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Signs of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 47.

THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT

Signs of the Times

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California

THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

BY MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE
Methought I stood, one summer night, Upon a hoary mountain side; I'd journey'd far on wings of light, A heavenly messenger my guide. Like favored seer whose mortal sense Has gazed on mysteries sublime, With Heaven-anointed eyes I looked Adown the changing stream of time.
Methought I saw the church of Christ Adrift upon the whelming flood, The hosts of hell beset her path, Her streaming banners dripped with blood. And through the ages drear and long, I heard her sad and mournful cry, As 'mid the hosts of sin and wrong, She bore her blood-stained banners high.
I looked again, the scene had changed; I saw the church of Christ once more; A diadem was on her brow, A robe of righteousness she wore. Her cruel foes no longer proud, Had fallen 'neath the conquering feet. Fair as the sun, she stood arrayed Her triumph and her joy complete.
The din of war I heard no more,— Instead, fair Zion's glorious notes, The song of Moses and the Lamb, Through heaven's arches sweetly floats. Behold, the marriage feast was spread, I saw the Bridegroom blest and fair. His church, in royal dress arrayed, An honored guest, was seated there.
Then loud and long through endless space, Angelic heralds bore the word, Where suns and systems blaze and race, Till vast infinity has heard: "Lo! here are they who've spotless come Through tribulation's crimson flood, Who've washed their robes and made them clean And pure and white in Jesus' blood." And through the ceaseless ages long, They shout redemption's wondrous song.

UNCLE BEN'S GOLD MINE

By Editor

Not less than 30,000 children have read "Uncle Ben's Cobblestones," stories and will be glad to know that he is writing many more.
He calls these new ones "Uncle Ben's Gold Mine," or "An Australian Story."
His nephew, Tom, leaves his city home in America, and goes across the ocean to Australia. Uncle Ben's brother, who has been a successful miner, invites Uncle Ben and Tom to visit him.
Uncle Ben's well-known ability to tell many good and profitable stories seems to grow with his age, and as he has a real gold mine, and finds real gold, the interest in these stories becomes more and more absorbing.
And then, Uncle Ben's brother has a daughter who tells good stories, too. She is particularly interested in writing and printing, and tells where our A B C's, which to us seem so common, came from.
But we can not stop to tell you all the good things about these stories. We can not tell you how many different places, and in how many different forms Uncle Ben taught Tom to find gold.
But we invite you to read the stories, which will begin in OUR LITTLE FRIEND early in January.

MORE STORIES

Some years ago Vesta J. Farnsworth wrote about the home talks of three children and their mother, and called it "The House We Live In." OUR LITTLE FRIEND readers liked these talks so much that they asked to have them put in book form. The book has been read by more than 20,000 children, and many others are still calling for it.
Altho Mrs. Farnsworth has been very, very busy, she has finally found time to write another series; this time on such common things as flies, mosquitoes, bugs, caterpillars, etc. She has not sent us all these stories yet, but those we have read are first class. Just listen to a little talk between the Water Boatman, which is a kind of water bug, and Harold and Glenn, who with their mother are the principle speakers in the story:
Harold: And do you row about under the water?
Boatman: To be sure. As I told you before, I am like a boat, a submarine, I think that is what you call a boat that goes about under water, and yet I can fly as well as swim.
Glenn: Do you have wings as well as oars?
Boatman: Yes, four of them, and cases to put them into. When tired of rowing I open my wing-cases half way, push out my wings, and sit on top of the water by the hour.
Harold: But you can not fly in water. How do you get out of it when lying there on your back?
Boatman: Just as easy as you can say one, two, three. I go down deep in the water, make several quick strokes with my oars which bring me up into the air, then I spread my wings and fly away.
Mrs. Farnsworth plans to have a great many pictures to help her make these stories so interesting that all the little folks will want to read and re-read them. She hopes to have the whole series ready so that we can commence them early in January.

OTHER THINGS OF INTEREST

Besides the stories above mentioned, OUR LITTLE FRIEND will contain a large number of articles that will help the children to become better boys and girls, and will interest them in the blessed truths of the Bible.
It will continue to give the International Sabbath-school Lessons for Primary and Kindergarten Divisions, and more care and attention will be given to its general contents than ever before.
What will please your boy and girl, or some one else's boy and girl, better than to receive a subscription to OUR LITTLE FRIEND for a Christmas present? Fifty cents will send it to one of them for a whole year—fifty-two weeks. Address,
OUR LITTLE FRIEND, Mountain View, Cal.

Terms of Subscription.

By Editor

Per Year, post-paid . . . . . $1.50
Six Months, 75 cts. Three Months, 40 cts.
To Foreign Countries, per year, $1.75.

SPECIAL TERMS.

By Editor

1. One new yearly subscription and one renewal, or two new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $2.50.
2. Two new yearly subscriptions and one renewal, or three new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $3.25.
3. Three new yearly subscriptions and one renewal, or four new yearly subscriptions, sent at one time, $4.00.
Sample copies sent on application.

SPECIAL NUMBERS BOUND TOGETHER

By Editor

As the most of our readers are aware, this is the last in a series of four Special numbers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. These numbers are very closely connected, and are sold as a series only. For the convenience of those who desire to deliver them all at once, we have bound together Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, the prices of which will be as follows:
One to four sets to one or more addresses, per set, $.25
Five or more sets to single addresses, per set, .16
Twenty-five to five hundred sets to one address, per set, .11
We will continue to sell these Special numbers without being bound together as we have heretofore, at the regular rates, which are:
One to four sets to one or more addresses, per set, $.20
Five or more sets to single addresses, per set, .15
Twenty-five to five hundred sets to one address, per set, .10
Five hundred and upward, .09
The contents of these papers are such that they will remain fresh and salable for months. All orders will be promptly filled. Address, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Mountain View, Cal.

THEY ARE BETTER

By William S. Sadler

Chicago, Ill., Oct. 31, 1905.
Elder M. C. Wilcox, Mountain View, Cal.
Dear Brother:
For a number of days I have been going to write you concerning the two special SIGNS I have received. I am greatly pleased with them; in fact, taking everything into consideration, I think them altogether the best Specials you ever issued. There is an appropriate getting together of illustrations and matter that renders these Specials both attractive and instructive. I hope they are receiving a large circulation.
Your brother in the work, W. S. SADLER.

What It Means

By W. A. Spicer

By W. A. Spicer

THE spirit-filled church will be a practical, warm-hearted, sensible, working church.
There is need for emphasizing this side of it, for somehow, too many people think of the power of the Holy Spirit as manifesting itself in strange, erratic, sensational, or spectacular experiences. There is a craving for the sensational in these times. Much that is unbalanced and strained is set down as of the Spirit. Good, healthy, common sense is one of the fruits of the Spirit not to be despised.
Here is one of Paul's definitions of the outworking of the gift of the Holy Ghost: "For God hath not given us the Spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Tim. 1:7.
There is power—the spiritual strength to stand against the evil, the power that lays hold of the things of eternal life, that sets the soul free, and reaches a long arm after the perishing. This is the power that dwells in the Spirit-filled church.
"And of love." Power must be used in love. The Holy Spirit sheds the love of God abroad in the heart. And love teaches the way of service. It is love-directed power that we need.
"And of a sound mind." It means good sense, a well-balanced judgment. There is the tact and evenness that only love and power can give. With every wild and extravagant movement abroad in the world, and multitudes ready to be deceived by strange and extraordinary manifestations, this gift of "a sound mind" by the Holy Spirit is earnestly to be coveted. The Spirit-filled church will possess this gift and breathe an atmosphere of divinely natural, wholesome, spiritual life.

Where Illustrated

We see it all illustrated in Christ's life. All fulness dwelt in Him. The power of divine goodness was there. There was no swerving. His heart was fixed. His face was set like a flint for truth and righteousness. Yet there was the loving grace, the tender tactfulness, that enabled power to come helpfully close to weakness. He was divine love itself. And through it all gleams the spirit of the sound mind. In Christ's life is seen nothing of the fanciful and visionary, none of the arts of the fanatic, nothing savoring of the strained or unnatural. It was the model life of power, and of love, and of a sound mind, by the indwelling Spirit.
As the Light of the World returned to His Father, He left the promise that this Spirit, which had been given without measure unto Him, should be poured out upon His church. In the prophetic Word the candlestick is used as the symbol of the church. God's design for His church is shown in Zechariah's vision of the golden candlestick, with the two olive trees emptying their golden oil through golden pipes into the candlestick. The church is the light of the world. The oil of the Holy Spirit would cause the light to glow brightly, for no dimly-burning wick can represent the glory of heaven's light.

The Promise of Pentecost

On that very Day of Pentecost when the Spirit's power fell upon the little church in a visible downpour, the Lord renewed through Peter the promise for all time:
"Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Acts 2:38, 39.
The Lord has poured out the gift. It is for the church to ask for it, to seek for it, and to receive it by faith, as every promise of God is to be claimed. The individual believer may thank God for the gift of the Spirit even as he thanks God for the gift of forgiveness of sin. And as the early rain of pentecostal blessing fell upon a church unitedly seeking God for a fitting for service, so must also the latter rain of blessing come in its fulness to make a Spirit-filled church.
The church that was Spirit-filled at Pentecost was a company walking in the light. They had obeyed the truth, and with the world and a worldly church arrayed against them, they asked only for power to witness to the truth as it is in Jesus. To such a church came the power to bear the message.

The Promise to Whom

The promise of the Spirit is to the obedient only. The apostle said: "We are His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him." Acts 5:32. The Holy Spirit is not given to lead men contrary to the word of God or to make them independent of the written Word, which is the voice of the Spirit.
Never did men need the Spirit's guidance more than we in these last days. Voices are crying, Lo, here, and Lo, there. The noisy clamor of selfishness and worldliness increases. Men are greedy of gain. It is in many quarters counted foolish simplicity to be true to religious conviction and to principle. Scoffers abound, saying, "Where is the promise of His coming?" Of just such a time as ours we read:
"Wisdom crieth aloud in the street; She uttereth her voice in the broad places; She crieth at the head of the noisy streets; At the entrance of the gates, In the city, she uttereth her words; How long, ye simple ones, Will ye love simplicity? And scoffers delight them in scoffing, And fools hate knowledge? Turn you at My reproof; Behold, I will pour out My Spirit upon you; I will make known My words unto you." (Prov. 1:20-23.)
Thus to-day the Lord's Spirit pleads according to the prophecy: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh." Joel 2:28. To such as receive the Spirit, the Lord will make known the truth of His holy Word for these last days. And to the church obedient to His Word it is promised the fulness of the latter rain by which the final harvest of souls will be ripened for the coming of the Lord in power and glory.

"Ask Ye of the Lord Rain

in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field." Zech. 10:1. "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain. . . . And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten." Joel 2:23-25.
More ready to give His Spirit to those that ask than a parent to give good gifts to his children, God longs to bestow abundant blessings upon the last-day church. Lost time will be restored. The work of bearing the witness to the world will be quickly accomplished. The Spirit-filled church of apostolic times was a missionary church. They were "all at it and always at it," as John Wesley said. By the power given them to carry the message, the Gospel was heralded to every part of the known world within a generation. Now that we have reached the last generation and the time of the latter rain, we must see a similar work accomplished. "And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24:14. A Spirit-filled church will do it.

MY SACRIFICE

Laid on Thine altar, O my Lord divine; Accept this gift to-day for Jesus' sake. I have no jewels to adorn Thy shrine, Nor any world-famed sacrifice to make; But here I bring within my trembling hand This will of mine—a thing that seemeth small— And Thou, alone, O Lord, canst understand, How when I yield Thee this I yield mine all.
Hidden therein Thy searching gaze can see Struggles of passion, visions of delight; All that I have or am or fain would be, Deep loves, fond hopes, and longings infinite. It hath been wet with tears and dimmed with sighs, Clenched in my grasp till beauty hath it none. Now from Thy footstool where it vanquished lies, The prayer ascendeth—May Thy will be done.
Take it, O Father, ere my courage fail, And merge it so in Thine own will that e'en If in some desperate hour my cries prevail, And Thou give back my gift, it may have been So changed, so purified, so fair have grown, So one with Thine, so filled with peace divine, I may not know or feel it as mine own, But gaining back my will may find it Thine. —Selected.

Judging the Spirits by Their Fruits

By Rev. F. Kuegele

REMEMBER to judge of the spirits, not by the pretense which they make, but by the fruit which they bring, trying all by the "more sure word of prophecy," and you will be able to distinguish the spirits and to know whether the Spirit of God is in you. The Holy Ghost works this mind and sentiment in the heart, that man wants to err in nothing, but wants to be guided into all truth; that he wants to transgress in nothing, but wants to walk in all righteousness.—Rev. F. Kuegele.

The Need—the Conditions

By A. G. Daniells

By A. G. Daniells
THE greatest need of this sin-stricken world is a Spirit-filled church. And the greatest need of the church is to be filled with the Spirit.
“Receive ye the Holy Spirit,” said Jesus to His disciples. And to the Ephesians Paul wrote, “Be filled with the Spirit.” Eph. 5:18. To the Romans he declared, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” Rom. 8:9.
The question of a Spirit-filled church is one of primary importance. It is fundamental. It vitally affects every professing Christian, and concerns every unsaved sinner. The continual presence of the Holy Spirit is as necessary to spiritual life as a constant supply of food is to physical life. Its abiding presence is of as much greater importance than bread as the realm of the spiritual is greater than the realm of the physical.

The Conditions—What Are They?

Like all other proffered blessings of the Gospel, there are conditions to be complied with in order to receive and retain the Holy Spirit in all its fulness. These conditions are clearly expressed in the Scriptures. Note the following:
1. Obedience.—In his defense before the Jewish council, the apostle Peter said: “We are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey Him.” Acts 5:32, R. V. Obedience is therefore a condition upon which the Holy Spirit is given. This is the first, the most comprehensive and all-inclusive, condition. Taken in its fullest and broadest sense, it might be said to be the only one, tho the emphasis given to some of the varied phases of obedience seem to place them before us as separate and specific requisites.
There can be no baptism of the Holy Spirit, no Spirit-filled church, when obedience to known duty is refused. “Obedience is the great foundation law of the Christian life. If you turn to Scripture, you must read almost every page if you would get all the statements and illustrations of obedience and its opposite.”
“If ye love Me, keep My commandments,” were the words with which Christ prefaced the promise, “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth.” John 14:16, 17. Three times in this same conversation with His disciples about the promise to send the Spirit to the church, the Saviour directs their attention to the obedience that must be rendered in order to receive the promise.
2. Righteousness.—That Spirit, which is holy, must have a holy dwelling-place. He can not, and will not, abide in a sin-polluted heart. “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God?” “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” 1 Cor. 6:19; 3:17. In order to be filled with the Spirit, the heart must be emptied of sin. It is the glory of the religion of Christ that it provides complete and continued victory over sin. Before there can be a Spirit-filled church, there must be a sin-cleansed church. The believer in Jesus must know that each day he is washed from his sins. One sin cherished will hinder the Holy Spirit in His operations, and ultimately exclude Him from the heart. Because Christ loved righteousness and hated iniquity as no one else did, He was anointed with the Holy Spirit above all His fellows. Heb. 1:9. To Him the Spirit was given without measure.
3. The Denial and Crucifixion of Self.—Perhaps the most searching and testing of all the requisites to a Spirit-filled church is the denial and crucifixion of self. “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Matt. 16:24. “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Gal. 5:24. “Self is Satan’s personal representative in every human heart.” That which Christ calls “self” is described by Paul as the “flesh,” the “carnal mind,” the “old man,” “the body of sin.”
Self and the flesh are the same thing. As another has pointed out, the “flesh” is “self” spelled backward, with the letter “h” prefixed. Self must be denied, the flesh must be crucified, “that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin (Rom. 6:6, R. V.); and this “because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). The fact that self, the flesh, the carnal mind, is at enmity with God, and can not be brought into subjection to His law, is the reason why it must be surrendered, denied, crucified. The “old man” must die.
Paul said: “I die daily.” “I am crucified with Christ.” 1 Cor. 15:31; Gal. 2:20. This must be the experience of every believer if there is to be a Spirit-filled church. “In every heart there is a cross and a throne, and each is occupied. If Jesus is on the throne, ruling, self is on the cross, dying. But if self is being obeyed, and so is ruling, then it is on the throne. And self on the throne means that Jesus has been put on the cross,” and is thus being crucified afresh.
4. Grieve Him Not.—The holy Spirit does not come as a Sovereign, but in the humble form of a helper, to teach, guide, remind, prompt, and assist. The Spirit does not take His rightful place by force, but by hearty, cheerful invitation. If the Spirit is to be retained as a constant, abiding helper, the blessed presence of that Spirit must be recognized and cherished constantly. Every day we must ask anew His presence in our heart. His divine teaching must be received, His safe guidance followed, His most tender promptings obeyed, and His proffered help made use of by earnest co-operation.
Unless this is done, to what purpose is His presence? Of what service can He be? Why should He remain? This is a vital consideration. It is just here that many professing Christians grieve the Holy Spirit, and lose His abiding presence. When the Spirit’s kindly, gentle help in the way of teaching, guiding, prompting, and serving is either not appreciated, or is positively disregarded, He quietly departs. Then come blindness, confusion, a seared conscience, bondage to sin, and a Spirit-less, instead of a Spirit-filled, church. “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Eph. 4:30.
5. Thirst, Drink, Believe.—“If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive.” John 7:37-39. The church that would be Spirit-filled must be a thirsting, drinking, believing church. To thirst is to desire intensely. Thirst for the Holy Spirit is created in the heart by communion with God through reading the Scriptures, by prayer, and by the operation of the Spirit upon the heart. To drink is to take, to appropriate. Those who thirst and come to the fountain of the water of life must drink. It is not enough to desire, nor to ask. There must be a conscious, definitive reception. Jesus says, “Receive ye the Holy Spirit.” John 20:22, R. V. To believe is to receive. Faith is active. It is the evidence of things not seen. It appropriates. When we truly thirst for the Spirit, and earnestly pray that the Lord will fill us, we must believe that He does. Then there will be a filling and flooding that will send forth rivers from us that will help and bless others.
6. Consecration to Service.—One of the highest and most important purposes of the church of Christ is service. “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” “I will bless thee, . . . and thou shalt be a blessing.” Gen. 12:2. “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” 1 Peter 4:10. Saved to serve is the divine arrangement. It is thus that the church is the “light of the world,” the “salt of the earth.”
It is the Holy Spirit that enables Christ’s followers to render effectual service. He first gives them victory over their sins. He then uses them as witnesses for Christ to those who have not experienced what they have. No phase of the Spirit’s ministry in the church is made so prominent in the Word as this. In His parting instruction to the church, Jesus said, “Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be My witnesses.” Luke 24:47-49; Acts 1:8, R. V.
Nothing could be plainer than that a most essential requisite to a Spirit-filled church is the consecration by the church of its time, talents, and means to the service of God for the redemption of a lost world. It is idle for the church to pray to be filled with the Spirit if she declines, or even neglects, to make this consecration. The Spirit is Christ’s invisible ambassador to this world to finish His work. The church is the Spirit’s visible medium through which He is to bear witness for Christ to all men to win them to Him. The church that does not understand this and consent to the plan can not be a Spirit-filled church.
As the church of Christ includes all the individual believers in Christ, all that pertains to the church as a whole affects each member personally. To have a Spirit-filled church there must be Spirit-filled pastors, church officers, and individual members. The conditions with which the church must comply in order to be filled with the Spirit, are precisely the conditions with which each individual believer must comply in order to be filled. This whole question, then, is intensely personal. It is of no special value as a theory. Nothing less than personal experience will answer.
Continue reading: He Hath Set Some in the Church