Signs of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 39. (10/15/1885)

Signs of the Times

Oct 15, 1885

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 15, 1885

General Articles.

By Ellen G. White

Letter from Mrs. E. G. White.

ON BOARD S. S. "CEPHALONIA" NEAR QUEENSTOWN, IRELAND, AUG. 17, 1885. I FEEL urged to address those who are engaged in giving the last message of warning to the world. Whether those for whom they labor see and accept the truth depends very much upon the individual workers. The command of God is, "Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord." Paul charges Timothy, "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine." The work must commence with the worker. He must be united to Christ as the branch is united to the vine. "I am the true vine," said Christ, "ye are the branches." Here is represented the closest possible connection. Insert the leafless rod into the flourishing vine stalk, and it becomes a living branch, drawing sap and nourishment from the vine. Fiber by fiber, vein by vein, the sapling clings until it buds and blossoms and bears fruit. The sapless twig represents the sinner. When united to Christ, soul is joined to soul, the feeble and finite to the holy and infinite, and this man becomes one with Christ. "Without me," says Christ, "ye can do nothing." God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification. Are we who claim to be workers with Christ united with him? Do we abide in Christ, and are we one with him? The message that we bear is worldwide. It must come before all nations, tongues, and people. The Lord will not require any one of us to go forth with this message unless he

shall give us power and grace to present it to the people in a manner corresponding to its importance. The great question with us to-day is, Are we carrying this solemn message of truth in a manner that is equal to its importance? The Lord will work with the workers if they will make Christ their only dependence. He never designed that his missionaries should work without his grace, and destitute of his power. The humble, contrite heart will be the abode of the Spirit of Christ. "If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."

God has chosen us out of the world that we might be a peculiar and holy people. "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." God's workers must be men of prayer, diligent students of the Scriptures, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, that they may be a light and strength unto others. Our God is a jealous God, and he requires that we worship him in spirit and in truth, and in the beauty of holiness. The psalmist says: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." We must, as workers, take heed to our ways. If the psalmist could not be heard if he regarded iniquity in his heart, how can the prayers of ministers be heard if iniquity is regarded among them? There are dangers to which we are continually exposed. It is Satan's studied plan to make the workers weak in prayer, weak in power, weak in influence before the world, because of the defects in their characters, defects which in no way harmonize with the truth. We must, as workers, be united in frowning down and condemning anything that bears the least approach to evil in our associations with one another. Our faith is holy, and our work is to vindicate the honor of God's law. Our work is not of a character to bring any one down to a low level in thought or in deportment. There are many who claim to believe and to teach the truth, who have error and fanciful ideas of their own mingled with the truth. There is an exalted platform upon which we must stand. We must believe and teach the truth as it is in Jesus.

Holiness of heart will never lead to impure actions. When one who claims to be teaching the truth is inclined to be much in the company of young women or even of married women; when he familiarly lays his hand upon their shoulders, or is often found conversing with them in a familiar manner, be afraid of him. The pure principles of truth are not inwrought in the soul. Such are not workers with Jesus; they are not in Christ, and Christ is not abiding in them. They need a thorough conversion before God can accept their labors. The truth of heavenly origin never degrades the receiver, never leads him to the least approach to undue familiarity. On the contrary, it sanctifies the receiver, refines the taste, elevates and ennobles him, and brings him in close connection with Jesus. It does not lead him to disregard the Apostle Paul's injunction, to abstain from even the appearance of evil, lest his good should be evil spoken of. We have a great work to do to elevate man and to win him to Christ, to lead him to choose and to seek earnestly to be a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Every thought, every word, and every action of the workers should be of that elevated character that is in harmony with the sacred truth they advocate. We are living in an age where iniquity abounds, and an unguarded word or an improper action may greatly injure the usefulness of the one who showed this weakness. Keep up the barriers of reserve. Let not one instance occur in your relation to others that the enemy may make capital of. If you begin to place your affections upon one another, giving special attention to favorites, using flattering words, God will withdraw his Spirit. If married men leave their wives to care for their children at home, the wife and mother is doing fully as great and important a work as the husband and father. Although one is in the missionary field, the other is a home missionary, whose cares and anxieties and burdens frequently far exceed those of the husband and father. Her work is a solemn and important one. It is to mould the minds and fashion the characters of her children, and train them for usefulness here, and fit them for the future, immortal life. The husband in the open missionary field may receive the honors of men, while the home toiler may receive no credit for her labor. But if she works for the best interest of her family, to fashion their characters after the divine model, the recording angel writes her name as one of the greatest missionaries in the world. God does not see things as man's finite vision views them.

I am pained when I see men praised, flattered, and petted. God has revealed the fact that some who receive these attentions are unworthy to take his name into their lips. Yet they are exalted to Heaven in the estimation of finite man, who reads only from outward appearance. My sisters, never fawn over, pet, and flatter poor, failing, erring men, either young or old, married or unmarried. You know not their weaknesses, and you know not but these very attentions and this profuse praise may prove their ruin. I am alarmed at the short-sightedness, the want of wisdom, that many manifest in respect to this familiarity. Men who are doing God's work and who have Christ abiding in their hearts, will not lower the standard of morality, but will ever seek to elevate it. They will not find pleasure in the flattery of women, or in being petted by them. Let young men and married men say, "Hands off! I will not give the least occasion to have my good evil spoken of. My good name is capital, of far more value to me than gold or silver. Let me preserve it untarnished. If men assail that name, it shall not be because I have given them any occasion to do so, but for the same reason that they spoke falsely of Christ,—because they hated the purity and holiness of his character, for it was a constant rebuke to them." I wish I could impress upon every worker the great need of continual, earnest prayer. They cannot be constantly upon their knees, but they can be uplifting their hearts to God. This is the way that Enoch walked with God. When young, or even married men and women open their family secrets to you, beware. When they express a desire for sympathy, know that it is time to exercise great caution. Those who are imbued with the Spirit of Christ, and who are walking with God, will have no unholy repining for sympathy. They have a companionship that satisfies every desire of the mind and heart. Married men who accept the attention,

the praise, and petting of women, should be assured that the love and sympathy of this class is not worth the obtaining. It is valueless. This is a subject to which we must give heed. We must guard against the sins of this degenerate age. We must stand aloof from everything that savors of commonness and undue familiarity. God condemns it. It is forbidden ground, upon which it is unsafe to set the feet. Every word and action should tend to elevate, refine, and ennoble the character. There is sin in thoughtlessness about such matters. The Apostle Paul exhorted Timothy to diligence and thoroughness in his ministry, and urged him to meditate upon those things that are pure and excellent, that his profiting might appear unto all. The same counsel is greatly needed by young men of the present age. Thoughtful consideration is essential. If men would only think more and act less impulsively, they would meet with much greater success in their labors. We are handling subjects of infinite importance, and we cannot afford to weave into our work our own defects of character. We want to represent the character of Christ.

Women are too often tempters. Through one pretense or another they engage the attention of the married or unmarried men, and lead them on till they transgress the law of God. Their usefulness is ruined and their souls jeopardized. The history of Joseph is left on record for the benefit of all who, like him, are tempted. He was firm as a rock to principle, and answered the tempter, "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" Moral power like his is what is now needed. If women would elevate their lives and become workers with Christ, there would be less danger through their influence. But with their present feelings of unconcern in regard to home responsibilities, and in regard to the claims that God has upon them, their influence is often strong in the wrong direction. Their powers are dwarfed, and their work bears not the stamp of the divine. They are not home missionaries, neither are they missionaries away from home, and frequently home, precious home, is a desolation. Is there not enough transpiring about us to show us the dangers that beset our path? Everywhere are seen wrecks of humanity, broken-down family altars, broken-up families. There is a strange abandonment of principle. The standard of morality is lowered, and the earth is fast becoming as Sodom. The Sodomitish practices which brought the judgment of God upon the old world and caused it to be destroyed by water, and which caused Sodom to be destroyed by fire, are fast increasing.

We are nearing the end. God has borne long with the perversity of mankind, but their punishment is no less certain. Let those who profess to be the light of the world depart from all iniquity. We see the very same spirit manifested against the truth as was seen in Christ's days. For want of Bible arguments those who are making void the law of God will manufacture falsehoods to stain and blacken the workers. They did this to the world's Redeemer; they will do it to his followers. Reports that have not the least foundation will be asserted as truth. May the Lord attract souls to himself, and impart to them individually a sense of their sacred responsibilities to form such characters that Christ will not be ashamed to call them brethren. Elevate the standard, and then the heavenly benediction will be pronounced upon you in that day when every man will receive according to the deeds done in the body. Workers for God must live as in his sight, and be constantly developing in character, true virtue, and godliness. Their minds and hearts must be so thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Christ, and solemnized by the sacred message they have to bear, that every thought, every action, and every motive will be above the earthly and sensual. Their happiness will not be in forbidden, selfish gratification, but in Jesus and his love.

The standard of morality is not exalted high enough among God's people. In view of the dangers of this time, shall not we, as commandment-keeping people, put away from among us all sin, all iniquity, and all perverseness? Shall not the women professing the truth keep strict guard over themselves, lest the least encouragement be given to unwarrantable familiarity? They might close many a door to temptation if they would observe at all times strict reserve, and propriety of deportment. Let men find an example in the life of Joseph, and stand firm to principle, however strongly tempted. We want to be strong men and women for the right. There are those around us who are weak in moral power. They need to be in the company of those who are firm, and whose hearts are closely knit with the heart of Christ. Every one's principles will be put to the test, but there are those who go into temptation like a fool to the correction of stocks. They invite the devil to tempt them. They unnerve themselves, are weakened in moral power, and shame and confusion are the result. Never should the mark of distinction between the followers of Jesus and the followers of Satan be obliterated. There is a distinct line drawn by God himself between the world and the church, between commandment-keepers and commandment-breakers. These do not blend together. They are as far separated, as much different, as midday and midnight; different in their tastes, their aims, their pursuits, their characters. If we cultivate the love and fear of God, we will loathe the least approach to impurity.

My prayer is, O Lord, anoint the eyes of thy people, that they may discern between sin and holiness, between pollution and righteousness, and come off victorious at last.

Behold, I Come Quickly

"Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12.

CHRIST'S LOVE.

By E. H. Shannon

I took my Bible up and read Where Paul came, breathing still Threat'nings and slaughter 'gainst the saints Whom he had sworn to kill; And while I seem to see the man Amid the lordly train, I turned the pages further on, And saw him once again.

Not now, as then, with pomp and power, But prouder still he saith, "I've fought the fight, I've run my course, And I have kept the faith." I pause in wonder. I may read The story o'er and o'er, And still will wonder just the same As I have done before.

If love of Jesus Christ can give Such wondrous change as this, Give me, my God, this love for thee, And let me know such bliss, That, as the evening shadows come, If lost in failing breath, I, too, may say, "I've fought the fight, And I have kept the faith." —E. H. Shannon.

The Theater.

It was before the rink came to be; it will flourish after the rink ceases to be. The same general objection holds against it as an institution. It is keyed to pleasure. It roots in the world that lieth in the wicked one. It is, on the part of the management, purely a money-making affair; on the part of the patron, a pleasure-seeking affair. But, further, the theater as an institution deserves condemnation because of its effects upon the "poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more." That there are pure men and women upon the stage, no one will deny, but that the class known as actors is pure, no one will assume. The effect of the stage upon those who live behind the scenes is bad; the strong, pure character is the exception, and even he cannot cleanse and purify the stage.

Colley Cibber, for forty years an actor, says: "While vice and farcical folly are the most profitable commodities, why should we wonder that, time out of mind, the poor comedian when real vice could bear no price should deal in what would bring him most ready money? But this, you will say, is making the stage a nursery of vice and folly, or at least keeping an open shop for it. I grant it."

Dumas, the author of "Camille," writes: "You do not take your daughter to see my play. You are right. Let me say once for all, You must not take your daughter to the theater. It is not merely the work that is immoral, it is the place. Whenever we paint man, there must be a grossness that cannot be placed before all eyes; and wherever the theater is elevated and loyal, it can live only by using the color of truth. The theater being the picture or satire of the passions and social manners, it must be immoral, the passions and social manners themselves being immoral."

"Lo, where the stage, the poor, degraded stage, Holds its warped mirror to a gaping age."

Edwin Booth, who lost a fortune trying to reform the stage, writes: "I never permit my wife or daughter to witness a play without previously ascertaining its character. . . . While the theater is permitted to be a mere shop for gain, open to every huckster of immoral gimmicks, there is no other way to discriminate between the pure and base than through the experience of others."

W. C. Macready, the celebrated actor, said: "None of my children shall ever, with my consent, or on any pretense, enter a theater, or have any visiting connection with actors or actresses."

Sheridan Knowles, a converted actor, renounced the stage as utterly evil; another converted actor said to Theodore L. Cuyler, while passing a play-house in which he had often performed, "Behind those curtains lies Sodom."

Frances Kemble writes: "A business which is incessant excitement and factitious emotion seems to me unworthy of a man; a business which is public exhibition is unworthy of a woman."

Montague Stanley, an English actor, writes: "April 28.—Last night of my dramatic career. And now, thanks be to the Lord, who hath called me from darkness to light, I am emancipated from a most ungodly profession. May the Lord bless and prosper me in my new one!" Of theater-goers he says: "They are leading others by their example to do as they are doing; and they are verily guilty of their brother's blood when he falls into the snare of ungodliness and is taken. They are upholding a system of enormous wickedness. Every individual who contributes a fraction at the door of a theater for admission is a partaker with all those sitting around him in the common sin of supporting a vast machinery of corruption."

Another writer says: "The good self of the actor's personality must for the time being be lost in the evil self of the character acted. And what an effect is this! The greater the actor, the completer the transference of self, and the profounder the evil."

The editor of Figaro writes: "To be a really clever performer—and very few are such—the various passions of a woman's nature cannot be represented by one who has not felt them. If I do not express an absolute fact, it is at least remarkable that the lives of all the great actresses have been full of intrigues; and it may even be said that the greater they were, the freer the life they led. The history of the theater from its origin to our own times tends to prove this."

We have thus quoted from behind the scenes simply to show that Herrick Johnson is right when he says: "The stage as an institution has within itself the seeds of corruption, and exists only under a law of degeneracy."

The mission of the Christian religion is not to reform institutions, but to regenerate men. But when an actor is "born from above," he leaves the stage. If he cannot reform the stage who acts upon it, be sure they cannot who sit before it. They are on the wrong side of the footlights. When a Christian enters a theater, it is as a listener, not a teacher. He lends his ears, and through them the actors and actresses pour the lessons of the hour; he lends his eyes, and through them lasting impressions are made upon the mind; he is silent as to his own faith or hope. Such an attitude ill befits the "salt of the earth and the light of the world." As well might Moses try to free Israel by reforming Egypt, or the angels to rescue Lot by saving Sodom, as for a few Christians to attempt the reform of the stage by frequenting the theater.

An institution that doesn't educate its teachers in morals must prove a poor school for its patrons. The one thing insisted upon in any public educator is a good moral character. The one thing not insisted upon on the stage is a good moral character. The teacher and preacher

whose character is not above reproach must step into private life; the actor and actress need not. In too many cases, an element of attractiveness is added when immorality is hinted.

Words stand for thoughts. The great stream of conversation after the theater flows something like this: "Wasn't his acting superb? I prefer him to——." "Wasn't the scenery fine? I never saw a play so well put on the stage." "Her dresses were elegant, and so becoming! I wonder who does her work!" Where is the thought the interpretation of which ranks the theater as an educator? The discussion even after one of Shakespeare's plays turns, not upon the depth of thought, but upon the comparative merits of actors, actresses, dresses, and scenery. Food for thought, indeed!

As a recreation the theater fails. The stream of life that flows between its banks does not thereby gain power for turning the world's wheels. The patrons of the stage, as a class, are not the people who do the world's work, any way; the great majority are the young who haven't yet settled to serious business, or professional pleasure-seekers, or those who haunt the play-house because it kills time and helps while away an idle hour. And this in a world where time is short, life earnest, and

"Not enjoyment and not sorrow Is our destined end or way; But to act that each to-morrow Find us further than to-day."

The surroundings of the theater are sufficient to condemn it. "Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together." Liquor saloons cluster about a theater as naturally as cattle gather beneath a wide-spreading tree on a sultry summer day. "Coming events cast their shadows before." Already the dramshop is overbidding legitimate trade in the neighborhood of the old Hollis Street Church, soon to be a theater. The bulletin boards heralding and press reports describing the plays before the Boston public to-day are enough to condemn an institution that can thrive by such exhibitions, in the judgment of any decent man.

An institution rooted and grounded in this world, depending for its success upon its power to please human nature, demoralizing those who serve at its altars, drawing in its train the dramshop, is unfit for Christian support. It is wrong in origin and aim. It unfits its patrons to appreciate the gospel of Christ, and unfits Christians to serve their Redeemer. Brother, sister, cease the question, What harm can the theater do me? and ask this, What good can I do by going? Ought I to put the Christ who is formed in me—the hope of glory—into any place where I would not willingly meet Christ, my Lord and Master?

Turn away from lovers of self, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, and learn what these words mean, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me."—Rev. O. P. Gifford, in Watchman.

Still Another Leaf in History.

At the time when public meetings were rife in our cities, and, with inexplicable inconsistency, American statesmen were delivering addresses in behalf of the restoration of the pope in the place he had so long abused in the Quirinal, William Cullen Bryant made this statement:—

"An American lady, an acquaintance of mine, a resident in Rome for several years, was summoned one morning to appear before the police of that city. She went, accompanied by the American consul. 'You are charged,' said the police magistrate, 'with having sent money to Florence to be employed in founding a Protestant orphan asylum. What do you say?' 'I did send money for that purpose,' was the lady's answer. 'I did not ask for it; it was brought to me by some ladies, who requested me to forward it to Florence, and I did so; and I take the liberty to say that it is no affair of yours.' 'Of that you are not to judge,' replied the magistrate. 'See that you never repeat the offense.' Such was the government, which, to the joy of the Roman people and the satisfaction of liberty everywhere, has been overthrown. Was such a government worthy to subsist even for an hour?"

That lady you and I knew very well. Her name was Mrs. Emily Bliss Gould. It was in her house, corner of the Plaza di Spagna and the via Babuino, that, at her husband's request, the writer of this preached what he believes to have been the first Protestant sermon in Rome after the explosion of the pope and his "incarceration" in the Vatican "prison," the finest palace in Europe. Mrs. Gould told the whole story of that strange persecution. The pope's policemen presented to her a paper to sign, and thus give a written pledge that she would in future abstain from the atrocious crime of sending contributions to the orphans of Florence, and she was told that she would be kept in durance until she had signed the pledge. But the pope found that he had not now to deal with one of those half-and-half Americans who are not ashamed to put the lip to the toe of his holiness, but with a true woman. She replied to the threat of detention, "You may get my apartments ready. I shall spend the rest of my days here rather than sign any such paper." The policemen had found their match, and they at last allowed her to go unpledged.

Mr. W. L. Stillman, of Plainfield, N. J., United States consul at Rome from 1861 to 1865, on his return told the world through the public prints, that the government of the pope was "the most atrocious in existence, excepting that of Louis Napoleon."

"The brother of one of my most intimate friends was arrested in his bed at night, and carried off by the officers of the Holy Office, the Inquisition, and never heard of again until years after, when a released prisoner came to tell the survivor that his brother had died in prison with him, and was buried in the earth of the dungeon."

"The system of terrorism was such that liberal Romans dared meet only in public, and never permitted a stranger to approach them in conversation. I never dared to enter the house of a Roman friend, for fear of bringing on him a domiciliary visit."

That Rome is unchanged and unchangeable is shown by the fact that while Monsignor Capel is saying soft things in the ears of the American people, Rome is killing American missionaries in Mexico. At Almoloya, a town some forty miles southeast of the city of Mexico, the blood is hardly dry, of two martyrs slain by Roman Catholic violence. The people were quietly worshiping when they were set upon by a furious mob and the congregation dispersed and two men slain. These things cannot be unknown to Rome, and not only are they not prohibited, but these murderers were hounded on by violent harangues from the pulpit of the Romish church. While Americans should treat with all kindness the victims of this foreign persecuting power, they should be very watchful of and very resolute to resist the stealthy but steady encroachment of this power in our Republic.

—Rev. W. P. Breed, in N. Y. Observer.

Holiness Is a Life

By Bible Banner

HOLINESS is not an experience, and it is not to be sought in a meeting, as a blessing sent down from Heaven. It is not a gift, it is a life. To be sure we cannot lead a holy life without divine instruction and help. We must then take all means to know right and wrong, both in feeling and practice, and must pray for and receive the Holy Spirit more and more, to dwell in us and strengthen our mind and will to do right. And meetings may be "holiness meetings" just so far as they may minister to us these needed seeds of holy living; but for any one to suppose that he has instantly put on complete holiness, in a meeting, is a great and sad mistake. "Be ye holy" does not mean "feel happy," or "justified," or "sanctified," which feeling men cannot see; but it means, "live godly in Christ Jesus," which men can see. —Bible Banner.

The Lord Is Coming.

By S. S. Times

To us who live more than eighteen hundred years after Christ spoke the promise that he would come again, the silences of the time may be most instructive. As each succeeding year rolls round to the season which reminds us of the coming of our Lord, the question of a scoffing and self-sufficient culture becomes keener and more persistent: "Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."

It is not that there is more infidelity in the world than ever before, or that there is more reason now than formerly to despair of the future of that spiritual kingdom against which the gates of hell shall not prevail; but it is that the antichrists who are already come into the world seem better furnished than ever before for their warfare against the faith. A Christless and selfish naturalism, hostile not only to Christianity, but to every form of religion, offers itself as a substitute for that reverent and loving trust in God which our Lord teaches; a proud and frivolous literary culture announces itself as the one sufficient object of life; a boasting science, which is baffled by a few red sunsets, loudly proclaims that it has sounded the depths of the universe, and found no God.

And the fruits of it all are evident. From over the seas comes the news of the gathering blackness; Europe is an armed camp; anarchy growls at our very doors; and our modern civilization threatens, except grace prevent, to end in dynamite. Even nature seems to sympathize with the general uneasiness of society. The pestilence stalks abroad; and earthquakes leave their accustomed tracks, to shake portions of the earth hitherto accounted most stable.

Meanwhile, as in the early days of Christianity, it is the duty of every believer to wait hopefully for the coming of the Lord. It has not pleased the Father to make us to know the times and the seasons of the coming; it has pleased him that we should look for it hopefully, and be ready for it when it comes. It is not a thing with which we have no concern; we shall see it, every one of us. Wherever there is a keen personal trust in the Saviour, there will be a joyous looking forward to the time of his coming,—a willingness to hail his coming though it should flash upon us this very day. He who has that living faith will have no faltering in his belief of the last promise of the New Testament, no fear to breathe anew its last prayer: "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."—S. S. Times.

Rooted in Christ.

A SHORT time ago a gentleman was preaching in the open air; his subject was, "Growth in Grace." At the close of the meeting a man approached him and said, "Our minister has been preaching some excellent sermons on that subject, and I have been trying to grow in grace this long time, but I find I never can succeed." The preacher, pointing to a tree, said, "Do you see that tree?" "Yes," was the wondering reply. "Well, it had to be planted before it could grow. In like manner you must be rooted and grounded in Christ before you can begin to grow." The man understood his meaning, and went away to find Christ, and soon he was rooted in Christ, and brought forth fruit to His praise.—Sel.

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