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Review and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 41.

The Voice of Infinite Love
Earlier text: The Voice of Infinite Love

Statement of Twenty-Cent-a-Week Fund for Six Months Ending June 30, 1916

Membership Amt. at $5.20 per member Amount Received Amount Short Amount Over
ATLANTIC UNION
Eastern New York 874 $4544.80 $3018.19 $1526.61 $.......
Greater New York 1321 6869.20 6493.97 375.23 .......
Maine 449 2334.80 2241.06 93.74 .......
Massachusetts 1425 7410.00 6411.84 998.16 .......
Northern New England 618 3213.60 2023.38 1190.22 .......
Southern New England 477 2480.40 2259.95 220.45 .......
Western New York 836 4347.20 4271.23 75.97 .......
Bermuda 62 322.40 192.13 130.27 .......
Totals 6062 31522.40 26911.75 4610.65 .......

CENTRAL UNION

Membership Amt. at $5.20 per member Amount Received Amount Short Amount Over
Colorado 1891 9833.20 7232.48 2600.72 .......
Kansas 2148 11169.60 7232.68 3936.92 .......
Missouri 1295 6734.00 3661.39 3072.61 .......
Nebraska 2072 10774.40 6620.05 4154.35 .......
Wyoming 539 2802.80 2242.27 560.53 .......
Totals 7945 41314.00 26988.87 14325.13 .......

COLUMBIA UNION

Membership Amt. at $5.20 per member Amount Received Amount Short Amount Over
Chesapeake 725 3770.00 2230.55 1539.45 .......
District of Columbia 960 4992.00 3525.07 1466.93 .......
Eastern Pennsylvania 1150 5980.00 4675.83 1304.17 .......
New Jersey 906 4711.20 2954.66 1756.54 .......
Ohio 2100 10920.00 7995.38 2924.62 .......
Virginia 514 2532.40 1361.99 1170.41 .......
West Pennsylvania 810 4212.00 2848.31 1363.69 .......
West Virginia 240 1248.00 886.08 361.92 .......
Totals 7405 38365.60 26477.87 11887.73 .......

EASTERN CANADIAN UNION

Membership Amt. at $5.20 per member Amount Received Amount Short Amount Over
Maritime 266 1383.20 892.74 490.46 .......
Ontario 550 2860.00 2115.94 744.06 .......
Quebec 150 780.00 476.04 303.96 .......
Newfoundland 62 322.40 357.21 ....... 34.81
Totals 1028 5345.60 3841.93 1538.48 34.81

LAKE UNION

Membership Amt. at $5.20 per member Amount Received Amount Short Amount Over
East Michigan 1680 8736.00 6631.53 2104.47 .......
Indiana 1665 8658.00 5347.27 3310.73 .......
Northern Illinois 1487 7732.40 5250.94 2481.46 .......
North Michigan 857 4456.40 1831.82 2624.58 .......
Southern Illinois 661 3437.20 5254.46 ....... 1817.26
West Michigan 2591 13473.20 7280.85 6192.35 .......
Wisconsin 2600 13520.00 6456.37 7063.63 .......
Totals 11541 60013.20 38053.24 23777.22 1817.26

NORTHERN UNION

Membership Amt. at $5.20 per member Amount Received Amount Short Amount Over
Iowa 2398 $12469.60 $11264.68 $1204.92 $.......
Minnesota 1775 9230.00 9121.23 108.77 .......
North Dakota 1325 6890.00 6902.34 ....... 3012.34
South Dakota 944 4908.80 4863.81 44.99 .......
Totals 6442 33498.40 35152.06 1358.69 3012.34

NORTH PACIFIC UNION

Membership Amt. at $5.20 per member Amount Received Amount Short Amount Over
Montana 502 2610.40 2041.16 569.24 .......
Southern Idaho 852 4430.40 2284.29 2146.11 .......
Southern Oregon 721 3749.20 1189.21 2559.99 .......
Upper Columbia 2365 12298.00 8678.75 3619.25 .......
Western Oregon 2220 11544.00 5629.69 5914.31 .......
Western Washington 2016 10483.20 5531.43 4951.77 .......
Totals 8676 45115.20 25354.53 19760.67 .......

PACIFIC UNION

Membership Amt. at $5.20 per member Amount Received Amount Short Amount Over
Arizona 331 1721.20 1028.15 693.05 .......
California 1620 8424.00 7013.78 1410.22 .......
Central California 1322 6874.40 4045.88 2828.52 .......
Northern California 1617 8408.40 3595.14 4813.26 .......
Northwestern Cal. 1261 6557.20 4779.01 1778.19 .......
Southern California 2163 11247.60 7041.78 4205.82 .......
Southeastern Cal. 1645 8554.00 5422.14 3131.86 .......
Inter-Mountain 648 3369.60 1479.75 1889.85 .......
Nevada 200 1040.00 510.70 529.30 .......
Totals 10807 56196.40 34916.33 21280.07 .......

SOUTHEASTERN UNION

Membership Amt. at $5.20 per member Amount Received Amount Short Amount Over
Cumberland 604 3036.80 1338.64 1698.16 .......
Florida 815 4036.50 4774.67 ....... 738.17
Georgia 491 2370.00 1407.93 971.07 .......
North Carolina 554 2641.60 1400.06 1241.54 .......
South Carolina 295 1335.10 1078.84 256.26 .......
Totals 2759 13429.00 10000.14 4167.03 738.17

SOUTHERN UNION

Membership Amt. at $5.20 per member Amount Received Amount Short Amount Over
Alabama 666 3104.40 1374.62 1729.78 .......
Kentucky 601 2904.20 959.06 1945.14 .......
Louisiana 428 2077.40 996.37 1081.03 .......
Mississippi 343 1561.30 683.29 878.01 .......
Tennessee River 717 3604.90 2019.16 1585.74 .......
Totals 2755 13252.20 6032.50 7219.70 .......

SOUTHWESTERN UNION

Membership Amt. at $5.20 per member Amount Received Amount Short Amount Over
Arkansas 364 1840.80 1009.42 831.38 .......
New Mexico 258 1326.00 784.12 541.88 .......
North Texas 1456 7493.20 2347.64 5145.56 .......
Oklahoma 1900 9770.80 5418.81 4351.99 .......
South Texas 434 2228.20 1379.09 849.11 .......
West Texas 250 1289.60 490.59 799.01 .......
Totals 4662 23948.60 11429.67 12518.93 .......

WESTERN CANADIAN UNION

Membership Amt. at $5.20 per member Amount Received Amount Short Amount Over
Alberta 721 3749.20 3451.49 297.71 .......
British Columbia 452 2350.40 1099.49 1250.91 .......
Manitoba 242 1258.40 1197.88 60.52 .......
Saskatchewan 430 2236.00 3938.31 ....... 1702.31
Totals 1845 9594.00 9687.17 1609.14 1702.31

Union Summary

UNION

Union Membership Amt. at $5.20 per member Amount Received Amount Short Amount Over
Atlantic 6062 $31522.40 $26911.75 $4610.65 $.......
Eastern Canadian 1028 5345.60 3841.93 1538.48 34.81
Central 7945 41314.00 26988.87 14325.13 .......
Columbia 7405 38365.60 26477.87 11887.73 .......
Lake 11541 60013.20 38053.24 23777.22 1817.26
Northern 6442 33498.40 35152.06 1358.68 3012.34
North Pacific 8676 45115.20 25354.53 19760.67 .......
Pacific 10807 56196.40 34916.33 21280.07 .......
Southeastern 2759 13429.00 10000.14 4167.03 738.17
Southern 2755 13252.20 6032.50 7219.70 .......
Southwestern 4662 23948.60 11429.67 12518.93 .......
Western Canadian 1845 9594.00 9687.17 1609.14 1702.31
Totals 71927 371594.60 254846.06 124053.43 7304.89
Net amount short ....... ....... 116748.54 ....... 116748.54
....... $371594.60 $371594.60 $124053.43 $124053.43
NOTE.—Of the membership of the Southern Union 826, of the Southeastern 706, of the Southwestern 226, and of the Virginia Conference 108 have been figured at the rate of 15 instead of 20 cents.

The Twenty-Cent-a-Week Fund and the Harvest Ingathering Campaign

By W. T. Knox

THE accompanying report of receipts on the Twenty-cent-a-week Fund is of special interest, as the time covered by the report is the first six months of the year, and should, therefore, furnish to all a fairly good suggestion as to the prospects for the full year and the efforts that must be put forth in order to reach our goal for 1916, of $743,000, the equivalent of twenty cents a week per member.
The report reveals that for the first half of the year we have decidedly failed in reaching our aim, the shortage being $116,748.54. A large amount, the reader will doubtless say, and it surely is; and in view of the great responsibility carried by the General Conference in foreign fields and the relief work being undertaken in the North American Division Conference, it should bring to every Seventh-day Adventist most serious concern; for if the coming six months should show similar results, it would mean a total shortage for the year of almost $225,000. But this need not be. The present shortage can be quickly provided for, without injury to any other line of work.
The Harvest Ingathering campaign is to begin October 1. There has been provided for this effort the best and most artistic foreign mission campaign paper ever produced by the denomination. Definite provision has been made for issuing 800,000 copies of this periodical. Not less than a million copies should be circulated, and we should be satisfied with nothing less than $100,000 in contributions as a result of this campaign. Considering the prevailing conditions throughout the world foreshadowing the fulfilment of all last-day prophecies, the great opportunities and needs in mission work, and the impoverished condition of the General Conference treasury, our expectations and efforts should call for even greater returns from this campaign. The final results will, of necessity, depend upon the consecrated cooperation of the entire membership, and the faithful leadership of the conference laborers and church officers.
Information received from the Pacific Press indicates that much interest is being taken in this effort by many conferences and mission fields. Even at so early a date as July 31, orders for upwards of 100,000 copies had been received. These orders are not only from the North American conferences, but from foreign fields as well. In fact, some of our missions are calculating on raising substantial sums by the circulation of this paper in their territory. This is especially true in Java, where they are planning to raise at least $1,000 to help in providing suitable quarters for the workers.
Evidently there will be a much larger demand for the papers this year than ever before, and I trust that all churches and isolated members will take an active part in the campaign. The demands of our foreign missions were never of such magnitude nor of such urgent character as they are today. Almost every day's mail brings to the Mission Board some strong appeals for men or money. These are of such a nature that it is hard to refuse any of them. As a result, the General Conference today is carrying on its work with an empty treasury.
The present conditions existing in the world will cause many to think more seriously of the work of the gospel and be more favorably inclined toward missionary work than in past years. So, better results may be expected for our work in this campaign than in any past efforts, if the people of God will give themselves heartily to the work.
While the paper prepared is all that could be asked for, and the publishing house has made every provision for expeditiously handling the orders, yet the real success of the movement is dependent upon the hearty cooperation of the individual members. Remember the date of the opening of the campaign, October 1, and place your orders with your tract society at once. W. T. KNOX.

Marrying Unbelievers

By L. H. Christian

L. H. CHRISTIAN
“O THE problems, perplexities, and sorrows that confront those who marry out of the truth! How different life might have been, and how much more useful! I try faithfully to train my two children for God; but when one knows how great an avalanche hangs over his head, he cannot work as openly. My husband has forbidden me to teach the boy; but I cannot see that it is wrong for me to disobey him in that. He has threatened to put him in a military school, where this ‘seventh-day business will be taken out.’ At times he has threatened to kill me if I try to get our boy into the Seventh-day Adventist faith. Twice when I have referred him to the fact that he knew when we were married I did not go to theaters and that I kept the Sabbath, he has replied, ‘I thought you’d get some sense and change.’ But I haven’t changed. This truth and this people grow dearer to me every day. All this trouble is the fruit of marrying out of the truth.”
“If when I went to one of our ministers and talked with him, he had sat down and pointed out the dangers as given in the Testimonies, instead of advising me as he did; if when I talked with another minister about performing the ceremony, he had said, ‘No, I can never speak the words to unite you to an unbeliever;’ what a world of sorrow and heartache would have been saved to us both! I feel heartsick for my husband; I feel that in consenting to marry him, I did him a great unkindness and injustice; I realize it more each day. Perhaps under other circumstances he might have listened to and accepted this truth, which he now hates. I have tried to be an earnest, conscientious Christian; but by refusing to go to theaters and wear flowers on my hat, I have made him hate the truth. I sometimes wonder if it would not have been better had I gone to the theaters with him, and fixed my hats to please him. I did not care for the theaters or the trumpery; and I did not like to take a course that weaker ones might follow.”
Thus recently wrote a sister with an unbelieving husband. This sister is a faithful, peaceable woman and an efficient housekeeper. Hundreds of others have a like experience. We must encourage these sisters. They must wait upon the Lord and not lose heart. But we must also warn our youth against uniting in marriage with those who are not Adventists. In many places we meet those who are planning to unite with unbelievers, and sometimes even parents encourage such unions for their children. We need to speak against this. Better a thousand times to remain single, or even to break an engagement, than to marry an unbeliever.
Let me say a word as to another thing. If it is wrong for an Adventist to be united in marriage with an unbeliever or with a member of some other church, then, as ministers, it is not only our duty to speak against this, but we should refuse to perform the marriage ceremony in such cases. No true minister will fear to do his duty, and no worthy Adventist will criticize a minister because he refuses to marry those who the Scriptures teach should not marry. If one of our members does unite with an unbeliever, that person should not be disfellowshipped, but we should never in any way place our approval upon the marriage of a believer with an unbeliever.
Chicago, Ill.

“I Saw the Lord”

By R. D. Quinn

R. D. QUINN
Character determines vision, for without holiness “no man shall see the Lord.” “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” God promises for the last days, “Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”
We need a vision. The men who speak in the name of the Lord, who labor, and toil, and do things for God, are the men who must have a bright vision of God. When Isaiah was a young man, he saw the Lord and was made pure. Isa. 6: 1, 7. Jacob at Bethel saw the Lord standing at the top of the ladder, and again at the Jabbok, and was changed from sinner, or supplanter, to a prince with God. Peter and Andrew saw the Lord, and left their fishing nets to become fishers of men. Simeon and Anna saw the Lord, and departed in peace. Saul saw the Lord on his journey to Damascus, and was changed from Saul the persecutor to Paul the servant of Jesus Christ. It was the end of his old life, and the beginning of the new; a new kind of evangelism for Paul henceforth.
Who will see the Lord?—The pure in heart. Where shall we see him?—First of all, in his Word, and then in that blessed ministry to the sick and sorrowing. Men are seeing all kinds of things in these days. It is preeminently an age of sight-seeing. Some are seeing houses and lands, gold and silver, and the world and the glory of it. Surely this is an age of materialism. Paul admonishes us to “look not at the things which are seen, . . . for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Dear reader, have you had a vision of God? If so, has it grown dim? Remember that God called Jacob back again and again to Bethel, to the vision of the mystic ladder. Christ has said, “I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” Paul was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. The Lord appeared to Solomon in Gibeon in a dream by night, and said, “Ask what I shall give thee.” The measure of a man is the measure of his vision. God knows what we are by what we see and what we ask for. Solomon’s request for a wise and understanding heart pleased the Lord, and he not only granted his desire, but gave unto him power and riches and honor, so that the glory of his reign became a wonder to all the world.
John the revelator, banished to the lonely isle of Patmos, writes, “I saw . . . the Son of man,” and then proceeds to give the most wonderful description of Christ found in the Bible. Rev. 1: 13-16. Most of us would probably have seen only those barren rocks, and our trials, and tribulations, and persecutions. But John saw everything—not only Christ, but the final deliverance of the saints. He saw the people of God standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God in their hands; he saw the good and blessed of all ages coming up in a long and glorious procession to the city of God, and you and I, if faithful, shall be among that number.
Satan, knowing that his time is short, has come down with great wrath and cunning, and is crowding the attractions of the world around God’s people to dim their heavenly vision and cause them to become “dwellers on the earth.” O for that true pilgrim spirit and heavenly eye salve that has enabled the true pilgrims in all ages to see “afar off,” and to place a true estimate upon the material things of this life! Alas that there should be so many like Demas, whom Paul said had forsaken him, having loved this present world.
Joseph in Egypt, and Daniel in Babylon, are notable examples of men who had largely to do with the affairs of this life. Surrounded as they were with the burdensome formalities of an Eastern court life, they retained to the last a bright vision of the world to come. “By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.” Heb. 11: 22. The palaces and pyramids of Egypt, with which he was familiar, had no attraction for him. The glory of Egypt had not obscured his vision.
Daniel’s vision not only took in his long and eventful career, but extended down through the ages to the setting up of God’s heavenly kingdom, when the prophet will stand in his lot and place. The old pilgrims sought a country “out of sight.” I see, is the cry and clarion call of Christian experience,—I see the meaning; I see the farther shore; I see God’s purpose; I see the light. Elisha’s brief but comprehensive desire for his servant was, “Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.” The enemy is near, but God is nearer. It would have been a fearful experience for the martyred Stephen but for the invisible. What we need is a penetrating vision, sight of the heart, of the inner eyes; and this is the gift of God. “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Not alone when he comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, but the pure in heart shall see him day by day in joys and sorrows, and in all life’s varied experiences that are permitted to come to us. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see.” Rev. 3: 18.
“Each holy purpose help us to fulfil, Increase our faith to feed upon thee still. Illuminate our minds, that we may see All around us holy signs of thee. And may such witness in our lives appear That all may know thou hast been with us here.” —Bourne.
South Lancaster, Mass.

Baptisms in the Philippines

WRITING from Manila. June 23, Brother L. V. Finster mentions having baptized still more converts at San Pablo, making in all one hundred and seventy-one who have embraced the truth as the result of that one tent effort. This year so far two hundred and sixty-two had been baptized in the Philippines up to the time of Brother Finster’s letter, and he adds, “We expect to baptize about twenty more the last of this month.” God gives the increase.

The Early Visions of Mrs. E. G. White

By George Ide Butler

G. I. BUTLER
When the beloved John would present the great facts of the gospel to the people, to lead them to believe in Christ, he spoke as follows: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life, (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1: 1-3.
Probably about sixty-seven years before these words were written, Jesus Christ left this world to go to his Father. John was the last of the apostles to cease his work. We may well suppose that before his death there were those who doubted many of the facts of Christ’s life on earth. But John, a living witness, gives his actual, personal knowledge of the living Christ among men. He himself had heard Christ speak the words of life; his own eyes had seen him, and his own hands had “handled” him. Had he not laid his head on Jesus’ breast at the Last Supper? Had he not seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead after he had been in the grave four days, yea, till after decomposition had begun? John had perhaps the most personal knowledge of the Saviour of any of the twelve, and Jesus loved him most because he had partaken most of the Spirit of the Master.
In writing this article about the early visions and labors of Sister White, we appeal to the same kind of facts. They are recorded by one, the oldest actual witness, who, thank the Lord, still lives among us and has been one of our most successful laborers. I did not accept the truth till a later period, and though I have personally known Sister White and have been in hundreds of public meetings with her, I never saw her in vision. Elder J. N. Loughborough has seen her have as many as fifty visions, and he was personally conversant with her early experiences. His excellent book, “Rise and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists” [“The Great Second Advent Movement” is the revised edition of this earlier work], written twenty-four years ago, is not being read as much as it deserves to be. Our history as a people is truly wonderful and exceedingly interesting.
One great fact should be noticed: People by the hundreds and thousands are embracing the third angel’s message every year, and still there will be others who will receive it. How can these converts comprehend the real facts of the origin of this movement unless they are written out for their perusal? With this thought in mind this series of articles is being written for the REVIEW. No religious body has ever come upon the stage of action but that needed carefully to consider its rise and progress. The early days of a religious movement are, as a rule, its purest, most earnest, most self-sacrificing days. As the adherents become more numerous, pride, fashion, riches, and selfishness gradually increase. It is good for all to look back and consider well the lessons of their progress. Seventh-day Adventists especially will find it profitable to do this.
In the very last part of 1844, after the great disappointment in October of that year, Sister White had her first vision. On page 92 of the book previously referred to, Elder Loughborough makes the following statements:—
“Miss Harmon was at that time in a very critical condition of health. For a number of weeks she had scarcely been able to speak above a whisper. . . . Frequent spells of coughing and hemorrhages from the lungs had greatly reduced her physical strength. At the time she had her first vision, she was staying at the home of Mrs. Haines. It was in the morning, and they were engaged in family worship. There were five persons present, all sisters in the faith. Others had prayed, and Miss Harmon was praying in a whisper, when the power of God came down in a most wonderful manner, manifestly affecting all who were present, and in a moment she was lost to all that was transpiring around her—she was in vision.
“In the next meeting she related to the believers in Portland what had been shown her. They had full confidence that it was from the Lord. There were about sixty at that time who indorsed it as the work of the Lord. There was a power that attended the vision, as well as the relation of it, that could emanate only from the Divine. A solemn sense of eternal interests was constantly upon her, and she seemed to be filled with an unspeakable awe that one so young and feeble as she should be chosen as an instrument through whom the Lord would communicate light to his people. She stated that while in the vision, she seemed to be surrounded by radiant angels in the glorious courts of heaven, where all is joy and peace, and that it was a sad change to awaken to the unsatisfying realities of this mortal life.
“The following brief synopsis of her first vision, as related to the believers in Portland, will give some idea of the character of all of them. She said:—
“‘While praying, the power of God came upon me as I had never felt it before. I was surrounded with light, and was rising higher and higher from the earth. I turned to look for the advent people in the world, but could not find them, when a voice said to me, ‘Look again, and look a little higher.’ At this I raised my eyes, and saw a straight and narrow path, cast up high above the world. On this path the advent people were traveling to the city, which was at the farther end of the path. They had a bright light set up behind them at the first end of the path, which an angel told me was the ‘midnight cry.’ This shone all along the path, and gave light for their feet, that they might not stumble. And if they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus, who was just before them, leading them to the city, they were safe. But soon some grew weary; they said the city was a great way off, and they expected to have entered it before. Then Jesus would encourage them by raising his glorious right arm, and from his arm there came a bright light, which waved over the advent people, and they shouted, Hallelujah! Others rashly denied the light behind them, and said that it was not God that had led them out so far. The light behind these went out, leaving their feet in perfect darkness, and they stumbled and got their eyes off the mark, and lost sight of Jesus, and fell off the path down into the dark and wicked world below. Soon we heard the voice of God like many waters, which gave us the day and hour of Jesus’ coming. The living saints knew and understood the voice, while the wicked thought it was thunder and an earthquake. When God spake the time, he poured on us the Holy Spirit, and our faces began to light up and shine with the glory of God, as Moses’ did when he came down from Mt. Sinai.’”
Any one who knows the history of the advent movement and the conditions of the believers immediately after the great disappointment of 1844, will clearly discern that this vision, coming from the Lord, as the believers felt sure it did, would be the greatest possible encouragement to them. When the time passed, they were sorely perplexed. They were sure that the great prophetic period of Dan. 8: 14,—“Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,”—which began at the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem, in 457 B. C., had terminated in 1844 A. D. There could be no possible doubt of that. They all believed that this earth was the sanctuary, and that its cleansing would be by the fires of the last day at the coming of Christ. But Christ did not come, and their hearts were filled with anguish. Their enemies were rejoicing over them. They were considered fanatics, fools, a terribly deluded people.
That this old sin-cursed world is not and cannot be the sanctuary of the Lord, that that sanctuary is in heaven above, and that its cleansing will be the last work of our great High Priest in the great judgment day, just before he comes to gather his own dear people for an eternity of happiness, they had not learned then; but they did learn it soon after in the preaching of the third angel’s message, which is to go to all the world to prepare a people for the coming of Christ.
The little flock of advent believers left in darkness at the passing of the time were disheartened and needed encouragement. And their Lord sent them comfort in a remarkable vision granted to a weak girl of seventeen years, given up to die by the physicians. In this vision God spoke through her to cheer this lonely band who had remained firm in the belief that God had been in this great advent movement and still had a care for his disappointed people. When the Lord showed that there was a divine pathway for the advent people to walk in to the city of God, and that Christ was with them, helping them to walk in it, no wonder they rejoiced.
Bowling Green, Fla.

The Heavenly High Priest

By J. O. Corliss

The Atonement — No. 8

The Heavenly High Priest

J. O. CORLISS
In the days of Solomon, king of Israel, the sanctuary services were transferred from the wilderness tabernacle to the temple in Jerusalem. The religious rites continued to be performed there by the Levitical priesthood until the death of Christ, the antitypical Lamb, to whom all those sacrificial offerings pointed. When the blood of Christ was offered for sinners, there was no longer efficacy in the typical services. The priesthood in man’s behalf was not to cease, but was to pass from an earthly to a heavenly priesthood. As the human priesthood and its services were but the shadow of the heavenly to follow (Heb. 8: 5, 6), so the earthly atonement service pointed to an atonement to be effected in heaven.
This is made quite clear by the comment of the apostle in affirming that Christ could not be a priest while on earth, because, until he qualified for that position by his death, resurrection, and appearance in heaven in men’s behalf (Heb. 9: 24), there were heavenly appointed priests who were ordained to offer gifts on earth. Heb. 8: 3, 4. It is also true that during his earthly ministry, when preparing for his heavenly work, Christ directed those who came to him to go and offer gifts before the earthly priests, as the law commanded. Matt. 8: 4.
But just prior to his death, the Saviour made a significant utterance touching the earthly temple service. Looking down upon Jerusalem, the devoted city, from the crest of an adjacent hill, he expressed the sorrowful thoughts filling his mind. That people had scrupulously followed out the typical atonement service which shadowed forth his future work for men, and yet they had ruthlessly rejected him, without whom their services had been rendered in vain. In the sorrow of his godlike heart he cried, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” Matt. 23: 38.
The fulfilment of this saying was soon realized; for when the divine Sacrifice hung in expiring agony on the cross, his closing breath was a distressed cry, and at that instant the veil of the temple was “rent in twain from the top to the bottom.” Mark 15: 38. This indicated that the two apartments of that sanctuary, hitherto separated by that veil, had become one common room, and the special service rendered in each had now come to an end. The offering of Christ’s blood had become the signal that the priesthood was transferred from the tribe of Levi to the tribe of Judah, and that the Son of God had become high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Heb. 6: 20; 7: 12-17.
After setting forth in the closing part of the seventh chapter of Hebrews the position and work of the Levitical high priest, the apostle opens the eighth chapter in these words: “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” Levitical priests ministered in a sanctuary erected by men, but from this inspired statement it is clear that Christ’s ministry in behalf of men is in a sanctuary erected by God in the heavens. True, that heavenly sanctuary is invisible to mortals, but in order that a true idea of its being and work might be gathered, God himself ordered the earthly sanctuary built after the pattern he showed Moses on the mount. Heb. 8: 5. The earthly sanctuary and its appurtenances, made by men’s hands, were but figures of the true sanctuary in heaven, in which the Lord Jesus ministers in behalf of a human oneness with God. Heb. 9: 24.
The earthly tabernacle, then, which God commanded to be built, really foreshadowed the heavenly, which was shown to Moses when he received commission to build the earthly. It is easy to understand this when one learns that the earthly sanctuary services were inaugurated to propagate faith in the work Christ must do to redeem men. In no other way could they be counted as a shadow of the more substantial work to be done in heaven by the Lord Jesus as the world’s high priest.
Carrying the comparison yet farther regarding the relation of the shadowy earthly services to the heavenly atonement, it may be asked, Did the earthly services have a specific day of each year set apart for the consummation of the atonement, wherein sins were reviewed in general, and figuratively removed? Then, to have the shadow properly point to the substance, in the real atonement work of Christ there must be a specific time appointed when the sins of all for whom Christ died must be brought by him in remembrance before God, preparatory to their final disposition.
Again, as a high priest was required to minister the atonement of the earthly service, so a high priest is necessary for the heavenly ministration of the real atonement for sin. But this could not be until the true Sacrifice was offered on the cross of Calvary, and this very act was necessary to mark the limitation of those services which were shadowy in their nature. A shadow always reaches to, and ceases when it touches, the substance that casts it in the foreground. Not until Christ died, therefore, and brought to an end the earthly priesthood, could the heavenly service be inaugurated; at least Christ could not become the world’s high priest while the typical priesthood existed.

An Enviable Testimony

By L. K. DICKSON

L. K. DICKSON
“In every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.” 2 Chron. 31: 21.
What a testimonial to be recorded by Holy Writ concerning a human being! What a degree of perfection in character to express concerning a man possessing like passions with us! Think of the undaunted fixedness of purpose, the “patient continuance in well-doing,” expressed in these few lines. Think of the untiring faithfulness amid every conflict and in the face of every discouragement, necessary for the realization of such an experience. This idea of whole-hearted service is again expressed by Paul in his purpose, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
How soon we should be in the kingdom if, from this day, the testimony could be borne concerning every one connected with the giving of the third angel’s message, that in every work that he began to seek his God, “he did it with all his heart, and prospered”! This should be the one purpose of every child of God, and doubly so in these days when the living God would do a speedy work in the world. And we have this purpose and this result only as we turn completely and fully from every sin.
As we look upon our individual needs just now, we find that there is one great obstacle to the rapid advancement of this closing work. This impediment is the neglect on the part of the individual “to seek his God . . . with all his heart” for cleansing from all sin. This is necessary to the reception of the Holy Spirit. Before this work can be completed, before the individual heart can be ready to be transformed into “the image of his Son,” every trace of sin must be removed.
As we look upon the great cities of the world scarcely touched by the fulness of the power of the closing message, our hearts should cry out to God for more power. As we contemplate the great fields beyond, where millions are dying for the lack of the help we might give, through Christ we should break the shackles of sin and hasten forth to do his bidding.
We need faith, working faith; power, living, cleansing power from on high, to heed the message of God to Israel of old, “Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount. . . . Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land.” Deut. 1: 6-8. Now is the time to grasp the power which comes through the forgiveness of sins. Now is the time to go forward, and by faith in Jesus Christ gain possession of that which will swell the loud cry of the third angel and bring us to the heavenly Canaan.
O, let us seek today for the fulfilment of the prophecy of Jer. 24: 7: “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.” Shall we not today put away every sin, and seek God as never before, that he may manifest his power in and through us? Then we shall see the complete fulfilment of the promises and prophecies relating to the descent of God’s Holy Spirit in its fulness, and we shall have the same testimonial from heaven spoken of us as did Hezekiah of old.
San Francisco, Cal.
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