p. 244 | Review and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 16. (4/16/1901)

Review and Herald

Apr 16, 1901

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Apr 16, 1901

THE WARFARE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE

SATAN is the originator of sin. In heaven he resolved to live to himself. He resolved to be leader. He determined to make himself a center of influence. If he could not be the highest authority in heaven, he would be the highest authority in rebellion against the government of heaven. Head he would be, to control, not to be controlled.

When Satan made this choice, when he ceased to co-operate with God in His plans for the universal good, he became by his own choice the leader in rebellion, and his influence was exerted solely to injure God. When Satan refused to exert his influence on the side of truth, heaven must no longer be his home. He gathered with him in rebellion an army of angels who had swerved from their allegiance. With these sympathizers he was cast out of heaven.

Satan was dependent on God for his life. He resolved to ignore this dependence, but he could not destroy the fact. He could cease to be loyal and true, cease to be the means of communicating hallowed influences, but he could never be that which he told his companions he would be,—the center of influence.

Satan separated himself from God, and selfishness became the law of those who placed themselves under his leadership. He came to this earth, and entered upon the work of conforming all things to himself. He sought in every way to deface the divine image in man, and to place his principles where the principles of heaven should be.

To a large degree Satan has succeeded in the execution of his plans. Through the medium of influence, taking advantage of the action of mind on mind, he prevailed on Adam to sin. Thus at its very source human nature was corrupted. And ever since then sin has continued its hateful work, reaching from mind to mind. Every sin committed awakens the echoes of the original sin.

Mutual dependence is a wonderful thing. Reciprocal influence should be carefully studied. We should find out without doubt on what side we are exerting our influence. When placed on the side of right, influence is a power for God; when placed on the side of evil, it is a power for Satan. One human being under Satan's control becomes a means of temptation to another human being. Thus evil grows into immense proportions.

Satan gathered the fallen angels together to devise some way of doing the most possible evil to the human family. One proposition after another was made, till finally Satan himself thought of a plan. He would take the fruit of the vine, also wheat, and other things given by God as food, and would convert them into poisons, which would ruin man's physical, mental, and moral powers, and so overcome the senses that Satan should have full control. Under the influence of liquor, men would be led to commit crimes of all kinds. Through perverted appetite the world would be made corrupt. By leading men to drink alcohol, Satan would cause them to descend lower and lower in the scale.

Satan has succeeded in turning the world from God. The blessings provided in God's love and mercy he has turned into a deadly curse. He has filled men with a craving for liquor and tobacco. This appetite, which has no foundation in nature, has destroyed its millions, yet it is indulged by high and low, rich and poor. Too often those appointed to guard the interests of the people are under the power of this appetite.

Not only is the evil of intemperance allowed and sanctioned in Christian lands; the curse is carried to heathen nations. Poor, unenlightened savages, ignorant of God, are taught to ask for liquor. So hardened have professed Christians become that they care not that the liquor curse is introduced into the dark regions of idolatry.

Satan wages an untiring warfare against the law of God. And so completely has he deceived men that his insinuations against this law are repeated from professedly Christian pulpits. Men, women, and children have been taught to believe them, and as a result—look at the world to-day. Satan is its god. Nations have become workers of iniquity. Evil has lifted up itself against good. Men say, It does not matter what God's law says; the laws of the nations must be obeyed. Despotic power shows itself strong. Man-made laws are climbing higher and still higher, to displace and make void the law of God, to take the consciences of men under their control, and defy God to His face. Satan is gathering the powers of evil, to give them back to a lawless world, under the solemn names of law and religion.

The world is nearing the time of its destruction. Every generation takes up some phase of evil in advance of the one which preceded it, moving onward in the march of impenitence and rebellion. God is looking on, measuring the temple and the worshipers therein. Professed Christians are joining hands with the man of sin, to make void the law of God.

Soon the world is to be called to appear at the bar of God. John writes, “I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. . . . And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

The arm of Omnipotence alone can cleanse the earth from the evil which Satan has brought into it. This He will do by destroying the world by fire, even as He destroyed the old world by a flood.

No man liveth to himself. Consciously or unconsciously he is influencing others, either for good or evil. If for evil, his influence accumulates evil; if for good, it strengthens good. Not only do those human beings who give themselves up to work evil breathe the deadly infection of the time preceding their time; they add to the deadly influence their own disease, to the injury of those who come after them. But when men are guided and controlled by the power of the Holy Spirit, there goes out from them an influence that is a savor of life unto life.”

The world has broken away from its true center. The churches of to-day have allowed Satan to enter in among them. Under his influence they have made void the law of God. The truths of the Bible are interpreted by religious teachers to mean something entirely different from what they do mean. Is there no remedy for this? Is the chain of dependence which unites the human family henceforth to be used to advance universal disorganization and hostility to God? Is the law of God always to be disobeyed? Is the law of influence to be used by Satan to drag mankind lower and lower? Is it not time that a people stood forth in moral independence, cherishing at the same time a sense of their dependence on God, and realizing that upon them rests the responsibility of declaring that the law of God is not changed and never will be changed? Let those who see the binding claims of the law arise and shine, because the glory of the Lord is risen upon them.

The Lord has sent to our world a message of warning, even the Third Angel's Message. All heaven is waiting to hear us vindicate God's law, declaring it to be holy, just, and good. Where are those who will do this work? God calls upon His people to gain a deeper insight into His plans and His law. His law is the transcript of His character. It is unchangeable; for God will not alter the thing that has gone out of His lips. Christ has declared that the law is perfect; and with David we may say, “It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law.”

Jesus Christ is to be the center of influence. The Holy Spirit is to be the efficiency of every one who is trying to do right. With all their energies human beings are to co-operate with the great Center of infinite love and infinite power. There are those in our world who are longing for a deeper religious experience, who are bemoaning the dearth of the Holy Spirit's power in the lives

of the professed followers of Christ. When men return to their loyalty to God, they will cease to trample underfoot His plain commands. They will exalt God. His word will be to them a light shining amid the moral darkness. They will obey the words, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

In Christ we have an example of patient endurance and unselfish love. The Commander of heaven made His way to our earth through all the ranks of hell, and in the midst of the world erected His cross. He descended from the heights of glory to the depths of humiliation and suffering. We can not fathom the love of the Son of God. To a world that refused to live unto God He presented an amazing sacrifice, turning His whole being into an atoning offering, with which no other sacrifice can be compared. “For your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.”

We see Him in the wilderness, enduring a fast of forty days. We see Him humiliated, despised, rejected, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. We see Him tempted in all points like as we are. But though the enemy bruised and wounded the Saviour's body, he could not touch His mind. The Son of God remained true to His Father, firm and steadfast in His allegiance and loyalty.

Look upon Christ hanging on the cross of Calvary, sacrificed for us. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

As the sinner looks upon the uplifted Saviour, conviction comes to him. He repents of his sin. Under the transforming influence of the Spirit, he is ready to sacrifice himself in the service of the Saviour. He does not live for himself; for from the cross has gone forth the proclamation that no one who lives for self can be benefited by the death of Christ. He who desires to live for himself is not a Christian. He who is truly repentant is created anew in Christ Jesus, and is no longer content to live for selfish enjoyment. His greatest desire is to do something for the Master, to be a faithful servant for his Lord. “Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price.” A ransom has been paid, even the precious blood of Christ. “Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” Every part of the Christian's being, his time, his service, his property, his strength, have been paid for. His all is the Lord's. At the moment he gave himself to Christ, he was recorded as the Redeemer's willing agent, just as if the price of salvation had been paid for him alone. Upon him is laid the duty of revealing Christ in all he does. The life he lives is Christ's; for over the rent sepulcher of Joseph the Saviour proclaimed, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He is to use his every power in Christ's service. His talents of reason, of influence, of speech, of means, all are the Lord's. They always were the Lord's, but before his conversion, he did not acknowledge this. He has now become one with Christ. With Paul he may say, “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” His life is bound up with the life of Christ in the great plan of redemption. His character is to be a reproduction of the character of Christ. Christlike self-denial and self-sacrifice, Christlike patience and gentleness, are to be manifested by him.

Christ has put it out of our power to give Him anything that God has not first given us. All belongs to God; therefore every one is bound by the ransom which has been paid to return to God His own. Those who have witnessed a good confession should now draw together in the bonds of Christian fellowship, consecrating themselves wholly to God. Union is strength. Then let God's people draw in even cords, exerting the influence which Christ by His death has made it possible for them to exert.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

By A. J. BRISTOL

A. J. BRISTOL

(Battle Creek, Mich.)

“Love as brethren.” “Let brotherly love continue.” How many times are we similarly exhorted in the Scripture! But because the apostle (2 Peter 1:5-7) has placed the grace of love as the topmost round of the ladder, we are wont to leave it out of thought and ideal. We feel that as yet we are on the lower steps, and it will be time to think of this grace when we shall have climbed higher.

But while Peter puts love last, Paul places it first in his enumeration of the fruits of the Spirit. Gal. 5:22. Brethren, our calling is high, and let our ideals include the higher graces. In Rom. 5:5 we read that “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” By this question we are ever tested: “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?”

It certainly is time that we give careful and prayerful thought to the “bond of perfection;” for, except the hearts of God’s people, all things are now ready. While all about us there are marked evidences that the winds are being held, where is the love that impels to earnest activity in warning the world and sealing God’s servants? Alas, in how many cases has the enemy succeeded in fastening our eyes on the failings of our fellow workers, causing us to forget the perfection and power of the Master Workman. But are we to be of those whose love grows cold because iniquity abounds? Let us rather put aside all thought and strife for “our rights,” and cease our “provoking one another [save by our example of love and good works], envying one another.” It goes across the grain of the natural man; but God has said, “My grace is sufficient.”

The Saviour’s wonderful condescension in himself becoming the way of life for us, was some time ago deeply impressed on my mind. Being daily obliged to cross and recross a bridge over a broad river and deep chasm, at last I fell to musing of the bridge. How little observed and appreciated by those who enjoyed the blessing it afforded! Yet, uncomplaining, it lay to be daily trodden underfoot of men. So of Christ: “We esteemed Him not,” although by His prostrate body He spanned the deepest chasm ever known. So great was His love, that He bore all the slight and abuse of men, that we might pass safely the flood of sin and woe. “As He is, so are we in this world.” My brethren, at our present rate of progress when shall we have advanced to that place where we shall rejoice to be footbridges beside our Lord, and, from love to our brethren, gladly let them walk over us into the kingdom of God?”

FIFTY-FIRST PSALM

By C. H. Keslake

C. H. KESLAKE

(New Brunswick, N. J.)

Have mercy, O my God, on me, Thy loving-kindness is my plea; Do thou now cleanse me from my sin, Wash me from all my guilt within.

All my transgressions I confess, Naught, Lord, have I of righteousness; Before me ever is my sin; Now in my heart thy work begin.

With hyssop purged, I shall be pure; Thy mercies, Lord, are ever sure; O wash me whiter than the snow; Of thy salvation make me know.

Thy joy and gladness I would hear, Wipe from mine eyes the bitter tear, Thus shall my broken bones rejoice; Thy name I'll praise with heart and voice.

A clean heart, Lord, create in me, Uphold me by thy Spirit free, Salvation's joy to me restore, And upward let my spirit soar.

Transgressors then I'll teach thy ways, And sinners thy blest name shall praise; Toward thy face shall they be turned, Though oft thy mercies they have spurned.

A broken heart, a soul contrite, Thou dost regard with pure delight; Nor ever such wilt thou despise, Nor close thine ears unto their cries.

Do good in thy good pleasure, Lord, To Zion, whom thou dost regard; Thou wilt receive in faithfulness The sacrifice of righteousness.

THEY WHO INFLUENCE US

By Elsie A. Brown

ELSIE A. BROWN

(Watrousville, Mich.)

Some one has said—and who has not experienced the truthfulness of the statement?—that “there are some men and some women in whose company we are always at our best.” Who are these men and women who thus influence us? Are they possessed of superior educational attainments, wealth, or influence?—No; for one may have almost boundless resources in any or even in all these directions, without any special influence upon us for good. Neither do we yield our treasure of good to those who, with condescending patronage, deign to give us notice. In place of good, these probably elicit from us only a feeling of resentment. And those whom we regard with fear because of their seeming distrust of us, have power to bring out only the worst in us; for “in an atmosphere of suspicion men shrivel up.”

Who, then, are the men and women in whose society we are at ease and at our best? “You will find, if you think for a moment, that the people who influence you are the people who believe in you;” and one who ought to know has said that, “as a matter of fact, there is nothing which so draws upon a man’s manliness, anyway, as to show confidence in him. Suspicion never helps him.” “As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man.” And be sure that he who sets himself to the task of searching out the evil in men will find that which he seeks; for when one makes a search with some certain thing in mind, he sees only that sought for, even though things of an entirely different nature and of much greater worth are passed over in the search; and in this instance, at least, it will be passing strange if, as he beholds the thing in mind, he is not changed by beholding; and he who is searched will, almost in spite of himself, apply to the searcher the old saying, “It takes a rogue to catch a rogue,” and thus distrust breeds distrust.

At the bottom of the seventy-first page of the book, “Christ’s Object Lessons,” we find these words: “Often we regard as hopeless subjects the very ones whom Christ is drawing to himself;” and again, on the seventy-second page: “Many will be in heaven who their neighbors supposed would never enter there.”

Then, of necessity, many will be there who with safety might have been trusted here; and would it not be better even to run a little risk than thus to pass over Christ in the person of His saints?

We are placed here as instruments through which God can work for the uplifting and saving of men; but “if we try to influence or elevate others, we shall soon see that success is in proportion to their belief of our belief in them,” and it has even been said—and who disputes it?—that “to be trusted is to be saved.”

Nature Speaks of Her Creator

“RIGHTLY understood, nature speaks of her Creator.”

WITNESSES

By Mrs. M. C. Du Bois

MRS. M. C. DU BOIS (Grand Ledge, Mich.)

“A WITNESS is one who can render competent testimony.” Christ says, “Ye are my witnesses.” What does He mean? Having never seen His face in the flesh, how can we be His witnesses? Sight is not our only sense. We can tell of His power to forgive sin; of His willingness to forgive and cleanse the heart from evil; of His wonderful love revealed to us; of His power to keep, after He has once saved.

The world is waiting, and willing, to hear these testimonies. What it needs to-day is Christ, the perfect Saviour. Who has found Him to be such, and can witness to His completeness? Bear your testimony quickly. Tell to those who are in sorrow Christ’s faithfulness in seasons of trial, and how He is a friend that “sticketh closer than a brother.”

Speak of His keeping power. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.” Let us each know for ourselves that Jesus does save us now from sin.

I am glad there are those who testify to just what they know. The speaking of a few cold words in the social meeting is not bearing witness for the world’s Redeemer. But one who, out of a full heart, with joyfulness, can bear witness that Jesus is a present, a perfect, a complete Saviour, will always win the attention of sinners.

Again: we can witness for Christ in kind and loving deeds to the poor and needy. We can visit the sick and the imprisoned. A few faithful ones are on the witness stand before the world. Sad thought that some are false witnesses, telling that Christ is a hard master. My brother, my sister, are you a true or a false witness?

REST FOR THE WEARY

By Belle Beck Gibson

BELLE BECK GIBSON (Victoria, British Columbia)

“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Oh, wondrous invitation! Who of us have not felt our burden indeed heavy, and we ourselves weak and weary, faint in both soul and body? Then comes this loving, pitiful invitation, “Come unto me.” And lest we should fail to take it to ourselves, He designates us by the words “all ye that labor and are heavy laden,” followed by the sweet promise, “I will give you rest.” Aye, the invitation is to all in every walk and calling in life. The minister, laboring against all the prejudice and traditions of men, seeing little fruits of his labor; the Bible worker, going, Bible in hand, from house to house; the canvasser, trudging over city and country to take orders; the carpenter at his bench; the blacksmith at his forge; the merchant behind the counter; the doctor making his daily rounds of visits; the weary housewife and mother, overburdened and weak; the washerwoman over the tub; the teacher; the school boy or girl; the farmer behind his plow, the “shut-in,” the great army of workers in all legitimate employment—all may come and receive strength from the same inexhaustible source. Weary, overworked, discouraged one, hear the tender promise of our merciful Saviour. He will bear the heaviest end of the yoke, and thus lighten all your labors.

I think we miss a great deal of the blessing the Lord intends us to receive through the Scripture, by not taking it literally, just as it reads, failing to realize that it is meant to strengthen us just when we need strength, just when we are weakest. There is physical strength in the Lord for those who are weak and ill in mind and body, borne down with burdens too great for them to bear, who must struggle on and on with no hope of their burdens being lightened. To such the words of the Lord in Isaiah 40 are especially addressed: “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? . . . He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might, He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Have you faced your day’s duties in the morning, wondering how you were to accomplish so much in one day? There is the promise, “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.”

I think I can not better express what this renewing of strength means to me, than by relating an incident in my own experience. I had for some time felt my strength insufficient for my duties, and at the close of each day would find myself so exhausted and utterly worn out that I saw I must either drop some of my burdens or find increased strength for them. One morning at the beginning of a particularly trying day’s work, as I was reading the morning’s lesson to my little ones before engaging in prayer, I opened to the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, and as I read from the twenty-eighth to the thirty-first verses, a sense of the beauty and reality of the promise contained therein filled my soul, and I cried, “That is for me; it means real, physical strength for my daily duties.” When we bowed in prayer, I claimed the blessing, and received an earnest of the promise while still on my knees. I arose with my heart swelling with praise and thanksgiving; and during the day I could but sing for very joy. The words that came oftenest to my mind were, “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” which I realized I was truly doing.

At the close of the day my duties were all performed, and I felt as fresh as at its beginning. I then walked a mile to prayer-meeting, and returned home, feeling every step a pleasure. Since that day I have never faced a difficult task without the knowledge that as my day, so shall my strength be. There is infinite comfort in the thought that the All-father loves and watches over each struggling, burdened child, and whispers, “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee.” Then look up and rejoice, weary one, in whatever station in life, “casting all your care upon Him; for he careth for you.”

“Child of my love, lean hard, And let me feel the pressure of thy care. I know thy burden, child, I shaped it, Poised it in mine own hand, made no proportion In its weight to thine unaided strength; For even as I laid it on, I said: ‘I shall be near, and while she leans on me, This burden shall be mine, not hers: So shall I keep my child within the circling arms Of my own love.’ Here lay it down, nor fear To impose it on a shoulder which upholds The government of worlds. Yet closer come; Thou art not near enough, I would embrace thy care, So I might feel my child reposing on my breast. Thou lovest me? I knew it. Doubt not then; But, loving me, lean hard.”

HOW

The King's Messenger

WHAT can be done to really bless? How can we be made a real blessing — the channel through which the Comforter can comfort the hearts and homes of the comfortless in palace or in flat, without having the instrument prominent and unpleasantly seen?

In all our plans we have failed, because there has been too much of us. We have been charitable until the word has become a byword and hissing to those whom we would reach and benefit. We have been patronizing and soft and loving until our words and actions have become disgusting, and Christian charity has caused a nausea and a dislike, so that every one feels that he wants none of it.

How can we elevate, never degrade? How can we develop, never repress, the kindlier feelings, the higher emotions of life? We do not know, we can not tell; our wisdom or experience does not reach. We understand that Jesus, the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, received the Holy Ghost, and became a lowly, humble, meek, and gentle man, who went about doing good, unostentatiously, to the rich and the poor without distinction — healing, comforting, and blessing. His were not deeds of pumped-up charity. His were not pharisaical benefactions. His was the work of the Holy Spirit. The blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, the lame walk, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

The Jesus life, the Holy Ghost life, is the only life that wins. Let His life live in you, through you reach others. He only can do this work. You — we — are a failure. Our charity is cold, mean, selfish. His love is pure, true, blessed,— His love, unmixed with your cant or profession,— simple love, sweet, unsordid, unselfish love,— the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit given to us.

How? — Receive Him and let Him overflow. Don't you do it. He will do it naturally; do it effectually; do it and bring glory to himself and grace to others. Don't organize and do it; organizations have small souls. Be great hearts by giving Him place. The Holy Ghost and us is a good company. Work with Him by letting Him work. Everybody needs Him — the wealthy as well as the indigent, the toiler as well as the invalid, the cultured as well as the illiterate.

The Comforter is the need. We simply need to introduce Him, which is a delightful, easy work, and He will do it all, in His own time, and that is now.

WE THANK THEE

Can a little child like me Thank the Father fittingly? Yes, oh, yes; be good and true, Patient, kind, in all you do; Love the Lord and do your part; Learn to say, with all your heart, Father in heaven, we thank thee.

For the fruit upon the tree, For the birds that sing of thee, For the earth in beauty dressed, Father, mother, and the rest, For thy precious, loving care, For thy bounty everywhere, Father in heaven, we thank thee.

For the sunshine, warm and bright, For the day and for the night, For the lessons of our youth, Honor, gratitude, and truth, For the love that met us here, For the home and for the cheer, Father in heaven, we thank thee.

For our comrades and our plays, And our happy holidays, For our lives but just begun, For the great gift of thy Son, For the joyful work and true That a little child may do, Father in heaven, we thank thee.

— Selected.

Growing Old with Christ

“HAPPY is he who grows old with Christ as his portion, for he is ever renewing his youth. He lives, like Moses, upon the mount, in full view of the promised land.”

CHRIST OUR HARVEST-BEARER

By David Paulson; W. S. Sadler

DAVID PAULSON AND W. S. SADLER

When the sinner recognizes the unprofitableness of transgression and the exceeding sinfulness of sin; when his only disposition toward it is to forsake it and to be delivered from its power; when he can say, from the depths of his heart, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:27) “I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not” (Job 33:27),—when he has thus brought forth fruit meet for repentance, this is the promise of the Lord to him: “He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.” “Then He is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom.” Job 33:28, 24.

When man has sincerely repented of his sin, God finds a ransom, even Christ, “who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24. Thus Christ becomes our harvest-bearer. “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” Isa. 53:4. “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Matt. 8:17. While it is true that Christ is the ransom for the sins of the righteous, it is also true that the Lord says to His chosen people, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” We are also admonished to “think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try” us. Christ suffered—the just for the unjust. He suffered for righteousness’ sake, for well-doing, thus leaving us an example. 1 Peter 2:22.

It is only upon the condition that we suffer with Him that we are permitted to reign with Him. 2 Tim. 2:12. As partakers together with Christ of the divine nature, and as co-workers with Him in carrying out the plan of salvation, we shall oftentimes be called upon to be “partakers of His sufferings,” to suffer mentally and sometimes even physically, in fellowship with the Master, for the good of our fellow men and the universe at large. “But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:13. Sickness and death may often be the experience of the sincere followers of Christ, not as the result of their own individual wickedness nor of God’s displeasure, but as a part of a great plan that is to work out good—good not only for the one who suffers, but also for those who must witness the suffering and the spirit of patience and resignation thereby produced. Jesus, in speaking of the sickness and death of Lazarus, said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” John 11:4. Upon those who suffer for righteousness’ sake, the Lord pronounces a blessing; and even concerning those who die in the Lord it is written, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.” Rev. 14:13.

GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE INCOMPREHENSIBLE

“Canst thou by searching find out God?” Job 11:7. Healing that is divine is infinite, and consequently is incomprehensible to finite beings. To be able fully to understand how and why God heals, would be equivalent to being able completely to understand His eternal purpose. Consequently, it is often difficult in a given case of sickness, death, or affliction, fully to understand why the loving hand of God works in the particular manner observed. It is only the eye of faith that recognizes that all things work together for good, and thus discerns, even in the hour of affliction, that “God is love.” The assurance of this confidence leads us to implicitly trust Him, even when we utterly fail to comprehend or understand Him. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” Job 13:15. We can not explain why some may be healed instantly, and others must suffer much and long. This is for heaven’s records to disclose later on. The very fact that divine healing is divine is in itself evidence that at no particular point shall we be able to comprehend its nature or fully to understand its workings.

IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING THE WORD OF GOD

By Lenna Iselin

MRS. LENNA ISELIN (Spring Bluff, Wis.)

The psalmist says, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart [mind], that I might not sin against thee.”

Thus we see that it is the word of God stored away, or hidden, in the mind that keeps us from sinning. But how can we have the Word hidden in our minds unless we study it? Jesus, speaking of the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, said: He shall “bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” Now it is impossible for the Comforter to bring things to our remembrance which we have never known. He does not attempt to do so; for Jesus says, “Whatsoever I have said unto you.”

The whole Bible is Jesus speaking to us through His servants the prophets; so we see that we must carefully study the Word, and the Holy Spirit will enable us to remember it. We are to eat the Word; it is the bread of life. Just as our natural food builds up the body, so the Word, which is our spiritual food, builds up the character. We could not live on one small meal a week, yet how many give the Sabbath-school lesson a hurried study on Sabbath morning, not having taken time to open the Bible during the week. Can we expect to live the life that Christ lived, and build up a character that will stand the test of the Judgment, by such a careless manner of living?

The Word, hidden in our minds, has power to keep us from sinning. There is creative power in the Word: “The worlds were framed by the word of God.” “He spake, and it was done; He

commanded, and it stood fast.” Thus the Word has power to create us anew in Christ Jesus, “being born again, . . . by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”

Then how important is the study of the Word. Unless we treasure it up in our minds, there is no life in us. Jesus says, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

There is no excuse for ignorance concerning the word of God. We all have our Bibles, and nearly every one has education enough to read it for himself. We have blessed opportunities now, for which we must give an account before God—opportunities which we shall not have in the future. The time is not far distant when our Bibles will be taken from us; for in Amos we read that there shall be “a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.”

Now while we have the Word with us, let us give it a daily study. We might better neglect some of the trifling duties of the day than to neglect our eternal salvation. Let us economize our time, spending less with fancy work and outward adornment, and more in studying the Word of life, which is a light that shines in a dark place—“a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

“NOT SPIRITS OF DEAD MEN”

By Herbert Fletcher

HERBERT FLETCHER

(St. Ann, Jamaica)

LOOKING through my Bible Index, I was impressed with the statement: “Spirits of dead men called angels.” And for proof Matt. 18:10 and Acts 12:15 were quoted.

Are angels spirits of dead men? If not, what are they? Let us study the following scriptures:—

They are a higher order of beings than man. Ps. 8:5.
They were created before the creation of man. Job 38:4–7 (Job 1:6; 2:1; Rev. 5:11).
They are real beings. Gen. 18:1–4; 19:1–3, 10; Ps. 78:23–25.
They dwell with God. Rev. 5:11; Heb. 12:22; Ps. 68:17.
They are ministering spirits. Heb. 1:13, 14; Ps. 103:21; Dan. 7:10.
They are messengers to execute God’s will. Gen. 19:22; Dan. 9:21–23; Luke 1:11, 26, etc.
They are guardians of man. Ps. 34:7; 91:11; Eccl. 5:6; Heb. 1:14.
They assist in judgment. Dan. 7:10.

From these scriptures it is seen that angels are not spirits of dead men, but an entirely different order of beings. The texts quoted in Matt. 18:10 and Acts 12:15 show that we each have a guardian angel—not “spirits of dead men”—to protect us, and to record our deeds: “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 13:10.

On the other hand, what is the state of man at death?—He dieth. Job 14:10.

He returneth to his earth. Ps. 146:4.
He sleeps in the grave. Job 7:21; 17:13–16.
He is unconscious. Ps. 6:4, 5; 146:4; Eccl. 9:5; Job 4:21.
He remains in this condition until his reward comes. Job 14:12.

Therefore he does not behold God’s face; and not till Christ comes will he be raised. 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. Then shall he see God’s face. Rev. 22:4.

Christ’s Practical Teaching

“CHRIST did not deal in abstract theories, but in that which is essential to the development of character, that which will enlarge man's capacity for knowing God, and increase his efficiency to do good. He spoke to men of those truths that relate to the conduct of life, and that take hold upon eternity.”

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