No Mysticism by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 14, 1910

No Mysticism

By Editor

Editorial

No Mysticism.—From the earliest days the advent testimony was a protest against mysticism. The modern mystical ideas of heaven and the future life have obscured the healthy and truly spiritual view of the Christian’s hope. The message of the second advent proclaims anew the “blessed hope” of apostles and prophets, and inspires us to warfare and pilgrimage with the saints of old who “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

The Heavenly Land.—It was a real country toward which the early believers set their faces in the advent movement. The only poem printed in the little volume of Present Truth, our first paper, was a hymn characteristic of this faith in the reality of heaven. Concerning the hymn, a note in the paper said:—

Some may be interested in learning the origin of the hymn on the first page of this number. In the spring of 1845, the author of the vision published in this paper was very sick, nigh unto death. The elders of the church were finally called, and the directions of the apostle (James 5:14, 15) were strictly followed. God heard, answered, and healed the sick. The Holy Spirit filled the room, and she had a vision of the “city,” “life’s pure river,” “green fields,” “roses of Sharon,” “songs” of “lovely birds,” the “harps,” “psalms,” “robes,” “crowns,” the “mount” Zion, the “tree of life,” the “King of that country,” mentioned in the hymn. A brother took up his pen, and in a very short time composed the hymn from the vision. It has been published in two or three second advent papers, Smith’s collection of hymns, and finally found its way into the “Advent Harp,” published by J. V. Himes in 1849. Let those who “despise prophesyings,” and reject the fulfilment of God’s word in visions of the “last days,” remember when they sing this hymn, that it was composed from a vision.

Here is the hymn (now in our “Hymns and Tunes,” No. 1010), “The Better Land,” written by W. H. Hyde:—

“We have heard from the bright, the holy land, We have heard, and our hearts are glad; For we were a lonely pilgrim band, And weary, and worn, and sad. They tell us the saints have a dwelling there;— No longer are homeless ones; And we know that the goodly land is fair, Where life’s pure river runs.”

“They say green fields are waving there, That never a blight shall know; And the deserts wild are blooming fair, And the roses of Sharon grow. There are lovely birds in the bowers green, Their songs are blithe and sweet; And their warblings, gushing ever new, The angels’ harpings greet.

“We have heard of the palms, the robes, the crowns, And the silvery band in white; Of the city fair, with pearly gates, All radiant with light. We have heard of the angels there, and saints, With their harps of gold, how they sing: Of the mount, with the fruitful tree of life, Of the leaves that healing bring.

“The King of that country, he is fair, He’s the joy and light of the place; In his beauty we shall behold him there, And bask in his smiling face. We’ll be there, we’ll be there in a little while, We’ll join the pure and the blest; We’ll have the palm, the robe, the crown, And forever be at rest.”