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Review and Herald, Vol. 91, No. 55.

The Works and Word of God

Review and Herald

Dec 31, 1914

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 31, 1914

The Works and Word of God

The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, And night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language; Their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them hath He set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoiceth as a strong man to run his course. His going forth is from the end of the heavens, And his circuit unto the ends of it; And there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul: The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart: The commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring forever: The ordinances of Jehovah are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the droppings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them is Thy servant warned: In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Clear Thou me from hidden faults. Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me: Then shall I be upright, And I shall be clear from great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Thy sight, O Jehovah, my Rock, and my Redeemer.

THE WORK AND THE WORKERS

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A new department, The Consultation Room, will be found in the January, 1915, issue of Life and Health. It is composed of “A Doctor’s Chats With His Patients.”
Elder W. E. Baxter, president of the Arkansas Conference, writes: “I appreciate the work that the Protestant Magazine is doing. Wish you much of the blessing of the Lord in your work.”
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Mrs. H. E. Monroe, author of “The Drama of the Reformation,” and vice president of the Gospel Mission Executive Committee, Washington, D. C., writes: “I want to say how much I enjoy your Protestant Magazine, which you so kindly sent me.”
The December issue of the Gideon magazine, official organ of the Gideons and of the Christian Commercial Travelers’ Association of America, Mount Morris, Ill., contains four full pages (illustrations and all) taken from Life and Health. The article used is entitled “The Therapeutics of Optimism.”
The Denver American, “A Protestant Paper for Protestants to Read,” for December 10, contains the following notice: “The Protestant Magazine, published at Washington, D. C., is the most conservative Protestant paper published, and is using good arguments in the articles published. It doesn’t believe in flaunting a red flag in the face of a mad bull.”
The December issue of the Chamber of Commerce Bulletin, Portland, Oregon, referring to the December issue of Life and Health, the National Health Magazine, says that it “contains some splendid articles on ‘How Long Shall I Remain Young?’ This up-to-date little magazine has several interesting departures from the regular ‘health’ magazines of this day, and is worthy of notice.”
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Rev. A. A. Murray, minister, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Auckland, New Zealand, writes: “The Protestant Magazine is a splendid production. I wish with all my heart it might be in the home of every Protestant minister. One cannot speak too strongly against the Roman Catholic Church, and I am glad there is such a magazine in existence.”
The December issue of the Home Field, Atlanta, Ga., organ of the Southern Baptist Convention, contains a pungent editorial on “Romanist Aggressions,” in which Victor I. Masters, the editor, refers to the Protestant Magazine and to the good work it is accomplishing. This neat little 32-page magazine circulates among the 2,000,000 Baptists of the South.
Many persons of influence are taking an interest in the circulation of the Protestant Magazine. The secretary of the Bible House, New York City, publishers of the Christian Herald, writes: “We have been including the Protestant Magazine in all our combinations of religious papers, . . . and in circulars which we have sent out to thousands of homes. We shall continue to push the Protestant Magazine among our clubbing offers.” The two publications, one year, only $1.95. Regular price, $2.50.
Brother H. G. Gauker, a Washington Missionary College student, was so favorably impressed with the contents and appearance of the current or “War,” “Peace Movement,” and “Sunday Laws” number of Liberty magazine, that he ordered 600 copies, paying $24 for the same, to sell during the Christmas vacation in Pennsylvania. This is the number that tells, with photographic proofs, how Mr. Bryan, Secretary of State, is fulfilling a wonderful Bible prediction. It also tells the meaning of the European war. Send $1.00 for 20 or $2.00 for 50 copies today.
Harper’s Weekly has already published four striking articles on what it terms “The Antipapal Panic.” When such a magazine features a series of articles under that heading, the subject IS OF IMPORTANCE. To be up-to-date on Romanism versus Bible Protestantism, read the Protestant Magazine. Send 20 cents for the December and January numbers, or $1.00 for 15 months — October, November, and December, 1914, numbers, and the 12 issues for 1915.

How Two Clergymen and a Noted Evangelist Became Interested

By A. J. S. Bourdeau

A FAITHFUL sister in one of the Southern States sends us a copy of the church bulletin of the First Baptist Church of her city, in which appears a commendation of the Protestant Magazine, marked and sent to her by the pastor himself. She writes: “I have been giving him many copies of the Protestant from month to month, and he admired the magazine so much, and admired the editor so much, I saw it created in his mind a high regard for our literature, and thus I ventured to give him more. I presented him with ‘Daniel and the Revelation.’ He gave stereopticon lectures on the book of Daniel, in his church,—word for word from the book, omitting mention of the 2300 days, though he outlined the seventy weeks, and made one sermon of that. He had his own slides made from the pictures in the book, and it would have done your soul good to see this in a large Baptist church; for his congregation comprises 750 members, and they have just built a church at a cost of about $100,000. The pastor is one of the most eminent divines of the Baptist Church in the South, having been called here from the pastorate of one of the largest churches in ——, and, prior to that, he was president of the Baptist Theological Seminary in —— for many years.
“My husband and I bought 50 copies of the June issue of the Protestant Magazine, and distributed them among the leading professional men of this city of 15,000 inhabitants. I afterwards met one of the ministers, to whom we gave a copy. He says he took the copy with him to —— and showed it to a friend; who, as soon as he saw it, wrote for a year’s subscription. I presented the November issue of the Protestant to the pastor of the First M. E. Church, and he invited his whole congregation to sign the petition against the plea of the Roman Catholics concerning anti-Catholic literature, typewriting the petitions himself, for them, from the copy in the magazine.
“I consider the Protestant Magazine a great entering wedge for our literature. Recently a great evangelist from —— was here conducting a revival, and I managed to get a Protestant into his hands. He came to see us, and complimented the magazine most highly. But the sample I gave him, being an old copy, told of another issue, namely, the ‘Religious Legislation’ issue, and he asked for that; so I got him a copy of it, and I spoke of another issue, and he asked for that; and when he left, I wrapped up a copy of the Watchman and of the Turkey War Extra with the Protestant. I saw him the next day, and he said: ‘I read that Watchman from cover to cover, and I want all the issues for 1914, if I can get them, and bound in a volume, if possible. I am going to subscribe for the year.’
“So, you see, the Protestant Magazine opened the way to get the Watchman into this man’s hands. My husband and I are now in correspondence with him, and he is very much interested in the message. He came from England a year ago, located in ——, and is a very noted evangelist of the M. E. Church. Yours in the blessed hope.”
Why not urge your missionary society to assist you in ordering a club of 100 copies ($4.00) or 50 copies ($2.00) of the great December and January numbers, half and half, say? They both deal with such great world problems as the Papacy and the War; Rome and Mexico; Papal Infallibility; Religious Issue in Politics; England, Russia, and the Vatican; Pan-American Mass in Washington, D. C.; Keeping Faith With Heretics. EVERY NUMBER SEEMS BETTER THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE. Order a supply TODAY. The Protestant Magazine IS bringing people into THE TRUTH. Use it.
A. J. S. BOURDEAU.

God Is at the Helm

By W. E. Hancock

W. E. HANCOCK
“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.”
LIKE a ship on the tempest-lashed sea God's cause has always moved and still moves through the commotions of earth. Gray heads may turn in dismay to ask what the present situation means; the young and strong may faint and fall in despair; but “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,” because the Lord our God “fainteth not, neither is weary.”
There was never a greater need for the faithful preaching of the gospel, there was never a better opportunity for the true Christian to manifest his faith, than now. After the first excitement of this war is over, men and women will fall into a more serious attitude of mind. Believing that God will guide his cause gloriously through this and all other tempests of war, we wait with confidence the issue of this struggle. Now is the time when the Christian virtues shine the brightest. Even though the fiercer passions of men may be stirred to their depths by the war spirit, there are thousands who are longing for “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding.” If we have learned to wait upon the Lord, we can be peace commissioners in the time of war.
This is not a time for wild speculation about the significance of passing events. A great war should not be the occasion for the sounding of great alarms. There are enough terrors and forebodings occasionedby the war itself without ministers and Christian workers preying upon the fears and the credulity of the people by an undue emphasis upon the significance of it. We should be deeply moved, and even alarmed, at the present condition of the world; but the war is only one of the many symptoms. We need to go to men with the remedy that will treat the fundamental disease.
The enormity of the war should not be the occasion or the cause of alarm. But it is time that men should be alarmed about their souls’ salvation. This war may or may not lead immediately to the battle of Armageddon; it may or may not end in that battle. The time of the battle of Armageddon is not the question of prime importance. The important work to be done is to take to men lost in sin the message of salvation. The significance of this or that event as a fulfillment of prophecy has its place in preaching the gospel; but supreme prominence ought to be given to “Jesus Christ, and him crucified,” now and at all times, in our preaching. The fulfillment of prophecy, after all, is not the constraining motive of true service. “The love of Christ constraineth us.”
The chief note of warning and our great work are indicated in the following words of Isaiah:—
“Cry aloud, and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression and . . . their sins. Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” Isa. 58: 1, 6.
God may use this war to awaken conviction in men's hearts, and to quicken the receptiveness of their consciences. It ought to be expected that a religious awakening will follow the war, to give an impetus to the proclamation of the gospel in all the world. But this will not be accomplished by creating a great excitement about the war. It will be done by preaching Christ more fully and more faithfully. We ought to use this occasion of awakened attention, to turn the hearts of men and women to Christ and his truth. In such a time as this he ought to be lifted high above the dust and din of battle, that men may be drawn to him. He says, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
God is at the helm in these troublous times. The saving truth for this time is to be carried to the nations of earth, and through all the strife and commotion he is guiding the affairs of the world to that end. We may not yet be able to see just how the proclamation of the message to the millions of the heathen world may be advanced by such a frightful struggle. But after all is over, it will be seen that God makes even the wrath of man to praise him.

Our Life

By F. W. Paap

F. W. PAAP
“I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh. when no man can work.” John 9: 4.
THESE important and solemn words spoken by Christ reveal his life, his attitude, his deep concern. He was a worker. He improved every opportunity, and placed a full face value on the present — today. Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, writing to the Galatians (chap. 6: 10), says, “As [or since] we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” We are not to become weary in well-doing. Christ our Saviour “went about doing good.” It is not sufficient to simply be good; we must do good.
This is a science that must be mastered, — the science of true Christianity,—“a science as much deeper, broader, higher than any human science as the heavens are higher than the earth. The mind is to be disciplined, educated, trained; for we are to do service for God in ways that are not in harmony with inborn inclination.” — “Testimonies for the Church, Vol. VIII, page 314.”
We are amid the perils of the last days. Heaven is expending every energy to lead us or attract us from ourselves and earthly things, knowing that the curtain is about to be lifted, and every case decided either for weal or for woe. Our sanctification will be the result of a constant conflict with self. We shall need to learn what it means to die daily. Our will and our desires every day will conflict with duty and the will of God. Instead of following inclination, we shall do God’s will, however crucifying to our nature. “Christian integrity must be sought with resistless energy, and maintained with a resolute fixedness of purpose.” — “Id., page 313.” “No one will be borne upward without stern, persevering effort in his own behalf. All must engage in this warfare for themselves. Individually we are responsible for the issue of the struggle. Though Noah, Job, and Daniel were in the land, they could deliver neither son nor daughter by their righteousness.” — Ib.
True religion consists in doing the works of Christ. We do not do to earn his favor; we do not do to make ourselves Christians, but because we are Christians. “Christ places the salvation of man, not upon profession merely, but upon faith that is made manifest in works of righteousness. Doing, not saying merely, is expected of the followers of Christ. It is through action that character is built.” — “Mount of Blessing, page 215.”
“Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.” Matt. 7: 24. “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.” Dan. 12: 3. “God expects personal service from every one to whom he has intrusted a knowledge of the truth for this time. . . . There are many ways in which church members may give the message to those around them. One of the most successful is by living helpful, unselfish, Christian lives.” — “Testimonies for the Church, Vol. IX, page 30.”
We must work, winning our way by the tender ministry of love. We must leave no means untried to rescue sinners from the power of the enemy. “God is waiting for men and women to awake to their responsibilities. He is waiting for them to link themselves with him. Let them mark the signal of advance, and no longer be laggards in working out the will of the Lord.” — “Id., Vol. VII, page 13.”
From every angle that we view the Christian life, we see that it means service. Daily we must renounce inborn inclinations. We must put on the armor and go forth to the warfare, willing to do and dare for God. Soon the King of kings and Lord of lords is to lead forth the armies of heaven. His reward is with him to give to every man according as his work shall be. There will be two classes in that day: those who have improved their opportunities, those who have done well, those who, for his sake, have ministered to man’s necessities; and those who have neglected opportunities, those who have failed, those who have neglected this blessed ministry. Read Matt. 25: 34-46.
“Have you so deep an appreciation of the sacrifice made on Calvary that you are willing to make every other interest subordinate to the work of saving souls? The same intensity of desire to save sinners that marked the life of the Saviour, marks the life of his true follower. The Christian has no desire to live for self. He delights to consecrate all that he has and is to the Master’s service. He is moved, by an inexpressible desire to win souls to Christ.” — “Id., page 10.”
Christ has set us the example. He expects great things of his children. Shall we not, with a new and clearer vision, be about our Father’s business? The day hastens on apace that will try every man’s work. How shall we stand in that great day?

The Gospel Feast

By W. Letterman Smith

W. LETTERMAN SMITH
THE gospel feast is spread. “Come; for all things are now ready.” Luke 14: 15-24. The invitation is from the Master of the feast to you, dear reader.

The Master of the Feast

He is no other than the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the Ruler of heaven and earth, the Lord of glory. The resources of the whole universe are at his disposal. His love and wisdom are infinite. He knows full well the needs of your soul, and has made ample provision for them. The supply is in the measure of his love — limitless and free. And to this royal feast you are invited.

The Cost of the Feast

This is a costly feast to which you are invited. The price paid for each item of it was the tears, the agony, the blood, the death of the Son of God. And now to this rich feast, costly as it was to provide, you, dear reader, are invited to come, “without money and without price.” Isa. 55: 1-3.

The Provisions of the Feast

These are the very things your soul craves,—pardon, peace, joy, hope, guidance, true and lasting pleasures, eternal life, the bread of life, the water of life. Only at the gospel feast can these blessings be obtained; and only here can the soul be filled and satisfied. And to this soul-satisfying feast you are invited.

The Benefits Derived From the Feast

These are as manifold as your needs. Appropriating these most excellent things, the soul is saved, fed, nourished, strengthened for every good word and work, fitted for all the duties of life, and made meet for the marriage supper of the Lamb in the Father’s house above. See Rev. 19: 7-9. Moreover, the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5: 22, 23), planted in the heart, grows and ripens; and the likeness to Christ is developed and perfected in the soul, in the character, in the life. And to this great feast you are invited, that you may rejoice in all its blessed benefits.

The Company

What a goodly company is here gathered! Patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, reformers, saints,—the good of all the ages! But best of all, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Master of the feast, is here. And such holy companionship may be yours forever, if you will come to the gospel feast.

Who Are Invited?

You are invited. “But,” you say, “I am unfit to appear at the King’s banquet. I must wait until I am in better condition to go.” Listen! “Whosoever will” may come. Rev. 22: 17. The Master of the feast well knows your condition, yet he bids you come, come just now, come just as you are, without trying to make yourself any more worthy. Why, then, should you hesitate and delay? Come to him, and he will clothe you in the robe of his own spotless righteousness (Isa. 61: 10), and so make you fit to sit at his table. Come just now in penitence and faith, and you will receive a royal welcome.

When to Come

If you are invited to a repast, it is important to know the time when you are expected. The Master of the gospel feast has not left the time in uncertainty. Here is the invitation. It is for you. Read it carefully, and note well the time: “Come; for all things are now ready.” Luke 14: 17. “Now is the accepted time.” 2 Cor. 6: 2. Now the door is wide open, the table is spread, the guests are assembling, and the Master beckons and calls to you. Come at once. A day, yea, an hour, hence, and the door, now wide open, may be closed against you forever.

Excuses

Is it not strange, surpassing strange, that so many to whom the loving, earnest invitation to this glorious feast comes, begin at once to make excuse? While numberless in form, these excuses are the same in substance. The reason in every case is simply the lack of desire and willingness to go.
But we are persuaded better things of you. Are not the provisions of the gospel feast just such as your soul needs and craves? Then you will no longer slight the gracious invitation, will you?
The invitation requires an immediate answer. Delay not. Accept it at once. Come unto Jesus. Enter into the banquet hall. Feast your soul upon the provisions of God’s grace, and so be saved. Enter upon the higher, better life in Christ Jesus our Lord, and be prepared for usefulness here and for glory hereafter. Won’t you come?

The Inspiration of the Bible

By L. L. Caviness

L. L. CAVINESS
The inspiration of the Bible is one of the most vital doctrines of Christianity, yet there are some, even among professed members of the Christian church, who are either undermining this fundamental doctrine or allowing their belief to rest on false grounds.
“On what ground do we believe that the Bible is inspired? Some will give the ready answer, ‘We believe that the Bible is inspired because the church says so.’ . . . When we say that we accept the inspiration of the Bible because the church declares it, we are very much disposed to listen to what the church says on other things, rather than to what the inspired Book says; for we instinctively feel that the authority which establishes our authority must have more weight than the authority that is established. . . . Others there are who, when asked why they believe the Bible to be inspired, would reply: ‘It is because we have found it to be so, practically; by reading it we found our way to God; by searching it the will of God has become clearer to us; by living according to its precepts we have proved that they are divine.’”—“Inspiration and the Bible,” Robert F. Horton, London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1891, pages 4, 5.
When we come to the nature of this inspiration, we find numerous theories. It is well for all to differentiate clearly between the fact of inspiration and the diversity of theories as to its nature, which are held by equally earnest and sincere Christians.
“There are, it is well known, many theories of inspiration. But whatever view or theory of inspiration men may hold, plenary, verbal, dynamical, mechanical, superintendent, or governmental, they refer either to the inspiration of the men who wrote or to the inspiration of what is written. In one word, they imply throughout the work of God the Holy Ghost, and are bound up with the concomitant ideas of authority, veracity, reliability, and truth divine.”—“The Fundamentals,” Testimony Publishing Co., Vol. I, page 105.
The following two quotations will express the two views, Mr. Stowe holding that the men were inspired, and Bishop Wordsworth the writing:—
“It is not the words of the Bible that were inspired, it is not the thoughts of the Bible that were inspired; it is the men who wrote the Bible that were inspired. Inspiration acts not on the man’s words, not on the man’s thoughts, but on the man himself; so that he, by his own spontaneity, under the impulse of the Holy Ghost, conceives certain thoughts and gives utterance to them in certain words, both the words and the thoughts receiving the peculiar impress of the mind which conceived and uttered them.”—“Origin and History of the Books of the Bible,” C. E. Stowe, Hartford Publishing Co., Hartford, Conn., 1867, page 19.
“We are firmly persuaded that there are not any, even the least, errors or inaccuracies in the New Testament. . . . It is indeed true that the apostles and evangelists, whose instrumentality was used by the Holy Spirit in dictating Scripture to the world, were not infallible in practice. They were men, and liable to err. . . . In fact, the human fallibility of those persons by whose instrumentality Holy Scripture was written, and the inerrancy of Holy Scripture itself, written by their instrumentality, constitute together the very essence of inspiration.”—“New Testament,” Bishop Wordsworth, 6th edition, 1871, Vol. I, page 19.
The New Testament itself gives support to verbal inspiration:—
“1. Heb. 12:27. The writer of this epistle, quoting from Haggai 2:6, elaborates an important argument concerning the future judgment from the simple words ‘yet once more.’”
“2. Luke 20:37. Here the Lord Jesus proves to the Sadducees the doctrine of the resurrection by reminding them of the tense used by God when he spoke to Moses, centuries after the patriarch had been dead; namely, that he did not say, ‘I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,’ but ‘I am.’”
“3. Gal. 3:16. Here the Holy Spirit, writing by the apostle Paul, proves the necessity of simple faith in Christ apart from the works of the law, by calling attention to a single letter, s, in the Old Testament; namely, ‘He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.’”—“All About the Bible,” Sidney Collett, New York, Fleming H. Revell Co., page 82.
Let us next consider the method of this inspiration.
“The divine word which the Bible reveals to us passes through four successive forms before reaching us in a translation. First, it was from all eternity in the mind of God. Next, it was passed by him into the mind of man. In the third place, under the operation of the Holy Ghost, and by a mysterious process, it passed from the prophets’ thoughts, into the shapes and symbols of an articulate language; it took shape in words. Finally, after having undergone this first translation, alike important and inexplicable, men have reproduced and counter-chalked it, by a new translation, in passing it from one human language into another human language. Of these four operations, the three first are divine; the fourth alone is human and fallible.”—“Theopneustia; the Bible; Its Divine Origin and Inspiration,” L. Gaussen, Cincinnati, Cranston & Stowe, page 155.
It seems very clear that verbal inspiration can apply only to the documents as they were first written by their several authors. With this in mind, we are not surprised at errors in translations, or even at discrepancies in existing Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.
“Various readings are properly attributable to errors of copyists, or the designed work of revisers in transmission.”
“The holy revelation was committed to fallible men, and though it is true that God might have miraculously preserved the original autographs of the inspired writers, or restrained the various scribes from error in transcription, he has not thought fit to do so. That he might have thought fit to make fallible men infallible is true, but that he has done so is not true. No book was ever so solemnly and sacredly guarded from error and corruption as the Hebrew Bible, yet it is evident that the Bible has not been transmitted to us in the exact words in which it left the hands of the inspired writers. It is clear that the books have been exposed to the ordinary causes which deteriorate the text. The substance is the same, and the words in transmission have been so guarded that, however they may have been varied in transcription, the value of the substance has never been touched.”—“The Bible and Its Transmission,” Walter Arthur Copinger, London, Henry Sotheran & Co., 1897, pages 1–3.
The prophecies of the Bible are one of the surest proofs of the inspiration of the Bible, as H. L. Hastings, the anti-infidel writer, points out:—
“The Book, to my mind, bears the marks of inspiration in the foresight which it exhibits. This Book foretells things. You cannot do that. You cannot tell what will be next year, or next week. ‘The spirits’ cannot tell who will be the next president, or governor, or emperor. They may tell a great many things which are past. They may tell you who your grandmother was, and may copy the inscription on your grandfather’s gravestone, and may tell things which are written in the family record. They may reveal many things in the past,—for the devil knows about the past,—but they cannot foretell the future. I did hear of one spiritual medium who foretold her own death, and she died within a few hours; but when they got the stomach pump, they pumped out of her stomach poison enough to kill two or three. That kind of prophecy requires no omniscient foresight. . . . The revelations of prophecy are facts which exhibit the divine omniscience. So long as Babylon is in heaps; so long as Nineveh lies empty, void, and waste; so long as Egypt is the basest of kingdoms; so long as Tyre is a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; so long as Israel is scattered among all nations; so long as Jerusalem is trodden underfoot of the Gentiles; so long as the great empires of the world march on in their predicted course,—so long we have proof that one omniscient mind dictated the predictions of that Book, and ‘prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.’”—“Will the Old Book Stand?” H. L. Hastings, pages 18, 19.

Enduring Trials in Silent Submission

To be silent, to suffer, to pray, when we cannot act, is acceptable to God. A disappointment, a contradiction, a harsh word, received and endured as in his presence, is worth much.— Fenelon.

H. M. KELLEY

By H. M. Kelley

The Faith of Jesus — No. 3

H. M. KELLEY

Jesus once likened faith to a grain of mustard seed, and in the parable showed the possibilities that might be accomplished by it. The language is: “Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: but when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.” Mark 4:30. The seed of faith is sown in every heart, and if properly cultivated will bring forth fruit to the glory of God.
In the parable of the sower the Saviour said: “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in the heart.” Matt. 13:19. The seed may be good, the sower faithful, but if the heart is unsusceptible to the seed no fruit will appear. The germ of life is in the seed, but something in the heart may hinder its germination. Unbelief on the part of the hearer makes the gospel profitless to him. Paul said that those sinners who died in the wilderness, heard the gospel preached, “but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” Heb. 4:2.
Unbelief is responsible for the misunderstanding of God’s word, but faith enables us to understand and appreciateit. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.” Heb. 11:3. When we do not believe this declaration of God’s Word, the “wicked one” is permitted to “catch away that which was sown” in the heart. Unbelief is a foreign substance placed in the heart by the “wicked one” to counteract the word of God. It poisons the heart and defiles the soul. Faith is an antidote administered by the Lord to counteract unbelief and sin. Therefore, “whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” 2 Cor. 6:14, 15. There is just as much difference between unbelief and faith as there is between light and darkness; and it is just as possible to unite light with darkness as it is to unite unbelief with faith. As unbelief enters the heart, faith goes out; and as faith enters the heart, unbelief goes out, just as light dispels darkness. When we strengthen one, we weaken the other. As a room is lightened in proportion to the strength of the candle, so our souls are enlightened in proportion to the amount of faith we let come into our hearts.

Danger in Cultivating Unbelief

“Those who talk faith and cultivate faith will have faith; but those who cherish and express doubts will have doubts.”—“Testimonies for the Church, Vol. V, page 302. “Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Heb. 11:6. “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Rom. 14:23.
“While God has given ample evidence for faith, he will never remove all excuse for unbelief. All who look for hooks to hang their doubts upon will find them. And those who refuse to accept and obey God’s Word until every objection has been removed, and there is no longer an opportunity for doubt, will never come to the light.
“Distrust of God is the natural outgrowth of the unrenewed heart, which is at enmity with him. But faith is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it will flourish only as it is cherished. No man can become strong in faith without a determined effort. Unbelief strengthens as it is encouraged; and if men, instead of dwelling upon the evidences which God has given to sustain their faith, will permit themselves to question and cavil, they will find their doubts constantly becoming more confirmed.
“But those who doubt God’s promises and distrust the assurance of his grace are dishonoring him; and their influence, instead of drawing others to Christ, tends to repel them from him. They are unproductive trees, that spread their dark branches far and wide, shutting away the sunlight from other plants, and causing them to droop and die under the chilling shadow. The life work of these persons will appear as a never-ceasing witness against them. They are sowing seeds of doubt and skepticism that will yield an unfailing harvest.
“There is but one course for those to pursue who honestly desire to be freed from doubts. Instead of questioning and caviling concerning that which they do not understand, let them give heed to the light which already shines upon them, and they will receive greater light. Let them do every duty which has been made plain to their understanding, and they will be enabled to understand and perform those of which they are now in doubt.”—“Great Controversy, pages. 527, 528.
Herrin, Ill.
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