Earlier text: THE WORK AND THE WORKERSA. E. PLACE
By A. E. PLACE
It is said that at one time a noted artist was called to paint the portrait of Napoleon. The artist noticed a bad scar on the general’s forehead; yet the side which would make that scar prominent was the side he wished to paint. He said, “I cannot paint that scar lest I ruin my picture.” So he had the general sit at a table, with his elbow resting on the table, and his index finger over the scar; then the artist went on with his work, which proved to be a great success. This is doing to others as we would that they should do to us. It would, however, be useless for me, in painting my own picture, to put my fingers over scars; but I believe it to be charity, or rather a virtue born of charity, if I so picture my fellow men that their scars are at least not made prominent. Husbands, how are you painting your wives? Wives, how are you painting your husbands? Church members, how are you painting? Shall we not pray most earnestly that in all our painting of God’s children we may be artists for God? To the heart of true love, do scars or weaknesses awaken censure, or do they awaken sympathy and a desire to help? To which child does the mother give the greatest share of her time and tender devotion? Is it not to the one most afflicted? And is not this as true when the child has been guilty as when he is innocent? A true mother will work for her child to the very end, and though he be on the scaffold, ready to meet the penalty for violation of law, mother will7 cry for a reprieve, that she may still have longer labor for her wayward son. In this way the name mother means much to the world. The man or woman who, from a physical standpoint, has no scars, has fought few real battles. I believe this to be as positively true from a mental or moral standpoint as from the physical. Let us remember that the hole in the uniform, the empty sleeve, the sightless eye, the prematurely gray hair and furrowed brow, may mean struggles of which we know nothing. Each heart knows its own battles and sorrows, its own struggles with temptation, its own prayers and tears, heard and seen by God alone. Could we read the heart and know all, even then we should have no right to judge. But we do not know all, and we cannot know all. No, not even of our own hearts; for concerning them God has written, “Deceitful, . . . wicked.” Jer. 17:9. If we cannot know our own hearts, but must pray, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: . . . and see if there be any wicked way in me,” how can we pass sentence upon an individual of whom we know little except the outward appearance? When Eliab came before Samuel, even that aged servant of God said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before me.” And the horn of oil was raised for the anointing, but God said, “I have refused him.” How did Samuel reach his decision? He looked “on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart.” Circumstantial evidence is often no evidence at all; or, in other words, it is the worst kind of evidence. Looks and acts are often deceptive. A smiling face often covers a sorrowing heart. Many an innocent man has gone to the scaffold, and one word tells why,—“misjudged.” The best Man who ever lived in this world was crucified. Why?—“Misjudged!” Of Christ the record states, “His visage was so marred [scarred] more than any man.” Isa. 52:14. But upon the cross, that scarred face did not even look condemnation to those who crucified him, or to those who wagged their heads and reviled, neither did his lips speak it; but in that hour when his mental and mortal agony was greatest, he lifted his eyes and his heart to the only Judge and cried, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Do we know what we do today? Are we, by judging or misjudging his children, weaving another crown of thorns? Are we piercing his hands, or feet, or side? Are we grieving afresh that great heart of love? If so, he still cries, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Blessed is that one who, while hanging upon any cross of misjudgment, can turn his eyes to Him who “maketh intercessions” for all mankind, and truly pray, “Forgive them.” If we are successful in reaching heaven, we may find many there who we decided would never reach that blessed place. We may also look long for others and not find them. The Judge of all the earth does right. O that we may desire to please him more than anything else in this world! If we do this, we can never take up a reproach against one of his children; for, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” How May I Be Sure That I Am a Child of God?
By G. D. BALLOU
Thousands today are groping their way in the twilight of faith, living largely on the sheer force of the assurance that God has promised to forgive and accept them, and that they must believe that he has. There is much better evidence than this. To be accepted of God is to have adopted the character of God as seen in Jesus as our pattern of conduct. The greatest thing in this life is God’s love for sinners, as it appears in his mercy toward all. God loves and pities and waits patiently. He longs for sinners to return that he may show them mercy. His mercy and forgiveness are like the water in our city homes,—always on tap, and all that is necessary is to turn the faucet and it freely flows. Now the best evidence I can have that I am a child of God, fully accepted of him, is the indwelling of this spirit of mercy in me to that extent that I am waiting and longing for the opportunity to show mercy and to help lift up fallen humanity. Jesus says plainly, ‘Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.’ Matt. 5:7. ‘With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful.’ Ps. 18:25. ‘Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.’ Luke 6:37. ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. . . . For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’ Matt. 6:12-15, R. V. These statements are clear and positive. No man can be accepted till he takes in the spirit of forgiveness and lets it control his course of conduct toward his perishing fellows. When we do from the heart forgive and pity and love the erring, we know it, and then we know that God accepts and forgives us; for his Spirit will then begin to minister to our souls that peace of God which passeth understanding. No will force will be necessary to assure us of acceptance. But here is something still more positive: ‘Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.’ Matt. 5:43-45. This is the plainest statement in all the Bible of how one may become a child of God. To love one’s enemies makes one a child of God. This is the acme of human perfection. If a man loves his enemies, he will love his other fellow creatures with ease. And he would never do it unless he had permitted the Spirit of God to reign in his soul. Such a one must of necessity have yielded the place of supreme authority to God himself. Will such a man keep the Sabbath? Verily, he will do anything God asks him to do. And no other man can properly set up this sign of God’s authority over his weekly course of conduct. How could a man keep the Sabbath holy and enter into its spiritual rest if he continued to hate his enemy even just a little? Every one may know this love for those who need it most, and the best evidence of it in my heart is that I no longer think or speak evil of any one, nor allow my mind to become a place of deposit or clearing house for scandals and reproaches. Great peace awaits those who thus love the positive side of God’s law, and nothing will cause them to stumble. All this can be accomplished in only one way, and that is by taking in by faith the life and character of Jesus, which is a full and perfect expression of the positive side of the law. ‘Thou shalt love,’ ‘thou shalt love,’ stands out in bold relief in the teachings of Jesus as the foundations of the law. We may wrestle for a lifetime with the tendencies to evil which the negative side of the law was ordained to restrain, but unless we take in the life of love, our struggling will be all in vain. If we learn to love men as Jesus did, and to hate sin as he did, there will be no demand for the negative restraints of the law in our cases. This course makes the yoke easy and the burden light. If we could esteem it a gladsome privilege to serve a faithful, loving parent or a true companion and not have the task become irksome, can we not learn to find delight in the service of our Heavenly Father, and daily feel sure of our fellowship with him? ‘He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.’ 1 John 5:10. When our faith takes in his character, then the witness is within ourselves; ‘we shall be saved by his life.’ Rom. 5:10. The life of Jesus is made manifest in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11), and we are filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19). Read the context of these last three references. No higher attainments are held before mortal man in this world, and no others are needed to give any soul a passport to the future kingdom of glory. A QUARTER of a century ago it was fondly hoped by many men of serious thought in the church that the principles of destructive Bible criticism would not extend outside of the educational circles to which they were confined. But the baneful fruit now appearing in every quarter shows the widely extended influence of this pernicious evil teaching. Speaking of this, the editor of the Word and Way for March 26, 1914, says:— The poison which, twenty-five years ago, had not gone beyond college walls, has oozed, or sifted, or percolated, as the case may be, out into popular novels, magazines, pulpits, platforms, high schools, and all classes. And wherever it goes, moral decline follows in its wake.
And this only illustrates the subtle influence of sin and the manner in which its deadly miasma has affected every part of the world at the present time. It has opened the floodgates of infidelity and impurity. When once unconfined, these monsters of evil become rampant in their operations. Let us thank God that sometime sin will be banished from the universe, and a reign of righteousness, purity, and peace be ushered in. Rest and Quietness and Confidence
By F. M. W.
THE work and people of God have passed through trying crises in their history. There will be many more through which they must pass before the day of final victory. But never has God left his people in the darkness without a guiding star to direct their course; never has he permitted them to be surrounded by danger without giving them assurances of his grace. Without, disquietude and unrest may exist on every side; but within, in the consciousness of their own hearts, he desires his people to find rest and quietness in him. This was his message to Israel of old in the days of the prophet Isaiah. Israel was sadly distraught. On every side they were threatened by their enemies. Forgetting God, they felt that their reliance must be placed upon human power. They sent messengers to Egypt for aid. The prophet told them, “The Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose.” Their strength was in the Lord: “for thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” This is the word of the Lord to his people today. We, no more than could Israel of old, can find help in human confederacy. The Lord is the strength and the shield of his people. This is our assurance in the eventful times upon which we have now entered. The present situation places before our people an unparalleled opportunity for the presentation of the special truth for this time to their fellows. As God’s minutemen we should stand ready to respond to the calls of his opening providence. As the thousands in the Old World are enlisting and placing their lives and their property upon the altar of their country’s service, so the soldiers of Christ should enlist today, heart and soul, in the service of their King. Recreant will we be if we fail to sense the significance of these times and the opportunities which this present situation presents of bringing to others a knowledge of the soon coming of the Lord. But such conditions as now exist in the world carry with them great dangers. Nearly all Europe today is divided into hostile camps. Even the nations which have declared their neutrality cherish strong sympathies for one or the other of the combatants. That spirit of sympathy will extend to all classes throughout the civilized world. In this country it will be natural for every citizen to sympathize with the struggles of his fatherland. If we are not careful, a spirit of excitement, of partisanship and unrest, will so take possession of our hearts and so control our lives that we shall neglect to maintain that close and intimate connection with God that will keep us in the love of his truth. Our safety today is in rest and quietness. We need to “be still” and to know that God is over all, that he still controls in the destinies of men, and that he will shape every situation for his eternal glory, and every personal experience for our good. These are times when we need to pray much, to meditate much, to thoughtfully and prayerfully study the Word of Truth. Let us keep partisanship and national feelings from controlling our lives and prompting our conversation. Let us never forget that God has placed Seventh-day Adventists in the world as his messengers to all peoples and nations. All are alike precious in his sight. The black man of Africa, the heathen worshiper of China, the German scientist, the English statesman, the Russian serf, the Jew, the Protestant, the Catholic,—the Lord Jesus died for all. He yearns for the salvation of every soul. Born of a Jewish mother and reared in the faith and customs of that nation, his sympathies were so broad, his heart so large, his impulses so generous, that his soul went out in longing for the salvation of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. He is no respecter of persons. In every nation “he that worketh righteousness” is accepted of him. It is this spirit which should actuate our hearts today. Possessing it, every feeling of nationality and patriotism will be subordinated to the controlling principle of love, which will fill our hearts for the great race of mankind. Let us keep our hearts so quiet before God that we can hear continually his voice speaking to us. “For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” A Mission Station Providentially Delivered
By W. A. S.
WHILE on furlough from Africa, and having occasion to tell of missionary progress and experiences in Rhodesia and other parts, Elder F. B. Armitage related the following experience of the early days of the work at the Somabula Mission, in Southern Rhodesia:— I had occasion to make a journey from the new Somabula station which would require several days’ absence. My wife was alone at the station, with only the native orphan children who had accompanied us from the older Solusi Mission. I had started from the station early in the morning. Toward evening a little boy came running into the tent, where Mrs. Armitage was working, crying, “There is fire in the grass! There is fire in the grass!” Our mission was located in a valley, and down the valley somewhere a fire had been started and was sweeping toward the station. The season had been dry and the grass was like tinder, standing in places as high as a man’s head. One can imagine how that fire would9 look to the mission family, with only the orphan children and Mrs. Armitage and her own little one on the premises. We had been only a short time at the location, and had not had time to make fire guards or provide any precautions, and the situation was indeed desperate. For a few startled moments Mrs. Armitage watched the on-coming flames, and then to herself she said, “Our Heavenly Father has never failed us yet, and I believe he will not leave us now.” There might have been chance for flight, but there was the mission station with all that it represented of struggle and toil and future fruitfulness in the saving of souls. She turned to the text that had been the deciding word in our entering Africa, and our stay and support in many a trying experience. Again she opened the Book and read the promise: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isa. 41:10. The assurance came to her heart that she was not left alone, and she said, “Our Father will take care of us once more, I am sure.” Still the fire came leaping on. It was of no use to think of meeting it to fight it, with only the little orphan children to help. It came to within seventy yards of the station, and there it went out in front, the flames dividing and passing by on both sides of the location, joining farther up the valley and sweeping on beyond; and the mission was saved. That night I saw by the red glow that there was fire in the valley. I hurried homeward with all speed, and there I found to my deepest joy not only my family and the children safe, but the mission preserved as well. All about the mission the grass was dry, but there stood a five-acre plot untouched. The fire had stopped right in the dry grass, and no one could say why, save as we understand that the promises of our Heavenly Father are sure, and that he will not leave us nor forsake us when we trust him in the way of duty. These experiences of deliverance by special interposition of God’s providence in uncommon emergencies make only more real to the believer the unwearying watch care of the same blessed Providence in the common round of life. For true it is that the angels of the Lord are all about in this world, still ministering to the heirs of salvation. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him.” Ps. 34:7. Every Reformer a Fanatic
By F. M. W.
WITH but few exceptions every reformer, particularly in the province of religion, has been counted a fanatic by the people of the generation in which he lived. It has remained for later generations to view his work in the true perspective. It has been truthfully said that no historian can write a true history of his own day. In some measure his judgment will be swayed by his prejudices. His religious beliefs, his political affiliations, will influence his mind with respect to the great issues passing before him. We look back upon the work of our blessed Master during his earthly ministry, upon the labors of the apostle Paul, upon the work done by Luther and Wesley and others, as in the order of the Lord; and yet in the days in which these great teachers lived they were counted by many as wild enthusiasts, as unreasonable and unreasoning men. This thought is expressed by the editor of the Christian Work and Evangelist, in a recent number of that journal:— Europe lay in the sleep of death religiously until three or four fanatics—Huss, Luther, Zwingli, and John Calvin—came along. These were all fanatics of the deepest dye. They were all crazy to their contemporaries. The epithets “wild,” “frenzied,” “dangerous men,” were constantly applied to them. Luther was continually referred to as “that mad friar” and “that mad priest.” Italy had settled into a complete indifference to religion until the fanatic friar with wild eyes and unresting zeal, Savonarola, marched through the streets of Florence rebuking the rich and mighty for their sins. He, too, was called “mad” because he disturbed the established order with revolutionary ideas. One has only to remember the religious history of England to see how the great revivals came when the great fanatics came, John Ball, John Wyclif, Oliver Cromwell, John Wesley; and there were those who called Dwight L. Moody and Joseph Parker fanatical. . . .
And who was the one great fanatic of history?—Jesus, the Christ. Every word he said was as a can of dynamite under the smug, established order. All Judea looked askance at him. He was pointed at by scribes and Pharisees as one whose ideas of the kingdom of God were those of a dreamer and an impracticable man. Even yet his words, if taken seriously, sound fanatical. . . . And in the last analysis Christ was finally put to death because he was a fanatic, dangerous to the public order. And no sooner has Christ, the fanatic, gone, than there comes another. What a wild, crazy, fanatical man Paul was! How he uttered things that to practical men seemed foolish and of no relation to human life! We have direct testimony to the feeling for him in his day, for one practical gentleman said to him, “Much learning doth make thee mad.” Yes, he surely was mad. Were he here today, the peace societies and other reform agencies would have nothing to do with him because his extreme utterances would hurt their cause. Yet this fanatic has built the one great organization the world has yet seen, the church; has shaped the thought of every man who has ever thought in Christendom, and has done more to reform the world than all the reform societies of all ages put together. Of the demand for this kind of fanatics in our own day the editor suggests in conclusion:— Perhaps if some great fanatics should arise and attack our modern lust of pleasure, our sham religious life, our smug respectability, our sin underneath our fine clothes and good manners, there might be a real revival of religion which would not only save our souls, but purge our business, our social life, our politics, and our international relations of the rottenness and corruption at their heart. Strange it is that we cannot learn from the experience of the past; that with our narrowed vision of today we fail to see the broader horizon of God’s providence stretching out before us. We fail to discover the bright jewels of truth amid the admixture of iron and clay and refuse. The gold is counted dross, the fine wheat chaff, the same as in the days of Paul and of Luther. May our eyes be anointed with the heavenly eyesalve that we may see clearly, and with our spirits attuned to the great harp of God, may we be enabled to catch every note of the divine harmony amid the jargon and confusion of this wicked world, and keep pace with the onward march of God’s truth and providences. F. M. W. The Call to Service
By I. H. Evans
Our Saviour said, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” While the people of God are citizens of earthly governments, subject to the laws and regulations of earthly powers, they are also citizens of a kingdom not of this world. They belong to the government of Jehovah, they are citizens of the heavenly kingdom. The last few days have shown how earthly powers demand able-bodied men to enter the service in defense of their country. No one can be excused. Every subject must answer his country’s call to duty. Property, both real and personal, is requisitioned by the governments, and not only the property but the lives of all subjects are held to belong to the state when they are needed to defend the nation’s honor or to maintain its integrity against the aggressions of a deadly foe. Certainly less should not be required of the subjects of the kingdom of heaven. They have duties and obligations more binding than those of the subjects of earthly kingdoms. Their duty is to do the work committed to their charge. Said our great Commander, “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, . . . and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” The kingdom of God is a conquering kingdom. It is aggressive. It invades the territory of Satan, and besieges the hearts of the children of men. The warfare waged by Heaven is a war of conquest. Christ himself came into an enemy’s land to establish his kingdom. Before Pilate he proclaimed himself king. Every loyal citizen of this heavenly kingdom is subject to service to extend its domain. The enemy’s territory must be invaded; the standard of Prince Immanuel must be planted in the hearts of men; subjects of Satan must be won to love the Lord Jesus and to believe in him to the saving of their souls.10 God has given Christ, the Holy Spirit, and angels to minister to men. Now he calls every subject of his kingdom to service. Every believer is drafted; to every man is given his work. None can afford to be excused. This brief life is the only time during the eternal ages when we can labor for the salvation of men. Surely we do not want to be excused. Let us throw ourselves into the very front of the fight and win souls to Christ. Our fall and winter campaign is planned for one purpose,—to win souls to Christ. This campaign begins October 1 and continues until spring, April 1. We greatly desire to see every man, woman, and child who is connected with the Lord and believes this truth enter into this missionary work with great zeal. The first step to take is for each church member to have at least two copies of the weekly Signs of the Times for missionary work. These can be sold or given away as the member may choose. The Signs sells for five cents a copy. The cost of the paper for this period is sixty cents for one subscription for six months. Two copies will be $1.20 for the six months. The time to order is now, that everything may be in hand for work by October 1. The second thing we wish to do is to distribute millions of pages of tracts. At the Loma Linda council last spring a committee was appointed to select the literature for distribution. Recently they recommended the following:— That thirty-one tracts be placed in ten envelopes, the envelopes to be numbered consecutively from one to ten, making about 472 pages of tracts. The cost is as follows:— 1 set ........................$ .25
4 sets ......................... 1.00
25 sets ........................ 5.00 This gives 31 tracts on various topics, containing 472 pages, for 25 cents, and 11,800 pages for $5. The envelope has on it printed matter telling the reader that these tracts are a loan, and that the visitor will call in about one week to take up the package and supply other reading matter if desired. The tracts should be ordered at once. The judicious distribution of this literature is one means of spreading the knowledge of the third angel’s message. It is filled with the truths for this time, and will bring a message of salvation to those who read it. It is the armor, the weapon of warfare, which, together with the Word of God, we must use against all the defenses of sin. Does it seem too high a goal for each church member to endeavor to take two subscriptions to the Signs of the Times and a twenty-five cent package of tracts? This will cost $1.45 for a six months’ campaign in behalf of souls. Never were the times more ominous; the signs of the times point emphatically to the nearness of the end. Should not God’s people show as much zeal in extending his kingdom as do the subjects of earthly kingdoms? Our campaign cry should be, “At least one soul for God.” Let us remember this great work in our daily prayers.
I. H. EVANS. A Definite Message
By R. C. PORTER
MORE than nineteen hundred years ago the isle of Patmos was lighted with the glory of the presence of a Heaven-sent messenger, the angel Gabriel. The keynote of his mission was to declare that “the Lord of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” Rev. 22:6, 7. The message was definite. It embraced two definite doctrines: the nearness of the second advent of Christ, and the preparation necessary for that event by keeping the sayings of the book of divine revelation. The book of Revelation opens with God’s sending his angel, through Christ, to communicate this light through the spirit of prophecy to his servant John, “who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.” Rev. 1:2. The Message Based on Prophecy
This message, like that given by John the Baptist prior to the first advent of Christ, is based on a direct commission plainly revealed in prophecy. John said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.” John 1:23. His message was definite. It had been clearly defined by the prophet Isaiah. He knew that he was called of God to give that definite message to the people to prepare the way for Christ’s first advent. It is a message that deals with last-day issues. See Rev. 14:6-14. The last act of Christ before his second advent is the announcement that the work of the judgment, which has passed upon the cases of the righteous, is finished, and that he comes quickly to reward them for their faithfulness. See Rev. 22:10-12. The last message must therefore of necessity announce that the “hour of his judgment is come.” Rev. 14:7. “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17. The remnant of the seed of the woman, the last church of Christ, will “keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” When Christ said to the young man that if he would enter into life he must keep the commandments, he quoted five of them in order that there might be no misunderstanding of his meaning. Matt. 19:16-22. So when the last message says, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God,” it is the keeping of the ten commandments that is enjoined. It is this that brings upon God’s people the11 wrath of the dragon. See Rev. 12:17. The commandment keeping here specified is not merely a formal observance. “Love is the fulfilling of the law,” John says, “This is the love of God that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” He also says, “And we have known and believed that love that God hath to us.” “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:16-18. The people who are giving this last judgment message are to become so transformed by the message that as Christ is, so are they in this world. It is this that prepares them to meet the judgment without fear. Dwelling in God, they dwell in the fullness of the love of God. They “know” that they “have passed from death unto life, because” they “love the brethren.” 1 John 3:14. As Christ, though rich, became poor that the world through his sacrifice might become rich, so every loyal believer in this message will, in the spirit of Christ, give himself and his all to the giving of the last-day message. He will be willing to surrender hatred, property, and even life if need be, for the finishing of this message. As in the parable it took all to buy the field, so in the life of Christ he surrendered all in the interests of the work he came to do, and this last-day people who are to be “as he is . . . in this world” will be equally consecrated to the work of giving to the world the closing message. While giving the judgment message and keeping the commandments of God as expressed in the life of Christ, they keep “the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12. It is not merely faith in Jesus, but the faith of Jesus. It is this faith that enables them to live in this world as he is. His faith manifested in the remnant church will enable them to live now as he lived nineteen hundred years ago. It will give to that church the same self-surrender, the same love, the same warmth of devotion to the saving of the lost, and the same fearlessness in giving the message of warning against the beast and his image as were manifest in the life and teaching of Christ, in meeting the false traditions of his time. The faith of Jesus embraces the testimony of Jesus; and “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Rev. 19:10. As Christ believed the testimony of John the Baptist, saying, “Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist,” so the remnant church which gives the last message, in the faith of Jesus, will have a definite faith in the spirit of prophecy as manifested in it in the last days. They will have not merely a general faith, but a specific faith in that gift as manifested in the last church. That was what the faith of Jesus was in him, and that is what it will be in the church which gives the last message. None but those having “the testimony of Jesus” are prepared to give the message a certain sound, sending forth its ringing notes with clear conviction, that will arouse a slumbering church and an indifferent world. The time has come for such a message. The world is ripe for the harvest when this message is given in its fullness, in the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit. A people in every nation are waiting the call of such a life-giving invitation as this message contains. It alone meets the needs of the last days. It alone is prepared to offer the solution of the problems that perplex the hearts of men in the closing hours of human history. Its platform is none too broad. It needs no human pruning knife to shape it to last-day needs. As God gave it, it must be given. “No Frontier”
By G. B. Thompson
It is said that in an old Moravian version of the Scriptures there is a beautiful translation of the words of Gabriel to Mary concerning the kingdom of Christ. In the Authorized Version it reads: “And of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke 1:33. In this Moravian version it is rendered, “And his kingdom shall have no frontier.” The kingdoms of earth have their limits. Their area can be defined. The sum of their square miles can be calculated. There is a border, a frontier, somewhere. The frontier of the United States has changed from time to time, as her possessions have grown and her power has increased. But the kingdom of God embraces all; there is no frontier. When finally established, it will fill the world. Then, too, the kingdom is spiritual. The commission of God to his church is that they extend the borders of this kingdom throughout the world. A warning message, the last men will ever hear, is to go to every nation. The time is here for deeper missionary zeal to stir our hearts. When Robert Moffat, who spent so many years in Africa as a missionary and explorer, was asked once to write in a young lady’s album, he penned the following lines:— “My album is a savage breast,
Where tempests brood and shadows rest,
Without one ray of light;
To write the name of Jesus there,
And see the savage bow in prayer,
And point to worlds more bright and
fair,—
This is my soul’s delight.” These words express the true missionary spirit. There is no frontier to our work. Its limits are the limits only of the world itself. The lengthening shadows admonish us that the sun of earth’s history is approaching the horizon. To those who awaken from sleep the Lord will give light. G. B. THOMPSON. This is the designation which the editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate, in that paper for July 15, 1914, gives to the resolution recently passed by the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America regarding President Wilson and the Thanksgiving service. The Advocate quotes the resolution as follows:— Resolved, That the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, acting on the overtures of the particular synod of Chicago in reference to the attendance of the President at the Roman Catholic service on Thanksgiving Day, petition the executive committee of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, and hereby does petition such council, to organize in Washington, D. C., a Thanksgiving service on Thanksgiving Day, 1914, under the auspices of the bodies which the Federal Council represents in that city, and that the President, Vice President, members of the Cabinet staff, and usual men of official position in Washington, be invited to attend the service. Says the editor in commenting upon the matter:— The point is missed altogether. However proper the presence of our President may be upon any public function of the church—either Protestant or Roman Catholic—like the late opening of our American University, it is wholly improper and quite reprehensible for him as President, and his Cabinet as Cabinet, to present themselves at a spectacular Pan-American Thanksgiving service held upon a national holiday and by any particular church, especially since his people have been asked to attend their usual places of worship to offer thanks to Almighty God. We recognize the right of President Wilson in his personal relationship to attend any church that he pleases, either Catholic or Protestant. This same right belongs to every official of the government, whatever office he fills. The whole difficulty in President Wilson’s attending the Catholic Thanksgiving mass was the fact that, whatever his design in the matter may have been, it was made to appear that he did this in his official capacity. It was heralded to the world as an official mass, and very naturally officials attending it were regarded as doing so in their official relationship. No one has a right to criticize any man for attending any church that he may choose. It is, however, to be deplored that any professed Protestant should so far forget his Lord and Master, and so lightly and slightly appreciate his divine sacrifice and his priestly ministry which is now going forward, as to bow in adoration before a priest-made god, as is worshiped in the Catholic mass service. Let us bow the knee to the God of heaven. Let us take off our hats in deference to his house and to the services of his house wherever we worship; but let us not fall down before the golden calf which an apostate priesthood may establish, as did Aaron of old, nor before any man-made representation of our blessed Lord and his divine sacrifice.