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Signs of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 52.

Man's Misery

Signs of the Times

Nov 5, 1894

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 5, 1894

Man's Misery.

In and of himself man is a most miserable being. As the apostle expresses it, he is "without hope." The reason is expressed in one sentence by our Lord, "Without me ye can do nothing." John 15:5. Absolutely this is true, as might be shown, but here it is considered in a moral and spiritual sense. Man of himself is utterly helpless to do good, and therefore utterly miserable.
This same truth is repeatedly expressed in Romans: "For when we were yet without strength" (chap. 5:6); "there is none righteous, no, not one;" "there is none that doeth good, no, not one;" "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (chap. 3:10, 12, 23); "for that which I do, I allow not; for what I would [do], that do I not; but what I hate, that do I;" "for I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do" (chap. 7:15, 18, 19).
Certainly this is emphatic. God, who knows the heart of man, as man does not know it himself, declares that man's case of himself is hopeless. Man is a sinner, incapable of saving himself from sin and its effect,—death. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." God's glory is his character and all that is in it. See Ex. 33:18, 19. But God's character is righteous, holy, just, pure, upright, without iniquity. Having all these inherent in him, he also has life. He is life,—the King eternal, immortal. All these are his glory. Unending existence is with him and in him, because he is righteousness; but man has sinned and come short of that glory.
When man yielded to Satan, he yielded all; he became Satan's subject—slave. All things under man became subject to Satan, and Satan became "god of this world." It is for this reason that the apostle says, "I am carnal, sold under sin" (Rom. 7:14), and Isaiah represents men as being "captives," and in "prison" (Isa. 61:1). Paul says that they are "alienated from the life of God" (Eph. 4:18); and again Isaiah says that they are sick, with "no soundness" in them (Isa. 1:5, 6). Says Jeremiah: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is desperately sick; who can know it?" Jer. 17:9, Revised Version. Man is sick all through and through with the leprosy of sin, to which he yielded himself wholly when he yielded to Satan.
And man to some extent knows this, at least that man does who has ever tried in his own strength to do right, to even follow his own ideal. He has found himself falling short even outwardly from the mark he has set. He has known that in many of his best deeds outwardly, for which he received the most praise, his motives were the most selfish. He has seen within himself that which the world or special friends called good or great, but which he knows was little, mean, contemptible, selfish; and if he tries to balance up his selfishness, he often finds that the deeds done to pay his debts belong in the debit column. And so day after day goes by, week after week passes, and often months and years stretch away into the ages of the past, adding to his long columns of debt, and lading more heavily his burdened conscience. He finds no relief. He seeks peace, but finds strife. He longs for rest, but finds wearisome toil. He longs to be righteous, but sees only sin. He seeks to plant his feet on a rock, but, behold, it is the quicksand of sin. He looks within for light, but all is darkness. He hopes for strength, but, lo, he is weakness itself. He realizes to a little extent, so far as his brief experience has gone, and his narrow vision can discern, that "there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked;" he is miserable, hopeless, helpless, "without strength." Hundreds have found it to be thus; and so will every conscientious soul who tries to reach in his own strength his own ideal.
Of course the sinner can shut his ears to the voice of the Spirit of God. He can harden and sear his conscience by reckless indulgence in sin. He may pursue the phantom pleasure, may drink the stupefying draughts of the siren, and imagine himself happy, but he knows no peace; he is but laying up in store misery for the future. That sinner is miserable indeed whose conscience is yet tender, whose heart has not rejected the law which points out the sin, who has not closed his ears to the voice of the Spirit which presses it home, who realizes to some extent his sin, his lost condition, his misery; but more miserable still is he who has turned from the law of God, slighted his Spirit, who is utterly miserable and knows it not at all. Happy is he who keeps his heart open, who is ever attent to the voice of God, reproof and correction though it bring. Happy indeed is he when he comes to that place where he can say with all his heart, "Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?" for then Christ appears to save.

God's Mercy.

Here is manifest the wonderful mercy of God. Man's misery is offset by God's mercy, man's helplessness by God's helpfulness, man's sin by God's righteousness, man's death by God's life. And God's mercy in Christ Jesus has been with man all the way. When he yielded himself wholly to Satan in Eden, God did not leave him there. He fulfilled his promise, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed." Gen. 3:15. That "enmity" against Satan in man is that from which springs his desire to do better, which leads him to condemn the wrong, to approve the right. God in his mercy gave man this, with the power of choice by which man might choose the right, eternal right, with God, and reject the evil; by which he could renounce his partnership with Satan and be reconciled to God, and become one with him. God granted the boon, not because man deserved it, but in his mercy for man in his misery.
It is to this element of conscience and will which God in his mercy gave man, that the Spirit of God appeals. It is in this way that Christ, through whom all these blessings come, "lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John 1:9. And by all his works in nature, by all the sad results of sin, by all his bountiful providences, God has in all ages and climes been appealing to man to turn to him and live. He goes farther,—he gives his Son. He withholds not Heaven's best gift that man may be saved. In fact, he gave Christ in the beginning, and he gave all things in him then. He has told us of his love and mercy in various ways through all the ages of the past; but he told us when his only-begotten Son died upon the cross,how much he loved the sinful sons of men, with love infinite, everlasting, full, and free.
This is what God has done. What does he require of man? What is necessary for man to do that he may receive of this mercy, that he may partake of the fullness of God?—Simply to surrender to God, nothing more. It is all comprised in that. God is man's best friend; he loves the sinner. But the sinner's "mind is enmity against God." Rom. 8:7. Then when man yields the enmity, renounces the sin, chooses God's way and God's will, there is nothing between him and God. Right here rests the whole secret of Christian life,—surrender to God. Says our Lord, "If any man willeth to do his [God's] will, he shall know of the doctrine." John 7:17. Revised Version. This is faith, to choose God, to say, He is right, I am wrong. When we do that we place ourselves on his side, and we become right, we are on the right side. He who does this truly separates from the sin, chooses the righteousness of God. Choosing God with all the heart, he chooses God's power, wisdom, knowledge, love. The man can do no more than choose, eternally, continuously, persistently choose, and God does the rest. He speaks in him who was dead in sin new life. He gives him a new heart. He makes him a new creature. By his mercy he removes the misery. In the place of strife he gives peace; in the place of turmoil, rest. And the sinner can truly say: "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." Isa. 61:10. Sinner, are you miserable? God's mercy will remove your misery. Will you not let him do it?

WHAT IS THE IMAGE TO THE BEAST?

SOME of our readers as well as some of our contemporaries seem to have a wrong idea as to what is the image of Rev. 13:14, 15. Our correspondent writes that he knows "that Rome made it a law that Sunday, the first day of the week, was to be the Sabbath," but that "the real image of the beast is the cross." Others teach the same thing. Let us consider the prophecy.
1. It is assumed in this article, as it can easily be proved, that the beast of Rev. 13:1-10, which continued "forty and two months," refers to the Papacy. But when we say the Papacy we do not mean merely the Roman Catholic Church, nor that church as holding its temporal power over the States of the Church. The Roman Catholic Church as such has no power to persecute, while the beast is a persecutor. That church as possessing its temporal power over the States of the Church in Italy is too limited in scope and influence to be symbolized by the beast. What then does the beast symbolize? — It symbolizes the authority to define heresy and its punishment, given to Rome by the secular power and enforced by them according to her sentence. This power was given to Rome in A.D. 533, by Justinian, then emperor of Rome.
The account of this, says Croly on the Apocalypse (pp. 167-171, second edition, 1828, London), "is to be found in the Annals of Baronius, vol. 7, p. 194, fol. Antwerpiæ." In Justinian's letter, addressed to "the most holy archbishop of our city of Rome, and patriarch," occurred the following statements:—
Therefore we have made no delay in subjecting and uniting to your holiness all the priests of the whole East.
We cannot suffer that anything which relates to the state of the church, however manifest or unquestionable, should be moved without the knowledge of your Holiness, who are the HEAD OF ALL THE HOLY CHURCHES.
The letter also mentions that the incumbent of the rival see, the archbishop of Constantinople, was "desirous in all things to follow the apostolic authority of his Blessedness," the pope of Rome.
The same year, March 25, in a letter to Epiphanius, Justinian refers to his letter to the bishop of Rome, and, says Croly, "repeats his decision, that all affairs touching the church shall be referred to the pope, 'HEAD OF ALL BISHOPS, AND THE TRUE AND EFFECTIVE CORRECTOR OF HERETICS.'"
In the same month of the following year, the pope returned an answer repeating the language of the emperor, applauding the homage to the see, and adopting the titles of the imperial mandate. He observes that, among the virtues of Justinian, "one shines as a star, his reverence for the apostolic chair, to which he has subjected and united all the churches, it being truly the head of all, as was testified by the rules of the Fathers, the laws of princes, and the declarations of the emperor's piety."
This letter of Justinian is not all the evidence of this action concerning the see of Rome. The 131st edict of the "Novellæ" of the Justinian code, on ecclesiastical titles and privileges, chapter 2, states:—
We therefore decree that the most holy pope of the elder Rome is the first of all the priesthood. The archbishop of Constantinople was given second rank. The 9th edict states that in Rome "was the supremacy of the pontificate."
But this decree of Justinian could not at once be carried out. The Arian Ostrogoths stood in the way of the trinitarian ambitious bishop of Rome. Justinian sent his army, under Belisarius, to suppress them, and they fell in A.D. 538, the last of the three kingdoms plucked up to make place for the little horn of Daniel 7, the "Head of all the Churches, and true and effective Corrector of Heretics." The forty and two months (1260 years) reached to 1798, when the power of the Papacy as a persecutor was destroyed, and the spiritual domination of the pope over the nations was no longer acknowledged.
The beast then represented the Papacy as connected with the civil power, the church defining heresy and condemning heretics, and the civil power crystallizing into law the dogmas of the church and enforcing her decrees against heretics. It was a union of Church and State.
2. An image is a likeness, or resemblance. See where the same word is used in Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 11:7, and other scriptures. An "image to the beast" would, therefore, be a likeness to the beast, something resembling the beast. The beast does not look like the cross or any other figure. It was from the standpoint of the Church of Rome a union of religion with the State for the purpose of establishing the kingdom of Christ and punishing heresy, but from the standpoint of the prophecy it is the enthronement of self in the place of God, the setting up of antichrist, and the persecution of the people of God. The Papacy claimed in the Dark Ages that her object in the control she exercised over the civil power was to advance the kingdom of Christ. We know that it resulted in putting him to death myriads of times in the persons of his saints. The image will make the same claim, and do the same work. All this the image must do, for it is a likeness to the beast, and the image speaks and endeavors to put to death those who do not worship it. This a "cross" could not do, nor could any other material image. The Roman Catholic Church as a whole might worship the cross, others might follow them in that worship, but that would not be the image or likeness to the beast. But the "beast," a union of Church and State, could and did speak persecuting laws against the people of God, and caused them to be put to death; the image is also a union of Church and State, and it also will speak persecuting laws, and cause the people of God to be put to death.
3. The two-horned beast symbolizes this government, as was conclusively shown last week. And this government has already, in embyro, made the image to the beast. As has been shown over and over again in these columns, the Supreme Court, on February 29, 1892, decided that this was a religious people and Christian nation, and virtually affirmed the decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania that Christianity is a part of the common law. In the summer of 1892 the legislative department of this government committed itself to religious legislation at the demand of the churches in the Sunday closing of the World's Fair, and the executive signed the measure. He has not learned the lessons of history who asserts that this government will retrace these steps. It will not. It has yielded to the clamor of an apostate church, and in response to her dictation will go on her downward course till the image of the beast stands complete before us.
4. This government, declares the prophecy, "had power to give life unto the image of the beast," the union of Church and State, "and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." Rev. 13:15. "Is it possible that in this government of equality and freedom such things can be?" asks a reader. — Yes, not only possible, but probable. When a government begins to legislate for God, or to put into statute law religious dogmas, those laws which pertain to God or religion naturally are considered the most important. He who violates such laws is considered the greatest criminal. He who works against them—and that is what the conscientious Christian would be compelled todo—would be considered as a traitor to God and the government, and treason is punishable with death. This is what will be attempted in this country, and it will only be prevented by the interposition of God.
The spirit of persecution of the dragon, which will be shown more fully, has been already manifest in the Sunday-law persecutions of the last few years. And Archbishop Ireland tells us (Catholic News, September 10, 1888) that "the violator of a Sunday law is the worst of criminals." The worst of criminals are punished with death. But, thanks be to God, the worship of the Creator is set over against the worship of the beast or his image. Reader, "worship Him." Rev. 14:7.

THE SPIRIT OF THE BEER GARDEN.

By William Nelson Glenn

A CASE recently occurred in St. Louis which shows the demon-like animosity of the liquor traffic toward anything of an opposing nature. A small band of street evangelists, members of the World's Missionary Association, had been holding Sunday meetings in the vicinity of a beer garden in St. Louis. The proprietor made a complaint against them, and had them arrested. The Good Way, of Chillicothe, Mo., gives an account of the affair, which it says the St. Louis dailies refused to publish, and from which we cull the following:—
The band, consisting of Francis A. Smith, Mrs. Carrie Sherwood, and Miss Ida J. Sipprell, were first taken to the Forest Park police station, where the officers in charge extended to them gentlemanly courtesy. About midnight they were removed to the Market Street station in a patrol wagon. Here the two ladies of the band were thrust into a cell with a vile, drunken woman, and suffered indescribable and violent abuse at her hands. These defenseless women were left for an hour and a half with life imperiled and obliged to listen to the most obscene and blasphemous language, without police protection.
About 2 o'clock A.M. they were taken in the "Black Maria" and for two hours were driven from one police station to another, gathering up the criminals. The handcuffs were put upon Mr. Smith, while some of the worst criminals went unshackled.
Arriving at the Four Courts, they were put into cells covered with filth and vermin. Mr. Smith was put in the company of five inebriates, and the ladies with four drunken women.
Concerning the trial we take the following from the Firebrand:—
At first the prosecution tried them for blockading the streets. They failed to make a case on this charge. Then they charged them with making a public disturbance. This they failed to prove. Then they brought in a charge of vagrancy, and adjourned for another hearing, which came off some days afterward. The case could have been dismissed on condition that Brother Smith, the leader of the meeting, would desist from preaching at the usual place near the beer garden. He feels that he cannot do this, and will take the workhouse route rather than make a concession which he feels that his conscience would not let him do. The girls are released.
The Good Way adds the following proper indorsement of the preacher's course:—
We think the decision of Brother Smith is right. No concessions should be made to the lawless ruffians or lickspittle authorities of St. Louis or any other debauched community. Better rot in prison for principle than have charity at its sacrifice.
We are not much surprised that the alcohol adversary should manifest such a spirit toward an avowed enemy, for its province is to inflame, to craze, to embitter its votaries, and to annihilate reason. But, in five States of the Union, ministers and laymen calling themselves Protestant Christians have manifested the same spirit in the same way toward other Christians who, for conscience toward God, chose to observe the Sabbath of his commandment and go quietly about their work on Sunday. And professed Protestant ministers and professed Protestant journals in other States have indorsed the action. Can it be possible that the spirit of Protestantism is finding its affinity in the spirit of the beer garden? Or is it the same spirit of the enemy of all righteousness that has assumed the garb of Protestantism? One thing is certain, it is not the Spirit of Christ, for he said, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." W. N. G.

"COMPREHENDED IT NOT."

By Ellen G. White

THE Lord Jesus, the Majesty of heaven, laid aside his royal robe and relinquished his royal crown, gave up his high command, and came into the world, all seared and marred with the curse. "All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men." Did the world appreciate the light?—No; they refused to accept the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness. "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." Thus it will be until the close of time. The Son of God came personally into the world, and men did to him as they listed. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not; but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth."
The Son of God came to our world with his heart overflowing with love for fallen man. He was in the express image of God, and equal with God in character. He was the brightness of his Father's glory, the express image of his person. He came to meet and to conquer his adversary, Satan, the fallen angel, who had become exalted because of his brightness and wisdom, and who desired to place his throne above the throne of God. Satan desired to set aside the law of God, whose precepts could not be altered any more than could his character or his throne. Satan sought to be first among the ranks of heaven, to have the supremacy in thecourts of God, and for this sin he was cast out of heaven, and became the lowest of all creatures. Christ came to controvert Satan's assertions, and to reveal his misrepresentations of the character of God. The Son of God clothed his divinity with humanity, and came to the world without parade or display, that he might be accepted, not because of outward attractions, but because of his heavenly attributes of character, as revealed in his words and works. He presented to men lessons whereby their souls were brought into comparison with the law of God, not in a legal light, but in the light of the Sun of Righteousness, that man by beholding might be changed into the divine image.
Jesus taught that in no case is man to give up his mind to the guidance of his fellow-man, or to follow his own vain imagination. This is what men will do if they drop eternity out of their reckoning, for they will fail to contemplate the things of heaven, and will make the world and the things of time their first consideration. When Christ came to the world, he found men engaged in pursuing phantoms as though they were realities, and eternal realities were looked upon as unreal and unimportant. They were wholly given up to strife for worldly conveniences and for providing possessions for the future.
Jesus presented to men eternal considerations, and urged upon them the necessity of not losing eternity out of their reckoning. He sought to attract their minds to contemplation of sacred truth, of a high, immortal character, capable of expanding and elevating the mind and ennobling the soul. He sought to reveal to them the fact that man cannot serve God and mammon, for, through serving the world and seeking for worldly gain and honor, the service of God is made a secondary matter.
The Lord Jesus requires that those who would serve God shall make the world and its interests subordinate to the interests of pure and undefiled religion, and he gave to man in his own life an example of what it meant to be a loyal worshiper of God. If men follow the precepts and example of Christ, they will not become the sport of Satan's temptations. They will not let day after day go by without a thought of God, as they follow out their own devices and plans, as did the inhabitants of the world in the time of Noah. In Noah's day men carried out their plans with no reference whatever to God, upon whose power they were continually dependent. We should continually realize that God is at our right hand, saying, "This is the way, walk ye in it."
In his lessons Jesus presents different symbols and illustrations as he seeks to restore the moral image of God in man, and save the soul from utterly yielding itself to the power of the destroyer. Jesus says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden;" and, although you have followed in a course that I have forbidden, and in so doing, you have bound your own souls under Satan's oppressive yoke, and have carried the burden he has imposed upon you, yet "come unto me, . . . and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Shall we practice this lesson? Shall we daily learn that peace, rest, happiness, power, and true greatness are in becoming meek and lowly of heart? Jesus bids us learn of him, for he was meek and lowly in heart. If he had thought that the best way to save perishing souls was to charm the senses and attract them to his standard through pomp and display, he could have surrounded himself with worldly attractions, and presented to them maxims and sentiments that would have won the approval of the world.
But there was but one remedy by which man could be saved,—man must believe God's word, and follow the example of humility and meekness of heart. Jesus leads the minds of men from their worldly philosophy and self-exalting sentiments to the purity and virtue of the gospel. He leads them away from their false religions of fancy and human reason. There is a religion in the world that is apparently beautiful, but which leads men to turn with disgust from the representation given by Christ of the office work of the Holy Spirit. Of the Comforter which he was to send to his disciples, he says, "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." The natural heart does not enjoy this constant reproving of sin and continual exalting of righteousness. Men feel disgusted when they are represented as helpless to do good; yet Jesus declares, "Without me ye can do nothing." The word of God requires humility and practical godliness, and the picture of man's dependence upon God is mortifying to the selfish independence of man, to his grand ideas of eloquence and finery and parade, which he esteems as essential for the conversion of the world.
Those who are enamored of this religion of fancy do not relish the idea of destroying the old man with his deeds, and bringing into subjection every rebellious thought to the dominion of Christ. They do not desire to submit themselves to the control of the Spirit of God, which works in the human heart to expel every corruption and to establish vital principles of virtue, temperance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and Christlike love. Yet those who receive the Spirit of God, though they were dead in trespasses and sins, will experience the active working of that power which raised Jesus Christ from the dead. The vital power of the Holy Spirit will raise up those who realize their helplessness, and who come confessing their sins and believing in Jesus. All the faculties are to be brought under the control of the Spirit of God. Unaided humanity may struggle with all its power, may exercise reason, eloquence, and philosophy in seeking to repair the ruins of a fallen, disordered world; men may listen to the theories of men, but the question to ask is, What have been the results? Jesus answers, "Without me ye can do nothing." When all the wisdom of the schools, all the accumulations of human ability, are brought to bear upon those who are dead in trespasses and sins, they avail nothing for the reformation of character. Human selfishness remains in all its depravity. The Spirit of God alone can make and keep men pure. Its work upon the soul is represented as bringing life to the dead, and freeing the soul from the slavery of sin, which has brought it under the condemnation of the law, where wrath and tribulation fall upon every evil doer. It is the grace of Christ which brings salvation to everyone who receives it. Those who are converted, experience peace and assurance forever. In place of being slaves, they are made free through Jesus Christ. Brought into the liberty of obedient children, they can say, "I delight in the law of God after the inward man."
We see and are compelled to acknowledge human depravity, but we do not need to stop at this conclusion, for through faith in Christ life and immortality are brought to light. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!" Jesus is the one of whom Isaiah said: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."
Man is full of frailties and imperfections, and dependent upon God, and yet he stretches himself to enormous proportions of importance, and makes boast of his human wisdom and achievements. He forgets that he is in the world which God has made by his own wisdom. And shall man refuse to admit his obligation to the law of the Creator? The truly converted soul will stand true to the law of God, and be obedient to all his commandments.

Facts Not Theories.

The word of God deals with facts. Its names mean something. God does not call a man a name because such a name is desired by man, but because the name expresses what he is. In the order of divine providence, the second son of Rebekah was called Jacob, and that indicated his character—close, grasping, supplanting; but the man yielded himself to God, and by faith won the victory. His character was changed, and God gave him a new name,—Israel, warrior of God, a conqueror, a prevailer. Men might have called him Israel before that, but it would not have made him such; it would not have changed his character. The name would have been a lie. In the same way God called his Son, Jesus, Saviour. But the unbelieving Jews called him Beelzebub. God's name was truth. But the name given by unbelief could never be truth. God calls the seventh day of the weekly cycle the Sabbath. That is truth. Sabbath is rest, and God rested the seventh day, and no other. Men may call the first day of the week the Sabbath of the Lord, or the Christian Sabbath, but the name expresses a falsehood, and a falsehood it will ever be. Webster may call Sunday the Sabbath, churches may so call it, godly ministers may so call it, but the name is a lie still. Why not adopt God's nomenclature? Why not call the seventh day the Sabbath? He did, and so have all his servants who have spoken by his inbreathing.

Let God Be True

By Editor

"Let God Be True."—It is thus that a poem by James Buckham, in the Congregationalist, begins:—
"Strange how we think of Death, The angel beloved of God."
The doctrine of man's inherent immortality has among Christians been sung into man, and the poets, who borrow from the myths and traditions of paganism, are largely responsible. Death is an enemy. God so declares it when he says, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 1 Cor. 15:26. Death is simply finished sin. James 1:15. God is righteousness and life, and in that glad future, after sin has shown its true character, sin and its results will both be destroyed, and there shall be no more death. Rev. 20:14; 21:4. Death is an enemy abhorred of God. "Let God be true, but every man a liar." Rom. 3:4. Read the article in another column entitled "Life and Death."

HEART OF CHRIST.

By Annie S. Hawks

BY ANNIE S. HAWKS.
HEART of Christ—beloved heart— Ever drawing souls to thee, Rich in grace and large with love, Though our sins like mountains be. Faith thou hast for unbelief; For our fears, thy will's control; Strength for weakness, cleansing blood For ourselves, thy perfect whole.
Heart of Christ—O sorrowing heart— Bruised and broken once for sin, Holiest of holies now, Faith the entrance way therein, Sure retreat from worldly strife, Safety when the storm wave rolls, Peace in every trusting heart, Beacon light for sin-tossed souls.
Heart of Christ—our dwelling place— Lord, our lives are hid with thee; Graciously the ways unfold Into light and liberty. Love of Christ, unchanging love, Shining down while ages roll, Balm of healing, Gilead's balm, Dawn of dawnings in the soul.
—New York Observer.

LIFE AND DEATH. NO. 2.

By L. A. Phippeny

BY L. A. PHIPPENY.
"And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God." Luke 9: 43.
The knowledge of God, and the assurance that he is what his word says he is, are all of faith. Faith is at once the simplest and most profound kind of reasonableness. Aside from it, men bound under sin, and following in the leadership of the great deceiver, have formulated for themselves a hundred and one different theories of the origin and end of things. Faith in God brings the substance, the solid knowledge of the truth. The purpose of the devil is to confuse the minds of men and lead them away from God; hence the very simplicity of truth, and the sure knowledge of it by faith, appeals to them as foolishness, and unworthy the efforts of strong minds and mighty intellects. But so it is, and will be as long as sin exists, working contrary to the purposes of God, that the wisdom of God will be accounted foolishness by the wisdom of the world; for it pleased God by what appears to them the foolishness of the preaching of the gospel to save them which believe. 1 Cor. 1: 21.
If redemption or salvation from sin and its effects were a thing possible for man to accomplish himself, even though all his powers were necessary to the task, there would be no need of any other power to save him. But such a thing is absolutely impossible. Men have tried it again and again through the ages, and have failed. No power in the universe but the power of God can save man from sin, for sin is death, and no other than creative power can bring the dead to life; and creative power belongs alone to God.
The power of God is his power as Creator of all things. By this power he brought the worlds into existence, and sustains them all, that they fail not. "He giveth to all life,and breath, and all things." But creation itself is lifegiving. The principle of life in God is everlasting. It is his own life, and by it he ever liveth. It is, therefore, the basis of his almighty power as Creator. As there can be but one life principle, there can be but one possessor of life, one God, one Creator, the Father of all.
God’s purposes are righteous, and his acts are all done in righteousness and love. He is the God of truth and of light. As darkness cannot abide with light, so "in him is no darkness at all." He is the fountain of life; and as there cannot proceed from the same source sweet water and bitter, so there comes from him life only, in its purity. He is the fount of living waters, and from him springs no sin nor death. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. Death is a departing from life, and is therefore no-life. God is life, and it is an impossibility for him to be and not to be. Life is existence, and so the man who follows sin must pass from the sustaining and consistent power of life, and cease to be. In the very nature of the two principles, sin cannot prevail against life, but must flee from its presence as the darkness vanishes before the light.
Whatsoever things are written are for our instruction and admonition, that we may profit thereby; and so it is in regard to the abundance of testimony concerning the relation of life and death. The records of the victory of the power of life over the effects of the curse of sin are instance upon instance given to stablish our confidence and develop our faith in that power to free us from sin. Sickness and disease are results of sin; but the power of God applied to the sufferers gave health and strength. The same power that healed the physical infirmities also said, "Thy sins be forgiven thee."
But that which presents to man the strongest evidence of the power and purpose of God toward him is the act of bringing the dead to life. This is designed to show to man his own condition, his relation to sin, and his only means of salvation. As God brought again Christ from the dead, so,—in like manner, by re-creating,—he brings us from sin to walk a new man, having life.
For this special reason, that we may understand perfectly the nature of the work, the apostle prays that the Lord may give us the spirit of wisdom, that we "may know . . . what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead." Eph. 1: 18-20. That is, we know that Christ was dead, and that the creative power of life, as the mighty power of God working in him, made him alive forever more, and drove out death. Then, knowing this, by the same word, because it was so in him, we know we have this same exceeding great and mighty power to do the same work of resurrection in us. According as it worked in Christ, so—with like results—it works in us who have faith.
The Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil, and we are thus told how this work was accomplished:—
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Heb. 2: 14, 15.
He took upon him sinful flesh, and was obedient unto death because of the flesh. But he did no sin and merited no punishment, therefore it was not possible for death to hold him. For this reason the bands of death were broken; and to all who follow him a way is open from death through death to life,—a way following which they cannot fail to have the same reward that he had. He was in fullest touch with life, the power of God. So we, having seen the efficacy of the workings of life in conflict with sin, may, by believing, lay hold of the mighty power of God, which is so freely given us, and in the fullest assurance of faith know that we pass from death unto life, know that no form of death, spiritual or otherwise, can hold us.
"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation." Rom. 1: 16. That is, it is the mighty power of life to abolish death. Not only is there in it the hope of the resurrection of the body and of all things made new at his appearing, but there is in it present saving power from sinning. It is a present gospel, for "all things are yours." Then we can truly say with Paul: "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Gal. 2: 20.
Continue reading: THE FURNITURE OF THE WORLDLY SANCTUARY