THEOSOPHY is defined by theosophical writers as the divine wisdom. Its object is stated to be the “study of comparative religion, philosophy, and science;” also to “investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man.”
The quotations in this article are largely from the writings of Annie Besant, the author of fourteen tracts and pamphlets out of twenty-four composing a reading course advertised by this sect. So she is considered good authority relative to the teachings of theosophy.
Now “theosophy,” like its twin sister, “Christian Science,” claims to be Christian. That is, it claims to be in harmony with the ethics of the Founder of the Christian faith.
Whether this claim is true or false can only be known by comparing the statements of the two. In a work published by that society, being a lecture by Annie Besant on theosophy, she says, “Theosophy appeals to the skeptic, those whose minds are bewildered by doubts—those who seek to hold to their ancient belief but find it slipping from their fingers.”
But how does it propose to help these unbelieving souls? By facts demonstrating the truth of the Gospel? Let us see. “Theosophy, to the Christian world, is a representation of fundamental truths, clothed in that scientific garment which makes them more acceptable to the mind of the modern man, . . . unveiling unknown depths of thought, unveiling unknown heights of mystic interpretation.”
Like Christian Science, it proposes to bring the teachings of the lowly Nazarene up to the comprehension of the wise men of this century. But let us follow this occult science, and see what some of these “deep mystic interpretations” are. They tell us that man is essentially an eternal spirit. The body is the form which this “eternal spirit” occupies. This eternal spirit which is in all men is divine. In speaking to the criminal in the slum it says, “You are divine as I,” and, “You shall grow to the perfection of God Himself.” Thus God is in all men, and all men are essentially a part of God. And as God will not and can not destroy a part of Himself, so He can not destroy us. Now reasoning logically from this basis, if God punishes men at all for sin, He punishes Himself.6
How unlike the teachings of our divine Master, who said to Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again;” and, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life,” that is, eternal life. Further He says, “If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not [eternal] life.”
In these teachings, Christ emphatically makes faith in Him a condition to eternal life. But the “deep mystic interpretations” of theosophy are that all men are alike divine, and all will eventually evolve into that higher condition which angels enjoy, regardless of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Theosophy also teaches evolution of both body and spirit, also reincarnation. “What have you done,” say they, “to earn the position and advantage in which you are now placed, unless you have lived in lives before the present?” To the doubting, discouraged soul theosophy says, “You shall climb to the perfection of God Himself.”
Thus as the immortal spirit unfolds and passes from one body to another, the physical form also improves.
Like all other “deep mystic teachings,” theosophy does not make clear at just what point in evolution the human is replaced or succeeded by the divine, or just where in the evolution of the spirit and the body the animal became human. In all the discoveries of evolutionary science, if it be proper to call it a science, there is still a missing link. Some mystic writers indicate that the higher order of the ape are akin to the human; but just where in this evolutionary development the immortal spirit is breathed into the animal form, seems to be a mystery. However, believers in the Bible record and the testimony of Christ are not troubled upon this point.
Plunging a little deeper into this mystic science, we find them teaching that the Christ of the Christian and Vishnu of the Hindu are the same. They say, “In every religion, worship is paid to the same being, tho different names are used.” Unlike Paul, who exhorted his hearers to turn away from the worship of these gods, they advise all missionaries who visit so-called heathen lands, to identify the god there worshiped with the Christian’s God. They say the name is the only difference. Yet theosophy claims to be Christian.
This reminds the reader of history of the times just prior to the Dark Ages, when millions of heathen embraced the Christian faith outwardly by accepting “Christian baptism” and giving Christian names to the gods they worshiped, still continuing all heathen forms and practises.
No Christian missionary, we are told, has a right to outrage the belief of other nations by denying the divine prophet at whose feet he bows. Indeed, we are told that “all religions grow from the same trunk.”
Again we are told that in time “all men become christs,” and when we have reached that degree of spiritual development within the reach of all, we may receive worship. Thus we may bow to all great beings under the name “Christ.” Thus theosophy deifies men, making us all gods.
How different is the testimony of Jesus Christ! When John fell at the feet of the angel to worship him, the angel said, “Do it not; . . . worship God.” To the Christian there is one God, and His Son Jesus Christ. Before Him the angels were commanded to bow. Thus theosophy, while claiming to be Christian, makes every man his own savior, and gives the same honor to the sinner that it does to the Messiah. In speaking of the atonement, it says it consists in inwardly developing—that is, by this divine power which is in every man—a good character, a character like Christ, who they acknowledge was a good man.
Now to me here is a very strange thing—a religion claiming to be Christian, speaking reverently of the Founder of the Christian faith, giving Him worship, yet according the same honor to the gods worshiped by the heathen, and presenting to the world teachings directly antagonistic to teachings of Christ. He told the people, while here among men, that He existed before the world was; that He represented the Father; that He should die for men, and be raised again; that remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations; that by believing on Him there is salvation; that there is no salvation for men only through faith in Him. Now if He told the truth, theosophy is false from beginning to end—it is antichrist. If Christ did not speak the truth, then He was a hypocrite, and the greatest false prophet that ever visited this world.
There can be no compromise here. We can not worship both God and devils, neither can we follow truth and error. If Christ is from above, theosophy is from beneath. These teachings can not emanate from the same source.
Nicodemus
By Mrs. Edith B. Goodrich
By Mrs. Edith B. Goodrich
When night had drawn her curtains about a sleeping world,
And all was hushed on hill, and lake, and lea,
'Twas then that Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews,
Went forth to meet the Lord in secrecy.
Chorus
O grand, impartial message inscribed on sacred page!
'Tis just as much a truth to-day as then,
Position wins no favors from Christ, the King of Kings;
"Ye must," said He, "ye must be born again!"
Afraid to meet the censure of bitter Pharisee
By seeking open counsel in the day,
Yet longing to unburden his anxious, troubled heart,
To meet the Lord by night he stole away.
With eagerness, yet trembling, he sought the secret spot
Where Jesus oft retired to pray and rest,
And there, before the Master, in that strange hour of night,
Unfolded all that lay upon his breast.
He deemed that his position might influence the Lord
To favor him, a ruler of the Jew;
To make salvation easy—to point some special way;
But Jesus read His questioner through and through.
Tho cultured was His caller, the Master did not shrink
From speaking truth that in his soul would ring;
He showed one common pathway—one road for all the world,
For pauper, peasant, Pharisee, or king!
As Nicodemus listened, he felt the forceful power
Of all the words the Saviour spoke to him;
He hid them in his bosom, and pondered on them much,
While walking homeward through the shadows dim.
And when the great Sanhedrin those officers despatched
To seize the Galilean ere His hour,
'Twas Nicodemus questioned, "To rashly judge a man
Before his trial—hath our law such power?"
'Twas Nicodemus, also, who, after Jesus' death,
Brought spices to anoint Him, very rare;
And I believe hereafter, in that fair world made new,
We'll meet this noble ruler over there.
HE first five verses of the 14th chapter of the Revelation describe the character and triumph of that company saved at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The threefold message which develops these characters follows. This message is divided into three parts, the first containing great positive truth, the second a sad lament, the third a mighty, solemn protest and warning. And once again is described the character of those who embrace the message: "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."
Then follows our lesson of to-day. Let us note—
The Answer of the Text
[The answers to the questions are from the American Revised Version. Omitting questions, and disregarding sometimes the capital at the beginning and the period at the close of an answer, the text may be read continuously. In notes and comments both versions are used without designation.]
1. What voice did John hear from heaven?
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them. Rev. 14:13.
2. What vision was next shown the prophet?
And I saw, and behold, a white cloud; and on the cloud I saw One sitting like unto a Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. Verse 14.
3. What was said to Him on the cloud?
And another angel came out from the temple, crying with a great voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Send forth Thy sickle, and reap: for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. Verse 15.
4. What followed?
And He that sat on the cloud cast His sickle upon the earth; and the earth was reaped. Verse 16.
5. What did the prophet next see?
And another angel came out from the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. Verse 17.
6. What was said to the angel?
And another angel came out from the altar, he that hath power over fire; and he called with a great voice to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. Verse 18.
7. What was done with the harvest?
And the angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage of the earth, and cast it into the wine-press, the great wine-press, of the wrath of God. And the wine-press was trodden without the city, and there came out blood from the wine-press, even unto the bridles of the horses, as far as a thousand and six hundred furlongs. Verses 19 and 20.
A Vision of Judgment
8. What was next shown to the prophet?
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God. Rev. 15:1.
A Vision of Victories
9. What victorious company was shown John?
And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having harps of God. Verse 2.
10. What song of triumph did they sing?
And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the ages. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy; for all the nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy righteous acts have been made manifest. Verses 3 and 4.
Note and Comment
1. "BLESSED ARE THE DEAD."—We are frequently told by those who seem to be spiritual that the faith of the Christian ought to take hold of healing just as strongly as it takes hold of forgiveness of sins, justification, and regeneration, and that faith is wanting unless it does this. But a scripture like this lies strongly against such a view. The Lord here declares that even in the very last days, so filled with blessing, and yet so full of trial, those who die in the Lord are blessed. This blessing may seem to lie in their being saved from the awful perils through which the remnant church must pass. We read in Isaiah 57, concerning this very time: "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He entereth into peace; they rest in their beds, each one that walketh in his uprightness." God saves aged and worn servants from additional trials. They have been tested and proved. Their works will follow after them. Being dead, they will yet speak, and yet will rest until the Lord shall come and call them.
2. "BEHOLD, A WHITE CLOUD."—John sees the culmination of the work to which the great threefold message pertained. "White" is indicative of purity. The "cloud" represents God's angels. When Jesus ascended to heaven, He was received by a great company of angels that had the appearance of a cloud; and when He comes again, He will come surrounded by hosts of angels, which will appear like a great cloud of glory. (See Acts 1:9-11; Rev. 1:7; and other passages.) "Like unto a Son of Man" is the One sitting upon the cloud. This is the term that is used in Rev. 1:13, where our Lord is described as ministering for His people as Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. Such is the term that is used in John 5:27, where we are told that God has given Jesus "authority to execute judgment, because He is a Son of Man." He is coming on the cloud to consummate His work. He comes as King, and on His head is a golden crown. This carries us back to the promise and prophecy of Ps. 21:3, "Thou settest a crown of fine gold on His head."
He has in His hand a sickle, showing Him to be a reaper. The harvest is at hand. And this harvest also is according to promise, as we learn from Matthew 13. He is coming to reap the results of the great threefold message. God sends this message to the world to save the world. Those who utterly reject the message, will be as truly ripened by the message as those who accept it. The same sun that ripens the wheat, ripens the tares; that ripens the grain, ripens the weeds. Those who reject God's saving messages, are ripened in wickedness in a character unworthy of salvation, just as truly as those who accept it and walk in it are ripened for the heavenly garner. This passage does not represent a different message, as some have erroneously thought; it represents the result of the great threefold message already given.
3. ANOTHER ANGEL.—Another messenger from God, one who comes out from the temple where our Lord has finished His ministry. That ministry closed with the judgment, and that judgment demands that the harvest shall be gathered, that judgment shall be executed. Consequently the loud call to Him who sits upon the cloud, just as tho He were still lingering in mercy, to "send forth Thy sickle, and reap: for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe." The great voice indicates that the time is at hand, that the action is urgent. This is said to Christ; it is the culmination of the appeals which have been made through all the centuries of the past, ever since sin entered, for the King to come to His own. It is the answer of the fourfold cry of the living creatures—"Come."
4. THE EARTH WAS REAPED.—"And He that sat on the cloud cast His sickle upon the earth; and the earth was reaped." It will be noted that there are two reapings. There are two different thoughts expressed in the reapings. We read of one reaping in Matt. 3:12: "He will gather His WHEAT into the garner." The reaping or the gathering of the righteous ones is represented by the gathering of the grain that can be stored up for the future. It is a reaping which pertains to eternity. The other reaping is that of the vineyard. The gathering of the vintage is the gathering of that which is temporary. Grapes do not keep; wheat does. Wheat can be preserved indefinitely; grapes soon perish. This gathering of the vintage is not of the good grapes, however; it is of those which are evil. But the reaping of the One who sat upon the cloud is the gathering of the wheat, the taking to Himself His own. "And He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet" to the uttermost parts of the earth, and gather those who are His. Matt. 24:31. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." Matt. 13:43. This the parable of the wheat and the tares points out as the end of the age: "The harvest is the end of the world." Matt. 13:39.
5. ANOTHER ANGEL.—This angel comes out from the temple, or sanctuary (see margin), where our Lord has finished His ministry, where the judgment decisions have been rendered, when he that is filthy shall be filthy still, and he that is righteous shall be righteous still. Rev. 22:11. This angel has also a sharp sickle. He also is a reaper.
6. "ANOTHER ANGEL" from the altar comes forth, who has power over fire, and who calls to the angel with the sickle, saying, "Send forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe." Fire is indicative of judgment, for judgment in many cases is rendered with fire. He also comes from the altar. This carries us back to Rev. 6:9, where many of God's children are seen as slain underneath7the altar, the altar of sacrifice upon the earth. In chapter 8: 3 we have the angel represented as offering incense upon the altar, with the prayers of the saints, before the throne; and when that ministry is finished, the angel takes the censer, and fills it with the fire of the altar, and casts it upon the earth, and there follow thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake, the great judgments of God upon a world which has rejected Him and identified itself in sin and rebellion. This is the angel that has power over fire that comes forth from the altar. The prayers of God's children for deliverance through all the ages will be answered, and judgment will be rendered against those great systems of earth that have plotted and planned and set themselves against God's work in the earth.
There is another thought in connection with these two harvests. It would seem as tho our Lord reserves to Himself the privilege of gathering His own children. The yearning of heart expressed in His prayer in John 17, "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am," is now to be realized, and He Himself is the reaper. But in the judgment which is to be executed against the wicked of earth, the commission is given to the angel who presided at the altar, and the angel executes the judgment of God.
There is another thought, also, expressed in the call both to Christ and to the angel. The great voice tells our Lord to cast in His sickle and reap, for the time has come to reap. It is the great voice, like the voice of the Gospel angels, a voice of strength and triumph. But it is not so said in the original concerning the angel who calls to the angel with the sickle. He CRIES. It would seem as tho all the cries for justice and deliverance through all the ages had culminated in that one great cry of the angel in this last judgment.
7. "THE ANGEL CAST HIS SICKLE INTO THE EARTH."—The cry of all the ages is to be answered. The vintage of the earth, the ripeness of wickedness, is to be reaped, cast into the wine-press, the great wine-press of the wrath of God. Sin is to be ended. Not always will it curse the earth, or God's universe; it is not God's design, however misinformed theologians have represented it, that His fair universe shall be blasted forever by the sight of sin and persistent rebellion against God. The sin will be ended; the fruit will be reaped, and the wrath of God will end in its utter destruction.
The scene that is presented in the 20th verse, of the blood from the wine-press even unto the bridles of the horses, is variously interpreted. It may relate to the great battle of Armageddon, which will take place around Jerusalem, where the nations which have drunk of the wrath of God will be gathered, according to Jeremiah. If the battle of Armageddon is to be fought in the valley of Jehoshaphat, as some scriptures seem to indicate, where the great judgment will take place, as foretold by Joel, it would not be an astonishing thing at all, if the blood would flow in streams equal to what is here stated. It is also thought by some to refer to its final fulfilment, to the great judgment day, which will include not only one generation, but all the generations of earth, when the wicked will be gathered and come up around the city of God, as outlined in Revelation 20. And there the judgment of God will be visited upon them. However it may be, whether applying to the battle of Armageddon, before Christ comes, or to the thousand years, or both, we may leave all that safely with God. The great and important thing to us is to be ready for that harvest.
The prophet Joel, looking forward to that time, saw the great multitudes of earth deciding concerning the messages which God is sending out to the world. Said he, "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision." Men are ranging themselves under one banner or under the other, yielding themselves to God and eternal truth, or yielding themselves to wickedness and eternal death. And when that time comes this also is true, that Joel declares in connection with the great battle which is to be fought: "Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread ye; for the wine-press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great." Then God shall speak and the heavens and the earth shall shake. But in all the trial, the war, the battles, the calamities which shall be visited upon the earth, "Jehovah will be a refuge unto His people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel." See Joel 3: 9-16.
8. "SEVEN ANGELS HAVING SEVEN PLAGUES."—The wrath of God is mentioned in the message of the third angel, verses 9 to 11 of the 14th chapter. The wrath of God is mentioned in the verses that we have just passed over in our lesson. Now we are told in what that wrath of God will be completed. John has shown seven angels, indicating fulness, completion, "having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God"—"in them is filled up the wrath of God." That is, all the wrath which will be visited upon a wicked world is filled up in those plagues. When those plagues are poured out, the beginning of the culmination of the wrath of God is reached; and those plagues will continue their work until sin is utterly blotted from God's universe. Of this we will learn more in our next.
9. THEY THAT COME OFF VICTORIOUS.—John sees another vision. Again and again, in the midst of all these calamities, the strife, the wickedness, the persecution, God brings before His children the glorious triumph. He would not have them discouraged by any of the lessons which are given, by any of the calamities which are foretold, by the persecutions which are sure to come. He ever holds out before them the glorious triumph which awaits those who are faithful. In the beginning of the 14th chapter, the triumphant remnant church is represented by those who have no guile in their character, without fault before the throne, and who have the Father's name written on their foreheads. The character of God has been transmuted into theirs. The same company is shown in the 15th chapter, showing that they not only have this character, but they have been victorious over evil. They are not a holy company who have not been tried, they are a righteous company who have stood the test of the severest temptations which have come upon any generation the world has ever known. They have had against them the world-combined influence of the beast and his image. Before them has been placed peace and quiet and ease if they would but worship, or yield to the influence of, the beast power; but in their loyalty to God they have resisted this. They stand before the throne on that sea of glass mentioned in chapter 4, victorious from the beast and from his image and from the number of his name, having harps of God, showing that they are singing songs of triumph.
10. THEY SING A DOUBLE SONG: (1) The song of Moses, the servant of God. In Exodus, the 15th chapter, we have recorded the song of Moses. That song expressed deliverance from all earthly foes. The children of Israel were menaced by the strongest power on earth. God gave them glorious and complete deliverance from that power. The children of God in the last generation are menaced by all the powers of earth. God gives them glorious deliverance from all these persecuting, rebellious governments. They can truly sing the song of Moses, the servant of God. But the children of Israel who were saved from the power of Egypt were still slaves of sin, and the great mass of them died in the wilderness because of their bondage to sin. But this company sing not only the song of Moses, deliverance from Egyptian bondage, from the power of earthly enslavement, but they sing the song of the Lamb. Our Lord Jesus Christ won victory over sin—absolute and complete—and the song of the Lamb is the song of that victory over sin. Therefore this last generation are not only triumphant over all the powers of earth through the mercy of God, but are triumphant over all the power of sin. Therefore it is said in the 3d verse of the 14th chapter, that it is a "new song," which no man could learn save this company, because no other company have ever had the experience of this company. No other company have met the combined foes which this company have met, with all the world combined against them, and with all the power of evil combined to destroy their souls; and through God they have come off victorious from both. Therefore the new song.
There are some thoughts emphasized in this song: one, that God is worthy of all fear and reverence. "Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name?" Note that these are the two points given in the first part of the great threefold message, "Fear God, and give glory to Him." This triumphant company have done this, and they have found Him worthy of all reverence, worthy of all honor, the only One who is holy.
Another point emphasized in that message is, "and WORSHIP Him that made the heaven and the earth." And so they sing, "All nations shall come and worship before Thee." Those who would not, have perished in their own corruption. Those who are saved, are those who count God worthy of all worship. They also declare that God is just. His righteous acts have been made manifest. The King of Ages has demonstrated that He is love. We read in Gen. 18: 25 the question of Abraham, the father of the faithful, in connection with God's judgment upon Sodom, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Men have ranged themselves on both sides of that question ever since. Some have declared that God is not just. In their blind ignorance they see only one side of God's dealings. Some in simple faith say, "I know that He doeth all things well." But after the storm is cleared, and God's judgments have been rendered, then it will be said, "Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of Ages."
Why may we not join in that song, with anticipation, now? And even tho we can not see all things clearly, God has given us enough evidence so that we may trust and be true.
The Bible
By Bishop Thomson
It has a self-perpetuating and multiplying power. Infidels have written books: where are they? Where is Porphyry, Julian? Fragments of them there are; but we are indebted even for this to Christian criticism. Where is Hume, Voltaire, Bolingbroke? It requires the world's reprieve to bring a copy out of the prison of their darkness. Where is the Bible? Wherever there is light. Speaking the language of heaven in sevenscore and three of the tongues of earth, and giving the Word of God by forty millions of voices to five times as many million ears, and in tongues spoken by six hundred millions of men, and having swept its path of storm through all time, it still walks triumphant, despite earth's dying malice and hell's eternal wrath; and like the apocalyptic angel, tho it wraps its mantle of cloud around it, calmly looks out upon the world with a face as it were the sun encircled with the rainbow.—Bishop Thomson.
Beware Coldness Toward Opponents
“BEWARE that no coldness creeps into your heart toward those who antagonize you.”
What Makes a Great Life
By F. B. Meyer
Do not try to do a great thing; you may waste all your life waiting for the opportunity which may never come. But since little things are always claiming your attention, do them as they come, from a great motive, for the glory of God, to win His smile of approval and do good to men.
It is harder to plod on in obscurity, acting thus, than to stand on the high places of the field, within the view of all, and do deeds of valor at which rival armies stand still to gaze. But no such act goes without the swift recognition and the ultimate recompense of Christ.
To fulfil faithfully the duties of your station; to use to the uttermost the gifts of your ministry; to bear chaffing and trivial irritations as martyrs bore the pillory and stake; to find the one noble trait in people who try to molest you; to put the kindest construction on unkind acts and words; to love with the love of God even the unthankful and evil; to be content to be a fountain in the midst of a wild valley of stones, nourishing a few lichens and wild flowers, or now and again a thirsty sheep; and to do this always, and not for the praise of man, but for the sake of God—this makes a great life.—F. B. Meyer.
The Depth of Sin
By Clarence Santee
By Clarence Santee
IN these days when crimes on every hand, even in high places, are excused and condoned by many, there is an equal disregard for the one standard of righteousness—right doing—that God has placed among men. Our ransom has been purchased at an infinite cost; yet men will boast of being saved, while no visible change appears in their obedience to that divine law. Contact with evil has made the heart reckless and unfeeling. A writer has given a vivid expression of the words of inspiration when comparing the days of Adam, even after he had fallen by sin, with the hardened, unfeeling heart of the present generation. I read: “As they witnessed, in drooping flower and falling leaf, the first signs of decay, Adam and his companion mourned more deeply than men now mourn over their dead.”—“Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 62.
God compares the unregenerate heart to a stone; yet in love He promises—through divine grace—to remove the stony heart and again give a heart of flesh. This promise is found in Eze. 36:26: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.”
As one stone in the clay will spoil the vessel in the hands of the potter, so the stony heart will make of no avail all the efforts of infinite love that otherwise would change the life into the Master’s image.
It has been said that the Christian should show the love of Christ by willingly sacrificing to save the sinner. But the love of Christ goes farther. Another will say, He should sacrifice this present life for the salvation of the sinner if called upon to do so. This is also true. But he who would be like Christ must go farther. He must be willing to lose all these, and his hope of eternal life as well, if by this loss some sinner might be saved.
Hear Moses as in importunate prayer he pleads with God to spare the rebels, or to blot out his own name from the Book of Life (Ex. 32:31, 32); or Paul, who could appeal to the Holy Spirit of God as a witness to his truthfulness when he said, “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Rom. 9:1-3. If today the church were imbued with such love for sinners, who could resist its pleading!
What has the introduction of sin cost?—The ruin of a bright and glorious world; the innocence of a race created for God’s glory; mourning in the courts of heaven9over the death of the sinner; the test of the “everlasting love” of God (Jer. 31:3) in the gift of the only one who could save; and that love being manifested for one who had made choice of sin, and was still in sin. “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom. 5:8.
The Dying Agonies of Christ
Christ died the sinner’s death. As the Father’s face was turned away from the terrible scene of the cross, every ray of hope was banished from the agonized heart of the dying Son of God; and crying out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” His last choice was made. It was that, looking out into total darkness, He would drink the cup, that the promise of God through His death might bring other sons of Adam back to God.
Sin has marred the face and form of the Son of God until in prophetic vision John saw Him as “a Lamb as it had been slain.” Rev. 5:6. Christ, looking down the ages, upon His tried and doubting church, encourages them by saying, “I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands.” Isa. 49:16. This evidently refers to the prints of the nails. It will be asked of Him in glory, “What are these wounds in Thine hands?” His answer will be, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends.” Zech. 13:6.
The scars will forever remain upon Christ as the price—in part—of our salvation. But a deeper scar even than these, will ever remain in the heart of God. The yearning which causes a gift, must be deeper than the gift, else the gift would not be given. God assures the sinner that He has loved him “with an everlasting love;” and this scar will be caused by the loss of those for whom He willingly gave all, who yet turned away and were lost. Like the heart of the parent who, seeing the prodigal son or daughter turn away from all counsel that love would indite, leaving the home to return no more, ever has the aching void that no time can fully heal, so the heart of God will ever yearn for the rebellious who, going out from His presence, turning a deaf ear to His entreaties, return no more. No insults, no hard, unfeeling speeches, nor falls into ruin, can destroy the true parent’s love. The name may never be mentioned; but there is a chamber in the heart that is dedicated to memory, and there the erring one is written. This is perhaps more nearly godlike and unselfish than any other heritage. Even so eternity itself will not remove the love of God for the lost ones. Sin has cost all this. When God decided the “struggle” and gave His Son to die, He knew the heart pangs that it cost. It was no imaginary, unreal conception. It cost blood and pain and tears. When Abraham had passed through the conflict between love and duty in offering his son Isaac, he was called “the friend of God.” There was a bond of sympathy in their experience that caused him to place a truer estimate upon the love of God than ever before. He could appreciate in God that which he could not have understood before.
A Father’s Heart Changed Him
A man was placed upon a jury, and upon evidence he quickly condemned as guilty a young man for his crime. As years passed by, he became a father; and as the son grew to manhood, he spurned parental control, and was classed with criminals. The father’s heart was bowed with grief, but he followed that son with prayers and a love that could not be cast off. How often he repeated the hope, “The day will come when he will see and return!” He was again placed upon a jury to decide upon the case of a young man; and upon his plea alone, the other jurors gave a different verdict from that intended, and by his personal effort the young man was saved to a better life. The difference was not that he was now older, but it was that he better understood the struggles of the boy, and his heart could say, In him I see my own boy sitting there alone, listening to the unfeeling testimony, seeing only the cruel eyes of condemnation, as he looks to the right and to the left for one tender face, one glance of sympathy.
When God gave His only Son to die, condemned, that Son looked for some to pity, but there were none. He heard His Son cry out for help, but none heeded. Now that father could better understand the heart of God. Not a new but a deeper vein of tenderness actuated him because of his own heart sorrow. With this thought, we can better understand the tender solicitude of God for His people, that will deepen His love and care for the saved, even because of the void caused by the lost.
O, sin has caused all this! Can we afford to carry it further? Shall I deepen the wound in the heart of God by adding another name to the list of lost ones? Shall you?
