Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 3, 1894
Why We Are Blessed.
God blesses us for the same reason that he blessed Abraham, the father of the faithful. The Lord said to him, "I will bless thee, . . . and thou shalt be a blessing." Gen. 12:2. We are blessed that we may be blessings. Jesus Christ is revealed to us that we may reveal him to others. He takes away our sins, he releases us from sin's bondage, that we may tell to others the glad news of deliverance. He gives us light that we may shine upon others. In fact, every blessing from God comes to us, as it comes to nature, that others may be blessed. The water does not flow in the brook for the brook's sake, but that it may water the thirsty herds and revive the drooping grasses and flowers. The bird is not blessed with bright plumage and sweet song for its own sake, but that it may gladden the eye and please the ear of those who learn of God at the door of nature. The little flower is not blessed with lovely hue and exquisite perfume for the sake of itself, but that it may be a blessing to all who see its beauty and inhale its fragrance. So God designed that the highest of all his created works on earth—human beings—should be still greater blessings than brook or tree or flower or bird, by revealing to all the beauty of holiness, the odor of sweet sacrifice, the silent, mighty, uplifting influences of a godly life. God blesses that we may be a blessing.
The Nature of God's Blessing.
God does not bless us on the condition that we bless others. He does not say, "I will bless you if you will bless others." He blesses us in order that we may bless others. God blesses because it is his nature to bless. He delights to bless. "God is love." Every blessing is a manifestation of God's mercy; and God "delighteth in mercy." He bestows upon us his goodness that his goodness may bring us to repentance. He does not love us if we will love him, but "we love him because he first loved us." It is the nature of God to bless.
It is the nature of the blessing that he gives to overflow and bless other hearts beyond. God is life. His blessings teem with living energy, life-giving to all who receive them. When Abraham was blessed, the very blessing outflowing from him made him a blessing. The reservoir continually connected with the ever-flowing spring becomes itself a perennial fountain. The heart connected with the Fount of Life, ever open to receive its bounteous supply, has within it "a well of water springing up into everlasting life." The life of such an one is "like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."
The Blessing a Curse.
God's blessings are designed to be blessings only, and to all who receive and use them as blessings, who permit the blessings to bless them, they are life-giving, upbuilding, and full of peace and joy. They become a curse to him only who makes them a curse. Water is a great blessing, but man may use it to take his life. But the greatest curse of God's blessings is when we endeavor to use them for ourselves alone, when we seek to selfishly gather them all to our own heart and home, when we chain the blessings as slaves of self. Oh, the curse of selfishness! It would bottle, if possible, God's bright sunshine, put an embargo upon pure air, impose a tariff upon the salvation offered through our Lord Jesus Christ. But, praise God, some blessings are free. Let us not reject them nor shut ourselves in a prison of selfishness where they can never freely come.
A Cause of Discouragement.
One frequent, almost sole, cause of discouragement in the Christian life is that we fail to use God's blessings, we will not be blessings to others. God has brought to us rich truths of the gospel; we lock them up in our own heart, hoping to preserve the treasure; but after a few years we find that some have disappeared, while others have grown dim or corroded by selfishness. We quaff the water of life, and we think we will preserve some for ourselves, while thirsty, sin-fevered souls are dying all around us. We ourselves fall ill; we seek our precious treasure; it has become stagnant, putrid, through the germs of inactive selfishness. God gives us abundance of this world's goods, but we build larger barns, we increase deposits at the bank, we hoard our riches, we add house to house, farm to farm, while thousands as good as we are famishing and dying for the want of both physical and spiritual food and clothing. We come down to the judgment or death, but our riches will not buy our release. Oh, that God would help Christians to see how the cankering, corroding, deadening curse of selfishness is turning every blessing of God into a bane which will at last eat their flesh and burn them as fire.
Use the Blessings.
Minister them to others. There is no other way. Has the word of God cheered your heart?—Tell it to others, and get more from God. Has God given you wealth, means, and money?—Feed the poor, clothe the naked, relieve the orphan and widow. Has God brought life to your soul?—Tell of the Life-giver to those sitting in the shadow of death. Keep the channel open between your soul and God by keeping the current flowing onward and outward. Stand with faith-opened, prayerful heart and mind drinking in God's blessings; stand with open hands, with sanctified speech, with ready feet, with godly life ministering to others. So shall the whole life be a blessing to others, and you shall be eternally blessed.
The Apostasy
THE NEED OF A REFORMATION IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.
Characteristics of the Early Church.
THE church of Christ came pure from the hand of the Master. When the first fruits of the Christian dispensation were gathered in on the day of Pentecost, there were no schisms, no divisions, no sects, no wolves in the garb of sheep's clothing. The Spirit of grace had been poured out from on high, hearts had been prepared to receive it, and every soul possessing living faith was filled with the gracious, purifying, elevating life of God. "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost;" "they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship;" "the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own," thus acknowledging the ownership of Christ; "they spake the word of God with boldness;" "with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all." With such power was the Spirit of God manifest among them that when the false hearted essayed to join them, they perished, on account of the divine presence, even as did Nadab and Abihu when offering in their drunken stupor strange fire before the Lord. So clearly did God demonstrate his awful yet loving presence that the evil disposed durst not join, while the honest-hearted were added by multitudes.674
The above are only a part of the work of faith, the labor of love, the patience of hope exercised and manifested in the early church. Jesus Christ was all in all. The gospel was truly believed to be "the power of God unto salvation" to the believer, and multitudes believed it. The word of God, and Christ as the Incarnate Word, was the sole burden of the messengers of God, and in that message they found an all-sufficiency to save men. In the Scriptures of truth the man of God found himself "thoroughly furnished unto all good works." These Scriptures included the Old Testament, concerning the inspiration of which there was no question either in Master or servant.
Before the simple word of God, that word culminating in Christ, its Author, the Saviour of the world, preached by men not learned in the schools of earth, the mightiest empire of earth was shaken, idol shrines melted before its burning glory, heathen temples were deserted, and, best of all, men turned from the darkness of sin to the light of God’s righteousness, shining from the face of Jesus Christ. The men who bore the banner of Christ died at the hands of their enemies; the messengers of life often met the cruellest persecution; but they conquered in their seeming defeat; and as long as they trusted Christ, the weapons "not carnal" were mighty through God in conquering what no earthly weapon or power can conquer,—the hearts of men, the citadels of sin, and in the place of self and Satan enthroning Christ within, "the hope of glory."
The church knew no weapons save those which are spiritual. She knew no force save that of the persuasive power of God’s word and Spirit upon the heart. She asked no other obedience (for she knew her divine Master would not accept it) save that which is the only true obedience, service, or worship,—the voluntary yielding up of every power of body and soul by the heart touched by the love of God, and having simple faith in his gospel. Her only compelling power was that of conviction in the heart of the sinner. Absolute equality of men and absolute liberty in accepting or rejecting any or no religion were prominent truths in her teaching. Christ died for all and the church, clothed with his righteousness, invested with the armor of God, bore the glad message to all of God’s love in Christ, heralding the merciful invitation, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
The Apostasy.
But how soon was the most fine gold changed! The Lord foresaw its coming and warned his people of the time when the spouse of Christ would depart from him to whom she had plighted her troth, would make friends with the world, and commit fornication with the kings of the earth. This apostasy, this falling away, is foretold in many scriptures. For want of space only the two following are at this time presented:—
"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them."
"Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."
This falling away, this choosing of self, and the acme of selfish manifestation,—the man of sin and his selfish schemes, in the place of Christ and his holy word,—resulted in the great apostasy, the Papacy, and all the persecution which followed. The gospel rule was, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." It was self-denial, the emptying of self, even as Jesus emptied himself. Emptying himself, denying himself, God filled him, and he thus could manifest God to the world. His people, following his example, having the same spirit; denying themselves, emptying themselves, Christ fills them and dwells in them, and thus they manifest Christ to the world, and glorify his name by bearing the fruits of righteousness. But when men lead away disciples after them, when our homage is paid to others, when self-salvation is enthroned in the heart in the place of the unselfish Spirit of Christ, when man or human agency is exalted as the head of the church instead of Christ, when creed or tradition takes the place of God’s word, evil must inevitably result, the persuasion of the gospel must give place to the compulsion of law, and the seduction and persecution of souls take the place of the winning and conversion of souls.
The Reformation.
The great Reformation of the sixteenth century struck a mighty blow at the apostasy, and laid again in principle the true foundation of the gospel. This was done in principle, not in fact; for the Reformers did not have all the light of God’s word. But they held principles which, had these principles been carried out, would have led those who followed them into all truth. These were righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ, of which faithful obedience to God is the legitimate fruit; the absolute divorce of Church and State, or the non-interference of the civil magistrate with matters of conscience and religion; and the Holy Bible as the ultimate and paramount authority in all matters of religious faith and teaching. These principles, if they had been followed, would not only have led to the elimination of all error received from the great apostasy, but to the acceptance of all truth as God in his wisdom and goodness "opened the Scriptures" to his church.
But the Reformation halted. The successors of the Reformers exalted the Reformers above Christ, in exalting their interpretation of God’s word above the word itself. They had run but a little way when the doctrines held by the Reformers were crystallized into various creeds. Free souls in the investigation of God’s word were carried beyond the creed, because the living word could not be circumscribed by a cold, lifeless creed; and, in order to check these heresies, the power of the State was enlisted, and the reformed churches, following the example of the great apostate church, committed fornication with the kings of the earth.
But other churches went beyond the disciples of Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Cranmer, Latimer. Free America made churches separate from the State. Errors were cast away. The denominations which came out of the churches of the Reformation quickened and helped those very churches out of which they came, as did the Methodists the Church of England. But the goal of the church is not yet reached. The primitive union and power is lacking. The union for which Christ prayed, and which Paul enjoined, is not seen. A volume of testimony might be given from prominent men in various denominations showing that gospel faith, gospel piety, Christian union, are greatly lacking, while fearful backsliding, and gross worldliness, and cold formalism are like a canker, eating out all vital godliness.
Division and Confusion.
But, apart from the lack of piety, what is and has been the condition of the churches as regards Christian union during the last century and a half? The answer is obvious to all,—division and confusion, not only between different churches, but in the same church. Take some of the most prominent doctrines of Christianity and note the division of sentiment and teaching:—
1. The Atonement. We have not only Universalists, Predestinarians, and Arminians, but a multitude of other beliefs, all of which may be unscriptural, and all of which save one must be unscriptural.
2. In the matter of Church Government we have all grades and stages, from flat anarchy without a head, heavenly or earthly, all the way along up to the Papacy.
3. In the Nature of Man we find various schools, divided between Universalism and eternal torment on the one hand, holding to man’s inherent immortality, and, on the other hand, those who believe in life only through Christ, who hold to conditional immortality.
4. The Millennium is held by some to mean the world’s conversion, by means now in operation; by others, Christ’s personal reign on earth; by still others, to refer to that time when the earth shall lie desolate. Which class is right? All cannot be.
5. Christ’s Second Coming is held by some to be spiritual, by others to be at death, by others to be after the thousand years, by others still, to be impending. There is no union on this important doctrine, so emphasized in the New Testament.
6. The Spiritual Gifts bestowed on the church at the first advent of Christ are by many held to be discontinued; or are utterly repudiated; others declare they will be restored.
7. To some the Bible is an Inspired Book as no other book is inspired; to others it is but the evidence of the "inspiration of the ages" which produced it.
8. The Saints’ Reward—is it at death or at Christ’s coming? Is it "beyond the bounds of time and space," or is it on this earth renewed? Concerning this subject, which is connected with that of the resurrection, there is great diversity of opinion.675
9. Upon the Sabbath question, one of the crucial questions of the time, there is the same division of creed. Some hold the seventh day as the Sabbath till the cross, but since that the first day. Others believe in no Sabbath outside of the Levitical dispensation, observing Sunday because of human law or expediency. Others believe the seventh day to be the Sabbath of all dispensations.
10. Upon the question of Church and State, or the interference of the State in religious matters, there is the same diversity of opinion.
Now here are ten important doctrines, which are all made prominent in the word of God, but over which the church stands divided. These divisions have been the cause of endless strife and much blasphemy from the enemies of the Lord. In fact, they have turned men to infidelity instead of to faith. True, it is often said that all this confusion is better, because by it the different denominations reach different men. But not so speaks Christ. He prayed that his people might "be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." When Christ greets his church at his coming, that church will be without "spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," ready to welcome him in his glory. But it is evident to all that the church of Christ since apostolic days has not met the prayer of Christ, does not stand ready to meet him. Division and confusion exist everywhere.
This condition of division and confusion God calls "Babylon," a word meaning "confusion." He does not apply it as a term of reproach, but as indicative of the true state of the church. Of the origin of the term we will speak later. But while God has seen the divisions, he has desired to heal them, to bring order out of confusion. The means ordained for that purpose we will consider in our next.
TRY THE SPIRITS.
By Ellen G. White
“BELOVED, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
In this age of the world we see every grade and degree of skepticism. There are rank infidels, those who believe in the lying wonders of Spiritualism, and those who reject the claims of divine truth. All these are placed among the class that John has written of, and are controlled by the spirit of antichrist. Ignorance of the character of God, pride of understanding, and the love of sin, are the source of infidelity. Men deny the divinity of Christ, cast away the Bible, and thus seek to free themselves from personal accountability to God. They bring the Bible into conflict with “science, falsely so called.” These doubters can start inquiries which the most humble and pious Christian would be perplexed to know how to answer. But because their queries cannot be answered, is no evidence that the Bible is not true. A little child has asked questions in regard to God, the soul, and the future, that the most learned could not answer. The truth of God’s word will be revealed to those who are of a lowly heart, who will comprehend its duties and obey its precepts. It is pride of opinion that leads to skepticism, and to the denial of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Skepticism has its origin in love of sin, love of ambition, and self-exaltation.
Jesus, the world’s Redeemer, is the channel through which all our blessings come, and those who refuse to acknowledge him as the divine Son of God, virtually say, “I will not have this man to rule over me.” Those who are self-willed, puffed up with pride and self-importance, while they will not give up their wills to be in harmony with God’s will, yet will accept the delusions of false prophets, and be led to refuse to acknowledge Christ as the Son of God. Skeptics and infidels may profess to be doing good work, but they are greatly deceived. They are trampling676upon the blood of the covenant, and counting that which should have sanctified them as an unholy thing. There are many who have not taken the ground that infidels take, and yet they are in the first stages of infidelity. They question everything that is of a divine character, seeking to bring down everything to the level of that which is common and natural. Their minds are like a sponge, and absorb every suggestion of unbelief. They pass these suggestions to others, and thus sow the seeds of skepticism, and what they sow they will reap. When a believer seeks to answer one question started by a skeptic, he will propound another and another. The only way to do is to let skeptics alone until they truly desire light. Let those who engage in controversy with these wily opponents remember that they are not meeting men, not wrestling “against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” The confederacy of evil is seeking to poison human minds with error, and obscure the light of truth.
Skeptics think that they can mingle their darkness with light, and thus confuse the believer in the Bible. It is not because they have so great a depth of reasoning that they do not believe, but because they are ignorant both of the Scriptures and power of God. The truth of God will be assailed by the cavils of infidelity. It is considered a special proof of intellectual greatness to be bold in denying the divinity of Christ; but this is not a proof of intellectual greatness, but is an evidence that the mind is bound about with earthliness so that it does not comprehend spiritual truth. God does not require men to believe the Scriptures without giving them abundant evidence of their truth, and the evidences of Christianity would overwhelm the most gifted man who diligently sought for truth, and was willing to consecrate himself to its promulgation. Those who do accept the evidences of God’s word will have an experience that will be as a barrier against infidelity, for they will be translated out of darkness into the precious light of faith, hope, and assurance. The converted soul can say, I needed help, and I found that help in Jesus. He has met every want, satisfied the hungering of my soul, and the Bible to me is the revelation of Jesus Christ. He can say to the infidel, “You ask me why I believe in Jesus? and I answer, Because he is to me a divine Saviour. The Bible to me is the voice of God. I have the witness in myself that the word of God is true, and that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God. I am following no cunningly devised fable.”
When men pour contempt upon Christianity, tell them what you know by experience. The beings of the celestial world are amazed when those whom Christ has purchased with his own blood, whom God has invited with the voice of mercy, turn into a jest the messages of the gospel, and deny the divinity of their Redeemer. They are building upon a sandy foundation, with threads and fragments of human reasoning, but their theories will vanish like dew when the glory of the Lord is revealed. Believers do not claim that every question and objection which Satan can invent and instill into the minds of men can be answered in so many words. Men will be given sufficient evidence on which to found their faith; but if they are determined to doubt, they will stumble on the dark mountains of unbelief. They will show that they have never submitted their proud hearts to Jesus Christ, and make an excuse for not doing so the fact that with their finite minds they cannot solve all the difficulties which they imagine are in the Bible.
Spiritualism is a dangerous phase of infidelity, and we should not go into the assemblies of Spiritualists prompted by motives of curiosity. In so doing we are placing ourselves on Satan’s ground, and cannot expect help from God unless he has a work for us to do to speak some message to those who are ignorant and deceived, and immediately leave the assembly. “They are of the world; therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.” The erroneous doctrine that the soul is immortal is almost universally received by the world, and the belief that the dead go immediately to heaven gives Spiritualism a deep hold upon the people. Believing this doctrine men have nothing with which to shield themselves from the errors of Spiritualism. Through evil spirits they receive communications, and accept them as messages from their lost loved ones. Satan and his agents personate their dead friends, and thus impart to them Satanic delusions. But God has given us a rule whereby to test what is truth. The prophet says: “To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” “He that is of God heareth God’s word.” “We are of God; he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
Led by the Spirit
Led by the Spirit.—How often when the claims of God’s law, and especially his holy Sabbath, are presented, persons will exclaim, “I am led by the Spirit of God; I am not under law.” This is invariably presented as an excuse, a justification, for disobedience to the plain command of God. Such persons have little idea of the nature of God’s law or the work of his Spirit. Is it not the law of God? Did he not himself speak it, and write it, and give it to his people? Has not he declared it “perfect,” and “holy and just and good”? Is not the Spirit which creates, gives life, moulds action, his Spirit? Is it not of his very life and nature as the law is of his character and government? Would the Spirit of God lead away from the law of God? The law itself “is spiritual” (Rom. 7:14), and would not the Spirit of God lead us to a spiritual law? In fact, God, by the grace of his goodness and power of his Spirit, sets us free “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Rom. 8:4. He who declares that he is led of the Spirit while knowingly transgressing God’s law does not know God’s Spirit. He does not realize that he is setting God against himself and making Christ the minister of sin.
MORE PROTESTANT FAWNING.
By W. N. G.
THE very patronizing act of the W. C. T. U. in congratulating a Catholic convention “on the possession of such leaders as Archbishops Satolli and Ireland, and Bishop Watterson,” has its companion piece. The Catholic Summer School, which is conducted something after the Chautauqua plan, held its session at Plattsburg, N. Y., and one day a profound sensation was created by the following congratulatory dispatch from Chautauqua:—
CHAUTAUQUA, N. Y., Aug. 7.
By a vote of 5,000 Chautauquans, to-night, Chautauqua sends greeting and best wishes to the Catholic Summer School. JOHN H. VINCENT.
The president of the Catholic school returned an equally felicitous reply, and the Catholic News comments as follows on the incident:—
It was a gracious act of the great Chautauqua, a Methodist institution, to send greetings and good wishes, last week, to the Catholic Summer School, as told in our report of the proceedings of the summer school, this week. The Catholics of America appreciate the kindly action of the Methodist body.
One of the exercises of this Catholic Summer School was a series of discourses on the Bible by a Jesuit priest named Pardow. In one of these we note a marked reflection upon Luther and the Reformation, in such expressions as these:—
The Reformation consistently had no Bible logically. With requirements of reason, there is no possible way of authentication but by God. Christ had said: “All power is given to me. Go ye therefore and teach;” and he thus established an authority, and that authority decides what is the Bible. The church met in council in the year 397, with St. Augustine as head. They fell back on the promise of Christ, “All my power I give to you.” These God-directed men said what was to be Bible, and what not, and Luther and the others had but human authority, which every man had. . . . It is absurd to think that the whole Bible, and nothing else, is the rule of faith. It would be unreasonable. . . . People were blinded in Luther’s time, not to question his statements.
Inasmuch as “The Bible, and the Bible alone,” is the original Protestant watchword, a school where such a principle is declared to be “absurd” and “unreasonable” would hardly seem to be a subject of Protestant congratulation. That a bishop of a leading Protestant denomination, in the name of a great Protestant educational system, should send such “greeting and best wishes” is decidedly significant. W. N. G.
Frances Willard and Political Temperance
By Editor
Miss Frances Willard, it is reported, is about to play a new rôle in the temperance problem. Of course everybody knows that she has long since left Christian temperance in the background and made prominent “political temperance.” Now she says: “It is social conditions which make men drunkards, and our organizations too frequently neglect to make allowance for that fact. In my opinion we shall be obliged to become the champions of the trades unions, and work with might and main to better the industrial condition of wage earners before the vice of drunkenness can be attacked.” And the labor unions will never be helped thereby, and the W. C. T. U. will sink still lower. It once did noble work in Christian lines; but the organization is Christian no longer.
PEACE.
By J. H. Smith
On ocean's surface storms arise,
And angry surges threat the skies.
And many a vessel, tempest tost,
Amid the waves is wrecked and lost,
While deep within his mighty breast
The quiet waters are at rest,
For in the regions far below
No storms his silent caverns know.
So on the sea of human life
Arise the waves of care and strife;
And griefs and troubles often sweep
Across the surface of life's deep,
While in the constant soul resides
A peace untouched by sorrow's tides,
A steadfast peace, an inward joy,
Which nothing earthly can destroy,—
The boon a gracious heaven imparts
To faithful souls and willing hearts.
—J. H. Smith.
DAILY BLESSINGS.
By Elliot C. Chapman
BY ELLIOT C. CHAPMAN.
IN the daily recurring blessings of sunshine and shadow are shown the love of a heavenly Father who continues to shower his mercies upon the just and the unjust with a liberality so broad that it reaches the world around. Though oft forgetful of his loving-kindness, and sometimes willfully disobedient of his entreaties, the Lord has not left his children to shift for themselves, as justice might allow, a band of rebels on a desert shore, but sends, along with other mercies, shower and sunbeam, to keep alive the face of nature. By such gracious gifts life is maintained and probation extended, with the way left open of attaining to the life that is to come.
As the seasons come and go with apparent regularity, and the cycle of "first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear," is repeated o'er and o'er, we are prone to attribute it all to natural laws, without giving glory to the God of nature, whose power is the very essence of these laws, and whose love prompts their exercise.
As to what portion of our blessings are derived from the One who notes the sparrow's fall, let us read what the Scriptures testify: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1: 17. Again we read, "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from Heaven." John 3: 27.
While with each of us there is a continual reception of unmerited favors, our course need not be like the dumb brute, which fills its stomach with food and utters no word of thanks. On the contrary, we should be "giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Eph. 5: 20.
Though poor, afflicted, and tossed about on life's restless sea, there is no one so poor but what he has, or may have, in our blessed Saviour, something to fill the heart with overflowing thanks and transform the thorns into flowers and the stumbling-stones of life's journey into stepping-stones heavenward.