TRAMP, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching: how many of them? Sixty thousand! Sixty full regiments, every man of which will, before twelve months shall have completed their course, lie down in the grave of a drunkard! Every year during the past decade has witnessed the same sacrifice; and sixty regiments stand behind this army ready to take its place. It is to be recruited from our children and our children’s children. “Tramp, tramp, tramp”—the sounds come to us in the echoes of the footsteps of the army just expired; tramp, tramp, tramp—the earth shakes with the tread of the host now passing: tramp, tramp, tramp, comes to us from the camp of the recruits. A great tide of life flows resistlessly to its death. What in God’s name are they fighting for? The privilege of pleasing an appetite, of conforming to a social usage, of filling sixty thousand homes with shame and sorrow, of loading the public with the burden of pauperism, of crowding our prison-houses with felons, of detracting from the productive industries of the country, of ruining fortunes and breaking hopes, of breeding disease and wretchedness, of destroying both body and soul in hell before their time.
The prosperity of the liquor interest, covering every department of it, depends entirely on the maintenance of this army. It cannot live without it. It never did live without it. So long as the liquor interest maintains its present prosperous condition, it will cost America the sacrifice of sixty thousand men every year. The effect is inseparable from the cause. The cost to the country of the liquor traffic is a sum so stupendous that any figures which we should dare to give would convict us of trifling. The amount of life absolutely destroyed, the amount of industry sacrificed, the amount of bread transformed into poison, the shame, the unavailing sorrow, the crime, the poverty, the pauperism, the brutality, the wild waste of vital and financial resources, make an aggregate so vast—so incalculably vast—that the only wonder is that the American people do not rise as one man, and declare that this great curse shall exist no longer. Dilettante conventions are held on the subject of peace, by men and women who find it necessary to fiddle to keep themselves awake. A hue-and-cry is raised about woman suffrage, as if any wrong which may be involved in woman’s lack of the suffrage could be compared to the wrongs attached to the liquor interest!
Does any sane woman doubt that women are suffering a thousand times more from rum than from any political disability? *
The country is to be sincerely congratulated on the fact that the wine interest of the United States does not promise much. Little native wine, after all our painstaking, finds its way to a gentleman’s table. The California wines are a disappointment and a failure, and the Western wines are the same. Neither the dry nor the sparkling Catawba takes the place of anything imported. They are not popular wines, and we congratulate the country that they never can be. The lager beer interest is endeavoring, in convention, to separate itself from the whisky interest, claiming to be holier and more respectable than that. They are all to be lumped together. They are all opposed to sobriety, and, in the end, we shall find them all fighting side by side for existence against the determined indignation of a long-suffering people.
A respectable English magazine reports, as a fact of encouraging moment, that of the fifty thousand clergymen of the Church of England as many as four thousand actually abstain from the use of spirits! So, eleven-twelfths of the clergymen of the English Church consent to be dumb dogs on the temperance question! How large the proportion of wine-drinking clergymen may be in this country we do not know, but we do know that a wine-glass stops the mouth on the subject of temperance, whoever may hold it. A wine-drinking clergyman is a soldier disarmed. He is not only not worth a straw in the fight; he is a part of the impedimenta of the temperance army. We have a good many such to carry, who ought to be ashamed of themselves, and who very soon will be. Temperance laws are being passed by the various Legislatures, which they must sustain, or go over, soul and body, to the liquor interest and influence.
Meantime, the tramp, tramp, tramp—sounds on, the tramp of sixty thousand yearly victims. Some are besotted and stupid, some are wild with hilarity, and dance along the dusty way, some reel along in pitiful weakness, some wreak their mad and murderous impulses on one another, or on the helpless women and children whose destinies are united to theirs, some stop in wayside debaucheries and infamies for a moment, some go bound in chains from which they seek in vain to wrench their bleeding wrists, and all are poisoned in body and soul, and all are doomed to death. Wherever they move, crime, poverty, shame, wretchedness, and despair, hover in awful shadows. There is no bright side to the picture. We forget: there is just one. The men who make this army get rich. Their children are robed in purple and fine linen, and live upon dainties. Some of them are regarded as respectable members of society, and they hold conventions to protect their interests! Still the tramp, tramp, tramp, goes on, and before this article can see the light, five thousand more of our poisoned army will have hidden their shame and disgrace in the grave.—Scribner’s Monthly for August, 1873.
Shall I Be an Overcomer?
By A. M. Lindsley
THIS question has, no doubt, presented itself to every believer in present truth. Looking forward to the hour of temptation, and the time of trouble that looms up in the near future, with a correct sense of the straitness of the way, and knowing our own utter powerlessness to overcome without divine aid, it truly becomes a matter of anxious thought. Could we, by some art of reading the future, see ourselves safely landed on the sea of glass, even this might tend to slacken our efforts to overcome. God has wisely hidden the final denouement from us, and so related us to the blessings of eternal life, that it is by patient continuance in well-doing that we shall obtain the prize.
But, shall I be an overcomer? again and again forces itself upon us with renewed importance. Is there any rule by which we can find an answer? any criterion by which we can judge of the result of our efforts? In working a problem in mathematics, we know that if we start from right premises and follow the rule, we shall, if we make no mistake in our reckoning, reach a correct answer. But if only one small mistake is made, it greatly deranges the work, and forces us to go back to the place of error and do our work over again.
The plan of God for our salvation has such a system, and his word imposes upon us such rules, that, if correctly followed, will as surely bring us to the end for which he has predestinated us, as that two and two make four. It is often said that “figures will not lie.” So it is a matter of fact, as sure as mathematical demonstration, that those who are standing in the light of God, obeying his word in the love of it, willingly taking upon themselves its obligations, will be the overcomers in the true sense of the word. The importance that we give to the great preparation for the coming of the Lord will be a guide to an answer. Does it have the first place in our hearts? and do we have the victory over our own ways, bringing them into subjection to God’s ways? Are we making all the sacrifices necessary in our several spheres, with the love of God abiding in us, and Jesus in our hearts? If so, we need take courage and feel that we fight certainly, not as one beating the air, but as those who shall obtain. In the shaking time, upon which we are entering, such will stand firm, and, with the excellent spirit that Caleb and Joshua possessed, will deem themselves, in the strength of God, well able to go up and possess the land.
A. M. LINDSLEY.
Work in God.
How many men keep their hearts green and fresh, clear up to the time when they shuffle off this mortal coil? Who go through life, beset by its care, toil and trouble and yet grow younger all the time? Only those who have discovered the great secret of replenishing their higher natures with the life that cometh down from above. No man ever comes so near to accepting and being guided by sheer folly as he does who, reaching the years of discretion and of reason, fails to set to work to cultivate his spiritual nature. No man ever did or will set to work to do that thing without finding God. No matter where he lives or what his station, if he sets out with a teachable spirit, with a persistency that knows no hesitation, to cultivate according to the laws, the economy, and the fundamental organization thereof, his spiritual nature, he will find God.
God, beloved ones, is everywhere present, beholding the evil and the good. And so attached is he to good, and so does he hold evil in disesteem, that any human being living on the earth may wake up in him a great throb of love by resolutely cherishing the good. The least spark of goodness in a man, honestly entertained by himself, is a thousand times more lovingly entertained by God. He will not allow any human soul to perish for want of assistance. When that soul says, in its extremity, however desperate, “Save me, O God, save me, for the waters cover my soul!” that cry for help will find its way to the ear of God where he sitteth in the glory of his nature and down from him to that soul will come spiritual blessings.
So there is no necessity on any one for going through life unhelped; for being a poor, selfish creature; for taking up the meanest elements in his nature and cultivating them. Men go to hell because they want to, not because there is any need of it. They go to damnation because they choose to, not because they are forced to go. They take all the consequences of sin; because they love darkness rather than light.
Trusting God.
By Dr. Payson
CHRISTIANS might avoid much trouble and inconvenience if they would only believe what they profess, that God is able to make them happy without anything else. They imagine that if such a dear friend were to die, or such and such blessings were removed, they would be miserable; whereas God can make them a thousand times happier without them.
To mention my own case. God has been depriving me of one mercy after another; but as one is removed, he has come in and filled up its place. Now, when I am a cripple, and not able to move, I am happier than ever I was in my life before, or ever expected to be; and if I had believed this twenty years ago, I might have been spared much anxiety. If God had told me some time ago that he was about to make me as happy as I could be in this world, and then had told me that he should begin by crippling me in all my limbs, and removing me from my usual sources of enjoyment, I should have thought it a very strange mode of accomplishing this purpose. And yet how is his wisdom manifest even in this!—Dr. Payson.
A Timely Reminder.
PRESIDENT EDWARDS says: “God’s people ought especially to abound in deeds of charity or almsgiving. If God’s people in this land were once brought to abound in such deeds of love, as much as in praying, hearing, and singing, and religious meetings, and conference, it would be a most blessed omen. So amiable would be the sight in the eyes of our loving and exalted Redeemer, that it would soon, as it were, fetch him down from his throne in Heaven, to set up his tabernacle with men on the earth, and dwell with them.
Wesley on Dress.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
THERE is just as much danger of Adventists indulging in a love of dress and finery as there has been in the past of other people doing the same. But as this comes in, the Spirit of God goes out. A few words of warning on this point, now and then, are much needed. Here are a few from that good man, John Wesley:
“I exhort all those who desire me to watch over your souls, wear no gold, no pearls or precious stones, use no curling of hair or costly apparel how grave soever. I advise those who are able to receive these sayings, buy no velvets, no silks, no fine linen, no superfluities, no mere ornaments, though ever so much in fashion. Wear nothing, though you have it already, which is of a glaring color, or which is in any way gay, glittering and showy, nothing made in the height of fashion, nothing apt to attract the attention of bystanders. I do not advise women to wear rings, ear-rings, necklaces, laces (of whatever kind or color), or ruffles, which little by little may easily shoot from one to twelve inches deep, neither do I advise men to wear colored waistcoats, shining stockings, glittering or shining buckles or buttons, either on their coats or on their sleeves, any more than gay, fashionable and expensive perukes. And whoever says that there is no harm in these, might as well say there is no harm in stealing and adultery. This is a melancholy truth. I am ashamed of it, but I know not how to help it. I call Heaven and earth this day to witness that it is not my fault. The trumpet has not given an uncertain sound. For nearly fifty years last past, I have borne a clear and faithful testimony. In print, in preaching, in meeting the society, I have not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God. I am therefore clear of the blood of those that will not hear. It lies upon their own heads. Let your dress be cheap as well as plain. Otherwise you do but trifle with God and me and your own souls.” D. M. CANRIGHT.
Letting Go.
A GENTLEMAN and his wife were taking a sea-bath, when a receding wave drew them from the shore and suddenly plunged them into deep water. The gentleman could swim, but his wife could not, and she instinctively threw her arms about her husband's neck, her struggles meanwhile rendering it impossible for him to assist her or save himself.
“My dear,” said he, “this will never do. In this way we must both go down. Unclasp your hold, and allow me to save you in my own way. Trust me, and I will assuredly do so.” In a moment she was in his arms, helpless as an infant, and he bore her to the shore, where they knelt to thank God for such a signal deliverance from sudden death.
Fearful soul, struggling amid the waves of doubt and temptation, cease all trust in your own doings. Jesus is with you. Trust in him, and his strong arms shall bear you through the deep waters which threaten to overwhelm you.
Speak Kindly: Morning and Night Counsel
SPEAK kindly in the morning; it lightens the cares of the day and makes the household and its affairs move along smoothly. Speak kindly at night; for it may be that before dawn some loved one may finish his or her space of life for this world, and it will be too late to ask forgiveness.
Promoting Others' Happiness as the Path to Joy
If you wish to be happy, endeavor to promote the happiness of others.
Holy poverty is heavenly riches.
Idleness and Making Better Use of Time
He is not only idle who does nothing, but he is idle who might be better employed.
We should not repine at dark providences, for there is light on the other side of them.
White Robes.
By James White
THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST IN THE PROPHETS.
The Spirit of Christ inspired the prophets of the former dispensations. It testified through them of the sufferings of Christ at his first advent, and of the glory that should follow at his second advent. The apostle Peter, speaking of the great salvation through Jesus Christ, says that the prophets had “inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you; searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” 1 Pet. 1:10, 11.
In this is the harmony of both Testaments of the blessed book of God, that the Spirit of Jesus inspired the writers of both. And while the blind Jew shuts himself up to the Old, and the equally blind Christian virtually shuts himself up to the New, Testament, we thank God for the Bible entire. In the writings of both Testaments we see the entire plan of salvation in all stages of its development, in the several dispensations, and the Spirit of Christ inspiring the divine whole.
The Spirit of Christ was in Enoch, the seventh from Adam, testifying through him: “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints.” Jude 14.
Moses was a prophet. The Spirit of Christ was in this leader of the tribes of Israel, and testified, as quoted by Peter, “A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me.” Acts 3:22; Deut. 18:18. The Spirit of Christ testifies in Moses that Christ, as a prophet, or teacher, was to be like himself. Hence the men of our times who labor to show a wide contrast between the teachings of Moses and those of the Son of God have not in this the mind of Christ.
Christ is the only Redeemer of sinners in all the ages. There is no other. All things pertaining to the grand scheme of redemption, whether in the types or figures of the former dispensations, or in the facts of the present, were revealed to the fallen race by our adorable Redeemer. He is, therefore, no more the author of the Christian, than of the Jewish, system. And those who contrast Moses with Christ, and the Jewish with the Christian system, are virtually arraying Christ against Christ.
It is not true that the apostle contrasts the ministrations of the two systems in the third chapter of his second epistle to the Corinthians. He simply draws a beautiful comparison, which illustrates the degrees of glory in the unit plan of man’s redemption. His words touching this point are so very decisive that we give them in full:
“But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away; how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.” Verses 7–9.
The typical system, under which the Redeemer was seen only in figure, was glorious. But the Christian system, with the great historical facts of the life, miracles, death, and resurrection, of the Son of God, exceeds in glory. Like the moon, the typical system shone by a borrowed light. Its glory was but the reflection of the light that enshrouds the death and resurrection of the Son of God, and his ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. Paul speaks to the point: “For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.” Verse 10. Without the exceeding glory of the Christian system, the Jewish system would have had no glory, and no significance whatever. In fact, it could not have existed without the Christian system. And to array the two, as if they were independent systems, complete in themselves, and opposed to each other, is the very climax of stupidity and religious folly.
Moses was a prophet of God. Christ was with him and the children of Israel in the wilderness. Paul even states that they “all ate the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ.” 1 Cor. 10:3, 4. The angel that went before them, Ex. 23:20, 21, 23; 14:19; 32:34; 33:2, 14; Num. 20:16; Josh. 5:13, 14; Acts 7:37, 38, was the Lord Jesus Christ.
The record states, chap. 5:13, 14, that Joshua was by Jericho, and that “he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with a drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I come.” We must not understand by this declaration of the angel that he had come to supersede Joshua in the command of the armies of Israel. No, Joshua was still commander, as is seen by chap. 6:2: “And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor.”
But the angel had come to Joshua’s aid, as captain of the heavenly host of loyal angels. The captain of the host of the Lord is the head over angels, or the archangel of Jude 9, and the Lord himself of 1 Thess. 4:16. And while it was appointed to Joshua to lead the armies of Israel around Jericho, a portion of the priests bearing the ark of God containing the ten commandments, and seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams horns before the ark of God, the Son of God was to lead on the invisible armies. As archbishop is the head over bishops, so archangel means the head over angels. Christ stands at the head of all the holy angels, and thus he is the captain of the host of the Lord. The Revelation, referring to the time when sin was first introduced, says, “And there was war in Heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon.” Chap. 12:7. And as captain of the Lord’s host, the Son of God is represented in chap. 19:11–16, as riding forth from the opening heavens on a white horse, and the armies of Heaven following him.
Joshua had no battering rams with which to break down the walls of Jericho. At his command, the armed men passed on before the priests that blew the trumpets, and those that carried the ark of God. And the reward came after the ark. In this simple display there was no manifestation of physical force. The work of casting down the massive walls of Jericho was left to the invisible hands of the heavenly host, led on by the Son of God.
The day was gained. “So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets. And it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.” Josh. 6:20. And be it known that prominent among the united agencies employed to achieve that grand victory were the ten commandments in the ark, and the leadership of Christ.
And it is not a common angel that is spoken of in Ex. 23:20, 21. “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions; for my name is in him.” Such language can be applied to no other than the Son of God.
Christ is the angel that was with Moses in the Mount Sinai. In that last address of the holy martyr, Stephen, he bears this important testimony. The words in brackets express our convictions relative to the persons meant. “This [Moses] is he that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel [Christ] which spake to him [Moses] in the Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received the lively oracles to give unto us.” Acts 7:38.
The work of emancipating, instructing, and leading, the Hebrews was given to One who is called an angel. Ex. 13:21; 14:19, 24; 23:20–23; 32:34; Num. 20:16; Isa. 63:9. And this angel Paul calls “that spiritual Rock that followed them,” and affirms that “that Rock was Christ.” 1 Cor. 10:4.
The eternal Father is never called an angel in the Scriptures; while what angels have done and said is frequently ascribed to the Lord, as they are his messengers and agents to accomplish his work. It is said of Him who went before the Hebrews to deliver them, “My name is in him.” In all the stupendous events of that deliverance, the mind of Jehovah was represented in Jesus.
The typical system was given to Moses by the Son of God in the Mount Sinai. Jesus Christ, the minister of the “true tabernacle,” showed Moses patterns of it, and of the vessels of the heavenly sanctuary, that he might know how to form the typical. And as Moses is instructed relative to the several parts of the golden candlestick, Ex. 25:31–40, the boards and bars of the tabernacle, chap. 26:15–30, and the altar with its staves, pans, shovels, and other particulars, chap. 27:1–8, he is charged, as quoted by Paul, Heb. 8:5, “See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.”
The plan of salvation, by which man is reconciled to God, and God to man, was devised by both the Father and the Son. And in carrying it out, the counsel of peace is between them both. Zech. 6:13. But it was given to the Son to reveal this plan, in the several stages of its development, in the patriarchal, Jewish, and Christian, ages, to the fallen race.
The Spirit of Christ was in Abel, testifying of the sufferings of Christ through the blood of the firstling of his flock.
The Spirit of Christ was in Moses, testifying of the sufferings of Christ through the blood of those beasts which was typical of the blood of the Son of God.
The Spirit of Christ was in Daniel, testifying in his prophecy of the sufferings of Christ in the midst of the seventieth prophetic week. “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off.” “And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” Chap. 9:26, 27.
The Spirit of Christ in the prophet also testified of the glory that should follow in these words: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom.” Chap. 7:13, 14.
Our blessed Jesus had the supervision of giving this important prophecy. In proof of this proposition we first cite the statement of the angel that appeared to Daniel in his vision of the tenth chapter, that “there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.” Chap. 10:21. There were only three persons connected with the giving of the prophecy; Daniel, Michael, and another, which chap. 8:16, shows to be Gabriel. “And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.” This command to Gabriel to further instruct the prophet Daniel came from Michael, as no other held with him in the things of the prophecy. Hence Michael, or the Son of God, having received the great things of the prophecy from the Father, shows them to the angel Gabriel, with the order for him to reveal them to the prophet Daniel.
There is a striking similarity in the manner in which the prophecy of this book was given, in the Jewish dispensation, and the manner in which the last book of the New Testament was given, in the Christian dispensation. The book of Revelation opens thus: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.” Chap. 1:1. They came from the Father to the Son, and both were shown to angels by the Son, to be revealed by them to Daniel and to John, for the benefit of the servants of God. The object of one was to show what shall be in the latter days, Dan. 2:28, and the object of the other is to show the “things which must shortly come to pass.” Rev. 1:1.
The Spirit of Christ was in Isaiah, testifying of his sufferings in these impressive words: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Chap. 53:3, 5.
The Spirit of Christ in Isaiah also testifies of his glory. “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever.” Ch. 9:7.
We might continue these quotations from the prophets to almost any length. And we find the same ground briefly covered by these remarkable words of the Saviour: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me.” Luke 24:44.
There is a painful blindness and an astonishing narrowness of views with many of the religious teachers of our time relative to the unit plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. In their efforts to get away from the moral law, as far as possible, in order to excuse themselves in the violation of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, they will labor to show as wide a contrast as possible between what they call the law, and the gospel, and in treating the subject they often give the impression that the moral law was confined to the Jewish age, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ is confined to the Christian age.
These are simply blind leaders of the blind. Some go even so far as to discard the Old Testament altogether, as entirely superseded by the New. We were credibly informed at Tipton, Ind., that a certain camp-meeting was held in that State where the preachers and people had so far rejected the Scriptures of the Old Testament that, during the several days of their meeting, not a single copy of our old-fashioned, blessed Bible, complete, could be found upon the ground, the officiating ministers using copies of the New Testament.
Those who cherish the growing prejudice of our time against the Hebrews, the institutions they revered, and the prophets of the Old Testament, should feel rebuked by the wonderful words of Paul to the Gentile believers of the church at Ephesus. Chap. 2:11–19. The words in brackets are our brief comment on the apostle’s withering rebuke of that narrow-souled bigotry in Gentile believers that leads them to shut themselves up to the New Testament and the apostles, and despise the “commonwealth of Israel,” the “covenants of promise,” and the holy prophets of God. The apostle would not have the Gentile believers forget that, as Gentiles, they were far inferior to the Jews, and that in believing in Christ they had become partakers of benefits which had been enjoyed alone by the seed of Abraham. Hence his especial appeal to them commences with—
“Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus ye [Gentiles] who sometimes were far off [from the commonwealth of the Israel of God, and the covenants of promise] are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both [Gentile and Jew] one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us [so that the Gentiles may come nigh, and receive the blessings promised to the seed of Abraham through Christ], having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in [typical] ordinances; for to make in himself [Christ] of twain [Gentiles and Jews] one new man [or united body], so making peace. And that he [Christ] might reconcile both [Gentiles and Jews] unto God in one [Christian] body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby; and came and preached peace to you [Gentiles] which were afar off, and to them [the Jews] that were nigh. For through him [Christ] we both [Gentiles and Jews] have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
“Now therefore ye [believing Gentiles] are no more strangers and foreigners [from the commonwealth of Israel and the covenants of promise], but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the [entire] household of God [saved from all the ages of human probation]. And are built upon the foundation of the apostles [of the New Testament] and the prophets [of the Old Testament], Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone.”
Glory to God and the Lamb for this broad foundation, resting upon the “Rock of Ages,” Jesus Christ, upon which the true church may stand, honoring the whole Bible, and keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. As we contemplate the breadth and the glory of the inspiring theme of salvation through Jesus Christ, our heart beats quicker, and our lips almost69shout, in harmony with the voices of the angels round about the throne of Heaven,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.”
In our next, we will speak of the nature and perpetuity of the divine law. J. W.
A Place for the Spirit of God.
By John Nevins Andrews
The Scriptures do not shut out the Holy Spirit from participating in the work of God. It would be strange indeed if they did, for they were given by the inspiration of that Spirit. There can be, therefore, no controversy nor rivalry between the claims of the Scriptures and the claims of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God has not abdicated its place in the church of God, nor do the Scriptures shut out the Holy Spirit from direct and active participation in the work of God. The Scriptures and the Holy Spirit each have an appropriate place, and there is no conflict in their claims. Each is of vital importance to the well-being of the people of God. Those who reject the Spirit of God are nothing but formalists; those who reject the Scriptures are fanatics.
The Scriptures are designed to render the man of God perfect, and thoroughly to furnish him to all good works. 2 Tim. 3:17. Of what utility then is the Holy Spirit, and what place is there for it? The Spirit of God is of just that importance which the Scriptures assign to it; and its place is precisely that which is marked out for it in the Bible. The first work of the Spirit of God is to reprove the unconverted, and to make them sensible of their sinful state. John 16:8. Its second work is that of regeneration, or conversion. Titus 3:5; John 3:5. It is thenceforward to abide with the Christian forever, leading him into all truth, sanctifying him wholly, bringing forth every excellent grace, witnessing that he is a child of God, restraining him from sin, strengthening him to every good work, and finally making him immortal. John 14:16; 1 Thess. 5:23; John 16:13; Gal. 5:22:23; Rom. 8:16; 1 Pet. 1:5; Eph. 3:16; Rom. 8:11.
Such is the work of the Spirit of God with each individual Christian. It does not act as though the Bible were not in existence; but on the contrary it uses the words of the Scriptures as the means, in many cases and in many ways, of doing its work. But besides the work of the Spirit of God in each individual heart is its work in the church, as such. Here the Scriptures give to it a large place, and define with great distinctness its several offices and its sacred work. The twelfth chapter of first Corinthians very distinctly marks the several gifts which it confers upon the different members of the church, and the work which they are to accomplish. The same is true of Eph. 4. Now it is impossible that we make the Scriptures our rule of faith if we deny to the Holy Spirit the place which it assigned to itself when it gave the Scriptures. We cannot strike out those chapters which define the work of the Spirit of God in the church of Christ and in the heart of the individual Christian. These are a part of that Scripture which is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.
The Scriptures thoroughly furnish the man of God to all good works. But they do not do this in a manner to conflict with their own teachings. They never make the reader of the Bible independent of the Spirit of God. He must have the Holy Spirit to lead him into all truth, and to open to him the Scriptures. Nor in carrying out its precepts can man act independently of that Spirit. The Bible plainly commands the preaching of the gospel, but it is the office of the Spirit of God to select the proper persons, and to place upon them “the woe” if they preach it not. It commands those who thus go forth to this sacred work that they preach the word; but for all that, it is still the office of the Spirit of God to select the particular portion which shall be adapted to the time and place, and then to set home upon the people the words spoken. Without this, the work of the preacher will be vain.
But even the faithful preaching of the word cannot do all the work. There are secret sins and errors known only to the ones in fault, and oftentimes, because of self-deception, not even known to them, which the preacher cannot effectually reach. Now the Spirit of God has another agency. It is not confined to evangelists, pastors, and teachers. It has also placed in the church the gift of prophecy and of discerning of spirits. The Spirit of God has never tied its own hands nor sealed its own lips. It reserves to itself the right to speak in the church, and in the Scriptures it has plainly stated the manner and the object of doing this.
One of those things, which is of the highest importance, and which at the same time gives the most general offense, is the bringing to light and reproving of secret sins. But this work can never cease unless God gives up the children of men to perish. It has a place assigned it in the Scriptures. It will be done in strict harmony with them. The Holy Spirit has the right to speak to men in dreams and in visions. It declares that it will do it. The Bible is a perfect revelation of divine truth, but it is the office of the Spirit to open the Scriptures to our understanding, and to lead into all truth. The Spirit of God may not reveal new truths and new duties, but it will certainly bring to light our failure to walk in the truth, and our transgressions of God’s holy law. It will expose our self-deception, and set our secret sins in the light of his countenance. This work may give us great pain, but it will be of infinite value to us in the end. J. N. A.