Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 17, 1901
EVERYWHERE
By John Wm. Stein
JOHN WM. STEIN.
(Battle Creek, Mich.)
Yes, I find God everywhere.
In the water, earth, and air,
In the wealth of field and bower,
In the fragrance of the flower,
In the mountain’s rugged steep,
In its caverns dark and deep,
In the ebb and flow of ocean,
In all planetary motion,
In the clouds, the rain, the snow,
In the living seeds which grow,
In the springs, the brooks, the rills,
In the valleys and the hills,
In the incidence of sound,
In the echoes which rebound,
In the lightning’s flare and flash,
In the thunder’s peal and crash,
In the dread volcano’s flow,
In the earthquake’s solemn throe,
In the darkness and the light,
In the day and in the night,
In the seasons new and old,
In the heat and in the cold,
In the wind and in the calm,
Reigns the living, great “I AM.”
A TIME OF TROUBLE.
By Ellen G. White
MRS. E. G. WHITE,
God is a vigilant observer of the actions of the children of men. Nothing occurs in earth or heaven without the knowledge of the Creator. Nothing can happen without His permission. He on whom the fate of an empire may depend is watched over with a vigilance which knows no relaxation by Him who “giveth salvation unto kings,” to whom belong “the shields of the earth.” And the poor man is as tenderly watched over as the monarch upon his throne.
God is constantly at work for the good of His creatures. Satan is also constantly at work, but for evil. The prince of the power of the air is the agent of destruction, the one who causes suffering and misery. Times without number God has interposed to avert death, to keep men, women, and children in safety when Satan purposed a result wholly disastrous.
God made everything good and beautiful; but evil gained entrance into the earth, and with it came defilement and degradation. It is God’s purpose to obliterate all traces of sin from His handiwork, to restore human beings to their original purity. To fulfill this purpose, God’s only Son, equal with the Father, assumed human nature. He stooped to our estate that He might lift us from a fallen, degraded condition to the pure and holy condition of Adam when he came from the hand of the Creator. As soon as man joined Satan in transgression, Christ took the field to fight in his behalf. He entered the conflict, and fought successfully the battle with the prince of evil.
This world has been signally blessed by God. Human beings are the recipients of countless mercies. Providence watches over and shields them. Upon them are poured the choicest gifts in heaven’s treasury. Yet notwithstanding this, men show a growing disregard for God and a growing contempt for His law and for the salvation placed within their reach by the death of the Saviour.
Men have lifted themselves up in pride and self-sufficiency, casting down the needy and oppressing the hireling in his wages. Against them have been registered covetousness, pride, and self-indulgence. They show contempt for the laws which govern God’s kingdom. God has borne long with them; but in response to His amazing forbearance, men are approaching that degree of iniquity which the antediluvians reached, to perish in the waters of the flood, and which the Sodomites reached, to be destroyed by fire from heaven.
Some believe Satan’s assertion that there will be a second probation. They say that even though they now resist the Spirit of God, refusing to improve their day of grace, they will be given another opportunity to gain heaven. But those who cherish this belief are under a deception which leads to ruin. When God gave Christ to our world, He gave in this one gift all the treasures of heaven. He held back nothing. He can do no more than He has done to bring men to repentance. He has no means held in reserve for their salvation.
God bears long with the rebellion and apostasy of His subjects. Even when His mercy is despised and His love scorned and derided, He bears with men until the last resource for leading them to repentance is exhausted. But there are limits to His forbearance. From those who to the end continue in obstinate rebellion, He removes His protecting care. Providence will no longer shield them from Satan’s power. They will have sinned away their day of grace.
God keeps a reckoning with the nations. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His notice. Those who work evil toward their fellow men, saying, How doth God know? will one day be called upon to meet long-deferred vengeance. In this age a more than common contempt is shown to God. Men have reached a point in insolence and disobedience which shows that their cup of iniquity is almost full. Many have well-nigh passed the boundary of mercy. Soon God will show that He is indeed the living God. He will say to the angels, “No longer combat Satan in his efforts to destroy. Let him work out his malignity upon the children of disobedience; for the cup of their iniquity is full. They have advanced from one degree of wickedness to another, adding daily to their lawlessness. I will no longer interfere to prevent the destroyer from doing his work.”
This time is right upon us. The Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the earth. When the angel of mercy folds her wings and departs, Satan will do the evil deeds he has long wished to do. Storm and tempest, war and bloodshed,—in these things he delights, and thus he gathers in his harvest. And so completely will men be deceived by him that they will declare that these calamities are the result of the desecration of the first day of the week. From the pulpits of the popular churches will be heard the statement that the world is being punished because Sunday is not honored as it should be. And it will require no great stretch of imagination for men to believe this. They are guided by the enemy, and therefore they reach conclusions which are entirely false.
Satan will bring in pleasing fables to meet the minds of all who love not the truth. With angry zeal he will accuse commandment-keepers. Furious because he cannot pervert their faith, he will vent his rage upon them. He will give to his angels the work of hardening wicked men against the truth. Knowing that he has but a short time, he will work with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. In the form of friends who have died, fallen angels will come to the children of men, just and unjust. Thus Satan will deceive those who, had they honored the law of Jehovah, would have been barricaded against temptation.
When Christ was upon this earth, He declared of the nation that rejected Him, “In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” They made void the law of God by loading it down with needless ceremonies. They tore down the Lord’s standard of righteousness, blinding the eyes and hardening the hearts of the people, leading them to believe a lie in the place of truth. Were Christ upon the earth to-day, He would say to many professed Christians, “Ye are both ignorant of the Scriptures and of the power of God.”
Satan claims the world, but there is a little company who withstand his devices, and contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Satan sets himself to destroy this commandment-keeping company. But God is their tower of defense. He will raise up for them a standard against the enemy. He will be to them, “as an hiding place from the wind,” and “as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” He will say to them, “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover600 (2)her slain.” “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
LOVING ONE ANOTHER.
By G. B. Thompson
ELDER G. B. THOMPSON.
The beloved apostle says: “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18. What a beautiful world this would be if this injunction was obeyed. Banish all hate from the earth, and we should have a paradise, an Eden restored, where the Lord would commune with His people.
Somebody has said that man only is vile. In all creation we see love manifested. Man’s heart alone is filled with hatred and strife toward his own kind. Behold the wars and scenes of carnage, chariots of destruction driven on the fields of strife by mortal hate. The dead and maimed, the widows and orphans, tell the sad story. Behold the murderer, the suicide, the awful procession journeying on to the land of the departed, with the thousands of victims of rage, of greed, and of lust.
How merciful, tender, and loving we should be toward one another! A writer has said, “At best, life is not very long; a few more smiles, a few more tears, some pleasure, much pain, sunshine and song, clouds and darkness, hasty greetings and abrupt farewells—then our little play will close, and injurer and injured will pass away together. Is it worth while to hate one another?” Have we been wronged? The Lord has undertaken the work of righting the wrongs of His people. “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Let us leave our cause in His hands. Not long ago a brother said to me, “Brother Thompson, I propose to have justice if it takes me years to obtain it.” What a spirit! This brother cherished this spirit, and to-day he has no hope; his whole soul has become darkened.
It is not justice we want, it is mercy. Justice would long ago have cut us down as cumberers of the ground, but mercy still spares the tree. The man in the parable was ten thousand talents in debt, and as he had nothing with which to pay, his lord freely forgave him all. But this same man went out, and seeing a poor, poverty-stricken human being who owed him a hundred pence, took him by the throat and demanded payment. He was determined to have justice. That man represents you and me. We have trespassed against the Lord, and piled up a debt which we can never liquidate. But O, the mercy of God! We confess to Him our condition, and in love He forgives. While we have received from the Lord forgiveness for the ten thousand talents, have we refused forgiveness for the petty offenses committed by others against us? If we do this, the Lord says we shall have to pay the ten thousand talents at last. Matt. 18:34, 35. We should pray for a heart of love, that we may forgive even as the Lord forgives.
ARE WE LIVING UP TO OUR LIGHT AND PRIVILEGE?
By W. S. Sadler
ELDER W. S. SADLER.
(San Francisco, Cal.)
(Concluded.)
The privilege of living up to our light is a great one, because it means everything to us in time and in eternity. Without this privilege, without the provision that God has made for us to keep pace with His life, we could not hope to develop characters that would make it consistent for God to take us into heaven.
There is another privilege,—that of living up to our privileges when we are walking in the light. There is where Satan deceives many of us. We are willing to keep the Sabbath; to eat the right kind of food, and to dress plainly; and we think we are doing our best to walk in the light, but the enemy cheats us out of the blessings of Christ by getting us to fail to live up to our privileges as Christians.
We set a wrong example to the world by going about, as it were, with our heads bowed down all the time. Others wonder why we fail to get peace and joy out of Christianity. They wonder that we get so little out of our religion—out of the great truth we claim to have accepted. Let us begin to-day to get more out of it.
Let us get more out of our privileges. In Heb. 6:9 we read: “Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation.” The first and greatest duty we have to perform is to walk in the light—to live up to the light. Then if we have lived up to the light, we want to live up to our privileges. It is written, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Now when God gives us power to resist the devil, and we have resisted him, let us enter into the joy of knowing that he has fled from us. When God gives us the victory over a thing, let us enter into the joy of knowing that in Christ we have the victory, let us enter into the fruit of that victory, and rejoice in it. Let us get the fruit of the battle of sin, and enjoy the blessedness that comes from victory over it.
Ought not the world to expect the very best things of a people that have the light we have? If Paul expected better things of the Hebrews, the world ought to expect the best things of us—a people who have received the light of the Third Angel’s Message. If Paul should write to us, what would he expect? Could he say, “Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you,” in view of the fact that light has come to us that never came to another people? Are we not convinced that it is incumbent upon us to live a life such as no others have ever lived?
It is time, brethren and sisters, that we should cease to have trouble among ourselves, and that we should be a solid phalanx of soldiers to fight against sin, for the Lord Jesus. The sun is low in the horizon; are we awake to the responsibility resting upon us, to give to the world this great light that heaven has given us, that it may save the honest in heart, and that our skirts may be clear in the great reckoning day?
What Satan will not be able to accomplish by external persecution, trouble, and harassment, he will make a mighty effort to accomplish by internal dissension. He will make a mighty endeavor to bring about strife between brother and brother, sister and sister.
The faith that Jesus had is a faith that can keep the commandments of God. We do not get the faith of Jesus by keeping the commandments, but we keep the commandments of God because we have the faith of Jesus. Church trials, family troubles, slothfulness, backsliding, etc., are not good materials to feed our neighbors on. Such things will not make them hungry for the truth we profess. The responsibility of representing Christ before a fallen world rests upon us. We are ambassadors for Christ. Full power has been committed to us to represent the kingdom of heaven on earth. Are we representing it aright? Are we in a compromising attitude? Are we living up to our privilege? Are we exhibiting in our life, faith, trust, hope, and confidence? Are we showing forth the qualities of veracity, honesty, reliability? Are all these things going out as fragrance from our lives to make our neighbors and associates hungry for the truth we have? If not, we are in darkness. Let us make sure, every day, to walk in all the light that has shone upon our pathway. Then in the great hereafter, we shall see the fruits of a life that was lived in tune with the Infinite, if not here, we shall over there.
On the other hand, having accepted every ray of light, having taken those things that accompany salvation, having put forth every effort we can to save souls, and apparently failed,—then, when it seems as if our heart would break, let us think of the experience of Jesus and Judas, and remember that three and one-half years of association with Jesus, the light of heaven, did not save Judas. Some may say, “Well, I suppose God is working in it all, and that some good will come out of it;” but there is a great difference between good coming out of it, and your getting good out of it. Do not get discouraged if after you have done all you can, some spurn and reject the truth? Remember Judas.
But if the light that is within us be darkness, then how great is that darkness! The duties we have failed to discharge will condemn us. That which would have softened Pharaoh’s heart and saved his soul, hardened his heart when he rejected it. Christ is our only representative to God, and we are Christ’s only representatives to men. Just as Christ is our representative to the Father, we are Christ’s representatives to a fallen world. “As my Father sent me, even so send I you.” How can we stoop to give attention to the light and transient601things of this earth when there has been intrusted to us the work of representing a sinless Saviour to a dying world?
As we go to our work each morning, let us be sure that we go with one hand in the hand of Jesus, and the other engaged in kind ministry to a fallen world. By living faith, we may connect with the dynamo of heaven—that source of all power in heaven and earth; and then, if we can only touch a needy soul, that power will flow through us. The Christian’s secret of a happy life is the secret of seeking to help his fellow men. Seek to bring peace, joy, and happiness to other souls, and a refreshing stream will flow through your own. You will never get happiness by seeking it. You may go anywhere you wish; you may have wealth and everything you desire: I may suffer privations and poverty, difficulties and trials; but with the opportunity of working for souls, I shall have more happiness than you.
All joy comes from Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Do not detain a single blessing that comes from heaven; pass it on. It is a great experience to be saved, and another great experience to obtain those things that accompany salvation. When you have gained a victory over Satan by grace, be sure that Satan does not get the victory over you by leading you to fail to enter into the fruits of the victory Christ has given you.
If we fail to walk in the light of truth, there is great danger that we shall be among those who will some day sell this truth to the highest bidder, and betray the people who love it. Let us to-day look around us as never before to see if there is not some ray of light shining upon us which we are not living up to. Let us be a people who show to the world those things that accompany salvation, and then they will come to us and say, “We will go with you, for we know that God is with you.” May God grant this to be our experience.
VAIN WORSHIP.
By H. A. St. John
ELDER H. A. ST. JOHN.
(St. Helena, Cal.)
“But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt. 15:9. Thus spoke the Lord Jesus, the greatest teacher of divinity the world has ever known. Then there is such a thing as the vain worship of the true God. And one prominent and constant way in which it is done is to break one, yea, even one of the least, of God’s commandments, and teach men so. It is to make void a commandment of God by a tradition. A tradition is an old thing of human origin. Rolling years add nothing to its authority. Error, however venerable, is not sanctified by age. A lie does not become a truth by age, no more than does a liar become truthful by the mere fact of age. The oldest liar is a liar still; and the oldest lie is a lie still. We do well ever to remember that no lie is of the truth, and no truth is of a lie; that error is from beneath, while truth is from above: that true worship is to teach and obey the commandments of God. “They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
The Emperor Constantine in his Sunday law of March 7, 321 A. D., called the first day of the week, or Sunday, “the venerable day of the sun.” It was an old, a venerable day, even then. As named by another, it was “the Wild Solar Holiday of all heathen times.” It has great antiquity, great age, but was never anything more than the sun’s day, dedicated to the worship of the sun, the first form of vain worship; and it had no higher authority than sun worship.
It is just as destitute of divine authority today. It is a tradition, pure and simple, of great antiquity, highly exalted, and generally venerated and observed at the present time. It is a tradition, the more dangerous because its whole tendency is to make void a commandment of God.
Dear reader, if this tradition has a place in your creed, teaching, or practice, I beseech you, in the light of God’s infinite, immutable, and eternal law, answer the Saviour’s weighty question, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?” Matt. 15:3.
OUR BEST FOR CHRIST.
Westminster Teacher.
MARY had received richest blessings at the hand of her Lord. Her heart overflowed with love for Him, and nothing in all the world was too dear or too costly to bestow upon Him. So she brought an alabaster box of very precious ointment, broke the box, and poured the ointment on His head. She brought the best gift she had. So we ought all to bring our best things to Christ. He gave the best He had for us. He gave His life; His heart was broken, and His precious blood was poured out for us. From His throne of glory He lavishes now the best gifts of His love upon us.
We owe to Him, therefore, the best of everything we have. We should give Him the best of our affections. He ought to have the warmest place in our hearts. Bring all the gems and jewels of your love and put them in the crown of Jesus. Gather all the choicest of your heart into one precious alabaster box of perfume, and bring it out before Him. Bring the best offerings of your heart’s love.
We ought to bring to Christ the best of our lives. Too many give Him only the wasted remains. They spend the vigor of their youth, the strength of their manhood, the best of their life’s energies, in the world, in business, in selfishness, in sin; and then, when they are old, when their heart’s blood is wasted, when their candle of life is burned down to the socket, when their limbs are stiffened with age, when their eye is dim, their voice broken, and their energies are all exhausted, when there is only a weary, wasted body, a worn-out brain, a cold, frozen heart, and a lost soul, then they seek to bring this poor, worthless offering to Christ. They wait till all the beauty has faded, till all the honey is sipped from the flowers, till all the music is gone out of the harp, and its strings are jangled and broken. They give the best to the world, and bring only the faded leaves and dead ashes to Christ. Surely it is not such an offering that Jesus deserves. We ought to consecrate our manhood and womanhood on His altar. Give Him the arm when it is strongest, the brain when it is clearest, the heart when it is warmest, the tongue when it is most eloquent. We ought to give to Him our best services. There are too many professing Christians who have time for everything but the work of the Lord. They have time for business, for conversation, for pleasure, for all kinds of societies, but no time for doing the work of the Lord. But remembering the years Christ spent for us, how full they were of toils, of tears, of self-denials, of sacrifices, do we not owe Him the best service of our lives? Should it not be in His cause that we do our best work, put forth our best energies, expend our best powers, and attain our sublimest achievements? Long ages ago an apostle wrote, “To me to live is Christ.” It was love for Christ that filled and thrilled his whole heart, that set his whole being on fire, and that ruled all the passions of his soul. The first thing of his life was to be a Christian, a Christ’s man.
But how is it now with the great mass of the followers of Christ? Are they not first merchants, or soldiers, statesmen, or politicians, or mechanics, and then, far down in the scale of their lives, Christians? It is a fair question to put to each professing Christian, What are you first? What is the one thing of your life which enkindles your warmest thoughts, which inspires your loftiest enthusiasm, which impels your best endeavors, which weaves itself into all your plans and schemes, which possesses your mind in the pauses of business and toil, which mingles its threads in all the fancies of your dreams, which gives shape to all your efforts, which underlies everything you do, and which absorbs your best energies and your noblest services? Is it the glory of God, or is it your business, your worldly ambition? Bring Christ no more the mere waste and fragmentary services of your lives. Make not your Christian life any longer a secondary thing. Bring not to the altar of your Redeemer any more a cold, dead, heartless service. Put Christ first. Do your best work, sing your sweetest song, speak your tenderest word, perform your holiest ministry for Him.
We should bring our best gifts to Jesus. In the olden days no offering would be accepted at the altar which had in it any spot or blemish. Men were taught that they must bring their very best things to God. What kind of gifts do we bring to our dear Lord? Are they the rarest and choicest that our hearts can find? Or do we put Him off with things that are of but trifling value to us? Is it not true too often that we keep our best for ourselves, and give Him the things that we shall miss the least from our own stores? When our cups run over, we give Him the drops that fall from the brim. When we have eaten and are full, we sweep up the crumbs for Him. We sip the honey and sweetness out of our flowers, and give Him the withered, faded leaves. We keep the bright dollars, and give Him the pennies. When times are hard, we find it necessary to economize; we begin our retrenchment at the Lord’s end of our income. We keep the weeks, and give Him the minutes. Let us bring our dearest things and lay them on His altar; nothing is too good or too costly to be bestowed on such a Saviour.
UNDER BONDS TO KEEP THE PEACE.
By F. D. Starr
ELDER F. D. STARR.
Success is what every laborer in the cause of God desires. This can be realized on certain conditions. Oftentimes some hindrance, perhaps apparently trifling, comes in to prevent the success that would otherwise be obtained.
Complaining and faultfinding militate seriously against the desired results.
The Lord makes this proposition, “If you will refrain from this thing, and not speak one word of censure, not one word of criticism, murmuring, or complaint, I will give you success.” See 1 Peter 3:10, 11. These terms stipulate that while we desire good days, we must seek peace and ensue it. If we do not do this, we cannot hope for the good days of success we so much desire. This puts us “under bonds to keep the peace;” and if we indulge in the offensive work of backbiting, complaining, and murmuring, we violate those bonds, and forfeit the Lord’s promise for our success.
One in society who must be placed under bonds to keep the peace is looked upon as a rather dangerous person; and when in any degree he transgresses, he forfeits his liberty, and must be placed in close confinement, and thus his personal freedom is restricted. So with one under bonds to keep the peace in a spiritual sense, under gospel bonds, which are stronger than any civil bonds; he dare not speak against his brother under penalty of losing his favor with God. While he is true to the bonds of love, he may walk at liberty, and not be in any bondage whatever. Would that every tongue could realize the sacredness of these gospel bonds.
PROMISES
When wasted by sickness and weary with pain,
Ps. 41: 3.
So smitten, so faint, I may ne’er rise again,
Ps. 39: 4, 11.
To whom shall I look, to whom shall I cry,
John 6: 68.
But to thee, blessed Jesus, who ever art nigh?
Matt. 11: 28.
I know thou art near in my deepest distress,
Isa. 48: 10.
Oh! be near to sustain me, to comfort and bless;
Isa. 63: 9.
Let the keenest of tortures ne’er make me repine,
Prov. 3: 11, 12.
But remember thy anguish was greater than mine.
Luke 22: 44.
’Tis because I have sinned that I languish and sigh,
Luke 23: 41.
But thou for my sins didst in agony die;
1 Peter 2: 24.
And since thou hast suffered, for me to atone,
Isa. 53: 5.
Oh! take me, and wash me, and make me thine own.
Ps. 51: 5, 10.
Do thou help me to seek thee, and thee I shall find,
Ps. 25: 4, 5.
May thy Spirit enlighten my ignorant mind!
John 14: 26.
A lamb of thy flock I humbly would be,
John 21: 15.
For I know that thy mercy can reach even me.
Heb. 7: 25.
Kind Shepherd, oh, take me, as thou didst of old,
Mark 10: 16.
And then I never shall stray from thy fold.
John 10: 16.
I am feeble and weak, give me strength from above,
Isa. 40: 29.
To believe with true faith, to trust with true love;
1 John 4: 18.
To be patient in anguish, submissive and still,
Ps. 39: 9.
And quietly wait thy heavenly will.
Lam. 3: 26.
Bless all the dear friends whom thy goodness has given,
Matt. 21: 22.
May all I love here be united in heaven,
Rev. 7: 14.
To praise thee forever, in that blessed home,
Rev. 5: 9.
Where sorrow, and sin, and pain never come.
Rev. 7: 16, 17.
—Selected.
The Abundance of Divine Blessings
“It is utterly impossible for an impoverished and praying world to exhaust the abundance of the divine blessings.”
PREACH GOD'S MESSAGE.
By Anthony Beans
ANTHONY BEANS.(Berrien Springs, Mich.)
“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 6:23.
Transgression of God’s law will as surely bring its merited punishment as obedience to the same will yield blessing to him who is exercised thereby.
We have the case of Nineveh and its inhabitants before us for an example. When Nineveh passed the bounds of God’s forbearance, He decided upon its destruction, and sent Jonah the son of Amittai to bear to them the solemn, heart-stirring message, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed.” His discourse was short, yet it was of sufficient length for those wicked inhabitants to hear the voice of God, and the effect was what could be expected even in our time, if the voice of the message has in it the voice of God to the people: “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.” Jonah 3:5–9.
The Lord gives a hint as to the condition of the Ninevites when He says, in the last verse of the book, “And should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, where are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” We have to-day an inspired description of not only one city, but of the whole world, in these words, “Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.”
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.” Then follows a list of the causes which make our times perilous: “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness [church-members], but denying the power thereof.” And here is the Lord’s judgment in regard to them,—“from such turn away.” 2 Tim. 3:1–5.
The effect of Jonah’s message was most significant, and yet it was what he and every other servant of God could expect; for explicit directions had been given by the Lord in these few words, “Preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.”
The conversion of this great heathen city by just one of God’s messengers shows what may be expected to-day when we follow the explicit commands of God. To-day God’s servants are standing face to face with a world doomed to destruction, whose inhabitants must be warned, even as the Ninevites were warned, “whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.” In Rev. 14:6–12 the Lord gives His servants the only cure for this world’s ills: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she hath made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the Beast and his Image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the Beast and his Image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.”
AWAKE
By Mrs. Lenna Iselin
MRS. LENNA ISELIN.
(Spring Bluff, Wis.)
“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Rom. 13:11. These words apply especially to us. We know the time. The prophecies have opened to our view the heavenly sanctuary, and the last great work, now near its completion. The signs showing that the end is near are nearly all fulfilled. Many of us are asleep. It is indeed high time to awake. If we do not awake soon, it will be a sad awakening. But it is not the Lord’s will that we awake to hopeless despair; for He says, through His servant, “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak to your shame.” 1 Cor. 15:34.
Oh! what a shame! After all the light God has given us, we are so negligent, so indifferent, to the perishing souls around us! Do we realize that every minute of the day, souls are dying without a “knowledge of God”? When we attend the funeral of some unsaved friend or neighbor, do we ever feel ashamed that we never sought to bring him to the saving knowledge of Christ?
God has intrusted us with a great work—a message of eternal importance, to give to the world. Are we doing it? or are we sleeping, while a few are sacrificing home, health, and the necessaries of life, to do their share, and ours also? “Many hands make light work,” is an old proverb. Is it fair to shirk our responsibilities, making the burden so heavy that our willing brothers and sisters almost fall under the load? We may do this; but one thing is sure: he who sows will reap the benefit. If we never sow any seed, we cannot expect a harvest.
I have seen men too slack to get in their crops (and of course they had little, or nothing) complain of hard times, and look with envy on the well-filled granaries of their neighbors, who were thrifty, wide-awake farmers. Thus it will be in the great harvest of the world. They who sleep away their time will look with envy on the great reward of the righteous.
“But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.” The enemy never sleeps; he is diligent, working to deceive souls: and while we are sleeping, he has every advantage. The few seeds that we have sown are choked out, and our labor is lost.
We find in the history of Jonah a parallel with our own time. The Lord gave him a work to do—as He has given every one of us. He was told to go to Nineveh and cry against it; but instead of doing as the Lord commanded, he fled from His presence. He went aboard a ship bound for Tarshish; but soon a mighty tempest arose, so that the ship was in danger, and they were obliged to cast forth wares to lighten it. Still, they were in danger of sinking. The ship-master, seeing Jonah fast asleep in the sides of the ship, went to him, saying, “What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God.”
Just as soon as Jonah refused to do the work God gave him, he yielded to slumber, and by his unfaithfulness brought not only himself, but all who were with him, into danger. This is ever the case. If we neglect duty, we become careless and indifferent—asleep to the dangers around us. The Lord is merciful, and does not leave us to ourselves. He sends trials and afflictions, to bring us into harmony with himself.
The men, in order to secure their own safety, cast Jonah into the sea; but the Lord did not forsake him, but prepared a great fish to swallow him. Jonah repented of the wrong course he had taken, and called upon God. His prayer was heard. He was delivered, and permitted to warn the city, as first directed.
Have we fled from the work of the Lord? If so, let us yield to His entreaties and return. “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion.” “It is high time to awake.”
The question often comes to my mind, What can I do? “Wherefore He saith, Awake thou that sleepest, . . . and Christ shall give thee light.” The first thing, then, is to awake, and Christ will give us light concerning what He would have us do. He wishes us to be faithful in the performance of little things. He says, “Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.”
A parent never gives the toddling child heavy duties to perform, but increases the work in proportion to the growth of the child. God would not have us to be always babes. He says, “When for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.”
The minister ought not to be obliged to spend so much time with churches, when there are so many without “the knowledge of God.” Every member should study the Word daily, and thus be able to teach others.
The time is fast hastening when the work will be finished. Some will have a deep, pitying love for dying souls around them. Some will lay all selfishness and worldliness aside, and push the work to its close. Some will hear the invitation, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” “Shall you? Shall I?”
Awake! for night is fast approaching!
Oh! sleep not longer, nor delay!
Work for dying souls around you,
While you have the light of day.
Soon the darkness will enfold you,
And you’ll grope in anguish deep;
For the work you long neglected,
While your eyes were closed in sleep.
LOST CONTROL OF HIMSELF.
Western Recorder.
THERE is no objection to building costly church-houses, in the best architectural style, provided the object be to secure comfort and convenience for the attendance of worshipers; gorgeous appointments are out of place, and minister to vanity, to say nothing of repelling the poor, however reprehensible their prejudices. I was once very much impressed when attending a great church in a strange city, with a wealthy membership, with the plainness of everything, even the dress of the ladies. The house was old-fashioned; the choir was in the back part of the gallery; hymn-books were all over the house,—the old hymns written from the heart-experience of the authors, and therefore surviving through a century, sung to old, imperishable tunes. At least five hundred voices joined in carrying three parts. I took my seat on a short, curved seat in a back corner, supposing the better pews rented, but the vigilance of one of the janitors soon noticed and conducted me to a choice pew in the immediate front of the pulpit. I learned that these best pews were reserved for strangers. What with a glorious sermon from the text, “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,” the soulful singing, and the contrast of what I had seen on the streets, for once I lost control of myself.