Review and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 9. (2/26/1901)

Review and Herald

Feb 26, 1901

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 26, 1901

THE INFLUENCE OF THE TRUTH

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE

Truth is elevating and uplifting. Those who receive the truth in earnestness and sincerity bear fruit, which shows that the entire life is changed. But many who claim to believe the truth are no honor to the truth because they are not sanctified by it. They do not receive the truth into the soul, therefore it can not sanctify the life.

By the help of the Holy Spirit, men and women can rise from commonness, and live pure, holy lives. Those professed believers who do not do this, lie against the truth. They say, “I believe the Third Angel’s Message. I believe that the Lord is coming.” But they enter into controversy with others, revealing coarse, rough traits of character. They do not show forth in word and deportment the transforming power that attends the truth. How can the Lord be pleased with those who make no effort to rise to a high standard? Do they not claim to have received a high, noble truth? Yet in their home life and in their business associations they show no change for the better. Is not this lying against the truth?

“Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” The apostle carries the minds of the people back to their former unrenewed condition. “Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.”

God does not ask men and women to surrender anything that is for the health of soul or body, but He does ask them to surrender debasing, enfeebling vices, vices which, if cherished, will exclude them from heaven. He leaves them room for every pleasure that can be enjoyed with out compunction of conscience, and remembered without remorse. He asks them, for their present and eternal good, to cultivate those virtues that bring health to the body and strength to the soul. Pure thoughts and correct habits are necessary to a man’s happiness, as a man and as a Christian. Everything of a debasing character must be overcome if we would see the King in His beauty.

Christ says to us, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” The Lord can and will help every one who seeks His help in the effort to become pure and holy. God has given us His word as a guide and counselor, and we are without excuse if we fail to reach the standard set before us. Remember that you have in your possession the living oracles of God. In this precious book the truth is laid open before us in all its simplicity. But how many there are who fail to read this word earnestly and diligently, as if seeking for the hidden treasure.

Have earnest efforts been made to overcome natural inclinations to wrong, to conquer the habits and practices that were a part of the life before the acceptance of the truth? Are those who claim to believe the truth as untidy and disorderly in the home and as unchristlike in the daily life as before they professed to accept Christ? If so, they are not showing forth the praises of Him who hath called them out of darkness. They have not put on Christ’s righteousness.

Strive to make decided improvement. Cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. Be neat and tidy in your dress, and kind and courteous in your manner. Be pure and refined; for heaven is the very essence of purity and refinement. As God is pure and holy in His sphere, so we are to be in our sphere.

Read carefully and critically the parable of the wedding garment, and make a personal application of the lessons it teaches. There are those who, having heard the truth, assent to it, yet are not transformed by it. The truth has not been received into the soul, and therefore it can not carry forward its work of purification in the life. Their family, their neighbors, do not see in them the marked change which they have a right to expect. Those who make a profession of faith, and yet remain unchanged in habit and practice, are represented in the parable by the man who came to the feast without a wedding garment. There are many who, while they believe what they read about Christ, do not believe in Christ. They do not receive Him as a personal Saviour. Their names may be registered on the Church roll, but they do not bring Christ into the daily life; and God can not accept them.

God is dishonored when those who claim to believe His precious, elevating truth refuse to put on the royal robe of Christ’s righteousness. These offer insult to the Saviour. Wherever they go, they show that they have refused to accept the garment provided for them.

There are many, many, professed Christians who are waiting unconcernedly for the coming of the Lord. They have not on the garment of His righteousness. They may profess to be children of God, but they are not cleansed from sin. They are selfish and self-sufficient. Their experience is Christless. They neither love God supremely nor their neighbor as themselves. They have no true idea of what constitutes holiness. They do not see the defects in themselves. So blinded are they, that they are not able to detect the subtle working of pride and iniquity. They are clad in the rags of self-righteousness, and stricken with spiritual blindness. Satan has cast his shadow between them and Christ, and they have no wish to study the pure, holy character of the Saviour.

Those who do not become saints here can never be saints in heaven. God will accept in His service nothing less than the entire being,—body, soul, and spirit. At the coming of Christ many who now pass for Christians will be found wanting. They would not put on the righteousness of Christ. As they stand face to face with the Judge of all the earth, they will see their true condition. In the light of the law of God, they will see the destitution of their souls.

It is impossible for one to be a Christian and yet remain a spiritual dwarf. Those who are truly united to Christ will grow daily, they will attain to the full stature of men and women in Him. They will not, while claiming to be doers of the word of God, disobey its plain requirements. Why is there so little growth in Christian experience, so little manifestation of Christ in the life? Why is the religious life so dwarfed?—It is because there is so much of self and so little of Christ.

The law condemns all sin, and requires all virtue. It demands of man an outward respect, and it requires purity of soul. “Behold,” writes the psalmist, “thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” The law was exemplified in the life of Christ. He is a pattern for all humanity. He lived the law. His purity and beneficence, His devotion to the truth, and His zeal for God’s glory reveal the perfection of the law. His every act was a revelation of the glory of the Father. He was all that the law required Him to be.

What the law demanded of Adam and Eve in Eden, and what it demanded of Christ, the second Adam, it demands of every human being. I call upon those who profess to believe the truth to reach a higher standard. I present before you Jesus, the Majesty of heaven, who left the royal courts, and for our sake became poor, that through His poverty we might be made rich. Look at the scenes in His life of suffering. Think of His agony in Gethsemane, when, oppressed by the powers of darkness, He prayed, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” See Him betrayed by Judas, forsaken by His disciples, condemned by priests and rulers, and delivered by Pilate to a shameful death. All this He endured that man might be elevated and ennobled, and by partaking of the divine nature, be exalted to the right hand of God.

Shall Christ have died for us in vain? Shall we claim to be children of light, and yet walk and work in darkness and sin? Shall we not rather show that the converting power of God

is molding and fashioning us? Shall we not obey the injunction, “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation,” “having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation”?

THE LEAST COMMANDMENT

By F. C. Gilbert

F. C. GILBERT

While the Saviour was teaching the multitudes His principles of the “kingdom of heaven,” as given in the sermon on the mount, many of the priests and rabbis thought that He was seeking to do away with the “law and the prophets.” Evidently they drew this conclusion from the fact that His teachings were different from their expositions of the law. Everything they taught had direct bearing upon the sacred writings, and as they regarded themselves as the only real expositors of the holy text, to teach differently from what they taught was practically to take a position contrary to truth.

Jesus knew what was passing through their minds, and that they would endeavor to force these erroneous ideas upon the people, hoping by this to destroy the effect of the Saviour’s teachings. Hence He gave His position on the “law and the prophets,” in the following words: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5: 17–19.

Not only did He not come to do away, or abolish, the “law and the prophets,” but instead He came to show the people that there was more in the sacred oracles than the rabbis or rulers saw in them. And instead of His attempting to subvert the law or the prophets, the promises and prophecies in the law and through prophets were to find a fulfillment in Him.

The rabbis taught that the law of God was divided into two sections. The first section was composed of the first four commandments; the second section, of the last six.

The first section, or table, contained the “greater” commandments. The reason these were called the “greater,” or “larger,” commandments was because they related to man’s relations to God alone, and required so much of man, the rabbis held, that it was absolutely impossible for any man to observe them. Hence the rabbis had multiplied an innumerable number of texts, expositions, helps, etc., to assist the people in at least partly keeping these exalted commands.

But the “smaller,” or “least,” commandments, as the second table was called, were thought to be within the power of every one to carry out, yes, to the very letter. And it was believed by the Jews that if this latter were done, the Lord would overlook their wrongs in not so perfectly observing the former. Of course the rabbis taught that the proper observance of the last six was according to the letter of the text; and if a man did not commit any overt act that was forbidden in any of these precepts of the decalogue, he was a strict commandment-keeper.

Now the Saviour saw that, with all their pretensions of being “teachers of the law” and expounders of the sacred oracles, the rabbis did not know what the law is, nor could they explain to the people its true interpretations; not only of the first four precepts, but of the last six, with which they claimed to be so conversant. So it must have surprised and astonished the people, the learned and the ignorant, for the Master to declare, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.” He had said only a moment before that He had come to fulfill the law; and that not a jot nor a tittle of the law should in any wise fail till all should be accomplished. Thus He stood on an equality with them in fully believing the law, even to the very extreme. But to think that it was possible for them not to be observing the “least” commandments, and that it was possible for the rabbis to teach the violation of them, was certainly beyond their comprehension.

It will be remembered that when the rich young man came to Jesus, and asked what he must do in order to have eternal life, the Master said, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” This, of course, was rather surprising to the young man; for he supposed that that was common to every Jew. Thinking that perhaps the Saviour did not quite understand his question, he inquired then, Which of the commandments do you think I ought to keep in order to have life? The Saviour told him the last six, or least, commandments. Why, the young man answered, instantly, “all these have I kept from my youth up.” If that is all that is necessary for a man to do in order to have eternal life, I am all right; for from my early infancy, and especially from my youth, I have been taught to regard those precepts of the law; and I have always endeavored to carry them out to the very letter.

If that is all that is necessary, I am all right.

Is there anything more that I lack? Yes, the Lord said, you lack one thing. With what interest the young man must have waited for the Saviour to continue! Perhaps he thought: “I lack one thing! What can it be? The rabbis have always told me that the greatest thing I can possibly do is to obey and study the law. And if I will do that, I am as secure of the ‘world to come’ as if I were there already; for that, they have taught me, is what gives a man a passport into the future abode. And the ‘Good Master’ has practically said the same thing to me, in answer to my question. I wonder what I can lack?” These and many more thoughts evidently must have passed through the mind of the young man, as he almost breathlessly waited for the Master to say the added word: “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” Matt. 19: 16–21.

Astonished, perplexed, dismayed, and saddened, the young man left the Saviour. If the Master spoke the truth, he had really never kept those least commandments at all, as this answer implied very strongly that he had not fulfilled his obligations to his fellow man, which, according to the rabbis’ instruction, he was fully doing when he observed the last six commandments.

From this incident alone, we can see the force of that text which the prophet Isaiah declared should be fulfilled in Christ: “The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honorable.” Isa. 42: 21. The rabbis and rulers had been depreciating the value of the law in trying to exalt it; while these rulers thought Christ was seeking to destroy and subvert the law, He was really exalting and magnifying it.

The question is often asked, Why did the Saviour say no more than He did about the first four precepts of the decalogue, while He said a great deal about the last six? From what has been here said, the question is well answered; for it was not necessary for Him to do so. The reason it was necessary to say so much about the last six was because the people thought so little about them, and their true meaning was almost entirely lost sight of.

And what was true of Christ was true also of the apostles after Him, in their teaching; and especially in the teachings of the apostle Paul. Many persons seem to think that because the Saviour and the apostles said little about the first four commands of the decalogue, and a great deal about the last six, that the fourth, in particular, is not so binding in the Christian dispensation. But when we see the reason for this, then we can appreciate the fact that instead of their being thought of so little value, and especially the Sabbatic commandment, the people had always had exalted views of those precepts, and knew that nothing could be added to them; and so the Saviour had no occasion to enlarge upon them.

Since the man who breaks one of the “least” commandments, and teaches men so, is called least in the kingdom of heaven, how would he be regarded in the kingdom of heaven if he were to break one of the “greater” commandments, and teach men so?

GOD’S BUILDING

By Mrs. J. M. Barrett

MRS. J. M. BARRETT

This house is our dear Lord’s body, and each piece of timber of which it is composed represents some attribute of His character. Each one of the Lord’s children is a piece of timber for His building. The Lord is the great Architect and Master Builder, and the plan of the building is His own character. He gathers His rough timbers, and marks each one with some attribute of His character. I saw this illustrated by a carpenter, who was building a house. He drew his plan of building; then, going to his pile of rough lumber, he selected such pieces as he needed, wrote a name on each one, and directed his workman to saw, and hew, and plane it, so that it might fit in its proper place in the building.

Just so God is selecting the timbers for His spiritual building. He marks them with a name,—one of the attributes of His character,—wisdom, knowledge, faith, etc.,—dividing to every man severally, as He will. Then He turns them over to His workmen—the conditions and environments with which He surrounds us—to be shaped and fitted, each for its proper place in His great building. He watches over the work, and will not allow us to be tempted more than we are able to bear; and though the refining process may be severe, and cause us to shed bitter tears, yet if we endure it, we shall be fitted to fill our proper place in His building.

As these things pass before me, how dare I look at the faults of my brethren and sisters? To the eyes of men they may appear rough, but God may have selected this rough piece of lumber and written on it a name, and that makes it precious in His sight. Even the weakest of His saints is dear to Him. Then, while He is refining and purifying, shall I criticise God’s workmanship?

Now each separate piece of timber is worthless if it abides alone; they must all be joined together to form the building. How are they joined?—By love. Col. 2:2. What is the sum total of all the attributes of God?—Love. Being rooted and grounded in love, and with Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith, we are united, and are “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed groweth together unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

So by the pouring out of His Holy Spirit on His Church, God is joining His temple together, that He may represent to the world His character. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

Our Heavenly Father is waiting anxiously to see us willing to receive His Holy Spirit. Shall not “all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you,” that we may all come together in the perfect unity of the faith, and be filled with all the fullness of God?

THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE

The shades of night fell dark and drear, And curtained in the closing day, As in the wilderness alone I saw a Man in anguish lay. There gleamed no light above His head, There beamed no radiance from His brow, The glory from the heavens had fled,— No dovelike form was near Him now. The desert monsters prowled around, The night bird sang her doleful hymn; But He, the Tempted, hears no sound Among the shadows dark and dim, Save this one mocking voice, which said: “Command these stones to be made bread.”

Then from the ground where prone He lay, I saw the godlike Sufferer rise, A radiance like the light of day Sprang flashing from those wondrous eyes.

And then a voice, like music rare, Was borne upon the desert air, As from th’ Eternal Father’s throne: “Man shall not live by bread alone.”

Then through the darkness of the night Two hurrying forms went flitting past, Till, on the temple’s dizzy height, I looked and saw them stand at last. Again that mocking voice I heard: “Art thou, indeed, th’ Eternal Word? Art thou that Shiloh long foretold By prophets in the days of old? That promised Seed, who, sages said, Should bruise, one day, the serpent’s head? Cast thyself down from hence, I pray; Angels shall go before thy way.”

Again falls on my listening ear The thrilling answer, soft and clear: The Master only bowed His head,— “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord,” He said.

Again I looked. Upon a mount Whose hoary summit towered high, I saw two outlined forms once more— Dark silhouettes against the sky, Before them spread, in grand array, The fairest monuments of earth, Silver and gold and baubles gay, Kingdoms and thrones of countless worth; “All these—all these I give to thee, If thou, O Christ, wilt worship me.”

“Get thee behind me; thou shalt serve The Lord thy God, and Him alone; Thus it is written: Thou shalt bow And worship only at His throne.”

The word is spoke, that word of might, And like the blackness of the night The arch-deceiver took his flight.

Three times the powers of hell have failed, And Judah’s Lion hath prevailed.

THE DOCTRINE OF BLOOD

By William P. Pearce

WILLIAM P. PEARCE

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood.” Lev. 17:11. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7.

There is no one thing more significant to the intelligent mind, more repulsive to one’s sensitive feelings, than blood. And yet blood was the main characteristic in the Levitical ritual; the link that connected the Noachian age with the Mosaic, and the Mosaic with the Christian; the basis on which our religion is built, and the doctrine around which all others revolve,—God’s plan of redemption.

This term, used four hundred times in the Bible, may be applied in various senses. Sometimes it denotes consanguinity; thus Paul, when addressing the conceited Athenians and intellectual Greeks on Mars Hill, preached the truth which military men have waged a crusade against: “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.” Acts 17:26. If there stood before me an American, a Chinaman, a negro, and an Indian, and I should open an artery in each man’s arm, I should find the same kind of blood, with the same characteristics. It would be red, complex, fibrinous, globular, containing potassium, sulphuric acid, phosphate of magnesia, and other properties; and if inquired of, all the doctors of the land—homeopathic, allopathic, hydropathic—would instantly acknowledge the veracity of Paul’s declaration.

The word “blood” is also used in a figurative sense. We speak of the martyr’s blood as the seed of the Church, the soldier’s blood as the promoter of liberty, the blood of Christ as the sinner’s redemption and the seal of the “everlasting covenant.” Heb. 13:20. In fact, twice in the Old Testament and twice in the New we read of the covenant of blood. The blood of the old covenant was that of an animal; that of the new is the “precious blood of Christ.” 1 Peter 1:19.

When General Grant visited Egypt, he was entertained at the house of an official. Before entering the home, however, he was detained until a beef, beautifully garlanded with flowers, was brought forth and killed. It was then cut in twain, and one part was laid on one side of the door, and the other on the other side. Mr. Grant was then invited to enter the house. He stepped over the blood which had been sprinkled on the threshold, and between the parts. By this Oriental act, which was in vogue in Abraham’s day (Gen. 15:9, 10, 17), he entered into the most solemn covenant with his host,—the blood covenant,—and thus they became blood brothers, a relation which lasts as long as life lasts. But with Christ and His people it lasts forever, increasing in beauty and worth as the ages roll by.

But blood stands for more than this. According to physiological science and microscopic investigations, “blood is the life,” and the vitality and strength of the whole body is derived from it. Let it deteriorate in quality, and weakness will result; let it diminish in quantity, and power is lessened; let it be forced from any part of the system, and there is chilliness in that part, and a congestion somewhere else. Why, for instance, should wet feet produce a cough?—Because the dampness of the feet has sent the blood away from their capillary vessels, and there is a rush of blood to the lungs or bronchial tubes, which chokes them, and thus produces congestion of those vessels, causing various disorders. Why does one become chilly when out in the cold?—Because the blood has receded from the capillary vessels of the skin. It is not there to keep one warm, hence the chill. Bring it back to the surface, and there is warmth; equalize it, and there is comfort and health.

To stop the circulation of the blood to any part of the system will produce disease in that part. There will be no motion, no sensation, no life. Stop the circulation to the brain for an instant only, and the result is syncope—the heart ceases to beat, respiration is stopped, and insensibility results. Cut the nerve of your finger, and it will paralyze that finger, but that member still lives. Cut off the blood from the finger, and it will speedily die. Open an artery, and with every heart-beat the blood will spurt up in a jet, until the heart stops, as the engine for the want of fuel.

But what is blood? you ask. In what sense is it the life? Have not chemists made blood?—Yes, just as seeds and eggs have been made. They have used the proper quantity of water, and albumen, and sodium, and phosphates, and iron, and other ingredients, but no chemist has yet found out the secret of infusing life, any more than the scientist has been able to hatch a chick from an artificial egg. No, there is a God-life in the blood. How placed there I know not, and how it controls and directs the blood in its circulation through the numberless channels I can not tell. I can define its two kinds—arterial and venous. Blood is simply a mixture of infinitesimal particles of such solids and fluids as are necessary to compose and keep in perfect repair the human system, in which God has breathed life; and when that life is recalled, death seals the whole person.

From these facts we now get an insight to the reason why blood was prohibited as food, which will lead up to how blood cleanses. Six times God declared that blood should not be eaten. Two reasons are given. Literally, it is the vehicle of life, “the first to live,” as Harvey said, “the last to die, and the primary seat of the animal soul.” Symbolic, it is, as God designed and declared, “the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” Lev. 17:11. That is what the blood on the lintel of the Israelite’s door meant when the destroying angel went by. That is what was meant when Moses sprinkled Aaron and his sons when consecrated to the priesthood. That is what was meant when Eleazar dipped his fingers in blood, and sprinkled it seven times before the tabernacle. That is what Paul meant when he declared: “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Heb. 9:22. Hence it was that Christ, the perfect offering, ended the long list of Levitical sacrifices by offering himself and giving His blood. As the apostle said: “If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Heb. 9:13, 14. Now can we sing with Isaac Watts, with a better understanding—

“Not all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain, Can give the guilty conscience peace Or wash away the stain.”

In considering the second text, we have no need to deal with the chemical elements of blood; but I would have you note carefully that it is specific blood of a specific person. Theoretically, we know Him. He is the “Ancient of days” (Dan. 7:9), God’s beloved Son,—the Son who reigned from everlasting, and who will reign to everlasting in unchallenged supremacy and illimitable glory,—the Son who looked down from His beautiful abode, and saw humanity groping in darkness, separated from eternal happiness by the chasm of sin, and who gave himself to bridge that chasm that humanity might be saved.

His life I can not reiterate, only to say that earth’s first gift to Him was a manger, and its last a cross. The world treated Him with contempt, with hellish madness. They nailed Him to the cross; and, not content with this, one heartless wretch disfigured His side by thrusting a spear into it, when blood gushed forth, making the earth recoil with horror as it fell on its bosom; thus transforming its native green to a bloody red.

(To be concluded.)

Acquaint Ourselves With God

“God commands us to acquaint ourselves with Him that we may be at peace, and that good may come to us. He is ever so intent upon making himself known to us that He reasons and persuades, He entreats and implores, He wearies himself with spreading out His hand all the day in the attitude of a loving and compassionate father, inviting and alluring a reluctant child to His arms. In all the works of His hands, . . . by every influence of His Spirit upon the hearts of men, He is declaring His creative power, His unsearchable wisdom, His everlasting love.”

DIVINE HEALING IS IN THE DIVINE WORD

By David Paulson; W. S. Sadler

DAVID PAULSON AND W. S. SADLER

“He sent His word, and healed them.” Ps. 107:20. The divine word, in all its forms, has in it healing power; whether written in the Book, sketched in the skies, or written upon the fibers of muscle or nerve in the human frame. Wherever recognized, God’s word is a healing power. To obtain the healing which the divine word brings, it is necessary that we should receive the Word; and in receiving the Word, we must bring our lives into harmony with that life which is in the Word, even the life of Christ.

The healing power of the Word is not experienced in its fullness until we have received into our lives the One who is the source of this power. John 1:12. We must yield up to the Word—Christ—that which is to be healed; and thus put ourselves in contact with, and in obedience to, the Word and its divine Author. “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” John 15:3. Wherever the word of God goes forth, and is received, that is, received as it is indeed, there is healing. Without the Word there is no healing that is divine. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto, according to thy word.” Ps. 119:9. There is cleansing, saving, and healing power in the word of the divine Healer. As we conscientiously obey the life-giving principles of the Word, that is, make them a part of our character, we thus obtain the healing which is in the Word, and which is inseparable from the Word.

TO ANTAGONIZE THE WORD IS TO REJECT HEALING

By compromising or antagonizing the divine Word, we are arraying ourselves in opposition to divine healing; for the only way that God heals either soul or body is by the Word; by the light and truth and life that are in the Word. “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.” John 6:63. Disobedience to the word of the Lord means separation from God. Separation from God means divorcement from the Fountain-head of life, and health, and healing; and so the man who knowingly persists in manifesting a spirit of disrespect for the teachings of the word of God, can not possibly be a special channel through which God will manifest His healing power on earth. God is the divine Healer, and the laws of God are a transcript of the character of the divine Healer. Consequently, any man or woman who will compromise or antagonize the laws of God, either physically or spiritually, is fighting and opposing the very source and essence of divine healing.

Is it reasonable to expect that in manifesting himself as a divine healer, God will either deny His own character or place a special seal of approbation upon those who do so? But to hold that those who antagonize His word and knowingly trample upon His statutes are special channels of divine healing, would be nothing more nor less than a compromise of His divine character, as His character is manifested in His healing. It is because God is love that He seeks to heal man from the wounds of sin. Therefore every one who is a channel of divine healing on earth must be, as far as he has light, obedient to the Word, and consistent with the character of the divine Healer in heaven. Man needs healing because he is out of harmony with God and His laws. Can we expect God to do violence to His own laws, either physical or spiritual, in the manifestation of His power to heal a man, while the man is transgressing these laws?—Surely not.

PREACH THE HEALING WORD

In the gospel commission Christ enjoined the preaching of the Word, the teaching of truth, and said that signs and miracles would follow as a consequence. The Christian minister was never commissioned to preach miracles, wonders, signs, or divine healing apart from the DIVINE WORD. The Word, the glorious gospel, the everlasting gospel, Christ Jesus, is to be the keynote of the Christian’s message to a dying world. And it is this gospel that has in it saving and healing power to all who accept it in faith. It is the disposition to be in harmony with God, and the sincere effort, by the help of divine grace, to obey His laws, that bring man into that attitude where it is consistent for God especially to manifest himself as the Healer. It is by recognizing God as our Creator and our Redeemer,—by recognizing ourselves as His creatures, subject to His laws; as sinful, utterly unable to help ourselves, and wholly dependent upon Christ,—that we are prepared to recognize God as the divine Healer, as the giver of health to both soul and body.

To preach divine healing in a way to benefit those who hear, means nothing more nor less than to preach obedience to the divine Word, by faith—by the grace and faith that Jesus gives. God is the Healer, because He has power to create. And as healing is nothing more nor less than creating, God must first be recognized as Creator before He can be recognized as Healer. And yet to-day we find thousands who are trampling underfoot the Sabbath, the very institution the Lord gave to man to point to God as the Creator. “Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” Eze. 20:12. And notwithstanding this antagonism to the laws of the Creator and to the institutions that point out God as Creator, these same persons are found preaching, even on the street corners, the wonders of “divine healing,” and claiming to be sources and centers of this power in the earth! “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8:20.

Preach the Word, and divine healing will surely accompany the message to those in whom it arouses a spirit of obedience. If the Word is not preached, there is absolutely no use of preaching divine healing. Healing in such case would be that which follows in the wake of presumption and disobedience, and not that which comes as a consequence of faith and obedience, and which accompanies the preaching of the Word, according to the gospel commission.

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