Review and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 3. (1/21/1902)

Review and Herald

Jan 21, 1902

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 21, 1902

WORDS TO MINISTERS.

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE.

“Unto the angel of the Church in Sardis write: These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”

The minister of the gospel of Christ is to watch for souls as he that must give an account. He is to be often on his knees in prayer, asking for heavenly wisdom, that he may strengthen “the things which remain, that are ready to die.” By living in accordance with the will of God, he is to place himself under divine power. The word of God is to be his guide. In this word there are promises, directions, warnings, and reproofs, which he is to use in his work as the occasion may require. With a humble heart and a willing mind he is to search this word, that for the benefit of others he may draw from the storehouse of truth things new and old. He is ever to seek to lead minds to gain a personal knowledge of the truth. Many are sorely tempted and ready to die because they have not a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.

In every congregation that gathered about Jesus, there were souls who were hungering and thirsting for a knowledge of God. As they listened to the truths that fell from the lips of the divine Teacher, truths so different from the traditions of the rabbis, hope sprang up in their hearts. In the Saviour’s teaching there was a power that sent the truth home to the heart. God’s ministers are to learn Christ’s method of teaching, that, like Him, they may present the great principles of truth in the power of the Spirit.

And the minister’s work does not end with the presentation of truth from the pulpit. He is to do earnest, personal, house-to-house work, studying the Scriptures with the people, and praying with them. Thus many will be brought to a knowledge of God. Souls ready to perish will be imbued with the Spirit of Christ. But this work has been neglected; and therefore the churches are lacking in power. There are many ordained ministers who have never yet exercised a shepherd’s care over the flock of God, who have never watched for souls as they that must give an account. The Church, instead of developing, is left to be a weak, dependent, inefficient body. The members of the Church, trained to rely upon preaching, do little for Christ. They bear no fruit, but rather increase in selfishness and unfaithfulness. They put their hope in the preacher, depending on his efforts to keep alive their weak faith. Because the church-members have not been properly instructed by those whom God has placed as overseers, many are slothful servants, hiding their talents in the earth, and still complaining of the Lord’s dealing toward them. They expect to be tended like sick children.

The best help that ministers can give the members of our churches is not sermonizing, but planning work for them. Give each one something to do for others. Help all to see that as receivers of the grace of Christ they are under obligation to work for Him. And let all be taught how to work. Especially should those who are newly come to the faith be educated to become laborers together with God. If set to work, the despondent will soon forget their despondency, the weak will become strong, the ignorant intelligent, and all will be prepared to present the truth as it is in Jesus. They will find an unfailing helper in Him who has promised to save all that come unto Him.

I am pained, my brethren, as the weak, sickly condition of our churches is presented before me. “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?” I have been instructed that our ministers are not as efficient as God desires them to be. He has made every provision that they may have His grace and power for the accomplishment of His work. But He is disappointed in them, because they do not cooperate with Him. The lifeless condition of many of the churches in our Conferences testifies to the lack of the grace of Christ in the hearts of the men appointed to act as His ambassadors.

Brethren, I appeal to you to change this order of things. To whom have you been looking for strength? Have you not been trusting in your own efficiency? Have you not been looking to men, and making flesh your arm? What a difference there would be in the character of your work if you kept before you a realization of the abiding presence of a just and holy God, who requires you not merely to go through the form of preaching, but to give full proof of your ministry by revealing clusters of precious fruit.

It is from God that we are to receive power for service. And He has promised to give this power to all who ask in faith. “If any of you lack wisdom,” the apostle declares, “let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.”

Obedience to this word is the secret of success. God is the source of wisdom. From Him we must receive our supplies. What precious experiences would have been gained if those who have been trusting in man had trusted in God, relying on Him to do that which they cannot do. They would have found that His word is Yea and Amen. They would have been encouraged to ask, and ask again. They would have gained a knowledge of the Lord and Saviour; for they would have been brought into close companionship with Him. Love for Him would have burned more and more brightly on the altar of the heart as they proved Him, and found Him to be a very present help in every time of need.

“Come unto me,” Christ said, “all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” No human being is wise enough or strong enough to sustain you. Take all your burdens to Jesus. You may lean your whole weight on Him, and He will uphold you; for He is all-powerful. He will not sink under the burdens placed on Him.

The parable of the wise and foolish virgins comes as a solemn warning to every church. In the parable, all the ten virgins went out to meet their lord. All had lamps, and vessels for oil. For a time there was seen no difference between them. So with the Church that lives just before Christ’s second coming. All have a knowledge of the Scriptures. All have heard the message of Christ’s soon approach, and confidently expect His appearing. But as in the parable, so it is now. A time of waiting intervenes, faith is tried; and when the cry is heard, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him,” many are unready. They have no oil in their vessels with their lamps. They are destitute of the Holy Spirit.

Working, waiting, watching, and praying,—this constitutes genuine Christianity. Our work is not to be all waiting in idle expectancy; neither is it to be all bustle and excitement, to the neglect of personal piety. Working, waiting, watching, and praying are to be blended in the life of God’s minister. He is to be “not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.” The needs of his soul must be supplied with the oil of grace. Constantly he is to increase in spiritual power.

He who taught the disciples is willing to teach His servants to-day. Christ is the true Light, “which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” If our labors amount to more than beating the air, we must have a close union with Christ. He must be an abiding presence in the heart. And in order for Him to enter the heart, it must be cleansed from defilement.

The minister of the gospel who is a laborer together with God will learn daily in the school of Christ. By his wisdom in dealing with minds, he will give full proof of his ministry. He will become acquainted with the parents and children in his congregation, and will speak kind, earnest words to them. No light, trifling words will fall from his lips; for is he not an ambassador for Christ, bearing a divine message to perishing souls? All jesting and joking, all lightness and trifling, is painful to the cross-bearing disciple of Christ. He is weighed down by the burden he feels for souls. Constantly his heart is drawn out in prayer to God for the gift of His grace, that he may be a faithful steward. He prays to be kept pure and holy, and then refuses to rush heedlessly into temptation. He heeds the injunction, “As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” Daily he grows in grace, ever gaining a deeper knowledge of God. He overcomes selfishness. His affections are elevated and ennobled. Not only a Bible reader, but a Bible believer, he gives a portion of meat to every man in due season. Keeping close to his Master, he receives words from Him to speak to the people. Lifting as Christ lifts, loving as Christ loves, working as Christ works, he goes about doing good. He strives with all his power for self-improvement, that by precept and example he may lead others to a purer, higher, nobler life.

NOT UNDERSTOOD.

Not understood! We move along asunder, Our paths grow wider as the seasons creep Along the years. We marvel, and we wonder Why life is life, and then we fall asleep, Not understood.

Not understood! How trifles often change us! The thoughtless sentence and fancied slight Destroy long years of friendship, and estrange us, And on our souls there falls a freezing blight, Not understood.

Not understood! How many hearts are aching For lack of sympathy! Ah, day by day, How many cheerless, lonely hearts are breaking! How many noble spirits pass away Not understood.

O God! that men would see a little clearer Or judge less harshly when they cannot see; O God! that men might draw a little nearer To one another. They'd be nearer thee, And understood.

—Selected.

A PROMISE FULFILLED.

By George M. Brown

GEORGE M. BROWN.

RECENTLY I had the privilege of visiting a church where I met an aged mother in Israel, who told me her experience in claiming the promise of the Lord found in Ps. 91: 10.

The family of her son being afflicted with smallpox, it became necessary for “grandma” to help care for the sick. Before going to the bedside of the sick, she knelt before God, with her Bible open before her; and with her finger on the promise, “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling,” she asked the Lord to fulfil this promise to her by strengthening her to care for the sick, and that He would preserve herself and husband from taking the disease.

For days and nights at a time this lady of eighty-five years did not take off her clothes to rest; yet she was sustained, and at the end of forty-one days, when the quarantine was raised, she came out as well and strong as she was when she began her work.

Signally did the tender Father fulfill His promise, for no symptom of the disease was seen in her, or in her husband, who was also exposed.

We believe that God will preserve us from the seven last plagues if we are obedient to Him. Why should we not claim this promise now, and by living in harmony with the laws of health which God has made known to us, place ourselves in the position where He can be honored by making a difference between His people and the world, as He did in days of old, when the plagues of Egypt fell not in the land of Goshen? “Ask, and it shall be given you.” “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”

“THE MAN OF SIN.”

By H. A. St. John

ELDER H. A. ST. JOHN.

1. His Birth.—The “Man of Sin” is a personage of great age. He is still living, however, and quite well preserved, possessing all his old-time characteristics and aspirations by which he induced the whole world to wonder for long centuries. He was born in the Old World somewhere, but the exact locality and the precise date of his birth are not definitely recorded in the annals of human history. Because of this lack of exact data, many are suspicious that his beginning was illegitimate. But he is in the world, and has been for about two thousand years, and it seems that he has come to stay. It is this fact that should most deeply concern us.

2. His Parentage.—As to the parentage of the Man of Sin, we have some definite information. The great apostle Paul, a writer of unquestionable veracity, has recorded the fact that the Man of Sin is the son of Perdition. 2 Thess. 2: 3. Now Perdition is an old mother of numerous family, having many children of note, whose names and deeds have found a conspicuous place on the pages of history. But this son, the Man of Sin, far excels all others in assumption and presumption. The husband of Perdition, and hence the father of the Man of Sin, is that noted and notorious personage who appeared at the very beginning of human life, and poisoned the streams thereof by his deadly bite. Jesus called him the “Devil”—the “father of lies.”

3. His Names.—The Man of Sin has more than one name, or title, by which he is designated in the word of God,—he is called “beast,” “horn,” “that wicked,” “mystery of iniquity,” “son of perdition,” etc.,—all of which are given with reference to their signification. Taken together, they signify power, discernment, shrewdness, cunning, and cruelty. And in the Man of Sin all these characteristics stand out with wonderful distinction.

4. His Prototype.—Judas Iscariot was called by Christ to be a disciple—yea, more, an apostle. This was a high and holy calling. Judas accepted the call and the position, took upon himself the name and profession of Christ, was numbered with the twelve, and followed Jesus in body and pretension, if not in heart and in truth. He was treasurer for Christ and the apostles, carried the bag, and handled the money. But he was covetous, very covetous, yea, more, he was a thief. He appropriated to his own selfish purposes money intended for others. He was a slave to avarice, and his love for mammon had overbalanced every good aspiration of his soul, all of which culminated in the selling of his Lord for thirty pieces of silver. Jesus said of him, “He is not clean,” he is a son of Perdition. He fell, lost his bishopric, and came to a terrible end. “Falling headlong, he burst asunder, . . . all his bowels gushed out,”—an abhorrence to every passer-by. Now this man, Judas, was a faithful prototype of the Man of Sin, another son of Perdition. The Man of Sin professes to follow Christ. His avarice, love of mammon, and love of power have swallowed up every good trait, and he has long handled immense treasure for his own aggrandizement. May we not safely conclude that he, too, will sell his Lord, fall headlong, burst asunder, and become an abhorrence to all flesh?

5. His Growth.—The Man of Sin, it appears, was in existence when the apostle Paul wrote his second letter to the Thessalonians, for he says of him: “The mystery of iniquity doth already work.” But he must have been quite young, and the period of his revelation to the world was still in the future. But the child developed rapidly, and waxed stronger in spirit continually, and grew mighty in wealth and power, so that by the beginning of the fourth century, he began to attract the attention of the Roman empire by his presence and doings.

6. His Marriage.—Early in the fourth century, the wealth, power, and admirers of the Man of Sin had so increased that a proposal of marriage to the Roman empire was made, accepted, and shortly consummated. No less a personage than Constantine the Great performed the ceremony. And never was a wife more obedient to her husband than was the Roman empire to the Man of Sin for many long centuries. The long millennial honeymoon predicted as the sequel of this union, did not come. But in its place came the Dark Ages, the world’s midnight gloom. The cruel apocalyptic Beast was then uncaged, and turned loose upon the true people of God.

7. His Career.—True to his name and nature, the Man of Sin had from his youth a strong leaning toward the superstitious rites and mysteries of the pagan religion, and consequently early adopted many of them, with but little change except in name. He was not contented simply to adopt and observe these heathen ideas and rites himself, but sought to compel all mankind reverently to regard the same, or rapidly make their exit out of the world under the curse of his anathema. Being clothed with great wealth, power, and influence by his union with the Roman empire, he at once entered with vigor upon a career of presumption, persecution, blasphemy, and disloyalty to God; and for a period of more than twelve hundred years he was constituted the master of religious assemblies, the director of religious services, and the true and only corrector of heretics. So great was the slaughter of innocents during his long career of triumph, that the inspired seer, beholding him in his latter days, exclaimed, in astonishment, “Drunken with the blood of saints!”

8. His Wound.—But at last, after a long period of unrestrained rule, there came a sudden change. The Man of Sin had the saints of the Most High in his hands, the laws of the Most High in his hands, and almost everything in this world in his hands, and from this dizzy and dangerous height he fell, and thus received a deadly wound. His spiritual and his temporal power were lost. Thus did the mighty one fall.

9. His Recovery.—In prophetic vision the seer of Patmos beheld this fall, and the deadly wound thus inflicted, and then, as he looked farther on down the stream of time, he saw the same Man of Sin stride forth like a newly awakened giant,—his deadly wound healed. He was a veritable Samson, coming out of prison with his locks grown. He feels for a time, in his spiritual blindness, for the pillars of spiritual and temporal power; finds them, and straightens himself with all his former pride and presumption. But the period of his former greatness, while his deadly wound is healed, is short. The pillars of all earthly power and glory begin to tremble. There is a great earthquake, greater than ever before since men were upon the earth. The cities of the nations fall, and the sins of the great Man of Sin come in remembrance before God.

10. His Demise.—Not long did this long-lived mystery of iniquity regale himself in his recovered powers. Not long did he hold the place of restored supremacy. Not long did he escape the execution of the righteous judgment

of God. All the pillars of the great temple of human greatness, pomp, and power are broken, and the entire superstructure falls with a terrible crash upon the shelterless heads of kings, captains, great men, rich men, and the entire host of unrighteous revelers therein; and the notorious Man of Sin, amid the ruin he has wrought, sinks into the abyss, to rise no more.

UNDER THE LAW; UNDER GRACE.

By W. H. Falconer

W. H. FALCONER.

(Winnipeg, Manitoba.) *

The first step will be to seek a proper understanding of the terms “under the law” and “under grace.” The Standard Dictionary defines the word “grace” as, “The unmerited love and favor of God in Christ, especially as shown in the salvation freely provided for mankind. . . . 3. A state of reconciliation to God, of deliverance from the dominating power of sin. . . . English law: a free pardon, as to a body of culprits, by act of Parliament.”

Will the Bible sustain these definitions? and if so, what will be the bearing on the subject under study? (1) The grace of God brings salvation to all men. Titus 2:11, margin; (2) “by grace are ye saved through faith.” Eph. 2:8. So grace is shown to be that which saves men, and this grace of salvation reaches us through the vehicle of faith. This shows grace to be equivalent to the gospel. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Rom. 1:16. Now what does grace save men from? “Thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21. Sin is defined to be the transgression of the law. 1 John 3:4. And in Rom. 3:23 we learn that all men have sinned; that is, transgressed the law. So we find that grace saves men from their transgressions of the law of God, and the man thus saved is said to be under grace.

Now when the grace of God saves a man, it does not leave him in his sins, but saves him from them; that is, it not only brings him pardon for past sins (Rom. 3:25), but saves him from the dominating power of sin; “for sin shall not have dominion over you: for . . . ye are under grace.” Rom. 6:14. So it becomes plain that no man is under grace who is dominated, or ruled, by sin; that is, lives in open, habitual transgression of God’s law. And as grace saves only those who believe, it follows that the unbelieving and disobedient cannot possibly be said to be under grace, but they must be the very opposite, under condemnation.

“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Rom. 3:19. “For all have sinned,” transgressed the law. Verse 23. So every man who is living in sin, which is disobedience to the law, is proved to be guilty before God, and under the condemnation of the law. Now if any one in this condition wishes to be saved, he must confess his sin, and through faith in Christ obtain grace, or the pardon of all his sins, and also cleansing from all unrighteousness, and so be freed from the dominion of sin, and restored to obedience, and then fulfill the righteousness of the law through the power of the Spirit of God. 1 John 1:9; Rom. 8:4. He is now no longer under the law, but is under grace.

“What then? shall we sin [transgress the law], because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” Rom. 6:15. And so we say to all our misguided friends, “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die?” Eze. 18:30, 31.

ELDER A. T. ROBINSON,

By A. T. Robinson

GOD'S KINGDOM IN THIS WORLD.—NO. 2.

From the Call of Abraham to the Rejection of Samuel.

ELDER A. T. ROBINSON,

(Dunedin, New Zealand.)

“LIGHT is sown for the righteous.” Ps. 97:11.

“Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness.” Ps. 112:4.

“Yea, of Zion it shall be said, This one and that one was born in her. . . . The Lord shall count, when He writeth up the peoples, this one was born there.” Ps. 87:5–7, R. V.

In the great day of final reckoning, every man’s case will be decided, not by the amount of light he has had opportunity to receive, but by the response in his heart to all the light that he has received. In the darkest corner of the darkest heathen lands, wherever there is a soul that responds to the faintest glimmer of light which the Spirit of God sheds upon him, that soul will be drawn to God, and will be saved in His kingdom. There will be many saved who, never having heard the name of Jesus or the sound of the gospel, when they meet their Redeemer in the kingdom of God, will ask, “What are these wounds in thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” Zech. 13:6.

Of old times, when darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people, He whose eyes “run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him” (2 Chron. 16:9), saw one faithful man, whose life shone out as a beacon light upon the surrounding darkness. “For I know him,” said the Lord, “that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.” Gen. 18:19.

ABRAHAM AS SUB-RULER.

Will God now command Abram to build an ark, in order that he may be saved from another destruction of the earth by a flood of waters? He had made a covenant with mankind never again to bring a flood of waters upon the earth, and had set the bow in the cloud as an everlasting pledge of that covenant. So, instead of destroying the inhabitants of the world again, the Lord called Abram out from his country, his kindred, and his father’s house, and promised to make of him a great nation. Gen. 12:1–3. Abraham was thus established as the third sub-ruler of God’s kingdom in this world. It was God’s evident purpose that His kingdom, under the rule of Abraham and his seed, should subdue all other nations, until that kingdom should occupy and fill the whole earth. Gen. 13:14–17. The whole earth was thus given to Abraham, as it had previously been given to Adam and later to Noah. The only thing required on the part of Abraham and his seed, in order for the complete fulfillment of every promise made to them, was obedience and loyalty to God as their king. That this promise made to Abraham and his seed contemplated the occupation of the whole earth is made clear by an inspired comment thereon, found in the New Testament, which reads as follows, “For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Rom. 4:13.

This promise made to Abraham (Gen. 13:14, 15), renewed by His oath to Isaac (Gen. 26:3, 4), confirmed to Jacob for a law (Gen. 26:10–15) and to Israel for an everlasting covenant (Gen. 35:9–12), is referred to in Psalm 105, in these words: “He hath remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac; and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.”

We here invite the reader’s attention to the point stated in the article preceding this one,—that God’s one eternal purpose in the existence of the nations of the world has always been that, through the agency and protection of these nations, men might have an opportunity of seeking the Lord, and that thus might be gathered out from all nations true and loyal subjects of the everlasting kingdom of God. The Lord established one nation in the earth—the nation of Israel—as His kingdom, in the dominion usurped by Satan. His great purpose concerning this nation was that they should give the light of the knowledge of God to the whole world. “Yea, He saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” Isa. 49:6, R. V.

A POSITION OF WORLD-WIDE INFLUENCE.

In order that the nation of Israel might be to all other nations what the Lord designed

them to be, He planted them in the very center of the earth, in Palestine,—the pivot of the then known world,—and promised to make them “high above all nations which He hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor;” that they might be a holy people unto the Lord their God. Deut. 26:19. “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. . . . And thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath.” Deut. 28:1–13; see also chap. 4:6–8.

Occupying this exalted position, it was the privilege of that people to multiply, and fill the whole earth with the kingdom of God. He promised them that if they would be obedient, not one of their enemies in the whole world would be able to stand before them; and that every place where the soles of their feet should tread should be theirs for an inheritance. The Lord, referring to the great privileges forfeited by that people, speaks as follows: “My people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him: but their time should have endured forever.” Ps. 81:11–15.

After the sojourn of Israel in Egypt and their mighty deliverance therefrom, and their forty years’ wanderings in the wilderness, when the Lord “had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided their land to them by lot. And after that He gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.” When Samuel was old, the people demanded a king, thus rejecting not Samuel, but the Lord, their king.

(To be continued.)

CROSSES

By Mary Burns

I WILL not grieve that narrow walls Have shut away the world from me, Nor that from chains of bod’ly ills I cannot be set free; For this I know, whate’er befall Of sorrow or of pain, To him who trusts, works unto good And turns it into gain.

How do I know what dangers fell Lie hidden by the way? And God, who knows how weak I am, In pity bade me stay Awhile within these prison walls Where all is calm and still, And serve Him with my helpless hands, And wait His holy will.

I will not weep that earth’s sweet joys To my share did not fall, As He has taught me how to prize The gifts that once seemed small. And oh, the joys I hope to know When from earth’s clay relieved, Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, Nor heart of man conceived!

But if sometimes the night of pain Seems nigh too hard to bear, I think of that lone garden cold, And listen to that prayer That quivered through the lonely night When the well-beloved Son Cried: “Not my will, O Father, Not mine but thine be done.”

And when the way seems endless, And my cross a crushing load, I think of that sad journey Up Calvary’s weary road; I think how He who toiled that way In anguish and in pain, Fell thrice beneath the cross He bore; And then dare I complain?

No; whatsoe’er we suffer, Our Saviour suffered more; Whatever weary way we tread, He trod that way before. We need not know the reason why, Nor strive to understand, But as the night grows darker, Cling closer to His hand.

“Take up thy cross,” these are His words. “And follow after me;” And every mortal has his cross Whatever it may be. So cheerfully I’ll take up mine, Nor murmur nor complain; There are heavier loads than sickness, And sharper hurts than pain.

— Mary Burns; written while in prison.

RELIGION IN COMMON THINGS.

By L. A. Hansen

L. A. HANSEN. (Nashville, Tenn.)

THE life which is “by the faith of the Son of God” is lived “in the flesh.” Gal. 2:20. It is this material body, with its earthly members, that the Lord must use by which to manifest His life. These hands, feet, lips, eyes, and ears are to be His instruments.

Christian living is not an ideal state, to be realized on some plane above that of common existence. It deals with the most common things—the very ordinary conditions and circumstances of life. It does not await some future state of glorification, when we shall be different beings from that which we now are, neither is it merely a mental acquiescence in the word and will of God, nor holy rapture, nor meditative piety. It concerns the ever-present now, and the commonplace affairs and conditions of all our surroundings; it is to be lived right where we are and in this mortal flesh.

The common round of every-day life may become monotonous. Ordinary tasks and duties may appear trivial, and seem to have no relation to spiritual matters. But here is where we are, and it is right here, for the present at least, that the Lord wants to use us. Right where we are now living, the life of Christ is to be manifest.

As far as we are now concerned, there is no place of so much importance to us as this place, and it is this place and this condition that God must use if He uses any. We are not living in some future condition that may seem to us to be better suited for the realization of our ideal.

We cannot well imagine Jesus standing at His workbench listlessly handling His tools, with a far-away look, thinking of some future time when He would take up missionary work. He was just as obedient to carry water for His mother, or to sweep up the shavings in the carpenter shop, as He was to perform the duties of His public ministry. The thirty years of His home life, spent amid very ordinary surroundings, among common people, doing the every-day tasks, were just as important to Him as were the three years and a half spent in preaching and healing. One was just as much His mission as the other.

But how many of our young people, while in training for the work of the Lord, have their eyes set on some point in the future, when they will be prepared to fill an important position, and at the same time perhaps they fail to see, all about them, many opportunities for usefulness! Ability, worth, or fitness is not conferred suddenly upon a person. Reading books and passing examinations are not all the essentials for developing workers. The little things, as we speak of them, that are left undone, or are done carelessly, determine, perhaps, more than anything else, our qualifications as workers.

It was the privilege of the writer to spend some time in training at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. The first four months were spent in the Bacteriological Laboratory. Dr. Heald and others attended to the particular work of growing germs, and making important tests, upon which the lives of patients might depend. At first I swept and mopped the floor and washed test tubes. The floor and the tubes had to be clean in order to secure accurate results. It was not enough to sweep the floor clean only when some one was looking, nor to wash the tubes just enough to pass inspection. The Sanitarium work is God’s work, and the Sanitarium is His. The floor of the Sanitarium has to be swept just as other work has to be done.

Everywhere, there are floors to sweep, and dirty things to be cleaned. These things have to be done, and some one must do them. The only right way to do them is to do them right. It may take just as much grace to do these things right as it does to do things that are regarded greater. Greatness does not consist so much in doing great things as it does in doing all things in a great way. “Thou hast been faithful over a few things” was the commendation for the way in which things had been done, and not for their magnitude.

Continue reading: (Kimball, Minn.)