Earlier text: Publishers’ PageDelivered From the Executioner
By W. A. S.
HEAVEN is a real place, thronged with angels that excel in strength, able to fly in a moment of time from the very throne of God to the relief of human souls in need. The same angel that shut the mouths of the lions in Daniel’s time is a minister of heaven to the church on earth to-day. Paul’s cheery confidence and self-forgetfulness was based on recognition of the fact that in the greatest danger no weapon could cut short his privilege of witnessing until his work was done. The story of the Boxer rising in China supplies many an instance of the signal deliverance of Christian workers in peril from the heathen. One of the most striking of many similar experiences was that of a little company that fell into the hands of the Boxers after fleeing to the mountains of Chih-li. They were dragged mercilessly to and fro by their captors. “On seven successive occasions the Boxers determined to put them to death. But their time was not yet; each time it was prevented until at length their captors said, ‘These people live a charmed life; we can not kill them; we had better let them go.’” Finally it was determined that no further respite should be allowed. There was none to stay their hand, thought the blood-maddened mob, and why should7 they be so held back from carrying out their purpose? Made weary and perhaps superstitious by the difficulty already experienced in trying to kill their victims, however it was determined to adopt a method that would insure success. The small party were sent on a boat down the river, with a guard, under secret orders that all were to be slain in a secluded spot where no blame could ever after be attached to any particular city or authority. As they floated down the stream, the callous soldiers sharpened their swords before the eyes of their victims. Remonstrance was useless. The boat was brought to anchor, and they were told to go ashore. Mr. Green, carrying baby John in his arms, left the boat first, in order to help the ladies ashore, and little five-year-old Vera and the ladies followed. When they reached the bank, Mr. Green turned and gave the captain of the boat a bow in Chinese style, saying, as he did so, “Thank you, sir.” Little Vera then crossed her hands, and making the captain a charming bow (like a little Chinese lady), repeated her father’s words, and said, “Thank you, sir.” All this was too much for the burly captain. He turned to his men, and said, “Look here, men, we can not kill these people; we had better leave them alone.” And he sprang on his boat, called off his followers, and again they were saved. At last God raised up a friend, in a Chinaman, who, after secretly conveying a message of sympathy to them announcing his plan and good wishes, went down to Tientsin and brought a rescue party, by whom, at last, they were escorted to the coast. Now that the storm has been followed by a lull, the way into China is the more open. And still the angels of God are hovering over the needy fields, ready to stand by the heralds of the cross until their work is done. The faith of the Christian is not a theory about God and heaven. It is an actual dealing with the Lord and the angels in carrying a message of deliverance to souls in the bondage of sin. And nowhere does heaven seem nearer than in the darkest fields, amid perils and adversities manifold. Where sin and need abound, there grace doth much more abound. The Liquor Curse in France
By L. A. S.
RECENTLY there was held in Paris, France, an immense convention designated as the First National Anti-alcohol Congress. The urgent necessity for such an organization was shown by facts which were disclosed at the convention. President Loubet, ex-Premiers Casimir-Perier and Waldeck-Rousseau, General Andre, minister of war, the heads of the leading railway companies, and the directors of all the leading commercial and industrial establishments were in attendance. The theme of the convention was, of course, the curse of alcoholic drinks, and it was shown that the situation in France in this respect was truly appalling. Figures were given showing that in the last fifty years the population of France has increased only in the proportion of one hundred and twelve to one hundred, while the consumption of alcohol has risen from one hundred to three hundred and fifty-five. The average annual consumption of alcoholic drinks per individual throughout France is 296 pints of vin ordinaire and 48 pints of liqueurs; but in Paris the average is 566 pints of vin ordinaire and 54 pints of liqueurs. “Small distillers have been allowed to sell, and even pay their work people partly in kind. Many of them distill a cheap spirit from apples, pears, and the refuse of grapes. This fosters drink in all the country districts, and for the same reason and in the same way in the fishing fleets. The ravages of intemperance among the fishing ports of the Atlantic and channel coasts have been seriously alarming. The men bring the drinking habit home with them, and it spreads among their wives with incredible rapidity, and does awful damage. In Normandy and Brittany drunkenness is as common among the women, and even the children, as among men.” Little children on their way to school in the morning, it was stated, soak their bread in a glass of cider brandy in order to nerve themselves for the day’s work. In the last-named provinces the amount of crime has doubled in thirty years, and in the last half century suicide has increased four hundred per cent. “In Brittany doctors have been forced to forbid mothers to nurse their own children, so saturated with alcohol are they.” The Anti-alcohol Congress purposes to begin a thorough war against intemperance, and the first aim will be to prevent the selling of liquor to children. These are facts which should be remembered in connection with the statement which is often made by dealers in wine, that France is a temperance country, and that if the use of wine could become general in the United States, there would not be so much drunkenness. The example of France, which is sometimes cited as evidence in connection with this allegation, is indeed an awful warning of its untruth. L. A. S. “To Open Tibet” is the suggestive heading of an editorial in the New York Sun of November 19, describing the British expedition which is about to penetrate into that region that has so long shut itself away from the knowledge of the civilized world. Tibet, the last stronghold of heathenism, the last barrier in the pathway of the gospel missionary, is about to be opened. Its opening marks an era to which Christian missionaries have long looked forward, but much more, is it significant to us who have in mind the Saviour’s words: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” The open door into Tibet proclaims that the end is at hand. A Battle for Religious Freedom
By L. A. S.
A BATTLE for religious freedom is being fought by Protestants in Peru, where the law forbids all public religious gatherings not conducted by Catholic priests. Under the leadership of a Methodist clergyman, Rev. John Lee, the Protestants have succeeded in bringing diplomatic pressure to bear on the Peruvian government, through the representatives at Lima of the United States, British, and German governments. This fact having been noted and approved by several prominent Protestant journals in the United States, the New World (Catholic, Chicago), reminds Protestants in this country that a law debarring Catholics from public office exists in New Hampshire, and inquires why American Protestants have not petitioned to have this law repealed. It might truthfully have added that laws compelling the observance of Sunday exist on the statute books of nearly all the States, and in many places these laws are by no means a dead letter. In Peru Protestants are in the minority, and freedom is restricted by the Catholic majority. In the United States laws restricting religious freedom are enforced by the Protestant majority. The character of an unjust law is much more readily discerned by the minority who suffer from it than by the majority who enforce it. Protestants would greatly strengthen their position against the attacks of Rome if they would not themselves make and enforce laws which are papal in character.
L. A. S. The plague is to have full sway in India. Such is the news that comes from that stricken district of the Orient. For seven years, ever since its outbreak in that country, the British government has been fighting it, trying every known means to stay its progress; but to-day it is raging more fiercely than ever, and the government has decided to abandon the struggle, and allow the pestilence to run its course. What that means for Asia, and perhaps for the world, can hardly be imagined. Certainly renewed precautions against it will have to be taken by other countries, and even if these escape, Asia, with its teeming millions living in neglect of all sanitary laws, will be a vast harvest field for the scourge. We may well call to mind that the day is close at hand when only those will be safe in any land who have sought and found safety in the Lord. “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” Ps. 91:9, 10. Lessons From the Past
By Ellen G. White
As Noah’s descendants increased in number, apostasy soon manifested itself. Those who desired to forget their Creator, and to cast off the restraint of his law, decided to separate from the worshipers of Jehovah. Accordingly they journeyed to the plain of Shinar, on the banks of the river Euphrates. Here they decided to build a city, and in it a tower which should be the wonder of the world. This tower was to be so high that no flood could sweep it away. Thus they hoped to secure their own safety, and make themselves independent of God. God had directed men to disperse throughout the earth, to replenish and subdue it; but these tower-builders determined to keep their community united in one body, and to found a monarchy which should eventually embrace the whole earth. Among the men of Babel, there were living some who feared God, although they had been deceived by the pretensions of the ungodly, and drawn into their schemes. These men would not join this confederacy to thwart the purposes of God. They refused to be deceived by the wonderful representations and the grand outlook. For the sake of these loyal ones, the Lord delayed his judgments, and gave the ungodly time to reveal their true character. But the great majority were fully united in their heaven-daring undertaking. They heeded not the counsel of the Lord, but strove to carry out their own purposes. This confederacy was born of rebellion against God. The dwellers on the plain of Shinar established their kingdom for self-exaltation, not for the glory of God. Had they succeeded, a mighty power would have borne sway, banishing righteousness, and inaugurating a new religion. The world would have been demoralized. The mixture of religious ideas with erroneous theories would have resulted in closing the door to peace, happiness, and security. These suppositions, erroneous theories, carried out and perfected, would have directed minds from allegiance to the divine statutes, and the law of Jehovah would have been ignored and forgotten. Determined men, inspired and urged on by the first great rebel, would have resisted any interference with their plans or their evil course. In the place of the divine precepts they would have substituted laws framed in accordance with the desires of their selfish hearts, in order that they might carry out their purposes. But God never leaves the world without witnesses for him. At the time of the first great apostasy after the flood, there were men who humbled themselves before God, and cried unto him. “O God,” they pleaded, “interpose between thy cause and the plans and methods of men.” “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower [the great idol-building], which the children of men builded.” Angels were sent to bring to naught the purposes of the builders. The tower had reached a lofty height, and it was impossible for the workmen at the top to communicate directly with those at the base; therefore men were stationed at different points, each to receive and report to the one next below him the orders for needed material, or other directions regarding the work. As messages were thus passing from one to another, the language was confounded, so that material was called for which was not needed, and the directions received were often the reverse of those that had been given. Confusion and dismay followed. All work came to a standstill. There could be no further harmony or co-operation. The builders were wholly unable to account for the strange misunderstandings among them, and in their rage and disappointment they reproached one another. Their confederacy ended in strife and bloodshed. Lightnings from heaven broke off the upper portion of the tower, and cast it to the ground. Men were made to feel that there is a God who ruleth in the heavens, and that he is able to confuse and to multiply confusions in order to teach men that they are only men. God bears long with the perversity of men, giving them ample opportunity for repentance; but he marks all their devices to resist the authority of his just and holy law. Up to this time men had spoken the same language; now those that could understand one another’s speech united in companies; some went one way, and some another. “The Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth.” In our day the Lord desires that his people shall be dispersed throughout the earth. They are not to colonize. Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” When the disciples followed their inclination to remain in large numbers in Jerusalem, persecution was permitted to come upon them, and they were scattered to all parts of the inhabited world. For years messages of warning and entreaty have been coming to our people, urging them to go forth into the Master’s great harvest fields, and labor unselfishly for souls. From Testimonies written in 1895 and in 1899 I copy the following paragraphs:— “True missionary workers will not colonize. God’s people are to be pilgrims and strangers on the earth. The investments of large sums of money in the building up of the work in one place is not in the order of God. Plants are to be made in many places. Schools and sanitariums are to be established in places where there is now nothing to represent the truth. These interests are not to be established for the purpose of making money, but for the purpose of spreading the truth. Land should be secured at a distance from the cities, where schools can be built up in which the youth can be given an education in agricultural and mechanical lines. “The principles of present truth are to become more widespread. There are those who are reasoning from a wrong point of view. Because it is more convenient to have the work centered in one place, they are in favor of crowding everything together in one locality. Great evil is the result. Places that should be helped are left destitute. “What can I say to our people that will lead them to follow the course that will be for their present and future good? Will not those in Battle Creek heed the light given them by God? Will they not deny self, lift the cross, and follow Jesus? Will they not obey the call of their Leader to leave Battle Creek, and build up interests in other places? Will they not go to the dark places of the earth to tell the story of the love of Christ, trusting in God to give them success? “It is not God’s plan for our people to crowd into Battle Creek. God says: ‘Go work to-day in my vineyard. Get away from the places where you are not needed. Plant the standard of truth in towns and cities that have not heard the message. Prepare the way for my coming. Those in the highways and hedges are to hear the call.’ “God will make the wilderness a sacred place as his people, filled with the missionary spirit, go forth to make centers for his work, to establish sanitariums, where the sick and afflicted can be cared for, and schools, where the youth can be educated in right lines.” “It has been urged that there were great advantages in having so many institutions in close connection; that they would be a strength to one another, and could afford help to those seeking education and employment. This is according9 to human reasoning; it will be admitted that, from a human point of view, many advantages are gained by crowding so many responsibilities in Battle Creek; but the vision needs to be extended.” Notwithstanding frequent counsels to the contrary, men continued to plan for centralization of power, for the binding of many interests under one control. This work was first started in the Review and Herald Office. Things were swayed first in one way, and then in another. It was the enemy of our work who prompted the call for the consolidation of the publishing work under one controlling power in Battle Creek. Then the idea gained favor that the medical missionary work would be greatly advanced if all our medical institutions and other medical missionary interests were bound up under the control of the medical missionary association at Battle Creek. I was told that I must lift my voice in warning against this. We were not to be under the control of men who could not control themselves, and who were not willing to be amenable to God. We were not to be guided by men who want their word to be the controlling power. The development of the desire to control has been very marked, and God sent warning after warning, forbidding confederacies and consolidation. He warned us against binding ourselves to fulfil certain agreements that would be presented by men laboring to control the movements of their brethren. The Lord is not pleased with some of the arrangements that have been made in Battle Creek. He has declared that other places are being robbed of the light and advantages that have been centered and multiplied in Battle Creek. It is not pleasing to God that our youth from all parts of the country should be called to Battle Creek to work in the Sanitarium, and to receive their education. When we permit this, we are often guilty of robbing needy fields of their most precious treasure. Through the light given in the Testimonies, the Lord has indicated that he does not desire students to leave their home schools and sanitariums to be educated in Battle Creek. He instructed us to remove the College from this place. This was done, but the institutions that remained failed of doing what they should have done to share with other places the advantages still centered in Battle Creek. The Lord signified his displeasure by permitting the principal buildings of these institutions to be destroyed by fire. Notwithstanding the plain evidences of the Lord’s providence in these destructive fires, men have not hesitated to stand before their brethren in council meetings, and make light of the statement that these buildings were burned because men had been swaying things in directions which the Lord could not approve. Principles have been perverted. Men have been departing from right principles, for the promulgation of which these institutions were established. They have failed of doing the very work that God ordained should be done to prepare a people to “build up the old waste places” and to stand in the breach, as represented in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. In this scripture the work we are to do is clearly defined as being medical missionary work. This work is to be done in all places. God has a vineyard; and he desires that this vineyard shall be worked unselfishly. No parts are to be neglected. The most neglected portion needs the most wide-awake missionaries to do the work portrayed in the following scripture:— “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, . . . and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.” For his own name’s sake God will not permit the froward and the independent to carry out their unsanctified plans. He will visit them for their perversity of action. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” But I am instructed to say that in his judgments the Lord will remember mercy. He declares:— “I will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him.” “The spirit of my people should fail before me,” saith the Lord, “if I were to deal with them in accordance with their perversity. They could not endure my displeasure and my wrath. I have seen the perverse ways of every sinner. He who repents and does the works of righteousness, I will convert and heal, and restore unto him my favor.” Concerning those who have been deceived and led astray by unconsecrated men, the Lord says: “Their course of action has not been in accordance with my will; yet for the righteousness of my own cause, for the truth’s sake, for the sake of those who have preserved their fear and love of God, I, who create the fruit of the lips, will put my message into the lips of those who will not be perverted. Although some may be de- ceived and blinded in their ideas of men and the purposes of men, I will heal every one who honors my name. All the penitent of Israel shall see of my salvation. I, the Lord, do rule, and I will fill with praise and thanksgiving the hearts of all who are nigh and far off, even all the penitent of Israel who have kept my ways.” “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Go Ye Into All the World
By Oscar B. Smith
In this brief charge the Lord proclaimed,
In tones the world should understand,
That every mortal is ordained
For some great mission, nobly planned.
Where it may be may not appear,
Or what, no soul can truly know;
Suffice it if we're ready here
When duty calls to quickly Go! No two shall have the same career,
Nor one another's labor do;
Each his appointed way with fear
Shall in appointed time pursue.
Man wins or loses in this life
By neither friend nor bitter foe;
The prize, at last in this great strife,
Depends on his own strength to Go! We use the means the Master gives
For good or ill we can but try,
A stricken, burdened mortal lives,
One highly favored can but die.
It follows, one should ne'er despise,
Nor think his life-work mean or low;
If he is willing, just, and wise,
He'll do his best, trust God, and Go! — Oscar B. Smith, in New York Observer. A Week of Prayer
By Wm. Covert
It is well for our people to set apart a whole week for prayer, because prayer is to the Christian both sword and shield. Shall we not constantly ask the Lord, during this week of prayer, to teach us how to pray, and to incline our hearts to love prayer more and more? On a certain occasion when Christ’s disciples had heard him pray, they asked him to teach them to pray. They had doubtless never heard another person pray whose prayer seemed to carry them into the very presence of the Lord as did the prayer of Jesus. His great concern for humanity was such that he could bear the interests of the whole world up to the throne of God. This burden of the world’s redemption rested upon his soul with a weight that sometimes caused him to continue all night in prayer. If it was necessary for Christ, our Saviour, to pray with such fervor and so long, is it not necessary for his people, with the great work which now rests upon them, to be found much in fervent prayer? The Bible abounds with admonitions concerning much prayer, and records many remarkable answers to prayer. It also gives many wonderful promises to those who seek the Lord with the whole heart. If we shall learn during this week of prayer that Christ is yet the great Intercessor who only can make prayer effectual, it will be a great help to us in our prayers. Jesus not only prayed for us while he was a Man of sorrows, but he continues to pray since he has ascended to heaven. It is through the intercession of Christ, our High Priest, that the Holy Spirit is given to those who believe. Since his coronation, humanity has been highly favored on account of his service in the heavenly sanctuary. It was remarked in John 7:39 that “the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” In speaking of the greater blessings which were to come upon the believers after he would go to the Father, Jesus said, “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.” And again, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater10 works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father.” John 14:12. The only reason why greater works were to be done is told in the verse quoted,—“because I go unto my Father.” Peter, on the day of Pentecost, referred to the fact that Christ had been exalted to a high position at the right hand of God, “and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” Acts 2:33. His glorified presence with the Father in heaven placed humanity through him on a higher plane than it had ever been before. He, the crucified One, became the glorified Son. After his crucifixion and ascension to heaven, the great offering for sin which he had made was accepted by the heavenly court in behalf of humanity, and thus man was accepted in him. His chief work now is to “appear in the presence of God for us.” Heb. 9:24. “In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” Col. 2:9, 10. It is only through him that we are accepted, or that we can pray. He is sponsor for us, and bears our requests to the Father. Our interest is his interest, and our work is his work. Truly we have become identified with him. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Gal. 2:20. Prayer is a most sacred communion with Christ and the Father in heaven. Think of how effective prayer may become to the people of God. When the early church had learned how to pray, and their interests had become identified with Christ in his work, they gave all their possessions as an offering to advance the cause of Christianity in the earth. Acts 2:45. What will Christ’s people do in the way of offerings now to assist in carrying the third angel’s message to all the world? Individual Responsibility the Hope of the Church
By A. E. Place
This period which we call the week of prayer is set apart as a means to an end. The end sought is to help prepare a special people, by means of a special message, that they may meet God in peace “in a few more days.” The searchlight of prophecy is focused upon the very generation in which we live. Satan’s hosts are marshaled for their part in the closing drama. Our heavenly Commander and High Priest is soon to say for the last time, before the mercy seat, “My Father, my blood for that soul,” and lay off his priestly garments with the sad and awful words, “It is done.” With no uncertain tones these awful facts speak with a loud voice to this doomed world, and especially to those who profess to be the remnant: Examine thine account quickly. How much owest thou thy Lord? Prepare for thy final settlement. This week of prayer is designed not only to impress upon the minds of all that these stern realities will be reached sometime by some people, but that our hope of salvation depends largely upon believing that they are even now at hand, also in seriously considering the question, What is the condition of the remnant church of God to-day, and its prospects for being ready to meet the issue? This can only be considered safely or wisely from the standpoint that the church is made up of individual parts, and is the sum of all its parts. We must learn that the church does not, and indeed can not, go wrong, or, when wrong, get right, as a church. All the members of heaven might have looked on and condemned the marshaled hosts of Satan to this day, with all its additions in this evil world, and even in the professed church of God; and it would not have bettered the situation. But “the bright and Morning Star,” the most perfect of all, who might truthfully have said, They are wrong, I am right and am not responsible for the wrong and the present awful condition, cried, I am not only willing, but I do lay aside my beautiful, spotless garments; I bare my sacred head and breast to receive the sins of the world, and with the crushing weight of the load I will willingly die that I may free my people — my church — from sin and reproach. This is not only a divine truth and a divine principle, but it is a divine example, or object lesson, and without doubt given in a special manner for the church of to-day. “I am as good as they are,” has come to be an oft-repeated saying. The natural tendency is to hide our imperfections behind those of the church, with this conscience-quieting claim, and even to condemn in our brethren that which we harbor in our own lives. Though I may feel assured that I am as good as my brother, unless I feel confident that his platform is a safe one, I in that thing acknowledge that my own foundation is dangerous. The success of the church to-day does not depend upon some large organized goodness, but rather upon the goodness of each individual member. Likewise the failure or weakness of the church means the little or great failures or weaknesses in the lives of each individual member; and success can never come to the church until each member can lose sight of all weaknesses in the foundation of his brethren, till he thoroughly examines his own foundation and standing in the light of the judgment work in the sanctuary, and has the wrongs there found taken away. Even then he is not to take the throne to judge his weak brethren, but rather be willing, like “the bright Morning Star,” to bare his own head and breast, made clean by the blood of Christ, and willingly take and bear wrongs and reproaches that rightfully belong to others. He may be called upon to counsel and admonish, but let him do it as a brother, considering himself, lest he also be tempted. Then his strongest reproofs will be filled with the breath of yearning pity. Doubtless there are still lingering in each one of us weaknesses that must be removed if we pass the test. These may be so apparent as to be known not only by us, but by our friends and neighbors, or they may be known only between ourselves and God, or, perhaps, only by God. To those who do not sense a special need of the convicting and quickening power of God not only to get the victory over the known wrongs, but also to discover those still veiled in their lives; this week of prayer is a golden period, which can not be neglected or misused without eternal peril to their best interests. Each day of this period should hear the earnest plea, Search my heart, O my God, with thy lighted candle. Thou hast the key to each dark closet. For thy sake and for my own sake, O my Lord, leave not one door unopened. When I have idols occupying room which belongs to thee, tear them down, and cleanse and lighten the place by thy sacred presence. “The dearest idol I have known,
Whate’er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from thy throne,
And worship only Thee.” O Lord, let me not come into the judgment deceived as to my own standing in the records before thee. Show me my account, O Lord, while yet there is time for me to plead the merits of thy blood and thy precious life as my only means of settlement. Bring deep conviction into my soul now that I must meet God and my sins face to face, while there is opportunity for settlement. This is my heartfelt prayer for myself and for all my dear brethren and sisters, and I trust that every believing heart may be revived and inspired anew with the great and important truth that the need of the church to-day, and the only foundation upon which it can hope to build successfully, is personal examination of self, personal consecration, personal work and personal or individual responsibility in the body of Christ, not during this week of prayer alone, but till Jesus comes personally to save his church, not as a church only, but as individuals; for, bless God, his salvation will be as personal then as it has ever been. What a blessed privilege to be counted now and eternally as an integer, a component factor, in the great sum of divine sacrifice and salvation. May it spur us on to do faithfully our part in the closing work. “Seek Ye the Lord”
By William T. Knox
“LIFT up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.” Who that heed this injunction can fail to discern on every hand the evidences that the harvest is ripe, and that the time has fully come when “he that soweth and he that reapeth” may rejoice together? As we contemplate the rapid11 development of events, and see the nearness of the great crisis in human events, we can almost hear that habitue of the heavenly temple crying to our Lord, “Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” As this scene is held before our minds, mingled feelings crowd in upon us. Joy and fear are prominent; for who can fail to rejoice with the prospect before him that the bitter tale of sorrow and suffering, pain and anguish, sickness and sin, will soon be forever ended, and the blessedness of eternity be ushered in, and all God’s faithful ones be gathered into his heavenly garner? But with the joy comes the fear. Not because we question the ability or willingness of our great High Priest and Saviour; for we are persuaded “that he is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” But this gathering means not only infinite joy and salvation, but also infinite sorrow and loss. In the face of the world’s crisis we see its inhabitants either asleep in carnal security or intoxicated with its pleasures and sins, all unmindful of their fast oncoming doom. Who is to awaken them? Who to snatch them as brands from the burning? The responsibility must rest with the people who see the danger. Why have we been so indolent, so indifferent, our efforts so unfruitful with this great responsibility resting upon us? These and kindred questions crowd upon us as we view the nearness of the coming of Christ, and beget feelings of dread; for we must confess that we have been unprofitable servants. For our own sakes, and the sake of the unsaved, the call of Joel should be taken to our hearts as never before: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thy heritage to reproach.” The existing conditions in and outside of the church demand such a seeking of the Lord as is here portrayed. Every believer in the third angel’s message should gratefully welcome this year’s special season of prayer, and earnestly plan to receive its blessings and impart them to others.