REMARKS BY MRS. E. G. WHITE, AT THE TENT-MEETING IN OAKLAND, JULY 2, 1869.
Page 1
Review and Herald
Aug 17, 1869
Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 17, 1869
REMARKS BY MRS. E. G. WHITE, AT THE TENT-MEETING IN OAKLAND, JULY 2, 1869.
By Ellen G. White
I would be glad if I had more strength to-day. But my trust is in God, that if he has a testimony for me to bear to this people, I shall have strength to bear it before this meeting shall close. I feel the deepest interest in the work and cause of God. It has been a privilege to me, although unable to sit up through the entire meeting, to be present, and to hear what I have heard this afternoon. I feel thankful for this privilege.
We have the deepest interest that this meeting, at this time, shall not be in vain. We want to see the work of God prospering. We know that it is a very important time. It is a solemn time. We feel the importance of our people's arousing and awaking, that they may understand the time in which we live. The probation of all of us must soon close. And are we ready for the appearing of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven? Have we the wedding garment on? Or shall we be of that number that shall be left outside
because unready? How anxious we are that every one of you should have the wedding garment on. Not the garment of your own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ; that you should have this on, and so be prepared, that, when the examination of the guests shall take place, you may not be of those that shall be bound hand and foot, and cast out, because unready. It is readiness that we want. It is fitness that we want. And who is ready? To be unready will be an entire failure. To be unready will be an eternal loss. But if we can, in this day of probation, see that we are unready; if we can here see our wretchedness, and our need, and now humble ourselves before God, he will be found of us, and he will work for us mightily. And now is the time for us to begin to work. You that have not entered, heart and soul and spirit, into this work, now is the time for you to engage in it with all your souls. Christ has said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.” Tell me, is any provision made here for a division of your affections? Where is there any chance for your affections to be separated from God, and yet you be acquitted in the day of God? I terribly fear that many that bear the name of Seventh-day Adventists are stumbling-blocks in the way of sinners. They neither enter into the work themselves, and those that would enter in, they hinder by their unconsecrated lives. God forbid that we should go down to death with the blood of souls upon our garments. God forbid that we should stand merely bearing the name of Christians, when we are not sanctified by the truths we profess. God forbid that we at last find that our lives have been an entire failure, an entire mistake, and there appear no soul to whom we can point, as one whom we have been the means of saving, and bringing in through the gates, into the city. Shall it appear finally that we have been wrapped up in our own self-righteousness, all covered up with the spirit and love of the world?
And you that have not sanctified your souls by obeying the truth, do you expect that Christ at his appearing will make you ready? There will then be no atoning blood to wash away the stains of sins. It is while it is called to-day that you may, if you will, hear his voice, and harden not your heart, as in the day of provocation. It is to-day that the Spirit of God invites. It is to-day that the sweet voice of mercy is falling upon your ears. It is to-day that the heavenly invitation comes to you. It is to-day that in Heaven everything says, Come. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And whosoever will, let him come and take of the water of life freely.
Will you enter into the work right here at the commencement of the meeting? We have not come here for the amusement of any. We have not come here to gratify the curiosity of any. We have come here thinking that perhaps God, in our weakness, would give us strength to speak a word to the people, and invite them to come, for all things are now ready. The heavenly invitation to the supper has gone forth, and we want you to come. We do not want you, backslidden ones, to wait till the meeting is about closing, and then try to put in for a share. You want the blessing at the very commencement.
Do you want to find Jesus? He is at the feast. You may find him here. He has come up to the feast. There are men and women that have brought him with them; and now we want you to press through, and touch the hem of his garment, that you may receive of the virtue that is found in him, and triumph in the God of your salvation.
The waters of the fountain are freely opened for you; and will you drink? Will you come? Will you obey the gracious invitation? Come, for all things are now ready. Whosoever will, let him come and partake of the waters of life freely. It is now that we want childlike simplicity. We want to see everything like pride, and vanity, and folly, put away. We have the Judgment in view. Men and women will want strength that is greater than any human aid to lean upon. They must lean upon the mighty arm of Jehovah. We have in view that day when the works of men are to be tried, and tested; and we want you to get ready. We make appeals to you, in the name of our Master, to get ready. We make appeals to you to rid yourselves of the pride of the world, the pride, and vanity, and folly, of life. Jesus loves you. Jesus pities you. The angelic host he sends to minister unto you. And now, while all Heaven is interested for you, will you be interested for yourselves? Will you begin to seek God earnestly for your own salvation? Will you work it out with fear and trembling? Will you be careful how you step before God? Will you have the approbation of him whose arm moves the universe? Give me the smiles of God, and the approving glance of my Redeemer, and I will give you the whole world besides. Let me have one word of approbation from Jesus, and it is enough. I love him, for in him my hopes of everlasting life are centered. I love his word and his requirements. I love to do his will. And only let me know what my duty is, and I am ready to perform. It is my meat and drink.
I look a little ahead, and I see a crown of glory that is laid up for us who wait, and love, and long for, the appearing of the Saviour.
It is the waiting ones who are to be crowned with glory, honor, and immortality. You need not talk to me of the honors of the world, or the praise of its great ones. They are all vanity. Let but the finger of God touch them, and they would soon go back to dust again. I want honor that is lasting, honor that is immortal, honor that will never perish; a crown that is richer than any crown that ever decked the brow of a monarch.
Oh! to have the approbation of high Heaven! This is what we want. Let us gain the spirit of humility. Let in a spirit of confession. Do not be so afraid that if you confess your sins, no one will have confidence in you. The apostle says, Pray one for another, and confess one to another, that ye may be healed. You want to let the spirit of humility right in here. You want to find Jesus. We want to triumph in him here. We want a shout of the King in the camp. But we must first have him in our midst.
And you who have been hanging on to the skirts of Zion, we want to hear your songs of rejoicing ere this meeting shall close. We want to see you stand in the congregation of the saints, and say, Hear what the Lord has done for me. We want to hear your voices speaking forth the honors of your Redeemer.58We want to hear songs of praise from lips that have not sounded his praise for months. We want to hear shouts of victory from those that have been overcome. We want to have the sweet Spirit of Christ come freely into our midst. We want the waters of salvation to flow here. And we want all to take hold of the work together. Shall we take right hold together, and sweet union and love be here, melting, and cementing, and uniting, our hearts together as one? Oh, that here we might triumph in God! Oh, that all you that are here might go home better men and women, and carry a power with you into your families, a saving power into your neighborhoods, a saving power wherever you go. You who engage in your various employments, you want the power of the truth inwrought in your very souls. Not merely put on; but inwrought in your very being, that you can talk to others as though these things were living realities. Get away from the chilling influence, and spirit of earth. Get a little higher. “Upward to God be the heart's adoration.” A little nearer to God, to Jesus, and to angels. Get the heavenly unction; and then you can take it home with you.
SUBMISSION.
By Mary E. Guilford
I long to leave this world of care,
This world of sorrow, sin, and gloom,
And go and dwell with Jesus, where
All is immortal, fadeless bloom.
Here, pain and anguish rack my frame;
And doubts and fears do fill my breast;
And oft, in all earth's wide domain,
I seek but find no place of rest.
In weariness, from day to day,
I toil with aching, saddened heart;
And oh! how oft I'm led astray,
By Satan's wily, subtle art.
Watch, O my soul! oh, watch and pray!
Nor murmur at thine earthly lot;
Thy strength shall be e'en as thy day,
The Father's promise faileth not.
Toil on, the span of life is brief;
Have all thy work below well done;
Jesus will bring thee sweet relief,
Whene'er the victor's crown is won.
Go, cast thy burden on the Lord;
His grace and love will then sustain;
He will all needed strength accord—
Let not thy lips of him complain.
Submissive to thy will, O God,
I all to thee would now resign;
I'll shrink not from thy chast'ning rod,
But own it all thy love divine.
MARY E. GUILFORD.
SWEARING.
By James Sawyer
“Because of swearing the land mourneth, the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up.” Jer. xxiii, 10.
“Every one that sweareth shall be cut off.” Zech. v, 3.
“The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” Ex. xx.
In one of the above quotations we have a vivid description of a time when the people are in a terrible state of apostasy from God. Sad was the heart of the prophet as he looked down through the vista of time, and beheld some land given up to this sin. Why swearing is singled out and made to appear as the cause of a famine in the land to the exclusion of other great sins; why it was a sin so heinous in the sight of God, is not here given. We are, however, well aware that the words of our mouth are an index to our character; and it is character that God considers in the time of Judgment. A heart from whose volition there come curses and swearing, is filled with other dark and horrible conjectures which only need time and opportunity to develop and become known. A man who rails out in blasphemy toward a brute, though it be the lowest creature unto which God has given life, warns me that either my life or my character would be in jeopardy in his hands. A man that takes his Maker’s name carelessly, vainly, or rudely, upon his lips, exemplifies a debased mind, and, under some circumstances, is capable of any meanness.
The governing power is gone when a man does not fear God. He is like a ship without a rudder, when his animal propensities govern. When he fears God who made the heavens and the earth, he has the first conception of duty. When he does not fear God, he becomes a fool. So says the wisest man who ever lived.
It matters not whether it is for fashion’s sake, or from ignorance; either places the swearer in a dangerous condition, and because the teachers (called prophets, priests, and pastors, in the Bible) are dumb, and do not cry out, and expose this bold and defiant sin, they have become guilty of the same crime, or fault, and God declares that he will visit with famine that nation so given up to such bold and barefaced sin as blasphemy. “Because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places in the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil.”
The language of the prophet denotes that it is characteristic of the people of whom it is spoken—they are largely given to it. Now for the facts: swearing is very common among the children of this land. It can be heard in the street of every city and hamlet. Many, of both old and young, qualify their words in the common business of life with profaneness; and ribald jests and horrid oaths stream out in profusion from the lips of those given to the use of strong drinks. Saloons and public houses are rife with it. We often hear it in the stage coach and on the cars, and even in family circles. Once profanity was vulgar in the presence of females; now it does not sound so harshly to their ears.
I do not write this, thinking that famine is to visit us readily, for there is now the prospect of an abundant harvest. But swearing is a great evil; it is getting quite prevalent, and unless we are guarded against such evils, they become a cause of scourge unto the nation.
If this prophecy of Jeremiah is to be located in the past, it is just as certain for the future, to any nation that has a similar character to the one above described; for the words are the foundation of a fixed principle in God’s moral government. “Because of swearing the land mourneth.” That God who weighs nations in the balances of justice, regards iniquity in the same light to-day as he did in Jeremiah’s time. If we sin as did Sodom and Gomorrah, we have to answer to a like account with them in the day of Judgment; only it will be more tolerable for them than for us.
But the prospect of the swearer is bad; it is gloomy; it is fatal. “Every one that sweareth shall be cut off.” This would seem to locate the worst state of this sin in the future. “Then said he unto me [Zech. v, 3], This is the curse that goeth forth over the whole earth, for every one that sweareth shall be cut off.” No hope for the swearer then. Jesus will have offered the last act of mediation for the swearer. The Lord cannot hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain, and the person of profane lips must perish. He shall be cut off. In the land of the living he is not to be allowed a place after God has inflicted his sore judgments upon the ungodly.
In Heaven he cannot dwell. Love is the basis of existence there. A man given to profanity cannot love. He may profess attachment to, but he cannot love, his fellow-being. Love is too good a quality for a swearer to profess. He can hate, he can profess, he may kiss and caress, but it is out of the question for a blasphemer to have a disinterested and pure love for his fellow-being. His aspirations are too low. His thoughts have been too groveling. He would fail in the time of severe test.
My countrymen are very inconsiderate if they will not heed the warning and forsake this dreadful sin. The Lord can not hold them guiltless who take his name in vain, and, because of swearing, the land mourneth. Oh! why will men rush heedlessly along in the common current, sting their own souls, poison their associates, dishonor the great God, and call down the judgments of Heaven! Their way is hard—the end is ruin.
If men would but love God with their might, mind, and strength, they would be ornaments to the world, and invoke the blessing of God. Let this be worthy of their attention, then, that men forsake the poisonous bowl, and every other charm that excites the lower passions of mind. Let them forsake the company of those who are pleased with the ribald jest or profane speech, and learn to fear that God who keeps a strict account of every word; it will be the beginning of a course of life that produces that wisdom whose “price is above rubies.” “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” It will add more value to their real worth than the stock of the millionaire, or the wealth of kings.
JAMES SAWYER.
BELIEF OF SOME MODERN HEATHEN NATIONS.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
It is often assumed that all the heathen nations and tribes at the present time are firm believers in the immortality of the soul. But in a previous article I have shown that the great mass of heathendom now believe in the total annihilation of men. In this article I will simply notice the belief of a few of the small tribes and nations of pagans. Of the Esquimaux, the Universal Traveler says, They “appear to have no idea of the existence of a Supreme Being, nor can they be said to entertain any notions on this subject which may be dignified with the name of religion.”—p. 77. How much of an idea can such people have of the soul’s immortality.
This author says about the same of the native Greenlanders. “It is very singular,” he writes, “that the heathens inhabiting this country have no worship. It was believed by some navigators, who saw the Greenlanders observing the rising sun in the morning, that they worshiped the sun. . . . but they have no religion at all, although they are not without some notions of a Divine Being, and a future state.”—p. 82. What kind of faith can such people have in the soul’s immortality? Their ideas of a future state are exceedingly vague and indefinite.
The Feejees can not believe the soul immortal, for they believe in the annihilation of the wicked. Mr. Alger, in his learned work on this subject, says of them: “Departing souls go to the tribunal of Ndengei, who either receives them into bliss, or sends them back as ghosts, to haunt the scenes of their former existence, or distributes them as food for devils, or imprisons them for a period, and then dooms them to annihilation.”—Doctrine of a Future Life, p. 70. These ideas are utterly incompatible with the immortality of the soul.
The Sandwich Islanders are far from believing it. Of them the above author says: “The people of the Sandwich Islands held a confused medley of notions as to another life. In different persons among them were found, in regard to this subject, superstitious terror, blank indifference, positive unbelief.” “Some thought spirits were destroyed in this realm of darkness; others that they were eaten by a stronger race of spirits there; others still, that they survived there, subsisting upon lizards and butterflies.”—Ibid. Will any one claim these as orthodox believers in the immortality of the soul? I trow not.
“The New Zealanders said the souls of the Atnas, the nobles, were immortal, but the Cookees perished entirely.”—Ibid., p. 210.
It strikes me that these are not very good witnesses in favor of the immortality of all men.
D. M. CANRIGHT.
THE WICKEDNESS OF IMITATING THE VICES OF GOOD MEN.
[The following, from part second of the Pilgrim’s Progress, is worthy of thoughtful perusal at the present time. Probably not a few will reach perdition from cherishing in their hearts the doctrine of Mr. Self-will. It is very likely that the recent case of “Apostasy and Crime,” of which the readers of the REVIEW have been informed, was caused by this very doctrine.]
“Now I saw that they still went on in their talk. For after Mr. Great-heart had made an end with Mr. Fearing, Mr. Honest began to tell them of another, but his name was Mr. Self-will. He pretended himself to be a pilgrim, said Mr. Honest; but I persuade myself he never came in at the gate that stands at the head of the way.
“Great. Had you ever any talk with him about it?
“Hon. Yes, more than once or twice; but he would always be like himself, self-willed. He neither cared for man, nor argument, nor yet example; what his mind prompted him to, that he would do, and nothing else could he be got to do.
“Great. Pray, what principles did he hold? for I suppose you can tell.
“Hon. He held that a man might follow the vices, as well as the virtues, of pilgrims; and that if he did both, he should be certainly saved.
“Great. How? If he had said it is possible for the best to be guilty of the vices, as well as to partake of the virtues of pilgrims, he could not much have been blamed; for, indeed, we are exempted from no vice absolutely, but on condition that we watch and strive. But this, I perceive, is not the thing: but if I understand you right, your meaning is, that he was of opinion that it was allowable so to be.
“Hon. Ay, ay, so I mean, and so he believed and practiced.
“Great. But what grounds had he for his so saying?
“Hon. Why, he said he had Scripture for his warrant.
“Great. Prithee, Mr. Honest, present us with a few particulars.59
“Hon. So I will. He said, to have other men’s wives had been practiced by David, God’s beloved, and therefore he could do it. He said, to have more women than one, was a thing that Solomon practiced, and therefore he could do it. He said that the disciples went, at the bidding of their Master, and took away the owner’s ass, and he could do so too. He said that Jacob got the inheritance of his father in a way of guile and dissimulation, and therefore he could do so too.
“Great. High base indeed! And are you sure he was of this opinion?
“Hon. I have heard him plead for it, bring Scripture for it, bring arguments for it, &c.
“Great. An opinion that is not fit to be, with any allowance, in the world!
“Hon. You must understand me rightly. He did not say that any man might do this; but that they who had the virtues of those that did such things, might also do the same.
“Great. But what more false than such a conclusion? For this is as much as to say, that because good men, heretofore, have sinned of infirmity, therefore, he had allowance to do it of a presumptuous mind; or that if, because a child, by the blast of the wind, or for that it stumbled at a stone, fell down and defiled itself in the mire, therefore, he might willfully lie down and wallow like a bear therein. Who could have thought that any one could so far have been blinded by the power of lust? But what is written must be true; they “stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they are appointed.” 1 Pet. ii. 8. Again, his supposing that such may have the godly men’s virtues, who addict themselves to their vices, is also a delusion as the other. To eat up the sin of God’s people, Hos. iv, 8, as a dog licks up filth, is no sign of one that is possessed with their virtues. Nor can I believe that one who is of this opinion, can, at present, have faith or love in him. But I know you have made some strong objections against him; prithee what can he say for himself?
“Hon. Why, he says, to do this by way of opinion, seems abundantly more honest than to do it, and yet hold contrary to it in opinion.
“Great. A very wicked answer. For though to let loose the bridle to lusts, while our opinions are against such things, is bad; yet to sin, and plead a toleration so to do, is worse: the one stumbles beholders accidentally, the other leads them into the snare.
“Hon. There are many of this man’s mind, that have not this man’s mouth; and that makes going on pilgrimage of so little esteem as it is.”
LAND! LAND!
By JOHN MATTESON
In the great West, is what the attention of many Sabbath-keepers is called to, in common with other people of this age. There is a great deal of moving forward and backward. “Many shall run to and fro.” I do not say that this is all wrong. There are cases where the Lord can be honored and his cause advanced by moving. But there are many more cases where the cause is injured, and the persons who move lose in spirituality, and gain in worldliness and restlessness.
Some minds are turned to Michigan, others to Minnesota, and others to Missouri. I have been in those different localities, and find that they are all affected very much with the curse, in different ways. And as I walked the other day across a part of Missouri, so much praised up and extolled, it brought sadness to my heart, and tears to my eyes. This is nothing else, thought I, but another patch of the same old, sin-cursed earth that I have been roaming on so long. I longed for a better land, where there is no curse. That is the land, and the only land, that will satisfy all the expectations of those who seek for it, and when they finally get a home there, they will find that half its glory has not been told.
This country, that used to be so rich, hardly produces grass enough this year, on uncultivated soil, to feed the cattle which pasture there. I could not think at first what the reason was. I am now told that it is the grub worm. It not only destroys the grass, but also the corn and grain on new land. I learn that the ravages of the grasshoppers are quite frequent here, as well as in Kansas. Besides this, there are other destructive insects, often disappointing the expectations of the farmer. This winter and spring has been uncommonly wet and cold, and not nearly so healthy as usual.
So it appears that the curse is affecting the old earth more and more. And those who are in pursuit of happiness and rest here, and make the preparation for the kingdom of God secondary, will not only very soon lose every convenience in this world, but they will also lose the eternal weight of glory in the world to come. Brethren! let us beware. Let us never move, except we find that we can thereby glorify God and do good to others, until we can get a passage with Jesus and angels to the New Jerusalem. There is a beautiful home for thee, brother.
Our Saviour was not carried away with earthly glory. Even his followers thought that he ought to notice things more which other people thought so much of. “Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here.” Mark, xiii, 1. Why don’t you look at these things, and praise them some? We want a place with you in the kingdom; yet we think a good deal of these “goodly stones and gifts,” also. Master, you might say at least a few words in praise of these things which everybody thinks so much of. But mark his answer: “Verily, I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.”
Christ saw beyond these things their near destruction. So may also our minds be impressed constantly more and more with the final destruction, which is approaching like a whirlwind. And may our hearts not be deluded by the fading, perishing glory of earth. But may the glories of the world to come open up to our minds more and more, until this earth shall look dark and dreary to us, and we indeed be pilgrims, seeking for a city yet to come. Then shall we be unspeakably happy when, by the grace of God, we obtain that for which we have longed, and prayed, and wept, and toiled.
JOHN MATTESON.
HOW TO LEAD A SPIRITUAL LIFE.
By Cuyler
How is the spiritual mind to be kept spiritual? Will a renewed heart “keep sweet” of itself; or will it tend back toward corruption again? Will grace live within us without watching? Will spirituality grow without tillage of the heart-garden?
To these questions Christian experience says, No! Conversion brings a man into a new state—“all things have become new;” but yet there is a stiff undercurrent running toward the old state. No converted man, however thoroughly renewed by the Divine Spirit, will stay converted unless God watch over him and he watch over himself. Conversion is simply the turning of the heart from sin to the Saviour; and unless the heart hold fast to Christ, and Christ hold fast to it, that heart will drop away into self-indulgence, pride, unbelief, and besetting sins. Paul would not have remained Paul for four and twenty hours if divine power had not kept him. “Not I, but Christ that liveth in me.” “I can do all things—through Christ which strengtheneth me.” What are the essential things to maintain spiritual-mindedness?
I. Prayer, of course, comes among the foremost. Not saying prayers; but praying. A dull, formal, monotonous repetition of devout phrases every night and morning puts the conscience to sleep, just as surely as a low, crooning tune puts a baby to sleep in a cradle. But genuine prayer is quite a different thing from that. It is the soul’s keeping the track open, and maintaining a constant intercourse with God. Prayer is just as vital a thing to my heart as are the water-pipes in my house that connect with the Ridgewood Reservoir. A double office belongs to the conduit-pipe of prayer; it serves at once as the inlet of grace, and as the outlet of gratitude. I thank God for what he gives; and I receive the gifts to be thankful for. And our prayers do not smell enough of the sweet, holy fragrance of gratitude. For a sinner to be anywhere out of perdition is a matter for thanksgiving; but to be actually on the highway to Heaven, with the love-light of Jesus’s face streaming on us, is enough to make our “feet to be like hind’s feet,” and to set us to leaping like the roe. “In everything give thanks.”
Prayer, then, is the channel for gratitude and penitence to flow Godward; the channel for grace and strength to flow from him into our dry hearts. When the channel gets clogged up with doubts and unbelief, or gets frozen up with selfishness and indifference, the supplies stop, and death begins. Just as soon attempt to keep up a blooming and fruit-bearing piety without perpetual prayer, as to set your geraniums into full flower by locking them in a Greenwood vault. I have always observed that backslidings begin with a neglected closet and a neglected prayer-meeting. “Why don’t the water run in my house to-day?” I send for the plumber; and he says to me: “Friend, the connection is broken.” Woe to that professing Christian who has broken his connection with his God!
I sometimes think of prayer as a celestial telegram. Our messages go upward with the speed of thought. The return of mercies flows downward with the promptness of divine love. Sometimes the answer anticipates the request. Sometimes the answer is delayed; then we can only wait. Sometimes it comes in a startling shock—like a death-message over the wires. But it is all right; God makes no mistakes. Faith says: “If I put myself in connection with the God of love, I must take just what his wisdom sends. Thy will be done.”
Ah! there is something far worse than to receive dispensations of trial from yonder Father of lights. It is to have the telegraph of prayer so utterly out of order, through disuse, or so broken down, that all communication stops, and the soul is cut off from Heaven. But a healthy Christian’s spiritual telegraph is ever busy; it worketh by the electricity of love. Up into the All-hearing ear floweth the constant stream of confession, penitence, desire, gratitude, and petition; and downward cometh the “grace sufficient,” the strength equal to the day, the joys in the Holy Ghost. Then, brother, pray without ceasing. A true child of grace was never born dumb.
II. The second essential to spirituality is watchfulness. “What I say unto you, I say unto all—Watch!” Christ knew perfectly well to whom he was talking. In coupling together prayer and self-watching, he married the sovereignty of God to the Christian’s free agency. Never yet have we seen the heart that could be trusted without oversight. It must be a close, weary, wakeful watch. If you were set to keep a bird sitting unfastened on the palm of your hand, you would know what is meant by keeping the heart with all diligence. Have the arm of godly resolution ready—ready to seize it the moment it attempts to fly away into sinful indulgence. Do not take off your eye one instant. The price of a spiritual life is “eternal vigilance.” The lusts of the flesh will steal silent marches on us; temper will start up like an unchained mastiff, and bite before we are aware; the unruly tongue gets loose; pride gets the reins; or some other besetting sin is on the move. “Wherefore I say unto all, Watch.” Watch the sly approaches of the tempter. Watch the thought-cradles in your own soul wherein the infant purposes are nursed. Watch over your own resolutions. Watch the leadings of God. Watch for opportunities to do good. Watch for the coming of your Master. While the Martha of your industry and your benevolence is busy within, let the Mary of your devout vigilance be ever on the lookout for the coming of your Lord. Blessed are those servants whom, when the Master cometh, he shall find watching!
“Beyond the watching and the weeping,
Beyond the waking and the sleeping,
Beyond the sowing and the reaping
We shall be soon.
Love—rest—and home,
Sweet home!
Lord! tarry not, but come!”
—Cuyler.
The Bible
By Searle
THE BIBLE.—When the believer is in a state of comfort and prosperity, he can read other books beside the Bible; but when he is in temptation, or burdened with distress, he taketh himself to the Bible alone. He wants pure wine without any mixture of water.—This shows the worth of the Bible above all other books. —Searle.
Deviation from Truth
ONE deviation from truth weakens confidence.
THE INNOCENCY OF SIN.
ONE of the most surprising delusions of the Devil is the doctrine that sin, with certain persons, becomes an entirely innocent matter. It is not the nature of the deed, but the character of the man who does the deed, that, in their estimation, determines its sinfulness, or its innocence. So, if the transgressor is only a holy man, behold the sin is transformed into a virtuous deed! And such persons dare to use our Lord's words in support of this doctrine, when he said (Matt. vii, 18), "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." They forget that Satan, who was perfect in all his ways from the day that he was created till iniquity was found in him (see Eze. xxviii), did, by one act of rebellion, become the prince of darkness. And as he abode not in the truth (see John viii, 44), so, also, was it with our first parents, who, being created in uprightness, ventured to commit transgression against God. Eccl. vii, 29; Rom. v, 12. They found, to their cost, that God had no favorites. Their previous innocence, and the sacredness of their Eden home, did not make disobedience an innocent thing on their part. Instead of lessening the guilt of Satan, or of Adam and Eve, their previous exaltation and intimate communion with the God of Heaven, only served to enhance the guilt of their disobedience.
The innocence of sin! What a deception of the Devil! If men are only the dear servants of God, they can then violate his law and enjoy his smiles all the time! Was there ever another so detestable a doctrine promulgated by the prince of darkness? Were this doctrine true, it is a secret worth knowing by those who love sin. You stand now as open rebels against God's government, exposed to his awful judgments against sin. But when you have named the name of Christ, and taken the vows of God upon you, and made a public profession of godliness before the world, then, behold the exalted privileges of the saints! You sin to the honor of God! Rather, what you do is no longer wicked and detestable. God is well pleased with the wickedness of his saints! Or more exactly, what they do is not evil at all in his sight.
This doctrine, made to apply particularly to the violation of the seventh commandment, is supposed to be the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which Christ says he hates. Rev. ii, 6, 15. It is worse than the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel by leading them to commit fornication. Rev. ii, 14; Num. xxv, 1. Balaam did not pretend that this sin could be committed without God's displeasure. He taught Balak to lead Israel into sin by means of the women of Moab, so that God should depart from them, and then they would fall an easy prey to his arms. He could not prevail against them so long as God was with them; but he could lead them into sin in this thing, and then God would depart from them. Bad as was the doctrine taught by Balaam, it was not at all the equal in wickedness of this doctrine, that sin is innocent when committed by the saints. This latter doctrine is evidently referred to, and most fitly characterized, in Rev. ii, 20, 24.
The words may, indeed, have a further reference to the church of Rome, but they are taken from real life. Here they are: "Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. . . . But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden." This doctrine, taught by this reputed prophetess, was the innocency of fornication. She had a space given her in which to repent of her sin, and she repented not. For her there was no further space of repentance. For those which were led into sin by her, there was still an opportunity to repent. Her doctrine our Lord characterizes as "the depths of Satan." And well may it bear that name. As there are "the deep things of the Spirit of God," so, also, are there "the depths of Satan." And never did the depths of sin, the wiles of the Devil, the mystery of iniquity, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, so appear in their true character as in this doctrine of innocent sin committed by pious men. Sin is that abominable thing which God hates. It was not tolerated in the highest angel in Heaven. It would cost the whole angelic throng their place in Heaven were they to commit the smallest transgression.
When will men learn that the God of Heaven has no favorites? Let the case of Moses teach us a most impressive lesson. He was in the highest sense "a man of God." Yet this man, for one unadvised word, was shut out of the promised land. In any ordinary servant of God, this might, upon repentance, have been forgiven. But not in Moses, the highly-favored servant of God. He had sinned. God's displeasure at sin must be shown, lest men should think it a light thing for men, highly favored of God, to sin against him. Let us remember this lesson. Those that bear the vessels of the Lord must be clean. Isa. iii, 11. God abhors hypocrites. Sins, committed under the garb of religion, are infinitely worse than those which honestly appear in their native ugliness. The worst of all sinners are the sinners in Zion; and the worst of all sins are the sins committed under the cloak of piety.