His wonderful personality has impressed itself upon the pages of Holy Writ from cover to cover. To Adam the Saviour was known as the “Seed of the woman,” to Noah as the Lord of the covenant, to Abraham as the “promised Seed,” to Jacob as “Shiloh,” to Moses as the great “I am,” to David as the “Head of the heathen,” to Isaiah as “Immanuel,” to Daniel as the “Messiah,” to Zechariah as the “Branch,” and to Malachi as the “Sun of Righteousness.” Thus the Saviour becomes the confirmation of every promise, the center of every prophecy, and the hope of every saint, for “by Him all things consist.” Col. 1:17.
To preach Christ and to preach the Bible are therefore synonymous, and every message that uplifts the Saviour will be based on the Book that reveals the Saviour. It was on the authority of God’s spoken word that Noah built the ark, and thus delivered his family. It was Bible teaching that brought about the great spiritual uplift in the days of Nehemiah. In the ministry of the apostles, the word of God was surely in evidence. The great Reformation of the sixteenth century had the Bible as its only basis. And the world-wide message that is being proclaimed by Seventh-day Adventists to-day is based on the same inspired Word.

Our Message

The message we preach is worthy of better treatment than it has yet received from God’s professed people. Doubtless this is due to the fact that the message we bear is not yet fully understood. To-day the world honors the memory of the Reformers, and this is right. Yet all that the Reformers stood for in their day, is to be found in the teaching of Seventh-day Adventists to-day.
Luther stood for justification by faith, and so do we. The Episcopalians stand for the law, and so do we. The Presbyterians stand for the Bible, and so do we. The Methodists stand for conversion, and so do we. The Baptists stand for Bible baptism, and so do we. The Seventh-day Baptists stand for the Bible Sabbath, and so do we. The cream of God’s people in every church stand for the second advent of Christ, and so do we.
Thus the Lord has made this church the repository of the truths of all the ages; and it behooves us upon whom this great light is focused, to be as faithful in giving this light to our generation as the Reformers were in giving the message for their time to that generation.
Yes, the greatest of all alchemists is faith. It has changed an old world into a new one, and sinners into saints.

The Way of Peace

By John Norton Loughborough

SOME know the way of peace, some do not. Of the latter class the prophet Isaiah said: “Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.” Isa. 59:7, 8. Of this same class Paul said, “Destruction and misery are in their ways: and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.” Rom. 3: 16-18.
Our Saviour said to His followers, “My peace I give unto you.” John 14:27. Again: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.
The manner of obtaining this peace is emphatically spoken of by the apostle Paul: “Be careful for nothing [do not worry]; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:6, 7. Blessed assurance! Let us each ever grasp, by living faith, this promised peace.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

Breakdown of “American Sabbath”

By J. H. Parsons

No Divine Law for Sunday—The Church Failed to “Remember”—The Apostasy Attempted the Change of the Sabbath
By J. H. PARSONS
It is not an uncommon though a remarkable fact, that men, even of high literary attainments besides being specialists in the Scriptures, may with apparent honesty of purpose be quite blind to inconsistencies that are transparent to “the wayfaring men, though fools.”
The Literary Digest quotes the New York Christian Advocate as saying that—
“If the partial breakdown of the American Sabbath is to be repaired, if the American people are to come to a realization of the theft they are practising on themselves, to say nothing of their iniquity toward God in the reckless abuse of Sunday which dissipates their energies and lowers the tone of their lives, the first move must come from the church.”

A SABBATH-BREAKING AGE

The Herald and Presbyter agrees that the church is largely responsible for the fact that this is a Sabbath-breaking generation, and among other things says:
“We did not expect to say so much on the subject just at this time, but Sabbath desecration is a sin that in God’s sight is as deadly and as hateful as murder or theft. It is one of the peculiarly aggravated sins of our own times. Christian people should stand up and protest against it. They should advocate and defend the cause of the Sabbath. If they do not do so more vigorously by life and word, the Sabbath will increasingly become to the world merely Sunday, a day with a heathen name, and then . . . simply Sunday, to be trampled underfoot and desecrated with impunity.”
To the simple-minded people such as Jesus loved to teach, and for whom He thanked the Father (Matt. 11:25), there must be a foundation for all things spiritual as well as material. Such people argue logically and truly that a chain is no stronger than its weakest link. The Christian faith and doctrine, however, are founded on the word of God, which in its very nature must be an expression of God’s character, a character “with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1:17.

THE DEFINITE SABBATH LAW

The Ten Commandments are the plummet-line by which we can measure and square our own characters to that of our heavenly Father. In the very center of those commandments is the one bearing on Sabbath observance, enjoining us to “remember” to keep holy the Sabbath day, and carefully designating which day is the Sabbath, namely, the “seventh day.” “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Ex. 20:10.
To the plain man in the street, the seventh day precedes the first day of the week, which is commonly called Sunday.

CAN NOT GIVE A REASON

The churches that keep Sunday for the Sabbath have no reasonable explanation to offer for so doing; in fact, it is conceded by an overwhelming preponderance of historical evidence that the seventh day was conscientiously kept for the Sabbath until the fourth century, when a schism arose and a compromise was made with paganism, and “the day with a heathen name” was chosen in place of God’s holy day. That was when the church forgot to “remember.”
Confusion ensued and has been maintained ever since, as there are sects, as the Herald and Presbyter remarks, “which refuse to recognize” the first day of the week as the Sabbath, though they quite endorse the editor’s view that this is a Sabbath-breaking generation; that such desecration is a sin in God’s sight; and that Christian people should advocate and defend the cause of the Sabbath. But it is impossible for them to agree that Sunday is the Sabbath, because there is no evidence, nor has any evidence (clear proof, plain or manifest to the mind or senses) been offered, that Christ or His apostles ever suggested or authorized any such change. On the contrary, the oldest and most prominent Christian denomination boasts that their church changed the day from the seventh to the first day of the week.

THE CHANGE OF DAY FORETOLD

God’s word has foretold this change of the Sabbath, and also that the professed church of God will try to enforce the observance of another day by man-made laws, which will cause persecution by imposing penalties for its non-observance.
The Jewish nation, well versed in the prophecies, were looking for a Saviour at the appointed time; and because the Saviour failed to endorse but rather rebuked their traditions, among which was a false spirit of Sabbath observance, they crucified Him.
Since “whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning,” it might be well for the editors of the above papers and all who take the same stand, to reconsider the propriety of bolstering up a day called the American Sabbath, when the “Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” the Sabbath that Jesus and the apostles and their successors kept holy, has been ruthlessly thrust on one side and desecrated.
It will be well for these editors and all who take the same stand if, when the day of probation has ended and the dead both small and great stand before God, they be not found on the side of that great persecuting power which is responsible for all the false dogmas that have tried to usurp the place of God’s written word; the power that insidiously perverted God’s law in the Garden of Eden; that has left a trail of blood from the time of righteous Abel on down to our time; the same power that prophecy warns us will practise the same deception on the professed people of God at a time when the church should be looking for the second coming of our Saviour. Prophecy warns also that this same spiritual blindness will lead many to crucify their Lord and Master again by using their God-given talents to frame laws that will conflict with those of the Most High. “Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.” Prov. 1:17.

Christian Science and the Bible

By James Taphouse

Its Lack of Harmony with Plain Scripture Statement
By JAMES TAPHOUSE
In 1 Tim. 6: 20, 21 is a warning against the “oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith”; and in 2 Tim. 2: 18 we read that some “concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already.” A lecturer said recently that Christian Science is the resurrection, and the life.
On page 547 of my edition of “Science and Health” Mrs. Eddy says, “If one of the statements in this book is true, every one must be true.” We will examine a few statements of this book, throwing upon each the search-light of God’s word, which we know to be infallible. In Isa. 8: 20 we read, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” I am glad that we have a divine standard for the measurement of all theories purporting to be truth.

A HUMAN INTERPRETER

On page 534 of her book, Mrs. Eddy claims to be the first to interpret the Scriptures in their true sense. But the Scriptures do not need a human interpreter, for “no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.” 2 Peter 1: 20. But after reading only a few pages of Mrs. Eddy’s “Key to the Scriptures,” the Bible student can not fail to discover the weakness of private interpretation. This so-called key shuts out every ray of light, leaving nothing but the grossest darkness.
In 2 Peter 2: 1, 2 we read that there would be false teachers who would even deny “the Lord that bought them,” and that “many shall follow their pernicious ways” and cause the truth to be evil spoken of. On page 23 of “Science and Health” we read, “One sacrifice however great, is insufficient to pay the debt of sin”; and on pages 24 and 25 Mrs. Eddy denies the efficacy of Christ’s blood for the pardon of sinners. These statements alone are sufficient to condemn the entire system of Christian Science, being a denial of the Lord who bought them, in the light of the following scriptures: 1 Cor. 6: 19, 20; 1 Peter 1: 18, 19; 1 John 1: 7; Heb. 10: 10-14; 9: 22, 23; Lev. 17: 11. It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

ONLY A SEEMING DEATH

On page 45 Mrs. Eddy says, quoting Rom. 5: 10, “We were reconciled to God by the [seeming] death of His Son.” If this were true the reconciliation must also be “seeming.” On page 46 the statement is made that “after His crucifixion” the disciples “learned that He had not died.” As we examine these expressions in the light of Heb. 2: 9, 14; 2 Cor. 5: 14, 15; and 1 Cor. 15: 1-3, we are constrained to address the many thousands who are being led astray, in the words of Paul in Gal. 3: 1; O, foolish people, who hath bewitched you?
Satan’s first lie in the Garden of Eden was a direct contradiction of God’s word, and is the key to every other deception. The serpent said to the woman, “Ye shall not surely die: . . . ye shall be as gods.” Gen. 3: 4, 5. In other words, you can not die, because you are immortal. On page 524 of “Science and Health” Mrs. Eddy declares that Gen. 2: 7 is a lie, that God did not form man from the dust, that man had no material existence when God created him; but she fails to enlighten us as to man’s material origin. On page 545 we read, “The mortality of man is a myth, for man is immortal.” Compare this statement with Job 4: 17 and 1 Tim. 6: 15, 16 and we discover it to be a repetition of Satan’s first lie.
On page 75 we read, “Jesus restored Lazarus by the understanding that Lazarus had never died.” Yet Jesus said plainly, “Lazarus is dead.” John 11: 14. On page 251 Mrs. Eddy states: “In the illusion of death, mortals wake to the knowledge of two facts: (1) that they are not dead; (2) that they have but passed the portals of a new belief.” Gen. 3: 4, 5. On page 266: “Man is deathless, spiritual. He is above sin or frailty.” Compare such statements with Heb. 9: 27; 1 John 1: 8; and Rom. 6: 23.
On page 291 it is said, “No final Judgment awaits mortals,” but Acts 17: 31 and 2 Cor. 5: 10 say the opposite. In the light of these scriptures, surely these statements of Mrs. Eddy’s are deceptions.

ANGELS MORE THAN MERE “THOUGHTS”

On page 298 we read, “Angels are pure thoughts from God,” and yet the Bible tells of one angel that destroyed in one night 185,000 men (2 Kings 19: 35), and one angel delivered Peter from a closely guarded prison. Acts 12: 1-12.
In Mrs. Eddy’s key to the first chapter of Genesis, it is stated that there was no material earth created, no fish, or fowl, beasts, or creeping things, and no material man; all these things were symbols of exalted thoughts or ideas. This is certainly a travesty on the word of God.
From page 515 of this book, we quote:
“Your mirrored reflection is your own image or likeness. If you lift a weight, your reflection does this also. . . . Now compare man before the mirror to his divine principle, God. Call the mirror divine science, and call man the reflection. Then note how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection to its original.”
As there is no reality to our reflection in the mirror, even so, if mankind is simply a reflection of God in the mirror of Christian Science, and as every reflection differs from every other, there must be as many gods as there are reflections. And as reflections in the mirror are nothing, so the teaching of Christian Science reduces man to nothing.
In view of the foregoing comparisons with the Bible of a few of the many unreasonable statements of Christian Science, we can arrive at no other conclusion than that Christian Science, falsely so called, fulfills to the letter 2 Peter 2: 1, 2 and 2 Cor. 11: 3, 4. “Such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Cor. 11: 13-15. So Satan has apostles, prophets, workers, ministers, miracles, with a message that will deceive if possible the very elect. Matt. 24: 24.
The Bible alone will be our safeguard in these times of satanic delusions. God’s Spirit will soon cease striving with man, and then for a short time Satan will work with all power and signs and lying wonders (2 Thess. 2: 8-11), and all who receive not the love of the truth will readily believe a lie. I am thankful that in the word of God we have the pure and unadulterated gospel, stripped of all the sophistries and delusions of the devil, restoring to man that which Adam possessed before he fell. We have the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

“He Wrote of Me”

By Francis Monroe Burg

THE INTIMACY OF MOSES AND CHRIST

OFTENTIMES to-day we hear men who purport to be preaching the gospel of Christ, heaping stigma and reproach upon Moses, leaving the impression that there exists a diametrical antagonism between his teachings and the message of salvation as brought to us by the great Teacher who was “sent from God.” This is a serious misrepresentation of the relationship that exists between the leader of ancient Israel and the One who is now riding forth to conquer in the world-wide gospel campaign.
Moses wrote of Christ. The office and ministry of Christ was his theme. It was the subject toward which all that he wrote converged. Not merely that he occasionally and incidentally mentioned Christ in his writings. No, he wrote of Him, just as the writer of a book intended to set forth the religion and propaganda of Mohammed, showing the character and aims of that religious system of the Orient, may be said to have written of Mohammed.
The great system of types and ceremonies with which Moses was so closely connected, and of which he wrote so fully, is the clearest and most effective foreshadowing of the work of Christ as man’s Mediator and Redeemer that is presented by any of the Bible writers. Of all the Messianic references in the writings of the Old Testament, none deal so directly with the fundamentals of the great plan in which man’s hope of salvation centers as do the writings of this man of whom the Saviour Himself said, “He wrote of Me.” John 5: 46.
When Christ, in all the glory and majesty of the Deity, came down upon the mountain and delivered His holy law to Moses for the people, the grandeur of the scene, the thunder and the lightning, the fire and the smoke, the voice that shook the mountain, caused them to fear and tremble. They requested that the voice of the Deity should not be heard any more, and requested Moses to speak to them. This request was respected, and the promise was made that a Prophet from among them should be raised up, in whose mouth the words of God should be put, and the people would hear Him.
The very words which Christ, as God, in the power and glory of the Deity, spoke upon the mountain, He came to speak in the words of man. He, the God-man, walked among us, the great Teacher sent from above. Thus was fulfilled the promise by Moses that a Prophet was to be raised up among men, like him, who would make known the way of salvation and teach the words of life. See Acts 7: 37, 38.
Let us have due respect for him whom God so honored as to place him in the very lead of all the men in the Bible record who wrote of Christ.
When redemption is completed for the human race, and the redeemed sing the everlasting song, the name of Moses will be freed from the stigma that men have heaped upon it. May we all be permitted to unite, in that glad day, in singing “the song of Moses and the Lamb.”
FRANCIS MONROE BURG.

“Be Not Afraid”

By E. H. Morton

WHEN an unpopular truth is brought to the attention of an honest soul, it may be that that soul will not obey at once, because of fear. He may be afraid, because of the weakness of human flesh,—afraid of what friends and relatives will say, afraid of losing prestige in society, and afraid of the scorn and ridicule of the world.
Present truth is never popular, and the fear of man in all ages has kept individuals from obeying it. God has recognized this tendency of humanity, and has sought to encourage the faint-hearted. He counseled the Israelites not to dread, nor be afraid of their enemies. He said to Joshua, “Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”
He said to Paul by a vision, “Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace.” He asks us, “Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass?”
We should be afraid to grieve God’s Holy Spirit. We should be afraid to do that which is evil. Sinners are afraid when the judgments of God fall upon wicked cities and upon individuals. But the righteous rest in peace if their affairs are all placed in the hands of Jesus; for He says, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
David said, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” “Perfect love casteth out fear.” To fear not what man can do to us is the highest type of courage. “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.” It is blessed to have the heart thus established.
The armies of heaven stand ready to defend the righteous, and nothing can pluck them out of the hand of their Saviour.
“Be not afraid. Step boldly out Upon the word of God. A sure foundation there you’ll find, And courage in the Lord.”
E. H. Morton.

Life and Immortality

By A. M. Dart

ALL candid people who have given serious thought and study to the plan of salvation will concede that life was lost through the entrance of sin. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5: 12.
After sin entered, life for the human family was made possible only through Christ. “He that believeth on the Son hath [by faith] everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3: 36.
Now the human family sustains precisely the same relation to immortality. Both are made possible through the gospel. Proof: “Be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us . . . according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” 2 Tim. 1: 8-10.
It certainly could not be said that immortality was brought to light through the gospel if man was inherently immortal. One thing is certain: if it could be said of immortality, it could also be said of life; and no one who believes the gospel, would make such a claim.
Just as surely as life was lost through sin, and brought to light through the gospel, just so surely was immortality beyond the reach of man save through the gospel. To those who are prepared for it, both will be given in their fulness when Jesus comes, never to be lost again; “for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 1 Cor. 15: 53. Then “death is swallowed up in victory.” Verse 54. A. M. DART.

State-supported and Free Churches

By W. F. Martin

THE other day, we happened upon some thoughts that show in a forcible manner the advantages of a free over a state-established church.
One of the first is that state-supported churches are less liberal than those which depend upon voluntary contributions. This brings with it the blessings of self-support and self-government.
Christianity is thus thrown upon its own resources, and compelled to plan for any advance work it may choose to undertake, as well as to secure the money necessary to finance the undertaking. This money will, of necessity, come from the church itself, thus cultivating a spirit of liberality in its members. It will also bind the hearts of its members closer to the church and its work. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
This voluntary system of church support develops individual activity and liberality in the support of religion. This function can be exercised till it becomes a second nature.
Experience has also taught that where churches are supported by voluntary contributions, there will actually be more people who will attend church, and there will be more church buildings than where the church is supported by the state.
Self-support of the church at home goes hand in hand with liberality for the advancement of the cause of the church abroad. Experience has taught that the most liberal givers for the foreign work are those who give the most liberally for the home work. Liberality in one direction educates for liberality in all directions.
Last but greatest of all, a state-supported or an endowed church means a paralysis of spirituality to the members of that church. There is a great truth, not always understood, in the statement of the Master, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
W. F. MARTIN.

“Delight”

By J. A. L. Derby

WHAT is the great recipe for successful work for Christ? Prayer, says one. Faith, says another. Consecration, says a third. Love, says a fourth. No, says the Bible. A very remarkable recipe, indeed, it gives. Listen to it. “Delight.” But that is truly the condition, or, if you prefer, qualification, sought; for note, “Delight thyself . . . in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Ps. 37: 4.
Do you desire souls for Jesus? Delight thyself in the Lord. Do you desire to bring family or pupils to Christ? Delight thyself in the Lord. Do you desire to accomplish any great and high purpose for God? Delight is the talisman. “Prayer,” “faith,” “love,” “consecration,” are wonderful words; but there is celestial magic in delight; nay, rather let us say, celestial science. Surely this is a science worth mastering. Shall we not take the Bible and discover the laws that govern delight in God? J. A. L. DERBY.

Tests of True Conversion

By Roswell F. Cottrell

THE question which Wesley used to ask on hearing of the conversion of wealthy individuals, namely, "Is his purse converted?" is generally a pretty good test of genuine conversion in this money-loving, covetous age. But there are individuals of a liberal turn of mind naturally, who were always ready to "go their share" with their comrades before conversion, and who would despise the thought of being meaner in the service of God than they were in the service of Satan. These, if money could purchase them a place in the kingdom of heaven, would certainly enter in. It is easier for them to give money than to give up the pride of their hearts and "walk humbly with God." If missionaries are to be sent out to enlighten and save men, they are ready to aid with their means. If churches are to be built, they will do their part in preparing a place for others to worship. And in this respect they put one in mind of Noah's carpenters. They helped build the ark, but did not get on board.
There are three grand points of obedience which the Lord requires: (1) to do justly; (2) to love mercy; (3) to walk humbly with God. Micah 6: 8. These are good tests of true conversion. The first requires honesty in deal; the second, liberality; and the third, the humble devotion of the heart to God, and obedience to all the institutions of religion. Some are lacking in one of these, and some in another; but it takes the whole to make a Christian. If we lack one, we shall be found wanting when weighed in the balances.
Some will take part in social worship and the institutions of the gospel, while their crooked walk and deal with their neighbors is a stumbling-block to sinners. Some of the more noble will deal uprightly, and even be merciful to the poor, and are too public-spirited to be stingy anywhere; but humble worship and obedience of faith are too much for their pride. Happy are they who combine the three,—who to honesty add liberality, and to liberality humility; who are just and merciful, and take no praise to themselves on that account, but acknowledge humbly before God that they are unprofitable servants, and by contrition and humble obedience to the gospel seek to be saved by grace.
THE LATE R. F. COTTRELL.

CONFIDENCE AND CALM TRUST AMID OVERWHELMING CALAMITIES

By I. H. E.

An Exiled King, but Not in Despair—The Courageous and Hopeful Way Out of Distress
It is thought that David, the sweet singer of Israel, composed the sixty-third psalm while in the wilderness of Judah, where he had fled to escape capture and death at the hand of his son Absalom.
Many years before, when young, strong, and hopeful, David had fled from the jealous wrath of Saul, and concealed himself in this same desolate wilderness. Here he had gathered a band of warriors, bold and daring like himself, ready to follow his leadership against a common foe. But even while there, the words of the aged prophet, telling him that after Saul he should be king, rang in his ears. The touch of the holy anointing oil was still indelibly impressed upon his mind. Before him lay his life, all unknown save for the few brief, illuminating words of the prophet.
A long, useful, and wonderful career lay between that early exile and this later flight from his beloved Jerusalem, when in the decline of his life, David flees from the cruel ambitions of his own son, and finds a refuge in the very cave in which he once hid from the wrath of Saul.

JEALOUSY, CONTENTION, AND DECEIT MARRED HIS PEACE

Even when established on the throne of Israel, the life of David was not one of unbroken serenity; and during the later years of his reign his family life had been marred by jealousy, contention, and deceit. The disgrace of a fair daughter; the murder of one son by another in revenge; the exile of the transgressor,—all these things wrung the king’s heart.
Later, when Absalom was permitted to return, it was with an unholy ambition burning in his heart. Brave, daring, noble in appearance, and richly endowed with those qualities of mind that win the hearts of men, Absalom first set out to undermine his father’s influence and belittle his authority in the kingdom, and at last caused himself to be proclaimed king in his father’s place.
Well did David understand the ruthless character of that beloved, wayward son. He knew that neither his life nor the lives of his household would be safe in the hands of one who had not hesitated to cause his brother’s death. In haste the aged father prepared to leave Jerusalem. How touching is the Bible record of that flight: “And David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot; and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.”

TRIUMPH IN THE WILDERNESS HIDING-PLACE

When they had reached the hiding-place in the wilderness, amid all the confusion and misfortune, when his kingdom seemed lost, and he knew not what moment an army might overtake him and his family and put them to death, David wrote the sixty-third psalm. His first utterance is an expression of perfect faith. Claiming God as his own personal God, he said: “O God, Thou art my God.” Surrounded by calamities, in spite of all the eye could see of misfortune and loss and impending ruin, with rocks and caves as his only protection from the heat of day and the chill of night and from wild beasts, an exile from his home and his kingdom, David could still look up and declare, “O God, Thou art my God.”
In all this beautiful psalm, David does not ask favors of God. He makes no request that his kingdom be restored to him. He does not mention his misfortune. But he claims Jehovah as his God. His heart seems to be thirsting for spiritual communion, for he adds: “Early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see Thy power and Thy glory, so as I have seen Thee in the sanctuary.”
Certainly it is a wonderful experience that enables a man who knew the world as David knew it, who had wealth and honor as no other man of his time, and who in a single day had become an exile from home, with no prospect of reclaiming his kingdom, to cry out for God, and God alone. The physical discomforts, the loss of possessions and honor, concerned him but little. His heart cried out for a sight of the glory of God as he had seen it in the sanctuary in the days of his prosperity.

FAITH RISES TO THE EMERGENCY

David’s faith gave no place to doubt. Even without suitable shelter or food for himself and his family, he declared: “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips: when I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the night watches.”
A man who can utter such language when in the deepest trouble, whose faith holds on to God when all earthly prospects have been blighted, and who, amid unspeakable depths of affliction, has such a longing for God that his heart forgets its own sorrows and misfortunes, has a source of strength and support which, though unseen, passes all utterance. This is the true Christian’s consolation, his joy, his fountain of unfailing help.
David did not doubt his past experience. He knew that God had been with him. “Because Thou hast been my help,” he said, “therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.” Had he looked only at the present, forgetting the past, one would think him justified in saying, “Surely God has forsaken me. Once I thought Him my helper, but now it is evident that He has cast me off forever.” But we read no such reflection, no such note of despair. Looking upon the past, and knowing for a certainty that God had been with him, the exiled king declares: “Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.”

WORTH MORE THAN CROWNS AND WEALTH

Such an experience, such a faith in God, is worth more to the Christian than earthly treasures, more than crowns and earthly kingdoms. To know God, His faithfulness, His abiding goodness and constant care, to believe, though the present may seem entirely out of keeping with our desires and plans, that God is leading, and that He will still keep us,—this is an experience to which every Christian is entitled, and when once possessed it is of far more value than the priceless treasures of earth. I. H. E.
Continue reading: A MODERN SAUL