Our workers throughout the various conferences are reporting favorably regarding the raising of the $150,000 fund. The following statements are gleaned from the local conference papers with reference to the progress of this work in different conferences. Elder A. O. Burrill, in reporting his visit to the church at Galt, Ontario, as noted in the Canadian Union Messenger, March 1, says:—
Our members are now only twenty. Sufficient were present so that we took up this fund. Every one present responded to the invitation. The church clerk is corresponding with absent members. We think that we shall be able to raise the $2.50 for each individual member. Our churches can raise their quota per member on the $150,000 fund. The Lord has given his people a willing heart to raise the money to complete this work.
A recent issue of the Northern Union Reaper contains a note from Elder R. A. Underwood, president of the Northern Union Conference, regarding this fund, in which he says:—
Our brethren in the Northern Union Conference have made a commendable effort to raise the $150,000 as quickly as possible. Up to date of February 12 the Northern Union Conference stands third in the union conferences in the amount of actual cash sent in on this fund. . . . The Minnesota Conference has sent in more cash to this fund than any local conference. . . . Keep the money coming, for it is greatly needed.
The Need Our Opportunity
The Atlantic Union Gleaner speaks of blessings experienced in working for the fund, and quotes the following from some other union conference paper:—
A few, however, becoming hardened by the many calls, are drawing their means closer to themselves, and turning a deaf ear to the humble plea of the many needy and worthy enterprises of God's cause. May the Lord tenderly bless such, and help them to realize that he can get along without their help, but that they can not get along without helping and at last hear the benediction, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” The grandest joy is that of giving and doing for God.
An appreciated contribution to this fund is that reported in a late issue of the East Michigan Banner, in which the children of the young people's society at St. Charles, Mich., are credited with a gift to this fund, secured from the sale of “Story of Joseph.” While the gift may be small, yet “it serves a great mission at home, by causing the children to realize that they can be helpers in sending the gospel to all nations.”
Elder Wm. Covert, president of the Northern Illinois Conference, mentions the $150,000 fund in the following manner in a late number of their conference paper, the Recorder:—
At the present writing we have received at this office about $840 on the $150,000 fund. . . . We have heard of a brother who expects to send $100 to be applied on this fund. Such offerings will count up rapidly. One brother has actually sent fifty dollars. The important interests which this enterprise designs to help are greatly in need of the money. Please send it in very soon.
The Indiana Conference reports a total of nearly $2,000 received on the fund; while the New York and Western New York Conferences recently forwarded nearly $700. Thus the work of collecting and forwarding this money is going forward steadily and encouragingly. H. E. ROGERS.
A Cheering Testimony
By C. F. Clarke
A BROTHER writes from one of our old churches in Michigan:—
I will tell you how our church has handled the $150,000 fund. At the first reading of the week of prayer, one brother said that there would have to be an amount raised that would equal three dollars for each member who had paid tithe during the past year. We are glad to report, however, that up to date we have received a trifle more than four dollars for each person who has paid tithe for 1906, and have almost reached $2.53 for all the names on the church clerk’s book.
Of course, there are in each church poor people who do not have much of this world’s goods, but they are rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom. The dear Lord accepts their desire and wish and prayer to pay their portion, but this they can never do in this world’s goods.
Now, dear brethren to whom the Lord has entrusted the ability and money, let us regard it as a privilege to help answer the prayers of these who wish to pay their share, but can not. Remember, “He that gathered much had nothing over,” and ye are the “stewards of the manifold grace of God.”
This gospel must go in this generation to all the world. The word of our Saviour is true, and the man who doubted the statement of the prophet of old, saw the fulfilment of the prophecy with his eyes, but had no part in the eating of the promised food. So it will be with those who doubt Christ’s coming in this generation.
C. F. CLARKE.
The End of Seventy Years
By Ellen G. White
The Return of the Exiles—No. 1
The End of Seventy Years
MRS. E. G. WHITE
Soon after the fall of Babylon and the beginning of the universal empire of Medo-Persia, in the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, Daniel the prophet “understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.”
Daniel and his companions had been taken to Babylon “in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah.” They were members of the first company of captives whom Nebuchadnezzar brought from Jerusalem into the land of Shinar. Daniel was well acquainted with the prophecies of Jeremiah at the time they were given, and he had passed through the periods immediately succeeding the first and the second sieges of Jerusalem, when many false prophets had arisen with the claim that the captivity was to be of short duration.
“In the fourth year of Jehoiakim,” very soon after Daniel was taken to Babylon, Jeremiah predicted the captivity of many of the Jews, as their punishment for not heeding the word of the Lord. The Chaldeans were to be used as the instrument by which God would chastise his disobedient people. Their punishment was to be in proportion to their intelligence and to the warnings they had despised. “This whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment,” the prophet declared; “and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.”
In the light of these plain words foretelling the duration of the captivity, it seems strange that any one should hold that the Israelites would soon return from Babylon. And yet there were in Jerusalem and in Babylon those who persisted in encouraging the people to hope for a speedy deliverance. God dealt summarily with some of these false prophets, and thus vindicated the truthfulness of Jeremiah, his messenger.
To the end of time, men will arise to create confusion and rebellion among the people who profess to obey the law of God. But as surely as divine judgment was visited upon the false prophets in Jeremiah’s day, so surely will the evil workers of to-day receive their full measure of retribution, for the Lord has not changed. Those who prophesy lies, encourage men to look upon sin as a light thing. When the terrible results of their evil deeds are made manifest, they seek, if possible, to make the one who has faithfully warned them responsible for their difficulties, even as the Jews charged Jeremiah with their evil fortunes.
Those who pursue a course of rebellion against the Lord can always find false prophets who will justify them in their acts, and flatter them to their destruction. Lying words often make many friends, as is illustrated in the case of these false teachers among the Israelites. These so-called prophets, in their pretended zeal for God, found many more believers and followers than the true prophet who delivered the simple message of the Lord.
In view of the work of these false prophets, Jeremiah was directed by the Lord to write letters to the captains, elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been taken captive to Babylon, bidding them not to be deluded into believing their deliverance nigh, but to submit quietly, pursue their vocations, and make for themselves peaceful homes among their conquerors. The Lord bade them not to allow so-called prophets or diviners to deceive them with false expectations. Through his servant Jeremiah he assured them that after seventy years’ bondage they should be delivered, and should return to Jerusalem. God would listen to their prayers and show them his favor, when they would turn to him with all their hearts. “I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.”
With what tender compassion did God inform his captive people of his plans for Israel! He knew what suffering and disaster they would have to undergo, were they led to believe, according to the prediction of the false prophets, that they should be speedily delivered and brought back to Jerusalem. He knew that this belief would make their position a very difficult one. Any effort on their part to regain freedom would awaken the vigilance and severity of the king, and their liberty would be restricted in consequence. The Lord desired them to submit quietly to their fate, and make their servitude as pleasant as possible.
(To be concluded)
Teacher of Righteousness
By Wm. Covert
The Spirit of God—No. 9
Teacher of Righteousness
WM. COVERT
1. What power had possession of the apostles on the day of Pentecost, directing in their utterance and teaching.
“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Acts 2: 2-4.
2. What promise and admonition of our Saviour’s were meeting their accomplishment on this occasion?
“Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” Luke 24: 49.
3. What does the Spirit do, and whose words does it bring to mind and teach?
“The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14: 26.
4. What did Paul, under the influence of the Spirit, say of his teaching?
“We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, . . . which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” 1 Cor. 2: 7, 13.
5. When referring to the copious showers of the Spirit under the figure of rain, the “former rain” and the “latter rain,” in what manner does the prophet designate their work?
“Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain [“a teacher of righteousness,” margin] moderately [“according to righteousness,” margin], and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.” Joel 2: 23.
6. When great numbers were convicted of sin through the teaching and power of the Spirit, how did they manifest their deep concern?
“When they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
7. What answer was given to the inquiry which was made?9
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2: 38.
8. How many were led through the influence and instruction of this wonderful teacher to enter upon a life of righteousness?
“They that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” Acts 2: 41.
9. In the great wave of heavenly illumination that attended the preaching on a later occasion, what is said of the number converted?
“Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.” Acts 4: 4.
10. What more is said of the marvelous success that attended the apostles’ labors as they proceeded to work under the leadings of the Holy Ghost?
“And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Acts 6: 7.
11. What broad statement is made as to the purposes of God and the possibilities for mankind under the teachings of the Holy Spirit?
“Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.” Acts 10: 34, 35.
Chicago, Ill.
EDITH PRATHER-THOMPSON
By Edith Prather-Thompson
Thoughts
EDITH PRATHER-THOMPSON
SILENTLY, calmly, the eve draws on—
The close of a sweet, glad day,
When life has been a victory won
O’er all earth’s evil way.
What matter if we give up life;
That is, its hopes of fame,
Its glory, fortune, care and strife,
For a fairer, heavenly name?
This world is that which sweeps away
Our faith with mighty wave,
And urges on to toil in vain
For what we can not save.
So, Lord, when I give this for thee—
And all, it seems to me
I’m giving just a weight of sin,
Exchanged for life in thee.
And now, dear heart, when shadows make
The clouds hang heavy o’er,
Remember, morning soon will break
For us on heaven’s shore.
“God Gave the Increase”
By T. E. BOWEN
T. E. BOWEN
“I HAVE planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” Thus Paul wrote of the work of God in his time. The same is true to-day; for although earnest effort may be put forth for souls, unless God touches hearts by the operation of his Spirit, nothing is accomplished. Consequently, all the glory of the increase belongs to God, who gave it.
In this issue of the REVIEW will be found an article in the World-wide Field department, entitled “The Annual Conference in Germany,” from Elder Conradi. There are several very interesting features in this report worthy of careful study by conference officials, and it is possible some suggestions may be found in it which would also result in an “increase” of fruit, if adopted in the home field.
The additions recorded by Elder Conradi during 1906 are as follows: Rhenish Conference, 226; Ulm Conference, 136; West German Conference, 285; making a total of 647 new members in these three small conferences. The force of laborers reported in each conference, in the order as given above, was as follows: two ministers, four licentiates, eleven Bible workers. Their business conference sessions were held, you will notice, during the winter.
Points: Small force of ordained ministers, enough to take the general oversight of the work; young, energetic men gaining an experience as preachers; as many or more Bible workers in each conference as there are ordained ministers and licentiates put together; all this accomplished in a hard field, where laws and opposition are set against the work. The territory is being divided, and new conferences formed, as fast as possible. Holding the business session of the conference in the winter allows the undivided interest of all the conference forces—ministers, licentiates, and Bible workers—to be put forth in new fields in labor for souls, during the entire tent and camp-meeting season, without interruption. See “Testimonies,” Vol. VII, page 41; Vol. VI, page 44.
“God gave the increase.” He certainly will, when we obey him by following his instruction for carrying on his own work in the earth.
Justification by Faith
By I. H. Evans
True Sabbath Keeping
I. H. EVANS
“SHE shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21.
As announced in this prophecy by the heavenly visitant, the mission of Christ to this earth is to “save his people from their sins.” Whatever sin may be, whatever its results it is that from which Christ came to save. He is known as “Saviour,” “Jesus,” “Prince of Peace,” “the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.” His advent to this sin-cursed earth, his life, his ministry, his ignominious death, all were for the accomplishment of this one supreme purpose—to “save his people from their sins.”
Every man needs this salvation, whether he desires it or not. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” “For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.” “There is none righteous, no, not one.”
Truly, all men will not be saved. The fault lies not in that there is no Saviour, but that sinners will not accept salvation. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” It is through faith in the name of Jesus that this salvation is obtained.
Sin is the one thing from which Christ came to save. It is that which he came to destroy.
“The wages of sin is death”—not alone the death we die in Adam; it also embraces the second death, from which there is no salvation when once the final sentence is passed upon sinners.
Now, if Christ’s mission was and is to “save his people from their sins,” let us ask the question, What is sin? As God through Christ provided salvation from sin, he alone can give us a true definition of what sin is. Men’s opinions concerning sin differ greatly. What seems wrong to one, appears right to another. Man, the sinner, the transgressor, can not be authority on what constitutes sin. Only he who punishes sin and provides a Saviour from sin, can define sin.
In 1 John 3:4 we read: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law.” This definition needs no explanation. It is simple and positive. It is God’s own statement uttered through John.
Again: “Sin is not imputed when there is no law.” Rom. 5:13. “Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.” Rom. 4:15. “For by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20.
Plainly then, sin is the transgression of God’s law. Now, if Christ came to “save his people from their sins,” and sin is the transgression of God’s law, then Christ came to save his people from transgressing, or disobeying, the law of God.
God’s idea of right doing is expressed in his law. It constitutes, in words, righteousness. It is all God asks of his created intelligences. To conform to this rule is righteousness, and to transgress this rule is sin.
The law is the standard of righteousness in the final judgment, for we read: “As many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”
But again we read: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Then it is plain that no one can attain righteousness through the law. Not that the law is not perfect, not that it is not God’s standard of righteousness and his rule of right-doing in the final judgment. No, no! for it is all this and more, if more could be. It is all God asks of man, and to measure to its full demands will he require. Every age, and every individual of every age, will have the same law as his rule of righteousness in the final judgment. All must meet the fullest requirement of that law throughout their whole lives. In God’s sight they must appear as having always rendered perfect obedience to his law.
Now, having sinned, having broken the law, how is the sinner to appear righteous before God? The sinner has no power to undo sin. Once having sinned, he is always a sinner as far as his obedience is concerned. Not that he needs to continue ever sinning, but future obedience can not atone for a past disobedience. Man must always be righteous in God’s sight; and having missed the mark once, he has failed in perfect obedience, and is powerless to redeem himself.
Then how can a sinner who has broken the law of God be saved? Answer, “She shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he10shall save his people from their sins.” Let us read from Rom. 3:19-26. In these words God tells us how he will save sinners. Not by their own righteousness: “for all have sinned,” but it is through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. This righteousness is attained by the sinner through faith; so, to him that believes, God imputes the right-doing of his Son Jesus. The sinner, through faith in Jesus, is, then, in reality made righteous by the life, or right-doing, of Jesus, which God gives to him. The wages of sin is met through faith in the death of Christ; but righteousness is attained only through faith in the life of Christ.
When the sinner desiring salvation comes to God through Jesus Christ, he renounces all his past life. It has all been sin, and he must get away from it, or what he has done in the past will ruin him, and prevent him from attaining righteousness. As far as the sinner is concerned, in and of himself he can not get away from the fact that he has been just what he has been, and once having been a sinner, he can never, through himself, be righteous. But he comes to God and acknowledges his sins, and God forgives. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
But all the life of unbelief has been sin, so all the doings of a whole lifetime out of Christ must be taken away. But when our life’s acts are all taken away, what have we left?—Nothing.
But God does not leave us thus. Having delivered us from our past life by the death of Christ, he now gives us the “robe of righteousness,” which is the right-doing of Christ. This God gives to every repentant sinner who believes in Christ Jesus; so the sinner not only loses his own life and all responsibility for his sins, through Christ, but he also attains God’s righteousness.
Having been cleansed from sin, the very life and doings of Christ Jesus are imputed to the sinner, so that he is righteous, even as Jesus is righteous. By this substitution the sinner appears before God, not in his sins, but in the righteousness of Christ.
Now Christ’s righteousness is his obedience to his Father’s law. Every requirement of that law Christ fulfilled, so that every sinner in Christ Jesus is perfect, judged by the law of God.
Christ never had other gods before the true God. The sinner clothed with the righteousness of Christ is no longer an idolater, whatever he may have been. So with each of God’s ten commandments. The murderer, the adulterer, the thief—all are cleansed through faith in Christ, and are no longer murderers, and adulterers, and thieves, but are righteous in God’s sight, judged by his law.
After cleansing from sin through Christ Jesus, the sinner henceforth lives the life of Christ by the indwelling of the Spirit of God, so that after being washed from his past sins, and being clothed with Christ’s righteousness, he goes forth to do as Christ did and to keep the Father’s law. Christ dwells within him, and he and God become one in Christ.
In keeping the Father’s law, Christ kept each of the commandments. But there is the fourth precept which says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Ex. 20:8. Christ’s obedience to this precept constitutes his Sabbath righteousness. This righteousness he gives to every repentant sinner. So when Christ gives his life and righteousness to the sinner, he gives his own Sabbath-keeping to the sinner. But the law of God says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.” Christ kept that commandment, hence all Christ’s Sabbath righteousness is seventh-day Sabbath righteousness. So when he gives his life to the repentant sinner, he makes him a seventh-day Sabbath-keeper in harmony with God’s law.
As Christ never kept the first day as the Sabbath, he has no first-day righteousness that he can give to any sinner; and as Christ has no first-day righteousness that he can ever give a sinner, it is evident there will be no first-day righteousness in heaven. All first-day keeping is contrary to God’s law, and needs to be repented of, as murder, adultery, and stealing need repentance; and when forgiven, the law transgressor will be given the seventh-day Sabbath righteousness of Christ, and in God’s sight he will become a true seventh-day commandment-keeper.
After he is received into the family of God by adoption, and is perfected through Christ Jesus by this gift of righteousness, the child of faith must keep the law of God. He no longer can go on keeping a substitute sabbath for the Sabbath commanded by the law of God, by which law the sinner is to be judged. As in Christ Jesus he has been made a perfect commandment-keeper for all the years he lived without Christ, so the life he now lives he lives not alone, but Christ Jesus lives within him. But as Jesus refused to keep any but the seventh-day Sabbath in all his earthly life, think you he approves of those who, professing to be his disciples, and having been given his seventh-day Sabbath righteousness for all their past Sabbath-breaking, continue in sin by keeping a false sabbath which he hates as he hates everything contrary to the law of God?
Then every sinner and saint should and must stop keeping a substitute sabbath for the Sabbath of Jehovah if he expects salvation; for all who go to heaven must go there in harmony with the law of God.
Justification by faith makes seventh-day Sabbath-keepers out of every one justified, while sanctification requires seventh-day Sabbath-keeping by all who are justified, and have received righteousness through faith. The redeemed host must be commandment-keepers through Christ, and every commandment-keeper must keep the seventh-day Sabbath, for the law plainly says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.”
What Eternal Life Will Cost Us
By G. B. Thompson
G. B. THOMPSON
Eternal life! How precious! To think of living in the realms of joy and happiness through endless cycles, in a real home, unmarred by sin, is sufficient to inspire in every heart a sincere desire to be numbered among those who will be saved to enjoy the pleasures at our Redeemer's right hand forevermore.
To secure to man the right to eat of the tree of life, which he forfeited by transgression, cost the Son of God an infinite sacrifice. The human mind can in no way fully comprehend it. It will require all eternity for the elect, with immortal minds, to fathom the cost of redemption. “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” 2 Cor. 8:9. He gave up incomprehensible riches and honor for the deepest poverty and humiliation, to save us from the fearful consequences of sin. And all this because he loved man.
And shall it cost us less than it cost him? If, in order to save us, it was necessary for Christ to relinquish all the riches and glory which he had with his Father before the world was, can we enter among the blood-washed throng, and fall at his feet, and yet at the same time cling to the treasures and worldly aggrandizements of this sinful world? It is well that we sit down and count the cost to us of a home with Jesus in the mansions which he has gone to prepare, and definitely settle whether or not we are willing to pay the price.
When asked concerning this very matter, the Saviour gave some plain instruction. When one came to him, inquiring what he might do in order to have eternal life, the Master said, “One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.” Mark 10:21.
I ask, When this instruction was fully carried out, how much would this young man have had of this world? Would he have had whole quarter sections of land, well stocked, and a snug bank account, and a number of notes for money loaned at the legal rate of interest? In carrying out this instruction from the Master would he have had his eyes on some ranch or money-making enterprise by which he could make more money with which to “help the cause”? What do you think? A sacrifice, we are told, does not increase, but decreases.
On another occasion Jesus draws the lines still closer, in the following words: “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he can not be my disciple.” Luke 14:33.11
Notice the words, “forsaketh not all that he hath, he can not be my disciple.” Not that he is not a disciple, but the strong affirmation, can not be a disciple. Frequently it is asked, What does this scripture mean? The writer does not know what it means unless it means what it says. We insist everywhere that the fourth commandment means exactly what it says. Why not apply the same reasoning to this text? It is as definite and clear as the fourth commandment of the decalogue. Various explanations and interpretations as to what different persons think that Jesus meant are given, but it is well to take these words as they read, and go on our knees before the One who spoke them, and ask him what they mean. Let us face the judgment-seat of the great God, before whom we must all soon appear, and in full view of this august and final tribunal decide as to their meaning.
I write this in India, the land of ignorance, superstition, idols and heathenism,—the land of poverty, famine, and plague. All about me are throngs of human beings, without God and without hope in the world. Here are three hundred million heathen. Place the inhabitants of the world in a circle, and every fifth man would be a heathen from India.
We have a message which is to go to all this world in this generation. Only a little time remains, and we have only made a beginning in this land. Tremendous sacrifices of earthly treasures, and of consecrated laborers must still be made. Only those who forsake all can have a place among the redeemed. This is a personal matter; no one can decide it for another. Let us personally take to our hearts the question, Have I forsaken all?
Calcutta, India.
Preaching the Truth
By Asa Smith
ASA SMITH
THERE is much that is good, and much good Christian work can be done, without placing any special emphasis upon those doctrines that make us “a peculiar people.” But we have no excuse for being a separate people except to preach those very doctrines; and when we begin to work only on lines that are common to all Christian people, just then we begin to lose the very life and spirituality that is found in our message.
Our work is based on Rev. 14: 6-12, and we dare not compromise nor soften it to meet popular favor. That message calls for the fear and worship of the true God because the “hour of his judgment is come;” it also announces the fall of Babylon, and calls the honest souls to come out of the fallen churches; and, finally, it gives the most solemn and important warning the world has ever heard. We must tell what the “beast” is, and what his “image” and his “mark,” that the people may know how to escape. To do this will make us unpopular, but if we do not do it, we fail of accomplishing our purpose as a people in this world.
In singing we can be preaching the truths of the message; but much of our later music is losing the real spirit of the third angel’s message. There is a tendency on the part of many, even some of our workers, always to have the “latest” popular song-book. It may contain many good songs, but they do not emphasize the peculiar and special truths which we preach. I am satisfied that much of the love of the message has been lost to both old and young among Seventh-day Adventists by the use of so many “new” songs. I mean songs that do not contain the advent spirit. We hear more such songs as “There is sunshine in my soul,” than “How shall we stand in the judgment?” or “He’s coming again.” To be sure, the Christian, and especially the one who expects to live to see Jesus come in glory, ought to have sunshine in his soul and to sing it, but the general spirit brought in by such music is not one that calls to mind the admonition of 2 Cor. 13: 5, and 1 Cor. 10: 12. On the contrary, the popular church songs cause us to feel that our own songs which contain the peculiar truths of our message are “old” and not “up to date.” But in fact the “new” songs are used by all church people, while our “old,” peculiar songs are new to them.
Music originated in heaven. Lucifer was leader of the heavenly choir. Because of pride and self-exaltation he was cast out. He came to this earth, persuaded man to sin, and usurped his dominion. In his efforts to get men to join his rebellion, he has not failed to make use of his musical ability. Through this medium he has entered the hearts, homes, and churches unawares.
That which does not inspire to higher thinking and better living is not from above.
Reiswig, British Columbia.
The Two Immutable Things
By M. E. Steward
M. E. STEWARD
Our God not only provided salvation for the human family, but he did everything possible to enable them to accept the priceless boon.
We are admonished to be “followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” The Lord knew that faith must rest on evidence, and he gave the strongest evidences possible.
First, “God made promise to Abraham.” This promise was in itself immutable, that is, unchangeable. But in pity for our weakness he made surety doubly sure, confirming his promise by another immutable thing, which was his oath. God staked his own life on the fulfilment of his promise to Abraham.
And this he did, “willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,” which was his glorious purpose concerning us: “that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.”
The promise to Abraham—being the gospel (Gal. 3:8)—includes Christ and all the provisions of salvation. To him we owe life, both temporal and eternal, with all its privileges and blessings. The promise to Abraham includes every other promise to man, and each one of those promises is confirmed by the two immutable things, the promise and the oath of God.
O, the promises of God! they are indeed a “blessed hope,” which “we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.” There we see not only the broken law of God, and feel its condemnation, but we also see Jesus, our “high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec,” God’s own order in the new covenant.
Our Heavenly Father is honored when we take the “strong consolation,” the comfort and courage and strength of this God-given hope; when we accept his promises confirmed by those two immutable things, and anchor our souls in the glad and grateful assurance that Jesus Christ is a wonderfully loving, precious, mighty Saviour.
While our Redeemer is securing our eternal redemption, God’s two immutable things are surety that, meantime, we shall have “all things that pertain unto life and godliness;” that our great High Priest knows and will provide for all our present and future needs.
Hold Your Lights Up
By Eugene B. Willard
COMPTON, the well-known missionary, was on his way to India. The great steamer was plowing its way through the sea. Not feeling well, he was about to retire for the night when he heard the cry, “Man overboard.” His first impulse was to rush upon deck and try to rescue him. But then he reflected that he might be in the way, and no doubt the seamen would render all possible assistance. But wasn’t there something he could do? He could at least try. So he took his little lamp and held it close to the little window, which on account of its appearance, is known as “the bull’s eye.” Soon Compton heard the joyful cry, “Saved.” The next morning he was told that his little light, shining through that little window, was the means of the man’s rescue. It came at the right time, and was in the right place. It showed the sailors just where to throw the life-line, and enable the perishing man to grasp it as it came near him. All the efforts of those seamen would have been useless, and all the attempts of the drowning man would have been of no avail, if it had not been for Compton’s holding his light up. Reader, multitudes are drifting on the sea of time. They are in terrible danger. They are in danger of utter destruction unless you hold your lights up so that they can shine to save them. O, hold your lights up and try to save souls from perishing in sin! Don’t delay.—Eugene B. Willard.