Earlier text: The “Life and Health” Magazine for September Now ReadyNational Reform in Annual Convention
By C. M. S.
The sixth annual convention of that branch of the National Reform Association known as the Christian Citizenship Institute is now in session at Winona Lake, Ind. It opened on August 9 and will close on August 20. The ablest speakers the association possesses are presenting the various phases of their work, and are setting forth as strongly as men can, and with zeal worthy of a cause more in harmony with the purpose of Christ, the various demands which that organization is making for the transformation of the nation. Comparing the numbers in attendance at this institute and the space given to it in the local press, with those in attendance during previous sessions and the space given to its addresses in past years, the National Reform idea seems to be gaining in favor here. The general theme of this institute is the reformation of the nation upon National Reform lines, its transformation into a theocracy, and the enthronement of Christ as its ruler. Through every address given runs that thread, not hinted at, not inferentially deduced, but plainly declared in the exact words. The speakers protest that they do not believe in, and do not want a union of, church and state in this country; but do plainly declare in so many words that they do want a religious state, a national religion, a theocracy; and the definition given between what they do not want and what they do want in this particular is the most flimsy fabric on which a distinction was ever hung. A curtain of tissue-paper hung in a pouring rain is the only fit illustration of its texture. Said Dr. J. S. McGaw, in a sermon delivered just before the opening of this institute:— In the midst of our abounding prosperity, we are forgetting our early history and the God of our forefathers: The need of the hour throughout the land is an enthusiastic appreciation of our splendid nationality and the divine purpose in our existence as a nation; but above all else a nation-wide revival of our national religion. The history of the founding of our nation shows that the Bible made America, that the political creed of our forefathers was Christian, and that for one hundred fifty-six years this was the training of the forefathers on American soil for the rearing of the republic. Then came the time when the yoke of England was thrown off, and the nation drew up her fundamental law, the Constitution. While in many respects this was the grandest document ever penned by man, there was a fatal omission. Search the document and you will not find a single reference to God, the Creator of nations, to Jesus Christ, the ruler of nations, or to the divine law, the only true guide of nations. That omission has told tremendously on the religious tone of the civil life of the nation ever since. It has mightily assisted in the prevalence of the secular theory of civil government, and has made possible the existence of the legalized sins of our day.
The call of the hour is for a nation-wide revival of our national religion, that the nation may be brought to the feet of Christ in repentance, and may openly acknowledge him as her King. America must be brought to Christ. . . . America must lead the march of the nations of the world toward the kingdom of Christ. In that extract is epitomized in a general way the teaching of the institute and the purpose of the organization that is holding it. Each speaker comes to it from a little different line of reasoning, but the purposes of all are focused upon the accomplishment of that object. It may not be out of place, in advertising to these expressions, to remark that true Americans have no little excuse for desiring to forget certain chapters in the early history of our country, such as, for instance, the history of the New England theocracy, when those who did not believe as those in authority believed were beaten from town to town at the cart’s tail; carried miles into the wilderness, and left to the mercy of the savages or to perish by cold and hunger; and when all were compelled by fines7whippings to attend church and contribute to the support of religion; when sentence of death was pronounced upon men and women for belonging to a sect not approved by the ruling class, and their children were sold into slavery. Those are some of the features of our early history which many would be glad to forget, but which it were good for Americans to remember in order that they may be caused to think twice before adopting again a system which breeds such conditions as surely as decayed wood breeds toadstools. The doctor emphasized the declaration that the United States has not been fulfilling God’s purpose in the foundation of the nation, because the Constitution, which limits its legal functions, does not declare the nation’s allegiance to Jesus Christ, and charges that omission with responsibility for “the legalized sins of our day.” The inference is that, were such recognition made, this nation would lead the nations of the world in a grand procession to the feet of Jesus, thus ushering in the very kingdom of the Eternal. There is no dwelling upon the actual conversion of individual hearts, the extension of missionary operations for making known the gospel to those who sit in darkness. It is the cold formalism of legal declaration, the spreading of a label over a situation that in itself contradicts what the label declares. “This is a Christian nation,” say these reformers, and every large city in the country is denying the statement in every department of its activities. “Jesus Christ is this nation’s ruler,” say the same reformers; and, by saying that, charge him with responsibility for all the corruption and injustice and oppression that is swarming in the land. No one has a right to bring such accusation against our Lord, and especially is such a declaration without excuse in view of Christ’s own declaration: “My kingdom is not of this world.” The prayer of that organization, as expressed by Dr. McGaw, is: “That the nation may be revived, perpetuate her own life, and lead the march of the nations of the world toward the kingdom of Christ.” It is the program of this organization that this nation shall declare Christ its king, change itself into a true theocracy, take the law of God for the national code; and then, as a result of its influence in that direction, cause other nations to do the same thing. Then, when all the nations have declared Christ their King, his revealed will the code for each of them, Christ will be the king of the world by vote of the world, and Christ will have come; for, said Dr. J. M. Wylie at this convention: “I do not believe Christ will ever come personally to this earth.” Here, then, is a deliberate purpose of a great and influential organization to bring about, by human plans and human operations and in an entirely materialistic way, the culminating event of earth’s history, and that, too, without the accompaniment of any of the great events which Inspiration has declared must take place at that time. This plan will eliminate the personal appearance of Christ in the clouds of heaven with “all the holy angels,” gathering the jewels of redemption out of the earth while “taking vengeance” on the wicked. It will eliminate the “voice of the archangel” and “the trump of God.” It will eliminate any general resurrection of “them that sleep in the dust of the earth.” It will make impossible the fulfilment of Malachi’s prophecy of the end of the wicked, and will make unnecessary the judgment work so graphically portrayed by the revelator in Rev. 20:11-15. In fact, by that program all that Inspiration has said concerning the return of Christ and the reward of his people is rendered out of date and impossible of fulfilment. Says the Word: “He must reign, till he hath put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be abolished is death.” 1 Cor. 15:25, 26. But by the National Reform program death must go on to the ages of ages, unabolished, ever present, always an enemy unsubdued. But that is not God’s program. “This Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.” Acts 1:11. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” At the morning session on August 10 Dr. J. M. Wylie, of Colorado, spoke upon this topic: “The Holy Spirit’s Testimony to Christ as King.” In this address an effort was made to make it appear that the Holy Spirit was sent to the world to make the world recognize Christ as its present ruler. To these speakers the only thing that stands between this present world-condition and the actual everlasting kingdom of God is for the nations to declare officially that they recognize Christ’s rulership. Said Dr. Wylie:— The devil’s power has been broken, and when this fact has been universally recognized, mankind will be delivered from the bondage of superstition, and will cease to employ immoral methods to secure political advantage. The opposition of secularists to the Christianizing of the state should lead God’s people to recognize the necessity of submitting our civil order to Jesus Christ that his kingdom may come on earth.
Said Dr. J. S. McGaw at the same session:— Our political creed is Christian, and the Constitution should express it.
Now, with the nation as a political institution adopting in its fundamental law a “Christian” creed, what have we, and what can we have, but a union of church and state? And when we have that, we have just what New England had in colonial days when she wrote on the bleeding backs of many a good Christian some chapters of history that we blush to read to-day. “Words, Words, Words”
By F. M. W.
The recent declaration of Dr. Eliot of Harvard, giving what he believes should constitute the new religious belief of mankind, has justly aroused much adverse criticism on the part of religious journals throughout the country. The United Presbyterian, in pointing out several misleading errors in Dr. Eliot’s new platform of religious belief, says:— Dr. Eliot, president-emeritus of Harvard, has been letting his light shine along the path of the immortals; but it comes a long way from being the light of the world. When a man undertakes to put himself on a level with Jesus of Nazareth in providing a way of redemption for the human race, he should be8sure that he is the bearer of a divine message. He should not attempt to lead his fellow men without a star in the heavens, or undertake to destroy the hope of the human race until he has something better to put in its place. . . . The whole thing recalls the words of old Polonius and Hamlet:— “Polonius.— What do you read, my lord?
“Hamlet.— Words, words, words.
“Polonius.— What is the matter, my lord?
“Hamlet.— Slanders, sir.” The Lutheran, in an article in a recent issue, which the United Presbyterian also favorably quotes, gives this excellent review of the salient features of this latest attack upon the foundations of the Christian faith:— 1. “It will not be bound by dogma or creed.” That is to say, religion is no longer to be a matter of belief, but of good works only. Hence it will make little difference whether the Bible teachings about God, about man, about sin, about redemption in Christ, about eternal life and eternal death, be accepted or not. He who accepts them all has no better chance of pleasing God and doing his will than he who rejects them all. “By their fruits ye shall know them,” and hence what difference does it make whether you plant an apple seed, a cucumber seed, or a poisonous berry seed? As all men can not believe alike, what’s the use of believing anything? 2. “The new religion will not be based upon authority. There will be no supernatural element; it will place no reliance on anything but the laws of nature.” So away goes the Bible,—without whose indirect rays of light Dr. Eliot himself would have walked in darkness. Hence we are no better off than the American Indian who had nature for his Bible. The horizon of our spiritual world has its boundaries fixed by what we can here see and feel and touch. Surely this is reducing religion to lowest elements. Are we really better off with such a religion than the South Sea islander was before he was transformed by the gospel? 3. “In the new religion there will be no deification of remarkable human beings. God will be so immanent that no intermediary will be needed.” Thus with one fell swoop is the divinity of Christ brought prostrate. That must be a wonderful educator indeed who can unmake him who is called “The mighty God, . . . The Prince of Peace.” Wonder where Christianity with all its remarkable conquests would be to-day if the apostles and all Christians down to the present had believed as Dr. Eliot does? 4. “The new religion will not attempt to reconcile people to present ills by the promise of future compensation.” And so there is, after all, no gateway of relief leading from the sorrows and sufferings of this present life to joys that lie beyond? Verily how mistaken Jesus and his followers must have been to hold out to the weary and heavy laden the promise of blessedness unspeakable hereafter! If that sort of religion were to be preached in the churches for one year, how many people would be left in the pews to listen to it? 5. All that seems to have a semblance of vitality about this new religion is that it “will be based on the two great commandments”—love to God and love to man. But who is God? How are we to know him if he is not revealed? How can he be revealed if there is no other book but nature in which to read of him? So this new religion takes us away from faith and brings us to two great commandments, and before these it leaves us helpless and undone. Thus we are to have the flower and the fruit of religion, but it must be cut off from its stem. What a wilted thing it will soon be. But Dr. Eliot wields an enormous influence in the educational world, and therein lies the sadness of this utterance of his before a body of intelligent men. Unitarianism has seldom had a more potent hearing than it received from his lips. But the church of Christ will go on preaching the old gospel of Christ and him crucified,—that gospel which though foolishness to men, is yet the power of God and the wisdom of God. Between the teachings of One who spake as never man spake and the teachings of Dr. Eliot, who speaks very much as a man and very otherwise than Jesus did, it will not be difficult for men who feel the limitations of their nature to choose. Really Dr. Eliot’s new religion is very old—as old as unbelief itself. It is gratifying to see some of the religious journals of the day rise up in defense of the fundamental truths of the Bible and Christianity. On the other hand, it is painful to see the rapid trend of many prominent educators and churchmen toward open or disguised skepticism and infidelity. These times call for brave men with unshaken faith in divine revelation and Christian experience. Rejoicing in the Progress
By W. A. S.
BECAUSE we talk of the progress of the advent message, and rejoice to see it flying swiftly toward every nation and people, some who seem to have lost hope in the message have said that this rejoicing indicates a Laodicean state of the church, a feeling that we are rich and in need of nothing. Of course the critic, who does not rejoice in this progress, feels that he escapes this temptation—he is all right; in fact, to hear the criticisms, he is rich and increased in goods, needing nothing, while the advent people are going wrong. Now, the rapid opening of land after land by our work, and the onward sweep of this definite message and movement, have brought to view such a multiplication of needs that rebuke our slowness to respond, that the progress already made brings no temptation to fold our hands in self-satisfaction. The rapid progress, at which we rejoice, has the very opposite effect upon hearts in sympathy with the last message. Every step onward but shows how much more should be done, and shows the more clearly that our only hope is in the mighty power of God. But what if there were no progress to rejoice in? Then this could not be the advent movement that John saw in vision, flying swiftly to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Thank God, there is just such a movement. It rose at the definite time, it is flying swiftly to the world, and it bears the definite message of preparation for the Lord’s soon coming. And everywhere it sets men and women to the confessing and putting away of sin, and the humbling of self.
W. A. S. THE “institutional church” is defined by Reed Stuart, a Detroit clergyman, to be one which “believes in free soup, in boys’ clubs, and basket-ball, and in cadets carrying guns in the name of Christ.” Such a church does not accord with his ideals, and in consequence he has resigned, after continuing twenty-three years in its pastorate. In speaking of the reasons for his resignation, the Nation of July 8, says:— The institutional church does, no doubt, a world of good; but some of its activities are confessedly only a sort of pious bribe to induce people to occupy pews, and it certainly tends to belittle the prophetic function of the clergyman. What is really needed is a division of labor, by which those who have a talent for “serving tables,” in the Scriptural phrase, may wreak themselves on the machinery of the boys’ brigades, while those who feel a message burning in their souls may be left free to shape and deliver it. As the church loses the drawing power of the Spirit in her work, she inclines to the use of social clubs, games, and worldly contrivances to maintain her hold on the masses. These may increase her popularity with the unregenerate, but they are a menace to vital godliness, and leave the church How weak and powerless in the accomplishment of her divine mission to men. The church of God to-day needs to recognize the dignified and holy character of her sacred ministry, leave off man-made devices, return to the simplicity of Bible faith and practise, and then she can take hold of the divine strength which is found in her Lord and Master. Until she does this, while she may become a great fashionable, social organization, she will fail signally of the accomplishment of the commission given her by her great Founder. The leading exponent of the Catholic faith in this country, Cardinal Gibbons, frequently poses before the American public as an advocate of temperance. In an interview at Chicago, on August 4, he is quoted, however, as saying:— However much I am in favor of total abstinence, I feel that in the large cities, such as Chicago, it would prove impracticable, and if laws providing for the revocation of licenses were enforced in these cities, I fear the result would be the surreptitious sale of liquor.
As it is against the interests of any community to have liquor sold at all, it must be admitted that it would be against the interests of any community to have it sold surreptitiously. But because it is a bad thing to have liquor sold surreptitiously, must we, to advance the interests of temperance, grant the right to sell it openly and in all kinds of quantities? Must we abolish the law protecting the coinage of the nation lest some men coin money surreptitiously? Must we abolish the law against incendiarism lest some men take it into their heads to burn a neighbor’s buildings surreptitiously? Must we grant to men and women the right to live together without a legal marriage bond, lest some do it surreptitiously? Must we remove the law against burglary lest some men burglarize surreptitiously? The necessity of bringing about right conditions by law is not contingent upon the possibility of some man’s evading the law—surreptitiously. Justice can not tolerate a wrong just because some men insist on doing that wrong thing—even surreptitiously. The menace of a wicked business can never be removed by licensing the business. The laws which a nation needs for the protection of its citizens can not be based upon the attitude of wicked men toward law. Wicked men will evade any law that stands between them and their evil purpose if they think they can do it so surreptitiously as to evade the consequences. Must we, then, abolish all law? The cardinal’s logic looks that way; but the interests of the people could hardly be conserved by following that kind of logic. Give the Best
By Madeline S. Bridges
THERE are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave,
There are souls that are pure and true;
Then give to the world the best you have,
And the best will come back to you. Give love, and love to your heart will flow,
A strength in your utmost need;
Have faith, and a score of hearts will show
Their faith in your words and deeds. God's Desire for His People
By Ellen G. White
God is waiting to see revealed in his people a faith that works by love and purifies the soul; for this alone will fit them for the future, immortal life. There is a great work to be accomplished, and little time in which to do it. The cause needs converted, devoted men who will make the Lord their dependence. Through such workers the Lord will reveal the power of his grace. Christ placed himself where he could, by word and work, become a minister of healing and blessing. As the sin-pardoning Saviour, he was a well-spring of life wherever he was. In his work to relieve the sick and suffering, he was fulfilling his mission to men. His example is to be prayerfully followed by his servants. Believers are first to be converted to obedience to God's commandments; then as obedient children they will minister of their abundance to the suffering and the needy. There will be an example given of true Christian self-denial and self-sacrifice. The time now devoted to pride of dress and love of the world will be given to the uplifting of humanity. And when God's word is presented in simple faith, Christ will make the word effectual. My brethren and sisters, let the truth of God abide in your heart by a living, holy faith. Bible truth must be comprehended before it can convict the conscience and convert the life. The remnant people of God must be a converted people. The presentation of this message is to result in the conversion and sanctification of souls. We are to feel the power of the Spirit of God in this movement. This is a wonderful, definite message; it means everything to the receiver, and it is to be proclaimed with a loud cry. We must have true, eternal faith that this message will go forth with increasing importance to the close of time. Christ desires to see his likeness reflected in every renewed soul. Those who continue meek and lowly in heart, he will make laborers together with God. Our spiritual conflicts might often be called our spiritual rebellions. It is the heart's lack of submission to the will of God that so often brings us into difficulty. We want our own way, and this often means rebellion against God's way. We need to do as Christ did—wrestle with the Father in prayer for strength and for power to make him known in our words and actions. Study the instruction given in the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah. Here are life and light, goodness and truth, for all who will receive the words of warning and encouragement, and will apply the truth to their individual lives. In working to benefit and bless others, a sense of satisfaction is experienced. The Lord creates peace in the soul. This is of more value than gold. Every faithful performance of duty stands registered in the books of heaven, and receives more than an earthly reward. It is a sacred duty that we owe to God to receive his grace that we may give it to others. All that we have has been entrusted to us by God for wise investment. We are to devote our means, and our physical and mental powers, in the service of the Master. We are to seek to increase our talents. With them we are to accomplish results that will be as far-reaching as eternity. Our Lord's entrusted goods are sacred, and are to be kept unmixed with worldly merchandise. Few, even among church-members, realize their accountability to God as his servants. The leaven of worldliness permeates the mind, and spiritual discernment is lost. My brethren and sisters, let us cleanse the soul-temple from the buyers and the sellers. To do the Master's bidding, and to promote his work in the earth, should be the one aim and purpose of our lives. Then there would be an upward growth, and the Holy Spirit would work upon the heart to transform the character. A generous spirit would be revealed in kindness and tender regard for others. Self would be hid with Christ in God. Beholding the character of Christ, we would become changed into his likeness. Let us forsake self, and accept Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. Faith in him is the only valuable science. He is the living representative of perfect obedience to the eternal word. He took human flesh into vital union with divinity. He passed over the same ground where Adam fell. He bore the test upon which our first parents failed; he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. Had he failed on one point, Satan would have been victorious. In the night season my mind often dwells upon the work of infinite sacrifice revealed in the humiliation and death of Christ. The Creator of man, he who upon Mount Sinai proclaimed the eternal law, in his dying agony vindicated his right to pardon transgression and sin. As he hung upon the cross, his murderers and they that passed by reviled him: “Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he can not save.” O how his mother and his disciples hoped that he would manifest his mighty power, and silence his revilers by coming down from the shameful cross! They were pained by the unfeeling taunts of the ignorant revilers. “Let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.” “And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” The faith of the dying thief grasped the truth of a sin-pardoning Saviour. And Jesus showed himself able to save to the uttermost all who should receive him. Verily I say unto thee to-day, he said, thou shalt be with me in paradise. Even in the agonies of death, in his humiliation and apparent defeat, he asserted his right and his power to forgive sin. For you and for me, our Saviour hung on Calvary's cross. What are we willing to do and to sacrifice for his sake? Let every soul make some sacrifice for Christ. He has given his life for us; he has risen from the dead, and is now at the right hand of God. He is still at work for the salvation of men and women. Who will unite with him in labor? “The Faith of Jesus”
By GEORGE L. BUTLER
“HERE are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” In the preceding article some attention was given to what is meant by the term “the commandments of God,” and what it is to keep them. In this article some attention will be given to the last term, “the faith of Jesus.” At this particular point it may be proper to call attention to the importance of thoroughly comprehending the force of these expressions in the special connection in which they are used by the revelator. The term “the commandments of God” is often used in the Scriptures, also “the faith of Jesus,” either in this exact form or equivalent expressions,10some of which we will now consider. But the importance of these expressions as used in this particular connection is greatly augmented when we consider all the facts embodied in the third angel’s message. That message consists of two principal features, or divisions: first, a fearful warning against a system of error which has doubtless greatly affected with evil the larger part of the whole human family; a mixture of error and truth calling itself Christianity, when in fact it is a gross perversion of it. Countless millions have been deceived by it. As the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, the third angel’s message thunders its awful warning of the outpouring of the unmingled wine of God’s wrath upon that system and the so-called Protestant imitators of it. This is its final warning. Then comes its destruction. But the message could not be complete unless the attitude of God’s true people in this solemn and testing time was also given. It is given in the brief quotation: “Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Of immense importance is the use of these simple phrases in this connection. They sum up all the grand doctrines of the Old and New Testaments. “The faith of Jesus” embraces all that body of truth revealed to us in the Bible, taught by Christ and those whom he inspired—those special servants of his who knew most of his Spirit and his teachings. This great body of theology and history here summed up as “the faith of Jesus” must of course reveal to us the scheme of redemption through our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Saviour. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. It is, in short, the gospel; glad tidings of salvation from sin; salvation through Christ the Son of the living God. An intelligent view of Christ our Saviour must embrace the God-given knowledge of the pre-existence of Jesus of Nazareth, by whom all worlds were created. It must also give us knowledge of his future connection with God’s work for man; his priesthood; his coming to gather into one all his people of all generations, to take them to the Father’s house above. “The faith of Jesus” must also embrace the life-work of our Saviour here on earth, in the example he set for all those who believe on his name. It embraces the events of his death upon the cross, his dying agony, his glorious resurrection and ascension. It embraces all the truths he taught for the instruction of those who should afterward believe on him, and for the full establishment of his church on earth; in short, all the truths embraced in the canon of the New Testament. In brief, in these two expressions, “the commandments of God” and “the faith of Jesus,” we have a comprehensive synopsis of all revealed truth contained in the Old and New Testaments, i. e., the whole canon of revelation. Is not this the broadest platform which could possibly be provided upon which the church of the last generation could stand to meet its Lord when he comes? The Lord will thus have a people who believe the Bible to be the Word of God, who regard it as the only Book of religious authority, who receive the whole Canon of Inspiration as their standard of truth, and seek to be obedient to all of God’s revealed will preparatory to the appearance of our Saviour at his second advent. Behold the contrast between the two classes which the third angel’s message presents. Of one class it says: “Here are they which keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” These are developed by the three messages of Rev. 14:6-12, especially by the third of the series. In short, these are true worshipers of God, living up to the teaching of his Word, recognizing the authority of Old and New Testaments, believing fully what he has revealed for man’s salvation, taking Christ as their only Saviour, looking alone to him as their hope of salvation. They keep the faith of Jesus, and trust in him alone. They seek to show their love for him by keeping all of the commandments of the decalogue. Behold the other class. They are an immense host. “Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.” They are the followers of the papal power. And what is that power?—It is a professed Christian body, who set tradition above the Bible; who have mixed with what little Bible truth they practise, a great mass of pagan doctrines, ceremonies, observances, and practices, thus making their system of faith far more pagan than Christian. The Bible calls that power the “man of sin,” “the son of perdition,” “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or is worshiped.” Without scruple the stanch Reformers who led out in the great Reformation applied these terms that the Bible uses directly to the Roman Church. Now their degenerate children are courting the favor of that church, and seeking to practically unite with that church in securing political power to enforce Sunday-keeping upon all who will not pay religious respect to that heathen holiday. The solemn message of the third angel is now going forth to the ends of the earth, and every soul will be tested as to whether he will give his allegiance to the man of sin or to the Lord of glory. Partial reformations have been seen all the way along through the history of the past. God’s Word has been translated into three or four hundred languages, and scattered everywhere. Great light is shining forth among all nations. Now comes in the light of the special warning message to cast aside every rag of human righteousness and be clothed with the pure robe of Christ’s righteousness. “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” The message is going to the ends of the earth. The last call is sounding. The Lord is at the door ready to enter. Let us receive his message of love, that we may say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us.” There Is a Purpose in It
By E. K. Slade
The great responsibilities entailed and the sacrifices required by heeding the commission, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” are not burdens that the Lord places upon his people simply to vex and weary them or to make their lot difficult or unpleasant. The unwarned millions of India, China, Japan, Africa, South America, and the islands of the sea are spread before us in the command, “Go ye into all the world,” calling for the sacrifice of our means, our sons and daughters, and the comforts of home, not because the Lord is dependent upon humanity, but he has a great and definite purpose in thus carrying on his work in the earth. The following words clearly indicate the abundance of God’s resources, and that he is in no measure dependent upon humanity: “God is not dependent upon man for the support of his cause. He could have sent means direct from heaven to supply his treasury, if his providence had seen that this was best for man. He might have devised means whereby angels could have been sent to publish the truth to the world without the agency of man. He might have written the truth upon the heavens, and let them declare to the world his requirements in living characters. God is not dependent upon man’s gold or silver.” It is that humanity may come to possess heavenly traits of character that these seemingly heavy burdens are imposed. It is man that is needy, and not the Lord. Man is permitted to do the work that the angels desired to do, that by the practise of benevolence he might possess the same character that led the angels to wish to do this work. The needs of a great world are ever to be kept before us, and a faithful response to these appeals for help will work out God’s great purpose in those who thus co-operate with him in the work. “By their necessities, a ruined world are drawing from us talents of means and of influence, to present to them the truth, of which they are in perishing need. And as we heed these calls by labor and by acts of benevolence, we are assimilated to the image of Him who for our sakes became poor. In bestowing, we bless others, and thus accumulate true riches.” It is sometimes said, by those who seem to have lost sight of God’s purpose, “It is money, money all the time; we can never have a meeting without something being said about the heathen and donations for missions. When will there be an end to these calls for money?”11 It is well for us always to have in mind that the Author and Finisher of our salvation is a God of infinite love, and that he makes no requirements and imposes no burdens that are not for our eternal good. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”