The church is at the parting of the ways. In the ages past it has been called upon to face many a crisis, but the most important of its history is right upon it. The crisis is not only real and well defined, but its consideration by all who have the welfare of the church at heart is urgently demanded at this time.
“Every competent scholar knows that the ‘sober’ criticism of to-day was considered ‘extravagant’ yesterday,” says Cheyne in “Bible Problems,” page 54. And the inference is that the “extravagant” criticism of to-day will be considered “sober” to-morrow. Such indeed is the danger, as shown in these articles. Where then will the church be? Where is it even now? Let some of her ministers say.
Concerning the term “Liberal Orthodox,” M. J. Savage says, “It means, when you interpret it and put it in straight English, that they have given up the old-time belief in almost every single one of the points that used to be regarded as absolutely essential.”—“Religion for To-Day,” page 11.
Professor Jordan, of Kingston, says: “It is no use attempting to minimize the difference between the traditional view and the critical treatment of the Old Testament. The difference is immense; they involve different views as to the course of Israel’s history, the process of revelation, and the nature of inspiration.”—“American Journal of Theology,” January, 1902, page 114.
Dr. Hazard claims that the two views “are nothing short of mutually destructive.”—“Reasons for Higher Criticism of the Hexateuch,” page 17.
The Rev. Isaac Gibson says, “The traditional and critical views are face to face in open antagonism.”—Id., page 100.
McFadyen sums up the situation clearly: “Almost every representative of both parties . . . stands within the church; and that is what constitutes the real pathos of the whole situation. If the Critics were all without the church, careless of her interests and indifferent to her Lord, while their opponents were all within the church, alone in their devotion to the service of Christ, the situation might be easily and plausibly explained. But it is not so.”—“Old Testament Criticism and the Christian Church,” page 313.
Indeed, it is not so. The professional skeptic has ceased to exist, for the minister has usurped his position, and rivals, nay, excels him at his nefarious trade of traducing the Holy Scripture. And this situation the church has to face and answer. Will it lower its ideals to include in its fold those who practise “sin as a quest for God,” or will it raise still higher its standard of faith and practise as its increased light demands that it should, to meet and conquer the last mighty efforts of Satan to delude the world and the church to destruction?
Shortly after the crucifixion the banner of faith and practise was held high by the church, in spotless purity. Soon some of the leaders reasoned that the pure religion of Christ would be more successful and popular if its demands were not so stringent. Sad was the day for humanity when such a diabolical idea was ever advocated, and sadder yet the day when it was carried into practise. In the black records of the Dark Ages are written the sad facts of that fatal defection from the high standard of Christ. Terrible was the delusion, blind the reasoning, that led to such a course, and awful was the penalty.
Once again, after a thousand long, black years of blood-written history, the church shook itself from its lethargy, grasped again in firm hand the banner of Christ, and lifted it higher and yet higher, till all the world saw that Christianity consists not of forms and ceremonies, but in living godly in Christ Jesus.
Bartered to Expediency
But it is with sadness that I am compelled by the stern facts of history to write that soon the glorious victories won by the heroes of the Reformation were again sacrificed on the altar of expediency, bartered for popularity, sold for position. One writer, after fifty years of study of this question, sums the situation up with trenchant pen:
“Many who call themselves Christians are mere human moralists. They have refused the gift which alone could enable them to honor Christ by representing Him to the world. The work of the Holy Spirit is to them a strange work. They are not doers of the Word. The heavenly principles that distinguish those who are one with Christ from those who are one with the world have become almost indistinguishable. The professed followers of Christ are no longer a separate and peculiar people. The line of demarcation in indistinct. The people are subordinating themselves to the world, to its practises, its customs, its selfishness. The church has gone over to the world in transgression of the law, when the world should have come over to the church in obedience of the law. DAILY THE CHURCH IS BEING CONVERTED TO THE WORLD.”—White, “Christ’s Object Lessons,” pages 315, 316. And further: Satan’s “working is plainly revealed by the rapidly increasing darkness, the multitudinous errors, heresies, and delusions of these last days. Not only is Satan leading the world captive, but his deceptions are leavening the professed churches of our Lord Jesus Christ. THE GREAT APOSTASY WILL DEVELOP INTO DARKNESS DEEP AS MIDNIGHT, IMPENETRABLE AS SACKCLOTH OF HAIR.”—Id., page 414.
These are terrible statements, and if true should arouse every earnest and faithful Christian to the defense of his imperiled faith. That these awful indictments of the churches are true the former articles have shown, for in them we have seen that Higher Criticism is the pampered child of the church, and invokes the aid of skepticism, panders to the passions of men, by telling them that “sin is a quest for God.”
Just as the Bible foretold the condition of the church in the Middle Ages, so it foretells its condition in the present age. The prophet John, in looking down the ages to the present, described the condition of declining Christianity in these attention-arresting words: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird.” Rev. 18:2.
Babylon (apostate Protestantism) has indeed fallen, and has indeed become the habitation of everything hateful. Within its ranks we now have various “sciences” “falsely so called, Spiritualism, and Higher Criticism, all of which are but the hideous skeleton of Satan enveloped in the robe of Christianity. The pulpits of Christendom are more and more devoted, not to the promulgation of the teachings of Christ, but to the impious blasphemy of contradicting His plainest teachings, and heralding abroad the Satan-inspired infidelity of Higher Criticism. Churches are now turned into theaters, and pool-rooms, and smoking-rooms, eating-houses, and kissing parties. They are fast becoming the playgrounds of sinful revelry. How can it be otherwise when they are taught by practise and precept that “sin is a quest for God”?
“Come Forth, My People”
But, dear reader, you who have seen some of these things, and whose soul has been pained by the worldiness of the church and yearns for something better, there is a people in whose ranks there is no preaching of Higher Criticism, where the hateful thing is branded that as a child of Satan; there is a church which is never turned into a theater, or a pool-room, or a dance-hall, or an eating-house, or polluted with the foulness of a “smoker,” or desecrated by the selling of kisses to raise funds. There is a church that has no place for the satanic delusions of Spiritism, or of Christian Science, or of any of the numerous isms that parade in the name of Christianity. There is a church that places the authority of the Bible above every other authority, and brings all doctrines and teachings, no matter by whom advocated, to the test of the Word of God, and accepts or rejects them as they agree or disagree with the Word.
Who compose this church? you inquire.
(Continued on page 8)6
Higher Criticism and the Church
(Continued from page 5)
Those who have heard the call from heaven concerning the fallen or apostate church to “come forth, My people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues: for her sins have reached even unto heaven.” Rev. 18:4, 5. Those who heed this call are those of whom it is said, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12.
Seventh-day Adventists keep the law of God, and not some man-made substitute which is a perversion and contradiction of God’s holy law. They keep the part which says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” They keep the whole law; “for whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou dost not commit adultery, but killest, thou art become a transgressor of the law.” James 2:10, 11. And likewise it is equally true He that said, “Do not kill,” said also: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the SEVENTH DAY [not the first day] is a Sabbath unto Jehovah thy God.” Hence one who does not kill, but transgresses the SEVENTH DAY, is a transgressor of the law. If one line of reasoning is true, the other is equally true, for that is what the Bible says. And it is for this reason that this people keep God’s holy Sabbath (Isa. 58:13), the seventh day, in preference to Satan’s substitute, the first day. They teach that it is because God’s law is holy and unchangeable that Christ died to save man from the penalty of his transgression. And as Christ had faith in the Word, so this people have the faith of Jesus, for they have unshaken faith in the same Word. It is the fact of such teachings as Higher Criticism being rampant in the very pulpits of the churches, that has led them to withdraw from the churches in which the infidelity of Voltaire and Paine and Ingersoll was the message of salvation. They have heeded the warning cry to “come out from among her, My people, and be ye separate.”
And will you not, dear reader, weigh carefully the facts brought out in these articles, and consider prayerfully the course you should take in face of such facts? The pure Gospel of Christ, unmixed with infidelity of any kind, is heralded to the world by a people who stand upon “the Bible and the Bible only” as the text-book of faith and the rule of practise. Does not your heart yearn to be at one with them in this divinely appointed work?
— ★★ —
“Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth. And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.” Verses 5-8.
In the interpretation of any parable, it is possible to be too exacting in delineating all the features of the picture. If we follow the clear interpretation, however, set down in the Scriptures, we are safe. We are told plainly, in this vision itself, that we have here a representation of wickedness. The ephah—or what we would now call a bushel measure, the largest dry measure among the Jewish people—the woman sitting in it, and the leaden cover shutting her in with a weight of guilt and condemnation,—this all is a picture of wickedness. And it has the same appearance everywhere; for the Word reads, “This is their resemblance [look, or appearance] through all the earth.”
Throughout the Word a corrupt woman represents a corrupt church. Rev. 17:1-8. Lead, as a base metal, and a weighty one as well, represents sin. Eze. 22:18-22. The ephah, or measure, on God's side represents the full measure of the corruption. The woman filled the measure, and had to be crowded down, cast down, into it; and the cover of condemnation and guilt shut up the measure and filled it full.
This would seem enough. It ought to be the end of it, and the judgment would await to render sentence and execution. But this wickedness is so arrant, so bold, that it is to be perpetuated and established and become a permanent institution.
Just when we thought we had seen the end of sin, its measuring up to its full attainments, and the judgment of condemnation shutting it up when it had attained the fulness of the measure,—just then appears something that changes materially the future. This wickedness is to be perpetuated. It is to be established.
“Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork; and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build it a house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.” Verses 9-11.
As we read the words “in the land of Shinar,” we are reminded at once of that other older rebellion that took place in the same locality, “in the land of Shinar.” Gen. 11:2. There men found a plain in those old days; and there, in rebellion and distrust of God, they built their tower in defiance of their Maker. That became historic Babylon. And now there is a new form of rebellion, and it is spiritual, or mystic Babylon.
In the picture of the apostate woman as given in Rev. 17:5, the woman rode upon a beast representing the kingly power that made possible her existence and influence. In the vision of Zechariah there is also a power that uplifts and establishes her and makes the perpetuation possible. Two women with wings like those of a stork exalt, elevate the ephah, carry it to the land of rebellion, that there it may be established.
By the representation of the seven heads and the ten horns we know that the vision of John refers the mystic Babylon to the Christian age. But the women with wings of a stork show that the vision of Zechariah applies this mystic Babylon to the time before that age.
The ephah was lifted up between heaven and earth. The Babylonian idolatrous religion placed heaven or “ocean of heaven” at the top of the genealogical tree, calling it Nun, or Anun, or Anum. Then came Bel, lord of the air as his son, and Ea, or En-ki, lord of the earth as his grandson. And the ephah, tho derived from Egypt, was first of all derived from Babylon, where it had the name of pitu.
The vision is plain enough. The corrupt church sat tranquil in her commercialism, denoted by the ephah. God dealt with her long and patiently; and when her iniquity had filled full the measure of divine forbearance, He pronounced condemnation. For seventy years now the light of truth from such of God's children as Daniel and his associates and their faithful descendants, had shone at Babylon. But men had refused the light. The weight of their sin or guilt, in short, their condemnation, rested upon them and shut them in. But they rose in rebellion above God's dealings with them, and made of their iniquity a system of religion, that men might still continue in evil and be devoid of conscience. Using the power of Babylonian idolatrous practises, and the rays of light that especially suited their purposes, they framed the institution that in various outward forms was to continue the same in spirit to the end of time. As the angel said, “It shall be established, and set there upon her own base.” But this is not forever. The beast is to be taken at last, and his body given to the burning flame. The woman will be made desolate, her flesh eaten, she herself burned with fire. Rev. 17:16.
But from the time of the prophet to the end of the controversy, sin and righteousness are to be separated in fact and in name. Sin in its religious form is to be called by the name of the old city of rebellion; namely, Babylon. But the true church is to be called by the city of the great King. Those who enter into its walls are to have the name of that city written upon their foreheads. Rev. 3:12. It is to be the mother of all the free-born saints of God. Gal. 4:26.
The two women, as we have seen, in those early days of Zechariah, represented the corruption of the light and truth which God had given by His faithful servants, blended with the Babylonian idolatry; just as in Christ's time it was a blending of the apostasy of Christianity with paganism, and as now in our time it is to be a union of Spiritualism and apostate Protestantism. The woman would be shut up in her measure of sin and rebellion, were it not that these unite to give her their power and authority.
Then, too, there could be no Babylon, mystic Babylon, until the truth had been preached by the captive exiles sent there by the Lord to give the light. Rejecting that light, came the first phase of Babylon. Later, in Christ's time, the Gospel must be preached and rejected before the second phase could appear. And now at last in our day, the third angel's message must do its work before the third phase can appear. The old form inheres until the new form takes its place. Soon the third and last form will appear, the great hour of temptation take the world, and then Christ will come.
The wind was in the stork's wings. Yes, and winds mean war, commotion, strife; fit symbol, too, it is of the progress of Babylon. She is carried between heaven and earth, she accomplishes all her victories by the power of earthly combats. By force she puts down those who by the power of the truth threaten to destroy her. Yes, the wind is in their wings. She is known and has been known for ages by the title God gave her, that of “Babylon.” She still sits on a firm base. And she has the same appearance now as then, and everywhere through all the earth.
God gave the vision to His people then because they had come out of the city of Babylon, and He was seeking in every good way to lead them out of spiritual Babylon. He gives them a picture of the apostate church. He shows them how to know it when they meet it. He wanted them out of Babylon and into Zion. He still leads the selfsame way. Out of Babylon He calls us to-day. And into His city He now invites. The Spirit and the city call. Whosoever will, let him come.
—★—
Proportion Your Charity
By Francis Quarles
PROPORTION thy charity to the strength of thy estate, lest God proportion thy estate to the weakness of thy charity. Let the lips of the poor be the trumpet of thy gift, lest in seeking applause thou lose thy reward. Nothing is more pleasing to God than an open hand and a close mouth.—Francis Quarles.
Creation and Chance
“That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy.”
Where Is God's Dwelling-Place?
By Emma Hildreth Adams
By Emma Hildreth Adams
“WHERE does God live? Has God a fixed place of abode as I have?”
These questions were proposed recently by a person who doubts if there is a God who takes loving interest in human affairs, to another whose faith in such a being is as immovable as the pillars of the mountains.
Doubtless many men and women have asked themselves these questions, tho they may never have propounded them to other persons.
They see, all around themselves—in the trees and flowers full of odor; in the sea replete with music, filled with life; in the heavens strewed with brilliant stars; in the mountains buttressed by might and power; in the atmosphere alive with gay twittering aeroplanes, specimens of amazing creative handiwork—evidence of a mind that, in ages far past, planned for ages far in the future; evidence of an eye which discerns the momentous outcomes of time in the far eternity.
Naturally, every thinking observer of all these things hungers to know from what point in the vast universe emanates all the wisdom, knowledge, and might displayed therein.
But neither fragrant trees, nor voiceful seas, brilliant stars, gigantic rocks, nor flitting birds condescend satisfactory answer to his fervid inquiry.
Their mute reply is: “WE ARE. That is all we know. Where resides He who made us to bloom, to exhale odor, to talk from the waves, to shine in the firmament, to navigate the atmosphere, we know not. Our one duty is to obey.”
It is safe to assert that our one reliable source of information as to the dwelling-place of God, is His Word, the Bible.
If that great fountain of fact and truth, pertaining to matters outside our natural realm of knowledge, gives no conclusive answer to our inquiry, then, like God's creations in nature around us, we should glorify Him in a glad obedience to the laws of our life, and await the disclosures of the resurrection day for the information we crave.
We May Know
Three scriptures show conclusively that God dwells in a definite place, and they form one of the many clear evidences that He is a personality.
Isa. 26: 21 cries: “Behold, the Lord cometh out of His PLACE to punish the inhabitants of the earth.” And Micah affirms: “Behold, the Lord cometh forth out of His PLACE, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.”
Now hear the author of Ps. 33: 13-15: “The Lord looketh from heaven. . . . From the PLACE of His habitation He looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike.”
Notice, the author of this psalm makes “heaven” the place in which God dwells, wherever it may be located; and innumerable other passages confirm the assertion. Repeatedly, in the noble prayer offered by Solomon, at the dedication of the glorious temple he built to the Lord in Jerusalem, he pleads:
“Hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling-place: and when Thou hearest, forgive.” “Hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways.” “Hear Thou in heaven Thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to Thee for.”
Eccl. 5: 2 advises: “Be not rash with thy mouth . . . to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth.”
Employing the beautiful illustration of the lost sheep, Christ declared: “Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” And later: “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father who is in heaven.”
One citation more on this point: In His wonderfully comprehensive Sermon on the Mount, Christ urges: “Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward with your Father which is in heaven.” And in the model prayer embraced in that sermon, He teaches: “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.”
Thus are we assured, beyond all doubt, that God dwells in a place, and that this place is called heaven.
Where Is Heaven?
Let us now inquire, as did the person whose words form the text for this paper: Where is heaven? In what direction is it from the earth?
To the first inquiry, the Bible, so far as the writer recalls, concedes no reply. Two men, since the beginning of the Christian era, both of them filled with the Spirit of God, have been permitted to enter temporarily into heaven for instruction, for spiritual anchorage, for equipment for their life-work.
One of them, Paul, who led a masterly life after his conversion, wrote to his beloved Corinthians, telling them of a man—himself—who, fourteen years before, had been “caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not possible for a man to utter.” But his lips are closed as to the locality of his remarkable experience. He vouchsafes not a word as to where Paradise is.
The other, John, the beloved disciple, occupies pages of the book of Revelation with repetitions of the momentous words he heard, the grave commissions assigned him, with pictures of the august scenes he witnessed, and of the epitomized future history of the world revealed to him, during a lengthened stay in the presence of God, of Christ, and of the angels. But his faithful pen omits entirely to tell eager men and women just whither to fly to find the beatific dwelling-place of Him who rules the universe.
Now let us turn back to Acts 7: 55. There we shall see—standing at the threshold of death by stoning—the first Christian martyr, Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, looking “*up steadfastly into heaven,” and beholding Christ “standing on the right hand of God”—for his solace, his encouragement in that most crucial hour. But again no sentence is published concerning the location of heaven. On that point utter silence reigns.
However, one impressive item is never omitted in describing these supermundane scenes, visions, and audiences at the grand center of force and power exercised by the mighty Ruler of the universe. The direction thither from the earth is always indicated as upward or outward.
In Acts 1: 9-11, Luke, depicting the departure of Christ from the earth, declares, “And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven”—into the atmosphere? “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in8like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”
In 1 Thess. 4:16, 17, Paul asserts, with not a shade of doubt in mind, “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them . . . to meet the Lord in the air.”
Attention is now called to a peculiar and very suggestive feature of this subject.
The Lesson of the Clouds
Luke, speaking of Christ's ascent, states that “a cloud received Him out of their sight.” Paul, alluding to the resurrection, affirms, “We . . . shall be caught up . . . in the clouds, to meet the Lord.” Christ, foretelling His return to the earth, avers, “Then shall . . . they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
On another occasion, answering a decisive question of the high priest, Christ declared, “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Finally, John, in his address to the seven churches of Asia, referring to Christ's return to the earth, informed them, “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him.”
In these and similar scenes depicted in the Gospels, the departures from the earth are represented as ascents to some special point. The comings to the earth are portrayed as descents from somewhere.
Hence we may safely conclude, since God, Christ, and the angels are personalities—judged from their works—that heaven, the center whence emanate the might, laws, and authority which maintain and govern the universe, is indeed a PLACE,—a place, according to Scripture, wonderful, beyond all human conception, for glory, beauty, and blessedness.
But why are the coming and departing of heavenly messengers often screened from human view by clouds?
The writer can suggest simply. May it not have been for the highest welfare of mankind that, except in very few instances, God's place of abode and the highway thither have ever been carefully curtained from mortal sight?
One can but call to mind the confusing, trouble-breeding, far-reaching experience at Babel more than 4,000 years ago.
Who knows, had not the impenetrable screen then been pushed steadfastly across the inviting way to God's dwelling-place, what other eager, fruitless attempts might have been made to escape devastating floods and destroying foes?
The Name of Jesus
By Pearl Waggoner
By Pearl Waggoner
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” Prov. 18:10.
JESUS, Jesus, blessed name,
Sweetest that our lips can frame!
In the hour we’re sore distressed,
What a peace there is, and rest,
In the name of Jesus!
How it soothes our deepest woes
When we think that Jesus knows!
And we love His whispered name,
Who in all points felt the same,—
Just the name of Jesus!
How we love the names to hear
Of earth friends we hold so dear!
Yet not one gives half the bliss,
Half the happiness of this,—
Precious name of Jesus.
When perplexed and when in doubt,—
Fears within, and foes without,—
When we long for counsel kind,
What a solace then we find
In the name of Jesus!
Or, in seasons of delight,
When earth’s sun is at its height;
Who our cup of joy can share
More than He who bore our care?
Blessed name of Jesus!
Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name
Human lips could ever frame!
Palm to weary, troubled souls,
Guide o’er life’s tempestuous shoals,
In the name of Jesus.
Jesus, Jesus! Once again
Listen to that sweet refrain!
And our theme none else shall be
Through a glad eternity,
Than the name of Jesus.
Believe and Doubt
By F. W. Robertson
To BELIEVE is to be happy; to doubt is to be wretched. To believe is to be strong. Doubt cramps energy. Belief is power. Only so far as a man believes strongly, mightily, can he act cheerfully, or do anything that is worth the doing.—F. W. Robertson.
“The First Will Be Last”
By Delwin Rees Buckner
By Delwin Rees Buckner
WHEN thou didst first see light, didst thou have aught?
Was not the first gift thou receivedst thy breath?
Embraced by arms of cold, unfeeling Death,
Thou must expect to carry with thee naught.
Thy glory, honor, wealth; the praise of men;
And, last of all, the spirit that God gave,—
All leave when thou dost enter in the grave
To rest from work till God gives life again.
The trumpet of the resurrection morn
But wakens us as to another birth.
Earth’s poor will then be heirs of heaven’s store;
But they will rise to meet eternal scorn
Who’ve spent their lives in wantonness on earth;
Then they will beg without the City’s door.
Ambato, Ecuador.
Light of Prophecy
By Rev. Edward Bickersteth
The prophetic interpretation may be despised by the world, and be neglected as a chaos by one part of the church, and perplex another part who may not now have light enough to rescue it out of its apparently chaotic state; yet there is solid ground to walk upon, and there is also light to show that ground (2 Peter 1:19), and to leave those inexcusable who do not take heed to that light till that fulness of time arrive, when the day will shine out, and the day-star arise in our hearts.
The bearing of prophecy on the present state of the world, and of our country; on the visible church of Christ, and the true church subsisting in that visible church, is deeply interesting to the Christian patriot.
Amidst the present shaking and rocking to and fro of the political heavens, every principle is trying to the very uttermost; nothing but what is divine will remain immovable: our Lord’s words must be fully realized, “Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.”Matt. 15:13. Nothing will stand the shock of these days, but that which is above nature, and has infallible truth, almighty power, and divine grace for its origin and support. . . .
If the wicked go on casting away all the restraints of divine and human laws, unaffected by all the increasing light and love of the Gospel, manifested in the revival of the church, and hardening their hearts from the very forbearance of God; and, one side high-minded and trusting in riches, and the other, lawless and ungodly, seeking only to overturn everything established; the clashing of their opposing interests, and the growing zeal and piety of the church withstanding more and more all that is evil, and maintaining more and more boldly all that is true, and righteous, and holy, must produce an energy and intenseness of conflict, and bring out God’s truth in a degree far beyond anything yet witnessed; and call for that divine interposition prophecy so distinctly leads to expect. We see all the preparations for those tumultuous last scenes in which everything shall be shaken (Ps. 46:2, 3; Heb. 12:27). But in that day God is in the midst of His people; their city shall not be moved; and the chorus of their song shall be, “The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.”Ps. 46:5, 11.—Rev. Edward Bickersteth, 1844.
A Real Danger
A Real Danger.— One wrote: “I find I am in much danger all the time of letting my service be a substitute for my worship. I need this lesson of the alabaster box as badly as did the disciples.” All need it, and none more than the intensely active Christian. Worship, devotion, is the life of the soul, and the service becomes dead without it.
Can We Hold Out?
By C. L. Taylor
By C. L. Taylor
THOUSANDS of young persons, stirred by the mighty truths of God’s Word, are brought to the point where they must decide for or against Christ. With anxious hearts they inquire the way of duty, and are disposed to take the step which shall commit them to the life of sacrifice and trial which belongs to the true Christian.
But just as they are about to yield, there come to the ear of the soul whisperings concerning failure. They listen. The suggestion is very forcibly made that no matter how anxious and willing they may be to lead a victorious life, they will not be able “to hold out.” They are reminded that thousands, like themselves, have made the effort only to find disappointment, defeat, and failure at the last; and therefore, if they would be sensible, they would better not begin. “Why,” says the voice, “is it not better to stay where you are and enjoy life as you may, than to give up what you have, and after a hard, bitter, trying experience, find yourself cheated out of both worlds?”
Dear young friend, if you are one of these fearful, hesitating, troubled ones, let me say to you that there is absolutely no reason why you or any one else should be afraid of failing. By the Word of God as well as by experience many can tell you that only victory, blessed and everlasting victory, is yours if you desire it.
In the first place, you and I must not judge God’s precious Gospel by the fact that so many have “tried to be Christians,” and have failed. In the great majority of such cases the failure reached farther back than to the time when they “tried;” it was to be found in the fact that those who tried did not at first and when they decided to be Christians make a complete surrender. In their hearts they made reservations. They held back part of the price.
Seldom will you find one who has given his whole heart and soul to God, who has turned over to the Lord Jesus his time, his business, his home, his friends, his pleasure, his prospects, his plans, his strength, his intellect,—seldom will you find such a one turning back because of failure. He who cuts every cord binding him to the world, will never reach a place where he is “at the end of his rope.” The ropes and their fastenings were all left behind.
Paul the apostle made a complete surrender. Every day and every hour his personal testimony was, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may win Christ.” He gave all to God, and God kept all that he gave. 2 Tim. 1:12. This is the secret. God can keep only what we give.
The truth is, the “holding out” is all on God’s part. Jesus said of His disciples: “They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.” John 10:28, 29. The hand of God, His power, holds up His children; and so long as they choose Him, no power in heaven or earth can cause them to fall. See Rom. 8:33-39.
“Underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deut. 33:27. “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Heb. 13:5. “He is able also to save them to the uttermost.” Heb. 7:25. He is “able to keep you from falling.” Jude 24. “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Phil. 1:6. Every one of these divine promises is good for its full face value. Not one of them need be discounted to the slightest extent.
All who wish to be kept “are kept.” 1 Peter 1:5. Therefore, dear young friend, knowing as you do your sincere purpose and desire to be faithful, and knowing that God will always have respect to your sincerity and whole-heartedness, give Him your heart and hand without reserve. He can and does “hold out,” for He has “all power,” and will be with you “unto the end.” Matt. 28:18, 20.