Review and Herald, Vol. 45, No. 5. (1/28/1875)

Review and Herald

Jan 28, 1875

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 28, 1875

THE SABBATH A SIGN

By Joseph H. Waggoner

THE LAW OF GOD.—NO. 3.

BY J. H. WAGGONER.

THE SABBATH A SIGN.

An important part of the evidence for the Sabbath is that which presents the Sabbath as “a sign.” This testimony is often perverted by the assertion that it was a sign between the Jews and the Gentiles to keep up a distinction between them. This is not true any further than it is true that obedience to God distinguishes his people from others who are disobedient. But in this sense the Sabbath is no more a sign than is any other duty. The Scriptures never present the Sabbath as a sign in any such light. In Ex. 31:17, the Lord said, “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever.” The Bible never says it is a sign between the Jews and Gentiles. To take the name of God out of this text and insert “the Gentiles” in its place, is as presumptuous as it is to take the name of the Lord God out of the fourth commandment and make it read, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Jews.” In either case the name of God is taken away to destroy the force of the Scripture evidence for the universal obligation of the Sabbath. Perhaps in this we find a fulfillment of Isa. 30:9–11, which speaks of a rebellious people, “children that will not hear the law of the Lord; which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits; get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” We do not think this is a harsh application of this scripture, for we know of no offense more daring than to expunge the name of the Lawgiver from an instrument of his own writing, and to insert in its stead an epithet of reproach, in order to evade the obligation which his word has so plainly revealed, and for which his own signature is the authority. The Sabbath has the superscription of the Most High. The most daring would tremble to heap reproach upon it, as is often done, if the name of the “Holy One of Israel” had not been removed from it, and the name of Jew, or Gentile, as most conveniently served the purpose, substituted for it.

Having seen that it is a sign, not between Jews and Gentiles, but between God and his people, we inquire, Why is it a sign? and, Of what is it a sign? The first question is answered in Ex. 31:17: “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” It is a sign between God and his people because he rested in it from all his work of creation. As a sign it points only to creation. Of its peculiar significance we are informed in Eze. 20:20. “Hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.”

When we learn that the Sabbath is a sign of creation, we are prepared to appreciate the declaration that, as a sign, it perpetuates the knowledge of God, the Creator. The power to create is that characteristic which is given in the Scriptures to distinguish the true God from false gods. In Jer. 10:1–9 is found a description of the gods of the heathen, which are “the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder.” The distinction between them and the true God is thus introduced: “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power,” etc. When the apostles made supplication to God because of their enemies, they thus addressed him: “Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is.” When Paul would point out the true God to the idolatrous Athenians, he said: “God that made the world and all things therein.”

Commemorative institutions are the very best means of imparting and perpetuating a knowledge of important events. Books of history and monuments of stone are but feeble reminders compared with a memorial day. Take our own national memorial as an illustration. No other event in our struggle for independence from Great Britain is so well and so generally known as that of the declaration made on the fourth of July, 1776. And this because the fourth of July has been celebrated as a memorial day. And so long as this is celebrated, so long will the patriotism, the sufferings, and the triumphs of our fathers be kept in remembrance.

And so of the Sabbath of the Lord. He declared it is a sign that it may be known that he is the Lord God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Had it been universally and uninterruptedly observed, the knowledge of the true God—the Creator of heaven and earth—could never have been lost to the nations of the world.

The significance of the Sabbath of the Lord as a sign of his power, of his supremacy and authority, is lost to all those who advocate the change of the day. No day is a memorial of the Creator but that which commemorates the work of creation—the seventh day. “And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work.” It was blessed and sanctified because it was his rest-day from the work of creation. No other day could be his memorial day; no other day was consecrated as such.

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT.

The promises which God made to Abraham are often dwelt upon with great emphasis and apparent delight, by some who never inquire on what these promises are based, or how we may be made partakers of the same promises. First, then, we must ascertain why the promises were made to Abraham.

When God renewed to Isaac the promise of the land, he said, “I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” Gen. 26:3–5. We have already shown that not only Abraham, but mankind in general before and after his day, had a knowledge of the same precepts which we now call moral law. But this testimony of God’s own words to Isaac is still more explicit, as the scriptures inform us that all God’s holy commandments were observed by Abraham. In 1 Chron. 16:14–18, it is said: “He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. Be ye mindful always of his covenant, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; which he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac.”

Here is something brought to view entirely distinct from the promises made to Abraham; it is a “covenant commanded.” But the scripture continues: “And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance.”

Here again the promise of the land cannot be the covenant commanded, or the law. Both are embraced in the Abrahamic covenant, according to this scripture. And this is also shown in Gen. 26:3–5, as above quoted. There the Lord said he would perform the oath which he sware unto Abraham, to give him the land, because Abraham kept his commandments. And in 1 Chron. 16:14–18, the promise of the land is connected with the covenant commanded, even to a thousand generations.

And, as a means of identification, we have not only the promise to Abraham twice based upon the law or commandments, but of this it is said he “hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.”

We find in the word of God many covenants as promises, or mutual agreements. See Gen. 9:8, 13; 17:7; Ex. 19:3, 8; Deut. 5:2; 2 Sam. 23:5; Ps. 89:3, 4; Jer. 31:31–35; Heb. 8:7–13; but only one covenant as a law, or commandment, namely, that upon which the promise to Abraham was based. Every promise of a blessing must be based upon some condition or command; for God’s gracious purposes are toward the righteous, (doers of right, 1 John 3:7,) and it cannot be determined who are righteous and who are wicked, unless we have a law for a standard of judgment. Rom. 3:20; 1 John 3:4. Whatever may be the opinions of men respecting this covenant commanded, the word of God is safer and more satisfactory, and to this alone we appeal. In Deut. 4:12, 13, Moses said to the children of Israel: “And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude, only ye heard a voice, and he declared unto you his covenant which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments.”

There is a difference between enacting and confirming a law. The covenant commanded, which was kept by Abraham and Isaac, was confirmed to Jacob and to Israel. And Moses said the covenant commanded to Israel was the ten commandments.

We are also informed that God’s holy covenant, which he confirmed to Israel and wrote on two tables of stone, contained only ten precepts or commandments. In Deut. 5:22, it is said, “These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly, in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice; and he added no more; and he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.” This shows that God’s covenant or law of the ten commandments is not to be confounded with those statutes which were given through Moses, and were not spoken by the Lord nor written on the tables of stone.

The same is referred to in the words of the Lord by the prophet. “For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: but this thing I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice,” &c. This expression, Obey my voice, having respect to that which he commanded them when he brought them out of Egypt, yet being specifically separated from the ordinances of offerings and sacrifices, is thus referred solely to that which God spake with his voice, the ten commandments.

All this makes it very certain that the commandments which Abraham kept, and by the keeping of which he obtained the promises, were the ten commandments which were afterward confirmed as a law to Israel. And this is still further proved by the words of Paul; “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law; . . . that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ.” We do not now stop to notice the proof that this text affords of the law having jurisdiction over the Gentiles, a subject for future consideration, but call attention to the one point, that the curse of the law must be removed before we can receive the blessing of Abraham. If the promises to Abraham had no relation to the law, as some say, how could the curse of the law stand between them and the blessing of Abraham?

It must appear plain to all that the curse of the law falls only on the transgressors of the law, and only on account of the transgression. Hence, the curse of the law rests on any one as long as he transgresses. And if the curse be removed by pardon, it will return again if we transgress. This must be true unless the pardon gives liberty to continue in transgression. But the gospel of Christ is not a system of indulgence or license, but of forgiveness, and salvation from sin. Christ died “to put away sin;” not to make the way of sin easy and secure. And as Abraham received the promises by obeying God’s commandments, and he would not have received them if he had not obeyed, even so we may be heirs with him of the same promises if the curse of past transgression is removed, and we walk in future obedience.

It may be, and often is, objected that this idea frustrates grace, and rests our salvation upon our obedience; whereas Abraham received the promise through faith. But this objection is based on wrong ideas of the object of grace and of the nature of saving faith. Grace is opposed to sin. “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.” And “faith without works is dead.” As the spirit vitalizes the body, so do works give life and power to faith. It was the obedience of faith which justified Abraham; and if we would be blessed with him we must “walk in the steps of that faith” which he had. The steps which he took were in obedience to God’s commandments. Sin frustrates grace, and forfeits the favor of God under the gospel, as well as in the past dispensation, for Christ is not the minister of sin, but of righteousness. “Blessed are they who do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Rev. 22:14. And every man shall be rewarded according to his works.

WHITER THAN SNOW.

By Mrs. C. B. Alton

The original man in God's image created, In sin and pollution had fallen so low, There was no eye to pity, no arm to save him, When a cleansing was offered, whiter than snow, Whiter than snow, whiter than snow, Jesus can cleanse us whiter than snow.

Though the wounds are all deep, and the stains are all dark, And blindness, and palsy, and fullness of woe, Shuts out all the light from the suffering soul, Yet Jesus will cleanse us whiter than snow, Whiter than snow, whiter than snow, Jesus will cleanse us, whiter than snow.

When fiery temptation comes in like a flood, And tells us our safety we never can know, Then the spirit of promise, so loving, so sweet, Whispers, Jesus does cleanse us, whiter than snow, Whiter than snow, whiter than snow, Jesus does cleanse us, whiter than snow.

This great blessed truth we all may possess, And hush unto death each internal foe, For the prayer of the Son hath power to prevail, And keep what is cleansed whiter than snow, Whiter than snow, whiter than snow, Jesus can keep us whiter than snow.

—Mrs. C. B. Alton.

Interesting Oriental Discovery

Our European exchanges state that it has been the good fortune of Mr. El Kery to discover a record, kept by the priests of the Samaritan synagogue at ancient Sychar, that reaches back hundreds of years before Christ. It contained a record of interesting events connected with the synagogue, and always kept by the leading priest.

It occurred to Mr. El Kery, who is a native of Samaria, educated in England, now a missionary physician there, to search this record. He argued that so great a religious commotion as was occasioned by Jesus’ visit to Sychem would arouse the anger of the priest, and he accordingly should find some bitter record in this ancient register. He ascertained that the priest in Christ’s time was named Shaffeer. On examining the record he did not find what he expected, but instead of it the following statement: “In the 19th year of my priesthood, and the 4,281st year of the world, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary, was crucified at Jerusalem.”

This discovery was made last April, and is a wonderful testimony from an unexpected quarter.—N. Y. Paper.

A Crisis Coming.

By Charles P. Whitford

For twenty-eight years Seventh-day Adventists have believed and taught that in this government oppressive laws would be enacted in religious matters as brought to view under the symbol of the image of the beast. Rev. 13:11–18. Yet some professed expositors of prophecy have ridiculed this part of our faith, as a thing too incredible to be entertained for a moment.

But that which we have believed and taught for so many years, and which was a matter of faith, now begins to show signs of fulfillment, and we now can walk almost by sight. We think no one will deny the following statement, that unrestrained human nature is tyrannical and persecuting, that it is not safe to give too much power into the hands of any body of religionists. It becomes then a very interesting question, Do the nominal churches of our day aspire to this end? and to this are their labors directed? The following from the Church Union shows what is aimed at:—

“If we are not Christians, let us make no hypocritical pretensions of founding our government on Christian principles. If we are, and believe they should govern our whole life, let us have them incorporated in the basis of our government and the national policy shaped to them. Let no one hold an office of trust or profit whose life has not been conformable thereto.”

From the above we see that it is proposed that the Christian principles of the people be incorporated into, and become an integral part of the Constitution, and that these principles shall form the basis upon which our government shall rest; and then it is proposed that the national policy be shaped according to them, so that no person can hold an office of trust or profit whose life has not been conformable thereto.

So far has the agitation of this question already progressed that public documents are everywhere circulated. A national association has been formed to carry forward the movement, and national conventions are being called in all parts of the country, and all American citizens without distinction of party or creed, who are willing to pledge themselves to secure, under God, an open communion and the recognition of our evangelical ministry, by the interchange of pulpits, thus to make visible the unity of the church, are called upon to unite heartily in the work proposed. They say they do not propose to form a Christian, nor even a Protestant, political party; but the position is taken that “good men throughout the nation should be thoroughly organized and prepared to act promptly and unitedly in opposition to everything that would endanger our free institutions.”

Among the things which they set down as endangering our free institutions they mention “the destruction of the Christian Sabbath.” And so minds are working, and the agitation moves on. Who can fail to see that such a condition of things would be a virtual union of church and State—a going back to the religious despotisms of the Dark Ages.

No one but Christians to hold any office! But who shall determine who are Christians? Why, the ruling churches, of course. All others will be branded as heretics, and all rights denied them. The success of the proposed amendment virtually destroys one of the first principles upon which our government was founded, viz., “All men shall have the privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of their own conscience.” When the time shall come as predicted in prophecy; Rev. 13:11–18; when the Constitution of our country enforces the observance of the first day of the week as the Sabbath, what will be the fate of those who conscientiously believe and lay hold of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and dare to keep it?

“Rev. 13:15, says, “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” The image is to be an image to the papal beast. That was a church clothed with civil power. We therefore understand that the image will be a religious organization in this country clothed with power to punish heretics, and enforce its dogmas under a threatened penalty of death. And now let us notice how the way is prepared and preparing for this last great act of the two-horned beast. Under the mild influence of the Protestant principle that all have liberty to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, churches have multiplied in the land. But these churches have rejected light and truth, and, as a body, have met with a moral fall. A catalogue of twenty immoral features, with no good ones, is the photograph which Paul gives in 2 Tim. 3:1–5, of the popular church of these last days.

“But the people of God are yet to be found mainly in connection with these churches, and are yet to be called out. Rev. 18:4. And when the good have all left the nominal churches, and the saving influence of such is all withdrawn from their communion, then they will be ready for any desperate and oppressive movement that Satan can induce those who are led captive by him at his will to enter upon. Now out of this material, let an ecclesiastical organization be formed, and let the government grant it power to enforce its dogmas under the pains and penalties of the civil law, and what do we have? An exact image to the first beast, a church clothed with power to enforce its doctrines upon dissenters with fire and sword.”—Thoughts on Revelation, pp. 235, 236.

And such is the issue before us. The 13th chapter of Revelation leaves the people of God a small, and apparently weak and defenseless, company, in deadly conflict with the mightiest powers of earth; with the decree of death and banishment from society out upon them; and all this for their adherence to the truth. A decree is passed, backed up by the supreme power of the land, that they shall all receive the Antichrist mark, under pain of death if they refuse to comply.

“What can the people of God do in such a conflict and in such an extremity? What will become of them? Glance forward with the apostle to the very next scene in the programme, and what do we behold? The very same company standing on Mount Zion with the Lamb, Rev. 14:1–5, a victorious company, harping on golden harps their triumph through the courts of Heaven. Thus are we assured that when the time of our conflict with the powers of darkness comes, deliverance is not only certain, but will immediately be given, being the next event in our history, the glorious rest after the weary pilgrimage, the glorious consummation of a life of toil, suffering, and ceaseless conflict here.”—Thoughts on Revelation, pp. 242, 243.

CHARLES P. WHITFORD.

Berkshire Center, Vt.

The Fierce European Struggle at Hand.

THE following passages in some of the speeches at the great meeting against Ultramontanism in Glasgow show how observant thinkers foresee a great conflict to be impending:

Colonel Macdonald, the chairman, said, We cannot forget that it was here we heard but a few months ago those remarkable utterances, which struck so sharply on the ear of Britain, from the present Premier. Speaking in this hall of what he called “the contest commencing in Europe between the spiritual and temporal powers,” he said: “I think we ought to be prepared. The position of England is one which is indicated, if dangers arise, of holding no middle course upon these matters. It may be open to England again to take her stand for the Reformation, which three hundred years ago was the source of her greatness and her glory; and it may be her proud destiny to guard civilization alike from the withering blast of atheism and the simoom of sacerdotal usurpation. If that struggle comes, we must look to Scotland to aid us. It was once, and I hope is still, a land of liberty, of patriotism, of religion.” Another statesman of modern days, as eminent as the present Premier—I mean Lord Palmerston—said, not many years ago, that the day would come when we should again hear of religious wars in Europe. It seems as if they were not far distant. The forces are arrayed on each side, and no quarter will be given or taken. The banners display on our side the principles of order, of justice; on the other of darkness, of error, of anarchy.

Rev. Dr. Begg said: “Great statesmen have lately hinted at the probability of approaching convulsions of intense magnitude in Europe. This has no doubt a reference to the probable struggle for the restoration of the pope to his temporal supremacy. There is every reason to believe that the late Franco-German war, following on the declaration of papal infallibility, arose from a desire to crush Protestantism in its mightiest continental stronghold. The result, however, was in the gracious providence of God the very reverse. France was conquered, Germany was triumphant, and the pope was ousted from his temporal dominion. The object of the Vatican is now to reverse all this; and so soon as there is a monarchy in France, or perhaps also in Spain, the restoration of the pope to his temporal sovereignty will probably be attempted by force of arms. This will be resisted, no doubt, by Italy and Germany, and will probably thus end in a European war. The Romanists over Europe have made a league of St. Sebastian, ready to take part in the bloody fray.”

Dr. Manning seems to glory and exult in the prospect of all this. He is reported to have said, at a meeting held in Willis’ Rooms, London, on January 25, 1874: “The excited antagonism of the nations of Europe is founded on a fact (the temporal power of the pope) full of consolations. Instead of being alarmed, or discouraged, by the great sharpening of animosity, and the great massing together of antagonists, I look upon it as the most beautiful sign. Now, when nations have revolted, and when they have dethroned, as far as men can dethrone, the vicar of Jesus Christ, and when they have made the usurpation of the Holy City a part of international law, when all this has been done, there is only one solution of the difficulty—a solution I fear, impending, and that is, the terrible scourge of continental war—a war which will exceed the horror of any of the wars of the First Empire. I do not see how this can be averted.”

Rev. Dr. Wylie of Edinburgh said: “I have long felt and often said that when there would come the day of the Church of Rome’s extremity would come the day of our peril. It was easy to enforce that, so long as she was permitted to retain her temporal sovereignty, and the pope was able to rank himself among the other crowned heads, that she would study to keep on something like good terms with the nations; but that she should be stripped of all, and driven forth crownless and kingdomless, then woe to the nations; she would take a signal revenge. She may now be said to be stripped of all her temporal power, and brought down to what she was twelve hundred years ago, and now she plainly tells us the hour is come! For what? For wrapping her mantle gracefully around her and dying? No! She tells us that the hour is come for a stand-up fight, and that she will fight it out to the last. But you say that is madness. With what will she fight? She has neither army nor fleet. But the folly lies with those who believe in nothing that they do not see.”

Despite all the reverses that have overtaken her, the Church of Rome is still, as regards the sinews of war—as regards material force—the strongest confederacy on the face of the earth. If she can manage to raise Don Carlos to the throne of Spain, and the Prince Imperial to the throne of France, she will have the fleets and armies of at least two kingdoms at her service. But even failing of this, has she not the vast majority of the populations of these two kingdoms at her back? Has she not the majority even in Italy? Has she not fourteen millions in Bavaria; five millions in Ireland; and millions more in Canada and the United States; millions more scattered up and down in Europe? Has she not, at a moderate calculation, some fifty millions which the doctrine of papal infallibility gives her the means of uniting into one phalanx, of setting in motion by a single hand, and of precipitating, like an avalanche, upon Christianity and liberty. Rome may well say to the Protestant, “Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail which I have reserved against the day of battle and of war?”

“We shall soon see,” says the Voce della Verita, the organ of the Jesuits, “all Christendom divided into two camps; on the one side the champions of Christ and his church; on the other, the servants of Belial.” “We shall pass,” continues that paper, “through severe conflicts, but the history of eighteen centuries assures us of final victory.” I tell you, you have to do with a power capable of forming the boldest scheme—a scheme equal to the crisis that has come upon her, and which has the courage to execute it. You have to do with a power which slowly ripens her plans, bides her time, and then suddenly leaps out of the darkness to wrap cities in civil war, and kingdoms in revolution. It is a sudden and nameless peril of that sort that overhangs at this hour all Christendom, and our own country among others. All is now in peril; and though the fight may be a hard one, we cannot decline it, save at the cost of accepting something harder still—of accepting revolution and ruin.

Take: The Poor Man and the Rich Friend

“Take.”

There was a poor man, meanly and shabbily dressed. A friend, loving, rich, and great, paid all his debts, bade him leave his poor house, and come into his own beautiful home, and live with him. “All mine is thine,” he said; and he gave him rich clothing, that he might adorn himself, and the key of his coffer, that he might never want for gold.

But it so happened that the man brought a little of his own money with him when he went to his great friend’s house, and he kept trading with that, and it made him very miserable, for he could never make it go far enough.

He went again and again to his friend, telling him he wanted money for such and such a purpose. His friend loved to see him come, and he welcomed him gladly and graciously, and, though it was always with the same request, he never grew tired. He said, “Here is the gold in my coffer; take it and use it, for all mine is thine.”

The poor man—poor every way, in the midst of boundless wealth—went to the coffer once or twice when in great extremities and timidly took away a small piece of gold, and it was marvelous what he was able to do with it; but generally he just stood and looked at it, thinking in his heart how thankful he was to be safe in his friend’s house; then he pulled out his own miserable little purse, counted over the worthless coins, and planned and toiled and vexed himself, trying to make the best of it.

And yet when he was asked if he had entirely given up his past life, he answered, Yes—that he was now in his friend’s house forever; but still he kept his little money; and people outside wondered that where all was his own—such a friend and such boundless wealth—they heard that there always seemed to be something amiss with him, something wanting still. Sometimes they had thought of joining him; but they reflected that the life did not seem to answer altogether, and they fancied he was not so much better off than themselves.

And the great friend looked with sorrow’s eyes of love, and often wondered how much longer it would be before the poor man would throw away the hateful purse that seemed to eclipse the coffers of gold, and come running with glad, joyful face to return his love by using the gifts he had supplied.

Dear friend, may I ask if you know something of such a life as this—not in an earthly, but in a spiritual way?

You are “bought with the price” of Christ’s blood; you know your sins to be pardoned, and yourself to be his, and yet you are in trouble. Your life is—how shall I say it?—unsatisfactory.

In great trouble and trials you put your trust in God and rely upon him, and find that he does deliver you; but it is in the small, common things of every-day life that you fail. There is not that symmetry, that quietness, that patience, and gentleness, and self-forgetfulness in you which you know ought to be there as a tangible mark to yourself, to your family, and to the world, that you are truly a follower of Christ. The graces of Christianity, the “fruits of the Spirit,” do not shine in you. You are irritable, uncertain, dogmatic, harsh sometimes; giving way to indolence and ease. Your very relaxations and recreations you do not thoroughly enjoy; there is ever a “something still which prompts the eternal sigh” in your heart. In a word, you do not feel that you are pleasing God, nor that he is smiling upon you.

You have within you the witness of the Holy Spirit that you belong to God; you have the witness that you desire to walk with him in all things according to his commandment. But you have not the witness that you “are mortifying the deeds of the flesh,” nor are you always sure that you are “led” by the Holy Spirit.

The spirit in which you live is more “the spirit of bondage to fear” than “the spirit of adoption, crying, Abba, Father;” in which last two words there seems to me to be hid—nay, revealed—the utter confidence and hope to God, in God, which will carry us through all.

But why is there this failure? How is it? Are there not, perhaps, two things needed, willingness to see and receive God’s way for us, and obedience to follow that way?

In the little illustration (which, like almost all illustrations, is inadequate, and cannot be pushed to its furthest limits) the man had entered his rich friend’s house and was living with him; but he was not willing to give up everything of his own, nor was he willing to take everything of his friend’s.

You have really given yourself to Christ, and know yourself to be his; but is there a something you are keeping back, and are not willing to surrender to him? If so, you are not honest, you are not wholehearted. In God’s loving command, “Give me thy heart,” is included life, hope, time, possessions, circumstances, will, all. You know he cannot rule, and govern, and lead you, if you are keeping a portion of your life away from him. Settle this point first; Are you willing to give up all, and follow his leading?

Perhaps you say, “I am willing. There is not a thing I would not, and have not,

consecrated to him. Yet that is not enough; and I see in the lives of others a something, a power over sin, a power for good, of which I have no experience.”

Have you ever thanked God that you are thus willing? We ask much; do not let us forget the thanks for what we have received. And then, having given all up, take the provision which God has ordained to supply your daily, momentary wants. And is not that provision the presence of God within us?

Oh, poor, tired, unsatisfied soul, cannot this God—almighty, powerful, condescending, tender—cannot he satisfy you? Can not such a one as this supply all your need?

When you have such a provision, why do you not use it? Him whom you have trusted to work in you to will, trust also to work in you to do; that is, simply to put the will into action.

Do you say, “Ah, that is faith; faith is the gift of God, and I have not received that gift of faith. I must wait till it be given me?”

And yet, when some great trial or trouble has been laid upon you, have you not trusted God, and has he not brought you through safely? And do you think he who is so merciful, and himself tells us that “he knoweth our frame,” and that “he remembers we are dust,” will he give a large supply of faith for a large need, and will he withhold a small supply for a small need?

Will you look once more at the illustration above? There was a great supply of gold ready for the poor man’s use, but he did not take it. Why do you not take the “gift” that God has for you? Faith is the gift of God; but is not a gift a free thing. God does not say that faith is his gift because he will not give it to us; but he tells us it is his gift, that we may take it from his kind and gracious hand.

Well, then, there was also the reason why the man did not take his rich friend’s money. He had a few poor little moneys of his own; and although he had left his own house, he was still trading with them.

Are you, perhaps, still trading with something of your own? Are you trading with your strong desires, with your little faith? or have you brought your very unbelief, and poured it out on that heart, tender as a mother’s to comfort, and yet the strength of Israel in war and battle, and left it there, refusing to look at it again, to think of it even, and taking in its place, not resolution, not even faith, but God himself?

You are willing; be obedient. Unbelief and doubt is a great sin. It is not your misfortune; it is not a trial from God, but a sin; and we are just as wrong to parley with unbelief as if we were to parley with thieving or hatred. Put it right away. “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” How endless, how fathomless, are the promises he has given us! They just meet our wants and desires, and are full of promise and hope; but are they also full of fulfilment? So long as you look at yourself, at your unbelief, your want of faith, they will not be. So long as you look to God, to the One who can do all, they will be hourly and daily fulfilled in you and for you.

Do not be always thinking of what you cannot do; think instead of all that God can and will do for you and in you. He can do all that you find so impossible, all that Satan is longing, trying, to stop you from doing. Very likely you will find it a mighty effort at first to look away from yourself, or, in other words, away from the impossibility of things; but trust the effort to God, and the blessed Holy Spirit will gently guide you even into “all truth,” “into all things,” and will glorify Jesus in your soul.

Oh, be gentle and obedient, and God will “guide you with his eye!” Are you fearful about the life that lies before you? You have nothing to do with that; it is in the safe hands of Jesus. All you have to do is this. Are you willing to trust him for this present moment? Then trust him; live on him; spend this moment with Jesus. Don’t think about the long days which may or may not be before you; they are not yours yet. Take this one day. Will you not for this one day, or what yet remains of it, look straight to Christ throughout it? Give your unbelief, your expectations, to him. Leave them, and occupy yourself with himself.

You need not be always analyzing your life, and fretting within. Having put yourself into God’s hands, leave yourself there; and, as it rises, bring all to him—your ambition, your desires, your ideas, your hopes, your fears. They do not need to be crushed out of you, but to be brought to Christ, that he may sanctify them and put them in their right channel, that is, show you how to use them for his service. Just live in the sunshine and pleasure of his presence. You know how searching the bright sun-rays are; so will the Sun of Righteousness and love search in your heart, and under his beams it will grow tender—“a heart of flesh, and not of stone;” quick to see, quick to obey.

When we walk in this world’s sunlight, we need to look at the way and at our feet to see that they go right, and keep from stumbling; but with the Sun of Righteousness we just need to look at him; and so looking he will take care that we neither stumble nor fall. “Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord; for he it is that shall pluck my feet out of the net.”

You do not know what a life is before you. Do not be afraid if you get a sudden glimpse at your own utter vileness and sinfulness. Carry it to the Lord Jesus; he knows it better than you do; and leave it with him, just as you leave your unbelief with him; and looking only, only to him, you will receive life moment by moment from him, and live it moment by moment with him. He who is love will lead you gently on over any rough, stony places that may be before you—gently, because close to him—“I in you, and ye in me;” and the Holy Spirit will show you many things, “as you are able to bear them;” and surely, yielded up and obediently following, his “fruits—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,” will appear in us, to glorify God, and bear testimony for Jesus.

Let it be thus. Let us take the good gift of faith. You know it says, “Taking the shield of faith.”—Author of “How to Enter into Rest.”

Continue reading: Cannot Come Down