To Him That Overcometh by Emma Hildreth Adams

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 11, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 11.

“To Him That Overcometh”

By Emma Hildreth Adams

By Emma Hildreth Adams

SEE that vast throng, that strangely mixed multitude, that striving host of human beings—afflicted, worn, weary of burden-bearing—pressing toward some point of release; toward some spot where wasting struggles shall cease; toward some rich supply house where gnawing want shall be felt no more, and where gladdening rest awaits.

Once many of them were intrepid, feared not conflict, even invited contest. But now, from the hearts of a countless number is dying out, or has fled altogether, that priceless quality of mind called courage. Broken by the pitiless grinding of these momentous days, by destructive habits, by preying sorrows, or by multiplied failures, they have lost hope, lost uplifting of heart and spirit, lost tone of character, or, in the words of Him who had the seven stars in His right hand, they are “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”

Hence, a thing saddening even to mention, numbers of them enter, every day, upon the age-long slumber, either amid the welcoming waters of the sea—as happened but a few days since, near where these lines are penned, when, hidden by the shadows of evening, and allured by the gentle songs of the pearly waves, a young woman gave her life up to the Pacific,—or by other of the myriad unlawful methods of exit from this world, they take that which does not belong to them—their life—forgetting, if they have ever known the fact, that they are not their own, that for them a great price has been paid—the precious blood of Christ.

The Unspeakable Advantage.

Ah, what unspeakable advantage would accrue in these hours of woful temptation, could all such wearied, hopeless, will-less, yet possible, sons and daughters of the divine Father but lay hold of some of the thrilling, inspiring promises which sparkle like jewels in the second and third chapters of the Revelation! They are pledges made by Him who walked amid the golden candlesticks; made by Him, who, during His life on earth, was tried in all points like as we are; made by Him, who, on Calvary tasted death for every man.

Constellation of Promises of the First Magnitude.

Observe, O sorely tried ones, how brilliant a constellation of stars of the first magnitude these promises form. Note how they glow and scintillate with divine tenderness, mercy, sympathy, and love for all those who “have borne, have had patience, and have not fainted.”

“To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it.” “He that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations . . . and I will give him the morning star.”

“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.” “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of My God, . . . and I will write upon him My new name.”

The Exalted Climax.

And now, the highest privilege, most exalted condition, most gratifying, most coveted reward of all—“To him that OVERCOMETH will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.”

O, who, bruised by the cruel blows of this world, appalled by thought of possible hardship yet to come, helpless before the furious winds of adversity; may not thru heroic faith in those marvelous promises gather fresh courage, a new instalment of soul energy, and resolutely turn the back upon every thieving temptation to shorten this life and thus rob himself of this promised honor, triumph, and blessedness!