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Review and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 6.

A WARNING FOR THIS TIME

Review and Herald

Feb 5, 1901

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 5, 1901

A WARNING FOR THIS TIME

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE
“For this cause,” Paul wrote, “we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.” These words present an advancing religious experience.
“Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.” This is a warning appropriate for this time. Then comes a charge which will often need to be given: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Learn to take the truths that have been revealed, and to handle them in such a way that they will be food for the flock of God.
We shall meet those who allow their minds to wander into idle speculations about things of which nothing is said in the word of God. God has spoken in the plainest language upon every subject that affects the salvation of the soul. But He desires us to avoid all day-dreaming, and He says, Go work to-day in my vineyard. The night cometh wherein no man can work. Cease all idle curiosity; watch, and work, and pray. Study the truths that have been revealed. Christ desires to break up all vacant reveries, and He points us to the fields ripe for the harvest. Unless we work earnestly, eternity will overwhelm us with its burden of responsibility. God has given us talents upon which to trade, and He expects us to increase them by faithful use. He has made us His almoners; and He requires that wherever we shall go, usefulness shall mark our path. If the contemplation of eternal realities unfits us for the duties of the present life, the blame lies with ourselves.
We have encouragement in the Scriptures that if we walk humbly before God, we shall receive instruction. But we are warned against undue curiosity. “Shun profane and vain babblings; for they will increase unto more ungodliness,” leading into paths of supposition and imagination, with which we have nothing to do. These are vain, unessential theories of human creation, which keep the mind dwelling upon nothingness. They have in them nothing sure or substantial. Of those who advance these theories, Paul says: “Their word will eat as doth a canker; of whom is Hymenæus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.”
In the days of the apostles the most foolish heresies were presented as truth. History has been and will be repeated. There will always be those who, though apparently conscientious, will grasp at the shadow, preferring it to the substance. They take error in the place of truth, because error is clothed with a new garment, which they think covers something wonderful. But let the covering be removed, and nothingness appears.
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor.”
The “great house” represents the Church. In the Church will be found the vile as well as the precious. The net cast into the sea gathers both good and bad.
“If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” He is not to accept theories that, if received, would corrupt. He is to purify himself from all unrighteous sentiments, which, if received, would lead away from the sure word of God to unstable human devisings, degradation, and corruption. He is to resist the working of the enemy through vessels of dishonor. By searching the Scriptures with much prayer, he will find a path to follow, not the path of man, but a path that leads to heaven.
The work of purification is an individual work. No one can do this work for another. “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use.” The Spirit of God will work through sanctified human agencies, leading them to work aright. Ability and grace will be provided. Men will be filled with an earnest desire to preach the truths of the gospel, firmly, decidedly, and in a clear manner.
The men intrusted with sacred responsibilities as teachers of spiritual things are representatives of Christ. Having His meekness and lowliness, they day by day witness for Him. They manifest His Spirit in their earnest endeavor to do good, and they receive the unction represented by the holy oil. The impartation of God’s Spirit is an overflowing of the holy oil from the divine receptacle into human vessels prepared to receive it. Thus by the power and grace of God, and under His superintending care, the work is carried forward, in the face of mighty foes. This work is not to cease until its completion amid the triumphant shout of victory, “Grace, grace unto it.”
“Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing them that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”
The members of the Church of God need converting. Unless they are converted, they will lead away from Christ, making crooked paths for their own feet, and turning the lame out of the way. There is just as much need of repentance in and among believers who err from the principles of Christ as among those who have not a knowledge of the way of the Lord. Let the question come home to every soul, Am I walking in Christ’s footsteps? True religion exerts a powerful influence. True Christians are filled with love for God and man; their earnest desire for the salvation of the souls ready to perish gives them decided victories.

MIRACLES AND CHARACTER

By G. W. Reaser

G. W. REASER
MANY are looking for miracles as infallible evidence of heaven-sent doctrine. They seek, like the self-righteous Pharisees, for “a sign from heaven.” The reply of the Saviour to their caviling inquiry was, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.”
The Lord has not always deemed it best to invest His people with miracle-working power, for of John Baptist it is said that “he wrought no miracles;” and yet of those born of women, there was no greater prophet than he. Neither does the Lord express delight in miracle workers as such, but He is well pleased with the humble and contrite of heart, and with the man who manifests faith by trembling at, and obeying, His word. With these He will dwell.
The Lord takes delight in the development of righteous character in His people, and longs to see the fruits of the Spirit appear and abound in their lives. When this is true in our experience, we need not be overanxious about the gifts of the Spirit; for they will not be long deferred, but will be distributed “to every man severally as He will.”
The One who has the gifts of the Spirit to bestow, places a different estimate upon their relative value than we are naturally inclined to fix. As the gifts are classified, the list does not begin with miracles; but three gifts, which are even now manifested in the remnant Church, are given pre-eminence, as it is written: “God hathset some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.”
It is significant that with all the gifts of the Spirit, Christianity, and even the plan of salvation itself, would be a failure without the first of the fruits of the Spirit, which is love. Read 1 Corinthians 13. Let us see to it, then, that by His grace the fruits of the Spirit appear and abound in our lives, and the One who longs to clothe His commandment-keeping people with power will bestow the gifts.
Divinely wrought miracles serve a purpose in the plan of salvation. But the popular idea of what constitutes a miracle, does not make character; for ten lepers were cleansed, but only one responded to the influence of the Holy Spirit, and thereby experienced the change of heart called conversion—the great miracle that God desires to have wrought in every man. It was doubtless in this sense that the apostles fulfilled the prophecy of the Saviour, “The works that I do shall he do also; and greater;” for during their ministry, many more souls were converted in a single day than during the entire period of the Saviour’s earthly life.
Signs and wonders do not make character: the only thing that will give the passport to heaven is character in Jesus Christ. Principles of truth, inwrought in heart and life, and flowing out in words and deeds of goodness, are what God honors.
Those who depend on miraculous manifestations for salvation and for identifying the truth and people of God, are not prepared for heaven, but rather for deception; for Satan will work “with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth; that they might be saved.”

THE WAY IT SEEMS TO ME

By M. L. Leach

M. L. LEACH
(Traverse City, Mich.)
In the dim shadows of the gathering war clouds, the later events in the line of prophecy loom up in huge proportions, while those that come before are lost sight of or sink into comparative insignificance. We look for the great battle in which the kings of the East are to take a conspicuous part, forgetting that the way of the kings of the East will not be prepared till after certain other events, prophesied of as coming first, have actually occurred.
The destruction of the Turkish Empire will prepare the way of the kings of the East. The destruction of this empire will be accomplished by the pouring out of the sixth vial of wrath. This vial will be poured out in its order, after the first five. The first one has not yet been poured out, and will not be until the Image of the Beast is fully developed.
Whether the prophecies of the events already mentioned are literal or symbolical, or partly literal and partly symbolical, makes practically no difference as to our knowledge of their fulfillment. When the Image of the Beast has reached the acme of its power to persecute, we shall know it. When the first vial of wrath is poured out, and there falls a noisome and grievous sore upon the men who have the mark of the Beast and his Image, we shall know it. We shall recognize, without any uncertainty, each vial of wrath, as it follows in order. When the fifth angel pours out his vial upon the seat of the Beast, and his kingdom becomes full of darkness, and the people gnaw their tongues for pain, and blaspheme the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, the saints will not be left in doubt about it. Then, and not till then, we may look for the wiping out of the Turkish Empire.
The war clouds may thicken; there may be actual war in many parts of the earth; but the angels will still hold the four winds. The events of prophecy must occur in their regular order.

WHAT GORMAN DID

By Sophia M. Bryant

SOPHIA M. BRYANT
(Aberdeen, Wash)
(Concluded.)
Mr. Gorman idolized his wife and child. This evening he went down the street with his head bent low, and the cigar unlighted between his teeth. His little boy’s black eye had set him to thinking. When he reached his place of business, the bright lights, the gay crowd, the music, the clink of coin,—all helped to banish any serious thought he may have had while on his way there.
One evening, a week later, just after the crowd began to gather at Gorman’s saloon, a little boy in ragged clothes much too big for him, shambled up to the counter. “I want—a—pail—of beer,” he stammered, laying a quarter in the barkeeper’s hand.
“Ho! ho! hu! Patsy, me jewil, an’ is it yerself?” said an old man, with red eyes, rheumy face, and thick, whisky-choked voice, as he hobbled from a dim corner. It was old Pap Winch, Patsy Flinn’s grandfather, whose every thought was “a drink, one more drink!” He was literally pickled in alcohol, being dead to everything else—an old man of seventy, whose long white hair and beard were sullied with the filth of the alleys and gutters, where he passed most of his time.
The little boy drew back, staring about the room. He took the pail of beer from the barkeeper, and looked, as one fascinated, at the groups of men seated at the card tables.
“Arrah! Patsy, me jewil,” the old man chuckled, as he looked at the foaming pail. “Grandad’ll help ye fetch it home.” The old man reached for the pail; the little boy stepped farther back. The old man’s wheedling changed: “Ye imp! ye spalpeen!” he shrieked. “Ye’ll not give me a sip thin? Take that! and take that! and that!”
“Where’s my papa? I want papa,” came feebly, as the heavy blows fell.
Roy Gorman sprang quickly from one of the card tables when he heard that voice. His face was ghastly as he raised his bleeding boy.
Old Pap Winch trembled, and whimpered: “I didn’t go fer to do it—may the blissed Vargin save me sow! I didn’t go fer to do it, Mr. Gorman. I thought it was Patsy, the imp. Shure, ye’ll not let the hand of the law touch me, wot’s bin yer bes’ tryin’ allus? Do ye moind how me name hidded the list when ye sent round the petition for yer noble license? do ye moind? Shure, now, Mr. Gorman, it’s mony a foine glass we’ve drunk together, and it’s mony more we’ll drink. I didn’t go fer to do it—the poor, little crature, with his yellow curls all blood! I thought it was Patsy as wouldn’t give me a sip o’ beer.”
The old man still held the fire shovel, which had proved such a deadly weapon. Strong hands held the door, and cries of, “Send for the police!” “Send for the doctor!” took the place of the light jests and songs of the moment previous.
“Hush!” cried the agonized father. “My boy, my little innocent boy!”
Strong men wept at sight of the father’s grief. The child’s eyelids lifted. “Was—it a drunkard? Patsy’s clothes—Mama—” And the little life was ended.
The awful news spread like wildfire. Everybody wondered what Roy Gorman would do.
We’ll pass over the mother’s anguish when they laid her broken flower in her arms. She, most of all, wondered what Roy Gorman would do. It was so hard to bear, even with God’s help, and the father had no strong arm to uphold him.
Old Pap Winch staggered home, and gave Patsy a good shaking for not being inside his own clothes. Patsy, poor Patsy, never dreamed it would end the way it did when he coaxed Roy to go and buy a pail of beer, if he wanted to see the drunkards his father made.
“It’s the proper place ye’ll soon be in, Pap,” said Mary Flinn. “It’s me own swate Patsy ye were thinkin’ it was! No doubt ye’d fur rather ’twould be Patsy layin’ cold and dead than Gorman’s boy. How many’s the toime I’ve prayed with ye, and told ye to drink yer beer at home. Ye’ve brought disgrace on us what’s always give ye plenty to drink and eat! You’ll swing fer this! O Patsy, Patsy, wot possessed ye to put yer old duds on that little boy? I wonder what Gorman’ll do to ye for the haythenish trick!”
About midnight a man entered Gorman’s saloon, and the nightwatch dared not interfere when he opened the faucet of every cask and barrel in the great building, flooding the floors with costly wines and liquors. And just as the first faint gray of dawn appeared, the same man stood, with his arm around his wife, and looked out exultantly at the dense masses of smoke and glowing cinders that lost themselves in the somber sky. “So help me, God,” he cried, kneeling beside the little white casket, “I’ll make no more drunkards.”
“Lost everything! No insurance!” said the excited crowd, kicking over the ashes and heaps of melted glass, the next day. “Poor Gorman!”’Tis hard luck for him to lose his new building and his only child the same day. ’Tis a set fire all right enough. I suppose some old toper did it for spite. Wonder what Gorman’ll do? Old Pap’s sure to go to the pen for killing the boy, though he hasn’t been arrested yet.”
Everybody went to the funeral, and everybody soon found out what Gorman would do. After the impressive service, after all had taken a last look at the bruised face of the beautiful child, the father said: “I have not been inside a church for twenty years, and it is not likely I should ever have been again if this had not happened. I know what you all expect me to do; but I’m not going to do it. If I had listened, a week ago, to my conscience, this would not have occurred. My boy would still be alive. I shall not ask the law to help me dispose of a man to whom I have sold liquor till he knows nothing but the taste of alcohol. He thought it was his own grandson whom he was beating, so you see the deed was unpremeditated. I shall do nothing more about this; I shall say nothing more about it. God in His mercy has opened my eyes by the death of my child, to see just how far the innocent may suffer through the guilt of others.”
Pap Winch was bent on his staff, listening to every word. His old gray head shook assent occasionally, though he was too feeble to understand the full import of what he heard.
Roy Gorman laid a hand on the old man’s shoulder. “Pap,” he said, and his voice trembled so that it was almost unintelligible, “Pap, I wish I could give back every dollar I’ve taken from you these fifteen years. I wish I could give back the strength you’ve lost, the manly step and sturdy form, as I first knew it. I’ve taken your home, your money, your manhood; but I’ll not take your liberty.” Going back to his wife’s side, he continued: “I want you all to help me to be a different man. I want to know God my little boy loved to talk about. For fear the burning of my saloon may be laid to others, I will say, I did it myself. I will make no more drunkards.”
“There is joy among the angels over one sinner that repenteth,” said the minister, as Mr. Gorman ceased speaking.
Jane Rodgers cried softly as she led her poor, half-blind old father out of the crowded church, out into the bright radiance of a new day. “I didn’t go fer to do it,” he said, as they bore the little white casket past him. “The pretty, swate creature, wid his yellow curls all blood!”
“There, there, father,” said Jane, “don’t grieve now, it’s all forgiven. Mr. Gorman forgives it, and you’ll come home with me. Alexander’s a good man now, and we’ll do all we can to make your last days comfortable. You’ll not care for you’re cups, father, after this. You’ll be wanting to pray and praise God for His mercy.” Old Pap nodded, and clung to his daughter’s hand.
“And he burned his own saloon,” said Mary Flinn, holding Patsy’s hand in a fonder grasp than ever before, as they followed the long line of carriages. She even softened enough to cry as she thought how near she had been to Patsy’s funeral. “Dan,” she said to her husband, “it’s a wonderful thing he did. I thought Pap would sure eat in a dunjun the rest of his days.”
“’Twas a foine saloon,” said Dan; “and Gorman’s a foine man. I think I’ll quit drinkin’, Mary, ’seein’ Gorman’s gone out of business. They’s no other place I’d patronize.”
“’Twas a most foolish thing to do,” remarked one of the leading business men. “He could have sold out for a good round sum. Very foolish to destroy a solid business like that!”
“Hoo-ray!” cried Patsy, throwing his hat up in the air. “He’s burnt his saloon, and now us on Trounce Alley can have ’nough to eat, ’cause our fathers have all turned temperance.”

THESE ARE THEY

By Emma Herrick Weed

“These are they which came out of great tribulation.” “They are coming this way!” he said,—the angel who kept the gate,— “They enter the city here. Would you see their cohorts? Wait. Within is a great feast spread, and the air with music stirs; For the King himself shall sit this day with the banqueters.”
The heroes of earth! For these, in their march up the aisles of palm, I would wait: from within came forth the surge of a swelling psalm. At thought of the nearing hosts, I shrank in awesome dread— Chief captains and mighty men, who should pass with their martial tread.
Then, slowly, out of the mists up the way whence I looked to see, With glory along their crests, and the light on their panoply, The warriors, splendor-shod, with whose names Time’s annals ring, Came a band of pilgrims, worn as from years of journeying.
Slowly, with halting steps, they come; their unsandaled feet Are bruised by the jagged stones, are scorched by the desert’s heat; Their faces are white, and lined with vigil and patient pain; Their forms are beaten and marred by the storm and the hurricane;
But the stronger uphold the weak.—and their leader upholds a cross. Impatient, I look away down the slopes where the palm plumes toss; Impatient, I turn to him, the angel who keeps the gate,— “But the heroes? Where are they, for whom you bade me wait?”
For answer, the gate swings wide, and dawn streams out on the night; And that way-worn band pass through, their raiment white as the light. For answer, I hear a voice from the heart of the halos say, While the veiled angel bows: “Earth’s heroes? These are they!”
—Emma Herrick Weed, in N. Y. Observer.

THE SABBATH BLESSING

By Chas. P. Whitford

CHAS. P. WHITFORD (Orlando, Fla.)
(Arranged for personal study)
1. My friend, would you like to be rich? The Lord is willing that you should be rich. He is not only willing, but He exchanged riches for poverty that you might become rich. 2 Cor. 8:9.
2. If you wish to be rich, and the Lord wishes you to be rich, then who is at fault if you are not rich? Prov. 13:7.
3. It may be you have been trying to get riches of your own choosing, instead of accepting the riches that the Lord wishes you to have. Luke 12:16-21.
4. In what does true riches consist?—Faith (James 2:5); good works (1 Tim. 6:17-19); “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich.” Prov. 10:22.
5. Where are all spiritual blessings?—In Christ Jesus. Eph. 1:3.
6. Since ALL spiritual blessings are in Christ Jesus, will it be possible to obtain them anywhere except in Christ Jesus?—No.
7. Then, when we find Christ Jesus, in whom are “all spiritual blessings,” and receive Him into our hearts by faith (John 1:12), we come into possession of true riches.
8. Since “the blessing of the Lord . . . maketh rich,” where can we find Christ in a special manner, in whom are all spiritual blessings?—In the seventh day. Gen. 2:3.
9. In what respect is there a blessing connected with the seventh day more than with any other day?—The presence of Christ is in the seventh day as it is in no other day. Ex. 33:14.
10. If we would enjoy a Sabbath blessing, what day will it be necessary for us to keep?—The day upon which the blessing has been placed. Gen. 2:3.
11. Does the Lord say there is a blessing for those who will keep the Sabbath?—“Blessed is the man that . . . keepeth the Sabbath.” Isa. 56:1-7.
12. As “the blessing of the Lord . . . maketh rich,” and as the blessing of the Lord has been placed upon the seventh day, what are we asking our friends to accept when we invite them to observe the seventh day?—“Spiritual blessings,” “heavenly riches.”
13. After having enjoyed the Sabbath blessing ourselves, would it not be selfish in us not to invite others to enjoy it with us also?—Assuredly.
14. Then in proportion as we desire our friends to enjoy a Sabbath blessing, what will we ask them to do?—“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Ex. 20:8.
15. When should we remember the Sabbath?—From sunset Saturday until sunset the following Friday. Lev. 23:32; Deut. 16:6; Mark 1:32.
16. After having kept the Sabbath in mind all the week, how shall we observe it when it comes to us?—“Keep it holy.” Ex. 20:8.
17. Can man keep a day holy that God has not made holy? Could you keep a book clean and bright and new that was old and torn and faded?—No. It is just as impossible to keep a day holy that has no holiness in it. All days are not holy. Only one day is holy, and that day is called by the Lord, “My holy day.” Isa. 58:13.
18. What makes a place holy?—The presence of the Lord. Ex. 3:1-5.
19. Since the presence of the Lord makes a place holy, what makes the seventh day holy?—The presence of the Lord.
20. Why does God continue to us the Sabbath?—That we may enjoy His presence, which is a blessing. It is also “a sign . . . that ye may know that I am the Lord.” Ex. 31:13; 33:14.
21. What is the meaning of the word Sabbath?—Rest. In the Hebrew language the word Sabbath is used to express the thought of rest.
22. Whose rest are we to remember and keep?—The Creator’s rest—not ours. Gen. 2:3.
23. Did the Creator become weary, and so need physical rest?—“The Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary.” Isa. 40:28.
24. If the Creator did not rest because of being weary, could He have been refreshed physically by resting?—No.
25. Then what was the character of God’s rest?—It was spiritual rest.
26. Was the Sabbath made before sin entered the world?—Yes.
27. Then was the Sabbath given before there were any sinful beings?—Yes.
28. For whose necessities was the Sabbath given?—A sinless race of beings.
29. To be sinless is to be spiritual; but do spiritual beings ever become weary?—No.
30. Then was the Sabbath given for physical rest?—No.
31. For what purpose was it given?—To meet the necessities of man’s spiritual nature.
32. What are we to understand by a spiritual rest?—To be “in the Spirit.” Rev. 1:10. Then we can commune with Christ just as a friend communes with his friend.
33. When we labor so hard during the week that we can rest only physically on the Sabbath, do we enjoy sweet communion with Christ?—No. Which do we enjoy best, reading the Bible or taking a good sleep and then a good dinner?
34. What only is acceptable worship?—“They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit.” John 4:24.
35. If we were to visit a friend, and he were to spend all the time apart from us, could it be truthfully said that we had enjoyed sweet communion with our friend?—No. It is true we might sit in the rocking chair all day and enjoy physical rest; but it was not for physical rest that we went to visit our friend. In like manner, we may sit in the rocking chair all day Sabbath, and rest physically, and yet not be in the spirit of the Sabbath rest at all. Let us ever remember that ceasing from labor on any day, whether it be Saturday or Sunday, is not remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy. You may call that Saturday-keeping or Sunday-keeping if you choose, but please do not call it Sabbath-keeping.
36. The presence of Christ in the Sabbath makes it a blessed, holy Sabbath day. The presence of the Spirit of Christ in a man makes that man holy. And when that holy man comes to the holy Sabbath day, he recognizes the presence of the same Spirit that is in his own heart; namely, the presence of love. Gal. 5:22, 23; Rom. 13:10. It is to him indeed a blessed rest. It could notbe to him a Sabbath of rest if he were not blessed with the same blessing that is in the day—the presence of Christ. The Saviour meets with His people on that day in a special manner; and in proportion as we love the Saviour, we shall love the return of the day, because we can enjoy the Saviour’s presence, and uninterrupted communion with Him.
37. We can not keep the Sabbath if we do not love it. Isa. 58:12, 13.
38. Those who have enjoyed spiritual blessings will finally and more fully enjoy the same blessings in the city of God. Rev. 21:1-4; 22:14.
39. Gracious words of comfort will be spoken to them. Matt. 25:23, 34.
40. In ascending, as they approach the city, this song will be sung: “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.” Isa. 26:1-4.
My dear friend, will you be among the company that shall sing that song?

SOWING FOR PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL HEALTH

By David Paulson; W. S. Sadler

David Paulson W. S. Sadler

AUTO-INTOXICATION, OR HOW A MAN MAY POISON HIMSELF

HOW THE SOUL PROTECTS ITSELF AGAINST SPIRITUAL INACTIVITY, DOCTRINAL ERRORS, SATANIC DECEPTIONS, AND OTHER MORAL POISONS

How does the spiritual nature protect itself from encroachments from without and from evil influences within? To answer this question necessitates the study of what we might term moral elimination, or the process whereby the spiritual economy is able sometimes to maintain its existence in the face of overwhelmingly adverse circumstances and unfavorable conditions. How are the morals kept pure? How does the soul protect itself from the surrounding darkness of sin and iniquity? As the incessant elimination of physical poisons through the lungs, skin, and kidneys is absolutely necessary to the maintenance of bodily activities, just so there are certain functions of the soul by whose incessant activity the spiritual nature is purified and kept pure. These constitute the process which, for lack of better terms, we here call spiritual elimination.
With this brief introduction, let us consider the various means by which the spiritual nature protects itself from external and internal influences of a demoralizing and deteriorating nature. See Diagram 5, in the REVIEW of January 8.
1. By Prayer, or Spiritual Respiration.—Death will result quicker from the cessation of respiration than from any other cause; and so prayer, which might be regarded as the respiration of the soul, is one of the vital points in the Christian’s experience. Cease to pray, and you will backslide quicker than from any other known cause. “Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thess. 5:17. Pray without ceasing, because it is necessary for the health of the soul that the Christian should ever be breathing out his will and his mind, and breathing in God’s will and Christ’s mind. Our attitude should ever be that of the Master, as He prayed in Gethsemane, “Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Prayer is an attitude of submission to God, dependence upon God, and confidence and trust in God. Prayer is one of the great channels by which the moral, or spiritual, nature of man is enabled to maintain its purity and resist error. Let the entire being be so consecrated and surrendered to the divine Mind that we shall be able to move in harmony with God,—in harmony with the divine order, in business, in society, at church, and at home.
If prayer be regarded as the breathing of the soul, it is evident that it can not be suppressed nor neglected for a moment without working serious injury to the moral being. It is well to ask, “What would Jesus do if He were here?” but a still more practical truth is found in the admonition, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” By means of incessant prayer, unbroken communion with God, it is possible for the humblest Christian to fortify himself against Satan’s temptation, to overcome his sophistries, and to detect his deceptions. We should ever be found in an attitude of prayer, surrendering our will, and taking God’s will, yes, praying without ceasing.
2. By the Ministry of the Holy Spirit, or Spiritual Oxidation.—All food taken into the stomach for digestion and subsequent assimilation must ultimately be oxidized,—that is, burnt up, converted into heat, force, energy, etc.,—to be utilized in the activities of mind and body. Interference with this process of oxidation is sure to result in conditions of impaired nutrition and physical disease. And so it is with the nourishment of the soul; our spiritual food must not only be masticated, digested,—accepted,—but it must be assimilated; it must actually become a part of the soul. It must be acted upon by the Spirit of God; it must have its energy and power liberated by this divine process. The Holy Spirit is the fire of the spiritual economy. David wrote, “While I was musing, the fire burned.” Truth not acted upon by the Holy Spirit becomes to the soul a foreign substance, a spiritual poison. With mind and will surrendered to the purpose of God, thus allowing the Holy Spirit to act upon all the light we receive, we make it a part of us. Without this, spiritual food of the deepest nature and the richest quality will prove in the end the condemnation of our soul.
In 1 Thess. 5:19 we are bidden, “Quench not the Spirit.” The effect of worldliness and selfishness is to quench the Spirit of God, and thus to extinguish the fires of the soul, to put out the burnings of the spiritual nature; and in this state great truths and glorious light fall unappreciated and unappropriated; moral malnutrition and ultimate starvation stare us in the face. How cold, how careless, and how indifferent to his own soul’s welfare and the salvation of his fellow beings does such a one become—all because of failure to heed the vital and solemn injunction, “Quench not the Spirit.”
3. By the Word of God, or Spiritual Illumination.—The word of God in revelation and nature is one of the great means by which the soul may resist error, and keep itself pure. The soul that drifts away from revelation is soon filled with darkness and doubt. Without revelation, the greatest scientists become skeptics, just as, without science, the most pious souls become superstitious. True science and true religion go hand in hand. The revelation of God to man is the means by which inferior and diseased spiritual food is detected; errors and deceptions are found out, and the moral diet is kept pure. Revelation is the great signboard of heaven on earth, dispelling doubt and perplexity from the mind of the weary pilgrim who questions at the crossroads of life, “Which way shall I go?”
By the Spirit of God within, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it,” together with the signboards of revelation and the waymarks of prophecy, the sincere Christian is enabled to avoid the many bypaths, which would allure him into the way of sin and destruction. “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” John 15:3. “Wherewithal,” asked the psalmist, “shall a young man cleanse his way?” Then comes the answer, “By taking heed thereto according to thy word.” The word of God is the power, and the only power, that can stem thetide of moral defilement in the world to-day, in the forms of skepticism, Spiritualism, Christian science, infidelity, higher criticism, etc.
4. By Working for Others, or Spiritual Exercise.—Christian work, Christian Help work, personal work, working for others,—these are the avenues through which the soul lives, acts, and works. The soul that works only for self can hardly be said to work at all; for selfishness is incompatible with the exercise, growth, and perfection of the spiritual nature. Physical exercise is the most efficient means of maintaining a high degree of physical health; and moral exercise is none the less essential and indispensable to the maintenance of spiritual health and soul activity. “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27. Religion is kept pure by visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction; and the man or woman who is engaged in this work will find little difficulty in keeping unspotted from the world.
The soul that heartily engages in unselfish effort to raise the fallen, rescue the perishing, and care for the dying, is a soul in whose arteries the divine life will pulsate with throbs of health and energy. Christ said: “I came . . . not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me;” also, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” Let a Christian fail regularly and faithfully to take this exercise,—his moral exercise,—and his soul is sure to be filled with doubts, darkness, and despair. There is but one condition on which spiritual happiness and moral prosperity may be the lot of fallen man; and that is the condition that he is willing to spend and be spent unselfishly for the good of his fellow men. The same all-wise Creator that said to Adam, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,” says also, to every Christian, Thou shalt earn thy strength of soul and peace of mind by the spirit of self-sacrifice, by which thou shalt unselfishly labor to uplift thy fallen brother.
5. By Trials and Tribulation.—In the study of physical auto-intoxication, we learned that fever is the safety valve, arranged by divine foresight to save the man from death in case of a great influx of poison into the system, coupled with crippled elimination; and so the loving Creator has arranged for the soul of man a similar provision in case the dangers from error without and darkness within become too great,—in case the privilege of prayer is neglected and the operation of the Holy Spirit is quenched. In this time of serious danger, God sends tribulations and sometimes fiery trials. 1 Peter 4:12. If man will not exchange his will for the divine will; if he persists in smothering the spirit of prayer; if he refuses to allow the Holy Spirit to burn within to consume the dross of selfishness and sin, God does not leave him alone to perish. He now puts the much-loved soul into a fiery furnace. Very often it would seem that He allows the hand of the arch-deceiver to kindle the fire that is to purify the Christian’s soul. But bear in mind that this is more precious than the trial of gold that perisheth, even though it be by fire. And remember that the trial of our faith worketh patience; “patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given us.” Rom. 5:3–5.
Copyrighted, 1900, by David Paulson and W. S. Sadler.

Seek It First in Faith and Prayer

Doth each day, upon its wing, Its allotted burden bring? Load it not beside with sorrow, Which may never come to-morrow; One thing only claims thy care, Seek it first in faith and prayer; All thou mayest need beside He thou trustest will provide.”
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