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Review and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 12.

YOUNG WORKERS TO BE TAUGHT BY THOSE OF EXPERIENCE

Review and Herald

Mar 20, 1900

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 20, 1900

YOUNG WORKERS TO BE TAUGHT BY THOSE OF EXPERIENCE.

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE.
“This is life eternal,” Christ prayed, “that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” There is in this prayer a greatness that no human language can express. Thousands upon thousands long for a knowledge of God. Some have a partial knowledge of him, but not the fullness of knowledge. Others, filled with unrest, long for something that they have not.
Christ longed to help and save the perishing, and he expressed his longing in the words, “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest! Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors.”
The labor for which Christ saw there was so much need was harvesting. Harvesters are few. The work of gathering in the grain takes tact and skill, that none be lost. Winnowers of souls are needed in every place where the standard of truth, on which is inscribed the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, has been uplifted.
“The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.” When Christ made this statement, there were scribes and Pharisees, priests and rulers, in every city and town in the land. But the Saviour saw that these teachers were wholly unfitted to minister to the spiritual needs of the people. “Ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God,” he said to them. Ye teach for doctrine the commandments of men.
To every one God has committed a work. Each one is invited to take Christ’s yoke and learn of him. Intensity is needed in the work of seeking to save those who are perishing out of Christ. Satan is intense in his efforts to deceive souls and gather them under his banner of apostasy and rebellion, and his laborers are without number. The Lord has a great work to be done. He has decisive battles to be fought, and he calls upon young men and young women to fight for him, to consecrate themselves to his work. “I have written unto you, young men,” John says, “because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. . . . Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.”
And the apostle Paul wrote, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
God calls upon his aged servants to act as counselors, to teach the young men what to do in cases of emergency. Aged workers are to bear, as did John, a living testimony of real experience. And when these faithful workers are laid away to rest, with the words, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord,” there should be found in our schools men and women who can take the standard and raise it in new places.
While the aged standard bearers are in the field, let those who have been benefited by their labors care for and respect them. Do not load them down with burdens. Appreciate their advice, their words of counsel. Treat them as fathers and mothers who have borne the burden of the work. The workers who have in the past anticipated the needs of the cause do a noble work when, in the place of carrying all the burdens themselves, they lay them upon the shoulders of younger men and women, and educate them as Elijah educated Elisha.
David offered to God a tribute of gratitude for the divine teaching and guidance he had received. “O God, thou hast taught me from my youth,” he declared. Those who in the history of the message have borne the burden and heat of the day, are to remember that the same Lord who taught them from their youth, inviting them, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me,” and giving them the light of truth, is just as willing to teach young men and women to-day as he was to teach them.
It is wisdom for those who have borne heavy loads to come apart and rest awhile. These faithful workers should be relieved of every taxing burden. The work they can do as educators should be appreciated. The Lord himself will co-operate with them in their efforts to teach others. They should leave the wrestling to those who are younger; the future work must be done by strong young men. The work is under the control of the Author and Finisher of our faith. He can and will give fitness to men of opportunity. He will raise up those who can fight his battles. He never leaves his work to chance. This work is a great and solemn one, and it is to go forward.
It is not God’s will that the fathers in his cause should use up their remaining vitality in bearing heavy loads. Let the young men shoulder every responsibility they can, and fight manfully the good fight of faith. The Lord knows better whom to select to do his work than do the wisest men, however interested they may be. It is God who implants his Spirit in the hearts of young men, leading them to fight for him against great odds. Thus he inspired Paul of Tarsus, who fought with all his intrusted capabilities for heaven’s revealed truth, against apostates who ought to have upheld him. God’s servants will have to-day to meet the same difficulties that Paul met. This experience some have had who are now raising the banner of truth. It is such men who can stand in defense of the truth. If they continue to be learners, God can use them to vindicate his law.
Let not the aged workers think that they must carry all the responsibilities, all the loads. New fields of labor are constantly opening before us. Let the young men unite with experienced laborers who understand the Scriptures, who have long been doers of the Word, who have brought the truth into the practical life, relying upon Christ day by day, who seek the Lord as Daniel did. Three times a day Daniel offered his petitions to God. He knew that One mighty in counsel was the source of wisdom and power. The truth as it is in Jesus—the sword of the Spirit, which cuts bothways—was his weapon of warfare. In word, in spirit, in principle, the men who have made God their trust are an example to the youth connected with them. These faithful servants of God are to link up with young men, drawing them with the cords of love because they are themselves drawn to them by the cords of Christ’s love.

“YET NOT I, BUT CHRIST.”

By Mabel Fallley De Vona

MABEL FALLLEY DE VONA.
  • (Chicago, Ill.)*
I CAME with fingers bruised and torn From toiling in the sun. Christ whispered, as he healed my hurt, “Let me work, little one.”
I wrought in agonizing prayer To pour my soul away; But Jesus stilled my cries, and said, “Hush now, and let me pray.”
I cried, O blessed Lord, behold My new, great love to thee! He drew me to his heart, and said, “That was my gift to thee.”

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A GREAT MISTAKE.

By O. E. Jones

O. E. JONES.
(College View, Neb.)
It is a mistake to attribute to Christ the change of the fourth commandment. Christ has not said, Thou shalt rest upon the first day of the week, and labor upon the last six days. There is no record that Christ ever even mentioned the first day of the week.
In the beginning, when man was upright and holy, before there was any need of a Saviour, the Lord hallowed the seventh day, “because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Gen. 2 : 2, 3.
Jesus recognized the fact that the Sabbath was made for the whole human family; for he says, in Mark 2 : 27, “The Sabbath was made for man,”—white and black, Jew and Gentile,—all who belong to the family of Adam. And in the next verse he says, “The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.”
But the Lord of the Sabbath has foretold that an antichristian power would think to change God’s times and law, as recorded in Dan. 7 : 25, R. V.: “And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and he shall wear out the saints of the Most High: and he shall think to change the times and the law.”
When men can see no difference between the Sabbath, the seventh day, and the other days, it is evident that the light of the glory of God is not permitted to shine into the heart in its fullness. When the light of the glory of Jesus Christ shone upon Saul of Tarsus, the sacredness of God’s law was revealed to him as never before, and he exclaimed, “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” “I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” He continues, “I was alive without the law once [before the law had been magnified to him by the glory of Jesus Christ]: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” Rom. 3 : 20; 7 : 7, 9.
Saul had been a strict adherent to the law as taught by the blind Pharisees, who had covered the law with the traditions of men. But Jesus says, “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5 : 20.
When the true character of the law had been revealed to Paul, he exclaimed, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and just, and good.” Rom. 7 : 12.
Christ, by the apostle James, also magnifies the law as a whole, saying, “Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he [“that law,” margin] that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.” James 2 : 10, 11.
Therefore we see that the least deviation from God’s law is sin: for “sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3 : 4. James also calls it the law of liberty: “So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.” James 2 : 12.
Thus we see that perfect conformity to God’s law is perfect liberty—not liberty to sin, but freedom from sin. And this is not a thing word, impossible; for we read, in Phil. 4 : 13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Do you believe it?

STONE

By Emma Humphrey

MRS. EMMA HUMPHREY. (Rock Falls, Ill.)
The word “stone” occurs many times in the Scriptures, in which it is used in both a literal and a figurative sense. It indicates durability and strength. How appropriate, therefore, that God should write his law upon such enduring substance!
“And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” Ex. 24: 12. “And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” Ex. 31: 18.
Shall the “erring hand of man chip away, with the chisel of human reasoning, one single word graven on the enduring tables by the hand of the infinite God”? “The word of the Lord endureth forever.” 1 Peter 1: 25.
But did not Christ introduce a “new departure” after his resurrection? If he did, then the word of the Lord does not endure forever, and is, therefore, not to be relied upon; but we know that there is no conflict between the Father and the Son. What the Father says the Son reveals. Christ said, “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.” John 7: 16. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matt. 5: 17, 18. “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16: 17. A more comprehensive statement of the durability of God’s law could not be made. Easier for heaven and earth to pass than for one word, yes, the smallest dot used in forming a word, to pass from the law!
Stone was also used in erecting monuments to commemorate events. “Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, . . . and there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones. . . . Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones.” Deut. 27: 4, 6. “And Joshua . . . took a great stone, and set it up, . . . and Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; . . . a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.” Joshua 24: 26, 27. “Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.” 1 Sam. 7: 12.
“And David . . . set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God” (1 Chron. 22: 2), and prepared “onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistening stones, and of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance.” 1 Chron. 29: 2. “And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house.” 1 Kings 5: 17.
There was to be no inferior work in the house of God. Every stone must be perfect, chosen for its durability, strength, or beauty, a type of the precious stones to be used in the glorious structure of the Christian church. “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.” Isa. 28: 16. “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 3: 11. “Upon this rock I will build my church” (Matt. 16: 18), “Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” Eph. 2: 20. “If so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2: 3–5.
What kind of material are we using to build God’s house? Is it whole stones, hewn stones, tried stones, precious stones? or have we tried to build with material inferior to stone? “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” 1 Cor. 3: 12, 13. “Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.” 1 Cor. 3: 10. “And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.” Zech. 9: 16. “And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.” Mal. 3: 17.

BE CLEAN.

By Wm. A. Westworth

WM. A. WESTWORTH.
OUTCAST, a wanderer, lone and forsaken, Torn from companions, thrust from his home, Outside the city's gates, hungry and naked, Crying, “unclean!”—a leper to roam.
Hark! in the distance a strange hum of voices. See! down the mountain side multitudes stray. Why this commotion, and wherefore this surging? Listen! “The Saviour is coming this way.”
Hope, almost dead, and long since forgotten, Wakens, and, changed into faith, cries aloud. On toward his Lord the leper now hastens, Heedless of threats and rebukes from the “crowd.”
Breathless and helpless, he reaches the Saviour; Falls at his feet in contrition of soul; Cries out in his anguish of body and spirit, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole.”
“I will; be thou clean.” The leper is pardoned: Sin and disease all are banished away. The love of the Master changed pain into gladness, Tears to rejoicing, and night into day.
Brother, has sin drawn you far from the Father? Doubts and despair made you leprous and lost? Has Satan beguiled you? have habits enslaved you? And, robbed of its guide, is your bark tempest tossed?
Look! even now your Lord is come near you. Healing and love you can find at his feet. Let him speak, “Be thou clean,” to your soul in its sadness, And rejoice in his pardoning mercy so sweet.
Oh the joy! oh the rapture! to know he has cleansed you; To receive from your Saviour new life in the soul; To hear from his lips the rebuke to the tempter, And know, by his power, that you now are made whole.

A. L. HOLLENBECK

By A. L. Hollenbeck

“We love him, because he first loved us.” If for this reason, Christ has some on the earth who love him, then we, if we are his true representatives, will also have some in the world around us who love us. Can they say of us, “We love them because they first loved us”? Those who are first attracted by the love of Christ that is in us will be easily attracted by the love of Christ that is in his word; and being thus attracted, it will be comparatively easy for the Holy Spirit, working thus through the representatives of Christ, to lead these souls to accept the Author of this unselfish, heavenly love.

A. L. HOLLENBECK

HEAVEN BEGINS IN THE SOUL.

By David Paulson

DAVID PAULSON, M. D.
(Chicago, Ill.)
A GREAT many persons are anxious to get into heaven; but it seems to me that the time has come for us to be more anxious to bring heaven down here where we now are. You and I can have such a large sample of heaven here below that we shall be able to tell from personal experience whether we shall enjoy heaven throughout eternity. If we misuse the share of heaven we secure here, we should misuse heaven's blessings if we were there. Some persons get the impression that because the devil is turned loose here, we can not have any part of heaven here; but the devil was in heaven a long time before God cast him out. So God has actually passed through the experience of maintaining a heaven with a devil in it.
Paul said, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” Phil. 4:11. Paul had come to the place where, if it had been necessary for him to spend an eternity here, it would still have been heaven to him. “Sweet peace, the gift of God's love,” can so flood our minds here that the present will be a foretaste of heaven. It is certainly true that, all through eternity, new revelations of truth will open up before us as fast as we are able to take them in; and in the same manner, God is giving us all the heaven here below that we can take in at present. So take heed how you learn now. Many children think that it is no use for them to learn the alphabet,—that they will soon pass on to higher grades; but they will find that they can not advance without mastering the first principles. There are many Christians who are doing the same thing. “Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered; . . . for when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God.” Heb. 5:11, 12.
Daniel said, “They that be teachers shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.” Dan. 12:3, margin. There is not much happiness in life until we get to teaching others. A man who is taking physical exercise, breathing pure air, has a clear skin and bright eyes. So also a man who is passing on to others what God has given to him has a clear and bright Christian experience. He is a man of whom many are saying, “How I love him!”
But we are not to pray to be beautiful and grand merely for admiration; for that is one of the devil's tricks. Suppose the devil should get some of you to look at me; do you suppose he would get you to see some good characteristics that I have been agonizing to secure?—No; he would find some weak point in me, of which I perhaps as yet know nothing, and he would get you to see that, and then, by beholding, you would become changed. Christ said, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth.” Isa. 45:22. The moment we are conscious that others are admiring us, we may know that something is wrong; but when they admire the truth we have, then we may be confident that it is God who is working through us.
We are in the time when we must be literally filled with truth, so saturated with it that no one can take it away from us. You may think that I am making that too strong. But the time will soon come when truth will be so mixed with error that the very elect can scarcely distinguish between them. As an illustration: I have been told that in theaters the scenery is often painted so perfectly that, if the spectators' lives depended upon it, they could not tell where the real left off and the artificial began. If men in Chicago can do this, the devil, who has been studying for centuries, can certainly do more wonderful, more miraculous things. Yet there is a taste about truth that if we have once feasted on it, we need not be deceived by the counterfeit. If I should put a piece of onion on your tongue, and then tell you that it was turnip, you would not believe me. But suppose I should bring down fire from heaven to convince you, would it have any effect?—No, indeed; for your taste would still convince you of the deception. Elijah brought down fire from heaven to convince people of a fact, but it was not so wonderful as was the faith displayed when he saw a little cloud, no bigger than a man's hand, and could tell the people, with assurance, that it would rain. There are, no doubt, some in this room to-day who will see men in whom they have had the fullest confidence, men perhaps with whom they have served on committees, who will apparently bring fire down from heaven to prove that they have the truth, and yet it will not be truth. The devil has done many wonderful things to deceive men, and if it were possible, he would deceive the very elect; but they have acquired the taste of truth so thoroughly that they can not be deceived.
We are to keep on taking in truth, and asking God to teach us the things we most need. Do not get the idea that you individually will need the whole Bible. There is something in the Bible for every sinner who ever lived, but all have not needed in every particular the same treatment. Our work at the sanitarium illustrates this point. There we have a great number of treatments, but they are not all given to one patient. Seventy-five thousand persons have been there. We have had some treatment for them all; but we did not give to each one all the treatments that are in the institution. The Spirit is to guide us into all truth. We eat food every day, but we do not eat all that is in the world. You and I are not going to learn, here below, all the truth that there is to be learned; for if we did, we should not have anything to learn through eternity. But if we let the Spirit guide us, we shall learn the things we shall need to use while we are here. Suppose I had spent half a lifetime in learning how to fill teeth, and then never had an occasion to fill a tooth; would not that be a foolish thing? But if I have been studying under God instead of under man, there is not one thing that I have learned in medicine or science or the gospel that I shall not have occasion to use, either here or in eternity. If we will let God guide us day by day, he will lead us into just the things we ought to know. Have you not been much disappointed sometimes by meeting persons who know a great deal about the Bible, and yet when you came to them, broken-hearted, they could not help you? Again, perhaps you met some one else who does not know so much about the Bible, but yet he was able to bind up the broken heart. There are many things in the Bible which, if practiced, will make our lives so beautiful that every one who meets us will hunger and thirst after the righteousness of Christ as revealed in our lives.
We spend too much time trying to bring men to Christ. We ought to bring Christ to men. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” If you have a genuine magnet, even if it is somewhat rusty, you can pick up iron fragments whenever you wave it over them. But if you have a false magnet,—even though it is bright and shining,—it will not attract the fragments. So you and I can go out and try to bring men to Christ; but if we have not the real Christ with us, we shall not have the power to draw them.
There are many persons in this world who have lines of care written all over their faces. Sinners wish to meet persons with whom “all things work together for good,”—persons who have learned, “in whatsoever state” they are, “therewith to be content.” A young woman came to me last night and said: “I am so angry, and I just can't help it; for I know I have been treated wrong. I have been spoken to in the most horrid manner.” I told the girl that Christ is no respecter of persons, and that if he could lock the mouths of lions for the good of his servant Daniel, he could have locked the mouth of the woman who had been mistreating her, if it had not been for her own good to have such things said to her. Joseph's brothers tried to make his life miserable; but the more evil they did to him, the more they pushed him toward the throne of Egypt.
If we could only learn the lesson that what hurts us, actually hurts Christ more, then we should not feel so badly over some things. I used to be so sensitive that I would worry when I was mistreated and trampled on; but since I have learned that it is Christ who permits these things, that it is Christ who is trampled on, it has been a wonderful help to me. When anybody hurts you, brethren and sisters, they hurt Christ more than they do you. Christ says that he that touches you, touches the apple of his eye. Zech. 2:8. I told that young woman that no one could say anything to her unless God permitted it. She then said, “I don't wish to talk with you, because you make me think that there must be something in me that needs to be taken out.” I told her that that was just it. That there were some things in her that needed to be purified. The tears came to the poor girl's eyes, and she got down on her knees and prayed for the woman who had abused her.
Years ago when I was working in a medical mission in New York, we gathered in children who were so dirty and filthy that I was afraid to have them come near me. I began teaching them, telling them that as a father pities his children, so God pities them; but they knew nothing about a father's love. All that they had ever known of father were cuffs and scoldings, so I could not teach them the love of God in that way. They were absolute strangers to love. I asked myself, “What shall I do to help these children?” The answer came back, “Love them yourself.” I asked God to help me in my endeavors to benefit those children, inasmuch as I was doing it unto him. When I left New York, the children had become closely attached to me, and I loved them. Truly God blessed my efforts.
Every time you or I drive some one to tears, we are causing Christ to suffer. As long as there is sorrow on earth, there will be sorrow in heaven. Think you that Christ's sufferings were limited to the cross?—The sufferings of the cross were scarcely a tithe of the other pangs the Saviour has had to suffer. Everytime a soul is born into the kingdom, Christ has to suffer. Every time we sin and backslide, Christ has to suffer anew. Christ will have to keep suffering over and over again until the last soul is redeemed. Read Col. 1:27.
Let us, then, work from this hour for humanity; for only thus can we work for Christ. Let us find our sweetest pleasure in working in our own homes, and then they will be miniatures of the home to which we are going. Let us begin to have heaven here. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be.”
I thank God that I live in the time when the truth is being revealed so clearly. The great work of translation will begin right here below, and you and I shall go over into the next world, and continue, through all the ages, the glorious transformation that was begun here. May God fill our lives with the blessings of this truth.

HOW FAR?

By M. E. Dunham

M. E. Dunham, D.D., LL. D., in Christian Work.
The Christian religion was never more prevalent in the world than it is to-day, but the sanctity of the old-fashioned piety is passing away.
The name of Jesus Christ was never more honored by public profession and acknowledged allegiance than at the present, but the spirit of Christ in the deeper channels of self-abnegation and self-sacrifice flows with increasing sluggishness.
The popularity of the church and of membership therein is fairly holding its own, but the significance of the church and of church membership as the home and family of “the saints made perfect” is growing dim to general perception.
“The narrow way” that leads to everlasting life has, in public thought, greatly widened, so that hosts go in thereat, while the “broad way” that leads to death has been proportionately narrowed, and fewer are reckoned as walking therein.
In former times the followers of Christ were known by their separation from the world and the ways of the world; but now, among the more cultured and moral portion of society, the distinction between the Christian and the worldling is ascertainable only by reference to the record book of the church.
Once entrance into the church was based on repentance and faith, a change of heart, and a radical transformation of character into newness of life; but now a professed acceptance of the doctrines of Christ and a fairly moral life suffice.
We have reached the stage of religion made easy, with the way of religious living leveled down to the grade of the world. At the card table, in the dance, through scores of amusements that were once considered sinful,—some of them exceedingly sinful,—the Christian and the worldling join hands in the best of comradeship and with an equally hearty gusto.
These facts are operating as causes, bringing about what we see taking place in the churches at the present time—the casting out of the rigid, stern, severe old to make room for the more profuse, easy-going new. If the causes are valid and justifiable, may not the results be valid and justifiable also? Yet the fact should not be overlooked that reactions and even reactionary modifications are dangerous, lest they be carried to extremes; and may it not be a question worthy of careful consideration as to whether or not this reaction has passed already beyond the danger point? At least, we begin to see a loss of power in the church; the loss of the old-fashioned Holy Ghost power that moved and melted human hearts in the heat of its fervor; and to this may be added a growing lack of that childlike simplicity, tender humility, lovable sweetness, which are the sanctified outgrowth of hearts that have been plowed by a sense of guilt, harrowed by thorough repentance, and sown with seeds of a new and divine life. Have we received anything that can compensate the church and the world for such loss and lack?
Christianity is the only hope for this world, the one panacea for its ills; woe be to the world if through the spirit of any age it lose its vital grip on the world!

PRECIOUS BLESSINGS.

By S. A. Bretz

ARRANGED BY S. A. BRETZ. (Lutesville, Mo.)
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.” Ps. 1 : 1.
“Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.” Ps. 32 : 2.
“Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust.” Ps. 40 : 4.
“Blessed is the man whom thou choosest.” Ps. 65 : 4.
“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee.” Ps. 84 : 5.
“Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest.” Ps. 94 : 12.
“Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord.” Ps. 112 : 1.
“Blessed is the man that heareth me.” Prov. 8 : 34.
“Blessed is the man that doeth this.” Isa. 56 : 2.
“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord.” Jer. 17 : 7.
“Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Rom. 4 : 8.
“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation.” James 1 : 12.
“Blessed” is “this man” “in his deed.” Verse 25.
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven.” Ps. 32 : 1.
“Blessed is he that considereth the poor.” Ps. 41 : 1.
Blessed is “he that doeth righteousness at all times.” Ps. 106 : 3.
“Blessed is he that waiteth.” Dan. 12 : 12.
“Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Matt. 21 : 9; 23 : 39; Ps. 118 : 26; Mark 11 : 9; Luke 13 : 35; 19 : 38; John 12 : 13.
“Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” Luke 7 : 23.
“Blessed is he that readeth.” Rev. 1 : 3.
“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.” Rev. 20 : 6.
“Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” Rev. 22 : 7.
“Blessed are the undefiled in the way.” Ps. 119 : 1.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Matt. 5 : 3; Luke 6 : 20.
“Blessed are the meek.” Matt. 5 : 5.
“Blessed are the merciful.” Verse 7.
“Blessed are the pure in heart.” Verse 8.
“Blessed are the peacemakers.” Verse 9.
“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you.” Verse 11; Luke 6 : 22.
“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.” Rev. 14 : 13.
“Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” Ps. 2 : 12.
“Blessed are they that dwell in thy house.” Ps. 84 : 4.
“Blessed are they that keep judgment.” Ps. 106 : 3.
“Blessed are they that keep his testimonies.” Ps. 119 : 2.
“Blessed are they that keep my ways.” Prov. 8 : 32.
“Blessed are all they that wait for him.” Isa. 30 : 18.
“Blessed are they that mourn.” Matt. 5 : 4; Luke 6 : 21.
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.” Matt. 5 : 6; Luke 6 : 21.
“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” Matt. 5 : 10.
“Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” Luke 11 : 28.
“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven.” Rom. 4 : 7.
And the most precious of all blessings pronounced upon man by God, for man’s obedience to his commands, is the following:—
“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city [of God].” Rev. 22 : 14.

How to Be Kept in Perfect Peace

How to be kept in perfect peace—to be quiet, and fearless, and courageous, and at the same time to be of a sound mind and a sweet disposition—is a secret that comes from Him; for the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. Fret and worry do no good, but do much harm. Getting excited over anything unfits for the battle. Be still and know!—King’s Messenger.

PEN PICTURES.

By William P. Pearce

WILLIAM P. PEARCE.
“God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3: 16.
One morning, several years ago, I received through the mail a letter with a New York stamp-mark upon it. On opening it, I found a brief message, and a check for over one hundred dollars. I read the significant words, again and again: “Pay to the order of William Pearce the sum of,” etc. Yes, that was my name, and the money was never more acceptable. It took but a moment to arrange for its investment. But one thing troubled me. Who sent the check? and was it meant for me? After considerable investigation, I found that it was for another William Pearce, who was then a student at the same school that I had left a short time before. The check was sent to its rightful owner, with the request that one of us change his name, and thus the middle initial of my name was born.
It is a blessed thing that John 3: 16 does not read, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that” William Pearce might be saved; for I know of several such characters, and what a life of anxiety and worry I should have in wondering if that William Pearce meant me. But when it says “whosoever,” that takes in all the Pearces, and Smiths, and Browns, and all the sinners of the whole world. “It is,” as Baxter said, “the most comforting word of the Bible.” It is the battle-ax which knocks to pieces the anxious soul reared in extreme Calvinism. It gives every sinner who will receive it, part and parcel in the great work of salvation, and makes him heir to eternal riches.
“Whosoever”—that means you, the one qualifying condition being “belief,” the result “saved,” and the gift “everlasting life.” Thank God for this gospel in a nutshell, which knows “no difference” in intellect, social standing, nationality, or wealth.
“Whosoever heareth, shout, shout the sound, Send the blessed tidings all the world around; Spread the joyful news wherever man is found, Whosoever will may come.”
Continue reading: SAVED BY FAMILIES