and instead of a great spiritual reviving there will be a great spiritual declension, the love of many will wax cold, and false prophets will arise and shall deceive many. Matt. 24:11-14, 24-27. Paul says that "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." 2 Tim. 3:13. In verses 1-8 of the same chapter he presents a vivid description of the professed people of God in the last days. He enumerates the prevailing sins of which they will be guilty. They are declared to be selfish, covetous, proud, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, and they not only are not good themselves, but they despise those that are good, and the secret of it is that they have the form of godliness but deny the power thereof. Verse 5.
It should be remembered that this scripture describes the real moral condition of Christendom in the last days. Here we have portrayed the great Protestant apostasy, having the form of godliness, but actually denying its power, and even despising those that are good. Did apostate Israel or apostate Rome ever depart from God more fully and reject the gospel and its Author more completely? Let us see. Where do we find the power of godliness? It is in Jesus Christ and his gospel. Christ is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:24), and the gospel is the power of God (Rom. 1:16). Through Christ and his gospel we secure the power of God, by which we are made righteous, holy, godlike. To deny the power of godliness, then, is to deny Christ and his gospel.
HOW CAN THIS BE DONE?
When the church goes to the State for power,773does she not in that very act deny the power of God? Is God's arm shortened that he cannot save? Why go down to Egypt for help? "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord." Jer. 17:5.
This is what ancient Israel did and God rejected her. This is what the Church of Rome did, and her history is traced in blood. When the Protestant churches seek an alliance with the State, they not only confess that they do not have the power of God, but they deny it, and thus deny and reject the Lord and his gospel. This has already been done, and the church has gained a control over the nation, which she will never relinquish. She has laid down the sword of the Spirit, and grasped the sword which the Saviour told Peter to put up, declaring that those who take it will perish by it. Matt. 26:52. The success which the Protestant churches of our country have recently had in controlling legislation, has flushed them with victory, and they will soon secure possession of it so fully that the good whom they even now despise, will suffer persecution for conscience' sake, for thus saith the Scriptures. Rev. 12:17; 13:11-18.
The great Romish apostasy is called in the Bible, "Babylon the great, the mother of harlots" (Rev. 17:7), while the churches that have come out of Rome, and retain her principles, her doctrines, her institutions, and her spirit, or go back to them again and unite with earthly governments to secure power, compose the daughters of Babylon, the mother, and are brought to view in Rev. 14:8, as fallen. This reveals apostate Protestantism, and her fall takes place in the last days, when the judgment is due and the Saviour's coming is at hand. See verses 6, 7, 14. This corresponds in time to the great spiritual declension mentioned by Paul in 2 Tim. 3:1-6, and hence is the same.
In Rev. 18:1-8 we have the whole Babylon family, mother and daughters, brought to view, just before God's judgments are visited upon her, and in mercy God calls upon his people to come out of her lest they partake of her sins and receive of her plagues, for her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities.
These are the sins mentioned in 2 Tim. 3:1-5, and there we are commanded to "turn away" from those who have the form of godliness but deny its power. Apostasies of the church are never curable; the church pursues her downward course until she is fully separated from God, and when she seeks an alliance with earthly powers, and unites with the State, she commits spiritual fornication, denies her Lord and his power, and thus she becomes a part of that Babylon family, of which Rome is the mother, and with her she meets her fate.
Many earnest, devoted Christians are in Babylon, and God calls them his people (Rev. 18:2-4), but the only way they can avoid partaking of her sins and receiving of her plagues is to "come out of her," for although she glorifies herself and lives deliciously, and says in her heart, "I sit a queen and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow," yet "she shall be utterly burned with fire." Verses 7, 8. Although she is established in the tops of the mountains (governments with which she is allied) and exalted above the hills, and prophesies a time of universal peace (Isa. 2:2-4), she makes an image to the beast and by her false prophesying and miracles she deceives the people (Rev. 13:13, 14), and hence is called the false prophet, which, with the beast, goes alive into the lake of fire. Rev. 19:20.
The prophecy concerning this last-day apostasy is clear; the Scripture testimony concerning it is abundant; its words, its acts, and its fate are faithfully portrayed, and it stands before us a living image of the Papacy, or the first beast, boasting of its power, and preparing to do its cruel work, against the humble few who keep the commandments of God (Rev. 12:17), and refuse to worship the beast and his image, or receive his mark (Rev. 13:14-17 and 14:9-12). God's faithful people who separate from Babylon are delivered from her power in that fearful time of trouble (Dan. 12:1), by the coming of the Lord (Rev. 14:14). They have a glorious victory over all their enemies (Rev. 15:2), and sing the song of deliverance upon Mt. Zion after passing through the fiery ordeal described in Rev. 13:14-17. Compare Rev. 14:1-5 with 15:1, 3.
Thus will close the scene of the last great apostasy. Apostate Protestantism after denying her Lord, by making an unholy alliance with the State, to secure her power, undertakes to use that power against the loyal people of God who will not bow the knee to the image she sets up, and then God's judgments overtake her, and his people have a glorious deliverance. If we heed the heavenly message and respond to the call to come out of Babylon, we shall escape her ruin, and share in the deliverance of God's faithful people.
May God grant that we may have understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do, and know in this our day the things that belong to our peace, and the time of our visitation, that we may escape the things that are coming on the earth and stand before the Son of Man. Those who obey the word of God and reject the traditions of men will stand in that day.
AT EVENTIDE.
By Eliza H. Morton
BY ELIZA H. MORTON.
THE crystal calm of the sleeping lake,
The brightening gold of the sky,
The dreamy hush of the twilight hour,
The evening bird's plaintive cry,
Wake broken chords of forgotten song
That wander through heart and brain,
The song of childhood, the song of love
Returning once more again.
O days like dew in the morning sun,
O shadowed air of the past,
Your visions are like a tangled web,
Like wrecks on the seashore cast!
We gaze and gazing can never find
In dreams that for which we sigh;
We upward reach and grasp but the air;
The stars are afar on high.
But life is more than a phantom dim;
We hope for much and aspire.
Our faith takes hold of things unseen,
And lifts our feet from the mire.
In self we find not a stepping-stone,
But chains that bind us each hour.
In God is life on a higher plane
And strength and fullness of power.
PAST SINS.
By J. H. Durland
BY ELDER J. H. DURLAND.
Do NOT brood over the sins that are past. Be thankful that they are past, but do not call them back to the present, and look at them in a way to produce despondency or discouragement. If God, by his grace, has pardoned them, why should you recall them, unless it be in form of a fact in the history of his dealings with you, to excite your gratitude and praise? It is bad enough that you ever sinned and contracted guilt, why should you, then, make it worse by dwelling upon it in a melancholy state of mind?
When God pardons, it is an unconditional pardon. He knows our future as well as our past life. He does not pardon us for present goodness, nor for the good we will do in the future. Our pardon does not depend upon our future works, for we are saved freely by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. The objects of his pardon are not the worthy, but the unworthy; not innocent, but fallen man; sinners, as such, and in no way conditional or qualified. But he saves the lost, the helpless, the ungodly—yea, the chief of sinners. They are not saved by works of righteousness which they have done or will do, lest any of them should boast. If we were pardoned on the condition that we would live godly lives in the future, we would receive it, in part at least, for our good works.
The Lord delights in mercy towards the lowest sinner that will return. He removes his sins from him as far as the east is from the west. He casts them into the depths of the sea. He casts them behind his back. He will remember their sins and their iniquities no more. He wishes to stand between the sinner and his past sins, so that his righteousness will be seen in them instead of their past unrighteousness.
If your past sins have been confessed and forsaken, magnify the Lord by believing that they are pardoned. Then forget them by having the mind so filled with the glory of God, who has done such a great work in you. Forget them as sins standing against you, forget them as sins that can produce condemnation, which can exclude you from grace or glory. Forget them, and let your thoughts, your hopes, your prayers, your faith, your exertions, be all expended upon pressing toward the mark set before you in Christ Jesus. Live in the joyfulness of the pardoned, reconciled sinner. Lift up your head in the blessed anticipation of the better things which are before, and which the Lord desires you to have. Your calling is to seek the joys to come, and not the sins which are past and covered with the blood of the cross.
It is Satan's work to bring up our past pardoned sins. He is ever seeking to get us to disbelieve the word we have once acknowledged to be true in our cases. When he tempted Jesus, he tried to get him to doubt the word of Jehovah, that had said, "This is my beloved Son." Satan says, "If thou be the Son of God," etc. God's word had said he was his Son, and now Satan tries to have Jesus throw the lie in the face of the Almighty, by attempting to prove his divine origin by a miracle. To attempt this would have been a denial of the word already spoken, and a defeat in producing the suggested miracle, and thus giving Satan the undisputed774power so much desired. In like manner he comes to the pardoned soul, and whispers, "If those sins you repented of were indeed pardoned, you would not think about them." The newly pardoned soul, who has once believed the word already spoken, is led by the deceiver to go to the Lord again, and ask for the pardon, thus telling the Lord, "I do not believe you meant it before." He is seeking for a pardon that will not permit his past sins to come into mind. Satan exults over the victory he has thus gained. He knows he can keep the past sins of such ever before him. He will ever be by his side suggesting this sin or that transgression, to keep the soul doubting God's word, and by his continual confessing of past sins, he is telling the Lord that he has lied about his forgiveness of his past sins. Poor soul that thus serves the Lord!
The child of faith never goes back of his pardon. If he falls into sin, he still believes that God forgave him, and this encourages him to return and bring the unconfessed sins and receive pardon for them. When Satan whispers the doubts in his ear, it is closed, for it hears only the words, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." When Satan tries him and reveals his weakness he acknowledges he is the chiefest of sinners, but Jesus Christ came to die for such. When the adversary brings his confessed sins to his mind, he only praises the Lord there was power in the blood of Christ to cleanse them all, and clothe him with the robe of Christ's righteousness. He is humbled as he thinks he should ever have been so weak, so thoughtless, so ungrateful as to have committed them. He feels that he was not only pardoned by grace, but now he lives by grace.
POWER IN THE HEART.
By Charles Haddon Spurgeon
THE zeal that God arouses within us is often the means of effecting the purpose which we desire. After all, God does not give conversion to eloquence, but to heart. The power in the hand of God's Spirit for conversions is heart coming into contact with heart. This is God's battle-ax and weapon of war in this crusade. He is pleased to use the yearnings, longings, and sympathies of Christian men as the means of compelling the careless to think, constraining the hardened to feel, and driving the unbelieving to consider. I have little confidence in elaborate speech and polished sentences as the means of reaching men's hearts; but I have great faith in that simple-minded Christian woman who must have souls converted, or she will weep her eyes out over them, and in that humble Christian who prays day and night in secret, and then avails himself of every opportunity to address a loving word to sinners. The emotion we feel and the affection we bear are the most powerful implements of soul winning. God, the Holy Ghost, usually breaks hard hearts by tender expostulations.—Spurgeon.
Peace with God
By Adam Clarke
AFTER I found peace with God, I learned more in one day than formerly, with equal application, in a whole month.
THE DOOM OF SODOM A WARNING FOR THE LAST DAYS.
By Mrs. E. G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
How HARD it was for Lot to leave Sodom! Part of his family had to be left behind, and all the wealth he had accumulated had to be sacrificed. He must go out from Sodom a poor man. The labor of years has to be counted in vain. He does not feel the terrible necessity for God's judgment to fall upon the wicked city, and he still lingers. The angels urge his immediate departure; but Lot, stupefied with sorrow for the loss of his children and property, still hesitates. The angels lay hold of his hands, and the hands of his wife and children, and with merciful violence hasten them out of the city. When they reach the city limits, a word of command is given with startling vehemence: "Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest ye be consumed." A few moments' delay now, a few moments of hesitancy, a few moments' disregard of the warning, will cost the fugitives their lives. They are not even to turn their eyes back to see if their beautiful home has survived the general ruin, or the storm will burst upon them. God has delayed his retributive judgment only that they may escape. What care, what tenderness, to these four who flee from the doomed city!
Lot is confused, terrified, and distracted. He begs to be allowed to rest at a little settlement on this side the mountains. Unbelief sprang up in his heart, and he said: "Oh, not so, my Lord; behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die; behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one; oh, let me escape thither (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar."
But why should Lot not have trusted the mercy of the angels in directing him to escape to the mountains, since he ascribed to them the saving of his life? Lot's stay in Sodom had not tended to increase his faith in God, nor had his intercourse with those who knew not God tended to convert them from the error of their way. He had pleaded that the angels permit him to take up his abode in the city of Zoar, saying, "Is it not a little one? and my soul shall live," as though the God who had directed his escape from Sodom did not understand how to preserve the life he had saved. But what mercy and condescension are manifested by the God of heaven! His request is heard, and his plea granted; yet how much better would it have been to heed the angel's voice, and go to the mountains, as far as possible from the wicked city. The angel bids him to hasten, because the fiery storm would be widespread and terrible.
One of the four fugitives ventures to cast a lingering look behind, to see the coming storm, and the number is less by one; for she stands as a memento of God's wrath, turned into a pillar of salt. Had Lot earnestly and firmly fled to the mountains, as the angels had directed, without pleading for a new plan, his wife would not have transgressed the commandment of the angels, and would have been at his side.
When the first beams of the morning dawn, the inhabitants of Sodom are not aware of the departure of Lot and the angels. They were determined to abuse the strangers, but as they come to the house of Lot, it is found vacant, and the hour of doom comes upon them. And the Lord rains fire and brimstone upon the city, and the beautiful plain that looked like Paradise when the angels passed over it, now looks like a parched and blackened desert. The smoke of the burning goes up like the smoke of a great furnace, and the whole heaven is illuminated with the flames of the great conflagration. Sodom has become a place of desolation and ruin.
The sin of the people rose up to heaven, and because of the iniquity of the people, the Lord poured out the vials of his wrath. The fearful doom of Sodom stands forth as a warning for all time, and especially for those who live in the last days. The destruction of Sodom was a symbol of the destruction that will come upon the finally impenitent, when tempests of fire come from above, and fountains of flame break forth from the crust of the earth. The fate of this ancient city should be a warning to all who live for self, and who corrupt their ways before God. The sin of Sodom is the sin of many cities now in existence, that have not been destroyed as was Sodom. Ezekiel says, "Behold, this was the iniquity of775thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me; therefore I took them away as I saw good."
The warning that was given to Lot comes down to us who live in this degenerate age,—"Escape for thy life." The voice of the tempter is crying peace and safety. The evil one would have you feel that you have nothing to fear, and bids you eat, drink, and be merry. Which voice will you heed, the voice of heaven, or the voice that lures you to destruction? The Redeemer of the world, the compassionate Friend of man, discloses to our eyes the fact that there is a sin greater than the sin of Sodom. It is that of sinning against greater light. To those who have heard and have not heeded the gospel invitation to repent and have faith in Christ, the sin is greater than was the sin of Sodom. To those who have professed the name of Jesus, who have professed to know God, and to keep his commandments, and yet who have misrepresented Christ in their daily life and character, who have been warned and entreated, and still dishonor their Redeemer by their unconsecrated lives, the sin is greater than that of Sodom.
Jesus said: "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell; for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee."
The warning of Christ sounds down along the lines to our day. He would arouse the people for whom he gave his life, and attract their attention to himself, the source of all wisdom, righteousness, strength, and hope, and peace. He would have his people let their light shine forth to the world in good works. The sins of Sodom are repeated in our day, and the earth is destroyed and corrupted under the inhabitants thereof; but the worst feature of the iniquity of this day is a form of godliness without the power thereof. Those who profess to have great light are found among the careless and indifferent, and the cause of Christ is wounded in the house of its professed friends. Let those who would be saved, arouse from their lethargy, and give the trumpet a certain sound; for the end of all things is at hand.
THEY HAVE NOT SOLVED IT.
By George T. Wilson
BY ELDER G. T. WILSON.
WE mean the labor problem. It is a problem with which every civilized government is wrestling at the present time. And none of them have yet found a cure. In an Australian paper called the Argus, of Sept. 26, 1892, the Bishop of Melbourne is reported as saying, "That problem, alas! is not solved." Again he says:—
We cannot but feel that there is no finality in any of the well-intentioned schemes which have been set on foot. They are specifics, but they offer no cure for the social disorder which is agitating not Australia alone, but the whole civilized world. Society seems to be moving blindly onward towards some unknown goal. Meanwhile whatever honest attempt may be made to cast light upon the darkness, deserves consideration; and I commend to the study of clergy and laity a book entitled "The Condition of Labor. An Open Letter to Pope Leo XIII." The author thinks that if the change which he proposes is to be effected, Pope Leo XIII. is the man to effect it; in this I do not agree with him. He writes also as if he thought that his plan, if adopted, would inaugurate the millennium; in this, too, I differ from him, because he makes no provision for a change in human nature, the depravity of which is the chief obstacle to the coming of the millennium.
The bishop truly sees where the real difficulty is in the solution of these labor troubles. It is in the depravity of human nature.
Bishops and statesmen may tremble at the sad prospect of seeing "society . . . moving blindly onward towards some unknown goal." But the student of prophecy can see what is coming.
Hastings, New Zealand.
GOD SPEAKS.
By Abbie Anderson
BY ABBIE ANDERSON.
God speaks to thee, O man!
It may be when the heavens
Are bright with stars,
Or when the stars are blotted out
By clouds and rain;
It may be when thy cheek
Is flushed with health,
Or when thy brow is knotted
Hard with pain.
But then or now,
O man, God speaks to thee!
God speaks to thee, O man!
It may be in the busy
Marts of trade,
Where gold and silver strive
With all their power thy soul to snare;
It may be in the cooling
Woodland shade,
Where lilies bloom and take
No thought or care,
But here or there,
O man, God speaks to thee!
God speaks to thee, O man!
He waits to make thy soul
As sweet, thine ear as sensitive,
As any child's.
Oh, bid him no more
Wait outside,
But fling thy heart's door
Open wide,
And here and there
And everywhere,
O man, God dwells with thee!
—New York Observer.
GOD IS WITH US.
"As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even forever." Ps. 125: 2.
How are the mountains round about Jerusalem? Are they there to-day, and gone to-morrow? Are they there in sunshine, but do they forsake Jerusalem when it storms? Are they there when all eyes see them, but gone when night makes them invisible?
You exclaim, "What foolish questions!" But if the "as" and "so" in this verse are true, and if the Lord really is round about his people as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, the things many Christians think and say are far more foolish. Did none of you ever think in time of trouble and darkness that the Lord had forsaken you?
It is an unchangeable fact that the mountains are round about Jerusalem, whether anyone sees them or not; and it is equally an unchangeable fact that God is always round about us "from henceforth even forever," whether we see and feel him or not? Let us believe it.—Selected.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH.
By Elder S. N. Haskell
BY ELDER S. N. HASKELL.
SPIRITUAL growth is essential to spiritual life. There would be as much impropriety in expecting the meals of one day to supply our physical wants for a week to come, as to rest satisfied because of blessings received in the past. The Scriptures abound in illustrations and direct testimony on this subject. Some people are always babes. They stop growing, young, and are always weak. Their minds are narrow in spiritual things, and they never expand to grasp new truths as revealed in the word of God. Eternity will not be long enough for the mind to grasp all the fresh revelations there will be in God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.
Individuals who do not grow become carnal. Personal preferences are manifest. To the Corinthians the apostle wrote: "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal; for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?" 1 Cor. 3:1-4. It will be noticed that in the first verse Paul makes "carnal" and "babes" equivalent terms. This was after the Corinthians had had an opportunity to gain an experience in divine things. It was five years before this that the apostle went to Corinth, where he continued a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. Acts 18:1, 11. They were not able even then to bear strong meat.
There is great danger of our sinning away the Spirit of God when we cease to grow. The apostle exhorts the Hebrews to leave "the principles of the doctrine of Christ," and "go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptism, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." He then adds, as a reason, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." Heb. 6:1-6.
The apostle Peter bears the following decided testimony: "Beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness; but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 3:17, 18. We should grow spiritually and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour. To every person who has given his heart to God, there is imparted a new heart; and he receives from God and our Lord Jesus Christ "the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened." Eph. 1:17, 18. Fresh beauties will be seen in the matchless love of our Saviour. There will be new revelations of his character. The word of God will become more precious776than ever before. There will be new attractions in Christ and in his word. For his word represents himself.
"How shall we grow?" is an important question; but it is definitely answered in the following words: "Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby; if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious." 1 Peter 2:1-3. The careful study of the word of God, if continued in, will always impart spiritual life, quicken the conscience, elevate and refine the intellect, and ennoble the character. A critical reading of the Bible will impart strength to our spiritual natures, as wholesome food does to the physical system. It is Christ, "that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life" (1 John 1:1), that becomes food to our spiritual nature; for "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day; for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." John 6:53-57.
There is but one way that we can eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God, that is, by prayerfully reading and meditating upon God’s words. They then become a part of the character, assimilated into our very nature. Thus we become Christ’s, partake of his nature, live as he lived, walk as he walked. If the word of God is only carelessly read, and passed by without meditation, it fails to impart its life-giving principles to the soul, for the word itself is power. "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, both to the Jew and to the Greek." We cannot explain the nature of this power; but it is something that works changes in the person. Neither should we rest with simply studying the word; but we should expect promises that God has made to be fulfilled to us, because we have accepted Christ, and he has accepted us. Said the Saviour, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you." John 14:16-18.
This "Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." Verse 26. It would then take the place of the personal presence of the Saviour, and quicken the memory to call up and retain words which the Saviour had spoken. But that Spirit will not call up words which the Saviour has spoken if we have neglected to read them and carefully meditate upon them. It is that which we have once read and which has entered into our hearts that the Spirit of God will bring to our remembrance. The value of that Spirit cannot be overestimated. No language can exaggerate its preciousness. To the Christian it is everything. It as really protects him from the power of Satan as the personal presence of Christ protected his disciples when he was with them. It creates a pure, heavenly atmosphere around them, that they may breathe and be inspired with the heavenly. Oh, the loss we sustain because we cease to grow daily! We fail to grow because we neglect the study of God’s word, and prayer, to open our understanding to comprehend it. We let the cares of this world shut from our view the glory of Christ and priceless blessings.
YIELDING TO GOD.
By Francis M. Wilcox
BY ELDER F. M. WILCOX.
The apostle to the Gentiles exhorts us (Phil. 2:12), "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." How many of us have read no further in this chapter, but have jumped at the conclusion that by our power and might and wisdom, agonizing and striving, we were to accomplish the work in and of ourselves! And how often have we failed, and in our strivings against sin cried out, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" But if we could have realized that, while we were to work, it was God who was to furnish the power, God in us and his life as our life, truly would it have saved us many failures and many discouragements. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." God in us, then, wills and does. "I am crucified [or dead] 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. Christ, then, is to do the work. But what are we to do?—Yield ourselves into his hands, to be used and guided by him. And yielding does not imply a state of ease and indifference. Submission and yielding to God sometimes mean the fiercest conflict. With Moses it meant a passage through the Red Sea. With Paul, enduring scourging and imprisonment. With Daniel, to be cast into the lions' den. But whether in the sea or in the den, under the lash or suffering shipwreck, the God of all comfort furnished the support and the consolation for his trusting children. Daniel was happier in the den than he could have been in any other position at that particular time, because in the den was where God wanted Daniel to be, and God could come nearer to Daniel there than he could in Daniel's own house.
When Paul and Silas were cast into the Philippian prison, they were there because God in his providence wanted them there. Then they could experience during that confinement more of God's peace and joy, and more real happiness, than they possibly could have experienced anywhere else, even though it were in the palace of the king. If we will take God as our portion, we shall find him near in every experience to uphold and comfort. Then will every experience of life work out in us God's plan and purpose, and, all unconsciously, perhaps, but nevertheless assuredly, will we be moulded and fitted, scored and hewed and polished, for a place in his heavenly building.
THE PRACTICAL STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES.
By Rev. J. V. Eckert
BY REV. J. V. ECKERT.
It is of vital importance to our spiritual improvement that we consider well in what manner we may best reduce our knowledge of the Scriptures to practice. For if practice be added to the study of the Scriptures, our spiritual understanding of them will be increased, and rendered progressively more pleasant and satisfying.
Jesus, while teaching in the temple at the feast of tabernacles, in answer to the question of the Jews, "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" answered, "If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak from myself." Therefore, the practice of the knowledge of the word of God is the chief end for which it was revealed. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and do our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."
And all Scripture is declared to be profitable for practical purposes, that the Christian may be completely furnished unto every good work. And also whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that through patience and through comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope.
And if our knowledge of the Scriptures does not influence our conduct, it is a manifest indication that our knowledge is not right, or has not taken a deep hold upon the mind, for the evidence of the soundness of our knowledge consists in the fact that it constrains one to keep the commandments of Christ. And a conscientious obedience shows that the apprehension and knowledge of the truth of God is graciously impressed on the soul.
The simplest practical application of the Scriptures is the most profitable. But perhaps a few suggestions here may be consulted with advantage.
1. The study of the Scriptures with a view to personal application, should be done with a pure intention. The scribes and Pharisees searched the Scriptures, but derived no spiritual benefit from them, because they thought they had eternal life, when in fact they were destitute of it, and would not come to Christ, nor believe in him, that they might have it.
The Old Testament Scriptures testified of the Messiah, and the Jews were critical in the study of those passages that referred to him, but were careless as to the practical application of them.
The Spirit of Christ in the prophets testified beforehand concerning the time of his appearing, and of his sufferings, and of the glories that should follow them.
We must search the Scriptures, and may hope to find eternal life in the search, because they testify of Christ; for this is the witness, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. But in the study of them we must exercise a watchful care over the mind, lest we read merely for entertainment, or to pass the time, or to discharge a merely external duty, or to appease conscience. All such study is deficient in motive, by which we may expect to derive from it either advantage or comfort amid the trials of life. Nor will it be sufficient to secure the end for which divine revelation was given, if we read the Scriptures with the mere desire to become familiar with them, that we may show our acquaintance with them, but no intention to become spiritually wiser that we may become practically better, and by the assistance of divine grace may root out sin, and plant the seeds of truth and love to God and men.—Lutheran Observer.