Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Dec 26, 1906
DECIDE FOR GOD NOW.
By Editor
THERE are many who will look back with sadness unutterable at the failures of the past year. They will weep over blasted hopes, and moral delinquencies. They will resolve at the beginning of the new year, about to dawn, never to fail again. They will "turn over a new leaf."
THEY have done thus many times. Year after year they have shed bitter tears over their failures. Year after year they have made new resolutions. Year after year has been marked by defeats and failure to overcome the propensities of the natural man. Why is it? The tears are sincere. The resolutions are honest. They were made to keep. The most of those who make such resolutions are professed Christians and expect the Lord to help them. Why do they fail?
WE can not take time to consider all or many of the possible causes of failure. Let it suffice that we point here to two only. These two will be found in most cases of failure. The first cause is that we depend on the resolution and our sense of honor to carry us through; and the second is, we decide only on special occasions, such as our birthday, New Year's Day, the Sabbath day, to do better; so that the very things which we thought would keep us from falling have ministered to our defeat. The resolutions and the times of making them become our enemies instead of our friends. We depend on the things that are utterly "without strength."
BUT let us in sincere repentance leave the sins and defeats, the failures and heartaches of the old year at the foot of the cross, and in the strength of Christ go forward to victory, making the year 1907 a glorious success. How?
FIRST, let all the failures of the past teach us this lesson that in ourselves we are "without strength," poor, wretched, sinful, naked, even as God has said. We may wish to do right; even so Paul was pleased with the law, "after the inward man." We make good resolutions; and he said, "To will is present with me." We fail and fail; he said, "How to perform that which is good I find not." He was trying to do in his own strength; so were we. We depend on our resolutions; but our resolutions are no stronger than we are, and we are no stronger than our failures. We are truly, in the graphic language of the Bible, "without strength."
IF we will by simple faith appreciate the truth of this fact, so clearly revealed by God, so abundantly confirmed by our failures, we will seek to the One who is stronger, and who "is not far from every one of us." All power in heaven and earth is His. He is the Creator of the heaven and the earth. "He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." He, in the weakness of humanity, has met the adversary of all righteousness, and vanquished him. Having known the weaknesses of human flesh, He sympathizes with us, and feels our infirmities. Infinite wisdom and power are pledged by Infinite Love to help us. Trust not in human resolution, honor, or weakness; trust in Him; for even "the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint." Blessed words which can not fail! Precious assurance to the very weakest of humanity; for "He giveth power unto the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength."
SECONDLY, do not trust to any special time or occasion for receiving help from God, or in living nearer to Him, save the present. The acceptable time is TO-DAY, NOW. "To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." "Behold, NOW is the acceptable time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2. You belong to God; give yourself to Him to-day. He purchased you at an infinite price in all your poverty of soul and sinfulness of heart. He bought you that He might place upon you His beauty. He wishes to do it now in character. He is not like a man who is so busy that he is compelled to say, "Not now, some other time." He is not like a moody autocrat, now angry, but who may be approachable by and by. He wants you to come now; He has bidden you to come now; and He declares NOW to be "the acceptable time."
THEREFORE yield to God now. You may not be alive to-morrow. Do it now. As you awaken in the morning, let your first thought be, "I belong to God." Let it possess you. Say unto Him: "Father, I belong to Thee; and I therefore yield myself to Thee to-day, body, soul, and spirit. Every organ of body, every faculty of mind, every affection of the heart, is Thine; take them and use them to Thy glory." Let it be the prayer of the heart. Have you a desire for aught of the world? for the lusts of the flesh? for worldly blessings? Leave them all with God. Make Him first at all times. When the temptation comes, learn to hide behind Him. See sin in its fruitage—death, and count it an enemy. Live in the now, yield to Christ now, feed upon His word now, believe into Him now, and every day will mark a chapter of a glorious new year, ever growing brighter to the dawning of that perfect day, when the fulness of the bliss of the kingdom of God will be one eternal now. Why not decide for God to-day, now?
THE ABUNDANT LIFE.
JESUS said concerning those who are His, "I am come that they might have life." John 10: 10. At another time, to the unbelieving Jews, He said, "And ye will not come unto Me, that ye might have life." John 5: 40.
It is evident from the above texts, and many others, that man does not have this life in himself naturally. In fact, it is by faith he receives it, and by faith he holds it, and it must come through Jesus Christ alone. Says John (20: 31), "These things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name." The apostle Paul says, "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God." Gal. 2: 20.
This is not man's soulical, or natural life, which he has in common with all the animal creation, sometimes called "this mortal life," because it surely ends in death; it is the life of God, or eternal life. True it is that all life comes from God, but all life is not God's life. There are bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial another. This is true of life. There is mineral life, and vegetable life, and animal life, and there is spirit life. They all come from God, but they are not all God's life. The law to which the life is subject gives the character of the life. The life of God is dominant over all lower forms of life, is the source of all life. It is higher, more potent, than all other manifestations of life, because it flows in the channels of the higher law.
The life of God is everlasting life. This is evident to all. "The everlasting God" possesses the everlasting life absolutely. It was "after the power of an endless life" that Christ was made priest for His people. This is the life, eternal life, which Jesus gives to His people. "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written4unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life." 1 John 5: 11-13. This life is the Spirit of God. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead [Rom. 6: 11, 12] because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." Rom. 8: 9, 10. As the mother imparts the life which she has to the child, so does the Spirit of which the child of God is born (John 3: 3-5) impart the life of that Spirit.
This is the life which man possessed as he came from the hand of God. He was not mortal, for in that case he was subject to death, whether he partook of the tree of life or not. He was not immortal, or he never would have died. He was simply a perfect physical being, possessing eternal life, which connected him with the Source of all life. He, too, possessed this life by faith. Had he believed God he would have continued to live eternally, and when his character had become fixed, his whole being would have been made immortal, not subject to death. Man sinned, and cut himself off from eternal life, and became a dying creature.
For eternal life is not possessed apart from God. It is not given in sections. God does not cut up into so many portions His life or His Spirit, and divide it among His people, for each to use as he will. God is one; His Spirit is one and inseparable. To that heart which is open to receive it that blessed Spirit comes in; but in coming into the heart of the believer, it does not separate from God. It rather forms the bond of union between the believer and God. It does not allow him a little part of the life of God to use as he will, but it binds him to the great Guide by a bond which is almighty in its strength, to lead him into paths marked out by the all-wisdom of God.
O, what a preciousness there is in the thought,—the life of Jesus manifest in our mortal flesh, no longer "alienated from the life of God"! Sinner, you may possess it. Open thy heart, yield it all—the sins, the lusts, the vileness—to Jesus, who has bought thee, and receive Him, His death for the death due to thee in consequence of thy sins, His life—a free gift—for thy life, His fulness for thy emptiness, His righteousness for thy sin. Cast thyself upon His mercy, and trust Him. He saith to thee, "He that cometh to Me I will in nowise cast out." Brother, sister, take comfort in the thought. Is sin hard to overcome in thy members? Let faith bring the life of Christ to that very member, that very weakness. Art thou in pain?—The life that is in Him is in thee, and the divine telegraph carries to Him the very feeling of thine infirmities. Is there not strength, power, blessing, rejoicing, in the thought, nay, in the fact? Let faith make it fact every day, every hour.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES FOR 1907
By Editor
LAST year we made sundry and various promises in connection with the SIGNS OF THE TIMES which were completely upset by the mighty temblor of April 18. In spite of that, we did our best to meet our promises. We are very grateful for the letters of sympathy and expressions of appreciation which have come to us from all over the field.
This year we wish again to set before our readers what we have planned for them:
I. Special Issues.
Our large MISSIONS SPECIAL which we had planned for last year was of necessity carried over. Just at the time when we were about to print it our fire came and our large rotary press was disabled. Very much of our manuscript and illustrations were burned, and we were compelled to begin all over again. We have gotten together matter again for one of the best mission numbers that was ever issued by any journal on earth; that will be published some time during the year and will mark the centennial of modern missionary work.
We hope to issue in the early part of the year a special number on SOCIALISM. This, also, we had planned for last year and had gathered much material for it, but we are willing to do this work all over again, setting before our readers and the Socialists of the country what these great movements mean in the light of prophecy.
II. A Topical Symposium.
We are planning for twenty-six issues of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES—those which come in the middle of the year—a special series of studies on important topics of the Bible to be given in as short, concise articles as the subject will allow, and supplemented by Bible readings. These subjects are as follows:
1. The Bible.
Oneness of the Scriptures and Their Inspiration.
2. Prophecy.
(a) Its Object and Scope.
(b) The Great Image of Daniel 2.
(c) The Four Beasts of Daniel 7.
(d) What His Coming Means to Those Who Reject Him.
3. The Coming of the Lord.
(a) Will He Actually Come Again?
(b) How Will He Come?
(c) What His Coming Means to the Righteous.
(d) What His coming Means to Those Who Reject Him.
(e) What His Coming Means to the Earth, Including the promised inheritance and the Everlasting Kingdom.
4. The Signs of the Times.
(a) Signs in the Sun, Moon, and Stars.
(b) Signs in the Physical Earth—Cyclones, Earthquakes, Tidal Waves, etc.
(c) Crop Failures, Destruction by Insects.
(d) Various False Isms Which Are Undermining Christian Faith.
(e) Capital and Labor.
(f) Socialism.
5. The Law and the Gospel.
(a) The Law—Its Scope, Character, and Perpetuity.
(b) The Gospel—What It Is and Its Purpose.
6. Our Sacrifice and Priest.
(a) The Lamb Slain from the Beginning.
(b) Our Sacrifice in Type and Shadow.
(c) The Ancient Sanctuary and Its Service.
(d) The Antitypical Sanctuary—Our Center of Worship.
(e) The Twenty-three Hundred Days Dan. 8:14.
(f) The Judgment and Its Message.
7. Man and His Destiny.
(a) The Man Created and His Nature.
(b) The Entrance of Sin and Its Ripened Fruit—Death.
(c) Righteousness and Life.
(d) Christ Our Life.
(e) The Resurrection.
8. The Sabbath, the Test of the Ages.
(a) Its Origin, Nature, and Object.
(b) The Sabbath in the Old Testament.
(c) The Sabbath in the New Testament.
(d) The First Day of the Week.
(e) The Change of the Sabbath.
(f) The Restoration of the Sabbath.
9. Religious Liberty.
(a) What It Is.
(b) Relation of Church and State.
(c) Teaching of the Scriptures.
(d) Religious Liberty in America.
(e) The Prophecy of Revelation 13.
10. Spiritual Gifts.
(a) What They Are, Their Purpose, and Distribution.
(b) Restoration in the Church.
11. Election, Predestination, and Free Will.
12. The Great Threefold Message.
(a) The Condition of the World.
(b) God's Healing Message.
(c) Message Rejected, and Result.
(d) The Beast.
(e) The Image.
(f) The Mark.
(g) The Result of the Messages.
(h) God's Sealing Work.
13. The Church.
(a) What the Church Is.
(b) The Called-out Ones.
(c) The Apostate Church.
(d) The Two Witnesses.
14. Bible Temperance.
(a) The Temple of God—Eating, Drinking, Dressing, Exercise, and Breathing.
(b) True Sanctification.
15. The Outpouring of the Spirit.
(a) The World's Great Need.
(b) Baptized for Service.
(c) The Power of Godliness.
III. Our Contributors.
Among our contributors for the year to come we shall number Prof. J. A. L. Derby, of the Washington (D. C.) Training College; Dr. L. A. Reed and Prof. G. W. Rine, of the Pacific Union College, Healdsburg, Cal.; Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Phippeny and Frances E. Bolton, of Battle Creek, Mich.; Messrs. A. G.761Daniells, Geo. B. Thompson, W. A. Spicer, W. A. Colcord, K. C. Russell, C. M. Snow, John D. Bradley, of Washington D. C.; Mr. John S. Wightman, Rome, N. Y.; Mr. J. O. Corliss, Mr. and Mrs. A. J. S. Bourdeau, and Mr. Max Hill, of Mountain View, Cal.; Mrs. E. G. White, Lillie D. Avery-Stuttle, and Mr. H. A. St. John, of St. Helena, Cal.; Flora E. Yergin, of Rainbow, Cal.; W. S. Sadler, M. D., Chicago; G. H. Hare, M. D., Fresno, Cal.; Messrs. E. T. Russell and A. T. Robinson, of College View, Neb.; R. S. Porter, Topeka, Kan.; G. W. Reaser and R. S. Owen, of Los Angeles, Cal.; W. M Healy, San Diego, Cal.; Mr. Francis McL. Wilcox, of Boulder, Colo., and many others whose large experience and thorough study of the subjects they will handle preeminently fit them for teachers of the truth.
IV. Foreign Correspondence.
We have three foreign correspondents in Europe who will keep the SIGNS readers apprised of the inwardness and meaning of the great movements which are taking place there,—Mr. Jean Vuillemeier, in Switzerland, the very center of European agitation; Mr. C. E. Milton, in Rome; Mr. M. E. Olsen, in London. The letters from these correspondents will fully discuss the great religio-political movements affecting the very life of the nations and the church.
V. Our Departments.
In our Home Department, Mrs. Stuttle will stay with us, and we have promise of some excellent, instructive stories from one of our old correspondents, Mrs. Elizabeth Patton.
We shall take up again the division which we made in our Home Department last year, giving two weeks of the month to general miscellany, one week to parents, and one to the young people. We hope to make this interesting to all our young readers.
In our Missions Department, we have some excellent articles already on hand from missionaries Mr. and Mrs. J. N. Anderson, in China; Prof. and Mrs. J. L. Shaw, in India; Mr. W. S. Hyatt, in Africa; and Mr. F. W. Field, on Korea; and we also expect articles from Mr. W. H. Wakeham, of Egypt; Messrs. Westphal and Steele, of South America.
Our department of Questions and Answers, which is of growing interest to our readers, will still be kept full, we are sure, judging from the constant increase of questions which are continually reaching us.
Our department of General Articles will discuss the whole great Gospel message. These articles will be supplemented by Bible readings, so that he who takes and reads the SIGNS OF THE TIMES for one year will get a greater knowledge of the scope and meaning of the Bible than many volumes would give him.
The prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation, the progress that Spiritualism in its various forms is making, the meaning of the various isms of the present day, and the great forward movements of the Papacy, will all be discussed, not from the mere outlook of the world, but from the higher, clearer view-point of God's 'more sure word of prophecy.'
The Hague Peace Conference.
In a short time comes the Hague Peace Conference. The world is looking for peace. What does it mean? We shall have special correspondents right on the ground at the time of the conference, which will lay before our readers the effort that earnest men are putting forth to secure peace, and just what it means.
Our Outlook Department will cover the whole world in its great vital questions as they will be presented in no other journal published. It will not take time to deal with mere ephemeral matters,—matters that are but for a day. It will not spend time on the mere election of this man or that man, but it will deal with the great vital movements—those which affect the world and the church and human destiny.
Our editorial force has sustained a loss in the death of Mr. William Newton Glenn; but Mr. Asa Oscar Tait, who has been nominally connected with the paper for some time, will now give his whole interest and attention to editorial work.
These are a part of the things which we hope to lay before our readers in the year 1907. We appeal to them in view of this to help us to give the paper as wide a circulation as possible. We feel that it is worthy of a hundred thousand circulation within the coming year. We are sure if they will lift with us it can be brought to that, and by that means probably a million souls will be more fully enlightened in regard to the days in which we are living, and the tremendous issues which are before us.
THE EDITOR.
Humility Before God
By D. L. Moody
THE law stops every man's mouth. God will have a man humble himself down on his face before Him, with not a word to say for himself. Then God will speak to him, when he owns that he is a sinner, and gets rid of all his own righteousness.—D. L. Moody.
Question Corner
By Editor
1959.—"Children and Children."
Please harmonize Matt. 8: 12, about the "children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness," with "suffer the little children to come unto Me."
You will see by the context that Matt. 8: 12 refers to the Jews, to those whom the Lord had called to His kingdom, those whom He would have used to call out others to His kingdom, and they are called the "children of the kingdom," because they had been born into all its privileges; but they had misused these privileges, and by utterly rejecting them and setting them aside, they were rejecting their own salvation. Jesus did not mean by the "children of the kingdom" that they were converted people. He was taking them simply as the literal descendants of the fathers. By the children in the second passage, "suffer the little children," Jesus meant actual little children such as came to Him and to whom He spoke the words. Even so will it be with those who accept His words in child-like faith and simplicity.
1960.—Josephus and the Sunday.
I was told that Josephus said that undoubtedly the early Christians kept Sunday. Can you tell me what he did say? I have tried to find it, but can not.
We recall no reference whatever in Josephus to Sunday. The Christians at an early date did observe an hour or two of Sunday, and of Thursday, the day of the betrayal and ascension, also of Friday, the crucifixion. They did not, however, regard these days as having any sacredness; but these were not the earliest Christians. We have no other record aside from the New Testament that tells us what the early church did. Errors crept into the church remarkably early. The apostle Paul tells us in Second Timothy 2 that the mystery of iniquity did already work in his day. Converted heathen brought into the rapidly growing church soon perverted the purity of the organization.
We have no special SIGNS for December. The regulars are, however, especially full of good matter.
1961.—Destruction of Little Children.
Does Eze. 9:5 refer to the destruction of the heathen? If so, why are little children destroyed?
It seems very clear to us that the prophecy of Ezekiel points out first of all sins in the time of Israel when he wrote, and that this was made a prophecy of the last days. There is a strong parallelism between Ezekiel 9 and Revelation 7. The little children there referred to are doubtless those who are involved in the sins spoken of in the chapter before; in other words, they have not the mark of God upon them showing that their sins are all washed away, and the character of God is stamped upon them. That mark seems to be equivalent to God's name and seal, as set forth in Rev. 14:1-5 and Rev. 7:1-3. It implies that the character has been changed so that it is like God's character. Little children not having that character must be possessed of other which is worthy only of destruction. We would not understand from the expression that it refers to irresponsible souls.
1962.—When Was Satan Cast Out?
When or at what age of the world were Satan and his followers cast out of heaven?
If our querist asks it in the sense of the prophecy of Rev. 12:9, it was at the time of our Lord's first advent, at the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Satan staked his all upon that great event. If he could overthrow the Son of God in the likeness of poor, weak, sinful flesh, he would have triumphed forever, but he was cast down. Our Lord met him in every conceivable way that it was possible for a creature to be tempted, met him as an angel previous to His incarnation, met him after His incarnation; from the time of the temptation in the wilderness to the time that He yielded up His life on the cross; but in all things Jesus conquered by the righteousness of faith. He died for the sake of the sinful, was locked in the tomb by the strongest seal which Satan possessed in this earth, that of the Romans; but the righteousness of Christ Jesus broke the seal and demonstrated by that resurrection that He was the Son of God. Rom. 1:1-4. Of that very time Jesus says, "Now is the judgment [or crisis] of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out." Then it was that that song of triumph ascended in heaven: "Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God day and night."
1963.—The Best Commentary.
What author in your opinion is the most helpful commentary on the Old and New Testaments?
It is a pretty difficult matter to state whose is the most helpful commentary. It is rarely indeed that any one theologian writes as a commentator on the whole Bible. Dr. Adam Clarke so wrote; Matthew Henry, also; Lange's Commentary has covered the whole Bible, and, of all the commentaries, that probably is the fullest, the most exhaustive written under the supervision of any one person. Presumably one could by careful selection get a better commentary by taking different authors. Matthew Henry's is highly prized by many. The best concise commentary that we know is Jamieson, Faussett & Brown's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments. A good New Testament commentary is Alford's, one of the best, it seems to us. None of these are perfect by any means. They are better for explaining the customs and critical meanings of texts, but are not always to be depended on for doctrine.
THE GREAT SALVATION
By Geo. W. Reaser
By GEO. W. REASER.
ANGELS IN THE PLAN OF SALVATION.
"If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things."
THE chief gift of God's love to man was His only-begotten Son. Having bestowed the richest, most precious gift of His infinite love, it naturally follows that, in order to insure the salvation of those for whom the Son gave His life, the Father will freely confer every needful lesser gift. He would empty heaven of every available resource for the accomplishment of the plan of redemption before He would permit it to fail. No greater proof that God is not against us, but is 'for us,' could be asked or given than has been furnished; and if the Source of all strength in the universe has pledged His power in our behalf, it is madness for any rival power to be pitted against us; therefore, when we feel condemnation for sin, let not Satan deceive us in his effort to make it appear that God is against us, nor by magnifying his strength and the power of sin as superior to the power of God.
One of the resources among the "all things" of the King of heaven, who has undertaken to save sinful men, is "an innumerable company" of messengers or angels, of whom it was written that they are "all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." Some read this encouraging promise with the idea that it applies only to those who have become "heirs of salvation;" but it also has application to, and contains a promise for, those who will yet yield to the influence of the Holy Spirit, and thereby become heirs of salvation. In fact, it is a part of the plan of God in saving men to make His angels active agents for their salvation.
Channels of His Spirit.
The agency by which the mind is drawn to God and impressed to yield, is the Holy Spirit, but the Scriptures imply that the Lord commissions angels to come and impart the Holy Spirit. Not that we would "limit the Holy One of Israel" by saying that He bestows the Spirit only by the administration of angels, but it is true that the Most High even employs human instrumentalities for conferring this gift, "through the laying on of hands," and why may He not grant the same privilege to holy angels?
Evidence of this may be found by a comparison of the thoughts of Rev. 7: 1-3 with Eph. 4: 30. In the former scripture, the angels are clearly represented as performing the sealing work upon God's people. In the latter reference we are warned against grieving "the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Both of these agencies are represented as doing the same work—namely, that of sealing those who, through grace, have developed Christ-like characters. We are therefore justified in the conclusion that angels are delegated to administer the Holy Spirit to the children of men. May they not be called "ministering spirits" because one feature of their work is to administer the Holy Spirit?
Still further evidence of this thought may be found in the experience of our Saviour. It is written of Him that, at the end of His forty days' fast, and at the termination of Satan's temptations; and again after His having endured the agony in the Garden,—on each of which occasions His physical strength completely failing—an angel came to Him, strengthening Him. It appeals to reason that the strengthening process was the impartation of the Spirit by the angel, for it is written that we may be "strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man," and doubtless Jesus was thus strengthened.
Two Classes of Angels.
It may be well to observe that there are two classes of angels in the universe. The one class—all of whom are co-operating with the government of Heaven in putting down rebellion, and in the plan of salvation—are called God's angels; also "elect angels." The other class, joining Satan in His rebellion, are mentioned as "the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation" and are "reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." The latter class are the "demons" of the Scriptures, and fight, permitted, under Satan, their commander, against Christ and His angels. But as the power of God is immeasurably superior to that of Satan,—for even the life and all of the power of the latter are only loaned to him of God,—and God's angels are clothed with His power, therefore no heavenly messenger can ever be overthrown or defeated by all of the hosts of Satan.
Subject to Children of God.
When the Saviour was here, as a man among men, these demons feared and trembled in His presence, crying out, "Art Thou come to torment us before the time?" Wherever He found an individual demented, or controlled by these demons, He always cast them out, thus delivering the captive from "the strong;" yea, demons are subject to the children of God, through faith in His name. Luke 10: 17.
For the encouragement of the one who may be perplexed over this question, I will say that neither class of angels can control the mind unless the mind is yielded to their control. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh unto God and He will draw nigh to you." We have our free choice of leadership and companionship. Happy is the individual who submits to God,—who opens the door of his heart for Christ to enter by His Spirit, and who courts the companionship of heavenly angels.
Since all of the heavenly angels are at our service, in the plan of salvation, it should be a matter of much interest to us to know something of their position in heaven and of their power and sphere of action. In the early part of the book of Hebrews, nearly all of the resources of the plan of salvation are introduced, beginning with God the Father and God the Son. It is here clearly stated that the heavenly messengers are not equal in power or position with the Son, for they bow before Him in true reverence and in joyful worship, while angels are not to be worshiped by any of God's creatures, even tho they are much superior to man. When some of the holy men of God—prophets of the Most High—have beheld angels who were clothed with the glory of God,—indicative of their holiness and purity of character,—they have fallen at their feet to worship, but this reverence has always been refused by loyal angels, who direct all worship to God. Not so, however, with Satan and fallen angels; they invite worship to themselves, and thereby detract from the worship and glory of God. Satan has ever presented objects of worship to the children of men, but in the closing scenes of this world's history he will inspire men to compel their fellow men to worship a rival to God. At this same time there will be a world-wide message proclaimed with power, which will reason and plead with men to worship only the one God, the Creator. Rev. 14: 6, 7.
Heavenly angels are represented as carrying the message which calls all men to worship God; but, as the preaching of the Gospel is committed to men, we understand that the angels' part in the proclamation of this message is to inspire men for their ministry and to protect them and co-operate with them while they are thus engaged. The fallen angels inspire men "who preach any other gospel."
Following the inspiration and leadership of angels of light eventually plants the feet of believers upon the "sea of glass, before the throne of God;" while rendering obedience to the opposite class will surely lead to the blackness of despair and eternal ruin.
THE GIFT OF OUR LORD.
By Susan Birdsall-Roberts
THRICE blessed Gift when Christ my Lord
To Bethlehem's lowly manger came.
Thrice blest the song the angels sang,
With joy His advent to proclaim.
Hail to the Child, the King of Kings,
Immanuel—God-with-us still.
Still o'er the earth His message rings,
Peace, peace on earth, to men good-will.
Hail to our King, God's greatest Gift
A sinning, wicked world to save;
Bear on the message, strong and swift,
Peace, blessed peace, to all who crave.
SUSAN BIRDSALL-ROBERTS.
Set Your Affections on Things Above
"Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth." Col. 3: 2.
THE PAPACY IN PROPHECY
By ABDIEL
FUTURE RESTORATION.
ONE of the great remedies which the world has ever exalted as a panacea for all superstition and religious perversity, is knowledge, enlightenment, education. We have been told in divers ways at divers times that all that the world needs to save it from Roman Catholicism or the influence of the Papacy, was knowledge, education. It has been vainly fancied that because the fold of the Catholic Church contained so many in its spacious enclosure who were grossly ignorant, it was, therefore, a religion of the ignorant and unenlightened.
But those who so reason do not recognize what history shows to be a patent fact, that intellectuality has but little to do with religion or superstition. Some of earth's greatest and keenest in intellect and learning have been most superstitious. Such an eminent man as Sir Thomas More, as Macaulay remarks, "was ready to die for the doctrine of transubstantiation." And many others have followed the most foolish fancies. The great English writer again remarks: "A very common knowledge of history, a very little observation of life, will suffice to prove that no learning, no sagacity, affords a security against the greatest errors on subjects relating to the invisible world. Johnson . . . would not believe in the earthquake at Lisbon, but he was willing to believe in the Cock Lane ghost. For these reasons we have ceased to wonder at any vagaries of superstition. . . . The history of Catholicism strikingly illustrates these observations."
Bible Evidence.
These observations find, and will more and more find, ample demonstration in these last days. Moreover, the "sure word of prophecy" clearly predicts the restoration of the Papacy to a greater influence and power than she possessed in the Dark Ages; and it clearly shows that the Papacy will be a persecutor even to the end. We will not attempt to exhaust the Bible evidence upon this; five scriptures must suffice.
1. The closing career of the little horn of Daniel 7, which those who have followed these articles know, has been demonstrated to be the symbol of the Papacy, the spiritual lord over the ten-divisioned kingdom of Rome, the wearer out of the saints, the changer of the law of God; and its long period of triumph numbered a time, times, and a half, or 1,260 years. This period began in 538 when the bishop of Rome became, under Justinian's decree, "the head over all the churches," and "true and only corrector of heretics," and continued till 1798, when the power of the Papacy had become effectually checked by the influence of the Reformation and the action of Catholic France and Austria.
The prophet is told the length of this career, and the fact is implied that the persecution of this period would come to an end. But the little space, the valley, so to speak, between the mountain peaks of papal supremacy and papal restoration the prophet does not see nor mention, tho we may learn it by faithful study of this chapter. But he very clearly predicts the papal restoration by pointing out its character and work at the end of the world: "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." Dan. 7: 21, 22.
It is at the coming of the Lord, and not till then, that the saints will sit in judgment, and will enter upon their inheritance. 1 Cor. 4: 5; Matt. 25: 31; 16: 27. Therefore the little horn power, the Papacy, will be a persecutor when Christ comes.
2. The beast-power of Revelation 13, under the head which endured forty-two months—1,260 years—was wounded to death, and died, never more to rise, thought many. But the prophecy declares differently; the deadly wound is to be healed. Rev. 13: 3, 12. The healing of that beast-power means the restoration of the Papacy.
3. The last phase of the great threefold message of Rev. 14: 6-14 warns equally against the beast and his image, two living, active powers in opposition to God down to the very end of probation. Rev. 14: 9-20. Of what force would be a warning message against a power which does not exist?
4. The visitation of the plagues of God's wrath upon sin and wickedness occurs just before Jesus comes. The first of these plagues falls upon the worshipers of the beast, and the fifth upon his kingdom. Rev. 16: 1, 2, 3, 10. This shows that the Papacy is a living, active agency right down to the time when probation closes and the nations are judged.
5. The great apostate church is represented in Revelation as a woman, Babylon by name. Just before Christ comes she will say: "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow." Rev. 18: 7. Ever since the Catholic Church was cut off from its spiritual worship over civil powers, she has bemoaned her widowhood. The seventeenth chapter of Revelation declares that the civil powers will restore her to the position she lost. Then she will utter the sentiment quoted above. She will be widow no longer. The whole world is at her feet.
That time is near to come. As never before the nations of earth are falling under her influence. France may be breaking chains; Rome is more than making lost ground in Germany and the United States. In a little while the song of triumph will be sung, the Papacy will be restored, and persecution will be renewed.
Then God gives us what will then occur—"therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her." Rev. 18: 8. Here the evidence is left with our readers. Let them weigh it in the light of the judgment.