Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 13, 1882
General Articles.
By Ellen G. White
Workers With Christ.
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
A GREAT work has been committed to the followers of Christ. Every one may do something to strengthen and build up the church, and to enlighten those who are in darkness. But there must be a feeling of individual responsibility. Each must seek to maintain a close connection with God, that he may have strength to aid and counsel others. "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." The heart in which his Spirit dwells, will be a channel of light to others. It cannot be otherwise.
Those who do not preserve a living connection with God themselves, will have little interest in the salvation of others. They have no light from Heaven, to reflect to the world. If these careless, irresponsible ones, could see the fearful results of their course, they would be alarmed. Every one of us is exerting an influence upon some other soul; and we shall each be held accountable for the effect of that influence. Words and actions have a telling power, and the long hereafter will show the results of our life here. Yet how few consider these things. The members of the church listen to the words of God, spoken by his servant, and then one goes to his farm, another to his merchandise; and by their absorbing interest in the affairs of this life, they declare that eternal things are of secondary importance.
We should prayerfully study the word of God, and ponder it in our hearts, and we shall be better prepared to obey it in our lives. We must each have an experience for ourselves. The work of our salvation lies between God and our own souls. Though all nations are to pass in judgment before him, yet he will examine the case of each individual with as close and searching scrutiny as if there were not another being upon the earth for whom his Son had died. He will weigh every action, and determine the character of every life. How many have become the willing slaves of vice, their mental and physical powers enervated, their souls debased, because impure thoughts were allowed to dwell in the mind, and to stain the soul. "Unto the pure, all things are pure." To those who are pure in heart, all the duties and lawful pursuits of life are pure; while to those whose heart and conscience are defiled, all things are impure.
Another sin of the mind is that of extolling and deifying human reason, to the neglect of divine revelation. Here, too, we must "gird up the loins of the mind." We are living in an age when the minds of men are ever on the stretch for something new. Rightly directed, and kept within proper limits, this desire is commendable. God has given us in his created works enough to excite thought and stimulate investigation. He does not desire men to be less acute, less inquiring, or less intelligent. But with all aspirations, and in all our researches, we should remember that arrogance is not greatness, nor is conceit knowledge. Human pride is an evidence, not of strength, but of weakness. It reveals not wisdom, but folly. To exalt reason unduly is to abase it. To place the human in rivalry with the divine, is to make it contemptible.
How can man be just with God? This is the one great question that most concerns mankind. Can human reasoning find an answer? No; revelation only can solve the all-important problem, can shed light upon the pathway of man's life. What folly, then, to turn from the one great source of light, the Sun of righteousness, to follow the feeble and uncertain light of human wisdom.
Every individual has a soul to save or to lose. Each has a case pending at the bar of God. Each must meet the great Judge face to face. How important, then, that every mind contemplate often the solemn scene when the Judgment shall sit and the books be opened, when with Daniel every individual must stand in his lot at the end of the days.
Oh, that Christ's followers might realize that it is not houses and lands, bank-stock or wheat-fields, or even life itself, that is now at stake; but souls for whom Christ died! We should ever remember that the men and women whom we daily meet are Judgment-bound. They will stand before the great white throne, to testify against us if we are unfaithful to duty, if our example shall lead them away from the truth and from Christ, or to bear witness that our fidelity has encouraged them in the path of righteousness. These souls will either live to offer praise to God and the Lamb through ceaseless ages, or they will perish with the wicked. Christ suffered and died that they might enjoy a blissful eternity. What sacrifices are we willing to make for their salvation?
THE MORNING COMETH.
Morning breaks upon the mountains,
Blessed morn so long foretold,
Gently lifting earth's dark shadows
As its radiant beams unfold.
Now the night of tears is ending,
Faith will soon be turned to sight;
And the morn of Zion's glory
Soon shall flood the earth with light.
Art thou weary with the conflict,
Burdened with its heat and care?
Look above! not long it lasteth;
See the day-star beaming there.
Has thy path been dark and lonely,
Hedged with trials all along?
Faint not, we are near the city,
Soon we'll sing the victor's song.
Pearly gates stand widely open
For the saints to enter in;
They are tried, and proved, and chosen,
Wholly cleansed from every sin.
Soon they'll hear the welcome summons,
"Come! my fair one! come away!
Thou hast borne the night of weeping,
Enter on the perfect day."
Glorious prospect! Oh, how cheering,
As we tread life's narrow way;
Since we know the morn is nearing,
We can wait, 'twill soon be day.
Only keep the pathway narrow,
With thine eyes fixed on the prize,
Though the clouds may gather round thee,
Beulah land before thee lies.
Blessed Certainty.
By John Newton
If all the blind men in the kingdom should endeavor to beat me down that the sun is not bright, or that the rainbow has no colors, I would still believe my own eyes. I have seen them both; they have not. I cannot prove to their satisfaction what I assert, because they are destitute of sight, the necessary medium; they would not—they could not—hesitate a moment if they were not blind. Just so they who have been taught of God, who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, have an experimental perception of the truth, which renders them proof against all the sophistry of the infidel.—Newton.
Conspicuous Through Concealment
To BE truly conspicuous, you must conceal yourself behind your work.
Run That Ye May Obtain
“So RUN that ye may obtain.”
Constitutional Amendment.
By W. H. Littlejohn
BY ELD. W. H. LITTLEJOHN.
(Concluded.)
PUTTING all these facts together—connected, consistent, and unanswerable as they are—men will discover that a great departure has taken place from the original practice of the church, and against the explicit command of God. Should they ask, as assuredly they will, when, and by whom, it was inaugurated, it will not be a fruitless effort on their part to obtain needed information. God has made ample provision for the instruction of those who would do his will, and for the condemnation of those who refuse so to do. Referring to prophecies given centuries ago, mapping out beforehand the history of the world, they will find the prophet Daniel—while describing the work of the “little horn” which arose among the ten horns of the great and terrible beast, and which little horn nearly all Protestant commentators agree in applying to the papal church—stating of it, by way of prediction, that it should “wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws,” and that they should “be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” (Dan. 7 : 25). Consulting history, they will discover that, so far as the saints are concerned, these terrible words have been so completely fulfilled that this power has actually put to death, in one way or other, at least fifty millions of the people of God.
Again, perceiving, as they will readily, that the “laws,” which this presumptuous power should blasphemously claim to be able to change, are the laws of God, what will be their astonishment at learning, from the representatives of this great oppressive system—which alone has extended through a period sufficiently long to cover the “time, times and half a time,” or the 1260 years of Daniel’s prophecy—that it actually boasts that it has done the very work in question. Nay, more; what limit can be put to their surprise when they find these men absolutely pointing with exultation to the practice of the Christian world in the observance of Sunday, as an evidence of the ability of the Roman Catholic church to alter and amend the commands of God! That they do this, however, in the most unequivocal terms, will be abundantly proved by the following quotations from their own publications:—
“Question. Is it then Saturday we should sanctify, in order to obey the ordinance of God? Ans. During the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but the church, instructed by Jesus Christ, and directed by the Spirit of God, has substituted Sunday for Saturday; so we now sanctify the first, not the seventh, day. Sunday means, and now is, the day of the Lord. Ques. Had the church power to make such a change? Ans. Certainly; since the Spirit of God is her guide, the change is inspired by the Holy Spirit.” —Cath. Catechism of Christian Religion.
Ques. How prove you that the church has power to command feasts and holy days? Ans. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church.
“Ques. How prove you that? Ans. Because, by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the church’s power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin; and by not keeping the rest by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power.”—Abridgement of Christian Doctrine.
“It is worth its while to remember that this observance of the Sabbath—in which, after all, the only Protestant worship consists—not only has no foundation in the Bible, but it is in flagrant contradiction with its letter, which commands rest on the Sabbath, which is Saturday. It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred this rest to the Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord. Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the church.”—Plain Talk about Protestantism of To-day, p. 225.
Instinctively anticipating some providential mode of escape from the terrible consequences of that great apostasy, out of which the religious world has for centuries been endeavoring to work its way, conscientious men and women will catch the notes of warning which for twenty-five years have been sounding through the land, in these words: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14 : 12.
Inquiring into the origin of the message which is thus being given to the world, they will find that, for a quarter of a century, God has been calling attention to the subject of his law and his Sabbath, and that a denomination of earnest men and women, but little known as yet among the learned and mighty of the land, have been devoting themselves with zeal and a spirit of self-sacrifice to the tremendous task of restoring God’s down-trodden Sabbath to the hearts and judgments of the people. They will find, also, that these persons have not entered upon this labor because they anticipated an easy and speedy victory; nor, indeed, because they ever believed that the great mass of mankind would so far shake off the trammels of tradition and the fear of reproach as to be able to venture an unreserved surrender to the teachings of the Bible, but simply because they saw in it that which was at once the path of duty, and that of fulfilling prophecy.
Having accepted Dan. 7 : 25, in common with the religious world, as applying to the papacy, and learning, as the result of investigation, that the days of the great persecution were to reach from the decree of Justinian (A. D. 538), giving authority to the Bishop of Rome to become the corrector of heretics, to A. D. 1798—when the pope was carried into captivity, having received a wound with the sword agreeably to Rev. 13 : 10—these students of God’s word at once perceived that the next thing in order would be the completion of the restitution, which has begun in the taking away of his ability to put the saints to death, by a work equally called for in the inspired prediction; namely, that of rescuing from his hands the “times and laws” which he thought to change. Or, in other words, that the effort of the pope to remove the Sabbath of the Lord from the seventh to the first day of the week should be made to appear in its true light; namely, as the work of a blasphemous power which had held the world in its grasp for centuries.
But, while they were clear in those convictions which led them in 1846, under the title of Seventh-day Adventists, to claim that they were fulfilling the prophecy of Rev. 14 : 9–12, they discerned that the same facts which brought them to this conclusion also compelled the conviction that theirs was to be the road of persecution, hardship, and privation. They read in Rev. 12 : 17, in these words, “The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” the history of the last generation of Christians; and saw that, in God’s inscrutable providence, it was to be their fortune to be the object of diabolic hate, because of the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, to which they cling with determined perseverance.
Once more: In studying the 11th to the 18th verses inclusive of the 13th chapter of the same book, they saw that—if their view of the work which was assigned them was correct—that portion of the Scriptures was applied to the United States of America, and indicated that this country was to be the theater of a mighty contest between those who “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus,” and the government under which they live, from which they could only be delivered by the coming of Christ. This view they unhesitatingly proclaimed. For twenty years, they have announced it as a part of their faith. When they first declared it to be such, they brought upon themselves ridicule and contempt, for, humanly speaking, every probability was against them. The government was ostensibly republican in form, and professedly tolerant to the very extreme, in all matters of religious opinion. The Constitution had even provided that “Congress should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Nevertheless, so firm were they in the conviction that they had the right application of the prophecy, that they unhesitatingly walked out upon their faith; and for a fifth of a century, they have talked it, and published it everywhere, notwithstanding the odium it has brought upon them. Lest we might appear to be drawing upon our own imagination in a matter of such importance, we append the following extracts from their works. The words in parentheses are our own, and serve to explain that which a larger quotation from the context would make clear of itself:—
“When the ‘beast’ (the papacy) had the dominion, all in authority must be Catholics. The popular sentiment then was that none should hold offices in the government, except they professed the Catholic faith. The popular religion at that period was Catholicism. They legislated upon religious subjects, and required all men to conform to the popular institutions and dogmas of the Papacy, or suffer and die. The image must be made in the United States, where Protestantism is the prevailing religion. Image signifies likeness; therefore Protestantism and Republicanism will unite; or, in other words, the making of laws will go into the hands of Protestants, when all in authority will profess the popular sentiments of the day, and make laws binding certain religious institutions (i. e., Sunday observance, etc.), upon all, without distinction.”—Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 6, No. 6, 1854.
“It seems to me, even to look at the subject in the light of reason, that a conflict must in time come between commandment-keepers and the United States. This, of course, will lead those who find that they cannot sustain their Sunday institution by argument to resort to some other means.”—Advent Review and Herald, Vol. 10, No. 11, 1857.
“When all concur upon this question (Sunday-keeping), except a few who conscientiously observe the fourth commandment, how long before their constancy would be attributed to obstinacy and bigotry? And how long before the sentence would go forth, as it did in the days of Pliny, ‘that for this, if for nothing else, they deserved to be punished.’”—Review and Herald, Vol. 19, No. 15.
How changed the political sky to-day from what it was when these words began to be spoken! Now, thoughtful men are pondering whether, after all, these things may not be so. They see a powerful organization looming up in the country, which appends to the call for their conventions the names of some of the most influential men in the land. They hear them declaring in so many words, that what they are determined to do is to sweep away the constitutional barrier between them and a coerced observance of Sunday, so that all may be compelled to regard it as sacred. What we want, say they, and what we are determined to have, is such an amendment of the Constitution, (1) That it shall recognize God and Christ; (2) That it shall enable us to secure the reading of the Bible in the common schools; (3) That we may be enabled to enforce the better observance of the Christian Sabbath, i. e., Sunday.
These declarations, a few years since, would have appalled every lover of constitutional liberty. Every man and woman imbued with a proper sense of the genius of our institutions would have been struck with horror at the very thought of pursuing the course in question. But a change has come over the spirit of the land. Steadily, the advocates of a day which has no authority in the word of God are drifting where all before them have done who have sought to maintain a human institution upon the claim of divine authority. It is idle for them to say at this stage of the proceedings that they propose to regard the rights of those who have conscientious scruples on this subject. God has said that the matter will culminate in oppression; nay, even though this were not so, reason itself would prove that this would be the case. Without questioning the sincerity of the men who at the present make these statements, we appeal to that very sincerity for the evidence that this matter will end just where the Seventh-day Adventists have claimed that it would.
They have convinced themselves that they are called of God to a mighty work. They believe that they have a noble mission. They are men of mind and nerve. But, when a few months shall have revealed the insufficiency of their logic, when Seventh-day Baptists and Seventh-day Adventists shall have confronted them with a plain “Thus saith the Lord,” against their favorite scheme, they would be more than human if—refusing to yield to arguments which they cannot answer—they should continue to look with complacence upon the very men who, after all, will prove to be their most formidable antagonists in the great conflict. In fact, it would be a denial of both nature and history to say that they would not at last come to regard them in the light of enemies of God, really more worthy of condemnation and coercion than those who were simply unbelievers in any Sabbath at all, and so incapable of standing before the systematic effort which they have set in motion.
But, candid reader, the facts are before you, and between us and these events there will be ample time for calm reflection, and deliberate decision. Where do you choose to stand in this final conflict between the venerable Sabbath of the Lord and its modern papistic rival? Will you keep the commandments of God, as uttered by his voice and written by his finger? or will you henceforth pay intelligent homage to the man of sin, by the observance of a day which finds its authority alone in the mutilated form of the commandments, as they come from his hand? May God help you to make a wise choice.
Take Warning.
By Moody
THE trouble with Peter was his self-confidence. That is the trouble with a good many of us. We have more self-confidence than we are warranted in having. Peter said if all the others deserted Christ he wouldn't. Many men to-day are trying to reform themselves. They depend on their own strength and faith. The strongest men in the Bible failed in their strongest point. Abraham was the man of faith; yet in Egypt he denied his wife because he didn't trust God. Moses was noted for his humility; yet he lost Canaan by losing his temper. Elijah was a brave man; yet failed through cowardice. The beloved disciple proposed to call down fire to destroy certain persons. And Peter, the most ardent of the disciples, cursed and denied Christ. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Satan aims high. When he wanted a man to betray Christ he took Judas, the treasurer of the disciples; and when he wanted a man to deny Christ he took Peter, the leader of the disciples, and the highest ecclesiastical authority of the day. Let us take warning. — Moody.
The Honor of Handicraft
By George Macdonald
The day will come—and may I do something to help it hither—when the youth of our country will recognize that, taken in itself, it is a more manly, and therefore in the old, true sense, a more gentle thing, to follow a good handicraft, if it make the hands black as a coal, than to spend the day in keeping books and making up accounts, though therein the hands may remain white. Not but that from a higher point of view still, all work, set by God and done divinely, is of equal honor; but where there is a choice I would gladly see a boy of mine choose rather to be a blacksmith, or a watchmaker, or a bookbinder, than a clerk. Production, making, is a higher thing in a scale of reality than any mere transmission, such as buying and selling. It is, beside, easier to do honest work than to buy and sell honestly. The more honor, of course, to those who are honest under the greater difficulty. But the man who knows how needful the prayer, "Lead us not into temptation," knows that he must not be tempted into temptation even by the glory of duty under difficulty. In humility we must choose the easiest, as we must hold our faces unflinchingly to the hardest, even to the seeming impossible, when it is given us to do.—George Macdonald.
Theology and Skepticism
By The Methodist
WATCH the flight of a straw; theology leads in the list of books published in England last year. There were 945 of these theological volumes. Of course education came next; there were 680 educational volumes. And yet there are about 1,000 people in England (calling themselves Agnostics, Comptists, and Atheists), who make more noise than the 30,000,000 of people who read the old theology. And every now and then somebody on this side of the water rises to explain to people who recently bought 2,000,000 copies of the Revised New Testament that “nobody believes in that any more, you know!” The trouble with this little minority that imagines itself the whole world, is not so much skepticism as a disorder known in the rural districts as “the big head.”—The Methodist.
Laziness and Poverty
LAZINESS travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes her.
A Short Memory.
WHEN the great Jonathan Edwards was out riding one day a little boy opened a gate for him. "Whose boy are you, my little man?" asked the great theologian. "Noah Clarke's boy, sir," was the answer. On the return of Edwards soon after, the same boy appeared and opened the gate again. The great theologian thanked him, and asked: "Whose boy are you, my little man?" to which the urchin replied: "Noah Clarke's boy, sir; the same man's boy I was a quarter of an hour ago, sir."
Christ’s Second Coming
We are told by some that Christ's second coming took place at the destruction of Jerusalem, about A. D. 70. If that is a fact, then all the testimony given us by inspired men since that time should point us back to that event for the fulfillment of those prophecies bearing upon this subject. But what are the facts in the case? Exactly the reverse.
John, while in tribulation,
HE LEADS HIS OWN.
By J. B. Goodrich
He leads his own! enough to know
He marks the path, and bids me go;
I'll trust him though the way seems long,
And follow on with cheerful song.
He leads his own! not mine the choice,
Content I listen for his voice;
Gladly I hasten to obey.
And journey where he leads the way.
He leads his own! I would not say
That mine should be a pleasant way;
Only to know he leads me on
To perfect rest, and joy unknown.
He leads his own! though deep the wave,
Mighty the arm reached forth to save;
My heart shall know no doubt or fear,
For Christ the Lord is very near.
He leads his own! when bade to go
Through pastures green, where streamlets flow;
And when the gloomy vale they tread,
And clouds hang darkly overhead.
He leads his own! though oftentimes
The sun and joy seem left behind;
Just as of old he led his flock,
And gave them water from the rock.
Second Coming of Christ.
BY ELD. J. B. GOODRICH.
Sincerity Insufficient.
By Christian Chiliast
A POPULAR adage says, "Oh, it makes no difference what a man believes, if he is only sincere."
Let us test this practically. A family was recently poisoned by eating toadstools which they sincerely believed to be mushrooms. Three funerals resulted. Did it make no difference?
A merchant boards a north-bound train, sincerely believing it to be a south-bound train, and is carried opposite to his desired destination, resulting in the breaking of a financial engagement, and the loss of thousands of dollars. Did it make no difference?
If a man sincerely believes a certain thing, while the truth about it is entirely different, will his sincere belief make it all right?
The truth is, the popular adage is a lie—and a very transparent one at that! If a man is sincere in desiring truth, he will take pains to ascertain the truth. Where facts are concerned, all the sophistry of the world cannot change them.
Hence truth will sanctify the powers of the mind and heart, while error will pervert them. Whether consciously or unconsciously, truth and error entertained, will always generate their legitimate offspring of good and evil. Catholics sincerely believe the Pope to be infallible, yet their sincerity does not insure their salvation through papal absolutions.
Sincerity is not the criterion of good; but the word of God is the infallible guide, and without its truth we stumble in a darkness which never substitutes the virtues of light.—Christian Chiliast.
Who Is Driving?
By Rev. Wm. Lamson
WE often think we are succeeding by our own foresight or skill. Hence we are keeping a keen lookout, and employing all our wisdom; but sometimes the control of a mightier hand and a wiser intelligence is so manifest that we cannot fail to see and to acknowledge it. Who that believes in God and in his providence cannot recall instances in which he has been guided by a wisdom not his own, and been vouchsafed deliverances which he could not have achieved?
A father and his little son were once riding along a familiar road with a gentle horse. To gratify his child the father placed the reins in his hand, but at the same time, unseen, retained his own hold on them. As they rode on, they saw approaching them, at terrific speed, a runaway team. The danger was great and imminent. But the father guided his horse so that a collision was avoided, and the danger escaped.
When all was over the little son looked up to his father, and with choked utterance said, "I thought I was driving, but I wasn’t, was I papa?"
So often does the child of God, when some peril has been escaped, or some deliverance has been vouchsafed in ways unforeseen and unthought of, have occasion to say, "Father, I thought I was driving, but I wasn’t." Oh, it is, it is blessed to feel that the reins are in the hands of One mightier and wiser than we are. And it is blessed on the eve of some signal deliverance to look into the face of our Father and say, "Thou hast done it. Thy hands held the reins."—Rev. Wm. Lamson, in Watchman.
Evolutionary Philosophy Reproved
EVOLUTIONARY philosophy has received a severe blow in some of the recently discovered Egyptian manuscripts. Those containing the histories of the fifth and sixth dynasties, taken from the pyramids at Sakkara last spring by M. Maspero, and about to be published in Paris, are said to establish the fact that the oldest religion of the Egyptians was the most nearly monotheistic, and that the grosser forms of idolatry came later in the history of the country. Fragments of the texts in the possession of M. Maspero, hitherto not supposed to have had any relation to each other, are found to have been used in many later temples and tombs. Commenting on this fact, a writer in the Nation says: "This adds force to the growing conviction among Egyptologists that the earliest Egyptian civilization we know of is the highest, and that all we know of it is its decadence. The oldest pyramid is the largest and best built; the oldest temple, that beside the Sphynx at Gizeh, shows masonry since unapproached; the oldest papyrus, though as yet hardly understood, is the wisest; and the tombs and the temples of the Theban period are filled with extracts from the ancient books not yet found complete. Three or four of these books furnish five-sixth of the texts of the tombs of the kings."—The Interior.