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Review and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 17.

The Great Standard of Righteousness

Review and Herald

Apr 23, 1901

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 23, 1901

The Great Standard of Righteousness

By Ellen G. White

Mrs. E. G. White
The Lord has taken infinite pains to teach men His will. He has given them His law, which is to govern the world. It demands perfect obedience from rich and poor, high and low. Its divine requirements are that we love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves. Its principles are binding upon the angels and upon all human intelligences. Without the law there could be no transgression; for “sin is the transgression of the law.” “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” The standard of righteousness, it is exceeding broad, prohibiting every evil thing.
Satan sees that to call the attention of human beings to the righteousness of the law barricades the soul against his specious devices. His only hope for securing the world is to lead men to ignore the law, to make them believe that the law is null and void, that belief in Christ is all that is necessary. If Satan can so deceive the world that sin will not appear exceeding sinful, he has gained what he desires to gain. And he has succeeded in leading multitudes to believe his falsehoods. Ministers of the gospel preach against the law, and especially against the Fourth Commandment.
We are nearing the close of this earth’s history. Satan is making desperate efforts to make himself god, to speak and act like God, to appear as one who has a right to control the consciences of men. He strives with all his power to place a human institution in the position of God’s holy rest-day. Under the jurisdiction of the man of sin, men have exalted a false standard in complete opposition to God’s enactment. Each Sabbath institution bears the name of its author, an ineffaceable mark showing the authority of each. The first day of the week has not one particle of sanctity. It is the production of the man of sin, who strives in this way to counterwork God’s purposes.
God has designated the seventh day as His Sabbath. He declares, “Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. . . . It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.” “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.”
Thus the distinction is drawn between the loyal and the disloyal. Those who desire to have the seal of God in their foreheads must keep the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment. Thus they are distinguished from the disloyal, who have accepted a man-made institution in place of the true Sabbath. The observance of God’s rest-day is a mark of distinction between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.
When men make the assertion that a change has been made in the law of God’s government, they cast a reflection upon God’s character. If the law was just when given to Adam, it is just to-day. “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass,” Christ declared, “than one tittle of the law to fail.”
The substitution of the false for the true is the last act in the drama. When this substitution becomes universal, God will reveal himself. When the laws of men are exalted above the laws of God, when the powers of this earth try to force men to keep the first day of the week, know that the time has come for God to work. He will arise in His majesty, and will shake terribly the earth. He will come out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the world for their iniquity. The earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
The belief that the law of God is not the standard of righteousness is now almost universal in the Christian world. Professed Christians think that the more contempt they place upon the law, the more commendable they are in God’s sight. Each human being exerts an influence upon those with whom he associates. Those who are willing to be led by false theories and unsound doctrines, who build their hopes for eternity on shifting sand, will find that the storm and tempest of trial will sweep away their refuge of lies. Their structure will fall, and they will perish,—lost, lost for all eternity.
Adam listened to the words of the tempter, and yielding to his insinuations, fell into sin. Why was not the death penalty at once enforced, in his case?—Because a ransom was found. God’s only begotten Son volunteered to take the sin of man upon himself, and to make an atonement for the fallen race. There could have been no pardon for sin had this atonement not been made. Had God pardoned Adam’s sin without an atonement, sin would have been immortalized, and would have been perpetuated with a boldness that would have been without restraint. Remember how soon after the transgression of Adam the apostasy of his posterity became so marked that God repented that He had made man.
They followed the imaginations of their evil hearts, and the strivings of the Spirit were not heeded. They refused to be admonished. They had an abundance of blessings for their own enjoyment, and they soon forgot that they had forfeited immortality.
God granted them one hundred and twenty years of probation, and during that time preached to them through Methuselah, Noah, and many others of His servants. Had they listened to the testimony of these faithful witnesses, had they repented and returned to their loyalty, God would not have destroyed them. But warnings made an impression on them only for a time. Christ was their atoning sacrifice, their Mediator, but they had no faith in Him, and His intercessions in their behalf were unavailing. As the time of probation drew nearer its close, the service due to God from them passed entirely from their thoughts; and the word went forth, “The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
After the flood the earth was again corrupted under its inhabitants, and the signal judgments of God fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah. But soon this punishment was forgotten, and once more men corrupted their way before God, turning from the worship of the Creator to the worship of idols. God called out the Hebrew people from slavery, and from Sinai gave them His law. But Egypt was desolated by plagues before Pharaoh would consent to listen to the great I AM. He persisted in his stubbornness till Egypt was ruined, and the Egyptians, from the lowest serf to the king upon his throne, looked upon the dead bodies of their firstborn. Then Pharaoh consented to let the children of Israel go, but he followed them immediately with an imposing display of chariots and men of war. Another exhibition of God’s power was required. The Red Sea was opened to the Israelites, but the Egyptians who pursued them were drowned in its waters.
The terrible judgments of God which were inflicted upon the idolaters in the lands through which the children of Israel passed, caused fear and dread to fall upon all people living on the earth. But Israel, for whom so much had been done, apostatized in the very sight of Sinai. Aaron, who had been left in charge, was afraid to stand firm against the vast host who were clamoring for gods to lead them back to Egypt.
After entering Canaan, the children of Israel gradually went into idolatry. By His prophets God sent them message after message. But they forgot the instructions of their leader, and followed their own inclinations and the imagination of their own hearts, until the Lord could no longer protect them. He permitted their enemies to overcome them, and to scatter them as captives in strange lands. But still He was willing to pardon them. He promised that if they would return to Him, He would heal all their backslidings, and reinstate them in His favor. He sent them warnings, reproofs, judgments, to save them from ruin. But notwithstanding these effortsthey wandered farther and farther from Him. As represented in the parable given by Christ, God sent His messengers to them, but these were persecuted and put to death. Last of all, He sent His only begotten Son. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, . . . full of grace and truth.” But the people He came to save refused to receive Him. They rewarded Him evil for good, and in Pilate’s judgment hall He was condemned to death by crucifixion. “Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine fat? I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me.”

NOW, AND THEN

By A. Smith

A. SMITH
(Grandville, Mich.)

THE LEFT HAND

“Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.” Mal. 3 : 8, 9.
“Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat.” Matt. 25 : 41, 42.

THE RIGHT HAND

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Mal. 3 : 10.
“Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat.” Matt. 25 : 34, 35.
“The curse causeless shall not come.” Prov. 26 : 2.
It is evident that if the Lord’s curse rests upon any one of His people for any cause whatever, that curse must be removed by removing its cause before the King can say, “Come, ye blessed.” “But,” you say, “I never can cancel my past indebtedness in the matter of tithes.” Well, if yours is a parallel case, you may find comfort in studying Matt. 18:23-27.
“But,” says one, “I don’t know how to estimate my tithe.” If you had a tenth interest in an estate of ten thousand dollars, consisting of complicated interests, would you be likely to lose any of your just dues from lack of mathematical accuracy in computing it, even if you had to call to your aid an expert accountant? Even so you need have no difficulty in estimating the amount of the Lord’s tithe. All the difficulty in the matter lies on the side of “Don’t want to.” Every Seventh-day Adventist who will finally stand among the one hundred and forty-four thousand will have been approved in the matter of paying tithes, as well as in the performance of all other duties. The tithe, even as the Sabbath, is the Lord’s, and the one is as holy as the other. By paying tithes we minister meat (bread) to the laborer, and by him temporal and spiritual meat to the lost and perishing. And besides all that, the Lord promises to more than return it to us in this life, and set it to our credit in the heavenly treasure. Who can afford not to pay tithes?

THE FALSE AND THE TRUE, OR SATAN'S SEALING WORK

By Mrs. E. M. Peebles

MRS. E. M. PEEBLES
(Omaha, Neb.)
“BELOVED, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.” 1 John 4:1. In these days of “many voices,” how important that we be able to recognize the voice of the true Shepherd, and how thankful we should be that a sure test is given by which to try the spirits. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8:20. Do they by word and act show a disposition to obey God’s holy law?
Many now claim the baptism of the Spirit, and talk eloquently of love, and of Christ, and of what God has done for them; but if you press upon them the claims of God’s holy Sabbath, they at once dismiss the subject. They “do not have to keep it.” They “are not under the law, but under grace.” “All time is holy,” etc. Recently a minister who made great profession to sanctification, upon being urged to accept the Sabbath, cited as proof that he was not required to keep it, the fact (?) that he had the baptism of the Spirit, and said that God could not baptize sin, which is certainly true. Whence comes the baptism such an one has? It is certainly a deception.
To say that a man is honest is not sufficient. The heathen mother is honest and sincere in her belief that she must throw her child into the Ganges; but there is more excuse for her, because she has never heard of a better way; while of these deceived ones we read: “And for this cause [because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved], God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” 2 Thess. 2:11, 12. Some time in the past they made the choice between truth and error. The dividing line is very small at times; just the yielding of one little principle, and the whole after-current is changed. Satan has the field, and at once proceeds to weave his delusive snares. He is a wily foe. “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light,” and his ministers into ministers of righteousness. 2 Cor. 11:14, 15.
Some time in the past these deceived ones let the favorable opportunity slip, when they might have received the truth; and Satan, clothed in angel robes, stands ready to counterfeit God’s sealing work. For answer to the question whence the baptism comes, I quote the following from “Early Writings,” page 45: “I saw two companies, one bowed down before the throne, deeply interested, while the other stood uninterested and careless. . . . Those who rose up with Jesus [when He went into the most holy place] would send up their faith to Him in the holiest, and pray, ‘My Father, give us thy Spirit.’ Then Jesus would breathe upon them the Holy Ghost. In that breath was light, power, and much love, joy, and peace. I turned to look at the company who were still bowed before the throne; they did not know that Jesus had left it. Satan appeared to be by the throne, trying to carry on the work of God.” They would pray, “‘Father, give us thy Spirit.’” Satan would then breathe upon them an unholy influence; in it there was light and much power, but no sweet love, joy, and peace. Satan’s object was to keep them deceived, and to draw back and deceive God’s children.”
A quotation from “Glad Tidings,” page 99, explains the condition of those who refuse to obey God’s law. Referring to 1 Sam. 15:22, 23, the author says: “The literal Hebrew reads, ‘Rebellion is the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is iniquity and idolatry;’ and how so? Plainly enough; for they are the rejection of God, and he who rejects God puts himself under the control of evil spirits. There is no middle ground. Rejection of the Lord is the spirit of antichrist.” Such are beside themselves with zeal and excitement.
God wants us to be calm. His Spirit will lead us to an entire consecration of all the powers to God, as manifested in a life of perfect obedience to His holy law; while the counterfeit will appear excited and hurried, talking much of entire sanctification, yet never yielding obedience to the law. They will tell you, “Oh, yes; I will keep the Sabbath if God shows it to me,” but their god never shows it to them. Instead of accepting the sign of true sanctification (Ex. 31:13–17), they reject it. While it is not for us to judge individuals, it is for us to walk carefully, and try the spirits. We have the truth for these last days, and have no time to waste in becoming entangled with error and fanaticism. We need to walk softly in these “perilous times.” “If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” This kind of deception is far more dangerous than the self-evident error of Spiritualism and Christian science, being a clever counterfeit of true Christian experience: it is Satan’s sealing work, and we need to beware of it.
It is indeed sad to see dear souls led away into such awful delusion; but if we allow our sympathies to run too far toward those who reject God’s law, we shall occupy the same position as the angels who fell because they sympathized with the great rebel in heaven; and if we associate with those whose minds are beclouded, our own minds will become befogged, and our spiritual sight dim. We need to have our eyes anointed with the heavenly eyesalve, that we may discern the spirits. The voice of the true Shepherd will always lead to obedience. “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” 1 John 5:3. “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked.” 1 John 3:4, 6. We must walk by principle instead of by impressions and feeling, “Hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.”

NATURE'S “TE DEUM”

DEEP in the woods I hear an anthem ringing Along the mossy aisles where shadows lie; It is the matin hour, the choir are singing Their sweet “te deum” to the King on high.
The stately trees seem quivering with emotion, And tremble in an ecstasy of music rare, As if they felt the stirring of devotion, Touched by the dainty fingers of the air.
The grasses grow enraptured as they listen, And join their verdant voices with the choir, And tip their tiny blades that gleam and glisten As thrilled with fragrant fancies of desire.
The brooklet answers to the calling river, And, singing, slips away through arches dim; Its heart runs over, and it must deliver Unto the King of kings its liquid hymn.
A shower of melody, and then a flutter Of many wings; the birds are praising, too, And in a harmony of song they utter Their thankfulness to Him, their Master true.
In tearfulness I listen and admire The great “te deum” Nature, kneeling, sings; Ah, sweet indeed is God's majestic choir, When all the world in one pure anthem rings. — Anon.

Anxiety Is the Poison of Life

“ANXIETY is the poison of life; the parent of many sins and of more miseries. Why, then, allow it, when we know that the future is guided by a Father’s hand?”

Christianity in the Home

“Men and women, children and youth, are measured in the scales of heaven in accordance with that which they reveal in their home life. A Christian in the home is a Christian everywhere. Religion brought into the home exerts an influence that can not be measured.”

THE WAY

By B. W. Marsh

B. W. MARSH (Las Animas, Colo.)
The gospel of Jesus Christ has never offered more than it offers now. The I AM of the ages is the I AM of the chosen to-day. To Abraham He said, “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” Gen. 15:1. To the Israelitish slaves He sent the beautiful message by Moses: “I AM hath sent me unto you.” Ex. 3:14. And that all might see forever that the chain of glory connecting earth and heaven is securely linked, He tells the beloved disciple: I am “the first and the last,” “the bright and morning star.” Rev. 22:13, 16. But to the multitude of disciples, He says, “I am the way.”
Of byways there are many, but this is the only royal highway. This is the royal way, because all who walk in it are kings and priests unto God. It is a high way, not a low way. It is so high that nothing earthly, sensual, or devilish can get into it. “And it shall be called, The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there.” Isa. 35:8, 9. Jesus says, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Mary Magdalene, the demon-rent creatures from the tombs, and the guilt-stricken harlot at the gate of the temple are all examples of forgiving love.
Uncleanness shall never stain the highway of holiness; yet it is especially for the unclean and sinful. How this can be none but the Lord can tell. “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. . . . I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.” Eze. 36:26–29. In this way the redeemed shall walk there.
The world is afraid of God. The appearance of a godly man or woman will in almost every case silence the boisterous gathering. Even the walk of a Christian carries with it the sweet perfume of heavenly rest. The way of holiness is restful, and it matters not how weary one may be, when he hears a voice behind him, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it,” every action of the life will soon reveal quietness and peace.
“God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” He identified His life with the life of His Son that we might be reconciled to Him. Through Jesus Christ, God wooes and wins the hearts of men. He loves us with an everlasting love, and with loving-kindness draws us to himself.
The Redeemer prayed, “That they all may 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. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” John 17:21–23. This is the way—the noblest, simplest way that infinite Love can plan. Through the I AM of the ages, the Father of all wooes the human heart; and through this same I AM, sin-polluted souls are led to yield to the gentle embrace of infinite love.
“Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.” Isa. 43:1–3. Many regard the highway of holiness as a lost way, and think that since the days of the Master none have been able to find it; but this is a mistake. The way is not lost, but we all, like sheep, have gone astray. But “thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” Isa. 30:21. None need be lost. None need die. The voice behind you is the voice of the Redeemer. He longs to do you good. Turn unto Him and live for evermore.

A SUGGESTIVE CONTRAST

By Editor

New York Tribune
“HAVE mercy upon all Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy word.” This is the prayer which will be offered in many a Christian house of worship to-day. What petitions Mohammedans may make in our behalf, or what prayers the children of Israel will offer up for their Gentile neighbors, we are unable to say; but a curious commentary on this Good Friday collect is to be found in two stories, of which most newspapers in this neighborhood made note at the time.
The one is that of a young girl who leaves her family, to earn her own living by “teaching school” in a Connecticut village rejoicing in the Scriptural name of Mount Carmel. She has not been many months in this community when stories to her disadvantage begin to be whispered about, and finally some anonymous scoundrel brings charges before the school committee, accusing her of being an “immoral person, unfit to teach the young.” Vague as to facts, but on investigation bent, two members of the board of visitors—one of them a clergyman—call at the schoolhouse, and for eight long hours, without intermission, subject the poor girl to a trial that reminds one forcibly of the examination of a “suspect” before a French juge d’instruction. For eight long hours these inquisitors question, and cross-question, badger, torment, and frighten an inexperienced girl against whom there is no proof whatever of misbehavior beyond a little youthful imprudence and some not unnatural thoughtlessness. Not content with this, they next proceed to call in the school children, one by one, and interrogate them as to what they know about their teacher’s daily doings. After this humiliating ordeal the poor victim goes home, and the next morning, her mind having given way under the strain, she is found lying unconscious in a snowdrift, all but dead from mental excitement and physical exposure.
The other story is that of a young woman of Jewish parentage who mysteriously disappears from her home in Brooklyn. For a while no trace of her is found anywhere. After a week or so a friend of the family, much upset at finding that the police suspect him of being implicated in her disappearance, attempts suicide, and on his deathbed (as he supposes) confesses to a knowledge of her hiding-place. In the house of a midwife in this city she is found by her distracted parents only a few days after the birth of her child. There is no room here for doubt or uncertainty. No inquisitorial proceeding is necessary to wring a confession of the wretched story from her lips. The one stubborn fact—her maternity—is not to be gainsaid. She has violated all moral and social law. In the eyes of a charitable world she had become an “outcast.” In Mount Carmel she would only inspire loathing.
But how do the parents, whose hearts she has wrung, and whose heads she has bowed, treat this weak and erring child? How, indeed? Is she repudiated and thrown out upon the world to hide her shame as best she may, and, alone and unprotected, to go from bad to worse because no helping hand is held out, no respectable future considered possible for her?—No; O ye Carmelites! She is forgiven; her sin is forgotten; she is welcomed—she and her child—by those whom her transgression dishonored. The parental roof once more shelters her whom you would cast into the snowdrifts of an unfeeling world. She still has a future before her.
The moral courage of that step, in the face of society’s prejudices, reveals a spirit of devotion and sacrifice on the part of those Jewish parents that is sublime.
And yet—and yet—we shall go on, no doubt,praying, as for many years past, “Have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy word.”

THREE GATES OF GOLD

By The Evangelist

If you are tempted to reveal A tale some one to you has told About another, make it pass, Before you speak, three gates of gold.
These narrow gates — first, “Is it true?” Then “Is it needful?” in your mind Give thankful answer; and the next Is last and narrowest, “Is it kind?”
And if to reach your lips at last It passes through these gateways three, Then you must tell the tale, nor fear What the result of speech may be.
— The Evangelist.

PRESS TOGETHER

By Mrs. H. E. S. Hopkins

MRS. H. E. S. HOPKINS
(Battle Creek, Mich.)
If there was ever a time in this world's history when we needed one another's help and prayers, it is the present. To dwell upon and talk about the faults and imperfections we discover in others is not the way to help them. Such a course lessens our esteem for them, and repels them.
Let us see what the Lord says on this subject. First, we notice a command: “These things I command you, that ye love one another.” John 15:17. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” 1 John 4:11. In the third chapter we have a statement still stronger: “We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren”—not tear the brethren down.
In Ps. 15:1–3 we read: “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? . . . He that backbiteth not . . . nor taketh [“receiveth,” margin] up a reproach against his neighbor.” The Lord further says: “Thou shalt not raise [“receive,” margin] a false report.” Ex. 23:1. “Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people.” Lev. 19:16. “Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” Ps. 105:15.
How careful we should be not to scatter the influence of those in positions of trust, but stay up the hands of ministers, physicians, editors, and others. They have much to perplex and try them while engaged in the duties devolving upon them, and we should remember them in our prayers.
Every moment is precious. Why not improve time by taking advance steps in the upward way? Let us heed the instruction, “Press together,” and thus follow the golden rule, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”

Parents’ Sins and Children’s Health

“MANY are suffering in consequence of the transgression of their parents. They can not be censured for their parents’ sins, but it is nevertheless their duty to ascertain wherein their parents violated the laws of their being; and wherein their parents’ habits were wrong, they should change their own course, and place themselves, by correct habits, in a better relation to health.”

CHRIST IN YOU

By Mrs. H. W. Pierce

MRS. H. W. PIERCE (Oxford, Miss.)
As I have read our precious REVIEW, Glad Tidings, and other literature making plain the great mystery of “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” I have been amazed at the goodness and long-suffering of our God in giving “line upon line, line upon line,” to teach His people this great essential truth, “Abide in me, and I in you.”
Our loving Father well knows that if we fail to depend upon His indwelling presence, we shall be swept away in the hour of temptation so soon to come upon us. Union with Christ, even as He is one with the Father, is plainly taught by Jesus himself; and when this great truth is recognized by each one of us, we shall render praise and gratitude to God, with humility of soul. When, with self-surrender and firm faith, we are enabled to appropriate the theory of this blessed union to our individual need, then, and not till then, does the soul experience the uplifting power of His constant presence. But even with this relation to the dear Saviour, we find ourselves human, our feelings changeable. He who controlled the foaming waves of Galilee is at the helm, and says, as of old, “Be still, and know that I am God.”
It may be you have labored for others to the best of your ability, and been repulsed with prejudice or indifference, if not with positive insult; still you can not be discouraged, because your mind is in union with Him of whom it is written, “He shall not fail nor be discouraged.” Upon Him you lean. You learn of Him meekness and lowliness, because His presence in the heart transforms it from the natural to the spiritual, even to His own nature. It may be you are ill-treated by those whom you love and for whom you labor, still you may not become impatient, for we read that Jesus “was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth.” It is true that we feel sad when misrepresented and maligned by those we love; yet if self is dead, we do not pity ourselves, but only grieve that those dear ones have not this union with Christ, so that they may reveal His character more perfectly.
Pitiable indeed is the case of him who departs from the Lord after having known His blessed presence; for being left to himself, as was Saul, the king of Israel, he is in want of help and counsel, which he can not obtain from God, because his connection with the divine is broken, and, like Saul, he seeks to the Lord’s enemies.
Even though Saul knew that God had rent the kingdom from him and from his family, he did not accept the will of God, and in penitence humble himself, as David did, later in life. Instead, he pathetically seeks the sympathy of the people. Listen: “All of you have conspired against me, . . . and there is none of you that is sorry for me.”
Again: when the Ziphites put themselves on Satan’s side in helping Saul to find David that he might destroy him, Saul says, “Blessed be ye of the Lord; for ye have compassion on me.” But Saul knew he was wrong. Had he repented, he might have received pardon and had peace with God even though the kingdom could not be restored to him.
Though long and sorely persecuted by Saul, David reveals an indwelling Saviour in refusing to take revenge, and trusting God to bring about his deliverance. He loved his enemy, and lamented his sad end, as well as that of Saul’s son Jonathan, who was so dear to David.
We may take courage from the life of David. His heart was loyal, he trusted in God; and when he sinned, he repented with all his soul, and found pardon and acceptance with the Lord. Thus may it be with us; victory is ours by faith even now, and all the way along. Except Christ be victorious in us through our faith and submission, we fail to reveal Him in our lives, and thus reflect no light upon others; but with Him, others are helped and comforted by us.

THE NEW HEAVENS

By W. S. Adams

W. S. ADAMS
“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.” Isa. 65: 17. In the first verse of Genesis we read: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
The creation of the heavens and the creation of the earth are inseparably associated in Holy Writ. Why? — Because one is just as essential to the well being of man as is the other. A new earth with our present heavens, or atmosphere, would be futile. In the first creation God gave to the earth an atmosphere suitable for it, whence came a climate, or weather, that was propitious for every living thing on the earth. The envelope that then surrounded the earth was perfect, as designed by the Creator; and as a result all nature bloomed and flourished in the rich exuberance of the life given of God.
But sin entered, and immediately there was a change: the heavens, which had been so mild and Edenic, suddenly became untoward. Adam at once felt his need of covering, and God gave him a “coat of skins,” to protect his body from the ever-changing weather. From that day to this there has been constant atmospheric retrogression. As sin has increased, so have the heavens become unfavorable. We who live at the present time can not imagine the glory of the first heavens. It is only by studying the Word that we can approach to an appreciation of their beauty and grandeur. The glory of God then surrounded the earth, giving joy and beauty, love and fellowship, to all life. Then there was no winter chill, nor summer drought; all nature was in sympathy complete. Where bloomed the fragrant rose also grew the lichens. The gazelle and the reindeer pastured together. So perfectly blended were the elements of heat and cold that nature knew no change. The whole earth was habitable from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.
To-day the curse rests heavily upon the earth, but much more so on the heavens. The earth will nearly everywhere respond to the hand of man if climatic influences are favorable. But because of the desolate condition of the heavens man's labor is often vain: instead of the seventy-fold increase, he may receive barely ten — often not that. In Jer. 2: 12 we read: “Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this [because of sin], and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate.” As is a broken cistern compared with fountains of living waters, so are the present heavens compared with the glorious new heavens. To-day they are not clean in the sight of God. Job 15: 15. The taint of miasm, the foul breath of malaria, is ever abroad. Disease is caused everywhere because of this uncleanness.
Drought and flood, extreme heat and cold, are but the results of this cause. The thorn, the thistle, the degenerate plant, the imperfect fruit and grain of the present earth are just as directly traceable to the unfavorable climate as to the earth's retrogression, each, because of sin, failing to work out the original beneficent purposes of God.
But, praise the Lord, this condition of things is not to last. Christ died to redeem the heavens from the power of the enemy, as well as the earth and man. He is the Saviour. “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth.” The glorious new heavens are always mentioned first. God would have His people know of them; to be just as full of knowledge, faith, and delight of them as of the new earth. The Sabbath is just as much a memorial of them as it is of the earth and the works therein.
We are given this instruction in 2 Peter 3: 5: “By the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth. . . . But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” Of thefuture creation we read: “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” Verse 13. And to those who are looking for this glorious consummation the apostle says: “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” Verse 14. How can we look for such things except we are conversant with them?
If a consideration of the new earth be edifying, certainly also is a knowledge of this other new creation and its consequences. Verily, God intends that we shall study and rejoice over one as over the other. As our faith and understanding lay hold of the upbuilding promises and purposes of God, so shall we be encouraged and saved; so shall our eyes be made clean to see the home beyond, and we be led to give glory to God.
The day of deliverance draweth nigh, when “the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll,” when they “shall vanish away like smoke,” when Satan for a millennium abides in a heavenless earth amid the wreck and ruin he has wrought. We read, in Eze. 32: 7, 8: “And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark [darkness]; . . . and the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon the land, saith the Lord God.” After that come the New Jerusalem, the creation of the new heavens, and of the new earth, the abiding place of God's people evermore. Then shall be the time mentioned in Isa. 49: 13: “Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted His people.”
Blessed comfort! Then when the restored earth is moved back into her place, “the heavens shall give their dew,” as in the beginning; and “the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.” Zech. 8: 12. “And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel.” Hosea 2: 21, 22. O blessed condition! O full fruition of the hopes of the righteous!
Gladsome day, hasten on, when, under the benign influence of a pure atmosphere and a redeemed earth, man shall flourish “like an herb,” “and grow up as calves of the stall.”
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