Signs of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 24.
Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View, CaliforniaPage 1
Earlier text: Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View, CaliforniaThe Sacred Duties of Home Life
By Mrs. E. G. White
If we are doers of the Word, we shall daily bear the cross after Jesus, subdue self, and thus bring harmony into the home life. The sweetest type of heaven is a home where the Spirit of the Lord presides. If the will of God is fulfilled, the husband and wife will respect each other, and cultivate love and confidence. Anything that would mar the peace and unity of the family should be firmly repressed, and kindness and love should be cherished. He who manifests the spirit of tenderness, forbearance, and love, will find that the same spirit will be reflected upon him. Where the Spirit of God reigns, there will be no talk of unsuitability in the marriage relation. If Christ indeed is formed within, the hope of glory, there will be union and love in the home. Christ abiding in the heart of the wife, will be at agreement with Christ abiding in the heart of the husband. They will be striving together for the mansions Christ has gone to prepare for those who love Him. Those who are constantly at disagreement in the home life, who do not practise the words of the Lord, will not enter into the heavenly mansions, because they would find that which did not suit their taste even in heaven. Heaven is to be the home of those only who are sanctified, refined, and made meet for the society of the saints in light. If we manifest the character of Christ here, keeping all the commandments of God, we shall be cheered and blessed with glimpses of the pleasant home in the mansions Jesus has gone to prepare. Those who, through the grace given us, represent, not their own crude ideas, their own peculiar hereditary and cultivated objectionable traits of character, but the character of Christ, will be fit inhabitants for the heavenly city. Our ways, our will, are to be under subjection to God's will, to be disciplined by His Holy Spirit. If we are courteous and gentle at home, we shall carry the savor of a pleasant disposition when away from home. If we manifest forbearance, patience, meekness, and fortitude in the home, we shall be able to be a light to the world. All murmuring, all complaining, will be put aside by the true Christian. We are children of the heavenly King, members of the royal family, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. The mansions Jesus has gone to prepare are to receive only those who are true, who are pure, who love and obey His words. In the mansions above we shall meet to part no more. We shall know each other in our heavenly home. But if we would enjoy eternal bliss, we must cultivate religion in the home; for the home is to be the center of the purest and most elevated affection. Peace, harmony, affection, and happiness should be perseveringly cherished every day, until these precious things abide in the hearts of those who compose the family. The plant of love must be carefully nourished, else it will die. Every good principle must be cherished if we would have it thrive in the soul. That which Satan plants in the heart,—envy, jealousy, evil surmising, evil speaking, impatience, prejudice, selfishness, covetousness, and vanity,—must be uprooted. If these evil things are allowed to remain in the soul, they will bear fruit by which many shall be defiled. O, how many cultivate the poisonous plants, that kill out the precious fruits of love, and defile the soul! Some of these who cherish evil, think they have a burden for souls. They make public profession of their love to God, and yet see no necessity for seeding the garden of the heart, for uprooting every unsightly, unholy weed, for letting the beams of the Sun of Righteousness shine into the soul temple. They do not know Jesus. They have no knowledge of what it is to be a practical Christian, that is, to be Christlike. There is need of prayer, of genuine faith, of patient, untiring effort to war against every evil disposition, so that even our thoughts may be brought into subjection to Christ. That which will make the character lovely in the home, is that which will make it lovely in the heavenly mansions. The measure of your Christianity is gaged by the character of your home life. The grace of Christ enables its possessors to make the home a happy place, full of peace and rest. Unless you have the Spirit of Christ, you are none of His, and will never see the redeemed saints in His kingdom, who are to be one with Him in the heaven of bliss. God desires you to consecrate yourself wholly to Him, and represent His character in the home circle. When religion is manifested in the home, its influence will be felt in the church and in the neighborhood. But some who profess to be Christians, talk with their neighbors concerning their home difficulties. They relate their grievances in such a way as to call forth sympathy for themselves; but it is a great mistake to pour our trouble into the ears of others, especially when many of our grievances are manufactured, and exist because of our irreligious life and defective character. Those who go forth to lay their private grievances before others, might better remain at home to pray, to surrender their perverse will to God, to fall on the Rock and be broken, to die to self, that Jesus may make them vessels unto honor. When self is crucified, and Christ lives in the soul, they will cherish sincere and noble affections, such as will give fragrance to the character, and be revealed to the world in consistent words and actions. Let us all heed the words of the Lord,—"Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." In many families there is a great lack in expressing affection one for another. While there is no need of sentimentalism, there is need of expressing love and tenderness in a chaste, pure, dignified way. Many absolutely cultivate hardness of heart, and in word and action reveal the satanic side of the character. Tender affection should ever be cherished between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters. Every hasty word should be checked, and there should not be even the appearance of the lack of love one for another. It is the duty of every one in the family to be pleasant, to speak kindly. Children are to respect and reverence their parents, and parents are to manifest patience, kindness, and affection for their children. Each one should seek in every possible way to please and make happy the members of the family circle. Our words and actions in the home bear testimony to our true character, and they6 (Continued from page 5) are recorded in the books of heaven. The daily acts of life tell the measure and mold of our disposition and character. Where there is a lack of home religion, a profession of faith is valueless. Then let no unkind words fall from the lips of those who compose the home circle. Make the atmosphere fragrant with tender thoughtfulness of others. Only those will enter heaven who in probationary time have formed a character that breathes a heavenly influence. The saint in heaven must first be a saint upon earth. The habits of speech, the character of our actions, put a mold upon us; and that which we cultivate in our associations with others in this life, goes down into the grave with us, and will be unchanged when we come up from the grave. Many are deceiving themselves by thinking that character will be transformed at the coming of Christ; but there will be no conversion of heart at His appearing. Our defects of character must here be repented of, and through the grace of Christ we must overcome them while probation shall last. This is the place for fitting up for the family above. Then, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, do not educate yourselves in the line of vulgarity of action, word, or thought. Coarse sayings, low jests, lack of politeness and true courtesy in the home life, will become as second nature to you, and will unfit you for the society of those who are becoming sanctified through the truth. The home is too sacred a place to be polluted by vulgarity, sensuality, recrimination, and scandal. Silence the evil word, put away the unholy thought; for the True Witness weighs every word, sets a value on every action, and declares, “I know thy works.” Then let love, truth, kindness, and forbearance be the precious plants that you shall cultivate in the garden of the heart. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” The Test of Love
By Eliza H. Morton
'Tis natural for the human heart to love—
It may be but an inert thing, a house,
Or else perchance an animal, or else
A child, or other soul akin—for love
It must, or break. All hearts are made
to love,
For God is love. Mere human love may be
Perverted in its flow, and prove a curse;
And cruel are the wounds of friends untrue,
And deep the scars left by mistakes in
youth.
But love that comes from God must to
Him turn
As flowers to the sun. It's tender, true,
And full of sympathy. And yet all souls
Are not alike. Elijah was not John
In tenderness, but he the lesson learned
Which all must learn who hope to see
their God in peace,—
The lesson of humility. He felt the storm,
The earthquake, and the fire, the earth
gave way,
Before he felt within his heart the need
Of gentleness to take away his pride.
And Peter, rash, impetuous in his haste,
Lacked that which wins and softens hearts
and makes
Them strong in God; but he was led to feel
His helplessness, his failure and defeat,
Before to him was given power to break
To other souls the bread of life. The test is love. Aye, "Lov'st thou Me?"
thrice said.
Yea, "Lov'st thou Me?" The one that loves,
will show
That love in kindly deeds and gentle words.
The sentimental, cold, and selfish soul
Must fall upon the Rock and broken be,
Before the power will come to make alive
In Christ those dead in trespasses and sins.
All souls are not alike. The clinging vine
May have upon its tendrils rust and blight
That must be purged away before its fruit
Will glow beneath a summer sun. Each one
Must feel the touch of love which will reveal
His own peculiar sin. We sometimes take
The knife and think to prune our neighbor's vines,
And find we have a two-edged sword that cuts
Both ways and trims our own, for all have
sinned;
And so how vain it is to think to sit
Upon the judgment-seat! Unlike are all,
And God alone knows who is true and who
Is false to Him. God knows! O blessed
thought!
His love discriminates, His love is broad. The day will come, it hastens on and on,
When earthly things will be as clouds that
melt,
As dreams that fade; when all supports
will fall,
Except the one eternal hope of heaven.
We need not fear, for that is like a rock
That stands for ay. The time of test will
prove
Our love, and love will open wide the gate
That swings into the city's golden light.
Then let us "just be kind," forget the past,
And onward, upward move, trusting in God. XXX. The Beast-System and Its Meaning
We are dealing with symbolic prophecy. The symbols of chapter 12 were abundantly explained by the Word of God. The woman represents the church, the daughter of Zion. The Man Child symbolizes our Lord Jesus Christ, and the dragon is emphatically declared to be the old serpent, the devil and Satan, the deceiver, the accuser, the adversary from the beginning; and the twelfth chapter shows that all enmity against Christ and the church is instigated by him, the prince of the powers of evil. He is the manager behind the scenes; people and institutions of earth are his visible agencies of evil; and to the visible agent or to God the evil is generally all charged, while the chief mover, the actuating originator, is wholly lost sight of. This is a part of Satan's work of deception. He began his war of evil in heaven, and was cast out into the earth. (Rev. 12:3, 8, 9.) The opening of the thirteenth chapter still shows his agency. "And he [the dragon] stood upon the sand of the sea." Thus reads the Revised Version, Rotherham's Emphatic Translation, Murdock's Syriac, Emphatic Diaglot, and others. Comparison of the Visions of Daniel and John
The ever-restless, surging sea is a symbol of multitudes, nations, tongues, and kings. Rev. 17:15. As the result of winds upon the sea, or strife among the nations, Daniel saw four great beasts, or world empires, arise. Dan. 7:1-3, 17. The first verse of Revelation 13, in connection with the prophecy referred to in Daniel, clearly indicates that the stirrer-up of all this strife and commotion is "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." Eph. 2:2. Daniel saw these four great world empires symbolically and successively arise at the very beginning of their career, at the end of which the saints of the Most High take the kingdom and possess it forever (Dan. 7:17, 18); John saw them when their career was partly finished, symbolized in the beast of the fourth verse. Daniel saw the kingdoms of earth as successive temporal powers leading on to, and to be succeeded by, the eternal kingdom of God. His view of the kingdoms in chapter 7 was given with ESPECIAL RELATION TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD. John's view is with especial relation to the WORK AND PEOPLE OF GOD HERE ON EARTH, bringing out more fully the unity of their cruel persecuting spirit, and the power behind the throne — the devil. The symbols presented before Daniel were as follows: (1) a lion, representing Babylon, the beginning of world empires (see Gen. 10:10; Jer. 4:7-13); (2) a bear, cruel and tenacious, representing the successor of Babylon; namely, Medo-Persia; (3) a leopard, representing Grecia; (4) and a ten-horned, nondescript beast, representing Rome. In the last beast a change takes place among the horns, but the general character of the beast continues the same — a many-horned beast, cruel, voracious, a persecutor and blasphemer, in increasing degree — to the end. During a great part of its career, it is dominated by one of its horns, diverse in character from the others. The same powers are presented to the prophet John in relation to the people and work of God in the following symbol: And he stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority. Rev. 13:1, 2, A.R.V.
In this one symbol are included all the symbols of Daniel 7. The beast has the mouth of the lion, the symbol of Babylon; the feet of a bear, the symbol of Medo-Persia; the body of a leopard, the symbol of Grecia; and ten horns, a distinctive characteristic of Daniel's fourth beast, Rome. The prophet of Babylon saw them as FOUR SEPARATE empires; the prophet of Patmos saw them as ONE CONTINUOUS SYSTEM, represented by one body, dominated by one power (the dragon, Satan), yet in different forms, symbolized by the different heads, the number seven indicating the various forms of perverted government through which Satan has wrought against the people of God. The beast does not represent normal earthly government, or legitimate earthly rule; that is, a rule beneficial to earth and to man, in harmony with God's plan of government among sinful men. This is shown in the fact that the special power and dominion and authority exercised by the beast, AS PRESENTED IN THE PROPHECY, are not from God, but from Satan; for "the dragon gave to him his own power and his throne and great authority."—Syriac. Boothroyd similar. "And the dragon did give to it [the beast] his [the dragon's] power, and his throne, and great authority."—Young. So also Hinds's Interlinear Greek-English Testament, and others. The beast in his various forms is Satan's vicegerent among men, occupying his seat, or throne (Rev. 2:13), clothed with diabolical power from him to do his bidding. This does not mean that Satan gave up his throne and all his power and authority over his demon-angels to the beast, but that among men, in the sphere of men, Satan's work centered in this inhuman, infernal system. The character of the thing symbolized by the beast is further shown by the names of blasphemy on the heads. These are the heads of the dragon, the varied forms of the unholy system through which he works. What Does the Beast Symbolize?
Primarily a union of Church and State, or a system of legalized religion. This is evident from the fact that it is an object which is worshiped, which itself compels worship, which blasphemes, and which persecutes those who are servants of God. (Verses 4-8.) It is therefore a religious power, for it is opposed to God and His saints; and it also has civil power, or power to enforce its decrees, for it makes war and puts to death the saints of God. Essentials of a Persecuting Power
Every persecuting power or system known must embrace these two essential characteristics — LEGALIZED RELIGION AND CIVIL POWER. A purely civil government, or power, such as God has ordained for the protection of men, WILL NOT PERSECUTE for religion's sake. The government will know in its laws, statutes, and courts, nothing whatever of religion. Its object will be to protect all men alike, irrespective of creed or religious bias. The Federal Government of the United States for the first century of its existence is a good example of a purely civil government apart from religion. This, however, can not be said of the individual States in general, for in some of them union of Church and State has existed from colonial times. A purely ecclesiastical organization or system CAN NOT PERSECUTE. It may anathematize, excommunicate, expel from its membership, but it can not fine, imprison, or take property or life, however much it desires so to do; and if its members attempted these things, they would be subject to prosecution. But if these two are united by law; if religion, even the not of an ecclesiastical organization, be legalized in any of its tenets, dogmas, or institutions, the beast-system exists in that very thing. The effect of such a system is blasphemy to God, the unholy exaltation of man, the putting of man in the place of God, and the persecution of the most zealous, courageous, and sincere. Such a system puts itself in the7 place of God as lord over conscience, and sets itself forth as man's savior and judge, in so far as it assumes to direct his belief and worship. It has always thus resulted; it always will thus result. Neither do sincere men as rulers make it better, but rather the worse; for the more sincere is the belief in such a system, the more devotion to such a system, the more zeal will be manifest in making the system intensely practical. It is because of this that some of the best and most conscientious emperors of pagan Rome became the worst persecutors of Christians, not merely because they were Christians, but because they were transgressors of the beast-system under which Rome existed. The gods and their worship were so interwoven with the laws of the State, that it was impossible for a Christian not to be a transgressor, a "rebel," a "traitor," an enemy to the State, because not friendly to the gods. The origin of this beast-system may be traced back to the very beginning of organized government, under Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, the beginning of whose kingdom was Babylon. (Gen. 10:10, margin.) The germ of the system is set forth in the following scripture: And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. Gen 11:4.
It was an utter ignoring and rejection of God's plan of saving men and preserving the race. This is shown by the name which they gave their city and tower, which, says Lenormant in his "Manual of Ancient History," was "Bab-ilu" "the Gate of the God Ilu," or as others render, "the Gate of Heaven." It was the perversion of God's way, the salvation of man by man, the putting of man in the place of God; it was the beginning of that system of government among men which Satan has used to oppose God's work in the earth from that time forward. And the root of it all began in the departure from God, and the setting up by man of the gate of heaven. But what man then thought would prove the salvation of the race, God saw would, if allowed to be carried out to its fulness, prove its destruction; and so in mercy to mankind He confounded the language, and Bab-ilu, "the Gate of Heaven," became Babylon, "Confusion" (see Gen. 11:9); in order that men might flee from confusion to the only God, able to save to the uttermost. Every scheme of human salvation, every system which puts religion into the control of man or a set of men to force it upon others, every plan by which the conscience of the individual is to be controlled by his fellows, which puts man in the place of God, which ignores Christ, Christ's truth, Christ's teaching, or Christ's way,—every scheme of that kind, God has forever stamped as BABYLON, CONFUSION, albeit its devotees call it the gate of God, or gate of heaven. It seems almost a marvelous fact that the name given of God was perpetuated, while the principles of the apostasy have seemed to be increasingly dominant among the nations of earth. It is a fact that the ancient monuments and bricks dug up from the old Assyrian and Babylonian ruins confirm the origin of the name of Babylon as given in Gen. 11:6-9. Says Lenormant: Babylon is often designated in the cuneiform text by a symbolical name ideographically written, meaning "the tower of the root of languages." —Manual of Ancient History, volume 1, page 24.
Of Borsippa, a suburb of Babylon, he says: Borsippa meant in that [Semitic] idiom "the tower of tongues." By another meaning, "the tower of the dispersion of tribes." —Id., pages 24, 482, 483. The principles of that apostasy and system have been perpetuated through unconverted men by Lucifer, or Satan, "the primeval king of Babylon," the very one in whom the principles originated, and who thus expressed them: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High. Isa. 14:13, 14.
The builders of Babylon said:
Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven ["the gate of heaven"]; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad. Gen. 11:4. And ancient Babylon said:
I shall be a lady forever. . . . I am, and there is none else beside me. Isa. 47:7, 8, R.V. And ancient Babylon's King, imbued by the same unholy ambition, said:
Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty? Dan. 4:30. It is self-exaltation, self-salvation, self-honor all the way through, from Lucifer the originator to the smallest system of earth bearing his trade-mark; and the beginning of all these systems, the corruption of all governments, in the earth, is Babylon. It is with this in view that the prophet declares: "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made ALL THE EARTH DRUNKEN: THE NATIONS HAVE DRUNKEN OF HER WINE." Jer. 51:7. "All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication" (Rev. 18:3; 19:2), the unlawful union of Church and State. [A further study of this beast-system must be deferred till our next.] 1. And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4. And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Truth versus Error
By Arthur V. Fox
Will truth prevail? Christ says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." See Luther, a solitary monk, rising against a power that made kings do homage and earth tremble. Tetzel, clothed with the thunders of the Vatican, burns his theses with ignominy, and denounces him as a damnable heretic; but he stands. A thousand barbed ecclesiastical arrows quiver on the string, directed at his heart; but he trembles not. He meets the papal legate at Augsburg, and mildly, firmly maintains his position, lamenting that he is regarded as the leading adversary of the whole church of God on earth, yet speaking with unfaltering accent. Summoned to battle against the combined powers of Church and State, in the Diet at Worms, his friends gather around him to dissuade him, urging that they who burned his writings would burn his body. "I would go if I knew there were as many devils at Worms as tiles on the houses," is his grand reply. Truth is invincible. God has His moral as well as His physical laws, and they are uniform and irresistible. Yet men sometimes league against them. They collect in some city or plain, and seizing some great cord of the moral universe, they say, "Go to, now, let us break this band, and cast away this cord from us;" but "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision." Men may gather a great party, and get a great name, and manufacture a great deal of brick, and mix a great deal of mortar, and build a great Babel, and get a great many offices and emoluments, in opposing moral truth; but there runs through human nature a great feeling of moral obligation, which, sooner or later, will break into a thousand fragments any party that sets itself in opposition to the laws of the universe. Truth crushed to earth will rise again,
The eternal years of God are hers. Truth asks no protection from civil government. As Luther said, "The good man looks up into God's beautiful arch and fears not lest it should fall, tho he see not and feel not any pillars; so he looks up to truth, and tho it be encompassed with clouds, and, without visible support, he knows there is a bow of promise to span it, an eternal arm to bear it up." Truth must eventually prevail, whatever man may say or do. O, love the truth, and the truth will make you free! Why should you love error? It comes from the evil one, and will only lead you downward to destruction. Like shadows gliding o'er the plain,
Or clouds that roll successive on,
Man's busy generations pass,
And while we gaze, their forms are gone. We live, we die; behold the sum
Of good or ill on life's fair page.
Alike in God's all-seeing eye,
The infant's day, the patriarch's age. O Father, in whose mighty hand
The boundless years and ages lie,
Teach us Thy boon of life to prize,
And use the moments as they fly.
—Jane Taylor. The Essential in Preaching
By Pilgrim
"Judge, why don't you go to church any longer?" frankly asked a prominent minister of an eminent judge who, he had heard, seldom, if ever, attended the church he had long been associated with. "I will tell you," said the judge, who, by the way, was not a professing Christian. "My minister tells us that a man is not naturally sinful; that we are falling up, and not down, and coming out right in the end, and that really there is nothing to be saved from, and no one to save us; that Jesus Christ was simply a good man whom it would be well to imitate. "If this is so, it doesn't seem to me worth while to go to the trouble of going to church or the expense of keeping it up; so I let those who like that sort of a rose-water lecture pay for it." The judge was right, unless the minister was wrong. There is not enough vitality in such religion to keep it sweet. At the basis of all religion lie the needs of man, the deep soul-needs that can be satisfied only by a divine Saviour. Even heathen religions, the worst of them, recognize this need, and are feeling after such a Saviour, if haply they may find Him. The religion of Bethlehem and Calvary has found Him, and with love and pity offers Him to all the world. Whatever we leave out of our creed, if we are Christians, we can not leave out the thought of man's need as a sinner, and Christ's sufficiency as a Saviour.—Pilgrim. "ONLY those who work for the Lord can rest in the Lord." 1. What prediction did Isaiah make (B.C. 700) concerning our Lord’s attitude to the law of God? The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will MAGNIFY THE LAW, and make it HONORABLE. Isa. 42:21. 2. What prediction of His earth life did Christ make through the psalmist three centuries before Isaiah? Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I DELIGHT to do THY WILL, O My God: yea, THY LAW is within My heart. Ps. 40: 7, 8. 3. What response did Jesus make to this when He came? For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the WILL OF HIM that sent Me. John 6: 38.
My meat is to DO the WILL OF HIM that sent Me. John 4: 34. 4. What does He say of the importance of doing God’s will? Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity. Matt. 7: 21-23. Note.—The observant reader will note that the above scripture from Psalm 40 clearly shows that God’s will and law are identical. This is also clear from the last passage quoted. Those who do not do the will of God are guilty of iniquity, or lawlessness. In other words, they are lawbreakers. Christ’s object, then, is to place men on that plane where they can keep the law. 5. How did He honor that law by His own conduct? 6. To what extent was that law sacred? It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one TITTLE OF THE LAW to fail. Luke 16: 17. 7. What did He set forth as the way of life? If thou wilt enter into life, KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS. Matt. 19: 17. 8. How did our Lord regard the Sabbath? Note.—The Jews charged that our Lord—our Exemplar—broke the Sabbath in the works that He wrought. Jesus clearly teaches that all He did was in harmony with the law. 9. What regard did He show for the Sabbath forty years after His crucifixion at the destruction of Jerusalem? Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. Matt. 24: 20. 10. How did those women who were saturated with His teaching regard the Sabbath? They . . . rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Luke 23: 56. Note.—The only Sabbath commandment of the Bible is that of the Decalogue (Ex. 20: 8-11), which declares that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Jesus affirmed its holiness, magnified its blessedness, made forever honorable by His own obedience its observance. “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” 1 John 2: 6. A WRITER in the Baptist Weekly tells a story of a circumstance which occurred at Oswego, and which illustrated the practical shrewdness of an old minister named Amasa Brown. A member of the church charged another with stealing a sheep. The culprit denied the charge. Both were men of influence. The church was divided. A council was called, and Mr. Brown was there. There were no witnesses except as to character. It was the word of one man against another. One was a slanderer, or the other a thief. Elder Brown suggested a most extraordinary measure to elicit the facts in the case. He called the two men to the rostrum before the pulpit, and directed the man who made the charge to engage in prayer—and requested the council and audience to look him in the face while praying. He made an earnest prayer. He appealed to the Lord as one who knew the charge was true. Then the other was called on to follow. He made a regular prayer for the church, the pastor, etc., and then said: “As touching this matter of the sheep, O Lord—ahum—as to touching—touching this—ah”—when he sprang to his feet, and exclaimed: “Brethren, I can not pray. I did steal that sheep!” So the matter was settled.—The Armory. My Friend
By Llewellyn A. Morrison
Mid the burden and the strife,
He was always good and kind,
Working for a purer life
With a purpose, love-refined;
Simple, earnest, commonplace,
Steadfast mind and trustful heart;
Every one who knew his grace,
Learned to better do his part. He hath done his very best
And is but a memory now,
Yet this priceless crown doth rest
Evermore upon his brow.
Not a word of ours shall mar
Record of a life sincere—
For the air is sweeter far
Just because he tarried here.