p. 3 | Helpless Humanity by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Nov 5, 1903

Helpless Humanity

By Editor

Editorial

Helpless Humanity

As a part of the message of comfort to Jerusalem, which is the message of final deliverance from Babylon, we are told that “all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.” It is necessary to know this and to acknowledge this before we are ready to accept the abundant help which has been provided for the supply of our need. “They that are strong have no need of a physician, but they that are sick.” “When I am weak, then am I strong.” Our strength is only weakness, and our wisdom is only foolishness. We are “miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” Helpless and undone, our only hope is in realizing our own wretchedness and our own inability to save ourselves or to overcome the foes within and without. There is hope for the weakest when he knows his weakness, and reaches out for strength. But vain is the help of man. “Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Jehovah! . . . Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit: and when Jehovah shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall stumble, and he that is helped shall fall, and they all shall be consumed together.” Our only hope is in God. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” “Trust ye in Jehovah forever; for in Jehovah, even Jehovah, is an everlasting rock.” Help has been laid upon One who is mighty, and helpless humanity will find deliverance in its helplessness by receiving him. “The Lord is the strength of my life.”

Days of Violence

THE condition of things on the earth just before it was destroyed by the flood in the days of Noah was referred to by our Lord as a prophecy of the condition of things just before the coming of the Son of man. “And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” In the days of Noah men thought first of themselves and the things of this world. “They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage.” “They sought only to gratify the desires of their own proud hearts, and reveled in scenes of pleasure and wickedness. Not desiring to retain God in their knowledge, they soon came to deny his existence. They adored nature in the place of the God of nature. They glorified human genius, worshiped the works of their own hands, and taught their children to bow down to graven images. . . . Whoever coveted the wives or the possessions of his neighbor, took them by force, and men exulted in their deeds of violence.” “The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” The daily record of the doings of men in our world now shows plainly that the days of Noah have returned. Pride and self-gratification are the ruling principles in many lives. Much more attention is given to outward display than to inward adornment. The “get-rich-quick” fever is destroying the old-time standards of the commercial world. The recent disclosures of the operations of some of the great trusts show how far leaders in financial affairs have departed from the paths of rectitude in their haste to pile up their millions. And with all the rest, the spirit of violence is increasing with alarming rapidity. Mobs “of the best citizens” take the law into their own hands, and wreak their vengeance upon other lawbreakers. Deeds of violence by the score are recorded in the daily press. Men are shot down with little provocation, and sometimes without any. Human life is held in light esteem. Love for God and man has little place in the hearts of many. It is plain that the perils of the last days are upon us, and the only deliverance is in “this gospel of the kingdom.” In these days of violence we should know and teach the gospel of the coming of the Prince of Peace. The coming of Jesus is the solution of the whole problem of sin.

The Light of Life

JESUS did not impart light to the world as something separate from himself. He himself, in his life among men, was the light. “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” To those who were willing to follow him and to receive the gift, he freely gave himself to be their light. “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” This light is not merely an intellectual keenness of perception, and it may shine even in those who do not possess great mental endowments. It is the light of life, and it is imparted as life, and it reveals itself in the life. This light must be lived, or it will be extinguished. We do not obtain it or retain it by a mere intellectual study of the Bible, although all ought certainly to study the Bible. There is no certainty that we have this light to-day simply because we had it at some time in the past, or because we occupy the positions of those who ought to have light. The one way and the only certainty of having light is to receive it as our life, and to let it shine in our experience with God and man. Willful sin will make the light dim, and finally extinguish it altogether. The faculties of the mind may remain just as strong as ever, but the ability to distinguish truth from error, and the power to move upon rebellious hearts to submit to God and to walk in the light, may all be lost by leading an unholy life. The light of life can not be handled as a commodity apart from ourselves and our own experiences. In order to be able to recognize new truth, we need to live the truth already revealed to us. In order to be saved from the errors unknown to us, we must shut out of our lives the errors already pointed out to us. Before we can say to others with authority, “Thou art the man,” we must have responded in our

lives to the voice which has said to each one of us, ‘Thou art the man.’ When we have failed to recognize the clear light of truth, or have been unable to detect gross error, we should turn the search-light upon our lives as well as upon the Bible. ‘If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!’ ‘While ye have the light, believe on the light, that ye may become sons of light.’ ‘The Lord is my light.’