LEO XIII is dead. He who took the title of “Vicar of Christ,” and whose word, spoken from the “chair of Peter,” was counted infallible; he whose mandates were listened to throughout the Catholic world as the voice of God, and before whom men bowed in the attitude of worship, is now unconscious clay. Nature has answered the claims which to vast multitudes made him a superhuman being. Nature knew nothing of such claims, and recognized no pre-eminence in him above his fellows. He was simply a mortal man, like his fellow mortals who exist upon the face of the earth. Nature has set the brand of error upon a religion which made mortal man into a god. We have not such an high priest by whom we approach unto God, but One who “continueth ever,” and so “hath an unchangeable priesthood;” “wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Heb. 7:24, 25. The Head of the Christian church is One on whom death has no power.
Ontario Sunday Law Declared Void
The Privy Council of England has declared void the Lord’s day act passed by the legislature of Ontario, under which Sunday observance has been enforced in that province for a number of years. The decision affirms that “legislation to prevent the profanation of the Lord’s day is in the nature of criminal law, which the Dominion parliament alone can enact. Provincial legislatures have no jurisdiction to pass such law.”
Sunday Laws and the Sabbath
The fourth precept of God's law commands the sanctification of the seventh day of the week. This day was sanctified by the Creator when he set it apart from the other days of the week by resting on it and blessing it. This sanctification men are required to recognize and maintain; they are to set this day apart from the other days of the week.
It is impossible to observe the Sabbath commandment without resting on the seventh day. It is equally impossible to observe it without regarding the other days of the week as working days. No person can observe the Sabbath and observe any other day of the week at the same time. If any other day is observed, the Sabbath fails to be set apart from that day, distinguished from it, as the day of rest.
This is where Sunday laws come in conflict with the law of God. If they do not command the observance of Sunday as the Christian sabbath,—if they enjoin it merely as a day of rest,—they nevertheless prevent the sanctification of the seventh day by breaking down the distinction between it and all other days of the week, fixed by the Creator. No person can keep Sunday and at the same time sanctify, or set apart, the seventh day as the weekly day of rest.
Sunday legislation might just as well enjoin work on the seventh day of the week as rest upon the first day. The one would no more break down the sanctity of the Sabbath than does the other.
The Supreme Attraction
By Charles A. Fox
“MARRED more than any man’s,” yet there’s no place
In this wide universe but gains new grace,
Richer and fuller, from that marred Face!
O Saviour Christ, those precious wounds of thine
Make doubly precious these poor wounds of mine;
Teach me to die with thee the death divine!
All wounds and woes of flesh, once made thine own,
Add color to the rainbow round the throne,
And save from loneliness saints else alone.
Beloved ones are hurrying in, and all
The ground is strewn with blossoms they let fall,
In haste to enter life’s high festival.
Heaven beckons me, I press me toward the mark
Of my high calling—hark, he calls, O hark!
That wounded Face moves toward me through the dark.
—Charles A. Fox, in the Christian.
Our Duty Toward the Lord's Institution
By Ellen G. White
MRS. E. G. WHITE
I HAVE a proposition to make to my brethren and sisters in regard to the stock that we have in the Review and Herald Publishing Company. The money that we invested in this institution was given to the work of the Lord. It was intelligently and wisely consecrated to a sacred work. Were it possible for me now to withdraw the offering that I made in former years to the Lord's instrumentality for the publication of the truth, would I do it?—Never, never, never! Instead, I will make additional investments as soon as the work is reorganized, so that its original purposes may be more perfectly fulfilled.
Let the publishing work be moved from Battle Creek. The lawyers will make no trouble unless our own people stir them up to create difficulties. I appeal to our brethren who love the advent message and the institutions established to promulgate this message, to use their influence and means to sustain and help forward every movement being made to place the first and largest publishing house that we have, in such a position that it will be as a city set on a hill.
Let us take our position firmly and loyally on the side of the men who are laboring to follow the light given from the Lord, and to work out the matter as proposed by the General Conference. Let us give no place to the selfish plans or selfish motives that may suggest themselves in connection with this work.
Why should any one try to hinder the moving of our publishing work to one of the world's great centers of influence? Why should men demand the return of their investment in stock if this is done? If God had not first given us the money, we could not have purchased the stock. The money invested in the Review and Herald is God's money, and those who have placed it there should allow it to remain. Should any one plead necessity as a reason for withdrawing his stock, I could plead necessity also—and I might say that my necessity is real. But should I withdraw my gift from the altar, I could not expect the blessing of God to rest upon me. If it were possible to do so, I would not remove one dollar of the money that I invested in the office of publication. I placed the money there when the office needed it, and now, in view of the great loss that the institution has sustained, God forbid that I should, for selfish advantage, do anything that would cripple the work, or that would open the way for lawyers to make their power felt.
When the publishing house is established away from Battle Creek, I shall do all in my power to build it up, and to encourage those connected with it to carry forward the work of the Lord, exalting the principles of right higher and still higher.
The office will not be able to pay high wages to the workers; for to start the work in a new place will mean great expense. Let the workers maintain the simplicity of Christ. Let them practice self-denial, bearing the cross after Jesus. I call upon them to think of the loss that the publishing house has sustained, and to share in its affliction. If they do this, they will gain a precious experience. Let them do what they can to help.
Let no one connect himself with the publishing house to gain advantage for himself. If those who enter the employ of this institution from this time forward do so with a determination to help rather than to be helped, the books of heaven will bear witness to their unselfish action.
Let us do what we can to set the publishing house on its feet again. Let our people everywhere show a liberal spirit. In past years our brethren throughout the field have done a noble work by lending their means to our publishing institutions. Let this good work continue. The time to help in the work is when earnest efforts are being made to put the work on a right basis.
For years the Review Office held my note for several thousand dollars invested in the issue of books. Since the fire I have made special efforts to pay the last of this, and I shall endeavor to place money on deposit in the institution.
Brethren, this is a time to show who are the true friends of the publishing work. Let no one endeavor to withdraw his stock from the Review and Herald. It would not be right to do this. The money that we invested in stock was the Lord's gift to us, and our gift to the institution. Shall we not now do a work that bears the approval of God? Let us bring the principles of the gospel into practice. Let your religion speak, saying, The money in the office of publication is a gift that I made to the institution, and I do not feel at liberty, now that disaster has come to the institution, to withdraw my gift. Wrongs have been done in the institution, but it is not my place to mete out punishment. The Lord has taken this matter in his own hands. I must do all that I can to place the institution on vantage ground.
God's love will be bestowed on his people if they will do as Jesus did, if they will deny self and lift the cross. Christ took our infirmities, and we are to bear one another's burdens. We read of Christ, “When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them.” These words are the key to his life-work. We are to reveal in our lives the compassion that he revealed.
A Precious Experience
By L. Johnson
L. JOHNSON
OUR camp-meetings in the Central and Northern Union Conferences are now in the past, and as far as I am able to judge, they have been the best we have had for many years. One reason why this seems so to me, is perhaps the personal experience I have received, which I prize very highly, and which I desire to make known to the glory of God.
I know from experiences in the past that in order to realize my dependence upon God, and to have a vivid sense of the sacredness of his work and grace and power to labor for the salvation of souls, I need to be much in secret prayer, yet, notwithstanding, it has many times been neglected, which I confess with shame. To bow before God a minute or two, committing ourselves to him, when we go into the desk or before retiring, is right and proper, but it is not enough (at least not for me) in which to open the whole soul to God, or to “pour out the heart before him.” And while I am greatly edified by public prayers, or seasons of prayer with my brethren, yet neither of these can take the place of secret prayer.
While attending the camp-meeting at Colfax, Iowa, Elder Butler dropped the remark that he needed to be much in prayer, and that, like Daniel, he would pray in secret three times a day. When I heard that, I thought, If that aged servant of God finds it necessary to pray three times a day, and can take time to do it, I will. And I made up my mind that no matter how much I had to do, I would pray three times a day, and take all the time for it that I needed, and then depend upon God for ability to perform every duty devolving upon me.
The following also made a deep impression upon me: “As we bow before God in humble prayer, he places a live coal from his altar upon our lips, sanctifying them to the work of giving Bible truth to the people. . . . When you9have so much to do that you can not take time to talk with God, how can you expect power in your work? . . . Commune with your own heart, and then commune with God.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VII, page 251.
“Already many are receiving the Holy Spirit, and no longer will the way be blocked by listless indifference. . . . All that the apostles did, every church-member to-day is to do.”—Id., page 33.
It was not long before these seasons alone with God became so precious to me that nothing on this earth could compare with them. Often with my Bible open before me, I plead his promises, and he is always as faithful as his word. O, how near the Saviour seems! how sweet his peace! how real his presence! how sure his pardon, love, and care! I will always love and obey him. It is my meat to do his will.
The Scriptures and Testimonies seem new to me. I can read my experiences there in so many places. “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” Ps. 34: 6. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.” Ps. 103: 2, 3. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” Ps. 147: 3. “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” Ps. 34: 8.
“Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;
Prayer the sublimest strains that
reach
The Majesty on high.”
The Holy Spirit
Of all the gifts that Heaven could bestow upon the human family, the gift of the Holy Spirit is the most precious. It is a complete revelation of the Father and the Son, and it brings to the individual who receives it the joy of heaven. It is a foretaste of the future glory. It is more precious to the human family than the personal presence of Christ when he was here eighteen hundred years ago; for he said that it was necessary for him to go away in order that the Comforter might come. There was something in his presence in the flesh that prevented the disciples from receiving the Holy Spirit in the sense that the Saviour desired them to have it. And the Saviour’s heart was drawn out in a special manner toward his people that they might receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
When it is received, it never takes away a man’s judgment, but it sanctifies his judgment. It elevates the soul, and connects it with heaven. Fanaticism results from the surrender of the judgment to impressions thought to be of the Holy Spirit. Now the Holy Spirit does make impressions; it teaches, it instructs the soul. But because of man’s fallen nature, he could never know what was the Holy Spirit were it not for the Word of God. So God has given his Word as a guide for a correct understanding of what the Holy Spirit is. The Word is our infallible guide, but when men depart from it, and follow what they suppose is the leading of the Holy Spirit, they make a mistake. Even the angels are controlled by restraining influences. A person may be inspired by the love of God, but unless there is a controlling influence to direct his impulses, he may make mistakes. When Christ hung upon the cross, the angels would gladly have taken him from earth to heaven, and would have done it instantly had not a tall, commanding angel restrained them. So we need the restraining influence of God’s arrangement, as revealed in his Word; and we shall always need it. That is why order was established in heaven.
I make these remarks lest you should misunderstand me before I get through with the application of some scriptures I wish to read. I want it distinctly understood that God has perfect order in heaven and in earth, and this order is revealed in his Word, so none can discard the Word of God for an impression that is not in harmony with the Word. The leading of the Spirit and the Word go together.
O that we could realize how near heaven is to this earth! The education that God wants to give his people is an education of heaven, a training of the soul, so that when this earth has passed away, we shall be prepared to enter heaven. It is a connection between heaven and earth, a straight channel, which has its beginning on this earth, and ends in glory. It is the ladder that Jacob saw, with its base resting upon the earth and its topmost round upon the throne of God. We have to learn the song on earth; we have to keep step with the angels and with God on earth, then we can walk with God in this vale of tears. When this is done, the training received, the lessons learned, we are prepared to enter the joys of the eternal.
The Holy Spirit is the divine agency to accomplish this; because, as I said before, through God’s appointed agencies it educates the soul so that there is perfect harmony between the soul and God. Of all the promises that are found in the Bible none are more fully and freely expressed than the promise of the Holy Spirit. I wish to read a few verses in the eleventh chapter of Luke, where the promise of the Spirit is stated ten times in five verses. There is not another promise like this in the Bible. You may count the promises as I read them: “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” What wondrous words! If the Saviour were to speak to us here this morning, he would say the same words that he spoke on this occasion. Now the Saviour turns the statement around, and puts it another way: “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Here are six times that the promise is made, and now he puts it another way: “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?” Think of it, fathers and mothers! If your child should come to you and ask bread, would you give him a stone? If he asked a fish, would you give him a serpent that would bite him? If he asked an egg, would you give him a scorpion that would sting him? Why, your very soul would revolt at the idea?
You already have that promise repeated nine times. Now comes the application: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” The Saviour longs to impress every heart with his willingness to give the Holy Spirit, and so he presents the promise, the assurance, ten times in the five verses, first one way, then another, and then appeals to the natural desire of parents to give good things to their children. Human nature would cry out, Yes, we would gladly do this. “How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Could God’s willingness to impart his Spirit be more fully expressed in words? I thank God for this scripture. If we only had hearts to appreciate it, every one of us would accept it. We would be thankful that we could have something right from heaven that represented the Father and the Son here on earth. God would come into our hearts; he would rule the soul, and erect his throne there. He will comfort the despondent; he will lift up the downcast; he will heal the wounded spirit; for that is the mission of the Holy Spirit. It is sin and Satan that wound, but the Holy Spirit is to restore, to heal, to lift up, to purify.
Let me read you another text in this same book, fourth chapter. You are familiar with it; it refers directly to the mission of Christ. Verse 18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.” Now notice, he has anointed me to what?—To preach the gospel to the poor. Who?—Christ. Who does he represent?—Every one who has the Holy Spirit. Then every person who receives the Holy Spirit is anointed to preach the gospel to the poor; that is evidence of the anointing. “He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” That is what the Holy Spirit does. I wish we could fathom these words. He does not come to wound a soul on earth. He does not come to cast down; but he does come to lift up. He does not come to make a single wound in the heart, but he comes to heal it, and bind it up. Are you bound by the power of the enemy in any way? Christ comes to set you free. Ten times he says you may have that freedom. Will you take it? In the name of the Lord say, Yes, I believe it. Take the Holy Spirit, and it will set you10free. It will give you boldness. A soul that is set free by the Holy Spirit can not be bound. Fetters may be put upon the limbs, but the soul will rejoice in God just the same; it will soar above the bondage of sin and the power of the enemy. The Spirit sets the captive free. I wish I could so present it that you would see it, and would believe it. “Well,” says one, “I have been so sinful.” Do you not suppose that the Lord knows all about that?—Of course he does; and he has come to set you free from sin, and to deliver you from the bondage of corruption, that your soul may be free in Jesus Christ. The Lord wants us to see it in just that light, and believe it; and when we do, we begin to connect with heaven.
Let me read now in the sixteenth chapter of John a few verses which I think you must all see beauty in; for there is very much in the words that I shall read. Beginning with the seventh verse: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” Remember we are talking about the Holy Spirit. “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” I have sometimes asked a congregation of fifty, seventy-five, or even a hundred, before reading this scripture, this question: “What will the Holy Spirit do when it comes into your heart?” and in nine cases out of ten the answer will be, “It will give joy.” But suppose you have sinned; will you then rejoice? The first work is to get sin out of the heart by convicting you of sin; that is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is to let you know the very thing in the soul that hinders the joy and the peace which the Holy Spirit brings. So it begins to clean out the house. It begins to clear out the rubbish. It turns on the light so you can see what there is that prevents the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and then, if you co-operate with God and with the Spirit, you will put that away. You will begin to cleanse the heart by confessions of sin, and when this is done, you will see such beauty in Christ, such loveliness in him, that you will long to have the heart cleansed from sin, and the very soul united with the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Then he goes further: “Of sin, because they believe not on me.” Now one word on this: I fully believe, and I know you do too, that in the common acceptation of the term, there is no Christian on earth who does not accept Christ in that way; but, my brethren and sisters, do you know that God has a special truth, and that to receive that truth is to receive Jesus Christ? The truth is a revelation of Jesus Christ, and that is a hard thing for people to believe; and not believing it, how prone we are to go back to the murky waters that we have left, and be satisfied with the old theories that we had when we were connected with other denominations. But God has called you, as he did the children of Israel from Egypt, to teach you his ways. He will lead you; he will succor you; he will bear you as an eagle bears her young upon her wings. Do you know how an eagle does this?—First, it stirs up the nest until the eaglets are pushed out. This has to be done, or the eaglets would never learn to fly. An eaglet, pushed out of the nest, begins to use his wings in an effort to save himself, but it is in vain,—down, down, he goes. Just before he reaches the rocks below, the old eagle swoops down under him, and he alights on her back, and is borne aloft. This is kept up until the young eagle learns to fly. The Lord promises to bear his children as an eagle beareth her young upon her wings. That is the way God is dealing with every soul.
He is calling us out by the truth, and by the truth he will lead us, and train and educate us, so that the Holy Spirit may abide with us. God has given us a precious truth, just as he gave the message concerning the building of the ark, and the destruction of the world by a flood, in the days of Noah. When the ark was built, and the flood came, no man’s sincerity or faith could save him outside of the ark. “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” God has a truth that will separate his people from the world, as in the days of Noah, and as in the days of John the Baptist and the first advent of Christ. That truth, and that truth alone, will save. And unless that truth is accepted and obeyed, no matter how much sincerity nor what faith a people may profess to have, it avails them nothing in the great final reckoning. The Jews believed on Christ, but they did not believe in his first advent, and in what was then revealed for that people. We may become stereotyped, fixed, unchangeable. God wants us just as pliable to his will, just as submissive to his requirements, as clay is in the hands of the potter; so he can mold us, and change us, and fashion us as he will.
But, says one, the circumstances are so bad. No circumstances are bad to the Christian. What words can I use to make that clear? It was the devil that stirred up those Sabeans to take away Job’s cattle, and slay his servants; it was the devil that caused that fire to burn up the sheep, and a great wind to blow down the house in which his sons and daughters were feasting, and kill them. All this was to get Job to curse God. But when the devil had finished, and Job realized what had taken place, he said: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” You see the devil was not in it a minute: he was taken out of the way, and in the place of the devil the righteousness of Christ was put in. So if you are passing through a trying experience, and circumstances seem to be against you, and you feel to complain of them, just put the righteousness of Christ in it by believing Christ, and you will get the devil out in an instant. But if the devil can make you see him in it, he has accomplished his purpose. The more we look at the devil, the more we shall be like the devil; for by beholding we become changed. My dear brethren, I wish you could see Jesus Christ in it, and that he is molding you, and that he desires to make you like himself. This is believing in Christ.
It was demonstrated when Christ died on the cross that he conquered by love. In John 16: 12 are these words: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye can not bear them now.” What do you suppose he wanted to say to those disciples? One thing was that he was going to be crucified the next day: they would be disappointed; for you know they thought he was going to reign on earth. He had told them, a little time before, that he was to be crucified; but instead of believing it, they fell to discussing it. “How can it be that you who have raised the dead, and have performed so many miracles,—how is it that wicked men can come and take you and put you to death?” So Peter said: “Be it far from thee, Lord;” and the margin says, “Pity thyself;” but the Saviour said, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” The Christian has no business to pity himself. His business is to go forward and serve Jesus Christ. As long as you do that, you will find a wonderful transformation in every circumstance of life. God wants to do that with us all; and what I want this morning is to tell you something that will lead you to do it; and if I could only help some poor, tempted soul to seek Christ, to find in Jesus Christ that which has satisfied my own soul, I would be so glad; for I know what Jesus Christ is. I have been acquainted with him for many years, and although I have sinned and done many things that are wrong, yet I love my Saviour, and have seen his wonderful workings.
(To be concluded)
Gifts in the Early Church
By John Norton Loughborough
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH
“WHEREFORE he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. . . . And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in [“into,” margin.] the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” Eph. 4: 8-16.
This scripture designates the gifts the Lord placed in his church, and in the Acts of the Apostles is a record of the11manifestation of those gifts. There were in that time many sons and daughters who were favored with divine revelations. In chapter eleven is an account of Agabus, who predicted the great dearth that would come upon the land of Judea, which prediction moved the Lord’s people to provide relief for the poor saints at Jerusalem. Verses 27-30. The exact fulfillment of this prophecy seems to have established faith in Agabus as a true prophet among them. When at Cæsarea, nineteen years after, he told them what would be done to Paul in Jerusalem, there appears to have been no question as to the certainty of the fulfillment of his prediction; for at once they besought Paul not to go to Jerusalem. Acts 21: 10, 11. In the church at Antioch, four prophets are mentioned; namely, Barnabas, Simeon (Niger), Lucius, and Manaen. Acts 13: 1. It appears also that Philip, the evangelist, who resided at Cæsarea, “had four daughters, virgins,” that were prophets. Acts 21: 8, 9.
The Lord placed these gifts in the church for the accomplishment of a certain purpose,—perfecting the saints, and edifying the body of Christ—the church. When there exists a necessity for such work to be accomplished, why should not the Lord’s means for accomplishing it appear? His church is still in a world of imperfections, and is itself composed of stones quarried from the world, needing to be polished until they become “lively stones” in the Master’s temple. The Lord set the gifts in his church. In no place in the Scriptures do we read that he set them out of his church, or that they would cease to be manifest, as occasion might require, until “that which is perfect is come.” It must, then, be the course of his people, and their lack of consecration and faith, that would make the absence of the gifts conspicuous.
The manifestation of the gift of prophecy is closely allied with obedience to the law of God. When the people faithfully followed the Lord, he favored them with instruction through his prophets. As they fell into sin, and departed from his law, they had no visions from God, as stated in Eze. 7: 26. It was emphatically true, and is still, as expressed by Solomon, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Prov. 29: 18. Those who keep the law are happy; for as they fully obey the Lord’s law, he is pleased to favor them with special instruction through his prophets.
The early church began its work with a manifestation of all the gifts of the Spirit, and with many prophets among them; but the apostle Paul predicted that there would come an apostasy. He said to the elders of the Ephesian church: “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” Acts 20: 29, 30. Also to the church in Thessalonica, he said that there should “come a falling away,” and “that man of sin be revealed.” And of him the apostle said that he should sit “in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thess. 2: 3, 4.
It is a fact that, while the early church maintained their purity, the Lord manifested among them the gifts of his Spirit; but as the apostasy developed, their condition became more and more like that of ancient Israel, of whom he said: “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Isa. 59: 2.
History shows that the gifts were manifest more or less in the church, even down into the second century, and that they ceased only as the church fell away from her primeval consecration and steadfastness. Neander, in his “Church History,” thus speaks of the Montanists of the second century: “The Montanists looked upon it expressly as something characteristic of the development of the kingdom of God that, according to the prophecies of Joel then in course of fulfillment, the gifts of the Spirit should indifferently be shed abroad over all classes of Christians of both sexes.” “It appears also to have been the doctrine of the Montanists that the season of the last and richest outpouring of the Holy Spirit would form the last age of the church, and precede the second coming of Christ, and be the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel.”—Rose’s Neander, pages 330, 332.
John Wesley, in speaking of the Montanists, says: “By reflecting on an odd book which I read in this journey (‘The General Delusion of Christians with Regard to Prophecy’), I was fully convinced of what I had long suspected: (1) That the Montanists, in the second and third centuries, were real, Scriptural Christians; and (2) that the grand reason why the miraculous gifts were so soon withdrawn, was not only that faith and holiness were well-nigh lost, but that dry, formal, orthodox men began even then to ridicule whatever gifts they had not themselves, and to decry them all as either madness or imposture.”—“Wesley’s Journal,” Vol. III, page 496.
To the question, “If you allow miracles before the empire became Christian, why not afterward too?” Mr. Wesley answers: “Because after the empire became Christian, a general corruption both of faith and morals infected the Christian church, which, by that revolution, as St. Jerome says, ‘lost as much of her virtue as it had gained of wealth and power.’”—“Wesley’s Works,” page 706.
The New Testament instruction continues on the supposition that the gifts were still to continue. It contains cautions against false prophets, and rules by which we may discern the true from the false. Our Saviour said: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.” Matt. 7: 15, 16. If there were to be no true prophets through the gospel age, it would have been a much shorter way to dispose of the subject to say, Beware of prophets. Instead, there is set before us the characteristics of true and of false prophets, the kind of fruit borne being the strongest proof of the character of the prophet.
Our Saviour taught that, as we near the end, false prophets would “show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matt. 24: 24-27. This working of false prophets is to be manifest especially near the time of Christ’s second coming. In that same time Satan is to work with “all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” 2 Thess. 2: 9, 10. But the Lord has said, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.” Isa. 59: 19, 20.
As to how the Lord will raise up a standard against the enemy in the “perilous times” of the “last days,” the apostle says, “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses [with counterfeit miracles], so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.” 2 Tim. 3: 8, 9. Jannes and Jambres were among the chief magicians of Pharaoh. They sought to resist Moses and Aaron’s work by counterfeit miracles. Their folly was checked by the Lord’s miraculous working, of which they were compelled to say, “This is the finger of God.” Ex. 8: 17-19. Surely this indicates the mighty working of the Lord’s power through the gifts in the closing work in this world’s history.
Nothing Humbles the Soul
By J. Hudson Taylor
NOTHING humbles the soul like sacred and intimate communication with the Lord; yet there is a sweet joy in feeling that he knows all, and, notwithstanding, loves us still.— J. Hudson Taylor.
Trusting God’s Guidance
“I CAN not always trace the onward
course
My ship must take;
But, looking backward, I behold afar
Its shining wake
Illumined with God’s light of love;
and so
I onward go,
In perfect trust that he who holds the
helm
The course must know.”
The Best Drink
ON a pleasant day in the early fall
A stranger rode into the town,
And, stopping his horse in the public square,
Glanced this way and that with a frown;
For the place that he sought he could not find
(Drinkshops had been closed that year).
So he called to a lad who passed that way
And said to him, “Laddie, come here.
“Here’s a copper for you to show the way
To the best drinking-place you know.”
“All right,” he answered,—a quick-witted youth,—
“Just turn up that street, sir, and go
Till you come to another upon your right,
Then turn into that, and keep on
Till you come to another, turn right again.
And you’ll see it quite plainly,” said to
John.
So, thanking the lad, the stranger rode off,
And John, with a hop, skip, and jump,
After the stranger he went in a trice,
Brought up at the old town pump.
“Here you are, sir,” said John, with a good-natured smile;
“It’s the ‘best drinking-place’ to be found.
Take a drink, sir; it’s free, and you’re welcome, I’m sure.
And it’s good for your health, I’ll be bound!”.
’The man took the joke in a good-natured way,
And drank of the water so clear,
Then said, “’Tis an excellent drink, I am sure;
As good as I’ve had for a year.”
So saying he tossed the bright lad a new coin,
“The lesson is worth that to me.
And if you keep playing your temperance joke,
’Twill make the world better,” said he.
—Selected.