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Review and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 31.

God Made the Lilies: A Children's Verse

Review and Herald

Aug 5, 1902

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 5, 1902

God Made the Lilies: A Children's Verse

“God made the lilies, The lilies pure and white; They wake every morning, And go to sleep at night.
“Jesus can make us Like lilies sweet and fair; When evil surrounds us, We’ll trust his tender care.”

Publishers' Page

Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Company.

The Test of a Book

THE real merit of a book is found in its power to mold the mind of the reader. A book that simply entertains, and leaves its readers without pronounced convictions favorable to its contents, is a failure. Applying this test to “The Marvel of Nations” in the English, German, Danish, and Swedish languages, we find it to be a very successful work. Recent reports from the effects of this book are favorable in all the languages in which it is published.
While the first part of the book deals largely with the growth and prosperity of this country, the intent of the entire book is to teach the people the facts of prophecy concerning the future of this nation and the ushering in of the kingdom of God. The style and the general subject-matter of the work are such as to attract the attention of the people, and render the book easy to sell. All our brethren and sisters should take an active part in the sale of this book. It has recently been revised and brought up to date. It is very attractive in appearance, and the foreign people buy it readily on account of its being the first publication of its kind in this country in the German, Danish, and Swedish languages.
The prospectuses sell for 60 cents, postpaid. Foreign books sell for the same price as do the English, $1.25 and $1.50.
Place all orders with the State Tract Societies.

A New Revised Bible

THE American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible was published in August, 1901. This late revision is the product of the American Revision Committee, who, in the preparation of the Appendix of 1885, in order to reduce the differences between themselves and the British revisers to the lowest limit, waived the larger part of their preferences, many of which they regarded as of decided importance. This new edition of the American Standard Bible embodies a considerable part of the emendations which represent the deliberate preferences of the whole American Committee, which were not put into the 1885 revision.
In addition to incorporating in the text the renderings preferred by the American Committee, but hitherto printed in the Appendix to the old revision only, this new edition contains rectified errors, inconsistencies, oversights, and infelicities, which are always incidental to the first edition of a book like this; also, carefully selected references and topical headings, and important suggestions made by the American revisers in the progress of their work, but waived in drawing up their Appendix to the English revision of 1885.
Printed in long primer, quarto, a very large, plain print, especially desirable for impaired vision or for reading by gaslight. Bound in one size only, 8¾ x 6¾ inches, and in three bindings:— Cloth boards, red edges … $1.50; Egyptian seal, limp, round corners, red under gold edges … $2.50; Persian Levant, divinity circuit, leather lined to edge, silk sewed, round corners, red under gold edges … $4.50.

What Others Say of This Bible

By remarkably unanimous consent, America now possesses the most excellent translation of the Holy Scriptures ever published in the English tongue. There has been neither party nor faction discernible in the welcome paid by Biblical scholarship to the American revision of the Bible.—The Interior.
The most important volume that American scholarship has ever produced.—Church Economist.
The best entire version of the Bible now before the public. Why should it not be generally adopted?—The Examiner.
There can be no doubt that in this version we are nearer the thought, and therefore the spirit, of the Master, than in any other version now existing in English.—Northwestern Christian Advocate.
Order of the Review and Herald Publishing Company, Battle Creek, Mich.

“Patriarchs and Prophets”

AN excellent and important commentary on the principal Bible subjects from Adam to the death of David, and especially essential in the study of the subjects of the International Sunday-school Lessons for the third and fourth quarters of the present year.
As the International Lessons from July 6 through the remainder of the present year are upon some of the principal subjects in connection with the exodus and the general history of the children of Israel, and the thousands who will study these lessons are interested in all the subjects especially treated in “Patriarchs and Prophets,” the present time is unusually favorable for the placing of this important volume in the homes of the Bible students of the entire country.
Our people should put forth every effort possible to place this book in the homes of the Sunday-school people immediately. It is published in the English, Danish, Swedish, German, and Holland languages. Beautifully bound in all the popular bindings; 760 octavo pages. Prices, $2.25–$4.50.
Place all orders with the State Tract Societies.

“Story of Daniel the Prophet”

An excellent book to study in connection with the Sabbath-School lessons for the present quarter
BEGINNING with the fourth lesson, the greater part of the remaining lessons for the quarter are upon the events recorded in the first and second chapters of the book of Daniel. These chapters contain the account of the captivity of Judah and the experiences of Daniel and his companions.
The “Story of Daniel the Prophet” is the fruit of many years of close Bible study and untiring research, and contains, in addition to an excellent biography of the great prophet, much important matter that will be especially helpful to all who study the Sabbath-school lessons for the present quarter. The following chapter headings of the book, compared with the subjects of the Sabbath-school lessons, will suffice to show the importance of the “Story of Daniel the Prophet” in connection with a thorough study of the Sabbath-school lessons for the present quarter:—
Daniel and His Followers Tested; A Controversy between Truth and Error; True Freedom in Worship; The Most High Ruleth; Last Years of the Babylonian Kingdom; The Handwriting on the Wall; Daniel in the Lions’ Den; Prophecy of Daniel Seven; The Eighth of Daniel; History of the Jews; The Sanctuary; Introduction to the Last Vision; History of the Decrees; History of Greece; The Fourth Kingdom; The Mystery of Iniquity; Work of the Mystery of Iniquity.
The book is beautifully bound; size, 6¼ x 8¼ inches; 295 pages; set in new, clear type, with the Scripture texts in the margin. Price, 75 cents, postpaid.
Place all orders with the State Tract Societies.

Tent-Meeting Leaflets

SERIES of thirty-two numbers, excellent for use in connection with the tent effort, and also good for general circulation.
The series covers the following subjects:—
No. 1, Our Sure Guide; No. 2, A Wonderful Dream; No. 3, Four Great Monarchies; No. 4, Do You Know? No. 5, Do You See Them? (scoffers); No. 6, The Law of God; No. 7, Who Changed the Sabbath? No. 8, Rome’s Challenge; No. 9, Do You Believe This? (the law of God); No. 10, A Plain Question; No. 11, Some Things That We Believe; No. 12, Don’t Try to Improve It (the law); No. 13, Which Day Do You Keep? No. 14, Duty to God; No. 15, A Blessing and a Promise; No. 16, He Saves to the Uttermost; No. 17, Plain Language (on the law); No. 18, Be Not Deceived; No. 19, Does God Mean What He Says? No. 20, The Two Laws; No. 21, The Harmony of the Law and the Gospel; No. 22, Will You Have Right to the Tree of Life? No. 23, Does This Mean You? No. 24, Have You a Carnal Mind? No. 25, God’s Call; No. 26, The Judgment; No. 27, Are You Guilty? No. 28, Behold, I Come Quickly; No. 29, An Invitation; No. 30, Here Is Wisdom (666); No. 31, Will You Stand in the Judgment? No. 32, Can This Be Said of You?
Each number is composed of two pages of reading, 5½ x 7¾ inches in size. Many of them are illustrated. All are unique in design and excellent in matter. Price, 10 cents per hundred, postpaid.
The Review and Herald Publishing Company has about 200 of these series bound in paper cover for convenience in preserving them for reference. Price of bound numbers, 5 cents each, postpaid.

The New Commandment Charts

THE Review and Herald Publishing Company has just received a new supply of very fine Commandment Lecture Charts. These charts are 36 x 46 inches in size, and are printed on extra fine cloth, and in type appropriate for tent and hall use. Price, $1, postpaid.

The Scoffers

By Editor

Editorial

The Scoffers

“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?” It is not necessary to put this inquiry into words in order to be a scoffer. He who in this last generation plans for money making and money keeping just like any worldling, although he professes to believe in the soon coming of the Lord, is to all intents and purposes a scoffer. If anything, he is worse than the ordinary scoffer, because he stands before the world as a hypocrite as well as a scoffer. There is no room for scoffers in the ranks of the believers. Let them be converted to the message of a soon-coming Saviour.

Plenteous Redemption

THE Lord forgives freely and fully. The provision which he has made is sufficient to meet the case of every one who is willing to be forgiven. “Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.” When the devil cannot keep one in a state of carelessness concerning his sins, and he is really aroused to turn to the Lord, then the enemy urges upon him the thought that he has been too great a sinner to expect forgiveness. Then some one who knows the Lord should be near to repeat the gracious assurances, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.” The name of the Lord is a pledge of forgiveness. “And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. . . . The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” The faithfulness and righteousness of God, his very being and character, are involved in the forgiveness of sin. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Let each one adopt the prayer of David: “Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.”

Coming Quickly

THE prophecies concerning the coming of the Lord are plain and definite. He who is willing to know the truth will not be left in doubt and darkness. Line after line of prophecy has been given in which those events and that condition of the world which indicate the approaching end have been plainly described. When the last generation is reached, the remaining time is measured by the word “quickly.” Thus in the prophecy of the seven trumpets, after the sixth angel, the second woe trumpet, had sounded, we have the statement, “The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.” The period covered by the sixth trumpet, the second woe trumpet, ended Aug. 11, 1840, when the Ottoman empire ceased to be an independent power among the nations. The prophecy declares that the third woe, or the seventh trumpet, will come “quickly” after the sounding of the sixth trumpet. “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings which he declared to his servants the prophets.” “And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign forever and ever.” Over sixty years have already passed of a period measured by the word “quickly.” “For yet a little while, how short! how short! the Coming One will be here, and will not delay.” Are you ready to say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation”? “Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

Heaven upon Earth

THE love of God reigns supreme in heaven. His angels that excel in strength, “do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.” His ministers do his pleasure. Every being in the heavenly host delights to do the will of God. When Jesus came to earth, the same purpose actuated him in his daily life among men. The prophecy declared of him, “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” While engaged in his ministry he said, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” He taught his followers to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Where the will of God is done as it is in heaven, there the principles of the kingdom of heaven are established. It was thus that heaven was brought down to earth in the person and work of Jesus, and thus is it made possible for us to have a heaven upon earth in which to live and work while journeying toward heaven. Far was it from the purpose of Jesus to change or abolish the eternal principles of truth as expressed in God’s law, or to do a work for man which would excuse him from doing the will of God as expressed in that law. To do this would be to adopt principles which are entirely foreign to the kingdom of heaven. The work of Jesus made it possible that the same heavenly principles should be followed here upon the earth, even under the curse of sin and while we abide in sinful flesh, as are the security and the joy of heaven. Only in this way could the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall “stand forever.” “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” “He that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

God’s Fellow Workers

IN carrying forward his work upon the earth, the Lord uses human instrumentalities as the visible agencies for the ministry of his grace and mercy. Through humanity he reaches humanity. He uses the testimony of forgiven sinners as the message of hope to those who are still in the bondage of sin. In making known his goodness to us, we are laborers together with God in the extension of his kingdom in the earth. “All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” This privilege does not belong to the few, but to every one who is “in Christ,” who is “a new creature,” with whom old things have passed away, and to whom “all things are become new.” When we thus work with him, he works with us. The Lord himself on the throne in heaven directs men on the earth, and works with them in the carrying out of his purposes. Thus it was in the early church. “And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.” Thus it should be in the church to-day. Such testimony should be borne to the love and goodness of God, and his power to save from sin, and such works should be wrought through the faith of the believers, that those who stand by should be constrained to say, These persons have been with Jesus. It is our privilege to be God’s fellow workers, intimately associated with the God of wisdom and power in the accomplishment of his purposes of grace and mercy for the lost. “We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.”

The Warfare and the Weapons

By Uriah Smith

BETWEEN the Christian and the world there is a deadly antagonism. The conflict between them is irrepressible. The contest is entered upon without any other thought than that it is to be carried on to the finish. One or the other of the parties to this contest is to win; and the other must be overcome.
Considering that the issue is thus inevitable, and that the consequences are so important, involving the gain or loss of everlasting life, let us briefly survey the forces engaged, and ascertain by what means we are made sure of a favorable issue in the contest that is upon us. Here is the text that applies to the matter in hand: “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” 1 John 5:4.
What is meant by the expression “the world” in this text?—It includes all those influences that operate toward evil, and make the commandments of God grievous to society. “Know ye not,” says another passage, “that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be the friend of the world, is the enemy of God.” James 4:4. Paul had the same thought in mind when he said, “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Rom. 8:7. Thus the world plays a twofold part against the Christian; it is not only averse to him, to draw man's heart away from God, but it is adverse to him, by exciting feelings in his mind to turn him in active opposition against God. Those who would join worldliness to religion, seek to unite two of the most unsuitable things that can be connected in this world. James speaks of those who attempt to mingle the love of God and the friendship of the world, as “adulterers and adulteresses.” Worldliness in a Christian is a state most unsuitable.
Christ said to his disciples, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Matt. 6:24. But all that is in the world embraces more than mammon. The world has its possessions, lusts, honors, avarice, pleasure, and pride. These cannot consist with the love of the Father. 1 John 2:15, 16. In James 4:4 the governing principle is laid down that the “friendship of the world is enmity with God;” that is, a man, in the very act of becoming a friend of the world, thus constitutes himself the enemy of God. “It is not necessary,” says W. Roberts, “for God to pronounce such a friendship to be an act of hostility to him; it decides itself to be such, by the very nature of the case; that is to say, a disposition to join in alliance with the world, and to be like the world, is itself enmity toward God.”
Once more, here in James 4 we have a distant echo from the sermon on the mount. Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13. Here also, as in James 1:8, stress is laid on the fact that the neutrality of a divided allegiance is impossible. In such a warfare, therefore, we must choose sides. The mere wish or inclination to be on one side in opposition to the other, is proved by that very fact to be in antagonism to the other. The consequences that result to the individual life of the Christian, from a friendship with the world, are deplorable. They are (1) ungodly unions,—marriages, partnerships, and companionships; (2) these unions corrupt the heart, and depress spiritual life; (3) they often lead to utter apostasy and ruin. In the “Schonberg Cotta Family” we read, “The profession which will not offend the careless, cannot teach the earnest. If the salt have lost its savor, it cannot heal the bitter waters.” To illustrate: If a ship is lightly loaded, it will pass more safely over the waters; but if it is loaded down with too great a burden, it cannot stand the blast of angry storms.
In this conflict with the world, we are provided with associates which are sure to prevail. “Whatsoever is born of God,” says the text, “overcometh the world.” By this connection with God, we receive a new nature. It is not a mere amendment of the former creation, but it is “a new creature.” 2 Cor. 5:17. The Creator cannot be overcome, nor what is thus connected with him. Nor can Jesus, the firstborn, be overcome. He has never been defeated; nor will the Holy Spirit, in whom we are victorious, suffer us to be separated from God. John 10:29.
John at last brings to view our conquering weapon: “And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” In the Scriptures faith is continually exhibited under the character of power. It is that by which, if it is great, we may turn all things to our advantage; that alone by which we may be sure to overcome the world, instead of being slaves to the world. In Rom. 6:13, 14, we are instructed what it is our privilege to maintain, in this controversy with the world: “Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
U. S.

Fathers and Mothers in Israel, and the Missionary Campaign

By William A. Spicer

MARY greatly marveled at the wonderful words which Simeon, by the Holy Spirit, spoke concerning the child Jesus. But as her mother heart thrilled with joy at the thought of the great honor and privilege which were hers, Simeon said, “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also.” It cost that mother something to give up her child to be the Saviour of the world.
As the call comes now from the ends of the earth for consecrated and mature youth to plant the standard of the cross in new fields, many a parent is being brought to the test. Fathers and mothers in Israel are to be brought into this missionary campaign in a very definite and personal way. Will they say to their children, “Go forth, in the name of the Lord to save this perishing world,” or will fond hearts cling to them, and hold them back from the needy fields?
It means something to any true heart to see the loved ones go far away. The thought of the separation is a painful one. There is one side of this matter, however, that we must face. When the work of witnessing is done, the Lord will come. Because we have so long held back from the work of witnessing, the coming of the Lord has been delayed, fathers and mothers in Israel have been growing old and gray, and now they face the fact that they can scarcely hope to prolong their days till the work is done. The separation must come. The home circle will be broken.
It is to me one of the most pathetic things in the world to see the passing generation of advent believers, the older fathers and mothers in Israel, with their gray locks and bent forms, still traveling in the wilderness of this world. Then to think it need not have been; that if we had risen up in the strength of God, and sent the forces of the denomination over the earth in one grand, world-wide missionary crusade, the work might have been finished ere this.
And now what? Shall the glorious victory be still further deferred by inaction?—A thousand times no. Our acceptance of this truth was an enlistment in a missionary campaign that must keep us in battle array until the Lord comes.
How often in national crises fathers and mothers have sent their sons to the front, because they believed in the national cause, and were willing to sacrifice for it. The old Spartan mothers girded their sons for battle with their own hands, and as they put the shield into the hands of the youthful warrior, they told him to come back with it or upon it.
Children of this world do these things for the cause of the kingdoms of this world. Shall the children of the kingdom shrink when God calls for the most precious gifts that can be given? It is a costly offering that any parent lays upon the altar of service when a youth, strong, vigorous, well-disciplined, consecrated, is sent forth to battle for the Lord. May the Lord give parents the grace to share in this blessed though painful sacrifice with the loving Father, who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
There is now and then an inclination to hold the workers back. The Lord must so roll the burden of the world upon us that youth and parents will respond unitedly to the call. After all, it is a little world. And then, too, loving thoughts travel ten thousand miles as easily as ten. It is worth something to know that the youth given up to service is representing the grace and love of the home circle and the power of the coming kingdom away out on the frontier line. And heaven and God’s loving heart are equally near to all parts of the earth.
“Though sundered far, by faith we meet Around one common mercy seat.”
The Christian mother who knows that her son is thousands of miles from home, amid the coarse associations of army life, fighting to take the lives of men, in danger from enemies or from malarious climates, must indeed have an aching heart. How vastly different is it when the parent knows that the loved one is giving the life to save the lost, and to hasten the coming of Jesus in the clouds of heaven. O, we must hold back nothing from God, who has given all for us! It is a campaign to which we may heartily pledge our all till the victory is won. The work demands an ever-increasing army of youth to enter new territory and grapple with new languages. Will the fathers and mothers in Israel send them forth with blessings and benedictions, even though the sword of sorrow pierces the heart as the loved ones go?
W. A. S.

Studies in the Gospel Message

THE subject of the Sabbath-school lesson for August 16 is The Religion of Babylon Does Not Recognize the True Temple, and the portion of Scripture upon which it is based is Dan. 2:1–13.
The religion which was professed at Jerusalem had been brought into contempt at Babylon. The temple, the center of the Jerusalem worship, had been desecrated by the Babylonians, and “part of the vessels of the house of God” had been carried away to Babylon, and had been brought by the king “into the treasure-house of his god.” Judging from outward appearances, it would appear that the Babylonians had investigated the question of the temple at Jerusalem and its services, the sanctuary question, and had found nothing essentially different from their own ideas of temple worship. They had found a building containing certain vessels and furniture different from what they had in Babylon, and they had carried away some of these vessels as trophies of victory. It would certainly seem as though they had good reason to believe that an alliance with the gods of Babylon was more profitable than an alliance with the God of the Hebrews. The fact was, however, that this experience simply demonstrated the utter weakness and uselessness of a mere profession of Christianity, and that there is no power in mere ceremonialism to save from the power of the enemy. Religion at Jerusalem had degenerated into formalism. The round of ceremonies in the temple was performed by those whose hearts were far from God. Through the prophet Isaiah the Lord had said of them long years before: “This people draw nigh unto me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which hath been learned by rote.” The power of the endless life was entirely lacking in such a service as this.
Those whose religion consisted merely in the outward services of the temple, and who had not interpreted in their own experience the true meaning of the sanctuary question, had nothing to rest upon when the temple was overthrown, and its services were no longer conducted. When they were taken to Babylon as captives, having failed to maintain their fellowship with God, and having lost the shekinah glory out of their own hearts, they had no power to resist the temptations which surrounded them, and naturally enough many of them dropped even the forms of a peculiar people, and became in their outward life what they were in fact before the fall of Jerusalem—like the nations around them.
But to Daniel and his companions the sanctuary and its services were a different thing. They were the provision which God had made through which they might receive forgiveness and cleansing from sin through their faith in the gift of the Seed, Immanuel, “God with us,” who by taking the flesh would “save his people from their sins.” They recognized their bodies as the true temple, the indwelling Presence as the true shekinah, and the continual service as the means of unbroken communion with him who had promised to dwell with those who were of a humble and contrite heart. When through no fault of theirs they were deprived of the privilege of the temple worship, they retained the reality of its teaching in their experience, refused to defile the human temple, maintained their communion with God unbroken, and were thus prepared to be used of God in proclaiming the gospel of his indwelling presence with flesh.
Through the unfaithfulness of the Jews as a nation, the Babylonians had failed to learn of the true gospel of the kingdom, the kingdom of God in men, and on the contrary had demonstrated in a manner convincing to themselves that the gods of Babylon were superior to the God of the Hebrews. Now through the faithfulness of Daniel and his companions they are to learn the truth of the gospel, the real meaning of the temple service, and that the kingdom of God in the heart will finally triumph over all earthly kingdoms, and will “stand forever.” It is to be demonstrated that the temple of God and the temple of Belus have nothing in common, that the wisdom of men is foolishness with God, and that “the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.”
The opportunity for all this was offered in the experience of Nebuchadnezzar when he “dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.” He who gave the dream to Nebuchadnezzar took it from him, that he might reveal himself as so closely united with humanity that he knows our thought afar off.
The professions of the wise men of Babylon are put to the extreme test. Brought by the threats of the king where the failure of their system means death to them, they protest against the demand which exposes the unbridged gulf between them and true wisdom, and demonstrates that the temple of Belus and its services mean—nothing, absolutely nothing.
“For all the gods of the peoples are nothing, But the Lord made the heavens, Grandeur and majesty are before him, Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.”
The final answer of the Chaldeans was made in these words: “There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king’s matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” This is the religion of Babylon. Their gods are afar off, and not nigh at hand. Their temple service speaks to them of gods in a sphere entirely apart from themselves, between whom and themselves there is no real union. This is the religion of self and despair. In the face of death it offers no help. It raises no ladder of hope as a means of connection between earth and heaven. Its standard of right is the mere dictum of human philosophy, its power for doing right is wholly of the flesh, and its religious vocabulary does not include the word “faith.” It is the very opposite of Christianity.
The tabernacle of old, called by the martyr Stephen “the tabernacle of witness,” and the later temple were a constant witness to the purpose of God to dwell with flesh. This was the only hope of humanity. This was the gospel of the temple and its services. Through this object lesson was taught the lesson of that condescension which makes us great: “I will dwell in them, and walk in them.” The faith which found expression in sacrifice and offering laid hold upon this provision to be right with God, and those who exercised it became right through this faith. Thus did Abel obtain “witness that he was righteous.”
This was the experience of Daniel and his companions, and through his providence the Lord has brought them to stand among the wise men of Babylon, that under the very shadow of the temple of Belus they might make known the gospel of the temple and its services, and testify to the fact that God does dwell with flesh. When the decree went forth “that the wise men should be slain,” the opportunity had again come to reveal to Babylon the gospel that saves from death. Hezekiah, the king, saved from death by the gift of the indwelling life, and inquired of by the messengers from Babylon concerning this thing, exalted himself in the place of God, and brought great evil upon Jerusalem. Daniel, the captive, sought for by order of the king that he might be put to death, recognized the call for the gospel of righteousness by faith, the essence of which is to do the right thing in the right way at the right time, and thus averted the sentence of death. What a testimony to the truth that God does dwell with flesh! This is Christianity.

Faith and Knowledge

By L. A. S.

The highest knowledge to which the human mind has access is reached through the avenue of faith. God is omniscient, and in the Scriptures he has set before mankind a revelation of things which only the omniscient mind could of itself know. His word is the truth; it is impossible for him to state anything that is not true. Hence man has but to accept the word of God to have a knowledge of things altogether beyond the reach of finite research,—things which are a mystery and a marvel even to the angels in heaven. The education which comes through faith is the highest and most valuable, the most helpful in all the relations of life, that any individual can attain.
Faith is not only an avenue of knowledge, but it is also a safeguard against error. The idea is quite common that faith tends to make one a fanatic; that if it is carried a little too far, it brings a person into the wild and extravagant beliefs of the religious monomaniac. But so far from being true, this idea is the very reverse of the truth. Faith cannot be carried too far; for no one can too fully believe and trust the word of God. And the more one does exercise faith in that word, the more sober and sane will he become. His zeal will be always according to knowledge. Faith is, in fact, the only sure safeguard against fanaticism. Faith is an anchor that holds the mind against the winds of false doctrine and evil influence which everywhere prevail. Outside of faith, the most extravagant and absurd ideas are everywhere received as the truth. For example, note how the absurdities of Christian Science find ready adherents among all classes of the people. Education—that which the world gives — affords no safeguard. Nothing that any person has within himself, or is able to acquire from the world, can insure him against the delusions that are arising from every quarter, gathering victims from those of every rank and station. Never did an age boast of its enlightenment as does this one, yet never were delusions more prevalent. And these deceptions are increasing more and more. Worldly knowledge all this time is on the increase, but faith is on the decrease. It is the lack of faith that has left the multitudes to become the prey of error.
The man of faith sees the things of life in their true proportion. This is so because he has the extra knowledge which faith supplies. He is not misled by any false view of the value of things in the world, or of the true end of this earthly existence. Like his divine Master, whose life he exemplifies here, he is ever calm, yet earnest, considerate of the rights and wishes of others, patient in difficulties, never seeking to exalt himself, but making the welfare of others his first object, pointing men to the prize of eternal life as being above all earthly considerations. Compare with this the course of the fanatic, and their utter dissimilarity will be apparent. Faith is the great safeguard that is everywhere needed. For the lack of faith there is lack of knowledge, and for lack of knowledge the people perish. L. A. S.
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