Earlier text: And Israel MournedThe End of Satan's Work
By C. M. S.
It is the purpose of God to rid the universe of sin and of the instigator of sin. The resurrection of the righteous does not complete God's purpose concerning this world and those who have inhabited it. The time will surely come when sin, sinners, and the one who originated sin will be no more. The prophet Malachi reveals to us the coming of a time when there will be nothing left of the wicked but ashes. He says:— “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.” Mal. 4: 1-3.
There is no intimation here that hell is an institution, presided over by Satan, in which he is given carte blanche to torment those committed to that region to the utmost limit of his ingenuity; no intimation that Satan is God's agent to see that all sinners are properly punished. But the teaching is plain that every being who is practicing wickedness when that day comes, or who died unrepentant and unforgiven, is to be literally burned up, consumed, and to exist no more. Now it is evident that this includes Satan and all his hosts, as well as those who have yielded to his deceits. The Lord tells us through the psalmist: “For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and he shall not be.” Ps. 37: 10. How could it be said that the wicked shall not be, if he is actually still in existence in torment, and being tormented by the chiefest of all wicked, the instigator of all crime? Satan has nothing to do with the infliction of punishment upon the impenitent wicked, but receives his punishment with them, and is destroyed with them. The Word plainly declares this, in speaking of the work of Satan after his release from his imprisonment of a thousand years immediately following the second coming of Christ. He gathers his deceived ones together, and then it is said of them: “They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.” Rev. 20: 9, 10. If that did not end their existence, Inspiration would not have used a word that indicates to us a complete cessation of existence. The original word from which “devoured” is translated is katefagen, and means, ate up. The Emphatic Diaglott renders it “consumed.” It is therefore certain that there remains nothing of those upon whom falls that fire from heaven. Satan does not rain that fire upon those who are rejected of God, but it is rained from heaven upon them and him together. Of the end of Satan's existence we read in another place: “All they that know thee among the peoples shall be astonished at thee: thou art become a terror, and thou shalt nevermore have any being.” Eze. 28: 19, R. V. By reading verses 13-19, we learn who it is that is thus addressed. How could even Inspiration speak more plainly than this in declaring the complete end of the author of sin? Notwithstanding these plain teachings of the Word of God, even religious teachers are slow to learn. One of our religious exchanges contained the following remarkable conception of the punishment of the wicked:— The silly, deluded devotees of such superstition, such idolatry, must all, in the end, unless they repent in sackcloth and ashes, make their way down the slippery steps of time, and take their final leap at last into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the old devil will take special delight to wrap them around his fingers, gouge their eyes out, and toss them like a rubber ball around the black walls of the dark, dismal pandemonium, the sport of demoniacal millions, while the ages of oncoming eternities roll up from the dark realms below. All this is merely human imagination run wild. There is no word in all the Bible concerning any such fiendish transactions as those described in that quotation; not a word to indicate that Satan has anything whatever to do with the punishment of the wicked; that he is God's agent in any sense to execute judgment upon the impenitent. Such language reproaches our Saviour, perverts the teachings of his Word, and even debases the idea of religion in the minds of thoughtful men and women. It is a plain contradiction of all that God has said concerning the destiny of the wicked. God has set it as his purpose to have a clean universe, not a universe marred by the eternal tortures of the lost, but a praising universe. “And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more.” Rev. 21: 4. That is absolute. If there were to be a never-ending hell, this text could not be true; for then there would be pain, there would be crying, there would be mourning—such as men and women have never known in this world. Neither could the following text of Scripture be true if the wicked were to be tormented eternally: “And every created thing which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying, Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion, forever and ever.” Rev. 5: 13. It would be impossible that there could be an unending torment going on anywhere in the universe of God, anywhere within the jurisdiction of the Almighty, and that text of Scripture be true. When God has made an end of sin, every creature that is left in the universe will be praising him. The universe will be swept clean of everything that has ever brought pain upon men and sorrow to the heart of our loving Heavenly Father. No more sorrow, no more crying, no more pain, no more sickness, no more sin, no more death! What a blessed place for the occupancy of the redeemed! There will be no ever-burning hell there in which our friends, our parents, our children, writhe in agony untold. That conception is a child of paganism and superstition, born under the blighting influences of the Dark Ages. It is not true. In that better land will be only joy and peace and praise. Blessed country! What a glorious privilege it will be to dwell therein! Signs of the Approaching End
By W. A. S.
Part 5. The Falling Stars of 1833
In the New York Journal of Commerce, Mr. Henry Dana Ward emphasized the exactness of detail with which the prophecy described the scene as it appeared in 1833. This is the apocalyptic picture, as the ancient prophet saw it in vision:— “And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” Rev. 6:13. The Prophetic Picture Reproduced
Mr. Ward drew the picture as he saw it nearly eighteen centuries later, the correspondence to the prophetic description being forced upon him in every line:— No philosopher or scholar has told or recorded an event, I suppose, like that of yesterday morning. A prophet eighteen hundred years ago foretold it exactly, if we will be at the trouble of understanding stars falling to mean falling stars.—New York Journal of Commerce, Nov. 14, 1833. Mr. Ward noted the special appropriateness of the prophet’s figure of the fig tree casting the green figs in a mighty wind:— Here is the exactness of the prophet. The falling stars did not come as if from several trees shaken, but from one. Those which appeared in the east fell toward the east; those which appeared in the north fell toward the north; those which appeared in the west fell toward the west; and those which appeared in the south (for I went out of my residence into the park) fell toward the south. And they fell not as ripe fruit falls; far from it; but they flew, they were cast, like the unripe fig, which at first refuses to leave the branch, and when, under a violent pressure, it does break its hold, flies swiftly, straight off, descending; and in the multitude falling, some cross the track of others, as they are thrown with more or less force, but each one falls on its own side of the tree. Professor Olmsted’s long and carefully elaborated account in the American Journal of Science, quoted from a correspondent in Bowling Green, Mo., is as follows:— Though there was no moon, when we first observed them, their brilliancy was so great that we could, at times, read common-sized print without much difficulty, and the light which they afforded was much whiter than that of the moon, in the clearest and coldest night, when the ground is covered with snow. The air itself, the face of the earth as far as we could behold it—all the surrounding objects, and the very countenances of men, wore the aspect and hue of death, occasioned by the continued, pallid glare of these countless meteors, which in all their grandeur flamed “lawless through the sky.” There was a grand and indescribable gloom on all around—an awe-inspiring sublimity on all above, while—
“The sanguine flood
Rolled a broad slaughter o’er the plains
of heaven,
And nature’s self did seem to totter on
the brink of time!” There was scarcely a space in the firmament which was not filled at every instant with these falling stars, nor on it could you in general perceive any particular difference in appearance; still at times they seemed to shower down in groups—calling to mind the fig tree, casting her untimely figs when shaken by a mighty wind.—Vol. XXV, page 382 (1834). It was not in North America alone, but in all the civilized world, that the attention of men was called to the prophetic word by the discussions of the event. Thus the English scientific writer, Thomas Milner, writing for the British public, spoke as follows of the profound impression made:— In many districts, the mass of the population were terror-struck, and the more enlightened were awed at contemplating so vivid a picture of the apocalyptic image—that of the stars of heaven falling to the earth, even as a fig tree casting her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.—“Gallery of Nature,” page 140 (London, 1852). So this sign in the heavens made its solemn appeal to all the world. It brought to the multitudes who saw it thoughts of God and the last great day. An observer living at the time in Georgia, wrote, “Everybody felt that it was the judgment, and that the end of the world had come.” Another, in Kentucky, wrote, “In every direction I could hear men, women, and children screaming, ‘The judgment day is come!’” Rather, it was a signal that the hour of God’s judgment was drawing near. The signs so long foretold were appearing, one by one, to register their enduring mark on the record of fulfilling prophecy, and to arouse believers to the work of proclaiming the message of Christ’s second coming, which now was due to the world. Immediately following these times, there began an awakening concerning this vital Bible doctrine of the second coming of Christ, which has grown into the definite advent movement that is carrying the gospel message of preparation for the coming of the Lord to every nation and tongue and people. Christ in Us
By G. B. THOMPSON
CHRIST taught us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” There is much in this petition. Christ’s will is done in the hearts of men. I am to pray that the will of God be done not in some one else’s heart, but in my own heart. I pray, Lord, let thy will be done in my heart, as it is done by the holy, unfallen beings around the throne of God. On our part this requires complete and unconditional surrender to God in everything, in all the little acts. My own will is laid aside, and the will of the Lord made supreme. Self is hid, and Christ revealed. I am dead, but Christ lives in me. The darkness and defects of my life are covered, and the light and perfection of his life are seen. It means that we give all to God; and in thus giving all, we receive all from him. “All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” 1 Cor. 3:22, 23. Nothing of wisdom or life or power is held back. As Christians our work is to reveal Christ, that he may be seen; that his life and perfection may be seen. We are to the front too much. Self obscures the light, and as a result the enemies of the Lord are led to blaspheme. They see our selfishness, and are led to think that that is religion. The life of Christ will win men. It will soften hard, unregenerated hearts, and convert sinners. “Some of you have seen the great picture that was painted by Munkacsy of the Christ. That picture was being exhibited in Canada, at Toronto, I think; and there came a rude, rough, wicked sailor to see it. He entered the room at the time of day when there were no others there; and paying his money to the woman who sat inside the door, he came in and stood for a moment, looking at the canvas as if he would glance at it and go away. But as he looked, he could not turn. He stood there with his eyes fixed on that central figure of majesty and love. In a few moments, he took off his hat and let it fall upon the floor. After a few moments more he sat down upon a seat, and then he reached down and picked up a book that described the picture, and began to read; and every few seconds his eyes would turn toward the canvas and toward the figure of Christ. The lady who sat by the door saw him lift up his hand and wipe away some tears. Still he sat; five, ten, fifteen, sixty minutes went by, and still the man sat there as if he could not stir. At last he rose, and coming softly and reverently toward the door, he hesitated, to take one last look, and said to the woman who sat there: ‘Madam, I am a rough, wicked sailor; I have never believed in Christ; I have never used his name except in an oath; but I have a Christian mother, and my old mother begged me today before I went to sea, to go and look at the picture of the Christ. To oblige her I said I would come, and I have come. I did not believe that anybody believed in Christ; but as I have looked at that form and that face, I have thought that some man must have believed in him, and it has touched me, and I have come to believe in him, too. I am going out from this time to be a believer in Jesus Christ and a follower of his.’ “O beloved, as I heard that story, the tears came unbidden to my eyes, and my heart glowed with a mighty longing. I thought if a poor, weak man, living himself in a godless land, could take his brush and preach on canvas, and cause our Christ to glow upon it, until a rough, rude, wicked, licentious man should be won to believe in him, what might not my God do if he might paint Christ in me—nay, if he might reproduce Christ in a human life, that the life might be Christ’s, and then men might come to believe on him.” When the will of God is done in us, we shall see our neighbors changed. Hearts as hard and cold as a stone will glow with warmth. Once the touch of light is kindled in our experience as it should be, we can kindle other torches in human experiences. Once the unholy ambition, the selfishness, the pride, and the lust of the world are dead in us, and Jesus lives in us, we shall see the world lightened with the message of God. To have an indwelling Christ is far more than a mere profession. A Christian soul winner on a certain occasion9stopped at the home of a professed Christian and said, “Madam, does Jesus Christ live here?” The question startled her. When she related the experience to her husband in the evening, he said to her, “Why did you not tell him that we were members of the church?” She replied, “I did; but when he asked if Jesus lived here, that was different.” There is indeed a vast difference between a profession and Jesus living in us. Until we can answer the question of this earnest Christian worker in the affirmative, we have no hope that the will of God will be done in us; for it is only by an indwelling Christ that this experience can come to us. Reader, does Jesus live in you? Our Summer’s Campaign
By I. H. EVANS
Most of our conferences have now started their season of tent work. I think there has never been a year in the history of our work when there have been so many tents pitched as this summer. Nearly every conference is greatly increasing its field efforts this year over any preceding year. The conferences are running from six to as many as thirteen tent efforts this summer; and we are living in times when we have a right to expect large returns. In the history of our work there has never been a time when we could preach with such power on the leading themes of the third angel’s message as at the present. Before our very eyes the signs of the end are continually taking place. The world is in a serious mood concerning current events. Thousands know our position on prophecy; they have heard many of our workers speak on the signs of the times. They are looking to the teachers of our faith for a reason, and are asking, “What do these things mean?” Our weakness in our efforts in the past has been the shortness of the tent season. Owing to the inclemency of the early spring weather this year, many have started their efforts nearly a month later than usual. The question may reasonably be raised, Do we have to close our tent efforts as early in the fall as we have been accustomed to in the past? Is it possible to conduct a winter tent effort, finishing our work deliberately and fully before pulling down our tents? On this point, I should like to quote a few words from a letter from Elder C. G. Bellah, of Missouri, under date of June 7. Among other things he says:— We have just organized a church of thirty-six members here, with seven keeping the Sabbath who are not yet members. Townley is a little place of about five hundred, and a good rural population. There has never been any work done here before. Mrs. Bellah and I pitched our tent and began meetings Nov. 17, 1914, she doing Bible work. We continued for six weeks in spite of snow, sleet, and cold rains, and never missed a night. Then we had to attend a workers’ meeting; but we came right back, and pitched the tent again, this time in the snow. It was bitter cold, but we could do no better, as the only available hall had just burned. We have been here six months, and have missed only two night services on account of bad weather. The interest was so great that people came through rain, sleet, and snow. Last night we closed, getting eight new members, making, as we said, thirty-six. Others will come in in a few days, as we shall be here over another Sabbath. We have had baptism three different times, and shall baptize six others in a few days. We appreciate this winter tent work. People cannot stand outside—it is too cold. There is no running in and out during the service. Tent stakes hold well in frozen ground, and snow on the tent looks fine. The tent, thirty by fifty feet, was kept well heated, even with the temperature ten below zero. We had a big heater on each side of the tent, and six inches of dry sawdust on the ground. We fastened the bottom of the wall to the ground, and the top to the curtain. For six months the attendance has been about two hundred, and never but once or twice less than fifty or sixty. Of course it has meant very hard work. This is my first experience in tent work, and consequently I have had to work out all the subjects from the ground up. At the beginning of the year my faith was strong enough to ask for only twenty-five converts. Later we raised it to fifty, and now I feel almost like saying that by God’s help we shall win one hundred souls to Christ during 1915. Now the point is this: Can we not lengthen our tent season efforts by fixing up our tents with good heating stoves, and having the comfort of the people in view? If this could be done, I see no reason why every tent company should not expect to raise up a good church of Sabbath keepers. Surely we must work with increased activity, and with greater results than ever before, if we reach the goal for 1915, increasing our church membership to 80,000 believers. We shall expect great results from the season’s efforts this year. To this end let the entire denomination continually seek God in earnest prayer. Central China Union Mission
By A. G. Daniells
FROM YEN-CHENG IN HONAN WE CAME with Elder R. F. Cottrell to Hankow, the headquarters of the Central China Union Mission. Here we met Sister Cottrell, Dr. Larson and wife, Brother and Sister Ryd, and about one hundred of our Chinese evangelists, canvassers, Bible women, and students. We remained here a week, holding meetings daily from morning until night. The Central China Union embraces the four central provinces of Honan, Hupeh, Hunan, and Kwang-si. Elder R. F. Cottrell is the superintendent of this union. The four provinces of the union have a land area of 292,000 square miles—about one third larger in area than such unions as the Northern, Lake, and Columbia. The people living in this union number 120,000,000, more by one fifth than all the people living in the United States. The reports for the year ending 1914 are very encouraging. There were 26 churches, with a membership of 742, and 21 companies having 430 believers who are being prepared for baptism. The total number identified with us in this union is 1,172. A large number embraced the message during 1914, and 223 persons were baptized. Fully 75 per cent of all these have come to us direct from heathenism, while only 25 per cent had been Christians before uniting with us. We know that the gospel has the same power today that it has ever had, to win men and women from heathenism, and our brethren in China are endeavoring to impress this upon all our workers. We do not believe that our mission in China or any other country is to endeavor to win Christian people from other churches to our cause, with the ambition to build up a denomination. Our mission is to preach the everlasting gospel to all men in all lands, and to receive into our body those who believe what we preach and give evidence of amendment of life. In doing this work we must surely push out into the darkest corners of the world, and work for the most godless and degraded people to be found. This we are doing in Africa, India, and China, and we are proving that the gospel is still “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” It was reported that of the 100 who were present at our meeting in Hankow, 66 had been idol worshipers, 26 had been addicted to the use of wine and tobacco, 4 had been opium smokers, 19 had been gamblers, 5 were previously sorcerers, 2 had been polygamists, 1 had been a Taoist priest, 1 had been a murderer, and one had been insane for many years. People in Christian lands, accustomed to associate with men and women who have a more respectable record, might have some doubts about the reliable, substantial character and worth of a church made up of individuals with such a bad record. But no one present at that meeting could harbor any such misgivings. If all the professed Christians in Christian lands would give such convincing and unmistakable evidence of regeneration by the power of God as these believers give, the influence of the church would be far greater than it is in winning the lost to Christ. Every one of those converts had turned away from his idols, wine, tobacco, and opium. They10had renounced gambling, sorcery, and polygamy. The Taoist priest had left the grimy, smoking temples of his idols, and was working earnestly for Christ; the murderer was rejoicing in the forgiveness of his awful sin, and in the matchless love of God that could save such a sinner as he; and the man who had been afflicted with insanity so long, was clothed and in his right mind, and his heart was full of praise to God for the restoration of his reason. This man had been delivered from hopeless insanity by the prayers of a little church of Chinese converts. The elder of that church was present at our Hankow meeting. He himself had been a follower of Confucius for many years, and was a man of good education, having been granted a degree from the Chinese government for successfully passing the higher examinations. One of the happiest occasions of my ministry was when this dear old brother, saved from heathenism, took from my hands the emblems of our Lord’s death, to pass them to that audience brought from heathen darkness into the glorious light of the gospel of Christ. And he passed these emblems with as beautiful dignity and fine delicacy as they were ever passed in any congregation in Christian lands. He knew their meaning and their value. Such changes wrought in the hearts of sinners, reveal the secret that distinguishes the blessed Christ from all the false gods and teachers of every heathen land. But here, as in Honan and in so many other places, we were well-nigh staggered by the inadequacy of our force of workers to meet the pressing needs that have sprung up by the development of our work. Take the province of Honan: area, 83,000 square miles; population, 22,000,000; church membership, 359, 83 per cent of whom came to us from heathenism; believers preparing for baptism, 600; total converts, 959; evangelists, 17; canvassers, 33; Bible women, 3; school-teachers, 13; other workers, 4; total workers, 70. But in this province we have not a single foreign minister. Elder Lillie was located there last year, but on account of the dampness of the climate he has been obliged to go to another part of China. This leaves Brother S. G. White, the secretary and treasurer, alone to look after the workers, the churches, and the general work. Conditions in the province of Hupeh are just the same, with the exception that Elder Cottrell, the superintendent of the union, resides at Hankow, the capital of Hupeh. I appeal to presidents of union and local conferences in America to stop and ponder over this situation. I appeal to the ministers of America to take it to heart. I appeal to the tens of thousands of believers in behalf of this great pressing need in China. Brethren, something definite and large will have to be done at once to safeguard our precious interests there. Thank God for the call. It would grieve and dishearten us if we could make no headway, if our workers were retreating, if our mission stations were being deserted. With glad hearts we shall respond to this call of our Lord for money and for men. We shall continue to divide our forces in America, and we shall increase our offerings, even if it requires that we decrease our present worth to do so. We have a fine mission station in Hankow, about two miles from the business part of the city, and the surroundings are all that could be asked. Good judgment has been exercised in the erection of the mission homes. Now a school must be provided for the education and training of the large number of young people we have in Central China. Our general meeting was most encouraging. We ordained Brother Hwang Dzun Dao to the work of the ministry. He and his faithful wife have stood by the side of our foreign brethren for eight or nine years, helping them to gather and hold the members we have in that part of China. Now they will go to the province of Kiang-si to open the work there. Calls had come from twenty different places in that province when I was at Hankow. These interests had been awakened by the literature circulated there by our canvassers. But the moment Brother Hwang Dzun Dao crosses the line into Kiang-si, an imperative call will come to the homeland for at least one more foreign worker to take the superintendency of the work in the province. That is the way it works. We look over the line at the millions of lost souls, and feel that we should give them the message. A canvasser crosses over with literature. The people buy and read it. An interest is awakened to hear more. An evangelist is sent. People embrace the message. Then a superintendent is needed, then a mission home, and then a school. The onward march never stops, and it never will, thank the Lord, until the earth is lightened with his glory. I question whether the possibilities for the accomplishment of a great work in the Central China Union Mission can be fully grasped by any one at present. In establishing our headquarters of this union at Hankow, we should lay a good, broad foundation for a large work. Hankow is the natural center from which to operate in Central China. It is about seven hundred miles inland from Shanghai, but being located on that great river, the Yang-tze-Kiang, which is navigable for large steamers, it is like a great seaport. A fleet of fine steamers plies the river from Shanghai, arriving at and leaving Hankow daily. Hankow is connected by rail with Peking and the Trans-Siberian Railway. A line of railway is now under construction which is to connect Hankow and Canton. Another line is being built to connect Hankow with China’s most western province, Szechuan, and Tibet. Greater Hankow includes three cities,—Hankow, Wuchang, and Han-yang. These cities are separated by rivers, about as New York, Brooklyn, and Jersey City. The combined population of the three is about 2,000,000. Being a great commercial center, this place has a large foreign population. It seems providential that our work is being firmly established in this important place, and we should, from the beginning, plan for a large work. I was glad to find Brother and Sister Cottrell in good health and thoroughly in love with their field and their work. They have both worked very hard since going to China. The burden of their mission has rested heavily upon them, and the Lord has blessed them in every way. They have a good knowledge of the language and the people. They have learned how to bring the Chinese people into the truth. They should have more help to relieve them from the heavy pressure of work they are now under. Let us remember the Central China Union Mission field in our prayers. National Religion in Public Schools
The Christian Statesman, official organ of the National Reform Association, in its issue of July proposes that the second Sunday of September be made a day of prayer for public schools, and the plan is meeting with considerable response. This in itself seems innocent enough, but the Christian Statesman has as one of its avowed aims “to promote needed reforms in the action of the government touching . . . the religious element in [public school] education.” A number of sermon outlines for use on the second Sunday of September appear in the same issue. These, as well as the article “National Christianity in the Public Schools,” are intended to promote the idea that the “national religion” should be taught in the public schools. The very idea of a “national religion” is repugnant to the American who believes in the American principle of separation of church and state. It is true that certain remnants of the union of church and state, which was the condition in most of the colonies before the American Revolution, still persist in many of the State constitutions. This, however, is no proof that our nation should adopt a national religion, even if that be of a so-called unsectarian kind. Our Offerings
By D. U. Hale
Word has just come to us that on June 1 the Mission Board was short $116,775 on offerings to missions. I am sorry for this shortage. I do not know how the Mission Board is managing, for our missionaries must have something to live on. They have left home and friends and all that is dear in this world, and gone to strange countries, depending upon the church members at home to support them. True, they are looking to God for support, but he has provided that their support shall come from the gifts of the people. If we fail in this, we betray the trust that the Lord has placed in us. God could provide other means of support for them, but he has not. He could move upon the hearts of the wealthy, and they would give millions to this cause, but God does not see fit to do this. He is depending upon you and me to take what he gives us as a result of our labors, and divide it with his faithful workers. Men borrow from their neighbors and fail to pay it. There are many who make debts that they cannot pay. We all made a debt by sin that none of us could ever pay. Jesus graciously came to our relief when we could not help ourselves, and paid the debt, every whit. Now he is blessing us with means in this world, and all he has ever asked of us financially on that great debt is our tithes and offerings. He has planned to send the third angel’s message to all the world, and the only means he has provided is the tithes and offerings from those he has redeemed. Shall we fail him now in this time of need? Shall we show ingratitude for the gift of his Son for us by withholding a penny of our tithes or a particle of our offerings? Can we stand in the judgment before the Lord and say, “We have finished the work thou gavest us to do,” as long as we are withholding from his cause that which is his due? Let us stand at our own judgment bar a moment. A brother comes to you and asks for a loan of twenty dollars. He promises to pay in three months. It runs on for six months; he does not pay. You mention it to him; he makes another promise, and fails again. You know that he has money right along for his other personal interests, but does not give you any. A year passes, then two years, and he avoids you, but does not pay you. What do you say about that man? Do you say he is honest? Do you say he is a good Christian? Can you depend on him? What is your answer? We stand in the same relation to God. We made a debt of sin that we could never pay. Jesus paid it fully and freely. It cost him his life, but he never murmured, nor complained, nor found fault with the leaders, but paid it willingly and freely. Now he is sending this message of freedom from this debt of sin to all the world, and he asks us to help him. He says to you and me: “The tenth of all your income is mine. The offerings are mine. My message must go to all the world, ‘to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.’” What are you answering him? Are you saying, “Here, Lord, is all thy tithe”? Are you saying, “Here, Lord, is my offering, according to the appreciation of what you have done for me”? Make the offering large, brethren, and show that you appreciate to the highest degree what the Lord has done for you. Our offerings to missions should be large and generous. I appeal to our brethren to make up as far as possible the present deficit in the mission treasury. Let no hindrance come to the advance of our work in all the earth.