Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 29, 1895
We Stoop That We May Conquer
By M. C. W.
BRAVE as may be the true Christian, if he wisely fights he hides in God. He so gives himself to God that the Lord becomes responsible for all. The Christian may be slain, he may suffer persecution, but he is in God still, and even if he die, in the last day the Lord will raise him up.
We Stoop That We May Conquer.—The only way to conquer sin, to rise above passion’s power, to defeat the devil, is to submit to the will of God. The Christian, from a worldly standpoint, stoops, or demeans himself. But whatever the world thinks, he must thus “stoop” that he may rise; or, in other words, “he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” God dwells with the humble of heart.
Humility.—Humility is the condition of being humble, a modest sense of one’s own merit. In the eyes of the world it is coming down. In reality it is the square, honest recognition and acknowledgment that you are down. Sin is what brings man down. Confessing that sin does not bring him lower. If it be true confession, it is separation from sin. Christ came to save sinners; and true humility simply puts a man where he has a sense of his true condition and realizes his need. Never mind how low that condition is, or how the world may look upon your recognition of it, Christ is in the very lowest human condition, that he may lift up. God will care for the exaltation; let us be humble.
The Spirit and Its Work.—“God is spirit,” or a spiritual Being. John 4:24, R. V., margin. He has manifested his power through his Holy Spirit. It was by his Spirit that creation in the beginning was brought forth. Gen. 1:2; Job 26:13; Ps. 33:6. It is by the same Spirit that recreation takes place. Ps. 104:30. While we are said to be begotten of God, and begotten of the Word, we are born of the Spirit into a new life. John 3:3–5. The word of God came through his Spirit (2 Sam. 23:2; 2 Peter 1:21), and his Spirit and life are therefore in his word (Heb. 4:12; John 6:63). The Spirit of God rested upon Jesus, the Anointed of God, without measure, and by its power he wrought his mighty miracles. Luke 4:18; John 3:34; Matt. 12:28. It is by the Spirit of God that we receive the love of God (Rom. 5:5); and “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ [which is the same as the Spirit of God], he is none of his.” Rom. 8:9. In fact, all blessings come by the Spirit, even as they all come through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit is the life and power of God manifest in all creation. M. C. W.
God’s Spirit and His Law
By M. C. W.
Meekness
Meekness is defined as humility, gentleness, compliant yielding; but this does not by any means imply weakness or instability of character. It is only the strong who are truly meek. Meekness is defined to be forbearance; but it frequently requires more strength to be forbearing under injuries than it does to defend ourselves. It is gentleness and softness of disposition, but it is the gentleness of God that makes us great. Ps. 18:35. A prominent characteristic of this grace is teachableness, as we learn from Ps. 25:9, “The meek will He guide in judgment; and the meek will He teach His way;” but this does not mean a disposition which can be taught by any impostor. Meekness learns of God, is always open to receive illumination from the Source of light, and it never rebels against reproof. Who was stronger among men than Moses? And yet Moses was the meekest of men. Who was more forbearing and stronger in all that was good than Jesus of Nazareth? and yet he says, “I am meek and lowly of heart.” Who more teachable than those great characters, type and Antitype—“Moses the man of God,” and Christ the Saviour of the world? O, for more of the meekness and gentleness of Christ!
God’s Spirit and His Law
As God is a spiritual Being, so also his government and kingdom must be spiritual. His law is expressly declared to be “spiritual.” Rom. 7:14. It is therefore a living law, partaking of the nature and life of the Being who gave it. Opposed to spiritual is carnal, or fleshly. The carnal man is the opposite of the spiritual man. But “the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh [fleshly, or carnal minded] can not please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Rom. 8:7-9. In those who have the Spirit of God, who walk after the Spirit, will “the righteousness of the law” be fulfilled. Verse 4. “Against such there is no law.” Gal. 5:23. What are we to conclude from the above, dear reader? Simply this: (1) That the “spiritual” law of God is in perfect harmony with the Spirit of God, or, to put it in another form, the Spirit of God permeates the law of God, making it spiritual and living. (2) That those and those only who are carnally minded will ever oppose the law of God when they understand what the law is. Enmity against the law of God ought, therefore, to be an evidence to us that our hearts are carnal, and that we are not right before God. (3) And, lastly, we may conclude that the spirit which moves us to defy, to disobey, or to slight any part of God’s law, is not the Spirit of God. Is it not far better to be a loyal subject of the King of the universe, to walk as Christ walked, to be led by the Spirit which led him?
M. C. W.
HE UPBRAIDETH NOT.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” James 1:5.
In this statement of fact we have both encouragement and instruction—encouragement in approaching God, and instruction as to how we should treat those who are in need. We learn both lessons at once; for when we know how the Lord treats us, we know how we should treat others.
The natural man’s first impulse when there is a case of need is to inquire if the one in need is worthy. How often when in trouble we have heard the reproachful and unfeeling remark, “Well, you brought it all upon yourself; you are suffering no more than you deserve.” Often the best comfort our friends give us is, “If you had listened to me, you would have been saved this trouble; I gave you advice and help, and you neglected the advice and wasted the assistance, and now I have nothing more for you; you must get out of your difficulty the best way you can.” How many of us have used similar language! Job’s friends have many successors.
Not so does God deal with the erring. If any lack wisdom, he giveth liberally, and2“upbraideth not.” He does not say, “You ought to have known better.” No doubt we ought, but that does not help us now. He supplies the need, and leaves his goodness to lead us to repentance, and to preserve us from similar errors in future.
But one will say, “I know that I am to blame for the condition in which I find myself; I have brought all this evil upon myself, and so I have not the face to ask God to do anything more for me.” The promise of God was given for just such cases. If we were not to blame, there would be no need for the assurance that he upbraideth not. A just God would certainly not reproach us for what we could not help. The fact that he assures us that he upbraideth not is the encouragement to those who are blameworthy. We are worthy of blame, but reproaches will not supply our need. So it is enough for the Lord that we are now willing to receive wisdom from him. “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:17. With this assurance we draw nigh in confidence.
Here is the same blessed assurance made more emphatic: “Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.” Ps. 107:17–19.
We bring ills of all kinds upon ourselves. Our own foolishness has brought both physical and spiritual sickness upon us. We ought to have known better, but we did not. That makes no difference; we may nevertheless draw near, and ask with boldness. God will not upbraid us, and he will surely give to us. The fact that we acknowledge our foolishness gives us a strong claim upon his wisdom. How can any soul be discouraged, or charge God with heartless indifference to the needs of his children?
But this is not all. The same psalm has further comfort for us. Go back to the tenth verse and begin to read: “Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the Most High: therefore he brought down their heart with labor; they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.”
In the former case we had God’s kindness in helping those whose calamity was the result of their own ignorance and folly; in this text we have God’s goodness to those who have rebelled against him, and who have despised his counsel. By their stubborn rebellion against his words, and their contemptuous rejection of his counsel, they have brought darkness and iron bondage upon themselves. They are chained in the dark cell. Yet in spite of their past rebellion, when they cry unto the Lord, he upbraideth not, but saves them out of their distresses, breaking their bonds, and bringing them out of the dark prison into light. “O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”
In the parable of the prodigal son we have this characteristic of God beautifully illustrated. Read the fifteenth of Luke, and note these points: (1) The son had received his full allowance from his father. (2) He went away and squandered his portion in riotous living. (3) When he went back to his father, he had not a penny left, but was in rags, and starving. (4) His father received him back with joy, running to meet him “when he was yet a great way off.” (5) Not a word of reproach was uttered. The father’s heart yearned for his son, and he was glad to see him coming back; reproaches might have sent him away again in despair. It is only loving-kindness that draws. (6) But this was not all. It was not enough for the father to receive him without reproaches, and allow him henceforth to abide at home portionless. No; the prodigal was received as a son, and restored to the position that he had before he went away. He was a son, and therefore an heir.
Behold in this a picture of God’s dealing with wayward souls. He has given us all talents. He has supplied us bountifully. Having received his good gifts, instead of glorifying him with them, we have wasted them. He has received no honor, and we have not been the gainers. With time and talents wasted, we can not now render unto him the service that we ought to and that we wish we could. What then?—Why, he who redeems us teaches us also to redeem the time; he receives us as sons, makes us heirs of himself, and supplies all our need, “according to his riches in glory.” Phil. 4:19. Rejoiced that we are even now willing to serve him, he spends no time in reproaches, but renews his gifts to us as freely as though we had never been wayward, rebellious spendthrifts.
“O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” E. J. W.
DEBATINGS
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
The religion of Jesus Christ is a life to be lived, and not a theory to be debated upon. Christ did not debate with the devil in the temptation in the wilderness; he simply lived. There is no debating the question of actual life; and anything less than this is not worth debating about.
“You say you are alive,” someone says; “let us debate the question.”
“I refuse to debate such a question.”
“If you do not debate, people will think you are afraid.”
Suppose a man should, in order to “defend the truth,” get up and debate the question as to whether he is alive or not. Any one who would do that would show that his life is not of sufficient value to give him good sense.
The truth as it is in Jesus is the life of God, and the life of God lived in his own way. All that we have to do is to let him work in us, so that the injunction may be obeyed, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life.” Phil. 2: 14-16.
The word to us is, “Arise, shine”—not debate. The lighted gas jet is very quiet. We may argue with it all we please, that it has no light, nevertheless it shines, and by the power of its shining it silences all caviling. The sun shines, and men may rail at it all they wish, but it has not time to stop shining to go to arguing. The religion of Christ is the life of Christ, and it is the life that is the light. Let it spring up, and do not try to stop the flow. It is a fountain; do not be afraid of exhausting the supply. E. J. W.
Conscience and the Sabbath.
By M. C. W.
The utterances of two religious papers on the Tennessee Sunday-law persecutions have come to our notice. One, from the Christian Work, we noticed last week. The other is from the Advance (Congregationalist), of Chicago, of August 8, and is as follows:—
The question of religious persecution is agitating the people of several of the southern states, particularly in Tennessee. In the latter state Elder Colcord, the president of the Seventh-day Adventist academy at Grayville, with seven other persons, was arrested and thrown into the jail of Rhea County, for working and encouraging others to work on Sunday. The academy has been broken up, and the community is said to have been greatly agitated, even “disorganized.” It appears that the work was done on the academy grounds, and in such a way as not wantonly to defy the civil authorities or to disturb others in worship or other religious uses of the day. We have here one of those complicated cases the settlement of which in any way involves a logical contradiction. If these Sabbatarians work on Sunday, they violate the civil law, a law that must be admitted to be wholesome in view of the interests of the vast majority of the people. If they work on Saturday, they violate what they call their conscience. If they refrain from work on both days, they violate the law of proper industry and sound economy. What shall be done in the complicated case? It reminds one of Mr. Powell’s bewildered colored gentleman who decided to “take to the woods.” We venture to advise the civil authorities to be patient with these good people, since their errors lean to virtue’s side, and to construe the law in their case liberally. And we advise the Adventists to study with diligence, if haply they may find a larger and safer view than that embraced in their literature, a view held by a preponderating majority of the wise and good people of the Christian world, and one in which their thought is satisfied and their hearts are content. Above all, and until their conscience shall be further enlightened, we advise them to live as far as may be “without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.”
It may be worth while to call the attention of our readers to some of the expressions in the above which we have italicized.
1. Can a law be wholesome which results in the oppression of a single soul, or in depriving him of rights which he holds in common with all men? Every man in the state of Tennessee may keep Sunday as strictly as he will without a law. No human law can make any man keep the Sunday holy. At the best it can only compel a seeming observance, or force men to be hypocritical in action and3false and hateful at heart. Not only this, but the execution of the law against a class conceded to be honest, virtuous, upright, good neighbors, and helpful citizens, will harden the hearts of the people against all true sense of equity and right, to say nothing of mercy. In fact, the law itself is unconstitutional. Moreover, there are thousands—nominal observers of Sunday, or who observe no day—in Tennessee who work on Sunday who are not disturbed. The persecutions have been so pointedly and exclusively aimed at Sabbath keepers that the secular press has been compelled to denounce it as religious persecution, and the presiding judge has said as much. Is such a law “wholesome” in its educative influence to the vast majority? Is it wholesome in its oppression of a class of concededly upright people whom it makes criminals?
2. “What they call their conscience,” says the Advance. But who is to judge of a man’s conscience, outside of himself, save God? It was because the Congregationalists would not violate what they called their conscience that they are not in the Episcopal Church to-day; nay, that they are not Roman Catholics. Does that man believe in freedom of conscience who denies the rights of conscience in other men according to the consciences of these other men? Shall the majority decide what is conscience? If so, the conscience of this world is assuredly not Christian. Perhaps the Advance does not mean all this, but what does it mean?
3. Yes, to refrain from work on Sunday after observing the Sabbath is not only violating the law of proper industry and sound economy, but it is violating a God-given law; and to prohibit such work by law is to deprive those who observe the seventh day of a God-given right. It is more than this. It is saying that after you have shown your conscientious regard for what you believe to be the true Sabbath, you shall likewise show honor and respect for what you believe to be a rival institution. Thus were the three Hebrews required to do. See Daniel 3.
4. The Advance advises the Adventists “to study with diligence if haply they may find a larger and safer view” which is held by a “preponderating majority of the wise and good people of the Christian world,” with satisfied thought and contented heart. By this, of course, the Advance refers to the view that Sunday is the Sabbath. But it is a serious question whether the thought of the Christian majority is satisfied and their hearts content. Passing this, however, we wish to ask in all candor if Seventh-day Adventists or any one else can find a safer view than that commanded of God, sustained by his word, held by the good of patriarchal, prophetic, and apostolic times, and by our Lord Jesus Christ? There may be broader views and broader ways from a worldly standpoint; for of such our Lord speaks (Matt. 7:13, 14), but is there a safer view or a safer way? Is it not safe to follow Christ? And what is larger than God’s law, embracing his whole character? On the other hand, which view of Sunday shall Adventists hold with satisfied thought and contented heart? Shall they hold that a seventh part of time is all that is necessary? that the day was changed in honor of Christ’s resurrection? that the church had power to change the day? that there is now no Scripture command for any Sabbath? All these views are held by theologians in this “preponderating majority.” Sometimes one man presents all these views, but it could hardly be said with satisfied thought.
5. The closing advice is good. But is the “preponderating majority” synonymous with “the crooked and perverse nation”? And how shall the Adventist conscience be enlightened? By what other means save the Spirit and word of God can it be enlightened? Are the Adventists in error, missing the mark, sinning, in not keeping Sunday? “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20. “Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law.” Chapter 7:7. But how can the law enlighten their conscience with respect to Sunday? These are candid and worthy questions.
The Advance said some time ago (August 2, 1894):—
The Sabbath serves the same purpose to-day as did the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. A prohibition is laid upon it, that men may not use it for their own pleasure. That man is an anarchist at heart who deliberately flaunts at the sacredness of the Sabbath, or sneers at any other distinct revelation of the law of God.
But according to that law of God which enjoins the Sabbath, as interpreted by the teaching and life of Jesus Christ, what day is the Sabbath? What day will a conscience enlightened by the revelation of the law keep? The Sabbath is a test; the Advance speaks truly; but which Sabbath? whose Sabbath? What is the standard of determination?
M. C. W.
HUNGERING FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
By Ellen G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.” Jesus says: “The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.” In these words is expressed a desire for the bread of life; but those who expressed this desire did not have that longing for spiritual life of which our text speaks. The true bread of life is found only in Christ. Those who do not recognize that the bounties of rich grace, the heavenly banquet, have been prepared at an infinite cost to satisfy those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, will not be refreshed.
“Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. . . . And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son [by faith], and believeth on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. . . . I am that bread of life. . . . This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. . . . Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. . . . It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
While sitting at Jacob’s well, Jesus uttered the same truths when speaking with the Samaritan woman. He said, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up532into everlasting life.” The same truth is brought out again in the parable of the vine and the branches. Jesus says: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” Christ is the vital principle by which spiritual health and strength and righteousness are imparted to the life, to be revealed in the Christian’s daily practice.
Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are filled with a longing desire to become Christlike in character, to be assimilated to his image, to keep the way of the Lord, and to do justice and judgment. We should ever cultivate an earnest desire for the righteousness of Christ. No temporal wants should attract and divert the mind to such a degree that we should not experience this soul hunger to possess the attributes of Christ. The command is, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” Everything else must be subordinated to this end. We are not to be satisfied with the cheap, common things of daily occurrence. In witnessing the afflictions, the sufferings of humanity, and the prevalence of iniquity, we become heartsick and dissatisfied. It is unsatisfactory business to bring only wood, hay, and stubble to the foundation. When in trouble and affliction the soul longs for the love and power of God. There is an intense desire for assurance, for hope, for faith, for confidence. We would seek for pardon, for peace, for the righteousness of Christ. We long that a change shall take place in our circumstances, so that the trials of life shall not expose us to so many temptations. Every soul who seeks the Lord with the whole heart is hungering and thirsting after righteousness. “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.”
The soul hunger will be satisfied when our hearts are emptied of pride, vanity, and selfishness; for faith will then appropriate the promises of God, and Christ will supply the vacuum, and abide in the heart. There will be a new song in the mouth, for the word will be fulfilled, “A new heart also will I give you.” The testimony of the believer will be: “Of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. . . . No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”
Christ was the representation of God. Beholding him we exercise faith, and affection entwines about him as seeing Him who is invisible. Without Christ the hunger and thirst of the soul would remain unsatisfied. The feeling of want, the craving after something not temporal, not tainted with earthliness and commonness, could never be appeased. The mind must grasp something higher and purer than anything that can be found in this world.
Jesus Christ was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy. The world’s Redeemer was symbolized in types and shadows through their religious services. The glory of God was revealed in Christ within the veil until Christ should appear in the world, and display to the world all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In Christ we behold the image of the invisible God; in his attributes we see the attributes of the character of the Infinite. Jesus said: “I and my Father are one.” “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.”
Christ was crucified for the sin of the world, and after his resurrection and ascension, all the world were invited to look to him and live. We are enjoined to look at the things unseen, to keep before the mind’s eye the most vivid images of eternal realities, that by beholding we may become changed into the image of Christ. Christ is the mystic ladder uniting the earth with the universe of heaven, and as our faith lays hold upon him, we see him standing as our advocate, our assurance, our life. Unless we keep our attention fixed upon Jesus, Satan will intercept the bright gleams of light from the throne of God, and we shall lose the knowledge of the character of God as it is revealed in the ten moral precepts, and as it is seen in the life of his only-begotten Son. Satan constantly seeks to obstruct the view of Christ by placing a representation of himself before us; but unless our faith shall pierce his hellish shadow, and we obtain a view of the holiness of God’s character, we shall be divested of our strength, and become purposeless, helpless, weak, and inefficient, the deluded prey of Satan’s temptations. We shall give to the world the strength of the faculties of soul, mind, and body, and deprive Christ of the service which he has purchased with his own blood.
(Concluded next week.)
PERFECTION YET GROWTH.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
“Ye are complete in him,” is the word to the believer. The difficulty in the minds of many in the way of grasping the completeness of the life of Christ is the fact that the Christian life is progressive. We are to continually grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord; but this to some seems incompatible with being complete in Christ.
When Christ Jesus was on earth as a boy of twelve years, he was perfect. But we read that he grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God. Luke 2:52. Complete, yet growing in grace and knowledge; perfect all the time. The plant is perfect at every stage of its growth. We admire the beauty of the plant when the leaves burst forth. It is perfect when the flowers bloom, and perfect when the fruit comes. Yet it keeps on growing.
It is not that we are to grow into grace, but grow in grace. We are not to get more and more into grace, but in the grace we are to grow, and increase in wisdom, complete in him. The very statement of this fact implies that we are not complete in ourselves. There is nothing in us, but he is ours, and of his fullness have we all received, and grace over grace. Grace superabounds and fills all.
E. J. W.
INVITATION
By Paulina M. Alway-Auguson
BY PAULINA M. ALWAY-AUGUSON.
Sinner, will you come to Jesus?
He will wash your sins away;
Come, receive a free salvation,
O, receive it while you may!
Wait not for a better morrow,
Jesus bids you come to-day;
He will lead you safely onward
In the straight and narrow way.
Jesus is a loving Shepherd,
Caring for the wandering sheep;
He has sought them from the byway,
And the weary mountain steep.
From all tongues, and tribes, and nations,
Rich and poor, and weak and blind,
Seeks he men, bids them glad welcome,
And a life eternal find.
O, ’tis sweet to toil for Jesus;
Bring some loved one to the fold;
Seek the children, seek the aged,
Bid them all, both young and old.
Tell them still the old, old story
Of our blessed Saviour’s love,
Tell them of the heavenly mansions
In that blissful home above.
THE GREAT COMMISSION.
By D. T. J.
BY D. T. J.
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Matt. 28:19, 20.
To believers this commission has all the force of a command, and is referred to as such in Acts 1:2. It is the same Gospel that was preached by Noah, Abraham, and all the prophets. The plan of salvation is one from the beginning to the end. There are, however, marked stages of development in the proclamation of the Gospel. Its first glimmering light fell on our first parents in the Garden of Eden, when God, addressing the serpent, which represented Satan, said, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” But the Gospel will shine in its full splendor and exert its full renovating power in the last days, just before the second coming of Christ, when a people will be developed who shall not have “spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but . . . be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27), who will be “without spot, and blameless” (2 Peter 3:14), and “without fault before the throne of God” (Rev. 14:5). Thus will the Gospel do its perfect work even in a time when the greatest moral darkness prevails, and when deception is more general, and sin more prevalent, than in any other age of the world’s history. By this will be demonstrated the wisdom and efficacy of the Gospel system, and it will be proved that the prevalence of wickedness in all ages is not attributable to any defect in the remedy which God has provided against sin. If God through the Gospel can develop a people who are worthy of translation without seeing death at a time when “darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people;” when “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived;” when the forces of evil are so strong and so clever that “if it were possible they would deceive the very elect,” then is Christ “able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him.” This is the glad tidings which he commanded his disciples to proclaim to “every creature.”
He instructed them to baptize those who accepted the Gospel, or became “disciples,” “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Those who are baptized in the name of the Father pledge themselves by that solemn act to renounce all allegiance to all other gods and accept the Lord as their God. This also implies perfect obedience to God in all that he has commanded, and pledges the subject against rendering vain worship by “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt. 15:9. “There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy” (James 4:12), and “the whole duty of man” is comprehended in fearing him and “keeping his commandments” (Eccl. 12:13). “God will bring every work into judgment,” and “as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.” Rom. 2:12.
Those who are baptized in the name of the Son say by that act that they accept him for all that the Scriptures represent him to be,—the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, the Saviour of sinners, the Mediator between God and man, their Righteousness, their great High Priest, the King of Israel. He therefore becomes to them a Saviour from the old life of sin, and a model for the new life of righteousness; he is to them the one ideal of perfection. His life in all its phases becomes to them a model worthy of emulation. He is the Father of their new life, and that life is to be fashioned after his own. As the child takes the copy book and writes and rewrites the copy until he can perfectly trace all the lines, or as the artist studies every color and shade and line and curve of the model before him, and then places it on his canvas, compares it with the original, erases his imperfect copy, and does his work over again and again, each time correcting some of his mistakes, until his own copy is a perfect reproduction of the model, so are we to take Christ as our model, study his character as revealed to us in the Bible, and faithfully reproduce it in our own lives, comparing our own lives with his from time to time, and correcting the mistakes that we have made, until our characters are a perfect copy of his; for “we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image.” 2 Cor. 3:18. The law and the Gospel, representing respectively the Father and the Son, are in perfect harmony in the work of redemption, the one pointing out sin, the other presenting the remedy for sin. The one is the unchangeable rule by which character is measured and its defects revealed, the other the unfailing fountain of mercy, in which every penitent sinner may wash and be cleansed.
To be baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost implies that the subject receiving this ordinance accepts the Spirit of God as his5guide. After Christ had finished his work of instructing the twelve disciples whom he had chosen, and had given them the commission to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, he “commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father.” Acts 1:4. This “promise of the Father” was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost by the descent of the Holy Ghost. See Acts 2:14-21. The Holy Spirit was to be a very important factor, working in connection with men, in the propagation of the Gospel. As they left their homes and families and friends and went out among strangers who would despise and persecute them, it was to be their “Comforter.” John 14:16. As they met the sophistry and deceptions of the false religions of the heathen, it was to be a monitor which should bring vividly to their “remembrance” all that their Master had taught them. Verse 26. It was to go with them as a convicting power, and as they preached the Gospel, it was to “convince” “of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” John 16:8. It was to preserve them from all error, for it was to be to them a “spirit of truth,” which was to “guide them into all truth.” Verse 13. This it did by causing them to understand the words of holy writ, for he was not to “speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak.” Thus was the gift of the Spirit designed of God to be a safeguard against all error in doctrine and against all apostasy.
It is the prerogative of God alone to say what shall be done in circumstances where his will is not clearly understood. When men begin to supply doctrines to harmonize with their own interpretation of certain passages of Scripture, the way is opened for all manner of error, and, as of old, “the commandment of God” is made of “none effect” by the “traditions” of men. Matt. 15:1-9. In the days of Moses when one violated the law, he was apprehended and held in custody till the mind of the Lord was revealed. Of the blasphemer it is said, “And they put him in ward, that the mind of the Lord might be showed them” (Lev. 24:12), and of the Sabbath breaker, “And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.” Num. 15:34. In the days of the apostles, when the great contention arose between the Jewish and gentile converts about the question of circumcision and keeping the law of Moses, a council of the apostles and elders was called at Jerusalem, and when they framed their decision and sent it out, it began with, “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us.” Acts 15:28. If the church had always submitted to be led by the Holy Spirit, it would never have gone into apostasy, and the Dark Ages would never have existed in its history.
“And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” In the account of the successful examination of Daniel and his fellow-students at the close of their three years’ course in the schools of Babylon, the record says, “And Daniel continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus.” Dan. 1:21. But Daniel continued longer than till the first year of Cyrus, for in chapter 10, verse 1, we read, “In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel.” Why then was it stated so many years in advance that Daniel was to continue till the first year of Cyrus?—Evidently because in that year an event of surpassing interest to Daniel and all his people was to transpire,—the proclamation of Cyrus for the return of the Hebrews from the Babylonish captivity, and the rebuilding of their temple at Jerusalem. Daniel was to live to witness that event, and perhaps to assist in bringing it about. So when the Saviour says, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world,” he points forward to a time when his presence will be with them in a special manner, through the Spirit, to lead them back into long forgotten truths, to give them power in preaching the Gospel to a world more deeply steeped in sin than it had ever been before, to be a comforter to them through the unparalleled troubles of the last days, and to prepare a people to stand before the Son of man when he shall come “in the glory of his Father and with the holy angels.”