Christianity Is Not National: Against "American Christianity"
At the dedication, a few days ago, of a Y. M. C. A. building on Governor’s Island, N. Y., for the United States soldiers, one of the most prominent men of the nation said: “Every soldier who marches under our flag must understand and be taught that when he lands upon other shores, American civilization, American humanity, and American Christianity will be measured by the standard he establishes in that far-off land.” This idea that Christianity has become, or could possibly become, American, is one of the greatest deceptions and most mischievous things of these deceptive times. Christianity is not a national religion. To make it national is to abandon it in its reality, and is to substitute for it sheer human and national prejudices and characteristics. In Christianity “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,” Filipino nor American, Chinese nor British, Japanese nor Russian, French nor German, “barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” In Christ all are one. And if any profess to be in Christ, and yet are not one, then they are not in Christ at all; and such is not Christianity at all. National religions are always idolatrous, despotic, and persecuting; and “American Christianity,” once confirmed, will be nothing else.
Papacy Gains American Government Support in Cuba and Philippines
Archbishop Ireland continues to tell, and the Associated Press diligently to publish, that the pope is “well pleased with the relation of the American government to the church in Cuba and the Philippine Islands.” In an interview published in the Chicago Times-Herald, October 24, the archbishop not only reiterated that, but added the following words from Cardinal Rampolla, the papal secretary of state:—
The church needs in Cuba and the Philippines the co-operation of the American government for the protection of its rights and liberties; as indeed the American government needs the co-operation of the church for the pacification of those countries.
And to all this he adds the following words of his own:—
As a plain matter of fact, the only safety which the Catholic Church at the present time has in the Philippines for the possession of her property and for the lives of her priests is the protection afforded by the American flag, and all this is fully understood and fully recognized at Rome.
Thus it is certain that the papacy has now in Cuba and the Philippines the United States government as her support and stay, as really, even if not yet so thoroughly, as she had any government in the Middle Ages. And that is why the relation of this government to the papacy is so “well pleasing” to the pope. And if the relationship were not that, it would not be in any sense pleasing to the pope. And what a position that is for a nation which was founded “upon the principles on which the gospel was first propagated and the Reformation from popery carried on”!
“But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”
The word “prove” here signifies, as to the thing proved, the test put upon metals by the assayer; and it is well known that such a test is the most thorough that can be employed. It goes even so far as to the testing by fire to such an extent that the fire itself shall be through and through the metal; so that the very metal itself shall be so fairly on fire that everything that is not of the metal itself, is utterly consumed.
As relates to the person who does the proving, the word signifies “to scrutinize,” “to keep an eye upon,” “to watch narrowly,” “to play the spy upon,” “to examine intently.”
This is what every Christian is particularly called upon to do respecting his own work—respecting the things which he does, and which, from mere impulse, he finds himself apt to do.
The same thought is expressed in 2 Cor. 13: 5, and is applied to the whole person himself, and not only to “his own work:” “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.”
Let each one test his own work, and himself, in all things, in the light of the word of God, illuminated by the Spirit of God, thus holding himself and all his work up to the judgment of God. And to all who do so the blessed promise will be found sure: “Then shall he have rejoicing.” For of this same thing it is written in another place: “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” 1 Cor. 11: 31.
All this is to say that in Christianity, in the faith of Christ, God gives to every man in this world the opportunity safely to pass the judgment. And everyone who will thus enter into God’s judgment, who will put himself through the severest tests that the law of God can ever demand, and will thus judge himself in the light of God’s countenance, he thus passes the judgment, and has nothing to fear “when God riseth up.”
And all such have God’s promise that they shall “have rejoicing,” and that they have nothing to fear in the great day of judgment itself. This, because they live constantly in the presence of the judgment of God. Their constant prayer is, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Ps. 139: 23, 24. And they find it all so; and, so, shall surely be led only in the way everlasting.
He shall have “rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.” The parallel thought is in Prov. 14: 14: “A good man shall be satisfied from himself.” “The sentiment is that he will find in himself a source of pure joy. He will not be dependent on the applause of others for happiness. In an approving conscience; in the evidence of the favor of God; in an honest effort to lead a pure and holy life, he will have happiness. The source of his joys will be within; and he will not be dependent, as the man of ambition, and the man who thinks of himself more highly than he ought, will, on the favors of a capricious multitude, and on the breath of popular applause.
“Here is the true secret of happiness. It consists (1) in not forming an improper estimate of ourselves; in knowing just what we are, and what is due to us; in not thinking ourselves to be something, when we are nothing: (2) in leading such a life that it may be examined to the core, that we may know exactly what we are without being distressed or pained; that is, in having a good conscience, and in the honest and faithful discharge of our duty to God and man: (3) in not being dependent on the fickle applause of the world for our comfort.
“The man who has no internal resources, and who has no approving conscience; who is happy only when others smile, and miserable when they frown, is a man who has no security for enjoyment. The man who has a good conscience, and who enjoys the favor of God and the hope of heaven, carries with him a source of perpetual joy. He can not be deprived of it. His purse may be taken, and his house robbed, but the highwayman can not rob him of his comforts. He bears about with him an unfailing source of happiness when abroad, and the same source of happiness abides with him at home; he carries it into society, and it remains with him in solitude; it is his companion when in health, and when surrounded by his friends, and it is no less his companion when his friends leave him, and when he lies upon a bed of death.”
“For every man shall bear his own burden.”
This is the plain conclusion from all the thought of the preceding verse; and the whole thought on both sides is expressed in Prov. 14: 14, complete: “The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.” And, again, “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins [the conscience], even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Jer. 17: 10.
Every man is free to choose. To every man the Lord has said, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” God has made most abundant provision, even to all the fullness of God, for everyone grandly to succeed who chooses the service of God; and the burden of him who so chooses is only a burden of rejoicing and gladness, for evermore. But he who chooses not the way of the Lord, but his own way, against all the call of the Lord,—he, too, must bear his burden; it is the burden which he has freely chosen to bear, but it is a burden which can not be borne, and only works his undoing.
“Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.”
This word “communicate” means much more than simply to talk or write to a person: it means “to have things in common,” “to be partners or equal partakers in things.” It is the same word and the same meaning as that given in 1 Cor. 10: 16, 17: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.” So those who are taught in the word count him that teacheth, equal partners with themselves, count all other things common with him, and communicate unto him “in all good things.”
And so it is written, in another place: “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?” 1 Cor. 9: 11. And also in yet another place: “Now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things.” Rom. 15: 25-27.
And, upon all this, the exhortation in the four verses which follow is sufficient, and sufficiently forcible, without any further enlargement or explanation: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”
THROUGH MUCH TRIBULATION.
By Uriah Smith
PAUL and Barnabas had preached at Lystra. A notable miracle had been performed at their hands, in the healing of a man, impotent in his feet from birth; and the people were scarcely restrained from offering sacrifices to them as beings from the other world. But envious and malignant Jews followed them to the place, and so turned the fickle current of public opinion against them that the people became as anxious to destroy them as they had been just before to worship them; and they stoned Paul, and left him for dead. But “as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples,” says the record, “and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” Acts 14: 20-22.
The way, then, laid out before us, into the kingdom of God, is a way of tribulation. To the natural eye it is not an attractive way, but we can thank God that it is only the way to the kingdom, and not the condition of the kingdom itself. And a way is only a temporary place; it will soon be passed; for “our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Cor. 4: 17, 18. And Peter expresses a like train of thought: “Beloved,” he says, “think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4: 12, 13.
But the query will arise, Why is there a “must” in this proposition? Why must we through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God? Many reasons may be given, a few of which we name, why there is a necessity that tribulation and trial should precede our entrance into the kingdom of God.
First, it is a part of the working out of our probation. In the very nature of the case, a man must be proved before he can be approved. Probation precedes approbation. A man may look fair, and yet be utterly useless. So God trains and tries men before he advances them, and for the very purpose that he may advance them. The man in the parable could not be appointed to rule over ten cities before he had improved his talents, and shown that he would be faithful over a few things.
In the case of which Paul speaks, the advancement is to be very great,—an exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The testing process must therefore be close and true; and to be so, it must be severe and searching. And it is generally so arranged that a man’s life is so adjusted to circumstances, and so measured as to length, as to constitute, on the whole, a complete probation. In every one there is that which only suffering and trial can reach and try. God did tempt, try, or test, Abraham till he had demonstrated that he would stand true to God and keep his commandments, his statutes, and his laws, and command his household after him.
Secondly, we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God, for the sake of purification. Our probation is, on God’s part, ordained with a view to our purification. If we take the whole life as holding darkness and affliction, it is true, nevertheless, that, in the life discipline, God does not design the destruction of any man, but his fitting up for better things. God’s fires10are hot; but they are purifying; he aims only to purge out the dross. He himself is a “consuming fire,” only to that which is evil. He is a preserving fire to all that is good.
Thirdly, we must have, and must pass through, much tribulation in order to have, that which every Christian soul longs for—fellowship with Christ. Christian fellowship is life in Christ. And the “fellowship of his sufferings” is associated (Phil. 3:10) with the “power of his resurrection.” “Abide in me, and I in you.” We are to bear about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus, be killed all the day long, and die to self daily. Such nourishment goes down to the very roots of life. Penitence feeds purity. How many have felt, in the depths of tribulation, that Christ was nearer than he had ever seemed before; nearer than they had ever thought that he could seem!
Fourthly, we must pass to the kingdom through much tribulation, for the sake of others. It is often the case that God uses the sufferings of one for the sanctification of others. The rule that applies to living and dying, applies equally, doubtless, to suffering; and the scripture assures us that no man “liveth to himself,” and no man “dieth to himself.” So, also, no man suffereth to himself. What tribulation does for us is more than intimated in the scripture before us. The souls of the disciples were confirmed, and they were strengthened to continue in the faith, by knowing that it was the plan of God to purify them by tribulation before they entered into the kingdom of God. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us.” Not to be willing to suffer with Christ is here set forth as the same as to deny him.
A “tribulum” was a piece of wood, studded with sharp pieces of flint, or teeth, used for thrashing out grain; and from this instrument and its use the word “tribulation” and the figure of its use, are derived. It is to separate the wheat from the chaff, in our characters, and in the church. “Tribulation,” says Paul, “worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.” Rom. 5: 4, 5.
But there is no virtue in tribulation, or suffering, in itself considered. It has no expiatory power, and makes no atonement. We can not, by self-inflicted chastisement, and doing penance, accumulate a store of merit, for future use. If we patiently endure tribulation, it will bear its legitimate fruit. If we take it impatiently, we but incur fresh penalties. We must not think that because many are the tribulations of the righteous, therefore all that have tribulations are righteous. Calamities all the while beset those who are living in alienation from God, as well as others. And tears are the portion, day and night, of many who have no Scriptural ground for hope that God will at last wipe away all tears from their eyes.
From this part of the subject another erroneous inference is sometimes drawn. One not called to extraordinary tribulation, but who lives in peace and quiet, in the even tenor of his ways, when he reads of entering the kingdom through much tribulation, is liable to feel that he is destitute of the chief evidence that he is a child of God, and this temptation may itself become so strong as to be no small tribulation. But between the righteous and the wicked there is this difference: With the wicked, absence of tribulation nourishes a feeling of presumption and indifference to religion; while with the righteous, it awakens fears of danger as to the enchanted ground, and drives him to the Lord.
The expression “through much tribulation,” as connected with entering God’s kingdom, is used in the sense of traveling, or passing, through them, as if they lay all along our road. And this is an encouraging similitude. It sets us forth as independent of, and superior to, the trials, setting them forth as our appointed way, and nothing more; not placed there to have the mastery over us, but to be faced, and then left behind, just as the traveler faces, and leaves behind, the dangers and rough places of his journey. “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life.” Through one mental process, in the main, do men enter into the life of the Spirit; and it is a humbling process. The Christian, in every class and department of life, must prepare himself for fightings without, and fears within. Through distress of heart, and wrenching asunder of earthly ties, in one shape or another, lies every one’s path while passing through this vestibule of our Father’s house, this fitting-up process for a place with the company of the redeemed on the sea of glass, before the great white throne. But the path ends at last, and that soon, in the kingdom of righteousness and peace, and the perfect day.
U. S.
RESTORING OF FAMILIES SHOWN IN SABBATH-KEEPING.
By Stephen Nelson Haskell
“God is love,” and love manifests itself in contributing happiness to others. All of God’s created works bear this stamp of divinity. No bird that cleaves the air, no animal that moves upon the ground, but ministers to some other life. The leaves of the forest, the lowly blades of grass, have their ministry of love. Every tree and shrub and leaf pours forth that element of life without which neither man nor animal could live; and man and animal, in turn, minister to the life of tree, shrub, and leaf. The beauty and fragrance of flowers contribute to the pleasure and happiness of man. “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.” Eccl. 1:7. In their journey they refresh the thirsty, supplying the needs of every living being God has created. They furnish a remedial system for health. A river is an emblem of the river of the water of life. It is a type of him who said, “Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat.” Isa. 55:1. “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.” John 4:14, 10.
All that God has created has properties and qualities peculiarly its own, revealing the character and power of God. Thus the creation reveals the power of God and its operation, as well as his character of infinite love. In this divine law of nature is restoration of whatever man has lost by sin, and it thus reveals the character of him who died for our salvation and the restoration of all things. Nature, like man, has come under the power of Satan by sin, and could of itself in no wise restore itself. “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, . . . waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Rom. 8:22, 23. The Sabbath points back to the world and nature in its perfection.
On the sixth day man was created. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Gen. 1:26, 27. Adam and Eve bore the moral image of God. In this respect they were equal. “Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.” Gen. 5:2. There was no lack of harmony between the two. She was his equal, standing by his side as “an helpmeet for him.” “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. . . . Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.” Gen. 2:18, 23, 24; Matt. 19:4–6.
It was sin that brought a disparagement between husband and wife. “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” Gen. 3:16; see also 1 Cor. 11:3–15.
The marriage institution and the Sabbath were given before the fall of man; therefore the Sabbath calls the mind to the original plan of God in the creation of the first human pair. The Sabbath can not be kept properly in any family where there is discord, especially if husband and wife profess to be Sabbath-keepers. They are both one flesh. Whatever one is interested in, so is the other. And so would have been every child, had not sin marred all.
“Children are an heritage of the Lord,” and they are to be trained for the Lord. In the Judgment he will say, Where are those children I gave unto thee to train for my service? Sin has brought division and alienation into families, and unnatural affection. When God first said, “Multiply, and replenish the earth,” he designed that families should exist to all eternity. In the kingdom of God there will be no homeless ones. “God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.” Ps. 68:6. “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; that he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people. He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.” Ps. 113:7–9.
The restoration of families is in the kingdom of God. The ties of relationship are made by the grace of Christ. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” 3 John 4. “I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” 1 Cor. 4:14, 15. The families are made up of those who have been brought nigh by the blood of Christ. In the kingdom of God the children are those begotten in the gospel by the truth of God. The highest type of heaven is when an entire family—husband, wife, and children—are all in the service of God. It is then the natural ties have become sanctified by the Spirit of God, and the original design of God is accomplished, through Christ, in Eden restored.
The Sabbath is a reminder of what families would have been; and in its observance is especial instruction how families can keep it holy. It includes sons, daughters, menservants, maidservants, and all that is within thy gates. It not only points back to the Edenic state and calls to remembrance God’s original design, but the mind is carried forward to the time when families will be restored through Jesus Christ.
Properly to observe the Sabbath, would exclude all disparagement of either husband or wife, all labor, and everything out of harmony with the original design of God when he created man and gave him his home in the garden of Eden. The Sabbath calls our thoughts to nature, and brings us into communion with the Creator. He who talked with Adam and Eve in Eden when they came fresh from the hand of their Creator, will talk with man to-day when he observes the day according to God’s plan. As we behold the Lord’s power in nature, we find comfort; for the word that created all things is the same word that speaks to the soul and enlightens and instructs us now. The original design of God was to speak peace and life to the soul on the Sabbath through the works of nature.
When the Sabbath comes to us, we should observe the day in full accord with God’s original design. On the first Sabbath, peace brooded over the world. Peace was in that group composed of Adam and Eve, Christ, God the Father, and holy angels. Heaven and earth were in harmony. Love pervaded all. Even in this present age of the world, when love is manifested by the parents and they, as the head of the family, train their children properly to observe the Sabbath, and to see the handiwork of God in nature, this united family is an object-lesson of Eden restored, because it is in harmony with the Edenic Sabbath observance.
“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:22, 23. S. N. H.
THE VINE AND ITS BRANCHES.
By John Norton Loughborough
“I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?” Jer. 2:21.
The Lord compares his church—his people—to a vine, in which each member draws its life and nourishment from the parent stock. In the beautiful words of the prophet Isaiah we read: “Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” Isa. 5:1–4.
If we read still further, we learn why the fruit was evil instead of good: “For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.” Verse 7.
Concerning the Lord’s vineyard and his care of it the same prophet says: “In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine [not a cellar of wine casks, but a vineyard, where it is ‘wine in the cluster,’ as in Isa. 65:8]. I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.” Isa. 27:2, 3.
More fully still is this comparison of Christ and his church with the vine and its branches illustrated in our Saviour’s discourse, recorded by the apostle John: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it [‘pruneth it’], that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch can not bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” John 15:1–8.
We quote the following interesting remarks on our Saviour’s discourse: “This chapter is simple in its illustrations, and is one that all may understand. Christ is ever seeking to present before his followers the privileges that are offered to sinful, feeble humanity. He would teach them that only through him can it be restored to healthful growth. We are to bear in mind that the branches in the True Vine are the believers, who are brought into nearness by connection with the Vine. . . .”
“The branches of the vine can not blend into each other; they are individually separate; yet every branch must be in fellowship with every other if they are united in the same parent stock. They all draw nourishment from the same source; they drink in the same life-giving properties. So each branch of the True Vine is separate and distinct, yet all are bound together in the parent stock. There can be no division. They are all linked together by his will to bear fruit wherever they can find place and opportunity. But in order to do this, the worker must hide self. He must not give expression to his own mind and will. He is to express the mind and will of Christ. The human family are dependent upon God for life and breath and sustenance. God has designed the web, and all are individual threads to compose the pattern. The Creator is one, and he reveals himself as the great Reservoir of all that is essential for each separate life.
“Christian unity consists in the branches being in the same parent stock, the vitalizing power of the center supporting the grafts that have united to the Vine. In thoughts and desires, in words and actions, there must be an identity with Christ, a constant partaking of his spiritual life.”—Mrs. E. G. White, in Review and Herald, Nov. 9, 1897.
In a Testimony we read: “The branches do not sustain the vine, but the vine supports and nourishes the branches. The church does not support Christ, but Christ, by his vital power, supports the church. It is not enough to be a branch; we are to be fruitful branches. ‘He that abideth in me,’ said Jesus, ‘and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.’ But if the fruit produced be that of the thorn bush, it is evident that we are not branches of the Living Vine.”
“Life is disciplinary. While in the world, the Christian will meet with adverse influences. There will be provocations to test the temper; and it is by meeting these in a right spirit that the Christian graces are developed. If injuries and insults are meekly borne, if insulting words are responded to by gentle answers, and oppressive acts by kindness, this is evidence that the Spirit of Christ dwells in the heart, that sap from the Living Vine is flowing to the branches. We are in the school of Christ in this life, where we are to learn to be meek and lowly of heart; and in the day of final accounts we shall see that all the obstacles we meet, all the hardships and annoyances that we are called to bear, are practical lessons in the application of principles of Christian life. If well endured, they develop the Christlike in the character, and distinguish the Christian from the worldling.”
“There is a high standard to which we are to attain if we would be children of God, noble, pure, holy, and undefiled; and a pruning process is necessary if we would reach this standard. How would this pruning be accomplished if there were no difficulties to meet, no obstacles to surmount, nothing to call out patience and endurance? These trials are not the smallest blessings in our experience. They are designed to nerve us to determination to succeed. We are to use them as God’s means to gain decided victories over self, instead of allowing them to hinder, oppress, and destroy us.”
“Character will be tested. Christ will be revealed in us if we are indeed branches of the Living Vine. We shall be patient, kind, and forbearing, cheerful amid frets and irritations. Day by day and year by year we shall conquer self, and grow into a noble heroism. This is our allotted task; but it can not be accomplished without continual help from Jesus, resolute decision, unwavering purpose, continual watchfulness, and unceasing prayer. Each one has a personal battle to fight. Each must win his own way through struggles and discouragements. Those who decline the struggle lose the strength and joy of victory. No one, not even God, can carry us to heaven unless we make the necessary effort on our part. We must put features of beauty into our lives. We must expel the unlovely natural traits that make us unlike Jesus. While God works in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure, we must work in harmony with him. The religion of Christ transforms the heart.”—“Testimony for the Church,” No. 32, pages 100 101.
“The fruit we bear is the only test of the character of the tree before the world. This is the proof of our discipleship. If our works are of such a character that as branches of the Living Vine we bear rich clusters of precious fruit, then we wear before the world God’s own badge as his sons and daughters. We are living epistles known and read of all men.”—Id., page 104.