Jeremiah 17:5, commentary and pictures

Cursed is the one who puts trust in human beings and makes human strength his support, because his heart has turned away from the Lord. That forbidden trust means looking to people for help, counsel, approval, guidance and strength, especially in trouble, instead of shutting oneself in with God, forsaking the fountain of living waters to hew out broken cisterns that hold no water. No human can be safely depended on, for all are finite, erring and changeable, and the one who so trusts becomes like a shrub in the desert dwelling in parched salt land, shut away from grace and left to weakness, disappointment and ruin. In contrast the one whose trust and hope is in the Lord is blessed, like a tree planted by the waters whose leaf stays green in heat and never ceases yielding fruit, finding righteousness and hope only in God through a living connection with Jesus. Therefore minds and talents are not to be brought under human judgment and control, leaders are not to be idolized or put where God should be, and alliances with the world are not to be leaned on, but every difficulty is to be brought directly to God in prayer, leaning on the divine arm and holding firmly to Christ.

Meaning of Forbidden Trust

Thus saith the Lord, cursed is the one who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart departs from the Lord. The curse rests on relying on human strength instead of God and turning away to please self. Sinful men cannot supply spiritual life or righteousness, for hope and righteousness are found only in God and are kept only through faith and a living connection with Him. The one who trusts in man is like a barren plant in the desert whom good does not reach, gathering only worthless things and becoming of no benefit to God or the world, while the one who trusts in the Lord flourishes like a tree planted by water. The desert shrub fails to recognize good when it comes and dwells in barren, parched places, and the warning applies to those who have relied on human leadership, departed from safe paths, and resisted warning, whose remedy is to turn to the Lord with all the heart and to examine and judge themselves rather than stand on their own authority and rules.

Trusting in man means looking to human beings for help, sympathy, succor, counsel, opinions, approval, guidance, and strength, especially when in trouble, instead of shutting oneself up with God. It is to cease looking to Jesus for strength and efficiency and to depend instead on finite, erring fellow men, seeking their approval and counsel more anxiously than God's, which weakens Christian experience and hinders growth in grace and the knowledge of Christ. It forbids placing men where God should be, to be looked up to and confided in as mind and judgment for the whole body of believers, and forbids asking counsel from men so largely that the soul is robbed of the experience to be obtained from God Himself. Depending chiefly on people can bring unbelief and cause faith to die, for Satan lays this dependence as a trap to catch men, lead them astray, and win them to his side, and this has been done in many cases. Difficulties and requests are therefore to be brought to God rather than to man, while counsel with others must not replace counsel with Him.

Making flesh the arm is the departing of the heart from the Lord. It is forsaking the fountain of living waters and the cool snow waters of Lebanon to hew out broken cisterns that can hold no water and to drink the turbid streams of the valley and polluted fountains of infidelity. Those who profess to believe the truth yet drink at those polluted fountains and by precept and example draw others away from the cold snow-waters of Lebanon make flesh their arm and, though professing themselves wise, are fools. Putting implicit confidence in the ideas and opinions of human authors and leading others in a path taken for granted as true that is not the Bible path is walking in sparks of one's own kindling instead of drinking the water of life and learning from Christ. Making human skill, money, position, buildings, or achievements the source of strength is like turning from the fountain of living water to shallow human-made cisterns that cannot sustain life in time of need, and going to the world for strength by forbidden alliance with worldlings and dependence on worldly power is forsaking the Mighty One who is the source of all strength.

No human being can be safely depended on for guidance or made one's support. All are finite, exposed to temptation, liable to error, erring, changeable, and tempted, and in themselves are only bruised reeds and broken reeds who fail when they are not shut in with God. Even one with long knowledge of sacred truth can present strange misleading errors, for men have failed in times when it was necessary for them to be entirely shut in with God, walking with fear and trembling before Him true as the compass to the pole. People may be deceived, promote false theories, or use even the theory of truth to lead others into error, so following them puts the soul at risk and leaves men blinded by the enemy and led by fellow men despite all warnings in the Word of God. No position of trust gives anyone authority to dictate what others shall believe and do, and no least dependence can be placed on finite men, for the Lord is too wise to err and too good to do harm, and Christ the unchanging Rock is the support on which even the weakest may depend.

Curse and Barren Result

The curse falls on the one who trusts in other people, relies on human strength, and turns the heart away from the Lord. That one is pictured as a heath or shrub in the desert who does not see when good comes, dwelling in parched places of the wilderness, in a salt land not inhabited. Like plants in a dry wilderness they miss the good and live in barren places, lacking the life that comes from connection with Christ. The warning was laid upon those who relied on human leadership and resisted warnings, yet remedy remained in turning to the Lord with all the heart. The same portion belongs to the church leader who will not humble his heart before the Lord and give up his will to the will of God, but keeps selfishness, self-confidence, and the disposition to dominate and control, having lost discernment so he cannot be trusted and having greatly hindered the work by rejecting warnings. At the end of all things those who claim to believe must therefore not depend on man but humble their hearts before God, pray and believe for clear spiritual eyesight, be aroused to the condition of the world before it is too late, show faith by works, speak the Word persuasively, take the burden of labor for souls who do not know the truth, and be diligent, faithful, guarded, humble messengers of truth.

That desert condition is barrenness of soul with no refreshing, for although the Sun of Righteousness shines and grace is freely offered to all, people shut themselves away from these blessings by choosing separation from God. Good does not reach such a person, and he gathers only worthless things, making himself of no benefit to God or the world. Trusting in man in this sense means looking to human beings for help, listening to their opinions, and relying on them for sympathy, succor, and counsel, especially when in trouble, instead of shutting oneself up with God. It is a departing of the heart from the Lord, a forsaking of the living waters to hew out broken cisterns that can hold no water. It is forsaking the fountain of living waters, the cool snow waters of Lebanon, to drink the turbid streams of the valley by looking to fellow men for sympathy and uplifting instead of looking to Jesus.

The fruit of that course is spiritual weakness, failure, disappointment, deception, delusion, and ruin. It is marked by jealousy, suspicion, discord, strife, falsehood, and failure to obey Christ's words. Depending on men leans on a broken reed, dishonors God by failing to appreciate His sufficiency, covets the influence of men, sets God aside as not sufficient, and resorts to worldly men for recognition and influence to do some great thing. No confidence can be put in any man, however learned or elevated he may be, unless he holds the beginning of his confidence in God firm unto the end. By leaning on the arm of the world instead of the arm of God, men mistake their way and turn aside the work which God desires to accomplish through His chosen people.

So Israel became weak when the people wanted to be like the other nations and asked for a king, desiring to be guided by human power which they could see rather than by the divine, invisible power that had led and guided them and given them victory in battle, and the result of that choice was seen in the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the nation. The same danger is seen in Solomon, a man thrice called the beloved of God and entrusted with building the temple, who made alliance with idolatrous nations and through marriages bound himself to heathen women, through whose influence he in his later years forsook the temple of God to worship in the groves he had prepared for their idols. Trusting in man and making flesh an arm by affiliation and forbidden alliance with worldlings and dependence on worldly power and fallible, erring man for wisdom, honor, and exaltation brings weakness instead of strength, making its followers as weak in moral power as those they trust, leavening them with evil practices, causing loss of first love and zeal for God's service and loss of identity as God's peculiar people, and bringing only disappointment for the advantages sought and the loss of many souls.

In mercy and faithfulness God causes the fellow men in whom confidence is placed to fail, so that the folly of trusting in man is learned. He in care brings people into close places to convict them of the folly of depending on man and to turn them to Himself as their only help, calling them to depend on Him and patiently wait according to His command, listening to the Ruler of all kings and turning faint hearts to the One in whom is everlasting strength and deliverance. Passing that proving shows a ruler can be trusted by God in trying places, while vacillation shows unworthiness of sacred responsibility. Exalting and praising a man, putting him before the people in the place of God, calling for him and expecting a great work to be done through him, and thinking the interest will die without him, brings God's frown and displeases Him, and God lets the exalted man reveal what spirit he is of, for He can carry on His work without the help of any particular man. Churches are therefore not to idolize any living man and not to keep a man in position because he draws big congregations and stirs excitement that flashes like a meteor and goes out in darkness, but only because he is humble and God-fearing, fears to offend God, and has inward integrity, the graces of the Spirit, and everyday piety.

God first meets the mistake with entreaties and assurances to show the error and lead to repentance, but persistent refusal to humble the heart and persistent self-exaltation above Him brings judgment in which He shows how weak the disobedient are without Him, as He gave Israel into the hands of enemies who spoiled the land and took the people captive, and no semblance of nearness to God or assertion of connection with Him will be accepted while dishonoring Him by leaning on worldly power. God cannot prosper His church while principles of trusting in man, weakening the hands of appointed leadership, and practicing wrong courses remain the rule of action, and when men to whom messages are sent make no response, remain unaffected, or are too proud to admit their wrong course and brace themselves to resist every appeal, they are determined to walk in the way they have chosen and the Lord gives them up to their own perverted imaginations. When men join hand to hand in purposes contrary to the plain will of God, the Lord leaves them to work out their own plans until they recognize their wisdom is not the infinite wisdom of God. He will not force anyone to obey His Word and do His will; those who refuse His counsel in His Word and warnings are left to a humbling course that exposes their pride and shows their own wisdom is foolishness, yet when they learn that lesson and call upon Him, the Lord becomes a present help in every time of need, guides them in judgment, stands at their right hand to counsel them, and shows them the way to walk.

Blessing of Trusting God

In contrast the one who trusts in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is is blessed, like a tree planted by the waters spreading roots by the river, whose leaf stays green when heat comes, who is not anxious in the year of drought and never ceases yielding fruit. That blessed condition stands directly against the cursed shrub in the desert that does not see when good comes and dwells in parched wilderness in a salt land not inhabited, cut off from the fountain of living waters after forsaking the cold snow-waters of Lebanon for broken cisterns and polluted fountains and turbid streams of the valley. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked beyond human knowing, but the Lord searches the heart and tries the reins to give every man according to his ways and the fruit of his doings, and He never fails a trusting soul. The warning belongs especially to those who claim to believe yet lean on human wisdom, listen to human opinions, rely on human authors, and endorse unconsecrated men, for the Lord cannot prosper His people while trust in man rules action and leads them in a path taken for granted as true that is not the Bible path.

Safety, hope, and fruitfulness come only from depending on God rather than human power, for reliance on people leaves a person like a shrub in barren land unable to recognize good, while trust in God makes a person like a well-watered tree unafraid of heat or drought and still bearing fruit. In the last days and in every time of testing above all others God's people cannot be safe while depending on human persons and human strength or on their own judgment, and must not repeat the follies of Israel in the days of Samuel through lack of humility and self-confidence instead of trust in the Lord God of Israel, the Ruler of the people. The work endures and abides the test only when divine power is combined with human effort, when men lean no longer on men but make God their trust, shown by meekness of spirit, less talking and much more praying, caution in plans and movements, revealed dependence on God, and the mind of Christ. When great mountains of difficulty apparently insurmountable loom up and God's people are hedged about on every side, such obstacles are permitted as a test of faith, and then they are not to walk in their own strength but in the strength of the Lord God of Israel in whom is everlasting strength, trusting in Him and in the power of His Holy Spirit, for the One who made the way plain before Zerubbabel is able to clear away every obstacle devised by Satan so that through persevering faith every mountain may be removed.

No human being can be safely depended on or controlled by, because all are finite and exposed to temptation and liable to error, so no position of trust gives anyone authority to dictate what others shall believe and do or to define duty and rule conscience. The living presence of Christ in the church is the Rock of faith on which even the weakest may depend, and those who think themselves strongest will prove weakest unless they make Christ their efficiency. He is the believer's strength, righteousness, and defense, the great Medical Missionary and great Physician, the tender High Priest and Man of Calvary in whom hopes of eternal life are centered, the Helper and Strength going before and behind, and weakness continues until He alone is exalted and humanity steps back with human prominence set aside. Therefore trust must not be placed in human power as the arm of strength but in God alone as the source of efficiency, holding firmly to the pierced hand of Christ stretched out to save in every trial, looking to Jesus, praying much and believing, drawing continually on promised help with courage and earnest faith, obtaining an experience for oneself rather than binding oneself up with a man or leaning human weight upon a human leader, for to drop that hand and lean on men grieves the heart of Jesus and leaves His people unable to display His glory.

Righteousness Only Through God

Sinful man can find hope and righteousness only in God, through looking to Jesus and receiving Him as the only Saviour, and no one remains righteous any longer than he has faith in God and maintains a vital, living connection with Him. As a flower must stay rooted in the soil and receive air, dew, showers or rain, and sunshine from God in order to flourish, so the soul receives what sustains it directly from God. To trust in man and make flesh an arm is to turn the heart from the Lord and come under a curse, pictured as a barren plant in the desert, while the one who trusts in the Lord flourishes like a tree planted by water. Trusting in one's own ability to earn Christ's righteousness brings disappointment, because that righteousness cannot be merited by human strength. Relying on human beings for the support and guidance that belong to God turns the heart away from the Lord, and using human authority to rule or oppress fellow men dishonors God and endangers both ruler and ruled.

To put no trust in self and to depend on no human power, but to look to the Highest Authority rather than to human beings for counsel, is the safeguard required. Self-sufficiency must be restrained, unsanctified self must no longer bear sway, a dominating spirit must be laid aside, and the Holy Spirit must not be grieved, with united harmonious work alongside those chosen to carry weighty responsibilities, and then blessing will certainly come. When those who rely on themselves are tested by God's word they are shown unfit for His service, whereas God can safely entrust important responsibilities to humble people who do not seek to exalt themselves. Trusting in self and making flesh an arm blocks the advancement of truth by departing from God as the true Counselor to accept false theories, false science, and spiritualistic sophistries clothed in garments of light, as Adam and Eve were deceived, leaving professing believers in continual uncertainty so that the time and influence of God's servants that should carry the glad tidings of salvation to unbelievers is consumed in recovering them from snares and clearing the King's highway becomes no easy matter. Making human strength and wisdom one's support brings loss of God's guidance and prosperity, especially when it leads to altering or abandoning truths God has given to suit personal plans or gain popularity.

Trusting people and relying on human strength brings a curse because it puts a human mind between the soul and God. God gave reasoning minds so that each person may come to Him individually, draw light and strength from Him directly, and understand the living Scriptures for oneself, and He holds guilty those who merely receive the thoughts of others. Truth must take root in the heart and govern thought, speech, and conduct, rather than remain mere verbal agreement, and faith that counts is not gained from man but by going to what Christ came to set before the world and lived out in this world, the character of God. A minister is cursed when he trusts in people, lets flesh be his strength, and lets his heart turn from the Lord; he must bind himself directly to Christ as the Source of all light and power, not follow in the shadow of any living person, not bind his heart to any human being, and not let another do his thinking for him. He breaks this warning when he simply accepts what his father said or what some great and good person in past generations did and sinks his individuality in them, when he preaches other men's ideas without diligent and prayerful thinking of his own, and when he gives his conscience, judgment, and intelligence over to the control of leaders, though help may be gathered from minds God has blessed. No one is to rely on any living person to interpret the Bible, nor wait until ministers, priests, rulers, or brethren see light before believing it, for relying on human judgment departs from the Lord like the papal system that denies the people the right to interpret Scripture, though God has given judgment to common people as well as to priests and rulers. Every person must bring his creed to the Bible, let the Bible define it and show where it falls short, and dig for truth as hidden treasure and work every inch of the field until seeing the reason and a thus saith the Lord in the Scriptures, and when seen for oneself the heart takes hold of it as truth God has spoken, producing individual conversion and a living personal experience of walking and wrestling with God, pressing to the light, putting the bars behind, and shining with the glory of God.

Rejecting Human Rule and Alliances

The curse falls on every device by which minds and talents are brought under human judgment and control, on making iron rules and harnessing and driving men according to human minds, on purchasing God-given talents of influence to be absolutely under finite control, and on letting one mind be ruled by another mind. Such controlling arrangements dishonor God, separate the soul from God, destroy faith in God and in principles that purge guile and selfishness and hypocrisy, expose human agency to temptation, and bring confusion, distrust, jealousies and evil surmisings. They follow Satan's methods to make men slaves of men and follow the track of Romanism by forcing the will of others and overriding sympathy, tender compassion, mercy, justice and the love of God. Conference presidents and men in responsible places are therefore commanded to break every yoke and band, to stop putting bands and fetters on God's people and making one man answerable to another, to become humble in heart and learn the way of the Lord as little children, and to treat one another as brethren and fellow laborers who together seek light and understanding and are jealous for His glory, or the Lord will separate them from His work. God cannot prosper His church while principles of trusting in man remain the rule of action, and when men to whom messages are sent make no response, remain unaffected, or are too proud to admit their wrong course and brace themselves to resist every appeal, they are determined to walk in the way they have chosen and the Lord gives them up to their own perverted imaginations.

It is unsafe for any church to rely on a favored minister or any human leader, because human strength cannot uphold those who depend on it and God alone can uphold them. Exalting and praising a man, putting him before the people in the place of God, calling for him and expecting a great work to be done through him, and thinking the interest will die without him, is trusting people instead of God and leaning on human power. This means depending blindly on a man instead of looking entirely to God and believing that God will work for His church through consecrated God-fearing members, and it brings God's frown and displeases Him, while God lets the exalted man reveal what spirit he is of. Churches are not to idolize any living man and not to keep a man in position because he draws big congregations and stirs excitement that flashes like a meteor and goes out in darkness, but only because he is humble and God-fearing, fears to offend God, and has inward integrity, the graces of the Spirit, and everyday piety, for God can carry on His work without the help of any particular man. Honoring and flattering people, treating their ideas and judgments as God's voice, defending their errors, and placing confidence in human leadership where it belongs in God is dangerous, because even leaders can be ruled by prejudice, suspicion, or envy and lead others astray, so God's people must trust His wisdom rather than echo any person whatever that person's position. Those who rely on leaders' decisions may reject messages God sends when those leaders do not accept them, and those who teach others to depend on human beings and make human judgment their source of guidance and strength turn hearts from the Lord and give glory to people instead of to God. The danger is greatest for men in high places who are entrusted with prosperity and influence, for those standing on a lofty pinnacle and supposed to have much wisdom will have distorted judgment and will fall unless they feel their need of support stronger than human strength and make God their dependence, and for this reason they need the prayers of the whole church, while leaders must never teach others to depend on them, define duty for them, or claim authority over conscience.

State conferences are not to depend on the General Conference, and no church in any place is to look to Battle Creek as the center of God's work, for God alone can fill that place. The president of the General Conference is not to be the god of the people, and the men at Battle Creek are not to be regarded as infinite in wisdom or as having wisdom far superior to ordinary men, and to rely on their human judgment and take their counsel as the voice of God on the supposition that they have divine enlightenment is unsafe, for unless men are wholly consecrated to God, Satan will work through them to impart knowledge that will not be for the present and eternal good of those who hear. The Lord is the only one who can be safely depended on, He is accessible in every place and to every church, no man has power to read the hearts of fellow men, and to place men where God should be placed does not honor or glorify God. Workers in God's institutions must not look to or trust in man but be centered in God, for trusting a central human authority for guidance and support exalts the human in place of the divine and puts man where God should be, and one publishing house is not to control another. State conferences and churches are weak because they spend thousands of dollars needlessly transporting finite, erring, inefficient, helpless and dependent men from place to place to settle little difficulties, when Jesus is ever near to help the needy and distressed, and strength is found not in men who need guidance from God even as we do but in seeking counsel of God in difficulty and depending on the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness to lighten the way in test and trial.

Making flesh an arm is departing in heart from the living God, forsaking the mighty One who is the source of all strength, and going to the world for strength by affiliation and forbidden alliance with worldlings and dependence on worldly power and fallible, erring man for wisdom, honor, and exaltation. It includes entering into partnership with worldlings and unbelievers in order to secure means for advancing God's work even for the building of institutions, coveting the influence of men, setting God aside as not sufficient and resorting to worldly men for recognition and influence to do some great thing, leaning on the arm of the law and trusting worldly legal power, and trusting worldly counselors, people who do not honor God or obey His law, those wise in their own conceit, spiritualist physicians and mediums. That course brings weakness instead of strength, making its followers as weak in moral power as those they trust, leavening them with evil practices, causing loss of first love and zeal for God's service and loss of identity as God's peculiar people, and bringing only disappointment for the advantages sought and the loss of many souls. Israel became weak when the people wanted to be like the other nations and asked for a king, desiring to be guided by human power which they could see rather than by the divine, invisible power that had led and guided them and given them victory in battle, and the result of that choice was seen in the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the nation. The danger is also seen in Solomon, a man thrice called the beloved of God and entrusted with building the temple, who made alliance with idolatrous nations and through marriages bound himself to heathen women, through whose influence he in his later years forsook the temple of God to worship in the groves he had prepared for their idols, so that his alliances secured abundance of gold and silver but his prosperity proved his ruin.

The verse forbids honoring human ideas and judgment as the voice of God, becoming the echo of any man however lofty his position, advocating their cause, and allowing envy, evil surmising, prejudice, and jealousy in the heart, which is sin and breaks the law of God and spreads error as far as influence extends. It forbids taking truth secondhand from human teachers, leaders, and authors, letting another do one's thinking, making other people's experience one's guide, and following blind judgment without prayerfully weighing matters for oneself, for dependence on others leaves souls spiritually weak and unable to discern or resist the devil's dangers. Obeying the verse means listening to the voice of the great Shepherd so as never to be led astray, searching the Scriptures for oneself to be braced for duty and trial by the truth of God's Word, sitting at the feet of Jesus to be taught by His Spirit, asking counsel of God, and letting no friendship, influence, entreaty, smiles, confidence, or rewards cause swerving from the path where the Lord leads. It means letting Christlike integrity and consistency control the actions of life, confessing weakness and unworthiness with Christ as strength and righteousness, developing prayerful personal judgment and experience, consulting together with frank discussion while exercising individual judgment, refusing to plead against the truth, standing against all that is false or unfair, and refusing counsel known not to be from God.

Living by Personal Trust

Instead of depending chiefly on people, difficulties, perplexities, and requests are to be brought directly to God in earnest prayer with unwavering faith in Jesus' name, seeking His counsel, guidance, promises, and Holy Spirit. Depending chiefly on people brings unbelief and lets faith die, while turning to God in trouble keeps faith alive and gives strength, wisdom, and efficiency from promises that stand firm for every trusting soul. Trusting in man in this sense means looking to human beings for help, listening to their opinions, and relying on them for sympathy, succor, and counsel, especially when in trouble, instead of shutting oneself up with God. Such trust is a departing of the heart from the Lord, a forsaking of living waters to hew out broken cisterns that can hold no water, leaving barrenness of soul with no refreshing, like a shrub in the desert that does not see when good comes, in contrast to the tree planted by waters that stays green and fruitful. This trust is learned day by day by praying earnestly to know the word of God for oneself and then doing it, which gives the experience of knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, and trusting human counsel instead can turn people from repentance toward defiance from God's perfect rule of righteousness.

Believers are to make God alone the trust and look to Him for guidance, holding firmly to the pierced hand of Christ stretched out to save, for to drop that hand and lean on men grieves His heart. They are to take hold of the strength God offers and work with Him rather than making human ability their security, looking to Jesus, praying much, and believing to draw continually on promised help with courage and earnest faith that keeps from discouragement. Trust must not be placed in human power as the arm of strength but in God alone as Helper and Strength who goes before and behind and as source of efficiency, especially when testing and proving come. For the sick and afflicted this means committing the keeping of soul and body to the covenant-keeping God as the great Physician, praying to Him, exercising faith for oneself, and allowing no doubt to enter the mind. Placing confidence in people and making human strength the support for sympathy and succor is folly, and God may allow trusted people to fail so that people learn to rely fully, humbly, and unselfishly on Him, with modest expectations of people and refusal of discouragement after doing their best.

Trusting God is shown by dying to self and placing no confidence in people or making human strength the support, for relying on people instead of God turns the heart away and brings a curse. Prosperity is found with God in Christ and depends on humility, meekness, wholehearted obedience, and devotion, learning meekness and lowliness from Christ and seeking duty from Him rather than treating fallible human authority and judgment as final. Safety and an enduring work come only when divine power is combined with human effort, when men no longer lean on men or on their own judgment but make God their trust, refusing to repeat the follies of Israel in the days of Samuel through lack of humility and self-confidence. Those who do so manifest it in every instance by meekness of spirit, by less talking and much more praying, by caution in plans and movements, revealing dependence on God and the mind of Christ, taking His easy yoke instead of every yoke framed by human invention and remaining separate from the world.

God's people in the last days cannot be safe while trusting in men and making flesh their arm or depending on their own judgment, especially as dangers and perils thicken about the remnant with great scenes soon to open. They have been taken out of the world by the mighty cleaver of truth as rough stones to be hewed and squared and polished for the heavenly building. Instead of trusting men they must be hewed by the prophets with reproof, warning, admonition, counsel, and advice until fashioned after the divine Pattern. This is the specified work of the Comforter to transform heart and character so that men keep the way of the Lord, as faithful sentinels on the watchtower fully surrendered to God and kept by divine power.

Scripture illustrates the warning in Jehoshaphat refusing to trust strong armies and fortified cities, in Saul's proving in close places, in Israel's demand for a human king, and in Solomon's ruin through prosperity. To make flesh one's arm is to enter partnership with worldlings and unbelievers to secure means even for building institutions, to form alliance with a heathen nation sealed by marriage with an idolatrous princess in disregard of God's commands to remain separate, hoping feebly the heathen wife might be converted. Such trust departs from the Lord, loses sight of God as source of power and glory, lets inclination gain ascendancy over reason, grows in self-confidence, tries to carry out the Lord's purpose in one's own way by political and commercial alliances, sets aside His commands for surrounding customs, and brings a curse of ruin instead of lasting prosperity, though in mercy God may for a time overrule the mistake and give opportunity to check the evil, as when the idolatrous wife is converted. The Reformers, though weak in numbers, did not make human strength their support but appealed to God's word and to the King of kings while opponents trusted imperial and papal strength, and Luther rested confidence and decision on Scripture rather than placing council or human authorities above God's word. The same warning forbids letting a minister's personal stamp be placed on a church, as with Elder Daniels upon Fresno, for no man's influence lasts and only the mould of Christ is acceptable, calling every conference and church to find strength in God alone under His searching eye that sees every heart and weighs every action.