Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 16, 1883
General Articles.
By Ellen G. White
Luther's Journey to Worms.
By Mrs. E. G. White.
LUTHER at Wittenberg hears of the exciting scenes transpiring in the diet. Soon he receives a note of the articles which he will be required to retract. But, like Daniel of old, he purposes in his heart that he will maintain his fidelity to God. He writes to Spalatin: "Never fear that I will retract a single syllable, since the only argument they have to urge against me is that my writings are at variance with the observances of what they call the Church. If our Emperor Charles sends for me only to retract, my answer shall be that I will remain here, and it will be all the same as though I had been at Worms, and returned again. But if the emperor chooses then to send for me, to put me to death as an enemy to the empire, I shall be ready to obey his summons; for, by Christ's help, I will never abandon his word in the hour of battle. I know that these blood-thirsty men will never rest until they have taken my life. God grant that my death may be laid to the charge of the papists alone!"
Notwithstanding the entreaties, protests, and threats of Aleander, the emperor at last determined that Luther should appear before the diet. He accordingly issued a writ of summons, and also a safe-conduct insuring Luther's return to a place of security. These were borne to Wittenberg by a herald, who was commissioned to conduct the Reformer to Worms.
This was a dark and threatening hour for the Reformation. The friends of Luther were terrified and distressed. But the Reformer remained calm and firm. He was entreated not to risk his life. His friends, knowing the prejudice and enmity against him, feared that even his safe-conduct would not be respected. And it had been reported that the safe-conduct of heretics was not valid.
Luther replied: "The papists have little desire to see me at Worms; but they long for my condemnation and death. No matter. Pray not for me, but for the word of God. My blood will hardly be cold before thousands and tens of thousands, in every land, will be made to answer for the shedding of it. The 'most holy' adversary of Christ, the father, and master, and chief of man-slayers, is resolved that it shall be spilled. Amen! The will of God be done. Christ will give me his Spirit to overcome these ministers of Satan. I despise them while I live; I will triumph over them in death. They are striving hard at Worms to force me to recant. My recantation shall be this: I said formerly that the pope was Christ's vicar; now I say that he is the adversary of the Lord, and the apostle of the devil."
Luther was not to make his perilous journey alone. Besides the imperial messenger, three of his firmest friends determined to accompany him. With deep emotion the Reformer bade farewell to his associates. Turning to Melancthon, he said: "If I never return, and my enemies should take my life, cease not, dear brother, to teach and stand fast in the truth. Labor in my stead, since I can no longer work. If thy life be spared, my death will matter little."
A multitude of students and citizens, to whom the gospel was precious, bade him farewell with weeping as he departed. The imperial herald, in full costume, and bearing the imperial eagle, led the way on horseback, followed by his servant. Next came the carriage in which rode Luther and his friends. Thus the Reformer set out from Wittenberg.
On the journey they saw that the minds of the people were oppressed by gloomy forebodings. At some towns no honors were proffered them. As they stopped for the night at Naumburg, a friendly priest expressed his fears by holding up before Luther the portrait of an Italian reformer who suffered martyrdom for the truth's sake. With trembling voice the priest bade Luther, "Stand fast in the truth, and thy God will never forsake thee."
Upon arriving, the next day, at Weimar, they learned that Luther's writings had been condemned at Worms. In the streets of the city the imperial messengers were proclaiming the emperor's decree, and urging all men to bring the proscribed works to the magistrates. The herald, in alarm, asked Luther if, under the circumstances, he still wished to go on. He answered: "I will go on, though I should be put under interdict in every town."
At Erfurt, Luther was received with honor. Several leagues from the city, the rector of the university, with senators, students, and citizens, met him on horseback, and welcomed him with joyful acclamations. Great numbers of the population thronged the road, and cheered him as he was about to enter the city. All were eager to see the intrepid monk who had dared give battle to the pope. Thus, surrounded by admiring crowds, he entered the city where, in his earlier years, he had often begged a morsel of bread.
He was urged to preach. This he had been forbidden to do; but the herald gave his consent, and the monk whose duty it once was to unclose the gates and sweep the aisles, now ascended the pulpit, while the people listened, as if spell-bound, to his words.
The bread of life was broken to those hungry souls. Jesus was lifted up before them as above "Christ, our Mediator, has overcome. This is the great news! and we are saved by his work, not by our own." "Some perhaps will say, You talk to us much about faith; teach us then how to obtain it. Well, agreed. I will show you how. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, 'Peace be unto you. Behold my hands!' That is to say, Look, O man, it is I, I alone, who have taken away thy sin and redeemed thee, and now thou hast peace, saith the Lord." "Believe the gospel, believe St. Paul, and not the letters and decretals of the popes."
Luther makes no reference to his own perilous position. He does not seek to make himself the object of thought or sympathy. In the contemplation of Christ, he has lost sight of self. He hides behind the Man of Calvary, seeking only to present Christ as the sinner's Redeemer.
As Luther proceeds on his journey he is everywhere regarded with great interest. An eager throng constantly accompanies him. Friendly voices warn him of the purpose of the Romanists. "You will be burned alive," say they, "and your body reduced to ashes, as was that of John Huss." Luther answers, "Though they should kindle a fire whose flames should reach from Worms to Wittenberg, and rise up to heaven, I would go through it in the name of the Lord, and stand before them; I would enter the jaws of the behemoth, break his teeth, and confess the Lord Jesus Christ."
The news of Luther's approach to Worms created great commotion among the supporters of the pope. His arrival might result in the defeat of their cause. An artful plan was at once laid to prevent him from finishing his journey. A troop of horsemen met him on his way with the message that a friendly knight desired him to proceed immediately to his fortress. The emperor's confessor was said to be there, awaiting a conference. His influence with Charles was unbounded, and everything might be harmoniously arranged.
The messenger urged that there be no delay. Luther's friends knew not what course to take, but he did not hesitate for a moment. "I shall go on," he answered, "and if the emperor's confessor has anything to say to me, he will find me at Worms, I repair to the place of summons."
At length Spalatin himself became alarmed for the safety of the Reformer. He heard it reported among the papists at Worms that Luther's safe-conduct would not be respected, and he immediately sent out a messenger to warn him of his danger. As Luther was approaching the city, a note from Spalatin was handed him, containing these words, "Abstain from entering Worms." Luther, still unshaken, turned his eyes on the messenger, and said, "Go tell your master that though there should be as many devils at Worms as there are tiles on its roofs, I would enter it." And the messenger returned, and repeated the amazing declaration.
Splendid was the reception granted Luther upon his arrival at Worms. The crowd that flocked to the gates to welcome him was even greater than at the public entry of the emperor himself. "God will be my defense," said the Reformer, as he alighted from his carriage.
Yet the news of his arrival was heard with alarm by both friends and foes. The elector feared for Luther's safety, Aleander for the success of his own iniquitous schemes. The emperor immediately convoked his council. "Luther is come," said he, "what must be done?" One of the bishops, a rigid papist, responded, "We have long thought of this matter. Let your majesty rid yourself at once of this man. Did not Sigismund bring John Huss to the stake? One is under no obligation either to give or to observe a safe-conduct in the case of heretics." "Not so," said the emperor, "what we promise we should observe and keep." It was therefore decided that Luther should be heard.
All the city were eager to see the Reformer, and he had enjoyed but a few hours' rest when counts, barons, knights, gentlemen, and citizens flocked eagerly about him. Even his enemies could but mark his firm courageous bearing, the kindly and joyous expression upon his countenance, and the solemn elevation and deep earnestness that gave to his words an irresistible power. Some were convinced that a divine influence attended him; others declared, as had the Pharisees concerning Christ, "He hath a devil."
WATCH AND PRAY.
CHRISTIAN, seek not yet repose;
Cast thy dreams of ease away;
Thou art in the midst of foes—
Therefore watch and pray.
Gird thy heavenly armor on,
Wear it ever, night and day;
Near thee lurks the evil one—
Therefore watch and pray.
Listen to thy sorrowing Lord,
Him thou lovest to obey;
It is He who speaks the word—
Therefore watch and pray.
'Twas by watching and by prayer
Holy men of olden day
Won the palms and crowns they'll wear—
Therefore watch and pray.
Watch, for thou thy guard must keep;
Pray, for God must speed thy way;
Narrow is the road, and steep—
Therefore watch and pray. —Selected.
The Sabbath.
By Eld. H. A. St. John
BY ELD. H. A. ST. JOHN.
(Concluded.)
6. For whom was it made?
ANSWER, “The Sabbath was made for man.” Thus, in our text, the Saviour directly answers the question. Some, indeed, would have us believe that the Sabbath was made for only a small portion of the human race, namely, the Jews. Hence they are pleased to call it the “Jewish Sabbath.” But there is no foundation in the word of God for such assertions. The Bible nowhere calls the seventh-day Sabbath the Jewish Sabbath. On the contrary, it is called the Sabbath of Him who made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that in them is. The Jews did not do this work. The Sabbath was made more than two thousand years before there was a Jew on the face of the earth. God, from Sinai, declares that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” How dare men contradict the Almighty and say, “Not so, it is the Sabbath of the Jews.” In the Greek our text reads, “The Sabbath was made for the man,” pointing unmistakably to Adam, the first man, the representative head of not the Jews only, but all nations of the earth. If any of you, my hearers, do not belong to the race of man, then the Sabbath was not made for you. But we see many things about us that were made for man, yet not all for the same purpose. These chairs, and those pews were made for man, but for what purpose? They were not made to work in, nor to sleep in (although I am sorry to say that they are sometimes thus used, even in the house of God), but to sit in. This house in which we are convened, and all the buildings around us were made for man, but not all for the same purpose. This one was made to worship God in, that one across the way to print in, others about us to dwell in, etc. We have learned that the Sabbath was made for man, but—
7. For what purpose?
We have now come to the last question for consideration at this time, and though it is the last it is by no means the least. From my experience in teaching the Sabbath truth, I have learned that many persons have an erroneous view of the purpose for which God gave man a Sabbath. If interrogated upon the question, the answer will generally be, “Why, God gave man a Sabbath to rest his physical, and build up his spiritual nature.” It is also further replied that “God knew that in six days of toil man would get very weary, and need a day to rest his body, and that if he toiled continually, he would become worldly minded, and therefore needed a day for meditation and worship.” All this sounds very good, and we do not deny but that these great blessings are secured to man by the proper observance of the Sabbath; but we do deny that they constitute the grand reasons or purpose, for which God gave man the Sabbath. They are so far from being the true grounds for Sabbatic observance that God did not see fit in giving the reasons for the institution, to mention them at all. Let us now consider the great Sabbath law. Ex. 20: 8–11. “Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.” Why? for what reason? “For in six days you will get very tired, and will need to rest your weary body?” No indeed! “For in six days you will grow worldly minded, and will need a day for worship, meditation, and prayer?” No, no; but, “For in six days the Lord (not you, nothing about you) made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore [for these reasons] the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it.”
The acceptance of one error always paves the way for another. So in this case, a wrong apprehension of the true reasons for keeping the Sabbath has opened the way for the introduction of several very serious errors which are becoming quite prevalent, and which it will be in place now to notice:—
1. “The Sabbath has been changed.” This error is very common and wide-spread. Now if the Sabbath was given simply and only as a day of rest and worship, a change might not be impossible. But when it is remembered that the Sabbath is the birthday of the world, and that the great Creator has required its observance in memory of that stupendous event, it will at once be seen that a change of the day is utterly impossible. It is not at all strange, then, that there is not a hint in all the Bible about such a change. The world was not born in one day, nor in two. The birth of all this beautiful creation was not completed till the seventh day, and thus the seventh day becomes emphatically the birthday of the world. Now, does any one think he can change his birthday? Can Washington’s birthday be changed from Feb. 22 to July 4? You say, “Impossible!” The only way your birthday could be changed would be for you to be born over again. So an eminent writer, Alexander Campbell, has truly said that, in order to change the Sabbath, creation would have to be gone over again. We may therefore dismiss the question of the change of the Sabbath by simply saying, “Impossible!”
2. “God is not particular which day we keep, if we only keep one day.” But we might inquire, How are we to know that God is particular to have us keep even one day? You answer that God has told us to keep one day. Very true, but it should be remembered that the same God, and the same law, that tells us to keep one day, tells us which day; and unless that particular one day is regarded, there is no obedience to God in the matter. The whole question, therefore, resolves itself into this; viz., Is God particular whether we obey him or not?
Again, we may observe that God’s care for the week, and the seventh day, to preserve their identity from oblivion and obscurity, is another good proof that God is particular. The history, the testimony, and the practice of all nations, establish unmistakably the identity of our week with the week of creation, and, consequently, the identity of the true seventh day. To question this is to question a truth resting on as firm a basis as any truth within the compass of God’s revelation.
Lastly we observe that God “hath made his wonderful works to be remembered.” Ps. 111: 4. How reasonable it is that the infinite Creator should want his creatures whom he hath endowed with intelligence and accountability, to remember his wonderful works! And in order to enable them to do this in a practical manner, he has given them a memorial of the highest order. In calling the attention of his creatures to it, he begins with the word “remember,” thus: “Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.” He tells us the seventh day is this Sabbath, or memorial day. Let it be a day of rest, and of directing the mind to the wonderful creation, and thus to the Creator. “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is [these are certainly the wonderful works of God]; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it.”
There is no fact of American history remembered so well by young and old in this republic as the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the 4th day of July, 1776. Why is this? Simply because the event is remembered by an annual celebration on the 4th of July. No monument, though of the most enduring granite, would serve the purpose of a memorial so well as the celebration of a day. So the Lord well knew what was the best kind of memorial to keep his wonderful works in lasting remembrance, and so gave to man a memorial at least fifty-two times better than the 4th of July. Notwithstanding this, however, many peoples and nations have trampled down God’s holy Sabbath, and thus they have been led to forget God, and go into infidelity, idolatry, and atheism. It needs but a casual examination of the subject to enable a person to see that Sabbath desecration lies at the foundation of atheism and idolatry, and that a Sabbath reform lies at the foundation of all reforms. By the sacred observance of the holy Sabbath, we are enabled to show in a substantial and practical way our gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the “heavens and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.”
There is no fanaticism, therefore, in saying that we keep the seventh-day Sabbath by divine appointment, in order to show our thankfulness for the grains and fruits that constitute our daily food; for the sweet and lovely flowers that bloom around us, and brighten our path; for the animal creation, including the beautiful birds that flit all about us, enlivening the hours of day with their happy notes of song; for the atmosphere that we breathe; for the water that we use; for our own existence; in short, for everything that we are, or have, on this mundane sphere. Now if all these things belong exclusively to the Jews according to the flesh, then may the Sabbath belong to them only, but if all mankind have need of the blessing comprehended in that statement in the great Sabbath law, “heavens and earth, the sea and all that in them is,” then should all mankind sacredly remember the Sabbath-day, and keep it holy.
It is an easy matter to say we are sorry when we are not. Words are cheap. We express our sorrow for the poor, but honest drayman, with a worthy family, who has just lost his faithful horse, and is not able to buy another; but when asked to show our sorrow in a practical way by a donation of five dollars, more or less, and we do nothing when we might lend him assistance, it proves that there is no depth or foundation to our sorrows—simply talk, nothing more. The same is true of thankfulness. There is much that is called thankfulness that is empty and vain.
And now, my dear readers, I must soon leave this heavenly theme with you, and I do it with the earnest reminder that it is not enough that we simply say we are thankful for all the blessings of this life while we refuse to show our gratitude to the bountiful Giver by remembering the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Thankfulness and love are inseparable from obedience. It should be a matter of the greatest importance, and of the deepest interest to us all, that God is now, in these last days, testing the faith and gratitude of the human family, by a glorious Sabbath reform. Let us raise the standard high, and cheerfully and lovingly rally around it. By departing from all iniquity, and through Jesus, obtaining the love of God shed abroad in the heart, we may be channels through which the flood of light now shining upon the holy Sabbath of the Lord may shine upon many now sitting in darkness around us. And then in the sweet by and by, when the holy Sabbath shall shine as glorious as the first, in the earth made new, with all the redeemed host we may assemble from Sabbath to Sabbath in Paradise restored to worship the Lord of glory.
What the Word Says.
It was a good point which was made by a clergyman, at a recent ministerial gathering in Boston, that all true progress in theology must be secured through a better understanding of the Bible teachings; not through any un-biblical theories as to what God might have taught, or ought to have taught, to man. If any uninspired formulas of the ages are found to be at variance with the letter and spirit of the Bible text, they will have to give way before the pressure of intellectual and spiritual progress. But if any new theology is based only on what uninspired men think is the fair or reasonable view of God's ways of working, without any Bible teachings on which to rest their thinking, that theology will not secure any permanent hold on the Christian mind, whether its advocacy be by European or American professors. There is no better way of finding out what God means than by looking at the Bible record to see what God has said.—S. S. Times.
Moody and the Rationalist
Dogmatic debate is not always the most effectual defense of truth. A rationalist, sure of his logic, once accosted D. L. Moody with this challenge:—
“Mr. Moody, will you meet me in argument on this whole question?”
“No,” said Moody; “I will not.”
“Just as I expected. You can dogmatize ad libitum at the Tabernacle, but you dare not meet the tests of reason.”
“Look here, my friend,” said Moody, “you are an educated man, and have a wide range of learning; now, do you suppose you could make a fly understand all that you know?”
“No; of course I could not.”
“Well, the difference between you and God is a million times greater than the difference between you and a fly. Would it not be more in keeping if you would not deny what you know that God said to you through your own conscience? settle that quarrel of yours with God, and you’ll have enough to do.”
There was no answer to this, because the man knew that he was having just that battle on hand. Many a sinner tries to dry up his convictions by adverse argument.—Sel.
The Blessed Hope.
By G. M. O'Neil.
IT is hope that makes existence endurable. It is hope that makes man cling to life. From the cradle to the grave it is the beacon light, the guiding star. Like the clinging tendrils of the vine, man's aspirations rise, grasping for hopes, around which to cling for support and solace. Blot hope from the mind's sky, let not one cheering ray gleam forth, and man's mind is a drear waste, a gloomy, dread charnel-house. Who would dare to approach, to fathom its drear, pestilential vaults? We shudder and turn away. Who can search the chambers of darkness in which no hope dwells?
When God created man, glorious hope beamed brightly in his sky, holding before him a wreath of joys, unspeakable and full of glory, bound together by a Father's love. Let us pause and think of that happy state. But we cannot comprehend the measure of its bliss. In God's creation nothing was wanting. All was good; and the crowning work, man in the image of his Maker, was noble and excellent. But the great arch foe was preparing his snare. His envy was stirred; his jealousy was kindled. He could not bear to have that glorious light beaming on man, while blackness of despair was his only portion. He held up a glittering phantom to lure man from the true light. The victim faltered; he stumbled; he fell. Glorious hope was no longer his. It was recalled. It was conditionally his, but he complied not with the conditions, and, with all its joys and glories, it quitted his horizon. He awoke to see only anguish and despair marshaling their hosts of darkness around him. Angels looked with pity, but had no power to help.
But there was one higher than the angels, dwelling in the love and fellowship of his Father—the only-begotten Son of God, holy, pure, spotless. His heart was thrilled with love and compassion. He had the power. He stepped between man and ruin. Through him the promise is again given, and the glorious hope of life and immortality again beams from the sky.
That hope is the only true hope. It shines with a sure, steady light, through all the shifting conflicts and turmoils. Satan still spreads his snares. The whole earth, up to the very margin of the narrow way, is spread with his toils and meshes. Every step is waylaid, and he hangs up thousands of gilded phantoms on every side, and calls them splendid hopes. And man yields still to his delusions, turns from the only true hope, and seeks from these false lights his joy and guidance. Ah! those false hopes of the great arch foe! They lure to death. When the hour of trial comes they go out forever, leaving their votaries in dark despair on which no morning of hope will ever dawn.
Oh! for the true hope, which shines only more brightly when trials come, and that throws its glad rays far beyond to the portals of our Father's house. Its light falls purely on the narrow path that leads to the mansions of bliss; and on it no snares of Satan are spread.
Ah, look beyond! The vision is brightening. We are nearing, nearing the fruition of that glorious hope. Oh! how near the heavenly mansions really are! Cheer up, pilgrims, it is no time for fainting. The conflict has been long with the great adversary. His wrath has long and fiercely raged against those on the King's highway, whose light has been that blessed hope. The course of the church has lain through seas of blood, and great tribulation, and now the wrath of Satan is raging with wilder fury, for he knows his time is very short. He is trying every artifice to entangle the little flock in his snares. Oh! to make them stumble. Oh! to make them take one faltering step from the narrow way. How triumphantly he exults! How eagerly he watches! How he softly prepares some grand, fatal snare, and places it just before that step, and tempts, and flatters, and deludes, oh! how gently, till it is taken. Then deeper, deeper, sinks the victim. Oh! it was the fatal quicksand on which that snare was set. Gradually the light of that holy hope grows dim. It is lost, gone forever.
Oh, pilgrim, beware! These snares and quicksands are love of the world. Keep the eye straight up for the blessed hope. Cast the world aside. You cannot take its possessions, its fashions, its pride, its fame, to the immortal kingdom. Seize the golden promises that inspiration has given. Twine them around your heart. They are the golden chords of a Saviour's love. He holds them firmly in his own hands. Cling to them fearlessly. What though Satan hiss and rage; deliverance is fast approaching. Jesus' coming on the great white cloud is almost the next event. Cast aside every weight. Gird on the armor more closely. Watch and pray, ever keeping in view the blessed hope.
G. M. O'NEIL.
Christ Alone Can Save
How can a man trust in his own righteousness? It is like seeking shelter under one's own shadow. He may stoop to the ground and the lower he bends he still finds that his shadow is beneath him. But if a man flee to the shadow of a great rock or of a wide-spreading tree, he will find abundant shelter from the rays of the noonday sun. So human merits are unavailing, and Christ alone is able to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by him.—Sel.
Christian Fortitude in Suffering
By Dean Swift
"It is remarkable with what Christian fortitude and resignation we can bear the sufferings of others."
Is He Coming Soon?
By M. W. H.
A RELIGIOUS periodical, of good esteem, but which I am not accustomed to see, I found lying upon my table. That it had come to me designedly was evident, for conspicuously marked upon the first page I found an article headed with the title I have quoted. The initial signature recalled a conversation held incidentally with a minister of the gospel a few weeks previous. These little circumstances, of themselves so trivial, when combined, have struck a responsive note and started my pen in what may seem not unlike a criticism.
"Is He coming soon? Who? The Son of man. There are some good things transpiring these days that lead us to raise the question, Is he coming soon? Denominational lines are growing very faint." Thus it began with the certain sound of the ringing changes of the "Peace and safety cry" of these last days. And yet I did not dislike the article, though I was very, very far from indorsing, or even admitting, the sentiment; for were I to look through so illusory a medium, no farther quietus would be needed to lull me into profoundest slumber. For, says the article, as it progresses: "Unless I am seriously mistaken, the Son of man will not delay his coming long after his disciples have on all their armor, and show by their activity in his service that they are seeking his kingdom first. . . . Then, depend upon it, 'He is near, even at the door.' . . . . Among Christians there is getting to be almost as much interest felt for the success of Christianity as in the triumph of political parties. When zeal for Christ outgrows zeal for anything else, and puts his cause, everywhere and always, first, then there is evidence that he is drawing near, and we are feeling the pulsations of his great heart."
Yes, undoubtedly, spiritualizing his coming; but where may we see this? Make the coming of Christ only to mean a drawing near by his influences, precious as that drawing near is to my heart, and it were easy to make the whole a myth, unsubstantial and unreal to me. But oh! the joy unspeakable that thrills the heart of those who intelligently receive and love his appearing, when they believe his coming to be near.
Never, even in my early years, could I associate aught but joy with the blessed thought of Jesus' coming again. And when first I knew, by the hearing of the ear, that there were those who looked for that coming in 1843, my first almost involuntary remark was, "I hope it may be so." One older than myself, and one to whom I felt to defer, replied, "Who that has a knowledge of his own heart dare desire it?" Yet I did desire it—do still desire, even though my heart be so sinful—yea, it is even for this that I desire it, for when Jesus comes then comes the end of sin to those who are his.
But that coming to me meant no imaginary, guessed-at theory. It was real; just as the Bible taught; just as the early Christians believed; just such a coming as had been indelibly fixed upon my mind in early years by a Bible-lecturer with magic-lantern views of Bible scenes. He had spoken of and exhibited the ascension, when Jesus led his disciples out to the Mount of Olivet, where "he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight." Then passing the picture back he repeated the words of the angels, as Christ again appeared among the clouds, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven." Acts 1:11.
M. W. H.
PRAYER.
By Archbishop Trench
LORD, what a change within us one short hour
Spent in thy presence will avail to make!
What heavy burdens from our bosoms take;
What parched grounds refresh as with a shower!
We kneel, and all around us seems to lower;
We rise, and all the distant and the near
Stands forth in sunny outline, brave and clear!
We kneel, how weak! we rise, how full of power!
Why therefore should we do ourselves this wrong,
Or others that we are not always strong;
That we are ever overborne with care;
That we should ever weak or heartless be,
Anxious or troubled, when with us is prayer,
And joy and strength and courage are with Thee?
—Archbishop Trench.
Second-Hand Religion.
By R. F. Cottrell
THOUGH we have free access to the fountain of revealed truth, the Bible, which is able to make the man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished to every good work, yet the great mass of men choose a second-hand religion, taking what others have taught for the truth, instead of what God has clearly revealed. In things pertaining to this life, they are wise enough to look out for themselves, so that no man shall deceive them; but respecting a preparation for the world to come, they willingly leave themselves in the hands of others. Not feeling sufficient interest in it to learn for themselves what God has taught, they implicitly trust their hopes for eternal life to those who have, like themselves, followed the traditions of their fathers from ages and generations past.
The gospel plainly requires that every one should repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. All in Christian lands know this; and in every land of Bible light the meaning of baptism is laid open, so that among all the learned there is "not a dog to move his tongue" against immersion, as valid and genuine baptism. All agree that it is. But tradition has long taught that something else will do just as well; and therefore a substitute for what God requires continues to be offered, with the vain hope that it will be equally acceptable with Him who has said, "In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." They would not take a counterfeit one-dollar bill, though assured that it would pass just as well as the genuine. But in matters involving the favor of God and an interest in the eternal world, they will trust in the word of men, ignoring the word of God.
The fourth commandment of the holy law of God, delivered with his own voice and written with his own finger, still requires all to remember and keep holy the day on which he rested when he made the world. That day was not the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth day; for he labored on each of these; but the seventh day was the Sabbath, or rest-day; for he rested on this and on no other. But while the commandment of God bids us rest on the seventh day, because God rested on it, men tell us that another day, the first day of the week, will do equally as well, and even better, because they think the day of Christ's resurrection more worthy of commemoration than the creation of the world.
There is not the least intimation of this change in all the Scriptures of truth. Men pretend that there is, because they choose to follow the easy rut of tradition, rather than venture the asperity of turning into the forsaken and narrow track of truth. It is true that the counterfeit will pass as well, and even better in this world, than the genuine. But how sad will be the disappointment when it shall be presented at the bank of Heaven!
Let me exhort and beseech you, dear reader, to go to the fountain-head of truth, and not, in a land of Bibles, get your religious ideas second-hand. There is great light at the present time from revelation, if we will receive it. But the days are perilous, from the fact that there is great danger that the light will be rejected, and the false light of tradition will still be followed in these closing hours of probation. The rage of the world is riches, pleasures, and popular applause. While these things fill the heart, religion being a secondary thing, a mere expedient by which to get to Heaven when the earth can no longer be enjoyed, you will be content to take your religion second-hand, not having time nor disposition to go to the fountain and draw for yourself.