Review and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 28. (7/9/1901)

Review and Herald

Jul 9, 1901

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 9, 1901

OVERCOMING AS CHRIST OVERCAME.

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE.

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne.”

In these words an individual work is laid out for each one of us. We are to make determined efforts to overcome as Christ overcame. From this warfare no one is excused. If for us the gates of the holy city swing ajar, if we behold the King in His beauty, we must now overcome as Christ overcame.

In order for us to understand how Christ overcame, we must study the record of His life on earth. We must seek to understand the infinite sacrifice He made in order to save the race from eternal death. He laid aside His robes of royalty, His high command, His riches, and for our sake became poor, that we might come into possession of an immortal inheritance. In our behalf, He met and conquered the prince of darkness.

Adam and Eve transgressed the law of God. They ate of the forbidden fruit, and were driven from Eden. We might well rejoice if this had been the only fall. But since the fall of Adam, the history of the human race has been a succession of falls.

Looking upon this earth, Christ saw that men were so weak in moral power that it was impossible for them to overcome in their own strength. Therefore He left His heavenly home, and walked a man among men. He brought to us divine aid; and as we accept this aid, we can claim certain victory through Jesus of Nazareth.

When we think of the conflict before us and the great work that we must do, we tremble. But we may remember that our Helper is almighty. We may feel strong in His strength. We may unite our ignorance to His wisdom, our feebleness to His might, our weakness to His unfailing strength. Through Him we may be “more than conquerors.”

Through the power of appetite Satan has gained control of men and women. How difficult it is to obtain the victory over appetite when once it is established. How important that parents bring their children up with pure tastes and unperverted appetites. Parents should ever remember that upon them rests the responsibility of training their children in such a way that they will have moral stamina to resist the evil that will surround them when they go out into the world.

Christ did not ask His Father to take the disciples out of the world, but to keep them from the evil in the world, to keep them from yielding to the temptations which they would meet on every hand. This prayer fathers and mothers should offer for their children. But shall they plead with God, and then leave their children to do as they please? God cannot keep children from evil if the parents do not co-operate with Him. Bravely and cheerfully parents should take up their work, carrying it forward with unwearying endeavor. Temperance and self-control should be taught from the cradle. Upon the mother largely rests the burden of this work, and aided by the father, she may carry it forward successfully.

The lesson of self-control should begin with the infant in its mother’s arms. The child should be taught that its will must be brought into subjection. It must learn that it does not live to eat, but eat to live. But how many parents, by the food which they place upon their tables, prepare the way for their children to crave stronger stimulants. Soon you will see the boys of such a family smoking. And as twin evils, tobacco and alcohol go together.

To the mother belongs the duty of making the home a pleasant place for her children. The home may be plain, but it can always be a place where cheerful words are spoken, and kindly deeds are done, where courtesy and love are abiding guests. Mothers, instead of devoting so much time to the adornment of your own and your children’s dresses, take time to get acquainted with your children. Study their dispositions and temperaments, that you may know how to deal with them. Some children need more attention than others. They need gentle, encouraging words. How easy it is for mothers to speak words of kindness and affection which will send a sunbeam to the hearts of the little ones, causing them to forget their troubles.

Who are these children committed to our care? —They are the younger members of the Lord’s family. He says, Take these children and train them for me. Educate them so that they will be polished after the similitude of a palace, prepared to shine in the courts of my house.

What an important work! And yet we hear mothers sighing for missionary work! If they could only go to some foreign country, they would feel that they were doing something worth while. But to take up the daily duties of the home life and carry them forward, seems to them like an exhausting and thankless task. And why? Because the mother’s work is rarely appreciated. She has a thousand cares and burdens of which no one knows. When her husband comes home at night, he frequently brings with him the cares of his business. He forgets that his wife has any care, and if things in the home do not exactly suit him, he speaks impatiently, and perhaps harshly.

The mother has perhaps done her utmost to keep things running smoothly. She has tried to speak kindly to the children, and this has cost her an effort. It has taken much patience to keep the children busy and happy. But she cannot speak of what she has done as some great achievement. It seems as if she had done nothing. But it is not so. Heavenly angels watch the careworn mother, noting the burdens she carries day by day. Her name may not have been heard in the world, but it is written in the Lamb’s book of life. The mother occupies a position more exalted than that of the king upon his throne.

There is a God above, and the light and glory which shines from His throne rests upon the tired mother as she tries to educate her children to resist the influence of evil.

The husband should appreciate the work of his wife. When he enters the home in the evening, he should leave his business cares outside. He should enter the home with smiles and pleasant words. If the wife feels that she can lean upon the large affections of her husband, that his arm will sustain her, that his voice will be heard in encouragement, her work will lose half its dread.

Christ loves the children. He watches mothers to see if they are forming the characters of their little ones according to the perfect pattern.

When He was upon this earth, mothers brought their children to Him, thinking that if they were to receive His blessing, they would be more easily trained in the way of God. When these mothers came, the disciples rebuked them; but Christ knew why they had come. He knew that they were expecting a Saviour’s blessing, and drawing the children to Him, He said to the disciples, “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

It costs something to bring children up in the way of God. It costs a mother’s tears and a father’s prayers. It calls for unflagging effort, for patient instruction, here a little and there a little. But this work pays. Parents can thus build around their children bulwarks which will preserve them from the evil that is flooding our world.

Parents, take time to establish in your children correct appetites and habits. Take them into the open air, and point them to the beautiful things of nature. Teach them that in each leaf they can trace the wonderful power and love of God. Tell them that God’s hand paints the colors on every flower.

When upon this earth, Christ pointed to the lilies opening their buds upon the bosom of the lake. There they grew, pressing their way through the weeds, refusing all that would taint their beauty, gathering to themselves only that which would help develop the beautiful blossom. “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow,” the Saviour said; “they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Thus Christ sought to lead us to think of God’s great love for His children. “If God so clothe the grass of the field,” He said, “which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?”

All effort for outward display is unnecessary and useless. We may spend our God-given time in striving for artificial adornment, and yet not bear comparison with a simple flower of the field. Draw the minds of your children from the artificial to the natural. Point them to the things which God has made. Teach them about God by means of His created works. The lessons thus given will be remembered.

The great burden in the education of children rests upon the mother. She it is who forms their characters. The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world. Mothers, remember that in your work the Creator of the universe will give you help. In His strength, and through His name, you can lead your children to be overcomers. Teach them to look to God for strength. Tell them that He hears their prayers. Teach them to overcome evil with good. Teach them to exert an influence that is elevating and ennobling. Lead them to unite with God, and then they will have strength to resist the strongest temptation. They will then receive the reward of the overcomer.

ADORATION

O MASTER, at thy feet I bow in rapture sweet! Before me, as in darkening glass, Some glorious outlines pass, Of love, and truth, and holiness, and power; I own them thine, O Christ, and bless thee for this hour.

O full of truth and grace, Smile of Jehovah’s face, O tenderest heart of love untold! Who may thy praise unfold? Thee, Saviour, Lord of lords and King of kings, Well may adoring seraphs hymn with veiling wings.

I have no words to bring Worthy of thee, my King, And yet one anthem in thy praise I long, I long, to raise; The heart is full, the eye entranced above, But words all melt away in silent awe and love.

How can the lip be dumb, The hand all still and numb, When thee the heart doth see and own Her Lord and God alone? Tune for thyself the music of my days, And open thou my lips that I may show thy praise.

Yea, let my whole life be One anthem unto thee, And let the praise of lip and life Outring all sin and strife. O Jesus, Master! be thy name supreme For heaven and earth the one, the grand, the eternal theme. —Selected.

APOSTASY, OR DEATH IN THE POT.

By Joseph Clarke

JOSEPH CLARKE.

(Battle Creek, Mich.)

In 2 Kings 4: 38-40 we learn that during a time of famine a company of prophets partook of pottage in which a poisonous herb had been cooked, and nothing but a miracle saved them from death.

As I read of the great religious gatherings in our large cities for several years past, especially within the last few years, and realize that one great object of these large assemblies is the revival of antiquated Sunday laws, endeavoring thus to decide by civil laws a controversy that has been going on for nearly two thousand years; and as I think of the immoral and reckless course of many of our lawmakers, to say nothing of their ignorance of the Bible and its Author, I ask: What can these men do? Are they competent to decide on disputed points, or on any religious questions?

Let them be authority and law on civil questions; but when they attempt to dictate as to the day I shall select for the Sabbath, or the mode of worship, or how I shall be baptized or receive the sacrament, they are presuming to act in the place of God—just what the papacy actually professes to do.

“There is death in the pot.” As the company in Elisha’s time had a pot of good material spoiled by the addition of the poisonous weed, so now this appealing to the State is the ingredient that spoils all the good there is in these great meetings; and it will take a miracle to make other objects acceptable.

But the young class seated around the table of Elisha were willing to believe there was great danger. They felt that God alone could make their food safe, and the faith of their teacher saved them from death. The alarm was given, and acted upon. But in these great assemblies the alarm makes little impression. No Elisha is there to present the truth; or if he is, few believe him. The terrible effects of the poison will be realized by and by.

THE CHURCH.

By John Norton Loughborough

Delegate Conference and Church Organization.

ELDER J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

“They determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.” Acts 15:2.

Concerning this gathering and its deliberations, we read in “Spiritual Gifts,” Vol. III, page 375, that it “was composed of the founders of the Jewish and Gentile churches. Elders from Jerusalem and Antioch were present; and the most influential churches were represented.”

“The entire body of Christians were not called to vote upon the question. The apostles and elders—men of influence and judgment—framed and issued the decree.”

In the Testimonies we are counseled to study carefully the experiences of the past which led to the establishment of order among Seventh-day Adventists. In tracing these, in the order of their occurrence, we now come to the fifth and sixth steps, which were Conferences composed of duly elected delegates, and church organization.

We were instructed that it was God’s will that order should be established to avoid confusion. When discordant elements came in, it led to prayerful study whether action should not be taken to remedy this difficulty. We were taught that “the angel of God had said,” that in order to shut the door against such discord we must “flee to the word of God, and become established upon order.”

In our assemblies in those early times when no restraint was upon any one,—where one had just as much right to occupy the time in our public meetings as another,—we were greatly annoyed by turbulent spirited men. At one of our gatherings in Battle Creek, Mich., a minister from another denomination, who had lately begun the observance of the Sabbath, a stranger to us all, actually undertook to open and control the meeting. In the gathering of 1860, when it was finally decided to legally organize, we were much annoyed with advocates of freedom. This all led to prayerful study of what was “wanting” to promote union and harmony in our yearly State meetings. Taking the Scriptures, and looking at the councils of the Jewish Church where points of interest to all were to be settled, the action seemed to be that of elders, and rulers selected by the people. So it was also in the Christian Church, as we have seen in their mode of procedure at Jerusalem, on the question of circumcision.

In “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. I, page 652, we read that “the travels of the children of Israel are faithfully described. . . . Their perfect organization and special order, their sin in murmuring . . . and rebellions . . . this faithful picture is hung up before us, as a warning lest we follow their example of disobedience, and fall like them.”

The same writer, in speaking of the apostolic Church, said, “We should take as special measures as they did to secure the peace, harmony, and union of the flock.”—“Supplement to Experience and Views,” page 16.

We find in an address delivered by Elder James White before the Conference assembled in Battle Creek, in April, 1861, published in the REVIEW, June 11, 1861, that a more complete organization of our churches was called for. Those assembled made and adopted the recommendations favoring this, and a committee of nine ministers was selected, who were requested to hold a Bible class and seek light upon this subject, and that the same be published in the REVIEW. Their report was prepared, which set forth the Scriptural testimony on church order and church officers. It also called attention to the propriety of elected delegate representation from the several States in a general Conference, and similar representation of churches in their State Conferences. In reality this was the first suggestion of the plan of having delegates duly elected for our general associations.

In reference to the question of church organization, we read in “Christian Education:” “Much light was given to us in reference to the organization of churches, and yet we had a hard battle to fight in perfecting organization; but the victory was gained at last, and now shall the Church be disorganized because of indifference, formality, and pride?”

One of the principal claims made by those who warred against organization was that it abridged their liberty and independence, and that if one stood clear before the Lord, that was all the organization needed, etc.

Of the position of opponents at the time of the contest for church order, we read: “Satan well knows that success can only attend order and harmonious action. He well knows that everything connected with heaven is in perfect order, that subjection and thorough discipline mark the movements of the angelic host. . . . He deceives even the professed people of God, and makes them believe that order and discipline are enemies to spirituality; that the only safety for them is to let each pursue his own course. . . . All the efforts made to establish order are considered dangerous, a restriction of rightful liberty, and hence are feared as popery.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. I, page 650.

The following is what the Lord has said on this subject: “One point will have to be guarded, and that is individual independence. As soldiers in Christ’s army, there should be concert of action in the various departments of the work.”—“Followers of Jesus Christ will not act independently one of another.”—Id., page 63.

The danger of cultivating a spirit of independence is thus stated: “The less of the meekness and lowliness of Christ the human agent has in his spirit and character, the more he sees perfection in his own methods, and imperfection in the methods of others. Our only safety is to watch unto prayer, and to counsel together, believing that God will keep our brethren as well as ourselves, for there is no respect of persons with Him.”—“Special Testimony,” No. 3, page 19.

In a communication, dated Jan. 14, 1894, we are thus counseled: “Why not keep steadily at work in the lines that God has given us? Why not walk in the clear lines He has revealed; and in place of tearing to pieces that which God has built up, work on the side of Jesus Christ?”

“We want to hold the lines evenly, that there shall be no breaking down of the system of regulation and order. In this way license shall not be given to disorderly elements to control the work at this time.”

The summer of 1861 was not only important because of the Civil War in the United States; but many important moves were being considered in connection with the cause of truth. So important were the times that a second general gathering of our people that year was held in October. On the sixth of the month, the Michigan Conference was organized by the election of a chairman, a secretary, and an executive committee of three. By vote the Conference recommended that the churches organize, adopting the following as a church covenant: “We, the undersigned, hereby associate ourselves together as a church, taking the name Seventh-day Adventists, covenanting to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ.”

A committee was appointed to prepare an address formulating plans for organizing churches. This address appeared in the REVIEW of Oct. 15, 1861.

The plan and principles of organization, set forth in the address mentioned in this article, are so well stated in an article from Elder James White, in the REVIEW of Jan. 4, 1881, that we quote them:—

“Organization was designed to secure unity of action, and as a protection from imposture. It was never intended as a scourge to compel obedience, but rather, for the protection of the people of God. Christ does not drive His people. He calls them. . . .

“Christ never designed that human minds should be molded for heaven by the influence merely of other human minds. ‘The head of every man is Christ.’ His part is to lead, and to mold, and to stamp His own image upon the heirs of eternal glory. However important organization may be for the protection of the Church, and to secure harmony of action, it must not come in to take the disciple from the hands of the Master. . . .

“Those who drafted the form of organization adopted by Seventh-day Adventists labored to incorporate into it, as far as possible, the simplicity of expression and form found in the New Testament. The more of the spirit of the gospel manifested, and the more simple, the more efficient the system.

“The General Conference takes the general supervision of the work in all its branches, including the State Conferences. The State Conference takes the supervision of all branches of the work in the State, including the churches in that State. And the Church is a body of Christians associated together with the simple covenant to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

“The officers of a local church are servants of that church, and not lords, to rule over it with force. ‘He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.’ Matt. 23:11. These officers should set examples of patience, watchfulness, prayer, kindness, and liberality, to the members of the church, and should manifest a good degree of that love to those they serve exhibited in the life and teachings of our Lord.”

The Michigan Conference in the session of Oct. 6, 1861, decided that its ministers should carry papers of recognition, consisting of a certificate of ordination, and credentials signed by the chairman and secretary of the Conference: these credentials to be renewed annually.

THE SUPPORT OF GOSPEL MINISTERS ACCORDING TO GOD’S PLAN.

By D. T. Bourdeau

ELDER D. T. BOURDEAU.

(Continued)

And following the testimony of the Lord on tithes and offerings, are these words, which we have uniformly believed to be applicable to God’s faithful children who fear and obey Him at the very time He speaks on tithes and offerings, and when God is about to make up His jewels and spare and save them at the opening of the terrible day of the Lord:—

“Then [when the subject of tithes and offerings is being agitated] they that feared the Lord [and consequently obeyed Him] spake often one to another [their hearts are filled with good things, and they bear a free testimony, because they obey the Lord on tithes and offerings, etc.]: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not. For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven. . . . Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Mal. 3:16–18; 4:1–5. Here Elijah represents, typically, John the Baptist, and antitypically, emphatically, those who will engage in a reformatory, converting work answering to that of Elijah and that of John the Baptist. Read Mal. 4:5, 6; Luke 1:13–17; Matt. 17:11, 12; James 5:7, 8, 17–20; Isa. 56:1–7; 58:12, 13; 1 Kings 17–19.

Does not the Lord, by thus placing what He here says on tithes and offerings, between prophetic utterances bringing us not only to the first advent, but also between that event and the second advent, and when the terrible day of the Lord is about to come, say to us: What I say on tithes and offerings I say especially to you who are living near the second coming of my Son? It is palpably evident that such is the case.

Therefore it is a sad fact that there has been in this time of great light and temporal and spiritual blessings, a robbing of God in tithes and offerings, and God has been displeased, and brings out the fact that a curse rests upon those who pursue such a course. Such must reap the fruit of their covetousness and selfishness—barrenness of soul and destitution of spiritual blessings, and, not infrequently, a blasting of temporal prospects. How can such enjoy largely of spiritual blessings while robbing God of that which He justly claims as His own to give to His ministers, that they may do the work He has assigned them for the salvation of their fellow beings?

And how can those who are unwilling to furnish the means God would have them to help carry on such a glorious work, be said to have a missionary spirit? How can they take the interest they should in a work for the furtherance of which they are unwilling to give the means that God requires at their hands? How can persons, narrowed down, perverted and enslaved by covetousness and selfishness, expect to receive a large measure of God’s Spirit and divine help whereby they can render to God that service and obedience that He requires,—the service and obedience from the heart, with all the powers of body and mind, prompted by supreme love to God and equal love to man?

Does the one gospel, the one plan of salvation that God has provided for every age of human probation, require, on the point of giving, a smaller measure of love and gratitude under the present dispensation than it did under former ones? Does it require less means to support the ministry when time is short, and there is much for ministers to do in a short time, than it did in ages before the first advent of our Saviour?

GREAT BLESSINGS AWAITING THOSE WHO PAY TITHES AND OFFERINGS.

Great blessings await those who heed what God says on tithes and offerings. God thus speaks on this point: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Mal. 3:10.

Opening the windows of heaven and pouring out a blessing in a literal sense, would be causing it to rain. Doing this in a spiritual sense would be sending to and bestowing upon the believing and obedient ones the Holy Spirit. Rain and dew are emblematical of the Holy Spirit. “He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. [But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive . . .]” John 7:38, 39. “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.” Isa. 44:3. And the Lord, speaking through David on “how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (the very thing that early Christians did when they received the bountiful effusion of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2:1), says, “It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments [anciently the Spirit of God rested upon priests and kings when oil was poured upon them in setting them apart to their respective offices. 1 Samuel 10, etc. And David continues]; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing [which must include the Spirit of God], even life for evermore.” Psalm 133.

How plain it is that the pouring out of a blessing, “that there shall not be room enough to receive,” which the Lord in Mal. 3:10 holds out as an inducement to bring in the tithes and offerings, means a special effusion of the Holy Spirit. This is nothing else than the sending of the latter rain to those who ask for it “in the time of the latter rain,” just before the final “harvest,” the end of the world. Zech. 10:1;

Matt. 13:39. Those who receive the refreshing showers of this bountiful rain, or refreshing, shall have grass in their fields, plenty of new and old truths to feast upon; “they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as corners of the altar;” they shall have plenty of spiritual “corn” and “new wine to make them cheerful.” They “shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord;” and speedily shall they do the work assigned them; for it is written: “For He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” Of course, God’s people will be the visible agents through whom this work shall be done. Zech. 10:1; 9:15–17; 10:7; Rom. 9:28, etc.

But to receive the latter rain, we must “ask” for it; but to receive what we ask for we must not only believe that we shall have what we ask for, we must also exercise a living faith, a faith that is seen in good works (James 2), in the keeping of the commandments of God and in the doing of those things that are pleasing in God’s sight. Therefore the beloved apostle says, “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” 1 John 3:22. And surely bringing in the tithes and offerings is pleasing in the sight of God.

It is therefore clearly evident that those who pay their tithes and offerings, as God would have them, actuated by right motives, will keep God’s commandments and the faith of Jesus; in fine, they will do all those things that God enjoins upon them in His word. They will place a proper estimate on life and health, and will live healthfully. They will be neat and tasty, yet plain, in their attire, will aim to live economically, and will cheerfully deny themselves of those beverages and articles of diet that are injurious to health, dispose of them, and put their equivalent in cash into the Lord’s treasury.

It is not therefore strange that God should open the windows of heaven unto those who bring their tithes and offerings into His treasury, with right motives, and pour them out such a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. He well knows (and we should also know) that He makes so much depend upon the proper fulfillment of this duty because those who do properly fulfill it will regard all the duties enjoined upon them in Holy Writ.

And this is not all that God will do for those who render unto Him their tithes and offerings: He also promises them temporal blessings. He says: “I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed.” Mal. 3:11, 12. And this prophecy has more than once been fulfilled in our own day, as have also these other scriptures:—

“There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.” Prov. 11:24, 25. “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” Prov. 3:9, 10. “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (as it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; He hath given to the poor: His righteousness remaineth forever. Now He that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness); being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.” 2 Cor. 9:6, 8–11.

(To be continued.)

FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE!

By S. O. James

S. O. JAMES.

Blest is the person who believes, In faith and hope and love, And with a smiling face receives, His comfort from above.

'Tis not in deeds that we can do, The faithful scripture saith, But words and deeds of Jesus, who Is Author of our faith.

And as we meet His perfect mind, We take a wider scope, And following on, we surely find Fruition of our hope.

From lowest depths of sin, the King Will lift and claim His own, And happy saints rejoice and sing To see them near the throne.

So let us shun the evil way, And magnify the good, Gather with Christ in all we say, And scatter not abroad.

Continue reading: THE RELATION OF THE LAW TO THE GOSPEL