p. 1 | Editorial by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 10, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 35.

Editorial.

By Editor

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable."—2 Tim. 3:16.

WHERE God calls you to go, and you go in hearty submission to his will, and implicit faith in his power, he will keep you; but if seeking your own pleasure outside the path of duty, not all the power in humanity can preserve you from the evil one. If kept at all it is through the mercy and forbearance of God.

COMPLETE submission of one's self to God, the renunciation of the entire being to him, implicit faith in God's promises, and daily feeding upon God's word will completely change the motive and character of everyone who will do it, and make him a child of God. Just how this change is wrought we do not know. The mystery of the new birth is the mystery of incarnation. It is a miracle of God's grace. It is making man partaker of the divine nature. In short, it is "Christ in you the hope of glory."

"WHATSOEVER a man soweth, that shall he also reap" is the declaration of Holy Writ. This is invariably true. We do not mean that God will not forgive, that his grace will not abound over the sin and many times over its consequences; but, in order that his grace may do this, the sin must be heartily and wholly renounced. Some persons cover sin with falsehood. They are brought face to face with their transgressions, and they endeavor to excuse the sin, or to mitigate their guilt before those who may have become acquainted with it. Sometimes the falsehood is directly told, sometimes the truth is evaded. It seems expedient, and for the time profitable, and the soul hopes it may be well. At times the sin is forgotten, and a hoped-for-peace seems to come, and the deceived heart believes that it will be always thus. But the evil seed-sowing bears its baleful crop. One lie told demands others to fortify it, and these in turn demand still others, till the whole heart and character become a lie. Oh, better to "be not deceived; God is not mocked"! Be honest with him; confess all the sin, in all its wretchedness and vileness, and he will wash it all away, and give completest victory. Man may scoff and sneer at the humiliation necessary, but angels will rejoice. "Humble yourselves therefore in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up."

THE Greek Church seems to be fully equal to the Roman in the numerous misdeeds of her priests. Recently at the anniversary of the czar's coronation at the Tchoodova Monastery at Moscow, the church was robbed of valuable ornaments, vessels, jewels, etc. The police suspected the monks, and, searching the monastery, found the greater part of the stolen property in the monks' cell. Diamonds and pearls had been stripped from the gorgeous vestments. The discovery was also made that the monks had a number of women secretly living with them in the cell. Vows of celibacy do not destroy lust, nor do vows of poverty destroy covetousness. Submission to God, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, daily nourishment from an open and well-studied Bible received as the word of God, are the means, and the only means, which will keep men from sin, whether in the city slums, the crowded mart, the court palace, the popular pulpit, or church cloisters. Christ within, Christ in the heart by faith, the life of Christ in the soul, this will keep the soul anywhere that duty calls.