The Signs of the Times, Vol. 8, No. 34; Special Edition, No. 1
Humility Before HonorPage 1
Humility Before Honor.
By Ellen G. White
“When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel?” Here Samuel points out the reason for Saul’s appointment to the throne of Israel. He had a humble opinion of his own capabilities, and was willing to be instructed. When the divine choice fell upon him, he was deficient in knowledge and experience, and had, with many good qualities, serious defects of character. But the Lord granted him the Holy Spirit as a guide and helper, and placed him in a position where he could develop the qualities requisite for a ruler of Israel. Should he trust to his own strength and judgment Saul would move impulsively, and would commit grave errors. But if he would remain humble, seeking constantly to be guided by divine wisdom, and advancing as the providence of God opened the way, he would be enabled to discharge the duties of his high position with success and honor. Under the influence of divine grace, every good quality would be gaining strength, while evil traits would as steadily lose their power. This is the work which the Lord proposes to do for all who consecrate themselves to him. There are many whom he has called to positions in his work for the same reason that he called Saul,—because they are little in their own sight, because they have a humble and teachable spirit. In his providence he places them where they may learn of him. To all who will receive instruction he will impart grace and wisdom. It is his purpose to bring them into so close connection with himself that Satan shall have no opportunity to pervert their judgment or overpower their conscience. He will reveal to them their defects of character, and bestow upon all who seek his aid, strength to correct their errors. Whatever may be man’s besetting sin, whatever bitter or baleful passions struggle for the mastery, he may conquer, if he will watch and war against them in the name and strength of Israel’s Helper. The children of God should cultivate a keen sensitiveness to sin. Here, as well as elsewhere, we should not despise the day of small things. It is one of Satan’s most successful devices, to lead men to the commission of little sins, to blind the mind to the danger of little indulgences, little digressions from the plainly stated requirements of God. Many who would shrink with horror from some great transgression, are led to look upon sin in little matters as of trifling consequence. But these little sins eat out the life of godliness in the soul. The feet which enter upon a path diverging from the right way are tending toward the broad road that ends in death. When once a retrograde movement begins, no one can tell where it may end. In sparing Agag, the king of Amalek, Saul led his people to feel that they might follow their own judgment instead of God’s explicit command. They did not see that their own prosperity as individuals and as a nation depended upon their strict adherence to the command of him who sees the end from the beginning. God requires us to prove our loyalty to him by unquestioning obedience. In deciding upon any course, we should not ask merely whether we can see harm to result from it, but whether it is contrary to the will of God. We must learn to distrust self and to rely wholly upon God for guidance and support, for a knowledge of his will, and for strength to perform it. We must be much in communion with God. Prayer in secret, prayer while the hands are engaged in labor, prayer while walking by the way, prayer in the night season, the heart’s desires ever ascending to God,—this is our only safety. In this manner Enoch walked with God. In this manner our Exemplar obtained strength to tread the thorny path from Nazareth to Calvary. Christ, the sinless One, upon whom the Holy Spirit was bestowed without measure, constantly acknowledged his dependence upon God, and sought fresh supplies from the Source of strength and wisdom. How much more should finite, erring man feel his need of help from God every hour and every moment. How carefully should he follow the Leading Hand how carefully treasure every word that has been given for his guidance and instruction! “As the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress,” so should our eyes be upon the Lord our God. His commands should be received with implicit faith, and obeyed with cheerful exactness. Self-confidence is the rock upon which many have been wrecked. The secret of the Christian’s strength and safety is revealed in the words of the apostle, “Kept by the power of God.” In all the undertakings of life, the language of the heart should be, “If the Lord will.” We should humbly wait for divine instruction, never going before, or contrary to, our Heavenly Guide. Would that we could comprehend the significance of the words, “Christ suffered, being tempted.” While he was free from the taint of sin, the refined sensibilities of his holy nature rendered contact with evil unspeakably painful to him. Yet with human nature upon him, he met the arch-apostate face to face, and single-handed withstood the foe of his throne. Not even by a thought could Christ be brought to yield to the power of temptation. Satan finds in human hearts some point where he can gain a foot-hold; some sinful desire is cherished, by means of which his temptations assert their power. But Christ declared of himself, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” The storms of temptation burst upon him, but they could not cause him to swerve from his allegiance to God. All the followers of Christ have to meet the same malignant foe that assailed their Master. With marvelous skill he adapts his temptations to their circumstances, their temperament, their mental and moral bias, their strong passions. He is ever whispering in the ears of the children of men, as he points to worldly pleasures, gains, or honors, “All this will I give you, if you will do my bidding.” We must look to Christ; we must resist as he resisted; we must pray as he prayed; we must agonize as he agonized, if we would conquer as he conquered. Whatever the position in which God has placed us; whatever our responsibilities or our dangers, we should remember that he has pledged himself to impart needed grace to the earnest seeker. Those who feel insufficient for their position, and yet accept it because God bids them, relying upon his power and wisdom, will go on from strength to strength. When they enter upon their work, they may have almost everything to learn; but with Christ as a teacher they will become efficient laborers. God does not intrust his work to the worldly wise; for they are too proud to learn. He chooses those who, feeling their deficiencies, seek to be guided by unerring wisdom. Those who have learned of Christ will manifest in all their intercourse a humble, teachable spirit, ever willing to receive counsel or correction. The Lord confers upon his servants varied gifts. No one person possesses all the qualifications essential in carrying forward the work of God. Hence no one is qualified to act independently in all matters pertaining to the Lord’s cause. In the body of Christ there is the same law of dependence and the same necessity for harmony of action that exists in the human body. While no one member of the church is complete in himself, all combined form a perfect whole. While we should each seek to honor God by improving to the utmost of our ability the talents which he has given us, we are not to despise the gifts, or depreciate the work of others. Neither should we look with envy upon superior talents or achievements. Christ is our pattern. He, the King of glory, declared to his disciples, “I am among you as one that serveth.” What condescension, what meekness, is seen in the life of our Redeemer! Would that we might copy his example more perfectly. The nearer Christ approached the hour when he was to ascend to the Father, the more conspicuous appeared his humility. How striking the contrast between the disciples and their Master! At that last sacred gathering prior to the crucifixion, the chosen twelve are disputing as to which of them shall be accounted greatest, while Jesus performs the menial service of washing his disciples’ feet, as a lesson of humility and loving ministration. The meekness and humility of Christ will be seen398in his followers. The grain ready for harvest, bending under the burden of its full, ripe ears, is a fitting emblem of the Christian ripening for the heavenly garner. The more closely he resembles Jesus, and the richer and more perfect his character in the development of the Christian graces, the less disposition will he have to honor or exalt self. With the sweet singer of Israel, the language of his heart will be, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give we glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth’s sake.” THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING.
By Henry N. Cobb
Lord Jesus, the word thou hast spoken,
“Behold I come quickly,” is sure.
So come, Lord! But where is the token?
How long shall thy patience endure?
How long shall thy people be mourning
The length of thy darksome delay?
Come quickly, in triumph returning,
And hasten thy glorious day! CHORUS.—Rejoice, for the triumph is nearing!
And soon, with his angels appearing,
All glory and majesty wearing,
Our King shall return to his own. See, far in the wilderness streaming,
The water of life finds its way;
See, round the horizon is gleaming
The dawn of a holier day.
From nation to nation is flying,
On fleet wings, the life-giving word;
A voice in the desert is crying,
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord!” If more and more clearly the power
Of that “wicked one” works in the world,
Then more and more near is the hour
When he from his seat shall be hurled;
In the terrible day of Christ’s coming,
Unsheathing his glittering sword—
In the flame of that brightness consuming—
He shall fall by the breath of the Lord. And what if, through fear of the morrow,
Men’s hearts are beginning to fail!
If nations are burdened with sorrow,
And stars in the heavens grow pale!
All these are the signs he hath spoken;
We lift up our heads to the sky;
His promise can never be broken;
We know that his coming draws nigh. Then wake to the signs of his coming!
Go spread the glad tidings abroad!
Be valiant in fight for the kingdom,
Ye soldiers of Christ and of God!
Till under his glorious banner
The world is subdued, and at peace;
And round the whole earth one Hosanna
Is sung to the praise of his grace. Withhold not the strength of your manhood;
Withhold not the dew of your youth;
The beauty and freshness of service,
The witness of duty and truth;
Withhold not your treasures most cherished,
Yourselves with your offerings bring,
Till sin from the land is all perished,
And Jesus forever is King. —Rev. Henry N. Cobb, formerly a Missionary in Persia. Testimonies Concerning the Advent.
Thomas Newton, D. D., Bishop of Bristol, England, was born in 1703, and is distinguished for his piety, and extensive research, as exhibited in his valuable writings on the prophecies. On the millennium he speaks as follows: “Nothing is more evident than that this prophecy of the millennium, and of the first resurrection hath not been yet fulfilled, even though the resurrection be taken in a figurative sense. For reckon the thousand years with Usher, from the time of Christ, or reckon them with Grotius from the time of Constantine, yet neither of these periods, nor indeed any other, will answer the description and character of the millennium, the purity and peace, the holiness and happiness of that blessed state.” Then referring to the persecutions of Christians, by the church of Rome, he asks, “If Satan was then bound, when can he be said to be loosed? Or could the saints and the Beast, Christ and Antichrist, reign at the same period? This prophecy therefore remains yet to be fulfilled, even though the resurrection be taken for an allegory, which yet the text cannot admit, without the greatest torture and violence. For with what propriety can it be said that some of the dead who were beheaded, lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years are finished, unless the dying and living again be the same in both places, a proper death and resurrection? Indeed the death and resurrection of the ‘witnesses,’ before mentioned, chapter 11, appears from the concurrent circumstances of the vision, to be figurative; but the death and resurrection here mentioned, must for the very same reasons, be concluded to be real. If the martyrs rise only in a spiritual sense, then the rest of the dead rise only in a spiritual sense, but if the rest of the dead really rise, the martyrs rise in the same manner. There is no difference between them, and we should be cautious and tender of making the first resurrection an allegory, lest others should reduce the second into an allegory too, like Hymeneus and Philetus. In the general, that there shall be such a happy period as the millennium; that the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, Dan. 7:27; that Christ shall have the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession, Ps. 2:8; that the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea, Isa. 11:9; that the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, and all Israel be saved, Rom. 11:25,—in a word, that the kingdom of Heaven shall be established upon earth,—is the plain and express doctrine of Daniel and all the prophets, as well as of John; and we daily pray for the accomplishment of it in praying, ‘Thy kingdom come.’ But of all the prophets, John is the only one who hath declared particularly, and in express terms, that the martyrs shall rise to partake of the felicities of this kingdom, and that it shall continue upon earth a thousand years; and the Jewish Church before him, and the Christian Church after him, have farther believed and taught that these thousand years will be the seventh millennary of the world.” Bishop Newton referred the prophetic periods of Daniel 12, to the downfall of Antichrist, and the ushering in of the millennial period, and also the trumpet of Rev. 11:15. Rev. John Fletcher was born in Switzerland, 1729; became vicar of Madeley, and was associated with Wesley; was not only one of the most pious men that ever lived, but also was a close student of prophecy, and, like Toplady, was a premillenialist. In his “Letter on the Prophecies,” dated 1775, he refers to a certain “great and learned divine,” who, with Sir Isaac Newton, held that “we are come to the last times,” and that Christ was coming to destroy the wicked, and raise the righteous dead a thousand years before the final judgment, whose opinions he indorses, quoting him as saying, on Daniel 8, that “the end,” in verse 19, was the “end of God’s universal scheme” at the “revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and that though “chronologists may mistake in a few years, but cannot err upon the whole; and as God is true and faithful, so it is manifest that the prophecy of 2300 years must be fully accomplished in our days, or those of the next generation. Having fully stated his friend’s views, Fletcher adopts him as his master, and says:— “Give me leave to conclude with some reflections, that naturally flow from what has been said on that system. 1. Many people, I know, look on meditations on the prophecies, so expressly enjoined by St. Peter, as one of the greatest instances of presumption and enthusiasm, because they believe there is no sure ground to build upon, and that it is a land of darkness, in which the most enlightened Christians will never fail to stumble and fall shamefully. But is it probable that God, who foretold to a year, and very clearly, the deliverance of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon, and the building of the second temple, and the birth and death of the Messiah,—is it probable, I say, that he should have been silent, or not have spoken as clearly concerning his coming to destroy the destroyers, and to set up that kingdom which we pray for, when we daily say, according to our Lord’s appointment, Thy kingdom come? If God has exactly foretold, for the comfort of believers, the various revolutions that have happened to his church in past ages, is it possible that he should have left himself without a witness concerning the most important of all—I mean the last? If he showed the prophets the first acts of his drama, is it not highly probable he has not forgot the last, without which his wisdom, justice, and mercy, would always remain hid under a thick cloud?” Discarding all knowledge of the hour, day, or even the year of the second advent, yet he says, “The day is fixed, it is foretold; and though the vision was to be after many days, as an angel said to Daniel, yet it may be fulfilled in a few days for us, who live in the last times.” He then adds, that “it is lawful to meditate on the prophecies,” observing, “let but those objectors ponder the word Apocalypse, and they will be ashamed to say that we must not look into those things, because they were never revealed to us,” and that “if Jesus told his disciples that it was not theirs to know the times when those things shall be accomplished, it does not follow that it must be hid from us who are far nearer concerned in them than they were,” presenting as authority that Daniel’s vision was to be closed up and sealed, till the time of the end, and consequently could not be perfectly known till near its fulfillment. “It is remarkable,” he continues, “that more books have been written upon the prophecies these last hundred years, than were ever known before, and all—those, at least, which I have read—agree that these things will, in all probability, soon come upon the earth. I know many have been grossly mistaken as to the years; but because they were rash, shall we be stupid? Because they said ‘to-day’ shall we say ‘never,’ and cry ‘peace, peace,’ when we should look about us with eyes full of expectation? Let us not judge rashly nor utter vain predictions in the name of the Lord; but yet let us look about us with watchful eyes, lest the enemy take advantage of us, and we lose the opportunity of rousing people out of their sleep, of confirming the weak, and building up in our most holy faith those who know him in whom they have believed. If we are mistaken in forming conjectures, if the phenomena we hear of everywhere are but common providences, if these things happen not to us, but to our children (as they most certainly will before the third generation is swept away), is it not our business to prepare ourselves for them, to meditate on them, and to warn as many people as we can prudently, lest their blood should be required at our hands were they to fall because of a surprise? Let us pray to God more frequently, that for the elect’s sake he will still more shorten the days of the tribulation, and add daily to the true church such as will be saved. But let us not forget to rejoice with Abraham, in seeing by faith the glorious day of our Lord; and to hasten by our fervent prayers that glorious kingdom, those happy days, when narrow shall be the way to destruction, when saints raised from the dead shall converse with living saints, and the world of spirits be manifested in a great measure to the material world,—in a word, when Jesus shall be all in all. What a glorious prospect is this! Let us then often think of these words of our Lord, ‘Behold, I come quickly.’ ‘Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of this prophecy.’ Let us join ‘the Spirit and the bride’ who say, ‘come.’ O, ‘let him that heareth, say, come; and let him that is athirst, come; for he that testifieth these things saith, surely I come quickly. Amen; even so, come, Lord Jesus!’” Increase Mather, D. D., born at Dorchester, Mass., 1639, became minister at the North Church in Boston, in 1664, continuing till 1723, and for fifteen years President of Harvard College, was a man much honored, and of great influence, whose learning and piety are well known. During a period of fifty-three years, he wrote one hundred and ten books. Becoming a student of prophecy, and made aware that the early church, till the fourth century, taught the premillennial advent of Christ, “he found himself,” writes his biographer, “under the necessity of becoming a sober chiliast.” The following is his lucid scriptural argument:— “When he considered that, immediately after the long tribulation under which the Jewish nation is now languishing, then the Son of man comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and that at the arrival of the kingdom under the whole heaven, given to the people of the saints of the Most High, at the expiration of the fourth monarchy, then the thrones are pitched, and the Appointer of times appears on his throne, and a fiery stream issues from it, and the Judgment is set, and the body of the Romish beast is given to the burning flame; and that our Saviour is to destroy antichrist with the brightness of his coming, and that there will be a resurrection of the dead, when the time and the times and the half time allowed to the reign of antichrist is expired, or at the end of the four monarchies; and that when the seventh trumpet sounds, which next follows on the ceasing of the Turkish hostilities upon Europe, then comes the time of the dead, when they shall be judged, and a reward shall be given to them—and this is the time when the kingdoms of this world shall be the Lord’s; and that the first resurrection foretold in the holy oracles can be no other than (what every one owns the second is) a literal and corporeal resurrection; he saw himself shut up to the faith of it, and compelled unto the persuasion that the second coming of our Saviour will be at the beginning of the happy state which is to be expected for the church upon the earth in the latter days.” Writing of his experience in the study and reception of the premillennial view, he says:— “I was exceedingly backward to entertain such a notion, and did long oppose it, as conceiving it might be, at best, an innocent error of some who wished well to the kingdom of Christ. But blessed be the Lord God, who gave me a heart at that very time to search the Scriptures and other books which might be helpful in this case, both such as argued for, and such as argued against, the chiliad; and to look up to Him that is in Heaven, and that hereath on earth, that I might see and embrace the truth, and only the truth. And methinks I would desire no more, if I could but persuade all serious and gracious men to go that way to work in this matter. But alas! it is the great infirmity of many good men, that if anything be voiced for an error, they fall upon it in great zeal, without ever looking up to Heaven, that if what they oppose be truth, they might be convinced of it, as well as, if it be otherwise, they might be strengthened in bearing witness against error, and hence the Lord never lets them see their mistakes.” We copy this from the preface of Mather’s work, “The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation,” which appeared in 1668; a remarkable volume, in which he defends chiliastic doctrines, as held in A. D. 100–300, by a vast number of Scripture citations, and by a reference to, and quotation of, no less than 258 learned authors! It was his first premillennial work, and the preface is dated the same year that Hutchinson’s work appeared. The work was greatly admired by John Caryl, of England, and was circulated and read extensively in Europe. In it he repudiates the renewing of Jewish sacrifices in the millennium, and vindicates the early church from the charge, sharply remarking, “A most loathsome work do399they perform, both to God and man, that dig up the ceremonies out of that grave where Jesus Christ buried them above sixteen hundred years ago.” In a sermon on Titus 2:13, he writes: “If believers should enjoy their hoped-for blessedness at the day of Christ’s appearing, then they have great reason to long for the day of Judgment—to long for that day of the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, as the saints of old did long for the first coming of Christ. Abraham, by faith, saw that day, and was glad; and many prophets and righteous men desired to see it; so believers should long for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:12), looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God; you must not only look for, not only believe that such a day will come, but you must hasten to it—that is, by earnest desires, by longing wishes. We should pray for the coming of that day. Thus Christ has taught us to pray, ‘Thy kingdom come.’ We must, therefore, pray for the day of Judgment; for the kingdom of Christ will not come in all the glory of it before that blessed day. And when we pray, ‘Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven,’ we pray for the day of Judgment; for then, and not till then, will the will of God be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Then will the saints that shall come down from Heaven in the new Jerusalem, do the will of God with as much perfection on earth as now it is done in Heaven; so, then, we are to pray for this coming of the Lord; and great reason believers have to do so, because of their perfect salvation, which they shall then be made partakers of. By hope we are saved. We hope for a perfect salvation in that day; therefore should we long for that day. When he shall be revealed from Heaven, we shall be immortal then. Suppose we die and go to the grave before this glorious appearing of the Lord, yet he will raise us up in that day to a blessed immortality. Or suppose Christ shall come quickly, as he will,—but suppose so quickly as to be here while we are yet alive,—we shall in one moment be made immortal. All believers shall not die that shall be found alive at the appearing of Christ, but all shall be changed; therefore they have cause to long for that blessed day.” Some other volumes written by Dr. Mather, deal more or less with this question, the doctrines of the last things appearing to delight his heart. “He mightily looked up to Heaven for direction and assistance in all his inquiries into the character and approaches of the holy kingdom; and by studying the prophecies, and meditating upon the paradisiacal state, which then will be at the restitution of all things, he sailed so near to the land of promise, that he felt the balsamic breezes of the heavenly country upon his mind.”—Voice of the Church. “This Generation.”
By R. F. Cottrell
Many of the prophecies of Scripture are given as if the writer or speaker saw the things of which he speaks already done, or as if he were present, as an eye-witness, beholding the fulfillment. Hence events which were to transpire many centuries after the predictions were written, are spoken of in the perfect tense, as already accomplished, or in the present, as actually transpiring before the eyes of the prophet. As an illustration of this, we give the following from Isaiah the prophet, written about seven hundred years before the fulfillment in the rejection of Christ, and his death on the cross:— “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows,” etc. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He is taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of my people was he stricken.” Isa. 53:3, 7, 8. In this chapter the present, perfect, indefinite, past, and future tenses are all used in describing the events of the rejection and suffering of Christ, then centuries in the future. And instances of this kind might be cited to almost any extent. The prophets seemed to be carried by the Spirit into the future, and, taking their stand there, describe events of the far future as really present. Apply this principle to the predictions of the Saviour giving the signs of his second coming, and all is easy to be understood. After saying that the sun shall be darkened, etc., followed by the assertion, “And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven,” etc., he says, “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.” See Matt. 24:29–34. The term generation simply signifies the people living upon the earth at one time. It cannot be defined as any definite number of years. The active, responsible inhabitants of the earth, at the time alluded to, are not all of them to die, and thus pass from the stage of action, until the promised event transpires. The demonstrative adjective this restricts it to a particular generation—those living upon the earth at the particular time specified. Where do the words apply? At a time when the predicted signs have appeared. “When ye shall see all these things.” “This generation shall not pass.” This is the only reasonable view of the passage. But it is thought that the generation spoken of must be that one living at the time the prediction was uttered. But the signs were not fulfilled during the life-time of that generation. To solve this difficulty several inventions have been introduced. One says the generation means the Jews as a people, another that it is the generation of the Christians; and they find there are both Jews and Christians to the present day. But what kind of sign of the nearness of the second advent is the fact that there have been Jews and Christians on the earth for 1800 years? For aught there is in such a sign, it might be 1800, or 10,000 years more to the advent. We are living at a time when the predicted signs in the sun, moon, and stars, are historic facts. Now which is most reasonable: to suppose that Jesus came down to the generation that should witness the signs, when he says, “this generation?” or that we should go back to that generation living when the prediction was given, and which passed away before even the predicted signs were fulfilled? But it is claimed that all must have taken place then, because the Saviour said, “When ye shall see these things.” But Isaiah says in the chapter from which we have quoted, “When we shall see him [Christ], there is no beauty that we should desire him;” and, “We hid as it were our faces from him.” Was the prophet to live to see Christ? No; he died without the sight. Who were the we, then? Those that were living at the time of the first advent, and did see him. Again, the apostle Paul says, “We that are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.” Was the apostle to live to the second advent? No. Who, then, was meant by “we”? Those who shall be alive at that time. So the “ye” to whom the language of the Saviour applies are the people of the last generation, this generation, the generation to whom the fulfillment of the predicted signs is matter of fact. The advent messages of our day have proclaimed to the world the fulfillment of the signs. This generation have seen and heard; and this generation will not all pass from the stage of action; but some of them will “see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Lord, speak to me, that I may speak
In living echoes of thy tone;
As thou hast sought, so let me seek
Thy erring children, lost and lone. O lead me, Lord, that I may lead
The wandering and the wavering feet;
O feed me, Lord, that I may feed
Thy hungering ones with manna sweet. O, strengthen me, that while I stand
Firm on the rock and strong in thee,
I may stretch out a loving hand
To wrestlers with the troubled sea. Repentance and Faith
By Dr. A. P. Williams
I MAINTAIN there is no such thing as an impenitent believer. In proof of this, I state the fact that in every passage in the New Testament where repentance and faith are spoken of, repentance is put first. The following are the only examples (Mark 1:14, 15): “Now, after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye and believe the gospel.” Here Jesus puts repentance first (Acts 20:21): “Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here Paul observes the same order (Matt. 21:32): “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him, and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward that ye might believe him.” Here the Saviour represents repentance as necessary to faith. Not only do the Scriptures represent repentance as preceding faith, but the nature of the case suggests the same order. Faith recognizes Jesus Christ as our Redeemer and Saviour, and expects the forgiveness of sins through him. It must, therefore, be the act of one who feels his need of salvation and forgiveness; but impenitent sinners do not feel this need, therefore they cannot exercise faith. But one may be ready to ask, Can an unbeliever become penitent? Does not Paul say that he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him? Yes; Paul says that in Hebrews 11:6. The truth in the case is this, an atheist cannot repent, nor can an infidel or deist. Men must acknowledge the being of God before they can be conscious of having offended him; and they must recognize the existence and authority of his laws before they can feel they have transgressed; and hence, so far as faith has respect to these, it must precede repentance. But the faith of which we are now speaking has respect to Jesus Christ as lifted up (John 3:14) for our deliverance from the guilt and thralldom of sin. Now we will never believe in, or trust him as such, until we feel our guilt and our thralldom; but one never feels these while impenitent, therefore we never thus believe or trust in Christ while impenitent. Now, as the faith that issues in the forgiveness of sins is faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, or an actual trust in him for salvation, it is not, and cannot be exercised only by penitent sinners.—Dr. A. P. Williams. To understand this is of more importance than to know how to work. The latter can be learned easily; the former it takes years to learn, and some people never learn the art of resting. It is simply a change of scenes and activities. Loafing may not be resting. Sitting down for days with nothing to do, is not restful. A change is needed to bring into play a different set of faculties, and turn the life into a new channel. The man who works hard finds his best rest in playing hard. The man who is burdened with care finds relief in something that is active, yet free from responsibility. Above all, keep good-natured and don't abuse your best friend, the stomach.—Sel. Making a World: Mystery Versus Modern Science
It used to be considered something of a task to make a world; most people pondering the subject have gladly taken refuge in mystery and omnipotence. But now almost anybody fresh from the reports can tell us, if not how it is done, at any rate how it must be done if done at all.