Signs of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 41. (10/28/1886)

Signs of the Times

Oct 28, 1886

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 28, 1886

General Articles.

By Ellen G. White

Talents a Trust from God.

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

We are indebted to God for all the powers of mind that we possess. To each of us he has intrusted talents, and for their proper use he holds us responsible. It is his will that we so educate ourselves as to be able to use these talents in a manner to accomplish the greatest good in the world and to reflect glory to the Giver; and our faculties may be so cultivated, so discreetly directed and controlled, as to accomplish this object.

We are not all constituted alike. We have varied minds; some are strong upon certain points, and very weak upon others. These deficiencies, which are often so very evident, need not and should not exist. If those who have them would take pains to strengthen the weak points in their character by cultivation and exercise, they would soon find these inequalities disappearing. And when all the faculties are in harmonious exercise, the intellect will be clear and strong and the judgment sound.

It is duty to so educate the mind as to bring out all its energies and develop every faculty. If certain faculties are used to the neglect of others, the design of God is not fully carried out in us; for in a great measure our faculties are mutually dependent, each having a bearing upon all the rest. One set of faculties cannot be effectually used while the others are weak and inactive. If all the attention is given to those faculties that are already strong, while the others are permitted to lie dormant, the development will be strong in one direction, and there will be extremes in the character, because the mental balance has not been preserved. And many minds are dwarfed because all their powers have not been cultivated.

It is agreeable, but not most profitable, to exercise those faculties that are naturally the strongest, to the neglect of those that are weak, and need to be strengthened. We are dependent upon God for the preservation of our faculties, and we have no right to neglect any of the powers that he has given us. There are monomaniacs all over the country. It is frequently the case that many are sane upon every subject but one. Their minds are unbalanced because one organ was specially exercised, while the others were permitted to lie dormant. The one that was in constant use became worn and diseased, and the others were weakened through inaction. God is not glorified when such a course is pursued, and his creatures become wrecked through an injurious use of the powers that he has given them.

Many are not doing the greatest amount of good of which they are capable, because they exercise their minds in one direction, and neglect to give careful attention to those things for which they think they are not adapted. Faculties that are weak are thus allowed to remain so, because the work that would call them into exercise, and give them strength, is not pleasant. And yet the power to concentrate the mind upon one subject to the exclusion of all others, is well in a degree, if it is not carried so far that the mind cannot act healthfully.

Ministers should be guarded, lest they concentrate their minds and energies upon one subject, to the exclusion of others that may be of equal importance. They are in danger of narrowing down the work of God, and becoming one-idea men. Many times all the strength of their being is concentrated on the subject to which the attention is called for the time, and every other consideration is lost sight of. This one favorite theme is the burden of their thoughts and the subject of their conversation. All the evidence which has a bearing upon that subject is eagerly seized upon and appropriated, and dwelt upon at so great length that minds are wearied in following them.

Those who put the whole strength of their mind into one subject, are greatly deficient on other points. The subject before them enchains their attention, and they are led on and on, and go deeper and deeper into the matter. They become interested and absorbed, and see new light and beauty as they advance. But there are few minds that can follow them, unless they have given the subject the same careful thought. There is danger of such men planting the seed of truth so deep that the tender, precious blade will never find the surface.

Much hard labor is often expended that is not called for, and that will never be appreciated. Time is lost in explaining points which are either self-evident or really unimportant, and which would be taken for granted without proof. But while time should not be spent on unnecessary and trifling arguments, the really vital points should be made as plain and forcible as language and proof can make them.

The most essential points of Bible truth may be made indistinct by giving attention to every minute particular. Some, in their writings, need to be constantly guarded, lest they make blind points that are plain in themselves, by covering them up with many arguments which will not be of lively interest to the reader. If they linger tediously upon points, giving every particular which suggests itself to the mind, their labor will be nearly lost; for the interest of the reader will not be deep enough to lead him to pursue the subject to its close. Much ground may be covered; but the work upon which so much labor is expended is not calculated to do the greatest amount of good, because it fails to awaken a general interest.

In this age, when pleasing fables are drifting upon the surface and attracting the mind, truth presented in an easy style, backed up by a few strong proofs, is better and more effective than if its advocates were to search extensively, and bring forth an overwhelming array of evidence; for the simple propositions do not then stand so clear and distinct in many minds as before the objections and evidences were brought before them. There are some who take many things for granted, and assertions will go farther with them than long, labored arguments.

This is a busy world. Men and women who engage in the business of life have not time to meditate, nor even to read the word of God thoroughly enough to understand all its important truths. Long, labored arguments will interest but few; for the people read as they run. It is better to keep a reserve of arguments and proof than to pour out a depth of knowledge on a subject that is in itself clear and plain.

Christ’s ministry lasted only three years; but a great work was done in that short period. In these days there is also a great work to be done in a short time; and while many are getting ready to do something, souls will perish for the want of light and knowledge.

If men who are engaged in presenting and defending the truth of the Bible, undertake to investigate the statements, and show the fallacy and inconsistency of men who dishonestly turn the truth of God into a lie, Satan will stir up opponents enough to keep their pens constantly employed, while other branches of the truth of God will be left to suffer.

Said Nehemiah, when his enemies sought to entice him from his post of duty: “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” We, too, are doing a great work, and we cannot come down. And we need more of the spirit of those men who were engaged in building the walls of Jerusalem. If Satan sees that he can keep men answering the objections of opponents, and thus keep their voices silent, and hinder them from doing the most important work for this time, he rejoices; for his object is accomplished.

The world needs laborers now. From every direction is heard the Macedonian cry, “Come over and help us.” Our success consists in reaching common minds. Plain, pointed arguments, standing out as mile-posts, will do more toward convincing people than will a large array of arguments which none but investigating minds will have interest to follow. And if the laborers are pure in heart and life, if they use to the glory of God the talents that he has committed to their keeping, they will have God on their side and heavenly angels to work with their efforts.

Basel, Switzerland.

OLD TRUTHS.

By Bonar

It is not beauty, it is truth we seek, And it is truth that men would fling away, Because its outward garb is rude and homely. Yet truth is beauty, best of beauty here; And beauty is but hidden truth unfolded, Like blossoms from the rough, brown buds of spring.

No age

Can outgrow truth, or can afford to part With the tried wisdom of the past, with words That centuries have sifted, and on which Ages have set their seal, and handed down From venerable lips of solemn men, Who learned their wisdom in a graver school, And in an age of keener, sorer conflict Than we have known in this gay holiday, When truth and error are but things of taste, Changlings of fashion, altering year by year.

Guard then those ancient walls, those living springs, Of which our fathers drank and were refreshed. Guard then those ancient palms beneath whose shade Our fathers have set down, and of whose fruit They ate and went on their way in peace. —Bonar.

Blessed Is Every One That Feareth the Lord

“BLESSED is every one that feareth the Lord.”

Conscience.

By William Dean

I HAVE recently heard it stated that conscience is the standard of moral action, but have been accustomed to regard the Bible as the criterion of religious duty. It is reported that a pioneer of the Burman Mission wrote to the executive committee, "Don't send us men who are guided only by their own conscience. One conscientious wrong-headed man would ruin us." A pioneer in the mission to the Gentiles, was conscientious in indorsing the death of Stephen as were those who threw the stones to kill him, and he was as sincere in the persecution of the worshipers of the Nazarene as he afterward was in preaching the gospel. The Jews were conscientious in killing their Messiah, for they thought him a blasphemer, and according to their law he ought to die, and while they did not drive the nails that fastened him to the cross, nor thrust the spear that pierced his side, still they crucified him by prompting the deed and approving the act.

The heathen have a conscience which may either accuse or else excuse their deeds, but that conscience may not be a safe criterion of moral action. We read of a good conscience and an evil conscience, and when the heathen burn a living woman on the funeral pile of her deceased husband, or throw themselves under the car of Juggernaut, or sacrifice their children to Moloch to atone for their sins, we think in all their acts they are prompted by an evil conscience.—William Dean, D. D.

Bible Ideas in Bible Words.

By Independent

It is the habit of some ministers in their sermons, whether written or ex tempore, to think and speak largely in the language of the Bible. Bible terms, Bible sentences, and parts of sentences, and Bible incidents and illustrations penetrate, color, and characterize their style. They thus think and speak apparently without effort, and almost without any special consciousness of so doing. They are thoroughly familiar with the Scriptures, alike in respect to their contents and forms of expression; and, hence, the language of the Bible naturally comes into their minds, and just as naturally flows from their lips. The Book of God is not a mere convenience to furnish a text on which to hang a sermon. It also furnishes thoughts, words, and whole sentences; and these materials are, in rich and ample profusion, scattered all through the discourses of these preachers. Any one who has ever read “Jay’s Exercises,” whether for the “morning” or the “evening,” must have been struck with this feature of his style. Both of these books consist of short sermons, and both supply an admirable illustration of Bible ideas in Bible words.

We are of the opinion that the habit of such preachers is an exceedingly good one. The exact language of the Bible is certainly always in order on the preacher’s lips; and if it were more freely used than is generally the fact, the ministers of the gospel would not only pay a becoming tribute to the word of God, as the supreme authority for what they preach, but would add to the power and usefulness of their discourses. They would preach more like ambassadors for Christ, and less like one who is simply delivering a popular lecture, and concerned mainly to create a momentary sensation.

If, for example, the theme of a particular sermon is what, among theologians, is usually designated as the atonement of Christ, we do not know what better thing the preacher can do than to state the doctrine in the words of the Bible, endeavoring with all fidelity and earnestness to impress upon his hearers their full import. These are the words which God has chosen to use for the doctrine; and this is a good reason why the preacher should use them. Where will he find any better words, truer words, or any words more adapted to convey the idea intended, or to impress the heart with that idea? Why not say that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;” that he “tasted death for every man;” that he “his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree;” that he “hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God;” that he “hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us;” that he is “the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world;” and that “the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all”?

These and other passages of similar import are Bible forms of stating the atonement upon which human salvation depends. The great fact which appears in such statements is that of Christ himself dying for sins and in behalf of sinners, as “the Lamb of God” laying down his own life, “the just for the unjust,” and becoming “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” The Bible has no hesitation in setting forth this fact with great prominence and constant reiteration, thus presenting a suffering Saviour who endured the bitter anguish of death on the cross in the plan and process of our redemption. This is the one aspect of Christ and his work which the Lord’s Supper especially emphasizes and commemorates, and which, by appointing the Supper for this purpose, he meant that his people should remember in all ages. The Christian pulpit certainly can do no better than to think and preach the doctrine just as the Bible thinks and preaches it. I need not, in order to make the doctrine intelligible to the head, or impressive to the heart, or unobjectionable to cavilers, supplement it with any human philosophy, and should not dodge or evade the plain statements of the Word of God on this subject. He who has read the Bible story of Christ’s death, and also what he himself and his apostles said about that death, is in possession of the best possible words to aid him in thinking of this death; and, if his ideas correspond with those of the Bible, then to aid him in expressing them to others. He need not concern himself with the theories or the rhetoric of men, since it will be enough to think as the Bible thinks, and preach what it declares. The rule of Bible ideas in Bible words has a pertinent illustration in Christ’s work of suffering for sinners.

If the theme of a sermon be the doctrine of inspiration, then the thing for the preacher to do is to ascertain what the Bible says on this subject, and be sure to say the same things. The Bible does say that “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son;” and that “the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” “Which things also we speak,” says Paul, with reference to himself and his associates in the apostolic ministry, “not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.” Here is inspiration as the Bible states it. God spake by the prophets and by his Son; and “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” The apostles spake in the words “which the Holy Ghost teacheth.” God’s authority is annexed to the speaking, and is the voucher for its truthfulness. “Thus saith the Lord” is stamped upon the speaking. The thing spoken is the Word of God coming to the world in the language of men, and through a human medium. The vital fact in the doctrine of inspiration is God’s authority for the thing said or written; and this fact the Bible sets before us in the clearest possible manner. We cannot state the fact in better language than that which it uses.

It would be easy to extend these illustrations indefinitely. What we desire to impress upon our readers, is the rule of Bible ideas in Bible words. There is no danger of overworking the rule, and thus making too much of Bible words. The danger is in the opposite direction, and that we shall treat the Bible as an old-fashioned book that, in its style and language, if not in its ideas, is out of date, and that needs to be modernized in order to be adjusted to the advanced thought of the nineteenth century. The Christian pulpit especially should guard itself against this peril, and hold fast “the form,” as well as the substance, “of sound words,” as found in the word of God, making that Word the supreme law of what it thinks and says. The more thoroughly it makes itself a Biblical pulpit, the more will it be in fact what it assumes to be, and the more useful will be its ministrations to the people. No man is fit to be a preacher of the gospel whose head and heart are not completely anchored in the Bible. This is the very first quality of a good preacher. One may be eloquent and attractive without this quality, but a good preacher he cannot be.—Independent.

Sins of Omission.

THERE is a very common feeling that sins of omission are not so bad as sins of commission; that a mere failure to do all that one might do, that, in fact, one ought to do, is not really such a serious matter in the sight of God or of man, as the actual doing of something that one clearly ought not to do. Yet this is a distinction in grades of evil that is by no means justified by the Bible record, on the one hand, or by the relative practical consequences of neglect and of performance, on the other hand. To strike a child in a moment of angry feeling, or to speak words of unkindness under provocation, is a sin of commission; every one can realize that fact. The consciousness of having done such a thing will, perhaps, cause keen self-reproach and bitter self-condemnation to the over-hasty one who has been guilty of it. To fail of reaching out a hand of rescue to a drowning child within arm's length of one, on a river's bank or by the ocean's beach, is, in its form, a sin of omission; but its spirit would be cruel heartlessness, and its result would be practically murder. So, again, to fail of speaking a word of warning to one who is in obvious and yet in unconscious danger, or to fail of giving a needful word of counsel or of cheer when the opportunity is present, may involve far weightier consequences, and may be a truer index of the neglectful one's character, than would be the speaking of any number of ill-natured words, or even than the performance of a dozen acts of selfish meanness. A cold-blooded refusal to say or to do the right and the kindly thing in an emergency, may both be worse and seem worse than a hot-blooded saying or doing of the wrong or the unkindly thing under other provocation.

As if in proof of God's estimate of the larger evil of sins of omission, it is recorded in the Bible picture of the great day of account, that the final sentence against those who are utterly condemned will make no mention of their sins of commission, but only of their sins of omission. In view of their failure to feed Christ's hungry ones, to clothe his naked ones, to visit and comfort his sick and oppressed ones, the word of the Judge will go forth: “Inasmuch as ye did it not [as ye omitted to do] . . . depart from me, ye cursed.” Sins of omission are fearful sins; their consequences are terrible. God preserve us from the curse of not doing! It often requires great self-control to refrain from speaking hastily or from doing wickedly. It sometimes requires yet greater control of self to overcome one's sluggish, or one's selfish, reluctance to speak the kindly word of warning or of cheer which ought to be forthcoming, or to do the nobly generous act that the occasion demands. But in view of the greater evil of not doing in the line of duty, let us rise up in the strength of Christ, and do—or die!—S. S. Times.

What Shall It Profit?

“WHAT shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” is a question which admits of but one answer; but that answer is too often forgotten in the mad race for worldly riches and honor. We are far too prone to feel that a man's life does consist in the abundance of those things which he possesseth. We are too apt to measure a man's success in life by his success in business.

But “carrying on business successfully is not half so important as building good manhood. Whether at the end of sixty or seventy years of hard toil, a man rests with a comfortable fortune or comes to the close with nothing, is really a very small matter, in comparison with what the man himself is at the end of his career. We pity a good man who fails in business when too old to start again; but if, through his checkered course, he has kept himself pure and clean and true, and has grown into strong, noble character, he is not to be pitied. Pity rather the poor man with his millions, who has made money at the price of his character, and has built up a fortune on the ruins of his manhood,” and the loss of his soul.

How the Change Was Made in England.

ONE would hardly suppose that Protestants could be guilty of resorting to cruelty for the suppression of Sabbath observance, yet our forefathers in England imprisoned and put to death those who dared for conscience’ sake to observe the Sabbath of the Bible. England had her Court of “High Commission” and “Star Chamber,” which were patterned after the Roman Inquisition.

About the year 1618 John Thrask, or Trask, wrote and spoke in favor of the seventh day as the only Sabbath. He and others who preached the same doctrine were accused of Judaizing. Fuller, in his “Church History of Britain” (Vol. 3, pages 306, 307), says: “Now, of the broachers of Judaism, John Thrask was a principal. . . . He seduced many souls with his tenets, and his own wife amongst many others. For these he was censured in the Star Chamber, but afterwards recanted his opinions and lived as unsettled in judgment as place in several parts of the kingdom. . . . He afterwards relapsed, not into the same, but other opinions, rather humorous than hurtful, and died at Lambeth in the reign of King Charles. Nor must we forget that his wife could never be imperverted again, but perished in her Judaism.” Thrask was sentenced by the Star Chamber “to be set on a pillory in Westminster and from thence whipped to the fleet and there to remain a prisoner.” “Mrs. Thrask lay fifteen or sixteen years a prisoner for her opinion about the Saturday Sabbath.” “One Mr. Hedden, a prisoner in the new prison, that lay there for holding Saturday Sabbath,” is also mentioned.

In the year 1628, Theophilus Brabourne published a “book dedicated to his Majesty entitled, ‘A Defense of the Most Ancient and Sacred Ordinance of God, the Sabbath Day,’ maintaining therein: 1. The fourth commandment simply and entirely moral. 2. Christians, as well as Jews, obliged to the everlasting observation of that day. 3. That the Lord’s day is an ordinary working day, it being will-worship and superstition to make it a Sabbath by virtue of the fourth commandment. But while Mr. Brabourne was marching furiously and crying Victoria to himself, he fell into the ambush of the High Commission, whose well-tempered severity herein so prevailed upon him, that submitting himself to a private conference, and perceiving the unsoundness of his own principles, he became a convert, conforming himself quietly to the Church of England.”—Fuller, Vol. 3, p. 419.

In 1638 John Pocklington, D. D., published a sermon entitled “Sunday No Sabbath,” and was sentenced “to be deprived of his ecclesiastical preferments, to be forever disabled to hold any place of dignity in the church or commonwealth, never to come within the verge of His Majesty’s court, and his books to be burned by the hand of the common hangman in the city of London and the two universities.”—Neal’s Hist. of the Puritans, Harper & Bros., Vol. 1, p. 360.

In 1642 James Ockford published a book entitled “Doctrine of the Fourth Commandment,” which met the same fate as Pocklington’s.

John James continued to meet with a small church of worshipers in Bull-steak Alley, White-chapel, London, who believed the seventh day was the Sabbath, and met for worship on that day. On the 19th day of October, 1661, while preaching to his congregation, he was taken from his pulpit before a bench of justices sitting at the Half-Moon Tavern and committed to prison. At his trial, about a month later, he was sentenced to be hung, drawn, and quartered, which sentence was duly executed. This was done in the name of treason, but the real offense was that he and his church observed the Sabbath.

Francis Bampfield, an educated minister and an observer of the Sabbath of the Bible, published a book on the Sabbath in 1672. In consequence of this and his practice and preaching, he suffered imprisonment in Dorchester Jail for eight years. On his release he continued to preach his sentiments, and was again arrested and imprisoned at Salisbury. Being once more released, he went to London. Here again he was arrested, with a number of his friends, who were sentenced to prison for life or during the pleasure of the king, and where Bampfield died.

The above pictures of Sabbath repression are only examples of what may have been seen in the last thousand years all over Europe, from the Mediterranean Sea to the German Ocean, and over Southern Asia to the river Indus, and present indisputable evidence of the manner in which the Sabbath was put down and the Sunday built up.—Light of Home.

Conscience.

A VERY important element in the training of the young in the home, in the day-school, and in the Sabbath-school should be the education of the conscience—the cultivation of a keen sense of right and wrong concerning every moral question that may engage the attention, and especially concerning every moral act which they perform.

Conscience should be trained to discriminate between the right and the wrong in all matters as judged, not by feeling or preference or preconceived opinion—not by any standard found within the individual, but by the undeviating standard of God's word. It should be a conscience that recognizes no sliding scale of judgment, and no power of individual discretion in the application of rules of duty under varying circumstances of personal interest and convenience. It should recognize the right as everywhere right and always right, and the wrong as everywhere and always wrong.

A healthy conscience will be careful also in applying the principles which underlie God's commands to conduct and opinions which cannot be covered by specific rules. A healthy conscience will always lead one to judge concerning right and wrong totally independent of the judgment of others, and guided alone by God's word.

Such a conscience is the foundation of all true and stable Christian character; for without it there can be no keen sense of sin, and so no keen sense of a need of Christ, and consequently no lively faith in him. Such a conscience is the foundation of all trustworthiness. It is wanted in the church, in the family, in business, in offices of public trust, at the ballot-box, everywhere.—Sabbath Recorder.

Yea and Nay.

OUR modern civilization is in nothing more menaced than by a prevailing indifference to truth. This saying yes when yes is not meant, this uttering of no when no is not intended, this far too general habit of insincerity, have become the bane of society in this nineteenth century as certainly, if not to the same extent, as it was in the first Christian century. It is the bane and the blight of business, of politics, of our social life generally. The speech of men and of women is indeed yes and no, but too often with inverted meanings. Language is used too commonly as an element of concealment rather than the instrument of making a given matter plain, and even luminous, if need be. The result is seen in manifold alienations, misapprehensions, and misunderstandings. There are fears and feuds where instead there should be harmony and hope. For howsoever adroit or ingenious or plausible speech may be, as it often is, there is and there can be no substitute for the unequivocal yea and the alike unequivocal nay, which Jesus Christ enjoins shall rule and shall be decisive in the words of men.—Watchman.

The Service of God.

By Watchman

IN the service of God, there is a combination of personal and practical religion. Progress must be made in spiritual life. There must certainly be growth and development of the new man. This advancement in holiness of heart assuredly belongs to serving God. Those who serve him will have their “fruit unto holiness.” The service to be rendered is eminently practical, embracing obedience to all the known commands of God, and performance of the various duties of life. It is not to be overlooked that, in the different relations of life, we may serve God. In the family, and in society, that obligation may be met. Serving God does not lead us away from any appropriate sphere of action, or any lawful calling in life; but that service is open to us wherever we may properly be, or in whatever we may rightly do. We are not only to serve God in our closets and other places of worship, but in our homes and in all our secular callings. His service should enter into all our business engagements.—Watchman.

The Service of God in Daily Life

THE requirements of the service of God extend to all the situations in which his servants are authorized to be. Thus it is scripturally said, “Let them learn first to show piety at home, for this is good and acceptable before God.” And again, “Speak every man truth with his neighbor.” Furthermore, “For this is the will of God, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter.” Yet again, “Render, therefore, to all their dues.” Also, “Owe no man anything, but to love one another.” As also, “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” These are among the requirements of the service of God in daily life, which call for integrity and honesty and generosity, as much as for praying and psalm-singing. We are not only to regard ourselves as the servants of God in ecclesiastical relations, but also in the wide world, where as the true exponents of morality and every virtue of life, we may serve God, who has required our love to him only to exceed our love to man.—Sel.

Let Your Failings Moderate Your Censure

LET your failings moderate your censure of others.

Continue reading: The Ten Kingdoms