Earlier text: FALSE HEALINGOUR PRIVILEGE
By Helen Mc Kinnon
HELEN MC KINNON
(Toronto, Ontario) Now as never before it seems fitting that the people of God should have their attention riveted upon the books of Daniel and Revelation; for the closing scenes of these prophecies are living realities before us. All around us men and nations are acting out in detail what the seer, hundreds of years ago, foretold would appear, so that the word-pictures, or symbols, have become living actors. The blessing of Rev. 1:3 is given to certain ones, and yet it is not withheld from any. How is it to be obtained?—By reading, hearing, and keeping. Every endeavor that we are capable of should be put forth; for “the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it.” Prov. 10:22. In our experience in the Reading Circle work last year, we found mothers so anxious to be partakers of this blessing that the Word was placed by the washtub, ironing-board, dish-pan, or some place near where they were working, that they might catch a few words to study and think about while busy with their hands. It was noted at the weekly meetings that those who studied and worked the hardest were the most enthusiastic, and were ready and anxious to do missionary work. The spirit of the gospel in the days of the second advent of the Saviour is the same as it was in the days of the first advent,—the believers desire others to be partakers of their blessings. Each Seventh-day Adventist, no matter in what part of the world he may be, has the privilege of being a watchman upon the walls of Zion, ready to give neighbors and friends, from the sure word of prophecy, the tokens of the near approach of the long-looked-for morning, when “thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” THE KEEPING OF THE COMMANDMENTS
“I AM the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” Ex. 20: 2, 4–6. The First Commandment forbids the having of any other god than the Lord; and so calls upon all to have God alone, and Him with all the heart, and all the soul, and all the mind, and all the strength. Thus the First Commandment requires all creatures to worship only the true God; and the Second Commandment forbids the worshiping of Him in any but the true way. The First Commandment forbids the having of any false gods; the Second Commandment forbids the having of the true God in a false way. It is thus forbidden to worship God, or to think of Him, under any form or representation of any kind whatever. This is made clear by the word of the Lord in Deuteronomy 4. Having described how God came down upon Mount Sinai and spoke to the people out of the midst of the fire, declaring the Ten Commandments, it is remarked especially: “Ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude.” It is not suggested that there was no similitude there. There were similitudes: multitudes of the host of heavenly angels were there; four-winged and four-faced cherubim were there; six-winged bright seraphim were there; Christ was there; and the glory of God, which was like devouring fire, was there. But all this glory, and all these similitudes, were completely hidden from any eye of man by the “blackness, and darkness, and tempest” that enveloped the whole mount. For “Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke;” and “the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace,” which formed a “thick cloud upon the mount,” a cloud of “thick darkness;” and the voice of God was heard “out of the midst of the darkness.” Now, why was it that this wonderful scene of glory, even the brightness of the glory itself, was so completely hidden from the eyes of the people? Here is the answer: “Ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them.” Deut. 4: 15–19. If the people had been allowed that day to see any similitude, or any figure, on Sinai, they would inevitably have formed a likeness of it, as a means of their worshiping God. If they could have seen but the wings of the cherubim or seraphim, they would have used winged creatures, or the likeness of them, as a means of their worshiping God. And even though they had seen no figure or similitude, yet if only they had seen the brightness of the glory, then they would have employed the brightness of the sun or the moon, or the stars, as symbols, representations, by which they would offer worship to the true God. Nor would they have taken these representations which they would have made as of themselves gods, so as to worship the images or representations themselves; but would have used them as visible symbols, as aids in fixing their attention upon God, the better and more exactly to worship Him. And they would have claimed all the time that, in this, they were worshiping the true God, and that such worship was true worship of God. But all such idea as this, even all possibility of such idea, was utterly excluded by the Lord himself, in enveloping the whole grand array and glorious scene in impenetrable darkness. And then, by this fact, and in telling them why He did it, He gave His own clear interpretation of His own Second Commandment, and the plainest possible instruction to men as to how to observe it. In this the Lord himself has given, in the plainest and most forcible way, instruction to all people, that in the worship of God no conceivable form or similitude can be used in any way, or to any extent whatever. And thus there was said at Sinai precisely what Jesus said to the woman at the well, neither more nor less: that “God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” God is Spirit, and is to be only spiritually discerned, and, therefore, can be worshiped only in spirit and in truth. He can be worshiped only in truth as in spirit, because it is only by His word, which is the truth, that men can know what is true and acceptable worship. No man can know God except by revelation; and God must be worshiped strictly according to His own revelation; otherwise He is not worshiped at all. This will be further considered next week. DECADENCE OF RELIGIOUS PAPERS
ANY one who has had any opportunity for extensive notice of the religious papers of the United States in the last ten or fifteen years, can not but be struck with the general drift away from religion. Papers which formerly were distinctly religious and deservedly the leading ones, are now distinctly secular; and, where religion is touched, it is in a merely perfunctory way, rather than from any deep conviction of the real value of religion. This change has now become so marked that the secular papers themselves are commenting upon it. The New York Sun of February 10 discusses “the decadence of the professionally religious paper.” The Sun takes this up because other papers had remarked the same thing. It says that “denominational organs which once were powerful and of great prosperity give every evidence now of sadly declined fortunes; and magazines devoted especially to religious and theological discussion have lost their attraction even for the most serious public.” Further, the Sun says: “This is the more remarkable because interest and inquiry concerning questions of religion were never more active than they are now. Of the voluminous correspondence coming to us, the subject which engages the greatest part devoted to any single theme is religion. . . . It appears, then, that the decadence of the professional paper and periodical can not be due to any lapse of interest in the subject of religion. It would be easy for us to fill the whole Sun with manifestations of the deepest and most earnest interest and solicitude.” And then the Sun, in its own vigorous way, exposes the true cause of this notable decadence, in the following truthful words: “Unquestionably the old foundations of religious faith have been shaken or completely destroyed in many minds thoroughly imbued with the religious sentiment. In place of that faith has come in a critical spirit, even in those who were most alarmed at its approach and most earnest in combating it, provoked by the scientific method of treating the Bible, and the miracles, whose denial as facts of history leaves Christian theology without a basis on which to stand. This method, too, is now pursued by other than avowed enemies of the religion which it undermines so completely. It is adopted and cultivated in the theological seminaries and in pulpits of Christian churches. All the other infidels since time began have not done a tithe of the damage to religious faith, to faith in the supernatural, which has been accomplished during the last generation by this school nurtured in the Christian Church itself.” LITERARY CRITICISM
By L. A. Reed
The study of literature, as it is generally taught, fosters a spirit of criticism. Some teachers do not know anything else in the study and teaching of literature except to study and teach criticisms. They judge everything they read, and when at last, perchance, the word of God comes in their way, they regard it as only so much literature, and therefore judge and criticise it. It is men setting themselves up as competent of themselves to know and find truth; and this spirit of criticising they carry into every branch of learning. But there are some, even of the world’s educators, who are beginning to tire of this. They long for a better way of doing things. But only at the great fountain of God can they ever be satisfied, and only here can they lose their judging, doubting, criticising spirit. I have within my reach a little book, called “Literary Art,” which is an attempt to avoid criticisms as much as possible in the study of literature. A number of reasons for this course are given. For instance, literary criticisms “are marked by most surprising and contradictory opinions.” It is the old proverb over again, The blind lead the blind, and both fall into the ditch. The misjudgments of Shakespeare would fill volumes. There are many opinions in Johnson’s “Lives of the Poets” that are wholly prejudicial. Andrew Lang censures the pathos of Dickens. Howells discounts Scott’s romances. And so men judge, and are judged in turn; for where only a human standard exists, each man thinks himself capable of erecting his own. Again: this author says another thing which shows that the valuelessness of much of our literary criticism lies in the fact that “criticisms, after being accepted as a guide to one age, become the ’laughing stock of another.’” Are not these statements true also of the criticisms of the Word?—They certainly are. Men criticise the writings of men because there is much to criticise, for one man may out measure another. And having taken on the habit, men therefore criticise the word of God simply because it is beyond their comprehension. As to the effect of the criticising spirit on men’s minds, this same author says: “The attitude of judge tends to make one unsympathetic and unfair. A work of art does not ask for justice [judgment] but for understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment; and these come only through clear-eyed interpretation. We should rarely say, ‘I like,’ or ‘I don’t like,’ or ‘I think;’ but, ‘I find.’ After careful consideration in this spirit, the apparently obscure and the commonplace often disclose a wealth of luminous truth and beauty.” If this be so for the study of general literature,217 how much more necessary is it for the study of Biblical literature? We are not asked to judge the Word, for we know too little about it: and to judge what we do not know is to be unsympathetic and unfair. The Bible does not ask for judgment, “but for understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment; and these come only through clear-eyed interpretation:” “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened.” Eph. 1:18. It is not to think of what you like or do not like, but what do you find in it—“How readest thou?” Remember the rule laid down in the Word for the study of all sacred literature: Consider what is said, and the Lord gives the understanding. 2 Tim. 2:7. L. A. REED. AS THE TRUTH IS IN JESUS
By Uriah Smith
“But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus.” Eph. 4: 20, 21. In this text we have the distinct affirmation that the living voice of Christ himself is our teacher. “Ye have heard Him,” says the apostle; not, Ye have heard of Him, or about Him, as to the particulars of His life and history; but, “Ye have heard Him.” The New Testament everywhere represents Christ as still working and teaching in the world. He himself affirmed the continuance of His great work of declaring the Father, beyond the limits of His earthly life, and that not in parable and figure, but directly and plainly. He pledges himself to send the teaching Spirit of Truth, all whose showings and illuminations are showing and imparting to us the things of Christ. Every one may have, and every Christian does have, direct access for himself to the living Lord, the eternal Word. It is not necessary to take the false and dangerous road by priest, and bishop, and pope, to find Christ. Paul says to the Hebrews: “But ye are come . . . to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” Heb. 12: 22-24. Those who are in Christ receive continuous instruction from Him. “And have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus,” says the Scripture. These words indicate the conditions of the gradual progress of Christ’s schooling. His teaching is not one sudden act, but a long, loving, patient discipline. The first feeble act of faith enrolls us as disciples; then there follows through the years His teaching to observe all things whatsoever He has commanded. The theme of the teaching is Christ: “Ye have not so learned Christ.” Our lesson is not, then, about the Lord, but the living Lord himself; not the teaching of Christianity only, but the theme, as well as the teacher, is the Lord himself. The substance of the message taught by Him is the truth as it is in Jesus. The truth as it is in Jesus is the truth carried out, as in the life of Jesus. The life of Jesus was opposed to, and contradicted, everything that was false and wrong. In this respect the truth was in Jesus, and He was the truth. Jesus embodied the truth of every symbol that was anywhere given to set forth the truth. Christ said to Israel by Moses, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken.” Deut. 18: 15. He was the “Passover” slain for us. 1 Cor. 5: 7. He was the atoning Lamb, whose blood, applied on the day of atonement, cleansed from all sin. Jesus spoke the truth, which, on account of its importance to man, is emphasized as the truth. This truth is universal and eternal, and ever new. The truth as it is in Jesus, means much. It is more than a cold, dead statement of theoretical truth. It is a truth of life and power. The expression is probably used, more frequently than in any other way, simply to express the great doctrine of human sin, and of the redemption of mankind by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if we separate these two things which God has joined together, and take each by itself, we lose all the power of the statement. For instance, if we say that man has sinned and fallen under the wrath of God, we state a great and solemn truth, indeed, but not the truth as it is in Jesus. But when we put Jesus in, it changes the whole aspect of the picture. That truth does not then appear in its coldness, bleakness, and wretchedness; but it is lighted up and made tolerable by the smiles of Him who is, in Christ, “reconciling the world unto himself.” The truth as it is in Jesus should be taken as an expression of what we believe was shown in the life of the Lord Jesus; and we should show the conception by conforming our lives to His life, and by walking in His steps. The justifying power of faith would enter largely into our conception of the truth as it is in Jesus. Christ is the foundation, Christ is the truth; and the way we build on the foundation, in the very nature of the case, determines what the result of our work will be. If we build wood, hay, stubble, we suffer loss. The complete moral revolution necessary to be wrought out in us, is not accomplished either by one supreme effort of our will or by any momentary shock of divine power; but is carried through in detail, by a laborious, and oftentimes painful, process of self-discipline. The process lasts as long as life lasts; for with the changing years there are changing forms of moral evil, which have to be resisted and put away from us. Earlier triumphs make later conflicts easier, but they do not release us from the stern necessity of battle. Self-examination is necessary. Our moral habits must be compared, one by one, with the commandments of God, and their conformity with the spirit and genius of the gospel carefully and honestly tested. And there must be self-discipline, as well as self-examination. The old man must be put off — crucified with its affections and lusts. It is often asserted that Christianity is a life, not a creed; that it is devotion to a person, not to dogmatical formulas. One of the most popular forms of expressing a fallacy, is by means of false antitheses. We have one of them in this. Christianity is indeed a life; but what kind of a life?—A life governed and molded by a creed, a creed which gives motives and energy to a life. Christianity is indeed devotion to a person; but what kind of a person?—One who was manifested through a doctrinal medium: “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2: 11. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1: 21. “For we have not an high priest which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Heb. 4: 15. Without doctrine or dogma, setting forth Christ’s existence, His nature, and His attitude of love and mercy toward mankind, He could not be recognized and loved as He has revealed himself, and as He is. Dogma or doctrine lies at the foundation of the truth as it is in Jesus. Men “must have,” says Bright, “a doctrinal Christianity, or no Christianity at all. They must have doctrine, or they must do without Christ.” In every age the battle of infidelity against Christianity has been fought on the point of doctrine; for the enemies of the Bible know that if an advantage can be gained there, the inner principles of religion, faith and holiness, will soon fall into decay. A true idea of the principles of our faith, well and temperately formulated, is due to ourselves, that we may be fortified by the obligation which open profession lays upon us. It is due to others whom we wish to draw to the truth. It is due to those who deny our faith, that we may warn them of their danger and error, and hold up the truth on which we seriously believe the salvation of their souls depends. The value of accredited forms of principles of belief can not be overestimated. They are bonds of union as to belief in the first principles of the oracles of God. What is called “The Apostles’ Creed” is concise and simple; yet as a skeleton of New Testament theology, it is full and complete. It expresses no man’s opinions; it gives no man’s explanations. It simply records the facts of our religion, without either accounting for them or deciding in what particular manner they shall be held. Account for the facts as you may, explain them as you will, draw what inferences from them you like, these are the facts, and they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture.”—Fulford. To know Christ, to know the truth as it is in Jesus, to “know Him, and the power of His resurrection” (Phil. 3: 10), is the great lesson of the Christian life, which the Ephesians began to learn at their conversion, and in which the apostle was instructing them to continue till they should reach the measure of the full stature of men and women in Christ Jesus. Happy are we if we are learning the same lesson too. U. S. “GOD” IS WEIGHING HIS PEOPLE”
By A. F. Ballenger
During the last few years more than twenty-five thousand Seventh-day Adventists, as a result of the appeals from the Spirit of Prophecy, the pulpit, and the press of the denomination, have come to realize the need of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and have sought the Lord definitely for the promised power from on high. With each one of these I desire to speak a few words through the columns of the REVIEW AND HERALD. Have you lost the effect of the message? Once your heart was stirred with it. Does your heart still burn with thankfulness for the power already received, and throb with faith and hope for the future fullness which is yet to fall in the latter rain on the faithful of the little flock? Have you become discouraged with what you deem an unexplained delay? Are you weary of waiting? Were you honest with God and your soul, when, kneeling, you said you yielded all, and then joined in prayer for the promised power to witness for God? Were you really in earnest? Did you really give up all? Have you kept your all upon the altar? Do you still hunger and thirst for power to present “the everlasting gospel” to the world in all its glory? Or did you make this move because nearly all the preachers and people made it? And now that some of the preachers and some of the people have lost the effect of the message, how is it with you? Have you lost it? Have you concluded that there is nothing to it after all? Have you fallen back to your old low level, to live a defeated life? Is your view of the matter the same as that reflected in the following quotation? “I conclude that the whole thing is a failure because I have not heard anything about the message of late. Once the first-page articles in the REVIEW were devoted to the subject of the reception of the Holy Spirit, but now they are devoted to canvassing, and I have no burden for that. Once the message at the camp-meetings was, ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost,’ but now it is not. Once the leading editorial in the REVIEW each week closed with the same words, but now it does not. Isn’t that an evidence that the whole thing has been abandoned as a failure?” Yes, with many persons it has. But with some it has not. Once the Lord himself came down upon Sinai, and in a most impressive manner delivered a message to Israel. This was followed by a general revival. Everybody, preachers and people, indorsed the message. All testified that they accepted the message, and promised to live on a higher plane. Suddenly the messenger disappeared, and they heard the message no more. Because the Lord did not come down on the mount and repeat the Ten Commandments every ten days or so, but was silent concerning the message for forty days, most of the people, preachers and all, decided that the message was a failure, and returned to their former ways. A few who went forward in that revival retained the force of the message during all the forty days, yes, during all the forty years, yes, forever.
The Lord could have had a sweeping revival every afternoon during all the forty days, and all the forty years of the wilderness experience, if He had repeated the message with as loud a voice, and with as much earthquake, fire, and smoke, as He did at the first.218 Well, if He could, why didn’t He?—Because He did not wish to be continually thundering at His people; because He will not have a people who remain so far away from Him, and who are so dull of hearing, that it takes a thundering voice, a melting mountain, and an earthquake continually to hold their attention. The Lord did not take pleasure in talking so loud at Sinai. He did it because He must; because the people were so far away—not so far in point of rods and miles, but in point of acquaintance with Him. When He spoke to Moses, He asked him to come close to Him, and when he came, He lowered His voice to a quiet conversational tone; “and the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.” Ex. 33:11. Stirring revivals are necessary in the Church, and the Lord conducted another at the close of the forty days, and often during the forty years, and during the time of the Judges, and of the kings, and of the later captivity, in the time of John the Baptist, of Pentecost, of Wycliffe, Huss, Jerome, Luther, Wesley, and William Miller. But after the “thunderings and lightnings” of Sinai there came a time of calm. So after every great awakening there comes a quiet time. For it is in the quiet time, not in the earthquake, that character is built. The earthquakes are to rend the rocks from the bosom of the earth, but it is in the quiet of the calm that the character is carved out by the now gentle hand that hitherto had rent the rocks. About forty years ago the same message which in recent years has been sounding in the ears of the children of the Third Angel’s Message, was given to their fathers. Just as God tested the fathers in the wilderness at the beginning of the forty years, and their children at its close, so the Lord is to-day testing the children of the “present truth.” Here is a description of the message given forty years ago, with a statement of its meaning:—
“I was shown that the testimony to the Laodiceans applies to God’s people at the present time, and the reason it has not accomplished a greater work is because of the hardness of their hearts. But God has given the message time to do its work. The heart must be purified from sins which have so long shut out Jesus. This fearful message will do its work. When it was first presented, it led to close examination of heart. Sins were confessed, and the people of God were stirred everywhere. Nearly all believed that this message would end in the loud cry of the third angel. But as they failed to see the powerful work accomplished in a short time, they lost the effect of the message. I saw that this message would not accomplish its work in a few short months. It is designed to arouse the people of God, to discover to them their backslidings, and to lead to zealous repentance, that they may be favored with the presence of Jesus, and be fitted for the loud cry of the third angel. As this message affected the heart, it led to deep humility before God. Angels were sent in every direction to prepare unbelieving hearts for the truth. The cause of God began to rise, and His people were acquainted with their position. If the counsel of the True Witness had been fully heeded, God would have wrought for His people in greater power. Yet the efforts made since the message has been given, have been blessed of God, and many souls have been brought from error and darkness to rejoice in the truth. “God will prove His people. Jesus bears patiently with them, and does not spew them out of His mouth in a moment. Said the angel, ‘God is weighing His people.’ If the message had been of as short duration as many of us supposed, there would have been no time for them to develop character. Many moved from feeling, not from principle and faith, and this solemn, fearful message stirred them. It wrought upon their feelings and excited their fears, but did not accomplish the work which God designed that it should. God reads the heart. Lest His people should be deceived in regard to themselves, He gives them time for the excitement to wear off, and then proves them to see if they will obey the counsel of the True Witness. “God leads His people on, step by step. He brings them up to different points calculated to manifest what is in the heart. Some endure at one point, but fall off at the next. At every advanced point the heart is tested and tried a little closer. If the professed people of God find their hearts opposed to this straight work, it should convince them that they have a work to do to overcome, if they would not be spewed out of the mouth of the Lord. Said the angel, ‘God will bring His work closer and closer to test and prove every one of His people.’ Some are willing to receive one point; but when God brings them to another testing point, they shrink from it and stand back, because they find that it strikes directly at some cherished idol. Here they have opportunity to see what is in their hearts that shuts out Jesus. They prize something higher than the truth, and their hearts are not prepared to receive Jesus. Individuals are tested and proved a length of time to see if they will sacrifice their idols and heed the counsel of the True Witness. If any will not be purified through obeying the truth, and overcome their selfishness, their pride and evil passions, the angels of God have the charge, ‘They are joined to their idols, let them alone,’ and they pass on to their work, leaving these, with their sinful traits unsubdued, to the control of evil angels. Those who come up to every point, and stand every test, and overcome, be the price what it may, have heeded the counsel of the True Witness, and they will receive the latter rain, and thus be fitted for translation.” And now, my doubting, discouraged brother or sister, can you not see that in this time of waiting, while you have been weighing the message and pronouncing it wanting, God has been weighing you—weighing your faithfulness, weighing your patience, weighing your loyalty? Has this time of calm revealed to you your faithlessness? Has it revealed your fickleness? Has it revealed your murmuring spirit? Has it revealed your tendency to follow the crowd,—to repent when the crowd repents, and backslide when the crowd backslides? If it has, then hasten to repent. Do not wait for the next revival to come. Have a revival of your own. Have it now. If you have spent this time of calm in doubting and murmuring and sinning, as you did before the revival, you are behind the moving host. You are in danger of being lost forever. Seek the Lord now, to-day, for cleansing from those sins that have been brought to light by this waiting time. You are not fit for the fullness of the Holy Ghost if you can not maintain your integrity in a little time of waiting while the Lord works a needed preparation for that power. Do not wait until the Lord raises His voice in trumpet tones, and makes you tremble in terror. Go close to Him. “Whosoever will” let him come. “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.” “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Go close to Him. Tell Him of the weakness which the waiting time has revealed in you. That is what I am doing. Thank Him for the time of calm. Ask him to burn out the discovered dross, and to build in His own blessed life. Tell Him you want to learn to talk with Him face to face. Tell Him that you want to learn to hear Him when He speaks with His “still small voice,” so He will not have to speak so loud. Then open your Bible, and listen to Him speak. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” A. F. BALLENGER. HOW SHALL THE MASSES BE REACHED?
By Stephen N. Haskell
There is a great work to be done by the people of God. Every nation, kindred, tongue, and people is to hear the warning of the Third Angel's Message. In the early history of the Church the gospel was carried largely by the living preacher. John the Baptist said: “Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” So important was the message to be given at that time, that if men had not proclaimed it, God would have raised up men from the stones in the street to do it. When Christ entered the temple, and those Pharisees would not shout praises to God, the children in their mother's arms shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” This displeased the Pharisees, the chief priests, and the scribes. The Saviour asked them, “Have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” Again, said the great apostle, “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” This is one of God's ordained means of saving men. And before the work of the Third Angel's Message is over, men clothed with the power of God will preach the truth with a power never before seen. Where the laws prevent men preaching, children, as in the days of Christ, and as in Sweden and Germany in 1844, will preach the truth of God. God has ordained this means of saving souls. If God can not find human agents, then He will make preachers out of stones to do this work. Teaching in schools, the Bible work, the colporteur work, united with the ministry, were means God used in the past, and ever will use, for the advancement of the truth. Men are to be co-workers with God. And the ways are as varied as the agents that God uses, each possessing his own individuality. The canvassing work also is an agency which, like a clear-sounding bell, is sounding the alarm that all the inhabitants of the earth may know that the day of the Lord is nigh at hand. Each of these agencies does a special work, which, if left to any other means, would fail in accomplishing God's purpose. All classes of people must be reached, from the most exalted in worldly positions to the peasant in his cot. Every agent and means has a place in the great work of God in spreading a knowledge of the light of present truth. Books have been prepared for the canvasser and colporteur, which, like the different tools of the mechanic, do their specific work. They set forth the truth in different ways. This is illustrated in the Bible. Why was it that God took four men to write the life of Christ? Was it not that different varieties of minds might be met? Why did He take writers from every station in life, and speak through them by prophecy? Moses, the greatest statesman and organizer that ever attended worldly schools, acted his part. Joseph, who filled the highest position in teaching senators wisdom, in the greatest, at that time, of all worldly kingdoms, was taught by his parents at home without worldly schools. Daniel, who was the prime minister in the golden kingdom that swayed a universal scepter, was educated in the home school. Amos was a herdsman. John, the beloved disciple, was banished to the Isle of Patmos, his name recorded as a criminal. He, in the estimation of the world unworthy of even a place in society, has given us one of the most interesting prophecies ever communicated to man. It was written, as were the prophecies of Daniel, for the last days. In a time when our literature was limited, God raised up a man to write on those two prophecies especially. There never will be a book published that will take the place of “Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation.” It was written by one who was devoted to the interests of present truth. In Europe, Asia, and Africa that book has found its way into homes in the most desolate places, and thousands219 are rejoicing in the truth to-day who would not have known it by other means. Canvassing for that book will continue until probation ends. The angels of God stood beside the writer and aided him by the Holy Spirit. The “Great Controversy,” “Patriarchs and Prophets,” and “The Desire of Ages” should find their way into every household. “Christ's Object Lessons” is having special attention for a special purpose, and God is blessing the effort. There are many other valuable books, which are, each in its sphere, aiding in spreading the message. But why all of this variety of writers and variety of books? In regard to our brethren writing on the Third Angel's Message, we say, Let them write, bearing in mind that in the branches of the vine there is a diversity in unity. Life in nature objects to uniformity. There is variety in the human body, from the eyes to the feet. Yet all these members are dependent upon one another to make a perfect whole. In all the variety composing the human body, there is harmonious action in conformity to the laws controlling the being. There is an unseen, conscious, indivisible unity, keeping the bodily machinery in action, each part working in harmony with every other.” There is variety in a tree: there are scarcely two leaves just alike. Yet this variety adds to the perfection of the tree as a whole. We might ask, Why need Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the Gospels, why need the Acts of the Apostles, and the different writers in the epistles, go over the same thing? The Lord gave His word in just the way He wanted it to come. He gave it through different writers, each having his own individuality, though going over the same history. Their testimonies, brought together in one book, are like the testimonies in a social meeting. They do not represent things in just the same style. Each has an experience of his own, and this diversity broadens and deepens the knowledge that is brought out to meet the necessity of varied minds. The thoughts expressed have not a set uniformity, as if cast in an iron mold, making the very hearing monotonous. In such uniformity there would be a loss of grace and distinctive beauty. We are not to feel that all must speak the very same things, giving the same representation in the same words. Yet there is to be a unity in the diversity. All the different testimonies unite to form one whole, as the books of the Bible are brought together and bound under one cover. But should Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John go off on some tangent, contradicting one another's testimony, then there would be confusion. “In the presentation of truth by different minds, there is to be unity in diversity. One must not labor to have everything that comes from his mind entirely different from that which comes from another man's mind. But he is to follow in the line where the Spirit of the Lord shall direct, then there will be different figures and different ways of presentation, that will interest and educate different minds.” All minds must be reached. Thoughtful persons will read an argumentative book, and be captivated by it; while there are others who would have no taste for that style, but would be reached by something entirely different. May the Lord direct in this closing work of the gospel so that young and old, the keen reasoners and the less thoughtful, may each be reached by the printed page, and the work be cut short in righteousness. S. N. HASKELL.