S. D. A. Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 26, 1881
THE STONE OF WITNESS.
By Ellen G. White
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
Joshua’s farewell address to Israel produced a deep impression upon them. They knew that they were listening to his dying testimony, and that no feeling of pride, ambition, or self-interest could influence him. By long experience, the aged leader had learned how to most effectually reach the hearts of the people. He realized the importance of the present opportunity, and improved it to the utmost.
His earnest appeals called forth the response: “God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods; for the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up, and our fathers, out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land; therefore will we also serve the Lord, for he is our God.”
Still Joshua warned the people to make no rash promises which they would be unwilling to fulfill, but to carefully consider the matter, and decide upon their future course. “If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.” Thus faithfully he sought to arouse them to a higher sense of God’s claims upon them, and a deeper conviction that their only safety was in obedience to his law.
The congregation answered with one accord, “We will serve the Lord. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the Lord, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. Now therefore put away (said he) the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel. And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.”
This solemn covenant was recorded in the book of the law, to be sacredly preserved. Joshua then set up a great stone under an oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. “And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us; it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.” Here Joshua plainly declares that his instructions and warnings to the people were not his own words, but the words of God. This great stone would stand to testify to succeeding generations of the event which it was set up to commemorate, and would be a witness against the people, should they ever again degenerate into idolatry.
Israel was the Lord’s peculiar treasure. The high estimation in which he held them is shown by the mighty miracles wrought in their behalf. As a father would deal with a beloved son, so had the Lord succored, disciplined, and chastened Israel. He sought to inspire in their hearts that love for his character and requirements which would lead to willing obedience.
Through his people Israel, God designed to give to the world a knowledge of his will. His promises and threatenings, his instructions and reproofs, the wonderful manifestations of his power among them, in blessings for obedience, and judgment for transgression and apostasy,—all were designed for the education and development of religious principle among the people of God until the close of time. Therefore it is important that we acquaint ourselves with the history of the Hebrew host, and ponder with care the dealings of God with them.
The words which God spoke to Israel by his Son were spoken for us also in these last days. The same Jesus who, upon the mount, taught his disciples the far-reaching principles of the law of God, instructed ancient Israel from the cloudy pillar and from the tabernacle, by the mouth of Moses and Joshua. The lessons were the same,—that love for God would lead to purity of heart, and would be manifested in good works.
Those who place in contrast the teachings of Christ when he was upon the earth, and the principles of true religion as taught in the days of Moses, know not what they assert. Christ cannot be arrayed against himself. When he was upon earth, our Saviour made sinners feel that they could not trample upon the law of God with impunity. The same lesson was taught to ancient Israel. In the days of Moses sin could be pardoned only through the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God. Jesus taught the same when he walked as a man among the children of men.
Religion in the days of Moses and Joshua was the same as religion to-day. When Christ dwells in the heart, his spirit will be manifested in the life. It will be calm, patient, noble, and unselfish. The marked contrast which exists between the lives of those who serve God and those who serve him not is a constant rebuke to the sinner. The world rejected Christ because his life was in such marked contrast to their own. In every generation, those who are seeking to follow his example will be distinct from the world.
By various means the Lord has sought to preserve the knowledge of his dealings with the children of men. Moses, just prior to his death, not only rehearsed to Israel the important events in their history, but at the command of God he embodied them in sacred verse. Thus the glorious and thrilling scenes of Israel’s triumph, the sublime and awful manifestations of infinite majesty and power, the divine requirements, promises, and threatenings, clothed with all the beauty of poetic genius, were to be present for all the generations to come. Thus the record of God’s requirements and his dealings with Israel would not appear uninteresting or repulsive, but attractive and entertaining.
The people of Israel were required to commit to memory this poetic history, and to teach it to their children and their children’s children. It was to be chanted by the congregation when assembled for worship, and to be repeated by the people as they went in and out about their daily duties. This song was not only historical, but prophetic. It recounted the wonderful dealings of God with his people in the past, and also foreshadowed the great events of the future, the final victory of the faithful when Christ shall appear the second time in power and glory.
It was the imperative duty of parents to so impress these words upon the susceptible minds of their children, that they might never be forgotten. “Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant. And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed; for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.”
In after generations, this prophetic song would explain the dealings of God with his people, and reveal the cause of their dispersed and scattered condition. Thus would it vindicate the justice of God, and establish the divine inspiration of Moses. It would condemn the wickedness of Israel, and would ever be a convicting power to call them back to their allegiance to God as the only hope of deliverance.
The great stone set up by Joshua was to stand as a constant reminder to Israel of the covenant which they had made with God, and a silent witness of their faithfulness or apostasy. So also the song of Moses was to testify against them, should they depart from God. Many of the Israelites were unacquainted with the books of Moses. But it was the purpose of God that this inspired song should awaken in thoughtful minds a desire to learn more of God’s wonderful dealings with his people, and lead to the study of his revealed word. Thus would they be led to realize the goodness of God toward them, and their duty to love, and obey, and worship him.
“If it was necessary for God’s ancient people to often call to mind his dealings with them in mercy and judgment, in counsel and reproof, it is equally important that we contemplate the truths delivered to us in his word,—truth which, if heeded, will lead us to humility and submission, and obedience to God. We are to be sanctified through the truth. The word of God presents special truths for every age. The dealings of God with his people in the past should receive our careful attention. We should learn the lessons which they are designed to teach us. But we are not to rest content with them. God is leading out his people step by step. Truth is progressive. The earnest seeker will be constantly receiving light from Heaven. What is truth? should ever be our inquiry.”
The prophetic word shows clearly that we are living near the close of this world’s history, and that we may soon expect the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of Heaven. As the Israelites journeyed toward the earthly Canaan, so are we pressing onward to reach the heavenly Canaan. The history of their backslidings is repeated among the people of God to-day. Faith and piety are waning. Many who once loved the appearing of Christ, are setting their affections upon this world, and are conforming to its habits230and customs. The fear of God is not kept before the mind, and the natural desires and inclinations gain control.
The apostle presents before us the history of the children of Israel, and states that these things are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. He exhorts us not to lust after evil things as they lusted. The very same enemy that tempted the people of God in ancient times, will tempt his people in these last days. We should be earnest, active, and vigilant, in making ready for the appearing of our Lord. Every device will be employed to lead men away from God. Infidelity is exerting itself to the utmost. The present age is characterized by intense earnestness and activity in worldly pursuits; but zeal and energy in the service of God are sadly deficient.
In the days before the flood, the people were so engrossed in worldly things, and so corrupted by iniquity, that the Spirit of God ceased to strive with men. When God’s word loses its power upon the people, a Satanic infatuation leads them in direct opposition to his revealed will. Christians are absorbed in the questions, What shall we eat, and what shall we drink? and wherewithal shall we be clothed? When the energies are employed in buying and selling, planting and building, to the neglect of eternal interests; when the truth of God addressed to the ear ceases to impress the mind or affect the heart, the preaching is in vain; the hearing is in vain. Then indeed will the condition of the world become as it was in the days of Noah.
Many of the things of this life which are a blessing when temperately enjoyed, become a curse when their use is carried to excess. The dressing mania is a device of Satan. Love of dress is an idolatrous shrine at which the women of this age are worshiping. They are so fully occupied with outward display, that they have no time to pray, no time to become acquainted with the Scriptures, no time to improve the talents which God has given them. They have no time to cleanse the soul-temple from its idolatrous shrines; and at last the Spirit ceases to strive with many, and they go down to the grave unprepared. The temptation to idolatry is even greater to-day than in the days of Israel.
Concerning the last days, our Saviour asks the significant question: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” The Scriptures declare that as it was in the days of Noah, before the judgments of God fell upon the corrupt inhabitants, so shall it be in the last days, just prior to the pouring out of God’s unmingled wrath upon the earth. Men will be living a godless life, professing to be Christians, but by their acts contradicting their profession. They will be heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Is not this idolatry? and is not the guilt of God’s professed people as much greater than was that of ancient Israel, as the light which we enjoy is greater than theirs?
God would have his ministers in this dispensation keep before the people, not only the mercy and love of Christ, but the doctrines of the Bible. These should be presented in simple language, adapted to the comprehension of children. Let the young be faithfully instructed in the truths of God’s word. The history of the past, the present, and the future, as revealed in the sacred Scriptures, should be taught in a pleasing, yet serious manner. Let the dealings of God with his people be rehearsed again and again, until the youth become familiar with the record.
The lives and teachings of Christian parents should be in marked contrast with those of unbelievers. Worldlings teach their children to love display, and to bow to the idol of fashion. They sacrifice themselves and their children upon this altar of Moloch. But Christians who profess to be seeking the heavenly Canaan, should obey the instructions of the Bible. We urge modern Israel to lay aside their ornaments, their jewels of silver and gold and precious stones, to put off their costly apparel, and to seek for the inward adorning, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Let children be educated, not to become devotees of fashion, but to be servants of God.
If it was important for Israel to teach their children of the wonderful works of God, his character and requirements, it is important that we put forth at least equal efforts to teach our children the same truths.
Not here! not here! not where the sparkling waters
Fade into mocking sands as we draw near;
Where in the wilderness each footstep falters—
I shall be satisfied—but oh, not here!
Not here where every dream of bliss deceives us,
Where the worn spirit never gains its goal;
Where haunted ever by the thoughts that grieve us,
Across us floods of bitter memory roll.
There is a land where every pulse is thrilling
With rapture, earth’s sojourners may not know,
Where Heaven’s repose the weary heart is stilling,
And peacefully life’s time-tossed currents flow.
Far out of sight, while yet the flesh enfolds us,
Lies the fair country, where our hearts abide,
And of its bliss is nought more wondrous told us
Than these few words, “I shall be satisfied.”
Satisfied! satisfied! the spirit’s yearning
For sweet companionship with kindred minds—
The silent love that here meets no returning,
The inspiration which no language finds—
Shall they be satisfied? The soul’s vague longing—
The aching void which nothing earthly fills?
Oh! what desires upon my soul are thronging,
As I look upward to the heavenly hills.
Thither my weak and weary steps are tending—
Saviour and Lord! with thy frail child abide!
Guide me towards home, where all my wanderings ending,
I then shall see Thee, and “be satisfied.”
—Unknown.
“INGERSOLL'S CREED” ANNOTATED.
The lectures of Colonel Ingersoll have done more than any one thing to popularize a certain gross phase of infidelity, characterized chiefly by brilliant and scurrilous wit, and utter unscrupulousness in misrepresentation. In a late number of the Burlington Hawkeye, Mr. Robert J. Burdette pays his respects to the Colonel in a particularly happy way. The larger part of the article we reproduce here:—
Some one sends us a little tract containing epigrammatic expressions from Col. Robert G. Ingersoll's latest lecture, “What must we do to be saved?” We have read the tract, and we have read the entire lecture. If this is truly Ingersoll's creed, the Colonel isn't far out of the way. He is coming round, maybe. He manages to get considerable Scripture into his creed, as he sets it forth. There is lots of hope, in fact there is a great deal of certainty, for the Colonel. We subjoin a few articles of this great man's creed, just to show from what book he got his declaration of faith.
“Honest industry is as good as pious idleness,” says the Colonel.
Well, that's all right. That's orthodox. The Bible says the same thing, and said it long before the Colonel thought of it—“Faith without works is dead.”
Christ believed the temple of God to be the heart of man.—Ingersoll.
Yes, that's orthodox too. We “must worship him in the spirit.” “Know ye not that ye are the temple of the Holy Ghost?”
If I go to Heaven, I want to take my reason with me.—Ingersoll.
Of course, and so you will, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”—1 Cor. 13:12.
Fear is a dagger with which hypocrisy assassinates the soul.—Ingersoll.
That is good gospel, and “perfect love casteth out fear.”
If I owe Smith ten dollars, and God forgives me, that doesn't pay Smith.—Ingersoll.
Correct you are; the prayer of Christianity is, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” “Owe no man anything.”
If you go to hell, it will be for not practicing the virtues which the Sermon on the Mount proclaims.—Ingersoll.
That's all orthodox. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”
The men who saw the miracles all died long ago. I wasn't acquainted with any of 'em.—Ingersoll.
Same way with the men who saw Servetus burned. But the Colonel most firmly believes that Servetus was burned.
A little miracle now, right here—just a little one—would do more towards the advancement of Christianity than all the preaching of the last thirty years.—Ingersoll.
“If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.”—Luke 17:31.
God will not damn a good citizen, a good father, or a good friend.—Ingersoll.
Certainly not; nor any good man. “A good man showeth favor, and lendeth; he will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely, he shall not be moved forever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.”—Psalms 112:5, 6.
Study the religion of the body in preference to the religion of the soul. A healthy body will give a healthy mind, and a healthy mind will destroy superstition.—Ingersoll.
That explains why the Indians have no superstitions.
People who have the smallest souls make the most fuss about having them.—Ingersoll.
Of course, Colonel, they are the hardest kind to save.
I will never ask God to treat me any fairer than I treat my fellow-men.—Ingersoll.
Well, that's perfectly orthodox. “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you.”
Upon the shadowy shore of death, the sea of trouble casts no wave.—Ingersoll.
The Colonel must have been singing that good old hymn, “When I can read my title clear,” in which occur the lines:
“And not a wave of trouble roll
Across my peaceful breast.”
Appearances of Piety.
By Blair
In every age the practice has prevailed of substituting certain appearances of piety in the place of the great duties of humanity and mercy. Too many there have always been who flatter themselves with the hope of obtaining the friendship of their Creator, though they neglect to do justice to their fellow creatures. But such persons may be assured that their supposed piety is altogether of a spurious kind. It is an invention of their own, unknown to reason, unknown in the word of God. In Scripture we are ever directed to try our faith by our works, our love of God by our love of men. We are directed to consider piety as a principle which regenerates the heart, and forms it to goodness.
We are taught that in vain we address any acts of homage to Christ unless we do things which be of faith; and that love, peace, gentleness, goodness, meekness, and temperance are not only the injunctions of his law, but the native fruits of his spirit. If, therefore, while piety seems ardent, morality shall decline, you have reason to believe that into that piety some corrupting ingredients have entered. And if ever your regard to morality shall totally fail; if, while you make prayers, you give no alms; if, while you appear to be zealous for God, you are false or unjust to men; if you are narrow or contracted in heart, severe in your censures, and oppressive in your conduct; then conclude with certainty, that what you have termed piety was no more than an empty name. For as soon, according to the Scripture similitude, will bitter water flow from a sweet fountain, as such effects be produced by genuine piety.—Blair.
A Talladega Man's Memory of the Baptist College
AMBROSE HEDDEN, a colored man of high standing in Talladega, and universally respected by the better class of citizens, told me a very interesting incident about the Baptist College in Talladega. “I sawed,” he said, “the first plank and knocked off the first shaving for the white Baptist College in 1852. I was a slave then, and I put $900 worth of work on the building—my master’s donation to the college. Many a time when I was busy there, I used to wonder what I and my people had done that we could not be educated also. The Lord was better to me than I trusted. I lived to see my sons and daughters, every one of them, graduate from its halls.”
“SUCH BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGE”
By Christian
It is not unusual to hear people express their estimate of a preacher in words something like this: “But he uses such beautiful language!” His “beautiful language” or “elegant diction” forms the basis of their approval or condemnation. But what does he say? Nobody seems to remember or tell much about that, but his “language” is “beautiful.” It is a beautiful cup, but it contains no water; the plate is beautiful, but there is little food; instead of good seed, he sows beautiful beads and buttons; but what shall the harvest be? He applies a beautiful plaster, but there is no balm of Gilead about it, and it possesses no healing power; he is a beautiful physician, but his patients die. He gives medicine in beautiful vials, but they are deadly poisons. Think of a man crying “fire!” in the most chaste and elegant forms of expression, and so softly, too, that the slumberers sleep on, and those who are awake are persuaded that there is no danger.
In a world like this, there is something besides sweetness and beauty. There are awful facts of sin, and wrath, and judgment, which concern mankind; and we have something to do besides listening to quaint conceits, beautiful expressions, and smoothly drawn sentences which have no grip on the conscience, and which allow men to sleep quietly while judgment and damnation are hastening on their track. There is sin, there is sorrow, there is danger, there is death on every hand, and shall we be lulled to rest with “beautiful language,” and neglect the warnings which God has given, and the judgments which he has pronounced against sin and iniquity? Oh, better far listen to a voice of one crying in the wilderness, that warns, and wakes, and rouses slumbering souls, and bids us flee the wrath to come, ere it shall burst in thunder on an unsuspecting world.
—Christian.
AS A LITTLE CHILD.
By Spurgeon
“Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein.” Luke 18:17.
It is pretty clear that the disciples thought the children were too insignificant for the Lord’s time to be taken up by them. If it had been a prince who wished to come to Jesus, no doubt Peter and the rest of them would have diligently secured him an introduction; but, you see, these were only poor women, with babies, and boys, and girls. If it had been an ordinary person, like themselves, they would not have repelled him with rebuke. But mere children! Sucklings and little children! It was too bad for these to be intruded upon the great Teacher. A word is used about the youthful applicants which may signify children of any age, from sucklings up to twelve years; surely, Jesus had worry enough without the intrusion of these juveniles. He had higher subjects for thought, and graver objects of care. The children were so very little, they were quite beneath his notice. So the disciples thought in their hearts. But, brethren, if it comes to a matter of insignificance, who among us can hope to win the divine attention? If we think that children must be little in his sight, what are we? He taketh up the isles as a very little thing; the inhabitants of the earth are as grasshoppers; yea we are all as things of naught. If we were humble, we should exclaim: “Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” If we dream that the Lord will not notice the little and insignificant, what think we of such a text as this? “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” Doth God care for sparrows, and shall he not care for little children? The idea of insignificance must be set aside at once. “Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly.” But are little children so insignificant? “Of such is the kingdom of God.” Call you these insignificant? Children, who are the most numerous company in the army of the elect, dare you despise them? I might turn the tables, and call the adults insignificant, among whom there can be found no more than a small remnant who serve the Lord.
Besides, many children are spared to grow up to man’s estate, and, therefore, we must not think a child insignificant. He is the father of the man. In him are great possibilities and capacities. His manhood is as yet undeveloped, but it is there, and he who trifles with it mars the man. He who tempts the mind of a boy may destroy the soul of a man. A little error injected into the ear of a youth may become deadly in the man, when the slow poison shall at last have touched a vital part. Weeds sown in the furrows of childhood will grow with the young man’s growth, ripen in his prime, and only decay into a sad corruption when he himself declines.
On the other hand, a truth dropped into a child’s heart will there fructify, and his manhood shall see the fruit of it. Yon child listening in the class to his teacher’s gentle voice, may develop into a Luther, and shake the world with his vehement proclamation of the truth. Who among us can tell? At any rate, with the truth in his heart, he shall grow up to honor and fear the Lord, and thus shall he help to keep alive a godly seed in these evil days. Therefore, let no man despise the young, or think them insignificant. I claim a front place for them. I ask that, if others are kept back, at any rate their feebleness may make room for the little ones. They are the world’s future. The past has been, and we cannot alter it; even the present is gone while we gaze on it. But our hope lies in the future; therefore, by your leave, sirs, room for the children, room for the boys and girls.
Again, I suppose that these grown-up apostles thought that the children’s minds were too trifling. They are at their play and their childish mirth; they will regard it only as a pastime to be folded in Jesus’ arms; it will be mirth to them, and they will have no idea of the solemnity of their position. Well! well! trifling, is it? Children are said to be guilty of trifling! O, sirs, and are ye not also triflers? If it comes to an examination upon the matter of trifling, who are the greatest triflers, children or full-grown men and women? What is greater trifling than for a man to live for the enjoyment of sensual pleasures, or for a woman to live to dress herself and waste her time in company? Nay more, what is the accumulation of wealth for the sake of it but miserable trifling—child’s play without the amusement? Most men are triflers on a larger scale than children, and that is the main difference. Children, when they trifle, play with little things,—their toys, so breakable, are they not made on purpose to be trifled with and broken? The child with his trifles is but doing as he should.
Alas! I know men and women who trifle with their souls, and with Heaven and Hell and eternity; they trifle with God’s word, trifle with God’s Son; trifle with God himself! Charge not children with being frivolous, for their little games often have as much earnestness about them, and are as useful, as the pursuits of men. Half the councils of our senators and the debates of our parliaments are worse than child’s play. The game of war is a far greater folly than the most frolicsome of boyish tricks. Big children are worse triflers than the little ones can ever be. Despise not children for trifling when the whole world is given to folly.
“Ay,” said they, “but if we should let the children come to Christ, and if he should bless them, they will soon forget it. No matter how loving his look and how spiritual his words, they will go back to their play and their weak memories will preserve no trace of it at all.” This objection we meet in the same manner as the others. Do not men forget? What a forgetful generation do most preachers address! Verily this is a generation like to that of which Isaiah said, “Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little.” Alas, many of our hearers must have the gospel preached to them again and again and again, until the preacher is well-nigh weary with his hopeless task; for they are like to men who see their natural faces in a glass, and go their way to forget what manner of men they are. They live in sin still. The word has no abiding place in their hearts. Forgetfulness! Charge not children with it lest the accusation be proven against yourself.
But do the little ones forget? I suppose the events which we best remember in advanced age are the things which happened to us in our earliest days. At any rate, I have shaken hands with gray headed men who have forgotten nearly all the events which have intervened between their old age and the time of their childhood; but little matters which transpired at home, hymns learned at their mother’s knee, and words spoken by their father or sister, have lingered with them. The voices of childhood echo throughout life. The first learned is generally the last forgotten. The young children who heard our Lord’s blessing would not forget it. They would have his countenance photographed upon their hearts and never forget his kind and tender smile. Peter and James and John and the rest of you are all mistaken, and, therefore, you must suffer the children to come to Jesus.
Perhaps, too, they thought the children had not sufficient capacity. Jesus Christ said such wonderful things that the children could not be supposed to have the capacity to receive them. Yet, indeed, this is a great error, for children enter readily into our Lord’s teaching. They never learn to read so quickly from any book as from the New Testament. The words of Jesus are so childlike and so fitted for children that they drink them in better than the words of any other man, however simple he may try to be. Children readily understand the child Jesus. What is this matter of capacity? What capacity is wanted? Capacity to believe? I tell you children have more of that than grown-up persons. I am not now speaking of the spiritual part of faith; but as far as the mental faculty is concerned, there is any quantity of the capacity for faith in the heart of a child. His believing faculty has not yet been overloaded by superstition, or perverted by falsehood, or maimed by wicked unbelief. Only let the Holy Spirit consecrate the faculty, and there is enough of it for the production of abundant faith in God.—Spurgeon.
FOLLOWING JESUS.
Two persons were walking together one very dark night, when one said to the other who knew the road well: “I shall follow you, so as to be right.” He soon fell into a ditch and accused the other with his fall. The other replied: “Then you did not follow me exactly, for I have kept free.” A side step had caused the fall. There is like danger in not following Christ fully.
The Soldier and the Coat: A Dream of Christ
A Russian soldier one very cold piercing night was kept on duty all night. A poor working man, moved with pity, took off his coat and lent it to the soldier to keep him warm, adding that he should soon reach home, while the poor soldier would have to remain out all night. The cold was so intense that the soldier was found dead in the morning. Some time afterward the poor man was laid on his death bed, and in a dream saw Jesus. “You have got my coat on,” said the man. “Yes, it is the coat you lent me that cold night when I was on duty and you passed by. ‘I was naked and ye clothed me.’”
Refined Character Prepares Us for Christian Work
A REFINED and elevated Christian character prepares us best for Christian work. God does not send us out on distant and difficult duties while easy and pressing ones are left at home undone. Faithful in a few things precedes rulership over many. We have no need to search other continents for work, while our own servant at home cannot read, nor fancy ourselves called to showy exploits, while a neighbor’s child is ill for want of food, or a brother or a sister unhelped in our own house. The careful gleaner will return home at nightfall, richly laden with the golden grain.
BUILDING THE TOMBS OF THE PROPHETS.
The dead prophets are noted for having very respectable sepulchres, which are generally erected by the descendants of those who stoned them. It is much easier to honor a dead prophet than to stand by a living one. Few names are more revered in New England than that of Jonathan Edwards, but it was not so once; and indeed it might not be so again if he were to revisit this world.
Mr. Joseph Cook, in one of his lectures, while speaking of “the Half-way Covenant” of olden times,—a contrivance by which the State church, which at that time ruled Massachusetts, and which allowed none but church members to vote and hold office, permitted persons of decent moral character, who had been baptized in infancy, to become church members, and so have the right to vote in civil elections,—gave the following account of the trials endured by Jonathan Edwards, in his conscientious endeavor to establish the rule that evidence of conversion should be an indispensable prerequisite to church membership:—
“I know where in Massachusetts I can put my hand on little irregular scraps of brown paper, stitched together as note-books, and closely covered all over with Jonathan Edwards’ handwriting. Why did he use such coarse material in his studies? Why was he within sight of starvation? Because he had opposed the half-way covenant. Why did that man need to accept from Scotland funds with which to maintain his family? Because he opposed the half-way covenant. Why did his wife and daughters make fans and sell them to buy bread? Because he opposed the half-way covenant—because he defended with vigor, as Whitefield did, the idea that a man should not be a minister unless converted, nor a church member unless converted, and so set himself against the whole trend of this huge, turbid, hungry, haughty wave of secularization that had been rising since 1631.”
“Of course, he was abandoned by the fashionable. Of course, his life was in some sense a martyrdom. His note-books were made from the refuse of brown paper left from the fans. There is nothing Massachusetts so little likes to be fanned with as those fans Jonathan Edwards’ wife and daughters made and sold for bread. Yes, you starved him; but Scotland fed him, thank God. When Edwards was dismissed, it was proposed that there be a council of ten pastors, and he, of course, claimed the right of choosing five; but he was obliged to go beyond the broad bounds of old Hampshire county in order to find five who agreed with him in opposing the half-way covenant.”
When a man is dead and buried, people begin to find out what an eminent saint he is, and then they send half round the world to find marble white enough to bear the name that was once despised and cast out as evil.—Exchange.
And it is a fact that this infant-baptismal half-way covenant system is yet filling some of the churches with half-way Christians, “having the form of godliness, but denying the power thereof,” to the great reproach of the Christian faith.