AGAIN and again I am instructed to charge our people with their individual responsibility to work, and believe, and pray. The reception of Bible truth will lead to continual self-denial; for self-indulgence can never be found in a Christlike experience. Truly converted men and women will reveal the cross of Calvary in their daily actions. There are many Seventh-day Adventists who do not understand that to accept the cause of Christ means to accept his cross. The only evidence they give in their lives of their discipleship is in the name they bear. But the true Christian regards his stewardship as a sacred thing. He perseveringly studies the Word, and yields up his life to the service of Christ.
The word of encouragement is given, “Be not weary in well-doing,” “always abounding in the work of the Lord.” There is a world to be saved, a work to be done that can be accomplished only by the proclamation of the gospel message. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Should we not thank the Lord with heart and soul for his unspeakable gift? Should we not be willing to devote every capability and talent to the work of representing Christ before the world?
There is great need of the Holy Spirit’s influence in our midst. There must be an individual work done in the breaking of stubborn hearts. There needs to be deep heart-searching, that will lead to confession of sin. Believers should at this time stand with softened, sanctified, broken hearts, every sin confessed in repentance that needeth not to be repented of. The Holy Spirit is waiting to kindle in the heart the love of God, that his praise may be spoken from lips that are true, unselfish, clean, and honest. When holy principles guide the life, the soul will be beautiful in its simplicity.
The influence of the prayer of faith is as far-reaching as eternity. The Lord will bless all who will seek him with the whole heart, and who with humble souls and earnest purpose strive to follow the example of Christ. To those who thus seek to become partakers of the divine nature, the words are spoken, “Be not weary in well-doing,” “always abounding in the work of the Lord.” He who labors in faith and humility, holding fast to the promises of God, will prevail. The greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven will be given to the faithful, believing children of God.
“Ye are the salt of the earth,” said Christ; “but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”
“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill can not be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works,” the Saviour declared. These “good works” will begin to appear when the experience of repentance and conversion is brought into the life. Not until then can words and works “glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Unless we reveal the converting power of God in our lives, we can not work in safe paths. It is not in saying that we believe the truth, but by showing that we are changed in character, through a belief of the truth, that we make known to others the transforming power of the grace of God.
What is expected of the subjects of Christ’s kingdom? The answer is given by Christ himself, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” No soul can enter into the heavenly courts who does not have an understanding of God’s requirements, and does not strive to be perfect, even as God is perfect.
I am instructed to urge the necessity of personal consecration and sanctification of the whole being to God. Let each soul inquire, Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do, that the vigilance of Christ may be seen in my life, and that his example may be copied by me, and that I may speak sincere words that will help souls who are in darkness and sin?
O, how I long to see our church-members clothed with their beautiful garments, and prepared to go forth to meet the Bridegroom. I am in fear and trembling for those who have not yet on the wedding garment. Many are expecting to sit down to the marriage supper of the Lamb who are unprepared for the coming of the King. They are like the blind; they do not discern their danger. “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way,” the Saviour declared, “which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
Every individual believer is under obligation to give to others the truth he possesses. Nothing should be allowed to keep the servant of Christ from letting his light shine forth to his fellow men. We are ever to be learners, ever to be increasing in a knowledge of how to lead others to the light of truth. All around us there are sinners to be labored for. If we will arouse ourselves to co-operate with the divine Worker, we shall see a great work accomplished. And we ourselves will grow in grace as we seek to communicate the will of God to others.
As professed Christians our lives must be Christlike, and this can only be when we receive this grace to impart it to others. Many among us who profess to believe are daily losing opportunities of receiving the grace of Christ and of imparting this grace to others. We should be daily increasing in ability to do the precious work of winning souls to Christ. This is such a precious work, such a satisfying work! And all heaven is waiting for channels through which can be poured the heavenly oil to refresh and strengthen needy souls. The Lord will protect and guide those who will let his divine fulness flow from their lips in grateful praise, and who labor, through deeds of charity and love, to bless mankind. Such workers will become consecrated agents for God.
I would say to every believer, Bring the spirit of heavenly grace into your soul, into your experience: this is the impress of the character of Christ. Angels are watching you, and they sing songs of thanksgiving and praise to the Lamb when his people engage in faithful, unselfish labor for others. And your reward for service will be found in the reflection of the tender spirit of Christ in your own life.
By communicating to others the grace we receive, we shall be made partakers of the rich blessings of God. Obedience to his will will keep the soul in the love of Christ. Bind yourselves up with Christ and with God, and reflect his8glory to the souls ready to perish. Let there be a reconversion of soul on the part of those who have allowed themselves to grow careless and indifferent. If we would look upon suffering humanity with eyes that see their need, and would heed the command of Christ, “Go work to-day in my vineyard;” if we would speak to souls words of comfort and wisdom, and work out before them the principles of the gospel, the message of mercy would soon reach to every part of the world.
We become overcomers by helping others to overcome. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony. The keeping of the commandments of God will yield in us an obedient spirit, and the service that is the offspring of such a spirit, God can accept. O that we all in the day of final award might hear the words spoken to us individually, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”! How many in our churches will seek to set such an example as will reflect to mankind the Light of the world? The Saviour calls for workers who will give themselves to be worked by the Holy Spirit,—workers who will yield to the refining, elevating influences of truth, and thus be fitted to wear the crown of life in the kingdom of God.
The Table of the Lord
By Pauline Alderman
MRS. PAULINE ALDERMAN
How shall I to thy banquet come, dear Lord?
Thy table in the wilderness? Thou hast
Invited me; and though I am so weak
And vile, I could not look on this great feast,
Much less partake of what thou hast prepared,
If Jesus’ blood my sins had not removed.
O wondrous fount! Thy healing power avails,
And I—yea, even I—can come and take
These sacred emblems of thy pitying love.
So with thy saints in this dark vale of sin
I will sit down to thine appointed feast,
And take the bread of life, broken for me,—
Yea, and for all the world.
Dear Saviour mine,
Thou dost behold thy gathered children, and
Dost cheer us with thy presence as we come,
And thou art waiting till we reach thy home
Above the stars, above the mists of time,
There to renew thy promise to thy saints,
And sit down with them to the glorious feast.
We praise thee, O beloved One! to us
The fairest. Now to Calvary we look:
Unmeasured love flows from thy many wounds.
I see! I see! And bow at Calvary’s cross.
Mount Vernon, Ohio.
Ye Did It Unto Me
By H. Marshall J. Richards
H. MARSHALL J. RICHARDS
Only five short words, but what a depth of meaning! How expressive of a great opportunity grasped! Yet often how little understood or remembered when the blessed opportunity calls, offering to bring the very presence of the heavenly Guest within our homes! How often, unrecognized, has the Master knocked at our door, and then, unwelcomed, sadly turned away!
He must receive a welcome, or he will turn away. His glory he can not divide with another, and he respects that likeness to God which he has created in man's mind—the freedom of choice, freedom to do or not to do that which may be done. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Rev. 3:20. This is in direct reference to the reception of his Spirit into the soul in the gifts of righteousness, faith, love, and divine guidance. It shows clearly the Lord's recognition of our God-given right of choice. We can “choose” life, or “choose” death. See Deut. 30:19; Isa. 66:4; Eze. 18:30-32; Prov. 1:20-33.
Thus we may choose to live the daily life now that will bring eternal life hereafter; or, we may live the life that will bring eternal death. It is left with us to decide. And we are constantly deciding every day as the opportunities come and go.
At the final Judgment the balance between “life eternal” and “everlasting punishment,” will be turned by what we have done to “the least of these, my brethren.” As we have treated the Lord's children, so have we treated the Lord himself. It is all written in his Book. He says, “Ye have done it unto me!”
How am I treating Christ? How are you treating him, my brother? What are we doing to him? These are solemn questions. Our answer to them, as the days roll swiftly away, means either that we shall experience that fire “prepared for the devil and his angels,” or enjoy everlastingly the kingdom prepared for God's redeemed children from the foundation of the world. Is it possible that all eternity for us depends upon the mere passing deeds and words of these fleeting days?—Yes, not only possible, but absolutely true! Read Matt. 25:31-46; Mark 9:42; Matt. 12:36, 37.
In Isaiah 58 the Lord gives us a description of the people who give the message of Sabbath reform. In verses 1-11 is revealed the character they will possess, and the work they will do. They are a people who will not “exact all your things wherewith ye grieve others.” Verse 3, margin. “Is not this,” says Jehovah, “the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” Verses 6, 7. “If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke,” the promise is given, “the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon-day: and the Lord shall guide thee continually; . . . and they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places.” Verses 9-12.
We never can fulfil the last part of Isaiah 58 until we fulfil the first part. We must possess the character in order to do the work. But when we meet the conditions named, “then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations.” Verses 10-12.
May the Lord grant us each this experience, that we may be able to have a part in his glorious work.
“And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Cor. 13:13. “He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” 1 John 4:20. The Lord forbid that while we are thinking of our faith and hope of the future, we forget the love for our fellow man to-day!
Christ's love flowed out to all in deeds of kindness and help and salvation. He was called a “friend of publicans and sinners,” because he tried to save them by going to them in kindness with the words of eternal life. If Christ be in us, and his word abide in us, shall we not often experience his sweet blessing resting upon us as his abiding “love” flows out from him through us in deeds of kindness and help to those whom he died to save? We are in his place. He is here by his Spirit, and he longs to reveal his loving, considerate character to the world. He can do it only through his people. Shall we let him do it through us? Thus only are we his people. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14. Are we his sons?
Monte Vista, Colo.
Conditions in the Religious World Before Christ's Coming
By George I. Butler
GEORGE I. BUTLER
“But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof: from these also turn away.” 2 Tim. 3:1-5.
Here we have a catalogue of eighteen sins, which will characterize the professed church of Jesus Christ. The language of the apostle is decisive. These have a form of godliness, but have denied the power thereof. They profess to be children of God, but really are not. The conditions described present evidences of apostasy. True faith is not found among the masses of professed Christians. The church has become like the world around it. A low standard has been tolerated. The rich, selfish men of the world are not only received, but greedily welcomed into church communion. A great worldly church is the result. All sorts of sins are tolerated. Pride, fashion, love of display, are seen everywhere. Things which were discountenanced by the church in purer days are now tolerated. Gambling at church fairs is permitted—shall I not say encouraged? The barriers of the church, raised by godly ancestors, have been broken down. Jewelry, dancing, card-playing, theater-going, etc., are countenanced. Novel-reading and all kinds of pleasure-seeking are considered innocent. Ministers become preachers of smooth things, and little evidence of true conversion is required for church-membership.
Indeed, there are multitudes of so-called ministers of Jesus Christ who do not believe large portions of the Bible. Bible critics are in evidence everywhere, and multitudes of church-members have no faith in the inspiration of the Sacred Word. So-called scientific theories of creation prevail to such a degree that scarcely any prominent minister pretends9to believe in the Bible account of creation. The record of the deluge is set aside as a fable. The account of the patriarchs of old is treated by many as unworthy of latter-day belief. The Christian ship is going forth on its perilous voyage of turbulent waters without chart or compass. Spiritualism is growing popular, and its main principles are greedily imbibed by multitudes in the popular churches.
It makes the heart of the old-fashioned, firm believer in the inspiration of the Bible, and in the existence of the God of the Bible and of the Saviour of sinners, sick at heart to see the trend of the modern current of popular theology and religion. We have fallen upon strange times. The picture is sad indeed to the lover of humanity. We can but agree with the apostle, who, looking down the ages to our time, declares so plainly, “Perilous times shall come.” But it is still more sad to us who are living in these days, who are forced to say, Perilous times have come.
Paul says again: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 2 Tim. 4:3, 4.
Paul gives the only remedy for this fearful apostasy: “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and kingdom: Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.”
“Preach the word.” This is the only hope in these last days of fables and easy-going religion. It is the only hope of the world. The perils of the last days have come upon us like an overpowering flood. All the old landmarks seem slipping from view. But the blessed Word of God standeth fast. “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his.” What is the true Christian foundation? The Lord Jesus Christ is the chief corner-stone of the Christian temple. He is the Word of life. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” He spoke through his apostles and prophets by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Through these revelations come all we know of the plan of salvation. When these precious truths are cast aside, we are left without the knowledge of God's special dealings with mankind and his plan of salvation. Where else could it be obtained? We are just where the heathen world were, and are liable to a similar blindness of spiritual vision. How strange that people of talent can not discern this! If the Bible is not a reliable book of truth to guide us, we are in a labyrinth of darkness and mystery, like a ship without rudder or compass; and this is the condition of multitudes to-day. But, O, how thankful we are for the blessed truths of God and the hope of salvation revealed in his blessed Word!
The great men of science, so-called, can not help us. They themselves are in the fog of mystery and darkness, groping, they know not whither. Their teachings are largely the cause of the present conditions. The great seats of learning are centers from which skepticism is disseminated. They often break down what little faith their pupils had before entering their doors. One primal cause of the present skepticism has been the rejection of the “sure word of prophecy,” to which Peter declares we do well to take heed as unto a light shining in a dark place.
What would we think of a man's wisdom were he to go out into midnight darkness without a light, when dangers were everywhere about him? The religious teachers of the present age have refused the great light of the prophecies concerning the second coming of Christ, and have led their followers into spiritual darkness. Having chosen to reject the very light which might have saved them, they have voluntarily become blind leaders of the blind. May we gladly take the blessed light and go forth to a perishing world, doing our best to spread its precious beams abroad, and if possible save some who are groping in spiritual darkness.
Bowling Green, Fla.
The Sabbath of God and of the Bible
By Samuel Benjamin
SAMUEL BENJAMIN
The Sabbath of the Bible is the seventh day of the week. This world has never known any other true Sabbath, and never will. The Sabbath was ordained in Eden. It was not founded on a sentiment that could be changed by the caprice of man, but it will stand forever as God’s memorial of creation.
It must appear to the reader as a sensible proposition that God did not celebrate or dedicate his work at the beginning of creation, but at the ending, when he surveyed with loving thought and satisfaction his completed work, and “saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.”
“That glorious scene a holy Sabbath closed;
Amid his works the Omnipotent reposed;
And as he viewed and blessed them from his seat,
All worlds, all beings, worshiped at his feet.”
A memorial day must correspond with the event on which it is predicated, and we can no more change it to some other day than we can change the special event that called it into existence.
The close of that first sixth day marked “the great divide” between secular and holy time, and ushered in the first Sabbath. God sanctified that day for a special and holy purpose; that is to say, he set it apart, and raised it in importance over all its fellows in the weekly cycle, for a special and holy purpose.
Let it be carefully borne in mind that only God could ordain and command a Sabbath. He alone could impart a sanctified and holy character to a day. The divine record shows that he did so sanctify and command just one day,—the seventh, or last, day of the week.
The new-made man and woman had faced the western sunset but once when this law of Sabbath rest and worship was placed before them. That Sabbath was intended for their descendants from time’s morning until its latest sunset. When Jesus, the great teacher sent from God, said, “The Sabbath was made for man,” he gave his personal guaranty and indorsement to the Sabbath of Eden and Mount Sinai.
Any day other than that one, which assumes to be the Sabbath, or to which man ascribes a sanctified and holy character, must be a man-made institution. Each succeeding seventh day in the weekly cycle has been a Sabbath, and by legitimate succession has the same sanctified and holy character that God by special act imparted to the first Sabbath. There it stands, as solid, grand, and immutable as he who built the round earth and sent it rolling with mathematical exactness through illimitable space.
That day, thus divinely established, and thus sanctified and made holy, is fortified and buttressed round about by a law enacted in heaven, and delivered to mankind under circumstances majestic and awe-inspiring beyond all that men had ever seen, or ever will see until they behold the Lord himself in the clouds of heaven.
“Lo, from Mount Sinai’s lofty peak
The great Jehovah condescends to speak
To mortal man. O, hear his voice;
Ye people of his love and choice!”
This is the law, and it still stands without repeal or amendment on the statute-book of God—the Bible: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. . . . The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.”
Truth deals in the open, and courts the sunlight of investigation. It is open-handed and outspoken, and has nothing to conceal from any one.
Blackstone, the learned English jurist, says that a record is a solemn memorial of a fact, and that when a record of a fact or an occurrence has been properly made by a competent authority, it is inviolate and can not be broken. This is heaven’s record with reference to the Sabbath: “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. . . . Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” God is the author of that record. He came down in person on Mount Sinai to deliver it to mortal man.
Now if we recognize God as a competent authority to make and deliver such a record, then we are in honor bound to10accept the record and believe it, also to obey it and advocate it. Those who really wish to be right on this great and vital question must govern their belief and conduct according to the fourth commandment, which speaks to mankind with the authority of God and the emphasis of Mount Sinai. The reward is ample and sure, and will come in God’s own good time. Rev. 22:14.
Granby, Conn.
The Greatest Reconciliation
By W. E. Haskell
— No. 5
The Great Impostor Exposed
W. E. HASKELL
Those who are of a sensitive and sympathetic nature suffer keenly in the suffering of others. When those who do not know that God is love, come in immediate contact with some of life's tragedies, and realize that such instances are multiplied by the millionfold throughout the earth, and that all this has been multiplied many fold through the ages of the past,—as they thus catch a glimpse of the great flood of human sorrow, misery, and anguish which has been overwhelming the earth; the wrongs and injustice of individuals and nations; the disappointed hopes, broken hearts, and blighted lives,—the query is forced upon them, “Can God be love, if, knowing all this beforehand, he has permitted it to continue so long?”
But sin is the greatest impostor in the world; it is an enemy in disguise; like Judas, it betrays with a kiss. It is our greatest foe masked as truest friend. It entered the government of God, pretending to be a reformer in the interest of his subjects.
To have destroyed sin immediately, while it appeared as a benefactor, would have given weight to its claims and accusations against God. So sin must be allowed opportunity to prove its claims, and to exhibit its boasted superiority. For the good of all, it must be given time to manifest its true character, and work out its own exposure.
On this earth has been set in vivid contrast the two ways,—the two kingdoms,—sin and righteousness. By this contrast each throws clearer light on the other, thus revealing more distinctly the beauty and glory of righteousness, and the horror and shame of sin. Just in proportion as the way and law of righteousness have been obeyed, have “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,” been realized upon earth. Just in proportion as the way and law of sin have been followed, have there been strife, confusion, violence, and every evil work.
So in this world sin has been on trial before the universe, and its terrible record of blight and ruin and misery wherever it reigns demonstrates its complete failure, and exposes the falsehood of its every claim. It has been seen that sin in its outcome is the hatred of all that is true and good and beautiful and excellent in character. This has been shown in the lives of Abel, Joseph, Moses, Daniel, and multitudes of others. But God determined to let sin expose itself to the utmost. Acts 4:26-28.
“In the character of Christ was blended such majesty as God had never before displayed to fallen man, and such meekness as man had never developed. Never before had there walked among men one so noble, so pure, so benevolent, so conscious of his godlike nature; yet so simple, so full of plans and purposes to do good to humanity.” Yet “Satan stood ready to assail him at every step.”
Never did sin so fully manifest itself as it did in pursuing Jesus from the manger to the cross. Here the contrast and the exposure reached its climax. Here the mask was completely removed. Sin was stripped of its every disguise, and stood uncovered in all the dread reality of its true malignity of character.
Surging against the cross in all its fury, beat the storm of sin's hatred and wrath, encircling it with its own darkness and gloom. Out from that cross—out of the thick darkness—shines the light and glory of the righteousness of God. Righteousness was shown to be love in its perfection. Sin was exposed as being hatred and selfishness in its fulness. On the cross, at the very time when God was revealing in its fulness his infinite love for the sinner, sin was revealing in its fulness hatred of infinite love.
Sin plotted to dethrone God in heaven (Isa. 14:12-14), and has usurped his throne in the human heart. 1 Cor. 6:19; Mark 7:21, 22; Rom. 5:21. Unless we now become workers with Christ in dethroning sin, we shall be workers with sin in the final attempt to dethrone God. Rev. 20:6-9.
Your sins and mine helped to drive the nails in the hands of the Prince of life; helped to pierce his side, and to separate between him and his Father, and to break his heart. Will you now unite with sin in the conspiracy to usurp Christ's throne in your heart, or in fellowship with Christ seek to dethrone this greatest impostor?
Brayton, Tenn.
Searching the Word
By T. E. Bowen
T. E. BOWEN
The Bible! What a blessed volume! How wonderfully God has preserved it through all the years, even though the enmity of Satan has found expression in terrible bursts of rage against it, in the vain hope of ridding the earth of it! Yet the blessed Book survives every storm, and provides both an anchor and a haven for the sincere, tempest-tossed soul.
But even in the house of its professed friends, it sometimes suffers most—not from attack, so much as through neglect. How much is lost by the Christian in not calmly sitting down beside the private altar to spend some time each day in the realm of God’s thoughts! What a privilege thus to sit as a learner at the feet of Jesus, as did Mary of Bethany!
The strength thus gathered may mean much to us in some future assault by the enemy at an unexpected moment.
An extract from “Early Writings,” page 262, emphasizes this point: “I saw that the saints must have a thorough understanding of present truth, which they will be obliged to maintain from the Scriptures. They must understand the state of the dead; for the spirits of devils will yet appear to them, professing to be beloved relatives or friends, who will declare to them unscriptural doctrines. They will do all in their power to excite sympathy, and work miracles before them, to confirm what they declare.”
Nothing but a “Thus saith the Lord” can break this spell. Imagine that after the death of some loved one—a child, wife, or mother—one of those angels cast out of heaven should appear to you, and in a loving, sympathetic manner, begin talking with you. So far as you can see, here is the lost one—features the same, voice unchanged—tenderly conversing with you. Yes, and more, she comes expressly to help you, as your especial friend, at the same time attempting, very adroitly, perhaps, to lead you into some pleasing, and no doubt apparently very reasonable, path.
You may think now that all this would not tempt you. But do not be too sure. Many who have thought themselves secure, have been seduced. Why?—Because the devil came in a different manner than they expected. Exactly! This is the very point. The devil is pleased for us to think we are strong, and need not be on guard.
The temptations brought to Jesus were powerful. Satan came as a friend. He sympathized with Christ. He pitied him. His arguments were presented in a masterful manner. He no doubt suggested that it was a shame for Christ to endure so much for a world of sinners, and that only a few at most would accept him as their Redeemer. He had a better way than that planned in heaven by the Father and the Son. He offered to give over the whole controversy if one very little point was conceded: if Christ would simply bow down to him. Just this little act, he reasoned, would settle it all. What alone held Jesus in these supreme moments of testing?—Nothing but the simple Word of God. “It is written,” silenced the wily foe.
Thus alone with the tempter we shall have to defend the points of our faith. Can we do it?—Not without first having studied them out for ourselves, from our Bibles. The Holy Spirit can not bring to our remembrance that which we do not know, or have not previously learned. The devil studies the Bible to wrest its true meaning in our deception. Shall we let him outwit us? God grant we shall not foolishly deny the faith and lose eternal life. Let us, instead, grasp the Spirit’s sword, in the courage of soldiers, and “fight the good fight of the faith, [and] lay hold on the life eternal.”
Takoma Park, D. C.
Temperance in the Home
By Augusta C. Bainbridge
AUGUSTA C. BAINBRIDGE
“Mama, what do you suppose Helen Wright is going to give her mother for her birthday present?” said Agnes, as she came in from school.
“I am sure, dear, I can not tell,” answered Mrs. Ayers.
“It is a book of poems and songs by Frances Havergal. Mrs. Willis went with Helen this afternoon to choose it. I went, too, for the new book-store is on my way home.”
“What was there about the book that you noticed?”
“It was bound in limp leather, and had a handsome purple silk book-mark. When Agnes handed the book to me, it opened right at the mark, and there was the song we sing in Sabbath-school:—
“Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
Swift and beautiful for thee.”
“It never seemed real to me before, but I suppose it means live hands and feet, like mine?” and the questioning eyes looked up into mama’s face.
“Yes, dear, live hands and feet, for no others could move.”
“What is impulse?” asked Agnes.
“Impulse is something like force. You know the nerves carry out the commands of the mind through the brain. If the love of God is the force that acts on the mind, the brain will send the orders along the nerves, which are like telegraph-wires, and the muscles will obey those commands. Our muscles contract, and cause our limbs, our feet, or our hands to move.”
“Are there many muscles?”
“Yes, many; but they act together in such perfect harmony that there is no confusion.”
“How does each muscle know its own part?”
“The medulla oblongata attends to that. He is the foreman in this wonderful shop.”
“Suppose he should forget?” queried Agnes, reminded of one of her special failings.
“But he never forgets, unless there has been some narcotic brought into the blood, and then there are all sorts of blunders made.”
“How?”
“Well, he might get dull and sleepy, and not know what to do; or he might get crazy, and give the wrong order. If the will should say, ‘Drive a nail,’ when the foreman is under the influence of this narcotic, the hand could not hold the hammer steadily, nor strike the nail on the head, because the order sent along the nerves by the foreman was not clear,” said Mrs. Ayers.
“Professor Willis said that alcohol is a narcotic. Would just a little bit do any harm?”
“Yes, just a little bit of harm.”
“Then it doesn’t count much, does it?”
“It counts in this way: brain tissue and nerve tissue can act properly only when they are soft, as soft as apple-jelly. Alcohol hardens them very quickly, and their power is gone. Then they can not act. The brain can not obey the mind, and the nerves can not obey the brain or the medulla oblongata.”
“But will not one get well if he doesn’t take any more?”
“Yes; but the greatest danger is the desire for more, which always comes with the use of a narcotic,” said Mrs. Ayers, quietly.
“Then wouldn’t it be best not to take any at all?” questioned Agnes.
“Yes, dear, that is the wise way.”
“Why, mama, what could I do if I had a good impulse,” said Agnes, going back to the word that had first caught her attention, “if my wires—nerves, you know—couldn’t pull my feet in the way I wanted them to go?”
“You would be like poor old Mike when he wants to go straight down the street to his own gate.”
“But he doesn’t go that way,” added Agnes, “and that’s being drunk.”
“Yes, dear, that is the common word for being under the influence of that narcotic poison, alcohol.”
“Well, I want my hands and my feet to do the things ‘the impulse of thy love’ tells them to,” said Agnes, and the purple book-mark and the old sweet song had a new meaning to our little girl from that day.
San Francisco, Cal.
The Force of Little Things
How easy it is to spoil a day!
The thoughtless words of a cherished friend,
The selfish act of a child at play,
The strength of a will that will not bend,
The slight of a comrade, the scorn of a foe,
The smile that is full of bitter things—
They all can tarnish its golden glow,
Can brush the grace from its airy wings.
How easy it is to spoil a life,—
And many are spoiled ere well begun—
The home-light darkened by sin and strife,
Or downward course of a cherished one;
By toil that robs the form of grace,
And undermines till health gives way—
By the peevish temper, the frowning face,
The hopes that go, and the cares that stay.
A day is too long to be spent in vain;
Some good should come as the hours go by;
Some tangled maze may be made more plain;
Some lowered glance may be raised on high.
And life is too short to be spoiled like this—
If only a prelude, it should be sweet:
Let us bind together its threads of bliss,
And nourish the flowers around our feet.
—Selected.
Drink Did It
By John B. Gough
A MINISTER of the gospel told me, in 1874, one of the most thrilling incidents I ever heard in my life. A member of his congregation came home, for the first time in his life, intoxicated, and his boy met him on his door-step, clapping his hands, and exclaiming, “Papa has come home!” He seized the boy by the shoulder, swung him around, staggered, and fell in the hall. The minister (I could give his name if necessary) said to me: “I spent the night in that house. I went out and bared my brow, that the night air might fall upon it and cool it; I walked up and down the hall. There was his child dead; there was his wife in strong convulsions; and there was he asleep. A man but thirty-five years of age asleep, with a dead child in the house, having a blue mark upon the temple, where the corner of the marble step came in contact with the head as he swung him around; and a wife upon the brink of the grave! When he awoke, passing his hand over his face, he exclaimed: ‘What is the matter? Where am I? Where is my boy?’”
“You can not see him.”
“Where is my boy?” he inquired.
“You can not see him.”
“Stand out of my way. I will see my boy!” To prevent confusion, I took him to that child’s bedside, and, as I turned down the sheet, and showed him the corpse, he uttered a shriek: ‘O my child!’”
That minister said further to me: “One year after that, he was brought to lie side by side with his wife in one grave, and I attended his funeral.”
The minister of the gospel who told me that fact is to-day a drunken hostler in a stable in Boston. Now, tell me what drink will do. It will degrade, imbrute and damn everything that is noble, bright, glorious, and godlike in a human being. There is nothing drink will not do that is vile, dastardly, sneaking, or hellish.—John B. Gough.
The Tragedy of Aimlessness
“AIMLESSNESS is one of the greatest tragedies of human life.”