Review and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 42. (10/17/1907)

Review and Herald

Oct 17, 1907

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 17, 1907

To Calvary Again

By Worthie Harris Holden

WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN

Behold upon the cross on yonder height Jesus, the Son of God, in agony! His enemies have spent their cruel might To nail their Saviour to th’ accursed tree.

What meaneth this? I read in Holy Writ That we anew may crucify our Lord. Do we, like them, in condemnation sit, Despise His sacrifice, reject His Word?

Or seemeth it to thee a little thing That, circled as we are with light from heaven, So lightly we esteem His offering,— So loath are we to heed instruction given?

O Lamb of God, and Saviour of our race, No longer let us lead to Calvary; But, sanctified anew, behold Thy face All radiant with the joy we bring to Thee.

Portland, Ore.

Twenty-Five Special Numbers

Beginning with October 30, the publishers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES will issue a series of twenty-five special numbers covering all the main points of the Third Angel's Message. This series will be inaugurated by the great

World Missions Special

A double number (32 pages), covering the great field of missionary effort during the past century, telling what has been accomplished and what still remains to be done, together with a strong appeal to the people to finish the work in this generation.

It will be the brightest and best missionary journal ever published by any denomination.

It will contain reports from men who are in mission fields and who speak of their personal experience.

Its illustrations will be fresh and its appearance attractive.

It will be a number that every one, whether Christian or infidel, will be glad to read and study.

It will be a number that will surprise even our own people, showing as it will the mighty advance steps being taken in missionary effort.

On two pages opening opposite each other there will be portraits of pioneer missionaries from Carey and Judson down, thirty-two in all, with a brief sketch of each. These two pages alone will be well worth the price of the paper.

On another page there will appear engravings showing the great missionary fields of the world, the population of each, etc. These will be arranged in the order of size of population, China, with its four hundred millions, taking the lead. On the opposite page will be diagrams and statistics showing the amount of money expended for liquor, tobacco, and other things of like nature.

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They will be in the form of studies, with notes and quotations from history bearing upon the subject. They will be illustrated by diagrams, drawings, and unique little illustrations that will explain the lesson and make it simple and comprehensive.

The regular departments of the paper, such as “The Outlook,” “Missions,” “The Home,” etc., will be maintained the same as usual.

Special attention will be given to the Home Department, and a series of articles by Mrs. L. D. A. Stuttle on “Home Building” will be well worth the price of the paper.

There will also be talks to youth, talks on health and temperance, interesting information and occasional helpful stories and sketches.

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Doctrines of Devils

It is not necessary to deny the existence of God in order to teach “doctrines of devils,” for the devils believe in the existence of God. “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” It is not necessary to deny that the incarnate Jesus is a divine being in order to teach “doctrines of devils,” for the devils confessed this. “And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.” One may emphatically assert the existence of God, and may insist that Jesus is a divine being, and yet may teach “doctrines of devils.”

It is doubtless true that Spiritualism in its varied forms, or spiritualistic teachings, are under consideration in the passage of Scripture in which the expression “doctrines of devils” is found, but it is also true that other false doctrines belong under this head. He who maintains that the divine government is defective, that the law of God is irksome, and that obedience to it is bondage, is certainly defending the creed of devils,—proclaiming the “doctrines of devils.” In working up the original rebellion in heaven which resulted in his being cast out (Rev. 12:7-9), Satan “worked with mysterious secrecy, and for a time concealed his real purpose under an appearance of reverence for God. He began to insinuate doubts concerning the laws that governed heavenly beings, intimating that though laws might be necessary for the inhabitants of the worlds, angels, being more exalted, needed no such restraint, for their own wisdom was a sufficient guide.” “While claiming for himself perfect loyalty to God, he urged that changes in the order and laws of heaven were necessary for the stability of the divine government.” “He promised those who would enter his ranks a new and better government, under which all would enjoy freedom.” But the freedom which Satan promised to his followers was

that kind of freedom which means the disregard of all law,—lawlessness and anarchy,—and he has introduced this idea of freedom into this world, bringing with it its train of woe. Instead of enjoying the promised freedom by refusing obedience to the divine precepts, man has been brought into bondage, for “whosoever committeth sin [transgression of the law] is the servant of sin,” and the gospel is the provision to restore the lost freedom by supplying the needed power for obedience in the gift of him who is “the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” Now the strange part of it is that some who profess to be ministers of the gospel of Christ declare that the very law which Christ magnified and made honorable is a yoke of bondage, that Christ has set his followers free from it, and that to insist upon the necessity of obedience to it through faith in Christ is a denial of the gospel of salvation by faith. To us it seems clear that such teachings as these are in perfect harmony with the “doctrines of devils,” and that they utterly subvert the fundamental principles of the gospel of Christ. Those who maintain such a creed as this really teach that the Son of God came down from heaven to do exactly what Satan was cast out of heaven for attempting to do—to abolish law. But this is entirely contrary to the scripture which says, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”

So far has some modern theology departed from the truth of the gospel.

The Right Basis for Confidence

The promises of God, and not the outward appearances, furnish the right basis for confidence in the work of God. The man of faith has learned with faithful Abraham that what God has promised, that he is able also to perform, and he rests upon the unchangeable Word.

But this very faith makes it necessary to know exactly what God has promised, in order that one may not be led to build his hope upon a false foundation. We can maintain our confidence even against appearances, if we have a definite “Thus saith the Lord” upon which to fall back, but no merely human enthusiasm will long stand against the logic of adverse circumstances.

Joshua could march around Jericho for a whole week without the least outward appearance that the city would be overthrown, because the Lord had said unto him, “I have given into thy hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor.” He permitted God to fulfil his promise in his own way, and he implicitly obeyed instructions which would seem utterly foolish to a general who followed the accepted methods of warfare. The results showed the soundness of his policy.

To Gideon the Lord said, “Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of the Midian: have not I sent thee? . . . Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.” Depending upon this promise and following the instructions given him how to order the battle, “Gideon and the three hundred men that were with him came unto the uttermost part of the camp . . . and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands. . . . And they cried, The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon.” “And Jehovah set every man’s sword against his fellow, and against all the host.” Thus did three hundred men of faith under Gideon’s leadership gain a signal victory over their enemies who “came in as locusts for multitude.”

The lesson applies to-day. We must settle it in our hearts that the clear statements of the Word of God are the sufficient answer to all unfavorable circumstances, and that appearances do not count for or against the promises of our great Leader, “for he is faithful that promised.”

“Standing on the promises that can not fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God.”

Editorial

By Editor

RELIGION is a life. To profess religion is to declare that we have accepted Christ as our life and our righteousness. This is for the daily experience, and not for exhibition on special occasions. “It is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me.” Happy are they who profess religion on this basis. They are living epistles.

IN the mad rush to acquire material wealth many people seem to lose sight of the vast stores of spiritual wealth which are offered to earnest seekers.

“If thou seek her [understanding] as one silver, And search for her as for hid treasures: Then shalt thou understand the fear of Jehovah, And find the knowledge of God.”

Fire can not destroy this treasure, thieves can not steal it, no court can levy upon it, and it is not left for heirs to dispute about.

“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, And the man that getteth understanding; For the gaining of it is better than the gaining of silver, And the profit thereof than fine gold.”

It is a significant comment on human nature that the most valuable treasure, within the reach of all, is the least sought after. How many would follow Solomon’s example to-day, if afforded the opportunity to ask for what they desired, and would say, “Give thy servant therefore an understanding heart”? Wise choice! Worthy example!

They Watch Every Sign

By W. A. S.

OUR missionaries watch every move in the home lands that means help for the fields abroad. Every splendid gift from conferences or people for missions sends a thrill of joy round the world-wide circle of our work.

The news that the schools are overflowing sends cheer to many a dark corner of the world, for it means prospective recruits.

The starting of the work of the Foreign Mission Seminary is hailed with special gladness in many parts. For instance, Prof. J. L. Shaw writes from India:—

We are very much encouraged by the plan to open a Foreign Mission Training-school in Washington. This is a move in the right direction. May the school prove a mighty factor in mission work in heathen lands.

The missionaries are watching to see a steady procession of laborers passing from our colleges and conferences through this Seminary into the fields. It must be, by the grace of God. Pray the Lord of the harvest to fill all our schools with the holy inspiration that makes young men and women missionaries. And as we listen to the calls in the mission office, we long to see yet more of our strong young people who have had the ordinary school work, those who have had some experience in life, and know how to do things without being told—we long to see these flocking in to this Foreign Mission Seminary on their way to needy fields. They must come, for there is a call for workers sounding that will never cease till the work is done, W. A. S.

The Conspiracy of the Ages

By C. M. S.

THE clarion call of heaven to this generation is a call to give God the glory that is his due, and worship him (Rev. 14:7) who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of waters.

Why is the call made now to give that glory and render that worship?—Because that glory is not being given now, and that worship is not being rendered now.

Satan, before the creation of this world, determined to be “like the Most High” (Isa. 14:14), to exalt his “throne above the stars of God.” He would himself be God. That would have meant the taking away of God’s glory; and that was what the arch-deceiver called upon the angels to do. Some of them yielded, and robbed God of his glory to that extent. Others refused to yield to the sophistries of Satan, and continued to give God glory as of yore.

The controversy was transferred to this earth. The same requirements were laid down; the same conspiracy was planted here to take away from God the glory due unto his name. The same decisions are being made in the earth today that were made in heaven and in Eden. God has left it with man to decide whether he will give God the glory due him as Creator, or whether he will give it to the great adversary of God and man.

“Thus saith God Jehovah, he that created the heavens, and stretched them forth; he that spread abroad the earth and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles. . . . I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images.” Isa. 42:5-8. Because he is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all things therein, he is entitled to the praise and worship of all created beings. Says the psalmist, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Man through the ages has been asked to do only what the inarticulate heavens are doing.

Yet between man and his Maker, Satan has sought to insinuate himself, that he might defeat the purpose of the Almighty and accomplish his own evil designs. His design through the centuries has been to “be like the Most High.” Was the Creator glorified in the hearts of his creatures? He would be the same. Did the Creator receive worship, homage, adoration from creatures of his hand? He would have the same.

God appointed a memorial day that his creatures might not forget him; that in their minds might be kept ever fresh their duty to him and his love and goodness to them. He established his memorial when he had finished his work, and he reaffirmed it with his own voice amid the thundrous demonstrations of Sinai. But parallel with that institution has come down through the ages another, instituted by the father of idolatry—an institution designed to supplant God’s memorial and so blot his memory out of the minds of the people and rob him of his glory as Creator of all. As God had a day, so would he have one. As obedience is the highest form of worship, and as God required obedience, so would he, that he too might have worship.

There, then, are the two days, the seventh as God’s memorial of his created work; the first as a counterfeit sabbath, dedicated through the centuries of the past to the worship of the sun and to heathen festivals; the one a recognition of God’s authority and his right to the obedience and worship of men, the other a rival, a symbol of disloyalty to him, and its establishment an effort to rob him of his glory.

We can not fittingly worship and serve God while yielding obedience to a power at war with him; and so our Father’s last call and warning to the world is, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.” It is significant, too, that this call is made at a time when that apostate prince is calling upon the whole world to worship himself. Rev. 13:15.

That kind of worship and that rival day are plants which God never planted. They can not endure; for our Saviour says, “Every plant which my Heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up.” Matt. 15:13. “My glory will I not give to another.” That pronounces the doom of sin: that spells the dissolution of the kingdom of darkness; that puts an end to the rival sabbath, the rival worship, and the rival ruler of the universe; that insures the triumph of righteousness, the reward of the saints, the peace of the universe; and the glory of the King of kings.

C. M. S.

Misrepresenting Adventism

By Editor

A MAN in Ohio who says that he was “for over seventeen years a minister in the ranks of the Seventh-day Adventists,” and who knows that “they are in the most part sincere in their convictions,” now offers to “go anywhere for expenses and entertainment” to deliver his lecture “From Adventism to the New Testament Faith,” in order to save as many as possible “from the delusion of this doctrine.” Now while we freely grant the right of any man to change his views and to labor to overthrow the doctrines which he formerly advocated, yet in doing so one ought not to misrepresent the movement with which he was at one time connected.

It is perfectly clear to us that any one who describes his experience in renouncing the teaching of Seventh-day Adventists and returning to the creeds of the other Protestant churches under the title “From Adventism to the New Testament Faith” has utterly failed to understand the real meaning of the advent doctrine, and to appreciate for what this movement stands. It is, of course, plainly implied in this title that Adventism and the New Testament faith are two distinct things, and that to be a Seventh-day Adventist is to reject the New Testament faith; but while it is readily possible that this may represent the lecturer’s experience in Adventism, it is none the less a misrepresentation of genuine Adventism. On the other hand, if by New Testament faith this lecturer means a kind of faith which sets aside the claims of God’s law and makes the work of Christ an excuse for disregarding his Father’s commandments instead of the provision for enabling all believers to keep them, we must conclude that he entertains an altogether unscriptural idea of New Testament faith. In either case he is an unsafe guide to those who are really seeking to know the truth.

The one purpose of this threefold advent message is to bring out a people who shall “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” This “faith of Jesus” is certainly the New Testament faith—that saving faith through which alone the merits and righteousness of Christ are imputed to us and his life becomes effective in us in the way of obedience. But the faith of Jesus, working in his own experience while here upon earth, did not lead him to refuse obedience to his Father’s law, which was his delight and was written in his heart (Ps. 40:8), neither did it manifest itself in an obedience which was to be used as an excuse for a wilful disobedience to that same law on the part of his followers. On the contrary, the proof of discipleship is revealed in following in his steps. “Hereby we know that we are in him: he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk as he walked.”

Furthermore, the New Testament faith does not differ in its essence from the Old Testament faith, since both of them center in “Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.” In no other part of the Scriptures is this fact made so clear as in the New Testament itself. One quotation will suffice: “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Know therefore that they that are of faith, the same are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed. So then they that are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. . . . Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. . . . And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.” Abraham believed in Christ as the one through whom the promised salvation and the promised inheritance were to be received, and his faith is commended to us for our imitation.

Seventh-day Adventism, when correctly understood, and the New Testament faith, when rightly interpreted, are synonymous, and there is no such experience as changing from genuine Adventism to the real New Testament faith. Any one who claims to have made such a change certainly misrepresents either Adventism or the New Testament faith, and possibly both.

Our Day of Opportunity

By C. M. S.

THERE is a mighty stirring process now going on in all the less-evangelized portions of the earth. There are two forces at work in them all—one looking to an extension of education and leading the people to a consideration of Christianity, and the other threatening the very existence of the missionaries and the mission stations already established in those countries. It is a matter of no little significance to us and our work that this condition is so prevalent throughout the darker portions of the earth. We have been warned repeatedly that now is the day of our opportunity, and that the work which we do not do now, under favorable circumstances, we shall have to do under great difficulties and trials. God will open up the countries of this world that his witnesses may testify for him. He is doing it now, and doors long closed are swinging open everywhere.

In India the “Swadeshi Movement” is absorbing the attention of a large portion of the people. It and other nationalistic movements aim to bring about Indian independence in religion, government, education, and social life. The India National Congress at Calcutta demanded Indian self-government, and the advocates of these demands are among the best-educated people of India. Speaking of these movements, the Missionary Review of the World says, “India needs to be more than ever the center of missionary effort.”

In South Africa there is more or less unrest among even the evangelized natives, and the agitation for an independent native church has quite seriously affected the work of some of the missionary societies. There is also a movement on foot in South Africa whose slogan is, “Africa for the Africans.”

The long-neglected country of Morocco is now seething with unrest, and so dangerous did the situation become for all foreigners, that France and Spain are on Moroccan soil to keep the peace. It will doubtless be in this case as it was in the case of the Boxer rebellion in China, that greater evangelical progress will be seen for a time at least.

Persia has never been so stirred as at the present time. One writer declares it almost impossible to realize that such reforms are actually going on in Persia as have recently been established. Persia has waked up from her sleep of centuries, and now has a constitutional government and a parliament, and local assemblies have been established in all the larger cities to take the place of resident governors and priest-judges. Newspapers are springing up in many of the cities, preaching freedom and political honesty. The new movement has assumed also somewhat of an anti-foreign aspect. “Persia for the Persians” is the rallying cry of this element. In one city there is a demand that the representatives of the Church Missionary Society be expelled. Over against this is an agitation for religious liberty.

In Korea there has been a gain of more than sixty per cent in the number of converts to Christianity during the past year. This is a remarkable showing. Twenty years ago, Korea had no Bible, and no part of it except the Gospel of Mark; now, thousands are studying it and accepting Christ.

Rev. C. W. Briggs, of Iloilo, writes that “the gospel is making splendid progress in the Philippines, and that all denominations share alike in the great harvest.”

There is a struggle and an agitation on in Russia. The granting of religious freedom to Seventh-day Adventists at a time when there is such an upheaval in progress there, is another indication of the contending forces that are now working in the earth to bring the culmination of the long controversy.

For no other people in the world does this phenomenal situation have the meaning that it has for our own people. It means that God is preparing the world for the promulgation of the third angel’s message. An unseen hand has taken hold of the very foundation of this old world to shake its inhabitants out of their sleep that they may listen to his last warning. They are waking up; they are opening their doors; they are listening; and some are giving heed. Now it is for those to whom this message is committed to follow God’s leadings, press into the openings, and give the message which this important hour demands. C. M. S.

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