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Review and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 25.

THE DELIVERER

Review and Herald

May 20, 1915

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · May 20, 1915

THE DELIVERER

By Worthie Harris Holden

WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN
I’m weary of the waiting here For what mine eye shall see When the King in glory shall appear To reign eternally.
He comes to claim me as His own, And take me home on high To join redeemed ones round the throne In anthems of the sky.
I’m longing that you, too, may bear His cross and comfort now, That you may there with rapture wear A crown upon your brow.
He soon will come! I hear the sound That heralds He is near. Haste to proclaim the tidings round So every soul may hear!
Portland, Oregon.

For the Finishing of the Work

By E. R. PALMER.

A Plan and a Place for Every Seventh-Day Adventist

“To Every Man His Work”

THESE words of our Saviour should not be used longer by us as a stock phrase with which to admonish one another. The eleventh hour has fully come—the last hour for work in the world’s harvest field. Already many favorable opportunities are in the past, and now, in the words of the beautiful poem,— “The work that centuries might have done Must crowd the hour of setting sun.”

Every Church Member a Soldier of the Cross

In this world the “Captain of the Lord’s host” has won his victories through all his people, and not by a few leaders only.
When the children of Israel won their great victory over the Midianites, Deborah and Barak sang a song of rejoicing, beginning with these words: “For that the leaders took the lead in Israel, for that the people offered themselves willingly, bless ye Jehovah!” Judges 5:2.
When Israel journeyed from Egypt to the land of Canaan, in that wonderful type of spiritual Israel journeying to the heavenly Canaan, every family and every individual was given a place in the ranks. All were instructed to keep their eyes fastened on the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, so that all might move forward in perfect order.
“At the commandment of the Lord they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed: they kept the charge of the Lord, at the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.” Read Num. 9:15-23.

A Request From Ministerial Institutes

At two of the large ministerial institutes held about two years ago, action was taken requesting the General Conference and the Review and Herald Office to co-operate in bringing out a series of illustrated, four-page documents for free distribution. It was suggested that each document be devoted to one of the principal points of our faith, and that it contain matter suitable to place in the hands of the people at the close of a sermon, or to distribute among private families from house to house.

General Conference Action

In response the General Conference appointed a committee to give study to this request, and present recommendations covering the details of this plan. One of the three principal recommendations worked out by this committee was a request that the Review and Herald develop and publish what is known as—

The Present Truth Series

The Review and Herald immediately undertook the task. Considerable time was consumed in preliminary study and experiments. The first number of the series, entitled “The Bible the Word of God,” was prepared under a general title,—“The Present Truth,”—thus bringing to light in this country again the name of the first missionary periodical published by the denomination.

An Unexpected Development

While this plan was slowly developing in the usual way, the great war in Europe was declared. There was no time then to secure a list and prepare for publishing a periodical like the Present Truth Series; therefore, to meet the immediate need, the War and Eastern Question Extras were published in the form of the Present Truth Series, but as numbered Extras to the REVIEW.
The great circulation of these Extras has given a foundation for the successful use of the Present Truth Series. Encouraged by the success of this work, the Review and Herald Office proceeded to publish the Present Truth Series of Extras, a complete list of which is given in the center of this page.

A Threefold Plan

There are three principal ways in which it is suggested that these Extras be used.

Plan No. 1

The first and most important plan provides opportunity for every Seventh-day Adventist to take an important part in the proclamation of the third angel’s message. This plan, as worked out by the General Conference, embraces the whole world. It is recommended that every Seventh-day Adventist be assigned a certain territory to work with these Extras from house to house. Each member should have a territory assigned which he can properly cover once each month. Some can afford to take a thousand copies, and will have time during the month to distribute that many. Others can handle only a hundred, and still others will take only fifty, or twenty-five, or ten.
Isolated members can arrange their own territory. In churches the officers of the missionary society should subdivide and assign the territory, so that there may be no confusion.
The twenty-five Extras cover all the leading points of our faith. If distributed in order, one each month, beginning with No. 1, a large territory can be covered each month, and hundreds of thousands of people can thus become acquainted with the truth. The monthly visits, the friendly conversations concerning the truth, the Bible readings and cottage meetings which will naturally follow, will develop interests which later on will demand the attention of ministers of the conference to follow up.

The Results

It is hardly possible to calculate the results of such a forward movement as this. It is designed that this movement shall extend to all countries in the world, and that the leaflets shall be published in many languages for this purpose.
If every Seventh-day Adventist would take at least ten copies, at a cost of 5 cents a month, the leaflets could then be placed systematically in the hands of over a million families. If each could take a hundred copies, at a cost of 50 cents a month, the truth could be placed systematically in ten million families in this country.

Plan No. 2

Ministers and evangelists have realized for years the need of something like these leaflets, to place in the hands of the people when they leave the hall or tent after listening to a sermon. Many persons, unfamiliar with the subject presented, are interested and stirred at the moment, but are unable to retain the truths taught. If they could take the subject matter of the sermon home with them in this attractive form, impressions could thus be made lasting. There is no doubt that this series will be used extensively in connection with tent and hall meetings.

Plan No. 3

It is often difficult to secure a large attendance at a hall or tent. Under such circumstances these leaflets will be found of inestimable value. The workers connected with evangelical meetings, when sent out through the town with announcements of the meetings, can take along the leaflet which covers the subject presented in the tent the previous evening. The worker, when inviting the people to come to hear the truth, can present one of these leaflets, with the remark that it covers the subject presented the previous evening. Thus a whole town or city where the people naturally shun a gospel tent, can be kept reading the truth; and surely the truth itself and the repeated invitations from the workers will increase the attendance at the tent, and open the way for numerous calls and family Bible readings.

Not Out of Date

None of these Extras will become old or out of date. They present subjects that are always new. They are published at the cheapest possible price, with little, if any, profit to any one. This is wholly a forward missionary gospel movement, in which it is designed that all our people shall have a part.
If you are an isolated member, do not delay because of being alone. Arrange your territory, and order your supply from your conference tract society. You can order month by month the number needed, or you can order a certain number of the entire series.
E. R. PALMER.

CHEAP LITERATURE

For the Finishing of the Work

Special Review Extras

  • The War Extra, or The Coming Conflict.
  • “What Do These Things Mean?”
  • The Eastern Question Extra, or God’s Message for Today. Approaching Armageddon.

The Present Truth Series

Extra No.
1 * The Bible the Word of God. 2 * The Origin of Sin and the Plan of Salvation. 3 * A Great Prophetic Dream; or The Kingdoms of This World and the Kingdom of God. 4 * The Second Coming of Christ. 5 * The Signs of Christ’s Coming. 6 The Millennium. 7 The Home of the Saved. 8 The Four Great Beasts of Daniel 7 and the Work of Antichrist. 9 A Great Prophetic Period—the 2300 Days. 10 The Sanctuary. 11 The Judgment and the Judgment-Hour Message. 12 The Law and the Gospel. 13 The Bible Sabbath. 14 The Change of the Sabbath. 15 Conversion, or the Way to Christ. 16 The United States in Prophecy. 17 Christian Liberty. 18 The Seal of God and the Mark of the Beast. 19 The Threefold Message of Revelation 14. 20 Life Only in Christ. 21 Spiritualism. 22 Spiritual Gifts. 23 Health and Temperance. 24 Support of the Gospel Ministry. 25 Synopsis of Present Truth.
The prices of all the above Extras, postpaid, are as follows:—
15 copies $ .10
25 " .15
50 " .30
100 " .50
1000 " 4.00

Order from your conference tract society

Note.— Those numbers preceded by a star (*) are already published. Others will be published in their order at the rate of one copy each month.

Deliverance From Assyria

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE
“BE strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles.” 2 Chron. 32: 7, 8. With these words of confidence in the power of Jehovah to deliver, Hezekiah inspired the people of Judah to resist with unfailing courage the advancing hosts of Assyria, when it seemed as if nothing could save Jerusalem from utter destruction.
It was not without reason that Hezekiah could speak with certainty of the outcome. The boastful Assyrian, while used by God for a season as the rod of his anger (see Isa. 10: 5) for the punishment of the nations, was not always to prevail. “Be not afraid of the Assyrian,” had been the message of the Lord through Isaiah some years before, to those that dwelt in Zion; “for yet a very little while, . . . and the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt. And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.” Verses 24-27.
In another prophetic message, given “in the year that King Ahaz died,” the prophet had declared: “The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him underfoot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” Isa. 14: 28, 24-27.
The power of the oppressor was to be broken. Yet Hezekiah in the earlier years of his reign had continued to pay tribute to Assyria, in harmony with the agreement entered into by Ahaz. Meanwhile, the king had taken “counsel with his princes and his mighty men,” and had done everything possible for the defense of his kingdom. He had made sure of a bountiful supply of water within the walls of Jerusalem, while without the city there should be a scarcity. “Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance. And he set captains of war over the people.” 2 Chron. 32: 3, 5, 6. Nothing had been left undone that could be done in preparation for a siege.
At the time of Hezekiah’s accession to the throne of Judah, the Assyrians had already carried captive a large number of the children of Israel from the northern kingdom; and a few years after he had begun to reign, and while he was still strengthening the defenses of Jerusalem, the Assyrians besieged and captured Samaria, and scattered the ten tribes among the many provinces of the Assyrian realm. The borders of Judah were only a few miles distant, with Jerusalem less than fifty miles away; and the rich spoils to be found within the temple would tempt the enemy to return.
But the king of Judah had determined to do his part in preparing to resist the enemy; and having accomplished all that human ingenuity and energy could do, he had assembled his forces, and had exhorted them to be of good courage. “Great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee” (Isa. 12: 6), had been the message of the prophet Isaiah to Judah; and the king with unwavering faith now declared, “With us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles.” 2 Chron. 32: 8.
Nothing more quickly inspires faith than the exercise of faith. The king of Judah had done his part in making ready for the coming storm; and now, confident that the prophecy against the Assyrians would be fulfilled, he stayed his soul upon God. And “the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah.”—Ib. What though the armies of Assyria, fresh from the conquest of the greatest nations of earth, and triumphant over Samaria in Israel, should now turn their forces against Judah? What though they should boast, “As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?” Isa. 10: 10, 11. Judah had nothing to fear, for their trust was in Jehovah.
The long-expected crisis finally came. The forces of Assyria, advancing from triumph to triumph, appeared in Judea. Confident of victory, the leaders divided their forces into two armies, one of which was to meet the Egyptian army to the southward, while the other was to besiege Jerusalem.
Judah’s only hope was now in God. All possible help from Egypt had been cut off, and no other nation was near to lend a friendly hand.
(To be continued)

Sung on Europe's Battle Fields

By J. S. WASHBURN

J. S. WASHBURN
ONE of the most remarkable signs of the coming of the Lord, given by Christ himself in his great prophecy recorded in Luke 21: 25, 26, is “distress of nations, with perplexity, . . . men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth.” That we are in that time and that condition today, no one will deny. Statesmen, business men, the masses of the people, all have a feeling of unrest, and a fear that cannot be banished by the foolish cries of “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.”
In “such a time as this,” the very time for which God's people “are come to the kingdom,” the Lord's command to us is, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.” “Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not.” “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore [when the hearts of wicked men are failing them for fear] will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” Ps. 46: 1-3. Though the mighty tidal waves of the sea roar andbring ruin and devastation, there is a peaceful river, even the river of life, that shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.
For God not only dwells in his temple in the holy city, New Jerusalem, but he says, “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.” Isa. 57: 15. He is in the midst of his people on earth. “I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever.” Eze. 43: 7. “And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God.” Joel 2: 27. Therefore, “she [the church] shall not be moved: God shall help her, when the morning appeareth.” Ps. 46: 5, margin. When the great morning of eternity shall come, the morning that ends the church's night of woe, God shall help her with everlasting help. There is a very striking thought in this marginal rendering—“when the morning appeareth.”
“The heathen [“nations,” R. V.] raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.” Verse 6. What a striking statement! In the beginning, “he spake, and it was done.” Now he utters his voice, and all is undone. Creation goes back to chaos. And O, remember, it is on this mighty word that can create and can destroy that we may rest secure amid the wreck of the world and all that is therein! For “the Lord of hosts is with us” (verse 7), not against us; and “the God of Jacob is our refuge.” Jacob, who wrestled with the angel all night,—he who had sinned, and who that night was dying to all the sins of his past life, a final, a complete change,—represents God's people, who have all sinned, coming to the great crisis of humanity, when all faces gather paleness. “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.” Jer. 30: 6, 7. The same God who delivered and saved Jacob, will save his people from their enemies, as he saved Jacob from Esau.
“Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.” Verses 8, 9. After this terrible scene of destruction, so vividly described in these verses, there follows one of the most majestic verses in all the Bible. As after the whirlwind and the earthquake and the fire, God spoke to Elijah in the “still small voice;” so after the awful tempest of desolating war, and after God's judgments in earthquake and destruction have been manifest, he says, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Verse 10.
Then how precious the solemn, blessed, comforting assurance, more solid than the earth itself. “The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our refuge.” This wonderful forty-sixth psalm is our strong assurance, our battle hymn, in the last-day perils. We are not surprised at the statement made in “The Great Controversy,” page 639, that in the great final crisis, God's people will sing the forty-sixth psalm. Nor can we wonder that in the midst of the awful perils of Europe's battle fields, one of our faithful believers sang the forty-sixth psalm every day. Brother E. Hanson says:—
“During the first four months of the great European war, I was living near the border line between Russia and Germany, in a town that was occupied alternately by the Russians and the Germans. We were many times in the midst of great battles, and were exposed to many dangers and hardships. During this time of peril I sang the forty-sixth psalm every day. I had learned the music to the sublime words of this psalm in Philadelphia before going to Europe; and in time of peril and danger, I truly found in this wonderful psalm a ‘refuge and strength.’ Surely all of God's people will sing that psalm in the time of war and trouble.”
Philadelphia, Pa.

The Age-to-Come Doctrine

By J. O. Corliss

— No. 11

Last-Day Manifestations

J. O. CORLISS
The doctrine of the Lord’s second coming appears of importance to men only as they view it in the light of events that lead up to it and accompany it, and see the effect of these upon the world’s eternal interests. In anticipation of what is involved in his second coming, the Saviour himself has described the majesty of the event in a way perfectly suited to the demands of the human mind. His startling picture of that time and its issues is well calculated to inspire earnestness and devotion on the part of his people as the time for that mighty consummation approaches.
But there has arisen a movement which is calculated to allay any apprehension as to readiness for the return of our Lord. The age-to-come theory has stepped into the arena to combat the long-cherished view of past ages, declaring that the Lord’s coming is not to be the visible dawning of a longed-for day, when his waiting followers, as they see his form in the heavens, extend their hands in his direction, exclaiming, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isa. 25:9.
That theory does not admit, either, that any startling sight will mark that occasion, by which a hitherto scoffing multitude will be led to mourn, to beat the breast in sorrow, on account of that coming (Matt. 24:30), as they call on rocks and even mountains to fall on them and hide them from him that sitteth on the throne. Rev. 6:14-16; Matt. 25:31. No; that doctrine boldly asserts that the Lord’s coming “is not to the natural vision;” that it is only by “the eye of faith, through the sure word of prophecy, that his presence and work can be discerned.” See “Studies in the Scriptures,” Vol. II, page 149.
Of course, such a positive statement in the face of direct scriptures must needs find some alleged backing, so the following has been exultingly set forth: “In like manner as he went away [quietly, secretly, so far as the world was concerned, and unknown except to his followers], so in this manner he comes again.”—Id., page 154. Strange analogy that! Why was not one other condition named? Christ went away apparently unaccompanied. Will this likeness obtain at his second coming? Pastor Russell may answer Yes, but we are positively told, on far higher authority than his, that when Christ returns he will descend with all the holy angels with him. Matt. 25:31. More than this, the Scriptures explicitly tell us that when he comes, every eye shall see him; even those who pierced him shall see him. Rev. 1:7.
It might be supposed that with the many Scripture allusions to the Lord’s coming, and the incidents which these references join with that event, one would hardly dare attempt to break their force by such far-fetched construction. But nothing seems to deter the age-to-come theorist from such work in his persistency to maintain his ground. In fact, he reads into texts words which the sense of the scripture would utterly forbid. A single sample out of many is shown in the following reference to 2 Peter 3:10-13:— “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night [unobserved]; in the which the heavens [present powers of the air, of which Satan is the chief prince] shall pass away with a great [hissing] noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth [social organization] also and the works that are therein [pride, rank, aristocracy, royalty] shall be burned up. . . . The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens [the new spiritual power—Christ’s kingdom] and a new earth [earthly society organized on a new basis—on the basis of love and justice, rather than of might and oppression].”—Id., Vol. I, pages 318, 319.
What a pity to have views so foreign to the Scriptures themselves as to be obliged to read into them sentiments they never intended to convey. It will be readily seen that the foregoing sample of interpolation robs the Lord’s coming of all its glory, and makes it appear a lifeless ceremony. The word unobservedly was foisted into the text to bolster up the idea that the Lord’s coming will be practically unknown to the world, and that the text was meant thus to teach it. It is, however, certain that the word thief as used here and in other places, is meant to illustrate the stealthy but sure approach of one who would make a sudden onslaught.
This thought is amply sustained by many scriptures. For instance, the apostle, speaking with reference to the Lord’sadvent, exhorts to wakefulness and concern about the issue, so as not to be overtaken unawares by the event. Should one be found at that time resting easily in the thought of a safe and peaceful future, then, says the apostle, “sudden destruction” will come upon him like a sharp, unlooked-for pain. 1 Thess. 5:3. The same thought is expressed by the Saviour when exhorting the church to watch for his coming. You do not know, he said, whether my coming will be at evening, at midnight, at cockcrowing, or in the morning; so watch, “lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.”
But this is not the age-to-come theory. Far from it; for by that, one is taught that the Lord’s coming will be a gradual development. But to avoid plainly stated conclusions of the Scripture text, Pastor Russell readily reads into it his own interpretation of it. Thus he quotes and injects: “ ‘Behold, he cometh with clouds,’ and in due time ‘every eye shall see [discern] him;’ shall recognize his presence, power, and authority; and all must submit to it, whether willing or unwilling.”
This method of making Scripture serve an ulterior purpose, forcibly reminds one of Luther’s charge against his opponents when he said, “You treat the Bible as a sow treats a sack of oats.” But this is only a sample of what is met at every turn in this system. So respecting the fire spoken of by Peter which is to attend the Saviour’s advent, this theory teaches that it is but a symbolic utterance, designed to represent “the destruction of whatever is burned—tares, dross, earth [social organization], or whatever it may be.” See Volume I, page 318. This extract does not deign to tell what “burns” all these bad elements, though it admits that Scripture fire does represent what is burned. How convenient it would be to have information as to what does the burning, if the fire does not do it.
This, however, is just what the Saviour does. He says that though the people of Sodom pursued the pleasures of their day up to the very time when Lot departed from that city, even upon the same day that he retired therefrom, “it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” In this case it was the fire that wrought the destruction. Then note the application that the Saviour makes of this historical fact: “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:28-30. How will it be? As literal fire burned Sodom and all its belongings, so will it be done when the Master returns.
Philosophize as one may about the propriety of such procedure, faith in God’s Word requires acceptance of what it contains, regardless of logic, asserted science, or even as to how it should be. This, however, requires that one must first settle the premise that he who gave the Word knew just what he desired to say, and how it ought to be said to meet the needs of those for whom it was given. He says that fire will accompany the Lord’s return to earth, and that it is an “unquenchable” element which will continue to burn until the destructible substances of earth are burned up. Matt. 3:12.
The same idea is verified by the Saviour’s reference to the harvest of the earth. He said, “As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.” In making his own application of this allusion, the Master said that those who do iniquity he will cast into a furnace of fire. Matt. 13:40, 42. With such strong expressions from such a source, it is nothing short of folly to attempt the neutralization of their force by some doubtful process devoid of inspired authorization. When God speaks, let him be true, though his word makes all human theories tissues of fabrication.
Glendale, Cal.

The Schools of the Prophets

By M. E. CADY

— No. 9

Some of the Students

M. E. CADY
Having considered in the previous articles the purpose and establishment of the schools of the prophets, and also the curriculum provided for the training and education of the youth, let us now consider some of the product turned out by these schools.
The value of any institution is determined by its “finished product.” What kind of students did the schools of the prophets produce? What was their finished product? “By their fruits ye shall know them.”
The standard by which we must measure these students is the standard given to the Great Teacher when he “was with the church in the wilderness,” and illustrated in his education during childhood and youth. The divine standard, as exemplified in his earthly life, is a symmetrical development of the threefold being:—
1. Physical development. “And the child grew.” He developed his physical powers so that in health he was able to deal successfully with the industrial problems requiring strength and skill.
2. Intellectual development. “Filled with wisdom.” He developed his mental powers so that he was able to study and comprehend truth, and wisely to separate it from error and falsehood.
3. Spiritual development. “And waxed strong in spirit.” He developed and cherished a love for the truth and a hatred for sin. He “loved righteousness, and hated iniquity.” See Luke 2:40, 52.
This method of education is heaven-appointed and heaven-indorsed. “And the grace [favor] of God was upon him.” This is the highest and truest educational standard that has ever been raised.
Keeping this high standard before us, let us consider some of the students educated in the home schools in Israel, and in the schools of the prophets which were established later because the home school plan was not fully adopted and appreciated by the parents in Israel:—

Joseph

Joseph was educated in the family school of Jacob until he was eighteen years of age. Concerning his early education we learn the following:—
“A pure and simple life had favored the vigorous development of both physical and intellectual powers. Communion with God through his works, and the contemplation of the grand truths intrusted to the inheritors of faith, had elevated and ennobled his spiritual nature, broadening and strengthening the mind as no other study could do.”—“Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 222.
How clearly in his later years did the results of his early physical and industrial education appear in the wise administration of Potiphar’s household, the full oversight of the prisoners, and the organized plans to provide food for the seven years of famine. He manifested strong spiritual power by refusing to yield to the seductions of his master’s wife, by suffering without a murmur or complaint the tortures of the prison life, and by giving God the honor and credit for the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams. That his intellectual powers were strongly developed, making him a wise formulator and administrator of just and good laws, is attested to in the inspired record: “He [Pharaoh] made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance: to bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.” Ps. 105:21, 22.

Moses

Moses had six years less of home school training than Joseph, being taken to the royal court of Pharaoh at the age of twelve. From that time he was educated in the university of Egypt, a calamity which Joseph was spared, and saved from making the mistake Moses made when entering upon the special work to which God had called him. After Moses’ failure it was necessary for God to send him to the shepherd school,—a school which Joseph had attended before going down into Egypt. Although “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds” (Acts 7:22),—in other words, he was a historian, a poet, a philosopher, a general of armies, and a legislator,—yet at the age of forty it was necessary to spend forty years in a shepherd’s school to secure the proper balance of his physical, mental, and spiritual powers, if he would be a successful deliverer and leader of God’s people.
Moses was eighty years of age before he was prepared for his forty years of leadership, while Joseph was but thirty years of age when he was prepared for his eighty years of service as prime minister of Egypt, administrating the affairs of the kingdom so wisely and to the advantage of God’s chosen people sojourning in a strange land.
But though late in life, Moses finally secured the equal balance of his physical, mental, and spiritual powers, as evidenced by the provision made for feeding and clothing that mighty hostthrough forty years of desert wanderings, and by formulating and administering laws and statutes that have never been equaled; and by his intimate communion with God and close fellowship with his brethren he revealed his devotion to spiritual things.
(To be continued)
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