Earlier text: Bethlehem!The Week of Prayer Continued
By Arthur G. Daniells
We are now, as I write, in the midst of the week-of-prayer services. Our attention as a people is fixed upon this great cause of the third angel’s message with which we are connected. We are thus filled with admiration for this truth as it is unfolded to us in this message. Our hearts yearn for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is set before us by Sister White in the first reading of the series. We are mightily aroused and stirred by the many striking evidences of the nearness of the end which are marshaled together by Brother Wilcox. As we finished this reading, who could not hear ringing in his ears the anxious call of the commander of the storm-tossed vessel to Jonah:— “What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.”
This call comes to Seventh-day Adventists, not as the call of a small ship’s crew about to perish in the tempestuous sea, but as the perishing cry of a world going down to eternal destruction. Although we are in the breakers, and everything is fast going to wreck under the fury of the sea, yet there is a chance to escape, and the way is by and through the third angel’s message. And although the people do not know this message as the provision of God for their rescue, yet they are calling for it. They do not know the exact formula, but they long for the deliverance, and express their longing in ways that we can easily understand. The poor, lonely, lost Chinese woman put over her door the call for help in these words: “May the great truth come to this door.” And as we go through the readings from day to day, keeping our minds fixed upon these spiritual interests, we are awakened from slumber, aroused to earnestness, and quickened to a new life. The world begins to look different—less charming; the cause of God looms up before us with much greater meaning; we are drawn out by new and strong desires to do and give for the finishing of God’s work in the earth. What a blessed experience! Everything connected with this message becomes so real, so living, so tangible, so uplifting, when, through Bible study, prayer, and service, we fasten our minds upon this one thing for a few days. Who does not most earnestly and devoutly wish that the week of prayer might be a year long? And who can tell what would happen in this poor, old, perishing world if the experience of this denomination during one short week of prayer were to be continued one whole year? The week of prayer is only half gone, but already letters are coming to our office from our brethren, telling how their hearts are stirred to do something to help the cause forward. One brother and his wife volunteer for service in South America. Another proposes to mortgage his farm, and loan all he can thus raise to the General Conference. We tell this good brother that this step will not be best now; that our people have means that they can donate to our missions. Others are already sending help. If every believer in the third angel’s message were to give this cause in all its bearings the close thought, the earnest prayer, and the unselfish attention an entire year that are being given to it by many during this one week, the loud cry would be heard. There would be a new and full surrender by many to the cause, and as a result there would be a new endowment of power and more efficient service. Messengers would go forth with a message that would awaken the world. Brethren, let us extend the week of prayer. One of the great objects of the week of prayer is to lead us all to study our Bibles more carefully, to pray more earnestly, to love the cause of God more passionately, to give more liberally, and to work more zealously. This object can not be attained if we dismiss this matter when the week closes. Then let us keep on reading and thinking of our missions; let us keep on praying for them and giving to them. Brethren, let us extend the week of prayer through the year. Who will join the praying, giving, working band for 1904? For the Wayfaring Stranger
By W. A. S.
THERE are few places in these days where the old-time spirit of hospitality for the stranger survives. But in Russia, according to Mr. Hume Ford, there is a kindly heart for the wayfaring man. He says:— The wanderer may start at Warsaw and tramp half way around the globe, finding at every stopping place simple peasants ready to share their meal with a stranger, while from one end of Siberia to the other a plate of food is placed without the window at night for the unfortunate who may pass that way. It is a pretty custom. While conditions in these lands are different, hardly suggesting a following of the practise, there is a lesson for us in it. We live now, too much for ourselves alone. Just now, for instance, we are thanking God for the truth he has given us, and seeking a deeper experience in it. Let us remember, too, the stranger. Share the feast of heavenly truth with him. There are many ways of putting the plate out at the window. Let the larger gift for missions that has been made this week of prayer be followed by thoughtful planning for the systematic weekly offering that is to set the heavenly feast before multitudes passing in weary procession down the world's great highway. W. A. S. SOME observations made by United States Senator Depew at a recent dinner of the Bible class of Mr. Rockefeller, son of the Standard Oil magnate, show how strikingly the language of the apostle James in regard to the heaping together of treasure for the last days has been fulfilled in the last fifty years. Mr. Depew, who is a millionaire and an authority on questions which especially relate to the millionaire class in this country, advised the young men to be satisfied with “a modest independence,” rather than attempt to “rival and reach great fortunes.” Of the eighty millions of people in the United States there are, according to Mr. Depew, about one hundred thousand millionaires. But fifty years ago there were not more than one tenth as many, and at that time a man worth only one million dollars was a curiosity in nearly every part of the country. Now, said the Senator, “The million-dollar man has no rank or place or consideration in the ten-million class, and the ten-million chap is a little fellow in the fifty-million or hundred-million circle.” The millionaires of to-day were almost without exception poor and socially obscure a half century ago. All this enormous wealth has been piled up suddenly. There was never any parallel to it in the world before. Protest Against Senator Smoot
At a public meeting held in the Metropolitan Methodist church in this city, December 13, called by the Interdenominational Congress of Women of Washington, and presided over by Bishop Satterlee (Episcopal), the following resolutions were adopted against the seating in Congress of Senator Smoot, of Utah, following addresses by the bishop and a number of the ladies present:— Believing that the so-called Church of Latter Day Saints is antagonistic to our Federal Constitution, and every form of religion based upon the Bible; that it is a menace to American home life, and an insult to our American womanhood; and believing Senator Reed Smoot, of Utah, to be a pledged representative of that institution, bound by its laws and requirements to render first allegiance thereto, and that he therefore must of necessity be unfaithful to the laws of the United States; and believing that Apostle Smoot could not have been elected to the United States Senate without the dictation and command of the Mormon hierarchy, which is a complete union of church and state, and therefore in direct opposition to the principles of the Constitution of the United States; therefore,— Resolved, That the congregation here assembled do most earnestly protest against Apostle Smoot retaining his seat in our national Senate. Resolved, That we call upon all loyal and patriotic men and women of every State to send protests to the senators from their States, and urge upon such citizens immediate and prompt action. It is to be hoped that this example of the evils of church and state union will be a warning to the American people against sanctioning the connection of any other church with politics. The Mormon Church is by no means the largest church in the United States, and the evil of a union with the state, or with the civil power, is felt in proportion to the political influence which the church is able to command. There is something wrong somewhere, is the opinion expressed by the Philadelphia Public Ledger, with reference to an unnatural condition of things which is beginning to manifest itself in the juvenile stratum of society. The evidence of this, which we think amply justifies the opinion that something is wrong, and decidedly so, is thus stated by the Ledger:— Children have furnished an unusual and a distressing proportion of the criminal and tragic news of the last week. Schoolgirls have disappeared; lads have left home for wayward courses; boys barely in their teens have committed suicide, and two or three young misses have attempted to do so; two boys eight years old have been before the Federal courts, one of them, a negro pickaninny, charged with robbing the mails. A record like this provokes wonder whether there may not be something wrong somewhere. Is it home training, or the lack of it? or is it nerves? Does it point toward a growing native depravity? Does it mean precocity or degeneracy? A number of writers recently have coincided in remarking the extinction of the line between the young and the old. No longer do middle-aged men and women find their ideas and interests different from those of the younger generation, there is a new camaraderie in society, in business, at home. Age does not count much either way, as it used to. But we do not want it to come to pass that infants furnish us the news of suicides, abduction, embezzlement, and mail robbery. We are in the “perilous times” of the last days, when men have given themselves up to worldliness, and cut themselves off from the influences of the Spirit of God, until the spirit of evil has almost unlimited sway. This is what is wrong. IT is announced that at the next Methodist general conference an effort will be made to remove the ban contained in the Methodist discipline on dancing and card playing. This is one of many things in the religious world which illustrate the tendency of the age. THE public schools as a source of anarchy, was the singular theme of remarks made recently at a club meeting in Chicago by the principal of a Chicago school, Mr. W. H. Campbell. Mr. Campbell affirms that the public schools of Chicago are breeding places for anarchists. He is quoted as saying:— There are coming out of the public schools to-day, a great mass of anarchists. Pupils in many of the schools in Chicago, and in my own school, hoot at the teachers when they pass by. I have even known them to follow the teachers to their boarding houses. When a body of pupils are permitted to go into a school and say that one of their teachers must not ride on street cars run by non-union carmen during a strike, and be sustained in their demand, I say that is anarchy. I do not say that anarchy is taught in the schools, but one thing we must do is to seek a remedy. Incidents of this kind furnish arguments for those who say that the public schools breed criminals because they are “godless,” and that the proper remedy is to teach religion in the schools. But the qualities of noble manhood and womanhood can not be acquired by the youth in the way that they acquire a knowledge of the arts and sciences. Sale of Friars’ Lands in the Philippines
By L. A. S.
It is reported that an understanding has finally been arrived at in the matter of the sale of the friars’ lands in the Philippines. The friars asked $15,000,000 for their lands, and Governor Taft made them an offer of $6,000,000. A compromise has been effected, at a price of $7,250,000. The pope has sanctioned the deal, and is said to be much pleased over the outcome of the negotiations. A Vatican official is quoted as saying: “The fact that an agreement has been reached is considered a new demonstration of the loyal [italics ours] and lofty manner with which the Washington government deals with affairs respecting the rights of the Catholic Church.” Touching the question of the removal of the obnoxious religious orders from the islands, the same official observed: “The question as to whether the Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, and Recollects shall remain in the archipelago now rests entirely with the Holy See, which, by its laws and traditions, is compelled to help in safeguarding the rights of the people, as well as those of the ecclesiastical orders.” It is proposed to sell the purchased lands to the Filipino tenants now living on them, on the instalment plan, and create a landlord class, which it is thought will be a strong conservative element in favor of law and order in the islands. L. A. S. The Sweet Story of Old
By Jemima Luke
I THINK when I read that sweet story of old,
When Jesus was here among men,
How he called little children as lambs to his fold,
I should like to have been with him then. I wish that his hands had been placed on my head,
That his arms had been thrown around me,
That I might have seen his kind look when he said,
“Let the little ones come unto me.” Yet still to his footstool in prayer I may go,
And ask for a share in his love;
And if I thus earnestly seek him below,
I shall see him and hear him above In that beautiful place he has gone to prepare
For all who are washed and forgiven;
And many dear children are gathering there,
“For of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Carrying Forward the Lord's Work
By Ellen G. White
The last years of probation are passing into eternity. The great day of the Lord is right upon us. Every energy we possess should now be used to arouse those dead in trespasses and sins. Let the words of the Lord spoken by the prophet Malachi, be brought home to every soul:— “Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed; for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” It is time that we gave heed to the teaching of the Word of God. All his injunctions are given to do us good. He calls upon those who stand under the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel to give evidence that they realize their dependence on God and their accountability to him, by returning to him a certain portion of that which he entrusts to them. This money is to be used in advancing the work that must be done to fulfil the commission given by Christ to his disciples. “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations.” “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” God's people are called to a work that requires money and consecration. The obligations resting upon us hold us responsible to work for God to the utmost of our ability. He calls for undivided service, for the entire devotion of heart, soul, mind, and strength. There are only two places in the universe where we can place our treasures,—in God's storehouse or in Satan's; and all that is not devoted to God's service is counted on Satan's side, and goes to strengthen his cause. The Lord designs that the means entrusted to us shall be used in building up his kingdom. His goods are entrusted to his stewards that they may be carefully traded upon, and bring back a revenue to him in the saving of souls. These souls in their turn will become stewards of trust, co-operating with Christ to further the interests of God's cause. Wherever there is life in a church, there is increase and growth. There is also a constant interchange, taking and giving out, receiving and returning to the Lord his own. To every true believer God imparts light and blessing, and this the believer imparts to others in the work that he does for the Lord. As he gives of that which he receives, his capacity for receiving is increased. Room is made for fresh supplies of grace and truth. Clearer light, increased knowledge, are his. On this giving and receiving depend the life and growth of the church. He who receives, but never gives, soon ceases to receive. If the truth does not flow from him to others, he loses his capacity to receive. We must impart the goods of heaven, if we would receive fresh blessing. The Lord does not propose to come to this world, and lay down gold and silver for the advancement of his work. He supplies men with resources, that by their gifts and offerings they may keep his work advancing. The one purpose above all others for which God's gifts should be used is the sustaining of workers in the harvest field. And if men will become channels through which heaven's blessing can flow to others, the Lord will keep the channel supplied. It is not returning to the Lord his own that makes men poor; withholding tends to poverty. The Saviour said, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” For the joy of seeing souls rescued from the hands of the destroyer, Christ endured the cross. He became the living sacrifice for a fallen world. Through his sacrifice was given to the world the mighty influence of the Holy Spirit. It is through sacrifice that the work which Christ came to do must be carried forward. Self-sacrifice is required of every child of God. God calls upon his people to awake to their responsibilities. A flood of light is shining from his Word, and there must be a meeting of neglected obligations. When these are met, by giving to the Lord his own in tithes and offerings, the way will be opened for the world to hear the message that the Lord designs it to hear. If our people had the love of God in the heart, if every church-member were imbued with the spirit of self-sacrifice, there would be no lack of funds for home and foreign missions; our resources would be multiplied; a thousand doors of usefulness would be opened; and we should be invited to enter. Had the purpose of God been carried out in giving the message of mercy to the world, Christ would have come, and the saints would have received their welcome into the city of God. If ever there was a time when sacrifices should be made, it is now. My brethren and sisters, practise economy in your homes. Put away the idols that you have placed before God. Give up your selfish pleasures. Do not, I beg of you, spend means in embellishing your houses; for your money belongs to God, and to him you must give an account for its use. Do not use the Lord's money to gratify the fancies of your children. Teach them that God has a claim on all they possess, and that nothing can ever cancel this claim. Money is a needed treasure. Do not lavish it upon those who need it not. Some one needs your willing gifts. There are those in the world who are hungry, starving. You may say, I can not feed them all. But by practising Christ's lessons of economy, you can feed one. “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.” These words were spoken by him whose power wrought a miracle to supply the needs of a hungry multitude. If you have extravagant habits, cut them away from your life at once. Unless you do this, you will be bankrupt for eternity. Habits of economy, industry, and sobriety, are a better portion for your children than a rich dowry. We are pilgrims and strangers on the earth. Let us not spend our means in gratifying desires that God would have us repress. Let us fitly represent our faith by restricting our wants. Let our church-members arise as one man, and work earnestly, as those who are walking in the full light of truth for these last days. If in the providence of God you have been given riches, do not settle down with the thought that there is no need for you to exert yourself, that you have enough to draw upon, and that you can eat, drink, and be merry. Invest your means in the Lord's cause. If you are9 doing less than you can do to help the souls perishing around you, be sure that you are incurring guilt by your indolence. It is God who gives men power to get wealth, and he has ordained that this ability shall be regarded, not as a means of gratifying self, but as a means of returning to God his own. With this as an object, it is no sin to use our capabilities in acquiring means. Money is to be earned by labor. Every youth should be educated in habits of industry. The Bible condemns no man for being rich, if he has acquired his riches honestly. It is the love of money that is the root of all evil. Wealth will prove a great blessing to its possessor, if he realizes that it is not his own, but the Lord's, to be received with thankfulness, and with thankfulness returned to the Giver. But of what value is untold wealth, if it is hoarded in expensive mansions, or in bank-stock? What do these weigh in the scale in comparison with the salvation of the souls for whom Christ, the Son of the infinite God, has died? The Lord bids us, “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, That if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.” Paul a Debtor
By Stephen N. Haskell
PAUL was in a pre-eminent sense an apostle of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He preached the gospel through the infirmity of the flesh. Gal. 4:13. He was with the church in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. He was a learned man, a member of the Sanhedrin, and was not obliged to preach the gospel for a livelihood. He was what the world would call a successful man. His position made him honorable among the dignitaries of the nation. He did not preach with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Of his position after accepting the gospel, he says, “I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” They were accounted fools for Christ's sake. In the eyes of the world he had exchanged an honorable position for one the world called foolish in the extreme. He says of himself that he was more than an ordinary minister, and in proof of this states that he was “in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” This was the apostle's experience in his labors. He was more than an ordinary minister; for in the same degree that he partook of Christ's sufferings, he also partook of his power. Again he said, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.” While in Damascus, the governor, who kept the city with a garrison under Aretas, the king, desired to apprehend him, but he was let down by a wall through a window, in a basket, and escaped out of his hand. There is no Bible writer who suffered more at the hands of his brethren, the Jews, and he was also looked upon with suspicion by his brethren in the church, and yet never one word of complaint escaped his lips. What could lead the apostle to endure all this? What motive actuated him? An answer comes to us in one short verse: “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.” Had the apostle any transaction with these Greeks or barbarians that made him a debtor to them?—No, not in any way; but Christ had done something for him that he had not done for them. Christ had revealed himself to him. He had seen what Christ had done for the world. From the time Christ revealed himself to him ‘on’ the way to Damascus, he felt that for Christ's sake he was debtor to all. The love of Christ constrained him. He determined to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified. He taught the truth in words. He taught it in his life, which had greater power than words. When the Lord first called him, he said, “He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.” Immediately after his baptism he preached in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. He felt it was his privilege to suffer with Christ. He ever felt that for this cause he obtained mercy, that in him first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to those who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. The secret of the apostle's success lay in his realizing what the Lord had done for him, and he felt under obligation to others who did not have the salvation which he experienced. Christ had left glory, come to this earth, lived a life of suffering, and died a shameful death that Paul might live. Christ had pardoned his sins. The veil had been lifted, and he had viewed eternal scenes. He did not count his life dear unto himself. He not only preached, but he taught every man in all wisdom, that all might be presented perfect in Christ Jesus, “whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.” He preferred to die rather than to live for himself. In this lies the success of the Christian. The strength of every Christian laborer consists in seeing and realizing the life of Christ, and coveting his humiliation. Christ is our example. He is our life. The mother of Zebedee's children desired a certain thing of Christ: “Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.” But Jesus answered and said, “Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.” It is the self-sacrificing spirit that counts in the heavenly courts. “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” It is a privilege, yea, more, it is a precious gift, to suffer with Christ. Said the apostle, “For unto you is it given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.” Of all the gifts that heaven can bestow upon men, fellowship with Christ in his sufferings is the most weighty trust and the highest honor. The reason men are not more successful in winning souls to Christ is because they have not more of the spirit of Christ. They do not rightly view their Saviour, and what it is to serve him. The Christian religion had its birth and swaddling clothes in the manger. The chief cornerstone is the death and resurrection of our divine Lord and Master, who left the royal courts of glory, and came to this earth to die. It is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that is needed, that which baptizes us into the sufferings of Christ. “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.” It is those who have made a covenant with God by sacrifice who will be gathered by the angels when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven. It is the heart's surrender that is so much needed. We10 should realize the worth of souls, the estimate placed on them by Christ, the price he paid for their salvation. It is then, and then only, that we get a taste of the sufferings of Christ, and the heart is moved by the love of God to do and suffer in their behalf. Upon the true worker will rest the burden of souls. O, for the heavenly anointing that creates a hatred of self-serving, and implants in the heart an unselfish desire for others' happiness! “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also,” or in any other foreign field, is the heart language of every true laborer for Christ. Time for the Loud Cry
By G. B. Thompson
THERE will be a period in the work of the third angel’s message known as the “loud cry.” The angel of Revelation 18 will descend to the earth with a heavenly commission to unite his voice with the third angel, and speedily close the work of the gospel in all the earth. Through the power of the Holy Spirit the fifteen hundred millions of earth’s inhabitants will hear the message, and the horrible drama of sin be ended. We are in the time of the loud cry, and have been for a number of years. That the message is now to take on new power, and the prolonged controversy be speedily finished, must be apparent. The God who said to the proud waves of the mighty ocean, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further,” has decreed that time shall not continue beyond the bounds of a generation already hoary with age. This truth should burn into the soul of the remnant, and kindle their smoldering zeal into a flame. There is a statement in “Early Writings,” in the chapter entitled the “Loud Cry,” which throws light upon the nearness of the end, and adds solemnity to the hour. Speaking of the loud cry, the writer says:— “This message seemed to be an addition to the third message, joining it as the midnight cry joined the second angel’s message in 1844. The glory of God rested upon the patient, waiting saints, and they fearlessly gave the last solemn warning, proclaiming the fall of Babylon, and calling upon God’s people to come out of her, that they might escape her fearful doom. The light that was shed upon the waiting ones penetrated everywhere, and those in the churches who had any light, who had not heard and rejected the three messages, obeyed the call, and left the fallen churches. Many had come to years of accountability since these messages had been given, and the light shone upon them, and they were privileged to choose life or death.” — Page 138.
Some who oppose the spirit of prophecy try to make it appear that the Testimonies have failed because the end should have come many years ago in order to meet the specifications of some of the earlier ones. But here is a statement from one of the earliest Testimonies, which refutes this; for it states that after the three messages began, that some would grow up to “years of accountability” before the loud cry and the end would come. In fulfilment of this statement many have grown up. In the world and in our churches there are those who, when the third angel’s message began, were infants, but now are full-grown men and women, having reached the “years of accountability.” They are all about us. But let the solemn fact be noted that it is at the time when these have grown up to the “years of accountability,” that the loud cry is given. The Testimony said time would continue long enough from the beginning of the message before the loud cry was given for children to grow to “years of accountability.” It implies that it has done so. The same Spirit says that it is at the time when they have grown to years of accountability that the loud cry is given, and the work is finished in the earth. That the very limit has been reached is apparent, and delay can no longer be possible. “Servants of God, endowed with power from on high, with their faces lighted up and shining with holy consecration, went forth to proclaim the message from heaven. Souls that were scattered all through the religious bodies answered to the call, and the precious were hurried out of the doomed churches, as Lot was hurried out of Sodom before her destruction.” — Id., page 139.
That the hours are freighted with extraordinary and solemn responsibilities is apparent. Growth and development are the evidences of life. Every living thing grows. When an object reaches a point beyond which it does not expand and increase, it begins at once to decline, and dissolution is only a matter of a short time. A building, a suit of clothes, or any object which men construct, can not remain intact; for the instant it is pronounced “done,” it begins to deteriorate. So in the works of God, the cessation of improvement is the signal for decay. The acquirement of knowledge is governed by the same law. He who ceases to advance, begins to retrograde. Christian experience is a development, an unfolding, and it is under the same rule. When one no longer grows in grace, he goes backward. We can not continue to put new cloth into old garments. New wine must have new wine skins, or both will be ruined. The apostle admonishes us in his closing words: “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” To prevent spiritual declension we must grow. To guard against being led away with error, and falling from our position, we must grow. We must grow in grace, and also in the knowledge of Christ. We sometimes quote it, “Grow in grace and knowledge of the truth.” That is doing no special violence to the scripture, if to us the truth means Christ. If it means mere theories, then it is not what the apostle says, or means to say. In order to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, we must have expansive hearts. Narrowness of mind will not admit of growth, even in the truth. The upward path of the just shineth more and more unto the perfect day. All through our experience as a people, God has been trying to expand our capacity for receiving truth, and he would gladly confer upon each of us that gift to Solomon, “largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore.” This does not by any means imply that we should throw open the doors of our hearts to every wind of doctrine, but that we should place them under the control of the Spirit of God, that we may be all taught of him. The apostle was perplexed in his labors by the unwillingness of those who accepted the gospel to advance beyond the elementary doctrines taught them. Like a boy studying arithmetic in the winter, and staying out of school through the other seasons, forgetting what he has learned, and so never getting beyond long division, many people are satisfied to walk in a treadmill of thought instead of taking a straight line for perfection. The “old landmarks” are not hitching posts, but lines of truth running through to the kingdom of God. These lines lead upward, and from the heights we gain in following them we obtain new and broader glimpses of the works and character of God. We should not forsake the landmarks, nor should we remain stationary. To be “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,” does not necessitate our standing still. The Saviour says, “Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.” As surely as darkness succeeds day, so surely will darkness overtake the man who refuses or neglects to advance in his spiritual life. In no other direction is there such opportunity for advancement as in the knowledge of God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. To this branch of study—this divine science—we are most lovingly invited by the Word of God. The apostle Paul especially, repeatedly encourages us to increase our knowledge of God. God himself invites his people to come into closer relations with him, and obtain a better knowledge of his nature and character. To guard against idolatry he has not revealed to us his form or figure. His people have heard his voice, they have seen the thick darkness, they have seen the flashing light of his glory, but they saw no similitude. And yet God in Christ is revealed without a veil. In the11 secret of his presence the soul is continually learning wonderful things. He leads into green pastures fresh and sweet. I have seen cattle tethered on the field, and they had gone round and round until the very roots of the grass had disappeared, and just beyond the reach of the hungry beasts grew the luxuriant grass of the meadow. And thousands of hungry souls are bound in the same way by creeds and definitions which stultify the soul, and prevent its feeding on the ever-fresh and nourishing pasture of God’s Word, which is so boundless in its store of grace and knowledge. The opinions of men have so long been held in veneration by the Christian world that but few can discern between the chaff and the wheat. And many prefer to chew the chaff when the wheat is just as near, and just as free. The curse of Christianity has been the barriers erected in the name of truth, over which if men dared to advance they must do so at the cost of their place in the synagogue. The Bible, The Bible, still let this be our cry. Here let us firmly plant our feet, and by it let us live. Let us crave the sincere milk of the Word that we may grow thereby.