p. 3 | Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Dec 7, 1905

Editorial

By Editor

An Appropriate Prayer

SEVERAL times in recent years it has been suggested to us that we may now pray the prayer of the psalmist, “It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law.” It ought to be apparent to every one who observes the drift of things in the religious world that the statement of the psalmist applies to the situation now. The law of God, whether limited in its meaning to the ten commandments or taken in its broader sense as including the authoritative teaching of the truth of God in his Word, is being made of none effect through philosophy and vain deceit. Those who believe the Bible are held up to ridicule. The evolutionary conception of the Bible has taken the place of the old-time belief in it as the direct Word of God, and an interpretation of it in harmony with this conception is declared to be “the only method which to-day is practical with those who are well informed.” We may now expect to see the results of this heaven-insulting repudiation of God’s inspired message to man; for “when the Scriptures are suppressed, and man comes to regard himself as supreme, we need look only for fraud, deception, and debasing iniquity.” “There is a depth of depravity in unbelieving human nature that will never be healed, because the true light has been misinterpreted and misapplied. The Lord has given his Spirit in abundance of assurance to enable men and women to understand the fallacies and errors of Satan and to guard against them.” The “The Lord will soon rise up to do his strange work of judgment. Men may for a time impiously exalt themselves against God and his truth, but it will soon be demonstrated that there is a limit to divine forbearance, and the restraint now placed upon the divine attributes will be removed. In the meantime we are authorized to unite in praying, “It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law.”

Vigilance and Fidelity

THE times demand watchfulness and loyalty in the work of God. Evil men and seducers are waxing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. On every side men are betraying their trusts, and are departing from the truth. Professed Christians are testifying falsely against the Bible, and are placing it on an equality with the so-called sacred books of all false religions. Many are doing homage to Satan while they use the terms and forms which belong to the worship of God. The intellectual faculties of some of the keenest thinkers of this brilliant age are being perverted to explain a universe apart from a personal God, and to develop a system of religion apart from an infallible Bible. We are living in those perilous times foretold in the Word of God to come in the last days. There is special need of vigilance, or we shall be caught unawares. There is special need of fidelity, or we shall betray the cause of God. When we see those whom we know to be our superiors in intellectual endowments taken and held in the snare of deception, and hypnotized into compromising positions where they soon become confused in their views of truth and duty, we may understand that no merely human discernment will suffice as our protection, and that only divine wisdom and infinite power working through our own vigilance and fidelity will prevent us from being deceived by the enticing blandishments of the adversary who is able to transform himself into an angel of light. We are living in strange times, and we are seeing some remarkable developments. We are brought face to face in our own work with such methods of counterworking God’s leading and counsel as we did not dream of a few years ago. There is a most determined effort to demonstrate that it is safe to follow the plans which seem wise to human counselors, instead of submitting to be directed by the spirit of prophecy. All these conditions combined call for vigilance and fidelity on the part of those who desire to be kept in the simplicity of the faith and in obedience to the truth. The loyalty of God’s people is being tested.