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Signs of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 13.

General Articles

Signs of the Times

Mar 31, 1887

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 31, 1887

General Articles.

By Ellen G. White

HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS DRESS?

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
"Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." 1 Peter 3:3, 4.
THE human heart has never been in harmony with the requirements of God. Human reasoning has ever sought to evade or set aside the simple, direct instructions of his word. In every age, a majority of the professed followers of Christ have disregarded those precepts which enjoin self-denial and humility, which require modesty and simplicity of conversation, deportment, and apparel. The result has ever been the same; departure from the teachings of the gospel has led to the adoption of the fashions, customs, and principles of the world. Vital godliness has given place to a dead formalism. The presence and power of God, withdrawn from those world-loving circles, are found with a class of humbler worshipers, who are willing to obey the teachings of the sacred word. Through successive generations, this course has been pursued. One after another, different denominations have risen, and, yielding to their simplicity, have lost, in a great measure, their early power.
Will the people of God learn nothing from the history of the past? There are few who understand their own hearts. The vain and trifling lovers of fashion may claim to be followers of Christ; but their dress and conversation show what occupies the mind and engages the affections. Their lives betray their friendship for the world, and it claims them as its own.
Notwithstanding their profession of godliness, many can hardly be distinguished from the unbelievers. They do not enjoy a religious life. Their time and means are devoted to the one object of dressing for display. Will not my Christian sisters reflect candidly and prayerfully on this subject? Will they not seek to be guided by the word of God? The extra time spent in the making up of apparel according to the fashions of the world should be devoted to close searching of heart and the study of the Scriptures. The hours that are worse than wasted in preparing unnecessary adornings might be made of untold value if spent in seeking to acquire right principles and solid attainments. But the mental powers, that might be developed by thought and study, are suffered to lie dormant and the affections are undisciplined, because the outward apparel is considered of more consequence than spiritual loveliness or mental vigor.
Will the followers of Christ seek to obtain the inward adorning, the meek and quiet spirit which God pronounces of great price, or will they squander the few short hours of probationary time in needless labor for display? The Lord would be pleased to have woman seek constantly to improve both in mind and heart, gaining intellectual and moral strength, that she may lead a useful and happy life, being a blessing to the world and an honor to her Creator.
I would ask the youth of to-day who profess to be followers of Christ, wherein they deny self for his sake. When they really desire some article of dress, or some ornament or luxury, do they lay the matter before the Lord in prayer to know if his Spirit would sanction this expenditure of means? In the preparation of their clothing, are they careful not to dishonor their profession of faith? Can they seek the Lord's blessing upon the time thus employed? It is one thing to join the church, and quite another thing to be united to Christ. Unconsecrated, world-loving professors of religion are one of the most serious causes of weakness in the church of Christ.
In this age of the world, there is an unprecedented rage for pleasure. Dissipation and reckless extravagance everywhere prevail. The multitudes are eager for amusement. The mind becomes trifling and frivolous, because it is not accustomed to meditation or disciplined study. Ignorant sentimentalism is current. God requires that every soul shall be cultivated, refined, elevated, and ennobled. But too often every valuable attainment is neglected for fashionable display and superficial pleasure. Women permit their souls to be starved and dwarfed by fashion, and thus they become a curse to society, rather than a blessing.
I have seen poor families struggling with debt, and yet the children were not trained to deny themselves in order to aid their parents. In one family where I visited, the daughters expressed a desire for an expensive piano. Gladly would the parents have gratified this wish, but they were embarrassed with debt. The daughters knew this, and had they been taught to practice self-denial, they would not have given their parents the pain of denying their wishes; but although they were told that it would be impossible to gratify their desires, the matter did not end there. The wish was expressed again and again, thus continually adding to the heavy burden of the parents. On another visit I saw the coveted musical instrument in the house, and knew that some hundreds of dollars had been added to the burden of debt. I hardly know whom to blame most, the indulgent parents or the selfish children. Both are guilty before God. This one case will illustrate many. These young persons, although they profess to be Christians, have never taken the cross of Christ; for the very first lesson to be learned of Christ is the lesson of self-denial. Said our Saviour, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." In no way can we become disciples of Christ, except by complying with this condition.
We must take more interest in spiritual things than in those of a worldly nature. We must know more of Jesus and his love than of the fashions of the world. In the name of my Master, I call upon the youth to study the example of Christ. When you wish to make an article, you carefully study the pattern, that you may reproduce it as nearly as possible. Now set to work to copy the divine Exemplar. Your eternal interest demands that you possess the spirit of Christ. You cannot be like Jesus and cherish pride in your heart. You cannot give any place to envy or jealousy. You must consider it beneath the character of a Christian to harbor resentful thoughts or indulge in recrimination. Let the law of kindness be sacredly observed. Never comment upon the character or the acts of others in a manner to injure them.In no case make their failures or defects the subject of ridicule or unkind criticism. You lessen your own influence by so doing, and lead others to doubt your sincerity as a Christian. Let peace and love dwell in your soul, and ever cherish a forgiving spirit.
I wish to emphasize this thought, Study the fashions less, and the character of Jesus more. The greatest and holiest of men was also the meekest. In his character, majesty and humility were blended. He came to earth, veiling his dignity with humanity. He had the command of worlds, he could summon the hosts of Heaven at his will; yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. The attractions of this world, its glory and its pride, had no fascination for him. In the cluster of Christian graces, he made meekness and humility prominent. He would have his disciples study these divine attributes, and seek to possess them. "Learn of me," he says; "for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls."
Of how little value are gold or pearls or costly array, in comparison with the meekness and loveliness of Christ. Physical loveliness consists in symmetry, the harmonious proportion of parts; but spiritual loveliness consists in harmony with Christ, the likeness of our souls to him. The grace of Christ is indeed a priceless adornment. It elevates and ennobles its possessor, and it has an influence upon others, attracting them also to the Source of light and blessing.
"Our conversation is in Heaven," said the apostle; "from whence also we look for the Saviour." While others are dwarfing the intellect, hardening the heart, and robbing their Maker by devoting themselves to the service of the world, the true Christian lifts his soul above the follies and vanities of earth, seeking God for pardon, peace, and righteousness; for glory, immortality, and eternal life. And he seeks not in vain. His fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Through this close intercourse with God, the soul becomes transformed. By beholding, we are changed into the divine image. But those who seek only to gratify the desires of the unconsecrated heart, will float with the current of worldliness and fashion. They will talk of what they love most, and give thought and study to that, until by beholding they are changed to the same earthly image. Their conformity to worldly customs holds them in captivity to the god of this world; for "his servants ye are to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey."
Jesus is our only safe pattern; and his life is one continuous experience of privation, self-denial, and sorrow. "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Seeing that our Saviour has endured all this for us, what will we endure for him? Will we show our love and gratitude by manifesting his spirit, and by self-denial in obeying his words?
There is work to be done for the Master. How many souls might be saved, if each professed follower of Christ would do all that it lay in his power to do! My brother, my sister, there are all around you the poor, who may receive from you the words of Christ after you have fed and clothed them. There are the sick, whom it is your duty to visit. There are sorrowing ones to be comforted and prayed for. If the Lord has blessed you with this world's goods, it is not that you may greedily hoard your means, or expend it in the indulgence of pride. Remember that he will one day say, "Give an account of thy stewardship." Let us invest in the bank of Heaven the means intrusted to our care, by using it to supply the wants of the needy or to advance the cause of God. Then the Master, at his coming, having found us faithful over a few things, will make us each ruler over "many things" in the kingdom of his glory.

NOT OUR OWN.

By Dean of Canterbury

Nor in anything we do,—\nThought that's pure, or word that's true,\nSaviour, would we put our trust;\nFrail as vapor, vile as dust,\nAll that flatters, we disown;\nRighteousness is thine alone.
Though we underwent for thee\nPerils of the land and sea;\nThough we cast our lives away,\nDying for thee day by day,\nBoast we never of our own—\nGrace and strength are thine alone.
Native cumberers of the ground,\nAll our fruit from thee is found;\nGrafted in thine olive, Lord,\nNew-begotten by thy word,\nAll we have is thine alone;\nLife and power are not our own.
And when thy returning voice\nCalls thy faithful to rejoice;\nWhen the countless throng to thee\nCast their crowns of victory,\nWe will sing before the throne—\n"Thine the glory, not our own."\n—Dean of Canterbury.

TRUE FORGIVENESS.

FORGIVENESS as a duty is an attitude of mind, rather than an act. In this, forgiveness is more than pardon. A pardon, even in a legal sense, requires the action of two parties,—the pardoner and the pardoned. A pardon is not complete until it has been accepted. But forgiveness is complete in the mind of the forgiving one, whether it be asked for, or be recognized by the offender, or not. A pardoner remits all penalties consequent upon an offense. Forgiveness does away with all severity or harshness of feeling against the offender. But neither a pardon nor forgiveness in itself settles the estimate which is to be had of the guilty one's personal characteristics and trustworthiness. Forgiveness makes the wrong against the forgiver as if that wrong as a wrong had not been done. But forgiveness does not make the forgiven one such a person in himself as he would have been if he had not committed the offense which is forgiven. And the forgiver's estimate of the forgiven one's character, will naturally be formed in view of the added knowledge of that character which the offense has furnished.
A man who shows himself thoughtless or forgetful, and thereby injures one who committed a trust to him, may be forgiven for that failure, so that he is held as dear as if he had not failed. But it may be the forgiver's duty to prefer another person for a similar trust in a new emergency. Although, again, it may be thought that the lesson of this failure is in itself an added guard for the future. For example, if a trusted clerk in a merchant's counting-room has stolen money from his employer, that employer can so thoroughly forgive the clerk that he will even have a new and more loving interest in the one who has yielded to temptation, and is now penitent for it. It may be that he will trust him again in his own service. So far, the forgiven one is restored to favor as though he had never fallen. But the employer could not trustfully recommend that clerk for a responsible position in a banking house, as a person who had never wavered in his honesty of purpose or of action.
When we seek God's forgiveness, we do not ask him to look upon us henceforth as those who are strong against temptation, and to believe that we are in no special danger of sinning again; but we do ask him to forgive us for the sins we have committed, and to look upon us so far as if we had not sinned. Similarly we ought to forgive those who have wronged us, looking upon them in a spirit of forgiveness, and forgetting their trespasses against us—as trespasses against us. This is what forgiveness is—as a duty. How to attain to the unvarying spirit of forgiveness is another matter. That involves our possession of the Spirit of Christ, and our charitable and sympathetic recognition of the same moral weakness in others which we bemoan in ourselves.—Selected.

SATAN'S PERSONALITY.

THERE is a large class of men, both within and without the church, who often speak and reason about the devil, but who seem to think he is only a fanciful personification, or representation—a figure, a type, or something else, of sinful principles. They have reduced him to a mere abstraction. The evils of the world and misfortunes of life they attribute in no way to Satanic influence,—to no outside pressure or temptation whatever,—but solely to the depravity or the irregularities of human nature. Revelation, however, states the case otherwise. It varies not in a single instance from presenting Satan as a real person, having power on earth, and to be feared among men. The different names by which he has been designated in the Scriptures are suggestive of his nature and personality. The term "devil," for instance, which in the Greek means "the traducer, the calumniator," and in English, the enemy of mankind, implies personality.
The same is true of the term "Satan," which means an adversary, or a personal foe of the race. Of similar import are the Greek term "Apollyon," and the Hebrew "Abaddon," by which he is sometimes designated, which means an evil angel, or the angel of the bottomless pit. The forms of expression, as well as the particular words employed, suggest the same idea. He is always referred to in the singular number. More than twoscore times is he called "Satan," a term which is never employed in the plural number. Upwards of fifty times he is called "the devil," invariably in connections requiring the singular number. He is called "the prince" and "the god of this world," "a roaring lion," one that "sinneth from the beginning," "Beelzebub," "accuser," "Belial," "deceiver," "dragon," "liar," "leviathan," "Lucifer," "murderer," "serpent," "tormentor." These expressions imply, beyond question, actual and individual personality.
If the Bible referred to Satan only under one class of circumstances, if it employed but one term, and that an abstract one, we might then regard his existence as only imaginary.But the frequent allusions to him, direct and indirect,—the great variety of circumstances under which he has been mentioned by inspired poet, historian, and prophet, by the disciples, and the Lord Jesus himself,—compel us to adopt an opposite conclusion. Christ was entirely mistaken, or there is a supernatural spirit of evil. The wilderness of Judea and the Apocalypse are scenes of actual presence, and displays of actual power. The daring and warlike imagery of the Scriptures, which represent God and Satan as sovereigns of hostile empires, means something. "The power of Satan," "the power of darkness," "the prince of the power of the air," these are no fictions of distempered brains. There is no mysticism here. These are conceptions of terrible meaning to minds which felt the antagonism of literal and living forces, which comprehended the ideas of loyalty and disloyalty, of life and death. The doctrine of Satan’s personality pervades revelation. The body of it stands or falls with its admission or rejection. The doctrine in this respect is vital. No evangelical Christian can by any means ignore it. It is one of the constructive ideas of the inspired word. We can get rid of it only by rejecting the system of revelation in which it appears, everywhere present, everywhere consistent with free agency and existing evil, and everywhere uttering its warnings to be sober and vigilant.
—Professor Townsend, in "Credo."

"DO YOU BELIEVE IN CONVERSION?"

By R. F. Cottrell

We should never meet with the above question, did not somebody assert that we do not believe in conversion. And nothing could be more absurd than the thought that the people who profess faith in the last message of the gospel, a message which holds forth "the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" in their purity and entirety, and, as a consequence, urge the people to a higher standard of holiness and a more perfect consecration to God than is attained by professors in general, should disbelieve the emphatic declaration of Jesus, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven."
While we, in view of Christ's coming at hand, continually exhort the people, in the language of an apostle, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord," it is wicked as well as extremely silly, to say that we do not teach repentance and conversion. It is bearing false witness. And yet we are sometimes gravely told that we would do better to leave off preaching our peculiar views of Bible truth, and labor for the conversion of souls by preaching faith and repentance. The fact is, we preach more repentance than they want; that men should repent of their Sabbath-breaking, as well as of every other sin against the entire decalogue. Believe in conversion?—Yes; and true conversion is something more than merely an emotional change, a stirring of the religious faculties or sentiments. It is a change that affects the life and character, makes one honest in deal, and causes him to show his love to God by keeping his commandments. 1 John 5:3.
R. F. COTTRELL.

ALWAYS ON DUTY.

A good soldier recognizes the added responsibility resting on him, when he is on duty as a soldier. Even though he be careless in his dress, and his speech, and his personal bearing while in his tent with his tent-mates, he will give the closest attention to every detail of his uniform, will consider well his language and the manner of its expression, and will be erect and dignified in his carriage, when on guard, or when in line for inspection, for review, or for battle. And, in some cases, a soldier who is scrupulously exact in his soldierly conduct when on duty as a soldier, is reckless of his course as a man when on furlough, or while otherwise temporarily absent from his camp or his command. His standard while on duty is one thing; his standard while off duty is quite another thing.
As it is with the soldier, so too often is it with the Christian. There is one standard for the realm of his Christian duty; there is another standard for the realm of his personal enjoyment and recreation. His Sabbath suit sometimes seems to be his Christian uniform. His speech for the prayer-meeting, or for family worship, seems to be another language from that for his ordinary converse. His attitude and his manner toward religious things and toward secular things, differ widely. It is evident that as a Christian he recognizes a measure of responsibility in the purely religious sphere, which does not rest on him outside of that sphere. This shows itself again, in his questioning as to the use of his time, his money, his influence, in the one sphere or the other. He is, indeed, sometimes in doubt whether, or not, he is on duty as a Christian; but he does not doubt that his standard while on duty ought to be very different from his standard while off duty.
A Christian is always on duty. A Christian is an enlisted soldier of Christ. A Christian’s term of enlistment is life-long. So long as he lives, a Christian is bound to be true to his Master at all times and everywhere; and he ought never to be in a place where he would not welcome his Master’s appearing; nor ought he ever to speak a word which is inconsistent with fullest fidelity to the interests of his Master’s cause, as represented by himself. A Christian is not bound to wear his Sabbath suit all through the week; but he is bound to be as true a man in one suit as in another. A Christian is not bound to employ at all times precisely the tone of voice that is fitting for words of social or public prayer; but he is bound to speak always and only as a true-hearted follower of Christ. A Christian is not bound to be always in attendance at church or prayer-meeting, or some other religious gathering; but he is bound to be always in that place where, for the time being, it seems to him that he belongs, and where, above all other places for just that time, he would rejoice to be found by his returning Master.—Selected.

CHRIST'S TESTIMONY TO HIMSELF.

By Samuel T. Spear

THE Jews—some of them from motives of hostility, and others with a desire to know the truth—several times during the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, raised the question, as they had previously done in respect to John the Baptist, whether he was the Messiah, the Christ so often mentioned by the prophets, and so long expected by the Jewish people. His general answer to this question, in the affirmative, we have in these words: "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me."
There is no doubt that by the term "Scriptures," here used, Jesus meant comprehensively the sacred writings, then existing among the Jews, which had so existed for centuries, and which were by them regarded as of divine origin and authority, and now known among Christians as the Old Testament. He frequently quoted these Scriptures, often used them to confirm his own teaching, always distinguished them from the traditions and commandments of men, sometimes expounded them, and never rejected or denied any part of them. He said expressly: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." His position in regard to these ancient writings is a great help to Christian thought in reference to the question of their credibility and divine authority. Those who believe in him feel it quite safe to accept what he so fully accepted and indorsed.
The woman of Samaria with whom Jesus talked, being greatly impressed with his words, said to him, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." After further conference with him, perhaps in her own mind raising the question whether he was not the Messiah, she said to him: "I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ; when he is come, he will tell us all things." Jesus at once replied to her, "I that speak unto thee am he," thus in express words affirming his own Messiahship. When John the Baptist was in prison and there heard of the works of this Jesus, he sent two of his disciples, directing them to ask him this question: "Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?" Jesus, though not directly answering this question, virtually said that he was the Christ that was to come; and this he did by telling these disciples to call John's attention to his works, which were naturally adapted to lead him to this conclusion. Standing before the Sanhedrim on the charge of blasphemy, he was asked by the high priest whether he was "the Christ, the Son of God," and he replied, "I am."
Jesus, in his interview after his resurrection, with the two disciples who were on their way to the village of Emmaus, was told by them of the things which had recently occurred at Jerusalem, relating to "Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him." They further said that they "trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel," and then referred to some reports that this very Jesus had already risen from the dead. He then spake to them as follows: "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken; ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." He here identifies his own history, as these disciples knew it to be, with the history assigned by the prophets to the Messiah, and, in so doing, affirms himself to be this Messiah.
In the evening of the day on which he rose from the dead, Jesus met ten of his disciples in Jerusalem, and after identifying himself to them as the real person who had been put to death on the cross, he said to them: "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things." Here also Jesus identifies his own history with that of the Christ of whom the prophets had spoken. There is no doubt that when on earth, he claimed both before and after his death, to be the Messiah of prophetic promise. He was so understood by the Jews and by his disciples. This is one part of his testimony concerning himself.
So, also, Jesus, according to his own statement, though a man born of the Virgin Mary, had, nevertheless, come down from Heaven, and from God the Father, to be the Saviour of sinners, and to suffer and die in their behalf. To Nicodemus he said: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whatsoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." He also said that "the Son of man is come to save that which was lost," and that "the Son of man came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister," and to "give his life a ransom for many." He further said: "I lay down my life for the sheep.
. . . Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment [appointment] have I received of my Father." The Lord's Supper, as instituted and explained by him, is a memorial of his death—of his body broken for sinners, and his blood "shed for the remission of sins."
The doctrine of salvation for this lost and guilty world through him, and as the result of his atoning work in human behalf, by his own death on the cross, shines out all through the ministry of Jesus. It is one of the most prominent thoughts of that ministry. He invited all classes to come to him for this boon of God's grace, assuring them that if they did so they would be saved from the wrath to come, and that if they failed to do so they would die in their sins, and under the curse of God. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." Such is the testimony of Jesus concerning himself, considered as the Saviour of sinners.
Equally evident is it that Jesus so spoke and acted as to convey the impression that he was divine as well as human, and thus invested himself with the attributes of the Godhead. As human, he could and did say, "My Father is greater than I;" but as divine, he could and did say, "I and my Father are one," and also say that "as the Father knoweth me even so know I the Father," thus assuming for himself infinite knowledge, and also say: "Before Abraham was, I am," and still further say that "all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." He appropriated to himself the title "Son of God," in a sense which, as he knew, implied the assertion of his own divinity. He did so when standing before the Sanhedrim on the charge of blasphemy. He wrought miracles without appealing to any power higher than his own; and on one occasion he performed a miracle in the healing of a paralytic, to prove, as he expressly said, that "the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins." In his intercessory prayer, as stated in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John, he said: "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."
The Jews on several occasions understood Jesus to make himself "equal with God," and took up stones to stone him as a blasphemer in arrogating to himself divine powers and attributes; and he interposed no disclaimer to correct their understanding of his language. The apostles did not invent the doctrine of his divinity, but rather received it from him who spoke of himself in their hearing as no one less than divine can truly speak. To deny this doctrine is to impeach him as a teacher.
The doctrine belongs essentially to the testimony which he gave concerning himself, and is a vital part of that testimony. When Paul said that "in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily," he said no more than Jesus had previously said in regard to himself. Great as may be the mystery, the incarnation of God in Christ Jesus is a doctrine which he taught, and which his apostles taught after he had ascended into Heaven.
This same Jesus announced himself to the Jews and to his disciples, and through the record of his public ministry, now announces himself to mankind, as the person who, in the final day, will raise the dead, judge the world in righteousness, and appoint men to their eternal destiny. In respect to the resurrection of the dead by his power, he said: "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." He declared himself to be "the resurrection and the life." He taught not only that there would be a resurrection, but also that it would be by his power.
Speaking of himself as "the Son of man," Jesus also said: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left." The "sheep" represent the righteous, and the "goats" represent the wicked. To the former Jesus will say: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." To the latter he will say: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." The latter, as he declares, "shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal."
Paul, when he "stood in the midst of Mars Hill," and spoke to the Athenians, said to them that God "hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." The same apostle in his second epistle to the Corinthians, also says: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." Where did Paul get these ideas of Jesus as the judge of the world, and the arbiter of human destiny? They are a part of the gospel which, as he expressly says in his epistle to the Galatians, was communicated to him "by the revelation of Jesus Christ." That is to say, Christ, after he had ascended into Heaven, and after he had called Saul of Tarsus to be an apostle, taught him by "revelation" just what he himself had taught when on earth.
We have, then, in Jesus of Nazareth, a person who, upon his own testimony concerning himself, is the Messiah or Christ of Scripture promise, who is the Saviour of sinners, and was to die and did die for them, who, though in his human nature bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, nevertheless, claimed for himself and exercised the powers of the Godhead, and who, in the great day of final account, will raise the dead, judge the world in righteousness, and assign everyone to his eternal destiny. Such is the Jesus of the gospel narrative. He has no parallel in the history of this world. He spoke as man never spoke, and as no mere man can speak, and yet speak the truth. He is a divine Saviour, and as such, his offices and friendship are worth more than all the world beside. No one can do so wise a thing as to put himself in alliance with this Jesus, and consecrate to him the best affections of his heart, and the best service of his life.—Samuel T. Spear, D. D., in Independent.

PROTEST AND TESTIMONY.

By E. P. Marvin

THE several periods of man's past history have severally begun in divine mercy, progressed in human apostasy, and ended in divine judgment. In none of these successive periods of man's redemption has God staked his truth upon its prevalence among men. Any intelligent infidel can easily show that the universal prevalence of truth and righteousness in the present church period would be the positive refutation of the New Testament.
As we draw near the close of this outcalling of the Gentiles, all moral forces intensify; men are better and worse, and a kind of "mixed multitude is filling up the moral chasm between the church and the world." The lukewarmness, lawlessness, and apostasy of a great part of the professing church is plainly predicted, and it may be clearly seen by men with their eyes open. Voices therefore should be lifted everywhere by God's scattered witnesses in protest and testimony. We might quote most of the New Testament, but leave others to search the Scriptures and see if these things are so.
1. We solemnly protest against the general lawlessness of thinking, confusion of thought, and laxity of belief in pulpit and pew. We testify to the certainty, perspicuity, and unchangeableness of the faith once delivered to the saints, and the solemn duty of the preacher with an open Bible in hand, to ring out clearly the four great R's—Ruin, Redemption, Regeneration, and Resurrection!
2. We protest against all vain and false speculations of science, upon the brutal origin of man and his progressive development by the inherent forces of nature. We testify that revelation, history, and true science point to a supernatural origin of man, and that except where some influence has come from without, especially the truth and grace of God, individuals and nations have deteriorated by an inherent and overpowering bent toward corruption and destruction.
3. We protest against the denial or neglect of truth concerning the exceeding sinfulness of sin and its exceeding dreadful penalty, and the teaching or holding a baseless, sentimental hope of probation after death.
We testify that revelation is clear and emphatic upon sin and penalty, and that these solemn and awful utterances should have no inferior place in preaching, since sinners who are not thus warned will die in their iniquity, and their blood will be required at the watchman's hands.
4. We protest against the popular moral and sentimental view of the atonement of Christ, and all modifications of his true and sufficient expiation for sin.
We testify in the Spirit and by the repeated and unmistakable word of God to the proper deity of Christ, and his vicarious death in the sinner's place, to provide a righteous basis of pardoning mercy, and that this must be true, or Christ would be an imposter.
5. We protest against all lax views and rationalistic speculations concerning the inspiration of Scripture, either to harmonize apparent discrepancies, or to make believing or living easy to the natural man.
6. We protest against the transfer of faith from divinely appointed to humanly devised agencies, in propagating the gospel.
We testify our undiminished confidence in the truth and Spirit of God to do all that can be done for man's salvation.
7. We protest against that false charity and false peace, in which fatal errors are tolerated, and fatal errorists are complimented for certain "manly virtues," on considerations of expediency.—Rev. E. P. Marvin.

COVETOUSNESS.

By United Presbyterian

COVETOUSNESS is the deadliest sin of the church and nation to-day. Destroy this sin in the church, and you cut the withes that bind a giant. Free the church from the sinful love of money, the root of all evil, and she will send out missionaries by the ship load. If we want to cut the tap-roots of our great national sins, we must strike at covetousness. It is the vital force in the drunkard-making business, and in all civil and political corruption. It fills the anarchist's bombs, and is the potent element in the philosophy of socialism. It is the most blinding of all sins. Nothing can so fully close the head and heart against the gospel. It is as deadly in the hovel as in the palace, in a village home as in a farmer's mansion.
Let us, then, cease speaking of covetousness as a sin that leans to virtue's side, as a very little sin, a most respectable, genteel sin, which anyone may commit, and still hold a high place in good society and in the church. Let us rather teach that the covetous must take their place where God has put them, between "thieves" and "drunkards."—United Presbyterian.

Help the Fallen

By John Todd

LET us take care how we speak of those who have fallen on life's field. Help them up, not heap scorn upon them. We did not see the conflict; we do not know the scars.—John Todd.
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