Review and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 48. (11/27/1913)

Review and Herald

Nov 27, 1913

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 27, 1913

THE WORK AND THE WORKERS

By Editor

ONE of our lady agents in Los Angeles, Cal., has just sent in her order for 1,000 copies of Life and Health. Have you examined the December number?

THERE has just come to the circulation manager’s desk the December, or “Idolatry of the Mass,” and “Our Protest,” number of the Protestant Magazine. You ought to read it. Your Catholic and Protestant neighbors ought to read it. The small sum of $3.00 will pay for sending it to ten different addresses for six months,—only 30 cents for each. Make your name one of the ten. Send $1.00 for 20 copies or $2.00 for 50, for sale or distribution in your neighborhood.

HAVE you noticed the striking cartoons in the December Life and Health? Every one of them is a powerful sermon in itself. Why not organize a club of ten subscriptions for six months (your name being one of the ten), at the low rate of $3.00, or 30 cents each? Cannot begin your subscription back of the November number. Or, make it a club of five yearly subscriptions, at $3.00, and we will throw in the November and December, 1913, issues free with the 1914 subscriptions.

A GENTLEMAN writes from Trenton, N. J.: “The magazine Life and Health was offered for sale at the door today, and I like the publication so much that I feel like subscribing. Please tell me if I can obtain the first nine issues of the present volume, and if so, what you will charge me for them with one year’s subscription, beginning with the November issue. Do you issue bound volumes? Have you any former volumes, bound or unbound, for sale?” Bound volumes, in half leather, cost $1.75 post-paid.

“ENCLOSED please find $2.00 for a year’s subscription to the Protestant Magazine,” writes a gentleman from Lowell, Mass., “beginning with the number dated September, 1913. The other $1.00 is for 20 copies of the magazine for myself. I start tonight to canvass Lowell for subscriptions to the Protestant Magazine. I have had 1,000 cards printed, like the enclosed sent for your approval. Thanking you in advance, etc.” Will not other loyal Protestants take up the systematic canvass of other large cities in this manner? Write your tract society office today, asking for particulars about agency.

A FAVORABLE notice of the Protestant Magazine appeared recently in the Menace, with its weekly circulation of 1,000,694 copies. The following is one of many letters received as the result. It comes from California, and reads as follows: “I am a subscriber to the Protestant Magazine, and have been for two years. It was the Protestant Magazine that brought my husband out from Catholicism. It opened his eyes, and mine, too. We are now bringing up our children as Seventh-day Adventists.—Mrs. J. H. F.” History shows that converted Catholics make the best Protestants. Witness Wyclif, Huss, Jerome, Luther, and other great Reformers. Ask us to send this magazine for six months to ten of your Catholic or Protestant neighbors, at only $3.00. Or, send your own name and those of nine others, at 30 cents each for the six months. Address your tract society today.

THE current, or “America,” number of Liberty magazine is like a two-edged sword, cleaving the union-of-church-and-state principles of Romanism and National Reformism alike. The November 15 issue of the Catholic Standard and Times devoted a 1½-column editorial to an attack upon three articles found on pages 151, 163, and 165, while the November issue of the Christian Statesman contains a four-page review of the article beginning on page 171. Don’t you think it is about time for you to read this number and circulate it among your neighbors? Ten subscriptions for only $2.00. Send $1.00 for 20 or $2.00 for 50 copies. Sell and give them away.

Earth Sanctuaries

By Worthie Harris Holden

WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN

There are temples whose domes are resplendent in beauty, O'erlaid with the finest of marble or gold; There are shrines on which sculptors excelled what was duty, And altars bejeweled whose wealth is untold.

Within, where 'tis hidden from survey of mortal, Are stones all rough-hewn, or an unsightly beam; Beneath shining grandeur of structure or portal Man seeks but support in the places unseen.

But God for his temple requires a dwelling All-glorious within for his presence to bide, Whose scarlet and purple and gold are entwining Where veil-folds their visions embroidered can hide.

Terrestrial abodes by the flesh are encumbered; Without, the tent-temples no beauty can boast; By angel accountants the dwellings are numbered Where God is enshrined with the might of his host.

Unfamed and unknown are the holiest places; The world counts no treasures that heaven can own; These earth-sanctuaries, enhanced by his graces, Arranged in their order, will circle his throne.

Portland, Oregon.

Fruitless Confessions

By John Norton Loughborough

J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH

The apostle Paul, when writing to the Corinthians, presented the work of genuine confession in these words: “Now that I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” 2 Cor. 7: 9-11.

In the above scripture genuine repentance and confession are described. In contrast with this read the following concerning worldly sorrow: “There are too many confessions like that of Pharaoh when he was suffering the judgments of God. He acknowledged his sin in order to escape from the punishment, but returned to his defiance of Heaven as soon as the plagues were stayed. Balaam’s confession was of a similar character. Terrified by the angel standing in his pathway with drawn sword, he acknowledged his guilt, lest he should lose his life. There was no genuine repentance for sin, no contrition, no conversion of purpose, no abhorrence of evil, and no worth or virtue in his confession. Judas Iscariot, after betraying his Lord, returned to the priests, exclaiming, ‘I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.’ But his confession was not of such a character as would commend him to the mercy of God. It was forced from his guilty soul by an awful sense of condemnation, and a fearful looking for of judgment. The consequences that were to result to him drew forth from him this acknowledgment of his great sin. There was no deep, heart-breaking grief in his soul that he had delivered the Son of God to be mocked, scourged, and crucified; that he had betrayed the Holy One of Israel into the hands of wicked and unscrupulous men. His confession was only prompted by a selfish and darkened heart.”

In the case of Judas we have an illustration of what Paul calls “the sorrow of the world,” which “worketh death.” We have also an illustration of the working of worldly sorrow in the case of Ahithophel. When he “saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died.” 2 Sam. 17: 23.

Jeremiah said of Israel, who persisted in following idols after the Lord had reproved them: “As the thief is ashamed [sorry] when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed: they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.” Jer. 2: 26, 27.

Lodi, Cal.

Bible Readings

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

S. N. HASKELL

HOUSE-TO-HOUSE teaching of the word of God is not a modern invention. It is as old as the creation of man. Adam and Eve were visited by angels and instructed in the things of God. The devil seized upon this plan at once, and visited Eve when she was alone, and the result of that visit was the ruin of the human race. The devil has been doing house-to-house visiting ever since. 2 Tim. 3: 6; Titus 1: 11.

Christ and two angels visited Abraham when “he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day,” and were entertained by Abraham and Sarah, after which “Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.” The result of this private interview that Abraham had with the Lord was the salvation of Lot and his two daughters.

While on special occasions the Lord meets and pours out his blessing on large assemblies, as on the day of Pentecost, it should not be forgotten that these very individuals who compose the large assemblies, previously had some personal seasons of private interviews with their Lord. It was in the home of Mary and Martha that Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, listening to his words. Luke 10: 38-42. It was at the home of Aquila and Priscilla that Apollos, the eloquent

Jew, was instructed. Acts 18: 24-28. It is evident that Aquila and Priscilla were what we call house-to-house workers.

No minister can be truly successful unless he is a house-to-house worker, visiting families and thus coming in personal contact with the people. It was the Saviour’s plan; it is God’s method. We do not read that Ezra was a preacher, but he was a scribe, a Levite, a Bible teacher.

The study of the Bible has been the life of the church of God in every age. The Waldensian Christians went on foot from town to town, two and two, visiting families, when if it had been known they were Christians, they would have lost their lives. They went as pedlers, and while one was showing his goods, the other would now and then drop a word to the purchaser, cautiously introducing the promises of the Bible. If it was found safe to do so, they would leave him portions of the Scriptures, and then pass on. Frequently the family would think they had been visited by angels, so comforting were the visit and the words of God given them by the missionaries, who had called in the guise of pedlers. As Satan works with “all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness,” the same course will be followed again by the people of God. No better preparation for the future can be given than an education in house-to-house work.

The tribe of Levi was especially chosen to teach Israel the law of God. Deut. 33: 8-11. They, therefore, were scattered throughout Israel. We do not understand that they were preachers in the common acceptation of the term at the present day. The apostle Paul speaks of teaching as a special gift. “Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers?” 1 Cor. 12: 28, 29. See Eph. 4: 11. Paul and Barnabas continued in Antioch both “teaching and preaching the word of the Lord.” Acts 15: 35. In the days of King Asa we read, “Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.” Then they had trouble, and “great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.” 2 Chron. 15: 3-6. But when they turned to the Lord and held teaching institutes, in which the people in all the cities of Judah were taught, then “the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.” 2 Chron. 17: 7-10. So we conclude that teaching is not the same as preaching. But teaching as well as preaching is as essential for the prosperity of the people of God at the present time as in former days, and a proper revival of this will bring prosperity in the church of God.

The rank and file of the people should be instructed to enter homes and teach the people the truth of God. To the Pharisees Jesus said, “I sat daily with you teaching in the temple.” Matt. 26: 55. Both preaching and teaching must be personal. Said the apostle, “Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.” Col. 1: 28, 29. We therefore conclude that teaching or holding Bible institutes, as well as preaching, is recognized as a divine agency for the building up of the work of God among his people.

South Lancaster, Mass.

The Destruction of Sin

By A. T. Robinson

A. T. ROBINSON

“And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn . . . the fat of the peace-offerings. The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.” Lev. 6: 12, 13. That ceremony meant much to the devout, believing Jew. Through faith it brought into his soul the divine reality of the saving power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The service in the earthly sanctuary was a type of the gospel. But while it was a type, in that it shadowed forth the great offering to be made on Calvary, it was much more than a type to the believing Jew. It was the divine channel through which all the blessings of the gospel were made a reality to him. It is a mistaken idea to suppose that only a sort of typical pardon of sin could be obtained under the Jewish economy. Every offering prompted by faith, brought the offerer into full possession of all that the particular offering symbolized.

In nearly every sacrificial offering made by the penitent Jew the fat of the animal was to be carefully separated and afterward burned upon the altar. It was by this means that the fire was ever to be kept burning upon the altar.

Fire is an agent of destruction, an element which consumes all that it has to prey upon. The fat of the animal offered in sacrifice always represented sin. Separating the fat and burning it upon the altar represented the divine process by which sin is separated from the sinner, and its final and eternal destruction by fire.

Upon the altar of every human heart that is fully surrendered to God, through the office work of the Holy Spirit a fire has been kindled which will never go out, unless it is quenched, until all the dross of sin, all the base metal in the character, is burned out. This process calls for a constant surrender, on the part of the individual, of everything in his life which the Holy Spirit reveals to him is not right.

It is a fundamental doctrine of Seventh-day Adventists that, when the Lord comes, he will find a people in this world in whose lives sin will have come to an end. The promise of God to make Israel a holy people, which has been awaiting fulfilment for thousands of years, will be realized by God’s remnant people before the second coming of Christ. Here is the wording of such a promise: “That your days may be . . . as the days of heaven upon the earth.” Deut. 11: 21.

When Jesus comes, he is to “present . . . to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Eph. 5: 27. Before such a people can be found, it is evident that they will have ceased sinning. Sin will have been separated from their lives. The prophet Isaiah describes such a people, and tells us of the process by which this separation shall have taken place. Here are his words: “In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning.” Isa. 4: 2-4.

Sin cannot exist in the presence of God because the glory of his presence is a “consuming fire” to sin. “Our God is a consuming fire,” is the declaration of both the Old and New Testaments.

The purpose of the gospel is twofold, —to destroy and make an end of sin, and to save the sinner from his sin. In order that sin may be destroyed and the sinner saved eternally, he must be saved from sin now. There must be a separation of sin from the sinner, preceding the final destruction of sin; otherwise the sinner will be destroyed in the destruction of sin.

The gospel is the power of God unto salvation from sin to every one who accepts its provisions. Only those who are saved from the power of sin through the gospel now, in this life, will be saved eternally in the kingdom of God. Every one in whose life the power of the gospel does not work a separation of sin during his probationary life, will perish in sin when sin is destroyed.

The fire that is kindled by the Holy Spirit burns upon the altar of the human heart, and will entirely consume sin out of the life, if it is not quenched. But if that fire is quenched, then the individual will be consumed in the fire that consumes both sin and sinners. In the message borne by John the Baptist, we read: “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matt. 3: 11, 12.

“Our God is a consuming fire.” When Christ made his first advent to this world, he came to be the Saviour of mankind. He came not to destroy sin, but to “save his people from their sins.” He took upon him human flesh and blood. His

glory, which otherwise would have destroyed every being in whom sin was found, was veiled with humanity. He thus became “the author of eternal salvation” from sin. But O, how unlike the first advent of the Son of God will be his second coming, “when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels”! Luke 9: 26. Says the psalmist, in describing the second advent: “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.” Ps. 50: 3.

“By the sacrifice of himself”—by his life and his death on the cross—he made “an end of sins.” Dan. 9: 24. At his second advent he comes to “put away sin” by the sacrifice which was made on the cross. The great eternal purpose of the first advent was to make an end of sin. The great eternal purpose of the second advent will be to put away sin.

At the incarnation Christ took upon him sinful human flesh, flesh that was full of the motions of sins, striving for the mastery in his life. In that kind of flesh he lived a sinless life. Thus he “condemned sin in the flesh.” He terminated the right of sin to rule and reign in human flesh. By doing this—by conquering sin in sinful flesh—he gained for his followers the right to live a sinless life in sinful flesh. He made “an end of sins” for every one who will appropriate what he has done for him. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” Rom. 6: 12.

The fulness of the blessed gospel of Jesus Christ is nothing short of complete victory over the power of sin in one’s life. The dominion of sin in the life of the Christian is a constant denial of two of the greatest truths of the gospel: First, it denies the fact that Christ actually “condemned sin in the flesh,” and second, it denies the fact that the gospel “is the power of God” to save from sin.

College View, Nebr.

(To be concluded)

Did Jephthah Sacrifice His Daughter?

By Stemple White

STEMPLE WHITE

Infidelity is ever ready to find fault with what it thinks the Bible teaches, and would at any time impeach the word of God. Thus it is that some raise their hands in horror at the story of Jephthah, who, says the critic, offered up as a burnt sacrifice his only daughter, in order to keep his word with God; in other words, broke God's law in order to keep it.

Did Jephthah offer his only daughter as a burnt sacrifice?—A thousand times No! Jephthah did not do this, neither does the Bible teach that he did. “But,” says one, quoting Judges 11: 39, “does not the record say that he ‘did with her according to his vow which he had vowed’?” We answer, Certainly, he did with her according to his vow. But what was his vow? Read Judges 11: 30, 31.

“And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” The marginal reading says, “Or I will offer it, etc.” Jephthah well knew that his only daughter or some of his favorite stock might first meet him on his return home, hence vowed accordingly. If a bullock or ram should first meet him, it was to be offered as a special sacrifice. If his only daughter should first meet him, then she should be the Lord's; not to be offered up as a burnt sacrifice, but, like the Nazarite, not to marry, which in those days of the promised Seed to come was a condition not to be envied by any daughter of Israel. We know that the marginal rendering is correct, by what follows. So we read the simple narrative as found in Judges 11: 34-40:— “ And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back. And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.” And now, after Jephthah had informed his daughter of the nature of his vow,—that she was to be the Lord's, never to marry,—she accepted the situation, and so it is written: “And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows. And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, that the daughters of Israel went yearly [“from year to year,” margin] to lament [“to TALK WITH,” margin] the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.”

These wicked Ammonites had themselves sprung from one who was the son of one of the daughters of Lot by their own drunken father. Gen. 19: 30-38. These unchaste daughters would “preserve seed.” The Ammonites were ever the enemies of God. So when Jephthah was given a great victory over these wicked descendants of Lot's daughter who would “preserve seed,” then it was that the daughter of Jephthah, unlike the daughters of Lot, accepted the situation according to her father's vow, and in thanksgiving to God for great victory the lineage of Jephthah perished. The only daughter was the Lord's.

Our loving Heavenly Father is not related to Moloch. We cannot keep God's law by breaking it. “To obey is better than sacrifice.” Jephthah did not offer up his daughter as a burnt sacrifice, yet he did with her according to his vow.

Wells, Minn.

The Pot of Manna

By F. W. Stray

F. W. STRAY

“Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant.” Heb. 9: 4.

We dwell much upon the tables of the covenant and the testimony in our thought and teaching, and this is proper; but should we not also dwell upon the other things contained in the ark? There is a beautiful, faith-inspiring lesson in the pot of manna, which represents God’s provision for commandment-keepers.

Israel in bondage to the Egyptians could not fully and freely serve God in outward observance, and live. So the message of God to Pharaoh was, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.” It is evident that as long as they labored they were well fed by the thrifty Egyptians; they ate bread to the full; they got a good living, from that standpoint. But this is not and cannot be the end and aim of existence; and God was not satisfied to leave his people in Egypt, even though well fed. There was much affliction with it, also sin and degradation. “And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness: and gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labor of the people; that they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws.” Ps. 105: 43-45.

And God was leading them out to keep his commandments, and permitted them to face starvation, that he might teach them and all succeeding generations the blessed truth concerning his love and care for his people.

In the sixteenth chapter of Exodus we have the record of the circumstances that led to the placing of the manna in the ark. Now in the wilderness, where no one could interfere with their service to God, they murmured because of the lack of food, and declared that they had been brought out to starve to death. In Egypt they could not fully keep the commandments of God, but had a good living; now they might keep the commandments, but would surely starve to death in the attempt. The answer of their challenge to God was the falling manna. “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy

fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” Deut. 8: 3. Then the purpose of giving the manna was to teach the lesson that man is altogether dependent upon God for his living.

The method of impressing this truth was this: The manna fell every day, and was to be gathered and used, none to be kept for the morrow. This was the word of the Lord; yet some, fearing that it might not fall the next day, kept it over, and it nauseated them, so that they probably lost their appetite for manna for some days at least. Then the word of the Lord came that they were to gather twice as much as usual, and keep it over, because tomorrow would be the Sabbath and there would be no manna in the field. Naturally, after the experience early in the week, many would say, We tried keeping it over, and we do not wish to repeat the experience; it has fallen every day, and we will gather ours fresh tomorrow, even if it is the Sabbath. “And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days.” Ex. 16: 27-29. Henceforth, as a reason for not keeping the commandments of God, no man could advance the idea that he must get a living. “And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread. . . . So Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.” Ex. 16: 32-34.

And so every soul that in succeeding generations should look at the commandments of God, was also to see the bread given by a loving Father. There, beside the commandments of God, was the means of living. With the requirement is the provision; and the only right way to get a living is in the way of the commandments of God,—by every word. Many seek a living in other ways, but they are deceived; for the wages of sin is death, and they are earning death rather than a living.

The Saviour, when tempted in the wilderness to make bread, to live according to the devil’s directions, met him with the very scripture which grew out of this manna experience; and, like Israel in the wilderness, he suffered hunger and was fed of the Lord, for “angels came and ministered unto him.” And so he could teach from his own experience, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

In the time of the end, as brought to view in Rev. 11: 18, 19, “the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” And so in the early days of this movement, when God began to gather the remnant who should keep his commandments, he selected one through whom he could send messages of warning and encouragement to his people; and one of the first things that he did was to take his servant in holy vision into the temple of God, and show her the ark with its contents. We quote from “Early Writings,” page 32, “Subsequent Visions:” “In the holiest I saw an ark; on the top and sides of it was purest gold. On each end of the ark was a lovely cherub, with its wings spread out over it. . . . In the ark was the golden pot of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of stone.”

This teaches the same blessed truth to the remnant as to Israel of old, that God will provide a living for commandment-keepers; that with the Sabbath he will give the bread. In view of all this, we ought never to give place in our thought or teaching to the idea that temporal affairs constitute any reason whatever for failure to keep the commandments as soon as our duty is made plain. With the authority of Jehovah a living is promised to all who will obey from the heart. . . . “No man can serve two masters. . . . Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life [living], what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink.” Matt. 6: 25. When a man stands at the fork of the road, at the parting of the ways, one road is mammon, a living as it appears, the things of this world; the other is the service of God, the way of his commandments. The trumpet-call of the Master comes sounding down through the centuries, and should be voiced by us: “Take no thought for your life.” “Man shall not live by bread alone;” and the bread is beside the law. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” “Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” The will of God on the tables, the promises of God in the pot of manna,—the law and the promises in the ark together,—let us see them both.

Concord, N. H.

Our Responsibility to Earn

By E. K. Slade

Gospel Finance—No. 17

Our Responsibility to Earn

E. K. SLADE

THE time and talents of mankind are not to be used carelessly. Every man is held accountable for the way that he uses these gifts from his Maker. The discharge of our stewardship pertains not only to the use of the property that we possess and to the money that we may earn, but it calls for the proper use of the time placed at our disposal and for the faithful exercise of the talents given us. There is a great need of an awakening and a reform among many concerning this thing. Some remarks that have been made regarding members of our churches being absorbed in business and in money getting, many times have been misunderstood or misapplied. I very seriously question the propriety of some statements that have been made condemning faithful application to business pursuits. To be wrapped up in the pursuit of money or to have the heart set upon it in a selfish way is, of course, not to be approved; but Christian business men cannot feel that their Christianity is contaminated by a legitimate, prosperous, and well-conducted business.

Many have been led to think it wrong to occupy a good-paying position, because in doing so they were not directly engaged in some part of our denominational work. Teachers have given up teaching in the public school, though well qualified for that work, when for the time it was about the only thing they could do. Many persons have turned from lucrative positions where they could conscientiously work and enjoy their Sabbath privileges, because they felt that the only way they could have any part in the cause of God was to be directly engaged in some branch of our conference work. When, in the providence of God, one is called to any branch of our work, that is certainly in the line of duty, but I wish to correct the false notion that a person is under condemnation who is carrying on some other successful and well-paying enterprise.

Altogether too many have seemed to feel that the nearness of the end forbade anything like a well-conducted and productive business. We are truly nearing the end, and it is high time to cut loose from the world; yet this does not mean that we are to become neglectful of the responsibility to do with our might the work that God’s providence provides for us.

“When men of business, farmers, mechanics, merchants, lawyers, etc., become members of the church, they become servants of Christ; and although their talents may be entirely different, their responsibility to advance the cause of God by personal effort, and with their means, is no less than that which rests upon the minister. The woe which will fall upon the minister if he preach not the gospel, will just as surely fall upon the business man if he, with his different talents, will not be a co-worker with Christ in accomplishing the same results.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. IV, page 469.

The thought expressed in this quotation is in harmony with the clear teaching of the Bible on this question of faithful stewardship. It is the lot of a large proportion of the remnant church to furnish the funds to carry on the work. The only money that will be used for this purpose is the tithes and offerings coming from the friends of the cause. The matter of furnishing the means is of no less importance than the preaching of the word. One is just as much a part of the Lord’s work as the other. Of the one who furnishes the means faithfulness is required just as much as of the one who preaches the word.

Mount Vernon, Ohio.

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