Earlier text: DISCUSSION ON THE SABBATH QUESTIONImprove Thy Gift.
By E. R. Dewey
GIFTS have been common from the earliest times as tokens of affection, honor, or respect. The same word is also applied to the blessings of the gospel and eternal life, which are pre-eminently gifts, and to the Christian graces for the same reason. The parable given in Matt. 25: 14–31, illustrates the manner in which the Lord would have us use the talents, or gifts, which he has intrusted to us, and also shows us that as all our blessings come from God we are accountable to him, and should so use them as to meet his approbation. The man called his servants to him and gave to each one something—“according to his several ability”—representing the various gifts which God bestows on different individuals. He does not give the same to all, and he requires only according to what a man hath. Of course no one will be condemned for not having received more. And now, what use did these servants make of what they received. The first and second employed their talents in such a manner that they doubled the original amount, showing the good improvement they made of them; but the third hid his talent, did not use it for any good purpose; and his reply to his master shows that he had no love for him, and no disposition to honor him, or even to be just toward him. His master therefore commanded that it be taken from him, for as he would not rightly use what he had, he could no longer have it, and it was given unto the one to whom was given the ten talents. “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath.” “A disposition rightly to use the blessings which God gives, is a preparation for more and greater blessings, and those who employ the blessings which God bestows in his service, and to his glory, will have their blessings greatly increased; while those that have not this disposition, who refuse to employ what God gives them in his service, and to his glory, when God calls them to an account will be deprived of all their blessings, and will have no more given them forever, and will, for their unfaithfulness, be punished as they deserve.” God graciously bestows upon different individuals different talents and gifts, and all are to use them according to his will. Paul speaks in Rom. 12: 6–8; 1 Cor. 12: 4, 28; and Eph. 4: 11, of the diversities of gifts which are placed in the church; every man has his proper gift of God, and they are so distributed that none are without some gift, so that we can each, if we will, show our love for the Lord in using that which he has given us; nor can we avoid the responsibility, or neglect to cultivate and use the talent intrusted to us without great loss to ourselves. We should not despise nor neglect the smallest gift that comes from his hand. He bestows different measures of grace and means of influence upon different individuals, but always for the wisest reasons, and, “as God assigns to Christians their talents and opportunities, their condition and measure of influence, as will best promote his glory and the good of his kingdom, there is no more reason for strife among them, as to which shall be the greatest, than among the members of the human body. The perfection and highest usefulness of each, consists not in his possessing the talents, exerting the influence, or doing the duties of another, but in rightly discharging his own.” All these gifts should be so employed that he can approve. It is not only necessary that we neglect not the gift he has given us, but we must make the most of it, increase it as much as possible, and use it to the best advantage. Paul exhorts Timothy to “Stir up the gift of God;” to awaken, increase, and render active, his qualifications for usefulness. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” These were his qualifications for doing good, which he was to increase. We are also told to covet, or earnestly desire, the best gifts, and what this is he tells us in the next chapter, 1 Cor. 13. As love to God and to man is the best gift which God bestows, all should most earnestly desire and cherish it in themselves and others. We should be careful that we “neglect not the gift” he has given us, but seek to know how we may best improve it. We are none of us so weak but that he has intrusted us with something, with the command to “Occupy till I come,” i. e., use it in a right manner. Oh! let us strive earnestly to prove faithful. His coming is only a little way in the future, and if we neglect the gift he has given us, avoid the responsibility he would have us bear, think, oh! think what our position will be then. We have only a short time to work; let us awake, gird on the armor anew, stir up the gift of God, be more in earnest, and make a greater effort to show our love for our Lord, and, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister to one another, as good stewards of the grace of God;” for we may be assured if we stand back, and come not up to the help of the Lord, he will raise up others to take the place we might fill, and to receive the reward we might have had, while we shall receive the punishment of the unfaithful steward. Who can bear the thought that such shall be their portion? Let us seek earnestly to know what the Lord would have us do; for, if he has a work for us, he will surely give us ability and strength to do it if we rely wholly upon him for help, and walk humbly in the path of duty, for he has thus promised, and his promises are ever sure to those who honor him. If we do our part he will care for and bless us, and if we prove faithful, when he comes he will bestow upon us the gift of God which is eternal life. Laborers Wanted.
By M. Wood
“LABOR not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you; for him hath God the Father sealed.” John 6:27. There are many persons who never think of opening the Bible, the true and infallible word of the Almighty, and reading therein, nor do they ever think of such a thing as attending public worship. Such, from heedlessness, prejudice, or hatred, concern not themselves about the things which are of the utmost importance, and their eternal good. A tract, to such persons, one of those silent preachers, a missile weapon, which the Spirit of God may direct in such a way and manner as to result in the conviction and conversion of precious souls, unassailable from any other quarter, is often the means used by our Heavenly Father in bringing whole families into the truth, and to the keeping of his (God's) Sabbath. And such being the case, as we know it is, why do we still loiter behind in heartless indifference, as though our hands and feet were tied, and our hearts not in the service of our Heavenly Master, but in the vain, foolish, and perishable things of this world. We want to wake up, and go to work for the Master while it is yet day. We want to move forward, join in the noble work of spreading the third angel's message, the last message of mercy ever to be given to a dying world. What we want is to take hold of this work in real earnest. Let every man, woman, and child, become missionary laborers. Let no heart be cold, no hand idle, and no purse reluctant. Oh! that we may move forward while there is room left us in the ranks of those whose toil is goodness, and whose recompense is victory. Come, Christians, and engage in the service of God. Come cheerfully, come eagerly, fully determined to do something for Jesus, who has done, and is still doing, so much for us. Have we ever been invited to an enterprise of such grandeur and glory as that of scattering the rays of light through a benighted country, and spreading abroad the oracles of the Lord our God, that some desolate family may read, heed, and obey, God's truths, and become a radiating point of grace and truth to a neighborhood of error and vice? If the majority of Sabbath-keepers could be constrained to feel the burden of the third angel's message, and would move forward and take hold of the work of distributing tracts, pamphlets, books, &c., pertaining to present truth, we should set forward a system of happiness, which would go on with accelerated motion and augmented vigor until the coming of our Saviour, to reward every man according to his work. The Best Natured and Wisest
“MADAM,” said a husband to his young wife in a little altercation which will spring up in the best regulated families, “when a man and his wife have quarreled and each considers the other at fault, which of the two ought to advance toward a reconciliation?” “The best natured and wisest of the two,” said the wife, putting up her mouth for a kiss, which was given with unction. As might be expected, there is a tone of sorrowfulness in some of Gerhardt’s hymns, but mingled with the sad pathos there is a quiet, happy repose—the heavenly peace that comes from his simple trust, seeing the hand of his Heavenly Father in all his sorrows. In reading his hymns, we find that there is often a pathos, a gentle and refining melancholy, a tender sadness, which does not sadden. In his greatest sorrow there seemed precious intervals, when, by faith, he caught glimpses of a bright future; when, as to Stephen, the heavens were opened above him and he had such visions of Jesus and the coming glory, as made, for the time, existence a joy and an ecstasy. It was in a dark day he wrote that hymn— “Commit thou all thy griefs,
And ways into His hands.” On account of some conflict with the king in his religious sentiments, he was ordered to leave the Nicholas church at Berlin, where he had preached for ten years, and quit the country. With his helpless family he turned his steps toward Saxony, his native land. The journey, performed on foot, was long and weary. As they turned aside to spend the night in a little village inn, his wife, overcome with sorrow, gave way to tears of anguish. Gerhardt, concealing his own sadness, quoted the beautiful promise—“Trust in the Lord; in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” His own mind was so impressed by these words, that he turned aside and composed the hymn just referred to. Late that evening, as Gerhardt and his wife sat in the little parlor, two gentlemen came in, and after some general conversation, said they were going to Berlin, to Gerhardt, the deposed minister. Madame Gerhardt turned pale with alarm, fearing some new calamity. Her husband, however, with entire self-possession, told the strangers that he was the man. One of the gentlemen then handed him an autograph letter from Duke Christian, of Meresburg, informing him that in view of his unjust deposition from the church in Berlin, he had settled a pension on him. Gerhardt, in the joy of that moment, quietly turned to his wife and gave her the hymn he had composed in the early part of the evening, when all was so dark and seemingly so hopeless. “See,” said Gerhardt, as he handed his wife the hymn, “see how God provides! Did I not bid you confide in him, and all would be well?” This incident gives new interest to the hymn we so often sing. We can take up the strain with a livelier trust and a sweeter hope, and sing with Gerhardt, as we never sang before: “Give to the winds thy fears,
Hope and be undismayed;
God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears,
He shall lift up thy head.
“Through waves, and clouds, and storms
He gently clears thy way;
Wait thou his time; the darkest night
Shall end in brightest day.” ADVICE TO MINISTERS BEST WITH GRUMBLERS.
Then, beyond that (i. e. patience), it is well to use a little worldly wisdom. While they are finding fault with you about doing this thing, do something else and draw them off from that. And then do something else. So keep them running from one thing to another. I have generally, in my own ministry, enabled myself to escape from long scrutiny on any one point! I have noticed that when the railway train goes past certain villages, some very active and ambitious little dogs run after the cars. When the train starts off, the dog has the advantage, on the whole, and gains on the cars; as the train goes faster and faster the dog begins to have all that he can do; and as the train gets under full headway, the dog falls behind, and his bark dies away in the distance. Put on steam and go ahead.—Henry Ward Beecher. When our Lord was transfigured, on a high mountain of Galilee, before Peter and James and John, there appeared with him two other glorified personages, talking with him. These, the inspired narrator says, were Moses and Elias, as the disciples understood them to be. Luke 9:30–33. With what pleasure does the immaterialist meet with an account of any manifestation or action on the part of those who have long been dead; it has so specious an appearance of sustaining his views, or at least of furnishing him ground for an argument; for, says he, the person was dead, and this manifestation was by his conscious spirit or immortal soul. So far as the case of Elias is concerned, as he appeared at the transfiguration, it affords that theory no benefit; for he being translated, never saw death, and so could appear in the body with which he ascended. This is conceded by all; and for this reason his case is never put in as a witness on this question, except by those who are so unfamiliar with the record as to suppose that he, too, once died, and here appeared as a disembodied spirit. But with Moses the case is different; for we have in the Bible a plain account of his death and burial; yet here he appeared on the mount, alive, active, and conscious; for he talked with Christ. And so with an air of triumph, perhaps sincere, Landis asks (p. 181), “What then have our opponents to say to this argument? for they must meet it, or renounce their theory.” Were we Sadducees, denying the resurrection, and any future life beyond the grave, this case would lie as an insuperable barrier across our pathway; but so long as the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is taught in the Bible, the incident is not necessarily against those who deny the existence of any such thing as a conscious, disembodied human spirit, since the presence of Moses on the mount can be accounted for otherwise than through such a medium. This scene was either a representation, made to pass before the minds of the disciples, or it was a reality as it appeared. The view that it was merely a representation receives some countenance from the fact that it is called a vision. “Tell the vision to no man,” said Christ; and, while the word vision is sometimes applied to real appearances, as in Luke 24:43, it also is taken to represent things that do not yet exist, as in John’s vision of the new heavens and new earth. Again, Luke says that they (Moses and Elias) “appeared in glory.” Our Lord himself has not yet attained unto the full measure of glory that is to result to him from his work of redemption, 1 Pet. 1:11; Isa. 53:11; and it may well be doubted likewise if any of his followers have reached their full state of glory. If, then, the expression quoted from Luke refers to the future perfected glory of the redeemed, we have another evidence that this was only a representation, like John’s visions of future scenes of bliss, and not then a reality. But, if this was only a vision, no argument can be drawn from it for the intermediate existence of the soul; for, in that case, Moses and Elias need not have been even immaterially present. But let us consider it a reality. Then the presence of Moses can be accounted for by supposing his resurrection from the dead. Against this hypothesis our opponents have nothing to offer but their own assertions; and they seem determined to make up in the amount of this commodity what it lacks in conclusiveness. Thus Landis says, “Moses had died and was buried, and as his body had never been raised from the dead, he of course appeared as a disembodied spirit.” And Luther Lee says, “So far as Moses is concerned the argument is conclusive.” But against these authorities, we bring forth another on the other side, as weighty, at least, as both of them together. Dr. Adam Clarke says, on the same passage, “The body of Moses was probably raised again, as a pledge of the resurrection.” Before presenting an argument to show that Moses was raised, let us look at one consideration which proves beyond a peradventure that what appeared on the mount was not Moses’ disembodied spirit. It will be admitted by all that the transfiguration was for the purpose of presenting in miniature the future kingdom of God, the kingdom of glory. Andrews (Life of our Lord, p. 321) says: “The Lord was pleased to show certain of the apostles, by a momentary transfiguration of his person, the supernatural character of his kingdom, and into what new and higher conditions of being both he and they must be brought ere it could come. . . . They saw in the ineffable glory of his person, and the brightness around them, a foreshadowing of the kingdom of God as it should come with power; and were for a moment ‘eyewitnesses of his majesty.’ 2 Pet. 1:16.” Who are to be the subjects in this heavenly kingdom? Ans. Those who are translated at Christ’s coming, and the righteous dead who are raised from their graves at that time. Will there be any disembodied spirits there? None; for the theory is that at the resurrection, which precedes the setting up of this kingdom, the disembodied spirits again take possession of their resurrected bodies. Of this kingdom, the transfiguration was a representation. There was Christ, the glorified king, there was Elias, the representative of those who are to be translated; and there was Moses; but if it was simply his disembodied soul, then there was a representation of something that will not exist in the kingdom of God at all; and the representation was an imperfect one, and so an utter failure. But if Moses was there in a resurrected body, then the scene was harmonious and consistent, he representing, as Dr. Clarke supposes, the righteous dead who are to be raised, and Elias, the living who are to be translated. The question now turns upon the resurrection of Moses from the dead; and if scriptural evidence can be shown that Moses was thus raised, this passage immediately changes sides in this controversy. That Moses was raised, we think is to be necessarily inferred from Jude 9: “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.” It will be noticed that this dispute was about the body of Moses. Michael (Christ, John 5:27–29; 1 Thess. 4:16) and the devil, each claimed, it appears, the right to do something with his body. Some have endeavored to reconcile Jude’s testimony with the non-resurrection of Moses, by claiming that the devil wished to make known to the children of Israel the place of Moses’ burial, in order to lead them into idolatry; and that the contention between him and Michael had reference to this. But such a conjecture cannot be entertained, as in this case the contention would have been about the grave of Moses, rather than about his body. But this dispute did have reference solely to the body of Moses. Then we inquire further what the devil has to do with the bodies of men. He is said to have the power of death; hence the grave is his dominion, and whoever enters there he claims as his lawful prey. On the other hand, Christ is the Life-giver whose prerogative it is to bring men out from under the power of death. The most natural conclusion, therefore, is, that the dispute took place on this very point; that it had reference to the bringing back to life of that dead body, which the devil would naturally wish to keep, and claim the right to keep, in his own power. But Christ rebuked the adversary, and rescued his victim from his grasp. This is the necessary inference from this passage, and, as such, is entitled to weight in this argument. The chief objection to this view, is this: If Moses was raised so many years before the resurrection of Christ, how can Christ be called the first fruits of them that slept, as in 1 Cor. 15:20, 23? how can he be said to be the first that should rise from the dead, as in Acts 26:23? or be called the first-begotten, and first-begotten of the dead, as in Heb. 1:6, and Rev. 1:5? or the first-born among many brethren, the first-born of every creature, and the first-born from the dead, as in Rom. 8:29 and Col. 1:15, 18? In answering these queries, we first call attention to an important fact: Several individuals of whom we have explicit account, were raised to life before the resurrection of Christ. The following cases may be cited: (1) The widow’s son, 1 Kings 17, (2) the son of the Shunammite, 2 Kings 4, (3) the son of the widow of Nain, Luke 7:14, (4) the ruler’s daughter, Luke 8:40, 55, and (5) the resurrection of Lazarus. These instances cannot be disposed of by making a distinction between a resurrection to mortality and one to immortality; for where does the Bible make any such distinction? or where does it give even an intimation of anything of the kind? Christ, in sending word to John of the results of his work, told the disciples to tell him, among other things, that the dead were raised up. And when the wicked are restored to life, it is called a resurrection, no less so than the restoration of the righteous. See John 5:29; Acts 24:15; Rev. 20:5. But the wicked are not raised to immortality; therefore in the matter of being raised from the dead, the Bible recognizes no distinction on account of the different conditions to which the different classes are raised. Hence the cases referred to above were resurrections from the dead just as really as though they had been raised to immortality; and the distinction which some attempt to make is thus shown to be wholly gratuitous, and is excluded from the controversy. The objection now lies just as much against the cases of those of whose resurrection we have the most explicit account, as against that of Moses; and the question next to be met is, Can those passages which declare that a number of the dead were raised before the resurrection of Christ, and those which speak of Christ as the first to be raised, be shown to be free from contradiction? It will be noticed that the objection, so far as the words, first-fruits, first-begotten, and first-born, are concerned, rests wholly upon the supposition that these words denote exclusively priority in time. It instantly vanishes before the fact that these words are not confined to this meaning. Christ is called the first-fruits in 1 Cor. 15, solely in reference to his being the antitype of the wave-sheaf, and in contrast with the great harvest that will take place at his second coming. This word is used in different senses, as we learn from Jas. 1:18, and Rev. 14:4, where it cannot have reference to antecedence in time. This is all that need be said on this word. The word rendered first-begotten and first-born is πρωτότοκος (prototokos). This word is defined by Robinson thus: “Properly the first-born of father or mother;” and as the first-born was entitled to certain prerogatives and privileges over the rest of the family, the word takes another meaning, namely, “first-born, the same as the first, the chief, one highly distinguished and pre-eminent. So of Christ, the beloved Son of God. Col. 1:15.” Greenfield’s definition is similar. This word is used in the same sense in the Septuagint. In Ex. 4:22 Israel is called the first-born; and in Jer. 31:9, Ephraim is called the first-born; but in point of time Esau was before Israel, and Manasseh before Ephraim. Their being called the first-born must therefore be owing to the rank, dignity, and station to which they had attained. And hence the conclusion is not without foundation that these words when applied to Christ denote the pre-eminent rank and station which he holds in the great work, rather than the order of time in which his resurrection occurred, a point to which no importance whatever can be attached. All hinges upon Christ, and all is accomplished by his power, and by virtue of his resurrection. He stands out foremost and pre-eminent in all these displays, whether they take place before or after his advent to this world. The expression in Acts 26:23 presents apparently the greatest difficulty of any. The verse reads: “That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles.” As it stands in our common version it is difficult to reconcile this statement with the fact that a number were raised from the dead previous to the resurrection of Christ as already noticed, and we are led to wonder why Paul, knowing of all these cases, should make such a statement. But if we mistake not the original presents a different idea. In Greenfield’s Testament the text stands thus: Εἰ παθητὸς ὁ Χριστός, εἰ πρῶτος ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν φῶς μέλλει καταγγέλλειν τῷ λαῷ καὶ τοῖς ἔθνεσι. We call the attention of those familiar with the Greek to this passage, and submit that it can be properly rendered as follows: “That Christ was to suffer, (and) that first from the resurrection of the dead he was to show light to the people and to the Gentiles.” Bloomfield, in his note on this verse, says that the words “may be rendered either, ‘after the resurrection from the dead,’ or ‘by the resurrection;’ but the latter is preferable.” And Wakefield translates it thus: “That the Christ would suffer death, and would be the first to proclaim salvation to this people and to the Gentiles by a resurrection from the dead.” This is in accordance with what the same apostle declared to Timothy (1 Tim. 1:10) that Christ brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And viewed in this light, the text is freed from all difficulty. It simply teaches that Christ would be the first to demonstrate before the people, by a resurrection from the dead, future life and immortality for the redeemed. The resurrection of Lazarus, and other similar cases, though they might show that the power of death could be so far broken as to give us a new lease of mortal life, shed no light on our existence beyond this mortal state. And the resurrection of Moses, supposing him to have been raised, was not a public demonstration designed to show the people the path to a future life. So far as we have any account, no one knew that he had been raised till he appeared upon the mount of transfiguration. Christ was the first one to show to the world by his rising from the dead, the great light of life and immortality beyond the grave. Thus the last seeming objection against the idea that Moses had a resurrection is taken away; while in its favor we have his appearance on the mount, and the language of Jude, which can be explained on no other ground. Let us then take that view which a consistent regard for scriptural harmony demands, though another supposed strong column on which rests the dogma of the immortality of the soul, goes down before it with a crash to the very dust.