Earlier text: SOWING FOR PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALTHA Sister's Letter on Home Burdens and Faith
We quote the following from a sister’s letter, which shows how the Lord will fill a woman’s hands with work for which he sees she is best adapted, when she is willing to take the work that he offers. This sister’s example is worthy of imitation, and she should have our prayerful interest in the work that has come into her home. I have a home full of care. My husband is an invalid, and my father, who is quite aged, lives with us, and requires a good deal of attention. I have had five children of my own; but one, a boy of ten years, was killed by lightning, and a daughter of nineteen died of typhoid fever, leaving me three. I have living with me my son’s three beautiful little girls; and two years ago, in a providential way, I adopted a little child whose father died of consumption, leaving it uncared for. About four years ago a minister of the United Brethren denomination died, leaving four children. His wife came to me one cold day in winter, and said that she could not support her children. She wished them placed where they could be taught the word of God, and felt directed to come to me. We could not refuse, feeling it to be the call of God, and so one of her little girls has been with us ever since. She is a little Christian, and we love her very much. This makes five children not our own. I wish you could see them in the evening, all in their little night dresses at prayer. There is not a vain repetition, but they talk to Jesus as to a precious friend. I am fifty-four years old, and weave for a living. We are poor, but the Lord has fed and clothed us. One day in the winter the children were out of shoes, and the smallest one said, “Let us ask Jesus to send us some,” and we did so. As I left them, to come down-stairs, there was a knock at the door, and upon opening it a neighbor’s boy stood before me with three pairs of shoes, a little worn but good to wear. His family were not Adventists. The children all recognized the answer to their prayer. A Catholic woman seven miles away heard of my babies, and sent me some material for clothes, and some money. So the Lord helped me at that time. I have been in the habit of giving my REVIEW away after reading it, and one woman to whom I gave it sent it to a sister in Ohio, whose husband was a saloon-keeper. Some time afterward the woman came to see me, and is now keeping the Sabbath. Her husband came also. He has sold his saloon, and has settled down in other business. THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE.
Last week we showed that more than nine years ago, from what was then in sight, we called attention to the prospect that there would be a revolution backward in the principle of government in this nation; that the doctrine of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution would be subverted, and that European and Roman principles of government would supplant the American. All this has now come to pass. The European and Roman principles of government have now been adopted as the principles of government of the United States, in all territorial and island possessions except Hawaii. Nine years ago we said that, if such things should come, the result would be the perfect likeness of the course of Rome which developed the Beast, and which, therefore, repeated here, would be only the Image of the Beast. And now, since that which we then contemplated has come to pass, and is being steadily practiced, nothing else than the Image of the Beast can be rightly expected as the result of the course upon which this nation has entered, and is now steadily pursuing. This revolution backward, the apostasy from the fundamental principles of this nation, and the actions of the nation in consequence, are, and will be, but elements in the making of the Image of the Beast. The Third Angel’s Message is a warning against the making of the Image of the Beast, as certainly as it must be a warning against the worship of the Image of the Beast when that Image shall have been made. Accordingly, it is now the work of all those to whom the Third Angel’s Message has been committed to note the working of these elements that go to make the Image of the Beast; to avoid any entanglement or alliances with them; and carefully and consistently to point out to others the inevitable result of all these things. This must be done, because the Third Angel’s Message must be given; and it is just as much our duty to do all that we can to save the people of this nation from the fearful evil that incurs the wrath of God, as it is to do what we can to save the people of the other nations from the day of ruin. The crisis in the course of this nation comes in in the completion of the making of the Image of the Beast, and giving life to that Image, and, by means of it, enforcing upon all the worship of the Beast and his Image. The nation is now in the power of the tide that will inevitably carry her to this goal marked in the prophecy. We do not say that it will reach the crisis in a year, nor in any specific time. We only say that the nation has entered upon the course, and is in the power of the tide, that will inevitably bring her to that crisis, and consequently to ruin. And all that anyone needs to do, so fully to know this that he shall be able to recognize any feature of the Image of the Beast that may appear, is simply to study the course of Rome, which culminated in the formation of the Beast and the consequent ruin of that nation. Calling attention to these things from time to time, as events have occurred that demand such notice, is what we have been doing in these columns of the REVIEW for the last two years; and this is what we must continue to do as certainly as we continue to give the Third Angel’s Message in its warning concerning the Image of the Beast. Some have thought, in the things which we have had occasion to say concerning the apostasy of this republic, that we have been attacking the present administration; but this is a mistake. We have had nothing at all to do with the present administration as such, nor has any mention of it been made because it is the present administration. All that we have done is to call attention to the facts, and to the nature and the bearing of those facts, with respect to the making of the Image of the Beast. This we shall be obliged to continue to do, because events will continue to occur, bearing the same meaning, and to which it will be necessary to call attention, as elements which mark the fulfillment of the prophecy. And this will be so, whatever administration may be in power. If the present administration were to cease to-day, and another one were to take its place, we should be obliged to call attention to facts that would just as certainly be elements in the making of the Image of the Beast as any that so far have occurred. This being the year of a presidential campaign, there are just now multitudes of people who hope, and are deliberately working, to bring about a change of administration. We do not pretend to any knowledge as to whether there will be, nor as to whether there should be, a change of administration. But we know that, even though a change of administration may be accomplished, there will be no check in the progress of the elements that go to the making of the Image of the Beast. If there should be a change in administration, much would be expected in the way of checking the present tide of imperialism. And, in such event, something might be done to check the present, particular phase of it. But where this particular phase might be checked, others would be established, and would progress just as swiftly toward that goal as the present course has been, or will be, progressing. This thing consists not in administrations. It in no wise depends upon administrations, nor change of administrations. Neither change nor no change of administration can affect it: except, perhaps, to check some, while hastening other, features of the general apostasy of the republic. The evil is in the whole nation. The nation has lost the principle and the spirit of a republic: it has lost the faculty of self-government. And the force or effect of a change of administration, whether this year or later, can be fitly expressed in the words of Cicero, at the death of Cæsar (which death, indeed, was accomplished to effect a change of administration, and so to save the Roman Republic from imperialism), when he exclaimed: “We have killed the king, but the kingdom is with us still. We have taken away the tyrant; the tyranny survives.” The Roman Republic did not reach the confirmed imperial despotism of a one-man power, in a straight, uninterrupted course. There were many changes of administration. There were many political reforms accomplished in the many changes of administration. But not one of these changes nor one of these “reforms” checked the general tide. Not one of these reforms was in any sense a true reform: it was merely political reform; selfishness and imperialism in one phase being supplanted by selfishness and imperialism in another phase. From the start that has been made by this republic in the downward course of the Roman Republic, it now is perfectly easy to know what will come in this republic, simply by reading carefully what did come in the Roman Republic. For it was the union of the apostate church with that republic which had degenerated into an imperial despotism, that made the Beast. And the Beast is presented in the prophecy as the standard of comparison by which alone we shall be able to know what is the Image of the Beast. And now, since in our study of that phase of the Third Angel’s Message which relates specifically to the Beast and his Image, we are brought into the very whirl of the events daily concurrent, all of which tend to the making of the Image of the Beast, we shall not follow this phase of the subject further in these studies. This phase of the Third Angel’s Message will be now before us constantly in the course of current events; and these events will be noted, in specific items, as they occur. And for our set studies on the Third Angel’s Message, we shall next take up that phase of it in which the place and work of ALL THE NATIONS are comprehended. These studies will begin week after next. STUDIES IN GALATIANS.
By Alonzo T. Jones
“TELL me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” The first covenant was faulty. It was faulty in the promises; because it rested primarily upon the promises of the people, wherein the people promised something that it was impossible for them to do. Why, then, were they allowed of the Lord to enter into such a covenant? Did he not know that the people could not do what they promised?—To be sure, he did. But the people did not know it. “Living [in Egypt] in the midst of idolatry and corruption, they had no true conception of the holiness of God; of the exceeding sinfulness of their own hearts; their utter inability, in themselves, to render obedience to God's law; and their need of a Saviour. ALL THIS THEY MUST BE TAUGHT. God brought them to Sinai; he manifested his glory; he gave them his law, with the promise of great blessings on condition of obedience. . . . The people did not realize the sinfulness of their own hearts, and that without Christ it was impossible for them to keep God's law; and they readily entered into covenant with God. Feeling that they were able to establish their own righteousness, they declared, ‘All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.’” Since the people did not know these essential things concerning themselves;—“their utter inability,” etc.;—since they would not believe God, so that they could know;—and since “all this they must be taught,”—the only sure means by which they could be caused to learn this which they did not know was to have them try, and fail; and so learn by experience that they could not of themselves establish their own righteousness as the righteousness of God. Then they would be willing to accept by faith God's righteousness, which is established by faith. This is all perfectly plain from the circumstances of the case. As we have seen in a former study, before they left Egypt the Lord had said: “I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God.” Now is it not perfectly plain that if they had believed this, they would never have needed to enter into any bargain to get the Lord to be their God, and to make themselves his people? If they had believed, by his own word, that he was already their God, and that so they were already his people; and if they had known that he was already the Lord their God (Ex. 6:7), would they have needed to promise that they would keep his law “indeed” so that they might be his people, and he be their God?—Plainly, no. If they had believed that the Lord would “give” to them “for an heritage” the inheritance that he had sworn to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob (Ex. 6:8), could there ever have been found any place for a bargain into which they would enter,457 and according to which they would, by works, earn that inheritance?—Plainly, no. In other words, if they had received God, by faith, in these things which he had promised to them before they left Egypt, would they have needed to undertake to win him to them in those things, by their own works?—Plainly, no. In yet other words: If they had known, and had been in, God's covenant with Abraham, the everlasting covenant, would they have ever needed to know, or to enter into, this other covenant at Sinai, which in substance was only their own, because it rested only on their promises?—Plainly, no. Following back the thought to its original in the parallel, in these verses in Galatians, the parallel question is,— If Sarai and Abram had believed God's promise, and had held fast only to that, would Ishmael ever have found a place in the family of Abraham? Would two sons ever have been born to Abraham?—Plainly, no. Plainly, then, there never was any need of Abraham's having more than one son, the son that God had promised. Yet, “these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.” And just as there was never any need of Abraham's having but one son,—the son that God had promised,—so there was no need for Israel ever to have but the one covenant—the covenant of God with Abraham—the everlasting covenant. Just as there was no need of those two sons, so there was no need of the two covenants. And as, through unbelief and distrust of God, Hagar and Ishmael were brought in on the side; just so, through unbelief and distrust of God, the covenant at Sinai was brought in on the side. And as Hagar and Ishmael never had any recognition at all in the promise that God made to give Abraham a son, just so the covenant at Sinai never had any recognition at all in God's promise of salvation to mankind. As Hagar and Ishmael had to be cast out, and all that had brought them in had to be utterly repudiated, in order that the son whom God had promised should have the place that belonged to him; just so the covenant at Sinai had to be cast out, and all that brought it in had to be utterly repudiated, on the part of the people, upon whose promises alone that covenant rested, in order that God's original covenant—the covenant with Abraham—the everlasting covenant—should have the place that belongs to it, in the life and salvation of men. Yet, as the troubles and the failure of Sarai and Abram in the scheme that brought in Hagar and Ishmael, were instrumental in bringing them at last to the point where they did trust implicitly in the promise of God alone; so the trouble and the dismal failure that Israel experienced in the first covenant brought them to the point where they appreciated, and implicitly trusted in, God's original covenant,—the covenant with Abraham,—his everlasting covenant,—which he had given them before they left Egypt at all. For, as we have seen, Israel broke both the law of God and their covenant not to break it. And when Moses came down from the mount, having in his hands the tables of the law that they had covenanted to obey “indeed,” and saw what they had done, “he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount” (Ex. 32:19), “thus signifying that as they had broken their covenant with God, so God had broken his covenant with them.”—“Patriarchs and Prophets, page 320. They thus found themselves stranded, and utterly helpless, with all their resources utterly exhausted. For “they could not hope for the favor of God through a covenant which they had broken; and now, seeing their sinfulness and their need of pardon, they were brought to feel their need of the Saviour revealed in the Abrahamic covenant, and shadowed forth in the sacrificial offerings. Now by faith and love they were bound to God as their deliverer from the bondage of sin. Now they were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the new covenant.”—Id., page 372. Thus the covenant from Sinai brought them to the covenant with Abraham. The first covenant brought them to the second covenant. The old covenant brought them to the new covenant. And thus the law, which was the basis of that covenant,—the broken law,—was the schoolmaster to bring them to Christ, that they might be justified by faith. Please study this study closely and carefully; for, in the next studies, we pass from this to the study of the new covenant. “PEACE BE UNTO YOU.”
By Uriah Smith
The world sighs for peace, but is greeted with the alarm of war. Waves of strife, fulfilling our Saviour’s prediction of the nature of the closing years of time, are surging over all the earth. “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” The world is in the turmoil of war, because war dominates the hearts of men. “There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.” “The way of peace have they not known.” The most comprehensive and abundant promises in all the Scriptures pertain to the blessings of peace. The Lord will bless his people with peace. “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” Of Jerusalem rebuilt, after the captivity, the Lord says, “In this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.” And the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, are beautiful on the mountains. The Lord promised to make a covenant of peace with his people. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee.” The Saviour is named the “Prince of peace;” God is the “God of peace;” his kingdom is the kingdom of peace “from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.” Zech. 9:10. The birth of the Messiah into this world was heralded by the proclamation, “On earth peace, good will toward men,” which under his reign will all be accomplished. “Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end.” Isa. 9:7. In his last legacy to his people, the Lord laid greater stress upon the bestowal of his peace than upon any other point. He said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” John 14:27. And this is peace such as the world can not bestow upon us, and can not take away from us; for it is beyond the reach of the world itself. It is the peace that “passeth all understanding.” Again and again it is said to be “peace from God the Father;” and comes as a benediction “from him which is, and which was, and which is to come,” growing ever in volume, power, and blessedness, with no sign of any end. After his resurrection, our Lord made this endowment more prominent than any other. When he first met with his disciples collectively, twice he greeted them with the words, “Peace be unto you;” and when, after eight days, again they were within, and he met with them, by passing miraculously through closed doors, as we shall have power to do when our vile bodies are fashioned like unto his glorious body (Phil. 3:21), his first greeting again was, “Peace be unto you.” From what one has been uniformly in the past, we may accurately judge of what he will be in the future, especially in the case of our Lord, who changes not. We may be assured, then, that as he was then, while with them in the flesh, he will continue to be, as related to his people, to the end of the world, according to his promise, breathing upon us his Holy Spirit, and summoning us to the enjoyment of his peace. His visit to his disciples at that time was undeserved, uninvited, and unexpected, but most welcome, nevertheless. How it brought out the divine characteristics of forbearance, gentleness, and love! The disciples, as professed followers of Christ, had been acting most unworthily. They had fled from him when he was betrayed, and deserted him at his trial, and they were even then unbelieving respecting his resurrection, refusing to credit the testimony of those who testified that they had seen him. Yet he was anxious to lift them out of their embarrassment, banish their trial, and restore their confidence and comfort; for they were like sheep without a shepherd, and needed his presence. But they had this in their favor: they were making use of the little life they had left. They were assembled together, and though it was from “fear of the Jews” that they had shut themselves up in the place of their common abode (Acts 1:13), instead of having met to celebrate the day of the resurrection of Christ, in which they did not then believe (Mark 16:13), nevertheless it gave the Saviour opportunity to meet with them, and help them. But more than this, they were overwhelmed with what they supposed was their irreparable loss, and were lamenting his absence, thus manifesting their desire for his presence again; and then he met them, and said, “Peace be unto you.” How full of life and comfort these words must have been to them. This greeting was a benediction. He wished them to dismiss their troubles from their hearts, and let the divine peace within. It was to make actual what he had spoken to them before his departure from them: “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me.” It was a declaration that they were at peace with God. It was a divine fiat, as much as to say that it should be so; and it inspired them with peace. And it was a divine sentence of absolution from all their wrongs; for it must have put away all their offenses and shortcomings, which were calculated to destroy their peace of mind. These words, “Peace be unto you,” were for all time; so to-day by his Spirit the Lord says the same words to us, to calm all the disturbances of our hearts, if this is not already done; or if it is, to do it in a still greater degree, to relieve from care, to discharge from all sin, to deliver from spiritual conflicts, and to give each one of us immediate and perfect peace. And what was the result of this meeting of Christ with his disciples, and of his benediction upon them?—It begot them again to a lively hope, so that even Thomas was obliged to cast off his obstinate unbelief, and to exclaim, “My Lord and my God.” He placed upon them the seal of his love for them, by showing them his hands and his feet. He refreshed their memory: “These are the words which I spake unto you.” Luke 24:44. He opened their understanding. Verse 45. He laid out before them their work: “And ye are witnesses of these things.” Verse 48. He filled them with joy. John 20:20. Does the Lord ever come to us for the same reasons, and with the same results? If not, why not? “Lo, I am with you alway,” he says, “even unto the end of the world.” And may we not expect that as we draw near the limit of the time, he will vouchsafe to us more marked fulfillments of the promise? It is said that there are, far down in the ocean bed, depths where the waters are forever undisturbed; no storms ever move them, but everlasting calm and silence reign supreme. There are also heights in the heavens above, far beyond the airiest films of clouds or winds or birds, basking in everlasting sunshine, and reached only by the music of the spheres. These are illustrations of the exhaustless mines and sure treasures of peace that belong to the Christian, the fruit of righteousness that is sown in peace, of them that make peace, and that will, according to the prayer of the apostle, be multiplied unto the elect. The first words of the Master to those who first met him after his resurrection were, “All hail;” that is, Rejoice. To the second company he said, “Peace be unto you.” Those who composed this company, as we have seen, had been guilty of waywardness and unfaithfulness in regard to him; but like his great prototype, Joseph, he took special pains to relieve them from all embarrassment and depression of spirit. After his brethren had put Joseph into the pit, and had then sold him into slavery, and finally were brought before him, face to face, as suppliants, when he was possessed of all the power and glory of Egypt, he did not say, simply, “I am Joseph,” and then leave them to the terrible emotions of their own hearts, under the memories of their past wrongs, which must have crowded into their minds; but he said, “I am Joseph your brother.” To the mention of his own name he immediately added that of his relationship, “your brother.” So when he met his disciples, Christ, knowing all hearts, knew that, besides their great grief, they458 must have had a feeling of burning shame on account of their treatment of himself; and he said, as he disclosed himself to them, and showed them his hands and his feet, “Peace be unto you.” It reminds us of the course pursued by the angel toward the prophet Daniel, when he had sunk down overwhelmed with a sense of the angel’s glory. He placed his hand upon Daniel, and said, “O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me,” says Daniel, “I was strengthened, and said, Let my Lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.” So the Lord, in making himself known to those whom he had loved so intensely, but who had treated him so unworthily, sent them first the message, by Mary, “Go, tell my brethren.” Then he followed this message by personally appearing before them, with these words: “Peace be unto you.” Their own experiences and thoughts at that time were not calculated to throw them into a very peaceful frame of mind; but Christ wished them to be peaceful and strong in him, and expressed his wish in words which were for all time, and for the whole household. THE POWER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS DELIVERS FROM DEATH.
It hardly seems possible that any thoughtful student of the Scriptures can read the experience of Daniel as recorded in this sixth chapter, without noticing the parallel between it and the experience of the Son of man when he was betrayed into the hands of sinners. They were both delivered up on account of envy; they were both falsely charged with such disregard of the civil authority as really amounted to treason; in both cases the accusers made use of the civil power as a means of accomplishing their own personal ends; in both cases the ruler before whom the case was tried, was satisfied of the innocence of the accused, and desired to set him free, but was led to pronounce sentence against him by the clamor of the accusers, and through fear of loss of his own position; in both cases extra precautions were taken to prevent any human interference with the complete success of the plan, the seal of the civil power being set upon the stone which closed the door of hope; in both cases those who came “very early in the morning” found that a great deliverance had been wrought through the innocence of the accused; and in both cases the gospel of the kingdom was proclaimed throughout all the world, as the direct result of the effort to destroy the life which was revealing it. If the Jews in the time of Christ had understood this lesson from the book of Daniel, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” And if the people of this generation understood it, there would never be a decree passed “that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” “Whoso readeth, let him understand.” Although the presidents and the princes were apparently much concerned for the welfare of the king, and the stability of the kingdom, and had acted in this matter with a great outward show of regard for the person of the king, yet the sequel showed that this was all a hollow mockery, and that they cared only for their own selfish ends, with an utter disregard for the effect of their conduct upon the peace of mind of the king. “Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of music brought before him: and his sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.” The contrast is again sharply drawn between the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of heaven; between the one who is surrounded with the outward indications of royalty, the pomp and circumstance of the court, and the one who has the kingdom of God within him. “The king went to his palace;” but the palace could give him neither peace of mind nor rest of body. Daniel spent the night in the den of lions, but had both, because the “kingdom of God is . . . peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” And the king was glad to go from the palace to the den of lions “very early in the morning,” and found peace of mind only in learning that the wicked scheme, in which he had acted his part, had failed of its purpose. How plain it is again made that he who sits upon a throne is not always a king, and that character is the true test of membership in the royal family. Darius did not dare to stand for the right regardless of the consequences to himself, and the consequences of this course were destructive to his own peace of mind; he was the slave of corruption, the mere creature of circumstances. Daniel remembered that he was a servant of the living God, and was loyal to him regardless of the consequences to himself; and the consequences were full of glory. He was the Lord’s freeman, the ruler of circumstances. The co-operation of the human with the divine in the Lord’s provision to deliver man from all the destructive power of him who, “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour,” is plainly brought out in the experience of Daniel. God sent an angel, and shut the lions’ mouths; but this was made possible by the fact that Daniel maintained his communion with God. He did not himself cut off the channel of communication. “No manner of hurt was found upon him;” but this deliverance was not the result of any arbitrary act upon the part of God, merely to show his power, but “because he believed in his God.” Faith is the key that God has placed in the hand of man, with which he may unlock the storehouse of heaven, and share with God all that God has. He is thus brought into the current of God’s own life, and experiences the power of the endless life, and becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Being thus united with the whole thought and purpose of God, all heaven is at his command to give him success in the way of the Lord, and he will experience the fulfillment of the promise that “whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Thus it was with all those “who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.” Thus it is that “all things are possible to him that believeth.” In continuing his communion with God “as he did aforetime,” even when he “knew that the writing was signed,” Daniel had openly disregarded a decree which had been passed in due form, and established “according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not,” and yet in his deliverance from death the testimony was borne that he was innocent before God, and had done the king no hurt. This makes it clear that God has never conferred upon any civil ruler the power to interfere with his servants in rendering to him what is his due as Lord of all. Ruler and subjects alike are the servants of the most high God, and each one in his place is to serve him continually. It was because Daniel recognized that he was a servant of the living God, and then served him continually, that his God was able to deliver him from the lions. Any other course on the part of Daniel would have separated him from the protecting presence and power of God, and would have left him alone with the wild beasts. It is Immanuel, “God with us,” who is “the Deliverer.” The testimony of Paul the apostle is, “The Lord stood with me, . . . and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.” “The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.” (This study to be concluded next week.)