“And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples: And he said unto them, When ye pray, say,” “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”
At the request of the disciples for instruction in regard to prayer, the Lord gave them the prayer here recorded, every word of which possesses deep meaning.
The Saviour knew that his disciples were dull of comprehension, and as he sought to impress upon them the willingness of their heavenly Father to hear and answer prayer, he simplified his teaching by illustrations. “Which of you,” he said, “shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not; the door is now shut; and my children are with me in bed; I can not rise and give thee. I say unto you, Tho he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.”
Here, at the unseasonable hour of midnight, a belated traveler is represented as arriving at the house of his friend, who has nothing with which to supply his necessities. But the host does not sit down, and make no effort to meet the needs of his guest. He goes to a neighbor, saying, “Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.” The neighbor answers, “Trouble me not; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I can not rise and give thee.” But tho he will not grant his petition because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he rises and gives him as many as he needs.
This illustration should be most carefully considered. The traveler needs food; and his friend renders him all the assistance in his power. Tho his neighbor is unwilling to be troubled, he will not desist his pleading; his friend must be relieved; and at last his earnest importunity is rewarded; his wants are supplied.
But none of the excuses urged by the reluctant neighbor will be offered by our heavenly Father. He says: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”
“If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”
With such encouragement as this promise affords, why should there be a reluctance on our part to make known our requests unto God? Christ compares the love of a parent, who is so willing to relieve the necessities of his children, with that of our Father in heaven. He would impress upon his followers their true relationship to God. They are his children, his by creation, and by redemption. God is their Father in a sense that implies a closer relationship than that of a child to its earthly parents. He “so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If earthly parents know how to give good gifts unto their children, how much more shall our Father in heaven “give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him”?
In his lessons Christ presented the relation that the human agents should sustain to God and to one another. He does not leave one soul in darkness in regard to the Source of our strength. He points us to prayer as a refuge in all perplexities and disappointments. He says, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” The needy soul may be supplied with grace if he will ask in simple, trusting, childlike faith in God as his Father, through Jesus as his Saviour. Christ understands the6needs of humanity. He will not be indifferent to the soul who desires his love and his presence. He is waiting to be gracious, to impart the bright beams of his righteousness. It was for this that he came to our world. He says, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” But it is only by our own consent that Jesus can release us from our bondage to Satan. His promise is, “Him that cometh to me, I will in nowise cast out.” Then let us not dishonor God by refusing to come to him.
Christ announced his mission to the world when, in the synagogue at Nazareth, he read from the prophecy of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” What a work was before him!—To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. This period embraces age after age, extends from century to century, while probation shall last. God is waiting to hear the asking and knocking; watching to see humanity draw nigh unto him, who alone can help us. He longs to forgive their sins, to receive them as his own. He will receive every contrite soul who comes to him; for it was to do this work that God anointed his only-begotten Son.
But why did not Christ finish the statement recorded in Isaiah? Why did he omit the clause, “and the day of vengeance of our God”? The latter portion of this sentence was just as much truth as the first part; and Christ did not deny the truth by his silence, by withholding a portion of his own words given to his chosen prophet. But this last clause was that upon which his hearers delighted to dwell, and which they were inclined to practice, pronouncing judgment upon all who were not of their religious faith. Instead of giving to the people words of truth and righteousness and forgiveness, they had taught them that God hated all the heathen world. The paternal character of God had been misrepresented, and buried beneath human traditions.
But the time had come for the fulfilment of the prophecy. “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” Isa. 9:2. The work of Christ was to present to the world the open door of mercy, through which all might have an abundant entrance through faith and repentance. He held in his hand all the treasures of wisdom. Eternal truth fell from his lips like precious jewels, and its meaning was flashed into the minds and hearts of those who received his words. He had come to uproot tradition and superstition, and sow the earth with truth; in the place of the commandments of men, to give them the commandments of God. The insufficiency of formal, ceremonial obedience to save the soul, he made to appear in its true light when contrasted with the eternal obligations resting upon the human family.
Christ encourages the sincere requests made to him in simple, trusting faith. All who seek of him shall find; all who knock will have the door opened unto them. The excuse will not be made, Trouble me not; the door is closed; I do not wish to open it. God’s is a divine friendship, a treasure house where abundant supplies of spiritual riches are stored for every one who has a sense of his need and asks in faith.
The Lord desires that we shall avail ourselves of the rich supplies awaiting our demand, that we may relieve the necessities of those who are hungering and thirsting for the bread and water of life, by pointing them to the source of righteousness and salvation. But unless dependent upon the grace and wisdom that come alone from God, we can not supply the help of which humanity around us stands in such great need. We can not work successfully for perishing souls unless we often and urgently make our requests known unto God, our Friend in every emergency.
In the work that Christ has left for his followers to do, we may have divine help. His promise is, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” And this promise is “unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” When perplexities arise, the first thought should be directed to God in prayer. This was the practice of Christ, and he is our efficiency. We need not fail nor be discouraged. In looking unto him whom our sins have pierced, we see the One whom the Father has given to be the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. MRS. E. G. WHITE.
JESUS HUMAN.
ONE reason for the manhood of Christ is the ground afforded for the affectionate confidence of his people in troubles and temptations. He is man, therefore he can feel with us. Who has not admitted it a hundred times? Sweet is his human name, Jesus. There are moments when it is the sweetest of his names, and when among his “many crowns” the loveliest is his human crown of thorns. As God he could, indeed, approach us, but how could we approach him? This is the very door to the inner sanctuary. “For we have not a High Priest which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” He was wearied, was wasted, was in tears and blood, was in temptation and death. In our hour of anguish it is of infinite consolation to resort to Christ’s wounded humanity, and to bear our sufferings under the recollection that he has borne the same.—J. W. Alexander, D.D.
RELIGION AS A MEDIUM OF EVIL.
By W. N. Glenn
Satan's favorite medium of operation is religion. The work of God is religious, in truth and liberty; the work of the adversary is deception. Satan would fain make men believe that evil is good; so he would dress his schemes and false ideas in the guise of religion. He would pose as a benefactor of the human race, especially promising liberty. This was the ruse he employed in deceiving Eve; he persuaded her that she was unduly circumscribed, unreasonably deprived of freedom in eating, restricted in the matter of knowledge and pleasure. After the fall of man, this wily destroyer actuated men to pervert the ordinances prescribed by the Lord in the plan of salvation. Cain was not induced to give up all formality of religion, but he was led to believe that the “fruit of the ground” would do just as well for an offering to the Lord as the “firstlings of his flock,” which had been ordained by the Lord as typical of the sacrifice of the Son of God for the sins of the world.
God at first revealed his word in his works, and men were to study these to gain a knowledge of the Creator and Preserver of the universe. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” Ps. 19:1-4. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.” Rom. 1:20.
But Satan took advantage of this means of education; he did not turn men from studying the works of God, but he turned their ideas of worship. Instead of worshiping the Creator of all the wonderful things in heaven and in the earth, men were deceived into worshiping the works themselves. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves; who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever.” Verses 22-25.
In all ages men have been lured away from God and his truth by religion, and all religions not based upon the word of God have been and are counterfeits of the true. However distant these imitations may have eventually departed from the original model, their first departures were slight, so slight as to be well calculated to deceive. Often the beginnings of these departures have been works of supererogation, attempts to be extra righteous, to do more than is required by the Lord. But all such righteousness is mere self-righteousness, and the doing of more than is required by the word of God is always at the expense of something that is required. When ancient Israel went astray from the true God, they did not stop worshiping or sacrificing; they worshiped and offered sacrifices to the false gods of the nations around them. And this worship and these sacrifices were usually more elaborate and more pretentious than the worship and sacrifices which God required. To such lengths were they enticed through religious zeal, through false imitation of true sacrifices and true worship, that they even sacrificed their children to dumb idols. 2 Chron. 33:1-9.
When Jesus Christ was about to enter upon his ministry, Satan appeared to him and sought to secure his downfall in the wilderness through misrepresentation of the word of God. He tried to convince the Lord himself that the monstrous propositions laid before him were sustained by the Scriptures. Failing in this, the enemy of souls turned to the church, and moved the rulers, the priests, the scribes, and through them the people, to reject the only One who could save them from sin and death. By working upon their religious scruples, the adversary moved them to envy, moved them to reject the Scriptures of truth, to make void the law of God through their traditions, and finally to put to death the Son of God. And in all they did they were actuated through an intense religious zeal. This same zeal for the traditions of their fathers incited the same people to continue the persecutions of the disciples after their Master had returned to glory. The apostle Paul, who before his conversion was a persistent persecutor of the disciples of Christ, testifies that he was moved by religious zeal. When the7Jews at Jerusalem were persecuting him for his Christian faith, he reminds them of his former course, and that he “persecuted this way unto the death” because he was “zealous toward God.” Acts 22:3-5. Writing to the Galatian churches, he says: “Ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it; and profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.” Gal. 1:13, 14.
It is a well-known historical fact that all the persecutions of God's people have been on account of their religion, and have been induced by religion. It is also a fact that the worst persecutions have been waged in the name of the Christian religion. Satan is willing that men shall profess the Christian religion, if they will accept traditional doctrine instead of the plain word of God. There is one peculiarity of traditional doctrine, those who hold to it are prone to imagine that all should in some way be compelled to observe it. Such was the idea of the Jews with regard to their traditions. Such was the idea of the Papal Church in the Dark Ages, and, for that matter, such is the idea of that church yet wherever she has the power to enforce her decrees; and the religion of the Papacy is almost wholly traditional. The persecutions of the Catholics by the Covenanters of Great Britain was for the purpose of enforcing Covenanter tradition, and not for the inculcation of the doctrines of the Bible. The persecutions by the Puritans of New England were prompted by the idea that all should be compelled to observe Puritan tradition.
It is pertinent to state in this connection that no persecution has ever arisen which had for its object the compulsory observance of any tenet supported by a plain “Thus saith the Lord.” Persecution has ever been prompted by traditional zeal in the interest of traditional religion. It is also a fact that persecution has not only been a resort of religious bigotry, but it has been made possible by civil law, has been in the main merely the execution of civil law. Therefore those who desire to see their traditions enforced upon the masses, are obliged first to secure the aid of the civil law; and therefore when any class of religionists, whether professed Christian or otherwise, seek the enactment of civil law compelling the observance of traditional doctrine, it is clear that their object is the coercion or punishment of all who do not yield their conscientious scruples to the demands of such civil law.
The persecutions of the Dark Ages began with the introduction of the Sunday sabbath into the church. It was at the council of Laodicea, A. D. 364, that it was decided to transfer the Sabbath services to the first day of the week. Then it was also decreed that all who should continue to “Judaize” (to observe the seventh-day Sabbath) should be excommunicated. The civil law had some years before decreed the observance of Sunday as a day of rest. And this, too, was the result of religious zeal—first, pagan; secondly, nominal Christian. From this nucleus grew a vast system of compulsory adherence to and support of traditional religion. Thus, through the medium of religion, and in the name of the Christian religion, was entailed upon the world that long and dreadful period of cruel persecution known as the Dark Ages.
And now we are entering upon what threatens to be the parallel of that terrible time. The National Reform combination of religious forces is making strenuous efforts to secure a national Sunday law, in order to compel all to observe the Sunday sabbath, which is only a traditional church institution. True, there have been from the outset of our government Sunday laws in most of the states; but the aforesaid religious forces are not satisfied with these. It is complained that the general government renders these to a certain degree inefficient, because it ignores them, and therefore the advocates of Sunday observance can not punish dissenters as they otherwise would. Furthermore the state governments do not cover all the territory of the general government, and the religious traditionalists have longings for power to enforce their traditions in every nook and corner; and this notwithstanding all history shows that such power means persecution even to the death, wherever there is Christian fortitude or innate independence to resist to that extent. So in California, there is no general state Sunday law, and certain religious elements are very much exercised because they have not power to punish dissenters from their traditional dogma of Sunday observance. The Christian Endeavor Society is taking the lead in this work. They seem determined to have a state Sunday law to show to the international convention of that society which is to convene in San Francisco next year. Whether they succeed this winter in securing a state Sunday law for California and a national Sunday law remains to be seen; if not, there is every indication that they will succeed sometime, and that before many years. And when as a nation we shall have fully started out on a regime of restricted conscience, of official espionage of the religious convictions of the people, of blockades in the way of civil and religious liberty, we may do so in the full knowledge that the despotic condition was brought about through the medium of religion. We may know, too, that it was achieved by a religion falsely called Christian, a religion of traditional dogma; for “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” W. N. GLENN.
“VICARIUS FILII DEI.”
By Nels Anderson
[The following lines are an acrostic. The initial letters of the lines reading downward form the words, “Vicarius Filii Dei.” The eighteenth verse of the thirteenth chapter of Revelation will be found by reading the words in italic down on the left and up on the right.]
VAIN is life here if worldly fame we seek;
If gold is god, and our six ten years here
Call but for carnal wisdom and its weak
Attributes. Shall we letthreescore year
Roll by Him uselessly? A hundred times,
In that brief six ten years, O man! His blood
Undid thy sins. Hath what is thine of crimes
Soiled so thy understanding, none number good?
False thinkest thou the count His prophets made?
Impossible the text, and babble all?
Look deep—the number of a man is weighed
In balances of justice; a shining wall
Incloses it—the works of God no man
Dare raze. The beast, whose number none began
Except himself, for centuries the ban
In Christdom, it is the figure of a man.
NELS ANDERSON.
Parkersburg, Iowa.
DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES OF SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS.
Reasons for the Existence of the Denomination.
IN defining the doctrines which distinguish our organization from other Christian bodies I need only refer, in particular, to such as are suggested by the name we adopt, Seventh-day Adventists. The term “Adventist” is generally applied to believers in the literal, personal appearing of Jesus Christ the second time upon earth. It is more strictly applicable perhaps to those who hold that that event is to occur in the near future. It was first so applied to those who believed and followed the teachings of William Miller, who, with others in different parts of the world, for several years previous to 1844, preached that Christ was then about to come. It was used more as an opprobrious title by others than as a name chosen by themselves.
Aside from the one feature of setting a definite time for Christ’s second advent, we are believers in that doctrine as was Mr. Miller: First, because of such explicit statements as that of Christ, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, . . . I will come again” (John 14:2, 3), and of the men in “white apparel,” who stood by at his ascension, and said, “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9–11).
Secondly, because of the uniform teaching of the prophets, Christ, and the apostles in harmony with these statements, embracing many predictions relating to dates and specific signs, a careful study of which at the present time, it seems to me, must convince any candid mind that his coming is “near, even at the doors.”
We have therefore chosen the name “Adventist” as the term “Christian” was adopted by the early church, as Baptists adopt the term “Baptist,” and Methodists the name “Methodist,” because it expresses a prominent distinguishing feature of our faith and work.
But, as since the first preaching of the Advent doctrine, many have taken the name “Adventist” who, unlike our people, have continued to fix upon date after date for the occurrence of the event, contrary to Christ’s own words, “Of that day and hour knoweth no man,” the necessity was felt for something which should distinguish us and our work from those who pursued this course, and yet adopted the name “Adventist.”
Shortly after the passing of the time set by Mr. Miller, some of those who later became the organizers of our denomination saw in the expression, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12), two prominent and requisite characteristics pertaining to the people who should be prepared for the coming of the “Son of man” upon the “white cloud” mentioned in verse 14. They saw that the faith of Jesus must not only embrace faith in his death for “reconciliation” for past sins, faith in his life for salvation from present sin (Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 4:10, 11), and faith in his resurrection for redemption from the power of death and the grave (1 Cor. 15:19–22), but must culminate in faith in his second personal coming to accomplish this redemption and the translation of the living (1 Cor. 15:51, 52; 1 Thess. 4:13–17); and they believed that this last was the particular feature of that faith which, at the time, needed emphasizing.
From the statement in Rev. 12:17, “And the dragon was wroth with the woman [the true church of Christ, but not necessarily confined within denominational limits], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony [because they keep the faith] of Jesus Christ,” they saw that keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus were marked characteristics of the “remnant church,” which would especially provoke the wrath of Satan.
For proclaiming the coming of Christ they had suffered reproach and opposition, in which they thought they recognized something of the malice of Satan; but they had not been particularly reproached because of keeping the commandments. Paul says, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” To live godly lives must be nothing short of keeping all God’s commandments, for they contain the “whole duty of man.” Eccl. 12:13. They therefore began to study the commandments with greater diligence in order to learn if in any particular they were failing to observe them all. This study led to the recognition of the fact that they were really only keeping nine of the ten as originally given by God; and that with Christians of every denomination, except the Seventh-day Baptists, they24were observing as Sabbath the first day of the week (Sunday), instead of the seventh (Saturday), as required by the “commandments of God;” and therefore concluded that in this particular existed the special need of reform upon the commandments, as the preaching of the immediate personal advent of Christ was the important point in the “faith of Jesus.”
They saw that the fourth commandment is the only one which points out the true God, and distinguishes him from false gods; that it is possible even for an idolator—a worshiper of the sun, for example—to nominally assent to and observe the other nine without discerning the God who made the heavens and the earth, while this one would constantly week by week remind one who observes it of the Creator’s work and rest. For this reason he has seen fit to specify his Sabbath as a sign between himself and his people by which they may know him as the Lord that sanctifies. Ex. 31:13; Eze. 20:12.
Tho this belief and practice involved great sacrifice of pecuniary advantage and good name, and gave no promise of gaining large numbers of adherents, they could not shrink from the plain duty of bearing to the world the message containing these important and sanctifying tho unpopular truths. They felt at heart this sentiment expressed by Edgar Fawcett:—
“Nay, now, if these things that you yearn to teach
Bear wisdom, in your judgment, rich and strong,
Give voice to them, tho no man heed your speech,
Since right is right, tho all the world go wrong.
The proof that you believe what you declare,
Is that you still stand firm tho throngs pass by;
Rather cry truth a lifetime to void air,
Than flatter listening millions with one lie.”
So to give prominence to both of these points, and, at the same time, distinguish our work from that of other Adventists, whom it was felt reproached the cause by time setting, the combined name of “Seventh-day Adventists” was adopted as expressive of the two leading features of our work.
Perhaps the only apology necessary for the formation of a new denomination upon these issues is this: That it was found upon the experiment, often repeated, that to hold these views and to practice what they involved was impracticable with the retaining of one’s membership in the other denominations.
There are, to be sure, other points upon which we differ from most of the so-called orthodox denominations. The most prominent among these possibly are immortality only through Christ, brought to the individual either by translation or a resurrection from the dead (1 Cor. 15:12–18, 51–57); and the consequent opposite, the final utter extinction of life out of Christ in the “second death” (Rev. 20:6, 14; 21:8). No other view of man’s nature appears to us either scriptural, logical, or at all compatible with the plainly declared truth of a “judgment to come,” and the idea of succeeding rewards and punishments.
We also hold with confidence, based upon abundant Scripture proof, we think, to the belief in the perpetuity of all the spiritual gifts in the church of Christ as expressed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12; Eph. 4:8–13, believing that the disappearance of such manifestations is owing to a lack of the requisite “faith of Jesus,” and that their exercise has been, and will ever be, according to the “proportion of [that] faith” in the church (Rom. 12:6). Certain it is that the work for which these gifts were designed, namely, “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ,” seems to be a very desirable and necessary work for the present day. May the Lord hasten it in his own time and way.
We have no formulated creed, but claim the Bible and the Bible alone as our individual guide in all matters of faith, professing to believe implicitly whatever may be clearly shown to be taught in it, and to discard utterly as Christian doctrine and practice whatever may not be clearly proved by it. We therefore expect to see, and we truly find, the truths of the word expanding into broader fields, and running out along new lines.
I, however, note with regret, and not without alarm as to its ultimate results, a tendency toward a lack of thoroughness in individual study, and the consequent acceptance of positions and interpretations which have come to us from accredited authors and speakers, without a careful comparison and proving of these for ourselves by the daily searching of the Scriptures. This tendency is, I think, universal and noticeable in all denominations; yet it is surely a tendency away from true Protestantism, away from true Christianity.
There is a lesson, it seems to me, that as ministers of Christ, to whom the people look for instruction, we should not fail to impress upon every mind, namely, that the Holy Spirit and the word are given to every man; and if that Spirit is known as it is our privilege to know him, we, ministers or laymen, “need not that any man teach” us. That is, the people should be led both by our precept and example to do as did the Bereans, “receive the word with all readiness of mind,” listen without prejudice, neither to believe nor disbelieve even a Silas or a Paul without carefully comparing the thing preached with the Scriptures for themselves, “and search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
The crying need of to-day is to get back to apostolic methods and the apostolic spirit of teaching and learning. When these are reached, we shall see greater power attending the preaching of the word, and greater unity manifest in all that is truly the work of God.
Amid the conflict of beliefs, whether over denominational or personal differences, I am thankful for this unfailing, individual promise, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God.”
REDEMPTION OF THE “HOLY LAND.”
By M. E. Kellogg
During the Middle Ages the idea of the redemption of the Holy Land, or Palestine, became the ruling thought in the hearts of many thousands. When Peter the Hermit, barefooted and travel-stained, in impassioned language called upon the people of Europe to rescue the Holy Land from the impious Mohammedans, they were greatly stirred, and prince and peasant alike were impelled to take up arms for the rescue of the Holy Sepulcher. The history of the crusades is but the record of the way and means employed by Christendom to redeem the Holy Land. For this purpose vast torrents of blood were shed. It was Europe attacking Asia; and tho Europe succeeded for a time, and a professedly Christian government was established in Palestine, with Jerusalem as the capital, it soon fell, and the Mohammedans have ruled it ever since.
The historian of to-day looks upon the crusades as having been the most terrible series of fearful, desolating, and unnecessary wars that ever were waged. A whole continent of professed Christians was precipitated upon another continent of another faith in bloody battle for a long series of years, when wars and battles are diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Founder of the religion they professed to believe, and for whose honor they went to war. He had said that all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. They took the sword, and their bleaching bones strewn all the way from Europe to Jerusalem, and piled thickly at Antioch and Cæsarea, proved the truthfulness of Christ’s words. Strange to say, the thought of the redemption of Palestine by human power and human arms is now being revived.
This modern idea of the redemption of the Holy Land has several phases. One is that England should take possession of the country. There are in England many people who believe that the English are the descendants of Jacob, and that the taking of Palestine by England would be the same as the restoration of Israel. The Catholic Church would like to see it taken by some nation which would insure its control by the church; and Russia is grimly determined that when the time comes to take the Holy Land from the Turk, she is the chosen power; and the Greek Russian Church would be glad to have it so. Still another view is that the Jews, the literal seed of Abraham, ought yet to inherit that land; and there are not wanting those in this country who believe that this government should enter into negotiation with the Turkish Government to purchase the land of Palestine, in order to give it to the Jews. More than this, they profess to believe that it could be done,—that Turkey would yield it up for a consideration, and that Russia would forget her formulated plans and fixed determination to own Palestine, in favor of a purchase of the Holy Land by this government, to be turned over to the Jews. When we saw this idea lately put forth seriously by a religious paper, we could but exclaim, What is there so absurd and illogical that some one will not believe it?
The land of Palestine is now under the curse. Not only is it suffering the general curse which rests upon all the earth because of sin, but it would seem as tho a special curse must rest upon the land where the Son of God was crucified by cruel men. Nor is it probable that the unchristian descendants of those who crucified him will be restored to special favor in that land. Palestine will be redeemed, but not by might, nor by power of man, nor by money, but by the same power that will redeem the whole earth, and at the same time. Because of sin all the earth is mortgaged. Because of special acts of sin, some portions of the earth may be resting under a double curse, a second mortgage. But the blood of Christ has met the demands against man, and against the earth, and we are only waiting until the time arrives when the final act in this great drama of sin and redemption shall be accomplished, and the mortgage will be discharged. Christ has redeemed the whole earth, and after the purifying fires of the last days (2 Thess. 1:8; 2 Peter 3:7) it shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High (Dan. 7:27). There will be no particular redemption of the Holy Land, so called, but there will be redemption of the sin-cursed earth, which will make it all into holy land, so to forever remain.
M. E. KELLOGG.
Battle Creek, Mich.
Faithful in Few Things
NEVER forget that if you are faithful in a few things, you may be ruler over many.
Blessings in Hard Things
THERE is no doubt that every hard thing that God permits to come into our life has a blessing wrapped up in it.—Dr. J. R. Miller.
