Review and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 3. (1/18/1912)

Review and Herald

Jan 18, 1912

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 18, 1912

The Coming One

THE mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him; and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God is judge Himself.

— Psalm 50.

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Interior View of Jefferson’s Home.

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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Vol. III, No. 3, 1912

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The Costly Gift

By Mrs. S. M. Spicer

The Angel's Record — No. 3

The Costly Gift

MRS. S. M. SPICER

In olden days, in Israel's land, When priest and scribe vainglorious made Their ample offerings — costly, grand — In name for God, for man displayed, A widow came, thin-clad and poor; Threw in two mites,— she had no more,— While full her heart of heavenly love.

The eye of priest was dark with scorn; Still with his lips to God he prayed. The Saviour to his followers turned, And these immortal words he said: “Verily, this widow giveth more Than all these lords of wealth have given.”

The angel scribe repeats it o'er; Amen! the record stood in heaven. And often since, the “widow's mite” In heaven's eternal trying scales Has many a golden dower outweighed Which trumpet-sound to man displayed.

Takoma Park, D. C.

City Work

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE

I am instructed to bear a message to all who are interested in the proclamation of the truth for these last days. To us has been entrusted enlightening, saving truth, and all about us are multitudes who have never yet been enlightened. To these we must proclaim the life-saving truths of the third angel's message. We are to hunt for souls, laboring with all diligence to communicate to others that which is for their eternal welfare.

The unwarned multitudes are fast becoming the sport of the evil one. Satan is leading men and women into many forms of folly and self-pleasing. Many are seeking for that which is novel and startling; their minds are far from God and the truths of his Word. At this time, when the enemy is working as never before to engross the minds of men and women, we should be laboring with increasing activity in the highways and in the byways. With diligent, disinterested effort we are to proclaim the last message of mercy in the cities,—the highways; and the work is not to end there, but is to extend into the surrounding settlements and in the country districts,—into the byways and the hedges.

All classes are to be reached. As we labor, we shall meet with different nationalities. None are to be passed by unwarned. Jesus is the gift of God to the entire world, not to the higher classes alone, and not to any one nation, to the exclusion of others. His saving grace encircles the world. Whosoever will may drink of the water of life freely. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” In every place the gospel invitation is to be given; for “how . . . shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?”

The Lord is speaking to his people at this time, saying, Gain an entrance into the cities, and proclaim the truth in simplicity and in faith.

The Holy Spirit will work through your efforts to impress hearts. Introduce no strange doctrine into your message, but speak the simple words of the gospel of Christ, which young and old can understand. The unlearned as well as the educated are to comprehend the truths of the third angel's message, and they must be taught in simplicity. If you would approach the people acceptably, humble your hearts before God, and learn his ways.

We shall gain much instruction for our work from a study of Christ’s methods of labor and his manner of meeting the people. In the gospel story we have the record of how he worked for all classes, and of how as he labored in cities and towns, thousands were drawn to his side to hear his teaching. The words of the Master were clear and distinct, and were spoken in sympathy and tenderness. They carried with them the assurance that here was truth. It was the simplicity and earnestness with which Christ labored and spoke that drew so many to him.

The great Teacher laid plans for his work. Study these plans. We find him traveling from place to place, followed by crowds of eager listeners. When he could, he would lead them away from the crowded cities, to the quiet of the country. Here he would pray with them, and talk to them of eternal truths.

The sympathy that Christ ever expressed for the physical needs of his hearers won from many a response to the truths he sought to teach. Was not the gospel message of deepest importance to that company of five thousand people who for hours had followed him and hung upon his words? Many had never before heard truths such as they listened to on that occasion. Yet Christ’s desire to teach them spiritual truths did not make him indifferent to their physical needs. Weary mothers were in that company who, with their children, had followed him through the day. Christ understood the situation, and he was “moved with compassion” toward them.

“When the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert place. But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat for all this people. For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company. And they did so, and made them all sit down. Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. And they did eat, and were all filled.”

Then he said to the disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.”

In this command there was a lesson for every soul in that large company. It

was a lesson that should be stamped upon the minds of old and young, the learned and the unlearned. It should be valued by parents, and its instruction carried into the home. That little morsel of food, with Christ’s blessing upon it, multiplied in the hands of the disciples, until that which remained after all were satisfied, was greater than the original supply.

This should be a great encouragement to Christ’s disciples to-day. Christ is the great center, the source of all strength. His disciples are to receive their supplies from him. The most intelligent, the most spiritual-minded, can bestow only as they receive. Of themselves they can bestow nothing for the need of the soul. We can impart only that which we receive from Christ; and we can receive only as we impart to others. As we continue imparting, we continue to receive; and the more we impart, the more we shall receive. Thus we may be constantly believing, trusting, receiving, and imparting.

Heavenly agencies will cooperate with all who will follow on to know the Lord, working for the extension of Christ’s kingdom. Then let the words spoken be earnest and intelligent, revealing the sanctifying power of the Spirit of truth. The humblest worker, if his heart is imbued with the spirit of Christ, can win souls to him; for with such a worker the angels of God can cooperate, speaking to the soul, and opening heart and mind to receive the truth.

The Historical Christ

By PHIL C. HAYWARD

PHIL C. HAYWARD

From the vast amount of matter, and “evidence,” and logic (?) which is advanced in support of the higher critical idea, there seems to stand out most prominently the claim that the Christ is a myth; or, at best, that Jesus, the man, was never more than a man.

Among the most noteworthy of recent attempts to discredit the Christian religion is a book by a German professor, Dr. Arthur Drews, “The Christ Myth.” Dr. Drews attempts to show that the Messianic idea “is rooted in Persia, and in Greece, as well as in the Jewish conscience;” that the Persians dreamed of a divine “friend” or “mediator,” and the Greeks conceived of a mediatory “word,” which would come to the aid of human weakness and identify man with God. And we are “shown” that the star of the East, the Magi, the child in the stable, the virgin birth, the flight into Egypt, the names of Joseph and Mary, Joseph’s occupation as a carpenter, the baptism, the transfiguration, the Last Supper, the number of the twelve apostles, the symbols of the “rock,” the “door,” the “vine,” and in fact all the principal titles of Christ, and the events connected with his life, find their counterpart in heathen mythology.

It is but a very natural thing that the teachings of the Jews for fifteen hundred years of a Messiah who was to come, and the positive testimony of the early Christians that such a Saviour had come, should leave its impressions in heathen lore. But the very best efforts of heathen mythology can not produce a savior who is above the human in any phase of his life. It may be shown, though often by wide stretches of the imagination, that some of the heathen religions had a chief character who would correspond, in some respects, to that of Jesus Christ; yet when he had died, we find his followers still worshiping at the tomb of one who had not the power to penetrate beyond, and unlock the grave.

But it is not so with the Christ of the Scriptures. While other men have lived, and preached, and died, the Lord Jesus Christ lived, and preached, and died, and lived again! And this is the supreme test of all religions. A religion which has not a savior who has power to lay down his life, and power to take it again, has not a savior who has power to give life to his followers after they have passed into the grave. Of the importance of this Paul testifies, “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” Jesus demonstrated his power over life and death by his death and resurrection. Than this there is no better authenticated fact in all history. And the time will surely come when all the world shall confess with awe and reverence around the open grave that Jesus is the Christ, to the glory of the Father. For because he lives, we shall live also.

The historical evidence of the resurrection of Christ is threefold. First, there is the testimony of his enemies. He taught openly that after his death he would rise again from the dead. Nor did he leave the time of his resurrection uncertain; for he plainly declared that his resurrection would occur upon the third day after his death. By a mighty effort, and to the perjuring of their own souls, the Jewish leaders had compassed the death of Christ, and now the thought which was uppermost in all minds was, Will he rise again?

Well did his enemies realize how serious would be the consequences to them if Christ should rise again, or even appear to have risen. Then would the people be turned away from them, and the teachings of this Despised One would be vindicated. Accordingly, they came to Pilate and called his attention to the claims which this man had made of power to come forth from the grave, and begged that they might have a strong guard of Roman soldiers to watch over the grave. They further asked that a seal might be set upon the tomb, so that his disciples might not come and steal the body away and thus deceive the people into the belief that Christ had really risen from the dead.

The guard was given, and the tomb sealed. It would have taken a body of men stronger than the Roman garrison stationed at Jerusalem to have broken that seal and taken the body away. But had such a body of men come, a regular army, and overpowered the Roman garrison and taken the body of Jesus, it would not have deceived any one into a belief in his resurrection, for after such a battle all would have known that the body was taken by human hands. No; such a deception could not have been practised. Furthermore, it is evident that the disciples themselves were closely watched to see that they did not undertake any deception, for they were all assembled in an upper chamber “for fear of the Jews.” But in spite of all of these precautions the seal was found broken and the tomb empty; and the Roman soldiers testified of a great power before which they all fell as dead men. And later, when the disciples proclaimed openly the resurrection of Jesus, when more than five hundred men who had actually seen him after his resurrection bore earnest testimony to this fact in the streets of Jerusalem, no charge of fraud was made against them by the enemies of Christ. There was only anger, and a desire to put a stop to their testimony by putting them to death.

So thoroughly did the rulers of the people accept the fact of the resurrection, that when a council was called to consider the best way to get the followers of Christ not to talk about it, they were advised by one of the most prominent of their number that they had best let the whole question alone, lest they be found to fight against God.

The second great proof of the genuineness of the resurrection of Jesus is found in the ethical teachings of the disciples. If they had, by some human ingenuity, been able to perpetrate a fraud upon all the people of the Jews, and the Roman governor as well, could they with such great power have proclaimed as a fundamental truth that which they knew to be a fraud? Within one short generation from the death of Christ, the gospel of his resurrection had conquered a world. Heathen systems of hundreds of years’ standing were forced to give way before the simple teaching of the followers of Jesus. With great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection. Their lives were gladly given in defense of this gospel. Could they with a dead body on their hands and a lie on their consciences have successfully faced all the learning and power of the world, and proclaimed with a power irresistible the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? In all the annals of human history no such thing has been known that a lie should become irrefutable, and that the arguments of the liar could only be answered by persecution and death.

But stronger, if possible, than all of these is the proof offered by one who had been a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a rejector of Christ, and a persecutor of his followers. Paul had stood high in the councils of the Jewish nation. It is possible that he had been among those who had condemned the Saviour, for he was very zealous. More than this, we find him immediately after the crucifixion active in the persecution of the

Christians; even going from Jerusalem to other places where they had been scattered by the persecutions. He was acquainted with all the facts, and was in a position to judge as to the truth or falsity of the statements made by the disciples. He, this learned man and wise, firmly yielded himself to the force of their testimony and the personal appeal of Jesus himself, and became the most active exponent of the doctrine of the resurrection. He, more than any other one man, was instrumental in the final complete victory of Christianity over paganism. It was his unanswerable logic which stopped the mouths of wise men and philosophers, and made a king exclaim, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” It was he who put to flight the doctors of the Jewish law, and proved to them that this Jesus was indeed the very Christ,—the Messiah of their Scriptures.

In the face of such evidence as this how foolish seems the wisdom of the wise and prudent; how vain the philosophy of those who attempt to overthrow God’s great plan and remedy for sin; how weak the comparison between Christianity and pagan mythology, between the Christ of the Scriptures and those mere human agents, whose teachings have been taken for a foundation for heathen religions, and whose dust to-day is mingled with its native elements. These facts absolutely preclude the possibility of a fraud, and raise the Christian religion above that of heathen mythology.

Chattanooga, Tenn.

“The Sure Mercies of David”

By ELIHU, JR.

ELIHU, JR.

The writer has for many years wondered at the few, either direct or indirect, allusions found in the Old Testament Scriptures to the resurrection of Christ. Those which seem plainest are found in Psalm 16 and Isaiah 53. The former was used by Peter on the day of Pentecost and by Paul at Antioch in Pisidia. There is little doubt that it was used on many other occasions. “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hades” was the plainest promise that could be made, if it was possible to make it appear that David was speaking of the Messiah and not of himself. Peter and Paul both seemed to use this scripture effectively, as many accepted the truth that this meant Jesus of Nazareth, for they had the demonstration of his resurrection in Judea.

Isaiah 53 is equally clear if carefully read, and I have no doubt that, like the other scripture, it was often used to prove the resurrection of the Messiah.

“When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.” Though his soul is to be made an offering for sin, yet after that “he shall see his seed, and prolong his days.” Unless a rising again from the dead should intervene, the last clause of this statement could not come to pass. Again, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many.” Here is more of the same kind of evidence. The spoil—the human race—will be divided and a portion taken from the strong one, Satan, and given to the one who in the preceding chapter, where this subject begins, is called “my servant.” A little thoughtful reading will enable one to see the resurrection of the dead coming in between the pouring out of his soul unto death, and the fulfilment of the promises that accompany this statement.

But Paul at Antioch introduced another quotation from Isaiah 55 which is filled with a deeper meaning for us than either of those quoted. Acts 13:34: “And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.” A few questions will make clear the connection between the resurrection from the dead and the sure mercies of David. Why has the exercise of mercy become necessary?—Because of sin. What is sin?—The transgression of the law. What is the penalty for sin?—“The wages of sin is death.” What does mercy secure for the transgressor?—Pardon or forgiveness of sin. When the sin is forgiven, blotted out through the exercise of mercy, what becomes of the penalty for sin?—The penalty is set aside. What then becomes of death in those for whom mercy has exercised forgiveness?—Death ceases to be, comes to an end, is destroyed. How?—Through the resurrection of the dead. Mortality is swallowed up of life. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

So then it is not difficult to grasp the truth that forgiveness of sin through the mercy of our God insures the resurrection of the dead and the mercies promised to David. Those mercies are involved in the abolishment of death, as Paul said of Christ “who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Then every promise of forgiveness of sins is a promise of the resurrection of the dead. This means that death is no more a reality to the Christian. Hence Jesus and his disciples call death a sleep. We sleep to awake, and the morning of the resurrection is the time of the awakening.

But some one may stumble over the application of this explanation to Jesus. How did the sure mercies of David mean to him the forgiveness of sin and the lifting off of the penalty of death? Had not the Lord laid upon him the sin of Adam and all its consequences? Then did he not need the application of mercy and forgiveness in the setting aside of the penalty as much as any sinner, if he proved himself to be worthy of forgiveness?

Did he make such proof of worthiness? The Word of the Lord is, “With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful,” and, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” The Creator has ordained that the creature or being who develops his attributes of character shall be accounted worthy of life. God loves his enemies, but he hates their sins. He made the greatest sacrifice for sin that it was possible for him to make. He forgives sin whenever it is confessed and forsaken. He is patient with sinners and waits with long-suffering for their return. And the prophecies of his Word show he has perfect confidence in the outcome of his work. Isa. 55:9-13.

Now the prayer that we are taught to pray has in it the essence of all this, “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” and also the comment following that prayer: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Jesus had the character of God developed in him to its fullest extent. He loved his enemies so well that he died for them. He hated sin so much that he did not become guilty of committing it. He forgave his enemies even in his last dying agony. And he had full confidence in the outcome of his work. This character which he developed insured full pardon for the load of sin that was laid upon him, and made it “not possible that he should be holden of it [death].” Acts 2:24.

The sure mercies of David—expressed, perhaps, fully in the eighty-ninth psalm, especially from the twenty-sixth to the thirty-seventh verse—are worthy of the most careful study. To them the reader is referred as a foundation for what Isaiah meant in the quotation made from the fifty-fifth chapter.

Wherever in the Scriptures mercy and the forgiveness of sin are taught, there is involved the removal of the penalty for sin, which is death, and a full and complete assurance of the resurrection of the dead.

If we have reached that point in the development of Christian character where we are able freely and gladly and fully, with delight and joy (see Micah 7:18, 19), to pass by the sins and wrongs committed against us, and cease speaking of the evil we see in our fellow men, then we know that our sin is forgiven in heaven. Death has lost all its terrors; for, so far as we are concerned, it is abolished, and we have “passed from death unto life.” We do not have to force ourselves to believe that we are accepted of the Lord. We know we are his children when we feel and act toward sinners as he feels and acts toward them. We are deciding our own destiny daily by our state of mind and our conduct toward our fellow men. If we have come to the place where

we feel that we are straightforward, upright, living justly and uprightly as Job did, and are expecting to be partakers of the life eternal at the revelation of Jesus Christ, and we find that the Lord has permitted enemies to develop even among our trusted brethren and friends, then may we know that this is our time of testing. Will our faith in God’s way of dealing with sinners prevail over our own natural way of dealing with them? If it does, we shall have, in that particular at least, “the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ.” God’s righteous course of conduct toward his enemies is revealed to us in the life of Jesus, and if our faith says God’s way is best, and we accept it and continue in it, then we have the faith of Jesus, and we are safe here and for eternity. May the tender mercies of our God be the means of bringing to every repentant soul the full assurance of life and peace here and now and for all eternity.

The Measure of Forgiveness

By W. W. FLETCHER

W. W. FLETCHER

“Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” Rom. 4:7, 8. The realization of this blessedness is in proportion to the sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. As liberty to the captive, sight to the blind, bread to the hungry, or water to the famished, so is the knowledge of sins forgiven to the repentant soul. And the blessedness proceeds from a knowledge of the character of Him of whom it is written that he will not impute sin.

A young woman studying for a degree in music is unmoved by adverse criticism from persons ignorant of that accomplishment, provided her work meets with the approbation of the best judge of music in the land. So the seeker after righteousness covets not the praise of the drunkard, or the worldling, nor is moved by his blame.

But the confidence and esteem of men that know righteousness is of great value to him. Even here, however, he finds not the blessedness spoken of, for the judgment of even good men is fallible, and their knowledge of one another limited. There is One who is “of purer eyes than to behold evil,” who can not “look on iniquity;” the Lord, that “searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts.” Who can measure the blessedness of the man upon whom the King of righteousness looks and sees no evil? Yet God has made this possible. He even offers it to, and urges it upon, men and women steeped in sin and condemnation. What a blessed exchange!

The depths of God’s forgiving love are unsearchable; yet the Scriptures clearly express certain well-defined characteristics of divine forgiveness that enable men to grasp somewhat of its meaning.

Eternal Silence

“None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him.” Eze. 33:16. The Holy Spirit speaks to men of their sins only to lead to repentance. When once the soul turns to God, the reproof ceases.

Eternally Unseen by God

“Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” Isa. 38:17. The significance of this promise is that the Lord casts our sins out of his own sight. He sees no sin when he looks upon his people, not even when he looks over the past. Israel grieved him sorely in the wilderness; and yet when they turned to him, he covered the past as well as the present with these wonderful words, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel.” Num. 23:21.

Eternally Hidden From Men

“Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19. Man’s perfect happiness depends in some measure upon his relations with his fellows. God will cast the sins of his people out of the sight of every created being. In the great ocean depths perpetual darkness reigns. Men have brought to the surface some of the creatures inhabiting the deep caverns of the sea, and, lo, they have no eyes. The Lord will place our sins where there are no eyes to look upon them. Even the eyes of the saints may not scan the books of heaven until first all forgiven sins are blotted out.

Eternally Forgotten

“Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Heb. 10:17. It is difficult for us to conceive that the One who knows the end from the beginning, can forget anything. But “hath he said, and shall he not do it”? Throughout the ages to come our miserable sins will have no existence even in the mind of the Infinite. O the blessedness of the assurance, and of the people to whom it is given!

Without this assurance, heaven itself would be of no value even though we should gain it. Eternal life would become worse than worthless to us had we still consciousness of sin. How supremely important then that we hold fast daily and hourly this blessed knowledge of sins forgiven.

The Blessing Lost

Vast and illimitable as is the storehouse of God’s forgiveness, there is still this proviso written over the doorway, “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you.” The Saviour who taught us to pray has put such words on our lips that we dare not even so much as ask to be forgiven one whit more than we have forgiven our brethren. “If ye forgive not, . . . neither will your Father forgive,” is the only comment Jesus offers on the Lord’s prayer.

If God has placed one golden rule in the hands of men by which their conduct one toward another must be regulated (Matt. 7:12), he has reserved another for himself to control the issues of the judgment (Matt. 7:2).

The righteousness of this reserve placed on the mercy of God was strikingly illustrated by the Lord Jesus in the parable of the debtors. Matt. 18:23-35. The man who, when loosed from a debt of ten thousand talents, had no mercy for the one that owed him a hundred pence, was delivered to the tormentors till he should pay all. Ten thousand talents of silver would be worth about $9,000,000. So great is the debt freely forgiven us of God by his infinite grace! A hundred pence at the same rate would amount to $15. So small in comparison are the wrongs and grievances we may be called upon to forgive our fellow men! To pay the former, should a man, working for the wages prevailing to-day, save and pay at the rate of $10 weekly, it would take 18,750 years to wipe out the debt. To pay the latter on the same basis would require ten days. The wrongs we may suffer from one another are but as the mote compared to the beam of our transgressions against our Heavenly Father.

But the lesson is not so much in the amount of the debt as in the measure of forgiveness. It is not “till seven times,” but “until seventy times seven.” Let us compare our measure with the divine standard before our own cases come up for judgment. For if the forgiveness we mete to others is not so full and free and abounding as what the Lord offers us, he will certainly mete to us again with our own measure. It may be we think in our souls we have forgiven others, but let us see if our mercy contains the elements of the divine forgiveness.

1. Silence. It is an awful thing for men to censure and criticize and comment on the faults and failings of souls who are seeking to be hid in God, speaking things that God himself has covenanted not to mention. This is but the first step in the divine forgiveness, and yet how many who ask the Lord for pardon will fail at this test. Is there not danger that the sins of such souls will be “proclaimed upon the housetops” at the last day?

2. Do not behold. Some will say, “We can not help seeing imperfections.” And yet the God of heaven beheld not iniquity in ancient Israel! It may be that if we would follow the Lord more implicitly in the first step, silence, our eyes would not be so sharp to discern what our lips have been trained not to utter concerning those seeking to walk with God.

3. Do not expose. True love will prompt us rather to hide a brother’s failings. Fear lest, failing in this, the Lord may in the end “lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee,” together with that great accuser of the brethren.

4. Do not remember. It is not easy for us to forget at will, but the first three steps faithfully persisted in will in the end erase a brother’s faults even from the memory. And the God who is able to remember no more will give the same grace to his children also. Forgiveness of this kind is not born of the carnal heart. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” “Even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.”

Adelaide, South Australia.

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