God has our eternal interests in view, and is anxious to co-operate with man in his efforts to develop character that will be without spot at his coming. To attain this it is not only necessary to pray, but we must co-operate with God; he can do nothing for us without our co-operation. Our power for working out our salvation is of God, but all the responsibility rests with us. Whether or not our prayer for the development of Christian character is answered, depends upon ourselves. Those who are waiting for a magical change to take place in their character some time in the future, without a determined effort on their part, will be disappointed.
Many mothers are praying for the conversion of their children and husbands, yet they place upon their tables a feverish or indigestible diet, which tends to strengthen the animal passions, keeping up a constant irritation of the nervous system, making them impatient and irritable, and thus lessening their power to receive truth. These prayers are not answered because these mothers are not working together with God for the salvation of their loved ones. They are despising the very means that God would use to answer their prayers. The desires of the flesh, our appetites and passions, must be kept under control, and brought into subjection. We can not do the things we would naturally like to do, nor even eat the things we would like at times. We must be governed by an enlightened conscience and reason, and not by taste, and abstain from all fleshly desires, which war against the soul. It is through the appetite that Satan gains control of the mind and the whole being. To surrender to the control of the appetite, is to surrender to the control of Satan, and corruptions of every kind are sure to follow.
Solomon ate and drank at improper periods, and simply to gratify appetite, and it was this which led to his fall. It was the gratification of appetite which caused him to depart from the Lord, and enter into unholy marriage relations with idolatrous women,—a step that brought disgrace and unhappiness upon himself and the land which he ruled. Later in life, when he realized the cause of his fall, he said, 'Blessed art thou, O land, when . . . thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness.'
We learn from this that we should eat at proper times, not when we may feel like eating, but have proper periods for eating, and not let a morsel pass the lips at any other time. The purpose of eating is here stated also,—'for strength.' Often people sit down at the table and ask such questions as these: 'I wonder if a little of this [something they like very much] will hurt me;' 'I wonder if I can eat just a little more, or make a certain combination, without receiving injury therefrom.' When a man goes into business, he does not say, 'I wonder if I will lose by engaging in this enterprise,' but, 'Will I gain by the transaction?' If he can not see some gain ahead, or some prospect of gain, he will have nothing to do with it. This is the way we should reason in regard to the food that we eat. We should not ask whether the quantity, quality, and combination will do harm, but, 'Will it do me good?' 'Will it give me health and strength, wherewith to glorify God?'7
Peter presents to us the ladder of true sanctification. The base rests upon the earth; the topmost round reaches to the throne of God. 'And beside this,' he says, 'add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.' If we do these things, we shall never fail.
Many are content to remain upon the first round of the ladder, and think this is all that is necessary. 'Only believe,' say they; but the apostle says: 'Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance.' Faith, the first step, gives us access to divine grace, through which we are enabled to take the steps which follow. Others attempt by one effort to reach the topmost round. They are not content with God's appointed method, but seek to climb up some other way. As a result, they fall. They fall simply because they do not climb the ladder round by round. The apostle assures us there is no need of falling. We may have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord. He has clearly pointed out the way, and none need err.
It is impossible for us to overcome impatience in the way in which we have been trying to overcome; but if we return to the Lord's way, we shall not find it so difficult. The Lord says we must add to temperance patience. We can not expect to be patient without first being temperate. It is impossible for an intemperate man to be patient; we find8we have been attempting an impossibility. It is not at all surprising that we have failed.
Through intemperate habits, the organs of the body, including the brain, become enfeebled; poisons which are taken in the food, or which are formed in the body because of bad combinations, or eating to excess, even of wholesome food, produce a feverish condition of the blood, and irritate the brain. The result is that when little trials come, that ordinarily would not be noticed, we become irritated, and speak bitter words to those we love, thus bringing unhappiness into our homes. We make many resolves to be more patient, but never think of removing the cause of our impatience. We fail because we have neglected one round of the ladder. When we practise temperance, we shall not find the next step so difficult, and God has given us health reform as an aid in reaching the round of patience. We can not reach it, and at the same time despise the means God has ordained whereby we may reach this state. Knowledge must precede temperance.
The great majority of Christians are continually violating the laws of health in regard to eating and drinking, and know not the injurious effects of this upon their physical and moral being. They do not know that these things so benumb the brain that solemn truths lose their sacredness, and true character-building is made impossible. Satan, however, is aware of this; he knows the effects of eating and drinking upon men; therefore his studied work is to keep men in ignorance in regard to these things; but it is the work of the reformer to enlighten men, to make natural law plain. This brings him in direct contact with Satan and his work, so we are not surprised that Satan should try in every way to silence his voice.
We are living in the time spoken of by the prophet, when knowledge would be increased; therefore we must gain a practical knowledge of the principles underlying all our actions.
Takoma Park, D. C.
The Value of Encouraging Words
THERE are occasions when speech is golden, rather than silence, and when an encouraging word would be of more value than the richest material gift. Some persons are far too much afraid of the effect of a little generous and well-timed praise. They would keep all their flowers in an ice-house. Letting a little sunshine upon them at times would not be amiss.—Dr. A. Thomson.
The Sensitive Child
By Alice M. Ashton
“THEY are both very attractive children,” I observed to their aunt as they left the room.
“Most people prefer Pauline,” she said, suggestively. “Annis is less open-natured, more deceitful, though I can not make their mother think so.”
The little girl certainly appeared shy and retiring, but there was not a trace of slyness or deceit in her sweet, honest little face. I wondered where the trouble lay.
Next morning, while at some rough, outdoor play, each child tore her dress. “Now, what will your mother say?” exclaimed the aunt.
“I don’t care what she says,” answered Pauline, with an independent toss of her head. But Annis, her face crimson, stole quietly to her mother’s room, and began sewing up the ugly rent.
“Didn’t I tell you so?” said the aunt.
But the truth of the matter was that Annis was very sensitive to unpleasant conditions. She gave up her honest rights rather than fight for them; and when Pauline and the little brother emphatically settled their frequent disputes, she would hasten to another room, where she could not hear.
“I don’t like fussing,” she confided to me one day. “I don’t see what makes them so ugly. It does not do a bit of good; for they have to mind mother in the end. Why can not people be pleasant?”
The sensitive child is not difficult to manage, but certainly needs careful handling. There is usually a strong imagination, an active conscience, and a deep-seated affection in his nature, and it requires stimulating rather than repulsing. There is often something very fine, and susceptible of great possibilities, in the sensitive child, yet these children are more often ruined by rough handling than any others.
“I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil,” should be the watchword of the mother of sensitive children. Do not repress them by sharpness or lack of sympathy into reticence or deceitfulness. It is difficult for some mothers to realize how hard they make it for their children to be quite truthful and frank. This nature is not less truthful, but it is more easily induced to deceit by its dread of any unpleasantness. When the sensitive child must be reproved, speak gently and kindly, remembering that its capacity for suffering is very intense. If stimulated and strengthened in youth, the sensitive child often grows into the noblest manhood and womanhood.—Alice M. Ashton, in the Housewife.
True Education
By Edward W. Bok
“Education” is a word that is much misunderstood by most people. They think of it as a matter of books, of study, of schools. They have an idea that it comes from a knowledge of the accumulation of facts about the world and its doings which has been made common property by the printing-press. And yet it is possible to conceive of a well-educated person who has never opened a book or attended school. “Education, in the true sense,” says James Freeman Clarke, “is not mere instruction in Latin, English, French, or history. It is the unfolding of the whole human nature. It is growing up in all things to our highest possibility.” Home life educates; intercourse with friends and neighbors educates; travel educates; life from first to last, with its ups and downs, its joys and griefs, educates. For “education,” derived from two ancient words signifying “out” or “forth,” and “lead” or “draw,” means simply a “leading forth” or “drawing out,” nothing more and nothing less. It does not mean an unfolding of the powers of the mind alone (there is absolutely no basis for that common misunderstanding), but a drawing out and an unfolding of all those powers of head, heart, and body that will best help to develop the understanding, train the temper, cultivate the taste, and form good habits and good manners.
Education in this proper sense means learning to do things rather than reading about doing them. This meaning ought to be universally understood; for, as former President Roosevelt has lately said: “There is too much belief that education is purely a matter of books. I have met people with an excellent literary training whom I regarded as wholly uneducated in all the essentials of life; and on the other hand, I have met people thoroughly versed in these essentials who were shaky in their spelling.” In short, real education is always practical. It is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. It is not merely the acquiring of knowledge, but the application of knowledge to the best advantage in every-day life.—Edward W. Bok.
Inventions and Vocabulary
WERE George Washington to be suddenly restored to life, and dropped down in any busy American community, he might have some difficulty in carrying on an ordinary conversation; and it would certainly require hours of study to bring himself to an understanding of what are now the merest commonplaces.
Until the matter could be explained to him, he would not know what was meant by the word telephone; and automobile would be as Sanskrit to the father of his country. Drawing on only those everyday conveniences that no longer attract passing attention, he would have to be shown before he could understand phonograph, street-car, aeroplane, air-ship, ocean liner, Pullman car, motor, incandescent light, gasoline, sky-scraper, asphalt paving, cotton-gin, sewing-machine, trunk line, searchlight, armored cruiser, fountain pen, repeating arms, radium, X-ray, appendicitis, postage stamp, telegraph, suffragette, express, San Francisco, Klondike, breakfast-food, and thousands of other terms that have been developed with modern inventions. And George Washington did not live so very long ago at that!—Columbus Dispatch.
Play, Work, Rest
WE need, all of us, play-time and rest-time quite as really as work-time. Our American habit is to exalt work as if it were the only god, to frown upon play as if it were merely for the juveniles, and to ignore the need of rest. So it happens that sometimes our loving Father, seeing that we require rest and refuse to take it, sends us an opportunity which we label “illness” or “infirmity.” Let us accept the privilege of rest as cheerfully as the obligation to labor, and the recess, when we go out to play. There are times when rest is more than mere physical recuperation; it is intellectual and spiritual strength and invigoration.—Selected.
Southern Siberian Meeting
By Mrs. J. T. Boettcher
MRS. J. T. BOETTCHER
The second Siberian meeting was held July 1-4, at the settlement called Petropanloosk, which is located in the Attai Mountains about thirty miles from the Tartar town of Kokpoktinsk, almost on the border of China.
The city of Omsk, a thousand miles or more away, is the nearest railroad station; but the river Irtysh, eighteen hundred miles long, is, in summer, navigable almost its entire length. We took the boat at Omsk, and were surprised to find ourselves on board a ship built according to the American style, about as large as the steamers which ply our Northern lakes, and furnished with all modern improvements, such as electric lights, electric fans, and bath-rooms.
As the river in most places is not very wide, it seemed like taking a sea voyage overland, with no danger of getting seasick. The contrast between the modern ship and the country itself was very striking. On one side of the river are the Cossack-lands, with now and then a primitive town or village, devoid of anything that looks like comfort; and on the other side live the Kirghizen in their dilapidated mud huts.
But even to this far-off country, Russian and German emigrants are finding their way, and bearing severe hardships in trying to establish new homes for themselves and their children. The third-class passengers of our ship were largely composed of these “home-seekers.” These brave men and women are also bringing with them a part of Western civilization. At almost every port, our ship unloaded American farming machinery of all sorts,—hay-rakes, self-binders, mowers, etc.
At the ports, while the boat was stopping, we often got out and mingled with the people, and sometimes Brother Loebsack talked with the Russians, and left them one of our Russian papers. As we left, we could see the people gathered in a group back on the shore, while one of them read aloud from the paper.
It took us five days to go from Omsk to Semipalatinsk. As our steamer did not go any farther than this place, we were obliged to transfer to a smaller boat. The heat was intense, the thermometer in our cabin often registering as high as 100° F.
Early in the morning, while we were still lying at anchor, we heard some one going through the corridor, and saying, “Are there any Germans aboard this ship?” We thought at once it must be one of our brethren searching for us, so we called out, “Yes, here we are!” There were three of them, and they had come fifty miles to see us, knowing that our boat would stay some time in the harbor.
We had expected that one of them, Brother Title, would go on with us to the meeting; but he told us that the drought was so great, and the times so hard, and he was needed so much at home, that he had decided he could not possibly go. My husband began to tell about the progress of the cause, and of how the Lord had blessed the people at the previous meeting, explaining to him that his soul was as much in need of heavenly showers as was his land in need of rain. Tears came into his eyes, and in a few moments he said, “Forgive me; I will go with you to this meeting.” He did go, and as an ordained local elder will help carry forward the work in this part of Asia. Brother Title is a man of ability, speaking both German and Russian well. He has been in the truth about eighteen years.
GROUP OF OUR FIRST SABBATH-KEEPERS IN PERSIA. THEY LIVE JUST OVER THE RUSSIAN BORDER
After spending a week on the river Irtysh, we left the boat at Ust-Kamenogorsk, and took the Kirghizen stage to Kokpoktinsk, one hundred fifty miles through the Attai Mountains.
These stages are very curious affairs; they are small, carry only two passengers, and have no springs nor seats. They have four wheels, with poles stretched across the axles. Fastened upon these poles is a big willow basket, in which the travelers sit. Sometimes the basket is made of wood, and has a low top. They are not very comfortable vehicles. It was an exciting ride, as these Kirghizen horses go very swiftly. Up-hill or down-hill, it seemed all the same to them; nor did they stop for ditches, stones, or small rivers. We tried to explain to the driver that we did not care to ride so fast, but he did not seem to understand.
At the stage stations, which were about twenty-five miles apart, we changed horses, wagons, and drivers with very little delay; nor did we slacken our speed when night came on. After losing our way several times, and tipping over besides, we stopped at a station for three hours, until daylight dawned.
We were twenty-four hours going from Ust-Kamenogorsk to Kokpoktinsk, one hundred fifty miles. Just as we were driving into the Tartar town of Kokpoktinsk, we saw some Europeans with their modern wagons and horses camped upon the steppe. My husband said, “That must be the brethren come to get us!” So we halted, and called to them. He was right; and they were rejoiced to see us, as they had been waiting two days. It was a pleasant change from that stage into a comfortable two-seated phaeton to ride the remaining thirty miles.
Our way lay across the steppes, with no villages, nor settlements, only now and then a Kirghizen tent and herds of cattle. The bare, lonely mountains rose high on both sides; everything was very still, far away from the noise of cities, trains, boats, and automobiles, or any of the confusing bustle of civilization.
When we arrived at the settlement in the evening, there was great rejoicing to see the friends who had come so far. Petropanloosk is composed of Germans and Russians who have emigrated here from Russia, having obtained a large tract of land from the government. But the land is stony, the soil poor, and for two years they have been suffering for lack of rain. For many, many miles there is not a single tree, and at best the land must be irrigated. Cattle thrive in these mountains and valleys. The Kirghizen shepherds are used to a very limited diet, but the settlers are suffering for the common necessities of life, to which they have been accustomed in their former homes. The children especially are suffering, and diphtheria has claimed many victims. One child died from this disease the day we came. Some had smallpox, and a great many, both old and young, had very sore eyes.
More than half of the settlement are Seventh-day Adventists. They told us, with tears, that they had sometimes feared they would never again be visited by a minister of the gospel in that far-away land, so difficult of access. Having no organized church and no ordained elder, they had not been able to celebrate the ordinances.
As they had no regular place of worship, they had erected a tent for this9special occasion. On account of the prevailing contagious diseases, we were very thankful to have the meetings in the open air. They were so hungry to hear the word of God that they wanted meetings day and night.
About thirty children attended the children’s meeting. They have no school, but many of them can read, and it was a pleasure to hear them sing so many beautiful hymns, and relate the Bible stories. Old and young seemed anxious to learn, and we tried to help them physically as well as spiritually, instructing them in the simple treatment of common diseases.
We thought best not to sleep in any of the houses, but curtained off a spot between two houses for our room. We carpeted the ground with fresh-cut hay, and at night we pushed the hay together in a pile, upon which we spread our blankets, and had a good bed, breathing the clear, invigorating mountain air all night. When the wolves came too near, the dogs set up such a howling that we could not sleep; otherwise it was ideal.
The Spirit of God came into the meeting, souls were converted, and those who had become weary and discouraged were refreshed. At the close of the meeting, eight Russians from the settlement were baptized. A church of forty-one members was organized, church officers were elected, and an elder and a deacon were ordained. Now we trust they will be able to carry forward the work about them, even among their Mohammedan neighbors. They also decided to establish a church-school.
If the drought continues, they may move farther toward China. Theirs is a life full of hardship, such as few of us are called upon to endure. How little one half of the world knows how the other half lives! Yet God is using such people to pioneer the truth into distant lands. It was touching to see how loyally they endeavored to do their part toward raising the $300,000 Fund.
It was a sad parting as we rode away that morning in July. The people decided to take us themselves in their comfortable wagon as far as Semipalatinsk. They knew a more direct way through the mountains, so that the distance would be only about two hundred twenty-five miles. Thirteen brethren, with their horses and wagons, accompanied us. There was no road this way through the mountains; most of the time we were riding through the valleys, the great summer pasturing ground of the Tartars and Kirghizen. Immense herds of cattle and camels were grazing there. The shepherds’ tents were scattered about all through the valleys, and both people and cattle were astonished and startled at our sudden appearance, disturbing the almost unbroken silence of their home. But the inmates of the tents were always friendly and hospitable, inviting us into their tents, and letting us look about as much as we pleased.
When night overtook us, wherever we were, we made our bed on the ground and slept unmolested, with never a cold or a bit of rheumatism. After leaving the mountains, it was often quite difficult to find water for ourselves and the horses, and if we did come to a well, the water was often salty as well as extremely dirty. There was never a tree under which we could seek shelter from the burning sun during our noon-day lunch, and our wagon had no top. But we arrived safe and well in Semipalatinsk, and found our ship, the “Attai,” waiting in the harbor.
Looking back upon our journey, which was not always easy, our hearts are filled with gratitude to God for his protecting care, and we consider being able to visit these lonely brethren and sisters one of the great privileges of our lives.
Riga, Russia.
Our Work in the Chasu Language
By B. OHME
B. OHME
This year has been an eventful one for our work and people in the Pare district. Three books have been presented to them in their own language. The few who trouble themselves about this people often think that it is hardly possible for them to have a correct language. Such would be astonished if they would examine the Chasu, and see how beautiful, well-sounding, and artistic it is. They have a good selection of words, exact rules, plenty of proverbs, witty sayings, and metaphors. A thorough study of the language of the Pare people has shown us that we can express all our thoughts in it. Even the things which were quite strange to the native until civilization brought them to his view, find names in his language, so that it is not at all necessary to use foreign words for them.
The people have kept their language free from any impurity, and have guarded against the mixture of other tongues, which would spoil the beauty of it. We have therefore been careful, as we endeavor to convert the people to Christianity, not to introduce foreign words. It is possible for us to express all Bible and Christian thoughts and ideas in their own tongue.
In spite of its richness and purity, it had never become a written language. With the Lord's assistance we have been able to reduce it to writing; that is to say, with the help of the Latin letters, and the pronunciation of the natives, we have been able to write what is spoken, and have taught the black man to understand the signs on the paper, so that he himself can read and write his own language.
Thus we could give the people three books, knowing that the same would be of great assistance to us in our work of elevating them from sin, and helping them to learn those things which ennoble mankind.
We are glad to have a primer which we can use for the children as well as for the adults. This book has been prepared by Brother A. C. Enns. It is a neatly bound volume of eighty-eight pages, introducing the script, first, with pictures, which represent what is written; farther on are the printed letters, with names and easy sentences; then short stories to be read; proverbs, names of the days of the week, names of the months, etc.; and also the first multiplication tables. It is a book that has long been necessary for our teaching, and was received with much joy by the natives.
The composition of it was not so simple as might be expected, since so many of the consonants sound alike, and we had to use the intelligent young people as language teachers, so that we could have an exact representation of the spoken language in writing.
“Kitabu yedi yakwe Mateo,” the Gospel of Matthew, which has been translated by Brother E. Kotz into the language of the Vaasu (Vapare), is a book that will be of the greatest use to us in teaching, as well as a good text-book for the native teachers. It will also be a great help in the daily worship of our native Christians. The people have gladly welcomed this little book. It will be spiritual food for them.
We hope soon to have a fourth book in this language; namely, the whole of the New Testament, which Brother E. Kotz is translating. May the Lord shower his richest blessing on these books and the teachers, that all the Vapare may hear that the Saviour died to redeem the heathen. And may they have the privilege of being heirs with him, according to his promise.
Post Schirati, Victoria Nyanza, German East Africa.
The Empty Temples of the Orient
“In magnificent Buddhist and Confucian temples the grass is growing up, the idols are tumbling to decay. Missionaries are frequently offered these cast-off temples for schools and preaching-places; the old religion has gone. What will the evil spirit find, after being cast out, and wandering in desert places? If he finds the place empty, nothing is more certain than his early return with seven other devils worse than himself. These others are already entering into all the Orient. What a demand for obedience to the great commission!”
Crying Need of Gospel Heralds
THE most fully occupied province in China has one missionary to every 40,000 people, while five other provinces have only one missionary to every 100,000, and no fewer than four provinces have one missionary to every 250,000. That would mean twelve missionaries for the whole city of New York, twelve more for the rest of the State of New York, and between three and four hundred for the United States. Out of 1,971 walled cities in China, only 527 are occupied, or twenty-seven per cent, leaving 1,450 great cities without a single missionary. The aboriginal tribes of China, numbering 6,000,000 people, have no missionary.—Missionary Review.
Editorial
By Editor
We reproduce here the notes that filled and turned the first column of our first paper, the Present Truth, brought out by James White, at Middletown, Conn., July, 1849:—
“Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth,” 2 Peter 1:12.
It is through the truth that souls are sanctified, and made ready to enter the everlasting kingdom. Obedience to the truth will kill us to this world, that we may be made alive, by faith in Jesus. “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.” John 17:17. This was the prayer of Jesus. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” 3 John 4.
Error darkens and fetters the mind, but the truth brings with it freedom, and gives light and life. True charity, or love, “rejoiceth in the truth.” 1 Cor. 13:6. “Thy law is the truth.” Ps. 119:142.
David, describing the day of slaughter, when the pestilence shall walk in darkness, and destruction waste at noonday, so that “a thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand,” says:—
“He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” Ps. 91:4.
The storm is coming. War, famine, and pestilence are already in the field of slaughter. Now is the time, the only time, to seek a shelter in the truth of the living God.
In Peter’s time there was present truth, or truth applicable to that present time. The church has ever had a present truth. The present truth now is that which shows present duty, and the right position for us who are about to witness the time of trouble, such as never was. Present truth must be oft repeated, even to those who are established in it. This was needful in the apostle’s day, and it certainly is no less important for us, who are living just before the close of time.
For months I have felt burdened with the duty of writing and publishing the present truth for the scattered flock; but the way has not been opened for me to commence the work until now. I tremble at the word of the Lord, and the importance of this time. What is done to spread the truth must be done quickly. The four angels are holding the angry nations in check but a few days, until the saints are sealed; then the nations will rush, like the rushing of many waters. Then it will be too late to spread before precious souls the present saving, living truths of the Holy Bible. My spirit is drawn out after the scattered remnant. May God help them to receive the truth, and be established in it. May they haste to take shelter beneath the “covering of Almighty God,” is my prayer.
These pioneers saw and understood the necessity of quickly carrying the message of truth to the world. The vast scope of the field itself was but dimly seen; and from year to year it has opened before this people, always with its call to stretch every nerve to press the battle ever onward. The same message that began the work, and that has built up the cause of present truth in many lands, will finish the work. The divine sign-post points us straight on, without delay, toward the unwarned fields. Those notes of July, 1849, were written a long time ago. We have delayed doing the work committed to us. It is the Lord’s plain command to go into all the world with the message; “and then shall the end come.”
An Apt Retort
By W. A. S.
ONE of our Hungarian brethren was traveling by stage-coach in Transylvania, farther Hungary. He was a colporteur, if I remember correctly the story told by Elder J. F. Huenergardt, president of the Hungarian Conference. With our brother, as fellow passenger, was an intelligent gentleman who was inclined to be scornful of the brief history of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.
The following conversation took place:—
Stranger: “The Adventist religion can not be very old; for I hear that the first Adventist preacher is still living.”
Our brother: “Yes; the first Adventist preacher is still living. Yet the Adventist faith is thousands of years old.”
Stranger: “How can that be?”
Our brother: “The Bible says that Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, preached the coming of Christ in glory and power. And Enoch is still living, and will never die. He was translated to heaven without seeing death.”
The retort came with such aptness and in such a spirit that the gentleman was greatly impressed with the thought. He dropped all his tone of banter and of indifference; and the further conversation left him with a spirit apparently of genuine inquiry to know more of this ancient faith of the coming of the Lord in power and glory.
It is a gift to be coveted and sought for, this gift of speaking just the word in season. We see it in Christ’s method; and the secret of it there was in the word of God hidden in his heart. The more familiar we are with the Scriptures, the more readily may we take advantage of the flying opportunity.
It means much to “be ready always”—at the instant—“to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” W. A. S.
The Value of the Week of Prayer
By F. M. W.
Of what value has been the recent week of prayer to Seventh-day Adventists? The answer to this question must be determined, not by the good resolutions which have been made or the new purposes which have been formed, but by the manner in which these resolutions and purposes shall find expression in the life in coming days. It is a good thing, when the heart is tender, to form resolutions for right-doing. It is a good thing, under the influence of the Spirit of God, to pledge the service of the life to his cause. But even better than the resolving is the carrying out of the resolution.
Says the wise man: “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools; pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?”
The pledges and purposes and resolutions of the heart are noted by the angel of God. He makes an account of them in the great record book of heaven. Let us be true to the entry which is made. Let us not say by our lives before the angel of God, that it was an error.
The coming year, bright with promise, lies before us. God is waiting to be gracious to every soul. He extends his hands with loving tenderness, inviting the backslider to return, the sinner to give his heart to him. Let us place ourselves in his hands, for him to choose for us our future. In doing this we are safe, whatever may betide. Let there come cloud or sunshine, let there enter into our experience the sweet or the bitter, pleasure or disappointment, we have committed the keeping of our souls unto the great God, and he will see to it that every experience is turned to our advantage in the end.
With what assurance, then, may we step into the portals of the new year! With what confidence may we seek to weave into practical life experience the impressions which the week of prayer11has brought us, and the good resolutions and purposes which we have formed! But in order for this experience to be ours, we must make every week a week of prayer, every day a day of consecration, every hour an hour of constant abiding in him.
We shall need constantly to keep our experience up-to-date, to keep our sins forgiven every day. Every night we should have the consciousness that God accepts us, that we are his children. Every morning we should arise from the failures of the day before; and with forgiving grace, with lessons learned from the past, and with new consecration to God, go on to new victory. This daily living, this constant spirit of consecration, will make the coming year one of blessed experience, and will make the influence of the week of prayer far-reaching and effective in the accomplishment of what God designs.
