Signs of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 4. (2/3/1914)

Signs of the Times

Feb 3, 1914

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Feb 3, 1914

Good Cheer and Science of Health

By Daniel H. Kress, M. D.

The Doctor Meets Some Interesting Cases — Most Human Ailments Are in the Mind — How Such Patients May Be Cured

By DANIEL H. KRESS, M. D.

DOCTOR KRESS is a regular physician residing in the city of Chicago. He has had a wide medical experience, having been for several years in charge of a sanitarium in Australia with extensive patronage. Later he was medical superintendent of a large sanitarium in Washington, D. C. A recent Literary Digest gave an account of the scientific methods he uses in helping boys to get rid of the mind and body destroying cigarette habit. His distinction, in this article, between divine and mental healing is a happy and also an illuminating one. EDITOR.

We are informed that nine tenths of the diseases from which men suffer have their origin in the mind. Worry, despondency, and fear exert a depressing influence upon the body. They interfere with the normal function of every organ and cell. They are disease-producing.

Jesus recognized this mental element in cases brought to Him; for before healing the palsied man of his physical ills, He said, "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee."

To keep His people in health, the Lord says: "Fret not thyself," "Rest in the Lord," "Let not your heart be troubled," "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you." Again, "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

To His church Jesus said, "Fear not, little flock," and, "Say to them that are of a fearful heart, . . . Fear not." And again, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

REPOSE OF MIND ESSENTIAL TO HEALTH

Call this by what name you will, psychotherapy, mental healing, or mind-cure, we must recognize that it plays an essential part in the restoration and maintenance of health.

Fear breeds disease. Job said, "The thing which I greatly feared is come upon me." When an animal has a rheumatic pain in a joint, it does not worry about it. When a man has a pain in one of the smaller joints, he begins to worry, and look forward to the time when that may extend to another joint and still another, and when finally every joint will be stiff and he will be a hopeless invalid. His fear undermines his health and retards recovery. It has much to do in bringing about that which he feared.

When epidemics rage, many are stricken down with them and die who might live were it not for their fear. They die because they expect to die.

NATIVE MAORI DOCTOR AND DYING BY PROGRAM

When visiting New Zealand, I called upon the health officer of the Maoris. He told me something about the work of the native doctors among the people. He said the people have implicit confidence in what the doctors say. When they tell a patient he will die on a certain day, the patient prepares for it, and death actually occurs as a result in many instances.

David, when stricken down with sickness, said, "I shall not die, but live." There is no doubt this conviction hastened his recovery.

HER MIND KILLED HER

I read some time ago of a woman in England who by mistake took her medicine out of a wrong bottle, which she supposed contained prussic acid. She knew something of the dangerous nature of the drug and the symptoms which were associated with prussic acid poisoning; and as a result, all the symptoms she looked for developed, and she died. After death, it was discovered that the bottle was wrongly labeled, and that it contained a very harmless remedy.

SIRUP AND SALT PUT HIM TO SLEEP

I recall a patient I had who was troubled with insomnia. He begged me for an opiate to which he had been addicted. Fearing the man would become insane, I said, "I will fix you up something that will help you." I went into the pharmacy and mixed together some simple sirup and common salt, and instructed the nurse to give it to him. He took it in the prescribed doses, and shortly afterward went to sleep, and slept nearly all night. He came to me the next day, and said, "Doctor, I have taken a great many different kinds of sleeping drafts, but this one is the best I have ever had," and wanted to know what it was. I told him, and then tried to show him that his trouble was chiefly mental.

Faith in a worthless thing, or faith in error, brings results. We must recognize this, or we shall be in danger of being deceived. We shall attribute the marvelous recoveries which we will witness to divine healing, when they are merely mental healing. The devil will deceive the very elect on this point if possible, for many who are healed will be saying, "Lo, here is Christ, or there," when Christ has nothing to do with these restorations. They are cases of mental and not divine or miraculous healing. We must not confound mental healing with divine healing. There is danger of ascribing to God that which is wrought by evil agencies.

THE CRIPPLED AND THE DUMB CURED

I have known patients who had been unable to walk for months and even years, healed instantly.

Years ago we had such a case at Battle Creek. A young woman had been for several years confined to an invalid's chair. One night there was an alarm of fire, and she was instantly healed. She was able to run down-stairs as fast as any of the patients.

I remember a man who had lost his speech. He had been to the most noted specialists in Europe and America. One day one of my associate physicians came rushing into my office, and said, "Kress, come quickly! One of my patients is dying!" The man appeared to be at the point of death. I felt his pulse, and

found it quite normal. I spatted him on the cheek, and said, "Stop that!" He opened his eyes partially, and mumbled something. Then said my associate, "Say 'One.'" He said "One." "Say 'Two.'" He said "Two." He was able to talk when he got up. He was cured on the last day of his stay at the institution. It was no miracle.

Mental healing should always be associated with God's work. Much of the healing in answer to prayer that has been termed divine healing, is really mental healing, and not miraculous healing. The same results may be obtained by Christian Science, or by foolishly sending around among friends handkerchiefs that are supposed to have been blessed by prayer, or any other deceptive thing. Mental healing may be associated with God's work, or it may not. It may be of God, or it may be of the devil.

In the last days, Satan will work "with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie." 2 Thess. 2:10, 11.

It seems to me the time has come for us to get our bearing upon this important matter.

The One Great Purpose of the Scriptures

By Charles Thompson

The Bible Reveals Christ—It Is Life Eternal to Know Him

By CHARLES THOMPSON

THE purpose of the Holy Scriptures is set forth by the Saviour Himself in His Gospel by John, as follows: "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me." John 5:39.

The Scriptures testify of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Himself makes clear what He means by the term "Scriptures." In His conversation with two of His disciples upon one occasion, as they journeyed to Emmaus, He said:

"Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. . . . And He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me." Luke 24:26, 27, 44.

"BY THE MOUTH OF ALL HIS HOLY PROPHETS"

The apostle Peter, in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, tells us how much of the prophecies are included. He says:

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:19-21.

Hence there has not been a prophet since the beginning of the world but has spoken of the final restitution of all things through Jesus Christ.

PREACHED JESUS FROM ISAIAH

Under these three divisions, the Pentateuch (writings of Moses), the prophecies, and the Psalms, we have included the whole of the Old Testament Scriptures, and Jesus says they testify of Him. Philip the evangelist gives a practical example of this in his labor with and for the Ethiopian eunuch. This man was on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, sitting in his chariot, reading the prophecy of Isaiah. Philip, under direction of the Spirit, joined himself to the chariot, and asked if the stranger understood what he was reading. Being informed that he did not, "then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." Acts 8:35.

The reader will remember that this occurrence was after Pentecost, in the full light of what is called the gospel dispensation. If one evangelist, under the movings of the Holy Spirit, in the gospel dispensation, preached Jesus from the prophecy of Isaiah, then every evangelist moved by the same Spirit would do the same. How could he do otherwise? "The prophecy came not at any time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1:21, margin. The prophecy is a production of the Holy Spirit, to make known Christ. Therefore when this Holy Spirit moves a man to explain the prophecies, he can only preach Christ. That is all there is in them. And until a person gets Christ from them, he gets nothing; and when he gets Him, he gets all there is in them.

JESUS HIS ONE THEME

What is true of the Old Testament is equally true of the New. The evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John narrate the life of Christ from His birth to His ascension after His resurrection.

The apostle Paul affirms, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." This same thought he expresses to Timothy in his charge to "preach the Word." 2 Tim. 4:2. The book of Revelation bears testimony in behalf of itself: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." Rev. 1:1. Truly the Scriptures affirm of Christ, "In the volume of the book it is written of Me." Ps. 40:7; Heb. 10:7. "And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." John 17:3.

ETERNAL LIFE AND REVELATION

To know God is life eternal. We know Him only through revelation. "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." Matt. 11:27.

The Scriptures reveal Him. Hence Jesus says, "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life." And we have, for Peter, speaking of the new birth, says: "Being born again . . . by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. . . . And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." 1 Peter 1:23, 25.

The gospel being the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes, we can clearly see the connection in the entire teaching of the Bible, and see the purpose and importance of the Holy Scriptures. May God help us to read them and exercise faith in them to the saving of our souls.

In the Likeness of God

By R. S. Fries

"LET Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion." Gen. 1:26. God intended mankind to be in His likeness. This was not to be a mere physical likeness, "for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." 1 Sam. 16:7. His purpose was that man should be "like Him" in character.

This is still His plan, "because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."

At the beginning, the dominion of this earth was given to Adam. God said, "Replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion." These statements show that man was to develop two things, a character and a home.

How could Adam ever "subdue" the earth, and be sure he was doing it according to God's plan? He could easily tell, because Eden, in its wondrous beauty, was the "nucleus," or "pattern." To Adam was given the task of subduing the earth, and making it all like Eden; and instead of only one spot being a garden of God, the entire earth was to be Paradise.

It was the same with his character. He was to "subdue" self, resist temptation, and become like his Pattern, Jesus.

In the beginning of time the promise was given man that he could, by looking to Jesus, be "like Him" in character. Just before the end of time the same promise is repeated to those waiting for the coming Christ. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." 1 John 3:2, 3.

Let us "subdue" self, look to Jesus, our Pattern, "the Author and Finisher of our faith," and be "changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord." R. S. FRIES.

Cause of Anxiety

By G. C. Hoskin

THE fact that so many people to-day are becoming anxious and perplexed regarding the Sabbath day, and wanting to learn the truth as to which is really the day that God has sanctified and blessed, is all the more reason why you ought to give it anxious consideration.

If others are concerned about these things, you also ought to be. You can rest assured that if it made no difference, there would not be this anxiety over it. The very fact that so many are studying so earnestly in their endeavor to annul the command and quiet the concern in their own hearts is evidence in itself that it does make a difference with them. And the fact that the Spirit of God continues to bring it to your mind, ought to be sufficient to convince you that it makes a difference with Him.

G. C. HOSKIN.

He Broke Asunder the Bars of Death

By Ellen G. White

“Son of God,” “Thy Father Calls Thee”—“I Am the Resurrection and the Life”—A Multitude Came with Him from the Tomb—The Affrighted Roman Guard and the Terrified Priests—All the Sainted Dead Hear His Voice when He Comes Again

By MRS. E. G. WHITE

THE night of the first day of the week had worn slowly away. The darkest hour, just before the daybreak, had come. Christ was still a prisoner in His narrow tomb. The great stone was in its place, the Roman seal was unbroken, the Roman guards were keeping their watch. And there were unseen watchers. Hosts of evil angels were gathered about the place. Had it been possible, the prince of darkness, with his apostate army, would have kept forever sealed the tomb that held the Son of God. But a heavenly host surrounded the sepulcher. Angels that excel in strength were guarding the tomb, and waiting to welcome the Prince of life.

A MIGHTY ANGEL DESCENDS IN A PATH OF LIGHT

“And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven.” Clothed with the panoply of God, this angel left the heavenly courts. The bright beams of God’s glory went before him, and illuminated his pathway. “His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.” Now, priests and rulers, where is the power of your guard? Brave soldiers, that have never been afraid of human power, are now as captives taken without

out sword or spear. The face they look upon is not the face of mortal warrior. It is the face of the mightiest of the Lord’s host. This messenger is he who fills the position from which Satan fell. It is he who on the hills of Bethlehem proclaimed Christ’s birth. The earth trembles at his approach, the hosts of darkness flee, and as he rolls away the stone, heaven seems to come down to earth. The soldiers see him removing the stone as he would a pebble, and hear him cry: “Son of God, come forth. Thy Father calls Thee.” They see Jesus come forth from the grave, and hear Him proclaim over the rent sepulcher, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” As He comes forth in majesty and glory, the angel host bow low in adoration before the Redeemer, and welcome Him with songs of praise.

THE CONQUEROR COMES FORTH

An earthquake marked the hour when Christ laid down His life, and another earthquake witnessed the moment when He took it up in triumph. He who had vanquished death and the grave came forth from the tomb with the tread of the conqueror, amid the reeling of the earth, the flashing of lightning, and the roaring of thunder. When He shall come to the earth again, He will shake

“not the earth only, but also heaven.” “The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage.” “The heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll.” “The elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” But “the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel.”

ANGELS’ VICTORIOUS SONG, AND THE NIGHT ILLUMINED

At the death of Jesus the soldiers had beheld the earth wrapped in darkness at midday; but at the resurrection they saw the brightness of the angels illuminate the night, and heard the inhabitants of heaven singing with joy and triumph, “Thou hast vanquished the powers of darkness; Thou hast swallowed up death in victory.” Christ came forth from the tomb glorified, and the Roman guard beheld Him. Their eyes were riveted upon the face of Him whom they had so recently mocked and derided. In this glorified Being they beheld the Prisoner whom they had seen in the judgment-hall, the One for whom they had plaited a crown of thorns. This was the One who had stood unresisting before Pilate and Herod, His form lacerated by the cruel scourge. This was He who had been nailed to the cross, at whom the priests and rulers, full of self-satisfaction, had wagged their heads, saying, “He saved others; Himself He can not save.” This was He who had been laid in Joseph’s new tomb. The decree of Heaven had loosed the Captive. Mountains piled upon mountains over His sepulcher could not have prevented Him from coming forth.

SEALED THE DOOM OF SATAN AND HIS HOST

When Jesus was laid in the grave, Satan triumphed. He dared to hope that the Saviour would not take up His life again. He claimed the Lord’s body, and set his guard about the tomb, seeking to hold Christ a prisoner. He was bitterly angry when his angels fled at the approach of the heavenly messenger. When he saw Christ come forth in triumph, he knew that his kingdom would have an end, and that he must finally die. The priests, in putting Christ to death, had made themselves the tools of Satan. Now they were entirely in his power. They were entangled in a snare from which they saw no escape but in continuing their warfare against Christ. When they heard the report of His resurrection, they feared the wrath of the people. They felt that their own lives were in danger. The only hope for them was to prove Christ an impostor by denying that He had risen.

They bribed the soldiers, and secured Pilate’s silence. They spread their lying reports far and near. But there were witnesses whom they could not silence. Many had heard of the soldiers’ testimony to Christ’s resurrection.

RESURRECTED FROM THE DEAD, THEY BEAR TESTIMONY

And certain of the dead who came forth with Christ appeared to many, and declared that He had risen. Reports were brought to the priests of persons who had seen these risen ones and heard their testimony. The priests and rulers were in continual dread, lest in walking the streets, or within the privacy of their own homes, they should come face to face with Christ. They felt that there was no safety for them. Bolts and bars were but poor protection against the Son of God. By day and by night that awful scene in the judgment-hall, when they had cried, “His blood be on us, and on our children,” was before them. Nevermore would the memory of that scene fade from their minds. Nevermore would peaceful sleep come to their pillows. When the voice of the mighty angel was heard at Christ’s tomb, saying, “Thy Father calls Thee,” the Saviour came forth from the grave by the life that was in Himself. Now was proved the truth of His words: “I lay down My life, that I might take it again. . . . I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” Now was fulfilled the prophecy He had spoken to the priests and rulers, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

COULD BE SPOKEN ONLY BY THE DEITY

Over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, Christ had proclaimed in triumph, “I am the resurrection, and the life.” These words could be spoken only by the Deity. All created things live by the will and power of God. They are dependent recipients of the life of God. From the highest seraph to the humblest animate being, all are replenished from the source of life. Only He who is one with God could say, “I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again.” In His divinity, Christ possessed the power to break the bonds of death. Christ arose from the dead as the first-fruits of those that slept. He was the anti-type of the wave-sheaf, and His resurrection took place on the very day when the wave-sheaf was to be presented before the Lord. For more than a thousand years this symbolic ceremony had been performed. From the harvest-field the first heads of ripened grain were gathered, and when the people went up to Jerusalem to the Passover, the sheaf of first-fruits was waved as a thank-offering before the Lord. Not until this was presented, could the sickle be put to the grain and it be gathered into sheaves. So Christ the first-fruits represented the great spiritual harvest to be gathered for the kingdom of God. His resurrection is the type and pledge of the resurrection of all the righteous dead. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” As Christ arose, He brought from the grave a multitude of captives. The earthquake at His death had rent open their graves, and when He arose they came forth with Him. They were those who had been colaborers with God, and who at cost of their lives had borne testimony to the truth. Now they were to be witnesses for Him who had raised them from the dead.

WERE RAISED TO EVERLASTING LIFE

During His ministry, Jesus had raised the dead to life. He had raised the son of the widow of Nain, the ruler’s daughter, and Lazarus. But these were not clothed with immortality. After they were raised they were still subject to death. But those who came forth from the grave at Christ’s resurrection were raised to everlasting life. They ascended with Him as trophies of His victory over death and the grave. These, said Christ, are no longer the captives of Satan. I have redeemed them. I have brought them from the grave as the first-fruits of My power, to be with Me where I am, nevermore to see death or experience sorrow. These went into the city, and appeared to many, declaring, Christ has risen from the dead, and we be risen with Him. Thus was immortalized the sacred truth of the resurrection. The risen saints bore witness to the truth of the words, “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise.” Their resurrection was an illustration of the fulfilment of the prophecy, “Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” To the believer, Christ is the resurrection and the life. In our Saviour the life that was lost through sin is restored, for He has life in Himself to quicken whom He will. He is invested with the right to give immortality. The life that He laid down in humanity, He takes up again, and gives to humanity. “I am come,” He said, “that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” “Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

DEATH OF SMALL MOMENT TO THE BELIEVER

To the believer, death is but a small matter. Christ speaks of it as if it were of little moment. “If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death,” “he shall never taste of death.” To the Christian, death is but a sleep, a moment of silence and darkness. The life is hid with Christ in God, and “when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” The voice that cried from the cross, “It is finished,” was heard among the dead. It pierced the walls of sepulchers, and summoned the sleepers to arise. Thus will it be when the voice of Christ shall be heard from heaven. That voice will penetrate the graves and unbar the tombs, and the dead in Christ shall arise. At the Saviour’s resurrection a few graves were opened, but at His second coming all the precious dead shall hear His voice, and shall come forth to glorious immortal life. The same power that raised Christ from the dead will raise His church and glorify it with Him above all principalities, above all powers, above every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world to come.

The Immortal Man in Glory

By William Covert

MORTAL eyes have not seen all the wonderful things that God will exhibit to those who enter the land of glory. Neither have man's ears yet heard music so sweet as that which the redeemed from Adam's race will sing. It is believed that the appreciation of man in the immortal state will exceed by many fold anything which man in a perishable state has ever known, and that his capacity in all things which relate to the glorified state will be correspondingly enlarged.

Here man, since sin entered, has been in a state of halting between life and death. Indeed, he has not known in its fulness what life is, because death has been ever pulling on his nerves and tormenting him with its poisonous fangs.

In the immortal state, all man's senses will be perfected, and the infinite love of the infinite Father will be answered by a satisfied people in a glorified world.

Immortality can have no capacity for pain nor hiding-places for sorrow. Just think of the land of life where glory reigns. There all have ears to hear, eyes to see, tongues to talk, nerves to feel, every faculty, every fiber, and every organ so perfected, so ordered, and so endowed that the dew of youth will be ever fresh and its beauty never fade. This is the state of glory into which the ransomed of the Lord soon will enter. Not one grave in that place of glory, for none ever die over there.

Dear reader, the Captain of our salvation has made provision for you to be there, too, and in tenderness He is calling you to accept of His hand, that you may be safely guided into the home of the saved, where the inhabitants never die. Do you believe it? and do you want to go?

WILLIAM COVERT.

Miracles and Doctrines

By J. A. L. Derby

MANY distinguished persons, as, for example, Matthew Arnold, think that the possibility of miracles ought to be rejected, because so many people of all shades of religion, from fetishism to Roman Catholicism, from Roman Catholicism to Methodism and Episcopalianism, quote the miracles of their religion as evidence of the truth of their doctrines. Perhaps the best modern illustration of this tendency is the follower of Mrs. Eddy.

But Mr. Arnold's proposal is as bad as the practise of the sects. There are miracles all the way from Hindu fakir levitations to the healing of the sick by the prayer of faith. No informed person can deny the miracles. But they prove nothing concerning the moral character of a religion.

The fact is, the doctrine is evidence for the miracle, not the miracle for the doctrine.

A mighty demon could work a miracle as truly as could an angel.

To accept every religion supported by miracle, would be a sign of nothing so surely as lunacy. Yet there are some miracles which only God can do.

J. A. L. DERBY.

Regeneration Required

"MAN can not be renovated, he must be regenerated. 'Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.'"

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