Review and Herald, Vol. 81, No. 28. (7/14/1904)

Review and Herald

Jul 14, 1904

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 14, 1904

— A. A. PROCTER

By A. A. Procter

“Let the Words of My Mouth . . . be Acceptable in Thy Sight”

Words are lighter than the cloud-foam Of the restless ocean spray, Vainer than the trembling shadow That the next hour steals away. By the fall of summer rain-drops Is the air as deeply stirred; And the rose leaf that we tread on Will outlive a word.

Yet, on the dull silence breaking, With a lightning flash, a word, Bearing endless desolation On its blighting wings, I heard: Earth can forge no keener weapon, Dealing surer death and pain, And the cruel echo answered Through long years again.

I have known one word hang, star-like, O'er a dreary waste of years, And it only shone the brighter Looked at through a mist of tears, While a weary wanderer gathered Hope and heart on life's dark way, By its faithful promise, shining Clearer day by day.

I have known a spirit, calmer Than the calmest lake, and clear As the heavens that gazed upon it, With no wave of hope or fear; But a storm had swept across it, And its deepest depths were stirred (Never, never more to slumber) Only by a word.

I have known a word more gentle Than the breath of summer air; In a listening heart it nestled, And it lived forever there. Not the beating of its prison Stirred it ever, night or day; Only with the heart’s last throbbing Could it fade away.

Words are mighty, words are living: Serpents with their venomous stings, Or bright angels, crowding round us, With heaven’s light upon their wings; Every word has its own spirit, True or false, that never dies; Every word man’s lips have uttered Echoes in God’s skies.

— A. A. PROCTER

Publishers' Page

By Editor

Conducted by the Department of Circulation of the Review and Herald Publishing Company

During Vacation

The Home and Church-School Manual

is especially valuable. The author's intention was that this book should be a guide to the parent in instructing the children at home, so that, when entering the church-school, they will have had the proper home training, and can continue in the church-school without interruption. This book is invaluable to any one interested in the teaching of children, as the following condensed description of its six departments will show:—

Part I sets forth the general principles of Christian education, and states the object of the church-schools.

Part II applies these principles to the home training, and shows parents how to educate their children in the home until they are old enough to enter the church-school.

Part III provides a course of study for church-schools, recommends text-books, and tells how to teach each subject in every grade.

Part IV presents a course of study for intermediate schools, and outlines the principles upon which they should be conducted.

Part V contains hints and helps for teachers, based upon questions which they are asked, and drawn from the long experience of the author.

Part VI solves many of the practical problems in the church-school work with which the people are everywhere dealing.

Bound in cloth, with ornamental design, 50 cents.

Thoughts on Revelation

Lesson Helps for the Third Quarter of 1904

No book can be found more helpful on the study of the lessons for the coming quarter than the book “Thoughts on Revelation.” It is a verse-by-verse study of the entire book, making it especially desirable for reference and study.

You will always have more or less occasion to seek knowledge on the book of Revelation, as well as on the book of Daniel. “Thoughts on Revelation” is bound with “Thoughts on Daniel” in permanent form in one volume, as follows:—

Cloth, plain ........................ $1.00 Cloth, marbled ...................... 2.25 Cloth, gilt .......................... 2.75 Library .............................. 3.00 Morocco .............................. 4.50

The Message Simply Told

In another column will be found a report from Brother R. L. Routt, regarding the sale of the special Watchman in Texas. It will be noticed that his wife and sister visited New Orleans, and sold a few hundred in that city. The following letter from Mr. — is doubtless the result of his buying a copy from one of these sisters. This gentleman states that “it is the best and most instructive weekly” that he ever read, which goes to show how it is being received by those not of our faith. The text of his letter is given in full, as follows:—

“Enclosed please find express money-order for fifty cents, for which please mail to —, New Orleans, La., for six months, your weekly Southern Watchman. It is the best and most instructive weekly that I have ever read. Your recent issue on the second coming of Christ should win for you a great number of subscribers. I never heard of your paper until two weeks ago. You should get it in circulation down here. New Orleans people need it.”

Do you not think that there are other cities in which the Watchman is needed also? Will you not give the people in your vicinity an opportunity to secure a copy of this special number, and also to become regular subscribers, that they may continue studying the message? There are many, both young and old, who could take a club, work up a few regular customers and deliver a copy to them each week for five cents. In clubs of five or more to one address, the regular issues are furnished at 1½ cents each (75 cents a year), which gives a profit of 3½ cents each to the person selling it. Being both a missionary and a church paper, it seems to meet the minds of all better than a straight missionary paper or a church publication only; for it is observed that the people like to know something of what is being done by this denomination. Many will read it for this purpose who otherwise would lay it aside. The Watchman has on its editorial staff some of the old pioneers in this message, whose long experience enables them to proclaim the stirring truths for this time in no uncertain tones. The language of the paper is plain and simple, and furnishes each week most excellent reading for the entire family. Will you not help extend its usefulness by subscribing yourself if you are not already receiving it, and by getting others to do so, either by the year or by the week?

Address Southern Publishing Association, 1025 Jefferson St., Nashville, Tenn.

Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing

In English and German

An excellent book and companion volume to “Steps to Christ.” “Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing” is by Mrs. E. G. White, and the words of Christian counsel and encouragement taken from the sermon on the mount will be found beneficial to saint and sinner.

This book has been re-illustrated with engravings prepared especially for it. Bound in cloth, with cover design, 75 cts.; and in half calf—blue—making a beautiful present, $1.

We also have a number of cloth copies of “Mount of Blessing” imported by us from Germany, and shall be glad to supply our German friends in their own language. Price, 75 cts., postpaid.

Simplicity Tract Rack

Something Neat—Something Cheap

A TRACT RACK YOU CAN AFFORD TO USE IN QUANTITIES

We now manufacture a good, substantial tract rack made of oak-grain strawboard, in imitation of wood, and capable of holding a quantity of five or six different kinds of tracts.

Formerly, tract racks did good, but cost too much; now, tract racks will continue to do good, and cost very little.

You can carry a dozen of our tract racks in one hand.

Turn in the ends, bind with two pins, and the rack is ready for use.

Tract racks will do their work while you do yours.

Price, 20 cts. each, postpaid.

Send for six racks, and put them in the dentists' and doctors' offices, barber shops, lunch rooms and hotels, railway stations, etc., in your town,—everywhere where people are compelled to wait.

Many persons date their first knowledge of Bible truth to literature obtained from a reading rack. You will be glad to use a number of these racks in your vicinity. Address the manufacturers—

Review and Herald Publishing Assn., 222 NORTH CAPITOL STREET, Washington, D. C.

Awake, Awake, Awake

By Editor

Editorial

Awake, Awake, Awake

We face a cunning foe, and the deceitfulness of sin is very great. We are not safe merely because we acknowledge the meaning of the tokens of the great day, which are now so abundant. There is the greatest danger lest we should be overcome by the seductive influences of the hour, and fall asleep on Satan’s enchanted ground. “Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion.” “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee.” “It is time for you to awake out of sleep: for now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed.” “Could the curtain be rolled back, could you discern the purposes of God and the judgments that are about to fall upon a doomed world, could you see your own attitude, you would fear and tremble for your own souls and for the souls of your fellow men. Earnest prayers of heart-rending anguish would go up to heaven. You would weep between the porch and the altar, confessing your spiritual blindness and backsliding.” Awake, Awake, Awake.

Uninterrupted Communion

Although we can not now behold Jesus in the flesh, yet he has promised to be with us “always, even unto the end of the world,” and it is our privilege to maintain daily fellowship with him. Nearer than the most intimate friend is the presence of him who dwells in the heart by faith. When we lie down, and when we rise up; when we remain in the home, and when we walk by the way; when joy holds sway, or when sorrow casts its shadow,—at all times and under all circumstances we may know the blessing of uninterrupted communion with Christ our living Head. “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

“What a fellowship, what a joy divine, Leaning on the everlasting arms; What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, Leaning on the everlasting arms.”

Comfort in Sorrow

The shadow of death is in our homes, and the weight of a great sorrow rests upon our hearts, and the way seems dark and lonely. A deep and terrible anguish seizes upon us, and seems to penetrate to the very depths of our being, and dark despair comes forward to take possession of our lives. A loved companion has been taken from us, and now when we are wounded and weak, the enemy comes in like a flood. How cruel he is! With what hellish cunning he goads our troubled spirits, and aggravates the pain which his own rebellion has brought into the world. How relentlessly he magnifies our sorrow, and with what malignant subtlety he suggests that we ought to have been spared this blow. In contrast with all this how comforting is the blessed hope. If we will but listen a moment, we shall hear messages of consolation, and we shall find that nearer than the boisterous enemy who speaks from without is the Comforter who dwells within. He who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows invites us to lean upon him in our weakness, and to call upon him in the day of our trouble. He truly sympathizes with us—suffers with us, and offers himself as the balm for our wounds. And the stroke which was permitted to come, and which he will turn to our good, although the enemy meant it not so, was really aimed at him; for the real controversy is between Christ and Satan. Then let not a complaining and rebellious heart be a witness against the character of God. When the mind is too weak and the heart too sore to grapple with the problem, then be still and rest in the everlasting arms which are always underneath. With quietness will come confidence and soon the light of his countenance will break through the darkness, and the way will appear above the clouds.

“A few more days, and we shall meet The loved whose toil is o’er, And plant with joy our bounding feet On Canaan’s radiant shore, Where, free from all earth’s cares and fears, We’ll part no more through endless years.”

The Only Answer

The growing list of terrible disasters by land and sea, the frequent outbursts of the spirit of violence which is taking possession of so many hearts, and the increase of crimes of every kind are compelling men to ask, with an intense interest, “What do these things mean?” The same question is suggested by the perversions of the truth of God and the substitution of human speculation and scientific theories for the plain teaching of the Word of God. There is only one satisfactory answer to this question. We have come to the closing years of the last generation. The prophecies which relate to this time are being fulfilled. “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly.” The fruits of the determined rejection of light and truth are now appearing, and the full harvest is not far away. The days of Noah were typical of the last days, and then “the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” Every evil passion is being stimulated, and the barriers against sin are being broken down even by those who ought to be most diligent in building them up. It is only in the light of the message for this time that these things can be understood, and it is only by the power of this message that the incoming tide of evil can be resisted. No mere profession of the truth will be sufficient, while its vital principles are being ignored in the life. And it is not enough to know theoretically the meaning of the signs of these times. Lives of zeal for the spread of the warning message for this generation, a separation from the present current of worldliness and unbelief, a character and purpose easily distinguished from the ordinary standard of self-seeking, an intelligent consecration of talents and means to the service of the coming

King,—this is the answer which the people of God to-day ought to make to the inquiry, “What do these things mean?” Let the answer be an emphatic one.

Studies in the Prophecies

A State Religion Versus Christianity

For more than twenty years after Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the great image was interpreted to him by the prophet Daniel, Babylon enjoyed great outward prosperity. The power and wealth of the kingdom increased. There appeared little reason for believing that the kingdom of Babylon would give place to “another kingdom inferior to thee.” Did not Babylon rule the world? What man or organization of men would have the hardihood to oppose her rule? In his zeal for a vanquished religion, the Hebrew prophet Daniel, although acknowledging Babylon to be the head of the image, did yet predict the rise of other kingdoms to succeed Babylon, and the final overthrow of them all, and that his God would set up a kingdom which should stand forever. At the time when these things were said, a conviction of the truth of Daniel’s statements rested upon the mind of the king, but the logic of events seems to be against the claims of the prophet of Jehovah, and the greatness and permanency of the kingdom of Babylon must be fittingly proclaimed. So reasoned the king of Babylon.

And so it came about that “Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.” This image is Nebuchadnezzar’s answer to the image of the dream. In the dream only the head of gold represented Babylon, while the other parts of the image were of inferior material, and stood for other kingdoms which should succeed Babylon. The image which Nebuchadnezzar set up was of gold throughout, indicating that there would be no successor to Babylon. In the dream the stone from the mountain smote the image so that the different parts were “broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer thrashing-floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great rock, and filled the whole earth.” This is the symbolic representation of the overthrow of earthly kingdoms, and the setting up of that kingdom which “shall stand forever.” In setting up his image Nebuchadnezzar provides against any such contingency by making it of such proportions as to insure permanency and stability. Its “height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits.” Thus does Babylon exalt herself, and declare that she will not consent to the idea of a successor. Why may not the Babylon which has conquered the world maintain its rule over the world? Who is this God of heaven that he can measure power with the gods of Babylon? Who can change the purpose of the king of Babylon?

The image in the plain of Dura is the personification of Babylon and her king. Under all the circumstances, to do homage to this image is to acknowledge the superiority of Babylon and her religion over any other kingdom and religion. And so all the world is required to be represented at the public dedication of this image. “Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.” Thus the whole world is to bow at the shrine of Babylon, and thus all are to pledge themselves to co-operate with Babylon in the realization of her own interpretation of her future greatness.

The representative company gathers for the dedication of the image. The herald makes his proclamation, and announces the death penalty for any who decline to “fall down and worship the golden image.” “Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of . . . all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.” The three captives from Jerusalem, however, the loyal representatives of the everlasting kingdom of Jehovah, refuse to place their consciences in the keeping of the king and to deny the God of heaven at his command. When they were examined concerning their conduct, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”

The real question involved in this whole affair is the worship and service of the true God. These three men are servants of the God of heaven. They acknowledge their allegiance to him, and although they are captives in a heathen land, they still sustain the same relation to him. They are his servants always, regardless of time or circumstances. No command or requirement of the king of Babylon absolves them from their allegiance to the King of heaven.

Into the furnace heated “seven times more than it was wont to be heated,” these men are cast “bound in their hosen, their tunics, and their mantles, and their other garments,” and so they “fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.” The mighty men who cast them into the flame perished in performing their hideous task, “because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot.” Then the form of the Fourth is seen in the midst of the flames, and Nebuchadnezzar drew near and said, “Ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither.” And all the representatives of the world present “saw these men, that the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their hosen changed, nor had the smell of fire passed on them.”

The right even of a captive to serve God, although in doing so he may disobey the command of the most mighty earthly government, has been vindicated. Such a signal act of interposition moves Nebuchadnezzar to say, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.”

In this experience of the three worthies we have a divine interpretation of the true relation between Christianity and the state. It is the privilege, as well as the duty, of every man to serve God. The right to interfere with this privilege has never been granted to any civil power. When the government attempts to put itself in place of God and to exalt itself above God, it is still the privilege of the true Christian to serve God. This right, as well as the duty of the Christian to be a law-abiding citizen when the civil government does not attempt to usurp the place of God, was stated by Jesus in these words: “Render therefore unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.”

In teaching this lesson in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, an object-lesson was given of the power of that vital principle of Christianity which was the revealed secret in the interpretation of the dream of the great image. The mystery of the kingdom—“God with us”—was a demonstrated fact in the experience of the three Hebrew children, and Nebuchadnezzar recognized the form of the Fourth in the midst of the flame. Thus the very essence of the true gospel was again proclaimed in Babylon by the loyalty of those “who through faith . . . quenched the power of fire.”

The principles set forth in the third

chapter of Daniel have an application “in the latter days” just as truly as does the interpretation of the dream of the second chapter. Those who are loyal to God in this last generation will be brought into direct conflict with an apostate civil government, and their devotion to God will be tested. To them, as well as to all others, apply the words of the terrible warning, “If any man worshipeth the beast and his image, . . . he also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,” and they should keep ever in mind the privileges and blessings of the true servant of Jehovah, as shown in the outcome of the refusal of the three Hebrews to worship the golden image which Nebuchadnezzar the king set up. “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

The Primitive Faith and Power

By W. A. S.

The glorious period in every denomination that has had a message of light for the world is the primitive period. Methodism, with all its millions, must look to the early pioneer days for its glory and power. The thoughtful and earnest in Methodism bewail the loss of the simplicity and fervor of former times.

Now, what can keep this Seventh-day Adventist denomination from losing its primitive simplicity? There is but one thing that can preserve us, and keep this people from decay. That is the primitive hope that was the genesis and inspiration of the advent movement—the hope of the soon coming of Christ in power and glory.

The apostle says: “We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And that every man that hath, this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” 1 John 3: 2, 3.

The worldliness, the lack of enthusiasm for the work, the loss of the first love, the shrinking from downright sacrifice, the entrance of speculative ideas, the choosing of side issues,—all begin in the loss of the living hope of the soon coming of Jesus.

The coming of Christ is more than a doctrine to be preached about. It is the one overwhelming, overmastering truth to be lived day by day. The power and glory of that event are the forces that must prepare our souls for that great day. The hope of the soon coming of Jesus transforms the soul day by day.

We need the revival of this hope in our midst to-day. We must talk of it, and face it, and pray about it, until the hope of the coming of the Lord is a very real thing in the life. The primitive hope will hold us to the primitive simplicity, and restore the power of the early days, and lead on to the fulness of power in the blessed latter rain.

When early advent believers expected soon to see Jesus, they found that hope a power that wrought wondrously in the life. We have waited long, so long that the tendency is to think of the coming of Christ as still a long way off. But now it is swiftly approaching, truly as a thief with muffled tread. The very time of waiting is evidence that now the Lord is even at the door. Much is to be done; but God is able to do it—is doing it before our eyes. It is the advent hope only, the “blessed hope,” that now must prepare our hearts to do the work before us, and that will hold us true to the primitive faith and simplicity of this advent movement. Let us dwell with this glorious theme until it becomes the constant inspiration of our lives. We shall learn to love the blessed hope with all the depth of our souls. And it is only to those that “love his appearing” that the Master will bring unto the crown of life. We must win that crown.

W. A. S.

Looking Unto Jesus

By L. A. S.

“LOOKING unto Jesus,” is the Christian’s watchword as he runs the race set before him here below.

Where is he to look? Where is Jesus?—Jesus is in heaven. But revelation gives us a more definite answer to the question. Jesus is in the sanctuary in heaven.

A knowledge of the subject of the heavenly sanctuary and of the service pertaining to it, is fundamental therefore to a proper knowledge of, and co-operation with, the work of God for man’s salvation.

This is especially so at this time, when that work is about to be finished, and the generation now living are to behold the revelation of the Son of man in his kingly glory, and meet him descending in the clouds of heaven.

The work of salvation is a work of co-operation between God and man. We are to co-operate with Jesus; and to do this we must have a knowledge of the work Jesus is doing for us. We must therefore understand the nature of his work in the heavenly sanctuary.

To be prepared for the second coming of Christ in glory, to gather his saints and execute judgment upon sinners, we must be looking for him, expecting his return. Many and solemn are the admonitions given us against being taken by surprise by that event. Those upon whom the day of God comes as a thief—the sleepers who are taken unawares—will suffer eternal loss. But we can not be expecting him without knowing why his coming is near. We must know the nature of the work he is doing, and why we may expect it to be soon finished.

We have reached the generation when an end is to be made of sin, and the sins of God’s people are to be blotted out, so that they can receive the refreshing from the presence of God. This is a part of the service of the heavenly sanctuary. How essential that we should understand this work, that we should confess our sins in view of it, and be seeking daily a preparation for its future realization. This means that we must understand the nature of the sanctuary service in heaven.

We have a hope set before us, which is “as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” To obtain the blessing of this hope, we must by faith enter within the veil and behold our great High Priest in his atoning work for us.

We are exhorted to “come boldly unto the throne of grace,” where we may “obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need,” because we have an High Priest who has been tempted like as we are, and is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” This again involves an understanding on our part of the heavenly sanctuary and its service.

And without this knowledge, we would to-day be in darkness, not knowing whither we were going. We would be drifting on a shoreless sea, like other denominations that have not this light. The meaning of the prophecies of Revelation 14 and of the world-wide work done in fulfilment of them, would be a mystery to us. It is the knowledge of the sanctuary service in heaven that explains the passing of the time in 1844 and the disappointment that came with it, and shows us that the pathway of those who gave the advent message to the world at that time was not a false pathway leading into darkness and defeat, but was the right pathway, leading to greater light and to the same glorious consummation to which the Christians of all ages have looked forward.

It is not strange, in view of these facts, that the enemy of God’s work and truth should especially seek to obscure the subject of the heavenly sanctuary and its service. But now, more than ever before, the people of God must keep that work in view. Now, in the final climax of the battle, our eyes must be fixed steadfastly on our great High Priest, who is the Captain of our salvation.

L. A. S.

Never Act Under Discouragement

NEVER make any decision or execute any move under a pressure of discouragement. You will be sure to go wrong. Discouragement never leads heavenward. Stop still and make no further move until you can do so under the inspiration of “faith, hope, love.”

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