If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; 6 rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; 7 beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known. 13 But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
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The Fruit of the Christ-Life
CHRIST is the living pattern. He was the pattern put into life for us that that same pattern might be put into life in us. We belittle the work of Christ if we stop short of the idea that the life of Christ on the earth must be lived over again in our life on the earth. It is thus that Christ is identified with his followers, because it is his life which they live.
Only by life connection, vital connection, that connection which permits actual life to flow back and forth, can we be kept alive. There is special stress to be laid upon these thoughts just now, because we are in the time of the closing up of God’s purpose. That is why such a brilliancy of light is shining now. Just before Christ’s coming, every ray of light that has ever shone upon God’s Word will shine again. We have all the light the Reformers had in their great movements. All the light that ever shone is focusing in this time, and now God in Christ is working mightily to restore his image in the souls of men.
Where do we find the revelation of God’s character? He has told us that it is in his law. That is why there is light shining upon the law of God. Perfection comes in only through our obedience to the commandments, and that is possible4only through Christ. He will save us; for we have his promise, “Sin shall not have dominion over you.” What is sin? “All unrighteousness is sin.” What is righteousness? “His name . . . shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness.” “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” Christ is the example of righteousness. Through him the gift of righteousness comes to us, and we shall be saved from unrighteousness. Righteousness is being like Christ. Christ was the image of God. Unrighteousness is unlikeness to Christ. God will save us from that unlikeness. “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled.” “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.”
Christ is still united to his followers. “For we have not an high priest which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations.” What is that mystery? “Christ in you, the hope of glory: whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” Not visit, not call, but dwell, abide in your hearts—dwell there permanently. It is Christ dwelling in you. That is the message of Rev. 3:20. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Now when Christ has made such abundant provision as this that his image shall be restored in us, should we not accept it? He has made all this provision for some results to appear. He measures the extent of our union with God by the results which are manifested. It is not a nominal faith in Jesus Christ that stands the test, but to have the works of faith brought out in us, because it is by those works that we are all tested. We can not work the works, but God has made every provision that his life shall be manifested in us, and he measures us by the fruit of righteousness manifested in our lives. He does not ask us to manifest those results ourselves, but makes all provision that those works shall be manifested in us, and then he judges us by the results. He has a right to do so. By the results he measures the value of our profession. “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” He measures them by the result of their lives, not simply by their profession. “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord.” If profession would do anything, they have done all. “Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.”
In This Generation
By Editor
Editorial
In This Generation
THE gospel of the kingdom, as set forth in the threefold message of Rev. 14:6-12, will be preached in all the world in this generation. A people will be gathered out from every nation and kindred and tongue and people who will be prepared for translation in this generation. When this work is done, the Lord will come in this generation. In view of these facts there was never a more decided demand for earnest consecration to the Master's work than in this generation. Happy are those who recognize the possibilities offered to them, and rise to meet the demand made upon them in this generation. The world, angels, and men are watching for the final outcome of the great controversy between Christ and Satan in this generation. Let us be faithful to our high calling in this generation.
The Great Need
THE Lord's work can be accomplished only by the Lord's power. No human devising can take the place of this one essential thing. “Without me ye can do nothing.” Our only hope of success in our individual experiences, and in our effort to hasten the coming of the day of God, lies in the revealing of divine power through the human instrumentality. This power is abundantly provided through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and the great need to-day is the realization of his presence. When he is present, there will be power in the preaching of the gospel to convict of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. When he is present, there will be a power to heal backsliders, and to restore the former days to those who have lost their first love. For his presence let us earnestly pray. For his presence let us believe. In the power of his presence let us labor to win souls from darkness to light. His presence is the great need of this time.
Take Him
WHEN we fell, we were not half lost; we were wholly lost. In this fall we not only fell down, but as is always the case, we were greatly hurt, broken, bruised, and wounded. We were completely undone, but Jesus Christ is just the Saviour for such a complete loss, because he is a complete Saviour, and he is right where we are, and all any one needs to do is to take him where he is. We do not buy God's favor because we are sorry for our sins. It is his love that made it possible for us to repent and be sorry. It was because he loved first, and wherever we are the first thing is to take Christ right where we are, and then everything comes in the gift of God in Christ. We do not have to make ourselves any better to take Christ. That is the only plan of salvation that is possible for us, poor, weak, miserable creatures, without God, without hope, without anything, totally lost; the only thing is the free gift of Christ, and if every sinner on the face of this earth should repent and turn to Christ, there would be great joy in heaven.
Keeping Power
MANY earnest souls are seeking for the assurance of a keeping power. For this they greatly long. For this they ask with all the intensity of their being. We are glad to testify that there is keeping power for all believers. He is “able to keep from falling.” He is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” He is “able to save to the uttermost.” But the assurance of all this is our faith. “Now faith is assurance of things hoped for.” “This is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith.” Victory to-day is not the assurance of victory to-morrow. The same faith which brings a victory to-day will bring victory to-morrow, but it is wholly of faith. The power which keeps to-day is gone with the day. A new day demands a new measure of power, and this must be received by the same exercise of faith as has brought the experience of keeping power in the past. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” Power is not given in advance of the actual need of power, as the assurance that we have power for the time of need. The power is all of God, and the assurance of power to keep us is the faith which keeps us united to him who is the power of God to all who believe. Constant union and communion with Christ, our living Head, places us in the current of power, and the daily conflict provides the opportunity for the revelation of this power in us that we may be witnesses to his saving grace. Cultivate the faith which brings the Saviour into the inner chambers of the soul, according to the promise which he has made, and you will realize more and more that he is your Keeper. “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” “Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.”
The Washington, D. C., Reform Bureau
By L. A. S.
In a recent issue of the Washington, D. C., Post, nearly a column is devoted to a description of the purposes and prospects of the National Reform Bureau established and conducted at the national capital by Rev. W. F. Crafts, the champion of Sunday legislation. This Reform Bureau, which exists for the purpose of influencing congressional legislation, has recently received financial assistance which has given a great impetus to its work, and greatly added to its efficiency for creating public sentiment. We quote from the Post:—
“The International Reform Bureau, ‘Crafts’ Christianity Lobby,’ as Rev. Wilbur F. Crafts calls it, is to have a great auditorium, an office building, and a reform hotel, three big new buildings for the prosecution of the numerous “causes” which it has espoused in the past three or four years. The sum of twenty-seven thousand dollars is to be expended for land immediately, and one hundred thousand is to go into buildings in the near future. By the time Congress assembles this winter, the Crafts forces will be entrenched within a stone’s throw of the Capitol, with superintendents, managers, secretaries, treasurers, lecturers, drafters of laws, editors, compilers, and many other competent and industrious reformers ready to fight all kinds of battles, with printing presses and congressional franks enough to send out millions of documents, and even with a reform hotel. No such long step in advance has been made by the reformers since the Rev. Wilbur F. Crafts, Ph. D., came to Washington.
In the auditorium it is intended to have “a great new international correspondence school of philanthropy.” “This school,” says the Post, “is one of the chief ends and aims of the Reform Bureau. It will agree for a certain sum to educate a man on any reform subject or on all of them. It hopes to have five thousand pupils studying to become reformers in a very short time, and after a start is once made, it is not unlikely that five thousand can be turned out every year. In the basement of the building will be a great reform printing office, with rapid presses, a reform library and reading-room, a reform book store, and only an immense reform banquet hall, where noted reformers will give lively after-dinner talks on reform subjects.
“The office building of the bureau will occupy the corner of the lot. It will have a front of thirty-five feet on Pennsylvania Avenue and of forty-three feet on Second Street. It will be four stories high. Here Reformer Crafts will be with many of his assistants. They will direct the four great lines of work carried on by the bureau: legislation, letters, lectures, and literature. Here will be drafted the bills which Dr. Crafts believes should become laws; here will be written the letters to hundreds of thousands of people all over the country, containing petitions to be sent to Congress and to Congressmen; here will be composed the lectures that the Rev. Dr. Crafts himself and his chief assistant, Rev. O. R. Miller, will deliver in their auditorium and throughout the country; here will be edited for the printers the Twentieth Century Quarterly, and the masses of other literature sent out hourly throughout the year to every part of the country.”
The Post concludes its description with this interesting information:—
The International Reform Bureau got the funds for its big new projects within the past two months, as the result of its success in getting laws passed by Congress. The bureau printed a leaflet of “Eight Bureau Bills Passed by Congress in Eight Years, with Eight More Half Way to Victory.” This showing of anti-canteen laws, anti-divorce laws, anti-prize-fight laws, anti-liquor laws, and others made a strong impression on a large number of people, and large sums have been received for the broadening of the work of the future.
It is but just to this Reform Bureau to say that most of the enterprises it takes up are very worthy ones, such, for example, as the promotion of temperance, the suppression of the opium traffic, the protection of the youth from immoral influences, etc. We regret that in this good ointment there should be the dead fly of religious intolerance, which has been shown in repeated efforts to secure legislation compelling people to keep Sunday, a religious institution which stands as a rival of the Bible Sabbath, and to observe which involves the violation of the fourth commandment.
Some day the whole force of this Reform Bureau will be directed toward the securing of national Sunday legislation by the Congress of the United States. Already it has expended much energy in this direction. Some day also the whole force of the great religious societies—the Society of Christian Endeavor, the Epworth League, and others—will be turned into the same channel. The Reform Bureau may start the movement, and when it is once strongly under way, other organizations will line up in its support. Among these will be not only religious societies and the churches5in general, but the labor unions, which are plainly coming to favor Sunday rest. These various organizations are working along different lines to-day, and are no doubt doing commendable work, but some day in the not distant future they will join forces in behalf of Sunday legislation, and in their united strength will bring a pressure to bear upon lawmaking bodies which they will not dare resist. Sunday legislation will become the great issue of the day. The nation, led by the Reform Bureau and the churches, will commit itself to the enforcement of an institution of the papacy.
The Reform Bureau is carrying on a great educational campaign to prepare the public mind to accept its theory of a Christian state. Silently it has grown to its present dimensions, and it may rapidly grow to the dimensions outlined in this description by the Post. Is there in this anything that should stir the minds of Seventh-day Adventists? Now is our time to conduct an educational campaign among the people. Of late much time has been lost; but we trust there may be an earnest effort to redeem the time, and that literature giving the warning message due to the world may yet be circulated as never before.
L. A. S.
Why We Should Help Australia
By Arthur G. Daniells
The cause of present truth in Australasia needs just now all the help we can bestow. The providences of God have been signally manifested in the rise and development of the message in this island continent of the southern seas. Special evidences of the presence of God's leading and guiding hand were seen in the opening of the work there by Brethren Haskell and Corliss. The Lord held Sister White, his servant, in that country ten long years. We shall never fully realize in this life the full value to the cause everywhere of her sojourn there.
It is impossible for those who have been eye-witnesses of the experiences connected with Sister White's labors in Australasia to believe that all that took place simply happened. No one but the Infinite could have accomplished what has been done.
The results might have been far greater had we all known how to co-operate fully with the Lord. Our failure to keep step with our Leader caused great delay to the work at times, and greatly added to the burdens of the Lord's overtaxed servant. When the needs of the cause in Australia were shown to Sister White, she repeatedly sent urgent appeals to the brethren and sisters in America, but there was not that liberal response that was required to place the work on the vantage-ground that the Lord had said it should occupy.
I quote the following paragraphs from a decided message which was given Sister White during these struggles. It portrays the true situation; and, since we have never fully responded to its instruction, it is still applicable:—
Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “I have spared your life to do my work; and wherever I send you, go, and I will send my angel with you. In no case should you be feeble in your request for the advantage of means. Wherever I send you, go, and speak my words. I will be thy mind, I will be thy judgment. All the advantages are mine. The means and facilities are mine, and there should be no withholding. Call for the means God designed you to have long ago. Hold up my banner. Give honor to no human instrumentality, but to God, that my name may be a praise in the earth. The Lord, he is God, and before him there is no other. My work in Australasia has been greatly hindered. Money has been used unwisely in America, in the great centers, so that there is distress for means to build up the work in new places. But go not forth in hesitancy. I will be with you. Ask of my people the means that should have gone to advance the work in the Australasian field, the new world to which I have sent you.
“Those who stand in responsible places in the work need wisdom in regard to the best methods of proclaiming the last message of mercy to the world. I have a work to be done in Victoria, in New South Wales, in all the Australasian fields. Call for the means which ought to have been flowing there, where there are so few facilities to build up my kingdom, where it will tell the most in magnifying my name.”
Again the light given me is: “The Lord has sent you to take hold of this work. What you have done in America under the direction of God is to be done in planting the standard of truth, and building up the work in Australia. In America they should know that you need to be supplied with the means required for the work. You have been too slow in calling for the help that is essential.”
We might be years in advance if our brethren in America had stood unflinchingly to their duty, to hear and obey the word of the Lord. Let no more time be lost. You who have so many advantages, do your work unselfishly. It is God's work we are doing, and you will not find the work in your hands restricted, if you follow the will and word of God. Share your advantages with this field, that the work may stand on a true basis, and have the influence and character it should possess. Your minds may not now be prepared to see the importance of surrendering yourselves to do what ought to have been done when we were appointed to come to this field. You may not be able to see all the particulars involved in this request of God to impart. But the special work has been laid out, and you are called upon to do your God-given duty in our onward march in this country by furnishing us with facilities for our work.
Christ's dignity and office work are in imposing such conditions as he pleases. His followers are to become more and more a power in the proclamation of the truth as they draw nearer to the perfection of faith and of love for their brethren. God has provided his divine assistance for all the emergencies to which our human resources are unequal. He gives the Holy Spirit to help in every strait, to strengthen our hope and assurance, to illuminate our minds and purify our hearts. He means that sufficient facilities shall be provided for the working out of his plans in this field. I bid you seek counsel from God. Seek him with the whole heart, and “whatsoever he saith unto you, do.”
This earnest plea has never yet been fully answered. Some response was made at the time, but it was only partial. It has been a long time since a general call has been made for Australasia. Our people there are comparatively few in numbers, but they have an important work to perform. From the first they have needed some facilities for carrying on their publishing, educational, and medical work. Those who have accepted the truth, have worked hard and given freely of their means. They have given to the extent of heavy sacrifice. But having done all they could, there is still need of at least one good lift being made by our brethren in America. As far as we are able to discern the providence of God, now is the time to give this lift.
After the long, heroic struggle of our brethren in Australia with the terrible drought and with other perplexities, a good, substantial offering at this time will gladden their hearts and strengthen their work. Let us, then, all make a special offering to the cause in Australasia, and thus minister to the needs of our dear brethren and sisters across the seas.
A. G. DANIELLS.
Note and Comment
It may not be generally known that the expense of caring for the ever-increasing hosts of the insane in this country is greater than the cost of dealing with crime, yet it appears that such is the fact in the State of Illinois, and therefore presumably so elsewhere, according to the following from the Chicago Tribune:—
The cost to the taxpayers of the disease called insanity is not generally realized. The last general assembly appropriated $5,250,000 to cover the operating expenses of the State charitable institutions during the next two years, and to provide for new buildings and general improvements. Of that amount $3,150,000 was for the benefit of the insane. The appropriations for two years for the two penitentiaries and the Pontiac reform school aggregated $1,416,000. The men who have to pay State taxes find that insanity is more than twice as expensive as crime.
There is no prospect of a change in the situation. No sooner is a new insane asylum opened, than it is filled, and then begins a demand for the establishment of another new one. Many are admitted to the asylums, but few are discharged from them except by death. The alienists say they are much better able to cure insanity if permitted to deal with it in its early stages than they once were, but they complain that the reluctance of the6family to have one of its members sent to an asylum until he is really dangerous prevents their dealing with the disease at a time when it is most amenable to treatment.
At all events, the pressure on the insane asylums knows no abatement. Medical science, which has done so much for the prevention of many kinds of disease, has discovered as yet no prophylactic for insanity, although such a discovery would be a boon indeed. Of all the diseases man is heir to, it is the one which is most dreaded.
The insane must be taken care of, and the State must do it. The duty can not be shirked. It must build one asylum after another as its population increases, and it must provide tenderly for their inmates, but it would be a relief to humanity if medical science could do something to decrease the growing percentage of insanity.
Signs of Christ’s Second Coming
“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” These events were prophesied by the Saviour as constituting signs of his second advent to the earth “with power and great glory.” Luke 21: 25-27. These are the things that are now coming to pass, the accounts of which fill the columns of the daily press.
“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Verse 28. To those who wait for him, these words of the Saviour are now applicable. In the midst of the prevailing fear and perplexity it is their privilege to rejoice.
This privilege should put a marked contrast between them and the people of the world. While they point to these things as manifestations of the judgments of God, the world should have no occasion to apply to them the term “pessimist.” The doctrine of the second coming of Christ is not a pessimistic doctrine. That coming is the hope of the earth. The whole creation, disfigured and cursed with sin, has been languishing and groaning in pain, waiting for the deliverance to be brought by its divine Maker. The very earth sighs for the promised redemption, when there shall be no more curse, when it shall be fair again as the garden of Eden, when the meek shall inhabit it, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. His glorious appearing, awful as it will be to his enemies, will be the herald of a glorious new creation.
The belief that this day is at hand is the most optimistic belief which man can hold. And on the other hand, what doctrine can be more truly pessimistic than that which affirms that Christ is not to come, the curse not to be removed from the earth, and that there is to be an indefinite continuance of the deluge of crime and misery with which it is filled?
We are the true optimists, and we should let our optimism be known to all men. We should let all men see that our heads are lifted high with hope. Thus will men be led to seek and obtain the same hope and happiness for themselves.
Roman Catholic Superstition in New York
That Rome continues to foster superstition in this enlightened land and century was made manifest recently at the dedication of a Syrian Roman Catholic church in New York City. The officiating bishop received from Rome, for the occasion, “a splinter of the true cross,” which was ceremoniously “placed in the main altar.” The church is now counted worthy of peculiar honor. The incident illustrates the worship of externals, which is characteristic of the Roman religion. Christianity is the worship of the invisible God in spirit and in truth.
Flood Devastation at North Topeka
ELDER C. McREYNOLDS, president of the Kansas Conference, adds the following to what has been said in our columns regarding the ruin wrought by the flood at North Topeka:— I was not in Topeka during the flood, and did not see any of it, or any of the effects until to-day. It is useless to attempt a description of the terrors of the scene. To say that North Topeka is ruined is not half of it. It will never be known how many persons were drowned; probably the number is over one hundred. But O, the desolation! To-day hundreds have been looking over the ruins, digging furniture, clothing, etc., out of the mud. Pianos, organs, and all kinds of the finest furniture are piled up in the streets, or lying in heaps with the ruins of houses, and the bodies of horses, cows, pigs, etc., and occasionally a human body. Draw the picture as dark as it can be drawn, and the situation is not described. Our people here in Topeka all escaped with their lives, but they lost almost everything else.
Protest Against Apostle Reed Smoot
At the recent Presbyterian General Assembly in Los Angeles, the Woman’s Board of Home Missions gave expression to its sentiments on the subject of Mormonism, in the following resolutions:—
Whereas, Our permanence as a government of free people rests in the absolute separation of church and state, and,—
Whereas, The Mormon Church at its last annual conference voted to sustain the first presidency and the apostolate as prophets, seers, and revelators, which apostolate claims “the right and authority” to dominate all governments, therefore,—
Resolved, That we, as a body of Christian women in convention assembled, solemnly protest against the retention in the Senate of the United States of the Apostle Reed Smoot of the Mormon Church, who has sworn allegiance to this higher authority, teaching the divinity of polygamy and the ultimate overthrow of all other earthly government.
We trust the Woman’s Board of Home Missions will not overlook the fact that the separation of church and state in this country is menaced by other religious bodies than the Mormons, and that the danger is greatest from that church which can bring the most powerful influence to bear upon lawmaking bodies to force them to accede to its demands.
The Church’s Serious Obstacle
“THE most serious obstacle in the way of church growth,” says an Indianapolis paper, “is the fact that people refuse even to do the church the honor of persecuting it. They simply let it go—are indifferent to it.” In explanation of this the same paper makes these comments, which are forcible because of their truthfulness:—
This is true of very many, nominal Christian people. So many of them seem merely to play with their religion, to patronize the church, to join it and adhere to it for unworthy reasons, and to make it a cloak and cover for their ambitions, that conscientious men on the outside are disgusted and repelled. The church itself is much to blame for this condition of things. It does not demand—it begs. It is content with so much less than it has a right to insist on. The mere matter of raising money for church purposes has some bearing on this question. When you present a good proposition to a business man, he does not hesitate to invest his money in it. But the church, which, if it is anything, is the light of the world, the ark of safety, the teacher of mankind, and their divinely inspired guide into truth, is forced to beg for its very life, and to resort to fairs, lotteries, grab-bags, and entertainments of all sorts in order to wheedle money out of the pockets of men, who, on the Christian theory, owe all that they have to the church.
Is not the idea that the church can not successfully compete with golf and other Sunday sports a humiliating thing to think about?—Surely it is. The church must live up to its claims. It must not all the while be seeking the aid and protection of the law . . . If the church was ever needed in the history of the world, it is needed to-day. But it must find some way to demonstrate to an exceedingly practical and much-absorbed generation that it fills a great need. To do this it must be earnest, must believe its own gospel, and enforce its discipline on rich and poor alike.
