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Review and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 27.

Sounding His Praise

Review and Herald

Jun 3, 1915

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Jun 3, 1915

Sounding His Praise

By Worthie Harris Holden

Worthie Harris Holden
'Tis vain, O soul of mine, with skill to try To laud the wondrous Counselor on high, For angel hands and angel harps combine To praise the majesty of grace divine, And, “Holy, holy,” cry.
Yet not in vain, my soul, His power to thrill My heart, through grace to love and do His will; The joy to speak in living acts His praise Is mine, through all life's devious paths and ways, His purpose to fulfill.
And in “the afterward,” O soul of mine, I, too, shall join the melody divine; Nor can the angels sing redemption’s song Which ever to His praise I may prolong Where glory light shall shine.

Bible Readings for the Home Circle

Trade Edition — Revised
IN placing this new book on the market, we are offering the best trade edition of a subscription book ever got out. It contains all the texts of the new “Bible Readings,” which has proved such a success, with the additional feature of thin Bible paper of a soft creamy tint. While it contains nearly 600 pages, it is only five eighths of an inch thick in the flexible binding, and less than three fourths of an inch thick in the cloth binding.
It has 18 sections on practical, historic, and prophetic topics; 200 readings on as many subjects; and 4,000 questions answered by direct Bible quotations.
The leather book will, because of its flexibility and compactness, appeal to all classes of workers. In size of page, binding, and price, it is uniform with “The Great Controversy,” “Patriarchs and Prophets,” “Daniel and the Revelation,” and “The Acts of the Apostles.”
Cloth, plain edges ................ $1.50
Flexible red leather, round corners 2.00

The Ministry of the Spirit

By G. B. Thompson
A BOOK for the quiet hour. It develops the practical side of the Christian life; strengthens faith, hope, courage, and other Christian graces. It assists in making Christianity a real thing to the Christian, and the believer an aid and benefactor to those about him.
The book is naturally divided into three sections: First, a didactic treatise of the subject of the Holy Spirit (chapters 1-9), dealing with such topics as the Spirit in the Old and the New Testament, the promise and the advent of the Spirit; second, the effect of the Holy Spirit on the life (chapters 10-24), as indicated by the titles, “Prayer,” “The Tongue,” “Faith;” third, the effect of the Holy Spirit (chapters 25-31).
Lay aside business and forget the perplexities of life long enough to study this book and receive added power for future usefulness.
The book will be a valuable addition to any library.
Cloth binding .................... $.75.
ORDER OF YOUR TRACT SOCIETY
Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D. C.

Our Never-Ending War

The United States is constantly besieged by a licensed enemy which captures annually over 100,000 of its strong young men, and forces them into a drunkard’s stockade, under a sentence of death through the consumption of a slow, life-taking drug, and with the death of these, the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent women and children are wrecked and ruined.

A Stupid Deal

This perpetual carnage is tolerated for an annual revenue of $333,000,000, whereas, besides the thousands of lives it destroys, and the untold suffering and abject misery it inflicts, it costs the government each year more than $5,000,000,000.
A full and accurate report of this needless liquor-traffic war, with a definite way to end it, is given in
The 1915 Instructor Temperance Annual

Deliverance From Assyria

By Ellen G. White

(Concluded)
MRS. E. G. WHITE
HEZEKIAH was not left without hope. Isaiah sent to him, saying: “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodging of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel. I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places. Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.”
“But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.” 2 Kings 19: 20-28.
The land of Judah had been laid waste by the army of occupation; but God has promised to provide miraculously for the needs of the people. To Hezekiah came the message: “This shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.”
“And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.
“Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.” Verses 29-34.
That very night deliverance came. “The angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand.” Verse 35. “All the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria” were slain. 2 Chron. 32: 21.
Tidings of this terrible judgment upon the army that had been sent to take Jerusalem, soon reached Sennacherib, who was still guarding the approach to Judea from Egypt. Stricken with fear, the Assyrian king hastened to depart, and “returned with shame of face to his own land.” Verse 21. But he had not long to reign. In harmony with the prophecy that had been uttered concerning his sudden end, he was assassinated by those of his own home, “and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.” Isa. 37: 38.
The God of the Hebrews had prevailed over the proud Assyrian. The honor of Jehovah was vindicated in the eyes of the surrounding nations. In Jerusalem the hearts of the people were filled with holy joy. Their earnest entreaties for deliverance had been mingled with confession of sin and with many tears; in their great need they had trusted wholly in the power of God to save, and he had not failed them. Now the temple courts resounded with songs of solemn praise:—
“In Judah is God known: His name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, And his dwelling place in Zion. There brake he the arrows of the bow, The shield, and the sword, and the battle. “Thou art more glorious and excellent Than the mountains of prey. The stout-hearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: And none of the men of might have found their hands. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, Both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep. “Thou, even thou, art to be feared: And who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry? Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; The earth feared, and was still, When God arose to judgment, To save all the meek of the earth. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God: Let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.He shall cut off the spirit of princes: He is terrible to the kings of the earth.” Psalm 76.
The rise and fall of the Assyrian Empire is rich in lessons for the nations of earth today. Inspiration has likened the glory of Assyria at the height of her prosperity to a noble tree in the garden of God, towering above the surrounding trees.
“The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. . . . Under his shadow dwelt all great nations. Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters. The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. . . . All the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.” Eze. 31: 3-9.
But the rulers of Assyria, instead of using their unusual blessings for the benefit of mankind, became the scourge of many lands. Merciless, with no thought of God or their fellow men, they pursued the fixed policy of causing all nations to acknowledge the supremacy of the gods of Nineveh, whom they exalted above the Most High. God sent Jonah to them with a message of warning, and for a season they humbled themselves before the Lord of hosts, and sought forgiveness. But soon they turned again to idol worship, and to the conquest of the world.
The prophet Nahum, in his arraignment of the evildoers in Nineveh, exclaimed:—
“Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery; The prey departeth not;
“The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, And of prancing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horsemen lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: And there is a multitude of slain. . . . “Behold, I am against thee, Saith the Lord of hosts.” Nahum 3: 1-5.
With unerring accuracy the Infinite One still keeps account with the nations. While his mercy is tendered, with calls to repentance, this account remains open; but when the figures reach a certain amount which God has fixed, the ministry of his wrath begins. The account is closed. Divine patience ceases. Mercy no longer pleads in their behalf.
“The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.” Nahum 1: 3-6.
It was thus that Nineveh, “the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me,” became a desolation, “empty, and void, and waste,” “the dwelling of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion’s whelp, and none made them afraid.” Zeph. 2: 15; Nahum 2: 10, 11.
The pride of Assyria and its fall are to serve as an object lesson to the end of time. Of the nations of earth today who in arrogance and pride array themselves against him, God inquires, “To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword.” Eze. 31: 18.
“The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end” of all who endeavor to exalt themselves above the Most High. Nahum 1: 7, 8.
“The pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away.” Zech. 10: 11. This is true not only of the nations that arrayed themselves against God in ancient times but also of the nations of earth today who fail of fulfilling the divine purpose. In the day of final awards, when the righteous Judge of all the earth shall “sift the nations” (Isa. 30: 28), and those that have kept the truth shall be permitted to enter the city of God, heaven’s arches will ring with the triumphant songs of the redeemed. “Ye shall have a song,” the prophet declares, “as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel. And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard. . . . Through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps.” Isa. 30: 29-32.

The Garden of the Lord

By Eliza H. Morton

ELIZA H. MORTON
'Tis said that in the gardens of the East The perfume of the roses fair is such It permeates the garments of the one Who touches but their petals as he walks Adown their paths, and there the fragrance stays For days, and others recognize its source And seek those gardens sweet to be refreshed.
The garden of the Lord is full of plants,— The lily of the valley and the rose, The nard, acacia, and the mignonette, All emblematic of the life. Our thoughts And words and deeds, if pure, are perfume-filled, A savor sweet of life to those who will, But to the ones who shut it out, of death.
O let thy life, thou child of God, be as The fragrance of the rosebuds white! O let Thy lips like lilies drop the breath of words Ambrosial as the odor from the leaves Of balm! So shalt thou flourish in the courts Of God and be an inspiration grand, An uplift, and a power to other lives.
Portland, Maine.

God’s Hymn Book

By J. S. Washburn

J. S. WASHBURN
God has not only provided for his people a book for reading, study, and divine guidance, but he has also provided for them an inspired hymn book. By far the largest book in the Bible is the book of Psalms. In this book are one hundred and fifty inspired songs to be sung by God’s people. This is the only book of the Bible originally divided into chapters. All other books were divided by men.
That the psalms were originally divided by the Lord himself, is evident from Acts 13: 33, where the apostle Paul refers to the “second psalm,” and in verse 35, to “another psalm.”
So then here are one hundred and fifty songs God gave his people to sing. Surely the fact that by the order of God the largest book in the Bible is devoted to singing proves the importance of music in the worship of God. In the Hebrew language the psalms are all metrical; not all in rhyme, but all are poetry, and in real meter. Whoever has heard the Hebrews chant the psalms can imagine dimly what must have been the musical rhythm and the wonderful beauty of God’s own music, in God’s own language; for remember Hebrew is the language in which God anciently spoke and wrote to his people.
The 119th psalm is a remarkable example of divine poetry; for in this psalm are twenty-two divisions, eight verses under each one of the Hebrew letters. In the Hebrew, each one of the eight verses begins with the letter under which it is divided; that is, the first eight verses of the psalm begin with the letter “aleph;” from 9 to 16 inclusive, each verse begins with “beth;” from 17 to 24 inclusive, with “gimel;” and so on through all the divisions of the 176 verses of this most remarkable chapter, or song, of all the Bible.
It is impossible to tell whether any part of the music as sung by David’s great choir has been preserved, even by the Hebrews in their majestic chants of today. But the fact is very clearly taught that the singers, both men and women, were an honored and respected class, and must have had special training for the rendering of sacred music, which was their life work. Even to this day the Hebrews are a very musical people. In every age, past as well as present, some of the greatest composers, singers, and musicians have been Hebrews. Nineteen hundred years of darkness, and sorrow, and exile have not robbed them of the skill and musical ability so wonderfully bestowed upon God’s chosen people.
When the Lord inspired the wonderful psalms, and the sweet singer of Israel led the mighty chorus, there must have been a solemn beauty, a divine power, in the music, which we can scarcely imagine today. The words and music of those songs were divinely inspired, and the singers were led by King David, that wonderful man of such varied gifts, whose inspired musical talent banished demons and brought down the divine Spirit, that man whom God himself calls the sweet singer of Israel; and later the music was led by other kings and prophets and by men divinely chosen.
For nearly nineteen centuries that beautiful temple of God, the most wonderful hall of music the world has ever known, has been only a sad memory. Its mighty walls, which once trembled with the glorious psalms of praise sung by the great choirs of God’s chosen singers, have fallen and vanished forever. Thatheavenly music is today but a mournful memory of a dead and darkened past, whose glory is departed forever. And over the chosen city, the holy Jerusalem, is settled the shadow of death, its joy and music hushed forever. The children of kings and prophets and divinely chosen singers are exiles in every land, as wrecks of the mighty past, strewn on every foreign shore. And where in glorious Jerusalem were heard the pealing anthems of praise and joy, a few sad exiles return to wail beside its ancient, broken walls.
But though Jerusalem of old is a sad memory, and its people a race of wanderers, yet, thank God, its blessed old hymn book is still ours; the inspired hymns still live, bringing comfort and joy and hope to God’s people. How could we live through the sorrows and perils and agonies of these terrible days if there were no book of Psalms? I must read them every day. I must live in them and by them. But I truly believe the psalms were given us, not only to read, to study, and to pray, but first of all to sing. Christ sang a psalm with his disciples the night before his death. Matt. 26: 30, margin. The inspired command of God for all time is not only to sing hymns and spiritual songs, but also to sing psalms. Eph. 5: 19; Col. 3: 16.
My brief experience in singing the psalms and other words of Scripture just as written, is that, beyond any hymn or song singing, there is a peculiar power and blessing in singing the inspired hymns written by the Lord himself for his people to sing. A brief experience in singing psalms 23 and 46, also the Lord’s Prayer, Isa. 60: 1-3, and other scriptures, exactly as written, encourages me to hope that the modern true Israel of God will yet sing many of the glorious, inspired hymns sung by ancient Israel, which God has written and kept for us.
The words of the Lord have a creative, redeeming, almighty power. Let us not only read and teach them, but let us sing them also as God has commanded. What a mighty appeal would the singing of the psalms be to the Hebrews of today! and what a power would the singing of the psalms and other Scripture words have upon all who hear them! For more than a year we have sung at the opening of our Sabbath service in Philadelphia either the Lord’s Prayer or the twenty-third psalm, and with the singing of these sacred words has seemed to come at the very opening of our meeting, the blessing and the peace of God.
One may ask, “Where shall we find the music with which to sing these Scripture words?” The music is in the words; and if the words are carefully studied, it is not difficult to write music to express the Scripture words. With what appealing power, beyond any humanly written hymn, if set to sympathetic music, would that most pathetic psalm of David’s penitence, the song of his broken heart, sung in a revival meeting, pierce and break the hardest heart! Psalm 51, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. . . . Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.” O, the spiritual power of these words, written by the Holy Spirit, when sung with the spirit to appropriate music! How glorious would be the great Adventist psalms,—Psalms 46 and 91,—with music inspired by their inspired words. One of these psalms, at least, will be sung by the Lord’s people in the last days. See “The Great Controversy,” page 639.
Philadelphia, Pa.

The Schools of the Prophets

By M. E. Cady

— No. 11

M. E. CADY
I CANNOT refrain from mentioning the names of three more students, who, though not educated in the schools of the prophets, yet in the home school were educated according to the divine plan. Exiles from their native land, they early in life were connected with kings' palaces in Babylon and Medo-Persia. There, with unswerving loyalty to the King of kings, and uncompromising fidelity to the principles of truth taught them in their childhood, these youth lived such lives and wrought such deeds that they were highly honored and respected throughout the realms of these great world empires. I refer to Queen Esther, Nehemiah, and Daniel.

Esther

It is interesting and encouraging to note that women as well as men when truly educated are fitted to occupy high and exalted positions of trust and responsibility. It was not only for Joseph and Daniel to stand "next to the king," but this was also the privilege of Queen Esther. God as well as man could trust her in that high position, for she was beautiful and queenly in character. Humility and loyalty were the twin virtues that shone most brightly in her life. When being prepared for presentation to the king, she "required nothing" in apparel outside of what had been appointed her.
When her people were about to be destroyed, she, contrary to a law whose penalty was death, obeyed the command of Mordecai, "like as when she was brought up with him," and uninvited went into the presence of the king and saved her nation. Having learned loyalty and obedience at home under the training of Mordecai, she was loyal and obedient both to him and to God, "choosing," like Moses, "rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season."
Mordecai had not neglected Esther's physical education, for the maid was fair of form and of good countenance. Her intellectual powers must have been highly developed to enable her to act as queen of a mighty empire. With great wisdom and prudence she went in and out before the people; and the divine record says, "Esther obtained favor in the sight of all them that looked upon her." Esther 2: 15. As already noticed, her moral and spiritual powers were strongly developed and mightily exercised in behalf of the people of God in their persecutions and sufferings. Esther was a "finished product of God's system of education." What does her life's work say for the system?

Nehemiah

We find this young man occupying the honored position of cupbearer in the royal palace of King Ahasuerus. He learns through some of his own people that the work of restoring Jerusalem is at a standstill. He is much grieved by this report, and spends much time praying, fasting, and weeping. He is willing to give up his position of honor and ease to go to Jerusalem and superintend the work himself. He is filling his present position well, and the king and queen are loath to let him go. They finally consent after he sets a time of returning. He spends many years in earnest, vigilant toil; and the walls are finished, in spite of all that Tobiah, Sanballat, and others of his enemies could do to hinder the work. They tried several times to entice him away from the walls, but each time he sent back the word, "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?" Neh. 6: 3.
Not only did he rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, but acted as governor of Israel for several years. To organize and establish a government with laws, and administer these with wisdom and justice, requires a high degree of mental attainment. Had he not possessed a remarkable degree of culture he would never have been called to serve as cupbearer in the court of Persia. As with Joseph and Moses, his early education resulted in the harmonious development of his threefold powers and their dedication to the service of God. His life's work, as attested to in sacred biography, vindicates the system of education that developed a man of marvelous daring and doing powers, ready for service in every good work.

Daniel

This young man and three other young men, when hardly out of their teens, were carried captive from their Judean homes to the land of Babylon. Of their educational attainments the divine testimony is, "Children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace." With their physical and intellectual inheritance from the home school, is it any wonder that, after attending the Babylonian university for three years, "in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better" than all the educated men in his realm? Thetestimony quoted says nothing of their spiritual attainments, but they must have been of high character, for we learn that for their God and their religion they shrank not from the fiery furnace, nor from the lions' den, and were miraculously delivered. After their remarkable deliverance these men were exalted to high positions of trust and responsibility in governmental affairs, Daniel standing next to the king both in Babylon and Medo-Persia.
Notice how thorough was their physical education, "children in whom was no blemish, but well favored." The principles of health and physical preservation learned in childhood they would not violate, though their diet was prescribed by the king. "Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank." Acting as mouthpiece for his companions, he made request for a different diet. His congenial spirit and frank, straightforward manner "brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs," and the request was granted.
Daniel's physical and intellectual training had qualified him to solve successfully the industrial and commercial problems of great empires. He was prime minister of Babylon and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. When Babylon was overthrown by Medo-Persia, Daniel's services were in great demand, and he was appointed prime minister by King Darius. Daniel was chosen to this position from three presidents, he being the choice "because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king thought to set him over the whole realm."
Because of jealousy the two presidents and one hundred and twenty princes sought to find fault with Daniel's administration of the affairs of the kingdom. "But they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him." Dan. 6: 4.
What an illustrious example of the proper blending and union of the physical, intellectual, and spiritual powers in effective and efficient ministry to his fellow beings does the life of Daniel bring to view! He who was permitted to behold the visions of God until his physical being gave way, afterward "rose up, and did the king's business."
What does the life work of these students of the schools of Israel testify with reference to the value and efficiency of the system of education given by God to the ancient Jewish nation? Let us hear the answer of the learned apostle Paul: "What advantage then hath the Jew? . . . Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God:" "to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises." Rom. 3: 2; 9: 4.

The Inward and the Outward Man

By C. H. BLISS

C. H. BLISS
God alone knows what is in man. Man judges his fellows only by their outward act. God’s judgment does not rest on the outward act but on the inward condition. The nurseryman may be able by years of continued observation to tell the kind of apple a tree will bear by looking at the tree. He may say, Here is a Rome beauty, or, There is a russet, etc., but the unsophisticated observer waits until the fruit is produced before he can decide the nature of the tree.
God pronounced Abraham a righteous man when he believed. The Lord saw in Abraham a disposition to trust and obey, which was demonstrated by the offering of Isaac. Now, we see in Abraham’s obedience a righteous character manifested. Only when that is seen do we know he was righteous. So when the sinner yields his will to God, confesses, repents, and believes, God accepts him and pronounces him righteous. He is justified by faith without works in the sight of God. But man waits for the outward act, the fruit which is seen in a holy life.
Of Jesus it is said, “He knew what was in man.” He was able to distinguish between the true and the false. The Christian religion is a life, an inward power, like the leaven in the meal. The word of God is quick (alive) and powerful. It is received in the heart, and being a live thing, it works. It is Christ in us working out his own life in us. It is not simply imputed righteousness, but imparted righteousness.
On the contrary, all false religions consist wholly in outward forms and ceremonies. They have no power to help one to do the things required. They are put on. But the religion of Christ is a principle, a life planted within, which manifests itself in righteous acts that are prompted by unselfish love.

Psalm 23: 41

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE
I'd rather walk by my Master's side Through the “valley of death” so drear Than to walk alone in the pathway wide, ’Mong the flowers of hope and cheer. When my eyes are wet with the tears of grief, And I utter my sad complaint, “Thy rod and staff” bring sweet relief To a heart that is sick and faint.
And I will not fear, though the skies be rent By the lightning’s fiery sword, And the trembling earth and the firmament Shall quake ’neath the voice of the Lord, Though the stars may shake from their giddy height, And the face of the sun turn black, And the pallid cheek of the queen of night Turn red as the comet’s track.
For the King of kings shall fight for me, And his arm is very strong, And so I am sure of victory, For the night cannot be long. Then, O my heart, leap, leap for joy! We are nearing that blissful day When thou shalt “dwell in the house of the Lord,” And thou shalt be glad for aye.

Sabbath Observance

By D. T. SHIREMAN

D. T. SHIREMAN
A GREAT change in the matter of Sabbath observance has taken place among us in the last sixty years. As we have increased in numbers we have grown careless, and some do not seem to realize that the seventh day is holy time, as they did years ago. This matter needs to be agitated anew in all our churches. Ministers and church officers should sound a warning against laxity in Sabbath keeping. The standard should be raised, for the commandment tells us to “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” And we should remember to be ready to keep it when it comes to us, and remember it until the sun has set at its close.
Dear brethren and sisters, let us take heed to this matter, for if we fail in one point we will fail of reaching the heavenly home. The Sabbath is God’s holy day, and during its hours we should not do our own work, speak our own words, or think our own thoughts. All these must be laid aside before the Sabbath begins if we would keep the commandments and be ready to meet our Saviour.
The third angel’s message is now spreading to the darkest corners of the earth. The signs of the times show us that every line of the prophetic word is now fulfilling. Every child of God must have oil in his vessel and his lamp trimmed and burning if he would be an overcomer.

The Dead-Prayer Office

WHAT becomes of all the unanswered letters? Thousands of them find their way to the dead-letter office. Some never reach the person for whom they are intended because the postage is not paid; some fail because they are directed to the wrong office; some cannot be sent because the address is illegible, and some because the matter inclosed is unmailable. These float through the mails, are examined at different offices, marked “missent,” and finally they fall into the dead-letter office. They are opened and read, and, if valuable, are forwarded; if not, they are given to the flames. Such is the accuracy and skill of the postal officials that very few valuable letters ever fail of reaching their destination. Some prayers never reach God because they are not addressed to God’s office. They are directed to the audience. God’s office is not in our neighbor’s care, and if we direct our prayers to that point, they will certainly go to the dead-prayer office. Each of the reasons why letters go to the dead-letter office will hold good of unanswered prayers. But no really valuable prayer with a heart’s message in it ever fails of its destination, or goes unanswered.—Christian Advocate.

God Is Love

“God is love.”
Continue reading: Salvation by Faith Versus Salvation by Works