Earlier text: The American Standard Edition of the Revised BibleThe Decline of Protestantism
By L. A. S.
THAT there is something serious the matter with Protestantism in this country is a conviction which has forced itself upon more than one observing person in the Protestant ranks, as we know from utterances that these have made from time to time upon this subject. One of these, the Rev. Robert Morris Raab, of Buffalo, speaks his mind in a recent issue of The Homiletic Review, and says that “the present policy of Protestantism in this country, if persisted in, must wreck it as a system.” Some of the present-day evils of Protestantism as he sees them are as follows:— Looking at our spiritual condition from the level of history and of experience, taking a most human view of our status, to what conclusions are we forced? Is the prospect of religion in this country bright? Take any group of laymen from any city church; take any body of ministers from any denomination, and put this question to them; what answer will you get? Some, of course, who always indulged in a sort of optimism, as a means of being agreeable, will tell you that the prospect of religion is bright at this time; but the majority of laymen as well as of ministers will present you the opposite view. It is natural for us, when we suffer embarrassment, to look for the cause outside of ourselves. The first thing we are tempted to do, in view of a moral failure, is to locate the cause of that failure outside of ourselves. This is precisely what Protestants are doing at this time. The adverse conditions now confronting Protestantism are traced to agencies outside of Protestantism. . . . The truth is, Protestantism is itself to blame for its own involved condition. The ministry of to-day is largely made up of a body of weak apologists. It is truly pathetic to note the large number of cultivated men in the pulpit who really have no message for the people; that is, no distinctively religious message. And yet it would not be just to attach unqualified blame to these ministers; for you should always bear in mind that the influence of a church over its minister is highly directive of his work. . . . The church’s opposition to dogma has almost wrecked the ministry; for if there is one thing religionists of our time object to, it is hard thinking on religion. And dogma calls for just that thing. The moment a church or a minister takes the attitude of apology, as the one appropriate to its message (or to his message), that moment marks the beginning of defeat. The widespread contempt for religion is due, in large measure, to the temporizing, apologetic attitude of Protestantism. Mr. Raab next notes that “Protestants are seeking to atone for a vanishing faith in the supernatural by relying on the material.” Formalism, “the device of a dead faith,” is being called into requisition. “Splendid church buildings, fine organs, cultivated voices, faultless sermons, make up for the lack of religion among multitudes of Protestants.” Of the loss of faith in prayer he says:— “Is Protestantism losing faith in prayer? This is a delicate question. For my own part, I positively believe that Protestants are losing faith in the efficacy of prayer. This, of course, slants toward atheism. The man who deeply believes in God must believe in the efficacy of prayer, or suppose God bound. But there is a theory gaining considerable currency among Protestants that prayer is not valuable for any favor it brings from God, but valuable only for the beneficent reflex influence it has on the soul. This, of course, is a practical surrender of the Bible doctrine of prayer, and evidences a loss of faith in the supernatural.” The disastrous effect of the higher criticism is not overlooked by Mr. Raab. On this point he says:— Radical higher criticism, which is German rationalism, is entrenched in several of the leading Protestant universities and theological seminaries. What is such criticism doing with the Bible? To answer that question intelligently one must keep in mind the significance which Protestants have generally attached to the “inspiration of the Bible.” By “inspiration” Protestants have meant that the Bible is more than a human production; they have meant that God has revealed himself, his will, our condition, our possibilities, our obligations, and our future destiny in the Bible. To the Bible, Protestants have assigned a unique message, a unique authority. They have held that the Biblical message is final and infallible. It now appears that this ground must be recanvassed, and that radical criticism is a theory by which men must work in recanvassing the ground. That criticism7 denies the inspiration of the Bible, in a distinguishing sense; it denies its inherent authority, it denies its finality, and, of course, rejects the infallibility of the Biblical message. From all this Mr. Raab draws the following conclusion:— A worldly, half-paralyzed church, led by ministers who do not know what to preach, will fall short of changing the moral complexion of the world. The weakened condition of the ministry is quite as pathetic as that of the churches. We may really indulge the hope that men will so sicken of this surface trickery in the name of religion as to hasten a strong reaction in favor of religious certainty and depth. Our times are morally very weak; there is much breaking-down in the best of us. But the nerveless resistance, which has withstood the declension of American religious life, will be forced to take the path of positive reform. If so, Protestantism may fall into two distinct bodies,—one holding strictly to the Biblical message, and the other pursuing a speculative life,—one grappling with the hard facts of life, and relying, for the religious improvement of all conditions of men, upon God; and the other devoting itself to the ceaseless round of intellectual guessing. We reprint observations of this kind from representative Protestant writers for two reasons. First, we desire to give them the widest possible publicity, in the hope that they may arrest the attention of the people, and lead such as desire to know the truth to sober reflection over the situation, and to a search for a more solid foundation of their faith and hopes than the popular Protestant teaching of this day affords; and second, such utterances confirm the soundness of the position taken by those who are proclaiming the third angel’s message. Protestantism, as represented by the popular churches of the day, has indeed declined, and there is a plain reason why it is so. It is not at all mysterious. Mr. Raab touches the vital point in the difficulty when he says that the Protestant churches of to-day have no definite message to give to the world. How can a church hope to prosper spiritually when it has no definite message for the people? It was not so when Protestantism began its career. Then it had a definite, earnest message to the world, calling the people to separate themselves from the errors and sins of Rome. To-day, Protestantism is reaching out the hand to Rome, and has almost ceased to protest. The Protestant churches are without a definite message to-day because they rejected the definite message that came to them from heaven sixty years ago, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come.” Rev. 14:6, 7. That was a very definite message indeed, and one of very great and solemn import. No more definite or important message was ever committed to man. But the churches turned from it, rejected it, and they have been on a decline ever since. If they had received the message, they would have taken an advance step in Protestantism, because the message calls mankind to “worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” He who created these things set apart a day as a memorial of that work, and this is stated in the fourth commandment, which specifies the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Rome has set aside this day, and instituted the first day of the week in its place, and points to the act as the sign of her spiritual authority. The call came from heaven to renounce this badge of the papacy, as other errors of that church had been renounced under the Protestant movement. That would have added mightily to the protest against Rome. But the Protestant churches refused to take the step; and right there they missed the pathway, and their Protestantism began to decline. Seventh-day Protestants are the only ones whose Protestantism has not declined, and who have a definite religious message for the world. They believed their message when they began its proclamation, because it was based upon Scripture; and now the condition into which the Protestant churches have fallen that rejected it, gives added evidence that it is the message of God for this time. THE unwonted disturbance in the realm of nature, in the shape of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tidal waves, the reports of which fill the press columns at this time, is leading people to ask what is the matter, and to speculate on the probable outcome of this elemental disquietude. The editor of the Chicago Tribune is moved to express himself as follows, under the topic, “Nature’s Convulsions:” — The recent report from the expedition which went to the Japanese island of Tori Shima to investigate the damage done by a volcanic eruption, showing that not a person was left alive on the island, and the fresh eruption from Mont Pelée, which has caused considerable loss of life, indicate that the terrible forces of nature are not yet quieted, and that there is no telling what a day may bring forth in the way of destruction of animate and inanimate things. A list of these disturbances of nature during the last four months, compiled by the New York Times, is of more than ordinary interest, because it is possible that never before in the same length of time has this earth suffered so continuously and severely from the outward manifestations of its internal forces. The earthquake area has been widespread. Heavy shocks have done great damage in Mexico, the Danish West Indies, Portugal, Guatemala, Sicily, the Tyrol, Calabria, European Turkey, Persia, Venezuela, and California, involving the destruction of over five thousand lives, and injuring and leaving homeless thousands more, while lighter shocks have been recorded in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Nebraska, Iowa, Dakota, and Florida. Volcanic activity has been extraordinary, and has by no means been confined to Martinique. During the last four months volcanoes, supposed to be extinct, have resumed alarming activity in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, Mexico, Ecuador, Hawaii, and Costa Rica, while mud volcanoes in Italy and Caucasia, tidal waves, and landslides caused by the earth’s tremors, have added to the general destruction. . . . . The scientists have been daring in their investigation of the outbreaks of Mont Pelée and Mont Soufrière, which were the crowning disasters of this period; and when Mont Pelée once more quiets down, it is likely that they will make fresh investigations, and will be able to look more closely into the internal causes of volcanic action. But, after all, these are only two volcanoes upon two small islands. Will science be able to assign causes for well-nigh universal terrestrial phenomena, and will it be able clearly to trace the great changes not alone upon the earth’s surface, but in the interior of the earth, and in the waters under the earth? Will it tell us the real cause of all this elemental wrath? The Cape to Cairo Railway
ONE of the greatest achievements of human industry and energy will be realized at the completion of the “Cape to Cairo” Railway, spanning the great continent of Africa north and south. Regarding the progress of this great project we find these facts stated in a Chicago daily:— Already trains are running from Cape Town to Buluwayo, fifteen hundred miles; and now that the South African war is over, work upon the extension from the latter point will progress more rapidly. The route will deflect to the west from Buluwayo to reach some rich coal beds, and will cross the Zambezi at Victoria Falls, which were not so long ago one of Dr. Livingstone’s well-nigh inaccessible wonders. It was originally intended that the road should pass north through the German east African possessions, according to the arrangements made by the late Cecil Rhodes with the German emperor, who also contemplated the rail connection of Uganda with the Sudan. These projects have been abandoned, as under a Belgian agreement made last April the road will pass through the rich Congo Free State to the upper waters of the Nile. The stretches yet to be covered are Buluwayo to Victoria Falls, three hundred miles; Victoria Falls to Lake Kassali, seven hundred miles; from Stanley Falls on the Congo a railroad will be built to Mahagi on the Albert Nyanza, four hundred and eighty miles, which will supply the missing link between the Cape and the Egyptian railway. A Censored Edition of the Bible
AN edition of the Bible, which is to be edited and censored like a human production, in accordance with certain ideas regarding what a Bible should and should not contain, is said to be in preparation under the supervision of the Rev. Francis Brown, D. D., of Union Theological Seminary, New York City. Bishop Potter is reported to have written an introduction for it. A Letter to a Worker in New York City.
By Ellen G. White
ELMSHAVEN, SANITARIUM, CAL.,
July 8, 1902. My Dear Brother: I have no special light that you should remain in New York City. You must look to the Lord to teach you your duty. If that field, in its pitiful and sinful condition, does not speak for itself, what place can you find that expresses its need? I understand why you feel discouraged. It is because the work is hindered by a lack of united and harmonious action on the part of those who were already in the field when you came. If you go to the Lord in faith, believing his promises and taking special care of yourself, he will give you strength and blessing. Take periods of rest. Husband the strength that God has given you. If during the summer the heat is very severe, you must not endanger your life by remaining in the city. O, who will rid himself of all hindrances, and take up the work in New York City? Will you, my brother, take hold of this work where you are, helping as best you can? Let us remember Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Let us remember that he lived not to please himself. He left heaven to take his place in the ranks of fallen beings, to endure humiliation and abuse. Without humbling himself to the death of the cross, he could not have borne the penalty of transgression. It must have been a very severe ordeal for our Saviour to lay aside his royal robe and kingly crown, and clothe his divinity with humanity, coming to this world as a little child, to live a life of obedience in behalf of the sinful race. Lest we should make a mistake in regard to what the redeemed must be, he came to give in his life a revelation of the character God requires of his children. He came that we might have an example of what human nature may become by receiving him as a perfect Saviour. He came to show us that we may be Christlike. “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Before the foundation of the world was laid, the plan of redemption was devised. In heaven a mysterious voice was heard saying, “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. . . . Lo, I come to do thy will, O God;” “yea, thy law is within my heart.” Think you not that Christ suffered loneliness of spirit, as, unrecognized and unhonored, he lived in the world that he himself had made? Who is he? Ask Isaiah. He will tell you. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Ask him who was sent to announce his coming. “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. . . . I indeed baptize you with water . . . 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 thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Ask John, the beloved disciple. “In the beginning was the Word,” he declares, “and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . In him was life, and the life was the light of men. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.” We turn to Peter, and he declares of his Master,— “Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.” We ask Christ himself who he is, and he replies,— “Before Abraham was, I am.” “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” We ask Paul, “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength?” With strength and assurance comes the answer, “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” “Being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” In him “we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” My brother, do not become discouraged. The light given me is that in our large gatherings, our camp meetings, we need all the ministerial talent that can possibly be spared from other work. Our ministers must not think that God has appointed them to hover over believers, or to tie themselves down to a business office. Let business men attend to the business, and let ministers be left free to labor in the camp meetings. At these meetings a special work is to be done. Let each one offer the prayer, Lord, “give therefore thy servant an understanding heart.” Solomon called himself the Lord’s servant, pleased that he could sustain this relation to the King of kings. “In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of the people which thou hast chosen, a great9 people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” God gave this prayer to Solomon as a sample prayer, appropriate for all, high and low, rich and poor. God said to Solomon, “Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honor: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.” The Lord told Solomon that if he would walk in his way, his blessing would go with him, and wisdom would be given him. But Solomon failed to keep his contract with God. He followed the promptings of his own heart, and the Lord left him to his own impulses. To-day each one has a part to act—duties to perform and responsibilities to bear. No one can act his part acceptably without wisdom from on high. May God help us all to understand the prayer that he gave to Solomon as a prayer appropriate for him to offer. The Life to Come
By L. D. Santee
ALL the years of the past, with their
crosses,
I would leave as a dream of the night;
All the shadows of life and its losses,
In the splendor of heaven grow bright.
Hopes die, and their tombs are a token
That this earth is no home for the
soul;
Love changes, and true hearts are
broken,
And the sadness of grief has control. I look for a heaven more gracious
Than the mutable things that I see,
A region of love, bright and spacious,
Prepared by the Saviour for me,
Where angels repeat the glad story,
As they worship again and again,
That Christ left the mansions of glory,
And died for the children of men. Far out past life's pain and its fever,
Is the beautiful land that we love,
Where with Jesus, forever and ever,
We shall dwell in the mansions above,
Where the pure, with their beautiful
faces,
Are redeemed from the living and
dead,
To mingle, with fervent embraces,
Where sorrow forever has fled. O heaven of love and of glories!
O sheen of life's wonderful seal!
Not once has the earth's fairest stories
Told the pleasures abiding in thee.
The wind has blown chill through life's
valley,
And scattered its snows in my hair,
But I'm waiting the call of the Saviour
To heaven and home over there. How Faith Will Grow
By George B. Starr
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Is your faith weak? And would you have it strengthened? Turn then to the Word of God. Faith comes by the Word of God. You only weaken the faith you now have by meditating upon him? your weakness and upon your unbelief. “Have faith in God.” Look away from yourself. Read, read, read the Holy Scriptures. George Müller, the mighty man of faith, formed the habit of reading the Bible through with diligent attention four times a year. You may be strengthened from the same source. The same God lives, and through the same word speaks to you. There he tells you of his love for you, of the strength you may have, of what you may become. Shut away other voices. Listen to this voice that upholds the worlds, and you will experience your strength renewed. Faith, like a living coal of fire, though it be but small and appear insignificant, if fuel is added, may be fanned into a flame. “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” So let God breathe upon your spark of faith. Gather the fuel from the Word of God. Pour on the oil of grace, and your faith may yet kindle the dying faith of others about you. Talk faith. Believe in God’s care for every small matter connected with your life. Rest your troubles in God. “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.” “Have faith in God.” Prophecies Fulfilled in Jesus Christ at His First Advent
By D. T. BOURDEAU
D. T. BOURDEAU
(Concluded) 19. THE heathen and rulers were to assemble tumultuously against him. Ps. 2: 1, 2: “Why do the heathen rage [“or, tumultuously assemble,” margin], and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against God, the Lord, and against his Anointed.” Fulfilled, Acts 4: 25–27: “Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together.” 20. He was to be led as a lamb to the slaughter. Isa. 53: 7: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” Fulfilled, Acts 8: 32, 35: “The place of the scripture which he [the eunuch] read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth. . . . Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.” 21. His hands and feet were to be pierced. Ps. 22: 16: “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.” Fulfilled, Matt. 27: 35, first part: “And they crucified him.” In this very act they put cruel nails through his hands and feet. 22. He was to be laughed at, mocked. Ps. 22: 7, 8: “All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.” Fulfilled, Matt. 27: 39–43: “And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.” 23. He was to be numbered with transgressors. Isa. 53: 12: “And he was numbered with the transgressors.” Fulfilled, Matt. 27: 38: “Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.” 24. Gall and vinegar were to be given him. Ps. 69: 21: “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Fulfilled, Matt. 27: 34: “They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.” 25. In his agony he was to cry out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Ps. 22: 1. Fulfilled, Matt. 27: 46: “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama, sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” 26. He was to be pierced. Zech. 12: 10: “And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced.” Fulfilled, John 19: 34: “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.” Read also verse 37. 27. Not one of his bones was to be broken. Ps. 34: 20: “He keepeth his bones: not one of them is broken.” Fulfilled, John 19: 32, 33, 36: “Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs.” “For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.” 28. His garments were to be parted, and upon his vesture lots were to be cast. Ps. 22: 18: “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” Fulfilled, Matt. 27: 35: “And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.” 29. He was to be made an offering for sin, stricken and wounded for transgressions, and bruised for iniquities; through his stripes healing was to come; and on him was the Lord to lay the iniquity of us all. Isa. 53: 10, 8, 5, 6: “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.” “He was taken away by distress and judgment [margin]: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Fulfilled, Heb. 9: 26,10 last clause, 28: “Once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” “So Christ was offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” 1 Peter 2: 24: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” 1 Peter 3: 18: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.” 30. Though he was to make his grave with the wicked, or be buried with the wicked, yet he was to be with the rich in his death. Isa. 53: 9: “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.” Fulfilled, Matt. 27: 57–60: “When the evening was come, there came a rich man of Arimathæa, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: he went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, and departed.” 31. He was not to be left in the grave, but was to be raised from the dead. Ps. 16: 10: “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell [“the grave,” Heb.]; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Fulfilled, Acts 2: 31: “He [David] seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell [“the grave,” Gr., etc.], neither his flesh did see corruption.” 32. He was to be raised again the third day, reckoning from his death. Matt. 16: 21: “From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” And this prophecy was literally fulfilled, as Christ died the day before the Sabbath, and was raised the day after the Sabbath (Luke 23: 52–56; Mark 16: 1–9), so that Paul in his masterly argument on the resurrection told the truth when he said “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” 1 Cor. 15: 3, 4. As Paul usually appealed to the ancient Scriptures, it is claimed by some with no small show of plausibility, that one of the prophetic portions of Scripture he here refers to is Hosea 6: 1, 2, which, though it may have a double application, does primarily contemplate the heavy blow that came upon Christ’s faithful followers by Christ’s death, and their revival caused by his resurrection the third day after his death: “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.” 33. One of the strongest evidences that Christ (the Anointed, Gr.) is the true Messiah (or Anointed, Heb.), is seen in the fact that he came at the end of the sixty-ninth of the seventy symbolic weeks, and was cut off, or died, in the midst of the last, or seventieth, of those weeks, in fulfillment of Dan. 9: 24, first part, 25, 26: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, . . . know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” It is generally admitted by prophetic expositors that the war waged by the Romans on the Jews, during which Jerusalem was destroyed, is here intended. In the next verse there is a falling back, and the last of the seventy weeks is taken up, and of it it is said: “And in the midst of the week he [Christ] shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” These Christ caused to cease, or come to an end, in God’s plan, by his death, which they prefigured. The sixty-nine weeks, or 483 days of years (see Eze. 4: 4–6, etc.), begin with the seventy weeks, the 490 year-days determined (or cut off, Heb.) upon Daniel’s people. Their starting point is “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.” This commandment was concluded and went forth complete when the decree of Artaxerxes for the execution of the work of restoration and building here specified went into effect; and that was in the fall of the year 457 B. C. See Ezra 7, marginal reading, etc. Reckoning the sixty-nine weeks, or 483 year-days, from this starting point, we reach the fall of A. D. 27, when our Saviour appeared as the Christ, Messiah, or Anointed. It was then that Christ was anointed by the Holy Spirit at his baptism. Acts 10: 38; Matt. 3: 16, 17, marginal reading. By adding to this date three and one-half years, we come to the spring of A. D. 31, when Messiah was cut off, and the sacrifice and oblation ceased to prefigure the death of the Son of God. 34. Our divine Lord and Saviour was to justify many. Isa. 53: 11, 12: “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors.” Fulfilled, Rom. 4: 25; 5: 19: “Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Heb. 12: 2: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Let this study be pursued still further, as there are many more prophecies and historical facts that can be produced under this head. But do we not see in those already presented a Gibraltar before which unbelief and infidelity should recoil, acknowledging that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Saviour whom God sent into the world? Much stress is laid on good associations among children and others. “A man is known by the company he keeps” is more than an ordinary saying. This law of association holds good in our soul relations with God. One cannot embody truth and righteousness in his life who is not in some good degree intimate with God. Spiritual association, that is, intercourse and companionship of soul with soul, are the most powerful and determining influences in life. The disciples were great in goodness and spiritual power because of their intimate and constant association with Christ. What came to them through material and spiritual association with God in Christ will come to every child of God who cultivates spiritual fellowship with him. Such fellowship is not a vague theory, but an actual and blessed reality. It means familiarity with God’s thoughts as expressed in his Word and taught by his Spirit. It means heavenly aims and holy purposes wrought into human life as sources of power and springs of action. It means the gradual fashioning of human life after the model of the divine life. This process is a gradual one. We must grow into the divine likeness as we enter into a deeper understanding of the divine will. He who dwells thus with God dwells in light and peace, in holiness and joy.—Sabbath Recorder. The Great Mission of the Church
LET me remind you that the promise of the Father—the gift of the Holy Ghost—is given only in order that we may be equipped and empowered for the imperial mission of preaching the gospel to every creature. If we are faithless to this trust, if we even subordinate this imperative command to the lesser interests of Christ’s kingdom, we are cutting ourselves off from our base of supplies, for the plenitude of the Spirit’s power. By a last analysis, the prosperity of the church at home, and the measure of her power over her sons and daughters, must depend upon our activity in the work of what we call “foreign missions,” but which ought more properly to be known as the “great mission of the church.”—George F. Pentecost, D. D. Acquaint Now Thyself with Him
“ACQUAINT now thyself with Him, and be at peace.” Speak the Good Word
By W. J. Lampton
It isn’t the thinking how grateful we are
For the kindness of friends come to bless
Our sorrow or loss,
’Neath the weight of the cross;
It is telling our gratefulness. It isn’t the love that they have in their hearts,
And neglect or forget to reveal,
That brightens the lives
Of husbands and wives;
It is telling the love that they feel. It isn’t the thinking of good to men
That comes as a cooling drink
To the famished ones
Of earth’s daughters and sons;
It is telling the good that we think. It isn’t the music asleep in the strings
Of the lute, that entrances the ear,
And brings to the breast
The spirit of rest;
It is only the music we hear. It isn’t the silence of hope unexpressed
That heartens and strengthens the weak
To triumph through strife
For the great things of life;
’Tis the words of good cheer that we speak. —W. J. Lampton, in New York Herald.