Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 12, 1883
General Articles.
By Ellen G. White
The Working of Satan.
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
The holy Scriptures inform us that, in the last days, Satan will work with power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness. To those who do not love the truth he even appears as an angel of light. These words are fulfilled in the deceptions and false teachings of the present time. Spiritualists make the path to hell most attractive. Spirits of darkness are clothed by these deceptive teachers in pure robes of Heaven, and they have power to deceive those not fortified with Bible truth.
Vain philosophy is employed in representing the path to hell as a path of safety. With the imagination highly wrought, and voices musically tuned, they picture the broad road as one of happiness and glory. Ambition holds before deluded souls, as Satan presented to Eve, a freedom and bliss for them to enjoy which they never conceived was possible. Men are praised who have traveled the broad path to hell, and after they die are exalted to the highest positions in the eternal world. Satan, clothed in robes of brightness, appearing like an exalted angel, tempted the world's Redeemer without success. But as he comes to man robed as an angel of light he has better success. He covers his hideous purposes, and succeeds too well in deluding the unwary who are not firmly anchored upon eternal truth.
Riches, power, genius, eloquence, pride, perverted reason, and passion, are enlisted as Satan's agents in doing his work in making the broad road attractive, strewing it with tempting flowers. But every word they have spoken against the world's Redeemer will be reflected back upon them, and will one day burn into their guilty souls like molten lead. They will be overwhelmed with terror and shame as they behold the exalted One coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Then shall the bold defier, who lifted himself up against the Son of God, see himself in the true blackness of his character. The sight of the inexpressible glory of the Son of God will be intensely painful to those whose characters are stained with sin. The pure light and glory emanating from Christ will awaken remorse, shame, and terror. They will send forth wails of anguish to the rocks and mountains, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him who sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?"
Spiritualists claim superior light and power. They have opened the door and invited the prince of darkness in, and have made him their honored guest. They have allied themselves to the powers of darkness which are developing in these last days in signs and wonders, that if it were possible they would deceive the very elect. Spiritualists claim that they can do greater miracles than Christ did. Satan made the same boasts to Christ. Because the Son of God had linked himself to the weakness of humanity, to be tempted in all points like as man should be tempted, Satan triumphed over him, and taunted him. He boasted of his superior strength, and dared him to open a controversy with him.
Spiritualists are increasing in numbers. They will come to men who have the truth as Satan came to Christ, tempting them to manifest their power, and work miracles, and give evidence of their being favored of God, and of their being the people who have the truth. Satan said to Christ, "If thou be the Son of God, command these stones that they be made bread." Herod and Pilate asked Christ to work miracles when he was on trial for his life. Their curiosity was aroused, but Christ did not work a miracle to gratify them.
Spiritualists will press the matter to engage in controversy with ministers who teach the truth. If they decline, they will dare them. They quote Scripture, as did Satan to Christ. "Prove all things," say they. But their idea of proving is to listen to their deceptive reasonings, and attend their circles. But in their gatherings the angels of darkness assume the forms of dead friends, and communicate with them as angels of light.
Their loved ones will appear in robes of light, as familiar to the sight as when they were upon the earth. They will teach them, and converse with them. And many will be deceived by this wonderful display of Satan's power. The only safety for the people of God is to be thoroughly conversant with their Bibles, and be intelligent upon the reasons of our faith in regard to the sleep of the dead.
Satan is a cunning foe. And it is not difficult for the evil angels to represent both saints and sinners who have died, and make these representations visible to human eyes. These manifestations will be more frequent, and developments of a more startling character will appear as we near the close of time. We need not be astonished at anything in the line of deceptions to allure the unwary, and deceive, if possible, the very elect. Spiritualists quote, "Prove all things." But God has, for the benefit of his people who live amid the perils of the last days, proved this class, and given the result of his proving.
2 Thess. 2: 9-12: "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
John, upon the Isle of Patmos, saw the things which should come upon the earth in the last days. Rev. 13: 13; 16: 14: "And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." "For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty."
The apostle Peter distinctly points out the class which will be manifested in these last days.170
2 Pet. 2: 10-14: "But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Whereas, angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. But these, as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption, and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls; a heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children."
God, in his word, has placed his stamp upon the heresies of spiritualism as he placed his mark upon Cain. The godly need not be deceived if they are students of the Scriptures and obedient to follow the plain path marked out for them in the word of God.
The boastful spiritualist claims great freedom, and in smooth, flowery language seeks to fascinate and delude unwary souls to choose the broad path of pleasure and sinful indulgence, rather than the narrow path and the straight way. Spiritualists call the requirements of God's law bondage, and say those who obey them live a life of slavish fear. With smooth words and fair speeches they boast of their freedom, and seek to cover their dangerous heresies with the garments of righteousness. They would make the most revolting crimes be considered as blessings to the race.
They open before the sinner a wide door to follow the promptings of the carnal heart; and violate the law of God, especially the seventh commandment. Those who speak these great swelling words of vanity, and who triumph in their freedom in sin, promise those whom they deceive the enjoyment of freedom in a course of rebellion against the revealed will of God. These deluded souls are themselves in the veriest bondage to Satan and are controlled by his power, and yet promising liberty to those who will dare to follow the same course of sin that they themselves have chosen.
The Scriptures are indeed fulfilled in this, that the blind are leading the blind. For by whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. These deluded souls are under the most abject slavery to the will of demons. They have allied themselves to the powers of darkness and have no strength to go contrary to the will of demons. This is their boasted liberty. By Satan they are overcome and brought into bondage, and the great liberty promised to those they deceive is helpless slavery to sin and Satan.
We are not to attend their circles, neither are our ministers to engage in controversy with them. They are of that class specified whom we should not invite into our houses, or bid them God speed. We have to compare their teachings with the revealed will of God. We are not to engage in an investigation of spiritualism. God has investigated this for us, and told us definitely that a class would arise in the last days who would deny Christ who has purchased them with his own blood. The character of spiritualists is so plainly described that we need not be deceived by them. If we obey the divine injunction, we shall have no sympathy with spiritualists, however smooth and fair may be their words.
The beloved John continues his warning against seducers: "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father also)."
In Paul's second epistle to the Thessalonians, he exhorts to be on guard, and not depart from the faith. He speaks of Christ's coming as an event to immediately follow the work of Satan in spiritualism in these words: "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
In the epistle of Paul to Timothy, he foretells what will be manifested in the latter days. And this warning was for the benefit of those who should live when these things should take place. God revealed to his servant the perils of the church in the last days. He writes, "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron."
The faithful Peter speaks of the dangers to which the Christian church would be exposed in the last days, and more fully describes the heresies which would arise and the blaspheming seducers who would seek to draw away souls after them. "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of."
Here God has worked out for us the proof of the class mentioned. They have refused to acknowledge Christ as the Son of God, and they have no more reverence for the eternal Father than for his Son, Jesus Christ. They have neither the Son nor the Father. And like their great leader, the rebel chief, they are in rebellion against the law of God, and they despise the blood of Christ.
We may rejoice in every condition of life, and triumph under all circumstances, because the Son of God came down from Heaven and submitted to bear our infirmities, and to endure sacrifice and death in order to give to us immortal life. He will ever bear the marks of his earthly humiliation in man's behalf. While the redeemed host and the pure angelic throng shall do him honor and worship him, he will carry the marks of one that has been slain. The more fully we appreciate the infinite sacrifice made in our behalf by a sin-atoning Saviour, the more closely do we come into harmony with Heaven.
We have characters to form here. God will test us and prove us by placing us in positions to develop the most enduring strength, purity, and nobility of soul, with perfect patience on our part, and entire trust in a crucified Saviour. We shall meet with reverses, affliction, and severe trials, for these are God's tests. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and purge his people as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.
The cross of Christ is all covered with reproach and stigma, yet it is the hope of life and exaltation to man. No one can comprehend the mystery of godliness so long as he is ashamed to bear the cross of Christ. None will be able to discern and appreciate the blessings which Christ has purchased for man at infinite cost to himself, unless they are willing to joyfully sacrifice earthly treasures that they may become his followers. Every self-denial and sacrifice made for Christ enriches the giver, and every suffering and reproach endured for his dear name increases the final joy and immortal reward in the kingdom of glory.
JESUS KNOWS BEST.
LET Jesus lead thee; surely he knows best
Which way is safest for the earnest soul;
Walk where he leads, and trust him for the rest,
And he will bring thee to the highest goal.
Let Jesus help thee; surely he knows best
What is thy strength, and what thy toil and need;
Do what thou canst, and leave to him the rest,
And he will make thy trust thy noblest deed.
Let Jesus teach thee; surely he knows best
What lessons thou dost need to make thee wise;
Receive what he makes plain, and leave the rest
Till thou shalt see him with immortal eyes.
Let Jesus keep thee; surely he knows best
What hidden dangers lie along thy way;
Go, watch and fight and pray; and leave the rest
To Him who is thy everlasting stay.
-Selected.
The Character of This Age.
By Editor
It is always a matter of interest to understand the nature of the times in which we live. But to the Christian it is more than a question of mere speculative interest. It is a religious duty to be fulfilled with the most impartial investigation and even with suspicious care and labor. It is essential to the well-being of society to know what are its demands in the age in which we live, and these cannot be known without an acquaintance with the character of the age that furnishes these demands. They only are properly qualified for present work "who have understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do." The church is assigned her place in the world not to be conformed to it but "to testify against it because the works thereof are evil." The principle embodied in the exhortation of the apostle is never without a present practical application to the church, "Save yourselves from this untoward generation," because every generation is an ungodly one. The providence of God which is in the hands of Christ for the church's sake is uniform and concurrent with the teachings of the divine word. It never fails to testify its approval of purity and faithfulness—or its condemnation of unfaithfulness and corruption in the church. The Saviour refers the Jews and his disciples to the fact that the operations of providence are as uniform as the seasons, and as fixed as the laws and ordinances that govern them, as a reason why all generations of men should discern the nature of the time in which they live.
In an age gilded with wealth and power and material progress we are easily fascinated with the external condition of things. In times of defection the church has always solaced herself with dreams of peace and progress. She congratulated herself with the abundance of her offerings and the perfection of her forms when they were loathsome in the sight of God. She substituted darkness for light and called evil good.
We suppose no age has been lauded for its excellences more than the present one. On account of the vast change wrought both in the material and moral world, and the external and material improvements it has produced, it may be truly called the golden age in comparison with all the past. This condition is a dangerous one to the spiritual life of the church, and under no other circumstances does she need to be more on her guard against the influences that are likely to corrupt her.
It is a question whether the spirit of this age is not the object of the admiration even of the church, rather than the providence that has conferred its achievements; whether professing Christians are not more disposed to yield their faith to the influence of the times than to the light of divine truth which needs to be followed most closely in such times, and whether as a consequence their eyes are not dazzled with this external and material grandeur so as to be unable steadfastly to behold the true glory of the spirit of the gospel.
The church has access to the marvelous facilities of wealth, education, and material enterprise of the age, and she has availed herself of them in some measure to widen the field of her operations. But she has even more largely appropriated them to her material aggrandizement. She is seeking to keep pace with the age in all that constitutes the substance of its boasted progress. Her houses of worship and her administration of ordinances are conformed to that measure of refinement with which she is in contact. Yet she is not increasing in godliness. She does not use her material resources to increase her piety, or as an occasion of the self-denial that is an essential evidence of devotion to Christ. A wide door is open to her and the means are laid at her feet in the "handfuls." But in all her efforts in the use of them there is little of the cross of Christ.
Her beneficence does not ordinarily reach the point of suffering. The rich reserve the bulk of their funds for worldly enterprises, and do not permit their giving to Christ to interfere with them. Their gifts, larger than those of the poor, and yet much less proportionately, are lauded as examples of liberality. Wealth and refinement have in a great measure gained the ascendancy, and have proportionally quenched the spiritual life of the church.
Another characteristic of the age is its remarkable intellectual activity. Everything is subordinated to the judgment of the human intellect. Its discoveries, real or imaginary, are not subjected to the divine standard. Whatever does not come within the limits of its comprehension or is not deducible by its reason, or within the measure of its power, is discarded as false. What was settled by the labors and sealed by the blood of reformers, manifestly directed by the Spirit of God, is flippantly cast aside by this age as a dead issue or a relic of the darkness of an age of ignorance.
It is the disposition to subject the Bible itself to the dominion of intellect that is seeking to break up the foundations upon which the faith of the believers has rested peacefully and safely for generations. Creeds or symbols of unity in profession are despised, and those who have by solemn sanctions accepted them, disregard and refuse to administer them.
The rule of intellect has produced the denial by men of high ecclesiastical position of the accuracy of the canon of Scripture, and sought to unsettle that which has been the common faith of the church for more than two thousand years. It is this pandering to the behests of the intellect of the age that is accepting so readily what is proposed as an essential improvement in the divine economy—probation after death—a device in the morbid sympathy with the recklessness of him who chooses strangling and death rather than life.
It holds up a divine character of its own devising, and calls upon all to bow down to it in rejection of the God and Saviour of the Bible.
It exalts its own weak and partial deductions from "science falsely so called," or imperfectly investigated to a position of infallibility, and pronounces it the triumphant overthrow of Christianity. In short, the dominion of intellect has by its enchanting power led the church to believe that in the progress of the age consists her own life and power. Every institution and every item of the creed of the church must have its seal upon it to be accepted, and that church is held as the most advanced in all that is commendable that partakes the most largely of this spirit.
A close adherence to the spirit of the gospel and the primitive integrity of its institutions is sneered at as narrowness, bigotry, traditionalism, fogyism. Intellectual tournaments and the contests of reason upon the principles involved in divine revelations are admired, and the champions on either side are heard with the utmost gratification. A Joseph Cook commands intelligent and refined audiences everywhere, who listen admiringly to his learned discourses upon the philosophy of theology and science. But conscience remains unaffected, and the spiritual man unsatiated. As an intellectual giant, he grapples with and exposes the fallacies of infidelity. But the precious influences from the pure fountain of life are not ministered as thousands of weaker vessels are capable of ministering them.
The decay of vital godliness must be the inevitable result of dependence upon such power. The spirituality of the church must necessarily be quenched. As evidence of this, her privileges are shared freely and largely with those who in secret compact with the ungodly have accepted another gospel which has not in it the name of Jesus—with those who have accepted the vitiated standard of the world as the regulating principle of their secular employments and set at naught whatever principles of morality and religion come in their way.
It is in vain that the church laments, as she does to-day, the want of spirituality while she continues to go with the current. Only a radical and thorough cutting loose from the spirit of this age and a humble return to the pure spirit of the gospel will save her from going into a captivity of darkness in which she shall feel the need of returning and seeking after her Lord. The enemy has indeed come in like a flood. But the church is yet too weak to hold up the standard which the spirit of the Lord has put into her hands to be lifted up against them.—Christian Instructor.
The Source of Happiness
HAPPINESS is inborn. It is not an outward trait. It is generated in the soul. It is never bought and sold as an article of commerce. You may fill your house with all manner of beautiful and curious things, but you cannot lay in a stock of happiness in the same way. If you are happy, your happiness is that which you are able to make by the use of the mind itself. A fundamental condition of happiness in this world is activity, and that kind of activity which carries with it all the faculties.
Anticipated Sorrow and Temperance Progress
SORROW itself is not so hard to bear as the thought of sorrow coming. Airy ghosts that work no harm do terrify us more than men in steel with bloody purpose.
SINCE October, 1880, a million people in England and Wales have put on the blue ribbon, and 554,000 have signed the pledge, greatly diminishing the liquor traffic in those places.
Responsibility for the Lost.
By W. N. Glenn
BY W. N. GLENN.
THAT we are accountable for the influence we exert upon the conduct of others, the Bible emphatically teaches. We cannot evade the consequences of causing others to do wrong. That many will be lost through the negligence or misconduct of others, there can be no doubt. Adam and Eve were induced to disobey God, and suffered disgrace, through the wiles of Satan. Jacob was led into error and exile through the influence of his mother. The Israelites were doomed to forty years' wandering in the wilderness as a consequence of being persuaded by the ten false spies that they were unable to occupy the promised land. "Jeroboam the son of Nebat caused Israel to sin," by setting up idols for them to worship, to which they persistently clung until overtaken by captivity and utter dispersion. Through the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees the Jews were led to reject their Messiah, and from that day to this the masses have been led astray by the precept and example of false teachers.
In the 33d chapter of Ezekiel we find this word of the Lord: "If the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand."
Also, in the 34th chapter, the prophesy is directed "against the shepherds," who fed themselves and did not feed the flock. And it is said the flock was scattered and became meat to every beast of the field. To this the Lord adds that he will "require the flock at the shepherds' hands."
In Matt. 18 : 6 we have this testimony of Jesus: "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
Then notice how careful Paul was in this matter of causing others to offend. "But meat commendeth us not to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse. But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling-block to them that are weak." 1 Cor. 8 : 8, 9. Also, verse 13: "Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend." And in like manner he cautions the Romans, in the 14th chapter of his letter to that church, and sums up the matter in verse 21 as follows: "It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak."
But let us for a moment view this subject from another stand-point, and put the question, "What consolation will it be to the lost to reflect that some one else caused them to sin and will have to suffer for it?" Some would fain seek comfort or excuse for themselves or friends from this source, but it will not avail in the Judgment. It is a trite saying, "If such an one is a Christian I don't want to be." Or it comes in this wise: A would have accepted the truth and become a Christian, had it not been for some act of this or that brother or sister; B believes the truth and knows his duty, but he sees so much inconsistency in the church that he thinks he can do just as well outside; C (who has perhaps been expelled for misconduct) would have remained steadfast and faithful had it not been for some one else's defects; Sister D has grown cold, and is about to give up altogether, because she has not been visited, or on account of some other imaginary grievance. And all these deluded individuals have their sympathizers in the church, who "charitably" make them believe they are perfectly justifiable, and that the church, the pastor, or some member, will be held accountable for their lost souls.
Grant that such will be the result, how will this help the doomed sinner when he has taken his stand upon the left hand of the King of glory? How childish, how silly, such excuses sound at such a time; the gauzy garment will not cover the nakedness, neither will the rocks or the mountains be sufficient to hide. It was no avail to Eve that the serpent had beguiled her, notwithstanding the sentence upon the serpent; it was no help for Adam, that the woman gave him the fruit. Idolatry was not excused in Israel, although the king had established it and should meet his reward in consequence. The unbelieving Jews were not spared, although the rulers had not believed. The blind led the blind, and both fell into the ditch. "The soul that sinneth it shall die," no matter how it may have been led to sin.
And now, brother or sister sympathizer, one more thought. Just think a moment, and consider whether it be not possible that you are responsible for the loss of A, or B, or C, or D. Have you not encouraged the defection of some of these parties by false sympathy and sentimental charity? Have you not fawned over their wrongs, or magnified their grievances, until they have come to consider themselves martyrs rather than wrong-doers? Charity is good, and forgiveness is good, but they can be misapplied to the ruin of souls. They are graces that a cunning enemy can transform into delusive snares. Charity does not cover one's faults from his own perception, nor do the smoothest words indicate the deepest sympathy. Let us beware how we "cause Israel to sin," or hinder those who would go into the kingdom of God.
All Are Fulfilling Prophecy.
By R. F. Cottrell
BY ELD. R. F. COTTRELL.
PROPHECY is the history of mankind given beforehand. History is the record of prophecy fulfilled. The rise and fall of empires, and the acts of private individuals are alike the fulfillments of prophecy; and whether or not we are aware of it, we are each and all fulfilling prophecy.
If we understand the prophecies, we are fulfilling them; for it is written, "The wise shall understand." If we do not understand them, still we are fulfilling them; for "none of the wicked shall understand." The believing disciples, and even the little children, fulfilled prophecy when they shouted, "Hosanna to the son of David!" and the unbelieving and hardened did no less when they cried, "Away with him! crucify him! crucify him!" Says Paul, "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him." Acts 13: 27.
If we are looking for the second advent of the Lord Jesus, and are hasting unto the coming of the day of God, we are fulfilling prophecy. If, on the other hand, we are scoffing at this, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming, still we are fulfilling prophecy.
If we blow the trumpet in Zion and sound the alarm of the day of the Lord nigh at hand; if we proclaim the everlasting gospel—the good news of the everlasting kingdom at hand—we fulfill prophecy; or if we depart from the faith, turn away our ears from the truth and are turned unto fables, and teach for doctrines the wisdom and commandments of men, still we fulfill prophecy.
If we warn men of coming wrath, and a time of war and trouble such as never was since there was a nation, we fulfill prophecy; or if we say, Peace and safety—all things continue as they were—to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant,—in this we fulfill prophecy.
If we give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; if we seek to them that have familiar spirits, and to wizards that peep and that mutter; if we are led by the spirits of devils working miracles, we fulfill prophecy. But if we bring the teachings of these spirits to the test of God's word—to the law and to the testimony—yet we fulfill prophecy.
If we are self-lovers, money lovers, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, bargain-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, we are fulfilling prophecy.
If, on the other hand, we are turning away from such, and heeding the call to gather ourselves together into the unity of the faith, and are seeking meekness and righteousness that we may be hid in the day of the Lord's fierce anger, we are fulfilling prophecy. If we are evil men and seducers, growing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, we are fulfilling prophecy; or if we are being cleansed from our idols, being purified and made white, being sanctified wholly in order to be perserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are fulfilling prophecy.
In short, if we are worshiping the beast and serving the devil with a high hand, and teaching that the law of God has been abolished—breaking the commandments and teaching men so—we are fulfilling prophecy. Or if we are humbling ourselves before the Lord and seeking a preparation for his coming by keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, we are still fulfilling prophecy.
Since, then, we are all fulfilling prophecy, let us choose, while we may, to fulfill the right part of them. It is a fearful thing to fulfill some of them, but a blessed and glorious thing to fulfill the others.
Look for Goodness and Gladness
Do not look for wrong and evil;
You will find them if you do;
As you measure for your neighbor,
He will measure back to you.
Look for goodness, look for gladness;
You will meet them all the while,
If you bring a smiling visage
To the glass, you meet a smile.
Churchgoing Cannot Pay for Sin
MANY believe an hour spent in church will pay the interest on a week of sin.
Work of the Holy Spirit.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
WHAT a marvelous change the Holy Spirit is able to work in those of whom it takes possession! We have a striking example of this in the case of the apostles. On the morning of the ascension they asked Jesus: "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Even with the instruction that they had received since Christ's resurrection, they clung with childish pertinacity to their own crude ideas of his work. They still looked for a temporal kingdom, and a speedy deliverance from the Roman yoke. They were familiar with the prophecies, yet they did not understand them.
Look at them ten days later, and note the difference. When the multitude began to inquire the meaning of what they saw, and others began to ridicule, the apostles at once rebuked the scoffers with dignity, and began to unfold the prophecies. There was no hesitation, no apologies. They spoke with authority, as though they had long been familiar with what they were teaching. What made this difference? They were "filled with the Holy Spirit." This was all.
But let no one think that the Holy Spirit can accomplish such results for all indiscriminately, and do away with the necessity of exertion on the part of the individual. By no means. These men had been with one mind persevering in prayer for this very object. They were also of that class mentioned in John 7: 17: they had been, and were still, followers of Christ; so it was to be expected that they should know of the doctrine. And lastly, they had studied the word of God for themselves, and had done all they could to understand it. To use a homely illustration, the wood was laid in position, and the kindlings were all prepared for a fire; all that was needed was the application of the spark to set the whole into a blaze. The Holy Spirit accomplished these wonderful results, because the way was prepared for it to work. Let us remember that that same Spirit will be given as freely to-day, if the necessary conditions are only fulfilled. Whose fault is it that Christians do not have more of the Spirit?
E. J. W.
Speaking Clearly to Children
How Not to Talk to Children.—For certain public speakers to address children is a difficult task. They are either silly in their simplicity, or learned in their language or subject. The following incidents plainly show how not to talk to children: A minister of New York was about to teach a class of children in the Assembly’s Catechism. He said to them: “Before we begin to study the catechism it becomes necessary for us to know what a catechism is. What is a catechism? A catechism is a synopsis, a compendium, a syllabus of Christian doctrine.”
A distinguished naturalist determined to teach a little boy some parts in natural history. He began with the definition of protoplasm. In answer to the question, “What is Protoplasm?”, he taught him to say, “Protoplasm, physiologically, is contractile; chemically, it is nitrogenous.”
These instances prove the wisdom of a rule which a Doctor of Divinity of the State of Maine laid down in reference to addressing children. His rule, as expressed in his own language, is: “In speaking to children, you should always use monosyllabic words.”—Sel.