Review and Herald, Vol. 79, No. 11. (3/18/1902)

Review and Herald

Mar 18, 1902

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 18, 1902

Go Ye

WHEN our ever-living Saviour passed away from earthly eyes, Sounded forth this great commandment from the eager, opening skies: “Go ye, go ye, teach all nations, boldly teach them and baptize.”

So they went, those men anointed with the power from on high; So they went to sneers and hunger, to the mob’s vindictive cry; Went to suffer racking tortures and triumphantly to die.

All their life was but one purpose, that the life of Christ should be Spread abroad among earth’s millions, as the waters fill the sea. So the heroes died, and, dying, left their task for you and me.

— Selected.

Laborers Together with God

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE

“The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.” And, “as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” When He gave Jesus to our world, He included all heaven in that one gift. He did not leave us to retain our defects and deformities of character, or to serve Him as best we could in the corruption of our sinful nature. He has made provision that we may be complete in His Son, not having our own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ. In Christ the whole storehouse of knowledge and of grace is at our command; for in Him dwells “all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

Christ has given His life for us; we are His property. “Know ye not,” He says, “that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” God’s children are to show their love for Him by meeting His requirements, by giving themselves to Him. Then only can He use them in His service, that others, through them, may discern the truth and rejoice in it.

But the people of God are asleep to their present and eternal good. The Lord says to them, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” He desires them to go to work in unity, in faith, and love. He desires that the work of reformation shall begin in the home, with the fathers and mothers, and then the Church will realize the Holy Spirit’s working. The influence of this work will go through the Church like leaven. Fathers and mothers need converting. They have not educated themselves to mold and fashion the characters of their children aright.

As God’s ministers, dear parents, you must use the precious remnant of time in doing the work He has left for you. He desires that by wise methods in your home you shall train your children for Him. Learn of Jesus; be doers of His word. When you do this, you will not become angry at things that take place in the home. Harshness and threats do no good. Parents must be kind if they would teach their children to love Jesus as their best friend.

Religion to Be Made Attractive

Children need to have religion made attractive, not repulsive. The hour of family worship should be made the happiest hour of the day. Let the reading of the Scriptures be well chosen and simple; let the children join in singing; and let the prayers be short, and right to the point.

The minister alone cannot do the work that needs to be done for our churches. The members must have the savor of salt in themselves. But if the salt has lost its savor, how can the families be salted? how can they be preserved from the corruptions and immorality that exist in this age? “Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.”

Christ is our pattern. In Him was perfection of character,—of outward manner, and inward grace. He never spoke a discourteous word; He was meek and lowly in heart. When He saw the hypocrisy, the deception, and the wicked devising of the priests and rulers, when He saw them misleading the people by false interpretation of the Scriptures, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men, He was indignant at their boldness and their false statements. He could discern in all this the working of satanic agencies. It was Satan and his angels whom He had to meet in the specious, deceptive reasonings of priests and rulers. Keen and searching were His denunciations of sin. He had a holy wrath against the prince of darkness; but He manifested no irritated temper.

Christ knew with whom He was contending; Satan knew whom he was resisting. Our Redeemer wrestled not against flesh and blood; “but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” The follower of Christ will have these same agencies to meet. In his efforts to help his fellow beings, he will be opposed by the unseen forces of evil. But Christ has said, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Consider, my brethren and sisters, that you are in the service of God, that you have access to One who is a present help in every time of need. “If any of you lack wisdom, 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.”

How to Become Fruitful Branches

Christ says to His Church, “Ye are the light of the world.” If each would let his light shine in the home, he would then be able to work earnestly for the Church. But the Christian is powerless unless he is in living connection with Christ. It is only through its connection with the vine, that the branch can bring forth the same fruit as does the vine. “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” This is the fruit that every branch which is grafted into the True Vine will bear. There will be no pomposity, no rash, independent, self-sufficient movements. No envy or jealousy, no evil surmisings or harsh denunciations, will be manifested by any who love Jesus. There will be no crowding, no climbing above one another; for there is room for all to work.

“But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.” This kind of fruit is not borne by the branch that abides in the Vine. “This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. . . . But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”

Through the apostle Peter the Holy Spirit admonishes us: “Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

By living and working upon this plan of addition, we shall receive the rich grace of God. For as we, with the grace given, work to benefit other souls in need, God will work in our behalf on the plan of multiplication: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things

that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

A Call to Service

Will God’s people listen to His voice speaking to them through His word? will they take the instruction that comes from the source of all light? Will they receive the Holy Spirit’s teaching? In the words of Scripture I have quoted is a sermon for every member of the Church. Will you receive it, and profit by it? Will you be wise in your conception of what constitutes Christian character and Christian experience? Will you hear and receive the truth because it is truth? Will you have the faith that works by love, and purifies the soul from every spiritual defilement?

The Lord is coming. This earth’s history is soon to close. Are you prepared to meet the Judge of all the earth? Bear in mind that “he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy.” How terrible it will be in the last great day to find that those with whom we have been familiarly associated are separated from us forever; to see the members of our family, perhaps our own children, unsaved; to find those who have visited our homes, and eaten at our tables, among the lost. Then we shall ask ourselves the question, Was it because of my impatience, my unchristlike disposition; was it because self was not under control, that the religion of Christ became distasteful to them?

The world must be warned of the soon coming of the Lord. We have but a little time in which to work. Years have passed into eternity that might have been improved in seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and in diffusing the light to others. God now calls upon His people who have great light, and are established in the truth, having had much labor bestowed upon them, to work for themselves and for others as they have never done before. Make use of every ability; bring into exercise every power, every intrusted talent; use all the light that God has given you to do others good. Do not try to be preachers, but become ministers for God. As the truth is better understood, it will ever appear in a more striking light; as you seek to enlighten others, with your mind under the holy influence of the Spirit of God, your attention will be directed toward those things that are of eternal interest. In such efforts, mingled with prayer for divine light, your own hearts will throb with the quickening influence of the grace of God; your own affections will glow with more divine fervor, and your whole Christian life will be more of a reality, more earnest, more prayerful. Thus with Christ abiding in the heart, you may become laborers together with God.

An Aged Sabbath-Keeper

THE picture shown in this connection is taken from the photograph of Sister Susan Bright, who is probably the oldest Sabbath-keeper in the world. Sister Bright was born near Richmond, Va., Aug. 15, 1789, the year of the adoption of the American Constitution, and but nine years after the darkening of the sun and moon, the first great sign of the approaching second advent. Sister Bright was forty-four years old when the falling stars were seen in 1833. The facts here given are furnished by her daughter-in-law. Sister Bright’s husband was a soldier in the War of 1812. They moved from Virginia to Rushville, Ind., on horseback, in 1830, where they were living when the stars fell. About the year 1838 they moved to Brown County, Ind.

Here her husband died, in 1861, at the age of seventy-two years. From Indiana Sister Bright with her children moved to Iowa, in the fall of Lincoln’s re-election, and later moved to Norton County, Kan., by wagon, the journey requiring eighteen days. Afterward the family moved to Hitchcock County, Neb.; and in 1896 the aged mother, then one hundred and six years old, traveled alone by train to Topeka, Kan.

Sister Bright was baptized and joined the United Brethren Church at the age of forty-two. Two years after coming to Topeka, at the age of one hundred and eight, she united with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, of which she is still a member. She is the mother of six children, only one of whom is now living. Her youngest child died about a year ago, aged sixty-eight. Sister Bright has been very temperate throughout her life; has never borrowed trouble; has used no intoxicants nor tobacco, and very little tea or coffee. To-day, at the age of one hundred and twelve, she still retains the use of her faculties to a good degree.

The Rapid Development of National Reform Principles

By George B. Wheeler

GEORGE B. WHEELER

National Reform principles, which have been so long before the country, are rapidly assuming new phases, and are making an appeal to the country for recognition and adoption, under the cover of names that stand for patriotism and Christianity. A few years ago I attended a Christian Endeavor convention in company with a friend, the subject that day being Christian citizenship. As the principles of National Reform were presented under that name, and cheered by the thousands present, my friend remarked that he had attended many National Reform conventions, and had noticed the invariably small attendance, rarely over thirty or forty, and had wondered how the movement was ever to get a strong hold upon the country; “but now,” he continued, “I see it: these principles are accepted and advocated by this great society, and by other similar organizations, and are used by them to create public sentiment.”

Since then these principles have assumed a still more practical shape. An article in the Christian Herald of February 5, on the National Federation of Churches and Christian Workers, in session at Washington, says:—

“Seldom has the executive mansion in Washington been the scene of a gathering more significant than that which is to assemble within its walls to-day. At the invitation of President Roosevelt, a deputation of clergymen, representing many denominations, will wait on him to inform him of the progress of the association in which they are united, and in which he has long taken a deep interest. This is the National Federation of Churches and Christian Workers, which this year is holding its annual conference in Washington, D. C. The common idea of clergymen of different denominations is that they are rivals, if not enemies; but that idea must receive a check from the spectacle of so large and so representative an assembly conferring together in amity on the common interests of the Church of Christ. This is the second annual conference of the federation. The first was held February, 1901, in Philadelphia. The numbers now assembled show how great has been the progress made during the past year. The obvious advantages of co-operation in Christian work, as presented by Dr. E. B. Sanford, in various centers, have appealed to the leaders of all denominations, and have secured their active and cordial acceptance. At the evening session, the general topic was ‘Church Federation in the Interests of Social and Civic Righteousness.’”

“Civic righteousness” is evidently nothing more or less than the principles of National Reform, the principal feature of which is the enforced observance of Sunday as the Sabbath. The article continues:—

“The importance of such an assemblage of prominent ministers as this, can be realized from the fact that no less than sixteen denominations were represented. The number of communicants of those denominations in the United States is estimated at nearly fifteen million persons. Many of these, of course, are not familiar with the idea of federation, and have not as yet had an opportunity of uniting in it; but the welcome it has received from those who have been approached on the subject, encourages the hope that at no distant day the great majority will accept it. Should that day come, we shall have a compact organization ready to express its will on any important question that touches the religious conscience. That will be a most gratifying fact, for it will directly tend to public morality, and must have a wholesome influence on national legislation and the national policy. As was explained in this journal last year, when the first conference of the federation was held, it is not an organization tending to the union of the denominations, but only to facilitate their united action in a common cause. Should any great national question arise, in which it is possible that injustice may be done, the federation can speak as a unit, and with a voice that the most reckless of politicians will heed. Acting alone, a denomination has comparatively small influence; but when the great majority of the God-fearing men of the nation unite in a protest against a policy, and utter that protest through the official channels, such a policy is doomed.”

A few points of interest in this article are (1) the large number of men who are leaders in the denominations which they represent who are leading out in this movement, and who will doubtless carry the great body of these denominations with them; (2) the numbers,—sixteen denominations represented, the communicants of which amount to nearly fifteen million persons; (3) its character,—“to express its will on any important question that touches the religious conscience,”—bearing in mind that the enforced observance of Sunday is the most important question that touches the religious conscience, according to their own statements, reiterated time and again; (4) its purpose, should any great national question arise, to “speak as a unit, and with a voice that the most reckless of politicians will heed.” We also note that the President has long taken a deep interest in this movement, and has received a deputation of clergymen to inform him of its progress.

Certainly the progress of this federation will be watched with interest by all students of prophecy.

Trusting the Saviour for the Future

“Leave the future; let it rest Simply on the Saviour’s will: Leave the future; they are blest Who, confiding, hoping still, Trust His mercy To provide for every want, And to save from every ill.”

Heavenly Gain in Earthly Loss

“That life hath lacked its measure, And that soul wants true completeness, That hath not learned what heavenly gain Lies hid in earthly loss.”

The Diamond Shine

By A. E. Hamilton

WHERE we but see the darkness of the mine, God sees the diamond shine; We only see the rude and outer strife, God sees the inner life; Where we our voice in condemnation raise, God may see fit to praise. — A. E. Hamilton.

The Saving Power of the Gospel

By John A. Brunson

JOHN A. BRUNSON

“I AM not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; . . . for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” Rom. 1:16, 17.

Observe what the gospel is: it is power. Whose power?—God’s. Not the power of angels “that excel in strength;” not the power of church, council, or conference; not the power of pope, prelate, or priest. It is the power of God. “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.” “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”

Observe, further, that in the gospel God’s power is exercised for the successful accomplishment of a specific work; namely, salvation. Do not fail to give this fact due consideration. Primarily the gospel is not God’s power unto education, though in fact it is the only true educator. Neither is it the power of God unto civilization, albeit true and permanent civilization is promoted by the gospel alone. But it must not be forgotten that the real object of the gospel is salvation, both present and eternal. Salvation from what?—From sin, of course; for the record is, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” When shall He save them?—Both now and forever, from its guilt and its power; for the injunction is, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” Mark well the expression, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body.” It says not, in your immortal body. Salvation from the power of sin now, while we are in our mortal bodies, is a possibility of the gospel. Through the gospel the life of Christ can be made manifest in our mortal flesh; and by the power of this inward life, the natural propensities of the human heart can be so subdued that one will be saved not only from sin, but from sinning; “for sin shall not have dominion over you,” for “He is able also to save them to the uttermost [“all completeness,” Greek] that come unto God by Him.”

We conclude, then, that all power is not gospel, but that all gospel is power, God’s power; God’s power unto salvation; God’s power unto salvation from sin, both now and forever,—a salvation present and eternal, glorious in its completeness, and complete in its glory. But it must not be forgotten that such a salvation is realized now only by him who believes that it is possible now. The gospel is God’s power “unto salvation to every one that believeth.” He who does not believe that Christ, by the power of His Holy Spirit, is both able and anxious to keep him moment by moment, controlling, guiding, restraining, constraining, can never, so long as he remains in that state of unbelief, experience the fullness and completeness of salvation. Unbelief erects an insurmountable barrier to freedom in Christ, because it places a limit upon God’s power. This was the predominant sin of ancient Israel, whose experiences “were written for our learning.” The record in the seventy-eighth Psalm is, “A fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; because they believed not in God, and trusted not in His salvation.” “They turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.”

“According to your faith be it unto you,” is God’s method of procedure. God has made provision for a complete, present salvation, and has revealed it unto us in precept and promise. He who believes that this salvation is for him now, and staggers “not at the promise of God through unbelief,” but is “strong in faith, giving glory to God,” being fully persuaded that, what He has promised, He is able also to perform, will surely be inducted by the Spirit into a realization of its blessed fullness. O that God’s children would cease to limit His power by their unbelief, and to measure His ability to save by their meager experiences! Be careful not to make your limited, inadequate experience the criterion of God’s word, but, on the contrary, make His infallible word the criterion of your experience. Do not attempt to reduce the fullness of God’s love and power to the measure of your restricted capacity, but earnestly pray that your narrow conceptions may be enlarged and liberalized, that you may “be filled with all the fullness of God,” for He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”

Righteousness the Power of the Gospel

Having seen that the gospel is God’s power unto salvation, present and eternal, full and complete, let us next observe why it is such. The text says that it is the power of God unto salvation, “for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” Negatively expressed, the gospel would not be God’s power unto salvation if it did not reveal the righteousness of God which is from faith to faith. Let us glance, then, at this righteousness which the gospel reveals, and without which it would not manifest the saving power of God. Paul more fully describes it in the third chapter of Romans, in the following language: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” Now carefully note what is here predicated of this righteousness. Let us enumerate the statements in order: (1) This righteousness is not the result of obedience to law, for “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight;” or more literally translated, “by works of law no flesh will be made right before Him;” (2) it is manifested apart from law. “Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one that believeth;” (3) it is witnessed by the law and the prophets. That is to say, although this righteousness is not the result of obedience to law, but is given by God apart from law, yet the law bears witness to it, and acknowledges that it is genuine and satisfactory, and ceases to condemn him upon whom it is conferred. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus;” (4) it is the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ; (5) it is unto all that believe. Paul mentions this same righteousness when, in the third of Philippians, he relates his experience. His language is, “Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”

A careful consideration of these facts, which are affirmed by the Holy Spirit to be true of the righteousness which is revealed in the gospel, yields the conclusion that that righteousness is righteousness by faith, the righteousness which is offered in the Laodicean message as the one and only antidote for the spiritual lethargy, weakness, and poverty of the people. Now with this thought in mind, let us read Rom. 1:16, 17, again: “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; . . . for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” This text plainly declares that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation, because it reveals something, and that something is “the righteousness of God,” which is “from faith to faith.” But we have just concluded that that righteousness is righteousness by faith. Therefore we must further conclude that the gospel is God’s power to save sinners, solely because it reveals righteousness by faith. In other words, it reveals to us the only possible plan whereby the righteous God can maintain His own righteousness, and at the same time make a poor, ungodly rebel right in His sight in Christ Jesus.

Righteousness the One Thing Necessary

Then what are we to conclude?—That righteousness is the one thing required by God,—the one thing without which no man can enter the kingdom of God,—the one thing with which no man will be excluded therefrom. “We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” “Thy people also shall be all righteous.” “Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Let it be repeated again and again, with ever-increasing emphasis, that righteousness is the condition of entrance into the kingdom of heaven. The primal significance of the Greek word which is translated by the word “justify,” is, “to make right.” Hence, when we say, God justifies a sinner, we mean that God adjudges him to be right, and treats him as if he were right, not imputing his trespasses unto him. Then, of course, the sinner, penitent and believing, having been adjudged right by God himself, is relieved of the oppressive sense of guilt and condemnation, for “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” He is saved from sin. God has laid his sins upon another, even Christ, who bore them in His own body upon the tree, and in consequence has acquitted the trembling, convicted sinner who believes. He adjudges him to be right, and the sinner, believing God’s word, rejoices in His acquittal.

The gospel reveals this glorious fact, and hence is God’s power unto salvation to every one that believes. Righteousness by faith, then, is the central thought of the message. It must not be neglected, for without it there is no salvation. The truths of the sanctuary, the Sabbath, the second advent, all find a common center in this great, cardinal truth, and can never be proclaimed in their fullness until their relation thereto is recognized and properly appreciated. Righteousness lies at the basis of Christian life. Righteousness is not simply right doing: it is right being. It is the state of being right before God; and right doing, or commandment-keeping, follows as a natural consequence. One does not do right in order to be made right, but because he has been made right. He does not keep the commandments of God in order to escape the guilt of sin, but because the guilt has been removed. In other words, right doing is the consequence of right being, not the cause thereof. And it is through faith in Christ that one is initiated into this state of being right with God. Therefore let all, preachers, teachers, Bible readers, canvassers, physicians, seek to understand this truth, that they may preach the gospel of salvation in its fullness, and thus help to usher in the loud cry.

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