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Moral Tone

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 8, 1906

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 45.

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Moral Tone

By Editor

Editorial

It is a good time to emphasize the warning that we should not be “carried about with every wind of doctrine.” Those who are established in the truth by a plain “Thus saith the Lord” ought to be able to discern between the light of the third angel’s message and the will-o’-the-wisps of fanciful interpretation. Because we have been willing to give up error for truth, it should not follow that we are equally ready to give up that truth for some other error, even though that error be presented to us by one who claims to be a Seventh-day Adventist. Willingness to receive the genuine light of truth does not mean that we should become more rainbow chasers. “Be ye steadfast, unmovable.”
This advent movement is in itself a sign of the end. The history of God’s dealings with the world shows that a message has always been sent to prepare the way for any great event. So it was before the flood. “A hundred and twenty years before the flood, the Lord by a holy angel declared to Noah his purpose, and directed him to build an ark. While building the ark he was to preach that God would bring a flood of water upon the earth to destroy the wicked. Those who would believe the message, and would prepare for that event by repentance and reformation, should find pardon and be saved.” Noah’s message was a sign of the coming flood. In the same way the message of John the Baptist was a sign of the first advent of our Lord. The very work of making ready a people prepared for the Lord witnessed to the fact that the coming of the Lord was at hand. The same principle applies in our day. In no other generation since the ascension from Olivet has there been a world-wide movement carrying the good news to every land that Jesus is about to come to take his people to the mansions which he went to prepare. This movement is the fulfilment of prophecy, and is itself a prophecy. Every true Seventh-day Adventist is a living sign-board.
The highest possible exaltation for man is found in glorifying God. The lowest possible degradation for man is found in glorifying himself. But he who attempts to glorify God in order to exalt himself will neither glorify God nor exalt himself. The heavenly principles of the divine philosophy will not lend themselves to further the schemes of a worldly ambition. Sincerity of soul, honesty of purpose, and singleness of heart are essential to a successful application of these heavenly principles in daily life. What seems paradoxical to merely worldly wisdom is a matter of common experience to the one who exercises a simple faith in God. “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.”

Moral Tone

There is the moral tone of the individual, and there is the moral tone of companies of individuals. The latter is a kind of general average of the former. This moral tone determines the general plane of thought and action of each one or of each community, and is itself determined by the attitude of each person toward the divine standard in morals. He who repudiates God’s standard of rightness of character and the divinely ordained means of attaining to that standard of rightness, or righteousness, may be an earnest advocate of every reform movement, and may devote his energies and his means to the most approved philanthropic and sociological efforts for the betterment of mankind, but he will be unable to maintain his own moral tone or to raise the moral tone of his community if we judge by the true standard. A high degree of civilization, a passionate devotion to literature and art, and a world-wide grasp of power are all compatible with a low moral tone. History bears testimony to this fact, and the present condition of things emphasizes it. The contempt which has been shown toward God’s law during the present generation by the professed conservers of Christianity, and the refusal to accept that law as the standard of righteousness, have led to a lowering of moral tone, as is being plainly manifested in an alarming manner. The enemy of truth and righteousness, who has plotted to bring about this very situation, now takes advantage of it to redouble his assaults and to press his temptations with satanic skill. Future efforts are being made to stay the tide of evil by seeking the power of the state as a substitute for the power of the Spirit in the heart, and by attempting to erect the standard of human law in the place of the divine law. It will be impossible, however, to accomplish a reformation by these means, or to renovate society as a whole, and the only hope for individuals will be found in stimulating the moral tone by applying the gospel remedy—the law of God written in the heart through faith in the operation of the Holy Spirit. It is the mission of this advent movement to furnish this remedy.