Review and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 52. (12/29/1910)

Review and Herald

Dec 29, 1910

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Dec 29, 1910

Good Night—Good Morning

By Worthie Harris Holden

WORTHIE HARRIS HOLDEN

Good night, old year! We lay thee down to rest, And fold thy passive hands upon thy breast. Thy brow is furrowed deep with care and pain; No loss we grieve, nor wish thee back again. For thy dead hopes and for thy love of right We give thee a caress, and say, Good night.

Good morning, glad new year! The dawn of grace, Of courage, hope, and cheer beams in thy face. Few more good mornings lie ’twixt us and heaven, Yet for our good this new delight is given, To greet with joy sincere,—thy smile adorning Our simple life of love,—and say, Good morning.

Portland, Ore.

LIFE AND HEALTH

January Number

LIFE AND HEALTH

THE NATIONAL HEALTH MAGAZINE

The Mothers’ Counselor and the Babies’ Friend

The Present Infant Mortality

Shown to Be Not Necessary—Result of Ignorance

The January number of Life and Health brings to the public some very timely instruction upon many important health topics, prominent among which is This great number of Life and Health contends that no question is of more importance than that of the prevention of the many unnecessary infant funerals; and that the one essential thing necessary to save infant life in this country is

Proper Instruction to Mothers

Ninety per cent of the babies dying before the end of the first year are bottle-fed.

The business of rearing a baby must be classified as an “extra-hazardous occupation.”

January Issue Sentiments

“A square deal for every baby.” “Let conservation begin at home.” “The child is the greatest national asset.” “Nations are gathered out of nurseries.” “Every parent knows not how to bring up a child.” “Neglect of children is not only criminal, it is suicidal.” “Infant mortality is the greatest sensitive index we possess of social welfare.” “We must look to the mothers of our country for the country’s welfare.”

Every mother ought to read the January issue of Life and Health, and every person interested in the physical and spiritual welfare of the coming generation should assist all mothers to secure it.

*Order a liberal supply of the January Life and Health of Your State Tract Society*

DO IT NOW

Watch the Light Flash

At Every Flash a Baby Dies

Somewhere in the Civilized World

(Electric Bulb, Flashing Every Ten Seconds)

One death every 10 seconds 360 deaths an hour 8,640 deaths a day 3,153,600 deaths a year

One Half of This Loss Is Preventable

Words to Our Workers

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE

“What things were gain to me,” Paul declares, “these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death; if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.”

“I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

“This one thing I do.” Paul did many things. He was a wise teacher. His letters to the different churches are full of instructive lessons. He worked with his hands at his trade, in this way earning his daily bread. “These hands,” he said, “have ministered unto my necessities.” He carried a heavy burden for the churches, and sought earnestly to lead them in the right way. But Paul allowed nothing to divert him from the one ruling purpose of his life. In all his busy activities, he never lost sight of his one great purpose,—to press on toward the prize of his high calling. One aim he kept steadfastly before him,—to be faithful to Christ, who, when Paul was blaspheming his name, and using every power within his reach to make others blaspheme it, had revealed himself to him. The one great object of Paul’s life was to serve him whose name had once filled him with contempt, to win souls to the Saviour. Jew and Gentile might oppose and persecute him, but nothing could turn Paul from his purpose.

My dear fellow workers, let the great purpose that constrained Paul to press forward in the face of hardship and difficulty lead you to consecrate yourselves wholly to God’s service. Worldly attractions will be presented to draw your attention from the Lord Jesus; but laying aside every weight, and the sin that so easily besets, press on toward the heavenly goal, showing to the world, to angels, and to men that the hope of seeing the face of God is worth all the effort and the sacrifice that the attainment of that hope demands.

How to Solve Perplexing Problems

Into the daily life there come many perplexing problems that we can not solve. There are those who wish to adjust every difficulty, and to settle every question before they begin to work. Such will surely fail. In the end, the future will be just as indistinct, and the problems just as perplexing; as when they began to speculate about them. It is in following light given that we receive greater light. Those who go forward in faith will find the solution of the problems that perplex them. Light will shine on the pathway of the workers who go forward without questioning. God will go before them, giving them skill and understanding to do that which needs to be done. Having committed themselves to the work, and having asked wisdom from God, let them trust in him. They can not carry the burden of their responsibility alone. This Christ does not ask them to do. He will carry, not a part, but the whole of the weight of their burden; for he is a mighty Saviour.

Move forward at the call of God. When he points out a work to be done, in his name and with full faith take up that work. You may not see the end from the beginning. Perplexities may surround you. Others may tell you of the lions in the way. But nevertheless go forward, saying, The Lord wants this work done, and I will act my part faithfully. I will not fail nor be discouraged. At times the arm of faith seems too short even to touch the Saviour’s garment, but there stands the promise, with God behind it: “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the moonday: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of waters, whose waters fail not.”

It is not our efforts that bring victory; it is seeing God behind the promise, and believing and trusting him. Grasp by faith the hand of infinite power. The Lord is faithful who has promised.

Questions will arise that can not be settled by any amount of thinking. Do not spend time trying to settle them. Take up the work waiting to be done, trusting in God. His righteousness will go before you, and the questions that have troubled you will answer themselves.

The voice of duty is the voice of God,—an inborn, heaven-sent guide. Whether it be pleasing or unpleasing, we are to do the duty that lies directly in our pathway. If the Lord would have us bear a message to Nineveh, it will not be pleasing to him for us to go to Joppa or Capernaum. God has reasons for sending us to the place to which our feet are directed. There may be souls pleading with God for light in the very place to which God calls you,—souls to whom you can make plain the way of salvation.

Little Things

It is the little foxes that spoil the vines; the little neglects, the little deficiencies, the little dishonesties, the little departures from principle, that blind the soul and separate it from God.

It is the little things of life that develop the spirit and determine the character. Those who neglect the little things will not be prepared to endure severe tests when they are brought to bear upon them. Remember that the character building is not finished till life ends. Every day a good or a bad brick is placed in the structure. You are either building crookedly or with the exactness and correctness that will make a beautiful temple for God. Therefore, in looking for great things to do, neglect not the little opportunities that come to you day by day. He who neglects the little things, and yet flatters himself that he is ready to do wonderful things for the Master, is in danger of failing altogether. Life is made up, not of great sacrifices and wonderful achievements, but of little things.

(Concluded next week)

New Thought in the Orient

By PERCIVAL J. LAIRD

PERCIVAL J. LAIRD

WITH the greatly increased facilities for travel and the simplified and convenient form of photography, together with the many versatile travelers who provide an ample supply of illustrated articles, the magazines and periodicals of to-day are an important factor in enlightening the minds of many in regard to the characteristics, habits, and customs of nations other than their own.

But there is also another sphere of influence which this form of journalism is entering; namely, the discussion of moral and religious topics. Such discussion is becoming very prevalent. For example, such questions as the state of the dead, and those dealing with the religious teaching in schools and colleges, esoteric philosophy, Spiritualism, theosophy, Mormonism, Eddyism, Millennial Dawn, etc., are discussed. In fact, this branch of the press has become a veritable pulpit for good or evil.

Under the heading, “Religious Reform in Japan,” written by a Japanese, the Japan Magazine says:—

“The points in which a reform of Christianity seems to be desirable are, . . . the Bible cosmogony should be abandoned. It can not be taught consistently with the conclusions of modern science, and should be frankly abandoned. For instance, a few years ago, a question which agitated the Christian missionaries in this country [Japan] was that of the divinity of Christ,—a debate than which nothing can be imagined more foolish. . . . The Christian conception of God needs to be enlarged and raised; for Christian preachers often speak about him in a most childish manner. . . . When Christianity can recognize Christ as an ideal personality, subjectively conceived, and standing to the unconditional Absolute in the same relation as Brahma and Amida, Christianity will have advanced one step, and be in a position to take its place in the reconstructed religion of the future.”

Coming, as does the foregoing, from one avowedly a heathen, we are rebuked for our refusal to send the light to precede the onslaught of educated materialism, rationalism, skepticism, and it may be rank atheism, as taught even by professed Christians. But the heathen are not alone in holding and teaching such principles. From the pen of one of the senior American missionaries to Japan, I quote the following:—

“The evolutionary hypothesis is very powerful in every branch of science and history and religion. Higher Criticism necessitated in the minds of a majority of Biblical scholars a reconstruction of theology. I welcome this new knowledge as giving us a larger Bible, and better knowledge of the methods of God's progressive revelations.”

Long ago Paul wrote on this wise: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” According to their own year-books, it is recorded that in three of the largest denominations, in which, alas! these philosophical ideas are gaining ground rapidly, no fewer than seven thousand churches in the United States failed to note a single addition to their membership on confession of faith in 1905. Is it too much to say that what has proved so eminently disastrous and lamentable at home will produce equally sad results in the foreign mission field?

The writer looks forward to returning to China soon, and would be glad to hear from any consecrated believers who may be thinking of China as the field for their life-work until Jesus comes. True indeed is the word spoken: “Workers are needed all over the world. The truth of God is to be carried to foreign lands, that those who are in darkness may be enlightened.”

Whatever information we have gained is at the disposal of any who feel that God is calling them to evangelize China's millions. To represent this great nation, take every letter in your Bible to represent a Chinese person, and then get seventy-nine more Bibles, and with their combined letters, each still representing a person, you approach to an idea of the vastness of the task of the workers who plead for your prayers.

Loma Linda, Cal.

The Third Person of the Godhead — the Holy Spirit

By M. E. STEWARD

M. E. STEWARD

“The Holy Spirit was the most precious legacy that Christ could leave his church.”— “Testimonies for the Church.”

The Holy Spirit a representative:—

1. Christ is the representative of his Father. John 6:38.

2. The Holy Spirit is Christ’s representative. John 16:14.

3. Hence, the Holy Spirit is the direct agent in fulfilling all the divine purposes and promises in the work of man’s salvation. And as Christ’s representative, he who accepts Christ has the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit creates life: (1) Physical life; (2) spiritual life; (3) he inspired the Bible, and is the life of its text. John 3:5; 2 Peter 1:21.

The office work of the Holy Spirit:—

1. He makes us acquainted with God, being “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.” Eph. 1:17.

2. He is the Spirit of truth, guiding into all truth. John 16:13.

3. He shows “things that are to come,” thus proving his divinity. Isa. 41:23.

The Holy Spirit

1. Convicts the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. John 16:8, R. V.

2. Converts men, which is called being “born of the Spirit.” John 3:8.

3. Enables man to keep God’s commandments. Eze. 36:27.

The Holy Spirit—

1. Is the Comforter, witnessing with our spirit that we are children of God. Rom. 8:16.

2. Will give us words to speak when tried for our faith, bringing all things to our remembrance. John 14:26.

3. The Holy Spirit will bring all other blessings in his train. See “Desire of Ages,” page 672.

How to secure the Holy Spirit:—

1. “Ask” for him (Luke 11:13), with a degree of earnestness proportionate to his value.

2. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Ps. 66:18.

3. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7.

How to retain the Holy Spirit:—

1. “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Eph. 4:30.

2. “Keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” 1 John 3:22.

3. The sin against the Holy Ghost is the only unpardonable one. Matt. 12:31, 32. It is committed by persistent neglect of the means of salvation, until the heart can no longer be impressed by the Spirit, as well as by doing “despite unto the Spirit of grace” by one who has had a deep religious experience. Heb. 10:29.

The latter rain of the Spirit:—

1. In a degree, the Spirit is given to every man. 1 Cor. 12:7.

2. He came in a special manner on the day of Pentecost, being called “the former rain.” In like manner, the Holy Spirit is to be given again just before the coming of Christ. This is known as “the latter rain,” or “the times of refreshing.” Joel 2:23; Acts 3:19. The former rain in autumn caused the grain to spring up; the latter rain ripened the grain in the spring.

3. The “rain” in Joel represented “a teacher of righteousness.” See margin. The former rain endued the “teacher of righteousness” with power, and all the gifts of the Spirit. Luke 24:49; Mark 16:20. The latter rain will fill the earth with the glory of God as never before. Rev. 18:1.

Preparation for the latter rain:—

1. “Break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.” Hosea 10:12.

2. “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” Hosea 6:3.

3. “Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain.” Zech. 10:1.

Sanitarium, Cal.

Scripture Similes

By Amos R. Wells

Of all things far, I love the best The distance from the east to west; For by that space, and all within, God’s mercy parts me from my sin.

And best I love, of all things high, The space between the earth and sky; For by that height beyond all ken God’s love exceeds the love of men.

I love, of deep things undefiled, A father’s pity for his child; For by that depth, so far, so clear, God pities all that faint and fear.

O Father! Father! endless kind, I thank thee for my human mind; But chief of all my praise shall be That mind can not encompass thee! — Amos R. Wells.

Its Ceremonials

By J. O. Corliss

History of the Jewish Priesthood — No. 5

Its Ceremonials

J. O. CORLISS

Besides the national functions of the Levitical priesthood, there were other duties of a more distinctly religious character, which the priests were supposed to perform. These included ceremonial offerings, which doubtless were designed as object-lessons, to accompany oral teaching regarding moral precepts and the plan of salvation. Deut. 21: 5; 17: 11. This seems evident from the urgent counsel: “Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy.” Then, as if to encourage effort to obtain these results, the Lord adds: “I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy.” Ps. 132: 9, 16.

The fact that the priests were collected together in particular cities would tend to show that they were not expected to go to the homes of the people with their message, but that the people were to go for their education to the place where typical demonstrations might be made the basis of the lessons to be taught. Through this means, the priest was a “messenger of the Lord of hosts,” and so was expected to impart knowledge of God, as revealed in his spoken law. Mal. 2: 7.

Having performed all else in behalf of the voluntary worshiper, the last act of the priest was to raise his hand aloft, and pronounce a solemn benediction in these words: “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” Num. 6: 24-26. This ceremony was supposed to communicate to the individual that power from God which would keep him pure and true in his life-work. This doubtless was a source of encouragement and joy to the one thus blessed, to lift him over difficulties to be met along the way. So impressive, indeed, was this formula of benediction, that in one form or another it has passed into custom in the Christian church, and no congregation is satisfied unless the minister, with uplifted hand, pronounces upon all the benediction of God’s blessing.

Formality, however, gradually crept into the Jewish priestly services, until, aside from the sacrificial offerings, little if any oral teaching was done. The result was that in the days of King Asa, the house of Israel had been for a long time without a knowledge of the true God, and therefore were ignorant of the moral law, because no “teaching priest” had been among them. 2 Chron. 15: 3.

It was because of this priestly laxness that the Israelites became so excessively exact in their forms of worship without receiving spiritual benefit. To them the tabernacle, and later the temple, were much like great slaughter-houses, where droves of oxen, sheep, and goats crowded the outer enclosures. The altar was there, upon which was poured the blood of victims (Deut. 12: 27), only to trickle its way down through the drains provided for its passage. The arrangements for cooking those parts of the sacrifices claimed by the priests had their fixed positions. Amid such scenes there could be very little to inspire prayer and praise.

But while the apparently mechanical observance of that sacrificial system had no power to convey deep religious thought, yet there lay within it an essential though not entirely obvious meaning. It was designed to be no less than an offering of personal life dedication as well as a symbol of faith in the vicarious death of One yet to come. This seems, at least, apparent from the words of the psalmist: “Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt-offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Ps. 51: 16, 17.

All this, however, was in time lost sight of. The work of the priests came to be regarded in the minds of the people as a coarse and altogether human occupation. The work of priest and butcher had become almost identical. The endless routine which required the steady aim and strong arm to give the fatal stroke, and to stand in the blood of sacrificial victims, would naturally nerve one in time to shed the blood of a human enemy. It is therefore not strange that the Levitical priesthood came to have a strong warrior caste. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, fell in battle. 1 Sam. 4: 17. Zadok the priest (2 Sam. 8: 17) was a young man “mighty of valor” in David’s army. 1 Chron. 12: 28. Benaiah, captain of the king’s guard in David’s reign, and captain of the host under Solomon, was a priest. 1 Chron. 11: 23, 24; 27: 5.

To the chief or high priest alone was given the power of oracular response to inquiries in times of great emergency. These answers of the high priest did not depend on his moral standing. They seem to have been conveyed more particularly by the outer vestments he wore, as the breastplate of jewels, or the ephod, the priest simply repeating the words thus made known.

The messages thus given were quite in contrast with those delivered through prophets, which were the utterances of the Spirit dwelling within the prophet himself. These were in the individual style of each prophet who spoke, and the message of each was clothed in his own peculiar imagery. Not so with the priestly responses. They were very brief, even laconic, covering hardly more than a bare answer to some question asked. For example, see 1 Sam. 23: 9-12.

The last record of any inquiry through the ephod was about 1056 B. C., under Abiathar, as noted in 1 Sam. 30: 7. He was the last member of the house of Ithamar. The urim and thummim (light and truth) in the breastplate, seem, however, to have been available as an oracle to a later date. At least the people of Ezra’s generation appear to have understood its nature and importance. In the reorganization of the priesthood, after the return from Babylon, some descendants of the early priests presented themselves for recognition, to find their places in the courses, but their names were not to be found in the preserved genealogy. The decision was then rendered by the governor that these could not be permitted to eat of the holy things until a priest should stand up with the aforesaid urim and thummim. Ezra 2: 63; Neh. 7: 65.

This reference indicates that the speaker understood the oracular power of this jeweled breastplate as something not long departed. Yet there is no record that any high priest possessed it after the captivity. One high priest, however, did venture a prediction, which seemed quite like inspiration, so terrible was its consequences upon the future history of the Jewish nation, and of the whole world. John 11: 49-51.

*Mountain View, Cal.

G. D. BALLOU

By G. D. Ballou

Life-Insurance

G. D. BALLOU

Let us for a few moments illustrate the workings of life-insurance. Here are one thousand persons above five years of age in a community. All of these are insured for one thousand dollars each. They pay on an average an annual premium of about thirty-five dollars each. This will put into the treasury of the insurance company thirty-five thousand dollars annually. Among these one thousand persons there will be fifteen deaths annually, which is a liberal estimate for the death-rate among those who are over five years of age. These deaths will call on the insurance company for fifteen thousand dollars. This leaves a twenty-thousand-dollar profit in favor of the company. That is, the community pays the company twenty thousand dollars more than it receives.

But now look again. The insurance companies do not insure every one. Only a select few of the soundest people are accepted as good “risks” for insurance. The death-rate among these strongest, healthiest people is about nine to the thousand, annually. So for every thousand persons who pay in thirty-five thousand dollars annually, there is paid back in benefits to the community about nine thousand dollars, leaving a twenty-six-thousand-dollar

balance annually for the safes of the company and commissions to agents.

Do you wonder that some insurance companies have been able to pay their president a million-dollar salary, and that others have so much surplus that it is bothering them to know how to dispose of it legally? Reader, make these figures with your pencil, and see if you are able to appreciate what was quietly told this people some forty-three years ago. You will find it in “Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. I, page 549. One or two sentences read as follows: “But few will realize any returns from life-insurance, and without God’s blessing even these will prove an injury instead of a benefit.” “Through these different channels, Satan is skilfully draining the purses of God’s people, and for it the displeasure of the Lord is upon them.”

Los Angeles, Cal.

Christ, the Power of God

By Gustaz T. Ellingson

GUSTAZ T. ELLINGSON

Power is something we all like to possess. We not only need physical power, but above everything else we need spiritual power,—power to overcome sin and the evil tendencies of our human nature.

There is only one source of real, genuine power, and that is Christ. He is the fountainhead, whence all power originates. “All power is given unto me,” Christ said, “in heaven and in earth.” Matt. 28:18. Notice, he says it is given unto him. When did Christ receive this power? In “Great Controversy,” page 493, we read that “Christ the Word, the only begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father,—one in nature, in character, and in purpose,—the only being in all the universe that could enter into all the counsels and purposes of God.”

In the beautiful prayer which Jesus uttered just before his betrayal, he said, addressing the Father: “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” John 17:4, 5.

Long before sin entered this world, through the wonderful foreknowledge of God the plan of redemption was laid in the councils of heaven. Christ offered to lay down his life in order to redeem man. Because he did this,—because he condescended to give up his exalted position in the courts of glory, take upon himself fallen human nature, live a life among sinful men, and finally suffer a most ignominious death, even the death of the cross,—therefore “God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil. 2:9-11.

The apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesian brethren, that they might know “what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Eph. 1:19-23.

O, how much we need the power of Christ in our lives! Satan is working with all deceivableness of unrighteousness to draw men away from God; he goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; for “he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” His master mind is bent now on a last strenuous effort to thwart the purpose of God; but in Christ there is power to gain the victory over every sin. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered the enemy before us, and through him we can overcome. He says: “My grace is sufficient for thee.” “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”

MARIE CZINSKI

By Marie Czinski

Inasmuch

MARIE CZINSKI

“INASMUCH” what?—“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Your eyes brighten, and your heart beats more quickly, as you say to yourself: “Ah! the basket of fruit I gave to that poor family, and the shoes I bought for their children; my friendly greetings and invitation to the lonely one across the street, bidding her to feel free to come over whenever she feels like it; the milk tickets I purchased for her, and innumerable things like that, which I am in the habit of doing,—all these will be reckoned as done unto Jesus, my Elder Brother, and will be rewarded by and by. Then the King will say, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’”

But think a moment of the other side—for there is another side. How about those whom you have neglected, talked about unkindly, treated as if they were “of no account,” whose lives you have made more hard and bitter by your indifference and neglect, whose faults you have taken pains to make prominent? How about the sick whom you never visit or sympathize with, just because they do not complain, but quietly keep on working? Do you realize that by and by our Master may say to you: “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me?”

Brethren and sisters, let us turn over a new leaf now,—we need not wait until the new year sets in,—and guard our thoughts, our words, our actions, every hour of every day.

“Inasmuch” covers a great deal of ground. It takes in both good and evil in the lives of every one who has ever lived, and it takes in every day from beginning to end. Sooner or later the reward will come to every one of us; nothing escapes the observation of him who notes the sparrow’s fall. Therefore, let us, one and all, take heed to our ways.

Battle Creek, Mich.

The Preparation of Sermons

By C. H. Bliss

C. H. BLISS

When one enters the pulpit, he should sense the fact that he occupies an important position. The minister stands before the people as a mouthpiece for God. He is Christ's representative, and he should speak and act as Christ would if he were here. If the minister enters the pulpit in a thoughtless, careless way, if he laughs and jests with others while sitting on the rostrum, his preaching will lose much of its effect upon those who observe him. He ought to show, by every word and act, and even by the expression of his face, that he realizes the responsibility that rests upon him.

Again, if the minister feels the burden of his work as he should, he will make the best possible preparation, so that he can, aided and guided by the Holy Spirit, deliver his sermon in an intelligent, effective manner.

If he partakes of a hearty meal just before speaking, his mind will be inactive. Many excellent sermons have been spoiled through the indulgence of appetite. The blood is drawn from the brain to digest the food; and because of this the speaker lacks energy, and delivers his sermon in a careless, listless manner, and it has but little effect upon his audience. Then if he does not study and arrange his discourse before entering the pulpit, he is very apt to introduce things which are not directly connected with his subject.

Some have thought it unnecessary to prepare their sermons, but say they will let the Lord suggest the thoughts to be presented while speaking. But the Lord can certainly speak as easily to a man while in his study as when in the pulpit. And if ever one needed to commune alone with God, it is when arranging and preparing a message to deliver to the people.

It is much better to make a few points definite and plain than to undertake too much, and make nothing clear. We should certainly aim to accomplish something definite in every sermon. Some truth or truths should be settled beyond all question or doubt in the minds of the hearers.

Some speakers unconsciously exalt themselves by making strong statements,

then offering but little proof to support their position. Such a course has a tendency to cause the people to rest their faith in the speaker instead of in the Word of God; and if such ministers afterward depart from the faith, such converts often follow them.

It is certainly preferable, while preaching, to place ourselves with our congregations as earnest inquirers after truth. Let the plain statements from the Word of God decide every question. In this way the attention of the people is drawn from the speaker to the infallible Word. Thus the minister is lost sight of, and the Bible is exalted. When people learn to believe what God says, and build their faith upon that, they soon become rooted and grounded in the truth, and are not easily moved by the opinions of men. We can not exalt too highly the Word of God. Let us hide behind the cross; then our preaching will bear fruit in the salvation of souls.

Shelbyville, Ill.

Continue reading: V. O. COLE