International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 5, 1886
General Articles.
By Mrs. E. G. White
The Law in the Christian Age.
AFTER the ascension of Christ, when his followers no longer enjoyed his personal presence and instruction, his disciples took up the work where he left it; and the words of truth, as they received them from Him who spake as never man spake, have come down to us clothed with divine power. Paul declared that he had taught the Ephesians “publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Peter and the other apostles preached the same gospel.
Why should the apostles teach repentance toward God?—Because the sinner is in trouble with the Father. He has transgressed the law; he must see his sin, and repent. What is his next work?—To look to Jesus, whose blood alone can cleanse from all sin. Faith in Christ is necessary; for there is no saving quality in law. The law condemns, but it cannot pardon the transgressor. The sinner must depend on the merits of the blood of Christ. “Let him take hold of my strength,” says our merciful Redeemer, “that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me.” Our Lord declared that he would love most to whom most was forgiven; and he only will feel that he needs forgiveness who sees himself as he is, defiled by sin, a transgressor of God’s holy law.
He who has the fullest conviction of the sacred claims of the law, will most clearly see the enormity of his offenses, and will feel that he is indeed forgiven much.
We are nearing the close of time; and a broader, clearer light than others have been favored with shines upon us. The mists are rolling away, and if we are humble students of the divine word, its truths will be clearly revealed to us. But Satan and his host are warring against the commandments of God as never before. Every attempt is made to blind men’s eyes to the truth. If it were possible, even the elect would be deceived. This is no common deception. Satan’s great success consists in keeping men in ignorance of his devices; for then, through his subtlety, he can confuse the minds of the unwary; and, as it were, lead them blindfolded. He is close on the track of all who make profession of Bible truth. He is constantly planning their overthrow, and his temptations are soliciting them on every hand.
If there is one in a position to have a controlling influence over others, Satan works in a masterly manner to confuse that man’s mind, and make right appear wrong, and wrong right. His suggestions are always designed to lessen the importance of God’s requirements, and to set the mind at rest while the daily walk is contrary to the divine law, until finally the victim of his delusions flatters himself that he is walking with God, while he is all the time going contrary to his law.
Such persons think they have faith; but it is presumption. The great adversary has woven a snare for their feet; and when once they become entangled, he has no lack of agencies to involve them still more deeply in his toils. Thus the deception grows stronger and stronger until souls are involved in irretrievable ruin.
As Satan, the god of this world, tempted Christ in the wilderness, so he will tempt every son and daughter of Adam. Our faith will be proved, our motives and principles will be tested; and if we have not a daily, living experience in the truth, and a union with Christ, we shall be swept away from our steadfastness into the error of the wicked.
If we could always remember that Satan comes to us in disguise, his motives concealed, and he himself clad in garments of light, we would be on our guard, and would not fall a prey to his devices. A defense has been furnished us. Says the apostle: “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
This is a safe armor, but it is not safer than we need; for the apostle continues: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” We should study the nature, character, and extent of this spiritual wickedness in high places, lest we become the dupes of the powers of darkness. But how difficult it is to awaken minds to realize the continual activity and great earnestness of our wily foe, notwithstanding the warnings and cautions of the Bible, and the experience of many who have been overthrown by his subtlety. The testimony loses its force; the warning passes out of the mind. Men cease to watch and pray; they do not solicit the aid of holy angels, who would lift up for them a standard against the enemy.
When this earth’s history shall close, there will be only two divisions,—the righteous and the wicked. Every man, woman, and child will be found in one of these two armies. Jesus will be the leader of the righteous, and Satan of the opposing hosts. The angels who kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, are rebels against the law of God, and enemies to all who love and obey his commandments; and all who are breaking, and teaching others to break, the law of God, the foundation of his government in Heaven and on earth, are co-operating with these fallen angels in their work, and are marshaled under the same chief, who directs their operations in opposition to the government of God. These will seek to strengthen their forces by gathering as many as possible into their ranks; and they will annoy and harass, falsify and misrepresent, all whom they cannot influence to join them in their work.
When Christ was upon the earth, there were some who bitterly opposed him. They did not like his teaching; his holy life was a rebuke to them. The apostles had the same spirit of opposition to meet. Spies were upon the track of these early preachers of righteousness, who caught up every word where there was the least chance to wrest the meaning. Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, was an especial object of wrath. His work and its results were falsely stated. His enemies sought to excite the malice of both Jews and Gentiles; and had it not been for the care of God, through the ministration of holy angels, his life would have been sacrificed long before it was, and his work cut short.
God has a people in the world now, whom he has set for the defense of his law; and we need not be surprised, or in any way discouraged, if we have to meet the same spirit of enmity. Christ said to the religious teachers in his day: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” Why was this woe pronounced upon them? Was it because they kept the law of God?—No; “For ye shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.” There are just such teachers now. They will not obey the plainest requirements of the word of God; and after they have turned from the light themselves, they use all their influence to lead others to reject it also. They will not enter the path of obedience, and they are very earnest to hedge up the way that others may not enter.
They pervert the Scriptures, even teaching that it is a denial of Christ to keep the moral law. Error is cherished as precious light, while plain truth, so clear and pointed in the word of God, marking out the course they should pursue, is regarded as an idle tale. They may be professedly serving Christ; but they have changed masters, and are wholly on the enemy’s side. The reason is given by the apostle, when he says: “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” These false teachers manifest the same spirit toward those who keep the commandments of God that the scribes and Pharisees manifested toward Christ.466
Some who are unacquainted with the Bible think that what the ministers tell them must be true. They do not, like the noble Bereans, search the Scriptures for themselves; but they accept the statements of those who have studied the word of God, not to learn the truth, but to sustain false doctrines, to justify their own theories. Many times these false theories are a jumble of inconsistencies; and if men would use their reason, and take the Bible as it reads, they would see the absurdity of their positions. The plain “Thus saith the Lord,” would dispel their errors, as the mist is dispelled by the glories of the rising sun.
As Protestants, the Bible, and the Bible alone, is the foundation of our faith; but by many “the Fathers” are quoted as authority. They do not come as humble learners in the school of Christ, saying, “Lord, what I know not, teach me.” “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”
Says the wise man: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Men may close their eyes to the plainest truths in the word of God, they may trample his law under their feet; but that law, instituted in the beginning, proclaimed from Sinai, and engraved on tables of stone, will judge them in the last day.
Basel, Switzerland.
REST.
By A. J. Morton
BY A. J. MORTON.
“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matt. 11:28.
ONCE I was weary, was tired of life;
My burden of sin seemed so great;
I fain would have yielded, have fled from the strife
'Gainst Satan. Yea, this seemed my fate.
But a gentle, sweet voice from the long long ago
Caught my ear. It’s words proved so blest
I can but repeat them when tossed to and fro,—
“Come unto me; I’ll give you rest.”
Though the storms of life should beat fiercely and high,
Like the winds that o’er Galilee blew,
The thought that the Master will ever be nigh
Will keep me the whole journey through;
For though Satan may buffet; man put me to scorn;
Or trials come thickly and fast,
His word I’ll remember at even or morn,—
“Come unto me; I’ll give you rest.”
Do you wander all weary afar from the fold?
“Come unto me; I’ll give you rest.”
Oh, promise so sure! ‘Tis more precious than gold.
“Come unto me; I’ll give you rest.”
With such invitation, how can I refuse?
I’ll gladly obey His behest.
I cannot such mercy and love e’er abuse;
I’ll go unto him and find rest.
Blessing Is for Obedience.
By C. P. Bollman
"Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart." Ps. 119: 1, 2.
ONE argument that is frequently used in behalf of Sunday-sanctity is that "people have been so blessed" in keeping that day. However, a little thought will show any one that this proves nothing. Real spiritual blessings can be determined certainly only by infallible scriptural proofs; for so far as merely human wisdom can see, the most false and corrupt systems of religion are blessed equally with the true. Many facts might be given to prove this, but it is necessary only to instance the Roman Catholic and the Mormon Churches.
The Church of Rome far outnumbers all Protestants, and exerts an influence in the world to-day that is not equaled by all other professedly Christian bodies combined; and yet Inspiration calls her the "Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth." The Mormon Church, though only fifty-six years old, numbers over 213,000 members, and possesses immense wealth; and this notwithstanding the fact that from the first her people have been cast out as evil, being driven from Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa, and compelled, as a last resort, to find an asylum in the heart of what was then known as the "Great American Desert." But does the prosperity which has attended this people prove that they are of God?—By no means; and yet they imagine that it does; and when in Salt Lake City some three years ago, the writer heard an old Mormon urge some of these facts as evidence of the favor of the Lord. But when we examine the system in the light of the Bible, we know that it is not of God. The Scriptures must in every instance be the standard, and if any people "speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
If Roman Catholicism accords with the Scriptures, and if Mormonism can be sustained by the Bible, then we may conclude that God is really pleased with them, and that he really blesses them, but not otherwise. But while we cannot admit that real blessings are bestowed upon such systems of iniquity as Catholicism and Mormonism, it is no doubt true that many people have been blessed even while holding very serious errors. But who would dare assert that they were blessed because of those errors? Was Luther blessed because he held the doctrine of consubstantiation? Were the churches in the Southern States before the war blessed because they upheld slavery? A man once said to the writer, "I know that it is right to chew tobacco, because God forgave my sins and justified me while I was using it." Was his argument sound? Even granting that his experience was genuine, did it prove that God was pleased to have him defile himself with tobacco?—Certainly not.
The key to all such claims is in the fact that nothing is more natural to the human heart than self-justification; and oftentimes the "goodness of God," which should lead to repentance, is seized upon as evidence of the favor of God toward those who are transgressing his law. The apostle Peter tells us (2 Peter 3), that even the long-suffering of God will in the last days furnish an argument for the scoffers who ask, "Where is the promise of his coming?" and the wise man says: "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily; therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Eccl. 8: 11. And he adds: "Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear he before him; but it shall not be well with the wicked." Verses 12, 13.
And then, too, a mistake is often made in regarding prosperity as an evidence of the blessing of God; but of prosperity in sin the psalmist says: "When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed forever." Ps. 92: 7. And again we read: "I was envious . . . when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." "They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men." "Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish." "Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world." Ps. 73: 3, 5, 7, 12. But of the righteous David says: "Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning." Verses 13, 14.
At first the psalmist did not understand this; he could not see why it was that the wicked prospered, while the people of God suffered adversity. When he thought of this it was too painful for him, but when he went into the Sanctuary of God, he says: "Then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places." Ps. 73: 16-18. But what did he see there that enabled him to understand the matter? He saw the ark containing the law of God—the rule of the Judgment—and then with Job, he could say: "God layeth up his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty." "The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction; they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." Job 21: 19, 20, 30.
But how shall we know who is blessed of the Lord? Again let the psalmist answer: "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." Such a man may suffer affliction as Job did, but with that patriarch he can say: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Or, like the apostle, though about to seal his testimony with his blood, he can say: "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day."
Wealth, position, and the applause of men are no proof of the favor of God, but rather the contrary. Says the Saviour: "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of Heaven;" and he charged his disciples, saying: "Be ye not called Rabbi; for one is your Master, even Christ;" and again he said: "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets." The Saviour did not teach his followers to look for ease in this world; he said: "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." John 15: 18-20.
The words of the Saviour, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon," are as true now as when first spoken; and the question, "What concord hath Christ with Belial," is as pertinent now as in the days of the apostle. The only safety of either churches or individuals is in clinging closely to the Scriptures. The word of the Lord to his ancient people was:—
"Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day; and a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known."
And in harmony with this are the words of Christ: "Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven." The Lord says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy . . . The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work." And in the day that "God shall bring every work into judgment," what excuse shall they offer who are found violating this plain commandment? Will any then plead the blessing of God as a reason for making void his law through human traditions?—Nay, verily; for the "refuge of lies" shall be swept away, and then, in the clear light of the unchanged law of God, all shall "discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not." Mal. 3: 18.
C. P. BOLLMAN.
God's Sight My Safety.
THAT delightful passage in Exodus came flashing up to my mind just now, where the Israelite sprinkled the blood on the lintel and the two side-posts. Then he shut the door. He was inside; he did not see the blood any more. The blood was outside upon the posts, and he could not see it himself; but was he safe? Yes; because it is written, "When I see this blood, I will pass over you." It is God's sight of the blood of his dear Son that is the everlasting safeguard of all who are in Christ. Though it is most precious and sweet to me to look at that blood once shed for many for the remission of sins, and I do look at it, yet if ever there should come a dark night to me in which I cannot see it, still God will see it, and I am safe. I am saved, because it is written, not when you see it, but "when I see the blood, I will pass over you." It is the perfection of the sacrifice, not your perfection of sight, which is your safeguard. It is the absence of all blemish from the sacrifice—not the absence of blemish from your faith—that makes you to be "accepted in the Beloved."—Sel.
Christ’s Keeping Power
SEEK the keeping power of Christ, that in the hour of temptation you may be kept unspotted from the world.—Sel.
Saved by Faith.
By Methodist Recorder
Does a single act of faith save a man? This depends upon what we mean by being saved. If we refer to the guilt and condemnation of past sin, a single act of faith in Christ will save the soul—secure its justification and peace with God—bring it out of darkness into light—out of condemnation into a state of divine favor. And, if it is the final act of life, it will save the soul forever. Such an act may be compared, in some respects at least, to an act of naturalization, by which an individual forever renounces his allegiance to one State and assumes allegiance to another, and is thereby received into an entirely new and different state of citizenship. Whether he shall prove a good or bad citizen, worthy of the protection of the State, or deserving of its punishment, is another question.
So a single act of faith brings a man into a state of divine favor, makes him a child of God and an heir of Heaven; but in order to retain the divine favor and his state of sonship and heirship he must continue to believe in Christ, and, as the fruit of that faith, render obedience to all his requirements. That one act of faith must grow into a habit of continual, abiding trust. No works, no acts of outward obedience, without faith in Christ, can save us; but at the same time, "faith without works is dead." Good works necessarily result from a living, active faith.
All the good acts, well-pleasing to God, that any man performs, are the result of his faith; for "without faith it is impossible to please God." Faith and good works sustain to each other the relation of cause and effect. The latter is dependent on the former. When we cease to believe God, we cease to obey him from proper motives and in a right spirit. Hence it is truly said, "By grace are ye saved, through faith." So, also, we are urged to "fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life." —Methodist Recorder.
Contradictions.
By Myrta Votaw
I HAD the opportunity a few days ago of attending what is styled "Children's day," at the M. E. Church in West Mansfield, Ohio. The house was beautifully decorated with flowers. The people had gathered into the village from every direction and seemed very content to pass their rest day in listening to the exercises that had been prepared. The address of welcome was followed by the reading of the first four commandments. The fourth commandment was divided, the superintendent reading, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," and the school reading, "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." They then read from Isa. 58 : 13, 14. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable," and so on.
This was followed by an address by a minister, who besought the parents to train the children in the way they should go. He said he thought that it would not be long until every one would be compelled to keep "the Sabbath of the Lord, the first day of the week."
Further on in his address he said that a law would be made compelling people to observe Sunday as the Sabbath. This same man told Brother Thompson, when he was here with the tent, that this was a free country, and that no such laws would ever be made. He certainly contradicted himself in these statements. He closed his remarks by an exhortation to the brethren to stand firm in the right, and in the meanwhile to pray for those that were in error, to pray that they might "keep the Sabbath of the Lord and not a Jewish Sabbath."
Then the school read: "We will keep all thy commandments, thy statutes, and thy laws." This seems almost a pledge, and how much they will have to account for in the Judgment day only the most holy One knows. It is to be hoped that they may be led into the truth before it is too late. MYRTA VOTAW.
Love.
By Frank Hope
"God is love." And "God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." When God created man, he imparted to him the faculty of love. So strong is this in man that there is not a human being on the earth that does not love something, the most degraded and ignorant savages all having their objects of adoration and love. This faculty, applied in the manner that God intended, makes the Christian; but, allowed to run after other objects, makes the sinner. There is nothing done by man under the sun without love. It is the motive power of man's life, the very quintessence of his existence. It is the subtle influence that prompts his every action, and every imagination of his heart, whether good or bad. Every good action, kind word, or noble thought is inspired by love to God, and "this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments."
Sin is perverted love. A man must love something; just as surely as he partakes of the divine nature, just so surely it is in his nature to love. If he does not love God, he will love something else. He generally loves himself. The apostle tells us that "the love of money is the root of all evil." What crime or iniquity cannot be traced to selfishness? and selfishness is too much love of self. So, as in other cases, the greatest blessing God bestows on man, when perverted becomes his greatest curse. FRANK HOPE.
Inspiration.
THEOLOGIANS have, first and last, written a great many essays and treatises on the subject of inspiration. And yet, as a matter of fact, there are no statements on this subject clearer and simpler than those which the Bible itself supplies. We prefer these statements to any others. "God," says Paul, "who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." Here is inspiration on its divine side. God does the speaking through agencies of his own selection; and, if so, then man's province is to do the hearing and the believing.
"Holy men of God," says Peter, "spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Here is inspiration on its human side. "Holy men of God" did the speaking, but they were moved by the Holy Ghost in what they said. "Which things we also speak," says Paul, "not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." These three passages contain an inspired statement of inspiration. They connect the authority of God with the truth of the things spoken. The Bible, as a record, by this authority, becomes the word of God. We receive it and believe it because God is the author.
Reason never acts more reasonably than when it believes God. His word is always good for all that it affirms. There is no sounder nor safer position for human thought than to receive this word. We must do so in order to feel its force, or get from it the comforts which it is suited to impart. He who cavils with this word is engaged in very poor business for his own comfort. He will not, while in this position, be sanctified or saved by it.—Independent.
The Voice of Conscience
By Bowes
What is the instinct of awe and sense of obligation found in every breast, but the testimony to some higher and superior power? As the echo implies some preceding sound, surely the whispers of conscience imply the inner voice of the great Spirit.—Bowes.
To the Lone Pilgrims.
By Roswell F. Cottrell
THE Jubilee is coming! The year of release to the oppressed is at hand. The conflict with the powers of darkness will soon be ended, and then, if faithful, the victor's crown of glory will be yours. What though the way grows rougher, and the conflict severer! Did we not expect it? Did we not count the cost? Are we not looking for trouble and affliction and persecution? The way to be prepared for the fiery trial which is to try us, is to bear with patience and cheerfulness our present trials. They will do us good if properly endured and improved. Though we are in the midst of perils,—though iniquity abounds and the love of many grows cold,—yet the blessed promise is, "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." There is something to endure; but the Lord loves us, and is willing to save us.
"O thou afflicted" "inhabitant of Zion, tossed with tempest, and not comforted!" thou son or daughter of Jerusalem above! the Lord loves you, and you may triumph over the powers of darkness. Thou lone pilgrim, bowed down with oppression, and feeling as if there were none to sympathize with or pray for thee, look up, and press forward; for neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Those iron bands of opposition shall be broken. The time is not far distant when, if faithful, "thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear, and from terror; for it shall not come near thee." See Isa. 54:11-14. No one can deprive the weakest saint of salvation. Thank the Lord, salvation is free; it is within our reach! The poorest and most oppressed may be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom that God has promised to them that love him.
God hears thy sighs and sees thy tears. We have a God that seeth in secret, and he will reward us openly. He knows all our grief. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust." We have also a High Priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Angels are interested in our behalf, and the saints of God are praying for us. What cause, then, to fear? Friends and companions may turn against us; father and mother may forsake us; but then the Lord will take us up.
"Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord." Let patience have its perfect work. These fires are intended to take away our dross; and though the furnace be hot, let us lie passive in the crucible, till the refiner and purifier of silver can see his own image in us.
Let no lone pilgrim despond or faint because of the oppressor. The Jubilee is coming! The time of the promise is drawing near. The strong man armed will soon release his prisoners; for a stronger than he is coming, who will wrest from him his spoils. The Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved forever.
Take courage, fellow-pilgrim. Put on the whole armor of God. The conflict, though sharp, cannot be long. The victory can be won in the strength of our Redeemer. And then the prize,—the victor's crown, the harps of God! "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." In patience wait, and work in hope. There are souls to be saved; and you may see the fruit of your labor in the soon-coming, glorious kingdom of God. Watch and pray; wait and work. R. F. COTTRELL.
Goodness Shines Through Contemplation
By F. W. Robertson
The tinsel must be seen at a distance, or it will be discovered to be counterfeit. We may gaze on goodness, and the more we gaze the more it shines.—F. W. Robertson.