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Review and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 31.

Consummation

Review and Herald

Jun 24, 1915

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 24, 1915

Consummation

By C. M. Snow

C. M. Snow
Speed on Thy truth, Eternal One, Thy holy law proclaim, Till every land beneath the sun Has heard Jehovah's name. We own, O Lord, Thy sovereign power, And bow before Thy throne, To sing Thy glories in this hour, Immortal God alone.
Thy truth shall stand, unchanging God, Long as the ages roll, Though trampled oft where sin has trod And error chained the soul. Arise and shine, ye chosen band, Ye people, scattered, few; No work so high, so deep, so grand, Has e'er been given you.
We near that hour of calm surcease From sorrow, death, and sin, That brings the weary one release And ushers heaven in. Awake, arise, arise and shine, Proclaim His truth abroad; It is thy Saviour's work, and thine, Thou messenger of God.
We sing Thy praise, Eternal Lord, Thy glorious truth proclaim. Thy mandate is a shield and sword, Thy word a living flame. Long as the years of earth shall roll,— Long as eternity,— We'll bow to Thy benign control, And worship only Thee.

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Hope for the Heathen

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE
(Concluded)
THE prophet was permitted to look down the centuries to the time of the advent of the promised Messiah. At first he beheld only “trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish.” Isa. 8: 22. Many who were longing for the light of truth were being led astray by false teachers into the bewildering mazes of philosophy and spiritism; others were placing their trust in a form of godliness, but were not bringing true holiness into the life practice. The outlook seemed hopeless; but soon the scene changed, and before the eyes of the prophet was spread a wondrous vision. He saw the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and, lost in admiration, he exclaimed: “The dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” Isa. 9: 1, 2.
This glorious Light of the world was to bring salvation to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Of the work before Him, the prophet heard the Eternal Father declare: “It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. . . . In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. . . . Behold, these shall come from far; and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.” Isa. 49: 6-12.
Looking on still farther through the ages, the prophet beheld the literal fulfillment of these glorious promises. He saw the bearers of the glad tidings of salvation going to the ends of the earth, to every kindred and people. He heard the Lord saying of the gospel church, “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream” (Isa. 66: 12); and he heard the commission, “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles.” Isa. 54: 2, 3. Jehovah declared to the prophet that he would send his witnesses “unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, . . . to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off.” “They shall declare my glory among the Gentiles,” the prophet was assured by the divine messenger; “and they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations . . . to my holy mountain Jerusalem. . . . And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites.” Isa. 66: 19-21.
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” Isa. 52: 7.
The prophet heard the voice of God calling his church to her appointed work, that the way might be prepared for the ushering in of his everlasting kingdom. The message was unmistakably plain: —
“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. “Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. “Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged: because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. . . . They shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord.”
“Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. “And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favor have I had mercy on thee. Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.” Isa. 60: 1-6, 8-11.
“Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it.”
“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” Isa. 45: 8, 22.
These prophecies of a great spiritual awakening in a time of gross darkness are today meeting fulfillment in the advancing lines of mission stations that are reaching out into the benighted regions of earth. The groups of missionaries in heathen lands have been likened by the prophet to ensigns set up for the guidance of those who are looking for the light of truth.
“In that day,” says Isaiah, “there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people. . . . And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Isa. 11: 10-12.
The day of deliverance is at hand. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” 2 Chron. 6: 9. Among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, he sees men and women who are praying for light and knowledge. Their souls are unsatisfied: long have they fed on ashes. See Isa. 44: 20. The enemy of all righteousness has turned them aside, and they grope as blind men. But they are honest in heart, and desire to learn a better way. Although in the depths of heathenism, with no knowledge of the written law of God or of his Son Jesus, they have revealed in manifold ways the working of a divine power on mind and character.
At times those who have no knowledge of God aside from that which they have received under the operations of divine grace, have been kind to his servants, protecting them at the risk of their own lives. The Holy Spirit is implanting the grace of Christ in the heart of many a noble seeker after truth, quickening his sympathies contrary to his nature, contrary to his former education. The “Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1: 9), is shining in his soul; and this Light, if heeded, will guide his feet to the kingdom of God. The prophet Micah said, “When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” Micah 7: 8.
Heaven’s plan of salvation is broad enough to embrace the whole world. God longs to breathe into prostrate humanity the breath of life. And he will not permit any soul to be disappointed who is sincere in his longing for something higher and nobler than anything the world can offer. Constantly he is sending his angels to those who, while surrounded by circumstances the most discouraging, pray in faith for some power higher than themselves to take possession of them, and bring deliverance and peace. In various ways God will reveal himself to them, and will place them in touch with providences that will establish their confidence in the One who has given himself a ransom for all, “that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.” Ps. 78: 7.
“Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered.” Isa. 49: 24, 25. “They shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.” Isa. 42: 17.
“Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” Ps. 146: 5. “Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope.” Zech. 9: 12. Unto all the honest in heart in heathen lands—“the upright” in the sight of heaven—“there ariseth light in the darkness.” Ps. 112: 4. God hath spoken: “I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” Isa. 42: 16.

With What Do We Build?

By M. P. CADY, M. D.

M. P. CADY, M. D.
It is a great thing to be doing something really worth while. Too many of us are overbusy with trifles,—things that in themselves are of no moment, and make a hasty waste of what should have been a sound and well-directed industry toward noble ends.
Think of Paul's illustration of the builders; all were busy, some with gold, some with the enduring rock, some with wood, some with stubble. It is a far cry from the sod shanty to the great structure of stone or steel, and each is a reflection of the ideals of the builder. We can well pray for the large view, the vision of the permanent and best, and likewise pray for the indomitable spirit that shall impel through every difficulty and over every obstacle, and insure victory in every undertaking that is in harmony with the mind of God.
Birnamwood, Wis.

For Such a Time as This

By C. B. Stephenson

C. B. STEPHENSON
“Now then we are ambassadors for Christ.” An ambassador is a minister representing his sovereign or country at a foreign court. Christ says of his followers, “They are not of the world.” Having been born again from above, even by the Spirit, our citizenship is in heaven, the place of our spiritual birth. There our names are registered in the books. We are in the world, but not of the world, after we have been accepted into the heavenly family. An ambassador jealously cares for the interests of his sovereign and country. He is careful to represent them properly in every particular. He will make no compromise. Should he do so, his appointment would be canceled, and another called to take his place.
The Christian’s Sovereign is in the heavenly country. The Christian has, by solemn covenant, accepted a citizenship there, and thereby severed his spiritual allegiance to all others. His first duty is to love God supremely, and his neighbor as himself. The obligations of his heavenly citizenship will not conflict with those of the earth as long as the earthly are administered in harmony with the divine plan. In case of a conflict between the two, the error is always with the human government. Its wrongful requirements are not yielded to by the ambassadors of God, as the example of Daniel testifies. This brings a crisis, which will put to test the loyalty of God’s people. Just such a conflict we can see rapidly approaching.
In the fourth chapter of Esther is recorded a condition which illustrates the point. In Esther 3:8 the accusation is made that the Jews, the people of God, refused to observe the laws of the kingdom. The crisis came. The representatives of the King of glory refused to compromise, but stood loyal to their King and country. Mordecai refused to recognize the right of an earthly court to make and administer laws which required him to violate the laws of God. He addressed a message to Queen Esther, calling her attention to their perilous situation, and suggesting that she had come to the kingdom “for such a time as this.” For their loyalty to God, the whole Jewish nation was placed under death sentence, but that did not turn them. After they had exhausted every means of adjustment with the earthly court, and failed, they rested the case with their King. In prayer they appealed to him for deliverance, with the result that he sustained them, and turned the death sentence upon their enemies. The reports of their allegiance and faith quickly spread to all the provinces, and the God of the Jews was known as the God of gods. By the loyalty of the church, attention was quickly called to the true God. If King Saul had been faithful in carrying out the instruction of the Lord to destroy all the Amalekites, this trial would not have come to the Jews of that day. Haman was a descendant of Agag, the king whom Saul spared. Our unfaithfulness may bring sore trials to others.
“For such a time as this.” At the present time conditions are quite similar to those of the days of Mordecai. In the Reformation of the sixteenth century, the Reformers did a splendid work in destroying many errors of the Dark Ages, but they “spared Agag,” and “a few of the best cattle,”—the Sunday, sprinkling, and the natural immortality of man. These errors, instead of being slain by the sword of truth, were brought up into the camp of the Lord, and today threaten to destroy not only the truth of the seventh-day Sabbath, but the people who will be loyal to this heavenly command. Another death sentence will some day be issued against God’s ambassadors because they will not observe certain laws of the land. Modern Mordecais are needed who will not compromise their country and King by recognizing the laws of a foreign court which are contrary to God’s law. The inspired writer says a decree will go forth that all who will not worship the beast and his image and receive his mark should be killed. Rev. 13:15, 16. No one who is faithful to God’s law will receive the mark of the beast. The conflict will surely come. The God of the church in the days of Queen Esther and Mordecai, is the Lord of the commandment-keeping church today, and will as surely deliver all who will be loyal.

A Call to Greater Consecration

By T. W. Thirlwell

T. W. THIRLWELL
Men everywhere are appalled and horror-stricken at the awful international conflict into which Europe has suddenly been plunged. The greatest war in the history of the world is now being waged, and written upon the pages of history with human blood. Nation after nation has been drawn into this terrible whirlpool of destruction, and it would seem as if this war would not end until all the civilized nations be involved. The nations which have declared neutrality, time and again find themselves facing complications that tax them to the utmost to keep from being compelled to enter the war in self-defense. “In point of magnitude the present war is absolutely without a parallel. Never in all the history of the world have there been marshaled on the field of battle armies that even approached in numbers the hosts which are now drawn up on the frontiers of Germany and Austria. To appreciate the stupendous character of the war of the nations which is now taking place on the continent of Europe, we must bear in mind two facts: First, that it is a war to the death; second, that in the full realization of the absolute finality of the result, every one of the contending nations has already called out, or has stated it would do so, the whole of its trained reserves, thus putting some sixteen millions of men under arms.”
The following quotation appeared in the Review and Herald under date of March 14, 1912, and describes the scenes which are now meeting their fulfillment, but were then future: “Troublous times are right upon us. The fulfilling of the signs of the times gives evidence that the day of the Lord is near at hand. The daily papers are full of indications of a terrible conflict in the future. . . . The crisis is stealing gradually upon us. . . . Satan sees that his time is short. He has set all his agents to work, that men may be deceived, deluded, occupied, and entranced, until the day of probation shall be ended, and the door of God’s mercy be forever shut. The time is right upon us when there will be sorrow that no human balm can heal. Sentinel angels are now restraining the four winds, that they shall not blow until the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads; but when God shall bid his angels loose the winds, there will be a scene of strife such as no pen can picture. The ‘time of trouble, such as never was,’ is soon to open upon us; and we shall need an experience which many are too indolent to obtain. It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality, but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal.”
These words, although written several years ago, are worthy of the most careful consideration at the present time. Truly, no language can describe the frightful scenes taking place in the conflict of the nations.
For years we as a people have been looking forward with much apprehension to the time when this war cloud would burst upon the earth. We have watched the nations in their vast preparations for war, fulfilling the prophecy of Joel. “Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up.” Now we see these fearful implements of war let loose upon humanity with such deadly effect.
Never, since the days of Noah, has the world seen the fulfilling of prophecy freighted with such solemn and fearful import. Surely we are living in a solemn time. The Eastern Question is hanging in the balance; we know not how soon the Turk may go to Jerusalem, and then we can look for the final gathering of the nations for the battle of Armageddon. God’s people have never stood in a more solemn time. We have evidence before our eyes in the fulfilling of prophecy of Daniel, that the work of the judgment is fast closing, and that earth’s probation is about to close forever. Do we realize the seriousness of the days in which we are now living? The end is right upon us. We may truly speak of earth’s time as days, for not many years will pass until Christ shall come.
We as a people can see that the world has entered upon the last great struggle before the final plunge into the battle of Armageddon. We can see that God is seeking to call the attention of mankind to the last great message of warning and mercy, that shall finish the work of God in the earth. May we not ask ourselves the question, What does this mean to us as a people? Has God no special warning in this for his people? Yes, most emphatically, yes. While it is true that this means much to the world, it means infinitely more to God’s professed people. While God is speaking in unmistakable tones of thunder to the world, is he not speaking in unmistakable tones to his people, seeking to arrest them, to call to their attention the shortness of time? The world is fast hastening on to the end, and many of God’s professed people are carelessly going on in the ways of the world, unheeding the messages of warning. God calls his people to come out from the things of the world. His command is for a closer and deeper consecration of heart and life, to finish the work he has given them to do. Many of God’s professed people are not ready to meet their God. O that the church itself realized the meaning of these things in the sense that it should! We see fulfilling before our eyes one of the most significant present-day prophecies, and yet how many look upon it in a cool, matter-of-fact sort of way. They fail to see in this any special warning for themselves. They seem to think that they are all right, and they are not aroused to seek for a greater work of grace in their hearts and lives.
“How frequently we hear of earthquakes and tornadoes, of destruction by fire and flood, with great loss of life and property! Apparently these calamities are capricious outbreaks of seemingly disorganized, unregulated forces, but in them God’s purpose may be read. They are one of the means by which he seeks to arouse men and women to a sense of their danger.
“There are many, many in our churches who know little of the real meaning of the truth for this time. I appeal to them not to disregard the fulfilling of the signs of the times, which says so plainly that the end is near. O, how many who have not sought their souls’ salvation will soon make the bitter lamentation, ‘The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is not saved.’”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VIII, page 252.
This is God’s warning call to his people to arouse from this condition into which so many have fallen, and to prepare to meet him. This warning call should take hold upon every Seventh-day Adventist with irresistible force. “Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel,” should be the watchword of every Adventist household. It should lead to such a searching of heart, such a putting away of sin, as never before characterized this people. Let this warning stir us to the depth of our hearts, and let such a deep, whole-hearted preparation of heart and life follow throughout our ranks, as will bring upon us the fullness of the Holy Spirit in the latter rain.
(To be continued)

Mental Habits That Work Ruin

By GEO. D. BALLOU

Mind Cure — No. 2

Mental Habits That Work Ruin

GEO. D. BALLOU
Some causes that are thoughtlessly supposed to be purely physical may be traced directly to mental control or lack of control. We are wont to speak and think of intemperance and bad habits of eating and drinking as physical causations. But it is the appetite that is controlling the body. Expressed in another way, the will does not have control of the perverse mental tendency. To this lack of mental control a large part of the ills of mankind are directly due. Some of the wisest dietitians, seeing only the visible forms of this sad phase of human suffering, have thought only of physical causation, and hence have not applied the mental remedies needed. The only cure for such mental habits is the instilling of higher ideals and cleaner conceptions of life, of purer enjoyments and more lasting and satisfying pleasures.
The mind must be diverted to nobler ideals. There is no place for the use of force in this process. It must be a course of cheerful, hopeful persuasion, born of good will and kindness. Step by step the mind must be lifted to higher planes. Patient, courageous, diligent effort will be needed. If after months of apparent success there comes a lapse into the old ways, a loving, merciful ministration will be needed, and the person must not be made to think that his friends have forsaken him because of his last folly. He will be sore and penitent enough for some days; and in this period he must not be permitted to lapse into discouragement. He must be made to feel that while his friends hate his old wretched habits, as he himself sometimes does, yet they have a most earnest, intense, loving interest in his future welfare. Men and women must be taught to eat and drink to live, instead of living to eat and drink.
What we have just said of appetite is true of lust, which also numbers its victims by thousands. This strong mental causation may be purified and ennobled and transformed into a spirit of good will toward all mankind, and the nature that has been besotted in self-gratification may be exalted to a position where all the powers and propensities of the body will be subservient to the control of the divine nature, of which the individual has become a partaker, by having his ideals cleansed and exalted through the precepts and promises of God's Word.
Believe it, brother, there are pleasures that leave no sting, joys that are not supplemented by regrets, gratifications that are not followed by days of fear and sorrow.
All that was just said about helping the man of appetite is strictly true in laboring for these cases. With one hand grasping the hand of the Divine, the worker may reach out successfully to draw men and women back to the standards of the Creator. Human ideals must be exalted and ennobled by contact with the Divine, then will the spiritual weapons of our warfare bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Cor. 10: 5.
The task of subduing lust may sometimes be more long and difficult than conquering appetite, and many times appetite will have to be conquered first; yet there is a power that can conquer, and that power succeeds because it connects the human mind with the throne of the universe. It is one thing to be connected with the dry-cell batteries of earth and a vastly different thing to be connected with the great central dynamo of the universe.
One more mental habit, pride, demands our attention. Pride of dress is its most damaging form to the physical being. Many cases of consumption are due entirely to the weakening of the lungs through hindering the breathing by the wearing of bands and stays about the waist line. Many cases of stomach and liver trouble have the same cause. To pride of dress, the corset, and lust are due ninety-five one hundredths of all the cases of surgery for women's peculiar ailments. There is only one remedy: subdue the pride, conquer the lust, and the medical profession will lose one of the most lucrative sources of income.
Corns and bunions are due largely to pride, and the chiropodist and the pedal surgeon live off the miseries produced by this want of mental control. The dainty boot fits the perverted mind even though it gives agony to the foot, and it must be endured because fashion says so.
Let us never again think of the things noted in this article as merely physical causes of suffering, for we have clearly seen that they are deeply seated in a perverted mentality. It needs a full supply of the religion of the personal Christ, not the religion of the creeds, to deal successfully with these physical ills and their mental causes.
Los Angeles, Cal.

An Inaccurate Paraphrase

By L. L. CAVINESS

L. L. CAVINESS
ADVOCATES of Sunday sacredness sometimes paraphrase Matt. 28: 1 so as to make it read: “In the end of the Jewish sabbaths, as it began to dawn toward the first of the Christian sabbaths,” etc. Let us first consider the Greek expression which is translated the first day of the week in the Bible, to see whether it can be possibly translated “the first of the Christian sabbaths.” It is μία σαββάτων (mia sabbaton).
In our consideration we must first remember that the Greek is a highly inflected language; the adjective agrees with the noun it modifies in number, gender, and case. This gives us an immediate test of the validity of the suggested new translation. As the adjective first is translated in the Bible rendering, it modifies the supplied word day, while in the new rendering it would have to modify the word sabbath understood—“the first [sabbath] of the Christian sabbaths.” Now the Greek word μία (mia) is in the feminine form. The Greek word day ἡμέρα (hemera) is feminine; while σάββατον (sabbaton) is neuter. Thus the form of first in our text is such that it may modify day, but cannot modify sabbath.
How does σάββατον (sabbaton) come to be translated week in the Bible rendering?—Simply because the word means both sabbath and week, as any good New Testament Greek lexicon will inform us. Let us quote a small one which is right at hand: “σάββατον, ου, τό (from Heb.), (1) the sabbath, Matt. 12: 8; 28: 1; (2) a period of seven days, a week, Mark 16: 2, 9; in both senses the plural is also used.”—Hinds and Noble’s “New Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament.”
The reason for this one Greek word having these two meanings is plain when we consider the origin of the week and the early way of naming the days. This is clearly stated in the following quotation: “It [the week] was unquestionably derived from the divine institution at the creation, handed down by primitive tradition. This is evident from the word Sabbat, or Sabbata, denoting a week among the Syrians, Arabians, Christian Persians, and Ethiopians, as in the following ancient Syriac calendar, expressed in the Chaldee alphabet:—
אחד בשבת — One of the Sabbath, or Week — Sunday. שני בשבת — Two of the Sabbath — Monday. שלישי בשבת — Three of the Sabbath — Tuesday. רביעי בשבת — Four of the Sabbath — Wednesday. חמישי בשבת — Five of the Sabbath — Thursday. ערב שבת — Eve of the Sabbath — Friday. שבת — The Sabbath — Saturday.
“The high antiquity of this calendar is evinced by the use of the cardinal numbers, one, two, three, etc., instead of the ordinals, first, second, third, etc., following the Hebrew idiom, as in the account of the creation, where we read in the original, ‘One day,’ which the Septuagint retains, calling it ἡμέρα μία (hemera mia). It is remarkable that all the evangelists follow the Syriac calendar, both in the word σάββατα (plural of sabbaton), used for ‘a week,’ and also in retaining the cardinal number μία σαββάτων (mia sabbaton), ‘one of the week,’ to express the day of the resurrection. Matt. 28: 1; Mark 16: 2; Luke 24: 1; John 20: 1.”—William Hales, “A New Analysis of Chronology and Geography” (4 vols.), C. J. G. & F. Rivington, London, 1830, Vol. I, pages 19, 20.
This same Greek expression occurs not only in the Gospels, but also in Acts 20: 7 and 1 Cor. 16: 2. Certainly no one would desire to claim that the Sunday when Paul was at Troas was “the first of the Christian sabbaths.” It would be utterly impossible for every Sunday to be “the first of the Christian sabbaths;” though it is easy to see how the early Christians could count up on each first day of the week how they had been prospered financially, and lay aside, in proportion to this, an offering for the poor at Jerusalem.

Sin and the Sinner

It has been said many times and with much force, that “God hates sin, but loves the sinner.” There is just enough truth in it to make it a dangerous error. If sin could be separated from the sinner, there might be propriety in the declaration. But can it be separated? What is sin without a personality behind it? How can sin exist without a personality as the seat of its activity? Does sin walk abroad as an entity all by itself? Is God going to separate sin from sinners, taking the latter to himself, and shutting up the former in the dark dungeon of woe, or sending it away to dwell by itself? Has sin sensation, so that it can be punished or exalted all by itself?—No; sin has no existence without an intelligent being with whom it is associated and who is its author. True, it is said that sin is transgression of law. But does sin walk abroad, transgressing law where nothing but itself is found?—Oh, no; sin implies a sinner, an intelligent actor who is under obligation to obey law, but who, because of a sinful nature, violates law and becomes a sinner. Sin, of itself, is an abstraction, but associated with an intelligent actor it is the bane of his existence. Sin is like fire. It cannot exist alone. Unless it has something to feed upon, it cannot exist; it “goes out.” But when fire comes in contact with gunpowder, the result is an explosion, with direful consequences. No, it is the sinner whom God punishes, he who cannot be separated from sin until he has been burned up. Sin in the soul of man continues to do its work until the soul is consumed. The only thing that can separate the human soul and the sin that dwells in it is the blood of Christ.—Journal and Messenger.

Living One Day at a Time

By William George Jordan

WHAT the world needs is more day-to-day living; starting in the morning with fresh, clear ideals for that day, and seeking to live that day, and each successive hour and moment of that day, as if it were all time and all eternity. This has in it no element of disregard for the future, for each day is set in harmony with that future. It is like the sea captain heading his vessel toward his port of destination, and day by day keeping her steaming toward it.—William George Jordan.

Words Without the Heart

“God hears the heart though without words, but he never hears words without the heart.”
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