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Review and Herald, Vol. 88, No. 29.

The Cricket’s Song

Review and Herald

Jul 20, 1911

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 20, 1911

The Cricket’s Song

By Amanda Elisabeth Miller

Sing loud, little cricket, hid low in the grass, The time of thy singing so swiftly must pass; Sing loud in the gloaming, sing soft in the noon, The time of thy silence shall come to thee soon. Yet, ah! little singer, thy song in my heart Hath awakened another, which shall not depart, A note of thanksgiving to Him who above For earth’s lowest creatures provides in His love, A song that shall ring through eternity’s years, And dearer to God than the song of the spheres, When star-song and sea-song forever shall pass, But a song that was born of thy song in the grass. —Amanda Elisabeth Miller, in Northwestern Christian Advocate.
Facsimile of Cover Design Printed in Three Colors
Facsimile of Cover Design Printed in Three Colors

The August Number of

By Editor

Life & Health

Special Out-of-Doors Number

Discusses 98 Topics Concerning the Welfare of the Entire Man—Body, Mind, and Spirit
Tells in Simple Language How to Detect, Prevent, and Cure Disease, Also How to Sleep, Cook, Eat, and Dress for Health

Some Proofs of Popularity

Our July edition of 65,000 copies was sold out by Sunday, July 9. June edition of 50,000 copies sold out by Wednesday, June 7.
AUGUST ISSUE, First Edition, 65,000. All orders for July number received since July 9 will be filled with the AUGUST NUMBER.
Large orders from our agents who are in daily contact with the people, and scores of applications for agency, are additional proofs of the popularity of this health magazine. One lady agent has sold 6,550 copies since May 19, 1911, in seven of our large cities. Her mark for the summer's work is 10,000 copies. She pays cash for all her magazines. Other agents sell from 50 to 1,000 copies a month.

Partial Contents of This Number

Frontispiece.—Children Out-of-Doors.
General Articles.—Editor's Sermonette on Typhoid Fever (only 28 sentences)—Are We as a Nation Becoming Vegetarians? (valuable United States government statistics)—The Teacher in the Struggle Against Alcoholism—Sun-Baths and Sunburn—Catchin' Cold (poem by James Whitcomb Riley)—Suggestions Regarding the Treatment of Constipation—The Unrecognized Value of Raisins—Effects of Water Applications on the Circulation—Don't's for Walkers—Healthful Cookery (12 recipes for serving and cooking fruits).
Medical Missionary at Work.—Experiences at an African Mission Station—Medical Missionary Work in New Zealand—Indian Queen Believes in Efficacy of Prayer.
Editorial.—Heredity and Environment—What a Change!—Bless and Be Blessed.
As We See It.—A Marine Sanitarium—Legal Maxims—Legal Control of Liquor—Temperance Clubs—Control of Liquor in England—Temperance in the British Army—Teach the Young—Amusements for the Young—Socializing the Farm.
Current Comment.—Life-Saving Abroad and Life-Wasting at Home—Standard Bread—Work and Pain—Eliminate the Rat—The Schoolboy and the Cigarette—What Is the Origin of Cancer?—National Laundry Work.
Abstracts.—Rural Recreation—The Value of Doing Nothing—Care of the Teeth—Play as an Antidote to Civilization—Suggestions on the Teaching of Temperance—A Plea for the Women, etc.

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Going Home

By Mrs. Pauline Alderman

MRS. PAULINE ALDERMAN
My faith grasps a future through Christ and the cross; I see it, and count all my treasures but dross; For it opes to my vision a scene of delight, A land where no sorrow ere cometh to blight.
And the joys there forever and ever endure, In the home of the saved, the tried, and the pure. O spare not, great Master, my soul to refine; Whate'er be the cost, let salvation be mine.
Let me stand with thy people, the saved and the blest, Where the home is eternal, and perfect the rest; Where the river of crystal, so cooling and sweet, Will ripple with gladness for aye at our feet.
O, the hills and the valleys of heaven are green With a verdure we mortals have never yet seen; And the fruits of that country can never decay; For death and the blight are left over the way.
There the song of redemption will ever be sung By the peaceful and happy ones, angels among; And we'll see the dear Saviour, and lay at his feet The crowns he has bought us, our rapture complete.
Mount Vernon, Ohio.

Higher Attainments

By J. M. HOPKINS

J. M. HOPKINS
Our Father is not pleased when his children make no advancement in Christian graces and accomplishments. He would have them ever growing into a more perfect image of his own glorious character. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” Isa. 60:1. Every command and admonition our Father has given his people implies and assuredly means divine assistance to execute fully the conditions imposed.
It is not only a duty but a most blessed privilege to attain the standard set by this divine admonition: “Arise, shine.” It is possible for every one by divine grace to rise above the lowlands of earthliness, of sinfulness. It is the privilege of every one to wear the garments of salvation, the robe of Christ’s righteousness. It is the privilege of every one to have his life adorned with the beautiful graces of the Holy Spirit. Gal. 5:22-25. Study these verses carefully in connection with Phil. 4:8.
This glory of the Lord which the prophet declares “is risen upon thee” is his beautiful character; and it is this glorious character of God in his children that shines in the world of darkness around them. “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.”
Such is the standard set by our God. Such is the purpose of our God in setting that standard. Have we attained unto it? Are we satisfied with our attainments in the heavenly life? Or do not our inmost souls cry out for higher and better things than we now possess?
We can not attain to this excellence at one stride or by one endeavor; as compared with the former life of sin and darkness, the life may appear, and indeed may be, beautiful. But as contrasted with the Father’s character, it falls far below the excellent glory. He does not expect nor ask that we shall at once attain to the standard he has established for us. He says: “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” Prov. 4:18. The child of God will be continually growing more and more unto the divine likeness, reflecting more and more the beauty of his holiness; demonstrating more and more the power of his blessed gospel to save from sin, to keep from sinning, to uplift toward heaven.
This is all for us, for his children everywhere, white or black, free or bond, high or low, rich or poor. All alike have the blessed privilege of rising higher and higher, becoming more and more like our Father, like our Elder Brother and Saviour. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Cor. 3:18. We thank and praise God that this is so.
Are you satisfied with your present attainments and accomplishments? or are you daily catching glimpses of the divine glory that make you long for more and higher views and possessions? Education, refinement, culture, knowledge, wisdom, purity of heart and life, helpfulness, sympathy, gentleness, loyalty, and fidelity to principle and duty,—O, how these virtues beautify and enrich and adorn the life! These are just what our Heavenly Father wants us to have and to enjoy. He desires that we shall be “filled with the Spirit,” “filled with all the fulness of God,” “filled with the fruits of righteousness.”
Is not this a glorious and blessed experience? Yet it is for us. It is for you, my brother, who live where you are surrounded with the advantages of civilization; and for you, my brother and sister far away, who may have been, and even now are, less fortunate in this respect. “God is no respecter of persons,” but “in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.” Acceptance means blessing and growth and advancement, higher and ever higher attainment “till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Eph. 4:13.
Let us come to the Fountain, and drink, and live.
Hewitt, Mich.

Jesus at the Door

By A. Smith

A. SMITH
THERE is something for man to do when Jesus knocks at the door of his heart. Rev. 3:20. He must open the door. Jesus will not do this for him; but if any man will open the door, Jesus will come in. With every command or entreaty God gives power to obey.
“But how,” says one, “can I open the door?” The following quotations and references clearly answer the question:—
“Those who despise the warning will not be left in blindness to become self-deceived. But those who heed it, and zealously go about the work of separating their sins from them in order to have the needed graces, will be opening the door of their hearts that the dear Saviour may come in and dwell with them.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. III, page 257.
“When those sins which God hates are subdued, Jesus will come in and sup with you and you with him. You will draw divine strength from Jesus.”—“Spiritual Gifts,” page 227. See Matt. 5:23, 24; James 5:16.
This is quite different from the teaching of fanaticism, which substitutes feeling and boasting of self-righteousness for confession of sins and humility. “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”
Grandville, Mich.

Its Intervening Support

By John O. Corliss

Tracings of the Prophetic Gift — No. 11

Its Intervening Support

J. O. CORLISS
Had a proper accounting been given to the design of the prophetic gift, it is altogether likely that the Christian church would not have permitted it to fall into desuetude. To regard that gift simply as an endowment by which to foretell future events, is to rob it of its proposed effectiveness, and consequently of its Heaven-bestowed honor. A moment’s thought will verify this statement. For a prophet to predict in brief form some general occurrence, without marking the effect it is likely to have upon the church, and also pointing out the necessary course to be pursued in view of its expected advent, the impression left upon minds could not, from the very nature of things, be permanent in its results.
Besides, with this single view of the purpose of prophecy, one is led to decide the merits of the gift by the nature of the fulfilment anticipated. Without sufficient divine illumination of mind, one is apt to place his own human estimate on the particulars of the outcome, and by this doubtful balance decide for or against the genuineness of the gift by which the prediction was put in circulation. This would be to place the reputation and the influence of the prophet at the mercy of unsanctified prejudice, and so bring to naught the purpose of the prophetic institution.
It is true that the power to predict the future belongs to the prophetic gift, but this manifestation is but to assist in making its principal purpose effective. To make this affirmation clear, it may be well to consider, first, that a true prophet is an oracle; that is, one who delivers divine communications; one who is God’s spokesman for the advancement of heavenly government in human hearts. He is chosen to be a “light” to the world in a special sense, as one of virtue, wisdom, and marked personal piety; indifferent to ordinary pleasures; free from personal vanity; independent in mode of life; fervent and earnest in exhortation.
Such a life places a prophet in the highest rank in God’s kingdom on earth. In this position he is enabled through the Spirit to interpret the divine will; to be a preacher of righteousness; to recall men from semi-apostasy, and so from darkness to light. This is not to be done unrestrainedly, or unrelated to the Word of God as delivered under inspiration in earlier times. God is the same from the days of eternity. Micah 5: 2. Principles which he teaches through chosen ones now must harmonize with those given by the mouth of all his prophets.
So, then, the proper first use of the prophetic gift is to confirm darkened, halting minds in the principles of God’s Word, lest they depart from the steadfastness of faith. The saddest thing to contemplate in the history of ancient Israel is the decline in their spiritual life when left without the prophetic gift. The priests of those days, while attending regularly to their appointed rounds of sanctuary rites, were nevertheless disgracefully influenced by the prevailing vices of their time (1 Sam. 2: 12-17); and because there was no open nor revealed vision, the people were left, each to follow in the way that seemed good to himself. Never did a nation stand in greater need of divine guidance than when Samuel was raised up to rebuke the evils of the age.
Later, when the people demanded a king by whom to be ruled, as were the nations around them, Samuel predicted the woful result of such a change. This prediction, however, was only to convert them from the present error of their way, and to lead them to rest in the provision of the Lord’s grace, which had always been so free to them. But even though God yielded to the demand for an earthly ruler, yet he could not consent to let Israel’s king lead his chosen people in the way of other nations.
The rapid spiritual decline of Israel had already determined that nation’s fate, were it to be left at that stage to human control. It was certain to be swallowed up by the heathen Philistines. 1 Sam. 9: 16. The measure by which to preclude pending disaster was quickly set in order. The most popular man in all Israel (1 Sam. 9: 20), Saul the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, was sent on a domestic errand, which led him to the city of Samuel’s sojourn, probably Ramah, in Ephraim, not far from the border of Benjamin. The prophet had been previously instructed of God to anoint Saul as king. This was done, and Saul was dismissed from the prophet’s presence with minute instructions regarding his immediate course and conduct.
As the newly anointed king turned away, his heart was miraculously changed, and he was thus prepared to serve the nation as God’s representative. Going on a short distance, he met a company of prophets, when the Spirit of God came upon him, and he at once joined them in prophetic utterances. Those present, knowing of Saul’s past irresponsible course, were greatly astonished at this manifestation of God’s power through him, and with evident amazement united in asking, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” 1 Sam. 10: 11.
So while the people desired a king over themselves, rather than to be led by prophetic direction, they were, after all, to receive a king who was also to be a prophet. As by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, constantly speaking to them through his chosen instrument, so at every crisis in that nation’s history special interposition was provided for its preservation through the prophetic gift. Hosea 12: 13.
The history of Israel appears to vindicate the assertion of Jehoshaphat that to believe in God would establish the nation, and to believe his prophets would give prosperity. 2 Chron. 20: 20. For so long as they did this, they were a thriving and well-to-do people. But faith in God meant then, as now, to “seek the law at his mouth,” and to adhere to the principles enunciated by him in that law; namely, the righteousness of Jehovah. To forsake these meant to ignore the keeping power of him whose word they despised, and to make themselves a prey to every nation seeking their overthrow. Ps. 83: 4.
To prevent such a calamity, inspired couriers with direct messages from heaven were persistently and compassionately sent to that people, warning them not to forsake the path of virtue, and so follow the ways of heathen nations by which they were surrounded. But “they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.” 2 Chron. 36: 16. Left thus of God, the Chaldeans came upon them, slew their young men, desolated their sanctuary, and carried into Babylonian captivity all those who escaped the sword.
Being in this way bereft of protection, the once proud and joyful nation sat down by the rivers of Babylon and wept, while their harps hung silent upon the overhanging willows. Ps. 137: 1, 2. Here the plowers plowed their backs with long furrows. Ps. 129: 3. In scorn and derision their captors asked them why they did not sing one of their former joyful songs of praise, until the captives were satiated with contempt (Ps. 123: 3, 4), or defiled bread, as expressed by the prophet when referring to the same time. Eze. 4: 12-17.
Although this was a sad state of affairs, there seemed to be something which weighed even more heavily on the minds of the captives, and that was the thought that this lamentation might have been averted by their own conduct. But now the king of Babylon had scattered Israel, and “broken his bones;” that is, had put the power of that nation under restraint. Jer. 50: 17. Not only so, but Jerusalem, the city of the heavenly King, was left to languish, because her gates were destroyed, and her princes were among the Gentiles. Beyond all other calamities, the law was made void, and the prophets received no vision from the Lord. Lam. 2: 9. Because of this failure to hear God’s voice through his law and prophets, the elders sat upon the ground, with dust upon their heads, and all the people were bowed to the earth with grief, while tears of sorrow blinded their eyes.
It had been the mission of the prophets to save the people from this awful calamity. It was not enough for them to correct the faults of the common people; but they did not fear to point out the errors of kings, who were not answerable to human authority. The cases of Nathan and David in the matter of Uriah’s wife (2 Sam. 12: 7), and of Elijah and Ahab concerning the murder of Naboth (1 Kings 21: 19), serve to illustrate the fortitude with which the prophets of old were endowed. Such interventions with the Eastern kings of those days demanded great moral courage, since the persons of prophets were by no means legally inviolable. 1 Kings 19: 2; 22: 27; 2 Kings 6: 31.
Such history demonstrates that the prophet of God was, and still is, the appointed organ of heaven’s communication with earthly subjects, be they king or people. The fundamental idea that Jehovah guides his people by the word of direct revelation, is as old as the history of his dealings with humanity. Moses was not only a prophet, but a judge and a ruler as well. As history unfolds events, the prophetic gift is seen to stand out more fully as the organ of revelation, and as the type of one who is Jehovah’s mouthpiece, revealing his counsel (Amos 3: 7; Jer. 23: 22), and so ministering to Israel God’s gracious guidance, which distinguished that nation from all other peoples on the earth. Amos 2: 11; Hosea 12: 10, 13.
Mountain View. Cal.

Who Changed the Sabbath?

By W. H. Branson

W. H. BRANSON
It was not the apostles who changed the Sabbath, else there would be something in their writings concerning it. Paul says, “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” Acts 20:27. Yet he said nothing about a new Sabbath. It is true he held one meeting on the dark part of the first day of the week (Acts 20:7-14); but this was Saturday night (since the night constitutes the first part of the day—Gen. 1:5), and the record shows that he walked across the country Sunday morning to Assos, a distance of nineteen miles. Luke and the rest of the company were sailing about forty-five miles around the cape while Paul was preaching.
This was the only religious meeting held on the first day of the week by the disciples, so far as we have any record. They gathered on the day of the resurrection, but only “for fear of the Jews.” They could not have been celebrating his resurrection; for when Jesus appeared to them, he upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart because they did not believe that he was risen. Mark 16:9-14. How could they commemorate an event they did not believe had taken place? No; the disciples did not change the day.
It was Paul’s manner to preach on the Sabbath to all classes. Acts 17:2. In the following texts we have a record of eighty-four Sabbath meetings held by him after the resurrection, with both the Jews and the Gentiles: Acts 13:14, 42, 44; 16:13; 18:1-4, 11.
If the disciples had changed the Sabbath to Sunday, that would be no excuse for our keeping it, since they were never commissioned to make laws for Christians to follow. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, . . . whatsoever I have commanded you,” says Christ. Matt. 28:20. And again there is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. James 4:12. But they were not able to save; therefore not one of them could be the lawgiver. In Isa. 33:22 I read, “The Lord is our lawgiver.” Therefore, unless the Lawgiver has given a law for Sunday observance, there is no divine law for it.
The first recorded instance of Sunday observance which has any claim to be considered genuine is mentioned by Justin Martyr, A. D. 140, when the Christians met and read the writings of the apostles. He does not even intimate, however, that this day has any divine authority, either from Christ or from his apostles. It was about this time that the great apostasy set in, which is foretold in Acts 20:29, 30; 2 Tim. 4:3, 4; and 2 Thess. 2:3, 4.
The pagans nominally accepted Christianity, though at heart they remained unchanged. The mystery of iniquity was working, and they began to remodel the religion of the apostles. Robinson, the Baptist historian, says: “Toward the latter end of the second century, most of the churches assumed a new form; the first simplicity disappeared; and insensibly, as the old disciples retired to their graves, their children, along with new converts, both Jews and Gentiles, came forward, and new-molded the cause.”—“Ecclesiastical Researches,” chapter 6, page 51.
Since the converted pagans had heretofore held Sunday as a feast-day in honor of the sun-god, they now brought it into the church. Morer, a leading church historian, says that “the Christians thought fit to keep the same day, and the same name of it, that they might not appear causelessly peevish, and by that means hinder the conversion of the Gentiles.”—“Dialogues on the Lord’s Day,” pages 22, 23.
Even after the observance of Sunday did begin, the Sabbath was still kept as before. Listen to the historian Coleman: “The last day of the week was strictly kept in connection with that of the first day for a long time after the overthrow of the temple and its worship. Down even to the fifth century the observance of the Jewish sabbath was continued in the Christian church.”—“Ancient Christianity Exemplified,” chapter 26, section 2. In the same chapter he also says: “During the early ages of the church, it [Sunday] was never entitled ‘the Sabbath,’ this word being confined to the seventh day of the week.”
Neander, the greatest of church historians, says: “The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was only a human ordinance; and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect,—far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. Perhaps at the end of the second century a false application of this kind had begun to take place; for men appear by that time to have considered laboring on Sunday a sin.”
In no document, human or divine, can any command be found to rest on Sunday, previous to the edict of Constantine in 321 A. D., when he said: “Let all the judges and the townspeople, and the occupation of all trades, rest on the venerable day of the sun.” The following is quoted from “Chambers’s Encyclopedia,” Vol. VII: “Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the observance of that day [Sunday] is known to have been ordained, is this edict of Constantine, A. D. 321.” Constantine was at this time a pagan emperor; but two years later he was converted to Catholicism.
It was not, however, until 364, long after Constantine’s conversion to Catholicism, that the Sunday was fully established. William Prynne, in his “Dissertations on the Lord’s Sabbath,” page 34, says: “The seventh-day Sabbath was . . . solemnized by Christ, the apostles, and primitive Christians, till the Laodicean council did in a manner quite abolish the observance of it. . . . The council of Laodicea (A. D. 364) first settled the observance of the Lord’s day, and prohibited . . . the keeping of the Jewish sabbath under an anathema.” This council was dominated by Roman influence. Therefore the Catholic Church is responsible for the change. Do they acknowledge it? One who is the highest Catholic authority in America says: “Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act; it could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have dreamed of doing anything in matters spiritual and ecclesiastical and religious without her. And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.”—Cardinal Gibbons, of Baltimore, Md.
In a Catholic work called the “Abridgment of Christian Doctrine,” page 58, is the following: “Question: How prove you that the church has power to command feasts and holy days? Answer: By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday.”
We have this further testimony: “Question: Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept? Answer: Had she not such power, she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”—“Doctrinal Catechism,” pages 174, 352.
In conclusion let me say, as Elijah said to the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:21): “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him;” but if Constantine and the authorities of the Catholic Church be God, then follow them. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.”
Spartansburg, S. C.

Righteousness by Faith

By O. E. Jones

O. E. JONES
“I COUNT all things but loss, . . . that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” Phil. 3: 8, 9.
God gave his Son to die, and Christ laid down his life, to make it possible for us to be made righteous, that we might not perish, but have eternal life, with all its attendant blessings. In 2 Cor. 5: 21 we read:— “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” He (the Father) hath made him (the Son) to be sin for us. Our sins with the full penalty were placed to Christ’s account. In Isa. 53: 6 we read:— “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Note the marginal reading—“hath made the iniquity of us all to meet on him.” In taking our sins upon himself, Christ came under the law, as we read in Gal. 4: 4, 5:— “But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
His suffering on the cross was for our sins, as it is written:— “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” 1 Peter 2: 24; 3: 18.
We recall the Saviour’s agony in Gethsemane as he prayed, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” Christ bore the penalty (curse) of the broken law of God in our stead.
We have no righteousness of our own to commend us to God. “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” Isa. 64: 6. Our only hope, then, is in the imputed righteousness of Christ. This is beautifully set forth in the following scripture:— “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law [a perfect standard] and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.” Rom. 3: 20-22.
“The righteousness of God unto [imputed] all and upon [imparted] all them that believe.” Note also verses 24-26:— “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
To believe in Jesus, and to believe merely in a historical fact that such a person lived, are widely different propositions.
“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.” Rom. 4: 3-6.
Of ancient Israel we read:—
“But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.” “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Rom. 9: 31, 32; 10: 3.
“They sought it [righteousness] not by faith.” Blessed indeed is the man or the woman unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.
“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Rom. 4: 7.
Not only is righteousness placed (imputed) to the account of every believer, but by faith Christ dwells in the heart (Eph. 3: 17), and imparts righteousness. As we read again:— “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Phil. 2: 13.
And with the apostle we can say:— “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless 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.
With Christ living in us, the life we now live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God,—living faith abounding in fruits of righteousness (“faith without works is dead”),—“that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.” Rom. 8: 4. Clothed with the righteousness of Christ, woven in the loom of heaven without one thread of human invention in it, we stand faultless before the throne of God, ascribing all praise to him who has redeemed us by his own blood.
“Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.” Ps. 115: 1.
Hastings, Neb.

The Comforter

By Anna Majel Ross

ANNA MAJEL ROSS
Softly o’er my spirit stealing Comes a message from above: “Come to Me when heavy-laden, I’ll refresh you with my love.”
Weary one, if you would only Learn to love and trust in him, Heart and soul would not be lonely, Troubles would grow vague and dim.
Patiently our Father listens, Peace and comfort from him flow; He will hear your earnest pleading, Soothe away all pain and woe.
Brawley, Cal.

Gethsemane

By J. G. McClaughry

J. G. McCLAUGHRY
That peace which passeth knowledge, Lord, I crave of thee to-night: Drive care and suffering from my heart, And make its burden light.
I do not ask thee to remove Nor bid my sorrows cease; Give what thou wilt, O Lord, in love, But O, to-night give peace!
Thou knowest all our needs, and how Our burdens bear us down; Thou knowest all our strength, and canst Sustain us by thine own; But, O my God, hear thou my prayer, And grant me this release,— To-morrow I my cross would bear, But O, to-night give peace!
I do not ask this thoughtlessly, Nor question I thy will; I would not have thee take from me My cup of sorrow; still Have I not gladly kissed the rod As woes and griefs increased? Now I am broken, O my God, Have mercy, give me peace!
I want but thee, I need but thee; Come thou, O God, to-night, Remove the burdens that afflict, Sustain me by thy might; O, let oblivion swallow all For one short hour at least; I stumble, Lord, I almost fall; Have mercy, give me peace!
New Albany, Ind.

There Is No Chance

By Worthie Harris Holden

WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN
THERE is no chance. God's sovereign will The universe bends to fulfil, And all the myriad worlds on high Circle his mandates in the sky. Though man with care his sphere has planned, God still his schemes may countermand. In vain was Herod's dire decree; The plot against the Hebrew three; The counsel which his brothers brought By Joseph's God was set at naught. Man strives for what he deemeth good,— By God alone ’tis understood; And griefs we mourn, by him are seen The stone to rest our Bethel dream. Sometimes we “chance” to do or dare, And learn erelong our God led there; We “happen” oft to lose or gain, And find he meted joy or pain. Constant his care by night or day; Then trust to him thy life for aye.
Portland, Ore.
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