Earlier text: REVEAL CHRIST TO THE CHILDRENNOTES FROM GENERAL CONFERENCE
MRS. E. G. WHITE: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.” John tried to describe the love of God, but language failed. He could only call on us to behold it. We must behold this love for ourselves. We must strive to understand as far as possible the love the Father has bestowed upon us. Let no one feel that he is stepping down in becoming a child of God. It was the only begotten Son of God who stepped down. He gave himself for us. Leaving His splendor, His majesty, His high command, and clothing His divinity with humanity, that humanity might touch humanity, and divinity lay hold upon divinity, He came to this earth, and in our behalf suffered the death of the cross. In the words I have read, our possibilities are opened before us. It is possible for every son and daughter of Adam through belief in Christ, to be cleansed from sin. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Our part is to receive and believe on Jesus Christ. Of Him on whom we are asked to believe, it is written, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. . . . That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” It is our privilege to walk in the light as Christ is in the light. We need not groan and murmur because the path heavenward is not a smooth one. Our part is to believe, to try to understand the words, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” The assurance is, “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Do we believe on His name? Christ has made an infinite sacrifice. He gave His own life for us. He took upon His divine soul the result of the transgression of God’s law. Laying aside His royal crown, He condescended to step down, step by step, to the level of fallen humanity. He hung upon Calvary’s cross, dying in our behalf, that we might have eternal life. Why is it that we are so indifferent to this great sacrifice? Does it seem a small thing that He should endure all this that we might be called the sons of God? Does it seem a small thing to you to become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King, partakers of an immortal inheritance? Is it a small matter to become heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ? What sacrifice have we made in response to this infinite sacrifice? Would you grasp the things of the world? The world knoweth not God. Give yourselves to the world, and you will not know God; you can not know Him. We need to behold Him. We need to purify our souls by obeying the truth. No one can serve God by proxy. There are many who seem to think that there is some one in this world stronger than Christ, upon whom they can lean. And instead of coming right to Christ, just as they are, giving themselves unreservedly to Him, they reach out for human help. God wants us to have an individual experience, to form characters after the divine similitude. I can not work out a character for you, and you can not work out a character for me. We are to stand before God in our individuality, and know for ourselves what it means to have the light and comfort and love of God in our hearts. The Lord wants us to take Him at His word. He desires every one of us to reveal His character to the world. If all would accept the righteousness of Christ, we should not see so much sickness in our world. Every one would strive to take care of the house he inhabits. He would purify his soul by obeying the truth. We read in Zechariah, “He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.” Joshua represents the people of God. When Satan accused him, the Lord rebuked him, and spoke to those that stood before him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him He said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair miter upon his head. So they set a fair miter upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by.” Satan tries to bring reproach against those who are trying to serve and honor God. He presents them in a questionable light, as those who are clothed with filthy garments. God says, Take away the filthy garments. You have no right to put them upon my children. Take them away. My people may have imperfections of character. They may fail in their endeavors; but if they repent, I will forgive them. This word of assurance is given to all who have faith in God. Receive this wonderful promise. It is not a human being who is speaking. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.” “Among these that stand by.” The hosts of the enemy, who are trying to bring God’s people into disrepute, and the hosts of heaven, ten thousand times ten thousand angels, who watch over and guard the tempted people of God, uplifting them and strengthening them,—these are they who stand by. And God says to His believing ones, You shall walk among them. You shall not be overcome by the powers of darkness. You shall stand before me in the sight of the holy angels, who are sent forth to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation. A Worldwide General Conference
A. G. Daniells: We talk about the General Conference, but we have never had a General Conference. We have had a North American General Conference, or a North American Union Conference, but we have not had a world's General Conference. In this new arrangement, it appears to me that we have the broadest, the most efficient, and the most workable General Conference Committee that this denomination has ever had. Somebody spoke about this Conference as being here in America, and wrapped up in the affairs of America. If Union Conferences are organized, a thousand details will be taken from the General Conference Committee, and placed in the hands of the local men, where they belong. They do not belong to the General Conference. I trust that the day is past when the General Conference will have its eyes centered upon the affairs of the United States. The day has come for the General Conference Committee to turn its eyes outward, and look at the great, wide world, and to study it, plan for it, and work for its evangelization. Why, my friends, unless God helps us break up this condition and work as we never have before, it will take a millennium to carry this message to the world. We have not begun yet with the greater nations of the world. My idea is that the General Conference Committee should leave the details of the affairs of America in the hands of the Union Conferences. They should deal only with the questions that are general, and that refer to the whole world. Of course America is a part of it, a little bit of it, and must have a little attention from this General Conference, but the world must have the attention of this Conference Committee. And so it seems to me that this committee of twenty-five, representing all the districts, or the Union Conferences of the World, the medical missionary work, the publishing and educational interests that cover all the lines of this denomination that are being carried on to-day, should be permitted to appoint its secretaries. It might not be best that the secretary that this Conference elects here to-day should hold the office for two or four years. The Conference Committee may see best to change its secretaries, and the treasurer as well, and so it seemed that it would be best for so large a representative board, taking in the interests of the world, to do what the Union Conference is permitted to do—make these lines of work departments, select the secretaries, and then work to the very best possible advantage. With this arrangement there will be no friction, and no one will be hampered. The General Conference Committee should throw its whole weight into this matter, to get hold of men and money, as never before, to send abroad to nations that are in darkness. I have no confidence in plans that leave the main decisions regarding the work in distant lands with a board in this country, whose members have never been on the ground. These men can not gather in an upper room here in Battle Creek, and intelligently plan the affairs of people in distant fields. It is not natural; it is not sensible. It must not be done. That is the way I feel regarding this question; and if I thought there was anything wrong in these recommendations, anything that would hurt the foreign fields, I would smite it as hard as possible. For I tell you, brethren, these foreign fields must have our attention, or the curse of God will be upon us; and it is upon us; for God has told us that the prosperity of our work at home will be in proportion to the degree with which we prosecute the work abroad. Our policy abroad has been feeble; it has been weak; it has not been in harmony with the great profession we have made. And we are having that reflex influence all through the United States. Who can not see it? We are in some respects a weaker people than we were fifteen years ago. What is the reason? One reason is because of our weak, inefficient policy regarding the distant, neglected lands. I hope the term “foreign lands” will be dropped. It does not belong to us as a people: the field is the world. I hope we shall drop out of our vocabulary the word “foreign” when we talk about missions. It is a missionary work. God occupies the center. All places are equally distant to Him,—ah, all places are equally near to Him! I suppose that there will be men on this committee who will be in other lands than the United States. I believe that our general men who attempt to deal with the affairs in other lands ought to visit those fields, and spend a reasonable portion of their time in them. The General Conference Committee should send a man to South America as a representative, authorizing him to meet all the workers, study the needs of the field, outline a policy, and agree on it with those workers. Then the committee should stand by the decisions, and furnish both men and means required in the field. The same ought to be done for the West Indies, South Africa, and Japan. I do not believe that we should trot the globe, simply to run about and spend a few weeks in the country. We should select the best men we can get—men full of the Holy Ghost and good sense. These should go to these distant fields and join the workers in studying the situation on the ground,281 and outlining the plans to be followed; and the General Conference Committee ought to stand by the decisions that are made. W. W. Prescott: As I understand the whole drift and sentiment of this Conference, it is that we shall recognize that the only thing this body exists for is to give this message to all the world just as quickly as possible, and that therefore we can not tolerate the idea of treading around in this same ring, and spending our means within a limited circle, but that we are expecting to break, and are now breaking, these bands, in the idea that there is only one field, and that field is the world. If that idea is held and acted upon, as it must be, it will wipe out this question as to whether we are going to hold any of the money in the home field. We are going to have just one field, and have our eyes especially on destitute and barren fields, which are to have the preference. Instead of narrowing down in any way the work of extending this message to all the world, this whole idea is to organize in reference to one thing, and that is to do mission work in all fields. Therefore if we are to word it in any way, it seems to me instead of saying that we are going to absorb the Foreign Mission Board into the home field, it is that we are just turning the whole home field into one mission field, so that this work may be prosecuted with vigor in every part of the world. City Work
By J. O. Corliss
J. O. Corliss: The very first thing necessary in city work is to teach the people how to work. You may ask, What people?—The people you have with you in the faith. If there are no paid laborers, no accredited Conference workers at hand, call on members of the Church, no matter how humble they may appear, to assist in the work. We may think, when we enter a place, that there are none there who have talent, but upon investigation one is surprised to find the amount of talent that is rusting in our churches to-day. We do not want to get the idea that because a man is not accredited by the Conference with credentials, he can not do anything in such work. I have found that when a person comes into the truth, he makes a better laborer than some who have been long in the Church, because everything he has received is fresh in his mind, and he knows better how to utilize it than do those who have been longer in the way, but have let the definite things of the truth fade in their minds. Besides, new converts are more easily instructed in methods than our older people are. The older ones criticise methods that the younger ones readily receive and act upon. It is therefore well to begin training young converts as soon as they receive the truth. In San Francisco our best workers, outside of the Conference laborers, are those who have recently accepted the truth, and they do the most work. The question arises, How can we get them into the work?—Not by preaching theory to them. They need preaching, but of that kind which will educate them in all branches of the work. But in our San Francisco work, a Bible study is given following the morning service, in which from seventy-five to one hundred take part. These are held with a view to teaching the people how to work, giving them an opportunity to ask questions. I have been astonished at the questions sometimes asked, which show an anxiety to learn all that is for the people. There we teach the people how to state this point of truth, or how to help in this emergency. If anything comes in to prevent our having such a meeting as that, the people are much disappointed, and they come to the front after the service, and say, “Why can we not have our Bible study to-day?” But we have another preparatory work that I regard as one of the greatest factors we have in training workers. Every Thursday night, just as regularly as the weeks come, a doctor occupies the pulpit. In fact, there are two of them, who divide the time between them. There are Drs. Coolidge and Buchanan. They take up the most common diseases, and tell how their symptoms may be known. They do not talk in technical terms, but give popular talks, which a common person can receive. The people are then taught how to give simple treatments. There are many poor unfortunates in the city who need help that they are not able to procure. Our people are instructed to go out, and wherever they find a soul that needs such work done, to take hold and do it free, without saying a word about their religion, or anything of the kind. But they talk to these persons, and console them with texts of Scripture, telling them that old, old story about Jesus Christ. The tears run down the faces of those addressed, and they say, “What church do you belong to?” Upon receiving an answer they say, “I have seen that little church a great many times.” When that person gets on his feet again, he is quite sure to appear at the church. In our regular Sabbath congregation there are many who seem to have just as much interest in the services as our own people have. It is the work of the church that does it. The doctors in their practice in the city come across cases that they treat as charity cases. But in order that they may show interest in such persons, they offer to provide a nurse. Then the doctor comes to some one who has been sitting under his Thursday night teaching, and says: “I want you to take a case and nurse it for three or four days or a week, and do it for charity's sake, do it for love of Christ.” That individual takes the case, and nurses it through the extreme condition. One can not, after that, make such a patient think that Seventh-day Adventists are not Christians. In this way we reach many. The one nurse we have who does most of the work of that character is also connected with the branch sanitarium. But she meets with us in our workers' councils, and so proves a link to unite the medical and evangelical work in the city. In fact, the boards of the medical institutions, and of the church, hold joint meetings, thus working in perfect harmony in every way. Another branch of the work is that of the Christian Help Band. Although that is rather old, and has died out in some places, it is not so with us. I have not time now to read the report of what it is doing, but it meets once a week, in the basement of the church. There garments are made for the poor, and plans laid for aggressive work. Other persons in the church go out and collect food and garments. I can not tell you all that they do. But I know that it is common to see some one bring to the prayer-meeting Wednesday night a grain-sack full of bread, for the brethren to distribute where it is most needed. Hardly a week passes in which there is not at least one grain-sack of loaves of bread coming to the prayer-meeting in this way. Many are led to say, “Do not tell me that Seventh-day Adventists are not good people; if there's any religion in the world, they have it.” We have also committees to visit old people. Wherever there are old persons who can not go to church regularly, those on this committee visit them as often as practicable. Others visit the sick and poor. Our people contribute regularly to a poor fund. All these committees report at the regular weekly workers' meetings. I have little else to do in these plans of work than to counsel with those engaged in carrying them out. This much seems necessary where so many are engaged in work, in order to preserve harmony and unity of purpose. One important work is that of distributing the Signs of the Times, our pioneer preacher. Several bring in reports at each meeting of how many Signs they have sold during the week. They not only take the Signs of the Times, but the medical journal printed on the coast, the Pacific Health Journal. One sister has reported the sale of two hundred and fifty Signs in a week, and as many as fifty Pacific Health Journals. How she did it, I do not know. I only know that she has done it, and she is not a very strong woman physically either. When I think of this, I wonder what our young people are doing who are strong and able to work, but are waiting for the Conference to set them to work. These workers come to the meeting each week, and it would do you good to see the glow of grace and the smile of satisfaction upon their faces. I must acknowledge that they give me much courage. They never meet difficulties, even though their territory includes a large Catholic district. From among their readers they give out names and addresses to the Bible workers for the extension of their work. We have also a Chinese work in the city; Brother and Sister Brand, members of our church, are doing the best they can for the Chinese in the city. They have a small work, but we do not overlook it. Of course there are great obstacles to meet in the Chinese work; But whoever goes into a large city, and undertakes to carry forward a work of that kind, will find difficulties without anybody telling him what they are. But these will cause him to seek God for wisdom, and he will be sure to have some original thought about his plans every day. He can not depend upon his past knowledge of the second or seventh chapter of Daniel, and say, “I can preach on that subject without study,” and then simply spend his time eating and sleeping and taking a little pleasure. A man working in a city goes there to study the situation from every detail he meets along the way. We have workers' meetings once a week, on Wednesday evening. We pray together, and talk over the situation, ask and give counsel, so that everything may be understood for the week to come. If I were holding regular meetings every night in a city, and had a company of workers sufficient for the enterprise, I would have a workers' meeting every morning, where the workers could receive instruction. The reports of the day before would then be given, and the difficulties talked over. But in our circumstances we get together but once a week. But these meetings are blessed, precious seasons, and tears run down my face at times as I hear the workers tell what they have found and what blessings have come to them. Not a single murmur or complaint comes from them. The spirit they have is permeating the church, and many are beginning to desire to sacrifice for the Master's sake. We have also a Japanese school. We have one Japanese brother, who works all he can in behalf of the truth. Not long ago he brought three Japanese, as noble-looking men as you ever saw, and said, “Sie wants baptism.” We baptised them. They stayed in the church for two or three months, when they had a burden to go back to Japan to assist in the work there. I hope the brethren in Japan will find them, and set them to work; for they know what it means to work. O. A. Olsen: As has been referred to, we have been much stirred by the earnest appeals with reference to the foreign missionary work, as we call it, in this Conference. The fact is that each Seventh-day Adventist has but one field [Cries of “Amen!”], and that field is the world. Our business is to send the truth where it has not yet been proclaimed, and to send workers where they have not yet set their feet. With a united effort on the part of those who represent the various branches of the work, the greatest success can be attained; and this is the purpose and burden of the Conference, and the committee that has this matter under consideration. Sanctification of Body, Soul, and Spirit
By Ellen G. White
Mrs. E. G. White: The Scriptures teach us to seek for the sanctification to God of body, soul, and spirit. In this work we are to be laborers together with God. Much may be done to restore the moral image of God in man, to improve the physical, mental, and moral capabilities. Great changes can be made in the physical system by obeying the laws of God and bringing into the body nothing that defiles. Our dependence is not in what man can do; it is in what God can do for man through Christ. When we surrender ourselves wholly to God, and fully believe, the blood of Christ cleanses from all sin. A TESTIMONY
By Ellen G. White
Given to the Ministers at General Conference,
April 17 I WANT to say a few words. God has left a few of the old pioneers who know something of the fanaticism which existed in the early days of this message. Here is Brother Prescott; he knows something about it. He is acquainted with phase after phase of the fanaticism that has taken place. Here is Brother Haskell. He knows something about it, and there are various ones of our older brethren who have passed over the ground, and they understand something of what we have had to meet and contend with. Then there is Brother Corliss; I speak of him because he knows something about fanaticism, not only in the early days, but in our later experience. Let every one of us remember the men of gray hairs. Do not set them back in a corner, and say, We do not need you, because you are too old to be active workers. If on only one occasion these men of experience can stand and tell you what the right way is, it is worth to the cause of God more than you would pay a dozen laborers who have little or no experience in this work. God wants us to come to our senses. I thank God that there are a few who know what we have passed through in the beginning of the history of this work; God wants you to cherish them, and I want you to cherish them. God wants you to feel that it is a sacred duty to look after them, and not to ignore them or put them out of sight. You may think that they have made mistakes. Have you made any? May God let His melting Spirit come into our hearts. May God come to us with His comforting power. What we want is not hearts of steel, but hearts of flesh. I hope that not a soul will go away from this meeting until he can say for himself, I know that I am Christ’s in God. When persons are in our midst who are moved by the Spirit of God, through whom the great treasures of His word are unfolded to us, increasing in every phase, let us not take the position that we know all that is worth knowing, and what we do not know is not worth knowing, hindering the very ones who are digging for the truth as for hidden treasure. The word of God is opening more and more to us. Just as long as we live on the earth, we shall be able to find a whole treasure-house of beautiful things. Some will see beauty in one truth, some in another, and some will look at it in another way. We are not all constituted alike. But some think that what they have is all there is to acquire. They say of others, Do not let them come into our meetings; we do not want them here. They do not believe as we do. I wish to say, Hands off. Let God work through human instrumentalities according to His will. Read the seventeenth chapter of John, and you will see that God has given us the privilege of being united in Christian love, brethren with brethren, all being bound together by the golden chain of love which has been let down from heaven to unite the believers. God wants you to be like himself. He wants to keep you unspotted from the world, to forgive your sins, and to draw you to himself, that you may step off the ladder into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I wish to say to you to-day, The Lord wants you to be converted. At great expense to myself, in sickness and feebleness, I have come a long way to hear this testimony before the congregation which was presented to me before I left Cooranbong. If this had not been presented to me, I should not be here to-day. But I am here, in obedience to the word of the Lord, and I thank Him that He has given me strength beyond my expectations to speak to the people. I want you all, for Christ’s sake, to heed His injunction to love one another. Thus you will bear witness to the world that God sent His Son to save sinners. Let not the enemy come in to break up the unity which should exist between brethren and sisters. Christ wants His people to be one. Why?—That the world may see that God loves His people even as He loves His Son. Let us at this meeting humble our hearts before God. Night after night since coming here, I have been unable to sleep past one o’clock. I have pleaded with God to enter among us, and work mightily upon hearts and minds. He is willing to do this. He declares, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him.” If he does not enter, it is because the door is closed against Him. Shall we not let Him in, that we may enjoy a heavenly feast with a heavenly Guest? God grant that at this meeting you may so consecrate yourselves to His service that you may go forth as did the disciples, bearing the message with such power from on high that thousands will be converted. “Get ready,” is the word sounded in my ears. “Get ready, get ready. He that is to come, will come and will not tarry. Tell my people that unless they improve the sacred opportunities given them, unless they do the work I have given them, Satan will come upon them with the stealthy tread of a thief, to deceive and allure them.” God wants us to be wide awake, that when He shall come, we shall be ready to say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us.” He is coming to us by His Holy Spirit to-day. Let us recognize Him now; then we shall recognize Him when He comes in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. God calls upon you to get ready to meet Him in peace. I leave this message with you, asking you, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to love one another as He has loved you. Thus the world will see and recognize the amazing power of redeeming grace. GOD'S GIFT IN CREATION AND REDEMPTION
By P. T. Magan
EVERYTHING that has life has received that life from God through His dear Son. Creation was but a wondrous gift of life,—one great, grand work of giving. The vitalizing energy that is in the sun is but a part of the life of God, placed there by the Creator. All the life that is in the earth, in the mold of the eternal valleys and the soil of the everlasting hills, came forth from God, the Life-giver. The strength of the munitions of the rocks is His also. And the life that is stored up in ocean, river, lake, and laughing stream flows into each from God, the Eternal Spring. The majesty of the giant trees of the forests is a majesty born of life,—of life begotten of God. So, too, every rustling leaf on modest bush and shrub is whispering to the gentle breezes, as they pass by, the song of the life it enjoys from God. And the beautiful flowers catch up the strain, and mingle their glad voices in praise to Him to whom they owe their being. “There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.” It is God's life that every being in the created universe uses. Whether we use it for weal or for woe, for good or for evil, whether to the joy or to the sorrow of the giver, it is God's own life just the same. “Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins,” He plaintively says through the prophet Isaiah. When the thief puts forth his hand to steal, he uses the power—the life—of God. When the oppressor uses his brain to plan the ruin of the fatherless and the widow, he employs the power of God to accomplish his foul purpose. God could withdraw from the thief the power to steal, and from the oppressor the ability to oppress. But to do this would be to withdraw from each his life, his chance for eternity. And in the loving hope that some day their hearts may change, and the life even as currents of their souls set in an opposite course, God leaves His life, His power, with them. All the life that man enjoys is a gift from God. Every vital breath he draws is an inhalation of the divine. Though he knows it not, he is atmosphered in God's life all the time. To the Athenians the apostle Paul said: “In Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring.” There is a spring of life constantly flowing from God to all His creatures. As much life as there is in the universe, God has given. The Creator has put that much of himself into His works. “His strength setteth fast the mountains.” “The sea is His, and He made it.” He gave His strength to the mountains; He expended His power, His life, upon the sea. How beautifully has Solomon, speaking of Christ and creation, told all this:— “The Lord formed me as the first of His way,
The first of His works of old.
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,
Or ever the earth was.
When there were no depths, I was brought forth;
When there were no fountains abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills was I brought forth:
While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields,
Nor the beginning of the dust of the world.
When He established the heavens, I was there:
When He set a circle upon the face of the deep:
When He made firm the skies above:
When the fountains of the deep became strong:
When He gave to the sea its bound,
That the waters should not transgress His commandment:
When He marked out the foundations of the earth:
Then I was by Him, as a master workman:
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing daily before Him;
Rejoicing in His habitable earth;
And my delight was with the sons of men.
Now therefore, my sons, hearken unto me:
For blessed are they that keep my ways.
Hear instruction, and be wise,
And refuse it not.
Blessed is the man that heareth me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Watching at the posts of my doors.
For whoso findeth me findeth life,
And shall obtain favor of the Lord.
But he that sinneth against me [“misseth me,” margin] wrongeth his own soul:
All they that hate me love death.”
God's life went into the heavens when He “established them.” It was the vital power, or life, of the Creator that “made firm the skies above.” The Master Workman gave just so much of himself,—He freely gave of His life to His created works. And when one thinks of all that is around him in this way, how easy it is to see God in everything and everywhere. Christians often talk about having given up the world for Christ. But in a deeper, truer sense this is not so. To become a Christian is to become more capable of enjoying all God's life, and power, and joy that is in the created works around us. The one who lives apart from Christ—that is, the one who does not recognize Him, and voluntarily accord to Him His proper place in his life—loses all that is purest and best in life. “He that sinneth against me [“misseth me,” margin] wrongeth his own soul.” He who sins against Christ, misseth Christ. He fails to receive a precious gift, a wondrous addition to his life. He misseth something, and consequently he “wrongeth his own soul.” He deprives his soul of its life, for “all they that hate me love death.” To receive Christ is to receive life,—life to flesh and blood and bone, as well as life to soul and spirit. And to sin is to miss this wondrous gift. It is to hate the Saviour. It is to love death.283 Viewed in this light, the work of redemption was but the grand sequel of the work of creation. The former was a manifestation of the law of love, imparting life. The latter was an exhibition of the law of “self-renouncing love.” It was a continuation of the former work. It was a second and more costly investment of life, in order that the first might be redeemed. “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Speaking of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah said: “And He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death.” In creation Christ poured out His soul, His life; but in redemption He poured out His soul—His life—unto death. Christ gave His life. But His life was the life of God, and when He gave up His life, He gave up the life of God. “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being originally in the form of God, counted it not a thing to be grasped to be on an equality with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, becoming in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, His human form. As seen by John on Patmos, yea, the death of the cross.” Christ gave up the form of God,—forever to be in the form of a man. And to all eternity He wears His human form. As seen by John on Patmos, “He stood a Lamb, as it had been slain;” that is, He bears the marks of the crucifixion through all the ceaseless ages.