p. 2 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 29. (7/16/1902)

Signs of the Times

Jul 16, 1902

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 16, 1902

“HEAVY UPON IT.”

WHEN this earth came from the hand of God, beautified for the home of man, it was by Him pronounced “good.” It was a perfect world. It knew neither sin nor death. It was instinct with the life and love of God. Its revolutions, the currents of its streams, its winds, its electric impulses, were normal. No blighting, scorching, withering winds swept over its surface. No appalling cyclone or tornado made havoc of tree or primitive dwelling which may have been fashioned by man. No deluge of desolating rain, no pelting hail swept over its mountains or plains. Volcanoes—“vent holes of hell”—there were none. Earthquakes were unknown. The great grandeur of indescribable peace, growth, and beauty rested upon the home of man, God-made and God-given, and which Divinity pronounced “good.”

A VIEW OF THE ONCE MAGNIFICENT CATHEDRAL OF ST. PIERRE AFTER THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION.

IT was then a living earth; for the living God has brought into existence no dead things. It was a part of a living whole. It was a member, so to speak, of the great body of the universe, held by mighty tho invisible bonds to the great Heart of the Universe, connected by living wireless telegraphy to the universe’s great Mind, obedient to His will. Thus it was the will of God that the fresh, glad earth should roll on forever.

THE king of earth’s dominion was man, free to serve God, his normal duty, which would preserve forever normal conditions; or free to pervert, if he so elected, all God’s beneficences to selfish purposes, and so render abnormal all his gloriously beautiful dominion. An enemy came, once the fairest, the most beauteous, the most knowing, the wisest of all God’s creatures. So resplendent was he then that God called him Lucifer, “Son of the Morning,” “Light-bringer.” He, too, had the power of choosing God’s normal law of love, always outflowing, always laden with life and blessing, always glorifying Him who is only good, and ever opening the heart, and mind, and body, for more of His life and love for larger service and larger joy. But Lucifer, beautified by the glory of the Maker’s power, surrounded by all the resplendent loveliness of the “garden of God,” normally “perfect in all his ways,” chose the way of self, made self the center of worship instead of God, and so “brought death into the world and all our woe.” “His heart was lifted up because of his beauty; he corrupted his wisdom by reason of his brightness.” His wisdom became subtlety and craft, and every power of his giant mind was consecrated to selfishness, sin, perversion, destruction. The cherub of God became a devil; Lucifer, the Light-bringer, became Satan, the “adversary.” He suggested to the rulers of earth the same malefic principles, and they yielded to his devilish hypnotism. He promised them liberty from the law of God, which he termed bondage. He gave them hatred instead of love, and bondage to Satan and sin, instead of freedom in God. For “know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves

as bond-servants unto obedience, his bond-servants ye are whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” The man obeyed Satan; Satan became the usurping lord of the earth.

WHEN the living lord over a living earth, the one perfectly adapted to the other, failed, his dominion failed with him. The whole earth became poisoned with the virus of sin. The thrill of pain, bondage, and despair passed through its every fiber. The law of beneficence became perverted to that of selfishness. Love became hatred and cruelty, and the earth drank in the blood of malice and violence. It, too, came under the service of the evil one. The soft, fragrance-laden breezes of heaven became, ever and anon, chilling, biting blasts, withering, scorching winds, or fearful tempests of destruction. The curse was felt when man first sinned. Henceforth the earth would not yield its strength. Thorns and thistles choked wheat and flower. When man’s blood was shed by man, the curse rested still heavier; and when transgression was piled up, more and more weighty became the curse of sin. Great convulsions seized the earth. “The windows of heaven were opened.” “The fountains of the great deep” were “broken up.” The earth was overwhelmed. Continents sunk and rose. Volcanoes vomited forth the product of the mixing of abnormal and diverse elements; disease and pestilence spread abroad; and earth became a great charnel-house of sin. Nay, more, every part of God’s universe felt the shock of sin. God is giving His creatures their choice, and He must let them know the results. They have chosen their seed-sowing; they must witness the fearful harvest, that the universe may forever know the heinousness of departure from God.

GRAPHICALLY has the prophet of the Most High set forth the connection of sin with the condition of the earth:—

“Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.” Isa. 24:1–6.

This passage carries us clear down to the final days of earth’s present age, the days which are to usher in the great day of wrath, in which sin itself shall be destroyed. These great calamities will not come all at once. The fearful disease of sin will not culminate suddenly. The goodness of God will restrain and ameliorate its awful outbreaks, and yet permit its fearful foreshowings, that men may know its nature. The prophet continues the picture:—

“The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.” Verses 7–12.

But while many will not learn the true lesson, there will be some that will heed God’s message. These He will gather out.

“When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea.” Verses 13–15.

There will be another class who have looked to men instead of God. They have trusted to the assurances of scientists who have left God out of the question, even as did the people of St. Pierre. They believed the report of the “scientific commission” that St. Pierre was not in danger. Even so men everywhere are now trusting in human hypotheses, saying, as it was foretold they would say, “Where is the promise of His [Christ’s] coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” 2 Peter 3:4. This message of “willingly ignorant” men is believed. But the vindication of God’s Word and the undeceiving of the world will come, as they came to St. Pierre on that fateful, fearful May morning. Listen to what the prophet says further of that time:—

“From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.” Isa. 24:16.

And here is the irrevocable sentence of fact:—

“Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.” Verses 17–20.

THEN shall sin and all identified with sin be manifest as it is. Rebels against God will receive their just punishment:—

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.” Verse 21.

BUT this is not the entire story, dear reader. Beyond the utter disintegration of sinful earth; beyond the destruction of Satan, and demons, and all and everything identified with sin, will roll on in majestic and everlasting righteousness, and glory, and life, the “new heavens” and “new earth,” created by the power of God from the ruins of the old. “And He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. . . . These words are faithful and true.” Rev. 21:5. Every soul may have part and everlasting inheritance there. He whose trust is in God may go down to death, but its bars are broken by Jesus Christ. “The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever.” “For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else.” Isa. 45:18. “It is better to trust in Jehovah than to put confidence in man.”

THE GRACE OF COURTESY.

By Ellen G. White

Those who work for Christ are to be pure, upright, and trustworthy, and they are also to be tender-hearted, compassionate, and courteous. Courtesy is one of the graces of the Spirit. It is an attribute of heaven. The angels never fly into a passion, never are envious or selfish. No harsh or unkind words escape their lips. If we are to be the companions of angels, we too must be refined and courteous.

The truth of God is designed to elevate the receiver, to refine his taste and sanctify his judgment. No man can be a Christian without having the Spirit of Christ; and if he has the Spirit of Christ, it will be manifested in a refined, courteous disposition. His character will be holy, his manners comely, his words without guile. He will cherish the love that is not easily provoked, that suffers long and is kind, that hopes all things and endures all things.

What Christ was in His life on this earth, that every Christian is to be. He is our example, not only in His spotless purity, but in His patience, gentleness, and winsomeness of disposition. He was firm as a rock where truth and duty were concerned, but He was invariably kind and courteous. His life was a perfect illustration of true courtesy. He had ever a kind look and a word of comfort for the needy and oppressed.

His presence brought a purer atmosphere into the home, and His life was as leaven working amid the elements of society. Harmless and undefiled, He walked among the thoughtless, the rude, the uncourteous; amid the unjust publicans, the unrighteous Samaritans, the heathen soldiers, the rough peasants, and the mixed multitude. He spoke a word of sympathy here, and a word there, as He saw men weary, and compelled to bear heavy burdens. He shared their burdens, and repeated to them the lessons He had learned from nature, of the love, the kindness, the goodness of God.

He sought to inspire with hope the most rough and unpromising, setting before them the assurance that they might become blameless and harmless, attaining such a character as would make them manifest as children of God.

Tho He was a Jew, Christ mingled with the Samaritans, setting at naught the Pharisaic customs of His nation. In face of their prejudices, He accepted the hospitality of this despised people. He slept under their roofs, ate with them at their tables,—partaking of the food prepared and served by their hands,—taught in their streets, and treated them with the utmost kindness and courtesy.

Jesus sat an honored guest at the table of the publicans, by His sympathy and social kindness showing that He recognized the dignity of humanity; and men longed to become worthy of His confidence. Upon their thirsty souls His words fell with blessed, life-giving power. New impulses were awakened, and the possibility of a new life opened to these outcasts of society.

The Religion of Jesus

softens whatever is hard and rough in the temper, and smooths off whatever is rugged and sharp in the manners. It is this religion that makes the words gentle and the demeanor winning. Let us learn from Christ how to combine a high sense of purity and integrity with sunniness of disposition. A kind, courteous Christian is the most powerful argument that can be produced in favor of the Gospel.

The principle inculcated by the injunction, “Be ye kindly affectioned one to another,” lies at the very foundation of domestic happiness.

Christian courtesy should reign in every household. It has power to soften natures which without it would grow hard and rough. The wife and mother may bind her husband and children to her by strong cords if she is unvaryingly gentle and courteous in words and manner. Christian courtesy is the golden clasp that unites the members of the family in bonds of love that every day become closer and stronger.

Those who profess to be followers of Christ, and are at the same time rough, unkind, and uncourteous in words and deportment, have not learned of Jesus. A blustering, overbearing, fault-finding man is not a Christian; for to be a Christian is to be Christlike. The conduct of some professing Christians is so lacking in kindness and courtesy that their good is evil spoken of. Their sincerity may not be doubted, their uprightness may not be questioned; but sincerity and uprightness will not atone for a lack of kindness and courtesy. The Christian is to be sympathetic as well as true, pitiful and courteous as well as upright and honest.

Kind words are as dew and gentle showers to the soul. The Scripture says of Christ that grace was poured into His lips, that He might “know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.” And the Lord bids us, “Let your speech be alway with grace,” “that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”

Some with whom you are brought in contact may be rough and uncourteous; but do not, because of this, be less courteous yourself. He who wishes to preserve his own self-respect must be careful not to wound needlessly the self-respect of others. This rule should be sacredly observed toward the dullest, the most blundering. What God intends to do with these apparently unpromising ones, you do not know. He has in the past accepted persons no more promising or attractive to do a great work for Him. His Spirit, moving upon the heart, has aroused every faculty to vigorous action. The Lord saw in these rough, unhewn stones precious material, that would stand the test of storm and heat and pressure. God sees not as man sees. He does not judge from appearances, but He searches the heart, and judges righteously.

True courtesy, blended with truth and justice, makes the life not only useful, but beautiful and fragrant. Kind words, pleasant looks, a cheerful countenance, throw a charm about the Christian that makes his influence almost irresistible. In forgetfulness of self, in the light and peace and happiness that he is constantly bestowing on others, he finds true joy.

Let us be self-forgetful, ever on the watch to cheer others, to lighten their burdens by acts of tender kindness and deeds of unselfish love. Leave unspoken that unkind word; let that selfish disregard of the happiness of others give place to loving sympathy. These thoughtful courtesies, beginning in the home, and extending far beyond the home circle, go far to make up the sum of life's happiness, and the neglect of them constitutes no small share of life's misery. MRS. E. G. WHITE.

Finding Precious Things in the Bible

“THE people who are doing the most for others are those who are finding sweet and precious things in the Bible.”

The Coming of the Lord

By L. A. Phippeny

BY L. A. PHIPPENY

THE FIRST ADVENT.

FOUR hundred and eighty-three years after the decree finally confirmed by Artaxerxes, to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled.” The sixty-nine weeks of the prophecy spoken five hundred years before by the angel Gabriel to Daniel were completed, and Messiah the Prince was due for His public ministry.

Thirty years before, the Jews and many others had heard the strangely eager questioning of the wise men, and there were not a few who looked with wondering eyes toward Bethlehem of Judea, and bethought them of the words of the Lord through Micah the prophet, uttered seven centuries before: “Out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.” Three years and a half later, to the accompaniment of loud hosannas and rejoicings of a vast multitude, the King came into Jerusalem precisely as had been predicted five hundred years before by Zechariah the prophet.

Mystery attended the coming of the Messiah into the world, and an air of mystery surrounded His ministry, chiefly because it was not comprehended at the time by even His disciples. But after His death and resurrection and ascension, the mystery began to clear up; the bright light dispelled the mists, and the relations of things began to appear, and the glorious Gospel unfolded an inexhaustible depth and expanse of life-giving truth. And revelation followed revelation, and the light shined brighter and brighter as time passed, until we have the treasures left in the writings of disciples and apostles. And with these before us we can comprehend more easily, and no doubt better than could have been before Jesus’ time, something of the meaning of the first advent.

The “Desire of All Nations”

had come, but how little comprehended was He by “all nations,” how little has He been comprehended through the ages by the many, and how sadly was He misunderstood by the nation of the Jews! The latter through centuries of backsliding had lost the proper conception of the great truths entrusted to them. These were truths for all the world, and altho the Lord had often reminded them of this fact through the prophets, pride had misconstrued their larger meaning, and narrowed a message of world salvation to salvation mainly for themselves, and that largely of a temporal nature.

It is true that they had suffered much oppression, but only because of backsliding. Through the ages they had looked for the Messiah. Glorious promises had been made through the prophets of the redemption to come; and their boast, made none too modestly, was that when the Messiah should come, He would subdue their enemies and exalt them to the proud position of world-leaders. The trouble was not with the promises, but with their interpretation of them. The Jews failed, or refused, to discern the chief feature of the Messiah’s mission—the feature first in importance and first in point of time fulfilment—in the many prophecies relating to Him. Had they done so, they would have seen that the prophecies and promises concerning earthly dominion and its restoration must have had reference to events more remote than their time for their accomplishment.

The message of spiritual redemption, a spiritual kingdom, and salvation from sin was unwelcome to the many, whose minds had so long dwelt upon the earthly that they could not see that this was of greater importance, and a necessity precedent to the latter. The Messiah had come; but He failed to meet their proud requirements as to how the Christ ought to comport Himself. “My kingdom is not of this world,” He said; and their benighted minds, grasping only the idea of the material kingdom with Jerusalem its center and the Gentiles its circumference, pronounced sentence: “Away with this man.”

But, as stated, the message of redemption given through the Jews was for the whole world. They were indeed a chosen people, and God designed to honor them greatly. He did honor them by sending the Redeemer through them as a nation, and the message of salvation was preached to them first. He will ultimately honor the faithful ones of old by calling all the saved under the name of Israel,—overcomers.

Vindication and Redemption.

It is not necessary to quote Scripture to a student of the Bible to show that Christ was originally a member of the Godhead, and the active agent in creation. There are rich truths connected with the mystery of the incarnation that will well repay the one who searches for them. Just now we are to note that the One called by Isaiah “The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace,” came to earth as a man, to suffer the penalty of Adam’s transgression,—as one sinless, yet reckoned as a sinner for the work of redemption.

He was to demonstrate by His sinless life three things in particular: (1) that it is possible for man in sinful flesh to live without sinning, by the power of God. And by the power of that demonstration courage is given to every man who chooses to follow in the same pathway unto victory. (2) He was to demonstrate to angelic beings, fallen and unfallen, and to all the worlds that the divine system of government is sure and right; and (3) that Satan was wrong in his denunciation of that government, and that his whole course of rebellion is unjustifiable.

The redemption also includes more than man alone. It includes the lost dominion of earth. By one act of sin the dominion was lost; by one righteous life among men,—the sinless character of Christ,—and the vicarious suffering of the One, the power of sin and death and Satan the usurper was broken forever, and the right to the whole dominion came back to the rightful owner,—the One who made it, and so the prophet declares: “And thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.”

The full significance of the first advent was understood at the time only by those behind the scenes, as it were,—the Godhead, unfallen and fallen angels, parties to the tremendous

controversy between the principles of good and evil, and unfallen worlds, to whom, as well as to fallen man, the issue of the Redeemer’s mission meant untold possibilities. It was the pivotal point of time and eternity.

But the mission was a glorious success. A spiritual kingdom, established long before in promise, had been confirmed, and there remained only a broader spreading of the principles of that kingdom, until the final redemption of the dominion. All along the ages faithful souls had looked forward to this time. In their sacrificial system they foresaw the antitypical offering for sin,—the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” and their faith in the efficacy of the power of God to be manifested in after generations was also the faith in a present power to save from sin. And it saved them. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises [of lands and kingdoms and earthly dominion restored], but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

The keynote of the first Advent of Christ was redemption. The word includes all,—vindication of God’s character, condemnation of Satan’s principles, power of salvation for man, restoration of the whole dominion, glad assurance forever to all worlds. Closing His earthly ministry, Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you; . . . I will come again.” “And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”

Extract of Soul in Every Work

“We can never do a great work unless we put into it a part of our lives. Extract of soul must be mingled with every work that is to go into eternity.”

Humble Workers Move Heaven

“THE self-sufficient worker may seem to be moving the world, but it is the humble, praying worker that moves heaven.”

Fiery Trials and Refinement

“IF God has let us pass through fiery trials, it is because there is dross in us to be consumed.”

SATANIC CONTROL.

By H. Melvill

WE are indeed well aware that it is not the devil who destroys man. It must be man who destroys himself. The devil can do nothing against us, except as we afford him opportunity, yielding ourselves to his suggestions, and allowing him to lead us captive at his will. But it may at length come to pass, if we persist in walking as children of disobedience, that we quite expel from our breast the Spirit of God, whose strivings have been resisted, and whose admonitions have been despised, and enthrone in His stead that spirit of evil whose longing and whose labor it is to make us share his own ruin. And then is there as clear a demoniacal possession as when the man was cast into the fire or water through the fearful energies of the indwelling fiend.

Let us not too hastily conclude that there is nothing in our days at all analogous to those demoniacal possessions of which so frequent mention is made in the Gospel. When the apostle speaks of the devil as “working in the children of disobedience,” he uses the same word which is elsewhere used of the operations of the Holy Ghost, that Divine Agent who dwelleth in believers, residing in them as a permanent monitor, renewing their nature, and preparing them for glory. So that St. Paul ascribes to the devil, as acting in the children of disobedience, that very same energy which he ascribes to God’s Spirit, as acting in the disciples of Jesus. And whatever, therefore, the degree in which we consider good men as possessed by the Holy Ghost, in that very same degree must we consider abandoned and reprobate men as possessed by Satan and his angels. There must be as much of direct influence, as much of the surrender of the man to the dominion set up within himself, in the one case as in the other. In neither have we right to say that free agency is interfered with, much less destroyed; but in both there is the willing submission to the dictates of another, and that other so identified with the man himself that he is actually bound by the being obeyed.

There is, then, no doubt that the devil is an enemy to be dreaded and resisted; but we thank God for the assertion that there is to break a day on our creation when the malignant adversary shall be bound, and spoiled of his power to assail.—H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1838.

THE SON OF A DOVE.

By Thomas Robert Williamson

[This was written in a time of great physical weakness and suffering, in November, 1901. The author has since fallen asleep.]

It seems to have been the design in the first place to make individual names mean something to the persons that owned them. Names were intended to signalize some event, or to mark some trait in the character of the one named, and no doubt fathers were endowed, in many instances at least, with enough prophetic foresight to make the name conferred in infancy something of a presage or guide as to the physical or mental make-up of the future man.

Adam comes from red earth; Eve means mother of all living; Jacob is supplanter; Esau, or Edom, red or hairy man; Abraham, the father of nations; Jacob's new name, Israel, was prince of God. The sons of Jacob all had descriptive titles. Names were not, as they are now, mere arbitrary appellations, given hit or miss, and meaning nothing to the owners. They meant something, and where they were outgrown and had become, through facts of progress, no longer suitable, they were sometimes changed, as were Abram's and Jacob's names, better to fit the altered life of the wearer.

In New Testament times, new titles were made to take the place of the old as they were needed. Saul became Paul after the notable occurrence of the conversion of Sergius Paulus. Barnabas was the “Son of Consolation” from having, no doubt, in a peculiar crisis, brought consolation to the infant church at Jerusalem. James and John were re-named “Sons of Thunder” by the Lord Jesus Himself. But no name upon the whole holy list of appellatives is more peculiar, or so well fitted to be worn by all who sincerely love the Lord, as the beautiful title bestowed upon Peter on two occasions. We should all be “sons of consolation” after Barnabas. We should all be converters of new souls like Paul, but young or old, learned or unlearned, Christians need Peter's glorious name. “Blessed art thou, Simon, Bar-Jonah!” or “son of Jonas,” as it is in another place. Jonah, or Jonas, means dove. The name then is “Simon, son of a Dove,” and as the dove is a symbol always of the presence of the Holy Spirit, Peter's full title, spoken by the glorious Master Himself, is “Simon, son of the Holy Spirit.”

That is a name to live and to work for. When Peter first received it, he had just given utterance to the kingliest truth of the whole Gospel, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and swift came the answer, sparkling like a crown of jewels for Peter's brow, “Blessed art thou, Simon, son of the Holy Spirit; for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but My Father.” To be a “son of the Spirit” is to be in the line of the heavenliest revelations. It is to stand where the Word of God, the Bible, unveils its deepest significance, and where the mightiest truths beam with clearest and brightest effulgence upon the soul.

But there came a time when Peter lost his glorious title. He denied his loving Lord, and trailed his own Christian honor in the mire of blasphemy. He lost character and manhood, and would have gone down in final defeat, had it not been for the pity of Christ. Repentance and pardon were granted, and then re-instatement to name and privilege.

Again connected with divinity, Peter became a fit man to dispense Gospel food to others. “Simon, son of the Holy Spirit, lovest thou Me? Feed My lambs, feed My sheep.” Peter stood again where the blaze of revealed truth could shower upon him in splendor, and this he was to give out as food, even as the disciples had given out the provisions to the multitude upon the Galilean beach. He was made a son of God through the Holy Spirit, a partaker of the divine nature, a member of God's immediate family. “He called them gods, unto whom the Word of the Lord came, and the Scripture can not be broken.” “All of you are children of the Most High.”

There, dear fellow Christian, pilgrim over the toilsome sands of life, burdened with its sorrowful seasons and tripped and tangled with its cares, I hail you as Jesus did Peter, son, daughter of the Holy Spirit, and bid you erect your face to the glory of the name. The old Roman thought it a shame to wear the title of king, and where does earthly pride lift up a diamond coronet that gleams with a name like this that descends to us from the time of Jesus and Peter?

Now let us do what we can to show the winning luster of the name to others. Jesus says, “Feed My lambs, feed My sheep.”

THOMAS ROBERT WILLIAMSON.

ON HIGHER GROUND.

By J. H. A.

When cheerless valley fogs of night Shut out the arch of blue That all the perfect summer day Has promised joy to you, Remember that the mountain-top With clearer air is crowned; Then onward march with folded tent, And camp on higher ground.

If trouble, like a swarming plague, Besiege your marsh-land state Until you feel you have incurred The enmity of fate, Think not that in a flood of tears Your troubles can be drowned, But rise through all the strength of will, And camp on higher ground.

When mingled tongues and ways of men Becloud your judgment's view, When falsehoods are so nicely veiled Almost you think them true, Just take an upward path until You come within the sound Of that still voice that reaches those Who camp on higher ground.

The texture of your earthly garb Is breaking, thread by thread, And on some day, in some fair clime, You'll don new robes instead; And as your welcomed spirit thrills With freedom newly found, You'll bless the hand that led you there To camp on higher ground.

The sunshine of eternal love Will never cease to flow, The soul out-reaching for its rays Will never cease to glow; Since in that glorious, heavenly life Such wondrous love is found, We still may go from joy to joy To camp on higher ground.

J. H. A.

God Helps Those Who Work for Humanity

“If God has put into your soul a desire to work for humanity, remember He will help you to carry out this desire, for God never trifles with a man.”

Continue reading: CONCERNING PESSIMISM