Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 30, 1880
General Articles.
By Mrs. E. G. White
ISRAEL DEPART FROM GOD.
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
WHILE Balak and his counselors were plotting to entice God's people into sin and thus secure their overthrow, the Israelites, all unconscious of their danger, were enjoying ease and quiet in their tents among the acacia groves in the vale of Shittim. They had little to occupy their minds or their time, and they felt little anxiety for the future. They had prevailed against the warlike inhabitants of the surrounding country, and they felt that they had only to cross the Jordan and the goodly land would be all their own. Their condition of ease and inactivity was unfavorable to moral and physical vigor, as well as to purity of thought and life, while a knowledge of the licentious character of the surrounding nations had to some extent familiarized their minds with thoughts of vice and lessened their abhorrence of crime.
At this time, Midianitish women were seen stealing into the camp, singly and in little companies. Their appearance excited no alarm, and so quietly were their plans conducted, that the attention of Moses was not called to the matter. It was the object of these women in their association with the Hebrews to first draw their attention from the God of Israel to heathen traditions, rites, and customs, and then to allure them into transgression of the divine law. These motives were studiously concealed under the garb of friendship, so that they were not suspected, even by the great leader. These heathen women feared to excite the indignation of Moses, but they did not consider that no evil work could be concealed from the all-seeing eye of God.
Their hellish plans were all too successful. It was not long before the poison of licentiousness and idolatry had spread like a deadly infection through the congregation of Israel. The people seemed to be infatuated. The rulers and leading men were among the first to step over the line; and so general was the defection, that it is recorded in the Sacred Word, that "Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor." Alas that the people who had been so signally protected from Satan's power, should now deliberately walk into the net which he had laid for them!
Suddenly Moses was aroused to perceive the mighty evil in the camp, and he was horrified as he discovered its nature and extent. So successful had been the plots of these vile, artful women, that his own people were participating in the abominable scenes enacted at the worship of Baal, and the sacrifice and sacrilegious feasts were becoming established among the Israelites. The aged leader was filled with indignation, and the wrath of God was kindled against the people. By divine authority, Moses addressed to the rulers of Israel the command: "Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor."
This order was promptly obeyed. The people had already been awakened to the enormity of their sin, by the swift judgments of God. A terrible pestilence had broken out in the camp, and twenty-four thousand of the congregation fell a prey to its ravages. None knew where this visitation would end, yet they felt that their punishment was just. Overwhelmed with terror, they hastened to the tabernacle, and with tears and deep humiliation, confessed their sin.
While the people were thus weeping before God, at the door of the tabernacle, while the plague was still doing its work of death, and the magistrates executing their terrible commission, one of the nobles of Israel came boldly into the camp, accompanied by a Midianitish princess, whom he gallantly escorted to his tent. This daring outrage stirred the indignation of all Israel, and swift retribution followed the offenders. Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the high priest, rose up from among the congregation, and slew them both. This prompt and determined act evinced a just abhorrence of the sins which had brought so great calamities upon Israel. God approved the course of Phinehas, and the plague was stayed; while the priest who had so zealously executed the divine judgment was honored before all Israel, and the priesthood was confirmed to him and to his house forever.
As we read this history, it seems almost incredible that a man could be so blinded by the bewitching power of woman as to indulge such stubborn and Heaven-daring rebellion, in face of the most terrible visitations of divine wrath. But human nature is the same in every age. The temptations of Satan are no less strong to-day than in the days of ancient Israel.
Satan has ever achieved his greatest successes through the neglect of God's people to maintain their separation from the world,—its customs, its practices, and principles. There are but two great parties among men,—the servants of Christ, and the servants of Satan. Their leaders are opposites in every particular. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to conquer the prince of darkness, says, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." Here Christ makes a marked distinction between his followers and the world. Those who are of the world are in direct opposition to those who love God and keep his commandments. The heart must be kept with all diligence, that the human be not exalted above the divine. If those who profess to love and serve God, follow blind impulse, rather than reason and conscience, they will fall by the artifice of Satan. The affections should be guarded and controlled, lest they be placed upon unworthy objects, that are forbidden in the word of God.
Samson, that mighty man of valor, was under a solemn vow to be a Nazarite during the period of his life; but, becoming infatuated by the charms of a lewd woman, he rashly broke that sacred pledge. Satan worked through his agents to destroy this ruler of Israel, that the mysterious power which he possessed might no longer intimidate the enemies of God's people. It was the influence of this bold woman that separated him from God, her artifices that proved his ruin. The love and service which God claims, Samson gave to this woman. This was idolatry. He lost all sense of the sacred character and work of God, and sacrificed honor, conscience, and every valuable interest, to base passion.
The life of Solomon should prove a beacon of warning to God's people in every age. The Lord had erected a barrier between Israel and other nations. He had made that people the depositaries of his law, and their safety lay in preserving their peculiar, holy character. But as King Solomon's heart was lifted up in pride, he became eager for still greater wealth and power. To secure these, political alliances were formed with idolatrous nations.
Honor and riches flowed in to him as the result; but these temporal advantages were dearly purchased at the sacrifice of principle. His kingdom was enriched with the gold of Farshish, but the fine gold of character was tarnished by the corrupting influence of paganism. Once over the wise barrier which God had erected, the king took, one after another, the fatal steps that led him away from hope, and happiness, and Heaven. From the wisest of the rulers, Solomon became a despot. Satan triumphed as this man, who had thrice been called the beloved of his God, became a slave of passion, and sacrificed his integrity to the bewitching power of woman.
The cases mentioned are sufficient to show the danger of corrupting the soul by mingling with God's enemies. These examples are placed on record for the benefit of those who live amid the perils of the last days. The devices of Satan are no less now than in ancient times. Indeed, as we near the period of Christ's second coming, Satan redoubles his efforts to work with all deceivableness of unrighteousness. The youth especially are in constant and fearful danger of being overcome by his temptations.
In the judgments that followed Israel's sin, we may see with what abhorrence God looks upon worldliness, idolatry, and licentiousness. The same dangers exist to-day that threatened the prosperity, and even the existence, of his ancient people. Temptations to licentiousness have been steadily increasing from that time to the present, and similar scenes are constantly enacted, with similar efforts at concealment. A bewitching power is brought to bear on every soul not fortified by firm principle. Warnings of fathers and mothers and of God's ambassadors are all unheeded. The affections which should be centered upon God are given to the idolatry of unworthy objects.
Watchfulness and vigilance are needed now. The lustful eye must be turned off from beholding vanity. Boldness and immodesty must be met with a decided rebuke. Let none yield to a spirit of self-confidence, and feel that they are in no danger. As long as Satan lives, his efforts will be constant and untiring to make the world as wicked as before the flood, and as licentious as were the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. The prayer may well be offered daily by all who have the fear of God before them, that he will preserve their hearts from evil desires, and strengthen their souls to resist temptation. Those who, in their self-confidence, feel no need of watchfulness and unceasing prayer, are near some humiliating fall. All who do not feel the importance of resolutely guarding their affections will be captivated by those who practice their arts to ensnare and lead astray the unwary.
Satan exulted to see Samson, a man whom God could have used to his glory, so infatuated that he could betray his strength into the hands of Delilah. Satan knew that he had taken Samson captive. Few who go thus far, again see clearly the aggravated character of sin. Reputation, strength, and usefulness are sacrificed for sinful indulgence. Blind infatuation leads men on in the way to destruction. The power of Satan, his arts and machinations—who can know them? Those who, in defiance of all the warnings570and entreaties of God's word, venture to indulge in sin, are sleeping on the very brink of eternal ruin. Because God bears long with transgressors of his law, because he sends them warnings and entreaties, because punishment does not immediately follow their evil deeds, they abuse his mercy and forbearance, and blindly rush on in a course of crime.
If those who now depart from the straight line of virtue and integrity were as promptly rebuked by the swift judgments of God as were the offenders in Israel's day, crime of this character would be less prevalent. When assailed by temptation, many have not moral strength to say, as did Joseph, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" They do not give a decided refusal to the first invitation to transgress the law of God; and soon unlawful indulgence becomes habitual, and they are ready to deny that it is a sin.
Unwise marriages are the curse of this age. Such an alliance can but be disastrous to both parties. That love which has no better foundation than mere sensual gratification will be headstrong, blind, and uncontrollable. Honor, truth, and every noble, elevated power of the mind, is brought under the slavery of passions. The man who is bound in the chains of this infatuation is too often deaf to the voice of reason and conscience; neither argument nor entreaty can lead him to see the folly of his course.
Men and women professing godliness should tremble at the thought of entering into a marriage covenant with those who do not respect and obey the commandments of God. It was this that opened the flood-gates of sin to the antediluvians. Such a connection with the world is a direct departure from God's express requirements,—"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers."
In these alliances the creature receives the love which should be given to the Creator. There is danger in entering into any intimate relation with those who have no connection with Heaven. This is the friendship which Inspiration calls enmity with God. We cannot be too jealous of ourselves, lest by associating with worldlings we fall into the same habits. It was for this reason that the Israelites were commanded to dwell alone, as a people separate from all other nations. The friendship of the Lord's enemies is more to be dreaded than their enmity; for Satan is constantly working through pleasing, intelligent unbelievers, to tempt the people of God to sin.
When one commandment of the decalogue is broken, the downward steps are almost certain. When once the barriers of female modesty are removed, the basest licentiousness does not appear exceeding sinful. Alas, what terrible results of woman's influence for evil may be witnessed in the world to-day! Through the allurements of "strange women," thousands are incarcerated in prison cells, many take their own lives, and many cut short the lives of others. How true the words of Inspiration, "Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold on hell."
Beacons of warning are placed on every side in the pathway of life, to prevent men from approaching the dangerous, forbidden ground; but notwithstanding this, multitudes choose the fatal path, contrary to the dictates of reason, regardless of God's law, and in defiance of his vengeance.
Those who would preserve physical health, a vigorous intellect, and sound morals must "flee youthful lusts." Those who will put forth zealous and decided efforts to check the wickedness that lifts its bold, presumptuous head in our midst, are hated and maligned by all wrong-doers, but they will be honored and recompensed of God.
The judgments visited upon Israel for their sin at Shittim, destroyed the survivors of that vast company, who, nearly forty years before, had provoked the Lord to swear in his wrath that they should not enter Canaan. When, at the command of God, the people were numbered just prior to the death of Moses, it was found that "there was not left a man of them, save Caleb, the son of Nun, the son of Jephunneh." Thus had the word of God been strictly fulfilled.
BE THOU WITH ME.
Be thou with me; the way is dark and drear.
Vouchsafe, O God, to make the pathway clear.
Doubtful and devious still my way must be
If thou dost guide me not,—be thou with me.
Life's bitter chalice to its dregs I sip,
Its fair fruits turn to ashes on my lip;
O thou who wept in dark Gethsemane,
I too have suffered—oh, be thou with me!
Lonely, adrift upon a tronbled sea,
The cold waves, pitiless, break over me;
O thou who stilled the waves at Galilee,
Still thou my troubled soul,—be thou with me!
O Cross to which I cling, illume the night;
O Lamp unto my feet, shed forth the light;
O Love divine that brightened Calvary,
Descend upon my heart,—be thou with me.
—Advance.
REPENTANCE.
By Chas. B. Reynolds
BY ELD. CHAS. B. REYNOLDS.
HOWEVER quaint or eccentric the creed or faith, all claiming to be Christians declare repentance necessary; but many mistake shadow for substance. They talk of being founded on the Rock, while they are really tottering on the sand.
It is of vital import to know wherein true repentance consists. The repentance of the Bible will be found to include the four Cs—
CONVICTION, CONTRITION, CONFESSION, CONVERSION.
The very first thing is conviction of sin—a clear sight, knowledge, a realizing sense of sinfulness. Without these there can be no repentance; for none but sinners can repent. Of what are we to repent? Sin! What is sin? "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4.
No man can sin unless the law is binding on him. All men have sinned! Rom. 3:9, 23; Gal. 3:22. Therefore, the law is binding on all! Rom. 3:19. Again, sinners, and not the righteous, can repent. Matt. 9:13. None are sinners but those under the law. Rom. 3:19. All are commanded to repent. Acts 17:30. Therefore, all are under the law—all can repent!
Repentance signifies change of mind. As we meditate upon the pure, holy, and perfect law of God, we realize that it demands constant obedience all the life long—not alone doing ALL, but ALWAYS. By gazing into the law, we see our deformity, and are convicted as transgressors. James 1:22, 25. The law is spiritual. It reaches to the most secret thoughts, desires and purposes of the mind. Heb. 4:12. It forbids and condemns sins of the heart. Ps. 19:7, 12.
A convicted sinner is sensible of heart sins. He sees his best duties and services tainted by sin—that all his life he has lived without God; that he has loved self far more than God; and that he has done these things contrary to light and knowledge, and notwithstanding all the mercies and judgments which God has sent to reclaim him.
When there is conviction of sin there will be contrition for sin. Contrition for sin is a sincere, godly sorrow for violation of the holy, just, and perfect law of God—real sorrow—an actual pain at heart. This is removing the heart of stone and getting a heart of flesh. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Ps. 51:17. Men despise broken things; the Pharisee despised the broken-hearted publican; God does not! He accounts the sorrow and shame of the penitent far more valuable than costly sacrifice of rams and bullocks. 1 Sam. 5:22. He values a heart that trembles at the word of God—a heart, breaking, not in despair, but in humiliation—a heart breaking within itself and breaking away from sin, even as Peter "went out and wept bitterly."
There is indeed a false sorrow which many mistake for the true. The sick fear death, express sorrow for sins, declare that if God will spare life they will amend; but they are only sorry that God is holy, that his law is so strict, that the wages of sin is death. They are not grieved because they have offended God, their friend and benefactor, who has followed them with mercy and goodness all the days of their life. The rottenness of such repentance is shown on recovery. So the criminal on the gallows repents, is truly sorry, not for the sin, but that punishment overtook him. So each winter under preaching of everlasting hell fire, many are terrified and claim to repent. It is not contrition for violation of the pure and holy law of love, but fear, and they draw near with their mouth, and with their lips do honor God, while their hearts are far removed from him, and their fear toward him is taught by the precepts of men. Isa. 29:13.
Contrition, or the sorrow of the true penitent, is for sin committed against the holy and good God. Ps. 51:4. The goodness and forbearance of God to sinners may well excite godly sorrow, much more considerations of his redeeming love. "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." John 3:16. Oh! love beyond degree! beyond expression! Let the penitent remember that Jesus, the innocent, the loving, the gentle Jesus, left the throne above. The infinite one became an infant, was born in a manger, became a homeless wanderer, suffered at Gethsemane, died at Calvary, "poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bear the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Isa. 53:12. Now, in the sanctuary of Heaven he pleads for sinners. Oh! that we may look unto him and be lightened.
Conviction and contrition will prompt confession.
By nature we are disposed to conceal, deny and excuse our sins, to say we are no worse than others, or not so bad as they, we could not help committing sin, etc., etc. To hide or deny our own sin is to mock and dishonor God; but to confess our sins is to honor his holy law, his power which beholds, his justice which might take vengeance, his forbearance which has so long spared us.
A frank, full, free confession of sin is the best way to find peace. Ps. 32:5. Secret sins require secret confession to God, but open violation of his law demands reparation and confession. Conviction, contrition, and confession, to complete genuine repentance, must be followed by conversion, a word much used, yet it occurs but once in the whole Bible, Acts 15:3, epistrophee, to turn about, to turn back from.
Conversion is turning from disobedience to obedience of God's holy law. Without conversion, conviction, contrition and confession are utterly in vain. Floods of penitential tears are all as naught. Cain's terror, Pharaoh's promises, Ahab's humiliation, Herod's gladly hearing John, Judah's confession—though all were combined in one man—would not prove him a real penitent so long as love of one sin remained in his heart.
True repentance is not content with loss of branches, but applies the ax to the root. The devil will suggest that your sin is only a very little one and may be indulged; but one small leak sinks a ship—one indulged sin will keep from Heaven. "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven." Matt. 5:19. However dear, therefore, a lust may be, however hard to forsake, it must be forsaken; for "whosoever offends in one point he is guilty of all." If we do not die to sin, we shall die for sin. If we do not slay our sins, our sins will slay us. As surely as we live, we cannot harbor any sin and gain eternal life.
We find, then, that the Bible teaches there can be no true repentance without law, if the law was changed in even one jot or tittle, we could not repent, for we could not tell what sin is; "for where no law is there is no transgression." If part, if one precept, is altered, all may be.
May God help us to be freed from every error, to love his perfect, just and holy law, to truly repent of our every sin, and find peace and pardon through the mediation of our great High Priest, the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
WRITTEN IN THE HEART.
By D. T. Bourdeau
BY ELD. D. T. BOURDEAU.
"I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts," or minds. Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:8-12.
This is one of the better promises of the new covenant. It relates to a law that was in existence in Jeremiah's time. This cannot be the typical law; for that law ceased at the cross. The law in question must therefore be the law of right and wrong as embodied in the ten commandments, which remains unaffected by the change of dispensations. See Matt. 5:17-19; Rom. 3:31, etc.
The Spirit of God was to be the great agent that was to accomplish this work; but that Spirit was to work through principles and motives; and there is no motive which the Holy Spirit has used more mightily in writing the law of God in the hearts of men under this dispensation than that growing out of the fact that Christ died for our sins, or transgressions of the law, John 3:4, receiving the very blows that our sins deserved, because the law could not be changed or abolished. The agonizing prayers of Jesus in the garden, the drops of sweat that there fell from his sacred person as the sins of the whole world rested upon him, the abuses that he received from his enemies in the trial that followed, and his sufferings upon the cross while his precious blood flowed freely from his head, his hands, and his feet, speak a thousand times more distinctly to the quickened conscience in favor of the law of God, than the voice that spoke from Sinai, telling us that Christ571resisted unto blood, yea, unto death in striving, not against the law, but against sin, the transgression of the law. And remember, dear reader, that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is a part of this law. Hence it is, that even at the close of this dispensation it is to be put or written in the foreheads or minds of the servants of God, as the seal or sign of the living God. Rev. 7:1-3; 6:12-17; 14:1; Eze. 20:12, 20; Ex. 31:17, etc. On the term seal in Rev. 7:2, see different versions, some of which render the original word seal, others sign, and others mark—seal, sign, and mark being convertible terms.
Since, then, our sins have cost the Son of God such cruel sufferings, how careful we ought to be to avoid sinning, by keeping the law of God through gratitude and love for him who died for us.
Experience Is the Lord's School
By John Newton
EXPERIENCE is the Lord's school; and they who are taught by him usually learn by the mistakes they make that they have no wisdom, and by the slips and falls they meet with, that they have no strength.—John Newton.
THE FLOOD OF YEARS.
By William Cullen Bryant
A MIGHTY hand, from an exhaustless urn,
Pours forth the never ending Flood of Years
Among the nations. How the rushing waves
Bear all before them! On their foremost edge,
And there alone, is Life; the Present there
Tosses and foams and fills the air with roar
Of mingled noises. There are they who toil,
And they who strive, and they who feast, and they
Who hurry to and fro. The sturdy hind—
Woodman and delver with the spade—are there,
And busy artisan beside his bench,
And pallid student with his written roll.
A moment on the mounting billow seen—
The flood sweeps over them and they are gone.
There groups of revelers, whose brows are twined
With roses, ride the topmost swell awhile,
And as they raise their flowing cups to touch
The clinking brim to brim, are whirled beneath
The waves and disappear. I hear the jar
Of beaten drums, and thunders that break forth
From cannon, where the advancing billow sends
Up to the sight long files of armed men
That hurry to the charge through flame and smoke.
The torrent bears them under, whelmed and hid,
Slayer and slain, in heaps of bloody foam.
Go down the steed and rider; the plumed chief
Sinks with his followers; the head that wears
The imperial diadem goes down beside
The felon’s with cropped ears and branded cheek.
A funeral train—the torrent sweeps away
Bearers and bier and mourners. By the bed
Of one who dies men gather sorrowing,
And women weep aloud; the flood rolls on;
The wail is stifled, and the sobbing group
Borne under. Hark to that shrill, sudden shout—
The cry of an applauding multitude
Swayed by some loud-tongued orator who wields
The living mass as if he were its soul.
The waters choke the shout and all is still.
Lo, next, a kneeling crowd and one who spreads
The hands in prayer: the engulfing wave overtakes
And swallows them and him. A sculptor wields
The chisel, and the stricken marble grows
To beauty; at his easel, eager-eyed,
A painter stands, and sunshine, at his touch,
Gathers upon the canvas, and life glows;
A poet, as he paces to and fro,
Murmurs his sounding lines. Awhile they ride
The advancing billow, till its tossing crest
Strikes them and flings them under while their tasks
Are yet unfinished. See a mother smile
On her young babe that smiles to her again—
The torrent wrests it from her arms; she shrieks
And weeps, and midst her tears is carried down.
A beam like that of moonlight turns the spray
To glistening pearls; two lovers, hand in hand,
Rise on the billow swell and fondly look
Into each other’s eyes. The rushing flood
Flings them apart; the youth goes down; the maid
With hands outstretched in vain and streaming eyes,
Waits for the next high wave to follow him.
An aged man succeeds; his bending form
Sinks slowly; mingling with the sullen stream
Gleam the white locks and then are seen no more.
Lo, wider grows the stream; a sea-like flood
Saps earth’s walled cities; massive palaces
Crumble before it; fortresses and towers
Dissolve in the swift waters; populous realms
Swept by the torrent, see their ancient tribes
Engulfed and lost, their very languages
Stifled and never to be uttered more.
I pause and turn my eyes, and, looking back,
Where that tumultuous flood has passed, I see
The silent Ocean of the Past, a waste
Of waters weltering over graves, its shores
Strewn with the wreck of fleets, where mast and hull
Drop away piecemeal; battlemented walls
Frown idly, green with moss, and temples stand
Unroofed, forsaken by the worshipers.
Sadly I turn and look before, where yet
The flood must pass, and I behold a mist
Where swarm dissolving forms, the brood of Hope,
Divinely fair, that rest on banks of flowers
Or wander among rainbows, fading soon
And reappearing, haply giving place
To shapes of grisly aspect, such as Fear
Moulds from the idle air; where serpents lift
The head to strike, and skeletons stretch forth
The bony arm in menace. Farther on
A belt of darkness seems to bar the way,
Long, low and distant, where the Life that Is
Touches the Life to Come. The Flood of Years
Rolls toward it near and nearer. It must pass
That dismal barrier. What is there beyond?
Hear what the wise and good have said. Beyond
That belt of darkness still the years roll on,
More gently, but with not less mighty sweep.
They gather up again and softly bear
All the sweet lives that late were overwhelmed
And lost to sight—all that in them was good,
Noble, and truly great and worthy of love—
The lives of infants and ingenious youths,
Sages and saintly women who have made
Their households happy—all are raised and borne
By that great current in its onward sweep,
Wandering and rippling with caressing waves
Around green islands, fragrant with the breath
Of flowers that never wither. So they pass,
From stage to stage, along the shining course
Of that fair river broadening like a sea.
As its smooth eddies curl along their way,
They bring old friends together; hands are clasped
In joy unspeakable; the mother’s arms
Again are folded round the child she loved
And lost. Old sorrows are forgotten now,
Or but remembered to make sweet the hour
That overpays them; wounded hearts that bled
Or broke are healed forever. In the room
Of this grief shadowed Present there shall be
A Present in whose reign no grief shall gnaw
The heart, and never shall a tender tie
Be broken—in whose reign the eternal Change
That waits on growth and action shall proceed
With everlasting Concord hand in hand.
—William Cullen Bryant, in Scribner’s Monthly.
OUT OF THE BACK DOOR.
By T. L. Cuyler
THERE are two doors in our churches. At the front door new members are received. In revival seasons, this door is thronged with incomers. Some come in hastily, and without good evidence of conversion. And these are the ones who commonly disappear soonest through the postern door.
For our churches have a rear door also. People do not go out through it in crowds; they slip out stealthily, one by one. I never knew of a concerted backsliding from Jesus Christ. Persons often urge the unconverted to repent and come in to Christ; but no one ever urges his fellow-member to steal out of the back door, and become a backslider. The very proposal would shock and alarm. People backslide without urging—and often before they are fairly aware of it themselves. That church which during the last year has had more travel through the door at the rear, than through the door of ingress, has gained a loss. They had better begin the New Year with a day of humiliation and prayer.
Backsliding is usually a gradual process. It is not a bold, sudden leap, but a series of slow and almost imperceptible slips. "Christian" and "Hopeful" first grew discontented with the strait road to Heaven, and found the footing rather rough. Then they looked over the stile into the soft, velvety "By-path Meadow." It promised easier walking. They flattered themselves that the meadow ran close alongside of the King's highway of holiness. So, after looking over wistfully, they concluded just to step over for a little while. But that crossing of the stile cost them a kidnapping by Giant Despair, and a wretched imprisonment in his dungeons, by which they were only delivered by deep repentance and the key of prayer. That wise man, Bunyan, describes only one door of admission into the Christian life, but the gateways of egress are very numerous. So our churches have only a single door of admission, but there are a great many posterns through which deserters slip out.
One professor begins to neglect secret prayer. If he keeps up the form, he loses the spirit of devotion. Presently he drops off from the social prayer-meeting. A slight excuse suffices to quiet his conscience. "The meetings are growing dull," he whispers to himself. "A sociable," a concert, a sleighing party, the opera or almost anything that promises a lively evening, draws him away. He drops quietly out of the back door, and gets fairly over into the ranks of the pleasure-seekers before he is aware. The number of professing Christians who owe their spiritual declension to sensual temptations is larger than is supposed. When a young man begins to desert from his post of duty, I soon suspect that the dance or drinking-cup, or secret licentiousness is at the bottom of it. The besetting sin soon becomes an overmatch for him; and if he does not quit his sinning, he will very soon quit his praying. The backslider who slips out the door to gratify fleshly lusts, always intends to go "just this once" and then return again. But a person rarely commits one deliberate sin, and stops with that single transgression. When the devil fairly gets hold of a church member, he does not let go his grip so easily.
But back of all outward backsliding lies the decay of religion in the heart. Our heart must be in our religion, and our religion in our heart, or else it becomes an uphill drudgery, or a sheer hypocrisy. Here lies the secret cause of many a church member's desertion. He has not heart for his religious duties. They are a downright penance. He tugs at them awhile as a galley-slave pulls at the oar. He goes to his closet, or to the prayer-circle, or to the Sabbath-school, because he must, and not because he wants to. If the church bell rings him to the sanctuary, he hunts an excuse in the weather, or his health, and if none avails him, he goes reluctantly to keep up appearances. Money given to the Lord's treasury becomes a tax, and he submits to it with secret protest. It is not a free gift, but an assessment, like the tax on his house or his income; he pays it grudgingly. In fact, the whole routine of external service is gone through slavishly and reluctantly, and he skirts everything that he possibly can. As soon as the service of Jesus Christ ceases to be a cheerful, voluntary labor of love, backsliding has begun. It is a mere question of time as to when he shall become an open deserter. His heart is outside the door, and he soon goes with it.
This paragraph will probably reach hundreds of church members who have been stealing away from their duties during the year just closed. Perhaps some of them will lay down this paper, and say, sadly, "Well, this means me. Oh! that I were as in months past!" The man or woman who honestly feels thus, I have some hope for. When there is conscience enough left to feel "pricked" and penitent on account of guilty wanderings from Christ, there is a possibility of recovery. And this is a good time to begin a new life.
Upon every backslider's ear the bell that strikes the incoming of a new year, ought to sound as a most solemn warning from Heaven. This is the right time to repent and do the first works again. This is a good time to give up false hopes and rotten foundations, and to seek a new conversion. Multitudes of church members are living on the mere memory of an out-worn experience, or on a faint hope that they were converted long years ago. They are really out of Christ's fold. "I am the door," saith the Shepherd's voice to these wandering sheep. The first step of these wanderers must be to Jesus. By him alone can they re-enter the deserted fold. Backsliding professor! what thou doest, do quickly! Even to thee very soon that door may be shut!—T. L. Cuyler.
Habit
HABIT.—Habit is a cable. We weave the thread of it every day, and at length we cannot break it. The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt, until they are too strong to be broken. To one who murmured because he rebuked him for a small matter, Plato replied: "Custom is no small matter. A custom or habit of life does frequently alter the natural inclination for good or evil." After a series of years winding up a watch at a certain hour, it becomes so much of a routine as to be done in utter unconsciousness; meanwhile the mind and body are engaged in something different.
Uncovering Heads in Church
CAPITAL.—Mr. Spurgeon was annoyed by three young men persisting in wearing their hats in church. He appeared for the time not to notice them, but by and by told his audience of a visit he had made to a Jewish synagogue. “When I entered,” he said, “I took off my hat, but was informed that the mark of respect was to keep it on. I did so, though I felt very strange wearing my hat in a place of worship. And now, as I paid this mark of respect to the synagogue, may I ask those three Jews in the gallery to conform equally to our rules, and kindly uncover their heads?” The young “Jews” obeyed.
The Educated Woman’s Field
THERE is one field where educated women are in demand. That is the home. The educated woman is the best wife, the best mother, the best housekeeper, the best economist. The "coming men" could afford to pay all the expenses of a full training for their future wives merely for the greater good they would receive from them. Six years of hard study are well invested, if for nothing more than to be able to answer a thousand questions which curious youngsters will be asking in a few years.