Review and Herald, Vol. 46, No. 14. (10/7/1875)

Review and Herald

Oct 7, 1875

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 7, 1875

CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

THE GIFTS AND OFFICES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.—NO. 3.

BY ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.

CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART.

Though the promise of the Spirit is to all, its manifestations are various, and it will not be dictated to in its operations. It serves no private purpose; it gratifies no one’s curiosity. It asks faith, and chooses its own method of trying our faith. He who divided the sea before his people, who overthrew their proud masters in the same sea, who brought water from the rock, and who fed a multitude in a barren desert, would not go with Israel to battle when they murmured against him, or when a covetous man was in the camp, or when their fears overcame their faith because their enemies had chariots of iron. And it has seemed strange to many a caviler that Paul, who had so great gifts conferred on him that the sick were healed by merely touching handkerchiefs which came from him, Acts 19:11, 12, yet left a companion behind because he was sick. 2 Tim. 4:20.

To test the question of the extent of the promise of the Spirit to all believers, it was once asked of a minister who strenuously insisted that the extraordinary operations of the Spirit were designed only for a few, and not to be perpetuated through all time: “Do you believe that Christians now have or may have the same measure of the Spirit that the apostles instructed the churches of their day to pray for?” Although he denied the charge that his position was a denial of the promise of the Spirit in its scriptural sense, he would give no answer to the question, though he was strongly pressed to do so. Let this be considered in the light of Scripture facts.

In regard to the diversity of churches which now exists no one will deny this rule, that we must accept as the true church that one which bears the characteristics of the true church. We must take the church in its first stage, as planted by Christ and his apostles, for our model. To them we look for genuine and “primitive Christianity.” We are often referred to the day of Pentecost as furnishing evidence that the early churches were built up with the doctrine of “baptism for the remission of sins.” But that is only part of the truth; and, separate from its relative truth, it becomes an immaterial part. The churches in the days of the apostles accepted both in theory and fulfillment the doctrine of the gifts of the Spirit. Not a single church was planted without this. The modern doctrine of a church repudiating the gifts of the Spirit was not known in that age. And therefore any church which rejects these gifts is not after the primitive model; it lacks a characteristic, an essential element, of the church of Christ.

The Saviour said to those whom he sent out to preach the gospel, “These signs shall follow them that believe,” not them alone that preach. Facts in the fulfillment of the work of the gospel prove that we are correct in our interpretation of the promise. In Acts 11:27, 28, are mentioned several prophets who were not of the twelve apostles. That the word prophet has here its usual and obvious meaning of a foreteller of events, one endowed with a gift of the Spirit, is proved by the circumstance of one of them, Agabus, foretelling a great dearth, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cæsar. The same, essentially, is found in chap. 13:1. In chap. 21:8, 9, we are told that Philip the evangelist “had four daughters which did prophesy.” There is nothing in the context to indicate that prophesy has here any other than its primary or usual signification, while, on the other hand, verses 10, 11, speak of the prophet Agabus, and relate that he foretold what should befall Paul at Jerusalem, showing conclusively that the word, in that text, has reference to the gift of the Spirit of prophecy, and that in the case of the daughters of Philip it was a fulfillment of the promise quoted on the day of Pentecost, that the Spirit should be poured out on the daughters and hand-maidens, and they should prophesy.

The acknowledgment of this fact is necessary to a reception of the truth of the word in reference to the witness of the Spirit, or the seal of the new covenant. While the “circumcision of the heart” has often been insisted on, it has not been sufficiently examined, as the seal of the covenant, to open it in its great importance to the understanding of the reader.

When circumcision was given to Abraham he was told that it was “a token of the covenant” made with him, and that every man child of his seed who was uncircumcised should “be cut off from among his people;” because he had not the appointed token, and therefore he had no part in the covenant. Gen. 17.

In Rom. 4:11, this token is also called a sign and seal. Hence Paul says:—

“After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.” Eph. 1:13, 14.

In the above cited texts we have four terms applied to circumcision, viz.: token, sign, seal, earnest. That we are not mistaken in designating the operation of the Spirit of God in the heart as the circumcision of the new covenant is shown by the following texts:—

“He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Rom. 2:28, 29.

“Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” 2 Cor. 1:21, 22.

“In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.” Col. 2:11.

All these prove that the token, earnest, or seal, of the new covenant, the circumcision of this dispensation, is not an outward ordinance administered with hands, but is of the Spirit, internal, of the heart. Some, on account of their peculiar views of the relations of the covenants, have held that baptism is the circumcision of the new covenant. This is not only an error, being a direct contradiction of the Scriptures, but it is the cornerstone of other errors held by many in regard to the baptism of infants. Baptism is an outward ordinance, administered with hands, even as typical circumcision was. But the circumcision of the gospel is in the heart, in the spirit, not made with hands. The distinction is so very plain that an error here is inexcusable.

Another marked difference between the seals of the two covenants is this: In the first covenant outward circumcision, the token, was confined to the male children of Abraham and of his natural descendants. In the new covenant circumcision of the Spirit is given to all the believers in Christ, who is the “one seed,” without regard to sex or nationality. In view of this truth Paul said:—

“There is neither Jew nor Greek [Gentile], there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Gal. 3:28, 29.

These scriptures cast light upon the apostle’s words in another place, concerning which there has been much vain speculation:—

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Rom. 8:9.

Two errors have obtained in regard to this text. First, that the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God are not the same. This is corrected by comparing 1 Pet. 1:10, 11, which says the Spirit of Christ was in the holy prophets testifying, with 2 Pet. 1:21, which says the prophets spake as they were moved of the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, which is the same as the Spirit of God. The second error is, that the “Spirit of Christ” in this text does not mean the Holy Spirit, but only the temper or disposition of Christ.

It is indeed an important truth that he who has not the disposition of Christ is none of his; and it is a truth which will cut off the vain hopes of many proud, worldly, selfish professors of religion. But it is not the truth taught by this passage. This text is really a reiteration of the rule laid down to Abraham that he who was not circumcised, who had not the seal or token of the covenant, had no part in the covenant. We have seen that the Spirit of God, called also the Spirit of Christ, is the seal of the new covenant. And if any man have not the Spirit, he has not the token or seal of the covenant, and therefore he cannot be a partaker of the privileges of the covenant—he is none of Christ’s.

And this again casts light on verse 16 of the same chapter:—

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.”

The “witness of the Spirit” is an important subject, and one that has received the attention of the eminently pious of all ages. The internal evidence of the Spirit has been uniformly neglected, and eventually by many denied, whenever coldness, worldliness, and pride have crept into the church. But alas that it must be said that even in this doctrine the Saviour often receives the deepest wounds “in the house of his friends.” Many whose lives in no way correspond with the “great Example” are often loudest in their profession of possessing the Spirit’s “power.” They seem to think that profession or feeling can atone for the lack of grace. These are they “by reason of whom the way of truth is evil spoken of.” By reason of these, the Bible doctrine of sanctification through the truth is rejected and brought into contempt. Feeling, indeed, will not be lacking where the witness of the Spirit is given; but our Christian experience must have a stronger and deeper foundation than this. Our feelings are often controlled by circumstances, and these are so varied that our feelings cannot always be the same. But the hope of the Christian is “as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,” and we may have

“A faith that shines more bright and clear When tempests rage without; That when in danger knows no fear, In darkness feels no doubt.”

But the question is asked, To whom does the Spirit witness? to the believer, or to the world? We answer, To both; but not to both in the same manner. When the disciples received “the Holy Spirit of promise,” or “the earnest of the Spirit in their hearts,” it assuredly witnessed to their own consciousness, as it could not witness to the world, otherwise it could not have been an earnest to them. But when it moved them to speak with other tongues, and to bear the cross, and “to perfect holiness in the fear of God,” then in their lives evidence was presented to the world. These classes of evidence always go together—they will not be separated. So we conclude that the presence of the Spirit in the heart, inclining us to conform to the will and word of God, is the witness to ourselves; while the graces of the Spirit in our lives are the witness to the world.

We will illustrate this by applying to it a personal experience which all may appreciate. Thus: No one but myself can be conscious that I love my brother; there is an internal evidence of that fact which belongs to me exclusively, and if I never show that love in my actions, no one will have any evidence that I possess it in my heart. If I show an utter indifference to his welfare, and where our interests seem to conflict I care only for myself, every one will readily decide that I do not possess that love; that I am deceived, or my profession is hypocritical, which is, practically, the same thing. And this decision must be correct.

So it is with the witness of the Spirit. There is liability to self-deception; the Scriptures recognize this, and warn us to “believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.” And we have a double guard on this subject.

1. As the word of God was given by inspiration, men writing it “as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” of course there must be perfect harmony between the word of God and the Spirit of God. To suppose otherwise were to suppose that God is not in harmony with himself. Therefore, any spirit which leads us not in harmony with the word—which calms our spirits and soothes our feelings while we are walking contrary to the word—cannot be of God. The Spirit of God, according to our Saviour’s words, is given to guide into truth. And again, he said to his Father, “Thy word is truth.” Hence they who have the Spirit of God as their guide, will in all things accept the word of God as their rule; and thus they are enabled to worship God “in spirit and in truth.”

2. The Saviour gave another infallible test, namely, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Though these two rules lead directly to the same result, they are not the same. We may perceive duties in the word of God of which our neighbors are not aware. Unknown to all others a cross may be presented to us which we are unwilling to bear, a truth be made known to which our feelings are opposed. In these things and in such cases the word is a test, to our own consciousness, of the spirit which influences us. A feeling of opposition to the truth of God; a disposition to neglect it; an unwillingness to hear or learn any truth which will bring a cross to us; all this is direct evidence to ourselves, providing we are willing to examine ourselves, that we are not led of the Spirit of God. Of these feelings or actuating motives the world cannot take cognizance; therefore the world cannot judge of them. But if these feelings are submitted to or cultivated, our lives will soon show the effect of such an insult to the authority of God; the Spirit of God will be altogether grieved away, and we left in darkness to follow the leadings of the carnal mind. Then our lives will be evidence to the world that we are not led by the Spirit of God. By our fruits, and by these only, shall the world know that we are the children of God.

There is an error on this subject, largely prevalent, which well deserves a notice. It is generally taught by those who deny the direct power of the Spirit as a witness, or an instrument of conversion, that the only evidence we can have of our reception of the

Spirit as a Comforter is this: The Spirit was promised on condition of baptism for the remission of sins, and if we have been baptized we have the Spirit in fulfillment of the promise, though we are not conscious of its presence. This position is specious, and may become, and often is, the foundation of a very sad delusion. Baptism has its order, or relation to other things, and if this be disregarded, it is not valid, not being in the order of the Scriptures. It must be apparent to all that if the institution be so changed as not to meet the requirements of the Scriptures it becomes, in that changed condition, our own institution, or that of the one so changing it, and is no longer the original ordinance. This truth is very often urged in regard to the form of administering the rite; but it is equally true in regard to the order or relation of baptism.

In all cases where baptism is taken as the evidence of the gift of the Spirit, the professing penitent is lulled into carnal security, trusting solely to his baptism as the evidence of his favor with God. Baptism, not the Spirit in the heart, becomes his earnest or witness. The Spirit being thus rejected, the graces do not appear in the life, and there are no fruits of the Spirit to give evidence to the world of a genuine conversion. Such a doctrine is well calculated to multiply carnal professors, or nominal Christians; and that these should be multiplied under its teaching is not strange, considering that it calls for no self-abasement, leads to no deep, pungent convictions of sin, and under it there is felt no necessity for the aid of the Spirit in the work of conversion. That “the Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered,” is, to those embracing such a theory, a mystery. To pray for the Spirit to convict and to convert sinners is, to them, only folly. This is a growing evil, and one of the most pernicious and dangerous errors of the age.

The view here called in question is unscriptural, according to the expressed faith and practice of the apostles and early believers. The doctrine of the gift of the Holy Spirit was never so understood in that age. In Acts 8:14–16, we read:—

“Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John; who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)”

This action was directly contrary to that view which takes the reception of the Comforter for granted, because of our being baptized. Again, in Acts 19:5, 6, we read:—

“When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them.”

In this case the Spirit was given in answer to prayer, after baptism. In the case of Cornelius and his household, the Spirit came on them before baptism. Whether received before or after baptism it is shown that the gift of the Spirit was not then considered a matter of course because of baptism; but was a matter of personal conscious experience. And so it is proved that that view of the gift of the Spirit, now held by many, which makes baptism their evidence, is modern, unscriptural, and no part of “primitive Christianity”

HOLD ON, MY HEART.

Hold on, my heart, in thy believing! The steadfast only wear the crown; He who when stormy waves are heaving Parts with his anchor shall go down; But he whom Jesus holds, through all Shall stand though earth and heavens should fall.

Hold in thy murmurs, Heaven arraigning, The patient see God's loving face; Who bear their burdens uncomplaining, 'Tis they who win the Father's grace. He wounds himself who braves the rod, And sets himself to fight with God.

Hold out! There comes an end to sorrow; Hope, from the dust, shall conquering rise; The storm proclaims a sunnier morrow; The cross points on to paradise; The Father reigneth; cease all doubt; Hold on, my heart, hold in, hold out! —Sel.

The Enemy Indoors.

By Cuyler

A FEW evenings since, Boston locked up her great warehouses, and went home to get ready for the Sabbath. No external danger alarmed her; no hostile fleet lay off her harbor; no enemy's batteries threatened her from Dorchester Heights, but a little secret seed of fire was nestling under one of her own roof-trees, which soon sprang into a horrible harvest of conflagration. Boston's enemy was within.

This is the physical illustration of the moral truth—a truth that quotes itself to me oftener than almost any other text in the Bible—“a man's foes shall be they of his own household.” This truth has a thousand applications. It applies literally to the domestic household. Where do most men find their greatest help or their greatest hindrance to success in their business? At home! Frugality there commonly means prosperity. Extravagance there commonly means vexation, temptation to business gambling, and to eventual ruin. Half the married men who practice swindling are pushed on to it by an extravagant wife and family. A man's wife is either his best friend or his worst enemy.

Where lies the sorest sorrow that disturbs the heart-peace and spoils all the luster of worldly gains or promotions? It is in the worm at the root of the home-life. It is nothing to a man to be prosperous in his store, or his office, or even in his pulpit, if he is wretched at his own hearthstone. Nor does the neglect or the social injustice of a whole neighborhood cut so deeply as the treachery or neglect of those nearest and dearest to us. A wife can bear to be ignored by all her neighbors if her husband is only loving and her children are affectionate and obedient. But a husband's unkindness is a dry sorrow that drinks her very heart's blood. Our severest wounds are often inflicted by the hands which ought to clasp our own the most closely. The betrayal of family secrets, the starting of damaging rumors, often proceed from some long, loose, limber tongue in our own household.

There, too, lurks the most frequent stumbling-block to religious improvement. The divine Teacher spoke about fathers being at variance with their own sons, and about mothers striving to keep their daughters out of his “kingdom.” Well, it is just as true now as it was then that one's spiritual “foes may be they of his own household.” A parent's piety is often reproduced in his children. But so are a father's habits or downright irreligion. Saying nothing about the hereditary taint of drunkenness and licentiousness, which often goes in the blood, there is a legacy of sin bequeathed by a father's example. In looking over my circle of acquaintance, I find that, while several good parents have bad children, there are not many prayerless, ungodly parents who have converted sons. The pull of the parents downward is too strong for the upward pull of the pulpit and the Sabbath-school.

If the father chiefly talks “money, money” at home, he generally rears a family in the worship of the almighty dollar. If fashion is the family altar, the children are offered up as victims upon that altar. If a man makes his own fireside attractive, he may reasonably hope to anchor his own children around it. My neighbor Q—— makes himself the constant evening companion of his boys. The result is that his boys are never found in bad places. But if a father hears the clock strike eleven in his club-house or the play-house, he need not be surprised if his boys hear it strike twelve in the gaming-room or the drinking-saloon. If he puts the bottle on his own table, he need not wonder if a drunken son staggers in, by and by, at his front door. When the best friend that childhood and youth ought to have becomes their foe, the home becomes the “starting-post” for moral ruin. A Godless house is a poor school to train up souls for Heaven.

What is true of the domestic household is equally and even more true of that inner household, the heart. The word of God likens a human being to a “tabernacle,” a “temple,” an “earthly house,” etc.; and it is no violence to compare the inmates of our own hearts to a “household.” What a curious family of faculties, thoughts, and affections is living inside of every one of us! An unconverted heart is a habitation of the evil one, with his brood of unholy desires, tastes and passions. Conversion is a spiritual house-cleaning. A genuinely renewed heart is a re-formed household, with Christ dwelling in it and controlling it. Out of the heart are “the issues of life;” yes, and of death. The only enemies that we ever need to be afraid of are within ourselves.

Did you ever know a good man or a pure woman utterly ruined by outside attacks upon their reputation? I never did. The abuse of a good man is commonly the head-wind that fans the fires of his own furnace, and gives him the greater headway. No true man was ever put down and kept down while he was true to conscience and to God. When character is destroyed, it is never murder; it is suicide. Kind reader, the only person in the universe that can put you down is one that lives in your own heart-house. If the living Jesus lives there and rules there, you are safe. You will be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

If your safety is from an indwelling Christ, so is your danger from indwelling sin. The “world” never harms a Christian so long as he keeps it out of his heart. Temptation is never dangerous until it has an inside accomplice. Sin within betrays the heart to the outside assailant. The reason why Joseph did not fall was because he kept the sin out of his soul. The reason why David did fall was that the sin within him ignited at the view of a wicked opportunity. The inward lust conceived and brought forth death.

There is a pretty sharp practical sermon in that old familiar fable of Æsop about the countryman who discovered the frozen snake in his field. There was no danger from that benumbed serpent while left out in the cold. But the foolish man carried it into his own house and laid it beside the fire. He domesticated it. And as soon as the reptile thawed out it began to slide about among the children, and to shoot in its deadly fang.

Ah! it is the snake that we bring into our hearts and warm there that stings us! Sin without us is harmless. Sin within us poisons and kills. Our foe is of our own household.

This is the scriptural way of putting the homely aphorism that “every one is his own worst enemy.” This truth often comes to my own door in the person of a broken-down creature, whose ill-flavored garments and bloated face are hanging out signals of distress. I knew him in his better days. He has a doleful story about “losing his situation,” and “having no friends,” and “everybody turning against him.” Poor victim of his own sin, he may well say that he has no friend when he is his own deadly enemy. His Almighty Friend in Heaven cannot help him so long as he determines to be his own destroyer. Even the loving Saviour of sinners will keep no man out of hell so long as he keeps a hell in his own depraved heart. Oh! there is no more pitiable spectacle on earth than that of the person who has exiled all of his best impulses, and all the best teachings of childhood, and has driven away the Spirit of God, and given up his soul to the dominion of the devil. Of such an one it is awfully true that “his house is left unto him desolate.”

Beware of yourselves. Watch your own heart-door. When you are tempted, imagine that you hear Satan trying at the latch. Slide in the bolt of prayer. The devil is harmless while locked out; it is only the indoor enemy that destroys the house. That heart alone is securely guarded for all eternity that has the Lord Jesus Christ dwelling within it and keeping the keys.—Cuyler.

Fellow-Citizens with the Saints.

By John Matteson

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” Eph. 2:19. Thus spake the Holy Spirit to the Ephesians by the apostle Paul, and thus he still speaks to every true disciple of Jesus. The calling of God is a high and holy calling. Our Heavenly Father gives abundant grace. He is no respecter of persons. Even the Gentiles, who were strangers and foreigners, who lived in darkness and superstition, who had lost their citizenship and forfeited their rights as children, has God made fellow-citizens with the saints, and given them a place in his own household or family.

My brethren, we are Gentiles. We are by nature strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now we, who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Oh, how good the Lord is. He did not leave us to live and die in darkness. He had mercy upon us in our wretched condition and loved us before we could love him. “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” 1 John 4:9–11. The love of God is a blessed theme for our study. Here is the true fountain whence we receive strength to live for God and for humanity. “The love of God constraineth me.” “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

The Lord chose the family of Abraham to preserve his truth. Thus the Jews obtained much advantage by having the oracles of God committed unto them (Rom. 3:1, 2), “who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.” Rom. 9:4, 5. Yet all these blessings do not belong to the unbelieving Jews; for the apostle says in the same connection: “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.” “But the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” Verses 6, 8. There was a little flock of believers in every generation among ancient Israel—a remnant according to the election of grace. Likewise there is also now a remnant of the vessels of mercy, whom God has called “even us,” “not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.” Verse 24.

The work of grace under the new covenant, as well as under the old, commenced among the Jews. But the Lord extended graciously this work. The first part of the Christian temple having been reared among the kinsmen of Christ according to the flesh, and the apostles, the circle of mercy was enlarged. “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Eph. 2:1. We walked after the course of this world. The evil spirit wrought in us when we were children of disobedience. We walked in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. We were the children of wrath, doomed to eternal death. We have all lived in this sad condition. Thousands about us are still living in the same condition. They are hastening to the pit of destruction. Yet they are careless and do not feel concerned about their eternal welfare. The thunders of the last day will soon awaken all who sleep. Then it is too late to repent—too late to work for the salvation of others. Then the last prayer for sinners has been uttered—the last tear shed. Then the word of the Lord sounds with a terrible voice through the shaking heavens and earth: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still.” Mercy waits no longer. “But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved), and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Eph. 2:4–7. What heavenly grace and love, to quicken us together with Christ when we were dead in sins!

Are we quickened—made alive with Christ—or are we still dead in sins? Brothers and sisters, this is an important question. Let us carefully examine ourselves and answer it before God. Let our works and meek conversation answer among our fellow-men. Let no man deceive you by any means. Have you tasted the first love? Does its flame still burn within? or is only the smoking flax left? God is still rich in mercy. He will not quench the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed. Yet he warns you not to continue in lukewarmness until the door of mercy is shut. For then you will certainly be spewed out of the mouth of the Faithful Witness. What you do must be done quickly. If you have thoughts of repentance, put it not off. Your life hangs on a brittle thread. Death may overtake you unawares. And the end of all things is at hand.

Many things in the world invite your attention. Many necessary duties in every-day life rest like heavy burdens on your mind and demand a portion of your time and strength. But remember the words of our Saviour to Martha, when she was troubled about many things: “But one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41, 42. The psalmist said: “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” Ps. 27:4. Is this one thing needful the heaviest burden on your mind? Is it your greatest anxiety and care how you can be alive with Christ? If it is not, you are not in a good condition. It is a Christian duty to be diligent in business, but it is not Christlike to forget the one thing needful—eternal salvation. It will not be pleasant to awake with the lost and depart forever from the loving Saviour. It will not be pleasant to land at last in the lake of fire, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. It will not be pleasant forever to be separated from our loved ones, and from all the friends of God, and perish in the devouring fires of Gehenna with murderers and liars. “The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.”

Dear reader, we are interested in your salvation, and would urge upon you this vital question. Have you been made alive with Christ? and do you now live in him? We are not so anxious about every minor theoretical question. Many of God’s dear children are not able to comprehend all the shades of difference which, to some minds, may be deeply interesting. But I pray God that the Holy Spirit may so deeply impress this question on your mind that it may sound to you like an earnest voice in your soul. And I beseech of you not to turn away or close your heart against the voice of the good Shepherd. Do you daily enjoy communion with your Saviour? Do you experience a heavenly, molding influence from Christ, when you call on his name? It is tiresome to seem to knock at mercy’s door, and yet go away empty. Does the meek and gentle mind of Jesus become your mind? Do you realize that there is a fullness of righteousness, peace, and joy, in the Holy Spirit? Do your prayers and your religious service make you more ripe for the kingdom of God? Then it is well with you. Then you rejoice in God under all the troubles and changing scenes of life. Then you live in Christ.

But if you are not alive in Christ, when do you want the Lord to save you—to raise you up and make you sit together with the saints in heavenly places in Christ Jesus? God is ready. Jesus is waiting. The angels of Heaven will minister unto you. They rejoice more over one repenting sinner than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance. The question is not, Will God save you? God will save to the uttermost all that come unto him through Christ. The Lord is ready now. All things are ready. But the question is, Will you come? Are you ready? When will you begin to seek the Lord and serve him? Commence to-day—oh! do it to-day! To-day sweet mercy lingers.

If you hear the voice of God to-day, do not harden your heart. Do not grieve God’s Holy Spirit.

How good the Lord is! He will even now translate us into the kingdom of his dear Son—the kingdom of grace. And in the future eternal ages he will show us greater things than these, when the exceeding riches of his grace shall abound in kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Then we shall see those things which God has prepared for them that love him, which as yet human eyes have not seen, nor ears heard. There is rest for the weary, there is rest for you.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.” Eph. 2:8, 9. Does not this altogether exclude works? It excludes works from our boasting, but not from our life; for the next verse reads thus: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

All praise belongs unto God. The sufferings, death, and resurrection, of our Saviour are all that we can claim for justification. But the truth and Spirit of God can work a reformation in us through faith. Then we become new creatures in Christ Jesus. And we are created in him unto good works. This is the object of the new birth and the new life. “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”

Jesus has broken down the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles. He abolished the law that pertained to sacrifices and to the ministration in the old sanctuary. The ten commandments have never been a wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles, neither has the Sabbath; for it was made for man—all mankind. Mark 2:27. But the services of the old sanctuary were peculiar to the Jews. The Lord would accept of sacrifices in no other country except Judea; and he would suffer none to minister in the sanctuary except the Levites—a tribe of the Jews. This was truly a middle wall of partition, as all must admit; and the law that regulated these services is abolished, with all the commandments pertaining to it. There is not one jot, or tittle left of it. Whereas the other law—the law that makes sin known—shall suffer no loss till heaven and earth pass. No, not one jot or one tittle of it has our Saviour abolished. Matt. 5:18.

Christ took away the law of sacrifices, which were only a shadow of good things to come. Heb. 10:1. He became himself the true sacrifice by dying on the cross. He ministers now as our High Priest in a temple not made with hands. There he reconciles both Jews and Gentiles in one body by the cross. And still he preaches peace through the gospel to the Gentiles that are far off, and to the Jews who are nigh—who are even related in the flesh to our blessed Redeemer. Still the Lord extends his kind invitation to all, both Jews and Gentiles; “for through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Eph. 2:19–22.

Dear reader, let us carefully consider these important words. Let us take care that we build on the chief corner-stone. Let us not divide Christ, but build on his life as well as his death, on his example as well as his doctrine. Let our faith rest on him and be molded by his truth; and let our works be in harmony with his works, our mind with his mind. He is the foundation on which apostles and prophets did build. On him we must also build through the Spirit until our bodies as well as minds are sanctified and become fit for the temple of God—for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

God has called us with a holy calling. He has called us to be fellow-citizens with the saints and of the family of God. We are living in a dangerous age. Many are lukewarm and heavy with sleep. Let us awake to walk in the light. Be not satisfied with a mere theory; but live near to God. Let his word be a light to your path until the coming and kingdom of our Lord.

JOHN MATTESON.

Continue reading: The Struggle