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Signs of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 45.

THE HEALING TOUCH

Signs of the Times

Nov 12, 1896

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · Nov 12, 1896

THE HEALING TOUCH.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

One of the most striking of the miracles of Jesus is told in the following few words: "And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy; who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him." (Luke 5:12, 13.)
Leprosy was one of the most loathsome diseases known to the ancients, and the one the most dreaded. The leper was an outcast, compelled to keep away from even his own family. The disease was a slow, progressive death, the victim's members dropping off one after another until death ended his misery. No other disease more aptly illustrates the defilement of sin; and this man, who was full of leprosy, very closely resembled the description given of the people, by the prophet Isaiah: "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it; but wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." So as we study the miracle of the cleansing of the leper, we may know that we are to learn how we can obey the direction, "Make you clean."
In the first place, the leper had confidence in the power of the Lord to heal him. He said, "Thou canst make me clean." That is a great point. Very few really believe that Jesus Christ can cleanse them from sin.
They will admit that he can save from sin in general,—that he can save others,—but they are not convinced that he can save them. Let such learn a lesson of the power of the Lord. Hear what the prophet Jeremiah said by inspiration of the Holy Spirit: "Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee." (Jer. 32:17.)
He who brought the heavens and the earth into existence by the power of his word, can do all things. "Our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." (Ps. 115:3.) "His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness." (2 Peter 1:3.) "He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him." (Heb. 7:25.) Christ has been given "power over all flesh." (John 17:2.)
So much for his power. Of that the leper was assured; but he was not sure that the Lord was willing to cleanse him. He said, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." We need not have so much hesitancy as that. We know that he can, and he has given us ample assurance of his willingness. Thus we read that Christ "gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." (Gal. 1:4.) It is the will of God that we should be sanctified. (1 Thess. 4:3.)
Christ comprises everything. He is "the power of God, and the wisdom of God." (1 Cor. 1:24.) All things in heaven and in earth are in him. (Col. 1:16, 17.) Therefore the apostle Paul says: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Rom. 8:32.) The willingness of God to cleanse us from sin, is shown in the gift of his only-begotten Son for that purpose. "These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us; and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him." (1 John 5:13-15, R. V.) So we may "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16), knowing that "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
But the most striking feature of this miracle is the fact that Jesus touched the leper. There was not another person in all the land who would have come within a yard of him. But Jesus "put forth his hand, and touched him." With that touch the hateful disease vanished. It is worth noting that in very many cases Jesus touched those whom he healed. When Peter's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, Jesus "touched her hand, and the fever left her." (Matt. 8:15.) That same evening, "all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them." (Luke 4:40.) In his own country the people were so unbelieving that "he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands on a few sick folk, and healed them." (Mark 6:5.)In Matthew we are assured that this healing of the sick was "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases." (Matt. 8:17, R. V.) We know that healing power went from him to the suffering ones who thronged round him to touch him (Luke 6:19); and this scripture assures us that he received into his own person their diseases, in exchange for his healing power. Now we have the blessed assurance that altho he is "passed into the heavens," he has not lost his sympathy with us, but is still "touched with the feeling of our infirmities." He comes close to us in pity, because "he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." In all our sin and degradation, we may have the inspiring thought that Jesus does not despise us, and is not ashamed to come into the closest companionship with us, in order that he may help us. The prophet, speaking of God's dealing with ancient Israel, said, "In all their afflictions he was afflicted." (Isa. 63:9.) Even so it is now. As an eagle bears her young on her wings, so the Lord puts himself under his people, bearing all our sin and sorrow. He takes it upon himself, and in him it is lost, by the same process by which at the last "he will swallow up death in victory."
Christ took upon himself the curse, in order that the blessing might come upon us. (Gal. 3:13, 14.) Altho he knew no sin, he was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Cor. 5:21.) He suffered the death to which we were doomed, that we might share his life. And this exchange is made when we come into touch with him, by confessing that "Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." How much we lose by holding Jesus off as a stranger, or by regarding faith in him as a theory. When we know that he identifies himself with us in our fallen condition, taking upon himself, and from us, our infirmities, how precious becomes the assurance, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
"The healing of the seamless dress Is by our beds of pain; We touch Him in life's throng and press, And we are whole again." E. J. W.

The Beast of Revelation 13:1-10

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

THE CONTROVERSY OF THE AGES. NO. 6.

The Beast of Revelation 13:1-10.

WE are dealing with symbolic prophecy. The symbols of chapter 12 were abundantly explained by the word of God. The woman represents the church, the daughter of Zion. The man child symbolizes our Lord Jesus Christ, and the dragon is emphatically declared to be the old serpent, the devil and Satan; the deceiver, the accuser, the adversary from the beginning; and the twelfth chapter shows that all enmity against Christ and the church is instigated by him, the prince of the powers of evil. He is the manager behind the scenes; people and institutions of earth are his visible agencies of evil; and to the visible agent or to God the evil is generally all intended, while the chief mover, the actuating originator, is wholly lost sight of. This is a part of Satan's work of deception.

Satan's Work.

He began his war of evil in heaven; and was cast out into the earth. (Rev. 12:3, 8, 9.) The opening of the thirteenth chapter still shows his agency. "And he [the dragon] stood upon the sand of the sea." Thus reads the Revised Version, Rotherham's Emphatic Translation, Murdock's Syriac, Emphatic Diaglott, and others.

Comparison of the Visions of Daniel and John.

The ever-restless, surging sea is a symbol of multitudes, nations, tongues, and kings. (Rev. 17:15.) As the result of winds upon the sea, or strife among the nations, Daniel saw four great beasts, or world empires, arise. (Dan. 7:1-3, 17.) Rev. 13:1 in connection with the prophecy referred to in Daniel clearly indicates that the stirrer-up of all this strife and commotion is "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." (Eph. 2:2.) Daniel saw these four great world empires symbolically and successively arise at the very beginning of their career, at the end of which the saints of the Most High take the kingdom and possess it forever (Dan. 7:17, 18); John saw them when their career was partly finished, symbolized in the beast of the fourth chapter. Daniel saw the kingdoms of earth as successive temporal powers leading on to, and to be succeeded by, the eternal kingdom of God. His view of the kingdoms in chapter 7 was given with especial relation to the kingdom of God. John's view is with especial relation to the work and people of God here on earth, bringing out more fully the unity of their cruel persecuting spirit, and the power—the devil—behind the throne.
The symbols presented before Daniel were as follows: (1) A lion, representing Babylon, the beginning of world empires (see Gen. 10:10; Jer. 4:7-13); (2) a bear, cruel and tenacious, representing the successor of Babylon, namely, Medo-Persia; (3) a leopard, representing Grecia; (4) and a ten-horned, nondescript beast, representing Rome. In the last beast a change takes place among the horns, but the general character of the beast continues the same—a many-horned beast, cruel, voracious, a persecutor and blasphemer, in increasing degree—to the end. During a
great part of its career, it is dominated by one of its horns, diverse in character from the others.

The Composite Beast.

The same powers are presented to the prophet John in relation to the people and work of God in the following symbol:—
"And he stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority." (Rev. 13:1, 2, R. V.)
In this one symbol is included all the symbols of Daniel 7. The beast has the mouth of the lion, the symbol of Babylon; the feet of a bear, the symbol of Medo-Persia; the body of a leopard, the symbol of Grecia; and ten horns, a distinctive characteristic of Daniel's fourth beast, Rome. The prophet of Babylon saw them as four separate empires, the prophet of Patmos saw them as one continuous system, represented by one body, dominated by one power (the dragon, Satan), yet in different forms, symbolized by the different heads, the number seven indicating the various forms of perverted government through which Satan has wrought against the people of God. The beast does not represent normal earthly government, or legitimate earthly rule; that is, a rule beneficial to earth and to man, in harmony with God's plan of government among sinful men. This is shown in the fact that the special power and dominion and authority exercised by the beast, as presented in the prophecy, is not from God, but from Satan; for "the dragon gave to him his own power and his throne and great authority."—Syriac. "And the dragon did give to it [the beast] his [the dragon's] power, and his throne, and great authority."—Young. So also Hind's Interlinear Greek-English Testament, and others. The beast in his various forms is Satan's vicegerent among men, occupying his seat, or throne (Rev. 2:13), clothed with diabolical power from him to do his bidding. This does not mean that Satan gave up his throne and all his power and authority to the beast, but that among men, in the sphere of men, Satan's work centered in this inhuman, infernal system. The character of the thing symbolized by the beast is further shown by the names of blasphemy on the heads. They are the heads of the dragon, the varied forms of the unholy system through which he works.

What Does the Beast Symbolize?

Primarily a union of church and state, or a system of legalized religion. This is evident from the fact that it is an object which is worshiped, which itself compels worship, which blasphemes, and which persecutes those who are servants of God. (Verses 4-8.) It is therefore a religious power, for it is opposed to God and his saints; and it also has civil power, or power to enforce its decrees, for it makes war and puts to death the saints of God.

Essentials of a Persecuting Power.

Every persecuting power or system known must embrace these two essential characteristics—legalized religion and civil power.
A purely civil government, or power, such as God has ordained for the protection of men, will not persecute for religion's sake. The government will know in its laws, statutes, and courts, nothing whatever of religion. Its object will be to protect all men alike, irrespective of creed, or religious bias. The federal government of the United States for the first century of its existence is a good example of a purely civil government apart from religion. This, however, can not be said of the individual states in general, for in some of them unions of church and state have existed from colonial times.
A purely ecclesiastical organization or system can not persecute. It may anathematize, excommunicate, expel from its membership, but it can not fine, imprison, or take property, or life, however much it desires so to do; and if its members attempted these things, they would be subject to prosecution. But if these two are united by law; if religion, even tho not of an ecclesiastical organization, be legalized in any of its tenets, dogmas, or institutions, the system in that very thing exists.

The Effect.

The effect of such a system is blasphemy to God, the unholy exaltation of man, putting man in the place of God, and persecuting the most zealous, courageous, and sincere. Such a system puts itself in the place of God as lord over conscience, and sets itself forth as man's saviour and judge, in so far as it assumes to direct his belief and worship. It has always thus resulted; it always will thus result. Neither do sincere men as rulers make it better, but rather the worst; for the more sincere is the belief in such a system, the more devotion to such a system, the more zeal will be manifest in carrying out the system. It is because of this that some of the best and most conscientious emperors of Pagan Rome became the worst persecutors of Christians, not merely because they were Christians, but because they were transgressors of the system under which Rome existed.
The gods and their worship were so interwoven with the laws of the state that it was impossible for a Christian not to be a transgressor, a "rebel," a "traitor," an enemy to the state, because not friendly to the gods.

The Origin.

The origin of this system may be traced back to the very beginning of organized government, under Nimrod, the great grandson of Noah, the beginning of whose kingdom was Babylon. (Gen. 10:10, margin.) The germ of the system is set forth in the following scripture:—
"And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."
It was an utter ignoring of God's plan of saving men and preserving the race. This is shown by the name which they gave their city and tower, which, says Lenormant in his "Manual of Ancient History," was "Babilu" "the gate of the god Ilu," or as others render, "the gate of heaven." It was the perversion of God's way, the salvation of man by men, the putting of men in the place of God; it was the beginning of that system of government among men which Satan has used to oppose God's work in the earth from that time forward. And the root of it all began in the departure from God, and the setting up by man of the gate of heaven. But what man then thought would prove the salvation of the race, God saw would, if allowed to be carried out to its fulness, prove its destruction; and so in mercy to mankind he confounded the language, and Babilu, "the gate of heaven," became Babylon, "confusion" (see Gen. 11:9); in order that men might flee from confusion to the one only God, able to save to the uttermost.
And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority.
And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority.
Every scheme of human salvation, every system which puts religion into the control of man or a set of men to force it upon others, every plan by which the conscience of the individual is to be controlled by his fellows, which puts man in the place of God, which ignores Christ, Christ's truth, Christ's teaching, or Christ's way,—every scheme of that kind, God has forever stamped as Babylon, confusion, albeit its devotees call it the gate of God, or gate of heaven.
It seems almost a marvelous fact that the name given of God was perpetuated, while the principles of the apostasy have seemed to be increasingly dominant among the nations of earth. It is a fact that the ancient monuments and bricks dug up from the old Assyrian and Babylonian ruins confirm the origin of the name of Babylon as given in Gen. 11:6-9. Says Lenormant:—
Babylon is often designated in the cuneiform text by a symbolical name ideographically written, meaning "the tower of the root of languages."—Manual of Ancient History, vol. 1, p. 24.
Of Borsippa, a suburb of Babylon, he says:—
Borsippa meant in that [Semitic] idiom "the tower of tongues." By another meaning, "the tower of the dispersion of tribes."—Id., pp. 24, 488, 488.
The principles of that apostasy and system have been perpetuated through unconverted men by Lucifer, or Satan, "the primeval king of Babylon," the very one in whom the principles originated, and who thus expressed them:—
"I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." (Isa. 14:13, 14.)
The builders of Babylon said:—
"Let us build us a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven ["the gate of heaven"]; and let us make us a name lest we be scattered abroad."
And ancient Babylon said, and ancient Babylon's king, imbued by the same unholy ambition, said:—
"I shall be a lady forever." "I am, and there is none else beside me." (Isa. 47:7, 8, R. V.)
"Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?" (Dan. 4:30.)
It is self-exaltation, self-salvation, self-honor all the way through, from Lucifer the originator to the smallest system of earth bearing his trade-mark; and the beginning of all these systems, the corruption of all governments, in the earth is Babylon. It is with this in view that the prophet declares: "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken; the nations have drunken of her wine." (Jer. 51:7.) "All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication;" "the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication" (Rev. 18:3; 19:2), the unlawful union of church and state.
THE old rabbis, the doctors of the Jewish church, had their fable of oral traditions, handed down from Moses to the men of the Great Synagogue, who later put them into writing, with interpretations and comments, without which it was thought to be impossible to understand the Scriptures. Just so the Catholic doctrine of tradition substitutes the vagaries of the "fathers" for the pure words of God. And they are said to have received the traditions from the apostles just as the Jewish rabbinical writers received their traditions through Moses, who talked with God. Thus the Jews made void the commandments of God by their traditions, and thus the Catholic Church has made void the word by tradition. Drink of the fountain-head.
E. J. W.

God Carries Little Burdens

God is ready to carry the little burdens as well as the great ones. He knows what makes up human life, and how galling the little worries are to the spirits of men. The one who has no strength can not bear up under the smallest of loads. We have absolutely no strength of our own. He gives all we have; and it is misusing his gifts and distrusting his comforting presence to shut him out of any experience that comes in life.

Following the Light We Receive

God does not demand of us that we shall know everything, or see everything, at once. He asks a heart that is willing to accept him for all he is and all he wants to be to every soul. He who sees God in one ray of light, and accepts that ray, will be led to the fulness of light, and whether the light be little or much, the true heart will gladly receive it all and follow it to the end.

FEELING AT LIBERTY.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

THE religion of Jesus Christ is not simply one of emotions. It does not quench feelings, but it consists of more than emotions. It is a fact. It holds good when a person can have no emotions. It holds good when the body is paralyzed, and the nerves are numb,—when there is scarcely enough consciousness left to take notice of anything, and the mind has almost ceased to work. The man who knows Christ does not then have to reason out his hope, but rests in the consciousness of the fact of the life.
It is a glorious truth that the religion of Christ needs not to be reasoned out. We do not have to trace evidences, and weigh arguments to know at any time what it is. This does not mean that God discounts the intellect with which he has endowed his creatures, but that faith is superior to reason. Human reason, not guided by the Spirit of God, leads to folly. Faith is the guide of reason; but the truth of the Spirit of God is not to be reasoned out, else there would be partiality; the kingdom of heaven could not in that case be received by a child as well as by a philosopher. But "the world by wisdom knew not God." (1 Cor. 1: 21.) The righteousness of God is not revealed to reason, but to faith. When one is at the very point of death, and the brain so sick and sore that it is a positive task to think at all, one can lie perfectly still and know that he is accepted, not because he feels that he is, but because God has said so. He need not look about to see if his feelings correspond to the demands, but he can rest in the Lord, knowing that he is in his hands.
There are times, and they will come to every Christian, when he will not feel that he is free. He may be depressed in body. The weather often has an effect on people, and at any rate we are all still in the flesh. The flesh is still unconverted, and it will always remain so; for it is enmity against God, and can not be subject to him. It will demand that we serve it in this and that thing, and will demand satisfaction. Then is the time we want to know that we are free. If there is any doubt then we are in danger.
The devil knows the weakness of the flesh, and he will work to regain his position. You say: "I am in doubt, and do not know. The other day in meeting the Lord seemed to set me free; but I do not feel so now. If I were free why should I feel so depressed?" And when we begin to hesitate and temporize, the devil, who is an expert in his art, brings us into discouragement and captivity. It is a fact that the Lord has proclaimed liberty to the captives. He holds the keys still, and the devil never can get hold of them. He has loosed the bonds of every man. David says, "O Lord, truly I am thy servant; . . . thou hast loosed my bonds," and it is true of every soul. There is not a soul in the world who might not say with truth, "Thou hast loosed my bonds;" and if he continued to say it on the authority of God's word, he would continue free; for the Lord has proclaimed liberty to every captive.
It is not a matter for feeling, but for practical use. When the enemy comes to destroy, when the flesh would rise up to assert its domination, then is the blessedness of this word, "I am free." God has freed from that power, and he has power to maintain the freedom. Why should the experience of so many professors be fitful, now rejoicing and then again gloomy and full of doubt? God has declared freedom; will he put us in prison again?
How many times we hear people talking about being in the dark—"it was light, but now it is gloom." They have simply allowed Satan to thrust them into the dark cell, because they wandered near Doubting Castle. Bunyan had the truth of the thing when he told the story of Christian and Hopeful in Doubting Castle. They had been lying there in the dark for a week or more when Christian bethought himself of the key of Promise which he had in his bosom, which opened every door and gate in the castle, and they walked at liberty, because they believed the Lord.
Now why should we be in Doubting Castle when the Lord sets us free and enlightens the gloom? We have the promise that the word is not far off. It is not in heaven, that we should go up to bring it, nor across the sea, that we should send for it. It is nigh thee, even in thy heart. So to every one that key has been given, and all can be free all the time, if they will use it. The Lord never puts us in bondage, and the time for us to assert our liberty is when the enemy would drag us back into captivity. He would be a strange man who, when the notice came to him in prison that he had been pardoned and set free, should wait until he felt free, before walking out at liberty. It would show that he did not believe in the genuineness of the pardon, or that he doubted its authority. It is because people do not believe God, that they refuse to assert their freedom when he proclaims it to every soul. E. J. W.

CHRIST OUR PATTERN.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
THE example of Christ is authoritative for every son and daughter of Adam. His life was the law of God lived and exemplified, a perfect pattern for all humanity, showing what man may become by partaking of the divine nature. Representing as he did the character of God, he was a perfect standard of moral excellence in humanity.
How did the world's Redeemer walk? Not to please himself, but to glorify God, and work the works of him that sent him, in uplifting man, who was formed in the divine image, and by precept and example teaching righteousness.
He did not have a smooth path for his feet to travel. Those who ought to have been co-laborers with him in all his works, were so far separated from God by selfishness that they counteracted the work of Christ. His convenience, his comfort and pleasure, were not studied. He was the Commander of all heaven; yet he was here on earth as one that serves. Uncomplainingly he endured privations, lived the life of a poor man. The luxuries indulged in by many who claim to be sons and daughters of God, he did not bring into his life. He was a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. His whole life was one of self-denial, expressing, "Not my will, but thine be done."
Christ never flattered any man; he never deceived, never defrauded, never changed his course of straightforward righteousness to obtain favor or applause. He ever expressed the truth. The law of kindness was upon his lips; there was no guile in his mouth.
The Son of God so conducted his life that even his unbelieving countrymen were compelled to say, "He hath done all things well."His character was without a flaw. He did not leave the example of a life of idleness and self-indulgence, altho he was heir of all things in heaven and earth, the only-begotten Son of the Father.
Here is where human intelligences have lost sight of the Pattern. Men, because entrusted with talents of means, follow, not the standard of the character of Christ, but the standard of the world. Because they have abundance of money, houses, and lands, they train their children to a life of idleness and selfish indulgence, making them useless so far as doing good in the world is concerned. By their unwise training, the youth are unfitted in character for the future eternal life. Christ, in his life, gave us altogether a different example; he worked at the carpenter's trade with his father.
Youth are now educated in the belief that it is the possession of plenty of money that gives men value. The sure result is pride and vanity, pleasure-loving, and abundance of idleness. Thus the way is open for Satan to corrupt life and character with his temptations to vice. Sinful practices become common. Whether rich or poor, high or low, Satan finds employment for the youth who are not trained to useful industry, and guarded and barricaded with principle.
Time is not considered as a precious treasure, a trust from God, for which every human being must give an account. Money, too, is entrusted of God to be used, not in needless extravagance by parents to the ruin of their children, but as a means of doing good to their fellow men. Even from their earliest years, as reason develops, the principles of the character of God, as given in his law, should become the rule of life and character.
Christ is our pattern, and those who follow Christ will not walk in darkness; they will not seek their own pleasure. The glory of God will be the standard at which they will unceasingly aim. The two grand precepts of the moral law are to regulate the conduct of all human intelligences: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." The Lord of heaven demands of us supreme love and worship.
The Lord will work through the human agent if he will unite himself with Christ, and the record for him in the books of heaven will be, as in the case of Enoch, that he walks with God. Like Enoch, he will have a sense of God's abiding presence. The reason that so large a number of those who profess to be children of God always feel in uncertainty, is because they feel that they are orphans. They do not cultivate the precious assurance that Jesus is the sin-bearer; that altho they have transgressed the law, and are sinners in his sight, yet the object of the incarnation of Christ was to bring to the repenting, believing sinner everlasting peace and assurance. The great Advocate assumed human nature, and became like unto his brethren, to impress upon the human mind that no one who through faith accepts him as a personal Saviour is an orphan, or is left to bear the curse of his own sins. Christians may daily cultivate faith by contemplating the One who has undertaken their cause, their "merciful and faithful High Priest." Having suffered, being tempted, not merely in a few things, but in all things like as we are tempted, he is able to succor all that are tempted. Even now in heaven he is afflicted in all our afflictions, and as a living Saviour he is asking intercession for us.
The human agent is to compare his life with the character of Jesus Christ, and through the grace which he imparts to all true believers, seek to reach the perfection of his example who lived the law of Jehovah.
Christ's testimony of himself was, "I have kept my Father's commandments." Those who follow Christ will be constantly looking into the perfect law of liberty, and through the grace given them by Christ, will fashion their character to meet the divine requirements. The heart must be opened to receive Christ, and abide in him. As the branch is connected with the living vine, a vital union is formed between the parent stalk and the branch, and the same fruit appears on the branch as is seen on the vine. Every faculty of mind and body is to be enlisted in the service of Christ, following his example, and catching his spirit, thus building the character after the divine similitude. Our faith is daily to be exercised, and to increase by exercise in him who has redeemed us, not only because he loved us, but because, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

THAT I MAY KNOW HIM.

By Emma G. Dietrick

BY EMMA G. DIETRICK.
I WOULD know thee, O my Saviour, With a faith sublime and true; I would copy thee, my Master, In each little thing I do; Growing daily in thy likeness Till my life shall touch thine own, And a tender, Christlike living Prove me truly thine alone.
I would rise by daily trials, Putting self beneath my feet, Gladly bearing every burden That thy grace shall see is meet. I would leave behind the old things, Pressing on to those more true, Till I reach at last the measure Of thy fullness fresh and new.
Keep me near thee, O my Master, Hold me with thy loving hand, Where thou leadest I would follow, Where thou place me gladly stand. But my human heart grows weary, And my eyes too dim to see. Hold me closely, O my Saviour, Bring me when thou wilt to thee. —Christian Work.

Making the Bible’s Promises Our Own

The Bible is the language of the Spirit of God spoken through men. The Spirit of God, who knows the human heart and its needs, as well as the divine gifts, has put language into the mouths of certain men, which may be used by all. So when we read the words of David: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, . . . who forgiveth all thine iniquities" (Ps. 103:1-3), we are to appropriate that language as our own.
We may indeed believe that God spoke to and blessed David and Paul; but if we do not make that language and blessing our own, we do not really believe the word, for it is addressed to us. If you wish to know if you really believe the whole Bible, you may test yourselves by this text:—
"I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Gal. 2:20.
If you read this merely as Paul's experience, then you have not learned to believe the Bible. But if in reading it you can speak that word "I" as meaning yourself, and can repeat the text intelligently as the language of your own heart, as the Spirit of God meant you should, then you really believe not that verse alone, but the whole Bible, and the joy of God's salvation is yours.
Continue reading: SEEING THE INVISIBLE