Signs of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 42. (10/20/1898)

Signs of the Times

Oct 20, 1898

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 20, 1898

THE SIN OF HYPOCRISY.

By John Orr

THE KISS OF BETRAYAL. “And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master; and kissed Him.” Matt. 26: 49.

THE attempt to appear, morally, what one is not, often leads to deplorable results. In fact, 'no good ever came from such a course, because it is impossible for anything clean to proceed from an unclean thing. The reason for this is that hypocrisy is never practised for the upbuilding of morality, but in the interest of selfishness. One feigns to be good before those whom he thinks to be good, in order to enlist their sympathy and co-operation in the advancement of his own plans for preferment.

The very fact that Christianity is made the vehicle by which the world's lowest characters attempt to rise to some point of prominence in politics, is evidence that Christianity is the highest human conception of good. But it also shows that there is an agency somewhere which is bent on destroying the potent virtue of that good through counterfeiting its qualities for selfish ends.

But hypocrisy does not terminate with lowering the tone of Christianity. That is but a single step in the great process of leading honest souls down to ruin. Many who sincerely desire to be good are thus led to place a false estimate on the uplifting power of Christianity, and so pass on without receiving the benefit they might have by appropriating the fulness of the Gospel. These, in turn, are appearing to be what they are not, and so the influence goes on, extending to others the same blighting power.

The one thing that makes such lives so bad to contemplate is that, pretending to be good, without surrendering self, they are usually led to acts of self-gratification, only to be confirmed in the idea that these are acts of genuine Christian service. With such thoughts in mind, men can be brought to do things in the name of religion that under no other consideration could they be induced to undertake.

It was this sort of life that one of the immediate disciples of Christ maintained while in daily contact with his chosen Master. Like the other eleven, he listened to wholesome words of divine counsel, cautioning against the leaven of the religion of the day. The principles of true righteousness were faithfully set before them all alike, yet this one man Judas retained his selfish motives, while professing to be a follower of the Son of God.

Doubtless his conscience often smote him at first for his inordinate selfishness, yet he continued to indulge his natural propensities, until in the critical time of his Master's career, he proved false to every principle of right. But this crowning act of perfidy in the career of Judas need not have taken place. Up to the very last time of Christ's meeting with the twelve before His betrayal, He daily set before His disciples the principles of true godliness, and exhorted them to steadfastness in the same. But notwithstanding this, Judas, tho constantly professing the closest attachment for his Master, was meditating how he might secretly betray Him.

On that checkered and ever-memorable night in which Christ sat down to partake of His first and last Passover with the chosen twelve, Judas was among them as one outwardly faithful to his sovereign Lord. But unless hardened beyond expression by continued deceit, what must have been his shame and self-condemnation; for already had he not only bargained away the life of Christ for thirty pieces of paltry silver,—the price paid for a slave accidentally killed,—but the signal of betrayal,—a friendly salute,—had also been agreed upon! There is nothing so detestable as deliberate treachery, especially when it is carried out to the bitter end behind the mask of love and deep attachment. No sin is more revolting than the cold, sullen selfishness that, under the guise of friendship, seeks opportunity to sacrifice another on the altar of covetousness or ambition.

Yet in that troubled hour, when the already suffering Saviour sorrowfully announced that one of the twelve would betray Him, as one among the rest, Judas asked, as if astonished beyond measure at such a suggestion, “Master, is it I?” Jesus, knowing all, briefly answered, “Thou hast said.” Matt. 26: 20–25. The betrayer then went out into the darkness of the night to commit the terrible deed which was to seal his eternal destiny. Surely it were better for him had he never been born. Mark 14: 21. Soon, however, he came

with a band of priests and officers to the garden of Gethsemane, and there betrayed his Master with a kiss, saying, “Hail, Master.” Matt. 26: 49.

It seems a wonder how one could, in the face of so many solemn, affectionate warnings, have done such a thing. But it was only the legitimate growth and outcome of the hardening, blinding process of a single dominant passion, persistently adhered to. In the beginning of his downward career, Judas was probably no worse than average men, but he grew into the human monster that he now appears by neglecting to hear the words of his faithful Master, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

JOHN ORR.

THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH.

By C. F. Hammond

A Voice from a Prison Cell.

“EXCEPT ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Luke 13:3.

In this article the word “repent” is not intended to apply to people outside the churches for sins of commission, but to you, my friends, for sins of omission in not doing your whole Christian duty toward your fellow-men. The Lord has said through His prophet: “If the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. — . . . Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.” Eze. 33:6–9. When I read these words, I tremble to think of the great responsibility God has placed upon us as His watchmen.

Any man with ordinary perception can see that there is a tendency in society to follow after pleasures that lead to vice, instead of following after Christ, altho the service of Christ is a guarantee of happiness in this life, and leads to everlasting life in the world to come. The effects of the transgression and fall of Adam can be seen on every hand. They are proclaimed on every street corner and in every public gathering; in political conventions, theaters, operas, saloons, and dens of infamy. Wherever men are to be found, there the effects of the fall are apparent. This tendency of the human heart to evil seems incomprehensible when we realize that millions of copies of God’s Word are scattered broadcast throughout the land, and that churches dedicated to setting forth the principles of that Word are to be found in every city, village, and hamlet.

To my mind a large percentage of the blame for all this evil rests upon the churches. They are more interested in setting forth their creeds than in proclaiming the fundamental principle of Christianity, which is justification through faith in Christ. If all who claim to be Christians, and to be interested in the uplifting of

their fellow-men, would give the Bible a more prominent place in their study; if they would fill their hearts and lives with the glorious principles and truths it contains; if they would give more literal interpretation of the Word, proving scripture by scripture instead of by the fathers, the people would understand and appreciate their efforts, and their influence would be far-reaching, penetrating even to the very dens of vice and infamy.

No man can truly be brought to God through fear of everlasting punishment. Nothing but the unbounded love of God shed abroad in the heart through faith in the atoning blood of Christ is a sure cure for the sin-sick soul. And how is that love to be obtained?—Surely not through many of the teachings of the churches, for usually such teachings are at variance with the Word of God. But to obtain that love “that passeth all understanding,” we are to take Christ as our pattern, and His teachings as our guide. We are to keep the Ten Commandments as laid down in the Decalogue; for each one of them is as binding on all mankind to-day as when given to Moses on Mount Sinai. For Jesus said: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matt. 5:17, 18.

What we want is a pure, common, every-day religion, not a religion to be taken to church on the Sabbath and laid aside the other six days of the week, but one that we can live in the family circle, and carry with us to our places of labor and business. We want a faith that grows brighter and brighter as it comes in contact with this world of sin,—a faith that shines forth as a living example of the “power of God unto salvation,” that will show the world that we believe all mankind are brethren, and that we love our neighbor as ourselves.

Some people seem to think that if they have a Bible, and look into it a few moments on Sunday, and attend church regularly, they have performed their whole Christian duty to God and man. But to all such I wish to say, It is high time to arouse and shake off this delusion. Prepare for the reception of our Lord, lest at His coming you find the word “Tekel: Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting,” written above your name. If you have only a Bible that you are afraid to use for fear of getting it soiled, then by all means get a good, common, every-day Bible, and search out the God-given truths contained therein. Shape your daily life in accordance with its teachings, and you will have an influence for good that will be a blessing to others, and an abiding faith in God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, that will not only be safe to live by, but will be equally safe to die by.

Brethren, “now is the accepted time; . . . now is the day of salvation.” And if we would improve the opportunities that God has granted; if each one who claims to be a worker in the Master’s vineyard would go into the slums of society and dens of iniquity where sin abounds, and grapple with the monster in his stronghold, taking some fallen brother or sister by the hand, and leading him to God, we should cause such a consternation in the ranks of Satan, and such an uplifting of fallen humanity, as this old world has never known.

There is not a church-member but what could have an influence for good. But how many are there who can raise their hand toward heaven and say that they have buckled on the armor of righteousness, grasped the sword of the Spirit (which is the Word of God), and carried the warfare against sin into the enemy’s camp? Search the innermost recesses of your heart with the microscope of conscience, and then answer.

Let us unite in an earnest effort to make Christianity a blessing in fact as well as in name. Let us rouse the dormant energies within us, and, filling our hearts with God’s inspiring love, send forth into the lowest strata of society, where sin abounds and where our work is most needed, the influence of a pure and undefiled religion. Let us not cease until these neglected, fallen ones can say with the prophet Isaiah, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.” These rescued ones will be jewels in the Master’s crown; and we shall hear the voice of our blessed Redeemer, saying, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

C. F. HAMMOND.

LIFE, LOVE, AND UNION.

By Ellen G. White

The religion of Christ can bless only where it works and influences, as the leaven the meal. When the leaven of truth is hidden in the heart, it becomes a vital working power, to bring into conformity to itself all the capabilities of the being. The mind, the affections, the motives, all the powers become converted through the truth. All are worked by the same spirit. God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.

The apostle Paul says: “I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office; so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another.”

The people of God must strive to be one, as Christ is one with the Father. The figure of the members that compose the body represents the church of God and the relation its members should sustain to one another. Through His servant Paul, the Lord has placed these truths before us for our consideration, that those who have the privilege of being brought together in church capacity may be united understandingly and intelligently.

Again the apostle says: “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. . . . For even Christ pleased not Himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on Me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” “I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” “Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.”

The apostle James, in writing of this, says: “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”

And Christ declares: “As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you; continue ye in My love. If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. . . . This is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

How broad, how full, is this love! The disciples were to love one another as Christ had loved them. This was to be their testimony to the world that Christ was formed within, the hope of glory. At the time the disciples did not understand the new part of that commandment; but after the sufferings of Christ, after His crucifixion and resurrection and ascension to heaven, they began to have some idea of what the love of God comprehended, and of the love they were to exercise one toward another. After the Holy Spirit rested upon them on the day of Pentecost, that love was revealed. John could say to his fellow-disciples: “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” “Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. . . . If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us.”

Here the beloved disciple faithfully portrays our religious obligations to one another. The test of genuine religious experience and sanctification through the truth is clearly defined. The teaching of the Word is clear and explicit in regard to the love we should have for one another. Our course of action is to be fashioned after the divine standard. And the love of Christ in the heart will be like the leaven; its life-giving power will bring all there is of mind and soul and strength into complete harmony with the divine life.

MRS. E. G. WHITE.

GOD SURELY KNOWS.

By Alice M. Avery-Harper

O, can it be that God does know, And in compassion loves me so? And will He notice all my ways, Tho dark and cheerless be the days? Can He give strength to bear each ill As on I climb life’s toilsome hill?

O, is it so that Jesus cares, That He my grief and anguish shares? That my poor stricken heart He knows, And, sympathizing, feels my woe? Each human grief, each human wo, He surely feels, He loves us so.

He who created worlds on high Notes every pain, notes every sigh. Tho by His word He formed each star, He watches through bright gates ajar, And He will hear my humble plea When I for comfort to Him flee.

From His great heart of mercy flows A healing balm for all my woes. Through winters bleak and cheerless night This blessed hope, as beacon light, Shines alway through each hour of gloom And makes more bright the dreary tomb.

Then let me use hope’s drooping wings And soar beyond earth’s vexing things. Since He in mercy pleads above, I will not doubt His tender love. Through wondrous grace and sympathy His wisdom marks my destiny.

ALICE M. AVERY-HARPER.

Langsburg, Mich.

IN THE CURRENT.

By John Laidlow

A CREW of fifteen men once left a burning ship in mid-Pacific. They were thousands of miles from land. They left the ship so hastily

that they had no time to take oars, or sail, or any other tackle or gear with which to produce motion. They were only able to snatch at some food and water. They lived for six weeks in that boat, and the last three and twenty days they dreamed every night of feasting, and woke every morning to the same starving comrades, vacant waters—for they passed no ships—and desolate sky. Yet these men never lost their courage, because they perceived from the outset that their boat was in the current of an equatorial ocean, a current which those who knew the geography of the sea were aware would slowly but surely carry them at last to land, which it did. Sometimes the patience of Christian life has to be exercised in that way; no oar and no sail; no strength and no light; for many days neither sun nor moon nor stars appearing, but only the magnet of faith pointing steadily to the Rock of Ages, and the current of the eternal nature of Him who is what He is, bearing us on to the promised land.—John Laidlow.

SALVATION NOT COMPULSORY.

By W. N. G.

The Lord can compel men to do His will. He compelled Balaam to bless Israel, altho the prophet wanted to curse them. He compelled Judah, Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyrus, Zidon, and others to submit to the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. But those who submit to God by compulsion receive no spiritual blessing in consequence. Spiritual blessings have followed discipline, but not unless the heart was “exercised thereby” unto repentance and voluntary seeking after God.

The Holy Spirit is given only to those who ask it, and who ask in faith, “nothing wavering.” The water of life is for “whosoever will” come to Christ and receive it. “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” 1 John 5:11. Therefore we must voluntarily accept the Son in order to secure the eternal life. So all attempts to impart spiritual blessings by compelling men to observe legal enactments of any character, show a lack of knowledge of the first principles of the Gospel.

When children are hired to be good, they are apt to “strike” when the pay stops. Just so when men are compelled to make a show of righteousness, they are sure to throw off the mask when the compulsion ceases. That “form of godliness” never reaches the heart. The power of God has compelled the devils to “believe and tremble,” but it gives them no spiritual blessing. Their day of probation, when they could have voluntarily surrendered and become reconciled to God, is past. The Gospel plan is to win men to Christ. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as tho God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” 2 Cor. 5:20.

W. N. G.

THE WORLD'S NEED.

The world is-weary with its pain and care. The world is weary with its children sad With hunger of the body and the soul. The world is weary in a land so fair. Where joy should reign, there sorrow walks beside, And silenced is the song by tears of grief. The world is waiting for all guiding minds To lead to nobler heights all those who strive. The world is waiting for all helpful words To soothe, and cheer, and comfort all who mourn, Unsatisfied, amid the ills of life. The world is waiting for all noble hearts Which yearn with aspirations for the true. Beloved, come! the world has need of thee. Then speak from thine own heart some word of peace. —Herald of the Golden Age.

LIVING BY PLEDGES.

The following was written for Christian Endeavorers. It is from the New York Voice, penned by John G. Woolley. It is worth consideration by all Christians:—

“As you grow out a Christian character you will outgrow your pledge, and ‘keep’ it as you do the string of spools you used to play with—which, indeed, was so useful in getting your attention to objects and to numbers and in teaching you to ‘notice’ and to count. It will always be a pleasant thing to come across—when you are looking for something else.

“But if you ‘keep’ it as a rosary to worship by, or worship up to, you may be sure your spiritual health is puny. No business man would employ an accountant who carried an abacus.

“The attention shown to the pledge in the Society of Christian Endeavor seems to me out of all proportion to its importance—except upon the theory, more pointedly suggested by our form of government, that we, the members, are hopelessly and permanently infants. At most it is a guide-post, to be forgotten when one knows the road, and never to be carried on the journey.

“I would not be thought to ‘make light’ of it—any more than I would disparage a child’s rattle, which has through the ages been the gavel of throne-coming reason. But if one of my sons should write me from his university, How shall I ‘keep’ my rattle? I should go and have him ‘examined.’

“The pledge is very proper and very useful, but pre-eminently juvenile. It is as if a mother should teach her little boy to dress himself by getting him to promise:—

“I will put on my stockings.

“I will put on my garters.

“I will put on my waist.

“I will put on my knickerbockers.

“I will button them all up.

“I will dress every morning.

“But it would surely be cause for anxiety if he should inquire in after years, How shall I keep my clothes on?

“The pledge is an espousal—not a career. Think of a bridegroom mooning around his own house, asking the neighbors, How shall I love, honor, and cherish, and keep myself unto her as long as we both shall live? The pledge is a muster—not a campaign. Think of a soldier prancing about with a gun, and asking himself or his comrades, How shall I keep my oath of allegiance?

“Does this make you ‘tired’? It does me. Come on, let’s be men. Don’t spend your days counting your pulse or your respiration, or taking your temperature, or analyzing your emotions, or classifying your sensations.

“Think of a man lying in bed, with the sun near the zenith, and trying his eye to see if he winks all right, and working his toes one by one to see if he has been true to his phalanges, when God is thundering through the world, ‘Arise, and stand upon thy feet, and I will show thee what thou shalt do.’ Come on, let us be Christians. ‘Put on Christ’ and wear Him, and ‘He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.’”

“WILLING TO FORGIVE.”

WHEN we have detected ourselves in wrongdoing, especially if the sin involved be one to which we often have yielded before, and to resist which we have promised God and ourselves most solemnly, we sometimes feel reluctant to ask divine forgiveness. It is not that we do not wish to be forgiven; but we feel as if our heavenly Father must be tired of forgiving us, as if He must have lost all confidence in our ever doing any better. Sometimes we feel unwilling to ask pardon until at least we have made one more fight against temptation; and this is not a wholly unworthy feeling. But we can not make such a fight successfully without divine aid. And we are less likely to be given that aid unless we penitently ask for it. Let us never forget that our God loves to pardon, and never refuses those who are sincere, whatever their records may be.—The Congregationalist.

Continue reading: AN ASTRONOMICAL VIEW OF OUR FATHER’S HOUSE