Review and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 50. (12/11/1900)

Review and Herald

Dec 11, 1900

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 11, 1900

LESSONS FOR CHRISTIANS

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE

The third chapter of 1 Corinthians contains instruction which all who claim to be following Jesus should study. Contentions in the body of believers are not after the order of God. They result from the manifestation of the attributes of the natural heart. To all who bring in disorder and disunion, the words of Paul are applicable: “I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.” Paul here addressed a people whose advancement was not proportionate to their privileges and opportunities. They ought to have been able to bear the hearing of the plain word of God, but they were in the position in which the disciples were when Christ said to them, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye can not bear them now.” They ought to have been far advanced in spiritual knowledge, able to comprehend and practice the higher truths of the word; but they were unsanctified. They had forgotten that they must be purged from their hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong, and that they must not cherish carnal attributes.

It was impossible for the apostle to reprove wrong-doing without some who claimed to believe the truth becoming offended. The inspired testimony could do these no good; for they had lost their spiritual discernment. Jealousy, evil surmising, and accusing closed the door to the working of the Holy Spirit. Paul would gladly have dwelt upon higher and more difficult truths, truths which were rich in nourishment, but his instruction would have cut directly across their tendencies to jealousy, and would not have been received. The divine mysteries of godliness, which would have enabled them to grasp the truths necessary for that time, could not be spoken. The apostle must select lessons which, like milk, could be taken without irritating the digestive organs. Truths of the deepest interest could not be spoken, because the hearers would misapply and misappropriate them, presenting them to young converts who needed only the more simple truths of the word.

“Ye are yet carnal,” Paul declared, “for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and division, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?” Their contentions revealed that they had not the mind and Spirit of Christ, that they were walking after the wisdom of their narrow, conceited minds. Their views and feelings were bound about with selfishness. They did not show the liberality, the generosity, the tenderness, which reveals an abiding Christ.

Holiness to God through Christ is required of Christians. If there are wrongs in the church, they should receive immediate attention. Some may have to be sharply rebuked. This is not doing the erring one any wrong. The faithful physician of the soul cuts deep, that no pestilent matter may be left to burst forth again. After the reproof has been given, then comes repentance and confession, and God will freely pardon and heal. He always pardons when confession is made.

The Lord desires that the soul-temple shall be kept free from all defilement. “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise,”—in his own eyes,—“let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” Let him who seeks the highest place learn to think far less of his worldly wisdom, and humble himself, that God may give him the wisdom which is bestowed only when true humility is shown. The world may call him a fool, but God calls him wise; for “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Obedience to God is of far greater value than the esteem of the world.

God’s servants are engaged in one common vineyard. “All ye are brethren.” Their object should not be to make a show, not to exalt self, but to convert souls, to do a work which will stand the assaults of the enemies of truth and righteousness. Let no man belittle another man’s work because it is not in exactly the same line as his own. The souls for whom we labor are not to be converted to the minister, but to Jesus Christ. Let man keep himself in the background; let Christ appear. Talk of Christ. Exalt Christ. Lift Him up, the Man of Calvary.

Paul declares, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” Paul was the first to preach the gospel at Corinth. He organized the church there. Apollos came after, winning his way to the hearts of the people, and instructing them. But God gave the increase. The success of both came from Him.

God’s servants do not all possess the same gifts, but they are all His workmen. Each is to learn of the Great Teacher, and then to communicate what he has learned. All do not do the same work, but under the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit they are all God’s instrumentalities. God employs a diversity of gifts in His work of winning souls from Satan’s army.

“Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.” God, and not man, is the judge of man’s work, and He will apportion to each his just reward. It is not given to any human being to judge between the different servants of God. The Lord alone is the judge and rewarder of every good work.

“He that planteth and he that watereth are one,” engaged in the same work,—the salvation of souls. “We are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” In these words the church is compared to a cultivated field, in which the husbandmen are to labor, caring for the vines of the Lord’s planting; and to a building, which is to become a holy temple for the Lord. Christ is the Master Workman. All are to work under His supervision, letting Him work for and through His workmen. He gives them tact and skill, and if they heed His instructions, crowns their labor with success. None are to complain against God, who has appointed to each man his work.

He who murmurs and frets, who wants his own way, who desires to mold his fellow laborers to suit his own ideas, needs the divine touch before he is qualified to labor in any line. Unless he is changed, he will surely mar the work.

Remember that we are laborers together with God. God is the all-powerful, effectual mover. His servants are His instruments. They are not to pull apart, everyone laboring in accordance with his own ideas. They are to labor in harmony, fitting together in kindly, courteous, brotherly order, in love for one another. There is to be no unkind criticism, no pulling to pieces of another’s work. Together they are to carry the work forward.

There are to be no separate parties in God’s work. Every man to whom God has intrusted a message has his specific work, and this is to be done under the great Master Workman. Form no separate parties. In their ministry, God’s servants are to be essentially one. Each person has an individuality of his own, which he is not to lose in any other man. Yet he is to work in perfect unity with his brethren. In honor God’s workers are to prefer one another. No worker is to set himself up as a criterion, and speak disrespectfully of his fellow worker, treating him as an inferior. Under God each is to do his appointed work, respected, loved, and encouraged by his fellow workers.

“Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” We are to study and obey every caution in the word of God. The Lord desires all to work under His direction. His word is an unerring counselor.

“According to the grace of God which is given unto me,” Paul continues, “as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.” Others afterward bore their message, and gathered in the souls who believed and were converted. “But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.” God’s servants are to use the greatest care in regard to the doctrines they teach, the example they set, and the influence they exert on those associated with them. The great apostle appeals to the church and to God to witness to the truth and the sincerity of his profession. “Ye are witnesses, and God also,” he says, “how holily and justly and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you.”

“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Isaiah declares: “Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.” Christ has been crucified for us. He is the propitiation for our sins. He is the atoning sacrifice, the true, immovable foundation. He has gathered the believers in church capacity, that they may labor unitedly, strengthening and building up one another in the faith.

“Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” It is for our eternal interest to place the right material upon the right foundation. Christ is the great necessity for everyone. It will be to the peril of our souls that we mingle selfishness with the offering laid on the foundation. We are to lay upon it material that will do honor to God. The laborer for God is to do thorough work; his mind is to be pure and clean, free from all the cheapness represented as wood, hay, and stubble. The work of those who bring their offerings to God in humility and love, depending hour by hour on the grace of Christ to sanctify and cleanse from moral impurities, bears the impress of God, who estimates our work, not according to the outward appearance, but according to the heart purity brought into it.

In the work of character building, each person is responsible for the way in which he builds. There are many in our world who teach speculative theories, rather than the simple truths which Christ taught. Everyone will be tested, to see whether his conversion is real. The pure doctrines that are taught in faith, the gold, silver, and precious stones that are brought to the foundation, will elevate and ennoble the receiver. But the teaching that is mingled with human philosophy can never satisfy.

It makes every difference what material is used in the character building. The long-expected day of God will soon test every man’s work. “The fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” As fire reveals the difference between gold, silver, and precious stones, and wood, hay, and stubble, so the day of judgment will test characters, showing the difference between characters formed after Christ’s likeness, and characters formed after the likeness of the selfish heart. All selfishness, all false religion, will then appear as it is. The worthless material will be consumed; but the gold of true, simple, humble faith will never lose its value. It can never be consumed; for it is imperishable. One hour of transgression will be seen to be a great loss, while the fear of the Lord will be seen to be the beginning of wisdom. The pleasure of self-indulgence will perish as stubble, while the gold of steadfast principle, maintained at any cost, will endure forever.

THE INTERCESSOR

FATHER, I bring this worthless child to thee, To claim thy pardon once, yet once again; Receive him at my hands; for he is mine. He is a worthless child, he owns his guilt; Look not on him: he can not bear thy glance; Look thou on me: his vileness I will hide. He pleads not for himself — he dares not plead; His cause is mine: I am his advocate. By that unchanged, unchanging oath of mine, By each pure drop of blood I lost for him, By all the sorrows graven on my soul, By every wound I bear, I claim it due. Father divine, I can not have him lost! He is a worthless soul, but he is mine. Sin hath destroyed him; sin hath died in me: Death hath pursued him; I have conquered death: Satan hath bound him; Satan is my slave. My Father, hear him not, not him, but me; I would not have him lost for all the world Thou, for my glory, hast ordained and made, Because he is a poor and contrite child, And all — his very hope — on me reclines. I know my children, and I know him mine, By all the tears he weeps upon my bosom, By his full heart that beateth against mine; I know him by his sighing and his prayers, By his deep, trusting love which clings to me. I could not bear to see him cast away, Weak as he is, the weakest of my flock,— The one that grieves me most, that loves me least,— Yea, though his sins should dim each spark of love. I measure not my love by his returns; And though the stripes I send to speed him home, Drive him upon the instant from my breast, Still he is mine. I drew him from the world; He has no right, no home, but in my love; Though earth and hell against his soul conspire, I shield him; save him; keep him; we are one.

O sinner! what an Advocate hast thou! Methinks I see him lead the culprit in, Poor, sorrowing, shamed, all tremulous with fear, Prostrate behind his Lord, weak, self-condemned, Clad with the Saviour's spotless righteousness Himself to hide, and hear the Father's words: My Son! his cause is thine, and thine is mine; Take up the poor lost one: he is forgiven!

—New York Observer.

SEEING GOD

“THINE eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold the land that is very far off.”

I like the positive manner in which the verbs “shall” and “will” are used in the Bible. I have rested my tired, throbbing heart upon them many times, and found them all-sufficient for my need.

In Rev. 15:3 we are told that the Lord God Almighty is the King of His saints. Then He is our King; and must there not be some preparation to see Him? Paul tells us that, in order to know something of the power and glory of this King, the eyes of our understanding must be enlightened. Surely we need a clear vision to behold God. We also read, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

When the eyes and heart are prepared to see God, we behold Him in all the wonderful works of nature. To me, one of the grandest of these is a gloriously tinted sunset, and, a little later, the evening star, and the new moon just dropping out of sight. Is not our King, our God, a God of love, to satisfy our taste and senses with all the sweet and beautiful things we see in nature? But in a much deeper and truer sense He satisfies our spiritual needs.

Dear heart, do you sometimes have an earnest wish to see and know God? Come and tell it to Him, and He will create within you such a yearning, longing desire for Him, that you can not be satisfied until you are folded close to His warm heart of love.

I have passed through seasons of sorrow, and I know how blessed it is to feel that the strong, loving arms can hold and keep me. I am also glad that God is manifested to us in the hearts and lives of His children; and when we come in contact with them and their work, we can express our sympathy by the love light in our eyes, and by the cordial grasp of the hand. Even if there seems to be no other way in which we can help, this kindly act will perhaps give courage to a tired, perplexed heart.

Moses prays, in the ninetieth Psalm, “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.” Should not each Christian heart join in this prayer? “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!”

“When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.”

ORGANIZATION

By Earnest A. Raymond

The Science of Life's Development

EARNEST A. RAYMOND

ORGANIZATION is the science of life, for without it no life has ever existed or ever can; much less the only real and true one of constant growth and symmetrical development. Through the limitless realms of the universe, from systems and worlds to atoms and ions; from flinty rock to intangible mind,—all acknowledge its laws. It is the art and science of relation, of cause and effect. God alone, the great First Cause, can unfold all its mysteries, and in the sometime of hope beyond can fully answer and perfectly satisfy the deep questioning of yearning hearts.

But in the ages past, and the years yet to come before man can read as open books the mysteries of being, so vast and deep, infinite wisdom and love have not left him without a key whose combinations can solve every problem and dissolve every doubt. It is only because man has never used it, or, at best, has by its means entered only the outer vestibule of wisdom's treasure-house, that its infinite value and wonderful significance have never been realized.

God made man in His own image, after His likeness; and, says the Scripture, speaking of the body of Christ, “according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”

Most aptly indeed has man been called the masterpiece of God's creative work, for the organism of the body human, with its members and parts and the mind over all, is an epitome of the universe plan, with God as the Mind Supreme, and systems of worlds the body celestial.

But in a special manner has the Inspirer of Sacred Writ called the attention of all men to the perfect analogy existing between His church, in all its operations of life, growth, and development,—the plan of salvation in operation, seen concretely,—and our bodily temple, filled and vivified by the same divine power. How, indeed, could it be otherwise, when the whole is now and forever equal to all its components,—the church composed of human beings, each a system of correlated organs and parts?

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” “And gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body.” “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”

What, then, shall we expect? Have we so learned Christ and experienced a foretaste of the powers of the world to come, as to regard the illustration used by divine revelation as fanciful and vague, very pretty indeed, but not serviceable,—wholly inadequate to the exigencies of the case? Let us realize once and forever that

the word of God is “quick [living] and powerful,” and “liveth and abideth forever;” that through the Scripture “the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

The church can have no experience, it can pass through no crisis, spiritual or temporal, which does not equally involve its human members; therefore that which can make perfect and thoroughly furnish every part, can and must at the same time do the same for the whole organism. It is a matter of the perfection of parts.

Do we love the church?—Even as life; for to it we are drawn and held by the bond of perfect, pure, eternal happiness. Our lives are one; as one with it we live, or die.

Is the church endangered? Is it ill?—Even unto death. When its life and activity is but a hundredth part of what in health it would be; when its bodily warmth has sunk to a comparative zero, surely, if ever, it is time to summon speedily the Great Physician.

But what says the prayer of faith?—“Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed;” and the command is given, “He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.”

All organizations must involve two steps: First, separation; second, putting together. The first must be a work of discernment of the nature of elements, of possibilities; the second, of putting together, of so relating these elements that the special kind of energy in each will combine harmoniously with that of the others related to it, and the plan and purpose in view be followed and completed as a natural sequence.

Natural sequence! How lightly the words slip from the tongue; yet in them is expressed the infinite realm of cause and effect. And such indeed, in a literal sense, is organization,—nature-following. It is a theme as deep as Mind, as broad as Life.

If, then, we are to study organization,—the science of life,—the science and art of relation, of cause and effect,—by following and observing nature, let us start as nearly as possible from where she starts; let us come as near as we can to the great First Cause. And let us remember in this quest after knowledge, to “judge nothing before the time,” and to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. . . . The Spirit of God moved [“hovered, brooded,” literal rendering] upon the face of the waters.”

In nature, what is the purpose of brooding? Is it not the development of the latent possibilities, the warming and bringing into activity of the hidden germ? But did the waters contain any elements of life, the seeds, as it were, of that great organism about to appear? What says that same Spirit through Peter? Let us have a literal rendering, more nearly as originally written by men inspired of God: “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that the heavens were of old, and the earth organized from water and arising from [or, by means of] water, by the word of God; whereby,” etc.

In Genesis, the second chapter and third verse, where the common version tells us that on the seventh day God rested from all His work which He created and made, the primary meaning of the word rendered “created,” is carved, cut; and the word rendered “made,” has the original meaning of to build, to put together, to construct. In other words, the passage really tells that God rested from His work of “separating to put together,”—His work of ORGANIZATION.

Wonderful, wonderful water of life! Holding in solution the elements of every conceivable substance and being, of life in all its multiform parts and phases, requiring but the deep moving of the Spirit to reveal in actualities its infinite possibilities,—such could have but one Origin, one Source.

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb.” Rev. 22:1.

In the language of every day we often speak of lithia water, soda water, sulphur water, etc., and understand that these substances are held in solution in ordinary water. The literal rendering of the word here, and in a similar connection elsewhere, translated “life,” is means of living, subsistence; thus perfectly agreeing with and explaining the record in Genesis.

“Pure,” “clear as crystal,” thus it is absolutely colorless. Such is air, though filled with infinite realities, of which electricity is but an example. So also are many liquids known to the chemist, though holding in solution some decidedly real substances. Thus Paul, speaking in Hebrews of creation, very truthfully said that “things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” But, “He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast;” and in Job 10:10, speaking of creation, it says, “Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?”

Could language express the sum and substance of the matter in words more concise, by figure more appropriate?

Remember, we are following nature, the great “bringing forth,” and have arrived at the point where, though partially organized, “gathered,” earth still is covered and enveloped with the watery residue which gave up, “precipitated,” its life-substance held in solution,—all by the brooding, the deep work of the Spirit.

And this is only the beginning of the marvelous work of organization. Dear fellow seeker after truth, to us the Spirit says: “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.”

WHY CHRIST'S COMING IS DELAYED

By K. C. Russell

K. C. RUSSELL (South Lancaster, Mass.)

THERE are doubtless many who once believed that the Lord’s coming was very near, but because He did not come within the time they had fixed in their mind that He should come, they have lost their faith in this glorious doctrine. The truth is, however, that the very delay in the Lord’s return is that which will increase our faith and confirm our hope in the comforting truth of His coming.

The apostle says, in 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” The text does not teach that the Lord is not slack concerning the promise of His coming; but that He is not slack as men count slackness. But how does He count His slackness in not coming? The remainder of the text will tell us how He counts the delay: “But is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

God always counts things differently than man does. In the fifteenth verse of this same chapter the Lord speaks on this point, as follows: “And account that the long-suffering [delaying His coming] of our Lord is salvation.” Do you count that the delaying of the Lord’s coming, that you might come to repentance, has been your salvation? If you are counting in that way, you are in possession of the mind of Christ on this point.

Lest some one may question the application of the term “slack” to the Lord’s delay in coming, I will herewith give two other translations of this text: “The Lord is not slow with His promise as some esteem slowness, but is long-suffering towards you, not being willing that any should perish; but that all into repentance should make way.”—Rotherham. “The Lord who hath promised, doth not delay in the manner some account delaying; but He exercises long-suffering towards us, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”—Macknight.

From these translations it can be seen that the terms “slack,” “slow,” and “delay” are used synonymously. It may be that “for joy” some one may not believe that the Lord is so inexpressibly kind to the impenitent that He is delaying His coming, that they may come to repentance; hence I will quote other texts which prove that the Lord is delaying His return: “Behold, the husbandman WAITETH for the precious fruit of the earth [his people], and hath long PATIENCE for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.” James 5:7. “The long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing.” All understand that the days of Noah were a type of the last days of this world’s history before Christ is to come. The long-suffering of God waited then, for men to repent, and so the long-suffering of God is waiting now, for men to repent. Is He waiting for you? 1 Peter 3:20.

The Spirit of Prophecy is in harmony with the Bible in this, as in all other thoughts.

If all who had labored unitedly in the work in 1844 had received the Third Angel’s Message, and proclaimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord would have wrought mightily with their efforts. A flood of light would have been shed upon the world. Years ago the inhabitants of the earth would have been warned, the closing work would have been completed, and Christ would have come for the redemption of His people.—Great Controversy.

Had the purpose of God been carried out by His people in giving the message of mercy to the world, Christ would have come to the earth, and the saints would ere this have received their welcome in the city of God.—Appeal for Missions, Oct. 21, 1898.

Had the church of Christ done her appointed work as the Lord ordained, the whole world would before this have been warned, and the Lord Jesus would have come to our earth in power and great glory.—The Desire of Ages, page 634.

If any think that because the Lord has delayed His coming, He may do so indefinitely, they should read carefully 2 Peter 3:10, first part, which says: “But the day of the Lord will come.” And this statement is made immediately following the statement that the Lord is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God’s Spirit will not always strive with man; but as soon as all have an opportunity to come to repentance, “He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.”

Years ago we were told by the Lord that the angel of mercy was folding its wings to take its flight from this world. Ought it not to be the earnest desire of all to repent of their sins, that the limit of God’s long-suffering may not come, and they have failed to “come to repentance”?

Are those sins that have been committed against God and His truth repented of? Have we repented of our neglect in studying His word, and seeking Him both in family and secret prayer? Have we repented of our sin in failing to render to God that which belongs to Him in tithes and offerings? Is the Lord waiting for us to make those wrongs right that we have committed against husband, wife, children, brother, sister, friend, or neighbor?

The Lord has promised that he will lead us to repentance. “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.” Rom. 2:4. And even after He leads us, and we come along with Him, He will even then give it to us. Acts 5:30; 2 Tim. 2:25. For one to complain because the Lord has delayed His coming, since we have seen that it is because He is waiting for all to come to repentance, would be to do as Jonah did when he was displeased because God had not destroyed the Ninevites. Instead of being displeased, Jonah should have rejoiced exceedingly. So now, and with us, instead of complaining because the Lord has not come, we should rejoice that all may come to repentance. Do not delay in coming to repentance, if you have not already found it.

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