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Signs of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 45.

General Articles
Earlier text: THE FRANKS

Justification by Faith.

TEXT.—“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom. 5:1.
NO APOLOGY could be in place for writing or speaking on the subject of justification by faith. Lying at the very foundation of Christian experience—the substratum of the work of the gospel on the human heart—it can never be dwelt upon too much. And when all has been said that human tongues can say, or that human minds can conceive, the whole truth on this great theme will not have been told.
Justice, as defined by Webster, is the quality of being just; rendering to every man his due; conformity to right and obligation. Righteousness has the same significance; for the quality of being right is rightness or righteousness.
And these words have two applications; or, justification, or righteousness, is of two kinds. One, the righteousness which is by complete obedience. This is referred to by Paul in Rom. 2:13, “The doers of the law shall be justified.” Unfortunately for man, as the apostle proceeds to prove, there are no doers of right, and “therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified.” Chap. 3:20. But this does not destroy the principle that complete obedience to the law would result in justification. The Scriptures say, “Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.” No one would for a moment deny that if man had done his whole duty he would have stood justified before God; for there would have existed no ground for his condemnation. This would have been justification by works, which it is now impossible for man to reach, as all have gone, and in our fallen condition all do go, astray.
The other kind of justification, or righteousness, and that which is the subject of the apostle’s argument in this letter to the Romans, is “the treating of sinful man as though he were righteous;” vindicating or defending. This form of justification is, as is well stated by Hooker, “without us, which we have by imputation.” This, again, is identical with the righteousness of faith; that is, we are accounted righteous by reason of what some one does for us, and not by reason of our works or obedience.
A question has been raised on Rom. 4:5. “Does God justify the ungodly? And if so, is not Universalism true?” A little consideration of the subject of the argument is sufficient to solve this apparent difficulty. It is an argument based upon the fact that all have sinned; that all are ungodly. The subject is, justification by faith, not of works. This kind of justification is for the ungodly alone; the righteous would not need it. So Jesus said he came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance; the righteous would need no repentance. But the object or condition of this justification must not be lost sight of. It is not that the ungodly may remain ungodly, or be saved in their ungodliness, but that they may be saved from their sins, or be made the righteousness of God in Christ. Matt. 1:21; 2 Cor. 5:21.
Another question naturally arises on verse 7, regarding the distinction between righteousness and goodness. It has mostly been supposed to refer to some distinctions, somewhat fanciful, held by the Jews. But the distinction is real, and is often recognized. Dr. Clarke mentions four classes into which the Jews divided mankind. The just were those who render to every man his due; the good, those who are magnanimous or benevolent. Probably "the young man" who came to Christ (see Matt. 19:16-22), was a just man in this sense; certainly he was not good in the sense of being benevolent. Scott, on this text, says the just man is one of strict integrity; the good, one of extensive philanthropy, which amounts to the same thing. Chalmers says the righteous or just man is one who is simply in a state of innocence; the good, one who is engaged in benevolence. The same idea runs through all.
Doubtless we have all seen illustrations of this distinction in actual life. We have seen men of integrity, just in the payment of every demand, even to a farthing. They would pay every cent and exact every cent. They would boast that they had never wronged any man, but rendered to every man his full due. As far as the calls of the needy and the suffering were concerned, it was enough for them to know that they had not caused any one to suffer, and they felt no responsibility in their behalf. Disinterested benevolence was a quality to which they were utter strangers. In one sense their characters were commendable; in another sense they were detestable.
Or we may instance the judge who has the highest regard for justice; he will mete it to the evildoer to the fullest extent of the law. To maintain the law and to defend the Government is the ruling motive of his life. But of mercy he knows nothing; the kindlier feelings of his nature have never been developed. On the bench, all are ready to commend his justice; in every-day life, no one calls him good.
We have now brought to notice these two kinds of justification. One of one's self, by obedience. This we should term justification in fact, or justification absolute. With this we have nothing to do in this examination; man has effectually and entirely forfeited it. The other, justification by faith; effected for the transgressor of law by one who does for him what he cannot do for himself. This is not absolute in the sense in which the other kind is, for it is a righteousness (1) by imputation, not by desert; (2) it is conditional.
This brings us to notice a most important truth, to consider a most important relation. Justification by faith is not a final procedure; it looks to something beyond itself to be accomplished in the future. And it is an important factor in the accomplishment of that something. To demonstrate this we must notice another distinction, to wit: that justification is to be distinguished from salvation. Many seem to lose sight of this distinction and thereby fall into grievous and very dangerous errors.
"I am saved," is a common expression with a certain class of professed Christians. While there is a sense in which it ought to be true, and we would charitably hope it is true in many cases, we confidently say it is not true in the sense intended by many who use it. It is frequently used by those who make it a shield from exhortations to further examination of the truth of God and of their own hope of eternal life. In such cases it is sadly abused.
We may be saved from sin here. And the sufficiency of this salvation is based, very often, on the purity of our intentions; for no one is completely and perfectly saved from sin unless he is fully acquainted with the will of God, and completely and perfectly fulfills it. Every one must admit that we are absolutely saved from sin just as far as we have light on the truth of God's word in regard to our duty, and follow it, and no farther. To say that we are absolutely and completely saved from sin because we have no consciousness of sin would be to deny the existence of sins of ignorance, of which the Scriptures so largely speak. See Lev. 4, entire, and Num. 15:22-29. Sins of ignorance are not so heinous in the sight of the Lord as sins of presumption; but they are sins, of which the Lord requires repentance and of which we need forgiveness.
When once urging upon an intelligent lady, and we believe an honest one, the necessity of examining a question of duty, a truth of the Bible with which she was not acquainted, and enforcing the duty by the solemnity of the coming Judgment and the necessity of a thorough preparation for that day, she made but one answer, and persisted in it: "I am saved; I have given my case to Jesus and he has saved me." We could awaken her from her delusion, for such we held it to be, only by asking her if she thought her probation was ended. This aroused her to a new train of thought and to a reconsideration of her position.
Salvation is twofold: 1. Salvation from sin. This is a progressive work of Christian life. Some mistake and think the work is finished because they feel that they love the way of truth, and have no desire or disposition to sin. But, as before noticed, they may sin ignorantly, and do things which are offensive to God because they are not fully instructed in the right. When these sins come to their knowledge they must repent; and if they refuse or neglect to repent of them, they stand as indorsing them, and then their relation is changed and they must be counted sins of presumption. And there is place for continuance of this work of increasing in knowledge and reforming in life until we become as perfect in knowledge as our circumstances will permit. This is growth in grace, without which the believer either remains a babe in the Christian life, or degenerates into a fixed state of formality; for no one has a complete knowledge of truth and duty when first he submits himself to God. It is incumbent upon him to grow up into it.
2. There is a final salvation which is brought unto us at the appearing of Christ; of which, salvation from sin (or justification and growth in grace) is the necessary prerequisite. Of this salvation the Scriptures make very frequent mention. The Saviour said: "He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved," Matt. 24:13; the same in chap. 10:22, and Mark 13:13. This salvation comes after that which is called "the end." Paul said to his brethren: "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." Rom. 13:11. Waiving all question as to "the time" to which he referred, we notice that this salvation did not come to them when they believed. It is a future salvation to the believer.
And Peter speaks to those who were "begotten again unto a lively hope," and who "are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:5. The time of the revelation of this salvation is so clearly brought to view in verses 9-13 that we copy them in full:—
"Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
J. H. W.

Bible Answers to Bible Questions Concerning Man.—No. 3.

ANOTHER question is, Do the dead praise the Lord? Nowadays it is held that if a person be righteous, or even professedly so, when he dies, it follows, as a matter of course, that he has gone to Heaven and has joined the angelic hosts in their holy songs of praise to the Creator of all. But in the Scriptures this question is asked in connection with certain others, in a manner and in a tone which of themselves admit only of no for an answer.
Says the psalmist, “Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?” Ps. 88:10-12. Here the grave, the place of the dead, is called “the land of forgetfulness.” This is strictly in accord with that which we read last week, that “the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.” They are in the land of “forgetfulness.” “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished” (Eccl. 9:5); and “in that very day his thoughts perish” (Ps. 146:4); and “there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Eccl. 9:10. In this respect therefore no single expression could better describe the place of the dead than does this one, “The land of forgetfulness.” The psalmist also speaks of it as “the dark.” On this Job says, “I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death; a land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.” Job 10:21, 22. Those that have been long dead, David says, “dwell in darkness.” Ps. 143:3.
Now it is of those who dwell in this place, the place of the dead, that the question is asked, Shall they praise the Lord? And here is the direct answer: “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” Ps. 115:17. And again, “In death there is no remembrance of thee; in the grave who shall give thee thanks?” Ps. 6:5. These words are the words of God. They are the truth. Therefore the idea that people go to Heaven or anywhere else, but this place of the dead, when they die, cannot be the truth. The Lord who speaks to us in the Bible made man. He knows what was before us. He knows what will be after us. He knoweth our thoughts afar off. He it is who says, “The dead know not anything.” He it is who says, “The dead praise not the Lord.” He it is who says that the place of the dead is “the land of forgetfulness.” We implicitly believe this word, for he alone knows. He teaches us to profit, and though we may have to pass through this land of darkness, this valley of the shadow of death, if our trust is in him, his rod and his staff will comfort us, for he has gone this way before us. He died and lives again. If our hope is in him, even though we may have to go to the place of the dead, yet we shall come again from it and live by him.
King Hezekiah was one of the few good kings that Judah ever had. He fell “sick unto death.” The Lord, by the prophet, sent this message to him: “Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.” Isa. 38:1. Yet, although this word of the Lord says positively, “Thou shalt die and not live,” now it is believed by the great majority of people that when a man dies he does live, and that he lives more fully, more really, than ever before. It is now held that when a person dies he knows vastly more than he ever knew before, or than he ever could have known if he had not died; but from what we have set forth in these articles there can be nothing more certain than that such is not the teaching of the Bible.
In this theory of the consciousness of the dead, is the promise and potency, the whole sum and substance, of Spiritualism, purgatory, prayers for the dead, worship and invocation of saints, etc. But bring Spiritualism, with all these other things, to the test of these scriptures, and where will it appear? It will appear just where it rightly belongs, that is, in the train of “that old serpent which is the devil and Satan,” who said to innocent Eve, “Thou shalt not surely die.” People now think it very strange that Eve should have believed the word of Satan. Yet with the example of Eve before them, and its fearful fruits of these thousands of years, and the word of God with its line upon line and precept upon precept—with all this before them, multitudes of these same people instead of believing the word of God, will yet believe the same story that Satan told Eve.
When the prophet went to king Hezekiah with the message that he should die and not live, Hezekiah was very sorry, and turned his face to the wall and prayed, and said, “I shall go to the gates of the grave; I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living.” This, with much more, he said in his prayer, and the Lord sent Isaiah again to the king saying, “I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.” Then Hezekiah praised the Lord and said: “Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; . . . for the grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day; the father to the children shall make known thy truth.” See Isa. 38 throughout.
Take this plain, express statement of the word of God: “They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth,” and by it test the New Theology, or probation after death, which is just now being discussed throughout the land, and the utter worthlessness of the New Theology will be seen at a glance. When a man dies, his opportunity to learn the truth is gone. He is dead. He is gone to the “land of forgetfulness,” to the grave, and they that go there cannot hope for the truth of God. If they have not learned it, and loved it, before they go there, they will never learn it at all. “Now is the accepted time.” “Now is the day of salvation.” “To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”
The living, the living it is, not the dead, who praise the Lord.
Therefore the Bible answer to this Bible question is, “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” J.

Decline of the Bohemian Reformation.

"United, we stand; divided, we fall."
THE internal divisions which had existed among the Bohemians, widened in proportion as the great struggle between them and the Papal party was relaxed. With the Taborites, who retained the most of the spirit of John Huss, the defense of their religion was their first concern, and that of their civil rights and privileges the second. They felt that if they could only have their religious privileges, they cared but little for the other; not realizing that the two were so closely united that they could not be separated. The Calixtines, on the other hand, had become lukewarm so far as their struggle upon the battle-field was concerned. They thought that the rent between their country and Rome was unnecessarily wide. Their policy was now one of compromise. They commenced at once to recede from the positions of Huss and to return to the camp of antichrist. The points of difference between Protestants and Romanists, so perfectly irreconcilable, were not then so clearly and sharply defined as they came to be by the great controversies that followed in Luther's time.
The Taborites remained under the command of Procopius, who, although most desirous of ending the strife and letting his country have rest, would not accept of peace on terms which he held to be fatal to his nation's faith and liberty. Bohemia, he clearly saw, had entered upon the descending path. Rather than witness the humiliation which must follow, he again took himself to the field at the head of his armed Taborites. But the dissension that was fast growing among his friends, was disastrous to his cause. A fierce battle between the Taborites and the Calixtines was fought on the twenty-ninth day of May, 1434. It was fiercely contested on both sides, and as it wasbeing decided in favor of Procopius, the general of his cavalry rode off the field with all under his command. Procopius readily took in the situation, and gathering around him the bravest of his soldiers, he rushed into the thickest of the fight, where he contended for awhile against fearful odds; but at last he fell overpowered by superior numbers. The death of Procopius ended the Hussite wars, and with it was fulfilled the prediction of the Emperor Sigismund, that the Bohemians could only be overcome by Bohemians. With Procopius fell the cause of the Hussites; their heroic days were numbered, and the power of Rome's iron heel began to be felt.
A historian in writing of these times, says that every woman among the Taborites was well acquainted with the Old and New Testaments, and unwilling as he was to acknowledge any good among the Hussites, he confessed that they had one merit, namely, "the love of letters." It was not uncommon at that time to find tracts written by the common people, discussing religious subjects, and evincing deep thought. But Bohemia had now dug for herself a grave, and all that had been so dear to that nation was about to be laid in the sepulcher, and the errors of Rome were to triumph over the people. The vitality and energy of the nation seemed suddenly to have left her. From this time she had no head to vindicate her rights.
The Bohemians could hardly expect that a man who had broken his promise to Huss would fulfill his stipulations to them. Sigismund began at once to bring back the church under the dominion of Rome. This open treachery provoked a storm of indignation, and the country was on the brink of war; but before the matter could be brought to a crisis, the emperor died. The burning of Huss had caused him twenty years of war, and he had worried out his life in labors and perils, never knowing repose or tasting victory. He attempted much but never succeeded in anything. This was the end of a man who attempted by both war and policy to bring into subjection those who feared God. The Calixtines, when too late, saw that their compromise was only a delusion. The most devoted began to look around to see what they could do, or where they could flee, that they might live out their faith in peace, and many joined the Taborites.
About the year 1455 the Taborites formed themselves into a distinct church, under the name of the "United Brethren." They had withstood Papal oppression by force of arms, and God had signally blessed them. Their spiritual leaders had been burned at the stake, and their political leaders had fallen on the battle-field. They now turned their attention to the work of searching the Scriptures more ardently for truth, and seeking a closer walk with God. As they looked around them they saw that error covered the earth, and gross darkness the people. All societies needed to be purified. Their former brethren, the Calixtines, were, as they thought, fast relapsing into their former errors. They therefore resolved to separate themselves from all other bodies, and build up the truth anew from the foundation.
This step in connection with taking the name they did, exposed them to the bitter enmity of the Calixtines as well as the Roman Catholics, and they became the objects of a murderous persecution, in which they suffered far more than they had in their campaigns during the Hussite wars. Both warriors and nobles who had formerly stood by them, now began to forsake them, and the persecution that followed was terrible. They were dispersed in the woods and mountains, and inhabited dens and caves. In these abodes they were always careful to prepare their food in the night, lest the ascending smoke should betray their hiding-places.
Around the fires which they kindled in their subterranean retreats, during the night, they read the word of God, and united in social worship. When it was necessary to leave these places in search of food, if there was snow on the ground, they would drag behind them branches of trees so as to obliterate their footprints, and make it impossible for their enemies to track them to their lurking-places. They sent messengers into the various countries of Christendom to inquire secretly if there were others of like faith. In this way they traversed all of Europe and brought back word that here and there they found a few isolated confessors of the truth, and that wherever they found them, either in cities or the country, they were, like themselves, the subjects of persecution.
One thing that troubled these men of God was to devise some plan whereby their ministers might be ordained according to the common usage. After many anxious deliberations and much prayer, for their minds were greatly harassed respecting the matter, they proceeded as follows: In the year 1467 their chief men to the number of about seventy met in a plain at Lhota, in the neighborhood of the town of Richnovia. After humbling themselves with tears and prayers before God, they resolved on an appeal to the divine Omniscience as to who should be set over them as pastors. They selected nine men from their number from whom three were to be chosen and ordained. Twelve lots were prepared, nine of them were blank, and three inscribed Est. These were drawn from an urn by a child and distributed to the men. It was found that the three lots bearing the word Est were given to the following persons: Thomas Przelaucias, a very learned man; Matthew Kunwaldias, one of the most pious of men; and Elias Krzenovius, who was "distinguished for his great parts." These men received ordination from a Waldensian pastor who soon after suffered martyrdom at the stake in Vienne.
These faithful Christians clung to the writings of Huss and Jerome, remembering the words first uttered by Huss, and afterward repeated by Jerome, that "a century must revolve before the day should break." This prediction was to this people what the words of Joseph were to the tribes in the house of bondage: "I die, and God will surely bless you and bring you out." It was this that kept alive their hopes through the night of their persecution. As year after year passed, they sometimes had persecution and then rest for a season; but the end of this century found two hundred churches of the United Brethren in Bohemia and Moravia. Says the historian, "so goodly was the remnant which escaped the destructive fury of fire and sword, and was permitted to see the dawning of that day which Huss had foretold." Thus commenced the Moravian church which has sent forth its missionaries to every part of the world.

President Cleveland and the Sabbath

President Cleveland, not long since, left Washington for Boston on a Sunday, and the papers, the Congregationalist in particular, are in an agony at this "open violation of the Sabbath." But perhaps President Cleveland has read the ten commandments enough to know that Sunday is not the Sabbath. They ought not to condemn the President unheard.

The Missionary.

HOME MISSIONARY WORK.

BY C. M. JENSEN.
If you cannot cross the waters, And degraded heathen save, Cannot go to foreign countries Speak of Christ 'mid learned and grave, You can tell it 'mongst your neighbors, You can find a field near by; Dying souls are all around you, Send to them the warning cry.
Just as precious to the Master, Are the lost ones by our side, As the souls who grope in darkness In the heathen land so wide. See them standing all around us, Weak, degraded, stained with sin, Knowing naught but sin and blindness, Souls whom Jesus died to win.
If you cannot give your hundreds To the missions in our land, You can give a nobler token Of your love for fallen man; You can point them to the Saviour, You can lend a helping hand, Speak of hope and love to cheer them, Tell them of the better land.
Tell them how the Saviour loves them, How he died that they might live, How he suffered that to mortals Life eternal he might give. Point them to the throne of glory; See, he stands with outstretched hand, Pleading for them to his Father As the Saviour only can.
Christians who have long been waiting,— Waiting for the Lord's command,— "Go to work," the Saviour bids thee; 'Mid the idle do not stand: Soon the harvest will be over, Soon the victory will be won; From the Master you may hear it, Good and faithful one, "Well done."

Los Angeles County Camp-Meeting.

THIS meeting was held in Santa Ana, from Oct. 28 to Nov. 8, on the same ground as last year—Mr. Spurgeon's park of pepper trees. There were thirty-six tents on the ground with two hundred and four campers. This was a marked increase over last year's meeting, when we had twenty-three tents and about ninety campers. The laborers in this meeting were Elders E. P. Daniels, E. A. Briggs, R. S. Owen, and the writer. There were fifty-six meetings held besides the eight o'clock meetings for morning worship in nine tents, and two sessions of Sabbath-school.
Of the meetings held, thirty-one were discourses, and talks concerning the early days and experiences in the cause of present truth. Of these Elder Daniels gave nine, Elder Briggs six, Elder Owen three, and the writer thirteen.
There were seven children's meetings, conducted by Elder Owen and Sister Sophia Johnson. These meetings were full of interest and resulted in a number of conversions of youth and children. There were also five sessions of a Biblical Institute, ten social meetings, and two business meetings. The two sessions of the Sabbath-school were well attended. On the last Sabbath there were one hundred and sixty-four in the classes. The contributions of both Sabbaths amounted to $27.46.
The camp-meeting was full of interest from the commencement to the close. The preaching was of a close, practical character, and was responded to, on the part of the people, by earnest consecration to God, and hearty confession of sins, putting away of pride, etc. The Lord came very near to bless his people and to convert sinners. In the social meetings, appointed for one hour, the people were so earnest—sometimes six upon their feet at once anxious to speak—that it was difficult to get through any of them without giving extra time. We never saw more spirited meetings of that character, and yet all went off with the greatest decorum.
Great anxiety was expressed by our people that a city mission should be opened in Los Angeles, similar to the one in San Francisco. We told them that we thought it would require at least from one thousand to fifteen hundred dollars to fit up rooms and furnish material to sustain the mission for one year. On first-day morning, November 7, the whole camp came together to consider the mission. After the matter was set before them, with no urging, they stated their conviction in the case by freely pledging $1,954 to sustain the mission one year. These pledges were in sums varying from $1 to $150, according to the ability of each. Of this sum $88.50 was paid down, and more will be paid soon.
In the afternoon of first-day the ordinance of baptism was administered by Elders Daniels and Briggs, and fifty-six persons were baptized. Of these twenty-nine were converted to God during the meeting.
The canvassing upon the ground resulted in the sale of 125 volumes of the Testimonies, 33 subscribers for the Pacific Health Journal, 16 subscribers for the Review, besides some subscribers for other periodicals, and the sale of Bibles and books.
On the morning of the 8th, our people left the camp with happy hearts, feeling that this was the best meeting they had ever enjoyed in Los Angeles County. Our prayers follow them, that they may share much of the blessing of God, as they go home to carry out their vows to labor to God's glory in all that they do.
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

The Message Going Throughout the World

WE are always pleased to note the rapidity with which the Third Angel's Message is going. A recent letter from the Review and Herald office says, "We cannot supply the demand on some of our books." When we take into consideration that thousands of pounds of literature are leaving our offices of publication daily, and that "the sun never sets" on these offices which are established on various parts of the globe, while missions are starting up in every part of the world, it is a sure indication that people are reading. Brother John I. Tay, who went as a missionary to some of the islands of the Pacific, left Tahiti about the middle of September and sailed in an English man-of-war for the Pitcairn's Island. He leaves persons on Tahiti who take an active interest in the message, and who see that our publications are circulated. Brother Tay is of good courage, and his reports show that he is doing a good work. "Our field is the world," and the success which attends the cause everywhere, shows that God's hand is with the work.
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