The very echo of that familiar phrase sounds like the voice of some long-cherished but neglected friend. Nearly a decade ago this plan for the support of foreign missions was introduced by the Mission Board. For several years it brought a large income into the Mission treasury, but during the last few years it has not been much agitated, and has lost much of its effectiveness.
Last fall the General Conference Committee considered plans for increasing the donations to foreign missions. The members of the General Conference Committee who were present agreed upon introducing into the union and State conferences the plan for raising weekly a definite sum for mission work in foreign fields. A series of recommendations was adopted by the Atlantic Union Conference, and later by all the union conferences in the United States. A few weeks ago these recommendations appeared in the REVIEW, in an article by Elder A. G. Daniells; so I need not quote them here.
The magnitude of the work which we are undertaking in foreign fields necessitates some arrangement whereby a definite sum of money may be received for the support of the workers we have sent abroad. Hitherto the funds coming to the Mission Board have been on a sliding scale; they were governed by local conditions, by financial depressions, and by the amount of earnest zeal put into the calls for the specific donations. Our receipts were confined quite largely to the annual and midsummer offerings, the First-day and Sabbath-school donations. These were not uniform, the total oftentimes varying in a single year from twenty thousand to forty or fifty thousand dollars. The object in the introduction of the new plan is to get each church and local and union conference to endeavor to raise a sum equal to ten cents a week for each church-member.
No one claims that this plan is infallible; but those who have had it under consideration know of no better plan, and believe that it will be generally acceptable to the people. By the well-to-do giving more, and the poor giving what they can, it is believed that we can raise a sum equal to ten cents a week per member for missions. Surely no one will question the wisdom of the endeavor.
It appeals to every honest Christian that it is the duty of those in the home land, where the blessings of God are so manifest, to contribute liberally for the support of the gospel in foreign fields. All will agree that those who go to foreign fields, enduring the hardships and privations entailed upon them by exposure in unfavorable climates, and by sacrifices that they often have to pass through, deserve to be listed among those who ought to have a steady, substantial support. Surely a man is not less worthy of his monthly wage when he is in China, India, or fever-stricken Africa, giving this message to the benighted heathen, than when he is in the home land, surrounded by friends, working in a well-organized conference, and having about him all the comforts of life. At home, his support is assured by the tithes of the believers. Shall not the foreign workers be deemed worthy of equal support with those in the home land? Every sincere heart says, Yes, most assuredly.
The tent-cent-a-week plan has some merit, whatever its defects may be. It aims at something and accomplishes something. On its computation, the Mission Board can lay out its work definitely and to a purpose. It can count its resources and plan a definite program. It is not a hard problem to determine how much money can be raised from a membership of sixty thousand at ten cents each a week for a year. For one member, the amount would be $5.20, and for sixty thousand, it would be the handsome sum of three hundred twelve thousand dollars a year.
Nor is three hundred twelve thousand dollars too large a sum for our church-membership in the United States to give to foreign mission work. More than one billion of our fellow beings live in darkness; they are hopeless, Christless, without Bibles, and do not know God. To us God has given great light; shall we not pass it on? Ten cents a week is not a large sum, but it is something, and will help mightily in supporting workers in these needy fields. It comes regularly and steadily, and that is a great help, for we know what to depend upon.
Everything that reminds us of God and his worship, helping us to plan to do some good for others, is truly to be desired and sought after, for we have our own souls to save as well as to help to save others. Ten cents a week, thought of daily through the week, planned for, placed in the envelopes, and taken thoughtfully to the house of worship, means as much to the giver as to the receiver. It is one of the little things that keep the soul in fellowship with God.
Some should not stop with ten-cent donations, but bring larger gifts as expressions of their gratitude to God for the abundance he has committed to their keeping. Let it be a “turtle dove or a lamb,” as God has blessed you; but let not his people come before him from week to week empty-handed. Let the envelopes be distributed every Sabbath, and let each one present put in his offering. Those in charge of our meetings should give this special attention, and at once set this plan in operation. We believe that by the first of July we can have all the churches in the United States working in harmony and unity in gathering in this mission offering. In unity there is strength; let us all work as one man. I. H. EVANS.
The Best Creed
THERE is an agitation in the Methodist Episcopal Church to secure a new statement of Faith and Doctrine. At the close of a long editorial, in which this matter is quite fully discussed, the New York Christian Advocate expresses itself thus:—
After a hundred years of practical freedom from serious doctrinal controversy, our original theological opponents8drawing constantly nearer to our views or remaining silent about their own formerly distinctive doctrines, with the public well acquainted with our views, and a vast force of ministers and teachers ready (or should be) at any time to state wherein we differ from the original doctrine of other evangelical denominations, there is more of danger than of need, more of uncertainty than of positiveness, more liability to produce disharmony than likelihood of promoting unity, in attempting a new Statement of Methodist Faith and Doctrine.
There is always both difficulty and danger in attempting to formulate a new creed or to revise an old one. One of the briefest and best forms of statement is the one made by the apostle Paul, “Believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.” The Bible and the Bible alone constitutes the only creed which does not need to be revised.
Exalting the False Sabbath
THE following significant paragraph is found in one of our exchanges:—
The world has done more in enacting and enforcing sabbath [Sunday] laws in the last generation than in any previous generation.
This is true, and there is much meaning in the fact. The enforcement of the false sabbath is one of the last developments in the fulfilment of prophecy; and the preaching of the true Sabbath is the leading characteristic of the last work of reform. The final contest is between these two opposing principles.
Catholics and the Theater
A LEADING Roman Catholic paper of Chicago declares that “the Catholics of New York City spent a million and a half dollars upon the drama and opera” last season, and complains bitterly because the theater managers do not advertise liberally in Catholic papers. From a paragraph printed wholly in italics, we take the following:—
Do the Catholic managers of some theaters that make a specialty of catering to Catholic theatergoers advertise their attractions in this journal or any other local Catholic publication?—They do not, and everybody knows they do not. At a low estimate the two million Catholics of Chicago and its littoral expended between six hundred thousand and eight hundred thousand dollars attending dramas and operas during the season just closed, and it is a fact susceptible to proof that the managers of the theaters and opera-houses so favored did not spend one hundred dollars, all told, in advertising in the Catholic press.
The frankness of this criticism is equaled only by its materialistic basis. Not a word of censure on the large sum of money worse than wasted, and not a suggestion of the evil influence exerted through this wholesale patronage of the theater, but indignation in abundance because this paper did not share with others in the benefits of the advertising. Incidentally this article emphasizes the fact that the Roman Catholic Church makes no warfare upon the theater.
Christian Science
IN very plain language an English writer deals with Christian Science and its fundamental tenet after this fashion:—
The doctrine that pain and death are not real at all, except in so far as their victims are cowardly enough to submit to them, is a diabolical doctrine, obviously calculated to produce all the purely diabolical qualities, such as intellectual cruelty and contempt for the weak. To tell any man that it is his own fault that he has the toothache is to cease to be a Christian while uttering eight words. If there is one thing that is against the whole trend and tide of Christianity, it is any method which permits the man called strong to triumph over those whom he calls weak-minded. . . . Christian Science says that pain is not a reality. Christianity says that pain is so great a reality that even the Creator could feel it. Christian Science says that a man need not think of death at all. Christianity says that even God thought of it with awe. And the ethical results of the two principles have been exactly what might have been expected.
And yet there are thousands of people who are proclaiming the doctrines of Christian Science as the latest and highest development of gospel truth. When this teaching is analyzed, it will be found to be simply one of the many forms in which human pride manifests itself in the way of self-salvation.
Red Hats at the White House
DURING his recent visit in Washington, Cardinal Logue, primate of Ireland, was entertained at luncheon by President Roosevelt. The following high dignitaries of the Catholic Church accompanied Cardinal Logue: Cardinal Gibbons; Mgr. Falconio, the papal delegate; Archbishop Farley, of New York; Bishop Browne, of Cloyne, Ireland; Bishop O’Connell, of the Catholic University of America; and “Father” Russell, of St. Patrick’s church of Washington. Secretary-of-State Root and Attorney-General Bonaparte were also present at the luncheon, which was served in the state dining-room. One report declares that this was “the greatest gathering of Catholic prelates ever seen at the White House at one time,” and that “the cardinals were conspicuous by the red hats of their office.” It is no wonder that “many persons attached political significance to the meeting.”
Going Over to Rome
From a press dispatch recently sent out from Philadelphia we take the following statement:—
Fifty Episcopalian clergymen in different cities have agreed upon a certain day on which they will renounce Episcopacy as a preparatory step toward embracing the faith of Rome, according to Rev. Alvah H. Doran, formerly a prominent Episcopalian rector of this city. Ten of these ministers have charges in Philadelphia, seven in New York, eight in Chicago, and six in Fond du Lac, Wis. The others are scattered throughout the United States.
There is not so much significance in this defection from the Episcopal Church as might at first be supposed. These clergymen belong to what is designated as the “high church” wing of the denomination, whose views differ so slightly from Roman Catholicism that the step from the one to the other is a very short one.
A Poor Exchange
So many members of the Church of England hold stock in the brewery companies, that temperance reform progresses slowly in Great Britain, and the influence of that church is largely neutralized. This recalls the lament of an old writer who stated that in his “degenerate day the canons of the church had given way to the cannons of the army, the miter to niter, and St. Peter to salt-peter.” In Great Britain and Ireland, according to the Independent, “the exchange is made of Spirit for spirits, holy water for eau-de-vie, and of the breviary for the brewery.” When the church goes into partnership with the world in the soul-and-body-destroying business of manufacturing intoxicating liquors, it is no wonder that the forces of evil prevail.
Creating the Creator
THE Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation is not a theory of the Middle Ages, discarded by enlightened Catholics of the present time, but is still held and taught as one of the leading doctrines of that church. The present interpretation of this tenet of Catholicism is given in the following extract from an address delivered at the recent New York Centenary by Hon. Bourke Cockran, a member of the present House of Representatives:—
Every Catholic church, whether it be a stately cathedral or a humble chapel by the wayside, is erected to enclose a sanctuary; that sanctuary surrounds a tabernacle; that tabernacle contains a Sacred Host, and that Host is Jesus Christ; not a representation or a symbol of him, but Jesus Christ himself, Creator of you and of me, of the ground under our feet and the skies over our heads, of the land and the sea, of the fields and the rivers that fertilize the soil as they pass, of the surging tides beating upon the shore, and the mountains, cloud-capped and solemn, of this earth and all the planets in her solar system, of the sun and all the constellations that sweep their silent course through the heavens. The Maker and Lord of all these dwells in that tabernacle, but not permanently. It is but his resting-place on the journey from heaven to his ultimate destination, and that destination is the breast of a human being.
It should not escape notice that this present-day explanation of Roman Catholic belief places the alleged Creator and “his resting-place” under the complete control of the priest, and makes it possible for him to prevent his reaching his destination! The teaching of the Scriptures concerning the sanctuary and its services is the divine antidote for this perversion of the truth.
Then and Now
By ALBERT F. PRIEGER
ALBERT F. PRIEGER
I CARED much for the thought of fame
In all the years that went before;
Ambition was no empty name,
Men’s praise was pleasant, and no more;
But now, when truth I never dreamed
Has come like morning into night,
Since God’s good Spirit on me beamed
With all its beautiful delight,
I work with other strength and will,
With joy unknown in by-gone days;
Men wonder at the new-found skill;
With deaf-grown ears I hear their praise,
Searching with throbbing pulse to find
That Word of life which satisfies,
And drink content with heart and mind
In sweet approval of God’s eyes.
Faith, Not Feeling
By Ellen G. White
MRS. E. G. WHITE
“EXAMINE yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.” Some conscientious souls on reading this immediately begin to criticize their every feeling and emotion. But this is not correct self-examination. It is not the petty feelings and emotions that are to be examined. The life, the character, is to be measured by the only standard of character, God’s holy law. The fruit testifies to the character of the tree. Our works, not our feelings, bear witness of us.
The feelings, whether encouraging or discouraging, should not be made the test of the spiritual condition. By God’s Word we are to determine our true standing before him. Many are bewildered on this point. When they are happy and joyous, they think that they are accepted by God. When a change comes, and they feel depressed, they think that God has forsaken them.
God does not look with favor upon those self-confident ones who loudly exclaim, “I am sanctified, I am holy, I am sinless.” These are Pharisees who have no foundation for their assertion. Those who, because of their sense of utter unworthiness, dare scarcely lift up their eyes to heaven, are nearer to God than those who claim so much piety. They are represented by the publican, who, with his head on his breast, prayed, “God be merciful to me a sinner,” and went to his house justified, rather than the self-righteous Pharisee.
But God does not desire us to go through life with a distrust of him. We owe our Heavenly Father a more generous view of his goodness than is accorded to him by our manifest distrust of his love. We have an evidence of his love—an evidence which amazes angels and is far beyond the comprehension of the wisest of human beings. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” While we were yet sinners, God gave his Son to die for us. Can we doubt his goodness?
Behold Christ. Dwell upon his love and mercy. This will fill the soul with abhorrence for all that is sinful, and will inspire it with an intense desire for the righteousness of Christ. The more clearly we see the Saviour, the more clearly shall we discern our defects of character. Confess your sins to Christ, and with true contrition of soul co-operate with him by putting these sins away. Believe that they are pardoned. The promise is positive, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Be assured that the Word of God will not fail. He who has promised is faithful. It is as much your duty to believe that God will fulfil his word, and forgive you, as it is to confess your sins.
Exercise faith in God. How many there are who go through life under a cloud of condemnation! They do not believe God’s Word. They have no faith that he will do as he has said. Many who long to see others resting in the pardoning love of Christ do not rest in it themselves. But how can they possibly lead others to show simple, child-like faith in the Heavenly Father when they measure his love by their feelings?
Let us trust God’s Word implicitly, remembering that we are his sons and daughters. Let us train ourselves to believe his Word. We hurt the heart of Christ by doubting, when he has given us such evidences of his love. He laid down his life to save us. He says to us: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Do you believe that he will do as he has said? Then, after you have complied with the conditions, carry no longer the burden of your sin. Let it roll upon the Saviour. Trust yourself with him. Has he not promised to give you rest? But to many he is obliged to say, sorrowfully, “Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life.” Many manufacture for themselves burdens which are grievous to bear.
Look steadfastly to Jesus. Behold him, full of grace and truth. He will make his goodness pass before you, while he hides you in the cleft of the rock. You will be enabled to endure the seeing of him who is invisible, and by beholding you will be transformed. Faith is not feeling. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. There is a form of religion which is nothing more than selfishness. It takes pleasure in worldly enjoyment. It is satisfied with contemplating the religion of Christ, and knows nothing of its saving power. Those who possess this religion regard sin lightly because they do not know Jesus. While in this condition they estimate duty very lightly. But a faithful performance of duty goes hand in hand with a right estimate of the character of God.
There is earnest work to do for the Master. Christ came to preach the gospel to the poor, and he sent his disciples forth to do the same work he came to do. So he sends forth his workers to-day. Sheaves are to be gathered for him from the highways and hedges.
The tremendous issues of eternity demand of us something besides an imaginary religion, a religion of words and forms, where the truth is kept in the outer court, to be admired as we admire a beautiful flower; they demand something more than a religion of feeling, which distrusts God when trials and difficulties come. Holiness does not consist in profession, but in lifting the cross, doing the will of God. Saying, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” will not secure for us an entrance into the kingdom of heaven. “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.”
Attaining and Obtaining
By G. B. THOMPSON
G. B. THOMPSON
The tendency at the present time is to endeavor to attain unto perfection through a development of the good that is supposed to be in us. But this is a fallacious error. It is really the pagan idea of salvation. It is salvation by works rather than by faith.
The apostle Paul said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing.” Rom. 7: 18. And what Paul knew concerning this matter, every other Christian should know.
It is impossible to develop any perfection out of that which is wholly imperfect. “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.” No pure water can be drawn from an impure fountain.
We should not forget that we do not attain unto righteousness. It is a matter of obtainment instead of attainment. No man, by his own efforts, can attain to a religious experience. Love can not be worked up. Love comes from God. It is an obtainment, secured through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
Our own attainments are described thus: “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isa. 64: 6. True righteousness is obtained through faith. It is imputed to us through Christ. “Abraham believed God, and it [Abraham’s faith] was counted to him for righteousness.” “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness10of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Rom. 3: 21-25. Eternal life can never be earned wholly, or in part. It is entirely a free gift from the Lord.
Takoma Park, D. C.
The Book of Daniel
By Editor
Introductory
THE EDITOR
It will be profitable to trace the course of events for a century or a little more preceding the downfall of Jerusalem and the captivity of Judah in Babylon. This history will clearly reveal the development of the apostasy which led up directly to the great crisis in Jewish history.
In the days of Ahaz, king of Judah, a confederacy was formed between Remaliah, king of Israel, and Rezin, king of Syria, for a campaign against Jerusalem. In fear of the result of such a combination of forces, King Ahaz sought counsel from Isaiah, the prophet, who then foretold the definite time of the captivity of Israel: “It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people.” These words were uttered B. C. 742-1, and a limit of sixty-five years from that time was established for the continuance of the kingdom of Israel.
This prophecy was literally fulfilled. In the reign of Pekah, king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, reduced the ten tribes to tribute, and carried some of them into captivity. At a later date Shalmaneser successfully besieged Samaria, carried Israel away captive into Assyria, and placed them “in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.” At the close of the sixty-five years mentioned by Isaiah, in the year 697-6 B. C., Esarhaddon, son of Sennacharib, king of Assyria, made an invasion, and by carrying captive another detachment of Israelites, destroyed the national existence of the ten tribes. Israel was never again restored to her place as a nation, and thus the word concerning Ephraim was literally fulfilled, “It shall not be a people.”
A little later the prophet Isaiah foretold in general terms the inevitable result of that decline of true religion among the people which had made their service a mere formality, and in which outward ceremonies had taken the place of the consecration of heart and life. The disaster which was already impending was set forth in these words: “Forasmuch as this people draw nigh unto me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which hath been taught them; therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.” Only a score of years before Nebuchadnezzar’s victorious army was at the gates of Jerusalem, this same foreview of the approaching trouble was presented through the prophet Habakkuk, including the more definite predictions that the Chaldeans would be the agent used to accomplish God’s purpose, and that the fulfilment would come in the generation then living. His words were these: “Behold ye among the nations, and look, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which ye will not believe though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on: yea, their horsemen come from far; they fly as the eagle that hasteth to devour. They come all of them for violence; the set of their faces is forwards; and they gather captives as the sand.”
Separation from the World
It was the Lord’s purpose that the children of Israel should be a separate people unto himself, that they might be witnesses to the nations of his saving grace and power; but the people lost sight of the fact that it was the direct manifestation of the presence of God which was the means of separating his people from the world; and filled with a sense of self-sufficiency as being the chosen people, they built up a wall of separation between themselves and the nations about them, and thus refused to be the messengers of the gospel to the world. Again and again did the Lord turn their attention to their mission by sending Jonah, the prophet, to Nineveh; and Elijah, the prophet, “to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon;” and Elisha, the prophet, to Naaman the Syrian; but they persistently refused to obey the call, and in thus shutting away light and blessing from the people who were in darkness, they extinguished the light in their own hearts. But the Lord was slow to anger, and of great mercy; and in his desire that the truth might be proclaimed even to the people of Babylon, in a miraculous manner he awakened a spirit of inquiry in that heathen city, so that messengers might be sent to Jerusalem, to whom the gospel of his saving power might be made known. The experience was briefly this: Hezekiah, the king of Judah, was stricken with a fatal sickness. In answer to his earnest prayer, the Lord gave him assurance through the prophet Isaiah, that fifteen years would be added unto his life. And the prophet declared: “This shall be the sign unto thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do this thing that he hath spoken: behold, I will cause the shadow on the steps, which is gone down on the dial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps.” The prediction was fulfilled, and “the sun returned ten steps on the dial whereon it was gone down.”
This remarkable phenomenon was observed in far-off Babylon. To the astrologers, the star-gazers, the prognosticators, who were constantly watching the heavenly bodies, this turning back of the clock in the heavens was a wonder indeed; and in the absence of modern means of communicating news, it served as Heaven’s announcement to all peoples that the God of heaven was able to save and to deliver those who sought help from him. The word was carried to Babylon, and “Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had been sick and was recovered.” This was a distinct call for preaching the gospel of Him who heals all diseases, and forgives all iniquities. To Hezekiah was granted an opportunity of exalting the saving power of God, and of sending to Babylon the message that the God of the people of Jerusalem is not like “the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men’s hands.” But instead of showing the king’s messengers the spiritual treasure which had been deposited at Jerusalem, Hezekiah “showed them all the houses of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and all the houses of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah showed them not.”
In thus exalting himself instead of exalting God, in thus showing that his mind was upon material things, rather than upon spiritual truth, and in thus showing to the men from Babylon what was in his own house rather than what was in God’s house, Hezekiah sealed the fate of Jerusalem, and made it necessary that the work should be done in adversity which would not be done in prosperity.
When the people attempted to shut up the glory of the temple to themselves, and to make it an excuse for their own sins instead of the channel of forgiveness for all peoples; and when even those whom the Lord sent to Jerusalem to inquire after the gospel message, were given a view of human glory rather than of the divine glory, then it was evident that the people who would not go forth willingly as messengers must go forth as captives. The visible walls of Jerusalem11which had been substituted for the invisible “wall of fire round about” must be broken down. That glorious temple in which the people had trusted, saying, “The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, are these,” must be destroyed, and the service of the temple which they had put in the place of the true service of the Lord must be discontinued. This was made known through the prophet Isaiah, and the record states: “Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon. Then said he, What have they seen in thy house? and Hezekiah answered, All that is in my house they have seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them. Then said Isaiah unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of Jehovah of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith Jehovah.”
The true interpretation of this experience is thus given: “Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem. . . . In the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.”
A Remarkable Experience
At the very time when the results of apostasy were thus being foretold through the prophet Isaiah, God sought to turn the hearts of the people unto himself by working a marvelous deliverance in their behalf. Eight years after the first deportation of Israel by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, “did Sennacharib king of Assyria come up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them.”
As the next step in the campaign, he “sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army unto Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem.” Boasting of his superior power and of the inability of any of the gods of the nations to deliver out of his hand, Sennacharib threatened the people of Jerusalem in these words: “Wheron do ye trust, that ye abide the siege in Jerusalem? Doth not Hezekiah persuade you, to give you over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, Behold our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? . . . Were the gods of the nations of the lands in any wise able to deliver their land out of my hand? Who was there among all the gods of those nations which my father utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand? Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you after this manner, neither believe ye him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand?” In delivering the message of the king, Sennacharib’s servants “cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall, to affright them, and to trouble them; that they might take the city. And they spake of the God of Jerusalem, as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men’s hands.”
In his extremity King Hezekiah sought unto Isaiah, the prophet, who delivered the Lord’s message against Sennacharib in these words: “The virgin daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou defied and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. . . . Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same way shall he return, and he shall not come into this city, saith Jehovah. For I will defend this city to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.”
To prevent the possibility of glorying in human power, and to make it clear to Judah and to all the nations that there is a God in heaven more mighty than the “gods of the peoples of the earth,” the promised deliverance was wrought in a manner evidently miraculous. “Jehovah sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth from his own bowels slew him there with the sword. Thus Jehovah saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacharib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side.”
The nations were greatly impressed with this revelation of the power of the true God, in the deliverance and protection of his people, “and many brought gifts unto Jehovah to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah; so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.” The victory over Sennacharib was gained by the direct intervention of the God of heaven, and the trophies of this victory should have been constant reminders of the nothingness of man and the greatness of God,—the very essence of the gospel of righteousness by faith,—and the exaltation of Hezekiah king of Judah in the sight of all nations ought to have furnished an opportunity for exalting the power and the mercy of the King of heaven, who had wrought this marvelous thing for the salvation of Jerusalem. But, alas for human pride! These very reminders of Jehovah’s salvation were perverted into an evidence of human power and greatness, and the blessing was turned into a curse.
The Last Steps in Apostasy
But because Hezekiah and his people had humbled their hearts before the Lord in view of the predicted disaster, “the wrath of Jehovah came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah,” but in due time the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled. Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, “seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that they did evil more than did the nations whom Jehovah destroyed before the children of Israel;” and although Jehovah sent messages of reproof to his people, “they gave no heed,” and as a consequence, “Jehovah brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.” When Manasseh humbled himself greatly, and entreated the Lord, his supplication was heard, and he was restored to Jerusalem and to his kingdom; but the hold which Babylon had thus gained upon Jerusalem seemed never to be fully broken, and in spite of the earnest efforts for reform put forth in the reign of Josiah, the people departed farther and farther from God. Their service of formality became an abomination in the sight of the Lord, and they lost their protection against the nations about them. The king of Egypt deposed Jehoahaz and made Eliakim, his brother, king of Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. This Jehoiakim was king at Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar led his conquering army against it.
This brief outline furnishes the historical background for the book of Daniel, and in the light of these facts the interpretation of this book will be more clear and more forcible.
The Need of Living Missionaries
BECAUSE the Bible has been translated into so many different languages, some may think, “Why send missionaries? Why not let them read the Word of God for themselves?” But think! What was the eunuch of Ethiopia doing? Was he not faithfully reading the Scriptures in his own tongue, in the book of Isaiah? Yet he, when asked by Philip, “Understandest thou what thou readest?” replied, “How can I, except some one shall guide me?” The living messenger is needed, as well as the written Word. To his disciples Jesus said, “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all nations.” While the Word was interpreted as the “seed” in one of the parables, in another, Jesus explained that “the good seed are the children of the kingdom.” It is by connecting the experience and teaching of the living disciple with the living Word, that the greatest fruitage is obtained.—Selected.