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Review and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 39.

MRS. E. G. WHITE

Review and Herald

Sep 25, 1900

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 25, 1900

MRS. E. G. WHITE

By Ellen G. White

Self-Exaltation.

MRS. E. G. WHITE

SELF-EXALTATION is a dangerous element. It tarnishes everything it touches. It is the offspring of pride, and it works so ingeniously that, unless guarded against, it will take possession of the thoughts and control the actions.
The Laodicean message must be proclaimed with power; for now it is especially applicable. Now, more than ever before, are seen pride, worldly ambition, self-exaltation, double-dealing, hypocrisy, and deception. Many are speaking great swelling words of vanity, saying, “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.” Yet they are miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
There are those who sincerely desire to see God, and who, in true penitence, seek the Lord, that they may find him, and by his power reach the high and holy ideal set before them. With unfeigned lips they pray, “Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?” “Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine.” “O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, and in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.”
But there are also those who go on frowardly in their own way. The Lord says to them, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” Let those who name the name of God search their hearts to see whether they be in the faith. Let them search the Word carefully, reviewing the experience of God’s ancient people.
“An angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I swore unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. And it came to pass, when the Angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the Lord.”
The people bowed before God in contrition and repentance. They offered sacrifice, and confessed to God and to one another. The sacrifices they offered would have been of no value if they had not shown true repentance. Their contrition was genuine. The grace of Christ wrought in their hearts as they confessed their sins and offered sacrifice, and God forgave them.
The revival was genuine. It wrought a reformation among the people. They remained true to the covenant they had made. The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen the great works of the Lord. Their sins were repented of and forgiven, but the seed of evil had been sown, and it sprang up to bear fruit. Joshua’s life of steadfast integrity closed. His voice was no longer heard in reproof and warning. One by one the faithful sentinels who had crossed the Jordan laid off their armor. A new generation came upon the scene of action. The people departed from God. Their worship was mingled with erroneous principles and ambitious pride.
“And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim. And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. . . . And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: that through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.”
Man is prone to forget God, though claiming to serve him. The people of Nazareth thought they loved Christ, but when he showed them that they were no more the favorites of heaven than were the Gentiles, they dragged him from the synagogue, and tried to throw him from the crown of the hill. The multitudes who were fed by Christ thought they loved him, until he told them that they cared more for the bread that perishes than for the bread of eternal life. The rich young ruler thought he loved the Saviour. He had listened to the gracious words that fell from his lips, and had seen his wonderful works. But when the Saviour said, “Sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me,” he went away sorrowful, clinging to his idol. He loved his riches more than he loved Christ. Simon the Pharisee thought he loved Jesus, until he found that the Saviour did not esteem him as highly as he did a poor, sorrowful, repentant woman.
Many see much to admire in the life of Christ. But true love for him can never dwell in the heart of the self-righteous. Not to see our own deformity is not to see the beauty of Christ’s character. When we are fully awake to our own sinfulness, we shall appreciate Christ. The more humble are our views of ourselves, the more clearly we shall see the spotless character of Jesus. He who says, “I am holy, I am sinless,” is self-deceived. Some have said this, and some even dare to say, “I am Christ.” To entertain such a thought is blasphemy. Not to see the marked contrast between Christ and ourselves is not to know ourselves. He who does not abhor himself can not understand the meaning of redemption. To be redeemed means to cease from sin. No heart that is stirred to rebellion against the law of God has any union with Christ, who died to vindicate the law and exalt it before all nations, tongues, and peoples. Pharisaic self-complacency and bold assumptions of holiness are abundant. There are many who do not see themselves in the light of the law of God. They do not loathe selfishness; therefore they are selfish. Their souls are spotted and defiled. Yet with sin-stained lips they say, “I am holy. Jesus teaches me that the law of God is a yoke of bondage. Those who say that we must keep the law have fallen from grace.”
Christ says, “Blessed are they that do his commandments.” The heavenly benediction is pronounced upon those who keep the law. “They shall have right to the tree of life,” the Saviour declares, “and shall enter in through the gates into the city.”
We must decide for ourselves whether or not these words will be spoken to us. A right decisionwill be revealed by action in harmony with the law of God. But we can not possibly keep the commandments without the help of Christ. He alone can save us, by cleansing us from all sin. He does not save us by the law; but neither will he save us in disobedience to the law. He draws us to himself because he has been lifted upon the cross of Calvary.
The degree of our love for God depends upon the clearness and fullness of our conviction of sin. ‘By the law is the knowledge of sin.’ The more we see of the perils to which we have been exposed by sin, the more grateful we shall be for deliverance.
Finite man, though supposing himself to be wise, can not see God until he becomes a fool in his own estimation. God is infinitely wise and just and good. His plan for the redemption of the human race is not comprehended by the wisest of this earth. Men grasp at one item of science, and in their foolishness, thinking themselves wise, they exalt science above the God of science. But all true science proceeds from God.
Men exalt themselves among men, and speak of what they know of higher education. If they only knew more, they would wish to sink out of sight. They may think and reason to the utmost of their ability; but were the veil lifted, they would see infinity beyond. They know hardly anything of the mysteries of God, who holds supervision over the universe. It will take all eternity to unfold his plans. Let those who think themselves competent to weigh and measure the counsels of divine wisdom be assured that they know not even the A B C of what is comprehended in higher education. When they gain even a glimpse of the true and living God, they will show a becoming humility. The sight will suggest the command, “Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy.”
God has worlds upon worlds that are obedient to his law. These worlds are conducted with reference to the glory of the Creator. As the inhabitants of these worlds see the great price that has been paid to ransom man, they are filled with amazement. With intense interest they watch the controversy between Christ and Satan; and as this controversy progresses, and the glory of God shines brighter and brighter, they give praise to God. And yet, because finite men can discern a little of God’s marvelous power, they take the glory that belongs to the Creator. Oh, that the veil could be removed, and they could see beyond their wisdom! Every mouth would cease its boasting. Men would see the greatness of the plans of God, and their knowledge would seem to them unspeakably inferior. They would never again think themselves qualified to sit in judgment on God’s plans, or to arraign him before their tribunal that they might pass sentence on his works.

IS THE BIRD LESS SAFE THAN THOU?

By Anon.

THERE’S a bird that swings from the branches tall, With never a thought he may faint or fall. I stood, last night, on a tottering stone While I cried, in pain, “I am all alone! And my way is perilous, fraught with fear; Will there no one come? Is there no one near?” How the lightnings flash and the thunder roars, While the rain from a great black cloud outpours! But the singer chirped from the swaying bough— “Is the bird less safe in the storm than thou? We feel as safe in the roaring blast As at other times when the rain is past.” And I cried, “Little bird, thou indeed art right.” And my soul grew calm, and I banished fright; For I felt that God, in his tender love, Had sent this thought from his realm above; And I wept in shame. Am I then to fail When an hour is dark? Shall my moan and wail Be heard above little birdling’s song, Though the storm may come and the day be long? And I knocked in haste at my Father’s door, And he cried, “Come in, thou shalt fear no more.” Then my soul grew strong. Though the tottering rock And the angry blast at my courage mock, I will sing thy praise, Father, God on high, While I rest content, if but thou art nigh.
— Anon.

CONFIDENCE IN GOD.

By F. H. Westphal

F. H. WESTPHAL.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.” Ps. 19 : 1-3.
All nature speaks forth the will and glory of God; his love is made known to all who have ears to hear; and by the sun, moon, and stars he commands men everywhere and at all times to bow before the majesty of his glory and power. The birds of the air and the flowers of the field bear testimony against those who, with fearful hearts, refuse to believe the promises of the living God.
The lilies whisper confidence to the Lord’s trusting children, telling of a Saviour’s love and care. “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” Matt. 6 : 28-30.
Nature is in perfect harmony with God’s law, and therefore he is not ashamed to call the attention of his children to the work of his hands. The tree may overshadow the blade of grass in the field; the sun outshine the tiny star of evening; the twilight be outrivaled by the midnight darkness; yet each is satisfied with the glory God has given it. Man alone is out of harmony with God. He murmurs and complains against his Maker’s precepts; he violates order and breaks the heavenly laws. Therefore is there war and strife among men, and envy, jealousy, and hatred lead them to destroy one another.
Christ, constrained by love, exchanged the paradise of God for earthly night and woe, in order to reconcile man to his Maker. Christ is the golden link that unites us to God, who has delivered us from sin, through Christ. He gave his only begotten Son to die for our sins that he might be our God. He is able to satisfy our every want. We need look to no other; for the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will not fail to honor the position he has taken. He asks us to trust in him alone, and to believe that he does care for us.
We are entering upon fearful times, but God gives us his promise: “For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not: I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” Isa. 41 : 13, 14.
He has given the ten commandments to restore peace to our souls and bring unity among men. “The whole company of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.” Acts 4 : 32. “O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea.” Isa. 48 : 18.
Those who do not accept of that peace and salvation refuse the invitation, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” He has invited you to be saved. Then be saved.

THE HOLY GHOST.

Jesus was a great comforter. He was ever ready to comfort his disciples in their temptations, sorrows, disappointments, and hardships in life.
He knew what it means to be surrounded with dark clouds, to be buffeted with fierce temptations, to be foot-sore and weary on the journey of life.
He knew how lonely and discouraged they would be when he left them, and how utterly powerless human flesh would be to stand the awful attacks of the combined hosts of the world and the devil, and he resolved to make preparation for their comfort and safety by having an all-powerful One take his place. Hence he said, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.”
This glorious Comforter is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father sends in the name of Jesus.
That prayer has been offered and answered; and the Holy Ghost has come. Glory to God!
This suggests—
1. His presence. Jesus declared to his disciples, “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you.”
There are many professed Christians who have no conscious knowledge of the presence of the Holy Ghost. They live without him. Their lives are gloomy and barren and joyless. They are living under the old dispensation instead of the new. Their great need is to have some one tell them in a practical and impressive manner that the Holy Ghost has come. “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?”
2. His teaching. “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
How desirable and important that we should have the teaching of the Holy Spirit. There are errors to be guarded against, truths to be revealed, and intricate pathways in life to be opened up; what an utter failure we shall make of it if we go forth blindly, led by mere human wisdom. This accounts for the sad choice of companionships, which bring heart-sorrow and sadness through life; of opportunities and privileges of usefulness neglected and blasted; and of utter darkness in regard to spiritual vision. But when the Holy Ghost has right of way in you, “he shall teach you all things.”The all things is modified by the words whatsoever I have said unto you. Hence his teaching relates to truth: the Holy Ghost does not teach anything additional to, or out of harmony with, the words of Jesus. This does not mean that we shall not have, or any more require, pastors, teachers, or evangelists, whom God has set in the churches to spread the knowledge of his will; but in those inner and spiritual experiences, which are wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, we shall not require any man to teach us. It necessarily follows that “the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”
3. His abiding. “He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world can not receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” He comes not to dwell near us as a neighbor or a friend, but to enter the same household, to be one of the family, to share its prosperity or adversity, its successes or reverses. He not only comes to dwell in the household, but to dwell in the heart.
Yea, abide in the heart forever. But to have his permanent abiding, you must let him furnish and manage the heart-home to suit himself. He will purify it until no stain or dross of sin can be found within its sacred precincts. He will beautify it until it becomes a thing of admiration to saints and angels. He will comfort it until no reverses, adversities, temptation, or sorrow can disturb or destroy its peace. He will keep it so that no enemy can destroy its eternal safety, and with his own presence. He will be its glory and its eternal delight forever and ever. O friend, let the Holy Comforter come in and take up his abode as an abiding guest.
4. His working. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”
The disciples did all the works that Jesus did. They healed the sick, they cast out devils, they raised the dead. Christ’s statements were literally fulfilled in their works, but these healings, the demon dethroning, and life from the dead were not greater works than those of Jesus, neither was their aggregate greater. The greater works are put in contrast with those, and are not literal, but spiritual. The saving of souls on the day of Pentecost, and subsequent spiritual results, are evidences of this. These greater works were wrought through believers by the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost came because Jesus went to the right hand of the Father.
The same spiritual results are possible to-day through the anointing of the same Holy Ghost, which Jesus has promised to those who believe on him. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”—Selected.

Missionary Rights, Church and State, and the Kingdom

A MISSIONARY who stands habitually on his rights is about useless as a spiritual power. What the churches need to have impressed on them to-day is that church and state are different instrumentalities, working toward different ends, and that the extension of political influence and of commercial relations has no necessary relation to the advance of the kingdom of God. At the very best, these agencies are only the wheels on which the gospel advances; they are not the power itself. If the kingdom of God is to advance in the earth, it must be by the labors of men who are absolutely intent on spiritual ends, who are willing to sacrifice their rights and pleasures and life itself for the sake of winning men to Christ.—The Watchman.

The Indwelling Spirit and Our Personality

“His indwelling brings out our personality. We never ignore him, nor he us.”

Consider the Lilies.

By James B. Kenyon

CONSIDER the lilies, O my heart, Poor heart, so slow, so late to learn! Thou more than meat and raiment art; Wilt thou still earthward yearn?
Consider the lilies, how they grow; O heart, they neither toil nor spin, Yet they are clad in robes like snow; Art thou as pure within?
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass, Shall he not clothe thee, as he saith, Clothe thee upon with righteousness, O thou of little faith?
Behold the fowls of the air; They sow not, neither do they reap; They take no thought, no carking care, They neither watch nor weep;
And yet the Father feedeth these. O heart, where is thy boasted trust? No more of sloth or doubting ease; Arise from out the dust!
Go, get thee to thy work again; Know thou that verily in the Lord Thy labor can not be in vain: Thou shalt have thy reward.
No sparrow falleth to the earth Without the Father, and thou art Than many sparrows of more worth, O faithless, foolish heart!
Therefore take thou no anxious thought; Thy strength shall still be as thy day: The birds and lilies have not wrought, But thou art more than they.
— James B. Kenyon, in Christian Advocate.

THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.

(Concluded.)
How blind is a poor, self-righteous sinner, trying to live unto God by his morality! How much blinder still is the poor, self-conceited sinner, trying by “science falsely so called,” to reason out his life in God! How the gospel of blood opens the blinded eyes to the terror and weakness of law, to the futility of all philosophy, however excellent and useful as a rule for the present life! And how, in the very light of all law and philosophy, it brings before them Jesus, “the one altogether lovely and the chiefest among ten thousand!”
Beneath the cross we can discover the exceeding sinfulness of sin, God’s vindictive justice satisfied; and we can behold, as contained in the law, but never revealed by it, how he so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son to die for it. The very law demands this sacrifice of infinite and eternal love; and in the very sacrifice of love we can behold the dignity and the supremacy of the law. Herein we behold the solution of an otherwise undemonstrated problem,—how God could be just to sin and yet love the sinner, and how he could at the same time justify the ungodly according to law.
This fact in the scheme of human redemption, revealed by the gospel, pours the brightest flood of light back upon the significance and value of the divine law, which is the moral transcript of God’s will and the moral reflection of God’s life. Morality is the essence of God, and is eternal, the spirit and essence of his law; and the gospel reveals that moral guilt can alone be atoned for by the sacrifice of infinite moral dignity. The law typified and foreshadowed this vital and central truth of Christianity, but the gospel makes it luminous and refulgent on Calvary.
In all these things it takes the law first of all to make an intelligent believer of the gospel; but it takes this intelligent believer of the gospel alone to look back upon Sinai and see and acknowledge the supremacy and dignity of God’s divine law of life, inexorable when unsatisfied; and yet made potent and living by the atoning blood of Christ when written by the Holy Spirit upon the tablets of the regenerate heart.
Take the ceremonial law with all its symbolic institutions. What wonderful types and shadows of the “good things to come” under a gospel dispensation! Yet how incomprehensible except under the light of that gospel! The bloody sacrifices of the law would be a horrible and hideous butchery if they did not set forth the altar of Calvary with its sacrifice of Christ, the “propitiation for the sins of the world.” No wonder the poor, blinded Ingersollian sees nothing but the shambles, in the sacrifices of the Jewish dispensation. He does not see Christ, and not seeing Christ in all, he can not comprehend Aaron any more than he can comprehend Moses and his so-called “mistakes.”
It is a fearful and awful fact that God can not come short of, nor go beyond, blood, to save; because he can not come short of, nor go beyond, his law, to help the sinner. “Without shedding of blood is no remission,” said the law; but who could ever have understood this fearful maxim but for the adumbration of the fact in the light of Calvary’s cross? Salvation is a legal transaction as well as a moral transformation. There can be no display of divine mercy without the vindication of justice; and it was the part of infinite and eternal love, foreshadowed on Sinai and consummated on Calvary, to step down and out of glory, tread the wine press alone, walk amid the woes of hell, taste the horrors of death, and shed the judicial blood of an atoning sacrifice for sin.
Blood, blood, blood! Awful but glorious display of God’s legal supremacy and dignity to the infantile apprehension of the old dispensation; but, blessed be God, with one stroke of divine justice, once for all and forever, infinite Innocence died on the cross, closed the holocaust of centuries, and opened up the dim and cloudy past to the midday splendors of the Sun of righteousness, redeeming the world, transforming the centuries, and paving the way to the millennium of glory.
So we might speak of the types of the priesthood, the temple, and the kingly offices of Israel. How incomprehensible, but for their revelation and fulfillment in Jesus! Aaron and his robes, the altar and the laver, the table of showbread, and the candlestick and the incense altar, the holy and the most holy place, the ark of the covenant, and the Shekinah between the cherubim, the wonderful veil rent in twain at the crucifixion and uncovering the most holy place, the two goats on the great day of atonement,—all these who could have ever understood but for Calvary and its consummation? These things would have been enigmas, glittering and insoluble mysteries without significance, but for the gospel. How clear and beautiful and glorious do they kindle now to the believer’s eye, and what strong confirmation do they give in proof of Holy Writ and of our glorious Christianity?
So we might speak of prophecy, which is a kindred development of the legal dispensation. The prophets of the Old Testament would be regarded as fanatics and visionaries but for the gospel. Yet how loftily and authoritatively do they speak to all generations when Christ and his apostles confirm their declarations, and when the gospel and the kingdom of God fulfill their marvelous predictions! David pictures the very crucifixion in all its details, and predicts the very words of Christ’s crucial agony: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Isaiah foretells the Son of God by name—Immanuel, God with us, born of a virgin, and called “Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Daniel portrays the glory of his “everlasting kingdom,” counts the very days and years to the time of his crucifixion, when “everlasting righteousness” should be brought in, and when Messiah should “be cut off, but not for himself.” Joel blazes forth the pentecostal splendors, and they all conspire to proclaim the establishment, progress, power, and consummation of the church down to the millennium, in minute and unmistakable detail to the intelligent reader and believer of the gospel. How grandly do the prophets point to the cross and the kingdom of Christ! and how resplendently do their predictionsand doctrines glow under the interpretation and fulfillment of gospel light!
Hoary seers of the centuries gone by! I see you marching through the obscurity of ages, with stately step and awful form, toward Calvary and the cross, and then I behold you grow radiant and luminous in the light of Christ and his apostles, as did Moses and Elijah, the representatives of the law and the prophets on Tabor’s top. Then, as the transfiguration scene passes from my vision, I behold Moses and Elijah gone, and but One left in the midst of his representative apostles, while high Heaven exclaims, “This is my beloved Son; hear ye him;” while the everlasting record of God writes, in letters of gold, “JESUS ONLY.”
He is the “Alpha and Omega” of both dispensations—the “all and in all” of every age; and in him the law and the gospel, the prophets and the apostles, center as one complete unity, the complement and counterpart of each other. The old points forward to the new, and the new points back to the old, and both the old and the new meet as the two parts of God’s divine and eternal indenture, the will of the dead and living Testator, Christ; signed, sealed, delivered, in his own blood; probated in the courts of heaven; and executed, administered, and applied to a perishing world, by the Holy Ghost.

Pruning and Purifying: No Cross, No Crown

THE work of pruning and purifying to fit us for heaven, is a great work, and will cost us much suffering and trial, because our will is not subjected to the will of Christ. We must go through the furnace till the fires have consumed the dross, and we are purified, and reflect the divine image. . . . No cross, no crown! How can one be strong in the Lord without trials? To have strength, we must have exercise. To have strong faith, we must be placed in circumstances where our faith will be tried.—“Gospel Workers.”
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