Earlier text: A WARNING FOR THIS TIMETHE REVIEW AND HERALD
By I. L. Green
I HAVE been a reader of the REVIEW AND HERALD ever since my attention was called to the three angels’ messages, by Elders J. N. Andrews and M. E. Cornell, many years ago. Of the reading-matter in our home, the REVIEW was regarded next in importance after the Bible. To have been without its weekly visits would have been thought a great deprivation, attended with serious spiritual loss. The numbers of the first year’s volume were made into a book by my mother, now sleeping, that she might preserve them, and loan them to interested readers. Each year the REVIEW has increased in value, and is a faithful exponent of the advancing light of present truth, growing more and more interesting. Language fails to do justice to its meritorious work. It has no commercial value, owing to the character of its work in preparing a people for translation. An attempt to estimate its value in comparison with the subscription price, would be vainly trying to estimate the gifts of the Spirit upon a money basis. The spiritual pulse and temperature of a church or of isolated members may be quite safely determined by consulting the REVIEW subscription lists. Where there are but few, if any, who take the REVIEW, the diagnosis is indeed bad, showing a serious decline of spiritual health. Without a radical change, and the use of the indicated remedy,—subscribing for the REVIEW,—the prognosis is equally unfavorable: spiritual coma must supervene, with death. In order to keep abreast of this wonder-developing age, knowing where we are, what we are, and what our individual relationship is to these rapidly fulfilling prophecies, we must have the key to intelligent interpretation of the word of God and its application. If necessary, let us sacrifice that we may have our inestimable home paper, the ADVENT REVIEW AND SABBATH HERALD. God Knows the Soul’s Melodies
“God knows what keys in the human soul to touch, in order to draw out its sweetest and most perfect harmonies. They may be the minor strains of sadness and sorrow; they may be the loftiest notes of joy and gladness. God knows where the melodies of our nature are, and what discipline will call them forth.” THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST
By W. S. Chapman
The Bible declares that the wages of sin is death. Independently of any declaration in God’s word, this is an actual fact. Sin is a condition—unrighteousness—the opposite of the character of God, and therefore must sometime cease to exist; as all things contrary to God and His government must sooner or later be brought to an end, else God’s throne would be imperiled. Sin, therefore, can not be perpetuated, nor can God maintain eternally aught that has been contaminated with sin. Everything in the natural, physical, and spiritual worlds that has been polluted with sin is to be destroyed. Even the heavens encircling the earth will be dissolved. Nothing that has been defiled with sin can have a part or place in the kingdom to come. Sin—and therefore as a matter of course, the sinner—must disappear so completely that no remembrance of it will remain, except the marks upon the person of the Saviour, received upon the cross. As nothing contrary to God can continue to exist beyond the probationary period granted for the development of sin, it follows that there is no way by which a sinner, as such, can possibly be saved. Nothing out of harmony with God can enter heaven; and as the carnal heart is not subject to God, neither indeed can be, belonging to a world tainted with sin, it must perish with that world; for the wages due—death—is eternal separation from God. Nothing can alter this conclusion, nothing can save a creature tainted with sin; yet while the Lord can not, in justice, save a sinner, as such, it is possible for a sinner to obtain eternal life—a seeming paradox. How can it be? God could have destroyed Adam, and created another being to take his place; but man was very dear to Him, and the great heart of God could not be reconciled to his loss. Satan sinned wilfully and deliberately, knowing the consequences, and was expelled from heaven after a lengthy probation. Man sinned ignorantly and in his innocence, and should he be cut off in his sins without being granted an opportunity to repent? “Man is very dear to God, because he was formed in His own image. . . . In order to understand the value which God places upon man, we need to comprehend the plan of redemption, the costly sacrifice which our Saviour made to save the human race from eternal ruin.”—Mrs. E. G. White, in Review and Herald, June 18, 1895. Yet the problem was how to allow the man—the sinner—to have an eternal existence. The result of sin is death, and die the sinner must—no alternative is possible. If the sinner suffered the penalty of death, God could grant another life, bringing into heaven a new creature, raised from the dead, that had never been subject to the law of sin. “But God can not let sin, unrepented of, go unpunished. He can not welcome any sinner into the courts of heaven. This would introduce woe and misery there.”—Mrs. E. G. White, in Review and Herald, Oct. 17, 1899. Aside from the plan of salvation, even repentance could not save the sinner, and so, of a necessity, Christ had to die in order to make repentance effective. He was to take the place of the sinner, and accept the wages of sin,—death,—that the sinner might be freed from the consequences of sin. But this brought another problem into prominence. Christ, as the Son of God, was God, immortal, having eternal life inherent in Him, and so could not die; yet He was the only being under the dominion of God that could be an acceptable sacrifice. It became necessary to make Him subject to death, but this involved another mighty problem. Death is the result and consequence of sin, and of that alone, and could have no power over a sinless being; therefore Christ had to be made sin (2 Cor. 5:21) in order to die. In other words, it was necessary to give Him a mortal, or sinful, body, which should be subject to death; so God prepared one for Him. Heb. 10:5. His power as God had to be taken from Him. Phil. 2:6-8. He emptied himself, and was “weakened” by being yoked up with sin. 2 Cor. 13:4. With this mortal, sinful flesh, Jesus took the place of Adam, and began where he failed. This body, with Adam’s sin in it, died on the cross (1 Peter 3:18) for Adam’s redemption. Unless it did contain the sins of the world, it could not have been subject to death nor have been killed. The death of this body of sin released Jesus from His weakness; and He rose, by the power of God, with an immortal body, to live again and forever “without sin” (Heb. 9:28); just as Paul describes the death and resurrection of the saints (1 Corinthians 15)—God preparing bodies which have never been under the dominion of sin, and which He can, in justice, receive into heaven. It is not necessary that mortification and decay should, in all cases, attack the mortal body, to enable God to grant a new one. Those who will be translated will be renewed in every way, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; and the new creatures will be not only free from sin, but they will be of material not contaminated with sin. Christ waited until “the end of the world” before accepting a mortal body for the sacrifice, in order that it should contain all the elements of fully developed sin, so that the sins of the world (John 1:29) could all be atoned for at once. Heb. 9:26. Thus the expiation on Calvary is so broad that it takes in the sin and the sinner of every age; and man is forever freed from the curse of Adam’s sin. He “put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” The sinner who will perish with the world is he alone who rejects the work of Christ, and wilfully, like his master, Satan, chooses to continue in a life of sin, rather than yield to God, and be transformed into the image of Christ, that he might have a part and place with the saints in heaven. It follows, therefore, that the sins of every creature were represented in the body of Christ (Heb. 2:9), and that every mortal traces his lineage, through Christ, back to Adam. If it were otherwise, then he whose sins Christ did not carry to the tree could not participate in the redemption He brought to the world. But every soul was represented. The sins of the whole world were atoned for, and man is free, conditionally. Wilful sin alone remains unatoned for. “The work of Jesus is to forgive the sins of the past. . . . In His sufferings and death Jesus has made atonement for all sins of ignorance, but there is no provision made for wilful blindness.”—Mrs. E. G. White, in Review and Herald, April 25, 1893. God has pardoned, and will cleanse from, all else. The world is reconciled to God, and accepted in the Beloved. God will grant repentance to all sinners who will receive it, and call upon Him (John 6:37), transforming and renewing the mind, through Christ (Rom. 12:1), and at last granting the finishing touch of immortality, which will make every saint a spirit, in body as well as in mind (Rom. 8:23), and fit him for association with angels, when all shall be caught up to meet the blessed One in the air, evermore to be with Him. This blessed release is prefigured in the ordinance of baptism, the believer leaving in the watery grave, in figure, as he will some day leave in fact, the old man of sin, and rising, a new creature in Christ Jesus, to serve God here, and eventually to be translated to the mansion prepared for him. Haydn’s Cheerful Sacred Music
WHEN Haydn, the celebrated composer, was asked how all his sacred music was so cheerful, he said: “I can not make it otherwise; I write according to the thoughts I feel; when I think upon God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap, as it were, from my pen; and since God has given me a cheerful heart, it will be pardoned me that I serve Him with a cheerful spirit.” WE LIVE IN DEEDS
By P. J. Bailey
We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
And he whose heart beats quickest lives longest;
Lives in one hour more than in years do some
Whose fat blood sleeps as it slips along their veins.
Life is but a means to an end—that end—
Beginning, mean, and end, to all things—God.
— P. J. Bailey. HOW TO CULTIVATE IN THE YOUNG A DISTASTE FOR NARCOTICS AND STIMULANTS
By Kate Lindsay, M. D.
The child, when it enters the world, has all things to learn. It comes into life for itself at birth, with certain tendencies; or, in other words, with a predisposition to learn in some directions more easily than in others. These predispositions are called hereditary tendencies, and are the result of the formation of the child's mind and body more or less after the pattern of its ancestors. Whether the seed thus planted shall remain latent, or be stimulated to active, potent energy, depends upon the education of the little one. Ever since the first pair in Eden fell through appetite, every child has inherited an appetite more or less perverted. In view of this, parents should study to understand their own tendencies in this direction, and should take special pains to cultivate proper dietetic habits in the young. The craving for strong drink, tobacco, or narcotics may lie latent for years, and suddenly be awakened to activity by some weakening bodily illness, or some intense depressing emotion, by taxing mental labor, grief, loss of property, or some other misfortune. As soon as the youth reaches manhood, and many times even in childhood, the temptation to indulge in strong drink or tobacco is before him. Anxious to reach man's estate, and to take an active part in the duties of life, to be a power and have influence with his companions, every boy desires to do as he sees older persons do. At school and college, among his fellows, perchance a few years older than himself, he is told that in order to be a man, he must learn to drink, smoke, and use bad and profane language. If the parent has not already taught him the important lesson that these are the habits that destroy manhood and wreck life, he will surely fall into the snare set for unwary feet. It is an easy matter to-day to show that at any time of life the use of strong drink and tobacco impairs all the organs of the body, and that it is especially destructive to the sensitive, developing cell structures of the growing animal, whether of man or of the lower animals. By feeding puppies alcohol, their growth may be entirely checked; and young children can be so powerfully intoxicated by alcohol as to be killed outright. The history of our army, in the rejection of so many youthful cigarette smokers because of physical imperfection, such as weak hearts, imperfectly developed lungs, and defective eyesight, should be made known to the young. How can the inexperienced youth know how to choose what is good and eschew what is evil, unless some one tells him what is right and what is wrong? This knowledge must be taught him before the drink and tobacco habits are formed, or it will be too late. After the brain is damaged, and all the organs of the body have been robbed of much of their working energy, and the desire for these poisons has been created, it will be too late to do much for the youth until he is truly converted; then what a time of trial, agony, and almost despair, of falling and failure, before he can regain a portion of the heritage of health and strength that should have been his to use for God and humanity. I hear some parent say, But we don't know how to instruct our children in these matters, as we do not know about them ourselves. There are many books of small size, written in simple language, which are a great help in this matter. Then keep your eyes open for life-wrecks, which lie all along the pathway of every man and woman. These can be made useful object lessons. They appeal to the youthful intellect as nothing else will. Remember the child must be taught how and why to avoid those poisons. The temptation to indulge in them all must meet. Parents can but develop, by God's help, the power to resist and overcome. EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONDENCE
I AM indeed thankful for the papers for the box. A minister was here a few weeks ago. He came to the box, took some papers, and sat down and read a long time. Then he came to our house and stayed all night. He said he wanted light on the subject of the millennium. This is the second one whom the Lord has sent to me for light. I suppose you will remember receiving a letter about two months ago, without signature, asking your advice. I sent the letter, and I did not know what to do. My husband forbade me to do any work on Sunday, and I asked you if it would be all right to work in secret. You advised me, through the REVIEW, not to do anything to deceive him, but to go to church with him when he asked me to, to make visits with him on Sunday, to visit the sick, and to do all the missionary work I could. I am thankful for your advice, and have tried to do as you told me, and have prayed to the Lord to teach me the right way. And after many a trial the victory is won, and my husband is now keeping the Sabbath with me. I feel that I can not thank the dear Lord and you enough. Pray for us, that we may be faithful. I also request prayer for my dear sisters, who are not keeping the Sabbath, and for some dear friends. I wish to meet all my dear ones in heaven. On a cold, blustery morning a short time ago, a dear, energetic sister drove up to the door, and wished to buy eight copies of “Christ’s Object Lessons.” We knew, from the expression of interest and satisfaction on this sister’s face, as she turned over the ten dollars for the books, that there was a story of careful work back of this order; and we soon learned that she lives on a farm seventeen miles from Battle Creek, and had driven all that distance that wintry morning to get the books for eight of her neighbors, living within a radius of a few miles of her home, to whom she had taken the book and presented its mission, and received their orders. She said she had sold twelve copies, but that four of the persons were not ready to take the book just then. As we talked with this sister, we were inspired with more diligence in our work, and more enthusiasm to help our sisters do their part. She is one of our gospel workers, and says she turns to our page in the REVIEW almost the first thing every week. We feel that our circle of workers is enlarging, and we hope that soon every sister will feel the inspiration that comes with earnest work, and will share with us her experiences. “In chapter 13 is described another Beast, ‘like unto a leopard,’ to which the dragon gave ‘his power, and his seat, and great authority.’ This symbol, as most Protestants have believed, represents the papacy, which succeeded to the power and seat and authority once possessed by the ancient Roman Empire.” The ten horns denote ten kingdoms. The crowns upon their horns represent independent kingly power. The seven heads are explained in Rev. 17:9, 10. This Beast’s having the body of a leopard, feet of a bear, and mouth of a lion, shows the character87 of the first three kingdoms of Daniel 7. Although their dominion was taken away, their lives were prolonged by being merged into the succeeding kingdom. Dan. 7:12. “In the sixth century the papacy had become firmly established. Its seat of power was fixed in the imperial city, and the Bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire Church. Paganism had given place to papacy. Constantine removed his capital to Constantinople in A. D. 330. The dragon had given to ‘the Beast’ his power, and his seat, and great authority. Now began the twelve hundred and sixty years mentioned in Daniel and Revelation. The forty-two months—thirty days to a month—is the same as the twelve hundred and sixty years. Here for centuries was fulfilled Luke 21:16, 17. This was the beginning of the Dark Ages. Persecution raged against the people of God. Christians were forced to yield their integrity, to bow to ceremonies contrary to the conviction of their own conscience, or to wear away their lives in dungeons, to suffer death by the rack, the fagots, of the headsman’s ax.” These were the days of peril for the Church of Christ. The faithful standard bearers were few indeed. Though the truth was not left without witnesses, yet at times it seemed that error and superstition would wholly prevail, and true religion would be banished from the earth. The gospel was lost sight of, but the forms of religion were multiplied, and the people were burdened with rigorous exactions. The same spirit of hatred and opposition to the truth has inspired the enemies of God in every age, and the same vigilance and fidelity have been required in His servants. The words of Christ to the first disciples are applicable to His followers to the close of time: “What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” The infliction of the deadly wound of one of its heads points to the abolition of the papacy, in A. D. 1798. At this time the pope was taken prisoner by Berthier, a French general, and put in prison, where he died the next year. But the prophecy says that the deadly wound was healed. This power will be revived, and will be active when Christ comes. Dan. 7:11, 21, 22; 2 Thess. 2:3-8; Rev. 19:20. “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life.” “The prophecy of Revelation 13 also declares that the power represented by the Beast with the lamblike horns, shall cause the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the papacy,—there symbolized by the Beast ‘like unto a leopard.’ The Beast of two horns is also to say ‘to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an Image to the Beast;’ and, furthermore, it is to command all, ‘both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond,’ to receive the mark of the Beast. It has been shown that the United States is the power represented by the Beast with lamblike horns, that this prophecy will be fulfilled when the United States shall enforce Sunday, which some claim as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy.” Again, in “Great Controversy,” page 439, in speaking of the Beast’s going into captivity in 1798: “At this point another symbol is introduced. Says the prophet, ‘I beheld another Beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb.’ Both the appearance of this Beast and the manner of its rise indicate that the nation which it represents is unlike those presented under the preceding symbols. The great kingdoms that have ruled the world were presented by the prophet Daniel as beasts of prey, rising when the ‘four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea.’ In Revelation 17 an angel explained that waters represent ‘peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.’ Winds are a symbol of strife. The four winds of heaven striving upon the great sea, represent the terrible scenes of conquest and revolution by which kingdoms have attained to power. But the Beast with lamblike horns was seen ‘coming up out of the earth.’ Instead of overthrowing other powers to establish itself, the nation thus represented must arise in territory previously unoccupied, and grow up gradually and peacefully.” “What nation in the New World was in 1798 rising into power, giving promise of strength and greatness, and attracting the attention of the world? The application of the symbol admits of no question. One nation, and only one, meets the specification of this prophecy; it points unmistakably to the United States of America.” Such is the testimony of the Spirit of God upon the application of this prophecy. Again we read: “‘Saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an Image to the Beast.’ Here is clearly presented a form of government in which the legislative power rests with the people,—a most striking evidence that the United States is the nation denoted in the prophecy. But what is the ‘Image to the Beast’? and how is it to be formed? The Image is made by the two-horned Beast, and is an Image to the first Beast. It is also called an Image of the Beast. . . . In order for the United States to form an Image of the Beast, the religious power must so control the civil government that the authority of the State will also be employed by the Church to accomplish her own ends.” This to a large extent is being done to-day. Two events are to occur before the second coming of Christ: (1) The United States will make a law in behalf of Sunday-keeping. But as nearly all the States already have a Sunday law, there will be no delay upon that point. “I saw that the two-horned Beast had a dragon’s mouth, and that this power was in his head, and that the decree would go out of his mouth;” (2) After such steps are taken, “the Catholics bid the Protestants to go forward and issue a decree that all who will not observe the first day of the week instead of the seventh day shall be slain. And the Catholics, whose numbers are large, will stand by the Protestants. The Catholics will give their power to the Image of the Beast, and the Protestants will work as their mother worked before them, to destroy the saints. But before their decree brings forth, or bears fruit, the saints will be delivered by the voice of God.” This is under the sixth plague. From a careful consideration of the present condition of things in this government, any one can see there is but a step between us and the ending of probation. There is no event that will tell the people of God when that will take place, as no man knows how much of this work referred to will be done after probation ends. Spiritualism comes to the aid in this work, for it will work miracles to encourage faith and belief in the Beast and his Image. Miracles are wrought now, but how much of this work will be done in probationary time we can not tell. Again, in “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. V, page 712: “When our nation shall so abjure the principles of its government as to enact a Sunday law, Protestantism will in this act join hands with popery.” Again, on page 451: “On this battlefield comes the last great conflict of the controversy between truth and error. . . . When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power; when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with Spiritualism; when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan, that the end is near.” See “Great Controversy,” chapters 3 and 35. The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes of affliction and distress which prophets have described as the time of Jacob’s trouble. The cries of the faithful, persecuted ones ascend to heaven. And as the blood of Abel cried from the ground, there are also voices crying from the martyrs’ graves, from the sepulchers of the sea, from mountain caverns, from convent vaults, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Rev. 6:10. Such are the scenes we are brought into at the close of this chapter. SOAK the desired quantity overnight in cold water. In the morning pour off the water, add fresh water, and let them boil for a few minutes. Then pour off the water, and cover about an inch deep with boiling water. Set on the back of the stove, and cook slowly for five or six hours. Serve with only a seasoning of salt. The prolonged slow cooking adds much to their palatableness. NOTICES!
By Mrs. Geo. A. Irwin
ALL communications in regard to matters pertaining to this page should be sent to 271 W. Main St. A FEW weeks ago we asked for the names of all those who were not taking the REVIEW, AND HERALD, and were not able to take it. We have received quite a number of names in response to this, and now we should like to have the names of all those who are willing to re-mail the REVIEW each week after reading it. We have a small fund from which to provide those outside of churches and Conferences with the REVIEW; but there are many others who are too poor to subscribe for the paper, and we feel sure that there are many of our brethren and sisters who will be glad to share their papers with others. There may be others who would deem it a privilege to send a three-months’, six-months’, or a year’s subscription to some poor sister who is not able to take the paper. Daily Reading for February 10-16
Sunday, “Thoughts on the Revelation,” pp. 520-527. Tuesday, “ “ “ page 540 to middle of page 557. Wednesday, “Thoughts on the Revelation,” middle of page 557-566. Thursday, “Thoughts on the Revelation,” pages 566-581. 1. What is the significance of the Beast’s rising from the sea? 2. Describe the heads and horns. 3. How is the Beast’s relationship to Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Grecia shown? 4. What has it received from pagan Rome? 5. When was the Roman capital removed from Rome? 6. What and when was the wound received? 7. How many worship the Beast? 8. In worshiping the Beast, what other power is worshiped? Verse 4. 9. How long was special power given him? Give dates. 10. Against how many does he speak blasphemy? Verse 6. 11. What power was given him? Verse 7. 12. Who will refuse to worship the Beast? 13. How extensively is attention called to this power? Verse 9. 14. Give the historical fulfillment of verse 10. 15. What will all this develop in the saints? 16. What is indicated by this Beast’s coming up out of the earth? 18. How is its character portrayed in verse 11? 19. How extensive is its power? 20. Whose worship does it enforce? 21. What is the distinction between causing the “earth” to worship, and requiring those that dwell on the earth to worship? 22. What miracles will be wrought? 23. What miracle-working power has arisen within the territory of the two-horned Beast? 24. What will be accomplished by these miracles? 25. Do miracles wrought by God’s power ever deceive people? 26. What does this miracle-working power say to the inhabitants of the earth? 27. Will the worship of the Image be world-wide? 29. What is an Image to the Beast? 30. Can the form of the Image exist without life? 31. What is to give life unto the Image, and cause it to speak? 32. What penalty will await those who refuse to worship the Image? 34. What is the mark of the Beast? 35. Where will it be received? 36. Will it be possible to dispose of property at that time? 37. What is the number of the Beast? The Philippine Congress and U.S. Senate
In the United States Senate, January 17, the following interesting facts were stated and comparisons made: “In November, 1898, when the Congress of Aguinaldo was assembled at Malolos, there were eighty members of the congress present; and out of that number, forty-three were graduates of the finest universities in Europe. There are not, of the89 eighty-seven Senators present [in the United States Senate], forty-three university graduates, and there never have been in the Senate of the United States, the most august legislative assembly in the world. Yet in this little congress of eighty there were forty-three graduates, not of the colleges or universities of the Philippines, but of Europe; and Paterno, who was the president of the congress, was the man of honor, of two of the most ancient universities and seats of learning in the peninsula of Spain. Not only that, but he has written most valuable books: so valuable indeed that they have been translated into the tongues of Europe; and I do not believe we ever had a president of the Senate who has done that, either before or after he was forty-two years of age.”