International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 1, 1885
General Articles.
By Ellen G. White
To Every Man His Work.
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
WHEN Christ finished his ministry on earth and ascended to his Father, he bade his disciples take up the work where he left it, and carry it forward to completion. More than eighteen centuries have passed since that command was uttered, but it has lost none of its force. And now the last warning message of mercy, the closing invitation of the gospel, is going forth to the world. A great work is to be accomplished, a work which will require most earnest, determined effort. Every one who has received the light of truth is required, in his turn, to aid in giving the light to others. Those whom Christ has chosen as his representatives, should manifest courage and perseverance in laboring in the gospel field. They need much forethought and wisdom from God if they would see fruits attending their labors, similar to those that crowned the ministry of Christ. Moments are more precious than gold. If we would at last share the reward of the righteous, we must wisely improve the time of our probation. We have been redeemed by the blood of Christ; our time, our talents, belong to him. We should improve every opportunity to advance the cause of our Master.
We should seek to preserve the full vigor of all our powers, for the accomplishment of the work before us. Whatever detracts from physical vigor, weakens mental effort. Hence every practice unfavorable to the health of the body, should be resolutely shunned.
Says the great apostle, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." We cannot maintain consecration to God, and yet injure our health by the willful indulgence of a wrong habit. Self-denial is one of the conditions, not only of admission into the service of Christ, but of continuance therein. Christ himself declared, in unmistakable language, the conditions of discipleship: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me."
Yet how many who call themselves Christians are unwilling to exercise self-denial, even for Christ's sake. How often the love for some pernicious indulgence is stronger than the desire for a sound mind in a sound body. Precious hours of probation are spent, God-given means squandered, to please the eye or to gratify the appetite. Custom holds thousands in bondage to the earthly and sensual. Many are willing captives; they desire no better portion.
There are few who walk in the clear light of God's word, who maintain their freedom in Christ by daily self-denial. Yet none need fail in this work of self-renunciation. God will give help to every earnest seeker. He reads the intents and purposes of the heart. He marks every soul-struggle. If we sincerely seek his grace, our life will correspond with the faith we profess; our light will shine forth in good works to the world.
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked." He knows whether our hearts are wholly devoted to his service, or are given to the things of the world. We may profess what we will; but unless our life corresponds with our profession, our faith is dead. The rule given by the apostle Paul is the only safe rule for our guidance in all the affairs of life. "Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." In the selection of our food, we should not seek merely to please the taste, but should choose that which is most healthful; in dress we should seek that which is simple, comfortable, convenient, and appropriate.
The coming of the Lord draweth nigh. We have but a little time in which to make ready. If precious opportunities are slighted, the result will be eternal loss. We need a close connection with God. We are not safe a moment, unless guided and controlled by the Holy Spirit. The soul should be often uplifted to God in prayer, even while we are engaged in our business vocations. These silent prayers rise like precious incense before the throne of grace. Satan is baffled. He cannot overcome the Christian whose heart is thus stayed upon God. No hellish arts can destroy his peace. All the promises of God's word, all the power of divine grace, all the resources of Jehovah, are pledged to secure his deliverance.
If we would not be misled by error and falsehood, the heart must be pre-occupied with the truth. The word of God will furnish the mind with weapons of divine power, to vanquish the enemy. Happy is the man, who, when tempted, finds his soul rich in the knowledge of the Scriptures, who finds shelter beneath the promises of God. "Thy word," said the psalmist, "have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." We need now, as never before, that calm, steady faith, that undaunted moral courage, which none but Christ can give, to brace us for trial and strengthen us for duty.
My fellow-Christian, we are far from reaching the divine standard. Our works do not correspond with our privileges and opportunities. Few devote themselves unreservedly to the service of God. Few are accomplishing all that they might accomplish if they would wisely put to use the talents that God has given them. The powers that are suffered to lie dormant should be strengthened and developed by active work for the Master. Some who would gladly be useful in the cause of Christ, are hindered by timidity and self-distrust. Such persons need encouragement. Many possess latent powers of which they are wholly unconscious. They should be aroused to put to use their God-given ability. Many refuse to enter the harvest-field because they cannot do as great a work as some others. But there is work for all to do. When one excuses himself, the burden rests more heavily upon others, who must do their own part and also that of the delinquent.
Christ has left his work on earth to be carried forward by his disciples. Love for Jesus will be manifested in a desire to work for him. Love for Jesus will lead to love, tenderness, and sympathy for his followers. Those who are partakers of the grace of Christ, will be willing to make any sacrifice that others for whom he died may share the heavenly gift. They will do all they can to make the world better for their sojourn in it. The Lord is not pleased with our weak, inefficient efforts, our indifference and indecision concerning matters of eternal moment. Whatever we do for the salvation of souls, should be done with zeal and devotion, as though this were—as indeed it is—the most important work that can engage our attention. We must work with the same earnestness with which Christ worked. Our efforts should be marked by intensity and perseverance, proportionate to the importance of the object which we seek—eternal life.
There is a great need for conscientious, enthusiastic workers. The time for labor is short. The months of 1885 are swiftly passing. Soon this year, with its burden of records, will be numbered with the past. Let the precious months remaining be devoted to earnest labor for our Master. Could we behold a faithful record of the manner in which we have spent the months already passed, would the view be satisfactory? Deduct every action which would benefit no one, which was performed merely to gratify "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life," and how little remains of willing service performed for the glory of God. Is not the record alarming? How many will have such an account to meet in the day of final judgment? How many precious hours have been squandered in selfish gratification! How often, to please ourselves, have we neglected opportunities to work for Christ! Even when we consecrate to God the full strength of our powers, we can do but little in comparison with all that Christ has done for us. Let us then serve him with undivided affection, by zeal and fidelity manifesting our gratitude for the love which we are powerless to repay.
In the service of God there is no middle ground. Said Christ, "He that is not with me is against me." Let none expect to make a578compromise with the world, and yet enjoy the blessing of the Lord. Let God's people come out from this world, and be separate. Let us seek more earnestly to know and to do the will of our Father in Heaven. Let the light of truth that has shown upon us be so received that its bright rays may go forth from us to the world. Let unbelievers see that the faith we hold makes us better men and better women; that it is a living reality, sanctifying the character, transforming the life. Let the word of God dwell richly in our hearts. Let our conversation be upon heavenly things. Let us surround ourselves with an atmosphere of Christian cheerfulness. Let us show that our religion can stand the test of trial. Let us by our kindness, forbearance, and love, prove to the world the power of our faith.
Many who set out well in the Christian life are losing spiritual strength, and placing themselves in the enemy's power, by their indulgence in vain and trifling conversation. They cannot look up to God with holy confidence, to ask for needed strength. By their irreligious course they bar the way of souls that might have come to Christ. Let these careless triflers remember that every word and act is photographed in the books of Heaven. No human hand can erase one disgraceful blot.
Life with its marvelous privileges and opportunities, will soon be ended. The time for improvement in character will be past. Unless our sins are now repented of and blotted out by the blood of the Lamb, they will stand in the ledger of Heaven to confront us in the coming day.
As we are daily brought in contact with those who have not a knowledge of Christ and the truth, shall we talk only of our farms, our merchandise, our gains and losses, or shall we speak of those things which concern our future life? Shall we seek to win souls to Jesus? Oh, what shameful neglect of duty stands registered against the professed followers of Christ! Let us earnestly examine ourselves by the light of God's word, seeking to discover every defect of character, that we may wash our robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Life is short. The things of the world must perish with the using. Let us be wise, and build for eternity. We cannot afford to idle away our precious moments, or engage in busy activities that will bring forth no fruit for eternity. Let the time hitherto devoted to idleness, frivolity, worldliness, be spent in gaining a knowledge of the Scriptures, in beautifying our life, and blessing and ennobling the life and character of others. This work will meet the approval of God, and win for us the heavenly benediction of "Well done."
ASKING.
By Frances Ridley Havergal
"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Luke 11:13.
"O HEAVENLY Father, thou hast told
Of a gift more precious than pearls and gold;
A gift that is free to every one,
Through Jesus Christ, thy only Son;
For his sake, give it to me!
"O give it to me, for Jesus said
That a father giveth his children bread,
And how much more thou wilt surely give
The gift by which the dead shall live?
For Christ's sake, give it to me!
"I cannot see and I want the sight;
I am in the dark and I want the light;
I want to pray, and I know not how;
O, give me thy Holy Spirit now!
For Christ's sake, give it to me!
"Thou hast said it, I must believe;
It is only ask and I shall receive;
If thou didst say it, it must be true;
And there's nothing else for me to do!
For Christ's sake, give it to me!
"So I come and ask, because my need
Is very great, and real indeed;
On the strength of thy word I come and say,
O let thy word come true to-day!
For Christ's sake, give it to me!"
—Frances Ridley Havergal.
The Pope's Toleration To-Day.
WE recently published the order from the Vatican expelling a Protestant preacher from Rome in 1866. That was nearly twenty years ago, and under a former pope. Now read this from Pope Leo XIII., addressing his cardinals last Christmas:—
“It is with deep regret and profound anguish that we behold the impiety with which Protestants propagate freely, and with impunity their heretical doctrines, attacking the most august and the most sacred dogmas of our very holy religion, even here, at Rome, the center of the faith and the seat of the universal and infallible teacher of the church; here, where the integrity of the faith should be protected and the honor of the only true religion should be secured by the most efficient means.
“It is with sorrow of heart that I see the temples of heterodoxy multiplying under the protection of the laws, and liberty given in Rome to destroy the most beautiful and most precious unity of the Italians, their religious unity, by the mad efforts of those who arrogate to themselves the impious mission of establishing a new church in Italy, not based on the stone placed by Jesus Christ as the indestructible foundation of his heavenly edifice.”
He declares it is with sorrow of heart that he sees Protestantism establishing churches in Italy “under the protection of the laws.” Happily he no longer makes the laws, but if he could he would expel every Protestant minister from Rome, from Italy, from Europe, from the world.—N. Y. Observer.
Lovers of Pleasure.
"Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." 2 Tim. 3:4.
LARGE doors turn on little hinges; great thoughts turn on small words. The Old Version makes Paul say, "Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." The New Version reports him as saying, "Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." A change of a single word, yet changing the sense of the teaching entirely. The former is inclusive, God and pleasure; the latter is exclusive, God or pleasure; the one is true to human nature, the other to Paul's thought. "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Matt. 6:24. It is either God or pleasure, not God and pleasure.
"The seed is the word of God." "And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection." Luke 8:11, 14. "For we ourselves also were sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures." Titus 3:3. "But these, as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime." 2 Pet. 2:12, 13.
Note the classification of Paul. "Men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof; from these also turn away." All this cluster hangs upon the stem of self; every grape drawing juice from that stem is poisonous. Challenge the pleasure-seeker, and you will find his whole aim in life is self-gratification. One theater is chosen rather than another, because it suits him better; one play is preferred to another, because it pleases him better; all the choices of life are made with an eye to self. It may be pleasure sought to drown sorrow, to kill time, to give pleasurable sensations, but all is for self, all for self. A boy begins the use of tobacco because it ministers to a false ideal; he thinks he will be more manly; the end is the satisfaction of this ideal in himself; soon the appetite is formed, then he must minister to that, regardless of the privileges and rights of others, it is enough that it satisfies him. The same is true of alcoholic liquors. The main reason for the beginning and continuation of their use lies in their ministry to self. Love of pleasure excludes love of God.
Discriminate sharply between recreation and pleasure. Recreation is a means to an end, pleasure is an end in itself. Recreation is legitimate, needful, it re-creates, renews, restores, refits for service; pleasure wastes energy, dissipates force; the lover of pleasure is "without self-control." Men must rest; they cannot, like the brook, "go on forever." The wheels of industry must be stopped. Even the Master must needs go aside into the desert place to rest awhile. Elijah is as near to God beneath the juniper bush as on Mount Carmel. Recreation is rest or change of action for renewed service; pleasure is an end in itself, and is unworthy thoughtful creatures. A moment's comparison of recreation-seekers and pleasure-seekers, at the beginning of the working season, will show a gulf between the two in motive and in result. The one comes back, like the bee, laden; the other, like the butterfly, on empty wing. The root of pleasure is love of self; the fruit is loss of self-control; the power to enjoy self is taken from the man who seeks pleasure. Every man commends usefulness, and condemns selfishness; the essence of the love of pleasure is love of self. Anything that is loved purely and simply because it ministers to self shuts out love to God. Not a parent of us all but that trains our children to live for others and for God; but that would count a selfish child a fit subject for correction. "The heavens declare the glory of God." Surely man was not made to declare his own glory, to live for self, to seek pleasure.
Let us now apply our principle to two special cases, the rink and the theater. The first objection to the rink is that people seek it for pleasure. There may be exceptions, but I am persuaded that most of those who haunt the rink, do so for purely selfish reasons. It ministers a present pleasure to them, without regard to ultimate end, this way or that. The rink substitutes one form of pleasure for another. "Lovers of pleasure" turn from the old dissipation to the new, as the Athenians turned from the old teaching to the new. An argument constantly urged in favor of the rink is that it draws people from the bar-room and the theater. As a higher form of pleasure, this may be an advantage; but so long as it is simply for pleasure as an end, it comes under the condemnation of the text. While the rink may draw some up to a higher form of pleasure, it draws many others down to the level of pleasure-seekers. I have yet to learn that scholars are better students, clerks are more faithful, mothers more devoted to the family, Christians more active for Christ, or the lost drawn any nearer to God, because of the rink.
The second objection to the rink is that it is built and run simply and solely as a money-making scheme. Some one will at once reply, "Men go into business to make money." If men go into business to make money simply, if the business does not add to the sum total of human well-being, if any particular line of manufacturing or trade is sought for the sake of money, and not in part for the good of man, then the seeker comes under the condemnation of a "lover of money." "They that desire to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." The men who object to this argument would be the first to say, "A man ought not to enter the ministry for money," and yet the ministry is only one way of serving God. Any institution that ministers to lovers of pleasure on the one hand, and lovers of money on the other, and finds its reason for being in this twofold ministry, deserves condemnation. The next objection is physiological. Says a writer in a recent number of the Congregationalist:—
"Personal inquiries from no less than six physicians, some of them leading practitioners, have elicited the strongest condemnation of the rink.
"Said one: 'Is any exercise conducive to health that is carried on in an ill-ventilated room, where the atmosphere is poisoned with scores of breaths, some redolent with tobacco, some foul with disease, and some scented with strong drink? Is it conducive to health to exercise violently in an intolerable heat, and then take a sudden cooling draught from an open window?'
"Said another: 'In most cases nowadays, when misses come to us for medical advice in regard to some new form of illness, the first question we put is, "Have you been to the579skating rink?"' He also added that the late Dr. Thorndike, one of the most eminent physicians of Boston, remarked to him shortly before his death, that he had attended no less than fifteen cases of spinal affection coming directly from the skating rink.
"Another said: 'The movements of skating on rollers are all injurious. The ankles stiffen, and often swell badly from the severe strain, and the knee joint loses its ease of action; the spine sometimes suffers greatly, especially among girls and women, in whom the dangers of future disease are much greater from all such exercise.'
"Says Dr. Frank Hamilton: 'The exercise is violent. Those who practice it are exceedingly liable to fall, much more so than in ice-skating with the ordinary skate, and it calls into action muscles which are unused to severe strains. Scarcely a day passes that I do not see or hear of some one who has suffered injury in a skating rink. In the majority of these cases the injury has proved to be a severe strain through the loins, or the muscles of the upper part of the thigh and the region of the groin, accompanied with swelling and severe pains in the latter region. For women and girls especially, I consider it a dangerous pastime. If one were to make it the business of a lifetime to walk on roller skates, no doubt his or her muscles and joints would become used to it, and eventually suffer no harm. But there is much danger, and there are many chances that before they would have arrived at this immunity from harm they would meet with many serious accidents and permanent injuries. It is a most dangerous form of amusement, and the sooner the craze subsides the better.'
"Dr. Sayre, the famous surgeon, and Dr. Boseman, both talked in the same strain; and called attention to the many serious accidents attendant upon roller skating. Dr. Sayre explained the tendency of the roller skate to fly forward and let the skater fall in a sitting posture, or strike the back of the head, and how, owing to the construction of the skate, it was liable to produce bunchy and loose-jointed knees and ankles, and consequently an ungraceful carriage."
Another objection is on the ground of its mental effect. The rink has a peculiar fascination over the minds of those who frequent it. It is bad enough when a man is in a rink, but far worse when the rink gets into a man. The mind is filled with memories of yesterday's sport and hopes of to-morrow's fun. The body may be in the school-room or office, but the mind is in the rink. The mind has its "protracted vision" as well as the eye. "Lovers of pleasure" see everything through the medium of the pleasure. "The harvest of a quiet eye" is denied; the rink dissipates mental energy, unfits the mind for the serious business of life.
The chief objection to the rink, based upon its effects, is the moral. The rink grades down and not up. It is not merely that bad men have abused it, but that the whole tone of the place is demoralizing; not merely that here a man and there a woman have broken the bounds of decency, but that a malaria hangs over the institution as an institution. The mayors of Boston and Philadelphia have put the rink under police surveillance. The New York Senate has passed a bill limiting the hours and ages in the case of children, and insisting upon guardians or parents being present with them. An institution that has by natural gravitation struck the danger-line so speedily has in it something morally wrong. Where men and women meet for pleasure, the lower and baser element in the company will debase and debauch the higher.
Christian people have no right to meet the "children of this world" in their own chosen temple of pleasure. They cannot do it as ambassadors for Christ; the place, the conditions, the spirit, are all hostile to that kingdom which is "first pure, and then peaceable." The result will evermore be, not to elevate the worshipers you mingle with, but to degrade you. It is the old story of Peter by the fire in the palace yard: first the mingling with the enemies of Christ, then the denial; in too many cases the bitter blasphemy; and then, if restoration at all, along the line of penitence and tears.—Rev. O. P. Gifford, in Watchman.
The Hittites.
We recently alluded to the progress of error and to the concessions far too readily made to the critics of the holy Scriptures, who assert that they find inconsistencies and errors in the Bible. These critics have made many mistakes. A record of their blunders would go far to destroy their credit and lead men to look upon them with suspicion. One of their notable and quite recent blunders has been in regard to the Hittites. Of this people, figuring on the sacred page from the day of Abraham, Rev. Wm. Wright, D. D., says:
"We see the serried lines of chariots opposing Joshua on his entrance into the promised land, and in the decisive battle by Lake Merom. We see their soldiers of fortune leading the hosts of David and Solomon and their women in the harems of the same powerful monarchs; and finally we see the Syrian army flying in panic from the siege of Samaria for fear of the kings of the Hittites."
The scriptural writers make them a great and powerful people; but no trace of the Hittites had been found in classical history. In fact, all known records, the Bible excepted, had not one word in regard to this people. So the destructive critics on the continent and their imitators in England, with various degrees of emphasis, asserted that these scriptural recognitions of the Hittites had no foundation in fact; that no such people had existed during Old Testament times; that this part of the Jewish history was indisputably not true, and that this want of accuracy destroyed the theory of inspiration as well as the credibility of the record. Even in the "Encyclopedia Britannica," to-day only a little more than half published, Rev. T. K. Cheyne, of Oxford University, writing about the Hittites, said the scriptural references to them are unworthy of belief.
For some time these skeptics had the field to themselves. They could not be contradicted. Apart from the scriptural writers there was no recognition of the Hittites in ancient records so much as by a single word. The outlook for believers in the Old Testament was forbidding and gloomy. How was it possible that a people so great, so warlike, so powerful as the Bible represented the Hittites to be, were not even named by the old historians? The critics were very confident. They had applied the much-lauded "historic method" to the Scriptures, and the Scriptures had been unable to endure the test. So confident were they that when a Presbyterian missionary declared in 1872 that certain inscriptions, found two years before, were of Hittite origin, his announcement was received with ridicule and derision, but it turned out that the missionary was right. The inscriptions proved to be Hittite records, beyond all cavil. Soon afterwards additional testimony came from Egypt. As the monuments there were more carefully examined, and as the work of deciphering inscriptions proceeded, behold the Hittites appeared as one of the enemies most feared by the Egyptians, as a great people occupying a vast territory, and as one of the chief of then existing peoples.
Nor was this all; the Assyrian tablet and cylinders added their testimony and carried the history of the Hittites back to 1,900 years before Christ, declaring that at that remote period they were a mighty people; and these discoveries have so multiplied that the unbelieving critics, full of sneers only a few years ago, are now actually asserting that the Hittites were the fathers of early civilization. So in this the word of God has been fully vindicated.—Intelligencer.
The Decalogue.
By W. H. Arnoux
We hardly realize the greatness of that law, and at the risk of being somewhat trite, let me direct your attention to the wonderful character of this decalogue, which we know so well and ponder too little.
The first table of the law treats of man's relation to God. The second treats of man's relation to man. The last five commandments are negative. The first of the latter class forbids crimes against the person; the next forbids crimes against purity and virtue; the next, crimes against property; the next, crimes against reputation; and the last forbids covetousness, which the apostle declares is idolatry.
Thus these few comprehensive sentences embrace all sinful conduct, every phase and every thought of human life in its relation to its fellows, unerringly as the starry host above us declaring:—
“The hand that made us is divine.”
Whoever denies this defies Moses; for whosoever denying the inspiration of the Bible, asserts that any mortal being could have written in those few short sentences the whole law pertaining to the relations of man to God and man, a law which, with neither surplusage nor deficiency, has endured unchanged for three thousand years, establishes a greater miracle than that which he attempts to controvert.—Judge W. H. Arnoux.
A Telling Incident.
A CERTAIN New England church recently became the scene of much wrangling and contention. One of the deacons had made himself obnoxious in secular affairs to several members, and the good brethren were determined to oust him. Nearly all the members had taken sides for or against the deacon, and the church seemed on the verge of dissolution. At one of the evening meetings, in which the prayers and testimonies were of a decidedly personal nature, a venerable man of eighty arose and told the following story:—
“When I was a boy, our family lived on a small farm over in York State. One day in the fall of the year, father and mother went away, and left us children to our own devices. They told us not to go away from the house, but to pick over beans until we were tired, then to play quiet games in the kitchen.
“It didn't take us long to get tired of picking over beans, and we soon growled ourselves hoarse playing menagerie; then, by common consent, we went to the barn and began hunting hen's eggs. One old hen was sitting, and refused to leave her nest. My brother was of an inquiring turn of mind, and very stubborn. He was determined to know how many eggs old Nancy had under her. He seized her energetically by the tail feathers, and tried to drag her from the nest, but she picked him in the face so fiercely that he was glad to retreat. Soon a bright idea suggested itself to him, and he shouted triumphantly, ‘I know what I'll do, I'll burn her off.’ He ran to the house for a match, and we looked on admiringly while he set fire to the hay. You can readily imagine the result. We routed the hen, but we burned the barn and the house.
“Now, brethren, will you persist in having your own way, and destroy the church? It seems just as though the Lord had left us to our own devices, and we aren't willing to work for him, so we find time to meddle with our neighbors. Let us pray, brethren, that we may not consume the church in fire everlasting.”
The old man knelt, and the rest of the evening was spent in a real prayer-meeting.—Sel.