Earlier text: General ArticlesTHE TRUE MISSIONARY.
By James White
"Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," are the words of the Great Missionary, as he closed his mission here below, and was about to ascend to Heaven to enter upon another work. And this high and holy commission given to Christ's first chosen representatives upon Olivet, more than eighteen hundred years ago, has not lost its power to move the very soul of those who have within them anything of the true missionary spirit. Christians have ever had a world-wide mission. And from the time this commission was first given to the present time, there have been a few men who had the "Go" in them. But in the closing message, fraught with the deepest interest, the word is, "Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind." "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in." Luke 14:21, 23. And the extent of this work is indicated by the prophetic declaration, "Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings." Rev. 10:11. Men and means are wanted to carry forward the last great missionary work. A denominational school should be established at Oakland, to educate young men and young women for positions of importance and trust. Some should be studying the languages in reference to the work in other countries. And while these should be encouraged, especially those of our brethren of other tongues who have already engaged in the work, and helped to immediate usefulness, they must make a complete consecration of all to the work in order to be of any real benefit to the cause. The most worthless class of ministers in existence are those who have been educated at charity schools. The most valueless missionaries are those who are sent upon high salaries. And the poorest kind of Christians are those who have been made such at those missionary posts where the impression has been given that all they had to do was to hear, the missionary being supported by the liberalities of others. The principle of labor and sacrifice must be incorporated into all our missionary operations. Jesus, the great missionary, made an infinite sacrifice. His mission was one of toil, care, and of weariness. He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Among the children of men in this world, he was as a homeless stranger. And he did not hold out inducements of worldly prosperity and a life of ease and affluence to any who were disposed to become his followers. When a "certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest," Christ would give him to understand on the start what his followers might expect, and says to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." Matt. 8:19, 20. Jesus says to the twelve, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." Matt. 10:16. "The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?" Verses 24, 25. In the wonderful conversion of Paul, and his call to the work of the ministry, he does not receive the impression that even his learning and superior talents would secure to him a large salary and a high reputation as a Christian minister. But on the very start, the Lord says of him to Ananias, "I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." Acts 9:16. The missionary work is that of sacrifice. Christ set the example. And the true-hearted missionary will bid adieu to worldly hopes, and worldly prospects, and will hang all his hopes for this life, and for that which is to come, upon Jesus Christ. He has hold from above. The earth may tremble beneath his feet, worldly comforts may for a time be beyond his reach, and earthly prospects may fade. He has hold from above, and can rejoice in tribulation. It is the Lord's plan that men should swing out by faith on his promises, and stay swung out until they have fully proved their strength. The hundred-fold, in the line of friends to administer to their needs, does not come until the missionary has first forsaken houses, brethren, sisters, father, mother, wife, children, and lands. Our gracious Lord has his hands full of blessings for his people, waiting to respond to their acts of faith. He is more willing to pour the Holy Spirit upon them than parents are to bestow good gifts upon their dear children. But these blessings come in response to acts of living faith. It is the Lord's will that men and women should give themselves fully to him, to be fully his, the representatives of their Lord, and his true missionaries. And it is also his will that all his people should cherish the spirit of willing sacrifice to send the light and truth of our time, by our publications, and by living teachers, to every Christian land. We are told that the sacrifices and the missionary efforts of Seventh-day Adventists fall below other denominations. A case came to our notice, while passing over a railroad in the State of Illinois. We entered into conversation with a Presbyterian missionary to China, who had just returned with his two children, both born in China, to find homes for them and have them educated here, while he and their mother would return to close their labors and their lives in China, away from their children. Where are the men and women among us who would make similar sacrifices? And yet the world have reason to expect of those who are looking for the soon coming of the Lord greater sacrifices than are being made by any other people. PREPARATION FOR THE WORK.
GOD does not call men to work for him without fitting them for his work if they will allow him to do it. They may refuse to be benefited by his effort to instruct them, but it is nevertheless true that he does give them an opportunity and means of preparation to fit themselves for his work. It is not for the honor of God that men should enter into his work till they are prepared to do it in a manner that he can approve. God gave to Isaiah a vision of heavenly glory. When he had seen it, he cried out, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Isa. 6:5. Upon this, one of the seraphim took a live coal from off the altar and laid it upon his lips, and said, "Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged." Then he heard the Lord make this inquiry, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And thus he records his response: "Then said I, Here am I; send me." And the Lord then bade him go forth to fulfil his solemn commission. This teaches us a great lesson. Before men go out to work for God, they must have his work first wrought within themselves. When the live coal from the altar had been laid upon the lips of Isaiah, his iniquity was purged. Then he could speak for God, for he had something to say, and he was fitted to say it in a manner that God could accept. God does not want men to go out to labor for him till they have had their iniquity taken away. No man can lead others to Christ till he has first become personally acquainted with him. Men cannot preach the truth acceptably to God till they have first felt its saving power on their own hearts. Wherever self exists, the work of God will be marred. It is not enough that the truth should be preached. It must be preached from pure motives. The honor of God and the salvation of men are the only reasons which should prompt the acts of Christ's ministers. When they preach for the purpose of gaining the applause of men, God will not accept their work. Whatever is done to be seen of men, will have no reward from the God of Heaven. Before we can work for God, we must be soundly converted. When our hearts are right in his sight, our motives will be pure before him. We shall not then seek our own worldly interest, nor the praise of men, nor our own ease and convenience, but shall seek only the honor which comes from God, and for this will cheerfully bear burdens and make sacrifices without one word of complaint. God will regard what men do with such motives as these. He will not accept that which is done from other motives. It is no light thing to work for God. The sacredness of the work cannot be over estimated. God will not be trifled with. He sees through all disguises, and he detects the most secret motives of the heart. The action is valued according to the motive which prompts it. Those who name the name of Christ must depart from all iniquity. They must not bear the vessels of the Lord without being themselves clean in his sight. Who is then sufficient for these things? J. N. A. In John 12:32 Christ says, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” What is the meaning of the phrase, “will draw all men unto me”? D. B. W. ANS. The lifting up from the earth doubtless refers to the death of Christ upon the cross, by which the world beholds in epitome the great work which Christ has wrought in their behalf. And by this means men will be drawn from all nations of the earth to partake of the great salvation he has provided. We do not think the term “all men” here includes every individual of the human family, as the Universalist would have us believe; but the words spoken are in contrast with the notions of the Jews, who arrogated salvation to themselves exclusively; as a nationality. It was one of the peculiar characteristics of the Messiah, that unto him should the gathering of the people be; Gen. 49:2; and when it was announced to the Jews that the Gentiles were to be brought in, and a new body be formed, they took offense thereat. But it is this great fact which we understand is announced in the words under notice. As if he had been asked, “Will you confine your work to the Jews?” and he had answered, “No; I will draw all men unto me;” not that he would draw every individual of all nations unto him, but he would draw from all nations in contrast with the work which had before that time been confined to the particular nation of the Jews. And the gospel has thus gathered from all nations believers in the cross of Christ. U. S. If men's minds were like blank paper, it would be an easy matter to write the truth in them. If errors did not fill the mind, the truth could be as easily learned as the child can learn the alphabet. It is a greater task to get men to unlearn their errors, than to teach them the truth. False ideas fill the mind, which must be dislodged before there is any room for the truth. To expel these is the hardest of the battle. "For error cherished long, e'en when confessed,
With deep reluctance leaves the human breast." For example, a person has the popular idea of disembodied, human spirits, a sort of living entity which the Bible does not mention, and it seems impossible to make him see that the spirit that returns at death to God who gave it (Eccl. 12 : 7) is merely the breath of life which God breathed into his nostrils. The spirit in his vocabulary is an immaterial, conscious entity, living, acting, and immortal; therefore the plainest testimonies of Scripture, clearly defining the spirit of man, cannot find a place in his mind, because his mind is full of a false theory. If he were rid of his false definition of spirit, it would be easy for him to learn that, as man became a living soul when God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so when the spirit returns to God, and the dust to the earth as it was, it is merely the unmaking of man, or resolving him into the original elements; and is equivalent to the expression, "Thou taketh away their breath, they die, and return to their dust." Ps. 104 : 26. "The body without the breath is dead." James 2 : 20. Job says, "All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;" and then in the margin it is said, "That is, the breath which God gave him." Gen. 2 : 7. The Nature of True Prayer
WANT felt, and help desired, with faith to obtain it, is prayer; and without these qualifications, whatever is called so, is nothing but self-deceit and lying to God. RETRIBUTION FOR SIN.
By Ellen G. White
THE Lord gave Jeremiah a message of reproof to bear to his people, charging them with the continual rejection of God's counsel; saying, "I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me. I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers." God plead with them not to provoke him to anger with the work of their hands and hearts; "but they hearkened not." Jeremiah then predicted the captivity of the Jews, as their punishment for not heeding the word of the Lord. The Chaldeans were to be used as the instrument by which God would chastise his disobedient people. Their punishment was to be in proportion to their intelligence, and the warnings they had despised. God had long delayed his judgments, because of his unwillingness to humiliate his chosen people; but now he would visit his displeasure upon them, as a last effort to check them in their evil course. In these days he has instituted no new plan to preserve the purity of his people. He entreats the erring ones who profess his name, to repent and turn from their evil ways, in the same manner that he did of old. He predicts the dangers before them, by the mouth of his chosen servants now as then. He sounds his note of warning, and reproves sin just as faithfully as in the days of Jeremiah. But the Israel of our time have the same temptations to scorn reproof and hate counsel, as did ancient Israel. They too often turn a deaf ear to the words that God has given his servants for the benefit of those who profess the truth. Though the Lord in mercy withholds for a time the retribution of their sin, as in the days of Jeremiah, he will not always stay his hand, but will visit iniquity with righteous judgment. The Lord commanded Jeremiah to stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak unto all the people of Judah who came there to worship, those things which he would give him to speak, diminishing not a word; that they might hearken and turn from their evil ways. Then God would repent of the punishment which he had purposed to do unto them because of their wickedness. The unwillingness of the Lord to chastise his erring people is here vividly shown. He stays his judgments, he pleads with them to return to their allegiance. He brought them out of bondage that they might faithfully serve himself, the only true and living God; but they had wandered into idolatry, they had slighted the warnings given them by his prophets; yet he defers his chastisement to give them one more opportunity to repent and avert the retribution for their sin. Through his chosen prophet, he now sends them a clear and positive warning, and lays before them the only course by which they can escape the punishment which they deserve. This is a full repentance of their sin, and a turning from the evil of their ways. The Lord commanded Jeremiah to say to the people: "Thus saith the Lord: If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early and sending them, but ye have not hearkened; then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth." They understood this reference to Shiloh, and the time when the Philistines overcame Israel and the ark of God was taken. The sin of Eli was in passing lightly over the iniquity of his sons, who were occupying sacred offices. The neglect of the father to reprove and restrain his sons, brought upon Israel a fearful calamity. The sons of Eli were slain, Eli himself lost his life, the ark of God was taken from Israel, and thirty thousand of their people were slain. All this was because sin was lightly regarded, and allowed to remain in their midst. What a lesson is this to men holding responsible positions in the church of God! It adjures them to faithfully remove the wrongs that dishonor the cause of truth. Israel thought, in the days of Samuel, that the presence of the ark containing the commandments of God, would gain them the victory over the Philistines, whether or not they repented of their wicked works. Just so the Jews, in Jeremiah's time, believed that the divinely appointed services of the temple being strictly observed, would preserve them from the just punishment of their evil course. The same danger exists to-day among that people who profess to be the repository of God's law. They are too apt to flatter themselves that the regard in which they hold the commandments should preserve them from the power of divine justice. They refuse to be reproved of evil, and blame God's servants with being too zealous in putting sin out of the camp. A sin-hating God calls upon those who profess to keep his law to depart from all iniquity. Neglect to repent and obey his word will bring as serious consequences upon God's people to-day, as did the same sin upon ancient Israel. There is a limit beyond which he will no longer delay his judgments. The correction of God through his chosen instruments cannot be disregarded with impunity. The desolation of Jerusalem stands as a solemn warning before the eyes of modern Israel. When the priests and the people heard the message that Jeremiah delivered to them in the name of the Lord, they were very angry, and declared that he should die. They were boisterous in their denunciations of him, crying, "Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant?" And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. Thus was the message of God despised, and the servant with whom he entrusted it threatened with death. The priests, the unfaithful prophets, and all the people turned in wrath upon him who would not speak to them smooth things and prophesy deceit. The unfaltering servants of God have usually suffered the bitterest persecution from false teachers of religion. But the true prophets will ever prefer reproach and even death rather than unfaithfulness to God. The Infinite eye is upon the instruments of divine reproof, and they bear a heavy responsibility. But God regards the injury done to them through misrepresentation, falsehood or abuse, the same as though it were done unto himself, and will punish accordingly. The princes of Judah had heard concerning the words of Jeremiah, and came up from the king's house, and sat in the entry of the Lord's house. "Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears." But Jeremiah stood boldly before the princes and the people declaring, "The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard. Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. As for me, behold, I am in your hand; do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you. But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof; for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears." Had the prophet been intimidated by the threats of those in high authority, and the clamoring of the rabble, his message would have been without effect, and he would have lost his life. But the courage with which he discharged his painful duty commanded the respect of the people, and turned the princes of Israel in his favor. Thus God raised up defenders for his servant. They reasoned with the priests and false prophets, showing them how unwise would be the extreme measures which they advocated. The influence of these powerful persons produced a reaction in the minds of the people. Then the elders united in protesting against the decision of the priests regarding the fate of Jeremiah. They cited the case of Micah, who prophesied judgments upon Jerusalem, saying, "Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountains of the house as the high places of a forest." They put to them the question: "Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the Lord, and beseech the Lord, and the Lord repented of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls." So, through the pleading of Ahikam and others, the prophet Jeremiah's life was spared; although the priests and false prophets would have been pleased had he been put to death on the plea of sedition; for they could not endure the truths that he uttered exposing their wickedness. But Israel remained unrepentant and the Lord saw that they must be punished for their sin, so he instructed Jeremiah to make yokes and bonds and place them upon his neck, and send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, of the Ammonites, of Tyrus and Zidon, commanding the messengers to say that God had given all these lands to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. That all these nations should serve him and his descendants for a certain time, till God should deliver them. They were to declare that if those nations refused to serve the king of Babylon they should be punished with the famine, with the sword, and pestilence, till they should be consumed. "Therefore," said the Lord, "Hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve them, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord; and they shall till it, and dwell therein." Jeremiah declared that they were to wear the yoke of servitude for seventy years, and the captives that were already in the hands of the king of Babylon, and the vessels of the Lord's house which had been taken, were also to remain in Babylon till that time had elapsed. But at the end of the seventy years God would deliver them from their captivity, and would punish their oppressors, and bring into subjection the proud king of Babylon. Ambassadors had come from the various nations named to consult with the king of Judah as to the matter of engaging in battle with the king of Babylon. But the prophet of God, bearing the symbols of subjection, delivered the message of the Lord to these nations, commanding them to bear it to their several kings. This was the lightest punishment that a merciful God could inflict upon so rebellious a people; but if they warred against this decree of servitude, they were to feel the full vigor of his chastisement. They were faithfully warned not to listen to their false teachers who prophesied lies. The amazement of the assembled council of nations knew no bounds when Jeremiah, carrying the yoke of subjection about his neck, made known to them the will of God. But Hananiah, one of the false prophets against whom God had warned his people through Jeremiah, lifted his voice in opposition to the prophecy declared. Wishing to gain the favor of the king, and his court, he affirmed that God had given him words of encouragement for the Jews. Said he: "Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon. And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the Lord; for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon." Jeremiah, in the presence of all the priests and the people, said that it was the earnest wish of his heart that God would so favor his people that the vessels of the Lord's house might be returned and the captives brought back from Babylon. But this could only be done on condition that the people repented and turned from their evil way to the obedience of God's law. Jeremiah loved his country and ardently wished that the desolation predicted might be averted by the humiliation of the people; but he knew the wish was vain. He hoped the punishment of Israel would be as light as possible; therefore he earnestly entreated them to submit to the king of Babylon for the time that the Lord specified.66 He entreated them to hear the words that he spoke. He cited them to the prophecies of Hosea, Habakuk, Zephaniah, and others whose messages of reproof and warning had been similar to his own. He referred them to events which had transpired in their history in fulfillment of the prophecies of retribution for unrepented sins. Sometimes, as in this case, men had arisen in opposition to the message of God, and predicted peace and prosperity, to quiet the fears of the people, and gain the favor of those in high places. But in every past instance the judgment of God had been visited upon Israel, as the true prophets had indicated. Said he, "The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known that the Lord hath truly sent him." If Israel chose to run the risk, future developments would effectually decide which was the false prophet. But Hananiah, incensed at this, took the yoke from Jeremiah's neck and broke it. "And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the necks of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way." He had done his work, he had warned the people of their danger, he had pointed out the only course by which they could regain the favor of God. But they had mocked his words; men in responsible positions had denounced him, and tried to arouse the people to put him to death. Yet his only crime was in faithfully delivering the message of God to an unbelieving people. God pities the blindness and perversity of man; he sends light to their darkened understanding in reproof and threatenings which are designed to make the most exalted feel their ignorance and deplore their errors. He would cause the self-complacent to feel dissatisfied with their attainments and seek greater blessings by closer connection with Heaven. God's plan is not to send messengers who will please and flatter sinners, he delivers no messages of peace to lull the unsanetified into carnal security. But he lays heavy burdens upon the conscience of the wrong-doer, and pierces his soul with sharp arrows of conviction. The ministering angels present to him the fearful judgments of God to deepen the sense of his great need and prompt the agonizing cry "what shall I do to be saved?" The very hand that humbles to the dust, rebukes sin, and puts pride and ambition to shame, lifts up the penitent, stricken one, and inquires with deepest sympathy, "What wilt thou that I shalt do unto thee?" When man has sinned against a holy and merciful God, there is no course for him to pursue so noble, as to sincerely repent and confess his errors in tears and bitterness of soul. This God requires of him and will accept of nothing less than a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
MRS. E. G. WHITE. STREET CORNER DEBATES.
By Wm. Covert
Does the Bible justify those contentions that we often witness on the street corners, in stores, and at public gatherings? It seems that many persons think it to be their duty, as defenders of Bible truths, to be arguing with their contentious neighbors upon points of difference. Is this right? While we are admonished to study the Scriptures, and be always ready to give an answer to those who will ask us concerning our hope, we are to give our reasons in meekness, and fear. If we will observe those directions we shall be saved from many a bitter word and thought. Paul exhorts Timothy to study to show himself a workman approved unto God, one who need not to be ashamed, and one that can rightly divide the word of truth. This is an accomplishment to which we should all labor to attain. Yet Paul would add a word of caution concerning the mode of presenting this truth, which is as necessary for us to observe as the other; and that is to shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness. Are not many at least of these street corner debates, profane and vain babblings? True, it is our duty to warn our neighbors; but how shall we conduct ourselves under our peculiar circumstances? The great work of warning our fellow-mortals is resting down upon us, while scoffers are multiplying in the land. They mock at God's watchmen, and circulate a great many false stories about them. What shall the watchmen do? attack them on the corners? What saith the answer of God to his watchmen when they are reproved (argued with, margin)? See Hab. 2:1-3. Write the vision. Make it plain upon tables. Make it so plain that all may see at a glance that the prophetic visions tell exactly where we are in this world's history. That we are now past all the prophetic periods, in the tarrying time, waiting for Jesus to appear. Scoffers care very little about arguing the question farther when they read over those unanswerable illustrations of the visions of Daniel and John. Brother and Sister, if your mind is burdened, and you think you must warn your neighbors, procure the charts, with the visions written upon them; then call in your neighbors, and explain the prophecies to them. Give the change of the Sabbath, together with the Sabbath reform in prophecy. Those illustrations on the chart contain it all. Your friends that want to learn would be convinced, and you would have discharged your duty, and doubtless God would bless the effort. WM. COVERT. THE DANGER OF THE DOCTRINE OF "HOLINESS."
We repeat that we do not deny that a man can in this life become perfectly holy, so that to the absolute limit of his powers, and so of his obligations, he will commit no sin. We say that, of course he can, or his obligation would cease, and God would not impose the command, "Be ye therefore perfect." Nor do we venture to deny that some have achieved that state of sinlessness. Very possibly some have. The fact that all can is a presumption that some have. We only record our convictions that such are very few, and that the boast made by many nowadays that they have attained what St. Paul had not attained when, but six years before his death, he wrote the last of his pastoral epistles, is itself strong evidence that they think they are something when they are very far from it. But how can a person imagine himself to be perfect when he is not? Only in one way, and that is by not perceiving that to be sin in himself which is sin. God's law is exceeding broad and high and very strict. It is a very hard task, almost impossible, to live up to its precepts. It requires a love and service of God and man that shall control every feeling, thought, word and act of every moment of our lives to the fullest extent of our capacities. It does not transcend our possible knowledge or the reach of our faculties; it covers them to their furthest limit. It makes no allowance for an instant's harboring of a vile thought. It excuses no ignorance or blunder which we might have avoided. It permits no slothfulness in effort. It apologizes for no weakness of the flesh. It shifts no responsibility off from a man's own conscience upon his weak and fallen nature. It reckons not only the obediences of the acts which he performs; but it takes the measure of the failures of his hours of depression and weakness. It holds him to a holiness which, if not as large in its nature, shall be as flawless as that of the blazing throne of God. Who shall say that he has fully met the claims of such a law? Who can boast that he lives without sin? He can do it, and only he, who convinces himself that his own shortcomings are not sins, and that God requires less of him than absolute and total obedience to his law. This is and has been in all ages the great danger of the doctrine of holiness, that, when professed, it sets up a man's attainments as the standard for attainable holiness, instead of setting up the holy law as the standard for his attainments. A man says: "Human power can go so far, and I will not try to go further." And from that moment he stunts his power. He governs the law, instead of letting the law govern him. We do not now speak of the occasional vagary by which perfectionism culminates in licentiousness; but of that more common and dangerous license which those who have attained unto this "second blessing" too often give themselves of ceasing to watch and fight and to keep "smiting under the eye," as stern Paul did the body, and "driving it like a slave in bonds," lest, after having preached holiness unto others, they should themselves be castaways. Does this judgment seem uncharitable? We think not. We cannot appeal to our personal knowledge of those who have claimed to have reached this higher life; but we ask those who have known such if they have not also known others that every day made confession of their sins who were to all human vision quite as free from sin? We do not now speak of their apparent peace, or happy self-satisfaction, or whatever name may be given to their assurance of faith, for that is a blessing which is often attained by those who are not completely sanctified; but does their life and temper, their faithfulness in common duties, shine by contrast with the character of many that can be mentioned who confess that they are still militant? We think not. Wesley preached perfection, but he never professed it? In the forty-second year of his ministry he said, in a published letter: "I have told all the world I am not perfect, I have not attained the character I drew." Nor is it uncharitable to add that the language and actions of the present school of "Holiness" teachers are immodest, pretentious, boastful, and pharisaical. They set themselves apart as a separate body within the Church, and say to the rest: "Stand by, for I am holier than thou." The ordinary means of grace mix them too much with common Christians; and so they get up their separate "holiness meetings," in which to denounce the Church and to thank God that they are not as other men are.—Independent. MR. JAY relates that a man from the country once said to him: "I was exceedingly alarmed this morning, sir. It was early and very foggy. I was on a lonely road, and thought I saw a strange monster. It seemed to move, but I could not discern its form. The more I looked the more I became alarmed. As I approached it I saw it was a man; and as I came close to him I saw it was my brother John." Ah, could we get out of the fogs and darkness, how often would we discover that the strange monster about us, the "nondescripts" of our imagination, are our own Christian brethren! WHEN a young man begins his career with an ostentatious contempt for all that is best in life, preferring expensive enjoyment and smart waistcoats to simple tastes and social virtues, the end is hardly a matter of doubt. The self-indulgent young man grows by easy stages into the pampered middle-aged citizen who cannot deny himself anything. The sarcastic juvenile snob, who is constantly reminding you that your quiet, unobtrusive, scrupulously honest friend is “no gentleman,” is apt to escape the characteristics of one himself. When all sympathies, regards and duties become subservient to self-indulgence and superficial enjoyments, one is in a poor way to real happiness in life. Talfourd, in summing up the wretched career of Wainwright, the English forger and voluptuous felon, says: “Vanity, nurtured by selfishness and unchecked by religion, becomes a disease, perhaps amounting to monomania, yielding this lesson to repay the world for such a person’s existence: that there is no state of the soul so dangerous as that in which the vices of the sensualist are envenomed by the groveling intellect of the scorner.” ScORES of times in a day a child is told in a short, authoritative way, to do or not to do such little things as we ask at the hands of older people as favors, graciously and with deference to their choice. "Would you be so kind as to close that window?" "May I trouble you for that cricket?" "If you may be as comfortable in this chair as in that, I would like to change places with you." "Oh, excuse me, but your head is between me and the light?" "Could you see as well if you moved a little?" "Would it hinder you too long if you stopped at the store for me? I would be very much obliged if you would." "Pray do not let me crowd you," etc. In most people's speech, we find as synonyms for these polite phrases: "Shut that window down, this minute." "Bring me that cricket." "I want that chair—get up; you can sit in this." "Don't you see that you are right in my light? Move along." "I want you to leave off playing and go right down to the store for me." "Don't crowd so; can't you see that there is not enough room for two people here?" and so on. On the other hand, let a child ask for anything without saying "please," receive anything without saying "thank you," sit still in the most comfortable seat without offering to give it up, or press its own preference for a particular book, chair, or apple, to the inconvenience of an elder, and what an outcry we have. "Such rudeness!" "Such an ill-mannered child!" "His parents must have neglected him strangely." Not at all; they have been telling him a great many times every day not to do these precise things which you dislike. But they themselves have been all the while doing these very things to him.