God gave to Christ, our Saviour, clearest views
Of what his church should suffer here on earth
While he was pleading in the heavenly courts.
These John received by angel sent from him,
Who also blesses those who heed this word.
It was but fuller light on what was given
To one in earlier ages greatly loved,
And yet as well befits a clearer view;
Its curses are more fearful, blessings rich.
He tells us there should come a trying time,
A time of trouble to the saints of God,
Whom persecuting powers should oppress
And for long, weary years wear out their lives.
The power that should this outrage cause to these
Who, touched, are as the apple of his eye,
Was so described that all who would might shun
Participation in its awful crimes,
And those who after lived might know the time
In which their lot was cast, by what was past
And present, what the future should disclose,
As traveler knows by milestones just how far
He has progressed from where he first set out,
And thus the distance to his journey's end.
O woful day to God's most holy word,
And all who hold its sacred precepts dear!
Their blood ran fast adown the mountain sides
From where they had for safer refuge fled
From papal fury, many more from beasts
And hunger died, and some were bound and brought
Before the potentates of Church and State,
And there confession witnessed, brave and grand,
Lauded in heaven, yet their names cast out
On earth as evil. Forty months and two
This beast with seven heads, ten horns, and fierce,
Or, as by Daniel seen, a horn with mouth
That spake great things against the God of gods,
That wore the saints of God with awful woe,
And thought that he could change the law of God,
And holy time appointed by his word,
Had power to do his work. Of men redeemed
By blood of Christ he long wore out the souls;
The stake, the dungeon, and the rack he used
Their consciences to bind. Insatiate wretch!
He only mourned that some had yet escaped.
Its power began when three horns of the ten
Had been plucked up to give it ample room;
Then, casting to the ground the truth of God,
It practiced its deceptions on the world
And prospered in its work; its power ceased
When its great head a prisoner was made
To one regarded as a faithful son.
Its time was shortened and its rage was tamed,
Because, helped by the world which lessened much
The flood that was designed to drown her sons,
The church gained freedom from the cruel war.
But as the day was trying when oppressed,
How much more trying when, in favor grown,
She gained the friendship of the great of earth!
The persecution had kept free from weeds
The garden of the Lord; but soon they grew
When once the tillage ceased. Friendship thus gained
Was dearly bought, for 'twas at cost of truth.
The few who boldly stood for truth and God
Were few and far between; religion now
Assumed the worldly garb of former days.
As Bibles now were scattered all around,
Like leaves of autumn driven by the wind,
He who had once their use by man suppressed,
Unable to accomplish this again,
Now strove to have their truths but little prized,
And urged contentment with a show of love,
Without a purity of faith and life.
But now, as those that walk with closed eyes,
Or those with sense benumbed by opiates' use,
The church and world approached a solemn time,—
A time of anguish to the world unsaved,
And to the church as well if unprepared,—
The revelation of the Son of Man.
Unconscious they approached this wrathful day,
Although the signs our Saviour gave to show
His coming near were now among things past.
Long years before the sun had wrapped his rays
Within himself, refused to give them forth,
Until such consternation should be caused
On earth as should with terror smite all hearts.
The moon, thus left in darkness, ceased to shine;
And in the memory of those living then
The stars had fallen from the skies above
As figs untimely cast by parent stem.
Men should have known that when these things occurred
Our Saviour King was nigh, even at the doors;
But they were drunk with worldliness and care,
With thoughts on temporal not eternal things.
VII.
FALSE PRACTICES.
Oh, what a little burden on the heart bear
Those shepherds who, with counsel from on high,
Could sleep while souls were perishing around,
Who, sent in haste of God, would waste their time
In loitering by the way with toys engaged,
And see souls perishing before their eyes
For want of knowledge of eternal truth,
Which they were charged to give them warm from heaven!
Were Zion's prophets thus with toys engaged?
Could they have surely known how these things were?
They had the Bible; all was therein plain;
And, had they wished they could have known the times,
But they had shut their eyes and stopped their ears
To facts unwelcome to their carnal hearts.
VIII.
FAITHFUL WARNINGS.
As judgments were not hurried on the world
Without a warning given from the Lord,
So Noah, sent of God, for sixscore years
Preached to a wicked world, of righteousness,
And of deserving judgments just at hand.
God never hurls his wrath on heads unwarned.
How then could Jesus to this earth come down,
And cut off man and beast without a sign?
Hark! through the world the solemn cry has gone,
Proclaimed as coming from an angel's mouth;
"Fear God; glory give to his great name.
Awake! Awake! Why do ye slumber more?
The solemn hour of his great judgment dawns.
Fear him and worship, whom the heavens made,
And earth the honored footstool of his feet.
Worship the God that made you, not your lands;
Love him, and not yourselves nor fleeting toys."
How could the world more solemnly be warned?
(To be continued.)
HERESY IN AN UNEXPECTED QUARTER.
By Editor
The Western Recorder takes the Cumberland Presbyterian to task for saying, "Workers will be enlisted, the hearts and purses of givers will be opened, when all of our ministers and congregations and members shall be baptized anew with the reviving power of the Holy Ghost." It says:—
I have heard persons frequently pray for the "baptism of the Holy Ghost," and I suppose that the above writer refers to that idea in the language quoted; but I have never seen any proof that such a prayer had been answered. In fact, as I understand the subject, there is no such thing as the "baptism of the Holy Ghost," in this age of the world, and no promise of it. Is it not then wrong to preach it or pray for it?
We are sorry to see a journal of such standing for theological soundness as the Recorder thus lapsing into dangerous heresy. To make void the promise that Christ will baptize believers with the Holy Ghost, thus denying the present and abiding power of the Spirit, and limiting the promise of the Divine Comforter to a favored few in the apostolic days,870is to take the most blessed meaning out of the gospel. It is a heresy hardly less deadly than to deny the inspiration of the Scriptures. —Cumberland Presbyterian.
Live for Something
By Chalmers
LIVE for something. Do good, and leave behind you a monument of virtue that the storm of time can never destroy. Write your name in kindness, love, and mercy on the hearts of thousands you come in contact with year by year; you will be as legible on the hearts you leave behind as the stars on the brow of the evening. Good deeds will shine as the stars of heaven.—Chalmers.
Thank God for What Has Not Befallen
By Ivan Panin
RATHER than upbraid God for the ills that have befallen thee, thank him for those which have not befallen thee.—Ivan Panin.
THE BIBLE RULE.
By H. A. St. John
BY ELDER H. A. ST. JOHN.
THE Protestant Episcopal Church in San Francisco petitioned the Central Baptist Association to coöperate with them in maintaining the Bible rule on the subject of divorce. In response, on October 11, the Baptists passed the following preamble and resolution:—
Inasmuch as the Bible rule permits but one cause for divorce, that of adultery, and inasmuch as the common practice of obtaining divorces from many other causes is resulting in great evil to the cause of Christ, and inasmuch as Baptists have always stood on the Bible as our rule of faith and practice; therefore, be it
Resolved, That we reaffirm our position on the question of divorces; and that if any of our ministers have been violating the scriptural rule, we most earnestly request them to refuse to solemnize marriages between divorced persons either of whom have not been divorced for a scriptural cause.
Now this is all well and good, for certainly every Christian church should coöperate with every other Christian church in sustaining, both by precept and practice, the Bible rule upon this important subject and every other subject. We well know that there is a wide departure in this age from this Bible rule both in the church and in the world. Reformation is sadly needed.
Now the Seventh-day Adventist Church in San Francisco and everywhere else do hereby petition all Christian churches in San Francisco and everywhere else to coöperate with them in maintaining the Bible rule for the observance of the Sabbath:—
Inasmuch as the Bible rule permits of the observance of but one day each week as the Sabbath, defining the day as the seventh, and not the first day of the week, commanding it to be remembered and kept holy because blessed and hallowed by the Almighty through Christ, our Creator and Redeemer; and inasmuch as the common practice of desecrating God's holy day is resulting in great evil to the cause of Christ; and inasmuch as the Seventh-day Adventists have always stood on the Bible as our rule of faith and practice; therefore, be it
Resolved, That we reaffirm our position on the question of the Lord's Sabbath, made by Jesus at the same time he instituted the marriage relation, proclaimed by the Saviour in his first sermon on the mount, amid the thunders of Sinai (Ex. 20: 8-17), and again reaffirmed by him in his second sermon on the mount, amid the beatitudes (Matt. 5: 17-20); and we do earnestly request all Christian ministers and laymen who are violating this Bible rule to take their feet off the Lord's holy Sabbath.
There is a wide departure from this Bible rule in this age, both in the church and in the world. Reformation is sadly needed. Where are the true Protestants, who take only Bible rules for their rules of faith and practice?
THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM.
By A. Benson
“BLESSED are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.” Matt. 5:5.
Jesus is our wonderful Saviour. “Thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins.” “Behold, a virgin, . . . and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
No oration ever fell on the ear of mortal man with grander introduction than the nine beatitudes—no essay ever entertained human thought with more sublime beginning. No sermon was ever framed by spoken or written language with more profound and comprehensive declarations in brief than the commencing statements of Jesus’ sermon on the mount. They not only shine forth as gems of blessing, of promise, but they contain the deep, almost unfathomable principles or conditions of heavenly grace, and only heaven’s light can show all the goodness of God revealed in them. Truly Jesus was the Son of God, and no man ever spoke as he. Among the nine rich blessings here promised, none are richer, more significant, or more comprehensive, or fraught with greater good to man, than the one referred to at the head of this article, “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.”
Here is the promise and the condition. We may learn great lessons from these words. The inheritance of the saints is not only one of the grandest promises of God to man, but it is the grandest, for in this promise is included all. Christ is in it; sanctification, justification, salvation, all is in this promise made to Abraham; for this promise included Christ.
“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” “To Abraham and his Seed [Christ] were the promises made,” and to none else. See also Isa. 51:2. The Lord said unto Abraham: “Thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee; and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Gen. 12:2, 3. “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (See Gal. 3:16, 29.) Therefore, if we receive Jesus, we may be as Abraham was,—sons of God. “But as many as received him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” John 1:12. The marginal reading of this text on the word power is “right, or privilege.” Abraham received this right, or privilege, to become a son of God, and truly we may become sons, because we receive Jesus and are born again of the Spirit of God. And being led by the Spirit of God through the revealed word, we receive the “spirit of adoption,” whereby we are enabled rightly to cry, “Abba, Father,” and thus, because of this “spirit of adoption,” we become “heirs of God with Abraham,” our father, and “joint heirs with Christ,” our Saviour, the son of Abraham, and Son of God.
Christ is coming again to “perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; the oath which he swore to our father Abraham” (see Luke 1:68–75), for Abraham died and did not inherit the promise (see Acts 7:2–5; Heb. 11:8–16); and so all who have believed in this promise and have received it and hoped in it have laid down their lives, and have not yet inherited it. But the work of Christ will be completed, for the promise of God is made sure by two immutable things, his word and his oath, and will be fully accomplished after the resurrection. (See Heb. 6:13–20.)
The prophet Ezekiel was shown the time when the Lord would perform his promise to his heirs: “Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land; then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.” Eze. 37:12–14. This is the promise to be made sure to all the seed; and so all the families of the earth shall be blessed in Abraham, for Abraham is the father of us all (see Rom. 4:16; Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18), for wherever there is faith, these are the children of Abraham; and the Holy Spirit of God is freely given to as many as are of this faith of Abraham, to whom God now gives the earnest, or surety, that all shall be fulfilled. (See Eph. 1:13, 14; Gal. 3:14.)
The whole earth is to be redeemed from the curse, melted, moulded over by the mighty power of God. 2 Peter 3:10–13. Mountains will run down, ocean beds will be filled up, a carpet of green shall cover the deserts, and the earth shall blossom as the rose, abounding with Eden groves and sylvan glades. In the center of all this will be the upspringing fountain of the river of life in the glorious city of God. O city of God, greatly to be praised in the mountain of his holiness! “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth,” is the prophetic expression of the sweet singer of Israel. Ps. 48:1, 2. “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” So Paul could say to the Corinthian brethren: “For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” 1 Cor. 3:21–23.
Oh, that all men would accept of the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, that they might inherit the earth, for this is the blessing, even the blessing of Abraham: “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Gal. 3:14. Abraham believed God, and his faith was accounted righteousness. Rom. 4:3, 16–24. First he received the blessing of righteousness, righteousness imputed to him because of faith. Obedience is the trial and fruit of faith. By faith the blessing of righteousness may be imputed to us also. Rom. 4:24. And the trial and fruit of our faith is obedience also, for the Spirit is given to help us, that we may be sanctified by the word of God. John 17:17–26; 2 Thess. 2:10–13; 1 Peter 1:2. “This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” 1 John 5:3. And so faith, the faith of Abraham, in us is accounted righteousness for us, for Christ is our righteousness. If we receive him, we receive his Spirit, and he will set us free from the bondage of sin.
And thus the blessings of the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men. Titus 2:11. And salvation includes all the blessings, or joys, of the promise, for we are saved by grace. Eph. 2:8. But the grace, or divine favor, of God was to be multiplied. 2 Peter 1:2. The first grace of God toward man was manifest in the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” It was manifested when it first appeared unto men, inspiring hope, for by hope are ye saved (Rom. 8:24), and giving freedom from sin from Abel down to Christ. It was multiplied again when Christ came into the world. Eph. 1:5–7; Acts 4:33; Rom. 5:21; Eph. 2:5–8. Again it will be multiplied at the second coming of our Lord to the earth, when he shall have his reward with him—of honor, glory, and immortality, and the crown of life. Compare 1 Peter 1:13 with Rom. 2:5–10. Truly all the meek may “hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The fullness of God’s grace comes in the inheritance of all things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
God’s peace is multiplied also in like manner. There was peace in heaven when Satan and his angels that sinned were cast out. It is multiplied in the soul of the believer when sin is cast out, and the sinner made free by a new creation of Christ in the heart by faith, for Christ can speak peace to the soul as he could to the troubled waves. He says, “My peace I give unto you.” Peace will be multiplied again and forever when the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels shall have destroyed all sin and sinners, and when all things shall have been restored, for evil shall not rise up the second time. See Acts 3:19, 20; Rev. 21:1–5.
And so the meek shall be blessed, and inherit the earth, with all the joys that belong to it, and be “joint heirs” with Christ, the Seed of Abraham, the Son of God. Oh, wonderful mystery and grace of God! “The half has never been told.” And if all that he did should be told I suppose the world would not contain the books. John 21:25.
But “blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth, and have an eternal life, in which to learn that which has never been told. May we, though wild olive branches, not boast against the branches, but may we be grafted in among them, and with all the meek be partakers of the root and fatness of the olive tree,—the promises of God to our father Abraham and his seed (Christ),—and thus share in all the blessings of Abraham. Compare Rom. 11:17–26; 2 Cor. 1:20, 21; Gal. 3:14, 16, 19. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Even so, Amen.
Inconsistent Christians Preach Against the Gospel
By Dr. Cuyler
EVERY unworthy act of a professing Christian is a sermon against our Master and his gospel. Satan’s most successful preachers are inconsistent professors. The bad sermons during the week are often more than a match for the best sermons on the Sabbath. Do you suppose that if you and I practiced more faithfully the instruction of his holy word, we should not be able to win more souls to Jesus?—Dr. Cuyler.
WHY DO THEY DO IT?
By Ethan Lanphear
BY ETHAN LANPHEAR.
"For until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed where there is no law." Rom. 5:13. By this we learn that sin existed from the time of man's fall to the giving of the law from Mount Sinai, even as afterward. It is presumed that Moses has given a correct history of creation and the fall of man, as well as of the giving of the Decalogue, for each is combined in the same record. It is presumable that the Decalogue was intended to cover all man's duties to God and his fellow-men. In fact, it is so stated. Eccl. 12:13, 14. In that law God demanded that men shall have no other gods before him. He demanded that men shall remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Why?—For in six days the Lord created the heavens and the earth, and rested the seventh day, yes, and blessed and hallowed it. "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work," etc.
This was God's own arrangement. Thus man was commanded to labor and do all his work in six days, and to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Was there any intimation that man's obligation to his God should ever change so long as man existed in this world? Christ and God never disagree; they are one. Christ says that he came to teach the Father's will, as the representative of the Father. He therefore has a perfect right to require that we observe the Sabbath, a part of God's will.
That the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, is as clear as the noonday sun. Since there is not a word to be found in either the Old or the New Testaments demanding or ordaining a change of the seventh-day Sabbath to the first day of the week, how is it that professed Christian denominations of the United States are advocating an American sabbath, Christian sabbath, Sunday sabbath, and trying by legislation to compel men to observe these festive days in place of God's holy Sabbath? In some States men have arrested, fined, imprisoned, and compelled Seventh-day Adventists to work in chain gangs with criminals on public roads, for working on their own farms or in their own shops upon the first day of the week, after having kept the seventh-day Sabbath according to God's commandment. Do these persecutors of God's people propose to go back and take up the customs of the times when Roger Williams was driven from Massachusetts, John Huss burned at the stake, or when the Baptists were beaten by Pedobaptists because they would not allow their children to be sprinkled for baptism, or when the Waldenses were persecuted and driven into the caves of the mountains to escape persecution and death for keeping the Sabbath of their God? Have men assumed the prerogative of God to change times and laws? It seems to be so. Read Jer. 2:8: "The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handled the law knew Me not; the pastors also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit."
Why do these professed Christians attempt to compel men to obey religious laws? God has not commanded Sunday rest; it is, therefore, no sin to labor, for no law is transgressed. We may call attention to the law and the testimony of God's word, and then persuade men. We may go no further. God's order never requires human laws to compel men to be religious, but to constrain them by love and faith in wisdom. Those to be saved are "those that have kept the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Men can never have any faith or conscience in any Sunday sabbath, or Lord's day, without the law and word of God and of Christ back of it. And every intelligent man and Bible scholar knows that there is no such law in our Bible. Cardinal Gibbons says, "There is but one Protestant denomination in our country that lives up to our Protestant Bible, and that is the Seventh-day Adventist people." He of course knows, and is good evidence, because he knows the origin of Sunday observance, and that Constantine, a heathen king, issued the first edict for Sunday observance, about 321 A.D. But even that did not apply to the country people or farmers. How long shall men advocate the commandments of men, and teach for doctrines the traditions of men and false prophets?
CAN THE PROPHECIES OF THE BIBLE BE UNDERSTOOD?
By C. M. Kinny
BY ELDER C. M. KINNY.
THERE is, perhaps, no portion of the Bible that has been more obscured by false teaching and otherwise, than the prophetic part of it. The most serious obstacle to its understanding is the prejudice which has been created in the minds of the people on this subject by the majority of the writers and teachers who have spoken and written upon it. One cause of the almost universal misapprehension of this portion of the Scriptures is a lack of realizing and adhering to the simple principles which underlie the interpretation and understanding of prophecy.
In the very nature of the case prophecy is to be understood, because it is a light. It is things revealed, a revelation, not a mystery. But if the key of understanding be not used, or is thrown away, there is no way of entering into this wonderful and beautiful treasure house of God's grace. Matt. 13:52; Luke 11:52.
The principles that underlie the understanding of prophecy are few and simple, and, if strictly adhered to, will lead every diligent and inquiring student to a knowledge of its truths. Matt. 5:6; 7:7, 8.
The first two principles are stated in the principles just given, i. e., a love and desire to know, as expressed by the words "hungering" and "thirsting," and the "seeking," or studying to understand. John 5:39; 1 Cor. 2:10-16.
2. Simple faith in what the Bible says about prophecy. The Bible never says that prophecy cannot be understood. But it says: "Whoso readeth, let him understand." "The wise shall understand." "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein." Matt. 24:15; Dan. 12:10; Rev. 1:3.
It is, therefore, illogical and unscriptural to say, because all the prophecies have not been understood in the past, that therefore they cannot be understood. Here is a vital misapprehension. The truth is that not all of the prophecies were to be understood in the past. This fact will appear by a careful consideration of the principles herein given.
3. The unfolding of prophecy is progressive and is understood as it is fulfilled and being fulfilled. "Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end;" that is, not to be fully understood until near the end of time, when they all would be largely fulfilled, and, therefore, in the nature of the case, more clearly discerned. Dan. 12:9. The same idea is expressed in 1 Peter 1:9-12. Those prophecies that relate to the future immortal state can be but dimly comprehended now, seen "through a glass darkly." But all those that are "meat in due season" for us can and will be understood by every sincere and earnest student. Luke 12:41, 42.
4. The symbolic, parabolic, and figurative language of prophecy is explained in the Bible itself. The language in which many prophecies are expressed has been considered an insuperable obstacle to their understanding. The failure here has been in not appreciating this principle and invariably acting upon it, that "God is his own interpreter [of his own language], and he will make it plain." And he has done so. "But," says one, "the Lord has not explained in the Bible all the prophecies he has given." This is true; but he has given the key, or principle, in those he has explained, and we are expected to use the key he has given, and it will unlock or explain all the others.
5. Many prophecies are twofold in their application; i. e., they are fulfilled in more than one historical event, and the principal fulfillment is that in which the greater part of the prophecy and more important events are fulfilled. This is also an important principle to keep in mind. Many mistakes have been made in the interpretations of prophecy by not paying due regard to this principle.
6. There are four ages or dispensations to which any given prophecy may apply, viz., Jewish, Christian, millennial, and the eternal age, or new-earth state. One cause of the difficulties in rightly applying the prophecies to their proper age has been in the lack of a perfect knowledge upon the part of expositors of what the Bible says, and faith in its teaching concerning these different ages. "Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things." 2 Tim. 2:7. This is the secret of the Babel and chaos of human opinions, and the misinterpretations and perversions of God's holy word.
7. A specific knowledge of what the Bible says in general about the four dispensations or ages, and then by the words of any given prophecy it can be determined with almost infallible accuracy to which of the "ages" the prophecy applies. The strict adherence to this principle will prevent that dangerous and mischievous expedient of spiritualizing the Scriptures in order to make them apply in an age to which they do not belong. If we come to the study of this most solemn, serious, interesting, and important part of revealed truth, with a prayerful spirit, the mind entirely divested of preconceived ideas, and in the humble attitude of a learner at the feet of the Divine Teacher, we will be rewarded with rich blessings of light and understanding of the times which are now past, of the evil and ominous present, and of the dark and bright future soon to come. "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts."
SHALL WE PERMIT HIM TO SUCCEED?
By Julia Duffie
BY JULIA DUFFIE.
THERE is nothing which Satan more dreads than to see Christians happy, especially if this joy is apparent to others. It is an advertisement for Christianity which he cannot afford to let stand unmolested. Hence many of his strongest efforts are directed to this one object. If he can cause gloom and discouragement which shall be outwardly manifested, his point is gained; for his great desire is to represent Christ as a hard master, his promises unsatisfactory, and his service a weary task.
But does not Jesus command us to rejoice evermore? And does he require impossibilities? If he bids us to ever rejoice, he must certainly have provided the resources necessary for such a condition. But this does not imply that the Christian shall have no trials; for we are assured that they will have many. But in the trial is just where the value of the provision becomes realized. Satan is permitted to kindle the fire, but the Christian's privilege is to claim a companionship through the flame which will not only bring the tried one through safely but will also bring honor to God's name as it demonstrates his willingness to support his trusting children in all circumstances. Shall we then when trial comes upon us say to the world by our conduct, or even by the expression of our countenance: "Christ does not sustain me, though he promised to do so. He tells us to rejoice in tribulation, but do you not see that I am unable to do so?" Do we not in this way give Satan cause for triumph? Does he not thus succeed in accomplishing his object? and do we not by acquiescence in his plans thus aid him in temporarily defeating God's purpose?
Many have died singing God's praise, although enduring all that men and demons could bring against them. There are also many living who can testify that it was only in deep trial or bodily suffering that they first fully proved the Saviour's power and willingness to comfort and bless. Thus we see that God has a grand purpose in permitting all these things both toward ourselves and toward his own name. But Satan also has a purpose, and does it not rest in a great measure with us to determine which shall gain the victory in our case. Jesus says, "My grace is sufficient;" "he shall deliver thee in six troubles; yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee."
God has given us many such precious assurances. But Satan comes to the Christian and says, "That doesn't mean you," or "it does not apply at this time." Whom shall we believe? If we truly do believe that the "form of the Fourth" is with us, can we sink under trial?
As the angel who is to lighten the earth with his glory succeeds in making a rift in the gross darkness covering the people, Satan especially bestirs himself to prevent the precious rays from reaching "them that mourn in Zion." Nevertheless they may claim beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. For, like the One who speeds him on his glorious mission, this mighty angel comes to bind up the broken-hearted, to open the prison to them that are bound, to do for God's waiting children just that which needs to be done for each one. Many are the devices by which Satan seeks to prevent the Christian from realizing and claiming the power the humblest may wield against his ignoble warfare. He has had too long practice studying and dealing with human nature not to know on which point each one may be most easily wounded, but as he discovers our weak points, God says, "My strength is made perfect in weakness," and, lo! the vulnerable place is immediately shielded by an armor which Satan's keenest shaft can in nowise pierce.
Were God to remove his protection from us even in a measure, as he did in Job's case, permitting us to meet Satan's enmity in our own strength for a time, no doubt we would be better prepared to realize what daily cause we have for praise and thankfulness for continual love and watchcare.
In the closing verses of the ninety-sixth and ninety-eighth Psalms we have an expression of God's side of the case immediately preceding our Lord's coming "to judge the earth with righteousness and the people with his truth." And now when God is calling upon the heaven and the earth to rejoice and be glad, when the fields and all that is therein are exhorted to be joyful, the floods to clap their hands, and the trees of the wood to rejoice, because the triumphs of his kingdom are at hand, shall the heirs of that kingdom hang their harps upon the willows and aid Satan in prolonging his dark reign?—Oh, no! Let us assert our privilege of beginning to learn the "new song," which shall never grow old, as, "like the voice of many waters," it rises in joyful strains of love and praise before the great white throne.