Review and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 12. (3/21/1912)

Review and Herald

Mar 21, 1912

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 21, 1912

A Psalm of David

ANSWER me when I call, O God of my righteousness; Thou hast set me at large when I was in distress: have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer. O ye sons of men, how long shall My glory be turned into dishonor? How long will ye love vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah. But know that Jehovah hath set apart for Himself him that is godly: Jehovah will hear when I call unto Him. Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in Jehovah. Many there are that say, Who will show us any good? Jehovah, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than they have when their grain and their new wine are increased. In peace will I both lay me down and sleep; for Thou, Jehovah, alone makest me dwell in safety.

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SOME FEATURES

Frontispiece, “Factory Recreation Grounds.”

Fogs and Clouds in God's Out-of-Doors, by George Wharton James.

Use of Soothing Syrups, by Wm. C. Woodward, health officer District of Columbia.

Reform Clothing in Dresden, by G. H. Heald, M. D. (Illustrated).

The Witches of Hazel (Story of Witch-Hazel).

The Factory in a Garden, by the editor.

Health and Common Sense, by Eva J. DeMarsh.

How to Cook Legumes (part two), by G. E. Cornforth.

Medical Missionary Work and the Gospel.

Cerebrospinal Meningitis, How to Prevent, etc.

The Truth About “The League of Medical Freedom.”

Reopen the Canteens?

Drink and Safety.

Questions and Answers.—Digestibility of Fruits—Treatment of Biliousness—Blistered Feet—Gall-Stones—Feeding the Baby—Remedy for Warts, etc.

Safety of Oysters as Food.

Alcohol and Insanity.

Licking Stamps.

Athletics in Educational Institutions.

News Notes, Current Comment, and other departments of interest.

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Rome’s Plan to Exclude Anti-Catholic Publications from the U. S. Mails.

The President Again Attends St. Patrick’s Cathedral Thanksgiving Day. (Illustrations)

Visit to an Inquisition Prison in Holland. (Illustrations)

A Governor’s Plan to Increase Church Attendance by Law.

Spain and Religious Liberty.

America a Beacon-Light to the Nations.

Should the State Teach Religion?

Cardinal Gibbons on Church and State Union.

Russian Passports and Religious Liberty.

The Church in Politics.

Religious Laws Now Before Congress.

Religion and State in Turkey.

Spain Tired of National Reformism.

Roosevelt on Liberty.

The Liquor Traffic and the Home.

An Important Temperance Convention.

Striking Cartoon: “Is It Constitutional?”

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God's Forgiving Love

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE

LET no Christian seek to excuse himself in sin on the ground that others who have claimed to follow Jesus have committed the same errors. Your sin is none the less heinous because others have been guilty; and your manifest duty is to confess your sin to Jesus Christ, your intercessor. Take the weight of your woe to no human being. You have one mediator, Jesus Christ the righteous. In contrition of soul go to him and tell all your sins. The promise is sure, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” John says: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” “That ye sin not,”—here is where you bring yourself into condemnation when you continue to sin. But in the strength of Christ cease to sin. Every provision has been made that grace should abide with you, and that sin may appear to you the hateful thing it is. But if any man sin, he is not to give himself up to despair, and talk like a man who is lost to Christ. “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

The temptations of the enemy will come; but shall we give him the advantage to break down all the barriers, by yielding one iota from the strictest principles of integrity? If we yield in the least, he will follow one temptation with another, until we shall go directly contrary to the plainest statements of the Word of God, and follow the mind and will of Satan. Satan and his confederacy of evil angels are ever on the alert to see by what means they may ensnare and ruin souls who have enlisted under the blood-stained banner of Prince Immanuel. You did run well for a season, you did taste and see that the Lord is good; but when you fell into sin, you walked in darkness. When you yielded to temptation, you must have ceased to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith. But, having confessed your sins, believe that the word of God can not fail, but that he is faithful that hath promised. It is just as much your duty to believe that God will fulfil his word, and forgive your sins, as it is your duty to confess your sins. You must exercise faith in God as in one who will do exactly as he has promised in his Word, and pardon all your transgressions.

How may we know that the Lord is indeed our sin-pardoning Redeemer, and prove what is the blessedness, the grace, the love there is in him for us? O, we must believe his word implicitly, with contrite and submissive spirit! There is no need to go mourning and ever repenting, and under a cloud of continual condemnation. Believe the word of God, keep looking unto Jesus, dwelling upon his virtues and mercies, and there will be created in the heart an utter abhorrence of that which is evil. You will be among those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. But the more closely we discern Jesus, the more clearly we shall see our own defects of character. As we see our failings, let us confess them to Jesus, and, with true contrition of soul, cooperate with the divine power of the Holy Spirit to overcome all evil. If we confess our sins, we must believe that they are pardoned, because the promise is positive: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Let us no more dishonor God by doubting his pardoning love.

JOHN D. GILLATT

By John D. Gillatt

The City Problem --- No. 4

JOHN D. GILLATT

The price of saving others from death is to die to sin and self ourselves; and if our ministry is a daily ministry, as it should be, then our death must likewise be daily. If seed is to sprout, it must be buried—lost from sight. Therefore if “the children of the kingdom” would bear fruit, they must be sown, sown where they can sink out of sight.

Obviously, there is no better field for such a burial than our great cities, with their teeming population literally able to bury from view our small force. For instance, here in our English territory, is London, which could at the same time provide each of our ordained ministers and licentiates from the various parts of the world with an audience of 5,000. Then there is New York, which could supply each of these preachers with approximately 2,500; Paris could supply 2,000 for every one of the same workers, and Berlin about 1,500. In these and other cities we certainly see immense fields with extensive possibilities. Here are whitened fields thick with bending grain. Let us speedily enter and reap the golden harvest of souls.

Some, perhaps, are overawed by the very greatness of our cities, and overwhelmed with a consciousness of our own feebleness and the smallness of our numbers. To such we commend a study of the early experiences of Israel under Joshua.

The Gospels give us, in closing, the story of Christ’s passion, then comes the record of richly successful conquests for Christ and his church. Likewise the Pentateuch concludes with the death of Moses, then follows the narrative of richly successful conquests for God and the armies of Israel,—the ancient book of the Acts of the Apostles. Perhaps the most notable conquest was that which brought Jericho to her abrupt end. Never has city closed itself more determinedly to the entry of this truth or its representatives, for “Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.” Joshua 6:1. Yet, despite this emphatic exclusion and strict isolation, the Lord declared that he had already given the city and its great ones into the hand of his servant.

By his Spirit, God had been striving with the inhabitants, most of whom had hardened their hearts against that inward pleading, and thus had decided their cases. Joshua 2:9, 10. One individual, however, upon the visit of the two spies, confessed the Lord. Rahab’s reception of the divine word into her heart so fully developed her faith (Rom. 10:17; Heb. 11:31) that her house remained standing even though the city walls fell. Having evidently accepted the truth for that time, she was married into a family of Judah, became the mother of Boaz, the great-great-grandmother of King David, and the direct ancestor of the Messiah, whose power had transformed her character. Matt. 1:5.

Israel’s priests were commanded to carry forth the ark, and Israel’s people to follow it. This took place at harvest-time, the time of Jordan’s swelling. Joshua 3:15. The very elements seemed to be against them; and it is noteworthy that when they reached the torrential river, they did not attempt to rush through, depending on the successful passage of their fathers through the Red Sea. No, a personal preparation was necessary, and accordingly they “came to Jordan, . . . and lodged there before they passed over.” Verse 1. During this interval a call for renewed sanctification went forth, couched in most memorable words: “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” Verse 5. After such a spiritual revival, Israel was prepared to stand on Canaan’s shores, and stepped out boldly to Jordan’s brinks. No tide can stand between the sanctified individual and the object of his loftiest desires. “All things are possible.” Mark 9:23. No stormy current can cut him off from success of the highest degree.

For forty long years Israel had been wending a weary way through a trackless wilderness. The tedious journey had sorely tried the testy tempers of the multitude, and they had fallen. A new generation—the last generation of pilgrim wanderers—had been born, and lo, a change was wrought. Celerity now marked their progress, and on the last lap of the homeward journey, we notice they do not content themselves with a moderate pace, but, says the record, “The people hastened and passed over.”

All the first candidates for Canaan had to be immersed, and this immersion was effected by their being hidden beneath the cloud and the walls of the Red Sea waters. 1 Cor. 10:2. All the later candidates were baptized in the passage of the Jordan. Again, the fathers had been circumcised. Naturally, then, the sons were circumcised before Jericho was destroyed before them. Joshua 5. This same chapter shows Joshua in the presence of the heavenly Captain, and the former’s prompt acknowledgment of his superior. Immediately on recognition of the Captain of the Lord’s host, Joshua solicits and awaits orders. Then in the sixth chapter, when Jericho is taken, the course is simple,—great haste, preparation having been made,—and Jericho falls before faith, persistence, order, and an earnestness that brought its possessors out betimes on the eventful morning.

In concluding, let us apply the lessons. It is we who are privileged to reveal the ark (Rev. 11:19), with its enshrined law, to the waiting isles (Isa. 42:4) and to all them that dwell on the earth (Rev. 14:6); for we are living in the antitypical time of harvest (see Matt. 13:39) and the swelling of Jordan (Jer. 12:5). It is for us, then, to follow the sacred ark with all it stands for, we ourselves being sanctified by the truth (John 17:17), thus gaining a personal experience in the things of God. This generation, the last of earth’s pilgrims, is to make haste, like the one of old. Swifter progress and a short work—a cutting short in righteousness—are to characterize our labors. Rom. 9:28.

With such an experience as this, and knowing that our Captain is on the field to lead us till victory shall rest on our banners, we shall not hesitate to surrender the battle to him. Submitted to his leadership, we shall fight in rank, shoulder to shoulder, unity and order prevailing among us; and “being instant in season, and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2), we shall accomplish the work which our Captain has commissioned us to perform.

All the requisites for the accomplishment of this work may be summed up thus: personal godliness, spirituality, and complete surrender to the leadership of Christ. By all means, let us lay hold upon these, that our triumph may be sure. With determination to attain unto this spiritual regeneration, let our prayer be: “Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.” 2 Chron. 14:11.

With such an experience and such a prayer in this world, our testimony in the next will be, “There was not one city too strong for us.” Deut. 2:36. May such be our lot.

London. England.

The True Thanksgiving

By Arthur Lewis Tubbs

There is no hearth so bleak and bare But heaven has sent some blessing there; No table, e'er so sparsely spread, But that a grace should there be said;

No life but knows some moments blest Of sweet contentment and of rest; No heart so cold but heaven above Hath touched it with the warmth of love.

For those who suffer and endure There is God's mercy ever sure; And patience wins a fairer crown Than worldly honor or renown.

Not in the mansion reared in pride Doth happiness alone abide; For oft the palace knoweth not The joys that bless a humble cot.

So count your blessings, one by one, At early morn and set of sun; And, like an incense, to the skies Your prayers of thankfulness shall rise.

Look for the love that heaven sends, The good that every soul intends: Thus you will learn the only way To keep a true Thanksgiving day.

— Arthur Lewis Tubbs.

The Review and Herald

“Here is the Patience of the Saints: Here are they that keep the Commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12

VOL. 89

TAKOMA PARK STATION, WASHINGTON, D. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 1912

No. 12

T. E. BOWEN

By T. E. BOWEN

Job's Experience — No. 2

T. E. BOWEN

Had Job's test ceased with his first signal victory, a very wonderful record would have been made; but it did not. So far God's confidence in Job's integrity was fully vindicated before all. Job had been discreet, had borne his grief with a humble trust in God. God had been honored, his grace and strength sought and bestowed, resulting in Satan's defeat.

Faithfully the inspired record goes on: “Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them, to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life: but put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand: but save his life.” Job 2:1–6.

In this dialogue between a merciful and loving God and the cruel, relentless foe, there is food for much careful study; for from it many lessons can be drawn. We may learn—

1. Of the persistency of our enemy. Defeated, ignominiously so, yet no reference is made to that by him. He presents himself for another attack.

2. That it is evident God had kept close watch over every detail of the trying ordeal of his servant; for on this second appearance of Satan with a grievance, God adds in his question to the foe his observation of the faithfulness of Job in his sore trial, and further points out that Satan had moved him to permit of the destruction of Job's children and property all “without cause.”

3. Of Satan's hatred for God, his malice and cruelty to man, as manifested by his desiring permission of God to touch the body of Job, his bone and his flesh, with excruciating pain, in the hope that, as he would thus be weakened and afflicted, he would loosen his hold of faith on God, and in his heart curse his Maker, and so sin against God.

From this second interview, Satan again leaves the presence of God to continue his going to and fro in the earth—walking up and down in it, as Peter later describes his movements, “as a roaring lion,” “seeking whom he may devour.” It is not long until Job is afflicted with a terrible disease. His whole body is full of loathsome sores, and he is in terrible pain. The questions which naturally arise in every mind at such a time are: What does all this mean? Why does God permit me thus to be afflicted? What have I done so terrible, so wicked, that such a calamity as this must befall me? Ah! here is the danger. We forget that it is the enemy's carefully planned plot; that he studiously conceals himself, letting us conclude that God is responsible for all this affliction and woe. True, Satan can go only as far as God permits, but who knows whether the Lord may not have been moved “without cause” in our case also when the permission was given? Satan persists that he must get at the servants of God. He insinuates that he does not have a fair chance. Think of how the Son of God himself was afflicted: in the wilderness, in Gethsemane, on the cruel cross. The Father was also “moved” “without cause” against his beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased.

Let no one conclude that affliction coming to the child of God is evidence that God does not love him, or has forsaken him; or that the individual can not be benefited by the affliction, be it bereavement, sickness, or any other suffering.

“Often when the servant of God is withdrawn from active duty, the mysterious providence which our short-sighted vision would lament, is designed by God to accomplish a work that otherwise would never have been done. Let not the follower of Christ think, when he is no longer able to labor openly and actively for God and his truth, that he has no service to render, no reward to secure. Christ's true witnesses are never laid aside. In health and sickness, in life and death, God uses them still. When through Satan's malice the servants of Christ have been persecuted, their active labors hindered, when they have been cast into prison, or dragged to the scaffold or to the stake, it was that truth might gain a greater triumph.”—The Acts of the Apostles, page 465.

In Job's affliction Satan now inspires some of the professed servants of God to go to him with their comfort (?). They are prepared to point out the exact difficulty, the cause of all Job's calamities. They are men of long experience. They have been spared all this because somehow they have known just how to avoid the cause. In their hearts they truly thank God that they are not like Job. They put on a sanctimonious mien, and because of the gravity of the case they sit down with him seven days without saying a word.

At last they begin. It takes nine chapters to record what they said, and possibly some things were left out. Insinuations were dropped that naturally would goad a man on to desperation. Here is a sample. Friend Eliphaz, after his gracious introduction, remarked: “Remember, I pray thee, whoever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. By the blast of God they perish.” True enough, perhaps, but misapplied in this instance. Job, he says, you are now reaping the results of the terrible wickedness of your past life. We had counted you a good man, even very righteous, but here it is. God has opened it all up now; he knows, and makes no mistakes. This was the sentiment running through all they said.

While it takes nine chapters to record what Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite said to Job, as they tarried at his home, it takes nineteen chapters to give Job's replies. O that Job had had grace enough to keep silent! It was Satan's plan in sending these “miserable comforters” to harass Job, first to draw him out to pity himself, then to bemoan his lot, and at last, possibly, to charge God with the cause of all his calamities.

Jesus at this point kept silent. He answered not one word to his accusers, and that, too, when apparently they would gain a wrong impression of the reason for his trials, by his making them no reply. He opened not his mouth to them to give them fuel for their fire, but in secret communed with his Father—for strength to remain silent. “I was dumb with silence; I held my peace, even from good.” Ps. 39: 2.

At this point Job stumbled. He undertook to justify himself; while much that he said was true, it would have been better to let God, in his own time and way, do that, as is fully revealed by later developments.

Takoma Park, D. C.

Good, Honest Work

By Clarence Santee

CLARENCE SANTEE

“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” 1 Tim. 5:8. From this text it is evident that there can not be an indolent Christian. The Lord has emphasized this fact in many scriptures. He has said that “if any would not work, neither should he eat.” 2 Thess. 3:10. “With quietness they work, and eat their own bread.” Verse 12. “Not slothful in business.” He puts this by the side of fervency of spirit, and with both, “serving the Lord.” Rom. 12:11. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” Eccl. 9:10.

But does not the Lord say that we are like to take no thought for the morrow? See Matt. 6:34. In the same chapter he gives the reason why we should take no thought; he has taken all the thought, and provided for every necessity. But this does not encourage idleness. We must accept his thought, and then work to accomplish the plan. The father takes thought for the farm, his sons drive the teams, and the barns are filled. “Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Matt. 6:32); and knowing this, “my God shall supply all your need.” Phil. 4:19.

Before Adam could take any thought as to how his food should come, or from what source, God thought it all out. This, however, did not release Adam from the responsibility of caring for the seeds, the plants, the vines, and the trees from which his food was to come, after he was formed and became dependent upon them as the means by which God was to provide his food. The Lord took Adam, and “put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Gen. 2:15.

The men and women who are indolent and slothful can not know the joy of the Lord. They may, at times, have a selfish satisfaction in seeing others bear their burdens, but they may rest assured that as viewed by those who bear them, the satisfaction is very questionable. It is that sort of satisfaction that dwells alone. It can not be shared.

To those who enter the city, God will say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Matt. 25:21. A “servant”, is one who serves. The “faithful servant” is the one who is diligent, and does his best.

Christ points us to the “fowls of the air.” He provides for them. Matt. 6:26. Yet if the fowls should sit on the branches with folded wings, they would soon starve. He points us to the ant, which faithfully toils from morning till night, carrying out God’s thought. Prov. 6:6-11. He admonishes the indolent one to take it for an example of faithful service, and to leave behind his drowsy indifference to the temporal needs of himself and those dependent on him.

The most beautiful lessons given by our Saviour were drawn from the sower, the plowman, the reaper, and the husbandman; but there is not one good lesson that he could illustrate by the slothful, indolent man.

Good, honest toil decreases the liability to disease, and increases the number of happy, contented days. God says, “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand.” Eccl. 11:6.

When sin entered this world, and poison, malaria, and consequent death, the Lord gave to Adam, not as a curse, but under the circumstances a blessing, labor that would bring “the sweat of thy face.” Gen. 3:19. It was a preventive, a tonic, a good medicine. There are few if any remedies known to-day that will accomplish more than this, probably not nearly so much.

“Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest.” Heb. 4:11. Who can say that this text does not include hard, honest, physical labor?

Loma Linda, Cal.

Jesus as a Mere Man

By W. E. Hancock

W. E. HANCOCK

EVEN those who would impugn the veracity of the only written account of the life and work of Jesus, will admit that such a person existed. It would be more difficult to account for the influence of Jesus as a mythical person than to acknowledge that he actually lived. Only ignorance or blind disregard of facts will excuse an effort to disprove the reality and influence of his life, difficult though it be to account for them, if we should consider him as a mere man.

Let those who look upon him as only a human being consider candidly the rôle he has played in history, to determine the elements of his greatness and the causes for the influence his life has exerted. Contemplate his influence upon the destiny of empires and kingdoms. An obscure man of Galilee, who never occupied a single recognized position of honor, religious, military, or political, rose from obscurity, overcame enemies, completely revolutionized the attitude of the world toward the great questions of morals and ethics, and was heralded by the victors as the patron of their successes. Armies overcame in his name; victories were ascribed to him; his has been considered the controlling influence in all the great events since his death. Yet never in life did he teach diplomacy or military tactics, nor lead an army.

It has not been, however, in the realm of statecraft or on the battle-field that his influence has been the most potent and the most direct. The distinctive realm of Jesus' influence is and has ever been the inner life of the individual. Jesus did not so much as organize the few disciples who had believed on him before his death; but he had planted the seed of another kingdom in the hearts of his humble followers. As an organizer and a founder he died an apparent failure, and truly so, measured by human precedents. But contrary to all human precedents, his life and character emerge from obscurity, from the gloomy chamber of death, and become a resistless power in the world and a winning influence in the human heart.

The obscurity of his life in the world of his time is shown by the fact that we find the merest mention of such a man in profane history. He came to win the individuals and not to conquer kingdoms. The realm of his influence is within men; but in effecting the reformation of individual lives, the teaching of Jesus has remodeled the whole of society. The great systems of government and religion which stood between our loving Father and his children have been shattered. Souls, individual souls, are the mediums of his operations and the recipients of the highest privileges that God can bestow. Every system of government or religion that does not recognize the rights of the individual becomes the object of attack in the teaching of Christ. Such teaching and such greatness compared with that of other acknowledged great characters present great contrast, but little comparison.

Shall we compare him with a Cyrus, or an Alexander, or a Cæsar, or a Napoleon, or even with Moses, the leader and organizer of Israel? Only with the last-named person can we find a basis of likeness. A prophecy of Christ said that he would be like Moses; but that likeness consisted in this that they both were prophets. Moses was a leader, a statesman, a general; Christ was neither as man. Moses could point to a long line of achievements acknowledged by his contemporaries; not so with Jesus. Considered as man, his life ends in ignominious failure. Forsaken in death by his own disciples, mocked and derided by the Jews, and condemned to death as a malefactor, he merits, as man, pity as a self-deluded fanatic or condemnation as an impostor. But, instead of that, we find that he survives and conquers.

The greatness of Jesus can not be reckoned on the basis of his humanity solely. He satisfies the infinite longing of the human heart for the connection with Infinite power, the power which can save humanity from its weakness. He makes the connection between the unseen God and hopeless man, unattainable by human strength and beyond the understanding of human knowledge.

The chasm, to all human philosophy and wisdom found impassable between a sinful world and an imperfect race and a perfect God and a sinless universe beyond, is bridged over by Jesus, the Saviour. It is this element in his teaching and the corresponding power in his life that constitute his greatness and compel the human heart to accept his claims and to confide in his power. At the same time the human element is recognized, by which he is joined to us as the Son of man. Do you ask for proof? Then disprove human history and show that the experience and longing of man in seeking this connection with his Creator has not been satisfied in Jesus Christ. The attempt ought to be sufficient proof.

Napoleon can not be accused of being a partizan of religion when he said: “I know men; and I shall tell you that Jesus is not a man. . . . He is truly a being by himself. I defy you to cite another life like that of Christ.”

Takoma Park, D. C.

CLARENCE E. MOON

By Clarence E. Moon

Opportunity

CLARENCE E. MOON

“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Eph. 5:16. Who is there that can look out on the world and not see that the “whole world lieth in wickedness”? We are truly living in an evil time, and at this very time comes the admonition to “redeem the time.” Yesterday with its record for good or bad is gone forever. Then what are we to do? Is there no relief? The word to the church at Colosse gives us additional light: “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time;” or, “buying up the opportunity,” margin. Col. 4:5. The direct translation of Conybeare and Howson gives us still more, “forestalling or anticipating the opportunities.” By faithfully grasping each opportunity that Divine Providence affords us we can redeem the time. If we receive each opportunity for doing good as coming from the merciful hand of God, we can not but believe in daily divine guidance. Paul strikingly illustrates this thought in Phil. 3:12. “Not that I have already won, or am already perfect; but I press onward, if indeed I might lay hold on that, for which Christ also laid hold on me.”—Conybeare and Howson. The King James Version has it translated, “that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus,” but it means the same thing.

So Paul says to us, in effect, that Jesus Christ had reached down and stopped his mad rush toward destruction and had redeemed him, or laid hold of him, for a definite purpose; and this is what the apostle wished and prayed that he might lay hold of, that divine purpose in calling him.

O, that we might lay hold of his purpose and anticipate every opportunity that comes to us! But how many of us are slighting the most precious opportunities! Soon it will be too late; the cry will echo from the throne, “Come, ye blessed of my Father,” and then will arise that awful wail, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jer. 8:20. Soon, very soon, God’s opportunities will be forever in the past in this earth. Just a few more years of self-sacrifice, and then the reapers will come bringing their sheaves with them. Then there will be no more opportunities for helping on this message with our means. What are we doing with our opportunities? Are we buying them up, or are we squandering them at the altar of the god of this world, mammon?

An incident in nature that came to my notice not long ago forcibly illustrates the point: The poet of the Sierras, Joaquin Miller, tells of a certain blue jay which he watched day after day flying across a brook and getting an acorn from the neighboring tan-bark oak-tree, and then flying back to Mr. Miller’s cabin. The poet was surprised to see the bird fly to a knot-hole in the wall of the cabin, and drop the acorn in the hole. The jay worked industriously throughout the long summer days. One day when the bird came to the hole, he was seized with a sudden notion to find out where all his labor was going. So he raised himself up, with head turned sidewise, and looked long into the hole. He had not filled the cabin, and all his summer’s work was out of reach.

This seems to me a forcible picture of those who invest their all in this world, and then when the winds of strife begin to blow, they open their eyes and see that they have missed the most blessed opportunities; then they would like to buy up these opportunities, but they find that they are out of reach.

“Woe will be pronounced against thee, if thou loiter and linger until the Sun of Righteousness shall set, the blackness of eternal night will be thy portion. O, that the cold, formal, worldly heart may be melted! Christ shed not only tears for us, but his own blood. Will not these manifestations of his love arouse us to deep humiliation before God?”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. V, page 73.

Geyserville, Cal.

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