Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 9, 1882
General Articles.
By Ellen G. White
The Light of the World.
BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
Said Christ to his disciples, "Ye are the light of the world." As the sun goes forth in the heavens to fill the world with brightness, so must the followers of Jesus shed the light of truth upon those who are groping in the darkness of error and superstition. But Christ's followers have no light of themselves. It is the light of Heaven that falls upon them, which is to be reflected by them to the world. Jesus speaks through clay. Let men beware how they slight or reject the words of his representatives, for in so doing they are rejecting Christ.
A great responsibility rests upon the professed followers of Jesus. If they present to the world self instead of Christ, they will have a fearful account to render at the day of final reckoning. But none need thus to fail. Our compassionate Redeemer has provided for us the help we need. He is waiting to kindle in every heart that will receive his words such love as he alone can inspire. He will impute his own righteousness to the sincere penitent, and will fit him to become a witness for Christ.
The light of life is freely proffered to all. Every one who will, may be guided by the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Christ is the great remedy for sin. No man can plead his circumstances, his education, or his temperament, as an excuse for living in rebellion against God. The sinner is such by his own deliberate choice. Said our Saviour, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." The reason why there are so many of the present time to oppose the truth is, they love some indulgence which the word of God condemns. Hence they hate the light which reveals their sin.
There are many styled by the world liberal, generous-hearted, noble men whom God looks upon as wicked and corrupt. He sees not as man sees. His thoughts are not as our thoughts. Many in their self-complacency attempt to gloss over the defects in their lives and characters, and flatter themselves that all is well. To come to the light would reveal their danger, and strike the death-blow to their self-satisfaction. Then they would see the importance of a holy life, and their own need of Christ as a Saviour.
Many of those who profess to believe the Bible, and even to expound its sacred truths, are yet living in the indulgence of some cherished sin—living as though there were no God whose eye could search the inmost recesses of the soul. They are blessed with Heaven's bounties, and yet they express no more gratitude to the Giver than do the beasts of the field. They may now have no sense of their own sinfulness; but when summoned before the great white throne, they will in speechless terror stand condemned. The excuses now so flippantly urged to shield themselves from the divine requirements, they dare not mention with the eye of the Judge looking upon them. They knew their Master's will, but did it not, and they will be beaten with many stripes.
When the claims of God are presented, those who love sin evince their true character by the satisfaction with which they point to the faults and errors of professed Christians. They are actuated by the same spirit as their master, Satan, whom the Bible declares to be the "accuser of the brethren." Let an evil report be started, and how rapidly it will be exaggerated and passed from lip to lip! How many will feast upon it, like vultures upon a heap of garbage. Whether the slanderous tale comes with or without proof, they give it ready credence, showing a strength of faith that is surprising. And yet these very persons will refuse to believe the truths of God's word so long as there is the semblance of an excuse for doubt.
The fact that some professed Christians are not what they should be, does not prove that religion is at fault, but only that these persons are not faithfully obeying its teachings. Neither does it prove that the church is corrupt. Does she not deal with an offending member, and separate from her company those who persist in an evil way? But the very ones who make the most of a person's faults while he is a member of the church, will, when he is expelled, turn about and sympathize with him, declaring the church to be uncharitable and severe. It is thus that Satan works through his agents, to turn men away from the Light of life.
The true Christian, "he that doeth truth, cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." His godly life and holy conversation are a daily testimony against sin and sinners. He is a living representative of the truth which he professes. Of these true-hearted followers, Jesus declares that he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Every one who at last secures eternal life will here manifest zeal and devotion in the service of God. He will not be ready to flee at the approach of trial, hardship, or reproach. He does not search the Scriptures to find some excuse for resistance to the truth. He does not inquire, What will my friends say, if I take my position with the people of God? To know his duty, is to do it heartily and fearlessly. He follows the light, as it shines upon his path, regardless of consequences. The God of truth is on his side, and will never forsake him. All apparent losses for Christ's sake will count to him as infinite gain.
Our thoughts and purposes are the secret springs of action, and hence determine the character. Every thought, feeling, and inclination, though unseen by men, is discerned by the eye of God. With what care, then, should we examine our hearts in the light of the divine law, and compare ourselves with the one faultless Pattern, that no defect may be found upon us in the day of God. We cannot afford to make a mistake in a matter in which eternal interests are involved.
The rebellious purpose formed in the heart needs not expression by word or act to consummate the sin, and bring the soul into condemnation. The unlawful word or deed is but the fruition of the evil which has taken root in the heart; the outward evidence that temptation has prevailed, and hell has triumphed. Says the apostle, "Every man is tempted [that is, enters into temptation] when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed." God has provided the means by which we may resist temptation. These are the study of his word, and earnest prayer. In his encounters with the prince of darkness, our Saviour prefaced every answer with the words, "It is written." It was the word of God that vanquished Satan. Those who make that word their study are arming themselves with weapons of divine power against the attacks of the foe. "Thy word," said the psalmist, "have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."
Every Christian should be a diligent student of the Scriptures. The word of God, believed and obeyed, exerts a transforming power upon the life and character. Its sublime truths, its pure and holy principles, strengthen the intellect, ennoble the affections, enlighten the understanding. How great the loss which they sustain who neglect this store-house of eternal riches.
We should know why we believe as we do, and should be able to give to others the reasons for our faith. But this will require effort. The mind grows by what it is fed upon. The understanding gradually adapts itself to the subjects which it is required to grasp. If allowed to dwell only upon the things of this life, it becomes dwarfed and enfeebled. If absorbed in vanity and folly, it will after a time almost lose the power of growth. To secure strength and vigor, the mind must be tasked; and there is no other means by which this can be so successfully accomplished as by the study of the Scriptures.
Hours are worse than wasted when spent in the society of those who are not seeking to improve in mind or morals. Idle gossip, frivolous chitchat, the cruel slander, the base innuendo, weaken the intellect and corrupt the heart. Time is precious. We have but a brief space in which to prepare for the future life. All who expect to dwell hereafter with the pure and holy, must here obtain a fitness for such society. Let the moments heretofore squandered in idleness and folly be henceforth devoted to prayer and the reading of God's word. This discipline every Christian may have, and, rightly improved, it will make him wise unto eternal life.
Many accept the theory of the truth, whose hearts have not felt the renewing power of divine grace. They do not wholly renounce their former life of sin and folly. They do not see the work which must be wrought in them by the Holy Spirit before they can be transformed from Satan's subjects to sons of God. In his words to Nicodemus, Christ explained the nature and importance of true conversion. He solemnly declares, "Except a man be born again,"—unless he receive a new heart, new desires, purposes, and motives, leading to a new life—"he cannot see the kingdom of God." He must no longer remain in subjection to the power of sin. He is no longer to be a willing subject to the enemy of Christ. He is to become an heir of God by faith, a son of God by adoption.
Those who have experienced the new birth have110but entered upon the Christian life. To such are addressed the words of the apostle, "As ye have received the Lord Jesus Christ, so walk ye in him." In the storm of opposition, the whirlwind of strife that we are called to meet, it is sometimes hard to maintain the patience and gentleness of Christ, hard to meet the railing accusation with words of Scripture truth. But such must be the Christian's course. God has promised grace for every trial. By patient endurance we may become strong, by failure we may learn success, and through apparent defeat we may conquer.
Let not those be discouraged who are sorely tried and tempted, and who feel that they have not strength to cope single-handed with the power of evil. God asks you to become co-laborers with him. You need not wait for great opportunities nor ask for extraordinary talents. Use the ability that you now have. Do not weary yourself with anxiety about the success of your efforts, but quietly, faithfully do what you can, leaving the result with God. Though surrounded by the darkness of unbelief, you may let your daily life be a light to the world, a living testimony to the power of divine grace. The influence of that testimony will widen and deepen, so long as you are connected with the God of wisdom and power. Be assured that your memorial is written above, and in the day of God some at least among the redeemed will call you blessed.
BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN.
By Wm. H. Burleigh
OH! deem not that earth’s crowning bliss
Is found in joy alone;
For sorrow, bitter though it be,
Hath blessings all its own;
From lips divine, like healing balm
To hearts oppressed and torn,
This heavenly consolation fell—
“Blessed are they that mourn!”
As blossoms smitten by the rain,
Their sweetest odors yield—
As where the plowshare deepest strikes,
Rich harvests crown the field;
So, to the hopes by sorrow crushed,
A nobler faith succeeds;
And life, by trials furrowed, bears
The fruit of loving deeds.
Who never mourned, hath never known
What treasures grief reveals—
The sympathies that humanize—
The tenderness that heals—
The power to look within the veil
And learn the heavenly lore—
The key-word to life’s mysteries,
So dark to us before.
How rich and sweet and full of strength
Our human spirits are,
Baptized into the sanctities
Of suffering and of prayer!
Supernal wisdom, love divine,
Breathed through the lips which said,
“Oh! blessed are the souls that mourn—
They shall be comforted!”
—Wm. H. Burleigh.
Constitutional Amendment.
By W. H. Littlejohn
BY ELD. W. H. LITTLEJOHN.
ACKNOWLEDGING that the law, as originally given, will not answer the purpose, and that its amendment cannot be made out with sufficient clearness to warrant the taking of a stand upon it, we turn, for the last time, to examine a position quite generally advanced; namely, that of Sunday observance inaugurated, justified, and enforced, by the resurrection and example of Christ. Is it true, then, that such is the fact? Have we, at last, found relief from all our difficulties in the life and career of no less a personage than the divine Son of God? Let us see.
The point of the argument is briefly this:—
Our Lord—by rising from the dead, and by his practice of meeting with his disciples on that day—both introduced, and made obligatory upon his followers, the necessity of distinguishing between the first and the remaining days of the week, as we would between the sacred and the profane. Now, if this be a case which can be clearly made out, then we are immediately relieved in one particular; that is, we have found authority for the observance of Sunday. But how is it as regards the seventh day? This, we have seen, was commanded by God the Father. The obligation of that command is still recognized. Now, consequently, if Christ the Son has, upon his own authority, introduced another day immediately following the seventh, and clothed it with divine honors, is it a necessary inference that the former is therefore set aside? To our mind, it is far from being such. If God has a law for the observance of a given day, and Christ has furnished us with an example for that of another also, then the necessary conclusion is, that the first must be kept out of respect for God the Father, and the last through reverence to Christ the Son. Three facts, therefore, must be clearly made out, or our situation is indeed one of perplexity.
First, it must be shown, authoritatively, that the resurrection effected the change which is urged, and that the practice of Christ was what it is claimed to have been.
Second, that that practice was designed to be exemplary; in other words, that what he did in these particulars was of a nature such that we are required to imitate it.
Third, it must also be shown that he not only sanctified the first day, but, also, that he secularized the seventh day of the week.
But can this be done? Let us see. First, then, we will consider the matter of the resurrection. Now, that it was an event of surpassing glory, and one ever to be held in grateful remembrance, there is no room for dispute among Christians. But shall we, therefore, decide that it must of necessity be commemorated by a day of rest? This would be assuming a great deal. It seems to us that it would be better, far better, to leave decisions of such importance as this entirely with the Holy Spirit. Protestants, at least, warned by the example of Roman Catholics, should avoid the danger of attempting to administer in the matter of designating holy days; since, manifestly, this is alone the province of God. Hence, we inquire, Has the Holy Ghost ever said that the resurrection of Christ imparted a holy character to the day upon which it occurred? The answer must, undeniably, be in the negative. No such declaration is found in the Holy Word. Nor is this all; even from the stand-point of human reason, every analogy is against it. It were fitting that, when God had closed the work of creation, and ceased to labor, he should appoint a day in commemoration of that rest. The propriety of such a course, all can see. But, on the contrary, is it not equally manifest that to have remained inactive on that glorious morning, when the Son of God had burst the bands of death, and the news was flying through all parts of the great city of Jerusalem, “Jesus has risen to life again,” would have been a condition of things wholly out of the question? Both the enemies and the friends of Christ—the one class stimulated by hate, and the other released by the mighty power of God from the overwhelming gloom and crushing despondency of three terrible days—were, by the very necessities of the case, moved to action by an energy which would cause them to overleap every barrier and to break away from every restraint. Everything, everywhere, animated by the new aspect which affairs had suddenly assumed, demanded immediate, ceaseless, and untiring activity. And such it had. From the early morning, until far into the hours of the succeeding night, scribe and Pharisee, priest and Levite, believer and unbeliever, were hearing, gathering, and distributing, all that could be learned of this most mysterious event. We say, consequently, that so far is it from being true, that the day of the resurrection is one which should be hallowed, either exactly or substantially as that of the decalogue, the very opposite is the fact; and, if it were to be celebrated at all, every consideration of fitness demands that it should be done by excessive demonstrations of outward and uncontrolled joy, rather than by quietude and restraint.
Passing now to the other branches of the subject, we inquire, finally, What was there in the example of Christ and the apostles which in any way affects the question? If they are to be quoted at all upon this subject, it is but reasonable that their history should be examined with reference both to the seventh and the first day; for, if precedent, and not positive enactment, is to be the rule by which our faith is to be decided, in a point of this significance, it is at least presumable that the historic transactions by which this question is to be determined will be ample in number, and of a nature to meet and explain all the phases of the subject. That is, the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles—covering, as their history does, a period of about thirty years—will afford numerous and conclusive evidences that both Christ and the apostles did actually dishonor the old, and invest with peculiar dignity and authority, the new Sabbath. First, we inquire then, Is there, in all the New Testament, the record of a single instance in which Jesus or his followers transacted, upon the seventh day of the week, matters incompatible with the notion of its original and continued sanctity? The answer is, of necessity, in the negative. The most careful and protracted search has failed to produce a single case in which the son of Joseph and Mary departed in this particular from the usages of his nation, or in which his immediate representatives, during the period of their canonical history, failed to follow, in the most scrupulous manner, the example of Him of whom it is said that, “as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” (Luke 4:16.) Nor is this all; it is a remarkable fact, and one well calculated to stagger the investigator at the very threshold of his researches into the data for the modern view, that, whereas the Sabbath is mentioned fifty-six times in the New Testament, it is in every instance, save one (where it refers to the annual sabbaths of the Jews), applied to the last day of the week. So far, therefore, as the negative argument is concerned, which was based upon the presumption that the claims of the old day were constructively annulled by the appointment of a new one, its force is entirely broken by the record, which, as we have seen, instead of proving such an abolition, is rather suggestive of the perpetuity of the old order of things. Hence, we turn to the positive side of the subject.
How do we know that Christ ever designed that his example should produce in our minds the conviction that he had withdrawn his regard from the day of his Father's rest, and placed it upon that of his own resurrection? Did he in laying the foundation for the new institution—as in the case of the Lord's supper—inaugurate the same by his own action, and then say to his disciples, As oft as ye do this, do it in remembrance of me? Did he ever explain to any individual that his special object in meeting with his followers on the evenings of the first and second Sundays (?) after his return from the dead was designed to inspire in the minds of future believers the conviction that those hours, from that time forward, had been consecrated to a religious use? If so, the record is very imperfect, in that it failed to hand down to us a most significant fact. I say significant, because, without such a declaration, the minds of common men, such as made up the rank and file of the immediate followers of Christ, were hardly competent to the subtle task of drawing unaided, such nice distinctions. How natural, how easy, by a single word, to have put all doubt to rest, and to have given to future ages a foundation, broad and deep, upon which to ground the argument for the change.
But this, as we have already seen, was not done! and after the lapse of eighteen hundred years, men—in the stress of a situation which renders it necessary that they should obtain divine sanction, in order to the perpetuity of a favored institution—are ringing the changes of an endless variety of conjectures drawn from transactions, which, in the record itself, were mentioned as possessing no peculiar characteristics, which should in any way affect the mere time upon which they occurred.
Let us, therefore, with a proper sense of the modesty with which we should ever enter upon the task of deciding upon the institutions of the church, when there is no divine precept for the guidance of our judgment, examine for ourselves. As we do this, it will be well, also, to bear in mind the fact that our prejudices will be very likely to lie entirely upon the side of life-long practice and traditional inheritance. In fact, nearly every consideration, political, financial, and social, will be found, if not guarded with the strictest care, wooing us to a decision which—though it might dishonor God, and do violence to the principles of a clear, natural logic—would exempt us, individually, from personal sacrifice and pecuniary loss.
A COMFORTLESS RELIGION.
Not many weeks since, a friend of ours, a Protestant minister, was providently thrown into companionship with an intelligent and highly-educated gentleman belonging to a Roman Catholic family in Canada. A pleasant conversation sprang up between them. It was not long before our friend noticed a smile passing over the countenance of his Roman Catholic companion, who soon explained the cause by observing: "Sir, this is the first time I ever had any intercourse with a Protestant minister. My family would believe that I was lost forever, if they knew that I had talked with one."
And then, looking earnestly at our friend, he added: "Pardon me, sir, but will you tell me: Is there any consolation in your religion? In ours, there is none."
We need not recount the words in which the Protestant minister undertook to bring to this darkened mind the comforting words of the Gospel of free salvation by the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord, the glad tidings of a completed work, a sacrifice for sin needing no repetition upon any earthly altar, supplemented by no priestly or saintly intercession, and excluding the very notion of any future purgatorial fires. But what a confession of the unsatisfactory character of the faith in which he had been brought up, had this sincere and candid Roman Catholic made!—Sel.
A Dog’s Life
"A dog's life" means a life of drudgery, and whenever you hear a man say that he or any one else is leading such a life, you know that he considers it a very unsatisfactory one. But even in a dog's life there are sometimes brilliant passages. When Mr. Gladstone said to Lord Houghton, "I am leading a dog's life," the answer was, "Yes, the life of a St. Bernard, which is spent in saving the lives of others."
Ears Turned Away.
By Isaac D. Van Horn
BY ELD. I. D. VAN HORN.
"FOR the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2 Tim. 4:3, 4.
Sometime in the Christian age this prophecy is to have a literal fulfillment. It is not hard to determine the time, for the last days are expressly mentioned in the first verse of the previous chapter. We are informed that "perilous times shall come" in the last days. But they will not be perilous so much by famine, pestilence, and the sword, as by a departure from the truth, a corrupt character, and the denying of the power of godliness. 2 Tim. 3:1-5.
This will fully prepare the way for nominal professors to reject sound doctrine, and make choice of such teachers as will please their ears, rather than reprove their wrongs. They shall heap to themselves teachers, yet at the same time follow their own lusts. These teachers will tickle their itching ears with fancy sketches fabulous harangues and essays full of high-sounding words.
God's servants are called upon to "Preach the word;" to reprove and rebuke. But this will not be endured. The ease-loving professor does not want his conscience troubled. He wants to enjoy the world, and be popular, and at the same time belong to the church. So the church becomes popular and pleasing, and the members feel at ease.
Now let some servant of God lift up his voice, proclaim the truth, give meat in due season, and the heaps of teachers are ready to turn away the ears of the people that they may not hear. Say they, "Don't go to hear them. They are illiterate and ignorant, and you will lower your dignity to hear or in any way countenance them." Thus their ears (not their hearts) are turned away from the truth.
Is this not the reason why in our day there are so few willing to hear the precious present truth? Can we expect large congregations? We must school ourselves to keep our courage and be just as earnest and faithful in preaching to the few as to the many. There were but eight souls saved in the ark. The last days will be as the days of Noah at the flood. There will be many ears open to hear the vanities and follies of earth, but only a few open to hear the truth. Servants of God, go forth and be strong. Rescue the perishing. Save all in your power, even pulling them as brands from the burning.
In the Desert With God.
IN these days of hurry and bustle, we find ourselves face to face with a terrible danger; and it is this—no time to be alone with God. The world, in these last days, is running fast; we live in what is called “the age of progress;” and “you know we must keep pace with the times.” So the world says. But this spirit of the world has not confined itself to the world. It is, alas, to be found among the saints of God. And what is the result? The result is—no time to be alone with God. And what next? Surely the question does not need an answer. Can there be any condition more deplorable than the condition of a child of God who has no inclination to be alone with his Father?
This “desert life,” as many may call it, is of importance and cannot be over-valued, and, as if with a trumpet, we would sound it in the ears of brethren. Let us turn to the pages of God’s own Book; for we can turn nowhere else if we are seeking light on this or any other subject. On scanning its precious pages, we find that the men of God—God’s mighty men—were those who had been in “the school of God,” as it has well been called; and his school was simply this: “In the desert alone with himself.” Far removed from the din and bustle of the haunts of men—distant alike from human eye and ear—there they met alone with God; there they were equipped for the battle. And when the time came that they stood forth in public service for God, their faces were not ashamed—nay, they had faces as lions, they were bold and fearless, yea, and victorious before God; for the battle had been won already in the desert alone with him.—London Christian.
Godliness with Contentment
"Godliness with contentment is great gain."
Prayer—A Parable.
Hillel had a wise disciple whose name was Maimon. In natural gifts he greatly delighted. But soon Hillel perceived that his youthful friend trusted too much in his own wisdom, and wholly discarded the aid of prayer. The youth said in his heart, "Why should we pray? Does the Almighty need our words in order to aid and bless us? Then he is human. Can man's sighs and petitions change the counsels of the eternal? Will not the All-merciful of himself bestow what is good and needful?" Such were the young man's thoughts. But Hillel was grieved in his soul that Maimon considered himself wiser than the divine word, and he determined to reprove him. One day when Maimon went to Hillel, he found him sitting in his garden, leaning his head upon his hand, and he said, "Master, where are thy thoughts?" Then Hillel raised his head and answered in these words, "I have a friend who lives upon the produce of his lands, which until now he has cultivated with care, and he has been richly rewarded for his pains. But now he has thrown aside plough and mattock, and no more cultivates his field. Thus he will soon come to poverty, and lack the necessaries of life."
"Has a spirit of ill-humor seized him or has he become a fool?" asked the youth.
"Neither," answered Hillel; "he is well skilled in all human and sacred wisdom. But he says the Lord is almighty, so that he can easily supply my wants without my bending my head to labor. He is good, so that he will open his kind hand to bless my table. And how can it be contradicted?"
"How!" said the youth; "is it not tempting the Lord God? Hast thou not told him so, master?"
Then Hillel smiled and said, "I will do so now. Thou, my beloved Maimon, art the friend of whom I spake."
"I!" said the youth in amazement.
"Ay," said the old man; "dost thou not tempt the Lord? Is prayer less than labor? and are spiritual gifts less than the fruits of the field? And is he who commands thee to labor for earthly goods other than he who bids thee to raise thy heart to heaven to implore heavenly blessings? O my son, be humble and pray!"
So spake Hillel, and Maimon went away to pray, and henceforth his life was a godly one.
Words "Fitly Spoken."
By Editor
OPPORTUNITIES for doing what may be called great things seldom occur, but opportunities for saying and doing little things present themselves every day. "A word fitly spoken, how good it is!" We will never forget the good class leader who, when we were but a very small boy, put his hand on our head and said, "God bless this boy," and now in return we say, "God bless good Brother M——."
We have read of Harlan Page passing round through the Sabbath-school, and, on asking a teacher if he would put down his name as "having a hope in Christ," the teacher replied, "No." Mr. Page said kindly: "Then I shall put you down as having no hope," and, having closed his little book, left him. But these few words, spoken so lovingly, went to the young teacher's heart, and he found no rest until he found Christ.
A devoted minister in Brooklyn met a man of years on the street on New-Year's-day and said to him: "Had not you and I better begin the new year with a new life?" After they separated the old man began to think of his words, and the result was his conversion.
If we would question many of the noble and devoted Christians of to-day, many would tell us that some kind word or words spoken in this way were the means of bringing them to Jesus.
A powerful means of influencing the unregenerate is by their seeing, exhibited in our lives, Christian graces and godly, consistent living. "The Christian is the only Bible many of the unconverted look at."
Infidels may meet learning with learning, arguments with sophistry, and mere profession with a sneer, but there is something in earnest, consistent, and sanctified lives which they cannot resist. We may speak to the unconverted, but if our speaking is not illustrated and enforced by our example, our labor is almost sure to be fruitless. We must be "living epistles," as were read by many.
"Work done for God, it dieth not."—Rev. D. Rogers, in Methodism.
The Meek Will He Guide
"The meek will He guide in judgment."
Hidden Things of Darkness.
By Rev. L. B. Dennis
THE second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, is an event of no ordinary magnitude. While it will be joyful to the good, it will be a terrible scene to the unprepared.
"Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation."-Heb. 9:28. But to those whose works are the "Hidden things of darkness," Christ will come "With his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance." 2 Thess. 1:7, 8. But the Apostle says: "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts." 1 Cor. 4:5. Yea, more! Then all deceptions will be uncovered, and the fruits of darkness will be manifest.
There are many ungodly men, and many unconverted members of the church, who would desire the coming of Christ, if his second mission was as his first. But when they think of his bringing to light the "hidden things of darkness," and making manifest the counsels of the hearts, then there are efforts of evasion—a vain hoping that God is very merciful. Gladly would they conceal their midnight deeds of darkness, their repeated, covered crimes. There is evidently a manifest unwillingness, that "Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, it shall be revealed by fire." 1 Cor. 3:13.
How astonishingly strange it is, when God has been so good, made our duties so easy, our moral requirements so reasonable, that any one would be unwilling to do right! and take bitter for sweet, evil for good, darkness for light, or hell for heaven. "Because their deeds were evil." John 3:13. How many such, experience daily, hour by hour, and almost every minute, the significant expression of the apostle. "A certain, fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." Heb. 10:27. "When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God." 2 Thess. 1:7, 8. Then will the "hidden things of darkness;" yea, and the "hidden things of dishonesty," the "walking in craftiness," and all "handling the word of God deceitfully," be at an end, "by manifestation of the truth," "to every man's conscience in the sight of God." It is an easy matter to hide our sins, or cover our crimes from mortal eyes. "But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets." Dan. 2:28. He that loveth darkness more than he does light, God may permit strong delusions to be his portion; for Satan works "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." 2 Thess. 2:10.
If men prefer darkness to light, God permits them to have their deliberate choice. The Egyptians preferred darkness, and it was given them till they could feel it. So it will be with every free moral agent. Provision has been made for the salvation of all, as "God hath from the beginning chosen you [all] to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 2 Thess. 2:13.
The surroundings of Christ's second coming will be of unusual interest. All will be interested in Christ's next coming to earth. "The Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations." Matt. 25:31, 32. Hence, the good, the true, the pure, and the holy, will patiently, but anxiously wait "Until the Lord come," and "bring to light the hidden things of darkness."—Rev. L. B. Dennis.
The Sin of Intoxication
The Rev. Dr. McCosh of Princeton College, tells the story of a negro who prayed earnestly that he and his colored brethren might be preserved from their upsettin' sins. "Brudder," said one of his friends at the close of the meeting, "you ain't got de hang ob dat ar word. It's besettin', not upsettin'." "Brudder," replied the other, "if dat's so it's so. But I was prayin' de Lord to save us from de sin of 'toxication, an' if dat ain't an upsettin' sin I dunno what am."
Sorrows as Lessons
By Richter
Has it never occurred to us, when surrounded by sorrows, that they may be sent to us only for our instruction—as we darken the cages of birds when we wish to teach them to sing?—Richter.