Should all whom God has prospered with earthly riches carry out his plan in faithfully giving a tenth of all their increase, and if they should not withhold their trespass offerings and their thank offerings, the treasury would be constantly replenished. The simplicity of the plan of systematic benevolence does not detract from its merits, but extols the wisdom of God in its arrangement. Everything bearing the divine stamp unites simplicity with utility.
If systematic benevolence was universally adopted, according to God’s plan, and the tithing system carried out as faithfully by the wealthy as it is by the poorer classes, there would be no need of repeated and urgent calls for means at our large religious gatherings. There has been a neglect, in the several churches, of keeping up the plan of systematic benevolence, and the result has been an impoverished treasury and a backslidden church.
“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the store house, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed; for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.”
God has been robbed in tithes and in offerings. It is a fearful thing to be guilty of withholding from the treasury, or of robbing God. Ministers who preach the word at our large gatherings feel the sinfulness of neglecting to render to God the things that are his. They know that God will not bless his people while disregarding his plan of benevolence. They seek to arouse the people to their duty by pointed, practical discourses, showing the danger and sinfulness of selfishness and covetousness. Conviction fastens upon minds, and the icy chill of selfishness is broken. And when the call is made for donations to the cause of God, some, under the stirring influence of the meetings, are aroused to give who otherwise would do nothing. As far as this class is concerned, good results have been realized. But under pressing calls many feel the deepest who have not had their hearts frozen up with selfishness. They have conscientiously kept their means flowing out to advance the cause of God. Their whole being is stirred by the earnest appeals made, and the very ones respond who may have given all their circumstances in life would justify.
But these whole-hearted, liberal believers, prompted by their zealous love for the cause, in their desire to do promptly for the cause, judge themselves capable of doing more than God requires them to do, for their usefulness is crippled in other directions. These willing ones sometimes pledge to raise sums when they know not from what source they are coming, and some are placed in distressing circumstances to meet their pledges. Some are obliged to sell their produce at great disadvantage. Some have actually suffered for the conveniences and necessities of life, in order to meet their pledges.
There was a time at the commencement of our work when such sacrifice would have been justified, when God would have blessed all who thus ventured out to do for his cause. The friends of truth were few, and means were very limited. But the work has been widening and strengthening until there are means enough in the hands of believers to amply sustain the work in all its departments without embarrassing any, if all would bear their proportional part. The cause of God need not be crippled in the slightest degree. The precious truth has been made so plain that many have taken hold of it, who have in their hands means which God has intrusted to them for the purpose of using to advance the interests of the truth. If these men of means do their duty, there need not be a pressure brought upon the poorer brethren.
We are in a world of plenty. If the gifts and offerings were proportionate to the means which each has received of God, there would be no need of the urgent call for means at these large gatherings. I am fully convinced it is not the best plan to bring a pressure upon the point of means at our camp-meetings. Men and women who love the cause of God as they do their lives will pledge upon these occasions when their families must suffer for the very means that they have promised to give to advance the cause. Our God is not a taskmaster, requiring the poor man to give means to the cause that belong to his family to keep them in comfort and above pinching want.
The call for means at our large camp-meetings has been attended hitherto with apparently good results so far as the wealthy are concerned. But we fear the result of the continued effort to thus replenish the treasury. There will be, we fear, a reaction. Greater effort should be put forth, by responsible men in the different churches, to have all follow the plan of God’s arrangement. If systematic benevolence is carried out, the urgent calls for means at the camp-meetings for various enterprises will not be necessary.
God has devised a plan by which all may give as he has prospered them, and which will make giving a habit without waiting for special calls. Those who can do this, and will not because of their selfishness, are robbing their Creator, who has bestowed upon them means to invest in his cause to advance its interests. Until all shall carry out the plan of systematic benevolence, there will be a failure in coming up to the apostolic rule. Those who minister in word and doctrine should be men of discrimination. They should, while they make general appeals, become acquainted with the ability of those who respond to their appeals, and should not allow the poor to pay large pledges. After a man has once consecrated a certain sum to the Lord, he feels that it is sacred and consecrated to a holy use. This is true, and therefore our preaching brethren should be well informed of whom they accept pledges.
Each member of the different families in our churches who believe the truth may act a part in its advancement by cheerfully adopting systematic benevolence. “Let every one of you lay by him in store [margin, by himself at home], . . . that there be no gatherings when I come.” The burden of urging and pressing individuals to give of their means was not designed to be the work of God’s ministers. The responsibility should rest upon every individual who enjoys the belief of the truth. “Let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him.” Every member of the family, from the oldest down to the youngest, may take part in this work of benevolence.
The offerings of little children may be acceptable and pleasing to God. In accordance with the spirit that prompts the gifts will be the value of the offering. The poor, by following the rule of the apostle in laying by every week a small sum, help to swell the treasury, and the gifts are wholly acceptable with God; for they are making just as great sacrifices as their more wealthy brethren, and even greater. The plan of systematic benevolence will prove a safeguard to every family against temptations to spend means for needless things, and especially will it prove a blessing to the rich in guarding them from indulging in extravagances.
Every week the demands of God upon each family are brought to mind by each of its members fully carrying out the plan, and as its members have denied themselves some superfluity in order to have means to put into the treasury, lessons of value in self-denial for the glory of God have been impressed upon the heart. Once a week, each is brought face to face with the doings of the past week—the income that he might have had if he had been economical, and the means he has not because of indulgence. His conscience is reined up, as it were, before God, and either commends or accuses him. He learns that if he retains peace of mind and the favor of God, he must eat, and drink, and dress, to his glory.
Systematic action in giving in accordance with the plan keeps open the channel of the heart in liberal gifts. We place ourselves in connection with God, that he may use us as channels that his gifts may flow through us to others. The poor will not complain of systematic benevolence; for it touches them lightly. They are not neglected and passed by, but are favored with acting a part in being co-workers with Christ, and will receive the blessing of God as well as the wealthy. In the very process of laying aside the little as they can spare them, they are denying self and cultivating liberality of heart. They are educating themselves to good works, and are meeting the design of God in the plan of systematic benevolence as effectually as the more wealthy who give of their abundance.
In the days of the apostles, men went everywhere preaching the word. New churches were raised up. Their love and zeal for Christ led them to acts of great denial and sacrifice. Many of these Gentile churches were very poor; yet the apostle declares that their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their liberality. Their gifts were extended beyond their power. Men periled their lives and suffered the loss of all things for the truth’s sake.
The apostle suggests the first day of the week as a proper time to review the course of Providence and the prosperity experienced, and in the fear of God, with true gratitude of heart for the blessings he has bestowed, decide how much, according to his own devised plan, shall be rendered back to him.
God has designed that the exercise of benevolence should be purely voluntary, not having recourse even to eloquent appeals to excite sympathy. “The Lord loveth a cheerful giver.” He is not pleased to have his treasury replenished with forced supplies. The loyal hearts of the people of God, rejoicing in the saving truth for this time, will, through love and gratitude to him for this precious light, be earnest and anxious to aid with their means in sending the truth to others. The very best manner to give expression to our love for our Redeemer, is to give and make offerings to bring souls to the knowledge of the truth.
The plan of redemption was entirely voluntary on the part of our Redeemer, and it is the purpose of Christ that all our benevolence should be free-will offerings. E. G. W.
Popular Fables.
By M. E. Cornell
How they abound! How little pure Scripture truth is heard from the popular pulpits of the day! In 2 Tim. 4:3, 4, the apostle speaks of the time when they “will not endure sound doctrine,” but having teachers of their own choice, “they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
The Chicago Daily Tribune of Monday, Dec. 14, contains a sermon delivered the evening before “By the Rev. Dr. Thomas, of the First Methodist Church.” The reporter states that in spite of the rain-storm a very large audience assembled to hear on “Thoughts Concerning the Future of Our World.” The text was Heb. 13:8. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” The speaker proposed to leave the practical, “to go into the somewhat speculative, and even imaginative.” Such being his design, we think his discourse was a decided success. He referred to ages before Adam, in which the Mongolian and African species originated, and by the help of the “speculative” and “imaginative,” he could see that “the action of causes is so slow as to give to our race millions of years in which to work out its destiny.” Being very much at home in the mystical field, the doctor goes on and on, and becomes very bold and venturesome! He says:—
“Venturing a step further, we seem to be justified in the belief that man’s career upon earth is yet in its infancy, and that all the time past is as nothing compared to what is to come. The belief that our world is soon to come to an end seems to me to be without the shadow of a reason to support it. All the past, if it have a meaning at all, must have a meaning in being a preparation for something beyond, and for something better. According to all our standards of judgment, were our world to end now its existence must be accounted a failure in the administration of God. It has scarce reached a point yet where its existence can be regarded as productive of more good than evil. Giving, in thought then, our world long ages to come in which to solve the higher problem of its destiny, we ask, What is that destiny to be? We may suppose that the forces that have worked in the past, and that work now, will continue in the time to come, and that man’s future on the earth will be largely, as in the past, along the lines of a better material prosperity, a higher civilization, and a purer religion.”
What a fine specimen of the siren song of “Peace and safety,” and “My Lord delayeth his coming,” do we have in the above.
Who can doubt that we are now in the last days, and that sudden destruction is coming? Without the light of the “sure word of prophecy,” they grope their way in the dark as if they had no eyes, and are “blind leaders of the blind.”
But why do they trust to the “speculative” and “imaginative,” in reference to the future of our world? The light of prophecy shows us all about it. “Whoso readeth let him understand.” But there is no “peace, peace,” in the Bible view, so they turn from it to enjoy their fables. Those who are at ease in Zion, the formal and pleasure-loving are satisfied with such food, and will pay well for it. See Isa. 56:10–12; Micah 3:11; Jer. 5:27–31.
How awful will be their disappointment when the day of trouble shall come! Would God their eyes might be opened before it is too late. But while we pity those in such darkness, we cannot fail to see in this a sign of the times. “For when they shall say, Peace and safety: then sudden destruction cometh upon them, . . . and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” 1 Thess. 5:3, 4. M. E. CORNELL.
Small Things.
By L. A. Cartwright
EVERY-DAY occurrences show the need of more care in small things. We do not fall into sin as Satan “like lightning from Heaven,” but first yield to some small temptation, thinking it will do no harm, it is such a little thing. But it will not stop there, for it is on the wrong road, and unless the course is reversed destruction is sure. So, too, there is immense power for good, or evil in the “small sweet courtesies of life.” For they are the avenues to the affections; a fact well understood by worldly wisdom. The crafty seeker for gain, with his cunning palaver and artful blandishments, wheedles the money from its pleased possessor. And the wily politician smiles and bows to every one with “hail fellow well met” to secure an election. “Playing the agreeable” is their “winning card” that gains patronage and insures success.
We should not be deceitful, but we should cultivate genuine kindness, and that real love that is so full of all pure intuitions that shall leave no room for sin. Then the “little words of kindness and little deeds of love” will save many from the downward path and win souls to Christ.
Sneers have no place in Heaven, and are not needed on earth. Let them go where they belong. A word of encouragement or look of sympathy cheers the heart in trouble. But a bitter word or scornful look sinks like a barbed arrow into the quivering spirit, and often discourages and destroys a soul. These little items make up human character, and through grace fit us for the better land, or, under the control of Satan, lead to the abyss of woe. It is a fearful thought, that we may, by a haughty look, a hasty word, or careless deed, prejudice and repel, we know not how many, from the truth. And they will be remembered when “every one shall give an account of himself to God.” Let us not “despise the day of small things,” nor sit in the seat of the scornful, nor stand in the way of sinners.”
L. A. CARTWRIGHT.
The Size of the Ark.
INFIDELS object to the size of the ark, that there could not be a vessel large enough to hold all the creatures which must have been placed in it with sufficient food, it may be, for six or twelve months. Now from the dimensions of the ark in the record of Moses, calculating on the lowest possible scale, the ark was 300 cubits, or 450 feet long. The breadth is fifty cubits, or seventy-five feet, and thirty cubits, or forty-five feet high. In other words, it was as long as St. Paul's cathedral, London, nearly as broad, and half as high. Its tonnage, according to the computation of modern carpenters, must have been 32,000 tons. The largest sized English ship (of a size altogether unimaginable to those who have never seen it) is 3,500 tons' burden; so the ark must have been equal to twenty-six first-rate ships of war; and if armed as such ships are, it would have contained beyond 18,000 men, and provisions for them for eighteen months. Buffon has asserted that all four-footed animals may be reduced to 240 pairs, and the birds to a still smaller number. On calculating, therefore, we shall find that the ark would have held more than five times the required quantity of food to maintain them twelve months.
“The Work of the Ministry.”
By J. H. W.
As this first number of the volume goes forth in the mails at the commencement of the New Year, a large number of men who have consecrated themselves to the work of the Lord will go from this place, where they have been assembled for over two weeks to learn “the way of God more perfectly.” And we trust that at least a large proportion of them may go forth better prepared for the work than ever they were before. On most of the points of our faith we believe there will be more unity of expression, if not more unity of faith; a better understanding of the best methods of presenting the truth to the world. This is a great and important point gained.
But instruction for the head, important as it is, will never give success in the holy cause of God, if the heart is not sanctified by divine grace. This we trust most of the brethren realize. Some, it is to be feared, do not. Let all contrast their privileges for study, and for getting an understanding of the theory of the truth, with the privileges of those who labored in the beginning of this work, and consider how the Lord blessed the cause and prospered it in their hands, and they may then realize that theology is no substitute for spirituality. We do not underrate the importance of “the words of sound doctrine.” Far from it. But we would enforce by every means those scriptures and testimonies which show our dependence on God for success in his work.
David, when he was humbled before God with a sense of his sins, gave an excellent view of the true order of this work upon the heart and upon the world, in Ps. 51.
1. “Hide thy face from my sins.” Not by passing them over as of small account, but by blotting them out, by making us clean, by washing us, that we may be whiter than snow.
2. “Create in me a clean heart.” A pure heart is essential to a pure life. If the tree is corrupt, the fruit will be. If the fountain is bitter, the stream must be the same. These are the first steps to a complete preparation for the service of God.
3. “Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.” Without this we are nothing—less than nothing. The apostles of Jesus, after being three and a half years under his teaching and direction, were not suffered to preach a single sermon until they were “endued with power from on high.” Their necessity for the heavenly aid was certainly no greater than ours.
4. “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation.” David had grieved the Spirit of God; he had lost the fellowship of his Lord. His soul panted for God, as the hart panteth for the water brooks. How many of us have grieved the Spirit, and lost its power. How few feel the joy of his salvation so as to be able to rejoice in him continually. “Uphold me with thy free spirit.” Without this we shall sink and die.
5. “Then will I teach transgressors thy way.” And then, when our sins are all put away, our hearts and lives purified, the Spirit of God leading us and dwelling in us, and the joy of his salvation in our hearts, then we shall be prepared to teach transgressors the way of the Lord, “and sinners shall be converted” unto him. Without this, people may be converted to the preacher, or to a theory of truth; with this, they will be converted to God.
With all this preparation, we must remember that the promise of a joyful return from our labors is to him “that goeth forth weeping.” Said David, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.” Contrition of heart will never be despised of the Lord. Though our sins have risen high between us and him, he is just to forgive and mighty to save—plenteous in mercy. “In the multitude of thy mercies will I come before thee.” Not in our merits; not by virtue of any service we have done; not by our strength; but in the multitude of the mercies of God. Thanks be to God who has prepared for his people so complete an armor, and given such precious gifts of his Spirit, “for the work of the ministry.” Truly we are not in darkness that the impending day of the Lord should overtake us as a thief, unless we shut our eyes to the light which Heaven is shedding on our pathway. May he keep us by his own power through faith unto the coming salvation. J. H. W.
Thoughts Concerning the Present Time.
By Roswell F. Cottrell
THE LORD is soon coming. The world lies in wickedness. Iniquity increases and abounds, and the love of many grows cold. Professors and those who make no profession are unprepared for the events that are before us in the near future. The servants of God are not sealed with the sign of God in their foreheads, and the winds of the last great strife are about to be loosed, and find them with the mark of the beast where the seal of the living God, the Creator of the heavens and earth, should be. The church is asleep and sinners are unprepared and unwarned; while the great and terrible day of God's wrath is about to come upon them as a thief.
A great work is to be done. The world and the professed church are to be warned. God has promised them a warning, to be given before the day of his vengeance comes; and he is fulfilling his word. He has sent the last message into the world; but the great work is not yet done. He has enlightened many with the light of present truth; and it is his design to work by human means. He has commissioned men to preach the gospel. His word still is, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He lays a responsibility upon those who have the light to convey it to others; and a work is now demanded which calls for self-sacrificing labor. Who among us who have the light are ready to respond to the call? Who are saying from the heart, Here am I; send me? It is true, we may exclaim, Who is sufficient for these things? for indeed no one is of himself; but “our sufficiency is of God.” He gives his spirit to those who love him and with all the heart seek his aid. Let us arouse, seek the divine aid, and engage in the work.
The work is vast; and the time is short in which to do it. No time should be lost. The last of the last days is at hand. Upon a little span of time tremendous and eternal consequences are suspended. God is proving his people to whom he has given the light. He has waited long years with many of us; and still, through his long-suffering and tender mercy, we may be saved, if we will realize and take the responsibilities we should. Will we do it, and do it now? Will we be zealous, and repent? or shall we be spewed out?
The work, though great, will be accomplished. It is not by might nor by power of man that it is to be done, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. The question with us as individuals is, Will we discharge our responsibility? or will we let another take our crown? Faith, my brethren, living faith, is what is wanted; and a zeal commensurate to our opportunities. To trust in God and do what we can, will be acceptable to God. All can share in the work. And the reward will be glorious. Soon the faithful laborers will hear the chief Shepherd say, Well done.
The way is open for all to take part in spreading the truth for the time—the gospel of the everlasting kingdom soon to be established. By God's providence the printing press has been invented; and he designs it to be a powerful agent in spreading the truth and warning the world of approaching doom. Through tracts and other publications all may help proclaim the message. Faithfulness in this work will not lose its reward. “Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Will we have this welcome addressed to us? R. F. COTTRELL.
“One Baptism.”
By Joseph Harvey Waggoner
Several correspondents have requested us to give our views in regard to “trine immersion,” as practiced by the German Baptists or Dunkers. Also to give the historical facts regarding the modes of administration.
There is much difference of opinion respecting the age of trine immersion, and we have taken but little interest in the disputes on that point, for the reason that we think the question is so completely settled by Scripture that we need not appeal to history to ascertain our duty.
1. Those who practice trine immersion never sprinkle; they agree with us that the Greek word is properly translated immerse; therefore, we are agreed that baptism is equivalent to immersion. Hence, if Eph. 4:5, were translated throughout it would read, “One Lord, one faith, one immersion.” And therefore we think their system is against the Scriptures, as they really have three baptisms. To reply, as they always do, that they have one baptism with three immersions is only to contradict their own avowed faith, that baptism is immersion. For if baptism is properly translated immersion, then the expression, “one baptism with three immersions,” is as much of a paradox as it is to say, one baptism with three baptisms, or one immersion with three immersions. This is so unless we admit that baptism is not identical with immersion. But if we do this, we concede the entire ground, and the question of mode has yet to be settled; that is, it remains to be proved that immersion, and that only, is baptism.
2. That three baptisms are required because there are three names given in the commission does not appear reasonable. There is altogether too much separation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in that view. Even in commercial transactions, anything done by an agent for a firm of three parties is done once for them all, as a debt of one thousand dollars would not be collected three times, once for each one of the firm, if one thousand were the sum specified. But the union of a firm in business comes far short of the unity existing between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and one baptism is the duty specified.
Heb. 6:2, is quoted by them (doctrine of baptisms), as proof that there is a plurality of baptisms. This is true, but not in the sense in which they take it. There is one baptism of the Spirit, and one baptism of water. To make three of one kind contradicts Eph. 4:5. Whether we refer Eph. 4:5, “one baptism,” to that of water or of the Spirit, it proves that there is but one of that kind.
Paul, in Rom. 6:3, says, we are baptized into the death of Christ, or planted in the likeness of his death. I Cor. 15:3, 4, says, Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again; this is the order. And that it is this to which the apostle refers in Rom. 6 is plain from verses 1-3, where he gives baptism or burial as proof that we are dead, making death to precede the burial. Now from this view, we may inquire, Did Christ die three times? We insist that he died as often as he was buried. And if we are buried three times, we are not baptized into his death, or planted in the likeness of his death, for he died and was buried but once. This is decisive with us.
Whether a person should be buried face downward is, we suppose, quite a matter of taste. If others prefer it, we offer no objections, but shall not consent to bury our friends in that manner. Could it be proved that Jesus was laid on his face in the tomb, it would be an argument in favor of that practice. But as we do not think it can be, we shall follow what seems to be a more proper way.
J. H. Waggoner.
Volume 45.
By Uriah Smith
THE REVIEW enters with this number on a new year and a new volume. Through all its past history we can see that the Lord has led. The future presents only omens of encouragement and good cheer. In ourselves we have nothing of which to boast. But we have a right to make our boast in the Lord. Whatever in our history has been achieved which he has not done, had better be thrown away, and left out of the account; but the good things which he has wrought for us, it is well to acknowledge to his praise, and thus glorify his name.
And standing here on the dividing line between 1874 and 1875, and between volumes 44 and 45 of our beloved paper, and from this height sweeping all the horizon round, taking in a retrospect of the past, a survey of the present, and a glance into the future, we raise a loud and fervent note of gratitude to God for the way in which he hitherto hath helped us.
All things combine to assure us that this is the cause of God. And to the lover of truth, no assurance could be more precious. It is more than houses and lands, more than earth's pleasures and treasures. What are these to the fact that the cause in which we have enlisted heart and hand, is the work which the Most High is now accomplishing among the children of men? And of this we have the most abundant assurance. Oh! that more of the power of this great truth could be felt in our hearts and manifested in our lives.
We need have no fears for the progress and triumph of this work. The hand of Omnipotence is behind it, to carry it forward to swift and certain victory. The only anxiety we have occasion to entertain is whether or not we shall triumph with it; whether or not we shall be faithful in the station, and the work, to which we are called. We can defeat the grace of God in our own cases; but we cannot retard the work, nor hinder the swift approach of the great day which is drawing near. Let us be faithful. Our all depends upon it.
John heard the living beings in Heaven crying day and night without ceasing, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,” because they were ever gaining new views of his greatness and glory. So the workers in God's cause on earth, well assured as they have been in the past of the genuineness of this cause, are continually receiving new assurances that it is the work of the Lord for this time. What God is doing, and what he is to do, who can hinder? Men may misrepresent and oppose it; devils may rage and try to crush it; but what are men or devils when compared with God?
Everywhere the cry is coming up, “Watchman, what of the night?” The spirit of inquiry is abroad. The REVIEW, with some noble co-workers in the field, pants to go into all the land to meet it.
A most interesting season in this place, the Biblical Institute, is drawing to a close. Many young men and some men of age, all strong in faith, and most of them strong in body, have spent the time in an earnest review of the evidences of our position. And with the study of the theory has gone a spirit of devotion, and a desire for more spirituality and the power of the truth. This must be a characteristic of that work which is to fit up a people for translation to Heaven. We expect soon to hear from these earnest soldiers, from all parts of the field.
And the end is near. Soon the rest will repay all the weary toil. The warfare is almost over. A little longer the jeers and scoffs of an unbelieving world may fall upon our heads; but soon, in the crown of God's everlasting approbation, they will all be lost and all forgotten.
U. S.
Devotedness to God.
By Hattie T. Hoxie
“My meat and my drink are to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.” That one object brought Jesus from Heaven. That one object he pursued with unflinching, undeviating constancy, until he could say, “It is finished.”
However short man comes of his chief end, “glory to God in the highest” was the motive, the rule and exponent of every act of that wondrous life. With us, the magnet of the soul, even when truest, is ever subject to partial oscillations and depressions, trembling at times away from its great attraction-point. He never knew one tremulous wavering from its all-glorious center. With him there were no ebbs and flows, no fits and starts. He could say, in the words of that prophetic psalm, which speaks so pre-eminently of himself: “I have set the Lord always before me!”
Reader, do you feel that in some feeble measure this lofty life-motto of the sinless Son of God is written in your home and heart, regulating your actions, chastening your joys, quickening your hopes, giving energy and direction to your whole being, subordinating all the affections of your nature to their high destiny? With pure and unalloyed motives, with a single eye, and a single aim, can you say, somewhat in the spirit of his brightest follower, “This one thing I do?” Are you ready to regard all you have—rank, name, talents, riches, influence, distinction—valuable, only so far as they contribute to promote the glory of Him who is “first and last, and all in all”? Seek to feel that your Heavenly Father’s is not only a business, but the business of life. “Whose I am and whom I serve”—let this be the superscription written on your thoughts and deeds, your employments and enjoyments, your sleeping and waking. Be not as the fixed stars, cold and distant; but be ever bathing in the sunshine of conscious nearness to Him who is the sun and center of all happiness and joy.
Each has some appointed work to perform, some little niche in the spiritual temple to occupy. Yours may be no splendid service, no flaming or brilliant actions to blaze and dazzle in the eye of man. It may be the quiet, unobtrusive, inner work; the secret prayer, the mortified sin, the forgiven injury, the trifling act of self-sacrifice for God’s glory and the good of others, of which no eye but the eye which seeth in secret is cognizant. Remember, with him, motive dignifies action. It is not alone what we do, but how we do it. He can be glorified in little things as well as great things, and by nothing more than the daily walk, the daily life.
Beware of anything that would interfere with a surrender of heart and soul to his service—worldly entanglements, indulged sin, an uneven walk, a divided heart, nestling in creature comforts, shrinking from the cross. How many hazard, if they do not shipwreck, their eternal hopes by becoming idlers in the vineyard; lingerers, like Lot’s wife; world-lovers, like Demas; “do-nothing Christians,” like the inhabitants of Meroz. The command is, “Go work!” Words tell what you should be; deeds tell what you are. Let those around you see there is a reality in walking with God, and working for God.
“ARM YOURSELVES LIKEWISE WITH THE SAME MIND.” HATTIE T. HOXIE.