Earlier text: The “Review”—Reasons for Loving ItSeventh-Day Adventists and Health Principles
By F. M. W.
ARE Seventh-day Adventists observing as faithfully the principles of health and temperance as they did in the early days of their history? This question has been propounded to the editor of the REVIEW many times during the last two or three years. So far as their relation to the grosser forms of intemperance are concerned, like the use of alcoholic drinks, tobacco, etc., we are convinced that there has been no change on the part of the members of our churches since the early days of our church history. Seventh-day Adventists have always been a temperance people as this word is commonly understood. For long years we have not admitted into our membership those who were engaged in the sale or use of intoxicants in any form. We have gone so far as to make the use of tobacco a condition of church membership, and to discourage in our teachings the use of milder stimulants, like tea and coffee. Our attitude as a church toward these greater evils of intemperance is just as uncompromising today as it ever has been in our history. Regarding our attitude as a denomination toward the general features of health reform we are not so sanguine. We believe that on the part of many there has been a growing conception of what is comprehended in the term health reform. They have got away from the old idea that healthful living consists alone in discarding flesh foods, and in eating vegetable products without reference to their combination or form or preparation. They have passed in their experience the time when they believed, as some did, that nut butter was a remedy for every ill. Many, we are glad to believe, have been studying the question of health reform more broadly during the last few years than ever before. They have come to see that the question of healthful living involves not alone the question of diet, but of rest, of exercise, of ventilation, of proper dress, and of general sanitation in their homes and on their premises. They have come to recognize that while from physiological reasons flesh should not be used for food, yet from other physiological reasons equally important they should include in their diet foods containing the same elements of nutrition that are provided in meat; and that a suitable variety in the diet, together with proper food combination and preparation, making the food appetizing and attractive to taste and smell and sight, is quite as essential as a particular class of food products. There are others, we are sorry to say, who do not seem to have advanced beyond first principles in their relation to this subject. They still feel that one's attitude toward the subject of health reform is determined wholly by whether or not he is a vegetarian. We believe that vegetarianism is included within the scope of true health reform, but we believe that this is only one of many allied questions embraced in this great subject, and that the one who sees only this detail in it takes indeed a very narrow view of the question. There is another class who show by their attitude that they do not consider the question of healthful living one worthy of their thought or consideration. They go on still in the old way, with but little idea of or regard for the light which God has given to his people. It is these two latter classes, regardless of the position they occupy in the church, that bring health reform into disrepute, —one by extreme radicalism, and the other by cold indifference or active opposition. The Lord desires us to be reasonable and reasoning men and women. He imposes upon us no restrictions, gives us no regulations for our conduct, save such as are based upon reason, and such as he in his infinite wisdom sees will be for our good. It is for us to take the instruction which he has given on this great subject of health, study it broadly and deeply, and in the wisdom which God gives us seek to adapt it to our own personal needs. And let us avoid making our conception of the question the standard or gauge by which we judge others. It is proper for the church of Christ to take its stand relative to the grosser evils of intemperance, and to say that those who use or sell intoxicants shall not be members of the church; but in the question of the details of eating and drinking, individual conscience must be the judge. In these minor details every man is answerable alone to his God, and must stand or fall by himself, reaping in his own experience the result of his obedience or disobedience. Let us apply to ourselves as strictly and as literally as we may desire, every principle of health reform as we understand it, but let us be exceedingly generous toward our brethren, who doubtless are quite as honestly endeavoring in their experience to apply the principles from their viewpoint. At best, we are only fallible mortals. We know nothing as we ought to know it. We have made many mistakes in the past; we are learning continually by our experience. In view of this, it behooves us to be charitable. The principle stated by the apostle Paul, in his epistle to the church at Rome, is worthy of careful consideration in this connection:— “Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him7 stand. . . . But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.”
Let us be careful neither to judge our brother nor to place before him, in our example, an occasion for stumbling. We can do this only as we walk humbly with God, and reasonably and consistently seek to carry out in our lives the light and instruction which has come to us. Some time ago a number of gentlemen entered a railway train for a long journey. As they took their seats, and friends were bidding them good-by and wishing them a safe and prosperous journey, one gentleman said to his friend who was departing, “By the way, have you an insurance ticket?” He replied in the affirmative. A man sitting in front of him turned and quietly asked, “Are you insured forever?” He replied, “No, I only insure for a year at a time.” “But I,” said the gentleman, “am insured forever.” Not seeing his point, the man said, “I suppose one can insure that way, but it costs a great deal.” “Yes,” replied the other man, “it is indeed very expensive, but mine cost me nothing. It was done at one payment, and cost God his Son. ‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’” The premium of this insurance truly cost an infinite sum. Those who believe, are insured, not for time, but for eternity,— Insured against the curse of sin—“There shall be no more curse.” Insured against the power and the fury of the enemy—“Nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Insured against defeat in the Christian race—“He always causeth us to triumph in Christ.” Insured against the triumph of death—“I will ransom them from the power of the grave;” “There shall be no more death.” Insured against the continuance of weeping and sorrow—“God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Insured against the permanency of pain—“Neither shall there be any more pain.” Insured against the plagues of God’s final indignation against sin—“There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” Insured against the pestilence that walks in darkness—“A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” Insured against terror and the convulsions of the last day—“Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” Insured against the awful second death, in the fixed embrace of which the finally incorrigible will be found—“He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” Insured against destruction when the earth succumbs to the disorder of sin, and is wrapped in eternal fire at the last great day—“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” This great assurance is vouchsafed to all who stumble along the dark, bleak pathway of sin, where no assurance, stability, or hope is found. And it is free for all who by faith will lay hold upon it. Such a priceless boon, purchased at such an infinite cost, should be eagerly laid hold upon by all who walk amid the gathering gloom. Agitation over Preparedness
By F. M. W.
One by one all the nations of earth are succumbing to the demand for largely increasing their military and naval equipment. From the standpoint of the statesman, this is deemed an imperative necessity. He feels that, in the growing antagonism among the nations and in the strife for commercial supremacy, if his nation would hold its own, it must do so by a diplomacy which has behind it the power to enforce its demands. During the last few decades, since the United States has emerged from its practical isolation and has taken a larger hand in world affairs, this sentiment for a stronger army and greatly increased naval armament has been steadily gaining ground. This conviction of course has deepened and broadened since the outbreak of the war in Europe. Perhaps the leading question of legislation in the present Congress is that relating to national defense. As showing the sentiment of the country at large, the nation-wide press-poll recently taken by the Literary Digest is of interest. This journal wrote to five hundred of the leading editors in the United States, representing every State in the Union, inquiring their sentiments regarding the following questions: How large an army should we have? How large a navy? Is there reason to fear the peril of militarism in increasing both branches of our defense? The response to these inquiries of course covered a wide range of opinions. “The vote as a whole across the country shows the average estimate for the regular army to be 285,078, and for the reserve 1,215,359. As to the navy, forty per cent of our replies on this point favored a navy second only to Great Britain’s, while sixty per cent favored a navy as large as any in the world.” The large majority of the editors had no fear of militarism in consequence of these army and navy increases. Unquestionably the prevailing sentiment of the people of this country is for a program of preparedness on a large and increasing scale. In this the United States is only doing that which the nations of Europe have long since done. As to the merits or demerits of the proposed program of preparedness, we are not competent to speak, and from the political standpoint its discussion is not appropriate for the columns of this journal. We can, however, recognize the present situation as an additional sign of the times in which we are living. One by one the nations of earth are preparing to take part in the last great conflict of this earth’s history. Let us be careful that we do not permit this spirit to enter into our lives. If the God of nations were to speak to his erring children today, he would say to them, in the words of the Great Teacher, “One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” And this is the viewpoint which the evangel of the cross must ever keep in mind. The ambassador of Christ’s kingdom can know no race prejudice. His mission is to all men of every race and of every color. One of the greatest triumphs of the cross of Christ is to take poor, weak humanity, divided socially into caste and clique, politically into state and nation, geographically by climate and color, and weld them into one united whole in Christ Jesus. Let us seek in our lives and in our relation to our fellows the generosity of heart, the breadth of character, the freedom from racial and social and religious prejudice, which prompted the Lord Jesus Christ in his ministry of love to a lost world.
F. M. W. SIAM’S new railway, the Siamese Southern, now has 389 miles of railway open to traffic, of which 120 were opened during the past year. The total length of the line, including branches, will be 740 miles, leaving 351 miles still to be built. When completed, the line will shorten the time required for mail to reach Siam from Europe by three or four days, and the journey from the port of Penang to Bangkok, the capital of Siam, which now consumes six to eight days on the water, will take two and a half days. The Shout of Victory
By Arthur W. Spaulding
As when a standard bearer falls
The hush of doom is felt,
As when the trumpet fainter calls
The dread of doom is dealt;
Then, clear and strong and masterful,
The Captain’s voice rings out,
“Hear now, my comrades, hear! and full
Echo the victor shout:—
“To fore! to fore! and victory!
Strengthen the feeble hands!
For on, and on, My standard press;
I succor him who feeleth stress,
And mine is victory!” As when the day grows old in strife,
And dark the shadows lower,
And redly gush the streams of life,
And nears the crucial hour;
Then cheerily through the murk and gloom
The Captain’s voice rings out,
“Hear now, my comrades! Grip your doom,
And with your Captain shout:—
“Good cheer! good cheer! and victory!
Confirm the sinking knees!
Lift up your hopes that downward droop,
For fast my forces to you troop,
And yours the victory!” As when on front and flank and rear
Exultant foes assail,
And hope is challenged loud by fear,
And courage bids to fail;
Then thundering fire and ringing steel
Echo the Captain’s shout,—
“Charge, comrades! for the hour is weal,
And let your cry ring out:—
“Charge on! charge on! to victory!
Uplift the drooping head,
For God and the cause! for the King and right!
For one more charge shall win this fight,
And ours the victory!” Knowing the Time
By George Ide Butler
“AND that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.” Rom. 13: 11, 12. This language is undoubtedly instruction for the last generation of Christians that shall live on the earth,— special instruction for those giving the last message in the closing work of God for this world. The “salvation” of God’s people takes place at the second coming of Christ. Those passing away in death are sleeping in Jesus, awaiting the coming of him who shall raise them from their graves. Then the living saints will be changed to immortality in the twinkling of an eye, and they and those who have been raised from the dead will ascend, together with King Jesus and all the holy angels, to the city of God on high, there to remain a thousand years in the glorious millennium. This must be the “salvation” spoken of. Paul, the writer of the words quoted above, elsewhere tells those who will know the time in which they are living: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” 1 Thess. 5: 4, 5. The signs of Christ’s coming are clearly given. The time of the end is made very plain in the prophecies. But, alas, the great mass of professed Christians teach that the prophecies cannot be understood. Thank God, however, there are many who are diligently studying the precious writings of the prophets, and thus they know where they are in this world’s history. They know the time when Christ is near. What a sad thought it is, yes, terrible and overwhelming, to see the great mass of mankind in such complete ignorance concerning the nature of the great events now taking place around us. The large majority of professed Christians are free to confess their entire ignorance concerning the time of the end. Christ said that the last days would be like the days before the flood. Then the people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and knew not till the flood came and took them all away. Matt. 24: 38, 39. Multitudes believe that this terrible war will be followed by a period of peace, and that war will be no more. Thus they continue the peace-and-safety cry which was heard long before the beginning of the present struggle. The apostle says, “When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, . . . and they shall not escape.” 1 Thess. 5: 3. Seventh-day Adventists for the last half century have been warning the world that this terrible war was surely coming. Their words proved true to the letter. All the great men admit that it is the greatest and most awful conflict ever known, but still the peace-and-safety cry is continued. As soon as this war is over, we are told, peace and safety will reign again; but the Word of God declares that sudden destruction will follow. A little time of peace may follow this war, that other predictions of Holy Writ may be fulfilled,—that the Papacy may be fully developed; that Spiritualism may strengthen its power over the nations of men, and prepare them for the final Armageddon; that Satan may manifest himself as an angel of light, proclaiming himself to be Christ, and giving wonder-working evidence of his messiahship by healing the sick and doing many mighty works. Multitudes will believe that he really is the true Christ. He will deceive all but the very elect. Matt. 24: 24. The “elect” here mentioned are those who believe the Word of God, which plainly says that Christ’s second coming is not to occur upon the earth, but in mid-heaven, and that the saints will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and will go with him to the Holy City above. Satan will then be bound on the earth. Afterward the city of God will come down from heaven, and Christ will come with the city, to remain on earth forever. Satan and his followers will then be destroyed by fire. During this time of peace the two-horned beast, or the United States, which it represents, will complete the image of the beast, the great apostate power; and the first day of the week, the mark of that apostasy, will be enforced upon the observers of the Sabbath of the Lord. Then will come the time of Jacob’s trouble. “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.” Jer. 30: 7. God’s people will then be tested as never before. Seemingly they are all about to be slain through the hatred of their enemies. Doubtless many professors will join the enemy to save their lives. But Christ will appear in his glory, and every one of his true and tried saints will be delivered. In this brief time of peace Satan’s power will seem for a season to triumph, but the triumph will be short, for Satan will miserably perish. The apostle speaks of the Lord’s people as “knowing the time.” They know they are in the last days. They know the order of events. They are able to discern the great facts fully revealed in the Bible, for they have carefully studied the sure word of prophecy. But not so with the great masses of mankind; not so with fallen Babylon; and not so with worldly Seventh-day Adventists whose hearts are cold to piety and devotion, and whose greatest interest is in worldly things. Such are spiritually asleep. When one is asleep physically, his senses are benumbed, and for the time being he is unconscious of what is occurring around him. He is asleep. His physical experience is an illustration of spiritual stupor. There are thousands of our nominal members whose spiritual sense seems really dormant. Like Demas of old, they love the present world. They are interested in making money and enjoying the good things of life. They have not pondered the scripture admonishing them to “love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” 1 John 2: 15. Their affections are set, not on things above, but on the things of this world. They are not laying9 up their worldly treasures in “bags that wax not old,” eternal in heaven; but their treasures are in their broad acres, their fine houses, their bank accounts, and the good things of this life. Where their hearts are, there they will go; and there they will be when the Lord comes, unless they zealously repent and seek the Lord as never before. They must awake out of sleep—their spiritual nap—and mightily change their course. They are like the foolish virgins who went out to meet their lord with no oil in their lamps, for the oil of the Holy Spirit is not in their hearts. Dear brethren and sisters, awake from your spiritual sleep, or your souls are lost eternally. We are in the beginning of the time of trouble. Such a war as this was never seen in this world before. “The nations are angry.” God’s wrath is come. The judgment is going on. Let us all work for God and his truth as never before. The great event for which we long have looked hastens on apace. “It is very near, and hasteth greatly.” A. T. ROBINSON
By A. T. Robinson
The Light of the World — No. 3
The world was in perishing need of a rekindling of the light of life. The minds of men had become so darkened that they could no longer read in the written Word the message of God’s love. A new revelation was necessary. Then “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14. At a time when the shackles of ignorance and superstition had so fastened themselves upon the minds of men that “no man dared to think for himself, until a voice was heard in Judea, breaking day for the darkest night that had ever settled down upon humanity,”—at such a time Jesus came, “a light into the world.” Jesus said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:5. When he went back to heaven, he said of his church on the earth, “Ye are the light of the world.” Matt. 5:14. The light had been rekindled. The conflict between light and darkness had been revived. That voice in Judea, the voice of one who was so poor that He could say, “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head,” was lifted against a system of error and darkness backed by all the influence that the power and wealth of this world could command. But truth is always in the majority. Truth, handcuffed, placed behind prison walls, chained to the damp, cold dungeon floor, is truth still, and is on the road to sure and eternal triumph; while error, seated upon a throne of gold, a golden scepter in her hand, and worshiping millions bowing at her shrine, is only error still, and is on the road to sure and eternal defeat. Two hundred and eighty-six years after that conflict began, the Edict of Milan was issued (in 313 A. D.), proclaiming liberty for every one to think for himself. That document, and a similar one issued one hundred and forty years ago (July 4, 1776), form two of the most wonderful proclamations of liberty ever penned by human hands. Almost as soon as truth had gained that signal victory over the powers of darkness, the freedom of action accorded was taken advantage of by religio-political priests and bishops to bring on a darker night of error and superstition than the world had known before. Once more the light had become so far obscured, the chains of error had become so fastened upon the world, that it could be truthfully said that no man dared to think for himself, when a voice was heard in Germany, proclaiming the day of deliverance from the night of darkness and superstition that had settled down upon humanity. The stroke of Luther’s hammer upon the doors of the church of Wittenberg was the signal for a rekindling of the light of sacred truth in the earth; the clarion call to another conflict, upon one side of which was again arrayed all the power that the wealth of this world could command. Two hundred and fifty-nine years after the beginning of the conflict started by Luther, the Declaration of Independence of the United States was made, which as truly marked the triumph of the Reformation of the sixteenth century as the Edict of Milan marked that of the gospel during the first three centuries. “The history of the Reformation does not close, as many European authors have imagined, in a balanced and final distribution of the north and south between the Protestant and the Catholic. . . . Macaulay and others who have treated of the Reformation have taken too limited a view of it, supposing that this was its point of arrest. It made another enormous stride when, at the American Revolution, the state and the church were solemnly and openly dissevered from one another.”—“Intellectual Developments of Europe,” by Draper, pp. 226, 227. This victory of the eighteenth century, like the one of the fourth century, is being nullified through the efforts of those opposed to the light and liberty of the gospel of Christ. The Fourth Commandment
By Milton C. Wilcox
This article is not an exposition of the great Sabbath question. It is not the question of the days involved that we wish to study. There are other things worthy of our time, on the practical side. We quote the commandment from the common version, with the exception of retaining the covenant name of God instead of its rendering “the Lord:”—— “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:4-11. Let us study to know what it means or should mean to us. 1. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. To remember is not to forget. The Sabbath day should be kept in mind. Other matters must not crowd it out or take its place. The Sabbath day is already in existence; God’s people are to remember it. 2. They are to remember the Sabbath day; not the Sabbatic institution in a general sense, but the day, the rest day, divinely appointed. Saturday keeping is not Sabbath keeping. Nor are Saturday and the seventh day identical. The seventh day begins at sunset; Saturday begins at midnight. The seventh day ends at sunset; Saturday ends at midnight. The precept is not that we should remember the secular day, but the holy seventh-day Sabbath. If humanity had always remembered the day, there would have been no idolatry, no division in the world over the Sabbath. Union and harmony would have existed throughout the world. 3. Remember the Sabbath day, the rest day, to keep it, not to violate it, not to neglect it, not to reject it, but, to remember God’s rest day to keep it, whether others keep it or not, whatever others may do or say or be. Remember God’s Sabbath to keep it, as he commanded. 4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Man cannot make it holy. Only the Maker can do that; and when God made the Sabbath, he made it holy. He made it holy by blessing and sanctifying it. That is, God separated the day of his rest from the other days of the week, and set it apart to himself. The seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, holy to Jehovah. Ex. 31:15. Only a holy man can keep holy a holy Sabbath. Man’s first duty is, therefore, to give himself unreservedly to God, that God may separate him from sin and set him apart to himself, “holy to Jehovah.” So God designed his people to be. “Ye shall be holy: for I Jehovah your God am holy.” Lev. 19:2. “Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.” Ex. 19:6. “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people.” 1 Peter 2:9. The holy people, made holy by God’s power, can keep holy God’s holy Sabbath as he has commanded. No unholy man can keep a holy Sabbath holy. What folly it is, then, to endeavor to compel men by law to keep a day holy when sinful man can neither make the day holy10 nor even keep it holy after God has made it holy. 5. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. How much of the day did God make holy? Did he leave common an hour at the beginning of sunset the sixth day and an hour at the close before sunset the seventh day?—No; we know that the whole day was holy from sunset on the sixth day to sunset on the seventh day. Every hour, every minute, was and is holy. There is no part of the day that is not covered with the sanctification of God. How much of it are we to remember? The last twenty-three hours?—Nay, the twenty-four hours. It is all holy. Remember it to keep it as God commanded. After its holy hours leave you, the day upon which you enter is the first day toward the Sabbath, the next day is the second toward the Sabbath, etc. Every day is a reminder of the Sabbath to come. Remember to plan every day so you can keep the Sabbath holy when it comes. Calculate the work of the week from the first day so that it shall not encroach upon the holy time of the Lord’s day. In the home, let cooking be done for the Sabbath instead of on the Sabbath. Begin it in time on sixth-day morning so that it shall not hold in busy, anxious, fretful care the mind and heart of the housewife. Let the last two hours of the day of preparation be easy hours, for bathing and finishing touches, with a restful heart because the mending, cleaning, and cooking are done, and the house is ready to receive the Master with his double Sabbath blessing. It is so much easier to put away the thoughts of the world over finished work. Let the man of business, the farmer, the teamster, the laborer, the student, see that the secular business and work are over, and that time is given to catch up the fag-ends of the week’s work, that the frayed cords shall not hold back the mind to the work of the world. Better a little less done in all the various lines of work, or an earlier start on the sixth-day morning, than to carry the work over into God’s day, and come to the Sabbath dirty, unshaved, harried, and unsatisfied. The various things to be done need not be specified; our conscience knows them. Of course there are necessary chores in the care of beasts, but these should be minimized. It is said that on the seventh day the Creator “rested, and was refreshed.” The original seems to indicate a breath of relief, of satisfaction, of restfulness over finished work. If the Sabbath keepers of today would plan for God in the observance of the Sabbath, they would find God’s blessing. But to carry the world’s work and cares with them is like transporting or making a slough or a desert in a garden of beauty. There were many journeying with Israel to the border of the Promised Land, who never got out of Egypt; they took Egypt along with them, and consequently never reached the promised rest. Those who carry the world into the Sabbath day never find its blessed spiritual rest, which is, after all, the great purpose of the Sabbath. But those who yield their all to God and find rest from sin in Christ Jesus, will know the truth of the great divine commandment, “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of Jehovah, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah,” the great covenant God of his people. One more thought among the many that still surge in upon the mind: Every Sabbath day should be a step heavenward. The bread of God’s presence was eaten in the holy place of the sanctuary on the Sabbath day. God gives now special spiritual food on that day. He gives added strength to the soul, added blessing to the life. It need not be said that God does not desire us to lose any blessing he gives. We should therefore retain the Sabbath blessing through the week. We should hold to the higher plane of life to which the Sabbath brought us. The week following should know no backward step, no lower plane, no lesser blessings. Thus the Sabbath days become constant stepping-stones, golden, jeweled stairs to a higher life in Jesus Christ. Marriage with Unbelievers
By Ellen G. White
- (A Personal Letter to a Young Sister) *
The spirit of intense worldliness that now exists, the disposition to acknowledge no higher claim than that of self-gratification, constitutes one of the signs of the last days. “As it was in the days of Noe,” said Christ, “so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.” The people of this generation are marrying and giving in marriage with the same reckless disregard of God’s requirements as was manifested in the days of Noah. There is in the Christian world an astonishing, alarming indifference to the teaching of God’s Word in regard to the marriage of Christians with unbelievers. Many who profess to love and fear God choose to follow the bent of their own minds rather than take counsel of Infinite Wisdom. In a matter which vitally concerns the happiness and well-being of both parties, for this world and the next, reason, judgment, and the fear of God are set aside, and blind impulse, stubborn determination, is allowed to control. Men and women who are otherwise sensible and conscientious close their ears to counsel; they are deaf to the appeals and entreaties of friends and kindred and of the servants of God. The expression of a caution or warning is regarded as impertinent meddling, and the friend who is faithful enough to utter a remonstrance is treated as an enemy. All this is as Satan would have it. He weaves his spell about the soul, and it becomes bewitched, infatuated. Reason lets fall the reins of self-control upon the neck of lust; unsanctified passion bears sway, until, too late, the victim awakens to a life of misery and bondage. This is not a picture drawn by the imagination, but a recital of facts. God’s sanction is not given to unions which he has expressly forbidden. For years I have been receiving letters from different persons who have formed unhappy marriages, and the revolting histories opened before me are enough to make the heart ache. It is no easy thing to decide what advice can be given to these unfortunate ones, or how their hard lot can be lightened; but their sad experience should be a warning to others. In this age of the world, as the scenes of earth’s history are soon to close, and we are about to enter upon the time of trouble such as never was, the fewer the marriages contracted, the better for all, both men and women. Above all, when Satan is working with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, let Christians beware of connecting themselves with unbelievers. God has spoken. All who fear him will submit to his wise injunctions. Our feelings, impulses, and affections must flow heavenward, not earthward, not in the low, base channel of sensual thought and indulgence. It is time now that every soul should stand as in the sight of the heart-searching God. My dear sister, as a disciple of Jesus you should inquire what will be the influence of the step you are about to take, not only upon yourself, but upon others. The followers of Christ are to be co-workers with their Master; they must be “blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom,” says Paul, “ye shine as lights in the world.” We are to receive the bright beams from the Sun of Righteousness, and by our good works let them11 shine forth to others in clear, steady rays, never fitful, never growing dim. We cannot be sure that we are doing no harm to those about us, unless we are exerting a positive influence to lead them heavenward. “Ye are my witnesses,” said Jesus, and in each act of our lives we should inquire, How will our course affect the interests of the Redeemer’s kingdom? If you are indeed Christ’s disciple, you will choose to walk in his footsteps, however painful this may be to your natural feelings. Said Paul, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” You, Sister ——, need to sit at the feet of Jesus, and learn of him, as did Mary of old. God requires of you an entire surrender of your will, your plans and purposes. Jesus is your leader; to him you must look, in him you must trust, and you must permit nothing to deter you from the life of consecration which you owe to God. Your conversation must be in heaven, from whence you look for the Saviour. Your piety must be of a character to make itself felt by all within the sphere of your influence. God requires you in every act of life to shun the very appearance of evil. Are you doing this? You are under the most sacred obligation not to belittle or compromise your holy faith by uniting with the Lord’s enemies. If you are tempted to disregard the injunctions of his Word because others have done so, remember that your example also will exert an influence. Others will do as you do, and thus the evil will be extended. While you profess to be a child of God, a departure on your part from his requirements will result in infinite harm to those who look to you for guidance. The salvation of souls will be the constant aim of those who are abiding in Christ. But what have you done to show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness? “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” Shake off this fatal infatuation that benumbs your senses and palsies the energies of the soul. The very strongest incentives to faithfulness are set before us, the highest motives, the most glorious rewards. Christians are to be Christ’s representatives, sons and daughters of God. They are his jewels, his peculiar treasures. Of all who will maintain their steadfastness he declares, “They shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy.” Those who reach the portals of eternal bliss will not count that any sacrifice which they have made was too great. May God help you to stand the test, and preserve your integrity. Cling by faith to Jesus. Disappoint not your Redeemer.—“Testimonies for the Church.” Vol. V, pp. 365-368. MRS. M. K. EMERSON
By Mrs. M. K. Emerson
O GRAVE, where is thy victory?
O death, where is thy sting?
The echoes of these mighty words
Through all the ages ring. These wondrous utterances divine,
With holy fire do burn,
And lift the shadows from our path,
While waiting Christ's return. Life from the dead! eternal life!
To all who love their Lord!
What greater gift could be bestowed,
Or greater joy afford? To Christ, first fruits of them that slept,
Ascended Lord and King,—
To him all majesty ascribe,
While hallelujahs ring. Come, join the song of all redeemed,
Triumphant while they sing:
O grave, where is thy victory?
O death, where is thy sting?