For 1260 years God’s two witnesses prophesied, clothed in sackcloth. Since the close of that period, the Bible, in whole or in part, has been translated into 450 languages and dialects. In the year 1907-08, one Bible society (the British and Foreign) circulated 5,688,381 Bibles or parts of it. From 1875 to 1900 the American Bible Society sent out to the world 9,126,515 complete Bibles.
Time and again men have said the Bible would become obsolete; that advanced thought and civilization would outgrow it. To-day the copies of the Scriptures published and sold are far greater in number than those of any other book, and the demand is increasing. Some time ago the country was startled by the revelation of the amount of infidel sentiment among leading college presidents and professors. Their position and statements as published in the Cosmopolitan led to the conclusion that as far as the universities were concerned, the Bible was a repudiated book. But as it has been in the past, so it is now; when its enemies suppose it has expired, it arises with fresh life and vigor.
In Farm and Fireside, Sept. 25, 1911, John E. Bradley, ex-president of Illinois College, says:—
“Nowhere has the new interest in Bible study been more marked than among college students. Ten years ago President Thwing, of Western Reserve University, published facts and figures in a magazine article which indicated the astonishing and wide-spread ignorance of the Bible among students. No doubt such ignorance still remains among large numbers of them. But a wave of enthusiasm for Biblical study has been started which is spreading among higher institutions of every class.
“‘In September, 1904, a company of young men was gathered in one of the fraternity houses in Michigan University. A student who was then captain of both the football and baseball teams of the university said that, as they knew, he had been active in college life, and now that he had come to his last year in the university, he wanted to say to them that he realized that students face some pretty serious problems and temptations in college. He thought these problems could best be considered in connection with the study of the Bible.
“‘I confess,’ he said, ‘that I know little of the book myself, but I am determined7to begin its study myself, and if there is no one else to do it, I will lead a group of athletic men in my own fraternity house.’ A surprising number of the company immediately expressed a desire to join in the study, and the result was the formation at once of numerous groups for Bible study in fourteen fraternities in Michigan University.
“The movement, thus begun, spread like the dawn of a new day. Last year there were 4,939 fraternity men studying the Bible in voluntary groups in their own society houses in this country. Schools and colleges having no fraternities responded no less freely. All sections and all classes of institutions have been reached. In the United States and Canada, 539 colleges reported large numbers last year pursuing Bible study in some form, more than 32,000 being in self-taught, voluntary groups. These figures are merely suggestive, straws that show which way the wind blows. . . .
“It must be a source of great satisfaction to the parents of tens of thousands of these youths, whose homes are on the farms of the Middle West, to know that students are thus turning of their own accord, and in such numbers, to the study of the Bible,—to know that their sons and daughters are in an atmosphere which honors the Word of God and studies it for guidance in the midst of conflict and temptations.
“Parents will also be glad to know that these were not weak or ‘goody-goody’ students, but that they included the leading men in their various colleges, as is shown by the fact that 795 of them were class presidents, 885 were prize winners, 696 were editors of college papers, 1,383 were members of college glee clubs, and 1,445 were members of university football teams.
“The college faculties have not been slow to recognize the educational value of this amount of Bible study. They also testify to its moral value. It is one thing to commit to memory a certain number of Bible verses; it is quite another thing to study Bible characters and Bible principles, and make them practical in our own lives. This study is already bearing fruit in more thoughtful habits among students, greater appreciation of personal responsibility, and higher aims as these young men and young women look forward into life.”
In the Homiletic Review, Mr. Clayton S. Cooper speaks of the “mighty and growing stream of Biblical interest that is rising in the colleges, with a similar interest springing up in the church itself.” He gives the names of twenty-five representative universities and colleges, with their total attendance and the number enrolled in Bible study classes. These include Yale, Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth, Stanford, and Columbia.
“This movement,” he says, “appears to be largely in the hands of the brightest and ablest undergraduates, and to have reached ‘students of all classes of opinion, of all races, of all vocations.’”
There are in these Bible classes: “1,522 members of varsity football teams; 1,454 members of college glee clubs; 633 editors of college papers; 1,402 members of varsity baseball teams; 755 class presidents; 712 members of varsity basket-ball teams; 1,053 members of varsity track teams. It was reported that 28,562 men in 409 institutions have attended Bible classes for two months or more; 9,089 men in 338 institutions follow habits of daily Bible study; 6,156 non-Christian men in 302 institutions were in Bible classes; 1,252 men were led into the Christian life through the Bible classes in 101 institutions; 33,657 student Bible-study textbooks were purchased.”
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.” Acts 2:17. The mightiest movements of earth’s history will be the closing conflicts between good and evil. The third angel’s message is founded wholly on the Bible. We are glad to see men turn to the study of the Word; it will do them good. Some through this means will become wise unto salvation.
National City, Cal.
And Can It Be?
By M. H.
M. H.
AND can it be that I, imperfect aye,
May walk beside the sinless Son of God?
This tardy love, so full of childish whims,
Accepted be when brought beneath the blood?
Is't true my Lord is happier that I,
All scarred and faulty, yet with purpose true,
At last have seen the vision of his grace
And given him my life to make anew?
O perfect One, make me less slow of heart
To sense the wondrous joys thou holdst in store.
Help me to labor gladly by thy side,
Thy glory only seeking evermore.
A Great Missionary Program
By P. G. Stanley
P. G. STANLEY
THE key-note of the advent movement is the carrying of the gospel to all the world in this generation. During the past year Seventh-day Adventists gave in total contributions for evangelistic work in all lines, $21.27 a member. This is probably the highest average per capita paid by any religious body of people in the world for similar purposes.
The greatest missionary program perhaps ever arranged by this people was set in motion at the beginning of this year in an effort to raise for missions fifteen cents a week per capita for every Adventist believer in the world. Frequently programs are arranged in which only a select few take part; but this plan is unique in that the church, every member of the church and the Sabbath-school, is given a place on this program of raising funds for the carrying of the third angel’s message to all the world.
“Not more surely is the place prepared for us in the heavenly mansions than is the special place designated on earth where we are to work for God.”—“Christ’s Object Lessons,” page 327. As surely as Jesus has prepared a place for us in the heavenly mansions, just so surely are we each given a part on this program, that we may do our individual part in giving our quota to missions. By concerted action, each and every member performing his particular part, this undertaking will be a success, the world will be warned, and Jesus will come to take his waiting people home.
To this people has been given the greatest missionary undertaking in the world. It is to be cut short in righteousness, and finished in this generation, and the entire membership of the denomination is called “to the help of the Lord” in finishing the work. “Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently.” <span></span> Jer. 48:10. Cursed are those who fail to respond to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Judges 5:23.
If we fail, it is because of unfaithfulness, and to be unfaithful is to lose a full reward. 2 John 8. “The reward given to every man will be in accordance with the persevering energy and faithful earnestness with which he performs his part in the great contest.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. IV, page 35.
In Sight of Port
By Mrs. May L. Hanley
MRS. MAY L. HANLEY
WE had been tossed on the briny deep for three long days and nights. To most of the passengers it had been a time of great fear and suffering.
The captain did not leave his post of duty, and the mate, when questioned, did not give any hope that the ship would ever reach land.
The pitching and rolling of the vessel gradually ceased, and we were told that the storm had subsided, and although the craft was disabled, it was thought it would make the port.
How our hearts revive, and courage takes the place of fear! The throbbing of the powerful engines is again felt, and we are steaming toward home. The lighthouse is seen. O, glad sight! For beyond is the city, and that means home and children.
We watched the light as we drew nearer, and after the ship was anchored to await dawn and the pilot, its bright, cheery rays were a token that our loved ones were not far away.
Many now ridiculed their fears during those hours of suspense, and made light remarks concerning the prayers and pledges made when death was thought to be near.
Just three hours after we anchored, the storm struck us anew from the opposite direction, and dragging anchor, we were driven to sea, where we were at the mercy of the waves.
Through it all, the words rang in my ears, “In sight of port, yet lost!” If the pilot had been there to meet us and guide the boat through the channel, we should have been secure before the storm again broke. O how many will have this sad experience! In sight of port, yet lost! But we have a Pilot who is always ready and waiting to guide us through, and we need not be driven back by the storms of life to be buffeted by the waves of discouragement. We have a Lighthouse, and the Light, trimmed and burning, sheds its rays on our pathway.
Imagine our feelings if the captain had said, I failed to reach the port, although I did my best; I’ll just let the boat drift now, and take it easy, and I expect we shall get in some way. But no; he did his duty, and at last we did reach our goal.
Let us all stay by the ship, trusting our Captain and Pilot; for we are in sight of port now.
Thomas, Okla.
Editorial
By Francis McLellan Wilcox
Editorial Correspondence
BOULDER, COLO., Feb. 6, 1912.
It was a pleasure to greet again the family of workers at the Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium. In connection with this institution the writer spent several years of labor; hence it is endeared to him by many pleasant associations.
The family has almost entirely changed since the early days of its history, only two remaining of those connected with it from its beginning; viz., Brother A. Bernsen, the chief engineer, and Brother J. E. Pegg, in charge of the laboratory.
This sanitarium was dedicated in July, 1896, hence it has been in operation nearly sixteen years. The original investment represented nearly seventy-five thousand dollars. The present plant consists of the main building, containing about sixty rooms; two large cottages, of fourteen rooms each; and eleven other cottages of from one to five rooms. Another large brick building contains the steam power and electric-lighting plant, the steam laundry, and the bakery. During the last two years a gymnasium building has been erected, affording good facilities for the guests in this regard. The institution operates a dairy of about one dozen cows, which is providing excellent milk and cream, as well as materially lessening the cost to the institution of these food products.
The Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium has passed through some very trying experiences during its history. Many influences have combined to operate against the work. Originally it treated quite large numbers of consumptive patients. This gave the institution the reputation of being a consumptive sanitarium, and for years after the sanitarium ceased treating this class of patients, it suffered from the effects of the reputation it had earned. For years it met much opposition from opposing medical institutions. But it is a cause for great gratitude that at the present time the sanitarium enjoys the hearty support of our people in Colorado and throughout the Central West, and all are manifesting an active interest in its welfare.
Great embarrassment has come to this institution during the last few years through the many changes in its medical staff. During its sixteen years' history, there have been eight medical superintendents presiding over the medical work of the institution. Such frequent changes of physicians can bring only disastrous results to any institution. Every physician creates a constituency of friends and patients. With his departure from the institution there is a loss in a large measure of this constituency, and the succeeding physician must start anew and create a constituency of his own. If our sanitariums can maintain a settled medical staff of competent physicians, their opportunities for success will be greatly increased. It is to be hoped that the present medical staff of the Boulder-Colorado Sanitarium may be continued indefinitely until a strong, stable work is built up.
Dr. H. A. Green, the present medical superintendent, has now been connected with the work for one year. He has found for himself a large place in the hearts of his associates and of the patrons of the sanitarium. He is an excellent surgeon and a general practitioner of broad experience, and is doing commendable work in this institution. Associated with him is Dr. Mary Weber, in charge of the ladies' department, who is also rendering excellent service. Miss Grace Mitchell is doing most acceptable work as head nurse, and Brother V. E. Thompson as the manager of the men's treatment department.
We were pleased to find still in active service Dr. Kate Lindsay, who for the last twelve years has done hard, faithful, and competent service in this sanitarium, at times carrying a heavy load of medical work when changes have been made in the medical staff, and at all times carrying the chief burden of teaching in the nurses' training-school. Although past seventy years of age, her optimistic view of life keeps her hard at work, and the scores of excellent young men and women who have gone out as nurses from this institution can bear witness to the faithfulness and efficiency of her instruction.
One handicap, however, which has always embarrassed the work still exists, and that is the fact that nearly all the tourist travel to Colorado comes in the summer, and but very little during the winter months. Could the great advantages of Colorado's winter climate be known throughout the East, the institution would be filled to overflowing the year round. As it is, the winter patronage often runs down very low. As a rule, sanitariums can not depend upon local patronage for their support. They must draw patients from a large territory; and it is to be earnestly hoped that with a better knowledge of Colorado winter conditions, the State will see constantly a larger influx of winter visitors, and that the sanitarium will reap the benefit of this condition.
Those in charge of the sanitarium, however, are not waiting for this change in the tide of travel. They are putting forth earnest efforts in the way of judicious advertising to bring to the sanitarium those who should receive its benefits. At the present writing, the sanitarium contains a fair winter patronage, which is daily increasing.
The business manager and secretary-treasurer, Brother Chas. E. Rice, aided by Brother Baker, has labored hard and diligently during the last two years in promoting the material interests of the work. The report of the institution rendered at the meeting of the Central Union Conference at College View, Nebr., showed a gain of over seven thousand dollars for the last two years.
The food department, under the management of Brother Ward Cooper, assisted by Ora Luick and Earl Austin, has likewise been meeting with excellent success. The last year's business showed a fair profit, and the grade of foods now being made by this factory is excellent, and is giving splendid satisfaction.
Three nurses' classes constitute the present training-school. The senior class consists of seventeen earnest young men and women. Of those finishing their work the present year, a number are preparing for work in the field. From this sanitarium in the past Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Cook, Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Kelsey, and Misses Nellie Wagner and Bertha Fuller have gone as missionaries to India; Mr. and Mrs. John Herboltzheimer and Miss Hattie Harriman to Japan; Mr. Helfred Toppenberg to Scandinavia; and Miss Frances Brockman to Argentina. In the home field other graduates have found places of responsibility in connection with institutions and conferences. It is to be hoped that this spirit of service for others may be seen in large measure in all the nurses who shall be graduated from this institution in the future.
It gave us pleasure while in Boulder to meet with the church in this place, numbering about two hundred fifty members. Elder J. S. Rouse is in charge of the church work, as well as acting as chaplain at the sanitarium, where he is assisted by Sister Annie Sufficool as Bible worker among the guests. We are gratified to see the improvements that have been made in the church building, and to learn that it is nearly free from9indebtedness, and that the members of the church are working unitedly and harmoniously in seeking to build up the interests of the kingdom of Christ in this center.
We found here Sister L. L. McCamley, who spent several years of earnest work in India, and who is still doing all that health and strength will permit to advance in a local way the interests of the work.
We believe that in the providence of God a bright future is before the work in Boulder. This sanitarium will yet do its appointed work; and if those connected with it in a spirit of consecration and humility labor for its success, the blessing of God will turn its captivity; the darkness will disperse; and light and blessing and power will rest upon the work, and from it into all the surrounding territory, as has been stated by the spirit of prophecy, there will go out saving power. The assurances and promises given should prove a source of cheer and encouragement to the workers now connected with this medical center.
F. M. W.
A Challenge to Protestantism
By W. W. P.
ALTHOUGH there are some professed Protestants who declare that the growth of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States is not a menace, yet we are glad to note that this sentiment is not unanimous. Occasionally a voice is heard among those who are not classed as anti-Catholic agitators, protesting in no uncertain tone against the unchristian doctrines and practices of the Roman Church, and calling upon Protestants to awaken to the real situation before Catholicism gains the ascendancy.
A short time ago we called attention to an article in the Christian Work and Evangelist (New York) which decried opposition to Catholicism, and which declared that its doctrines were essentially the same as those held by Protestants. In marked contrast with this article is one which recently appeared in Zion's Herald (Boston), and from which liberal extracts were made in the Literary Digest of February 10. Some paragraphs from this article are reproduced here:—
Unless all signs fail, the last stand of the Roman Catholic Church for supremacy is to be made in the United States of America.
All the power of the great organization built up under Hildebrand, and developed throughout the years by his successors, is to be concentrated upon this country.
This is the explanation of recent events and of announcements which have found their way into public print. The elevation of American prelates is significant. So is the statement that the country is to be divided into eighteen ecclesiastical provinces, or subdivisions, for convenience of administration. These straws all indicate the direction of the blowing of the wind—Rome is determined to conquer the United States.
Here on American soil will the Roman Catholic Church establish itself in mighty power. It may be making virtue of necessity, as there is nowhere else for Romanism to go. But, be that as it may, the fact is the same.
Even here do we find a challenge to Protestantism. It means that here on American soil is to be fought to a finish the battle of the Reformation.
Do we want a Roman Catholic America? If not, we must be prepared to meet the challenge of the present.
And now the time has come for us to meet the issue squarely. We are face to face with the situation. . . . The time has come for the church as a whole to awaken to this situation.
The greatest hindrance in this controversy with Rome is found in the lethargy of Protestantism, and the fact that many Protestants are, to a large degree, ignorant of the real teachings of Roman Catholicism. Half a century ago Protestants, both in England and in America, were very alert to the aggressions of Romanism, as the books and periodicals of that time testify. But a marked change has come, and the present generation has not been educated to an intelligent appreciation of the Roman apostasy.
It is further true that the genuine principles of the gospel forbid the use by Protestants of many methods employed by Roman Catholics in their campaign for the ascendancy. A religion which consists largely in form and ceremony, and which from its very nature impresses the senses more than the heart, easily lends itself to spectacular display, and is readily propagated by outward pomp and splendor.
Again, the union of church and state is a fundamental principle of Roman Catholicism, and hence the Roman hierarchy eagerly seizes upon every favorable excuse for public functions which will bring together, in an official or semi-official capacity, the leading representatives of the church and the nation, and do not hesitate to employ both the influence and the money of the government to further the aims of Catholicism.
True Protestantism can not copy these methods; true Protestantism must not violate its own principles, even in a battle for its life; true Protestantism must itself represent the pure principles of truth, and must use as its weapon the pure Word of God. There is no hope that Roman Catholicism as a system will be overthrown. It will continue till the end, to be destroyed only by the brightness of the coming of the true Head of the church. But individuals can be saved from this deception, and the only effective way to do this is by the proclamation of the truth of the primitive gospel.
The first and essential step in meeting the challenge which the Roman hierarchy has thrown down by the declaration of its purpose to make America Catholic, is to come out of Babylon ourselves, repudiating absolutely everything which savors of Roman Catholicism. Then the cry can be effectively raised by those who have come out to those who are still in, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”
The threefold message of Rev. 14: 6-12 is the divine protest against the Roman apostasy, and the inspired warning against yielding the homage demanded by this counterfeit system. The Roman challenge to America furnishes another and more emphatic reason for giving this message with a loud voice: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.” Let this message in the fulness of its meaning be proclaimed in every land.
W. W. P.
Sweeping Back a River With a Straw
By C. M. S.
STANDING knee-deep in the waters of the Mississippi and trying to sweep the river up-stream with a straw, would fittingly represent the endeavor of the National Reform Association to make this nation Christian by law — to make it Christian by inserting the names of God and Christ in the national Constitution, and using that and the civil law to bring men and women into the kingdom of God. The prayer-wheel of the Tibetan and the East Indian is not a more grotesque caricature of true religion than is this error of national or law-made religion, which puts form in the place of faith, fear in the place of love, and makes men mere automatons and marionettes dancing to man-made religious laws, when they should be living, lifting Christians, inspired by God's Spirit to do his work in the earth.
The Christian Statesman, the organ of the National Reform Association, gives a large portion of its space to a setting forth of some of the deplorable conditions of the present day, and it paints the picture none too strong; but the remedy which it offers is the straw against the stream. It hopes to remedy these conditions by putting “God in the Constitution,” and attempting to “bring all the civil statutes into accord with the law of Christ.” But Christ's remedy, and the only remedy that can help, the remedy that deals with sin in the domain of the individual heart, is unmentioned, and his commission seemingly ignored.10
While our Lord's commission to his followers authorizes them to “make disciples” of the people of all nations, the exponents of religious legislation have left the individual work, and are seeking to make a disciple of the government itself by baptizing the Constitution in the name of Deity — a work never committed to Christians, and a work as barren of sheaves for God's garner as the fields that have never known aught but tares here are barren of bundles in the human harvest.
The conditions that exist to-day are apparent to all, and he who sees in them the fulfilments of God's Word is armed against the temptation to do any such unfruitful work as this of the National Reform Association. Here are some of the conditions which they and others recognize, and which they hope to remedy and reform by the purely human scheme above set forth:—
Everywhere the drags are off, and the wheels of trade and pleasure are running wild. When the stoppage will come, as come it must, no one can tell; but this career of extravagance in living is bound to end in catastrophe, moral and social, unless common sense interposes.
—Dr. Donald Sage Mackay, of Fifth Avenue Collegiate Reformed Church of New York.
President Thwing, of Western Reserve University, speaks strongly of the same dangers:—
Becoming brutalized, becoming materialized, becoming sensualized, are the three gravest perils of our times. What we suffer ourselves to call the lower classes are in peril of becoming brutalized. They are becoming stolid, indifferent, hard of heart, secretive, cruel, without knowing they are cruel, living for the day only. What we call the middle classes are living for a world outside of the world of their own character. Wealth, not for spending, but for holding, is their god. What we call the higher classes are in peril of becoming sensualized. They live in the exterior senses. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, constitute the basis of the pride of their flesh. This materialistic spirit has led to a marked development of the passion for gambling. In rich and fashionable circles there has been a great increase of card-playing, not only for sport, but for money. Betting . . . is becoming more and more prevalent. The spread of this mania among the American people marks an intellectual decline. The moral evils are, however, immeasurably graver. . . . If any part of our system of government should be free from the control of such men as make up the political machines in our cities and States, it is the public schools. Yet the appointment of teachers in the city of Philadelphia [and he might have said, practically every city in the country] is in the hands of ward politicians, and is determined by considerations of “practical” politics.
After enumerating some of these evils, the Statesman points to some “hopeful signs,” such as the decision of the coal strike commission, which it thinks has checked to some extent the industrial despotism of the labor unions; the burst of public sentiment against the Mormon senator, Reed Smoot; and the “increasing difficulties of the Papacy,” such as the dissolution of the Catholic orders in France. But the dominance of the labor unions is more marked than before; the Mormon senator is still in his seat, and Mormonism continues to increase; and the Papacy is wielding greater power than ever with the rulers of the world, and this includes the President of the United States of America. The transactions between the Washington government and the Vatican over the Philippine affairs gave Rome such a prestige as she had never enjoyed before. It gave her an influence in the Old World that she had long sought. In America it gave added impetus to the Romeward drift.
So much for the “hopeful signs” which point downward rather than upward. These signs are hopeful in this only, that they show the fulfilments of God's Word, fulfilments which are harbingers of his soon return. The conditions which the Statesman points out as illustrations of the need of its politico-religious remedy are conditions which God's Word plainly declares would be in existence in “the last days,” just prior to his return; and that Word holds out no hope that any such scheme, or any scheme at all, would bring a reformation of the people generally. In fact, the Word declares that these evils will grow “worse and worse” until the end.
In view of that declaration of God's Word, and in view of the increase of all these evils,—National Reformers themselves being witnesses,—how futile is the attempt to stem that unyielding tide by mixing religion and politics! Take each separate evil named, and ask yourself how the placing of God's name in the Constitution, and the changing of our laws from a civil to a religious basis, will reform that evil out of the body politic. The evil is in the land because it is in the individual heart. Legislation will not reach it any more than skin lotions will cure dyspepsia and tuberculosis. Christ must come into the individual heart by faith, or the soul will never triumph over sin. God's victors are a “remnant;” they are called out from the great evil world around them, and that great evil world will go on to the destruction of the last day. The Christian will oppose the evil and uphold the good everywhere and at all times; but he will use no such remedy and hold out no such hope as the National Reform Association puts forth. The heart must be clean if the man would live a clean life; and there is no one who can cleanse the human heart save Jesus Christ, and he does it for each individual personally and quietly, and because that individual wants it done. To try to bring that about by human law is as useless and illogical and unnatural as to try to make a rose bloom by opening its petals with our clumsy fingers. Such a process ruins the rose; and such a process makes of a man one of two things, a martyr or a hypocrite. In both cases Heaven is insulted, and a wrong is done which can never be repaired.
C. M. S.
Notes on Important Eras of Prophecy
By W. A. S.
The Hand of God in History— No. 2
Notes on Important Eras of Prophecy
The Witness to the Living God
Two great evidences bear witness to the living and the true God,—his created works, and the fulfilment of his word of prophecy.
His Created Works
Creative power is the great mark of distinction of the living God:—
“But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King; at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.” Jer. 10:10-12.
The earth and all created things in it bear constant witness to the living God:—
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language; their voice is not heard.” Ps. 19:1-3.
The language of the sun and moon and stars is known to all, lettered or unlettered. As Addison sings,—
“What though no real voice nor sound
Amid their radiant orbs is found?
In reason’s ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
Forever singing as they shine,
The hand that made us is divine.”
The apostle Paul summed up the facts of this witness of God’s created works in these words:—
“That which may be known of God is manifest in [“to,” margin] them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead; so that they are without excuse.” Rom. 1:19, 20.
And the sign of this creative power, the seal or mark by which the true and living God is known, is the Sabbath day: “Hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Eze. 20:20. On this text, Dr. Wm.11Hales, the chronologist, supplied a striking comment, as follows:—
“A sign between God and his people (Eze. 20:20); and a mark of separation from the idolatrous Gentiles, who universally violated it, as we learn from the following exceptions in a curious passage of Julian the apostate [Greek text omitted]: ‘What nation is there, by the gods, who do not think that except the first commandment, Thou shalt worship no other gods, and the fourth, Remember the Sabbath, they ought to observe the other commandments of the decalogue?’”—“Chronology,” Vol. I, page 118.
The first precept commands all men to worship only the true God, and the fourth tells who the true God is, the Creator of heaven and earth. Thus the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is the sign of the true God, and the keeping of it the seal or mark of loyalty to him.
The “Sure Word of Prophecy”
The power to foretell the future is a distinguishing characteristic of divinity. The Lord says:—
“Declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods.” Isa. 41:22, 23.
Only the living God can do this. The prophetic Scriptures supply evidence by which any one who will face the facts may know of a surety that the Bible is the voice of this true and living God.
Here is the Lord’s open challenge to doubt or unbelief:—
“I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.” Isa. 48:3.
Why has the Lord uttered prophecies? He tells us:—
“Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass; I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I showed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.” Verses 4, 5.
Only the Christian Scriptures contain accurate historic prophecies, outlining the course of history generations before the events described took place.
The Hindu may say, “The Christian Bible is good for the Christian; but we also have our sacred books, the Vedas, which are good for the Hindus.” But we ask, “Did your sacred books, written in ancient times, describe in clear outline the course of history then future, and can you point to the fulfilment?” And more than once I have heard the reply from Hindu lips, “No; we know nothing of historic prophecies in our sacred books.”
It is because the living God is the author of the Bible; and he only can tell the end from the beginning. The sacred books of all other religions present the picture of man talking to God. The Book of books is God talking to man. In the Christian Scriptures God speaks from heaven, and man answers. In the non-Christian writings man speaks toward heaven, and there is never an answer back from a living God who does things on earth. Sir Alfred Lyall well puts the dreary loneliness of that silence, in his “Meditations of a Hindu Prince:”—
“And the myriad idols around me, and
the legion of muttering priests,
The revels and rites unholy, the dark,
unspeakable feasts!
What have they wrung from the Silence?
Hath even a whisper come
Of the Secret, whence and whither?
Alas, for the gods are dumb!”
In the Christian Scriptures of truth we hear the voice of the living God. One evening, in India, I sat with a bright young man, a Hindu student in the Calcutta University. The Christian Bible was an unknown book to him. We studied the words of Daniel before Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, as he interpreted the king’s divinely given dream of the great metallic image, with its head of gold, breast of silver, sides of brass, and legs of iron. Daniel 2. The prophet outlined the general course of the history of universal empire from the golden age of Babylon, under Nebuchadnezzar, to the end of time:—
“And after thee shall arise another kingdom [Medo-Persia] inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass [Grecia], which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron [Rome; “the iron monarchy of Rome,” as Gibbon calls it]: . . . and . . . the kingdom shall be divided [the kingdoms that arose within the western empire of Rome, represented by the modern kingdoms of western Europe]. . . . And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.”
As we followed the prophetic outline, from Babylon to Rome and its division, I asked the student—a Hindu—if from his own study of history he could say whether this prophecy, written in Babylon two thousand five hundred years ago, had been fulfilled. He replied, “I know that this describes the course of history in the exact order of events.”
And with a face expressing surprise and awe, he looked up and said again, with the force of sudden and deep conviction, “Only the living God could have written that before it came to pass!”
It is the truth. Divine prophecy bears witness, sure and certain, that the voice of the living God speaks in the Bible.
The need of the world is to know the living God. The Sabbath, the memorial of his creative power, is the divinely ordained sign by which men may know him. The prophetic Scriptures that speak with the voice of the living God declare that the last days have come, and that the second advent of Christ is near at hand. Thus the Sabbath and the advent truths of God’s Holy Word constitute the key-note of the gospel message for this generation. W. A. S.